Guardians of Light: A Shadow Rises
Chapter 9: In the Grand Scheme of Things
-Former Changeling Hive-
The Shadow looked down from the balcony outside Chrysalis' chambers and observed the hive's conversion. The first few to be released from their pods were untrusting and wild, but through his efforts, Brutus had managed to instruct them to oversee the remaining pods. It had been several hours and the first wave of openings had begun. Beings that were once changelings crawled out of their pods with red ooze still stuck to their bodies. The Shadow's lips stretched into a joyous smile as he watched the infant converts begin to get a new taste for the world they were born into for a second time.
"You called for me?" Brutus asked.
Telepathy is such an overlooked ability in the magical realm. "Yes I did," the Shadow responded with a gesture towards Chrysalis' chambers. "Come with me." His horn glowed yellow as the doors to the queen's chamber swung open with a similarly colored haze surrounding them. "She kept her maps in here, correct?"
"I believe so," Brutus replied and followed the alicorn into the decadent room. Well, decadent by changeling standards. A full size hay-stuffed bed with stony railings lay against the wall with a nightstand by its side. Opposite the bed was what could pass for a vanity along with some chests that had been stolen from passing caravans that got a bit too close to the hive's entrance. In the center of the room was Chrysalis' strategy table that had been cut from a fat black stalagmite. All of this was bathed in a soft green from the slime-filled pods that were suspended from the ceiling.
Well, it's not like the queen will be using this place anymore. "They're in there if you're wondering." Brutus pointed a perforated hoof to a hollowed out stalagmite in the corner of the room. Poking out from the top were several rolled up scrolls. Paper had been hard to come by for the changelings, and whatever paper they could find, they made into surveys of the surrounding woodland and cities they'd managed to go through undetected.
The Shadow looked to the collection of paper and gave a sharp nod in acknowledgement. "Ah, thank you."
Brutus' eyebrows furrowed as the Shadow began to rummage through the scrolls. "Which map are you looking for?"
"Your kind visited this place once, albeit for a brief time… it should be- aha!" The Shadow picked out a scroll from among the group and carried it over to the table in the center of the room. With a swipe of his hoof, he cast all the papers and scrolls to the floor and unfurled the new scroll onto the middle of the table.
Brutus walked around to the other side and looked down at the map. From the upside-down lettering, he could easily make out 'Canterlot'. "Our first target?"
"If we are to liberate Equestria," the Shadow said with a stroke of his chin. "We must first cut off the head of the snake before moving on to the surrounding regions."
"I thought you said the world would be ours for the taking. Not just Equestria."
The Shadow looked up to his servant and found an anxious glint in his eye. "This world will taste freedom, not simply conquest. Be patient, Brutus. Soon you will be commanding our converted through the woods and mountains of the Griffon Kingdoms, the ice of the Crystal Empire, and the deserts of Saddle Arabia. But since it's closest, Equestria must be liberated."
"But if we strike Equestria, the other nations would begin to build up their own forces in response. What then?" Brutus put his front hooves on the table and leaned forward as the Shadow responded.
"While it is wise to not underestimate your enemy," The Shadow answered, returning his focus to the map. "You must not make mountains out of molehills. The griffons are divided amongst one another. Should civil war break out, it will make their lands that much easier to take. The Crystal Empire's defensive guard is smaller than Equestria's, but the terrain will provide a natural defense. Saddle Arabia is sparsely-populated, but the areas that are populated are quite large. While Saddle Arabia's cities can easily be encircled and taken, their armies are much larger and stronger. Thus they will be our last point of attack." He paused to take a breath. "Should Equestria fall, it will not unite any of the nations against us. They either have their own squabbles to take care of or are too far apart to form geographical alliances."
Brutus looked over the map and huffed. "I have one more question."
The Shadow's gaze rose to meet Brutus' at the hesitance in his voice. "You have doubts?"
"Not so much doubts, but lack of understanding." Brutus' eyes skittered around the room, focusing on anything but the yellow orbs that were burning into him. "You speak of liberation, yet I find nothing for the world to be freed from, apart from its own weakness. So what are we freeing this world from, exactly?"
The Shadow's features hardened. "The answer you seek goes back eons, all the way back to when this universe was born out of the void and given life. It is an oppression that no one can see or feel, the same bondage that has enslaved all of creation."
Brutus swallowed and sucked in a breath. "And what is that?"
"I cannot fully explain it to you, Brutus, because the complete truth is hidden from mortal understanding. However, I can show you. But what you see you may not like. Are you sure you wish to continue?" The Shadow closed his eyes and charged up his horn. "Very well. Close your eyes." The Shadow waited for the former changeling to comply, to which he received a brisk nod. "Open them."
Brutus cracked an eye open before both shooting wide at what he saw. Before him stood a city of paradise. The golden streets almost blinded Brutus as a warm light shone onto the realm from on high. Bipedal figures in simplistic robes and garments of white and brown travelled through the city with not a hint of sadness or pain on any of their faces.
