Legends of Equestria: HeroSoul

Twenty-three miles from Canterlot, nine days after the war.

This was taking too long. It had been two days since we had left Canterlot in search of Serpin and we were barely going over ten miles a day, I wasn't quite sure why we were moving so slowly, the land was flat and every pony walked practically in a line. We had managed to walk down the mountain on day one and day two we had made it this far, the sun was going down and camp was set up. I could still see The Tip of the World from here, along with various hills and mountains surrounding Ponyville and the other minor towns near Canterlot. We weren't moving fast enough to find this guy. From the looks of the map Lauren had given us and also the short briefing she'd given as we left Canterlot told me that this would take almost a month. Two months there and back.

At this pace, even more.

Ignoring the fact that we had no idea where this asshole was, just north. I looked to the ponies around me who already looked tired and ready to go home. It was September in Equestria and the temperature was already getting lower, by the time we would get there it would be mid October, then late November when we get home. Fucking wonderful.

"We're not moving fast enough are we." Heart Breaker muttered.

"No, at this rate we will be there and back again by fucking Hearts Warming. I don't understand how." I replied, sporting another strand of hair fall over my vision.

"A lot of our number are either dead or not used to trips like this." Heart replied, looking toward Dee and the other undead.

"That and we are getting old." I replied, that I knew was true, I had been running out of breath a lot more quickly than when I first came to Equestria. And my hair was actually losing colour. Shit.

"Old? Ha." Heart replied. Smiling. His hair was also losing its flow, and colour as well. His eyes even going more grey.

"Seriously, if I'm now forty and your were two years younger than me. Think about it. How long to ponies normally live?" I muttered, looking at the rest of our group. Spectra was losing colour, as was most of our living members, Shadow looked a lot older than us in his new body, but the other dead members looked rather young.

"Shit. We are old." He muttered, I simply nodded.

"Soon we will all be riding on Steven's back. Or in wheel chairs." I replied, trying to turn this into a joke, but if we really were slow due to our age, would we survive this fight with the Garonins?

"Do ponies have wheel chairs?" Heart asked, he looked away when Dee walked up to us, flanked by Aeb. Itching a certain area.

"Can you not?" I asked, looking away at the disgusting Stallion-mare who laughed, then made a strange face.

"I better stop that, nows not the time." He muttered, loud enough for me to hear. I laughed and looked to Derpy, she was not impressed.

"How far have we come?" Aeb asked, looking back toward Canterlot. I lost my smile.

"By my count, just over twenty miles." I grunted.

"Really? Fuck. We've gone nowhere." Aeb replied loudly, trotting round going off on a rant. "Seriously? Twenty miles in two days?" He continued his trot and screamed at nothing. "Why? We won't get anywhere at this rate. By the time we find Serpin everyone will have died of old age!" He shouted.

"Heart Breaker thinks we are getting old." I replied, Aeb stopped his movement, the whole group looking on us.

"That." He muttered. "Actually makes sense. You're what, fifty?" Aeb asked, looking to me, I stuck my hoof up, imagining a middle finger. He just stared at me and stuck his tongue out, Aeb needed to not be a mare, he was too cute.

"Forty. And fuck off." I replied, Derpy looked at me, she hadn't said anything thus far and she wanted to.

"Well, Changelings can keep living til the love stops, but I don't really know that much about Equine physiology." Aeb replied, smiling.

"Neither do we. Humans usually live til about one hundred in our generation." I said, looking to Heart Breaker. This caught Crystal's attention, the Terran got up and walked over to us.

"One hundred? Wow." He asked, I turned to face him, as did Heart Breaker, Derpy trotted of to talk to Rainbow.

"Yeah, why? Much different your generation?" I asked. He grunted something and looked to me.

"Yeah just a bit, most people don't live up to fifty. Those who do are people like army generals and country leaders. Health is shit compared to yours." He replied eventually, Heart Breaker grunted.

"Obviously." He muttered, I smiled a little. My leg felt a little dead and I decided to stand up, looking Crystal in the chest. For a human he wasn't very tall.

"Y'all really didn't focus on anything but war after the Fall did you?" I asked, Crystal said nothing but it was obvious I was right. Terra was a messed up place, and it was our fault. My fault, had I discovered it was Discord sooner, we wouldn't have cut it so short. I looked around at our little group and then looked to the sky, it was full of reds and yellows and oranges, so beautiful and full. But we were still moving too slow, no matter how pretty the scenery is. I turned and go the groups attention by hitting a rock with my hoof. Such a mismatched group, but I loved them all.

