What if the message about the Crystal Empire never got to Celestia? What if Shining Armor and Princess Cadence weren't there to protect the empire? What if Sombra managed to take it back instead?
Northern Equestria. A barren, icy, landscape plagued with unscaleable mountains and endless blizzards. It has got to be the worst place you could possibly be assigned to in the Guard. Absolutely nothing happens here, and the only things there to keep you company are your fellow soldiers and a rickety old train station.
But something does happens. A flash of light, and a city appears out of nowhere. Unfortunately the city isn't alone. Living shadows seem to have amassed themselves around the area.
A message must be sent to Canterlot. The Princesses have to know about what is happening here.
Why would they even post an entire platoon up here? There’s literally nothing but snow for miles in the four cardinal directions.
“Sir.” The guard saluted his officer.
As a matter of fact, besides them and the lowly train station there wasn’t a single trace of civilization in the whole region.
“At ease soldier. Is the captain in?” replied the officer.
Of course, that wasn’t really surprising. Nopony, heck nobody, would dare try and erect a settlement here, not with all the windigos flying around at least.
“Yes, sir. She's reviewing the report to be sent to Canterlot.”
Nopony actually knew why the windigos had lingered in this area. All they really had to work with were stories and rumors about some old civilization from a thousand years ago, not long after Discord was sealed. Some say that Discord’s influence in the area was just too strong, that even the Elements of Harmony weren’t able to help them. Others yet say that this particular town hadn’t exactly put aside their bigotry with the other pony races and thus were consumed by the windigos.
Of course, none of that mattered to the Lieutenant right now. As far as he was concerned, he was here to do his duty, regardless of what that might be, and so he entered the tent to give the captain his report.
The captain was, as the private had mentioned, at her desk going through a stack of papers. She was a mare of renown who'd been in the service a long time. It always puzzled him as to why she was even here. Most everyone in the guard knew that being assigned to the frozen north was actually a not-so-subtle form of punishment.
The captain lowered the report and looked at her guest.
"Lieutenant." She smiled and levitated over a tea set from a nearby table and poured herself a cup. "I take it you’re here to report in?"
"Yes, ma'am."
She took a sip. "Care for a cup?" she asked with a hint of silk in her voice.
"No thank you ma'am." She had always been like this since the day they met. He remembered that day fondly. She was a star student from the Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns and he was one of the most promising recruits at the Equestrian Military Academy. But there would be time for reminiscing later.
"Scouts have reported no change in the last 24 hours. Magical fields have likewise been inactive."
The captain observed her friend and sighed, "As per the norm I suppose. Is that all?"
"Yes ma'am."
He stood there for a moment .
"Although," the lieutenant began, "the mages did pick up a slight spike in energy."
The captain raised an eyebrow at this. "Why didn't you mention that first?"
"They said that the magic seemed temporal in nature and as such, couldn't possibly have been fabricated by anypony short of the Princesses or the arch-mage. They said it wasn't worth mentioning, but since you're also a magic scholar, I figured you might want to take look at it for yourself."
The captain sighed inwardly. Those damned self righteous scribes. And yet they wonder why they got assigned here.
"Thank you lieutenant. Dismissed."
He gave a nod and turned to exit.
"Oh, and Flash?"
Hearing his name, the lieutenant looked back.
The captain gave a playful smile. “Go to Smith and have him fix that shoe for you. I could hear you clanking from a mile away.”
He returned the smile, “Will do, Vee.”
The camp they were in was small. You’d even be hard pressed to call it a camp. It was basically a few military grade tents strewn about the area and fenced in by a neck-high wall. One for the Camp-Commander, a few for the guard’s bunks, one for the mess hall, one for a workshop, and one for supplies. A few latrines were a built farther from the camp. The train station was also quite a trot away.
Flash was heading for the workshop when he was stopped by another saluting guard. After they exchanged formalities, a strange, otherworldly moan echoed through the camp.
The guard scanned the horizon from where he assumed the sound had originated. “What was that?”
Flash on the other hoof was slightly less on edge that his companion. “Damn, Windigos”
“Sir, I don’t think that was a windigo.”
He gave the guard a strange look. “So what else could it be then? There isn’t exactly anything else in this entire region.”
The guard opened his mouth to answer. When nothing initially came out, he decided to go with, “I don’t know, sir.”
Flash chuckled, “Ease up colt. What’s your name?”
The guard perked up. “Bronze Plate, sir.”
“Alright Bronze Plate, tell me, what got you assigned to this cold mess of a platoon?”
Bronze blushed and look at the ground. Although since his name matched his coat, his face seemed more brown than pink. “Chasing tails, sirs”
Tails, eh Flash thought to himself. Doesn’t that sound familiar.
He smiled at the soldier. “Dismissed”
The next moment saw Flash at the door, er, flap of the workshop. He could hear quite a commotion as he entered the tent.
