//------------------------------// // The Shadow King: The Second Invasion Begins // Story: Imbalanced // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// [Choking's Entry] Princess Celestia is alive but the doctors say they won't let her get out of the bed anytime soon. The extent of the wound itself is fairly small but the problem is that despite alicorn ability to recover from anything it refuses to heal. One other problem is that the attacker's weapon apparently wasn't magical but somehow was able to inflict a wound that keeps bringing blinding agony. For now, the princess is stable but has to stay on high doses of morphine just to reduce the screaming. Why am I feeling better then? I'm not sure 'better' is the right word but at least I'm not the one twitching in pain right now. From what I was told when I woke up after few days of the same treatment as the princess the doctors decided to amputate my wings seeing they wouldn't ever again be of use and the pain stopped. It's as if the, let's say, curse was bound to the hurt part of the body. Therein lies the problem with princess Celestia as she suffered a deep chest wound. I heard one of the doctors saying that in theory if they cut off Celestia's head and gave her enough time she would regenerate her body. I guess it's as the old saying goes - never trust a pony with a bonesaw cutie mark. The hope lies in the fact that the guards who got hurt first are slowly recovering but their wounds were minor at best and they still were enough to render them unable to fight. My wings. I love flying but the two stumps on my back are the only things that remain. Anything is better than thinking about that. So... princess Luna is in charge right now. Sharpie is taking care of the situation in the Everfree forest and with Celestia out cold Guiding Light was sent by him along with some other Nightmares to assist the Nightguards monitoring Chrysalis' territory because the changelings were getting more and more curious about the presence of batponies so close to them. There are no reports of agressive behaviour but everypony knows Chrysalis must be keeping an eye on the situation. Why is Sombra doing this though? Scream's revenge is off the table unless he's trying to finish what she started for some reason but then attacking princess Celestia directly wouldn't make sense. Revenge against Blaze seems much more likely even though it would be a very petty reason for invading Equestria again especially when he could have killed him before. I suspect something else is going on and Blaze is the key. Recovering in the infirmary, I had a lot of time to think about my vision. Sombra wants to use Blaze for something here and Sharpie will get killed by him unless I do something. What can I do though? I can't fight any of them personally, I can't stop the invasion magically and I can't help in fighting the army in any special way. I'm just an officer responsible for Nightguard work in Canterlot and Sharpie's emergency replacement. In my vision there were just changelings fighting an overwhelming force. Could it be that I have changed something already? There's a lot of forces stationed within marching distance of the Tree of Harmony and princess Twilight's ready to pounce at any enemy who dares show his face. "Don't look her in the eyes." I think that the other voice from the throne room might have something to do with Blaze switching sides. The thing is that Blaze should be mostly immune to magic if I understand it correctly so he's either going to serve Sombra willingly or there's something I don't know yet. I need more information, some help... anything. [End Entry] "Princess Luna?" The alicorn turns her eyes with bags underneath big enough to hide enough oats to feed a small family through entire winter. "Yes, miss Darkness?" "Do you have some time? With all due respect, you look horrible." Luna just smiles. "There isn't enough anti-wrinkle cream in the world to deal with my age. Surely you haven't come here just to compare the silkiness of our complexion though." "I'm worried about the invasion, your Highness. I told you everything I know about the point of its origin but somehow I feel it's not enough. I'm thinking about asking Void for help or Scream for some more information. I mean Void's power should be enough to balance out any numbers difference there might be and Scream's magic prowess should rival your own." "A very polite choice of words, young nocturnal. I know the difference between my power and Scream's and there is much I still have to learn. Let me be frank with you - your plan will not work, at least not the way you think it might." My silent 'why' is stopped even before it leaves my mouth when Luna continues. "Void won't help directly. Alicorns with strong natural abilities such as my sister and him suffer in the magical department so while Void's interest in it rivals the knowledge of alicorns of Magic his ability to use it is limited at best and same goes for Celestia. The real problem is that while my sister is entirely capable of wiping out Sombra and the entirety of the mirror world by summoning the power of the sun directly there she would never use it in such way as it would kill every living being indiscriminately. I happen to agree with her idea that Equestria shrouded in