The Royal Wedding Pt. III (Battle of Canterlot Pt. II)
The Royal Wedding Pt. III (Battle of Canterlot Pt. II)
Shade pushed himself up from a pile of rubble, gasping for breath. The impact of being knocked through the air, into one of the giant spires that littered Canterlot, out the other side of it and then into a house had stolen the air from his lungs. He coughed, the uncomfortable sensation of a rib pressing into his lung every time he inhaled pausing his brain's desire to give the city a new green paint job.
"Why does education have to pain?" He rubbed his head and gave his wings an experimental flap, they were still good so he was able to fight. His students were tough little bastards, that was for sure. How many had he crushed under his hoof? Seventy? Eighty? Two-hundred and twenty six? He wasn't sure. All he knew was that they just kept coming.
A few brave pegasi joined him in the battle, guards of the solar court, though their strength was no where near his own. Their sanity and sense of self preservation made them too weak to keep up before they joined the countless other ponies on the ground, either captured or dead.
"Alright, let's try this again..." He bent his legs and launched himself into the air, there before him hovered what had to be at least three hundred drones, their buzzing wings echoing off of the city below, creating a maddening state of noise that made him grind his teeth. Though, it would take more than a few tricks of psychological warfare to keep him from earning his lord's forgiveness.
One of two things were going to happen here today, they were going to die, or he was.
As he hovered, he slowly began to chuckle, he didn't know why he was, Shade seldom ever knew why he laughed. Something about the odds never being in his favor was funny. One pony, a single, little pegasus standing against an entire army. He wasn't sure, maybe it was a brief moment of sanity that tried breaking though his madness, using comedy to register the absurdity of his goal? Maybe it was the fact laughing always helped ease the pain, the mental and physical that he'd never stop registering. Or maybe, just maybe he was laughing because he imagined himself standing on a mountain of dead bugs, beaming proudly to the world of his accomplishment that meant nothing short of his god's affections.
Whatever the reason, his chuckles soon grew to full on gwaffs of bellowing laughter. This continued for a while, the swarm before him patiently awaiting his maniacal cackling to subside. Any semblance of self care or self preservation cleansed of his psyche, Shade grinned with malice and determination. The world grew quiet around him for just a few seconds, the calm before the storm.
"A valiant effort, but you still have much to learn."
He bolted forward, dodging green beams and spells by twisting, aileron rolling through a troop of changelings and barrel rolling around another. Bright flashes of green flew by him, some missing by inches, some by a solid foot. As he passed, they began in crossfire, hitting their own and sending their brethren in a smoking heaps to the unforgiving stone ground. Shade smirked as he saw his goal, the very center of force. He barely made it before he was swarmed by angry bugs, each latching onto every limb he had. He kicked and bucked them off, eventually returning the hold one gave and using it as a new battering ram and shield.
Once at the center, he immediately adjusted his wings and banked straight down, racing the numerous husks of chard drones to the city streets below. He slowed down a little, allowing his pursuers to catch up slightly, he felt a few blasts of magic hit his hind quarters but did his best to ignore them. His target was a small subset of lower buildings he'd seen while passing by, a few of the windows just big enough for him to slip through at top speed.
As the ground grew closer and closer, he was surprised to find that not a single one of his enemies had pulled up. One hundred feat down, he pulled up just in time to avoid colliding with the streets. A few of the changelings weren't so lucky or skilled as he, but the majority had him figured out and avoided the collision.
Not that he had the time to look, though, as a building a scant two hundred feet off quickly came into view. He chose a window, placed his hooves out, squinted his eyes shut and braced for impact.
SCREACH, he flew into the building and crashed out of a second window on the other side. Dusting his face off, he smirked and looked back to see no changelings directly behind him, but the glorious sounds of splattering and, what one could only describe as insectoid cries of alarm, exploding behind him in a cacophony of death and unintended mass suicide.
His victory was short lived, however. More changeling drones flew over the wall and after him, their lost comrades an inconsequential sacrifice. Shade's eyes grew wide and he began to speed up, but a well placed bolt of magic slammed into his wing, sending the night pegasus off balance and crashing into the streets of the city, tumbling and rolling to a stop.
