At The End

I stirred from my slumber as something shifted beside me. My eyes flickering open, only to freeze, my eyes widening as I suddenly remembered where I was. In a bed in Twilight’s library, but not just any bed.

I was in her bed, with Twilight.

There was a strange feeling that washed over me. Me, a boy who had never ever slept with a girl before, at least not in the same room, was now in bed with one of the most… beautiful girls I had ever met. While I had slept with Twilight on the Canal, here too, I had never slept in a bed or in such a private place with her.

She was facing me, her fore legs were holding me within a loving embrace. We were nose to nose, or muzzle to muzzle I should probably say. I had not noticed until now… but she had a wonderful scent. In fact, I was sure that she didn’t have it a few days ago.

Maybe I was the only who had seen it, but I was certain that Twilight and her friends were changing. Like a butterfly undergoing a metamorphosis, they were changing. While not as visually striking as a cocoon for a butterfly, the fact that the ponies that I had come to know quite well over the past few days looked different, was rather strange.

I was sure that Twilight’s coat was once faded. I had very little memory of when she had returned to being a pony when she had been saved by the Doctor three years ago. I could not remember if her coat was always so grey…

Now though, her coat was a beautiful lavender colour, her eyes a vibrant violet. I inhaled sharply as I realised that she was watching me intently. With my muzzle as close as it was to hers, I could feel my face flush in embarrassment. I was not use to this and certainly not use to being in someone else’s bed.

Now I was not sure if Twilight had mind reading powers or whatever, but I soon found her inching closer and closer. Whether it took seconds or minutes, her lips drew closer to mine. And then it hit me. That lovely feeling, one that I felt whenever I was with Twilight.

The butterflies within the pit of my stomach and that feeling of arousal that came with it. It was so… sensual, sexual even. Twilight was certainly quite eager for this. Though not jumping the gun right yet. I returned her kiss, the feeling so much passion was wonderful, hoping that it could last just a bit longer.

“Your fangs are sharp.” She breathed as we broke the kiss. While I was still recovering from the shock, I still managed to hear what she had said. I shook my head and gave her a worried smile.

“I hope you’ll give me a nibble one day.” She was acting way to sultry for me in that one moment. I had never been with a girl before, all I knew about females came from pin-ups in magazines.

Every word she uttered just made me more and more aroused. I knew full well where this could go if I waited any longer so with a yelp and a crash. I promptly fell out of her bed. Luckily for me, the sheets tangled around my body and covered my arousal that she had brought upon me.

“Are you alright?” Staring down at me with concern, I gave Twilight a dazed nod with my head before moving to stand. The sheets fell away from me and I hurriedly put my Trench coat to cover myself. Twilight watched on in amusement, her cute smile making me blush in nervousness.

“You shouldn’t worry so much, we ponies don’t normally wear clothes on a daily basis.”

“Doesn’t make me feel any more comfortable.” I mumbled. She giggled and moved to get out of bed.

“I hope I didn’t wake you, I didn’t get much sleep last night.” She said as she grabbed her armour. Why she needed to put it on now was still a mystery to me, though I’m sure that Peacock must have made her think that it was obligatory.

“I was up all night thinking about how we should approach this situation.” She sighed, moving to the door of her bedroom. She turned at looked at me, using her magic to pull the blinds open. The first rays of sunshine beginning to crest over the horizon.

“I’m worried about this Lou… I’m not sure how we could actually do this.”

“I have a plan, though I’m not sure of how to implement it.” Moving over to join her, she led me out of her room and began to descend the stairs. Quite honestly it was still a little scary going up and down steps.

It often felt like I was putting too much effort into not falling over and then suddenly missing a step or even just forgetting which leg had to be used at what moment.

“I’m hoping that if we can get to the Palace today, we can put into effect the plan that we agreed on yesterday.”

Mark, Jack and Chrysalis were already up. Since our departure from the Forest, the Changeling queen had taken up the form of Spike the dragon. I was a little uneasy at first. As was Twilight, from what I could see, though she kept her opinion to herself. Her gaze did betray her uneasiness, however.

The guys were checking their equipment. Each one looking over what they had and what could be necessary for today. If we could catch an early train to Canterlot, then there were high hopes that we could end this madness today.

Twilight might be tracked by Peacock, should that be the case we could expect a large welcoming comity awaiting us. That or Peacock himself could show up, make the whole thing easier for us.

The guards that we could expect were Changling drones according to both Twilight and Chrysalis. Should that be the case, hopefully Chrysalis could get them to stand down. Though if Peacock was to exert pressure on them...

We had not yet been intercepted, nor had we received any news of what was going on. It appeared that the war effort was draining so many resourced that messengers were scarce. Quite honestly, I was unsure of what to make of it. It seemed like this Tyrant that now controlled this land was unsure of what to do.

