Never Forgotten.

Chapters

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Part One

As the first few silvery drops of noonday rain began to plop onto his nose, Shining Armour looked up at the darkening sky, slowly turning from midday blue to stagnant gray, and snorted.
"Fleet. If you would?"
The brown unicorn with the red mane behind Shining Armour, Lieutenant Fleet Foot, jumped up from his nearby game of chess and snapped a salute.
"Aye, Captain."

Fleet Foot squeezed his eyes shut tight and channeled magic into his horn, surrounding it with a pulsating red aura. The thickening rainfall momentarily shone umber as Fleet Foot put his own special brand of unicorn magic into effect, a shimmering, glass-like shield big enough to shelter five full grown stallions projected up and expanded over Shining Armour's head, stopping the rain before it could destroy his maps. "Thank you Fleet Foot, if you want you can shift your game under here."
"It's 'kay Captain, we're good out here." he said, sitting back down on his flanks, ignoring his opponent's grumbles and the fact that his pawns were nearing a drowning point.

Shining Armour smirked at Fleet Foot's diligence and unseemly manners, but then turned back to the maps as his strategic commander, a pegasus called Feather Quill, tapped the table with the nib end of a quill, directing Shining Armour's attention to the largest map in the middle of the table.
"As I was saying, sir, if we take the catacombs-"
"Then we end up channeled into easy targets as we leave. Then we end up dead."
"Not if we have the PegaCorps in the sky running a tight perimeter-"

Shining Armour shook his head, blew a lock of his longish blue and lighter blue hair out of his eyes, then used a puff of magic to tuck it back into the bandanna that circled his brow, emblazoned with the Royal Guard's crest.
"Too risky. You know each and everyone of those Changeling bastards can fly. The PegaCorps would be outnumbered a bajilion to one. There's no way we can use the catacombs"

Silence fell over the table, silence except for a light clicking noise as Feather Quill tapped his quill against the tabletop in agitation. A crash from outside jolted the both of them and they turned around in time to see Fleet Foot's opponent stomp off to the tents, splashing through the deepening puddles, and leave Fleet Foot sitting in the mud, dripping wet with the remnants of his chess set scattered around him. Shining Armour watched as Fleet stood, gathered his pieces into his saddlebags and swaggered over underneath the shield, grinning all the while.
"I was winning," he said as he slowly drip dried, "He didn't like it."

Shining Armour liked Fleet Foot's warped sense of humor, and even more his ability to look upon any situation with nonchalance. Plus he was a damn good fighter with a lance and a brilliant snap-strategist, this making him ideal for his position as a lieutenant.

"Cracked the code yet Captain?" Fleet asked with a smile, magically running a proffered towel down his body before he wrung it out and shook himself vigorously, making his coat stand on end in a comically puffed up state. A memory flared in Shining Armour's mind and he gasped, "I believe I have," and he used his own flickering blue magic to pull a piece of faded, tightly rolled parchment and place it on the table, unrolling it and weighing the corner with a few of Fleet's chess pieces, nicked out of his saddlebags. It was a crudely drawn something from bygone days, the midnight ink faded to gray and the parchment desecrated by fold-marks.

Feather Quill raised an eyebrow at the undecipherable piece of information, "And this is?"
"An old, old, old memory. It's a map of the surrounding Canterlot area that Twilight and I drew when we were younger."
Feather Quill and Fleet Foot scrutinized the paper for a while longer until the scratchy lines finally came into focus and they could pick out trees, castles, houses, pathways and a cute little Twilight and Shining Armour giving each other a hug down in the bottom corner.
Fleet and Feather resisted the urge to mockingly coo.

Shining Armour plucked Feather's personal quill out from behind his ear and proceeded to draw circles and routes on the map, dictating as he went.
"You see, this is a well hidden passage through the foliage to the east of the Castle. Excellent cover from above and a clear view ahead. We use this route to enter the city and regroup in the courtyard, past where that Changeling bitch will have her main guard force posted."
Feather Quill blinked in surprise and rubbed his jaw in thought, "Yes, yes it would work. And under the cover of dark we would be-"
"-undetectable. Exactly." Shining Armour clapped Feather on the back and slipped the quill back into the cleft between his head and ear. "Fleet!"
The pony in question looked up from the map, "Orders Captain?"
"I want a better drawn map handed to each Second Lieutenant, and orders for the soldiers to be ready to mobilize at the dawn of the third day."
"Yessir!" Fleet scurried away as the rain ran out of force and became a light mist; he subsequently dropped the shield over Shining Armour, leaving him and Feather feeling the cooling touch of the surrounding fog.

A moment passed and Feather spoke again. "Captain, I must admit, I'm rather....tentative about this next phase. It's so hard to remember what we're fighting for, it's just nothing seems to justify this war any more."
Shining Armour paused, then, "Do you have a very special somepony?" he said, using a term from the past.
"A what?"
"Is there somepony you love?"
Impossible as it seemed, the same Feather Quill who Shining Armour had seen face down entire legions without fear, blushed a deep crimson and began to paw at the ground with his hooves.
"Er...uhm...yes, I do. Her name is Paper Page. She lives in Ponyville."

Shining Armour took his strategic commander by the shoulders and looked into his eyes, "That is what justifies this war. The safety of Paper Page, the safety of everypony in Equestria. That is what we fight for."
Feather Quill set his face and nodded sagely.
"Get some rest."
Feather nodded again, stepped back and saluted his captain, then trotted off to the cooking area and the smell of food, the promise of a hearty dinner.
Shining Armour smiled as his gaze drifted around the campsite in the hills, drifting until it locked onto the war-ravaged spires of Canterlot Castle in the distance, cast in a fading orange sunset backdrop. Fighting for the safety of everypony in Equestria.
He hoped that his sister was safe.