Inside, he saw the camp’s handypony Brown Smith scurrying about the area. One could easily trace his ancestry to Black Smith, one of the finest craftsmen Equestria had ever seen, and those after him had been similarly chromatically named. Brown followed that trend, except for the fact that he was yellow. Although that was actually because of some rare coat pigmentation disease. Ponies thought that that was the reason he was usually so short tempered and foul mouthed, but those who actually knew him knew better. His father was Scoltish, and did it ever show.
“Ah cannae believe that we’r’ out o’ that too! Cel’stiadamn bureaucrats! Ah a’ready played th’ir li’l game an’ they still don’ gimme whut Ah NEED!”
A bucket sailed over Flash’s head as he watched the stout old codger put on a show.
Smith noticed someone had entered the tent during his little tirade and immediately calmed down. Or tried to calm down at least, his breathing was still obviously heavy and a vein on his forehead was visibly throbbing.
Flash was the first to say something. “Anything wrong Smith?”
“Ach! W’uld ye believe th’t we’re out o’ fire dust? How ‘re we suppos’d to sen’ ‘em the’r li’l r’port now?! Nah o’ly that laddie, but they gave me fo’r crates o’ enchan’ed rods when Ah asked for twelve!”
Flash blinked at him. “Well look on the bright side Smith!” He tried to smile at the old pony. “If we can’t use fire to send them the message, then that means somepony’s gonna have to take the train, which means that they can give your request for supplies to HQ in person!”
“Hmmm.. “ Smith calmed down and sighed. “Yer right laddie. An’ mebbe Ah’ll go, that way Ah can knock som’ o there o’er infla’ed heads together.”
The pair shared a sorely needed laugh.
“So tell me, wha’ can th’s ol’ geezer do fer ya?”
“My shoe,“ he raised his right fore hoof, “sole’s starting to fall off.”
The old pony took the shoe and examined it. “Ach! Nothin’ a simple ferrier's nail won’ fix. Wait righ’ here laddie and Ah’ll ge’ er done.”
A few minutes of Smith, rummaging around the workshop, had passed before he came back. He didn’t have nails with him ,but he did have a distinctly disgusted scowl.
“Well it looks as tho’gh ferrier's nails ar’ gonna hav’ ta be adde’ to the request form.”
Flash’s ears lowered, “Seriously? We don’t even-”
He was silenced by an extremely loud, reverberating boom. It sounded like something that would have come out of several bass cannons firing all at once and at maximum volume. It shook the ground. Things inside the tent clattered to the ground adding to the noise. But then it ended.
“Wha’ in Tartarus was-”
Only to be replaced by an extremely high pitched screech. It was like the love child of nails on chalkboard and metal on metal.
When the two had regained themselves from the auditory assault, they could hear ponies outside saying variations of ‘what the buck?’ and ‘what is that?’ They exited the tent only to have their jaws drop at what they saw.
There, piercing the sky, was a tall and sparkling citadel. It looked like it was made from pure crystal as it literally shone in the light. But the obvious question of course is, where did it come from?
“Lieutenant Sentry! Lieutenant Sentry!” called the young unicorn guard as she approached Flash and Smith.
“Soldier?” Flash noticed the filly looked exhausted, as if she just sprinted from across the camp.
“Captain Vigilant demands to see you right now. Sir” she puffed.
Well no wonder she was tired, she DID sprint across the camp. “Thank you, soldier.” He took wing and dashed back to his C.O.’s tent.
It didn’t take long for him to get there, and when he did arrive he noticed Vigilant staring forlornly at the newly arrived citadel.
He landed next to her and declared his appearance.
She looked to her friend. “Well, it looks like it actually happened.”
“Happened?” Flash was surprised at this. “Wait you expected this? Why didn’t anypony else know some castle was just gonna fall out of the sky?”
Vigilant looked him straight in the eyes. “Listen Flash, I know you have questions but I can’t answer them right now. All I’m going to tell you is this, the Princess expected the Crystal Empire would return, just not when. That’s why there has always been a platoon of guards set up here in the north. Now it is imperative that she find out that it has returned because she always thought that when the empire did come back… it wouldn’t be alone.
“So here,” she floated over a saddlebag and placed it around Flash, “get these reports to Canterlot immediately. They need to know. Get it to anyone on the Magic Council or better yet, to Celestia herself. Head to the train, remove the other cars, just leave the engine and fuel. You’ll need as much speed as you can get. You should be able to reach Canterlot by sundown. Good luck.”
Flash didn’t know how to react at first. “Wait, what? What’s the Crystal Empire? What are we-”
He was cut off by an angry Vigilant. “No time! Train! Canterlot! Go! That’s an order!”
Looks like he’s gonna have to settle for act now, ask later. He saluted his Captain and sped off to the train station. What bothered him the most was what he saw in Vigilant’s eyes. It was something he hadn’t seen in a long time. Fear.
When he got to the station the blizzard was out of control. Normally weather didn’t affect pegasi, but this? This was just too much. He couldn’t even see past his own hooves and so arriving at the train became more of a crashing into the train.
He searched for the linking mechanism that attached the fuel car to the passenger cars.
“There you are!” he shouted in triumph.
