A Ghost of What Might Have Been

Chapters

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven

Chapter One

It was that strange time of night, ten minutes until midnight, that moment when time tends to stand still, just before it was tomorrow. Enter a lone sentry, sitting at the air-ship harbor’s military ward; eyes squinted against a wind that promised an early morning rain. The sentry himself is not special, a youthful earth stallion that had drawn the short straw; No what was special was slowly gliding towards the docks, the running lights alive and vibrant, the course corrections smooth, as if the wind did not touch it…but as the Stallion was about to find out, there was no living pony aboard.

“My Lady Rarity.” Twilight stood still as a stone, watching Rarity get dressed for the day. The military pony used the training she had to mask her emotions, watching the white and purple pony she loved get dressed, looking off to the side for the moment. “We need to discuss this…”

Rarity interrupted her with a tut-tut. “Twilight Sparkle, You know I don’t get time to indulge in my hobby of dressing you up all that often. And I will not be interrupted.” The clothing today was a somber affair, a black harness with silver bells, very military couture without the frills and laces…but, Rarity thought, one must make concessions.

Twilight snorted. “Rarity, we can indulge this later, you know I came as soon as I heard. An airship that needs to be crewed by at least ten glides into the military ward completely unchallenged except for a single sentry? Doesn’t that make you the least bit curious?” Twilight asked shifting from hoof to hoof as the harness was fitted to her body.

Rarity looked nonplussed. “No, not particularly, I mean, that’s what I have you for right? Take some guards. Tartarus, even take Applejack and Rainbow Dash if you’d like, I can take care of fluttershy in the short time you will be away.”

It was a little after, Twilight having escaped the harness. It hadn’t been a terrible choice of clothing, truth is told but it had chafed, just a little. Looming ahead by the docks was the huge, though docile form of Applejack. Twilight, taller than most, still had to crane her head a bit to look at the massive earth pony. “Applejack how’s the weather up there?”

Applejack snorted at the old joke. “Cold, Twi, now what’s all this fuss about a single little airship?” Twilight blinked. Was no one else but her curious about this? “Alright Twi, not like I can walk away from it. RD said she’d be a little late…something about fulfilling a quick contract with someone the Wonder bolts signed up with. She said it shouldn’t take long, anyway.” Twilight nodded to Applejack and they entered the low stone walled walls that marked the military ward.

Considering Rarity’s sense of fashion, Twilight was glad that the military matters were more or less left up to her, the military docks featured a pair of ingenious repeating arbalests that would take care of any invading airships, peppering them with huge arrows. Twilight glanced at the small squad of Reapers milling around that snapped into attention. Reapers. Useful, if flighty. Hah. Twilight laughed mentally at the joke, before nodding them into at-ease.

The ship, apparently named “The Lady’s Own Luck.” Was a medium sized airship, meant for a crew of ten, plus ten more passengers, fifteen if the party was willing to get cramped and really, really intimate. And it was dead. The running lights which had guided it in had fallen silent, Twi boarded slowly, Glancing up at the two reapers that kept sky watch, and turned her head back towards Applejack as the earth pony’s massive hooves clopped on the boards of the ship. Two more Reapers followed her, the bat-pony’s able to see more easily, and the cold did not affect them like it would the regular pegasi, plus they’d been handy, waiting for the evening watch to begin their fly over of the city. Twilight looked back at the earth pony, head tilted to the side. “Could you even be louder?” She asked with a snort, her tail flicking from side to side.

Twilight looked around on the airship slowly, as her more delicate hooves barely made a noise compared to Applejack. “Not like there’s anyone home to wake up, Twi.” She said with a chuckle. “’Sides from us, and your reapers, this place is deader’n a farm in deep winter…” Twi shook her head, tossing her short mane from side to side, before she walked towards the door leading to the passenger cabin, nodding to a pair of Reapers. “You two check this out, Applejack, go with them.” Applejack tossed her short mane. Twilight began to move towards the crew deck, intent on exploring the bridge and crew quarters.

