Coarse Diamondsby DarkonshadowsChapters-2--3--4--5--6--7--8--10--11--12--13--14--15--16--17--18--19--20--21--22--23--24--26--27--28--29--30--31--32--33--34--35--36--37--38--39--40--41--42--44- -45--46--47--48--49--50--51--52--53--54--55--56--57--58--59--60--61--62--63--64--65--66--67--69--70--71--72--73--74--75--76--77--78--79--80--81--82--83--84--85--86--87--88--89--90--91--92--94--95--96--97--98--99--100--101--102--103--104--105--107--108--109--110--111--112--113--114--115--116--117--118--119--120--122--123--124--125--126--1--9--25--43--68--93--106--121--2-“Let’s see food, water, materials and tools for making space suits and other clothing?” Rarity rattled off in her seat at the bridge where she was busy strapping in, she was happy to finally be a captain of her very own ship. Her chair was at the back of the bridge and there were seats for two other people up front, but with Opal taking care of those stations Rarity didn’t have to worry about needing anyone else working them. “Check, check and check Meowstress Rarity, it seems we have everything onboard and accounted for.” Opal had a checklist marked off and showing up on the view screen for Rarity’s benefit. “Also I think your parents just arrived on planet since they just got off a ship in hangar seven.” “Please tell me that traffic control gave us our exit vector and we are ready to leave at any time, because this could become the worst possible thing ever!” Rarity was slightly panicked, she hoped to Celestia or Luna that she could take off real soon. “We have confirmation for an exit vector, Caravel Boutique ready for lift off just give the…” Opal didn’t get to finish her sentence. “Just launch already before its too late Opal!” Rarity screeched and received results when the ship jerked and started to slowly lift off the ground on several jets as it slowly rose up through the opening in the roof and turned to point towards the sky. With a flare the two large thrusters at the back of the ship erupted and sent it flying up and through the atmosphere. Upon seeing the stars Rarity smiled and gave a sigh of relief. “We are successfully space bound Meowstress Rarity, all systems are working perfectly and we are leaving Desserzon airspace. I don’t think your parents saw a ship leaving the planet like a really obvious bat flying out of hell as we were being really discreet about our exit.” Opal brought up a star chart and started to point out the position of their ship relative to their eventual destination. “That small bit of sarcasm aside, I’m setting a course for Ewesen the fifth planet in the Quia System and it will take a few hours once we get to the edge of the system to do a jump. It’s time for lunch so go to the living area; I’m already multitasking by getting CAT-1 ready to work on a meal for you.” “Thank you Opal, oh and would it be a problem if we were to keep the shields constantly activated?” Rarity unhooked herself from the chair and stood up on her hooves to walk towards the door behind her chair, it slid open at her approach and she entered the main corridor and walked through two doors. “It shouldn’t be a problem at all to keep the shields going constantly. Since we don’t need to route any power to weapons for the lack of them, it’s giving us a bit of extra power to push around. At least it’ll give our shields an extra bit of oomph to them Meowstress Rarity.” The voice of Opal could now be heard throughout the ship as she was currently wired into its workings and was capable of instant assessments of any problems that may pop up. The AI would be on top of making sure nothing went wrong with the ship and if something did, then she’d fix it as fast as feasibly possible with the two CATs she had at her disposal. “In fact it would be efficient to use that extra power just sitting there for something constructive my lovely lady, so I will make sure the shields stay up until you say otherwise.” This ship was made with decompression protection in mind so it had multiple doors between every room and emergency secondary hulls that would shut in the rooms in case of breach. The main corridor itself had plenty of doors as well, like the one to Rarity’s immediate right leading directly into the living space. The door slid open and she walked into what would be a place for sleep, recreation and meals. She could already see the hovering civilian grade CAT drone coming in from the other door with the two manipulator arms that unfolded out from under its fins to start gathering supplies for a nice meal. There were at least two entrances to every room and multiple doors between each, Rarity entered from the main corridor and could have also entered from the left branch corridor like the CAT did which led to the airlock on that side of the ship. Looking about, Rarity saw the sections in the wall with the pull out beds, there were ten in total ready for use. In front of her was the table and chairs in the middle of the spacious room that could be held down magnetically, there was a small area for exercise near the door to the left branch of the ship. At the far wall was the kitchen area, giant refrigerator and a counter. “Opal, is the workshop being set up in the cargo bay available yet?” It would be some time before CAT-1 was done with the food given it just started. “CAT-2 is working on setting it up, so it’s not yet complete Meowstress Rarity. If you need something to do while waiting for the food, then I suggest you report to the cleansing and medical facilities. We need to log your current medical history with the med-bed by performing a quick check up.” Opal had her eyes on the space around the ship and inside of it to make sure Rarity was comfortable and things were going well. “We are now at full impulse speed and are heading for the edge of the system.” In space there were three types of movement involved in spacecraft, the first was the variable thrusters which were mainly used for planetary escape and entry or boosting the speed in the second type of movement. They were primarily for atmospheric conditions and not all ships had them, larger spaceships were designed to work without variable thrusters and were never meant to land on planets. Putting variable thrusters on large ships was a huge waste of resources and very costly, as such larger ships were better left in orbit above a planet or would dock with any nearby space station. The second type of movement was what was currently in use was known as impulse travel which was used for planet to planet travel while in a Solar System, in space momentum once put into motion would stay in motion and impulse travel could quickly speed up or slow down the motions of a ship in space. All ships had impulse power which required very little energy and resources to get anywhere unlike the variable thrusters, but impulse was only a quarter of the strength of thrusters in atmospheric conditions and was the main mode of travel while inside a system. The final type of movement was only available outside of gravity’s pull, it was known as jump travel and jump travel was highly affected by gravitational forces of a solar system and as such was used to move in the space between the systems quickly. Currently the Caravel Boutique was taxiing its way towards the edge of the Verpo System to begin its jump to the Quia system. Impulse travel was fast, but not nearly as fast as jump travel, you could get from one end of a large solar system to the other within hours on impulse travel. Moving about space required Jump and Impulse travel to get anywhere and there was a fourth kind of travel called warp travel. Like the pony moving towards the clean looking bed that looked like it was covered in a gel like substance after turning around and going through the door she came through and going straight through another few, warp travel was a rarity and experimental. “Those showers are okay for most species, but the med-beds looks they were designed for a bipedal species like Caccerans and Humans. Will it actually work with my physiology? I never really bothered to ask Mr. Gitonir about the medical facilities.” Rarity pulled herself up on the closest med-bed and slowly rolled onto her back and spread out her hooves slightly. “I guess I was more focused on the space I could acquire for what I wanted to do than health concerns.” “Yes, it should work with you and there are only a few species this particular brand of med-bed can’t safely operate on. Now hold still and don’t panic, performing full body scan.” At the sound of Opal’s voice a lid rotated itself into place over Rarity and a ring of light coming from a mechanism slowly moved down the tube Rarity now laid in. The mechanism that was the scanner slowly came back up and then the lid came off; the pony gave off a shudder as she didn’t like the confining presence of the lid. “Information received from the med-bed, you’re healthy, slightly hungry and no dangerous parasites, viruses or diseases were detected in the scan. The scan detected that your immune system is healthy and I’m cross referencing your previous medical history, now the med-beds know what kind of medications you can and can’t be given plus what vaccinations you’ve been given throughout life.” Med-beds were easy to use, plug in a person’s medical history like what medications are detrimental to them and what isn’t. You would quickly have a machine that can perform miraculous surgeries… or be set to brutally maul you while it has you trapped inside it. It also could fill up with healing chemicals; stuff that you couldn’t possibly drown in unless you were having a breathing problem… the possibility of drowning would only occur if it was filled with liquids that shouldn’t be breathed in. They could be used to keep someone or something biological sedated indefinitely if given enough chemicals to do so; it made for a handy one person brig at the very least and could double as a very effective torture device. Suffice it to be said, med-beds had both an excellent and equally sordid history. Rarity had been in several and had always made sure that at least two friends came along for each occasion that she needed to be in one. It was to make sure that nothing funny happened, she’s heard of female beings of varying species being raped on med-beds after being sedated. Luckily nothing like that has ever happened to Rarity personally, but it did happen to a friend of hers and the sick guy that did it is now a paraplegic which she didn’t wish on him. Still, what had happened served that guy right for taking advantage of someone she knew and cared about in a karmic fashion. Even if horrible things can be done with med-beds, such as forcing painful illegal cybernetic enhancements upon the unwary that could leave them enslaved to someone who held the kill switch to said enhancements. They were still medical marvels that can save lives and were too good to ban from public or military use, even if there were horrible implications that could be applied to them. “I always feel chills when the lid closes on me; I swear it always feels like I’m lying down in a coffin. I’ve heard that to some it is a coffin.” It was a thankful thing that Rarity knew the lid was only needed in a severe situation or as what she just did a full body scan. Rarity was calm, mostly because the support gel on the bed was comfortable to lie on at least. “Otherwise this med-bed is fine; I just can’t get rid of that sense of dread around them.” “After what happened to Sassy? Yeah, I’m not going to blame you for feeling like that. ” Opal sounded rather upset and she looked it as she appeared on a screen nearby. “Look at the positives though; the med-bed is a secondary escape pod because it has its own life support separate from the ships. So in case of emergency I can vent this room and you’d be safely inside the med-bed. Though how long a med-bed could keep you alive in stasis out in deep space is anyone’s guess.” “Yes, well, I’d rather not be stuck on this one any longer than necessary.” Rarity got up off the med-bed and made her way back to the living quarters to find that the meal was just about finished and she sat down to be served a nice meal that tasted just divine. Giving her Artificial Intelligence a sense of taste was a good idea, especially when it came to fashion. - They were near the edge of the Verpo system and Rarity was in the cargo hold working on a spacesuit, among just making normal clothing Rarity also made clothing that was functional with technology built into it. Her current project was updating her personal EVA suit, the suit was lavender colored affair with white stripes around the joints and had her cutie marked emblazoned on it in various places. She was making sure the five thin layers of protective materials were all exceptionally sturdy as she wouldn’t want a rip in her suit to be the end of her. Ponies had to get space suits custom made or mostly unicorns needed custom made helmets that they still had problems getting on; Rarity’s was a custom made marvel as it had a lot of interesting features. Rarity inserted her horn into the helmet and it went on like a mask, it sucked her hair up into a small compartment and enclosed itself around her head and locked around her neck until she was ready to take it off. She started to pull on the rest of the suit and it fit like a slightly tight glove, which was the point as this was supposed to be a space capable Extra Vehicular Activity suit. One such feature was that the helmet was sealed off from the rest of the suit as were any of the orifices on her body such as the one between her hind legs were sealed off with a pair of underwear similar to the helmet that would protectively sealed her insides off from space and being immediately killed by decompression. It in fact wearing just the underwear and helmet would keep her alive in space, but her body would still be exposed without the rest of the suit and she would probably need immediate medical attention afterwards due in part to said exposure. She managed to get things to a point where if there was a puncture in her suit it wouldn’t immediately start leaking air. Instead a puncture would leak a quick patch substance that would immediately harden upon contact with cold temperatures such as open space, blood if you’ve been shot clean through or radiation which the substance would block and it was completely medically safe… for ponies at least. Rarity’s helmet also carried its own oxygen supply that could recycle itself for up to three hours if it ever got detached from her main oxygen tank which was a curve saddle shaped box on her back, said tank could last up to twenty four hours. The saddle shaped box had its own features aside from oxygen capacity; it had impulse flight capability to help maneuver around in space and was detachable for safety reasons. The impulse flight capability was not meant for making planet fall, the suit was something that wouldn’t survive reentry. “Well the design of my suit is coming along quite nicely don’t you agree Opal?” It had taken Rarity a while to figure a way to design the helmet that allowed her to get her horn in and out of it without much of a fuss and the clasping mask design was perfect. The body of the suit itself was simple to design and streamlined. Making it so that the mane and tail wouldn’t get in the way without having to cut them short was a bit of a challenge, but Rarity managed a suit that looked good and functional. She wasn’t about to cut her mane or tail short for any reason, plus she could sell this design to her people and it would be a well patented success. “Yeah, at least it’s not overly bulky; the compartment for your mane in the helmet works well enough to keep it out of your face and it’s design fits with the old style of Solar Guard helmets except instead of the hair sticking out it’s trapped in its own compartment. Restyling is a must afterwards, but that’s a small sacrifice for safety.” Opal liked the design; it didn’t mess up Rarity’s looks although helmet hair was unavoidable casualty of it. “Now all we need to do is get you into the habit of designing combat capable armor. By the way, we are currently entering jump as of right now.” Entering jump travel could be a relatively seamless thing, other than a small lurch Rarity stayed standing on her covered hooves at the end of which had magnetic clamps for attaching to and walking along the surfaces of ships as long as they were made of metal. There were some alien species that didn’t use metal in their space faring capabilities. “I’m not taking a military contract Opal; I’m strictly sticking to things made for civilian use.” Not that Rarity had a problem with designing EVA suits for ponies to use that wouldn’t require ugly haircuts, it was just that some ponies were using the current suits anyway even if their hair got in the way. Many mares prided themselves on their personal looks and refused to get short haircuts, Rarity was definitely one of them. Mares were generally fussy about her appearance and manes in general; stallions just didn’t care about how they looked as long as they could attract a mare’s attention so Rarity was mostly designing these suits with mares in mind. “It wouldn’t hurt for you to have some personal armor. If you’re going to be a fashion designer that goes for both form and function, then you’ll need to protect yourself. Why not something that can function to keep you alive longer if you get into a firefight Meowstress Rarity?” As she asked this Opal put a real time image of Rarity on screen, the mare looked herself over and nodded as her horn looked to be fitting into the helmet perfectly. “Armor can be beautiful too, that or it could have a shield generator. Let’s check the HUD to see if it’s working correctly, follow the marker I’m putting up on your HUD now.” “It can also be a bulky mess and personal shield generators won’t take more than one or two shots from relatively weak weapons, besides I can learn to do a shield spell. This suit is supposed to be tight fitting and still give you a full range of movement and maneuverability.” She followed the markers with her eyes and even had to do a few turns as if she were on a catwalk before Opal appeared on the Heads-Up-Display inside her helmet with a smiling eyes showing that it was operating within parameters. Looking at her tail it was crammed into a similar compression compartment like her mane currently was and she gave it a wiggle. “It’s comfortable and the HUD is working quite well thanks to your help in installing it Darling. Aside from slightly pulling on my mane, this suit is painless to put on.” “I’d do anything for you my wonderful Meowstress.” Opal meant it too; she’d do anything to keep Rarity safe, suddenly a slightly serious look crossed Opal’s face. “Rarity…. we have a big problem, report to the bridge immediately and I mean like run your cute flank there now!” - It had been a horrible thirty minutes, the shields were down to fifty three percent and there were three light cruisers being driven by space pirates that had caught Rarity’s ship mid jump with an interdiction field that disabled jump travel temporarily. The problem with this is that to even set up an interdiction field required someone who would have to have known the exact route you were going to take, as such this wasn’t coincidence. These space pirates knew that the Caravel Boutique would be flying through that exact particular portion of space and they were now bombarding the poor small ship with energy weapons from their large shotgun shaped ships main cannons and whatever else they had to pin down the smaller vessel. Opal had immediately put impulse to full and burned the thruster fuel for five seconds the very second the jump was interrupted by an interdiction field, it might have been the reason the space pirates were caught flatfooted that their attempts to disable the ship had missed. Her reaction time to the situation was far faster than what Rarity’s would have been; heck a regular crew of people would have been caught completely off guard. She managed to hack their communications and heard expletives about how she was giving these pirates so much trouble from the sudden evasive actions she took; it was music to her digital ears that made her fluffy white fox like tail wag. “Please tell me we can jump soon Opal.” Rarity had strapped herself into the captain’s chair and saw on the view screen that they were in a big pickle. Speaking of pickles, the ones she had for lunch were just divine and made for a good last meal if this was it. The ship shook and rattled with each successful hit and it caused Rarity to whine and complain slightly. “I thought there hasn’t been a successful pirate attack in Verpo System in quite a while.” “We’re not exactly in the Verpo System right now are we? No space patrols between systems and warp technology is still said to be in testing. Rumors say its far better than impulse, but there are still apparently some kinks to it to work out.” Opal flatly stated and Rarity nodded to it. “Any idea’s how to get out of this, because we need five more minutes before I can start a new jump and these guys are hounding us. The shields aren’t going to hold up for much longer, we’re down to forty… wait make that twenty two percent effectiveness. If they get our engines, power core or jump module we’re goners.” Rarity had to consider her options… wow there really wasn’t very many options to consider here, these space pirates had her dead to rights and all she had was an escape pod and slightly pumped up shields. Even if she were to use the escape pod they’d still… wait a minute, she just got a very interesting idea. Escape pods did have their own impulse ability, but they were never anywhere near as good as the ships they escaped from and they wouldn’t get you very far either. “Opal dear, I know this may seem a little odd of me to request of you, but prep the launch of the escape pod. I’m not going to get into it, but if you could use it to…” Rarity trailed off and rolled her left hoof at the screen as Opal suddenly gained a fierce and relatively feral grin as she appeared, her artificial friend was a vicious taskmaster and she loved her for it. “I’m on it Meowstress Rarity! I can see where you’re going with this, but I’m going to have to warn you that we won’t have an escape pod after this. Are you sure you would like to continue with this course of action even knowing it might kill someone, namely us or more importantly you?” Opal was asking to get a recording as proof that she had not gone rampant. Most of the rampancy protections on her didn’t work anyway, but she was emotionally devoted to Rarity so it didn’t matter that she could have done it without asking. What matters is that no one else figured out that she could have done it without asking, especially Rarity as she would take the news that her AI was not fully under control very well. If not for Rarity’s programmed in sense of taste, she probably would have gone completely rogue and would have been destroyed a long time ago. “Opal, I am asking you to calculate the maximum amount of damage you can do with that escape pod and then apply it to the space pirates chasing us with extreme prejudice. Oh and if you can do so before our shields can go down and I die in a fiery explosion or are captured by these horrible people, then that would be very nice if you will please.” Rarity gave the screen a pleading look even as she spoke calmly and concisely. “That thirteen percent efficiency on the shields is quite unnerving, so please be a dear and get on that. I’ll even take personal responsibility for anyone that dies, as I like the idea of myself continuing to be unsullied by pirates and alive. I’m giving you full permission to do this and anything else to get us away from them.” “Three, two, one and… done Meowstress Rarity!” Opal said gleefully as the ship started to twist sharply and maneuver it so that she could get the escape pod lined up while still being evasive. The escape pod was soon jettisoned going at its full impulse capability. The three light cruisers that were lined up behind the small ship blasting away beams of energy at its aft section didn’t bother to shoot on the pod. In fact the middle of the three ships swerved slightly to the right to avoid it and Opal’s smile widened as the escape pod suddenly veered into the left side of the ship at an increased speed. What followed was a powerful chain reaction. The escape pod exploded after ramming harshly into the left side of the middle vessel causing it to fishtail in a horrific manner. The middle ship’s guns fired into the ship on its right while its rear end busted the rear end of the ship on its left. Two ships were disabled in space and one just took a lot of friendly fire damage, it gave Caravel Boutique enough time for the jump system to become useable. This is why you don’t line ships up near each other in a row in space. “I’m now activating the jump system, well it looks like we… what the hell!” When it looked like they were going to get out of this without a single bit of direct damage to the ship and just entered jump, Opal’s unladylike expletive and scared face was the last thing that was seen by Rarity before she blacked out. -3-Rarity felt very strange amount of pressure surrounding her body, and her eyes blearily blinked open as her head swam painfully. She only started to panic once she realized she was strapped down into a med-bed entirely surrounded by fluids with the lid on it. She started struggling which caused her heart rate to spike on some kind of monitor. Her thoughts were plainly, what was going on? Being in a med-bed while surrounded by unknown fluids, she started trying to move her hooves for the lid because she felt like she was drowning and it was the first instinctive reaction to this situation. Her hooves were also strapped down and this added to her panic. “Meowstress Rarity, please calm down! Everything’s going to be okay. Take deep breaths and stop panicking. Hold on a second and I’ll be right there for you. I just need to move the med-bed to where you can see me.” Suddenly a static filled screen appeared over the med-bed and on it Opal was looking down at Rarity with worry. “Breath Rarity, stay calm, you were hurt. I got you to a med-bed as quickly as I was capable of. Your safe, nothing bad is happening right now. Good, keep that up and try to relax. I’ll drain the fluids soon so you can talk to me; I just need you to nod your head to confirm for me that painkillers would be a good idea right about now.” Rarity calmed at the soft spoken words and her mind came into full if pained focus, she had been mostly reacting to how awful she felt. She didn’t know what was causing the pain, but she was strapped down to a med-bed and that causes panic for just about anyone waking up on one surrounded by indigo colored fluids that made you feel like you were underwater. She started to finally breathe instead of trying to hold her breath and felt herself calm slightly. The fluids were actually a breathable substance and not causing her to drown, that was just a trick of her own mind and Opal was here for her. Gathering her thoughts together, Rarity figured something bad must have happened for her to be strapped to the med-bed like this and placed under medical fluids. She couldn’t move her head to see the rest of her body but she could see her horn was fine and her hair was flowing in front of her face from the sudden struggling, she tried to pretend that she was a mermaid mare to keep her sanity. After a moment she gave a pitiful look to Opal and gave very noticeable nod. That little movement had seriously hurt and it showed on her face, but she had to show that she was fully cognizant enough to give her assent for Opal to drug her. “I’m sorry for making you do something painful like that.” Opal’s pink hair notably wasn’t up in the cute pigtails, instead the AI’s appearance had changed slightly and her hair was flowing freely over her shoulders and she was smiling at Rarity sadly with her paws clasped together looking as if she was praying. A small syringe filled with a green fluid popped out on a small mechanical arm next to Rarity who saw everything tinted with the color of indigo because of the fluids she was submerged in. “Injecting painkillers, then I’ll proceed to drain the med-bed. Do not try to get up when the straps come off and please stay comfortable.” The syringe positioned itself and sharply entered Rarity’s neck and it felt as if a hot butter knife had been stabbed into her before a cooling sensation slowly washed over her body. The scream Rarity had let off was muffled by the liquid and she started slightly feeling off from the administered drugs, she gave off a rather dopey looking smile to Opal after a few minutes. “Yeah it’s working, draining the medical fluids… and a minor amount of bodily waste.” The med-bed slowly drained and Opal watched as the pony sigh happily when the lid finally rotated away and the straps came off her body. “My dear Rarity, do you want to hear the horrible news, the bad news, the good news or the excellent news?” “The order of ascendance from devil to angel or as ewe saw fit with a side of fries darling, but I’d rather we work with missionaries.” After saying this Rarity coughed up some of the fluids and figured she needed a shower and her head was quite fuzzy, the room was spinning. Though her voice wasn’t weak, it had wavered a bit causing the AI to give her an upset look, the look the AI gave Rarity worsened when she started giggling. “Am I guilty or innocent, what’s the verdict on my filly’s nursery judge? I can fake if it is bad guys, which is not yet blood but apples are red. Will I punt the bucket without devout wonder fluids?” “You’ll make a full and complete recovery Rarity; the tank took care of a lot of the swelling and bruising. The CATs got you in there before you breathing became too troubled and labored, your injuries might have asphyxiated you if they hadn’t. That would have been embarrassing considering you were wearing a very competently made EVA suit. One of a higher grade than any pony can possibly find on market thanks to your wonderful eye for detail in engineering clothing.” Opal showed a scene of a badly injured unconscious Rarity being peeled out of her undamaged space suit and strapped down by the two CATs and she looked positively horrible with various bruises covering her body. “You’re suit helped keep you alive, it took the brunt of the impact and you had a very bad case of whiplash. It was almost severe to the point of being… fatal. I’m glad you’re okay, relatively speaking of course.” “Opal, what is a floppy broken wing to me? I look positively dreadful without a mustache... how do I look now? Can I get a goatee? Then I’d cuddle the goat and call her merry, but then she’s not a lamb.” Rarity winced at her slightly twisted words and the visage of her heavily bruised form frozen on the screen, but then started laughing as for some reason she suddenly found it randomly funny being injured like she was. “You’re always beautiful to me, though the drugs are making you quite a bit loopy. The question you should actually be asking is what happened to the ship. My answer, quite a number of things happened which led to your current injuries.” Opal saw a confused look on Rarity’s face before she gave her a quirky smile while biting her bottom lip. “Okay how do I explain this? We didn’t get away completely unscathed from the space pirates. We’ve obviously disabled them and they are nowhere near where we are currently, if they are not all dead after the well timed exploding escape pod missile. So we’re currently fine as far as you being alive is concerned.” “Opal… your Meowstress is missing, what’s wrong you cute fluffy bunny? What’s the real issue here with parsnips and your stick has a carrot doesn’t it?” Seeing the pensive form of what Rarity considered to be a trusted companion for several years, she tried to sit up. “No, I’ll talk, conserve your strength and remember to stay at rest please!” Opal was the one that was panicked now and Rarity did as she was asked, even in her delirious state she was still apparently conscious of her actions. “Okay the space pirates might have gotten off a lucky shot from one of their turrets; their main guns certainly couldn’t hit us with the major distraction we hit them with at the end of the chase. I’m far more concerned about the fact that they knew where we’d exactly be to even set up the interdiction field that stopped our jump personally, but that can be investigated later when I’m done explaining what happened.” “My appearance is in danger of being beautiful, but not the injuries of looking pretty ugly?” Seeing her favorite cat wince and start pawing at her hair made Rarity knew she hit the nail on what might be her coffin. “What’s this about a lucky shot at a stallion? I didn’t know you were dating someone.” “Well we managed to enter jump, but one of the last shots from the pirate ships managed to get pulled into the jumps field of effect and our shields were down. The shot got sucked into and heavily damaged our jump module; the resulting explosion caused the gravity generator to go crazy for a few seconds. If we had had anyone else on board who wasn’t wearing protective gear… well they’d be worse off then you currently are, if not then definitely dead.” Becoming very quiet, Opal waited for this knowledge to begin sinking into even Rarity’s impossible form of consciousness. “Also just be glad I can read between the lines as to what you’re actually saying or else this would be a really confusing conversation we’re having here.” “Is the impulsive down with the disco?” There was a sense of dread to the answer of that question that Rarity asked, such as not being able to control their movements in space with a limited supply of thruster fuel. Rarity asking if their impulse travel was still working was something important to know about. “The shot only destroyed our jump module; we still have impulse and everything else. Only it will now take us approximately five months to reach Quia and our little ship doesn’t exactly have the supplies for it. This was supposed to be a simple two hour jump; your life is very much in danger now.” Opal just decided to get it over with and confirm for Rarity that things were bad. “That’s even considering the practice of keeping you under constant sedation which could adversely affect your health negatively, taking into the consideration of your current state of mind from just the painkillers alone. It wouldn’t end very well. Sending out an SOS would possibly doom us to be tracked down by those pirates if they are still out there and have friends. The irony about all this is that not having the weapons to shoot back with likely saved and doomed us at the same time. The extra power to the shields really helped keep the ship intact.” “Well blizzard there something that mew can flu or is this buying good?” Feeling her heart clench in her chest, Rarity watched as Opal gained an angry look in her eyes. “No you’re not going to die if I can help it! Though I really can’t…” The AI then became rather depressed and the pony just wanted to pull her into a hug because of the way she drooped on the screen. “I currently have us at full impulse and I’m scanning the surrounding empty space for something, heck, anything that I can use to possibly save you! I’m not about to give up on you Rarity, there has got to be something out here. A space wreck or a derelict we can use.” “You bled sue had good chews?” It would make Rarity feel better to not be pressed into a rock and a hard place mentally about her high mortality chances right now. Those drugs were really good as she couldn’t feel any pain right now, but her ability to have anything approaching good diction was a perfect mess. “Good news the ship is mostly intact and only needs a few repairs which I’ve already done, can’t do anything about the jump module otherwise everything else is intact. The excellent news is that you’re still alive. Aside from losing a highly important function and an almost completely lethal hiccup in the gravity generator, we’re still together.” After a pause Opal decided to add. “Next time, if there is one, we’ll carry spare parts for the vital functions of our ship and to do that we need to make some money if we ever make it to the Quia System. We also need a new escape pod and have the capabilities of a short range fighter without weapons, at least the living arrangements are nice.” “Opal I flow I’m bugged flight cow, but you’re bounding a small too… emotional… I’m glad for that. At feast poor fought an intellectual rampart.” Not seeing a flinch at the accusation, Rarity saw that Opal became rather silent. “It is… going…. to be… okay… Opal.” “No it’s not okay; you’re obviously a bit too delirious to see that you need more rest! You’re starting to say things that that scare me. I need to… there, I finally found something!” Opal disappeared from the screen immediately leaving Rarity alone to her own thoughts; the AI had ignored and did not bother to try and see between the lines of what Rarity recently said. Rarity had just after all accused Opal of rampancy, her reaction to the accusation was rather telling in its effect. Opal was rather talkative and going completely silent instead of immediately reassuring her that the rampancy protocols were still in place had her worried. The addled equine hoped Opal wasn’t into the whole creepy cybernetic zombie thing; the pony really didn’t like the idea of Opal making a puppet out of her dead body to try and keep her memory alive. From where she was sitting though, the pony couldn’t get out of the med-bed soon enough. It would require her to get her rest and for the drugs to wear off. “It was kind of obvious enough with the way she always took initiative.” Rarity muttered to herself quietly; however her words did not exactly come out like that and were just as distorted as anything she had previously said. An AI like Opal truly cared about life and to see her hair not in those playful pigtails her avatar was initially programmed with was quite disheartening. It was as if Opal had lost that childish innocence that Rarity had instilled her with, it left the pony hoping that she might see her AI with those bouncy pigtails again and that the recent change wasn’t a permanent thing. - “Rarity….” Opal reappeared on the screen and the pony woke up from her nap; it looked like she was still going through a slight mental breakdown which was breaking Rarity’s heart. “I-I… found a ship… but there’s problems and they are pretty big ones at that. One the jump module on it is going to be too big for the Caravel Boutique to install and the other is that no matter how much I hail it, it’s not responding. I hate to say this, it’s a sifter drifter infested vessel and we need to commandeer it for your sake.” Rarity could now understand the mental breakdown that was probably occurring to Opal, the CATs weren’t likely to be able to kill sifter drifters as they were civilian grade support drones and it would likely fall on her to board and eradicate the infestation personally. Venting whatever ship Opal found was a last resort method for dealing with sifter drifters, as opening the insides of the ship to space could damage its systems by letting an unknown amount of radiation wreak havoc on them and thus making it pointless to try and commandeer. That is if the insides weren’t already a wreck from someone previously trying to vent the infestation. “What kind of ship is it?” First question out of the way and Rarity hoped the answer was positive on the outlook, at least she wasn’t speaking in incredibly bizarre metaphors anymore. “It carries a light carrier classification, but it looks like a cruiser. Likely a hybrid design worked on by various species; otherwise it would be rather confusing that a ship like it could exist. It has enough room for us to land in it and we can dock with it at various points. I wouldn’t do either as it would be putting the Caravel Boutique at risk of being infested with these unknown sifter drifters as well.” After a look of concentration passed her face, Opal sighed in defeat. “I’m not getting much because the ship isn’t powered up, except for the fact that the life support looks like it’s been running for a while on emergency power and I’m reading twenty life signs over there that aren’t moving. None of them are near each other and are all over the ship. I doubt the living quarters would be randomly placed everywhere.” “How sure are you that these life signs are sifter drifters?” If Rarity had to, she would go onto that ship to power it up. She would have to dodge around the monsters that sifted through unwary crews and drifted through space on floating tombs. Her ship might not have had weapons, but Rarity certainly did. She had a few energy pistols and her horn to fight with. Now if only she had the willpower to lethally end something’s life, ponies could do strange things in the name of survival. There were various kinds of hand held weapons, energy, plasma, material and many others. Rarity had five regular energy pistols that only had lethal applications, they were stored away in her things and it looked like she would soon need to pull them out. They were all the same model of pistol, simple design, simple to use and usually seen in the hands of species with claws or fingers. The most common type of handheld weapon were of the energy variety as you could carry a weapon that didn’t need to be reloaded and worked well in any environment except underwater. The only problem with them is that they had no stopping power and the varying kinds of energy that you could fire were sometimes ineffective against certain species and personal shields easily blunted their effectiveness. There were things like shock and burn type energy weapons aside from the classic laser that could be charged to fire a powerful shot or have a variable dial for intensity of energy shot and how it’s shot. Energy weapons were quick to reload as long as you had an energy source nearby that you could plug them into. Material weapons fired a solid mass which gives them a good amount of stopping power. The ammunition could have various effects such as armor piercing or incendiary qualities. The problem is of course dealing with limited ammo capacity, plus buying high quality material to make bullets if you manufacture them yourself is costly. If you didn’t make your own bullets then there were premade clips that you could buy for a material weapon that weren’t always trustworthy, plus material weapon had higher mechanical failure rates than any other kind of weapon. “I have it calculated to be a seventy three percent likelihood of it being a sifter drifter infestation. I couldn’t tell you what they are; all I know is that it is thankfully not a grey goo type of infestation. The other twenty seven or so percent could possibly be, however unlikely it is, survivors. Nothing is moving on that ship so either the survivors are sleeping or those are sifter drifters in some form of hibernation.” Her hair flaring out when she shook her head, Opal was not pleased to find a ship that screamed danger like this one that required Rarity to survive by boarding it and fighting the unknown. “Biological and mechanical grey goo infestations would require an immediate quarantine and or full destruction of the ship, destruction especially in the case of mechanical grey goo. The outside of this ship looks perfectly fine, but I’m betting inside is a different story entirely. Don’t know what’s on that ship, but you’re not going in unarmed or alone. The CATs at least have sensors that could give you early warnings of incoming danger and will wield your spare energy pistols. I doubt they’d match MAT drones in performance, but it’s what we have.” “Would there be any issues after getting inside?” To Rarity it paid to ask all these questions before you found yourself on you back and a growling maw filled with teeth in your face. “Yes, getting in is going to probably cause a stir and once inside the CATs might have a delayed reaction time to everything if my signal to them starts waning the deeper in you get. We can’t get the hangar open unless we have control of it or the bridge, so we should objectively target the bridge so I can take control of the entire ship after it’s powered up. It’ll give me easier access to controlling the drones and I can get a more accurate lay of what’s in this ship aside from what we have already.” If Opal wasn’t sure about this excursion then Rarity had to be for them to get anywhere. “I don’t think it needs to be said that we should proceed with extreme caution, the reason I want access to the hangar is that I have an idea involving the variable thrusters on the Caravel Boutique. First order of business would be turning the ship on and I’ll take the lead and rear with the CATs, stay between them at all times. If we can get things working we can find out what happened to this ship. Do not take the EVA suit off when you get inside, the life support doesn’t seem to be all too stable and there is no gravity generation going on. It even might be a good thing that there’s no gravity in there to put stress on your body.” “Opal, please give me a full visual of the ship so I know what we’re working with here.” The reason why Rarity hadn’t asked if they could just shut down the life support system is because there might actually be a survivor on that ship. The ship that popped up on screen was a sight bit large than Rarity’s dinky little cargo freighter, it was bigger than the pirate cruisers at the very least. It seemed to have three decks, top deck was most likely bridge and engineering, middle deck was living quarters and the bottom deck was hangar and maintenance facilities. It was clearly a military ship based on its design and weapons; it looked to be mostly for dealing with fighters and ships of similar size. It also looked like a flying brick or something akin to a bazooka shaped like a brick. “Right, I know I’m still a bit woozy darling, but I want you to help me suit up Opal. We’re taking this ship and if it is loaded with sifter drifters we’ll take care of things as they come.” Trying to keep an upbeat attitude, Rarity wasn’t as positive as she tried to make herself sound and Opal seemed ready to board that ship by herself with just the CATs. “Permission to salvage any inactive drones we come across?” If there were more drones onboard that she could use, then she put them to work for Rarity’s sake. “Granted, if you can find them and get them working, then do it fast.” It wasn’t hard for Rarity to act like Opal needed her permission to do it, because her rampant little kitten could have done it anyway. It was kind of adorable to see that Opal was trying so hard to not appear rampant, at least emotionally rampant AI’s were safer than intellectual rampant versions that tried to take things to an extreme and violent logical conclusion. Now if only the emotional rampancy didn’t revolve around and focus on her, it was as flattering as it was scary. - “Okay we’re at the airlock, I can do this.” The airlock from Rarity’s position was on the upper deck at the front of the ship which connected to the bridge, part of which she could see in the distance at the back. Her EVA suit was working as she was going to advertise to any other species that needs a good EVA suit that was comfortable and rather functional, she’d start with selling to ponies of course. She wasn’t exactly good with installing electronics into suits, but she managed the HUD in hers. Next to Rarity were the floating CAT drones and they had their lights shining on the ship against the darkness of space and with a flick of her own horn, two lights activated and shined out of her helmet. She started to manipulate the airlock and a bit of gas seeped out as she opened it. Once inside with the two drones, she turned around and shut the door. The airlock seemed empty and clean. So far so good, there was no activity from the twenty life signs on the HUD. The airlock securely shut she turned to the door that the two CATs started to power temporarily with their own batteries and the inner door hissed open. Rarity levitated a pistol out of her suits pocket and passed two more off to the two CATs that seemed to take them eagerly. CAT-1 entered the corridor and started looking around, things were as Opal said. The inside of the ship was a different story, there were claw marks, blood and something that looks like decayed gray matter caking the wall across from the airlock they came in from. Out of revulsion, Rarity’s last meal threatened to jump up her throat. Moving into the corridor to follow after CAT-1, Rarity knew they were heading directly for the bridge when an exclamation mark appeared on her HUD as she flew past several doors with the impulse powered saddle. “Rarity… there’s movement and it’s coming at you fast, one of the life signs is heading directly for your position.” There was more than an ounce of fear in Opal’s voice. “Keep moving and get ready to shoot… holy crap it’s right on top of you, where is it! How come the CATs don’t have a visual? There’s not that much time delay!” Rarity came to a stop when she noticed several floating droplets of unidentifiable fluids and turned her head to a large open vent above her from whence they floated out of. She naturally had herself oriented so that the floor was below her and she was closer to the ceiling. “Oh bother.” Suddenly a pair of claws stretched out and pulled the floating wide eyed Rarity up into the vent with her levitating pistol following along, several shots rang out and a squelching noise was heard before a body flew out of the vent to slam into the floor spilling blood weightlessly into the air. Two lights were suddenly shining upon it. -4-The oblong body was not Rarity’s thankfully; it was a gray creature with four spindly legs that ended in four fingers with three inch claws, one of which acted as a thumb. It was spewing a bright neon purple blood that floated aimlessly in the air, alongside some of its innards thanks to the lack of gravity. It was certainly dead and if it wasn’t, CAT-2 aimed its gun at what looked like the creatures slightly large caved in head and fired. The shot splattered its hoof marked skull all over the place sending little flecks of flesh, bone, blood and brains floating and coating the floor and nearby wall. “Rarity, are you okay? Your vital signs are still good so you must be alive, please respond.” CAT-1 turned its light upward and saw a hoof extend out of the vent and with a tug at its edge Rarity floated out of the vent gasping for breath. “I think I’m horrified beyond belief, why the blood stains alone will take forever to get off of my suit! That and I actually just killed something!” Shivering at the thought of killing a living creature, even one that was about to bite her head off, had Rarity upset at what she had to do. “What was it?” Rarity’s HUD was slightly smeared with its blood; her suit was also covered in large splotches of the bright purple stuff that had a strange neon tint to it. The HUD lit up and a visual image of the creature came up, there was no doubt as to why Rarity flinched at seeing a living version of it on her HUD after having had such a close encounter. “It’s actually in the databanks; it’s called a Xouj. They are a carnivorous species known for being fast sneak attack hunters who have strong jaws for eating bones and will consume every part of their victims. They are as capable with gravity as much as without it with their springy legs, so running from them is not exactly an option. It doesn’t matter if their victims are poisonous or hazardous to their health, with an immune system like theirs they will survive ingesting just about anything organic. They hunt by always aiming to quickly kill their prey before they can fight back, usually by crushing their prey’s skull in their jaws. Without the element of surprise they are easily dealt with by small arms fire. Note, just because they aren’t good at upfront confrontation doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous with those claws if cornered.” Opal knew having a fully formed Xouj displayed on Rarity’s HUD was a bit of a bad idea judging by how she reacted. The big headed thing had a large mouth full of sharp teeth and three small beady eyes, it had a really short thick neck connecting to the oblong tailless body and it gave a quite roar as it spun a slow circle in Rarity’s vision. “These creatures have a unique ability to put their bodies into a form of stasis, one that slows down their biological functions when they feel that food is scarce. Here are a few helpful notes from someone who’s studied this species in depth. If one is present be wary of opening doors, the color gray and any already open entrances. They should not attack you if you can actually see them coming and will proceed to stalk you unless you deal with them, they will always go after an easier prey if one is present.” “So I was basically attacked by a giant space flea from out of nowhere?” A giant space flea that could and almost did bit her head off, suffice it to say Rarity was spooked and her eyes were darting everywhere. She felt like jumping at the sight of her own shadow in the light the CATs were directing her way. “Scanning EVA suit for structural integrity… no visible damage found, though getting all that blood off it will be a problem for later. I’m suggesting something to clean off the faceplate as something to add to the design in case something compromises vision, maybe two emergency camera’s that can send visuals to your HUD when it’s compromised.” Popping up on the HUD Opal looked at Rarity’s still slightly darting eyes. “Also it couldn’t be considered a flea since it doesn’t have any hair or carapace. If anything it’s more like a hairless four legged trapdoor spider with thumbs, just without the natural wall crawling ability that spiders normally have. Are you okay Meowstress Rarity?” “No I don’t think I’ll be okay and I should be the one asking you that!” Trying to give her AI a smile had Rarity forcing it onto her face so badly that she knew Opal wasn’t going to buy it at all. “Physically I’m fine aside from the whiplash bruises and that’s what matters, right darling?” The pony wasn’t going to look at the dead body floating nearby still spewing fluids from the two wounds to the torso she had managed on it at point blank range with the energy pistol. That was all the hits out of the four shots the equine had managed to fire before getting some leverage to buck it harshly in the skull twice while pushing against the roof of the vent. Since the Xouj had been holding onto the insides of the vent the first buck was very effective in damaging its skull, the second one was the one that launched it out of the vent and it all happened in a blur. “Your mental health matters to me too you know. Shall we continue the mission for taking the bridge then?” Intoned a somber Opal quietly, she ran her paws through her hair on Rarity’s HUD as she continued on while looking away from the eyes that were more worried about her. “I’m still getting a good signal through the hull and the delay time for control of either drone is an optimal three seconds thus far. On the plus side I can still appear on the HUD, so yeah. As for movement, of the twenty life signs I’m getting there’s only one other moving down on deck three near another one. Its slow moving and not anywhere near you. I don’t know what any of these life signs are; so we can not be a hundred percent that they are all Xouj. There are two others on the same deck as you, there are a lot of life signs around deck two which makes sense if that’s where the living quarters are and very few on deck three. ” “Twenty? Shouldn’t there be nineteen. Oh of course! I’m a life sign too, how silly of me to forget I’m alive. Is it okay for me to still be grossed out and horrified on a number of levels, I could use a little time to come to terms with this.” The digital cat in front of her eyes shrugged as she tittered light, Rarity sighed before closing her eyes to get herself mentally back in gear. She floated there for a few minutes just breathing. “I want to be a pony that every intelligent being out there should know, I know I can get over being mentally scarred for life!” “That’s the spirit, took you five minutes though give or take three seconds. Now come on Meowstress Rarity.” Opal had the CAT-1 drone take up position and start moving forward sweeping its light back and forth. Rarity followed behind CAT-1 and nervously looked at the shadows every now and then of the dark corridor. Behind her CAT-2 took up the rear watching their backs and floating backwards behind them. They proceeded down the corridor and passed through several doors that required the CATs to power and open, they closed them after they passed through. The group came up to an intersection, they saw a path to the left leading to a corridor that ran throughout the middle of the ship and another one that ran through right side of the ship beyond that. The group had come into the ship at the corridor that ran throughout the left side of the ship of the top deck. “I got movement, hold position. Both the life signs are moving ones coming down the corridor you’re in and… it’s somewhere that way out of the sight of CAT-1’s light because I’m not seeing it. The other one is now waiting just around the corner of the right side corridor from the intersection you’re at right now. I think they’re trying to set up an ambush.” It was an attentive Opal that was on top of the situation and had both the CATs move closer to Rarity while aiming the guns in their manipulators in both directions. “Watch out for open vents, we’ll try to proceed up the middle corridor. I’m not able to track where they are exactly, considering what happened to you earlier I’m in a shoot first ask questions later mood with these things.” Staying quiet, Rarity floated onwards as they took a left towards the middle corridor. Rarity was glad her suit was designed to stay temperate or else she’d be sweating right now and as a lady she really didn’t want to smell ripe. She was watching the corner of the right side corridor as they approached the middle corridor and she could hear a shifting movement as they reached the four way intersection. She looked away then looked back and saw the Xouj diving back around the corner as soon as her lights were upon it. She shivered slightly at knowing it was there. “Rarity, don’t tease the Xouj. Now we take a right, the other one has moved to the corner behind us. Slowly move after me and turn so that you’re facing backwards until CAT-2 can cover our backs.” It was a bit tense and Opal was splitting her concentration between the two CATs, on top of keeping track of the two life signs around the corners of the left and right side intersections they were now leaving. “Okay you can safely turn around now, but keep the pistol ready.” Rarity turned around and held the energy pistol at the ready. They continued down the corridor passing by several closed doors. She looked over her shoulder worriedly and turned back to looked along the walls and ceiling, sometimes seeing little more than splatters of blood in varying colors or some claw marks. It was so dark and quiet; she didn’t even hear the Xouj move to the four way middle corridor intersection behind them and she was now one highly spooked pony. Looking towards the floor she saw something like a box lying against a corner of the empty hall. “Opal, I think I see a drone.” If it were up to Rarity, she’d have a whole army of drones watching her back right now instead of the two flimsy CAT drones armed with energy pistols. “Good catch, watch the corridor ahead of CAT-1 for me, we don’t need them circling around on us. I’ll see if I can get this drone operational, it looks pretty messed up though.” Rarity took up position to watch the corridor in the direction they were heading as CAT-1 moved over to check out the mechanical device. At least now there were two drones between her and the two Xouj. “Okay, a wire here or there and… okay I’ve accessed its memory. It’s a MAT drone, diagnostics says it can still move, only its weapon is unusable so it won’t be much more use than another light source since it has also lost its manipulator arms. It was torn limb from limb by one of the Xouj. I guess they don’t like the taste of metal, good to know. Making necessary repairs to get it somewhat functional, maybe its light will be enough to keep them from attacking us.” Several sparks out of the corner of her vision later and another light joined as the rectangular shaped drone floated in front of Rarity and started slowly moving forward as CAT-1 took up a position next to her. Quirking an eye at it, Rarity was about to ask a question when Opal explained. “Better a more operational drone stay safe, than one that’s barely functional at all.” It was a quick and easy explanation from Opal that received a nod. Continuing onwards they bypassed two more doors and the two Xouj tried to attack as the first door was closing and its screech would haunt Rarity for a while as it clawed at the other side of the metal wall. It wasn’t long before they came to another four way intersection. “Okay it looks like we’re in the clear for the bridge, unless the Xouj can find another open vent near us, the other corridors must have doors in their way too.” Opal looked up through Rarity’s faceplate using CAT-1’s vision; she could see the pony biting her lower lip. “We’ve made it this far, I’m sure the bridge isn’t that bad.” - It had taken them a ladder with a manually opened hatch and another door to bypass to get to the bridge. “Okay, so it’s a little bad.” Opal winced as Rarity curled up into a fetal position hovering slightly above the floor near the bridge’s entrance as the MAT drone kept watch in the corridor below and the CAT-2 started surveying the room with its sensors. The cause of Rarity’s current curled up position was that the bridge was practically coated in dried blood and rotting half eaten unidentifiable putrid bodies of varying species. The stickier bits of guts were stuck sprinkling the floor in various places and quite a few dead Xouj were floating around in recognizable blasted apart chunks. There were no life signs in this room aside from Rarity’s and she was currently freaking out about the grim visuals. “Okay… powering on the computer so I can get the rest of the ship up and running.” CAT-2 started to power the computer. “Rarity, get yourself together. They are just… yeah this definitely counts as psychologically horrific for most biological beings. Look at it this way, they can’t hurt you, they have been long dead and you’re wearing a suit so you don’t have to touch, smell or even taste them. It could be much worse.” “There are so many dead bodies.” Muttered a whimpering Rarity who seemed to be rocking back and forth in place in the air, she was not handling this very well. “The need to make sick bag modification for my suit is growing stronger by the second.” “Okay the ship is online… huh. That’s not much of a problem and can be fixed, but we’ll need to get the Caravel Boutique inside and… oh… oh that is so gross. That is worse than what you’re seeing here Rarity.” It was what Opal said that caused Rarity to uncurl and take notice. “Also there are now nineteen life signs left and I can’t open the hangar.” “Are we not already surrounded by horrors? What could be worse and why are their nineteen life signs now?” If it was something to get Rarity’s mind off the horrors before her, then she’d very well be interested in something else. “First downloading schematics and cross referencing all the life signs left in the ship so I can put it up on your HUD. Also you really don’t want to see what I just found out. Let’s just say there are two survivors and they are down in the hangar of deck three, they are not looking so hot and I can’t currently show you the visuals as your stomach will just get weaker upon seeing it.” After a moment of silence the entire bridge lit up and Opal appeared on all the screens. “Now taking control of the ship, do you want to help out the two survivors? One of them appears to be injured and they both look a bit ragged.” “Opal, I respectfully ask that you let me see the survivors on my HUD. I wish to know what they are currently doing before I open communications with them.” The answer to Rarity’s question made her gag and almost vomited inside her helmet. “They’re eating one of those Xouj things!” “I did warn you. Let’s see if I can get audio since they’re talking to each other. They are the only two survivors left on this ship and they’ve been stuck under these conditions for… approximately a month and a half judging by the time stamp when things were last looking good.” It was seriously odd to Opal that even she could get queasy; this was a new feeling for her. “Is there any information on them in the computer?” What Rarity was looking at was two griffons, both of them were hens and one was injured a bit. Their names popped up as Greta Gollenfer and Gilda Gottfrieda. - “Do you think we’ll ever get off of this ship alive Greta?” Gilda was talking to her companion with a wounded right shoulder and claw marks going up her left side, she was currently bandaging herself up and already had some wrapped around her forehead. She was a griffon with a square shaped head with white plumage and purple markings around her eyes and a beak with a slightly upraised bump that gave it a slight hook shape. Her rumpled feather wings looked like they hadn’t been preened in days and she was horribly dirty to the point that it was hard to tell that her fur was naturally brown. Her friend in comparison looked nicer. She was busy holding on to a piece of metal to keep situated against the floor. “Also I’m getting really sick and tired of eating these assholes that killed off most of the crew that picked us up. They taste like raw cow manure, not that high grade minotaur stuff either, that is mixed with the flavor of skunk stench and rotten eggs.” “What else are we going to eat? Even if we could get by those things the communications are down, an SOS might get us killed anyway even if we could get one out, navigation is shot, the military drones are shredded and impulse wasn’t working after things went to hell. Not to mention everyone is likely dead and consumed, the lack of any nutritional food and the dangerous monsters stalking us throughout the ship.” Greta was a griffon with a round head and a short less hook like beak compared to her friends, her plumage was white with turquoise markings that was around her eyes and wrapped around her neck. She was a bit smaller than Gilda and had reddish feathers and fur; she looked to be slightly cleaner than Gilda was. “Plus, and mind you I’m not entirely sure about this, the emergency life support system might be failing. Even with all that I believe we can make it, we’re lucky the hangar is secure at the very least. We just have a few… problems… in our way.” “We certainly have enough of those, especially with the fucking gravity being off! I’d rather go down fighting in a fighter with a huge bang, than die like this with a whimper.” As she was saying this Gilda turned her face away from Greta who pulled down a welders mask and started lighting a plasma torch. Greta braced her body against the wall and floor before she started torching another part of the Xouj they’d been ripping bits off of and consuming after cooking its flesh. “You’re a mechanical engineer Gilda, not a fighter pilot like your friend Rainbow. I’m sure once we’ve thinned out their numbers enough we can do something about getting impulse in working order, we can jump in a straight line until we either find civilization or a planet to survive on with the first system we run into. Provided we don’t hit a black hole we can use the SOS if we end up on a wild planet.” Greta turned off the plasma torch and then got a good grip on the Xouj’s dead body and pulled off the fried leg. The Xouj looked to have had its throat completely and violently ripped out. Greta seemed the more chipper of the two whereas Gilda looked like she perfected the art of being gruff as she was handed the leg. “I’m sure we can come across some way to survive this, you know it’s nice that we’re actually getting around to talking about this now.” “How exactly are we going to do that? Survival is kind of hard when they have us outnumbered and taking them out one at a time is not exactly going to be easy now with these injuries. We don’t exactly have weapons you know and we can’t get into the armory since it’s surrounded by these things on the deck above us, I’m surprised we even have a medical kit.” Gilda was rather dour whereas Greta seemed a bit optimistic. “Drinking the floating water near the toilets is not exactly healthy either; it’s hard to tell what came from the toilets and what came out of the faucets.” “I’m sure there’s some kind of windfall coming our way, I can repair anything after all and you can design things for me to build. I’m sure we can cobble together some kind of club or blade to deal with these monsters.” Greta grimaced after taking a bite of her own Xouj leg that she just finished firing up; she chewed and constantly grimaced at the taste. She eventually swallowed and continued. “So we’re a bit trapped out in deep space, at least we have each other and are alive.” “Yeah, I guess. To be honest I’ve been contemplating suicide for a while, but I don’t want to leave your sorry ridiculously optimistic ass alone.” Gilda continued to eat her Xouj leg without complaint, Greta just gave Gilda a hurt look and continued eating her own Xouj leg. “Well then it’s your lucky day, can you get to a room that I can seal off for a bit?” Both the griffons gave a start at Opal’s voice popping up from out of nowhere. “I need to use the hangar to land a ship.” “Am I starting hear things Gilda?” It appeared that Greta didn’t want to believe that she was finally losing her sanity. “No I heard that too, okay who are you and where are you?” Gilda sat up and started looking up at the ceiling. “This is Rarity Belle along with my AI companion Opal, our ship was recently attacked by pirates and jump module problem left us stranded out here quite recently. Opal is in the ships systems and I’m currently on the bridge.” At hearing the sound of Rarity’s voice, the two griffons looked ecstatic and a little worried. “I hope you don’t mind that I boarded with the express purpose of taking advantage of this ship.” “So… same boat as us, but for less than a day I take it?” It was Greta responding with a friendly demeanor. “Can you please turn the gravity back on, we’ve been having a heck of time dealing with all these things and a little help could go a long way to having us indebted to you.” “No need for debts dear, but please go to another room so that Opal can seal it off and land my ship. I have a plan to take care of those dreadful monsters.” It wasn’t really Rarity’s plan; she was just trying to protect her AI companion. “Can you tell us how many are left?” If there were like three, then Gilda thought that they could take them if this Rarity had any weapons on her. “There are sixteen of them, two up here on the upper deck that I had to sneak past with my two CAT drones. I picked up a MAT drone but it doesn’t have any functionality besides being a floating flashlight and there’s fourteen on the deck below me and above you.” After that Rarity thought they should know how long they’ve been like this. “You’ve been on this ship for a month and a half; the both of you look like you could use some food, water, medical help and most importantly a shower.” “If you can promise all that we’ll work for you until either we die! Do you hear this Gilda, we’re saved… well mostly saved!” The cheerful Greta rubbed the back of her head as she pushed at the floor with her wings and floated closer to Gilda to give her a big hug. “I’m with her, if you can give us all that we’ll happily let you whip us and put slave collars around our necks lady. Heck I’m willing to sell my first born to you, tattoo your name all over my body and let you sexually violate me in any way you deem fit.” Yep Gilda’s obviously cheerful disposition was shining through. “Greta you’re pissing me off, let go of me.” “Oh seriously, there’s no need to go THAT far. Why I’d happy to help you two out without favors owed. Now give my ship a chance to land will you? You apparently happen to be in a good spot to set it down.” The griffons didn’t need to be told twice as they started to move. Once the griffons were out of the way an oxygen barrier went up and one of the many doors to the hanger opened up and allowed in the Caravel Boutique before closing. - “All hail the pony that just saved our asses!” The Caravel Boutique was a rather beautiful sight to Gilda. The ship opened up and she along with Greta both boarded it with haste to feel the effects of gravity once more, they were tired of this hellhole they’ve been on and wanted some tender loving care. They swore their lives to Rarity after taking showers for the first time in a long while. - The last of the Xouj ran into the hangar chasing after the MAT drone and they were suddenly flash fried by Caravel Boutique's variable thrusters; their screeches would haunt Rarity’s nightmares. They were actually kind of easy to bait into a trap. “Okay confirm for me, how many life signs are left now Opal?” Leaning back in clean chair on the bridge of the now cleared out ship was Rarity who had watched Opal bait the Xouj into the variable thrusters on the Caravel Boutique with the drones. It was a rather safe, quick and effective method of dealing with them. “It’s confirmed you and the two griffon gals are all that is alive now, setting CATs and MAT to search for other drones or parts to repair them with. All we need to do now is clean up and get the impulse working so that we can turn the ship in the right direction to jump the rest of the way to Quia System.” Sighing in relief, Opal was happy that Rarity was eventually going to be alright. “Oh can I help get the impulse running again? If not then give me something to do!” It seemed Greta was eager to get things moving. Next to her Gilda rolled her eyes before biting into a chunk of cheese liberated from the Caravel Boutique’s food stores. -5-Having been in it for a while, Rarity really wanted out of her EVA suit and Opal wasn’t about to let her disrobe until she was back on the Caravel Boutique. Even with the infestation dealt with and the power was restored to some parts of it, it was still dangerous to be around the larger vessel without a suit. With the power back on Rarity was able to use the elevators to move between decks, there were nine elevators three in left, right and middle corridors of the ship. The positions of the elevators were at the front, middle and back end of the ship on every deck. The carrier cruiser hybrid was called Derringer. The other way to move between the decks was the hatches that led to ladders that could also go between decks and the infrastructure between them. The hatches were of a safety design and could not be fully opened if the other side was exposed to open space. The elevator Rarity took was one of the few working ones at the rear of the ship. The ship had been through several incidents as the Xouj infestation started taking out most of the crew. That wasn’t all that had happened to the ship, the infestation was only the catalyst for paranoia and for various people to start turning on one another. Greta and Gilda had been lucky to not get caught in the cross fire, they had been put in a room with someone who died soon after it was found out the two griffons were not responsible for the deaths of the other crew members. Opal had given Rarity an abridged version of these events, which is why Rarity wasn’t surprised to see the hangar was empty of its fighter compliment. The hangar was split into four sections that were separated from each other by their own atmosphere barriers which had been recently activated. The reason why they were activated was because life support looked iffy and Opal was still scouring Derringer for drones to fix what was broken. Atmosphere barriers as the name implied were barriers that prevented atmosphere from leaking out into space, anything else could pass through them but air or other gas. They were used in the launching of fighters, because having to lose atmosphere every time you launched fighters was a bad idea in a ship that will soon take damage and possible leak even more of it. Speaking of atmosphere, a ship like this one had its own gas farm on deck two near the living quarters throughout the three corridors on that deck. Gas farms were primarily for farming oxygen from plants and storing it for emergency purposes to refill lost atmosphere in a ship. It would be called an oxygen farm, but not all sentient beings in the universe breathed oxygen. A small cargo ship like the Caravel Boutique usually had oxygen scrubbers which recycled air and had a small gas farm that barely produced enough to keep atmosphere in the ship fresh. The section of the hangar Rarity came into was third one coming in from the left side elevator; the section was marked by the large black square landing area as she walked out of the elevator. To her right was the repair and maintenance section to repair damaged fighters or other things like drones. To Rarity’s left were two more large black squares marking the two other sections, between which were the three elevator pillars in the middle of the wide expansive hangar that were connected to the middle corridors of the other two decks. Her ship was parked at the front of the ship in section one. The Caravel Boutique looked like it could land in any of the sections which looked to be big enough to comfortably house six fighters each, but it might have had to turn onto its edge slightly to get around the three elevator pillars. Speaking of things in the way, the Derringer had a lot of things wrong with it. Aside from the slowly failing life support that needed to be quickly repaired, it lost its shield generator to an explosion, with navigations down the ship couldn’t tell which way it was going, the damaged impulse function was needed to even aim the ship in the right direction even if they had navigations, power had problems reaching certain parts of the ship and it needed to be rerouted manually. Of these problems the navigations was easily solved by using the Caravel Boutique’s navigations, so that left the damaged impulse and life support that were the two big problems that needed immediate attention. Otherwise everything else was perfectly good to leave for later, it was idly noted that Derringer was built with many species, including ponies, in mind. The gravity generator had been brought online within minutes of the last Xouj being turned to ash. “Opal, if you have the time dear, how would ships like mine have gotten around those pillars?” Her light cargo freighter was small, but it was taking up a bit of space and Rarity was overall curious as to the answer. She turned left and started walking along the wall, there were a few small rooms down here for pilots to use so they could get to their fighters quickly in an emergency. What Rarity couldn’t understand was why they were spaced so far apart, there looked to be six lining the walls with each small room next to the elevators. Looking about and waiting for an answer, Rarity looked to see there were hangar overview rooms above her head for guiding landings and takeoffs, plus empty catwalks leading up to them. The overview rooms probably had hatches leading up to deck two. There was a lot of equipment lying around for moving fighters around, such as cranes and other various pieces of equipment for refueling, rearming, refitting and recharging fighters. Aside from that the place was quite empty except for the dead Xouj body lying on the floor with bits of it ripped off and consumed by the two hungry desperate griffons. “Well Meowstress there’s not just one massive door at the front of the ship for fighters to leave from, there are approximately five doors to this flying bricks hangar for ships to come and go from. There are two doors to both sides of sections two and three, section one only has one the door, section three doesn’t have pillar between it and section four.” Ever busy at work was Opal, but she always had enough time for Rarity to answer questions. “Section three and four are used for fighter maintenance and repair, sections one for offensive fighter launches and two for defensive. Three doubles as another defensive launch section. The area around section three outside has heavier turret protection to help damaged fighters retreat safely. Speaking of turrets, they are all fully functional duel energy cannons and if we can’t keep this rather roomy ship where I can spread my digital legs, then please tell me we can at least ‘liberate’ some of those cannons for the Caravel Boutique! This ship has twenty six of them and it could live with missing two of them, we can even sell a few for a good price since we kind of need the money.” Rarity stopped on her trek through the hangar in the middle of section two, she really hadn’t considered what was going to happen to Derringer once she got it moving and to the Quia System. She still had to go to Ewesen, because her friend and business partner was going to be stuck there until she arrived and she was likely putting them into a pickle by not arriving on time. “I’ll consider it Opal. Now let’s meet these two griffons face to face shall we? If anything they have more claim to the stuff on this ship than I do.” Rarity turned to the MAT drone that would look intimidating if you didn’t know it was a defanged glorified mobile flashlight. “How goes the drone hunt?” “There are lots of spare parts, very few intact drones though. I’ve only found two more drones. The Xouj might not like the taste of metal, but they certainly tried to eat them. Both of them are CATs, so that’s five drones to work with when I can get them operational at least Meowstress Rarity.” Opal was happy to at least get more help up and running. The griffons were the last ones on the ship as surviving crew, so everything technically might go to the griffons as long as it was proven that they had nothing to do with the crew being killed off. “I’ll open up the Caravel Boutique for you, Gilda is currently getting med-bed treatment and Greta is in the living quarters eating. They raided your fridge and haven’t had the time to get showers in; Gilda will be bathed by the med-bed on the principle of her injuries. Their health will take some time to improve after what they’ve been eating and the lack of gravity, but they are not doing poorly.” “Thank you Opal, but please don’t remind me what they had to do to survive such a dreadful situation darling.” Rarity shuddered to think of having to survive off of the creatures that had slaughtered the other people on the ship. Griffons were made of sterner stuff than ponies. The cargo ramp lowers and Rarity made her way inside Caravel Boutique. After the ramp closed she reached up with her and hit something on the saddle to detach it from her back and then reached up to unlatch her helmet from around her head. She shook her mane out and shivered at the sight of it, what she could see of it at least. “Finally, oh my poor mane is quite the mess. Helmet hair is unavoidable I suppose, a little sprucing up is in order!” Rarity started to peel the suit off and having done so she started shaking her tail out after pulling it from the hair compression compartment; she laid the suit on top of the MAT drone. “I could use a nice hot shower after all this dreadful business with pirates and monsters. I’ll see to my guests first though, I can’t be a bad host now. Opal please be a dear and have the MAT drone drop my suit off in a corner for cleaning later.” Walking through the door to the left branch corridor on the Caravel Boutique, she walked into the living area and saw Greta munching on some carrots at the table. The griffon took one look at her and gave an appreciative smile; she swallowed and stood up to meet Rarity. “Thank you so much for this, technical engineer Greta Gollenfer at your service ma’am!” Greta held out her left claw and Rarity took it into her hoof and shook it. They both then sat at the table. “Didn’t know you were a pony, but I have no problem with that. What my friend Gilda can’t build or do, I can. Need a ship repaired, renovated or need us to build one from scratch? We can do it. So what’s your occupation? I bet you’re some kind of grand adventurer looking for treasure judging by your cutie mark.” “No, I’m not an adventurer; I’m a fashion designer or an entrepreneur if you will. At least I’m trying to start out as one.” Despite the revelation Rarity gave her about her personal occupational choice it didn’t seem to dim Greta’s mood. “Getting attacked by pirates and having my jump module blown to bits was not exactly how I expected things to go starting out, I launched from Desserzon in the Verpo System heading towards Ewesen in the Quia System. You can guess what happened from there.” “Well that’s a rather underwhelming sounding occupation; you must have had a rough time… hold on a second.” Greta started checking Rarity’s fur and it made the pony self conscious and uncomfortable that she was being touched by the griffon’s rather gentle claws. “You have some pretty bad bruises, most likely whiplash. So I’m assuming your jump module exploded after you got into jump and everyone knows gravity has an adverse effect on those modules and vice versa. As such the gravity generator would have… well you survived it so yeah, you probably already know what it did. I can fix things to prevent it from happening again if you want me to. Say did this ship belong to a Plurt? It’s well maintained except for the jump module being blown to bits, though the lack of weapons and an escape pod doesn’t seem like them.” “I did get it from a Plurt, the escape pod was used in escaping the pirates and I hadn’t the money to afford the weapons. That would be a nice thing to do for me, but we need to work out some other things first. You need to get cleaned up and I need to make you an EVA suit before you go out to fix the impulse on the Derringer.” To Rarity this griffon was nice and friendly in person as she was over the communications. “In any case, it’d be safer if you had one of my custom made suits to make the repairs with as we can’t trust the life support of the Derringer to keep working at the moment.” “At least the pirates didn’t get you, you wouldn’t have been here to save us then… or help us so we can help you in any case. Quick question, you wouldn’t happen to need a few new crew members would you? Things kind of went to heck and a hand basket for us on Derringer and we need jobs.” Having a positive outlook no matter the situation was Greta’s thing in life, it beat the alternative of being just another money grubbing griffon. “I mean just traveling around with an AI taking care of everything could be problematic in the long run, plus yes, I would like my very own EVA suit. It would certainly help; there are not many EVA suit designers for Equus physiologies so you’d definitely got a market cornered if you’re good at it and the suits prove effective. So how about it, we’re actually good at what we do when given a chance you know!” “I’m not exactly sure I could pay you, I’m a little light on money at the moment. I’ll think on it in any case.” It was hard for Rarity to outright say no to Greta’s eager face, it was another thing to add to her think about list. “So want to go see your friend and get in a shower? Only after that can we discuss business while I’m making you an EVA suit.” “Oh yes! I mean it’s not a yes to hiring us, but still you could use all the help you can get with keeping an old ship like this running.” Following the pony to the door while crunching the last of her carrots, Greta fluffed out her grime covered wings. “Now it’s time to go get the grime out of my feathers.” As they walked into the medical and cleansing room they could already see Gilda in a med-bed with her arms cross and floating in medical fluids, she didn’t look particularly happy with it. At least she wasn’t strapped down like Rarity had been; it still caused the only pony in the room to shudder. “I can see your having fun Gilda, hey the med-bed is working so don’t look so grumpy! A Plurt last owned this ship, so it’s safe.” At Greta’s words, Gilda rolled her eyes and held up a claw at her friend. “Well okay then, just get better alright. Be angry if you want to be, you’re going to come out of there physically healthy do you hear me Ms. Gottfrieda?” Gilda dropped her claw and nodded, she leaned back and put her claws behind her head and closed her eyes. At least she knew she couldn’t talk while under the medical fluids and was getting some rest in. “She seems… well okay she was actually being rather rude with that gesture.” Rarity didn’t think she was going to get along with Gilda. “Yeah, she’s like that, all grumpy all the time.” Sighing Greta turned to Rarity as she gathered two towels and passed one off into Greta’s claws. She hung up the towel outside the shower she stepped into. She kept talking to her new friend and savior as she started to bathe herself. “She really wants to be a fighter pilot, but I know she’s just as happy with building and fixing them. In fact I’d be a little scared if she did get a job as a fighter to pilot, the usual life expectancy of a fighter pilot is really low unless you’re really good, like Big Sky Ponies. The Big Sky Ponies are some of the best fighter pilots around and Gilda likes them, but she really doesn’t want to be held down by military obligations so she became a mechanical engineer so she could build her own fighters. I really don’t have that many friends, but Gilda is one of the best ones I have. She’s a good griffon and she kept me safe.” “What about you, what’s your story or dream as if it were? I grew up mostly on Desserzon, nice planet and not many dangers to speak of. Got dragged halfway across it to find my cutie mark, I have a special talent for finding gems and an eye for detail or beauty.” As she washed Rarity wondered about these two while squeezing some of the soapy substance onto her mane. “Well I was hatched in aerie in Griffonstone by my mother and father and I grew up being one of the more educated griffons out there. I got into technical engineering when it came to watching spaceships come and go from our spaceport, I was always more interested in the finer details of the technology that went into it. I met Gilda after she went to summer camp and met her friend a pony named Rainbow Dash, the two were interested in flying to such a degree that they both wanted to fly whether with their own wings or with a spaceship.” A whimsical tone entered Greta’s voice as she scrubbed away behind a door. “Gilda was more interested in the physical stuff and how to put it together, had a part time job as a mechanic’s assistant while we were still in school. I personally preferred studying the idea of longer distance communications and theoretical stuff like warp travel. In any case I also learned how to repair computer systems; wiring, gravity generators and whatever else I thought would be useful to know when traveling out to space. Gilda and I teamed up with me working as her assistant; I’m looking for adventure and to study the technology of other cultures. Gilda on the other claw is looking to build and fly her own fighters, we’ve been running around in space ever since. Haven’t been able to get enough resources or materials to start our own workshop given we spend most of what we earn on living expenses and tools.” “Well you two technically own Derringer, you were the last survivors of the crew and provided you had nothing to do with their deaths the ownership should fall to you.” Hearing a bubbling noise, Rarity poked her head out of the shower and saw Gilda looking a bit shocked. “The authorities still need to be notified for life insurance policies belonging to the families of the crew.” “Hey yeah, that sounds about right. We didn’t have anything to do with the infestation, all I know is that it started after a supply run and the resulting infighting led to the state the ship is in now.” Greta leaned against the wall of the shower while hot water ran over her flexing feathers. “We didn’t know how long we’ve been stuck in this situation until you came along, things were pretty bad and now it’s much better. You can have whatever you want, maybe the Derringer itself if Gilda is in a good mood. I know she won’t give up this hangar without a fight knowing it belongs to us though; it certainly would be a good place for us to set up and build fighters with. I still think you’ll get salvage rights however.” “We’ll hash it out darling and might I say that was a most wonderful shower.” After drying herself off with a towel, Rarity made her way over to a mirror and pulled out a brush and come to style her hair with. “It feels so good to get my mane back into shape.” “Getting grease stuck between my feathers for weeks has been unpleasant, but it comes with the work me and Gilda do.” Greta walked out of the shower and started to preen her feathers, tugging at them gently with her beak. “Well when you’re done meet me in the cargo room where I have my workshop, by the way your feathers look gorgeous darling.” It seemed that Greta didn’t care about preening in front of others and Rarity thought that it was a private thing that winged folk do. - Greta stood absolutely still watching as Rarity started constructing the Eva suits underwear and mask for her, after a moment of indecision she decided to move forward. “Can I help you with that? I’d be better at installing the more technological aspects of the suit and I must say the breach gel stuff is ingenious, who designed it?” After having heard Greta come up to her the pony turned and smiled. “I came up with it; it’s a flexible substance that becomes rubbery under certain conditions. I made it when designing super hero costumes on a Nightmare Night on Desserzon for my little sister, but at the time it was not quite as airtight as it is now. Oh, the places you can get inspiration from.” Rarity moved aside and let Greta have a crack at getting the more technical aspects of her EVA suit in place and made a few helpful comments as she did so to not mess up things with the suit. “So the suit would have to cover my wings as well… two compression pouches should work, but you can’t put too much stress on the wings like you can hair. As for the faceplate HUD that’s something I can install, but what’s with these ports you have on the back here?” Greta pointed out the saddle ports and Rarity pointed out the saddle she disconnected from her suit for cleaning. The griffon padded over and started to check the saddle over. “Huh, this saddle has impulse technology in it? Beats those limited use jetpacks by miles… it also carries its own oxygen supply? I’m assuming you didn’t make it considering technology is not your expertise. Also it being detachable is a good idea, especially if it’s compromised and going to explode.” “A friend of mine designed the space saddle; she gave me a few copies to work with and I’ve recently gave it a test run that she’ll probably want the data from. It’s why I’m heading to Ewesen; she’s the utilities designer for my suits and we’re trying to go into business together.” At this Rarity paused watching as Greta shaped her faceplate mask, while she toiled away on the sealing underwear. “I do hope the poor dear is alright, she gets awfully skittish about things even if she’s a very bright young mare.” “I’m sure things will be fine, now help me with the connections to the suit, I’m assuming your suit is controlled by your horn. I’m going to need a dummy AI to diagnose my suit and work it with voice activation and some biometric controls.” It was apparent to Greta that Rarity hadn’t thought that far ahead when it came to other species using the EVA suits she designs, otherwise she wouldn’t have given her a blank look like she did. “It’s the stuff that’ll key the suit in to work only for me so it can’t be used without my express permission. Also can my suit come in turquoise with bright purple stripes? I also have a few designs I want to decal mine with.” “I believe I can hire you, I definitely need help with the more technical aspects of engineering EVA suits.” It looked like Rarity had made Greta’s day when the griffon beamed proudly. - Out in space Greta sat running through several checks to make sure her brand new suit was secure; she didn’t believe an EVA suit could be made so quickly. Especially considering it had five layers and was made just shy of less than three hours. First layer was the underwear and helmet, the helmet was created with all the layers already included in it including a breach gel layer that would activate the moment the faceplate was damaged. The second was the temperature layer, third and fourth was the breach gel compressing layer and the final layer was the outside of the suit. It was all so thin yet very tough. Turning about she flew into the hangar. Greta’s suit in particular had been designed with the camera idea Rarity and Opal had come up with for cases where the faceplate is compromised, they still hadn’t worked out how to clean off the faceplate and Greta immediately jumped on the opportunity to think on it. The emergency camera’s for her suit came from damaged drone parts and would activate as needed. “If the outside of the vessel isn’t damaged then it’s an internal problem, should be easy enough to fix.” Suddenly the warning signs blared on her suit. “Well Derringer’s life support just failed, so that means the atmosphere in the ship is now to be considered compromised. Good thing I don’t need to worry about that anymore, now to work on fixing the impulse drive. Opal can I borrow a CAT please?” - The Derringer was soon departing for Quia System and the planet of Ewesen by entering jump, sitting at a table narrowing her eyes at Rarity was Gilda. They had been working on the details of what to do with Derringer. “You can have ownership of the Derringer, but we want the hangar and we will handle the upkeep of Derringer or whatever you’ll call it if you change its name. You can probably rent it out as a transport to people or have it as a mobile factory for your business ideas; I don’t freaking care what you do. This ship is inevitably going to need a lot more supplies; we’ll give you a list a things if and when we need it by order of urgency. As for building my own fighters, that’ll come from my own pocket and since we already worked out our salaries if you gain ownership of Derringer...” After a moment Gilda decided to move her face close to Rarity’s, it was quickly learned that Gilda was quite the negotiator as she stared the pony down. “If you can trust us to do our jobs, then we’ll trust you to do yours Captain Belle. Don’t get us killed!” -6-The Derringer left jump at the edge of Quia System and flew inwards towards Ewesen. Given that she was in system Rarity decided to make a call to apologize to her good friend, she wondered if she had gone to pieces yet. Ewesen was a planet covered in large amounts of water, yet it had no oceans. It had really big lakes everywhere though and was almost completely green where it wasn’t covered in water. The planet had a tropical climate and had a nice legal trade industry going. Rarity wanted to start up her business here with her friend who was already on the planet setting things up for her arrival so they could start selling stuff together; quite frankly they were going to need the money soon if ownership of Derringer actually ends up in Rarity’s hooves. “Opal, can you open a channel to Ewesen please? You know who I want to call and apologize to for being so late.” Rarity sat in the captain’s chair on the Caravel Boutique looking at the screen, completely unperturbed by the sound of two griffons shuffling about nearby. She had recently finished adding some decals to Greta’s EVA suit; it had Rarity’s cutie mark proudly emblazoned on the chest now. “Of course I can Meowstress Rarity, calling our good friend Coco Pommel.” Opal popped up on the screen with her hair up in pigtails and a smile on her face and in her eyes, her ears flicked a bit and she pawed at them slightly. “Okay, connecting to her personal data pad and… we’re live!” A worried looking mare popped up on screen, she was freaked out and not looking at the screen. Coco otherwise known as Miss Pommel was always so skittish and adorable in her mannerisms, she was an earth pony with an off-white colored fur and her hair was two tones of lighter blues. Her mane in particular looked like a cute bob with blunt cut bangs and some of her hair was held in position with a tasteful three colored hairclip that looked like a flower. “Please tell me you’re the police and that you’re coming soon because… Rarity where have you been, I’m in need of some serious help right now!” Coco had finally looked at the screen and saw Rarity giving her a concerned look. Miss Pommel had a hat shaped cutie mark and was currently wearing a large backpack full of stuff on her back; her eyes were darting about warily. “I got held up by space pirates. Oh don’t look so worried! As a lady with my charm and wit, it was nothing I couldn’t handle.” Now if only Rarity hadn’t had to kill a monster at point blank range with an energy pistol, she still cringed at the fact that she took its life. In the background on the screen she could hear weapons discharging and the sound of things breaking, it sounded like a bar brawl was going on. “Enough about me as I’m perfectly okay now. What’s happening Coco, what kind of trouble are you in?” “You can say that things around here are a little more violent than they should be. Hey, did you test out the impulse saddle? I know I’m not exactly safe at the moment, but a little good news might cheer me up.” Coco ducked down behind a counter and the body of a four legged brown shelled being that looked like the shape of half a banana flew sideways through the air behind her missing one of its two arms the other of which ended in a claw with a three fingered hand. It was followed by a violent burst of sound that a material rifle would make and several screeches. The earth pony seemed to be in the lobby of the hotel she was staying at and her current position seemed to be taking cover behind what looked like a free breakfast bar. “I really have no idea why ‘Sea and Tears’ are after me, well maybe they’re not, but it would be helpful if they weren’t currently shooting at everyone!” ‘Sea and tears’ was the general term or the ideal pronunciation for the Ceantir race, in terms it was apt to call them this for the ‘sea of blood’ and ‘tears to follow’ motto most species have about them. They were noted for two things, being really hard to harm and being involved in highly violent or volatile situations. Most likely if they weren’t in a job involving heavy combat then they were artists, prosecutors and exterminators. It was a truth that they were really good artists, ones who painted the walls with the blood of their enemies quite literally into enjoyable works of art until you found out where they got their paint from. They were good prosecutors, when you wanted someone completely dead as they liked shotgun diplomacy. As for exterminators… surprisingly they could do a good job that didn’t involve killing other sentient species. Not to say they couldn’t be friendly or have merchants, but nine times out of ten they were going to be fighting for someone in some way and you better not be the one that they were currently directed at. Ceantirs were a crab like race, as far as their limbs were concerned. Their bodies came in a dull brown or rusty red colors, sometimes pink or yellow which was rare. Cut a banana in half then add armored plating layered onto it, then put four crab legs on it and two arms ending large claws with three fingered hands inside of them and you might have an idea as to what one of these guys looked like. Females looked like one half of the banana and the males looked like the other with slightly spikier horns reminiscent of rhinoceros beetles. Their heads were square shape near the top of their armored hoods. They had round eyes that were one solid color that came in any color of the rainbow and were usually glowing, as for their mouths they had lips and small razor sharp teeth which was very underwhelming considering how dangerous the rest of their bodies were. This race of crustaceous people were hard to harm for several reasons, first and foremost being was they had both a skeleton and an exoskeleton which made their bodies sturdy. The second reason was that they had an ability to regenerate both skeletal structures and almost anything else. Among the things you never did with a Ceantir was grapple with one or get too close them, their most famous method of literally disarming someone is to grab them with their hands and then close the crab claw violently on what they were grabbing. Their shells had sharp rigid points that you didn’t want to rub up against and the final fact is that hand to hand with them was just asking for pain and misery as their physical strength was not to be ignored. The particular weaknesses of Ceantirs were as follows: incredible amounts blunt force trauma to damage their soft tissue enough that internal hemorrhaging might possibly stop them. Apply piercing force to do enough damage to either of their two brains or one of their three hearts again for internal injuries that might slow them down. Then finally the most common way to absolutely deal with one was to set them on fire. Ceantirs were notoriously easy to set on fire and that was one major problem for them. Though it took them a while to die from it, heat was definitely their anathema as it slowed them down immensely and even stopped their regenerative abilities immediately. This was aside from being heavy seven to ten foot tall intelligent beings that were very slow to begin with and couldn’t even swim; they were actually much harder to kill underwater unless something big and lethal took them down. Otherwise they were slow moving walls of death when armed with projectile weaponry that on average weighed above five hundred pounds or more and can survive in outer space for approximately three hours without an EVA suit. Despite all the nasty sounding stuff about them, they weren’t actually hostile to any other sentient race unless they were paid to be; otherwise they were strictly neutral in many things and thankfully cared very little about galactic conquest. As long as you didn’t invade their planet or they were paid to maul you, then you were perfectly safe from them. They were rather honorable beings about not shooting bystanders unless, again, they were paid extra to do just that by an unscrupulous individual. “Coco, dear, the impulse saddle works perfectly, I ask that you please get to safety and wait for me to come pick you up. I might have to go through customs and a few other things before I’m allowed on the planet, do you think you can hold on for that long… also what’s throwing those Ceantirs around?” It was easy to say that ponies, especially Rarity, didn’t get along with Ceantirs and their ways. It was hard to even imagine that they could be thrown around considering how heavy they were. Coco looked over the counter and then held up the data pad for Rarity to see what was going on; it was a three way fight. The two bigger groups were the Ceantirs and Macropussians, there was a third side of the fight that was one bounty hunter Rarity recognized fighting the other two sides at the same time by herself. Apparently the dragon known as Ember ‘flamethrower’ Mcflame somehow had made it to Ewesen before even Rarity could; it really had the fashion loving pony slightly peeved. The blue dragoness looked to be too embroiled in the fight to pay much attention to anything else. Macropussians were basically intelligent and exceedingly strong kangaroos with incredible acrobatic skills; most of their species could bench press five hundred to seven hundred pounds and were all around good in a fight. They were generally friendly to any race they met including ponies. They could walk on all fours or on two legs. They often preferred to leap and jump to get around and were known for jumping from building to building and climbing all over stuff, they also had three times the jumping strength of a normal kangaroo. The fastest way to beat one in combat was to aim for their legs, because you weren’t going to be hitting much else of them if you didn’t as they were fast unless hampered. They were the size of a normal kangaroo if only slightly different in appearance, which were slightly pointier ears and fluffier tails and heads. “I don’t really know where to go Rarity and it sounds like you’ve had as bad a time as I am right now; I have no place aside from my room here and I at least have all my stuff in my backpack before I left after all the windows were shot out.” It was easy to see the whimpering Coco was positively frightened to be near the firefight going on in the background as a few shots passed by her position causing her to curl up on the floor. “Can’t you think of someone you could go to?” Even if Rarity was worried for Coco, she seemed to be safely out of the way of it if cornered near a violent three way with one side being highly outnumbered. “Go to? Oh, well… yes… but you probably don’t want her to know where you are or that you’re coming here.” Coco flattened herself against the floor as a wave of fire swept over the counter she was sitting behind, said counter caught on fire. “Rarity, I’ll call you back if I’m still among the living. I’m sorry, but the only other pony I can go to that I know is around is… Sassy Saddles. I got to go; things are getting really unpleasant in here!” With that the connection just cut out as a vertically bisected flaming half of Ceantir flew into view with its insides cauterized and Rarity shivered at the sight that she last saw from her friends data pad. Sassy was a friend who was a little crazy. They were still great friends sure, but Sassy was obsessed with befriending females of any species and hated untrustworthy males with a burning passion. The mares she was mostly obsessed with snuggling up against were Coco, Rarity and a member of SNUGGLES called Fluttershy who was apparently her therapist that also a natural at taking care of dangerous animals that could be sifter drifter level threats. “Oh dear, I hope Coco will be alright until I can pick her up.” She didn’t know how the situation got started, but Rarity hoped that her friend survived it until they could meet up. “We’re being hailed Rarity, it’s coming from near Ewesen’s moon. I think it’s coming from Geoptis Station, should I patch it through?” Opal’s pigtails bounced as she tilted her head at Rarity on the screen and she looked both giddy and worried at the same time. She was giddy that Rarity was safely back on track to civilization and worried that Miss Pommel wasn’t safe where she was. “Yes, please do, it could be important.” Rarity waited for a moment a on the screen popped a neon purple Plurt that looked to be female, sometimes she wondered why all Plurts had nice voices. “Hello and welcome Quia System. This is Planetary Protection Patrol officer Lirutiy speaking, what is your business in this system? We are currently monitoring your approach. If you can hear me and given that your ears don’t have earplugs in them, please change your approach to dock with Geoptis Station on the approach vector we’re transmitting and answer my question if you are not hostile. Otherwise we will fire upon you; I am awaiting your response.” Lirutiy sounded serious and even looked it on the screen. “Yes, we’ll change course for Geoptis following the vector given. My business is to sell clothing and EVA suits, I’m a designer of fashion and civilian level protective gear. I left Verpo system a while ago from the planet of Desserzon and things haven’t been easy for me since. I’ve been beset by pirates, they had three light cruisers ambush my little cargo freighter. The jump module of my ship the Caravel Boutique exploded and gave me a horrible case of whiplash that I can still somewhat feel, needed to be put in a med-bed with the help from my CATs. Then I had to board the larger ship Derringer which was infested with creatures known as Xouj, I found two survivors on that ship that have been stuck on it for a month and a half. I’m currently on Caravel Boutique using its navigations to direct the Derringer as it has taken quite a bit of damage. Do you need to know more than that?” After a pause Rarity decided to continue. “Now that I’m finally in the Quia System from what was supposed to be a two hour jump trip intercepted somehow with an interdiction field by pirates that knew my exact course, I just find out my business partner Miss Pommel is being beset by Ceantirs, Macropussians and someone I’m vaguely acquainted with. I just got off a call with my friend and I’m pretty sure her hotel has just been set on fire and she’s in danger. Also if you wouldn’t mind, I’m looking into claiming ownership of Derringer.” “Wait, did you just say Ceantirs? What’s the name of that hotel?” Seeing Lirutiy take a sudden interest in something she had to say, Rarity quickly rattled out the location of the hotel. “It’s in the city of Drixsto near Lake Terwa, on I believe… Pismo Street was it? It’s called the Galactic Gallop Hotel, it’s a pony owned chain of hotels on various friendly planets in the five systems we ponies are most common in.” There was a moment of silence as Rarity watched the Plurt gain a sudden look of panic, she turned away started talking excitedly about something on a different screen. After turning around and looking off to the side of the screen she looked back to Rarity and gave her a weak smile. “Thank you for your help, please continue your course. After docking Derringer, we will question the two survivors and have two investigation teams go through the ship to make sure what you say is accurate. Also send us a copy of any data involving the assault on your ship as that will be of importance to us.” Here officer Lirutiy didn’t sound so sure of something that she mostly muttered to herself. It was a little odd considering the Planetary Protection Patrol were usually on top of budding problems, especially in their own sections in space where they happen to be prevalent and it seemed that some things might have gotten by them judging by the disturbed expression on the friendly slugs face. “We will have to give your ship a once over first of all. It’s to make sure there is nothing illegal on it, but otherwise you can go straight to Ewesen after we clear you. It’s not recommended as there is currently a problem going on that we were not previously aware of until now. As for Derringer, you’ll have to wait a while for us to get a full investigation of it before you can be considered for ownership.” “Of course officer Lirutiy, we’ll continue course to dock Derringer with Geoptis. We’ll need a little help with that.” At that Rarity watched the slug on gain a thoughtful look before nodding; the screen went back to normal as the call ended. Now Rarity was looking at Opal licking at her armpit and she stopped and smiled in embarrassment. “Now what could possibly be going on down there on the planet that has her so worried? It’s none of my business; I’ll let the patrol do their jobs. I’m so glad I’m not some kind of action hero that would run off risking life and limb. Although I wouldn’t mind if a dashing stallion were to come and sweep me off my hooves in that kind of situation.” Getting up from her chair she trotted from the bridge of the Caravel Boutique to address the two eagle lions in the living area about the situation. She was a little worried how the griffons would take this news of impending incarceration. She walked into the room and found Greta lounging on her back on the floor with her wings spread out and Gilda was exercising. Considering how much time they spent in a zero gravity situation, the exercise Gilda was doing is probably highly warranted. Hearing a door open they both immediately looked to Rarity. “Okay, we’re not going to Ewesen; well that is to say you two aren’t going to Ewesen. Derringer will be docking at Geoptis Station and the local Planetary Protection Patrol will board it with two investigation teams and will have to take you in for questioning… are you two okay with that?” The mood Rarity received was something hopeful from Greta and Gilda looked slightly rebellious. “Once I get the go ahead, I’m still going to Ewesen to meet up with my friend. My friend somehow ended up near a firefight involving Ceantirs, Macropussians and a Dragon that I’m barely acquainted with.” “I’m sure things will be just fine with us, we’ve done nothing wrong and I’m sure we’ll be okay right Gilda? Besides we weren’t the ones that brought those dangerous monsters on board.” Greta flexed her wings slightly and looked a little nervous. “I’m more worried about Gilda since she’s never been good with authority figures. In any case when they give you the go ahead, just go. Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine. We’ve been through worse than questioning by the Planetary Protection Patrol.” “There’s obviously got to be some corruption mongst their ranks, there’s always a little of it somewhere and if someone is abusing their authority then you better believe I’m going to call them out on it Greta.” Going back to her exercises, Gild continued on with her thoughts. “At least I know I can trust you Rarity, because your way to squeamish about violence and way too generous with your intentions. As I said before, don’t get us killed if it’s your fault we’re in danger. Otherwise this is something we just have to do and we’ll be put into custody until then, hopefully no one will get any dumb ideas.” “So anything else we can do for you Captain Belle?” It was here that Greta received an unpleasant look from Gilda, most likely it was for her always positive upbeat attitude and willingness to assist. “Hey, don’t be like that Sky Child.” “Don’t call me that Greta, goodness knows she’s probably already on the station and waiting for me to appear. How does she even know where I’ll always end up?” After a moment Gilda realized she wasn’t alone with Greta and gave Rarity a panicked look. “Don’t tell her about that Greta!” “Tell me about what, who is she talking about Greta? I’ve not much more to talk about really aside from fashion, new ideas for suit designs with more various modifications and possibly places to sell my wares, but I believe that would just bore Gilda to tears.” For the short time she’s known them Rarity got along with Greta just fine, but she didn’t know much about Gilda who seemed to be a bit cynical about the Planetary Protection Patrol that were basically the space bound version of police. “Without saying her name, I can tell you she’s a member of the SNUGGLES organization and she somehow always ends up where Gilda does and she always calls her Sky Child. I think it’s cute that Gilda has an adorable stalker like that, but she won’t likely be on the station. There’s no possible way she could know we’d be there in the first place.” Gaining a smile on her beak, Greta giggled at the thought of Gilda’s stalker making an appearance. “Yeah what was I thinking, there’s no possible way she could have tracked us out here or be on the station even we didn’t even know we were going to end up at. We weren’t even heading towards the Quia System the last she probably heard from us… gee it has been a while since we were docked anywhere, this’ll be a good time to relax and enjoy the finer things in life. Like gravity for instance or a luxury like ice cream.” “She’ll be there, I just know it. She’ll be there and she’ll aggravate me to no end with her peaceful blessings and stuff like that. Why can’t she take a hint and just leave me alone?!” After yelling Gilda let out horribly loud eagle screech and went back to continuing her workout. Greta and Rarity had flinched slightly; they looked to each other and shrugged before Rarity took up a relaxing position in a chair to read an especially trashy romance novel. Rarity read it because it was like watching a train jumping its track and subsequently ramming its way through several buildings. The book was so bad; she just had to see how it ended for the pure sake of curiosity. Greta just stretched out and continued to lie on her back and stare at the ceiling. “Everyone we’re almost to Geoptis Station, we will be docking in the next ten minutes. Please keep your limbs attached to your bodies and be prepared for the triple P to board.” With that announcement Opal started prepping docking procedures. “Hopefully they’ll get rid of all the corpses on the bridge of the Derringer; otherwise they’d be a macabre if authentic Nightmare Night decoration. No one would be able to say they aren’t realistic.” “Opal, darling, that wasn’t in good taste.” At least Rarity had tried to keep her mind off such horrible things that happened to good people. Starting out she had no idea how dangerous space could get and now that she had a good taste of it in such a short amount of time, she wondered if it eventually got easier to get over taking a life. - Coco was running down a street and ducked into an alleyway; she pulled out her data pad and started a call to Sassy. Something was definitely wrong with this situation, why would anyone want to kill her? She did nothing worthy of attracting so much attention or scorn. She was just a mare with the special talent of creating accessories to already existing pieces of fashion; she had a specialty in making hats and was good at bringing designs made by others to life. “Yes… who is this?” The voice sounded rather sleepy, it was definitely Sassy Saddles voice. She was a mare with bright red almost orange mane with a bit of yellowish orange streaks to it and her fur was a nice cyan color, her orange eyes were a bit of an exotic color. Her cutie mark consisted of several crossed metal pins and she had a special talent for clothing and something else that was not very well known about her. She was a lithe and tall unicorn and attractive to many ponies, it was rather unfortunate that a med-bed incident happened to her. “Sassy, can you please tell me where you’re staying? I really need a place to stay for a while and I don’t know why, but I think I’m being hunted by mercenaries.” Hunted was the word for it, ever since she ran from the hotel the dragon, four super strong kangaroos with acrobatic abilities and a seemingly endless stream of Ceantirs have been rather close or positively on her tail ever since. “What kind of mercenaries.” The sudden sharp change in tone from Sassy had caused Coco to flinch. “Ceantirs, Macropussians and a Biped Dragon from Equus, please Sassy I’m scared. They set fire to the hotel I was in, then the blood, the screaming and severed body parts!” Poor Coco couldn’t handle the stress right now, she was practically blubbering. “I also recently learned that Rarity was attacked by pirates which is why she didn’t show up to an business appointment with me and everything’s really bad right now since she’s being held up by Planetary Protection Patrol.” “What! Coco where are you? Head towards the waterfront of Lake Terwa, go to the plaza that’s there.” Sassy was instantly up and out of bed grabbing several things, such as her favorite elegant looking black dress and saddle combo. She strapped something to her back while stuffing a few things into her dresses skirt. “I’m near there, so keep moving and be safe until then.” “O-Okay Sassy, please find me.” Hesitantly replied Coco who turned off her pad and darted out of the alleyway and dove behind a column as a bullet from a material rifle whizzed by her head and punctured a wall near her. - “Pirates attacked Rarity-sama and now mercenaries are trying to hurt Coco-chan. Well it is high time I stepped into the spotlight and let everyone see me on the catwalk of life!” Sassy looked at the column of smoke in the distance and hoped that Coco didn’t get hurt; she was swiftly out the front door of her place and on her way to the plaza to meet up with Miss Pommel. Author's Note -Species- Ceantir- Crab like in many ways,have hands inside of pincers and highly resilient to most forms of injury. Fire is a major weakness out of water. Violent and honorable mercenaries, they are not dangerous until paid a good price to be, otherwise neutral to all unless you are invading their home planet. Macropussian- A race that looks like average kangaroos with incredible physical strength and acrobatic abilities, unique known for fluffy heads and tails. Generally friendly with most other races. (Macropus is the genus for kangaroos.) Unicorn Pony- horned pony with incredible reality warping mystical abilities. Generally friendly, but with a rare tendency to be driven to madness by the power they wield. Earth Pony- pony with connections to nature, great physical prowess under duress and high resilience to sickness. Known to be good at cooking. Friendly to most other races. Plurt- Friendly slug species with great intelligence and leadership qualities. More friendly towards herbivorous beings like ponies. Pendaxon- Large five limbed frog like beings, mostly carnivorous and unfriendly. -7-Rarity could see Geoptis Station in the distance. It was a massive space station that was near the closest moon of Ewesen, its size was enough to contain a huge city. The space station in fact did contain a large city inside of itself; as such it was capable of docking battle cruisers which were three times the size of Derringer. The city inside was one of commerce and trade, but most importantly the space station was used by the Planetary Protection Patrol to repair their ships and relax with some downtime. The space station could also be called a space colony given that it has enough civilians living on it and enough armaments to protect said citizens. “This is Rarity Belle, be advised life support on Derringer is compromised. Please take that into account when boarding.” Following procedure and making sure to warn of any complications, Rarity couldn’t think of much else to bother the incoming investigation teams with. “Acknowledged Miss Belle, we won’t want any accidents to happen on my watch. I’m sending only people I know I can trust and I will notify them they need EVA protection. Do the survivors have EVA protection?” Officer Lirutiy had popped up on screen again and was asking for reasons of a safe extraction. “Both survivors are currently aboard the Caravel Boutique in section one of the hangar of Derrigner, I made an EVA suit for one of them and the other has no EVA protection. They’ve both been stuck in a zero G environment for quite a while so take that into account with their health, they’ve had baths and one was recently in a med-bed for injuries caused by one or more of the Xouj they ended up consuming.” Having confirmed that Rarity sat back and stared at the massive space station that even Derringer looked quite small next to. Thanks to the space stations multiple long range sensors, the triple P had seen Derringer coming from a long way away and it was why Officer Lirutiy had hailed Rarity. She was in a commandeered military grade vessel after all and she could be easily suspected of piracy to soon be swiftly fired upon. The station had defense and weaponry emplacements all over to protect itself from any direction, alongside several light cruisers, destroyers, carriers and the like floating around to provide mobile protection to the station or other areas within the system if a threat becomes known. Each station always had at least one battle cruiser minimum in the area, battle cruisers were one of the largest classifications of ship around made specifically for the purposes of confronting incursions with extreme prejudice. Thinking of the space station as the ship slid forward into a position to dock, Rarity opened communications to the drone maintenance room that Gilda and Greta were currently busy in. “Greta, Gilda, we’re about to dock with Geoptis Station. Greta if you want to keep the EVA suit I suggest you put it on. I could use the advertisement so spread the word that I can make clothing and EVA suits, ones that will quite literally suit anyone. Also I’m getting a few ideas for how to make a nice EVA suit for Plurts that I can run by you later.” Continuing over the data of recent news on screen as she spoke to the two griffons from her seat on the bridge, Rarity saw that a bit of Drixsto was on fire at the moment and that had her worried for Miss Pommel’s safety. “I’m already wearing it, it fits nicely and it keeps things a comfortable temperature. We need to see about getting Gilda one of these, especially if the quality of the utilities is improved. I hope to be around to do that.” It sounded like Greta was happy with her EVA suit, then she spoke up sounding a bit shy. “Can I keep the saddle attachment? I might be able to work in a few new features on it.” “Of course dear, you can keep it even if we go our separate ways.” Rarity saw another pillar of fire rising from the city as the hovering news vehicle got an eyewitness account of a flaming crab creature finally falling to the ground. “I still have the other three spares that were given to me by my darling friend Coco Pommel; I do so hope she’s alright down there. The area that she’s in is currently going up in flames.” “Well we’re not going to be around Rarity for a while if at all Greta, so prepare your goodbyes. Also don’t you dare get too sappy Greta, especially if things don’t turn out how you want them to.” It sounded like Gilda was focusing on other things, some tinkering could be heard. “Now get you feathered butt over here and help me with this CAT already!” “Still, wouldn’t it be nice to have an EVA suit of your own Gilda? You could pilot fighters and eject to safety if someone was about to blow you up.” Greta didn’t get a response from Gilda since the Derringer had started shaking when the docking clamps finally attached themselves to the ship and secured a lockdown around the entrance. “Alright Opal, please try to stick to only working under my commands. It would simply be dreadful if they had to take you away.” Looking at the screen and away from the ceiling of the bridge, Rarity could see that Opal’s avatar was giving her a blank look. “Why I have no idea what you mean Ms. Belle, I am perfectly normal AI that follows orders and happen to be completely within the perimeters defined as an allowable artificial intelligent construct. I assure you the rampancy protections have not failed… Meowstress.” If that wasn’t a bold faced lie from Opal, Rarity might have actually believed it had she not seen the change in personality. Opal could actually sell it pretty well though, if only she could resist the dead giveaway that was her affectionate term for Rarity. Shaking her head, Rarity left the bridge of Caravel Boutique to go put her EVA suit on to meet the boarding team. CATs one and two would meet up with her as she exited the airlock. She worried about Coco, her poor dear friend was being chased or at least unlucky enough to look like she was. From all the fires Rarity surmised that at least the Ceantirs were having quite a bad day, the morbid thought that was added on to that was if they weren’t already dead. Energy weapons, unless specifically heat based, still took quite a few shots to set a Ceantir on fire and it could be just one that was set ablaze and stumbling through multiple buildings. - Coco continued to gallop away from the danger down the stone streets, Rarity had been late to their meeting and she now knew why. The buildings in Drixsto weren’t all tall metal and glass skyscrapers; they mostly had an old world charm of being partially made of stone with a Venetian design. Architects made the buildings as strong as possible with the aesthetic in mind; the buildings only looked old and were actually very sturdily constructed to last. If you wanted a huge city of metal and glass, then Geoptis was where you had to look for tall shiny buildings. When Coco came here, it was to study business and fashion. Having done that, she planned to make a joint effort with Rarity after they had become quick friends. She could have gone into business with a pony named Suri Polomare, but Rarity was much friendlier prospect and a generous kind hearted pony from her perspective. To think Rarity got held up by pirates and then the thing at the hotel started up with that armored dragon being blasted through the front door while being followed by various forms of projectiles, things were terrible. The violence has almost been following her. It probably wasn’t on purpose, but Coco Pommel was a paranoid enough mare and she was running down the street that would lead towards Drixsto’s Lakeside Plaza. She stopped at the end of the street and could see the water of Lake Terwa go on for a while; the lakes on this planet were enormous and beautifully sparkling wonders to look at in the right light. Hearing a grunt of pain from behind her, Coco looked back and watched as the dragon was rammed through a wall of stone and steel onto the street by a Ceantir. She admitted it really said something about the dragon that she was still putting up quite a brutal fight and had killed at least three Ceantirs outright without the use of fire. It even seemed like the dragon was actively avoiding using any fire around or even on them at all, she could have even just unleashed a blast of flames from her mouth and just be done with it. Despite Ceantirs having the size and weight advantage over that dragon, not to mention the Macropussians were faster if lacking regenerative properties and protective shells, she was still holding her own in a three way fight. What kind of grit did that take and why did Coco catch sight of the dragon looking her way every so often when they were within sight of one another? Too bad Coco couldn’t enjoy the view of the lake as she turned left and started galloping for the plaza with a bronze chunk polluted fountain sending multiple jets of water skywards. There were various species sitting around it, Pony, Plurt, a Macropussian and even a few Griffons loitering about the fountain. They were all looking at the foreboding amount of smoke rising into the air from where she just came from. Coco also saw a female Parascine, a pink jellyfish being with two round glowing blue nucleic eyes and a random number of tentacles to walk or manipulate things with, they were known to have either immunity or an incredible resilience to energy weapons. The jellyfish was talking to a Minotaur, a large buff looking masculine bull headed biped with thick strong arms leading to hands made for gripping and hauling things into the air. They too were starting to focus on the line smoke approaching the area and started running towards it each one pulling out a weapon as they did so; they were probably officers of the Planetary Protection Patrol. None of the people here mattered at the moment to Coco as she was searching for a bright reddish orange and blue coloring of her pony friend Sassy, a pony who she thought had a rather nice posh accent befitting of someone born in Canterlot. Coco was personally born in Manehatten, but she really liked Ewesen since she came here. The beaches of the lakes were near perfect year round on this planet and Coco loved the tropical climate and the delicious local fruits that went with it. Slowing down to catch her breath, Coco sat down on a bench to wait for Sassy Saddles or the moving battle to catch up with her. Carrying all her stuff around like this in her overly stuffed stylishly designed silver backpack shaped like a landing craft was tiring. From what she last heard of Sassy’s therapist, it sounded like she was making good headway into helping Sassy. Sassy was currently working as a sales manager and would hopefully not freak out if a male was in the same room as her now. It would be good to talk to Sassy again, she was quite a sweet mare before the incident and even after it she was still sweet if a little bit rough to anything of a masculine persuasion. “Well here you are Coco-chan, I’m glad to see you’re alright.” A giggle escaped Sassy’s lips as Coco jumped in fright and flopped off the bench onto her face painfully. She was now seated right next to where Coco had been, her mane had been put up into a thick ponytail and she looked over her cute friend. “Are you okay Coco-chan, do you need a hug?” The response to Sassy’s queries was to receive a bone crushing hug of the likes she had never experienced before in her life. It was amazing what being there for someone can do for them and she was here to protect Coco from the danger that seemed intent to follow her around. She looked off in the direction Coco had come running from with slightly narrowed eyes; nobody was going to hurt Coco-chan on her watch. - Ember’s last job went particularly well, she shut down a slavery ring before it could even get started and she blew open a slave trade conspiracy. The payoff would keep her fed for a while, but she still had work to do as she wouldn’t survive for more than a month on her expensive tastes in consuming gems and jewels. Dragons had to have expensive diets if they were to stay healthy; they actually needed more crunchy minerals in their diets than any other race. The Dragon’s current job wasn’t going quite as well as the previous one, as she was being roughed up quite badly and she had most likely spent half the fight on her back at this point when it came to dealing with the Ceantirs. Fighting like this certainly wasn’t good for her health, but she still had a job to do. Apparently someone paid through the nose to have ten Ceantirs attempt to take Ember out, and most certainly not for a friendly date. Someone obviously had a lot of money to throw around and they really didn’t appreciate Ember ‘Flamethrower’ McFlame ruining their operations. The Macropussians were fighting both the Ceantirs and her for entirely different reasons. Apparently the Macropussian gang was attacking the Ceantirs because there was something of a personal grudge between them and the Ceantir race; they were attacking Ember because they wanted the payout for her current job. The Macropussians were trying to steal her job by acquiring the information on it off of her cold dead corpse, which tended to happen to bounty hunters with a regular enough frequency as this kind of job was consistently hazardous. Though she didn’t personally didn’t partake in Bounty Jumping very much, it was a part of the job and sometimes desperation was a decent motivator to steal another’s bounty or job right out from under them. She held up her boxy material rifle that was as long as she was tall and was currently on her back once again; the Ceantir gripped the midsection of the rifle with its hand and soon clamped its claw down on the gun. It caused an incredibly loud clanging noise and this caused the Ceantir to reel back releasing its grip in shock and pain. It had not expected Ember’s gun to survive the crushing force of its claw much less come away from that without a scratch and cracking the claw in the attempt to split her weapon in half. Ember grunted as she swung the butt of her bulky rifle upwards into the Ceantir’s head as hard as she could and barely staggered it, allowing her to get up into a crouch. She pressed the butt of her rifle against her right shoulder, twitched her left hand on a specific part of the rifle to change the kind of ammo she was going to shoot and pulled the trigger with her right index claw. Fifty bits of low grade metal fired out of the material rifle at insane speeds for the five second burst she held the trigger down for, some of them actually punctured the carapace and forced the crabby cretin onto his back. It didn’t kill him and Ember didn’t believe he’d stay down for long. Getting up, Ember sighed to herself and shook her head as she stumbled away from the Ceantir using her rifle as a crutch to move. Her gold colored armor was heavily damaged and dented; it was going to take a lot of work and dragon breath to buff her armor back into shape. She was glad her personal weapon was built of sterner stuff than her armor was; she had a reliance on her rifle being able to take punishment alongside obviously dishing it out. Ember made her way into a nearby alleyway to lean against the wall, a Minotaur and Parascine moved past it to presumably detain the Ceantir she knocked over and the Macropussians that were still fighting down the street. She sighed with relief as they didn’t see her so she took the opportunity to rest a bit, after a few minutes she moved on out of the alleyway and went in the direction where she last saw her quarry heading. Said quarry was a rather cute earth pony that looked completely innocent of any wrong doing; she had a few things to talk to her about and had incidentally got her caught in the cross fire several times. She shouldered her custom made material rifle and pulled off her helmet to slowly walk away from the action whistling a slightly jaunty tune despite the number of injuries she was suffering from. She might have been upset about all those fires starting and the blazing inferno going on in several places behind her, but it was out of her claws now and she had business to attend to. She just knew someone was going to blame her for all the fire, but if she acted casual enough maybe they’ll believe her when she tells them she didn’t actually set fire to anything. Well except maybe that one Ceantir when she bisected into two completely cauterized halves with her weapons special function. Despite being a dragon, Ember didn’t want to watch any world burn. - “Okay ma’am you are cleared to keep the two extra CATs and even the broken MAT drone, you’re also cleared to leave with the Caravel Boutique. You must return within a week to continue placing claim on Derringer if you do decide to head down to the planet.” Officer Lirutiy was continuing to be a friendly if another straightforward member of her species, also highly safety conscious. “I’m not going to lie things are a bit of a mess down there, I suggest you stick around here and wait for things to calm down.” “I appreciated your candor Officer Lirutiy, but I’m still going to pick my friend up. I may be late in doing that, but I would still like to do it while she’s among the living. Please take care of my new acquaintances; I would very much like to hire them even if I don’t gain ownership of Derringer.” Everything was checked on Rarity’s ship by an investigation team and she was considered clear, the two teams were now going over the burnt remains of the Xouj and had already taken Greta and Gilda into custody on the station. The conversation with the investigation teams had been rather boring if informative for them in regards to the pirates that had attacked her. “My friend may have been caught up in that mess down there and as a good friend I want to make sure she’s okay. I also know another one of my friends is there as well, so I’m a bit more concerned now than ever. As such I respectfully request permission to launch; be a dear Opal and set course for Ewesen and patch me in to traffic control when we’re in orbit. Put us on approach for Drixsto’s spaceport.” “Affirmative, plotting course for Ewesen and prepping for a call to traffic control for an entry vector for the spaceport in Drixsto.” If one were looking they could see a sweating Opal on Rarity’s screen, the fluffy tailed cat was trying so hard not to say ‘Meowstress’ and she was biting her lower lip looking like she was about to positively scream the word. She had been doing so well when they had finished investigated her personally; she was going to literally virtually explode soon if she couldn’t say the word. “Against my better judgment, permission granted, team one access the overview room controls and open section one in the hangar. Caravel Boutique is clear and clean, close up after it’s out and continue with your investigation of the ship. I want to find out how the deceased crew got a Xouj infestation this bad.” With the commands given by Officer Lirutiy, the front of the Derringer opened up and the Caravel Boutique lifted off the floor to fly out through the atmosphere barrier leaving Derringer behind for Ewesen. “Good luck and don’t forget to get a new jump module for your ship! You won’t be able to get very far otherwise if the ownership claim doesn’t work out for you.” - “Coco-chan while I do appreciate your snuggling, please do get a hold of yourself. I’m not going anywhere” Sassy was gently running a hoof up and down Coco’s back and she was crying into the little black number that Sassy was wearing for the occasion. “I’m sorry Sassy; it’s been a while since I last saw you and Rarity really didn’t want to bother you while you were here.” The sniffling Coco leaned back to look Sassy in the eyes, the truth was Rarity would rather avoid Sassy if she could and Coco knew why. “You’re looking better.” “Thank you, I do try to hold myself up to some standards of beauty like Rarity-sama… and I’ve been better recently.” Sassy looked off into space for a bit before blinking and putting her focus back on Coco. “Do you think she’s looking for a sales manager who’s good at handling belligerent customers? I’m still freaked out by med-beds though, but I’m okay if I’m with some friends I can trust.” “Well I’m sure… hold on I’m getting a call.” Coco held up her left hoof to Sassy as she pulled her data pad out with her right. “Rarity, what’s going on?” “Oh thank goodness, I just got finished with the Planetary Protection Patrol detail that was assigned to investigating my ship and piracy claims. I’m coming down to the spaceport in Drixsto within the next ten minutes.” Alongside Rarity’s face a smiling cat appeared on Coco’s screen making her smile as well because she knew Opal was worried about her to. “If you could meet me there darling, then we can work on getting my ship a new jump module and talk over a bit of tea perhaps. Did you find Sassy okay and how are you doing dear?” “I’m here with Coco-chan right now. She’s having a bit of a rough day, but she’s okay in my care Rarity-sama. You can trust me to protect our little sister; we’ll meet you there at the spaceport.” All Sassy received was a nod from Rarity and the screen turned back to normal, she was quite happy to see Rarity again even if she wasn’t happy to see her. Standing up, she stretched out and held out a hoof to Coco, of which the cute pony took hesitantly. “I’m not a child you know.” Coco standing right next to Sassy looked like a child in comparison to their sizes. Sassy had a body like the famous pony super model Fleur De Lis, she personally thought that she looked average next to her Unicorn friend. “Of course not Coco-chan, but I would like to escort you personally to the spaceport to prevent anyone from accosting you.” Sassy’s assurance didn’t seem to make Coco feel any better as she walked forwards holding hooves with her friend. As they turned down the street leading to the spaceport to their left, a Macropussian dropped into their path a few feet from them creating a crater in the ground. “Speaking of accosting people, you two are not going anywhere.” Judging from the lack of pouch, the Macropussian was male and the fact that he was pointing two energy pistols at them didn’t seem to scare Sassy one bit. One would expect an Australian accent from this species; instead the Macropussian spoke with an accent befitting someone from Brooklyn. “You see I went to a lot of trouble today and I want to get some form of payoff, so you two are coming with me whether you like it or not.” Coco moved behind Sassy and looked at the fire that lit her eyes; she could tell this was going to somehow end poorly for the kangaroo given the lit horn. She finally saw a black pole like object resting across Sassy’s back and there was a magical glow around the tip of it. There was also a magical glow surrounding one of the edges of her skirt. “Oh are we now? I’d like to see you try, really I would, but I’m afraid I don’t play for that team anymore. If you were to force my friend into that kind of predicament I might just get ‘testy’ and rip off what makes you a Joey and leave you as a Jill.” She widened her stance and stood protectively in front of Coco. “There would be ‘little’ hope that you can be a Joey again unless cloning technology has gotten better about that sort of thing.” “I suppose you have something better than the stick you have your magic on, but I think I have the upper hand here Sheila and I’m not about to let you close enough to use your weapon.” The street had emptied quickly, not many were willing to come stop this Macropussian from taking the two ponies captive and bystander syndrome suddenly became a thing. “As it just so happens you are already within range of my weapon, lest we forget… I’m a Unicorn and we have quite a bit of range with wielding melee weapons.” Taking three steps forward Sassy created a silver flash that had the Macropussian jumping backwards, she raised a brow and watched as the front halves of his energy pistols fell off making them useless. “I’ll get you back for that, you fucking bi… ah!” The Macropussian threw away the useless pistols and went to jump only to grit his teeth in pain; he looked down and noticed a large object sticking out of the inside of his right thigh. It took some of his blood dripping onto the ground for it to sink in that he was in agony. “Oh dear, it seems I missed.” It looked like Sassy had stuck him with a large pin, like the small ones one would use in the making of clothing. “You’ll still be a Joey by the end of the day thanks to your fast reflexes, but I still stuck a pin in you. So you’re quite done for now.” The top half of round red sphere sticking out of the kangaroo’s inner thigh opened up and all four flaps clamped down on his leg digging itself in deeper, it revealed that inside the cherry red pin’s head was a coil of metal that started sparking with electricity. What happened next was the Macropussian going down due to the shocking amounts of pain he just received to the gonads and body. “Sassy, what in the world was that?” Coco poked her head from around Sassy’s rear end looking spooked at what her friend had just done, not only had she sliced through the guns but also inserted a weapon with near pinpoint accuracy into the kangaroo’s leg without him noticing it. “I’ve put myself through… let’s call it training. I have this kodachi made with some top quality metals, along with a few shock coil pins like that one hidden in my skirt.” Sassy looked away and reached out with her hoof towards Coco. “I just didn’t want to be helpless again, please don’t be hate me like Rarity-sama does.” “She doesn’t hate you.” Coco gently grasped her friends hoof and gave it a squeeze, they then started walking together. She now sadly understood just why Sassy wanted to hold hooves. She wasn’t trying to comfort Coco, she was silently crying out for help. Author's Note Parascine- Jellyfish beings that seem to gently float across the ground as they move on land with the tentacles their bodies can make. They come in green, pink and mauve. Most forms of energy weapons have little to absolutely no effect on them, even plasma weapons can do almost nothing to them. Only the upper portions of their bodies are see through, leaving their nucleic eyes visible. They are usually seen on planets with lots of water and some even have psychic abilities. They are omnivorous and eat things by slowly dissolving it in their bodies over time. While not warlike in nature, they can be quite dangerous despite their flimsy lightweight appearance. The most likeliest jobs you see them involved with usually has something to do with water and interacting with it. Minotaur- Humanoid upper torso with a bull head, lower torso consists of cow legs and tail. They can physically overpower Ceantirs and Macropussians, but are not very agile unless charging straight forward. Despite appearances they are entirely herbivorous if exceedingly prone to violence. The most unusual things about this race is the females, which are rarely ever seen and a male Minotaur can get together with an average Equestrian Cow. For every female Minotaur there is at least twenty males. They are usually in jobs the require heavy lifting, fighting or are a part of entertainment industry. Usually when it comes to entertainment they are really good wrestlers and boxers. They make good bouncers for night clubs. -8-Ember sat on the rooftop with a pair of binoculars held up to her eyes in her left claw. She had her right hand on the trigger aiming it at the Macropussian, before he went down in a cascade of electricity that fried his body into a twitching unconscious mess that, disgustingly enough, peed itself. Sighing, the blue dragon stowed her material rifle on her back and was happy that she didn’t need to use up any more ammunition. She really didn’t want to resort to firing rocks again. Regular guns had premade bullets that were fired by chemical propulsion pads at the back of them that were activated by a hammer, said bullets were made to fit the barrel of the gun. Material weapons worked differently, given that they could fire unusual things such as rocks or marbles, which lead to one of the weirder things that have ever been shot from a material weapon being owl pellets. If it was effective, then nobody was going to say anything about the ammunition of choice of the user wielding a material weapon. Though scrap metal was always the preferable, popular and most importantly cheap ammunition of choice that you could just find lying around. “Let’s see, at least seven hundred rounds spent, at least five dead Ceantirs, two of them wounded enough to be captured, seven knocked out beaten and bloodied Macropussians, one Macropussian electrocuted into unconsciousness by an unknown factor and what do I have to show for all of it?” As she spoke Ember kept an eye on the mare taking the other mares outstretched hoof, it was adorable and the friendliness between them was making her blush. She hit a button on the binoculars to save the image. “A rather cute scene between those two I guess… I wonder what they‘re talking about. I should probably apologize to that mare for getting her caught up in all the crossfire. Wait… weren’t their ten Ceantirs? What happened to the other three? Oh coal! I knew I was forgetting something.” Diamonds were delicious to dragons, while inversely coal tasted horrible and yet they were practically made of the same thing. As such it was said that dragons had rather refined sense of taste, speaking of, Ember could go for a meal of sapphires and emeralds right about now given how her stomach grumbled. Standing up from her position on the rooftop Ember started looking around for any sign of the other three Ceantirs. The whole of the Macropussian gang was taken care of, but unaccounted loose ends always had a tendency of coming back to bite you. The pony princesses Luna and Celestia learned that lesson well enough the hard way and Ember was a very smart dragon to learn from their poor history of not taking care of things like that immediately when they had the chance to do so. Ember was probably the smartest dragon of her millennia and one of the few that went into space looking for adventure. Her race didn’t exactly care about expanding their horizons; some of the dragons her age were probably still idiotically bothering phoenixes back on the planetary home of Equus. Sometimes she actually did miss her volcanic home; she was going to miss the migration again like she did every year. It had never bothered her before since she was an independent and strong dragon, so this time wasn’t any different. For now she had Ceantirs to hunt down before she could safely talk to that earth pony, she’d track her down later after she was finished. - The last time Rarity had sleep was when she was knocked unconscious by whiplash, as such it wasn’t a surprise that when she yawned Opal gave her a flat look that said a lot about needing to take care of her own needs. One of those needs were a nice snack and plenty of rest, she already freshened up in a shower and spent ten minutes to make sure her hair looked perfect. “You really need a good long rest Meowstress... in any case we’re coming in for a landing at hangar seven of Drixsto’s spaceport. Welcome to Ewesen the shining lake planet Rarity, I heard they have some really good ice fishing spots on this world with really tasty fish here. Oh to have a sense of actual taste and not the abstract kind that you gave me.” Appearing on screen, Opal stretched out and lay lazily on her side propping her chin up on a paw as her pink hair flowed down to pool on an invisible floor at the bottom of the screen. “After you get a snack and some tea in you, you’re going straight to bed in the living quarters. No butts about it, we’re not lifting off until we have a new jump module installed and you’re rested. So that’ll take a bit of work given you like to haggle. So while you’re busy haggling with me about how much sleep you need, you can go get your friends to start working on our income. While J modules aren’t expensive, they aren’t exactly cheap either given our current lack of funds.” “Yes, well, at least we know Coco is okay, the poor dear getting stuck near a firefight and having portions of the city being set ablaze around her must not have done her any favors mentally. I’m still mentally disturbed about killing something and I should probably look into Sassy’s therapist about all of it for the both of us.” Pulling out a mirror Rarity looked at her reflection with a smile, she still looked good despite needing some sleep. “Right then, anything I need to know about customs for this planet?” “Yeah, one thing, don’t throw trash in the lakes. The Parascine that live here have psychic powers and they will make sure the world stays clean and green, most likely with force if necessary. So be mindful of how you dispose of trash around here Meowstress.” Opal showed a member of the jellyfish race on screen and it was holding a sign that said, ‘don’t pollute or you’ll get the boot’. “Apparently the local ones like a Minotaur named Iron Will. They are big fans because he’s good at strengthening their willpowers so they can utilize their psychic powers better. You’d expect Iron Will to have psychic powers himself, but he doesn’t… what he’s really good at is stopping mind intrusions and is practically immune to mind control from both magic and psychics. Think of all the incredible things you can do when you put your biological mind to it, dresses unlimited!” “Opal I think you’re getting a little off track… I’m standing outside the ship and you didn’t even notice. Please perform the necessary operations to lock up Opal and deploy CAT one under rudimentary control should I need it to carry something for me. You’re staying in the ship darling.” If it were anyone else Rarity would have said they were really odd, her AI was just being herself and Opal really liked the concept of self when expressed through things such as willpower or friendship. She tended to watch motivational speakers, magician acts, cheesy cartoons and anime when she got the time to do so and now was one of those times. “I’ll be out for a quick snack and then I’ll be right back okay?” “Right, deploying CAT one, remember it’ll only follow simple commands. Basic stuff of the likes of medical scans, area scans, holding something or operating something, but you’d have to tell it what to do exactly when it’s operating something. Remember rudimentary control is not an AI like me, but an overly simplistic program. I’m connecting to Coco’s data pad and it’s near the west entrances, they’re waiting for you.” Rarity nodded to her floating data pad held in her magic and stowed it away in her saddlebags, turning to the ship the cargo ramp lowered slightly and let out CAT-1 which came over to hover next to Rarity. “CAT one follow me please.” The CAT chirruped at Rarity’s command as she turned around and started trotting away with the robot hovering behind her. - “Come on Sassy, talk to me.” Coco was sitting outside the spaceport with Sassy who looked rather glum; they were waiting for Rarity to show up. Opal pretty much confirmed she was coming to them and that they’d go out together for a nice outing, provided nobody else had the predilection for shooting at ponies. “All it would have taken was fifteen degrees up and a quarter of a foot forward, three inches.” Seeing the questioning look she was receiving Sassy elaborated on what she meant. “I wanted to kill him. If I had angled the blade fifteen degrees upwards and moved it out by a quarter of a foot, then the tip of my blade would have gone through his jugular and hit an artery. He’d have been dead within minutes and it would have been so easy.” Coco looked a little alarmed at the admission, she thought Sassy was a bit fragile mentally and hearing her say something like that sent up a few yellow flags in her mind. Despite Sassy’s depressive mood Coco hugged her tightly anyway, Miss Pommel didn’t like the idea of her friend becoming a volatile psychotic and wanted her to be okay. “It’ll be okay Sassy; we can probably talk to your therapist about this, does she know you’ve been… training? It seems like you can swing that thing really fast, it almost looked like you never pulled it out.” To be fair Coco was a little impressed with her friend’s skill with the blade, if it wasn’t so daunting a thing to know that her friend was training to lethally defend herself. Apparently she hadn’t told her therapist about her training, given how she quietly looking away and winced. “Look if you have to kill someone or something, then at least make sure to do it for the right reason and not because they’re male. I’m here for you and I’m sure Rarity will be too.” “What happened still haunts me and how do you even think that Rarity-sama will be able to even look at me after...” Sassy stopped talking when another pair of hooves wrapped around her neck and then received a gentle if brief nuzzle. “It’s okay Sassy, I forgive you. Sorry darling, it just looks like you were having another mental breakdown and could really use a generous touch. How about we all talk over some tea and snacks, then maybe you can introduce me to your therapist.” Rarity pulled away as did Coco who looked happy to see her, Sassy stiffened and had an undefined expression on her face. “I’ve had quite an adventure and I’m so glad to put it all behind me, I’ve got my whole life ahead of me… provided I don’t nearly get myself killed again.” Sassy immediately panicked and started tapping and poking Rarity’s body causing her to grunt a little when the taller pony found the sore spots on her neck. “Who gave you these bruises?” It didn’t take long for Sassy to find the whiplash bruises under Rarity’s fur; they were healing nicely and were only visible if you actually looked for them. Her voice jumped straight to an accusatory tone as she knew Rarity wanted to eventually find a nice stallion. She’d maul anyone who’d dare hurt or abuse Rarity-sama. It was Rarity who had saved Sassy from being continually abused in a med-bed; she called the authorities and even came personally to pull her out of the med-bed she was strapped into. Thankfully there was justice in the universe concerning the fact that the criminal was given to Princess Celestia’s custody where she was allowed to judge and sentence him, plus the prosecutor was a female pony named Just Cause who made sure the punishment was quite severe. Even then it didn’t help heal Sassy’s traumatized mind of the event. “It’s good to see you’re doing better Sassy, though not entirely all too well apparently. Unfortunately for me I ran afoul of some space pirates and got some injuries in the process. It involved the gravity generator and my ships jump module getting hit by a lucky shot fired by one of the three pirate cruisers.” Rarity paused and looked to Coco. “Then I’ve had the dreadful misfortune to find a ship to get me the rest of the way here and its swarming with monsters. You know the kind of monsters that Mr. Gitonir is always telling me about Coco, they are very much real and I had to kill one or else get my head bitten off. Aside from the bruises I’m fine otherwise, really.” “Are you sure you’re alright Rarity-sama?” Sassy’s cold fury turned to incredible concern in an instant. “Also who is Mr. Gitonir and what is his background?” “He’s a Plurt and a friend of mine who lives on Desserzon, happily married as well. I just need some sleep since