Unfortunately it was also frozen solid. “Buck!”
Since he couldn’t uncouple it, he’d just have to smash it, and since it was already frozen, that made it brittle. He raised his right fore hoof and brought it down onto the link. The link smashed to pieces, and so did his shoe.
“Oh come on! Stupid ferrier's nails!” he grumbled.
He blindly felt his way to the engine. Since he was blinded though, he didn’t notice how a piece of his shoe jammed itself into the engine’s mechanisms. Once he was inside the engine he started it up. He could feel the roar of the engine as it began to move.
And abruptly stopped as the engine crunched and crushed his shoe.
Flash was stunned. “Oh, buck me!” He facehooved.
He looked in the direction of the camp, then at his saddlebags, then in the general direction of Canterlot. The snow may have blinded him, but as a pegasus, he still had perfect grasp of north, south, east, and west.
It’s imperative they get to Canterlot, huh? he thought Then dammit these are getting to Canterlot.
He spread his wings wide and gave them a nice strong beat. Once arial he quickly advanced south. To Canterlot.
“All right fillies and colts, form up!” The gruff, commanding voice of Captain Vigilant echoed through the camp. They moved with absolute precision and in no time at all, they were arranged in a perfect 5 x 7 (with one empty slot for where Lt. Sentry normally stayed) pony formation.
“Now listen up! First things first, I would like to welcome you all to the Crystal Empire. I’m sure for a while now you’ve been wondering why the guard would place this many ponies in such a desolate wasteland. Well now you’re looking at our real assignment. The princess had anticipated the empire would show up, and so our job is to make it safe and ensure it stays that way.
“Alpha team, you are to scout ahead and see what we have to deal with. If it can be helped, don’t enter the city limits or make contact with the locals just yet; wait for the rest of the platoon. As for the rest of you, saddle up! We’re moving our operations and securing the city. Now, let’s go, go, go ponies!”
Her troops chorused a mighty, “Hooah!”
She watched as they moved with a purpose. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Horsemaster Smith approaching, eyebrows creased and mouth frowning.
“Lass, Ah need ta talk to ya.” He looked around at all the other ponies. “In priva’e.”
She nodded in understanding. “Of course. Let’s go to my tent.”
As the two entered the command tent, Ensign Sharp Eye and her pegasi exited the camp. Once they were a few meters from the entrance she glanced back at her squadron.
“Alright, my little ponies!” She spread her wings. "To the sky!"
The other pegasi followed suit and assumed a V formation with Ensign Eye as the tip. The Crystal Empire wasn't that far from the camp and so they found themselves flying for but a few minutes. They landed just behind a relatively large mound of snow on the outskirts of the city. Ensign Eye eyed her troops.
"Alright ponies, you heard the captain, keep your eyes open and stay hidden. We'll split in two and check the perimeter of the city. Bronze and Quick," she pointed to the two respective stallions, "you're with me. We'll be going around clockwise. The rest of you will go around counterclockwise."
She took a quick peek over the mound. "This looks like the main street, and it seems to lead to that giant citadel. I don't see any natives around either, and frankly, I don't know whether or not that's a good thing." She took a deep breath. "If all goes well, we should meet up on the other side of the citadel so we'll use that as a landmark. Understood?"
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am."
She smiled inwardly. Outwardly she merely nodded. "Let's move."
And so, the seven took flight. Three going left and four going right.
He couldn't even see his hooves in front of his face. The weather it seemed, got worse and worse the farther he was from the camp. He cursed inwardly at the plight he found himself in and, after a while, cursed outwardly as well.
"Aaarrgghhh! Celesta-damned windigos! Is all this bucking snow really all that necessary?!"
He couldn't wait to return to Equestria where things made sense and ponies could stop storms at will. He released a long winded sigh. Since nopony was around for miles, he might as well take advantage of it.
He closed his eyes and opened them with renewed vigor. "Bucking horseshoe! Bucking nail! Why the buck did that even have to happen?! It doesn't even make any bucking sense! Bucking snow! Bucking reports! Bucking bureaucrats! Bucking Empire! Bucking buck! Buck, buck, buck, BUCK!!!"
He took a deep breath. That felt good, he definitely needed that. With his mind now somewhat alleviated, he noticed something only a pegasus would. Despite the raging blizzard around him, it was actually warmer. Since it was warmer, that meant that he was getting closer to the edge of the Frozen North. With adrenaline now aiding him, he flew even faster southward.
Unbeknownst to him though, a black shadow snaked along the ground as it followed him. A light, guttural laugh echoed through the landscape.
"I don't like this."
Sharp, Bronze, and Quick had been flying for five minutes now. Judging from the orientation of the citadel, they had covered about a fourth of the empire's perimeter.
"What? That a city this big suddenly comes out of nowhere in the middle of one of the most uninhabitable regions of Equestria?" replied Bronze.
"Don't you see it?" Sharp's eyes were still scanning the buildings.
Quick nodded solemnly. "Yes."
Bronze had a look of confusion, "Notice what?"
