Way too late

Kallaxia has been following the changeling for a while now. and every minute she was getting more impatient and feeling more pressured.
She hoped no, prayed to Luna that Nocturnal was okay. Hellria had always been the weird one. But also the one with the best results, regardless of what.
She was a better swordsmare and leader.

"How far is it to my sister?"

"Not far anymore."

And indeed, they soon entered a cave that turned into a kind of mini-hive after just a few meters. A sure sign that Hellria wanted to stay here for a long time.
The other changelings looked at her suspiciously as Kallaxia passed by, but she held her head up.
She couldn't show any weakness.
Not even when she was surrounded by enemies belonging to her own species
Still, she wasn't ready for what she saw.
Nocturnal hung from the ceiling, all four hooves glued to the celing on top. And hellria had been feeding on his love until just a moment ago.
He was so pale.
no not pale, gray!

"What did you do to him?"

Hellria turned away from nocturnal and looked at Kallaxia, but her eyes became a bit more normal. Her stare stopped.
She started to smile, ignored the question and just hugged Kallaxia.

"Hello sister! Come on, we'll get you back to normal, then you can come back to the hive. We just have to get rid of that bat."

"I don't want to get rid of him! I love him!"

Hellria walked away from Kallaxia with a disdainful look and moved back to nocturnal, her guards blocking Kallaxia's path.

"Too bad that there is no more love in him! I took everything from him!"

Kallaxia couldn't believe her ears. She took a closer look at Nocturnal.
He was breathing, his wings drooping, and so was his head.
His eye was blank and empty.
She could see him directly and he saw her, but he barely reacted.
A chill ran up Kallaxia's back

"You hollowed him out? You made him a Husk?"

These words came from far away, but actually from the mouth of Kallaxias.
If changlings were too greedy, they could suck out all the love of a creature, which led to that creature only remaining a shadow of itself. all other emotions suffered from the process too.
What was left after that was nothing more than an empty shell.
A memory of a being.
And Hellria had done this to Nocturnal.
Kallaxia felt on her hounches, her hooves came to her temples and she stared in horror at the ground in front of her.

"No! no no nononononoo..."

She couldn't speak anymore than that, then she started screaming. a bloodcurdling scream, her horn ignited and the blade of her beheaded the two guards in front of her with a quick and swift movement, then she stormed on Hellria, wild hatred in the eyes.
Her sword hit a barrier, but that didn't stop Kallaxia from beating and shouting at her sister

"You monster! All these years I thought that you were right with your assumption that we are more to our queen than just improved drones. I believed your nonsense, we were a kind of princess! I was blind to see that you are completely insane! You are a monster like all of us! A love-stealing, unfeeling monster! And in the name of the Order of the Wandering Blade, I will bring you down! "

Kallaxia jumped back a little as a green ray of magic hissed past her. The changelings around them tried to interfere, but Kallaxia's hate-fueled magical power sent out a wave of green fire that pushed the changelings away and out of this chamber. Now it was only Hellria, Nocturnal, and her who stayed here

"Pity. I was hoping to save you."

Hellria drew her own sword now, a much more elegant one than Kallaxia had.
Both knew each other's fighting style from many, many training sessions, and Kallaxia knew what Hellria lacked in strength, she made away with elegance and precision.

"As always. We cross the blades, you lose. This time, however, more than just my respect for you. This time you lose your life."

Hellria was full of confidence and self-assurance as she said this, holding her blade in her magical grip. and started circling the room with kallaxia. you always on the other side.
The difference was like day and night.
While Hellria walked elegantly, her head held high, and her sword in front of her was ready for the fight, Kallaxia was walking like an animal, hunched over, her eyes wild and the target fixed, the sword slightly behind her, ready to strike.

At an invisible signal both rushed off, the blades met each other in the middle, sparks flew, then the blades disengaged again and met from the other side.
In her anger, Kallaxia hardly noticed the impact, or that the magical effort was very high. she would give anything to save nocturnal.
Perhaps, and there was little hope, Kallaxia would find a way to get him back to normal.
But now she concentrated on the fight.

