A Canterlot Invasion: Slip Away.
After my freak out in the hall, I had retreated into myself. The others had dragged me back to our suite and plopped me down on the same couch as Conner. I had barely moved since, only shifting to tuck my paws in. I stared through the wall towards the crater - my crater- replaying my memories over and over again as if they would suddenly change. I didn't pay any attention to Conner's check up, nor did I move when Twilight left to lend her aid to the search.
I didn't even notice when the pack crowded around Conner and I.
I heard the conversations going on around me, but the words failed to register. I just kept remembering the anger I was channeling, only to recoil from the feelings with horror and shame. Slowly, a new thought bubbled up through the haze. Was... was that truly me? I wondered. The me that had begun life as a human? Or... or is that what...? I flinched as the Claw flashed through my mind. I mentally grabbed at any other memory to get away from it.
I thought of the time I had finally beaten Rainbow in a footrace, but her look of pride shifted to one of disappointment in my mind's eye. She'd hate me if she knew that I was responsible. I tried to shrink even further into myself. My lower muzzle trembled as another memory, this one of a night in the library and a promise unknowingly broken. The conversations around me died away at my whimper.
What is wrong with me...
There was a knock on the door. Yomega yelled a welcome and Luke entered the room. I only glanced at him before returning to my endless staring. The Lucario was smiling through an impressive shiner and was sporting bandages around his limbs. He also had patches of electrical burns, especially around his spikes.
Fluttershy gave him a quick glance herself before returning to her administrations on Conner.
<<Hey, guys! You won't believe what happened!>> He said excitedly, jogging up to us.
<<At this point,>> Abes sighed, <<I wouldn't be surprised if you, Ember, or Smolder discovered an ancient dragon artifact and used it to fight against the changelings.>>
<<Nope!>> Luke's tail was wagging from his excitement. <<My egg hatched! C'mon,>> he waved an arm as he bounced towards the door, <<I want to introduce you to him!>>
Oh, your kid gets to hatch?! You didn't even need to wait for a month! I frowned, shifting my gaze down to my paws. Luke’s smile slipped as he opened his mouth, but he closed it with a look to Yomega. It's not fair. It's not fair! Why? Why, why, why?! I looked back towards my crater. Is it because of me? O-of what I can do- of what I've done?
<<Leo?>> Villhiem gave my shoulder a shove. <<You coming?>>
I stared at him for a little bit as my ears drooped. <<... No. I think I'll stay here to let Conner know where you're at...>>
<<You sure?>> Yomega placed his forehead against mine. "This may help you cope with... this..."
<<Yeah.>> I sighed. <<I'm sure.>> Yomega gave me a skeptical look, but turned to follow Luke when I waved him on.
"Oh, um, Mr. Luke?" Fluttershy meekly called out. "Could I come see your son? If that's too much of a bother, um, or a..."
<<No, no.>> Luke smiled. <<It's okay! C'mon.>>
I watched the horde leave the room, my frown deepening as the door clicked shut. I started to shuffle closer to Conner, but stopped myself. I don't deserve to have pack mates like them. I thought. Turning to stare towards my crater again. I'm a monster. I glanced over a Conner before getting up and taking my pity party out onto the balcony.
I closed my eyes and leaned into the wind, hoping that it would blow my worries away for a time. But my ugly reality remained when I opened my eyes. I turned my gaze to see the devastation I had wrought, and watched the armor of the distant guards glint in the sun. I shuffled to the edge of the balcony, leaning my head out to try and get a closer look.
I glanced down. ... That's an awfully long drop.
I held a paw out...
I turned back into the room to write a note. Conner was still asleep, or knocked out, or whatever. I sniffled a little as I wrote, then placed it in a place where Conner would find it when he woke up and where anyone else would see it if they came in.
Then I left.
I followed the path I had fought down towards the crater. I barely paused in the square Zann and I had done our firestorm, only taking the time to note the missing changelings. I hoped it was because the Royal Guard had removed them, but knew it was because of the love nuke flinging them out of Canterlot.
Just more bodies on my shoulders...
I finally reached the cordoned off section around the crater. As I wove my way around the doctors, nurses and other first responders, a pair of guards flew in and laid a body in a section where only very somber ponies worked. The bodies there were all covered.
I slunk past the fence work, ears and tail low. I stopped when I heard a cry that tore into my soul. I turned to see a mare weeping over the body the guards had just flown in.
I turned and left, guilt devouring my insides. I couldn't stand to be there any longer.
I made my way to a secluded section of the crater's rim. The view from the palace didn't do the wreckage justice. This close, I could see the rubble, I could read the various signs that still stubbornly poked out of the rubble. I could see that the guards were slowly picking their way across the crater floor, clearing a line in front of them by moving the rubble there into the cleared space behind them.
They were moving so slowly. I lay down and stared out towards the worst of the ruins. How many ponies are trapped under there that won't make it before they're found? I wondered.
There was a thud behind me. I morosely turned to see Smolder walk up to me. She was also sporting a black eye, with band-aids sticking to her scales. An arm hung in a sling, presumably to keep it in place until they could get plaster on it. "What're you doing down here?" She asked me. "I thought Luke was going to show off his kid to you guys?"
I turned away to stare back out over the crater.