The door to the crew deck was jammed closed, as if against something on the outside…but with enough magic she managed to pry the metal apart, twisting it apart with a ribbon of purple tinged power. “Odd…” Twilight mused to herself. “You’d think they’d…what the hell?” She asked rhetorically, her nose twitching as she caught wind of a thick smell, old and heavy with mildew. This ship was damned near brand new… Slowly, using a magic spell to light up the dark passage, the lights inside completely dead. Somewhere off to her left she could hear the booms of applejack’s hooves on the deck, a wry smile breaking her serious mood…only to have it be shattered as she came onto the bridge. There, a pony with the cap of the ship’s captain lay slumped over the ship’s wheel, but there was a strange tint to his coat, an eyebrow raised, she leaned forward, nudging with a hoof. The captain of the ship was a young stallion, supposedly…She looked at him, noticing the grayed fur, and the rickety bones...this was no young stallion at all.

A sudden groan from the form stirred her into action. “H…how…di…” Twilight shakes her head. “Don’t speak old-timer.” “N…no. not old.” He protested weakly. “Please you must…must burn the ship, get off and burn it….there here, we locked…we locked them in the hold but they got out, it hur..” the old-stallion grunted. “Hurts so much..” The stallion slumped to the floor before Twilight’s ears perked…hearing a low hissing behind her, the rattling of bug like wings….and a shiver of cold, dead fear along her back before she turned, slowly…

Chapter Two

Applejack and the two reapers that accompanied her were…uncomfortable with the situation, though for two different reasons. The Reapers, a pair of thestrels nicknamed Curse and Dagger were uncomfortable because, while they were “Light Calvary” and rated for indoor combat…they were supposed to be flying around and as such being trapped down below was hardly all that comforting. AppleJack or her part was finding that the enclosed passenger compartment had never been created for someone her…size, though as a blacksmith she could not help but marvel at the construction of the thing.

The two Reapers kept their nervousness to a minimum through a running stream of almost whisper-like banter, Applejack just dealt with it. Mentally she reviewed the honest facts about the situation. Five crew members for a max ten crew ship, and supposedly ten passengers plus cargo; where in the heck was everypony? And for that matter she’d be happier when Rainbow Dash was here, well, she thought with a rueful smile, temporarily forgetting the assignment at hand. She was always happy when RD showed up. Thought’s of the filly’s figure were evaporated however as they saw a shape in the distance, that resolved itself as an open door to one of the passenger compartments.

Applejack nodded to the Reapers, who took a position on either side of the corridor to make sure nothing snuck up on them, AJ slowly stepped inside, having to duck to get in, but able to straighten out once she did so, inside was…well not what she expected from a small passenger ship. It looked like this room had been converted to a workshop of sorts, though it would take an egg-head like Twi’ to figure the mess of formulae out on the chalkboard, and what looked like an alchemist’s set was on the table infront of her, someone’s lost experiment bubbling in a flask, though to Applejack’s curious amusement there seemed to be no fire beneath it.

Abandoning the worksite for something she’d simply have to have Twilight figure out, she began searching for more…reasonable clues. Was the alchemy set the reason everyone had disappeared? And what was it with eggheads and causing localized apocalypses? Twilight had yet to do that, but applejack reasonably thought she might, should Rarity dress her up in one of those fancy dresses again. Another smirk, before she shook her head. Damnation Applejack…she thought to herself,

‘If you keep thinkin’ of fillies instead of the job, someone’s gonna get hurt!’ But she couldn’t help it if this job was currently stinkin’ boring. Exiting the converted workshop she took a piece of chalk from her saddlebag and marked the door with a big ‘X’ to show that it had been cleared. Nodding to the two Reapers, they began to move on towards the stairs that were marked ‘Cargo.’ Vaguely remembering that ships like these had one aft passenger compartment, and then the rest were more towards the back of the ship, through the cargo area.

However; as they approached the cargo door….now things were beginning to get interesting, the hatch was blackened as if burned, the metal twisted and bent, hanging off just one hinge. AJ raised an eyebrow looking to the two Reapers who merely nodded their acknowledgement, former banter ceasing as they adjusted the claws on their hooves, ensuring their grip and tightness.

They crossed the threshold closely, the two thestrels, now in the cavernous cargo hold quickly took flight, hovering within the cargo hold like a pair of bees looking for something to sting. While not inherently magical, the thestrels took out two large globes from their packs, which when activated seemed to hang in the air causing light to be cast in the darkened cargohold…and making Applejack severely wish they had not.

