A 2,000 year old commander has never had friends since his wife died. Celestia decides it's time to make new ones when the changelings attack the Crystal Empire!
A letter is received to Sky Warrior, a 2,000 year old commander and as ageless as any Alicorn, that was written by the Princess. Upon hearing the news that he shall go to the Crystal Empire to protect them sounds a bit stupid even for Princess Celestia. There must be some reason as to why she sent him there and why she would send him as I quote, "to protect a bunch of worthless ponies." Well, he's in for the ride of his life when he finds out they are anything but worthless.
It started like any other day. Sky Warrior got up at 0400 just like he’s always done. Nothing seemed out of order. He shouted orders to the new privates that were just recruited about three days back. And then at 0800, he took up his post as captain of the guard for then onto 1130. After his break, he walks back to his blockhouse. Like most times, he’s walking back alone with no friend in the world besides his wife who has now been dead for half a century. He didn’t care for friends nor did he want to care.
Strangely though, when the clock in Sky Warrior’s blockhouse rang for 1200, a letter was delivered. This is very unordinary as he doesn’t normally get mail. He grabs it and chuckles lightly while thinking to himself, “Must be another one of those promotion applications or one of those letters from the *ahem* special soldiers.”
This wasn’t either of those things. He saw the seal with the golden C on it. “Oh shit,” he exclaimed, “It’s from the Princess!” Reading it eagerly, he learns that his long-time enemy, Queen Chrysalis and the changelings are assembling not too far from the Crystal Empire.
“Wait,” he looked up after seeing the words, Crystal Empire, “where in Equestria is that?”
The messenger nonchalantly shrugs. “Beats me, I’m only Celestia’s messenger.”
After hearing this, he looks rather dumbfounded, “The Princess sends a letter for me to protect something I know nothing of nor care about? There must’ve been some mistake.”
“Uh, it says ‘Addressed to Commander Sky Warrior.’”
“I know what it says! I got to see the Princess at once,” growls Sky Warrior as whirls a smack across the messenger’s face and takes off towards the throne room where Celestia normally is writing letters to her assistant stationed as intelligence in the Canterlot Library.
Landing in the center with tremendous that rather spooked the graceful figure only slightly bigger than himself and five feet away, he slaps the letter down in front of her.
“What is the meaning of this,” he asked. “Why the fuck do you want me to go to the Crystal Empire to protect a bunch of worthless crystal ponies?”
Understanding this sudden outburst, the princess begins in a calm graceful tone, “These ponies are as much important as they are any other pony. I mean, it’s not like they’re anything else.”
“But they’re CRYSTAL ponies,” raising his tone slightly but respectively, “what point is there in that?”
“I assure you that they are very important and perform a feat none of us are able to do,” she responds calmly still.
Scoffing at the sound and jokingly grumbles to himself, “They must walk on two legs or something.”
Celestia, hearing this, breathes deeply to keep calm and not to throw him in a jail in the place that he was banished to, “Alright. It might be helpful if I did a brief rundown about the Crystal Ponies.”
She sits down and begins, “The Crystal Ponies are an ancient race. They’ve been here long before the split between the earth ponies, pegasus, and unicorns. Their culture is equally as ancient as they with old magic such as this generation has ever seen. The form of this magic is there is a Crystal Heart in the center of the palace in the center of the Empire. It was once stolen from its place, and the ponies were enslaved. When enslaved and without the Crystal Heart to power them, the Crystal ponies felt no life, no memory, nothing. Practically, they were dead. However, Shining Armor as you may know and Princess Cadence cast the evil ruler out, and with the help of six unique ponies from Ponyville, the Crystal Heart was returned, thus, returning the life to the Crystal Ponies. It is by the love of the Crystal Ponies that keeps it safe. That is why I’m sending you, my greatest commander, to aid the Crystal Ponies in the defense of the Crystal Empire because without the Crystal Empire, I fear that one day, it’ll drain the life and hope from all of Equestria.”
Sky Warrior sits and ponders on how the Crystal Ponies power the Crystal Heart to activate the safe-shield. “Perhaps it’s a switch to be thrown,” he thought, “No. Maybe a generator? No. Sundrop? Nah. Dammit.” He then asks her slowly, “How do the Crystal Ponies power the Crystal Heart.”
