Mending Existence

Chapters

An Eventful Wedding Part 1
An Eventful Wedding Part 2
The Night of the Living Part 1

An Eventful Wedding Part 1

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Twilight scanned the walls of the cave as her horn illuminated most of the surrounding area, worriedly searching for some hint of familiarity as she gently bumped into her own reflection. The sound of laughter drew her ears as she looked frantically for the source of the noise. She turned around, only to back into the wall as she fearfully asked "Where am I?"

A green tinted image of what she thought to be her old foalsitter Cadance filled the surface of the wall behind her and she backed away while it spoke. "The caves beneath Canterlot, once home to greedy unicorns who wanted to claim the gems that could be found inside. And now, your prison."

Twilight tried to flee but could not find an exit among the cold walls that encircled her completely. "Help! Help!" she proclaimed, only for that impostor to berate her with ill-disposed laughter.

"It's no use. No one can hear you. And no one will ever think to look for you, either. Most ponies have forgotten that these caves even exist, which is why they are the ideal place to keep the ones who try to interfere with my plans." She punctuated this with a sort of half baked evil laughter, the kind one does after having laughed evilly for too long so their throat has gotten a little sore. I'd probably prescribe honey and lemon tea since I don't have many chemicals down here, but I'm sure they have tea up there.

"Plans? What plans?" Apparently Twilight wasn't accustomed to bad mares having plans by now, which made this declaration rather surprising for her. And of course, the malicious mare merely responded with a somewhat innocent smile, differing from the malicious grin she displayed earlier as she clarified herself.

"The plans I have for your brother, of course." This declaration drove Twilight to gain some composure, her horn glowing more... erratically? I can't say violently since it still looks rather soft.

"Don't you dare do anything to my brother, you... you monster!" She yelled rather pathetically at a wall.

"Only way to stop me is to catch me!" Announced the mare in the mirrored crystal walls, her image disappearing only to reappear elsewhere. "Over here!" Disappearing again as Twilight's magic rebounded off where the image once was and almost hitting the caster herself. "Nope, over here!" The mare continued to taunt, Twilight apparently having used the previous reaction to adjust her spell for a more violent outcome.

Her spell destroyed a few off the crystals scattered about the cave before destroying a chunk of the wall itself, a chunk that I was calmly resting against, so I'd ended up flung against the far wall as Twilight directed her aim towards the somewhat battered mare sitting in the middle of the room. "No! Wait!" Cried the real Cadance as Twilight tackled her to the ground. "Ugh! Please! Don't hurt me! Twilight, it's me! Please, you have to believe me. I've been imprisoned like you. The Cadance who brought you down here was an impostor."

"Likely story!" So likely in fact it could be true. Though there was the teeny tiny chance this Cadance was just a disguised changeling. I know she isn't since I checked myself, and Twilight doesn't know about the other changelings yet. So the most likely answer for her to come up with is that this Cadance is real, especially since the Queen upstairs has no reason to be down here. At least, I'm guessing she's a Queen.

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves..." chanted Cadance, the oddity of the words not lost on me as I picked myself up off the ground. Maybe they were some kind of secret code? Like a weird handshake or something.

"...and do a little shake." They both finished, Cadance giving Twilight her most pathetic 'winning' smile while Twilight gave her best 'overly attached puppy' imitation.

"You remember me!" She proclaimed as she flung her hooves around the pink Alicorn, the positioning giving me some reprieve as she barely missed the bandages around Cadenza's withers.

"Of course I do. How could I forget the filly I love to sit for the most?" Too many plot-convenient ways I'm afraid. Though the nice break in monotony was good for a change. And just as the two were in the middle of their hugging the Queens distant laughter pierced through the air. This cave was really lacking in echoes, maybe the material density of the crystals and the way they naturally formed served to dampen sound waves?

"We have to get out of here. We have to stop her!" Exclaimed, I'm running out of synonyms for 'yelled' I'm afraid, Twilight as she charged a short distance ahead. And finally it was my turn to step in, rather reluctantly I might add.

"And how are you going to do that? The stop her part I mean. Getting out of here is rather simple considering this was once a mine built with a heavy set of safety precautions so it's only inevitable for there to be an exit. The crystal walls themselves are also strong enough to support the caves so it isn't likely that any exits slash entrances have caved in on themselves."

I couldn't tell if my sudden appearance and challenge to her plans was what stunned her or if it was just my appearance. I'm willing to bet on the latter considering I was wearing one of my older coats when I went to question the impostor and my hair was a little messy since I'd decided to jump during the teleport just in case she stuffed up and I ended up half-way into the floor. "Uhhhh, I'm sorry but who, or what, are you supposed to be?"

She gave Cadance a sidelong glance, probably in some silent plea for her to explain my presence. I'm actually more relieved she didn't think I was a changeling or some other hostile being. Then again she didn't know what a changeling was... yet. "Her name is Sal, Twily, she helped patch me up after my doppelganger let her anger out on me yesterday."

"Which I'm still sorry for, being the reason for that anger. Apparently she wasn't too pleased when I asked who she was during dinner, so the drama Queen took me aside and teleported me here before coming down herself. Once she realized I didn't care too much about her questioning methods she tried to use Cadance as a bargaining chip. Her offer was terribly pathetic though, so I decided to nap for a bit and she apparently threw the princess against a wall. By the way she really needs to control her anger issues more because someone that gets angry so quickly isn't really suited for any kind of position of power, though with her races physical abilities being more towards subterfuge, I guess I can see how they might be able to pull off a blitzkrieg if they gathered enough resources."

Once I'd finished my own ramblings I turned to Twilight, hand outstretched as I smiled to her. "And what the Princess has kindly forgotten to mention is my title. Pleasure to meet you Twilight Sparkle, my name is Doctor Sally. Please don't let your foalsitter's apparent need for nicknames corrupt you."

Shakily, Twilight extended her hoof to my hand and I gently shook it. My introduction had been enough to sate her curiosity for now but the way she flinched slightly on contact as well as the way her eyes scanned my face made it clear she had forgotten my original question. "I'm sorry if my appearance disturbs you at all, I didn't have any spare makeup on me after Queen bee put me here. But you'll have to put that aside for now and answer my question. What is your plan for confronting the impostor?"