Every other wooden box seemed to have been smashed open…from the inside, puddles of black goo stained and hardened around the boxes, keeping them weirdly from falling apart despite being so completely torn up, there was also a smell in the air…that weird, tang-y smell from deep in the body that you get when you attend a mare’s birthing time. Applejacks nose wrinkled at the smell as she kept the reapers in view, while trying to sweep the area infront of her. More boxes of the same were reported in the upper areas of the cargo bay by the two fliers…they seemed to be concentrated in the middle. However….What AppleJack saw made her stop in her tracks.

Chapter Three

At the hissing noise, the old stallion that was barely clinging to life seemed…oddly to expire. To Twi’s magically enhanced senses, she watched as a grey ribbon of life seemed to expand out from his chest, flowing somewhere behind her…She really, really did not want to look behind her. She knew she shouldn’t look behind her, but…she did. “By Luna!” She exclaimed in a slow breath as she turned around, and began to back towards the other door. Infront of her, standing two hands shorter than she was a pony..or..the caricature of one.

Black shiny carapace covered it slickly from head to toe, giving it an oily sheen, large eyes of a single purple color stretched un-pony-like large on it’s face. It’s muzzle was a collection of razorsharp fangs. It gave another evil hiss. “First we feasted on their love for each other, comrades, companions…sometimes lovers…” It approached her, and Twi backed away, still shocked by the unnaturalness of it, but slowly regaining her composure.

“Then when we had feasted on their love, we feasted on their hatred that bubbled up after love was gone, consumed it when it simmered to the perfect boiling boint...” As it walked, trails of a strange slime seemed to be secreted from it, sticking to the ground behind it, two insectile wings buzzing. “Once all the hate was gone, we consumed their despair as they realized they could feel nothing, like a sweet dessert, and once that was gone…we consumed their very life…We Know You Twilight Sparkle.”

Those evil eyed glittered. “We Know Of You.” It repeated in that same rasped hiss. “And we come with an offer, Twilight Sparkle.” Everytime it said her name, a cold finger of the purest fear ran down her form, the monsterous pony-thing looming closer. “We are strangers to this land, Twilight Sparkle…and we need a queen…” It rasped. “We have sampled your reputation from the life forces of these ponies….and you have been chosen…Though, if you resist….we have another.” Twilight’s eyes flashed at the idea of this thing having a pony in it’s grasp, the fact that it had offered her a kingdom had not…gone unnoticed, but she managed to ignore those thoughts, as she gritted her teeth and charged!

The first blow was Twilight’s, a hard hoof kick that made his carapace produce spidery cracks all along it’s form, though the pony-thing itself seemed unflinching. Nonchalantly it backed away. “We have tasted your thoughts, Twilight Sparkle.” It said in that same, raspy voice, when the light around it began to shimmer, and from the hooves up, it began to change into Rarity, shiny carapace becoming normal horsehide, white horsehair sprouting from it as the familiar, round plot and triple-diamond cutie mark appeared. It even spoke, in Rarity’s Voice. “Just think Dear Twilight…” It said in a gentle, soothing tone. “We could be together, as Equals, rather than play this silly game of a Lady and her Enamored Guard…you know, so long as you remain my bodyguard that you remain beneath me…but take their offer…and you would be a queen as well…”

Twilight gave a shudder, what was this sorcery? “You…are a changeling..” She said with sudden realization, having read about them in the dusty tomes in Rarity’s librarium. Twilight merely let out a snort, planting both feet on the ground, her horn glowing as thin ribbons of blue-white power began to collect around it before focusing itself forward as a beam that made the changeling’s disguise shimmer and distort with the power of it, hitting the changeling. Strangely, the changeling did not flinch, although it’s chest was a ruin of oozing goo, it merely let out a raspy, weezing chuckle. “Dear Twilight Sparkle..” It said in a discordant mixture of it’s own and Rarity’s voice. “Darling Twilight Sparkle…you kill one, and we forgive you. There is an entire hive to rule in this ship…”

It died, a weak rasping thing, it’s wet chuckle haunting Twilight’s thoughts as she considered leaving the crew compartment and simply telling AJ to leave as well, and for the Harbor Guard to fill this thing with fire arrows…but she shook her head. Her Lady commanded that this ship be investigated. It would be. Shuddering at the sight of the dead changeling, she began to head deeper, past the bridge, into the crew sleeping quarters.

Chapter Four

(Warning, this chapter contains light NSFW content semi-important to the plot, skip if you dare.)

