The Vanhoover's Filly

by Altia Sky

Final Chapter : Tragic destinies

A year later, the filly was sitting in front of her house on the eve of hearts and hooves day. She waited in the cold and wind on her doorstep, staring into nothing, seemingly waiting for something or someone.

Distant noises could be heard, ponies scampering down the village street, others going about their business. Life had resumed since the dark events of last year. A year had gone by to the day, and everything seemed to be gradually returning to normal. But there was one big difference since last year.

At the village hall, a white flag with a translucent light-blue insect-wing symbol was flying underneath, rather than a sky-blue, star-spangled flag with a sun and moon inside.

It had been a year since the changelings had occupied her village and the neighboring town, as well as much of the equestrian territory.

The filly was not fooled, having lost her innocence long ago, this year would not be a day of celebration.

Civilian activity on the surrounding ponies was abruptly slowed by the arrival of a changeling patrol flying in a squadron over the village.

The squad descended to the ground and then began to walk up the street, looking around them, scanning the ponies. Watching for the slightest gesture or suspicious activity. And although none of the ponies in the village were openly hostile to the changelings, and there had been no signs of resistance or insurbodination in the village since the beginning of the occupation, cohabitation was tense. The chief of the changelings was quick to notice; none of the ponies posed a threat, but their angry stares left no doubt as to their opinion of him and his fellows changelings.

Continuing his patrol, the chief changeling noticed the filly as he passed her house, wondering what a filly was doing out in the cold of winter and not inside of what appeared to be her home.

The patrol stopped in front of her house, and the filly looked up to see a changeling standing in front of her, probably an officer by the look of his uniform, cap and medals, all details absent from the uniforms of the other changelings slightly behind him, who were wearing helmets and had no medals.

She quickly realized that she wasn't dealing with an ordinary changeling, or at least an ordinary soldier. What reassured her, however, was the absence of a trident symbol on the officer's uniform, and instead the presence of two horizontal silver bars.

The two horizontal silver bars were the sign that the changeling belonged to the officers of the Heer (the changelings' army) and not to the VOPS (the secret police). The Heer, the changelings' regular army, had a better reputation than the VOPS fanatics: more disciplined, traditionalist and respectful, they were trained professional soldiers, not stupid fanatics given guns and power like those VOPS savages.

It was then that the changeling handed the filly a gold coin, which stunned the ponies around them. The filly saw this and didn't understand,

"What does that damned insect want?" she asked herself.

The hatred and anger was too deep and the feeling too great. The filly then stood up and said to the changeling in front of her.

"Keep your gold, I'll keep my power. Soldier changeling, go your way. I'm a child of Equestria and I don't hold out my hoof to the enemy".

With these words, the filly picked up her belongings and set off in the direction of the station where the train for the city was due to leave, leaving the changelings in front of her speechless.

A voice shouted, "Halt, wait a minute, you!" It was one of the changeling soldiers who tried to call out to the filly trotting away from them.

"That's enough!" ordered a second voice, this time that of the officer, "That's enough, soldier, we're off".

The soldier replied, "Jawohl, Generalmajor Jach", before filing back into the reformed ranks to continue the patrol.

The Generalmajor turned one last time to look at the filly and realized that she had stopped and turned around too. The two looked straight into each other's eyes, one glance enough before a tear rolled down the filly's cheek as she did her best to hide her anger and sadness. But as astonishing as it may seem, the officer was also dropping tears very lightly.

In one look and without a word, the filly and this changeling had shared the pain and sadness of a life with a tragic destiny that had brought these two lifelong strangers to understand each other for just one day.

---

Getting off the train at the station of Vanhoover, She headed for the main avenue, where the city was a shadow of its pre-war self.

Ponies who'd lost all joy walked in the streets, some drinking hot chocolates in the city's bars. For the end of the year, the changeling military governor had authorized the consumption of foodstuffs such as chocolate, which were rare in these troubled times. Despite this, the mood wasn't upbeat: where once there was life and joy, now there was only sadness, gloom and depression.