"Oh, right, my plan."Twilight shook her head as if to dismiss her own curiosity in favor of dealing with the situation at hand. "Well, I was just going to bring the real Cadance to the wedding. Then, when everyone realizes the one getting married is a fake, Princess Celestia would be able to step in and capture the impostor!" Boy is she pleased with herself. Just for her sake, I'm not even going to point out all of the issues with that plan.

As doomed as her plan is, there was at least something I could use to my advantage. "So you have a way of getting out of here then?" Twilight nodded, looking pretty smug as she pointed towards an old mine cart not too far-off from where we were. Apparently my hypothesis towards the link between a herd mentality discouraging curiosity and a stunted ability to determine the safety of certain environmental properties without repeated trial and error held some grounds here. I may have lost track of my thoughts somewhere but allow me to sum them up. "Absolutely not, I doubt you even know where the track leads considering your earlier 'rampage' against the cave system. Any other ideas?"

She gave a small chuckle and a sheepish smile as she tried to avoid my gaze, looking around the cave for some kind of answer as her eyes slowly drifted towards her horn. "Hm, well I do know a teleportation spell so we could follow the tracks and I could use the spell to get us over any large gaps."

Thankfully Cadance had chosen to stay out of this conversation, no offense to her but her limited abilities, while quite powerful, were almost useless in this situation. "You're saying you can cover large distances with this spell, approximately how far is your limit? And since you haven't used it by now then I can assume you need direct eye contact with your destination?"

Twilight thought to herself as she recalled what she'd learnt of the spell so far as well as her own limitations. "So far I can only cross a distance of about three-thousand hooves if I'm using binoculars. I don't need direct contact with a destination, I should be able to teleport anywhere within range so long as I have a view of the destination as it will be when I teleport. It's a safeguard to make sure I don't teleport inside anypony by accident."

Ugh dammit, of course they use primitive forms of measurement. Okay, the average hoof size is around four to six inches so that'll account for about half a foot. Two hooves per foot means I can take the three thousand and half it to get the approximate distance in feet, then to convert that into meters I divide it by three point two-eight-zero-eight. This gives me around four hundred and fifty seven meters to work with. The wedding itself is being held approximately, I'm sorry if use of this word is getting grating but I'm in a slight rush, two hundred and thirty meters above the base floor of the castle. Going by the relative formation and molecular density of the rocks determined by Twilights explosion earlier and taking into account the height of the mountain itself, I can assume we are at most two hundred and thirty meters below the castle itself. The way Chrysalis' teleportation set up that ring would suggest it sent Cadance and I to a pre-determined location and due to the Queens apparent starvation when she must have arranged the array I can assume her magic would be somewhat less powerful than Twilights. So it isn't likely she sent us along a vector that strayed too far across from the coordinates of Canterlot Castle so there isn't much need to learn any horizontal measurements and rely on Pythagoras from there.

Alright, to sum up everything, we are just in range of the wedding itself but I would not like to take the risk of a few meters as I do not know the adverse effects of the spell. Taking into account everything then, it would be safer to teleport to one of the lower floors, at least a two floors down, and make our way upstairs. While Twilight grew impatient I calmly pulled a ring out of my pocket, slipping it over my finger and ignoring the slight piercing sensation as it projected a screen above it and I cycled through the different cameras I had hidden around Canterlot.

"Alright Twilight, I know you're getting impatient so ju-" I swatted her nose gently as she tried to look over my shoulder, her rather large nose blocking my view, "Keep still alright? Your curiosity will get you killed someday. I took into consideration the data we have available and I managed to deduce that our safest bet would be to teleport.... here."

My decision had Twilight blushing and stammering for a while until Cadance decided to have a look as well, now both of them are blushing but at least Cadance isn't stammering. "You don't really have the time to argue with me do you? Your brother is in danger isn't he?" That question had made Twilight shake off her apparent inhibitions, swallowing her pride as she nodded and charged up her spell while keeping an eye on the display. Even as she was firing off the spell I was rechecking my own calculations and making a mental checklist of anything the Queen might have tampered with. Chances were low since the castle was still intact, but it didn't hurt to be certain. Well, it kind of did hurt, since while I was thinking to myself I'd forgotten my usual rule for teleportation.

When the three of us had arrived, much to the surprise of the stallion at the urinal nearby, I was a little agitated at the way I had arrived. Of course the miniature equines had designed their teleportation around small horse physiology. They probably used the brain as a center and since it wasn't likely they used it with other species they hadn't likely been made aware of its issues. Twilight and Cadance were apparently so caught up in the spells 'success' that they hadn't noticed me when they left in a hurry.

I sighed as I quickly went about slicing apart the bottom of my lab coat, my lower pair of arms were undamaged at least, but if I didn't take care of my waist soon then I would probably pass out and die soon. If you haven't caught on yet, my waist down had been merged with the floor thanks to Twilights spell, meaning I would have to cut myself apart first before I could do anything. The fact that the spell apparently fuses one sector of space with another was something to think back on later, because this would mean the spell also took into account the oxygenation of the body thanks to the fusion so it likely displaced matter in a gaseous state which was a rather simple concept, but it shows the spells creator had some foresight at least.

Holding down the urge to regurgitate, I let my stomach fall to the floor as I fell onto my back. My goal was to use the now useless smaller intestines in order to patch the hole that was now present on my lower half before I suffocated. I'm hoping you'll understand why I was worried about suffocation because right now I'm a little too busy to explain. I grabbed at my collar with one hand as the others went about organizing the mess of stomach. I wasn't happy about doing this kind of delicate work on a bathroom floor, a public, men's, bathroom floor no less, and I didn't even have any forceps so I was forced to just carefully tear apart my stomach into patches while I reached into my mouth. In my collar I managed to pull out the long thread of silk I'd kept stashed inside while I unhinged my jaw. The pain was there obviously but it was more to notify me of injuries so right now it was only a distracting. Reaching further into my mouth I found the cavity in my only remaining wisdom tooth and pulled along it, carefully sliding out the needle I'd stashed inside. For whatever reasons Celestia forbade me from bringing any equipment to the dinner table.

Once more I cursed my lack of sterilizing agents while I organized the pieces of intestine into a nice patchwork before setting about attaching it to my lower half. Most of my body was made to survive long periods of time without vital parts but I could only keep my breath held for another three minutes at most. I was just about finished when I heard hoof steps rushing around the hall outside and a little bit of screaming, so as I heard the steps come closer I played dead, using my remaining large intestines to cover up the 'repairs' I'd made to my lower body. I kept one eye pinned on the door as the other gazed towards the large mirror on one wall.

