The War of 1002

by Fireheart 1945

Chapter 87; Memories

The Allied Armies began to rally at various assembly points outside the city of Gryphos, with ponies, Saddle Arabians, zebras, and changelings all marshaling under their own commanders and leaders as they prepared for the journey home. Artillery and wagons were gathered by each army; Imperial weapons to be scrapped had been collected and distributed among the Allied forces.

Half of the Equestrian forces were going to stay in the country, near the capital, for the moment. Of the army's 100 regiments, 50 were staying. Most of them were the ones that had been late to the conflict, though backed by a few elite units, such as the Fifth Brigade.

Losses during the war had reduced most regiments from their nominal strength of 1,000 down to somewhere between 500 - 700; one regiment from the Fifth, the 2nd Canterlot, had only 200 active soldiers. Another regiment from a different division, the 4th Trottingham, was down to 50 troops fit for duty. While it was rare for units to have lost so much of their strength, Equestria had paid a big price for it's continued liberty.

James watched as soldiers began to pass by. Many of the passing soldiers saluted him as they passed, though he wasn't standing at attention nor asking any of them to do so. He waved politely, but his focus wasn't on them.

He remembered the first battles and how confident he'd been when he'd first arrived. How much he'd loved his new uniform from Rarity and how much he had enjoyed the spar with Shining before a group of raw recruits. How he'd been confident that the technologically deficient changelings would be easy foes. How he had thought discipline unimportant compared to morale.

It seemed like forever since then. A lifetime seemed to have passed.

Now the uniforms and old ideas were both worn down.

James sat down under the tree and continued thinking. It had seemed like forever since his original arrival in what he'd thought was an almost perfect world. He had thought almost nothing of the dangers and how things would end. It had been easy to think that, with someone who knew something about war, Equestria would be invincible.

"I was arrogant, and a fool," he whispered to himself.

He turned his eyes to the troops, who continued to march past. They were in as good condition as they could be. The journey home would be relatively quick and painless one. The flame and fire of the advance, from the Equestrian border to Gryphos, was what he remembered from the journey to that city. A city he would probably never lay eyes on again once they were done here.

The eruption of Ragna Fortress, the tank battle, and the final battle for the city... These events swirled in his mind, and he simply sat there, either unable or unwilling to push the thoughts away.

"Hey!"

James turned around; he'd been so focused on his own thoughts that he hadn't heard Shining Armor's heavy hoofsteps.

"Oh. Hi. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you. We're set to board a train for the border."

"There are tracks that lead that far?"

"Well, no. But close enough. We leave in two hours."

"I wasn't notified."

"You just were." Shining's smile faded. "You've been here all morning?"

"After getting something to eat, yeah." James didn't mention that he'd just snagged an apple.

Shining seemed to know. "Come on," he said. "I'll give you a lift."

James walked over and threw his right leg over the white stallion and set himself firmly upon his back.

"Not too heavy for you, am I?"

"Nope. You're lighter than you'd think. Come on, I'm Captain of the Royal Guard; even unicorns had to undergo physical exercises."

"Well, okay."

Shining began walking. James simply sat, thoughts and images of battle still flowing in his mind.

"Are you alright?" Shining asked, turning his head so that his left eye was on James. "You've been quiet lately."

"I just can't stop thinking about the early days. Before the war. How I was so... presumptuous. How I thought that merely possessing knowledge of strategy and tactics might be enough. How I made mistakes even back then. And I think of how things could have been if I'd come without the war."

"I can't say anything about that last one. And I think none of us knew what we were in for. We all made mistakes."

"I've... come to terms with making mistakes. I just wish I'd... done better at the start. And had more time with Twilight and her friends and... well, everyone."

"Life doesn't always go how we'd want it." Shining sighed. "I don't remember if I've done this, but... I'm sorry for how I acted when you arrived. I..."

"Forget it. I've long since forgiven it. Same with the fight we had at Trottingham. Long forgiven, long gone."

"I still feel guilty about it, though. I mean, I judged you before I even saw you." Shining let his head droop a bit closer to the ground. "I couldn't help but think of anything unfamiliar as a possible enemy at this point. Given that you saw the... events at my wedding with Cadence, I think you understand why I felt that way."

"I understand and have forgiven you for that that. Just be a great guy for Cadence, eh?"

"Thanks." Shining raised his head back to its normal height and his smile reappeared. "She's a wonderful wife. I hope we're able to spend more time together now that the war's over. I've seen enough for a lifetime out in the field."

"I think most of us have. As for your wish, I hope it's granted."