Applejack froze. She had slipped between two large shipping containers instead of going around them, the gap just barely big enough for her large form, the shadows in between covered her coat. Mentally she was aware of her own breath catching, her tail twitching as the reapers above her, more or less at the same time saw what she saw, but luckily for her, they had the restraint to take her lead, and find themselves good ambush places.

Infront of her was this great, raised…dias, made of the same slick goo, like someone needed a throne in a apple-pickin’ hurry, On that dias, four roughly pony sized…things were tending to a mass of slime on the dias that was roughly twice the size of a regular pony, but still smaller than Applejack. Hoping beyond hope that the Reapers would follow her lead, Applejack did the smartest thing at the moment…struck while the iron was hot! Her side crashed into the closest of the strange bug…ponies. She felt the sickening crunch of carapace against her hide as her hips hit the bug squarely in the middle, causing it to collapse into a heap of broken bug-pony, Apparently she’d cracked something vital!

Picking herself up, she saw the reapers crash into the other two like bullets, Sheer speed and momentum was the only thing that seemed to help, as their claws just seemed to be scraping against the carapace. White light pain lanced across her side made her snort in pain, whipping her head around, she saw the last of the bugs. Stupid, applejack getting distracted like that!

She squared off against this one, it was quick against her bulky strength, lightning fast as it darted forward with teeth and sharp claws where it’s hooves should be. Pain lanced across her shoulder as she turned her body into a particularly vicious blow, feeling the Bug’s fangs hook into her shoulder, she grinned. “Gotcha now pardner.” She bragged a little at the bug’s confused expression before the light faded from it’s eyes as she smashed it against a wall, feeling the fangs tear into her shoulder more, but…that was the sacrifice. She kicked the dead bug away, feeling the fiery shafts of pain along her body before she shook her head, looking to the Reapers. They both appeared to be cut but alive

She turned her attention to the massive pile of goo on the makeshift dias, approaching it, aware that there might be more of those strange bugs in the cargo hold, but her curiousity was getting the better of her. Emerald green goo coated the floor about two feet in height and about….She thought about it for a moment; Perhaps six feet in circumference. Within the emerald goo was a cloudy, soupy mix that applejack had to squint to see through but as if sensing intention, the goo began to clear up to reveal something that made even Applejack, stalwart blacksmith and warrior back up rapidly.

Within the goo-soup was a figure that might have once been a passenger. The pony had been black haired at one point, a female by the countenance at the …exposed nethers. The first major shift from pony-dom was the fact that here and there in sections, the pony’s hide had been replaced with the black, shiny carapace of the bugs, her muzzle was elongated, completely covered in carapace, and where her flat molars would be, were rows of sharp, serrated fangs. Here and there horse hide was still apparent, as if they had been in the middle of transforming the female, her mane seemed to be half-hair, half..gossamer material that shimmered in what light was let into the goo, one eye was also covered in goo. Unlike the bug’s huge eyes, it appeared to be normal in size but was closed like the normal. It seemed to be taking raspy breathes, air being given to it by a tube that extended from the goo, it seemed.

Applejack eyed the abomination, her gut recoiling but…It had done nothing to her…Well in truth neither had the bugs, but given the bite and claw marks on her hide, which were already healing up, it wasn’t as if they’d been friendly in the first place, but this thing here was..helpless. For once in her stubborn life she was at an impasse at what to do.

The reapers shared glances, before Curse spoke up. “We’ll scout the other entrance while you…deal with this, Applejack.” He said before leading the other reaper away to do so.

Chapter Five

Rainbow dash, the ever fashionably late, as Rarity liked to call her, was well. Late. Super, fucking late. She pushed her speed, nearly making a sonic boom over the capital before she nearly collided with one of the Royal Guard Reapers, the RGR glanced at Rainbow Dash with a look that bordered on respect and contempt for the mercenary in equal parts..

“What’s up Rainbow Dash? Twilight’s already inside and Applejack is down in the passenger and cargo holds with Curse, and Dagger.” The Royal guard looked smug as if this was an easy job, though she wasn’t doing it out of rudeness…Rainbow Dash *Supposed* the Reapers at least had a good reason to be smug, Rainbow Dash herself could not stand the lancers herself.

“Did Twilight say if I was supposed to go with her, or AppleJack?” She asked the Reaper before the reaper twitched her wings in a version of a shrug, causing her to dip slightly in the air.

