In Times of War

by Th4ack

Chapter Three - The Bearers of Bad News

A lengthy search for the missing guard yielded no true answers. He was MIA for days, with no other clues as to how he vanished. The only things left behind by him was his gear, that was it. There were no shouts for help, and no dead changeling; just one missing changeling, and one missing guard. And where either of them were was anypony's guess at this point.

Celestia and I did not want to be the bearers of bad news to his family. They still were waiting, patiently for our arrival, with their husband/father in tow. They had faith in us, and we just may have failed them.

What was the most scary thought though, would be if we did randomly find him. While there was a possibility that this would be the stallion we were looking for, he could very well be the missing changeling, disguised as the MIA guard. It would be quite challenging telling them apart.

When no new leads on the missing guard case turned up, Celestia and I made an agreement to go tell his family what happened. We would tell them about the war, and who the obvious victor was. We didn't even know if they knew it ended yet.

But the main reason of us being there would be to tell them that their husband and father was missing in action. He could have potentially been kidnapped by a changeling right before the fighting would have stopped. We brought his helmet with us, to maybe help explain what had happened.

Celestia and I were walking to the family's house, who were eagerly awaiting our return. We decided against taking the royal chariot to go here; it would be too fast of a travel. We needed some time to think about what we should say to them.

"So what should we tell them?" I asked. "That their father is missing, presumed to be dead? Seems too blunt of a statement to me."

"I agree," she replied. "We should try to let them down easily, and first tell them about the victory."

"It won't be much of a victory to them once we tell them what happened to the guard." I mumbled.

"We don't know entirely what their reaction would be, sweetie." She said. "They, the wife especially, might end up handling it pretty well. Besides, we don't really know if he died."

"Let's hope they stay as calm and collected as they were when we first left that house." I said. "I just hope we don't have as dangerous of a conversation with them this time."

I paused, looking up at her.
"How come the few times we went to this house, we've always had to deliver bad news to them? Can't we just stay there and have some tea or something?" I asked her.

"Tyler, you know our schedule wouldn't allow that." She said, somewhat disheartened. "We've been extraordinarily busy for a while now, especially after the attack on Canterlot."

This was very true as well. After the battle, we had been constantly moving about, giving aid to anypony in need. We have both been making frequent stops to the city of shambles previously known as Fillydelphia, providing assistance. Many other cities had also been hit by the changeling army, cities such as Manehattan and Las Pegasus. None of the destruction matched that of Fillydelphia. Why would they attack a city like that with such ferocity, and send maybe half of what we were expecting to Canterlot?

"Celly," I said to her. "Do you have any idea why they would destroy Fillydelphia like that, but not attack Canterlot with anywhere near as much force?"

She looked down to the ground as we walked. "You have to remember that they tried to take over our city once already, and failed."

"But why Fillydelphia? Why not another city like Manehattan, Vanhoover, or even Ponyville?"

"Perhaps it was to cripple our businesses and economy. It would have been a much easier target for them to take control of, the events that transpired earlier proving that."

She looked up at me directly. "I had thought about sending more troops there, especially since that we easily had enough to defend ourselves in Canterlot."

"It's a little too late to have thoughts like that now. What happened, happened, there's no changing that. All we can do is rebuild, and look forward into the future." I said, trying to encourage her spirit.

"It's a good thing that no pony that lived there was seriously injured. We had to hospitalize a few, but for the most part everypony was safe and sound." She said. This made me feel better, a little bit. I had always wondered how many managed to escape before the attack began. No pony before her had given me a clear answer for some reason.

Of course we still had to deliver that bad news of their husband/father's disappearance to the guard's family. This would be the hardest news to deliver by anypony, to anypony. We continued walking, and could see the family's house in the distance. I hesitated to go there, but like having to send him away from them, there was no choice.

We felt the wind shift, now coming from the north much stronger than before. We looked over the horizon to see a storm brewing. Dark clouds, moving at a pretty fast speed, seemed to be somewhat chasing after us. Under all of those clouds, a figure seemed to be approaching. Celestia and I stopped to get a better view.

"Did the weather ponies schedule a storm? That must be one of them now." I said to Celestia.

The figure was now galloping, full speed ahead. It looked like it was trying to outrun the clouds behind him. We could see some of his facial features as he raced toward us. I recognized that gray coat and purple mane from anywhere.

It was the guard.

"Is that him?" I asked, squinting to get a better view.

"It... It has to be. It's either him or the changeling, and there's only one way to find out." She replied.

She started to walk forward towards the sprinting figure, with an almost hypnotized look in her eyes as she trotted.

"What if it's the changeling?" I asked, warning her of a possible impending doom.