Realizing his position, the bat pony pushed himself up once again and tried to fly, but fell to the ground with a yelp. His wing twisted in a cruelly unusual way. Swearing up a storm, the pony instead tried to run for cover, but it ended with the same results. Though, this attempt foiled by a jolting pain in his foreleg, the one he often used to help cushion impacts.
Slowly, cautiously, Shade pushed himself up onto three legs, keeping his injured limb to his chest. He turned around and saw the wall of changelings behind him. It was unreal, it was like he hadn't even made a dent in their numbers. No matter how many he fell or turned on each other, there was just more and more.
His body began to tremble, he expected small chuckles of laughter to pour out of his mouth, but the feeling in his chest wasn't right for it. No, no what the pony was feeling now was an emotion he hadn't felt in a very long time, an emotion he'd tried for years to eradicate from his mind.
Fear.
Fear of a death he had secretly prayed for since he didn't know how long. Fear of the pain he was likely going to be subjected to. And worst of all, fear of becoming one of them. A mindless, conforming changeling drone with no free thought or sense of insanity.
He backed up more, the wall of bugs slowly drawing closer.
Tripping over a crack in the street, Shade fell onto his rump. There was no point now, his leg was injured, his wing was injured, he was out of strength and out of the will to fight. "So this is how it ends, huh?" He chuckled mirthlessly. That was all he knew how to do when dealing with his problems in life, why not die the same way he lived? "And here I thought the beast would be undoing."
He chuckled again and smiled wildly, his eye grow to their full width and his retinas shrinking to pinpricks. "But it's like momma used to say. I came into this world kicking, screaming and bathed in somepony else's blood, and THAT'S HOW I WANT TO LEAVE IT!"
Sin unfurrowed his wings and flapped them as hard as he could. The pain in his joints and bones was mind shattering, but it was just enough to propel him forward directly into Valiar.
The pony arose his shield, a futile effort. Sin shattered right past it, tackling both the rune that tried to protect and it's master, slamming all of them into the ground. The Federalist bit his lip hard enough to draw blood as his injured hooves met the floor, overwhelming compared to the pain he'd felt just a few seconds prior. Though, his will pushed past the excruciation and immediately wrapped all four of his limbs around the pony, breaking his magical connection to the stones.
It took Valiar a moment to realize his magic wasn't working, but eventually forgone them in favor of more physical combat. Luckily for Sin, the red pony was physically just as weak as he was, making his squirming all for naught.
"Uppity, help the others!" Sin shouted, but it was wasted breath. Uppity and Twilight were both already held in combat with Chrysalis while Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie did their best to hold the line against the on coming hoard. Fluttershy was seeing to the fallen dragon, who's small chest raises indicated that he was gladly alive, and Cadance to Shining Armor.
Sin wasn't too pleased with the fact he was unable to assist them, but he was much more useful where he was right now.
"Why do you continue this futile effort?" Chrysalis asked, casually dodging another bolt of lavender lighting. "Your city is already lost! Even if you do defeat me, my changelings number in the thousands, you'll never defeat them all!"
"Shut up!" Twilight shouted, blasting another magical attack, this one singing the queen's mane. Livid over the damage to her hair, Chrysalis made a frustrated screech grown and returned the spell two fold, her magic intercepted by a small orange shield that deflected the queen's power directly back at her.
"Impudant fool!" the bug pony cried, swooping down to grab the less powerful unicorn, only to be met with a blast of purple magic to the face. Shaking herself off, the queen slowly regained her composure. "You think your friends will save you? You're deity has fallen! Your city in occupied ruin and your heroes lie defeated, drained and as my prisoners. It is futile to resist!"
"Quiet mare!" Uppity bellowed, taking a rock in her telekinesis and launching it at Chrysalis, missing her by a few inches. Sin took special pride in that quip.
His attention was brought back to Valiar. The pony was starting to struggle a bit harder than Sin could handle in his injured state. Despite putting everything he had into holding the stallion down, he could feel Valiar slowly breaking free of his grip. Seeing no other alternative, Sin lifted his head back and slammed it down onto his captive's, smashing the red mage's head against the floor.
