//------------------------------//
// Dodge City//Chapter 4--Part 2 
// Story: The Rise of the Guardians and the Fall of One Hero 
// by TrinityDragon 
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	Phebe, guided by the light of her horn, headed to the section where Artemis and the other Changelings had fought the Guardians. Kirk walked beside her. After some travel, the two, upon noticing sedated corpses of Changelings strewn about the floor, looked at each other and nodded. They had arrived.
The Unicorn called out, “I seek to negotiate for the lives of the Changelings in exchange for the Element of Perseverance.” Having already thought through her next several actions, she thought, This is a good plan, but it's not perfect. I AM, protect Kirk and Artemis and Dark Shade and everyone else. I can only do so much.
A familiar wispy form gingerly lighted upon the ground in front of Phebe. This Guardian stated, “We are willing to listen.” The voice had some distinct quality to it. Though the words sounded like a whisper, a low-tone was their quality. Unable to forget the one who commanded Labil's execution, she recognized this Guardian as the one to speak to her in the last encounter. By appearances, this was the leader of this particular group of Guardians.
“Return the souls to all the Changelings in these tunnels. Then hold one as prisoner and let the others go free. When you do that, I'll give you the necklace. Then you can give us the prisoner.” The first part of the plan involved freeing her people, and this was the easy part, she figured. If they're smart, they'll keep Artemis.
“We will cooperate.” Lighting up the pitch black, several orbs of light appeared out of nowhere and soon floated into the bodies of Changelings. A second Guardian grabbed one body as it regained its soul and brought it over to the first Guardian. “They are free. Give us the Element.”
“Wait.” Phebe held out her hoof to them sternly. As Changelings arose from their slumber, she stated firmly, “Changelings, head to the surface now. Stay in the open and don't return until I say so.” A few acknowledged immediately and left, while others took some time to get over the groggy side-effect of soul loss. She repeated herself twice more, and by the final time, the remainder of them retreated. Satisfied that things had gone smoothly thus far, a sigh of relief left her mouth. “Okay.”
A demand thrust at her. “Give us the Element.”
“Okay.” She eyed the remaining captive. That is Artemis. The officer, despite his circumstance, calmly accepted whatever was happening. No confusion nagged him, nor panic, thus he struggled none nor bothered with questions. He is so calm and collected. Hah, I love him more and more. “Here it is.” As she loosed the necklace from her neck, she expected an objection from her future husband; nevertheless, a relaxed demeanor remained in Artemis' possession. “Catch.” With a jeering smirk, she threw the Element far forward at the inconvenience of the Guardians. Before a reaction could be formed, Hoshana teleported the short distance to Artemis, touched him on the head, and teleported both him and her away from the Guardian. Looking sternly to Artemis and Kirk, she affirmed, “Run. Go meet the others.” Without question, the both of them flew away.
Part one of the plan had succeeded, so the second part began. For this, the idea was to keep the Guardians away from Changelings, and it began with the Guardians getting the Element.
Reacting to Phebe's sudden action, the apparent leader of the Guardians swiftly whisked to the Element. When it touched the item with its long, thin arms, the necklace vanished. In a fit of surprise and angry, the ghost yelled, “NO!” Though still a whisper, the volume and tonality were louder and harsher. “Kill her!” In compliance with orders, a wisp came from behind to grab her, but as its arms reached for her, she disappeared like the necklace had.
This was accomplished by a combination of Kirk and Phebe's magics. Kirk had created illusions of Phebe and the Element much like Changelings created fake walls to keep themselves hidden. In conjuction, Phebe had used Pyre's trick “Whisper in the Wind” for her voice and her horn's illumination and teleportation spells. Essentially, the two had created a ethereal copy of Phebe which could use magic.
During the whole necklace/prisoner exchange, Phebe was, in fact, hiding in the area of the tunnels where water yet remained. She had teleported herself there before Kirk and the false Phebe had begun talking with the Guardians.
Now that all the Changelings had left, Phebe wanted to draw attention to herself. For this reason, she jumped repeatedly into the water, sending echoes of loud splashes through the passages. She hoped that the Guardians would realize where the splashes were coming from and come after her.