“Dunno, I’ve been flying air patrol for a good hour or so…Twilight went by herself, so you might check on her.” She offered, before making a lazy circle of the ship. “We heard some noises coming from the Crew Compartment but figured it wasn’t anything too important since it wasn’t one of Miss Sparkle’s big spells.”

Rainbow Dash nodded as she dropped down to the deck, and began to go the way of the crew compartment, Stopping on the bridge, viewing the odd dead dude….and the shiny bug thing with a hole in it’s chest. Incompetent guards! That blast of magic *Had* been something important! If Rarity had only hired the wonderbolts to….Ugh! She began to trot loudly down the crew compartment hatch, following after the way she had hoped Twilight had gone.

Twilight for her part had not seen any more Changelings, but…plenty of the sad looking dead bodies of drained ponies, their coats grey and old, their flanks curiously blank…It was then that she saw the first scene of what the Changeling had been talking about simmering hate…two ponies, un-drained lay under a draped tarp, hoof marks and bite marks showing the fight they had gotten into, the crew obviously having attempted to hide it from the passengers, before the changelings had..what? Attacked? Swarmed? What an odd---

She heard the rapid fire staccato of running hooves, and she whirled around in the compartment, bracing herself for another attack, seeing the blue blur before it’s owner registered in her mind, then RD and Twi were down, a tangled mass as Rainbow Dash had not applied enough break. Twilight felt a painful THUNK as her shoulder hit the wall. “Rainbow! Get off me!” She said in annoyance as Rainbow Dash pulled back and away, rubbing the back of her short, rainbow maned head. “Sorry Twi…”

Twilight rubbed her shoulder with a hoof, it wasn’t broken, just..hurt. “It’s fine Rainbow, Your late.” She teased her friend. Twilight shook her head slowly. “Here is all I know is that those bug things are called changelings, and they kind of want me.” She said with a smirk. Rainbow Dash didn’t quite react to that…. “What about you?”

“Oh, well, you know me, I don’t really think about these things too much, Let’s keep going though…maybe we’ll find your answers down the hall.” ‘Ranbow Dash’ said, her rainbow colored tail twitching. “Maybe we’ll find out that they aren’t so bad.” She said with a chuckle.

Rainbow Dash glared at the two bugs that were infront of her. They had ambushed her as if they knew she was coming. “We saw you…” One hissed raspily. They had her tied up and webbed in Goo that she had run head long into. As soon as she had run into the hallway, three of them had seemingly melted from the shadows, springing the goo trap, and almost in eerie harmony, the third had run off as Rainbow dash stopped, a flash of blue light and the bug was running down the hall! “We saw you coming in her mind, when we touched it…You will not interfere, blue bird.” It said as it watched Rainbow Dash struggle…

Chapter Six

Twilight was beginning to wonder where all the changeling were. Could they be objects, tables, chairs and such? She glanced sideways at Rainbow, who was brashly as always sticking her head into doors and yelling ‘Come out!’ Well. Sometimes, othertimes she stuck oddly close to Twilight. Down the crew compartment they went…until they reached the crew’s messhall. Stopping dead in their tracks, Twilight could not help herself before a gasp escaped her.

Several ponies lay about the mess hall, some dragged there, some fallen as if in struggle…all of them seemed to be in the same state the other ponies were in before, either fallen in heated struggle, or just…drained. A shudder ran down Twilight’s flanks as she turned to look at Rainbow. “Dash we need….we need to keep going.” There was a strange glint in Rainbow’s eyes that Twilight had never seen before, of…satisfaction? It was gone before she could name it, Rainbow Dash’s eyes hardening. “They’ll pay for this.” Twilight said with a soft huff of air.

They continued along the corridor leading from the mess hall. “So, twilight, what exactly are we looking for?” Twilight began to slow. “This.” She said indicating with a hoof the captain’s own room. “If we look in here we should find records as to where this thing stopped and ended up with a cargohold full of changelings.”

Rainbow Dash seemed to roll her eyes. “Yup. That’s Twilight. Strongest magic user in Queen Rarity’s hands and she wants to run to th’ books for help.” She said teasing Twilight with a bap of her wing to Twilight’s head. “I’ll just stand guard out here.” Twilight rolled her eyes as she shouldered open the door. Inside was a ward room that spoke of a pony who simply wanted a quiet life on the air. Upon a large table was a map with different colored pins stuck in it, it looked, to twilight like a map of where the ship had been, each pin a different location, but without a frame of reference, the map was just another map of equestria with pins in it.