The attack only surved to fuel his enemy's rage, however, and he soon slipped free of Sin's grip. The Federalist lept back onto him with out missing a beat, wrestling to gain control over the unicorns hooves.
"Grr, what have you done! Why can't I use my magic!"
"Yea, that's a thing I do." Sin quipped before Valiar pivoted his body, throwing the stallion off of him. Valiar arose to his hooves and stomped Sin's side, holding the pony down in place.
"Now, let's see if... what? My magic is... Wait." He pushed off of the Federalist and stepped back, the runes suddenly coming to life and levitating around him once more. "So, it's only when you're touching me that they don't work. I'll keep that in mind."
Slowly, Sin pushed himself onto his own hooves, and stared behind Valiar for a brief moment to see how the others were doing. Things weren't looking good for any of them. Rarity was getting mauled, Applejack was reduced to weakened bucks, Rainbow was doing all she could to avoid and evade capture, and Pinkie was crying over a giant... blue and white stripped canon...
On top of that, Twilight and Uppity were panting heavily, matching their opponent in endurance, but that wouldn't mean anything if the changeling's broke through and overwhelmed them for her.
Bearing his teeth, the Oaken pony estimated that they'd only have a few more minutes before Applejack and them were down for the count. Still, he had to keep Valiar's attention, otherwise it would be over the second the stallion turned around. It was a last ditch effort, but ultimately a strategy Sin preferred to use first and foremost in any altercation.
With no other choice, the stallion did what he did best: Talk.
"CHARGE!"
The sounds of dozens upon dozens of ponies crying for battle filled the streets around Shade. The pony was mildly surprised by what he saw: stallions and mares of every tribe, color and sort dash through the streets and clashed with the changeling invaders in a brawl most befitting his standards of entertainment.
"Zero Company, flank left! Third Company, unleash tartarus!" Barked a golden clad stallion holding a spear. He trotted up to the injured stallion and pulled him up. "Thanks." He whispered before charging forth and joining his country-folk in battle. "Did you forget about us? You bug eyed freaks!?"
From all around, the pegasi of Canterlot flocked in. dropping whatever objects they could find onto the threat, or outright slamming into the invaders. Unicorn magic blasted into the horde, shattering it's ranks and sending the changeling's scrambling. A few engaged the earth ponies on the ground, only to be bucked or crushed beneath their mighty legs.
Realization hit the invaders like a brick wall and the scrambling coordinated itself into a defense. A few changelings splintered off to preform carpet bombing maneuvers, but wings and scores of pegasi learned from their previous mistakes and took to a higher altitude before dive bombing the kill squads.
Stones and rubble covered in auras of every color launched themselves in any direction an bug could be seen, peppering the changelings and dropping them from the sky in the dozens. Red blood mixed with the green however, a small subset of the main invasion party orchestrated a suicidal charge, horn first into one on of the unicorn artillery positions, skewering the poor ponies on the spot.
Everywhere around was a mass of death, battle and ear piercing shrieks, both equine and non-equine in nature. The earth ponies held the ground, the Pegasi held the sky and the unicorns were giving support to both.
The battle continued to rage on around him, Shade felt himself almost glowing in warmth as he basked in the perfectly orchestrated destruction. He'd escaped death's cold grip and experienced a battle that would sate his blood lust for at least a good two weeks. Closing his eyes, the bat pony felt sublimely calm. Peaceful. Tranquil.
Exhausted, Shade fell onto his side and allowed slumber to take him for a well needed rest.
"Tell me something, Valiar." Sin said, slowly beginning to pace in place. His goal was to keep the pony's attention through movement, but not advance to the point he'd attack. "What is it that makes you, you?"
The red pony quirked a brow. "Care to elaborate on that, dead pony?" Scoffing, Sin elaborated that he wanted to know who the pony was. Where he came from and any details that would buy Twilight and her friends the time they needed. "Of what concern is that to you?"
"Honestly, you're being mind controlled by the look of it. I'm curious what happens to the individuality of a pony once they've submitted to a new master in the way you have." Sin answered, genuinely curious to the inquiry. He'd always been fascinated by the idea of a hive mind, and the incorporation of an individual brain that didn't conform to the standard. Would the collective override the individual, or would the individual infect the collective?