To prepare for combat, she thought, I'll need to see them. She combined “Whisper in the Wind” with her standard illumination spell—often used by Unicorn to make their horns glow. As a result the entire tunnel was lighted by small glowing masses.
In little time, several Guardians appeared and surrounded her.
“Hehehe.” A dark cackle fell out of her mouth.
Less than an hour ago, her heart had been broken and tattered. She had given up and sought death. No hope had remained for victory, no desire for the future, and no reason for living; rather, despair and sorrow filled her soul to the brim. By I AM's grace, Black Star rescued her. Now possessing perspective and purpose, she prepared to sacrifice her life for the sake of others. Tehn again she knew she was not even allowed to die yet. I will die. So what? I will also get married. And, who knows? Maybe I'll save a few lives. Maybe I'll keep the Guardians away. Maybe I'll even make some peace between the Changelings and the Ponies. Unbreakable confidence strengthened her for victory, obstinate courage readied her for the future, and relentless love empowered her for living. Even as danger encompassed her, she would not back down.
The evil chuckle turned into an insidious laugh. “HAHAHA! I let you beat me?” Somehow, she looked upon her earlier defeat in amusement. She didn't mentally toy with defeat, as if the idea was funny; instead, she figured that she had quit over stupid problems. Sure, Chrysalis had died, and that was unchangeable. The same applied to Labil. There was also Dark Shade's betrayal. Some things did hurt with good reason, but, as she recognized, she panicked over many things which had not been set in stone. The Changelings had lost their souls, but that could be reversed. The Badlands had been taken, but that could be reversed. In fact, the relationship between her and Artemis had been severed, but that was reversed moments ago. She had not lost her Element nor her God. Even before her breakdown, she had regained her emotions and her reason for being; furthermore, she had received friendships of which she had none previously. Every moment of consideration lead Phebe to understand that she had surrendered wrongfully, senselessly, and childishly. “What a joke!”
All of the Guardians charged at her simultaneously. She didn't move.
This was where the final part of the plan kicked in, and this was the most daring of them all. She was going to kill every last one by whatever means necessary.
Since the beginning, the Guardians had pushed and pushed. Without exception, the Changelings lost territory and people taking with them hope and peace. Eventually, Phebe was involved in those loses. That's all they were experiencing: loses. When would the loses stop? When would the defeats end? When would Changelings survive? The questions had been begged for many months. No one had answered until now.
“This ends now!” As the Guardians came into reach for Phebe, she ignited her horn. Magic immediately caused the water around her to shoot upward like a spout. While she was left unscathed, the Guardians were thrown into the ceiling, and half were completely trapped. The others recovered speedily and went after her again. She reacted immediately. Magic once again guided the waters, but on this occasion, surging waves billowed and surged in opposite directions. The waves didn't touch the already-captured Guardians, but they did sweep up the remainder of the others. Having caught them, the waves turned and smashed against the walls; nevertheless, the waves didn't end there either. A continuous torrent pummeled the ghosts preventing any form of escape.
She sneered, “Was that supposed to be hard?” Her speech was a show, however. Even if her capacity for magic had dramatically increased, the expensive, contentious expenditure of holding the Guardians in place drained her rapidly. “Come on! Who's next!?” She had to be antagonistic and cocky. It was the best way to draw out any other Guardians that had stayed back, and she knew that some had. By her estimation, Guardians weren't stupid enough to send all of their troops in at once. “Are you scared? Hah, show me what a real Guardian is like? Ten of you can't take me on at the same time. Show me a real fight!”
CRUNCH! One of their special attacks rippled across the surface of the water. Phebe tried to teleport out of the way, but due to her already heavy usage of magic, she could not muster the spell in time. She flew down the tunnel, landed on her side, and skid for a few yards, but this did not halt her. While maintaining her water spells, she hoisted herself upon her hooves. CRUNCH! CRUNCH! An attack came from each side. She jumped forward to evade. Unfortunately, one still hit her. The strike threw her into the wall, knocking the wind out of her. CRUNCH! Without even thinking, she teleported down the tunnel escaping that next blast, but she was gasping for a breath.
No. Not done! She wouldn't quit.