She smiles and chuckles lightly at this question. “The Heart is powered by the love of the Crystal Ponies. As long as the ponies are there, the Crystal Heart will provide some protection. But they are going to need all the help they can get. Won’t take much though; preferably about 50 guards will do. A local there has agreed to house you for the reminder of your stay there. Shouldn’t be any more than about three to four days.”
“50 guards?!” he cried out now disregarding that the person he’s talking to is higher class. “How the fuck am I to save an entire Empire with only 50 guards?! I’ll never be able to protect the Crystal Empire! You’re not bullshitting with me right? I mean, this is the CHANGELING ARMY we’re talking about here. You honestly have some extreme faith in those *ahem* Crystal Ponies.”
Again, disregarding this outburst, she continues, “I’m pretty sure you will find this trip to be more than what you perceive it to be. Go to the library to see someone who’s studied the Crystal Empire and even saw the Crystal Heart replaced into its original glory. Anything here, I will provide besides men. I’m only giving 50 soldiers and that’s it.”
“This is bullshit,” grumbled Sky Warrior, “I can’t protect an empire, let alone a castle, with 50 soldiers.” He begins to speak up, “Is there any way to convince you to give me 100?”
“Sorry, but no,” shaking her head, “but I’m pretty sure you’ll do just fine with 50, since there’s more to a battle than just numbers.”
“I guess so,” shrugs the commander, “but I’m sure to regret ever going to this.”
“Hmph,” grunted Sky Warrior as he was on his way to the Crystal Empire with nothing but one armor suit which was already on him, his sword, and the 50 soldiers for him to command, “This is complete bullshit.”
Two scouts were ahead keeping an eye out to find the Crystal Empire when they spotted something gleaming brightly, as to even match the sun in such brightness. “Hey, sir,” they shouted, “I think we found it!”
“Oh, great,” he says sarcastically though no one seemed to notice, “prepare to land!”
The squadron landed beneath the Crystal Castle where they were to await further orders from the ones ruling the Empire. Sky Warrior, still not pleased with it but still loyal to the Princess to even death, stands at attention with the squadron with the Heart glowing brightly in pulses behind them.
A voice from above them can be heard, “A-are you there, soldiers of the Princess? If you aren’t, then please be on your way.”
Sky Warrior steps forth and says with a loud voice as to be recognized as the Royal Canterlot Voice, “We, the soldiers of the Princess, are here. Come forth, ruler of the Crystal Empire.”
A pink Alicorn carrying none other than Shining Armor appears in complete armor with the symbol resembling the Crystal Heart on the front with Shining Armor seeming to be in much of the same.
“You must be Commander Sky Warrior,” the Alicorn states, “Shining Armor has told me all about you.”
“Not everything,” responds Sky Warrior slowly, “but we were instructed to await further orders here. Can you please tell me what those are?”
The Alicorn then starts, “Well first off, you may call me Cadence, and you’ve already met Shining Armor. And here’s….now…ugh…where’d she go this time? Anyways, you’ll meet her later on, but your orders are to follow me to get you the feel of the Empire such as where everything is and where our borders are especially where those mean changelings are.”
“Well then, let’s get a move on, then. I need to get a patrol up soon so that we don’t get the changelings in here under our noses,” responds Sky Warrior upon hearing that they’re going on a tour of the ENTIRE Crystal Empire.
"I don't think that's necessary," responded Cadence while she chuckles lightheartedly, "Shining Armor had all the soldiers out on the borders as soon as we got the warning from the scout early about three days ago."
Looking at her as if he had just heard the dumbest thing in the world, he asks softly, "How many soldiers would that be?"
"We have about 500 out, and that's all the soldiers we have and will ever need against the 50,000 changelings headed our way," replies Cadence with a smile on her face.
"Now I KNOW this is a mad city doomed to hell," thought Sky Warrior.
Cadence then leads Sky Warrior and the 50 soldiers through the whole of the Crystal Empire, showing them the sights and interesting architecture that they didn't even seem interested about. Some of the soldiers asked some questions to make things interesting, but other than that, everyone was pretty much silent. Sky Warrior seemed to ignore what the Princess was saying and was rather looking at the sky and where he could put his soldiers.