The answer he received was just as interesting as it was terrifying. "Peace." Valiar replied calmly. "Peace and companionship."
"Companionship?"
"Ponies are more alone than we realize. Our minds are isolated from one another, we lie to fit in, we change ourselves to suite the will of the collective we wish to associate with. And yet, at the end of the day, we are truly alone by comparison to what I am now." Valiar lifted his hoof and tapped his head. "I am never alone, though. For weeks, any sense of loneliness or isolation has been exterminated from my being. Replaced with the presence of my queen. To answer your question about individuality, I've never lost my sense of it, but I have grown to be mistrustful of it."
"Mistrustful of it because your queen says so?"
Valiar nodded. "I have been wrong for so many years. What I believed wasn't right. Chrysalis showed me that my sense of morality was wrong, far to lenient and forgiving. Only through her may peace and unity in the world be found, only through her can a better world come to pass."
Those words sent chills up Sin's spine. Better world, her better world? A changelings world? How would that be better?
"There are no more grey areas." Valiar stated, seeing the growing confusion on his enemy's face. "The questions of what is right and wrong, what's fair and unfair, just and unjust. The questions I used to kill myself thinking about no longer haunt me. My determination of what constitutes moral and immoral actions are irrelevant now. Only what Chrysalis tells me matters, and that has set my mind at peace, and would set the world at peace if they'd only let her."
Objective morality enforced by the hive mind and dictated by a mad changeling. Fascism at its finest, but it held one fatal flaw, and that was the food supply the changelings would need in order to continue living. Ponies would need to live in order for that to happen, and no individual in their right mind would allow such an existence.
Valiar mulled over the loop in logic for a moment.
"VALIAR!" The queen barked, flying high to avoid a well sized slab of broken marble.
The red pony turned his head and Sin took the opportunity to lunge. The protection stone shot forth with a momentum the brown pony wasn't expecting and slammed directly into his chest, ending his momentum with a rib shattering finality and dropping the pony in a gasping, coughing heap.
Clutching the stone, Sin felt blood spittle from his mouth and nose with every cough. The pain in his chest where the stone was indented was muted by his adrenaline. He could barely breath, his vision growling blurry. He looked past his victorious enemy to see Uppity hit by a green spell and sent sliding into a pillar. Rainbow was tackled by one of the drones, who held her down and allowed it's companions to dog pile on her. Pinkie and Rarity were buried now, Applejack was seen just in time before she too was overtaken by the swarm. Fluttershy was cowering over Spike, begging the lings to leave her alone.
Shining Armor was unconscious now, Cadance sobbing over his form and pleading with him to wake up. This was it, it was over. Shade wasn't coming, neither was Mac. There was nobody coming to save them this time.
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"BEGONE FOUL CREATURES!" a thunderous voice boomed from outside.
A massive explosion of white and dark blue erupted from the window, sending a dozen changeling flying though the hall with force enough to splatter them against whatever they came into contact with.
Sin's heart leapt with hope as a new kind of pony began to flood the chamber. These ones clad in black armor and sporting black bat wings. They tackled and dived through the mass of chatlin, stomping, bucking, and piercing with obsidian spears or swords.
Chrysalis's eyes widened in alarm at the new threat that had come to attack her brood. She shrieked and flew back as a large orb of dark blue magic slammed into her, throwing the creature against the wall. Valiar summoned his runes to assist his queen, but a volley of black magical bolts from behind him slammed into his back, dropping the pony into a smoldering heap on the floor.
Black armored hoover dashed past Sin, their metal clanging on the floor as they went. Some stopped and barked orders to separate the pony from the stones, while others pushed onwards, engaging the still quite numerous changelings.
"SISTER?!" Luna gasped as she flew in through the window, looking in horror at the suspended solar Alicorn as she hung within her cacoon prison. "What hast happened to thou?" A small crumbling of rock drew Luna's attention to Chrysalis and the night matriarch's eyes narrowed. She took the spear in her hoof, cut her sister free and slowly lowered her to the floor. "Are you alright?"
