55 After Harmony Died

Explosions

Explosions everywhere

I didn’t know what had happened. Everything was blurry and unclear and the only sound I could hear was the screeches of suicidal changelings hitting the ground, exploding in a green splatter. It was horrible. Finally when my eyes started working again, I saw the most horrible thing in my life: Canterlot was burning before my eyes. The dark sky was lighted by the burning houses and the screams of ponies were silenced by changelings slaughtering them.

Where was I? So safe from all the horrors?

In a ditch I tell you, in a bloody ditch, literally.

So think about that; a young colt, a ditch filled with blood and a burning city.

It definitely wasn’t a beautiful sight, not at all. As I finally started getting up, I found a problem with my hind leg: it was broken. Luckily it wasn’t an open wound for it would’ve been, I probably wouldn’t be here telling this story.

A changeling noticed me and oh colt was he happy to see me, to kill me the moment he got to me. Then it happened, the moment that still haunts me; a spear piercing through its neck, splattering green blood all over me. Sure when you think about it now it wasn’t that bad since I fought in the war and all, but for a colt barely your age that was nightmare.

“Are you alright kid?” the royal guard clattered in golden armor asked me.

I stuttered, “Wha… what happened? What’s going on? Where’s my mom?!”

“Don’t know. Any case, I gotta get you out of here, to somewhere safe! Fast!” the blood soaked guard ordered.

Normally it would’ve not been a problem, but since my hind leg was broken. Oh Celestia the pain. Unbearable I tell you.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“My leg! It doesn’t move! It hurts so much!” I screamed

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“So that’s why you don’t move so much granpa,” the Pegasus filly said rather energetically

Black Jack responded, “Yes, that’s why, and all the things I would give to get my leg working again”

“Honey, don’t interrupt grandfathers story” hushed the mother to her daughter

Black Jack had dazed off, sitting on his chair looking out of the window, staring out to the distant mountains of the north. The mare was worried; this wasn’t unusual with his father but it was defiantly getting worse. On many occasions during conversations with him he dazed off, always staring to the north. The latest incident was when he was giving a speech to the Canterlot University’s history group about the war: during the speech Black Jack suddenly stopped and turned around and just stood there for a while before collapsing to the floor. He was in the hospital for a month before he was allowed to go home.

…

“Dad?”

“Grampa Jack?”

…

He fell from his chair almost like he was a statue, not changing his posture.

“DAD!”

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Black Jack opened his eyes. Where was he? Why is the sky red?

Realization. He was being carried through the burning streets of Canterlot by the very same guard who had saved his life many years ago… wait. What?

How could this be happening? Black Jack lifted his hooves to his face. They were so small. His Cutie Mark had vanished.

…

He couldn’t speak, he was screaming in his head but no words came out from his mouth.

Black Jack was living his life again, from his perspective. In a way it reminded him of a movie theatre, just watching not being capable of changing what would happen next.

Blur. The vision fainted and Black Jack lost all consciousness.

“Kid, are you ok?” a familiar voice said, he couldn’t see anything just hear the muffled voice.

“mmmwha…”

“Doc, he’s coming back to us! Get over here!” the voice shouted

A new, exhausted voice said, “I’m here, I’m here. What is it?”

Black Jack opened his eyes wincing at the bright lights of the room he was in. The explosions hadn’t stopped, and the room looked like it had been blown up. He looked around, noticing dozens of medical bars with wounded ponies on them, all crying of either loss of their families and friends or from the agony their wounds inflicted. Mostly for both reasons.

“Where am I?” Black Jack said, rising to sit but the pain in his leg stopped him.

“You’re safe, no need to worry,” the mare wearing a surgeons mask assured him. She was most likely a doctor, seeing as her getup and a medical pack she carried on her back.

“Will you be able to fix him?” the guard asked in a worried and hasty tone

“I’m not an actual doctor, but I’ll see what I can do”

Well, that’s reassuring.

“Let’s see here,” the Not-So-Much-Of-A-Doctor said examining Black Jacks leg, “It looks like it’s sprained very badly or it’s broken. If it is broken we have to get him to a hospital fast, I can only fix minor wounds and ease the pain on more serious ones” the mare mumbled to the guard, “Lets see here. Does this hurt?” she said lifting Black Jacks hind leg just a few inches.

“AAARGH!!!” the colt yelled in agony

“Broken. Just give me a second… Aha! Painkillers, they should be helpful” the mare said dropping a few pills onto her hooves from a bottle and gave them to Black Jack, “you’re lucky your leg didn’t get mangled, who knows how fast it might heal and you would end up with a leg pointing in a wrong direction” she said jokingly

“That wasn’t funny,” the colt and guard said in unison in a blank tone

“Yeah, I’m not the best jokester” she said gathering supplies from a desk before moving to the other patients who needed fist-aid.

The guard was sitting next to Black Jacks bed without saying a word looking at a wall on the other side of the room. No, he wasn’t looking at the wall, he was looking past it, through it even. As they sat there in quiet (excluding all the moans of the patients and the explosions outside) Black Jack looked at the guard who had saved his life not too long ago, his mind raced with all the questions he could possibly muster: Why was this happening, what had happened, where am I, where’s my parents and so on.

The guard broke the silence, “You ok?”

Black Jack hesitated, “I guess, you?”

“Well, I’ve been better, but a few wounds here and there don’t kill… yet at least” the guard answered looking around his torso covered with cuts and bruises that had been cleaned a few moments ago by the mare.

“That’s good…”

They sat in the (almost) silence once again for a few minutes before the guard spoke again, “You probably want to know what’s going on.”

“Yeah”

“Well, first of all, the Element of magic disappeared from her seminar and a few minutes later we’re fighting a full invasion of suicidal changelings bombing our homes” the guard said matter-of-factly

“Oh, that would explain it…” Black Jack said

Both sitting kept sitting, not saying a word. The colt was getting frustrated by the un-talkative guard, but he didn’t get the chance to speak again before a young stallion rushed through the door exhausted.

“They… they finally killed them all! All the changelings are gone! We’re safe!”

Everypony in the room sat or stood up surprised by the news and the quick

de-escalation of the situation. They cheered and hugged each other for a while, excluding one pair.

The Royal Guard stood up and lowered his hoof on Black Jacks shoulder, “I gotta go. After you can walk again, find me at the palace, the name’s Second Chance” he said before galloping out of the room in haste.

As a final note:

Thank you for reading this chapter of 55AHD, please leave a comment,

like and favorite if you liked it!

(Oh, and if possible could you guys show this around, i'm rather desperate for readers...

umm, i mean if you dont mind that is)