When the guards barged in and saw me one of the guards took on a gross green tint before rushing over to a toilet, the other one dismissed my body as he moved behind the other guard in an apparent gesture of comfort. Then he took out his sword and clonked the other guard in the back of the head, making him collapse against the bowl with his head partially inside. The 'guard' then dropped his disguise and went about sticking the real guards hooves to the ground with some kind of goo before putting his disguise back on and leaving. Thankfully changelings were far too good at sensing emotion, so they tended to rely upon it far too much.

I went back to work sealing up my lower half before carefully stabilizing the air pressure inside my body. After a few test breaths I tied the rest of my thread around my wrist and snuck the needle inside the cuff of my sleeve. Managing to stabilize myself, I used my four arms to stand up and made sure to place them in the most efficient positions. I made sure to get used to this odd fashion of movement before I checked on the guard. He was alright for the most part so I lifted his head before placing it down on the toilet seat instead, then went about checking the area of impact. Remarkably it looked like I wouldn't need to treat him beyond putting a few wads of wet toilet paper on the back of his head to hopefully help with the swelling. I could probably attribute that to the changelings method of attack, they'd probably had the aim to cause the least amount of damage possible so that they'd make more reliable food sources.

Maybe if Celestia isn't too angry with them I could take a few to test on when I get back to the lab? Their design could do with a few changes as well so I should make sure to get as many details about them before I get around to making my own. These are thoughts for the future though, so maybe next chapter I'll think of what to do with them if I get any. I need to reprimand myself more for planning things before I have reliable materials. So, focusing on the present, it's going to be an absolute pain to make a new set of legs. As if I'm going to find the right parts around here so I'm probably going to either fashion my own or investigate the rumors of simian like creatures in the west. Oh I'm thinking ahead again, dammit.

Heading outside of the bathroom slowly, I carefully pulled the door back and peeked outside. It wasn't too much of a stretch considering how stupidly small these horses are. No signs of activity down either side of the corridor so I headed towards the closest staircase. My best bet was to get to Celestia and hopefully she could get me a wheelchair or something for now. I think I had a pair of prosthetic's at the lab but I'll have to redesign them somewhat. Ugh that damn tapping, I'd forgotten about the ring I'd used to access my cameras. I stopped for half a second and took it off, throwing it into one of the nearby trashcans. It was only a one-use item anyway, no point in keeping it.

The climb upstairs would've been daunting if I went by Celestia's suggestion to only bring two arms. Using all four however, I was able to climb up the railing and use that instead. I admit I was gloating at the Princess' lack of foresight and I made it a point to mention it to her later. No changelings around this floor either, which means there are probably a few on the floor above while the rest are going out on the town. Ah! Almost got spotted there, I barely managed to flop onto the stairs below as a few changelings were walking towards my direction. I kept my head horizontal as I peeked over the top stair, waiting until the changeling guards turned away on their patrol route. As much as I could praise their methods of attack, their guarding could use some work. The patrol of two changelings ahead of me split up with one heading away from me while the other went down a corridor on my right.

Once I was sure no one was coming downstairs I made a bolt for the first corner. I made sure to memorize what I could of their patrols before turning along, walking on my hands apparently helped with being stealthy though my apparent sneakiness could once more be chalked up to the changelings dependence on using emotions to see. Kind of like how a bat can still see but they will prefer to use echolocation if their prey is an insect. I took note of the balcony as I passed, moving up behind the changeling. Once I was within what I hoped was my range I leapt and grabbed onto the changelings fetlocks, flipping myself on top of its back and dislocating its hind knees while I covered its mouth with my lower hands. No doubt the other changelings were going to sense its distress so I steered the now panicking bug towards the wall, still covering its mouth, while I pressed the tip of its horn to the wall and slammed my palm into the base. There was a sickening snap as I levered myself onto its back properly then started dragging it to the balcony and closed the doors behind me.

I let out a sigh of relief as the changelings on this floor began to panic and search around. It had only been a guess that the horn was the focal point for whatever hive mind these creatures possessed, but it was the right one as none of them came near the balcony. I calmly maneuvered the changeling so that I could see its face, giving it a quick slap to stop its screaming before slowly taking my hand off its mouth. "Hello there little guy, I'm just going to ask you a few questions and then I'll go okay?"

My smile wasn't as comforting as I thought it would be, the changeling trying to back away as tears ran down its face. At least it nodded. "Good. What is your name, age, gender, date of birth, and do you have a history of family illness?" It seemed a little confused at first before making a few clicking noises which I assumed meant it was trying to answer. My hopes fell as I sighed, the earlier changelings display coming to mind. "I assume you can't speak Equish without taking the form of a pony correct? And that even then you aren't speaking but the disguise itself is imitating speech through some other means?" It nodded for the first part and shrugged for the second.

They don't even have basic knowledge of how they work, how... irritating. It wouldn't be long until the guards found this spot though so I would ask just two more questions before I left at most. "Since you changelings are walking around and... flying around," I said while absently glancing at the scenery of Canterlot behind me, "I'm going to assume the Queen has come out into the open?"

A nod from the changeling, it wasn't fidgeting as much so I could assume it had some form of adrenal gland numbing the pain. Or maybe their horn was more important than I thought? Questions for later. "Last question, you're all out in the open and no one has done anything about it yet. So I'm assuming the Queen somehow managed to incapacitate Princess Celestia?" Another nod, oh goody. I was going to have to put in a bit more work than I first thought.

An Eventful Wedding Part 2

First things first, on the chance that they do find this guy out here I don't want him to be able to point them in my direction. Which means I could take a chance on the goo one of them used on the guard earlier or I could just jab his eyes out. Once he's dealt with then where do I go next? I glanced around at the scenery of the castle wall, there was another balcony on the floor above and about two meters across. The wall itself is far too smooth for me to scale and it looks a little out of reach for a leap. The alternatives were going back to the searching changelings or jump to the balcony below, at this point I'd rather not head backwards however so I needed to bridge the gap here or I would be stuck. I turned back to the changeling and saw it poking at its own heavily damaged horn, the impact from earlier having snapped most of it off while it practically hung there.