darkness for few centuries is still better than barren lifeless wasteland." "When you say it like that-" "That's not all. Even in such situation life would eventually find its way from the depths of the world. Now consider Void's natural ability. If he lost control of it even for a short time then there wouldn't be any life to come back. The area where his power hit would be dead forever. I would have asked Void for help myself but I know how much power it requires for him to stop the true death when he unleashes it." "Oh," there goes my brilliant idea. "Scream's ability, on the other hoof, is more of a scouting nature and so is mine which means our magic isn't inhibited by suppressing it naturally. To my regret, I still don't know where she stands in all this but I can tell you she won't help for free. " "But she showed me the vision of the future without asking anything." "That's exactly why. She's helped you already so you won't be able to make her feel guilty about her involvement. In all honesty, making Scream feel guilty about something would be a feat enough to be written into history books. There is a way though. Anypony who finds their way into Scream's dream dimension gets the right to ask for something if they are willing to pay the price." "What is the price?" "I don't know. The magic required to create a stable dimension is beyond me but the theory is that she had to sacrifice something to make a small world that serves basically as a focusing lens for her magic. I don't think she's the one who decides the price of what ponies ask of her. She is bound to fulfill their wish if they do though." "Can you at least give me a hint as to how I could get there in a way that would force Scream to cooperate?" "That is simple. You need to use your own power to get there. For me it would just mean using magic like I did last time. All you have to do is to find a place where you can access her realm. The only place I know about is where your information revealed the main changeling hive is. The access point is a golden statue of Scream in the city which is being watched by Nightguards right now." "Thank you, I'll be on my way then." "I could order you not to go. It is a dangerous trip even with our troops in the area and you cannot know whether it will bear any fruit." "Princess... have you ever felt so helpless that you just wanted to bite a pillow and scream until you passed out? Unable to do even the smallest thing to protect ponies around you." Luna lowers her head and smiles to herself. "Every single day on the moon when I was forced to watch my little bats suffer just for being associated with me. I'm not going to stop you if you really want to go. Truth be told, your involvement in direct combat would be so insignificant that any success you might achieve in your efforts could mean more." "Thanks, princess." I could be talking about fighting hydras, hordes of diamond dogs and cleaving my way through timberwolves but none of that happened. With the presence of so many ponies on the edge of Everfree forest even the most dangerous creatures decided to take few days off and spend them with their loved ones. The only annoying part was when one of the Nightguards had to carry me over some supposedly super deadly gorge which split the forest and was impossible to scale without wings. I could have entered the forest from somewhere else than Ponyville but a bit of hurt pride was better than wasting about two weeks by walking around. The eerie atmosphere of the old castle where princess Twilight should be on watch hanged around but it was still nothing in comparison to the silence of the area where the crumbling walls of the ancient city first came to view. Batponies have sneaking in their blood and my hearing is also far above that of normal ponies but there is literally nothing audible around aside from... ...no, there's nothing. No wind, no whispering of the leaves and totally not the snapping of a twig behind me. Without a second thought I begin running and stop after short distance when nothing follows. Hidden in shadows I take few seconds to gather myself and try to stop the heavy breathing, the only sound in the forest, as it seems to be echoing through the greenery. The short dash brought me to the city walls and it's easy to stay in the shadows cast by them and keep creeping towards the closest hole. The scraping noise of my short coat getting in contact with the stones always makes me jump and the feeling of eyes on me isn't helping which almost makes me want to cry out just to end the suspense. When I lean my head through one of many holes in the fortifications all I see is a huge clearing resembling a city square. Aside from the fact that some of the buildings seem to be held together by green goo there's nothing even remotely threatening about the entire situation. That's the deal breaker. Here I am, in the middle of changeling territory, and there is nopony trying to stop or eat me. There's nothing that could tell me more clearly that they know I'm here. Noticing a stone statue of an alicorn in full combat armor nearby I throw away any attempt at being sneaky and just head straight towards it. The feeling of somepony close enough to touch gets stronger with every step I take towards the statue and in the end I break and mumble