The Guardians that were attacking were impossible to see; they stayed outside the light which Phebe had generated. Therefore, she doubled the numbers of lights and spread them out. Hopping into a standing position, despite the lack of a full breath, she glanced fiercely in every direction. She spotted one Guardian a long ways away. The being would expect an attack from the front, so she caused another wave to build from behind the wisp. To her own surprise, she managed to create the deluge of water so fast that the Guardian only noticed the attack as it hit. The wave crashed into the wall like her previous water spell had and thereby retained the Guardian.
CRUNCH! With more force than previous ones, a Guardian attack launched the Unicorn off her the ground and into the wall again. This doubly disabled her ability to breath. At this moment, her lights flickered and the prison-keeping torrents briefly let up. None of the Guardians escaped, fortunately. Nonetheless, Phebe's magic was beginning to wane.
Without any oxygen entering through her mouth, she stood up again. She couldn't breath at all. In this moment, a maxim of Black Star's came to mind. “Fight, and fight beyond your last breath.” Is this what he meant? Heh. Her vision grew blurry and foggy and her head queasy. Yet, she affirmed, I'm not finished yet. She instituted another number of lights into the tunnels. These ones revealed the location of the last Guardian. At least, she hoped that was the last one. One more. One more. Still unable to breath properly, she developed waves on both sides of the Guardian. There was no way he could escape.
CRUNCH! Instantly, one of the waves toppled over. CRUNCH! Then the other followed suit.
No, no! I had him. I was almost there. Feeling weak, she fell onto her haunches. Her lungs slowly started sifting air again, but she needed a full breath sooner rather than later.
The Guardian came near but kept a docile nature. “How long can you keep going?.” This was the voice of that leader. Trying to respond, Phebe mouthed words indiscernibly. Ignorant of her attempted speech, the Guardian firmly expressed, “One more chance for mercy. Give us the necklace now, and we will let you live.”
Pffffft! Hahahahahaha! Internally, Hoshana laughed hysterically. She found the absolute absurdity of its statement hilarious. She grabbed half a breath. “Sure.” After removing her necklace, she threw it at the Guardian.
Gleefully, the Guardian stuck out its little arms and grabbed the item. Instantly, the Element shined brilliantly. Like a certain Guardian before it, it was consumed by this light, and it shattered into many pieces. The enemy really didn't think too thoroughly about its actions, and Phebe was glad for that. Any longer fighting, and she might not have been able to win.
Phebe lay down and regained her capacity to receive oxygen. Whew... Though she hadn't killed the other Guardians yet, she had them all detained. Flicker. Uh-oh. In all of her planning, the magically empowered Unicorn did not remember the source of her empowerment. She had thought the Element gave her her aptitude, but she know this for certain. Fizzle. It turns out she was not as good at magic as she thought. Without the Element she could no longer maintain her water prisons nor her lights. Despite attempts to keep them, she lost all of them. Now all those Guardians were free, and she could not see them.
Coming to terms with her folly, she got up, lit her horn for single light, and dashed to the place she had thrown her Element. On the bright side adrenaline kept her body ready for action.
Crunch!
Here it comes. She thought. The attack would hit; she hadn't a way to see it, nor avoid it. In a moment, she was swept off her feet and tossed down the tunnel. The cold arms of a Guardian caught her and detained. “Gah!” She didn't expect this. After trying a teleport which failed, she wiggled fiercely to get loose. The grip tightened, and she went no where.
A second pair of arms neared. They tapped themselves, then skid one across the other, and one finally swung down upon her. This was the way they prepared their attacks. CRUNCH! The arm contacted her head.
Her brain flashed on past events. The deaths of Chrysalis and Labil bothered her yet, and it seemed she would end up in the same manner as they. Though, something of her heart defied that consideration. Her stomach churned at the thought of death. Emotionally speaking, she welcomed death, and mentally, she treasured the anticipation of the afterlife. Nevertheless, some part of her refused to have any part of death; some part of her life story had yet to be written. I AM had plans for her, and she wanted in on them, even though death in the present meant freedom from suffering in the future. More than that, the Changelings still needed a protector, and she rebelled at the thought of abandoning them in their time of need. Tacking onto these, curiosity concerning Black Star riddled her. Too much remained in living for her to allow death to steal her desires from her.