Okay, I have an idea.... kinda. I took one of the scalpels I'd used on the lower half of my body and grabbed my hair into a ponytail with two hands. As I began cutting off the length of hair I held a hand over the confused changelings mouth while I held onto its dangling horn gently. The benefits of having four arms daily was becoming apparent as usually I'd just set out with two for casual trips. When the length of hair was cut off I held the changelings mouth closed as much as I could while I tore off the rest of its horn. It screamed into my palm and I quickly went about braiding the hair into a makeshift rope. If I'd let it grow longer then maybe I wouldn't have to resort to this but I couldn't discount the annoyance it would bring me.

I took my time making the rope as the changeling slowly calmed down, then I tied it around the changelings head, covering its eyes. "Nod if you're still conscious enough to hear me." It gave a weak nod and I was rooting for it slightly as the pain hadn't overwhelmed it yet. "Good bug, I saw one of you using a goo earlier to stick a guard into place, can you make that for me?" Making a noise reminiscent of a whimpering puppy, it began dribbling what I hoped was the goo onto the ground. I silently thanked it as I grabbed one of its front hooves and dipped it into the soft goo, being careful to avoid it myself while I smeared it over his blindfold. Hopefully when it sets he won't be able to take it off and I doubted he would be awake before then.

"That's it, just keep pouring it out." I was trying to reassure it as it made a small puddle on the ground, and when I saw it slowing down I resigned myself to the amount. "This next part's going to hurt a lot more than earlier, would you like to be asleep for it? It's the least I can do." I wasn't too sure if it was still awake but I didn't want to take that chance. I waited a few seconds to be sure before I got the slightest nod, and, because I had nothing to put it to sleep peacefully with I simply repeated the movement I saw the earlier changeling use on the guard. Taking the brunt end of the broken horn I slammed it as accurately as I could against the back of the changelings head, it didn't make any movements after that so I made sure to check it still had a pulse before I set to work.

I should've counted myself lucky it even had a pulse, apparently centuries of breeding with ponies may have modified their physiology somewhat. I was also lucky their blood wasn't acidic or something, that would have been a disaster now that I was using the sharp end of the horn to jab at the changelings knees. Although I tried to keep myself clean the force of the horn along with the tearing of the changelings legs when I ripped them off served to splatter a fair amount of changeling blood on my already ruined lab coat. I resigned myself to thinking of it as collecting samples for later and soon I had all four of the changelings calves lying neatly in front of me with a broken and torn-off horn now sitting in my pocket.

Nodding to myself, I took two of the legs and dipped the ends of them in the goo puddle. Luckily it hadn't hardened yet so I reached out and placed the goo'd end of one against the wall, still within reach in case it fell. I waited a few seconds for it to harden and then hopped down to pick up the other two legs. I dipped them in goo as well before getting back up on the ledge, gently grabbing the first leg and tugging to make sure it was secure. When I was certain it could support my currently reduced weight I pulled harder and was soon hanging about forty centimeters from the balcony.

I let out a sigh of relief and reached out as far as I could this time, waited a few seconds for it to harden, tested its weight and then pulled myself across. After repeating the process with the other legs I was only just within arms reach of the next balcony and I deftly swung myself to grab at the edge. I carefully pulled myself up and peeked over the railing and saw that the balcony was connected to the hall, connected to the hall, connected to the room Celestia was hosting the wedding. Really, it was a horribly unsafe planning decision, what if there was a fire or a bomb? Though I probably shouldn't question the logic of those who would build on the side of a fairly steep mountain.

I pulled myself over and quickly went about sneaking behind the drapes before anything could spot me. There were no guards here so I could assume they'd gone to join the search for stumpy and I quickly headed towards the doors as fast as my hands could take me. After a few attempts at trying to reach for the door rungs I sighed as my hands were beginning to cramp up. Whatever adrenaline I was running off must have worn out as I became aware of how heavy my arms now felt and I tried resting against the doors with a sigh. Only to let out a small 'eep' as I almost fell on my back. Of course the doors were push doors, why else would they have handles on this side?

Grumbling to myself, I pushed the doors open just enough to fit through and made sure to close them once I was on the other side. "Oh noooo." I whispered to myself, the sheer distance between this set of doors and the next becoming much more apparent as I no longer had any legs. My willpower was crumbling pretty quickly too, especially with the guards at the other end of the hall. I was almost content to roll over and give up then, but I felt that would've made Stumpy's sacrifice be in vain. If I was caught and killed, how was I going to be able to fix him? Now that I think about it, would they actually kill me? I have yet to see a sentient being capable of murder in this world beyond the psychopaths in Manehatten, the serial killers in Stalliongrad and the various war criminals that made up most of Roanipurr. Okay, Roanipurr had a lot more than just war criminals but really it feels kind of like cheating to have that city in this list at all.

In my half-second musings I barely noticed the sounds of hoof-steps behind me and quickly hid behind one of the drapes bunched up at the sides of the giant, impractical windows lining the hall. When I saw a group of changelings leading Twilight and what I could assume to be the other bearers of Harmony towards the main wedding room I relished in the fact I finally had a new plan to go off, as well as new data. They aren't killers! Unless they were hoping to siphon emotions off the ponies, in which case they could be killers... Argh! I hate this! I hate being in this kind of situation and not having my legs, much less a decent roll of bandages!

Okay Sally Sal, calm down. Calm down. I'm calm. Okay. Two changelings on wither side of the group, two flying above carrying the bearer of loyalty. The two flyers are barely two meters off the ground and every single changeling is keeping a close eye on the bearers. Even as I thought to myself I was scaling up along the drapes, their attention was far too focused on the elements to notice me. The roof is approximately seven meters high with the top of the drapes being only half a meter below there. Radius of the hallway is around three and a half meters and loyalty is directly at the center. Meaning, I grunted as I reached the top and chose to hop along to the next set of drapes, meaning that if I want to create some sort of opening for the mares to retaliate then I'll need to free up Loyalty first. With the grip they're keeping on her it only makes sense that she'll be the most trouble to restrain again.

Finally I had a plan, I love plans, and just when the perfect time came I pushed off both the wall and the bar holding up the drapes. 'Gracefully', my body flipped around in the air slightly as I put too much force against the wall. Some of the changeling blood on my coat flicked onto those below and it was all too late for the ones holding Loyalty as I grabbed onto their heads, being careful to avoid their horns, and pushed them towards the ground in order to soften my own impact. My ad-lib of yelling out "Guten Morgen!" as their heads cracked against the floor was apparently startling enough for all present to be stunned for a moment before I assume Twilight remembered me and went into action. She prioritized the closest changeling to her and zapped it into the wall, the one I assumed to be Laughter shouted "Aber Mittag ist doch schon vorbei?!" which drove the other elements into action.