Kallaxia moved a lot more than Hellria. Her sword was heavier, but Hellria could easily block or deflect the blows.
She was better.
And Kallaxia had to change her tactics.
It's good that she had spent the last few months learning a new art of sword fighting. She grabbed the hilt of the sword in her mouth and began to fight, which earned her a laugh from Hellria.

"I may be a monster, but you fight like one of these ..."

she got no further when she had to fend off an attack. and then another attack and another and another.
She let herself fall back a little and Kallaxia followed her on the hoof.
Hellria recognized an opening and stabbed her blade in the direction of Kallaxia's chest, but it ricocheted off a barrier.
That surprised Hellria.
Kallaxia had never been good enough at magic to wield a barrier and a sword at the same time.
Danner she knew it. That is why Kallaxia had her sword in her snout.
This realization only took a few seconds, but it was long enough for kallaxia to land a hit.
On the perfect Citin armor from Hellria, where there had never been a crater or a wound before, there was now a cut from which the same greenish blood ran out as from all other changelings.
She was surprised long enough by the pain that Kalalxia could turn the sword around and land another hit. This was also only small, but painful.
After this hit, Kallaxia tore her sword upwards and the point of her blade cut into Hellria's face, across from the left side of the snout up to the right side, through the right eye.
Hellria dropped her sword and held her face in pain, felt on her back and kicked around to get Kallaxia away from her.

Kallaxia's sword was rammed into the ground besides Hellria's head. The shimmering surface showed Hellria the damage to her face as she looked at the bare metal in panic

"Actually, I should kill you for what you did to Nocturnal. It would be entirely in the interests of our order. But I will spare your life. In all this time you have kept my back free and hauled me from the battlefield when I was wounded . But know this, Sister, from now on, when our paths cross again, I will no longer show mercy. "

Hellria, wounded and on the floor, was breathing heavily and in panic. She had never been hurt before, and now so badly.

"Mother will order everyone to hunt you down and kill you, traitor!"

Kallax leaned down so that she could see Hellria's face directly, and Hellria only the blade to her left and Kallaxia's face

"I'll be waiting for you."

With those words in her ear, Hellria ran.
She just wanted to get away from this place and this defeat.

Kallaxia had stayed on her feet until the last changeling was gone, then she fell to the ground.
Her legs trembled.
Her magical reserves were almost completely used up.
and this time she couldn't get anything from Nocturnal.
NOCTURNAL!
She pulled herself back up and freed him from his position, sat down, and let his head rest on her hindlegs.
He was completely unresponsive.
His stare was blank.
But he was breathing.

"I'm so sorry, Nocturnal! I should have known. I should have warned you!"

She began to sniff and tears rolled from her snout.
Nocturnal's eye focused on her

"I am so cold."

"I know I'm sorry!"

"I don't feel anything anymore. No sadness about my lost life, no pain when I think of my old friends ... no love when I see thee ..."

"Hellria sucked all your love out of you and made you a husk. That's what we changlinge call it when we are ... too greedy. Only she did it on purpose."

"I... i see... can i be cured?"

Kallaxia rubbed her eyes to stop the tears but to no avail.
She could assure him that it would work, but to be honest, she hadn't the faintest idea whether that was even possible. Usually, a changeling killed its victim in an act of grace afterward.

"I dont know..."

Nocturnal deserved the truth.
No matter how painful. To her surprise, Nocturnal got up and stood on unsteady hooves again.

We must go. If we stay too long, Hellria will come back and kill thee.

"What about you? Aren't you afraid that she'll kill you too?"

Nocturnal stood in the entrance of the chamber, still like a statue, then he hung his head

"She already has"

A few hours later, deep in the night

Empty.
That was all nocturnal felt when looking up at the stars, or the moon.
He knew that the sight had always sparked joy in him, but now there was nothing.
Even if he looked at Kallaxia, now disguised as Midnight again, he felt nothing.
He knew how love felt.
He knew what he should actually feel.
But he didn't feel anything.
He would cry but also grief was gone.
He was just ... there

And neither of them knew what to do. kallaxia listed possibilities and immediately rejected them. From black magic to zebra medicine to Griffon drugs to time travel to prevent the whole thing.
As if time travel would help.
If that were possible, he would have simply been sent back to his time.
and so he just trotted along next to kallaxia, looked at the ground.