"You wanted to see this shit too, huh?" Smolder sat down beside me. "We never knew that they had a mana bomb this strong with them. Occelus never mentioned..." Smolder reached down to start scratching me. It did nothing to help me, although I assumed that it calmed her. "What I don't understand is why they were trying to use it against the college and not the barracks, and what stopped them from getting there." Smolder sighed. "It still did a lot of damage, though..."
... I don't deserve to be here. I squirmed out from under Smolder's claws. I started to walk away from the palace, the crater, and my mare.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Smolder called after me.
<<I've done enough damage here. I'm going home.>> I broke into a run, and quickly blurred through the city's main gates. If I even still deserve to call it that... The wind in my wake and the tears that fell were the only things marking my passage down the Equestrian road.
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If Smolder ever finds out the actual cause...
Yay for Lukes new son. Odd he hatched after bearly getting pushed out... Didnt realised how fast they grow and evolve.
Great chapter
Glad your back. I didn't know bystanders got caught up in the blast.
Welcome back, and thanks for all the eevies
10820086
Most reptiles hatch 1 to 2 months after being laid, so taking three for Luke's egg is actually a long time.
UPDATE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ACTUALLY READ THE COMMENTS (you guys rock, by the way!)
I did an edit to the authors notes! Instead of coming after the chapter, they should be before it. And, yes, it is a minor spoiler, mostly because Shirotoa hasn't actually gotten to that part of his story at the time of posting. Now that I think about it, if you're binging EE and haven't read his story, then it still counts as a spoiler...
... Surprise...?
10820034
You mind if I yoink that bit of dialogue?
10820114
And as I like to point out, sapient creatures tend to have a shorter gestation due to the nutritional requirements of their freakishly powerful brains. Upon further inspection, egg-laying doesn't help as much as I previously believed.
10820134
No problem at all. I specifically chose Foodin/Alakazam because it's a powerful summon/Pokémon that Fire and Steel featured as something the dragons (or at least Ember) are already aware of. (In the actual games, it's been hit pretty hard by powercreep and the nerfbat both, but it'll take a lot more before it's anywhere near weak)
Why is it that so many stories that have a main character killing during wars or invasions have that character believe they're a monster simply because they took lives? I hope Leo comes to realize that the very fact they feel such sadness, disgust, and remorse over their actions is proof enough that they aren't a monster.
Dang Leo is taking this hard this chapter hit deep.
So Leo did all those destructions. Kinda hope there would be a flashback on how she fought off Chrysalis and her army.
10820139
It's not just that, but because our freakishly large heads would litterally kill the mother every time if we were carried to full term.
10820476
As I like to point out, that's a tight squeeze as it is; death by childbirth is far less common than it used to be, but the fact that it was even an issue we needed medical science for is significant. (Other species that regularly die giving birth survive by spawning hundreds in the process)
10820549
It makes sense why there aren't more sapient races, knowing how inconvenient it is.
10820430
Leo caused the crater, which was shown. She did not kick the changelings out of Canterlot single-handedly. That was Shining Armour and Cadence with their love nuke. (With Conner getting the assist.)
10820476
Yeah, evolution is a cruel mistress sometimes. We're basically at the limits of what bipedal sapients can manage without specific medical assistance. Though that does make me wonder, if we were able to figure out how to monkey with our gene regulatory pathways so that the growth of the skull and cerebral cortex was delayed slightly with respect to the body, would that significantly ease childbirth without impairing later cognitive development?
10820837
The brain's development is too important to comprise like that.
10820847
Oh, I'm not denying that. But most of the volume of the cranium is dedicated to the cerebral cortex, which is primarily responsible for higher-level cognitive functions and sensory processing. I was mostly just pondering whether delaying, say, the last doubling of cortex neurons until after birth would be feasible or desirable. Though, I have to admit that, after doing a bit more research on postnatal brain development, it definitely doesn't seem feasible. I'm an astrophysicist, not a neuroscientist, so take what I said with a grain of salt.
10820867
Same (by hobby not degree), but I dabble in neuroscience. I just find the brain such a fascinating machine. By far the most complex calculation machine known to man by a vast margin. It makes the most advanced man-made supercomputer look like an abacus by comparison.
well thats dumb. blaming themself for things they had nothing to do with?
10821551
You're walking along a cliff edge. You kick a small rock off the edge in boredom. As you're walking away, you hear a rumble. Later, you hear that there was a rock slide at the base of that cliff that destroyed 8 homes and killed 3 families. You will never know if your rock started the slide, but you will wonder. Would it be dumb to blame yourself?
Now, that's all hypothetical. People never know how they will react until the situation occurs. But, in this case, Leo knows she set off the rock slide.
10821720i agree. but he's acting like he caused the invasion or that he's responsible for tossing all the lings from the city. =/ the invasion would hav ehappened, no matter what. so he shouldn't be blaming himself for the guards he saw covered. like... what?
10821739
First off, "she". Secondly, if by "the guards [she] saw covered" you mean the dead ponies that she saw at the aid station near the crater, I never specified that the dead bodies were all guards. They were ponies that had been caught and killed in the Nova Flare.
I know it is a different franchise but the whole scene with Leo doing that attack really reminded me of when Greymon evolved into Skullgreymon in the first season of Digimon. Getting the same vibes.