"It wasn't quite love at first sight," Shining said; his eyes focused on the distance. "I saw her as a great foalsitter for Twily, and I certainly liked her, but it wasn't until that night... When we were alone on the balcony... I saw into her eyes for what was really the first time- whoa!"

He had stepped into a hole in the road; James found himself clutching the stallion's neck involuntarily as Shining rebalanced.

"Heh... sorry. Wasn't paying attention."

"I noticed," James replied with an amused voice, sitting up straight again. "So, there was something about a balcony...?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Ahem. Right. I'll try to keep a better eye on the road this time. Anyway... It was the first time I really believed that there was magic out there. Beyond the kind that unicorns and alicorns use, I mean. When... when you love someone... really, really love them, not just a brash feeling, but an underlying, true... Ugh... I don't think I'm explaining it properly. But I think we both knew, deep down, that there was no way we weren't going to be spending the rest of our lives together. Does that make sense?"

"It does." James patted Shining's neck. "It's wonderful that something so innocent as true love has survived the war."

"I won't argue. It's all too easy to fall into negative thinking. I know; I was in that state of mind while chasing Chrysalis and her renegades through the deserts near Appleloosa. I don't think I went into it too deeply before."

"I remember you telling me that they kept avoiding contact and refusing to fight no matter what."

"That's only part of it."

"Hmmm?"

"I don't think I've told you or anypony... anyone, for that matter. I think I fell into depression at that stage of the war. I couldn't... I felt that until we caught her, the war could have no end, but we spent months pursuing her and... nothing. Just more and more of my soldiers falling sick and becoming dehydrated and hungry. Our logistics were a mess. We could end up miles from where we started at the beginning of the day, and the ponies bringing us more food and water often wound up at some campsite we'd abandoned hours or even days ago."

"I hadn't heard of that. Just the overall picture."

"I was... not in my best state of mind. I remember... going to the bottle once or twice. I... was ashamed of it afterwards, but at the time it was so... easy."

"Well, that's new."

"It was the last time, but... Oh, the next morning was terrible, and the problems hadn't gone away. I fell very deeply to negative thoughts. I started yelling, swearing, at subordinates, even for minor things. I got into a really dark place."

"Sorry, man," James replied. "Stallion, I mean. For what it's worth, I felt that inward darkness too. During times when we were in retreat mostly. The first weeks of the war... after the first victories, everything seemed to fall apart. We got pushed back further and further, and, even though we received replacements and reinforcements, little by little, we lost ground. It felt like we were alone in the world, just us against an all-conquering horde. I felt helpless after my first defeat, like we were all going to die and it would be all my fault. It didn't fully go away until we'd won the Battle of Appleloosa. Only then did the tide of war within start to shift."

"Did it ever come back? The depression and helplessness, I mean?"

"It did. Whenever we got stalled fro a really long time. And during the Siege of Trottingham. However, it was never stronger than in those first days of the war. How did you conquer yours?"

"Well, it wasn't a right away fix. I found myself thinking of Cadence when I fell into those times. At first it just made me home-and-heartsick. I cried a few times. And we weren't even fighting."

Shining's hoof kicked aside a rock. "I couldn't stop myself from thinking it, though. And gradually, I began to realize that I had someone to come home to after all of this was done. It took a long time, but eventually I was able to rise up out of the pit I'd fallen into, and come back to something like normal. As normal as a guy could be in a war, anyway. What about you?"

"It's fading. I think I'll be hit with bouts of it from here on out, though. I think most of us will."

"We got through the actual killing. We'll survive this, too. We have to."

"I'm glad that someone is certain of that. I've... had reports of soldiers waking up in the middle of the night, shrieking and acting like they were under fire or being attacked. In some cases, the reports claimed that they attacked anyone nearby."

"I've gotten those too. But Equestria isn't going to leave them to fight that battle alone. Me and Barrel will see to that."

"As will I. I intend to help them when they return to society."

"It will take some time to collect all the evidence for the trials," Shining replied. "I think we'll have some time to begin work on it. It'll be something that we'll work on with Barrel. We'll make sure to have veterans in charge of the organization we set up to help them. I've already made a plan for it. I haven't come up with a name, but I think it's the start of something good."

"I hope so."

Shining continued to walk for a while in silence. Finally, he said, "How do you think the trials will go?"

"What do you mean? It's basically tallying what the leaders and their associates did and then giving them a punishment."

"Well, yeah. But what do you think they'll try to say in their own defense?"