Shining Armour was polishing off his dinner, a relatively bland concoction of slow-cooked lettuce leaves and mulberries, using a wooden spoon to scrape the mushy green and purple remains off the side of the flat bowl. "Mmmmm, scrumptious." He said to no pony in particular, his tongue almost dripping with sarcasm. The demure orange light from a dozen or so flickering, crackling fires around the camp cast ghastly shadows in the trees and shrubbery around them, each pony turned into a nightmare of ghoulish standards with each movement parodied onto the environment.
"Smoke and mirrors," Shining snorted.

Other ponies were also finishing off their food, the customary eating silence beginning to lapse into a general hubbub rising into the air as the full ponies traded their empty bowls for light music, laughter and conversation with their buddies. A soldier pony, each and every one of them, with the exception of a few hundred stallions from local villages that had agreed to help fight, for their families sake. Fiercely loyal, and devastating in battle, each and every pony was different, but Shining would still gladly have them by his side. No pony else had their determination, their expertise at being the expanded Royal Canterlot Army.

Shining Armour felt his eyelids begin to droop as the soft music reached him, a ballad from the days before the war. He smiled at the memories it brought to the fore of his mind, memories that had been shared with his beloved Cadence and his sister Twilight Sparkle.
He hoped that she was safe.

Just as he drifted off, a fierce rustling and thumping echoed from the right of his camp, the sound of angered gasps and half-muttered curses that would shrivel the ears of anypony following soon after. The sea of soldiers parted before Shining Armour to allow through two figures struggling with a large, writhing potato sack. The two ponies that Shining Armour recognized were twins from the encampment, Fog and Cloud Slasher were their names. They were breathless, huffing and puffing misty vapor from their nostrils in exertion. They were also injured, both twins sporting minor cuts all over their fronts and forehooves.

Shining Armour stared in disbelief. Who could have done this?
"What in the name of Celestia happened?"
Neither of the twins gave an answer, just a hurried salute and then both began to point hurriedly at the potato sack, which wriggled even harder in their stoic grip. Shining Armour yelled for a medic to attend to the twin's minor injuries and then signaled two of the more burly unicorn soldiers to hold the bag in luminescent green and blue inescapable magic.
Shining Armour approached the wriggling sack, which stopped wriggling as he drew within a few metres, almost as if whatever it contained knew he was there.

"I know you're there, Shining Armour," a sibilant hiss drifted from the bag, "why don't we play peek-a-boo?"
Shining Armour yanked the potato sack of the creature with a quick jerk of his head, and then stared mortified at the Changeling it revealed beneath, held tight by shackles made of magic. A panicked gasp arose from the crowd, quickly replaced by a disbelieving mutter.
A Changeling, the enemy, had made it into the camp?

Shining Armour quickly wiped the surprise from his face and sprung into action. The curving saber at his flank flew from it's scabbard, yanked out by angry magic, and planted it's tip squarely at the squirming creatures throat.
"How many of you are there?"
"Thousands."
"It meant in the immediate vicinity, you vile creature! Tell me!' he pushed the hungry tip a centimeter through the creature's throat carapace and vivid green blood began to drip down it's length.
"Can't. That's called treason..." the Changeling hissed, flashing it's canine filled mouth in a gesture that was part-smile, part-grimace.

Shining Armour growled aloud in anger and drew his sword away from the repulsive creature's throat. It smiled again.
"It's a good thing your precious Cadence isn't here to see you be a coward..."
Shining Armour knew the thing was baiting him, and shouldn't have acted, but fury filled his vision at the jibe, and he acted out of spite anyway. He howled in anger and then there was a long telekinetic swing and the Changeling's head rolled from it's shoulder's, decapitated. A fountain of toxic-green blood splurted from the ragged hole left behind and coated the body beneath, strong smelling and thick to the touch. Many of the crowd shied back as the deluge formed a growing puddle on the ground, the viscera poisoning the grass where it splattered.

Shining Armour turned away, huffing and regretting his temper.This was bad. Who knew how many Changelings had been watching, how many had already flown to Canterlot Castle to inform Queen Chrysalis of the position of their encampment? This was bad, because if their position had been given away then everypony present was instantly in danger.
Feather Quill must have realized their fate too and trotted over to the Captain's side with concern etched all over his features.
"What do we do now?" he whispered.
Shining Armour ground his teeth together in frustration, and snorted again, thinking desperately of the words he could say to make this all better. Everypony was in danger. Everypony was always in danger.
Fleet Foot stepped up as well, "Captain, the men are waiting. What do we do?"
Shining Armour's temper not fully depleted, rounded on Fleet with blazing eyes.
"I don't know what to bucking do!"

Those words rung through the air and he instantly regretted them. He was making himself look weak. Silence descended on the camp, many of the soldiers desperately trying to forget the events that had transpired tonight. Fleet Foot had cringed from the unexpected outburst from his captain, and now hung his head in defeat as he mulled over the full consequences of the Changeling's appearance. Changeling meant spy. Spy meant information. Information, and dangerous stuff at that, meant a full scale Changeling attack on their camp. That was if they stayed here, and it was far too late to relocate.