Their capabilities were painfully made obvious to me as they easily dispatched of the rest of them, Twilight even taking out the guards on the other end of the hall before they could alert anyone. I was stuck panting and clutching the heads of the flyers and almost collapsed once I saw the danger had passed. Calmly, I turned towards the elements and rested down between the flyers on the ground, a lower arm resting on each of them as my top hands steepled in front of me and I smiled at them all. "Hello again Twilight." I said cheerfully.

None of them were very cheerful about it though, most of them trying to avoid looking at my fleshy underside, one of them bouncing in place and one of them outright crawling into a ball against the floor. Twilight seemed a little less apprehensive about my current appearance, taking a few steps towards me and taking a few attempts at speaking before she could get a sentence out. "...Doctor Sally? Is... is that you? What happened to your legs? And.... and your hair?"

"Starting out easy eh? Well those are your only questions I'll let you get for now. The legs are partly my fault and mostly yours. The hair is mostly my idiocy as I've just realized I could've used what's left of my coat... dammit. Anyway, is that all?" I didn't give them a chance to say anything, even as Loyalty and who I thought to be Generosity tried to interrupt. "None? Good because I said I wouldn't let you have any others. As far as I can tell the Queen is expecting you all to be guarded by a few drones and I'm going to take a chance here and say the wedding room is heavily guarded."

"But... but what do we do? The Elements of Harmony are being guarded by HUNDREDS of the gross bugs, and even Princess Celestia was beaten by that brutish Queen." Generosity fainted against Honesty's side, to the mares discontent, and the other ponies actively present in the conversation all nodded their heads.

"We can't give up hope yet girls! As long as we can get Cadance and my brother back together then I'm sure their love for each other will break the spell the Queen has over him!" If I wasn't afraid of falling onto my back I'd probably face-palm, these mares were going to be incredibly unreliable, so as Twilight laid out her terrible plan I was gently knocking my hand against one of the changelings I was using as an arm rest.

Sighing for the.... fourth time today? I 'gave in' to Twilight's plan even though I hadn't even begun to argue yet. I was going to let her have her plan and I would have mine. "Alright, we'll go with that then. I'll get you all inside and Twilight, you make sure to get Cadance and Shining Armor to kiss or whatever it is you're thinking." I spoke calmly as I fished the horn from earlier out of my pocket and began tracing a line down the back of one of the changelings heads.

She seemed pleased at that before frowning and giving me a very scrutinizing look. "How are you going to get us all inside? It's not like the Queen is going to just let us waltz inside because you're here." Her friends bobbed their heads like little sheep and one of them went to go help out the mare in the corner.

"She's going to let me inside because she's an idiot, and she's going to let you all inside because she's an idiot."

"You won't get away with this!" Announced a ragged Princess Cadance to the Queen of the changelings, her husband beside her staring blankly into the distance as Spike... did nothing. "Twilight and her friends will-" She was interrupted however as the very ponies she spoke of walked into the room with defeated looks on their muzzles, a lone changeling slowly moving behind them with an unchanging expression.

The Queen, who was at first delighted at the showing, quickly frowned at the lone changeling. "You, where are the others?" The changeling gave a shrug and she sighed as she turned back to face Cadance. Apparently having chalked up the disappearance to the greed of the starving. "You were saying?" She spoke mockingly, relishing in the defeated look of the princess. "You do realize the weddings been cancelled, don't you?" The Queen chided the elements before looking to the other changelings flying about. "Go! Feed!"

They all flew out through the entrance, all besides a lone changeling standing behind the elements blankly, and the Queen closed the doors using her magic. "Hahaha, it's funny really, Twilight was suspicious of my behavior all along." She lifted up the mares chin with a hoof, only for Twilight to angrily shove it aside. "Well, her and that albino Minotaur." Those present heard a slight grunt come from the changeling at the back of the room, Though the Queen simply shrugged it off. "Too bad the rest of you were too caught up in your wedding planning to realize those suspicions were correct."

"Sorry Twi, we should'a listened to you." Apologized Honesty, her head held slightly in shame as she spoke.

"It's not your fault, she fooled everypony." Twilight tried to reassure her friend, though that reassurance came at the cost of boosting the Queens ego somewhat.

"Mmm yes I did, didn't I?" The Queen calmly walked towards one of the many open windows as the sound of a piano came in out of nowhere. "This day has been just perfect, the kind of day of which I've dreamed since I was small, every pony I'll soon control! Every stallion, mare and foal! Who says a girl can't really have it all!" She laughed evilly as she looked out upon the city of Canterlot, the swarm of changelings once kept out by Shining Armors shield now free to infest and take over the city.

As she stared over the city she did not notice Twilight crawling towards her old foalsitter. "Quick, go to him while you still have a chance" She whispered, using her magic to get rid of the goo that locked Cadance's hooves in place. The two gave each other a quick smile before Cadance went over to Shining, tearing up and hugging him at his emotionless expression. Her horn seemed to crackle as both her magic and her own love condensed along it, coming out in the shape of a heart. The ponies that saw were too astonished at the spectacle to notice the exaggerated groan coming from somewhere above, along with an "Are you fucking serious?"

The heart floated over to Shining and he shook his head as if to rid himself of the Queens control. "Uh, wha- where? Huh? Is... is the wedding over?" The elements cheered silently as Cadances love for Shining had apparently freed him after all, only to stare fearfully as the Queen stood proudly between the two groups.

"It's all over!"

Twilight quickly had an idea as the Queen gloated in front of them, trying to make sure it was heard by the loving couple at the altar. "Your spell! Perform your spell!"

"Hahahahaha! What good would that do?" The Queen gloated, floating above them all as she pointed a hoof out the window. "My changelings already roam free!" Those of you reading should already know the rest of what happens here, but for those of you whom may have forgotten, a brief summary:

"Ugh I'm too weak." Whined Shining.
"My love will give you strength" Replied Cadance.
Chrysalis stupidly decides to take in the scenery and mock the couple.
The two touch horns and swirly magic shit happens.
Chrysalis seems shocked that an emotion that made her stronger than Celestia is now powering a spell.
Glowy eye shit and a purple wave, ball, thing washes over Canterlot and launches all of the changelings away to the fabled 'Badlands'.
Ponies go about their day as if nothing happened.
Twilight runs over to check on the suddenly freed Celestia who tells her to focus more on the real wedding.

