> The Price of Victory
>  by James Pwyll
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> The Price of Victory
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"...A new casualty report, Cadet?"

The young mare grimaced as she looked to her Princess, hearing the despair in her words. She herself said nothing, merely nodding silently before handing the paper to her monarch. Celestia graciously accepted it, giving the numbers a quick glance before nodding slightly.

"Thank you. Inform the General I will meet with him shortly."

The Cadet saluted, moving away and giving their leader all the space she needed. And in truth, Celestia was more than happy with solitude right now. For the sight before her was about as far from pleasant as one could imagine. The Crystal Empire, once a beautiful and awe-inspiring sight, now lay in ruins. Its great crystalline palace at the middle, shattered, with its imposing central spire collapsed to one side. Many homes around it lay broken, or were still smouldering from where the fires had recently been put out. All around there were soldiers, hers, tending to the vanquished. Crystal ponies, once the mind-controlled servants of Sombra, now sat on the sides of the street, staring at the ground, unable to look at the victorious Equestrians. Places had been set up to care for the injured from both sides, but the mood was hardly comfortable. Celestia could see it on the faces of every mare and stallion down there, and as she stood atop her hill, she sighed.

"...We won."

It was here that her ears perked up, alerting her to the sound of an approaching pony behind her. But she did not turn to look, instead keeping her focus squarely on the city.

"Shining Armor, yes?"

The newly-arrived stallion took off his helmet, giving a quick bow to her.

"Yes, your Highness."

Briefly, Celestia glanced in his direction.

"Newly made into a Captain, I hear. Congratulations."

Her tone was honest, but devoid of any real joy, though Shining could hardly blame her right now.

"Thank you, Ma'am. I'm sure my family will be ecstatic when I tell them."

Celestia paused for a few moments, then spoke again.

"Tell me, Captain...how long has this war been fought?"

It was an unexpected question, but not one Shining was unable to answer.

"About five years? Maybe six?"

A short nod on Celestia's part.

"And now that it is over...how is the feeling among the troops?"

Shining thought a bit harder on that one, clearly trying to consider what answer should be said to his leader.

"They're happy, of course. Equestria has emerged triumphant, and the hated Sombra is felled. It is a day to rejoice."

Celestia took a deep breath, then turned to look her Captain right in the eye.

"Shining...your superiors aren't here."

The stallion did not ask what she meant by that, for there was no need to. He already understood the meaning behind her words, and after quickly looking a little uncomfortable about it all, he allowed his shoulders to slump a little.

"...They're tired, Princess. They've been fighting for so long that...it's pretty hard to really grasp that it's over."

Another nod from Celestia.

"Well, now they have all the time in he world to come to terms with it. They can all go home now."

Slowly, she looked again to the wrecked form of the Crystal Palace.

"All the effort Equestria has put into this...they can finally rest."

Shining took a few steps closer, standing alongside her and looking out to the city as she was. In his mind, a question was forming, though he hesitated to ask it. After a time though, he mustered enough courage to finally say it.

"Princess...why did you send for me?"

Celestia's face betrayed no emotion.

"I've been hearing a few things about you, Captain. It seems you expressed some reservations about our...our method of winning."

Those last few words actually sounded painful for Celestia to say, but for the time being, Shining said nothing, instead watching as she turned to look to him again.

"I am surrounded day and night by flatterers and yes-stallions. I need somepony honest right now. I feel that you can be that somepony. So tell me..."

She hesitated, her eyes giving just the tiniest flicker.

"...did we do the right thing? Using the weapon?"

Shining seemed almost aghast, thinking that he, of all ponies, would be asked such a thing by their leader. Naturally, he was at a loss for words, and so broke eye contact with her. Yet no matter where he looked, all he could see was rubble that used to be some crystal pony's home. Realising there was no avoiding it, he sighed.

"The weapon...let us win. If we hadn't used it, we might have been in a stalemate for years to come. Using it...let us end things quickly."

Celestia nodded.

"Yes, that is indeed the rhetoric I've been hearing since we used it. The war is over, and a tyrant lies dead, all because of the weapon."

She too looked to the ruined city.

"But it didn't just slay him, did it?"

Shining looked away from her again, as if ashamed to look her in the eye.

"...No, Princess. It didn't."

Celestia hung her head slightly.

"Do you want to know how many ponies lived in this city, Captain? And how many live here no longer?"

Shining winced.

"I...I imagine I do not wish to know, Princess."

The Princess laughed, but it was dry and without real humor.

"Then you are fortunate. I do know how many. And that number will be with me for all the long centuries I have left in this world."

She took a few steps away from him.

"You and the other officers are right. The war is won. We emerged as the winners. The greatest despot known to ponykind is gone. The crystal ponies are free of his enslavement."

A deep breath.

"Yet their home...will be their home no longer. Nopony can stay here, not anymore. The weapon didn't just end Sombra, it ended everything here."

She looked from broken home to broken home.

"The city is shattered beyond repair. And the land itself?"

Her gaze drifted down to the ground she was standing on, and Shining watched as she gently scooped up a stray bit of soil from the surface, which she stared at intently when she brought it up to her face.

"Nothing will grow here for years. Not even weeds. The magic unleashed by the weapon made sure of it. It will be generations before any crystal pony can even think of returning to live in this place."

After seeing her discard the soil, Shining walked closer to her, his voice soft and consoling.

"The crystal ponies are free because of you, Princess. If for no other reason, we had to win this war for them. They would have either spent the rest of their lives as Sombra's slaves, been used to conquer us, or be freed as a result of Sombra's fall. We have that third option now. For them, this is..."

He winced, as if his own words were distasteful to him.

"...this is as good as they could have hoped for."

Celestia stared out for a long time, and then, ever so softly, began to speak.