"The delta squadron can go there," he thought, "and the Epsil-DAMN IT! I just don't have enough soldiers! This fucking city is doomed because the Princess has to be such a greedy ass when it comes to soldiers"
"Anything the matter, Commander," asked the pink Alicorn in front of him, noticing his constant grimaces.
"No, nothing, other than I'm unable to protect the Crystal Empire with the amount of soldiers I have," replies Sky Warrior indignantly.
Laughing almost hysterically, Cadence replies, "I don't think even 50 is needed. Tia must honestly underestimate the power of the Crystal Empire."
Reluctantly and downheartedly, Sky Warrior continues to follow the princess throughout the entire Crystal Empire until the return back to the castle.
"The only thing I have left to say is sleeping and resident arrangements," Cadence announces loudly, "Sky Warrior, all your men will make camp right over there where we set up the tents for the Crystal Fair, while you..." trails off when someone whispers something in her ear something of quite importance, "I'll be a moment," and then turns to converse with the person.
"What a load of fucking bullshit this day has been,"thinks Sky Warrior while he waits but then turns his attention to something resembling a pegasus blocking the sun and moving quite fast towards him, "well, if that's one of my soldiers, they are fucking court martialed."
The thing flying extremely fast towards him crashes and completely tackles him. He looks up while still on the ground to find a blue Crystal pony pegasus jumping up and down in front of him and continuously says, "hi, hi, hi, hi, hi!" Sky Warrior confused as to why this happens taps on Cadence's sholder and points to the pony that just crashed into him.
"Oh! There she is! That's Perrie," Cadence states while seeing her, "she agreed to take you in as a guest at her house. I certainly agreed to do so."
"WHAT?!" exclaims Sky Warrior when he heard this, "DON'T I GET ANY FUCKING SAY AS TO WHAT I CAN AND CAN'T HAVE?!"
Cadence, understanding his frustration, replies with, "Come on. You're an officer, and officers need to be housed in luxury. Plus, Perrie's nice, and she's one of the very few ponies to have a vacant room inside her home. She seems like the pony who could use the company."
"You got to honestly be fucking kidding me," replies Sky Warrior while Perrie comes next to him and jumps up and down in front of him while smiling quite largely who says, "This is gonna be fun! Can't wait to have a roommate!"
“Well,” Perrie asks, “aren’t you gonna take off your armor? I mean, you’re indoors now.”
Sky Warrior just grunts whilst standing in the way of the door, trying to hide his utter rage right now, “I always wear my armor in places I’m not familiar with, and with ponies I’m not familiar with” “especially ones that are worthless pieces of shit…,” he thought.
“Well, I think you can trust me, silly filly,” giggled the Crystal Pegasus.
Sky Warrior just grunts as he sits down, still not removing his armor. A thousand thoughts buzzed over his head at the moment while he sits there, pouting away the afternoon with the Crystal pony standing in front of him with eyes staring at him as if she had just discovered a cure for cancer.
After about an hour of absolute silence, Perrie nonchalantly asks, “So, uh, is this how you spend your afternoons? Sitting like this?” After not receiving a response, she begins tugging on his right forehoof playfully. “Oh come on! Let’s go do something! I’m bored! The Crystal Fair is going on right now, and that’s when we power the Crystal Heart.”
Upon hearing the word, “Crystal Heart,” Sky Warrior instantly perks up and thinks, “Maybe I’ll find out exactly what the hell this ‘Crystal Heart” is…” He gets up and says flatly, “I guess I can manage that.”
Perrie squeals for joy while Sky Warrior just grumbles and they go out of the house again.
“So what exactly is this ‘Crystal Fair’,” asks Sky Warrior, not actually meaning the question, “as in, what does it do to power this ‘Crystal Heart’?”
“Love, silly,” replied the Crystal Pegasus.
“Love? Love doesn’t power protection for the entire Empire. It just ruins lives.”
Once she heard this, Perrie laughs loudly saying, “You’re so funny, Sky! I like you already!”
“Yeah, well don’t get used to it. I’ll be glad to get away from here when those damned changelings are gone,” he responded when he heard this, “I can’t stand being here around such fucking useless ponies.”
“If you say so, heh,” responds Perrie as she walks and thinks, “he’s freaking cute. I like him a lot.”
