The Invasion

We charged with reckless abandon. Our manes fluttered in the breeze behind us, and our tails followed suit. I felt like some sort-of apparition, dodging flying hooves and slashing swords. It was something of an out of body experience, and I swore I was floating above the battlefield watching my friends and I fight. There was Breeze, swift and true, swiping her hooves at her former brethren. She took down foes left and right, and I was very impressed with her hoof-to-hoof skills. She’d slash a throat here, and take out a shoulder there. Either way, it left her enemy stunned, confused, hurt, or even dead.

Then, I looked and saw Twilight. How beautiful a sight she was. Her eyes blazed with a fury I’d never seen before, and it was somewhat startling. She looked like a mother bear defending her cubs. The metaphor passed through my mind, and I realized how much sense it made. Equestria was in her care, and she had failed to protect it. Her “cubs” were beaten, mangled, raped, and, in some cases, lost to the grave. Now she had a chip on her shoulder, and she was intent on pursuing its demise. Her horn flashed this way and that, shooting judgment upon all the malefactors who dared to confront her. She even found one of the zebra guards who’d raped her, and she plunged her horn into his chest. It was so satisfying, even for me.

“I may be a friend,” Twilight growled, “but I’m not above seeing that justice is served! You’re all sentenced to death for your crimes!”

I had never heard such venom spat from her lovely lips before. It was something of a stimulant, as seeing her in this environment enveloped me with an odd attraction. I liked watching her in this way. Seeing her flash from spot to spot with such grace, followed by a lightning quick attack created a sense of wonder within my being. But, I shook it off because I had my own personal mission. I fought my way alongside Twilight and Breeze before we finally broke through and made it to Cutthroat’s tent. We looked up to see the zebra leader in pitched combat with two of our mares.

“I’ll get him!” I screamed, “you guys cover me!”

My friends nodded and turned back into the squall. I jumped up the wall and landed on the roof, looking my enemy square in the face for the first time since he tied me to a tree. My teeth were bared, and I’m sure my horn gleamed in the moonlight. The fires that burned on sticks below caused our shadows to dance upon the canvas floor beneath us. Thankfully, Cutthroat had turned his attention away from the two mares, who were able to make a quick escape. Thus it was that we were all alone. Myself, and the only equine I can say I have ever truly despised.

“Trundle Hoof…” Cutthroat growled, “…you truly are a pain in my ass…”

“Ah, a mutual meeting of feelings,” I spat sarcastically, “look, I tried to bring you to friendship and peace. But you wouldn’t listen. So now we do things this way.”

“We do…we do. Oh, by the way, I still have one of your mares,” he said before cackling, “and she’s gonna be a lot of fun…to kill.”

I gnashed my teeth even harder and leapt upon the zebra. We became a howling mass of hooves and vicious bites, ripping fur and slaughtering skin cells with each passing second. Our blood painted the rooftop, turning it from a deeply evil green into a more sinister red. How we managed to roll about without toppling to the ground below is still a mystery. But we did, and soon enough, I found myself in a very good position. Cutthroat was beneath me, bleeding from multiple wounds. Of course, I have no experience in combat. I simply lashed out blindly, knowing that I was fighting for my friends, my Twilight, and all of Equestria. This tyrannical zebra had taken so much from us. Now, it was time for vengeance to be returned.

I didn’t give him a chance to respond to my move. With one quick bite, I tore his throat out, leaving him with an ironic final injury. I stepped back as the world seemed to slow down around me. I had just killed somepony for the first time in my life. I knew it had to be done, that this was the only way to return things to normal. In fact, Twilight told me later on that the entire zebra force had scattered when their commander fell. But I didn’t see them. Something inside me felt different. I was queasy, nauseous, joyous, excited, angry, and a whole list of other emotions much too numerous to name. Cutthroat lay dead at my hooves. The zebras and Equestria had both been liberated. So…what was it I was feeling?

I was soon joined by Twilight and Breeze. My new lover kissed my cheek before nuzzling up to me. “Hey,” she said, “what’s wrong?”

“That’s just it, I don’t know,” I said, “I mean…Cutthroat is gone. His horrific methods of forcing mares to breed with him are destroyed. So…why do I feel guilty? Why do I feel like I sank to his level of barbarism and hatred?”

“Listen, Trundle,” Breeze said from my other side, “Cutthroat did a lot of terrible things, and karma’s a bitch. He got everything he deserved. Justice has been won for every zebra and pony the world over. We’ve done it…we’ve rid ourselves of one of the worst regimes of all time. The method might not have been pleasant, but the rewards are very rich.”

I realized that my zebra friend was right. My small feelings of guilt washed away like the sands on the seashore, and I embraced my friends. We returned to our own camp after liberating the final mare, and celebrated like the sun would never rise again. Twilight wrote a letter home with a plea for rescue, and a week later, the boats of the Equestrian Naval Force and the zeppelins of the Equestrian Air Corps finally crested the horizon. There was cause for more celebration as we each boarded a vessel and returned home. I’m sure that I wasn’t the only pony who was only slightly exaggerated in their kissing of the ground. It felt so amazing to be home, to be back among friends, and to see those whom we thought we’d lost.

It turned out that not as many stallions fell to the Cutthroat regime, and they eagerly embraced their wives and marefriends. I’d bet that more kisses were divulged on that one day than in all Equestrian history. Thankfully, I was not left out of the love fest, as Twilight threw her hooves around me and we kissed deeply. I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting Flash to come out and confront me. But, he never did. We later found out that he’d been one of Cutthroat’s many victims. Twilight was saddened by the loss, and I found myself comforting her more often than not.

One day, about a week after our return, I was stroking her mane in her room within the Canterlot Castle. I could tell that she was still a bit perturbed by everything. “So…you still miss him, hm?” I asked.

“Trundle, Flash was my fiancée,” she said.

“But…I’m your fiancée now,” I pointed out.

“You never asked me to marry you,” she said, “so that doesn’t make you my fiancée. At least…not yet.”

I knew where this was going and, though I thought I’d already done this, I got out from behind her and knelt. “Princess Twilight Sparkle, I love you more than anything in this world. You’re more radiant than the sun in the sky, more beauteous than the flowers of spring, and more majestic than the Northern Mountains. You are the fire that burns within me, and I never want it to be extinguished. Twilight…will you marry me?”

“Of course,” she whispered with tears in her eyes.

So, we kissed once again. Our futures were engrained within each other, and nothing could stop us. We had our lives, our friends, our families, and now we had love. It was the perfect missing piece to my nearly completed puzzle. Now that the ship of our romance had sailed, no wind could ever bring it down. So, we embraced, tying ourselves together and looking forward to a bright future.