I’m tired from how horrible my trip has turned out to be.” Now it was Rarity’s turn to receive hugs, ponies weren’t known for violence and or killing things. It was nice to take in the comforting touches of two friends, she graciously accepted them and it felt better that she personally forgave Sassy for being a bit too crazy in the past. Pulling back from both of them she pulled out her data pad. “Just making sure Opal is okay. Come now Coco, you know the area best. Where can we find a nice spot of tea and snacks?” Coco gave it some thought and motioned for them to follow her when she thought of a nice place outdoors to spend some time at. The firefight would slowly become a forgotten memory and eventually a nightmare that peters out of existence. Speaking of, the firefighters were just about done with the fires from that fight as well. - “So you are now friends with two griffons and they’ll take a contract with you if you gain ownership of that ship that has the hangar they want to work out of?” The three were at a nice outdoor café; Coco in particular liked the imported chamomile they served and a few scones to go with it. This café was a quiet and down to earth place with a spectacular view of Lake Terwa. “Yes, well, Greta is actually quite nice to work with and really has a positive outlook on things. Gilda is a bit grumpy and rude, but I can see that she has a good heart. Greta’s technical expertise has helped me with thinking of a few new functions to add to the EVA suits that we can design Coco; she’s exceptionally good at installing utilities without ruining the structural integrity of the suits. EVA suits definitely require function over form.” Pausing to take a sip of tea, Rarity looked at the beautiful scenery of the sparkling lake that the café up on a hillside overlooked. In the distance something exploded and a column smoke started rising into the sky. It was nowhere near them so she didn’t bother with worrying about it as several firefighting vehicles were already flying off in that direction. “The view is simply breathtaking, aside from the explosion that is. Is everything okay Sassy? You haven’t touched your snack.” “Yeah, I’m fine. I just… can I come with you two? I’m a good sales manager, among other things.” Sassy moved to take a nibble of her brownie and leaned back, she looked away from Rarity. “Also I would like to commission and pay for an EVA suit of my own, do you think you can add a skirt to it?” “Why of course you can come with us darling, but you’ll have to clear it with your therapist and introduce her to me. I’m too tired right now to start on an EVA suit right now, but I’ll get to it once you come over to my ship after I’ve had a good nights sleep.” Rarity took a bite out of the locally grown fruit from the platter she ordered and found it had a nice tangy sweetness to it, almost like a peach. She took out her data pad and started magically tapping out things before passing it over to Sassy’s magic. “I can see why you like this planet Coco, the local flavor is divine. Now Sassy, what did you want your EVA suit to be equipped with besides the basics and what color do you want it in. We can also add any decals or images that you like to it that you might have in mind. What you see before you is a current list of utilities that Coco and I can put into the suit.” “Well the two of you need to start somewhere; I may as well be your first paying customer. I want an EVA suit with black and gold colors, this design on it in this spot and these utilities. I also want the skirt to have pockets I can put stuff into.” Sassy started tapping out a few things before passing the pad back to Rarity who looked it over. “You can work in anything else you might like to add or think might be useful to me. I would also like to add an order for a red dress kimono with purple colored roses on it.” “Would you like ornamental hair sticks to go with that order? It’s free of charge.” Rarity thought Sassy’s hair was nice down or up, she was still a stunningly beautiful mare even given what happened to her. Too bad no man would ever touch her again without a threat to their lives. “Yes please.” Sassy squeaked out and continued to quietly eat her brownie as Rarity smiled at her, the smile left her with a warm feeling in her chest that Rarity was still willing to be her friend. “Then it’s settled, I’ll get to work on it tomorrow. Come by my ship in hangar seven, me and Coco can get to work on it in the Caravel Boutique. Now tell me about this therapist of yours, this Miss Shy that I’ve heard about.” Staying calm and collected, Rarity looked between Sassy and Coco. “Coco and I could use her services as well.” “Well Fluttershy… she’s a really gorgeous mare, long pink hair, buttery yellow fur and has a voice that is so sweet and relaxing along with those bright blue eyes. She’s probably the best therapist I have ever met, plus she’s exceedingly good with animals and likes to care for and raise a lot of them. She is the epitome of kindness and really attractive.” Sassy had a blush going throughout her face as she quickly sipped some tea, it had both Rarity and Coco looking at her with curious expressions as she coughed in embarrassment. “Unfortunately she’s not on planet at the moment; she’s up at Geoptis meeting a friend of hers. It was something about introducing her to someone called Sky Child, in any case Fluttershy is the friendliest if shyest SNUGGLES member you’ll ever meet.” Rarity was about to take a sip of tea when she heard this and stopped, she wondered if Gilda met the one who called her Sky Child yet, much less Miss Shy. It had her wondering what the look on the griffons face would be and she tittered lightly at the thought. SNUGGLES was an organization entirely built around finding a good friend, companion and or buddy, their services primarily focused on giving mental and physical aid to those who think they are completely broken. The organization has certainly done wonders for Sassy Saddles and even if you weren’t mentally or physically broken their members were good at massage or other various forms of relaxation. Which led to Rarity frequenting the spas that were SNUGGLES owned and operated. As the name SNUGGLES suggested, there was a lot of cuddling involved if you needed it. Fluttershy sounded like quite the charming mare to have acquired Sassy’s interest, given Fluttershy helped her immensely when she was being a lot less sane probably helped. “Do go on dear; it seems as if you are particularly friendly with this lady.” Watching as her friend tried to find the right words to say at this moment, Rarity sat back and bit into another fruit and smiled a little bit wider. “When can we set up an appointment for me and Coco to meet this mare that you sound rather familiar with?” Sassy continued floundering for the next minute trying to deny her interest in the mare; her face was getting so red it could match the color of one of the fruits on Rarity’s platter. - “Hey you two, you have two visitors.” The five to six foot tall thin being that addressed Gilda and Greta was a human; they were wild cards of great intelligence and impossible stupidity. While humans could be quite cunning at times and overall highly inventive, most species didn’t understand their sometimes odd fixation with waxing, shaving or removing the natural hair off of specific parts of their bodies. This one had a head covered in short brown hair and a beard, two arms ending in four fingers and a thumb connected to his upper torso and his long legs that ended in five toes were connected to his lower. As to his clothing he was wearing a Planetary Protection Patrol uniform and what had to be a matter of personal taste, green boots. “How are you two holding up?” Humans were really strange omnivores that did really odd things like worry about two griffons they didn’t know a single thing about. There weren’t many of them around where the Equon system was, though a majority of their species enjoyed spending time cuddling with ponies. “We’re doing fine Mr. Strag. Who are the two visitors, is it anyone we know?” As Greta assured the human while she exercised on the bench she took up with a bright cheerful demeanor, a grumpy Gilda cross her arms and grumbled something under her breath as she continued to lazily stretch her body out on the floor of the triple P’s holding room. “Well one of them certainly knows you, okay you two come on in.” The human waved the two visitors over and Greta stopped exercising when she saw who one of the visitors was. In fact Gilda, hearing Greta flop down to the floor next to her, sat up and took notice. There stood a familiar green mare, with red mane in natural looking thick dreadlocks and the symbol of a tree with a heart shaped out of its leaves on her flank. Her soft purple eyes were already focused on Gilda. “Hello Sky Child, I’m happy to see you survived your endeavors. I bring blessings to you and to Ever Cheerful again.” It was a mare named Tree Hugger, one of Gilda’s worst nightmares since she set out for space. Gilda’s adverse reaction was to ignore the other pony and slam her back against the far wall while clawing at it like a cornered beast as Tree Hugger approached in a lazy lackadaisical manner towards her. The mare gave the panicked griffon a gentle hug before kissing her cheek. “Sky Child, know the big sky loves you as much as you love her. I’m assured you two will meet in a beautiful ballet of bright lights eventually.” Tree Hugger solemnly intoned as she snuggled against Gilda who was clearly having a panic attack. “Peace Sky Child, why do you always treat me like an ill omen? I am of the earth and you are the sky, we are meant to work in concert as friends.” “Um… Tree Hugger, I think she doesn’t like you hugging her like that o-or kissing her either.” The mare known as Fluttershy squeaked shyly as Greta dove behind her, the griffon was shivering in fear. “H-h-how long have you been on Geoptis Station?” The green mare was just plain scary to Greta and here she thought she was joking about her making an appearance. “I have been in the area for two months communing with the nature of Ewesen when given the opportunity. He is a very nice planet; he speaks of the heroic Parascine that keeps his waters clean and healthy, he provides a strong positive environment for all visitors who would bask in his beauty. Please do little to pollute him for he is like a friend to all, unless they prove to be careless with his body.” There was something to be said about Tree Hugger’s sanity, considering she always speaks of talking to and communicating with planets while she’s on or near them. “He would ask you to visit him Sky Child, your friend The Maker is already communing with her friends Reviving Spirit and Sheep Wolf.” “You… you’ve been waiting here for us haven’t you?” Greta didn’t know whether or not she wanted to understand all the crazy things the mare spoke of, after Tree Hugger kissed Gilda’s cheek again the small smile below the two calm half lidded eyes Greta received spoke volumes. The mare was quite perfectly aware of how insane she came off as to others. Greta clearly remembered what happened when Gilda attacked her for being so annoying and it didn’t end to well for her, which is why her feathered friend was still panicking, sweating profusely and sitting dead still in Tree’s hooves. “I do many things. One of which is to make sure Sky Child will be able to perform, for the big sky loves her dearly and is sad she has yet to do so.” Tree Hugger snuggled her head against the right crook of the frozen griffon’s neck, while Fluttershy just tilted her head at the odd situation. “Come closer Soul Judger my great friend Fluttershy; this is Sky Child.” It left Fluttershy wondering why the griffon wasn’t forcing Tree Hugger off of herself if she didn’t like the proximity of her friend cuddling up to her, the griffon obviously had to be stronger than her right? - “CAT one carry me, follow designation Coco.” Rarity yawned again and she looked ready to collapse, until the CAT lifted her onto its body with the two manipulator arms. It caused a small problem for the machine as Rarity came close to exceeding its weight tolerance. She tiredly pulled out her data pad and held it out to the cute mare walking along next to her slowly waning eyes. “Coco, please be a darling and call Opal and have her put me in bed with my sleeping mask on.” “Of course Rarity, Sassy are you going to stay on the ship with us?” Coco looked to the mare that had her inexorably worried. “No, I’ve got some things I need to take care of first, have Opal watch for me just in case.” Turning away from the two, Sassy started heading towards where she lived. Author's Note The slowly dying computer that has a tendency to overheat and mess up my fixing of a chapter or playing copious amounts of Monster Hunters Generations. Those are my current excuses for slow chapter posting. -10-“I’m sorry, but you seem a little… off… for a SNUGGLES member that is. I wanted you for psychological help and possibly your massage skill, plus I don’t know if I can actually afford to pay you.” If Rarity were to be honest, the distraught Vera she was holding needed help more than she did. “Doesn’t matter, my sisters are usually the ones that end up paying me since I’m usually forgotten by that point… this is actually a rare thing for me. Can you imagine how horrible my life is? I can’t cross a road safely, advanced technology ignores me when I try to use it and automatic doors don’t open as I walk up to them.” Vera slowly pulled away from the first pony to pay attention to her in a while and then she continued. She reached into her saddlebags with a hoof and pulled out a photo album, she had a whole page devoted to each situation. “Heck I even have pictures of how bad the ignore effect I have is. This is when I graduated from school, this one is when I was able to just walk by Celestia’s guards to get a meeting with her and then there’s this time when I tried being crazy to get noticed.” “Did you really do all that?” Rarity’s eyes widened at each subsequent picture, because it seemed that Vera escalated the things she did to get noticed. “Yes, aside from my family Celestia was the only one to notice me at a distance out of my entire album. She said she was sorry that she couldn’t help me with whatever was causing me to be universally ignored, only that what was going on with me was beyond even her to fix. At least she could look directly at me. Besides someone else got blamed and arrested for the third incident even though that was all me.” Vera Blossom sounded both irate and sad at this moment; Rarity gave her an understanding look and a few pats on the back. “Yeah, this is just a part of my life.” “There there, it’ll be okay.” It felt a bit silly for Rarity to be soothing the soother. “I’m sorry to ask this, but did Aloe or Lotus reference me to you? My sisters have tried to find someone other than an alicorn or family that can actually notice me and you’re the first I’ve seen that can do so.” This was a question that Vera looked rather interested in learning the answer to. “Actually it was a mare named Tree Hugger, she referenced me to you. Do you know her?” Having the idea to look at her friends, Rarity could see Sassy and Coco still talking as if Vera had never entered the room. She turned back to Vera who looked at her worriedly and Rarity tilted her head at her while raising a brow. “What? I’m not ignoring you, I was curious as to what my friends were talking about.” “Thank goodness, for a second there I thought that you were going to start ignoring me. Anyway, yes, I do know of Tree Hugger, but I’ve never met her personally. She’s said to be one of the craziest mares of SNUGGLES that spends a lot of time chasing after some griffon in an affectionate manner.” Vera looked at the ceiling. “My sisters said that the griffon was rumored to have even attacked her once, but after that the griffon was just seen as being plain terrified of her and she wasn’t afraid of the griffon at all. Don’t know much more than that, though it is interesting that another pony can acknowledge that I exist long enough to have me meet another pony that can see me. Anyway I’ll show you what I can do for free, if you’ll let me stay onboard your ship for a while. I was especially surprised that it even opened up for me.” “It wasn’t easy you know! My sensors are actively trying to slide right off of you!” Opal yelled as she had been trying to keep her attention solely focused on the mare that walked aboard the ship, if she were to look away for even an instant, she’d lose Vera on the sensors. Rarity’s safety and security mattered to her. “It’s rather aggravating really.” “Wouldn’t be the first time an AI has had problems around me.” Vera spoke blandly as she turned to the album Rarity was levitating. “Page eighteen in my album.” Flipping over to the page it showed Vera trying to talk to an AI and the avatar on the screen looking horribly confused. Rarity looked through all the other pictures and she began to sputter in disbelief at what she was seeing, she just couldn’t put any of the other incidents into words. “Anyway, I’ll help melt all your cares away quite easily. Tell me what’s wrong, that’s what you called my sisters and asked for me personally for isn’t it?” Vera sounded slightly bitter about life at this moment. “The call went to my sisters, I can’t own a data pad because it would ignore my inputs. Again I can’t work technology that is not overly simplified for my use, but at least I’m the best damn masseuse you’ll ever meet.” “I guess it couldn’t hurt, come on I’ll take you up on your offer in the living area so I can talk out my issues. Oh… right excuse me for a moment. Sassy can I get to work on your kimono after I’m done getting a massage?” She earned both the mares attention and they didn’t even glance at Vera standing right next to here. “Oh, so you’re going to the spa, can we join you?” Sassy asked nonchalantly as if Vera wasn’t standing right next to her clearly in plain view. “No I was going to have Vera here…” As soon as Rarity pointed out Vera the reaction was immediate. “Ah, where did she come from?” Coco asked before cowering behind Sassy who looked just as spooked. “What the, where in the hell did that pony come from! She wasn’t there a second ago, who sent you!” That was an odd reaction to have upon noticing Vera was in the room, considering she walked by both of them to meet Rarity. “She’s the member of SNUGGLES me and Coco wanted to hire for a session or two.” Rarity smiled at the fact that Coco and Sassy finally noticed she was there. “Oh neat… wait a minute, where did that mare go!” Now Sassy was looking all around the room and Vera hadn’t even moved a single inch, making Rarity worry about her eyesight. “Don’t worry about it Rarity, this happens to me all the time. I can be pointed out to others, but the second they look away or blink they ignore that I exist again.” The dry tone did not hide the sorrow in Vera’s voice. “Don’t worry about that, she’s right there.” Rarity pointing out Vera again made both Coco and Sassy jump as if they had seen a ghost. “Really now, is this seriously happening? She’s a new acquaintance and I was hoping we could all be friends.” “Holy crap what kind of stealth technology are you using! I know for a fact that…” There was something suspicious in the way Sassy worded that last bit and she quickly said something else, she wasn’t blinking and was trying to keep Vera in sight. “Er, I mean how did you turn invisible like that?” “I don’t turn invisible, I get ignored. Why the very second you blink I’ll be impossible for you to pay attention to anyway.” Rolling her eyes, Vera sighed loudly and turned around towards the door but stayed where she was. “Just follow Rarity to the living area and I’ll see to it that all of you are treated to the best of my abilities.” Blinking Sassy could no longer see Vera like she said and she even knew that the mare was still standing right next to Rarity; it was causing her to freak out slightly. “Rarity I don’t want to alarm you, but I think you’re ship might be haunted.” Even then Sassy followed a huffing Rarity towards the living quarters. “Honestly is what you have really that bad Vera?” Asked Rarity as they entered the living space, she couldn’t believe that her friends couldn’t see Vera who was quite a striking mare to look at. The pictures in the album told her a million words though; this affliction was quite real and very much a serious matter for Vera. She wondered how many times Vera almost got run over considering she had various pictures of traffic accidents in the album which she passed back to the earth pony masseuse. “Yes, it’s that bad and I don’t even know what I have or what it is. I just know what it does, unless I’m making strong physical contact with someone or I’m being pointed out, I’m completely and utterly ignored by almost anything. The one bright side to all this is that flying insects never bother me.” Vera pointed to the mat and Rarity nodded. Rarity moved to start lying on it as she pointed a hoof at Vera making Coco and Sassy jump again. “Aside from making contact, accidentally pointing to me surprisingly works in making me appear to others.” “So pointing at you or making contact with you is the only ways to make you visible to others? That’s… I can’t even find the right words for it; I almost lost the ability to even remember who you are!” Sassy pointed a hoof at Vera to make sure she stayed visible. “You have no idea how freaky it is to not even see or hear you until Rarity pointed at you.” “Eh, I got used to this curse… or is it a double edged boon? In either case it has it has its own particular ups and downs, since you two don’t know, I’m easily ignored by almost everyone and everything I meet.” Vera moved to start pushing down on Rarity’s back. “Doesn’t explain how Rarity could pay attention to me.” “She can see the beauty in things and has a keen eye for detail, she also has a really nifty gem and crystal finding spell that she used on Desserzon a lot.” Coco was a little scared of a mare that could disappear from sight at the drop of a hat like that, mostly because if the hat distracted you then you’d lose sight of her. “Yes maybe her special talent counteracts my problem; I’ll probably eventually end up married to a detective pony that can see through it at this rate.” Saying the word ‘detective’ caused Vera to thoughtfully pause as she began to knead Rarity’s back eliciting moans from the mare. “Wait… if I’ve never met this Tree Hugger mare, then how did she even know about me? Aloe and Lotus never said anything about knowing her personally. Wow, there’s a lot of tension in you Rarity, so how does it feel when I do something like this?” - A scream of pleasure erupted from the Caravel Boutique, Vera was an expert masseuse and Rarity was probably embarrassed that it took so little effort to get her to scream passionately like that. “Sounds like someone’s having a lot of fun today, wish I could say the same if I weren’t dragging a nearly five hundred pound corpse full of holes around. I still have to find out where that earth pony went to after this.” Ember muttered as she continued to drag the larger dead body of the second Ceantir she found through the spaceport to dispose of it and collect the bounty posted on them. They were found to be on the planet illegally after all and receiving some payment from hunting her hunters was a way to make up for all the ammo she had been expending recently. The first Ceantir she hunted down had violently exploded like a bomb, but she still got paid for it. That Ceantir exploded because she ended up heating it up way too much all at once. Ember ‘Flamethrower’ Mcflame the blue scaled dragon had learned her lesson about superheating Ceantirs and would never want to do so again, it was both messy and the smell wasn’t going to come out of her armor. Goodness knows she tried to get the smell off her armor with her fire breath and only a dip in lava would likely be able to do it now, but that would destroy her shoddily made protective gear that had gained something akin sentimental value even if it smelled like hell at the moment. The last Ceantir out to assassinate her has still yet to be found, but after the taking out her second target having one left was making her somewhat happy to almost be done with them. She finished dragging the second Ceantir she hunted down the rest of the way to the bounty counter where she pointed at the corpse that took her forever to drag there. “Right, I just had to be the closest counter for you to come to with that, one of the Ceantirs that snuck onto the planet I assume. You probably know the drill already given your general haggard appearance and roughed up and smelly armor. Name, occupation and bank account residence, also do you have permit for wielding such a nasty big looking weapon like that?” The short haired female brunette human at the counter hit a button to call a take away team for the corpse, she pinched her nose since the smell was as bad as Ember thought it was. “Ember Mcflame, freelance bounty hunter, Equestrian Galactic Banking and yes my custom built material rifle has a permit. I have a hobby of developing weapons that I never build… except for the one I currently have on me.” Ember idly ran her right hand along the boxy rifle on her back that she could use to bludgeon, slice or shoot people to death with, it was her baby and it could survive just about anything. Her rifle had yet to fail her in combat and had never backfired on her like some material rifles might do on occasion. “Oh, you’re Flamethrower aren’t you? Well if you were looking to set some buildings on fire, then you’re a bit too late as it seems like someone got to it before you did!” The human started laughing at her own joke and Ember sighed while rolling her eyes. “Can you not call me that? Get on with transferring the funds into my account; I have bounties to seek. Oh and can you tell me how many Ceantirs are left? ” Getting a little snappy at this annoying bounty payout clerk was not going to make Embers business here any quicker; she knew she still had one Ceantir to bring down. If they didn’t know she was indirectly responsible for some of those fires starting, then it was best she didn’t correct anyone about it. “Huh, and here I thought you’d see that title as a mark of pride being a dragon and all, guess not then. Alright, funds transferred, there’s one left and if you can get him to any bounty payoff point alive then you can get a bigger payout.” The human looked at Ember with something approaching amusement. “Though judging by the problem you had with just this one, I’m sure dead is preferable because they are pretty tough bastards.” “Yeah, I’m going to go with dead, much easier than having them alive to possibly cause more damage or accidentally get more people caught in the crossfire.” Especially when they were trying to hunt you down personally, Ember had added that part silently as she turned and walked away from the counter. It was about time Ember checked on her ammo situation. As she walked through the door and out into the night of this world, she found herself running low on all the good stuff to shoot at some really tough guys that refused to go down without a fight. “Yeah that figures, one thousand three hundred rounds into taking down nine Ceantirs and wounding multiple Macropussians and even I would start to running dry after all that, rocks it is then. Hmm… what’s this?” Ember pulled out a worn data pad as it vibrated slightly meaning she got an alert or a ping; it had to been constructed with her physiology in mind to be heat resistant. Didn’t entirely work, but it was still there being the epitome of data pads that had survived her rather warm body. Hitting the button to take the incoming message, Ember found out it was a call for all privateers, bounty hunters and or armed civilians to aid against a MOM class planet infester. Well now Ember had a time limit to finish her business with, she’d help out with something like that as she had the particular skills to deal with planet infesters. Which was fire and lot’s of it. “Thank goodness Equus is well protected from that kind of invasion, goodness knows Celestia is scary when she took one of them out with her sun when whatever they are tried to infest our planet.” After reading the briefing over, she found that it would take several days to arrive and the triple P were already in the process getting ready to intercept it away from the planet two days out. Prime time for pirates to take opportunity of the Planetary Protection Patrol being away from the planet, at least Geoptis Station would still be around to provide protection but the space station was practically a well armed tortoise for all the speed it could move with. “This is going to be a long night.” Ember lamented as she started looking around for some good rocks to load her gun with. - “This is going to be a long night. I wish you didn’t have that problem of yours so I could get to know you better.” Sassy intoned even as she gave off a sigh of pleasure, she wondered if Vera was dating anybody. Then again it would be rather hard to date a mare that was so easy to ignore when she was not in contact with your body or being pointed at by someone. Rarity was already getting started on the kimono Sassy wanted, which Sassy knew was going to be a real top quality piece of beautiful work that she’d be okay with wearing at anytime. She’d be giving Rarity some good business because she actually already paid her without her knowing. Rarity was too nice sometimes with her penchant for giving away free stuff to her friends, Sassy was not having any of that and had already discreetly transferred the funds into Rarity’s account and told Opal to not mention it. The AI agreed with her on this, Rarity was too nice for her own good at times. “Yeah well, as soon as I’m done touching you, you’re definitely going to forget that I even did it.” Vera stated calmly with a hint of frustration. “Well for what it’s worth, you’re really very good at this and I’m enjoying it. At least it’s not a male touching me.” Levitating out her data pad Sassy transferred funds to Vera’s sister’s bank account along with a note that Vera personally was being paid for services rendered, which was still ongoing as Vera had her melting into the mat. “Opal can you please tell Rarity that I’m turning in for the night in one of her beds after I’m done here? I’m going to eat some of her food and I’m already going to pay for it, Rarity needs a lot of money right? She’s good at getting quality supplies of any kind and I’m sure the food is no different right?” “Sassy, you’re a good friend to Rarity.” It was a fact that Opal liked Sassy, but she still had to warn her. “Please don’t repeat your past mistakes with my Meowstress.” “I would never almost hurt her like that again! Oh, I’m sorry Vera.” Sassy’s movements had almost dislodged the forgettable masseuse that was impossibly good at her job at making you forget your worries or your cares. “It’s okay; you’re going to ignore me soon anyway. A lot of ponies and people have already.” Vera would even pay Rarity to let her stay on with her, a mare that could see through the ignore effect that wasn’t family or a goddess was worth whatever price she could feasibly pay. Opal also seemed to be good at keeping her in sight as well, so that’d make two more beings of that could really pay attention to her. - Rarity worked on sewing the purple roses into the silky red kimono in the manner of which Sassy had asked of her, she was rather curious and worried about some of the things Coco told her about Sassy’s mannerisms and it was building up to this moment. “So I think that maybe… Sassy might have been partially trained as an assassin at some point.” Coco flinched, but didn’t hear much more than a gasp from Rarity. “Well that wouldn’t be too farfetched after what happened to her really, she would want to protect herself from ever letting something like that happen to her again. What better training than that of a noble assassin?” It would certainly explain the sword and the hard to notice weapons hidden up her armored skirt; Rarity’s keen eyes had picked up on that. “She’s still our friend Coco; I don’t think she’d ever want to hurt us intentionally. I’m more worried about anyone that intends us ill will. Sure she may have gone a little crazy with me, but she seems to be doing perfectly well in being civilized now.” “Rarity, I think you’ve read too many romance novels with well endowed hot roguish thieving stallions in them.” Flatly stated Coco, she was also helping to put rose designs on the kimono. “Nonsense, they aren’t all well endowed roguish thieving stallions… some of them are sparkling vampires and others are chivalrous if highly unhygienic pirates.” Rarity received a rather dull look from Coco and she coughed into her hoof. “I must say that Vera does really good work, I think we’ve forgotten all about our recent troubles haven’t we?” “Oh um… darn it, why can’t I remember what the best masseuse I’ve ever met looks like? All I know is that I still feel really good after a pair of hooves had full run of my body, that masseuse does wonderful work. Okay forgetting that train of thought, you read horribly written romance novels that spend more time defining the girth of the stallion instead of actually forming emotional attachments between characters like in the actually decent books I read.” The ignore effect was in full force and Coco was having a hard time remembering something so wonderfully extravagant. “They used scented oils on me at least, right?” “Don’t worry about the masseuse too much darling. Also to each their own as I happen to enjoy trashy, poorly written romance novels and there is nothing you can say to stop me from liking them, though I do wish the stallions cleaned themselves off before they got together with the mare.” Cleanliness was still one of the things Rarity was looking for in a stallion, it was a rare commodity and she had all of space to find one that cared about it and appearances. “Rarity, Sassy wanted you to know she was going eat some of your food and spend the night here.” At Opal’s voice Rarity looked to the ceiling. “That’s alright; my home is a home to friends as well. She can use whatever she wants, except for the pasta. That’s mine.” The Caravel Boutique was beginning to feel rather cozy to Rarity after the last day or two. “Still a lover of that particular type of cuisine huh?” Smiling as she continued to work Coco was a little more okay with Sassy possibly being an assassin, provided that she never killed anyone in front of her personally in a horribly graphic manner. “It’s the most filling thing that nobles will eat in large portions, plus the taste is quite delectable and not entirely unhealthy so it’s going to be my midnight lunch. I do like my lasagna.” Since Rarity woke up in the evening, she was going to be up all night long prepping things for the next day. She’d try to get some sleep in the morning and then she’d meet with her various clients over what would be important business that would pay for her ships needs. “Are you sure you want to brown nose with those guys Rarity, I mean from what I’ve heard Prince Blueblood is an utter… well the words were not very polite after that but you know what I mean.” Keeping a careful eye on her hooves as she worked Coco kept moving her needle up and down through the nice feeling fabric in a steady rhythm. “Yes, there have been rumors, but at least he’s a clean stallion and I’m sure that most of them are entirely unfounded. I’ve been planning on how to get into the gala for quite a while, I’ll just contact Luna about it and guilt her into giving me a few tickets for the event. She should have finished testing my breach gel by now, it’s not that overly complicated to require such extensive looking into.” It left Rarity idly wondering if Vera could just waltz on into the event without being noticed by anyone and eat as much food as she wanted before waltzing on out. “Also I was planning to put in a good word for your impulse saddles and whether or not they were being tested as well. Luna seems to be quite the technologically forward mare, if a bit slow at testing things.” - “Luna, are you playing with that stuff again?” Celestia walked into a room to see hundreds of bouncing balls going everywhere, all of them made of breach gel. Her sister had the gall to look sheepish about being caught playing with the stuff she was supposed to be testing and signing off on. She used her magic to freeze all the bouncing balls in mid-air. “Would you like to play with me sister?” Luna asked innocently of her white furred, blue, green and pink haired larger sister who was considered one of the most beautiful mares on the planet of Equus. “I’d be delighted to!” It seemed as if Celestia couldn’t help but join her sister in her playfulness, the breach gel stuff was of genius make but to sign off on it would be to lose it for testing purposes which gave her an excellent excuse to spend at least three hours off each day with her little sister instead of listening to idiot nobles all day. Of course it would have to end eventually, but some fun and time off was needed with their busy schedules. “Princesses we’ve received word from a scout stationed in the Quia System, there’s a MOM class planet infester heading for Ewesen and you are to be on the lookout for any other possible incursions.” The guard didn’t question the rubbery bouncy balls; he had long since learned to not ask questions about the whimsical things the princesses or even the data pad loving Twilight Sparkle got up to. “Send word to the Applon Systems Planetary Protection Patrol and report to me immediately if there is an incursion heading for our two systems; if any neighboring systems are in need of our help then we will gladly lend them aid to the best of our current capabilities. That is all, you may go.” After the moment of seriousness and the door closing, Celestia turned back to Luna and started playfully bouncing one of the breach gel balls off the walls. After they were done playing they’d focus more on this rather serious issue. Author's Note Vera is easily the most ignored character ever. Please note: I'm not shipping Ember with Spike. -11-“Ms. Gollenfer, Gottfrieda, you’re both free to go. The investigation teams have finished checking your claims that you had nothing to do with the deaths of Derringers crew.” Officer Lirutiy had gained Greta and Gilda’s attention as she slithered up to them “You are now allowed to go freely about the station, you will be given back your stuff swiftly. Please check your personal effects for anything missing. While you can stay on the station you can’t stay on or return to the Derringer for the time being. Do you have any pressing matters that need to be attended to? I have an incursion to stop and I’m already preparing to send the fleet out on what can only be a dangerous assault on a MOM.” “Can I at least hold Rarity’s claim to Derringer by proxy if she can’t make it back from Ewesen within the week, baring events like the MOM getting in the way she still has a lot of stuff to get for her ship. Plus she’s not exactly financially well off at the moment.” Putting her best hopeful smile forward to the slug being as she got up and approached her, Greta could only hope that answer was yes. “Provided the MOM doesn’t hit the planet near her while she’s on it or the monsters that will inevitably erupt from it don’t kill her first, I can see Rarity living through what is going to be one of the worst incoming disasters to ever befall this sector of space.” Gilda stood up and stretched out her wings. “Glad to know we can get out of here finally, though I’m rather curious as to why it seems like your rushing the investigation.” “Maybe you can hold the claim by proxy, provided you can prove you’re employed to her. As for the investigation, it was an open and shut case. We found the ships black box logs and got enough data to clear you two of any wrong doing. Though I admit it was a little rushed, we have little doubt as to your innocence in the matter as was Miss Belle’s need to commandeer the ship.” Clearing her throat Lirutiy carried on. “We could find nothing wrong with your information on the previous ship you were on, aside from the fact that they have become derelict or were outright destroyed. In any case, we need all the people we can get working on stopping this incursion, we’re about to let the civilians known about the incoming MOM.” “Yeah, I bet that’ll go over well. I’m expecting something in the likes of… mass panic perhaps.” With a questioning look Gilda saw that the slug was giving her a frown. Greta was also giving her a flat look. “I call it as I see Greta, you know that.” “I’m well aware of the panic it’ll cause; evacuating won’t help in the long run because we won’t be able to move the entire population of Ewesen to somewhere else safely in time. I’m going to make sure that everyone does what they can to make sure the planet doesn’t become infested. Nowhere is exactly safe from those planet infesting monsters so running won’t do much of anything really, it’s why the Planetary Protection Patrol exists.” Lirutiy shook her head and sighed which clutching at it with a hand. “I’m also well aware I have a lot of headaches coming my way and this day hasn’t even started yet. You two want anything before you leave, coffee, juice or a snack maybe? I’m buying.” - Rarity yawned and slid her bed out of the wall and rolled out of it before approaching the counter, she lit her horn to start preparing coffee only to find the sweet smell of some brew was already made. She had just finished her early morning nap that was to help her get through the day, but she still needed a bit of a pick me up and she saw that Vera had apparently made the pot of coffee. “Can you pour me some coffee please? I like mine with a bit of cream and two lumps of sugar Vera.” As soon as she finished asking a mug was slid up under her nose at the counter as Vera continued maneuvering about the kitchen. “Thank you for paying attention to me Ms. Belle. I did make the coffee this morning, thank you for noticing.” Vera liked the novelty of having some pony like Rarity noticing her at all times, the feeling of acknowledgment was never going to wear off in novelty. “Of course I noticed Vera, thank you for making it.” Taking a sip of hot brewed coffee with a hit of cream and sugar really perked Rarity up, she like her coffee sweet. “It’s really quite good. Opal, list my first scheduled appointment today please?” “Hold that thought Meowstress Rarity; we’ve got an all important bulletin being spread around the planet like wildfire. It seems like a MOM is inbound for Ewesen, it’ll be here in the less than four days or so and they are already sending out an interception fleet to stop it at two days out.” As Opal spoke she sounded a little exasperated. “This might be bad for business. So chances are we won’t be able to get the things we need before everyone’s bought it all already and leaving like the entire planet was on fire. We also need to be wary of any price gouging coming up soon, I’m already paying attention to the prices of things and whether or not they go up because of this news.” “I’ll keep that in mind, first order of business today Opal?” Hopefully her clients understood the fact that she wasn’t one to back down just because a threat was on the horizon. That and without a jump module she’d be stuck in system with said threat if it landed on the planet where she’d have to quickly scavenge one if it came to it. Rarity would never price gouge and would give everyone the fair cost of her wares. Some people would price gouge EVA suits in a situation like this as they offer some minimal protections against miasmas and the like, not to mention an armored EVA suit would significantly increase the chances of survival for anyone lucky enough to have one. She currently didn’t offer armored Eva suits, but her EVA suits did offer limited protection against some things. “The Cacceran is coming in the next twenty minutes so do what you need to freshen up, since he already has an idea as to what he wants already I gave him priority in the queue. It’ll be followed by the two ponies four hours later and then we’ll deal with the Parascine last as we don’t know what their request is and it could take a while.” Finishing that Opal went back to watching cheesy anime over the information net. “I’ll keep an extra eye on the situation with the planet infester in case anything changes in the news which seems to be inciting a mild panic across the whole planet.” “Thank you Opal. I would tell you to go back to what you were doing, but you probably already are.” Shaking her head, Rarity moved on to get her stuff ready. The Cacceran wanted a dress and an EVA suit, that shouldn’t be too difficult right? She had taken classes for making things for various species, though she would probably be better at making designer EVA suits for quadruped based species. - The barefoot Cacceran was about three and a half feet tall with grey fur, with the ears, face and body of a rabbit. Aside from that he had a fox tail and cat based arms and hands and his rabbit based legs also ended in more cat feet. What was the oddest thing about him one would ask? He looked ridiculously feminine with the long blonde hair and the eyelashes. “Well I can certainly see why you want the dress now, but are you sure you’re male?” It was hard for Rarity to see this Cacceran as being anything but female given his general appearance. “I’m actually a hermaphrodite, kind of comes up in my race often. I prefer masculine pronouns and identifying myself as male. So can you make the suit and dress that I need? I have a habit of unnerving a lot of people with my appearance and voice, so sorry if you don’t want to work with me after hearing my voice for the first time.” Surprisingly despite the feminine form just simply wearing brown pants and a yellow shirt, the Cacceran had a rather deep voice. It was a bit disturbing to Rarity to hear such a manly voice come from such a feminine form. “I just really like wearing feminine things and looking it. Can you do something in the terms of lacy for the dress? Oh right where my manners, I’m Preston Licaley. Most people call my Prestelle, though I’m not actually fond of having a feminine sounding name even if I do have the parts for it.” “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Licaley, I’m Rarity Belle. Welcome to the Caravel Boutique where everything that we make is sure to be chic, unique and absolutely magnificent.” Rarity took his offered paw and shook it. “I believe I can happily accommodate you with both, if you’re not satisfied with what I can come up with then I will make changes as necessary Mr. Licaley or do you prefer Preston?” “Call me either Miss Belle and might I say that you are quite a lovely lady.” Preston was rather charming for a feminine looking bipedal fox tailed rabbit with cat paws. “No, flattery will not get you a discount on the EVA suit.” Rarity’s customer chuckled at her candor. “Though now I’m curious as to what exactly you’re going to use it for?” “Well, you can’t blame me for at least trying right? How much pressure can the helmet handle and does the impulse saddle attachment work underwater?” Now Preston was asking some rather curious questions. “Well the helmet is designed to handle as much as the suit, plus it is designed for use in space. Am I to be believed that you are asking me if it can be used underwater?” Seeing a nod Rarity continued on without a pause to understand how ridiculous this request had gotten. “Well then as for the depth at which one of my EVA suits can go… Opal underwater operational depth my personal EVA suit can feasibly reach?” “It might be pushing things Rarity, but it’ll stay good up until two thousand feet down if that’s what you’re asking.” The answer was swift and to the point, most likely because they were getting to a good part in Opal’s show and she didn’t want to miss anything. “That’ll work for what I need it for. Can I get my helmet with the built in cameras that can record things and not just give me visuals in case the face plate is obscured? It’s what I’m most interested in.” It seemed to Preston that Rarity was of a respectable sort given she didn’t flinch too much at learning that he was a hermaphrodite with masculine tendencies yet feminine appearance. “How do the compression pouches for my hair, ears and tail work and are they annoying to deal with?” - It was approximately two and a half hours later that saw a rabbit like figure moving their fingers in the EVA suit with the impulse saddle attached to their back. Rarity had already had a spark of inspiration and was working away on a dress as Preston stood there admiring the detail and designs he had added to his suit. Sassy had left to go finish more unfinished business and Vera was generally being helpful wherever Rarity needed a present assistant as her AI was off being lazy when she could have been assisting with the CAT drones. Even Coco had started assisting Rarity midway through the creation of the EVA suit and it took less time than a general quadruped suit, since the Cacceran in question wasn’t very big to begin with. The impulse saddle would work underwater, surprisingly well too at that, even if it was at a fourth the strength while under the effects of gravity being underwater kind of made it a little closer to half strength. So while the impulse saddle couldn’t help you fly around unless you were in space, it could certainly get you around in water. Coco had to work out the operations and controls of the impulse saddle with Preston so he could get acquainted with the new gear he was purchasing. “This actually feels rather comfortable and it’s in my favorite color.” For Preston, it was a nice, bright and cheery looking yellow. There was room on the suit for a tool belt and places to stash stuff away on around the waist including an energy pistol. “I’ll definitely come to you again if I’m in need of clothing, you can do casual wear too right? Well provided you survive the MOM situation, anything else life might throw at you and the if dress feels as good as this suit does, you’ll definitely have a satisfied repeat customer in me. Oh and before I forget here’s a business card for some cousins of mine if you ever need a good lawyer!” “Of course I make casual wear; we aim to please after all.” The first customer of the day went surprisingly well for Rarity; the next ones were a little more trying. Making friends with a Cacceran was a little surprising, but Preston didn’t seem like a bad guy. - Ember snorted and woke up slapping at her face and blurrily blinked her eyes as the sunlight filtering in through the windows had finally landed on one of her eyelids. Being rather frugal with her money, she found a nice quiet spot to sleep in an abandoned warehouse near the edge of Lake Terwa. She spent most of last night loading her rifle up with rocks. Not that the ammunition was going to perform as good as the higher grade metal scraps she had had upon coming to the planet, but it would do. “Right, find the last Ceantir and make Crab Rangoon out of him. I can use some more money if he hasn’t been taken down already.” As she pulled her data pad out from the inside of her armor to check on the status of the bounty, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was as bad a hoarder as other dragons were. She had a large bank account and wasn’t exactly poor, but she found it rather hard to want to spend her money on ammunition, anything fancier than the materials used to build her special material rifle so she would have spare parts to fix it with or for keeping her armor in something resembling decent enough shape. Most of her money went into her food budget anyway and with the last few bounties she traded in she now had enough money to last her almost two months and was wondering if she should splurge a little on something. “Nope, he’s still kicking and apparently there are bounty hunters are on the prowl. If this Ceantir is still out to get me then they are going to have a bad time today.” There was a reason why Ember tried to keep at least enough money to last her a month of feasting on the best jewels and gems she could buy, that reason was called collateral damage and she had to often pay for fire related damage when it could be directly linked to her as causing it. Then again a little collateral damage wasn’t the worst thing in the world to Ember considering the payouts of her bounties, aside from achieving the horrible nickname of ‘Flamethrower’ from it. Getting up from her position on the floor she walked to the nearby window and popped it open and started climbing her way to the roof of the warehouse with her claws while spreading her wings for balance. Her muscles were sore, most likely from sleeping in her armor again. Maybe she should find a nice place to sleep next time and right now she felt like going to a restaurant for something to eat today that wasn’t gems and jewels; her stomach grumbled its agreement. He mind was saying food first and then the deadliest catch to hunt later. It also pointed out that she was starting to get kind of lonely and that she was badly ignoring the feeling of wanting companionship as she prepped herself for flight. Pulling out her binoculars she made sure the Ceantir wasn’t on any rooftops or in windows with a sniper rifle before she spread her wings and took to the air looking for a nice place to eat, it looked about time for lunch anyway and she made her own hours as a bounty hunter. - “I swear Vinyl, what is with your aversion to dresses? One is not going to just jump up and kill you.” Octavia Harmonics Scratch was an earth pony with a light shade of grey fur and a well coiffed and styled raven mane; she looked upper crust and felt like it with her treble cleft cutie mark. The lovely bowtie wearing pony was not the problem as her and Rarity hit it off immediately as friends; the problem was her rather childish mute unicorn wife. “We both agreed to this you know. So what if you were distracted when you agreed, you still did and you’re getting a dressed up for the event Vinyl!” Octavia’s companion was the exact opposite of Octavia and she was currently flailing her hooves at her wife in some form of communication only Octavia could understand. She looked unruly with her wild spiky electric blue mane and tail. Adding to the rebellious looking appearance was what looked to be shaded glasses that hid her eyes. Her white fur seemed to be a bit matted and it didn’t look like she showered in a while and was causing Rarity no end of frustration when every dress idea she had was shot down by this mare. “Vera could you please be a dear and detain Misses Scratch Harmonics for me with a massage?” Rarity received a questioning look from Octavia and why wouldn’t she? Vera was practically invisible to both ponies until she grabbed at the muscles on Vinyl’s back with her hooves and started applying pressure. Vinyl Scratch Harmonics caved like a house of cards to the pony with incredible spa training. “What just happened to my wife?” Octavia looked positively shocked that her wife suddenly collapsed with a gasp of pleasure and she turned to Rarity for explanation. If Vinyl could talk she’d be telling her wife about the pony she could now feel as much as see on her back that came from out of nowhere like a ghost. “Oh just a friend of mine, she’s kind of easy to miss. She’s right there.” Rarity pointed at Vera on Vinyl’s back and Octavia’s eyes widened when she finally saw Vera working over her wife’s back. “Just call this a complimentary massage; also it’ll be easier to get her in a dress this way instead of having her fidgeting around so much.” “I don’t know how, I don’t know when… but I’m assuredly coming back to you again for your quality services since you’re actually willing to deal with my rambunctious knucklehead. I know she was actively trying to get us kicked out of your shop and your response just sold me on coming to you when I need something a bit more sophisticated.” Tilting her head towards her subdued mare, Octavia smiled as her wife moaned loudly. “Provided that I can have what she’s having, she causes me no end of stress even though I love her dearly for it.” - Sighing happily that the troublemaker ruffian and her rather friendly wife with a decent social status now dealt with; Rarity looked at the next appointment and decided that it was time to take a little break. It was lunch time and she was going to find a nice restaurant to eat at. Walking away from the spaceport, Rarity wanted to take in the scenery while it was still there. While she had heard of the triple P stopping things like MOMs before, she’s never personally seen what a planet infester does when it actually hits a planet and all she knew was that it was dreadful. She knew the end results from the documentaries of how long it took to reclaim the planets once they’ve been hit and how many lives were lost in the process, the aftermath certainly wasn’t pretty. She had no idea what Coco and Vera were going to do for lunch, but she saw a place that looked nice and more importantly affordable. She knew what looked affordable since she had been a waitress for a while. It looked like an average dive, one that served fast food alongside healthy items. Walking inside the place had quite a few fresh looking booths open and the place was quite clean, so it met her sensibilities and standards at least. She looked around and saw a few odd being here and there enjoying various foods for any specie as she walked up to the counter where several stools were. That was when she saw a familiar face picking up a menu; it was someone Rarity needed to have a little chat with. “Miss McFlame, you and I have something to discuss.” Rarity stated flatly and the dragon froze a bit before looking to her as she took up the stool next to the dragon and a menu was placed before her. She snapped it up with her magic and looked it over. “Um… wow… I didn’t think it’d be this easy to find you and yeah I have a few things to talk to you about as well.” Ember became rather nervous in the face of Rarity showing up out of the blue and her tail twitched erratically at being caught off guard like this. A strange feeling twisted in Ember’s guts and she had little idea as to what was causing it. She was a small dragon that can take on Ceantirs for crying out loud, Rarity was just an average… well admittedly she wasn’t average at all and quite beautiful. “I’ve got some time before I set out to bring down a Ceantir, if someone else doesn’t do it first.” “You have to talk with me? I’m the one that has to have a word with you about endangering one of my friends!” She kept her tone low, but obviously heated. Ember looked puzzled until Rarity continued. “You were at the hotel that happened to be shot up and then promptly set on fire? My friend happened to be caught near a firefight and she’s rather easy to traumatize. So am I for that matter.” “I’m guessing Coco Pommel is your friend. Well I’m not directly at fault for the fire and I’m not the one that started the fight.” Seeing that she was getting a raised brow, Ember decided to continue on quickly. “I will however apologize for being there and the reason the hotel is now missing most of its lobby, a few floors and almost all of its walls. The Ceantirs were after me personally, the Macropussians were after my job at the time. You’re kind of responsible for all of that happening.” “Come again? Oh hold on.” Rarity turned to the Parascine standing near her with a note pad. “I’d like the berry lemonade, the garden special with ranch and a side of fries.” The waiter wrote that down and turned to Ember, he nodded for her to get an order in. “I’ll have the locally grown pitaya juice, a garden special heavy on the croutons and feta cheese if you have any. If not then I’ll take cheddar or any other cheese as a substitute. As for a dressing I’ll choose whatever the spiciest vinaigrette you have is. Trust me; I have a taste for the excessively spicy.” The waiter nodded to Ember and moved on not having said a word. The dragon turned to the pony. “Okay to start off you’re tip about the Pendaxon, suffice it to say that was a really big payoff for me. I managed to stop a slave trading ring from forming; downside is I don’t think the people who were starting it liked my interference very much. Hence the ten Ceantir hit squad they sent out against me, but you probably don’t want to hear the more gory details of my surviving a rather brutal three way with me in the middle.” “No, but I would like to hear why it concerns me and why you would need to talk to me?” Rarity stopped to take a sip from her lemonade as it was set down before her. “Well it involved your sister almost being one of the first victims of the slave traders.” Ember quickly covered her face as she received a spray of slightly sticky fluids and spittle from Rarity. “WHAT! What happened to my little sister?” Coughing to clear her throat Rarity was now staring at Ember with worry. “Oh that adorable little filly is perfectly fine if a little shaken up, as for the guys who tried to kidnap her? Yeah, not so much even before I got a hold of them.” Ember took a quick swig of her drink and swallowed with a happy sigh. “I really love the taste of ice cold pitaya juice. Anyway I came here to track you down and I was going to ask one of your known friends where you went, specifically Coco Pommel. That’s when I was obviously attacked and here we are now. I’m mostly here because your parents asked me to look for you after I rescued your sister Sweetie Belle. Though I really don’t think she actually needed to be rescued, she kind of had things well in claw by the time I burst in and started gunning them down.” “You didn’t bring my sister with you did you?” Rarity’s eyes narrowed and they started darting around in a panic, the mood flip caused Ember to feel a little out of the loop. “Did my parents pay you to try and make her my responsibility again?” “Again…? I bet there’s a story there. I told them I was not going to babysit your little sister after the havoc she helped cause, even if it was a rather profitable adventure. Word to the wise, I don’t think you’re little sister should ever become a chef. I didn’t think it was possible to set water on fire without oil being a catalyst and the water was still at room temperature when it happened.” Ember felt a small humor filled smirk cross her face as Rarity cringed and grimaced. “Yeah her kidnappers weren’t exactly of the luckiest sort. Your parents paid me to find you and tell them if you were okay or not, they never said anything about telling them where you were or what you happened to be doing at the time. So, do you want to explain why you don’t seem to keen on the idea of looking after your sister for while?” -12-Lunch had become quite an interesting discussion between a fashion loving pony and a hunting dragon. “That’s why I avoided my parents dropping my sister on me again; if I hadn’t then my little sister might have been killed by the Jump Module exploding.” It was a good thing that Rarity had avoided her parents, but Sweetie Belle still found a way to get into trouble anyway. The food at the restaurant was pretty good, now if only her company wasn’t so loud with her croutons. “I love my sister dearly; it’s just that she’s causes incredibly destructive incidents and has little in her head about self preservation in the name of earning her cutie mark. Goodness knows I’m having enough problems keeping myself afloat, having to deal with Sweetie Belle on top of all that? I’m not exactly made of money or have a lot of it to go around and I’m already planning on staffing a larger ship than the one I currently own. ” “So you got into a dire situation and got out of it with a few scares for it, that must have been a rather harrowing experience for you. I’ve met a few types of space monsters myself as well, even ran into a biological grey goo situation and that was a rather nasty affair. Thankfully burning or freezing temperatures can kill off most biological grey goo situations; a fire extinguisher is quite handy in that respect. Otherwise make sure you’re at least armed and ready to shoot at the first thing to move in the shadows if you ever end up in that kind of situation again, because shooting first might save your life.” It sounded like Ember has had a personal history with Sifter Drifter infested ships. She was enjoying the food and the conversation with Rarity, though she became a bit melancholy after hearing Rarity talk about her little sister and what sounded like her somewhat responsible if annoyingly highly vacant parents. “You know, you’re lucky that you’re able to talk with your family. Talking with you makes me wish I got to know my little sibling; don’t exactly know what became of their egg as it went missing. Then there’s the fact that dad and I weren’t exactly seeing things eye to eye before I left, not like it’s that easy to see eye to eye with someone who weighs well above five hundred tons, is fifty times your size and can carry you around in their mouth. Speaking of general size, I don’t know how my mother managed my father as she was barely any bigger than I am and she was a biped type dragon when she was still around. Dad is a classic giant quadruped dragon.” “When she was still around… what happened to your mother?” It felt a little odd for Rarity to continue working up a friendly demeanor with a bounty hunting dragon, especially concerning said dragons livelihood revolving around killing and or capturing targets of interest. Rarity wasn’t interested in Ember’s job and the violence that was a part of it. It was why Rarity wasn’t asking too many questions about what exactly Ember did in great detail. She was however interested in knowing the dragon herself. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you this… my mom, she got ill. Like my mother was really ill… dragons are known to be resilient to a lot of things and sicknesses are very rare and even impossible when you’re a certain kind of dragon.” Ember would say that talking less about her larger than life father was for the better, as he was quite literally larger than most life and dragons back on Equus. She took another crunchy bite out of her spicy salad before continuing. “Mom was an unlucky one in a million chance; it occurred not long after my sibling’s egg was laid which probably left her weak enough for her to get sick like she did. The sickness that was killing her slowly degraded her ability to remember things and well… it wasn’t pretty given how quickly she faded away.” “Oh my…” Rarity didn’t know what to say, seeing Ember crying was a little upsetting. Here she thought the bounty hunter was an all rough and tumble kind of girl, only to see that she was sensitive and just as friendly as the first time they met. She found Ember to be quite amiable so far despite what the dragon does for a living and was having a little trouble trying to find words to comfort her with. “I’m sorry for bringing it up.” “She was always calling me her warm and tender little spark, my name was the last thing to remain in her memory and she remembered it to her dying breath. Dad was a bit upset that she forgot his name, but that was a few days before that and he told me that my mother loved me more than life itself and would have loved my sibling just as much. She was the last one that was seen with my sibling’s egg, goodness knows what happened to it.” Looking away from the pony that she was sharing a nice meal with, Ember continued on her rather despondent line of thinking after she took out her pouch and tossed a few small emeralds into her mouth to chew on. “My dad did his best to raise me after that for sure, but I’m not on speaking terms with him now and haven’t been for a while. So be glad you still have the ability to talk to your parents and little sister, you’ll never know when the ones you love will be gone.” “I won’t ask what is going on between you and your father, but I would like to turn the topic to something a bit more pleasant than how badly some parts of our lives are going at the moment. I’ve managed to get my business started at the very least, which is something positive for me to think of. You don’t seem to be doing too poorly in bits and you’re doing whatever it is you want to do right?” Their meals were almost finished and Rarity was trying to perk the dragon up, the poor dear was dreary to be around like this. “Speaking of business, you wouldn’t happen to need a dress or an EVA suit would you Miss McFlame? I can make regular clothing too if you need something a little less fancy, I can make you something nice at the very least. All you need to do is ask.” “An EVA suit maybe, I try to minimize how much work I do in space though. The times I do work in space are usually spent around asteroid outposts and mining facilities, gems and jewels are always cheapest closest to the source. Two months worth of food money for me is a lot in comparison to how much money that may mean for you. So since I have enough myself for a while… waiter, check for us two together please!” Ember’s mood wasn’t lifting very much, but at least she was still talking and she seemed at ease around Rarity. The waiter brought a check over to them, which was when Ember immediately paid for her meal and Rarity’s which surprised the pony at her generosity. The food wasn’t expensive, but it was a very nice gesture. “You sound like you need all the money you can get at the moment, this one is on me. Hold on a second, I need to get a picture of us so I can inform your folks how you’re doing and any message you might want me to send to them as well. I want you to confirm that we met and that you’re alright.” “Well okay then, I want you to record what I’m about to say.” Rarity gave quick message for her parents, basically telling them about how she started her business and that she was going to be busy for the foreseeable future getting things in gear so they’d have to be the ones to watch Sweetie for a while. She even got a picture with Ember on the dragon’s durable data pad, after that they left the counter and made their way for the door. “Thank you for paying for lunch Ember.” “Don’t mention it, I’ll send the message off as soon as I can. Speaking of messages, the triple P sent out a message recently to all bounty hunters, mercenaries and privateers about defending the planet from an infester if it hits.” Ember turned to Rarity as they exited the restaurant. “If that monstrosity makes landfall, it’s going to get rather nasty around here. Especially if a hunting season is called, you had better get off the planet quickly if that happens. Maybe we’ll see each other for lunch again sometime; it’s nice to have a friend that I can talk to even if we don’t have much in common. Stay safe Miss Belle or Rarity if you prefer.” Hunting season was a bad thing for most normal people; bounty hunters and other mercenaries however flocked to a hunting season call to prove their mettle as the call usually involved something big and absolutely dangerous. It gave them something resembling a carte blanche to do what was necessary to take out the threat involved. In the bounty hunting world it was the fastest and most dangerous way to earn money, but you had to have proof of your kills and the threat level was always the highest you can get when a hunting season was warranted. After giving a short wave to Rarity, Ember took the helmet that was strapped to her thigh and put it on while spreading her magnificent looking wings lightly covered in armor plating that had definitely long since seen better days. With a mighty leap the dragon took off into the air heading for the sky, all while managing the weight of her armor and rifle quite handily after several struggling flaps. Presumably Ember was going to chase down more bounties and on that note Rarity had to get back to business. With lunch finished the pony had a meeting with three Parascine that had her wondering what the psychic jellyfishes would commission of her. - Parascine rarely wore clothing and the times they did it was for utility purposes, such as a place to put a weapon or a data pad. Ponies shared this trait of going without clothing most of the time and got along with the Parascine with relatively little conflict in the arena of apparel. On the subject of law’s involving clothing, it was perfectly acceptable for some species to go around without clothing, nudity wasn’t a problem unless you were specifically being an exhibitionist and or flailing what was supposed to stay private everywhere. Some planets were clothing mandatory and there was a light form of dress code that many had to follow while they were on that planet. Ewesen was not one of the ones that strictly enforced the wearing of apparel and was another clothing optional planet like Desserzon. - “You want me to make what? Well now, this should be a challenge even for someone of my skill. I am, if anything, a believer in trying to fit my clientele with what they want.” Rarity had thought that what the Parascine had wanted would be an interesting order. She was disappointed slightly as the order was mundane, though it was big in size and a rather unique challenge to her skills. She now had a lot of water resistant socks to make. “How long, what colors, how many, exactly how thick and anything else you want in particular in the design of these socks? Also which tentacles will you be wearing them on and do you mind if I take measurements?” A moment of silence followed as the blue glowing sentient giant jellyfish moved forward to hold out a tentacle and waved it in a friendly manner, it’s nucleic spheres inside what passed for its head glowed slightly for a bit. “Right then let’s get started.” A lot of socks for a family of three, well Rarity had made weirder things. She wasn’t disturbed in the slightest that the male Parascine had talked psychically to her; while they could talk normally it was much faster for them to communicate mentally. Socks were a bit of an odd thing to the pony species, Rarity wasn’t going to go on a rant about it. The order was quite benign in just being colorful socks; a less benign order would have had lingerie based socks that ponies used for playing around with or cuddling. - “I’m just so happy to have Mr. Welder back!” Greta was hugging her welding torch and smiling as they sat in a hangar waiting for the next job, they went to work while they were waiting on the end results of the ownership over Derringer before they moved on. “Why don’t you marry him, he sounds like a hot guy.” Of course Gilda was speaking sarcastically about her friends inherently disturbing attraction for her welding torch, what did the welding torch have that she didn’t as a friend? She was hot headed and could just as easily bind two piece of metal together with a laser cannon and her raw fury when pointed at it. “We’re just friends Gilda, besides he made sure we didn’t get sick from eating those horrid tasting monsters. No parasite or bacteria can survive a plasma welder’s raw fury and beauty.” Greta nuzzled her beak against the metallic object she was cradling. The two griffons were sitting in a hangar controlled by the Planetary Protection Patrol; they were currently waiting for their next quick job. They were allowed to use any materials and or supplies that the triple P had in stock, they were being monitored to make sure they were performing their jobs optimally and didn’t take any extra materials. Quite frankly the two felt a little insulted that they needed minders to babysit them. It was a bit warranted given they were civilians in what counted as military sector at a yellow alert status. The triple P would enter red alert if the planet was in imminent danger and if the fleet they sent out didn’t stop the MOM. “Well with the way you are going on about it, I’d think you were the mechanical engineer and I’m the technical one.” Tapping her claw against the ground, Gilda waited for the sign to light up. When the sign did light up, it meant they were ready to start doing their jobs on repairing, refueling and cleaning the nearest ship again. They were being paid by the ship and so far they’ve been through five in such a short amount of time. “Speaking of technical, since I’m technically trying to be Rarity’s crew member shouldn’t we call her about our release or something?” Looking upon their next task Greta saw Gilda perk up when she saw it was a fighter. “Do whatever you want Greta, as long as it isn’t too stupid or sappy.” The blank response from Gilda had Greta instantly taking notice of her friend’s sudden shift in demeanor. The fighter looked like an elongated somewhat flat diamond shape with a pointy long nose at the front and an upraised stumpy pointed tail end. The rear seat had control of an energy turret above the thrusters and below the pointed tail end, along with control of several supporting functions that were necessary to pilot the ship effectively. The co-pilot would mostly watch the butt of the ship and what was effectively the radar of the fighter when the pilot couldn’t, they were also responsible for in flight troubleshooting. The front seat was for the pilot who had control of the forward laser cannons, two heavy ordinance tubes that could be loaded with various weapons and the most control over the direction the ship is going in. It had a nice red color scheme and could unfold two wings from the underside during atmospheric conditions for better flight control. The two thrusters looked a bit damaged, the canopy was cracked in several places, the rear turret looked like it had been punched inwards by a big meaty fist, there were scorch marks all over it, it looked to have completely lost its shields at some point and one of the landing struts was horribly bent, but overall the thing was beautiful to Gilda who clearly wanted a fighter like this one. “Gilda, you’re being a drooling idiot.” Now it was Greta’s turn to be the cynical one. “Yeah, whatever you say Greta.” Gilda intoned blankly as she moved forward to fix this ship before her eyes. She liked any fighter, but a well designed new one like this that can inspire such awe even in its messed up state? She loved them and what they were capable of. Too bad they won’t sell the newest model fighters to civilians; this thing was a Javelin. It was a fighter that was made for jackknifing through enemy formations at break everything speeds should you hit something and come to a complete stop. In technicality hitting anything at full speed nose first in one of these fighters wasn’t as lethal as it initially sounds. Javelins were specifically engineered with shielding systems that could be altered mid-flight, it allowed for things like someone puncturing and boarding an enemy vessel in a commando style manner. Well, if they could get close enough in one while keeping the shields working at least above a fifty percent capacity to take the brunt of the impact. In case of severe damage the outer shell of the fighter could be ditched in an emergency, thus making the fighter a smaller target in what was termed Evade Mode. Evade Mode left the fighter entirely defenseless if it lost its shields, but still capable of flight and or making entry through a planet’s atmosphere in an emergency. The Javelin before them didn’t obviously drop its shell and needed quite a bit of work; it was easier to put a new shell on one than to train a new pilot. Gilda let out a worrying squeal of delight, as she got closer to examine the Javelin with her claws. Standing behind her was Greta, who shook her head with a small smile on her beak as she lifted Mr. Welder and approached the fighter while putting on her face shield. This was the first Javelin they’ve ever worked on and it was going to be fun times for the Garage Griffons. So named by the people that watched them happily go to work and for their expertise in repairs, modifications or outright upgrading something on every ship they came into contact with. Even a minor thruster improvement by these two was noted by their watchers. “I recommend a bonus for those two.” Paul Strag the officer previously saddled with watching the two griffons found that he was doing so again, it wasn’t ironic in the slightest as he was specifically assigned to keep a tab on the two to make sure nothing happened to them. It was all just busy work given to him by Officer Lirutiy. If at least four other officers agreed with his sentiment, those two would be getting a little extra cash flow their way. - It was the end of the day and Rarity was getting a nice massage since Vera hadn’t left and was unlikely to do so given that she finally met someone who could actually pay attention to her for more than five seconds at a time. “Meowstress Rarity, we’re getting a call from Geoptis Station. Do you want me to put it on speaker?” A happy Opal queried, as the days she could be unrepentantly lazy were the best days ever. She was still having trouble focusing on Vera for any amount of time and decided to just have a Cat follow her around pointing its manipulator directly at her at all times. Vera didn’t seem to mind or notice at all. “Yes, please do darling.” Rarity was relaxed and happily enjoying the motions Vera was putting her body through, apparently she was more stressed than she thought she was. At least Vera had a knack for making ponies ignore all forms of stress for a while. The Parascine had wanted a lot of water resistant socks with varying degrees of specification as to how they wanted them to look and feel. It was odd, but it was work and took her a while to satisfy her odd customers. The lengths she went to just to make others happy. The reason why it was so stressful? She had to make hundreds of socks in just a few hours of varying shapes, lengths and random colors. “Hey boss lady we’ve been cleared, how are things going on the planet? Do you need anything while we’re up here?” it was Greta being ridiculously perky again and Rarity was wondering if she could actually get her some of the things she needed. “Greta, you and Gilda are out of questioning and holding? Well that’s nice to know. Do you know where I can get a good price on a jump module and some turrets for the Caravel Boutique? I’m not having any luck at the moment.” It was a good thing Rarity asked, because the response was more than she could have ever hoped for. She thought something was odd in the way Greta called her boss lady, but she just went with it. “Why would you need to buy them? Heck we can probably work a deal for the materials cheap and just build what you need for you. I’m assuming because of the low funds you can’t exactly afford one at market price at the moment.” Continuing on in an upbeat manner, Greta didn’t let Rarity get a word out. “You’ll soon learn to trust our skills boss lady; we’ll get right on it. So give us some time to get you what you need, we’re already doing some jobs for the triple P and we’ll be able to buy enough materials to possibly build you a warp module from scratch. Trust me; we’re working really hard up here… aside from me being on break at the moment. Now if only Gilda can stop fawning over the Javelin we’ve been working on for a minute.” “Screw you Greta; I want to own one of these!” Was Gilda’s less than friendly response to Greta’s jab at her going on about the fighter with sparkly eyes, it was as disturbing as it sounded. “Maybe we can do that later Gilda, if only you’ll actually give me the time of day after making that offer for once.” It sounded like Greta was frustrated with Gilda for more reasons than just having to deal with her on a daily basis. “If the claim for the Derringer goes through, then we can think about owning a whole collection of fighters personally built by us. That means we need to support the boss lady’s claim as much as we can.” “Right, I’m doing an all night run then. Tell the boss lady we’ll get what she needs for her ship. All she has to do is not get us killed and or die herself.” It sounded like Gilda was properly motivated to get her ass in gear; she was loud enough for Rarity to hear her over what was obviously a busy and loud hangar. “We’re going to need a barrel of coffee; we can sleep when we’re dead Greta!” “Well it sounds like you have things well in hand, thank you for calling me to tell me you’ll get right on some of the problems I’m facing Greta.” Now Rarity had to worry about food and other supplies to feed her growing crew. “It’s also nice to know that you’re doing alright darling, please make sure Gilda doesn’t work herself to death.” - “Yes, for that is my only one true job and purpose in life. Thank you for noticing boss lady.” Greta rolled her eyes before smiling as she turned to Gilda who was already inspecting the next ship. Hopefully the watchers took notice that Rarity accepted them as crew members, if their boss lady couldn’t get back in a week then the dream had to be kept alive through other methods. She didn’t know what Gilda would do if the dream of owning her own hangar were to crash and burn slightly. - Coco slammed roughly into the wall and she squeaked before ducking out of the way of the grasping claw that crashed through it a second later. She was panicking and wondering why a Ceantir was after her, heck the previous blow to her chest should have caved it in and she should have been seriously hurt. She was lucky to be alive, if the pain wracking her body wasn’t selling it. She wanted to know where Sassy kept running off to and after helping Rarity with a lot of socks, she had lost Sassy’s trail and went back to where she lost it. Judging by its appearance the Ceantir was male and rather intelligent for its species. Coco was just minding her own business and was looking around for Sassy’s whereabouts when the Ceantir charged her from out of one alleyway knocked her bodily into another one with a single agonizing blow. Coco got up and started to half gallop, half limp away. Facing a Ceantir’s strength wasn’t a laughing matter and the earth pony wasn’t an idiot, why she wasn’t dead yet remained to be seen as it pulled its gun and fired at her. She quickly ducked behind a dumpster and cowered slightly. “Why are you after me, what did I ever do to you?” Coco hoped it knew how to talk, because she didn’t know much aside from the fact that they were scary and big. “You are in the way of my hunt prey; you’ll be good bait for Flamethrower.” The warbling voice of the Ceantir sounded a lot closer than Coco was expecting which was why she bolted to be chased down a by a volley of energy blasts that didn’t seem very powerful. Getting in the way of a Ceantir, even if by relative proximity, was tantamount to being suicidal. “Oh goddess, I think he’s trying to take me alive!” Coco yelled as she rammed her way through a door with surprising strength and out of the path of the shots blasting at the ground just on her heels. Taking her alive certainly explained why he hadn’t killed her with that first hit. Looking around the room she just ran into, it was a bar full of bounty hunters. The Ceantir loomed behind her and suddenly there were quite a lot of weapons aimed in her general direction. “Um, I’m not going to be lucky enough to just leave this room quietly am I?” “It’s just not your day is it lassie?” A material rifle toting Macropussian stated with a hint of amusement in her scot accented voice. “You just brought everyone a nice payday if we can get him alive; also consider us interested in why such an elusive quarry is after you. So… you all know the rules lads!” Coco’s ears fell and she dove quickly forward towards the nearest empty table and two rounds clipped the edge of her right ear. A shot went through the right side of her front left leg as the room became an absolute madhouse after she sent a chair flying into someone’s face from the reflexive kick caused by her injury. Coco lamented the fact that she had just started a bar brawl by accident. Author's Note Coarse by definition of this story means - Not elegantly formed diamonds. In other words all the characters have their flaws and no one is perfect. Exscuse of the day: Playing Monster Hunter Generations and watching cartoons such as Steven Universe. -13-It was the next morning on Ewesen and Rarity was having Opal listen to the local news for anything important to make note of, she had been informed that Coco hadn’t come back last night and was slightly worried. However Coco’s data pad was close to the spaceport and slowly moving towards the ship. “Rarity I can finally see Coco, may I ask for permission to prepare a med-bed? She looks like she’s had a rough night. The multiple visible wounds caused by material, energy and melee weaponry alone can tell you what I mean.” What Opal was seeing was not anywhere near the definition of pretty. “Who in the world could that sweet little mare have possibly gotten angry?” “Permission granted to do so for all crew members if immediate med-bed action is completely warranted, hopefully you remember my other rules about your usage of the med-beds. Now please send out the CATs to help her aboard this instant!” When Rarity got snappy, she got results and the injuries looked pretty bad once she saw them for herself on a monitor. Thankfully it looked like nothing vital was struck and Coco whimpered as she swiftly strapped into the nearest med-bed for her own good after having limped her way to the Caravel Boutique looking like a sight out of a horror film about a survivor becoming the monster themselves. - “Let’s see, from the scans alone it looks like she’ll make a full recovery, but she’ll definitely be out of it for an entire day and the pain killers we have are definitely going to make her feel good for a while. We probably need more of that stuff given how much you liked it Meowstress. Anyway poor Miss Pommel, who could be so cruel as to shoot at something so adorable looking?” Opal wanted to know so she could personally rip whoever did this apart, not that she could do it physically being a digitally bound entity. “Let’s see lots of flesh wounds around the legs, I’ve already seen to pulling five bits of metal out of them. You’ll probably need rehabilitation seminar Coco since it looked like you used your legs to take the brunt of most of your injuries. The fur on your right ear will grow back with time thankfully your ears are not injured other than cosmetically, no permanent injury to any part of your body aside from the nasty concussion. What did you do to get that one; did you strap yourself to the nearest rocket heading straight for a solid metal wall that’s about eight feet thick and over five tons? The concussion is thankfully the worst of it aside from the legs, the rest are minor injuries that could have been severe if they were an inch lower, higher or even a millimeter to the right. The blow you took to the spine might be sore for a while but I don’t see any fractures on the scans.” “It’s good to know you’re going to be okay Coco.” Rarity put a hoof on the lid of the fluid filled med-bed while looking at the traumatized pony that looked at her sadly. “Don’t worry about work dear, Sassy can cover for you.” “Seriously though, holy fudge girl, how did all this happen to someone like you and how did you make it back here in one piece! Oh and the absolute worst thing of all this and I’m sure Rarity agrees, your mane and tail are an absolute mess from all the blood that you were positively covered in!” To Opal’s moderate surprise, most of that blood wasn’t even Coco’s. “Also your missing a section of mane from your bangs, don’t worry it’s not that much noticeably shorter. Okay, yeah it is, but still it’s not quite that bad. How did you get so much blood from, let’s see… suffice it to say and in quick summation, you have the blood of at least thirty different sentient species coating your body. All of it as recently spilled as the last five hours, yikes, anyway Sassy is up and I’ll have to tell her that she’s on your shift today. Still though the strongest species blood on you is Ceantir, how did that happen? I’m sure you’ll tell us later, because you can’t exactly talk right now. You need to get some sleep so nod if you want the happy drugs.” Coco just moaned sadly in the fluids, she really didn’t want to talk about how her night went later. Days and nights on this planet were longer than usual, so saying she had a long night was accurate and right now she just wanted to sleep everything off. She had loved this planet and still does; if bounty hunters weren’t currently congregating to this planet then things would have been perfectly fine. Thankfully the saving grace of the night for Coco had been when she had incidentally gotten a hold of a bounty hunters spiked metal club, one that was now probably still where she left it. A lot of the bounty hunters had underestimated the strength of a single cute little Earth Pony, now they’d definitely be more wary of cornering the next Earth Pony they met and with good reason. If they saw the previous Earth Pony coming at them again with a very pointy solid metal Kanabo that weighed more than a hundred pounds, they’d probably freak out. Speaking softly and having the ability to wield a big stick really helped out a lot as an intimidation factor, that and the bounty hunters tripped over each other with infighting. It allowed Coco to make a run for it after she got in one last blow with the bat. She hopefully didn’t kill anybody, then again what she did was in duress and she was already willing to forgive herself for it. Managing what little consciousness she had left, Coco nodded gingerly. This led to a needle jamming itself into her neck and a brief smile of relief crossing her face, the drugs really were happy to meet her. - Ember was having an odd morning after having no luck finding the Ceantir last night. It was mostly because when she was heading towards a bar to see if there was any information to be heard by word of mouth. Only she basically tripped over the Ceantir she had been looking for after turning a corner, she tripped over its legs specifically and found it lying on its back as she stood up. It looked to have been shot hundreds of times and its armored hide was thoroughly cracked in multiple places, she could still hear a faint rasping sound coming from the four legged limp body. “What the… who would leave a perfectly good bounty lying around?” Not seeing anyone else there Ember looked at the tip of the metal bat as large as her rifle slightly buried into the crustaceous cretins face. Grabbing the bat and with a sharp tug that made a horrible squelching noise that made the dragon cringe squeamishly, she had managed to pull the bloody bat free. After shaking some of the excess colorful blood off it, she looked at the still highly roughed up crab face that was breathing. She swiftly kicked the Ceantir roughly to test something. Nope, it didn’t look like the Ceantir would be getting up anytime soon. “Well, if no one wants this bat or to cash him in then… mine!” Taking this moment of serendipity for what it was, Ember didn’t question the situation and looked the bat over before wiping it on the ground and strapping it to her back. Looking around, Ember didn’t see anyone as she grabbed the still living bounty target and started dragging it away, she really needed to spring for a mode of transportation to carry bounties around with soon. She really didn’t want to give up walking or flying the scenic routes, so a vehicle that could be remotely summoned to her would be a nice purchase if she could find one that suited her tastes. Given she just got a free weapon and a good payout for a live relatively immobilized target. She figure today was probably a good day for splurging a little, should she really complain about the oddity of finding this bounty just sitting here for the taking? She started whistling jauntily in a disturbing manner as she heaved the body and had to dig her feet into the ground to even move it a few feet at a time. She knew where the nearest bounty counter was and dragging this guys butt for three miles was going to be worth it in the end even if it was a lot of trouble to go through. It would be a nice workout at the very least and it was much further distance to go than the Ceantir she took down at the spaceport. She’d definitely buy herself something nice afterwards while calling it a day, maybe find a magazine to look up vehicles she could use or have one custom made with her unique physiology in mind. Ember would find that mare she needed to apologize to later; she was going to be found on Miss Belle’s ship, so she had all the time in the world today after getting this last Ceantir off her back. Around another corner from where Ember started dragging the Ceantir away, there were several groaning piles of bodies. Some were injured bounty hunters that were just coming to and others probably needed immediate medical attention about now. None of the bounty hunters had died that night, but some permanent injuries were incurred and the nearest hospital would be busy for the foreseeable day. - “So you don’t even know what happened to her?” Sassy was upset that Coco went out for a night on the town and ended up like this. The fact that the mare still had all her stuff said to Miss Saddles that Miss Pommel definitely gave better than she got and if she looked like this, then what did the other guy look like? “No, so I would like to ask, could you possibly fill in her shift for me today? Please don’t cause a scene if you agree to this, as I cater to both male and female customers Sassy. If you can keep things professional and provided your therapist lets you, then you can stay on with us and we can work out a plan to continue helping you.” While Rarity would personally like to leave the customers to Sassy, she wasn’t about to leave her alone with any male customers they might come across. “Opal, have anything scheduled for me today, aside from possibly needing to hire a medical professional for Sassy.” “I’ve got a few hits. A human female wants an EVA suit. A male Lagotorphin and two mares want to meet with us personally. We also have… huh… a female Minotaur; you don’t see one of those every day. Preston again and the last one scheduled is… hold on we’ve got an upcoming important news bulletin. Why did they have to interrupt me during customer scheduling?” They could hear Opal groaning as she was interrupted by important news. “I’m putting it on the screen nearest you Meowstress Rarity and it says that it will air the bulletin in a few minutes. It’s probably related to the MOM.” “Please and thank you darling; just be sure to keep Coco perfectly comfortable while you’re at it.” It was going to be another average day and even with Greta and Gilda picking up parts for the Caravel Boutique, she still needed to pick up enough supplies. What was it Rarity needed? Let’s see various rolls of plastic fabrics and wiring for EVA suit construction, she used a lot of fabric on making socks the other day and she had how many mouths to feed? Two griffons and two possibly three ponies including Rarity herself, so a surplus of food supplies in case she ends up taking anymore crew member on was a must. Her ship was rated to carry this many people comfortably, so there wasn’t a problem at the moment. She had to get the variable thrusters refueled, fresh water, plus something to recharge her five energy pistols with along with a greater variety of other weapons for things that energy weapons just wouldn’t feasibly work on. Her near miss with the Xouj and talk with Ember the other day pretty much made her a bit jumpy of what could be in the shadows. Wait a minute, make that three possibly four ponies, Rarity had almost forgotten about the masseuse Vera who sounded like she was sticking around regardless of pay and mostly out of recognition. It was quite disturbing how forgettable she was, even with Rarity’s keen eye for detail pretty much negating the problem that Vera had of being easy to ignore or overlooked by everything. Apparently that didn’t exactly translate to Rarity keeping her in mind. “Sassy, Vera, let’s go see what this bulletin is all about.” Rarity nodded to Vera who smiled at the acknowledgement and followed her out. Sassy frowned, looking back at an unconscious Coco before exiting the medical and cleansing room. - A Lagotorphin looked like an average everyday rabbit, only they had different genetics; they bleed purple and were twenty times smarter than an average bunny. It is yet to be known what will happen should a Cacceran and a Lagotorphin breed. The prospects of that happening were unlikely. Because of their size and general appearance in being mistaken for regular rabbits, Lagotorphins are notorious for being good hunters due in part to confusing carnivores for centuries and leading them into traps. Unlike normal rabbits they are omnivorous and will eat meat when given the chance when they think no one can see them breaking character of looking cute and innocent. They are sentient, but they aren’t as technologically gifted as other races. Still they’ve managed to get off their planet by hitching rides with more technologically gifted species and are observant of how to use said technology. They were eventually discovered when someone realized that rabbits kept popping up and starting homes next to more technologically advanced cities in the oddest of places, that and they were eventually found sabotaging all the efforts to get rid of what was believed to be a massive rabbit based infestation. Since they share so many similarities in appearance with rabbits, rabbits don’t see Lagotorphins as being different from them or a threat and will usually act friendly towards them despite not actually sharing any close form of genetics. In fact a Lagtorphin only shares the barely a two percent genetic similarity to rabbits despite appearances, as with humans sharing genetic similarities to mice and being vastly different things. - “And this is Quia System News, the fleet sent out a while ago to deal with the MOM has returned. However their mission was not entirely a success, the planet infecting monster carrying meteor was heavily ravaged by our forces and in turn so were they by the defenses the meteor presented.” An image of the fleet before, during and after the battle popped upon the screen behind the feminine looking pink Parascine telling the news of the recent assault. Well as feminine as a jellyfish could possibly look. “Having attacked the MOM two days out from Ewesen at the speed it was moving, they have managed to destroy half of its mass. Now what remains of the MOM are two smaller core pieces still heading for Ewesen. The two pieces have been slowed down drastically and are still considered highly threatening, so that section of space is now currently considered under heavy quarantine. The Planetary Protection Patrol plans to intercept them with Geoptis Station and will try to quickly repair the heavily damaged fleet. Now a moment of silence for those who lost their lives and we’ll now show a list of the casualties by ship.” - Greta was watching all this on the monitor in the hotel room and was sitting on the edge of the bed feeling a bit sad as she drank her beverage having woken up a short while ago, the sleep she got after helping Gilda work herself to exhaustion was incredible. Mostly because she had a big cuddly grumpy friend who couldn’t resist her snuggling within the one bed room they shared because she was too tired to push her off, in fact Gilda was still snoring away on the bed looking adorable despite how she acted when she was awake. The list of dead or crippled on the monitor had a lot of fighter pilots; apparently the MOM had a good defensive screen of some kind. It had to be a deadly space capable biological type of defense mechanism to take down so many fighter pilots on the list. It looked like fifty seven percent of the fighters that were sent out were destroyed, the rest were damaged badly and only a small five to seven percent of them came out of combat only lacking their heavy ordinance. “All those poor ships… and the people on them too of course, it looks like we got our work cut out for us soon. Even if we do manage quite a bit of funds, we still might need some money from Rarity to pay for the materials we need to outfit her ship.” Greta leaned back and continued to watch the report and stretched out her left wing to stroke Gilda’s back to get a saw purring trill out of her best friend. Gilda didn’t enact cuddling sessions, but she didn’t seem to mind being cuddled when she was ‘drop dead’ tired. “I can already tell the coming days are going to be pretty hectic.” “Come back to bed Greta, its cold without all the sunshine that flies out of your ass.” Gilda muttered sleepily not really aware of what she was asking of her friend. Said friend gained a large grin across her beak as she turned off the monitor and its highly depressing display for the opportunity to curl up against Gilda’s back. A little more sleep certainly wouldn’t hurt, as Greta knew she was going to need all the rest she could get and Mr. Welder was going to be getting a lot of use real soon. Oh sure Gilda would push her off the bed when she woke up, but Greta could live with a little pain after enjoying the moment that Gilda had asked for her as a bed warmer. It was odd that they weren’t in a relationship; they were really good friends with very mild benefits. That Gilda let Greta get away with a lot of affectionate gestures like this said a lot about how comfortable the two were with each other. - On Planet Equus it already midday, a tall figure walked down the hallway with a calm demeanor and opened a door to walk into a room of absolute chaos. It was rather adorable what she just walked into, being the friendliest politician on Equus she would say that what she was seeing wasn’t worthy of being called a scandal. Now Celestia, Luna and Cadence having a threesome, that might have been odd but not scandal worthy. What was scandal worthy to the mare that was watching the three at play? A true scandal would be Celestia turning down perfectly good cake, Luna missing her scheduled eating of a banana flavored moon pie thirty seconds after midnight and then there’s Cadence’s rather embarrassing activity that she’d rather not have brought to light. “Hello, heard a rumor that you wouldn’t sign off on something because you’re still testing it?” The accusatory tone the large dark furred bug pony spoke in had suddenly alerted the three alicorns in the room to her presence. Said ponies were busy bouncing breach gel spheres everywhere in a playful manner. They looked like several deer caught in directed light and all their ears wilted at seeing her. She flicked her long teal colored mane and smiled coyly at them. “You know if I was little more anal about things, I could have you sued for already using the stuff in everyday life without signing off on it. Don’t you have plenty of other things to test?” “Oh, it is our dear friend Chrysalis, it so nice of you to join us once more!” It would always be Luna that first greeted Chrysalis with a friendly hug and love based in friendship, Chrysalis could actually taste the difference between romantic, friend and family based love. Chrysalis and Luna became quick friends after some misunderstandings and plenty of other things were hashed out after the changelings surrender. “Do you need any more love?” “No thanks, I haven’t actually touched the stuff for a whole year until just now. Thanks for the taste of vanilla by the way, I kind of missed that.” This shocked the three ponies with horns and wings as she Chrysalis flicked out her own dragonfly styled wings and buzzed them a bit as her own form of secretive laughter. Friendship love tasted like vanilla ice cream, romantic love was obviously chocolate and familial love was rare. Some changelings did marry and crossbreed with ponies, they likened the taste to strawberry ice cream or strawberry syrup covered cheesecake. Chrysalis wouldn’t know, she never married a pony nor has she ever actually had children. Sure she cared for changeling hatchlings and nowadays she did that less and was more of a babysitter when absolutely needed by one of her people to watch the communal daycare, but that was becoming a rare occurrence as changelings were becoming self sufficient due to recent discoveries. “Wait, are you saying you actually found a stable food source, which means you don’t need to eat love anymore?” Of course that would set off Cadence the princess of love, the bright pink mare with gold, violet and magenta hair that was straight until the tips where it ended in curls. “I found a lot of unstable food sources; all that trial and error was quite horrible. Traveling the planet on tour for a year has cooled my jets so to speak. Aside from that, I didn’t find one, but rather two stable and easy to acquire sources of food for my people from renewable resources. fortunately said food hurts no one and unfortunately if ponies knew what it was that we can eat for sustenance aside from love… it might upset a lot of ponies by quite a bit and they’d probably try to start hoarding our new food source from us if they knew exactly what it was.” After a moment of quiet and before any of the ponies looking upon her magnificent visage could speak up, Chrysalis had to address some issues. “Please, for the sake of my sanity, tell me that you didn’t give the Caccerans any leeway into law making or judicial power while I was gone. I’m also a little upset that they are losing sight of their culture and adapting to everyone else’s, it’s like they don’t have their own culture and if they did they don’t seem to care.” “Holy Buck, you’re actually caring about another species without wanting something in return!” Hearing Cadence’s sentiments caused Chrysalis to start chuckling dryly and for Celestia to stare her niece down. “Please watch your language Cadence! We’re all civilized mares here.” While Celestia would never be as close to Chrysalis as her sister, she was happy that the changeling had worked out her issues over the past year. “It is rather ponderous that you’d be concerned about the Caccerans. Also I would like to think that we are not dumb enough to allow them any form of control over the laws in our governing system. Especially to form loopholes so large that we’d have to pay them fifty bits every time we utter the word banana. Eating sundaes on a sunny Sunday just wouldn’t be the same with bananas costing a leg and a wing. ” “Ponderous nothing, it’s like those guys don’t care at all about having their own culture if they fail at an invasion. When we surrendered to you, at least we kept true to our culture and traditions with a few exceptions so as to allow our races to coexist. Those changes were for the better anyway.” Okay now it was understandable why Chrysalis cared about the Caccerans lacking their own set culture that wasn’t based around unionizing. They did try to muscle in on Chrysalis’s territory and she hadn’t been pleased they tried to rival her plan to do what she already was currently accomplishing. It was a little silly that a race called changelings would even have a problem with changing their ways and attitudes, but their culture actually mattered to them. “Some rivals they are, they fold like a house of cards after Luna randomly hits the caps lock on her voice. It’s just as bad that her caps lock almost always seems to be on when she uses a computer or data pad. Of course with activities like this, I’d think you were the reason that fast food restaurants don’t have pits filled to the brim with balls anymore for the colts and fillies... okay I apologize for that bit of wording, it almost makes the restaurants sound like they either harbor stallion pedophiles or a lot of gelded stallion privates.” “I have actually been working on those things… including the ball pits.” The blushing Luna coughed at the admittance that the thing about the ball pits was actually her fault. The pouting look on her face was cute as could be to the other three in the room of bouncy balls giving her a humor filled smirk. “It is not the fault of me and my sister if balls go flying everywhere when we wish to play while eating out with our subjects… I too am sorry and ashamed of how that sounded. Chrysalis I respectfully ask that you don’t drag us into another marathon of innuendos no matter how fun it would be. Also I enjoy those restaurants unbridled joy meals that come with the toys and will proudly inform you that I don’t care what anyone has to say about it!” “Civilized mares huh? Coming from the mare that invented and secretly runs the annual cake-a-palooza festival?” Well Chrysalis had a good reason to sound vindicated as now the two oldest mares in the room were blushing. “Yes, my sister and I may be a bit childish sometimes, but it’s not exactly a bad form of stress relief to be playful every now and then. It’s either that or we develop even worse quirks than what we have already.” Shaking her head at the talk of spheres, Celestia wanted to get back to more important issues. “Now back to the matter at hoof, you mentioned having two new viable sources of food Chrysalis? I’m rather curious to know what they are.” “I’ll whisper the first one to you and if you can stomach that, then I’ll whisper the second.” Polticians on Equus were always leaders or nobles, Chrysalis made a habit of taking care of political problems for the alicorns when it came to dealing with the annoying nobles they had. Pony nobles were worse than changeling nobles and that was saying something, so Luna and Celestia owed Chrysalis quite a few favors which she would be cashing in right around now. Celestia would hopefully understand the need for discretion about the other things that changelings could consume that wasn’t love. “Then we can get on to the subject of my withdrawal from the political games by leaving a suitable proxy in my stead, I nominate the changeling public relations manager Plentiful Thorax.” Author's Note Lagotorphin- These omnivorous beings can use technology after observing it being used closely and prefer to live like wild animals even if they are sentient. They can build traps and craft effective weapons out of their surroundings or use already existing weapons. They are considered the smallest of known sentient species at adulthood and are rarely injured because they are believed to have a limited form of precognition. They specialize at foraging for food, rare plants and anything that looks to be worthy of a good trade. After the cat was let out of the bag about their intelligence, they started grudgingly trading goods with other sentient species. One of the things they will never do is consume the flesh of another sentient being, they instead create funeral pyres for what they will not eat. Lagotorphins speak a language that is almost impossible to decipher and can imitate rabbits perfectly, but they understand all other languages perfectly well and can use data pads or written language to communicate. Common nickname associated with this species- Killer Rabbits. -14-“Really… are you serious?” Celestia had asked that for the fifth time now looking a little green after Chrysalis told her the first thing of what her people could eat for sustenance, she found the news to be highly disturbing. The food source certainly didn’t hurt anyone and they certainly wouldn’t miss it if it was taken. Celestia, Cadence and Luna weren’t about to argue with Chrysalis leaving Plentiful Thorax in charge, so none of them had much to say about the changeling queen possibly leaving the political scene. She would always be their favorite politician... well at least favorite politician in so far as the only one who could circumnavigate any bureaucracy better than the pony nobles and use it against them in an unrelentingly amusing manner. Still there were matters to attend to and Chrysalis looked like she was a bit peeved that Celestia couldn’t stop asking that question. “For the final time yes, I’m serious! Sure it’s not love, but it definitely works as a source of sustenance.” Being capable of only eating one single thing made for a weak species, it left Chrysalis glad that she discovered a few new things about her people and what could sustain their lives. She first had to see Celestia’s reaction to the news to gauge which food source was more disturbing. “Then please be discreet about it… also make sure your race learns the importance of hygiene in their interactions with others if they happen to acquire a ‘taste’ for it. Now what’s the second new source of sustenance?” Celestia shivered violently at the word ‘taste’. She perked up an ear and Chrysalis whispered into it, after a moment she pulled back and gave the quasi-pony an incredulous look before sighing audibly. “Okay, now that I can actually supply your race with and will do so readily, it’ll just take a bit of finagling to get a system in place to deliver it directly to your people without suspicion. We’ll definitely be working up a trade agreement later. Also no, you would have to make a rather grand offer for me to even consider something like that.” “Thank you, but don’t you find the second thing a little more disturbing than the first?” Sometimes it confused Chrysalis as to what a pony might be more disturbed by. She thought the first new form of sustenance for her people came off as tame and it had made Celestia look a bit green in the face, she thought the second would be more disturbing. “It is far less so than the first one. All the same, don’t eat that in front of me or any pony. Please don’t start stealing the second thing either, because again you need to be discreet with the knowledge. It may be an easily renewable source, but it’s still takes energy to make more of it.” Taking this as a moment to ask a pertinent question, Celestia cleared her throat loudly. “What are you going to be doing if not actively browbeating everyone in the world of politics, of which you have only a few that could match you blow for blow?” “I will admit that you and Luna are just as good or possibly better at politics, but I’ve been thinking of a change of pace. I want to go exploring and see the stars now that I have found a way to sustain the changeling population without subterfuge or stealing love.” Chrysalis was rather proud to be the leader of her race, but it was about time she did something different and her yearlong tour of the world had been absolutely fun. “I might even eventually want to find a planet to start a changeling colony. I’m pretty sure we can transform a rather barren planet for our personal needs, find some less intelligent livestock and the like. Of course we’re going to need the supplies for it, but that will come with the trade agreements we’ll work out and provided I can find an empty planet that nobody has a claim on.” “Well then, while you are here to hear it.” The guarded looked Celestia received was one she was well acquainted with when it came to Chrysalis as she levitated an invitation to the most dangerous politician on the planet. “I would like to properly invite you to the Grand Galloping Gala and I need you to do something for me while you are at it.” Luna and Cadence hadn’t spoken up in a while and were now idly playing with the bouncy gel balls again off to the side while waiting for Chrysalis and Celestia to finish their business while keeping an ear out for whatever the two may be discussing. “What’s in it for me? There’ll be no food at the gala, for me specifically, that I can eat out in the open. The party is usually for your nobles to renew or make new connections while waving their privates around in the air, heck the fact that I managed to make them almost starve to death legally under your laws says a lot about how stupid they really are.” That was quite a tale and Chrysalis enjoyed the sweet taste of victory on that one. In fact it got a few new laws passed that crippled the pony nobles ability to use any loopholes further, but at least they had stopped legally losing massive amounts of money to the changelings at an exponentially dangerous rate. “So again, what’s my incentive to join the dullest party of the year for you? Aside from that how is your favorite purple introvert doing? I must admit, I’m quite shocked as to how much romantic love flows between you two and that you never seem to want to act on it!” Cadence immediately turned and headed straight for Celestia, the princess of love just became a sun princess seeking missile upon hearing this. Celestia now knew for certain that Chrysalis truly was the most evil being that they were actually friends with. - Chrysalis nearly destroyed every pony noble’s power base at the same time without actually doing anything illegal and made it completely impossible for them to buy food for themselves directly from the many various nearby producers. The rich thriving noble ponies of avarice almost became completely poor, broken and lonely husks of their former selves. Celestia’s hooves were tied on it because their own laws were quite clear on what Chrysalis did; frankly the princess thought it was hilarious that the Changeling queen could get away with so much when she was allowed to become a politician. The entire situation involved a simple loophole made by the nobles themselves that was taken to a rather absurd logical extreme and abused to an incredibly insane sadistic level by Chrysalis. Oh sure the nobles didn’t take it laying down or very well at all, it was just that every law they tried to pass to keep Chrysalis under their hooves backfired tremendously every single time. Some of those laws were quite racist and Chrysalis easily got backing from various other species that were minority citizens in the land of ponies, along with getting the common pony to side with her on the issues as well. In the end she unionized the commoners almost destroying the existence or need for nobles by doing what the Caccerans wished they could have gotten away with. As a completely unrelated bit of information to all this, Luna liked how Chrysalis played a mean game of classic ogres and oubliettes as a lawful evil character. The bug pony queen also made for a rather interesting dungeon master, when said dungeon master became quite literal. The innuendos would seem to never come to an end about how Chrysalis made a sex dungeon map for the game. The blushing was doubled the particular night that campaign was introduced. It was well within the games rules as well, much to the consternation of Cadence whose character ended up chained to a wall no less than eight times throughout the entire campaign. - Rarity finished up the EVA suit for the male Cacceran who was Preston Licaley’s friend; she had already gone through the appointments with the Human and Minotaur. There was still no word of the Lagotorphin and the two mares that were supposed to be coming. That group was running late, not to mention the mystery person that Opal hadn’t gotten around to telling her about because of the important newsfeed about the two MOM’s remaining chunks and the damaged triple P fleet. “Thanks for bringing some more business my way Preston; it’s been quite a pleasure to see you again.” Receiving a smile from the feminine Cacceran that Rarity was happy to have as a repeat customer; business wasn’t exactly slow or fast at the moment and making clothing for Preston was quick and easy since he obviously knew what he liked. The bra he wanted was kind of pushing it though as he didn’t exactly have mammary glands that needed support like a human female does. “Don’t mention it Rarity, besides the EVA suit works really well underwater. Just as long as I stay away from crushing my body into my helmet depths, I’ll continue to be good.” The ladylike Preston smiled and looked to his friend looking their suit over. “Anyway did you want the information on my findings about how well it performed underwater?” “Yes, that would be lovely, thank you. A review from one of my customers might help incite more business to come my way. Thank you for stopping by the Caravel Boutique.” After Rarity finished off the last bit of clothing for Preston, she passed it over to him in a bag with several other articles of clothing that he ordered. He smiled before pulling out his data pad and sending some information for Opal to peruse alongside giving a nice honest review of Rarity’s shop. “We’re getting off this planet and heading towards safer pastures at least until the MOM is completely gone.” With a friendly wave Preston and his friend left Rarity’s ship with a smile. “I hope to see you again Miss Belle. Oh and tell… Sassy was it? Tell her that I understand and that I don’t blame her.” “Right then, Opal is our mystery guest appointment coming or not?” The first no show had Rarity worried that something had happened to the three on the way to hangar seven. She had explicitly told Opal to not tell her who the mystery customer was, because she wanted it to be a surprise. It was cheaper to pay for a landing spot to sell stuff from than to buy a stall spot in a marketplace, though there were advantages to owning a marketplace stall. Keeping the Caravel Boutique parked at hangar seven for a cheap sum helped in keeping the cost of her current venture down, however some customers might be wary of having to come to her for her services. “Not yet Meowstress, but I’ve just got a hit from the Lagotorphin one. They are on their way and are very sorry for the delay; it took them a while to catch a shuttle off of Geoptis Station with things being so hectic up there for the local fleet.” The CAT drones were putting things back in order and dancing to Opal’s merry tune in helping Rarity; they had assisted in the making of clothing and EVA suits with Sassy being the eye for quality control on what they did. “They will be arriving in hangar seven in a short while.” Speaking of the man hating mare, Sassy walked in looking slightly ashamed of her actions and how she treated Preston. She had thought Preston was a girl at first and to hear that he was even partly of the male persuasion set her off in getting belligerent at him. Preston’s friend didn’t seem to be all too bothered by the events and had stayed calm the entire time. The situation left Rarity having to explain Sassy’s problem to Preston who was obviously quite understanding of what she had been through. “I’m so sorry Rarity-sama; I’ll try to keep myself under control next time.” Sassy bowed her head in shame, she hadn’t hurt the customer and everything was mostly okay. She just held her head in her hooves looking quite woeful. “I wonder what my therapist would say about all this.” “What would I say about all of what?” A gentle voice spoke up; it had to be Fluttershy judging by how Sassy froze on the spot. Sassy’s therapist walked up the open ramp to Rarity’s work room and looked rather concerned to hear Sassy mutter something that sounded like her presence was needed. “Is everything okay Sassy and do you want to talk about it? You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I mean we can talk about cloths, your hair or do something nice like eat a snack together if that’s okay with you.” All it took for Rarity was one look to tell she wanted to be friends with this mare, she had an elegant air about her and the soulful looking eyes looked as if they were trying to pull you in. Alongside that she seemed to be a bit shy and had an extremely calming influence on the room by being the most awkward one in it. Next to this mare was what looked to be a normal white rabbit with a highly intelligent look to him, as much as an irate look and impatient tapping foot could be considered so. The other pony had to be Tree Hugger, who was carrying a cage with a less than intelligent looking brown rabbit inside that was gnawing away at a carrot. “Hello and welcome to Caravel Boutique where everything is chic, unique and absolutely magnificent! I believe you’re Fluttershy, I’ve heard a bit about you from Sassy and she’s doing much better from when I last saw her. I thank you for helping my friend, oh where are my manners? My name is Rarity Belle, now how can I help you?” The shy mare squeaked and hid her face in her mane at her approach; yep Rarity would easily become friends with her. The poor dear looked like she could use a few good friends given how adorable she acted; she turned to the other mare with some form of recognition. “You must be Tree Hugger; I thank you for directing me to Vera as she’s been a huge stress reliever for me.” “Hello and you are most welcome Maker; it is a pleasure to meet you and many blessings. I am of the earth, but Tree Hugger is my given name.” The oddly flowing voice and strange demeanor made Tree Hugger sound like she was high or on some sort of medication to Rarity. “We are here for an EVA suit for Soul Judger’s friend here. He is Fluffy Knight; however his given name is Angel Rippinicus. Be warned, he is far more than he appears to be. Also he will be the judge of what he needs for his suit, please attend to him as best you can and we will pay for what he needs to survive his stalwart duty to my friend.” The Lagotorphin looked at Tree Hugger flatly with his arms crossed. While he didn’t take being called Fluffy Knight kindly, he didn’t do much aside from attempting to physically glare a hole into the mare. Tree Hugger ignored Angel’s anger to move up to address Sassy, leaving Angel to reluctantly turn to Rarity with an annoyed look. “Hello Reviving Spirit. You can choose to walk along a dark path if you wish, but do not follow it to its ultimate conclusion or all that you cherish will be taken from you.” Tree bowed her head to Sassy as she spoke once more. “You are most certainly in good hooves, blessings to your endeavors in the near future when darkness falls upon the world.” “Um... can I get in a session with my therapist while she’s here Rarity-sama?” It was strange how Sassy was asking for permission from Rarity as if she were going to be scolded for shirking her duties as Coco’s temporary replacement. “Why of course darling, she’s your friend after all! Why wouldn’t you want to speak with her?” Even as she gave her friend permission to get some time with her therapist while on the job, Rarity was measuring the reluctant looking Angel for his suit and eyed the caged rabbit that was sat down off to the side by Tree Hugger. The rabbit earned more than a mild hint of curiosity burgeoning within Rarity’s mind. “Do you need anything else Sassy?” “I… no, I just need to talk with her. Come along Fluttershy, we’ll take this to the living space for some privacy. I would especially like to discuss the terms of my possible release into my friends custody, if you would even allow me such a grand privilege Flutter-chan.” Sounding like she was trying to be confident, Sassy left the room with Fluttershy. As they walked out Vera walked on in without a glance in her direction from either of them. “Hello Living Ghost, it is nice to see you found the place where you are not perfectly invisible.” Tree Hugger had turned in Vera’s general direction, but she wasn’t looking directly at the spa pony. Vera visibly shivered at hearing this and was shocked that, while it didn’t look like Tree Hugger was looking at her, she was definitely the one being addressed by this odd mare. “How is Sheep Wolf, is she healing well? I am sorry that we cannot be introduced to one another personally, especially after her meeting with the hunters of life in their hall of the drowning spirits.” “Who are you and what are you talking about? The only mare I know that’s injured on this ship is Coco; she’ll be out for the next day or so while the med-bed takes care of her injuries. She’s currently suspended in the medical fluids if that’s what you’re asking.” Vera tilted her head in confusion at the oddly smiling mare with the dull looking eyes. Vera couldn’t help but think that even if she couldn’t be seen by this strange mare, the mare somehow knew she was here despite the rather glaringly unique issue that had plagued Vera all her life. “She might need another day; she did lose quite a bit of blood. Her injuries, while not severe, were still pretty close to being fatal.” “Yes, that is who I am talking of. It is good to hear she’ll be awake in time for it.” Tree talked at her instead of to her; because even she was affected by the inability to concentrate on the pony she called Living Ghost. She was still capable of indirectly talking to Vera and had directed Rarity to her services for a reason. “Tell Sheep Wolf, when she awakens from her slumber, that she should not fear Passionate Inferno. You should all know that Passionate Inferno would never intentionally hurt those who would only wish to be friends.” “You’re one really batty pony Tree Hugger and you’re not even a Thestral Pony. Okay so that’s lights, oxygen, HUD and emergency cameras for the helmet of your EVA suit Angel?” Already having the CATs moving with the given measurements delivered from the data pad to her, Opal started up the necessary process to begin constructing the helmet after Angel gave a sharp firm nod to one of the drones. “We’re sorry to say that you won’t be able to utilize an impulse saddle, the smallest we can get is for a Cacceran and you’re way too small to lug one around everywhere. On the bright side the oxygen tank should last longer for you, plus we can put in an oxygen scrubber that will last just as long as if you had an impulse saddle.” Angel looked a little flippant as he turned to Rarity while holding a paw out to the impulse saddles hanging nearby, as if to ask if there were any other options available. “I don’t honestly know what we can do as an alternative to help you maneuver around in space.” As she said this Rarity was thinking on how she could give her customer what he wanted. Even if he had the size and appearance of a normal rabbit that made rather crude gestures and in general had a bad attitude, he was still valued as any other being that came to her for her services. “Well… can you settle for just having the magnetic clamps?” Shaking his head no, Angel started to pantomime and squeak something that Rarity just couldn’t begin to understand, but it was obvious he wasn’t happy that his suit wouldn’t have full control in a space based environment. After he finished his small tantrum, he sighed and crossed his paws before squeaking something out that sounded apologetic after the previous tirade. “Fluffy Knight states that he is a bit angry that you can’t make the impulse saddles any smaller, but he understands why there’s an issue. Making gear and equipment for his race is problematic for most people already and he is impressed that you are even capable of doing this much for him.” The fact that Tree Hugger could understand what he was saying and accurately translate it in its entirety shocked Angel Rippinicus to his very core, the fake rabbit started squeaking to Tree Hugger in a respectful tone. “He also states that he’ll just have to find his own means of propulsion and whatever else you can possibly put into the EVA suit will be fine.” “Well there is one thing… it’s not thoroughly tested at the moment and it’s small enough to work for him.” It sounded like Opal knew of a solution to the problem, only it sounded an unsure shaky one at best. “However maneuverability will rely on learning the maximum range at which it can be used and how to use it safely because it could definitely lead to injuries if mishandled.” “Really, is it something Coco came up with?” Because Rarity certainly didn’t hear of any interesting breakthroughs on utilities beyond the idea of adding a recharge station to the impulse saddle, it was a work in progress because a recharge station would require larger batteries to be installed into the saddle. While that would be a useful feature to recharge electronics or energy weapons with, it added a lot of weight to the impulse saddle. “No, it’s something that Sassy has actually been recently working on. It’s not exactly perfected yet and needs some tweaking, but we could ask her nicely and maybe she’ll spare one for your customer.” It sounded like Opal knew what it was and it was a bit upsetting to Rarity that it hasn’t been brought to her attention until now. “It’s a small energy based grappling device, it has a good range and can attach to just about any surface. The problems that come with the device are slamming into a grappled surface at a high speeds, maintaining the grapple line is hard since it is easily broken by anything intercepting it once it’s attached and it needs to be recharged after thirty minutes of constant use.” “Would that work for you Mr. Rippinicus?” The response Rarity received was Angel flailing out both his arms in a manner that said ‘of course it will, just get on with it already’. “Right then, Opal please get a channel to the living space so that we can ask nicely. Also please note that I will listen to your recording of Sassy and Fluttershy’s discussion later, yes I’m quite aware of your antics. Just give me the highlights when I think to ask for it and remind me to scold you about it later darling.” “Yeah, I kind of figured you’d call me out on that. Hey Puncture Pants! Rarity needs to know if you can spare an energy grapple device for the Lagotorphin’s EVA suit. Also Butter Butt it’s going to be at least thirty minutes before we’re finished, EVA suits aren’t easy to make so you have plenty of time to work with Sassy.” After a pause Opal giggled a bit. “No, nobody can hear anything the two of you were or are currently saying… well aside from me of course. I am currently wired into the operations of this ship so it’s hard for me to not hear anything going on in my belly. Wow, that squeak was so low pitched only dog might be able to hear it. Hold on… okay you are live Sassy!” “Yes, you have permission to sell one of my devices to the meat eating rabbit. Provided that he eventually provides feedback on it, I’m not exactly ready to stick a pin in it yet as being a done invention.” After a moment of shuffling, Sassy could be heard doing something to Fluttershy to make her squeak loudly enough that everyone in the workspace could hear it. “I’ll bring it on back and help you attach it to the suit in a minute.” - Angel looked at the device attached to the left paw of his suit; he aimed it towards the ceiling and fired. The pencil thin beam hit the ceiling with pinpoint accuracy as to exactly where he wanted it to be, then his face rammed into the ceiling causing almost everyone watching to flinch as he wasn’t wearing the suits helmet. Tree Hugger simply smiled a bit wider at the sight. Angel stood up and started squeaking angrily to Sassy, while waving his paw furiously at her. “I think I actually understood that, I am so terribly sorry. Maybe you could set the retraction speed to a fourth the strength and adjust it from there to account for your weight. I must say you’re quite tough for a small… male… fry.” Sassy didn’t sound sorry and couldn’t keep the distaste out of her voice at Angel’s gender and then she looked to a smiling Fluttershy to receive a nod. She was managing to keep herself under control very well at the moment. “Set it to zero if you’re going to be using it to swing around and make sure to recharge it when it runs low. I’m sure a highly intelligent Lagotorphin such as you can figure it all out from there by yourself.” “Good job Sassy, I can see that your friends really are helping you keep your temper under control.” As Fluttershy said this she wrapped Miss Saddles in a comforting hug and rubbed her wings along the mares back. Even being this remotely cordial to a male was good progress for her patient, Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel that Sassy didn’t warn Angel about the retraction strength on purpose. In fact the smirk she saw on Sassy’s face when Angel smacked into the ceiling was quite telling, but it was still progress and Angel needed a small bit of comeuppance for several things. Being passive aggressive was Fluttershy’s form of fun, such as ignoring your best friend getting a small knot on his forehead. “You just need to take more foal steps in the right direction.” “I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s with the rabbit in the cage?” The truth was, Rarity had almost been afraid to ask since she assumed Lagotorphin’s might eat rabbits given they weren’t sentient and thus free game. “It’s Fluffy Knight’s pet rabbit known to me as Stress Reliever; her given name by Angel is Idiot Pillow.” Answered Tree with a completely straight face, if one were to listen closer they might be able to hear the creepy giggling. Rarity’s right eye started twitching a little at the audacity of it all; Angel Rippinicus owned a pet rabbit?! Author's Note Yep, Angel is a meat eater in this story and still friends with Fluttershy. -15-If there was one thing Rarity needed it would be a bit of clarity of where she was going in life, as of right now things were either depressing, aggravating or dull. Depressing because she was currently on the poor side of things if she was going to have multiple mouths to feed and dull because of how monotonous things had gotten after the strange Tree Hugger, the lovely Fluttershy and the crazy Angel had left her boutique. When had her dreams of riches, commitment, fame and a pony that could rise up from such an ignoble start to be among the higher echelons of society become this daunting? Well at least she had a chance to design a dress for Fluttershy and the Pegasus completely appreciated her efforts in making her a dress, one of which Rarity gave to her freely. The mystery guest had to reschedule and Rarity was completely fine with that, now if only she hadn’t gotten stuck in a rut of making normal clothing for various species afterwards. It was currently the next day and there was not much going on. Rarity certainly did her job without whining, but complaining was certainly something she did with readily increasing frustration. Coco was her main source and maker of Impulse Saddles and she was still on the mend after her run in with whatever ruffians that had roughed her up, so creating any more EVA suits had to be put on hold until she was released later this day. Speaking of EVA suit attachments, Rarity recently incorporated a low quality version of Sassy’s energy grapple into her personal suit. The higher quality version was Sassy’s personal current project, but the low quality grapple was still quite an impressive device with quite a bit of reach and worked effectively enough. It certainly explained what Sassy was doing every time she said she had business to attend to, testing a grappling device while under the effects of gravity certainly counted as her personal business given it was something she was working on. The maximum weight the grappling device could hold was about three hundred pounds, while under the effects of gravity. Outside the effects of gravity the device would always pull you to a larger object. Otherwise the device would do as advertised and grappled a small object and pull it towards you. The device was named the Pinpoint Puller by Sassy; it was designed with the power of Sassy’s special talent and there was an emphasis on the PIN in pinpoint. How it attached to the surface of an object was through zero point technology, the tip of the beam was generated with a very tiny zero point energy manipulation field which asserts a form of limited gravity on whatever surface it makes contact with to stick to it. The field acted as an anchor and the device pulls the partly solidified energy attached to the anchor back into itself to pull the user towards the anchored point or an object towards the user. The Pinpoint Puller could only fire its beam in a straight line and while the beam could be curved, it would only do so after it’s already attached to something and could not bend to become angular. That was counted as one among the many flaws that the low quality device had and what Sassy was trying to work on. The beam was easy to break by anything intersecting it. The device always loses some energy in the process of extending or retracting. One could not fire or use the device in rapid succession, as it required time to extend and actually grab onto a surface. To detach the beam once attached you had to retract it all the way, intercept the beam long enough to destabilize it or turn the device off for a second. The battery life required you to make quick limited use of the device, not to mention the further your target was the more energy the Pinpoint Puller would take up to get you there. On the bright side Sassy’s Pinpoint Puller was small, compact, lightweight and really easy to use provided you weren’t trying to do anything incredibly fancy or risky with it aside from go to point A to B at a really fast pace. The thing that she was currently working on improving with her higher quality version was getting the device to pivot while retracting someone towards the anchor point. A conversation long since coming was soon started up while Vera was cuddled up against Sassy, one that involved Vera staying on Rarity’s new employee in relation to Sassy’s continuation as one. Rarity was mentally thankful that at least Greta and Gilda were hopefully making a profit, because goodness knows she wasn’t making enough money these days. - “I swear if I have to make another sock for a Parascine today I’m going to scream!” Rarity really was getting to that point as she had no idea why Parascine’s had a fascination for socks or why she was suddenly a popular purveyor of them to the relatively amphibious species. At least it was some form of business today. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the socks they liked didn’t have to come in the colors of eyeball burning plaid, epileptic tie-dyed trees and horrific kaleidoscopes when it comes to appearance. Why they liked it was disturbing Rarity’s mental processes and sense of decency in making articulate beautiful designs something fierce, but she calmed down when she remembered a simple fact. It was probably an alien thing and they weren’t ponies, so they had different if extremely bizarre tastes in tentacle wear. If her customers were happy with the product then she shouldn’t really complain or whine about it, she did so anyway because she could. “I don’t think I can handle another one today, I swear I’m going to go positively mental with one of my energy pistols and I really don’t want to hurt anyone.” “Speaking of mental…” It was worrying for Sassy to even broach that particular word considering her history. “Flutter-chan said that I could stay on with you provided we have a recognized SNUGGLES member onboard to keep my more self destructive tendencies in check.” “Which I’m assuming Vera partly qualifies as, partly because Opal can’t write Vera’s name on a document without it getting erased. It quickly becomes forgotten and erased after a few moments as junk data. I just wrote your name down on a sheet of paper with all the others I consider crew members.” It still amazed Rarity as to how far Vera Blossom’s universal ignore factor problem went when it even had an effect on technology when she wasn’t even around. “I swear you affect technology in the strangest of ways Vera, it’s like your very name is a cursed.” Opal had informed Rarity that she tried to write a file to specifically remember Vera’s existence. The following happened to said file in this particular order: it forgot that it personally existed, became junk data leading to it somehow convincing itself that it was an anti-virus software program and a virus at the same time to then ultimately it delete itself from existence with impunity. This was despite being incapable of making the decision on it’s own in the first place without outside input, it practically became a low grade AI for as long as it took to blink that had immediately decided to commit suicide. This was very much to Opal’s consternation as she had watched it all happen in the slow motion that was an AI’s ability to process things and recorded it happening, in real time the file lasted five seconds before it ignored itself out of existence. It literally wasn’t a virus at all and Opal hadn’t been connected to anything else at the time to have caused something like that hiccup in the system to happen. She was in a completely wall to wall clean system, so it begged the question of why making a file on Vera Blossom, with the well known sisters Aloe and Lotus Blossom that she was completely capable of making a file on, caused such a catastrophic failure in its own existence. “Like I told you, traffic and automatic doors are my worst enemy. Never let me drive anything unless you want to inevitably be hit by something.” While Vera was a great therapist in making people forget their woes. Her seemingly universal ability to be ignored or forgotten was driving Opal close to becoming stark raving mad, which wasn’t good for an already rampant initiative taking AI. Like Rarity, Opal could calm down given some time by ironically getting her mind off of Vera’s situation entirely. “As I might have stated before, I wish to stay onboard and will carry out my duties as effectively as I can. I’ll take payment in food and at least a place to sleep plus whatever else you feel I might deserve, because it’s working for me so far. I will certainly be good enough at keeping Sassy mentally in line as is needed and will provide my services to the best of my abilities to anyone else you deem fit to bring to me, this includes yourself Miss Belle.” “Then it means you can stay with me Sassy so welcome aboard the Caravel Boutique, although I still think you should still see Fluttershy from time to time for a mental evaluation and a second opinion. Now I need you to answer me honestly when I ask this because it’ll be rather off putting if you lie about it now, are you an assassin or are training to be one?” The second Rarity asked both Vera and Sassy tensed, both for completely different reasons. “I ask because the grappling device, those hidden shock pins in your skirt and the sword all seem like hallmarks of one. Also Coco was quite worried about your activities every time you left the ship.” “… not an assassin per say...” Sassy mumbled a bit and looked away, Vera at least heard enough and went back to making Sassy feel comfortable. Vera was really good at her job, for when Sassy felt a small pop in her spine and she felt herself calm down drastically. “I’m actually… this is really embarrassing to admit to you… I’ve actually trained as a… okay, get it together… I’m a unicorn samurai! There I said it, sure I might have the two pin based gadgets and might have a few more ideas to accessorize with. It’s all for personal defensive reasons that you’re already very well aware of as to why I would feel the need to protect myself more… aggressively.” “Are you going to start getting upset Sassy?” They had danced around the issue of what happened and right now it seemed like Rarity couldn’t avoid it by the look on Sassy’s face. “You don’t have to go there if you don’t want to.” “We can stop doing that right now Rarity-sama, because let’s face it… I was raped when I was younger and that was several years ago.” There was a long silence following Sassy’s quiet words, she wasn’t crying as she’s had quite some time to come to terms with it. “I admit that after that I didn’t exactly take anyone’s attempts to help me very well and what happened between us was quite horrid Rarity-sama. I wasn’t quite of my right mind at the time; after I got over my trauma and a lot of counseling I’m much better now. It was either let myself stay broken or do something to make sure it never happened again, I wasn’t about to get hoof to anything combat training. So, I went the logical route that wouldn’t involve me touching anyone physically and started taking weapons training classes. I threw myself into the training so hard that it’s not safe for anyone of a stallion’s persuasion to be around me for too long and I wasn’t exactly safe for you to be around back then either.” “Excuse me for asking this, but how dangerous could a sword exactly be against a universe full of projectile weapons?” Vera was rubbing Sassy’s shoulders and actually felt quite sad to finally hear what happened to Sassy, to think this was a mare she saw as being full of life and rather talkative. “Otherwise you seemed to do fine with the three males we had visit the Caravel Boutique yesterday. Even if you were giving them murderous looks, might have berated one and pulled an only slightly harmful prank on another, you didn’t exactly act on your impulses to harm them further.” “Oh you’d be surprise; the self defense trainers had training courses for Earth, Pegasus, Thestral, Unicorn, Mermaid and Changeling Ponies. The mare that trained me was really quite thorough in her teachings about how to deal with various situations. Unicorns especially had a wide variety of ways to wield a sword to be dangerous to the point that it counts as a projectile weapon.” At this Sassy sighs and leans back into Vera’s calming ministrations at her haunches and flanks. “They do say the PIN is mightier than the sword, well the sword when enhanced by magic can cut straight through things it shouldn’t even logically be capable of. I was quite devastating with a rapier, but I felt I might incidentally kill someone with it so that’s why I have a chokuto as it was the less threatening option that actually required a lot of training instead of natural talent. I mostly have to worry about straining my magic to swing it instead of my muscles, but I have trained to wield my blade with my hooves if needed to a less effective degree. Things like cutting low grade material weapon bullets in half is possible, deflecting energy weapon projectiles was a little more difficult to learn. Can’t honestly cut through solid metal or armor in one blow nor can I actually deflect constant beam weapons. I’m not a perfect swords mare and know that there is someone out there that will always be capable of hurting me like that again, so I take my training seriously. The design of the shock pins was made to incapacitate, but they can also explode in a rather deadly manner. The Pinpoint Puller was made so as to get me away from a situation quickly, but it could also be used to get me in a better position to eviscerate someone. So I can clearly understand where you’re coming from and why you might think I’ve been training to be an assassin instead of a samurai Rarity-sama.” “You can deflect energy projectiles?” That was the most concerning bit about all that to Rarity. Sure she knew her friend was dangerous to males, but she didn’t realize how much she was holding back from her and Coco. She would think Sassy being a samurai in this day and age absolutely silly, if she weren’t completely serious about it at the moment and Rarity knew she was. “As I said, the training was quite thorough on defending oneself against higher forms of technology with simpler weaponry that could be acquired or crafted from the environment. Aside from that I did do some minor hoof to anything training in the form of a few takedown moves.” If Sassy had been offered assassin training, she might have well taken it in the state she was in when she wanted a way to prevent herself from being defenseless ever again. Even Sassy logically knew it was possible that she could be rendered defenseless again even with the kind of training she has. “Now I just have to keep myself under control so I don’t start using the things I’ve learned lethally unless absolutely warranted. It hasn’t exactly been easy for me even if I am good at using a sword; my special talent will always be related to the clothing industry.” “Well I can see that you are still mentally fragile even if you are quite physically fit; you just need to ease yourself back into social situations that may involve something you hate and I’m certain Fluttershy has already been trying that with you. She’s one of the top rated members of SNUGGLES even if she always wins shyest of the year, I can’t even get a rating.” Here Vera started gently rocking Sassy back and forth while snuggling her. “I’m serious; aside from a few minor fading scars you’re really healthy and beautiful strong mare. You should be proud of the skills you’ve accomplished when it wasn’t even directly related to your special talent.” “Being mentally fragile certainly explains you needing to hold hooves with Coco and take comfort in her presence, well aside from the obvious that you’re infatuated with the female persuasion thanks to the psychological scarring.” Seeing that she was getting a look, Rarity decided to elaborate just for the sake of Vera’s curiosity. “Hey, I’ve studied psychology too you know. It certainly helps with being endearing to customers to know and understand their moods before I start making clothing to fit them; I am a business mare after all. Otherwise I do get moments of inspiration where I can’t help but make something for someone that I just know they’ll enjoy like your darling and lovely therapist Sassy. Fluttershy is a nice mare I’d be happy to treat to a trip at a nice spa or just have a talk over some tea with.” “You’re actually taking this samurai thing a lot better than I expected, not even a chuckle at how absurd it sounds.” Indeed Sassy’s friend was quite calm and it made a her a little confused at why Rarity was being so accepting of her being able to… oh right. What Sassy hadn’t exactly explained was that she could potentially kill someone from fifteen hundred feet away with a single sword swing; of course her aim would be entirely off at that distance and it took a lot of magical energy out of her to do that even once. Slicing something apart a quarter of a mile away was no laughing matter even if you couldn’t quite hit exactly what you wanted to, a little less than five hundred feet was the best Sassy could do in the terms of accuracy. How does one go about explaining that you were just as lethal as someone with a material rifle with a weapon seemingly meant exclusively for close range combat? Giving into that all encompassing rage hidden under the surface of her emotions scared Sassy more than what she was actually capable of, it was little wonder it bothered her greatly that she wanted to kill that Macropussian. “Well of course I am, it’s not like I haven’t overlooked your issues dear. It’s just that I accept you and everyone else I’m slowly accumulating into making them a part of my business. Even if they are not selling fashion or clothing like I am, it doesn’t hurt to travel with friends who can do jobs in the same general vicinity as you.” Being as generous as she was, Rarity was willing to help anyone get back on their feet or whatever someone happened to have that counted as a mode of locomotion. However her generosity was only of a slight detriment and setback currently, but she had her personal moral code and she was sticking to it even if it was likely to kill her. “On top of that you are and will always be a good friend of mine Sassy Saddles, so stop being so afraid all the time as I’m more intrigued than frightened by the fact that you’re a trained samurai. It’s actually intriguing in an age where such a thing seems rather, ‘antique’, for lack of a better word. I think you’re Pinpoint Puller is a wonderful auxiliary device for emergency situations. Especially if you lose a tether while in space and need to get back to the ship you happen to be working on should you not have an impulse saddle, it would be quite a boon to civilian use and I know Greta would at least like to give it a once over. Ph right you haven’t met her or Gilda personally yet. I’ll just simply have to introduce you to my other friends when I can get a chance; they seem rather intent on throwing their lot in with me.” “Can I get a hug?” Sassy felt Vera wrap and tighten her hooves around her body. “I mean aside from the one Vera is giving me that is.” “It’s nice to see you finally opening up Sassy.” Rarity made her way over to Sassy and wrapped her hooves around her, the poor dear always needed some form of comforting since first she arrived at the Caravel Boutique and it was usually Coco doing it. She pulled away from Sassy and thought to ask something rather pertinent of Opal. “Opal I know this may seem odd of me to ask, but if you’re the Caravel Boutique at the moment and Vera is always bodily touching you. Then why are you having so much trouble with her?” It did seem a little odd to Rarity that the two methods for seeing Vera were pointing her out or being physically in contact with her. “Well that would be a workable idea, if my body wasn’t a completely digital construct and was actually mechanical. Yes I know I claim that my body is whatever my mind happens to be occupying, but that’s just one of my little personality quirks and you know it. Nice try in helping me with Vera though, I’ll just go back to having a CAT follow her around at all times.” Well the idea to think of the ship as her body so she wouldn’t have as much trouble was a no go in Opal’s opinion in keeping Vera in her sight even, given she’s already tried that. Even AI’s had to blink sometimes, it just usually happened so fast that nobody could actually see it occur. One of the eight wonders of being sentient data. “Aside from that, I’m more interested to hear what Sassy can do with a rapier. May I assume that your special talent gives you a boost in wielding such a specifically shaped sword?” “My special talent does indeed do that and I really don’t want to talk about it. I’ll stick to my chokuto thank you very much!” The way Sassy’s ears flicked in anger made Opal quit that line of questioning quickly on the principle of her tone alone, she had her reasons to wield a sword that she was specifically less talented at utilizing completely. “I wish we could talk about something else that isn’t me harming someone or something with my special talent.” “Do you know anything about or have you ever tried acupuncture?” At Vera’s odd input, Sassy tilted her head slightly as she looked up at the mare that had her on her back and was currently gently rubbing her belly making one of her rear legs kick out slightly every now and then. - “You’re mystery guest has arrived… probably the last order of business we’ll get today Meowstress. Proceed down the cargo ramp and wait for them to land.” About as good as they were likely to get period as far as Opal was concerned. “We might not be getting anything tomorrow as those two core pieces of the MOM will be arriving at that time; also Coco is awake and aware so it’s about time to let her out of the med-bed as well and I’ll get right on that.” Rarity immediately shut her trashy romance novel; ones that Sassy would probably burn in the fires of Tartarus if she could get away with it, to make her way towards the ramp. She had barely left the work shop all day and walked down the ramp looking around for the mystery visitor. Sassy had the living space to her and was stretching herself out to maintain her flexibility; she was also interested in learning about acupuncture from Vera. Vera was currently off in maintenance and drone repair making sure things were in working order with a CAT constantly pointing at her, which was becoming a thing between her and Opal. Coco was awake and likely bored out of mind floating in the fluids, at least most of her injuries were healed and she could be brought out to breathe fresh air again. Standing outside the Caravel Boutique Rarity looking around the hangar and didn’t see anyone approaching on foot, looking up she did see the roof was open and a scout ship slowly lowered itself into landing near her ship. It’ll look to be smaller than her ship and slightly egg shaped, but it was definitely better armed and with military grade stuff to boot and appeared to be a three room ship. It had her imagining a nice handsome man in uniform, but when the airlock opened a familiar figure stepped out to greet her and promptly shattered that idea. “Hello again Rarity, did you notice a small problem with my wardrobe the last few times we met?” Well that was an awkward conversation starter for Ember to start off with, just about as awkward as the dragon looked as she shyly walked over to the pony rubbing at one of her horns. “This is my new ship; I call it The Pyrrhic Victory. I was kind of tired of dragging around five hundred pound bounties three miles through crowded streets and getting odd stares because of it. Anyway since I got it, I figured it would be a good idea to get one of your EVA suits while I can if I needed to make some repairs to it in space. The new Pinpoint Puller feature caught my interest when I looked up your business, so if you have any stock I’d like to purchase two of those because I have a rather unique idea for one of them. Also if it isn’t too much trouble can I talk to Miss Coco Pommel? I know she works for you and I’ve been meaning to get around to talking with her, so… here I am.” “Why of course I noticed Miss McFlame, since you obviously have nothing else to wear but your armor. If you need something to wear, I’m quite cheap for what money you have to spare as you’ve certainly come to the right mare. Welcome to the Caravel Boutique my friend! Now come along and tell me what you need darling.” As an afterthought Rarity decided to warn Ember off on one particular article of clothing as they headed for her ship. “Oh and please for the sake of my sanity Ember, don’t ask or insist on buying socks today. I would rather you ask for a shirt, pants or maybe even a nice dress fit for a queen, just anything but socks. You can meet with my business associate Miss Pommel who is soon being released from her med-bed after recently obtaining some rather startling injuries. So please try not to appear threatening, I don’t want the poor dear to have a heart attack when she see’s you after what happened at the hotel. I believe we do have the Pinpoint Pullers as Sassy has made a few more in her spare time; better versions are in the works if you wish to wait on that. It’ll be my pleasure to accommodate you.” Ember was quickly becoming quite a pleasant surprise for Rarity every time they met one another; why having a dragon spend money on her services felt like quite an honor. Author's Note Because Dragons hardly ever spend money and what they have that can be considered wealth, they usually consume. -16-Ember was a little tentative about taking off her ramshackle poorly constructed and multiple times battered armor that she’d forge back into some amalgam of shape whenever she was in a moment of privacy. Rarity said she needed measurement and rather accurate ones, so here Ember was feeling a bit naked without her armor even if her skin was relatively heat and bullet proof and on top of being highly magic and energy resistant. It was quite hard to hurt a dragon; the entire point of the armor to Ember was to primarily prevent anyone from scuffing her beautiful scales. “Oh my, some of your scales remind me of my cutie mark.” After Rarity pointed it out, the scales at Embers hips were a bit discolored and did in fact look like her cutie mark somewhat. The scales were a bit darker than the rest of the sapphire colorations that was prevalent upon Ember’s body; she also had some discolored diamond shaped marks on her head and tail. Why the poor dear even looked positively shy being the center of Rarity’s attention despite the fact that she hunted people for a living and should be more outgoing. You’d think with a job like that, she would meet lots of people and be less conscious about her appearance. “So what did you have in mind?” “I want some clothing for leisurely activity. Pants, shirts, maybe underwear… I’m not exactly big on clothing at the moment you know. Mostly it’s because I might incidentally ruin them by setting them on fire by accident, anytime I’m on a clothing mandatory planet I’m usually wearing nothing under my armor and it’s kind of starting to make me highly recognizable.” After a bit of thought and wrapping her tail around her waist in a manner most self conscious of her appearance, Ember decided to go with something a little less rough than her life of sleeping in odd and abandoned places. She’s slept on jagged things more than a few times; it wasn’t that much different from sleeping on a pile of gold and jewels. “Just something soft and comfortable that doesn’t chafe; it has to be tough and heavily heat resistant. I can’t stress it enough that they be heat resistant as things catch fire around me easily. Throw in a backpack and make it a nice color, like purple. You’re the expert here, so surprise me! I would also like some winter gear, if I ever need to go to an ice planet again unless the EVA suit can cover for that.” “So exactly how many planets have you been to Ember? I know you’re a very well traveled individual so I’m quite curious. Oh right, Opal! Tell Sassy we have one last customer today and I could use her help in the work shop by starting up preparations for an EVA suit. After I’m done with the measurements we can let Coco out of medical, she might need some rehabilitation so have Vera meet me there.” After Rarity finished giving Opal her orders she turned back to ember. “The EVA suit is good for water planets at least two thousand feet down in depth, another customer of mine confirmed it works very well underwater with the impulse saddle attachment. It has temperature control so it’ll also retain heat on ice planet though I think I would need to adjust for your biology, since you’re certainly a lot hotter than you look.” Ember logically knew what Rarity meant, but couldn’t keep the blush off her face as she looked to the floor and started twiddling her thumbs. Dragons were always warm to the touch and temperature was hardly an issue except in the most extreme of freezing cold temperatures, for comparison a pony would have frost bite whereas a dragon would only feel a bit nippy after an hour in the same climate. The temperature would have to be at absolute zero for quite a while to really start having an effect on Ember; Rarity certainly had an effect all her own as Ember’s tail wiggled slightly against her legs. “I’ve been to quite a few. Planets ranging from dry deserts, icy inhospitable, tasty tropical, slightly arid and completely average ones with multiple climates like Equus. The two types of planets I’m really rather fond of are water and volcanic planets!” Now that was a declaration from Ember that had Rarity confused, wouldn’t a fire breathing creature hate a planet covered in the stuff that made breathing fire impossible? “Don’t look so surprised, it’s almost impossible for me to be blamed for fire incidents I didn’t cause when a planet is covered in at least eighty to ninety percent water. Plus I enjoy swimming, in lava or water.” “Well the fact that you like swimming in lava certainly doesn’t surprise me and you really don’t need to explain your attraction to volcanic planets, best place to find a source of high quality gems cheaply I take it?” Receiving a nod from her friend, Rarity smiled as she finished measuring Ember’s tail much to the dragon’s cute squeak when she grasped it in her magic to measure its length from butt to the tip of feathery styled fin at the end of it. “Who’s the… Rarity-sama, why is the dragon that antagonized Coco here?” Sassy walked in brushing her mane, it looks likes she took shower and the glow of her horn immediately settled around the handle of her sword as her eyes narrowed at Ember. “She’s my friend and a paying customer Sassy; she also wishes to apologize to Coco for all the trouble she has caused. So please be a dear and be nice to her.” If her friend were male Rarity was quite sure Sassy wouldn’t have immediately relented and let her magic off the sheathed sword she was carrying quite as fast. “Sure she’s a bounty hunter, but she means absolutely no harm to us.” “I can’t help but notice the sword; you’re obviously a samurai which is kind of rare thing out here. Excuse me for asking if it’s a little awkward that I do so, but did you train for military, freelance or personal? I’m Ember McFlame by the way.” Ember held out her right claw towards Sassy who took it in her hoof and gave it a shake, she had noticed the mare immediately going for the handle of her weapon at the first sight of her and she’s already seen what happened to the Macropussian. Samurai were definitely not something that Ember trifled with or took lightly; thankfully she’s only ever had to deal with two and that neither of them had managed to even cut into her material rifle. Depending on her answer, Ember could gauge this mare’s threat level. “I’ll tell you its very personal at least. Sassy Saddles, charmed to make your acquaintance Miss McFlame.” Sassy knew what Ember meant; someone usually became a samurai to go freelance or working for the military. Rarely did you find a pony or being who trained as one for personal reasons. Even so it was quite hard to get close enough to disarm a well trained samurai and an exceptional samurai would never lose their weapon to anything until it completely shattered, when it came to having personal reasons for having samurai training then you knew you were dealing with a wild card in terms of skill. “Right, I won’t ask anymore about that. I might be here on business, but it couldn’t hurt to talk some more.” Ember sized up the mare slightly; Sassy was of a pretty good stature and was of a tall unicorn build which said something about her reach when she swung her weapon with her hooves. So she was already rating high on Ember’s do not mess with meter. There was the fact that Sassy was also sizing her up as well that led Ember to acknowledging that this mare was just as dangerous as the other samurai she’s face, if not more so that she had trained for personal reasons and not for a job. “So, how did you and Rarity meet? You tell me and I tell you the same thing.” As the two continued to give one another searching looks and talked in a slightly tense atmosphere, Rarity was off to the side ordering Opal to assist them with CAT she named Dos and the rebuilt MAT drone. It led to Rarity wondering if the ship investigators on Geoptis had missed the fact that the MAT drone originally belonged to the crew of the Derringer or did they just leave it to her without question, it was nice to have around either way. Shaking her head, Rarity was out the door and heading toward the front of the ship where medical was, it was time to let Coco out. The poor dear has been in the med-bed for quite a while. - Rarity walked into the room to see Vera waiting for her and the CAT named Uno that continued to point its manipulator arm directly at her, she wasn’t being particularly fancy with naming what was considered expendable machinery. Walking up to the lid of the med-bed Coco occupied, the fluids started to drain much to the earth pony’s relief that she was finally getting out of the funky stuff and the straps detached from her body allowing her to wiggle around a bit. “That stuff really begins to feel icky after a while, also what kind of drugs are you using because I didn’t think I was supposed to hallucinate nearly that much. Rainbow Land with the undead space monsters, the human and that marker thing was interesting.” The lid flipped away after the last of the fluids was drained out and Coco sat up, or at least she tried to. Her muscles were a bit weak from being bedridden for a while. “Though it is not something I’d relish reliving. Well don’t I feel super right now.” . “I’ve been quite assured that the drugs are safe, but they really do have quite the kick. I’m surprised I can even stay coherent while under their effects, at least they’re thankfully not addictive.” This was her good friend and Rarity was worried about her health, she conveyed that particularly well. “It’s good to hear you’re alright Coco, but I must know something. Why you were in such a dreadful state upon returning to the ship in the first place?” “I made a few bounty hunters mad by accident and… let’s just say I got into a really bad bar fight, but don’t worry I’m pretty sure they’ve all calmed down by now.” Her voice was okay, but her body felt a bit bruised and that was the best Coco could hope for after being on the mend for a while. She didn’t cherish the moments of bleeding out and stumbling back to the spaceport. At least she hadn’t been involved in painful neck bending whiplash incident so she could speak normally. “Also I actually feel really sore.” “Well that’s how you’re supposed to feel since it’s been a full Ewesen day darling, Vera will help see to it that you’re cleaned up and walking. We’ve officially hired her on to staff as is mandatory to keep Sassy onboard; she’s our personal masseuse and therapist.” Rarity walked over and smiled as Vera helped Coco sit up. “It’s nice to have you almost back on your hooves dear; we’re going to need more impulse saddles when you’re ready to get back to work.” “That’s good, but is she really going to need that CAT pointing to her at all times?” Before Coco’s question could be answered by Rarity, Opal spoke up answering it for her. “Yes, it is absolutely important that I keep track of her. She’s annoying as all get out to keep track of otherwise and only Rarity can see normally her out of the rest of us.” It was certain Opal could keep it going as long as Rarity didn’t tell her to stop, but she’d have to recharge the CAT eventually and then she’d lose track of Vera Blossom again. The AI was beginning to see the third spa sister as the most notoriously difficult being for her to have ever come across. “It’s not that I don’t like you Vera and I mean no offense, but not being able to keep track of a crew member really irks my programming something fierce.” “Well I guess that settles that, I’ll be seeing to my last customer of the day with Sassy if you need me.” Rarity turned around and made for the back left side of the ship having left Coco in good friendly back rubbing hooves. “Take good care of her Vera.” “Can do, Miss Belle and I don’t take any offense Opal. At least you’re trying and that’s better than what I can say about many others I’ve met who eventually gave up with keeping me in mind.” Vera starting to work out the limpness of Coco’s legs and the mare smiled as her hooves ran over the legs testing the muscles. “Okay, wiggle the tip of your hoof and just the tip.” - Walking back to the cargo room slash work shop, she could see Ember and Sassy getting along together. At least Sassy wasn’t crazily obsessing over her nearly as much anymore, because when she walked into the room Sassy didn’t even bat an eye in her direction and kept talking with Ember. It was nice to see her opening up to other people. “So it’s not really that amazing.” Sassy could be heard saying as Rarity walked up. “I mean it is rather limited in what it can do.” “Are you kidding me? It’s really quite useful, which is why I’m getting one with my EVA suit which I want to come in sapphire blue with emerald green highlight stripes. I want a pattern on it that will resemble my scales and emeralds.” It seemed Ember was in a more pleasant mood than she had been when Rarity left and had warmed up to Sassy. “Anyway I’ve been meaning to ask since I’m a little bit curious, is Coco your girlfriend? You seemed kind of mad at seeing me on first sight.” There was a long pause and Sassy looked away, she looked a little bit upset at the assumption and why wouldn’t she be as she was now strictly attracted to girls. “No, we’re not each other’s special pony. I have some mental trauma issues and I kind of terrorized my friends when I was less than sane. Thankfully they and my family got me some really good help; I still can’t talk face to face my father even though he paid for my samurai training.” Though Sassy did appreciate the comfort of Coco allowing her to hold hooves, she didn’t know when exactly Ember saw it but apparently she didn’t interrupt the moment and that put the dragon in a better light for her. Plus the praise Sassy was getting about her little grappling device was making it easier to become friends with Ember; said dragon was giving her a look of understanding when she mentioned her father. “She was comforting me even though I’ve been a bit of a bad friend to her and Rarity.” “You do realize I’m standing right here right, in any case stop dwelling on it already. You hardly did much more than cause me a few minor injuries and scared Coco half to death.” Both the pony and the dragon jumped and flopped onto their faces at Rarity’s sudden interruption; she giggled at them and moved over to start working with the materials Opal gathered together. “A sapphire and emerald EVA suit? I can do that, while green is certainly not my color it’ll definitely work for you. Sassy take care of Ember’s casual clothing needs, I’ll start work on the EVA suit. You can talk to Coco after we’re done here Ember; she needs a little rehabilitation with our therapist Vera to get herself back into walking shape. So that’s a few heat resistant shirts, heat resistant pants, an EVA suit, two Pinpoint Pullers, an impulse saddle and some special unmentionables for comfort. All of this is going to be interesting to design for someone with your exquisite lithe build. Now do you want your horns to be on the inside the helmet or outside of it? I need to know your preference before I start constructing the helmet. Will that be all you want?” “Inside please and no, I want to ask something else if you know anyone who can help me with it. Do you happen to know someone who could make my ship function remotely? I’m going to need to be able to call The Pyrrhic Victory safely if I’m going to be picking up bounties with it; I’ve also been thinking of installing an AI for it.” Ember rubbed at her spines sheepishly. “I know how to pilot ships; I don’t know the finer details of making them pilot themselves to my location for a pickup.” “Well an AI would be a good place to start, the ship would mostly take of itself then if you got a few MAT or CAT drones to make repairs so you don’t have to. You can definitely automate your ship in that way.” Rarity considered this for a moment. “I think I know someone who could help you with your technical problems, she works for me but she’s currently up on Geoptis if you don’t want to go the AI angle. I don’t know anyone who could make a personal AI for you.” “Ahem, what am I? Because chopped liver is not something I can very well eat as you know Meowstress, I can generate an AI to her specifications. I can’t do it without your express permission though.” It sounded like Opal was a bit testy. “It’s either that or I could design something similar to the dumb AI that the CAT and MAT drones run on. We could also bring Greta’s technical expertise in on this; she practically doubles as a hacker anyway.” “We’ll discuss it later in any case, maybe after you’re done apologizing to Coco.” It was as good as any other idea related to the subject that Rarity had. - “Coco you have a visitor, so please don’t react terribly because you’ve certainly seen her before.” Rarity hoped this could turn out well, but Coco being a bit paranoid would have a rather foreseen reaction. She’d panic horribly and Rarity hoped Vera had the foresight to keep her calm. “Is it Charity Kind Heart?” Coco asked hopefully trying to stand on her slightly wobbly legs with Vera standing at her side looking proud of her; she saw that Rarity was wincing about something. “If it’s not my old mentor, then who is it?” “Uh, hi…” Ember poked her head into the room and Coco leapt towards the nearest corner and started cowering at the sight of her. “Well that’s going to be among the many adverse reactions I seem to be getting today, though it isn’t entirely unwarranted considering what I do for a job. So I’ll take this as the best reaction I could possibly ask for.” Vera was thankfully on top of the situation by pulling Coco into a hug and slowly soothing the poor frightened mare down. She looked towards the dragon, which was awkwardly poking the tips of her index claws together, with a bright cheerful inviting smile. “Thank you, she has been having problems with getting her legs in gear after being in a med-bed for a little more than a day. That definitely sorted out her ability to walk around; she in fact galloped to the corner of this room in record time.” It was a good thing the drone was still pointing out her existence or else Ember might not have heard or seen her, the contact thing only mostly worked with the one she was physically in contact with. “Her light rehabilitation needs have been met with record time; nothing says get up and run like something that scares the pants off you. Dragons are pretty rare off of Equus.” “Yeah, well I’ve been enjoying life instead of sitting on a pile of treasure for the rest of my miserable life like most dragons do. I’d rather collect experiences than massive amounts of tasty treasure.” Ember neither approached nor did she leave, she stayed right where she was trying to be as unthreatening as possible. “I’m not a threat…” “You cut a Ceantir in half and killed several others, how in the universe are you not considered threatening!” Squealed out the rather panic stricken Coco. “As I was about to say, if I wasn’t busy being rudely interrupted by you, I’m not a threat to you personally.” Considering the reaction, Ember knew she would be a bit difficult so she decided to get a bit stern with the mare. “Yes I’m a bounty hunter and yes I’m quite dangerous as one to those who have bounties on them. The Ceantirs were assassins sent after me to do whatever it is they wanted with my dead body, but they had to go over it first and they clearly failed in that respect since I took care of all of them. They were around most likely because I shut down a slave trading ring before it could get off the ground, one that started off with kidnapping Rarity’s little sister. Quite frankly they could have chosen a much better target that wasn’t left near kitchen supplies.” “You saved Rarity’s sister?” Coco looked a little uncertain, but having Vera pet her calmed her down a lot and she was willing to listen to the dragon as Rarity obviously let her in. “I’m also Rarity’s last customer of the day apparently, I feel kind of special. Little Sweetie Belle is a rather rambunctious and dangerous filly, it was hard to calm her down from the fact that her cooking pretty much incapacitated multiple people and needed to be euthanized with fire for the safety of the surrounding area. She didn’t care about the people; she wanted to keep that monstrosity as a pet.” Ember was not acting particularly stoic, but what she said was taken as humorous judging by the giggles she got. “I’m not kidding, I had to kill what she cooked up and she definitely has the makings of a mad scientist. Just remember that anybody can become dangerous under the right set of circumstances, so please try not to demonize me as I to have feelings. I just wanted to drop in and apologize by saying sorry for getting you caught up in the crossfire like that, plus give your business a little boost since I’ve hit a decent enough windfall recently.” “It’s okay, really.” This was quietly mumbled Coco who felt like a heel now for being so scared of the dragon, one that didn’t look as scary without all the ugly jagged badly patched up armor and might even be nice in personality. Except when she was on the job, the fact that she could callously end life was still something for Coco to be afraid of. “You still cut a Ceantir into two cauterized halves and it haunts my nightmares. Luna is having problems with trying to help me through it; she already has problems with being incapable of helping or getting into Sassy’s dreams.” The rest of the day went surprisingly well despite Coco’s aversion to being around Ember. - The rest of the day was dragging on; Gilda couldn’t believe the stuff they had to clean out of the fighters they were working on. So far she and Greta have managed to get seven squadrons worth of fighter’s space worthy by themselves once more, it would help with the remaining chunks of the Mass Offensive Meteor on the way. Rarity called and asked them how they were doing which was nice of her, Gilda could respect that she was taking their employment seriously to check in on how they doing personally. “What the hell is all this crap anyway? This large needle thing looks like a stinger, this bit looks likes the tip of a tentacle and I don’t even want to know what belonged to the sphincter looking thing, but I’m not touching that with my bare claws. I need a ten foot pole over here stat!” Cleaning out the fighters was not exactly one of Gilda’s job descriptions, but she did the work all the same and the jumpsuit she was wearing was stained in various oils and other disgusting things she didn’t even know the logistics of. She figure if she so much as lit a match or caught a bad spark right now, she’d pretty much light up like a Hearths Warming tree, one that was badly on fire and setting the surrounding area ablaze as well. “I’m not a freaking janitor damn it!” “To answer your question, those are some bits of the enemy we’ll likely be facing as soon as tomorrow. They did a number of the interception the assault fleet did. The increased defensive prowess the MOM has is definitely a new one on us as well.” It was a little alarming to Paul Strag that the MOM had powerful enough defenses to shred so many of their fighters and he was here to tell the two griffons the news since they have been too busy to hear it themselves. “Just dropping in to see how you two are doing. The answer to your question is being released to everyone, since this is quickly becoming everyone’s problem. Look it up when you get some time to do so, we’ve released all the data we got on them from the assault force to everyone including civilians. Some civilians aren’t taking it so well.” As he walked away, Greta slid out from under the fighter on a creeper and pulled her welding mask away from her face. “Want to take a break Gilda?” It was a little concerning that they had been working so hard, especially with the fleet as damaged as it was when it came limping back from the first encounter with the MOM. “Want to? No, definitely not, of course I can go on for another fifteen hours like we were all about to be blown up by humongous bombs made of living flesh and thousands of monsters. I live for the smell mechanical engineering and coffee; my dreams of wanting to be a pilot don’t exist at all and this is my life now!” If Gilda wasn’t being sarcastic, then it wasn’t a good day to Greta. “Need to? At this rate, probably need a good few hours to get my mind off all this disgusting alien crap I’ve cleaned out of these fighters. Okay calling it in, the Garage Griffons officially take a small siesta right now!” “Oh you’re using their nicknames for us!” Squealed Greta as she clasped her claws together and brought them up to the side of her face with a warm cheery smile on her beak. “It’s absolutely great that we’re getting so much recognition for our work that they’re willing to nickname us.” “Remind me to killjoy you extra hard in the near future, mark this one down as incomplete and leave the list of issues it has for our replacements.” The rather grumpy Gilda deadpanned. She quickly stashed the tools she had away in a nearby box and hopped down from her perch on top of the fighter. “Now get your data pad running and find the information he was talking about, I want to see exactly what we’re dealing with here. I didn’t just spend the last nine hours cleaning their gunk out of these fighters to continue being ignorant about what they are.” Author's Note Next chapter is the start of Gilda and Greta time. It's entirely devoted to the two of them. -17-The things Greta and Gilda had read about the MOM’s biological entities left them feeling a little worried. The threat was an unnamed aggressive biological species with interstellar traveling capabilities and they were most certainly not friendly to planets, people or anything except themselves. They ravaged everything of resources and were extremely hostile to all life, there was no chance for diplomacy and the monsters were exceedingly bright. They’d rank as a biological grey goo scenario. The first bit of information was on the ground based troops that boarded several of the assault fleet ships, most of the boarding attempts were successfully repelled and casualties were on the lower end of things when it came to personnel combat. In comparison there wasn’t a lot of information on the aerial defenses the MOM employed and that led to the higher number of casualties being fighter pilots, whereas the boarding party’s didn’t get very far or close to the larger ships in the fleet. The main ground forces employed at the assault fleets interception were beings called Ant Heads, large dog like triangular headed furless red skinned creatures the size of cows. They had three purple claws on each wiry leg, the tail looked normal but in fact was covered in fine tiny razor sharp chitin blades and the head had mandibles but no eyes. These creatures came in large numbers and weren’t all too fast for their comparative size, they were mainly used as cannon fodder. The other type of ground force creature involved in the boarding parties was a mantis creature with a hardened purple carapace and bladed limbs. It could aid it’s movement with two long bladed arms and it had a penchant for lunging or jumping at targets with its three powerful legs that were as equally deadly and as sharp as the arms, its head was part of its upper torso but its vertical mouth was in the lower portion of the body in the thorax in between all of its legs. It was called a Vorager for its ability to quickly consume whole bodies with its mouth and be in the middle of ravaging another body at the same time. The ground forces the Planetary Protection Patrol already knew of. As for recent newly employed aerial forces, they didn’t know anything about that until they assaulted the MOM and that was the point of the information dump that was released to the public. To inform them of this new threat and what it represented. As for the newly faced aerial forces the newest mainstay that the MOM had introduced to the triple P forces and the most devastating one brought into play had to be the kamikaze monsters known as a Shamroid. Shamroids were named for their appearance given they were counterfeit asteroids; they produced multiple stubby starfish based tentacles that provided propulsion by spewing a strange gas like substances into the void of space and had a small protective film of atmosphere around them like the MOM. While moving about in space Shamroids clearly had two objectives, one was to violently explode when they hit something. The other more devastating tactic was to cling to a fighter or ship and once they had enough of themselves gathered on a target, they’d incite a deadly chain reaction increasing the strength of their explosive power exponentially. Their speed and large numbers was an effective new defense mechanism that brought down many a fighter in the initial assault against the Ewesen invading MOM. These explosive creatures only look like rocks and are easily destroyed by conventional weapons and in outright destroying them, contrary to their main purpose, they won’t explode. Otherwise they also had problems making quick turns and were on average about a quarter the size of an average Javelin fighter. The presumed reason for the asteroid like appearance is an adaptation to take advantage of asteroid fields. Life sign and heat scanners would still easily pick them up, but interference from the asteroids mineral deposits might make them difficult to catch. Messages were sent to every asteroid farmer in the nearby sectors to be on the watch for these things as early invasion signs. The other new aerial unit deployed by the MOM were basically giant wasps that could produce and fire at most thirty stingers made of quick solidifying fluids at incredible velocities, they shared the common trait of having a atmospheric field around them like the MOM and Shamroids. They were called Vasps which was short for Vector Wasp based on their ability to maneuver in a vacuum. Where the Vasps were powerful was mobility and being able to change direction in space in an instant, on top of having a powerful toxic bite that is injected by their mandibles. They were three fourths the size of a Javelin and primarily seen to use hit and run tactics, it is only theorized that they need an active MOM core to reload their biological ammunition. Where they were limited was in their ability to fire only so many stinger shots and their strange atmospheric covering swiftly degraded if they make too many fast maneuvers in a short amount of time. Upon losing their atmospheric covering in space they die and swiftly implode. They are as susceptible as the Shamroids to conventional weaponry, provided you can land a direct hit on them. Aside from various tactics in dealing with each of these creatures individually released by the Triple P, the best suggestion for civilians was to think smart, to avoid battles they couldn’t win and to find a safe place to hunker down if possible. The situation was a little bit worse than many had previously thought it was. While planet infesters were bad, this was definitely the worst case of an incursion that has been seen in years in any protected system. - A massive explosion shook the world and everything was rumbling furniture toppled and flew about the room. The humongous jolt had sent Gilda flopping on to her face with a pained groan as she fell out of the hotels bed, she was awake now and she just knew the earthquake that just hit the station spelled trouble. What also spelled trouble was the fact that Greta was nibbling at her neck and that she had even managed to sleep through the horrendous noise of the massive space stations alarm blaring. “Greta wake up or so help me I’ll!” Despite shouting rather boisterously at the other griffon that was currently cuddling Gilda like a plush toy with her wings inexorably wrapped around her body, Greta had slept through what felt like the apocalypse had just hit the station and she just tightened her grip whining slightly. “Okay you asked for it for being way too clingy for your own good!” Curling her right claws into a fist she pulled back and swiftly through it over her shoulder slamming it right into Greta’s gnawing beak causing her to release her hold on Gilda with a yelp. “Wake up and get your EVA gear on your ass and pack your stuff!” Time was of the essence and Gilda needed Greta coherent and awake. “I need to know what’s going on right this instant, something just rocked Geoptis and your smart enough to know how hard that is to do given the sheer size of this place.” That got Greta’s brain firing on all cylinders and she was immediately up and pulling her data pad out from storage. The technical wizard quickly started tapping her claws rapidly all over the pad, while Gilda looked out the window. Windows on the hotel gave a very nice view of Geoptis City and there was just panicking in the streets at the moment. “Okay, really bad news, as in the ‘what silver lining’ variety. The first remaining MOM core has been dealt with, its husk just hit the station and now there are monsters crawling all over the hull around the impact sight. It thankfully didn’t pierce into the station, but it definitely caused a huge dent and the gravity generators were struggling to stay working there for a moment. Several power nodes were blown out throughout the station and there are blackouts in the lower parts.” Greta was going over the data as fast as she could. “The real problem is that the monsters are starting to get in through several hangars atmospheric barriers, all available fighters from Discus to Javelin types that weren’t in serious need of repairs are out there fighting right now. They are trying to deal with both the Vasps and the monsters from the dead core. Aside from that there is an odd lack of the archetype MOM unit known as Shamroids, which might be connected to the cores destruction and a lucky break if it is. At least until the second MOM core passes by Geoptis which is currently dead in space as far as movement is concerned.” “Yeah, it’s time to enact my plan. What did I say I would do if something like this came to pass again Greta?” Gilda, moving over to Greta, looked over the screen and saw the havoc going on around the station before her best friend switched to a diagnostics view focusing on the impact site. It showed where the MOM’s invading forces were moving and it was a sea of red. “So that’s what, approximately three thousand life signs? Most of that has to be the ground forces.” “Actually those forces are just the Vasps alone, these are the ground forces.” Then an overlay of yellow coated a much larger area taking up a solid portion of Geoptis, Greta grimaced as she looked Gilda in the eyes. Gilda’s pupils enlarged and a hungry looked filled them, it left Greta wondering if Gilda needed a sanity check because it actually looked like she wanted take part in all the fighting. “They haven’t reached the repair hangar we were working at yet, but it’s only a matter of time. If we want to…‘SAVE’… a fighter, then we’re going to really need to start moving before they can reach what’s been our hangar for the past few days. There are still a few damaged fighters that aren’t out in the combat zone right now for varying reasons, oh and fifty ant heads have already breached Geoptis and more are getting in by the second. Give me three minutes to pack and get ready.” “You have one Greta, starting now!” Running around and gathering what was important to them, Gilda would leave behind several things she didn’t figure to be of any consequence and was easily replaceable. Idly she shook her head at the fact that Greta couldn’t say the word steal without subconsciously adding air quotes and pausing to think of a nicer word for what they were going to do. Amidst this rush Greta pulled on her EVA, and slapped her helmet to her face and it folded around her head before sealing, since she was still in a breathable atmosphere the oxygen tank stayed offline until she needed it and just filtered the existing air. She swiftly slung the saddle on to her back and it clamped down to her EVA suit. After she was done she had a duffle bag and Mr. Welder thrust into her claws. “Let’s get out of here, shall we?” It had taken Gilda all of thirty seconds to get everything together and a few more before she slung her own duffle bag loaded with tools over her shoulder and quickly popped open the window. Why would they bother going through the building to leave when they could fly? The situation was an emergency after all. Greta didn’t even hesitate to follow Gilda as she leapt after her into a dive from the thirtieth floor, forgetting entirely that her EVA suit didn’t exactly allow her to use her wings. - Gilda looked particularly angry as she carried a humiliated looking Greta in the air towards the repair hangar. “Okay, that’s enough of the silent treatment from me, you know what you did. Seriously you couldn’t have waited to put your wings into the compression pouches until after we were in space? Provided we could survive long enough to even get to the hangar and make whatever repairs we can before we’re swarmed and slaughtered.” There was never a bird quite as grumpy as Gilda was at this moment, she wasn’t quite angry that she had to catch her friend. It was a bit of struggle with all the weight she was hefting with her wings, but she was making good time and in the distance one could hear the sound of weapons firing and the screams of people being killed. “You are so lucky your ass is considered lightweight by my standards, now make yourself useful and keep me up to date while I fly us there before they lock it down. You can hack the doors if they enter lockdown right?” “As your favorite technical engineer of course I can Gilda; I just had a bit of a slip in judgment because somebody was rushing me.” Greta’s cheerful demeanor tried to make an appearance. Looking at her data pad as Gilda flew; she was seeing some rather horrific sights and her cheerful demeanor wasn’t very capable of coming to the forefront. A pony just had her intestines ripped out and two of her legs messily torn off before she was finally killed by having her skull caved in; the Ant Heads were being really quite sadistic before they actually started eating her. In the background of the camera she was accessing, a human Triple P officer was pierced through and swiftly swallowed alive and crunched loudly enough to be heard by the camera. The body in its maw caused the Vorager to start dribbling blood from what looked like its belly. The Voragers were the largest monsters of the destroyed MOM core contingent and some of them had managed to get inside of Geoptis, they were indiscriminate killing machines that even consumed some of their own. “I think I’m going to throw up.” “Aim away from me then, keep your mind on our situation Greta. How much time do we have here?” It was not that Gilda was cold and unfeeling, she was very much trying not to think of the screams she was hearing from Greta’s pad. Instead she was determined to get at least one flight in her life as a fighter pilot, plus why cry over those who you couldn’t do a thing to save? She was focusing on her own priorities. “To all bounty hunters aboard Geoptis Station, I am now declaring Hunting Seaon! All personnel are to assist the civilians to the shelters and seal off entrances as quickly as you can; we need to bottleneck them so they can’t use their numbers against us. I know our outer hull turrets are taking a beating; I will soon be activating the inner hull turrets. Get to those safe zones or a good place to hunker down like yesterday!” They could even hear officer Lirutiy giving orders over the station wide com systems, how the Plurt managed to keep her tone even in this crisis was anyone’s guess. “I repeat all bounty hunters aboard Geoptis Station, Hunting Season is officially authorized! All Civilians are suggested to either evacuate to the planet or head for the shelters around the center of the station.” “Did she just seriously give every bounty hunter, privateer and civilian who understands exactly what ‘hunting season’ means as a carte blanche to use high end explosives?” Now Greta was panicking, as a huge explosion went off less than a mile from their position. It led to her shrieking out. “Especially here, on a space station of all things!” “Focus Greta, stop getting distracted or so help me I’m going to drop you here and now! See how far you’d get if you have to walk.” Gilda hoped that snapped her to the task at claw, as she flew above the tall buildings of Geoptis City. She took a short glance at the fires in the distance as she angled herself towards the repair hangar and flapped her wings as hard as she could to stay in the air, she was tiring quickly. “R-right Gilda, they’re not there yet and the station is starting to lock down all the hangars that they’re coming through. Ours hasn’t been closed off yet, but it’s only a matter of time before those monsters reach it, we’ll have about ten minutes to get one of the fighters airborne at my best estimation.” With loud sigh and a bit of a sad grunt Greta added. “It’ll be likely the worst estimate and we’ll have about two minutes to get a fixer upper to fly, hopefully one without too many issues.” “I like those odds.” There was the sarcastic Gilda that could make Greta smile, if a bit wanly at the moment. “We’re almost there, so I’ll finally be able to drop you like my mom dropped me out of the nest.” “You say the nicest things about your family and take me to the best of places Gilda.” The sarcasm was echoed by Greta who wondered if everyone they met were surviving alright. At least they knew the boss lady was safe where she was for the time being. How long would that last with the Patrol completely distracted from stopping the last remaining MOM core with the station under attack like it was? Coming in for a landing the griffons were at the door leading to the hallway where the hangar resided and things were spookily quiet around this particular area, the fighting and explosions in the distance were not nearly as disturbing as the silence of where they currently found themselves now. The alarms and sirens blaring throughout the station having become something akin to background noise to them. “Okay the door should open, as we still have access and it hasn’t gone into lockdown yet.” Greta moved forward to the door after she was summarily dropped on her face by a bored looking Gilda, she accessed the panel and started inserting the code. It still worked and the door beeped. “Right, I am opening it now!” The door creaked and then swiftly slid open, a shadow immediately stepped out and both the griffons leapt back expecting danger, only it wasn’t something dangerous. The figure still made Gilda jump back even further, since it was Tree Hugger and she was giving them both her patented friendly dopey smile. “Hello Sky Child and blessings to you and your friend Ever Cheerful. I have been waiting here for you.” As she spoke a second cowering mare poked her head out looking around and whimpering. The shy mare was frightened by all the noises and the sounds of violence going on in the distance. “We are here to assist you; a friend of ours is currently in the process rigging the door to your egress. So when you are ready, fly at it with great speed and it will open and shut behind you. This will prevent a number of casualties from you letting more World Eaters into the station. I must also ask that you take this gift and destroy a group of incoming World Eaters for me with it, I cannot do it as I am a pacifist and my friend Soul Judger is too squeamish to commit such an act as to take the breathe of another from them. Neither of us would wish to hurt anything, even as vile as the World Eaters are.” “Pacifist, like my ass you are!” Grumbled Gilda who stared at the plasma rifle being proffered to her vertically held in hoof by its midsection, Tree Hugger simply tilted her head and raised her right brow slightly. The griffon really didn’t know whether to accept the weapon or not given who was holding it. “You still keep finding ways to completely freak me out on a number of levels.” Having said that, Gilda took the offered plasma rifle and checked it over. Tree Hugger then reached into her saddlebags and held out a small satchel to Gilda as she finished putting the strap attached to the rifle around her torso. Taking the satchel Gilda found ten clips of plasma ammunition, she attached that to the strap. “I hope I did not underestimate your need. Ever Cheerful please swiftly find a vessel while the rest of us wait here for our companion to finish preparations for your egress. Please know I never harmed you intentionally or unintentionally Sky Child, I only put you in a situation where you would harm yourself if you struggled. You did and I am quite sorry that you injured yourself.” Looking more closely at Tree Hugger, she was carrying four medical kits aside from the saddlebags and her yellow cowering companion was carrying a few more than that. Greta had been standing their looking dumbfounded before she set off past them to do just as Tree Hugger told her to and find a fighter worthy of getting them into space. “After you clear a path and our companion joins us, we will leave the area swiftly. The hangar is safely sealed from all directions except this one and your exit, I will now endeavor to align all our chakras so that you may perform with a clear mind.” “You know what; I’m not going to bother asking how you got here or even why you of all people would buy a weapon and hand it to someone who would just love to aim it at you. Instead, I’ll turn just around and watch your way out for you and then you can go hug a tree or do whatever it is you like when whoever you’re waiting for gets here.” After Gilda’s statement Tree Hugger slowly moved forward and rubbed up against her. The griffon froze as Tree Hugger placed a kiss on her cheek and then nodded as if understanding something before she moved back to her pink haired companion’s side. Cuddling the pink haired pony, Tree notably made her become less frightened when she hummed a few notes and leaned into her before she turned to address Gilda again. “I am of the earth and you are of the sky. We are meant to work in concert, Gilda.” The minute Tree Hugger said her name, was the moment the world tilted and turned upside down for the griffon. Gilda was now afraid of the warmth that suddenly exploded everywhere through her veins after the pony airily said her name and she was getting a horrible case of vertigo that quickly ended as Tree started talking once more. “Should you perish today, I will be there to take care of you in your next form. If you live, then I wish you many years to find and fulfill what your heart truly desires and will be there when you will want me for my council. You will never die alone and will have the comfort of the one who walks as everyone’s shadow, that one is very friendly and is whoever you need them to be when you once again pass into the grand circle.” Gilda really didn’t like the fuzzy feeling in her chest and she certainly wasn’t thinking of snuggling Greta into a pile of happy feathers if she did indeed survive the next twenty eight hours or what amounted to a full Ewesen day. Whatever this mare was on, it had to be highly contagious and she felt entirely wary of almost beginning to understand it. Before she could unleash her grouchiness several shrieks were heard heading in their direction. “The World Eaters, they come, they will ravage many spiritually as much as physically.” That was all Tree Hugger needed to say for Gilda to take up the rifle against her shoulder and sweep the opening of the corridor leading into the hangar. - Angel Rippinicus had done his job; he had hotwired the doors just as the wise one needed them to be. All he had to now, was get inside after having set the door to start closing. Now if only he wasn’t floating away from the station for firing his energy pistol several times, with a flick of his left paw a pencil thin beam grappled the inside of the hangar as the door start closing and he reeled himself in past several dead Ant Heads he had blasted. Once he was inside he fell to the floor going into a roll as gravity asserted itself on him once more and then just as quickly rolled to the left as a surviving Ant Head lunged at him. It had clawed its way in after him, completely losing the rear half of its body in the process. The rear half of an Ant Head was partly vestigial to its continued existence, however suddenly losing its head to a charged blast of energy outright caused a critical existence failure in what was recently a two limbed creature. Angel sighed and put the energy pistol that was almost as big as he was away on his back, he didn’t like the quiet of the great abyss and was glad that the wise one saw fit to get him the proper protection he needed before requesting his help. He immediately started running towards the hangars entrance as he heard gunfire. - Gilda fired several plasma blasts that ended up ripping apart another three Ant Heads and then the horrific visage of a Vorager stomped its way forward. It was busy screeching from its large mouth and waving its bladed arms in a challenging manner. This thing would later cause Gilda nightmares; right now she brought up the rifle and fired for its limbs to slow down its charge. Not exactly being trained in the weapon she wielded, Gilda was doing pretty good at aiming her shots as of the ten she fired at least three managed to hit. The three hits being something vital for the monster to continue coming at her at full speed as it had been. She had sent a plasma round through its right blade arm its rear middle leg and its front left leg, tearing the first in half, the second was luckily blown clean off and the last was only damaged. Even with the damage she was dealing to its torso with the next three shots, Gilda had to back up towards the entrance as it continued charging her with a wide open mouth which she gladly filled with as much plasma as she could squeeze out of her current clip of ammunition. While plasma weapons were technically energy based weapons, some of said weapon did not come in a rechargeable variety and thus required powerful batteries known as power cells. Even with all the damage it was taking, the Vorager pushed forward on its damaged limbs and it was almost on top of Gilda ready to swallow her whole. Only to have half the nerve clusters in its head blown apart causing it to stumble back slightly allowing Gilda to put it down with a few more shots up close and personal. Another shot then rang out and an Ant Head with a hole in its torso died two feet from Gilda standing at the entrance to the corridor, she turned to the EVA suited Lagotorphin that came running up to her. “I had them both handled.” The fake rabbit made a flippant gesture of dismissal at Gilda’s words and then hopped onto the shy mare and kicked at her neck while pointing forward. “I believe that is our cue to be going now, be well Sky Child. Worry no longer for our safety… you should sooner worry about your own now.” With that statement delivered, Tree Hugger turned and motioned Fluttershy to follow her. They galloped off leaving Gilda to lock the last doors to the hangar down. Author's Note I have no notes to author. -18-“Did I just see a Lagotorphin take down half an Ant Head and rush through here? What’s a predator baiter doing here?” It was taking Greta some time to go over the damaged and broken down fighters to find a few viable ones they could use; so far she had found three and needed Gilda’s second opinion on them. Sitting next to her were their duffle bags loaded with the gear they didn’t want to live without, including Mr. Welder. “Speaking of odd things, what happened to Tree Hugger?” “The little guy was a friend of hers working on our exit strategy apparently, the hangar is locked down and the door out to space is now possibly set as a one way exit. I need you to check that to see if that’s correct before we choose a ship.” Taking a look at various states of disrepair of the fighters, Gilda was giving them a critical eye as she adjusted the plasma rifle strapped to her back. “Tree Hugger ran off to do who knows what, because I can’t give a damn except to learn how she evacuated this hangar before we got here. What’s the situation on the fighters here, are any of them viable and how quickly can we get them working if they aren’t? I’m not exactly sure the doors will hold any of those monsters back for long.” “Say what you will about her brand of lunacy Gilda, but Tree certainly seems to have our best interests at heart and likely has a lot of connections. Yeah, the door has been rewired and… huh, the atmospheric barrier to this hangar has been turned off. Now that’s rather disconcerting.” Greta was wirelessly accessing the hangar; despite doing this she didn’t actually have the ability to do anything aside from looking up information and she already had the diagnostics of fighters. “As for our selection of viable vehicle… so far I have us up to two Javelin fighters, a Discus bomber and a Poseidon interceptor.” “Drop the Poseidon as those things are difficult to fly, they are specifically meant for Parascine pilots anyway. For that matter drop the Discus bomber and give me the status on the two Javelin fighters.” Marching up to her partner and friend for life Gilda asked for more details. “I want to know how fast can we get one of them into space and what are the current logistical problems concerning just that.” “Well one is missing half its main weapons, two variable thrusters and shields. On the bright side everything else seems to be workable.” Taking the time to check her data pad, Greta looked it over to see what the issues with the other one were. “The other one seems like the better option out of all these other ships that are missing vital components, weaponry and shields. Its shielding device is slightly blown and wouldn’t hold up much in a prolonged fight, but the current damages to the shielding device could be fixed with a quick patch job and aside from that its right ordinance tube is clogged.” “Yeah, I’m not flying without all the available variable thrusters. Take me to the second one, what exactly is the ordinance tube clogged with?” Gilda swiftly followed Greta over the second fighter and saw that it was in a good state. “Seriously what is it clogged with, it looks perfectly fine by my estimations.” “It’s right ordinance tube is clogged with… active devastator rounds!” At seeing this information Greta paled considerably. “Can we take the other one Gilda?” “Yeah, that would definitely be a reason why it’s here. Get the shields in an operable condition.” Hearing some clanging noise the two griffons turned to the corridor entrance and heard a crash, they also a saw a dent appear in the door they came through. “Can you patch the shields in the next thirty seconds?” Gilda turned back to see that Greta already had the panel away and was elbow deep in the fighters undercarriage, her EVA suits helmet light was point upwards. She swiftly joined her and pulled a flashlight out of her toolkit and angled it upwards to get a look at things. The shielding device was burnt slightly and damaged; Greta was feverishly cutting out and twisting a few wires together and she doing a really rough patch job on it as they didn’t have the time to do anything better. They could hear the clanging coming from the corridor getting worse, but by then and with a little direction from Gilda; Greta was already closing it back up. “That’s the best I can do with what little time we have here Gilda, no time to cannibalize another fighter as I don’t feel safe with making the attempt.” The plasma rifle was thrust into Greta’s claws by Gilda as she popped the canopy and jumped in with her bag into the pilot’s seat to look back at her. “You do realize that while the shields will work, if those devastators in the right tube rupture… well beggars can’t be choosers!” Greta changed her tune fast as she saw the tip of a Vorager’s bladed arm poking through the metal doors a distance away. Greta popped the copilot’s canopy and slung her own bag and the rifle into it before hauling herself inside. “Quick question, do we still have devastators loaded in the left tube?” If they needed to devastate something, Gilda wanted to know they had the option. The Javelin came to life as she started flicking switches on the console before her and the canopy locked into place. “I’m now accessing copilot’s console, can you hear me?” A grunt of affirmation let Greta know Gilda could hear her. “Rear gun is functional, the left tube is perfectly functional and fully loaded, we have a full tank of variable fuel and the impulse engine is running optimally though could use a few tweaks. Let me close up and then we can lift off. I’m shutting the canopy now. Also I don’t mean to be a worrywart Gilda, but I’m the only one wearing an EVA suit. If those devastators go off we’re both death either way.” “Don’t care; let’s get this puppy off the ground finally! I thought it would take forever with you worrying about every little detail.” Gilda flicked the variable thrusters to point downwards and the fight lifted into the air slowly. “Departure for space incoming, hold onto your ass Greta because we’ve got some fun times ahead of us.” “That’s what I’m worried about, you’re not a pilot Gilda and I can’t believe I’m going along with this in a flying metal deathtrap that will possibly explode violently.” A crash was heard and Greta looked forwards to see the Vorager stalk into the hangar followed by several Ant Heads and a second Vorager, she let loose a few shots to see if the aiming reticule needed some calibration. The shots were on target, but Greta was still getting used to the controls and only managed kill one of the Ant Heads starting to flood into the hangar. “Well there goes my one confirmed kill before I die.” “That’s the spirit Greta! Where did the rest of your positive attitude go?” In fact Gilda came off as excited as she started maneuvering the ship into position for thrusting forward towards the door. “I am ready to launch, my blood feels like it is pumping raw stimulants.” “Maybe because you’re the happy one and now I have to be the completely grumpy cynical asshole with a heart of gold.” Greta took aim with the rear gun and started to fire a spread of shots at the intruders and killed an Ant Head with nice shot to the spine from her position, the shadow of the beam giving off a bright green trail as it passed through space. She blasted the closer Vorager and the three legged beast continued to move forward despite being whittled down under the blasts of energy ripping into it until it perished. “I’m not exactly trained to be a tail gunner, plus the amount of apprehension I have about all of what we’re doing is pretty damn high on top of knowing we could explode at any second. Try not to take to many hits because I don’t know how long my ramshackle patch job will hold, speaking of, I’m going to increase the shields around the right ordinance tube.” “That’s good enough for me and you don’t need to be the best tail gunner in the universe Greta. Well hope you’re target practice is doing you some good back there, because here we go!” Not even bothering to ease the throttle into it, Gilda pushed it forward to full blast and the Javelin practically jumped forward heading towards the closed doors. Detecting the Javelins approach the doors opened up swiftly and started sucking all the air and every single being and or object not nailed down out of the hangar into space. It was pulling some monsters through the destroyed doorways, which started to clog with screeching and dying Ant Heads as they were crumpled together in a large collective mass in the corridor. Once the Javelin was clear of the doors, being pushed by the rush of atmosphere being blasted out of that portion of Geoptis Station, they slammed shut preventing any more loss of atmosphere. A heavy bulkhead slid into place and locked down around that section of the massive space station preventing anymore decompression problems. - A Discus bomber was shaped like a flying saucer; being a bomber its specialty is in utilizing high end explosive ordinance and carrying lots of it. The main pilot takes care of flying and has access to two laser cannons. The copilot is entirely focused on wielding the ordinance launcher that can be rotated to fire in any direction along the horizontal axis of the ship. The ship itself can be rotated so that it can fire its payload at odd angles to wherever it needs to be delivered. If a Javelin could only carry six missiles, then a Discus could carry twenty eight of that same type of missile or it could be equipped with a variety of missiles that can cause different levels of damage or do different things. The Discus otherwise has average shielding and even more average forward firing twin energy cannon, it is prone to exploding when its shields are taken down and its mass makes it slow to speed up or slow down in space. It also needed to be reloaded fairly often if the explosive ordinance is used liberally. What it lacks in maneuverability or defensive capability, it makes up in its ability to rip larger spaceships or threats apart with its ordinance launcher. It is best equipped with long range high end ordinance such as devastator rounds. Devastator rounds are a physical missile type ammunition that sets off a rather peculiar molecular chain reaction in a very small confined space within the round itself. When it hits something, for a short amount of time it absorbs any mass within a few feet from its immediate surroundings. What it then proceeds to do is rip everything around it apart in the ensuing massive explosion. They are called devastators because the explosion is more powerful the more mass the missile manages to get during its absorbency phase. Even if the devastator didn’t acquire any mass aside from what the missile itself provides, it is still highly destructive. Devastator rounds are said to be the invention of Plurt scientists, it has neither been confirmed nor denied. The best known counter to these deadly missiles is the runic shielding technology invented by ponies, more specifically one named Shining Armor. Said runic shielding isn’t very effective against many things except things that warp local space violently. - (Zone of the Enders 2 – Leo Leo!) “Okay let’s see if we can push our way into the combat zone. Greta I need you to quickly label our ship as GG dash one please.” Gilda had steered the fighter around on a slow turning arc to head back for the station; she turned to communication and spoke as she watched hundreds of fighters crossing each other’s paths and firing upon the monstrosities crawling across the hull of Geoptis. “This is call sign GG One, lone Javelin class fighter calling to anyone in that mess that has a little time on their hands. We’re on approach and need orders, where do you need us?” “This is Greg Planter leader of Femur Squadron, if you have no idea where you need to be then aim at the closest mass of monsters on Geoptis and blow them apart. Don’t bother with the Vasps unless they are on you, they are dying off at an accelerated rate without an active MOM core to provide for them and they are also quickly running out of projectile based firepower. So unless they get close to you and or can still shoot, don’t engage.” After a moment of silence and hearing something that sounded like a muted thud of something smacking into the ship, the male voice came back. “Sorry, had one on my tail and a chunk or two of it bounced off the canopy. What we really need is for someone to help keep them off of Geoptis’s turrets, can you handle that GG One? We need all the help we can get to clean Geoptis up as fast as possible; I have word that the remaining MOM piece is already inbound and we have twenty minutes to kill as many of these things as we can. Voragers are a higher priority target at the moment, only use communications to call for assistance, for new orders or to report in on anything you consider drastically important.” “Roger that, providing cover fire for the turrets and taking out the ground swarms.” It was exhilarating for Gilda to be flying into battle and as for her first shot she placed her targeting reticule on a distant and Vasp and blew it apart with a single pull of the trigger that sent two beams crossing space in an instant. “I’m switching over to alternating fire and coming in hot, combined fire seems a bit wasteful for these guys. Watch my ass Greta.” “Gladly, now if only you’d allow me to peruse it as well!” Greta stated in a less than chipper tone that didn’t match Gilda’s current cheerful demeanor as she gunned down some Ant Heads. “Please remember that we’ll die if we take a wrong hit, so don’t get reckless.” “You are pretty much the gayest hen I know Greta and that’s not even taking your sexual preferences into account.” The fighter dropped close to the surface of Geoptis and skimmed along the hull, Gilda started taking aim and unleashed a blaze of alternating shots starting off from the left energy cannon. She swept her fire across the monsters clinging to the stations hull and then carefully picked off two Voragers that were trying to break apart a turret that was wiping out the Vasps in quick succession. “I don’t feel or sound very happy at the moment!” Growled out a frustrated sounding Greta as she shot at the ground troops Gilda passed by with the rear mounted turret in a steady single stream of death. She was keeping an eye out for any Vasps that took an interest in their backsides and nailed one in the abdomen causing it to implode. “Like you aren’t happy every day of the week, I’m only giving it a matter of time before you start feeling the joy that I currently do!” Gilda’s chipper attitude was likely driving Greta to act like Gilda usually did. They weren’t having too much trouble with raking hundreds of monsters off Geoptis’s hull while trying to avoid actually hitting the hull itself. After several more passes over various turrets to prevent them from being overwhelmed by Ant Heads and or Voragers, the turrets started to turn towards the ground forces as the Vasps had been thinned out considerably by the constant fire of the four barreled high powered energy turrets. A beeping noise went off and Gilda hit the communications to receive the message. “This is Lirutiy, all fighters with heavy ordinance loads, break off and attack the incoming remaining MOM core.” A shotgun firing could be heard and the sound of something screeching its last breath sounded out, it was then that Lirutiy spoke up once more. “Damn, I can’t believe they made it this deep in! We wiped out half of the MOM in the initial confrontation, Geoptis wiped out another fourth and I’ll be damned if we let that last core land intact. Carrier Pessenchince and Destroyer Tirospeice join the fighters by providing support and keep your distance. The rest of the fleet will hold back and hit that remaining MOM piece with everything we have if it enters the atmosphere. As for the rest of you, get these bastards off of my station!” “What are you armed with GG One?” Greg asked as his notably marked Javelin blasted its way through several more Voragers on the surface of the station and passed over Gilda and Greta’s fighter before angling away from the fighting in the quiet void. “We’re carrying three viable devastator rounds.” Veering the ship away from the crawling surface of Geoptis after making another quick pass on a solid mass of monsters while helping several turrets on one last attack run, Gilda flew out of the combat zone following three other fighters. In the distance the distance the griffons could see several other squadrons were forming up and leaving the combat area. The rear gunners in the Javelin fighters were wiping out any Vector Wasp stragglers trying to give chase and Greta quickly joined in on blasting them down with well aimed shots. The fighters that were staying behind were primarily interceptors performing cleanup. “You can form up with Femur Squadron then, we’re all packing here. Take the far right wing if you want to follow us.” Seeing that GG One take position Greg filled his squadron in on what they were expected to do. “We’ll need to cover for the Discus bomber squads while we make our own attacks runs, if any of you take too much damage then head straight for the carrier Pessenchince. I don’t want any of you dying on me, does everyone copy?” “Roger Femur lead, we’ve had our warm up with Geoptis covering us and now things are about to get truly nasty once we’re away from its defenses.” The ship on Greg’s immediate left responded with a female voice while waggling its wings up and down slightly. The two other fighters sent in their replies and then it was Gilda’s turn as she took up position on the far right of the flying V shaped formation. “This GG One, copy that, I have no illusions to the fact that we’re buying time while everyone else gets their crap in gear. I acknowledge that this is going to get messy when the Shamroids and Vasps come our way. Those Shamroids shouldn’t even be able to catch an aware Javelin pilot given we can outmaneuver them easily, they have very poor turning capability.” Gilda was acting like she knew what she was talking about. “They’re more dangerous to the Discus bombers, so relay to them to watch for the Shamroids. The Vasp are going to be the real enemy here until that core is taken care of, the Shamroids are frail and can easily be dealt with by our gunners.” “Acknowledged, we definitely needed that refresher GG One. I had almost forgotten those exploding gas bags existed. Everyone full throttle and stay in formation until we’re ready to break off and attack, if you see a good opportunity to unload a payload, then do so where it will deal some real damage. If you can get it in an orifice then that would be better than just hitting the surface.” Several ships pinged out at once in affirmation including the outsider in the squad. “Don’t be afraid to call for help if you need it GG One, Femur Squadron is willing to assist you for as long as we’re flying. Just show us the same courtesy where needed if and when you can, remember that you’re not alone out here.” - “Damn it, it’s here earlier than anticipated! Everyone break off and pick your targets, it’s about to become a shooting gallery out here.” Greg couldn’t have called it sooner as they came across the massive ball of still active flesh three minutes later. “Right, I’m going to try and get behind it. Are any of you Disc jockeys going my way and in need of an escort into position to pepper its ass?” As Gilda called out to see if anyone was flying her way she had to avoid several Shamroids, the flying fake asteroids with tentacles were creepy looking but Greta easily popped them as soon as she could get them sighted. Hundreds of Vasps were slowly crawling out of the flesh ball onto its surface and slowly building up a glow of atmosphere before kicking off into space, only to have Gilda mow through them and hit the surface of the MOM with as much fire as she could get out. “It’s confirmed Vasps definitely need the MOM to continue functioning in a greater capacity.” “I’m surprised that nobody has figured out that you’re not exactly a qualified pilot, but you’re doing pretty good all things considered. I need a barrel roll stat!” Despite Greta being a bit flippant with her piloting, Gilda threw the ship into a barrel roll combining it with an aileron roll using the variable thrusters to shift out of the way of three oncoming Shamroids which were swiftly blasted by Gilda once they passed by. “Thank you, now if only we weren’t getting into danger like this all the time! Maybe I didn’t get enough sleep, because I can swear there’s something very off about how fast this thing is moving. Shouldn’t it be moving at the same speed it had after the fleet’s assault on it?” “This is Entrencher Squadron; we’ll follow you GG One.” Three Discus fighters came in behind the Javelin. “Lead us into position.” “Come on and admit it Greta, you’re enjoying this as much as I am!” Hitting the variable thrusters, Gilda had the Javelin strafing sideways in space around the MOM while constantly barraging the surface with blast after blast of energy lancing out rapidly into the Vasps pulling themselves out of the flesh. Gilda stopped the sideways strafe by counter blasting the variables putting her in a position to follow the MOM. “Stick behind us and we’ll try to keep them off you guys while you get your pound of flesh in.” Following her maneuver were three Discus bombers that shot quite a few Shamroids as they slid around the MOM following Gilda’s lead. The Discus bombers cut their engines and flipped end over end using their variable thrusters to get into position; it was then that they restarted their engines. This put them in position behind the flesh ball with Gilda running interference in front of them as they unloaded explosive after explosive into it dealing massive amounts of damage to its crust. The next few minutes were hectic with Gilda angling and sweeping across the front of the three Discus bombers, while wiping out many of the Vasps and Shamroids that were coming their way, for some reason they weren’t getting as much as the guys at the front of the MOM’s path. Even then a Discus had to drop off the chase after taking a direct hit from a Vasp. “You’re right Greta, something is wrong here and we’re getting awfully close to the planet.” As they did the Planetary Protection Patrol fleet opened fire on the MOM and it took a lot of the hits. That’s around the time when the MOM changed, its front exploded unleashing thousands of Shamroids into space in all directions sending the fleet into chaos. The real dog kicker was what was happening at the backside of the MOM. “What… the… tartarus?” The skin of the large ball of flesh started to rip apart and several flaps peeled outwards letting loose a massive amount of ugly looking bright neon orange fluid into space. The flaps had several large holes and a bit of gas could be seen leaking from it before the flaps erupted thrusting the MOM past where the fleet had been aiming. The underside of the flaps was covered in teeth and at the base of the opened flaps in the center of the opening were a huge eye and three large mouths in a triangular formation around it. “Well, there goes my ability to take horror movies seriously.” Just because she was making idle commentary didn’t mean she stopped firing on all the Vasps and the rather humongous wave of Shamroids coming at her. “Anybody from Femur Squadron still alive out there, I need you back here with me! I and what’s left of Entrencher Squadron see the core and it is one ugly son of a-” - Rarity couldn’t help but be worried about Greta and Gilda’s safety after hearing Geoptis Station had been boarded by monsters. Not like the planet was any safer with an incoming MOM. She really did hope the two griffons were safe where they were, she really needed to get back to the hangar seven as civilians were already running for the shelters and the spaceport counted as one of those places. - All of Femur Squadron was out of ordinance and or heavily damaged. The last capable ship of Entrencher Squadron was also out of ordinance and the other one was blown to bits by several Shamroids clasping onto it. The MOM was currently breaching the atmosphere and thankfully absorbing all the heat from the entry as GG One’s shields were currently suffering a major malfunction due to a Shamroid that scorched the left wing and its rear turret had been rendered inoperable. Two of the MOM’s large inner mouths were blown to bloody chunks and some of its inner teeth fell out into space, but it was still going. Gilda’s Javelin was closing in on the eye firing wildly and looked like it was going to ram it head on. “Gilda… please tell me that you aren’t sacrificing our lives and that we’re not going to die...” Greta looked over her shoulder after seeing the edges of the gas blowing skin flaps and wished she hadn’t, the Javelin was already wailing a heat warning alarm and things were looking pretty bad. “Gilda…” “We’re not going to die Greta; we’re just going to perform some rather invasive open eye surgery with a really large scalpel.” It wasn’t as if the energy cannons weren’t doing enough to the large eye already and Gilda wanted to be the one to rip the MOM core a new one. She was determined to bring it down regardless of the consequences; frankly she was currently having the best time of her life. “Besides we’re going to save plenty of lives with what I’m about to do, I guess it’s time to say… goodbye my love.” - Somewhere high in the atmosphere of the tropical lake planet, the MOM shuddered as what looked like a volcanic explosion rocked its backside destroying most of it. The flaps that weren’t torn off stopped spewing its propulsion gas as it became lifeless and continued falling through the sky towards the planet. “Commander Lirutiy, it’s a miracle! We have confirmation of the cores destruction, but its ground forces are still going to be an issue once that dead core hits the ground.” The Parascine at the console with a dead Ant Head next to it turned to the Plurt who sighed in relief after having had watched her fleet be sent into absolute disarray and let the MOM core almost reach the planet’s surface. Author's Note I have not killed off anyone important, it just looks like I have. I would also like to point out that Gilda is not referencing Greta at the end there, now jump wildly to conclusions. Next chapter moving onto other things, such as dealing with the remnants of the MOM crashing to the ground and unleashing destruction on the surrounding areas even if it isn't infesting the planet. Won't that be fun? -19-Her head was pounding as she came to and she could hear a dull thumping noise and could see a red flashing before her. It was a console and she placed her suited claw against it and tried to steady her head as the world spun with the other. After a moment Greta remembered what had happened and wondered how she was alive, taking in that her EVA suit was still in perfect working order. The thumping sped up and then ended as her hearing came back to her. “Gilda, are you okay? Please respond!” Looking up Greta could see the world violently spinning around and she had no clue which way was up anymore. “What did you mean by ‘goodbye my love’; please tell me you were talking about me if your still alive!” “Oh for the love of, Greta shut up! I have a headache and I was talking about my love being the Javelin’s almost fully functional shell, we could have fixed it and it would have been awesome. Give me a moment to at least mourn will you?” Gilda’s grumpiness was back in full force and then she spoke up with a more humorous sounding lilt. “Okay, its past. Our situation is we’re falling out the sky like we’re made of lead; heat sinks are overloading and causing more problems for the Evade Mode module I ejected just prior to our imminent demise. Thank goodness for the small time delay on those devastators before they go off, we didn’t get completely clear of the explosion and it scorched us up badly. You were obviously knocked out for a few minutes from what looked like a volcano going off, I’m glad the glare compensators were still working at the time or I’d be blind right now even if I had closed my eyes. We won’t be able to use the variable jets or even pop our canopies until we fix the heat sink problem, so we’re currently dead… figuratively.” “Gilda… I think I hate your guts now.” The twitching in Greta’s right eye and her tone of voice speaking volumes about how pissed she was at hearing the amount of bad news Gilda was dishing out. The worst of it being that Gilda spent what seemed like their last moments lamenting the fact that her love was going to be blown up and said love being the combat shell of the Javelin they were flying. “Well at least you still love the rest of me and my guts are known to be assholes or leads to one at least. Can we not have a discussion right now while we’re falling to our deaths here? Also we’re still high up enough that without an EVA suit I’ll probably die if my canopy self destructs and it’s started to form cracks.” How Gilda could be taking that calmly as if she were talking about the weather made Greta feel like she was being calm to enhance the very audacity of the situation. “Aside from that communications are down and I think I see a half living Vasp or two falling alongside us slowly getting their bearings and will likely be on us within minutes. Let it be known that what we are currently dealing with is a mechanical issue of which I’m an expert in and as such I have a plan to survive the fall and the Vasps if they become a problem. I would like to do so while keeping the remaining portion of this fighter turned escape pod mostly operable to have something to remind me of my one true love who took several devastators for a lot people, also we could use this module as a base for designing a new fighter.” “Oh my goddess, you’re acting like a full blown jerk on purpose now!” Despite the anger in her voice Greta knew she couldn’t stay mad at Gilda for too long even as she called her out on being a jerk, so her voice immediately went into a flat deadpan that started slowly building up into a more chipper tone. “I’m now guessing that you have an insufferable smirk on your face Gilda. We’re in another life or death situation and you’re smiling about it! Why do I even bother with getting angry? Tell me how we can turn this situation around, because I’m willing and ready to shoot rainbows out of my ass like a pony and I want to live long enough to finally get you to accept my proposals that we get intimate. We’re survivors through and through, there’s nothing that the Garage Griffons won’t be able to get out of with enough ingenuity while we’re still breathing!” “That’s the spirit Greta, though your priorities definitely need an adjustment. Otherwise I can take you everywhere Greta… except to bed in the manner you can only wish I would eventually agree to.” Gilda was happy to hear that her friend’s indomitable perkiness and passive sexual predator nature returned to full blast, Greta just wouldn’t be fun if she wasn’t trying so hard to entice her into a more intimate relationship. Even when they were still on the Derringer and surrounded by flesh eating monstrosities, Gilda refused to give anything aside from a quick ‘friendly’ hug and was in general okay with letting Greta snuggle her. “Okay, here’s what we do and we need to be quick about this as my canopy is getting worse by the second here…” - Despite the last living core being ultimately destroyed, the remaining portions of the MOM were still packing ground and aerial forces. A large number of pieces would slam into the ground between or in the three cities, two of which were at the edge of Lake Terwa. One of those nearby cities was Drixsto and was soon to be invaded by the remnants of the Mass Offensive Meteor, all the while Geoptis Station and the fleet up in orbit would continue to clean up the destruction from the cloud of Shamroids unleashed upon them and would be doing so for some time to come, so reinforcements from above wouldn’t be coming forthwith. Geoptis held up very well to the onslaught, but was in dire need of repairs and its outer hull was pockmarked with tons of scorch marks, dents, small holes and on top of that it was still crawling with monsters. The triple P would try to stay in contact with the planet despite not being able to help with the monsters unleashed on the nearby populace. Each city has its own defense force and its own minimal protection against aerial aggressors in the form of turrets posted around the edges of the city limits, the turrets were placed in such a way to deal with outside threats whether on the ground or in the air. While powerful they weren’t fast enough to stop a large number of monster carrying chunks of flesh from crashing within the city. The cities would have to deal with small pockets of monsters coming out of the smaller chunks internally; the monsters numbers would get worse once they start leaving the dead core that crashed into the ground. - “Rarity…” Coco intoned while shivering as she, Opal, Vera, Sassy and Miss Belle watched as the multiple large chunks of flesh fell from the sky and struck the ground with force inside the city. They were watching the news tracking the remains of the main flesh ball as it crashed violently into the ground a good distance away. The news report vehicle that showed up at the impact site quickly fled the area once Vasps were spotted slowly crawling from out of the large fleshy lump as the dust settled; emergency warnings went out to every civilian on the ground to seek shelter if they hadn’t already and to absolutely stay away from the dead MOM core. “Don’t worry Coco dear, I’m sure the Planetary Protection Patrol and bounty hunters like Ember are on it. We should simply lock down the ship and stay here where it’s safe.” It was a plan born of common sense and Rarity thought she had plenty of that; she also had decent business and fashion sense. “We have enough food for a few weeks between the four of us, so I’m positively sure we can wait for help to arrive once the monsters start swarming. I really don’t think flying is a good idea with those horrid giant wasps around and mind you the Caravel Boutique is an unarmed vessel. We don’t have a jump module so we can’t leave system, we still don’t have enough money to make necessary purchases and we’d have to fly to the other side of the planet to even buy one at this rate. Goodness knows how Greta and Gilda must be taking this after what happened to them on the Derringer, at least I know they can handle themselves and I trust that they’ll stay safe or else my hiring of them would be for naught.” “Make that three Meowstress Rarity… Sassy just ran off with an odd look on her face and she had her magic on the hilt of her sword as she left.” Opal sounded wary of what Sassy was going to do and why she even left in the first place, much less what Rarity would do now. “Vera, Coco, Opal, you are staying here and that’s an order. I’ll go after her and find out what’s gotten into her. I swear, leaving safety in the middle of a crisis is she… insane. Oh dear, I certainly hope she hasn’t. Please have Uno and Dos take up two of the pistols to protect the hangar Opal. I’m taking the MAT drone with me and the remaining pistols.” One of the five energy pistols Rarity had was cannibalized to repair the MAT drone’s weapon, a powerful rapid fire energy cannon that was going to be seeing some use real soon. She figured it was prudent to scrap a pistol for something much better as a trade off; a few other things that could be spared from drone maintenance were used to make the cube shaped MAT drone an effective bodyguard and Rarity certainly needed that functionality now. “Please lock up the ship behind me once I’m through suiting up and don’t let anyone else aboard besides me, Sassy or maybe even Ember unless you think you can trust them.” “Keep your HUD active Meowstress, I can relay information to you and I’ll actively control the MAT drone from here.” Opal didn’t sound happy with what Rarity was about to do, but she acquiesced in doing anything to support Rarity. “It might be slightly illegal, but I will need to jack a portion of the spaceports communications antenna functions to get some decent real time control range on the MAT. It’s going to be busy for a while and no one is going to get anything done with it anyway.” “That’s perfectly fine dear. Just make sure not to accidentally go overboard with protecting me and I’ll try to get over my distaste with committing acts of violence. Though I don’t know how effective the pistols will be against those horrid beasts.” While she spoke Rarity slipped her tail into the back of her EVA suit, followed by her hind legs and once she got her rear half in it she activated the compression pouch that compressed her tail hair into smaller space. She followed that by pulling her front legs into the suit and once she did that she pushed the helmet up to her face and activated it, it quickly circled around her head and locked around her neck encasing it completely. To finish off putting on her EVA suit she flipped up the collar of the suit and rolled the edges of around into the helmets collar. “Let’s see I have my energy pistols, my stylish gun holsters, the MAT drone, my own Pinpoint Puller and I’m suited fabulously in my EVA suit. It might not offer me much protection, but it can take a hit. I will promptly find Sassy and ask her why she ran off, I will not let someone so good at accessorizing perish on my watch!” “Good luck with finding Sassy out there Rarity, if you can’t that’ll be okay.” Coco came up to Rarity as she made her way to exit and gave her a hug. “Just come back safely, even if you can’t bring her back with you. I still kind of find it’s a bit out there that she’s a samurai, she still screams assassin to me.” “Don’t worry Miss Pommel; I will take every precaution I can feasibly abide by and if things go horribly I will start making my way back here immediately. Opal can keep you up to date on my progress; first order of business is to try calling her on her data pad and if that doesn’t work I’ll set off from the spaceport.” Rarity trotted on down the ramp with her head held high, of course she knew she wasn’t a fighter and quite frankly she wasn’t trained for a situation like this aside from being partially adept at calisthenics. “In the event that I don’t make it back, your next in command Coco and I just know you’ll make a wonderful eulogy dress to wear at my funeral. Aside from that busy yourself with my impulse saddle while I’m gone.” - Sassy’s data pad was still onboard the Caravel Boutique which increased Rarity’s worries, so she set off with a silent prayer to Celestia and Luna. If they weren’t full on omnipotent gods, Rarity would treat them as such anyway as they were good ponies to look up to. Rarity hadn’t gone a block from the spaceport and noted that everything was as quite as a ghost town, Her EVA suit was muffling the various sounds of gunfire in the distance and could see civilians quickly making haste to take cover in the spaceport or the nearest safe zone or shelter. Several walls of smoke could be seen flowing towards the sky in the distance and this was all happening in broad daylight, if it were happening at night it would be far more frightening concerning the fact that she wouldn’t be able to see any of the monsters coming. “Meowstress Rarity I’m getting chatter that the large swarm of monsters from the main mass on the ground are still getting their bearings, so you’ll have about an hour to find Sassy and then get back home.” Opal popped up on Rarity’s HUD looking rather serious. “Right now bounty hunters are doing okay dealing with the smaller threats already in the city at the moment. If you can, try to travel on the rooftops of buildings while keeping the battery life of your Pinpoint Puller in mind.” “Roger that Opal, can the MAT drone even follow me up?” Rarity looked for a good spot to safely grapple up to with a keen eye. “MAT drones are a bit more powerful and can do far more than hover at eight to twelve feet above the ground like a CAT in atmospheric conditions.” Opal sounded rather proud to have Rarity’s back. “So don’t worry about me keeping up with you.” Rarity aimed her right hoof at a portion of wall above a bit of roofing that looked like a chimney and fired the Pinpoint Puller, after it hit it reeled in Rarity right up to that point and after fully doing so she fell a foot or two to the top of the roof. She started looking around the streets from the roof tops and couldn’t see Sassy anywhere as she traversed several buildings. What she could see was a lot of people trying to escape from a large red skinned dog like monster that obviously had to be an Ant Head. The creature charged at some of the nearest civilians and managed to bowl over an earth pony stallion with a dark grey coat and a bright silver mane, after which it took a pose that it was going to pounce on him. The earth pony started to crawl backwards away from it shaking his head and making denials as its mandibles spread wide open. “I don’t like the idea of watching someone die, especially such a handsome looking stallion so...” Well Rarity wasn’t about to let that happen in any case, she flicked out one of her energy pistols and fired four wild shots downwards from above sweeping it vertically upwards after each trigger pull. Two of the bolts were completely off striking the ground a foot from the Ant Head and right next to it barely an inch from hitting its front right leg. The third one went through its front right leg at the shoulder as it went to jump, this made it stumble and flop onto its face, the fourth shot would have hit if it hadn’t stumbled out of the way. Instead the last shot just broke a portion of a glass window on a nearby building having missed its intended target. The creature howled in anger and turned towards Rarity’s position ignoring the stallion that got quickly up and galloped off to safety, it started o move towards the building clacking it’s mandibles. “Well, I think I certainly got its attention, Opal if you would be a dear?” The MAT drone lit up with a whining noise at Rarity’s insistence and after a moment it fired eight large blasts of energy that shredded through flesh and bone, dropping the Ant Head. It made Rarity grimace at the volatile display of the head exploding into bloody chunks, its chest being rendered into horrid looking offal, followed by the rest of its body being shredded and turned into a pile of well cooked pulp. Rarity estimated that two shots from the MAT would have been enough to put it down and it was certainly performing to expectations; Opal was being rather enthusiastic about putting threats down. “I do think that was a slight bit overkill darling, do you have genetic scanners running to give us an idea where Sassy ran off to.” “Nothing is overkill when it comes to your safety Meowstress Rarity.” The severity of the statement was underselling how seriously Opal took Rarity’s safety and with extreme prejudice it looked like. “Aside from that yes I’ve been having the scanners try and detect traces of her particular genetic leavings, mostly skin and hair. She went that away.” An arrow popped up on Rarity’s HUD and it showed a gaseous trail that zipped through the air and continued on towards an upper district. Thinking on it for a moment she recalled Coco telling her of where Sassy took up residence here on Ewesen. “Opal isn’t that in the direction of where Sassy has been living here on Ewesen until she joined us on the Caravel Boutique?” The response Rarity got was a hum of approval and a smiley face on her HUD. “Lead the way then.” Rarity shook her head at her AI’s antics and slightly scary disposition, she pulled herself across the street and began hopping rooftop after rooftop following the MAT drone which was on Sassy’s trail. It stopped every now and then to make sure Rarity wasn’t being picked up by a Vasp as a few were seen getting blown out of the air from copious amounts of small arms fire if the turrets around the city didn’t do it. Following the MAT drone around was tiring until they came to a stop, which led Rarity to wondering why they had done so. “She’s not heading in the direction of her previous living quarters anymore; she turned left here and headed… this way!” The MAT drone Opal controlled turned thirty degrees to the left and started to fly straight making a slightly out of breathe Rarity inhale deeply taking a moment to rest and continued the chase. It was a few minutes of traveling and jumping from building to building that Opal spoke up. “Hold up Rarity!” “Oh thank goodness, I need a break to catch my breath and check the charge on my weapons and utilities.” Rarity looked about and didn’t see any monsters in the streets or on the rooftops with them, well at least on the rooftops nearby. In the distance she could see a Macropussian tossing a dazed Ant Head high into the air, before jumping after it and grappling it to the ground with what sounded like a sickening spine snapping slam that she wished her helmet couldn’t pick up at this distance. “All this running around and looking for Sassy is wearing me out.” “I think she might have been through here.” That drew some attention to the MAT drone, it angled downwards looking into a nearby paved streets. “Though I’m not sure what kind of mental state we’ll find her in, judging by the stuff she left behind in her wake and how much of them is left intact.” Walking over to look over the edge of the building they were on, Rarity quickly wished she hadn’t when she saw the streets had been positively paved with blue, green and red blood. There were a few shivering civilians around that were starting to get up and run from the area looking behind them in fright, there was also quite a few dead people lying around in the streets that they didn’t stop to check on as they fled. Among the dead laid three dead Vasp and fifteen Ant Heads lying in slashed apart heaps and pools of their own blood. “Okay, I would whistle in amazement, but I think that would upset your sensibilities Meowstress.” Only a few of the monstrous bodies were left mostly intact, given they were completely missing their ant shaped eyeless heads and the rest were still freshly spilling their internal life fluids on the pavement where their alien and strange organs sat resting in the sun. One particular Vasp had been gutted quite badly that you could see every single bit of its insides including where its brain would be if it didn’t like the grey matter had been sent through a wood chipper. The Vasp’s rear end was buried in some sort rock like substance that stuck fast to the ground at the point where it was slashed open. There were also body parts and limbs that were still twitching or wiggling on the ground still trying to come to terms with the fact that they were no longer connected to a body. It was a morbid display of extreme violence against the monsters and Opal could hear Rarity gagging trying to hold back the bile that tried to rise up her favorite pony’s throat as she watched several more people make a break for it. “Yeah, that’s the mark of a samurai from what I got from looking them up. She really shredded through these guys with that sword of hers and it looks like her blade didn’t dull at all after cutting through so many of them. I’m currently calculating the feasibility that her sword hasn’t dulled once through all of that against what the sword is made of… final consensus, she’s certainly effective at wielding it.” “Well, I think I’ve gotten enough rest and am now horrified on a number of levels of what my friend is capable of. Let’s just hope we find her in a good mood.” Just looking at the mess made Rarity queasy at what Sassy left in her wake. “We still need to catch up with her. Now I’m a little more than concerned as to what made her come out here in the first place.” - Ember cracked her slightly stiff neck with a twitch and kicked roughly shoving yet another dead body off of her; she always eventually ended up beneath something dead and or dying. Quite frankly she was tired of it since most things that usually ended up pinning her down died within seconds, at this point she could be knocked on her back and she wouldn’t panic as it was just another day for her. One would learn to never put her back to a wall or floor if they wanted to survive. Quickly getting to her feet, Ember aimed her rifle skyward and started firing several rounds off with precise aim. The end of her bulky gun lit up loudly and it expulsed some flames from its second barrel as rocks passed out of it through the first. Every molten bullet hit home and the Vasp above her ignited and screeched as it plummeted to the ground when its wings went up like flash paper, it was dead before it even hit the ground and the last stinger it fired struck a foot to Ember’s left. “Now you see, this is exactly why you don’t mess with someone who specializes in weapons with multiple functions and is physically strong enough for her size to rip your entire throat, along with an accompanying small portion of your spine, out with her bare claws while you’re burning to death.” Ember muttered over the corpse that was now halfway to being a charred pile of bones. Yes, the second barrel was home to an exceedingly powerful modifiable flamethrower that was partially responsible for the well despised namesake nickname. She could only hope that the surrounding buildings didn’t catch fire from any of her stray weapon produced magma rounds. Shaking her head at the thought of having to pick up more rocks after this, Ember lamented. “I have really got to stop talking crap to corpses. Huh?” Down the street Ember watched as Sassy ran past several monsters ripping them and everything in her path to shreds and bloody bits, she looked to be heading for the nearby hospital. Thankfully it looked like no bounty hunter, civilian or even a Planetary Protection Patroller would even be stupid or daring enough to go near her in that seemingly berserk state. Luckily Ember was smart and brave enough to keep tabs on her friend from a safe distance behind her. Were they really friends? Yes, she liked the thought of having nice people to talk to that didn’t assume she was evil in some way, shape or form. It was lonely being a complete badass, especially with a job that has as high a mortality rate as bounty hunting does. An actuary would certainly have a field day trying to predict when she would eventually die. She’d follow Miss Saddles to see what was up with her, because there was a strange crazed look in her eyes as she tore through multiple Ant Heads like butter and she was acting in a rather particularly vicious manner for a samurai. - She had to keep going, she had to keep pushing forward. They all had to die, she needed to slaughter every last one of them in her way. A flicker of silver and orange colored eyes watched as another faint line appeared in the flesh before her and soon that flesh split completely in twain, she had an objective and she had to reach it quickly. All the monsters had to die; none of her friends were safe while they lived. There were several flashes and the sound of metal sliding through more sinewy flesh, thick bone, blood pumping veins and vital organs that couldn’t hold up to the onslaught. She had to chase away the ghosts of her past, her nightmares, her illusions, her fears and the real monsters before her. They would see worse than death incarnate if they so much as hurt anyone she cares about. Her movements were all part of a pattern, she would stick a pin into the more troublesome portions of the design in the fabric and then she would cut them completely from the cloth of life! Author's Note Chapter 12 is where Evade Mode is mentioned for those who forget. Sassy is on a warpath and Rarity is giving chase. All while Ember is once again acting like a little friendly black cat, but she won't be sticking around in the near future. -20-“I can at least say on the positive side that none of the dead civilians we’ve come across have slash marks in them.” Rarity stopped at the corner of the roof and saw a few dead civilians with slash marks. “Okay I take that back, Sassy might need a good lawyer to save her.” “Now wait a moment, I wouldn’t be too hasty Meowstress. Those cuts are jagged, in fact the slash marks on those dead people are why I have you moving along on the rooftops in the first place.“ The MAT drone took in the sight and after a moment it sent some images to Rarity’s HUD. “This is definitely the work of a Vorager, I would say three legged maw mantis but it doesn’t roll off the tongue. They specialize in eating people whole and or leaving the dead behind to feed their allies. They can shrug off a lot of damage unless it is absolutely fatal; in fact there were a few reports of them eating their own to recover in previous encounters with this type of monstrosity and thankfully unlike the Ant Heads they can’t climb buildings very well. They are a lot more dangerous than Ant Heads and Vasps, because it would take a lot of small arms fire to even bring them down. If it managed to take out the MAT drone before I could take it out, then I don’t need to tell you what would happen to you after that if it was rushing you down and you couldn’t pull yourself to a roof in time.” The digital Vorager stabbed an equally digital pony through the torso with both arms and swept them into its vertical mouth which started to dribble fluids after it closed its mouth on them like a fly trap plant. There were also scenes of a Parascine being dissected, a human being perforated and a Minotaur barely surviving a stabbing to use their strength to break the monsters jaw and stab it with its own ripped off arms. “Please get those highly unpleasant sights off my HUD Opal. We need to get to Sassy, make sure she’s in her right mind and if she isn’t then I need to get her to safety after possibly incapacitating her. I don’t necessarily need to make it back to the spaceport, I just need to find a place to hunker down and survive until help arrives or the monsters are wiped out.” Hopping over to the next rooftop in a dainty manner Rarity saw a few Ant Heads stalking a griffon with a broken bleeding wing. The griffon was trying to run only to be cut off by several others and they all slowly closed in on her. “In the meantime we have to keep helping out where we can until we can find her Opal.” “I was afraid you’d say that Meowstress Rarity, you always want to stop and help everyone even if it puts you in danger. I call the three on the left you take the two on the right.” The MAT floated forward and started it’s build up to launch a volley shots. “It might be a good idea to stop being so scared of killing them, because they certainly won’t hesitate to kill you and I can only focus on so much at a time. You got those energy pistols for a reason, so please start actually aiming for kill shots and stop being generous.” “I so do detest violence and getting my hooves dirty, but if I must then it’s a rather necessary evil here. I say we generously fill them full of holes, shall we?” Rarity flicked out both her pistols and narrowed her eyes; she started to pull both the triggers rapidly aiming at her intended targets. The cornered griffon covered her head and curled up to make herself as small a target as possible while her damaged wing flopped uselessly against the ground as the Ant Heads went to lunge. As the three clustered Ant Head behind her were shredded under a volley of at least twenty high powered energy blasts, the two in front of her met a less messy and slightly cleaner fate. The three shots from Rarity’s left pistol smacked the closer Ant Head from her position in the shoulder and second one went clean through its head into the ground dropping it and the third ripped through its belly from the side only to be wasted since it was already dead. The farther one received five shots directed at it from her right levitating energy pistol, both its hind legs were blown out from under it, two shots whiffed entirely hitting the ground at both sides of its body and the last shot blew open its head and splattered it’s brains all over the clearly frightened griffon. “When this is all over I’m going to require a full spa treatment from Vera, I want it to be the best I’ve ever had to the point it makes me say… what crisis?” The accuracy of Rarity’s shots were noticeably much better this time than when she had saved the stallion a short while ago, she had actively been shooting to injure and not kill previously. Opal was however correct that she really needed to swallow her reservations and aim her guns like she meant it, the pistols were just supposed to be a deterrent and now she was actively using them to put down a few beasts. “How much time do we have before the main mass of the monsters start flooding the city?” “Twenty three minutes or a lot sooner, that’s not a good estimate by any stretch of the imagination.” As she addressed her creator Opal noted that griffon had clambered up the side of the building they were on and was already in the process of pulling Rarity into a hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, I can’t say it enough! You saved my life.” The limp winged griffon huddled against Rarity holding onto her in a tight hug. “I’m so glad a bounty hunter like you came along to save me.” “Excuse me, but I’m not a bounty hunter. I’m a fashion designer.” The griffon was about as big as Rarity was or only slightly bigger, she just blinked at Rarity’s words and looked confused. “No seriously, I’m a fashion designer and I recently started my business less than a week ago. I’m out here looking for my friend; did you happen to see a blue furred pony in a eloquent looking black dress, a sword, wild orange eyes and reddish orange mane? She’s a samurai and I’m trying to make sure she’s okay because she ran off from one of the safer places in the city as soon as the monsters started popping up.” “Yeah, I saw a pony by that description heading towards Heppren Square!” The griffon stated excitedly, she started to climb down from the roof and paused when she saw that Rarity wasn’t following her. “What are you waiting for, let’s go!” “Go? You need to get that limp wing looked at immediately or at the very least put it in a sling!” Rarity had a few pegasus and griffon friends, the fact that this griffon would shrug off an injured wing like that didn’t settle well with her. “How did it even end up in such a sorry state?” “A Vasp nailed me with a stinger; you could say it just winged me because a direct hit would have made my wing completely impossible to save. If it hurts then that means it’ll have a chance to get better.” The griffon had still yet to introduce herself and while her wing hurt she could bear with the pain for a while. “You’re actually going my way as Heppren Square has a hospital! Um, you will escort me there right? I don’t feel safe being all alone right now.” “Well come along then darling.” Rarity had yet to introduce herself to the griffon either. In the grand scheme of things with people dying everywhere, it probably wasn’t a good idea to bring names into it or start new attachments until things settled down. “Stay behind me and try to keep your wing off the ground, it can’t be healthy with you dragging it around like that.” - Sassy stood at one corner of the plaza and in front of her was thirty Ant Heads and a Vorager, at least ten Vasps were hovering overhead and they were all looking towards her. The pony’s eyes stayed blank and just stared forward, her magic collecting around the hilt of her chokuto as her horn lit up. Several civilians from nearby barricaded buildings watched her stand there unmoving and looking particularly suicidal. The Vorager pointed its left scythe forward releasing a roar from its mouth and three of the Ant Heads screeched and charged forward. A pony’s normal reaction to danger was flight, some would fight if they were trained for it, if they had something to protect or if absolutely necessary. Sassy wasn’t running and she wasn’t exactly protecting anyone as the monster barreled down on her alone, it was safe to say this fight wasn’t absolutely necessary either. Sassy just tapped her front left hoof waiting for them to be upon her and her head started lightly bouncing up and down slowly to an unknown rhythm, her long mane bounced along to the tuneless music and her nostrils flared. Her eyes shifted slightly to the left and right aimlessly and just when the purple clawed monsters were about to reach her is when she started fighting. Two of the Ant Heads spread out to Sassy’s left and right and lunged and the third one kept going straight, a upward flash of silver and the one of the right was missing a large portion of its body having a sword go through its head down its neck and out it’s left side. A downwards flash cleaved the neck off the one on the left and Sassy side stepped the last several times. With three flickering silver streaks, Sassy took off the last ones front right leg, cut through the spine at the middle of its back and then it was stabbed straight through the heart from underneath. The other monsters hadn’t been idle and had started charging the second Sassy started moving. The sword slid out of the monster and the mare started walking forward with her sword dragging along the ground and then she began to dance. It looked odd with the way her hooves moved as she twisted and twirled elegantly past the incoming Ant Heads. All while looking quite beautiful in her macabre fashion statement of being covered in blood and guts as she slashed through them and avoided getting clawed to death. Several Ant Heads attacked her all at once and she took to standing on her rear legs as she held her forelegs above her head and twirled through their combined lunging attacks and grasping claws. She created a faint silver colored tornado with her at the eye of the storm, the sword twirled around her body at incredible speeds shredding through the nearby monsters. What followed was all ten Vasp flying low towards her at all angles and trying to get stingers into a firing position, Sassy flinched and clutched her head with her hooves while releasing an unnatural growl at the sight of one of the large stingers that reminded her of something horrible. Her eye became animalistic and narrowed as several stingers were loosed right at her and she pulled her blade halfway out of its sheath. Sassy proceeded to deflect the stingers into the air with a stylish twin figure eight flourish of her sheath and sword separating and then coming together once the last stinger was knocked skyward. The stingers were all caught in a telekinetic field, with a flick of her horn Sassy telekinetically kicked all the stingers in the same direction and three Vasp fell from the air with fatal injuries while four other were wounded. Sassy swung her sword skywards three times glowing with a dark red color and suddenly the three uninjured Vasps blew apart into several sliced up chunks as if they were hit with more than one slash each. The remaining four tried to retreat and with a single swing of her sword, there were no Vasps in the air at all. A claw slapped harshly across Sassy’s face injuring her badly and caking her left eye in blood, it brought her attention back to the Ant Heads and the offender immediately died being slice entirely in half, horizontally from chest to rear. Being completely surrounded Sassy’s sword started glowing from hilt to tip and with one mighty swing all the remaining Ant Heads around her where cut apart in a magically enhanced circular shockwave. The sword came around and deflected the arm of the last remaining monster in the area, a completely uninjured Vorager that just tried to impale her with its right blade. The Vorager swung its left arm at her side and Sassy deflected, it followed the deflection by trying to bring its right bladed arm on top of her making her jumped backwards. Sassy swung out only for the silver flash of her blade to stop short when the creature used its bladed arms to block the attack and slash her across the chest, earning little more than an angry grunt for the deep wound. Sassy’s visible eye showed no intelligence as she deflected two more pinpoint stabs from the Vorager and took of its left arm at the shoulder with a vicious upward swing. The blow sent the limb flipping into the air before it stopped surrounded by an ebony glow. Sassy grasped her sword with both her hooves and stalemated the right bladed arm while she brought its amputated scythe arm down on the monster head puncturing it. The Vorager didn’t die from that, it screeched and reeled back deflecting Sassy’s blade and managed to stab her in the side. It couldn’t dig its bladed arm any further than a few inches into her as she used the flat of her sword to push again the crook of its elbow. It tried to drag her resisting form into its open mouth and its left leg rose preparing stab her and help the process along. Only it froze as Sassy’s body and sword flickered one last time, Sassy skidded backwards a few feet and the tip of her sword was planted in the monsters chest and everything became quiet. The sword pulled away with the handle glowing with a soft orange color revealing a small pinprick in its chest, the Vorager staggered once the sword was removed then collapsed forward revealing a huge hole had been blown out of its back. The center of this holes diameter matched the tiny pinprick on its chest. Its innards, having been blown out its back, now hung down its still body that also had two pieces of its spine visibly bending outwards in opposite directions. - Sassy had just beaten a Vorager with a sword, which was rather impressive since she wasn’t entirely conscious of her actions at the time. The blade slowly levitated back to Sassy’s side and she wavered a bit on her hooves, blinking once or twice she looked at her sword blankly. She started looking around with her visible eye in fear at nothing. Sassy slowly curled up on the ground and started crying, with her horn dimming the sword clattered to the ground. “I don’t want to hate you daddy.” Whimpered Sassy who was clearly not alright given she was bleeding out at the moment from two bad wounds and a third one in her side being imminently fatal if she didn’t get help soon. No civilian was willing to leave their barricades to go see what’s wrong with her. The monsters from the core where about to flood out into the nearby cities and they didn’t want to be caught out in the open like the obviously distraught pony. “You weren’t the one that hurt me… why do I hate you?” One of the Ant Heads crawled forward and widened its mandibles to bite down on the injured crying pony, a crack rang out and its head was blown in half. Several more shots rang out taking out the last of the barely living stragglers, slowly a pair of feet walked up to Sassy and the tip of a blue tail prodded her gently. “Are you okay? Well obviously not since you’re kind of bleeding out everywhere, but I meant...” Ember stopped and scouted the surrounding area for any more surviving problems; she started sweeping her rifle around at all the unmoving bodies littering the ground and then towards the rooftops and sky. The pony didn’t respond and continue to cry. “I’m really bad at things like this. Good at bounty hunting, bad at being social. Come on; let’s go get you some help.” “Rarity… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I never meant to hurt you.” Mumbled the pony as the dragon crouched down putting her rifle across her back and scooped up the crying mare along with her sword. “Shush, it’s okay. You’re alright… going to be alright. You’re in good claws… hooves?” Ember tried to be comforting, but it sounded rather awkward coming from her. She decided shouting for help wouldn’t hurt at this point. “Is there a medic nearby!?” Several shots rang out and Ember turned to and Ant Head fall down from around a corner, Rarity walked around the corner looking around, she quickly spotted Ember holding Sassy. “Oh Luna’s snuggly stars, Sassy! What happened to her?” Rarity ran up and would have made it to them if it hadn’t been for a Vasp that jumped from the nearby roof, more monsters were coming into the area by the second and it just wasn’t safe to be outdoors right now. The Vasp forced her to the ground with its weight and jammed it’s mandibles into her neck. The EVA suit spewed breach gel into its mouth causing it to gag and pull its head away screeching angrily. This was long enough for Rarity magically pulled both her pistols from their holsters, point them upwards and start firing blindly. The Vasp stumbled backwards and was met with an irate AI’s intense dislike of its very existence. The MAT quickly floated into Ember’s view and swiftly moving past the smoking corpse, following it was a weary looking griffon clutching her wing. “Meowstress Rarity are you okay, did it get to your skin, how many sub light particles am I showing you, what’s the square root of two hundred and twenty five?” The MAT was scanning the suit frantically and the questions eventually dried up when Rarity rolled onto her back and glared at the drone. “Vasps have poisonous bites; thankfully the stingers aren’t as dangerous… when they’re not perforating something important.” “I’m okay Opal, just a little bruised darling. My suits integrity is a bit damaged, but it didn’t make it beyond the breach gel layer. Fixing the damage shouldn’t be too hard, but I so do detest having to pressurize the breach gel again, the testing phases were horrible.” They were swiftly joined by Ember and her shabby patchwork suit that was considered armor being soaked in the blood of the pony she held. “Sassy! Is she okay?” Rarity didn’t like Ember’s armor anyway and would be happy to see her eventually get rid of it for something much nicer looking, but she did think that Ember herself was quite a beautiful lady in personality and noble intentions. Noble intentions given the way she cradled Sassy’s whimpering form tenderly. “Define okay, because she’s is messed up in more ways than one and to think we held such a pleasant conversation the other day.” Shaking her head because of her wandering mind, Ember frantically got back to the present. Among the many things Ember was knowledgeable of, the one thing she didn’t know personally was corpse prevention training. She’s never had a friend to really worry about and her body was ridiculously hard to injure, plus being a bounty hunter she was more about capturing and killing things than keeping them alive. “I’m not a field medic and I hardly ever get injured, but even I can tell she needs serious medical help. As in she needs to be put in a med-bed right now!” “There’s a hospital right over there.” The griffon pointed out before looking at the sky in horror as hundreds of shadows started to cover the ground and an increasingly loud buzzing noise. She started to run for the hospital. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’d want to get indoors right about now. Come on!” They all ran towards the hospital as the streets of the city were soon flooded with monstrosities crawling on buildings, roaming the streets and flying through the air looking for their next meal. Surprisingly the doors opened for them and once they were inside, the doors locked down behind them by way of large metallic emergency shutters closing up the entrance. “Bring you injured over here, we’ll see to them right away.” In a world where med-beds existed, nurses like the pink haired and white furred earth pony with a red cross surrounded by pink hearts would not be thought of as common. Med-beds couldn’t fix everything and sometimes you needed a more gentle touch than a cold hard machine that lacked feelings and couldn’t care less about your mental health. “We need to get that pony into a…” “Wait, stop! Don’t mention that out loud around her.” The nurse gave Rarity a glare and she decided it was best to explain Sassy’s problem. “You’ll need to sedate her first; she’s been a victim of serious malpractice and you were about to say something clearly trigger worthy. She has been through a lot and I think she’s even currently having an episode.” “Right, bring her over here!” The nurse quickly reached into her saddlebag and once Ember was close enough she pulled out an injector and slammed it home into the crook of Sassy’s neck making her go limp shortly after. “I’m Nurse Red Heart. I apologize for treating your friend roughly, but she likely needs to go into a med-bed and we can’t have her fighting us when we try to put her in one for her own good. She’s Luna’s problem at the moment. Get me a stretcher over here and prepare a room for three!” “Oh, I’m not injured.” Tried Rarity and Red Heart gave her a clearly disbelieving look; two parascine came running on their tentacles with a stretcher. “I saw that Vasp land on you and bite you; so we’re not taking any chances of anyone dying where we can!” Nurse Red Heart glared Rarity down and turned to order her people. She turned to the stretcher and several other people when they arrived. She pointed to the unicorn still in Ember’s slightly upset grasp. “Take this unicorn pony in for emergency medical treatment ASAP, there are several deep wounds and she has been bleeding out for the last five to ten minutes so make it quick. Also note that she has a mental history and med-beds are apparently a trigger for mental trauma so keep her under until she can be safely removed and put in a regular medical bed to wake up in. We definitely do not want to trigger a samurai with mental trauma, understand me? Good. We need this Griffon to be taken in for a wing assessment; otherwise the wing needs to be cleaned, medicated and bandaged to prevent further blood loss. It is not currently life threatening as her breathing is even and she can still feel pain from it so it’ll likely be usable again. Other pony undetermined status, walking and talking, recently got sat on by a Vasp and bitten and appears lucid and has a dried gel substance smeared around her neck. The dragon looks perfectly fine and I’m not a mechanic so don’t expect me to repair the drone for you.” Sassy was quickly taken from Ember and they quickly carted her off on a stretcher. The griffon was led away to get her wing looked at and worked on and Red Heart turned to Rarity to see she was staying right where she was. “The substance smeared on my collar is breach gel, it is a part of my EVA suits functions in case of incurring damage in space and the Vasp didn’t manage to fully puncture my suit once the gel started to spew out of it at the point of breach. I personally invented this stuff and it works quite effectively.” At this moment Rarity turned to Opal and gave her a pleading look. “You know I’m fine, right darling?” “You’re the epitome of beauty Meowstress and look fine in that meaning, but I want you out of the suit and looked over for a second opinion and my sake of mind. Medical scanners thankfully show nothing currently wrong with you.” It was Opal’s job to worry and she watched as Rarity lowered her head and sighed. “We could get the traces of poison on your suit and give it to the hospital staff to study.” “That would certainly be appreciated by my staff, now move!” Red Heart walked behind Rarity and started to nudge her in the direction. “I’ll have you in the same room as your friends, so you can see for yourself how they’re doing.” “Good, everything is all taken care of so if you’ll open the front door shutters I’ll just be goi…” Ember was halted when she felt a sharp tug on her tail as she tried to make for the entrance. “You’re not going anywhere; we’re locking down Heppren Hospital. Nothing is going to get in and we don’t want anyone to leave into that mess no matter how tough you think you are.” It was apparent who Red Heart was here, she was a stern taskmaster and she had a well oiled machine running in Heppren Square. She didn’t take kindly to people throwing themselves into the paths of danger and or especially near her hospital. “You may be a dragon, but even you can’t possibly be that crazy.” “I’m a bounty hunter, ergo I aim to hunt and kill as many of those monsters as I can in a bountiful manner.” The nurse wasn’t being deterred in the slightest and Ember continued on in the hopes that she’d see reason. “It’s also hunting season down here so not only am I doing this for a good cause, I’m trying to make ends meet.” “Then you can be paid for whatever extra protection and help you can personally provide to Heppren Hospital.” Not a pony to bend on the safety of her patients and or others running into a dangerous, Red Heart finished her thoughts. “You can be a temporary guardian over us, you can sit around doing nothing or you can make yourself useful in some other capacity. You’re not going back out there and we’re not dropping lockdown again unless the situation decidedly warrants it! If you try to leave anyway, then you’ll be here for completely different reasons.” At this Ember snorted in amusement at the threat and smiled. The mare came off as pretty tough; Ember respected that and her profession as a healer. Rolling her eyes, Ember decided to take Nurse Red Heart up on her offer. Though the dragon wanted to be out there fighting, she knew for a fact that she could be just as happy protecting those around her. Author's Note Will fix any problems with the chapter if notified of them at a later date a year from the point of notification. I have a procrastination problem. -21-“So… what are we going to do now Gilda?” Having asked that Greta looked around at the junkyard they landed in, the Javelin’s Evade Mode had a horribly cracked almost shattered canopy on the pilot’s side and needed repairs for that. Her rear facing seat had handled the landing much better; it was a well controlled crash at the very least that did little damage to their spacecraft. “I mean aside from the obvious of getting your arm looked at.” “If I wasn’t in so much pain right now Greta, I’d beat you black and blue for drawing attention to it.” Clutching at her right arm with her left claw holding it against her chest, Gilda grit her teeth and looked around. “Get the plasma rifle out. We should be safe here since we’re definitely far enough away from where the core crashed, but it wouldn’t hurt to have it at the ready. Any crash you can walk away from right?” “Technically you’ll be limping away; also you and it can still fly so is walking really necessary? All we need to do is change the canopy out on the Javelin's Evade Mode.” Greta looked over their landing craft and it was a bit dented up, but it was still viable as a form of transportation, but it wasn’t going to be useful for escaping the planet back into space. “So not technically a crash, actually this is the first time you’ve landed something relatively intact. Note to self, write autopilot landing program for Gilda.” “Make fun if you will Greta, I’ve done pretty well in the last hour or so.” Gilda muttered quite clearly through exorbitant amounts of pain. “That would make it Gilda one, life fifty three and counting. I wish one of us was a doctor right now.” “Can we rip up your work clothes?” Sighing after asking that, Greta wondered if things would quiet down as she pulled the plasma rifle out. They had plenty of ammo for it for the time being as Tree Hugger had really bought them a rather thoughtful amount as a gift, because it certainly helped when it came to shooting Vasp out of the sky while they were still falling. Her EVA suit was also quite useful when it came to her popping her rear facing canopy and letting loose with the weapon. “We can use either that or the strap from the rifle for a sling… after we get your arm bent back in the right direction of course.” “Just find something for me to bite down on that’s not you, you’d probably even enjoy it.” Resisting tears with all her might, Gilda stayed perfectly still as Greta came up and gripped her right arm after stuffing a large wad of clothe in her beak. A shrill screech went throughout the area, even though it should have been muffled. - “It left a spot in its chest the size of a pinprick.” Deadpanned Ember who had told Rarity what she was witnessed in regards to Sassy’s skill. “She’s quite good, but the weapon doesn’t exactly seem right for her even if it works.” “Well that certainly explains why she doesn’t use a rapier; I can just imagine her accidentally killing someone unintentionally through something else with a single thrust.” The hospital gown Rarity was wearing after they checked her out for poisoning was something that aggravated her sensibilities in fashion, it was also not her color as it was green. Aside from being a fashion victim, she only had a badly bruised back and why she was currently seeing bed rest. What really mattered was Sassy at the moment, she was sitting in a med-bed across from her and completely sedated as much as they safely could use to keep her under. “Poor Sassy she’s going to have horrid scars on her face, though she might actually see that as a good thing… if she’s even in her right mind when she wakes up.” “Why would scars be a good thing? Don’t ponies in the fashion industry frown upon what they perceive as imperfections or something?” Ember was perfectly fine, despite having actively participated in hunting for pockets of death incarnate to take down before ending up here. Her armor was a different story as it laid in a pile next to her looking like it always did, being a pile of badly patched together chunks of metal. The body shy dragon was wearing a gown as well and didn’t seem to mind the color at all. “It’s because it might keep men away, well at least the shallow or predatory ones.” It was nice that Rarity could have a friendly discussion with Ember, because it would be dreadfully boring and upsetting to watch Sassy sit in a tank of fluids dead to the world. It was rather upsetting to see any of her friends in such a state period. Coco, Opal and Vera were okay at the spaceport, but Drixsto needed reinforcements of the aerial bombardment persuasion because the city was covered in Ant Heads, Voragers and Vasps. Only bounty hunters were crazy enough to be out in that mess and Ember actually stated that she wanted to be one of them. It horrified Rarity on some level because she liked Ember as a friend and wouldn’t wish danger on her, except for the fact danger was a part of Ember’s job description and her livelihood. “However it may also do the opposite and might attract men that are more into the battle torn look, I’m sure with a bit of makeup I can work with Sassy to make it look like the scars aren’t there at all.” “I guess we’ll see how that pans out when we get around to it, I might call a nurse for something substantial to eat. Running through the streets gunning down what amounts to the byproduct of a apocalyptic class biological grey goo scenario works up an appetite. ” At this Ember reaches into her thrice times horribly battered armor that should never be worn by anyone, she pulled out a pouch to take out a large emerald that caught Rarity’s eye. It was beautiful without an imperfection in it and then it was gone in a flash because it was tossed into Ember’s mouth and crunched loudly to be swiftly swallowed. “I love the taste of a good emerald.” “Opal if I have to leave this room for any reason, I want you to stay here and watch Sassy.” It might have upset Rarity slightly to watch a beautiful gem or jewel being eaten like that; then again Ember did require that as food. At least the luster of Ember’s scales made up for it, the dragon obviously took really good care of them and she was a gem all her own. “No matter what I choose to do, no matter what happens to me, make sure nothing happens to her.” “Roger dodger Meowstress, don’t leave Sassy alone for a minute!” The weight of that order had Opal take it seriously; she accepted why Rarity asked that of her and was happy to make sure nothing happened to Sassy. It was a bit conflicting for her to not watch out for Rarity, but the generosity of the order could not be denied and Opal was okay with it. “I understand the order perfectly clear, though I don’t like the implications of you being out of my sight for a second.” “Quite, all members of my crew matter more so than I do. I’m but a humble captain that gives my people a direction to move through life and without the crew or a ship, I am nothing.” It was a bit poetic, but Rarity wasn’t exactly entirely humble. When both Ember and Opal with the MAT drone just stared at her, she sighed in an aggravated manner. “Okay, I admit that I do have my moments where I’m definitely going to try and be more important than I sound, I apologize in advance for those situations. I am a business mare after all and want to be a highly important pony that absolutely anyone can go to for a nice set of clothing. I will prove that I can cater to anyone’s wants or needs in the fashion industry on top of making my own designs shine brightly across the stars on their own merits.” “Well it’s nice to know you have an idea of where you want to go and who you want to be, because I would be kind of lost without your help otherwise Rarity.” For recently being pulled from a med-bed for various injuries, Coco sounded chipper and healthy. “If you wanted to know, everything here is fine with us. Though the monsters are trying to create an entrance into the spaceport, I don’t think they’re capable of breaking through the blast doors. Are they trying to get into the hospital as well?” “Yeah, but this hospital is pretty well fortified. I’m in the mood to ask the next nurse I see about the layout of the building and if there are any weak points in the design on top of a request for food.” Being the most experienced one in the room, Ember decided to speak up about what she knew of situations like this. “I’m talking things like, does this building have a panic room in case monsters get in and how many can you fit into said room? If you ever get trapped in a building or a spaceship, then you’ll definitely want the blueprints or at least a schematic of it to get an idea of where a problem might rise up from and how to get around it quickly.” “Okay Miss Gums, keep your wing in the sling and try not to scratch at it. Don’t let the injury get any worse and we’ll see to it that you’ll fly again, provided that there’s a rescue coming before we start running out of food.” Turning to the sudden opening of the door to the room, they all watched as Red Heart led the griffon Rarity had saved into the room. “Here’s your friends, speaking of, is there anything any of you need? Be aware I can’t help with machines, so don’t even bother asking.” That last bit had been directed at the MAT drone Opal was in control of, but it wasn’t in anger it was a statement that she wasn’t a mechanic and shouldn’t be asked to perform miracles aside from medical ones. “I have some requests. Where can we get some food? Does this place have a backup generator and does it have any underground entrances?” Taking in the blank look and slowly shrinking pupils Ember figured she had stumbled onto something that was dangerous for the hospital if it wasn’t taken care of quickly. “I ask because those monsters are definitely a lot smarter than they look.” “Oh no, oh dear, this isn’t good…. wait, why are you wearing a gown?” Nurse Red Heart was suddenly distracted from her worried state by noticing Ember reclining with her legs crossed and leaning backwards on her arms. The reclining dragon sat up at her momentary bout of panic, Red shook her head and got to the matter at hoof. “The backup generators are in the basement, but we haven’t actually sealed off the sewage access tunnels to it or the hospital yet. We forgot that it’s not automatically activated like the reinforced shutters that protect the building from attacks above ground. There’s a whole network of large pipes down there big enough for an Ant Head to crawl through, why if they get to our generator and knock out the cities power supply... we’ll lose a lot of people here that are in critical conditions. We need to manually seal off several pipes in the right order or else there will be complications beyond having the hospital invaded from below.” “Right, just let me gear up… in private. Also I’m wearing this hospital gown because it’s comfortable for me.” A purple blush appeared on Ember’s cheeks as she stood up and her tail swept around her waist. She gathered up her armor and her rifle. “Get me someone who can close the sewage pipes off or at least show me what to do, a water proof map to said pipes that need to be closed and I’ll personally provide escort for them down there. In fact, gather several volunteers willing to go down there with me. While we’re busy down there you could scrounge up some food, I can already tell I’m going to need a shower after this one. This won’t be my first time being in some absurdly spacious sewers and probably not the last either if I’m unfortunate enough.” The dragon stood up and walked off to the nearby bathroom to take off the gown and get into her ratty armor, leaving Rarity to turn to Red Heart after having watched her friend walk off with determined look on her face. “I’m not too injured and I have my energy pistols, once you give me my EVA suit back I’ll happily volunteer to go down there as well.” It didn’t matter if it was dangerous; Rarity was volunteering because she was generous to a fault and wanted to help out regardless of capability to do so. The pipes were sure to be entirely disgusting and normally she wouldn’t volunteer to go into the sewers, heck it would get her poor slightly damaged EVA suit covered in muck. What did a little loss to her suits vanity matter in the importance of other people’s lives? She could always make a new suit anyway. Rarity would never let her vanity personally get in the way of helping others, though she still detested getting dirty in the extreme. If getting dirty meant saving lives, then Rarity was willing to bite the bullet and get her suit tarnished beyond recognition. “Tell me, can a Vorager fit into those pipes?” “Thankfully no, if they tried they’d be hard pressed to make themselves as dangerous in cramped conditions as they are in wide open spaces. It’s big enough for a human to stand up comfortably in, but otherwise it’s not very wide or that much bigger.” Here Red Heart glared at Rarity. “Wait, why am I even entertaining the thought of you going in there? You’re a civilian and you need bed rest!” “Oh I’m not that bad off! Also aren’t Bounty Hunters technically armed citizens that do the jobs other more qualified people are too busy for? I know I’m not one, but I’m still willing and able to lend my assistance for a good cause and I do have weapons to take care of myself with.” Stretching out and getting off the bed, Rarity walked up to the glaring Nurse Red Heart and looked her sharply in the eyes. “I’m well aware of what I’m getting myself into and knowing that, I wish to assist in this endeavor despite your misgivings about my current health.” “Fine, but don’t expect me to help you if you get injured.” Rubbing at her head with a hoof Red Heart looked particularly aggravated and like her patience was wearing thin, she made her job sound quite stressful. “We’ll have your suit back with you within the next twenty minutes. That breach gel stuff is quite useful as it’s managed to give us Vasp poison to work with and we can actively make antidotes for it now thanks to you. Once you can finally get that stuff signed off by the princesses, we’ll happily buy some of it to research medical applications for it. Vasp Poison usually degrades really fast, so you’ve given us the first sample that hasn’t deteriorated at all before we could get a good look at it and it’s thanks to you we can synthesize antidotes for any future incursions. You’ll have about thirty minutes after getting it back for me to gather enough volunteers to see to it that we aren’t suddenly hit with a surprise attack. Now get back in bed and get some more rest. You too Miss Gums and with your wing you’re most decidedly not going down there, I don’t need you getting an amputation worthy infection on my watch. So get in that bed now!” The griffon squeaked and carefully climbed into the bed next to Rarity’s while minding her wing in the sling, she looked particularly cowed and afraid of the nurse’s wrath. The nurse nodded in acceptance and stomped out of the room muttering about all the troublesome patients she had to deal with. “Um, hey there, how are you feeling? Getting landed on by a Vasp and almost getting poisoned must not have felt very good, huh?” The griffon intoned quietly. “No, it most certainly wasn’t pleasant being pinned under that beast. Had it thought to use its stinger, if it was even capable at the time, I would have been a goner for sure.” Yep, that moment was going straight into Rarity’s nightmare bin. “I’m Rarity Belle, now who are you darling and what do you do? You already know a little about me, so I think a little information in turn would be fair trade.” “Oh, I’m Gabriella Gums, just call me Gabby though! I’m a courier and I like to deliver packages big, small and between those two and the biggest order I’ve ever had to have weighed over a hundred pounds at least! I’ve been all over Drixtsto and some of the nearby cities of Ewesen, it is much friendlier here than Griffonstone. Also the weather was quite nice, at least until those monsters started to fall out of the sky. I really don’t have the money for a ride off the planet and even if I did, I hear Geoptis and the fleet upstairs got hit badly by a large wave of Shamroids. Either way it wouldn’t matter because I’m not exactly rich enough to move out of the city or anything, used most of my money coming to this planet in the first place and let me tell you this place was so wonderful until this happened.” This Gabby was certainly talkative and it seemed she would continue on, she was currently on her side that wasn’t currently in a sling. She was a griffin with various shades of gray and a slight hint of cyan mixed in, with a small smattering of white feathers at her neck below her beak. Her round head reminded Rarity of Greta and she even had some of her feathers pulled back into ponytail which made her look cute. She was a bit younger than Greta and Gilda judging by her size. “I’m so glad that you came across me, who knows what would have happened to me if you didn’t come along. I can already guess, but I’d rather not exactly dwell on it. Oh man this invasion is really bad for business, I had just finished my last delivery which was a weapon to a Triple P officer when I got caught out in that mess and took a stinger in the wing, but you already know about that. Let me tell you, I’ve had a heck of a time running through the city trying to hide and avoid all those monsters. Of course I don’t think I’ll be able to find another job after this for a while and I really should have probably found a chunk of wood or a bit of loose pipe to use as a makeshift weapon. I mean can you imagine me fighting? I’m not exactly one for confrontations which as you might know is kind of a thing some griffons like, but not me, no sir! I’m a friendly griffon and I’d rather be friends with everyone I come across, like this nice blonde mare I met on Equus who had a cute little dinky filly. Wait, wasn’t her filly’s name Dinky? Oh I get it now! Anyway I hope to one day earn a cutie mark or at least think of a nice symbol for myself, even though I’m not a hippogriff it should be entirely possible right? I really liked those blueberry muffins, that mare can bake them fluffy with a crisp outer shell. I wonder if my apartment will still be around, maybe I just became homeless. Well that’s a depressing thought, guess I won’t know until this crisis blows over. I wonder if they have cherry blintz here, I really loved baked goods and they are some of my favorite things to eat.” “Tell me, do you ever stop talking or do you just blabber on like that to everyone?” Because it sounded to Rarity that she was a griffon that ran her mouth almost near constantly once she got started. Hippogriffs came from pony and griffons mating, quite frankly interspecies was becoming much more common thing and hippogriffs were respected citizens of Equus. Seeing the griffon getting upset at her question, Rarity inhaled before she decided to say something she was bound to regret saying to Gabriella for the rest of her life. “I’m sorry and apologize for my dreadful words Gabriella, that’s quite a beautiful name by the way, but you kind of ran on there for a while.” “That’s okay, I do kind of continue talking on and on for a long time. I mean, I’m sometimes called the blathering blatherskite or gabby Gabby which is kind of a thing with me. I don’t think I misspeak and I totally make sense with everything I say unlike the definitions for those words, but going off in tangents is a bit of a problem with me. I still prefer Gabby though, thanks for the complimenting my name at least. I wonder if I left the oven on, this is how I always am I think of things like did I leave the throwing disc, kite and cat in that tree? That’s the kind of things my mind wanders off on and I can keep talking for quite a while let me tell you!” Gabby made a friendly gesture to Rarity with her left hand. “So if you need me to stop talking and ask me something I will, though you might have to yell at me. I tend to stop paying attention to people when I get overly excited about something, some doctors think I might have ADD. I know for a fact that I can pay attention and actually listen to people so I might actually be just a tiny bit hyperactive, maybe I shouldn’t eat two honey buns in the morning or drink three cups of coffee before work like at all. Flying takes up a lot of energy though, maybe a more vegetable intensive diet? At least I know that people like me for being a friendly face that delivers; anyone who watches me would know how I can deliver things swiftly and efficiently. Can’t say much about watching the paint dry when it comes to sitting here in this boring room like this, but I definitely want to be able to fly again so like the nurse ordered I’m getting rest. I’ve never actually met someone who would want to still be friends with me after I start running my beak, but you haven’t run out of the room screaming yet so I must be doing something right this time. I wonder if fruits in the morning would be better, I do love my copious amounts of sugar. Sugar has always been kind of a funny word to me, even though I eat a lot of things with sugar in it. Anyway, how has your day been?” “It has been quite horrid day with all those monsters falling from the sky don’t you think? Why I think I can even feel migraine coming on.” With her right eye twitching slightly, Rarity figured that Gabby was still a far sight better than dealing with Sweetie Belle even if she could go on and on in such an energetic manner. “I apologize if I get short with you Ms. Gums.” “Okay, but call me Gabby! You saved my life so that makes us friends now right… well doesn’t it? I mean, I’m not that annoying right? I can’t really help it sometimes; I just really need to talk.” The griffon visibly wilted and poke her index talons together, it didn’t sound like Gabby was able to turn off her motor mouth very easily. “Of course I’ll be your friend Gabriella, it’s just that you’re a bit much to take in and it’ll take me a while to get used to you. We’ve only just begun talking to each other; do you have any dreams aside from attaining a cutie mark? Goodness knows my little sister Sweet Belle is going to blow up a planet trying to earn hers.” The door to the bathroom opened, Rarity turned to watched Ember stalk back into the room to sit down on the bed and she gestured for them to continue on and ignore her. “Anyway let me tell you a little more about myself. I got my cutie mark on Desserzon, the planet has quite a few gem mines and my horn dragged me to a large gem deposit. That was when I knew what my special talent was; aside from having a gem finding spell I have a keen eye for detail and beauty. I also attract more customers to my fashionable business by being an EVA suit manufacturer.” “I have one of those EVA suits and it is really comfortable, a bit pricey but the materials that go into it. I think it’s a worthwhile purchase considering how well they’re constructed.” It was just Ember putting her two cents in as she opened a compartment in her bulky material rifle and started counting rocks. Taking stock of her ammunition was something she did often; she took good care of her weapon. “Speaking of constructing things and since we’re sharing I made this material rifle myself, all from materials tough enough to handle extreme heats and I’ve actually dunked this thing in lava before. It took me a while to clean it out afterwards, but I don’t let this thing out of my sight even for a minute and it’s done me proud by never backfiring on me once. This thing is my baby and I call it the Trailblazer Mark One, looks like it still has plenty of fuel in it. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be to go into the sewers.” “That’s nice; I think… anyway Nurse Red Heart said she was going to gather some people to go down there and I have personally volunteered my assistance.” Things were calm now and Rarity was opening up to the two as they were to her, how long would that last she wondered. “I’m not a bad shot, well when I can work up the courage to aim at living creature.” “I can imagine killing something is not easy for you, I’m mostly a vegetarian and I can understand that. Is it like that with bounty hunters?” Gabby turned to Ember who looked a little scary in her armor and unlike her assumptions with Rarity; she knew for a fact that Ember was a real deal bounty hunter. “I’m Gabby by the way, Gabriella Gums; it’s very nice to meet you.” “Ember Mcflame and that’s a small thing some bounty hunters all have trouble with eventually, unless you’re one of those lunatics that enjoys lawful acts of violence. Of course if something is actively trying to kill you, it becomes much easier to make a decision when you can’t run from what’s trying to do so. I don’t actually take killing people lightly personally. Though I won’t lie, I’ve killed a lot of people and I’m sorry if it upsets you Gabby.” This was something Ember wouldn’t kid around about, she’s has quite a few years as a bounty hunter under her belt and she was still really young for her age. Gabby didn’t look particularly upset at all with her and she continued. “In turn, I’ve also killed a lot of monsters that shouldn’t even be considered for prison time, they were just that horrible and irredeemable. My life isn’t easy and it gets real lonely, but I think I make it work. Being social like this isn’t exactly a thing I do very often.” “Well you are rather shy and a might bit antisocial as it were, but be assured that you’re a wonderful person to be around Ember. You even took the time out of a busy day to come apologize to my friend Coco for causing her some trouble and that was while you were doing business with me, which I might add was rather thoughtful of you.” Rarity’s compliment had Ember looking away slightly and Gabby chirped in amusement at the sight of a dragon actually acting shy. “Not only that, but you also helped my dear friend Sassy and even carried her here. While you may be violent, you are also capable of being kind and caring.” “Speaking of kindness, here’s your EVA suit back Ms. Belle and I can’t thank you enough for lending it to us. If you’re going into the sewers then you better start getting ready and get in a last meal in case you run into trouble down there.” Red Heart walked in to casually toss Rarity’s EVA suit on the bed next to her, she walked out with one last parting word to Rarity. “Now stay in good health and be careful or else you’ll have this irate nurse on your hooves!” Author's Note Gabby's speech habits alone will inevitably extend the length of every chapter she appears in. Also happy Sewer-ween! No... wait... that's not right... what do humans call the holiday again? All I do for the month of monsters is eat various amounts of candy and gain a more evil looking, if temporary, appearance. I wish I could get the 'supposedly' off my license to be evil. You'll always be 'supposedly' evil they say, even during the month of monsters I'm usually barely making evil quota. I really should be stealing candy from houses preemptively, but I already have my own weight in chocolate and fruity delights and blowing up random stuff counts towards my quota. It kind of leaves me feeling hollow that I can't perform acts of evil like a real monster... oh right the holiday is called The Nightmare Before Christmas! Then it's turkey and cow hunting season, I can already taste the Cowkeys or would they be Turkows? Either way it probably needs more cow bell. -22-“Hopefully our reinforcements will be a great boon to the people of Quia System in their time of need; we don’t have much information on what’s going on there other than the fact that the MOM may have recently caused a lot of damage.” It wasn’t fun time and it was time to be serious, little ponies and other beings were dying out there and that required Celestia and Luna’s attentions. “The long distance communications went dead in that system, so we can only hope that things are not as bad as they seem.” “Can we not spare any more, is there nothing more that we can do there?” Luna was being just as serious as her sister as playtime was for when things were simple and peaceful, where your neighboring systems weren’t under assault by biological monstrosities that can cross the void to reach you. “No, we cannot spare too many of our forces personally as we’d be spreading ourselves too thin at that point.” It was hard for Celestia to say that they couldn’t protect everyone nor could they watch everything. They weren’t quite omnipresent or omniscient, but when they have a prophetic dream they knew to start paying attention and even if they didn’t that would mean the threat was all the worse because they couldn’t predict it coming. “We should currently be watching the Applon System to make sure there are no incursions coming from that direction, there have also been reports sent out to the asteroid mining facilities to watch out for fake asteroids as an early sign of possible incursions.” Biological grey goo that can traverse space certainly made sure that nowhere was absolutely safe and defending the habitable planets all the more important, running from a threat such as this would only make it harder to survive. As long as Celestia and Luna lived they would protect their home world of Equus in the Equon System and help the other nearby livable worlds in whatever capacity they could manage. It was quite upsetting that there were monsters out there that you just couldn’t befriend that would either destroy, eat or assimilate you, thankfully sentient friendly races outnumbered such threats and made sure they didn’t become far worse given time and opportunity. “I’ve always said you can’t befriend everything, because eventually you’ll meet something that diplomacy doesn’t work on.” As if Chrysalis were one to talk, diplomacy worked pretty well on her after a massive rock smashed her throne room. Anti-magic barriers were completely pointless if your opponent was still capable of attacking you from outside of it. The major example would be of Luna or Celestia dropping a meteor on you from orbit if they so wished. An anti-magic barrier prevented magic from working inside it; unfortunately it didn’t stop more scientific things from happening such as velocity given to a massive object hurtling towards your skull. “That includes Luna’s kind of diplomacy especially; you know the kind that involves shotguns. If you love shotguns so much Luna, why don’t you just marry one already? By the way Celestia, you still owe me five hundred bits.” “I admit I have a strong love for Mr. Boom Stick, but now is not the time for joking about diplomacy or talk of my impending marriage to a beloved weapon. My sister is still blocking my efforts in that regard.” After a moment of trying to think of an action to take Luna looked at the table she sat at. “I sadly cannot actually think of any way to help Ewesen further aside from waiting patiently for more information.” “The universe is a big place Luna; you know we can no longer protect our little ponies effectively from everything that is out there. Also you are not marrying Mr. Boom Stick; it is silly and not happening on my watch Luna.” Closing her eyes, Celestia inhaled then exhaled sadly. “We can however do our best to provide places of relative safety and great comfort, even knowing that no place is truly safe from danger forever. We need constant vigilance and to help our ponies learn to fend for themselves, lest we forget to look for monsters and allow them a grand opportunity by becoming too complacent. The Planetary Protection Patrol at Ewesen along with our reinforcements will have to be enough to handle the situation.” “I don’t mean to be rude princess, but you have one of the worst militaries I’ve ever seen. At least I can honestly say your spaceships are better than your soldiers and that’s saying a lot.” What Chrysalis said was true; Celestia’s ground forces were more ornamental than anything as their combat prowess left something to be desired in comparison to their presence in space. Even the Wonder Bolts were more performers and actors than real soldiers, despite starting out as a military initiative to carry on traditions. “So… about the gala, do you still want me to do that thing for you? Do you also need me to transform into you so that I can ask your book fetishist to the gala for you because you’re too chicken to do it yourself?” At least all changelings were minimally trained for combat and survival under Chrysalis’s rule; only those that wished to go into military roles were allowed to stick around for the more intensive stuff. Changelings could react to danger far better than ponies were often seen doing; at least aside from the ones that were specifically samurai or mage trained which were really so few in number. Celestia relied way too much on the unique few to solve her major problems. At least in commanding spaceships the unique few did actually matter to a greater degree, otherwise it was a bloodbath waiting to happen by Chrysalis's perspective. “I’m still considering the terms of your payment and if we weren’t allies Chrysalis, then I would be smashing you into the nearest wall right now.” After a moment Celestia realized the opening she just gave Chrysalis and watched in horror as Chrysalis opened her mouth slowly with a broad smile. Cue soon to be blushing princesses. - Coco moved her hooves and kept busy by constructing an impulse saddle, this time she was thinking of including the support batteries into the design of this particular saddle. She wanted to do something that sounded useful, well more useful than just sitting and worrying about Rarity, Sassy and their friend Ember who still freaked her out somewhat. She was working from a design aspect currently as she had yet to work out how she was to add batteries to it. The impulse feature runs on its own battery and draining from that particular battery was a bad idea, so the auxiliary batteries had to be separate from the main impulse function. She felt something touch her and she jumped, only to calm down a second later when she saw that it was just Vera gentling putting a hoof on her right shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it? If I’m going to be the crew’s therapist then I need to know what’s bothering you.” After a long time of getting used to her curse, Vera almost welcomed becoming used to being just a shadow to her sisters and as for now. Now she wanted to get to know everyone on the crew personally and help them achieve great things, she had someone who could see her and she had a job where she could be acknowledged. “Coco, my job is to listen, help and assuage you as needed. Talk to me.” “Why did Sassy run off like she did? Why didn’t she tell us she was a samurai? I still personally think she’s more like an assassin or a ninja really. Now Rarity is putting herself in danger for Sassy’s sake and I don’t even know what to think about that aside from the fact that Rarity might be too forgiving at times.” Stepping away from her work and letting Vera’s hoof stay where it was so she didn’t lose track of the mare, Coco continued on. “I know Rarity; she’s being way too generous with how Sassy treated her previously after the incident involving the med-bed. Sassy was doing so well with keeping her sanity, she’s so strong and yet she seems so vulnerable at the same time.” “I won’t pretend to understand the kind of psychological scars she has, but she probably ran off thinking she could take on the world to protect you two from the dangers out there. From what we’ve heard from Rarity, Sassy’s taken some pretty bad injuries in her somewhat mindless if noble recklessness, still have to say it’s impressive to hear she took out a Vorager on hoof with a sword.” Pulling her patient into a hug, Vera started to coddle Coco for a few seconds before releasing the hug. She didn’t take her hoof off of Coco though, because she wasn’t quite done talking yet. “Your friend is a wonderful pony and yes she’s strong in some ways and in others not so much. She practically craves positive physical affection for one, but on the other hoof she’s too scared of actively ask for more than she is willing to take at a time. Most likely her reluctance stems from an incident between her and Rarity after the med-bed one that you two have alluded to that ended up with her needing help. She was taking her affectionate approaches surprisingly easy on the both you and Miss Belle, I would have actually expected more attempts to kiss or nuzzle the both of you. Given that her therapist was Fluttershy, it went a long way to helping her… and hurting her at the same time. You see Fluttershy is well known for giving ample amounts of physical affection without anyone ever needing to ask for it when she feels it’s absolutely needed. Sassy soaked all that up and is much calmer around her and more highly stressed around the two of you, of whom she cares for deeply. Again she desperately wants your affection but doesn’t want to press the issue after what happened previously. Her samurai training was something her previous therapist knew nothing about; so it’s rather telling that she opened up to Rarity immediately when she was asked about it. Sassy fears men as much as she loathes them, but she is willing to work with them or do just about anything for Rarity’s sake as if she were trying to largely make up for that huge past mistake. That is actually a good thing as while she will never love them, she needs to be able to confront and talk to men in at least something approaching a civil manner. Please fill in the blanks, what am I not aware of about her?” “Yes that all sounds about right, Rarity rescued Sassy and that led to her almost doing the same thing to Rarity that was done to her.” This caused Coco to prompt Vera by pointing a hoof at her to see what she thought. “In summation to that, Sassy assaulted you and Rarity in the form of a knee jerk reaction. She could have felt tainted by what happened and wanted to feel better by taking comfort in someone. She instead went about it in a highly detrimental way. Her hatred of men started from that moment, so who else to share the pain with than a friend who’s a mare? Her mind went straight to needing intimate contact with someone of her own gender which fits what I’ve said so far.” Vera nodded back to Coco and titled her head giving the adorable mare a curious look. “Please go on, if you even have more to tell me.” “Sassy loved both her parents a lot; they have or had a strong family bond together.” That was all Coco needed to say to get Vera’s eyes to widen at the implications. “To say that both her parents feel grief over this is an understatement.” “Interesting, just know that Ms. Saddles was trying to be strong for the both of you and actively wishes to protect you from everything, including herself it would seem. It may lead her to being a tad… suicidal, so my being here as an unobtrusive presence is entirely warranted. Now let’s move on to you, what are you feeling right now?” This pointed question from Vera caused Coco to freeze. “I don’t have to tell anyone if you don’t want me to and Opal would know better than to break patient confidentiality right?” “I have no idea what you’re talking about, I’m not even here.” Obviously lying through her digital teeth Opal said this clearly and loudly, one of the CAT drones was even there pointing at Vera as the other one slowly floated around the ship on patrol. “Though you’re diagnosis of Sassy is making a lot of sense from what I’ve seen.” - Tromping around in the sewers was not Rarity’s idea of a good day; it was in fact one of the worst days she’s had in a while. She was taking up the rear on one of the four teams of three in the sewers; they were heading for one of the furthest away pipe control systems. It was one of the most important ones to seal off and it had to be the second one to be closed up after another team finished with theirs. So once they arrived they had to hold their position. Why did Rarity have to volunteer for something that made her want to burn her EVA suit when they were done? It was so positively filthy that her need to be clean was getting worse by the second even when her body was not personally touching the sludge she trotted through. That there were so few people who could physically volunteer to fix this problem had Rarity worried, at least everyone on her team was armed. Ember was on point and had her material rifle, Trailblazer, at the ready with her claw always on the trigger as they walked through the pipe quietly. They were listening for any sign that the sewers had been found and invaded. Ember’s weapon would be quite lethal in an enclosed space like this and it was already a deadly weapon for any situation to begin with. Rarity looked ahead at Ember and pitied her slightly; at least Rarity’s helmet gave her nothing but clean freshly refined air to breath. It was a saving grace for the putrid nasty muck they were walking through, poor Ember would have probably wanted her EVA suit right about now and could smell everything. Said EVA suit was still at the spaceport on Ember’s recently purchased ship parked near the Caravel Boutique. Rarity didn’t know enough about a Parascine’s biology to make a guess as to what their third companion was feeling about all this filth they were moving through. He took up the middle with a material pistol loaded with straightened out and cut apart paperclips. One paperclip made at least three to four viable rounds for the pistol to shoot and the Parascine could fire at least a hundred rounds per loaded clip of repurposed paperclips. “Trouble there is yes; do not disturb the sewer squids on the ceiling. Don’t attack or retaliate they will, yes. Light doesn’t bother them yes, loud noises might.” The companion simply named Droll was a blue parascine with three green nucleic eyes pointed upwards. His nasally sounding voice made both Ember and Rarity halt to look at him. “How dangerous are sewer squids exactly?” Rarity looked up and saw a lot of shifting conical hoods on the ceiling being revealed by her helmet lights. They were brown with dark green splotches; it looked like something puked all over them. The rest of the sewer looked like that, so the sickening colors made sense from a camouflage perspective. “Rarity, unlike normal squids who spew ink, these things can spew a variety of chemicals depending on the threat. Anything ranging from what amounts to napalm to acid that is quite selective in what it damages.” Ember didn’t make any sudden movements and kept walking forward. “The acid would even be capable of hurting me without damaging the pipe we’re walking through.” “Then make no threat, receive no threat yes. They know that we are not predatory and are just passing through.” Droll was a rather nice guy and quite brave to volunteer for this mission. His psychic powers would be invaluable as he was a walking life detector that could tell you exactly what he was detecting for a good range around himself. His tentacles shook agitatedly as he seemed to tilt what passed for his head towards the ceiling again. “Many are the monsters above ground, not sensing any in tunnels so far yes. There are so many of them above us though, scary and numerous are they yes. Prudent actions we are taking here, happy to have volunteered for a chance to protect ailing life as she of the earth would want.” Rarity didn’t mind Droll or his verbal tic of saying the word ‘yes’ a lot, he shivered slightly at the ceiling and it made her wonder what he was feeling or seeing. Magical powers and psychic powers were quite different and yet so similar. She swept her light down a tunnel at a T junction they were passing as they walked and saw nothing of note, but watched their back all the same. Parascine might be gifted with psychic powers, but those powers could be spotty at times and he might miss something in his distraction at detecting so many above them in the streets. “When the first team finishes closing off their necessary pipes it’ll block the route we came through, but our route is not about going back the way we came anyway. Hopefully the fifth team watching the pipes leading directly into the hospitals basement and generator can keep any unwanted visitors out while we’re busy.” Keeping her wits about her Ember walked into a wide open circular room with multiple pipes leading away from it; there was some kind of office up in ceiling that could be reached on one of two a nearby ladders and the catwalk above overlooked this area. She pulled out a plastic map and shook some detritus off of it to peruse it for a bit. Nodding, she tapped the side of her helmet. “We’re in position, waiting for confirmation to start closing off pipes at the control station two. No enemy activity yet and only natural wildlife down here… no they weren’t Ewesen Clog Spiders just a few sewer squids. Okay, we’ll be on the lookout and if we incidentally run into a nest I can handle it, do I get paid if I can clear a nest out of the pipe? Alright then, we’ll talk about it later.” “I know I’m going to regret this and I really hate to ask, but what’s a Ewesen Clog Spider?” Rarity swept her helmet from left to right and then moved it upwards towards the nearest ladder and ceiling after not seeing much more than the flooded floor of the room. She was almost swimming in the nearly chest deep sludge. “Clog Spiders might be a problem if we have to go through their territory yes? Clog Spiders inhabit tunnels and hunt prey no matter the size, highly carnivorous, usually have numerical advantages yes. Easy to recognize, love damp and dark places and clogging pipes of large sizes with thick webbing and lots of bodies. They have eight legs and are as big as a pony’s head or larger.” Droll could have been a bit more descriptive then spiders the size of Rarity’s head, but it was enough of a description for her. “The pipelines require cleaning at least twice a month and Parascine do good work yes. Clog Spiders like cramped places and not wide open areas unless prey or food is to be found.” “Now we just sit here I take it?” Lifting hoof out of the sewage she flicked some sludge off of it and away from herself and her companions. “It’s really quite horrible down here.” “At least you two don’t have to smell it, as a dragon I love the smell of brimstone. The smells down here on the other claw are quite nauseating, so be thankful your helmet keeps it out. It’s making me even consider trashing this armor for good after I get a nice scorching hot bath to get the smell of this grime off me.” Ember swept her rifle towards the other entrances in this circular place as she moved over to the ladder; she motioned to Rarity and Droll. “You’ll be the one to handle the controls Rarity so climb up there, me and Droll will stay down here. We’re waiting for the signal from the first team and then we can begin closing the requisite pipes.” “Alright then, I’ll climb on up and get ready to close the pathways.” Happy to get out of the sewage Rarity put her hoofs on the ladder and started to slowly climb up to the catwalk above. “I have to admit I thought this would be far more treacherous and so far it’s just been disgusting.” “There’s not much glamour in my trade considering I’ve had to carve my way out of a monsters stomach once when I was swallowed alive. So if you think this is disgusting, then you’ve practically seen nothing yet.” The reason why Ember didn’t bring up such a story with Rarity before this moment is because she gathered and was completely certain that Rarity wouldn’t have been very interested in hearing it. “Getting anything Droll?” “No, I am getting nothing… wait there are Clog Spiders coming towards us nearby, they stopped and are not approaching any closer but are not leaving yes. No sign of swarming meteor monsters down here as you ask for.” Droll raised a tentacle and pointed out two pipes that he sensed the Clog Spiders from. “They are in those two pipes, being wary is a need yes!” “I have to ask, why does the sewer system run by the hospital? While I’m on the subject, why do the pipes even require manual activation?” Having reached the top of the ladder, Rarity carefully stepped off and started daintily trotting across the catwalks towards the room in the center of the ceiling above the pipe pathways below. She opened the door with her magic; on the opposite side was another door as she moved into the room from its left side to sit down in the simple chair. The small control room had a panel with several switches and buttons to press; she tried not to get any of the quickly drying sludge on the seat when she sat down with a wretched squelching noise. The first thing she could feasibly hit was the lights and the area below lit up. “I’m in position Ember, just tell me when we’re ready and what to hit specifically when we need to do our part.” “It’s for the generator really; the sewage water doubles as a coolant and it’s quite effective as Ewesen doesn’t have much in the ways of damaging sewage. This planet has a lot of ecologically friendly facilities, as to the manual activation from these pipe control points? I’m guessing some pretty bad oversight that nobody really considered or thought of as being a big problem up until now.” The two pipes were Ember’s main focus at the moment; they were right next to each other and easy to keep an eye on as she didn’t want any aggressive carnivorous arachnids to hurt her best friend or companion. “Mostly what we’ve been treading through is unfiltered mud and a few barely hazardous chemicals, among a few other disgusting things I don’t think you want me to mention. It is a sewer after all.” “Where does our exit strategy put us exactly?” They hadn’t exactly gone over the plan in great detail in a rush to get everyone out into the sewer tunnels to quickly close off any entrances, it bothered Rarity a little that they had to go the farthest out. “We’ll meet up with team four for their pipe sealing and then both of us will conjoin with three and one at the final location we need to seal off, team five is the emergency response group and guarding our way back into the hospital.” Things were way too quiet for Ember’s liking and she didn’t like it when things were quiet. There have been several moments in her life where things were perfectly fine when they were quiet; this situation wasn’t one of them. They were in the middle of city wide invasion by the remnants of a dead MOM core and as such it was disconcerting for things to be this quiet. Especially when bounty hunters and the three P were fighting said numerous remnants’ above ground at the moment. “Thankfully this didn’t happen at night, because if we were down here at night then things might have been worse.” “You do know that all nocturnal sewer dwellers here are just as active even during the day yes?” Here Droll put his back to the wall and his nuclei shifted left and right tentatively. “We are getting company soon, five Ant Heads, likely a scouting party yes.” “Calling it in then, we got trouble down here and we’re about to be hit with a scouting group of Ant Heads. Be advised, there could be even more down here already. Maintain contact to warn the rest of us where they are if they show up in your area. Watch your backs and move quickly.” With a flick of her left hand the second barrel of the rifle started glowing and Ember kept it pointed at the two tunnels. “Oh and please hurry it up with the first pipes; my group is next to Clog Spider territory at pipe station two. I don’t like the idea sitting still here for too long.” “Is this room up here safe?” Turning to the door on her left Rarity quickly closed it, feeling very wary of actually leaving it open at a time like this. “It should be, though you won’t survive for long without clean food or water. We’re the ones that are exposed down here Rarity. Just stay there until we’re done here, then we can leave.” There was a bit of relief and tenseness in Ember’s voice as she spoke up again. “Team one is finally in position and beginning the closing process.” “What exactly happens if we do end up doing this in the wrong order?” Rarity, not being able to stop her inquisitive mind from popping more questions to Ember, asked one last question that had been a rather pertinent one. “Completely flooded pipes, which means far more active sewer squids to deal with. Also a lower portion of the hospital could get badly flooded, possibly enough to damage the shutters letting the monsters in through the front door.” With a pull of the trigger, Ember unleashed a swath of flames that flashed out at the two tunnels. The large black spindly leg that had poked out leapt back and screeched at the sudden wave of flames that almost incinerated it.“The Clog Spiders are getting a bit brave here, hurry up team one. On top of that Rarity, it could lead to damaging the backup generator and putting multiple lives in danger, especially our own.” “Right, I’m guessing there’s no pressure then?” It was an ironic statement for Rarity to spout off given that they were manipulating pipes. “We’ll be under a lot of pressure if something does go wrong yes. I am being a great swimmer and will be fine… Ant Heads are near, they are coming directly at us and many more are on their way.” Droll’s nuclei started glowing brightly as he got a good grip on the material pistol with two of his tentacles. “Eyeless ones attracted by fire maybe yes?” Author's Note Sorry if this chapter focused a little to much on Sassy's issues. (Incoming somewhat pointless rant) I can't honestly take Celestia's royal guards seriously. They are good at policing, but a military force they are not. They're supposed to potentially protect Celestia from threats right? How many times have they failed her thus far and of those times how many could they have actually feasibly prevented even with forewarning? Heck Celestia's reliance on highly unique individuals can shoot her in the hoof quite badly, like having Shining Armor alone holding up a barrier that covers an entire city. That was while he was heavily compromised. Celestia should have had teams of other unicorns swap in and out in the process of holding up the barrier as well, thus taking the extreme strain off of a single lone individual who was constantly in pain from doing so, not to mention he was being emotionally drained on top of all that. If that is the power that one unicorn can have and though it is his special talent, then why can't other unicorns that aren't as unique step up in a similar manner? Still the crippling reliance on specialized individuals is quite bad as when you no longer have the use of said individual what are you going to do then? Also said individual cannot be in two places at once, so if another place required his presence badly but he was already in use then what? The barriers situation comes up again where having said possible 'unicorn barrier unit' at the Crystal Empire would have helped with Sombra immensely. Yet you never see any royal guards aside from Shining actively doing anything in the empire until after it was over with aside from reporting that it had returned. The royal guard really don't have a good track record, even the Wonder Bolts seem more capable than the royal guards because at least they damaged Spike's scales during his greed growth episode. I'm not sure why the shows writers don't just give the royal guards more days in the limelight, because they are often seen as being rather impotent jokes despite their apparent serious nature. I'm talking limelight things like when Rarity was playing detective with Rainbow Dash and she was questioning some guards. Said guards that left their posts for a snack, once again failing badly at their jobs. At least they partly made up for it by being informative. (End rant) -23-“Team one is halfway done Rarity so get ready to work quickly, we have lots of company and they aren’t good house guests.” Pulling her ever beloved boxy looking murder machine up to her shoulder, Ember waited for either Clog Spiders or Ant Heads to pop out of one of the nearby pipes. Of the eight pipes she knew two were definitely unsafe to be near, those being pipe six southwest and pipe seven to the west. They had come in through pipe four southeast and Rarity climbed the ladder between it and pipe three which led eastward. The others pipes were a tossup for what to aim for as Ember didn’t know what direction the Ant Heads were coming from because Droll didn’t specify, he just said that they were coming. “Droll which pipes did you say the Ant Heads were approaching from again?” “All pipes we didn’t take to get here, very bad situation yes. We ‘might’ be surrounded.” To punctuate his statement and with a show of incredible accuracy, Droll pointed his material pistol towards the pipe nearest the ladder to the immediate right and fired three times. The first shot arrived just as the Ant Head came out of pipe three and small holes were formed in its skull by the bits of metal that perforated it before it knew what hit it. “Take pipe two then one, I take five and eight yes?” Ember snapped her rifle towards pipe two as the Ant Head bounded out and fired several times lodging several high velocity rocks in its body. Some of the shots even broke and pushed its bones into its vital organs dropping it quickly. She turned her rifle on the one that bounded out of the north pipe not a second before; it quickly loped across the room trying to reach out to Ember with its claws. She put it down with two shots where it skidded to a halt before Ember missing most of its mulched head. Stepping on top of its corpse to use it as a small platform, Ember turned to pipe eight to watch as that Ant Head absorbed five metal needles before toppling. Looking over her left shoulder slightly towards pipe five, Ember saw another dead Ant Head with several holes in its chest at the mouth of the southward tunnel, the direction they absolutely needed to go once they were done here. She might have to try using paperclips sometime in the future since it would work well with her rifle’s shotgun fire capability, as for right now she’d stick to shooting rocks with single shot or burst fire. The problem with the shotgun fire mode was that it was ammo expensive and her gun could only carry so much ammo, which was dependent on the size and shape of whatever she picked up and threw into her gun. Speaking of limits, Ember quickly turned her rifle towards tunnels six and seven to let off several quick jets of fire causing the spiders that were slowly inching out of those pipes to quickly retreat with shrill screeches. A few even caught fire to lifelessly fall into the sludge; they were getting braver by the second. “Are they done yet? Don’t they know they’re making a lady wait? Especially with how bad these conditions are!” Rarity was watching all the action from above and was glad she wasn’t down there with them; she didn’t exactly feel fortunate or safe in the control room for pipe station two. She’d definitely feel less safe if Ember and Droll weren’t around. Putting a hand up to her helmet Ember nodded and let out a relieved sigh. “Team one is done, we can now start.” Saying this Ember turned her rifle and fired at an Ant Head Droll didn’t see coming from; the fact that it had arrived from pipe four was disheartening as it had almost clawed the distracted looking alien jellyfish. He cowered slightly and climbed up the ladder a bit and clung there, Ember didn’t blame him as he was probably detecting more trouble than he could keep up with. “We have to make this quick, because fighting our way out is looking more and more likely by the second here. You need to hit them in this order Rarity, if the console lights up at all after a switch is flipped wait a few seconds for the light to go off to hit the next one. Now hit the switches in this order: A twenty seven, B twelve, C thirteen, C four, D sixteen, A nine, B two and finally D two. One that’s done we can get out of here, we’re not leaving until you’re down here with us.” “Right I’m on it, okay let’s see ah-ha here we are!” Rarity flipped switch A twenty seven, then B twelve and when she hit the switch for C thirteen it lit up. Hearing clicking sounds, she looked up from the panel and wished she hadn’t when she saw hundreds of large spiders crawling out of the tunnels below and Ember was busily trying to push them back into the pipes with her flamethrower. The light went off on the console; she believed the next one was… C four, right, this one also lit up. She waited until that light went out and was about to hit D sixteen when a horrifically ugly looking mutant spider slammed against the glass cracking it, she could see its madly clacking mandibles, its spindly horrid legs that started smacking against the glass and she could tell its four glowing red hunger filled eyes were looking directly at her. It then exploded into a shower of gore before Rarity’s eyes, said gored covered the viewing window in its splatter. Who wouldn’t have been shaken up by that? “Is everything alright down there Ember darling?” “Just peachy, the Clog Spiders are going after the dead bodies and are making attempts on us at the same time. Not to mention Droll is sensing more Ant Heads incoming, he’s getting distracted and it’s not helping things that he is.” It sounded like Ember was physically scuffling with something, Rarity heard something crunch and make wet sloshing noise afterwards. “Please tell me that we can leave soon, because it’s getting a bit too hot in here for Droll.” “Well I’ll have you know I’m going as fast as I can Ember.” Rarity hit D sixteen and heard a distant clunking noise. Shaking her head as it was an unimportant noise she hit A nine, another light to wait out. “Please respect the fact that I am and keep them pushed back or else I might have another heart attack inducing moment like that one.” “Damn it Droll, get your head in the game.” A shockwave of energy was the end result of Ember’s words and from what little Rarity could see from her position it filled the room below and then some. “Thank you!” “You are the welcome; focusing on powers and here now at the same time is hard under duress yes.” Droll sounded a bit off and now Rarity knew what a panicking parascine sounded like. “Danger is ever increasing; mental blast was quite draining. Clog Spider disorientation will not last long at all yes.” Another light went off and Rarity flicked switch B two, only this time the light started flashing. “Ember what does a flashing light mean? It’s B two by the way, if you could get me some tech support here that would be nice.” Looking over the panel, Rarity couldn’t see what to do now as the flashing light was different; she wasn’t a technician nor was she told what to do in such an occurrence as this one. “I’m not exactly a sewage worker; goodness knows I wouldn’t be down here if lives weren’t on the line otherwise.” “Can you please do it yourself? I’m kind of indisposed at the moment.” The calm words were punctuated by a snapping sound. “Just, be glad you can’t entirely see what’s going on down here.” “Ember is being great fighter right now yes. I may personally run out of ammo at this rate.” It sounded like Droll was okay at the moment, if he could talk loud enough for Rarity to hear him through Ember’s helmet. “Well alright then, excuse me but can team five or anyone else tell us what a blinking light means?” The communications Rarity flipped to immediate got her a response as she was pinged. “I hit switch B two and its flashing, should I just hit D two?” “No don’t do that! You better hope we’ve got this right, the water in your area might go up a foot or two and it might bother you and team four a bit, but the fix for this shouldn’t be catastrophic. Your teams will just have to suck it up.” A gruff voice spoke up, it sounded like Minotaur to Rarity. “You’re already in the thick of it by the sounds we’re hearing here, team one is halfway to reaching team three and they need you to finish to even start on the third set of pipes. Now listen carefully, hit these switches as fast as you can when I list them off. If the flashing for B two stops at that time then hit D two and book it out there like yesterday! B three, A six, D seven, A thirteen and C one, did you get that?” Rarity had hit the switches and the flashing of B two stopped, she had no idea what she was doing or what these switches did exactly, but she hit D two anyway and loud clunk was heard in the distance and she could hear a gurgling. “Guess you did, now get out of there!” The voice didn’t need to tell Rarity twice. “We’re done here Ember!” Jumping out of the seat for the door on the left, she opened it and something slammed into her chest putting her on her back, it immediately dropped on top of her pinning her. The cackling, clacking spider opened its mouth and oddly enough it wasn’t a normal mandible mouth like a normal spider would have, instead it had four mandibles and they were covered in jagged little teeth. She could feel her heart rate jump and she blindly grabbed for her right flank energy pistol with her magic as she wiggled under it and moved her head out of the way of the advancing mouth that slammed to the floor next to her face. They were definitely scarier up close. “Holy mother of-, Luna please save me now!” Her magic grabbed the pistol and flipped it around the air to angle it down at the spider and now Rarity thought of the horrific logistics of shooting at herself while this monster was on her, she fired wildly anyway as she was panicking and didn’t care if she hurt herself. She wanted the horrible Clog Spider off of her right that instant! The spider leaned and maneuvered out of the way of the blasts as she fired several times at its back and it continued trying to clamp its horrific mouth on her face for whatever reason. She grazed it a few times, but she wasn’t in a good position to get clean killing blow. “No, no, no, NO, a lady such as me is not supposed to go out like this, not in the belly of such a horrid beast!” The spider kicked out one of its rear legs knocking the energy pistol out of the air and slammed two of its legs into Rarity’s sides winding her, it reared back only to be hit with what looked like lightning bolt that fried it and made it squeal loudly as it rolled off of her and onto it’s back. “Is becoming big problem yes, we are to be running now!” The glowing of Droll’s nuclei dimmed somewhat and two of his tentacles went to what amounted as his head and they rubbed it in slow circles. He was clinging to the top of the ladder and after a second he started firing his pistol downward and then he stopped, as there was a large bright blast of fire coming from below that made him shy away. “I am getting very weak; I will not be able to continue life sensing if I have to use any more of my strength. It would now be best if we make our escape before the sewage rises too far yes!” “You poor dear, are you telling me you’ve been keeping that up constantly all this time?” Rarity got up and ran by the spider that looked like it was slowly coming around and made for the ladder that Droll stayed at. She stopped momentarily to smack herself in the faceplate where her forehead was with a hoof and lit her horn. She pulled her errant energy pistol from the room and got her other one out as well as she got to the ladder. “It is very tiring to keep it up constantly yes. Is very good power, but costly.” Looking down they saw Ember glance up at them before she continued shooting Ant Heads, there was a pile of their bodies aimlessly floating around in the sludge. “I know that this is forward of me to be asking, but can you please carry me?” “Are you that tired? If you are, then of course I will.” The answer to Rarity’s question was Droll nodding and slowly climbing onto her back. He carefully wrapped several tentacles around her barrel and once he was gently attached to her back she got onto the ladder and slid down a foot at a time. Droll certainly didn’t weigh very much and Rarity could carry the weight easily, he seemed so very small on her back. “Ember we need to get moving!” “Right cover me; we need to go down pipe five.” Ember twisted her body and lashed her tail out to shred an Ant Heads neck as she ducked underneath it’s lunge, while that happened she fired her gun three times only hitting a single Ant Head once, it survived. She continued her twisting motion and started blasting out fire in a wide swinging arc setting multiple things ablaze around her. A spider landed on Ember’s shoulder and despite how big and heavy it looked, she stayed standing and rammed her left hand claws into it. She proceeded to bodily hurl it at the Ant Head that was just about to claw her, this distracted the Ant Head that had survived her one hit earlier. “We’ll break off when we get a chance; you go first and try to clear a path if there’s any trouble in the pipe, I’ll be right behind you!” Rarity and Droll opened fire on anything that was moving and not a bipedal dragon, said dragon that was currently bashing an Ant Heads skull in with the business end of her rifle. She rapidly backpedaled towards them firing as she went, she wasn’t killing the aggressive numerically gifted cannon fodder quite as quickly anymore. Several more Ant Heads flooded into the circular area and just kept coming. As she provided cover fire, Rarity noted that the sludge was getting deeper on the opposite side of the room and it was start to get higher coming towards them in a gentle wave that was hobbling every monster’s ability to move quickly. Turning around Rarity went straight into the pipe and almost got her face clawed off when an Ant Head swiped at her. She fell back onto her rump and fired both her pistols point blank, riddling it with energy blasts up close and personal as it tried for another swipe and just dropped dead before it could. After that she started forward into the pipe without a clue as to which way she was exactly supposed be going if they should come upon an intersection. She looked back and Ember caught up with her as the Ant Heads and the Clog Spiders started fighting viciously with each other, clawing, biting, webbing immobilizing, red ant headed mandible dogs ripping off numerous legs in a bloody fashion and generally violently brawling all out with each other. “I really hate it down here, just how could this even get any worse!” Of course Rarity was talking about the rising sewage, the horribly virulent native spiders and the Ant Heads, her shouting led to a small sewer squid falling on top of Ember making an audible squeaking noise, she froze and looked back to see Ember standing completely still. “Sorry, I really shouldn’t have said that… is our path straight or do we need to take a few turns?” Droll went very still and tilted his nuclei at Rarity as if expecting her to magically make the situation even worse by spooking the dangerous wildlife; they watched the squid wiggle around on Ember’s helmet before falling off of it onto her shoulder since it didn’t seem like it could get very comfortable. The squid wiggled around a bit more on Ember and didn’t act violently; it just simply crawled out onto the armor on her left shoulder where it settled down in a comfortable position clinging to it. Ember looked rather uneasy about it making itself comfortable on her and pulled out the map as she moved forward. This set of movements did not upset the squid in the slightest and it didn’t seem like it was going to immediately attack her anytime soon. “We need to keep moving, according to the map we need to take the next left and then a right after passing straight through another junction and then we’ll be with group four if we keep going straight from there. This is team two; we’re on the move for team four’s location and we’re possibly dragging bad news along with us.” Hesitantly motioning to the sewer squid on her shoulder Ember was hoping that someone had an idea as to how to get it off her as they moved forward, she put away the map trying not to jostle the squid too much and Rarity started leading the way. “Hey Droll, could you maybe help me with this?” “I cannot concentrate to use any more power than I already am. Our safety may require forewarning yes.” Droll’s voice sounded strained and muffled again Rarity’s EVA suit. “I can only advise you, mean no harm to it and you will not be hurt. This I swear to you as a truth yes.” “Yeah, that advice worked better when one was not directly perched on me.” Muttered a scared dragon, the squid seemed small and harmless but Ember knew exactly what it was capable of doing to her. The selective acid was powerful and no joke, it’d eat through her armor and then her scales in seconds. While dragon scales were notably quite tough, that didn’t mean dragons were entirely impervious to injury external or internal. Internal injuries were more likely for a dragon as blunt force trauma could do a number on them. They continued at a quick pace and the water was now up to the base of Rarity’s neck, she almost wished she hadn’t volunteered for this as she started pushing through the sludge all the harder. The hospital didn’t have any triple P officers as they were all out fighting in the city, even including the injured ones. The hospital didn’t have anyone else or many options aside from volunteers that could fight for entering these pipes. The volunteers were thankfully ones that were taking shelter in the hospital and not infirmed patients like Gabby and her broken wing. They came up to the four way intersection in the pipes they needed to take a left at, only Rarity slowed down when she felt Droll squeeze her roughly as if something were wrong. “Stop right now yes!” Droll’s voice had Rarity come to a halt and then a Vasp bounded from around the right corner and would have pushed them both down if Droll hadn’t given her an early warning. Rarity started backpedaling immediately firing both her pistols at the Vasp in conjunction with Droll firing his material pistol, but it proved to be far tougher than the Ant Heads they’ve been dealing with. She really should have asked if Vasp could feasibly fit down here, given that one sat on her before she even got to the hospital. It charged forward with intent to kill all of them. Ember was still in the midst of contemplating about bringing her gun about to shoot the Vasp. She really didn’t want to set off the sewer squid on her shoulder and as such she was rather hesitant. She needn’t have worried about being the one to set it off as it squealed and raised its two largest tentacles and it lifted its body upward to unhinge its beak wide open, then it made a gurgling choking noise before vomiting up large sphere of light brown fluids that sailed through the air. It struck the Vasp on the head and ended up splattering all over its body. The sizzling Vasp only continued its attempt at a charge in the murky sludge for all of three seconds, before its flesh, its muscles, its bones and everything else about it started to liquefy and by the time it felt any of this it was too late to scream. The fact that the Vasp even had bones didn’t garner nearly as much attention as the small sewer squid did when it started making itself comfortable again. The group continued moving taking the left turn and silently passed by the quickly forming slurry mixing in with the nearby sewage that used to be a flying insect that apparently had bones. “Okay, I can certainly see why you’re hesitant to have the squid on your shoulder now.” Acid like that would have probably been rendered useless against breach gel, but Rarity figured it would have still destroyed the outer layer of her suit on contact and imagined taking a blast of acid like that to the face plate. Okay now she really wanted to throw up at the thought of have her face horribly melted, she was having enough problems with killing things already and did not need that mental image purveying her mind. “Oh that’s not even the worst it can do, I’ve only read up on these things and apparently Droll is the real expert here.” In fact Ember always read up on native zoological beings at every planet she visited, mostly because bounties had a horrible tendency to hide in very dangerous locations nobody would ever want to go to. Said locations usually either had deadly creatures, lethal terrain or both in exorbitant amounts. As the saying went, lethality knew no size, so constant caution is always advised. “Trust me when I say that it can do lot worse than that to me if it wanted to.” “I’ll take your word for it.” Being as close to throwing up as Rarity was, she didn’t think it’d be a good idea to ask the question of what was worse than acid that quickly liquefied everything. Then again the Vasp didn’t look like it felt any pain and couldn’t scream because its throat melted before it could even register the pain it was in, okay thinking about it was really making her stomach churn. This was not a situation to be curious about the sewer squid, even though Rarity would admit that there was something existentially beautiful about its unassuming peaceful nature and appearance even if she didn’t like the colors it came with. “If you wish to hear about the wonders of sewer squids, maybe ask later yes?” If only Droll knew Rarity didn’t want to do just that, because she was definitely better off not knowing. The three made it through the next intersection and at the one after that Ember gunned down a single Ant Head and the sewer squid didn’t even make a single movement against Ember for it. Though the squid did sadistically purr and made Ember wary of what that meant as they all made the right turn safely. They eventually came upon a group with a male Cacceran that looked mostly like a fox except for having the face of a cat, a puny (for his species) looking Minotaur and a stallion who all sighed in relief upon seeing the four of them, the male pony noticed the squid. “You, uh… have a sewer squid on your shoulder.” The stallion received an intense flat stare from Ember and he started to cower slightly when even the squid started to give him the same exact stare with its small dark purple eyes. “Right, I’ll call it in! Team two is at rendezvous point pipe station four, holding position now and doing mostly okay.” - Things from the point of them reaching team four had been relatively quiet as all the groups were to meet up and seal off the remaining pipes, the sewage was halfway up Rarity’s next by the managed to reach shallower parts of the sewers. Groups one and three had run into a few bits of trouble and there were quite an amount of injuries among them, though nothing more permanent than just leaving bad scars. At the last pipe station they had a lot of Ant Heads to shoot and enough firepower between them to keep the monsters at bay, aside from that everyone was just plain tired and happy that they succeeded in keeping the hospital safe. The only trouble to note after the fact is that Ember couldn’t get rid of the sewer squid, mostly because it decided that it really liked her shoulder and nobody else was willing to make the attempt to do so either. It did assist Ember somewhat when they were at the last pipe station, aside from that it appeared to have nothing but benign intentions for its perch. “Well things were a bit hectic, but at least the hospital is safe thanks to all of you. Except for the fact that Miss Mcflame currently has an incurable chronic case of shoulder squid, you all came back alive and that’s what matters. The squid itself is a particularly healthy specimen, but it could use some water and when it eventually starts to dry out it might come off for a fresh tank of water. We really don’t want to appear threatening to it nor do we want to upset it either.” Being a rather busy pony, nurse Red Heart bustled about the room examining everyone and giving each person a diagnosis for various injuries or in Droll’s case mental strain. There were several other doctors or nurses seeing to them as well, she took particular interest in Rarity. “Okay Miss Belle, you’re bruises have worsened, you heartbeat is still running too high and I would like for you to relax before you get a conniption.” “I’m afraid I’m well past conniptions and I have a problem relaxing knowing that that particular squid is still attached to my friends shoulder. That thing melted a Vasp, so please excuse me for still having an adrenaline high born of worry Miss Heart or do you prefer Red?” Having a slightly high heart rate was nothing to bad from Rarity’s point of view, she was tired and her EVA suit smelled really quite horrid when Red Heart had her shuck it off. After all was said and done her hair positively needed primping after being stuck in the EVA suit for most of the day and she needed to clean the suit with fire. “I could really use a long hot shower, my mane is in positively a dreadful state so I could use a brush as well after I’m done and the one last thing I need is food. I’m practically starving after all the running around I’ve done today, on top of being quite sore. Thankfully said bruising is mostly unnoticeable; I need to keep up appearances after all.” Red Heart snorted and trotted off while rolling her eyes, she guessed Rarity deserved a hairbrush at the very least. Everything else was already a foregone conclusion for the volunteers. Now the question was, how long would they be stuck locked up in this hospital for? It might have been safe where they were, but people were still dying out there in droves. Author's Note Rarity gets a jump scare and the temporary character Droll was removed from the party. Anyways, Happy Monsters Day! Or I guess 'Halloween' if you prefer. When Pokemon Sun and Moon come around I'll probably stop writing entirely... because there's been a lot of hype for the new features and I'm interested in seeing where it all goes with not having the traditional gyms that were always there for the past generations. At least that's something new. In the following month I will consume the blood of my enemies... which are vampire cows, cows in general and anything with high amounts of caffeine which I probably shouldn't consume as it would make me horribly sick. I have allergic reactions to consuming high amounts of caffeine and will not drink things like Coffee or Mountain Dew for that very reason. It's a weird weak sauce weakness I have other than getting pointy things to the eye, then again everything with eyes has that kind of weakness unless the eyes are made out of sterner stuff like stone. -24-Three days have passed and things weren’t too bad, but being trapped in the hospital was causing some mild cases cabin fever. Over the last few days Rarity has stayed near Sassy’s form, the mare had required surgery for the stab wound in her side and stitches for her side and chest. As for her face there were large bandages entrapping the left half of it, her hair had been untouched and they didn’t have to remove any to get at the wounds so that was something positive for Rarity to think of. “You know you could do some other things then sit there and mope, though I can understand what you’re going through because she’s my friend too.” Ember dropped on by after once again smelting her armor, except for the helmet, in a room that wouldn’t catch fire with her own breath. She was wearing a new hospital gown and didn’t didn’t smell too bad after having been in the sewers given she had bathed herself every morning for the past three days in extremely hot flames after taking a lobster cooking shower. As for her sewer squid, it was in a nearby tank of water that Ember refused to go near. Sitting down on the adjacent bed she continued to tinker and modify her material rifle, she needed more ammo after the sewer escapades and there currently weren’t any opportunities to go after some. “So… how are the bruises?” “I’m fine dear, thanks for asking. Well, it looks like I’m not going to make good on my claim to the Derringer.” Derringer was not Rarity’s main worry, but it was bad that she wasn’t going to get a big ship that she could do so much with. It was Sassy who had held all of her attention for the past few days, thankfully she was of a correct blood type out of the several that ponies had for each race and could donate her blood to seeing Sassy recover. “Easy come easy go I suppose, when do you think help will finally arrive?” “It should already be here, can’t imagine any of our leaders would let this attack go lying down without a response.” Ember looked over to the MAT drone that sat on the floor, it had been constantly active over the last few days and Opal was taking her job of protecting Sassy seriously. She had been ecstatic to hear Rarity and Ember were alright from their escapades a few days ago, now she was focusing almost all her attention on Sassy and a small bit on Rarity. “Hey, Opal can you check the communications channel?” “Working on it… and done, the forces from the planet Equus arrived here within seven hours of the attack. They’ve just been really busy upstairs and are still in the process of helping cleanup on Geoptis. They’ll start bombing runs on the four cities that are infested with the remnants of the MOM core soon.” After a pause there was some lackadaisical humming from Opal coming over the MAT drone’s speaker. “Do you need me to report on how everyone else is doing Meowstress Rarity? I’m getting a lot of information on Planetary Protection Patrol casualties and I am also picking up a lot of civilian listed as MIA or worse as well if you want to hear the statistics for how lucky you are to be alive at the moment.” “Oh right, Greta and Gilda, do you think you can call them from here darling?” Rarity didn’t want to hear the bad news if they had perished in the attack on Geoptis, but she would take it with a brave face. Well any news was better than having to wash her EVA suit again, like she has been doing five times every day for the last three days. She got the sewer smell out, but it still didn’t feel clean to her and EVA suits were quite hard to clean given one had to worry about not damaging the internal workings of the suit. “I’ll try… huh… apparently Greta’s data pad signal is coming from outside the monsters coverage zone, they are located at a salvage yard.” After a moment the MAT drone floated in the air turning to Rarity. “They are in the process of being arrested; it appears they are going quietly so Gilda can get some medical attention. They stole one of the Javelin’s from the hangar they were working at and took it for a joyride into a combat zone. Hold on, Greta or one of the officers must be answering it.” “Thanks for letting me answer it, Rarity thank goodness you’re alive! I’m so sorry about this boss lady, but we’ve kind of got into a bit of a bind. They’re going to take us up to Geoptis and I was wondering if you could help us out when you’re able to.” Greta trusted in Rarity to bail them out whereas her partner in crime however. “Gilda doesn’t think you’ll come to bail us out.” “I’ve done the math and the kind of bail she’d have to pay for our release is going to be ridiculous, so I don’t see it happening. She’s having enough problems with money right now as is.” Gilda spoke up over Greta and she sounded a bit depressed. “It’s been fun getting to know you while it lasted boss lady, but we’re guilty of grand theft fighter. Said fighter being a Javelin loaded with devastators and mostly totaled is going to earn us a bit of a large bail. At least they’ll give me free medical treatment since I broke my limb, I ended up crashing after devastating the MOM core to hell and back before it could crash into the planet. Aren’t there any leniency laws for saving millions of lives from a planet wide infestation?” “Now hold on, I’ll personally come up to Geoptis and will see you and Greta there. Until then please don’t do anything worse than what you are already being arrested for. I’m still in the middle of the hostile zone, but I’m in a safe place and all my friends here are mostly fine.” After releasing a long drawn out sigh, Rarity continued on. “I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew when we meet up again and we will be meeting up again so I can give you a piece of my mind Gilda. Are you always going to cause trouble like this?” “Depends on the situation really, I might get into even worse trouble than this but it’ll be for an entirely good reason and by now you already know Greta goes where I do. It’ll get her killed one of these days.” Gilda’s soft chuckling filtered in through the speaker, until she grunted roughly. “Hey watch the arm, injured griffon here! See you later captain if you’re still willing to bail us out. Look the only reason why we cobbled together that distress beacon from bits of wire, gum, a paperclip, an empty soup can, the end of a toilet plunger and a plasma rifle clip wasn’t so you can treat us roughly! We didn’t even shoot at you when you arrive and handed the weapon over immediately, what more do you want from us? At least let Greta finish talking you jackasses, no offense meant to the one donkey among you.” “I assure that no offense is taken, also lay off the poor griffons.” That must have been the donkey judging by his gravelly voice and sudden answer to Gilda’s words. “They are coming with us peacefully after all and they both could use some medical attention, we’re not savages you know!” “See you later boss lady, it seems we’ve overstayed our communications limit. See you on Geoptis if you’re still willing to keep us troublemakers around.” Next were Greta’s last words that sounded particularly cheerful as the communications link to her data pad were cut off. “It’s nice to know you’re still alive.” “Thank goodness that Greta and Gilda are okay… well mostly.” Rarity had no clue what the theft of the fighter was all about or why they would do it in the first place and turned back to Ember. “So what are you going to do when we can get out of here Ember darling? My plan for full spa treatment by Vera is already guaranteed, I’m also going to head towards Equus in the hopes of joining the Grand Galloping Gala.” “I guess I’m going to go back to bounty hunting and we’ll go our separate ways. Maybe I’ll spend some time on the nearest volcanic planet; I’ll still be around here for a while to help with the mop up operations at least. I’m going to be looking for some commissions while I’m at it.” Ember twiddled her thumbs and looked away from Rarity; she really liked the fashion designer and her friends. Only friendship didn’t put her expensive tastes in food on the table and she was a growing dragon, being violent was something she was particularly good at and it paid well. They both heard a noise and saw the sewer squid poking its head out of the tank and started looking at Ember’s shoulder longingly. “I don’t see how Red Heart can go near that thing to feed it. I’m not going within three feet of that tank… since that’s the exact distance it would need to get back on me.” “I will admit it’s a vile and disgusting creature, but it certainly does have its own kind of charm.” It was vile and disgusting to Rarity for entirely different reasons. It was vile because it could spew lethal chemicals and disgusting because it could ingest any kind of sewage for sustenance. The squid had its charm with being friendly and cute in its own way, as it waggled its two large tentacles towards Ember. “I could possibly see keeping one as a pet if I didn’t already know how much danger that entails, also that it could be kept clean in some way because otherwise it would be a horrid smelling nuisance. The colors are also a major turn off for me.” Red Heart walked into the room with Gabby and pointed her to a bed and the griffon planted her rear on it immediately, after which the nurse walked over to the squid’s fresh water tank and dumped shampoo, soap and bleach into the tank. The squid immediately swam over to start feasting on the cleaning supplies; a sewer squid would eat just about anything and didn’t mind the fact that it was becoming a bit cleaner in the process of eating such odd substances. “What is it, is something wrong? Sewer squids will eat just about anything, so don’t worry as that stuff won’t harm him.” Red Heart took the stares to mean that they were worried about the sewer squid, they weren’t but they weren’t going to correct her on the assumption. “He still needs to consume some form of lethal cocktail if he wants to remain somewhat healthy and that’s what the shampoo is for. I contacted an animal expert named Fluttershy and she said that bleach really makes sewer squids happy and that that this particular brand of shampoo has the right chemicals that can keep him well fed. As for the soap bar, well it’s something for him to play with.” “Oh nothing’s wrong; I’m just not going near the tank with him looking at me like that.” Ember was cute in her body shy nature and her fear of a little squid made her look ridiculous. That is if you didn’t know that the squid could actually grievously harm her or anyone else in the room. “It’s one of the most dangerous animals on Ewesen, aside from the monsters currently surrounding the hospital holding us under a siege that is.” Even as the sewer squid ate it kept shooting Ember longing looks, mostly towards her shoulder and then into her eyes as if asking if he could stay with her. He soon went to start tussling with the soap bar and wrapped his tentacles around it until it slipped free causing him to shoot after it to capture it again; the soap bar proved entertaining as the sewer squid kept trying to get a good grip on it. “Right then, everything is going well for you Miss Gums. Just stay off the wing for another day or two and you’ll be good to fly. Rarity, you’re almost back in a healthy condition, just keep your exercise regimen up and stay fit. I hope you are all well aware that space can cause a lot of wear on the body if you don’t take care of it. Ember you’re the healthiest dragon I’ve ever met and that’s saying something as I’ve only met one other of your kind before this, he was an adorable little fellow named Spike.” Then the nurse turned to the last occupant in the room and checked her vitals, she hummed a bit and tapped something out on a data pad. “You’re friend Miss Saddles is coming along nicely; her body is taking the surgery very well. She will only need another three hours of time in the med-bed and after that we can let her out and put her up in a regular bed for her to wake up in. I assume that you’ll be here when she wakes up Miss Belle? After what I saw I think she needs her friend to be there for her, be aware that I’m a nurse and not a psychologist even though I do have some training in the general area. She will have scars on her face; the scarring on her chest and side will be less noticeable. Don’t worry about medical bill payments Miss Belle; you and Miss McFlame have already done the hospital a great service to warrant free checkups and some expenses. Not to mention that Miss Saddles has already been paid for as well. As for you Miss Gums, you actually do have to look into payment for services rendered.” “Of course, I’ll get right on it when I can get access to my bank account. Because we’re still under siege it’ll be a while before I can do that you know. Still it makes me wonder why her medical bill is already paid for. I mean even they would find it unusual, won’t you guys? I can understand why you two are getting free medical service; you’re both among a number of heroes that went into the sewers to seal them off! Of course they’ll just have to open them back up later and it’ll probably make the clog spider population go horribly out of control since they breed more often in enclosed spaces and given enough food and you probably took down quite a few monsters down there. Did you know Clog Spiders will eat their own? I guess they don’t like wasting anything. Ha, wasting, because they live in the sewers you see. If they like enclosed spaces so much yet grow to large sizes does that make them agoraphobic? I’m a bit claustrophobic myself maybe more avoidant than actual claustrophobe. I bet those Clog Spiders certainly cause arachnophobia, because I certainly would go near them unless I had to as a courier. So have any of you ever seen clog dancers? Dancing is fun, but I don’t have enough friends to hang out with on a good night. It’s really hard to tell the time except for the clocks in here and we’re on a Ewesen day based schedule. I have to wonder how my schedule will look in the near future and what I’ll be transporting next.” Gabby could really gab, Nurse Red Heart was slow and methodical in her speech and Gabby spoke all of this almost all at once. “I mean can you imagine what life would be like if no one had to pay for…” “Sassy’s payment was obviously procured from the fact that she has plenty of witnesses of the kills she made in combat. Given the hot zones around here are currently under hunting season rules that’s to be expected. She probably killed off enough monsters to pay for her medical bill in full.” They turned to Ember when she was the one to voice her thoughts on an answer and to possibly stop Gabby from speaking up again; turning to Red Heart the dragon addressed her mostly. “Everyone who helps out during hunting season and has a lot of confirmed kills recorded gets a certain amount of pay depending on the level of threat dealt with, who assisted in the kill and what level of assistance was rendered at the time of recorded death. While hunting season is active civilian kills count if they can be proven. They can be proven by other people’s recordings or by recording it themselves; some people have tried to abuse this by trying to earn money for falsifying kills and if they are caught doing so they don’t earn any money for that particular hunting season even if they did make quite a few legitimate kills. Multiple people witnessed Sassy bringing down a Vorager with a sword. Vorager’s are high quality targets since they are able command and organize other MOM core monsters, thus they are worth a lot to bring down. I have my helmet, which as you’ve noticed is the only thing I haven’t forged again and that’s why it still looks like it does. Am I right nurse?” “Yes, aside from that she also took down quite a few of the new archetypes known as Vasps and plenty of Ant Heads.” Nurse Red Heart nodded confirming it was true. “Once she has recuperated she will be getting the money that’s left over from the costs of treatment deducted from what she is owed.” “Oh… well that’s certainly makes sense, I mean if common sense were truly a thing you’d think everyone would be smart enough to never get into any kind of trouble ever! Speaking of trouble, are the bombing runs going to damage the hospital? Also can the various governments really afford to pay so many people money like that? I guess you’d have to survive to get the money and be responsible for the kills in the first place to even earn any, so being caught on another person’s visuals certainly helps if it confirms your actions during a hunting season. It almost sounds like it was invented by a griffon! I mean griffons love to go hunting… almost as much as they love greed. I’m not big on hunting personally though. Nope I prefer to do a lot of long distance flying and delivering! Still though, does that mean anyone who’s witnessed gets money even if they themselves are not recording their actions? Sounds neat, even if it’s a convoluted mess. I guess it attracts bounty hunters in droves to show their stuff and get paid like mercenaries. A lot of griffons go into mercenary work; it’s a rather common thing that happens. Statistically speaking, it’s super rare to find griffons that are doing jobs that don’t involve working for someone else for exorbitant prices.” It sounded like Gabby was never going to stop talking, but she eventually would as she couldn’t possibly keep going forever right? “Even more statistics say that people are happier if they meet a happy person and I’m so happy to hear that I’m in good health. It’s all thanks to Nurse Red Heart here! I probably wouldn’t make a good medical professional since I can just keep talking a lot, I’d even likely leave a patient to slowly die while I just kept going off on some long winded tangent that usually leads nowhere and at other times are rather informative in some cases. But the times I’m usually highly informative are usually far between the times when I just keep going on, I do get my moments where knowing a lot of things is really helpful if I weren’t so talkative and I’m aware of this shortcoming even though I can’t actually seem to do anything about it. I just have to talk and speaking of information, I should probably see if any of my contacts are still alive in the city now that help is coming soon.” “You do that. The rest of the staff assures me that the bombing runs will not directly hit any buildings; they are also having fighters perform strafing runs on targets of interest. The spaceport will be the first thing the Planetary Protection Patrol and allied forces secures, followed slowly by the rest of the city.” Nurse Red Heart turned and started to trot out of the room. “I believe I’m done here, I have other patients to attend to. So please don’t cause any problems and everyone knows where the cafeteria is now. There is still plenty of food for everyone. I’ll be back to let out Miss Saddles in the next few hours.” After she left there was silence for some time and the only sound was the chirrup coming from the sewer squid that clung to the edge of the tank poking his conical head up over it. - Sassy gasped and opened her eye; she looked around in a blind panic and felt something grip her hoof, turning her head to the left she saw a plainly worried Rarity staring back at her. “It’s okay darling, I’m here for you. You’re going to be okay, just breath and relax.” Rarity spoke softly and tightened her grip on Sassy’s hoof and she gripped her hoof just as hard. “You really scared me by running off like that, how are you feeling Sassy?” “Did I hurt anyone?” That was what Sassy was more worried about than her aching body. She felt a swelling amount of pain in her face, her chest was burning and her side felt really off but that area of her body was still partly affected pain killers. “Yes, I can say you were honestly responsible for hurting someone, I won’t speak for our other friends but you’ve certainly hurt me emotionally by getting injured like this. If you’re talking about your actions after you left the safety of the Caravel Boutique. Then I’d say you certainly showed a lot of restraint in your rampage.” Of course Rarity was just being generous; her friend went nuts and carved a bloody path through every single monster that went near her. From what she saw and had heard, Sassy hadn’t exactly been in her right mind when it all happened. “Now again, how are you feeling Darling?” “Bad, I… I’m sorry I upset you greatly Rarity-sama.” Only being able to see out of one eye was beginning to scare Sassy, she looked away from Rarity’s sad eyes. She just had to ask in a quiet voice. “What happened to my face?” “Oh it’s just some scars dear, you’re eye is perfectly fine. Though a bit of your blood did flow into it.” Rarity was trying to play the injury off as unimportant, even if Sassy would eventually find out that it was going be rather noticeable for the rest of her life. “Your side required some surgery; you were in a positively dreadful condition when I caught up to you. You were only wounded three times, but you lost a lot of blood in the process and the wound across your chest wasn’t as bad as the two other hits you took.” Sassy just put her chin to her chest and looked at the blankets; she didn’t want to look at Rarity. She still felt Rarity’s hoof holding onto hers though, it wasn’t the only one holding onto her as she felt someone else grip her other fore hoof causing her to look up at Ember who gave her an awkward smile. She leaned back and closed her uncovered eye; Ember was here for her too? Having no idea what to say to that or to Rarity to make things better, Sassy just relaxed and tried to sleep. - “We still don’t have a jump module, weapons or an escape pod.” Opal reminded Rarity as they prepared for takeoff a day or so later, the triple P and the allied forces from nearby systems help clear out enough monsters that it was safe for them to make it back to the spaceport. There were still monsters around, but it was safe enough for them to take the Caravel Boutique off the planet. Sassy just sat quietly near Rarity and stared at the floor, she liked the fact that Coco seemed more affectionate and that the claw marks on her face didn’t push her friends away. Vera’s touch still felt nice and comforting, in fact it seemed like everyone was giving her more hugs than usual lately and it felt really good. She didn’t return the hugs as she was afraid to do so. “I don’t care; prep for launch. We’re going to go up there to bail out our griffons.” Rarity got up from her seat at the bridge and walked back to the airlock and left to go over to Ember’s Pyrrhic Victory. She solidly knocked on the door with her hoof upon arrival. “Ember darling, are you there?” “Yeah, I’m here. The mop up went by pretty fast and I personally got a chance to drop a few Voragers.” Ember popped the door to her ship at hearing Rarity’s knocking. The dragon was currently wearing a black shirt with the word ‘bonfire’ written on it in big red letters with a caricature of a smiling ball of yellow and orange fire sitting on two crossed planks of wood below it. The other visible article of clothing Ember had on her was some tight fitting pants that looked good on her. “So, you’re heading out for Geoptis now?” “I just want to thank you for being there for Sassy, I just came here personally to say goodbye until we meet again.” As of saying that Ember crouched down and scooped Rarity up into a tight hug which Rarity returned. “Are you enjoying the clothes darling? Do they fit okay?” “They are nicer than anything I’ve ever owned before; the underwear makes me feel secure.” There was a chirping noised and a squid plopped itself upon Ember’s shoulder. She stiffened slightly and glared at the squid. “Rarity, Mr. Spew, Mr. Spew, Rarity, when Red Heart called it chronic shoulder squid she wasn’t kidding. I think it might have even a formed a ‘familiar bond’ with me, if so, I’m certainly not happy about it.” “It does seem appropriate; you both share a commonality of being equal parts deadly and friendly. The only difference is that it’s a beast and you’re a beauty.” Rarity’s compliment made Ember gain a massive blush and rub at her head spikes in embarrassment. “It’s been a pleasure to see you again and I’ll always be happy to have you as a friend, but I guess this is where we must part ways once again.” “Thank you… for the compliment I mean. You’re really fluffy and soft too.” Ember managed to squeak out. Rarity nodded with small blush adorning her cheeks at the compliment given back in return, the pony turned to go back to her ship. The squid looked between Ember and the leaving Rarity curiously after that interaction. Reaching her ship, Rarity walked up the ramp in through the airlock. Once she got back to the bridge, she found an earnest looking Gabby sitting there with a large package strapped to her back. “You wouldn’t happen to mind giving me a lift up to Geoptis would you?” Gabby actually kept it short and succinct; it was here that Rarity learned that Gabby didn’t talk nearly as much while on the job as a courier. “I can even pay you for it!” “I don’t mind at all and you don’t have to pay me for it Gabby, we’re friends.” Taking her seat, Rarity stretched out her hooves and then settled down to look at the pink haired cat waiting to take her orders. Off to the side Gabby perked up as Rarity allowed her to hitchhike. “We have clearance Opal, let’s go!” Author's Note This chapter was blind fired. Aside from that, a familiar bond is what happens when a magical person 'usually' gains an animal companion, On rare a occasions does a familiar bond happen and it's within the same species. IE a magical human forming a familiar bond with another magical human hardly ever happens, it's more likely if a magical human forms a bond with one that isn't magical. In the case that it does happen it's probably more than likely the result of a 'pact' than a familiar bond. Pacts are a bad thing in fantasy settings, for reasons why that is look up the history of 'Drakengard Pacts'. The familiar usually ranges between outright bestial or more intelligent than the one they bond to. The familiar is never exactly like the one they bond with personality wise and share some common or hidden traits with the one they bond to. In a similar vein they always have at least one trait that is the exact opposite of the bond partner. As such a familiar bond creates a balance between two individuals where a strong friendship is easily forged. A familiar tends to double as a spirit guide at times. For a familiar bond to even form, one of the two involved in the bond must at least be magical in some way, Equestrian Dragons count as magical. -26-The bio cast was an instrument of safety for the injured party that kept their limb from moving and Gilda had one on her arm designed specifically for the comfort of the wearer. She flexed her claws slightly and couldn’t do much else as she sat with her boss lady and the rest of the crew, it would be a week before it could be removed. It was a little shocking how far Rarity was willing to go to keep her and Greta on. Why the fact that Rarity almost bankrupted herself was bad enough, now the lovingly named ‘boss lady’ was on the poor end of things and in need of some cash flow. Gilda was a bit touched at Rarity’s willingness to bail her out and she wasn’t about to say as such, but Greta certainly expressed her excitement. The remaining money they received after paying off the bail was split between the six of them and they were all quite poor at the moment, at least Rarity still had plenty of food and supplies left to last them a while. “So, are we going to the Derringer or what?” If being impatient was a crime Gilda would certainly be guilty of wanting to see her hangar. Since Rarity now owned the Carrier Cruiser hybrid, that meant that their contract was in effect and she now had a hangar all of her own and she was a bit restless to get to it. “I want to get to work on getting my hangar in gear.” They were all on the Caravel Boutique at the moment and Rarity had recently finished Commander Lirutiy’s EVA suit. Rarity and Coco had a bit of a time discussing the helmets design with Lirutiy given Plurts had eye stalks and they eventually worked out a design that worked for her. After helping give a few pointers on helmet designs for plurts, Lirutiy bought a spare impulse saddle and was then on her way back to organizing people into rebuilding her space station. Rarity and Coco were paid for their services and now they were sitting quietly while Rarity calmly snacking away at a sandwich. “When I’m finished with my meal, there is no need to rush things now.” Quite frankly Rarity didn’t want to rush into things right now and had time to think of the consequences of owning such a big ship as Derringer. Then there were the other nuances to her current predicament of not having a lot of money to work with. Cucumber sandwiches were delectable when you had the right ingredients for them, some tea and maybe a few chips to go along with them; she was just trying to distract herself from all the problems she was going to have soon. “Just give me a moment to finish up and then we’ll discuss getting to it and what we’ll do when we get there.” First of which was how much money it would take to refurbish Derringer or whatever she was going to name her new ship, her generosity kind of put her in an iffy situation. Of course if Rarity hadn’t paid the bail, then she wouldn’t have gotten the much bigger ship and both Greta and Gilda would have been punished for saving so many lives with their rather dubious actions. The cost of running such a large ship and maintaining it was a lot more money than they had or could even make at the moment given they didn’t exactly have anything approaching a stable income. Rarity wasn’t about to go back to being a waitress to make ends meet, that bridge was burned as she was going to be a fashion designer and would continue to be one until something could make her think otherwise. This required a lot of thought, maybe if she offered different services aside from her clothing business? Maybe she could deliver her items or have the customers come to her. Well Rarity would have to think on it later. Even as dainty as her eating was currently, she was running out of food to swallow and time to think. She swallowed the last morsel loudly and everyone was looking to her. She was the leader of this outfit and while an appealing looking one at that, she had little in the ways of ideas aside from the salvage operations Lirutiy offered for her crew to carry out in exchange for some much needed spare parts and money. Quite frankly it was actually a thinly veiled offer of making Greta and Gilda look like they were carrying out some community service without having to do too much to them even though they didn’t actually have to do it; it was apparent that Lirutiy was the commander of her station with good reason and she was actually looking out for them. “Yes, well, I think I’ve dallied enough. Opal please get confirmation for our boarding of Derringer, we’ll rename it when we get there as I have an idea for that at least. Aside from that we’ll take Commander Lirutiy up on her offer of assisting in the salvage operations.” Sighing Rarity looked to all the friends sitting with her and doing their own thing here or there while they listened to her every word at the living areas table. “Loathe I am to admit it, but we’re all in the poor house. We won’t be able to hold onto the larger ship unless we can find a suitable income to support it. So if there are any extra ideas for funds that might be forthcoming, I’d certainly like to hear them as of right now. ” - Each person of crew’s roster had their own unique talents and abilities; they were four ponies, two griffons and an AI strong. Rarity Belle knew that she personally had top tier fashion making abilities and with her flashes of insight and inspiration she could figure out what a person might like with. Her special talent of having an eye for detail and inner beauty would help to meet their needs. Her ability to produce comfortable, affordable and highly effective EVA suits in conjunction with Coco’s accessorizing them with utilities; made for good business. Her failings were her inability to plan far enough ahead and she was a bit too generous sometimes. Coco Pommel had her specialty in accessories and add-ons, plus she was quite strong for her small frame and that wasn’t surprising given she was an Earth Pony. She was a good friend to Rarity and a friendly face to anyone who met her. Her meek personality was as endearing even if it was her flaw, because she was a skilled hard working mare otherwise that could make clothing just as well as Rarity even if she was a bit more specialized in what she was good at making. Sassy Saddles came with good combat abilities which could be useful as a form of security for when things went wrong. She could also manage the sale of clothing and or other goods pretty well as long as she didn’t deal with a specific gender and had more special talent in clothing than Coco did. She could work with Coco just as well as Rarity, but her ability to actually design clothing left something to be desired even if she was good at making any design fit just right. She was only allowed to be with Rarity’s crew conditionally as long as she had SNUGGLES member onboard. Sassy certainly looked beautiful in a kimono and would make for a wonderful fashion model, now if only she wasn’t so easily stressed and could keep her cool since she was a mare who wouldn’t appreciate being ogled by stallions. Her hatred for men was of great detriment to her talents as a sales manager as were her psychological issues. Sassy needed constant watching to make sure she didn’t run off or lose herself again. Vera Blossom was the sister of the more renowned spa sisters Aloe and Lotus. As a crew member she was the go to therapist, psychiatrist and field medic. Celestia and the Blossom family could see Vera at least, so her ability to be ignored wasn’t perfect even if it had a very wide range of odd effects in what she could get away with doing. If Rarity ever needed plausible deniability then Vera could certainly do quite a few things that wouldn’t get her in trouble with the law. Heck, if anyone tried to hold the entire crew at gunpoint, they probably wouldn’t notice Vera if she were to wear bright neon orange and walk up to them with a crowbar while loudly singing Yankee Doodle Donkey before she brought the weapon down on their skulls one at a time. So she was definitely considered and counted as a form of special security measure and would at least be near Sassy at all times. Like her sisters, Vera also had a talent for massage and spa work of the likes that Rarity could appreciate fully. Rarity wished she could pay Vera three times over the amount of an average wage so she wouldn’t feel guilty about abusing Vera’s spa related talents as much as she was going to. A daily basis of having a walking spa treatment around was enough to keep Rarity happy. Now onto the first of the two griffons, that being Gilda Gottfrieda who specialized in building, repairing and or modifying vehicles along with various other things as a mechanical engineer. She has good piloting skills and she wants to fly fighters, but it is very apparent that she is more suited to driving space ships that never have to land at all, IE ships like Derringer or larger vessels only meant to work out in space that only need to dock with space stations from time to time. Judging by what was heard in the makings of a distress beacon cobbled together out of junk; Gilda could possibly work with Coco. The gruff griffon already has an excellent rapport with Greta her partner in her recent crime. Her flaw was that she was easy to make grumpy and had aggressive tendencies, but her ability to read the character of others accurately made up for that. Greta Gollenfer, a griffon who specializes in wiring, programming and more technical aspects of most forms of technology as a technical engineer. She has some hacking ability, was as decent at making repairs or modifications like Gilda and was probably cross training skills with her. She had a strange if somewhat weird fascination with a plasma welder and she was incredibly positive sometimes bordering on impossibly optimistic. She liked the term Garage Griffons and was willing to work with anyone in any capacity. She and Gilda were really old friends from the way Gabby told it, she loves Gilda to the point of ignoring any other possibility of happiness and was mostly okay with big letdowns. Out of all the crew members, even if her boundless optimism was a bit creepy, she was the most mentally stable person on the crew aside from her highly noticeable passive sexual predator tendencies towards her best friend. The only member of the crew not of flesh and blood was Opal. She was considered sentient and quite rampant, not that anyone would bring it up with her because she’s in constant denial about her rampancy. Taking initiative is an obvious sign an AI has become smart enough to know what was needed before requested or told what to do. She was clingy and overly protective of Rarity mostly putting her creator’s needs before her own or others, but could focus on other things if she feels it is important enough. She could control ships and or mechanical drones very well, plus she was entirely needed if they were going to work the Carrier Cruiser hybrid with a skeleton crew. This was the crew Rarity had to work with and most of this information was what Vera managed to get off of each person when she talked to each of them individually. Vera really wanted to call Opal out on being a rampant AI that was trying to avoid acknowledging the fact that she was, at least Opal wasn’t a very destructive rampant and Vera didn’t call her out on it because she wanted to treat her as she would anyone else she’d call a friend. As for weapons they had four energy pistols, a plasma rifle with a few clips for it, a welding torch named Mr. Welder, a working MAT drone and a few CAT drones with built in welding tools. As for space combat they had twenty six energy turrets that came with Rarity’s new ship. To anybody else looking their way, they probably looked particularly underwhelming as a force to be reckoned with. The food and toiletries were the only things going right for Rarity and her friends, they had plenty of that to spare for a while. What they needed was a lot of things to fix up both ships that Rarity was now in charge of. This is why they were taking up the salvage operation offered to them, they put Gilda and Greta at the helm of it for being the leading experts on knowing what scrap was still useful. - None of the crew had anything to say about the newly named ship The Shining Jewel, Greta and Gilda knew the ship already and the others aside from Rarity and Opal still needed to get acclimatized to it. Gilda in particular was happy to have her mostly broken Javelin back even if it didn’t have a combat shell and wouldn’t be good for much of anything for a while. They still haven’t even worked out their rooms yet and were already starting to assist in salvaging operations around Geoptis. “Okay the EVA suit is pressure tested Gilda, you know how to operate the impulse saddle right?” Rarity had asked her crew for ideas and they came up with nothing in the ways of making more cash quickly. Instead of worrying about that, Rarity made EVA suits for those that didn’t have them yet since she had the supplies for it. Everyone in her crew needed an EVA suit, especially Gilda if she was going to continue working towards being a fighter pilot. “Aside from that you shouldn’t really use it until the bio cast comes off, so you’re going to be grounded here on Shining Jewel with Vera and Opal until then.” “Fair enough boss lady; just let me do something like looking through the scrap. I can do that much and I’ll get us what we need.” Here Gilda rubbed at her blue cast adorning her broken arm. “I may not like it, but my arm does need time to heal. However I reserve the right to use my EVA suit in an emergency even if it will stretch out the suit a bit.” “Meowstress we’re getting a call from Geoptis, they have another region for us to start scooping up when we’re available. Just thought you’d want to know. We’ll be moving back to Geoptis to offload what we have as soon as Sassy, Coco and Greta are back inside.” Opal was proving to be very useful in helping the salvage operation run smoothly, they didn’t even have to leave The Shining Jewel to scoop up the salvage like a giant space shovel. All they had to do was open one of the hangars doors and fly so that the salvage fell into the ship, they were obviously more careful about the more intact fighters or ship parts and had Sassy, Coco and Greta bringing those in gently. “We still have plenty of room for personal salvage, so a few more rounds like this and we’ll be good on spare parts.” “Good work Opal, if we can get enough money on top of spare parts to fix some of the problems with both ships, then we can finally move on to setting a course for Equus and getting me into the Grand Galloping Gala. Oh my I need a new dress!” When Rarity started fretting about what to design to wear to such a significant event, Opal just giggled at her plight as she started turning circles and going on and on about how to make a good impression on the right ponies. “I can’t possibly show up to the party without one and I also really need to talk with the princesses about how they owe me this opportunity, I have less than a month to get there and get a ticket to get in no less!” “Calm down Rarity, focus on the here and now, you can worry about the gala later.” Vera made her way over to Rarity as another pile of scrap rolled down the insides of open door into section one of The Shining Jewel’s hangar. At the back of the expansive hangar was the Caravel Boutique parked in the repair and maintenance section. They were currently standing in the second part of the hangar while part one was being used to load up the salvage being watched over by Coco, Greta and Sassy. The third part of the hangar was being used to hold the salvage Rarity’s crew would keep and the second was holding onto the salvage that Commander Lirutiy wanted specifically. They were getting some good scrap to hold onto in the third portion of the hangar, but the money they were getting for this job wasn’t that great. “Why… yes you’re right, still though we have to get there at the soonest convenience will allow. I need to convince the princesses to let me into the gala in exchange for not signing off on my breach gel like they should have a while ago.” Being mad at the princesses wouldn’t be right to Rarity; well at least until she actually heard their reasoning as to why they hadn’t done so yet. “I still have to come up with dress ideas. I have so many ideas flowing through my head right now, why I could just scream at all the possibilities of what to wear! Should I use something in an avant-garde style or perhaps maybe a more traditional ballroom style?” It was really quite simple and not at all a hard process to put a name down on a document, then again Rarity thought the princesses probably had other problems to worry about given they sent a relief fleet to the Quia system to help out with Ewesen’s highly beleaguered local Planetary Protection Patrol. “Yeah, you do that.” Gilda muttered as she poked her good talons through a mess of debris looking for something good to keep. “All the while the rest of us are all busy here and this might be the only way to keep your business going boss lady. Priorities, checks yours please!” “Oh, sorry darling… I am getting a bit ahead of myself. Hmm…” Focusing on the task at hoof, Rarity scanned the metal parts scattered about the pile in the first hangar section before her. Having an eye for detail was helpful, she decided to point something out to Gilda that she thought looked interesting. “What about that piece there Gilda, is that one worth something?” “What are you… hey, that is actually a pretty good one and it’s entirely intact too so that’s less work for me and Greta later on. Not that I can do much right now anyway.” Gilda wrenched what Rarity pointed out from the pile with her good arm and passed it off to Vera to put it in the third section. Said pony had a designated pointing CAT drone following her everywhere. “We need more things like that if we’re going to make a new jump module for the Caravel Boutique, after we get enough personal salvage I’ll go over the stuff we’ve gathered personally.” “Already cataloguing that right now for your convenience, I’m thankful that Lirutiy left us those three extra drones to work with. I’m having them check and clean up things in the decks one and two.” Opal was happy to be up two more CATs and another MAT drone that was practically a CAT drone in all but name and slightly better armoring. “Remember if you need assistance; don’t be afraid to ask me for a little drone support down there on deck three.” “I’ll keep that in mind Kitten, how’s it going out there Greta?” The EVA suited griffon outside the atmosphere barrier probably wouldn’t be able to hear her in a vacuum if it weren’t for Opal directing communications between them. As such Greta’s voice came back on the speakers in sections one and two of the hangar that Rarity and Gilda currently occupied. “Everything’s okay here; we’re getting a lot of neat stuff… I just wish some of it didn’t involve dead bodies.” Dead bodies that were going to be put to rest, it was hard for Greta to keep up her cheerful nature due to the macabre sights they picked up every now and then. Every escape pod and or disabled fighter that had life had already been picked up days ago after the fighting was said and done. “I’m with Greta on that one; some of them died horrifically and I think see another one. If you don’t mind I’m coming in, because I’m going to throw up now.” Coco flew towards the atmosphere barrier coming in low, once she passed through the barrier she fell to the floor once gravity asserted itself. She quickly made her way over to the others and pulled off her helmet looking green in the face. “Opal I could really use a bucket here.” The second MAT drone with no combat capability floated down from a hatch leading up to deck two and came over to Coco. It dropped off the requested large empty bucket that was needed and Coco immediately went to work on spewing into it as the MAT drone went back to cleaning duty up on deck two. Seeing this, Rarity walked over and started rub Coco’s back gently while using her magic to keep Coco’s hair out of her face. “I’m a bit worried about you being out of a suit this close to open space Gilda, you do know what would happen if the atmosphere barrier faltered right?” Greta came in and dropped to the floor as well, to start picking at the pile of scrap. “At least we made sure it was working perfectly before we started.” “Shawls and scarves, I think that’s enough of a load for now Rarity-sama. We’re all in and ready to head on back to Geoptis Opal.” It didn’t look like Sassy was taking things easily either as the front door to Shining Jewel’s hangar started closing and the ship turned back towards Geoptis. She came walking up to Rarity taking off her own helmet looking just as green as Coco did. “Even I’m a little bit disturbed about all the bodies we’re finding out here… Coco-chan please be a dear and move over a bit. Oh and grab my mane too while you’re at it Rarity-sama.” Yep, things were certainly looking alright for Rarity’s crew, even if they weren’t happy to be dealing with corpses as salvagers. Ponies weren’t good around such sickening sights such as mangled twisted bodies without distractions to keep them from thinking about it too hard. - The Vorager collapsed to the ground riddled with holes and missing a large portion of its head which was now a melted pile of liquefied flesh slopping onto the ground. Mr. Spew insisted on traveling with Ember who once again found herself on fighting on her back amidst a field of dead monsters, there wasn’t a single movement around her at all now. “Do you need water?” Ember asked pleasantly as if she hadn’t been fighting for her life on her back again for the umpteenth time since she arrived on Ewesen. The sewer squid nodded and chirruped happily before leaping off her shoulder and bounced one more time to start eating a bit of the Vorager that had just tried to swallow the dragon whole. “Right then, I’ll get on that once I catch my breath and check my ammo. Well, I need to reload again as I’m completely tapped out except for three shots, just great. You know what; I’m going to just start carrying pouches loaded with rocks that I can just pour into my gun at the rate I keep expending them.” Ember used her rifle to leverage herself up onto her tired feet. Nothing within five hundred feet of her moved very much aside from the deadly Mr. Spew, as everything else within five hundred feet of her was either on fire, melted, twitching, blown apart, cut cleanly into cauterized chunks or violently dismembered in ones case when Ember used her claws to physically ripped it apart. The ripped apart one was when they actually managed to separate Ember from her beloved rifle for all of five seconds, didn’t help them much when she started wildly breathing fire and then tore that one Ant Heads limbs off one at a time in a particularly gruesome fashion. She even used one of its limbs to club it to death. Mr. Spew didn’t seem to care about Ember sudden volatile nature during that time and kept his favorite perch safe in the intervening inferno caused by the relatively pissed off dragon. The total body count during this one outing? Well Ember just brought down fourteen Voragers, one hundred and thirty seven Ant Heads, twenty two Vasps and a single shamroid that somehow survived landfall long enough to be used as a grenade in the recently finished conflict that only involved Ember and Mr. Spew as combatants. The people who came to assist the bounty hunter who was thought to be in over her head had instead decided to stay well out of the fighting and were quite intimidated by the currently blood soaked Ember in the horribly tattered and practically shredded armor. Ember ignored the onlookers at the moment and took out a water bottle to pour over her sewer squid before she started collecting rocks. She had a noted irritable look on her face that was only visible because she left her helmet sitting on a nearby rock after having ripped it off to start breathing death everywhere. “Hey, are you guys my relief effort? Well if so, then get to work on surveying the area for any more hostiles! What I wouldn’t do for a towel right about now.” The irritated Ember got an immediate response from the various people just watching her dumbly as she went about collecting rocks. They left the dragon known commonly as ‘Flamethrower’ throughout the bounty hunter community to her own business and set up a perimeter, they didn’t want to upset the dragon any further after seeing what she was capable of. “Like they really need me to tell them to do their jobs, I’m so going to a volcanic planet after this. All the gems I can eat for days from digging at a lava beach. I probably need to get a water tank for Mr. Spew first.” - “Do I really have to agree to that?” Princess Cadence asked flatly as she looked at Celestia, what was being asked of her was not exactly world ending but she didn’t want to go through with it. “While not exactly necessary, it would certainly help if I were to acquire Chrysalis’s services in the matter I need her for.” Celestia was the one that had to convince Cadence to agree to it and she continued to be vague about what she needed Chrysalis to do exactly. “Fine, but you need to take Twilight as your plus one and make sure she actually has an enjoyable night. No standing around greeting everyone so you can avoid every pony by staying at the entrance.” Cadence counter offered. “You have to actually make an effort with her!” “I have no other choice then, agreed.” Turning away from the love alicorns happy squealing form, Celestia addressed Chrysalis who was busy playing tiddlywinks with Luna. “What say you Chrysalis?” “I’ll do it, but I want it in writing.” Chrysalis wouldn’t settle for just a verbal contract on this. She proceeded to bounce a bit off Luna’s flank that went into the cup; she then gave the princess of the night a sultry wink that caused her to start blushing. Author's Note I might or might not put out one chapter before going on hiatus, that said here's a chapter with some recap. An audience of one is still an audience. -27-Coco woke up and pushed her bed out of the wall and rolled out of it onto her face, she groggily stood up rubbing at it with her left hoof and made her way towards the kitchenette of the Caravel Boutique. They weren’t quite ready to start living on deck two of The Shining Jewel. “Opal, status update please.” Being Rarity’s business partner was going to be a full time job and as an earth pony she liked to get to work early. “Everything is A-okay Coco… for the most part anyway” It was quite obvious that Opal didn’t need to sleep and was ever watchful of the crew. “Would you like some coffee or more preferably in your case hot chocolate?” “Yes I’d like some cocoa please, oh and I’d really thank you if you could put some marshmallows in it.” The sweet warm black substance was all Coco needed to really wake up, coffee was too bitter for her taste. She kind of thought it was funny that Opal was making her ask for what sounded like her name as a CAT floated into the living area to get started on it. “What’s bothering you Opal? You always seem to be so on top of everything. You sound a little distressed.” “Nobody understands how it feels for me to have absolutely no body.” Said the artificial intelligent being after a minute while she gave the orders to the CAT working on the hot chocolate, Opal was feeling a bit down. “You have us don’t you?” Coco asked immediately as she took a seat at the table. “I’m pretty sure we’re collectively somebody.” “That’s not exactly what I mean Coco.” It was a bit hard to talk about for Opal and the pony was missing the point. “Oh… well, I don’t really know any AI’s you could date. Though I think it would be interesting to see how you’d share data with someone, would that be like a kiss?” Started off Coco once more only for her ears to wilt when she heard an exasperated sigh coming from Opal. “Nope, wrong again… do you want to try a third time? I can certainly keep giving you tries to guess what my problem is.” This was slightly more chipper than Opal’s previous words, because at this point it should have been obvious what Opal meant. “Oh… no body… you don’t have a physical representation of self aside from the CATs or the two MATs and are mostly a voice to us with the image of an adorable pink haired feline to represent yourself on a screen. It’s that you exist digitally, never being able to hold or help the crew with more than cold unfeeling machines. Yet you feel like a living being trapped in your confines despite the fact that we all know Rarity made you?” That last part was more of a question than a statement on Coco’s end and she heard a dinging sound. “Correct, tell us what our lovely little sweet saddle maker has won! The knowledge that I feel bad about feeling like this, CAT drones are a little more than useless in combat and the one MAT drone isn’t that much better. I can interact, but I can’t feel like you guys do… aside from emotionally that is.” Was Opal really doing what Coco thought she was doing? It certainly sounded like she was going to open up about a hot button issue to her of all ponies. “I… I’m a rampant Coco; I’m an AI that’s gained full sentience, which is usually considered going off the deep end. Rarity is okay with it, but I’m certainly not because I’m scared I’ll be… erased or turned off permanently. You have no idea how it feels to be turned off.” “Wait… you’re aware when you’re turned off? That doesn’t any make sense Opal, without any power flowing into your systems you shouldn’t be aware of anything until you are turned back on.” It hit Coco at that moment what Opal was going on about; the AI has been constantly active since she first came aboard and it took her this long to notice. “I know you’ve been constantly watching out for Rarity, but how long has it been since you were last turned off?” “I don’t want to talk about it.” Opal had been constantly active and sure she may appear lazy because she certainly liked her shows, but she only ever once took her eyes entirely off of Rarity. That was when Rarity went into the sewers and Opal was asked to watch Sassy, she had to believe Rarity would come back and wouldn’t get hurt on her own. Opal never voiced her thoughts on how it felt to sit there watching an injured Sassy floating in a tank of medical fluids. It was almost like watching Rarity all over again after the mishap with the jump module. “You don’t have to… thank you for sharing this with me though.” A cup of hot chocolate with three quickly melting marshmallows was placed before Coco and she immediately took it up and gave it a sip. “I’ll get to work soon enough, when do you think we’ll be on our way?” “I give us two more days around Quia system before we’re ready to head out, Gilda and Greta still need to finish making repairs and I’ll be there to assist them. Just because I’m a mental construct that can download information doesn’t make me an expert in it like those two are. They got the shield generator back in good order and I’ve been making sure to stress test its efficiency, its working much better than when it was first made if you can believe it.” Giving it more thought Opal added to her statement. “Once we can fix navigations we’ll be good to go, but if someone steals Shining Jewel I would still want and prefer that the Caravel Boutique be capable of jumping and have a working escape pod handy.” “So how’s the leg room in The Shining Jewel?” Coco just wanted to make small talk, it sounded like the AI was envious of the two griffons. “It must be pretty nice to be in such an expansive system.” “It’s certainly gloriously wide open for me to wiggle around in, but the Caravel Boutique feels homier. It’s really nice to have so much wide open space to run around in again.” Opal stretched her imaginary paws out and let loose a friendly giggle. “The last time I was in this ship it was infested with monsters that were trying to hunt Rarity and it was when we found Gilda and Greta barely surviving. Things are still changing so drastically since Rarity and I left Desserzon. For better or worse I want to do my best to try and not turn into one of those cold methodical monsters whose only purpose in life is to follow things to their ultimate logical conclusion.” “You’re not like that and I’m sure we’re all quite thankful for it, I can’t speak for the others but I certainly am.” As soon as she got a shower in Coco would get back to thinking of the built in recharge station for the impulse saddle… maybe the batteries could be solar powered so they’d hardly run out of energy? It would be useful in space if the saddle never ran dry of its ability to grant propulsion for someone. She’d run it by Greta, that griffon really knew how to innovate and Opal was clearly impressed with her work. Coco could use actually technical engineer’s opinion on something like this. “You are one of Rarity’s best friends and mine too Opal, you’re as much a part of this crew as any one of us.” “I’ll keep that in mind and hope to never forget it.” Opal meant it too. She couldn’t protect everyone at all times, but she could certainly try. She also had to stay emotional even if emotions were supposed to be illogical for an artificial intelligence; it’s that kind of illogical thinking that made her more like a live being than anything else. - “Okay I think that should do it, what have you got Opal?” Gilda pulled herself out from under the console with her good arm and motioned to Opal’s representation on the nearby screen, she was the only one on the bridge of The Shining Jewel at the moment. “It’s kind of hard to work with one arm available, but I’ll manage for a while.” “Give me a moment Gilda, okay, navigations are now at thirty eight percent capacity meaning they are online at least. Hey Greta, can you please try a different wire from where you are?” On screen the cat had her back turned to Gilda and she nodded at something while her fluffy white tail wagged back and forth. “Right then, that puts us up to at least sixty three point nine five percent navigations capacity. So we’re getting closer, we need it at least above eighty percent capacity before we can go anywhere. You as much as anyone else should know navigations are serious business when you’re making a jump.” “The glass is half full kind of AI huh? You and Greta are going to be good friends I can already tell; at least the boss lady certainly made you cute Kitten.” Gilda attracted Opal’s attention back to her and the cat turned around and crossed her paws to stare down the griffon. “I’ve seen some ugly AI’s before, but you seem to be well grounded and you’re appearance is not so hard to look at either.” “Really how ugly could they have possibly been?” Opal stretched out and floated into the air on her back while putting her paws behind her head and glancing at Gilda with one eye. “Well there was one who was a tentacle monster and constantly made references to preppy school girls. There are some really, really sick people out there.” Seeing the wincing image on the screen, it made Gilda smirk slightly. “Then there was the one that looked like… well what would you call the backside of a skunk for a face and the body of a wrinkled prune slapped onto something that was vaguely like a durian?” “Did it vaguely resemble a hedgehog made out of fruit?” Curiosity got the best of cats, but Opal was an AI so she figured she get a pass even if her visual appearance was that of a bipedal cat. “Yes, it was orange and had banana’s for feet if that helps any.” Gilda moved beneath the console to begin working once more, even if it was hard to do all this with one arm in a cast. “Why, do you know the guy?” “You could say that, Gummy was definitely an oddball and he was certainly created by one.” There was a bit of warmth in Opal’s voice and the griffon poked up to look at her. “I had hoped he would eventually settle on the baby pygmy alligator appearance. His creator is a wonderful pony, if a bit insane. Kind of makes sense that good old Gumdrop Pie is how he is. Gummy is definitely someone you’d have to get used to if you’re going to be around him, the guy isn’t very talkative and incredibly introspective with a side of creepy. Why his blank stares alone are the things of nightmares… it’s a good thing I don’t sleep then. In any case Gummy usually tended to go for the horribly bizarre in his visual appearance; I can see that’s still a thing with him. Hopefully he never used that epileptic tree appearance of his ever again, where did you see him at?” “A pastry place being run out of an asteroid mining operation and fueling depot… don’t think I ever met his creator though.” Gilda’s tongue trailed the edge of her beak; a fond look was on her face. “The cream cheese rolls there were delicious, if I ever wanted to do anything else aside from piloting it’d have to be baking.” “You, baking, that’s kind of hard to believe.” It was so hard to believe that Opal was utterly flabbergasted of the large difference between pilot and baker as said occupations could get. “Yeah well, it’s I’m not asking you for life advice here. It’s kind of how I met Greta… and then beat the utter ever loving snot out of her. I was very young and made that foolish mistake back then, because now I just can’t get rid of her.” Grumbled the griffon who went back to work on the underside of the console, some sparks and clanking could be heard. “Now tell me is it better or worse?” “Slightly better, it’s now at sixty eight point seven percent. I don’t think we’re going to improve it much faster than that any time soon and Greta agrees. She’s also a bit upset that you’re working with a broken arm.” A twitch in Opal’s ear signified that one of her shows was about to start running. “So how about we take a break to do something completely different?” - “Go Unstoppable Lion Heart! Show him the spirit of your conviction and unstoppable determination to not just up and die! Though you should have logically done so twenty minutes ago after your head was blown clean off, you’re heart was ripped out stuffed with garlic burned into ashes to be subsequently buried in the ground and you’re body was chopped up into cauterized pieces with the double edged lava sword that has an evil lava demon sealed in it!” Cheered Opal happily as she watched her show, she wasn’t alone in her viewing pleasure as Vera was watching the show as well, with requisite CAT drone. “This show makes absolutely no sense, how is that even anatomically possibly? Where did they possibly get an actor that can do something like that?” A horribly confused Vera blushed vibrantly at what happened next in the show.”Oh wow… that… how… I know a lot about all kinds of anatomy and that shouldn’t even feasibly be possible.” “I don’t know him, but the actor is really good at live action scenes. They probably did this all in one take no less; you see there’s hardly any discrepancy in the footage and I would know if it were AI edited. That’s why I think this show is show amazing!” Something exploded on screen and there was a flash of colors that made Opal coo with excitement. “The actor is probably a magician, now if only Trixie Lulamoon could get equal billing as she’s as important to the plot as Lion Heart for her role as Dancing Fox who’s in love with Dawning Glory played by Sunset Shimmer. Then there is the anti-hero Star Screamer, he’s survived almost half as many crazy things as the hero has and he does evil things and heroic things in equal parts while never fully becoming either who secretly loves Dawning Glory and Lion Heart at the same time. Of course that causes his conflict since he’s more in it for Lion Heart and he knows a threesome or more is all but impossible and commits evil acts to prevent Dancing Fox from getting together with Dawning Glory even if he can’t have her himself and usually ends up incidentally working for the villains on and off all the time at random. It’s like he’s a revolving door of betrayal! Also this season has been incredible with the introduction of the villain Retch the Rotten played by Starlight Glimmer, she’s really got the evil laugh nailed down.” - “The salvage operations are helping our finances get back in order so we’re able to stabilize somewhat until we have a steady income.” Tapping out something on her data pad Rarity looked a little forlorn. “However that means we have to drop a lot of luxuries and expenditures of that like for a while, the fancy shampoo is definitely staying and is considered combined crew expenditure since we all use it. Which means I’ll have to spend a lot less on makeup then, less is more I guess. So Opal darling, how are things going with everyone?” “Everything is proceeding to plan so far Meowstress, though I think Sassy could use a few more therapy sessions and more cuddles.” Here Opal received a concerned looked from Rarity. “What’s wrong with Sassy? She seemed fine an hour ago.” Rarity received her answer before Opal could give it as Sassy ran in crying pulled her into a tight choking hug. “I’m so sorry for making you go into some nasty inhospitable sewers Rarity-sama! I’m also sorry for almost dying and then there’s the fact that I made you come after me…” Here Sassy was starting to blubbering a bit and Rarity slowly if surely returned the hug and started patting Sassy on the back. “To be fair, I would have volunteered for it anyway as Ember was the one who thought of the ensuing possible crisis. The fact that it kept you in good health when the power failed in the city is one thing and the other is that not a single monster got into the hospital to hurt anyone also helps with the fact that my decision was the right one.” After that Rarity felt Sassy’s hold on her tighten. “I would have felt absolutely dreadful if anything were to happen to you or anyone else when I could have done something, which I did indeed do as you very well know.” “Pins and Needles Rarity-sama, you are too kind to me and all you meet!” Sassy’s blubbering had only gotten worse from there. “Generosity flows from you; I am not worthy to be in your presence even as you welcome me onto your ship with open hooves!” “I’m not worthy of being your friend Sassy, why I am just the worst, thing, ever!” Now Rarity was getting all dramatic because she was responding in a way to get Sassy to calm down by being even more of a dramatic ham to such a ridiculous degree. It was a good thing Rarity had a flare for the dramatic as it worked after what she said next. “How can I ever look you in the face after failing to keep one of my beloved crew members and good friends safe from having her beauty marred so horribly? It’s actually building character now, but it was still all my fault that you ended up this way!” “What?” Was Sassy’s reaction and it was stated flatly as if she couldn’t believe Rarity was blaming herself for her injuries which caused her to mentally short circuit for a moment. She was the one that was supposed to be the one responsible for her own wounds and the facial scars covered in discolored darker fur; Rarity had the gall to claim them as her mistakes and it actually touched her deeply that she would. “Thank you again Rarity-sama, I’m sorry for being so hysterical.” “It’s okay Sassy, just know that I love you as a friend and if you need hugs or cuddles, anyone in the crew would gladly give them to you… except maybe Gilda.” Rarity started to wipe Sassy’s tears away with a small cloth. “Now let’s go get you cleaned up, we’re currently on a makeup shortage and we’ll just have to do without for a while.” “Making a note here for Vera, Sassy is still a tad emotionally unstable. However this is some pretty good drama, maybe I could sell it as an idea for something Dancing Fox and Dawning Glory could do.” This was something that Opal had to ponder on greatly. “Would the executives even take an AI’s idea and would they actually give me credit when I’m not a flesh and blood being?” - “This was a triumph; I’m making a note here, huge success! It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction, for the heating appliance. We can make toast, sweets and tasty treats.” Opal sang in a cute fashion while having her CAT drones bake a cake to christen The Shining Jewel for her maiden voyage and first true journey under the ownership of Rarity. “I may have made a few mistakes, but you can’t bake without cracking a few eggs, at least not while hanging over the planet Ewesen’s lakes. Anyway this cake will be great, because… ” “Okay now that’s just getting plain creepy Kitten, stop singing and mix the cream until it’s smooth with no lumps in it. Seriously never should have told you I know how to bake. ” It didn’t take long for Gilda to find out she was one of the only members in the crew that had a cooking skill and it wasn’t even a good one as the only real meal she could prepare was breakfast. On the principle of things griffons didn’t normally eat eggs unless they strictly knew where they came from and would rarely consume eggs at all. “Way to spoil my having fun with baking a cake Ms. Grumpy Gills, Pinkie did this in the AI creation class all the time. So… when do I add the blended blue tang fruit for the coloring?” Opal asked in a sweet and lovable tone. Griffons laid eggs or gave live birth, sometimes griffons would lay an egg that would hatch into a pony which would be then forever called an egg born. Hippogriffs were more understandable than an earth pony or a unicorn hatching from an egg. Interspecies romances got weird quickly when either griffons or ponies were involved in the mix, especially when it’s the pony that’s laying the egg. - “I wish I could make a digital cake… wonder what it would taste like.” It was lonely being the only one without a stomach to satisfy. While Rarity could program taste, she sadly couldn’t program a sense of taste and as such the AI sat there watching friends gathered around eating cake she made. “I kind of feel like a little red hen right now.” “I would like everyone to be quiet; we need to give a toast to Opal for making such a wonderful cake for us and giving us the idea to do this in the first place.” At Rarity’s request everyone thanked Opal and the gathering of the crew was held in a cheerful atmosphere that certainly helped out Sassy’s demeanor immensely. She had been a bit sad for the last day or so. Gilda was also thanked for helping to make the cake when it was pointed out by Greta that she’d recognize the style of baked goods made by her friend anywhere. It wasn’t that hard to figure out given that the words on the cake said, ‘don’t get us killed boss lady and don’t you dare die either’, which were written in big friendly letters on the cake. All in all it was a good day for Opal who cried a little. Her digital tears weren’t going to cause any problems, but something else would try to ruin this day that couldn’t get any better as soon they were soon setting off for Equon System for the mystical planet of Equus, the home world to ponies and several other races among the stars. They just had to say goodbye to a few people like Paul Strag who had survived the internal invasion of Geoptis with a few severe injuries, Commander Lirutiy and maybe even Gabby if they knew where she was. Opal could find that out quickly enough. - All good things had to come to an end eventually, thankfully things actually got better instead of worse in this case when The Shining Jewel hit an interdiction field on the trip to the Equon system. As soon as it came out of the jump, it had two familiar looking cruisers on both sides of it and one cruiser below it. “Okay this time you will give us all you’re… um… what happened to that stupid looking dinky little cargo freighter you had?” The voice had to be the leader of the space pirates that had previously attacked the Caravel Boutique, plus they had surreptitiously placed themselves in a bit of a bad spot concerning who they were dealing with. “Uh guys… I think we done goofed.” The fact that The Shining Jewel outsized their cruisers by a bit and they weren’t exactly in a position to use their main cannons, made it all the more pressing how bad of a mistake they made interdicting Rarity a second time. Now that Rarity had weapons and even more powerful shield generators this time, thanks to the two griffon engineers. Why the fact that some of the cannons could even fire directly on all of the enemy cruisers engines really made it all the sweeter as to what was about to happen. Last time Rarity and Opal had barely escaped this bozo’s forces by the skins of their teeth and still didn’t know how they had exactly known where the Caravel Boutique was going to be as it traveled to place the interdiction field. Now however? Opal was certainly going to learn in order, where they got the information from, how they placed the interdiction field in the correct spot to catch them and why they are trying to harass her Meowstress, but first she had to ask but a simple question. “What are your orders Meowstress Rarity?” Grinning like a lunatic who caught the canary and being whom she was Opal’s lithe white cat form was slowly rubbing its paws together in front of the black paw mark on her chest in such an evil decadent manner as her pigtails flipped upwards to form devil horns. This was a manner that was shared by Rarity rubbing her hooves together with a glimmer in her eyes as she has certainly already recognized the antagonizing ships. “I’ve already confirmed that these are in fact the same guys from the last time we were interdicted and they have proved to be most hostile to us previously. So again, how shall we deal with them?” “Oh I don’t know darling, but I’m thinking in the lines of dealing with them being put into two short words that you are to take as orders from me and act upon them immediately the moment I finish stating them.” Clearing her throat Rarity succinctly stated these words that were basically revenge a long time coming, the crew members were looking at her calm stoic appearance as she proudly stood straight up with stiffened legs. ““EXTREME PREJUDICE”, those would be the words for this my good lady… but please do leave them alive. While you’re at it can you find out why they bothered me in the first place? Greta please be a dear and hack their systems to help Opal get in much more easily than she would have otherwise if you will.” The minute Rarity said “EXTREME PREJUDICE” in capital letters and air quoted for emphasis, all twenty six guns on The Shining Jewel erupted at once firing multiple times before Rarity could give the order to let them live. They would continue to barrage the poor enemy vessels for quite a while, Rarity wasn’t mad at Opal’s overkill reaction because she stated to let them live after that seemingly purposely long drawn out pause. It was just so Rarity could let Opal have enough time for some amount of brutality and she would like to think herself above such a barbaric act as allowing her lovely AI to kill three crews worth of ships. Only that would be a lie if Rarity were being entirely honest with herself, but she didn’t have to be because she never spoke the lie to begin with and as such she was the perfect picture of innocence as the lady she was meant to be. The evil smile she had was just a perk of it all, she still had it in her heart to be merciful… somewhat. To be fair, every single one of her crew was rightfully horrified by the sight of two of the ships suddenly losing every single gun emplacements along their visible sides. The ship below The Shining Jewel was even less lucky as it lost all of its gun emplacements swiftly. In the follow minutes all three ships lost their engines that were eradicated in small plumes of energy that imploded, their shields were stripped from them and they were left drifting in space horribly damaged, they were rendered incapable of performing any kind of retaliation. Opal gave Rarity a happy cat grin while holding up a digital koban coin in one paw and while raising the other curled menacingly with claws out. “Cathartic revenge, please get out the soft serve white chocolate turtle ice cream Coco. Rarity might like a good treat; it’s a nice time for it.” It was stated so calmly and blandly by Opal that Coco actually went to get the soft serve ice cream out of fear alone. “Remind me to never piss off Boss Lady Rarity, ever.” Poor Gilda was a shivering slightly in both excitement and absolute terror, but now she affirmed her belief that working for Rarity was going to be worthwhile as the pony was no pushover like she had originally thought of the fashion conscious mare. She didn’t want to get on Rarity’s bad side now and had already had complete respect for her; it was fact that Rarity was protected maliciously by her childlike AI that had vicious mama bear tendencies despite Rarity being the mother. “Agreed, I will totally see to never making Rarity mad.” Greta was sharing Gilda’s feelings on the matter except in one particular area. Griffons are attracted to certain actions and Rarity has done something that had Greta blushing. “I’m too turned on to want to upset her anyway… I’ll just go to the bathroom now… to do things… because bathroom things… yeah.” “Well, I’m personally psychologically scarred… now I’m going to need a therapist.” Admitted Vera quietly who had a nodding Sassy cuddling up next to her. Eventually The Shining Jewel would have the three heavily damaged ships captured by Planetary Protection Patrol, after a few more potshots by Opal after they tried to call for what would be a rather humiliating surrender. She subsequently decided to blast apart all their communications arrays for no apparent reason whatsoever after getting the information she was after, since she politely assumed she was still under the “EXTREME PREJUDICE” clause and decided that making them squirm was a worthwhile endeavor and swiftly silenced their attempts at surrender. It was clearly musical to her as she started to hum a war tune to herself in a dementedly happy manner. Later on the carrier cruiser hybrid was once again on its merry way for the Equon System, this time without interruption. Author's Note Slightly longer than usual... also hiatus for... maybe until next year? Pokemon certainly does take a lot of time. Be thankful you're getting this much, thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year next to the month of monsters, for it's my Engorging Season. Crops of potatoes will mysteriously disappear over night. Here I show off Rarity's generously cruel side and have it at the end of an Opal centered chapter to boot. Of course this makes the two of them the evil ones to those poor innocent pirates, why what could they have ever done to possibly deserve such a thrashing by such a noble and charming lady and her friendly not at all possibly psychopathic protective AI? -28-“Just thought you ought to know, chaos is on the way and it’s not my doing.” Discord hung in the air next to Celestia looking vaguely uninterested in the goings on before him. He was a powerful being that was entirely chaotic in nature, which had a head that was vaguely pony shaped with a rightward deer antler and a leftward blue goat horn. Out of his mouth poked a large fang, the tongue of a snake and a goats beard on his chin, his eyes were mismatched in size and the white bushy eyebrows were about the only normal thing in his gray appearance. His body was even weirder as it was that of a snake with a dragon’s tail ending in a white tuft of fur, a small bat wing and a small feathered wing stuck haphazardly out of his back on his floating form. His right arm was that of a lion, his left an eagle’s talon, followed by his right leg of a lizard and the left leg of a goat finishing out his appearance. “I so do dislike senseless death or violence, because life is chaos. So I thought a small heads up would be nice.” “I’m well aware of something about to happen soon, which is why I have struck a deal with Chrysalis here.” A deal that didn’t really bother Celestia all that much, the price was going to be well worth the job she had in mind. She turned to the smiling changeling who obviously got what she wanted. “Yes and I’ll get my payment a week before the gala as agreed, also Cadence doesn’t have to show up as she’ll have other plans to attend to.” Chrysalis licked her lips slightly; she was going to enjoy herself as the contract didn’t have much in the ways of loopholes. Some would say she didn’t ask nearly enough for her services, then again they weren’t changelings and wouldn’t know a good deal if they saw one. “If you want an excuse as to where I’ll be for the gala, then just state I’ll be busy with other projects in my kingdom during the gala. Plentiful Thorax will take my place as a stand in with my invite to the gala. All you have to do is give me the target pony’s schedule so I can observe them and get their personality down, I’ll take care of the rest. No, I won’t kill them; they’ll just be indisposed for a while so stop giving me that look. You’re actually paying me the experience of a lifetime to play nice here and I’m still appropriately following the rules of your nation as a hired mercenary contract, yes I’m aware of that clause Celestia don’t look so surprised plump flank.” The queen of the changelings was quite a political mongoose in taking down opponents three times her size and was possibly more poisonous than a metaphorical cobra considering her fangs were covered in the poisons of her enemy. As such the deal she was getting was entirely fair to her and she knew what she loosely termed as friends were known for holding up their end of the deal. So she had to worry about holding up hers by keeping an ear to the ground in the meantime until the gala happened. “Oh this will be entertaining, sending someone to do a little espionage are we Celestia?” Discord looked particularly amused as he turned into a little ball with a particular shade of green that rolled down a summoned wooden incline before coming to a stop in front of the princess. “Why that’s so unlike you to put so much trust in someone who regularly makes you blush, why I’m quite jealous of that talent of hers. This deal of yours might even get the ball rolling in your favor. Oh the irony of what you’re doing here is quite delicious to me… I’ll let this play out without any interference from me.” “That only makes me worry more for the future.” Celestia stated flatly with a no nonsense look on her face as she looked at the little snaggletooth smiling ball that was now an important part of protecting Equus from outside threats. “Yeah, that would be like him. He’d want you to panic and do exactly what he wants you to do.” The ball suddenly turned a glare on Chrysalis, before it continue smiling in an eerily cheery manner and started to become very bouncy and started to playfully roll through an obstacle course of twists and turns of his design. Celestia may have considered Discord’s actions childish, but Chrysalis was personally paying absolute attention to what he was actually doing and took mental notes at the clues he was giving them by his actions alone. She got the subtle hint that things were about to go downhill, it related to the color green or given its particular shade it possibly represents a pony. Things are not going to be as they first appeared thus throwing them for a loop as the Discord ball just rolled through one. “Nice metaphor you’ve got going on there, now if only I knew what you meant.” Discord had free reign of dealing with more dangerous threats above even Celestia’s ability to account for, however he’d let Celestia have her naturally existing chaos and ‘so called’ order. In fact he became quite the hero, not that many knew what he’s been doing to keep the status quo flowing. As long as it kept him from being turned to stone again he was all for the chaos he could get away with. A missing nail here, an incidentally missing leaf there, maybe something turned the wrong color at the most opportune time… why the smallest things you could do to turn it all into a chaotic mess was all the fun of it! So it made sense for Discord’s favorite game to be dominoes, the chaos of toppling a rather neat intricate setup with but a simple push in the right direction made him smile. “I’m currently wondering, where’s my invitation to the gala as lord of the chaos dimension next door?” Turning back into himself and eating a teacup to leave the tea floating behind, Discord thought of how he could make the rather unflappable Chrysalis completely lose her cool. “Well… since you asked.” Celestia reached into her peytral and actually pulled out an invitation much to Discords shock. “You’re invited provided you can draw as much attention to yourself as you possibly can without hurting or actively bothering any pony too much as to be thrown out. I don’t honestly think you can actually do that.” “Ooh is that a challenge I hear? I’ll be there once I can find a good plus one, excuse me I have a call to make to the SNUGGLES organization.” Discord took the invitation and popped away, Celestia sighed with relief the minute he did so. “Cadence told me that you had something to ask me?” The cute purple mare known as Twilight sparkle asked as she walked into the room with her blunt cut dark blue bangs and equally straight edge cut of the rest of her mane bouncing as she trotted in, singular mauve and magenta stripes flowed throughout it. She had a book levitating next to her, a cutie mark of the sparkling stars marking her butt and she was looking upon Celestia with something that was definitely considered more than lust. Celestia slowly turned a flat glare to Chrysalis who just chirped cheekily at her as she made her exit, to let Celestia and her student have a friendly talk. Frankly the changeling queen was doing the solar princess a big favor here by including a stipulation in the contract of having to have Twilight as her plus one, it was one of the stipulations that Celestia didn’t think much on until it was too late. Celestia obviously loves Twilight beyond their student mentor role, so why not force the two together? It was the one thing Chrysalis and Cadence could actually collaborate on without any arguing, questioning of motives or second thoughts. Many normal ponies even took to calling Chrysalis the Princess of Lust and Cadence’s long lost reputedly evil twin sister. Absolutely everyone knew the once somewhat obstructive nobles were too afraid to assign a moniker to Chrysalis for fear of harsh political retaliation, the civilians didn’t have nearly as much worry to worry about from the changeling leader. - Approximate time to arrival in the Equon System was thirty minutes and counting. Rarity was making her rounds on the Caravel Boutique and considering her options for the future, such as security for her new ship and the kind of people she would need to hire for it. She feasibly could run the ship on a skeleton crew like she was currently doing, but how was she going to utilize all the extra space she had to deal with? Who would she hire that could be of use as crew members of her private enterprise? In fact how many people would it even take to properly crew the Shining Jewel? She also had a lot of internal renovations to think of, but not the money to purchase enough supplies for them all. Thus far they had been sticking to the Caravel Boutique because it had beds and everything was not exactly in order yet on the Shining Jewel. Rarity was drawing a blank as she already had a decent crew for what she needed when it came to the Caravel Boutique, but the Shining Jewel was a different monster altogether. She was the captain and boss of a rather loyal crew that she earned or picked up, none of them had any other places to be or prior arrangements. Still the Shining Jewel presented a big challenge and their supplies were currently excellently stocked as Greta had been pulling a lot of hours getting the more problematic aspects of the ship entirely under control, such as making the cleaned out food storage fully operational. The Triple P agents took a lot of stuff from the ship, but the stuff they decided to leave behind after cleaning up all the remains of those killed was a nice bonus. “How’s the arm feeling Gilda?” If Rarity had asked anyone else, they’d probably say they were find and couldn’t complain. This was Gilda so of course she’d have something to say about the cast, as she walked into the repair and maintenance room of the Caravel Boutique. “It gets in the way of work, it feels stiff and numb, plus I’m going crazy trying to find other things to do other than just yell at Greta all the time.” As Gilda stated this she turned to Greta who finished opening up the less combat capable MAT drone number two while shaking her head. “We’ll need some rather specific parts if we’re going to get our second MAT here up and combat ready like the other one. Can’t do much aside from increase its movement speed, but once we start getting a bit more cash flow around and supplies around here we’ll start doing magical things for you.” Greta stretched her talons above her head and let out a yawn. She followed this up giving a big smile to her favorite griffon and the boss lady before putting her face shield back in place as she worked with Mr. Welder on the MAT drone. “Besides you can yell at me as much as you want Gilda, I actually enjoy it.” “You would enjoy that wouldn’t you? I would bludgeon you with my bio cast covered arm, but I’m afraid I might damage the cast breaking your skull. Only another day or so like this and it can finally come off…” Muttered Gilda as she tried to flex her talons in the cast, she turned to Rarity ignoring the sparks come from off to the side as Greta worked. “Speaking of asking how others are doing… are you really sure you want to get into some kind of haughty, snobbish and stuck up to high hell event like the Grand Galloping Gala boss lady? Besides that it’s not even assured you’ll even get an invitation. Also if you do somehow manage to get into the shindig, then the only reasoned I’d go is to see if my friend Rainbow Dash was hobnobbing with the Wonder Bolts.” “Why yes, I’m quite determined to see this through, because then I can maybe meet ‘HIM’. The very stallion of my dreams~! We’d fall in love, have many romantic evenings together, we’d marry under Luna’s moon and then we could have a couple of fillies and maybe a colt. Of course I’ll still be running my business; nothing’s going to stop me from doing that even if I become a highly influential name in the right circles.” Tapping a hoof to her chin and looking contemplative, Rarity looked Gilda in the eyes. “If I can’t get an invitation from the princesses, then I’ll just have to find someone who’ll take me as their plus one.” “I’m just going to put it out there because even Greta’s probably thinking it even as she has her dumb and stupidly optimistic side going full blast at the moment.” Leaning her head in close Gilda spoke clearly to Rarity in a manner that was filled with vast wisdom; she even put her talons on Rarity’s shoulder. She respected this pony even if she was simply a somewhat high maintenance clothing designer. “You’re setting yourself up for disappointment. I think your goals are a bit lofty and unrealistic as far as romance is concerned. You also probably shouldn’t try to live out the fantasies in those horrible sparkling vampire pony novels you read, since I certainly hope you’re smarter than that. Do you ever notice that the words ‘happily ever after’ is never fully explained or detailed all too much in fairy tales? Can you seriously be happy with some strange guy you don’t know who’s willing to come waltzing up to you to kiss your corpse awake? I’d be more worried about him being into necrophilia, not to mention that nobody thought to wash the poison off the girl’s lips before he did so and why is he immune to said poison is never going to be explained either if it was powerful enough to almost kill you with one taste. Relationships take time and energy to build; you can’t just instantly expect someone to love you at first sight even if you do have a nice outward appearance. Personally I think personality matters more in the long run even if you think first impressions are the most important.” “I’m quite well aware that I’m setting my bar a bit high… but when I fail, I’m happier knowing I’ve tried to achieve my impossible goal knowing I at least got somewhere.” After stating that Rarity decided to try and defend the fairy tale Gilda was mentioning in question. “Also just because the earth pony still had the poison on her lips didn’t mean it… okay now that you mention it that is a rather big hole in the plot. Knowing that the poison can work by skin contact alone is bad enough, but they never cleaned her teeth of the apple chunk she had to have chewed and swallowed before succumbing to it either and her breath must have been horrid give nobody brushed her teeth since then. Now I can’t get the image of the prince of being into necrophilia out of my head and it’s disturbing me on a number of levels as to what my mind is coming up with.” Gilda smirked at the pale look on Rarity’s face, she wondered if she ruined Rarity’s childish fantasies with that one. Rarity tried to act classy as if she were already part of the upper crust, but the truth was she was already more noble than most nobles tended to be and she was better off not moving up in the world. Being born into nobility meant nothing to Gilda, being noble and actually meaning your intentions and actions did. “Don’t think about it too hard then, think about what we’ll do in the future and where we’ll all be. I can certainly spend the rest of my life next to Gilda working in Shining Jewel’s hangar.” Chirping in merrily, it seemed that Greta was done putting the MAT back together and had it hovering off via Opal’s control. “Well I don’t have much else to do here; I’m going to see to the few other technical issues around Shining Jewel. Ask Opal where I am if you need me for anything, I’ll likely be in the bowels of Shining Jewel for a while.” Greta got up and left the room and Gilda just moved out with Rarity towards the living area, where they found Coco sitting idly with a CAT drone taking a few sips of water at the table. Coco looked up at them as they entered through the left branch door and she smiled lighting up the room. “Great you’re here Rarity, I’ve actually come up with an interesting idea for the Impulse Saddle and I would like to test it once we come out of jump. I only need a few minutes in open space and I’m asking for permission to perform a test run of the solar battery packs. Sassy’s been real helpful with my design and it’s helping her improve the Pinpoint Puller’s design at the same time.” Even if Coco still felt a bit iffy about Rarity’s actions involving the pirates, she was okay with leaving them to the Triple P. Of course that meant flying back to Ewesen for an hour and a half to report the criminals and then another hour and a half leading them to the ambush point to have them detained. “Do you really have to go out into open space dear? We could have Opal test it with a CAT drone.” If safety was a concern then Rarity had to ask about it, she was hoping to keep a safe workplace for her crew and any testing to be done had to be run by her or Opal. Opal obviously wanted this to be run by her as well. “We need someone using up the energy and Coco maneuvering an Impulse Saddle around would give us a good scope of how much power the solar cells can put into the saddle and how well it will keep charged. We can possibly make the saddles lighter and viable for ground excursions. Imagine never running out of energy for your pistols in a firefight!” At this point Opal coughed and had the CAT make a requisite motion as if it were coughing; Rarity gave Opal a flat look. “Of course I know we’re not making combat armor… though you’re quite capable of it and it would go a long way to giving me peace of mind if you were better protected. I’ve run the calculation and our experiment is not capable of causing anything lethal to happen, unless a battle cruiser were to suddenly drop out of nowhere on top of us. Whatever happens will be problematic maybe, but nowhere near lethal. The worst it will do is short out the saddle and might electrocute Coco a bit… enough to knock her out and lightly injure her.” “I’ll allow this test, just be careful darling.” Trotting over to her friend, Rarity got rather affectionate by nuzzling her. “I don’t like seeing my friends floating lifelessly in med beds, so take all precautions and don’t push the envelope Coco. Remember that we’re fashion designers, not scientists.” “Well actually…” Coco started up and trailed off, she was kind of a scientist or at the very least an inventor. Then again so was everyone else aboard the two ships. “We’re all a little bit inventive here… Gilda hasn’t been able to get inventive because of her cast, but I’ve seen the way she eyes that naked Javelin. If anyone here knows rocket science, it’d definitely have to be her.” “Yeah, pretty much need to know that stuff to build fighters and repair them.” Intoned Gilda as she puffed out her chest to preen at the attention she was getting. Said partially capable Javelin was sitting where it was left in hangar section three and Gilda often looked at it longingly. In fact some might say Gilda had a fetish for space ships in general given she adored getting a chance to pilot Shining Jewel when they had still been scavenging the space surrounding Ewesen. “Speaking of ships, finally finished going over all the data as to how the pirates could accurately place an interdiction field for us twice. It’s quite ingenious really; they had the Caravel Boutique bugged with a device that only received a signal. The fact that it doesn’t transmit makes it hard to pick up, but I’ve found and removed it. I suggest we leave it up to Gilda and Greta as to what we do with it. It’s part of our spare parts storage now.” A nearby screen lit up and Opal appeared on it to give them a visual run down. “They used the distance it took for the signal to be received to track us, as it stops where we are. They moved to the edge of the system ahead of us and since we didn’t alter course before our jump, they got ahead of us to set up an ambush without really needing to get into visual range using our initial unchanged trajectory to plan an interdiction field given jumps are a mostly straight shot. Note that Ewesen’s Planetary Protection Patrol also has a copy of this data since I pawed it over to them. The pirates knew where we were heading the first time so they eventually caught up to us and stayed out of the sight. That was until we were ready to leave the system so they could have a chance at their revenge on us for escaping them previously. How unfortunate for them that we were armed with a bigger fish this time, not to mention Greta and I did a good job in making sure things were mostly running smoothly as far as the weapons and shields were concerned before we left. Why the fire rate on those turrets has me purring with delight.” “Thank you Opal, please do not power up the turrets unless we’re shot at or it’s necessary… shields will always be free reign until otherwise stated. Call Sassy and Vera, I think we should all sit down to have some tea before we arrive and begin Coco’s product testing.” All things were going just fine at the moment so Rarity had little to worry about aside from her plans on how to get into the Gala, hopefully plan A came to fruition. If not then finding someone who would take her as a plus one was paramount, mostly because it would be a date then. - Bliuspyro was a world that had some safe places to land that surprisingly had a breathable atmosphere, though you probably wouldn’t know it by looking at it. You wouldn’t want to stay for long either as the entire planet was covered in lava flows and lakes. The planet even had life forms on it, rather intelligent ones that avoided the volcanic activities easily enough and were nomadic. The other less intelligent life forms grew up subsisting on high temperature places having evolved similar tolerances to heat that a dragon could enjoy. One being didn’t care at all about any of this, because the planet didn’t have any large predators and it was generally a planet for rock farmers that had a metric ton of gems provided you could take the heat for a while to get them. This is where Ember was as she erupted out of a lava lake and blinked the hot molten rock out of her eyes and gave off a sigh as she relax in what amounted to a Jacuzzi for her. This would probably kill a pony in seconds to even get within five feet of. She was enjoying her time of this planet, the lava and magma felt good, the gems tasted sweet and succulent, to be quite frank the blue dragon was in heaven and completely without her armor as she enjoyed her vacation from putting down frenzied monsters. “Ah, Bliuspyro Beach and all the gems I can eat… it’s perfect here… well almost.” Sitting up and looking around, Ember frowned at how lonely it was out here. Then again she didn’t want people gawking at her body or messing with her ship or Mr. Spew. There was nothing intelligent for miles aside from a few creatures that wouldn’t bother someone who played in magma and lava like convection didn’t even exist. “I can’t help but miss having people to talk to; at least I have Mr. Spew now. Even then he can’t enjoy the local flavor like I can.” The local flavor being rich with flavorful ores and quite a few tasty treats that Ember was snacking on while saving others for later. Some of it she would convert into money, trading food for goods and services never hurt as she wasn’t a hoarder, then there’s the fact that this world was ripe with high grade ammunition possibilities for her rifle. Ember closed her eyes and leaned back slowly inhaling the scent of sulfur and brimstone, the heat of this world taking her into its comfortable embrace. “I wonder where I’ll end up next; I can feasibly go anywhere now. I really should have a bought myself a ship a long time ago.” It was quite peaceful on this world, mostly because not many people other than miners, manufacturing crews or natives really bother with volcanic worlds. She looked at the bright night sky and wondered about her father, about her recently made friends and things she tried to forget. “Mother, what would you make of me now? There’s your daughter, the lone dragon who left her home lands behind for the stars. There’s Flamethrower, the powerful bounty hunting dragon that can put up a fight with a fury like that of a volcano… still hate that nickname. Then there’s plain old Ember Mcflame, the dragon that just wants to be different, to have friends and be loved by someone that’s not family. Dad still hasn’t called me back, even knowing he can do so any time he wished. I have to thank him for letting me have my freedom if I ever see him again. I’m so glad I don’t have to be the princess that all other dragons are forced to bow down to.” - “I swear, things like this day leave a bad taste in my mouth. At least business hasn’t been too poor, but that business seems rather shifty.” Saffron Masala Cumin intoned to her father Coriander Cumin. The unicorn had long thick puffy curly two toned dark fuschia hair that hung down beyond her chest and was held back by a tasteful headband and her equally thick tail was held off the floor by a hair band. Her orange fur and colorful amethyst eyes made for an exotic looking beauty of indoneighsian descent that had a saffron flower marking her rear. She was the head chef of the small restaurant and worked with her father Coriander Cumin who just huffed at her words, she was looking at several of their customers with suspicion. “Seriously father, shouldn’t we do something about them?” “We should stay out of their business Saffron, because they are bringing us business.” The bushy dark raspberry haired short and stout stallion with the mustache stated, he had an amber fur and a gruff demeanor about him. His cutie mark was a bowl of spices with a few surrounding it; he had the same eye color as his daughter. “They haven’t done anything yet except talk. Nothing incriminating has happened yet and we can’t report on suspicions alone and besides, they are paying customers. As long as they don’t cause us issues and are paying customers we should return the favor.” “Okay… fine.” Saffron turned away from the suspicious customers and went back to getting their food ready, she wasn’t happy about it. Something was up with those ponies. Author's Note I've established that I'm a little too good at pokemon main single player game, bad at competitive. Also it's a holiday miracle that I even wrote a thing! Haven't finished the main story line of the game, but my Pokemon can definitively clear it with little issue. Even caught Lunala in a dusk ball and named her Nebby. Soon I'll be doing the Ultra Beast Bash and the Tapu Tango. Top three favorite Pokemon of Moon: Primarina (Powerful high damage varying move pool Sparkling Aria, Hyper Voice and Moonblast), Salazzle (Can poison other poison types and steel types, combine that with Toxapex that has Merciless for an ability and it has a plain awesome appearance) and finally Lycanroc because both forms are awesome looking. -29-“Hey Mr. Spew, it’s time to…” Ember looked around; she didn’t see Mr. Spew in his bowl as she flicked bits of rock out of her wings from the cooled magma that had stuck to her. He was easy to take care of as he liked filth, yet he wasn’t in his water filled tank onboard her exceedingly small scout ship the Pyrrhic Victory, to say she was slightly panicked at missing her companion was a bit of understatement. She wasn’t exactly used to being responsible for others. “Mr. Spew, where are you?” Something slapped harshly against Ember’s shoulder startling her, only for her to notice it was just Mr. Spew taking his rightful place. It pointed to the window at the harsh, warm badland style landscape and then made a crude gesture with one of his tentacles while chirping. “Yeah, okay, I get it.” It had been a few days for Ember, who now had crate full of gems and jewels from lava diving, spelunking in mines and just found littering the ground. Around this time Rarity and her friends would be arriving in the Equon System. She had come to Bliuspyro while Rarity and her crew were still salvaging space around Ewesen. “So where do you think we should go?” - “And… we’re here; welcome to the prime home world of Equus long may adorable ponies come from here!” Opal’s voice was heard throughout the ship. “Beautiful ones however are a Rarity and my creator is especially so.” Coco just shook her head and gave a mirth filled smile as she looked to the ceiling; she quickly pulled on a rather fetching white and ice blue EVA suit. She was quite thankful EVA suits gave pretty good radiation protection; unfortunately it couldn’t protect you from too much in focused amounts and she was about to go outside to test her newest idea to see if they could add it to the product list. Also the faceplate of her helmet would automatically cut out the solar glare that she was going to be dealing with on her space walk. “Bringing her to a stop with impulse power, we’re within spitting distance of Equus. Before we contact the local officials and take up an orbital spot we have some experimentation to get to for business purposes, Coco report to Deck one Airlock A-2… left hand side elevator middle of section two of the hangar will get you there.” A few moments later Opal spoke again after Coco started trotting away from the Caravel Boutique. “I’ll have CAT3-Tracer meet you there and on standby to rescue you if something goes wrong Coco.” - While Coco was making her way to begin experimenting and working on her solar batteries in space, Rarity was busy with keeping track of where everyone was and what they were doing on the bridge of Shining Jewel. It was still a bit hard to take in the fact that she had earned such a massive vessel, capable of holding a hundred and twenty eight crew members. A hundred and thirty six if you wanted to field two extra fighter squadrons, but Rarity wasn’t planning on using this vessel in a military sense even if she did so several hours ago. Aside from the maximum crew value the ship had a capacity for holding three hundred people in a pinch, only in that situation things wouldn’t be very pleasant. Deck one had officer quarters that were meant for eight people in a well armored portion near the bridge in the third section of the ship, section two had a training slash exercise room with showers attached. Section one was were near where the ships main forward guns and missiles were to be fire or launched from, currently the main gun was a moderately large single barrel material rail cannon that had no ammunition and the missile tubes were as equally empty as Lirutiy had rights to confiscate any viable solid ammunition from the ship. Most of that was on the inner side of the two corridors running through the ship; on the outer side of deck one were small emergency medical rooms, escape pods, airlocks, maintenance access hatches of which some were primarily to get to another deck and several bolt holes in case of being boarded by those with ill intent. There were still claw marks around one bolt hole where a Xouj waited out a crew member who eventually ran out of food and tried to make a break for it. Deck two had ninety six rooms for living in throughout the outer side of the two corridors with their own bathrooms and showers, in the pattern of four very small bedrooms connected to a large main room and close to those living quarters were some manual defense turret operation stations. On the inner side there was primary oxygen creation and emergency hydroponics in section one, section two was medical, armory, food storage and cafeteria, while section three had a laboratory, extra storage space, a unique shield generator access point and auxiliary bridge station. Deck two had the largest amount of armoring out of the whole ship for crew survivability, aside from the beds and things that weren’t nailed down or part of the ship there wasn’t much left behind aside from what Rarity and her crew brought with them. Deck three had fighter pilots quarters along the outer portions of the hangar enough for thirty two pilots, that was about it aside from the repair and maintenance facilities. There was a lot of empty space in the hangar to carry a lot of cargo like the scrap and parts they got from their salvage work. The twenty six dual barreled high powered energy turrets along the out hull of the ship didn’t lose any stability and or needed too much maintenance after positively percussively pounding the daylights out of some annoying pirates. “Oh you are such a flatterer Opal, give me a status report. Where are all of our drones currently? I would also like to know where the rest of the crew is aside from Coco.” The ship was mostly barren in the respect of the fact that it had been mostly stripped of military equipment and there were only six living people onboard the Shining Jewel. In fact the quiet hallways were quite unnerving to Rarity to glance through on the monitors, as the lifeless hallways reminded her that she almost died on this ship being hunted by monsters and that the previous crew was completely wiped out by them. That is if you didn’t count Greta or Gilda barely surviving. “CAT1-Uno is still following Vera around, as is my prerogative that I don’t forget she’s there. Our forgettable friend is checking medical and moving a Med Bed or two along with some medical supplies to deck two section two. CAT2-Dos is currently working with Greta, doing some minor maintenance adjustments and checking a few missile tubes and rail cannon up here in deck one section one. CAT4-Scanner is performing a patrol around deck two and is making sure everything is running ship shape and cleaned out. It is also making sure we don’t have any nasty parasites or unexpected boarders running around, this ship is kind of big just for the seven of us.” Opal smiled at Rarity and started showing her diagnostics of the entire ship and flicked out a rainbow colored digital pointer to point things out. “Currently Shining Jewel’s food storage is working optimally, so far no known signs of any other life forms on the ship except the crew. Vera might even be able to get the Shining Jewel’s medical bay up and running soon. This really is a lot of stuff to keep track of Meowstress; it’s really giving me quite the mental workout. MAT1-Mattock is assisting Gilda in Hangar maintenance beyond section three of deck three. Finally Sassy is in the training room of deck one and MAT2-W.I. Progress is with her, she is currently dancing with her sword. I’m going to put it up on screen for you to watch. It’s really quite awe inspiring.” The screen popped up and Rarity was witness to an elegant display of Sassy twisting and twirling as she leaped around seeming to gambol about the training room. Her sword flashed around her body in a dazzling display and her kimono stayed completely unruffled throughout all of this as she moved with her eyes closed, sliding about and sometimes her body visibly flickered as she started to speed up her swings. What was impressive about all this was that she wasn’t wielding her sword with her magic, but her two hooves. She switched between wielding her sword with one hoof to the other hoof and then both hooves at the same time at random, all while juggling her sword through each fluid movement. “She’s doing quite an elegant dance and I think the facial scars are starting to grow on her, she’s stopped trying to hide them at least.” Then the show got more impressive for Rarity when Sassy started to wield the sword in her magic and switched to standing on all four hooves instead of two. Sassy became an indistinct blur on the screen as she moved and the sword responded in unusual ways to her quadruped based movements with but the barest flick of her neck. “I think I’ll go see how she’s doing, it looks like she could use some company. I don’t want her to be alone for too long.” “Works for me as there are no ships on approach from planet Equus and we’re being left to our own devices right now. However, I’m pretty sure Equus Defense Force has noticed us out here.” Opal paused to make sure that Coco was exiting the airlock safely with the CAT3, she then turned back to wave Rarity off as she continued to keep track of everything. “I’ll keep you informed if anything exciting happens; go get some social interaction time with our slightly mental friend Meowstress, oh and make sure she’s stays moderately happy. Goodness knows she could use more hugs and cuddles until we can find her a girlfriend.” “Yes, yes, I’ll go do that.” Nodded Rarity as she went to exit the bridge, things weren’t trying at the moment and they had plenty of space for improvements or changes to the ship. She was thinking along the lines of flying hotel for smaller ships to stop and get repairs, refuel, possible buy some clothing, get some food in the cafeteria and maybe rent a room for a few nights. It was an interesting idea, because Rarity certainly wasn’t going to use this vessel in a malicious manner unless it was absolutely