After walking a bit, they arrive at the Crystal Fair where tents and booths crowd the small field in front of the castle and Crystal Ponies everywhere. Sky Warrior and Perrie go about the different booths.
“One thing the Empire is famous for,” began Perrie ,“is its woven baskets. See?”
Upon her excitedly giving him the basket, Sky Warrior seems unmoved, yet is slightly confused as to how this basket could possibly help protect the Empire. “It’s a nice basket. What is it made of,” he asked as his original intention was to hear if it was powered or something.
Confused at the question, she replies with a dumbfounded look on her face, “Uhhhh, hay? String? Stuff you would normally use to make baskets? Why?”
“No, nothing,” he responds understanding the confusion, “was just…curious.”
Whilst saying that, he hears growling coming from his own and Perrie’s stomach. “What do you have to eat here? Does that come with this ‘Fair’ as well?”
“Of course! Come on! Let’s go get some food to eat,” replied Perrie
They arrive at a series of booths to gather a meal with Crystal berries, Crystal corn on the cob, and standard hay fries to go with it. While they were eating, a series of questions arose in Sky Warrior’s mind.
“How the hell does this and everything about this so called ‘Crystal Fair’ have to do with the Crystal Heart’s power? Seems like a fucking waste if you ask me. What the hell is this ‘Crystal Heart’ even made out of since I KNOW for a fact that crystal cannot store energy much less give off enough to protect a whole fucking empire. Why the hell does this pony I’ve been with since this afternoon have wings and every other fucking ‘Crystal pony’ doesn’t? WHY DOESN’T THIS PLACE MAKE ANY FUCKING SENSE! Lousy piece of shit…”
Amid his frustration, he ends up bringing up a conversation from earlier, “So, you haven’t answered my question.”
“And what’s that,” she asks with a mouthful of Crystal Corn.
“What the hell is this ‘Crystal Fair’ and what does it have to do with powering the Crystal Heart?”
She laughs once again, “I told you, silly. It’s love. The Crystal Fair is when the Crystal Ponies use their culture to spread the love of each other, thus, enhancing the power of the Crystal Heart.”
“But that makes no sense! How can love, something so silly and stupid, power a thing that can protect a fucking Empire somehow?”
“Dunno. But it works.”
Sky Warrior grunts in response to what he finds to be a “dumbass” answer. “So, what else is there left to do?”
“Well, there’s a jousting tournament soon,” replied Perrie.
“What?! A jousting to-...” controlling his excitement upon hearing this, “I would much like to participate in this jousting tournament.”
“Oh? Alrighty then!”
They then arrive at the legendary jousting arena where hundreds of Crystal Ponies were watching and some of the most burliest ponies ever to be seen or heard of where at the center warming up for the competition.
Perrie points to all the competitors will she states, “all of these ponies come from every part of Equestria just to compete. They are the strongest, meanest, toughest stallions around.”
“Right up my alley!”
“You sure? I mean, I believe in you. It’s just that I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Don’t worry,” Sky Warrior gives a smirk similar to that of a well-known athlete from Ponyville, “I got this!”
Sky Warrior takes his place to begin the competition, standing tall and proud in the complete golden armor of the Royal Guard, not caring about anything in the world but to win this competition. Perrie takes her spot in the stands which once she sat down, all the other ponies shunned away from her as if she had a disease. She was mildly depressed about this, but was mostly excited about Sky Warrior in the competition.
Sprinting a full speed, he knocks the first pony out of the whole arena with ease. A couple more ponies come along to the same outcome. No pony went home defeated by Sky Warrior went without a broken bone or some sort of injury cuzz he unleashed hell upon them. However, getting closer towards the end, the tournament gets fierce and Sky Warrior begins to feel weak. He’s still dominating and going undefeated, but he’s not doing as good as he was in the beginning.
Somehow knowing this, Perrie comes down to him before the next one right before the last stallion who seems to be three times Sky Warrior’s weight in muscle even though Sky Warrior is pretty strong, himself.
“Hey,” she says, “you alright?”
“I don’t know,” he replies in between panting, “I’m quite weak right now strangely. I just feel no life.”
“Then let my love give you life!”
Just as Perrie says this, she begins to glow brightly and hugs Sky Warrior. As she hugs him, he feels a strange rush of energy, strength, and power. While confused, he gets ready to take down the burly stallion ready to crush him. As soon as he makes contact, a large flash happens at the tip of the lance and the stallion was launched high in the air and hit the Crystal Palace behind the arena. A great cheering is heard from the stands and the streets of the Crystal Empire flare with light.