"That's what I'm concerned about."

We walked cautiously, towards the approaching figure. He still galloped toward us, full speed. He had a look of pure concentration on his face, like he was trying to accomplish a very important goal.

"If it's not him," she whispered to me. "Just play along. We might be able to force him to show his real form."

"Got it." I replied.

He stopped in front of us. It looked just like him, same mane, fur color, eyes, everything. Either this was him, which we both were doubting, or it was the changeling. He took off his helmet (which we were wondering why he had to begin with) as a sign of respect to address his commanders.

"Greetings, Princess. Hello, Tyler." He said, blankly. At least he (or it) knew our names.

"Where were you? We searched all over Equestria to find you!" Celestia said to him.

He was about to speak, but I decided to ask him about his equipment he now apparently had.

"And why do you have your helmet? It's supposed to be right here." I asked, showing him the helmet with "his" initials on it. The helmet he currently had had no initials on it whatsoever.

"That filthy changeling casted a spell and teleported me somewhere far away, somehow causing my equipment to vanish. I had to scavenge some old worn down equipment, and had to repair it myself."

He handed me his helmet. It was an official Royal Guard helmet, but it was much more worn down than the other one. It appeared to be an older type than the currently issued helmet, so this gave me even more doubts than I had before.

Celestia noticed my concern, and also examined the helmet carefully. She had her doubts too, from the looks of it.

"Did you recognize where you were when you teleported?" She asked him.

"I did not. It was unlike any other place I had been to before." The guard replied.

"I see..." She said, before glimpsing at me as I gave her the helmet.

"Umm... That's mine." The guard said to Celestia. You do NOT address royalty that way.

"Excuse me?" Celestia said, in an offended, but baffled tone.

The guard looked around, frantically. "Uh, I mean uhh... Keep it, it's yours." He said, smiling worriedly.

"Uh-huh." I said, not believing what I just heard.

"Well, then. Mister Guard," I continued. "Don't you think you should go reunite yourself with your family? I'm sure they're ready to see you."

Celestia gasped, and looked at me, then at the guard, smiling at the both of us uncomfortably. "Guard, please excuse us for a moment." She nervously chuckled, dragging me away from him. We were far away from the guard when she finally released me from her grip.

"Are you CRAZY!?" She angrily whispered. "You are putting that family in grave danger by doing this!"

"Celly, I know what I'm doing. Once we expose this guy as a real changeling, we'll be able to capture him, and then maybe find the real guard."

"If this family gets injured, I... I don't even know what I would do!" She almost shouted. "We already have evidence that supports the theory that he is a changeling."

"I know, but we have to be sure." I said simply, then starting to walk over to him. She followed, fuming until we got close to him.

"Alright, guard. Ready to go see your family again?" I asked, smiling.

We heard thunder clap from the distant storm, that was rapidly approaching.

"We should also take some cover from the storm." I said.

"Yeah." He said, seemingly unsure about this.

We made it to the family's house, and I knocked on the door. The guard's wife, the mare who cried non stop, opened it.

Celestia and I smiled at her, Celestia's smile was more forced given her concern.
"Honey, you're back!" She shouted happily. She hugged and kissed him, Celestia and I eyeing each other uneasily.

She leaned back to the doorway, still smiling away.

"Who the HAY are you?" The "guard" asked her. This had confirmed it, he was definitely a changeling. The mare jumped back in shock at the words.

"What? Don't be silly, honey, you remember me!" She smiled, trying to shake off the words.

"Who is this?" He asked Celestia and I directly. We frowned at him, mentally telling him that he should know who this mare was.

"Oh, yeah! You're uhh... Uhh..." He paused, putting a hoof to his chin.

"Alright, that's enough of this." He said, in a voice much different than his normal one.

We were blinded by this green light that somehow emitted from this guard's body. I pushed the mare back into her house, slamming the door shut to keep her safe.

When our vision was repaired, we saw a changeling snarling at us. He was definitely a changeling, we can confirm that.

"DEATH TO THE PRINCESS!!" It screamed. It pulled out the guard sword it had in a scabbard on its side.

The princess prepared her magic to defend herself against the attacker.

We heard a mighty battle cry, and we looked up. Charging at it the same direction the clouds came from, another guard, matching the same look as that of the real guard, charged toward the imposter.

He galloped at ludicrous speed toward us, a speed I considered near impossible to achieve. He leapt into the air, and tackled the confused changeling. He tried restraining the creature, causing it to nearly stab him. He dodged the attack, and Celestia with her magic, disarmed the attacker. An assassination attempt on the princess had been successfully averted.

