In Victory
The sky was a deep orange, the clouds lazily drifting across this golden sea having been edged in gold and red. The trees below were a deep auburn in the light, each leaf doused in gold and hung out to dry on artfully natural branches of chocolate and emerald.
Below it all, watching time pass, was a Changeling.
He was an average Changeling, about fourteen hands at the shoulder, with pale blue eyes, paler pupils and a dark gray shell. He had three bands on each of his sides, and a dark blue shell on his back. From each shiny shoulder came a single, teal wing, a fragile limb built cell by single cell as he grew. He had two fangs on his muzzle, a short curved horn, and a pair of twisted little ears. His mane was gray and stiff, as was his tail. His legs were marked with fifteen holes in total, four on each of his front, five on one hind leg and two on the other. He was, all in all, quite normal.
And now, this unoriginal commonplace Changeling was unaware that he was dying.
"See that sky, my Queen?" He muttered to the open air. "That sky is a sky of victory. We won."
He coughed, a dark spatter of blood running down his chin. It went unnoticed, just a small mark of battle.
"Canterlot is ours, my Queen! We have a new land, a new place for us! That is what you wished, my Queen, and it has come to fruit!"
A loud cheer echoed down from the mountain kingdom to the Changeling far below. He laughed, letting out a few happy chirps along with the noise.
"Can you hear that, my Queen? The cheers we have evoked! The ponies are ripe for the picking, and we are the farmers! We won! We can all live and feast now, my Queen!"
Another cheer, this time absent the cries of the Changeling as he listened to the noise.
"Oh, even the ponies are cheering for us! Even our prisoners revel in your glory! Can you hear them, my Queen? Can you hear how happy they are? Of course you can, how silly of me. You're in front of them, telling them of their fate under your glorious hooves, siphoning the joy from their feeble hearts! You are feeding our populace with the very emotions they try to understand themselves! What a feast for such sore stomachs!"
There was silence again, broken by the occasional melodious chirps of birdsong and the shuffle of leaves in the warm breeze.
"Oh, my Queen, do you remember our last victory? What a glorious day that was?
"We had taken a small town, full of Griffons and Pegasi and Unicorns and Earth Ponies! What a glorious fight we had fought! They fell under our masses, they cried under our unfaltering hooves, they prayed for their Alicorn saviors! What a day! Oh, what a day!"
He coughed again, more blood sliding from his fangs and dripping onto his chest. In his excitement, he didn't notice.
"And then, after, do you remember what happened, my Queen? The sky itself reveled in our victory! The very sky! The clouds all broke apart under a wondrous show of color and sound! An epiphany of thunder and... and rainbows! It was... astounding. Do you remember, my Queen?"
He sighed, closing his eyes. When he opened them, a fuzzy black border edged the sky.
"Look, my Queen, I'm falling asleep! How strange!"
He laughed, watching as the black surged in with every breath.
"Hah... heh... huh..."
The laughing died down quickly as the Changeling found his breath didn't seem to enjoy leaving his lungs.
"M-my Queen, i think something is wrong. Why am I not by your side? Why am I not in our new kingdom?!"
He went to sit up, but his legs didn't respond, just hung limply from his hips. His back felt stiff, as if something had jarred his top from his bottom.
"Q-Queen? I... I think I'm dying."
There was no response from the sky.
"No. I'm not dying."
The birds fell silent, one by one.
"I'll be there soon, my Queen! You'll see me, waiting in our new ivory palace! Oh, how I will join in the festivities you have surely planned in celebration! You will see me, and you will tell me how well I did against those guards! Oh, we will rule forever!"
The sky's brilliance increased as the sun barely cleared the ridged mountains, the small pinpricks of stars still flickering on the other horizon. A deep ebony line faded behind the stars, the cloak of night surged back under the day that had yet to come.
"If I may be so bold, my Queen... can I see the sky rejoice again? We won. I'd love to see that brilliance again. It would make me really... really happy. Can you do that for me, my Queen? I know you can, my Queen, you are strong enough, no doubt, but could you, please?"
For a few moments, all was silent as the Changeling looked up to the sky. The cheering from the mountain returned tenfold, accompanied by a loud explosion and a riptide of color. The circular spectrum flew outwards in a frenzy of light, jumping wildly across the sunbeams and decimating clouds. The cheering was drowned out by the crackling brilliance, and the little Changeling cheered in their place.
The colors eventually faded, and the Changeling sighed happily. His breath hitched in his chest, and he relaxed against the tree behind him.
"Thank you, my Queen."
He raised a trembling hoof to his forehead in a weak salute.
"In victory."
And quietly, unnoticed, a single, little, commonplace spark of life went out, among the golden leaves and the blue sky, and the birds sang again, and the cheers from the kingdom echoed out into the forest, and a dark and dreary queen whispered a soft goodbye into the warm summer winds.