James thought about it, interested. "I think that at least some of the underlings are going to try to get out of trouble by claiming that they did what they did because they were ordered to do so by the leaders. The former king will try to make himself into a national hero or martyr, and Chrysalis... I don't know. I have my doubts that she will dodge. Maybe she'll claim that she was doing the 'natural' thing for changelings, and will try to discredit the other queens."

"I don't doubt the first for a minute. What do you think about that line of defense?"

"I think that a lot of Chrysalis' changelings may have had no choice about it, but they still wanted to perform their cruelties. Chrysalis just gave them the chance to do so. As for the griffon commanders, they'll try and say that they'd be executed or imprisoned if they had tried saying no to the 'emperor.' I don't think it'll fly, any more than it will for the changelings, though. It's obvious that the reasons for the great betrayal were political; the clan leaders and their people were killed because they refused to hand their authority over to the king. It was clearly wrong, I think, given that they weren't engaged in rebellion, to kill them, but the Imperial commanders still did so. Murder to escape one's own demise is still murder."

"Thought you'd say so. I don't see most of them getting off without at least a permanent prison sentence." Shining stopped for a moment and raised a hoof to his chin. "Maybe one or two might get off on lighter punishments if we find they didn't do anything particularly onerous. You know, things like just jailing non-compliant griffons instead of killing them."

"I doubt there will be many of those," James replied as Shining continued walking. "From what I saw, just about all Imperialists were diehards."

"Like I said, not likely for most of them. We're still rounding up suspects in these crimes. Over a hundred generals and other officers, and lots of others, including civil authorities."

"How many people are we trying at once?" James asked, concerned.

"Mostly for you and me and the leaders of the nations and armies involved in the war, just the leadership and their immediate generals. I've heard that lesser trials are already underway for civil servants of Chrysalis in the Changeling Lands."

"Under whose authority?! Not by that of mobs, I hope!"

"No, no, no. It's under the authority of the Queens and their servants, or so I've heard from a changeling officer in one of their armies."

"Oh, good." James felt and old question arise. "Did you originally... question my decision to meet with Metamorphosis?"

Shining turned his head, this time with his right eye facing James. "I think a lot of ponies - and changelings - want to know that. And to be completely honest, given the limited information at the time, I did question it. In fact, 'question' isn't the word for it. I was wondering if you had been successfully replaced by a changeling, or had just gone plain crazy from the Badlands heat and sun."

Shining turned his head back to the path as he kept walking. "I wasn't sure what to think. I just knew that I had to see for myself."

James thought back to the first meeting between himself and Queen Metamorphosis. "I didn't just throw caution to the wind. I was suspicious about her and her motives. The first meetings with her were... eventful, to say the least."

"Helping to overthrow foreign rule is definitely eventful."

"I didn't have time to tell you. And they were going to starve Metamorphosis' hive, as well as conscript half of them into their army. We had to act right then and there."

"I know. I'm not blaming you for making that decision. It helped us. But at the time. I thought you'd gone nuts, or at least halfway nuts. I was expecting a big trap."

"And then you met Metamorphosis for yourself."

"I did. I didn't know what to make of her. Kind, peaceful, actually friendly... the exact opposite of of Chrysalis. I still suspected her, but that went away little by little as the campaign progressed and I watched her as a leader. And that other one... what was her name?"

"Camilla."

"Yeah. I didn't know to make of her."

"Her own people probably don't, but they love her all the same, and vice versa."

"I could see that. And my anger eventually melted away entirely. But it took some time. It was eye opening, though. I've never seen cities that orderly, and underground too."

"Yeah. It was impressive. I was glad to know that they could get emotional energy without doing the harmful things that Chrysalis did."

"All the same, I was glad to get out of there. The changeling cities were great places to visit, but the Badlands themselves..."

"I hear ya."

Shining looked up from the road. "About halfway there. Anyway, glad to be going back home."

"I expect everyone is."

"Do you think this peace will last?"

James thought about the situation. "I think it will. The griffons went through a costly war, in which they were betrayed by their ruler and his subordinates, and were fighting a civil war among themselves while we were invading them. They got a peace where they largely maintained their independence and got a government that adheres to to clan autonomy. The public, as last that in Gryphos, was sick of the war and wanted peace, and they probably wanted it before we started besieging them. I think that Barrel might have a point in that some griffons will try to justify the war, but I doubt they will turn up soon, and history, I believe, will make things clear."

"For those who read it, that is."

"Well, yeah."

"What about the changelings? What do you guess their future could be like?"