Once again panting, Sky Warrior comes up to Perrie and asks, “What the hell did you put into me that made me do that.”
“Dunno. I felt a rush in me that I’ve never felt before,” she replies with a startled look on her face, “I just heard you were down in spirits and energy and I felt my energy surging everywhere in my body.”
“Well, whatever you did, it was awesome, and it made me feel awesome. I feel MUCH better now.” He stops panting and asks a question that is very uncommon for Sky Warrior to be asking, “Would you mind accompanying me to the rest of the fair? There might be some things here that I might actually, er, uh, enjoy! Yes, that’s the word.”
“Alrighty then,” she responds as her eyes lit up trying to contain her excitement that she was finally getting through to him.
“So uh, what else is there to do at the Crystal Fair?”
“Well, there’s the flugerhorn performance. Doesn’t take much to play a flugerhorn though, and it’s such a wacky instrument too.”
“Well uh, I happen to be a flugerhorn player,” responds Sky Warrior as he recalls the time he used to play the flugerhorn in his years as a private, “but they haven’t played flugerhorns for years. What gives them bringing it back?”
“Uhhhh, they’ve always been here. Where have you been for the past five centuries?”
“Isolated,” he responds shrugging his shoulders, “but lemme see if I can’t go perform a song on the flugerhorn.”
They then go to the booth where they were issuing flugerhorns, and Sky Warrior picked up one with a stainless steel finish. After obtaining the flugerhorn, Sky Warrior waits in line to go on stage while Perrie sits in the audience, again, with everyone moving away from her as if she’s a demon from hell.
A couple performances in and Perrie drifts to sleep because they’re so quiet and not as moving. Everything seemed distant. And just then, the music seemed to blast so loud, she was blown out of the chair she was sitting in. Expecting to see about 10 flugerhorn players, she looks up to see who it was, and to her amazement, it was one. It was the dark yellow colored Pegasus playing the anthem of Equestria from long ago. Slow and powerful he played it, with loudness that can be heard all around the Empire. When he finished, there was a brief moment of silence and then a cheer roared through the stands and Perrie was once again glowing and excited.
“That was amazing,” exclaimed the Crystal Pegasus, “I haven’t heard it before and that’s probably why it was amazing! Where did you learn to play like that?!”
“Heh, no one has really asked that question,” he replied with a light chuckle, “but I learned a long time ago when I was just a little private back in the Army.”
“Well I loved it. It was amazing,” she responds as she nudges against him.
Soon thereafter, it was getting close to dusk. Sky Warrior and Perrie had spent the whole day together and the streets of the Empire grew radiant as the sun began to set. They decided that it was time to go get some dinner, and so they go to the booths once more to get pretty much the same thing they had for lunch before, but this time, both were enjoying each other’s company, talking about the day’s events.
“The way you smacked that one guy that made him flip over his lance,” Perrie states amid her laughing, “PRICELESS!”
“Heh, it was funny wasn’t it,” responds Sky Warrior whilst chuckling.
“Hell yea! You were amazing out there!”
“Thanks.”
“No problem,” she states while fluttering her wings, “and that song you played, I’ve never heard anything more beautiful.”
“It’s the only thing I’ve ever learned on a flugerhorn, and I played it at a tone that was to address every soldier in the Aviation Division.”
“Really? Now, tell me about this Aviation Division.”
“Well, pretty much, the Aviation Division was the part of the Equestrian Army that was composed of pegasi. Hey! If you wanted to join, you could.”
Upon hearing the statement about her wings, she just shrugs her shoulders and says, “Yea, sure.”
“What’s the matter,” asks Sky Warrior, instantly detecting something wrong, “don’t you like having wings?”
“Well, they are useful. It’s just that, well, I’ve been pretty much treated as an outcast, a no-life all my entire life. Everytime I go somewhere, everyone treats me like I have a disease or something and they shy away. And it’s all because of these wings. My mom was a Crystal pony and my dad was a Pegasus, so I’m what you would call a ‘crossbreed’ and no one likes crossbreeds. That’s why I have room in my house since most Crystal ponies live with roommates and that’s why I was excited to see you. You were the first pony that I’ve actually been with personally, and I really wanted to be your friend.”