Shining Armour took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Breathe in, breathe out. He opened them to see the staring and expectant faces of his legions. Alright, decision time.
"Fleet!" he barked and the unicorn's ears perked up.
"Orders, Captain?"
Shining Armour stood straighter and slid his sabre back out of it's scabbard, raising it into the air to attract the attention of everypony. His very posture exuded an air of courage, conscience and determination. His next words went out to all his soldiers, not just Fleet Foot or Feather Quill.
"We can assume that the Changelings know we are here. But that won't change a damn thing! We will still take Canterlot back. We will still ensure the safety of all that is good in Equestria. Your orders were to wait for the third day, but those orders have changed!"
He thrust his sabre into the air, the gleaming tip glinting wickedly in the rising moonlight, and stabbed the cool night atmosphere.
"We strike before the Changelings can! We march now! Tonight, we strike for all Equestria!
AND IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA, WE WILL SHOW NO MERCY!!!"

The sea of half-armored ponies roared their approval, no longer caring for quiet, no longer caring for staying hidden. The idea of adrenaline filled combat pulsed strong between each of the assembled ponies, filling them with courage. They were ready.
Shining Armour nodded to Fleet and Feather, and they saluted and went off to prepare the other Second Lieutenants and their respective factions. Shining Armour, battle pride throbbing through his core, thrust his sword has high as his magic would allow and the tremendous roar went up a notch as each and everypony saluted their leader.
Everypony would be safe.
He hoped his sister was safe.

Part Two

Part II:
They emerged from the secret passage at a little past midnight, silently shuffling through the piles of loose leaves across the Stone Gardens. The march had been tense and on edge, every rustle of fauna in the nearby bush jarring everyponies nerves.

The secret passage that Shining Armour and Twilight had discovered in their childhood had been an hour and a half trek through a curving tube of flora, the tallest branches bent into semi-circles over the path, enclosing it from the top. The few moon rays that made their way through were slats in the darkness, split seconds of illumination.

In their childhood, there had been a few patches of stone showing through the tall grass, evidence that this had once been a walkable path, but that was gone now, the grass holding dominion over all.
Such memories this path held.

Shining Armour and Twilight had found this path completely by accident one summer's afternoon and subsequently gotten lost in it's winding depth. Twilight had been scared to death, on the verge of tears, but Shining Armour was their to comfort her, make sure she was safe.
He still hoped his sister was safe.

Back in his present, his legions had been compacted into three abreast lines to the make the journey through the passage. It was uncomfortable, and as they entered the much larger space of the Canterlot Stone Gardens, everypony spread out, seeking their own personal space and room to adjust the minimal armor plating they wore.

Shining Armour placed a hoof in the air and twirled it once, twice, thrice clockwise, the signal to armor up. The signal was repeated by his lieutenants and passed from legion to legion in silence, everypony began to help each other ready themselves for battle. Shining Armour himself made ready, he strapped on the armor that would protect his back, chest and underbelly area. Bracers next, one on every leg, he secured them in place with a satisfying click.
He paused a moment at the helmet, watching his reflection in the cheek-plate.
All or nothing.
Today, they would take back Equestria.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he slid the helmet onto his head, feeling the clacker of the steel plates unfold down his neck. The curving and gilded crest of the Royal Canterlot Army flashed upon his brow, a symbol of strength to his soldiers, a symbol of defiance to the Changeling oppressors.

He turned to find his soldiers waiting ready, swords at their flanks or on their backs within easy reach of their jaws. His 500 strong PegaCorps stood at the ready off to the side, wings flapping in anticipation, pikes held in their arms. Shining Armour nodded in appreciation of his soldiers dedication and then saluted his loyal army, hoof to heart then hoof to air. His army returned the salute, faces set like stone, and Shining Armour felt tears begin to well in his eyes, but he quickly pushed them down.

Shining Armour turned his back on his army and looked at the wall separating them from the Castle. The door was only some 20 metres away to his right, but he paused, and signaled again, wiping his right hoof across his brow and then chopping down. A pegasus called Eagle Eye stepped forward and waited patiently as Shining Armour, Fleet Foot and two other unicorns formed the corners of a square around him. As one they used their magic to throw Eagle into the air where he hovered for a few seconds at the lip of the wall. Sure he could have flown up but it was quicker this way. After a few moments of silent observation Eagle turned back down and waved his arms above his head, X to V. Nothing in sight.
Good.

Shining Armour turned back to his army and nodded. Like one big organism, the soldiers turned and moved into position at the nearby door. Shining Armour stepped over and opened it a crack, peeking through the tiny gap to survey the majority of the Canterlot courtyard, the streets snaking off to his right.
No pony in sight.

After the Changelings had finally taken the Castle, they had closed all entrances to Canterlot, presumably to keep the residents inside as hostages, food or playthings. Shining Armour pushed the door fully open, wincing as it creaked on the last foot, and stepped into the courtyard. Moonlit shadows writhed and played of the cobblestone around them, wrapped themselves over the fountain in the middle, it's water long since dried up and the basin half filled with loose necrotic leaves. The statue that adorned the once majestic piece of environment was that of Princess Celestia, rearing up on two legs to reach for the stars, a look of melancholy upon her face.

Canterlot had fallen into disarray during the changeling invasion, reflected by the fact that the statue of Celestia was missing her wings, horn and there was a strong smell of urine coming from the base. Shining Armour couldn't help but feel as if he had let the Princess down, not being able to repel the Changelings on their first strike. But it had come without warning and in the dead of the night, much like they were doing now, and laid waste to the city, many of the nearby houses all but blackened ruins, ash filling their interiors.