If Peacock was still in control, it could be that he wanted out. To be freed from the Shadow. If that was the case, why do all of this? Was this all some sort of mistake, an act of revenge gone too far?

I was not one to understand for I was no immortal who had spent an eternity trapped within a mirror. Could it be that all of this was unintentional? At least, on Peacock’s side of things…

For the moment I was unsure of what to make of it. Some things didn’t sit right with me, the fact of what we were dealing with being so alien to me and the others made me wonder what exactly was I capable of doing.

Had we been back on the Canal, Tarawa or even Okinawa, I would have tried to come up with some actual tactics. Maybe even try an assassination attempt. Here… Now… I wasn’t so sure of what to do. I felt lost and the evidence that we had found, the books that we had read and all the information we had learned didn’t point to what I was expecting.

It felt like I wasn’t witnessing the wrath of a tyrant son, filled with revenge that could only be satiated by the death of those who had wronged him and anyone else that got too close to the truth. Instead it felt like a heartbroken attempt at revenge. How old was Peacock? Surely he wasn’t old enough to understand what he was going on.

It all felt reserved, the forces fighting each other were not killing each other. No fight to the death. Maybe this was something that was bread into the creatures of this land. Maybe killing was a form of sin. A crime so terrible that all parties respected the laws against it.

It just felt thrown together. As if… there was no end goal. Just…

My thoughts were broken as Chrysalis nudged me with a claw. I looked down at her and she gave me a strained smile.

“I don’t know what you’re plans are, but I hope that you will leave my children out of this.”

“That all depends on if they try to arrest us, kill us or let us do what we need to do.” The look of worry could have made me show a sign of stress. If the queen of the Changelings was worried, then I wasn’t sure what would happen.

“My children are the guards, they are loyal to fear. Fear is what keeps them in check.” Moving back to the window to peer at the growing crowd of unicorns outside, her mind seemed to stop. It was not a look of sorrow that she bore. No… it was a look of anger, frustration… rage.

“They will not obey me, not unless I can reclaim my title.”

“Once we have done what we have come to do, your people will be yours once more.” I moved to join her, but the look she gave me shook me at my core. It was scary, almost like looking into the face of a predator.

“That won’t be necessary. They won’t be any use to me once we’re done. All I need is my freedom and then those drones are.… well, I have no need for them.”

“You’ll abandon them?”

My words had an effect, but not one that I had expected, if the smile she gave me was anything to go by, then I was sure of it.

“You are no Changeling, bat.” The smile grew. “I can tell that you are a more like these ponies despite coming from another reality.” Chrysalis looked out one last time towards the outside before pulling the blinds back and moving towards the basement.

“Don’t put you’re fairytale endings upon me and the hive. You’ll only disappoint yourself.”

XXX

“LISTEN UP! THE TRAINS FROM SOUTH CITY TO CANTERLOT ARE CANCELLED! THERE IS AN INCIDENT ON THE LINE, ALL PONIES WHO HAVE BOUGHT TICKETS CAN CLAIM A REFUND AT THE MAIN OFFICE IN CANTERLOT! I REPEAT--”

Things were not going the way any of us had hoped when our group had arrived at the train station. From what was being said, it appeared that the rail line between South City near to the Badlands was cut. Rainbow had offered the possibility of a rebel attack.

I was unconvinced. While it was true that such a thing could happen, this just felt too convenient.

“How about we take a chariot?” Rainbow’s offered.

“Yeah, we’ll be there faster than ever!” Pinkie added, bouncing around our group. I raised an eyebrow at them as I began to nibble on my bottom lip in thought.

“Pull a whole group will ya Dash? You ain’t pulling us all the way up there.” Apple Jack interjected.

Only a few minutes after I had awoken, Twilight’s friends had come to the library. They were all chatting, seemingly excited for the day and what we could hopefully achieve. I had been quite surprised by their enthusiasm despite the circumstances.

While the others and I were less than pleased with the situation that we were now facing, Twilight’s closest friends all seemed eager and willing to get moving and ‘Kick Flank’ as Rainbow had so kindly put it.

Fluttershy had been the more timid of the bunch, though her name did imply it, I was certain that she seemed more hopeful about our confrontation with Peacock.

As the group had reunited for the coming trip up to the capitol, I had been surprised by the assortment of colours that had now entered the room. Even the Doctor and Discord seemed brighter… their fur/scales I mean. Everything just seemed brighter, more cheerful despite the fact that we were far from a victory. But maybe our victory was assured.

Galaxia seemed to want that, and I was… maybe not happy, but willing to go along for the ride.

I just felt like there was something amiss however. As if I was suppose to be looking out for something. I had no doubt that this would not be easy. I quite certain of it in fact.

