A group of ponies had gathered in the town hall of Manehattan at the behest of their Mayor. Tensions had been high for months at this point as Changelings had been invading constantly. The police forces of the small city weren't able to adequately fight them back and they weren't getting any help from Canterlot. "As you all know, we've all been living in fear at the Changelings. They're been able to infiltrate our homes and our city, replacing us and feeding off of our love. Our unicorn scientists have been working around the clock in order to figure out a solution to this issue and we think we've discovered it, would you like to take it away?" the Mayor said, motioning towards one of the unicorns.
A gray unicorn walked up to the podium and placed a small device on it. "This unassuming device is a seismic activity generator, or an earthquake generator. On its own, it doesn't have a lot of power, but if it were set off in say, a cave, like the Changeling hive, it would bring everything within a two hundred meter radius down. However, in order to be truly successful, we would need to somehow get this into the Queen's Chamber. For it to work, you'll have to place it on the ground and activate it, but it can only be activated once, so try not to accidentally activate it prematurely" he stated.
"The Queen's Chamber? That's suicide! You'd never make it and even if you did, you'd never make it out alive!" The Blacksmith yelled out.
"Only two hundred meters! That won't destroy the entire hive! What'll stop them from rebuilding!?" The Barber called out, fearfully.
The Mayor stepped up, "Look, I know that this is a dangerous task, but someone has to do it. Canterlot isn't sending us any assistance, Princess Celestia is busy on all fronts. We have to defend ourselves. We Manehattan Ponies stick together through thick and thin and I know you'll all do the right thing! We only need one pony to volunteer, please take your time and decide amongst yourselves." he told them.
A massive argument erupted in the group of ponies, aside from one. It was a young stallion who had chosen to become the city's baker. "Look, why don't we ask the one of the guards to do it, they have the most training," he suggested.
Everyone in the room stopped arguing as the Baker had an excellent idea. "All of the guards are in the infirmary and are incapable of doing so. At least all the ones that survived," the Mayor told them, shooting down the plan.
The arguing started again and the light gray Pegasus rolled his eyes in annoyance at this. The fate of their small city was on the line and the citizens were squabbling like foals! It was a disgrace. If no one else was going to volunteer, he figured that he would. He trotted up to the podium and took the device from it to the shock of the Mayor, "Solaris, are you sure?" the Earth Pony asked, shocked at this development.
The brown maned Pegasus nodded, he didn't want to die. But everyone who was more qualified for this task were either out of commission or were currently arguing like little foals about who would take the device to the Changeling hive and choose to sacrifice themselves. If no one else was going to do it, he would. "Yeah..." he said quietly.
The two ponies shared a knowing nod, they knew that they were never going to see each other again. At least not alive. If all went according to plan, all of Manehattan would finally be safe from the changelings. Solaris left City Hall into the empty streets of the city. He took one last look, fully knowing that it would be the last time he would ever get to see it. He shifted the device into his mouth, careful not to accidentally trigger it and spread his wings, taking to the skies.
As a Pegasus, he could cover ground faster than any Earth Pony or Unicorn in addition to being capable of flight. Even so, it'd give him enough time to think. He began to think about his parents and how they would feel about him choosing to do this. They were still alive and unharmed in the city, as was his sister. He had been chosen to go to City Hall as he was considered the head stallion of the household. He wasn't ever going to see them again, they would never see him alive again. A tear rolled down his face as he realized this. He then considered the ponies that were fighting back there to determine who would be the one to give up their own life for the good of the city.
Anger welled up within the light gray pony, he began to wonder if they really did deserve to be saved and he considered turning around. Then a thought of all the innocent fillies and colts that lived in fear because of the Changelings. Someone had to do this, he realized. Someone was going to have to do this and he had already volunteered for it. Not to mention, he was almost to the hive. He let out a sigh and landed, pulling the device out of his mouth with his wing and hiding it. He didn't want the Changelings to know that he had a plan.
Much to his surprise, none of the insectoid creatures crawled out to attack him. It was silent. He walked into the hive and noticed glowing blue eyes watching him. It unsettled him and instilled a sense of fear. How many of the ponies he knew had been replaced by these creatures, how many had been drained to the point of being husks, he wondered. Yet none of the drones made a move on him. It was unprecedented for a singular pony to invade a Changeling hive, after all.
The hive was a maze that was nearly navigable. He was lost and saw the glowing blue eyes watching him wherever he went. It was like a bunch of predators carefully watching their prey, waiting for them to panic and try to flee and with each chamber, Solaris wanted to flee just that much more. He was scared, either which way, he was going to die now. Either by the collapse of the cavern onto him or the changelings wrapping him up and consuming his love until he too was nothing more than a withered husk that would likely never be seen again.