A soft clattering behind him signaled that his soldiers had made their way through and were busy getting into formation. Somepony placed a hoof on his shoulder in reassurance and he turned to look at Feather Quill, standing just to the side and behind him.
"Are we ready Captain?"
Shining Armour nodded in reply and was about to say something but that was when he, Fleet, Feather and the majority of his army heard the screams coming from Canterlot Castle, floating down the straight highway that led to the massive front gates.

Screams of pure agony that drifted over the rooftops, chased by the pleading cries of a few, not to kill, not to kill. He would make everypony was safe.
He hoped that his sister was safe.
"We march," whispered Shining Armour, aghast, "and God help that Changeling bitch."

Queen Chrysalis was having a grand old time, standing on the marble steps at the entrance to the Grand Hall of Canterlot and surveying her Changeling horde while they ran rampant through the dark streets. To be honest, Chrysalis was surprised at how many ponies had been foolish enough to stay, to think that they could survive. It had taken almost two years to amass a changeling army, relocate them to just outside Canterlot's perimeter and then storm the city, but it was damn well worth it. With glinting eyes she watched small swarms of her Changelings zip through the streets, banging on doors and windows and terrifying the cowering families inside. Those that dared to stay outside or fight back were pulled to the ground and mauled.

Chrysalis giggled maniacally as one such poor, brave soul ran from his cover behind a trash-bin and lurched out onto the street, aiming hopelessly for an open door across the road. She laughed out loud as a swarm of her beautiful Changelings surged forward and fell upon the doomed pony who yelling out as he was swamped by a mass of chitinous plating and heavy hooves. Blood spurted and he screamed as ragged jaws began to rend his flesh and his writhing became more intense in the grip of agony.

"Now, now my pets," she yelled above the sound of chewing, "don't fill yourself before dinner!"
Ever since they had taken the Castle, they had also discovered the largest source of food that they had possibly ever known. Changelings used to feed off the harmonic feedback from intense love, but Chrysalis had already made the mistake of allowing love to run rampart and that had been her downfall. It was just as easy to eat ponies. More flavor as well.

All throughout the moonlit streets Chrysalis could see the cowering, quivering shapes of ponies through the windows, many of which were smashed open.
She couldn't help laughing, because everyday her army was growing, everyday becoming stronger and soon she would have the power to have complete control over all of Equestria. She had smaller armies stationed all over the country but none were doing as well as her personal army was. Perhaps she would go help the legion that was forwarding the attack on Cloudsdale next.

The moonlight from Les Luna, the Moon, sparkled off the many pools of blood that covered the streets, sending a crimson ray raking over the streets. A blood filled world. Perfect.
Chrysalis was about to turn inside, call for a servant to tend to the constant itch under her carapace when a brighter, more....wrong blink of light caught her eye, advancing from up the main highway that led to the steps. She narrowed her eyes to increase her vision and when she recognized the silhouette that was purposefully striding down the streets towards her, her eyes widened in shock and disbelief.
"No..." she whispered, "No, I broke you...Impossible!"

They marched up the street in perfect formation, a pounding battle-beat from an unseen drum driving all doubts away and filling the spaces with unwavering courage. Shining Armour strode at their head, tall and imposing in his white coat overlaid in gold and steel tang armor, backed by an army 1600 strong also adorned in complex battle armor, bristling with pikes, lances, sabres, longswords and looking for all the world like the living embodiments of pissed off bad-assery.
No wonder he saw Chrysalis visibly shrink away.
Her reaction was no surprise either. Drawing up to her full height which was at least two feet taller than Shining Armour, she loosed a witch-like cackle and screamed at the cloud filled skies.
"Changelings! To me!"

Like a black tide, the doors to the Grand Hall burst open and a huge, gibbering, screeching mass of unruly Changelings flooded out. They swarmed towards the Royal Army without formation, without plan, without fear and as stoic as they were, some of Shining's soldiers gulped and shuffled nervously. As the lethal mass drew closer, choosing to run across the ground instead of taking to the air, Shining Armour drew his sabre with a flickering blue corona and raised it high. above his head, his army did the same in an orchestra of sliding metal.

"Soldiers! Today we face the greatest threat we have ever encountered! Today, we crush that threat! Strike for your families!
The assembled ponies clashed their weapons to their breastplates, "URA!" and the Changelings drew closer.
"Strike for your friends!"
"URA!" and the Changelings drew closer, so close that Shining Armour could pick out the hate that flooded their insectile green eyes. He took a deep breath and delivered his battle cry.
"STRIKE FOR ALL EQUESTRIA!!!"
And all hell was unleashed.

In a single sweeping move, his 500 PegaCorps swept down from the heavy clouds above them, rank by rank by rank, and loosed their barrage of spears on the front of the charging Changeling force. What could be considered as the front few rows of the Changelings were instantly decimated, the heavy spears punching through throats, heads and carapaces with minimal effort.
Those hit tumbled head over hooves onto the ground and tripped the next few ranks behind them, making a wall of dusk-grey corpses and sending the remainder into disarray.

This was the result Shining Armour had been hoping for and with a tremendous and awe inspiring roar that was backed by his legions behind him, he charged forward with his sword outstretched like a lance. He leapt over the wall of corpses and immediately punched the blade through a hissing Changeling's eye and impaled it's head up to the hilt, the body shuddered once and then was still. He used his magic to remove the corpse and then stood stock-still as the rest of his army came leaping over the corpse wall and ripped into the Changeling force with gusto, each and everypony filled with adrenaline, like a howling pony tsunami that engulfed the confused and surprised Changeling's close enough to be instantaneously mushed.