"They need ponies a lot more than ponies need them. Also, the hackles of the Equestrian people have been raised, so I doubt that ponies will stop being wary. Not that I think the changeling rulers are going to try anything, not when they get more emotional energy from peace than in war. I don't know about them forming a united country, though; their Queens have different agendas, and, unlike the griffons, their only experience with a central authority over them all has been abject tyranny. I think they will remain independent, underground cities for the moment, but they'll probably maintain peaceful diplomatic relations with Equestria. But who knows, I could be wrong. Maybe there's something I haven't seen or remembered or heard about that could change things."

"Maybe. But I think the near future at least will be peaceful, baring unseen threats."

For a few minutes, the ride was quiet as both of them were busy thinking about the recent past and the possible future, the only noise being the sound of Shining's hooves hitting the ground and a few birds singing.

"What are you going to do after the trials are over, and you can go home?" James finally asked.

"Me? Well, I guess me and Cady will try to rule the Crystal Empire the best we can, and I'm hoping we can start a family."

"What position will you be in? I mean, you're Captain of the Royal Guard in Equestria, but you're also Prince of the Crystal Empire now. Is it an independent state, or not?"

"That's... a good question. I don't know." Shining said, looking hard at the road for a minute as he thought. "I think that Princess Celestia's intentions on that score is to make the Empire independent eventually, but they've been in limbo for a thousand years, and there's a millennium's worth of history, magical, technological process that they've missed. They need to catch up, so at the moment, we're in some sort of in-between place."

"I see... I think."

"I know, it's a little... complicated. I'm sure that in the future, I'll have to give up my position as Captain and give it over to somepony else, but not quite yet."

"Got a good idea for a candidate?"

"I've been looking for one. I've got a small list, but it will be a while before I'm sure."

"Think they'd do a good job?"

"Honestly, yes, provided they shape up a little more between then and now."

"Is Silver Shield one of them?"

"Yep. He's a veteran, and a dedicated Guard. But I can't put him in just because we both like him. I need to make sure there aren't better candidates out there. Personally, I think he'll win the nomination for Captain once I'm out, but I need to be fair about it."

"I guess that makes sense. I could imagine few who would be better, though."

"Me neither." Shining walked for a few minutes in silence. "Ah, the station... or, rather, what we're using as one."

Labeling it as a "station" was surely going too far. There was a single wooden platform, rather too low in James' opinion, alongside a large collection of various crates and equipment.

"Not exactly Canterlot, is it?" James joked.

"No, but it will do."

James couldn't argue there. He got off Shining's back and walked toward the nearest car. It was full of soldiers and their weapons, and the cars behind them were being loaded with all sorts of things, most prominently - to James eyes, at least - artillery.

"Might as well find a seat and get comfy," Shining said, striding forward.

"What about my bag and stuff?"

"They've been packed already. We'll be ready to leave once the train is full."

As James stepped into the car, he watched as the sun continued its arc across the sky, above the battered fields and filled-in trenches. For a moment, he felt hope rising, then tried to find somewhere to sit.

Author's Note:

Hey guys. Sorry that this chapter is so short, after a month's time to write. The History of the Great Changeling War has reignited my desire to write, though it has also taken most of my writing time. I apologize.

Comments

[Deatheater55]

Nice chapter bringing closure to the story.

[NYChris824]

I saw the title and immediately thought it was the final chapter

[Night Star the Scholar]

Don't apologize!

Great chapter never the less. Heck, I even felt something like melancholy creep in. The story is coming to an end, & it was great fun reading it. Now just to close the story with the trials of the warlords. I'm more curious about Chrysalis, I can understand why the Griffin leaders did what they did. A fierce & prideful people, but Chrysalis... why did she do that to her own people? What was her motivations? And her daughter... No matter how evil Chrysalis is, her daughter will still love her mother unconditionally. I wonder what state of mind she is now that her m other is about to be judged & incarcerated, if not executed.

Well, I'll be waiting for you next chapter! Have a happy 4th of July celebration!✨🎇💥🎆🌟

[Earthpatriot117]

Just awesome to see more of this story bro!!!

[Aramisxx]

I won’t mind doing a private RP of this fanfic in the game stil of ETW ( Empire Total War )

[drako28611]

9127751
True that normally that is a big decision to make, but remember although its not really portrayed in this story. Luna did in fact just get release from the moon. In the actual canon she was literally torturing herself with the Tantabus, so someone like Luna might try any way to find some form of forgiveness even if it comes from a religion. Remember religion is a powerful thing for a reason. people believe in it for the oddest reasons. Although i do agree that it seems like the conversion happened fast you got to remember while he was off at war she was reading his bible so it doesnt really seem that implausible to me.