• Published 24th Feb 2013
  • 10,960 Views, 676 Comments

My Mortal Big Brother - Dash Attack



Shining Armor goes on a quest to become an alicorn in order to save his love ones from mourning his eventual death. To do this, he must prove him self worthy of the spirits of harmony, as villains plot in the shadows.

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The Coming Swarm

Chapter 9

Twilight's mane blew wildly in the wind as her chariot started to descend towards Foal Mountain. In the distance she could see Luna’s private castle. She knew it wouldn’t be long before she reached her destination. As they the chariot began, she lowered her head down and thought about her brother.

What if Princess Luna won’t help me save my brother? I can’t imagine why she wouldn’t, but what if she is incapable? What if one of her guards is secretly working for Blueblood?

She shook her head and dismissed her thoughts.

No! I shouldn’t get myself worked up like this. I keep forgetting that I’m supposed to consider myself her equal. Will I ever get used to this whole princess thing?

One of the pegasus guards pulling the chariot turned his head slightly to look at Twilight.

“By Celestia,” he said with admiration, “How you’ve changed Twilight. I can’t believe it’s been three years since the two of us carried you to Ponyville for the first time. Now look at you, a member of the royal family with wings of your own. If the rumors are true, you're ageless like the royal sisters now.”

“It’s true.” sighed Twilight unenthusiastically. “To be frank, I have a hard time believing it myself. When Celestia took me under her wing, I knew I would be destined for greatness. But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine anything like this would happen.”

“If you think about it, it really isn’t a surprise at all.” replied the other guard on the right. “You have done more for this kingdom than most ponies accomplish in a lifetime. Now that you're ageless imagine everything this nation can achieve under your guidance. Princess Celestia chose you because she believed in the wonderful things you could accomplish and look how right she was.”

Twilight lifted her head and smiled. “Thank you two for your gracious words, but right now I really need to focus on my meeting with Princess Luna.”

The guards nodded and turned their heads back to the sky. The chariot landed right beside the door. When the chariot had landed safely on the ground Twilight stood up and unfurled her wings. She then jumped out of the chariot and turned to the guards. “Please come back for me before sunrise.” she said with sincerity.

“Before we go!” replied one of the guards somberly with a look of concern. The captain kicked his leg on the ground lightly and looked at the ground. From what Twilight could tell he felt like he was having a hard time organising his thoughts.

Finally he let out a gentle cough and looked up at Twilight.

“Are the rumors true Princess?” he asked. “Has Captain Armor passed on from this world.

Remembering her brothers instructions, Twilight nodded her head.

Even though I’ve know these two I can’t take any chances that one of them might be a spy.

“Our deepest apologies Princess Twilight.” the pegasus replied as he closed his eyes and shook his head slowly before look back up. “Shining was a remarkable soldier, leader, and an even greater friend. He never flaunted or abused his rank like some of the other higher ups do. To us he was modest, caring, and treated everypony as an equal. It such as shame something like this happened so soon after your coronation ceremony.”

“Do you know when the wake is?” asked the other guard. “The two of us would like to pay our respects.”

“We're still working out a date.” Twilight said in an expression that was devoid of any emotion.

“Just stay strong for us your majesty.” replied the same guard. “We’ll be back around six like you requested. In the meantime, try and focus on happier things.”

Twilight watched as the two guards galloped towards the edge of the cliff and took off into the sky. She tucked her wings in and turned to face Luna’s castle. As she trotted slowly with her head down and tears in her eyes she couldn’t help but feel a little guilty.

If my brother is still alive, why am I feeling as if he’s already dead?

Twilight knocked on the door and was greeted by a group of thestrals. After telling them about her meeting with Luna the guards escorted her to Luna’s private chambers.

Inside the chamber Twilight saw Luna sitting on a rug waiting for her.

“Ah, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna said ecstatically. “We hope that thy journey twas safe. What is the matter of great importance you spoke about in your letter?”

Twilight sighed, “Last night my brother sent me a letter. He’s still alive!”

After recalling the events of last night and showing Luna a copy of her brothers message the Night Princess sighed. “Twilight, I’m afraid that most of what you’ve just told me isn’t news. For you see, I was the one that gave Shining the first gem.”

Titwight eyes widened.

“You what!” she yelled in disbelief, her tone echoing with outrage.

“I stole the Harmony Gem from Canterlot Castle so I could save his life. Since me and the Spirit of Honesty were once bonded together I knew I could convince him to spare Shining’s life should he fail. Shining promised me that if he did in fact fail, he would return to the Empire where he belongs. Up till now nopony has ever engaged in a Trial of Harmony and lived. The fact that he was able to pass the trial means he may be the chosen pony worthy of the scepter’s power. So I took his victory as sign and allowed my own captain to aide him on journey.”