Celestia coughed but answered in the affirmative. The solar pony stood tall and turned her attention to the invading queen who growled in frustration, seeing her plan falling apart before her eyes. "You? I thought my changeling assassins took care of you!" She took a breath and cooled herself down. "Not that it matters, the city is already mine. Kill me if you wish, but understand that if you do, my changeling army will become faral and all prisoners will die before you get the chance to save them."
Luna smiled a cool, taunting grin. "Oh, I don't think we need to worry about that."
Confused at first, Chrysalis barked with laughter, calling the night alicorn's claim a bluff. "Oh, we don't bluff." She chuckled pointing outside. The changeling queen turned to see a new swarm of being controlling the skies. A multi colored swarm that obliterated every changeling in it's wake.
"No..." She whimpered, her connection to the hive mind finally registering all the distress and requests of the brood. "No, no, no, NO! Not my babies!" She decried. She charged her horn and turned back to the two princesses that stood before her. Trembling with the rage and pain of loss, Sin could have sworn he saw tears begin streaking down her cheek, but he was too exhausted to tell.
"You may have won this day, Celestia, but this isn't the last you'll see of me!" She threw down her legs and a pillar of green fire engulfed her, leaving nothing more than a scorch mark.
That was the last thing Sin saw before he joined Spike in sweet, blissful sleep.
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6612650
Well... I'm... interested to see what you'd do with Twilight's feelings.
Usually... to be frank, it's done pretty poorly. Twilight is either too forgiving or not forgiving enough, occasionally hyperbolicly not forgiving.
Shade has his... insanity treated seriously?! Weird.
And just as I was thinking Shade was descending into "insanity means funny zaniness! haha he gets to be a jerk and have an excuse."
... Valiar... learned he was too lenient?
I suppose for someone who always believed morality was absolute, pesky things like natural empathy and such would just get in the way.
And... they don't win due to a deus ex machina or anything, but because the military actually comes together and does a good job?
This chapter's weird.
6613923 Yea, was trying to have a more realistic (using this term very liberally) way of how things should have gone down in the wedding.
The guard was taken down without a fight, despite there being, like, hundreds present and knowing full well the attack was coming. (The changelings were literally knocking on Canterlot's front door) Celestia got her ass kicked and Luna didn't even bother to show up until after the ordeal was all over.
Shade? Well, I'm no psychologist, but meh, it seemed interesting to write so I did.
This would be far more believable than what the show had. (PS I hate deus ex machina victories.)
Allll right. The chapter is up, so I'm gonna get started.
Oh good. Back to the massacre of the invaders.
He's got a sick mind, but I'm loving it at the moment.
Nobody ever said that education was ever gonna be easy. You will always encounter those unruly students who need to get a lot of butt spanking. Too bad the modern day schools don't allow it.
I'm hoping it's the latter. The more Shade kills, the less the others will have to deal with.
Whatever help they can provide is always appreciated even if Shade doesn't really need it.
At least they died swinging, so they have my respects. RIP guards.
reasonable and realistic outcomes, but I have a feeling it is going to be the former.
To be honest, that actually does sound funny, in a twisted way.
Yep. That would be funny, considering the heavy odds against him.
If the changelings are that stupid to not take advantage of their enemy's momentary pause and finish him off while his guard is down, then they REALLY deserve to die.
Am I a bad person for loving and getting a kick out of this blood shed, BECAUSE I DON'T CARE!
Keep raining green blood Shade!
Reminds me of the Soviets during world war 2. No matter how many you kill, they just keep coming at you and overwhelm your position with their numbers.
O.O If he is going to win this fight, he needs to conquer this emotion and fast.
That's actually a scenario far worse than death itself.
All except the last can be brushed off and he can still give the invaders hell before he dies. The latter though is the only thing that will guarantee his defeat unless his determination returns.
Reminds me of what Job said in the Bible. "I came into this world naked and with nothing and I will perish naked and with nothing." If Shade doesn't survive.........I'm gonna miss him.
Damn those words tasted bitter in my mouth.
*Reading the battle in the castle*
This song is coming to my head.