Quick looked over her shoulder. "We've been flying for a while now, and tell me, have you noticed anyone at all in the city?"
He thought about it and realized that all they had passed since they started were empty roads and lifeless buildings. "You're right."
Worry overtook his confusion, "Do you think something happened to the ponies here?"
"I don't know. How can we even be sure that there were ponies here to begin with? Or if they even were ponies for that matter."
Bronze didn't really consider those possibilities. Still, even he knew something was wrong. Did whatever spell they used to hide this place accidentally kill them? Were they too late, and the inhabitants were abducted by some malicious race who had also been waiting for their return?
Several more minutes spent flying had passed before Quick gained there attention with an unexpected shout. “There!”
Over in the distance stood a pony, but not a kind of pony they had ever seen before. On the outset, he seemed similar to an earth pony, except that his mane appeared to be one solid lump of rock rather than strands. His coat was yellow, but at the moment, it seemed to be washed out with a particularly dull shade of grey, and worse yet, he was surrounded by windigos.
Something, however, was off about these windigos. Normally they took on a vaguely horse-like shape and were composed of clouds of frost, but these ones looked to be made from shadow or smoke. They circled the poor pony, yet, he made no attempt to run from them. He didn’t make an attempt for anything for that matter. He merely stood their, oblivious to the world around him.
Sharp looked back to her fellow guards, “Well, looks like we’re gonna have to make contact prematurely.”
She dove straight for the largest of the shadows, straightening out her wings as much as she could. The two followed suit and went up against the the other shades.
As she cut through, she realized that physical weapons seemed to work on them as a distorted, inequine neigh emerged from what she could only guess was its mouth. Two more wails were heard as her comrades made contact with their targets.
Taken by surprise, the shades regrouped as the guards surrounded the still unresponsive pony. Now that they stood relatively still, Sharp counted five against three. She dug at the ground and stretched her wings out once more, taunting her opponent to charge.
The lead shade’s face, if it could be called that, contorted in anger and released an otherworldly snarl. The others repeated the sound and charged towards the group of ponies. Bronze and Quick had similarly prepared the wings and awaited Sharp’s command.
She gave them a quick, but understandable, signal and the two nodded in affirmation as the three ponies galloped towards their foes. However, rather than spearhead their group, Sharp had fallen back and let the two stallions simultaneously take the lead, while making sure they were still flanking her.
Thankfully the shades seemed simpleminded as all five of them still converged towards Sharp. The scene very much looked like a jousting tournament, with two opponents charging straight for each other hoping to knock the other down. A spark of life seemed to return to the stallion as he managed to at least focus on what was happening before him. Sadly, the moment died just as soon as it arrived and he returned to his inactive state.
The two groups clashed, with Sharp taking the brunt of the attack. Just as planned. With the shade’s concentrating on her, the two other guards brought their fire onto the sides of the shades’ charge. Quick decapitated, for lack of a better term, the head of the leftmost phantom with a well placed slash, causing it to dissipate with a faint and rather amusing, ‘poof’. Bronze though had a bit more trouble with his, but in the end managed to get a well placed buck onto what he perceived to be the shade’s face.
With the numbers now even, the ponies closed in. In the shades’ confusion, Sharp managed to get one of them with an elegant spin. Unfortunately, they still had some cards up their sleeves as the remaining two merged to form a single larger shade. This new opponent leapt towards Sharp and made to gnaw her face off. Sharp was prepared for this and bent slightly so as to allow her wing to make an upwards cut.
She was not however prepared for what the shade did next. It dispersed itself into a thin cloud and engulfed Sharp. She used her wings to try and get out of the dark cloud. The shade however had other plans as it began to rapidly enter Sharp’s wings. Within a moment the Shade disappeared into the pegasus’ plumage.
The three ponies eyes shot open in panic at what happened. Bronze was about to say something when Sharp fell to her knees and let out an anguished scream.
Exhaustion began to take it’s toll on the poor pony. He’d been flying for several hours now, in absolutely heinous weather, completely blind, and weighed down by saddlebags filled with papers and forms done in triplicate. There had been only one other time Flash was this exhausted.
Unwanted memories started to push their way to the surface of his mind, but with nothing but blank snow for miles in any direction, he couldn’t help but relive them.
It was the day of the Changeling attack, he was assigned to the courtyard of the castle’s Western Wing, and frankly he couldn’t be happier. There may have been a threat to the capital, but it was also his and his fillyfriend’s first anniversary. Her name was Wild Rose and she was one of the Royal Gardeners, which meant that, even though they were both still on duty, they had the pleasure of being in each others company.
The ceremony had already begun when they received the worst possible news. There were insect-like creatures slowly chipping away Guard-Captain Armor’s shield. It seemed they actually had the numbers to assault the entirety of the barrier all at the same time. That was not comforting.
He ordered his stallions to get ready for a fight should they breach the barrier. Wild Rose approached him and placed a hoof on his shoulder. He looked to her and assured her that everything would be alright. It was then that a loud boom was heard from the hall the wedding was taking place in. It was his turn now to look worried, and the emotion it seemed was entirely justified as the shield around the city began to shatter with the force of an earthquake.