Me though, I just kind of fell to the ground in abject defeat, groaning as the piece of horn rolled away from my hand. "That's not fair..." My plan had originally been come in disguised as a changeling using an exoskeleton I cut off one of the guards earlier, climb up to the ceiling, drop down on the Queens back and hopefully break her spine. Now though? I felt cheated. "I didn't have all the data..." I mumbled, slowly picking myself up off the grown and wiping some of the changeling blood off my face.

As I leaned my back against a wall and decided on a quick rest before getting a call to the lab and hopefully a new pair of legs, when Twilight walked up to me, smiling to herself and reminding me of how her asinine plan had actually worked. She wasn't smug about it either so I would probably have to take out my frustration later. "There's one thing that's bothering me Doctor."

I raised an eyebrow, not really in the mood for talking as I'd spent far too much effort not yelling obscenities earlier. "How did you know that the Queen was impersonating Cadance?"

Oh, a simple question, thank.... god I suppose. It's a generic term so hopefully if there is a god in this world, which I do not wish to test yet, they aren't offended. "Easy question Twilight, try something harder next time." I laughed quietly to myself as I got comfortable. "She didn't know who I was, simple as that." It was her turn to raise an eyebrow as she waited for me to continue. I was hesitant due to patient-doctor confidentiality but since she was going to be Cadances sister-in-law... I guess it's alright. "The only reason I was even invited to the wedding is because Cadance is one of my patients. She's been asking me about how Alicorn biology might affect copulation so I told it to her straight that the greatly enhanced immune system would make it almost impossible for her to get pregnant. It was then she asked me for some way to temporarily weaken her immune system, which is why I'm here."

I gave a weak smile as I felt my eyelids grow heavy. "Ah, there goes the rest of my adrenaline. Twilight, since I'm not sure that I'll be awake before the lovebirds leave on their honeymoon, could you find my room and grab the small bottle of pills in the bedside drawer. I was supposed to deliver them personally to Cadance at dinner last night." I chuckled to myself as I went over the memory. "The Queen must have thought I was trying to poison her. I kind of wish I was." I groaned as my eyelids closed slowly and everything faded away. "Those were my only set of human legs.... you know?.." I was so close to falling asleep as I ran through my memories of the day, my mind coming to a screeching halt as I remembered something.

"What happened to Stumpy?!"

So ended my second visit to Canterlot.

Author's Note

Woo okay, got the two chapters done that I wanted and will definitely be continuing. Why will I be continuing this and not the other stories I cancelled? Because I really like writing Sally. She's been a character I've had in mind for a few months now and have used in the Displaced skype group numerous times. She's just a character that I feel I can stick with I suppose.

And no, the rest of the chapters will not all be happy endings like this one, nor will they all be two-parters.

What do you guys think though? If anyone reads this..... Was this a good character introduction? Maybe the ramblings were a little too boring? If it makes you feel any better, those ramblings happened in barely a second for Sally herself. So she wasn't just standing there staring blankly at the wall like Shining Armor.

Also, as I was typing this out it came to my attention that in the Canterlot Wedding episodes, not ONCE do they actually state Chrysalis' name. I did this as I was trying to find the appropriate time-frame for when the ponies would know her name, and guess what? They don't! To the ponies of Equestria, Queen Chrysalis is literally a nameless bug.

The Night of the Living Part 1

"Jj could you please knock for me?" The question was simple enough but I was pretty sure I really didn't need to ask at this point. He nodded in reply and knocked as I asked, they could only understand simple commands like this after all. I still need to do some more research on the brains in this world but so far it was looking like Gryphons were actually intellectually superior whereas Diamond Dogs merely had a fair amount of potential dulled down by their diets. While we waited I looked over JJ from my seat, he was about the average height for a pony and covered muzzle to hoof in his hazmat uniform, I couldn't risk having others see him and start annoying me after all.

We didn't have to wait too long at all, only four point zero eight seconds, and I could see why as I saw the one greeting us. She was a middle aged mare I'd assume, an Earth pony with a pale orange coat and a mane almost completely sliver. Seems she was starting to get degenerative joint disease in her front-right hoof, yet I could tell by her posture that she seemed more than capable of trotting through the earlier stages and I was only here for a single night so there's no point in giving out freebies. "Good evening," the mare said, bowing to Jj and I politely, "I am to assume you are Doctor Sally?" I gave a quick nod to confirm, ah I felt so useless sitting here with just two arms but the others are in with the luggage. "Then I ask you to follow me inside please."

Jj took his position behind me only for me to wave him off, there was no need for help unless there were stairs and I had specifically asked for a room on the first floor. Of course the first floor is almost entirely for staff so I had to pay a fair bit extra, they were also fairly reluctant to let me stay there because they were afraid I might vandalize it somehow. Well that was their excuse anyway. There was barely a lip as I rolled myself into the mansion and I was forced to question why their initial pricing was so low. Even the entrance was heavily decorated with pretty gaudy thinks like gem encrusted picture frames, gem encrusted utensils lining the gem encrusted front desk and even a gem encrusted bell adorning said desk. There was a thin layer of dust covering the front desk however and from the fact I was greeted at the front door it seems they may be running low on staff.

"Your room is right this way." Jj dubiously followed behind me while dragging my cases behind himself, even though he was as dull as a brick he was still very useful for simple labor considering most of his parts were from Earth ponies with a sparse amount of Minotaur. As I wheeled myself behind the old mare I couldn't help but notice how quiet the building was. Even though it was very large there seemed to be no one besides us. Ah I know what you're thinking, this seems like the setup for a secretly haunted house right? Well don't worry I made sure to do my research.

While I can't completely disprove ghosts I can search through basic facts and set up escape routes beforehand. I wouldn't have picked this place just because it was convenient. One there has never been a violent death here, in fact there has only been one death here and the old stallion passed away of old age, peacefully in his sleep. There was only one bridge across the river that encircled the mansion but it is almost brand new with fairly modern safety measures in place. The magical circuitry throughout the building was recently updated as well to make it more appealing when it goes on sale in... two weeks. My weather forecast should be clear for another three days at least and the Pegasus rain shift was another week away. There are safety latches on the windows but they were inside and were the only thing stopping them from opening. Lastly there is going to be a small patrol of of three guards staying the night here on their way to Stalliongrad, ah I'm keeping my source of info a secret okay?

