Evacuation
Another chapter.
yaay. 
With the dim shine of Celestia's sun rising in the east, Dawn had arrived to end the reign of night. With most of the dead buried and the trenches filled, the area outside of the cave looked a lot less like the bloody battlefield where much death was dealt. Instead, the area was now bustling with activity as fresh reinforcements and supplies had arrived to aid everypony within the cave. Carts and wagons filled with goods were now being transported within in order to provide much needed aid to the sick and injured inside. With everything going smoothly, Applejack stood with Meteor Shatter spectating the scene.
"Looks like we can finally catch a break ‘round here." Applejack remarked.
"Like I promised, supplies and medical aid to help alleviate you all of most of your burdens. I’m sorry that we can’t do much else until we reach the capital.”
“That’s fine Princess, we’re mighty grateful for this
While the two were conversing, a pegasus guard clad in the same lavender armor as her comrades landed before the two and gave a quick bow.
"Princess, I have a message from the Queen, she wishes for you to return to Starfall at once." the mare stated.
"Tell my mother that we have refugees in need of our aid in this area, and that I have found the Prince amongst them as well."
The mare's eyes widened upon hearing the good news of the prince's return. "Prince Comet has been found? The Queen will be very happy to hear this then."
"I'm planning on reallocating these refugees to the capital in repayment for their help in rescuing my brother. Tell the Queen to expect some new faces in the Empire."
"As you wish Princess, but bear in mind that these ponies will be subject to immediate inspection upon arrival to the capital. You know well that your mother dislikes outsiders."
Meteor scoffed. "She was an outsider herself from what Silver used to tell me, and yet she rose to become one the greatest rulers in Aurorian history. Now get going." Meteor countered.
Acknowledging her orders, the pegasus mare unfurled her wings and took to the air to deliver the news. Applejack looked upon Meteor with curiosity as she watched the mare fly away.
"Yer mother ain't from around here?" she asked.
"No, I never knew where she was originally from. When had I asked her once she just froze up suddenly, and she had this blank look in her eyes, almost as if she couldn’t remember at all." Meteor replied, looking down at the floor sadly. “I tried asking her again but she just sat there unresponsive, Silver then appeared out of nowhere and told me to go play with my brother after that. I dropped the subject soon after since I think I might have touched something sensitive, especially knowing how much pain she’s been in after Father died…”
Applejack couldn’t take it as she wrapped her hooves around the young mare to give a comforting hug.
“Now I can’t imagine what your Mother must have gone through in her past… but I can promise ya that maybe one day, she’ll tell you what happened. And on that day, you’d best be there to comfort her when she does ya hear me?”
Meteor gave a content sigh and broke the hug with the older mare."Thank you Miss Applejack I’ll be sure to keep true to your words. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to coordinate the route back to the kingdom."
Nodding softly, Applejack watched as Meteor gestured to her guards and trotted quickly towards the cave. While watching the rest of the relief effort, the farmmare didn't notice Silver Shriek approaching from behind.
"Curious of the Queen?" he asked simply, catching Applejack off-guard.
"Gah! Now listen here! It's rude ta sneak up on a mare like that!" she cried.
"Apologies Miss Applejack, but couldn't help but overhear your conversation with the Princess. I can tell you about the Queen in order to shed some light on the pony you'll have to meet."
"Wait, yer saying I have ta meet the Queen now?" she questioned.
Silver chuckled softly at Applejack's question. "You didn't really think we'd grant you citizenship into our country just like that did you? Then again, it seems Princess Meteor had forgotten to share this information with you. Once we arrive at the capital, you will be judged whether or not you are fit to stay." The ethereal orbs of light which made up the “eyes” of the helmet betrayed no emotion to the farmmare, despite Silver’s near undetectable display of humor earlier.
"I spoke too soon, guess I'll never catch a break."
Scoffing at her words, Silver decided to remove the helmet which obscured his face. With the metal obstruction out of the way, Applejack was greeted to the sight of a middle-aged white coated stallion with a graceful silver mane. The soldier's most noticeable feature however, was the large scar that ran from the top of his right eye down to his cheek. The iris a pale blue compared to the vivid cerulean of his left.