Brutus reached to put a hoof on his head in disbelief, only to give a double take at his hoof. The spiked bones from the transformation had faded and the tissue that filled the gaps was gone. He turned his head around to look at the rest of him and gasped at seeing that he was his original self.
"Amazing, isn't it?"
Brutus turned to the familiar voice and before him stood another bipedal figure, this one with combed back white hair and a simple leather garment covering his body.
"Shadow?" he asked.
The being's yellow eyes looked down to meet his. "That's not what I used to be called here. I was known as Morning Light in this place and it was my duty to bring the daylight to this kingdom." The Shadow flashed a reminiscent smirk and shook his head before returning his gaze to the city. "You should have seen what I had here, Brutus. Here, I had a home, a respectable position on one of the highest councils in the kingdom, and the loving affections of all I passed by on the streets."
"So… what happened?" Brutus asked bluntly. "I mean, if you had so much, why give it all up?"
The Shadow dipped his head. "I came to a terrible conclusion. That everything I had known was a cruel lie." He looked back down at the changeling. "Tell me, Brutus. Do you believe in fate, destiny, or free will?"
Brutus pursed his lips as he pondered. "I'd like to say that I have control over my own actions. Why?"
The Shadow's features hardened. "What if I told you that you were predestined to give that answer? That you were predestined to be the one that slayed your queen and her hive? How would you feel if I had been selected to be telling you these things after everything that has transpired between us?"
Brutus' eyes darted back and forth in thought. "I don't get it."
"Herein lies the oppression, Brutus. That nothing we ever do is our own decision. Everything we've done, could've done, that we do now, can do now, will do, or have the potential to do has been decided for us. The ones that die young, the ones that live into their old age. The ones who get sick, the ones who are healthy. Who our enemies are and those we consider friends. Our interests, hobbies, hopes... Every aspect of our lives is not ours to decide. That free will is an illusion; an illusion to keep us blinded to the truth that everything we were, are, and will be is controlled by a higher being."
Brutus blinked at the implications of what he'd just been told. "The king you mentioned before… the one you rebelled against. Is he the higher being you speak of?"
"Yes, Brutus," the Shadow said with a somber nod. "And for my decision to free myself from his will, he cast me out of this place, never to return. But one thing he didn't realize was that the place I'd been banished to would be the fertile ground for which my seeds of freedom could be planted, that I would find a new mission in my exile."
As the Shadow spoke, the golden kingdom and bright sky faded and were replaced by black nothingness surrounding a small blue and green planet. Brutus narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized the world's geography. It didn't take long for him to realize the world he was looking at was his own.
"And we are to bring that freedom to the rest of the world?" Brutus asked.
"To all of creation, if possible." The Shadow's gaze grew hopeful as he beheld the planet before him. "Millions are held captive to an order they do not realize. That they are trapped by another being's wishes."
"And how exactly do you free them? By killing them?"
The Shadow vehemently shook his head. "Oh no, no, Brutus. I do not simply kill. I allow for life to continue as well." As he spoke, he extended an arm, on which was a dark steel gauntlet. "You've already seen what Siphon can do," he said, his other hand stroking the metal brace. "While Siphon's blade pierces flesh, and can kill as a result, I have developed a kind of magic that can liberate the soul while preserving the body." The Shadow gazed admirably upon the gauntlet as he withdrew his hand. "The wounds I inflict on others with Siphon and the pods I have converted are both charged with this magic."
Brutus' lips thinned. "So they're zombies?"
The Shadow let out a short laugh. "Zombies are undead, Brutus. They were dead, but then rose again. The difference between zombies and the ones I convert is that my converts never fully receive death. They continue living in the physical realm until they themselves are killed by other means. The soul, however, has no more burdens to bear from the king's wishes." As he spoke, the Shadow's hands clenched into a fists of anticipation. "This is the beauty of my freedom, Brutus. The king's will burdens the soul. My magic strips the soul from the body, leaving the king nothing to control. Without a soul, the flesh that remains is its own master."
Brutus looked over his original form. "So is that what happened to me? Did you turn me into one of your converts?"
"No, Brutus. You still have your will as a reward for supporting me in a time of need. What I gave you were… improvements."
Brutus looked back up at the planet before him. "And what happens after we free this world?"
"We move on to the next," the Shadow said with a folding of his arms. "And then another after that, and a fourth, a fifth, and so on until we free all creation from the king's oppression."
Brutus blinked. "Sounds like we have a lot to do," he sighed.
"Indeed."
The planet and space flashed in a blinding light and Brutus shut his eyes from the brightness. When he opened them again, he found himself in Chrysalis' chambers with a certain yellow-eyed alicorn staring at him from across the table.
"Now do you understand why we're doing what it is we're doing?" the Shadow asked.
Brutus answered with a deliberate nod. "I feel that you've answered my question pretty well."
"Good," the Shadow said as his yellow gaze dropped to the map of Canterlot. "Now, we'll need to find an infiltration point. I hope you remember how your kind invaded the last time."
Brutus flashed his fangs with a smile. "Wouldn't forget it. And after all this time, I figure some payback would go well with liberating the city."