Twilight stomped her right hoof against the stone floor of the castle and gritted her teeth. The anger she displayed towards Luna was so apparent that the notarial princess thought she saw Twilight's mane catch fire for a moment.

“BECAUSE HAD I NOT INTERVENED,” She roared right in Twilight's face. The former unicorn crouched in fear as Luna’s presence overwhelmed her. “YOUR BROTHER WOULD HAVE KILLED HIMSELF LOOKING FOR ONE OF THE GEMS. HAD I NOT ALLOWED HIM TO LISTEN TO REASON, HE WOULD HAVE FAILED LIKE ALL THE OTHERS BEFORE HIM! AT LEAST NOW HE HAS A FIGHTING CHANCE!!”

After a long period of silence, Luna drew her head back and took a deep breath. As she did, Twilight got back up and waited until she herself was no longer flustered.

Finally Luna decided to break the ice.

“While I can’t condone the risk your brother is taking,” replied Luna with a hint of remorse. “He believes his quest to be just. To be perfectly honest, after peering into a portion of his dreams I can’t help but sympathise with him.”

“Huh?” replied Twilight who tilted her head in bewilderment.

Luna tilted her head and looked straight into Twilight's eyes.

“Sompony,”she replied sternly. “Or, something invaded your brother’s dreams and filled his head with future events. Whoever is responsible took the form or my late sister Gaia, the former queen of the Cystaile Empire.”

“I didn’t even know you had another sister.” replied Twilight.

“It’s not something me and Celestia like to discuss. Anyway, whoever it was showed Shining a future in which you and Cadence grieve on his deathbed. To make matters worse, Shining told me that you and Cadence will eventually move on from his death and forget him completely after a couple of millennia.”

“That would never happen!” interjected Twilight. “If this thing is an imposter all of that could have been a fabrication!”

Luna sighed. “I’m afraid that some of what she showed him may have actually been from the future. High level magic users can peer into the futures of of others so long as they themselves aren’t involved. Sometimes the best lies are the ones that have sprinkles of truth on them. Still, I can’t be sure how much of the dream was a fabrication, but I can say that whoever it was played on your brother’s inner anxiety.”

“But why would anypony do that?” inquired Twilight. “And how are you sure it wasn’t the spirit of your sister?”

Luna let out another soft sigh and closed her eyes. “Before Shining took his first trial I asked the Honesty Spirit Truth if the being from Shinings dreams was infact my sister. He told me my sister’s soul now dwells within the earth. In his dream, the pony claiming to be Gaia told your brother that her soul had been sealed within the Crystal Heart. Tell me Twilight, who would you rather believe, honesty incarnate, or some shady figure taking my sisters from to manipulate your brother?”

“Well you got me there.” replied Twilight. “That does make sense. But what I don’t understand is why would anyone other than me or Cadence want my brother to be an alicorn?”

“Perhaps,” answered Luna, brushing her chin with her hoof as she tried to deduce the motive. Eventually, Luna put down her hoof and looked Twilight in eyes. “Perhaps it too thought that your brother would not be worthy of the scepter. Whoever it was knew exactly how to excite Shining’s insecurities to the point where he could even think straight. He left Cadence with no plan and no real supplies other than some stolen library books. The being that coaxed him into going on this crusade did so in the hope that Shining would not only fail but perish in the process.”

Normally Twilight would have been hyper focused on what Luna said about her brother stealing books but the weight of the situation allowed her to push that point to the sides. As much as she hated to admit it her brother’s life was more important than computing the ultimate library sin.

“But if that is the case,” Luna said with reassuring smile “It’s plan has failed miserably. With two of the gems now under Prince Shining’s command his quest is now a third of the way done.”

“So you're not going to help me stop him.” huffed Twilight.

“Even if I did, he wouldn't go without a struggle. Afraid the only thing we can do is pr…”

Just then a Night Guard unicorn burst into the room and began panting.

“Princess…Luna.” said the guard as he tried to catch his breath. “Lieutenant Night Fang has been replaced with a changeling. We caught him trying to steal documents that would have put Canterlot’s security at risk. When we tried to stop him he exposed his true life form and attacked.”

Luna ran past Twilight and rushed to towards the guard.

“Did you restrain him.” She asked loudly.

“Yes, he’s in the dungeon and were interrogating him now, however just after we caught him he told me to give Twilight a message.”

“What was the message?” asked Luna.

