Dichotomy

by Anonymity12

Theirs

Theirs

The Canterlot Courtyard stood silent. The only sound produced was from a gentle breeze rustling the leaves of nearby trees and bushes. Guards stood in every square foot of the Courtyard, most standing over a still, black entity. Six particularly important ponies stood in the center of the courtyard, watching a vague pony shape squirm for the last few seconds of its precious life. The vague pony shape was a changeling, now still and dead in the crisp morning air. Those six ponies did not mourn it.

The changeling's long, blue-green hair glistened brightly, almost as if it was permanently polished. From the changeling's black mouth dripped an adhesive used to bind and trap its prey, as well as create various structures for the Changeling's use. Twilight Sparkle looked, disgusted, upon the figure, but it was a facade. She didn't know how to feel.

A rainbow-maned pegasus spoke up first.

"What now?"

"I'll go inform the princesses of our success," Twilight spat the word, "You five stay here and make sure it-- she, make sure she doesn't get up."

"We know she's dead, Twi," A southern accent replied, somber in its tone, "We checked five minutes ago."

"I know"

Twilight left the scene of disgrace and sadness, listening only to the soft crying of a pink-maned pegasus. She entered Canterlot Castle, and didn't look back.

The halls of the castle were, too, silent. No pony bowed to her combination of wings and a horn, nor did they acknowledge her crown. They hung their heads in shame. Her path was one she had trodden before, often times in fear or in happiness. Never once would she think about giving her mentor this kind of news. A victory in theory, but a loss in spirit.

They were dead.

They were all dead.

Twilight already knew how she was going to deliver the news. Her speech would be short, sweet, and to the point. Twilight was, after all, all about efficiency. As she walked, she didn't worry about it. She instead pondered all her memories of the blue-green hair and the black, hard chitin. It had taken all of 5 minutes for Twilight to realize Cadence was not herself on the days before the wedding. Twilight hadn't actually seen her true form until the wedding day. She seemed so evil then. Detached. As if she was a generic villain in a storybook, hell-bent on destruction alone. It took months of study to determine what she had really been after. Her very powers stemmed from the thing that destroyed her with quantity. An overdose. Twilight had never payed attention to the irony of the situation.

It was clear to Twilight that today was a turning point of history. Books would be published about this day for years to come. Centuries, even. Twilight pondered the possibility of the title "Changeling-Slayer," but dismissed it in disgust. She did not want to be known for the extinction of a species. It would be a bad reputation to have.

As she approached the golden doors she knew so well, only one thing occurred to Twilight.

It could have ended differently.

Comments

[SomeRandomMinion]

[MephileztheHam]

Woah, I am liking this dark turn here. Oh and welcome back! Good to see you up and about again

[The Cosmic Consciousness]

The extinction of the changelings. But I've wanted to be a changeling for months.
History is full of those times, of tragedies. The times that make people think "why did it have to this? How would life be different?"