So my stay here will most likely be a peaceful one, unless someone ends up breaking an arm or something. I've noticed a lot of people get injured around me apparently, or is it perhaps because I am capable of helping that I notice these things far better? Just as the mare was explaining the meal times and hotel etiquette, pointedly explaining how her and the other two staff members were here to help if I needed to get upstairs, and had just unlocked my room and handed me the key before a knock could be heard from the entrance hall. Those were most likely the guards. "Oh, I'm sure you understand everything Doctor but if you need anything don't hesitate to ask. Now I hope you would kindly excuse me while I tend to the other guests."

She gave a bow and a small smile before heading back, leaving me to wheel myself into my room and have a quick look around to memorize everything. It was a quaint room, simple bed, simple desk, simple bookshelf, and a simple box sitting on a simple bedside table. Unlike the entrance it seemed this room was meticulously well kept as there wasn't a speck of dust to be found, well not from my viewpoint anyway. As I wheeled over next to the bed I scanned over the spines of the books that almost completely filled the shelves. Unfortunately I'd read all of them so I would have to stick to whatever was in my cases for now. Jj offered to lift me up but I just waved him off, steadying myself as I held onto the armrests of my wheelchair and carefully falling onto the bed. I took the time to take off my mini-lab-coat and hung it over the wheelchair. "Ah sorry Jj, I just realized it but there isn't a bed for you is there?"

He didn't mind of course, he wasn't capable of being selfish or offended. "Why don't you take note of where everyone is for me? There should only be six ponies besides us but I can't be too careful." He nodded and silently left the room, making sure to close the door behind him while I propped myself up against the pillow. Usually I would have immediately gone to sleep for the two and a half hours until dinner but something had peaked my curiosity. The room itself was perfectly simplistic, not exactly spartan but not lavish either. There was just one thing that was out of place even as it fit with the room so perfectly. Reaching over I tried lifting the simple box from the bedside table, no luck, not even budging a millimeter. Sighing I moved my hands to the top of the box, to where I assumed the lid was but the grains in the wood so perfectly disguised the lid and the box that I would've missed it if I'd only caught a passing glance.

The front end of the lid was slowly lifted from the box and it didn't take long to realize what it was as a graceful song began to play. The small figures of two ponies dancing in a circle was held secret under the lid and it was all I could do not to stare. The music sounded somewhat familiar but I had trouble placing it, most of my attention focused on the two ponies. It was easy to tell that this had been a gift of some kind, even the inside was polished to a shine. Ah, that's why I had trouble placing it. Hesitantly I closed the lid, ceasing the tune as silence once again filled the room. Or I'd hoped it would but all I could hear was some obnoxious sounding creature yelling his head off outside. If it has a head, I haven't found many things without heads yet but I will keep my hopes high.

Without much else to do besides check over my things I pulled myself back into my wheelchair and made my wait out of the room. As I moved towards the main entrance area again I quickly cast a glance towards the windows, only an hour left until dinner, and without even having the chance to admire the scenery I had been run into and my wheelchair was pushed over. My eyes widened but I could barely utter a gasp before I was sprawled against the ground, a slightly louder thump than my own making itself known just a few feet away. "Ugh, watch where you're going, peon!"

The stallion didn't even look in my direction before picking up his own suitcase and walking away with his nose in the air. Ah, so he is here after all, I'd checked to make sure but I didn't think he'd actually go. The elderly mare who first greeted me came over with a worried expression, clear concern in her eyes as she fussed over me. I brushed away her fusing and thanked her as she set my wheelchair upright again, and I made sure to crawl in myself before she could offer a hoof to help. "Ah, I'm so sorry Doctor Sally, I'd heard the rumors but I didn't actually think he was that..."

"Crude?" I giggled as I started wheeling towards the dining area, the mare following along beside me. "There's no need to fret over it too much, I've certainly met worse creatures. Though most of them were a bit more intelligent." We both laugh quietly at that as we calmly move through the halls. There really aren't many pictures around here so I couldn't help but feel as though they may have been taken away after the previous owner passed. "Ah, I can't believe I'd forgotten to ask, what should I be calling you?"

She shook her head, her movements, although somewhat pained, seemed to perfectly meld with the design of the house as though she'd lived here for years. "It is fine Doctor, the fault lies with me as I'd forgotten to introduce myself. You may call me Mrs. Cleansweep if you'd like." Her smile was genuine but it wasn't hard to tell that it wasn't her best. I chose to return the smile as we rounded the corner to the large dining area. The extravagance of the main entrance apparently wasn't confined there as even the cutlery here had gem patterns inlaid into the handles. Cleansweep kindly pulled out a chair so that I could just wheel myself under the table and I took a menu she'd laid out on the table, only taking half a minute to decide my order and tell it to her with a smile. As I waited patiently I heard a clatter of pans come from the kitchen area. I would've gone to help out had I not been comfortable where I was so I continued to wait until a different mare walked towards me.

She was carrying two trays of food with her magic and the slight limp was enough to tell me she'd been the source of the noise earlier. The cracked lens of her glasses was also a good clue but that might have been from an earlier incident. "E-excuse me for the wait Miss Sally, here is y-your food." I watched her carefully as she placed the trays down in front of me and after verifying the order I gave her a smile. She returned it and turned to leave only for me to interrupt.

"Just a moment miss." She turned back and stuttered out an "I-is something wrong?" while I kept my eyes on her ankle. "Could you please lift your hoof for me, no the other hoof." She clumsily stood on three legs and almost fell over as I grabbed her hoof and lifted it up slightly. She winced in pain and I made sure not to move it around too much before nodding and turning back to my food. "Your fetlock is mot definitely sprained, I'd recommend you put some ice on it at least and spend eight to ten hours resting before walking around too much. The pain should go away in a few days if you're careful."

She just stared at me for a few moments before apparently realizing something and face-hoofing. "A-ah right, Miss Sally i-is a doctor isn't she?" I smiled and nodded before politely tucking into my food, the gems in the cutlery had been painstakingly placed so as to not interrupt the grip so I could only think that the one in charge had catered for Minotaurs or the Nekomata. I couldn't quite place it either but there was a slight oscillation to the cutlery. I didn't have too much time to investigate as Jj lumbered in and stood behind me to my right. I gestured to the seat next to me and the tray in front of it as I kept eating my soup. I really needed to hire a cook at some point.