The guard gulped and shifted his eyes nervously and looked at Twilight. "He says 'Tell her that our queen has your precious Shining Armor cornered. Soon he will be her’s again, and she will have her vengeance against both of you.’”

Twilight eyes opened wide with horror as she dropped to her knees in utter despair.

--------

Shining grit his teeth as the mob of imposters began to crowd around his shield. While they were all still disguised as ponies their fangs were clearly visible to him and his party. All the while, the changeling disguised as Sheriff Silverstar laughed as if he had already won.

“How did you know we were coming here?” asked Shadow.

“Ever since your little showdown with Wasp we’ve been setting up checkpoints all around the the desert area between Everfree and the Badlands. You just got lucky enough to arrive at basecamp. Now we have you like an insect caught in a spider web. Don’t you just love the irony Shining cause I can really use a snack right about now.”

“You creeps aren’t sapping on anymore of my love.” yelled Shining has he snarled and sparks of magic discharged from his horn.

“Not like we need to.” the fake sherif gloated. “When the ponies of Appleloosa have already given us an all you can eat buffet.” He licked his lips and rubbed his stomach with one hoof. “I got to say it was one of the best meal I have had in ages.”

As the changeling sherif taunted them rage coursed through Braeburn’s veins. He turned his attention to the face him and stomped his right hoof into the ground.

“What the hell did you monsters do to the towns folk?!” yelled Braeburn at the top of his lungs. His bright yellow face was starting to turn different shades of red.

“Don’t worry country boy.” replied the sheriff in a sympathetic tone. “They are all waiting for you back at the hive.” A very crooked smirk crept onto his face. “If you want, you can join them. We have plenty of pods already made.”

“Shining!” cried Braeburn who wasn now fuming with anger. “Let me out of this damn shield so I can swatt this oversized ant!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” replied the prince as his eyes wandered in search of an escape. “If I allow you to pass through the shield you're done for.”

“Like that matters.” said the Sheriff tauntingly. “Like I said, your shield is not going to be enough. Especially since you're the one one who’s going to deactivate it.”

“Sorry to break it too you buddy.” Shining huffed smugly. “But there’s no way I’m going-”

“Deactivate it or I snap the cow pony's neck.” barked a feminine voice from within the shield.

Braeburn suddenly felt a tightness around his throat. He could feel a strange texture on his neck but as far he could tell, there was nothing there. Yet the tightness he felt was as if he was being strangled to death. He began to gasp for air as he struggled to break free from his unseen captor.

“Braeburn!” cried Shadow as both captains watched the stallion squirm. Eventually a tall feminine changeling materialised from out of nowhere with her left foreleg wrapped tightly around Barburns throat.

“Chrysalis!” shouted Shining the moment he laid eyes on her teal colored mane.

“Close but no cigar handsome.” she said in a seductive tone. “I’m her daughter Princess Cocoon but I prefer the name Phantom when out on the field.”

On second inspection Shining noticed that her body was void of holes and that there was a ghost shaped cutie mark on her flank.

No way! thought Shining. That means she’s a…

The unicorn let out a loud moan of annoyance and slouched his head. “Great, more hybrid changelings with freaky mutant powers.” he said sarcastically. “Just how many more of you are there?”

“I will tell you that I’m not the only one here in town. Now here are my demands. Deactivate your shield or I snap his windpipe in two. I’ll give you to the count of 10 so you better act quickly. Here we go.”

Shining’s mind began to race faster than a speeding weather pony.

As much as I hate getting captured by these filthy bugs, there no way I’m going to let Braeburn die. I didn’t want to make this easy for them but it looks like it’s game over.

“Five seconds Armor!” Yelled Cocoon as she tightened her grip on her captive. “I don’t want to kill a good looking stallion like him but I will unless you deactivate your shield.”

Damn her!

Shining closed his eyes in defeat and disengaged his shield. However just as the spell ended his eyes jolted back open to the sound of a loud shriek.

Braeburn had dug his teeth into Cocoon's leg in an attempt to break free. Shining, Shadow, and the changelings watched has Braeburn violently gnawed on Cocoon's leg like a rabid dog. As small shards chitin fell to the ground, Cocoon exerted her grip on Braeburn in an attempt to suffocate him.

Both Shining and Shadow took advantage and leapt into action. While Shadow flew to retrieve his spear and helmet from their discarded luggage Shining rushed to the cow pony’s rescue. When he was in striking distance, he levitated his sword from it’s sheath and swung the blade skyward. With the the precision of a hawk, he sliced clean through Cocoon’s left foreleg without laying a scratch on her hostage.

