//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Colored Lenses // Story: Ordeal of the Crystal Princess // by PostNinja //------------------------------// Shining Armor stood atop the hill and looked at the enemy forces advancing towards him on the open field below. Their attacks had been relentless for the last few days, they were clearly determined to stop the advance of his troops deeper into Equestria. The thought made him grit his teeth in frustration. Every day he spent fighting here for these worthless patches of land his family and friends were suffering. He couldn't even imagine what kind of horrors everyone was going through back home. All Shining Armor could do was to hope that he wouldn't be too late to save them when he would eventually drive these monsters back to their holes and liberate Canterlot. The unicorn looked at the advancing swarm of changelings, only barely able to hold back his anger as he looked at the black mass of hideous monsters, chattering and hissing in anticipation of facing their prey. His forces were marching in formation to meet them, lines and lines of crystal ponies ready to defend their homes and the rest of Equestria. Shining Armor was proud to fight with these brave ponies, they had and still kept proving themselves in every battle. Despite having little previous military experience, he had never faced any problems when it came to discipline, nor had the courage of crystal ponies broken even once under the overwhelming odds they were facing. That is why he had hope, even if sometimes it felt that changelings were almost as numerous as all ponies of Equestria combined. From his high vantage point the unicorn could see the entire battlefield, and everything seemed to be going according to the plan. The main bulk of his forces were advancing directly towards the changelings who had come to meet his attack head on. He couldn't see them, but he also knew that the smaller force he had sent through the forest on the west side of the field was advancing under the cover of trees. They would circle around the changelings and flank them. He was certain that his soldiers would be able to hold the line and keep the changelings too busy to notice the danger before it was too late. Shining Armor's gaze went across the changeling battle line. He wasn't sure was he relieved or disappointed that Chrysalis wasn't present. Even though he would have enjoyed defeating the despicable hag personally, he supposed that it was fortunate since Cadence couldn't be here either. Her duties had taken her again back to the Crystal Empire. Whenever she was here, the crystal ponies fought even more tenaciously, inspired by the presence of their rightful ruler. Even from this distance, he could hear the sound of the two armies meeting. Screams and clatter of weapons filled the air and Shining Armor could already see the dust cloud rising, turning the battle into a confused mess of movement and noise. In all honesty, the unicorn would have preferred to be right there in the fray as well. But he was needed here to coordinate their forces. It was not like he would run out of changelings to fight anytime soon. There was still a long way to go before he would reach his home. Suddenly one of his guards shouted a warning and pointed his hoof towards the sky, but Shining Armor already knew what was coming even before he looked up. A smaller swarm of changelings was flying above the battlefield, dispersing into even smaller units and descending towards different parts of the battle. He knew from experience that they would always go where their kin were about to be overrun. There weren’t any pegasi among the crystal ponies, so there wasn’t much he could do about them. He was just about to relay a new set of orders so his forces could respond effectively to the aerial reinforcements when something caught his eye. A single flying figure was charging right towards him. It moved faster than any pegasi or changeling he had ever seen. He couldn’t even make out it’s shape properly because of its speed, but he could only assume that it was some sort of assassin. Most likely a specially trained changeling captain sent to take him out of the fight. To his own surprise, Shining Armor smiled even as he stared at the incoming attacker. Finally a chance to prove himself! Chrysalis was one thing, but there was no changeling drone that could hope to best him in a fair fight. So instead of calling some of his troops to assist him or retreating to the safety, he strode proudly forward, gathering energy to his horn. He would blast the damned monster all the way to it’s master with a message that reckoning was on it’s way. “Come here and fight, changeling! I have a message for that hag you call queen!” Rainbow Dash ignored the incoherent growling and raving of the armoured unicorn, it’s helmet distorting its voice and turning whatever words it was yelling to her into a distorted mess of sounds. It was not like she was here to talk. This thing was what was commanding Sombra’s troops, so if she could just knock it out, the battle would be as good as won, right? Then she could finally make Spitfire shut up about what she called ‘insubordinate and reckless behaviour’. Sure, the unicorn was covered from head to hoof in armoured plates thick enough to probably even give Maud some trouble. When she