"You say that as if you've had it worse than I have." Silver responded, lifting his hoof to caress his scar.
"W-Who gave that to ya?"
Silver scoffed again. "It was my own brother, one of the beings I thought I could trust the most in this world was the one who gave this eternal reminder that the world is in fact much crueler than you think." Silver answered simply.
"Why would he do such a thing?"
"Miss Applejack, you must understand that there are ponies out there who've had it far worse than you and I. My Brother, the Queen, even the Changelings I daresay. They're all nothing but beings who've endured suffering from almost every source they thought would give them hope.” Silver lamented, taking a moment to say a small prayer as he witnessed the final layer of dirt and snow being placed onto a mass grave for the enemy Changelings.
“That still don’t answer my question.” Applejack blurted, raising her brow.
Taking a deep breath, Silver turned suddenly to face Applejack before using his magic to replace his helm. The sockets of the helmet once more showing the vibrant blue dots of magic that she became accustomed to.
“Out of ‘Love’.”
“What?” Applejack questioned.
“The day he did this to me, my brother said he did it out of ‘Love’.” Silver responded, before turning quickly and leaving Applejack to ponder his words.
With an almost absurd level of stealth, Fireside had no trouble sneaking away from the soldiers guarding her and the rest of the younger ponies with her. Checking to see if she was spotted, she began her search to find out what was gonna happen to her and the rest of the camp once this was all over. Taking a look around, she saw soldiers pulling around carts filled with supplies that were being distributed to the refugees. She also realized that there were more Aurorian soldiers than before patroling the camp area, indicating that reinforcements had come to help. Deciding she needed a better scouting position, she rushed over to a large wooden crate and climbed it to spot anypony interesting.
"Did you hear? The Princess wants to bring these refugees back with us to the capital."
"Faust Dammit, hasn't she already brought enough strangers! If that's the case then I hope that the Queen has a plan to properly organize them into the population. That is... if she decides to..."
Hearing the distant voices closing in, Fireside panicked and did the only thing she could do and jumped into the container. As soon as she secured the lid, she peered through a small hole to spot a pair of Aurorian soldiers trotting by. One who sounded like a mare and the other a stallion. She prayed to Faust silently that she wasn't noticed by either of them.
"Oh please. She can't be that heartless!" One of the soldiers answered, both appearing to stop in front of the crate that the teen was hiding in.
The second soldier scoffed and removed her helmet to reveal her face. "Don't you remember the last time we tried bringing home a bunch of "refugees" and it turned out to be a Changeling ambush?" She asked, placing the helm on the wood crate with a thud much to Fireside's discomfort. "A lot of good soldiers were wiped out that day, and that's just one of the reasons why the Queen's been so hard-hearted towards outsiders. These are the times where if we let our guard down just once we'll all be sitting ducks." The second soldier began to use her hoof to rub off some of the frost that accumulated on the visor, waiting for her partner's response.
"Yeah, I guess you're right on that. Casualties like that really aren't worth the risk I suppose." Fireside gasped, surprised that their newly-found allies were going to just up and abandon them. Unfortunately she forgot about trying to remain stealthy, and one of the soldiers heard her.
"You hear that?" The stallion said, gesturing at the crate with his armored hoof.
His partner raised her brow at the crate. "So? It's a just a large box. What could possibly be wrong with it?"
"I don't know, there could be something or someone hiding in it we might not know about. We should open it up." The stallion said, Fireside almost shrieking at that.
"It could be a rat, and we would just be wasting our time worrying about one little crate when we still have multiple areas of this place we haven't gone over yet." His partner replied.
"But what if it's a Changeling?" The first guard guessed. "We wouldn't exactly be doing our job if we didn't take the time and check."
“Then why don’t you open it?”
“Are you nuts! What if it’s expecting us and drags us in and kills us like that one guy in a comic you read about!”
“What comic? Pony’s Creed?”
