The Tale Of A Shaded Comet

Chapter 23: Fillydelphia

"I need answers. I can't afford to wait. Every blasted minute I spend oblivious as to what happened to Shaded is another minute lost. Time is of the essence, and if by any chance I become incapacitated in Canterlot because of it, it could very well mean the end of me."

John trotted down the dirt paths that made up most of Ponyville. The sun was shining, controlled by Chyrsalis, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Recent reports and letters from members of the Royal Guard indicated that they were waiting for the counter offensive, as per Captain Shining Armour's orders. According to one of the most recent letters that Shining Armour had sent to Twilight, Lieutenant Gage, who was apparently the brown pegasus that John had throttled, had taken a battalion of soldiers to Fillydelphia, to reinforce the town's defense.

The Changlings were beginning attacks on the most desolate of targets, slowly working their way inwards. It was a crafty plan, and as was stated in the letter, was very effective. It was as if they were trying to push their unfinished preparations for the counter attack towards Canterlot, to the waiting Discord and Chrysalis.

It was one massive trap that they had fallen into, and now there was no obvious route out of conflict. The only way forwards, to hopefully end this short war, was to move into Canterlot. But then, they did exactly what Discord wanted.

Sighing heavily, John sharply turned the corner. With a surprised yelp, he was shoved to the ground as a scooter thundered by and braked. Dizzily looking up, he found himself at the feet of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Scootaloo was directly in front of him, whilst Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were off to the sides, apologising profusely for knocking him over, before realising who he was and abruptly coming to a halt verbally.

Scootaloo frowned down at him disapprovingly, causing John to give her a confused look. Remembering that he didn't technically know them, he played the fool.

"Errr... Excuse me? Would you mind-"

Scootaloo jumped onto his chest, knocking the air out of him. Gasping, he growled up at the orange pegasus filly, whose hair was askew and misshapen. Her eyes were red, indicating that she was either tired, or...

She had been crying.

"What have you done with Rainbow Dash?!" She pushed her face against John's, snarling. With a measured breath, he calmed himself down. She's just a filly. She can't know.

"I haven't seen her in a while, Scootaloo."

Her facial expression became even angrier, even nastier, and contained hints of hate for John.

"You know that I know that you know where she is Shaded! Don't lie to me! Where is Rainbow Dash?!"

Gulping and looking away from Scootaloo, he turned his gaze to the other two Crusaders, his eyes pleading for help. With a snort, they both turned their noses up and ignored him. When he looked back up at Scootaloo, he immediately wished that he hadn't.

Her wings were flared out in anger, her irises had become pinpricks surrounded by a mix of white and red, and she was crying. His heart pounding in fear of the pegasus, he tried to smile comfortingly. He had never been this afraid of anyone before, so he didn't exactly know what to do. It wasn't fear of her being angry with the sudden disappearance of Rainbow Dash, it was the fear of her reaction if he told her the truth.

With a grunt, he pushed a protesting Scootaloo off of his chest, but caught her in his magical grasp. She struggled temporarily, but eventually gave up, curling up and sobbing. With pangs of heartache, he released the spell, gently lowering her to the floor, and laying her down on the dirt path. Lying down beside her, he extended his right wing and draped it over her body, covering her like a blanket.

She slowly looked up at John with a startled expression. Smiling sadly, he wiped her tears away with his hoof. It was all just one massive replay of a scene that would forever be rooted firmly into his memory. Just replace Scootaloo with his daughter, Rainbow Dash with her mother, and keep John as John, and you would have a perfect re-enactment of that scene, without the situation, four years ago.

/br/

It had been, funnily enough, the day before Christmas. It was snowing outside in the late evening, layering the ground with the soft white crystals. Inside his home, John was putting the finishing touches to the Christmas tree, a proud but small pine tree that he had retrieved himself, for a reduced price from the owner, of course. All the presents, all six of them, were under the tree, patiently waiting for the moment where their wrapping paper would be ripped off and cast aside, revealing their contents.

Finally placing the last of the sliver tinsel on the tree, John stopped to admire his handiwork. After a few moments, listening to the beat of the clock hand's ticking, he heard the stairs to his right groaning under the weight of a newcomer. His daughter was standing on the stairs, teddy bear in hand, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Daddy? Where's mummy?"