Using her magic, twilight began to pull and replace books as she hunted down the captain’s logs. She finally found them near the top, large, embossed tombs which pages were covered in a neat, flowing hand writing. She began to read the one with the closed date line towards today…and that’s when she found it, eyebrows rising higher and higher until she thought they would rise right off her head! “Oh by the Three Oracles….Rainbow Dash, come in here quick!” Rainbow dash popped into the room, looking around, ready for a fight before she rolled her eyes at Twilight.

“Really, Twilight? You have me all amped up and keyed for a fight and you have…..a book. Book horse.” She teased before she settled down on her rump. “Well what’d you find?” She’d. But..inside, she knew, the changeling she was knew, though the persona of Rainbow Dash did not. Twilight had found what the changeling had hoped, had prayed she’d find. Twilight cleared her throat obliviously. “Well..according to this, this ship was commissioned to fly over the forests of Equestria with a royal surveying crew aboard who was trying to map out the forests from the air. Apparently every now and again, they’d land, take samples and make sure the lines on their maps matched up with what they were doing from the air. Well at one stop, the head of the researchers came across a cave full of crystals and being the curious research ponies they are, they took samples. While they were hunting around, One of the researchers came across eggs that they had never seen before.”

Rainbow dash pressed a hoof to her muzzle. “Let me guess. Being the curious research ponies they are, they picked all of them up.” Twilight shook her head. “No, only Ten of them…Which means, that ten changelings managed to wipe out a half dozen crew and a dozen researchers…” She said “Apparently, they stored them all in boxes in the cargo hold, which according to some of his earlier logs had been at a higher temperature than the others, so the researchers could store cold-sensitive equipment in there. Well…About four days ago, they noticed one of the boxes had split open, though the egg was broken and smashed, they thought that one of their own, thinking it was a bad idea, had smashed the crate and the egg inside, and proceeded to question crew and researcher alike. That same day, a pair of crew members reported to the ship’s infirmary complaining of feeling drained and ill..” She pursed her lips. “Later it says that more of the cargo crates were open. Two of them by crew, destroying the eggs inside, so that leaves eight changelings, minus the one that I killed on the bridge, so seven…”
The blue ponies eyes had watered up, and she looked away with a Hrmph. “They killed innocent eggs?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“Innocent? Look what they’ve been doing to these crew members! I can only imagine what’s going on in the passenger hold with AJ and her group.” Twilight said as she looked around before exiting the cargo compartment. "Let's go, there's always more to explore, Flygirl."

Chapter Seven

Applejack sighed, peering down. “You haven’t done anything wrong to me Shugah, and it don’t look like your in pain.” By now more of the mare’s muzzle had been covered in the black chitin, both eyes now now, and the unicorn’s horn was taking a jagged turn. “However, I don’t know what your turnin’ into and whether or not you’ll be friendly like…Dangit.” She said looking up at the Ceiling. “Why by the three oracles ahm’ I stuck with this?” She said with a grunt before she slowly nodded.

“Fine. Cursed! Dagger!” She said recalling the two reapers who appeared slowly. “What, Applejack. “Find…a litter, or a stretcher, or something, and find a way to take this …mare back to the castle, right quick, while she’s still under…tell the unicorns at the castle to use a sleeping spell on her f’rnow.” She said with an authorative nod. “What’ll you do Applejack?” Dagger looked at the blacksmith-warrior.

“Ah guess what ah’ve always done and continue on.” She said, counting out the crates. Ten slimey crates…Hmm. Minus the five that her group had dispatched, and according to Dagger, one that twilight had dispatched…that should mean that four remained. The rest of applejack’s exploration was uneventful, the passenger compartments had not been where the worst of the feeding had been, strangely no more bodies were to be found, but Applejack just shrugged that one off…untils he came into a Chapel like area at the rear of the ship.

A large arched stainglass window sparkled and showed the outside world through a picture of the Three. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. The three Oracles of Equestria residing on the highest mountains. Applejack cocked her head to the side, it wasn’t often you saw them..worshipped like this, but AJ conceded that if you were going to revere something, the Three weren’t the worst choice. Behind her, She whirled, turning as through another passage…proceeded Rainbow Dash and Twilight.