“Yeah that one! That one where the mare can jump and hide in haystacks and kill anypony who gets near with her hidden hoof-blades!”
Fireside tried her hardest not to laugh at the guard’s paranoia and obsession with comics before his partner spoke up. "Do you know how stupid it would be for a Changeling to hide in such a confined and obvious place?” She asked before sighing. “Look, if you’re so scared of that happening why don’t you go ahead and check just run it through with your spear. If it starts bleeding then we've found a Changeling."
Fireside grew pale at those words. Thinking what were her options, she decided that she'd rather live to sneak off another day than be the result of a failed trick that ‘magicians’ did. She tried to remove the lid from the crate to reveal herself... only to realize it was stuck.
“Oh Faust, please! Not like this!” Fireside shouted in her head as she heard the sound of the first soldier’s hoofsteps growing fainter. The second guard removed her helm from the top of the crate and watched with amusement as her partner trotted off to get a running start.Once he stopped a fair distance away, he readied his spear and charged forwards, giving out a battle cry that sounded along the lines of a manticore roar despite his earlier cowardice.
Ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap!!! Fireside grew pale as she realized there was no other way out of this situation. She braced herself for the sharp and painful weapon that would inevitably bring about her end.
The sounds of the stallion’s yelling started getting louder and louder as he closed the distance. Wondering how much will her mother miss her, the teenaged mare closed her eyes and awaited the inevitable.
“YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!-”
“Would somepony please explain to tell me what this nonsense is about?” A cold voice had silenced the soldier’s yelling as a surprised yelp was heard and a series of crashing along with a few grunts of pain were heard from what Fireside could tell were just a few feet away from her.
“C-Commander Silver! I-I didn’t expect you to be here, especially so far away from the Princess!” The second guard stuttered, standing straight and doing her best and not looking him in the eye.
“I do not believe that answered my question Corporal, what is the meaning of this?” he asked sharply.
“U-Um, you see here Sir, Private Blindside thought there was a Changeling in this crate, a-and that if it was about to get the spring on us t-then we’d-”
“You know what?” Silver interrupted. I don’t have time for your excuses and neither do the both of you. We’re leaving in an hour and we’ll have to escort these refugees back to the kingdom’s borders. Get Private Blindside out of those crates and get yourselves together before I assign both of you Guard Duty in the Curse District!
“Y-Yes sir!” the mare cried before moving towards her comrade and helping him out of the pile of debris and cloth he crashed into.
Hearing the hoofsteps of the two guards fading, Fireside began to shake the lid of the crate but to no avail. She then tried kicking the lid hoping it would be enough to break it off. Not noticing the green aura of magic undoing the hook which kept the lid of the crate shut, she kicked the wood surface and the lid went flying off a few feet away. Giving a sigh of relief, she got out of the wood container and stretched her limbs.
"Now to just get to the entrance..."
"Hey Fireside. Watcha doin?"
"GAH!" she cried before quickly putting a hoof to her mouth and checking if anypony heard her. "Sky Specter! What have I told you about sneakin up on ponies like that!" Fireside angrily whispered. The young mare in question was currently smiling sheepishly in the fluffy white blanket that was wrapped around her body, obsuring most of her cyan coat and only showing her dark blue mane and tail.
*Cough *Cough "Sorry bout that, I'll try not to startle you like that again." she wheezed.
Taking notice of this, Fireside's expression softened and her anger turned to worry. "Look, it's alright Sky, but ya really shouldn't be out here. You should get back with the others and rest, ya'll already weak enough as it is."
"I'm not weak! I'm just as strong as you and the others!" Sky pouted before coughing again.
Patting Sky's back, Fireside waited until her coughing subsided before replying. "I know you're not weak Sky, but I'm worried for ya. That cough of yers is getting worse each day, and I don't think the cold is gonna help ya in yer current state."
"I'll be fine, it'll take a lot more than the cold to keep me from exploring with you. I want to see if there's any Changeling's leftover so I can kick some flank!" the teen responded before coughing into her hoof again.