"We aren't moving fast enough, at this rate we will be home by December, and that's just the trip there and back, we still need to fight a war against the Garonins and get every pony to safety. So from now onwards. We will be galloping as much as we can, hopefully get our distance to double per day what it is now. We will be waking at sunrise tomorrow and leaving after breakfast, there is a town about two days gallop from here where we can rest and buy more provisions. So from now on, it's dawn, til dusk. We don't stop until the moon is rising. Understand?" I asked, most ponies nodded, a few just sat back down and ate.

An hour passed and I couldn't sleep, I had Derpy to one side of me, close but not snuggling up like she used to naturally, and Aeb. Muttering something in his sleep. I was staring at the moon, its light was dim and had been low all night. I wasn't sure what that meant exactly but I still worried for Luna. She would have gone through a lot being trapped with the Dwellers. Hell, I was their erstwhile king so I should know.

I still had my new arm sword on and hadn't bothered to take it off, other than that. I was naked. I lifted a hoof and released the blade, with an almost silent 'Whoosh' sound it came out, a pretty long, yet thin blade came out. It looked sturdy but wouldn't penetrate any thick armour, which was lucky since nothing we had already fought wore particularly thick armour. Even the Mo'ka. I remembered something Heart Breaker had said just before our return, something about keeping our armour and weapons. The thought had come into my head to name my blade, but everything seems so surreal in the midst of battle so I didn't exactly stop to think. But since I clearly couldn't sleep, I decided to think on a name.

"Dragon's Bane? No, we have fought with dragons, never against them." I found myself debating out loud, rather quietly. As to not wake the two sleeping mares near me. "Bringer of Harmony? No." Various names came into my head and I said them out loud to hear how they sounded. void Blade? Shimmer? Something Latin maybe? They know cool sounding words. But what Latin did I know? I barely spoke English at the best of times.

Then, I had it. A perfect blade for not only myself, but for Luna, the trapped princess. Aurora Lorem or, Blue Dawn. Why not? Sounds pretty cool, and I could always change it. I smiled and thought back to my gaming memories. 'Everyone has a Dragonsbane and a Widowmaker, but think of the last thoughts of the man cut in two with the sword Love Bringer or Rainbow Happiness.' As much as it sounded comedic, I wanted to strike some fear in whatever was coming when charging at them blindly, in case the glowing eyes, magic made horn and various titles I had either received or made for myself didn't do it. It would be a bit of a moment breaker talking about everything I, then we as a group had done. Just to ruin it with my sword called fucking 'Twinkle Toes'. Although...

"Aurora Lorem . Aurora Lorem. Aurora Lorem." I said the new name over and over to get in that habit. Sliding the blade in and out of its cast as I did. Eventually, just before the moon began to descend. I fell asleep. Derpy watching my silently, holding tears that only the dead would understand.

Manehatten, ten days after the war.

Heroes. Knights. Elements of Harmony. All these ponies that had been on everypony's tongue for so long now, were supposedly on another adventure! And what was local mage Dawn Star doing? Tending the new novices that had recently joined the Manehatten School for Gifted Unicorns. Dawn Star had always been top of her class and was always hoping on a mission that would take her to far away lands, and over seas to fight monsters and aliens like the legendary heroes like; Heart Breaker, the crippled Alicorn, Bright Haze, Siren-King, Dari Stillwater, last of her kind and that magic knife EVERYPONY knew.

But no, charcoal coloured unicorn made Dawn Star. Was tending the newbies. As much as she loved her status locally, she was always striving to add to that status. But no matter how she tried, it wouldn't work, nothing compared to Bright Haze and his band of knights. Sworn to protect Equestria.