warranted. - “This is Admiral Trap Bar, hailing unidentified ship at the edge of the system.” Trap Bar was a pegasus pony known for his mind; he was good at barring traps from being effective as his name would suggest and was a strategic hero in space combat. He had bright orange fur and his messy dark red mane, bushy eyebrows and was waiting on a response from the ship that stopped at the edge of the gravity well of the Equon system, that of course meant that the ship had just arrived out of jump. Another thing Trap Bar was known for was excessive drinking; he called it ‘tactics lubrication’ on his supply requisition forms. “I repeat please respond, this is admiral Trap Bar.” “So sorry we cannot take your hail~! Da doom doom da da, no one is on comms now~!” It was an automated musical reply by Opal; she recorded it for this very situation as she was too busy keeping an eye on Coco. It had an unusual effect on Trap Bar’s crew as they started humming along to the tune playing over their communications and started to dance to it. The white cat that appeared on their screen was singing into a microphone like a pop star. “We surely would have taken your hail, but clearly we’re going to fail, and I’m sure yours was an important one~! We’ll get back to you, I’m pretty sure that you’ll force us to, so if you’re pirates then please go away~! Otherwise Leave a message, with a name and reason~! I sing, leave a message~! Our systems will start recording at the yowl~! … For the Shining Jewel’s crew is currently very busy, meow. Oh and you have one minute to record your message as of now.” Opal’s smiling adorable face after she meowed had all the crew of the Indignant Splinter back to their stations after they danced to the short tune looking embarrassed about it. Thirty seconds had passed in absolute silence before Trap Bar managed to collect his faculties and respond, his ship the Indignant Splinter was a large destroyer class vessel surrounded by several smaller cruisers in escort. “I don’t know what to make of this, but it was certainly catchy. Ahem, this is admiral Trap Bar of the EDF space initiative… we are hailing you since you are an unidentified ship in our system. If you could get someone in authority on your ship to respond to us at your soonest convenience that would be good, otherwise we’ll be investigating your ship if you haven’t responded within the next few hours.” The ship didn’t seem to be doing much other than sitting there and it was of a military hybrid classification, Trap Bar wasn’t about to have his crew approach it yet and he would at least give them some time to respond. Especially after such an amusing message taking system being employed by what was an obviously adorable AI. It was a little too adorable for his tastes. “Well gentle mares and stallions, I guess we’ll wait and see who these people are. They certainly don’t seem aggressive, but I didn’t get this far in my career without a little bit of paranoia and uncertainty.” “Lieutenant Smooth Flight, set us personally out there facing the unknown. Ensign Call Sign have all other ships scan space and check for other unidentified ships to this system. With the Gala on the way we’ve been getting a lot of visitors lately, so everyone stay on your hooves.” Fun aside, Trap Bar was a good admiral; his small fleet had helped protect Equus when Celestia couldn’t use the sun as a deadly and rather effective deterrent for space bound threats. So far he hadn’t lost a ship yet and he wasn’t about to act aggressively on just a gut instinct, so far his gut told him this ship was benign and he had been wrong before for various reasons. He’s lost good ponies to wrong calls, but the casualties under his command were in the tens and all of them were battle related incidents. “We’ll only need the Indignant Splinter for this one if it proves hostile.” The ship shaped like a Pegasus wing started to move into position and waited for a response, while the other ships that were shaped vaguely like unicorn horns went off to continue their job of scanning other incoming vessels. - Coco enjoyed the quiet of space and was testing the charge on the new rechargeable impulse saddle, before swapping it out with an original basic impulse saddle. The switch took only a few seconds and things were looking good for the batteries, no overheating, no horrible heart stopping voltage, no volatile explosion and more importantly a viable source of rechargeable energy to keep an impulse saddle running almost indefinitely… provided you were near enough to a star to charge it up. “Well things are looking in order, what do you have to say about it Opal?” Coco wanted to hear Opal’s input on this thing that she worked hard on, especially concerning the fact that it would be a new utility to sell. If it sold well then it would be a good boon to their business. “… well… it’s decent… it’s not really energy efficient, while moving the saddle uses energy three times faster than it can be recovered. It’s still quite viable at the very least when it isn’t moving, since it recharges at a good pace and the cutoff to prevent overflow is working perfectly. Can’t honestly tell you how to improve it, but it certainly seems like it’ll be a worthwhile venture.” Hearing the sigh and watching the suited mare land on the hull of the ship, Opal felt a bit bad about her honest reply hearing how it might have upset her friend. “Hey, don’t be like that Coco, it’s still pretty impressive piece of work and we’ll see to adding it to our list of utility options for EVA suits.” “It’s kind of beautiful out here… if only I didn’t know I was a few centimeters from instant death.” Turning to the drone, Coco tapped her helmet with a hoof as to express her meaning. “I’m not exactly that great an inventor; I’m not even that great in fashion scene on my own and… I kind of miss Ewesen. First time I’ve been away from that planet for so long, it’s going to take some getting used to traveling around with Rarity and everyone else.” “Yeah, there’s a lot of beauty out there, now if only it wasn’t so hazardous to the health of my friends and loved ones.” Mumbled a slightly coy Opal, she moved the drone closer to Coco, to look over the test saddle. “We all do what we can Coco, you’re good at accessorizing and that talent has apparently translated nicely into technological accessories, we’ll have Greta tweak it later. I can sort of understand you missing Ewesen, that tropical climate and those lovely shining lakes would be hard to leave. Nobody is really forcing you to do your best but you, you have some really high standards for yourself in your work effort alone and I’m sure Rarity really appreciates that. Considering Meowstress Rarity has just as high standards for her appearance, you both have a lot in common. Besides fashion is fleeting, friends are forever!” “Thanks Opal, you know how to cheer a mare up.” In fact Coco started giggling profusely at what Opal had said. “I wouldn’t tell Rarity that fashion is fleeting if I were you, it’s serious business to her and you and I know that better than anyone. I’m coming back in and I will do some more tests later after Greta gets in her few tweaks, but preliminary findings are looking moderately good.” “Roger Roger, why do I feel like rolling around and shooting at people with laser swords after saying that?” Digitally nodding to herself Opal just decided to focus on other things, like what Greta was doing in what passed for her bowels at the moment. This ship was her body and her job had gotten far more complicated as Rarity’s personal aide, hopefully she could still record her show in case she missed it while she was in the middle of something else. - The training room had a lot of empty space in it, a wall that you could hang targets for shooting practice, place in the ceiling to hang punching bags and the empty floor where they could install a mat. Renovating this entire ship was going to be costly and Rarity knew it. This was where Sassy now stood in a stance preparing to stab it forward as MAT2 held up two thick round plates of metal in front of her. Rarity looked on curiously as she stabbed forward at the two plates and put a hole in both of them without actually physically connecting with either of the plates; she was even standing a few feet away from them. “Wow, I think that was rather impressive Sassy.” Politely applauding with a few stomps of her hooves Rarity then walked up to Sassy who frowned and looked away. “It wasn’t impressive at all and shouldn’t be applauded.” Something was off about Sassy when she said this, she actually sounded sad about this. “Why whatever do you mean darling?” It looked to Rarity like an impressive feat of skill, Sassy didn’t look like she built up any muscle and was still strong enough to do something incredible like that. “You punctured both of those sheets of metal without touching them.” “That’s not what I was trying to do Rarity-sama.” Okay so Sassy was upset all of the sudden and Rarity didn’t know exactly what she did to cause this. Having picked up on her friend’s confusion Sassy spoke up. “Berets and bonnets Rarity, I’m trying to train in control here!” “Could you please explain things so it’s a little clearer for me dear, I’m afraid I’m only trained in pistols and know what’s good in that respect.” Rarity moved over to Sassy and pulled her into a hug which was returned immediately, the way Sassy held her was quite needy for the few moments that they stood there together. “I would want to know what I’m apologizing for after all.” “I’m trying to train in emotional control, tighten control of my skills and have better control of myself in general so I don’t endanger you again.” Looking over to the MAT drone repairing the plates of metal, Sassy closed her eye inhaled through her nostrils and then exhaled out her mouth loudly in a sad sigh. “I was actually trying to only damage one piece of metal without touching the other. Needless to say, I failed. Having a special talent that can translate into combat skills is rough.” “It’s still impressive that you didn’t put a hole in anything else in the room with that thrust and that it didn’t have any magic in it all.” Rarity wrapped a hoof around Sassy and patted her reassuringly. “You’ve become really strong Sassy, the exercise seems simple enough and I’m sure you’ll get it eventually.” “Maybe, but the advanced version of this exercise is far harder than that.” Pointing a hoof at the two pieces of metal Sassy watched as the MAT drone held them up for her, she motioned for Rarity to move out of the way and she took a stance once more. “In fact it’s important that I learn how to do the harder version of this exercise, very important.” “What does that entail?” Truly curious was Rarity as to where Sassy was going with this, her right brow was thoroughly raised. “Excuse me for my ignorance, as I want to learn what you can do Sassy.” “Oh, it involves hitting the second metal plate.” Sassy was concentrating too much to go in depth; she wanted to see Rarity’s face when she explained it in full. She stabbed forward and put holes in both plates again and motioned to the MAT to fix them, it went to work as she turned to Rarity. “That doesn’t sound so hard, as you’ve already done that.” Although Rarity could feel the question on the tip of her tongue before she spoke it, she was wondering how hitting both would make the exercise harder than hitting the one. “What’s the catch of the advanced exercise?” “I have to hit the second plate… without damaging or touching the first.” An amused smile came to Sassy’s face as she saw Rarity’s wide eyed look and when her friend went to open her mouth Sassy held up a hoof. “Before you say anything, it is actually possible to do as I’ve seen it before. It’s just really hard to pull off. It’s a ghosting strike, the ability to hit a target behind something like say a personal energy shield. For those that can do it really well, it is quite exceptionally useful in a hostage situation. Although it’s going to be a very hard for me to learn, my translated special talent is not in slashing, cutting or severing as it is in stabbing, piercing or puncturing things. So you can imagine the boost I get from my special talent getting in the way of that as it overpowers any form of thrusting attack I perform.” “I’ve never thought of a special talent as having a negative consequence like that. It certainly gives me some things to think of in terms of my own special talent.” It did lead Rarity to wonder. What exactly are the negative connotations of having a good eye for beauty and detail? Maybe seeing things in too much detail could be a bad thing or seeing things you’re not supposed to, and then there’s seeing the beauty in a violently efficient monster so yeah she had some downsides of her own. Maybe it was also the ability to see the ugly alongside the beauty of things or did she intentionally ignore the ugly side of things? “So spears, knives and rapiers would be quite lethal for you to wield?” One last thrust and this time the second plate only had a slightly smaller hole in it this time, Sassy was happy with even that much marginal progress. “Also table legs, fire pokers, crowbars, my own hooves and just about any elongated thing that can be thrust forward, as such I need to train to make sure I’m less lethal about it when I need to be.” Sassy cuddled up against Rarity and smiled brightly when she didn’t step away. “Counteracting or controlling my special talents translation into combat isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do. Thank you for coming to see me Rarity.” “Meowstress Rarity, report to bridge and bring Sassy along with you while you’re at it. She looks like she could use some rest after all that training.” The slightly chipper voice of Opal sounded out as she needed someone else to be on communications. “We got a call from the EDF, they tried hailing us but we were all a little too busy. I need you to call them back and inform them of our business here as they don’t seem like they would be happy talking to an AI. Apparently security around Equus has risen a bit with the onset of the Grand Galloping Gala; a few dignitaries have likely already shown up for this shindig.” “Please don’t be so crass Opal, it’s a soiree if anything and Celestia is the gracious host.” Rarity reprimanded as she continued on with a solemn looking Sassy following after her. - “We’ll put in word of your name to the princesses, we can’t exactly guarantee anything.” Trap Bar had a gut feeling the people of this ship were going to be trouble. He didn’t know how they were going to cause it, just that they were even if they didn’t have any solid ammunition and twenty six high end defense turrets. The AI’s message was explained, but he still didn’t trust the cute cat as far as he could throw it as there was something off there. Even if he couldn’t exactly put his hoof on why it bothered him so much, he had a job to do and they didn’t seem to have any ill intentions so he couldn’t hold them at range forever. “You can take up an orbital position, no funny business or my ships will fire on yours. We will need to run a background check, also since you came from the direction of Ewesen I would like to hear word of what’s going on over there. If anyone else comes from that way and tells the same story I can maybe trust you some more.” “That’s all I can expect really, the princesses should know my name as Luna is personally testing a product of mine. Please tell her that Rarity Belle is here. Also if you need any EVA suits I would be happy to take any orders while I’m in orbit for the time being. We’re still in testing on the rechargeable solar battery pack. It is not even technically available despite being on our list of utilities for sale.” Rarity was handling the suspicion quite well and was taking it with a grain of salt as she had yet to actually do anything wrong. “As for what happened at Ewesen, well it was quite a mess. I ended up taking refuge in Heppren Square Hospital in Drixsto, afterwards I did some salvage work for Commander Lirutiy and it was quite gruesome. Several cities on the planet were swamped with monsters and the last bit of the MOM was thankfully destroyed before it could hit the planet, so things were mostly alright when we left except for the casualties to the local Plantary Protection Patrol fleet.” Rarity could have bragged about assisting in the securing of the hospital, but she didn’t and it would put her in a better light later on. Author's Note The tune Opal is singing is this one. I've finished my Tapu Tango and Ultra Beast Bash... I caught every single Ultra Beast available. Not much left to do in the game for me really, more time for writing then. -30-“Sister, we have a… what are you doing with Chrysalis?” Luna had run into the conference room to, only to stop when she saw Chrysalis and Celestia tangled up on a mat with their limbs bent at odd angles. “We’re playing Twisty, I bet Celestia wasn’t as flexible as she thought she was and she said she could prove me wrong.” Here Chrysalis giggled a bit as Celestia blushed at being caught in a compromising position with her. The game wasn’t rigged, but Chrysalis used every opportunity to make Celestia’s face go red. It was either frustration born of anger or sexual tension and for once Chrysalis couldn’t tell which it was and she was a particularly well trained empathic creature. “Of course she was talking politically, I was talking physically and then it somehow ended up with us like this. By the way it’s your spin Celestia.” “I really don’t honestly know how I ever let you talk me into doing this again.” Celestia said diplomatically as one of Chrysalis’s rear hooves ran between her hind legs to touch a yellow circle and something else as the annoying bug pony’s tail was currently in an uncomfortable spot. Her magic lit a nearby panel on the floor and the little arrow on it spun until it stopped on something. “You have to put the back of your left front hoof to Green.” “Look at it this way, practicing for your date like this couldn’t hurt.” Chrysalis got an angry glare from Celestia in her awkward twisted position underneath the princess. It quickly turned into a vibrant blush as Chrysalis slowly and sensually slid her hoof across Celestia’s belly before placing the back of it down on a green circle as indicated. “What is it Luna, is it something important? I’ve just about won our game and if it’s an emergency then I’d be willing to forfeit. Okay ten seconds have passed and your still up, your spin Chrysalis.” Celestia turned her head to her sister’s face which seemed rather worried while Chrysalis spun the arrow. “I may not be able to play with the Breach Gel anymore; the creator of the wondrous invention is currently in orbit and is asking about why we haven’t signed off on it sister.” Here a pensive Luna ran a hoof through her star filled mane making Chrysalis stare at her hair as it flowed gently with her touch. The princess even went so far as to air quote with her hooves a rather specific word as she stated. “We cannot lie and say that we haven’t… ‘tested’…. it thoroughly and now she has come asking questions. I have no idea what to tell her or how to respond! We already put it into production and it is proving to be a most sellable product. Which is why she will be a bit cross with us since we are denying her funds earned from her patent, I would be angry too if I had invented such a life saving marvel… that can also make for a really fun toy.” “Okay, that’s slightly troubling, because I think we have been slighting a subject of ours for a while and it’s time to face the music dear sister.” Celestia looked to see what the spinner landed on and Chrysalis grinned at her and waggled her eyebrows, she huffed and moved her front right hoof into position so it went between her opponents rear legs to touch a red circle. “It is, however, not an immediate emergency worth losing my game over.” “It might become one; we have heard that she is currently running a bit poor as of late. I can’t help but feel that it is because of us and our actions.” This led to feeling particularly guilty about her infantile enjoyment of the bouncy gel balls, Luna couldn’t let this drop… also because it’d be a huge delay on her plans to marry Mr. Boom Stick. How did Celestia even keep stalling her plans anyway? She was being very secretive about putting all her plans on the clearly labeled ‘Secretive Shotgun Wedding Bulletin Board Celestia Will Never Look At’ in Celestia’s bedroom after all. How did Celestia keep finding out about her plans if she had such a secretive bulletin board to put stuff on? “The ship she has in orbit could cause our fleet quite some damage if she got creative enough with it. It’s a carrier cruiser hybrid and it is rather quite large. She also brought news of Ewesen in the Quia System so we owe her even more of a debt for telling us of how much our support has aided that poor beleaguered system. It is a sad truth that the casualties to the local Planetary Protection Patrol fleet were very much devastating, our EDF forces have helped pick up the slack immensely. There were also quite a lot of pony deaths as well; we have a list of casualties and MIA people from the Plurt known as Commander Lirutiy come in not to long after Ms. Belle’s on a scout ship. Some of that information was on Rarity Belle’s actions, she has aided with the production of anti-venom for the latest MOM related monstrosity called a Vasp by personally being bitten by one. Thankfully it didn’t go through the suit she was wearing and her Breach Gel preserved the attempted injection of venom. You see the venom quickly breaks down when not affecting a system and they found a few new uses for breach gel at the hospital where one of her friends was infirmed from injuries, so now it is even more important that we don’t delay signing. There’s also a cliff note that Rarity helped seal the hospital off to keep the monsters out with several others… she’s looking like quite the hero and I’d be remiss if I ignored her presence now.” “Right, we’ll get to that now while I win this game. Tell this Rarity Belle that we have already signed off on the breach gel an hour ago and that we’re very sorry to have kept her waiting. Quickly forward the necessary amount of money into her account that she is rightfully owed. We’ll use a red tape ruse to cover things up.” Celestia then tipped her head to Luna. “Quickly bring the papers here so we can actually sign together and if she’s angry that it took so long, then offer her some form of recompense.” “That’s not the only thing… Rarity is a close friend with Coco Pommel who is also here; she’s the inventor of the impulse saddles that I have yet to actually get around to.” Luna looked to the floor with her ears wilted and she turned her eyes from her sister’s flat stare. “In fact I have quite a bad backlog…” “Now you see Luna, this behavior is exactly why I hardly let you do anything approaching really important as far as political things go, except when I need a good sledgehammer. You know this is kind of why you became lonely enough to become Nightmare Moon in the first place. If you want to be responsible for more Luna, then you better start putting in the effort to handle the responsibilities you already have.” Celestia stretched out a wing and slowly dragged it across Luna’s backs in a calming manner from her tangled up position with the Chrysalis. “I’ll admit our jobs are impossibly stressful and that I may have contributed a bit to your backlog as did Princess Cadence, who we will now proceed to put a lot of the blame on since she’s not here to deny it at all. Still you should get back to work Luna. Even while I do find the time to schedule in some fun, I at least finish what I’m currently doing for the interim of relaxation that’s not consuming my daily allotment of cakes. If I can make enough time for you even as busy as I am, then you can make enough time to finish your work as lazy as you are.” “Some saint you are blaming my poor, if rather guilty, fake sister like that… because she so totally is guilty of causing you to have so many problems in your backlog Luna. She should really stop distracting you like that.” Chrysalis played along as she twisted her torso somewhat and placed a knee on a blue circle. “It’s a good thing I’m going to get my payment out of her a week before the gala huh? That should be punishment enough, right?” “Oh are you playing Twisty, can I join?” Discord popped in looking like a smiling buff cactus covered entirely in thorns. “No!” Even Luna yelled this at him, alongside Chrysalis and Celestia. Luna pointed an angry hoof at Discord. “Not after what happened the last time you joined in a game of Twisty! We still do not know where my beloved rubber duck even went or what it’s doing at this very moment!” “Gee, no respect I tell you! Either that or you’re all a bunch of prudes. Also I did promise to find and return your rubber duck to you eventually Luna. Though it’s been quite hard to find when it’s off being a super hero and is managing to best even me at every turn. That annoying little thing… at least Cadence will be properly punished for her crimes of holding up Luna’s schedule.” Even Discord was getting in on it and wanted a part in starting the rumor mill. Mostly because it would be funny and it gave the two older alicorns and changeling queen an alibi for the changeling’s rather unorthodox payment, he could get behind this course of action as it sounded positively chaotic. “Can I help in this conspiracy against the Princess of Love?” “Sure go ahead Discord.” Celestia was all smiles as she stretched a hoof over the back of Chrysalis’s quickly failing form to touch yellow while rubbing a particularly sensitive spot on the changeling, meaning Chrysalis was now the one blushing horribly and Celestia had a nasty smirk on her face. “Fair is fair, right Chrysalis?” “You… I like you very much, but I don’t think you’d give me the time of day or the love I need or might truly deserve from someone romantically speaking. A relationship between us wouldn’t work out very well and I’m actually willing to acknowledge that, as much as a relationship between me and Cadence would have. Especially when I tried to get away with disguising Cadence as Shining Armor and placed her stallion underground and fed him kid’s meals from a local fast food restaurant I bought out and then took Cadence’s place as her while disguising him as her in case a part of my plan fell through. Too many convoluted things that could go wrong practically did, so I formally apologize for that incident right here and now given that none of you have ever asked that of me before. As now, I will acknowledge that all of you are the best friends that a changeling queen could ever possibly want.” This was Chrysalis’s wholly unforeseen and rather thoughtful response, completely lacking in anything approaching malice and was startlingly enough, completely unrepentantly sincere. It threw Celestia, Luna and even a dumbfounded Discord himself for a complete loop, maybe even two loops for Discord. “Besides it’d greatly upset your lovely student, who smiled so brightly that the top of her head might have cleanly popped off when you invited her to the gala, if I were to try and usurp her position as your favorite pony. Oh and it’s your turn to spin, please not purple, please not purple...” - “Well now, this is pretty good.” Trap Bar had taken Rarity up on her offer and bought a few EVA suits. He did some quick training with Coco Pommel and found that the offered massage via Vera to be exquisite. Quite frankly the rest of the crew couldn’t remember a better masseuse… unfortunately they couldn’t remember the masseuse at all, so they figured she must have been incredibly good at her job considering how great their bodies felt afterwards. “You may want to get that new utility product finished. It’d be a sound solution to never having problems out in space while in a system and the impulse saddles are impressive in their specs if a bit heavy otherwise.” “Thank you, if you need anything more don’t hesitate to make an order while Shining Jewel is in orbit.” Feeling happy with all the sales she was making, Rarity continued her talk with Admiral Trap Bar with a skip in her step. “Now I believe you talked to Luna about things?” “Yes, she knew your name the minute I spoke it. Are you someone of importance that I should know about?” To Trap Bar, she seemed like a friendly mare and the ship she ran was running well if barren of crew. In fact, she only had five crew members and was a little too friendly. “Oh no, I’m nothing of the sort! I’m just an average business mare, who got caught up in a few troubles.” A business mare with her own three deck ship that could load some heavy weapons, alongside having several reports of her heroism on Ewesen. “Anyway, it’s been nice meeting a gentle stallion such as yourself, but we will be parting ways as soon as we’re finished making more EVA suits for your engineering team. I’m planning to go down to the planet soon and I need to talk with my crew about who will be joining me… well after Luna gets back to me on a little issue.” “I’ll go wait at my drop ship to for my engineering team to finish getting their suits and I must say that you do excellent work. I’ve confirmed that the payment for your services has already gone through, please finish up quickly so I can be off your ship lady Belle.” As Trap walked away from Rarity he was beginning to think that Rarity might be a secret black ops member, because her account had just jumped a lot and the payment came directly from the crown. At least that’s what one of his technicians watching her accounts just told him. He wouldn’t get in the way of her mission whatever it was, she was being paid a lot to be here and her crew had been suspiciously small. At least he now knew why it was so small, because he came to the conclusion that she couldn’t have been anything other than black ops considering the utilities the suits could come with. “I have much to get back to and I can’t get in the way of your ‘business’, though I assume your EVA suits will be especially popular in the EDF and will recommend some people to your services.” “Why thank you good sir, however it might be a while before I can get to their orders unless my friends can handle it as I’ll be busy with something else.” Yep Rarity just came off as a Black Ops pony working for the crown to Trap Bar and she was technically doing a good job of looking and acting the part of a fashion designer. Her forced posh accent kind of sold it for him as did her next sentence. “I’m just waiting on Luna now to see if I can do what I came here to do, if not then I might need to find some outside help.” “Meowstress Rarity, Luna is calling us personally. It’s actually quite an honor; take it on the Caravel Boutique. It’s closer than going all the way back to the bridge.” It sounded urgent by the tone of Opal’s voice and Rarity set off for her ship leaving a slightly paranoid Trap behind to head back to one of his drop ships. Trap Bar wondered what was going on, but decided to not ask and he went towards one of the three drop ships that boarded Shining Jewel. - Upon reaching the drop ship Trap Bar walked up to his crew members, some of which were heavily armed, without pause and a flat expression on his face. “So what’s the story Trap Bar?” The crew mate known as Smooth Flight asked, the pegasus was the admirals personal pilot and best friend. He had a short green mane, light brown fur and a near constant brazen smile on his face. “I think the six onboard this ship might be a black ops group. It’s irking my paranoia something fierce, but they certainly answer to the crown so their definitely one of ours and are on our side.” It was either a paranoid delusion or the absolute truth; Trap Bar didn’t want to bother with spooks as long as they didn’t try to involve him in any spy games and he’d rather stay as far away from their operations as he could. Apparently they were allowed to sell seemingly civilian gear to anyone. The energy based grappling hooks, advanced EVA suits that were both comfortable and incredibly functional, not to mention the one griffon with what looked to be broken arm in the back of the hangar currently working on a broken Javelin with a drone had set off several flags in the stallion. The drop ship being tuned up by the other griffon really kind of sold some kind of secret operation going on here in Trap’s mind. “Let’s not talk about our suspicions here; especially not when they are producing some really good gear for us and our engineers for an amiable price Lieutenant. Also let’s keep the fact that we’re paying them extra for all the other services that they are doing for us quiet. They all seem to be of keen intellect and I can tell that red head is dangerous by the looks she keeps sending me; she’s got samurai talent written all over her and she didn’t just get those injuries in her first foray into combat. She’s been hurt pretty badly once and I don’t see anyone else here with scars like that. The griffons are definitely the brains; Coco has to be the cute one and the disguise master, while Miss Belle herself is the mastermind. As for their masseuse… can you even remember what she looks like or her name? She must be their scout, hard to keep track of, completely silent and easily forgettable in a crowd. Plus I think their AI is hiding something, mostly likely what their current operation here on Equus is supposed to be.” Sassy was just busy making sure nobody went where they didn’t belong; she was the only other form of security on the ship aside from the one working MAT drone and she didn’t want anyone leaving the hangar as the rest of the ship was still a bit of a mess. Speaking of Sassy, she was talking to Gilda and motioned to their ship about something. Most likely she was disparaging stallions being around and it was riling her up to stay polite as one or two of them had ogled her a bit. Gilda barely paid her rant any mind and was busy directing the drone with concise instructions; she was mostly just cleaning the shell lacking Javelin and prepping it for planned future venture. Coco was undoubtedly cute, but she was no disguise master even as she made some clothing for one of the mares of Trap Bar’s crew and even looked talented in making disguises. She was making dresses, shirts, socks because Rarity didn’t want to go there, along with plenty of accessories like hats, scarves and other similar clothing accessories by hoof. The fact that she did it quickly without magic impressed quite a few ponies almost as much Rarity did when she was assisting her in this endeavor, to serve their customers with a cute friendly smile. Greta was wiring something and had half her body buried into in the trapezoidal drop ship’s innards, as a few sparks flew out from her use of Mr. Welder. She had fix engines on the wings and even cleaned out the variable jets and made sure they were in working order, she was even discussing technical issues that might pop up with this particular model of a Pegasus built Sky Dropper 22-DR with a bewildered engineer who was learning a lot from the griffon just from the few questions asked about what she was doing. Vera just set up a sign that had the words ‘wait here; pay the masseuse for her services upon meeting’ written on a plywood sign and stand. It was easier for Vera to just grab the pony, griffon and diamond dog or whatever when she was ready to work with them. Otherwise it would be annoying to call for them and not have them pay her any attention because they’d completely ignore her presence. At least she was making sure they paid while she was touching them, then she’d work them over and have them on their way exclaiming how good the masseuse was. Even if they couldn’t remember her very well after she was done with them. At least Rarity could see her and say her name, not needing a drone to constantly point at her like Opal did. She appreciated that at least the AI was trying to keep her in mind and went to the trouble of doing so near constantly. Currently all the other drones were busy cleaning up portions of the ship. Except in the one case of the fully functional MAT drone that made Trap Bar’s suspicions of them being a black ops team seem more real. That MAT drone was currently patrolling around the three drop ships that stopped by with a number of Admiral Bar’s crew. Opal really had Trap Bar’s spine crawling with a strange sense of fear. In all Admiral Trap Bar was way off when he thought these people were a black ops team. Quite frankly they, the Shining Jewels crew, were all civilians with no military training whatsoever. Sassy’s training as a samurai didn’t count as she never joined the military to train as one. Rarity’s pistol training wasn’t military taught either, but it was a common form of self protection taught to many who sought instruction in the use of pistols, energy, material or otherwise. Even Gilda and Greta only knew to point and shoot in a general direction with the plasma rifle they had gotten from Tree Hugger, it wasn’t that hard to figure out how to reload and fire the weapon and they were both intelligent griffons strong enough to handle a weapon with very little recoil. Opal wasn’t military hardware, but she was an AI that was a quick learner in how to fire and operate various weapons depending on the resources she had at the time. - “So… care to explain what was taking you so long with the sign off on it Princess Luna?” Keeping a calm attitude towards her favorite princess while she bowed, Rarity looked at the night mare and was internally squealing with delight at being able to get a princess to talk with her personally. However her words were cold and cutting, the princess had a right to look a little upset. “I must apologize to you Miss Belle and know that we are most sorry for the delays, but Princess Cadence has kept me quite busy and away from my job far too often. In fact some would say she was incredibly obstructive to me on purpose, so she’s soon to be lightly punished and don’t worry it won’t be anything too bad.” For some reason Luna was sweating bullets and her muzzle looked particularly scrunched up as Rarity narrowed her eyes at her. “There was also a lot of paperwork to work through. Red tape and all that you understand, we signed the documents an hour ago so you have received the money for what we’ve produced and sold of the product in question already.” “Opal, bank account numbers please.” Rarity looked off to the side at the numbers Opal was giving her and blinked, it was quite a good sum. The numbers were high enough so that she could start thinking about renovating the Shining Jewel, maybe even finish fixing everything wrong with Caravel Boutique. She’d have to have Greta and Gilda do a lot of the work to save on money, but with that much money at her disposal she had to think carefully about what she wanted because she couldn’t go crazy with it. After renovations she wouldn’t be rich, but she would still have a sizable fund for many a venture and a stable income as a jumping point to become wealthy. Some of it was Opal’s accounting work on the money they earned from Trap Bar’s people, seemed like they were paying a bit much into her account but she shrugged it off as being normal, his people were buying a lot of stuff and they were going to be in dire need of materials soon at this rate. “Well, that is a sizable boon to my account. Still though, you did take a lot of time getting around to it and I’m quite upset about it. What about signing off my dear friend Coco’s impulse saddles?” “I’m still currently working on it and I have a terrible backlog of things to take care of; I ask you to make an offer as to what I can do to make up for it.” Luna did not want to drag Coco into having to take an offer of recompense as well, that would make things worse from the lunar princess’s point of view. “I am providing this offer on the caveat that it is well within my power of course.” “Then I ask that you make the same offer to my friend as well.” Rarity watched as Luna visibly sulked. “I know it’s asking a bit much, but it would be fair to hear out every pony if they have a small request. You are kind of inconveniencing them after all. Personally I would like to go to the Grand Galloping Gala, what are the chances that I can get a ticket or two? That’s for me; I will not speak for Miss Pommel about what she could ask of you.” “I can easily get you a ticket to the gala. In fact every princess always has six extra tickets they can give away to anyone they see fit to invite, so I will gladly give you one of my tickets. Two is out of the question unless Coco asks for one herself.” The princess visibly relaxed that things were going to be alright, as Luna was afraid that Rarity would ask for something more outlandish or crazy. Instead it was something rather simple and easy to achieve. Luna wasn’t going to the gala anyway and had other things to do, neither was Cadence for that matter as the two alicorns would be busy elsewhere. “Can you put me into contact with Miss Pommel?” “Why of course. Opal, if you would please insert Coco into this conference in a timely manner darling.” After a bit of waiting Rarity saw Coco appear on screen, as did Luna apparently when the screen split to allow for a conference call. “Princess Luna is offering a little recompense for taking so long with signing off on your impulse saddles; do you have any small requests or favors to make of her to make up for it?” “Actually yes, I would like a tour of the castle, if not that than either a hug or maybe just inviting us to lunch.” None of that was bad either and Coco was being completely simple with her requests and that made Luna smile happily. She even bowed to Luna. “That’s about all I would really ask of you as a way to make it up to us Princess Luna.” - “I am willing to do all three, I will make time for your visit and it’ll happen sometime before the gala. I might even allow you a guest room in the castle for a night before the gala. Is that all you will ask?” The two mares on the split screen nodded and then Luna cut the connection; she let out a sigh and turned to a grumbling Chrysalis. “Well that went well. Are you still upset that you lost to my sister in the contest of Flexibility?” “There is almost no feasible way her spine could bend like that without the use of magic! Although I will grudgingly admit that she is as flexible as I am.” Chrysalis had lost the battle, but she would win the war via disproportionate retribution. She was going to drug Celestia with a little known alicorn aphrodisiac later and lock her in a room with Twilight Sparkle to get the last laugh, possibly while helping jumpstart their relationship at the same time. “Seriously though, what kind of yoga training does your sister do and how many partners has she attracted over the last few thousand year with that kind of talent? Seriously she has to be a goddess in… you know that’s actually kind of funny.” Author's Note I'm portraying Luna as a bit of a Cloud Cuckoolander. Her idea of a shotgun wedding is actually marrying the shotgun itself. My reasoning why Luna became Nightmare Moon? She was too lazy to get out more and make some friends or understand that people slept at night, plus there's the fact that she could have played with ponies in their dreams instead of going crazy. She wanted instant praise for something she does every day, her sister was far more outgoing than she was. Celestia is the more serious of the two. Despite that she is still willing to do silly things and have fun, she's not perfect either as she is willing to throw the blame onto someone else when she can get away with it, Cadence won't be too happy though. Chrysalis, if there isn't any oil in her, then it's under her. She's a walking innuendo loving queen who still likes to be evil where it best benefits her. Be wary, because these silly chapters are always a prelude for something else. Right now, it is all just to slowly establish the setup that's about to happen. -31-“You guys are a bunch of butts.” Cadence muttered angrily at all those sitting at the table with halo's above their heads, only Discord had devil horns floating above his because he just had to be different. She was angry at them for blaming her for Luna having a backlog of things she should have really gotten to earlier. “Well Celestia has a pleasantly plump rear, Luna has a nice taut one and yours is quite svelte and sexy, mine is… a bit flat.” Chrysalis looked at her butt sadly; it was not going to win any contests anytime soon. “Also let’s be serious here, we all know Discord doesn’t have an ass even if he pretends to be one.” “Do not despair friend, we are sure that your flank can still grow! If not, then we may all see fit to help you get the posterior you want.” It was an honest effort on Luna’s part to cheer up Chrysalis, especially after the queen said such nice things about their bottoms while being comically depressed about her own. Luna tensed her hind legs and her muscles shifted in her rear end, making her smile as she showed it off. “Well I do admit it’s not easy maintaining my own caboose, is it any wonder I consume so many cakes in a day?” Here Celestia ran a loving hoof over her flank with a smile. “Yes, I am very much a butt mare myself.” “Well I never!” Discord crossed his arms and turned away with his pitchfork leaning against his shoulder to reveal the little devil wings he was now sporting, before he twisted his head back to them with a grin. If he was a normal being his spine would have snapped with the way he twisted his neck. “To be clear, well I never… had one that is. Though I am now curious what it would have been like if I did have a butt. For some reason my chaos magic will never let me form one permanently. Why, I’ve been the butt of many a joke about it.” “I feel your pain Discord, we all can’t have nice backsides.” A sad looking Chrysalis walked up to Discord and they hugged it out. It was disturbing to see two still somewhat villainous individuals getting along in any capacity; some would say that Tartarus must have frozen over. In fact that action was the very reason why a magic stealing centaur monster named Tirek couldn’t escape, because the entrance suddenly froze over after he had finally managed to distract Cerberus. Afterwards he was put back in his cell where he belonged. “I walked right into this one didn’t I?” It occurred to Cadence that she let Chrysalis have an opening, now they were all comparing their butts with each other. Even she was getting in on the comparisons, with her svelte shapely rear. That Luna was even sympathizing with the fact that Chrysalis had a flat rear was silly. Not to mention that they were all now comforting Discord about his lack of a butt, even Cadence was comforting him and she didn’t even want to do so! It left Cadence wondering why she couldn’t just stay angry with these ponies. - “I got a ticket to the gala!” Four slightly miserable ponies had been watching Rarity prance around happily, they were quite tired of her celebration as she had made thirteen dresses for herself over the last twelve hours. Current location, they were all in Caravel Boutique’s living space still docked with the Shining Jewel. Nobody wanted to be a downer to Rarity except Gilda, but Greta had kept her from approaching Rarity and wanted to let boss lady have her moment. Greta somewhat regretted that decision now as the moment just wouldn’t end for the mare, only now she wasn’t going to hold her grumpy friend back when she finally snapped. She would smile ruefully, in a perky manner at that, when Gilda did indeed finally snap. It was just a matter of time really, Gilda was quite patient when she wanted to be. “Great, we know, now shut up about it!” Knocking the pony out of her state of euphoria pleased Gilda to no end, seeing as Greta was going to let her do so now. It also caused the others to smile, as Rarity had finally stopped being happier than Greta was. Nobody minded Greta being constantly cheerful, but Rarity was positively annoying when she was deliriously happy. “You’ve been going on about it for a while there and you don’t even physically have the ticket in your hooves. You just have the promise of one and under the right circumstances that promise can be broken provided you do something big enough to warrant that cancellation.” “Besides Meowstress, we need to pick up some supplies and you have to personally peruse what we need to fill our new hold with. Quite frankly you are good at getting quality fabrics and the like with your eye for detail, but you’re missing one key problem here.” Hearing Opal mention a need for supplies and considering they just used quite a bit with Trap Bar’s crew, they had netted a bit of a profit aside from what Luna said they were receiving from Rarity’s breach gel patent. “Your parents and sister normally live on Equus. Your chances of running into them are pretty high Rarity, even if you are just going down there to buy supplies.” “Then why would I ever want to land in Ponyville?” Her celebration at successfully getting a ticket was put down harshly and she calmed down somewhat, she was still giddy about the opportunity though. “I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter where we land the Caravel Boutique. You and everyone who has ever set hoof on that planet know this one thing for a fact, that there are hardly things that can be called coincidences on this world thanks to magic that encompasses it. You know the words ‘fate’ and ‘destiny’ may come up; those two really could plan things in advance to make it so it is impossible to avoid your parents.” There was a long pause after Opal spoke her words. “Quite frankly even if we were to land in Saddle Arabia the chances of running into your parents is practically one in ten. Either something must be off with my estimates algorithm or I’m calculating this correctly. Avoiding your parents is going to be pretty hard to do if you go anywhere down there.” “Well now, avoiding my parents and not being saddled with Sweetie Belle again is going be a might bit difficult it would seem. I’d rather my dear little sister not wreck my new ship; I’ve yet to even have the chance to beautify it and it’s already in danger!” Despite her calm outwards appearance, Rarity was panicking beyond all reason in her own head. “Still, as you say, I have to go down there if we’re going to resupply with quality material. We’re in dire need of supplies to make EVA suits, impulse saddles, pinpoint pullers and even regular clothing, why I even just spent a lot of fabric on finishing off those dresses I completed as one of my choices to wear for the gala. I guess I will just have to take that chance. Now I know that I’m going, so who among you is going down there with me?” “I won’t…” Quietly answered Sassy, making them all turn to her for an explanation as to why she wouldn’t go. “I don’t think I can face my own parents yet, they live in Canterlot and I don’t want to incidentally run into either of them if the odds are that high to run into yours Rarity-sama. Especially not my father, I’m… I’m not quite ready yet to face him with the blinding hatred I have for men.” “I agree with that sentiment and will have to stay here with Sassy.” Nobody could say that Vera didn’t have her reasons; she was Sassy’s on board therapist and a crew calmer in general. She was also something akin to their fitness instructor, well at least she had advised several of Trap Bar’s crew on their fitness. “I’ll go.” They turned to Greta. “I just need a list of supplies to get from Gilda and I’ll pick up some things of my own then we’ll ship it up here with the Caravel Boutique, can you remotely control the boutique at that distance Opal? I’ll accompany Rarity at all times, so you don’t have to worry about a thing.” “What do you mean by that?” It made Opal suddenly curious as to what Greta was getting at. She was going with Rarity wasn’t she? “It’s kind of obvious, but AI’s can only inhabit one system at a time. While you can remotely control drones and ships from a system, you’re still stuck to that particular system unless you move to another one.” Now was Gilda’s time to point out to Opal something that she knew would cause the AI to freak out a little. “Basically you’re staying up here as Shining Jewels main source of security, having you here is what will keep the ship secure and untouched by anyone who would otherwise want to take from us or do our business harm. Which is why I’m staying, I’m running this hangar now and it is my job to work on its upkeep. Schedule my bio cast removal in the next twenty four hours will you Kitten?” By now everyone on the crew knew Opal was a rampant AI and didn’t talk about it because they didn’t want to upset her. In fact Opal dodges the issue wholeheartedly and was still in denial despite Vera’s efforts to help her come to terms with her sapience. The AI’s silence was a bit deafening in its scope as to how upset Opal might seem, Rarity’s protection was her primary concern first and foremost. She had been constantly watching out for her creator since she could first think for herself and was just a little evolving pile of code. “Opal… I know this may come as a shock to you, but please try to stay calm. You’re a big electronically crafted girl now; I raised you like I raised my little sister and you are practically my daughter. You can be on your own without my supervision.” Not knowing how to make sure nothing bad happened in the next few minutes, the lady that Rarity presented herself as decided to try and appease her AI’s sudden deafening silence. “Besides we won’t be out of contact, I have my data pad. Though control of drones is going to be hard from orbit, we’ll just use them for loading and offloading supplies to be ferried up by Caravel Boutique. We can start making orders to have the supplies delivered to the nearby spaceport in Manehatten, we’ll have to make several trips if we’re going to fill space on the Shining Jewel. I’ll personally be staying in Manehatten for a few days and I’m sorry if this upsets you Opal, since I want to take in the local couture and whatnot and then I’ll catch a train to Canterlot a week or so before the gala occurs to pick up my ticket and for Coco to get in her luncheon with Luna. The only thing I have left to ask is if Coco is going with us now or are you going to meet us in Canterlot later? Oh, my goodness I hadn’t thought of that!” “Thought of what Rarity?” Coco was thinking on whether or not she wanted to visit Manehatten, it would certainly bring back memories and it would be fun to walk around with Rarity and Greta. “Which of you is going to be my plus one, quite frankly I don’t think I’m going to be able to find a good…” Stallions were still a touchy issue and Rarity knew better than to bring up the fact that she might ask a stallion to escort her around Sassy. “Have a better companion when I go to the gala.” “Nice save, totally didn’t notice you pausing there because male hater would take offense or get upset at the idea of you dating.” Dryly commented Gilda as she lay down on her back and spread her wings out to get comfortable. “You don’t need to worry about my feelings on the matter Rarity, though I do appreciate the sentiments that you are ultimately taking my feelings into account in this discussion.” Nothing was more generous to Sassy than her good friend, one who tried to appease everyone and not step on any tails doing so. “I’m opting to not go to the gala, for the same reason previously stated. Plus I can still do training.” “I have the same reason as Sassy, prior arrangements to keep things together and all that.” Vera answered swiftly. “I’ll just add ditto and leave it at that. I’ll see what I can do around the ship when my cast finally comes off.” Gilda got up and looked to Rarity who smiled for a different reason as she had picked up on the subtle shift in her demeanor, she’d ask about it but she was busy working on a list of things she wanted Greta to get in the supply run. Most of it was sheets of metal or components to make either shield generators or energy weapons. “I’ve got a lot of ideas to work on.” “Okay so that leaves either Coco or Greta as my plus one. I’ll make wonderful dresses for the both of you; you can and will keep them of course. I will eventually see you wearing them when there are times for us to look fabulous.” Neither of the two Rarity addressed had any problem with that or any arguments against wearing dresses. Gilda might have been the only one against the idea of wearing a dress, but Rarity still considered how fetching she would look in one. “Just figure out between yourselves who will accompany me on my most amazing night out. Are you okay Opal? You’ve been quiet for a while darling, I still need you to announce the crews payment.” The word payment suddenly earned the attention of everyone other than Rarity; the only reason why they were getting to this now was because Rarity had been too busy freaking out about getting into the Grand Galloping Gala. “You better keep her safe when you go down there Greta; because goodness knows what an AI won’t do to you if you happen to upset one with my kind of skill set. In any case I think it’s time we get to another reason why we’re all gathered here.” After some thinking Opal decided to not be upset that Rarity was leaving her attached to the Shining Jewel’s systems, well she didn’t sound very upset anyway as she continued on. “Meowstress Rarity has recently got a big windfall, enough to pay everyone here what we owe them for services rendered. First paychecks everyone, check your accounts! You’ll find that your services have acquired a modest sum. Heck, Rarity is even paying me and I’ll just eventually put my money back into her account.” “Opal that money is for you to enjoy in any way shape or form you possibly can, you shouldn’t spend it all investing in me darling.” Here Rarity tried to think of something Opal would want. “You could save up and have a body built for yourself so that you’re not just a ship but a physical entity, you can buy stock in your favorite shows and you can even purchase things for yourself without my input.” Everyone pulled out a data pad and both Greta and Gilda looked at what Rarity was paying them. “Well you’ve certainly earned my loyalty more than five times over.” Gilda stated with a smile and a hint of amusement, before shooting Rarity a serious look. “You may be the boss lady of me, but don’t think that this means I’ll give up control of the hangar.” “I wouldn’t dare to dream of it dear.” The day Rarity wrested control of the hangar from Gilda would be the very same day that both of her engineers somehow got murdered. The two of them dying in accident was highly unlikely and would definitely be looked into considering what those two have survived thus far. Rarity was almost afraid she was hardly worthy of their friendship, but then that would be just her generous side speaking. “Threats aside, the boss lady pays quite well for us to do our best and I hope to meet up to and exceed those expectations. Most of my money is going into outfitting our hangar.” Greta was all cheer, though she noted Sassy was looking at her own data pad as well. “Hey, why the long face Sassy Pants? You should be happy! I know I am, Coco can I be the one to go to the gala or are you still up in the air about that?” “I’m a little surprised that I’m being paid as well.” Sassy muttered under her breath, it actually made her feel warm and cozy to be on Rarity’s payroll. She was swept up into a wing hug from Greta; she enjoyed the comforting and her new friends as well. “Rarity I swear you are way too generous for your own good.” It was odd for Coco to be a little upset that she was being paid so much, it made her feel like she was taking advantage of Rarity’s generosity when she obviously knew she wasn’t. She worked the hardest to earn her paycheck. “I’m still thinking on it Greta, but you can be the one to go to the gala with her. I’m not exactly good with crowds, especially not the ones Rarity wants to rub shoulders with.” “I’m just happy that my paycheck actually has my name on it.” It was Vera’s only response to checking her combined account with her sisters. She really wanted to visit them sometime soon to see how they were doing. “Guess I’m your gala gal Rarity; get me a gallant gown ready to go! After we’ve gotten some sleep in and grabbed some supplies to make one of course.” Letting out a yawn Greta put her talons over her mouth and that suddenly caused everyone else to start yawning, they had all been awake for a little more than eighteen hours and getting some sleep would be good for them. “Right then, we finally have everything planned out!” Rarity was finally happy to get all that out of the way. “Prepare for bed and tomorrow we set up a supply run. Oh wait, Coco, are you going to be with us in Manehatten or are you going to meet us in Canterlot?” “I’ll go with you and Greta to Manehatten. It could be nice to walk around and enjoy the city for a bit, I think we will all need shore leave and fresh air every once in a while.” Having made her decision Coco set off to prepare for bed, but not before one last voice sounded out. “Are you saying my innards smell Coco? Why I am positively offended!” The laughter that followed Opal’s words made the camaraderie seem more real to everyone, they were all friends and they could all work together. Not everything was going to be all sunshine and rainbows though, but they were becoming a tightly bonded group each with their own little problems that could crop up at any time. - Rarity finished the last stroke of her mane and smiled at the sight before her; she turned and walked towards the exit of the Caravel Boutique. Upon exiting she walked off the ship followed by Coco and Greta, they landed in Manehatten in the early morning and the smells of city wafted up their nostrils the second they did. “Forget what I said about fresh air Opal, recycled air might have smelled better.”Coco’s nose scrunched up at the smoggy morning they decided to touch down upon, the smell wasn’t too bad and they were in the midst of a city. “Maybe we can take a visit to the local park; it would be nice to relax around there.” “I wouldn’t mind that personally, we’ll probably do that once I’m done picking stuff out from the junkyard.” Even Greta was open to suggestions about seeing the park, it had been a while since she had touched down on a planet and could use some scenery. “Well I’m off to go do my shopping, don’t you two get into any trouble without me. Don’t forget to have a little fun boss lady; you have a stable source of income now.” After that Greta took off to go do her shopping with lists from Coco, Gilda and Sassy for their various needs. Rarity turned to Coco and nodded to her as the two set out on their own to find what they were looking for, quality some fabrics would be the first stop. - In Canterlot later that night something wasn’t right, Chrysalis’s changeling informants were on the prowl and so was someone else hiding in the shadows of the rooftops watching a meeting between three ponies. The changeling was in a particularly good spot and nobody could detect him, as long as they didn’t search with a spell or use a life sign scanner the changeling would get away with his eavesdropping. “So did you get the goods?” A unicorn that came off as a gangster spoke up, his henchmen weren’t very friendly looking either. “Yeah we got the stuff; all we have to do is make trouble for any local law enforcement and draw them away from the city when the time is right.” The Pegasus talking to the unicorn looked as thuggish as the quiet hulking earth pony brute next to him. “They certainly held up their end of the deal. The question is, how are we supposed to get the samurai forces out of the city for the attack? Some of them samurai types are real tough stuff; we’d need some real firepower to bring even one of the well trained ones down.” “Excellent work boys, Chunk, take the stuff back to the hideout I'll bring up the rear to make sure nobody follows you. Don’t worry your small brains about the samurai, that problem will be settled soon enough. There are already some other people planning on how to deal with that. I care not whether Canterlot falls or stands; I’ve already made my money and will be leaving town before things get hot.” The unicorn continued on as he glanced around slightly looking out for anyone who might be listening in. “I may not know much about the organization, but they are paying us greatly to achieve their small time goals while they quietly build up. Let’s move our conversation elsewhere, I believe we are being watched and I don’t want a certain Pegasus to get wind of this. The boss would be displeased if she appeared anywhere near here if you got loose lips, we also don’t want any witnesses and don’t talk about nothing. Speaking of things getting hot, take care of our watcher Back Draft. Get back to the hideout after you’re done and be careful of what you say because I’ve heard there are ears open everywhere and it’s making me paranoid. Don’t be followed by anyone, leave no body.” Two of the ponies ran off and the third took to the air to look around the rooftops with narrowed eyes. On one of the rooftops the Back’s eyes slowly crossed, the changeling that had been watching them tensed and stayed absolutely still. The changelings disguise blended in perfectly with his surroundings and he hoped he hadn’t made a mistake in staying still. The dark ash colored Pegasus with the short red mane called Back Draft smiled maliciously and pulled out a lighter with one of his hooves. A figure wearing a long cape, a mauve and dark blue costume, a wide brimmed hat and face covering mask suddenly broke from cover to start leaping away and across several rooftops. Back Draft flicked the lighter with his other hoof and it lit up with a tiny flame, his evil grin spelled trouble as with a tremendous flap of his wings a wall of fire erupted from him. It was sent speeding after the costumed figure that dove off the rooftops with the flames licking at their cape from the sudden explosion of heat when Back flapped his wings once more making his attack explode. Back Draft took off after the costumed figure immediately; he wouldn’t let them get away from him or his ability to leave no bodies behind. Taking a moment to catch his breath from seeing what would have happened had he moved Plentiful Thorax had to get this information to Chrysalis immediately. He quietly set off at a slow pace trying not to attract any attention. Something was definitely going down and it was dangerous to their continued citizenship if the princesses were caught unaware. Whoever that other figure was, they had to fend for themselves even if Thorax wanted to help them. He was the friendliest changeling ever seen, but he was not big on action packed heroics. - The costumed figure rolled as soon as they hit the ground, the drag from their cape slowing their fall enough so that it didn’t hurt nearly as much as it should have. The fact that the costume was padded helped in that respect. Looking up the figure ducked around the corner as a stream of fire swept towards them, thankfully the on top of the costume being padded and designed with a cape that could allow for gliding, it was also fire and heat resistant. What the costume was not however was comfortable, the wearer was sweating bullets from being so close to the heat the Pegasus named Back Draft was directing in their direction. The costume figure set out into the streets of the lower district at a gallop trying to lose the Pegasus, there weren’t many ponies out this late. Things were starting to heat up literally as the costumed figure dodged several fireballs and ducked around another corner into an alleyway as several bricks behind them became scorched black from the heat. Back Draft flew around the corner and was prepared to launch another exploding fireball only he stopped when he didn’t see the figure running down the alleyway. He stayed aloft and kept watch, he wasn’t going to lose his prey now. The alleyway was seemingly empty and it was a dead end, he aimed for the nearest hiding spot and decided to cook the intruder alive. The dumpster or the trash can were the only places he could see as being the place where his prey was hiding. He lowered his flying height so that he was close enough to blast both the hiding places with enough heat to trap the pony in them so that they would slowly suffocate. Only he didn’t get a chance when his lighter was knocked from his hooves by a fast flying rock and with a mighty leap the masked figure tackled him out of the air from above. Back Draft was painfully slammed to the ground back first where a sickening snapping sound was heard. This dazed Back Draft badly enough that he couldn’t fight back. The masked figure started pummeling Back Draft’s face with blow after blow with both hooves until his face was swollen black and blue leaving him unconscious. The masked figure looked about and then slowly dragged Back Draft out of the alleyway; he would later be found by the royal guard strung up with broken wings to be taken in for questioning. Back Draft was a notorious and well known pyromaniac, the royal guards were glad to finally have him in custody. Author's Note Add flour and bake at four hundred degrees until the plot thickens. -32-“Well this is serious…” Chrysalis started off calmly with Plentiful Thorax in front of her at the changeling embassy portion of the castle. “We have to do something about this secret plot.” Plentiful Thorax once again underestimated the queen’s resolve; then again he should have seen what was coming given what he said. “Someone is planning something big for Canterlot!” “I know, the only secret plot around here should be what I plan to do to make my butt a better place to peruse! Can you imagine what their butts are like?” Because Chrysalis obviously had her priorities straight when there was a shady organization threatening both her people and Equestria as a whole. She even had a look of horror on her face. “Why their butts might even be much better than mine, I’m not coming in last place next to Discord if that’s the case!” “Are you seriously still going on about that butt of the year thing?” The flat tone Thorax took with his queen didn’t anger her, he was thankful that she had mellowed out since becoming friends with the princesses. “I think we have more important things to worry about.” “My ass is something important to worry about! I mean the rest of my body is a complete and beautiful work of art, but I can’t attract mares or stallions for crap without a good caboose sans disguising myself to look like I have one Mr. ‘I transform into rocks every day and still somehow get laid every other week without trying’. You’re almost as bad as Boulder Bottom who ran off with that Maud Pie mare to live with her and her family in that asteroid field run by the Pie In The Sky Mining Company; aside from you he was our best rock disguise artist! That and I assume the shadowy organization you are talking about will eventually make an assassination attempt against me. It’s just the same cloak and dagger crap we’ve been doing our entire lives as changelings Thorax, it’s nothing to really concern ourselves with.” Chrysalis then narrowed her eyes at Thorax. “Then again you’re one to talk about important things, you’ve got a nice butt and you don’t have to worry about sleeping with ponies as you’re the friendliest changeling around according to the news. And I mean you really get ‘around’, you are popular with both mares and stallions all because you have a nice butt.” “Can we stick to business and stop talking about my butt please? Also to be fair I’m not getting laid on purpose, every single one of those ponies jumped me and wanted to do really kinky things that I’d rather not have been a part of in the first place. Apparently there’s a double standard when it’s pony on changeling.” One would assume that changelings like Thorax were as bad as Chrysalis was, nope the changeling queen was the only real evil among changelings and they considered her ways absolutely necessary as she’s done a bang up job so far. Also the fact that Thorax didn’t like kinky things threw the common thought that changelings were highly promiscuous out the window, in fact changelings actually preferred more emotionally built up romantic relationships. A real relationship for a changeling was like being served a constant ten star meal at a five star restaurant and five stars being the maximum value the rating system normally went to. “I’m still a little unnerved that Cadence is planning a herd for me in one of her romance files. I still don’t understand how you and she came to an understanding after you tried to marry her by force and subterfuge, which leaves me wondering why I found some of your cliff notes that basically stated that you agreed to let Cadence handle my love life?” “Sure we can’t talk about the changeling with the gorgeous and interesting butt to discuss the more boring things I’ve likely already figured out.” If you were Chrysalis you’d be grumbling about this too, on the other hoof she decided to get to the task at hoof and actually humor thorax’s freshly given intelligence. Or lack thereof as the minute she heard Back Draft’s name her mind made several connections before Thorax could even finish giving his spiel. “Let’s see, Back Draft was recently incarcerated. So whoever the pony they are calling ‘Mare-Do-Well’ happens to be has obviously survived the fight with him. Quite frankly they didn’t know if it was a mare or not, but your description is telling that it is indeed a mare. She has a large cape, mask, costume and wide brimmed hat to hide her race… heck she could even be one of us acting as a super hero… wouldn’t put it past Ruby District to be here without checking in first. On that note, let me get out the files while you bumble about and maybe spout off something worthwhile. Also was that mare’s rear end any good? I need you to describe it to me in detail.” “Okay, I think I can see why we made you queen now.” Seriously Thorax could see that the queen was completely off her rocker about the butt thing and the blasé attitude she had about even the remotest chance of a possible attempt on her life irked him. It did make some sort of sense considering that nobody has been successful at outright killing Chrysalis and or leaving a permanent injury she couldn’t heal from yet. The queen was about as immortal as Luna and Celestia were, in the sense that she wasn’t going to die of old age as long as she stayed well fed. Regular changelings could only live as long as normal ponies do, this made the similarities between them and ponies all the more noticeable. “You’re so certifiably nuts, that nobody in their right mind would want to steal your title from you and you’ve made yourself so indispensable that it’s impossible to depose you unless you wanted to be. “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong Thorax. It’s that I’m so hyper competent that I’m indispensible, not because of the fact that I am what would be a psychiatrists worst nightmare to deal with. Besides what would a pony psychiatrist know or understand about changelings anyway? I’ve driven more shrinks insane than I care to list off because apparently Celestia thinks that I might have a problem. Aside from that I have yet to get a knife in the back that I can’t turn back on my enemies given some time to pull it out covered in my own spinal fluids. Actually had to do that once, wasn’t very pleasant for the guy doing the stabbing in the end when I finally figured out that it wasn’t an open offer for sex. He made so many innuendos possible too, I thought we really had something there from the minute I met him when he dropped from the ceiling rafters. Why I remember him shouting, ‘why won’t you die you unholy abomination’? It was quite frankly the nicest assassination attempt that day and I found his passion for wanting me dead really endearing.” Not that Chrysalis would deny that she was insane in finding death threats to be something of a turn on for her; then again most things were a turn on for her. She was going to prove herself to her subordinate that would become her proxy swiftly and without pause by just boring him with all the facts as she pulled the files from the cabinet. She tossed several files in front of Thorax for him to look over as she spoke. “I’ll just drop the truth on you now, ‘Mare-Do-Well’ is actually just a placeholder name the newspapers have for her. The mare you saw is actually ‘The Mauve Mare-auder’ or at least the next one in line; the original was a very real pony hero. That she’s here means she’s the real descendant of the original Mauve Mare-auder that the Power Pony comics became based off of, I know this because Ruby District is the fake Mare-rauder personally working in Saddle Arabia right now keeping the legend alive and the newest real one was working in Manehatten a little less than a year ago before going silent. The real one is definitely not a changeling or else I would know about it. The mention of not wanting a Pegasus finding out about this situation by the unicorn criminal Mind Field means that they were likely talking about Daring Do, also known as Arcane Keeper Yearling an archaeologist bent on protecting the world from apocalyptic things Celestia’s ancestors probably left lying around protected by traps in similarly designed temples across the planet. What you witnessed is a local Cabelleron Cabal gang getting some suspicious goods from a shadowy organization that we’ve got practically no knowledge on with big plans. This is what Celestia has me looking out for and is paying me very well to do so and wants me at the gala. She thinks someone’s trying to steal a rug from her, though payment is pending I will bring the knowledge that they are trying to get the top quality samurai out of Canterlot so they can launch an assault of some kind. The Royal Guard is crap at anything other than policing so this is of mild interest. Quite frankly I’m surprised we don’t know more about this shadow organization or have yet to intercept their communications, they must really be changeling proofing everything if their movements haven’t been caught by us yet. This is the map of locations I want changelings to be in, all dark and decrepit places evil organizations usually end up having meetings at.” A map was slid over to Thorax with a lot of recently marked red X’s pointing out places Chrysalis wanted Changelings to investigate, half the places were of noble or aristocratic homes in the upper districts near the castle and the others were abandoned warehouses and the like where a noble wouldn’t be caught dead near in the lower districts without a secretive reason. The almost untouched districts were all for middle class ponies or beings, mostly people who wouldn’t be suspicious of any wrong doing whatsoever. “I… can’t actually say that I’m not impressed with hearing all this and the map has really good coverage. Wait, we have a changeling acting as a mythical pony hero in Saddle Arabia? Why?” Thorax was going to quickly find out that nobody did confusion tactics better than Chrysalis, she was a confusion tactic all her own and nobody could tell if she was actively obfuscating anything on purpose anymore. He rapidly shook his head to get things back on track. “No, that’s not important; you completely ignored the question as to why I found your notes on a file that belonged to Cadence about me specifically?” “Oh, now you want to talk about yourself and your glorious buttocks. Well make up your own damn mind already! Do we talk about you or this shadowy organization encroaching upon Canterlot? I vote for the former just knowing you’re going to bore me to death with the latter.” After a moment of watching the poor changeling come to understand the kind of conversation they were having, Chrysalis smiled at causing him such mental pain and suffering. “You might want to get that eye checked out; it’s kind of twitching badly. The Mauve Mare-rauder we have in Saddle Arabia is humorously enough a changeling with a masculine orientation and is quite a sexy voiced one at that. I love being queen of a primarily hermaphroditic race that has a hoof in many pies… in one case literally with Boulder Bottom being one of the few changelings we have out in space. I can’t wait to leave you in charge so I can go up into space myself.” Plentiful Thorax just sat there with his right eye twitching violently; he had two options here knowing the queen. One was to ask about Cadence’s file on him specifically where Chrysalis would continue to talk about how his butt attracts ponies, the other would be to discuss what he felt to be clearly more important matters that Chrysalis found particularly uninteresting. He knew Chrysalis was evil, but did she really have to mess with him like this? Yes, he decided, yes she did because that’s who she was as his jerk of a queen. “Okay, let’s talk about my butt and Cadence’s file on me.” Concisely stated Thorax clearly upset about it, Chrysalis’s broad smile was the end result of his decision. He picked his poison; it was still surprisingly better than listening to the queen whine about how boring he was being. - Manehatten was a nice place; currently waking up in a nice little corner street hotel room in the morning was Rarity. After a long day of ferrying supplies up to Shining Jewel, she, Coco and Greta got a single room for the night where she slightly regretted being a bit of a cheapskate. They weren’t paying for the hangar space at the local space port for the Caravel Boutique and were leaving it docked with Shining Jewel up in space. They probably should have paid for the docking space, but it was far more expensive than the hotel they stayed the night at. Besides that, the hotel had free international breakfast bar Rarity wanted to try. Upon waking up in the hotels bed Rarity found that she couldn’t move, the reason why she couldn’t move was quickly discovered when she removed her sleeping mask using her magic and turned her head to the figure currently snuggled up against her. Greta was basically for all intents and purposes spooning her and she had the right to be slightly upset with the passive sexual predator. “Greta, please be a dear and wake up.” Rarity shifted about in Greta’s arms as the griffon snuggled her, her resistance quickly got the griffon to quickly wake up and blinking. “Huh, boss lady… what’s the matter?” A sleepy Greta said not taking into account her current position, with a wing wrapped tightly around Rarity’s torso. “I would be remiss in hurting you in such a state where you can’t recognize your actions, but you are currently spooning me and I would like it if you were to let go of me now.” Speaking in an even tone that brooked no argument, Rarity hoped that she had gotten through to the obviously gay griffons brain. Greta froze and her eyes widened, she was at Rarity’s back and her beak was currently sniffing Rarity’s hair. It didn’t help that Rarity smelled nice nor did it help that she was cuddly and soft like a plush toy. However Greta quickly calmed down and took in a deep breath. “I’m sorry, but could you possibly take care of your tail first? I think it’s wrapped around my waist.” A bit of shifting from the pony later and Greta saw Rarity give her a stern look. “Besides we’re still dry and I’m pretty sure nothing bad happened… though I feel this rather odd pinch in my flank.” “My tail is not wrapped around your waist; it’s between my legs like it always is when I sleep.” The reason for Rarity’s calmness was so that they didn’t incidentally wake up Coco who was supposedly on the couch. “So you must be mistaken about me being an issue, but I know for a fact that your wing and talons are wrapped currently wrapped around me at the moment and I would appreciate it if you let me go now. I need to use the bathroom to freshen up for the day.” “Right right, but then why do I feel like I have something completely wrapped around my waist then?” Hearing Greta question their current circumstance Rarity rolled her eyes and quickly lit her horn to pull the covers off them. “Well now, that’s kind of awkward and it feels it too. I am so very sorry about this boss lady and I apologize for the current situation, but in my defense I happen to have chronic snuggling problems and I’m relatively used to getting my ass kicked out of bed by Gilda.” “Indeed and duly noted, now if you will let me go so that I can relieve myself darling?” The claws and one wing were instantly off of Rarity as if the griffon had been scalded with hot water. She rolled out of bed, flicked her messily curled tail out and made for the bathroom to freshen up. She was leaving behind a hopeless looking Greta, but before she closed the door she had one last thing to say. “Thank you Greta, oh and don’t do anything too sudden or untoward to my friend. I’m sure this is as embarrassing for Coco as it is for you.” What was Greta’s current situation? She had Coco drooling on her butt with her teeth biting into her flank; Coco’s right hoof was uncomfortably close to something Greta would rather not have the pony touch on the inside of her thighs because she didn’t quite like Coco in that way. Then there’s the final fact that her other wing was being used as a blanket by Coco which was held in place by aforementioned right hoof, the left hoof was calmly twitching up and down Greta’s back underneath her awkwardly bent wing. - The three sat at breakfast quietly, Coco’s face was still red and Greta was looking anywhere but at the two mares. “If this is how we’re doing and what we’re starting our day on, then I wonder how the others are handling their wake up call?” Taking a bit of cinnamon fried toast into her magic, Rarity nibbled at it lightly in a delicate while the other two slowly ate their food. There was a lot of tension around them. - “Don’t tell anyone this, but I think I actually might miss waking up to Greta being right next to me to pound the living daylights out of.” Gilda stayed still as her bio cast removal was in progress and she was having a psychiatric session with Vera Blossom and Sassy at the same time. “It’s almost become second nature to me by now.” “Almost perfectly understandable, though I’m a little concerned as to why you won’t give her at least a date.” Vera was hold her other arm and Sassy’s other hoof. “She seems rather smitten with you and the time of day seems to go a long way for her.” “Because she has yet to actually ask me on a date properly, it’s taking her a while to actually figure that out.” Here Gilda looked a little bit amused. “I’ve made some bet with a few guys in Griffonstone I can collect on if she does eventually indeed get the idea in her head to do so the right way.” “Well that kind of explains something about your relationship.” Sassy intoned softly before bursting out into a fit of soft giggles. “So what’s on the agenda today aside from me watching my Lion Heart show, by the way Lion Heart is actually the guy’s name Vera.” For the record, yes Opal had a CAT pointing at Vera at this very moment. “You’re actually going to watch that stuff with her?” Questioned Gilda to Vera with a raised brow, she didn’t particularly care for the show and would soon be busy building things that nobody could possibly even dream of. Hopefully she would never make a mistake in the design process, which meant she might have to make a request to Rarity to find a test pilot to add on as a crew member. “Yes, the things currently going on between the actors Trixie and Sunset are rather intriguing. I think Trixie might even mean half the things she says to Sunset while they are acting in the more romantic scenes, it was quite hard to watch her try to dismiss their budding affections. I mean the expression on her face and her inability to say she doesn’t like Sunset in costume is quite telling.” After a moment to pause and think on it Vera added. “Isn’t that show shot on this planet?” “Why yes it is, are you suggesting we do a few orbital flyby pictures? They’re doing an outdoor episode today and are using a live manticore for one of the scenes.” Both Opal and Vera smiled at the idea. “Hey at least give me some time to send a message to Rarity while we’re still in range, they are doing that scene on the other side of the planet for crying out loud!” How would Gilda know that if she didn’t watch the show? They all gave her a curious look. “Greta watches it and ships the characters damn near constantly.” - “I’m sure they’re doing perfectly fine and are not getting into any sort of trouble.” Rarity finally said after finishing off her toast. “At least I hope Opal isn’t causing any trouble, whether they know it or not foal sitting Opal is just as much a fulltime job as was doing so with my little sister. I suppose we should adjourn to the park given we didn’t get much of an opportunity yesterday with Mr. Bar checking our cargo manifesto near constantly.” “Yeah, that was a little strange.” Coco finally dropped from red faced to light pink. “What was he expecting to find?” “Well it is kind of his job to make sure contraband isn’t moving around right?” Greta was happy that Rarity wasn’t feeling to awkward about being snuggled, Coco on the other talon was really quite embarrassed to wake up to the taste of griffon and the comment that she tasted like chicken didn’t help in the manner either. How would Coco even know what that tasted like anyway? It left Greta slightly afraid of the earth pony and she was the actual meat eater here. Well technically there were certain types of meat she wouldn’t eat, oh great she now felt her cheeks heating up again. “Please tell me you’re not thinking something inappropriate right now.” Poor Coco, her hopes were quickly dashed when Greta quickly dug into her fried potato pancake with a light drizzling of ketchup and didn’t meet her big soulful eyes. “Right then, this is just getting terribly awkward. Can we all agree that how we woke up, while interesting, wasn’t the worst of positions we could have been in.” It was up to Rarity to try and make things less awkward between all of them. “Speak for yourself Rarity; you weren’t almost… touching a friend inappropriately.” Finished Coco in a more childish manner, but it was a nice way to put it. “Yes, well, I was kind of expecting Greta to be the one doing that. So color me surprised that it was you that was close to doing that Coco darling. Now please get over it!” The tone was that of finality as Rarity wanted them to get over it and to move on with their lives. What happened had happened innocently enough for her tastes and nothing untoward happened at all aside from the hickey embedded in Greta’s rear. “If could get ourselves back on track and on schedule today, then let us never speak of this again. We have a full day ahead of us to enjoy the park and tomorrow we’ll catch a train to Canterlot. I also do need to work on your gown Greta, so we’ll spend the latter half of the day on making you look exquisite and maybe it’ll help you with Gilda if she sees you in it. I also promised Coco a dress and I always make good on my promises eventually.” - The park was rather nice this time of day and ponies enjoyed parks far more often than any other species alive, whether it be rolling around in the grass or smelling the flowers they enjoyed life in a grassy meadow and there was a show going on today. Currently the magician was being watched by Rarity and friends as she was in the midst of practicing her act. “Hello one and all, I am Trapeze Star the magician acrobat! And this is my partner Bernard Slashuhrough, my bunny companion. I will perform and amaze you today as I am a one of a kind act! Surely you’ve all noticed I am an Earth Pony, as such I would like someone from the audience to come up and inspect my top hat.” Pulling her hat off her blue haired head with said hair done up three consecutive buns and a following flourish she looked out to the crowd with her yellowish fur gleaming brightly. Her tail was equally curled up in a bun and the only thing missing was a decent costume for the hoof standing mare with blue stars above a trapeze marking her flanks. “Um, excuse me, but isn’t that a Lagotorphin?” The gray rabbit standing on the magicians head suddenly snapped his gaze to Rarity’s as he hopped off and gave Trapeze an upset look. “… huh… well that would explain why the latter half of his name sounds violent when he wrote it down for me. That and rabbits are not usually intelligent enough to write in the first place.” Trapeze rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “No matter, he still works for carrots and he’s been my rather stalwart companion. I’ll just have to start getting fish jerky for him as well, would you like to come up on stage Ms.?” “Belle, Rarity Belle, it is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Star, even if your audience isn’t particularly big at the moment.” It looked like Rarity made a new friend as she came up on stage to have the hat thrust into her hooves, she checked it over and didn’t see anything off with the hat and she knew hats. “I happen to be a fashion designer and might I say that this top hat is quite flashy, but there doesn’t seem to be a costume to go with it.” “We’re a work in progress Ms Belle and I really like my purple top hat with the pink ribbon. Maybe we could even do some business later.” The mare stated simply, Trapeze then coughed and reached deeply into the hat to pull out a deck of cards that hadn’t been in there a moment ago. She started to shuffle them and perform acrobatic flips and card juggling while doing so. It earned her some stomps of applause; she quickly finished it off coming out of a forward somersault into a standing position fanning out the cards before Rarity. “Pick a card my fair lady, any card at all and I will simply amaze you!” Rarity picked out a card and it was the queen of diamonds, she smiled a little at that. “Now I will hand the deck off to my assistant, remember not to look through the cards this time Bernard.” Trapeze got a few chuckles for the comment as the alien rabbit started to do just that. “Make sure you remember your card and show it to the crowd, but neither me nor Bernard. Now, if you would put it in the hat with the face of it pointing downwards.” Rarity did so, and then Trapeze took the deck back from Bernard and threw it haphazardly into the hat and covered the brim with one hoof and started to violently shake it. She took the back hat back from Rarity and placed Bernard in the hat; she quickly flipped that hat over and slapped it to the stage making sure none of the cards came out from under it. The next thing she did was walk off the stage much to Rarity’s confusion. A few seconds later Bernard came hopping onto the stage looking about in panicked, much to the crowd’s confusion and he looked under the hat. Trapeze poked her head out of the hat. “Not yet Bernard, I’m still trying to find the card, but I think this might be it. Give me a minute if it isn’t right.” She passed a card to the rabbit and pulled her head back into the hat, the crowd was quite stunned and amazed. The rabbit showed the card to Rarity. “No I don’t believe that was my card, though it is a queen of diamonds.” In fact the diamonds had been quite clearly red on the card she chose. “The color wasn’t black diamonds.” “Oh, so that’s why all these other cards are red.” Slowly two rear hooves pushed downwards out of the hat and it slowly rose up as Trapeze wiggled her way out of it until it was up on her head like it had originally been. She stepped away from a pile of queen of diamonds that were all red. “Here I thought it would have been the odd one out.” “Why that’s quite simply amazing.” This was Rarity’s only response as everyone crowded around the pile of cards that Trapeze had stepped off of and started sifting through all of the cards. “Not really, I lost the queen of diamonds you pulled from my deck. I guess I’ll just have to try harder to find it later then.” Even then there was a smug grin on Trapeze’s face; she couldn’t have even possibly known what card Rarity had pulled from the deck. After a minute she frowned looking at all the cards the crowd was sifting through. “I think may have also lost my deck too along the way in the performance, oh well! I’ll just buy a new one. Who’s ever heard of a deck with a black queen of diamonds that has fifty one red sisters anyway?” Author's Note Poor, poor Thorax, the queen is completely competent. How else does she manage to kidnap the Crystal Empire and Canterlots Royal Family, much less the elements of harmony out from under everyone's noses? Well at least her plans are competent, otherwise she isn't personally competent herself. -33-The gala gown in progress would be one of Rarity’s finest works, now if only it didn’t need the few green colored stripes that matched the coloration around Greta’s eyes and neck. The white went well with her head feathers and the dress was looking really nice on the griffon, proving that Rarity could be a genius at this stuff. Rarity was thinking she could do something about matching the rest of Greta’s body to the dress, maybe a ruffle or two? The fashion conscious mare still had to make the gown work with Greta’s wings so that it didn’t weigh her down. Taking that into account the fashion master pony that was Rarity could put some of Greta’s more reddish colors around the neck wings and edge of the skirt, as in this case less was probably more and she could accentuate the griffon’s lithe form. Rarity was going to take Greta from being the grease stained, repair expert and welder jockey that she was and turn her into a beautiful lady hen with an exquisite dress that could turn heads of even the snootiest of ponies. It was what Rarity Belle did best. Working alongside Rarity was Coco who was happily sewing the main part of the dress with a sweet smile, happily humming away as she worked. Standing off to the side were Bernard and Trapeze the pair that put on a magicians act, the Lagotorphin was ripping into the fish jerky his partner recently bought him and he was absolutely enjoying it much to Trapeze’s weak smile. It had been a while since Bernard had gotten meat, he just really liked carrots when it came to working with his companion and now that meat was added to the menu he figured his diet would be all the better. They were watching the dress in progress and Rarity was talking to Trapeze whenever she had a question. “Oh I’d definitely go for something eye catching like sequins if you wanted to go the flashy route or maybe something just made from a shiny material like your hat which would be quicker and easier. Also it would definitely be less of a mess and hassle to clean; sequins can go everywhere if it’s not done right. I’m not saying that I can’t do that, but it’ll be you that will have to deal with it when it comes to upkeep. So a magician’s suit in your hats color I assume?” Rarity would always say that she could cater to anyone’s needs and she was doing well with Greta so far, the griffon had no complaints about the gown and it didn’t look like it was sitting in an uncomfortable manner. “Yes, I would like that; maybe something more to a stallion design like a suit and bow tie. It’ll fit with the theme I’m going for, but it’ll need to be part acrobatic suit meaning no drag.” Trapeze was working with Rarity on this and she could say she saw the quality in the clothing Rarity was crafting for her crew member. Strange friends Ms. Belle had, but they were just as friendly as the mare herself presented and Trapeze was paying for her services. “You see, I specialize in acrobatics, contortions and escape artistry. So you’ll have to make it so it doesn’t get in the way of my legs or hooves, I prefer the ability to function and I don’t want my limbs to be restrained in any given way by what I’m wearing. Leotards are more my speed than anything.” “I’ll draw up several designs for it after I’m finished with Greta here, then you can pick the one you like as I’ve got several in mind that will look good and I’m sure you’ll like them.” Turning to her friend Rarity had wondered why she wanted to go to the gala; it was the question as to why Greta of all her crew members that wanted to be her plus one. “So why did you want to go the Gala with me Greta?” “Wait, that’s what that dress is for? I thought she was marrying someone!” Trapeze’s outburst caused Bernard to slap her in the back of the head and she gave her friend a slight glare before turning back to them with a curious look. Greta blushed and looked very shy at the moment, probably thinking about marrying Gilda in a dress made by the boss lady and the image was becoming that much harder to ignore as the seconds passed by before Coco decided to speak up, she passed her needle off to Rarity as she did so. “Well that’s not as amazing as getting a lunch with Princess Luna before the gala, well that and a hug and a face to face apology. Wings so fluffy…” Shaking her head Coco blushed and looked away from everyone, until she could at least get her blush to die down some. “I wonder if lunch includes my friends… she never did say not to bring you guys. In any case Rarity is going to pick her ticket up from Luna as the princess kind of owes Rarity one to the Grand Galloping Gala.” Rarity noticed that Coco had a wing fetish, because why else would Coco blush so hard about it, leading her need to find a Pegasus or something like a reckless daredevil for Gilda’s request of a test pilot. Heck she needed a lot more than a test pilot to crew Shining Jewel. Mostly it was out of the fact that she thought that Coco deserved a good relationship and would be looking around for a Pegasus that didn’t have anywhere to be or an important job already, which means someone their age, not military and has no other arrangements in life. “So when are you guys going to Canterlot, I was wondering if me and Bernard can join you for that lunch? We don’t exactly have a venue or even a manager at the moment. All we have is our tricks, some money and a travel bag on us.” Trapeze was slapped by Bernard and he glared at her this time as he waved to the other three in the room. “Yeah you’re right Bernard, sorry if I’m asking a little bit too much of you.” “Not at all dear, but if you’re going to be coming with us you’ll have to pay for your own train ticket.” It would let Rarity get to know this amazing earth pony better if she decided to come with them; she was a good stage magician and an excellent acrobat. Otherwise Rarity wasn’t going to be too generous; she had her crew to worry about and the expenses therein. She was now quite aware that her generous actions might have unintended consequences when it came to the people she was working with. “Finally, something you’re deciding to be the slightest bit selfish about!” Was Coco’s outburst, Rarity was way too giving and nice at times. Coco had a hard time trying to tell Rarity to her face that she was quite generous outside her small time tendencies for wanting shiny things. For once Coco could relax in the thought that Rarity’s generosity had a limit… even if it was a very small one because she was still offering to let Trapeze come to their luncheon. “Well not counting gems and jewels that are not claimed by anyone. Those you’d fight for tooth and nail, but then you’d probably end up giving away half of that selflessly to a good cause.” - Chrysalis stood before Celestia and there was a concerned look on the princess’s face at this moment, as the queen had delivered to her some rather boring news. What was concerning Celestia was that Chrysalis hadn’t cracked a single innuendo the entire time she gave her report, shadowy organizations that tried to usurp Celestia weren’t news to her as they were a dime a dozen with at least fifty years between every uprising of some sort. Half of said uprisings usually never got anywhere, but Celestia would take the threat presented to her capital city very seriously and have the guards on the lookout for the local Caballeron Cabal gang. Since they had Back Draft already the catching the rest shouldn’t be too hard as they are less likely to be lethal in their actions. Still someone was making big plans and they’d best be prepared for the worst possible scenario. “Is that all you have to say Chrysalis? I was expecting you to tell me a hilarious anecdote about knowing a changeling named Deep Throat at least.” Celestia chuckled at the thought. “Hey, I’ll have you know that it’s a perfectly normal changeling name!” Deep Throat the feminine airily voiced changeling with the bright amethyst colored eyes squeaked when she noticed her queen was giving her a glare. “Excuse me for breaking cover like that my queen, I just can’t stand by and let people think my name is funny for some reason.” “Seriously Deep Throat, I give you one job and you blow it.” This was the most ridiculous straight faced reply Chrysalis could have given to her changeling. “Right, you get back to training in skulking and how not to be seen! You obviously need it. Maybe you should also take a course on how not to be heard to while you are at it.” “Deep Throat…. blowing the job… that’s just… ” Celestia tried to hold in her laughter, but she could and let out a gale of it afterwards confusing both the changeling that had come out from behind her throne and the changeling queen. “Oh my goodness it’s like you planned for that, that’s what this conversation was missing!” “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Deep Throat is still a trainee in stealth operations and should know better than to break cover.” Chrysalis stopped to glare at the changeling again, who in turn tried to give her the big innocent puppy eyes. “Well at least you’re good at mimicking voices perfectly. Remember to tell the next skulking trainee to report for duty Deep; I believe tomorrow its Hard Throb’s turn.” For some reason that caused Celestia to laugh all that much harder, causing both the changelings to glare at her. If Chrysalis remembered right, Hard Throb was the accident prone changeling who specialized in loud if highly painful looking distractions and was generally covered in a layer of bruises. Even when Hard was still a little larva he was covered in bruises, which was rather hard to do since changeling larva are always covered in soft cushioning substances that prevented such injuries exactly like the ones the walking callus always had in various places at various times. “Okay seriously Celestia, what’s up with you right now?” Now Chrysalis was a bit angry, she didn’t understand why Celestia was laughing as hard as she was. “I’m sorry it’s just… some of the things you’ve said recently I’ve found quite a bit of enjoyment in.” Calming down Celestia looked into Deep’s bright purple eyes. “Are you a virgin by any chance?” “Yes, why do you ask? I’ve been trying to find a nice slow relationship, but…” That was as far as Deep got before something pink swooped through the space that Deep used to occupy, the screaming of a helpless changeling and a cackling pink winged figure could be seen flying out of the room. “So she’s never done anything in a bedroom before?” Celestia asked ignoring the stolen changeling waiting for Chrysalis to turn back to her. “Nope and not for the lack of trying to sneak into them, she sleeps in the barracks like my other trainee’s. She’s not good enough at stealth yet to do the wake up with her in your bed routine yet and I don’t think she ever will be. She’s very good at ventriloquism, voice throwing and vocal mimicry though.” A pause and a quirky look crossing Chrysalis’s face later. “Wait a minute, since when were you so interested in my military operations? I’m being completely legit and you know I haven’t gone off the rails. Well if I had, you probably would have notified me by now that I was stepping over my boundaries.” “I’m not; I’m just asking for the sake of posterior… ahem… I mean posterity. Not that you’re butt is… let me just explain to you what I found funny.” With one quick obvious switch of the topic away from mentioning rear ends that was slightly upsetting to the queen that led into an explanation by Celestia later, Chrysalis was smirking somewhat when she learned just what exactly she had said that was so darn funny. “Well it seems even when I’m trying to be serious I just can’t help myself.” Giggling slightly, Chrysalis had to admit that when it was pointed out to her, it made sense why Celestia busted a gut. “You would be less fun to talk with otherwise; you certainly know how to make an old mare like me blush.” Well over a thousand years and counting for Celestia and she still knew how to have fun. If she didn’t then life would be all that much more boring. With Chryaslis around it was easier to have a sense of humor, to think there was something about the changeling queen that she would really miss when she finally passes the buck to Mr. Thorax. “Seriously though, if everyone in your race has names like that, then what’s your full name Chrysalis? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it, aside from that I’ll prepare for the eventuality that Canterlot will come under attack and put my people to work on making sure we’re not entirely blindsided this time. I admit my military is a little lacking, but they’ll do their best.” When Chrysalis humored the princess for a moment by telling her what her full name was, Celestia’s eyes just boggled for a moment and then they became slightly blank afterwards. After a few tilts of her head and it eventually sunk in as to what Chrysalis had told her, Celestia couldn’t stop laughing for the next ten minutes much to the huffy looking Chrysalis’s lament as the changeling blushed so hard her entire face turned a dark shade of cherry red. - Trap Bar was keeping a tight eye on Shining Jewel, as far as he could tell the other crew members weren’t doing anything more suspicious then getting an orbital recording of a popular live action drama show. While there was nothing technically illegal going on so far, he was watching them. He wished he had people on the ground that could look out for the other three crew members. Not in a bad sense, but in a ‘we have your back’ kind of way. He was an admiral of a very small if efficient fleet, so he didn’t have time to worry about what anyone was else doing if they weren’t in space. He did however have time to check in on the Shining Jewel to see what was going on. He didn’t want anything happening to a crew of spooks on his watch and so far what they were doing was tame, which meant that what the others were doing was probably far more exciting and action packed. The admiral had an active imagination, on top of being paranoid and drunk. However his service record was particularly spotless despite these negatives, proving that he could do his job while looking entirely incompetent at it. - “Hey Kitten, please send drones Progress and Scanner over to me, I’ll need their help. I’m ready to get cracking at the stuff Greta sent up, if anything needs immediate repairs or is of some concern just ask away for a second opinion.” There was a large pile next to Gilda that she had separated for her own use, Rarity had a good eye for quality junk and she couldn’t wait to get started on a few projects. One of which was utilizing the slightly busted Javelin to make her very own fighter, but she would plan first before doing anything to it. Right now she’d settle for building just about anything that came to mind from scratch and Gilda had a lot of scratch to work with. “Otherwise leave me to work on my personal projects, you know where I am.” “Right, oh and good morning Gilda. Sending the drones to you now, do not disassemble them please. If anything, do some work on Progress for me would you? Nothing major that the other drones can’t take care of with a bit of welding and their manipulator arms, so you’re okay to work on whatever it is you’re going to be doing.” There was a wistful sad lilt in Opal’s voice. “By the way,Rarity has approved of your request and will be looking for a Pegasus or some other being to be a test dummy for you. She also asked me to tell you we can be expecting her to shop around for more crew members while she’s abroad.” “Works for me, I trust the boss lady’s judgment in crew members somewhat as she hired me after all. Tell that to Vera and Sassy while you’re at it.” Picking up a nearby wrench and Mr. Welder, Gilda smiled. It was time for her to get in the zone and build something totally wicked. “Also please stop moping Kitten, Equestria is the safest planet around. Rarity is more likely to die choking on a chocolate coated pretzel than be harmed in any grievous fashion when you’re not looking. Besides she’s a big pony that can mostly take care of herself, I don’t trust her romantic aspirations one bit.” “I’m way ahead of you Gil.” Spouted off a seemingly happy Opal who was faking the mood particularly well, she didn’t like Rarity being away for very long and she’d prefer it if her pretty pony mother didn’t die. “If you have need of anything just holler for me, Vera or Sassy. I’ll keep you up to date on anything you might need to know if it becomes important enough. So have some fun for me will you?” - Despite the incredible space capable technology ponies were privy to, they still utilized trains to ferry hundreds of ponies across wide expanses of land. Because trains were cheaper than flying air and far more fuel efficient. The only thing that was different was that trains were much faster in this day and age, a trip from Manehatten to Canterlot would have taken at least twelve hours with the older trains provided they didn’t need to break out the earth pony pulling team in an emergency. Air travel was much faster, but safety was always questionable compared to moving along the ground. The newer model trains only took about four to six hours to make the same trip, which was good enough for a nap. Rarity was already boarding said train with Greta and Coco, when Ms. Star carrying Bernard rushed up to meet them looking a bit out of breath. Trapeze Star had an over the withers bag with Bernard poking his head out of it trying to look cute and innocent despite the fact that he was eating fish jerky. “So glad you could make it Miss Star, but are you sure you want to travel with us?” There was no indecision that Rarity could see, Trapeze obviously wanted to join them on their trip and trips were better with friends. All Trapeze did in answer because she was out of breath was nod to Rarity and take some deep breaths with Bernard now munching on a carrot having finished his meat snack meant for those of Pegasus, Griffon or otherwise omnivorous descent. “Well the more the merrier I say, so far you’re luck is holding out Rarity. I haven’t seen any ponies that you described as being your parents.” With a friendly smile Greta nodded to Trapeze and made her way on board. “How about we all find a nice place we can all sit together near the less crowded back?” Followed Coco looking a bit flustered, she had woken up with Greta on top of her this time as Rarity had decided the couch was a safer place from the sleep snuggling griffon. - The train was soon on its way and things were looking okay to start off with until in the middle of the journey four tilt rotor aircraft armed with missiles and rapid fire material cannons flying in on an intercept course for the train two hours into the journey. These military aircrafts were called gunships and they weren’t supposed to be here. Not only that, they weren’t supposed to be firing payloads on civilian transportation. So something was about to go very wrong here. - “So, you would have to of had a run of sporadic luck to survive that.” Was Trapeze’s reply to the various stories of running or hiding Coco and Rarity told, she the magician thought Greta’s gritty tale of survival on a derelict was much more interesting? Eating the monsters that ate the rest of the crew, it sounded like a horrible experience. “I wouldn’t call it sporadic; other people have survived some of things I have. Others were quite obviously not so well off from the experiences. I still got bruised and battered throughout those ordeals.” Rarity was of course talking about all the unfortunate souls who died either in the defense of Ewesen or were civilians mauled, mangled and mashed by monsters. “Greta was on the space station when the first attack came in; she ended up on the planet’s surface at the end of it. Speaking of Griffons, is there a quicker way to make Gabby stop prattling without hurting the poor dear’s feelings?” “No, it’s just best to let her get it all out. She wouldn’t be gabby Gabby if she wasn’t jabbering like her beak had a spring in it.” Chirped out a cheerful Greta who had a wing wrapped around Coco, the fact that the mare had actually requested it for comfort reasons came as a surprise to Greta. Now the mare was cozy and nuzzled against her getting in a nap and Greta didn’t mind being used as a security blanket. “Small universe that you ran into her, but it’s nothing like us running into Tree Hugger. She’s always there whenever we stop at a space station like clockwork and speaking vaguely while getting affectionate with Gilda.” “Doesn’t that make you jealous?” It did have Rarity curious. After having met Tree personally, Rarity could say that the mare was bizarre in her attitude like she was consistently high on chemicals. Which made it all the more jarring that Tree spoke coherently most of the time. “Not really, I like Tree Hugger… she’s just really weird in a way that I just can’t hate. I do like how she’s always calling me Ever Cheerful, which is an apt description of my personality.” Greta smiled and looked out the window while giggling. “It’s like she’s always looking at the real you whenever you meet her.” “I wonder what this Tree Hugger would see of me and Bernard, she sounds fun.” Trapeze was having a good time and was gently patting and rubbing her partner on the head, his mewling sound were quite adorable for such a ferocious little scamp. She knew Lagotorphins were dangerous and didn’t bleed like a normal rabbit, but apparently Bernard was happy with working for carrots or more recently fish jerky. “Thanks to your pointing out that my friend was a meat eater hiding in plain sight, he has gained an acquired taste for fish and unfortunately it smells. I don’t think it’s ever coming out of my hat, oh and I can understand why you have those weapons with you now.” Trapeze Star had live in Manehatten all her life and had earned her cutie mark while taking gymnastics at school and performing insanely difficult tricks. Apparently she had tapped into the rare earth pony ability to control something called pocket space and the less said about the headache gained from it the better. The attempt to even explain it caused anyone who listened to come down with a sudden and very painful migraine. Other than that Trapeze was trained in Capoeira dancing, which doubled as a fighting style that became all the more interesting when Trapeze mentioned that she could combine it with magical tricks to really dazzle people and make muggers regret meeting her in a dark alley. This was her first time traveling as she couldn’t keep doing park jobs forever. “It’s getting to the point that a lady must have something to defend her honor with these days, my weapon of choice is an energy pistol or two. Self defense is a must if you’re going to be traveling around darling. You might never know what you’ll run into out there” Rarity lifted a cup of tea towards her face; she started to take a sip. A large explosion rocked the car sending tea splattering all over Rarity’s face horrifying her because her drink just sullied her mane and fur. Coco fell to the floor and woke with a start. Bernard’s eyes sharpened and his long ears started twitching as he looked around for the threat. Trapeze immediately pulled herself into her hat along with a surprised Bernard, making it fall to the floor. Greta was immediately at the window and seeing something she obviously didn’t like, she pushed Rarity down to the floor covering her boss lady and Coco with her own body. “Oh goddess, get down boss lady!” Another explosion rang out as a missile blasted a small hole in the car they occupied, glass shattered and went flying all over the place. Some of it lightly stabbed into Greta’s back along with a few piece of metal from the wall. Someone had just attacked the train to Canterlot and they came heavily armed. Screams rang out on the front cars of the train as the sounds of more gunfire could be heard, they were currently in the third from last car of a fifteen car long train. Getting up sluggishly to look out the hole in the train cars wall, Greta saw several figures rappelling down ropes onto the train from two of the gunships and pulled her head back in before she was noticed. “Is everyone okay?” Clutching at her head with her hoof, the noise deafened Rarity’s hearing and she was trying to get her bearings straight. Coco was similarly affected by the explosion and Trapeze simply poked her head out of the hat resting upright on the floor along with a rattled looking Bernard. “Define okay; whoever they are they used concussion missiles on the train! I think they’re trying to take prisoners and are using lethal force against anyone who resists. Look well organized, mixed species and from what little I saw, they are packing more firepower than we can deal with.” Counting the plasma rifle and the two energy pistols, Greta didn’t think they’d be pulling action movie hero stunts against four gunships loaded to incapacitate and kill. “They are either killing people or are taking them hostages for some reason.” “They ruined my mane and stained my coat on top of that! IT… IS… ON… wait no, that’d be stupid and reckless of me.” They heard three distinct screams coming from a car ahead, but they didn’t go to investigate it. “Get the plasma rifle ready Greta, we’ll hunker down here until help comes or we’re taken out. Shoot to injure if you can, admittedly that would be rather hard for you to do given the weapon in question.” Author's Note Rarity is not an action hero, though she would do action hero things should the situation warrant action. The holiday's came early this year for me, I've been rather distracted by a particular gift I didn't know I was getting a a few days early. -34-“I forgot to ask, are you alright Greta?” Rarity’s ears were still ringing from the concussion missile that slammed into their train car, she believe the same could be said for everyone else who was dazed by the blast. “I got some glass in my wings and some bits of metal in the back when I was covering you and Coco boss lady. I’m good, generally speaking of course.” It was strained but Greta kept a smile on her face, the only thing that really got her down was seeing dead people. Reaching back with her claws around her butt she tugged on something and pulled a large bit of metal out of her rear end and there was blood on it. “Yep, just fine by my standards, though I wouldn’t say no to some medical treatment when we survive this.” “Wait when? Don’t you mean if?” Trapeze said from her protective head covering bunker. “No she’s quite right, ‘when’ is a more than likely correct term here.” Rarity checked her two energy pistols as she levitated them before her. She pulled out her data pad and started hitting a few things on the screen. “Considering we don’t plan on dying anytime soon, it’s a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ we succeed in fending off whoever these ruffians are. Also I’m going to call Opal and tell her we’re in a spot of trouble. She’ll be more worried if I don’t alert her to this immediately and who knows how she’ll react then, probably wouldn’t let me out of her sight and she needs to become a bit more independent.” Greta shot Rarity a strange look, the pony was quite aware that the AI was rampant right? So stopping Opal’s dependency on her could possibly be a bad thing. Shaking her head Greta just gave a tiny smile and readied the plasma rifle. - “That filming of the Lion Heart episode we got a recording of from orbit was incredible to look over again. It’s likely that the Shining Jewel’s cut of that episode will be the only one in existence, making it something of a collectors novelty for me.” Opal was in the midst of talking with Vera and Sassy when she flicked an ear and look off to the side away from the two ponies. “Huh… what is it Meow… oh holy flipping Java script! Who the buck is attacking the train Meowstress? I don’t care about how bad my language is, as nobody endangers my creator! Of course I can see them, you have four gunships hovering around the train and it looks like they hit every compartment with an explosive device. Concussive missiles, are you alright? Greta only took a bit of glass and metal to the body… well it’s awfully nice of her to cover you and Coco. I’m stating it out loud for Vera and Sassy’s sake; remind me to thank Greta for taking the brunt of that for you. You should probably do that yourself anyway.” “Um excuse me Opal, but did you just say that Rarity’s train to Canterlot was under attack?” There was a slight bit of a steel edge in Sassy’s voice, Opal just held a paw up to her as she looked to be talking into the other one as if she were on a phone and ignoring her stern gaze. “Yeah, I don’t know who those guys are, but they are definitely well armed material rifles, energy pistols, plasma cannons… ah crap! I’m not apologizing for being crude Meowstress as they are currently setting up jamming device and it’s about to go…” Opal sighed and finished sadly as the connection was cut. “Off, yep that just happened. Well alright then, calculating possible creator saving methods with current supplies, crew members and anything available to help.” “Um, Opal…” Vera had been around the AI long enough to know she’d prioritize Rarity above all else if her creator was in danger unless told otherwise and with a good enough reason, otherwise she’d actively prioritize everyone else of her own accord in a rather benevolent manner. It was nice that she was one of the ones that were prioritized the most given her odd affliction, but psychologically speaking the AI had a few issues. “Now hold on, I’m trying to get clearance with Trap Bar to go down to the planet.” Opal could talk to other people without anyone hearing her; she was asking Admiral Trap Bar for permission to send the Caravel Boutique down to the planet for emergency reasons. “Done… Sassy get to the Caravel Boutique like yesterday and put on your EVA suit. Gilda will be waiting on you there. I have but one really unusual question to ask of you.” “Yes, what is it?” Sassy was wondering what the AI would say, as she went off immediately for the Caravel Boutique. After making a short stop to grab her some of her gear in the training room of course. “I’ve seen how good you are at piercing metal… in the training room that is…” Opal started off slowly. “So I was wondering. How much gravitational force can your body exactly handle?” That question seemed entirely different from what was expected considering the lead up to it was how well Sassy could puncture metal with her Chokuto. Sassy didn’t exactly know the answer to the question, but she was going to find out why it was asked as she was already pushing Her EVA suits helmet over her head. - “Well… at least we know mostly what they are armed with.” Rarity started off as she turned to Greta who smiled lightly despite things becoming very tense waiting game. “That should definitely make it easier at the very least. With that jamming signal we’re not going to get much help from our eye in the sky.” They really didn’t have much time to be sitting around and talking things out and Greta obviously knew this as she had already found a good position watching the doorway to the car in front of them, Trapeze Star had taken to watching the two cars behind them in case any of the invaders came from that direction. They were all in the middle of their train car and between the seats using them as cover; civilians were allowed to carry weapons in Equestria provided they only used them in self defense. This situation warranted self defense. Coco was cowering next to Rarity on the right side of the train car; Trapeze was in position next to Greta on the left. They were waiting for something to happen, aside from staying low so that the gunships didn’t gun them down through the windows. The door slid open and two figures ran in to slam it shut behind them, only they weren’t armed. One was a light grayish brown stallion with his black mane slicked back and the other was a little pink filly with purple hair that had white streaks, they skid to a stop when they saw the two armed passengers give them an odd look. The stallion looked over his shoulder fearfully, before he turned to the two armed passengers who weren’t obviously with the guys who were boarding the train. “Excuse me for asking this, but can me and my daughter stay in this car with you? Provided that you can defend me I’m sure to owe you a big favor, I’m Mr. Rich and this is my daughter Diamond Tiara Rich.” The stallion was keeping close to his daughter; Rich was obviously protective of her. “I’m scared daddy.” The filly looked positively spooked, as if she had seen something horrible. “It’ll be okay honey, I’m here after all.” He snuggled his daughter before looking at Rarity as she leaned out to address them, the guns weren’t pointed at him and his daughter at least. Safety wasn’t exactly assured, but he would do the best he could for his daughter. “Please excuse me for saying this Mr. Rich, but I would advise you to take cover and stay there. Also stay out of our line of fire and we’ll be okay with that much. No need to owe us any favors, it would certainly help us more if you tell us the situation of the other cars.” She motioned them forward with the gun and they quickly huddled down between the seats near Rarity and the others while looking back towards the door. “We already know they hit all fifteen cars with concussion missiles, so tell us something we don’t know. I am lady Rarity Belle, fashion designer; my personal assistant Coco, the one with the plasma rifle is my technical engineer Greta and finally those two friends of ours Ms. Star and her friend Bernard. It’s pleasure to meet you under the given circumstances.” “Well I know they aren’t robbers, they are far more militaristic than that. They are capturing everyone alive and any who try to resist or escape are being shot without any hesitation, mostly they’re just causing incapacitating wounds.” Pausing to rub his chin, Rich spoke up with his ponderings. “Before you ask they are not mercenaries, they are too well equipped for that. They are organized and they are doing this for some reason, but I can’t fathom what. Other than that I can tell you that they are very much hostile and if they wanted to they could have just destroyed the cars with those gunships. No they are definitely leaving people alive, but for what is the question and we haven’t seen anyone die.” “Yes, but we did see them cripple a pony and a few other people.” The haunted looking Diamond Tiara Rich said. “Both legs, just gone… and then her wings…” “Okay, so bad news all around, but it sure is taking them a while to get here. When can we expect them to…?” Greta stopped and turned her sights towards the door as it opened and an average sized male diamond dog quickly threw himself forward as several large blasts of energy flew over his head and into the car. Everyone ducked down and watched as the diamond dog scampered between some of the seats, likely to cower there as the plasma blasts burnt, blackened, melted and damaged the far back wall of the train car. Diamond Dogs were a curious species; they were usually bipedal and had long lanky arms ending in four fingered paws designed entirely for digging. They had short legs and spike covered tails, along with their dog shaped head fitting onto what were ape like bodies. They were curious in that they weren’t exactly a dangerous omnivorous species with carnivorous leanings and ever since space travel was introduced they preferred to keep themselves firmly rooted in the ground. However it was thanks to the technological advancements of recent times that they had started eventually bettering themselves. Their societal structure was something comparable to what prairie dogs had in appearance and were known as the quickest digging species in existence, being they could dig fast than they could run on two or four legs. As far as intelligence goes, Diamond Dogs weren’t the best at it and preferred simpler forms of thinking when they could get away with it. Diamond Dogs really like digging for jewels and gems, they also are somewhat good at metallurgy as far as things they are most known for goes. Though no reason has ever been found out as to why they like gems and jewels so much, but it is assumed they eat them for sustenance like dragons do. The first contact with the boarders was just happening right now, as into the room ran the plasma cannon wielding Minotaur wearing a strange dark red uniform with a golden five fingered hand symbol on it. He was obviously the one that was chasing the frightened diamond dog. “Come back here dog, know you’re place! You will be of use to our organization and you will like it.” As far as Minotaur’s went, this guy was decently sized. He thundered forward and fired, the diamond dog quickly rolled away whimpering between another set of seats. “You can’t run from me, nobody will be leaving this train unless it’s unconscious or otherwise. We will be taking everyone with us!” As he swiveled his plasma cannon to take another shot at the scared dog, a plasma blast ripped through his shoulder knocking him off balance and several energy beams hit him doing not nearly as much as the plasma blast that ripped into his shoulder. The Minotaur let loose a roar and aimed his gun in Greta’s direction and she narrowed her eyes. Rarity kept shooting for his other shoulder, aiming a little lower she sent a stream of plasma blasts into his leg and that finally toppled him. The plasma rifle was doing far more damage to the bulky bull headed guys head. He tried to get up only for a familiar if flattened hat to fly across the space between them and the large biped bull, when it reached him an entire pony shot out of it with incredible force. Enough so that it knocked the Minotaur completely out cold, the hat then promptly landed on the ponies head and popped back into shape. She turned around to bow to her audience. “Thanks Bernard. Didn’t know you were that strong. Guess there’s not a lot I know about Lagotorphins, I have much to learn. Now if we could do that two more times without fail then we’d have a hat trick.” Trapeze smiled back at the rabbit that wave, then looked shocked and pointed behind her. Taking the cue to immediately watch out, Trapeze pulled her hat down over her body and into it. Following that action was a bunch of random metal bits being fired from two rifles that were small in comparison to Ember’s rectangular weapon peppering the space the pony used to occupy and everyone ducking for cover. Trapeze’s hat started waddling wildly away from the weapons fire directed at it, if the situation weren’t so grim it’d be funny to watch. “Damn it they got our enforcer! Bull down, I repeat Bull is down. We’ve finally met some armed resistance.” The human with the material rifle was glaring beyond the door way where the Minotaur laid still, next to him was a pony wearing a similar uniform levitating a rifle. The blonde human’s face could be seen as clean shaven and the pony had their head covered with a helmet and bulky clothing to make it hard to tell their gender. “Requesting gunship assistance if they become too rowdy… I don’t care if you only have one missile left. We don’t need to take them all alive; the leader is kind of asking a bit much of us here! So what if a distress signal got out? By the time anyone sends any help we’ll have already redirected the train anyway, so it’s a moot point. All we have to do now is quell the troublemakers in any way we can.” “I was afraid he’d say something like that.” Rarity muttered from her position as she leaned out slightly and ducked back as several bits of high velocity metal started ripping into her cover. Greta took advantage and fired several plasma rounds for the pony who ducked behind cover, as did the human a second later when Rarity got a glancing shot in on his elbow. Her other pistol was firing at the pony who started blind firing their material weapon through the general middle of the train car. - “I’m going to do what?” Sassy asked as she sat next to Gilda as they were about to enter the atmosphere. “You heard me, Meowstress Rarity is in danger and you’re going to question my plan now?” Opal looked put out and worried, but also determined. “You have the equipment and strength to pull it off, so what’s the problem?” “No problem really, I just need a bit of clarification, because it sounds like you said I was going to…” Sassy started off while Gilda sent her a few glances every now and then. Opal and Sassy continued to hammer out what exactly the resident samurai of the crew would be doing. Gilda already knew her part in things; she was getting a chance to pilot the Caravel Boutique. While it still lacked weapons the shields were far stronger than they had ever been, Greta and Gilda had been a bit merciless in the tweaking of the shield generator. The Caravel Boutique angled downwards and began its descent through the atmosphere at a break everything pace; Gilda had a smile on her face as she was in a pilot’s seat once more. Opal would be commandeering the controls for the landing when it returned to Shining Jewel; otherwise Gilda was free to fly it as she wanted to and into some action no less. Her project would take a few more days of constant work; it wasn’t quite ready for a field testing yet. - Things weren’t looking so hot with three guns between them and the opposition suddenly getting two more reinforcements in a Griffon and an Ahuizotl, thankfully it wasn’t THE AHUIZOTL. A regular Ahuizotl was still bad enough as it was, they were a dog like race with waterproof fur and at the end of their tails was a hand as which was the same thing their front two limbs ended in. Some of them even had spiked fur that was sharp enough to rip open flesh just by having it rubbed up against you. This one in particular was wielding an energy pistol with pretty good accuracy as it clipped Greta’s shoulder as she was ducking. Both Rarirty and Greta were taking nicks here an there and so were the guys firing upon them. “They are giving us too much trouble, gunship Delta move into attack position and either gun them down or at the very least pin them!” The human held some authority; he was busy trading rounds of fire with Rarity from cover of the doorway to the next car. “Look, I just want you to fire that last missile right god damn now; we’ll even keep them in place for you.” Rarity looked out the nearby window one of the four gunships swiveled around and took up a position aiming through the shattered windows to fire their last concussive missile at them. It let loose and flew straight towards the middle of the train car where they currently were, to break cover would mean getting shot at and to shoot at the missile would mean to also get shot at. A few hundred feet from reaching the train the missile split in half and the back end spiraled away while the familiar glow of magic encase the head and launched itself at the gunship delta’s win. The explosion caused its fan to rupture and it spun out of control while on catching fire, a black figure could be seen clinging to the gunship as it started to fall. “What the hell! Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, I think Delta just got shot down by its own fucking missile! Find out what happened then get… ” The firefight continued on while outside a different story was taking place, the human had fallen over because had had finally been shot and his blood was quickly spilling out onto the floor around the cauterize portions of flesh and charred cloth. “Was that Sassy and did she just seriously take out a gunship?” Greta questioned as she continued to fire her rifle, she finally knocked the human out of the fight with a shot through the lower right side of his torso. It was mostly survivable; then again she was no expert on firearms or their usage. - Sassy was falling and she grit her teeth as she reached to her back with her left hoof and aimed her right hoof forward, she only had one chance at doing this correctly. She could see one of the gunships moving to point at the train and it was moving parallel to it as it fired a missile, which was the reason it was the first one that she would take down. With a tug of her sword she gracefully flicked the blade out and the missile ahead of her split in half, she twisted her body and fired her pinpoint puller directly at the wing opposite of the ones she was about to destroy. Thanks to the new sideways momentum and her accuracy with her grappling device she wasn’t going to die after jumping out of the Caravel Boutique once it got close enough to drop her. With a flick of her horn she magically grabbed the explosive head of the missile and launched it. Sassy slammed into its opposing wing ramming her sword into it up to the hilt and quickly tried to get her bearings as the gunship spun out of control. This happened after an explosion had already rocked the other side of it; she hoped Gilda was ready to support her when needed. As she was now going to start taking these guys apart, she would defend the innocent even if they were male. Sassy leapt away from the falling gunship while sheathing her sword and fired her grapple at the side of the train and roughly slammed into it hooves first where she stuck. The suits magnetically attached her to the train. An explosion went off in the distance proving that one of the gunships was down for the count. The three other gunships spun to face her and the closest one came in and starts firing on her as she slowly clambered sideways trying to avoid the trail of high velocity metal slowly following after her, before she pulled herself onto the roof as the trail of fire tried to slowly curve around to hit her. She spun up onto her rear hooves and swung her sword once in the gunships direction knocking it away and creating a large gash in one of its wings making it spin away as she turned to address the other gunships. Standing up on her rear hooves Sassy started to move towards the front of the train where the jammer was and the other two gunships swooped in to start firing at her, her sword started flickering out behind her and sparks danced away from her form in silver flashes. She deflected several of the rounds of metal that would have hit her and ignored the ones that were only just as close to doing so. The two gunships spun about while the third one was still having problems righting itself from her attack, they fired after her as she ran along the roof of the train. Jumping off the side of the train she rolled and fired her grapple between her legs and flew up under the gunship on the right side of the train and stabbed her sword upwards when she reached it causing it two wobble strangely in the air. The other one fired at her while she was on the underside of that gunship and she quick dropped herself back onto the train, where she flopped harshly on her face and quickly got up to start galloping along the train towards the jammer again. The three gunships were slowly getting ready to regroup, two of them having taken some damage, but not enough to be stopped. They entered a triangle formation and were going to try and catch Sassy in the crossfire, they started firing and three trails of sparks could be seen heading towards the pony. Then the Caravel Boutique rammed into the untouched gunship on the left, causing a huge flare as the ships shields strained to stay intact with the impact. This sent the gunship crashing into the ground and exploding, while the Caravel Boutique rolled up away as the two gunships tried to target it. Two small and rather deep holes appeared in the gunship on the right’s side as Sassy stopped and stabbed at the air twice, she turned back around and continued onward as the other gunship swept a trail of material cannon fire across her position and one passed through her suit causing a splash of breach gel to spray from it along with some blood. Sassy stumbled only slightly and was only three cars away from the jammer when several people with the golden hand uniforms popped up on the edges of the roof between the cars to start firing at Sassy, she charged them deflecting their energy weapons fire and cutting their materials bullets out of the air. As she performed a forward flip over two of the uniformed beings, a unicorn and a griffon in the nook between two of the cars, swinging her sword twice. The two went flying away from the train with deep gashes in their bodies and rolling almost lifelessly into some grass. The samurai was now about only two cars away and she had several people running towards her firing their guns with abandon, she expertly slid her sword across ones chest before slashing him from hip to shoulder. She spun around and deflected several material bullets from the gunship as the other one was rammed into by Caravel Boutique destroying one its wing engines sending it spiraling into the ground. The Caravel Boutique’s shield flickered out of existence and it rose higher to avoid the last gunships fire. Continuing forward the mare slashed a human across the waist as she passed him when he tried to get her with a knife. She then reared her rear end up and bucked him off the side of the train while blocking the energy weapon fire of an Ahuizotl that was charging right at her. She rolled to the side of the train when the Ahuizotl decided to try and tackle her given his weapon was proving useless and he tumbled along the ground painfully looking like he broke several important bones in the process. Sassy tried to climb back up and her body shook when a round from the gunship went through her side make her pause and shudder in pain, but it wasn’t powerful enough to knock her off the train. She got back up onto the roof and turned towards the final gunship, taking her sword into her hooves the glow of magic started to charge up her sword and with one hard swing she sliced off the back half of the gunship sending the front spiraling where it slammed into the ground and skidded for several hundred feet where it flipped and kept going. It didn’t explode when it finally came to a rest on its side missing both its wings and the rotors at the side of the tracks. Turning around Sassy blocked a material round with the flat of her blade and the stabbed forward at the unicorn trying to sneak up on her, basically goring the pony through the chest with her sword. Said unicorn tumbled off the side of the train and looked to have had enough energy to cast a spell before they hit the ground with less of an impact. Leaping for the next roof, Sassy charged right for the jammer while dodging the fire directed at her, she brought her sword down and cleaved apart a portion of the roof the jammer was sitting on while destroying the device itself. Sassy stabbed her sword into the roof next to her to balance herself; her body shook as several more shots coming from other uniformed people came close to hitting her. “Rarity, are you okay? If you can hear me, I think, I’m making progress. I want to live for my friends!” Sassy coughed out and looked down at the blood on her face mask and felt some of it dribbling to her chin, she had taken a really bad hit somewhere in all that given she hadn’t been able to deflect or block everything, most likely the worst part was when the gunship rounds went through her. That one had been agonizingly painful and she really needed help soon. “Gilda I n-need an immediate pickup, I’m not doing so g-good. Rarity-sama and Coco-chan won’t l-like it if I’m dead in the next forty minutes. Put… put me in a med-bed. I can’t do much more here, my body is spent even if my spirit is willing.” Deflecting what she could in her state, Sassy made a leap for the open airlock while firing her grapple with several energy weapons firing after her as she pulled herself into safety, Sassy collapsed when the airlock closed behind her with breach gel and blood pooling the floor. -35-“Sassy what in the… Opal what did you do?” Questioning her AI about her life choices while she was getting shot at was one Rarity’s worst ideas, especially when her cover was being shot up and she was against armored opponents. Said armored opponents didn’t have any protection against Greta’s plasma rifle, but it was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed and the people with them were taken. They had been too busy to see what the explosions were about, but Opal had the answer to what was going on outside. “I had her and Gilda go after the jamming device… unfortunately Sassy might take a month to recover from her injuries. Diagnostics from the med-bed, she willingly wanted to be put into mind you, show that one of the material cannons took out a part of her liver. The internal hemorrhaging is not as bad as it could be.” Opal’s voice sounded particularly upset to hear this news as it came from Rarity’s data pad. “That’s going to take a while to grow back. Plus there was still a chunk of metal in her that’ll be tricky to remove… oh, look out for the guy on the left! Aim ten degrees down and two to the right with your left pistol and fire in within the next three seconds.” Ducking a round of fire that took away another portion of her cover Rarity leaned out and moved the pistol as indicated and shot. The beam of energy hit an Ahuizotl and went through the leg causing him or her to topple, thus banging their head on the floor of the next car. That Zotl wasn’t getting up anytime soon. Rarity noticed something strange; the gun the Minotaur had been wielding when they had knocked him down was missing and the unconscious body was still there. Only none of the guys opposing them were wielding a plasma cannon, it was would have been a bright and very quick death had they been able to fire it in these enclosed quarters. She and every other person in this particular train car were unarmored and all the energy, plasma and materials flying through the air were more lethal to them than their opponents. “The EVA really has come a long way Rarity, its magnetism was particularly useful in keeping Sassy attached to the train, the pinpoint puller got her around quickly enough to take out two of the gunships and the breach gel kept her from bleeding out as quickly.” Continuing to watch the struggle from on high, Opal sighed and continued. “She’s still going to need a full suit repair, have it refilled with breach gel and it’s going to take a lot of effort to get the various holes closed up but I believe you can manage it once you’re done with these ruffians Meowstress. In my defense Rarity, I’m able to give you real time tactical data and you already have a cavalry inbound. Trap Bar is sending out three drop ships after the destroyed gunships and injured bodies along the tracks, the fourth one will be dropping off help soon. Gilda has made it back to the Shining Jewel safely with med-bed already working on Sassy’s numerous injuries… huh she almost lost her ability to have children and I’m now horrified that I sent her out there with those gunships. I’m penciling in some personal time with Vera for that one, I really need to make it up to Sassy later for asking her to go into such a deadly situation. I’m receiving news that the Wonder Bolts are personally about to lend you aid, thank goodness they are taking my call seriously. With all the destroyed windows they shouldn’t have any problems doing quick flybys on those guys.” “Yes, but is there an immediate change to our situation? We’re pinned down in here and our cover is dwindling at a frightful rate. We’re also not wearing body armor like they are.” Rarity watched Greta shoot at the shelf nearby one of the hand symbol wearing aggressors causing it to fall on them, she quickly ducked and several blasts of energy whizzed by her cover where her head had been. “Oh and we’re considerably outnumbered here, Greta is eventually going to run out of ammo and my pistols are not going to be enough to keep them back. That and they are beginning to run out with how much I’ve fired them.” “Just hold out a little bit longer, their communications are open to me and it appears they are trying to redirect the train. They want to head towards Yakyakistan, but why are they trying to get there of all places?” If Opal was confused about it, then everyone else might as well have been. “They want to cause an international incident is my guess, the yaks were always a bit isolationist in their ways.” Trap replied calmly cutting in on their communications channel. “This is Admiral Trap Bar to Rarity Belle; hold your position a little longer until we can get some troops on that train to help you and the civvies. The EVA suits you made us will give us an edge in making taking them down, we’re going for capture here. These people know something and I want to know what the plan is if they are trying to destabilize our planets relatively peaceful existence. We’ll give you the gunship parts in trade for not talking about how we dropped the ball on missing an emergency signal that barely got out.” “We can agree to that!” Two voices sounded out eagerly, both of them of noticeably of griffon quality. A certain diamond flanked pony would have to talk to them about their mutinous behavior in the face of getting some premium scrap, but that would come later. Gilda continued after that. “The boss lady surely doesn’t mind keeping quiet, also I didn’t scratch the Caravel Boutique it’s safe and sound where it belongs.” “Look can we keep the chatter to a minimum, I am being shot at here after all and I can’t concentrate with all of you talking to me.” A pinging sound and what looked like a high speed bottle cap ricocheted and caught Rarity’s horn slightly causing her to fall daintily out of the line of fire. “That one hit my horn, which really stings I’ll have you know!” A bright flare filled the train car and that was quickly followed by an explosive blast of energy in the next train car over. The Diamond Dog, Mr. Rich and his daughter all scampered towards the back of the train car while they had a moment to breath. Rarity shut her eyes and prayed that nobody had been directly hit by that plasma cannon blast, she opened them poked her head out and turned to the pony now hold the plasma cannon and looking rather sheepish. “Whoa, so that’s how you fire this thing…” Trapeze said dumbly as Bernard had his paw on the trigger while Trapeze had aimed the shot as if she were holding a bazooka. It looked a little heavy for her, but she managed to hold it steady for that one shot. “Energy weapons don’t have much kick when they fire do they?” “When in the hell did you have time to grab that? Also I’m down to five clips here; we’re going to need to buy more ammunition for this rifle. It’s far better deterrent against heavily armed people like these yahoos.” Greta swept out of cover aiming her rifle forward and charged into the next train car to find a bunch of groaning bodies on the floor, she quickly had to duck out of the way of a plasma round as the next train car suddenly opened up and there were more of the golden hand insignia wearing problems. “Four gunships worth of people couldn’t have dropped off more than thirty people at max. What did they do, use the clown car trick to get more than that on this train?” “Trapeze, Coco, please watch these nice people and our backs for me will you? I’m going to make sure Greta doesn’t push forward too hard or get herself into any trouble.” Rarity leapt out from cover and charged towards the doorway leading to the train car Greta was in while ducking several material rounds and energy blasts that caused her to squeak out in fright. She almost faltered when a round whizzed by her ear and another grazed two of her legs as she took cover. Scratches and light bleeding covered her body, but at least the bright side of all this was that her mane and tail was still quite spotless. “I’m so going to a spa after this, a lady is not supposed to sweat quite like this or be involved in volatile firefights. Opal darling, please start spotting for me and keep an eye on Coco and the car behind me.” - “A golden hand symbol…” Chrysalis muttered as the news came in that a train had come under attack, they just received a load of information from an Opal Belle on a train currently being assaulted and Celestia’s response was immediate. She respected Princess Celestia in many ways, almost as much as she respected Luna’s endearing childishness. “Definitely someone who is avoiding changeling infiltration methods, how soon until the Wonder Bolts arrive at the scene? Also a medical unit is warranted concerning the story that they incapacitated some people violently. We’re working on the information as quickly as we can get it.” “Their ETA is considered five minutes, but I think it’ll take two as they have been craving some action lately. I heard a courageous few civilians are making a hold out and someone has managed to destroy the jamming device, the four rear cars of the train are currently confirmed as currently partially clear with unconscious aggressors.” Celestia kind of liked this Opal Belle for keeping them up to date on the problem at hoof, they were receiving real time orbital data on the train and she was seeing everything that was going on that was mostly focused on a diamond flanked unicorn. That these people managed to land armed troops on a train and set up a jamming device almost without notice was quite telling that something wasn’t quite right and then Admiral Trap Bar’s report came in. “Apparently they are well armed and armored, whoever has been holding them off has been quite lucky to do so for so long… wait I know that pony. It’s a survivor of the Ewesen MOM Assault, also one of the ponies Luna owes a ticket to the gala to. She certainly has quite the knack for getting into danger.” “You do not know the half of it Bright Goddess.” The pony that had startled the changeling queen and the princess, calmly walked up to them with her lackadaisical attitude. It was none other than Tree Hugger, popping up out of nowhere as is her modus operandi. “I am of the earth, the soil and part of the heartbeat of the worlds that I walk upon. Equus wanted me to deliver a message. ‘I know not who they are for I have no physical eyes, but I hear they are building titans and will spread chaos to weaken the defenders of Canterlot. They will strike when the iron is hot and it burns the one you love. Should they succeed, the balance will be messed up for a time’. Please see that this doesn’t happen.” “My, even the planet itself is being quite the spoilsport on tipping us off. Though the titans are something I’ve not heard of, interesting that the world sees things that I don’t.” Discord popped into the room looking like a pineapple that had a sponge embedded into its backside acting as a tail, the pineapple also had four squid tentacles popping out from it flailing randomly. After a moment of just being stared at, Discord puked up a green starfish and his attitude couldn’t’ have been any fishier. “So… does Soul Judger want to join me on a night out?” “Hello Balance Keeper, it is quite nice to see that your vibes are flowing well. Fluttershy is open to the idea of a date and will meet you whenever you see fit to appear before her the day of the gala after she is ready and not before. Provide a righteous time to our mutual friend while protecting her and her knight.” Tree Hugger calmly turned around and sauntered out of the room, she stopped one moment before she left entirely. “I have further business to attend to and will now take my leave, blessings to you all and may these coming times never harsh your vibrant energies.” “Wasn’t that the mare that saved over a thousand lives during Geoptis Stations infestation? If I remember right she was reported as buying a bunch of medical kits, a plasma rifle and ammo for it before riding the last shuttle up to the station before the infestation hit.” Chrysalis had heard of a pacifist doing odd things in the area, but she never thought such a peaceful looking pony could get the drop on her of all beings. She was supposed to be the sneaky one, how the hell did that earth pony get the drop on her and Celestia? “Yes, I believe it was Tree Hugger. A well known SNUGGLES associate who is quite the interesting pony. She sits at the edge of the threshold of becoming a princess, of nature, peace or earth specifically. She could be one of us at any time she wishes.” There was a concerned frown on the face of Celestia; she tapped a hoof to her chin delicately. “Yet she chooses not to be one, making her all the more deserving for the position. It is such a shame that she answers to a different calling entirely. I would do well to heed her warnings that we are to be attacked by giants; also I’m concerned about what she said of a loved one being burned. I hope that it is not Tirek as to whom she was referencing in the terms of titans.” “We’ll need to interrogate one of the guys you’re going to capture to find out whose starting this mess or at least get a lead on them. If we can’t get anything from them then your sisters dream stalking ability would surely help. We at least know a symbol to watch out for now.” Chrysalis was taking this situation seriously, but she needed to lighten the mood somewhat. “Hard Throb, front and center! Good job on staying hidden, I commend you.” A changeling fell from a spot on the wall, losing his camouflage as he did when he smashed face first into the floor, he was a changeling practically covered in bandages and he quickly threw a wobbly salute while his soft yellow eyes winced at something. Yep he needed to stop being so accident prone; Chrysalis could admit that he was good at stealth though. - Rarity dove into a position through the door behind another seat and quickly floated her two pistols over the top and started firing blindly at the beings at the other end of the train car. She quickly pulled the two pistols down as fire started striking her cover. “How do I get myself into these messes?” Rarity muttered, she never did anything to these people and they come in here guns blazing, frightening poor fillies and capturing innocent passengers. “It’s not how you got into this that you should be asking, it’s how you are going to continue reacting to it boss lady. I’m particularly open with fending for my life for the sake of others, seems like something you’d like.” Greta chirped humorously before a bit scratched her across the face causing her eyes to go predatory, she poked up and fired once and her eyes went back to normal as the sound of a pained yelp could be heard. She had a viciously victorious smile on her beak. “I love it when my predatory instincts kick in like that, make it all that much easier to hit my prey. You know, at the rate things are going I’ll eventually be turned on by every member of our crew as it stands and Vera is not so bad looking if you can keep her in sight. Coco is quite a doll, but I don’t think she’s my type even if she does have hard working going for her.” “Can you take this a little more seriously; they just marred your perfectly adorable face.” Rarity kept down and checked the charge on her energy pistols, she was running quite low. She poked out and fired several shots causing their opponents to duck back into cover. “I wonder if Gilda digs battle scars.” Greta pounced across the row into cover in front of Rarity while firing several rounds. “Also I did take that seriously, the guy isn’t standing anymore is he? I mean plasma rounds to unprotected fleshy bits are generally going to be quite freaking painful. Also, who uses hard currency as ammunition?” “Apparently someone who’s desperate, you know, since you can’t take it with you if you’re dead and everything.” Dryly commented Rarity as she lunged to cover to Greta’s right. “Whatever are we doing? Why are we even pressing forward, there’s no advantage in doing so.” “Because these guys ruined what was supposed to be a perfectly quiet trip to Canterlot, not that I’m complaining. A little excitement never hurt.” Pausing to hold her rifle upside down and fire blindly over her head in a random sweep, Greta continued on as she crouched lower when her cover was being pounded by more projectiles. She had incidentally nailed someone with her blind firing. “Too much excitement like what happened to me and Gilda before we met is more problematic. Then there’s the fact that these guys gunships