The changelings began making their way for the city proper, as he ordered his men to stand guard over the west wing. That was when the unthinkable happened. His special somepony was engulfed in green flame, and when the flames had dissipated, in her place stood one of the insectoid creatures.
He stood wide eyed, wondering what he should be feeling. Anger? Grief? Rage? Confusion?
He did not have to dwell on it long as what was once his special somepony pounced upon him. His training kicked in and he managed to easily subdue the deceiver. Not really knowing what to do with his ‘fillyfriend’ he instead delivered an uppercut, knocking ‘her’ out cold. He took a step back from his handiwork and took a breath to calm himself. When the shock had subsided he looked around and saw that some of his stallions were taken down by some of the divebombing Changelings. He rallied the remainder of his troops to him, thinking that they’d stand a better chance if they were watching each other’s backs.
They fought valiantly, but unfortunately, there were simply too many. They were captured and bound in sickly green slime. Thankfully this did not last long as Princess Cadence managed to get back to Captain Armor and the two cast a powerful spell that expelled all the Changelings from Canterlot, sending them to Celestia-knows-where.
A few days after, they found where the Changelings kept the ponies they had replaced. Among them was his beloved, Wild Rose. When they were cleared by the doctors, Flash immediately went to talk with her. That was when his heart shattered. As it turned out, he never had a relationship with the real Wild Rose. In his head, things started to make sense. After all, what would a mare see in someone like him? Nothing, that’s what. But what would a spy see in someone like him, a Lieutenant who seemed posed to become a Captain in only a few years?
Not long after that, he found himself visiting the pub more often than the barracks. Every once in a while, one of his subordinates would find him, worry evident in their eyes, and try to convince him to come back. He wouldn’t have any of that. After all, what use does the Guard have for a guy like him?
The higher ups had to, unfortunately, do something about his debauchery after one too many strikes and so, he was ordered to report to Guard-Captain Armor’s office. Since they anticipated he’d ignore the order, they sent two of their bigger ponies to go and ‘escort’ him.
Flash found himself on his haunches in front of the desk of his superior.
“Flash, what happened to you? You were one of our most promising graduates, heck, you were pretty much a Lieutenant the moment you left the academy. Yet here I find you doing Celestia-knows-what and just throwing it all away. What happened to you?”
Flash refused to make eye contact. “I’m not worth it, sir. The Guard doesn’t need somepony like me. I’m useless.”
Shining Armor couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Are you serious? Do you have any idea how much your defence of the Western courtyard helped? The way you brought your stallions together alone is enough for the books, and you thinkg you aren’t worth it?”
He began raise his voice, “Bull! You and I both know that that is complete and utter bull! Now, tell me soldier, what is really going on?!”
Shining wasn’t the only one who was beginning to get angry. “The whole time I was with her she was one of them!”
Flash’s voice kept building as he faced the Captain, “The mare I loved turned out to be one of those worthless insects. The same mare that I held by the firelight, the same mare that accompanied me through Hearth’s Warming, the same mare whom I gave my heart to. You don’t know what it’s like to realize that the pony you held dearest was one of those monsters!”
Shining leaned back into his chair as he raised an eyebrow at the Lieutenant. “Don’t I?”
Flash looked away again, “Alright, wrong example. But at least you and the Princess still had something. When they rescued the real Wild Rose, I learned that I had nothing.”
“So you think think one mare is worth the entire rest of your life?”
“Well… no sir, but she wasn’t-”
“Because that how it’s sounding to me. One love lost and you decide to throw in the towel completely? Huh, maybe the guard doesn’t need someone like you.”
Flash’s eyes were now on Shining’s “Sir, that’s not what I meant, and-”
“I mean can you imagine if you had to lead, say, a hostage situation? You’d probably attempt one thing, like maybe negotiation. If it succeeded then, ‘yay, they’re safe.’ But if it fell through, ‘oh well, the hostages don’t need me anyway.’”
Flash began to scowl, “Okay, that’s not fair-”
“Tell me soldier, back when you were in basic, when you fell down what did you do?”
“I…” he tried to answer, but his voice was stuck.
“What did you do?” Shining though was insistent.
“I got back up.” Flash’s eyes were downcast.
“And when you failed your first attempt at Officer Recommendation, what did you do then?”
Flash looked at Shining in shock, “How did you?”
“Guard-Captain.” He said matter-of-factly.
Flash kept his head up this time. “I tried again.”
“So you didn’t get the filly, does that mean that it’s all over for Lieutenant Flash Sentry?!”
His eyes were now burning with resolve, “No sir!”
That’s when he realized the weight of his actions. His resolve crumbled as he crashed back onto his haunches. “Oh, dear Celestia, what have I done with myself?!”
Shining released a sigh. “Don’t worry about it, you still got plenty shots for glory.” He grimaced for the next part. “Unfortunately, you still need to be held accountable for your recent actions.”