The changeling was then hoof-cuffed. This was the first changeling to be captured alive by anyone in Equestria.

"Well, we know who the real guard is now." I said bluntly. The true guard reclaimed his sword, and bowed.

"Here to serve you, your Highnesses." He said, smiling weakly.

"You... You're alive!" Celestia gasped, a hoof over her mouth. "How did you-".

"I'm sure you heard this from the imposter, but he teleported us away from the battlefield, to some rural area by Ponyville." He explained.
"We continued to fight there. Somehow my armor was gone, as well as my weapons. We fought with our own bare hooves. I got him pinned to the ground, before he teleported again, just taking himself away this time, leaving me alone on the outskirts of Ponyville."

"So that's why he had different armor than you. He was telling the truth when he said he needed to scavenge some for himself." I said to him.

"That would have to be the case, though I don't know where he would find some." He replied.

"It was an older helmet type, but was still an official Royal Guard one." I beckoned Celestia to show him the helmet, which she did.

"I see. As I was saying, after the fight, I contacted Twilight Sparkle, who apparently had left the battlefield right after she defeated the queen. We talked, and taught me a spell on how to teleport far distances. After many days of practicing, I finally got it down pact, and decided to teleport home. I said goodbye to her, and teleported here. Then I saw you all in conflict with the changeling here." He said.

"Ah yes, and as for the changeling..." Celestia said, looking angrily at the creature. Her horn glowed, and soon the changeling vanished.

"Where did he go!?" I shouted, thinking he escaped again.

"Don't worry, honey. He's just been sent to the Canterlot dungeon for who knows how long." She said, grinning.

"Good, as long as we have that creature under control, I am a happy man." I replied.

"If you two don't mind, I should return to my family. The missus hasn't seen me in days. I'm sure she's worried sick."

"Very well, guard. We hope to see you soon." Celestia said.

The guard then marched over to his front door. Thinking victory was ours, we both turned to each other and smiled.

"You know, I probably could have defended myself against the changeling even if the guard didn't come here." She said, smirking.

"I figured you could." I smiled back. "That's kinda why I just stood there."

"Let's just give him the credit that he "saved" me, alright sweetie?" She said.

"That's alright with me." I replied.

Presently, we heard someone yell inside the house. We jumped and looked to the source of the bloodcurdling screams. We ran as fast as we could to see what the commotion was.

The door was wide open, the guard had obviously entered inside. Thoughts rushed through my mind really fast. What just happened? Was someone hurt? Did someone get attacked? Was there a possibility that this guard could have been a second changeling? If so, why would he save the Princess?

We entered the house, only to find the two staring at each other, terrified. The mare was holding an umbrella she appeared to be using as a weapon, and breathing really heavily. The guard was trying to calm her down, explaining that he was the real guard, that he was her real husband.

"Come on, honey. How would I remember you if I was a changeling?" He asked, trying to make her relax. "Put down your weapon, I'm home."

"You can't be my husband!" She shouted, pointing the umbrella at him, accusingly. "You have to be one of those changeling things!"

"Ma'am, it's really him." I stated calmingly.

"He can't be! Not after what happened!"

"He saved the Princess from being killed," I stated. Obviously, this is somewhat of a lie, as she said she was more than capable of defending herself, but he did try to save her, and restrained the changeling before any harm could be done.

Her eyes widened as she dropped the umbrella. "Is... that true?" She asked the Princess.

"It certainly is. Why would a changeling save me, out of all the other ponies of Equestria?" Celestia asked her.

"I... I don't know..." She said, trying to put the puzzle together. She looked at the guard.

"Honey, is that you?" she asked like a little schoolfilly.

"Berry, I'm home." He said, calmly.

The two embraced each other warmly, both of them having doubts they'd see their significant other ever again. But, here they were. Together, after a war that nearly separated them, forever.
The mare started crying as she held her husband close.

"T-thank you... for everything, you two." She smiled through her teary eyes. "Thank you, for bringing him back to me."

"We promised you we would bring him home" Celestia said, smiling.

"And... and you kept it." The mare could barely contain her joy. "All I can really say is... thank you very much. Equestria is very lucky to have rulers like you."

It was hard to take that compliment without my heart exploding. I never considered myself a ruler of Equestria, at all. I just considered myself lucky. Lucky to have fallen in love with Celly. Lucky to have married her. And lucky to be in a world as wonderful and caring as this one.

And even when we had to defend ourselves using weapons instead of words, we still came out on top. I regretted having to banish the queen, and having to cause her army to be destroyed. But she sent out her troops to destroy us, and friendship itself. What else were we supposed to do?

Author's Note:

The third chapter. Expect a small epilogue after this, so enjoy!