Seven lie miserably at the hooves of Princess Twilight Sparkle who was now flanked by the deep blue Princess Luna and snow white Princess Celestia. The changeling felt a growing wetness expanding underneath him, and was currently being introduced to pain on levels he had never known before in his life, and personally would have cared to have never become acquainted to. Coughing up a sickly splatter of viscous green blood across the floor, Seven did his best to look up to the alicorn before him, her horn glowing purple and sparking furiously.
"Close, wasn't it? Shame, didn't quite get this job done as I had actually planned. Stupid mare..."
Hacking up another splash of blood, Seven cast a look down to find that a good portion of both hindlegs were gone, and there was a hole straight through him that was pouring his blood and guts onto the floor in a deluge. It was, of course, the aftermath of a mighty and terrible spell that only royalty knew. Even now he could feel the warm wet liquid gathering in a puddle that now expanded past his head and threatened to touch the hooves of the previously targeted alicorns before him.
"You know, I never thought I'd even get this far..." Seven moaned as more blood dribbled out the sides of his mouth, "But to see you now? Worth it, worth all of it."
As the changeling spoke cheerily, despite the fact that he was bleeding out all over the floor at her hooves, Twilight could do nothing but question the whole scene before her. The assassination attempt, the changeling soldiers actions, Chrysalis...It all made so little sense to her.
"But, I don't understand...why?"
Seven let a small chuckle, yet again more blood spurting from his mouth.
"Honestly, to Tartarus if I know... Chrysalis has held a grudge against you since the wedding three years back. I suppose..." trailing off for a moment, Seven made a noise in his throat and hacked up something that looked disturbingly anatomically important, but didn't seem to notice. Or at the least he didn't care anymore. "...the Queen just wanted you erased from existence."
Twilight's eyes widened somewhat.
"I mean, I know she wanted me dead, but why all this?"
Looking past his own ruined body, Seven identified the remains in the room.
"Ah yes...closest to furthest...One-Eleven, Twenty-three, Three-three-oh, Four-kay, Two, and Nine-oh-nine."
Twilight locked eyes on each chitinous corpse as Seven named them off, feeling as if what was being shown to her needed to be recorded.
"Then at the back, splattered across the wall after she tried a cheap shot, Queen Chrysalis. I guess that leaves myself...last of my kind..."
Leaning towards the dying changeling, Twilight gave him a questioning look.
"So, you regret all this? Do you find it folly?"
Perhaps it was the anger that gave Seven the strength to flit his wings fast enough to raise his hindquarters from the ground as he 'stood' before the Princess, or perhaps it was pure luck, but regardless Seven locked eyes with Twilight and gave her the most serious expression to have ever found its way to the changelings features.
"Like Tartarus I do! What I did today will go down in the history books for thousands of years to come. None will forget this day, Twilight Sparkle, the day when somepony effectively ended a race. And at this point, I couldn't care less."
Falling back down to his prostrate form Seven cast another look up at Twilight.
"To think, this all happened not twenty minutes ago..."
~~~Twenty Minutes Prior~~~
"Thank you sir, for enlightening me on the current weather trouble in Appleloosa, I'll be sure to get a team of pegasi on that immediately." beamed Twilight from her seat. She watched as the stallion trotted out. Smiling at her good work, the alicorn lifted herself from her seat just in time for the front doors to the hall to explode open.
As the smoke and debris cleared it revealed Chrysalis and six more Changeling soldiers.
The lavender alicorn shut her eyes in a heartbeat as a magical flash exploded throughout the room effectively blinding the unprepared.
As the Changelings vision began to return, Twilight's horn was aglow and the six Changelings with Chrysalis laid dead on the floor.
Firing a harmless distractionary beam, Chrysalis began to flee, but not before firing a second and far more lethal blast at the alicorn before being smashed into paste against the wall.
As her vision from the near point blank flash spell began to clear, Twilight saw a seventh Changeling soldier collapsed before her.
~~~In the Present~~~
"Celestia...I know you owe me nothing, but...does it hurt? To die?" Seven whimpered, fearful of what would lay on the other side of the veil for him.
The Solar diarch smiled gently down at Seven.
"No, my little pony, dying is but a step towards a greater journey."
Seven nodded, but fears still plagued his mind.
"Will..will I be going to Tartarus. After everything..."