Shining Armour danced through the crowd in a pure white, gold, grey, blue and lighter blue blur that shredded any Changeling that dared to come near. He was in the zone, as it were, and nothing could bring him out of his adrenaline fueled killing spree. The beat of the battle-beat and the thump, thump, thump of his own heart pounded in his head. His vision was red, but surprisingly clear as if waking from a sleep, locked in a battle rage of epic proportions.

Harpooning forward he caught an unfortunate Changeling as it reared back to maul one of his lieutenants, caught it in the stomach with the tip of his already blood soaked blade. With a vicious jerk he ripped the steel out through it's side and spilled the Changeling's guts onto the ground in a steaming toxic-green pile. A sharp hisssss off to his left caused him to spin in time to parry a glancing blow from the Changelings rock hard hooves as they swung savagely at his face. The vile creature pushed forward with it's rear hooves and locked his sword against his chest, then snapped at his face, saliva slinging into the air a bare millimeter from his nose.

Shining Armour responded by lashing out with a headbutt that broke the Changeling's front fangs and much of it's lower jaw, as it recoiled in pain he swung the now free sabre over and behind his flank and decapitated the creature, feeling the hard jolt as his sheared through it's spine, the rush of bloodlust as vivid green blood sprayed into his face. More Changelings rushed at him but he cut them down with vicious and easy strokes that was like felling grass.

Suddenly, a blow caught him in the flank and a well placed hoof collapsed his legs and he fell to the blood soaked, but still hard ground with a grunt that was more annoyance than pain. He rolled in time to catch the slavering jaws as they descended towards his face and held them at bay. He didn't bother with his instinct to catch the creature with magic, it was too hard to hold living creatures in a solid grip during the furious activity of war. He was just debating how best to take care of the creature that scrabbled atop of him when....SHLUK!

A lance blasted through the Changeling's dusk-black cranium and basically obliterated it's head in a spray of dark bone and vivid blood and brain matter. A hoof entered Shining Armour's vision and helped him to his feet with a heave. He looked into the concerned face of Fleet Foot who retrieved his lance with a jerk of his umber magic. Shining Armour snorted his thanks and watched as Fleet nodded and dodged back into the carnage around them.

Everywhere, everypony was locked in combat with a Changeling or two, or three, the fearsome clang of metal and carapace reverberating in the atmosphere, jarring to Shining's ears. he wished he could help everypony, make sure that they were all safe.
He hoped that his sister was safe.

Lightning flared and illuminated the macabre silhouette of Queen Chrysalis in the distance, having not moved from marble steps since the first strike. His eyes narrowed, and his brow furrowed in unkempt anger as he watched and another of his soldiers was cut down in a scything burst of green iridescent magic, with barely a cry and a burst of sadistic laughter from the silhouette.
Shining Armour focused his anger and started towards his enemy, first at a stroll, then a trot and then a full tilt gallop across the seething battlefield, cutting down any Changeling that dared to stand in his way.
He roared.

Chrysalis heard the roar before she saw the white and blue blur that was Shining Armour.
"CHRYSALIS!!!!!" a throaty roar of extreme anger pierced her ears and she looked up to see the Royal Captain himself burst through a hastily attempted wall made by her Changeling soldiers. Such dedication.
"CHRYSALIS!!!!!" he yelled again as he dashed across the expanse of green grass at the base and took the steps, two at a time, all the while coming ever closer to her, soaking blade at the ready. He bounded up the steps at her and then jumped at the last few, soaring into the air and bearing down upon her like a vengeful bladed missile.

Time slowed to a crawl and Chrysalis braced herself against the marble ground as Shining Armour launched himself towards her, mouth set in a primal scream of fury, blade twirling up and back so the tip stared right at her, tip to eye, daring her to react.
And react she did, braced as she was with each hoof forming the corners of a rectangle, she pulsed magic into her warped and twisted horn and released the wavering emerald energy in a blast that could almost level a small house.
All Shining Armour saw was the flash.

He lay there on the ground, smoking and bruised, half-conscious, half wishing he wasn't. Shining Armour lay on the ground and waited for the sweet embrace of death to enfold it's hooves over him. And all the while, Queen Chrysalis, the tyrannical ruler of Canterlot for 4 years, the undisputed and only ruler of the Changeling horde, stood above his still form, turned her head to the lightning soaked sky and laughed and laughed and laughed.

Part Three

Agony.
And lots of it.
Shining Armour groaned, turned his head slightly and attempted to flutter open his eyes but the pain it caused was too intense and he dropped his head back to the soaking green ground. All around him ponies and Changelings still danced in vicious combat against a blurry dark backdrop. A few combatants from either side, Shining Armour couldn't tell which, stumbled over him but largely left his form untouched in it's agony.

Thankfully, Chrysalis's aim had waned with time and the spell had only struck him fully in the right side instead of his entire body as it was meant too. From the pain that lanced up his entire side, he was quite sure that at least three of his ribs were broken, his right rear leg fractured at the hip joint and his coat reduced to nothing more but a mass of bruises.
The sounds of battle were muted to his ears, largely covered by a peculiar high ringing pitch that pervaded everything, covering the clangs, curses and screams that formed a whirlpool of noise all around him. He could feel blood trickling from his mouth, taste it's metallic tang.

Pushing through the pain, he finally managed to open his eyes and look at where he was.
He lay on his bruised side in the mud and blood and corpses at the bottom of the marble steps, the blast had thrown him well clear of Chrysalis, who still hadn't moved from the top of the steps, a dark silhouette against the brighter slick mahogany of the Grand Hall doors. His helmet had come off during the blast and now lay as a dented ruin some few feet in front of him.