Flash nodded his head in solace. “I understand, sir.”
“To be honest, we really weren’t sure what to do with you. That is, until one of the field Captains requested you be assigned to her station. Normally, we wouldn’t count that as punishment, but considering where it is…”
The Lieutenant was curious now, “Why? Where is it? And who was the Captain that requested I be transferred?”
Shining gaze became somewhat sympathetic, “The Frozen North. As for the captain, I think you know her pretty well, a Captain Vera Vigilant?”
“Vee?” Flash couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Sharp writhed and screamed in agony. Tiny black rocks seemed to force their way out from the inside of her wings, each more painful than the last.
Bronze began to trot in place as he desperately looked around for something that might help her. Quick in the meantime looked stoic. His eyes though betrayed his exterior as they conveyed the full extent of his distress.
“Quick! What do we do?! I’ve never even seen magic do that before.”
The large stallion tried his best to remain calm as his companion had clearly lost it already. He knew basic first aid, but this was way beyond him. They’d need a unicorn healer for this, and the closest healer was still back at the camp. He took a moment to consider his next action.
He quickly grabbed his commander by the hips and dashed back to the entrance of the city. Bronze got the idea and followed suit.
They were flying at admirable speeds. Sharp though still kicked and writhed within Quick’s grasp forcing the stallion to stabilize himself every once in a while. Bronze soon found himself flying side by side with Quick.
“Do you think they’ll be able to help her back at the camp?” Bronze said over the thundering winds around them.
“Hope.”
Bronze momentarily refocused on flying before asking one more question. “Do you think we’ll make it?”
“Try!” came the loud reply.
On the other side of the city, four pegasi lay on the ground, utterly drained. Each of their wings were covered with small black rocks. A shadow encircled them, but unlike the others, this one had two menacingly green eyes accompanying it. A black muzzle and a red horn formed from the darkness, joining the aforementioned eyes.
The face positioned itself infront of the four ponies as it’s horn glowed. A sickening, purple light blasted out from the horn and split it self into four beams, each one aimed at a pegasus’ head.
The four pegasi stood up, and immediately bowed infron of the menacing visage. In unison, they proclaimed, “All hail King Sombra.”
A mad grin was now on the floating muzzle.
Flash wasn’t alone. He realized this when the shadows around him seemed to want to kill him. He evaded their attacks with relative ease until they started to increase in number. He had no idea how many were chasing him. All he knew was that he was hilariously outnumbered. Seeing no way out on the left or the right, he opted for up.
This clearly took his assailants by surprise as, for the first few moments, they had no idea where he had gone. This was not to last however as when one of them spotted him, they all immediately looked up.
Even though they didn’t really have any, Flash still felt hundreds of eyes suddenly upon him. He resolved to get away from these things and so tried going higher. It seemed that climbing was clearly not these shades’ strength and decided to play that to his full advantage. Seeing a hole in the cloud cover, he beat his wings faster as he closed the distance between him and salvation. The shadows nearly had him as he went through the hole. It would seem that he was safe for now.
Unfortunately, that was not to be as a particularly large shade tackled him above the clouds. A punch here, a kick there, a slice whenever he could manage to use his wings. Flash fought furiously, and the beast slowly began to ease up from him. One solid buck on its ‘head’ and it let go of him. He immediately turned around and dashed south. After all, he still had an objective. The monster though, was not yet finished with him. Rather than try and engage him directly however, it merely dispersed itself into a thinner cloud. This form moved faster than the last and was able to catch up to the already exhausted stallion.
The convoy really wasn’t that big. It was composed of twenty-eight ponies and a couple of wagons. Although, it did add a few dots of color to the otherwise blank landscape. Two particular dots, one beige the other yellow, were currently having a discussion.
“Ah din’nae laddie. If whut them books o’ the princ’ss say ‘bout this place ‘re true, how long can we re’lly last?” said Horsemaster Smith, doubtfully.
The Captain was starting to get more than slightly frustrated at the old pony’s reluctance. “Do you trust Flash, Smith?”
“W’ll of cours’ Ah do! Still tha’-”
“Then we have nothing to worry about. Once he gets to Canterlot we’ll be relieved in no time.”
“Bu’ laddie, wha’ if-”
“Wait,” the Captain interrupted as she signalled to the rest of the platoon. “Do you hear that?”
Everypony’s ears were now perked up as they listened. At first all they heard was the winds of the blizzard, but in the cacophony of it all they managed to pick up the sound of a pony screaming.
“Dammit!” the captain swore. “Bravo, on me! We’re going ahead to investigate. Smith, you’ve got the lead till I get back.”
“Aye, laddie!”
Bravo had only two pegasi and so those took the air to act as their eye in the sky. The other members, being earths or likewise unicorns, galloped forward with Vigilant taking point. The closer they got to the sound, the stronger the winds seemed to become.
Finally, sight matched sound as they saw Bronze Plate and Quick Hoof battling black windigos, and losing. Without hesitation, they charged in to assist their fellow soldiers. The tide quickly turned in their favor as Vigilant charged through the enemies ranks, horn alight. Even constructs could tell when they were losing as the windigos began to disperse in various directions. A slight cheer was given at the victory.