to myself. "If ya want to eat me then come out and try." "I would but your thinking you were so stealthy was just too amusing," says a haughty voice to which I'm obviously just a pest. Turning around I have to lean back to look up into the green eyes of unmistakably the most dangerous being I could have met outside of king Sombra. "My guards have been following you since your leaving the old castle. Now what should I do with you, little bat?" Queen Chrysalis smiles. "I'm here to-" I manage to stutter out. "And I'm really sure you care about your goal but now with your amusement value gone I don't think I should waste my time with you anymore." "I need to talk to Scream!" I manage to get out after snapping from the trance of a mouse meeting a snake. The thoughtful expression of the changeling queen proves that dropping the name might give me the few seconds I so desperately need. "Why would that be?" she doesn't even try to deny the way to do it is somewhere around here. "I-it's connected to the reason for all the soldiers around here." "Oh the supposed invasion?" "How-?" "Come on, I hope you don't think my subordinates weren't able to infiltrate your ranks mere days after a unit of your kin came," she snorts and her grin reveals more of her fangs. "More of a reason to let me talk to Scream. She's the only one who can give me more information on stopping it." "Alright, I'll give you a chance to amuse me for few more seconds. You can prove you know how to do what you want and if you succeed I'll let you do it and leave or you can leave right now and none of my subjects will try to stop you." That can't be right. The warning bells begin ringing in my head as soon as she finishes. "What if I fail?" "Backing out already?" Chrysalis grins, "If you fail you will help my swarm in case the invasion happens." "That doesn't sound so bad-" "My subjects need to get well-fed to fight effectively and we could always use more fresh changelings as chitin shields. I think with hips like those you'd make a great incubator. You are a bit too muscular but that should change naturally when your body finds its true purpose after laying first few clutches." It takes all of my will not to scream or throw up at the image but deep down I can't deny the appeal of the queen getting closer to me, spreading me and filling me to the brim with eggs. "Nononononono." "Don't lie to yourself. I can feel you boiling inside at my proposition." She's playing with me but no matter what she says I don't think I have a choice. If I try to leave she'll just grab me and put me into a cocoon. What if she isn't lying though? Future is a strange place and there is no way to know that Scream will be able to help me. But what would me running away achieve? All I'd be able to do would be joining the army and fighting which, to be honest, isn't my strong side. There is nowhere to run. "I really need to talk to Scream. I thank you for your kind, albeit completely fake, proposal of letting me leave," I grin. Something inside just doesn't let me get defeated completely. "Insolent whelp!" the Queen keeps smiling, "When you fail I'll have you working overtime to pump out enough warriors to challenge any invasion." "Ya sure your little wimps can handle a real mare?" Queen Chrysalis bursts out laughing. I might have enjoyed it otherwise but now it just creeps me out more. "I'll handle you personally. Fine, do your business, future broodmother!" There is no need for the Queen to lie to me. If she wanted me imprisoned then there was nothing stopping her the entire time so I turn to the stone statue and... realize I have no idea what to do. "Scream?" I whisper and try to remember the golden alicorn. Nothing. "I'm sure you will at first, all of you do. Then comes the pleased moaning," says Chrysalis smugly. Am I doing it wrong? What am I actually supposed to do? I should have asked Luna but I thought it would be obvious. A mistake that might make me appreciate my addiction instead of resenting it. Something feels off. I can't even imagine Scream in full plate mail which means this statue is either overly appreciative of her or... I walk around to look at the statue's flank. The cutie mark of the sun proves that this indeed is the wrong statue. "Oops. Can you show me Scream's one? I haven't been here before and I didn't see a tourist guide by the city entrance." The Queen retaliates quickly. "I have one of my subordinates on watch by the main entrance just for such situation, too bad you tried to sneak in through a random hole." As long as I keep her interested there's the chance she's going to cooperate just out of sheer curiosity and that's my only hope. I follow her through few narrow streets and we emerge in front of a building which looks like the castle in Canterlot on smaller scale. In the middle of the square the palace overlooks is a life-sized golden statue of an alicorn with black streaks decorating her coat to look like changeling armor plates. Standing before this statue I realize I still have no idea what to do so I just repeat my first attempt. "Scream?" The alicorn of Lust refuses to appear. The alicorn of Lust. Lust... The memory of the desire I felt during my first meeting with her surfaces and I hear Chrysalis snicker when she gets a clear view of me from behind. The screechy