Shining Armour groaned and let his gaze be drawn around him, at the whirlwind of dusk-grey hooves and armor shod hooves that danced around him, as if they were evading failure.
His ears pricked up and his attention was drawn to a familiar curse yelled out nearby, avoiding turning his head too much from the fiery needles that lanced up it, he looked in the direction the curse had come from.

He watched, horrified, as Fleet Foot, the Fleet Foot that had stood out in the rain and wielded a lance or short sword like the devil himself, the same Fleet Foot whose talent for war seemed to be unmeasurable, was dragged too the ground by a group of snarling Changelings and set upon by ragged jaws and heavy stomping hooves. He didn't scream once, or even yell out in pain as his blood splurted out and covered the Changelings, whipping them into an even greater frenzy. In fact, Shining Armour could have sworn that he sighed as the life left his eyes.
"Fleet...." Shining Armour slurred through a pain wracked jaw, "Don't leave me...."

Another agonized cry alerted him and he swung his head in the other direction to find himself almost nose-to-nose with Feather Quill as the pegasus stumbled and dropped to his knees. Blood poured down half his face from a head wound that was thankfully covered by his mane, also soaked red. One eye was swollen shut by a huge bruise on his cheek from where he had been evidently punched by a Changeling.
"Captain...." Feather murmured, his breath coming in ragged gasps that trickled blood from his mouth with every intake of air.

Shining Armour strained his neck, pain flaring up his jaw, to look at the full extent of Feather's injuries. They were horrible. Feather's back and flank were a mess of ragged cuts and vividly purple-blue bruises. One of his legs was broken, twisted at an impossible angle and far beyond use and his wings were torn to the bone, some of the creamy brown feathers stuck to his back by the gore.

Ironically, and astoundingly so, his favorite and personal quill was still tucked behind his ear, as if he planned to get up at any moment and begin writing about his day, starting 'I love you...' to his mare, Paper Page in Ponyville.
Feather's next blood filled cough of air carried with it the beginnings of a death rattle deep in his throat.
"I see it Captain," he said, his voice barely a whisper above the din of the war raging around them.

"Feather, keep your eyes on me...." Shining Armour managed to whisper back, tears beginning to form in his eyes. Feather Quill, the Feather Quill that Shining Armour had seen face down entire legions and plan the best strategies anypony had ever seen, ignored him and picked up his sabre with his mouth and slammed it into the ground, sinking it a hoofwidth into the blood softened dirt and grass.
"Justified." he whispered with finality, and then slumped to the ground with glazed eyes, dead.

Shining Armour fought to hold back tears as much as he could surrounded by the corpses that had once been his friends and comrades, friends and comrades that had stood by him through thick and thin and all the horrors of war.
His eyes closed in regret and the tears began to drip freely from his eyelids, salty spots that carried with them all his sorrow, to forever seed the ground with the horrible experiences that had transpired in this war. Feather Quill's last word still rang in his ears, Justified, a whisper that was curiously louder than anything else, followed by everything he had said to Feather, awash with his own thoughts.
"That's what we fight for-"
"Do you have somepony you love?"
"-what justifies this war."
"I'm rather tentative..."
"Safety for everypony in Equestria."
"Nothing seems-"
He hoped his sister was safe.

Through the barrage of pain, both physical and mental torture, he dimly heard Chrysalis addressing everypony present on the battlefield.
"Drop your weapons, and I will allow you to live!" The lie was evident in her voice, but nopony would have heard it clearly, "Surrender to me, and you will leave!"
Shining Armour wanted to yell out to his legions from where he lay, "No, don't listen! Fight to the bitter end!", but it was either the intense pain or the sorrow that tore at his heart that stopped him, slumping him to the ground with tears still rolling down his cheeks, and he stayed silent.
'What's the point?' he asked himself mentally, 'We've already lost.'

Someponie's hoof clipped his nose and he opened his eyes on reflex, each orb rolling in it's pit. When his vision had cleared he found himself staring into the dull but still shiny blade of Feather's sabre, still stuck quivering in the dirt in front of his face like a beacon of reverence, and stared at the reflection in it's surface.
But it wasn't his reflection staring back.

Reflected on the surface was every good memory he had of his sister Twilight and wife Cadence, the images dancing around the steel in a roiling display of color. His eyes widened as he took in the preternatural sights and everything slowed around him as his mind was picked apart by this epiphany.
There was his and Twilight's childhood, the purple and white coats dancing in perfect harmony.
There was his first kiss with Cadence, the blush vivid on her pink cheeks.
There was the discovery of the secret path, Twilight held tight in his comforting embrace.
There was his wedding with Cadence, a sonic rainboom splitting the heavens above them.
But most of all, there was his sister.

Shining Armour watched her study, watched her play, watched her cry, laugh, scream, yell, blush, hug, write and listen as the solid th-thump, th-thump, th-thump of his heart drowned out everything but the sweet laughter of his dear sister and wife that echoed in his ears.
His sister.
His Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight.
Twily.

He hoped his sister was safe.
For a single flashing moment, Shining Armour thought of what Chrysalis would do to Twilight if she took all of Equestria, and that thought made him sick, made him angry.
"No..." he whispered, anger adding a low tenebre to his voice. The sights and sounds that came from the cold steel in front of his nose gave him strength, newfound courage, and urged him to press on.
"NO!" he yelled, more to himself than anypony else.