“Captain!” Bronze shouted. “We need a medic! Sharp’s been hit with something bad.”
Vigilant immediately rushed to the Ensign’s side. She used her horn and had begun to scan when the energy she put out was forced back into her.
“AHHH!!!”
“Captain?!” several members of the one and a half squads sounded.
She shook her head and took a closer look at her subordinate’s injuries. Her face paled as she realized just what was happening to the poor pegasus. Black crystals could mean only one thing. They were running out of time.
She turned back to the waiting squadron. “We have get her back to the convoy, now!”
Bravo’s pegasi stepped forward and picked up the Ensign to bring her back. Once they had gone Vigilant turned her attention to the remnants of Alpha.
“Report.”
Bronze heart skipped a beat as she had clearly looked to him for it. “W-W-Well Ma’am, we were uhhh… ambushed, I mean, we were scouting when one of the local ponies was being surrounded by those black windigos so… we, uh, rushed in to help and we managed to fend them off. But one of them looked like it got absorbed by Sharp’s wings. Then those black crystals started to come out of her wings so we decided to rush her back to camp.”
Vigilant had an expression that could freeze a pony alive. “And what of the rest of Alpha?”
“W-W-We split up to cover more ground. We, I mean, Sharp, Quick, and Myself went around clockwise, the others counter. We were supposed to meet up on the other side but…”
The captain’s visage softened as she gave a quick nod. “Good work soldier,” she turned to face the rest. “Alright, we are to move ahead of the convoy and secure an area on the outskirts of the city. Once the convoy arrives we are to then secure the citadel and use it as our base of operations.”
Receiving the necessary affirmations, she led them forward into the blizzard and towards the Crystal Empire.
The orange pegasus was talking to somepony as he rounded the corner and as such, did not realize that he was about to run into an equally distracted beige unicorn. Books and papers took to the air as the two ponies were brought to their haunches, slightly dazed and slightly frustrated that that just happened.
“Sorry about that,” said the pegasus as the two began to stand up.
“It’s fine, although I guess I really shouldn't be reading while walking,” replied the unicorn.
The pegasus noted that the unicorn had her red mane tied up in a ponytail. She was also reading a manual on military strategy.
The unicorn in turn had noted the the pegasus’ hair was done up in a short, crew cut style. He also had a partial sun badge.
“Hey, are you part of the Officer Recommendation Program?” was said in stereo.
The two ponies shared a laugh.
“I’m Flash Sentry,” said the pegasus. “Are you new here? ‘Cause I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.”
“Vera Vigilant, just transferred over from the School for Gifted Unicorns. Always wanted to join the service, you see,” said the unicorn.
The two smiled at each other as they walked to their next class.
The city was the eye of the storm. An eye that was rapidly shrinking, the captain noted. Several of her soldiers approached her from either side.
“The area is clear, ma’am.”
She nodded. “Good work, now all we have to do is wait for that convoy.”
As she finished her sentence an unequine sound reverberated through the snow mounds around them. It sounded, for all intents and purposes, like a horn that had been trampled, scratched, and blown by somepony who had breathing problems.
“What the buck was that?” said Bronze and a few more soldiers.
Vigilant, meanwhile, just kept her eyes on the horizon, scanning for what she really did not want to find. To her dismay though, something looked back at her. She tensed as the green eyes burned to straight into her being. She could feel the hate, the despair, the cruelty, the-
“Captain!” said Bronze as he worriedly nudged his stock still officer.
She looked to him, wide-eyed, then back to the horizon. It was gone.
“Everything alright, ma’am?”
She released a breath as she waved a hoof. “Yes… Yes, everything’s fine soldier. Anything new?”
“Horsemaster Smith and the rest have arrived, ma’am”
Finally, good news. “Excellent,” she said as she made her way through the blizzard.
An orange pegasus and a beige unicorn made their way around the track.
“So, what exactly are you planning on doing *huff* after all of this?” asked Flash.
“To be honest, *huff* I’ve always been interested in history and the magic of the past. *huff* I figured that joining the guard, I could be assigned to places with rich history and stuff.”
Flash raised an eyebrow. “Couldn’t you have just become *huff* an archeologist or something?”
Vera smiled. “I could, but I always found it boring. *huff* The guard on the other hoof tend to be assigned to places that are much more… adventurous than where archaeologists go.”
Flash let out a chuckle as they finished their last lap. “Whatever you say missy. Frankly I’d just like to be assigned here in Canterlot. I’ve always wanted to protect the Princesses to be honest.”
The unicorn smirked as she said, “Oh, got ourselves a little crush on royalty, eh?”
Somepony lit a fire in Flash’s cheeks. “No! Nothing like that… It’s more of a way of saying-”
“I love you?” she said teasingly.
“NO! A way of saying thank you. You know, for all they do for us.”
“Awww…. That’s so sweet of you,” she said in a voice dripping with equal parts sarcasm and sincerity.