noise fades when I feel a gust of air and a golden image appears in the air. The blinding yellow shape bows before the Queen and then its horn touches my forehead. Everything blurs. The bone decorations never cease to amaze me but if both Scream and Void like it it's not my place to comment. It never hurts to be polite at first so I bow to the duo sitting on a couch and drinking wine. "Greetings, miss Darkness," Void returns the bow. "What's up?" Scream raises an eyebrow. "I need more information about the invasion. Can you help me? Luna told me you why Void can't act directly but she also told me about the wish you're supposed to grant me if I get here." "Straight to the point, I like that. Let me correct you on something though. I don't grant wishes, I only provide information and only if you pay the required price first." "Yea I know. Are you willing to help me with the question though? Like not trying to wiggle out of it or anything." "Maybe?" "Do not tease the young lady. She has been through more than many others of her age," Void's hoof pokes Scream's head from behind. "Alright alright, I'll help with all sincerity. After all this is partially my fault." "Partially?" I ask in utter disbelief. "Partially!" Void ends that direction of the conversation. "Fine then. I need you to tell me how to change what I saw in the vision you showed me. I don't want Sharpie to die and I don't want Blaze to kill himself." Scream's eyes flash green. "The price for that knowledge is your life. I also can't make sure you're going to like or understand what you'll get." WHAT? "You mean you'll kill me?" "No. Your life will be required to end at the right time for you to achieve the change you desire. In that you can say the information I'll give you is going to be free. The result, however, would depend purely on you." Nothing to lose right now. "So to save Blaze and Sharpie I'll have to sacrifice myself?" "Not... exactly." "What do you mean?" "I mean that the direct teleportation here through the statue takes some time and you're late." "You don't mean..." "I'm sorry but I think you can't stop what's going to happen shortly." "I have to go!" "Please reconsider," interrupts Void. "I have to warn Sharpie. I have to tell him to leave right now or he'll die." "Physical teleportation from here takes time. You cannot get there in time no matter what we do." Scream moves her hoof and a window wide enough for us to see the situation in the forest appears. The rift is small this time and instead of enveloping the entire area it's just wide enough for few ponies to march through shoulder to shoulder. As soon as the first armed pony walks through a barrage of spells hits the rift and rips through the incoming force. A short while later ponies stop coming. A quiet voice of a commander calling for reinforcements is loud enough for us to hear through Scream's magic and an ornate stone plate behind him begins glowing and princess Luna steps out of the light. Sharp Biscuit stepping out alongside her makes my throat close up. "You know what to do," Luna turns to Sharp who immediately runs away. The rift begins wobbling again which forces another barrage of spells from unicorns aimed at it. This time it isn't enough as the magic seems to be hitting an immovable wall slowly but surely moving through which turns out to be made of fire when the smoke from spells clears up. The amount of magic in the air can almost be felt even through the viewing window and I realize what the enemy plan was when the wall of fire parts and reveals a bronze changeling with glowing red crystal where a horn would be. As soon as the unicorns see him the idiots begin firing wildly and when their assault ends there stands Blaze without even being scratched, laughing wildly. The fact that Sombra had all this planned out becomes clear when Luna commands the unicorns to stop using spells and pull out projectile weapons. The physical assault fails as well when runes on Blaze's body glow bright purple and everything flying in his direction melts mid-air. Behind him Sombra's forces are getting out of the rift safely. "Done with your petty tricks already, wizards?" Blaze sneers at the defending forces. The flashing lights return in heightened intensity and the attack ends the same way. Apparently military strategy training doesn't involve not wasting your power when it keeps failing. A different group joins the defenders who look worried for few seconds but then turn to the obvious threat. The queen of changelings lands next to princess Luna without any opposition. "Little ponies can't handle a bit of magic?" Chrysalis taunts Luna. "My sister asked me to help you so don't make it harder." "I see. Let's think of this as one of those 'enemy of my enemy' situations for now. I can always eat you later." "Your foresight shames me." "I thought it would," smiles Chrysalis and charges her horn to send an emerald beam slicing the ground where it touches but failing to do anything to the immovable defender. "Let me show you how it's done." The red crystal on Blaze's forehead glows. "Your little pests fed me to high heavens." The red glow turns to black. "And NOW I CAN SHOOT LASERS OUT OF MY BUCKING EYES!" A single red beam cleaves through trees, unicorns and anything else that happens to be in the