Rainbow dash and Twilight proceeded down a long corridor, which strangely appeared to be a chapel of sorts. The first thing she noticed was the big stained glass window, the next, Applejack. Twilight narrowed her eyes just a little, before AJ turned and gave that big goofy applejack-only grin. “Well, Twi’ if you and that blue Pegasus ain’t sights for sore eyes…I tell ya, this has been a weird day.”

“Well, about that…” Rainbow dash interrupted. "Girls, I think we have visitors and they’re not here for the chapel services.” Three changelings faced the girls, fangs out, hissing, Two of them moved towards Applejack while a lone changeling headed for the blue pegasus.

What followed was a blur to Twilight. Chairs cracking, hoofs smashing…she noted with vague disdain that she had gained a rather prominent gash along her shoulder which would probably turn into another Scar…another scar for Rarity to fawn over. That thought made her blush in the aftermath of the fight. All three changelings lay incapacitated, and rainbow dash was moving off towards one of the side passages looking down it, and Applejack was examining one of the changelings. “Boy Twi, they sure were gunnin’ for ya.”

Twilight rolled her eyes lightly. “Yeah, I’ll tell you all about my race of creeper stalker bugs after all this is done.” She turned, facing the stained mural. “I’ve never seen a mural like this on a cargo boat.” She muttered, before she heard…a noise behind her. Rainbow Dash was running towards her.. “Rainbow, carefu~~” She tried to say as the blue Pegasus knocked into her unguarded body, knocking her through the window.

The crunch of glass was the worst part, the knowledge that she was about to fall to her death…less so. The worst part was as she fell, she looked…seeing her killer…Rainbowdash….but a surprising wave of relieve as the shock of the glass caused the changeling’s guise to fall away. Oh well…She closed her eyes as a song from her childhood began to play in her falling body. She was too exhausted from the fighting of the day, from that last fight to use her teleportation magic…She felt the air around her, Her head craned as if a morbid curiousity as she looked down at the ground, below the air dock mooring that was coming to meet her, and then her eyes turned skyward, towards the full moon in the sky. “Luna…Oh Oracle Luna…I don’t want to die.” She said shutting her eyes tight.

Then…came a sound. Like a sonic boom but where a sonic boom was an explosion of noise this was like a quiet intake of breath at a movie theater, loud enough to be heard but the opposite of a gasp. “You have called, and I have answered, Twilight Sparkle.” Came a voice as cool as ice, a Twilight found she had been caught by a vast back of midnight black horsehair, and she started. The Oracle! “Do not worry.” The voice was formal and silvery as they rose, higher, into the air, mingled gasps from the dock-guards as Twilight was deposited on the ground, cut up from glass and bruised, but..alive. The black alicorn looked down at Twilight. “We may call upon this debt, Twilight, do stay alive before then.” She said before she took the sky, without another word, that same not-sonic boom heard…before Twilight passed out.

When she awoke, Queen Rarity was watching over her, worried. “Oh Twilight, Oh! I shouldn’t have sent you with such a little force, I mean your so hurt and bruised. This is the worst thing, almost losing my bodyguard!” The queen said, ignoring what was going around them to fluff Twilight's pillow, applying a new blanket or moving it back into position here and there, looking for all the world like the silly queen she appeared to be, but Twilight knew she would be listening to everything.

Twilight merely smiled. “It’s fine, AJ…did they find the real Dash?” She asked with concern, Remembering her fall from that airship, her legs curled close to her body, the ghost sensation of the alicorn's eerily silky fur and the sensation of supersonic flight filled her mind for a moment before she settled down again..

“Yeah, she’s off with her group again but they found her hanging upside down, swinging around in circles like someone had set her to swingin’ and forgot about her. She was a little sick.” AJ said with a rueful smirk. “Well, look, I’ve got to get back…but next time you manage to fall out of a fifty story drop and somehow end up more or less unharmed on the docks, please do tell me how."

Twilight wondered about that..had no one seen the Alicorn Oracle but herself? Ah well..that was...a debate for tomorrow, plus she needed to ask AppleJack about what had happened in the Cargo Bay...tomorrow. The tired mare felt herself drift off to sleep under the watchful eyes of her queen.