Fighting back tears, John looked towards the presents in the boxes, hiding under the tree. All six of them were for her, from him. She would recieve others tomorrow, when they were to visit John's mother. There were none from "mummy". She was gone.

Sweeping up his daughter into his arms, he carried her back up the stairs, each step creaking under their combined weight. The landing light upstairs flickered weakly as they trod past into her room, leaving the door open. Silently, he lowered her back into her bed, pulling the duvet up over her to keep her warm.

Breathing in deeply, John sat down on the edge of the bed carefully, as to not sit on his daughter. Putting the palm of his hand beside her, he turned to smile sadly at her.

"Mummy's gone away for a while. I don't know when she'll be back, but I'm here, okay?" He whispered softly. Brushing aside a stray blonde lock of hair, he kissed her on the forehead. She looked up into John's eyes.

"Can you sing me a song, Daddy?" She asked, her face the picture of angelic innocence. Smiling slightly, he sat up slowly.

"Of course darling." Clearing his throat with a cough, he blinked back tears. As softly as he could, he began to sing in low pitched, slow speaking manner.

"Now hush little baby, don't you cry,

Everything's gonna be alright.

Stiffen that upper lip up little lady, I told ya,

Daddy's here to hold ya through the night.

I know mommy's not here right now and we don't know why,

We fear how we feel inside.

It may seem a little crazy, pretty baby,

But I promise momma's gon' be alright."

Looking down, he saw that she had fallen asleep, and was quietly and peacefully breathing whilst facing him. Standing up slowly, he finally allowed his tears to flow.

/br/

"Please, Scootaloo. I don't know where she is, but if I find her, I'll tell you." John lied through his teeth, hoping that they wouldn't see through his ruse. Her words alone were enough to open the floodgates, and he was having to use every last ounce of willpower to stop himself from crying. She huddled closer to him under his wing, beginning to stop crying.

"Leave it to me, I'll find Rainbow Dash and I'll bring her back. I promise." He whispered, starting to get up. He needed to cry, but he couldn't here. Pushing himself up, he smiled forcefully down at her, and she smiled back.

"Thank you."

Without sparing another second, John continued to trot down the road, trying to keep calm. Thankfully, more or less right in front of him, was the library. It was impossible not to notice, all because of the mass of ponies, a mixture of stallions and mares, gathered outside. Studying them, they all saluted at him as he walked past, albeit clumsily. Most he hadn't seen before, so they must have been from Appleloosa and Manehatten. Nooding back, he entered the library, closing the door behind him.

A table had been moved into the middle of the floor, and it was littered with maps and letters. In the room were twelve ponies and one griffon, to his surprise. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, White Lightning, Shining Armour, Iron Heart, Speedy Recovery, Halo Eclipsed, Frostbite, Azure Scythe and Hayzu. Around the table were Shining Armour, Iron Heart and White Lightning. Greeting them with a nod, he took his place in the oval that surrounded the table, and looked at Shining Armour.

"I know that you're probably surprised to see us all here, but we're here for a reason." Shining Armour answered his silent question.

"Pray tell, Captain, what has been happening?"

"As you know, Chrysalis is now trying to push you towards Canterlot, but to do that, she's had to reveal herself. All over Equestria, ponies of every age, every height, every skill and every type have been rallying to your cause. In the three days that this has been going on for, we've recruited over three hundred able bodied recruits, not counting the royal guards. Together, we've an unstoppable force, and we will take back Canterlot." Shining Armour smiled to himself.

"But it's not enough. We aren't just going up against the Changlings. Reports from scouts and pleas for help from ponies still inside Canterlot indicate that Discord has reinforced them in his own ways, such as manipulating the weather, giving them armour and weapons, etcetera." White Lightning took his turn to speak.

"So, cutting the margin to before they are ready, you have three more days to collect particular allies with skill traits." Shining Armour finished, and waited for John's response.

"Particular allies?" He asked in confusion.