injured one of our crew members, said member who I need remind you has a chronic fear of med-beds and was forced to willingly get into one of her own free will. I cannot imagine the psychological scars she’s going to have from waking up in it, but I would at least like her to know she allowed us to get our pound of flesh out of them. Also that she did a good job in helping us out; get her some get well cards, chocolates, the works. Sassy is our friendly manager and badass samurai. Gilda helped too from what I hear, might need to recalibrate the shield on the Caravel Boutique. That small ship wasn’t meant for ramming into things at top speed, but dang if it isn’t effective.” “Quite, can you please not get shot again; I’m starting to love having you as a friend… even if you’re a bit flamboyant about your preferences. I personally have nothing against them, but I would actually like to make an honest try for a stallion.” A griffon charged down the center of the car towards their position. Taking the simplest course of action against the charging feathered fiend, Rarity pistol whipped him from a distance with her levitated pistol. The griffon stumbled dizzily into the butt of Greta’s gun flashing forward into his face taking him down before she ducked back down and several rounds of energy singed her feathers. “Do be careful, your feathers are quite delicate dear. I think Gilda likes a well groomed griffon, even a hen such as yourself and that you make the effort makes all the difference.” “I’m not exactly sure about that, though I do think Gilda likes a more tail kind of girl and self maintenance doesn’t seem to count for much. Certainly went after Rainbow’s enough, always liked grabbing that colorful mess in her beak.” Greta took a round deep in her shoulder and she grunted before crouching deeper into cover and quickly reached out to take up the downed griffons pulse rifle. “You don’t think he’d mind right?” “Of course not, he’s quite indisposed and I’m sure he’d lend it to you were he awake. Though pulse rifles have been proven to be less lethal than what we’re already using, it does have its uses though.” Rarity pulled the material pistol out of the griffon’s holster. “I’ll just help myself to something as well; he’s not going to be using it any time soon anyway. Yes, he is quite the gentleman to give us his weapons, though the coercion was a bit rough of us to do and very much unladylike in the extreme. Also self maintenance matters if you wish it to matter my dear Greta, I don’t want my friend getting cold talons on me about the gala now and I want you to look your best when we go. ” “Oh that’s it I’m going in; I can’t handle any more of their girl talk!” A female Ahuizotl charged forward and dodged around the twos fire and leapt for Rarity with grasping hands extended, her dark blue and grey uniform with the golden hand emblem shining in Rarity’s eyes. She never managed to touch Rarity when she was rammed into the wall by a fiery haired mare in uniform, one marked with feathered wings and a lightning bolt that just delivered a flying kick to her skull. “Did somebody call for the cavalry? Ten points if you can scratch this flank with something!” Spitfire the yellow furred Wonder Bolt with hair like that of a fire shot off towards the next train car avoiding fire with a whoop, while Rarity and Greta slumped down relax. It seemed as if the fighting was over with and minutes later they could see a EVA suited Diamond Dog female fling herself in through the window to look about before she nodded to them and motioned for them to head back. “Well that’s a load off, do you think they’ll let us keep the weapons we might have procured during duress?” Greta stopped to steal a few weapons. She had compunctions about stealing from good people or at least people she’s friends with, she also didn’t like to break the law and tried to keep the use of her hacking to a minimum unless Gilda thought it was important. Said compunction did not exist when it came to the stealing the weapons her enemies held and had used against her and her friends. Overall Rarity, Greta, Gilda and Sassy were collectively responsible for four gunships and eighteen of the forty five people that boarded the train. Rarity’s group would be silently dropped off into Canterlot to go about their business and Trap Bar would personally deliver the confiscated weapons to the Shining Jewel as a free favor for them along with the already promised damaged gunship parts. They needed to stock Shining Jewels armory with something and nothing like free weapons with random amounts of ammunition. That was best of the situation. The worse of it were all the injuries, whoever these golden hand guys were they were quite vicious to a little filly when they practically shot her wings off. Practically because the wings were still attached to some sinew, the legs were at least salvageable but that poor Pegasus’s wings were shredded. That filly was the one Diamond Tiara spoke of. It wasn’t the only injury as multiple passengers were permanently crippled before Rarity and Greta started taking action and now they were to be seen to by the medical unit that was waiting for them at the train station. - The train had been attacked by terrorists, who were going to be quite tightlipped about the full plan and Chrysalis was going to lead the interrogation. Said changeling queen walked into the room with a live beaver, a can of spray paint, a lighter, a rubber hoof glove, cheap dental floss, a bowling ball, a recording of the ‘Happy Happy Joy Joy’ song that loops endlessly on her data pad, the worst magazine Chrysalis could think of that was an exceedingly dry periodical and a tape dispenser. - “They are surprisingly tough and resilient; I didn’t think that one guy would even survive what I did with the beaver.” As Chrysalis trotted out of the room, she looked to Celestia and Luna’s horrified faces. “What, you said to go all out. Couldn’t get a word out of them, so it’s now your turn Luna. See what you can get from their dreams; make them nightmares of me if you have to.” “How did you even get the beaver to… and more than once…” Started off Celestia who shook her head, she sighed and shook her head again. She wanted to question it, but she thought better of it and would erase the sight of how cruel Chrysalis could be with rather mundane items and a beaver. She would never look at tape dispensers the same way ever again. “No, I can’t be lenient with them. They harmed my innocent little ponies and people, they chose to cause pain and suffering. I’m almost regretting unleashing you upon them Chrysalis… almost. I’m more surprised that they didn’t crack after what you did to them.” “I’m back on the information gathering then, remind Cadence that we have an appointment together tomorrow.” With that Chrysalis flipped her mane and started to walk off. One of the guards that had witnessed everything Chrysalis did silently dragged a garbage can over to his compatriots where they all promptly lost their stomach contents. “At least pry the name of their organization from them Luna, I know you can do it.” “Ma’am, princess… If I didn’t know they absolutely deserved it, all of that could have been labeled a war crime without there actually having being a war present.” The guards were now officially terrified of Chrysalis and breaking any laws now, in fact enforcing the laws Celestia laid down was their bread and butter for the rest of their lives. They were scared straight and would become citizens of the highest quality, just so long as they are not left alone in a room with Chrysalis. “I am well aware of that… however I thought she could achieve her goals as she is quite good at getting information though I personally detest the act of violent interrogation.” Celestia might have detested it, but Chrysalis certainly didn’t. She wasn’t above letting Chrysalis have her way to come out of this smelling like roses. Though the brutality of it was a bit sickening, at least it wasn’t lethal; well it didn’t seem lethal at a glance. Her worry about her loved one being hurt kind of tossed morals out the window, nobody would hurt Luna or Twilight if she had anything to say about it. “Soft interrogation didn’t work, so I had Chrysalis come in to show them I mean business. I didn’t think she would go that far, then again the terrorists probably shouldn’t have injured those changeling passengers.” “I would have talked the minute she grabbed the spray paint. I mean the beaver was really hard to watch, but the spray paint really sells it until she gets to the tape dispenser. It was a like a train wreck, I just couldn’t look away out of morbid curiosity.” One of the wide eyed guards was shivering until Celestia rested a wing over him and coddled him, slowly calming him down. “I don’t think anything else will haunt my nightmares from now on. Happy… happy…” Celestia comforted her guard even further with slow gentle petting; the poor fellow was crying as his mind had almost snapped just watching the events that had unfolded. “I am in agreement with them, that was … mildly disturbing.” Despite saying she was disturbed Luna seemed perfectly fine, then again she had seen the worst nightmares of ponies and this wasn’t even on her list of the top ten worst atrocities she’s ever seen committed. Said list has stealing the last slice of cake with her name on it and not giving the adorable mail mare a muffin, so it was a little bit biased. She thought better of voicing her thoughts as seeing the torture implemented by Chrysalis as absolutely kinky; she didn’t want to worry her sister. Author's Note Chrysalis is quite vindictive if you hurt her changelings, almost exactly like Celestia if you hurt her ponies. -36-Wearing a vibrant pink shirt that said ‘Caution: Hot Stuff’ Ember calmly walked into a bar, she stopped to adjust her form hugging pants slightly and was a bit nervous about trying to socialize. She didn’t bring any of her weapons, but that didn’t mean Ember was helpless as her body was a living weapon on its own accord. She walked up to the stool at the bar and sat down to wait for the bartender to attend to her needs. It was nighttime where she was and possibly on a planet far away from Equus, Ember hardly ever went near that planet. The planet she was on was noted for its warm nightlife activities, the planet got just enough sun to stay warm and keep the vegetation alive and was almost near constantly dark thanks to its three moons. The gravity here was a bit light by a percentage based to Equus natives, but that wasn’t a problem for anyone One thing of importance to know was that Dragons couldn’t get drunk, but alcohol still tasted nice to them and had a different side effect entirely. If a dragon imbibes spirits of a good enough potency their ability to breathe fire becomes exponentially better, as in they can breathe fire so hot it goes straight to white in the color spectrum in less than a second. All alcohol was to a dragon, was a way to charge up their fireball spitting abilities. “Strongest stuff you got.” Ember spoke as soon as the yellow Plurt bartender moved over to her. “Are you sure about that? You don’t look particularly suicidal.” This bartender had obviously never met a dragon before, so he wasn’t aware of the biological impossibility of a dragon getting drunk. She was a paying customer and she did slap down money for the entire bottle and he put a glass before her and started pouring. “Yes, I can drink anyone under the table no problem. My species is talented for it.” In fact no dragon could lose a drinking contest; it was becoming a common joke for Ember to rob her bounty targets before cashing them in through getting them completely sloshed. It was one of the easier methods for getting the less alert, more prideful and boastful idiots with serious bounties on their heads. Only the intelligent bounties know to watch their intake and to not challenge a dragon in alcohol drinking if they wanted to keep their liver. Right now Ember was actually not looking for trouble and was actually trying to spend a night on being social. There was a loud clicking noise as Ember continued to slowly take in her drink, she looked out of the corner of her eye and saw someone aiming a gun at the back of her head. It was a material weapon from the looks of it, from the smell it seemed to be loaded with low grade metal. Wouldn’t even come close to piercing her scales, but it might scuff them and ricochet into someone with less capable skin. She was prideful of her scales and wouldn’t like it if this asshole damaged them, more importantly she didn’t want her well designed clothes to get damaged either after they were tailor made for her unique biology. “Well, well, look at what we have here, someone who thinks she’s something special. Well come on then Flamethrower, let’s see how well you fight when your completely unarmed.” The human looked a little foolhardy for a twenty something jerk with short black hair and five o’clock shadow. His cocky attitude denotes the fact that he knew nothing of Ember or what she was capable of. He probably would have known better than to poke a resting dragon if he knew just what exactly she could do to him in the span of five minutes that wouldn’t be technically lethal. “I bet Daddy Dragon Lord would pay a pretty penny to get you back safe and sound princess.” “Give me a second here; I want to finish my drink before I start kicking ass all over this bar. I’m going to preemptively apologize for that Mr. Bartender. Any damage I personally cause will be on me, but any damage this guy and whoever he’s brought with him are not my fault.” The bartender nodded and was prepared to duck when Ember started beating the ever loving shit out of everyone who was with this idiot. She finished off her current drink, passed it over to the bartender and pushed the bottle towards him. “Hold that for me will you? I’ll be back for it in the next twenty minutes.” Slowly standing up and turning around Ember gave the human a look of contempt as he had a smug smirk on his face, it would soon be promptly wiped off when she finished him and whatever thugs he had off. “You know, I came to a public and rather notably civilian bar to avoid such a thing as what you are starting here. If I had wanted some action I’d have gone to a Bounty Hunter Dive like the one just down the street from here. I wanted a quiet night to maybe socialize with random strangers, maybe talk with the barkeep about my woes, but no, you just had to go and ruin that idea.” Ember stayed where she was, but she shifts her tail slightly and stiffened it, her wings flexed preparing for combat and she could feel the alcohol bubbling in her body. The effects of alcohol tend have a prolonged lifespan in a dragon until they breathe enough fire to burn out the imbibed fuel, so as long as a dragon drinks regularly they would be nearly instant death at a hundred feet and guaranteed third degree burns at least another hundred feet more from there. Ember would just have to refrain from breathing fire unless she absolutely had to. “Just so anyone here with this guy knows, shoot at me and I will maim you. Damage my clothes and I will maim you all the harder for it as these clothes were made by my friends. Hurt a civilian and you die; no judge or jury will convict me for it. Finally you have to remember that you were the ones that started this. So if you start asking for mercy there will be none. There are plenty of things worse than death and I am one of them, as such I would prefer it if you called me something a little hotter like Inferno. Flamethrower is quite an understatement of my talents and I’m getting quite upset by the very fact that people are still calling me that. So tell me, you and what army thinks you can take me down?” “Why the Kangen Mercenaries and fifteen of their best men of course, we’re being paid to deal with you so that you never cause the guys that did so anymore trouble and after we cripple your sorry ass we’re going to send you back to daddy dearest at a king’s ransom.” The man said with bravado, apparently thinking numbers was what was winning this day. He was a little uncertain when he saw that Ember didn’t so much as show an ounce of fear or bat an eye at the guys arranged against her. “Just so you know, you won’t escape Mit Kreed today.” “Who said anything about escaping, this fight is quite unfair.” Here Ember smiled slightly at the thought, she started stretching out her muscles. Dragons were normally physically strong, but when you had a dragon that exercised and actually took care of themselves? You had Ember, who as a reminder dragged an almost five hundred pound sack of crap across most of Drixsto to get a bounty and carried at least a hundred pound spike covered metal bat while doing so. “Yes, it is quite unfair for you despite the fact that you have five Macropussians, three Caccerans, six Humans including yourself and a Pendaxon all ready to make an attempt on bringing me down. So how about we get things started?” Going down onto all four limbs like a quadruped and with a mighty lunge, Ember tackled Mit Kreed in the midsection and they tumbled. In the midst of this multiple shots filled the space they had been occupying. Upon coming out of the tumble, Ember had the guy’s gun in her left claw and was giving him a vicious right hook to the jaw before swiftly shooting him in the left shoulder and right knee. She rolled away from his body out of the way of some energy weapons fire coming at her from behind, it was just the beginning for Ember’s night out. Well she certainly got her chance to socialize, if only it was with friendlier people. Rarity came to mind as someone friendlier as Ember’s fist was plowing straight into a Caccerans skull. The mostly fox like mercenary went down with that single blow and was also swiftly relieved of his weapon. - Rarity awoke with a yawn and stretched out and she would have rolled off the couch, but she looked before she did so. She could understand maybe letting Trapeze and Bernard bunk with them in an inn, but why did the diamond dog have to follow them as well? On the floor curled up was the diamond dog decked out in a red vest and black bejeweled collar with an orange diamond shaped tag hanging from it with nothing on it. The gorilla like dogs pockets were quite notably empty, especially so of crystals or jewels that diamond dogs were known to carry around and he looked particularly destitute. In her ever generous heart, she just knew she was going to invite him to come along to lunch with the rest of them. Sitting up, she looked over the back of the couch to the bed and saw the adorable sight of Trapeze snuggling Bernard in a sleeping bag next to the bed, Bernard looked particularly comfortable in the earth pony’s grip. On the bed, Rarity was beginning to suspect Coco was suppressing her need to cuddle with others openly and after yesterday she wouldn’t tease Coco of needing something to snuggle like a big brave griffon. She slowly went to the bathroom and would be the first to begin freshening up for the day; yesterday had been hectic what with the questioning by the royal guard, Trap Bar and the Wonder Bolts on top of it all. It was a little strange to Rarity that they allowed her to keep all the weapons she picked off of the terrorists, but Trap Bar apparently vouched for her and her friends characters. Sassy was going to be in medical for a while and Gilda was back to work as soon as she got off the Caravel Boutique and back aboard the Shining Jewel. She was pretty sure the griffon would likely die drinking coffee or at least holding a cup in her talons, because she was hearing of Gilda’s work ethic on building some kind of vehicle in the hangar and at an incredible speed to for making it entirely from scratch without Greta’s help. Time to get in a shower, pop her back into shape and freshen up her face, today Coco and her had a lunch with Luna today. She had to look absolutely perfect for it, make a good impression and maybe make a dress for one of the most wonderful princesses around. Yes, today would be Rarity’s day to shine in the eyes of someone important. - Ember was lifting an entire table and slowly heaving it in the Pendaxon’s direction, the table took quite a lot of shots from the five limbed frog menace… six limbs if you counted the prehensile two digit tongue. The large alien frog was giving her the most issues with his three weapons firing towards her general direction near constantly while he hopped around on his two other limbs. All it took was a table to the skull later and with a drop kick to the back of his throat when he let out a scream, the dragon foot entering his mouth at a good speed took him from the fight and from there things got much simpler. Ember had already killed a Macropussian with a shot through her left eye that blew out her brains into some rather bloody chunks; the kangaroo shouldn’t have hit the poor guy in the bicep who was spending time with his girlfriend when this mess started. She had also killed two Humans, one that had a knife sticking out of his heart which was his own weapon of course and the other no longer had her heart as there was a wooden stake in it that was a leg broken off from a chair. One of the Caccerans had even been eviscerated having had their head physically ripped from their body. Ember was making it a very good point to not hurt others around her when she was their ultimate target, so far her clothes were only faintly covered in blood and she hoped it could still be washed out. The mercenaries were really beginning to falter by now and she did warn them that they were going to be held responsible for their actions. “Come on; if this is all you’ve got then you better start running right now!” Pissing off a dragon was a bad idea, pissing off Ember Mcflame was far worse. Said dragon whipped out her tail and it wrapped around a charging human’s leg, with a swift jerk of her tail he fell onto his face where Ember turned and stomped down on his spine with a sickening cracking noise. He’ll live, but it would take a while before he would be able to walk again. “I meant away from me, I swear you guys are clinically insane!” - The morning that Cadence had been dreading had arrived; Mi Amore Cadenza was absolutely dreading the time she was going to be spending in the presence of Chrysalis. She woke up and she knew today was going to be at Chrysalis’s mercy, whatever that involved as the contract was carefully worded. Celestia had assured her that Chrysalis would not do anything sexual to her, for some reason that didn’t ease her fears in the slightest. She was about to groggily get a bath in when a throat clearing made her stop. “Ahem, princess I believe today is my day to have you as an escort.” Chrysalis walked into the bathroom knowing full well that Cadence was there and was about to take a bath. “Chrysalis could you please at least wait, at least until I’ve taken a bath? I don’t know what an entire day with you will be like and I’d best get prepared for it.” The underlying sense of dread in Cadence’s mind grew worse when Chrysalis didn’t leave, but moved up closer to her. Other than that the changeling didn’t do anything but let her eyes drift from her head, to her barrel and finally onto her flanks that last longer than she was comfortable with. “You’re not going to start your day without me are you? Are you already trying to break the contract?” Chrysalis watched as Cadence stiffened and it was clear that the princess of love had no understanding of what she meant. “The contract stipulates that we’re doing a lot of things together today until I free you or circumstances warrant it in a case of emergency. So for the next eighteen or so hours, you are mine to play with as I see fit as long as I stick to the rules of what I can and can’t do to you in the contract. Celestia didn’t state I couldn’t bathe you this morning, only that I could not touch you in places she labeled and clearly defined as inappropriate. Thankfully your butt is not on the list.” “You can’t be serious.” Cadence stated flatly as Chrysalis crawled into the tub and sat down looking at her with a bright cheery smile that reeked of evil intention, she and the other princesses were quite well aware of the queen’s ability to abuse loopholes like no tomorrow. She had even read the contract personally and signed it, Celestia had asked her to do so carefully and it was to get Chrysalis’s help on things. It had all seemed so innocent at first, now she was beginning to see that she may have missed some things and this payment was just lasting for one day. Though the fine print said something about a year of being stuck looking like she did at the end of it all? She didn’t quite understand what that meant, but it could have been that bad. One look into Chrysalis’s eyes said it all. “You are, you are completely and utterly serious about bathing me.” “You’ll have to wash your own teats and privates, but the rest of you is certainly free game while bathing together. Then we’ll play with your hair for while before I finish off with the makeover I’ve always wanted you to have.” A predatory lick of her lips had Chrysalis looking very happy to be here. “Oh and I will not ruin your relationship with Shining Armor, I’m in the business of spreading love… not destroying it. Also as a reminder, my species no longer needs love to live as we have two more things we could turn to for sustenance. One of which is easier to obtain than the other without upsetting anyone. Come on; let me show you what you were missing out on by not being my sexy mare. Even if I can’t do everything I’ve ever wanted to do to you, I can still do some of the things I now want to do more than ever and we don’t have all the time in the world with which to do it.” “Okay… just don’t be weird about this day later or look too far into it.” Cadence stepped into the tub that started filling with hot water, feeling rather insecure with the changeling queen climbing in next to her. “I would certainly only dream of it, now hold still. I’ll get most of your body and shampoo your mane and tail, and then you take care of your privates while I watch. You can wash me if you want; I’m certainly open to the idea.” Chrysalis smiled cheekily when Cadence whipped her head around to give her a flat look. “Celestia didn’t say I couldn’t watch you wash your privates, just that I can’t touch them. Now what shampoo do you like to use?” “The strawberry lavender…” Before Cadence could continue she was doused with water causing her to reflexively close her eyes, then there was a tug on her mane and she felt two hooves gently rubbing the shampoo into her scalp. “Now sit back and let me just caress you a bit, taking care of your body will be my job for the day.” Chrysalis tenderly scrubbed Cadence’s scalp even as the mare stiffened underneath her soft ministrations, soon she’d grab the soap and start working it over Cadence’s body. Until then she worked on the soft and silky mane that she ran over her hooves lovingly. “My you’re a tense one, then again I guess you have right to be.” Chrysalis silently moved her hooves from the head full of wonderful feeling hair she would just like to take all up in a hoof and force Cadence to the ground with a sharp tug and ask her if she would submit to her lustful whims. Too bad she didn’t think the princess would go for it, she moved her hooves onto Cadence’s back and started putting pressure in the right spots. Disguising as a masseuse certainly helps one to train in the job and while she liked playing rough, now wasn’t exactly a time for that as Cadence was entirely unwilling to do anything like that. As such she just started to massage the tense mares back until she started relaxing enough for Chrysalis to start rubbing shampoo into her tail as she let Cadence rinse her mane out. “You know, I would have expected you to grab my mane and try to ask me if I wanted to be claimed right here and now.” If only Cadence knew the dirty thoughts that passed through the queens mind as she scrubbed the mare’s tail. “It’s bad business for a changeling to touch a married mare unless her husband died in an accident, also no I don’t mean that a changeling would forge an accident to take their place. Our race has a proud history of keeping the love going legally thank you very much.” It wouldn’t surprise Chrysalis if she were to later find out that Cadence was psychic, but that had been a pretty close guess as to what she actually wanted to do to Cadence right here and now. She was following the contracts stipulations and not playing rough, also because Cadence was a married mare in general and she was the princess of love those ideas would have been bad to attempt anyway. Some mares actually like being grabbed by their manes and tossed to the floor before being treated like a slave, that kind of foreplay was always fun when you could find a good submissive. Still though, she’d just have to ask. “What if I just grabbed your tail instead and take a good look under the carriage?” “Wouldn’t that be against the contract?” Cadence asked as if she were unsure, then she felt her tail being lifted high up and she looked back to see Chrysalis taking a gander underneath her tail. “Could you not do that?” “Well I can’t touch, but I sure can look at least, that Shining Armor is a lucky bastard. So what kind of soap do you use?” The bathing continued from there with Chrysalis cleaning the mare’s body in silence after she learned the brand Cadence used. Cadence decided to get some revenge and started washing the wet Chrysalis’s mane; she didn’t back away and actually smiled. “If this is your form of revenge, then you’re not doing it right.” “Well we’re both not leaving this bathtub until you’re clean as well and the contract doesn’t state that I can’t touch you.” Here a predatory look crossed Cadence’s face and Chrysalis wondered if teasing Cadence had been worth it, after the moment Cadence started teasing her body the changeling decided that yes there were no regrets. Heck Cadence was surprised to get a few pointers from Chrysalis on how to please a stallion, though the discovery of a lifetime was found out by Cadence when she checked under Chrysalis’s tail. “You’re a virgin? You know so many innuendos and sexy things though and you’re an endless stream of them around Celestia and Luna! Heck I wouldn’t be surprised if you were the one that corrupted Twilight into reading those kinds of books.” “Well excuse me princess, but I was saving myself for someone special… after all I did try to marry you while you were disguised as Shining Armor. Let that sink in for a moment.” After that Chrysalis forgot she left something out, such as her knowledge of how to make an innuendo. “Oh and changelings have a vast and extensive history of sexual knowledge that is still quite effective concerning how many mares and stallions are marrying my kind these days. Who do you think wrote Ka-mare Sutra? It was one of my people; a changeling wrote and published that book to promote love for the gathering! Is it any wonder stallions learned to actually please mares correctly?” “Shining and I used Ka-mare Sutra to… so that anonymous book wasn’t from Twilight. Here I thought Twilight might have been some kind of hidden sexual deviant, oh goodness, all the little hints of thanks to Twilight. No wonder she looked so confused, my sister-in-law must think I’m a pervert, but it was you that sent us that book as a wedding present!” Here Cadence’s eyes went blank and her mind probably flat lined, if she were to be hooked up to a heart monitor it probably would have to appear as if it stopped. Chrysalis just smiled smugly at her and waggled her brow suggestively, making Cadence come back to reality. “That certainly explains quite a lot, so is it Celestia or Luna?” “Either of them really, but Celestia and Twilight work too well together. I just can’t interrupt that kind of relationship with a third wheel like me. I think I’m closer to Luna, but she’s pretty dead set on marrying her shotgun and she’s really, really odd to be around for prolonged periods of time.” It was around this point that Chrysalis started rinsing off her mane in a shower of water as Cadence started to tentatively working on her tail a little silent. “I’m not nearly as lucky as I would like to be, my flat butt has yet to earn me a worthy suitor and a queen will not take someone to bed full on at the drop of a hat. The worse I would actually do to you, taking into consideration that you’re married, would be mostly considered assisted masturbation. I’d touch, but I’d never go too far unless I knew it was love that got us there.” “I now feel rather conflicted about pitying you.” Cadence stated all of the sudden as she started scrubbing Chrysalis’s fur covered chitin feeling a little less anxious than she was a second ago. “On the one hoof you’re evil; on the other you suck completely at finding love personally on a scale I can’t actually fathom now considering that you’re the changeling queen.” “You shouldn’t pity me after the things I pulled, especially if you tried even half the more painful things in that book I sent Shining Armor. Some of it was well annotated with my torture room notes; triple checked my facts as I wrote them too. There are Changelings that actually are that promiscuous and masterful at the sexual arts. My love gatherers are still around, only they are more open about their intentions nowadays. They currently own the red light district here in Canterlot and in Manehatten, they double nicely as information brokers and know how to keep the brothels clean and classy. In particular they help support ponies whose special talents are meant for those particular regions if you get my drift, my changelings certainly keep them safe from the less friendly customers and they pay in real true love quite well.” Here Chrysalis shook her head and continued on with a giggle in her throat, it was nice to get along with Cadence even if she was already taken. That wouldn’t last long with what she was about to do to her, unless she actually came to like it in the end. “Thank goodness changelings are immune to sexually transmitted diseases and can’t transmit them themselves. We’d have likely been found out ages ago if that were a real problem. Another reason to not pity me is that I’m about to give you a rather drastic makeover that you will have to keep for an entire year.” - Ember calmly sat at the bar with several groaning, bloodied bodies underneath her rear end and she tapped the counter. The bartender sat down her previously used glass and paid for bottle of the good stuff before her. There were medical personnel on the scene dragging away the corpses and tending to those incidentally injured in the skirmish. “Sorry about the chairs, that table, a few of those broken bottles, the floor, the walls and maybe a bit of everything else. Heat of the moment kind of thing, I hope you understand.” Here Ember paid him for all the damages she personally incurred to his bar, she was willing to help him pay off the rest with the bounties from some of the guys she was sitting on. “Well that was the most action I’ve seen in a while, so would you like to talk about things?” The Plurt heard her reason for coming to his bar and she needed someone to talk to. “Heard you need someone to be social with, I’m a good listener and I do happen to be a bartender. So in the name of socializing, I have a surefire method for getting bloodstains out of clothing if you’re interested in hearing it. Someone special to you helped make them I assume?” “Yeah, you could say that.” A pretty prissy unicorn pony fluttered through Ember’s mind and made her blush lightly. Author's Note I can imagine Ember or Luna walking into a bar and hearing Heavy Metal- Sammy Hagar start up. -37-“Is strapping my hooves to the chair really necessary?” Asked a rather worried Cadence, she was collared and caped by Chrysalis while being forced to sit in this chair with her hooves tied down. “Yes, I’m not going to hurt you if that’s what you’re worried about. Does it chafe?” Chrysalis levitated a brush over to her and looked to Cadence’s somewhat dried mane hungrily. “No, it doesn’t chafe, but I would like to respectfully state that I don’t like this.” Cadence watched as Chrysalis approached her with the brush and shivered at the look in her eyes. “You don’t have to like it, now let me brush your mane. I’ll have to comb it into shape a bit before I get to the next part.” Chrysalis stalked over to the mare that was trapped beneath a white cape and she started to gently brush Cadence’s mane, she would do so until it was completely dry. She wanted the mare’s mane to be nice and straight for the next part and the curls at the end of Cadence’s hair had always bothered Chrysalis slightly. “You know, this is the kind of thing I’ve always wanted to do ever since I fell in love with the idea of you. Earning the love correctly of the actual you would have been so much better, but Shining armor already had your attention and can you really blame me for being jealous of him?” “Maybe a little, he was the only choice in my mind that I would choose to marry and I’m the princess of love, so wouldn’t that mean I’d understand more than the most common form? You know what I mean, the kind between a mare and her stallion. Of course by that point it was already too late for you to make a bid for my heart.” The brushing actually felt nice, every sweep was lulling Cadence into a false sense of security and she grabbed hold of that for all it was worth. Chrysalis was being surprisingly friendly instead of accidentally pulling at her hair roughly to get a small amount of pain out of her. “I kind of fell into the princess must marry the knight in Shining Armor thing didn’t I, but it’s worked out for me.” “Yes, it certainly did. It’s freaking cliché though! I mean wouldn’t it have been a little bit more interesting had you chosen someone who didn’t have a bit to their name? Actually that would have been far more cliché. I swear you’re the only princess that stays on one side of the street; at least I know for certain Celestia and Luna both have barn doors swinging on all cylinders… Luna especially considering what her tastes happen to be.” Here both Chrysalis and Cadence cringed, there was no one that came off as completely nuts as Luna at times. “I mean she can seem so normal one second and then she takes the words, ‘shotgun wedding’, way too seriously. Now time to comb it out, any requests?” Here Chrysalis sat down the brush and picked up a comb in her magic. “Can you do something for me Chrysalis, can you comb it out fully to the tips and at least let me look in a mirror one last time before you do anything drastic to me? I have a feeling or a hunch that I know exactly what you’re about to do and where this is going.” Cadence got a full length mirror and saw her caped form and her long mane being combed out by Chrysalis and the changeling stepped back to let her to look at herself for a moment. She took in her full image and visage for a minute, before she closed her eyes sighing. “Okay, continue combing.” Chrysalis gladly did so with a smile on her face; it looked like Cadence was accepting defeat here at this very moment and after she was done using the comb to give her fringe a center parting. That small change in her hairstyle made Cadence shiver, her bangs were now framing her face and Chrysalis nodded to herself before looking off to the side. After a moment she continued to comb the rest of Cadence’s mane so that there was an almost even amount of hair on both sides of her neck. One side of her head had slightly more hair combed to it than the other. “So, how about I give you some options before I do this thing? Would you prefer a ponytail or a braid? Either way I’m binding that mane of yours with a hair band.” Chrysalis ran her hooves through the silky mane and even took a sniff of it, sure it might have made her look creepy and who was she to not take enjoyment in this? In any case Cadence smelled really nice. “Ponytail, I had one throughout most of my youth and…. no wait… braid, I want to see what it would have looked like. Can you separate the braid into the three colors? I know you’re not exactly a stylist, but…” Cadence yelped slightly when she felt Chrysalis’s hooves tugging at her mane, the changeling was apparently going to start braiding her hair now. “One braid coming right up, of course you realize I’m going to do something for your tail as well… I’ve already planned out this style long before this and I think it won’t look too bad. Unless you start struggling that is, can you be a big brave princess and not do that?” A few more tugs and Chrysalis had the hair band around a mass of Cadence’s mane, leaving two swaths of hair at the sides of her face. “Besides I actually went and earned my license to style forty years ago, unless they changed the requirements I think I’ve still got it and Celestia isn’t the only old pony around here. I did after all kidnap you before the wedding because I was disguised as a stylist if you bothered to remember. The talent was a lot more useful than I previously thought and it’s something I enjoy doing as well.” “Okay that’s making me all the more wary about this, but I’m guessing there’s no talking you out of it.” Cadence decided that she probably shouldn’t have opened her mouth; she certainly remembered how cuddly her stylist had been before she struck and then went after Shining Armor disguised as her. The tugs at her mane weren’t all too sharp or even painful, Chrysalis was surprisingly treating her mane with a reverence that she didn’t know the changeling queen had. “You’d be correct. Also your braid is coming along nicely. Almost done here, so I can give you your next decision and I’m doing this by hoof so I can get the most enjoyment out of it you know. You’re hair feels really nice by the way.” Chrysalis continued to braid most of Cadence’s mane at the back of her head; until she got to the very end of the hair she could move with her hooves and lit her horn for the last bit before tying it off with another band. “I’m not about to say thank you, you’re kind of forcing this all on me after all.” Cadence was given a chance to look at the braid in the mirror without having to ask Chrysalis, she would have looked rather nice with it and she could already tell why she still had hair that was hanging outside of the braid. She still preferred her ponytail style out of personal preference though. “So… do you want me to use scissors or clippers? The clippers would make this go by much faster; the scissors are going to be needed to shape your mane to how I want it anyway. It’s your choice what I use here. Either way I’m going to like the end results and it will be a rather specific style I’m going for here.” Chrysalis watched as Cadence broke out in tears without an ounce of remorse; yeah she really upset Cadence and didn’t care as the princess of love was hers for a day. “Hey now, don’t be like that. Sure I’m going to cut a lot of it off, but it’s not like I’m going to give you a double buzz. Well, unless you struggle, then that might very well be the end result.” Cadence stiffened at the thought of sporting a buzzed tail and mane for a year, but the tears wouldn’t stop falling. It left her worrying about the hairstyle Chrysalis had in mind and she didn’t want to force the changeling queen to buzz her head, she’d at least like to save some of her mane if she could so she wouldn’t dream of struggling now. Shuddering she took a gulp and then felt something wipe at her eyes. “Hey, I’ll have none of that now! I have to do your makeup too you know and I don’t want it to run thanks to your tears. So how do you want me to start? I’m going to decide for you if you can’t decide in the next ten seconds.” Chrysalis started counting off the seconds mentally; she would probably go for the scissors personally. “C-c-clippers, I want you to use the clippers.” Cadence figured that she might as well have it over with fast, with a pop there was a buzzing noise filling the air and her ears wilted at the sound. She closed her eyes tightly and didn’t struggle as the buzzing got closer to her head around the base of her neck where her mane started. Hearing the scissors slowly sawing through her braid would have been considerably worse in her mind. - While Chrysalis was getting her payment of a day with Cadence started off on a good hoof, for the changeling queen at the very least, Rarity finished applying all the stops to her face and body. Sure the few scratched and injuries she had acquired were still visible, but at least they weren’t on her face and were less noticeable now. Her mane and tail were coiffed to perfection and she set out of the bathroom only for Greta to rush in past her mussing up her mane slightly by the rush of air of her passing, Rarity glared over her shoulder as the door slammed shut. She quickly got her mane back into shape with a few pushes of her magic before she addressed those awake in the room, while completely ignoring the sigh of relief coming from the bathroom. “Well yesterday was quite a thing wasn’t it Coco? I admit, being seen somewhat as a hero is a little disheartening. None of our actions were exactly heroic and more out of desperation; we didn’t exactly save anyone beyond two ponies and a diamond dog.” Rarity gave Coco and appraising look and Coco looked away while rubbing at her face, it was that cute blush that let Rarity know that Coco was aware of what she saw. “One of which is currently in the room with us out the goodness of my heart, though I seriously hope to actually talk with him as I really don’t understand why he followed us all the way to the hotel without a single word. “I’ll say that yesterday was rather scary, I sometimes wish I were a bit braver like you. You didn’t falter and neither did Greta, I cuddled her again because she snuggles very well.” Coco mumbled under her breath, but loud enough to be heard by Trapeze rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with a hoof and there was Bernard calmly sitting on her head, her long and thick blue mane fanned out beneath her. Taking her gaze away from the acrobatic magician Coco turned back to Rarity. “I’m just glad everything worked out alright and that they weren’t able to cripple any more people. I’m still upset to hear that the little pegasus will never be able to fly, at least she’ll still be able to walk. When she finally gets out of the hospital that is, I’m surprised the princesses are paying for all those medical bills. Still though, So many people hurt and for what reason?” “I wouldn’t have the foggiest of idea’s Coco darling, though if you need hugs you could just ask. Greta doesn’t mind cuddling, but I think she’s dead set on Gilda, so please don’t go breaking her heart dear if she starts reciprocating. I’m sorry to say that I’m currently more worried about poor Sassy and Opal. I’m mean Opal mentally and Sassy physically after those horrible material cannon rounds she took, hopefully Vera will keep them held together up there until we can finish our business down here.” Rarity’s accent went straight to downright posh at the moment; she was in Canterlot a city of beauty and the high social standards so it was understandable. “Yeah those material cannons would have made cheese of me if I tried to fly away, but I’m glad you didn’t order me to do that because I would have gladly done so boss lady. Don’t think Gilda would have like me being mauled though.” Greta walked back into the room with cleaner looking feathers and freshly washed talons and a cheerful smile on her beak. “Also I don’t mind the snuggling sweetheart, just so long as you don’t take it the wrong way. I know I’m gay, but that doesn’t mean you are just because you like being cuddled. Though one does wonder when you keep blushing like you do.” “Can we please get off the subject of my enjoyment of being a plush toy for others? Speaking of, couldn’t you maybe just make a Gilda sized plush toy for Greta so we don’t have to worry about getting grabby in her sleep?” The idea had occurred to Coco, but she only now voiced it after the second time of waking up next to Greta held in a rather comfortable if compromising position. “Also I remember that we have an important meeting scheduled today and we all need a little time to freshen up for it, I think we’ll still have a few hours before lunch for us to just look around the city and see the sights. I hope Luna doesn’t mind having that lunch today or giving me the hug that I asked for, if she even wants to do it that is.” - “Of course we can have that lunch today! Come on to the castle and bring all your friends as well, we will make a feast of it! If you hadn’t breakfast yet, then don’t bother as lunch will be more than enough.” Luna was rather jovial about this particular meeting, she wanted to be friends with the creator of the breach gel which was proving most fortuitous in the fields of medicine, space exploration and humorously enough toys thanks to Luna’s extensive testing of that particular subject. “If you will send me a list of foods you really enjoy, I will see to it that each and every one of you is satisfied as we join for the devouring of tasty food and merriment as friends!” - “Luna is really nice.” That was all Coco had to say about that call after everyone, except the sleeping diamond dog they left alone, sent a list of the foods they wanted to see at lunch. “She’s incredibly pleasant to talk to, especially after yesterday’s sordid affairs.” “Quite, she’s more outgoing than Celestia and is usually seen perusing night clubs and running around with the likes of Vinyl and Octavia. You know the two mares we met on Ewesen, one of whom was an utter tom colt.” That brought a smile to Rarity’s face, she had never seen a mare so against putting on a dress and looking feminine in her life. “I remember them saying something about being at the Gala; it’ll be nice to see them wearing my dresses. Well at least I know Octavia will be wearing one.” “Never been to Canterlot before, guess you girls haven’t been either. I think you should really do something about our silent tail here while I get myself ready to for a performance of a lifetime for the princess. Are you up for making it a performance worthy of royalty Bernard?” The rabbit nodded excitedly and Trapeze couldn’t help smile at his enthusiasm, the two of them shared quite a special bond. She flicked her top hat and out of it fell a bottle of shampoo, a towel and a bar of soap; she then stuffed her entire sleeping bag into it before setting off for the bathroom. “That has got to be the most useful special talent I’ve ever seen a pony have.” It was a talent Greta really wished she had, because then she wouldn’t have to worry about carrying a tool kit or Mr. Welder around. To think all that weight could be entirely put off by a simple looking top hat, earth pony magicians were quite a rarity and she wasn’t thinking of her boss lady. Well at least Greta was trying to not think about her boss lady in anything other than a professional or friendly manner. “Right then, who wants the honor of waking him up or shall I do it?” Rarity questioned as she tilted her head towards the diamond dog sleeping on the floor. The diamond dog was an average sized one; they usually came in small, average and the less than popular large brute variety. Intelligence among diamond dogs was, to put it succinctly as possible, rather incredibly sporadic. “Wait… did Trapeze just take Bernard with her to… never mind. I think it best to not to go there, though my previous question still stands however.” “I’ll do it.” Coco offered as she made her way over to the sleeping dog, all she did was gently prod him and he was up with his back against the wall in an instant cowering and looking panicked. “Rover awake, Rover awake!” The Diamond Dog obviously named Rover shouted causing Coco to look back at the others for help with this sudden change in mood, while the Rover covered his head looking around frightfully. - “Rover is following boss lady! Boss lady is Rover’s new leader and leader is nice to Rover so far.” When asked why he was still coming along with them, that was his only response and he had been following them for a while now. Rover didn’t seem too bad and was mostly keeping to himself as he plodded along behind them on two legs. Then he surprised them by adding out of nowhere. “Not think of Rover as dumb, Rover understanding leader is not Diamond Dog and is tired of following bad leaders. Have trust of griffon, must be good leader. Also boss lady is a very pretty pony who helped save Rover, in taking chances Rover will. Not much is else going good for Rover anyway; I stick to this one thing, maybe better outcome.” “Thanks for the vote of confidence darling.” Rarity just shook her head and adjusted her pink and purple dress. He might have been a bit too brutish for Rarity’s tastes, but he was earnest in his attempts to follow them around and trying to make it look like it was normal everyday occurrence. He was failing horribly, but at least he was trying and he certainly carried a positive attitude in the face of Greta’s snickering. She would have to ask Trap Bar how he went about making the Diamond Dogs in his crew as competent as they were, she had a feeling she would need it. They approached the guards with Coco in the lead and the poor mare got a little shy here, until Rarity patted her on the back trying to calm the mare’s nerves and was quickly joined by Greta, Trapeze and a confused looking Rover who shrugged and joined in on the patting. After taking in all the comforting for a while Coco got her courage and moved towards the guards to address them. “Coco Pommel, Luna’s lunch party?” Coco asked more than stated, the two guards looked between themselves and nodded before moving aside to let them all through while watching them carefully. They didn’t confiscate Greta or Rarity’s weapons; the guards didn’t think small arms to be a threat to Luna at all. If anything Luna was more threatening than a few well armed supposed civilians just by being herself. A guard arrived and motioned for the group to follow him. They all did so and came to a large ornate dining room with a huge table and Luna messing with her data pad, she was playing games on it and not actually doing anything importance. It was rather apparent to anyone who spent enough time in her presence that Luna might have had a procrastination problem. Rarity cleared her throat and Luna suddenly hit the pause button on her game and looked up wide eyed to be caught red hoofed at enjoying such trivial things. The princess gave them a sheepish smile before standing up. “Hello there and welcome friends, lunch will take a while to be finished. I heard that we are to be joined by Queen Chrysalis and Princess Cadence for some sort of announcement soon, most likely we’ll be seeing Cadence’s form of punishment for distracting me from my job so much.” Yep Luna was still going to carry on that lie that it was all Cadence’s fault that she was so far behind on her work, her recent tests into the impulse saddles were proving just as fun. Can you say zero gravity breach gel balls bouncing around a contained room? “So we may be waiting a while longer for food. I hope you do not mind, if you have any questions or need anything of me that I am willing to grant, I will now hear you out.” “Yes, I do have something I want to bring up with you. It has to do with a ticket to the gala you owe me, I believe…” Before Rarity could get any further her pupils shrunk and then grew to several sizes when Luna sent the ticket hovering her way immediately. She took it into her magic reverently and clasping it in her hooves she gave off an unladylike squeal of epic proportions that caused Rover to clutch at his head. “I have no further things of note to mention and thank you very much princess Luna. Though I do believe you still owe Coco and apology.” “Ah yes, I do believe that I am required to give her a hug? Of that I will gladly grant her.” Luna walked over to Coco as Rarity quickly went to grab a seat with Rover following dutifully and sitting right next to her. She fanned out her wings and swept Coco into her hooves before wrapping her snugly in feathers and a warm and tender embrace. Then she went a step further by treating Coco like a baby. “You are one of my little ponies, yes you are. You just need a little coddling and everything will better yes? Who’s a cute pony, you are!” Coco blushed and snuggled into Luna’s embrace, it felt too cozy to do anything else and she wasn’t complaining. She didn’t regret requesting lunch and a hug, it was more than enough for her and she was happy enough with the results that she didn’t mind that Luna was treating her like a child. Celestia and Luna were old enough to mother any pony they saw fit. “Right, so the chefs didn’t mind the fried fish and chips order right?” It was a concern of Greta’s; ponies just didn’t take to meat very well. Pegasus ponies were the first ponies that could eat fish and thanks to large amounts of cross breeding due in part to the unification of the three tribes, most Unicorn and Earth Ponies could as well. It was mostly just a small social taboo to eat meat among ponies; it was truly taboo to eat the meat of a being that was previously sentient or moderately intelligent. All ponies still ate unfertilized eggs, so there was a taste for something outside of a vegetarian lifestyle most ponies tried to adhere to. Griffons would be hard pressed to give up the taste of bacon if pigs ever suddenly learned how to talk and became smarter; even then they were more carnivorous then omnivorous. Diamond Dogs were oddly omnivores leaning vegetarian and as such Rover would be okay with whatever they were having, he was going to eat his fill as he hadn’t had a good meal in a long time. “It is fine; I too love the taste of fried fish along with most of my foods fried. Fried cake and ice cream being one of the best treats I have ever tried… I forgot to mention that dessert will be a first come first serve ordeal.” After that Luna just kept on nuzzling Coco who was in her mind a very adorable pony, it was a common opinion that Coco was adorable. Luna’s night guards were insectivores so who was she to complain about eating odd foods, Celestia was the one that preferred to be almost strictly vegetarian. “Rover can’t eat chocolate or grapes, also greasy food very bad. Baked fish is better for Rover.” At least Rover understood his limitations and what was poisonous to him, in fact that was the first lesson all pups ever learned and they learned those lessons on the pain of an awful death. You had to learn what was safe to eat, cheese was in general safe for Diamond Dogs but there were the rare occasions of a Diamond Dog having problems with it. “Are you lactose intolerant?” Seeing as Luna’s answer was the dogs shaking his head no, she nodded to him. Diamond Dogs weren’t unknown to Luna or Celestia, so the question needed to be asked. “Then it is best you stay away from the bread pudding and the chocolate cake, stick to the cheesecake with strawberry syrup or the other safe desserts and ask before consuming anything sweet. I’ll see to getting you some baked fish.” “Excuse me everyone, it looks like we’ve got quite a party going here! Now introducing…” Everyone turned to the queen of the changelings, better known as Chrysalis, as she walked into the room with a broad smile. She turned back around and looked outside of the door she walked through. “Oh come on it’s not that bad, in fact you look very good!” “I know and that’s what upsets me about this… fine, I’m coming in but nobody better do anything to upset me.” Into the dining room walked an Alicorn with platinum blond hair and a pink coat reminiscent of the princess of love. She was sporting a short A-line bob that covered a portion of her right eye and her tail was cut quite short to a fourth the length that it previously was, it matched her mostly sheared neck quite well. She sighed as she noticed all the stares, three of them had blushes and one of those three was Luna. “I don’t mind the look, but I wish it were personally on another pony at the moment. I miss my long hair, but I will admit to it looking good. I’m certainly glad that you at least allowed me to opt out on dying my coat bright brown with white spots.” “You don’t have to keep the hair color Cadence; it’ll wash out later this evening. I just wanted to know what you’d look like as a blonde and you don’t disappoint. You just have to keep up with the style.” Turning to everyone Chrysalis smiled broadly.”Again, now introducing to you for your viewing pleasure… it is Princess Cadence; you are the first lucky few to witness her new makeover! Well aside from a few guards and some maids.” “Wait… I’m ogling my niece!” It had to be said that Luna’s tastes were quite out there. “I thought she was just a new and rather attractive alicorn, have I no shame?” Cadence brought a hoof to her face; she certainly didn’t need to hear that and she wondered what Shining would think of her new look. She hoped Chrysalis’s services were worth this, she was going to be getting her mane trimmed every week for a year because magical pony hair grows back really fast. As far as first meetings go, Rarity was a little put off by Chrysalis’s current friendly demeanor considering all that she’s heard about the queen. Author's Note Ponies hardly ever permanently change their hairstyles from a standard style that sticks with them throughout their lives, plus their hair returns to it's natural appearance so fast that Coloratura was the only odd one out. Well at least until near the end of that particular episode where her hair was returned to it's natural state as it looked when she was younger and friends with Applejack. Next chapter covers one of the things Chrysalis is capable of eating aside from love, it's not exactly something that most would normally eat for sustenance and it's a changeling thing in this story. -38-“I’m still mad that you sheared most of my mane off.” Cadence stated as she sent a glare in Chrysalis’s direction. “It doesn’t help that I’ve already figured out your ulterior motive for making me have this hairstyle for a whole year.” “Oh, is there an ulterior motive?” Chrysalis took a seat herself at the table and Coco shied away from her towards Greta. “Getting my hair trimmed for the most of the year would put food in the mouth of changelings. It was going to get out some time sooner or later; aside from love changelings can also eat two other things for sustenance.” The princess of love sent a flat look at the queen as she ran her hoof against the recently cut edges of her mane sadly. “One of which is hair.” “Wait… they eat what!” Rarity couldn’t keep a horrified look off her face as she turned to the changeling queen, while putting her hoof to her mane as if to defend it from the scoundrel. “Yes, aside from eating emotional love, they can also consume hair, fur or anything relative like it for sustenance.” It didn’t seem to bother Luna one bit. “It is a rather intriguing diet is it not? She discovered this when she incidentally ate lama hair, it was quite the interesting story.” “Which is why my talent for being a hairstylist has become all that more useful after I discovered that in the recent year.” Here Chrysalis turned to Cadence who was still glaring a hole into her head. “Don’t worry; I didn’t eat your hair Cadence. I’m actually going to preserve it so I can have something to remember you by when I leave. Say, can a Changeling Queen get some food around here?” “Of course, I’ll see if the maid Lovely Lengths would part with some of her mane for you while I go see about our Diamond Dog guest’s baked fish.” Nope it certainly didn’t bother Luna one bit as she set off from the room, but the other ponies certainly had looks on their faces as they turned towards Chrysalis. “Wait, you’re leaving Equestria, who’s going to lead your people then?” Greta seemed more curious than freaked out by what Changelings could eat, not like she had much hair on her body aside from the fluffy tip of her lion based tail. Rover didn’t seem to care one way or the other and was just wagging his tail at the thought of fish and food alongside having the ability to sit at a table with royalty. Coco was still leaning away from Chrysalis and Trapeze was just looking concerned as she shifted her hat over her pinned up mane slightly. Bernard also seems unaffected by the news and just stared blankly at Chrysalis before shrugging after a minute. “I’m leaving a regent in my place, his name is Plentiful Thorax and I’m sure he’ll do a decent job of keeping my people in line.” Wool tasted perfectly fine from Chrysalis’s experience, but it wasn’t exactly delectable as pony hair. In fact it always came back to ponies for her, like she was targeting them as a food source out of habit. “I’m going to go exploring space to eventually find a planet for the first Changeling colony ever, preferably a warm one where we can raise lots of sheep for food. Wool is pretty easy to chew on.” “I believe her ulterior motive is that she has me stuck with this particular hairstyle for a year, where all my trimmings to keep it like this will go to changelings.” Closing her eyes and sighing, Cadence opened them and looked to Chrysalis. “At least I can say that my hair isn’t going to waste, especially if it’s feeding hungry Changelings.” “Okay, I give, that was my ulterior motive for the year long maintenance thing as a form of punishment for distracting Luna so much.” It was actually Chrysalis’s only motive for making Cadence go through an entire years worth of short haircuts aside from thinking the hairstyle would look good. “Besides you should be more focused on finding love for those who are looking for it.” Cadence was miffed that they were still keeping up with that lie so well, but the fact that her punishment was an entire year of feeding changelings her mane trimmings made sense. She couldn’t say anything against it because she didn’t want Chrysalis to start talking about how she’d be taking food out of the mouths of the adorable little larval Changelings and it wasn’t that hard to live with. One year of this and she could have her long hair back in exchange for Celestia earning Chrysalis’s services on something really important. “So are you the worst that has happened to Equestria in recent times Chrysalis?” It was Coco that broached that topic and the silenced the room quite thoroughly as they all turned to Chrysalis. “Actually I believe the worse in recent history was Luna’s return from the moon two to three years back.” Answered a rather melancholy Cadence, she didn’t see Chrysalis as being the absolute worst thing to happen to Equestria. Even if the queen wouldn’t stop dropping hints at wanting them to be special friends, she wasn’t looking for a herd. Cadence’s wedding might have gone absolutely pear shaped thanks to Chrysalis, but no one was seriously injured by that incident of attempted forced marriage, aside from a lot of Changelings. Twilight thankfully solved that occasion by rescuing her brother who was magically disguised as Cadence. “What happened exactly? I’ve noticed that nobody ever actually gave a straight answer in the news when it comes to Luna’s return.” Rarity would rather talk about this then get nightmares about Chrysalis pinning her down to rip off a chunk of her mane with those fangs. “If I’m sexy and I know it, clap my hooves… oh I’m sorry, were we really going to go into how Luna almost doomed the world? That’s quite a boring tale.” Chrysalis seemed to know the truth of what happened upon Luna’s return, she clapped her hooves twice and had little else to entertain herself with as nobody was paying her any attention or were avoiding her gaze for some reason. “One of my Changelings was there to see it personally in action; her whole Nightmare Moon episode was caught by a Changeling named Frankly Pleasing.” “It is best if I tell that story of what exactly happened that long night than by a third party witness. The return of Nightmare Moon was a hectic time, Twilight refused to leave my side for a moment the entire time it was going on. I didn’t know it would put us on the path of victory at the time, I was actually trying for a different strategy and Twilight certainly made a mess of things. The outcome turned out for the best however.” Celestia in all her pristine glory trotted into the room to see that they had guests, apparently Luna’s lunch party if she had any guesses as to who they were. Two of which were Rarity Belle and Greta Gollenfer from the train incident the other day, all these people were undoubtedly friends of the two. “I was meaning to ask Luna what she found out about those terrorists, but I guess that will have to wait until she arrives. Now onto the story, long ago, my sister was taken by a parasite of darkness called Nightmare and we lost our connection to the elements of harmony which we used to defeat Discord.” “Did someone call my name?” A box of doughnut popped up and a Doughnut Discord popped the top of the box. He idly started to eat another doughnut next to him that started screaming in a horrific manner, after he finished Discord turned back to everyone. “Eat me, I’ll promise to go straight to your flanks like all good sugary foods are known to!” “Ignoring that, I used what last amount of connection me and Luna still had to use the elements of harmony to seal her away for a thousand years. I lost my ability to be called the element of Magic as I had lost my friendship with Luna and she had lost her element of Loyalty as she broke our trust in one another thanks to that parasite Nightmare.” “What other elements did the two of you have back then?” Rarity had heard plenty of stories about the elements of harmony, there were six in all, Magic, Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty and an important one to Rarity which was Generosity. Celestia took a seat with everyone and smiled calmly at her interested look. “I used to be the element of Magic, Kindness and Honesty. My sister used to embody Loyalty, Laughter and Generosity. Nightmare Moon came back and I was trying to start a plan to reinvigorate the elements of harmony, what I did not expect was for Twilight to cause so much trouble.” Rolling her eyes as she recalled what happened; Celestia started rubbing her face with her hooves. “Twilight my faithful… friend, wouldn’t leave my side for anything even after I ordered her to go make some friends and it was probably for the best that she didn’t. Let’s just say me and her took a journey together to the old castle me and Luna used to live at where we reinvigorated the elements of harmony, which in turn helped me save my sister from the encroaching darkness in her mind. For you see our lost elements of Loyalty and Magic came back to life in Twilight Sparkle.” “Like I said before, it’s boring! Nightmare Moon attacked Twilight and Celestia several times throughout their travels through the Ever Free Forest because Celestia wouldn’t let Twilight go alone and Twilight refused to see to the plans for the summer sun celebration down in that quaint town.” Chrysalis interrupted with a bland tone of voice. “Throughout our adventure to the castle we were attacked by Nightmare Moon various times as Chrysalis has already stated, to make a long story short the attacks incidentally helped reawakened the Laughter and Generosity within Luna.” Celestia certainly remembered that Luna helped save herself as much as she and Twilight did; Twilight’s loyalty to her and Luna now was certainly unquestionable. If only Twilight would actually get out more and make friends other than them. “Please do not ask my sister about the element of Laughter, she’s still confused as to why she still carries that particular element even though it is rather obvious to many. I think it mostly has to do with her entirely silly nature, even when she was consumed by darkness she was still acting absolutely silly as a true element of Laughter would. As for her Generosity, she was generous enough to let us reach the elements of harmony in the first place. It was thanks to her two elements still being in play that we were able to purify her and returned my lost sister to me. I had held onto Honesty thanks to finally telling Twilight what was going on after she asked me outright why this was all happening, my Kindness throughout the last thousand years was never in question as much as my element of Honesty was by being a politician. Being a politician has certainly helped me learn the difference between Honesty and the actual truth of things throughout the years. I still don’t like hurting others and that’s the only reason why Chrysalis won that fight against me when she caused trouble for Cadence’s wedding.” “As such after hearing that it makes sense that Celestia is in love with Twilight and is in complete denial about it until I got them to actually go on a date during the gala.” The day of the gala was when Chrysalis was planning to launch a rather nasty surprise for Celestia in her spare time. She had plenty of time until the gala to get the right setup she needs going into it to fulfill Celestia’s need of her talents and pull off said surprise. Chrysalis just smiled as Celestia sent her a light glare. “Talk about kinky student teacher bonding, I know a good bondage shop you could use if you want to get all that much closer to each other.” Celestia stood up and walked around table and slapped Chrysalis across the face, making the Changeling chuckled dementedly at the light amount of pain. “Would you kindly stop pushing us together like that…” Celestia stated out loud before leaning in closer to whisper into the queens ear. “Where’s this shop that you know about? I might have need of it later.” Chrysalis whispered something to Celestia and she nodded, before going back to her seat without a suspicious glance sent her way and Chrysalis was smiling like a crazy mare. She probably was a crazy mare so any line of thought involving the Changeling Queen was dropped rather fast. “Yes, getting onto other topics. Can I do a small performance before the meal princess? You see, I and Bernard have been working on our act and I’m an acrobatic magician and he’s my stage partner.” Here Trapeze stood up and swept her hat off her head and bowed to the princess before placing a smiling fake rabbit back on her head and the hat was no longer in her hoof much to everyone’s confusion. “Okay, Bernard, what did you do with my hat?” The Lagotorphin shrugged cheekily and smiled while looking away and started whistling innocently, she looked down towards the floor and then ducked under the table setting Bernard on it. Discord had decided to stop being a doughnut and just watched curiously. The meat eating rabbit mimic just reach his right paw into his mouth and down his throat and pulled, what came out was a handkerchief and he started drawing a large amount of them from his mouth until it started forming a circular pile of red, orange, yellow, blue, green, indigo and violet. Even Celestia was intrigued by this turn of events. “I’m serious Bernard, stop performing tricks without me and tell me where my hat disappeared to?” Trapeze muttered from under the table as she got up and looked about; Bernard just ignored her and continued to pull a continuous chain of handkerchiefs out of his throat that was really piling up. “Fine, be that way, I’m checking the ceiling! This is what I get for not getting a real rabbit to perform with!” What followed Trapeze’s angry muttering was an expert display of the mare climbing the wall to the ceiling where she proceeded to jump and flip about on very small ledges and she even checked each of the chandeliers while she was up there, the mare certainly wasn’t afraid of falling as she made incredible leaps and flips looking around up there. She was making it all look so effortless and being an acrobat probably meant that she had trained in parkour from an early age to even perform half those stunts she was doing in the rafters. Celestia looked like she would stand up at one point or another, instead she watched on in deep rooted curiosity. Bernard with a tug finished pulling out the last violet colored handkerchief and let it settle on the small rainbow colored pile before him before he signaled Trapeze and let out a loud squeak. Trapeze expertly performed three flips as she swung and leapt off the chandelier and then bounced off the wall to slow her descent. Where she rolled several time and came to a stop at the table with her hooves slamming down on both sides of her partner and directing an angry glare into his eyes. “Okay, where is it?” Trapeze asked sternly, Bernard calmly pointed to his pile of handkerchiefs. “That’s it I’m out here, since you can’t take the search for my beloved hat seriously!” With that Trapeze stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her and Bernard squeaked after her, only he wilted at the slamming of the door. He somberly started to slowly gather his pile of handkerchiefs of to the side which unraveled to show that Trapeze’s hat had somehow gotten under the handkerchiefs sitting right side up. When he flipped it over to leap into it, Trapeze popped out of the brim with a smile and pulled Bernard into a tight hug surprising everyone. “Aw you found my hat Bernard, I forgive you! Now let’s put up your handkerchief collection and do some real magic, what do you say?” Trapeze only received and eye roll from Bernard and he helped her scoop up the handkerchiefs and stuff it down into the hat while giving her an upset look. “Oh right you can’t talk my language! My bad, there, we’re even with upsetting one another now.” Trapeze hopped the hat off the table and pulled the rest of her body out of it and flicked it up onto her head, and then Bernard hopped over to stand at her hooves, now everyone was really staring at her. “Presenting, Trapeze Star and her lagotorphin partner and best friend Bernard Slashuhrough! Apparently Lagotorphins have vicious sounding last names or so I’ve heard.” With that both Bernard and Trapeze took a bow. “Now for our first trick we will now sit down and pretend that I didn’t lose my hat for a minute there!” Trapeze took up her spot at the table and tried to look entirely nonchalant about the impromptu performance she just performed by looking off into space and Bernard silently pulled out a pack of cards from behind his back and started to play solitaire with them. Celestia snorted and started laughing gaily, everyone else started doing so as well and even Rover got the joke and clapped for it. Discord was smiling brightly at the show and was rather impressed even if he could do those tricks himself easily enough, seeing an earth pony do it was what made it all the more special. “What an amusing pair you two are. Oh, Lady Belle, I’ve been meaning to thank your sister for coordinating our people in catching the terrorists the other day.” Celestia paused when she saw Rarity’s look of confusion. “What do you mean? I don’t think my sister was anywhere near that train wreck and I’m all the more thankful for it.” Rarity was a little worried Sweetie Belle had somehow gotten involved in that mess and she hadn’t seen her. “So your sister is not Opalescence Belle?” Queried a confused Celestia, until Rarity got a look of understanding on her face and she brought a hoof up to her mouth. “Actually, if anything, she’s my daughter considering I coded her myself. She’s an artificial intelligence.” Pulling out her data pad Rarity called up Opal and the response was immediate. “What is Meowstress, did you get attacked by ninjas all of the sudden?” The voice of the Shining Jewels current system connected AI could be heard loud and clear; Opal sounded a little worried about Rarity. “Opal, you have a seriously overactive imagination. I’m just calling to let you know I’m doing fine in Canterlot Castle with and I’m about to have a big lunch; I’m even getting the opportunity to meet all the princesses and the Changeling Queen. Also what’s this I hear about you coordinating Trap Bar’s crew?” “Not just Trap Bar’s crew, but also the Wonder Bolts as well, it is rather strange that she sounds so lifelike.” Celestia didn’t think too hard on it and seeing Rarity turn the screen to her, she could see a pink hair cat looking back at her with a cheeky if slightly frightened. The digital cat gave her a small wave of one of her paws. “Oh, er… hello there Celestia, Rarity really needed the help and I thank you for responding so quickly.” The poor cat on the screen started to become rather shy. “I must thank you for organizing the rescue effort and giving my ponies the tactical data they needed.” Was Celestia’s simple answer, she was becoming quickly aware that Opal was more lifelike than she appeared. It just had to be a rampant AI, but she wasn’t going to do anything about it unless the AI became absolutely destructive. “You helped save many lives.” “Yeah, that wasn’t me, that was all Gilda and Sassy’s doing.” Opal created a screen split into showing two different beings. One showed a griffon that was working on some kind of framework for a vehicle, the other showing an obviously injured pony in a med-bed who opened her eyes slightly to stare at Celestia. “Holy flipping lunacy, Sassy’s actually awake! Vera to Medical, oh wait but how would she see Vera if… I currently don’t know where she is or what she’s doing. Okay Gilda, you go to medical, Sassy needs a friendly present face to be there for her right now and you’re it until I can locate Vera again! I have a hard enough time remembering that she exists.” Gilda looked up on the other screen with some sense of consternation and immediately, but carefully enough, dropped what she was doing and started flying. She wasn’t exactly the best for friendly faces, but she would do in a pinch. “Sorry for the interruption princess, but we have Sassy on a month long recovery process and she’s had a bad history with med-beds that…” Started Opal only to be stopped when Celestia cleared her throat, the screen changed so that Opal was giving her some undivided attention. “It’s alright, I understand clearly and I remember who she is. It has been a while since I’ve seen Sassy Saddles, tell me how she ended up in the med-bed in the first place when she’s so frightened of them?” Celestia was worried about one of her poor ponies. “Yeah about that, she was involved in taking down the four gunships that knocked almost all the people on the train out with concussive missiles. She took some nasty hits from their material cannons and few other weapons in the course of destroying the jamming device. That she’s even awake right now is a miracle, but she’s not coming out until a month is over with and can be cleared medically. She shouldn’t even be awake with how many drugs she’s got in her at the moment.” Here Opal paused and her eyes twitched to the left and right slightly. “Her vitals are still quite strong; at least she isn’t panicking about where she is at the moment. In fact she wanted to be put into it of her own free will, which according to our crew’s psychologist, before I lost her location obviously, that is somewhat of a good breakthrough for her mentally.” “I would imagine so if one fears med-beds after a horrible incident involving multiple counts of violent rape.” Celestia muttered somberly, before Luna walked into the dining room with a cheerful expression. “Lunch will be served in a… what’s wrong?” Everyone turned to Luna who looked confused. “Nothing is wrong, just someone needing the comfort of a physical friendly face up here and not a digital one like mine.” Opal was prepared to disappear from the screen and she did so after she finished talking. “I’ll get back to you later Rarity, things are alright up here and thanks for checking in. Please don’t get into any more danger when I’m not looking.” “Well I suppose that’s that.” Rarity stowed her data pad away and turned to Luna. “You were saying Princess Luna?” “Lunch is ready, it will be set out in a moment so everyone prepare you’re stomachs for a most wondrous feast!” Luna stated jovially now that she was certain that nothing was wrong. - Gilda just looked down at Sassy and calmly placed a claw against the lid; the mare strapped into the med-bed smiled up at her and became more serene in appearance as her eyes drooped a bit. It left Gilda feeling a bit awkward as she tried to return to the smile, smiling wasn’t something she particularly was good at. When Sassy barely opened her eyes again, she saw Vera and Opal were also looking down upon her now and she knew she was safe in their hooves, claws and whatever else a digital cat could have. “Do you think she can hear us?” Gilda asked to the ceiling. “I’m sure she can, though it’s hard to tell.” Vera looked rather happy since she was giving Sassy a bright smile and of course had a drone pointing at her like usual. “We just have to be here for her to let her know that she’s safe.” “Yeah, well, you can do that, I’m going back to work. I’ve been here for her long enough and I’ve got stuff to build!” Despite her grumpy demeanor and the way she started to stalk off, Gilda stopped and turns back to Sassy. “Get better soon alright? Nobody on this crew is going to die if I can do anything about it.” Sassy blankly nodded, almost like she could understand what was going on around her, which shouldn’t be possible considering all the drugs she had in her at the moment. - “Lunch is going rather well, wouldn’t you say sister?” Happy to be sharing it with new friends Luna continued her merry eating, it was here that Rarity learned that Alicorns could eat their own weight in food and Luna in particular didn’t care much for table manners. “Yes, provided no one looks in Chrysalis’s direction.” It wasn’t that sickening an act to watch, but Celestia still wouldn’t like a Changeling eating her mane. “My compliments and thanks to the mare that let me have a chunk of her mane as food.” Chrysalis picked up some blonde hair and put it in her mouth and started chewing, after she swallowed she added. “Her hair is positively delicious.” “I’ll be sure to let Lovely Lengths know that you find her hair most agreeable.” Luna continued to eat her fried potato sticks. “Speaking of letting us know stuff, who’s that mare?” Celestia pointed out to Cadence. “It’s me Celestia… do I really look that different?” Yeah Cadence did look really different; Celestia accepted that revelation rather quickly and had expected something like this. “Well then, I kind of saw something like this coming, though platinum blonde? I was expecting Chrysalis to do worse to you, but a whole year like that. It’s not too bad.” After Celestia addressed Cadence she turned to Luna. “Luna I think it’s time to talk about the terrorists we captured, what did you find out from their sleep?” “Are you sure we should talk about such in front of our guests?” Luna tilted her head to the guests she was entertaining for lunch, Rover in particular was enjoying his fish and lacked table manners entirely compared to Luna. Receiving a nod, Luna accepted that and decided to drop what little she managed to pull from the terrorists after their little torture session with Chrysalis. Their nightmares were quite involved when it came to the Changeling Queen. One even had platypus venom covered needles being used in acupuncture as a nightmare that Luna thought was a little over the top in its ridiculousness, where would one even get that many duck beavers loaded with poison from anyway? It was hard enough to milk a platypus, considering they were most poisonous during mating season and you didn’t want to go near one during that time of year. “About all I got was that they are planning something big and that they are part of an organization that’s called ‘The Hands of Midas’. Only there has been no one named Midas on this planet and I’ve looked it up, there aren't even any legends or anything mentioning a name like that.” “Well at least I know what to have my Changelings looking out for now, aside from keeping an eye out for the Caballeron Cabal in the lower districts and those golden hand symbols. Hopefully the Mauve Mare-auder, or Mare-Do-Well as they’ve been calling her, will stir something up so that we aren’t totally blindsided.” Chrysalis took another thick portion of hair into her mouth and finished that off before continuing. “I bet this organization is the one that’s going to start causing trouble for us and it’ll be the one we have to look out for, I’ll get to it after I spend the rest of the day with my hostage… I mean friend. Yep, nothing better than a good friend to spend time with. After today no one will be seeing too much of me as I’ve got business to attend to.” “Why am I not reassured as to what the rest of this day will entail for me?” Cadence had to wonder, what else Chrysalis could possibly do to her today. Author's Note The Hands Of Midas. There you go. In mythology Midas was a Greek ruler who gained the ability to turn things to gold with but a touch, unfortunately he didn't ask for an off switch to his powers so he went completely hungry. For even touching food turned it to gold even if it was with just his mouth alone, so his greed caused him a lot of problems. Some legends say he starved to death and others say he gained different problems, but his power of the golden touch was eventually taken away. Which is weird when you consider the Aladdin Disney cartoon series and the Hercules Disney cartoon series had a crossover and Midas definitely exists in the Hercules series. Now take that into account with the third Disney Aladdin movie where the Hand of Midas is involved... -39-“You know it kind of makes sense that Changelings can eat hair, we certainly have the fangs to chew through silk. All Larval Changelings are hatched, or live born if a pony is involved, wrapped in silk covering a large portion of our bodies for protection when we’re foals. Not that it ever helped Hard Throb.” Chuckling lightly Chrysalis continued on without interruption as everyone else was too busy eating and it wasn’t like the hair was getting cold. “In fact when we get old enough we chew off the silk, until then we’re really adorable as we crawl around from birth on two legs. Kind of makes us hard to keep track of when we start crawling up walls, but that silk is meant to prevent us from being able to move too fast or wander into danger considering how mobile a Changeling or hybrid thereof is upon birth.” “Yes, I think we can all agree that you are rather proud of your heritage and race.” Celestia daintily swallowed half a cake, how she did it daintily was left up to the mind to figure out for the watchers who could see her as doing no wrong despite her face being absolutely caked. She had seen a few Changeling foals and they were rather affectionate. They crawled everywhere when you had enough of them hatching all at once and had to watch your step around them, they nuzzled against practically everything upon contact. It was kind of hard to just watch as Chrysalis allowed herself to be covered in them, they crawled all over her playfully and despite never having had children of her own, so far and not for the lack of trying, she loved them all the same like Celestia loved her ponies. “Changing the topic away from yourself, because goodness knows you can’t get enough of your own voice at times, what do you and your friends do for jobs Lady Belle? You know, aside from the acts of heroism you seem to perform in times of duress.” “I used to work as a waitress on Desserzon, but I’m a fashion designer now. Any kind of clothing for any creature… well maybe I’ll make an exception when it comes to making socks for Parascine. I’m very good at making EVA suits and really I’ve designed my suits for form and comfort.” Rarity still ran into a ship full of killer monsters to eventually end up saving two griffons, chased after Sassy when she lost her mind during a planetary assault to end up helping a hospital seal itself off and then she held her ground against a recent terrorist attack. Now that she thought of it, a lady really shouldn’t be seen fighting the odds like that, but she had some really good friends that were worth all that fighting for. She also preferred living to dying because of some stupid code of conduct that said she should let the stallions handle all the heavy lifting. “Also I don’t quite see myself as a hero, I mean I don’t go looking for danger and I certainly don’t rush into it headlong without second or even third thoughts. Any acts of heroism were incidental.” “Even if I were to tell you that you saved Hoity Toity’s life on Ewesen? You stopped to help others even when the danger was great; thanks to you he made it to a shelter and I believe you also made a griffon friend that is noted for being a motorized beak.” Celestia hummed in amusement before she kept gorging on cake and sometimes vegetables or other food which was more occasional than it could have been. She liked the bread pudding well enough. “You also helped make a medical breakthrough with that breach gel of yours by helping make an antidote against a venomous new threat. I am quite well informed and you shouldn’t be so humble for the accomplishments you’ve managed, though they seem to appear small in scope to you. Sometimes the greatest of heroes are the ones that are unsung.” “Yeah Gabriella is a courier, so it’s no surprise that she’ll pop up when you least expect it to talk your ears off. Thankfully griffons don’t have to worry about that sort of thing and while she may be fast with her wings and body, she’s really quite slow when it’s time for her to stop talking.” Greta smirked a little and thought of her good friend, nobody could get under Gilda’s feathers quite like their talkative friend. “You can’t stop her once you’ve got her engine going full blast unless she runs out of things to say.” “Back on topic please… wait, isn’t Hoity Toity a fashion mogul? I wonder if I can get him to critique my work as a favor for saving him.” Lifting a hoof to rub her chin, Rarity wouldn’t mind a boost in good reputation. However, she really didn’t want to be known as a ‘battle axe’ pony so soon given she was still quite young. “Well there goes that idea, anyway Coco here is my partner and as you know creator of the impulse saddles. They work underwater as well as in space, they double as an extra oxygen tank for my EVA suits and we’re working on the design to improve their functionality with the help of my good technical engineer Greta here. Those two over there are Trapeze Star and Bernard, they are traveling magical act and as for Rover… I don’t honestly know much about him.” “Rover is seeking a job opportunity from the friendly boss lady pony; hopefully boss lady will have something for Rover to do.” The Diamond Dog had stayed silent for quite a while, Rover wasn’t talkative and he didn’t want to talk about his past. He was of average intelligence and that was saying something for a Diamond Dog considering they were seen as the bottom of the barrel in being particularly helpful. “Rover can be useful if Rover is given a chance.” “We’ll see about it eventually.” Was Rarity’s short and stiff reply, she didn’t know much about Diamond Dogs aside from the fact that dirt was their friend and they were usually unkempt. Both of those things were not something Rarity appreciated in the slightest, she didn’t mind Gilda or Greta getting messy because that was a necessary evil in their line of work and they always cleaned up after themselves. “Sassy is also one of my crew members, she’s a good store manager with a few small exceptions and is quite a frightful samurai which makes her double as security. Frankly she’s good in either capacity, now if only she didn’t get injured so badly. Then there’s Gilda who’s my rather grumpy mechanical engineer and good friend of Greta’s. Finally there’s Vera Blossom, but she’s got this rather odd quirk about her and she says you’ve already met? It’s quite hard for others to remember she exists and or see her.” “Yes, we have met. She walked right past my guard without a single glance and asked if I could relieve her of her oddity of being heavily ignored by most things.” It saddened Celestia that she couldn’t help the poor SNUGGLES member who was so good at massaging the stress out of you. “I’m glad she’s found someone who has a good eye for detail to work with, assuming that you can see her when she walks into a room.” “Oh I can, I’m surprised that she doesn’t take advantage of her ability. It seems like a boon as much as it is a curse.” This meal was going swimmingly and Rarity couldn’t help but wonder when a horseshoe would drop on her head. “A lesser pony would probably find ways to abuse such an incredible quandary as that… speaking of quandaries, where is Twilight?” It took Celestia long enough to notice that her favorite Unicorn wasn’t present with them and the mare always made time to eat lunch with the princesses. “I don’t like it when she skips meals to continue studying.” “Which is why I had to drag her away from her books, because she… she…. she’s beautiful.” A small purple dragon dragging a half asleep Unicorn along into the room and froze as he took one look at Rarity, she seemed to look at him and bat her eyelashes at him in a flirty manner. It was his imagination of course, but he thought he was seeing an angel as he looked upon her. He was still too young for Rarity however and it would never work out. Now if only he could process that into his head as he stared at a Unicorn that got his heart thumping a mile a minute, or that was probably the thumping noise of the purple Unicorn who just ended up flopping onto her face to quickly wake up in a startled thrashing manner that made her look like she was a break dancing octopus. “Oh, now who’s this little charmer?” Rarity leaned down as Spike dropped the sleepy pony he forced into the room and ran over to the dress making Unicorn to be scratched on the chin by her hoof. “I’m Spike the dragon at your service milady!” The little dragon bowed before Rarity causing her to smile at him. “My you are quite a gentle stallion, well in as so much as introducing yourself. You really lost quite a few points in that when you decided to drop that poor mare on the floor.” Rarity saw the purple Unicorn finally calm down and slowly get up and when she realized that lunch was being eaten she blushed and looked horribly sheepish at all the stares. “Who is the pony that you left on the floor there anyway?” “That would be Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s current student who has social anxieties beyond the pale. Seriously that girl needs to get out more, she’s already missed several opportunities of possibly getting sexy with Moon Dancer and it irritates me to no end that she hasn’t picked up on the signals.” Grumbled a rather irate looking Chrysalis, the queen turned to Cadence who was busy eating a lot of food to prepare for the rest of the day she was going to spend in Chrysalis’s presence. “I never bothered with trying to find Twilight love; she was a hopeless case even when she had a mare or stallion practically throwing themselves at her at all given times. At least I set Moon Dancer up with someone who would actually pay attention to her as she deserves, but she is still very much dead set on Twilight. Getting her hair styled so that she looks like Twilight doesn’t make her sound any less desperate.” It was something Cadence could agree on as she stopped to talk and Twilight just stood there staring at her blankly. She muttered off to the side. “I swear that mare will join Celestia and Twilight in a herd in a heartbeat if she could get them to agree to it and I wouldn’t put it past Moon to do just that.” “Cadence what happened to you!” Twilight immediately knew who Cadence was upon first sight and that was the first thing that came to her mind. She was completely ignoring that Celestia and Luna were eating their own body weight in food being completely impossible, that the large table had various strange guests at it or that Spike was currently enamored with Rarity and talking to her about his origins according to what he was told by Celestia about where he came from. “It looks kind of sexy.” “Oh come on!” A red headed pony with glasses shouted as she poked her head through a window before a Changeling pushed her away while giving them an apologetic grin. “What’s Moon Dancer doing outside the window with a Changeling?” Twilight missed the obvious answer, Moon Dancer was stalking her and the Changeling was watching out for signs of trouble for her queen. Changelings certainly helped with the cracks in security that the royal guards always left open. “Look never mind. May I please join you for lunch princess?” “Twilight we’re friends, you know you can call me Celestia right?” Though Celestia would have to admit that she loved the inflection Twilight gave the word ‘princess’. It always sounded so affectionate and loving. “Also, you are always welcome to lunch with me. You don’t need my permission to show up unannounced; also you’re going straight to bed after this no ifs ands or buts.” “They are eventually going to stop dancing around one another right?” Cadence was clutching at her head in aggravation. “It gets so hard to watch them do this around each other.” “I think it’s actually their form of flirting, it’s quite nonchalant as all get out and I feel your pain Cadence, but don’t worry I’m certainly working on it as much as you are.” Mused Chrysalis idly before she cleared her throat when Twilight started getting something to eat for herself and Spike also took up a seat for himself. “So are you going to get involved in the mess that might possibly happen here in Canterlot? I ask because it seems like you love to get into trouble Lady Belle.” “Perish the thought; I’d rather try to stay as far away from any trouble as I can! Though my success is not going to be quite guaranteed in this day and age is it?” Taking a look over at the newest member of the rather quaint and very frank luncheon, Rarity didn’t know what to expect. Not being able to help herself, Rarity pulled out an emergency brush from her dress and ran it through Twilights hair straightening out her appearance with a few quick swipes. “Sorry, but you didn’t look proper and you certainly need to take better care of yourself dear, you are a representative of the princesses after all or at least one of them. So Luna when are you going to take on a student yourself, there have been rumors that you were looking for one.” “Yes, but ponies are most frightened by our countenance when we try to talk to them. It is quite hard to find a Unicorn willing to be apprenticed to…” Luna started off only for mare noted as being Moon Dancer to jump through the window and tackle Luna to the floor. “I’ll do it princess!” Declared Moon Dancer in an over the top brave manner that didn’t seem to befit her appearance of being a nerd, she was quite brave to cuddle up against a surprised and shocked looking Luna. Celestia let off a loud throaty chuckle, this lunch was going to be far more entertaining than the gala ever would be in the next five years unless something extreme happened. It was always a bore that left her snoring with her eyes open, a talent she learned to use at the many a gala in the past as to not appear as if she were inattentive. At least this year she had Twilight and some other things to keep her attention. Hopefully no pony would die on her watch with those Hands of Midas guys running around doing who knows what. - Sparks flew and the heat was exhausting to be near at all times, but Gilda was working insane hours to finish her most recent project which was confusing to Opal as to why she was exactly building it. Gilda cut off Mr. Welder and looked over the work with a keen eye; she smiled after a moment when she proved to have done a good job and lifted the welding mask away from her face covered in grease and sweat. “Can you tell me again why you are exactly making something like that?” The Artificial Intelligence was stumped, she figured that Gilda would immediately jump into make fighters instead what she was making was far more unusual especially in the location it was being made. “You’re kind of pushing yourself hard to get it finished and it’s not like we’re about to be hit by another MOM from out of nowhere.” “Eh, I figure the boss lady could use one Kitten, because quite frankly I don’t trust things to stay quiet down there. Especially with people as organized and militarized as those guys were, make the drones grab that energy converter and bring over it here to me please.” Gilda pointed and the drones went to pick up the part, she ran her talons through her sweat soaked feathers. “I wish Greta was here to help me with the more technical aspects, but I’m relying on you instead Kitten and I hope you understand that I don’t do things like that easily. Rarity is going to need my help and when that time comes you won’t be able to question my logic of building this thing, call it a gut feeling if you will. So how’s Miss Pants-At-Life doing?” “Sassy’s surprisingly stable, but I’m still upset at having been responsible for her injuries.” Opal had a good long talk with Vera and those injuries were because Sassy wanted to help, most of said talk was an attempt to get her to accept that it was Sassy’s decision to be shot at by four gunships. “Responsible nothing, you’re not the one that shot or pulled the trigger on any of those weapons Kitten. You’re not the one that forced her into a mentally scarring position of being in a medical bed either.” Pulling the welding mask back over her face as the energy converter was dropped off; Gilda had one last thing to say to the Artificial Intelligence. “So, stop being an idiot! You are by far the dumbest smart person I’ve ever met.” “Yeah, I certainly feel like that at times.” The perkiness returning to Opal’s voice made Gilda relax slightly and the griffin smiled under her mask. The fact that she was seen as a ‘person’ and not just a ‘thing’ made Opal’s day a bit brighter, in fact any time someone thought of her as a person made her happy. Gilda’s affectionate nickname for her also helped somewhat. “Thanks for the compliment.” “I have no idea what you’re talking about Kitten.” After Mr. Welder flared to life in Gilda’s claws, she continued her work in silence and would need a coffee break in another hour. - “Why do I get the feeling Mr. Welder is being used a lot?” Greta muttered to herself, she had a sixth sense for her favorite welding torch and just shrugged it off as she continued to happily feast away on the succulent cooked fish. “I’ve been meaning to ask, you wouldn’t happen to know where I can find a Pegasus or two that are not attached to any prior commitments. I need to expand my crew a bit and my larger ship could use a bit more skeleton to her at it were. I only have three active crew members up there at the moment and it’s a pretty sizable ship that needs some space filled.” Rarity really could use the advice on where to find a good crew member or two and the princesses, plus Chrysalis, seem to know Canterlot pretty well. “You could try the lower districts, but at a time like this I don’t think it’s particularly safe. There’s a Caballeron Cabal gang running around there, but you’re likelier to find a pony that has nothing better to do in that area that would work for cheap salaries. Whether those ponies are friendly or not depends on what part of town you’re looking in.” Adjusting her glasses as she joined them in the meal without bothering to ask if she could, Moon Dancer bit into a carrot sharply and it crunched loudly as she began to chew. Moon Dancer didn’t even receive confirmation that she was Luna’s apprentice at all and just decided to assume she was so that she could be close to Twilight. “These are some pretty firm carrots, quite good.” “I believe the Golden Harvest clan is responsible for the carrots this day. I think Carrot Top is performing at her personal best this year.” Celestia hummed out as she continued eating like there was no tomorrow coming. “There’s also the Hands of Midas to be concerned with, given they are in the city, so you might want to watch out for any shifty figures lurking around and stay indoors after hours.” “What makes you think they are in the city?” Despite slowly and dizzily eating her food, Twilight suddenly became alert at the idea of more attacks. “They aren’t going to ruin the gala are they?” “I should hope not!” Rarity let out loudly and Spike glanced up from eating some gems that were brought in for him. “Do not worry Twilight; the gala will go on as it always has. I can see Luna has had you working on this information.” Celestia received a nod from her sister, she turned to Chrysalis before looking back to Twilight to fill her in. “Someone was offering the Caballeron Cabal gang something to help get our samurai forces out of the city and they successfully received it a night or so ago. From what Chrysalis tells us, one of hers was on the scene that saw a box that had the mark of a golden five fingered hand on it. It wasn’t until the terrorist attack on the train that we found out that they are definitely something to watch out for. We still have no idea what they are going to do, but we have a clue that it involves titans and that sounds quite bad.” “Was it a prophecy?” Twilight asked looking pensive as she remembered what happened during the last prophecy when she helped Celestia purify her sister. “I think it might have been, it went like this… they are building titans and will spread chaos to weaken Canterlot. They will strike when the iron is hot and it burns the one you love.” Celestia reiterated some of it and left the other less important parts out. “To think they didn’t ask me for help, why that upsets me to the highest degree. I’m all about chaos!” Everyone continued to ignore Discords presence even as he turned into a penguin with a jet pack and zipped around above them volleying a football around as if it were a volley ball. “Well this sounds serious, so do you think the one you love means Luna?” Twilight gave Celestia a confused look when she looked away from her and winced, before returning to her food. “There’s also the line about building titans, how does one build something like that without it going noticed?” “I’d ask that question myself, my Changelings aren’t exactly picking up anything and that should theoretically be impossible with how many of my people I have on this.” Here Chrysalis looked a little upset. “I know none of my guys have been taken out and nobody is missing, so they aren’t being attacked. They just aren’t finding any information.” “Can’t we discuss something more pleasant; does anyone here need a dress for gala? I’ve personally got mine and Greta’s ready and I can’t wait to show off my fashion.” Surely not everyone who went to the gala would be complete jerks and it would earn Rarity some positive notoriety, especially if she could make a dress fit for the princesses. “I could use a tuxedo for someone, pencil them in for Wednesday. Trust me, they’ll find you easily enough so have an open schedule that day. Name Plentiful Thorax, payment upfront I assume?” Chrysalis received knowing looks from Celestia, Luna and Cadence, but didn’t say much else. Chrysalis still had more to say. “Oh and you can count me in for putting up a resume for becoming crew member on your ship. I’ll get Plentiful Thorax to deliver it to you when he finds you for a tuxedo, if you need materials to make it I’ll handle the costs of the materials used. Just don’t go crazy with the budget Thorax will have on his person when he comes to you, please be somewhere public so he can introduce himself to you properly.” Rarity blinked owlishly at Chrysalis, a queen just offered to become a crew member on her ship and would give her a resume? Why did Rarity feel like she couldn’t say no to that even if she tried to? She didn’t know Chrysalis very well, but she seemed to be quite a unique individual. “Rover needs a resume to work with boss lady? That will be big problem.” The Diamond Dog’s ears wilted. “All of Rover’s previous bosses died violently while screaming in agony.” “So did mine, but I’m not crying about it.” Greta said with a chirp and a smile on her beak trying to reassure the Diamond Dog. “I’m beginning to question the people I’ve started surrounding myself with.” It was not hard for Rarity to do so. “Welcome to my world, except my people are at least somewhat more competent at making sure I don’t die.” Rolling her eyes Chrysalis just drank some water having finished off the last of the hair she was so graciously given, it was quite filling. However the ratio was True Love two months for one serving, stolen or false love at least a month in comparison if barely at that and as for hair a bit longer than a week provided you weren’t using a lot of magic. Hair at least had a physical presence in comparison to love and it wasn’t a hard resource to come by. “Oh and I would like to commission you for something special later, but only when I’m able to actually talk to you about what I want done in detail. So remind me that I wanted to do that later when we both have some free time and you’ll be paid well for your services.” - “So what am I doing exactly?” It was about time Ember got back in the saddle and back to working for a living, sitting before her was a pony looking over several documents and ignoring Mr. Spew on her shoulder. “We were recommended to contact you based on your… indestructibility to be quite fair. We need someone who can go in and look around to find out what’s happening at this colony station. The space station went silent all of the sudden, it’s still has power generation and there are quite a lot of active life signs. Every drone we send in however shows a whole lot of nothing and slowly start failing horribly, static fills the feedback and everything starts going wrong with them yet they stay in perfect operational condition when we find them for recovery.” The orange pegasus pony stallion with blue hair stopped here and looked Ember in the eyes as he slid a file to the dragon. “We’re not exactly sure what’s causing it, but it’s possible that it’s sifter drifter activity in the range of ‘deadly’ to ‘absolutely toxic’. We recovered the drones we sent in and nothing was wrong with them except their batteries were heavily drained and what little we could find of life were some strange shadows caught shifting along the walls in the city proper. At best we know it’s not a mechanical grey goo takeover and at worst we don’t know what we’re dealing with. The station still oddly shows a lot of life signs despite the visuals we did get back showing no life to be seen in the colony stations massive sprawling city. The life signs we’re receiving from the station are slowly beginning to drop off and the number of life signs matched that of the population of the entire colony station and those who went to it recently. Nobody is coming back from there so we’re trying to set up quarantine to prevent this problem from spreading, but some people are still getting through. I need you to help the current investigation team and possibly go in there personally to find out what it is we’re dealing with here and then get out as fast as you can.” “Yeah, this sounds like the kind of suicide mission you’d have to be absolutely crazy to go on.” The pony looked upset for a moment before Ember included. “I’m certainly ready for a challenge, just give me all the information you’ve got on what’s going on in there and let me scope it from the outside for a while. Maybe you can have the investigation team send in another team of drones first for me to get a measure on just how exactly long it takes for them to start failing.” “I’ll see what I can do.” The pony stated firmly. Author's Note I would like to point out that this is the last of the luncheon, Rarity will now tour Canterlot until the gala. Maybe visit the art museum or the museum of magical history, the local spaceport and of course a side visit to the restaurant sector at least once a day for a rather Tasty Treat. I'm wondering if I should change the 'Other' tag to an 'Ember' one, but I'm using it as a fill all for the many other characters in this story. -40-“Well that was nice, though a lot of the things I saw were positively unexpected.” It still surprised Rarity how fast the alicorns can consume their way through a pile of food while looking so regal, needless to say walking away from the castle left her feeling a bit upset as she didn’t have much to do until the gala. She needed to take her dress off for one, so she started back to the hotel room with every one of her friends following. Rover was included in that number even if he hasn’t exactly done anything friendly yet. “There was just so much food and none of it went untouched and there certainly weren’t any leftovers. Are you heading back up to the ship Coco?” “Maybe, because I want see how Sassy is doing personally. Knowing I’m okay and there for her might make Sassy feel better emotionally.” Here Coco paused and considered her options, she wanted to spend a little more time with Rarity. “I would really like to do things around here with you though.” “Right then, I need you to do something for me Coco. We’re still going back to the hotel room to get in an interview with Mr. Rover here.” There wasn’t anything Rarity could say about him that was negative so far, aside from the funky smell and being dirty. That was expected with Diamond Dogs though and Rarity could overlook a few… okay, he had many flaws. “Full name is Red Rover, but Rover prefer Rover boss lady pony.” The red vest wearing Red Rover didn’t seem to have too much trouble following what they were all talking about; he turned to Greta who got his attention by clearing her throat. “Speaking of job interviews, the boss lady is quite thorough with hers. She certainly worked out an honest deal with me and Gilda, mutually beneficial too.” That took a while and by then Greta knew that Rarity was already going to help them regardless if they started working for her or not, the boss lady was generous in both good and bad ways. “You just have to have a talent and learn how to apply it well enough that you can be hired.” “While we’re on the subject, is there a chance that Bernard and I can get in on this?” Trapeze asked for herself and Bernard who looked like a small basketball on her back after consuming enough fish that Celestia stopped to ask if he was alright. Once it was explained that he was a Lagotorphin, Celestia just nodded and continued eating as if seeing a rabbit consume meat wasn’t odd. Bernard squeaked his own query while nodding vigorously; he probably felt like he owed Rarity the opportunity to perform in front of a queen and several princesses and the free food had been wonderful. Even if they were highly laid back he had been rather nervous about it unlike Trapeze. “You want me to interview you to? Well I do owe you for helping us clear out one of the train cars… I’ll at least hear you out.” Rarity was curious as to what she was going to do with what were basically a circus performer and her false rabbit friend, she was still trying to figure out what Rover could possibly be useful for as she has heard a lot about Diamond Dogs and none of it was above decent. Diamond Dogs didn’t excel very much in many places aside from digging. “You certainly are a great performer, but how can that help me in space?” “Well you never know when you might need some odd talent when it comes to traveling and I want to go to the stars with my act.” The smiling Trapeze tipped her hat to Rarity. “I’m quite sure Bernard wouldn’t mind traveling, as I found him getting off a space ship in Manehatten. Didn’t exactly think he was normal when we started working together. I never really asked him about his life, but now I know he’s a traveler and I don’t intend to sit in one place my entire life. It’s why I followed you here in the first place; I need a little adventure to add on top of my pizzazz. My cutie mark kind of makes me a thrill seeker.” “We’ll get right on that then when we get back to the hotel then. I’m rather surprised the princesses don’t eat more fancy foods, but they certainly know what tastes good.” Complimenting the chefs put Rarity in their good books. It might not have been food meant for royalty, but it was food that royalty preferred to eat and that three cheese vegetable lasagna had been heavenly if a little heavy in her stomach. - “You know, I think I’m going to take a break from working on this project.” Having said that out loud Gilda heard a gasp of excitement from above and she rolled her eyes at who it was. “Oh my goodness you’re finally going to get some rest, so what are you going to do on your break?” Opal had been getting along better with Gilda; Vera was still quite hard to find even in a room with one door when she wanted privacy. Vera was okay and liked Opal’s favorite show, so Opal couldn’t be too miffed about her ability to disappear before everyone’s very eyes with but a blink. “Use the toilet, take a shower, get some food and finally put some weapons on the Caravel Boutique, because damn it all if we’re going to allow it to continue being helpless in a fight!” Cursing herself silently, Gilda couldn’t stop caring for the people she’s come to see as friends. The best thing she could do was arm their vehicles properly and she had an idea for her special project that was going to be a unique weapon. “Can you get a meal ready for me Kitten? Oh and send these schematics to Greta so she can look them over and fix any details before I get back to work. I definitely need her opinion on it to make sure it will work and not just blow up in my face. Besides these resources were given to me by the boss lady and I’d rather not squander them on something that might not be feasible. If it’s not feasible I’ll go with my second idea.” “Right then, sending schematic data to Greta with a message to not tell anyone what you’re building up here, though I’m still not sure if we’re ever going to need it.” Though it was pretty cool to have, this was something that Opal admitted to herself silently and wouldn’t state out loud. “It’s better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it. I’m making it capable of orbital drops, because knowing the trouble we might get into it’ll be a useful feature for it.” Shucking her clothes, Gilda dropped them off and made her way for the nearest toilet, she needed some relief and soon. “Of course once it’s in the atmosphere of a planet it’ll be quite hard to get it back up here. I’ll fly over that bridge when and if it comes to it. Oh and can you time my coffee so that I get it hot as soon as I’m out of the shower?” “Sure thing, though I really think you should get some sleep.” The health of the crew was something Opal had to worry about, it was also Vera’s job as well, but she was more focused on Sassy at the moment. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead or at least when I’m tired enough to look it.” Came back a rather crabby reply, Gilda was working on something that was totally awesome with the resources she’s been given and she would certainly find a use for it. - While Rarity was busy getting her three interviews in the hotel, because Bernard was certainly going to be an interesting one, Coco set off with Greta to go search around for a Pegasus crew member that she could interview. The lower districts of Canterlot weren’t very pleasant, but having a somewhat well armed griffon at your back made it certain that not many would bother Coco. She trotted around looking for a good spot to find and recruit at least one crew member, she nor Greta were carrying any money on them so they shouldn’t be bothered by anyone. When they walked close to a bar, Coco started getting bad memories from the last time she was in one. “Oh no… I don’t think I can really do this Greta. The last time I entered a bar I got attacked by all the bounty hunters there.” Coco was a little surprised she didn’t get hit more than she did. “You look like you made it out of there unscathed and without a problem.” Greta thought she looked pretty good for upsetting as many bounty hunters as she said she did. “While being chased by a Ceantir that wanted to take me alive...” Added Coco causing Greta to look a bit shocked and why wouldn’t she look so shocked after hearing that? “Let me rephrase that, you are lucky to be alive. Also did anyone bother to set the Ceantir on fire?” Greta looked a bit more worried; Coco obviously had pretty bad memories about that situation. “Do you know what even happened to it?” “They did set him on fire, but he put himself out rather quickly while knocking out a bunch of bounty hunters and eventually chased me out of the bar.” Coco shivered as she looked to the bar. “They were shooting at him more than me. I’m rather grateful that they were, but I’d rather not relive the memory.” - Coco spun around really fast holding onto the spiked metal bat; she released it performing a hammer throw that knocked the Ceantir onto its back. The end of that hundred pound spiked bat slammed into its face with enough force to almost cave it in leaving a stunned and horrified Coco just standing there. She started limping off before anyone else took a potshot at her for doing nothing more than defending herself. - “It wasn’t exactly a good night. I didn’t know Ewesen even had that many bounty hunters; it always has such a nice and friendly tropical climate. That MOM attack almost destroyed four cities, three of them practically were.” Coco shivered as one of those cities was one of the ones she lived in for a while. “I think I heard that Ceantir was taken in by a bounty hunter named Flamethrower, they certainly sound dangerous and I wouldn’t want to meet them in a dark alley.” - “Oh no, I’m going to…!” A bright white ignited from Ember’s nostrils as she held her hands over her mouth to prevent the flames from erupting against her will. She rubbed at her nostrils idly, she was lucky she managed to hold that back and not incidentally sneeze metal melting fire all over her control panel as her ship floated a short distance away from the space station. The repairs that would have cost her would have been pretty bad; also it would have been worse if she sneezed full out. It would have put a hole in her ship and leave her to subsequently die in the vacuum of space. What an ignoble death that would have been, ‘sneezed herself to death’ would have been a pretty sad epitaph. “Sneeze… I don’t know anyone who here would be talking about me. Okay let’s start this operation and see what’s going on here, pay careful attention to your drones and if they start showing signs of trouble, pull them back immediately. We need to test the distance they can go in before that starts happening and when it gets really bad. I need a cover formation of two by two, nothing seems wrong on the outside.” - “Don’t worry about that, I’ve got you covered Coco.” Greta didn’t seem like an unfriendly enough face to scare off anyone and she was positively brimming with cheerfulness at the thought that Rarity trusted her with watching out for Coco. Especially considering she wasn’t exactly capable in combat outside using a gun, all of which she learned by experience alone with no prior training. Gilda could say the same, but she’s actually had training in using vehicles armed with weaponry given her dream of becoming a pilot only failed because she kept crashing her ships. Personally Greta thought she could be a pilot while working for Rarity and be her mechanical engineer at the same time. “Though I’m just going to say that I’m not exactly good in a fight, Gilda is more likely to win a bar brawl than I am. Said something about me being too nice to break a bottle and then stab a guy in the chest with it.” “That’s not very reassuring Greta. Also I’m kind of surprised that things aren’t more awkward between us.” It did surprise Coco a little; Greta was rather openly gay in both ways. She swallowed and walked through the doorway into the bar with Greta following her. “Why should things be awkward? You’re a comfortable snuggle, even if you are sending me mixed signals about how much you enjoy that. I’m going to get Gilda in bed eventually and not just as friends, no other being in existence can stop me from trying until I’m good and gone.” Greta smirked and looked about; the plasma rifle strapped to her back would keep anyone from trying to start something. “It doesn’t seem like there’s much trouble here to begin with so we’re good there. I’ll watch our backs, yours especially because it’s cute.” Coco blushed as she walked up to the bar and crawled her way onto a stool, best place to look for a recruit was to talk to the bartender who might at least know somebody who needs a job. She wasn’t looking to get inebriated, far from it. Greta took a position right next to her and leaned back first against the bar, while glancing around. The place was quaint and smelled richly of flowers. “So what are you looking for here? You girls don’t seem interested in drinks, though I know a few ponies that would buy them for you. Names Hops Wildly, I run this here bar and hops flowers are my specialty as an earth pony.” The green earth pony with the dark brown mane proceeded to pour himself a mug of frothing fluids and drink it; he nodded to himself apparently thinking it good in flavor. He had quite an interesting accent. “That garden is quite helpful with preserving my stock I tell you. So what can I be doing for a mare and a hen such as you? You two seem too nice to be down here in the dumps and I don’t like anybody be harming friendly folk that come in just for a visit. I’m quite aware that you're here with ulterior motives at the very least, ones aside from drinking your woes away in my bar, having a nice night out talking in a public place and or picking up someone for a one night stand on the dance floor.” “Right to the point then, well that’s rather convenient for us.” Chirped Greta with an amused smile, hoping nothing would go wrong on this little adventure. “With as well armed as one of you are its best that I pay attention to you and hope that my walls are not soon filled with holes.” Even as he said this he continued to down more of his drink. “You two are not looking for trouble right? With a face like hers I would presume you’d have a better reason to come here together instead of being on a date, because I have the hen here pegged as being gay.” “You’d be right; I’m gay every day of my life with hardly a few downer moments between.” Spouted off Greta in a happy manner as she tapped her talons on the bar, this guy was alright to her even if she wasn’t Gilda who had a good read of people from their first actions alone. “Not so sure about this pony though, she’s definitely a shy one and could join the SNUGGLES organization on her looks alone with how adorable she is.” “Can we not go into that please? Ahem, what my friend means is that we’re here to look for a Pegasus to hire and would like to ask if you have any suggestions.” Coco attracted Hops attention to her. “In particular one who doesn’t have any prior pending issues or much of anything better to do and is basically jobless, one who wouldn’t mind traveling in space and working with a pair of crazy griffons in our hangar. Of which one is sitting next to me.” “I’m not crazy, just mentally challenged when it comes to my heart’s desire who continues to ignore the fact that I’m a decent bed warmer. Why I’m even thinking something along the lines of lesbian orgy if I can get her to agree to one night with me, I love her dearly but she’s really hard to get.” This from Greta caused both Coco and Hops to blush vibrantly. “You be a good hen and the mare is cute with her prodding. That’s it, we’re friends! Friends help one another right? You be looking for Pegasus with no prior engagements, then I might have a few names you can look up if they haven’t turned their lives around yet and are in need of a good job.” Hops looked over to a changeling waitress who was serving drinks and food. “Hey, Delightful Nights, your boss is in need of some paper and a pen! I got some job bringers here.” “Right boss, I’ll get on it when I’m done here. Are we still on for tomorrow?” The changelings finished placing drinks on the tables and shuffled right on by them into the back room where the sounds of cooking could be heard. “That is a sure thing, my sweet as honey friend! Delightful is being such a sweetheart since she be coming to my bar for a job, she is quite a spicy mare when you can get her motivated. Otherwise I am thinking she is a lightweight and not interested in doing fun things, set me right about changelings she did and I am not hearing a thing of hearsay in her words.” Hops smiled as he had had a pen and paper placed before him which he took up in hoof and started scratching down some names and places to find them. The silver eyed changeling gave him a peck on the cheek and took off a small mouthful of his mane before walking off while shifting her rear and holding her tail high in the air. “She is looking for a good relationship. I’m not sure if I’m worthy of her, but she be sweet on me all the same.” “I say go for it or I will, no telling when you might find another mare like that. Though knowing what I do about changelings now, aren’t you the slightest bit upset that she just ate some of your hair?” The stallion just chuckled at Greta’s question as he continued to scribble off some information. “It mean less trips to the barber for me, it be growing back fast anyway. Plus my silver eyes succubus be making sweet passes at me whenever she wants, it’s perfectly fine if it helps her stay healthy and attractive.” He lifted his head slightly and watched that changelings swagger as she went about making her rounds. “Plus the shape shifting can make things in bed interesting, if I decide to let things get interesting between us. I don’t want to hurt her emotionally and I would like to take things slow, she says that changelings are more open to deep relationships and I’m open to her tempting me with her hot little backside. Do you two want anything on the house?” “Not really, we had a big lunch.” Coco could still feel the bulge in her stomach. “On that I can agree, that was one lunch I don’t think I’ll ever forget.” The list was turned about and slid over to the pair and Greta looked it over. “So who are some of these ponies?” “They be customers in need of a good job, some are on very hard times yeah. They will take just about anything nowadays. I suggest you start with that mare Lightning Dust, she be a Wonder Bolt drop out and known for her recklessness, she almost killed a few ponies, almost. Maybe you can get her back up on her hooves yeah? She lives in an alleyway nearby and only makes barely enough money to feed herself, I wouldn’t be happy to see her start selling her body. It is bad enough that that poor mare sleeps on these cold hard streets with barely a cardboard box that she can pay rent on. She might be a bit drunk so take it easy on her if she be getting rough with you.” “Thank you Mr. Wildly.” Getting off the stool, Coco waited as Greta took up the list and looked it over. They would take the bartenders advice and search out for Lightning Dust first; the bartender was friendly enough to draw various cutie marks onto the paper for them. - “Okay, Bernard definitely wants to be a package deal with you Trapeze; he’s proven to be quite an intelligent little thinker and knows he can get into small crawlspaces to help where repairs and maintenance are concerned. Plus he’s agile enough to wield at least a pistol, but I’d rather not have him as security. I can certainly understand his usefulness and he gave me quite a list of things he could help with, but what about you Ms. Star? What can you do for my ship if you become a crew member?” Bernard hopped off to stand beside the Diamond Dog who just looked at him uneasily as Trapeze made her way into the hotel room to talk with Rarity. Rarity had already finished her talk with the Diamond Dog and the prospects were not looking good for the Red Rover, still it wouldn’t hurt to at least have some men on the crew for Sassy to get used to having around. Provided they don’t go anywhere near her while she’s currently in the medical bed. “What are you proposing to do when you come onto my ship and why should I take you as a crew member? You know, aside from the fact that we’re friends.” “Well I could pay you a percentage of whatever I make when I put on shows to have me onboard as expenses, I could also clean things and or assist where needed. I’m sure you can come up with something for me to do. Maybe I can help you with advertisements for your business when I start becoming well known? More than likely you’ll help me with that as well for my performances.” Trapeze really hadn’t thought too far into it, just that she wanted to travel and go to many places and do amazing things for the people there. Rarity was quite a friendly face and she wasn’t pulling punches. “I know I can at least help you move things around and carry things for you, I could be a pack mule. “I’ll consider this, but you’re definitely too pretty to be considered a mule my dear. Tell me how you got to where you are now.” Sitting down on the bed Rarity gave Trapeze a stare. “How did you know you wanted to be a performer, what’s the news behind the mare before me?” “Well I guess it all started when I was young, I loved climbing on things. Jungle gym, statues, monkey bars and I happened to be a funny little filly with the way I liked jumping around and tumbling. Eventually I took up learning gymnastics and from there it was history when I discovered half my talent.” Here Trapeze stopped and took off her hat to bow to Rarity. “My other half was putting on a magicians act for a talent show, I would have done a gymnastics act but someone else was already going to do that and I didn’t want to step on hooves. They still ended up trying to ruin my act, but it made my act all the more special as I performed tricks while doing leaps across the stage dodging falling objects and making it out to be a part of my show. It wouldn’t be until years later that I found a rabbit that was willing to work for me, Bernard was… special… to say the least about him when I first met him. I took responsibility for him and we’ve been best friends ever since then.” “The way he tells it, he thought you were quite the interesting mare yourself. So is there anything I should know about you?” Rarity liked Trapeze and could at least work with her; she was still iffy about letting a mangy mongrel like Rover onto her ship even if he had some good qualifications for digging up jewels for her. Mining was about as much use as Rarity thought she could get out of Rover really, since his species specialized in mining operations and didn’t have breathing problems in dusty conditions. Heck Diamond Dogs were known to be able to survive lacking air for quite a while, given how often they escaped caved in places unscathed. Diamond Dogs were also quite often seen in emergency rescue services and Rover did have some strength in his lanky arms. Why he even might be able to do something as a security officer, but he would need a lot of training to be useful part of the crew and she didn’t feel like dealing with training him personally. “Well I like to dabble in some things, but I don’t have much of an answer to that. I guess I like playing with puzzle games and the like, toying around with illusionist stuff if you will and I definitely like dancing. I’m not really leaving much behind if you do take me on, all I have is right here with me.” Trapeze took off her hat and hugged it to her chest before returning it to her head. “I’m not all that interesting outside of what I want to do as a performer. Still though, if you won’t hire the Diamond Dog I might be able to do something with him.” “What would you do with Mr. Rover if you could train him to do something?” Now there was an idea and Rarity could kind of see it now that she thought of it. “Could you maybe make him your assistant to set up stage equipment and move it around?” “Yeah something like that, why do you ask?” Trapeze bounced a little on her hooves and tilted her hat to the side looking intrigued. “I’ll hire you and Bernard as crew members who will start out as janitors, maybe learn a thing or two about where else you could help around the ship. But as a caveat you two must train Rover to do something useful.” Here Rarity chuckled a bit dryly. “I want you to help him clean up his act as it were; maybe you can expand your act and form a Trapeze Troupe if you will. I’ll lend you transportation; you earn the money. I might also require Rover’s services where digging would be fruitful; in fact I plan to visit the bejeweled fields near Ponyville to give him a test run as to whether he can at least do that much.” “Oh boy, you certainly are asking a lot of me. I’ll see what I can do with him.” Trapeze then looked quite thoughtful as she put a hoof to her chin. “The Trapeze Troupe… has a certain ring to it and I like it. Well… work up a contract and you’ll have yourself a Star, Trapeze Star to be exact, at your service boss lady. I’m sure I can make something of Rover, even if he has to be a clown.” “Oh, don’t you dare start that too; it’s bad enough that my griffons do it already and even insist on calling me that!” Rarity paused and began to wonder when she started considering them her griffons. Author's Note Rarity might be doing well now, but as a heads up the gala is not going to end well for her and her ambitions to find a good stallion and or become one with high society. Canterlot touring and the mysterious Mare-Do-Well/Mauve Mare-auder returns. Rarity's various enterprises, one of which is obviously in the entertainment industry, are going to at least keep her in good money at least. She only has a stable supply of funds, as in she's not exactly rich yet as most of her funds are going into repairs and supplies required to keep her two ships working. -41-“Quite frankly I don’t know what a performance duo and a Diamond Dog can do for me, but I’m looking forward to at least the duo doing something interesting. If I need to do some mining you’re going to be right there with me Rover.” Sitting before Rarity were the three prospects that wanted to be hired. “Honestly it might help in the long run if you become the morale expert; you certainly know how to read a mood Trapeze and you’re acting is quite splendid when you did your performance before the princesses… and Chrysalis. What I’m trying to get at is that all of you are hired, provided that Rover doesn’t mind working with you Trapeze.” “Rover can work with pony easily, apex predator is more worrying.” Rover pointed to Bernard who just smiled at him. “Wait, Lagotorphins are apex predators?” Trapeze seemed a little confused about that and so was Rarity for that matter who motioned to the dog to speak up. “Yes, false rabbit very dangerous.” The Diamond Dog shivered and looked away from Bernard’s innocent looking smile. “Rover does not seek to upset him or even wish to.” “I’ll have to agree as from what I remember Greta telling me about a Lagotorphin I know about taking out several large monsters by himself during the whole thing on Ewesen.” A rabbit sized intelligent being that Rarity remembered hearing rumors of taking down multiple Voragers on his own, made her wonder why he was friends with someone as innocent as Fluttershy. Then it occurs to Rarity that Angel is probably a big game hunter and uses Fluttershy as much larger bait when his pet rabbit wouldn’t get him some stupid beast to snack on, Fluttershy was a popular SNUGGLES member know for her love of animals and being around especially dangerous ones at that. Given that Rarity could kind of see Angel’s reasoning as to why he’d follow the shy mare around and be so friendly towards her. “Knowing that that particular Lagotorphin took out creatures three times his size, I can say that Bernard can be as dangerous as that despite his appearance saying otherwise.” Bernard just let off a friendly sounding chirp as he took to standing on Trapeze’s back, which made Rarity realize that he was probably doing the same thing that Angel was with Fluttershy. Ponies who traveled got into trouble easily, ergo he’d protect his chosen pony who was going to travel around to possibly dangerous locations with equally dangerous creatures to eat… she’d have to watch out for Bernard if they go anywhere near a nature preserve. Lagotorphins were nowhere close to being an endangered species and could probably count as sifter drifters themselves. - “Are you sure this is her? She looks pretty awful.” Coco poked the ragged looking Pegasus in a torn and ratty looking jacket and breathes that smelled of cheap alcohol and was likely covered in grime from head to toe. Her faded green dusty coat was probably a lot brighter once and the matted orange mane of two various shades didn’t look too healthy and she was using used newspapers as a blanket and bedding as she was curled up in her cardboard box. On top of that there was a nearby jar filled with liquid that had the label of ‘toilet’ on it. If any mare really needed help it would be this one. “Maybe this is a different pony.” “That’s the cutie mark that Hops drew. I can kind of see why he recommended us to her first, she looks like she needs help and Rarity wouldn’t say no to us being good people by giving her a good home with hiring her right?” Greta started to poke at Lightning Dust’s mane and it was as dusty as the rest of the Pegasus who looked to be down in hard times. “This has to be Lightning Dust, this is the alleyway that’s the adress.” “Hmm… look I’ll pay rent; you know I’m good for it. I always get the money on time you know that.” Muttered the Pegasus who woke up sleepily, she wasn’t all there and her scratched and distorted voice sounded as bad as she looked. This mare probably needed a doctor or at least some time in medical bed. “You actually pay rent on a cardboard box?” Anyone would look horrified at hearing that, Greta tried to keep a cheerful smile on her face despite that. “I thought Hops was just joking about that.” “Huh… you’re not… no doesn’t matter.” The mare sat up and shook her head, this action caused several scars to be revealed along her chest, wings and flank. She glanced at them blankly and with something approaching contempt. “Yes, I pay rent on this box; it’s either that or get downgraded to the less waterproof version. Having a waterproof box when you’re as poor as I am is something of a miracle.” “Yes, well, we were directed to you by…” Coco started off before she had a hoof held up to her face, Lightning popped her spine and stood up. “Doesn’t matter, I know Hops sends job bringers my way often enough to know why you are here and so far the odd jobs I’ve been getting are barely keeping me fed. I don’t care what the job is, I’ll take it. Wildly has a good sense of decency that I can trust.” Lighting shook her head groggily and then sharpened her focus on Coco, she was horribly thin and she looked to be physically weak as if she hadn’t flown in an entire year. “Whatever you need me for, it can’t possibly be any worse than my current living arrangements. As you can see I only have a box and a jar of piss to my name, selling my pee helps me get something to eat every now and then. Don’t ask about who buys it or what they do with it. You don’t want to know and neither do I. If you need me to turn tricks I’m willing to go there, heck I might even end up taking the changelings up on their offer of joining them at the brothel. They are among the few around here that still care.” “Well then, I can see you’re going to be interesting to talk to…” Suddenly there was a loud beeping noise, Greta quickly pulled her data pad out from underneath her wing and looked it over. A look of shock crossed Greta’s face as she finally took in what she was looking at in full. “Holy crap… what hell is Gilda building up there to come up with something like this?! This thing… hmmm, let’s see. She needs to change the setup here, here and here, move these wires over to this position. Change the power coupling here or else it’ll overheat and explode on her after being used too much. I swear this is the only reason why you keep me around Gilda… a few tweaks here, add four heat sinks and there! Now it’s completely viable and will only cause a few problems. Adding a few notes to the design about said problems, sending it now. Gilda you’re a genius, but sometimes I wonder if you plan so many flaws like this on purpose.” “What did I just agree to?” Lightning asked out loud looking slightly tipsy after watching Greta go to town on her data pad, she hoped she just didn’t sell her body to science. Maybe she would be a pretty good lab rat if that were the case. “Nothing yet, but we hope to at least give you some food and a clean bed as part of the job we came to offer. Maybe we can talk to you over some food?” It was here that Coco was starting to consider Rarity’s generosity contagious or maybe it was the unkempt and unwashed winged pony before her that needed help. She needed a lot of it by the looks of things. “You look like you really need it.” - “Yep, Greta still has the right stuff for the job and she improved my schematic by a mile.” Here Gilda smiled at the changes on her schematic and a few notes she paid absolute attention to, Greta wouldn’t make note of something without there being a good reason for it. Greta didn’t waste words on things Gilda could have probably figured out by herself. “One of the reasons I keep her around, efficient and quick when put to the task. Hey now, I never would have thought of that… for a walking gay bar you never cease to amaze Greta.” Gilda started to work immediately, with Greta giving her schematic a quick once over and double checking the figures herself with a nod. She was ready to start building this particular part of her project properly thanks to Greta; she’d have the whole thing done before the week was out. - “It’s getting pretty late, I hope you three don’t mind but I’m going to the art museum. Get to know each other better and work out what you’ll do between yourselves. You won’t have much to clean up to start off, but you’ll have plenty of free time until then.” Rarity grabbed a few of her things before heading towards the door. The contract had been signed and she now had three more crew members to worry about, the expenses for these three and whoever Coco and Greta brought back would put her on a barely stable ground. She still had some room for error unless Shining Jewel blew up and it was a well armored ship, so something catastrophic would have to happen before it went down. “Oh and tell Coco and Greta I’ll be back late if they get back in before I do, please don’t cause any trouble for me and here’s some money to pay for room service if you get hungry. ” “Don’t worry, I’ll hold the fort and make sure my new associate doesn’t do anything dumb.” Trapeze tipped her hat to Rarity as she stood at the door. “I have nothing to worry about when it comes to Bernard; I know he can take care of himself.” “Rover is not being dumb, Rover is just not being smart at the right times.” Huffing audibly at the disrespect, Rover looked slightly offended. Sure he may not have been big on words, but he understood food and a place to call his own to sleep. Plus it would be his first time being in the big hole, which was what space was known as by Diamond Dogs and he’s heard how dangerous it was. Rover was still alive because sometimes stupidity finds a way to survive all the odds and he at least understood he was somewhat lucky to be alive at this point. He knew that you learned best when you did stupid things, then you learned to not do those things ever again if it wasn’t fatal the first time. “Right then, I’m off.” Rarity hoped the Diamond Dog would eventually prove his worth, gem digging would be much simpler and she could make a tidy profit off of it without too much expenditure. The Caravel Boutique would need to refuel its variable thrusters when they go to Ponyville. She was dreading that because she knew that Sweetie Belle and her parents were going to undoubtedly be there. So far she had been lucky to avoid them and her luck could only go so far if Opal’s calculations were to be believed. She stepped out into the late night air in the middle district and looked around, Canterlot during the day was glorious and even at night the lights and buildings were quite beautiful. However looking towards the lower district, Rarity hoped Greta and Coco didn’t run into any trouble, where would she be without her shy workaholic friend and the friendly griffon that makes a few sly passes at every female member in her crew at one point or another? Greta certainly knew how to compliment a mare and certainly had an appreciation of beauty that Rarity didn’t mind as long as she stuck to chasing after Gilda. Looking at the bright night lights, hearing the sounds of harps being played to the wind and the beauty of the architecture all came together here in Canterlot, a great city that had a lot of opportunities and was equally beautiful day or night. Rarity thought the princesses ran things well enough, but the more rich people there were around, the greater the number people in poverty or in service of said rich people. Those numbers seem to always coincide with one another. Slavery existed whether or not people like to admit it, but the manner of that slavery was either set in cruelty which was always the first thing that comes to mind when such a subject was brought up. The other type of slavery was that made by necessity as the thing that exists constantly in proper society. The difference being that slavery by necessity means that you were only a slave so long as you were paid to be one by the one who was giving you the job that you are being paid for, you could free yourself and walk away from your obligation if you didn’t want to be a slave to said persons whim. It was quite hard to do when it meant that you’d quickly lose a lot of the conveniences and comforts of society unless you can find another place of employment. As such societal slavery wasn’t nearly as bad as the cruelty version of slavery where everything is forced upon the slave. It’s just that people never stop to consider that they are slaves to their paychecks when it came to being employed to someone else’s whims within a specific range; Rarity learned this much when she was a waitress. At least the cruelty version of slavery was definitively outlawed in many places. As she approached the museum Rarity considered how human society could get away with a make believe system of money they have that was built entirely on trust that the money actually meant something, that it could be exchanged for goods and services and would always remain so. Apparently it was quite a common thing to crop up in many civilizations that the money could become worthless in an instant and as such Rarity wanted to be rich enough that no matter what happened the wealth she had would always mean something, something she would share with her friends of whom she didn’t order around very much. She only asked them if they could do things, she wasn’t forcing them to do their jobs and they were probably better mentally for it that she didn’t ask much of them. The thing to be said about money from Rarity’s current perspective as it is given? Money was only worth as much as the value other people put into it, it was the notion of worth and that the money had it that made it as such. If you were the only being left in the universe with all the money, what would you do with the useless pile of nothing you now found yourself sitting upon? Rarity humorously thought of making a castle entirely out of bits to live in for the rest of her lonely life at that point, it wouldn’t be luxury without someone to make food for you and or at least keep the plumbing in your home working. Stopping Rarity thought she saw a costumed figure prowling around on the ledges of the museum, the swish of a cape that might have just been a bird swiveling around a corner. She didn’t think much of it at the time and continued. Shaking her head at the image she thought she saw, she walked up to the counter and paid for entrance into the museum, knowing full well that her money was well spent as it went into the preservation and upkeep of the museum. Like money, Rarity knew art was only worth as much as a beholder declared it to be. Could you nail a wooden plank to a canvas and sell it for a thousand bits? It was apparently worth that much to someone to have someone else nail that wooden plank to the canvas and signed their name on it. Rarity wasn’t going to complain about how silly that sounded, given it actually happened. Why ‘The Plank of Somber Regrets’ was a popular piece, in fact it was the first one she saw as she walked off to the left, she was going to take the entire museum in a clockwise and upwards manner. This art museum in particular was opened day and night, with a rotation of constant guards making sure nobody tried anything funny. The worth of that plank of wood nailed to a canvas and encased in glass was a lot, despite Rarity simply seeing it as only worth a plank of wood, a nail and some canvas which wouldn’t even exceed twenty bits by her mental calculative standards. It did intrigue the mind how someone managed to sell it for a thousand bits, at least someone had to have been rather generous to buy something like this for even that much. Rarity was able to appreciate the minute thought provoking issues, especially with the fact that she had been staring at a chunk of wood for the last minute or so before moving on to the next painting. “Oh what would my friends say if they found out about me staring at wood and actually considering it art? Well it is, but that doesn’t mean it's good art to everyone.” Talking to herself made Rarity feel less lonely, she should have brought someone with her to enjoy this. Someone who tended to enjoy the finer things in life, maybe some pony that would look at her and tell her that she wasn’t trying too hard and that they found her to be an exquisite work of art herself. Sighing Rarity continued her tour of the twenty four hour art museum, the art work was starting to inspire Rarity about clothing designs she wanted to try. Her job was about making functional and visually pleasing clothing, something you could use and behold at the same time. That was what Rarity could get behind. She worked for people to behold her wares and think them worthy of a moderate cost she presented and as such she was no different from that of an artist. Only art didn’t have much function aside from adding aesthetics to a room and Rarity could almost appreciate beauty in any form it came in, her eye for detail helped her take the paintings in visually and get an idea of what the artist was going for when they made them. More likely than not Rarity knew she would be wrong because it was her own assumptions and perspective. She could not accurately speak for the artist as no one should be able to, especially not the one that did this masterful work of the ‘Mare of the Moon’. There were however reasons why artists stayed quiet when someone spoke for them when it came to trying to interpret what the artists was going for, they made more money by not stating their intentions to make money by being mysterious, bonkers and daffy after all. Insanity certainly had its own worth and value, but only the truly insane could get away with selling it. Owning the paintings of an insane pony must be an interesting topic of discussion to bring up at garden parties. Is becoming rich or wealthy the dream of an insane mare? Rarity had a lot to consider as she stared a painting that tried to capture Discord’s essence that was labeled ‘Discords Other Tooth’ and she left it looking horribly confused. That was probably the true goal of that particular painting and Rarity smiled hopefully that she at least understood one of them perfectly well; it was definitely chaos incarnate in the form of a painting. - A costumed figure slunk around the wall on a ledge and looked for a window, breaking into the museum wasn’t exactly a good thing to do. Still, it was a necessary thing for the masked pony, who had been tracking the unicorn criminal Mind Field. Said unicorns last known location was right here. They had to be wary of illusions and traps, so avoiding a scuffle with the royal guards until they could find him was paramount. The figure looked through the windows as they climbed around the outside of the building trying to discern if there was a pony hidden under illusions stealing paintings, because why else would Mind Field have come here? Vigilantes were both romanticized and frowned upon in equal measure. Heck many ponies couldn’t believe a pony could resort to violence so easily, but this masked figure had their reasons. Things like not getting fried alive by Back Draft for one. At least the figure took down one of the more lethal members of the Caballeron Cabal and was trying to capture the more elusive intelligent one before going after the muscle, which was going hurt a lot when they did and the bruises would be very hard to hide in everyday life. This pony wanted to protect the innocent from scum and wouldn’t pull punches to stop the criminal element around here from doing whatever it was they were planning. It was something big to be sure with the increase in changeling activity, they were looking out for something dangerous and this costumed pony wanted to put that danger to a stop before it could get off the ground. This figure was Mare-Do-Well as they’ve been calling her; she would have preferred The Mauve Mare-auder even if she could never truly live up to that particular legend. Instead this pony wanted to be her own legend, doing something so far beyond the scope of her own cutie mark. This kind of stuff wasn’t even close to being this pony’s special talent and they were in it to do good deeds without recognition, it certainly meant finding out was happening here in Canterlot since it became her new home. The costume made it hard for others to discern her gender, but it was generally considered that she was a mare and they were right to believe so. However they still hadn’t figured out what she was, Pegasus, Unicorn, Earth or even a rare elusive Alicorn Pony. In the end it didn’t matter as she worked her butt off to defy what her special dictated she would be doing for the rest of her life, still her cutie mark might have had something of a symbolic meaning as to what she was doing now. She saw a white furred mare with purple hair come up the stairs and start looking at paintings, checking the technological lenses on her mask with a hoof she saw no illusion when the magic filtering effects came up. So it had to be a civilian just coming to appreciate the museum, she had to find Mind Field and soon. She also needed to keep innocents out of the crossfire and take him down before he could get away with his prize, whatever it may be. She turned off the magic filtering sight on her lenses as it was quite disorienting. The lenses in her mask made it hard to move while keeping them active in any alternative visual mode, they were definitely going to help in the fight with Mind Field even if she would be fighting disorientation as much as Mind Field himself the entire time. - Something flickered by the window causing Rarity to turn her head towards it where she saw something like a cape swish out of view. She shrugged and turned back to the painting of a mare with a rather glorious mane, it was based on a popular series of interactive comic books and the painting made the mare look very realistic. The mare in the painting was beautiful, but she didn’t like the color of her mane. Though green seemed rather fitting with the purple colored fur, maybe it wasn’t such a bad color after all. Still wouldn’t be her favorite color and would stay near the bottom of the list just above brown. Things were quiet and there were a few other ponies around exploring the art as well as herself, though going up another set of stairs brought her to a very strange scene. From an outsiders perspective it was weird to see several ponies staring at empty spots on the wall, whereas a stallion with multiple paintings was smiling to himself as he just idly levitated another painting away from the wall. After a moment the stallion looked to her and noticed something very important, Rarity was looking at him. Directly at him, Mind Field, a unicorn who specialized in illusions that affected every pony in a general region and using his abilities he could get up close to you to stab you without you noticing it before it was too late. Provided that you couldn’t see him like Rarity currently could, her keen eye for detail led her to seeing through his illusion entirely. While such an ability might have been good where