"After everything, you saved my newest and youngest sister's life young one," Luna smiled, "and as it were, my parents believe that one final great act is more than enough recompense for any previous misdeeds. Fear not, young one, for we will see you again in the Summerlands."
Only Twilight remained silent as she watched the life ebb out of Seven. She still didn't understand the why of things! Why save her?! Why turn on the remnants of his kind?! Why die for her?!
"WHY?!"
Smiling a somewhat goofy smile that managed to look both roguish and endearing, despite the copious amounts of blood around him, Seven looked into the eyes of the confused alicorn.
"Well...as a changeling, I...would obviously know this...but...well, love is a powerful thing Twilight Sparkle...and it can make one do stupid and foolish things...like getting ponies killed...but then again, it can do great and wondrous things...things like saving a Princess' life..."
Realisation dawned on Twilight, recognition filling her eyes with tears just as quickly as light faded from Seven's.
Regardless of the gore Twilight bent over and wrapped her forehooves around Seven's corpse, weeping openly over the body of one who suddenly meant so much more to her when it was so far too late for her to do anything.
Celestia and Luna both did their best to held them back, yet even they shed tears as the Royal Guard began to enter the room. Shining Armour made straight for the Diarchs to gain command.
"Celestia, shall we incinerate the remains of these disgu-"
Anything Shining was about to say was cut off as Twilight walked up next to Celestia in a near catatonic state and buried her face in the older alicorns bosom. Celestia wrapped a wing comfortingly around the suddenly emotionally drained mare as Twilight began to speak.
"Dear Princess Celestia...today I learned that time, and love, and family and your friends...today I learned that everything and everypony with a good heart are precious, and no matter how long you know them, or where they're from...and..."
The rest of Twilight's words dissipated into broken sobs as Celestia held her close and escorted her out while Luna filled in Shining before also leaving the room.
Shining watched as his stallions systematically went to each corpse and incinerated every trace of it. It wasn't until they reached the corpse closest to the throne that he made a move.
"Halt!"
Rushing over Shining came to a standstill before his stallions and called everyone of them over.
"Company, Sa-lute!"
The Captain of the Guard snapped a smart salute to Seven's body, and though confused the other's quickly followed their Guard Captain's command.
"Stallions, this changeling, by the name of Seven, is to be handled with the utmost respect. He is to have a hero's burial, and we will erect a monument to him for his actions here today, actions that none of us were present to follow through with in the defense of our newest Princess. Dis-missed!"
Watching the guards run off to gather the proper supplies for handling Seven's body, Shining felt tears build in his eyes before lowering his horn the the chitinous husk. With a powerful surge of magic any and all wounds dissipated and the hindlegs that had been severed by Chrysalis reformed.
"You saved my sister today, and while I don't know exactly why, or who you were...I owe you my thanks, and pray to the days I may spend with you upon our meeting in the Summerlands. Finally..." Shining stopped for a moment and teleported his Medal of Honour he had been awarded into his hoof before laying it at Seven's side, "...you gave me more time with my sister, and while it doesn't mean much to you I'm sure...I'll honour that until my dying day."
Turning, Shining Armour left the room with tears running down his face, not feeling fit to share the space with courageous Changeling that had given so much in his sister's name.
Author's Note
Just a short sappy little feels-y one-shot that wouldn't stop bouncing around in my head. Hope you enjoyed it.
Twilight walked slowly through the halls of the 'Trophy Room'. It was the room where all the stained glass memories of the past twenty thousand years would always come rushing back to her, but there was one in particular that the aged Alicorn Princess would come back to none the less.
As she stared up at the crude representation of Seven, her first, and only, romantic interest, Twilight found herself flanked by two somewhat shorter Alicorns. These were siblings Prince Radiant of the Sun and Princess Ambiance of the Moon. They had taken over Luna and Celestia's roles just over twelve thousand years ago when the pair deemed themselves ready to move on. Next after them was an Alicorn that was her size all those years ago when Twilight herself had first become a Princess.
"I see you have all recieved my correspondence. As you know, roughly twenty thousand years ago I lost my first five friends and fellow Elements. Before them I also lost my elder brother and my parents, and before them, as everypony knows, Seven. Over the many years I have acted as guide for this wonderful country, I have made many friends, and have watched many more pass on to the Summerlands. And now? Now I see three amazing ponies before me who are ready to take up my mantle."