"Unfortunately, there's only two ways into Canterlot. From the air, and from the mountain. We're going to launch a frontal assault as a distraction, whilst flanking from the air. If all goes to plan, you, Twily and the girls are going to sneak inside, retrieve the Elements and use them against Discord and Chrysalis." Shining Armour stated the plan on a basic level.

"But you're going to have your own team to help, consisting of any ponies you deem helpful to that particular section of the plan." Lightning grimaced.

"I see. On another note, was has become of Gage? Has there been any word?"

"Nope. Standard procedure protocol for Royal Guards indicate that any operation undertaken must have reports every eight hours at the least, without exception. Lieutenant Gage hasn't reported for sixteen hours, so we're going to investigate."

"But he's in Fillydelphia. How are we going to get there?"

"Not 'we', Shaded. You."

John shook his head, clearing his mind of errant thoughts that wandered around aimlessly, some affecting him, some remaining docile.

"I take it that I am not going alone?" He asked Shining, who also grimaced.

"You'll be going with several members of the Royal Guard 1st Airborne Battalion." Iron Heart pointed outside. "Unfortunately, we can't go with you at the moment," he pointed to his back, which was obviously wingless, "so you're going with five ex-members who have joined the counter attack. They're waiting outside. Go and introduce yourself, and get ready."

Nodding to his comrades, he stepped away from the table, and said quick hello and goodbyes to the rest of the assembled group. Pushing the door open, he stepped outside, looking around for the mentioned ponies.

They were not as hard to locate as he initially thought. They were literally right outside, clustered together.

All of them were stallions. Their gold armour shone brightly, reflecting the rays of the sun in all directions, and their weapons gleamed brilliantly, thanks to the recently polished steel. Each was white, but their manes were concealed underneath the standard issue helmet. Saluting as he approached, he shook his head.

"No. We're all equals here. Don't salute."

Two of the group glanced at each other, their wings twitching. Another went back to his equipment, whilst the final two casually took off their helmets. Silence, eh? Okay.

"I assume you are the group accompanying me to Fillydelphia, yes?"

Another moment of silence ensued. It was actually quite awkward. Oh, I know why. 1st Airborne Battalion hated Shaded. Right.

"I don't suppose we can put our past behind us?" John asked tentatively, stepping backwards when the pony that was tending to his equipment turned away from his weapon, and stepped towards him.

"No. We can't. We're here to do what needs to be done, nothing more." The guard growled, startling John slightly.

"Fine. We're moving in ten minutes. Get ready."

The white pegasus rolled his eyes, snorted and moved away from John, who scowled at him.

Seriously? I mean, really? It's been a year since Shaded participated in the battle for Cloudsdale, so why can't he put it behind him. Why can't they?! It's stupid.

Shaking himself from his momentary mental isolation, he found himself back in the library, in front of his armour. Huh? I didn't teleport. Who teleported me? He looked behind him, searching for anypony who could have teleported him back inside, to this particular spot. Not finding anypony, he turned back around to face his armour, taking a large breath to calm himself.

Squinting down at his armour, he started to put it on, starting, as usual, with the silky jet black undersuit. Pulling it over his body with the assistance of his magic, he shuddered as the cold fabric stretched over his body. Making sure that it was tightly secured around his body, and that he could easily flap his wings, he smiled when he found that both were fine. Satisfied, he then levitated the navy blue chestplate onto his upper body, pulling the straps tight. With a grunt, he securely fastened the chestplate.

Next were the bracers for his fore and hind legs. Slipping them on, he tightened the leather binds that held them in place, and grinned when he found them to be a perfect fit. Standing up on his hind legs with his wings flapping slightly to support him, he stared down at his right foreleg bracer, concentrating on having the blade around a foot long.

"Nocturnumque."

The room lit up slightly as the blade sprung out, humming slightly with the energy it gave out. The white, almost silvery moonlight that was given off never ceased to amaze him, as he had experimented several times by himself when he was alone and had some time to himself. Even though it had only been three days since Rainbow Dash had been taken by Discord, and he was still looking for specialists in the field that would prove invaluable when they attacked Canterlot, he had still occasionally found time to practice with nocturnumque.

Letting the blade dissipate, he coughed, clearing his throat. The only thing left on the floor was his helmet. His familiar dark blue aura surrounded the item as it slowly levitated into the air, hovering above his head. Dropping back onto his hooves, he slipped it on, feeling the cold steel against his cheeks as it slid into position.