Dawn Star was a charcoal coated made with black hair with a red strip down the middle of her tail and mane. Her horn was about average size and her cutie mark was a small bit of fire with a red crescent shape underneath. Resembling her knowledge of pyromancy spells. She had always loved using destructive spells, quickly throwing away any knowledge of healing based spells or protective shields. Destruction all the way. She had been at the school since she could lift a chair with her horn (telekinesis being quickly forgotten once destruction took over). And had been living and working in Manehatten at the school since she could get a job. The first few years were fun, with both her parents killed years ago through a horse-drawn horse-drawn accident where the horse drawing the carriage they were in stopped to pose for a horse horse drawer and ending up crashing into a drawer store when told to speed up and slipping on some hoarse paint. They had left no money for Dawn so she had slept, undercover, in the facility she worked in for almost a year before renting herself an apartment room five minutes walk from work. The pay was fairly good and she had a fairly happy life, but always had the need for adventure. Adventure and fire spells. Dawn grunted something to herself in a very male sounding mutter, but squeaked at the unfamiliar sound and decided to shut up and watch the clock as young mages set the non flamable and completely fire retardent stone under them. A few screams went off and Dawn trotted to find a pony who knew a water based spell. Putting more fire on an already impossible fire would certainly not help things. Today would be a long day.

Canterlot, twenty days after the war

One thing that truly caught Princess Celestia was this. Not the fact her sister had been captured, the Dwellers rebelling and the end of everything coming. Nor the fact her mother had locked herself in Canterlot's great library only to before open a secret door Celestia never knew about. Or the fact that the only hope for any survival was months away. No, the thing that truely shocked the princess was the fact a group of Changelings were outside the gate demanding to see any peaceful Changelings that may reside in the city. She had gathered what forces the city could spare and refused to let the armed and armoured fighters in. The shield around the city in full force. The twenty odd Changelings were screaming at the gate keeper to send the traitors out to be judged but under strict orders from Celestia, hadn't yet. The Changelings inside may not be pony kind, but they are still citizens of Equestria, many had earned that right after fighting the Mo'ka, Demons and Terrans.

Celestia made it a point to go talk to the creatures personally but as she reached the gate, a squad of gun wielding guards and her own armour on, flanked by various banner carriers. She felt that there was something more to this than reclaiming the traitors. The fact they were called that was concerning in its own right.

The princess reached the gate and nodded to the gate keeper, it opened, Celestia was now staring at a group of dark green, heavily armours warriors, all holding axes, crossbows or spears. The only thing stopping the two factions going to battle was the bright pink shield between them. One Changeling decided to touch it and received a burn. Something learnt from the last invasion was that the magic was incredibly hot so, in theory, the magic would burn away anything that touched it. Since the creature only had some contact, he would live.

"Improving your defences Celestia. No matter, it will not help you. Where are the traitors?" One Changeling asked, a male. They seemed to have more natural voices, unique too.

"I will not send out citizens of Equestria to you. There is no need for this, your queen made peace with us. The war is long over." Celestia replied, guards behind her aiming guns, they could penetrate the shield, but it still looked pretty threatening. Peace with the Changelings was never an option and Celestia knew it.

"We both know this was no peace. We are stronger now, whilst you still rebuild your broken kingdom. Who rules over rubble Celestia? Really." The Changeling said, the shield must have been given a new strength as the creatures voice was muffled by the magic barrier.

"We have no reason to go to war with the Changelings. We have bigger threats right now. A great evil is coming to these lands and they will purge all life from this world. Join with us and your race may survive. If you keep with this.-" The Princess paused, her eyes looking dark. "We will leave you here to burn. You will all die by this evil whilst we survive." She added. The Changeling looked genuinely scared and shook his head a little.

"You have three days to hand over the traitors and then there will be war." The Changeling said and began to fly off. The others followed, in the distance. Celestia could just make out the workings of a seige engine, next to it. A Changeling and a Terran. Equestria was at war. Again.

Celestia watched the massing Changelings appear out of the forest and begin cutting down Ever free trees. They knew Canterlot forces could never rally and fight outside the gates, a defensive position would work much better. But in doing so would cut off trade, supplies, and spread fear in those citizens still left. The Changelings knew what they were doing and seemed a lot more organized. Like they had a btpetter commander. They won before by just sheer numbers, but as soon as Equestria rallied, they fled. Now they may just win by tactical advantage. The princess knew the creatures were itching for war and would attack whatever happens. Why they had asked for the Equestrian Changelings was anypony's guess. But for now, Celestia had mages to talk to and shield duty to organize. Hopefully they had enough mages to rest and hold the shield for long enough for Haze and the others to return. Which could be months..

Celestia began to pray. She needed her mother. Who was currently looking for a spell or any knowledge that could help in case Serpin wasn't found. In the hidden areas of Canterlot Library where Faust had stored all her runes and scrolls from her war with the Void.