Just when he was about to reach his breaking point, he finally reached a chamber where a much larger Changeling sat on a throne. She smiled cruelly at him, "What is a lone little pony doing in my hive. It was brave of you to come all this way here. I figured that I wasn't going to let my drones have the first taste of the love that we'll drain from you. It's going to be me," she taunted.
The brown maned Pegasus breathed a sigh of relief, he had arrived at his destination. "We can resolve this peacefully. Please leave Manehattan alone and leave this hive at once," he stated in a calm voice, which shocked him a little.
His mind began to race, did he truly find acceptance in his face. Deep down within himself, he realized that the Changeling Queen wasn't going to back down. She wasn't going to let him go. She was going to try to capture him and use him as a food source. "Let me think about that for a moment... how about no? You see, Manehattan is defenseless, your dear Princess Celestia isn't even willing to try to help you. You came here on a bluff, you don't have anyone here to back you up. Just a poor little messenger and a food source," the Changeling Queen stated.
This cemented everything in Solaris' mind. Where was once fear had been replaced with a sense of calm. A sense that he knew that he was going to have to do what was right for the ponies of Manehattan. For the first time in his life, instead of being worried about himself or his family like most ponies of his city, he began to think about the other ponies and their families. All the different ponies that he saw all flashed through his mind as time seemed to slow down. Then nothing as the Changeling Queen leapt at him. His wing opened up to drop the device on the ground and he kicked the switch with a hoof, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one," he stated quietly.
The ground started shaking violently and the Changeling Queen tackled him to the ground, "What did you do!?" she screamed.
Solaris just smiled, there were no words that he wanted to say. He closed his eyes and accepted his fate. He had lived his life to the best of his ability, he remembered the smiles of his customers as he gave them bread. He remembered the smiles of his family. And the last thing that went through his head was his father saying one simple thing to him, "I'm proud of you, son."
The chamber they were in collapsed. Every changeling in it was crushed to death instantaneously with the Pegasus. The nearby surrounding chambers had suffered the same fate. In a single blow, over a thousand changelings were lost. Yet a young queen and many more drones were able to escape. The rumbling would soon come to a stop and the hive was consumed by an all encompassing silence.
A few days later, Solaris' body had been recovered from the rubble through the help of the various Earth Ponies. The changeling victims that hadn't lost their lives had been returned to the various families that they had been taken from. And most of the city sat in their graveyard with a closed casket sitting next to a hole in the ground with a headstone that read, 'HERE LIES SOLARIS, HERO OF MANEHATTAN. BORN 1856 DIED 1876'. There was crying amongst the survivors of the family and the Mayor of the city let out a sigh as he prepared to read a eulogy.
"Citizens of Manehattan, it always pains me when we lose someone in our fair city. It always leaves a hole in our community that can never be refilled. But today, we have lost someone truly special. There are many tales in which heroes have been born, many legends. But it is a common belief in our day and age in which a hero is made, rather than born. Solaris proved this to us. When none of us were willing to stand up, when none of us were willing to risk our own lives to save our fair city, he did this without hesitation. Bravery isn't the absence of fear, it's choosing to go on despite being afraid. There's no question that the Pegasus who gave his life so that we may no longer live in fear was afraid. But he saw the mission he had taken up through. He was a great baker in life, giving many ponies smiles, and brightening up our city. But through his last actions in life, that light hasn't been snuffed out, it now exists within all of us. He would want us to keep going, so please, I beg of all of you. Let us rebuild, let us make Manehattan even better, in the memory of our fallen brethren," he stated.
Every pony bowed their head, no one else had anything to say as the casket was lowered into the ground and the dirt was pushed into the hole to fill it back up. Everypony walked up to the grave and placed flowers onto it before leaving the graveyard. But the survivors of the family didn't leave. The father of the fallen Pegasus looked at the Mayor of the city and asked only one question, "Did he really volunteer for this or did you make him do this?" he asked, embittered.
The mother grabbed her husband and sighed, "Dear, there's no need to take it out on the Mayor," she said.
The Mayor looked away, "He did this of his own volition. I swear to you that as long as I have breath, your son's memory will never fade," he replied.
This wasn't good enough for either of the parents who had just lost their son, but then again, nothing short of getting their son back would. They knew he was gone forever and they would have to grieve before they finally accepted it. "If I could go back in time and do it all over again, your son would be alive and I would've sacrificed myself," The Mayor said to reassure them in a somber tone as he walked away, leaving the family of the fallen hero to look upon his grave and grieve.
Life for Manehattan would continue as normal, the Changelings that had escaped would leave it alone. The ponies would rebuild their lives and their homes, families would recover. But Solaris would never see any of this, he would never know if anything he ever did made a difference. In his final moments, he had smiled, not because of a lack of fear, but because he had faith that it was all going to work out and that his sacrifice would make the difference that would ultimately protect his city for generations to come.