“Well, it’s nothing to be ashamed of to have wings, I assure you,” Sky Warrior says sitting up straight, “and I promise you that tomorrow, I shall fix that issue. That’s discrimination, and it’s not right.”
“Thanks a lot,” replies Perrie small tears, “that means so much to me.”
“It’s my duty to make sure everypony is treated equally under Her Majesty’s rule.”
“And because you have a heart that is golden. You’re the best.”
“Yea, well, I still can’t wait to get back to my blockhouse back at Canterlot with all my inventions and my normal life cycle.”
This devastated Perrie as she responds, “Yea, alright.”
As they finished talking, one of the scouters comes from the sky and lands between them.
“Sir,” the scouter begins, “the changelings have been spotted and our scouters have managed to pick up that they will be attacking at high noon tomorrow.”
“We’ll have to prepare then,” replies Sky Warrior as he gets from sitting with Perrie, “get along, and I’ll be right with you.”
“Yes sir,” says the scouter.
He turns to Perrie and says, “Farewell, Perrie. I wish you the best. Thanks for an amazing day.”
“You’re welcome.”
As Sky Warrior and the scouter leaves, Perrie is left alone, with no one to be there with her in her sadness.
As she sat there at the table, tearing up badly, she thought and said to herself softly, “No one will ever want to love a crossbreed…”
“I think we’re ready,” yawned the captain of Sky Warrior’s band of 50 soldiers after training all night the night before.
“Well, let’s see how massive ‘ol Chryssy’s made her horde this time,” replied Sky Warrior staring up at the sky, “I bet after 1,500 years, she’s been quite busy.”
“HAHA! Yea,” laughed the captain haughtily, “I’m quite sure we should be seeing a sea of black in the sky in just a few moments.”
“Be ready. This could get very ugly…”
Just as Sky Warrior said that, they see a big black blob in the sky with a bigger blob behind it. The scouters rushed forward and back to alert that it was the changeling horde. Every single changeling from before and the present are there, ready to kill at any moment.
“There’s got to be 200 heading this way,” said one of the scouters with a bewildered face, “and more than 15,000 behind that. Sir, I don’t think that…”
Before he could speak again, he feels the might of Sky Warrior’s forehoof swiping across his face with a mighty blow. “BELAY THAT TALK THIS INSTANT,” barked the 2,000 year old commander, not tolerant for such cowardly behavior, “I will NOT have such attitudes in my squadron.”
“A thousand apologies, sir,” the scouter says while rubbing his cheek from the blow he received from the powerful commander.
“Captain,” hollers Sky Warrior, “make no divisions to the troops. We are too small a force to be divided.”
“Yes sir, Commander,” responds the captain gravely with a salute.
Just as he said that, the first blob in the sky zipped fast towards them and was quickly gaining speed. There appeared to be buzzing in the air and it was getting louder as the blob got closer.
“BRAAAACE YOURSELVES,” yelled Sky Warrior as the low drone of the buzzing rose to a loud hum.
Before they knew it, they were surrounded by a vast mob of changelings that charged at them as soon as they hit the ground. Drawing his sword, Sky Warrior easily took out 5 changelings with one whirl of the mighty weapon. On raged the battle with the changelings beating down hard on the soldiers regardless of how good they were.
“I don’t think we’re going to last much longer, Commander,” panted the captain as he stood right next to the armored Pegasus that just took down a changeling, “these changelings are no problem, but they’re tiring us out.”
“We have to hold out, Captain! It is our duty and service to the Princess,” replied Sky Warrior calmly as if nothing is happening.
“Sir! What good is the Princess here,” exclaimed the scared captain, “We’re fucking DYING here! We’re not going to survive. We still have about 100 of these bastards left in this squadron and our soldiers are almost down.”
At this point, it hit Sky Warrior that he didn’t feel so connected to the Princess or even trusted her judgment. He tried to think hard on this to see if he could find a reason, but he couldn’t. While he was thinking, he was caught completely off-guard by 20 changelings dog-piling him, getting ready to tear him apart piece by piece.