Flash just rolled his eyes. “Whatever, let’s just get cleaned up. I heard there’s this really cool donut shop not too far from here.”
They made their way through lifeless streets.
“Ah din’nae un’erstand, w’ere is e’erypony?” said Smith.
Vigilant clenched her teeth. “You and you,” she gestured to two of the ponies from Bravo. “Check out a few of the houses. If nopony answers when you knock, just break the door down.”
The two saluted and proceeded to a house on the left.
The captain looked at windows as they walked. “Something is very wrong.”
“Ya don’ say laddie?” said Smith rather sarcastically.
“I’m serious,” she chastised. “There should still be ponies around. At least, that’s always how we predicted things were going to happen.”
“Perhaps ya sh’uld git yer seein’ eye glass polished.”
“I suppose it doesn’t really matter. With the train, Flash should be able to get to Canterlot quickly. The princess can then easily mobilize a force to be here by sundown.”
It did not take them too long to reach the center of the city. Several ponies proceeded up the stairs to secure the citadel. As they ascended, the two from Bravo returned and approached Vigilant.
“Report.”
“Nothing ma’am. First three houses we just tried knocking, nopony. The next seven we let ourselves in and checked the place out, again nothing.”
The captain scowled, but not at them. “Good work.”
She was about to talk to Smith when she was interrupted.
“Captain!” shouted a guard who went upstairs. “We found the citizens! They were holed up in here the whole time.”
She galloped to the entrance.
Flash was in pain. This wasn’t just any kind of pain, of course. If anything, it felt like somepony had driven a sword through his wings. Actually, scratch that, he would have preferred a sword through his wings rather than what he was feeling right now.
He opened his eyes and was greeted by the sight of blue and white. He thought about what happened as he tried to appraise himself. Getting up itself was agonizing. He winced in pain as his body began to move once again. He looked to wings and his eyes expanded.
They were covered in little black… rocks? His eyebrows creased as he took a closer look at it. One thing was certain, their presence was not pleasant.
His eyes then shot open as he realized something terrible. His bags were gone. He looked around frantically but to no avail. The cloud cover was nice and even, meaning that he was basically standing on a field of pure white fluff.
He considered digging through the clouds but decided against it. The weather down there was horrible, even if he managed to get through all the clouds, it’d be too late by then. Instead he decided to just head straight to Canterlot. At the very least, he was no longer being chased by shadow horses.
He spread his wings to take flight. As he flapped, he realized that it was a HORRIBLE idea. A feeling of electricity arced through his body, causing all his nerves to flare in pain. He twitched in agony as he plopped back down onto the clouds.
Panic began to build up inside the poor Lieutenant. His breaths became more shallow as his pupils dilated and his muscles tensed. He started to trot in place, right before his hoof moved to smack him on the muzzle.
That helped. He started to relax as he let out a nice long sigh. With that episode now over, he considered that it wasn’t all that bad. He could still tell the four cardinal directions, which meant that he could still make his way to the capital. The only problem would be what he was to do once the white plains ended.
He shrugged and started moving south again. He’d cross that bridge when he got there.
“Is this all there is?” asked the crystal pony.
Vigilant gave a solemn nod. “I’m afraid so, but more should be on their way by now.”
“But,” the pony started to panic. “He’s out there! Moving, skulking, plotting, who knows what else?!” he said as he held his head in shock of pain.
This worried the captain. “Are you ok?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m fine. It’s just that remembering tends to bring back… unpleasant feelings.”
She nodded as she returned to the other officers.
“No word yet from my other ponies, worse comes to worst… the shadow got them,” said Corporal Sharp Eye, squad leader of Alpha.
“The windigos also seem to be holding themselves just outside the city limits. It looks as though they couldn’t enter even if they wanted to.” said Corporal High Ground, squad leader of Bravo.
“My ponies have searched all the houses, it seems as though everypony is indeed here. But some of them have said that the shadow managed to take away a few of them,” said Corporal Shocken Awe, squad leader of Charlie.
The captain swore inside. Surrounded, underequipped, and understaffed, things were really grim right now. She couldn’t really blame the higher-ups though, considering the changeling attack a few months ago, it was no wonder they gave them less priority. Still it would really help if they had their usual two battalions stationed here.
“I want the pegasi making rounds around the city. Don’t let them fly too high, though. I want a report on the status of those shadows every thirty minutes. Unicorns who are proficient with light spells are to be stationed on the main roads and are to be accompanied by two earth guards. Ten ponies are to be left here at the citadel to act as guards. Understood?”
The three corporals saluted. “Yes, ma’am!”
As they went to carry out their orders, Vera Vigilant, Captain of the Northern Guard, made her way onto the balcony. From here she could see half of the entirety of the Crystal Empire. It was a shame really, the city was beautiful and in the light, it literally sparkled before you.
But there would be time to appreciate it later. She had a job to do, and that was to protect this place until Princess Cadence arrived. Besides, Flash wouldn’t fail. She knew she could depend on him.