Flexing his wings, he stood up on his hind legs again. It felt more natural for him to walk like this, so screw whatever anypony thought of him. He wouldn't be able to run like this, but walking and combat may be easier. He could still use his wings to evade incoming blows and fly, so it wasn't a disadvantage.

Seeing that he was wearing all of his equipment, he turned back towards the door, ducking his head and pulling his wings to his side as he walked through. Outside, his temporary squad had finished their final preparations, and was patiently waiting.

"We leaving?" One of them asked, John couldn't tell who.

"Let's go find out where Lieutenant Gage has wandered off to."

With that parting sentence, John blasted into the air, the five guards following swiftly behind him.

(around forty minutes later)

Positioning themselves in an arrow formation as they rocketed through the sky, John searched the landscape far below them for any sign of Fillydelphia, his eyes hungrirly passing over everything beneath him. He knew that they were getting close to Fillydelphia, but he just couldn't see it. The only thing visible was...

...that massive smoke cloud in the distance.

"Form up!" He yelled backwards to the squad, who immediately responded by tightening up the formation and therefore building speed as a whole. Increasing his own pace, he bolted towards the cloud with all the strength he could muster. Squinting against the grey, woody smoke that fogged the air, he managed to just about make out what was happening below.

It looked as if there were a medium sized battalion of pony troops, all in gleaming golden armour, clashing steel against steel as they fought off a battalion of Changlings twice the size of theirs, their black exoskeletons dully reflecting any light from the meager amount of sunlight that managed to break through the intense cloud of black soot.

As he watched, he saw blow after blow striking down soldier after soldier on both sides, but the Changlings seemed to be gaining ground. Breaking through the last wisps of black, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Turning his head and body to veer towards it, he saw it to be the flag of Equestria waving in the breeze, placed carefully atop a semi demolished building.

Come to think of it, scanning around quickly, he saw nothing but piles of rubble here and there. Occasionally, there were intact buildings, and these seemed to be the most heavily protected of any other buildings. Surrounding each of these structures were hastily constructed barriers, behind which were squads of unicorns firing spell after spell in an effort to stop any enemy forces coming closer towards them, with earth ponies taking cover.

There wasn't, however, any air support, which was quite worrying to John, so he quickly formulated a plan. Gritting his teeth, John glanced behind him, seeing that his squad was still following his every move. He pulled up sharply.

"Help these soldiers in any way you can. I'm going to find Lieutenant Gage."

The white pegusai nodded, and darted towards a group of advancing Changlings, who were tackled roughly to the floor and cut apart as the group extended their wingblades in one fluid motion. Quickly demolishing the target, and earning a roar of approval from a group of defenders, they locked onto another target.

Turning away, John hovered inches above the floor, looking directly down the rubble-strewn street. At the end of it, he could dimly see a light brown pegasus in gold armour. Gage. But between him and the Lieutenant was quite a number of Changlings. Swallowing, he landed bipedal and took a step forwards towards the nearest group.

They were engaged in a magical duel with a different squad of unicorns, and seemed to be winning. The unicorns were panting and sweating, struggling to keep up their barrage of elemental spells, the flames and icy winds beginning to die down and flicker as they fought on.

John felt a transition in emotions as he watched, and allowed the long buried skills of Shaded to show, effectively letting Shaded's knowledge guide his movements.

Still walking onwards, he began to pick up speed, telekinetically grabbing a sword from the road as he dashed past, dropping down to all fours as he galloped towards the group of Changlings, who looked to be on the brink of victory. With a roar, he sprung into the group, twirling the sword above his head and bringing it downwards sharply.

With a clean whump, the blade cut through the nearest Changling before it had time to defend itself, the honed edge severing his head from his body. Black ichor spewed fromt he incision, but nonetheless, John continued onwards. By now, the five remaining Changlings had noticed him, and bared their fangs, hissing and spitting at him.

Frowning, he used the momentum from the last blow to drop to the floor, sliding underneath the guard of one Changling before twsting the blade around and letting it hack into it's legs. With a insectoid howl, it fell twitching and holding the bloody limbs.