“NO!” She shouted as the arm tapped the crown of her head. An unsettling vibration volleyed from her noggin to the end of her tail. Immediately following, a shock wave of scathing agony thrust through her core. Then the pain stopped. Huh? The weary pony briefly figured she had died, but when she could still see the light of her horn and the arm atop her head, she determined that life was still hers. The one Guardian continued to hold her, and the other repeated the attack. When it bonked her on the head, nothing happened—absolutely nothing. In fact, the loud breaking sound that usually accompanied their attacks did not appear. One final attempt led to equally useless results.
In the meantime, her Element was bristling in the bask of indigo light. Shortly, the item levitated of its own accord up to Phebe.
When the necklace drew nigh, the Guardians released her and retreated. They would escape unless something was done. Phebe wanted to use her water magic, but she still could not. Soon enough, the Element wrapped around her neck and latched itself. Upon contact with her Element, an overwhelming sensation rolled across her restoring her magical and physical strength; furthermore, heat wrapped itself around her eyes, though there was no pain. This had never happened before; nevertheless, she understood that her Element had activated and that she could finally take out those Guardians. As an additional consequence to her necklace, she could see perfectly in the dark. To her, the wisps were in plain sight. However, she discovered something odd. They were no longer shrouded in darkness—that is, she could see their whole bodies, not just their arms.
The Guardians looked unimpressive. Their arms attached to a flat and rectangular body which possessed the same charcoal texture and color as the arms. Atop the body was a boney white head. The head resembled the bone structure of a Dragon. Little red or yellow orbs rested in the sockets where eyes would have been. They carried no lower section—as in, they had no feet or legs; moreover, the body and arms had no sections or parts to them whereas a pony had withers, a back, a barrel, an abdomen, knees, hooves, etc. The head was the only body part to have distinctive qualities, and each Guardian had a noticeably different head. As for size, the Guardians, in terms of dimensions, might have been half as tall and wide as a mare; however, due to their flat bodies, they had little depth. All in all, they were comparatively tiny. These terrors had a significant effect on her and the Changelings because they couldn't be seen, but their unhidden form made them seem laughably ugly and weak.
Though catching these details, Phebe barely gazed upon their retreating figure, for they threatened to get away. They could inform their kind of Phebe's rejection of peaceful propositions and her ability to use the Element properly. If she could keep those secret, she could retain an extreme advantage over the Guardians.
After tallying their numbers—ten—she teleported in front of the larger group—eight—while the smaller escaped in the opposite direction. Die. In the same fashion that she directed her magic, she guided her Element's power at the Guardians. The indigo light launched from the necklace, impacted the Guardians, and vanished afterward. All eight Guardians perished. She could still see the two survivor, so she repeated the process. With little competition, both died. Before relishing her victory, she scanned the area for any hiding enemies. She found one. It was floating in place nearby, and it held Dark Shade in its grasps. He was unconscious.
“I will kill him,” the bone-headed being harshly spoke. “Give me your Element, and he will be spared.”
At first Phebe panicked. No! What do I now? She considered for several seconds before coming to a conclusion. The Element protected me even when I wasn't wearing it. It hadn't even empowered me to that point. Without saying a word, she strolled toward the Guardian.
“Stop!” it ordered. Her only response was a small smile; she kept walking. “Then he will die!” In order to perform the attack, the Guardian had to set Dark Shade down. Confidently it smacked its arms together, then slid them across each other, and lastly struck Shade. At that moment, the only noise that traveled through the room was the splashing of Phebe's hooves. The Guardian shirked backward when it realized its plan had failed. “Stay back!” It probably knew it couldn't get away, so it didn't bother trying. “Sp-spare me!”
Phebe came face-to-face with the being. “Did you spare Chrysalis when she pleaded for peace?” No reply. “Didn't you know that those who take prisoner must be taken prisoner? Didn't you know that those who slay must be slain? I AM's chosen people have endured yet stayed to the faith, and you have tormented them long enough.” Her element activated once final time and its light consumed the final Guardian. After this, the Element stopped shimmering and the flow of energy ceased as well as the special eyesight.