“So this is how it all ends,” he thought struggling to keep himself from being ripped apart, “I shall leave this world, serving no purpose at all. I have no life, no friends, no trusted ruler; I don’t even have my wife anymore. What am I living for? Nothing…”
Closing his eyes, he prepared for the pain that was to come, to admit his defeat. However, he felt no pain at all. He opened his eyes to see a large flash of light heading his way with all the changelings staring at it. All of a sudden, the light got bigger and then it flashed with a boom that made all the changelings disintegrate, including the ones on the other soldiers. He stayed motionless and yet bewildered from this. After staring the ball for a bit, it faded to reveal Perrie in complete armor of the Crystal Empire.
“Sky Warrior!” cried Perrie as she lands in front of him, “I can’t keep my feelings in anymore! I want you to know that I like you, like more than just a friend! The moment I saw you, I felt like…idk…like you were made for me. You’re strong, handsome, and actually kinda cute. It’s ok if you don’t take me as I know you’re not the flirty type, but I hope you do, cuzz, well, I love you Sky Warrior!”
And just then, just as the major blob of the 15,000 changelings was getting ready to lash out hell upon the squadron, it clicked in Sky Warrior’s mind the true worth of the Crystal Ponies.
“So these Crystal Ponies give off power when they express love. That makes sense when she said, “My love will give you strength,” I felt more powerful and stronger even when I’m normal. I felt warm, and strong, and awesome! This pony here really, truly does love me, and she expressed that in power. THAT’S HOW THE CRYSTAL HEART GETS POWERED!”
“Perrie,” he says while smiling for the first time in centuries and hugging her tightly, “you have given me so much love that I feel like a changed stallion and I’ve never felt more happy that I do. And for it, I love you too.”
As if by some strange attraction, as he said that, the blob of 15,000 changelings rushed fast towards them getting ready to strike. But at the same time, Sky Warrior and Perrie were lifted off the ground on no power of their while the big ball of light engulfed around them, humming loudly. In the background, a humming from the Crystal Castle can be heard and the streets of the Empire were radiant with light.
As soon as the entire horde of changelings got close, a large blast came from the ball that contained Sky Warrior and Perrie interlocked in hoof and nuzzling each other while smiling at each other, a large blast was seen from behind at the Castle, and just like that, the changelings disappeared to dust.
While the soldiers were cheering, they stared, amazed at the glowing ball of light that floated before them. It came down to rest upon the field and then it faded. And there was Perrie as normal and then Sky Warrior was there, still smiling and next to Perrie, no longer a normal Pegasus, but a Crystal Pony with wings and complete Crystal Empire armor. He looked around at the cheering soldiers when a very excited scouter comes up to him.
“Sir! Sir! The changelings!” cried the scouter, “That blast wiped out every single one! We just checked the hive. It’s empty. There’s nothing left. IT’S OVER, SIR! WE WON!”
“That’s…my life goal was to wipe them out,” Sky Warrior said with widened eyes but then goes to a relaxed smiling face, “and was all because of this Crystal Pony here.”
“May Celestia bless you Miss…”stutters the scouter.
“Perrie hehe, just Perrie,” replies the blue Crystal Pegasus with the biggest smile on her face.
While the scouter salutes her and goes off to celebrate, Perrie and Sky Warrior turn to each other, smiling, and hugging each other.
“I love you, Perrie,” says Sky Warrior sweetly.
“I love you too, Sky,” replies Perrie as she nuzzles him.
“Well, you ready?” asked Perrie as she helps Sky Warrior get ready to report back to Princess Celestia and to end the mission officially.
“As I’ll ever be,” Sky Warrior says, shrugging his shoulders while tying his boots, “say, want to come with me?”
After hearing this, Perrie rubs up against him affectionately and smiles, “I’d love to.”
As she said this, they got all of Sky Warrior’s belongings onto him since he didn’t come with much; just the armor on his back which is now Crystal Empire armor. They came out to Princess Cadence who had her soldiers salute him as he was given the title of Honorary Commander of the Crystal Guard.
When they walked among the crowd that was forming, everyone shied away from Perrie once again treating her as if she had a disease. This made Sky Warrior snap and stare intently into their eyes with eyes redder than the fiery depths of Hell.
“What. The Hell?” Sky Warrior asks them, trying to hold back his rage, “why are you so afraid of Perrie?”