Propelling himself over the heads of the last four with a powerful flap of his wings, he effortlessly extended out the sword's reach with his magic, spiralling in the air and feeling it pass through several masses before coming to he came to a halt and landing in another offensive pose, watching two Changling bodies split in half and slide past each other with a wet squelch, each of the four halves, upper and lower body, hit the floor with a thump.

Roaring, a Changling jumped at him, it's horn glowing green as it charged up a spell. He didn't have time to activate nocturnumque, so he did the first thing that came into his mind. He dropped the sword, stood bipedal and with a yell, thrust forwards with his front right hoof. A sickening snap told John that his aim had been true, and he grinned. Not as a sadist, enjoying the pain he had just caused, but rather, in the humour in an action his brain had just proposed.

Focusing his magic on his right hoof, he drew it back. Looking straight into the completely blue eyes of his opponent, he spoke the two words that heralded it's doom as he pushed forwards with all his might.

"FALCOWN PUNCH!"

Needless to say, the Changling was thrown several hundred yards backwards, eventually coming to a stop when a building was there to break it's momentum. With a crunch, the Changling broke through the brickwork, leaving a small cloud of dust. Satisfied with himself, he turned around, raising his forelegs to guard his face.

Before John had time to react, the final Changling had jumped at him, opening it's mouth to bite down on his neck. Fliching, John turned away. The Changling was hit by a green blur, which tackled it to the floor. Literally seconds after, the Changling was surrounded by a blue aura, and the green blur, now revealed to be a pegasus, meekly stood up.

"Thanks mate. I owe you one." John breathed, dropping back down to all fours and studying the pegasus. It was a stallion, with a green coat with a strange grey stripe going from the front of the mane to the end of the tail, including his body. The stripe also went down to each hoof, and his eyes were steel grey.

Before the stallion could respond, he was ushered back into a building which he had probably broken out of to save him by a unicorn guard, who murmered apologies to John about his team's lack of foresight and reaction times. Looking up and around him, John noticed a very high decrease in the amount of Changling attackers, thanks to the combined efforts of the five pegusai and unicorns. But there were, however, still Changlings massing at the end of the road.

Pushing the guard aside, John sprinted down the road, extending his wings and taking flight as he neared the massive group of Changlings surrounding two soldiers. From this distance, he could see every Changling's mouth drool as they converged on the two, charging up horns and flapping insectoid wings.

Clearly visible, flapping in the wind, was another flag of Equestria, securely held in Gage's left forehoof. In the other, was a sword. Beside him, glaring daggers at the Changlings was a blood red pegasus mare in equally gold armour to Gage's, holding a bow with an empty quiver on her back. As each one would get closer, Gage would leap forward, stab at the offender, and jump backwards.

Pulling his wings in tightly, he circled around and landed on Gage's other side.

"Hope I'm not too late for the party."

"Shut up, Shaded."

"Shaded?" The red mare opened her blue eyes in surprise, openly staring at John.

"I'll explain later. I assume you have a plan, lieutenant?"

Gage only grunted in response, and planted the flag firmly into the ground. Readying his sword, he stared into the crowd of Changlings. There must have been about one hundred of the bloody things. The red pegasus mare pulled out a dagger, whilst John took a calm step forwards, standing up bipedal once again.

"Nocturnumque."

The the right blade sprung out, gently humming as it extended to around a foot long. Gage didn't say a word, instead opting to raise an eyebrow, and the red pegasus rolled her eyes, which were now pink. John looked up at the Changlings, a confident grin on his face.

"Come at me, bros."

As one massively disorganised mess they surged forwards, many trampling their own as some were tripped and knocked over. With an unneccessary war cry, John flew forward whilst standing up straight, and teleported above the middle of the black stormy sea of writhing limbs.

Diving down, he spun round with his forehooves out like wings. Realising their mistake, the Changlings screamed at each other in their hellish language, probably to move, but it was too late. With an even bigger war cry than John's, every last military pony in the ruins of Fillydelphia charged towards the enemy.