What I really needed was to understand what my role was in all of this.

“You feel up to it newbie?” Rainbow Dash’s voice tore me back to our current predicament. We were now near to some large strange looking chariots, close to the train station, though I was not sure how this could beat the train. Unless… No…

If my disbelief was not visibly showing on my face, I can assure you that when I noticed that Rainbow was looking directly at Mark, my mouth was most likely hanging open.

“But I can’t--” Mark began, backing away, a hurt look crossing his face. Almost like a look of betrayal.

“Sure you can, you did some pretty good gliding the other day!” Rainbow said, grabbing a harness from one of the exterior racks on the outside of the station.

“Could y’all tell me what’s goin’ on?” Asked the cowmare of the group.

“Mark and I will fly you guys there.” Dash replied, tugging at the straps on her harness. She looked up and smiled broadly.

“With my speed and his avian wings there’s no way that we won’t be there within two hours!” She exclaimed, grabbing a second harness and moving towards Mark.

I would have felt sorry for him when she shoved the harness on his head, had it not been for what she had said only moments earlier. Had Mark really been out with Rainbow, flying?

“Darling the poor stallion doesn’t know how to fly properly. Even Fluttershy would be a better flyer than the poor fellow.” Rarity interjected as Rainbow and Mark tussled around as he tried to squirm his way out of his predicament.

“Yeah RD, you’re probably makin’ a mistake here, the colt ain’t got you’re experience nor your stamina.” AJ offered as she moved to remove the harness from Mark.

“Yeah, I don’t know how to fly! What on earth do you expect me to do! I’ve never flown my entire life now you want me to fly all the way up there!” He yelled as he struggled against the harness. His trench coat caught in some of the straps on his back, moved slightly just enough for his wings to poke through. Thankfully, no passing ponies seemed to notice an Imperial Alicorn within their town. If they did then they didn’t show it.

“Its only two hours and I’ll be right here. We’ll be doing this together, not alone, all you need to do is help me fly. And--” She moved to strap herself onto one of the chariots. “-I’ve seen him fly. He can do this.”

Mark looked away, his brow furrowed in thought, his eyes focused on the ground as he disputed with himself. It was taken from him though when Rainbow moved to stand beside him and placed a wing on his back. The look they both shared seemed a little odd, but it seemed to have the desired effect. Mark sighed and nodded his head in resignation.

I moved to intervene, to help Mark out with what Rainbow was asking of him. He had been scared, terrified even, now she and the others were expecting him to take on a flight all the way up to their capital. As I drew near and try and wiggle him out of this, he raised a leg to cut me off.

“I’m not comfortable with this. But I haven’t been comfortable in any situation for years now.” He said as he allowed himself to be hooked up to the chariot with AJ’s and Rainbow’s help.

“You and that guy helped me last night. Without it… without your help, I wouldn’t be here sir. If my wings are all that this mission requires from me, then it shall be done.”

Mark had very rarely called me “sir”. Other than for jokes, he had only ever used the words rarely for me. The respect that words carried when ended with “sir” was enough to allow me to understand. His fear was back home, not here. So I resigned myself from the argument, and moved back into my place and helped the others load up on the chariot.

My fears on how two ponies could ever pull a chariot with eleven people. One dragon, one bug queen, eight ponies and… what ever the fuck Discord was, did not go unnoticed. Twilight who had been eyeing me the entire time, moved over to me and explained the process.

While I sometimes saw myself as a little fluffy cat-bat-pony hybrid creature, I still ever only really thought of myself as human. My magic, my wings, none were always prevalent to me because using my magic, at least, had come naturally. So it was no surprise that I had forgotten that some of the others also had wings. Twilight, Fluttershy, Discord and Chrysalis were all capable of flight.

Jack and I too, if we were actually prepared for it. Maybe Mark was built different to us, meaning that it would be easier for him to learn how to fly just like it had been easier for Jack to learn how to cast spells? And me with dream magic?

Quite honestly, I couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but if Mark believed that he was up to this. I was not going to try and stop him. Judging by the sweat and the shaking, he looked about ready to back out at any moment anyway. Or throw up from fear.

Had my doubts on this mode of transport been any more vocal, I could not have been further from doing so. I think I about wet myself when the chariot became aloft. Never before had I felt a rush of fear that could ever equal it in intensity and rapidity.

Jack may have been in the same situation judging by how hard he was clinging on the airframe for dear life. The Doctor on the other hand seemed quite content, even raising his hooves to the air to shout out a few times, a look of pure excitement on his face.

Mark however, from what I saw was just crazy. From being totally nervous and even face planting during take-off, he had managed to get airborne. And while his take-off was skewed by his uneasiness, the flight was probably the most graceful thing I had seen either of us perform during our time on Equestria.