“Because she has wings,” one of the ponies say while trembling, “she’s a freak.”
“Yea,” said another pony, “and if we try to associate ourselves with her or even be seen with her, we’ll be considered a freak as well.”
“Well how about you get to know her before you make that assumption ya jackwagons! This Empire will soon learn to accept ponies for who they are regardless of what they look like or what features they have and don’t have.”
As him and Perrie came got ready to take off, the two scouters came next to them and nodded in affirmation. While the streets of the Crystal Empire blazed with light, Sky Warrior and Perrie took off with quite some power and the 50 soldiers, though tired, went up after them with a roar of cheering behind them.
“So,” starts off Sky Warrior, trying to stir up a conversation, “is this your first time outside of the Empire?”
“Yea,” replies Perrie as she soars next to him, “since I never had any friends, there was no Crystal Ponies who could exchange the love between me and another person so I was trapped within the borders of the Crystal Heart’s power.”
“Well, maybe after what I did, people will learn to respect and love you.”
“Thank you so much for being a great friend and more than just a friend. That meant so much to me.”
“You’re welcome, you amazing pony, you.”
“Heh, not as amazing as you,” she responds while doing barrel rolls around him and blushing.
“Ohhh, stop it, you!” Sky Warrior says while blushing amid his golden coat.
“Noooooo! I want you to feel good in the time we still have each other.”
And then it hit both of them. Once Sky Warrior goes to report back to the Princess, he’ll have to remain in Canterlot, carrying on the life he had before even met Perrie, which meant Perrie couldn’t be with him. A grave silence fell over the both of them with straight faces to hide their true emotion of depression that they don’t really want to do it.
Amid this, Sky Warrior tries to start the conversation again, “Soooo, I hope you like Canterlot Castle considering you haven’t been outside of the Crystal Empire before.”
“Heh, yea,” wanting the conversation to get her mind off of it, “what’s it like? This Canterlot?”
“Well, it’s fucking massive compared to the Crystal Empire, and the palace is only the top part of the actual castle. It goes down for miles, but only a few of the original ponies like me know where it is!”
“That’s pretty cool! I’ll have to visit sometime to see that with you, if you know the way.”
“But of course I know the way! I was there when they built the thing!” exclaims Sky Warrior, in a position as if he was standing on an invisible platform tall and proud, “And of course, when you visit, though I still wish you stay with me.”
Perrie shrugs her shoulders and says, “Eh, I will, though I wish for the same thing too.”
In the silence of their graveness, they arrived at Canterlot and waited in front of the palace. Sky Warrior went and spoke with the guard for clearance and Perrie stood there completely mesmerized that the ones who control the sun and the moon live here in this very palace. Nervousness filled every inch of her body as she was about to see someone of the utmost importance.
“Alright, we got clearance,” Sky Warrior says after coming back from the guard.
“O-o-o…k,” responds Perrie while breathing heavily with nervousness until Sky Warrior hugged her in love for her and smiled.
Together, they walked into the palace to the throne room where Princess Celestia was expecting only Sky Warrior but was quite surprised to see another pony with him.
“Princess Celestia,” Sky Warrior says loudly and proudly, “through the love of this Crystal Pony here, the changelings have been completely wiped out and I would like to report an official victory.”
The Princess chuckles while smiling quite largely, “I shall do that, and it seems as though you did another thing that I originally intended in the first place. Why else would I send my best commander to the center of love here in Equestria with 50 soldiers and only 50 to defend against a horde of changelings?”
“Yeah, haha,” chuckles Sky Warrior while blushing and looking at Perrie who was nudging up against him again.
“So, you ready to go back to duty and go back to the life that you had?” asked the Princess. The commander frowned at the thought, and pondered at what he could do. He instantly perked up as soon as he got an idea.
“Actually Princess, would it be possible if I could be stationed in the Crystal Empire. Something tells me they’re going to need all the help they can get.”
Being pleased with what she heard, the Princess says in reply, “I think I can manage that.”
“Really?!” Sky Warrior, widening his eyes, “You actually mean it?”
Perrie jumped up and down in excitement, squealed for joy, and hugged Sky Warrior tightly.
“I love you, Sky Warrior!” said Perrie as she was hugging him.
“I love you too, Perrie” says Sky Warrior while smiling with tears of joy running down his face.