The youngest Alicorn darted forward and wrapped her hooves around Twilight's waist.
"No, please, I need you here still, you can't go!"
Smiling fondly at her pupil-cum-adopted daughter Twilight felt tears well up in her eyes. Not tears for herself mind you, but for her loved ones.
"Come now Heartsworn, you knew this day would come eventually. After all, I am an old and tired Alicorn. But no, I have old friends to go see and new adventures awaiting me. Do not think of this as a good bye dear one, but as a merry part, and merry meet upon our meeting again. I love all three of you and wish you the best, and when the day comes that I see you again, it will be a glorious day indeed."
With those words Twilight stood up from her spot and walked out of the room.
Princess Twilight Sparkle's royal regalia was found later, along with a red rose, at the base of one of the nation's most lauded champion. After all, if it had not been for the Changeling Seven, Princess Twilight could have never united all of the known world in the peace that had reigned for the past ten thousand years.
Ten thousand years of love, friendship, prosperity, and kindness. Ten thousand years of perfect balance. Ten thousand years of twilight.
~~~One Year Later~~~
Heartsworn stood proudly over the placard that sat at the base of the newest statue in the gardens. As her mind went over each and every memory of her adopted mother a song slowly escaped her lips, holding every unce of love Twilight had ever had for both her and the country in its words.
After all, it was Twilight who had taught it to her.
Author's Note
Just a second feelsy bit I tossed back in her. I figured could do a bit more, nothing major, just a little bit more.
Twilight, for the first time in a very, very long time, felt at near total peace. There was but one thing that tugged at the back of her mind. Yes, she had already met all her old friends, but there was one that she'd yet to meet, one she wanted to meet the most. Turning from her friends, the alicorn walked down the golden hued streets to find Solaris and Lunesta. They would know where her most wanted friend was, and her mind would not rest until she found him and forgave him.
~~~~~~~
Seven sat on the same hill he had seated himself upon his first arrival. Over the years wild plantlife had grown over his chitinous shell, but he did not mind. He sat and he slept, the worries of hunger no longer prevalent in his mind. Instead he simply awaited the day he could apologise.
This was the one thing nopony here could ever understand. After all, the Summerlands were made for the ponies, but for one such as he, alone and unique in the afterlife nothing changed save for his need for food. Every second still felt to be a second, every minute a minute, hour an hour and day a day. Thus Seven had waited, feeling every millisecond of the past twenty thousand years weighing down upon him.
Still, he did not move, for he had done something terrible.
True, it was one of those moments that one would feel was a good idea at the time, but with the time Seven had taken to think on it, he knew now that he was a fool.
Twilight had suffered in the weeks following his death, having never known love of the romantic sort before. Her introduction to it, holding his dying carapace, was not one that went over well with the alicorn's emotions.
Still, he knew he was forgiven, but he was intent on serving his 'penance' until she came to him herself.
~~~~~~~
"I was told I would find you up here." whispered a soft voice as lavender magic cleared away the grown on debris from Seven's carapace.
For the first time in hundred of years, Seven moved. His head spun slowly to find Twilight looking at him with a large smile.
"I was but waiting for you. I mean to apolo-"
The Changeling's words dissipated as a set of lavender lips touched his chitinous black ones. Mere moments felt longer than the years he'd spent waiting before they broke the kiss.
"Never apologise, Seven, because you gave me the drive to keep going. My light at the end of the tunnel, my own personal shining star I could always look forward to seeing come 'night'... and now, you here with me, forever. You gave me this, and I will never stop loving you for it."
Any thoughts that were anything but happy evaporated from Seven's mind as he and Twilight began walking down the hill, side by side as they had always been. They were done suffering side by side, they were both done waiting, and wishing, and longing. Now reunited after over twenty thousand long years the pair at last delved into paradise, as it had, for them, always been waiting in the form of the embrace of the other.
All they had ever wanted to begin with.
Author's Note
So there's the big cheesy ending.
Honestly, it's nothing serious, but leaving it at number 1 was actually depressing me. Like, through the day, no just when I read it. So I said eff it and made the two new ones, and made the ending happy. I feel better now.
Hope you guys enjoyed this little one shot made three part.
Finally, working on a picture to add up at the end of Seven and Twilight snuggling or something.