“Volucris dammit!!!” she screamed as her leg flew sideways towards the mob of disguised changelings before she vanished into thin air. Although she was no longer visible Shining could see a trail of blood drip from nowhere as well as the sound of chattering wings.

As Shadow flew beside Shining with his spear held firmly in his right hoof, the unicorn prince turned his head to the out of breath colt panting. His hind legs struggled to lift him up.

“Are you ok Braeburn?!” he asked with his eyes open wide.

“I’ll… huff… live.” he said has he continued to catch his breath.

The prince nodded before turning his head back to the swarm. “The channeling that grabbed you is a hybrid mutant. From the looks of it she can turn herself invisible. She must have been inside the radius of my spell shield spell before I cast it. If I knew she was there I could have knocked her back like I did in Canterlot. Anyways, unless you don’t wanna become channeling food, I suggest you grab a weapon and fight.”

Braeburn stumbled back on all fours and nodded.

“Ya bet your flank I’m gonna fight,” he said as color returned to his face. “But I don’t need no weapon.” He trotted over next to the two captains and scowled back at the changling swarm. “I can fight pretty well with just my hooves. We here in Appaloosa have a mud wrestling competition during our anniversary fair. I’m the undefeated champion around these parts and I’m not going to let these imposters best me.”

“Just be careful son.” replied Shadow softly with a look of concern of on his face. “I think the reason they're keeping their disguises on is so we can’t tell which one of them is a hybrid or not. For all we know there could be a twenty of them hidden in the crowd with their own unique power.”

“It’s like a game of poker.” said Shining has he drew back his lips. “Basicly we won’t know our opponent's hand until we play ours. Let’s hold our ground and wait for them to make the first move.”

As if on cue ten changelings rushed at them.

Shadow tucked his spear between his wings and jumped to intercept the attacks. His spear grazed a changeling as he leapt past him. Blood oozed from the injured creature as his disguise faded away and his body collapsed onto the ground.

Meanwhile, Shining decided to try his hooves at one of the nature spells that he instinctively knew now. His horn surged with magic as he conjured a tornado of sand and hurled it toward a group of changelings that were headed for them. Their mouths opened in fear as each changeling in the group was sucked up by the the sandy storm.

“These nature spells are pretty handy.” said Shining proudly has he scooped a few more changelings in his twister of sand. “I’m going to definitely need to take some time to find out just how many I know.”

As Shining tried to clear the crowd of changelings in front of him with his new spell, Braeburn took a defensive stance behind him. Changeling soldiers charged them in attempt to break Shining’s spell only to be clobbered and stabbed by the two stallions. One changeling dropped his disguise and lept at Braeburn. In response, Braeburn spun his body around and bucked the creature in mid air. The force of Braeburn’s legs was a enough to send the changeling straight through the second floor window of a nearby saloon. He turned to face the other changelings and smiled.

“Anychangeling else want to go inside for a drink?!” he said said with as his eyes began to sparkle.

The the three heroes fought the changelings with every skill at their disposal. Shining continued to use his tornado spell to help drive back changelings in front of him. Meanwhile Braeburn and Shadow struck down any that tried to cross them with hoof and spear. One by one changelings were blown, stabbed, and bashed by the three ponies. Yet even with their good fortune, a single question lingered in the front of their minds.

Where are the hybrids hiding?

Then, as Shadow removed his spear from the chest of an attacker, he saw a black mass speeding towards him and Braeburn.

Realising that neither of them would be able to dodge whatever was approaching them in time he lifted his spear to parry any imminent attacks. However, as he raised his spear the speeding figure trotted right up to him slammed his hoof right in Shadow’s chest.

Shadow’s mouth opened wide as air was and released from lungs. His wings spread outward as a reflex, causing him to lose his hold the spear tucked beneath one of them.

Moments later, the assailant’s horn lit up and three black objects flew from the its saddle bag.

Shadow’s eyes opened wide as the world around him became still.

Shining and Barburn watched with their mouths wide open at the horrific scene before them. Three black knives with a foreign appearance were sticking out from the sides of his purple armour. Shadow stretched his right hoof forward as if to attack the black maned changeling that stabbed him. Yet as soon as his hoof made contact with the ground, numbness overcame his body and he stumbled to the ground.

“Shadow!” Cried the two remaining stallions.

Behind him, Shining could hear the sheriff’s high pitched laughter.

“Nicely done Ninja,” he said when he caught his breath from his laughing fit. “But you could have saved some of my poison for the rest of them. I think you gave that bat freak a lethal dose. If I don’t apply the antidote he’ll be dead in forty minutes to an hour.”