"...As good as they could have hoped for."

Shining looked to her, concerned as to how she'd react afterwards. When she again spoke, and with continued softness, it almost made him feel worse.

"Tell me, Captain...you've been to the field hospital we set up for the Empire's survivors?"

Shining did his best to resist the shiver that threatened to make its way up his spine.

"...Yes, Ma'am."

Celestia's face was as stoic as ever.

"And you saw those who were close enough to be affected by the aftershock of the weapon?"

"...Yes."

"Then tell me...how bad was it?"

The stallion didn't know what to say, at least not at first. His ruler was asking for his honest opinion, yet as the memories of that place returned to the forefront of his mind, he found himself increasingly uneasy about this entire conversation. However, the Princess had asked for honesty, so honesty is what he gave her.

"...It was bad, Ma'am. Really bad. I've never seen those kinds of scars or burns on a pony before."

He grimaced as he looked out to one of the field hospitals in question, which had been set up in one of the larger buildings down there.

"Some of them had been hurt so bad that...that...that they didn't even look like ponies anymore."

There was only the slightest twitch on Celestia's eyes, and it was clear it was taking all her willpower not to let emotion overcome her.

"Do you believe then...that we did right here?"

Shining shook his head.

"Ma'am, it's not my place to question my superiors and leaders over their..."

"Shining..."

Her gentle words halted him dead in his tracks, and she looked to him, her eyes almost begging for him to just, for one moment, stop acting the solider. Shining, seeing her this way for perhaps the first time ever, allowed his defences to lower.

"...I don't know, Celestia. Fighting an enemy soldier...defending our homeland...taking down an evil tyrant. These are the things a soldier lives for. It's what we signed up to do. But..."

Slowly, he chanced another glance to the once-beautiful city beside them.

"...but this? Even if that weapon allowed us to finally do away with Sombra...it wasn't just him it killed. These crystal ponies...they'll never be the same after this, however free they may be."

He hung his head briefly, then looked right up to her.

"I didn't become a soldier to take part in the deaths of children, Princess."

A slight nod from Celestia.

"Nor should you have done. But it was not you who did this, Captain...but I."

Shining's face softened.

"You're the mare who won the war. When you go home, they'll call you a hero."

Celestia looked away from him.

"Heroes are those who do the right thing, Shining...and right now, I don't know if I did."

A silence between them, and a long one at that. It would have possibly been easier if they had naught but silence to help them, but they didn't. For in the distance, there could be heard the wailing of those who had been unfortunate enough to be close enough to be affected by the weapon. No doubt they were being treated for an especially terrible burn, and one from which they would never recover. Shining could feel the two of them feeling worse and worse, and so decided to try and offer at least some good news to his leader.

"We're already preparing to relocated the survivors. They can't live here anymore, so we're going to try and find someplace else they can settle. Somewhere they can rebuild."

Celestia didn't look to him, instead just answering.

"Then let us hope something new can grow from this. That's all any of us can hope for now."

Shining, realising that nothing he could say would ever really cheer her up, instead turned to his own thoughts. Memories of home and family came to him, and the face of a smiling mare in particular caused him to, if only briefly, laugh. Naturally, this earned him the attention of the Princess, who arched an eyebrow.

"Something amusing, Captain?"

Shining shook his head.

"No, it's just...when I get home I'll be able to see my sister again. I haven't seen her since this whole war started."

At the mention of a long-absent sister, Celestia smiled.

"I imagine she'll be happy to see you again after being away so long."

Shining nodded before looking to her.

"You know, she actually tried getting into your school once. Wasn't able to though, but she always kept up with her studies anyway."

The smile on Celestia's face widened, but only a little.

"If she's anything like you, I'm sure she would have made a fine student."

She considered the prospect, then looked to her Captain, with her genuine smile, and spoke more normally than she'd probably spoken in too long a time.

"Thank you, Shining. That was a pleasant moment."

Shining gave a respectful bow to her, and then, after waiting to see her glance away again, began to make his way back down the hill, though only by a few steps.

"Well, I'd better get back. The General will have need for me soon I expect."

But he'd barely made any distance from her before he heard her voice again.

"There's another thing to consider in all this."

Celestia's words halted him, and he looked back to her with confusion as she continued.

"This power we used...the weapon we created...it's never been done before. But now it's been used, and all know of it. Others in the world, they will look to it, with fear, or maybe even with desire. How will they see us after this? Will we be a nation that is looked upon with terror? Or will they look to us with envy, craving this terrible power for themselves, even in the face of all the destruction it wrought?"

She paused, but only for a second.

"By stopping this great evil...have we merely paved the way for something worse in the future? A greater horror?"

Though he hadn't said it, Shining's expression clearly gave away that he'd thought those same questions. And as he stood there, seeing the expectant face of his Princess, he gave a quick shrug to her.

"We can't know the future, Princess. All we know is that this war needed to be ended...and it has. That's the important thing. It's what truly mattered."

Celestia looked to him, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

"Are you trying to comfort me, Captain...or yourself?"

For Shining, no consideration was needed for his answer.

"...Both."

And so he carried on, walking away from her to re-join his fellow soldiers, leaving the Princess all alone on that hill. Celestia looked out, seeing the devastation that her own nation had wrought, and though the knowledge that a cruel and terrible stallion would no longer plague it gave her some comfort, it was hard to appreciate when looking to the blackened skies.

"...Where once was war, now there is peace. A comfort, I suppose."

Her eyes slowly shut, her face finally betraying the pain she'd been feeling this whole time.

"But what am I for having made it happen? Saviour? Destroyer? Both? Neither? Perhaps only history, and the eyes of those yet to be born, will decide."

Again, her eyes opened, and she focused them on the Crystal City.

"...Then may their judgement be what it will be."