Typical, strong in magic but weak on physical prowess.
O.O ....Oh please tell me she's bluffing, because if that is true, than this battle is far from over even with the Queen's death.
Nice teamwork between Twi and Uppity.
Famous words from a tyrant echoed by the statists nowadays.
Don't play fair Sin! Bite him somewhere sensitive, preferably his neck!
That works too.
Nice quip.
Dammit, the element of surprise is gone.
What the hell Applejack?! You can run a whole damn marathon A hundred times without getting tired, HOW ARE YOU FATIGUED?!
Ah crap, Pinkie lost one of her best weapons....c'mon Pinkie, you can still defy physics, so get back into the fight!
I hope it works.
YES SIR!
I honestly admit that I thought you ponies gave up, but you pleasantly proved me wrong.
Reminds me of when I went bird shooting.
Oh. Kamikazes. I hate it when the enemy deploys those techniques.
This is becoming so epic.
Only two weeks.....?
How much destruction would it take for him to calm down for a whole year?
You did your part Shade. Your involvement has made a huge difference in the fight for freedom. It was because of you that the rest of the ponies regained their courage and are now standing up against the invaders. I still don't trust you, but I no longer consider you a liability. You have gained a tiny bit of respect for me. Rest easy buddy.
I'm curious as well.
Hmmm.
There is some logic behind that, but not one hundred percent. There are individuals who fit in being themselves and the people who matter will accept them. Those who don't accept is inconsequential to the individual.
So he is willing to submit himself to the commands of a tyrant. The fact that he is making a conscious choice is gonna make it harder for Sin to change his mind.
So he was persuaded and deceived, not coerced.
O.O......If he was willing to kill men, women and children in a twisted sense of justice with that attitude, I tread to think how he is gonna act now.
That is the worst form of tyranny. Having a natural being (human, pony or changeling, etc) determine for you what is right and wrong.
Dammit!
They did not go down without a fight. It took a lot of Changelings to bring them down, that's one silver lining in this.
I hope the ponies outside get there in time. AND WHERE THE FUCK IS LUNA, SLEEPING?!
Speaking of the devil.
Good kills.
Wait....who are these ponies?
Ah, so Luna came with loads of back up. That was smart of her.
The tide has turned! Victory is imminent!
Oh Chryssy. You are in for one hell of a surprise.
hehehehe.
Who said that a rainbow in the sky doesn't kill you?
hehehe. This is so much better than that infamous Rainbow Factory.
Why does that sound disturbing to me?
*Sigh* I have a suspicious feeling that if she comes back, she's gonna be much harder to beat. Nothing is more dangerous than a bitch out for revenge.
Good job Sin. Despite your previous blunder, your contribution to Equestria's freedom was essential. Rest easy.
Well. I know I already said this, but it's worth repeating. This was FUCKING AWESOME! Ever since you eliminated that plot device from the show, the one with Cadance and Shining, I was constantly caught in suspense, asking myself, "How the hell are they going to win?" You surprised me tremendously when the ponies rose up against the invaders and took a stand. This changes my opinion of how I thought about Equestria's military and the average citizens. When push comes to shove, the Equestrians will make the invaders pay dearly for their aggression. I love those types of stories where everyone gets involved in the battle. It makes it both satisfying and realistic.
Well, I congratulate you on what you have written so far and am looking forward to future chapters.....especially the ones where Twilight's friends will reflect on their previous mistake at the wedding rehearsal....I have a feeling that the conversation is going to be tense and dynamic. I'll have to see.
6614403 Thank you, you're too kind.
There were a few things more I wanted to put in, but couldn't find a place for. The whole Cadance saying "my love with give you strength" to Shining and Chrysalis replying. "Please, what a ridiculous sentiment"?
Having Spike come in like: "Says the changeling who feeds off of love."
But yea, I really don't like deus ex machina endings, besides Luna's lack of involvement opened up something pretty usable at the end. If nothing else, it was a bit of a critique on the entire episode. (But you probably already knew that from my comment to Dishonesty)
Anyways, I have no idea what's going to happen next. I know how it will end, but not too sure on how to get it there from where I am. Got a lot to work with though.