"Eureka!"

Her exclamation should have scared him, but fear was probably also on vacation. for the rest of nocturnals' lives.

"The unicorn you accompanied after the invasion is the student of Princess Celestia! Maybe she can help you! Or she can ask Celestia if she can help you! I'm sure an Alicorn can do that!"

Nocturnal looked at her, just raised an eyebrow .. too stupid that it couldn't be seen under the eye patch.
But since his interest in finding out what happened to his order was gone too, he followed Kallaxia.

In the morning

They were both on the train to Ponyville. kallaxia had feared that she would have to drag Nocturnal in here, but he was simply gnawed into it like all other commuters.
If you took a closer look at his emotionless, empty manner, he also looked like a commuter, only without a newspaper.
That would explain so much ...
Kallaxia broke the thought and looked out at the window. She should really be tired. And magically she was at a dangerously low level of her capacity. She couldn't keep up anything more than her disguise.
Just as well that bat ponies couldn't make magic work too.
She would be screwed.
Was it her fear of Nocturnal that kept her awake?
or her anger at the Hive for what Hellria did to her nocturnal?
She gridded her teeth.
Next time Hellria would pay for it.

The train journey lasts until noon

They finally arrived. To her surprise, a pink erthpony mare with a pink mane and a serious expression on her face stood in front of her.

"Come with me. I've already let Twilight know."
How did you...? You know what, have it your way...

"How did you know we were coming?"

"I read the story. You can't help it, it was the author's idea"

"the... author?"

"No time for explanations. Follow me, Kallaxia and make sure that Nocturnal is not separated from you again."

Kallaxia paused for a second.
How did this mare know who she was?
Nonetheless, she looked around for Nocturnal.
he was slower but followed.
She let him pick up and then adjusted to his speed.
Then she looked back at the pink earth pony.
now she recognized Pinkie Pie, one of the elements of harmony. She was supposed to keep her eyes open for the elements during the invasion, but had received reports that the elements were in the castle, she quickly forgot.
Now to have the element of laughter so close to her was ... strange.
When they arrived at a tree that doubled as a house and library, they were greeted by Twilight Sparkle, another Element.
Pinkie said goodbye.

"My element can't do anything here. And as much as it hurts me, the author has other plans than the simple rainbow-laser-method-everything-is-fine-again"
Thank you very much...
Kallaxia looked at Twilight, but Twilight just shrugged.
They went to Nocturnal.
Twilight used several books for references and cross references, got help from Kallaxia, whom she called Midnight.
Apparently only the Pinkie mare knew of her true nature.Twilight groaned in frustration, and her head landed on the table, next to Nocturnals.

"I have no idea how to fix this! There is just too little known about changelings for there to be a useful solution in one of the books! If you hadn’t told me that changelings called this condition husk, I wouldn’t even know that! I ask the Princesses!, maybe they have a solution! SPIKE!"

What felt like an eternity later

When the little dragon belched, a scroll flew out of a small green flame.
Kalalxia was now completely exhausted on a couple of pillows. She could hardly stay awake.
at least until now.
She jumped up and saw Twilight gripping the letter in her magic.
Twilight looked a little skeptically at the parchment and cocked her head.

"This one is from Princess Luna
It says:
Twilight Sparkle, we've turned the Royal Library almost completely upside down. Unfortunately, We have to report that this condition is known, but we have not described a specific cure for it.
All that is mentioned over and over again is that 'the only way to refill an empty shell is to remember what and who it is'. Memories strong enough to arouse emotions.
Good luck Twilight Sparkle, we keep looking "

"THAT is it! I heard about it at the Hive! An old fairy tale!"

after saying it, Kallaxia hit her feet over the snout. She was betrayed by tiredness.
Twiligt raised an eyebrow.

"Please don't scream. I ... I'll explain everything to you."

Kallaxia took a deep breath, then dropped her disguise as Midnight and stood in front of Twilight in her true form.

"My name is Kallaxia, I am ... was a leader in the Changelinge army. During the Canterlot invasion, I met Nocturnal ... and fell in love with him."