He sat without complaint, lifting the front of his uniform so that only his muzzle could be seen before he began eating. To some his movements might seem smooth but if you looked hard enough you could see him shake slightly as he tried not to crush his meal. It was ten minutes into our dinner that the snobbish unicorn from before proudly walked in, demanding some kind of private table be prepared along with all of their finest foods immediately. There really was only a single chef here and while their cooking was great I doubt they would stand up to the quality of food served at Canterlot Castle. When the sun was finally setting the brat decided to yell at the nice waitress/maid from earlier about how long he had to wait.

He even had the gall to loudly complain about his food, I would've loudly risen from my seat but clearly that might have been a little difficult for me. Sighing, I wheeled myself back and quietly ordered Jj. "Get up from your seat as loudly as possible without destroying anything." As I wheeled past his chair he did as told, drawing slightly shocked looks from the maid and the inbred stallion. The maid smiled slightly as she used the opportunity to get away from him and walk back towards me with subdued haste, ignoring her sprain as much as she could.

"A-ah I'm sorry if the food w-was not to your liking M-m-, Doctor Sally." Even the she spoke with a worried tone it was evident that she was relieved to no longer be dealing with the other unicorn. I smiled to her, shaking my head and easing the rest of her tensions.

"It is fine Miss, I hope you'll mention to the chef that both Jj and I enjoyed our meals to the utmost. It would take somepony with a spoiled tongue to not realize the subtle charm of a well prepared meal such as this." The white unicorn scowled towards us, causing the maid to shrink slightly as I continued to smile. "You can be sure I'll be adding a slight bonus to my payments, I hope that Mrs. Cleansweep will be generous enough to split that between the chef and yourself."

She became a little flustered as she shook her head, though I couldn't help notice a slight flinch as I mentioned the chef. "N-no Miss Sally! I couldn't possibly take your money. I-I was just doing m-my job after all." This time I shook my head, uncaring of the stubborn pissant loudly making his way towards us.

"It is quite alright, this place will be sold soon won't it? If you can't take it as a reward then I merely urge you to accept it as my own generosity. And no I will not be shaking on this." She sighed and hung her head, ear twitching as she heard whitey angrily walking towards us. "Before you are to return to your duties in a moment, I hope you don't mind me asking for your name?"

This time she blushed slightly, a fair bit more flustered than earlier. "My n-name is Table Manners, Miss S-sally." She gave me another polite bow and a smile before fleeing in the opposite direction of the stallion. Not a bad name really, I'll make sure to remember her.

"Excuse me!" Proclaimed Sir limp-dick, apparently my current disability wasn't enough to deter him from his almighty tantrum. "I couldn't help but overhear you so proudly praise the food of this rundown cottage. You then even went onto such great lengths as to mock those with superior taste like myself? Maybe you haven't noticed, peasant, but I, Prince Blueblood, nephew of Princess Celestia herself am in a far better position to judge a foods worth. After all we have the finest chefs in Equestria personally prepare every meal! Maybe you are simply uneducated for not knowing these facts?" He scoffed at me and smiled proudly, closing his eyes as he looked towards the ceiling.

Really I couldn't stand those like him. "Ah Celestia you say? How is she anyhow? I'd heard that she was having a lot of trouble leashing some disabled nephew of hers that had trouble telling the difference between food and dish so- Oh dear, I should refrain from talking about such unruly things in front of a Prince like yourself. It is as you say however, maybe somepony who eats nothing but the finest foods like yourself is incapable of appreciating the dishes everyone else knows to be quite delicious." Metaphorical lightning sparked between us as I laughed gently, Jj picking up on my malice as he backed away slightly.

Blueblood was too dull to notice as he growled at me however, his composure long gone at the blow to his pride. Thankfully before he could dig a further grave, the fairly tired triad of Royal guards came into the dining area most likely in search of food and not work. The Prince smirked as he saw them while I merely rolled my eyes and started wheeling myself away. Once Blueblood had noticed he shouted at the three guards as if he personally owned them. "You three! Arrest her at once for defamation of the royal name!" The guards stood at attention and looked towards us, not making a move as they saw me wheeling past them. Seeing this, Blueblood got angry and started yelling curses at them while they shook their heads.

"We are sorry your highness, but by royal decree of Princess Celestia we can't lay a hoof on her as she has immunity." Ah, it truly was good I'd asked for such a thing in return for yearly checkups for her and her sister. I think she was more worried about her sister at the time seeing as she'd just been freed from the Nightmare. I didn't really have to do much besides encourage the poor Alicorn, but apparently my insistence on her maintaining a positive relationship with her citizens had led to her declaring us friends. I really didn't have too much say in it and she was a little brutish at times for my taste.

Lucky Jj, he didn't have to deal with friends at all because his brain was only really capable of a few emotions at a time. Even though he was only made recently too I feel as though I should reward him for his bodyguard service. Yes, I'll definitely give his body a few updates as soon as our work in Seaddled is done with. As I wheeled towards the exit though I was a little perturbed to hear another clatter from the kitchen, this time much louder than before. It was even accompanied by a loud shriek.

"Jj push, kitchen." I gave him a simple command and he followed, grabbing onto the handles of my wheelchair and rolling me to the kitchen as the guards came darting towards us. I was the first one in and immediately my rather bored mind began piecing things together frantically. The stallion whom I could assume had been he chef was lying in front of the middle cooking station, neck snapped slightly and resting against the bloodied wood of the station. An ornate knife was plunged maybe ten inches into his eye socket, I'd need to wait until I could get a better look, and a few other knives and cuts ran along his body. I couldn't help but notice how precise a few of them were, even if they were misguided.

On the other side of the kitchen area Table Manners was crouched into a corner, sobbing loudly as she stared at the body. The moment the guards came in they immediately began quarantining the area, calmly trying to make Jj and I leave as one of them went over to comfort Table Manners. Through a small amount of persuading I was able to get the guard to sigh and allow me to say, only for Prince Shitstain to come in and gasp at the sight of the corpse. As soon as he saw Table Manners I could tell what he had thought, "Guards, arrest that mare! It is clear that she murdered the chef here!" Ah the inbred nobility are so quick to jump the gun.

Author's Note

The music that the box played.

The main reason I released this as a two parter is because I wanted to have published something by the time Halloween rolled around, unfortunately I ended up starting on Halloween, then I got a blackout about halfway through, so I decided I may as well release something before the Halloween spirit is entirely gone. Hence, murder-mystery.

I actually was working on another chapter before this but then realized I'd have to push it back to keep things nice and chronological.