	~~~~~


With the battle over, Phebe carried Dark Shade to the place where the waters did not run—the area the Changelings had previously set up as a base of operation. Originally, she had intended on meeting with Artemis and the others above ground, but she realized that Dark would be in need of some tender loving care. When he had led the Guardians to his people, he showed so much shame in his expression and in the two words of “I'm sorry.” There was much regret that had to be handled on a one-on-one basis before he could be reinstated with his kind.
She shook him lightly. He stirred. “Hey, Dark Shade,” she called him with a soft tone.
“Ph-Phebe?” His head shook a few times to rid himself of a daze. Soon he propped himself up. For a brief moment, he acted normal, even smiling, but as he more fully escaped unconsciousness, terrible grief fell on his face. He suddenly turned away and began walking away. His face looked downward.
Reaching out with a hoof, she spoke softly, “Come back.” He ignored her and kept going. “Then I will follow.” Via trot, she caught up to him and then paced with him. Upon noticing her presence, he sped up his strides, but she matched his speed. In response, he flew into the air and zoomed away at full tilt; nevertheless, Phebe stayed with him using repeated teleports. For the span of a minute, the chase continued. Though, Shade finally grew tired and stopped. Having traveled so far, he came to the water-filled area, thus when he landed he put his hooves into water. Smugly, the Unicorn teleported beside him. There, she showered him with the light of her horn. “Can we talk?”
“No.” He didn't dare look at her.
“Okay.” She sat beside him and waited in silence. Oh, I AM, he is your dear child deprived of your compassion by his own mistakes. Phebe prayed. He is rejecting the chance for forgiveness, though he regrets what he did. I cannot make him open up, but you can touch his heart. You can reach into the deepest dark of a broken soul. I would know. Her eyes clasped shut while her mouth wrapped into a grin. You know what he needs, and you can supply. Please reach him. Please, my Lord and my God, as your fragile and irresolute servant, I plead and beg. You gave me another chance, and I have done so much worse than he. Give him another. Please give him another.
“You should leave. I don't deserve to be around you.”
Well, that was fast. Glad to hear him speak, she nodded. “You might be right. Perhaps I should leave you. Though, I'm not very good at doing what I should.” She wanted to say more, but she comprehended that he had to open up first in order for her to speak forgiveness and mercy to him. Therefore, she remained in place until more words came from his mouth. That's right, Lord. You know what you're doing. In all the wisdom, knowledge, and experience I have, I cannot tell him the precise truths which he needs to hear, nor speak them the way he needs. Please, give me words to speak. If it pleases you, let me shed some remarkable truth to him.
The distraught Changeling smacked Phebe across the face with his leg. “I said leave!”
Previously, she would have grown angry from the hit, but compassion and care filled her heart instead. I won't leave until you have been restored. She turned her face as if gesturing for him to hit the other side. I won't abandon you in your time of need.
“What will it take for me to get rid of you!?” Despite yelling, he couldn't get himself to face her. She wasn't positive that he wanted an answer, so she stayed silent. He calmly affirmed, “What do I have to do to have you leave?”
This time, she answered, “Kill me.”
The stark reply ripped him from his bottled-in state. “I-I would never do that!” He spoke with great uncertainty. “No. I don't want that. Please... I never meant... I'm sorry!”
“Let it out.”
“I'm so sorry! I tried so hard!” Tears rippled down his face. “They threatened to kill me! I was scared. Scared, terrified!” Sniffles followed each word, and his body tremored constantly. “They took my soul from me and gave it back multiple times. It began to hurt so much!” He covered his face with his forelegs. “I... gave... in...” Sobbing entered. Phebe immediately embraced him and began rubbing the back of his head. Many muffled “I'm sorry”s came from his mouth.
Comfort him, oh Providing One.
Quickly, Dark Shade pulled away recovering from his tears. He was no longer crying, but distant gaze and hollow frown revealed that sorrow still gripped him. Phebe felt that sorrow in her own soul. His pain was hers. “Dark Shade, you were forgiven the first time you apologized. The first and only words you said to me when we reunited after four days was 'I'm sorry.' You were forgiven then and there.”