He planted his feet in the blood soaked grass, first his front then his back, and levered himself to his feet, ignoring the fiery pain that ripped up his side. Once on his feet he reached out with iron fisted magic and took his sabre in grip, stopped, and then picked up Feather Quill's sabre as well, twisting and twirling them around each other in a blur of metal. He set his gaze on the distant form of Queen Chrysalis at the top of the marble steps, setting firm to memory her grotesque disjointed carapace, insectile wings, and that warped and twisted horn that he so wished to rip from her head.
His face twisted into a grimace of incomparable anger and he shot forward to the nearest group of Changelings that stood in his way, twirling his dual blades in a fearsome dance.
Nothing would stop him.

Nothing could stop him.
Shining Armour plowed into the first group of Changelings, dropped his shoulder and charged the one on his left, then swayed and slammed into the one on his right, sending it flying with an audible crack of breaking bone. For a third time, he heaved his weight to the left and crushed another Changeling underfoot, ignoring the pain from his side, pain that was now irrelevant.

A fourth Changeling attacked him, hissing in vengeance for it's slain brothers or sisters. Without breaking stride, Shining Armour hacked one of it's legs off in a spray of blood and then cleaved it's head in two as he swept past, the skull open to the first rays of sunshine crawling over the streets.

More Changelings. The first few were cut down with quick and brutal strokes, the last had it's head scissored from it's shoulders when Shining Armour swept his blades together in front of him, steel over steel.
He jumped at the next instant and bucked a Changeling hard in the head, crushing it's skull in a green splatter as he soared over, then cut the two flying adjacent to him down with simultaneous lines of flashing steel, the blades singing with bloodlust and revenge.

Chrysalis had opened the doors to the Grand Hall and was entering those chambers when she once again heard the familiar roar of one extremely angry, and violently inclined, pony whom she had believed dead.
"Impossible..." she turned back to the sea of corpses, both Changeling and pony soldiers, to see the zig-zagging white blur that was Shining Armour plowing through anypony that tried to stop him, blades twirling around his body so fast that the blazing tips seemed to carve lines of light straight into the air.

He was a fearsome sight, coat covered in cuts and bruises, blood steadily dripping from his mouth and his eyes gleamed with an intensity that bordered on madness.
"CHRYSALIS!!! I'M COMING FOR YOU!!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, his throat raw and burning, the rage that it entitled burning up from his very core.
Chrysalis had no answer, shocked as she was, and so with her supply of magic all but exhausted and no real hoof-to-hoof combat skills, turned tail and fled into the dark corridors of Canterlot Castle as if Death himself was riding the Royal Captain towards her.

The chase through Canterlot's creamy marble guts was tense and near fruitless, the only sounds being Shining Armour's snorts of derisive anger, Chrysalis's hurried gasps as she ran, and the occasional crash as one of them ran into something not seen in the half dark. The shadows were slats on the floor, split seconds of illumination that freeze framed their frightful expressions into the memoric atmosphere of Canterlot Castle. Anypony that came here in the future would be able to stand there, breathe deep, and feel the intensity that rebounded of every wall, every plinth around them.

The chase seemed to last an eternity, every second that a hoofstep resounded off the walls stretched into the void of time. To Shining Armour he felt nothing as he ran, to Chrysalis, she felt her life begin to flash across her eyes as she rounded corners and dashed frantically up staircases, moving ever deeper into the Castle.

Chrysalis thought that she had escaped Shining Armour, his loud huffing faded into the distance and all she could hear was her own hoof beats against the pristine tiled floors. Smiling wickedly to herself she rounded another set of staircases and ran through the first open door on her right.

She was greeted by a round room with a huge stained glass window directly opposite the door, black and grey slate covered the walls. There was an equally circular bed to her immediate right, the blankets strewn over the floor, evidence that whoever's room this was, they had left in a hurry. Chrysalis's confusion over the owner was resolved by her spotting a pillow nearby on the floor, a plush lump of wool, endowed with a familiar midnight-blue moon and stars.
Chrysalis was in Princess Luna's room at the very top of Canterlot Castle, and there was no way out except through the door.

Sweat beading upon her brow, she turned to leave and was greeted by the heart stopping visage of Shining Armour standing low in the door frame, blocking any escape.
Dead end.

Shining Armour stalked towards her, taking quick calculated steps that thumped on the intricate carpet floor, Chrysalis slowly edged backwards. She tried pleading with him.
"Look, Shining," she said and gestured good will with her forehooves, "it doesn't have to be this way."
"Yes it does."
"We're both survivors, you see. You from this war, me from the our first encounter. We harmonise through battle, we could be a team."
"No we can't."
"You could be my King."
"No I couldn't."
Pleading and enticements weren't working, and Shining Armour came even closer to her. She began backing up faster, shuffling over the carpet.
"My magic knows no limits, has no bounds. What do you want the most. I can get it for you."

This one stopped Shining Armour in his track, made him stand up a little straighter with wide eyes and his swords dropped an inch as he contemplated. He nickered softly and when he next spoke, it was with an edge to his voice that was like barbed wire, callous and mocking.
"I want Cadence back. Can you bring back the dead? Can you?"

Chrysalis stopped, caught her breath in her throat, then smiled, seeing her future ahead of her, a future that she would survive. Her fate may have been sealed by what Shining Armour was asking, but she knew how to avoid it if she played her cards right.
She released her breath, curled her mouth into a sick, twisted smile and adopted an air of nonchalance, playing the part of unsuspecting arrogance.
"You know I enjoyed killing her? Hearing her scream your name as I tore her wings in two, it was like...music to my ears."
She could see Shining Armour visibly seethe in front of her, his muscles bunching into hard knots as she recounted the aspects of Princess Cadence's demise.
"How she writhed when her horn snapped off. Crack! Just like that. The blood that poured onto the ground was sweet with the promise of a broken heart. Yours."
Shining Armour was shaking now, the tears of his broken heart pouring freely onto the carpet. He took a step forward with a solid thump and his swords snapped back up to aim at her face, promising only death.