"I don't think any Changeling would ever want to show its ugly mug with all of these soldiers marching about. Besides, from what I heard it was a pretty intense battle out there."
"Well maybe I can ask my mom what happened, I bet those bugs couldn't even scratch her with how fast she flies! I remember how she used to tell me stories on how she could clear the sky of clouds in ten seconds flat!"
"What do you mean 'clear the sky of clouds'? You don't believe all that baloney about Pegasi controlling the weather do ya?"
"We can! Mom told me that Pegasi used to be able to make it sunny, cloudy, rainy, and even snowy during different parts of the year. And that it all came from a city that floats in the clouds."
"That there's a load of horseapples, no Pegasus I know can change the weather. And how the hay does a city float on the clouds? Wouldn't it all just fall through?"
"I don't know, but when we find my mom then maybe she'll tell us!"
"Tell you about what?" another voice called from the darkness. Stepping forward, a unicorn colt with a stark black mane and a platinum coat revealed himself to the two fillies.
"Oh great, you too. What do you want Crown?" Fireside asked with a raised brow.
Giving a small smirk, the teenage colt trotted forward and gave an exaggerated bow to both fillies. "I wanted to see if any of you damsels in distress require my assistance." Crown said cooly hoping to impress the two fillies. Who gave him deadpan stares in response.
"I swear you read too many fairy tales at night Crown Jewel. No, we don't need any 'assistance' from you." Fireside replied, annoyed at the colt's antics.
"But it is my sworn duty to help any mare in need like a true gentlecolt! I simply must not let anything untoward happen to you two, for that would be the Worst. Possible. Thing!" he proclaimed while pretending to faint on a pile of crates that functioned as a fainting couch for the young stallion.
"Jeez, such a Drama Queen. You really are Aunt Rarity's colt." Fireside laughed.
*Cough "Hooray. Chivalry isn't dead at least, but it's a shame it has to live on in you." Sky taunted.
"Do you two have to be so rude to the knight trying to save you from imminent danger?"
"What danger? I don't see any Changelings or monsters around here, and it's not like you have the guts to go out and fight one yourself." said Fireside, smirking.
"They could be hiding in plain sight!" Crown Jewel proclaimed, moving quickly behind the two teens and using his left hoof to grab them both and using his right to gesture to the cave entrance. "Waiting for an opportunity to strike, and end you before you have time to scream! Ready, to strike you at anytime and anyplace! Ready to- OW!" He exclaimed as Sky Specter's hoof jabbed him in the stomach.
Fireside reacted quickly and shoved her hoof in Crown's mouth to prevent his sounds of pain from reaching the ears of anypony nearby.
“Look, just shut up and don’t make any sounds that’ll give us away.” she said, wiping her hoof on Crown’s coat to get rid of the spit.
“And an hour of grooming this down the drain…” Crown pouted softly.
A fair distance away from the trio of teens, Silver Shriek shook his head while keeping an eye on them.
"As adventurous as the Prince it may seem..." Silver chuckled once more, before moving to join the others.
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Another awesome read. Been a while.
the changlings have to die
love it!!!! still need moar
8265769 Agreed.
Especially Chrysalis.
SHE needs to die slowly and painfully, and at Twilight's hooves.
Been watching this for a while... glad to see the story is still going...
And one thing... since it's called the Aurorian Empire, wouldn't 'Empress' be appropriate than 'Queen'?
8265956
yes yes she does and i hope cleestia feels like fuckin shit now also where the fuck is luna
8267112 Indeed, I hope so, too, and I have no idea.
Hopefully she escaped, but I dunno.
Reviewed by the Queen. Everyone is in for a surmise then.
yeah a good chapter and I still cant wait until Twilight meets the refugees
Indeed, just ignore that box.
(Couldn't find a better video on-the-fly...)
Please continue this story. I would hate to see it end.
Full on extinction for the Changelings and have Chrysalis watch as her race is wiped out leaving her the final Changeling alive. She looses the will to fight and surrenders as justice is served.