“But...” He watched his broken reflection in the rolling stream below him. “I... I-nevermind. Nevermind.”
“I am listening.”
That statement surprised him more than Phebe expected. He quickly looked up at her with wide-eyes before returning to his sulking downward stare. “The one thing I wanted more than anything else was to stay loyal to my people. When I saw all the terror and agony my people suffered by the Guardians, I wanted to be that hero to rescue them.” He shook his head. “No, after you showed up, I stopped caring about being the hero. I simply wanted to help. I just wanted to make some difference. I wanted to be part of the solution. I longed to be useful! I wanted to serve my queen well... oh my queen.” A few more droplets of water rolled off his face. “The prison you ended up in when we first met I made. I dug out the particular pit that you fell through and used my magic to conceal it. I hoped that somepony would fall in, so I could feed my queen some love. Later, I mastered the teleport spell because my queen had specifically given me that mission. I practiced days at a time... so I could help her.” He inhaled deeply thereby gaining some composure. “Though, she died anyway. She's gone. I tried to stay loyal to her memory; I wanted to help the others. When we split up in these tunnels, I went up to the surface like an unthinking buffoon, and that's when the Guardians found me. I tried to stay loyal...” His voice grew weaker until it was only a whisper. “I tried to stay loyal, Phebe. I tried. That's all I ever wanted to be. I'm a failure.”
Immediately upon hearing that final word, Phebe piped up. “Who told you to turn around?”
“Huh?”
“When I first came to deliver my message, what did I say?”
“I don't know... I wasn't there.”
“But, weren't you told?”
With a sigh, Shade nodded. “Turn around. You meant take a complete turn from our evil ways, right?”
“That's not exactly what I said.” She smiled lightly. “I gave a message and my message was 'I AM says, “turn around.”' That is I AM speaking, not me. When you turned around, you turned around to him.” Since he still refused to look at her, she placed a hoof on his shoulder. “His demand was not for perfection from you. All he wanted was that you would try.” Her light grin turned to a wide beam. “You tried to stay loyal, right? A failure doesn't try.” After a quick pause, she posed an inquiry. “Are you done trying? Do you not want to help your people anymore?”
Shade took a full breath before bringing his gaze up to her.  “No! They... they still matter to me. I want to help...”
“In other words... you're going to keep trying, correct?” Her beam transformed to a wry grin.
“Yes...”
“A failure doesn't try... and yet, here you are, moping that you're a failure while you're yearning to keep trying.” Her head cocked. “Do you see the problem there?”
“I'm... not a failure?” His glower expression brightened somewhat. “I'm not a failure. I'm not a failure!”
“Exactly.” She sighed in relief.
Politely he bowed. “Thank you so much, Phebe! I feel so much better now.”
“You're welcome.” Knowing that Artemis and the others were waiting, she pressed onto the next matter. As much as she wanted to spend more alone time with him, she could not afford to waste time when Guardians could potentially return at any moment. “We should meet with the others then. Head to camp, I'll get everyone else. I should be able to find them.”
“All right.” In a cheery, energetic manner, the Changeling buzzed town the tunnel.
As she watched him disappear, she found terrific joy in the fact that he was still alive. It was so worth it to deliver that message. Wait... Her mind returned her to a discussion she and Artemis had had. Why did Judgment Day still take place? She quickly realized that they had been asking the wrong question. The proper one was: Did Judgment Day take place? The answer was no. As far as she understood, Judgment day meant the annihilation of the Changelings. Though an attack still took place and significantly crippled the Changelings as a people group, they were not annihilated. I told them to turn around; otherwise, they would have been destroyed. They did turn around and because of that Chrysalis sent Artemis to Dodge City, and if they hadn't, all the Changelings would have been in the Badlands. All of the Changelings would have been lost. She laughed. Artemis had already brought up the point that if not for Phebe delivering the message the Changelings would not have survived. She knew that already but hadn't realized that it was the point.
From freeing her people, to killing the Guardians, to learning to use her Element, to finding an answer to a nagging question, she deemed, This day has been a good day.