Chrysalis continued, her voice becoming a sibilant whisper that just hissed into Shining Armour's ears. "You ask if I can bring your poor pink slut back to life. I can't and I wouldn't. Unless you bow to me. Bow to me and you might see her again."
Shining Armour howled in rage and slammed both his sabres into the ground point first so that they stuck there quivering and charged forwards,

"I WILL NOT BOW, BITCH!!!"

Chrysalis had been goading Shining Armour the whole time and crouched ready to dodge his attack as he dashed across the carpet at astonishing speed, howling all the while. He leapt forward at the last moment with a burst from his powerful legs and Chrysalis twitched to the side, laughing maniacally at the fate that awaited him.
What she hadn't bet on though, was that Shining Armour's aim had not waned with time. He smiled a grim smile to himself and tapped his foot against the floor, changed his angle and impacted squarely with Chrysalis in her midriff, her carapace cracking under such force.

They both flew backwards with the impact across the embroidered carpet, there was a moment of pressure as Chrysalis felt the stained glass window against her back, then nothing as the windows cracked, shattered and they were through, the sound of shattering glass replaced with the howls of a rushing wind. They flew out into the clear morning air, surrounded in a chaotic cloud of multicolored shards that glistened with rainbows as the first few rays of morning sunshine shot through them. They hovered for a single, terrifying moment at the end of their arc, then tipped in slow motion and fell.
Far, far, far, above the roiling battle below that carpeted the ground.

Chrysalis screamed as she fell. This was not how she wanted to die, falling in the grip of her mortal enemy, the biggest thorn in her side for approximately 4 years. She screamed with every ounce of her voice, willing herself desperately back to the marble steps where she had been safe from any of the fighting. Moments, snapshots from her life began to flash before her green, insectile eyes, causing her to writhe even more furiously in Shining Armour's iron-like grip. She wasn't ready for this.

She screamed as the glow of the marble steps began to creep into her peripheral vision, a promise of hard, unforgiving and cold death. More snapshots,
Her first attack on Princess Cadence, she seemed to watch from afar as her memory self smacked the Princess on the back of the head and carried her limp body off to the crystal caverns.
The sunset that she flew towards as the concussive force of Shining Armour and Princess Cadence's love fueled blast pushed her with irresistible force towards the outskirts of the Everfree Forest.
The shame she felt after that defeat, then the blood filled demise of Cadence, Memory-Chrysalis reveling in the sadistic glory and laughing as Cadence desperately tried to call for Shining Armour.
Then, Shining Armour's face, grimacing and filled with retribution, eyes closed in acceptance of fate. She realized the face she was staring at was the present, still locked in his iron-embrace, and she screamed even louder.

They fell together in a parody approximate of a lovers embrace, entwined together as the rushing wind whipped through their manes and tore at their coats, battering their bodies as they tumbled towards the ground.
Shining Armour closed his eyes and released a breath full of acceptance, a breath that he had been holding since he first realized what he had to do to end Chrysalis's reign of tyranny, and subsequently tackled her from the window.
That done he allowed his life to flash before his dark eyelids. He could hear the rush of wind against his ears, feeling it ripping through his mane. He could also hear Chrysalis screaming in terror, right in front of his face, a high-pitched like a banshee, of someone who wasn't ready for death.
I'm ready. I win.

Cadence.
Twilight.
All the good memories he had of their time together sifted across his memory and then cast themselves into the air behind Shining Armour, everything that he had gained from this world was given back to the beyond, to become anything they wanted to be. All that was left were Twilight and Cadence's smiles, forever burned into his mind.

He finally opened his eyes into the nightmarish visage of the tyrant Queen Chrysalis, still screaming with a wide maw of needle-bone teeth. Shining Armour felt her mosquito thin wings flutter uselessly against the inside of his forelegs as she tried to free them to get away. Shining Armour only held on tighter. No getting away this time.
He closed his eyes again as he saw the first glimpses of the marble and grass ground rushing towards them.
I win. Here I come Cadence....

And as they fell, through rushing air and the first few rays of morning sunshine that surrounded them in a beautiful, almost holy, golden shroud, Shining Armour allowed himself to relax and his mouth became a smile because he knew, finally knew, that his sister would be safe.

On Moon's Day the 13th, at approximately 2:00 am SET (Standard Equus Time), The Captain of the Royal Canterlot Army, Shining Armour led what would be his last, and most ferocious charge into enemy territory. Leading a force of some 1200 of his own soldiers, 400 of recruited village stallions, he plunged headlong into the 6,000 strong army of Changelings occupying Canterlot, under the control of the vicious Queen Chrysalis.
There were no survivors.
Despite the heavy losses, it was this battle that cemented the victory of ponykind over the Changeling oppressors. With the main Changeling force decimated and scattered after the demise of their ruler, it was only another day until Canterlot was reclaimed, another few weeks until Equestria was back under celestial control.
Shining Armour had brought his country to victory.
He was a hero.
Through the way he bolstered his men, to the way he would not bow, to his valiant sacrifice to end Queen Chrysalis's tyrannical reign; these were the cold, hard facts.
But as all times passes, those Facts became Fiction,

and that Fiction became Stories,

but those Stories, they became Legend....