Twilight was absolutely amazed and her jaw hung wide open. it took a little while to recover, then she looked at Kallaxia suspiciously.

"How do I know you didn't do this to him?"

"It was not her. She is telling the truth. We fell in love and have been traveling for the past few months. We even fought together to save a village called Horseshoe End from diamond dogs. Thee can trust her"

It was the first nocturnal had said since they were here. He had even raised his head and was blankly staring at Twilight.
She looked at him, her distrust of Kallaxia was replaced by care for nocturnal. She sat down next to him and took his hoof in hers.

"You heard everything, yes? I think we can get you back to normal. My friends and I'll find a way to do it. Can we borrow your journal to see what makes you up?"

Nocturnal nodded and handed her the journal.
Then he put his head back on the table and stared straight out.

"nocturnal ... we should both be sleeping. We've been awake for more than a day."

Kallaxia resumed her disguise as Midnight, and wrapped one of the leather wings around Nocturnal. He just sighed. As if the thought of sleep was exhausting for him.

"You can sleep here if you want. I close the door to the upper area so you don't have to keep this cladding all the time."

"Thank you... with all of my heart."

Kallaxia led Nocturnal up to one of the rooms. There wasn't much here, but both found a sofa and they sat on it. Kallaxia leaned against Nocturnal and began to cry softly.
He barely reacted to it.
He knew that you had to put your hoof around the mare to comfort her, and he did, but he felt nothing.
how could he comfort her when he was so empty?
surely he would have cried in the situation, but there was no longer grief
At some point Kallaxia fell asleep leaning against him.
He should really like that.
He should feel love for her.
He should think it's cute how she clung to him.
He should be happy.
Instead, he felt nothing.
No fatigue either.
All he felt was kallaxia's wet cheeks on his fur. her gentle breath against his chest. he could feel her heart too.
Shouldn't he hope that she slept well and had nice dreams?
Yes he should, but he didn't.
He stared at a clock.
The tick tock tick was everything apart from kallaxia's breath.
And the seconds passed.
Then minutes...
Then an hour.
no fatigue.
But weakness and cold.
He knew he should eat something, but he wasn't hungry.

"I am going to die."

A simple statement, but it was so clear for him to see.
Why didn't he feel the urge to prevent that?
Why was he still breathing?
Probably because his body did it automatically.
Kallaxia hadn't heard him.
She was still sleeping and she was going to need it.
She had already said several times that she would do something on behalf of the order that he was trying to rebuild.
He should be proud.
He didn't feel that either.
How should it be possible to restart emotions?
A burned out fire was also impossible to restart.
It needed new fuel.
But where do you get fuel for emotions from? Certainly not in the forest.

His eye closed.

It didn't make sense

there was nothing here. When Nocturnal looked up there was no sky. when he looked left and right, he saw only blackness, and nothing was the same under his hooves.
He must have fallen asleep.
and that was usually his dream landscape. well, here it looked like he felt.

"There thou are at last! It was really hard to get thee to sleep"

Nocturnal bowed to Luna, who had simply placed a moon in this void from which she could come

"I would say that it is a pleasure to see thee, Princess Luna, but ... I have nay more emotions"

"As we can see thee have made great strides in terms of language."

She gave him a small smile, but that disappeared again when she saw his empty face.
and by that she meant it literally.
no eyes, no snort, no mouth.
And no colors.
He was a gray figure in a black environment.

" thee had to suffer a lot in the last two days. "

Usually she would remove a nightmare. But there was nothing to remove here.
So she closed the gray matter in front of her in her hooves and closed the wings around Nocturnal.

"stay strong, Swordscolt. I am sure Kallaxia can save thee."

Or so she hoped. But miracles keep happening

"just stay strong"

Author's Note

Art by AlexDTI

Hoooo Boi that was a tough nut to crack. Can't make it too easy for both of them, can I?
Thank you very much for reading ^^

You are a really meanie

Yeah, maybe. and you're really annoying. Still, I haven't thrown you in front of a train

You wouldn't do that!

To put it in the words of Nocturnal: try me!

do not look at me like that