just barely dodged the blast of magical energy it shot from its horn, Dash didn’t need to know a first thing about magic to know that if she hadn’t, it would have gone right through her. But the pegasus was sure that she would figure something out, so she just kept increasing her speed as she charged at the unicorn who didn’t even try to move away. When the shimmering sphere of energy formed into existence around the armoured unicorn when she was just a few feet away, Dash could only curse even as she desperately tried to change her course to avoid crashing right into the magical equivalent of a steel wall. What had started as a victorious charge turned into a stumbling descent as she flew past the unicorn, hitting the ground in a clumsy stumble, rolling on the snow. Now Dash was just happy that no one else was here to see this. This wasn’t at all like she had imagined this would go. She quickly jumped on her hooves again even as another blast of magic scorched the spot on the ground where the pegasus had just been, turning to face the unicorn again and charging again. Rainbow Dash has been fighting this war long enough to know that staying still was the best option only if you wanted to get yourself killed. The unicorn didn’t seem to know that though, casually walking towards her in lazy stride that oozed arrogance. Geez, it was like fighting Sombra all over again. Dash again almost got to the unicorn, but then that stupid barrier appeared again, blocking her advance and forcing her to jump back. Then she needed to jump again to avoid another blast of magic. This kept going for what was probably a few minutes. She tried to attack, was blocked by the unicorn rising his barrier right at the last moment and had to then spend a moment avoiding the magical attacks before having a chance to try again. What was driving Dash mad though was that she could almost literally see the grin on the face behind that helmet. This jerk was just toying with her, not even trying to fight back seriously, rubbing on her face the fact that she couldn’t get within three feet of him no matter how hard she tried. The unicorn rambled again something through his helmet, but Dash couldn’t understand the garbled sounds any better than before. The pegasus didn’t like to admit it but this situation was eerily similar to when she had seen Sombra for the first time at the beginning of the war. She had charged at the unicorn alone, had not been able to actually do anything to him, and then… She flinched at the memory, feeling the cold metal of her prosthetic wing against her back. She didn’t want to remember any of that. But this time it wouldn’t be the same. Next time she would meet Sombra, things would go very differently. And this armoured jerk was about to find out why. Shining Armour didn’t know why exactly he was even doing this. No matter how he goaded the changeling, it didn’t answer. They never did. He wasn’t even sure could drones speak in the first place. Well, anything a changeling would say couldn’t be trusted anyway. It was time to end this and rout these vermin. He rose up the barrier again, leaving the changeling unable to do anything else than circle around Shining Armour, looking for an opening that would never come. He gathered more and more magic into his horn, this time the blast would be so massive that the changeling would not be able to avoid it, and the shield on its wing wouldn’t be able to protect it either. And the stupid bug just stood there looking at him as he gathered his strength, and for a moment the unicorn could swear that it was smiling. Well, it wouldn’t be doing that for long. But just when the unicorn was about to release all the energy he had gathered for his spell, he felt a sudden tremor from the ground. Shining Armour blinked in surprise and turned to look down at the snowy ground, seeing a crack forming right under his hooves. By the time he realized what it was, it was already too late. The ground burst apart in a shower of rocks under him, and Shining Armour gasped in pain as what felt like a cannonball hit his stomach with enough force to knock him up in the air, both the barrier and his attack spell dissipating, his concentration broken by the sudden pain and shock. The unicorn could only look how the world spun around in his vision, desperately trying to concentrate enough to cast a levitation spell. But then he saw the changeling with the metal wing in front of him again, flying right towards him. Time seemed to slow down to halt as Shining Armour looked at the changeling getting closer and closer, the world hanging upside down behind it. He could just make out another changeling next to a hole on the ground, looking down...up at them even as shards of metal fell back towards it, splinters of his shattered armor. Then his vision went black as the changeling with the metal wing slammed its hooves against his face, and for a moment all Shining Armour could feel was pain like someone had hit him with a slab of metal, followed by the feeling of nausea as the unicorn felt himself rolling helplessly in the air, all hopes of forming a spell in time gone. The last thing he saw in his blurred vision were the ranks of his own troops even as he crashed down among them, and then everything went black again as he fell into the darkness, pain gripping every part of his body.