I could never describe what it was about the way that he flew, but despite how hard the thing seemed for him, Rainbow was there to keep him steady. Not once did she try to push harder, nor did she criticize him.

When he struggled she helped him, when he began to tire, she would help him find the right pace for him to keep going.

It was beautiful and amazing.

If only his landing could have been as majestic…

XXX

Landing near to the castle had been impossible, we had noted some air patrols circling the white city. We saw several flying carts get escorted down to the ground, out of sight within the city.

Hoping to catch Peacock off guard. We made our landing further down the mountain.

The others taking their time to land properly and congratulate Mark for his first ever flight. Incredibly, he smiled, a proper genuine smile. Maybe he too was starting to come round to his new self...

The trek up was probably one of the most exhausting things I had done lately, including magic. We shared our water with those who began to thirst. Chrysalis had refused our help, though did when Jack ordered her too. I saw Twilight’s horn glow a few times, but was so exhausted I let her do whatever magic she wanted too.

The others were pretty worn out with the flight, Mark seemed about ready to pass out though he kept going. We took a breather a couple of times before we reached the top.

What we saw when we made it to the city was incredible. While I could imagine that it would look even prettier with life and some cleaning, the white city was something only people untouched by reality could ever dream of.

The gateway into the city did have some guards who searched carts, questioned some ponies, even detaining those they found suspicious. They, however, did not react to our presence. They didn’t even acknowledge us.

“The spell I cast on us earlier was a form of cloaking spell, A disguise if you will.” She whispered to me, leading the entire group into a nearby alley. She breathed a sigh of relief before whipping her head back, her horn glowing and a light shimmer fazed momentarily around us.

“You’ve been doing that since we got here?” Discord asked her, a brow raising slowly. She nodded, panting.

“You could have asked me to do that for you.” He said, snapping his talon fingers. A bright flash of light engulfed us, though nothing appeared to have happened.

“I… forgot.” Twilight mumbled.

“Take a breather team. We need all of our strength to keep going on, plus we still haven’t reached the castle yet.” I moved over to join Twilight, checking to see if she was okay or not.

“Remember the plan? Twilight and I will confront Peacock, the rest of you will need to cause a big enough distraction to hold off the guards.” Chrysalis looked a bit uneasy with that, though she didn’t voice it.

“You two will free the prisoners in the dungeon and help them free any other prisoners there to help with the fight. Twilight and I will stop Peacock.”

“We might have to shoot through the locks. Not sure about anything else, but hopefully we won’t have to get into too much of a fire fight.” Jack said, grabbing his revolver and checking it over.

“Let’s get going, the longer we stay here, the higher the chances of us being discovered.” The Doctor said, moving further into the alley.

We all followed after him, moving slowly and carefully. It took us over an hour to make our way through the outer city before reaching the palace grounds. Just like the rest of the city, the castle was beautifully decorated, though there were signs of a battle that had taken place. Certain parts of the castle seemed still under repair, most likely due to the drain of manpower and resources for the war.

The gates were closed with a dozen guards holding position. They were armed, but I hoped that the sounds of gun fire might make them break. With one last check of our equipment, the girls promising to keep their ears covered for the first few moments, Mark, Jack and I shared one last check of the guns.

The noon day sun was approaching its place in the sky. Twilight and the others were looking with determination, though it wavered in the face of their growing fear. Chrysalis pointed out the guards who had come to relieve their comrades.

“If I were in charge, they wouldn’t be changing shifts so soon. Peacock is way to kind to them.” She sneered, Twilight rolled her eyes but didn’t argue with the queen.

“Maybe Peacock is a better parental figure than you!” Discord scoffed, moving to stand.

“Allow me to clear the way.” He puffed out his chest and with a snap of his talons and a flash of white, he charged.

Aloft on a flying pig, he charged at the guards. Stunned, I shook my head as the others screamed their battlecry. It wasn’t an epic charge. Certainly not as frightening as the banzai charges the others and I had faced.

The guards who managed to see us were the only ones who got to see it coming. Our attack rattled the guards so much that they ran screaming back through the gate. The others fell to Discords charge.

Racing to secure the gate, we breached and forced the remaining Changelings to flee.

“Girls, secure the gate! Chrysalis, Doctor, lead Mark and Jack inside into the dungeons. Help them free those prisoners then get back here.” The three nodded and made their way towards the entrance. The girls remained near the gate to hold off reinforcements with Discords help.

In the distance, a bell began to toll. The alarm and not a moment too soon.

Moving fast, Twilight and I breached through the main entry way. While the Changelings began to take action, none stood the test against our gun fire. The sound alone had them crawling on the floor in agony. Like the sound of thunder trapped within the echoing halls of this once majestic palace. Our attack was on, now it was time to end this insanity.