John easily cut into their ranks, vanquishing one attacker after another as he dived through. They had no chance; they were too disorganised to order a retreat, and too tightly packed together to fight back. One errant blast of green magic caught a unicorn guard under the helmet, and he flew backwards, breaking the surrounding circle that had kept them in place.

As they spilled out and began to reinstate order into their ranks, John landed slap bang in the middle of the Changlings, immediately lunging for one. Nocturnumque caught the Changling in the abdomen, and with a schlick the blade cut through the exoskeleton like it was paper. Twisting around, he blocked a well organised barrage of magic that made him slide backwards a few feet as he raised his blade in front of the concentrated beam, breaking it down into energy as they put more and more power into the pointless attack.

With a shout, John pushed forward, sending the beam staright back at the mass of enemies. Satisfied with his work, he punched forwards with his weapon outstretched, slicing into another Changling. The Changling's blue eyes flickered for a moment, and then glazed over. Ignoring this fact, John kicked backwards with his hooves after hearing a Changling attempting to sneak up on him. His steel horseshoes made contact with the head of the Changling, and it sunk to the floor.

Looking around to see how the battle was going, he was relieved.

Everypony was still alive, a few minor scratches and bruises, but they were nothing compared to the thrashing that the Changlings had just recieved. There must have been around five hundred here to start with, and now there's only about ten or so left. Huh.

With a sigh, he removed his helmet, shaking his mane free after pulling the hood down. He was hot and sweaty, but they had done it.

(a few hours later)

It was now around eleven at night, and the sun was as hot as it was at midday in the middle of summer. "Queen Chyrsalis and Discord must have found out about the enormous lost they sustained in Fillydelphia. So they're punishing us by keeping the sun up? Big whoop." John laughed to himself. Luna will raise the moon soon, and everything'll be all right. No more freaky sun and no more freaky temperature.

After sitting up on the bed he was sleeping in, gratiously supplied by Twilight, he attempted to make contact with Princess Luna.

Luna?

Nopony responded. She was either asleep, or something has happened. It was the almost the middle of the night, so that meant she hadn't raised the moon, but she had to be awake to do that. Which means...

LUNA!?

Still no response came from the Princess, so the latter was the most likely cause. Looking up into what should be a spring night, but instead a summer afternoon, he cursed. He searched deep within himself for any sign that she was still there. Finding none, he desperately looked into the sky, feeling for the stars and moon. They always had her magical presence, so...

Nothing. Not a single sign of her existence.

John coughed violently, clutching his chest as he doubled over. No... NO. NO!

LUNAAA!!!

Silence.

John screamed in anger, his hooves instantly cloaked in a dark blue aura that swirled as he jumped to his hind hooves, his wings flapping uncontrollably as the entire room began to glow with the intensity of the stars themselves. HOW DARE THEY?! HOW CAN THEY?! HOW THE ACTUAL BUCK IS LUNA GONE?!

The magic inside him kept on boiling, making him angrier. Pushing open the balcony doors with a blast of magic, he glared up at the sun, the magic inside of him threatening to forcefully exit his body as he seethed in hate.

With one powerful flap of his wings, he soared high into the air above Ponyville, and raised his hooves above his head, the dark blue aura intensifying as the amount of magic increased, now ready to be expelled, rising high enough to be a black silhouette against the sun.

With one final ear-splitting, jaw-dropping scream, John released all of his emotions in one immensely powerful explosion of magic.

"LUUUUUUUUNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!"

/br/

Applejack heard the scream all the way from Sweet Apple Acres. Fluttershy had heard it from her cottage on the fringe of the Everfree Forest. Twilight, Pinkie and Rarity had definitely heard the ear-piercing scream. It was rumoured that it could be heard all the way in Canterlot.

Bolting from her bed, as did almost every last resident of Ponyville, Applejack ran downstairs as fast as she could, barging open the door to her house and sprinting outside. Big Macintosh was close behind, as was Applebloom.

"What in th' hay is... Big Mac, am ah dreamin'?"

"Eeenope."

Applebloom remained silent, staring up at the odd spectacle that was right in front of her eyes. Never before had she felt this much anger, this much sorrow and this much fear before looking up into the sky that night.

For directly in front of her, in plain view to everypony in Equestria, was something never seen before.

The moon was blocking out the sun.