As she walked, the filly saw a number of buildings and businesses marked with a green cross, a highly distinctive sign that struck terror into the hearts of the inhabitants. This sign was the secret police's VOPS to mark the businesses or homes of ponies who had resisted the changelings during the occupation.

Some buildings had been emptied of their inhabitants and sent to the land of the changelings to serve as forced labor, others summarily executed. Of all the shopkeepers on the street, only a few survived the restrictions and systematic searches carried out by the changelings.

The filly took an adjacent street, crossing several neighborhoods where the same desolate scene was repeated tirelessly. She arrived at a rather innocuous building, larger than the others.

It was in ruins and falling apart, yet this building had seen better days, it was several thousand years old and still standing, witness to the first age of the city and of Equestria. A unique style no longer found today, a work of architectural art. Today, it's a shadow of its former self, abandoned, decrepit and falling into ruin. This building was an important place for the ponies, it was here that ponies gathered to give tribute to their Princesses, past and present.

It was like a place of worship without being one, it had been made in homage to the Alicorn princesses, a place of shared friendship and hope in the past. today it's a place of torment, pain and suffering.

The filly entered the building, access to which had been condemned by the changelings, but she managed to squeeze inside. As she approached the building's altar, it was snowing inside, with much of the roof and walls missing.

She lit several candles with matches, then placed flowers on the snow-covered altar. Then she sat down in front of it and closed her eyes, as if reciting a text, or rather a prayer.
A prayer addressed to the many souls lost in this place, whose suffering seemed almost palpable in the air.

A prayer for the victims of the "Vanhoover's massacre".

In the midst of the changeling army's second defeat at Canterlot and Stalliongrad's invasion of the northern territories of the continent, the changelings were becoming increasingly tense, with the war clearly turning against them. Equestria strengthened and regained ground, while the changelings lost soldiers and were unable to reverse the trend. Against this backdrop, a number of resistance groups in occupied Equestrian territories became involved in large-scale insurrections, many of which were bloodily suppressed by the changelings, including the Vanhoover uprising.

Galvanized by recent changeling defeats and equestrian avnace, the resistant ponies, comprising several groups, banded together to launch their insurrection and the liberation of Vanhoover. The insurrection got off to a good start and the changeling garrison retreated to the outskirts of the town, but it was there that everything changed: several changeling air squadrons and bombers swept through the resistance, destroying everything in their path. At the same time, some changelings landed in the port of Vanhoover, while others arrived overland from Olenia.

The resistance fighters were encircled in the town center, unable to escape. Many civilians had taken refuge in symbolic places, including this one dedicated to the Alicorn princesses, but this didn't matter to the changelings. Wanting to set an example, the general in charge of "containing" the resistance ordered the bombardment of the building by artillery and bombers, with fighters finishing the job by strafing the area from the air, finishing off any civilians who survived the bombardment - a veritable massacre.

Lost in thought, the filly dropped a tear and stood up, placing her hoof on the flowers she had laid down earlier, she said:

"I brought you some camellias, your favorite winter flower. I wish I could have brought them in your favorite flowerpot but I couldn't find it. I hope you're well where you are. I've got to go, I've got a lot to do at home, but I'll be back soon to see you."

"I love you Mom."

The filly picked up her belongings and left the building, disappearing into the rising evening mist, leaving the place empty with only the wind blowing through the ruined walls like a pained whistle, leaving behind only three white candles lit in the yellow glow reflecting off the red petals of the flowers laid on the snow-white altar.

*END*

Author's Note:

Hope can live but there's no joy in war.

This the end of the story.

This story was inspired by a french song about a little girl who lost her parents during the german invasion of 1870.

But contrary to the song, this story is not about patriotism but about hope and what war can make you loose.

This is not a totally bad end but it's a sad end despite that.
I hope u liked it, Thank you for having reading my story.

Comments

[shining paladin]

"The dead they've settled their debts It's up to the living to pick up the tab".- Jack Mitchell call of duty advanced warfare great story mate keep it up cant wait for the next story