way. "MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Blaze notices the devastation and knocks his hoof questioningly near his destroyed eye. "Alright... dramatic effect wasted. Time to just end you." The horn glows a second time and for few seconds it seems the rift spread again but then the eye adjusts and realizes the glimmer spreading behind Blaze is filled with swords of varying shapes and sizes sticking out of it. Then the bombardment begins with the flying weapons just bursting out of the glimmer and aiming towards the defenders. Luna protects herself with a barrier and Sharp jumps in front of queen Chrysalis, holding his shield to protect both of them. "Hah! I knew I looked good enough to make your guys lay their lives for me without magic," Chrysalis grins. "If I wasn't under orders to keep you alive I would have let you get shredded, you overgrown beetle," growls Sharp while holding his shield with increasing number of swords breaking through it. The swords disappear into thin air and Blaze assesses the situation. Some shield bubbles survived, others didn't. Amidst broken bones and pierced flesh the cries of the wounded can be heard but he ignores them and focuses on the princess, the Queen and Sharp. The glimmer returns and all the weapons are now aimed at just one pony. Blaze gives a haughty look to the mage who dared to survive his onslaught unscratched - princess Luna. Her panicked expression fills the screen as her barrier disappears a moment before the countless swords take flight again. The magic fades and the princess keeps standing. The batpony holding the scattered remains of a shield in front of her slowly falls over when his dutiful mind finally registers that most of his body is missing. The princess looks down at her bodyguard. When she looks back up her eyes are teal and slit and her starry mane turns into a tempest of blue smoke. "Our magic might not be able to reach you but I still am the princess of the Night. You are hereby banished from my realm," Luna's words ring clearly. Without any visible effect Blaze's phoenix wings disappear and he drops to the ground. "Retreat!" orders not-Nightmare-Moon-looking-anymore Luna and disappears along with Chrysalis in a flash. With Sombra's forces now unopposed they begin pouring though the rift. "NO! GET ME THERE RIGHT NOW!" "We cannot." "BUCK YOU! GO THERE AND SAVE HIM!" "I cannot." "WHAT'S YOUR POWER GOOD FOR THEN?" "Sometimes no amount of power can prevent tragedies from happening." "YOU'RE GONNA JUST STAY HERE AND WATCH?" "Yes." is Void's choked response. "Please help..." "Let me show you the answer to your question then," Scream leans to me. It's a nice day. Sun is shining, pegasi are flying around and I'm walking through a town with dirt roads but cozy buildings. Everypony around seems happy and going about their business. One building with bars on its windows is larger and grabs my attention as a blue pony with ruffled greyish-white mane runs out of the main entrance and begins barking. A barking pony? IS THAT ALL? I wasted my only chance at warning Sharpie just to be shown a vision of some retard? "Was it helpful?" asks Scream. "...go buck yourselves, both of you..." I can't see anything anymore through tears falling down on the carpet. When the batpony disappears from Scream's dream realm the golden alicorn turns to Void and sighs. "Well?" "What?" "Say your piece." "What do you mean?" Void just raises an eyebrow. "Yell at me for all this being my fault! Tell me I should do something to help!" "I happen to think Celestia deserved a little lesson. The fact that the lesson ruined lives of countless others and especially the one pony without whom you would not be here and happy right now is just a minor side-effect." Scream grits her teeth. "Sometimes I want to kill you." "Who would make sure you do the right thing in the end if you did that?" "Shut up!" ... "FINE!" "Thank you, dear." "I tried..." I sob into princess Luna's chest. "You should have told me everything." "I didn't know whether it would make it happen rather than stopping it." "You should still have told me everything," Luna says sadly but calmly. "You're not angry?" "No. Future sight is a liability most of the time especially without previous experience." "I'm sorry." "Don't be. It wasn't your fault." I've failed. Sharpie is dead and there's nothing I can do to prevent Blaze from dying now as well. The princess' judgement means he'll never be able to sleep again. Even with a magical body heavily resistant to damage his mind and soul will disappear eventually. The final curse might be even worse in his case. Trapped inside an almost immortal body with his sanity degrading quickly he'll suffer more torment than anypony could ever imagine. Even if his body survives Blaze has at most a week of existence left. It's over. "I want to take Sharpie's place," I say with grim determination. "I refuse," says Luna immediately. "Why?" "I can feel your pain and my bodyguard shouldn't be somepony whose only wish is to throw away her life aimlessly." "Am I not good enough even for standing in front of you and taking a sword in the face?" "Go home, little bat. Have a good night's rest. Take few days off. That's an order." Without a word I leave princess Luna's room and ignore everything on the way to my apartment. I am useless.