The back maned changeling stood up on two legs and bowed apologetically. As he did this Shining took notice of the creature’s cutie mark. It was a picture of some kind of metal star with sharp edges. While he had no clue what that was supposed to symbolise, he knew that this changeling was a stealthy and proficient killing machine.

“Forgive me Venom-kun.” said the changeling named Ninja after he finished his bow. “I felt this fight had been dragging on and wanted to see a swift end to the skirmish.”

“Wait!” yelled Shining as he tightened his lips. “You poisoned him.”

The sheriff walked towards him with an annoyed expression on his face as his body was enveloped by green fire. Shining and Braeburn turned to him as the imposter exposed his true form.

“Just as I thought!” huffed Shining as he glared at the creature before him. “Your a hybrid too. It seems your the only changelings besides the queen with any charisma.”

“Understatement of the century.” sighed the creature. Like his siblings he had his mother's emerald eyes. What made this one stand out was his light green mane and his extremely sharp fangs. On his flank was the picture of a king cobra.

As he cantered forward, Shining drew his sword and rested the blade inches from the creature’s throat. The creature, who he remembered had been called Venom, grinned smugly at the enraged prince.

“You’d really draw a sword at the only creature that can produce an antidote in time to save his life” he said in a condescending tone. “As you’ve probably realised by now, my body can create all sorts of poisons. However, my special ability or “talent” as you ponies would call it doesn’t stop there. My body can generate antibiotics, narcotics, and antidotes.”

He looked directly into Shining’s eyes and exposed his abnormally long fangs. Shining’s body shivered as he saw what looked like green liquid drip from their tips.

“I allowed Ninja here to lace his kunai with a fast acting poison.” he continued. “In small quantities all it does in knock a pony out. However, your friend has just received a very lethal dose and I’m afraid he has less than an hour to live unless I inject him with the antidote.”

Shining clenched his teeth and narrowed his eyes. He could tell that the changeling wasn’t lying to him, but he also knew something about this didn’t seem right.

“Let me guess.” Shining said angrily. “You want me to come with you in exchange for saving Shadow. Let me give you a better offer. Save him now or I’ll slice your head off.”

“And here I thought intelligence told us you passed the Trial of Kindness.” chuckled Venom.

Shining stretched his neck out at Venom. “I am being kind.” he said firmly.

For a moment, he thought he saw Venom’s face tighten up a bit.

“Ok,” he said nervously. “Just put the swords down and I’ll apply the the anti-venom into his bloodstream.”

So far I haven’t had a single bad vibe telling me that he’s lying. Yet still, something doesn’t feel right about this. At least I know he does intend to save Shadow. I better do what he says if I want to save him. Besides, if he tries anything funny, I still have my magic to protect me.

Shining reluctantly levitated his sword back into his sheath.

“What are you waiting for?” he said impatiently. "Go help…"

Shining gasped as the changeling fluttered backwards and pointed both his forehooves at the two stallions. He then heard a fait whooshing before the prince felt something pierce his leg. Whatever it was must have hit Braeburn too because he let out a loud “ouch” a second later.

“What the hell did you just do?!” yelled Shining as his head began to feel drowsy. His mouth stretched out wide as he let out a loud yawn. “You… weren’t lying before.”

Venom landed on the ground and snicked. “I didn’t lie. What your should've asked first is if I was going to drug all of you at the same time.”

Braeburn let out a loud yawn has his body fell to the ground. “You… son of a… bit…” Before knew it, Braeburn fell into an unconscious sleep.

Meanwhile Shining struggled to keep his balance and fight the drug in his system.

“A defiant one aren’t we.” said Venom. “For most patients two is the maximum dose I’m allowed to give.” He lifted his right leg as a small pore opened up at the sole of his hoof. “Allow me to adjust your prescription.”

Even with his vision blurred, Shining could see the small biological dart speeding towards him. It nailed him right below his collarbone, and he immediately felt the effects. As he fell into unconsciousness he could hear the mob surrounding them laugh hysterically, the loudest of the group being the one that shot him. He couldn’t even feel his own body as he tipped over sideways onto the hard ground. It wasn’t long before the world around him became utter darkness.

Author's Note:

Last chapter for a wile. Collage saps a'lot of my creative energy. Also, I have a couple of other fix I need to rap up before I continue this ongoing saga. I will be finishing Blank Flanks and Equine Infernal. Then after I write a quick chapter of Harky, we can learn the what fate will befall our hero. Also, wasn't Blueblood heading to the north to fetch something. I wonder how that's going for him?