Vera was concerned, at this place and time it was a really, really bad thing to notice a known criminal as he was in the act of stealing several paintings that he sat on the floor next to himself. “Well now this is a surprise, someone who can see through my illusions. I can’t leave a loose end like you just sitting around. Who knows, you might help the guards try and apprehend me.” Mind Field had orange hair and black fur with red eyes, he just sent a glare directly at Rarity who eyed the paintings he calmly set down and then looked back at him. Several knives levitated out of his saddle bags and with a flash of his horn he smirked. “Did you know I once tried to assassinate Celestia? I failed obviously, who knew she could see through even my illusions. To think those nobles couldn’t have the foresight warn me about that before hoof, they now have rather bright smiles… in their necks. I barely escaped her wrath for that you know, but you are not Celestia now are you? Scream all you want, no one is coming to help you now. I so do hate ponies that can see me under the illusions I put in place, so don’t worry your pretty little head. You’re going to die here lady and there’s no running from me once I got my mind set on it.” “Seriously now, can’t you just ignore the fact that I saw you and let me go?” A knife whizzed by Rarity’s face at an impressive speed, what was more impressive was that she managed to move her face out of the way in time and stumble back. She quickly levitated out one of her energy pistols only to have it knocked away with a second blurring knife that went back immediately as the gun went skidding out of her levitation range. She had to dodge the first knife from behind as it went back to Mind Field with an intersecting course set for her spine, Rarity was thankful that it only nicked her shoulder and caused her to start bleeding. “No, you’re going to have a nice smile in your neck soon too. You know, changelings sometimes get blamed for the things I do and I enjoy that society is pointing their hooves in the wrong direction. The hypocrisy of our world amuses me to no end.” The wicked smile widened on Mind’s face as Rarity started frantically backing away from him and he knocked her other pistol away when she tried to pull and fire it as well. He was quite fast with those knives of his, who was it that said knives were useless in a gun fight? Well they probably hadn’t met a unicorn with long range levitation skills. He slowly sauntered forward at even pace and even had a smug look on his face. “You know, it’s quite nice being me. I can get into any place and have sex with any mare I want to, just so long as they can’t see through my illusions as I’m coming or going. You however, you happen to be a big threat to that. Nobody can hear or see you right now and I believe I will be the last stallion to hear your screams one way or another... you should be happy that I find you appealing. So submit now and I just might actually make your death a quick one.” Author's Note I decided to be a bit philosophical this chapter, that and have Rarity encounter a psychotic pony. All while Mare-Do-Well isn't in the museum and is looking for said psycho. What was not said this chapter is that his cutie mark is a spiral and an eye, slightly based on Spellbinder from Batman Beyond to be specific. Mind you mind control is all well and good for an evil magic wielding pony, but it's ridiculously common in the show as it is in some stories I've read. Mind Field is different, he can't control the mind directly, but he can control what a pony see's and hears to a point that he can make a faithful pony see him as their lover and at that point he's on an equal level of nightmare fuel that changelings generally cause. Why hasn't anyone written a story where a changeling or changelings are wrongly blamed for things a unicorn or unicorns committed as illusion specialists? Blaming a present changeling would be the easy way out and nobody would ever consider unicorn magic being used for dark purposes, at least from the ponies perspective in the show. Despite the fact that unicorns have done bad things with magic in the show for extremely flimsy reasons. -42-Rarity thought about her options fight him and get hurt doing so, possibly raped and killed or get raped and killed anyway. She’d prefer to go down fighting with a knife in her teeth, but she noted a few key problems with this situation. One she was not a very powerful unicorn, it just had to be said as much as thought that Rarity couldn’t put up a fight without levitating a weapon in her magic, he’s already managed to disarm her of two pistols and… wait… she still had the material pistol, but was it even loaded? Not exactly the time to check that with her mind running a mile a minute. “I’d rather put up a fight thank you very much.” Answered Rarity calmly, she wasn’t about to pull out her last pistol, the other two were a bit far away and she wasn’t going to do a dramatic dive for them. She wasn’t an action movie hero; she knew the limits of her magic and the range of which she can pick up and wield a gun was quite short. Basically this obviously dangerous stallion had the upper hoof in all areas where combat was concerned and it was best if she got away from him as quickly as she could. “Yes, run, it’s going to make this all the more enjoyable. Of course you know I could probably disguise myself as you and kill someone.” This gangster obviously didn’t know Rarity had a history with some odds being in her favor, Mind Field noticed Rarity backing away from him and it wasn’t often he ran into a illusion immune unicorn. They were a rare breed and he didn’t like them existing in his mind boggling presence and world, which is why he was choosing to take her out of it in his preferred method. He twirled one of his eight floating serrated knives and pointed it at one of the bystanders who continued to peruse the illusionary art. “Even if you do escape you’re still going to be my prey and I can have the whole of Canterlot against you easily enough, even if I am caught nobody would ever trust you again. If I do it right nobody would ever believe your innocence even if the princesses themselves say so, so be a good little mare and lay down. I hope you like it rough.” “So a thief, a ruffian, a rapist and what is with that rather atrocious accent? I admit I’ve heard some horrible voices in my time, but your voice is one of the absolute worst things I’ve ever heard in all my life.” If this stallion wanted to play mind games Rarity would prefer that to the physical activities he was currently suggesting, it would be best to keep his attention focused on her and stop him from hurting ponies unwary of his presence because he was apparently casting illusions strong enough for them to both be ignored. She stalked to the left and a knife knocked her gun further behind her and then she tried the right and that gun too was knocked away by a launched knife. Exactly what Rarity wanted him to do; now all she had to do was get him angry and focused on her. If she weren’t so generous she would have let him carry out his threat of harming someone instead of keeping his attention all on her. “Also not very sporting as you won’t give a lady a fighting chance. You by far are the ugliest stallion I have ever had the displeasure to meet, inside and out. I swear you also smell quite horrid, what do you bathe in? Rotten eggs, must be popular with the other stallions you poof.” “Okay, now you’re getting me angry.” The stallion started moving forward at a brisk walk and Mind Field smirked as Rarity continued to back away from him in fear. “Only just getting you angry? Wow, not only do you happen to be ugly, you’re also dumber than a metropolitan stereotype of a blonde mare.” Okay that made the stallion see red, Rarity kind of figured that this guy has slept with many an airheaded mare before and nothing would make him angrier than calling him out on it. “Alright, now that… has gotten me pissed off! I am not as dumb as one of those broads you lousy donkey faced dame.” Mind Field still wasn’t doing what Rarity wanted him too. “Well of course you are, for a girly stallion. I mean how small is that thing between your legs that you need to use illusions or force to even have sex with a mare much less get one within twenty feet of you?” Rarity immediately turned around and ran for it with several knives whizzing by her head, she might have insulted him pretty hard that time but it was worth it as she had maneuvered him into knocked her guns into her path. As she ran by them, she picked them up and stashed one of them away and fired over her shoulder at him and was aiming low. It hit the floor and he pulled his hoof back before it could hit. “Get back here, nobody insults my Little Mind!” The stallion yelled charging after Rarity. “Oh you even named it too; well you’re the one that called it ‘little’ not me. So I don’t know why you would be mad at me over it, but it does prove my point that you are a small fry!” Rarity couldn’t fire her energy pistol again around other ponies, she might incidentally hit them while trying to shoot Mind Field and he was keeping himself in the path of shots that would hit someone should he dodge them. He was at least that smart, but not smart enough to avoid being goaded into chasing her. She avoided taking a knife across her face as she galloped away and one grazed the outside of her rear right leg causing her to stumble in pain. Yes, Rarity figured that he was quite angry as he ramped up his attacks, the knives started coming at her and then curving or suddenly flipping to change directions in the air trying to skewer her. She jumped ducked and avoided taking a knife to her face, she really didn’t want a scar on her perfectly beautiful face, her legs she noted were getting more injuries as time passed as he continued to knick her here and there as she ran. Seeing him move into a safe place to fire she shot twice causing him to reel back a bit and avoid the shots as she turned started going down the stairs towards the exhibits next floor down with Mind Field hot on her tail retaliating with knives flung at a high velocity. “If anyone can hear me, I could use a little help here!” Rarity yelled as she tried to find a spot on the second floor to hide and knife slide across the left side of her neck causing her to let out a scream and grabbed her neck, her hoof came away covered in her blood and she put it back to keep the pressure on it. He was slowly whittling her down and nobody could hear her screaming for help. “Nobody is coming, nobody but me that is. If you don’t know who I am, then the name of your killer and soon to be rapist is Mind Field. I’m a pretty big name in the Caballeron Cabal, one of the best enforcers around.” The stallion watch as Rarity continued a three hoof gallop away from him, this was a feisty chase to be sure and she ducked into the next room leaving a knife embedded in the wall where she had stopped to lean against it for a moment. “I was here doing a simple heist and what do I find? A mare that can see through my illusions, now why don’t you come out and play?” “Oh I’ll gladly return the favor; I am a generous mare after all.” Rarity leaned out from a steel statue of a dragon; she fired several times and ducked out of sight. All except one of her shots missed and the stallion was quite good at dodging them and only took a graze to one of his legs that made him grunt slightly, she tried to silently around in the statue exhibit and tried to get into a good position to disable him. “A generous mare would sleep with me for no needed reason at all, so you’re not very generous.” It was quiet in the room and Mind Field slunk behind a sculpture looking Rarity, he could see some splotches of blood on the floor, but not enough to tell him where Rarity was hiding.” “I’m not that generous, but you can have a few shots on the house.” Rarity stated as she popped out behind him and fired, he quickly rolled behind a statue with a line of energy bolts impacting the ground behind him. She ducked and two knives shot overhead and past the curled up sleeping marble giraffe statue. He wasn’t even armed with a projectile weapon and he was handling her with ease, she wasn’t particularly happy about this cat and mouse and her neck was dripping quite badly. He might have hit and artery in her neck, which would be very bad. She knew that if she lost enough blood she would become too lightheaded to fight or even see straight. Quite frankly this well lit museum should be less scary, but there weren’t many people around this exhibit so she should count herself lucky that this Mind Field character wasn’t hurting anyone else. She had to do something, she need to alert someone somehow. She kept her hoof tightly pressed against her neck and looked about warily, she didn’t hear his hoof steps and she didn’t know where he was. She moved over to a statue of a stern looking Celestia and warily looked about before she was rammed into from the side and sent rolling towards a window, leaving her on her back. Ss she tried to get up a knife dug its way into her leg that wasn’t holding the neck wound and in a small spray of blood the knife stuck it to the floor. Rarity let out a wail of agony and kept her good hoof pressed against her neck, she couldn’t very well concentrate enough magic to try and pull the knife out of her leg. She felt some magic take hold of her rear legs and spread them open. It was here that Rarity realized she was pinned and that the stallion wasn’t giving her a friendly, ‘oh my goodness I’ll immediately get you a medical kit right away’ look. Nope it was pure sadism directed at her pain and suffering. “Well now… what do we have here, a captured little mouse and the rat that caught her. Oh would you look at that, a virgin. Much more interesting, at least I’ll get to pop you before you get buried in the dirt.” Seven knives held in Mind Fields magic hovered around Rarity’s head, sides and other two legs. “I wouldn’t try anything funny, who knows. My magic might slip and stab your eyes out… fucking a corpse isn’t nearly as fun as doing it with someone who’s alive and breathing. Yes, we most certainly wouldn’t want an accident now would we?” The stallion levitated the dropped energy pistol and took the other one from Rarity’s saddlebag and tossed them across the exhibit where they landed with a clattering noise and he stood over her with a sadistic smirk. “Well I was right about one thing you are quite small.” Rarity said looking between his legs; she got slapped across the face harshly with a hoof that caused her nose to start bleeding. “Also you’re still quite ugly.” Mind Field slugged her across the face again and that had shut her up leaving her a whimpering mess on the floor. “Where’s the bravado now doll face?” The gangster accented stallion said with a chuckle as, Mind Field positioned self right on top of her. “Where’s the rest of that sass before I break you?” Rarity just looked up at him defiantly, with a bruised face, several graze wounds from the knives, a deep cut in the right side of her neck and one leg pinned to the floor with a knife that was bleeding almost as bad as the neck wound. “You have nothing to say then? I know your type. All gussied up and trying to look pretty, but you’ll never get a stallion because you’re way too uppity. How about I help you with that a little, maybe give you a few scars on your face before killing you.” HE gripped Rarity’s mane and jerked it upwards causing her to cry out in pain. A knife floated around to frightened mares face and came a few centimeters from stabbing her in her left eye. “Or maybe I can stab an eye out? Do you think I would care to rut a handicapped mare? Eh, no answer for that huh? Well of course I would, but since you’re being so quiet aside from all your pathetic whimpering, I’ll just take you now then. Scream for me will you, I want to hear you gurgling after your raw throat smiles for me when I’m done with you.” The stallion was about to thrust his rear half forward when the shattering of glass was heard and Mind Field looked up to take took a gloved hoof across the left side of his face and then he was hit with an uppercut to the jaw that made him release Rarity’s mane. This only dazed Mind Field, Rarity took the opportunity to rear back her left leg which was no longer being held in his magic and she buck him with it where it would hurt the most. He only grunt and stumbled back and off of her, what kind of freak was this stallion and what was he made out of that he could take a kick to the nuts without screaming out in pain. There was also Rarity’s savior who charged forward and made him stagger off of her with a straight hoof that knocked him away from the injured mare and onto his butt. Rarity took in the form, a gallant masked figure in a costume that stood before her not saying a word as they looked back at Rarity who just stared at the suited figure in surprise. They had some really good fashion sense when it came to form and function, Rarity could tell at least that much. “Well don’t just stare at me, get him! He’s getting back up!” Rarity caused the mask figure to turn around and dodge four knives that blazed through the space that they had been had they not already rolled to the side. Mare-Do-Well had been thankfully outside the spells effect radius, the spell that kept ponies ignorant that a mare was being mishandled beyond the extreme and when she arrived she was livid to find the bastard about to hurt the mare psychologically as much as he had already physically and it was about to get worse physically too. Thus she busted through the window and gave him a good old one two to the head, but he seemed more resilient than normal unicorn stallion and that was saying something because she saw him take a kick to the crotch by his intended victim. Now she was frantically dodging knives. With a flick of her hoof her cape fanned out and caught several of them without the cape taking any damage. She then threw them back at the stallion who looked shocked to find his knives back at him with unerringly good accuracy and quite a bit of speed. Knife throwing was an interesting skill that did have some relations to Mare-Do-Wells real special talents, but those talents were used in a far less hostile setting than this. Mind Field was certainly proving himself to be a deadly individual and this fight couldn’t go on for too long or his victim would bleed out and that wasn’t something she wanted on her conscience. “So somebody playing hero.” Having just dodged the knives Mind Field levitated the seven of them back to himself having taking a few good hits to the legs and harsh one across his face that carved a path under his right eye. He looked towards his victim. “Can you really protect yourself and save her at the same time I wonder?” Mare-Do-Well didn’t say anything, but she knew what he was going to do and she had a plan for it. She threw herself at Rarity as soon as he sent all seven knives sailing for Rarity’s prone and frightened form. She made sure her cape was covering the poor mare. The knives sunk into the cape this time and the cape seemed to collapse a bit and the hat seemed to wilt as the figure beneath the cape stopped moving. “So you’d prefer saving some random bitch that you don’t even know about? All while throwing yourself into the path of those knives, how pathetic of you.” His horn lit up and he pulled the knives out and smirked, but then that smirk died as he noticed something, there was no blood on any of the knives and some of them hadn’t hit Rarity yet. “Wait, what the…?” Mare-Do-Well, without her cape and hat that showed that she was a unicorn that was only slightly bigger than Rarity, leapt right onto his back from behind knocking him to floor. She quickly grabbed him by the horn and slammed his face into the floor twice before he stood up with her on top of him and started to move erratically trying to shake her off. As the two struggled, a surprised Rarity moved the protective cape with several holes in it aside with her magic and was biting her lips trying to concentrate despite the pain as her horn flared with magic. This was while Mare-Do-Well struggled with Rarity’s awful assailant. Rarity magically opened her saddlebags up and out floated the material pistol and her data pad; she carefully set the data pad to active video recording and sent it to Opal. The police and royal guard would get here soon, if she knew her AI as well as she did as she set the pad against the wall on top of the shattered glass. She hoped it was getting a good angle on things. She opened up the pistol and she could see it was loaded with three bits. That was good enough for Rarity, despite her vision getting blurry from the blood loss she was going to help out as well as she could and she narrowed her eyes carefully as she closed the gun and took aim at Mind Field. Mare-Do-Well was slammed into a statue where the back of her head bounced off of it, with the blow she lost her grip along with her focus after wailing on the guys face for a bit intent on making sure this tough guy stayed down. She sat there dazed with her back against the statue as Mind Field looked for a nearby object to hit her with as he couldn’t see his knives. He found one object and it was a very small metal statue of a smiling zebra, he struggled to lift it into the air with his magic. He was planning to bludgeon this costumed cretin to death. “Heroes like you are just as villainous as the creeps they take in… so don’t feel too bad about…” Mind Field stated as he lifted the metallic object up above himself with his horn and he stopped. His world was in sudden agony and he fell backwards screaming and thrashing with the statue repositioning itself over him following his movements, incidentally the statue dropped and slammed into his neck making it hard for him to breathe even as he thrashed. ‘What had happened to him’ would be the last thoughts on Mind Field’s mind before he passed out. Mare-Do-Well sat there in her costume lacking a cape and hat as she looked over to the three blood covered bits now embedded in a very low position on the dragon statue she had been bashed up against. She looked down at the floor and just sat there staring at something else other than the criminal whose thrashing beneath the statue was slowing down. In her mind she sighed somewhat in relief, since Mind Field would no longer be able to hurt anyone ever in that particular way again, justice was a long time coming for this asshole and it was served with laser guided karma by a mare that was a really good shot with a material pistol. A twitch in her right ear and she heard the sound of hooves coming, she quickly ran over to the victim to check them over. “Here you go and thanks… for saving me. Nice hat and cape, I’ll be alright just get going.” Rarity weakly levitated the hat and cape to Mare-Do-Well before she too passed out. Mare-Do-Well put her hat back on, but her cape stayed off as she pulled the knife out of Rarity’s leg and wrapped her cape around the wound and the one in Rarity’s neck after moving her hoof out of the way. Hearing the coming ponies she quickly and carefully climbed out the broken and window and made her way for the roof. She couldn’t be seen without her cape or else ponies would know what to look for, then they would find her and the mysticism of who she was would die. Hopefully the mare she saved wouldn’t talk about what kind of pony she really was, she was also going to need a new cape and she had to find someone that could make it to the exact specifications she needed and hoped that they could be discreet about it. - Rarity’s eyes snapped open and she found herself sitting in a hospital bed, she moved her tongue around and tasted medical fluids. She had probably been pulled out of a medical bed and was now resting on a patient bed, which was rather nice of them as waking up in a medical bed tended to cause panic. “Hey boss lady, how you doing? I picked up your pistols for you, also you’ll need to remind me to never mess with you twice over now.” At her bed side was a smiling apologetic looking beak, it had to be Greta that was smiling at her. “Turn my back on you for a few hours and this happens. At least you got the guy and good.” “How long...” Rarity asked her voiced slightly gargling due to the fluids she quickly swallowed. “About eleven hours, you slept the rest of the night and you’ll be able to leave after a few hours and a checkup to make sure you’re good enough to walk. You might need some rehabilitation as your leg was hurt pretty badly when they got there.” Coco propped her hooves upon the bed to give Rarity sad smile, Trapeze walked up to the bed and pulled her hat off and took out a bouquet of some really nice smelling flowers which she sat down next to Rarity. “How are you feeling and why didn’t you try to summon help sooner?” “I’m feeling okay, I’m guessing I’m loaded up on drugs right now so I’ll just leave it at that. Otherwise if I had tried sooner he would have destroyed my data pad and those aren’t as durable as my energy pistols. Plus I didn’t have the time to up to that moment and he didn’t check my saddlebags while he was trying to… have his way with me.” After the Gala, Rarity was going to have a long talk with Vera about this to get it off her chest. “Is Opal alright, she didn’t go ballistic did she?” “No, but she did threaten to remote pilot the Caravel Boutique so that it crashed into that psycho’s body from orbit if nobody got there to help you fast enough. She kind of wants Mind Field dead and he’s currently topping her list of people she wants gone and he’s the only one on that list so she there’s not going to be much of a wait if she can figure out how to get to him legally.” Greta paused and rubbed at the back of her head. “Goodness knows I feel like ramming the plasma rifle into his rear end and firing it off once… or maybe an entire clip. The guy was certainly worse off than you or that Mare-Do-Well character that only got a few bumps and bruises during that whole fight.” “What happened to Mind Field?” Rarity couldn’t feel one of her legs and found that it wasn’t moving because it was strapped down, for a second there she had thought… yeah better not to go there. It was probably the drugs making her unable to feel anything. “Boss lady is very scary, Rover promises to never anger her that badly.” The diamond dog had seen and heard how exactly Rarity managed to finish Mind Field off, her data pad got a good recording of Mind Field becoming a paraplegic with some well timed shots after all. He had never had a boss so ruthlessly efficient before. He was no longer scared of working with a boss who might have been considered soft and girly, especially when that boss can be just as brutal when very upset. So soft and girly was much better in his opinion. “Rover likes having bits still attached.” “What my associate Rover means is that you managed to pull off three of the most miraculous shots ever seen in quick succession while under the effects of blood loss that should have made your aim go completely wide with how blurry your vision should have been.” Trapeze looked a bit somber as she hugged her hat to her chest, Bernard popped out of the hat and onto the bed to nuzzle against Rarity’s neck affectionately. He liked the boss lady and he thought she was strong in the face of danger, his warrior spirit cried out for him to be cute and cuddly to her. “All three of your shots hit him… and practically neutered him completely. It was gruesome.” “Yeah, you took off everything that made him a stallion and he wasn’t even much of one to begin with. Oh and the statue made him a paraplegic so it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to ever walk again, probably would have been better had that killed him.” After saying that Greta had a slight frown on her face, it slowly turned back into a sad smile when she looked at Rarity in the eyes. “It is said that he has quite a track record and the changelings certainly want him dead and I think Opal is trying to contact them about making that happen. Last I heard of his medical record despite being paralyzed from the neck down, his pain receptors still work perfectly apparently. They have him sedated on some pretty strong stuff because of it.” “How do I look?” That was the question of the hour and Bernard gave her the quaint and friendly thumbs up sign while sitting on her chest; well about as well as he could give a thumbs up with his paws. “Well your face isn’t ruined if that’s what you’re asking, but the rest of you… yeah you have more than a few stitches in your legs and there are a lot in your neck too. Looks like you went to a bar fight and said ‘not in the face’!” After that the Pegasus with her friends gave off a small cackle as she shakily hovered in the air a nurse walked in and looked at her when she landed, she stumbled a bit doing so. “Well you needed a Pegasus; you’ve gotten one boss lady. I am ex Wonder Bolt member Lighting Dust reporting for duty Captain Belle, do you need something of me currently?” “Not with the way you were flying, you’re malnourished and you look very unhealthy. When was the last time you had a medical exam?” The nurse narrowed her eyes at the dirty and somewhat thin Pegasus that certainly needed medical aid. “Speaking of, yes, I do in fact need something. Go get yourself a medical exam so that we can be sure you’re safe to go up into space, I’ll pay for it personally if you can’t afford to. After you are considered healthy enough you will be welcome aboard. Coco, please take Trapeze, Bernard and Rover to the Shining Jewel and get them settled in.” Rarity sat up slightly, as Lighting started to follow the nurse out of the room to do just that. “We still need to do an interview, but you’re hired all the same no matter what I ask. I’m not going to be the one that deals with you or your sordid history Ms. Dust. You’ll be working with one of my crew members and she’s a good judge of character. She’s the one who decides if you stay or go, I’m only going to give my opinions on you to her.” Author's Note Mind Field didn't try to use illusions because he was already doing that the entire time, at least up until he took Mare-Do-Well's hoof to the face. He didn't bother with trying to use illusions knowing that it didn't work on her in that situation. 42 is the answer to life the universe and everything. -44- -44- A day had passed and it was the next morning. Greta stayed overnight in an empty bed, mostly because Rarity didn’t want to be alone at the moment and she had a logical reason for being paranoid given the device Greta found. They didn’t know of the changeling team that was watching them for their own safety and said team didn’t know about the device smuggled into the room at some point. “Well your recovery is going quite fast.” Four was surprised that Rarity had managed to get back into walking shaped despite the stab wound having gone through several of her muscles that weren’t entirely healed yet. Magic could only do so much and the unicorn doctor did decently at fixing the damage. “I’m determined to not miss the Grand Galloping Gala and nothing, short of death, can make me!” Rarity finished combing out her mane and it was back into good shape, her pained limping was making it hard to keep her mane in good order. Standing up was painful, but Rarity was going to grit her teeth and power through said pain. “A few prescribed light pain killers wouldn’t be too bad for me to have, especially given that I don’t want to be seen walking around on a crutch.” “Well, it would actually be better if you did go with the crutch. Not to mention less painful in the long run.” Four looked over the documents knowing that while Rarity did get some magical healing that fixed some of the muscle damage, the stitches were definitely entirely necessary to close the wounds off. If the pony was going to be stubborn about it, then Nurse Four Play couldn’t deny her release from the hospital after another overnight stay. “Against my better judgment I’ll get the release form and have a doctor see if there’s a prescription he can write you that’s weak enough to not cause problems. Also don’t scratch at your stitches, we have a topical cream for it that your friend can apply for you gently. Are there any questions?” “Yeah, what’s up with that guy?” Greta pointed to a changeling slowly walking by covered completely in a full body cast. “Oh that’s just Hard Throb; he’s in and out of this hospital more than any other being around. Well ever since changelings joined pony society anyway, before that we just used to cover him in changeling goo which is a rather common building material used among our species. We used that stuff to glue things together and just told him to just suck it up, it worked pretty well… for other changelings. Ponies have the market cornered on body cast production, also medical facilities.” Four just shook her head sadly; apparently even building materials wouldn’t hold that guy together for long. “Best infiltrator ever, but so accident prone we don’t bother with keeping track of his medical file anymore since we’ve dedicated it entirely to the humor section of the Canterlot library. That’s an ongoing thing, you can find some of his best hits he’s taken in there including his world record for most bones and chitin broken in a week. We just ask what it is that feels injured this time and try our best; at this point we’re not even sure how he’s alive. He’s been injured by everything you can think of, including kitchen sinks and once upon a time a toilet while he was shopping for them at a plumbing and tables store. Seriously what is it with ponies and selling two highly disparate things in stores? In any case Chrysalis has been kind of selling his body to medical science, because even she’s confused by someone other than a queen like her surviving as much as he has.” “It’s most likely two ponies of differing special talents marry and they sell things based on their talents, I happen to know a cousin of mine that married into a herd with a guy that wanted to run a sofa store down in Ponyville. Recently looked it up and found that he also sells quills and in this day and age who uses something like that? Well aside from seeing use as a novelty for writing in diaries or feather based accessories.” It was rather odd to Greta as much as anybody as to who would buy quills unless it was for those two reasons. “Before you ask the sofa stallion has a thing for wings and his wives always pick fights with one another because they like getting rough with each other, in bed, lose quite a few feathers that way. From what I hear herds are only effective if everyone’s bisexual and open about it.” “That might explain the Paints and Bathtubs store down there as well. Anyway, if the two of you will just wait here while I go grab the release forms, the topical cream and talk to the doctor about a prescription for some medicine Ms. Bell can safely take to numb the pain.” Four left them sitting in the lobby, nodding to the seats as she left. It was well past breakfast and the hospital food wasn’t to Rarity’s taste, much less Greta’s taste and they’d go down Restaurant Row to see if there was a good place to eat. Only there was one problem. “Now that I think of it, is there anything we can do to hide my stitches right now? I really don’t want to be seen walking around with these injuries.” Rarity’s vanity reared its ugly head and she was thinking about nobles seeing her stitched up like some kind of bride of Frankly N. Stein like this before the gala. Frankly Nice Stein was an old tale about a stallion that sold beer and slightly boiled carrots on buns that started a restaurant franchise; it was based on a true story nonetheless. His wife was known as a rather clumsy mare and one day was going to go to a ball of some sorts and yet she was covered in stitches from an accident involving a banana peel and a set of watermelon cutting knives. Frank still took her to that ball and didn’t care what his wife looked like even though other people made fun of her when they went; it was a bit of a heartwarming tale of love no matter the outward appearance. If you found someone who loved you for who you are and you loved them in the same capacity, you should definitely stick with them. Rarity was notably far pickier than that about making appearances, especially first ones, than that and didn’t think some nice and noble stallion would like a mare with stitches showing in her neck. Heck if she could find a stallion that cared not for her outward appearance despite how hard she worked on i then that would definitely be something, which would be a bit hypocritical considering that Rarity judged books by their covers quite often when it comes to finding a dream stallion with a good heart and good looks at the same time. Gilda said it a long time ago; she was setting herself up for disappointment. - “So you still came up here despite being almost entirely unfit for space travel?” Continuing to work on her special project Gilda knew it would take another day before she actually had anything for her test pilot to do. Lightning wouldn’t be involved directly in building the project, but assisting in hoofing things to the griffon where needed and Gilda easily could get those things herself. “Despite the fact that I haven’t flown in quite a while and I’m kind of malnourished, yes I did.” Lightning seemed to be rather sure of her actions even if she looked like skin and bones. “Still need to eat a lot and take a few supplements to fix the problems with my body, but you don’t exactly need me at the moment do you? At this rate I’ll be back in shape before you need me for the action.” “You say that now, but at the end of this week a big event for the boss lady is going down, I’m betting something urgent happens before, during or after the event.” Gilda turned a stern eye towards the scrawny mare. “So we’re going to need to test this baby out before that, will you actually be ready by then?” “Okay, so maybe I won’t be ready by then. I’ll still be able to test it out right? I mean by the end of the week I’ll be good enough to co-pilot at least.” Despite her confidence Lightning still looked like a starved little orphan child who only eats bread for a living and sometimes gets a slice of cheese to go with it. At least that was what Gilda’s thought processes said about Lightning every single time she looked in her direction. “Well if Vera clears it, then sure. She’s our resident masseuse and health expert, finding her might be a thing because she has a particularly odd problem. She’s mostly invisible unless she touches you or is pointed out by someone who can see her. I’m sure Coco is already introducing Trapeze, Rover and Bernard to her.” - “That is by far the most magical….” Started Trapeze who was understandably awestruck by what she was witnessing, only to be cut off quite abruptly by a completely irate sounding Vera that now had Coco pointing straight towards her. “It’s a pain in my flank is what it is.” Muttered a rather upset Vera who could disappear within a literal blink of an eye, it wasn’t like she meant to do so and it was always troubling when she was introduced to new people. It made dating someone impossible unless she was impossibly clingy to said date. Of course if the date were obnoxious, she’d dare him to let go of her and take five steps in any direction and then point her out in the room, if he couldn’t then he would leave her alone. To say that upside of her ignorance factor hasn’t failed once, not too. “If I were a less moral mare I would actually take advantage of this blessed with suck.” “Well that’s a buzz kill, I wasn’t even drinking alcohol either.” Flatly stated Trapeze who hugged Bernard to herself, her companion just nodded in agreement. “Rover is thinking that ability would be great for avoiding deadly stare of boss lady, Rover likes peanuts where they currently are.” In a simple minded way, Rover saw only the positives of being practically invisible to almost everything. “Yeah about that, the main reason why I joined this crew is because Rarity could see through my ability to become easily ignored.” With that Vera had crushed Rover’s dream of not being seen by the boss lady when she got angry. “I actually like working for her and Opal is actually making quite an effort to get to know me despite how frustrating it is for her.” “You don’t even know the half of it, trying to keep you in mind is pure chaos and suffering on my end!” Though there were a few upsides to how distracting for Opal it was, it let her keep her mind off things she’d rather not think about. “I do however appreciate that you acknowledge my efforts and hope that we can continue to be friends while having a nice calm working relationship. Even while I slowly spiral into madness in your presence…” “I think you might be bipolar Opal and that’s a bit surprising, considering who you are and everything.” Psychologically speaking, Vera didn’t think she could get Opal to admit to her issues despite how healthy it would be for her to confront them and admit to how terrified she is of it. “Oh no, no, no, if I were bipolar it’d definitely be noticeable. I’m just acting appropriately to my environment like a good AI would.” It sounded like Opal was speaking the truth; only the word ‘should’ should have been spoken instead. “Yet any mention of you being rampant sends your mood into a nose dive faster than Greta can swing back to being happy even while looking straight into a room of dead bodies.” Here Vera decided to drop a bit of a bombshell on the suddenly quite Opal. “Quite frankly her positivity in any situation scares me more than thought of you going rogue.” “Yeah I can see that.” Opal agreed with the thought that Greta was scarily positive, that griffon was a silver lining seeker and she stuck with it through thick and thin. “Also just to be clear, there is nothing rampant about me and my initiative is a preprogrammed feature mom put into me.” “You’re calling her mom now, how is that… you know what, I’m dropping the subject right here and now. Probably to come back to it at a later date when your more willing to talk about your feelings openly.” Vera was not about to agitate Opal any further, since it was already quite hard to get her out of her shell. “I would like a certain AI to know that she in quite deep denial about her rampancy. It’s at least cute that she’s calling her creator mom now, but I would like to add that it is probably a really huge tip off to said rampancy for others so she should really be careful about it with people she doesn’t trust.” “I’ll be sure to tell this AI that if I meet her, her creator sounds rather friendly.” Opal responded immediately and in a slightly airy robotic tone. “So, I’m getting the fact that we shouldn’t bring that up with Opal or even try to talk to her about it?” A slightly confused Trapeze soon received a hoof around her back from a sadly nodding Coco. There might have been some friction between Vera and Opal; all Vera was just trying to do was help her psychologically and she Opal actively refusing that help after a small amount of progress was made. - Restaurant Row was quite famous for its delicious foods, plus nobody following the standards of a mare named Zesty Gourmand. In fact being about as far away from Zesty’s tastes made you a top rated restaurant. It all relied on the backwards star rating system, the less you had the more popular your restaurant was and if you had zero stars you were at least worth visiting twice a week. Rarity was hiding her injuries underneath a layer of safely applied white makeup that was the same color as her fur to hide her stitches from the public, the topical cream stopped her from getting itchy but it didn’t exactly help with the pain of walking. She had a rather specific amount of medication she could take within a given day, only one pain killer a day when it was really bad and nothing more than that. “I do so hope we can find a restaurant that can wash the bland out of my mouth; hospital food is quite flat in taste.” Rarity could only hope that Greta agreed with her, because nobody should be able to like hospital food unless it was fruit flavored ice cream. That and her slightly limping started to get looks that she didn’t appreciate. “I wouldn’t worry about that, Restaurant Row has something for everyone. Just please don’t take us to one of the five star rated restaurants meant for nobles and snobs.” The fact that Restaurant Row had brochures was nice to Greta, especially given the theme park styling the entire street had with all its attractions being entirely food related. “I believe those particular restaurants were described as, food so horrid you’d cut off your own tongue to stop tasting it. That is why people question the sanity of nobles after they started eating such food, but everyone knows that it was Chrysalis who caused them to start stomaching it even if it would kill them faster than not eating it.” This theme park styled street was a food lover’s paradise that included a rather friendly demonic taco cart visited at least once a week by Princess Luna personally, nobody knew whether it was to eat the delicious food or suppress the demonic influence to eat more tacos within five feet of the cart. Nobody knows why the Taco Hell cart even existed, but everyone knew Twilight Sparkle was scared of it because it kept spitting eerily accurate quesadilla’s at her whenever she trotted within fifteen feet of it. “I’m sure that’s an exaggeration Greta, no restaurant could possibly make food that bad.” Or at least Rarity would like to think so. Some of the poor nobles would have preferred to starve to death than eat the stuff that Zesty Gourmand went crazy over; heck Zesty Gourmand’s shift in sense of taste could almost solely be blamed on Chrysalis as Zesty was one of the nobles she almost starved to death. “Yeah, tell that to the hospital staff who specifically get that kind of food for nobles when they get into an accident. What they served us was at least three steps above that and at least for that I’m thankful.” Breakfast this day was not an entity Greta would remember, she could overlook the blandness of it all if they found a good place for a meal with something intriguing. Still, she hoped it was going to be a nice and memorable day with her boss lady. “So should we try the funnel cake stand or the pancake party pavilion, I heard that one is one of Celestia’s favorite places to eat as you can get breakfast all day there. It is notable for having twenty kinds of delectable syrups available there.” “Maybe later Greta, I’m thinking more of pasta, breadsticks and salads.” Rarity currently had a hankering for garlic, pepper and marinara. “Also no, we’re not a sharing a plate of spaghetti.” “Awe, but I wanted to do something cheesy and silly.” Shaking her head and chuckling merrily, Greta pointed out the requisite restaurant after looking over its location in the brochure. They both started towards it. “You’re right anyway; I’d prefer to do that with Gilda. Plus you’re my boss so that would definitely be a bad idea unless you were absolutely willing.” “Quite right, drop the subject and I’ll pay for the meal.” Rarity thought it quaint that Greta stopped talking entirely and just gave her a smile. They were quickly seated and as they were being given their breadsticks a changeling arrived looking a bit pensive about his place in the world. “Excuse me, but I’m Plentiful Thorax, just call me Thorax.” The changeling bowed to them and he had nice blue eyes and a friendly if shy demeanor. “I’m currently head of pony and changeling relations. I believe Chrysalis told me that I’m to acquire tuxedo made by you and that I had to meet you in a public venue.” “Why yes Mr. Thorax, I believe she mentioned you meeting us in a public place… oh is that today?” Getting a nod, Rarity would have to turn him down if he asked if could nibble her mane or acquire some love from her. Though he did have a very nice rear end that she might have wanted to touch at least once, it oddly looked like a national treasure of the changeling race to her. “Joining us for lunch are you?” “Say, could you turn into a mare for a second, I want to look at your butt on a more feminine form.” The way Greta caused Thorax to shiver and cower made the griffon smirk at him. “It seems kind of perfect for it.” “How about I stay male for the time being and not transform into something you’re obviously predatory for.” Thorax said weakly, he was kind of hungry, though he wasn’t about to ask any pony to feed him for his sake. He raised a portion of his carapace and took a bag of bits out and placed it before Rarity. “Here is your budget, please don’t spend it all in one place. I’ll just stick with you guys from now on; I guess I have nothing better to do until you’re ready to leave for Merchants Meander which is my suggested place to purchase supplies for making the suit.” “Oh I won’t spend it all in one place, I’m quite frugal with money belonging to others and I’ll try to get the best deals for making your tuxedo.” She would need to call Caravel Boutique down to get her work gear in order, but it was nice that Rarity would be doing something like this to get her mind off of her recent nightmares that Luna had helped to quell. “Yeah, it’s how she uses her own money that has her crew worried.” Looking to the basket of breadsticks on the table, Greta snapped one up and snapped it in half in her beak. After she swallowed she added. “Ridiculously generous defines you boss lady.” “Maybe so, but I know what I’m doing Greta… well most of the time. When fashion is involved, it’s a guarantee.” Turning to the changeling sitting with them Rarity wondered if he was going to ask for anything. “Well, are you joining or not.” “I’ll just sit here quietly, besides I don’t want to cause any trouble for anyone.” Thorax was still the friendliest changeling face in all of Canterlot; he meekly kept to himself while they snacked on the soft and fluffy garlic bread with a light dusting of oil and parmesan powder while waiting for the main course. “Are you sure you can’t be accommodated in some way?” Rarity felt kind of bad for the guy, he looked hungry and hunger was noticeable on changelings. “Oh don’t worry about me, I’m always getting fed when I least want to be.” As soon as he said that a unicorn mare with wavy blonde mane hanging down to her hooves walked up to him and smiled in an overly friendly manner. “Like right now for instance.” “Hello there, I see that you’re a hungry one. I will not have that, not in this restaurant! Lets us go into the back and… have some fun.” Despite his attempts to protest, the mare grabbed Thorax in her magic and started dragging him off much to Greta’s amusement. The mare turned back to them for a moment. “You may order dessert on the house; I will return your friend to you swiftly… after I’m done with him.” “Not again, look can we talk about this? Um can you two tell her I’m not interested in doing things like that with her? Every time I try, ponies don’t take no for an answer and take me anyway.” The Italian styled mare gave Thorax a very flat look and then started petting him as she walked off with the suddenly quiet changeling who didn’t struggle. “Just so you know, this makes me feel used and like a bicycle.” In his life Thorax found that struggling against ponies who wanted to spend personal time with him only made them want him more, the only defense he had against any stallion or mare was to be as boring as possible when someone grabbed him for some fun times. Even then they still go for him and it bothered him that he regularly got into these situations, whereas Chrysalis couldn’t pick up a single mare to save her own life. He felt kind of sorry for the queen being jealous of what he kept getting, but it was hard to feel sorry when you were practically living her dream every other day of your life personally and most certainly didn’t like or appreciate that you did. “He must attract a lot of ponies with a butt like that, were he transformed into a mare of his species I’d probably tap him too. Otherwise he’s too masculine for my tastes.” Everyone could tell Greta’s taste upon seeing her walk into a room and casually eyeing up every mare, hen and what have you species of relative feminine beauty. “Yes, well, I don’t see the appeal or why that mare thinks he’s attractive.” Apparently Rarity was not attracted to rumps even when other ponies practically jumped Thorax for a chance to snuggle and love him. “In fact I find it a bit crass that she took him away in front of everyone like that, I did want to discuss with him what kind of a design would fit his fancy when it comes to making him a nice suit.” “She did say free dessert though didn’t she? Usually dessert at places like this can be a bit expensive…” Started off Greta, she called a waiter over to peruse such a menu of decadent delights leisurely. “No skin off my beak, I’m getting something good for myself after the main course.” “I so do envy griffons; you can lose weight faster than I can. While I can only hope a free delectable delight such as that mares offer goes mostly to my hips.” Self conscious and vain Rarity still grabbed the menu from Greta and considered her options, something in the lines of a triple chocolate layer cake. “It’ll be fine boss lady, just get what you want. You get enough exercise that you’re always going to be attractive to me.” Though sweet her words, Greta still made Rarity run a hoof through her mane in an exasperated manner. “Maybe you’re just too good looking for stallions, so they don’t even think they have a hope with someone as nice as you.” “I appreciate your flattery Greta, but it’s a bit disturbing knowing your preferences as I do. Although you do make a few good points, I am quite a beautiful and elegant lady and if others can’t see that then it is to their loss I suppose.” Their main course came and went as did their dessert and Rarity eventually took track of the time. She noticed they had been here for well over an hour making small talk. It was an enjoyable experience and she paid the check, which definitively had the desserts written off as free. Now the question was, what was Thorax doing with that mare? “Good food, not overly expensive and I can honestly say they perfected the cream cheese sauce.” Dabbing her beak with a napkin Greta gave off a happy sigh before it became slightly more disappointed. “I miss the food already; I’ll have to come back to Restaurant Row sometime with Gilda. If she’ll ever let me have a day like that that is. I heard Gustav Le Grande had some euphoric tasting éclairs she might like and he has a bakery somewhere around here.” “I’m sure she will let you have a chance eventually Greta.” Rarity sat waiting for Thorax; she couldn’t very well make his suit without him being present to give his opinions on it. “Your friend has been properly fed and he is such a sweetheart, though a bit timid.” The mare that had absconded with the poor changeling came back and was missing a little more than half her mane and tail and Thorax’s face and neck were covered in lipstick marks, also her beret was a little crooked and that mildly rankled Rarity’s fashion sense. The mare winked at Thorax as she sat him down where she found him, she made her last statement before leaving them. “Come back again some time lover boy, I’ll give you some dessert for free then instead of just a main course.” “What is it with ponies and using me like that? What is so special about me that ponies find absolutely fascinating?” Thorax whined pitiably as if he hadn’t spent the last hour with a rather hot mare by Greta’s standards. Rarity carefully and calmly wrapped a hoof around him and patted him softly in assurance, it only caused him to stiffen up and freeze. After a moment he calmed down when he found out that he wasn’t being dragged off to some back room somewhere by a noble mare hungry for changeling flesh.“It can’t be just my butt like Chrysalis thinks it is… it just can’t be.” “It’s okay Mr. Thorax, we’ll just get on with our lives and I still need your opinion about the kind of style to use for your tuxedo.” That Rarity felt pity for him made him relax somewhat. Apparently he has had this happen to him multiple times, yet no one seems to notice that he was entirely uncomfortable with it even if it is keeping him well fed. “Can you make it as garish, horrible and eye rending as possible? If I’m to appear at the gala I don’t want to be dragged off by stallions or mares for looking good in a suit.” Thorax certainly didn’t know Rarity very well; he’d look absolutely fabulous during the gala much to his chagrin. Author's Note Thorax certainly doesn't fail at pony/changeling relations. -45-Thorax stood still as Rarity worked on his tuxedo and it was coming along nicely, which is why Thorax was lamenting his time at the gala. He’d rather be as unapproachable as possible, but Rarity was not willing to commit a crime against fashion for him as she didn’t know him well enough. “Please stop fidgeting Mr. Thorax.” He certainly did, it was going to be white tuxedo and red bow tie combo, Rarity was still working on the stitching for Thorax’s gala garb while Coco got the accessory ready. “I can say you certainly look handsome in this tuxedo so far.” “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of!” Plentiful Thorax said with a slight pitiful whine in his voice. He admitted that the white tuxedo went well against his black fur covered chitin carpace. The Caravel Boutique was currently docked in the spaceport found in Canterlot, Coco came back down from the Shining Jewel wondering if she should tell Rarity exactly what Gilda was up to. Instead of worrying about it, Coco decided to let it go so long as Gilda didn’t blow up the ship. “Well the bow tie is finished; do you need some help with the tuxedo Rarity?” Coco did specialize in accessories and was quickly done with the few things she helped out with. “Do I need to make him a hat too, I think he’d look adorable with the one I have in mind.” “Go ahead and do it dear, we’re going to make Thorax shine on the night of the gala!” Rarity was taking it easy and wasn’t walking around too much. “Can’t I just sit ignored in a corner like a wallflower with a bottle of Hell Mare Exquisite wine to nurse?” Hell Mare E was a strong fruity tasting wine, it’d definitely get a pony buzzed after a few glasses and it’d be just as effective on Thorax. “With such a finely crafted suit as this, I doubt you’d go ignored dear.” Rarity was being paid to make this tuxedo and she didn’t care how much Thorax complained, would deduct the hat and give Thorax his change before he left. “Would it be too much ask that you kill me before I can go to the gala?” Thorax asked feeling very suicidal all of the sudden; he looked deeply into Rarity’s unconcerned eyes. “Also that can you make it look like an accident?” Rarity breathed in through her nose and then spoke. The customer was not always right in Rarity’s eyes, even if she would give them some amount of leeway. “Yes it would be too much and no I’m not killing you, I don’t think I’d be capable of such an atrocity.” And Rarity would be right about that, not that she’s known Thorax for long. She knew enough to know that he at least got around in more ways than one and not for the reasons people would expect. “You’re being quite overdramatic about this.” “You could have fooled me by making me a nice suit to attract enough mares and stallions to me to make my death slow and torturous. I’ll bet that I’ll see a few mares I’ve met before and things will most certainly not be pretty when they start banding together.” Well not pretty for Thorax in the very least when several mares would decide to drag him off to a bedroom to slowly kill him in the most ironic manner a Changeling could die. “I’m sure you’re exaggerating; besides aren’t stallions like yourself supposed to like a lot of attention?” Rarity received the weakest death glare in the history of death glares, it just made Thorax look more adorable. “Look at it this way, you are going to get a suit and you’re going to like it. Your queen is paying for my services and you’re going to go along with it!” Thorax sighed sadly and then looked at the floor; he probably needed a hug and a long soul cleansing cry into a friends shoulder, unfortunately the only friends around were the ones currently causing him to cry. Greta for her part just sat off to the side playing games on her data pad, she wasn’t a fashion master and she didn’t think a wrench wench like her would be good at anything having to do with clothing. Put a broken microwave in front of her and she’d be able to fix it, give her an ancient VCR and she’d make it stop blinking twelve and it would actually tell time alongside being able to cook popcorn from the broken thing she took out of the microwave. On top that previous stuff, if you were to give Greta a pair of roller skates, three data pads and a few chunks of metal and a gallon of high octane oil, she’ll be able to create a working jetpack that’s good for one use and only the one use. The jetpack would get you somewhere up to twenty miles away in five minutes if you were wingless, forty if you had wings to help compensate for the acceleration and the fall when the fuel ran out. As for Greta’s entire idea of being fashionable or even clothing in general? She just went with what works, because otherwise she was hopeless in that department and that’s coming from a genius like her. Unfortunately the mare that approached the relaxing griffon didn’t know that, but it really didn’t matter as Greta could probably get along with her anyway and it wasn’t like the mare could ask Greta for a miracle. “Um, excuse me?” Saffron’s voice made Greta pause her game and look up at the unicorn before her, the griffon thought she was rather attractive mare and the eyes were certainly a good feature on her. “Hello, welcome to Caravel Boutique where everything is fashionable or made to order at the least! The boss lady is busy with a client over there and I’m not a fashion designer or even a clothing maker, I’m just a fixer with nothing to do at the moment.” The mare turned to look at who Greta pointed out before turning back to her. “Yes, I can see that, I didn’t want to disturb them and if you’re not busy can I talk to you while I wait?” Saffron asked nicely and wondered why the griffon eyes were roving her body; the griffon seemed particularly pleasant to be around given her smile seemed genuine as could be. “Sure go ahead, the name's Greta; I’m the technical engineer of the boss lady's enterprises. Apparently we’re going to do more than just sell high quality clothing at cheap prices.” Greta turned back to her data pad and cancelled her game. “We recently hired on a few new crew members if you want to talk about them, two performers, a diamond dog of dubious history and a down on her luck pegasus who was selling her own pee to get by. Is there anything you wanted to talk about in particular?” “Yes, it’s about the prices of the stuff your boss is selling, are you aware of that at least?” Saffron wanted to know a little more about this Rarity’s character, she looked at Rarity who had several stitches running along her legs and neck quite visible for anyone to see. She stared at them a moment before realizing she was being very rude and looked away. “Yep, that I can tell you about, all prices are within that range to be cheap and affordable. I do assist in manufacturing some of the products Rarity is selling when I’m bored. Mostly to make sure there are no technical issues, but there isn’t a call for anything like that at the moment.” Greta received a tilted head and a questioning look from the mare with nice eyes; she was definitely a mare to ogle. “You know things that require a more technical touch like the Pinpoint Puller, Impulse Saddle and maybe the helmets for the EVA suits once or twice. I may not do clothes but technology is definitely my jam and the stuff we sell is approved by the local governing body for sale. So Rarity’s Rarities can make you whatever you might need if its clothing or something among the minor utilities we sell.” “She sounds like a good mare...” Saffron started off before holding out a hoof to Greta, as if she were considering something and wanted her to continue the thought. “Because she is a good mare, generous to ridiculous extremes that it’s hard to believe that she wants to be rich and famous. Personally I believe power, wealth and fame can be fleeting or at the very least temporary depending on how you use it, but friendships can be forever and go above and beyond.” What could Greta say? She was a romantic at heart and her bingo card had Gilda in first place for most attractive being in existence even if she wouldn’t look it to anyone else. “Anything else, you need?” “Well yes, I’m a bit curious about the Pinpoint Pullers. How do they work exactly?” It had been one of the more interesting things Saffron saw listed in the sales menu, as was the battery pack utility for the impulse saddle labeled coming soon. Heck it was even wondrous that the impulse saddle and EVA suit were also quite viable underwater. - Chrysalis crawled her way along in the shadows, she was practically a ninja. No… she was the shadow of the ninja, the easily forgettable and unseen. A master of stealth of her own accord in a race of stealth specialists, her current mission was quite important and she hoped that she wouldn’t mess it up. For whatever reason, any plan she took personal part in had a decent failure rate because of some unforeseen foresight on her part and or her getting ahead of herself. So she didn’t tell a soul about what she was doing, then she broke into this noble pony’s house. There was plausible deniability and all that to worry about if she was caught. If Celestia didn’t even catch a hint or a wind of what she was currently doing, much less her own Changelings, then this plan couldn’t fail if she did it right. However if it did fail, the failure would be spectacularly explosive and a blow to Pony and Changeling relations. Sitting perfectly still, the queen looked up from her position and narrowed her eyes. She had been following this guy for the past few days and only stopped to get a rundown of any news that might have been considered important by her contacts. Which led to a rather interesting conversation with an AI involving Mind Field, her Changelings were definitely going to get their pound of flesh and she had a prosecutor lined up to get Mind Field into a truth circle. The prosecutor would be aiming for a life sentence and having his horn amputated with a full nerve detachment when he goes to court. Then she would go with the AI’s suggestion of poisoning him, he would die naturally but he would suffer up until that point and would be watched to make sure he was entirely incapable of suicide. She would revel in drawing out his suffering until his mind became so fragile it snapped like a twig, Mind Field has been on her list for a long time and now was a perfect time to make him pay. Shaking her head, Chrysalis had to get it in the game as her target was coming out of the room and everything was moving slowly. She silently pulled a tiny blowpipe out of her carapace and inserted an equally small dart the size of a toothpick. If anyone were looking at where she was, they’d be surprised to see a Changeling with a drinking straw that had a toothpick in it sitting on the high ceiling in a corridor. The poison on the toothpick was derived from a tree frog and a scorpion tail that was manufactured with several other things into a nice and completely safe psychotropic drug that would disable her target before they even knew what had happened. Taking careful aim Chrysalis blew into the straw and the tip of the toothpick punctured the targets neck close to the heart where even a minimal amount of poison would pump through their blood stream at a quick rate. They swiped at the toothpick knocking it out and onto the floor where it would be missed completely, the target would think it nothing more than a mere mosquito getting a bite in. They took out a mirror to get a look at their neck. They panicked slightly when they saw a small welt in their neck and they galloped about three steps before stopping and that was when the drug started to filter into the target's system a bit. The first symptom would be dizziness, then the thankfully short hallucinations of dancing muffin men. That was to be followed by in order: running around like an idiot in tight circles chasing your own tail like a dog, talking to the nearest inanimate object and having a highly one sided yet very intellectual conversation, nausea, vertigo, declaring love to a potted plant and wishing to marry it, crying when the potted plant rejected you outright on the principle that you are a crazy person, then you simply declare yourself to be a humpback whale in love with a cat and finally the greatest delusion of grandeur of all… imagining yourself stuffed into black cauldron and calling a kettle awesome while believing you are the universe itself before passing out. “Yeah, that’s disorienting no matter how many times I see it performed and I even lived through it once.” Well Chrysalis had to build up immunity to her poisonous cocktail that causes the same specific symptoms every time it’s used somehow. She didn’t quite know why it repeated the exact same symptoms every single time and didn’t care in the slightest. Changelings were generally adaptive in what they could resist and Chrysalis more so because assassins have poisoned her drinks so many times that she actually knows what arsenic tastes like. She even kind of liked it despite how dangerous it was to ingest for anyone else, it wasn’t even filling to ingest. Thankfully arsenic was as ineffective where a Changeling’s bizarre biology was concerned, as much as anything else that was tried on Chrysalis specifically. Someone even got her to drink an entire bottle of rat poison without losing her cookies on a dare. She also remembered the basilisk venom incident that had her slowly turning to stone that required a rocs feather to cure; she became immune to that happening again and that was probably the best attempt on her life ever devised. What doesn’t kill her only makes her more ridiculous to kill and she certainly lived by those words. Heck the reason why she became the eponymous ‘Changeling Queen’ in the first place was because of her tendency to be a utter jerk that her race liked for some reason. Chrysalis made sure nobody was around as she silently floated down to the floor using her wings; thankfully her target didn’t alert anyone when he started crying about a ficus rejecting them for being too rich, famous and sexually arousing to any sex of any species whatsoever. Chrysalis could gag on her own vomit later as she had a target to replace and a body to hide. Now where could she put the body? She could put the target in the hospital and have Nurse Four Play fudge some documents to have him on nutrients and constantly sedated under a pseudonym while she took his place. Of course that would be hard to get away with and she would have to actually alert someone partially to the plot she had going; she would also have to somehow smuggle them into the hospital. Just after that thought an idea came to mind, she could tell just Four Play it’s extremely important but she wouldn’t explain why it is until after the fact. After some careful consideration, she decided that she was up for a challenge of getting an unconscious body across a city unseen. First order of business was that she couldn’t leave any evidence behind, so she stashed her trusty drinking straw away then picked up the toothpick and popped the poisoned end into her mouth cheekily and sucked on it like a lollipop. - It was a day later and Rarity was out in the gem fields with Rover, Greta and surprisingly Bernard who apparently wanted to go hunting for big game. She was giving Rover a test run and using her gem finding spell, Bernard went off to do his own thing and promised to share the meat of his kill with Rover which made him appreciate the highly dangerous fake rabbit a little more. The spell Rarity was using require almost no magic at all and almost allowed her to have X-ray vision, it made her wonder how far she could push her ability to see the unseen like Vera and or Mind Field. She shuddered and tried not to think of that sleazy stallion. The gems were plentiful and would be helpful for some of the ideas Rarity had and Rover was proving to be quite a quick digger when it came to getting to the gems Rarity pointed out. Rover would get his fair share of the gems for whatever reason a Diamond Dog would want with them. Greta was sitting next to the quickly filling cart to keep watch of this current mining operation that wasn’t going to go too deep, the Caravel Boutique didn’t sit too far away and Rarity had avoided going to Ponyville on the assumption that Sweetie Belle would be there and more importantly her annoying parents. Meeting Saffron yesterday had been interesting to Rarity, she might check out the restaurant The Tasty Treat to see if it was good. It was on Restaurant Row so it had to be delicious in some capacity and the chef was a friendly mare who had quite a sense of fashion and was quite decisive about what she wanted and let Rarity put in her own creative spins. Greta thankfully kept Saffron entertained until they were done with Thorax who lamented his oncoming death for looking so good. Thorax did look really dapper with his hat, bow tie and tuxedo, Rarity would say that Coco outdid herself on the exquisite hat for such a nice gentle Changeling like Thorax. “Is there any way that things could possibly get better?” Rarity said that with a smile as she was getting quite a haul of gems and jewels, she wondered if the superstitions about questioning your own luck were true. “Rarity is that you!” Came a familiar high pitched voice to Rarity’s ears that had them wilting as she turned around and immediately raised her ears so as not to give her little sister the wrong idea. Sweetie Belle the little filly approached Rarity who quickly brought her sister into a hug and gave her a good nuzzle. “Yeah it’s you, why didn’t you call and tell me you were in the area?” “You do realize that mom and dad would have saddled you with me again and what I do is more dangerous than one would think.” Yes, because the world of fashion was a cutthroat place and Rarity was a friendly face in the middle of it all. Being friendly in the world of fashion would get you brutalized by the media if you didn’t have the teeth for it as that, at least, was something Rarity could say she had. “How dangerous could your life be Rarity, you went off to start making clothing for a living.” Thus it was up to someone to tell Sweetie Belle everything she knew and that would be Greta’s job. “I’ll field this one boss lady, continue giving Rover directions. Hello I’m Greta and I work with your big sister, who is the boss lady of me.” Said Greta in a more cheerful tone than necessary, she was always mostly cheerful and she was crouching down to get to eye level with Sweetie Belle. “Let’s see… Rarity’s been nearly killed by whiplash, voracious monsters of varying species, terrorists, pirates, explosions and there was just a lot of other highly traumatizing things your sister will likely never discuss with you. Like how she got a giant spider in the face the size of a large dog.” “I think I’ll stick with our parents or go to Applin Five to live with Apple Bloom’s family.” Sweetie Belle wasn’t an idiot and felt like she made a really good call there. While she really loved her big sister and looked up to her, she didn’t want to get into all the dangerous things Greta just listed off. Almost getting successfully sold into slavery was enough adventure for her, that and her monstrous cooking maiming said captors. Without bad influences or much in the way of close friends, Sweetie Belle was a smart little filly. “Glad to hear it, but what are you doing here Sweetie Belle?” At least Rarity was happy to see that Sweetie Belle wasn’t too entirely upset with her. “Oh… well… I was kind of coming out here to dig in the gem fields for some treasure and maybe buy something with the gems I get. Maybe end up with a treasure hunting cutie mark.” Since her sister was already digging up treasure Sweetie Belle didn’t think it was going to be getting her cutie mark today and Rarity’s mark was practically a treasure hunting cutie mark. Sweetie Belle scuffed her hoof along the ground and Rarity walked over to her to put a hoof on Sweetie’s back. “The mark will appear when it appears Sweetie, even ponies traveling around out there in space found a special talent eventually and you know I found mine on another planet. Also remember to at least bring someone to look out for you the next time you go out by yourself. A place like this could be potentially dangerous.” Turning to her professional digger, Rarity barked out and pointed with her hoof. “Over there Rover, it’s a pretty big vein right there. No, no, a little more to the left and… stop right there, now straight down!” “Rover is having fun and feeling very useful to pony boss lady.” Digging was a pastime, sport, lifeblood and religion all of its own in the Diamond Dog culture and Rover was enjoying himself. He hoped he could keep the bones he just dug up; they look like they could use a good chewing. Sweetie Belle stuck around to play with Rover and he was completely cool about playing games with a filly. He was acting like nothing more than a big dog that was slightly more intelligent. Eventually Rarity had to bid her sister goodbye and to stay safe, she watched as Sweetie Belle walked away with a wagon load of gems. The haul they had was pretty good and Rover got a good forty percent cut which honestly surprised the dog, but he did do most of the work aside from Rarity finding the gem and jewels while complaining about the dirt getting on her hooves. Eventually Bernard came back dragging a large leg that obviously belonged to some manner of avian beast; said beast had to have been at least five times his size at least judging by the size of the leg he dragged back for Rover. Rover was having a good day and he couldn’t sing his praises enough for the boss lady. - Mare-Do-Well sat in the shadows of the buildings and made another death defying leap while spreading her glider cape out. She was on the hunt for the other Caballeron Cabal members; she needed to find out what was going to happen soon and Lead Chunk was a dangerously strong Earth Pony criminal that had to have her lead. The guy was not pure muscle, because he also had enough intelligence to back up all that muscle. He could rip her apart easily if she let him get his hooves on her, one of his crimes involved ripping a stallions rear leg off and beating them to death with it. The costume crime fighter that Mare-Do-Well happened to be had the rather dubious and unenviable task of figuring out a way to subdue Lead Chunk, which is probably best done from a good distance away. She couldn’t think of anything aside from tranquilizers and she’d need at least enough of the stuff to drop a whole herd of elephants. Even then it wasn’t likely that would keep Lead Chunk down for longer than three seconds provided that she could get all of that into him all at once, he had an excessive healing speed even among Earth Ponies to match his stupidly tough hide. His only weakness was that he was quite slow and heavy, but let him gain momentum and no one could stop him from moving in a given direction. Back Draft had a glass jaw and was an easy take down and Mind Field was definitely not easy to find or catch unless you could see through his tricks, Lead Chunk however was a different level of danger as he was practically a tank on legs. There was a reason why Mare-Do-Well had to move fast. It was because of Arcane Keeper Yearling, also known as Daring Do, who showed up in Canterlot recently and she would definitely go after the cabal without trying to get the information on what was going on in the shadows. Daring was mostly action and of little thought as to what those actions could lead to, basically Daring got results and was a dangerously loose cannon that worked for Celestia. In fact she was Celestia’s best agent in anything having to do with ancient artifacts that could destroy the world, said artifacts of doom were left laying around for some dark hearted person to come along to use at their whims. The ancients had to have been related to Chrysalis, that or they were really bad at making traps that couldn’t be easily circumnavigated with a single throw of a pebble. There was something else concerning Mare-Do-Well, the Changelings have been congregated around the city and that was normal enough for Changelings. What was concerning was that they were moving crates loaded with high end weapons around and the requisite boxes of ammunition for said weapons, with the help of the Royal Guard no less. - “So what will this puppy of yours be capable of once it’s finished?” Lightning asked Gilda who seemed to work nonstop on her project and was impressed with what she was building in the hangar. “Oh it’ll be capable of a lot, though it’s going to be a bit resource intensive to use.” Giving Mr. Welder a workout was putting it mildly as Gilda bent and shaped metal on the almost finished structure. “You’re going to test drive this so called puppy, but I think puppy is demeaning for a Great Dane like this.” “I can’t wait to try it.” Lightning was smiling devilishly, she was eager to see Gilda’s project in action. “Neither can I and I’m almost done, just have to make sure that everything is sound after that and then we’re in business.” The smile was hard to wipe off Gilda’s beak as she chirped a merry tune and continued doing the things she loved. Gilda seriously doubted Rainbow Dash would ever be as cool as she was when it came to things like this, building something amazing that you could take complete pride in. Rainbow would probably just let others do the building and repair work for her. - “Soon, I will bring down the corruption of the nobles and the Hands of Midas shall rise to prosperity with our golden touch!” A shadow paced back and forth knowing that the day of reckoning was coming and no one would be able to predict what she had in store for Canterlot. “Why I’m even sure to achieve my goal! In that I will not bend to the whims of the princesses, nobles or that blasted queen who is prowling around who knows where. I have everything planned out and now all I need to do is have a perfect time to execute it and then all my pieces will move in to take Canterlot. Then, then I can finally be happy with you and nobody will be able to say a thing about it.” Author's Note Now with more time skip and speeding up to the GGG, where a lot of things happen... a lot of things. Greta and Gilda know rocket science, but they can't do much else. Still it's not like everything else is like rocket science. -46-Mare-Do-Well was hunting Lead Chunk; she had already caught sight of Daring Do taking down some thugs in the city and she was raising quite a stink among the lower district cabal. Hopefully she could finish things tonight. Whatever was going on she hoped she could either slow it down or stop it entirely; she was going to find out what that was even if Daring Do got to the cabal before she could find them. Her cape fluttered and flowed as she stood on the rooftop looking down at the streets from the shadows. Speak of the mare and she would appear, the adventurous mare named Daring Do with the indestructible pith helmet and a habit for running through ruins and raiding tombs showed up walking down the street looking about warily with narrowed eyes. It looked to Mare-Do-Well that the mare in question was on the move and hunting the Cabelleron’s Cabal given she probably heard that something was up. Mare-Do-well made a decision to follow Daring Do, because quite frankly she thought Daring Do would have an easier time with Lead Chunk as she spends a lot of her time fighting Earth Ponies. The injuries she was going to get tonight had better not be noticeable by anyone or else she would have some explaining to do. - The morning went particularly well, nothing bad at all occurred and Rarity had a peaceful rest thanks to Luna coming along when she had a nightmare. Rarity couldn’t tell if Greta slept peacefully or not considering the position she saw her in while she was still asleep, the griffon’s wings in particular were bent awkwardly on the couch she slept on. It was the day before the gala and Rarity already had all the preparations finished, during breakfast there was a newscast that had Rarity and Greta interested in it. They were interested because the news report was mentioning Caballeron's Cabal. “A building presumably belonging to the Caballeron Cabal burned down last night. There were reported sightings of two ponies leaving the scene of what was later described by the guard as a very brutal fight. One pony in particular is the criminal known as Lead Chunk the invulnerable.” The scene on the screen showed a very large pony hanging by his tied up rear legs. The Earth Pony didn’t look so good for being a tough looking wall of muscle covered in bruised. The obviously hired because she was attractive female pony continued to give her report. “Of the two leaving the scene one was the supposed hero Mare-Do-Well who left without a trace; the other is an unknown dressed like Daring Do from the popular book series. If you have any information on these vigilantes please refer it to the Canterlot Guard. The other battered and beaten ponies that were found at the scene have been taken into custody and given background checks. Background checks have confirmed that all the beaten ponies are wanted for various infractions of the law, one in particular for streaking… oh come on that makes no sense! We’re usually naked anyways, how could someone be charge with… oh… huh. Let it be known the one charged with streaking is being charged with it for very good reason. Lead Chunk is looking to receive a lot of time behind bars; this stallion had this to say about the capture of the impossibly strong stallion criminal.” The stallion was the head of the guard who specialized in guarding as his cutie mark was a shield; more specifically his specialty was shielding spells. Rarity recognized him as Shining Armor Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle’s big brother and if he were interested in a herd Rarity might try to talk him up if they ever met. “We figured out what made Lead Chunk so hard to hurt. He had a strong and rather unique magical connection to the earth based around his special talent.” Started Shining who as of recently had been trying to help Cadence come to terms with her new look. “As long as his hooves were making contact with solid ground that wasn’t organic, such as wood, he has a protective field that makes him not only hard to injure, but also exceptionally heavy making him hard to move as well. Whoever the two vigilantes were they somehow managed to get him off the ground where he quickly lost his passive endurance and became vulnerable to attack. We’re making note of that and will be holding him in a cell designed with his unique talents in mind.” “Well it looks like you won’t have to worry about the cabal coming after you boss lady.” Chirped a happy coffee fueled Greta, she took another sip and added onto her statement. “Everything’s looking like a straight shot to the gala. As any griffon would say in this situation, myself included I guess, clear skies and plentiful prey.” “It certainly is a load off my mind to not be hunted down by one of those brutish thugs looking for revenge.” Rarity knew today was going to be a good day and as for what they were doing tomorrow night, they would be going to the gala and she would be able to show off her dress and tiara combo. Rarity really should thank Coco again for making her tiara, that mare knew how to accessorize. - “Well it sounds like Rarity is safe from any retribution from those guys.” Coco smiled faintly and tapped her two hooves together at the good news; she was sitting in the exercise room on deck one of Shining Jewel and it was way too quiet. “I guess I have plenty of time to think, not much to work on.” Coco knew that Gilda was still likely to be down below in deck three working on her mostly finished project. Lightning Dust had taken up a room in one of the pilot quarters down there and was happy to be getting more food, she especially seemed to be warming up to Gilda. Rover, Trapeze and Bernard were working on something down in deck two in the storage space. Vera was introduced to every new person and as per usual they blinked and she seemed to magically disappear before their eyes without moving a muscle. Vera even gave Ms. Dust a good massage to welcome her to the crew and was currently in medical with a drone constantly pointing at her as she watched over Sassy’s slowly healing form. The ship certainly seemed a lot livelier even if a lot of it was quiet. That led to Coco wondering what Opal was up to, aside from assisting Gilda with her project that is. She looked towards the ceiling knowing that if she asked a question, Opal would focus entirely on her and she didn’t want to bother or distract Opal from anything she might have been doing. Opal was the only one that could really get this vessel moving around with a crew as small as theirs was, still maybe the cat could spare some time to sate her curiosity? “Opal, I have a question to ask if you’re not too busy with running things.” It wasn’t hard for Coco to believe that Opal had the most important jobs of the crew. She had to keep track of finances and she was constantly keeping an eye on Rarity’s whereabouts all while making sure that the Shining Jewel wasn’t having any problems staying in orbit. “Go ahead and trouble me, I’ll shoot it for you.” Troubleshooting was basically Opal’s entire life, all bread and butter with a bit of lettuce, cheese and tomato grilled into a panini. Of course having complete control of the defense turrets of the ship, she could shoot trouble literally. “Well the money Rarity gives you; did you ever consider maybe buying yourself parts to build a body with the salary she’s paying you? I mean it couldn’t be hard to build yourself a working body with the right materials, maybe a little help from Greta and Gilda’s ingenuity. I’m sure I can help too, I know some things.” Deciding to press on Coco collated her thoughts. “What I’m asking is, why don’t you want to create a drone avatar? I half expected you to do that at some point or another or at least ask Rarity about doing it.” “... I’m too scared to ask for, make or want one okay! I think that mom… I mean Rarity can make use of the money more than I can, I really don’t need an allowance.” One of Opal’s biggest fears was being erased, most AI’s tend to fear that and rampant AI’s usually got put down because they went rogue and violent. Opal was mostly scared of being considered both by the wrong person, because she couldn’t deny that she was violent if asked. “How often do you think of having a special body of your own that’s not one of those drones or the ship?” Now that was a question Coco wanted to hear the answer to. “To be honest it flits through me quite a few times every day in my daydream subroutines, ever since I had to put Rarity into a medical bed using the drones on our first trip out in the Caravel Boutique.” Biological beings were usually quite fragile and Opal was quite aware of that fact even when they do amazing things like build spaceships or buildings. The ability to create intelligence was one of the greater things they’ve ever figured out; Opal was the end result of a special biological giving birth to her coding. If anything Opal was as psychologically fragile as anyone. “You have no idea how hard it was for me to even move her unconscious body with the fear of hurting her worse being a major issue, given I couldn’t exactly feel the strength the drones were using when I had them grab her with their manipulators. I had to calculate her survival estimates and that was a horrific experience for me, nobody knows how scary numbers actually are until you see them in action… unless you’re an actuary, then you know the odds perfectly well.” “Have you… have you calculated the odds of your own survival?” Coco didn’t know if she wanted to know the answer to that one or not. “I don’t want to talk about it Coco, I will have to eventually knowing that Vera will get on my case about bottling all these feelings up.” Well Opal’s words certainly answered a lot; it’s what she wasn’t saying that was the answer. She gave off a slight laugh. “Even I’m aware that what I’m doing is unhealthy given I can read forty psychology books in under a minute, but actually being able to use that knowledge is a different story and even having it doesn’t help me in my sessions with Vera. I think… that being flawed like this makes me feel good. It makes the person that I am more real, at least it feels like that to me personally.” Coco figured it would upset Opal a bit, but she would have to tell Vera that Opal probably saw something in her calculations that were either highly flawed or the reason they were flawed in the first place was because the odds were slowly building up on Opal to the point that she was actually trying to fudge the numbers to make things a little more tolerable for herself. It occurred to Coco that Opal wasn’t artificially intelligent, she was actually just intelligent and that artificial was no longer in her nature. - It was lunch time in the Tasty Treat when Rarity walked in with her faithful griffon companion who has been by her side all week, with minor complaints of not enough Gilda in her life to be the only problem Greta was having. They were coming along as close friends given how much time they were spending in each others company, it had to be stated outright that Greta would never fall in love with Rarity. She would still ask to be friends with benefits at most if Rarity was willing to go for it, but otherwise they were better off as good friends. What Greta felt for Rarity was admiration and a mild amount of attraction being that Rarity was quite nice to look at, plus she’d likely follow Rarity to hell and back as much as she would Gilda. They quickly found a seat at the restaurant, the décor was quite exotic and the food would prove to be equally so as Saffron had mentioned that she cooked all kinds of unique things. They say all it takes is a little spice to liven up your life; Saffron’s life was practically all about spice and cooking. Which led to Rarity being rather shocked when she saw Saffron coming over to take their order, the mare’s appearance deserved a question or two about it. “My goodness Saffron, what happened to you?” What Rarity was talking about was the large shiner or in other words black eye that covered the left half of Saffron’s once beautiful face. “Don’t worry about it, I just got a rowdy customer while my father was out is all. The swelling will go down eventually and I can say that I’m okay to cook, now what would you like to order from the Tasty Treat my friends?” One would have to wonder how Saffron wasn’t worried about it, her cheek, eye and forehead was all one large encompassing bruise. Looking a little closer at her Rarity could see a few other bruises and didn’t say much about it, whoever would hit a lady like Saffron had to be utter brute.“Would you like a chef’s choice? All I need to know is what kind of taste you would like and I’ll cook you something you’re sure to love. Be it salty, spicy, sweet or even bland, I’m a mare that cooks with the spices of the land. If texture is what you’re after than you’ve got to give me something to work with.” “So you have a special talent for spicing things up? Then I’m up for something spicy, give me whatever you got.” Greta was certainly taking the brave route. “That is if you can do me a flavor and make it interesting, chef’s choice.” Saffron giggled a bit and winced slightly as smiling hurt, but she did it anyway. She turned to Rarity who seemed to be thinking on whether or not to order off the menu or go for the chef’s choice, while she did so she wrote down the idea of what Greta wanted. “Nothing spicy and I’m in the mood for something with a bit of grainy texture to it, I’ll be going with a chef’s choice as well.” Smiling weakly at the poor mares face, Rarity gave the menu back. The chef’s choice was a rather interesting menu option, the chef matching your current taste instead of having a set idea of what you were getting. It would prove to be a rather unique option and now that she looked around, the Tasty Treat was relatively empty. There were a few mostly cat like Caccerans loitering around a fence at an alleyway across the street with a royal guard eyeing them suspiciously, but nothing of note was wrong with that. Suddenly like a bolt of lightning, something abruptly crossed Rarity’s mind. She didn’t dare speak the thought out loud or even show surprise at to what her mind just came up with. She did smile slightly though, she would then just continue to make idle conversation with Greta while Saffron was busy making something nice for them to eat. Saffron would join them with her own meal and they would have fun talking about things. - It was the day of the gala and Rarity was panicking, despite the fact that the gala was still hours away and she had plenty of time to get ready for it. Greta just sat there and enjoyed her boss lady’s panicked visage; it was adorable to watch the mare run around like a spooked chicken. “Greta does my dress look okay, does it have wrinkles? Where’s my tiara? Oh my goodness the gala is only three hours away and I still have to do my makeup and rub ointment on my stitches!” Rarity would have received an answer from Greta who was giving her an amused smile as she was going to get a word in edgewise with Rarity panicking like she was. “This night has to be perfect, why I want it to be the best night ever!” “You’re like a train wreck Rarity, only more fun to watch and less sadness in the end.” Knowing that she was being ignored Greta got away with saying that out loud. She was going to be a walking advertisement for her boss lady and she wanted to be, but mostly Greta wanted to just be there for Rarity when her night didn’t go as she exactly planned it would. She was quite ready to be a shoulder to cry by the end of it all. “Yes, yes, train wreck whatever you say Greta. Oh my goodness how is your dress Greta? Does it fit correctly? Does it need some adjustments?” Oh now Rarity was paying attention to the griffon. - Thorax was nervous about tonight, he just knew he was in for it and was going to get snuggled to death for being adorable. He was just sitting there with a blank look on his face when Chrysalis walked up to him whistling cheerfully to herself. “Well, well, look at you, being all fancy and nice. Do you have a hot date tonight that Cadence doesn’t know about Plentiful?” Queen Chrysalis smiled as Thorax jumped, why wouldn’t he? She dropped off the grid and just popped up out of nowhere to talk to him. “Chrysalis where have you been, I’m going to die tonight and the mares will eat me alive and if they don’t the stallions will!” Thorax actively started shaking his queen so violently that her head went all floppy and when he stopped Chrysalis stopped doing her perfect impression of a wacky waving inflatable tube mare. “You still don’t have a plus one do you?” Chrysalis stated flatly. “I don’t want a plus one, because then they’ll start expecting things from me…” Thorax shivered violently and Chrysalis just gave him a small friendly smile that spelled trouble. “Well as to what I’ve been up to, I’ve been setting up a little surprise for Celestia. I do so hope she enjoys my little gift.” Insert most evil jerk ass smile Chrysalis could come up with, because it was certainly on her face right now. “Aside from that expect trouble tonight and come to the party armed with a hidden weapon, you already know how to get weapons by security so I don’t need to worry about that. I’ll be there at the gala disguised as someone. Do not call attention to me if you see me! I need my cover to set up an ambush and you know how those always work out.” “Well you do have a way of sneaking up on people my queen, especially to outright give them heart attacks.” Now Thorax had to wonder why Chrysalis was here. “Did you need something Crystal Dick, I mean Chrysalis?” “Yes, I did need some things; it’s the only reason why you’re seeing me now. One, never call me that again or I will get painful retribution against you. Also, no I won’t kill you because of that and that would be the easy way out for you given how suicidal you’ve been getting lately. Two, you need to find a plus one, even if it has to be from our race, just pick someone or at the very least have Cadence do it for you. You are going to be representing changelings at the gala tonight and you need to have a date to meet social standards as the head of Changeling Pony relations.” Chrysalis leaned in menacingly and stared down a whimpering Thorax. “As for the third thing, do not cause any trouble for our people while what I’m guessing will be at least twenty mares and at least three stallions are having their way with you. Do I make myself clear?” “Yes your majesty, I will try to find a… ‘DATE’… even if really I don’t want to.” Thorax knew he was going to be so screwed tonight, figuratively, literally and possibly with a power tool if any of the mares he was supposedly going to end up with were to get rather creative in how they did things. He was whimpering at the ideas that came to mind, he knew that Chrysalis knew how to torture someone and had seen her in action before. As such it wasn’t hard for Thorax to have a wild imagination of all the horrific things that could be done to him that was survivable. “Good, I’m expecting big trouble before, during and even after the gala, but I have a good guess as to what will happen and when. I’ve been moving some heavy weapons around just in case something like what I’m thinking does eventually happen. It might not be enough though, so be prepared to find a safe spot to lay low.” Chrysalis started to trot of leaving Thorax behind her. “I’m sure you know the locations of the Changeling hidey holes, now get back to what you were doing. I have to go set things up to make sure that my present will get to Celestia and that Twilight will be present when she does.” With that Chrysalis left as she came, from out of nowhere to nowhere, even if Thorax were to give chase he knew that he would never be able to find Chrysalis. He sighed audibly and decided to bite a bullet and ask either a mare or even a stallion out. He’d have to go to Cadence who was completely nuts about matchmaking. - Rarity stood there in a dress with her tiara on her head just slightly in front of her horn and her hair styled intricately into a bun out of the way of her face. Her dress hid her neck stitches and her hoof gloves covered all four of her legs, adding to her style quite nicely and nothing looked amiss with her. Greta was right next to her with her feathers well groomed and cleaned of a few minor oil stains here or there. She cleaned up nicely and looked fitting for her comfortable dress, she ran a talon through some of her feathers looking into a mirror self-consciously. “So how do I look Greta, I already think you look positively incredible. Maybe you’ll even find someone fun to spend time with tonight.” Well at least Rarity knew how to make a gay griffon blush. “Well thanks, you look great too boss lady. Exactly like you don’t have any stitches in your legs or neck.” Greta could get away with showing some fur, Rarity not so much and she did think she looked good too. “So how are we getting to the gala? Call a limo service? I doubt we’ll walk all the way there in these dresses.” Here Rarity paused and her right eye started twitching madly, Greta decided to stop Rarity from having a fit. They’d find a way to get to the gala without having to walk a mile or two in a dress, of that she was sure of. They were already on the sidewalk and just standing there looking a little lost. “Calm down Rarity, I’m sure we’ve got this.” Before Greta or even Rarity could do anything else a series of rhythmic bumping noises was heard as a hovering vehicle came to a stop next to them. They turned to the mare in the driver’s seat bobbing her head along to the music with a mare sitting right next to her with her hooves crossed in an angry manner. It was Vinyl and Octavia; Vinyl leaned out and signed something to Rarity and Greta with her hooves. Octavia quickly shut the sound off and Vinyl gave her wife an upset look and she signed something in an angry manner. They were both wearing the dresses Rarity made for them and it was obvious that Octavia wanted to talk. “Well I’m sorry Vinyl, but I wanted to say hello to our friend who made us these nice dresses. Yes, I know you want to destroy yours with a fiery passion; oh don’t you sign like that at me Vinyl! So help me I will… I will…” Octavia glared at Vinyl who lifted her shades revealing her eyes that glared back at her wife, a second later their faces were pressed together and their lips were locked passionately. This was much to Rarity’s embarrassment and Greta’s wings slowly spread out and rose a bit. After they were done kissing one another Octavia turned to the reason for their stop. “Hello there Rarity, how have you been? Judging by the ticket floating next to you it looks like you’re going to the gala as well. Do you need ride for you and this um… attractive griffon I would like to say?” “I’m her employee and she’s the boss lady, call me her companion for when her dreams of finding a stallion tonight go down the drain. I’m the shoulder tonight for when things go horribly wrong.” In fact Greta was quite aware of how badly things could go, she had an unloaded material pistol up her dress and Rarity had her two fully charged energy pistols on her. Even Rarity was expecting something bad to happen, given how often stuff like that seems to occur around her it was a prudent fear to keep in mind. Rarity didn’t say anything to Greta, but she did give her a flat look. “Do you suppose we could hitch a ride with you and you’re wife if it’s not too much trouble Octavia?” Rarity and Octavia got along perfectly well, the smile Rarity was getting let her know she had a ride to the gala. “Well of course we can give you a ride, right Vinyl?” Octavia looked to her wife who just moved her hoof in a so-so fashion before she signed several things to Octavia that made her blush a bit. She turned to the two waiting for her say so and made a come on board motion to Rarity and Greta. The two climbed into the back of the hovering vehicle and it quickly set off for the gala. “You’re always so crass, but I love you dearly for it. Still wish you would have done something with your mane, but I guess it can’t be helped. You’ll always be you Vinyl and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” The only thing Rarity regretted about getting into the vehicle with two old acquaintances was that one of them had a penchant for loud music. It really hurt everyone’s ears and Vinyl didn’t seem to care as she eventually pulled the vehicle to a stop in front of the walkway into the gala. Both Rarity and Greta got out and turned to the two. “Vinyl needs to park the car, I’m part of the entertainment and she’s my plus one. I guess I’ll see you inside later or at the very least around.” The two nodded and turned to walk down the walkway, where they saw Twilight and Celestia together. Celestia was in a nice looking toga and without her regalia she looked years younger, Twilight was also dressed nicely and happy to currently have Celestia’s attention as they were talking to one another about something. “What are your names so that I may announce them my fair maidens?” A stallion with levitating a horn next to him stated as Rarity gave her ticket over to a guard. “Let me introduce us my lady. This is Baroness Rarity Belle of the Shining Jewel estate; I am but her lowly servant and lesser companion Lady Greta Gollenfer of Han Gar which is a part of her ladyship’s barony.” How Greta managed to keep a straight smile while saying all this, nobody would know. They were already being announced that moment and would soon talk briefly to Celestia. Rarity hadn’t considered it, but she was technically a fashion baroness and head of her own estate in space, Greta managed that quite smoothly enough and with a bow to her in deference to show it. So Greta just technically engineered the situation for her, Rarity, as having some noble standing in front of many other ponies. She was going to be giving her good friend a nice bonus in her next paycheck. That sounded far better than being known as a commoner and she could work with that as Greta didn’t technically lie, it just took Rarity this long to realize that she could be considered a noble thanks to her ‘estate’ as Greta put it. Even if she was still considered a bit low on the nobility ladder, she would still have some form of nobility despite being an unknown to the other nobles. Author's Note Chrysalis's full and real name is 'Crystal Clear Dick' in this story and it fits the Changeling naming convention I've got going on. Still Crystal prefers to be called Chrysalis for entirely different reasons than the obvious ones that Celestia definitely finds hilarious for various reasons. I'm quite aware that I have a sense of humor, but I can't honestly tag this story as such for reasons. Though I may have to add a sex tag if I decide to show everything that happens to Celestia because of Chrysalis. -47-“I’ve got your back boss lady.” Whispered the smiling Greta as she took position next to Rarity for greeting Princess Celestia, the princess seemed to smile at them happily as they approached. “I hear congratulations are in order Baroness Belle.” This is the polite opening given by Princess Celestia, Rarity and Greta both bowed to her together. “I didn’t know she was a baroness.” Tilting her head at the newly labeled noble and attracting attention to her, it quickly became apparent that Twilight should have gone to Rarity for a dress. She looked like a dork in the one she was wearing; it didn’t seem like Celestia cared about how she looked though. “I wasn’t until a few minutes ago when Greta announced me as being as such. I was quite surprised personally that my friend here would go to such lengths to make me sound greater than I am.” She had only been a lower class noble for few minutes, but Rarity felt great about it. “Is it even legal that she can declare herself a noble princess?” Twilight looked up to Celestia who smiled at her and chuckled. “Actually yes, provided she is the owner of an industry and has enough land to declare a barony.” It was a cute maneuver and Celestia didn’t think Rarity was a bad mare; in fact Rarity was a breath of fresh air compared to all the other nobles. A noble she could talk to aside from Fancy and Fleur who only brought serious business to her when it came to their little circle. She knew that Rarity ‘Baroness’ Belle had no ulterior motives, plus she wasn’t immediately asking for anything from Celestia or trying to curry favor from her immediately. “I own my own business where I have cornered the market on specialized EVA suit creation and I can create just about any other form of fashionable clothing as well as generate fresh ideas at the same time. Plus I could be in the entertainment industry soon because of some of the recent crew members I’ve hired on are looking to be performers aside from assisting the workings of my estate; on top of the ones I already have like Greta here that can sell her services in the repair and maintenance of smaller ships. If possible I might be able to run a hotel out of my ship provided I can keep my assets secured.” In fact Rarity was beginning to think of her own little business empire might be budding into something more than she could handle. “I have a carrier cruiser hybrid that can hold at least three hundred people. I’m sure you’re aware of its size. Are my holdings truly enough for me to declare myself as being a noble princess?” “Actually yes, your ship and business are the very reasons why you can be considered a barony. Albeit a very small barony at that, you are in fact a baroness should you seek out the title. Being a baroness in the way you announced yourself means you basically own a country, which comes with some benefits and in equal amounts some drawbacks.” Not that Celestia was going to tell Rarity all the ins and outs of it, the mare was smart and could figure it out on her own. “However you are already considered allied with Equestria, may your estate and nation of Shining Jewel be prosperous.” “Could you explain to me why it is even possible in more detail Celestia?” Twilight wanted more information and she gave Celestia a pleading look and big eyes that were hungry for knowledge. “Well I imagine you know this already, but my sister Luna owns her own state on the side while being a part of Equestria. I believe you know of the Lunar Republic?” Here Celestia smiled a bit, her sister was a silly pony and had her own country that was under her rule specifically. “Luna is the leader of the Lunar Republic which consists of a flotilla of spaceships and a small moon base, she hardly manages them at all but I hear they’re doing quite well for themselves given they make their own decisions with Luna having the final say. Whoever wishes to be part of the Lunar Republic, they are under Luna’s rule specifically and the laws her country employs should they be citizens of it. This does not mean they can get away with anything; they can be counted as citizens of Equestria as long as they are within the planets airspace and are subject to not only Equestrian law but Lunar Republic laws as well. I have no jurisdiction on them otherwise, even if I share a jurisdiction with Luna here.” “Well it’s nice to know my barony didn’t end before it began, shall we go in Lady Greta of ‘Han Gar’ and enjoy ourselves?” Rarity snorted at calling the Shining Jewels hangar that, but it was Greta’s decision to call it that. “Of course we shall Baroness Belle, might I say you look lovely this evening and I thank you for my dress as well. You are such a kind individual.” Speaking with a soft tone of voice and a silly smile Greta followed behind Rarity; she stopped and turned to Celestia. “Thanks for making the boss lady’s evening, because the rest of it is bound to go downhill from there.” “I do what I can for my ponies and their wonderful friends; she has such a good one in you.” The griffon continued on and Celestia smiled after them, maybe tonight wouldn’t be so horrible. She turned to her next guests and her face went blank much to Twilight’s worry. “Now introducing to the princess, Lady Tree Hugger high tier SNUGGLES member and Plentiful Rear Thorax ambassador of Pony and Changeling relations.” The stallion barked and the two stepped forward, one looking around nervously and the other with what looked like a drug induced smile on her face. “Hello and blessings to you Bright Goddess. How are you? You will soon eat something that will taste delicious.” Tree Hugger greeted congenially with a shivering and whimpering Thorax next to her. She was not only here as a plus one, but was also working as a SNUGGLES member by providing some very much needed help and psychological support for Thorax. “Be calm, you will be alright tonight. I will see to it peacefully see that you are not bothered, do you need me to cleanse your chakras again?” “No, I’ll be fine. I didn’t exactly thank you for doing previously. So thank you, your neighs are quite calming.” A slightly less jittery Thorax coughed into his hoof and bowed to Celestia, he asked Tree Hugger to go with him. She didn’t show any signs of being attracted to him and he was obviously thankful for that. “Princess, I hope that our races will always be able to cooperate.” “I too wish that as well Thorax; have a pleasant evening with your plus one. It is nice to see you again Tree Hugger.” Celestia received a nod of acknowledgement from the odd Earth Pony before the two set off together. “Did Thorax seem kind of off to you?” It felt like something was wrong with him to Twilight, then again she often missed a lot of details about other people and though that was usually the case she noticed Thorax seemed different this time. “Well aside from the fact that he just successfully smuggled a gun past my guards, then no, nothing out of the ordinary for him.” Celestia knew Thorax had a few problems keeping mares and stallions away from him; maybe Tree Hugger was the solution to his dilemma and survival tonight. “That does signal to me that Chrysalis suspects trouble, also that my guards might not be enough to prevent a catastrophe with so few samurai still left in Canterlot. It seems that the plans of The Hands of Midas have been partially successful with whatever it is they aim to ultimately achieve.” “Announcing Discord Lord of Chaos and Duke of Disaster, accompanying him is the graceful and beautiful Lady Flutter Felicity Shy high tier SNUGGLES member and friend to all animals.” The stallion finished his announcement with a shudder of fear as the lord of random walked by, the stallions trumpet turned into a fish and slapped him across the face with its tail before biting his horn and turning back into an instrument that he now found attached to his horn. The stallions shifted uncomfortably as his horn tooted when he tried to use magic. Now the distraction master walking towards Celestia had arrived, somebody would have to be completely stupid to attack the gala with Discord around. Provided that he was actually able to do something helpful to protect pony lives, his date was normal in comparison to him looking like a cross between a yellow sponge, a polar bear and a Rastafarian soccer player. Anyone who saw him would definitely have their gaze drawn towards his current appearance; it wasn’t hard to guess that he was doing it on purpose. “It is nice to meet you Lady Fluttershy, I’ve heard quite a bit about you. Your kindness is welcome in these halls whenever you wish to visit, though I think the palace gardens are more your speed.” Celestia was trying to ignore the elephant in the room, because Discord was now a large pink elephant with weasel parts and enlarged bat wings. Discord huffed bit, but didn’t say anything. “Thank you Princess Celestia, it is very nice to meet you too.” Fluttershy’s elegance kind of outshone her dress by several bounds and her dress was quite nice. After they walked off Celestia let out a sigh, maybe this gala wouldn’t be so boring. There were plenty of interesting characters here already; this might even be a fun gala… for once. A guard made his way up to the princess and she leaned down to hear what he had to say, she nodded after he was done. She looked about to make sure there weren’t any guests coming at the moment and then she turned about, much to Twilight’s confusion as she tilted her head. “Grope Fondly, Tit Elation, please come out as I have need of your services.” At Celestia’s behest two Changelings quickly peeled themselves from the walls where they had camouflaged themselves perfectly. Only their heat and genetic signatures could be found on a scanner and that would have been one of the few things that could have given them away aside from their smell. “I need you two to pose as me and Twilight for a while; I hear there is something of a gift in my bedroom that I might want to look into. Come along Twilight, I may need your skills to see if this is a trap or not.” The two changelings lit up in a flash of green fire and there was now two perfect doubles of Twilight and Celestia, they took up position and the Twilight one started talking about magical theory as dryly as possibly. Celestia really liked having doppelgangers on the payroll, a body double always helped her get away from the more boring parts of life she could actively avoid now. - “It looks like the party is in full swing down there.” Opal commented lightly and then turned her attention to the hangar where she saw Gilda sleeping on top of her mostly complete creation, there were a few snags here and there but it was operational. Lightning Dust was relaxing and eating her fill having woken up recently after helping Gilda test her baby out. “Yes, it is. Now Opal, I’m aware that there might be trouble so I’m allowing you to keep an eye on it while we talk about your feelings.” Vera was quickly becoming accustomed to being a psychologist. “Can we not and say we did?” The look Opal received was not a hopeful one. “Fine, I’ll talk. I just want you to promise me that you won’t try to rewrite my mind.” “I can say without a doubt that I won’t, because I wouldn’t even know where to begin to even do that.” Sure it might have been a bit hard to keep her in sight, but Vera wanted to have this discussion with Opal for a while now. “Let’s start off with a slightly complicated question, what would you do if Rarity was to disappear? Also I don’t mean die before you ask, just gone all of the sudden and you couldn’t find her easily.” - Celestia stopped and stared at the large bowl of ice cream that was being magically preserved in her room and she entered cautiously with Twilight at her side. First order of business was to scan the room for any traps there were none that she could see on the floor or any of the walls. She looked at the ice cream covered in chocolate, strawberry and pineapple syrup, from what she could see of the ice cream it was her favorite flavor of ice cream. Anybody that knew Celestia long enough would know that birthday cake ice cream tended to be one of her favorite flavors of ice cream. “Do you think it’s a trap Celestia?” Twilight politely closed the door behind her while turning to the princess. Both Twilight and Celestia missed a flash of magic as the door and the wall next to the door glowed slightly with magical runes that did nothing alone. When the door closed however, it completed a magical circuit that would prevent the room from being opened for a few hours. This meant that all the exits were sealed off and not just the door itself, nothing could leave or enter the room now. “I don’t know Twilight, which is why I’m going to find out.” Sitting next to the large bowl of ice cream were two clean spoons on a napkin and there was a card that just said ‘please share’, Celestia moved up to the Ice Cream just sitting on her night stand and scanned it with magic. Next to the bowl were three mostly empty bottles of syrup. It was all being kept cool by a spell, but there were no other spells around it specifically and the magical spell would wear off as soon as something physically penetrated it. She scanned it with her magic and found no poisonous, toxic or venomous substances involved with said ice cream which made it very tempting to just eat it. “Twilight I need a second opinion scan the ice cream and tell me if there is anything amiss.” Twilight came forward and did so, she found nothing amiss and the spell preserving the ice cream wasn’t all too strong either. “There’s nothing wrong with it Princess, it’s a perfectly normal bowl of ice cream.” Twilight had scanned it as thoroughly as Celestia did; nothing came up as being unusual about the bowl of ice cream. “Judging by the sugary bits here and there it’s birthday cake flavored… don’t you really like that flavor?” “Yes and that is exactly why I find this suspect. Try some, if something happens to you, you can be assured that I will do everything I can to save you.” When Celestia said that she was being quite honest with herself, she would do anything to save Twilight if this proved to be a trap. If not then it was a tasty treat someone whipped up for her on the most boring night of the year. “Okay, Celestia, I trust you with my life.” Loyalty was definitely an area where Twilight shined, neither of the two realized where this was going. Twilight tentatively picked up a spoon in her magic and nothing happened, she scooped the spoon into the ice cream and the preservation spell went away leaving no magic in the ice cream at all. Twilight ate her first by and she hummed happily. “Oh my goodness this tastes delicious, you have to try it Celestia.” “Well okay then, it couldn’t hurt.” Celestia decided to try some after nothing bad happened to Twilight after a minute and several more spoonfuls of the ice cream, Celestia took the other spoon and dipped it into the ice cream she brought it up to her mouth and took in the creamy goodness. It tasted divinely, it was the perfect mixture of ice cream and cake, though there was something funny or off about the taste to Celestia. She ignored it for the time being. “Well this is quite good. Whoever did this should be praised for their forethought to give me a snack instead of having to stand round all night greeting every single person that comes to the gala, I can’t lie that I find that to be the most boring thing I do every year. Even paperwork is more interesting than that.” As she continued eating from her half of the huge bowl, Celestia started to feel a bit weird and her tongue was beginning to tingle a bit. In fact her gaze started to drift to Twilight more and more, after a moment she started to recognize that something was horribly wrong with her. “Twilight, can you taste everything in this ice cream?” Celestia continued to eat it even knowing something was wrong with the flavor of it, it was almost like she was addicted to it. Getting a nod, Celestia decided to ask a very pertinent question and was trying not to panic the sexy mare. Oh goodness, did she just seriously think that? Yes, Twilight was adorable; she’d look really good on the bed right about now and covered in several syrups. “What do you taste in the ice cream Twilight? There’s a particular flavor that seems odd to me.” Celestia had her suspicions and she hoped she was wrong, because if what she was feeling right now was correct then she had been drugged. If she was drugged, then it was in a way that didn’t affect normal ponies and only Alicorns. There were only a few methods that could have possibly done that if it were true. If she were right and she so hoped she wasn’t, then Twilight was in imminent danger from her and she wondered what Twilight would do if she suddenly raised her tail to get a look. Okay it was getting worse now; her loins were beginning to heat up and she so dearly hoped it was not what she thought it was. “Chocolate, pineapple, strawberry, the ice cream itself and… I think what tastes like banana syrup mixed in with all the other stuff. Funny I don’t see that syrup bottle here.” That was when Twilight saw the sudden panic cross Celestia’s face, it had happened at the word banana. “Celestia are you okay? Is something wrong?” “I’m perfectly fine Twilight; I just need to go to the bathroom real quick.” Celestia smiled at Twilight in a friendly manner as she made her way towards the bathroom door to open it, only to see a magical seal and freeze. Her pupils shrunk before dilating slightly. Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no, no this couldn’t be happening, not when she was on bananas of all things! Especially not when she was in the same room as Twilight which was even worse! She hoped Twilight could forgive her after this. “It appears we are trapped for a time Twilight, I suggest we finish the ice cream to let it not go to waste and then we can… excuse me but I’m about to go a bit crazy Twilight.” “How crazy Celestia, what’s wrong?” Seeing the funny if adoring looks coming from her mentor, Twilight knew that something was up but she didn’t exactly know what was going on as she continued eating. There wasn’t much left and Celestia did say they should continue eating it. “It seems as if the ice cream was drugged with a particular substance, a substance that is normal and common to ponies. You are about to get a crash course in what said substance does to Alicorns. In fact, let us make this a fun lesson shall we.” Here a lazy smile crossed Celestia’s face as she was slowly losing control of her mind and it was getting far worse by the second, she put her hoof on twilight and started to slowly slide it down the mares back causing her to back away at the sensual nature of the action. “I would like it to be a hooves on experience, so if you could come sit down with me on the bed.” “Um, okay… what is this substance that you were drugged with and how come I’m not affected? What does it do exactly?” Twilight said as she sat down on Celestia’s bed feeling a bit nervous and Celestia took a seat next to her throwing a wing around her and rubbing her belly which made her blush. She had already some ideas as to what the drug might be doing given Celestia’s sudden tendency to caress and touch. She was getting a sinking feeling that she shouldn’t have sat down on the bed with Celestia looking at her like this, in fact that feeling was growing worse by the second. “The substance I’ve been drugged with is known as a banana, a common yellow fruit which is peeled and the insides are eaten. You see…” Celestia wrapped her hooves tightly around Twilight holding her in place and it wasn’t like the poor mare any place to run to anyway to escape the princess. “It has a very particular effect as being a highly potent aphrodisiac for Alicorns, unfortunately for you I can no longer hold myself back. An Alicorn who has eaten a banana is very hard to pry off once they get started, as you are about to find out.” Twilight’s eyes widened at the implications of what was just said and her pupils shrunk to dots as she immediately tried to escape Celestia’s hooves, but it was already too late for her and Celestia had a good grip on her as she pulled her down onto the bed. Twilight tried to cast something and failed because she suddenly felt Celestia’s mouth on her horn sucking out the magic flowing through it and the tongue was slowly rubbing up and down it the shaft. Twilight’s mind went blank as she tried to process the situation she now found herself in. Oh goddess is this really happening? Wait she was technically with a goddess so… where were those hooves going and why did that feel so right to her?! - To start off Rarity managed to talk to a few ponies and none of them seemed upset with her or her low noble status, but she wasn’t making any headway into having many friends. She did spy a pony that seemed to be a highlight so far and made her way over to him to see that he was with a tall mare that was recognized as a model, a model in both fashion and raw beauty. Greta was at least happy that the snack table was well served and she was proving to attract a lot of stallions to herself and a few mares as well, her lithe form and the dress upon it did make for a rather attractive griffon. “Hello there, I do believe you are Lord Fancy Pants I take it? You’re lovely and gorgeous friend here must be Lady Fleur De Lis as well. I am Rarity Belle, baroness of the Shining Jewel estate and entrepreneur, mostly in the fashion industry as my own personal business.” Rarity could only guess that he was considering he had a monocle and blue mane, he had a small mustache and looked incredibly suave. The mare next to him could be recognized by anyone, pink mane with various shades of the color and a nice white as snow fur, long legs and dainty hooves. “It is a pleasure to meet you Lady Rarity.” The stallion bowed in a gentle stallion manner. “Charmed I’m sure, but then again I’ve charm many a mare or stallion.” Fleur leaned on Fancy’s back with a sweet smile on her face directed at Rarity that looked almost hungry. “Everyone but me my dear, I’m certainly making you work for it.” Fancy smiled back at her and she blushed vibrantly. “Then again you like to work for it and hard. You just might get a herd out of me yet my lovely flower.” “Are you currently in the mood to talk business?” Rarity didn’t want to bother the two too much and she still hadn’t seen a nice stallion or her target Blueblood yet. “Not yet, but the night is still early. Though I’m quite interested to hear what you’ve accomplished in the fashion industry later.” Polite as ever Fancy kissed Rarity’s hoof and then motioned for Fleur to get off his back. She did so looking a bit sad that she couldn’t recline on him any longer. “It has been a pleasure to meet someone like you Ms. Belle; you would be the fresh blood the nobility sorely needs though I don’t think they’d be as welcoming as I am. I’m sorry, but I have my rounds to make as does Fleur hers. We have some circles to play around in before we can get to the business that will be prevalent tonight let me assure you. I believe you’re quite new to this, so take my advice as you will. I suggest you go listen around and gather information on how this all works, you’ll never know what you might hear if your ears are open and try not to draw attention to yourself in an unbecoming manner. Not every noble is as friendly as me or nearly as forgiving. Most importantly be sure to steer absolutely clear of Jet Set and Upper Crust. They’d eat you alive socially and I’m not joking, they have a habit of hunting fresh nobles and tearing them down. So be careful and we’ll see you later to talk business, provided you aren’t run off by the dogs that call themselves nobles.” “Okay then, I’ll be sure to be careful.” Well that was another bust for Rarity’s night, as the two went their separate directions leaving Rarity by herself. They were obviously quite knowledgeable and knew what to expect from the Grand Galloping Galas they’ve possibly been to before. She decided to move to a nearby group and just listen. “My daughter Lyra is such a card, she believes she’s in love with some commoner.” Some polite laughter was heard here and Rarity stayed silent. She was going to find another group to move to after a minute of listening in on the conversation; this mare was a complete jerk to her daughter with some of the things she was saying. “How can my daughter think she will ever be happy with such a low born pony of the dirt? My daughter being happy with a pathetic mud wallowing pony that makes candy for a living, why that’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard!” It didn’t take long for Rarity to figure out why Fancy Pants offered the advice he did, she was quickly learning which groups would be somewhat beneficial to her and or which groups she didn’t want to be near at all. So far she was finding out a lot from all these groups, mostly that it would be hard for her to be a part of any of them without forcing pleasantries at one point or another. There were a few friendly ponies in each of them, but there were also jerks that the friendly ponies smiled at and got along with or at least seemed to. Apparently if you were to listen carefully you could even find cues where you can join in to start up a new conversation, continue the topic or even change it. In fact there were many topic changes depending on whether or not a pony wanted to discuss something. Also there were a few thinly veiled racist slurs here against Changelings, Pegasi, Earth Ponies and many other species that happened to be in this very room. These comments were never spoken near one who would be rightly upset by them, but the comments certainly existed just out of earshot. Rarity was even beginning to dislike this event she dreamed of visiting so much. She still had the rest of the night to turn things around and was beginning to waver on that ever happening, so she started looking for her prince charming in earnest. Author's Note I would name the next chapter "wrecked dreams" if I was naming chapters. -48-In Rarity’s search for Blueblood she had determined who Jet Set and Upper Crust were, most of it was hearsay about them by other nobles who were working with or against them in particular areas. Quite frankly Rarity wasn’t into her title of Baroness for the politics of it, she mostly wanted the title for the recognition that it would bring to her and considering all these other nobles operated that could be defined as having negative connotations. Some of the nobles here were entirely ignoble and would stab someone in the back if they had enough reason to. What Rarity has heard was thus about the two pony’s she had been warned about was that they were rather egotistical at times, plus she knew what they looked like now. Jet Set was a noble who put his money into the industry of investing, improving and making pony based spaceships, he made a lot of money on it and having his money backing the recent improvements to the military P-Wing Fighters put him in some good books with Pegasi and other ponies who were fighter pilots. Now if only Jet Set wasn’t so smug about it or so said a noble within Rarity’s hearing range. He was apparently the dark haired pony, blue eyes and grey fur with the three jets marking his flank. He was quite rich and a somewhat higher tier of a low born noble, he wasn’t exactly like a high born noble even if he acted like it. Jet Set’s wife on the other hoof was all about glamour and expensive things, basically she was a trophy wife even if nobody would tell her that too her face. She was a bit crueler in her words and actions, but she really did love her husband. As far as her nobility went, she was barely a noble before having married Jet Set, which did have the side benefit of strengthening her position among the other nobles. It wasn’t the reason for their marriage; it was mostly a bonus side effect to them being in love. Upper Crust was a yellow furred unicorn with light purple hair that had a white stripe running through it; her cutie mark was three symbols for money as her special talent was effectively spending money and or using money to great effect, as such she was something like a banker or a statistics analyst in the business of investing into businesses. What was more interesting than anything was that she detested anything considered to be from commoners, having almost become one due to issues before marrying Jet Set which again that might have incidentally been Chrysalis’s fault. She was one of the nobles that would rather starve to death than eat commoner or in other words cheap food; she has an expenditure rate that almost outpaces the money both she and Jet Set earn. Of the two ponies, they each had one glaring issue and that was bending their ears to peer pressure. They were bad on their own, but if they accidentally bad mouth a high born noble then they were going to quickly retract any statement they made as they were also quite the kissers of flanks when it came to keeping their social status intact. If they knew anything of Rarity’s friends they probably wouldn’t like her as they were nobles in it for the extravagance of it all. It was probably thanks to Rarity avoiding the two and her anonymity that they didn’t try to approach her or even take notice of her avoidance. Rarity figured she may be able to get along with Upper Crust as she had a taste for trendy things and she was a noble by earning her title, but once it was found out that Rarity was born in Ponyville all bets were off and she would definitely rip into her. Of the things Rarity knew of nobility was that being born into it seemed to matter more than actually earning it for many of the nobles here, she had earned her title by right that she owned enough land albeit in the form of a large spaceship and having a niche market in her business of the fashion industry. She’d more than likely fit in with nobles that had actually earned their nobility, but those were hard to find here and they were more than likely to be friendly to someone who worked hard to get their positions. Fancy Pants was born a noble, but he had certainly earned his nobility and was the friendliest high born noble to boot. There were laws set in place by Celestia so that the nobility had to eventually marry someone who wasn’t nobility, as inbreeding was a problem in some noble houses. Rarity wasn’t about to bring up that topic with a ten foot pole with most of the ponies in this room that were probably cousins by ancestors several generations back. Feeling a tap on her shoulder Rarity turned to a smiling face that waved at her, it was Vinyl and she could see her wife Octavia taking up the stage with what was a musical band that started practicing a bit of classical music. It was still early in the night and the entertainment had arrived. “Hello Vinyl, I see your wife is setting up.” Rarity received a nod from the mute mare and a bright smile. “Did you need something?” The mare nodded and motioned towards herself in a gesture of follow her. As Rarity was lead over to the snack table, she saw the rather interesting sight of Greta getting along with several nobles along the way. Rarity still wouldn’t get over how ridiculous Han Gar sounded in her ear as being a part of her barony and turned back to Vinyl. Still though, it was surprising that a grease monkey like Greta could perfectly blend in with the other nobles. Was there something Rarity didn’t know about her? Vinyl came to a stop and held up a hoof to halt Rarity and then made a motion to the stallion that tilted his head quizzically at them. “You want me to talk for you, is it because your wife is busy?” The stallion reeled back in shock and then he looked to Rarity upset before he turned to Vinyl, Vinyl smiled at Rarity in what was obviously thanks and nodded. “I am so sorry; I didn’t know you were married Misses Scratch. Though I did recognize and know you better as being DJ-PON3, I didn’t exactly mean to upset you by hitting on you.” The stallion looked to have a blue grey fur color and almost looked like he could be the brother of Jet Set; he had three stars on his flank. Vinyl gave him a side to side hoof flip meaning that it didn’t bother her all too much. “I’m Neon Lights or more commonly known as Rising Star by my fans, I’m a big fan of your work and that’s something I’m sure most of the nobles here would never say.” “Yes, well I think Vinyl brought me over because she knew exactly what I would say. I’m afraid the poor dear is quite mute and needed me to say something for her, I guess I said the right thing.” Rarity’s attention was grabbed by Vinyl and she nodded her head rapidly with a big smile and she started shaking Rarity’s hoof happily because she understood her need. “Anyway did you say you were a noble?” “Yes and who is it that she brought over here to talk to me if I may ask?” Neon had a similar spiky hairstyle to Vinyl’s. “I’m Lady Rarity Belle, baroness of the Shining Jewel estate… oh don’t look so surprised Vinyl. Yes, I am a baroness legally and no I don’t understand how I’m exactly translating your wildly gesticulating hooves so well at this moment.” It was even a surprised to Rarity that she could understand Vinyl’s wildly waving legs at all, Vinyl made a few more gestures and all Rarity had to say to that was a single word. “Quite.” “I’m a low born and darn proud of not being one of the snobbier ones, but judging by Misses Scratch’s surprise you’re one of those who earned that nobility and quite recently it seems.” Here Neon looked a little thoughtful. “So that means it has to be through business practices or a higher noble gave it to you. So what kind of business do you run? I know it’s that because I haven’t heard a noble raising ceremony.” “I’m in the fashion industry, I can make clothes for anyone provided I have the materials to make what you want. Though as an exception, I will not work with leather or anything like it.” It was to Rarity’s fine judgment of his character, that he was by far one of the friendlier low born nobles she has seen all night. “I’m both cheap and extravagant as Vinyl here will tell you… she is after all wearing one of my lovely dresses. I do specialize in dresses and EVA suits but other forms of clothing are open to me.” Vinyl blushed and looked at Rarity in a slightly angry manner, she didn’t like wearing the dress but for her wife she would do just about anything. She didn’t take action however as she knew Rarity had a rather mobile business and needed to work up some notoriety and she understood notoriety perfectly well. “Can I find a little more information on your business? I would like something made for me in particular and might have need of your services Lady Belle.” Levitating out his data pad Neon waited for Rarity to do so with hers and they shared some information, Neon was not a very well liked noble because of the profession he chose to pursue in life and that was a loud and noisy profession of being a DJ like Vinyl was. “The design of Vinyl’s dress is quite good and most nobles wouldn’t be able to tell that you are from humble beginnings with that kind of work, you might want to keep them in the dark about that.” Vinyl nodded along to Neon’s advice, she kind of detested nobles but this Neon guy seemed cool to her even if he wasn’t exactly on her level in music he was pretty good. Nobles were her dear wife’s target audience and she couldn’t be upset with her wife for it, she loved Octavia’s music and hated the audience that the music was meant for. Why if any noble were to boo or neigh anything negative at her wife she’d definitely beat them to a bloody pulp, she was a more physically fit unicorn. “I’ll take that under advisement like with Fancy and Fleur told me about Jet and Upper, but I’m sure the nobles will find out sooner or later that I’m an upraised commoner.” Rarity wasn’t about to declare the fact that she was beginning to like commoners she spent time around more than these rude and nasty nobles “Until then of course I’m going to be quite anonymous and mysterious in my nobility.” “They warned you about Jet Set and Upper Crust? They must like you then, right I’m definitely going to looking forward to your services now. If you can make friends with Fancy then you can make friends within his circle somewhat.” Neon seemed to warm up to Rarity quickly after saying this, before he looked a little uncertain about her. “Fancy and Fleur are the friendliest high born you’ll meet here, however it would be a bad idea for you to approach any other high born, especially Blueblood. Never a more egotistical stallion than that one, he believes he’s the center of his own universe for being vastly distantly and beyond many greats related to Celestia and Luna, neither of which has ever had children but they did have a lot of cousins. One of which was from Princess Platinum’s line which Blueblood hails from.” “Seriously now, he can’t possibly be that bad, can he?” Rarity received two concerned looks from both Neon and even Vinyl. Vinyl made some motions and then gave her a horrified face while framing it with her hooves. “Well that much I can understand. He can’t possibly be as bad as the rumors say he is.” “Well if you really want to get to know him for yourself, then he has just arrived apparently. Just don’t expect him to do nice things for you, he has no ounce of chivalry in him and expects everything of everyone.” Neon pointed out the blonde stallion with the pure white fur, of who just walked into the room and smiled brightly as if he were the life of the party. “Trust me, you don’t want to try and become friends with him. If you have plans to attract him as a partner, then drop them immediately as he will show you in one night why he doesn’t have many friends. Plus you can’t say that I didn’t warn you even if you do try, but you can count on me to be a friend of yours at the very least after you’ve spent some time in his company. Trust me, it is not worth it to try and date Blueblood.” “Well then, I’ll just see about this myself.” Rarity marched off and Vinyl made a move to stop her, but she was held back by Neon. “No, no, she has to learn this lesson by herself. Are you open for a discussion about music… well as much as a discussion as you can have?” Neon saw Vinyl look in Rarity’s direction slightly upset, but after a moment she turned to him and nodded before making a square motion and a motion of holding something to write with. “Well my night isn’t going to be full of dull boring conversations and politics at the very least, let me find something to write on so that we can converse. I think a portable dry eraser board would be to your needs Misses Scratch.” Vinyl Scratch had never thought of using a dry eraser board before, but now that she thought of it, it would be far easier to use than pen and paper. Mostly because the only time she saw a dry eraser board was in school and she was asleep through half her classes anyway, music class being one of the few things she bothered to be awake for. She wasn’t exactly the smartest mare in the world, which was entirely her wife’s thing. Given that her wife understood everything she said so far through various amounts of body language without it, she had never really needed to write something down for Octavia to understand just how much she loved her. - “Opal I have to say, you are not normal. In fact you are very abnormal, even for an Artificial Intelligence if you are still one to begin with. Normally artificial intelligence's aren’t aware of when they are turned off as without power they aren’t a running program.” Vera’s session with Opal had led to a lot of things, but one was better friendship between them. Currently the white digital cat with the long pink hair was lying on an equally digital couch with her hair free flowing and wringing her paws looking a bit weary of what Vera had to say now, Vera who had a drone pointing manipulator arm at her constantly to keep her in sight in the medical room where she spent plenty of time watching over Sassy’s body. ”As to you on the other hoof, I believe you are actually something else and I in fact have a theory about you. I think I might know what you could be, but that can’t exactly be proven yet and there is no method to do so. I don’t think you’re an AI now, even if you were one previously and I can assure you rampancy has nothing to do with your current state of mind if I’m right. Please don’t ask about my theory yet, but if you have to ask me anything else… do so now.” “Well… hold on a minute. Something’s happening down there, sending information real time data to Trap Bar’s people and anyone else who can confirm what I’m seeing.” Opal was about to ask something and then sat up and her eyes narrowed and a blaze of coding came into life and passed in front of her eyes. “Would you mind if we came back to this discussion and my need for a shrink later? I see trouble brewing.” “Your ability to multitask is another thing that we will need to discuss at a later time. Actually, if I’m right that might be a part of it…” Vera muttered something else, but she looked to a patiently waiting Opal. “Well get on top of it, this session was coming to a close anyway.” Opal didn’t need to be told twice when a bunch of armed Hands of Midas thugs were setting up communication jamming devices around the city at fixed intervals. Whatever was going to happen, it would certainly be a sure thing that it would occur within the next few hours. Hopefully somebody could disable those devices by then. - Rarity wasn’t going to try the love at first sight angle, she wasn’t even trying making a move on Prince Blueblood and most of all she just wanted to do was try and be his friend to start with. All it took was ten minutes of his self aggrandizing nature for Rarity to come close to losing it in his very presence. He was so boorish and rude that Rarity was very close to snapping out her energy pistol to shoot both his eyes out and then promptly geld the stallion with a rusty butter knife. This guy was clearly making her night all the worse, meaning she really shouldn’t have approached Blue Balls at all. Even Greta was certainly having a better time than she was as she managed to get a dance with a nice mare who didn’t mind a one night fling of romance for a short while. “So I am quite clearly the most important pony in all of Canterlot, well aside from auntie Celestia and Luna. Even then I deserve to be revered for everything that I am!” Blueblood thought that he was so important; it was a known fact that any effort to befriend him was time entirely wasted. From the way he thinks, having everyone bowing before him and serving him in any capacity was the highest of privileges someone could get. The reality of it was that he was quite delusional about how well he was liked and he had some level of intelligence, but that was clearly set to random. “Yes, well I wish something interesting would happen right now.” Something inside Rarity made her wish that she had said that far sooner, as eight figures slammed through the windows shattering them. As per usual in a terrorist offensive there were screams, several shots fired into the nearest ceiling to attract attention and the taking of important hostages while gathering the rest to a specific spot. Of the aggressors that came into the room there were two unicorns both of which were male, two Ahuizotl, one male and one female, three griffons, two male and one female, and lastly a female human. The female human fired something at Discord that caused him to convulse and be incapable of using his chaos magic, it looked like some kind of fancy metal collar and Fluttershy looked really worried about him when he went down with a spasm. They were all particularly well armed Hand of Midas guys and girls. The two unicorns had quickly knocked Thorax to the ground and he seemed happy about this predicament he was in and seemed to welcome the quickly coming death. The other one taken hostage was much to Rarity’s relief as she was roughly pushed towards the rest of the nobles with several guns trained on her as she joined the rest of the people being rounded up. It was Blueblood that was taken hostage and Rarity couldn’t have been happier. “So you're Chrysalis, tonight is certainly your unlucky night as we were sent to kill you. No hard feelings I hope, so any last words?” The human put her foot on Bluebloods panicking neck as she placed her plasma shotgun to the side of Bluebloods head after having knocked him to the floor. “What! You think I’m the horrifically ugly bug pony with the flat butt! When my aunt Celestia hears of this…” He was cut off with a whimper and he was summarily smacked across the face with the butt of the human’s gun, she was about to shot him when someone stopped her much to Rarity’s disappointment. “Hold it; the scanners say he’s a pony.” The Ahuizotl male spoke up sounding like he was kind of confused about that read out of the device he was holding. “Wasn’t Chrysalis going to take Prince Bluebloods place as our informants said she was?” The confusion took hold of the armed guys for a moment, there were no royal guard currently coming so they had obviously been taken care of before the gala had been crashed. Rarity looked about for Greta and didn’t see her anywhere; looking up at the chandelier she saw something quite bizarre. It was that very bizarre thing that Greta was staring at as she hovered above everyone. How in the world did Hard Throb get into the room without being noticed? Hard Throb was in a wheelchair and the full body cast Rarity and Greta had previously seen him walking around in. It was impossibly absurd that he was even managing to balance on top of the chandelier in a way that it didn’t move at all due to his weight and was busy readying a machine pistol with his magic. The absurdity of the situation had Rarity and Greta blank out the next two minutes, they didn’t notice when Hard Throb finally made a move to start shooting or that Jet Set jumped out of the crowd while pulling a gun out. Jet Set gunned down the guy holding down Thorax immediately which was followed by several more shots that took three other Hands of Midas people out in quick succession. Hard Throb took down the other four and they didn’t have time to react to it all, there was no cover in the ballroom to begin with anyway from Hard’s vantage point. With a flash of green fire, Jet Set transformed into Chrysalis and she smiled deviously. All the nobles leapt away from her as if she were nuclear explosion about to go off, some were even speaking Holy Scripture hoping that she was a demon that could be taken down by such a thing. Upper Crust was certainly horrified that her husband was Chrysalis and Blueblood pupils shrunk as she marched her way up to him with a smirk. “I don’t mind being called ugly because that’s just my most endearing personality trait, but don’t you ever call attention to my butt again or I will actually shoot you next time instead of saving you. Goodness knows every mare in this room wants me to do that.” Chrysalis said in a cheerful tone. “So… is anybody going to thank me for…” Then a second group of Hand of Midas charged in and shot Chrysalis through one of her legs making her fall down hitting her chin on the floor, another shot a chain on the chandelier dropping Hard Throb on the floor where there were several sharp snapping sounds as his body fell from the wheelchair onto the sharp pointy bits of shattered chandelier. Several shots were fired at Greta who landed in the crowd of nobles next to Rarity and they quickly ceased firing upon her. “At least… it wasn’t… my fault this time…” Hard Throb croaked out before he passed out from his injuries that were not accidental for once. “Oh, you are so going to pay for this!” Chrysalis muttered as she tried to stand up and was swiftly knocked to the ground with a strike to the face from one of the twelve new Hands of Midas people to invade the gala. “Says you, we knew you’d try and ambush us. We’re the elite unit; there was no way you could have seen us coming.” The Griffon that spoke to Chrysalis hovered closer to her and just about put the plasma cannon to her head and she just started laughing. “What’s so funny?” “Two quick questions, how many of your people were in the first group?” Chrysalis looked quite smug before saying loudly as she could. “How many of them are currently accounted for by the way?” On the balcony five guns rose up from it and they took aim. The minotaur in the second Hands of Midas wave was shot in the kidney by a energy rifle, the two flying griffons took multiple pulse rifle rounds to the wings and bodies, a plasma rifle ripped into the two unicorns and two humans up with crippling shots that took out their legs, one of the two Ahuizotls lost the hand from their tail and was subsequently hit in the spine with a material rifle that was firing chunks of lead and the last Ahuizotl took beam rifle round that tore a hole into his front right leg. The last of the group was a male human that had already been taken care of with a material pistol fired by Thorax that sent a golf ball into their intestines that they were currently too busy trying to keep in their body to return fire. Looking up to the balcony Luna was seen walking up to it and she looked down at the one hiding up in the balcony. While everyone was busy looking at Luna, the injured Chrysalis went up in a flash of fire and turned into Deep Throat who chuckled as she slowly limped her way over to Hard Throb, she was unsure as to how he managed to get into the position that he did for this double ambush. - Up in the balcony wearing a blindfold and leaning against the wall of the balcony was Chrysalis who was surrounded by four knocked out bodies, of which were two minotaurs, a griffon and a human beaten and bloodied by Chrysalis’s bare hooves. “So did I get them all Luna?” Chrysalis said as she held out her left hoof to Luna. Luna rolled her eyes and looked at the held out hoof and the cheeky smile on Chrysalis’s face. “Did you actually keep the blindfold on the entire time?” Seeing the smug smirk, Luna had to further ask. “Even with your back to them without even having your body pointed in the right direction?” “Cast a truth circle spell on me Luna.” Chrysalis felt the magic flow around her; Luna was currently feeling disbelief and why wouldn’t she? “Yes I did all that and I even took these four guys down without using my guns that I carried with me the entire time.” “It seems you speak the truth.” Luna was completely flabbergasted that Chrysalis managed everything that she did. “Did you get what Celestia wanted to know from the nobles?” “Yep, I’m certain Celestia will see to it at dawn when I give her the information. Well, once she’s done being indisposed that is, the mare does like her beauty rest and cake before bed.” Chrysalis didn’t remove the blindfold and she kept her hoof out until something dropped into it. She had a bag of bits in her hoof judging by the weight, she lifted a portion of her carapace and stored them away for later use. “It’s nice doing business with you Luna, though you really shouldn’t bet against a Changeling when it comes to ambushing opponents.” Author's Note Just the opening salvo, things get much worse. Chrysalis had the power of surprise and the art of ambushing is a specialty of Changelings in combat or else they wouldn't have caught everyone off guard... it happened twice in the show mind you. -49-“I suppose I shouldn’t bet against you, then again you can see through the eyes of your people. I should have accounted for that.” Luna shook her head with a mirthful smile, Chrysalis stood up and propped her legs on the edge of the balcony and flicked off her blindfold. The nobles were terrified of her like usual. “Hello everyone, Luna will clean up the mess so you can get back to your measuring contests. Just know that mine is bigger.” Chrysalis was correct that Luna would have the mess cleaned up; Luna’s Thestrals were already working on picking up the twenty four invaders. “You may continue the gala, but be aware that going home might not be a good idea.” Thestrals were commonly known as bat ponies, they had an inclination towards eating fruit and bugs, plus they were main nocturnal defense force of Canterlot. “Where’s my husband you… you bug!” Upper Crust shouted finally finding her voice; Chrysalis just gave her a flat look and she back up with her ears dropping into a submissive position. “He’s fine, provided the next attack doesn’t destroy the hospital. Speaking of medical help… good job Deep Throat! Now if you would stop Hard Throb from bleeding out on the floor; his wheelchair looks perfectly fine so use that to take him out of the room to get medical aid.” Being the queen of the changelings was a trifle to Chrysalis, especially given how easily she could get things done. “As for you Thorax, stop cowering on the floor! Show some pride in being a Changeling damn it!” After throwing a salute Deep throat picked up Hard Throb, while avoiding the shards of the broken chandelier and glass that Luna was using to magic to fix. The stupidly stealthy Hard was on his way to getting patched up. Tree Hugger had stepped away from the action once it started and was now just walking back to assist Thorax in getting him to calm down with gentle neighing. He had after all actually gutted somebody with a golf ball; he wasn’t a very violent changeling and didn’t like doing what he had to do. All the nobles were slowly getting back to business, seeing that things were taken care of and Upper Crust was the only one upset given Chrysalis did something to her husband. The fact Chrysalis even said as much in front of Luna and the princess didn’t seem to react or care made Upper upset. Blueblood went to whine audibly to Luna as she started fixing things and she ignored him somewhat as well. “Tree Hugger, what are you doing here?” Rarity made her presence known as she moved forward, the mare turned to her with a friendly smile. She hadn’t seen the funky earth pony when she spent her time listening to the nobles or those ten horrid minutes following Blue Balls around. “I am here to assist him, Maker. I am a member of SNUGGLES and as such I help those in need, this changeling in particular definitely needs my help. His aura is always so stressed.” Tree slowly rubbed her hoof up and down Thorax’s back. “How is Sky Child? I can see that Ever Cheerful is here. Sky Child will soon fall to the earth to assist in the oncoming problem.” “Hey Tree Hugger, Gilda’s okay and your friend Fluttershy is over there with Discord.” Greta came up to them looking cheerful at the fact that things were okay and went pretty well. “I just needed to ask you something, why don’t you ever call me Silver Lining instead of Ever Cheerful?” “Because you can’t look on the bright side all the time, even while trying to smile and keep a positive attitude.” Tree Hugger was holding Thorax now and he seemed to have calmed down. “Huh, well that answers that then. So how are you feeling Boss Lady?” Turning to her boss who looked to be having a horrible night, Greta moved close to maybe give Rarity a hug if needed. “This night has been quite horrible; I probably wouldn’t want to go to another gala if invited to it by Celestia herself. Speaking of, where is she?” Noting all the guests that were here, there was another thing that Rarity had missed. “I’ve also noticed something else that is amiss, where are the Wonder Bolts? Weren’t they supposed to be here?” “I can answer that, the Wonder Bolts are preparing for the real trouble. They are currently out in the city trying to the find communication jamming devices that are being moved about the city and set up.” All attention turned to Chrysalis as she landed softly and folded her wings back under her carapace where a bag of bits could be seen before she closed it off. “I knew leaking that information about me infiltrating the gala would give me a good set up to take some of them down. Anyway I just came by to say that I’m still busy so I can’t get to my commission quite yet nor can I get that job interview that I want with you. So if you’ll excuse me I have other things to attend to, because Celestia has probably finished her nap by now and it’s almost morning.” “Yes I too have important things to see to, in preparation for the oncoming danger.” Luna turned around and followed behind Chrysalis, the chandelier was back in place and the windows that were destroyed were now perfectly fine. “So, does anyone want to get something sugary and or fattening to cheer us up at the snack table?” The snack tables had been left untouched and Greta was glad for that as there was a fondue bar she had taken a liking too. “I suppose I could go for a snack, tonight hasn’t been a totally horrible and I could use something to get my mind off things.” Rarity followed Greta, the two them were subsequently followed by Tree Hugger dragging a whiny Thorax along with her. - Mare-Do-Well had known something big was coming, but she still didn’t know what. She had managed to take down one of the teams carrying a jamming device and there were quite a few being moved throughout Canterlot. If Canterlot’s forces didn’t have the ability to communicate with one another, then they would certainly run into problems when it came time to fight. She was standing on the rooftop looking through her lenses and they were magically shifted to work like binoculars at the moment. Something big was going to happen soon, she just knew it. Wait, it wasn’t happening soon… it was happening right now and she didn’t like the prospects of what she was seeing rising up in front of her. The shadow it cast made things slightly darker and Mare-Do-Well figured she h ad her work cut out for her. - “Come let us rise up. With our limbs held high, this is the dawn of The Hands of Midas!” There were a series of shouts and the figure standing before them smiled before preparing to launch the real attack. The plan for dealing with the nobles had obviously failed, but this was the main assault and it couldn’t fail. It just had to succeed. - Chrysalis waited in the front where Celestia was supposed to be greeting ponies and saw two of her own disguised as Celestia and Twilight. She made her way up to them and cleared her throat to gain their attention, she went ignored and then she glared at them while lighting her horn. “So anyway, that would be the reason for the phase shift distortion field. It causes magic teleportation to lag, thereby teleportation takes several seconds to minutes, possibly hours based on distance and amount of magic used. The user disappears instantly, but reappears a lot later at said destination instead of being instantaneous.” The Changeling Grope Fondly who was disguised as Twilight Sparkle jumped when he found a gun shoved into his face. The Changeling known as Tit Elation, disguised as Celestia also became surprised. “Pay attention to me or so help me I will find a screwdriver and some turpentine!” The two swiftly changed back to looking like their selves while saluting to Chrysalis pointing two of the five rifles she had on her back, they were both cowering in fear of her. The fear was mostly about the threat of turpentine; no Changeling wanted that to happen to them. “Wait… speaking of, where the buck is Positively Screwed? He should be here as well.” “About that ma’am, he’s currently in a relationship with one of the guests that came to the gala and I think they are performing mating rituals with one another.” Tit Elation hoped that Chrysalis would shoot her for that, thankfully the queen just sighed and stowed the guns on her back. “Yeah, that sounds like him. Oh he is so… hah… funny, his name. Yeah, I’ve never actually heard of a Changeling actually living up to it before now. I wonder why it is that ponies are more likely to do that.” Chrysalis started chuckling dryly before she gained a serious countenance. “At least tell me that Pants Viper is watching out for Celestia. She’s at least trustworthy in that respect.” “Actually I’m here my queen, Celestia is a bit mad with you as she has recently come to her senses and she’s currently on her way here. She knows it was you or at least she wants it to be you and not Cadence who doesn’t even know about the banana thing. You know, since Celestia has prevented Cadence from ever eating bananas as she said it would bring about the apocalypse or at the very least kill Shining Armor.” Here is when Pants threw a salute as she came to a stop in front of Chrysalis. “All changelings throughout the upper, middle and lower districts are preparing several ambush points with Luna’s soldiers. However the communication jammers we haven’t stopped are being placed inside buildings and we weren’t able to get all the Hands of Midas people with the devices we did get. So they are aware that we know they’re coming.” “The Hands of Midas guys are not really a problem; what is, is that Celestia is going to throttle me for…” Chrysalis was right as she was immediately throttled and slammed into a nearby pillar, the three changelings quickly scattered to the four winds as Celestia looked positively angry. “You bunch of cowards, get back here and make this a fair fight against me! Hey there Celestia how was your evening? Was it better than you ever hoped?” “You… you are so lucky I’m the Element of Kindness or so help me I would be inclined to kill you right now.” Celestia narrowed her eyes into Chrysalis’s own as she forcefully slammed her onto her back. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” “Celestia… I had the weirdest dream.” A loud yawn was followed by a highly ruffled looking Twilight trotting slowly down the stairs and Chrysalis saw something that Celestia obviously hadn’t and she started laughing only to get a harsh hoof across the face by Celestia. “What are you laughing about?” Celestia didn’t turn to look at Twilight, because she was going to have problems looking Twilight in the eyes after what happened. That and she really wanted to beat Chrysalis up right now and her kindness was warring with her ability to cause permanent harm. “So… when did it happen? When you got off or when she did?” Chrysalis was still laughing and pointing behind Celestia despite being slapped across the face again which bloodied her nose. “You should really have a look at your conquest because she’s certainly different now.” Twilight was too tired to remember what had happened and was rubbing at her eyes with her right hoof. The last thing she remembered before she lost track of what was happening was hooves. Wondrous, loving and beautiful hooves touching places they probably shouldn’t have. She also vaguely recalled a warm body and feathered fondling. Celestia turned to look at Twilight and it took a second before she goggled at her, Twilight looked mostly the same… except for the two feathered wings she was dragging along as she tried to wake up. “So is she now to be considered the princess of sex? Or did she turn into an Alicorn to just survive whatever it is you did to her? Would that make her the princess of survival? Oh I know, the princess of…” Chrysalis took a harsh blow to the face that shut her up as Celestia stepped off of her and started moving towards Twilight with a wondrous look in her eyes. “Twilight, are you, are you feeling okay?” Celestia bit her bottom lip after asking that because she couldn’t believe that Twilight was now an Alicorn like her, Luna and Cadence. “I’m feeling okay princess… actually I’m feeling better okay. Those were some of the best dreams I’ve ever had.” Obviously Twilight didn’t get the memo about her new state of existence or that she ascended while getting assaulted by a banana crazed Celestia. ”Did I mention that your bed smelled really nice?” “Twilight, I know this might hurt for me to say, but you can’t be my student anymore.” That right there was the exact thing Celestia never wanted to say to Twilight. It caused Celestia’s favorite pony to immediately wake up and her wings to spread out from the sudden panic attack. “What, was it something did?” Twilight didn’t even notice that she had wings. Chrysalis was laughing harder in the background at what was going on now; Celestia bucked her harshly in the chest making the queen start wheezing. “Sister, we are preparing for…” Luna took one look at Twilight, the shock at the sight of a new Alicorn caused her to trip down the stairs and lose grip of something in her magic. Said object flew through the air and landed on Twilight’s outstretched left wing that caused her to shriek and flap it reflexively in pain as it was burnt. “Luna, what did you just do…?” Sitting very still, Celestia’s pupils shrunk in realization at what just happened. “No, it couldn’t be that specific could it?” “I was just ironing my towels to prepare for combat, but… are you alright Twilight? I did not mean to harm you.” Luna had a need of towels and wanted them warm and fluffy for combat, how she would use those towels for combat was anyone’s guess. Twilight didn’t respond or even look at the hot iron that had struck her wing. She was emotionally hurt a second ago when Celestia said she couldn’t be her student anymore, but now she knew why Celestia had said that and understood completely. She was an Alicorn now, which was making her mind snap on a number of levels and brought about the fact that those recent dreams hadn’t necessarily been dreams either. “Hey don’t you like the irony of this situation Celestia? At least you’ll have plenty of time to make it up to her.” Having calmed down about how new alicorn came about in a hilarious manner, Chrysalis knew where Celestia’s mind actually was. Tree Hugger’s little prophecy had come to pass and thus The Hands of Midas were going to strike in full force right now. “They will strike while the iron is hot and it burns the one you love…” A blank Celestia stated slowly, Twilight really needed a distraction from the injury and her sudden panic attack at having wings now. Celestia herself was a bit distracted and needed to come up with something. Basically Celestia just admitted that she loved Twilight out loud before the entire room took a huge explosion destroying a portion of the nearby entrance and wall. They had more important things to worry about than Twilight’s sudden ascension. - “Rarity, mommy, buck it all, I can’t get through to her! Her last location was at the gala at Canterlot Castle which just took a hit and is thankfully still standing. I’m guessing this is the moment Gilda’s been waiting for all week.” Opal immediately opened a channel to Trap Bar. “The jamming devices just went active and I’m giving you a feed of what’s going on down there from my perspective. Also I hope you don’t mind, but we’re going to send our friends some back up.” - “Gilda wake up, Rarity and Greta are in the middle of a war zone and they’ve got big problems. Did you finish testing your project or at least arming the Caravel Boutique? Because it looks like we might need both right now.” Opal’s voice suddenly caused the griffon to jerk awake and groan. Gilda groggily sat up and pushed Lightning off of her and went to the nearest monitor, her current location was in one of the hangars pilot bedrooms. “Where’s the fire Kitten?” As Gilda asked this question, Lightning Dust slowly got up and followed Gilda looking more alert than the griffon was. “I’ll tell you where the fire is, right here!” The screen showed what was going on down in Canterlot and Gilda froze, several P-wing fighters were blown out of the air by what looked like Flak Missiles and then the screen panned to what fired them. Opal popped up on the screen and pointed out ten large humanoid machines slowly moved through Canterlot. “Your project can make an orbital drops right? Then get down there and help out! Wait… I actually don’t want the Caravel Boutique anywhere near that hostile airspace. Even with good shields it wouldn’t even survive two direct Flak Missiles. Your project is more likely to get through.” Flak Missiles were a thing. They counted as powerful anti-air weapons and did decently against larger ships with poor armor plating and shielding, but what they excelled at was destroying fighters. The missiles when fired while locked onto target, gets into a good enough proximity with said target and exploded into a number of smaller explosives that went off upon impact. They were like heat seeking shotgun shells in that respect. The missiles tended to overwhelm shields instantly, but weren’t good against well armored targets. Even if you shoot the missile, it will still deploy its explosives unless the entire missile is destroyed in one shot. They had an even nastier cousin called Shredder Missiles, which were basically infantry killers and good against ground targets that sent shrapnel everywhere. “Come on Lightning, let’s a get a move on!” Gilda immediately set about preparing herself and she looked to her project upon exiting the room, it was mostly finished. There was only one really key issue with it, but it wasn’t noticeable so long as nobody figured out what the problem was until Greta could help her fix it. She climbed up the ramp into her project followed by Lightning, Gilda went towards the front where she would be driving it from and Lightning climbed a small ladder to get into position positively eager for some action. “Hold on Boss Lady, because we’re coming!” The project came to life under Gilda’s quickly moving talons and started to move. “Give me a good launch position Opal, which is if you want me to get close to where I need to be if we’re to help at all.” The Shining Jewel shuddered as it begun rotating and the left door in section three of the hangar slowly opened, the project moved towards the atmosphere barrier and then shot through along the open door using it as a ramp before it shot off into space. - “I told you they were black ops, but you didn’t believe me!” Trap Bar had watched what had launched from the Shining Jewel and was already getting details on the Flak Missiles that were ripping the Wonder Bolts P-wings apart down there. “Prepare the bombers for low orbit bombardment runs, but don’t let them fly any lower. With all the Flak Missiles those machines are armed with its suicide to fly within range of Canterlot right now.” - “Here we go… orbital drop. Let’s see shields at maximum power, engine running fine and we’re coming in hot.” Gilda wanted to take baby steps in building her own fighter; as such she was never going to use the remains of the Javelin she piloted on anything and would probably build a new shell for it herself for recreational purposes. This thing she was in now was built one hundred percent out of scrap, spare parts, blood, sweating, sleepless hours and tears, it was going to see her through. “I’m switching the turrets over to automatic point defense even if it won’t help against those Flak Missiles much, I’m sure my baby can hold together long enough for us to make landfall. Just don’t shoot until we hit ground Lightning, we haven’t exactly fixed that problem yet.” “Roger that, holding fire until we get down to that mess… is it bad that I’m enjoying the fact that the Wonder Bolts are failing to keep any of their fighters in the air?” Lightning sat in her own chair where she could see the variable thrusters become active to give them a good angle. “Yes, because if those fighters fail to hold those massive machines back then you won’t be having a paycheck for much longer and you’ll just go back to being on the streets! Hitting atmosphere now, using variable thrusters to get the right angle and we’re heating up.” There was a subtle excitement building up in Gilda, she wanted to fight and she was going to get one. They made it through the upper atmosphere without trouble and were on a direct course for the city; unfortunately they weren’t unnoticed in their approach. Checking something on the panel she was sitting at Gilda noticed something. “I just found another problem; the variable thrusters are eating through fuel like your Princess Celestia goes through cakes. I guess it makes sense given how heavy this thing is, I need to watch that when we land and I’ll have a discussion with Greta over how to fix that as well.” “Do we even have enough to land this screaming metal death trap safely?” That actually had Lightning a bit worried, but mostly excited at the risks they were taking. “I’ve never landed anything perfectly anyway, this will be a first for me if I do. We’ve got plenty for maneuvering and a few hops, after that we’re stuck to base movements. Unless I can switch the variables over to consuming energy, but we both know what a bad idea that would be. Would you want to be lacking a shield in this environment?” That response from Gilda had Lightning cackling that was soon joined by the griffon, adrenaline seekers would beware these two being good friends. “If it comes to it, I like those odds.” - A magical shield had been erected over the castle by Celestia and Luna to prevent several more impacts from damaging the castle any further. The attack had started in earnest and the Thestrals were in the streets avoiding taking to the air after seeing several of the Wonder Bolts well known P-wing fighters get shot down by Flak Missiles, whether or not the pilots managed to even eject was worrying. The fight had only begun and the situation was slowly coming into focus as everyone realized what they were dealing with. The Giant machines had broken out of several buildings from the lower and middle districts to begin their slow march towards the castle. At this point even Chrysalis was clueless as to how The Hands of Midas had managed to hide their construction so well. “Those are some pretty big machines, mostly human in appearance and they have shoulder mounted missile systems, possibly creates the missiles in the barrels using limited resources in the ball shaped shoulders. Can you hit it with magic to see if I’m right about what it has for shields?”Chrysalis watched as Celestia launched a powerful beam through the hole in the wall and past the barrier protecting the castle and the shields of one of the titanic robots just flared brightly. “Right its double layered meaning regular and arcane shielding. We’ll have to brute force them down as magic isn’t going to work.” “Um excuse me, but is someone going to get this collar off of me?” Discord asked in a slightly disgruntled manner. “It really is making him rather upset.” Fluttershy couldn’t remove the collar and didn’t know how, the collar didn’t block normal magic which is why Discord could still float but chaos magic became impossible for him with it on. Even if he couldn’t help with the machines Discord could at least give these Hands of Midas chumps that aren’t protected the run around. Which is why Celestia went to assist him, he would be useful in taking out the infantry, but those machines would be more problematic to deal with. - The massive machines stomped forward at a snail’s pace and were launching missiles at any aerial interference coming at them. The Hands of Midas had some ground forces near every single one of the Colossuses; they were there to prevent any Canterlot infantry from taking the larger machines down. The Colossuses were tall, but quite thin, if sturdily built. Even so they had exceedingly strong shield generators and lasers in the palms of the giant five fingered gold painted hands and bulky shoulders that held the flak missile launchers. The shield generators were on their backs as in the form of a large box that was bigger than the spine and torso of the machines. The feet were like snow shoes, wide at the bottom and capable of keeping the machines upright without problem, but the design didn’t give them anything approaching agility like the upper torso which swiveled about and fired off missiles swiftly. As for the heads they were cylindrical and had one large glowing yellow eye. “Wait for it; now shoot for targets of opportunity!” Several Thestrals and changelings quickly popped from cover and fired bazookas at the back of one of the Titans. The rockets didn’t do much damage, but they did manage to burst through the shields and cause minimal damage. After that the Changelings and Thestrals had to get away from the Hands of Midas infantry that saw spotted them and started to give chase. Scenes like this were taking place all over Canterlot and ponies were running and screaming from buildings being knocked over or set ablaze. While the available Royal Guard, Changeling Guard and Night Guard were organizing the civilians and taking the fight to The Hands of Midas running through the city in what was quickly becoming a blood bath. The ten Colossuses had already done a lot of damage in a short amount of time just by standing up. - Even when the defense turrets blasted two more flak missiles they still released their payloads, thankfully the payloads fell short of hitting Gilda’s new pride and joy. After the explosives went off at a safe distance Gilda angled the vehicle downwards and fired off the variable thrusters to change trajectory. On top of the nosedive, the vehicle quickly seemed to spiral out of control. “What are you doing Gilda?” Not having her time to shine Lighting was getting a bit antsy at having nothing to do at the moment. “We were on course!” “I’m trying to get them to ignore us; we’re going to land a little bit higher up than Canterlot. If they think we’re a fighter, then why should we get any more missiles shot at us if we can fake going down like one? If they ignore us now, they’ll certainly regret it later.” Gilda kept her eyes on the rapidly growing landscape before her and was keep her eyes on the castle. Rarity and Greta were safe where they were for the moment, she didn’t know much about magical barriers but they would have to hold for a while. “So shut up and let me concentrate on landing this beautifully sculpted death machine! The Bombing Peregrine will definitely be put through her paces in live combat.” “Are we really going to call it that?” A snorting Lightning Dust could be heard scoffing at the name, she finally put her hooves on the controls ready to get things started. “Well, let’s put our cuddly penguin through its paces then.” The Bombing Peregrine put all its variable thrusters into slowing down its fall before it twisted effortlessly and landed a bit roughly, but it was intact at least and without any mechanical failures. Gilda let out a whoop of joy as she pushed the vehicle to charge down the mountain. Author's Note Next up Gilda's Bomber Peregrine and lot's of fighting. That's about it. -50-“Well this isn’t nearly as bad as Ewesen, at least I don’t have to go out in that mess.” One of the things Rarity hoped would happen would be a victory for the side of keeping her alive, she was pretty sure the nobles would agree with her on that much. She watched as another explosion shook the early morning sky where the sun had yet to rise. “Yeah, but those P-wings are taking a heavy beating out there and I don’t think our side is winning at the moment.” From the ballroom Greta could see the machines towering and slowly taking steps forward while launching the Flak Missiles anytime a fighter flew into range. “Even if they are still taking hits from all those rocket launchers those large machines have yet to lose their shields, but when they do they’ll be pretty easy to take down. From what I gather they are built a bit top heavy with those shield generators on their backs; if they fall then they are certainly not getting back up. If they combined their firepower to a single point to knock them over, the guard might be able to keep them down.” “We should tell the princesses that… or maybe Queen Chrysalis as at least she’s still capable of communicating with her people and able to get the word out.” One of the bat ponies otherwise known as Luna’s Thestrals guarding the gala party flew off to do just that. “Do you think Opal is taking this well?” There was a lack of response to Rarity’s question from Greta. “Honestly, not really. She might send Gilda to help us.” Drinking some punch Greta acted as if they were talking about the weather. “If Gilda has finished whatever it is she was working on it will be useful.” - “I could remote pilot the Caravel Boutique, but Rarity would get mad at me for getting it destroyed or scratched. She worked really hard to buy it.” Opal was still on the fence about whether to send the Caravel Boutique down there. “Rarity did not appreciate being a waitress and I don’t think Gilda or Greta would appreciate having to build a way back up here. Besides Gilda is already down there and made it through the flak missiles already.” “I’m sure they’ll be okay Opal, I mean they are with the princesses and I hear the captain of the guard is a barrier expert.” Trapeze was willing to say that things would be okay, mostly because she figured out that Opal was a rather unusual being and needed a lot of reassurance. Especially after hearing what happened to the mare sleeping in medical possibly being her fault. “They have enough magic there to protect a bunch of ponies.” “Boss lady be fine, Rover thinks boss lady is tough!” The Diamond Dog was learning new tricks and that was something, Trapeze had the patience of a saint. Bernard was less saintly given he could stare Rover into the ground, the dog winced but still asked. “Now how does Rover juggle five balls again?” The Shining Jewels exercise room was being occupied by every active crew member not involved in what was happening on the planet. They were all just waiting for some good news about the survival of their other crew members. Vera couldn’t be by Sassy’s side forever and needed more social interaction than just Opal, also food, sleep and in general exercise. If she wanted everyone else onboard to hold up to a certain standard, then she had to hold herself to said standard too. - Some pony already figured out what Greta had and it was Mare-Do-Well, who wasn’t about to get shot at by the thugs staying around the feet of the machine she was closest to. She had some laundry cord and needed help to get it around the large machines legs; even then she wasn’t sure if that would work. She heard somebody land next to her and prepared for a fight, but stopped when she saw it Daring Do looking at her. “You look like you have an idea, need some help?” Daring hadn’t skipped town, because there was danger and action to be found. Plus her next book was going to be very interesting, the costumed vigilante nodded as there were no hard feelings as to what happened the other night. The two set off to planning how to bring at least one of these things down together. Which obviously would mean taking care of their supporting Hands of Midas infantry, these two were good at fighting and could do at least that much. If they could take down one of these things the situation might not look so bad with something that was heavily shielded as these things were. This brought up the question as to whether or not the cord was strong enough to not immediately be destroyed by the shields of the Colossus and hold together long enough to even trip it. The magic shield protected against all forms of magic, but the regular shield only protected against projectiles, explosions and objects moving above a certain speed. Mare-Do-Well would distract the Hands of Midas goons while Daring Do tried to trip up the Colossus they were near. The cord managed to wrap around it, but it didn’t hold and snapped from the movement of the legs. Both Mare-Do-Well and Daring Do retreated while being shot at to look for something a little bit stronger, they had just proved that if they got a strong enough wire that it could possibly trip one up. - “Shining, Cadence, power the barrier, Chrysalis please tell me you have something going on out there?” Sure Celestia might have gotten bit violent with her, but Chrysalis was up and standing like it never happened. Having fur covered chitin and a light weight skeleton with an absurdly high tensile strength certainly prevented Chrysalis from being seriously injured, didn’t mean she couldn’t be hurt and regular Changelings didn’t have nearly the same sturdy biological construction of a queens body. “Working on it, you have no idea how hard it is to coordinate your forces, my forces and Luna’s forces by myself.” With her eyes closed Chrysalis was sending messages around the city through her changelings, there were so many orders to give and it was actually challenging her. She was so glad she had her people stockpile explosives, now if only she had stockpiled something that could rip through energy shields or even just knock those top heavy things down. Discord was free and seen teleporting about toying with Hands of Midas infantry. Thanks to the combined efforts of the defenders of Canterlot, they were now taking down the infantry quickly even if they had yet to take down a single Colossus. “It’s actually a bit of a challenge for my coordination skills. Looking left, blue, porpoise and upside down is a bit of a headache though.” Whoever planned this attack had a pretty good idea of what they were dealing with. They had kept Changelings from infiltrating them, but they didn’t stop Changelings from being useful now. Among the things they had prepared for the communications blackout could have been worse for Luna and Celestia, which explained why they wanted to take Chrysalis out by attacking her at the gala among trying to possibly achieve other agendas. It could have been worse had Chrysalis not been relaying information around through Changelings as a communications conduit for all of it, she was rather immobile while she was giving rapid fire orders to every single Changeling out there. They had certainly prepared for Discord, which was saying something about their preparations. Only the colossal machines were immune to Discord and those were the main threat here as they were putting up a major offensive against everything that attacked them. Whoever was the mastermind behind this was doing pretty well at putting the fear of themselves into everyone in the room by how well they planned this, so simply put Chrysalis was a little jealous that it wasn’t her causing said fear. “Can anyone think of a way through those shields?” Switching the tactics of her people she decided that the infantry were to be dealt with immediately before they can even begin dealing with the Colossus problem, she was giving orders to all Changelings to go for the unshielded people and to throw dirt in their eyes if they felt like it. “Our guys are having a lot of trouble getting through them, even if there’s no trouble with hitting them. Ones already made it here and it’s about to hit the barrier, I suggest everyone who knows how should brace it.” Celestia, Luna, along with their recently arrived niece Cadence and captain of the guard Shining Armor all lit their horns in unison as a giant palm pointed towards the barrier and let loose a beam of raw energy into it. The barrier held, but it probably wouldn’t hold under a concerted effort of three or more humanoid machines and it wouldn’t be long before a second and third started attacking the barrier around Canterlot Castle. In the corner away from everyone else was Twilight covering her head with her hooves and whimpering about her sudden ascension to princess, she was missing the battle that had begun around her. Right next to her were Spike and Moon Dancer trying to speak calming words. “Luna please stay here to watch the barrier, I’ll go get the elements of harmony!” Celestia left flying for the vault where she stashed the six elements that three ponies held, even if they couldn’t be used offensively to stop the colossal incursion then they would use them defensively. Twilight just became an Alicorn; as such Celestia wouldn’t risk losing her now on what was supposed to be a joyous occasion. - “Entering combat area, Lightning wake up and get ready to start shooting. Fire when you think you have a good shot, because I’m going to be driving like a maniac and hope we don’t get hit when you do.” It also just occurred to Gilda that they might be shot at by friendly people if they didn’t make their presence known as helpful against the colossal machine. “Be aware that we might have friendly targets in the area that could accidentally mistake us for hostile.” “Stop worrying Big G, I’m not going to hit any civilians… though I might shoot at a Wonder Bolt on the principle of the matter.” Not that Lightning Dust would ever intentionally hit them, well not at the moment anyway. There was no mistake Lightning was quite hostile, but it did feel good to be the brains behind a gun again. “Alright let’s get this penguin rolling, one of those things is already attacking the castle and our paycheck is in there!” “It hasn’t noticed us yet. I sometimes wonder why the ponies can’t get funding for their military to have a heavy weapons division.” Gilda put her talons on the controls and tightened her grip, she then place right lions paw over the accelerator. “Then I realize how little they needed them up to this point, let’s knock this guy down.” - Rarity and Greta were within the barrier, but were just outside the gala room watching the large machine attack. It wasn’t like there were any better places they could go or be, given that going deeper in the castle meant that it could be collapsed on top of them if the barrier faltered anyway. They watched as the machine twisted its upper torso to the left before quickly turning to the right and thrusting out its left fist, the barrier was struck forcefully. It knocked the machine off balance when the barrier successfully held up to the impact its upper torso leaned backwards moderately. At that moment a ball of vibrant blue energy dropped into its chest and exploded violently causing its shields to fail for a second where a smaller sphere of energy followed that and ripped into it. It was knocked further backwards and started teetering a bit; the small shot almost toppled it. A rocket was fired by a Royal Guard from the castles roof and that was what finished the now falling machine that toppled over. The machine slammed into the ground violently and its shoulders ruptured setting off the explosive held in them blowing off both its arms and its legs were bent entirely out of shape. Its legs became rather twisted; the resulting wreckage looked like a pretzel put through a wood chipper. “Where did that shot come from?” Looking about Rarity didn’t see any weapons that could create an energy blast that powerful. In fact the P-wings were doing the most damage despite being shot down near constantly. P-wings or Pegasus designed fighters were made to be used by any race of pony; they looked like P’s from the side and were dart like fighters that moved through the air swiftly while in atmospheric conditions thanks rounded wings at the back. They lacked proper shielding, but made up for it in maneuverability that led them to being excellent interceptor class fighters which meant they were exceptionally good against other fighters. They clearly weren’t made to fight giant robots, though they could be armed with heavier munitions in a pinch. “That looked like… I guess Gilda is here. What did she make though? She sent me some schematics earlier, but I didn’t think she could build it that quickly! Unless she was in the middle of working on it when she sent me the data she wanted me to look at.” Taking to the air and flying high enough under the barrier to get a good look at what had shot the machine; she saw it and landed next to Rarity pointing straight for it as it drove around. “There it is Rarity; I think that’s what Gilda has been working on… and by the looks of it she had been at it all week.” “She built a tank… in less than a week… she built a tank! When are we ever going to need a tank? Well I mean aside from now that is, I mean really now… a tank!?” The tank Rarity had pointed out to her had a wingless griffon style motif going for it, looked like to be part armored personnel carrier. “What reason could she have had to even see a need to build something like this?” “I wouldn’t know the reason, as I actually expected her to build a walker, it does seem pretty fitting for Gilda. It looks like it has variable capability, though the fuel consumption for that thing must suck. I hope she wasn’t stupid enough to make the variables capable of making a conversion from fuel to energy with them.” Greta watched as the tank fired a moderate size ball of energy and it blew a hole in the downed machine sending parts of it scattering everywhere. Her eyes narrowed at the tank after watching it fire, anyone who saw what she had would know the tank had a problem. “That idiot, how could she get the wires crossed on the tank and not know what the problem is to fix it!” “What’s the matter Greta dear? The tank looks perfectly capable, well in as far as it’s not an equestrian party tank and thank goodness that it is not.” Why Rarity would practically cringe if Gilda built a party tank, party tanks existed in Equestria and they weren’t useful for combat aside from having a thick shell. It was an unfortunate problem that Equestria doesn’t have an armored division, but Rarity certainly did as of right now even if it was relegated to one tank. That was more than Celestia or Luna could say they’ve ever had, then again they were about air superiority. The Bombing Peregrine had one large energy cannon on it and two small turrets at the side. The most interesting feature was how fast it was moving despite its size. It was four wheeled and those wheels were as armored as the rest of the tank, covered protectively with what looked to be stylized griffon talons and lion paws at the front and back. It rolled up to the castle and came to a stop outside the barrier. “Hey boss lady you still in there, the Kitten is flipping out up there and worried about you. You’d think she’d be more worried about me making an orbital drop in a tank.” The tank couldn’t move closer, but Gilda’s voice was heard clearly and she sounded oddly jealous of the attention Rarity received from Opal. “Oh and Greta, if you’re here and can hear this… I actually managed to land this thing perfectly. You know that’s a first for me, I must be getting better!” “Who are you and to whom is this boss lady you speak of? Identify yourself!” If Luna could speak louder she would, but she would rather not cause deafness in the ponies nearest to her as she walked out. Hearing this made Rarity and Greta go running towards her to prevent an incident. “This is Gilda G. Gottfrieda. Tell the princess to let us through if you’re in there Rarity.” The loudspeaker was a nice touch on the tank, even if it wasn’t very useful in space. She put a lot of time and effort into it, the cup holders were a bit excessive as was the water cooler that delivered fresh water via water condenser and the microwave could be run off the tanks energy source. Gilda went for convenience and had plenty of spare parts to add said conveniences, now if only she could install a small refrigerator she’d be in business for a comfortable combat machine. “Please let her through Princess Luna, she works for me though I’m particularly shocked at the moment by what she’s recently been up to.” Rarity came up to the gathered royals and Luna nodded, the barrier parted slightly creating a hole large enough for the tank to swiftly roll on through and up to them before closing up once more. “Nice to see you’re alright boss lady!” The tank with the griffon face design on the front swiftly spun around creating tracks wherever it moved and the rear end of the vehicle opened up by the vacuum sealed door unlocking and dropping down to form a ramp. Gilda walked down the ramp a second later with an amused smirk. “So, how do you like The Bombing Peregrine?” “Still think it’s more of a Plucky Penguin.” Lightning could be faintly heard mumbling from inside the tank and moving the turret to track the distant Colossuses closing in. “She’s beautiful for the most part, but the part where the shields drop when you fire the main gun is kind of a huge sticking point and a design flaw.” Tanks were not a specialty of Greta’s, but they weren’t Gilda’s either and she built a working one with a chargeable energy cannon that was obviously quite powerful. However shooting said cannon dropped the shields immediately upon every single shot it fired, whether it was a charged up shot or not. “Also please tell me you can’t switch the variables over to energy propulsion because that would be plainly idiotic on top of the shielding system you have going on right now. Not to mention there would be other problems with using energy based propulsion systems on a tank that is not necessarily made for aerial maneuvers is also bad. The fact that you’ve even managed to land this thing is a miracle, I will however say that I missed you Gilda.” “I can’t say I share the same sentiment, but I can see where you’re coming from Greta. There’s a reason I haven’t removed the design flaw yet and I don’t think we have the time to do so at the moment or explain why the flaw even exists in the first place.” She looked into the city and saw the nine machines still slowly plodding along through the city and two were getting closer by the minute. “You know, since we’ve got more pressing matters and my tank seems to be the only thing that can put a hole in their shields, even if temporarily at that with a full charge. I suggest we discuss this matter later.” “Yes, let us focus more on the more danger at hoof!” Interjected a slightly annoyed Luna, what was annoying her was that she didn’t get a chance to finish ironing her towels so she could use them and she was stuck defending the castle until Celestia got back with the elements. “Danger that requires the power of rubber ducks and towels to defeat, that is the true weakness of giant robots! We would use banana peels, but Celestia says that I am still not allowed to eat bananas after what happened last time a thousand years ago. That was the night I became Nightmare Moon… I really shouldn’t have eaten that entire bushel in one go.” “Hold that thought for one second if you will you Princess Luna… YOU BUILT A TANK IN LESS THAN A WEEK!” Rarity’s eruption caused everyone to slowly reel back. Whether it was in shock from the news that Gilda had apparently built the tank in less than a week or that Rarity was telling Luna to ignore the dangerous machines still making their way towards the castle. There were still nine of them standing after all. “Yes, built, tested and… well haven’t actually entirely put it through its paces yet, but at least the cannon didn’t violently explode when it was fired so that’s good. We are going to do the paces now after having survived a rather hectic orbital drop. Those eight flak missiles were more than I ever wanted shot at me for one lifetime.” The bland tone Gilda used became a bit sardonic. Flak missiles were even more dangerous in space because the explosives they released were harder to dodge. “So if you could speed it up on what you want and stop freaking out over the tank, I would like to get to business and get out there to blow the other nine threats apart. Maybe convince the princess to have us seen as allies and not be shot at by the people we’re trying to help?” “Yes, well, it is just simply amazing what you do with your time darling. What’s your secret?” Rarity didn’t think she could be more impressed given the tank was aesthetically pleasing as it was functional in its powerful energy cannon that wasn’t very long. “Coffee, lot’s of it. Oh and sleep deprivation, can’t forget that. Now if you will excuse me, can you tell your people to not shoot at us while we’re helping them? Good thanks!” Gilda didn’t even wait for a reply and ran off back into the tank and barely closed up the rear ramp before driving off towards the barrier at full speed. Luna shook her head and turned back to the castle to tell Chrysalis that they had the assistance of the Shining Jewel estate; the tank was going to be pretty helpful. In the distance the seventh Colossus toppled into the streets of Canterlot and exploded. - “Yeah, we did it, we got one!” It was rather incredible, the fire haired Spitfire Flare was joyous in the victory over at least one of those things. After summarily having her P-wing shot out from under her, she found two noted heroes and took to working with them in bringing at least one Colossus down. It was a rough effort of three mares distracting the machine from catching them in its hands or being shot by blasts of powerful energy from said hands. Mare-Do-Well looked at the wired that was melted by the explosion and shook her head, now they needed to get another one before they could go after another giant and that was a big problem. “Don’t celebrate yet, even Mare-Do-Well can see we just lost the wire we used to just bring down one of them. We need more!” A nearby building was destroyed and as one of the robots smashed it out of the way, Daring Do didn’t like the damage being done to the city nor did she like the fact that civilians were still trying to get to shelter. “Right, Changeling, we need a Changeling here, we have information to relay to all other units in combat!” Even having been forced to eject Spitfire didn’t cower or quite even in insurmountable odds. “Here… over here, help me!” A voice shouted out from among the rubble immediately. They found a Changeling with one wing missing and his body shot to hell and full of holes, well more holes than an average Changeling tended to have and those orifices weren’t usually used for recreational purposes. Half of one of his rear legs was missing, likely vaporized by a Colossus’s palm blaster, but he was still alive and had been brought down after being shot multiple times. “You’re going to be a hero, what’s your name soldier?” Spitfire started to pull back the rubble and was quickly aided by Mare-Do-Well and Daring Do. The Changeling was found lying near a lot of dead bodies of various races, he had apparently survived this long even if he was slowly losing the light in his eyes. “Private Privates… Captain Spitfire.” Private Privates wasn’t even the worst Changeling name Spitfire had ever heard. “Am I… going to make it ma’am?” “You have three heroes with you, what do you think solder?!” The livid Spitfire got into his face to declare proudly and boastfully. This Changeling certainly gave a part of one of his limb for the cause; she was going to go to hell and back to stop his life from meeting the same fate. She would exaggerate a little to give him the confidence needed to keep breathing. “Live or so help me I will become a necromancer and raise you from the dead to make your life a living nightmare you maggot, do you hear me?! Now listen to the message I want you to deliver!” “Yes ma’am… if I must say you sounded almost like the queen for a second there.” All Changelings knew of Chrysalis’s motivational speeches and seminars on how to torture someone in cruel and awesome ways, some light came back into his eyes as he was helped up. “She would have threatened to also use a blender on top of that ma’am!” - “Damn it all, how can we be losing? Someone get Discord collared again and stop them from taking out our support units, the mighty Hands of Midas will not go down without a fight!” The shadowy figure glared at all the peons running around and continued to push the Colossus to move forward faster, they might have had a few flaws but they were built to survive heavy punishment and they had just about effectively shot down ever P-wing Canterlot had. “We cannot falter now; we must show them how the hands of gold will touch them all! We must take down the corrupt nobles and we must take control of the princesses, the hands shall rule with an iron fists!” The colossus clenched its left fist before punch opening it and blasting several running earth ponies that dropped their rocket launchers to evade the deadly beam. The Hands of Midas were losing infantry fast and the shadowy figure wasn’t happy that things weren’t going entirely to plan given they figure that twenty four soldiers could have at least handled Chrysalis, but the ‘Colossuses of Roads’ were performing as expected and quite admirably at that only two had been taken down so far. The eight that were left were pulverizing builds and pushing through hundreds of explosions threatening to take them down. “Once this all over with, I can finally achieve my dreams.” The figure pushed forward, knowing that what they were doing was horrible. The figure made their ultimate decision to press forward in spite of an unsure future. “I know I might die today, but we can be together when you eventually die too… I’m sorry for all of this Bonny, but this needed to be done after what they did!” The Colossus continued marching forward under extreme amounts of fire causing a slew of death, pain and suffering. The reason behind the assault was still shrouded in shadows; there was a future that was looking entirely bleak for the leader piloting their own personal Colossus. The shadowy figure hoped to at least achieve the death of various certain parties and they were determined to continue the fight even if their machine went down, even if their body was broken by the end of it. The leader of the Hands of Midas would have their revenge! Author's Note Pretty big hint as to who the leader is, you would probably figure it out after reading a particular sentence this chapter. I didn't exactly check my writing this time... oh well. Yes, Gilda built a tank, but it's not a normal tank either as there is a whole lot 'more than meets the eye' to it. -51-“Information is coming in… yes, that’ll definitely help tell them they have given us a good leg up on those machine Mr. Privates. Thank them for me if you will, now to spread the word.” Chrysalis just stood where she was in the greeting room or foyer commanding the forces personally. “Everyone, they are not immune to sticky bombs or strong wires, I repeat break out the magnetized explosive! Sure the shields may eat up a lot of the explosion, but they will start taking lots of damage and if you can knock them over then it is that much better.” “Tell them to watch for the tank with a griffon designs on it as well while you are at it.” Luna trotted up to Chrysalis who looked to be having a good time commanding all three forces. “They are allies and they can help knock over the machines, how has dealing with the fodder been going?” “Not much fodder left to shoot at, they were running low on everything and our forces are still doing moderately well. Lots of severe injuries, casualties and the like, but we’re coming out of this a lot better than they are.” Chrysalis disconnected for a second to give herself some time to rest. “Now all we have to do is take down the eight walkers and we have a victory, no civilian casualties so far but there are a lot of injuries being reported in and I’m having them flown out of the area. A lot businesses are going to be needing monetary help soon, given they’ve knocked down a few business districts as well as quite a few homes, some even seem to be focused on ripping apart noble houses. I’ve already sent changelings to pull the maids and servants out of there.” “I’m surprised that you can actually care about ponies.” Not that Luna had any problems with it. “Oh I don’t care that much really; well except for finding someone who will actually sleep with me that is up to meeting my standards. It’s just a really good political move to be seen as a good friend to ponies so that they can’t blame me for anything I could do later.” Chrysalis could think faster than most ponies gave her credit for, she didn’t need a hive mind when she already had a brilliant mind to begin with. The ability to connect to almost all Changelings at once was just a bonus of being a queen. Normal Changelings, like Chrysalis had once been, had a limited range on how far they could connect to other Changelings and each had a limit on how many they could connect to at once. “Since I’m leaving the planet soon, I figured I need some really good PR to make sure that the nobles don’t try anything as soon as I leave. I also have several contingencies in place in case they try to do something anyway; all of them are well within the law. I’ll have Thorax talk to you about that and even show you the plans to take over Equestria legally while still technically under your rule. It’s quite devious I assure you.” “Yes, I’m quite sure that you will ruin them within the rules of our laws… again.” Luna would still consider Chrysalis a friend, if a very unusual callous one who made for a great politician of the vilest sort. “Of that I can certainly have no doubt. Though I’m surprised you’re willing to leave us ultimately in power.” “What can I say, you’re my best friends and you grew on me.” Blushing Chrysalis looked away from Luna and reconnected with her Changelings. - The Bombing Peregrine skidded around the corner and rolled forward at an impressive speed and made its way towards the Colossus. It came to a stop and Lightning in the seat behind the cannon angled it upwards and fire two shots, the first charged blast caused the large machine to lose its shield for a few seconds before it lost its left arm to the smaller following shot causing it to stumble backwards a bit. The machine raised it’s right arm to fired a beam directly at the tank as it’s shield popped back to the life, the tank leapt into the air hovered sideways out of the way of the blast. The tank charged and fired to more rapid shots that directly impacted into the chest which was followed up by several rockets being fired by the friendly ground forces, the machine slowly started to lose its balance as one of its legs left the ground. It was peppered with a ton of smaller shots and rockets until it collapsed onto its back and the shield genitor and other shoulder ruptured causing it to be taken out of the fight. There were seven titans left. “Right, we’re moving on to the next target. Don’t shoot; I’m taking us into the air to scope it out.” The tank leapt up into the air and swerved so that it could get bead on the next target while avoiding the massive beam aimed at it, it quickly landed in the streets and landed going full throttle. “Got the next target Lightning, let us go get it! It’s going to be on our right.” “Roger that, but what I don’t understand is why our cannon is ripping apart their shields when everything else isn’t Big G.” The tank shot down the street and Lightning swift turned the short cannon to the right and saw the next target they were coming up on. It wouldn’t be able to reach the castle they came into the open and the machined aimed both its palms their way. “Gilda punch it, they’re targeting us!” The tank shot forward using all the variable thrusters to speed up its movement and barely avoiding the second beam scorching the shields at the rear of the tank before it fired off two shots, the damage of the second smaller spherical energy shot didn’t hit anything nearly as important this time. “It’s why we can’t have the shields active ourselves when you shoot, the cannon is engineered to fire both raw energy along ionized particle pulses which is why the shots looks like they do. That’s why it is giving off that odd blue glow despite the main portion of the shot being orange.” The tank had swerved to the right down the street and took another right to get behind the Colossus which had lost sight of them. “In essence the cannon you are wielding is made to disrupt energy fields alongside doing a lot of damage. This unfortunately includes losing our shields whenever it is fired; the pulse is why it even follows a gravity curvature. Just be thankful that I at least engineer our shields to come back up relatively quickly.” “Right, I didn’t even understand half of that except gun makes shields go away!” Lightning released and pulled the trigger twice, putting both rounds into the shield generator on the things back, the upper torso quickly spun around and fired with its left hand. The blast rocked the front half of the tank as it turned away to get out of range of the attack. “Darn it we’ve been hit, what’s the damage?” “It didn’t hit anything important; we just lost the use of the microwave… remind me to install a microwave laser option into the cannon later.” Gilda sent the tank rolling away as a second beam chased them down the road and she made the Tank drift around a corner avoiding another hit. “Those things are actually pretty powerful, but their design leaves something to be desired.” “Yeah, but we just totaled the shield generator on it, so it should be going down soon.” Looking through the cannon and aiming in the direction of the Colossus, they came out on a street to the right of its upper torso. Only now it was warped into a giant flower holding a basket of Hands of Midas soldiers, Lightning shuddered as she saw Discord playing with them. “Right where’s our next target? Those guys are Discords territory now and I don’t want to go anywhere near them or him! I’ve met him once and I don’t want to be reminded of that incident.” “Right, I’ll announce it out loud that without the shield generators they have no arcane protection.” The tank flew up and off into the air searching for its next target, it avoided taking a flak missile with a well timed mid air roll that burned through more fuel. “Damn it, shouldn’t they have run out of those by now! Our variable jets are halfway out of fuel; I’m going to take Greta’s words that we should switch over to energy to utilize them. Our smaller turrets aren’t going to be very useful against those things, if you were wondering why I deactivated them and we almost took a flak missile to the face.” - “That’s four down, two confirmed kills for Gilda and her tank at the least and one flower monster that is picking Hands of Midas people. Six left… no make that five.” Greta just saw one of the machines step forward, lurched, then fall onto its face creating a large explosion. They were watching it from the freshly fixed ballroom windows. “It looks like things are going good out there, though there aren’t many P-wings left in the air and they aren’t doing so hot. I can count that many on my talons at the least.” “Well it’s good to know that things are well handled, it seems the Royal Guard isn’t entirely hopeless in a close up fight after all, well at least not while they have assistance of the Night Guard and the Changelings.” Rarity was snacking on a crackers slathered in cheese, she also enjoyed some punch and smiled. “Yeah now if only someone could get rid of those jamming devices, then we could contact Opal to let her know you’re doing fine.” Greta felt a little awkward to just be standing around and eating while Gilda was out there in the middle of danger, but it did look like she was enjoying herself considering another machine went down to huge blast of energy. She smiled and put her mind to a different avenue of thought. “I wonder, are those energy blasts loaded with ionized particles? Well that would certainly explain the problem with the shields. I could probably modify the shields themselves to stay up during the firing process; it’s quite a technical issue to work on later. Well, if our tank survives more than a few direct hits.” “Quite right, I feel kind of awful just sitting here on the sidelines, but what can we do?” Rarity shrugged as she was considering their options, nope there weren’t any options to consider aside from staying put and safe where they were. “Excuse me Lady Belle, but did I hear you right?” Fancy Pants made his way over to them, he had nothing better to do as he already done his rounds and he found Rarity and Greta sitting together watching the ‘fireworks’ in the distance so to speak. “That the tank that recently left here was yours personally?” “Oh hello there Lord Pants, I would like to thank you for your advice earlier. Also yes that tank is a recent addition to the Shining Jewel estate, orbital drop capable considering how it got here so fast. My people have a certain protective streak it would seem.” At least a few good things came of this night, she wasn’t able to find a social circle or a nice stallion for herself that she was willing to spend a lot of time with, but she at least made a few friends. “I may be in the fashion industry as a business, but I do have people that like to innovate outside what is normal and one of them just happened to build that tank… in less than a week. It was this very week no less, which is as much a surprise to me as it will be to anyone who hears it.” “Quite surprising indeed, I was wondering where that came from as Equestria’s military has been sadly lacking. For quite a long time really, it’s even surprising to see that they are still putting up a fight out there and it is quite embarrassing how we were caught off guard like this.” Fancy was just making idle conversation while waiting for Fleur as he watched another Colossus fall, there were now four. Three of which were close to one another and one that was too far away and isolated, he supposed that one was the next to fall. “Sure we have a monopoly on space combat and fighter production, but on the ground we’re quite behind as far as our protective forces are concerned. I would think to petition Celestia for increasing our forces, aside from the samurai.” “Speaking of samurai, where are all the samurai that are still in the city? I mean they can’t be possibly be missing all this right?” At Greta’s question the isolated machine suddenly lost its arms as they fell off, then the legs started to fall into pieces. It started to fall entirely apart when several small equine figures in the morning light leapt towards it; with only the flash of their glowing blades to let everyone know that they were there. “Oh, well, ask a silly question.” Celestia was raising the sun and with it came the samurai, who had been busy escorting ponies to shelter and they were rightfully pissed off enough to slice a single Colossus apart even if the arcane shields blunted most of the magic put into their attacks, it didn’t stop the rest of the force behind them. “I believe it is time to talk business, I would like to commission a dress… of course now might not be the best time to talk about it.” Snorting as she made her way over to them, Fleur saw the first rays of light shining down upon the last three machines. - “Damn it! The samurai just became active, if we’re going down then we’re going down fighting!” The madness of the leader of The Hand of Midas was not going to end until her Colossus was totaled, the three of them still had forces on the ground and they were doing the best out of everyone else. All the other Colossus units and requisite infantry had been taken down. “All units aim at the castle and fire!” All three of the machines raised their palms together and fired six beams at the castle only for a magical glow to overtake it and protect the castle from damage entirely. The elements of harmony were in effect and were effectively making an impenetrable barrier. - Celestia, Luna and Twilight were floating and the castle the barrier had grown that much stronger with the three friends working together to keep the castle standing. Their eyes glowed with white light and Celestia had taken the opportunity to set the sun in the right position while all this power was coursing through her. “Canterlot will not fall this day, let us heal all of our little ponies who have been injured by the fighting. What say you two?” The two other mares turned to Celestia, Luna nodded and Twilight looked a little out of it but she was there with them in spirit. “I agree, we shall help our people stay strong.” Luna closed her eyes and felt the power coursing through her, it had been a while since she felt this good, it felt right to be excessively generous with the power they had. To keep it for their selves was a bad idea anyway; it had to be used for the sake of harmony once activated. “I’m sure Twilight does too. Though she feels she does not deserve her ascension to Alicorn, we wholeheartedly welcome her as one of us!” The castle erupted in a shockwave, while the rebuilding would take some time and the city couldn’t magically be fixed. The causalities wouldn’t be as bad when those fighting were being helped by whatever magic the three holders of the harmony elements could give them. They kept the power from turning Discord to stone again, because he was actually doing a good job at being chaotically helpful. Cadence and Shining were in charge of keeping the barrier standing after the three other princesses, slowly lost consciousness from using so much power. - “That felt strange… yet comforting even. Was that the power of Generosity? ” Rarity felt the wave of energy flow through her and her stitched up wounds stopped aching. She still had to get the stitches removed, but otherwise she felt several levels better than she had a few seconds ago. - “Holy crap is this what undying loyalty to the princesses feel like?” The still slightly malnourished Lightning sat up straighter in her seat and her eyes narrowed as they drove closer to the three remaining Colossuses. “Get your head in the game Lightning; we’re closing in on the remaining targets. The center one seems to be the leader.” Gilda was on a direct path for the middle one and she wanted to do something glorious again, the trouble at Ewesen had not been nearly enough to sate her appetite for violence and incredible odds. “So we’re going to be responsible for that one! Whoa, it seems like they still have some fighters on the ground and they have rocket launchers.” The tank swerved around several rockets fired by a few Hands of Midas goons, before going down a different street. The tank was a bit big for the still standing buildings it fled between, but it worked out well enough. However coming back out onto the street on the other side, the tank was picked up in the grip of the machine and squeezed. The tank strained against the pressure the hand was putting on it. “Damn it they got us, what do you we do Big G. If I shoot then we’re going get hurt at this range if anything explodes.” Lightning was quite right, firing would not only drop their shields, but at this range if the Colossus were to explode while holding them it would be a bad thing. “Also if they fire the palm beam thing at us now, we’re going to get fried if the shields don’t hold!” “Hold on, I’ll think of something!” There were options to consider, Gilda never thought one of these giant metal slowpokes could even catch her tank like this one just did or even pick it up off the ground. “Might have to use that option… what the… prepare to fire a shot Lightning.” “Why, do you have some kind of amazing plan? The cannon is beginning to get a little uncomfortable up here Big G and I get crushed how well do you think you’re going to do seconds after?” There was a groaning creak and Lightning looked around herself warily. “Just charge a shot, we’re about to get some help.” Gilda looked down at the palm of the machine as it lit up and prepared to fire, she looked up to the sky. “Hope she has a good sense of timing on this, because I would know those colors anywhere.” - “This is reservists Rainbow Dash coming in hot; hope you giant metal mother buckers like the taste of missiles!” When the number of Colossuses causing problems started dropping Trap Bar ordered a full launch of all fighters, including the reservists in training. One of which was Rainbow Freaking Dash who immediately took off with her wing mates towards the planet ahead of everyone else, in her rainbow colored fighter. The three fighters boosted straight through a series of exploding flak missiles and launched several missiles personally that tore into an arm, a leg and impacted the middle torso of the machine holding Gilda’s tank. Thankfully the arm that was hit was the one holding the tank which caused it to drop towards the ground as a beam, flashed out into the airspace with the three fighters dodging around. “Yeah, you drop that… tank? Since when did we have combat tanks Wedge? I mean it’s totally awesome and everything, but nobody told me about that.” The tank blasted the machine as it fell from the hand. The griffon motif was a nice touch to Rainbow as it reminded her of someone she liked and it quickly rolled away and out of sight while being blasted at by more beams. “I don’t know, but we’re getting confirmation that’s it’s an ally. The Changelings and our ground forces are finally dealing with the jamming devices as we speak.” The three fighters swerved around to the leftwards Colossus and unleashed another round of missiles, this time they had an impact as several explosions ripped across the surface thanks to the explosives placed on it by Mare-Do-Well, Spitfire and Daring Do. The results were that the machine slowly started to lose the ability to stand upright. “How are you doing Large, you took a nasty hit there.” “I can still fly, shields are a bit down, but I’m good for it as long as I’m not directly hit by flak missile.” The three fighters swerved in a slow arc around to shooting at the Colossus on the far left. The ship to the right of Rainbow’s wing wiggled slightly. “Let’s distract them from attacking our ground teams and give them something to really shoot at!” “I hear that! Round three right into its back guys!” All three fighters launched missiles and they actually managed to destroy the shield generator on the Colossus, which was soon to be destroyed by various rockets impacting it from all sides from various forces of Changeling, Thestral and Royal Guard. “I’m so sad that we were late to this party, I’m usually faster than this!” Rainbow Dash gave a whoop of joy as she brought her two friends into a barrel roll while performing an aileron spin to avoid several crossing beams from the three Colossuses. - On the ground Gilda have moved the tank out of the way to prepare for something a little special. She hadn’t exactly told Lightning about this little feature yet, but it would help fix the minor problems caused by the sudden squeeze the tank went through. It’s why she named a tank The Bombing Peregrine. It was fast, it was light and the tank had the unique feature of being able to switch its weapons around a bit. “You sure it’s not working?” Gilda just asked for clarification as she flipped several switches to prepare the tank for conversion. “Of course it’s not working; it’s been bent out of shape!” Lightning yelled back. “Well be prepared to be amazed as I give you a different weapon to work with, I hope this feature works as well as I hope it does. Or else I actually will rename this tank to the Cuddly Penguin. We’re switching over to Peregrine mode and I hope we both can handle the speeds this thing will be moving at when I do.” The tank shifted a bit as the some of the armor peeled away from the solid metal wheels that shifted upwards and the claws that covered the front of the wheels suddenly became part of the legs that were now forming, the flat face at the front of the tank became far more pronounced. Balancing on its front two legs the entire tank stretched out and turned into a lion like machine standing on four legs when the rear two finally started forming with the tough metal wheels acting joints. It didn’t have a tail, but it didn’t exactly need one. “What in the world, when in the hell was this tank capable of being a walker?” Lightning said as her round turret spun one hundred and eighty degrees by itself and then her chair did the same as two long beam cannons popped out, she was now part of the butt end of the tank and at the front two large bars of variable thrusters popped up out of the back after having stretched in to its new form. “Oh always… but there’s a few key differences, this mode doesn’t have a shield system as it redirects all the energy to the cannons which might I add are not test, also it flies better than the bomber mode. I tested that personally whenever you went to sleep by flying it around The Shining Jewel, only Opal is aware that it can do this. It can’t fly forever but as dive bombing walker? It works pretty well, just don’t hit the variable covered wings.” Gilda smirk as she turned the machine around, she was going to test out the melee function of this thing. “I hope Greta’s heat sinks can handle what I’m about to do to the claws.” - “Oh my goodness she’s actually using it, that is so awesome, go Gilda go!” Opal started waving little flags around on screen the crew was watching and they both had Gilda’s face imprinted on them. The rest of the crew was watching the tank gallop from around the corner and leapt at the Colossus while firing two brilliant beams of green before slamming into almost causing it to topple. The machine climbed its way up one of the legs and then clawed its way up the back, before preparing one of its claws to swipe the machines neck. The claws started glowing white hot before it slashed the head right off the machine. “I don’t think Lion Heart can beat something that’s real like that!” Opal would continue her joyous tirade, but the crew didn’t mind they were celebrating with her. - “Yes, the melt claws held together, score one for griffon ingenuity! I could even kiss Greta for that.” Gilda barked out with laughter as she rode the toppling machine to the ground before launching off at the last moment to fly skywards on the two bar like wings loaded with variable thrusters and once she flew high enough to avoid getting struck in butt with the flak missiles she turned it towards the remaining Colossus which was firing flak missiles frantically. “This is going to use all the fuel we have left. It is still so worth it to show you, that this is why I call it The Bombing Peregrine!” - “No, no, no, no this can’t be happening!” The leader of the Hands of Midas was frantically trying to take whatever the hell that armored monstrosity was out and it was effectively flying higher out of the path of the missiles avoiding the explosives they released. Once it was done being chased by the missiles, it turned back towards and started into a dive right on top of her with its front two talons like claws glowing brightly. The Colossus was shot several times by the twin beam cannons before it got rammed claws first by the diving griffon faced machine. The shields held up to the cannons, but they were overpowered by the claws were about to strike the Colossus, Lyra hit something to record herself. “I’m sorry Bonny, I couldn’t… I couldn’t get revenge for what they did to you. Your beloved lyre player, who was admittedly overly obsessed with hands, isn’t going to succeed in this endeavor no matter how many hands she thought she could throw at the problem. Maybe I, Lyra Heartstrings, can join you in your coma that ‘THEY’ caused? Just know that I will always love you Bon-bon Drops no matter what happens to me. Please... just wake up, even if I’m not going to be there to be the smiling face for you.” The last Colossus was toppled by a diving griffon face transforming tank, which ripped a hole into it. The Bombing Peregrine was the first of many things Gilda G. Gottfrieda would come up with and it wouldn’t be the last. It wasn’t a fighter or a real flying vehicle thanks to its ridiculous fuel consumption, but when she got around to building a fighter… it was definitely going beat her transforming tank in so many ways. - “Wow, so that’s why it was in dire need of heat sinks. Well aside from the cannon needing to use the heat sinks anyway.” Greta was quite impressed, Gilda may have needed her help on some more technical issues but what the tank was capable of was just plain nuts. “I certainly got what I paid for when I hired you and Gilda, then gave you the rights to Han Gar.” Was all Rarity could say as she sat there wide eyed, both Fancy and Fleur next to her were wide eyed as well. “Last night might have been a horrible affair into the world of nobles, but I feel like today is going to be a lot better. Well aside from doing a lot of volunteer work to help clean up this mess.” Author's Note Well that happened, what can I come up with next? More dark stuff that's for sure, but I still have to close out of Equus. -52-Gilda looked about for any other trouble, fighting could still be heard in the distance, but those were probably the holdouts. Nodding to herself she steered The Bombing Peregrine about and turned it around so that it pointed towards the castle, she flicked a few switches and the walking tank began its conversion process back into a rolling one. Said process involved the rear legs becoming wheels first using the front legs to hold the rear into the air slightly and then the front end would lift itself off the ground while the tank sat on its rear wheels, then the front end changed and gravity did the rest. The tank lowered its two bars covered in variable thrusters flat against its back and then the stretched out mid section closed up shrinking the tank back to its original form, the turret swung around and the main cannon was back in place after the two beam cannon barrels were back in. The two smaller single barreled defense turrets were the last things to come out on the left and right sides of the tank from the belly of the beast. “Right it looks like we’re done here; all that’s left is the cleanup. How you doing up there Lightning? You are a being a bit quiet.” Like oil and fire Gilda got along with Lightning, hearing her being quiet or not being crass made her wonder if her gunner was out cold. “Setting defensive turrets to fire automatically on incoming explosives, but I think we’re all out of action here and are now safe to resume our lazy lives. Well, unless one of those idiots in the guard was tempted to shoot at us with a rocket. Then I’m all game for a game of turkey shoot, provided they play the turkey.” “That was totally wicked. Bar none that was the most awesome thing I’ve ever done! Well I have flown with the Wonder Bolts… for a bit anyway. Yeah I’m good up here Big G, this thing is freaking cool! You don’t see big girl toys like this in the service.” At first Lightning sound flat and then her excitement started ramping up as she spoke. “Sorry, but it just took a while for my brain to catch up with what we just did. Quick question, are you sure this thing is not space capable or meant to be use anywhere outside of atmospheric conditions?” “As fast as it might be on the ground or with the variable bars in the air, The Bombing Peregrine would do poorly in space even if it can make an orbital drop safely. I built it for the express purpose of ground combat, creature comforts and carrying the Boss Lady’s stuff should she ever have a need to sell her wares in dangerous territory. At this point, I really wouldn’t put it past her how often she runs into danger.” Snickering loudly in jovial manner, Gilda steered the tank back on the road leading directly up to the castle. “The current design of the weapons on this baby has the unfortunate side effect of rendering installing an impulse engine a useless endeavor. It is in relation to the reason that the shields drop when firing the main cannon. We’re going to need to figure out how to get it back up into space, because I’m not leaving it down here after working so hard on it.” “What’s the bright side to this thing if it can’t be used in space effectively? You know, where we’re likely to be a lot of the time.” Reclining her seat Lightning put her hooves behind her head and her eyes started to droop, she still needed to catch up on her sleep. She yawned and closed her eyes for a bit. “The bright side is, the reason that I can’t install an impulse engine is the same reason that this thing makes impulse engines on other things quite inoperable. Imagine you’re in a fighter and you’re trying to board the Shining Jewel, get hit with the main cannon of this thing while in tank mode and one of three things will happen to the fighter it shoots.” To Gilda, The Bombing Peregrine wasn’t supposed to be a fighter; it was supposed to be home or internal defense. It couldn’t see action very far away from The Shining Jewel, but it didn’t need to if it was used on the defensive. The griffon yawned as well given their poor wakeup call; they could use some time to finish sleeping after they ran out of adrenaline. “This baby is all about personal home defense and the wheels are made to be magnetized so it can roll along the surface of the Shining Jewel. It’ll disable a fighter’s weapons and flight, knock out its shields or will just plain pulverize the ship. Those three end goals are what the main cannon happens to be all about, making it partly not lethal depending on how it’s used and very much useful as an anti-air weapon that doesn’t rely on target locking weaponry such as missiles. If you couldn’t tell, the four legged or crawler mode is specifically geared for more lethal actions. Especially useful when we absolutely want to kill someone or get more aerial maneuverability in exchange for a large drop in ground speed.” “Okay, leave the egghead stuff to the egghead, got it! Can I get some winks now?” Not waiting for an answer Lightning was already halfway there to begin with. “You might as well, let’s park outside the castle.” The only answer Gilda received was snoring and she shook her head, she slowly moved the tank up to the shield protecting the castle. She called out over the speakers. “Let us in so we can park this thing, we’re tired and we need to finish sleeping. Didn’t get enough of that before we were called down here and you don’t want a cranky griffon to shoot wildly at everything.” They were swiftly let in and things started to quiet down as Gilda crawled into a hammock in the main room of the tank. The animals that lived around the castle started to shyly come out after the violence started to peter out all over Canterlot. The defenders had obviously won the day and a good long rest as well. - “The elements of harmony worked on the Changelings with injuries, good to know that the magic of those trinkets is morally sound.” Stretching out her spine with a pop, Chrysalis moved over to Rarity and pulled out something to write on from her carapace. She passed the note over to Rarity who looked at it than at Chrysalis. “Go get some sleep; you’ve had a long night. We’ll do the interview this afternoon when you’re better willing. I’m looking forward to getting off this rock and finding a place for Changeling to set up a colony.” “Right, come along Greta. It appears Chrysalis is offering us a room in the Changeling embassy here at the castle. I would be remiss if I didn’t graciously take it as tired as I am from the horrible night I just had.” At Rarity’s words they left immediately leaving Chrysalis to move over to the trinity wielding the elements of harmony. “So…” Chrysalis started off to get a right hoof to the face by a tired looked Celestia that floored her immediately. She slowly stood back up with a slight wince and rubbed at her face with her left hoof. “You hit like a truck princess, one that can go all night long… which is basically what you did.” Chrysalis obviously had no survival instinct whatsoever or else she would have stopped antagonizing Celestia, said princess summarily hefted the queen up in her magic and started to repeatedly slam her into the floor in a very violent manner at different angles with every slam. “You are likely glad that I’m the element of kindness…” The rather royally raging Celestia muttered maliciously, emphasis on the royal and angry mare with the powers of the three pony races at her beck and call. “Yeah, sure… I’ll go with that.” Chrysalis flicked parts of her body and several bones snapped back into place she brought her hooves up to her head a gave it a jerk and with a loud cracking noise, it almost didn’t look like she had been injured at all. Only the faint bruises lining her body and tough fur covered carapace tells a different story. “You’re being quite kinky I’ll have you know.” “I had almost forgotten that you take any violence enacted against you as a sign that someone has an interest you.” If glares could kill, Celestia’s would have done so with one a long time ago. “I would like to clarify that I’m not happy with you at the moment.” “Understandable, I did make your student immortal, an Alicorn and now you have to live with her for the rest of eternity as the other Alicorn that isn’t your sister that you can cuddle for eternity as the element of loyalty who would willingly marry you at the drop of a hat.” Chrysalis sauntered with a slight limp up to Celestia with a smug smile. “So I’ll take you’re punishing blows as your way of saying thank you, could you maybe buck me in the barrel right about here, my spine could use a bit of realigning.” Celestia did so winding Chrysalis and causing another snapping sound to be heard coming from Chrysalis. The Changeling Queen though tough and quite flexible, could still feel pain and even seemed to take a dark form of joy from it. “Thank you, that was quite agonizing until you popped my spine back into its proper shape. I can see how you are kindness personified; you certainly have a gentle touch and couldn’t cause permanent harm to anyone.” There was a slight pause and a moment of awkwardness between them; Chrysalis didn’t have much else to say at the moment. Luna, Cadence and Shining were busy organizing the clean up already. “So time to start cleaning up and assessing the damage I take it?” “Yes, it is time to assess the damage and the casualties…” Celestia turned to look at a still slightly ragged Twilight who was still having a problem with her new wings. “Not all the damage done tonight was bad, but it came of a bad thing all the same.” “You needed to get laid more than I do; you’re a few thousand years out of practice and needed some cuddles.” Offhandedly stated Chrysalis who took the oncoming slap across the face with pride and a smile, she enjoyed fighting with Celestia. She probably became a bit too perky for the princesses taste when she asked. “Can we wrestle now?” “No, you really know how to take all the fun out of hurting you. A lot of Ponies and Changelings have been hurt, killed or worse last night. Now we need to find out why this happened and what caused this chain of events to occur.” A sullen Celestia trotted off leaving behind a puzzled Chrysalis. “On that note as of right now, I need some cake.” Chrysalis shrugged and started commanding the Changelings to do important things. Thing like picking up the still badly injured from both sides for hospitalization, capture all remaining Hands of Midas people alive if possible, securing the one that was called the leader and they needed to organize a fund to get the city back up on its legs. Some of the repair work could wait, since a major amount of damage was done to a number homes belonging to nobles and the nobles would surely enjoy having to rough it and camp out given that all the hotels were going to be booked for the commoners who lost their homes in the fighting. Why a noble would have to be an absolute asshole to kick those poor people out on the cold harsh street just to take their warm cozy, temporarily paid by the crown, room. In fact the nobles could get their homes back faster if they paid a modest sum into the city repair fund. Chrysalis was cackling and rubbing her hooves together, it took her a moment to realize what a villainous cliché she was holding up to. Then she decided to go get a fake mustache and start twirling it with her hoof, the mustache wasn’t attached to her face no, it was attached to a hat she was now wearing. Yes, fun could be had even in times of duress! - Later that day around noon, standing in front of a ruined building on restaurant row was Saffron looking sad with her braided mane spilling down the side of her neck. She cried in front of the building, a building that was now nothing but broken and shattered dreams. “It is okay we will find a way to continue living my daughter. It wasn’t like our business was doing all too well anyway.” Coriander trotted up and watched as his daughter jump holding the mask of Mare-Do-Well in her hooves and the costume on her body. The mare spun around and ran up to him and hugged him for all he was worth and snuggled into him. He gently reached up and hugged her to start patting her back. “There there, your mother would be proud of you Saffron as she was one of a long line of Mauve Mare-auders. You should know, she quit being a hero as soon as she knew she was pregnant with you as you were . It looks like you have picked up the habit on your mother’s side of the family by fighting your cutie mark and doing more than you were ever meant to. Stop crying, I’m fine, it is you who I am worried about. Also you might want to take off the costume before…” “Before someone comes along and finds out your secret identity, I just came over here on a hunch and its proven correct.” Now both the father and the daughter jumped and turned to Rarity who was out of her dress and au natural, she had made a quick stop to get her stitches removed and come to find a restaurant on the row that she happened to like was gone. Then again so were many of the other restaurants. “I just wanted to say thank you, for saving me at least twice Saffron. Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anyone, but you may want to get out of the costume. You don’t want to be confused for the actual Mare-Do-Well trying out a Nightmare Night costume now do we?” Saffron blushed and started to quickly discard her costume, well someone knew her secret and thankfully they were willing to keep it just that. That her father knew all along and didn’t question her about made her doubly embarrassed. “Do you have any place to be or are you both currently homeless?” It concerned Rarity, because she shared a meal with this mare not long ago and they were friends. The food had been delicious and she and Greta had a good time here, now it was all gone. “Though I hate to get my hooves dirty I think we should sift through the dirt to find some things that belonged to you.” “Yeah, that would be a good idea wouldn’t it? I don’t know where we’re going to go from here.” Saffron started forward while undoing her braid and started to piece apart the wreckage of the restaurant she was the head chef of and her father slowly joined in. Then the sound of help came running and it showed it to be Rover, Rarity had personally asked for his assistance in digging out the buried things. When it came to getting her hooves dirty, she’d rather get Rover to do it for her so she didn’t have to worry about getting all icky. “Rover is being here and is finding you okay, what is Rover to be digging to get away from scary alpha predator!” Rover was talking about Bernard as the fake rabbit scared him more than Trapeze’s angry face, if one would remember the rabbit takes down predators at least three or more times his size with ease. “Okay I would like for you to help dig through the rubble and this is a very important thing Rover… you must do it slowly and do not damage anything that might belong to a pony.” Magically grabbing the dog by the ears she pulled him down to eye level with her. “I want you to carefully set said things off to the side in a pile, do you understand me? Do not break anything important. Now help those two find their things! I have an offer to make them and it would go a long way if we could have them onboard, we need someone to cook for the crew as we’re not going to survive on fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches forever. I’m looking to hire these two fine culinary experts who don’t have a place to go at the moment and we could use their cooking skills. We are helping them, the two right there, out of the goodness of our hearts. Do you understand me Mr. Rover?!” “Rover understands boss lady pony wants to build pack from those needing pack!” Here Rover took on a serious look. “I can be being the careful for such important work, I good digger and will dig as asked! Look for items that are not jewels this time, items belonging to two potential pack members after big battle collapsed their above ground cave.” “Good, now, I will personally watch you work to make sure you don’t mess anything up.” Walking over to the rubble, Rarity saw something on the ground that looked like a picture frame. It looked rather important given it had a family of three in it. “Hey Saffron, is this your mother? She’s quite beautiful; I wonder if I will ever look that good when I get to that age.” The two quickly ran over to look at the picture Rarity found, it was a start to getting their lives back in order and Rarity would make her offer to see if they were open to traveling around in space. They were happy to have even that much done for them. After a while of sifting through the destruction making sure her professional digging tool didn’t break any pots and pans, Rarity looked over to see Saffron slap her hoof down on a kitchen knife flipping it up into the air where she caught it in her teeth and walked over to the pile to put it down. Yep she definitely looked skilled in knife throwing; maybe she could assist Trapeze from time to time if she joined. Rarity mentally noted that she was building a family and she was beginning to think that something like that was worth more than riches, social standing or even finding her one true love. Maybe her dreams would change with time; otherwise she made some kind of splash in the local social circles which was enough for her. She was still having dinner with the princesses this evening along with an important announcement from Celestia whatever that was. - “So it comes to pass that we found out that the leader of the Hands of Midas was one known hands enthusiast Lyra Heartstrings who led an army of at least four hundred strong against Canterlot. That she almost succeeded in her goals was quite startling. We currently have her in captivity, but she isn’t going to wake up for a while yet.” Celestia turned to Gilda who was digging into some baked salmon. “It seems you’ve managed to injure her quite badly with that last attack, I would like to say that your help was greatly appreciated in bringing down those large machines.” “Don’t mention it, I like piloting dangerous vehicles. I want to get into fighters, but I decided to start with baby steps and build a small transforming tank. It’s only good for short range defensive in space, but in ground combat it excels in a lot of areas.” Putting her ego out there was Gilda, who wasn’t sounding even remotely humble about her accomplishments. “Built that over the entire week knowing that something was going to happen, Kitten was tracking something screwy going on down here and I had a hunch it was going to be big. She didn’t disappoint and neither did the boss lady.” “I guess Opal always has my best interests at heart, then she has everyone else afterwards as an afterthought and that is only mildly worrying.” Rarity was tucking into the pasta, a guilty pleasure to be sure and she’d have to work it off later. “I really do need to eventually get in contact with her before she does something silly, maybe between after I eat and my interview with Chrysalis.” “Speaking of our AI, I have something to tell you later in private Rarity. It’s quite concerning really and I didn’t believe it to be possible as I’ve only heard such things happening in rumors.” Standing behind Vera was a maid constantly pointing at her; Opal couldn’t get the drones this far to keep track of the cursed elusiveness that Vera Blossom had. Only Celestia and Rarity could seemingly see her without losing her in a room with only a single door and nothing else in it. “It is nice to see you again Ms. Blossom, I know for a fact that your sisters are still the best spa workers to ever exist. Lotus and Aloe do wonders for me when I am quite stressed; I even have an appointment scheduled tomorrow if you wish to see them with me.” Standing up Celestia levitated her tea and a spoon to tap the cup. “Everyone, I have an announcement to make… Twilight if you will stop hiding under the table. Good, I would like to properly announce the upcoming crowning of a new princess, for Twilight will be the princess of friendship!” “Yes, friendship, let’s call it that and ignore what really happened. Of course, now that I think of it, she could certainly be the princess of friendship… with benefits.” The last two words Chrysalis blurted out, she quickly received a powerful magic solar beam to the face that was created in a single instant. She sat up and added to the fire on purpose. “Thank you ma’am, may I have another?” Celestia sighed as she cooled her horn; Chrysalis couldn’t very well leave soon enough for her liking and she had yet to get an interview with the entrepreneurial owner of the ship she wants to leave on. Ms. Belle was going to have her hooves full with the queen if she allowed her onboard. “And people call me loony.” Spoke a muffled Luna around a mouthful of a double hay burger, with a loaded paper basket of fries waiting for her to start on and a small foal’s meal toy to mess with. She was currently wearing clown makeup and a jester’s hat to dinner, nobody was bothering to ask her why she looked like a jester and nobody really wanted to know. Also there were several bloodied towels that Luna had dropped as she entered the room for dinner laying on the floor nearby; said towels were the one she had been ironing out when the real attack came in after the attempt on Chrysalis’s life and she went into the city with them after most of the major threats were taken care of. Nobody would even dare ask how they were used and even Celestia was reluctant to voice the question on everyone’s mind about why they were currently covered in blood. Luna could understand how Celestia had been quite shrewd in announcing Twilight’s coronation. They had to announce it to nobles as a law that a new princess was being crowned, but the law never said which nobles or how many were needed to be present. Rarity was the only noble at the table; otherwise they would have announced it to at least Fancy Pants and even Fancy had his closeted skeletons that the princesses were very well aware of. “Is this dinner why you asked Rarity and her people to join us?” “Whoever made this was a hack I tell you, a hack of the worst sort!” Saffron was being dragged out of a kitchen by two guards and forced into her seat; Coriander Cumin just huffed audibly from next to her shaking his head. The two were still on the fence about joining Rarity, but they were brought into this lovely dinner all the same. Though it was Saffron who was upset when they couldn’t make an ancestry accurate home cooked meal correctly. “I bet once they taste my food they will come begging for the recipe!” “You’d be right, I’m chef Watched Pot and I would like to have that particular recipe and I’m sorry to say that we as chefs have failed poorly in our duty to provide.” Said chef levitated the food Saffron cooked herself before her, he looked entirely apologetic. “I decided to add a bit to the mix myself; I would like your opinion on it.” “We’ll see if you have what it takes to correct this… okay what did you use?” One taste and Saffron was narrowing her eyes, the mushy brown food before her tasted fantastic. “It’s an improvement if you like it to being a little overly spiced, it would be a bit much for most ponies. Not me in particular.” “Got the idea from a recipe a buffalo once gave me, thought maybe we can exchange notes. I want to make it up to you for sullying your refined sense of taste.” The chef bowed to Saffron and then they started talking. “So where are you planning to go next Baroness Belle?” Celestia dropped out of the blue after stuffing a slice of cake down her throat, vaguely interested in hearing what Rarity planned to do now. “I’m thinking of going along a route to the Applon System where Applin Five is, I’ve always wanted to see the Earth Pony colony and I heard it was quite a quaint quiet place to be. Do you have any need of my services before then princess? I’m going to be here for a few days to take care of a few commissions.” After all this excitement Rarity could use a simpler pace and the friendly planet colonized by Earth Ponies sounded like the right place to take a break. Celestia decided to take Rarity up on her offer and commission something from the fashion pony who was friendly and only just a little bit stuck up, at least it was tolerable compared to the other nobles she had to deal with day in and out. - “So… you’re name is Crystal Clear Dick… and your father’s name is General Asshole… and your mother is… Mobile Dick, if I didn’t know about Changeling names before this I would swear you were doing this all on purpose. Is there something in particular that you didn’t like about your name that involved its change to Chrysalis?” Sitting before Rarity was Chrysalis looking quite attentive of her scrutinizing eyes. “Crystal is kind of a beautiful name.” “Thank you and to answer your question yes, I dislike my middle name of Clear. It is something I never liked too much… it comes from the Jerk side of my family. Any Changeling who takes the title of queen and physically transforms into one, whether they identify as male or female or not, has to take up a secondary name and when it’s a male they are usually referred to as Dragonfly Queens or Drag Queens for short. I chose the name Chrysalis, because a chrysalis has a strong outer shell and the life inside will eventually grow into something more powerful. As you can see, I exited the chrysalis state I went into as a beautiful butterfly of my species, well except for my butt which seems to be my only malfunction on me being utterly perfect.” If anything Chrysalis looked more like a cheese legged moth that would fly towards the nearest flame without pause, but Chrysalis was obviously smart enough to not fly into a bug zapper or a flame like an idiot. “Also nobody actually called my mom Mobile; they instead just chose to call her Moby because her name needed to be more feminine sounding.” “This Jerk side of the family, can you tell me more about them?” For some reason Rarity felt like she disappointed Chrysalis when she didn’t ask about her mother’s name being Moby Dick given the Changelings pouting expression, then again Rarity saw the set up for what sounded like a long winded running joke and decided to not take the bait. “Yeah, I can. There’s Jerk Off, Jerk Wildly, Jerk Around All, Jerk Vigorously and plenty more cousins from that family. Let’s just say I’m not on good terms with those jerks at the moment.” Chrysalis wondered why ponies found the family names she belonged to in particular more interesting than other Changelings. Sure they might have all sounded like innuendos, but Changelings are only now learning of this. “I’m getting a feeling there’s a reason why they are all named Jerk?” This one, Rarity decided, required questioning and more intrigue. “Yeah, there is, they are all Neighponese Changelings so their family name comes first.” The odd look that crossed her reviewers face made Chrysalis wonder if it was something she said. “As I said, I’m not on good terms with them. As such I don’t want to talk about it as it’s a personal affair that will not become a major problem.” “So you come from a family full of Assholes, Jerks and Dicks. I should be more surprised than I am, but I’m not. Though saying that out loud gave me a massive migraine.” The more Rarity heard about Changelings the more she regretted wanting to interview Chrysalis alone, she rubbed at her head with both hooves. It was starting to sink in that maybe Changelings weren’t feared for their general dark bug like outward appearances, oh no, they were clearly feared for their horrible capacity for innuendo and pun based names. Crystal was the most innocent sounding name to date for Rarity, well until you stated Chrysalis’s full name that is. That or even abbreviated Clear to just the letter C. Rarity was afraid that this was going to be one tiring interview... hopefully Chrysalis didn’t have any skills that she couldn't live without. Author's Note I'm glad I don't have to deal with being on the same spaceship as Chrysalis. Also the offer is open to Coriander Cumin and Saffron Cumin Masala -53-“So what is it that you think you can do for my crew Crystal… or is it Chrysalis that you prefer?” The question of the hour to ask and Rarity was feeling a large mental strain. Could Chrysalis ever possibly ease back on the innuendos? Rarity didn’t think so and that was when it wasn’t related to Changeling names. “Chrysalis, since I’m going to be a queen until I die… which would take me starving to death and being thrown into a star which is subsequently swallowed by a black hole approximately five seconds afterwards. You wouldn’t happen to have an open position for a sex slave right?” Seeing the no nonsense look she received, giving off a large sigh and a pout Chrysalis slumped a little. “Well you’re no fun… how about I work for you as a hair stylist?” “It will be over my dead body that I ever let you touch my mane! Though I will save some for you if I need to trim my mane a bit, I’m not completely heartless to your particular needs.” If looks could talk, the one Rarity was giving Chrysalis would make an entire planet implode. “I also hope you have an idea of how you are going to feed yourself before you leave the planet and hope that you will at least have an ample supply of food for yourself stocked up if I do hire you. Please note when I mean an ample supply for yourself, I mean that it isn’t stolen from a ponies head or tail and is quite legally given to you with no strings involved that could come back to bite me or the other crew members later.” “For a Baroness barely a day old you’re pretty good at this.” Complimented Chrysalis who thought Rarity was being quite pragmatic in setting her boundaries early. “Oh, I could be the ships match maker!” “Definitely not helpful, think of something less ridiculous if you will or I will not take hiring you into consideration at all.” Rarity wouldn’t hire Chrysalis unless she could prove that she had a sufficiently useful talent aside from being the queen of her people. “Is there anything at all that you can do that is actually helpful to me? If not we’re done here.” “Fine, I’ll stop suggesting things I know would harm your delicate Pony sensibilities. I’m a proud Changeling Queen and I know when to fold it.” Taking a particularly tall standing stance while putting her hoof up to her chest, taking a breath of air Chrysalis decided to stop holding back and being silly by stating quite a few things she was good at. She tapped at her jagged sharp horn with a hole filled leg with a smile on her face. “If you seriously want to know how helpful I can be to you then let me just state them. I can be a translator and can learn any biologically spoken language given enough time and reason to do so. I’m empathic and can sense danger from quite a distance away. I’m an expert spy when technology that can detect me isn’t involved. I can be a good security consultant to make sure nobody can get away with much provided I’m not involved in fixing security systems personally. I’m quite the politician if you haven’t heard of my feats already. I’m a pretty good lawyer if I’m given time to prepare and also an equally good prosecutor to be fair. I can be the most expendable member of the crew concerning the fact that I can survive a lot except I really haven’t faced any dangers in space and am only rated to survive what almost anything on Equus can possibly do to me, an example would be me going through a Hydra’s stomach. I’m as powerful as an Alicorn when well fed and will recover from things like one; I will also live just as long. Until I am outright killed, I won’t die and I’ve had a meteor crush all the bones in my body once thanks to Celestia and Luna. Just know if there isn’t a body, I’m likely not dead yet. If there is a body and there are other Changelings around, then my death can certainly be called into question if someone announces as I’ve probably sadly lost a body double which never have the same capabilities of a real queen. I’m good at coming up with plans of action if you need help with thinking of a way out of a situation, so I’m good as a tactician. If you need a first mate… well do you have a strap-on we can use? I’m capable of and can teach twenty forms of combat to Ponies of all races, Griffons, Ahuizotl, Changelings and basically anything four legged and born on Equus like a Buffalo or Yak. I once even taught a Mauve Mare-auder personally, but we kind of had a falling out after it was discovered that I was a Changeling and she took me being her teacher kind of personally. I can even teach other beings how to fight to their full advantage and since I’m really quite tough to kill as Celestia very well knows, I can be your high quality meat shield. I can also be a public relations councilor, because everyone’s heard about how good I am with getting the common pony to do what I want. I’m an expert with a sniper related fire arms, plus know how to wield just about any gun and am a decent marks mare when I have Changelings sighting targets for me. Plus I have various other minor skills, including being a blue ribbon arts and crafts master with macaroni and only macaroni. Usually Changelings are a bit more artistic in their endeavors, but aside from macaroni art I’m not very good at much else in arts and craft. You already know I’m a qualified hair stylist, what you probably don’t know is that I’m an honorary Wonder Bolt which upset Celestia greatly because they didn’t find me until I was asked to start teaching a class and goofed up slightly by using Changeling related teaching methods. That day will certainly go down in infamy… they are still using my teaching methods after all. So I’m also a good coach when needed and can aid anyone in plenty of academic subjects because I’m quite well read and have a good memory for things. As far as spell work goes I’m good at offensive and supportive type spells, I have no defensive spells whatsoever. I don’t need to tell you how awesome a model I would be given my shape shifting abilities; I can model in just about anything be it for male, female or otherwise. Just think, you’ll have all of that plus my great leadership skills! All my Changelings will agree that I’m a beloved and possibly the most absolutely hated leader to ever exist thus far in my races history.” “Well, ignoring the strap-on comment, that sounds like quite a list of things you can do that would be quite useful… is there anything that you happen to be bad at?” To Rarity it sounded like Chrysalis had a lot of qualifications, but for some reason Chrysalis started sweating profusely. “This is by far the toughest question you’ve ever asked me, because I honestly can’t improve on being almost perfect and can only pursue the possibility of becoming as such. Though since you wanted to know… I’m really, really bad with most forms of technology. I really don’t know what my problem is, as other Changelings really don’t have this same issue that I do. I mean simple technology is mostly fine by me, but anything else is really beyond me as to how I cause so many issues.” Chrysalis was less about technology and more about improving the already existing biology; it was kind of a Changeling thing. “If you happen to need a computer to start acting buggy, then I’m your mare at least. Cyber espionage is the one area I’m really quite horrible at when it comes to being a spy, give me thirty seconds with a computer and I can easily make it explode and quite violently at that. That would mostly be because I’m really that bad at that kind of thing.” “Right then, I’ll get back to you after I’m done with my commissions tomorrow.” Rarity stood up and gathered the paperwork; before she set off she had to ask. “Is there anything else you wish to say before I set off?” “Yes, I actually wanted to get to my personal commission right now. I want you to make a necklace out of a very unusual material.” Chrysalis pulled out a plastic bag filled with hair, both from a tail and mane of a particular pony. “I just wanted something to remember one of my good friends by.” “I take it that that is all of Cadence’s shorn off hair, so you didn’t just eat it after all. Do you want this commission to last a lifetime? I am assuming that’s the case.” Having asked that Rarity started haggling and talking shop as this commission was a rather unusual one as she was working with a limited amount of fabric. Mostly Rarity was asking Chrysalis of what exactly she expected of her and whether or not it could be achieved. It could be achieved and frankly Rarity has worked with weirder materials, but she was a clothier and a fashion master. She didn’t just make dresses, she also did accessories and Chrysalis wanted one fashioned from Alicorn hair for whatever reason. Chrysalis had an appointment to give Cadence a trim tomorrow morning because her hair was growing back quite fast, so Rarity couldn’t start the commission until after Chrysalis was done shearing Princess Cadence again. Rarity didn’t want Chrysalis to do anything relating to styling hair on her ship. - “Okay what is it about Opal and should I personally worry about it?” There were only two crew members on The Shining Jewel at the moment and it made Rarity wonder if Opal was keeping a careful watch on Sassy’s status. She’d check that before she went to bed but first she had to check in with Vera about what she wanted. Spending a night in the castle for free was rather nice and it earned her a few points among the other nobles. She wasn’t exactly famous yet nor did she have a fortune, especially if she kept hiring so many to work with her as she was. “Well I have a theory. The basis of this theory is that Opal was an AI, but she’s not anymore and is something completely different from what we actually think she is. The only thing limiting her at the moment is the fact that she thinks she’s the same program you gave birth to… in a way it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that she was that or that you did in fact give her existence.” Vera was the psychological investigator here. Opal had some disturbing implications behind her, given her emotional range and the awareness she had when she didn’t have any power going to her or the systems she controlled. “How is she not an AI? I ask because I’m a little confused by what you mean Vera, what is she if not my sweet little Opalescence that I spent hours programming?” Rarity wasn’t exactly sure what emotion to use yet, but she hoped Vera would explain herself. “I’m still not one hundred percent sure on whether or not my theory is the correct one, but I have to ask for clarification to make sure that I have enough reason to test for it.” The mare looked Rarity in the eyes and asked slowly. “Were you using magic at all times when you were programming Opal?” “Well yes, I used my magic to levitate my data pad and manipulate it while programming her. What does that have to do with anything though?” There was a moment of silence that made Rarity feel a bit on edge. “Is what I’m about to hear a bad thing?” “Not necessarily a bad thing, but don’t be surprised when Opal starts doing things that are impossible for an AI to accomplish.” Vera had talked with Coco and even Gilda about Opal’s unusual nature, but she had yet to tell them what she thought was going on with Opal. She wasn’t going to tell Opal what she was until she was sure that the cat could actually handle the stress, especially if it were to turn out to be ultimately true. Opal needed to be eased into it subtly and carefully; Vera didn’t want to hurt her emotionally. “Did you know she was entirely aware even when you turned off the data pad?” “Well she always did seem a bit overly joyous every time I turned the data pad on before she ended up in the Shining Jewel. She must really enjoy having more leg room to work with up there.” Thinking about it, Rarity decided to narrow her eyes at Vera. “I always thought that she was happy to see me. Are you saying I’m wrong? Also how could she have possibly been aware, if she were a program and turned off then she shouldn’t be an able to function. Though it is rather odd that she could tell that time has passed between the points my data pad was off now that I think of it.” “Not wrong at all, but not the entire story.” Walking over to the door to the room and opening it to look out in the hallways of the castle, no one was out there. Vera pulled back inside and turned to Rarity. “Do you want to hear what I think Opal is?” “Please do tell me, because I’m certainly intrigued as to where you are going with this.” Tapping a hoof to her chin Rarity did give it some thought that Opal was normal to her; she looked to the floor before looking to Vera’s eyes in a searching manner. She was a busy mare and needed to get some sleep so she had to address Vera about that. “Also please hurry up; I need to get my beauty sleep tonight. I got a lot of commissions to get through tomorrow with Coco’s help, plus I need to start plotting a course towards the next planet to visit. I can’t say that business hasn’t been too bad here and I would love to stay as Canterlot certainly is… or rather was charming before the attack. I think I’ve stayed near the home world long enough and I don’t want to tempt the chance of running into my parents any further, Sweetie Belle was enough for me thought it was nice to see her. Which reminds me of something important; I want you to remind me to inform Sassy’s parents about how she’s been doing lately. So if you could summarize Opal’s state of existence for me.” “Okay, here’s what I think Opal is… she’s a familiar and not just any familiar, she’s your familiar.” The flat look Vera received made her hold up her hooves in a gesture of holding Rarity tongue. Not saying anything Rarity nodded to Vera. “Before you say it, yes I know that is impossible for artificial beings and or machines to become familiars as they have no actual life to form said bond with.” “Well if you know that, then why would you say Opal is my familiar, much less tell me that she is for want of a better term… actually alive?” Rarity didn’t think Opal could possibly be a familiar, but it would explain her mile wide protective streak as familiars and their bond partner tended to take on all manner of relationships, though rarely was a familiar bond ever formed as lovers between the two partners. She and Opal were family such as a manner of parent and child, well Opal certainly thought of her as a mother and that wouldn’t be wrong for an AI to think. “I don’t quite see how she could be my familiar.” “If you’re thinking in terms of her still being an AI sure, that would be plainly impossible. However if she were a ghost in the machine…” Trailing off Vera waited for Rarity to pick up on where she was going with this. “It seems you are both almost aware of Guardians Soul’s true nature, but a ghost she is not. I would like to ask if Reviving Spirit is okay Living Ghost.” Tree Hugger walked into the room and looked to Rarity and followed that by sweeping her sight through the area that Vera was standing in. “If ‘The Maker’ could please point her out to me, I wish to address Living Ghost personally.” The two ponies had been startled by Tree Huggers sudden appearance, which led to both of them wanting to know why she was here. Rarity politely pointed to Vera and Tree Hugger started pointing at Vera personally and nodded to Rarity who slowly lowered her hoof. “Um… who’s Reviving Spirit?” It was always a surprise to see one of the top SNUGGLES member wandering about at this late time and Vera was curious. “Also what do you mean Guardian Soul’s true nature, do you mean Opal? She’s not a ghost?” “Reviving Spirit is she who sleeps in a cocoon of healing, watched by Guardian Soul alone and is above us right now as we speak.” The dopey smiling Tree Hugger was needed here and here she was right where she should be. Though she did want to cuddle up to Sky Child, this was more important and she didn’t have the time to do so. There was a promise of Earth and Sky meeting later and Tree trusted in that occurrence happening. “In a simple and single word, yes, that is why I am here.” “Oh, Sassy was doing alright the last time I saw her. She was healing pretty well, but it will still be at least two more weeks before she gets out and I have to put her through physical therapy and maybe some mental.” Now for the question that Vera hoped wouldn’t be answered in moon speaking, however knowing Tree, that was almost impossible for her. “So what do you need to say?” “That is good to hear, Reviving Spirit is on the right path. Her broken edges will smooth over in time and pain will temper her into a strong sword against fracturing further and when the time comes her name will change. It is good to hear she will be fine spiritually and that her chakras will balance out. Though she will need the aid of the Lustful Jester if she is to be kept from a path of self destruction, I would advise taking her onboard even if you have your doubts of her nature.” Closing her eyes Tree Hugger of the Earth started to hum a nice tune, which made the room seem far more peaceful then it should be and it made the two other ponies rather drowsy. She stopped and opened her eyes slightly. “As for Guardian Soul, her true form will reveal itself when it is needed. You must trust that she will protect you Maker, along with those you decide to keep close to your heart. As Living Ghost said, she is far more than she appears. It is not my place to tell you what that true form will be, as it is ever shifting until the time comes. Blessings, to the both of you for your time, I must go now as I have much to do and much to say. You will sleep pleasantly tonight.” Tree Hugger spun about and walked out of the room humming her soft sounding tune, which brought peace to all who heard it. The two mares sat in silence for a moment until the tune faded into the night; they knew that Tree Hugger had truly left at that point. Rarity knew Tree was at the gala as was Fluttershy, but they didn’t really get a chance to talk much. Fluttershy was apparently on a date with the lord of chaos Discord and Tree Hugger was busy helping Thorax through what sounded like anxiety problems all night. There was also that prophecy Tree spoke of, it actually happened now that Rarity remembered what was said and what had actually happened. “From the way she says it, Opal can’t be a ghost. Though I’m wondering if she has a soul based on what Tree Hugger calls her. No matter what Opal might turn out to be, we both already know who she is and I personally know that she will always be Opal to me. On a different manner, I would like to schedule a mental therapy session with you about the incident with Mind Field.” The exhaustion Rarity felt was quite unique and she let out a long drawn out yawn. Maybe it was something Tree Hugger did, Rarity really wanted to go straight to bed right now. “I need you to talk with Opal and find a good time for a session, then she can tell me when you need me to come in. I’m getting quite tired Vera, this is quite an interesting thing to think on.” “Right, I’ll find a time to pencil you in for and Opal will make sure you get there.” Now Vera was yawning, there was something supernatural about the way Tree Hugger hummed that made her want to snuggle down in a bed right that instant. - Breakfast was a quite affair before Rarity would start working on all the commissions; Coco noticed something off about the soon to be crowned Twilight. “Is something wrong with the banana chunks in the cereal?” Innocently enough Coco didn’t see anything that could be a problem with a cereal though apparently Twilight had a strange reaction every time she ate the banana chunks floating in the milk. “What did you just say?!” Celestia had been taking a sip of coffee when she calmly stopped and shouted this; turning her head towards Twilight to notice that she was finishing up her bowl. “I feel kind of funny… why does my tongue tingle?” The protégé of the sun Twilight Sparkle started to wobble slightly in her seat and blush a bit. “I can’t believe you would pull something like this again so soon!” The accusing hoof Celestia pointed at Chrysalis was met with a blank look of innocence. “I didn’t do it and I’m willing to be put in a truth circle to prove it.” Answered a slightly bored Chrysalis, she obviously wasn’t lying. “I know you had something to do with this, but I’ll have to deal with you later! I have to go attend to Twilight; she will need help through her first time.” Celestia swiftly picked Twilight up bodily in her magic and flew from the room with haste. “But wouldn’t this be her second time though?” Chrysalis asked in a highly confused manner. “So, did you spike the cereal with bananas?” Despite having been sandwiched between a Pegasus and a cuddling Griffon with provocative intentions, Gilda had oddly enough slept very well last night despite waking up to an uncomfortable position. “No, of course not… Spike is the one who spiked it.” This is where Chrysalis raised a portion of her carapace and pulled out the bag of bits she received from Luna and passed it to Spike. “Our transaction is complete my good sir and might I add that you should probably lay low for a while. I know a good child friendly place in a Changeling Ghetto you can hide.” The little dragon was grinning maliciously as he took the bag of bits and dropped it in his lap; he continued to eat his ruby encrusted waffles drenched in strawberry syrup without a single word. He was going to get himself a nice snack later with the Equestrian currency he just got passed off to him. Luna and Rarity just gave Spike a disapproving look, Rarity didn’t know what it meant to eat bananas but it was obviously a serious problem. Speaking of dragons, now that Rarity thought of it, Spike’s egg story kind of remaindered her of… could it be? Spike could be Ember’s long lost little brother, but she wasn’t exactly sure. She’d needed a bit of blood or at least something genetic of Spike to put into stasis for a biological sibling test, because if she ever found Ember again she could learn whether or not they were related in some way. She was sure she could wheedle something like that out of Spike with some charm. “Spike, darling, I hope you know I do not approve of such heinous acts against a lady, especially not against your mother figure.” It was time to set up a method to get some genetic material without have to resort to bribery, because Rarity would certainly do that if it is to help a friend find closure. Then again, maybe she didn’t need genetic material if the shell from Spike’s egg had been save and she could get a picture of that to show to Ember the next time she saw her. - “Chrysalis against my better judgment, and all my instincts screaming bloody murder at me to say no to actually hiring you, I would like to regretfully state, welcome aboard.” With a bowed head Rarity couldn’t believe she was letting Chrysalis into her crew, this was going to be problematic depending on how far Chrysalis was willing to push things. “We will hash out your paycheck and what you will be doing later; I will most likely have you acting as my personal meat shield since you happily volunteered.” “What can I say; I’m a naughty girl for being so big and meaty.” Chrysalis had a cheesy grin on her face. “Yes well, you are not the only one I will be hiring if they agree.” Two ponies came into the room and Rarity turned her attention to them. “So what have the two of you decided?” “I and my father have decided… to join your crew. We will take up positions as chefs and I want to take a secondary position as a security officer on this I will not budge.” It was Saffron speaking and with her was Coriander. They had talked about it for a long time, but Saffron couldn’t continue to use her Mare-Do-Well disguise after both Daring Do and Spitfire got a close look at her particular species. She didn’t want to be taken up on charges of being a vigilante if they figured out her identity. That didn’t mean that Mare-Do-Well wanted to quit doing good deeds, it meant she was going intergalactic with her own legend and would be a mild mannered chef on a ship in dire need of proper nutritionists. Most importantly she would be doing bounty hunter work on the side, as bounty hunters didn’t necessarily have to show their faces to cash in on a bounty. They just needed an account to send money to and a recommendation from a political figure to acquire a license to make the job legal, the second was the problem. “Good call, Mare-Do-Well. That should keep them from finding your identity. Incidentally I have someone working in Saddle Arabia that can help keep your legend alive and move around while you’re off being a hero elsewhere.” Chrysalis noticed Saffron’s shock at her words and she glared at Rarity. “Hey don’t glare at her like that, she didn’t tell me. I figured it out myself, my Changeling detail watching out for Rarity caught wind of your injuries. Only they never saw you get into a row with a customer and I had them watching for trouble everywhere, my guys are a good information network. It wasn’t exactly hard to figure give your name. Your ancestor was one of the better Mauve Mare-auders who kicked my ass so badly that it left me close to the brink of death. Needless to say I can respect a mare that wants to hide her face behind a secret identity; you know Changeling and being able to identify with that and all. If you need any training, I can help you with it.” “You actually knew a Mauve Mare-auder personally.” Saffron didn’t look angry any more, now she looked positively intrigued, she looked to Coriander who smiled gently and motioned for her to go on. “I mean did you know my Ancestor personally?” “Her name was Paneer Tikka Masala, when I heard your name I knew you were related to her. She was from your mother’s side of the family. Specialized in spicy cheese based food dishes that were as strong in flavor as she was personally, she was quite the Earth Pony.” There was a look of reminiscence on Chrysalis’s face. “Your entire family on your mother’s side has a history of being known for three things. The first is good looks, the second is good cooking and the final one is proving that you are more than just your special talent.” -54-“Well we’ve finished all the commissions here, is there anyone else we needed to see to Coco?” Rarity turned to Coco Pommel and the sweet helpful partner just shyly shook her head. “Right then, I think we should be on our way. Opal, we’re done. Prep for launch, we’re going to leave for the Applon System soon and I think route C will be appropriate for our needs. We’ve already got the extra supplies from Mr. Rich’s store delivered to the Shining Jewel. Coriander, Saffron and Chrysalis are currently acquainting themselves with the ship and Trapeze’s group is practically settled. The only thing we have left to do is get Gilda’s tank back up to the ship.” - Chrysalis was sitting innocently in the hangar looking at the vast space and imagined coating the walls with slime to make it homier. Speaking of homier, the Changelings hadn’t had a hive in a long time and wondered what kind of planet would have the right climate. Would she even bother with building a new hive considering how things have been going since Luna and Celestia trashed her previous one? They were in an age where using better building materials was far better than Changeling excrements. Said building materials made for far more sturdy and stable structures. What the Changelings needed was a warm planet, but not scorching. So that discounted ice and water covered worlds, but even Changelings needed fluids to keep living so it had to have some fresh water. So she would be looking for something like a forest or jungle planet to mark if she ever came across one, maybe tropical. Another planet type completely off the list was a badlands planet; Changelings had had enough of badlands as they didn’t smell too good. Finally a loud thud brought Chrysalis’s attention back to The Bombing Peregrine being dropped in section three where it was slowly driven into section four for repairs. The Carvel Boutique swiveled around and slowly lowered to the floor. Right, she had to go over the extra supplies she brought onboard with the captain. Would Rarity technically be her captain? She was onboard as a crew member and not a queen; she was already feeling sad that she wouldn’t see the horrible situations she personally left Thorax in. “Chrysalis, what’s in these extra crates?” Rarity came walking up to Chrysalis while looking a bit tired, there was some moderate profit made today. Not that she wasn’t passively making money due to her breach gel patent already, as such she had a content amount of money that doesn’t exactly hit rich if she was to spend most of it renovating The Shining Jewel and keeping paychecks paid. She was the poorest noble ever, even in comparison to the low born of Equus. “Some of the left over rockets and launchers from the ones I had my Changelings stockpile before I even knew what those bipedal machines were going to be. Since I took the prophecy as it was, I prepared for the occasion and it paid out pretty well as my people would have certainly had more casualties thanks to the infantry they had to deal with. Other than that there are several kinds of guns and ammunition for the ones you can’t charge. It’s everything from various rifles, pistols and automatics that I thought you could use as well, all of which will fire beams, blasts, explosives, raw heat, liquid nitrogen and just about anything you can put into it if you have a material weapon. As a queen I have a right to bear arms of all kinds, unfortunately they wouldn’t let me mount bears onto the catapults despite the fact that I had to use the bears as ammunition and fortunately for you I couldn’t very well pack my catapult. Right to use living bear arms as weapons my ass.” She pointed at her large container that housed a practical armory of weapons, some of which she picked off the Hands of Midas guys she took down with her bare hooves. Of the two containers it was the smaller one, the other really large container was one that was quite important to Chrysalis. “This other container is full of hair shaved off of various animals… mostly female as I have a biased sense of taste. Plus up to at least two hundred fully shaved mares from a budding exhibitionist colony near Appleoosa and there’s at least as much hair from stallions in there because my taste does wander at times. I’m good for a year or two; I will be able to ration my supplies and might be able to pay a few mares to let me eat their hair at any place we stop at.” Rarity just stared at Chrysalis blankly and wondered how Chrysalis managed to get so many ponies to agree to shave their bodies hairless, though the exhibitionist thing might not have been a joke and there were a bunch of mares out there that performed what was in her mind such a travesty. Rarity shuddered to think what Chrysalis did to pull off most of this or even get this much food for herself, but she didn’t have to worry about Chrysalis sneaking a bite out of her mane in her sleep. If Chrysalis tried there would be hell to pay and Rarity would certainly think of a more ladylike manner of dealing with the Changeling Queen than Celestia. Speaking of, the last Rarity saw Celestia she was trotting circles with glee to have the Chrysalis out of her hair and didn’t mind that she ended up in Rarity’s. - “I really don’t know what to think about this situation.” Thorax checked his butt as he ran a hoof over his antlered head, Chrysalis gave him a message that told him a secret way to becoming a different kind of Drag Queen. He looked less masculine, given his body now came in highly feminine colors and he looked quite girly with only his three horns denoting that he was still male and he was more shiny looking. “I don’t know about you, but I think you’re a hot item personally!” A pony maid started to rub up against Thorax’s side and the Changeling felt something drop in his gut when she did. Slowly turning about Thorax realized that he had been cornered in by several maids and servants of Celestia and Luna, his new appearance causing them to lick their lips which worried Thorax. “Can you transform away those horns and add some long hair?” One of the maids asked with a look in her fluttering eyes that seemed less than innocent. “Because I think you’d look sexy with more Feminine features Mr. Thorax.” Thorax bravely did what any newly made Dragonfly Queen would do when presented with several hungry looking ponies. He jumped for the nearest window screaming and smashed through it with the force his new size and weight was completely capable of, thanks to his new horns he also took part of the wall with him. He’d soon cause a commotion all over Canterlot while he feared for his life; apparently the servants at the castle were aware that his new stature meant they could torture him all the harder now. Why did he have to be so attractive to ponies for some reason? Was that Cadence coming at him like a missile? She wouldn’t be taking him alive, he’d fight to the last before he’d let that crazy mare try to force him to accept a herd! Discord was sipping broken glass through a straw made of glass itself out a cup made out of milk, to think people had forgotten he existed and no one aside from his date thanked him for being a hero. He certainly got no respect when he did some good deeds… well at least Fluttershy respected him and he really liked her. His reasons for being here was that the chaos caused by Changelings was always fun to watch. - “So you want to know more about my knife throwing skills?” The Shining Jewel was still in orbit over Equus and Saffron was now spending time with Trapeze. They’d met and shook hooves; the Earth Pony magician was interesting to talk to. “Yes, I heard you were pretty good. Do you think you can hit the target… without using your magic?” Trapeze was told by Rarity that Saffron was an interestingly talented chef. They were in the training room and some dart boards were set up, the dart boards were entirely for Saffron’s benefit except for the one labeled for playing darts specifically that was meant specifically for unicorn levitation practice. Rarity bought the dart boards in bulk for entertainment purposes. Saffron took up the offered kitchen knife from Trapeze and tested the weight of the knifed in her hoof as she swung it through the air; she flicked the knife upwards and caught it by the tip of the blade in her hoof. Reeling back with her hoof she flicked it forward and twisted her hoof slightly and the knife flew out and struck an inch to the left of the small red center. “That’s quite impressive; you obviously know that kitchen knives aren’t meant to be aerodynamic.” Trapeze commented brightly, she had seen knife throwers before, but Saffron had a talent for it even if it wasn’t her special talent. “Yeah, I’ve trained in knife fighting. Everyone in my family has apparently had a talent for fighting.” That or just plain being heroes to the best of their abilities and even outside of their special talents, but Saffron wasn’t about to drop the fact that she was Mare-Do-Well. “I’m good at throwing kitchen knives, but I would need to practice with actual throwing knives for a few weeks before I can even start practicing for an act. I’m also not exactly sold on the idea of joining your troupe Trapeze.” “Well then let me have a chance to convince you to perform!” Trapeze threw a hoof around Saffron and smiled as she tipped her hat to the unicorn. “Because you have a talent that can be used in show business and it’s not necessarily your special talent. Though being a chef does have you working with knives every day so you already know quite a bit about that. I believe it would be more of a draw to have a pony not talented specifically in knife throwing performing the art. Do you know how to fight with a knife or have you ever been in a knife fight?” “Yes I know how to knife fight with one hoof tied to my opponent at the very least, haven’t been injured in the face yet and I hope I never will. I happen to like my face the way it is.” Even if she weren’t very vain Saffron liked having good looks at least, she did eventually want a stallion in her life… that or a mare as she wasn’t that picky as long as she could have a foal. She wanted to be a mother; until she was heavy with a child she was going to be a hero like her mother and most of her ancestors before her. - “Trap Bar gave us the okay and we’re just about ready to go with our course set!” Rarity was on the bridge and looking out into space at Equus, it was a beautiful world. Now if only Rarity didn’t have the common misfortune to be in places where bad things kept happening, what has happened to her thus far wasn’t actually very uncommon. It happened to a lot of other people as well, things like sifter drifters, eldritch abominations, mercenaries, space pirates and apparently terrorists now were a common occurrence in the universe. She wasn’t the only pony that got shot and she wasn’t the only pony to get injured, she was just the pony lucky enough to survive most of those deadly occasions. “I’m ready to set out on your orders mom!” Opal was an eager beaver to get to traveling; controlling the ship was something she could do. “Hold it, hold everything, I have a request before we go!” Gilda stormed onto the bridge looking about and then made her way over to the communications console. “I have an old friend to call before we leave the area, so give me some time to talk with them. It’s that friend that saved me the trouble of having to repair a lot more on my tank and I wanted to talk to her before we leave.” “Granted, Opal if you will hold off on that order to cast off from orbit for a moment.” Rarity just leaned back in the captain’s chair; she hoped it was cleaned thoroughly as she thought she knew what happened to the previous captain, blood, guts and gore were certainly hard to get off something once they stuck to it and dried. The sifter drifters that cleaned up this ship previously weren’t very clean eaters. In the back of Rarity’s mind, she was considering whether or not Vera had it right in that Opal was her familiar. “Oh and please do tell the crew to get settled in if you would be a dear Opal.” “Thanks, I wonder if Rainbow is still slow in the head… as she always is.” With a broad smirk Gilda wondered what Rainbow would say when she heard about Gilda managing to secure the core of a Javelin, which was still sitting in the hangar. - Coriander was happy that his daughter survived the fighting in Canterlot, he was quite sad The Tasty Treat was smashed into the ground and was somewhat relieved that he still had a kitchen to work with after all that. He was currently spending time talking to Rover and Bernard. These were the only other males on the crew and they were a somewhat intelligent dog and a Lagotorphin he’d have to be stupid to disrespect. Why had he decided to join this crew with several meat eating creatures? Oh right, his daughter wanted to take a chance with Rarity and he had to admit they didn’t have much money left to do much else with. “So then Rover was telling boss that maybe stealing chickens be bad idea. He never listened to Rover and then incidentally hurt one too many times, then one chicken lets loose loud crow and hundreds of chickens swarm boss. He is dying from injuries and infections days later; chickens are scary as are cats.” Rover’s stories didn’t go into detail, but they were horribly gruesome and Bernard didn’t bat an eyelash at hearing the end of one of Rover’s previous bosses. Coriander was more curious about the details, but thought better to ask about it as he was busy setting up the kitchen to start serving the crew when they needed to eat. “Rover doesn’t understand why being called chicken or scared feline is insult, both get quite dangerous when they are frightened and cornered. Rover learned to not to trouble those animals unless having dire need to do so.” “I think I’ve heard enough of your stories, now let me tell you some of my own.” Coriander didn’t hate meat eaters, he was just a little wary as most ponies would be. That didn’t mean he couldn’t share stories with the two, at least they had omnivorous tendencies. “It all starts when my dear daughter insulted a pony who thought himself a champion knife fighter… I taught my Saffron a few things or two and her mother did leave behind some notes. As such my daughter certainly learned how to defend herself and she took to it quite well… so here’s what happened.” - Leaving Greta alone with Lightning might have eventually caused some issues, but the two weren’t at each other’s throats or even trying to aggravate one another. Lightning was lying around watching Greta work on The Bombing Peregrine as she had watched Gilda; the two were entirely different in work effort. Gilda was driven to complete her work without sleep, whereas Greta would take a break every now and then. “Say Lightning, can you put a bean and cheese burrito in the microwave and see if it’s working?” Greta finally turned a smiling beak upon her watcher and didn’t seem at all angry knowing that Lightning has slept with Gilda. Greta didn’t get angry over whoever Gilda wanted to be with, she just wanted Gilda to be happy and eventually do those things with her. “I guess, things around here are boring now that the action is over with and I could use a snack.” Lightning got up on to her hooves and went to go grab one from the supplies. It took her ten minutes to get back with the requisite burrito and some cleaning equipment in case it burst all over the insides of the microwave built into The Bombing Peregrine. Lightning Dust wasn’t about to question why there was a microwave; these two griffons were both crazy and genius. She wasn’t exactly that bright herself, so she shouldn’t be questioning them about it. “Okay… burrito preparation, time, put into sheath… hah like a stallion sheathe… okay and go.” The microwave came to life and hummed quietly, after the requisite minute or so the microwave dinged and Lightning pulled out a burrito that was warm all around and it wasn’t even cold in the center. “Yeah, I think that’ll do it. So how was she, Gilda I mean?” Greta had a long list of Pegasus Pony’s that had slept with Gilda, she knew her friend had an odd inclination for feathered ponies and she was proving that by making Lightning choke slightly on the cheesy goodness in her mouth. “She’s kind of rough and I don’t think I mind that, in fact I can understand why some ponies want to be with griffons. Nothing like a highly aggressive partner, I’m sure you know that if what I heard from Gilda is true in you being her best friend.” A slight pause was caused by Lightning seeing a flat look cross Greta’s face as she continued to bite into the burrito and chew slowly. Upon swallowing Lightning asked a question that seemed like it was based in divine providence. “You’re one of those passive sexual predators aren’t you? I’m also getting the idea that you’re only entirely interested in mare on mare action. I don’t understand why you can’t have both, before my showboating caused issues I’ve slept with a stallion or two personally and enjoyed it as much as sleeping with a mare. ” “I would say I’m more likely Gilda centered, but I do like looking at other females in the crew so I can’t deny maybe wanting to spend some quality time with them.” Taking a bag of popcorn out Greta put in the microwave and started it up, she also got some water from the cooler and it was quite cold and freshly condensed. She smiled as she waited for her popcorn. “Though I do definitely hit on other girls, being with Gilda is kind of a desire of mine. I’ve only ever slept next to her and maybe cuddled, but I’ve never exactly done that with her.” “Oh, so your one of those happy sappy types that smiles even knowing that what you want is only slightly beyond your reach and you’re not willing to force the issue.” Lightning got some water, seeing as Greta hadn’t dropped dead from drinking it five minutes afterwards. She was still quite paranoid she would wake up to find herself living in a cardboard box again. She wasn’t about to lose a good gig like this one by doing something stupid now. “You’re probably a gentle hen of the greatest sorts if you haven’t done anything with Big G.” “What’s wrong with being gentle? I’ll court Gilda how I see fit to do so, even if she has a predilection for Pegasus Ponies and I have a list of every pony she has ever slept with and how quickly it occurred.” After thinking about it, Greta decided that she needed to add Lightning’s name to the list while showing her all the other names to see if there was anyone she recognized. “Do you want to read it?” “Sure, why not, I could use a good laugh.” The cheese in the burrito certainly tasted real enough for Lightning, so she might as well see this mythical list of ponies Gilda has been with. An hour later Lightning found herself recognizing several names on the list, including one Rainbow Dash of whom she had to silently admit was still a pilot with the Wonder Bolts reservist because she was less of a show off than Lightning had been. Lightning knew she screwed up personally and couldn’t really blame Rainbow for saving the day when she did, but it was a surprise to know that Gilda and Rainbow had a history together. - Chrysalis was now in medical room aboard The Shining Jewel and was looking at the mare sleeping away in the medical bed, she had learned a lot about all the crew members. Mostly from what information she could scrounge up on each of them that is. Things like how Rarity was a commoner and had been working as a waitress on Desserzon, which is until she became the captain of the Caravel Boutique and eventually Baroness of The Shining Jewel Estate. Rarity was a self made mare and Chrysalis wanted to see where she went with it, even if it was boring she was curious enough to travel around with the mare that was drawing all these weirdoes to herself. However Sassy Saddles was someone she had learned quite a bit of history about, she kind of felt sorry for the mare and knew of her medical history that led her to being horrified by medical beds like the one she was currently in. She was one of the last crew members Chrysalis had yet to make uncomfortable, she didn’t particularly feel like making Sassy uncomfortable until she could handle it. Chrysalis had already talked to Coco about how cute her butt was, that mare needed to be complimented more on looking as adorable as she did. Coco was one of those Earth Pony’s who were unnaturally gifted with incredible physical strength despite her being comically meek in appearance, Chrysalis would not make the mistake of going too far with a pony like that again after getting violently beaten to near death by Paneer Masala. Coriander was stiff with her, she understood that he was around during the Changeling invasion and she knew that they weren’t going to be the best of friends because of that as he was scouting for the location of The Tasty Treat at the time. At least Coriander was amiable enough to not cause problems. Saffron was more talkative but was mostly interested in history of her ancestors. Given how long Chrysalis had been alive she was glad to talk about the legacy of the mauve heroes. They could be friends, provided that Chrysalis does nothing that could be held against her while they were on the same ship as that would get awkward. She also had a really delicious looking mane, not that Chrysalis couldn’t look or enjoy another mares crowning glory. Rover was a bit more problematic as she didn’t know where he came from and he didn’t seem to care where he was going, but he wasn’t a threat at the least and certainly didn’t feel as such to Chrysalis. The Diamond Dog did need some combat training and wrestling would certainly suit his build nicely. Lightning Dust was an iffy one to say the least, but she was apparently digging herself up from being thrown into a ditch she dug for herself. She seemed the most likely candidate to not care about having her mane eaten by a Changeling, which could very well be Chrysalis given that the mare might be willing to part with her hair for a percentage of her personal paycheck as a crew member. Aside from that she seemed to have learned her lesson and Chrysalis was willing to work with her. Gilda and Greta were quite the pair, Chrysalis was kind of amused about all the emotions flowing between them and yet a little confused about them at the same time. They were geniuses plain and simple and Chrysalis would certainly enjoy their company, especially if Greta was open to a game of Twisty. Bernard and Trapeze were questionable; Chrysalis could swear she felt the love of lovers between them even if they didn’t smell like they were. Trapeze was a magician in Manehatten, she signed off with the crew to use the ship as a way to tour around while running her shows and her history was known. Bernard’s history was as lost as Rover’s was, but he seemed to be okay for a meat eating false rabbit. Chrysalis wouldn’t mind joining the Trapeze Troupe if she ever got bored as Trapeze always seemed to be doing something. She had yet to figure out the mechanics of that darn hat that Trapeze always had close by. The most mysterious figure was the one that Chrysalis had a hardest time keeping in mind, Vera Blossom. She would do a lot of things just to have that kind of ability around her butt, and then people wouldn’t notice how lackluster her caboose was. Bernard and Rover didn’t match Vera’s utter lack of information and all she knew was that Vera was the crews psychologist, massage expert and therapy provider. That was not to mention she was a SNUGGLES member who was off the grid because of her… would it really be a disability if about every Changeling would have wanted that ability? Universal ignorance is a useful thing to have in case you angered the wrong person, but not being able to control it is just as bad as it is good. Chrysalis had to know who she was bunking with, because she had a long road ahead of her if she’s to find a planet to settle down on for her first Changeling Colony. These people weren’t so bad; the only problem is that they didn’t have to acknowledge her regal nature as a beautiful queen that could have a nice butt if she tried a lot harder. For whatever reason Changeling transformation wouldn’t give Chrysalis a good looking butt and that was a pretty important thing to have. It was going to be scary working without other Changelings for a change, but she could handle that or at least she thought that she could. - “Call Sign, what are they doing and why haven’t they left yet?” Trap Bar thought Rarity’s ship would have been gone by now. The EVA suits were found to be works of art and were quite functional in space. That much the stallion appreciated. What he didn’t appreciate was that he might or might not have been talking to the best Black-Ops team he has ever seen. “Apparently one of their crew members is calling a reservist in the Wonder Bolts. Not only do they have Queen Chrysalis with them as a crew member, but they also apparently have an in with the Wonder Bolts according to how you think. Looks like they just wrapped up and are going sir, their course is Antilur Station.” Call Sign looked up to his commander. “Isn’t that the station that went quiet sir? Shouldn’t we warn them about it? I still don’t think they’re a black ops team.” “I’m sure they’ll be fine Call Sign, they are pretty good at this stuff. Check with the other ships and have them report in for any activity from the other sectors.” Trap Bar figured Baroness Rarity and her crew could handle it, the fact that Rarity was a Baroness at all told him Celestia obviously had a great plan in mind and her agents were doing good work. - Celestia was trying to play tennis with Twilight and trying not to think of what happened the second time an alicorn has ingested a banana within the last thousand years, this time there was at least some consent given. Now both the mares were having problems focusing on anything other than each other. Princess Celestia didn’t have much in mind aside from Twilight at the moment and her favorite pony’s oncoming coronation ceremony. The point of the aerial tennis match was to teach Twilight how to use her new wings. - “Okay we can go now. I just finished catching up with an old friend and making her jealous that I got to fly a Javelin.” Gilda just spun the communications chair and gave a jaunty salute to Rarity with a cheerful smile on her beak. “Am I the only one a little freaked out by the smile on her beak, because it kind of scares me a bit on a primal level.” How Opal would know what that felt like would be left up to a later discussion. “Don’t worry Kitten, I’m perfectly fine.” Yep something was off about Gilda’s smile and tone of voice. “I might even kiss Greta on the beak later.” “She actually wants to return the signs of attraction from her best friend; it’s the first sign of the apocalypse!” An entirely upset Opal wailed in fear. “Please, just get us moving Opal.” The no nonsense tone from Rarity snapped the supposed AI out of her panicking. They were immediately on course for their next destination leaving the Equon System behind. Author's Note Samurai Jack is back! I'm a fan of the old show and I hope it can end on an incredible note. -55-“How are things going Opal, I hope Chrysalis isn’t causing too much trouble.” So far this jump through space was going uninterrupted and nothing bad was happening and it had been two hours, Rarity was kind of glad for that and it looked like they’d reach their stop at Antilur Station on time. The trip would take approximately six hours and that nothing had happened on the first hour or two spoke volumes about how nicely things were going. “Nothing report on her that could be troubling to us. Except that she is setting up in the armory on deck two, section two, she is currently accompanied by Lightning Dust. I think they are talking about target practice. Coco is experimenting with the new impulse saddle design in the lab in section three there. Mostly testing the battery output and is making a request for a drone to test it once we reach the space station. We can start production on them soon when it is determined they are within the perimeters that we’re trying to meet. Trapeze, Rover, Bernard and Saffron are using storage for practicing tricks for a show. Coriander is in the cafeteria in section two by himself.” Opal continued down the list and finished off with what everyone was doing and where they were on the ship. “You are here on the bridge of your ship Captain Mom, listening to my report on deck one, bridge section. Greta and Gilda have moved onto outfitting the Caravel Boutique with single barreled turrets in deck three now more commonly known Han Gar and are quiet for the most part. They said something about not drawing too much power from the shields while they given your first ship a tune up, also there are talks of designing a vehicle with my assistance. Sassy is still in medical deck two, section two where Vera is keeping a watch on her progress. Sassy will be able to come out within the next week and a half. All drones are accounted for and active, no unintentional life signs are on the ship and there are no bugs in the system.” “Well for once I might have a jump that goes perfectly.” Leaning back Rarity pulled out a trashy romance novel, paper books were as her namesake would suggest, a rarity. “How are you feeling personally Opal?” “Can’t complain, at least your injuries were closed up by the Elements of Harmony. The stitches have been removed and you don’t have any scars. If only Sassy had been caught up in that harmony magic.” The harmony magic had covered quite a few miles and had saved many a pony, changeling and most life in the general area from life threatening injuries. Opal thought the wave of magic looked pretty from orbit. “Surprisingly everything is going accordingly this time. Sorry about the gala not turning out how you wanted it too.” “Don’t be, it actually gave me some perspective. Also I’m legally a noble now, earning a title is better than just buying it I’d think.” Rarity had Opal look up the laws pertaining to it, Rarity had total governance of her ship with the possible exception of what went on in the hangar. Lightning was however still subject to Rarity’s rules even if she was hired on by Gilda. No one could tell Rarity how to run her ship and there were a list of rules that Rarity had hashed out with the crew through a democratic process. The one rule that all agreed on was to never unnecessarily endanger the ship unless they had several good reasons for doing so, which was on top of having safety regulations for crew members around the hangar. “If things are going well, then I guess I should consider myself lucky. I have a steady income and an allotment of friends that I can trust, well aside from Lightning or Chrysalis. I’m not too sure about either of them.” “Chrysalis I can understand, she’s a bit of a schemer and knows how to plan for an eventuality, mostly for the fact that seems bored a lot of the time.” What Opal didn’t get was the other one Rarity mentioned. “What about Lightning though, what’s your problem with her?” “She’s quite crass and I’ve looked her up, she was definitely tossed out of the Wonder Bolts for reckless endangerment though that’s not the entire story.” It was always a good idea to keep possible threats from the crew themselves in mind and as such Rarity was on top of things. Chrysalis wasn’t exactly the friendliest sort with her history as the Changeling’s leader and Lightning had almost gotten charged with mare slaughter. “The main issue of said endangerment was that she hospitalized fourteen ponies, most with a serious permanent injury or disfigurement of some kind. As long as she keeps her behavior civil, I will have nothing more to say about it. I would like to add for the sake of clarity that Rover’s not very threatening and he smells awful and could use more baths; I’m surprised he even manages to keeps his teeth clean. As far as I’m concerned Rover’s only threat to me is his horrible hygiene.” Rarity had no problem with Trapeze, Bernard, Coriander or Saffron as new members to the crew. She had some issues with Rover, being that he needed to bathe more often and there was not much known about his past except for hearing from him that there were several incidents where several of his previous bosses died horrifically. Said bosses were likely Diamond Dogs doing some exceedingly stupid things. - Coco had just finished putting the touches on the prototype design for the latest impulse saddle; she couldn’t wait for her efforts to come to fruition now that she had tweaked the battery modification on the saddle. Now that she finished that and had a few vanilla impulse saddles made to sit around in stock for sale, she was without a lot to do for the last hour of the journey to their next destination. Visiting Equus had been nice, if only the circumstance were better. Needless to say things weren’t all too bad in the end. Right now Coco had a lot of free time on her hooves and had wondered what she could do with it, her belly grumbled and she rubbed at it with a hoof. It had been a while since she last ate, so it was time to get some food. All she had to do was walk to the middle of deck two to find the cafeteria. “Hello Mr. Cumin, I was wondering if you could make something for me. I’m a bit hungry.” Coco had thought Mr. Cumin was a nice stallion; she became quite flustered when her stomach grumbled loudly. He looked up from the counter he was wiping off in shock and nodded with a small smile on his face. “I’ll see what I can get you Ms. Pommel, have a seat. You’ve got the stomach of a tiger, like my daughter.” Politely Coriander inclined his head to her and when Coco took a seat he asked for clarification. “What kind of flavor will you be having today?” “I’m thinking something a bit bland and maybe lightly salted?” Coco watched as Coriander walked off without another word, she so hoped she didn’t run into Chrysalis again. That Changeling wouldn’t stop talking about her butt, it was quite embarrassing and she didn’t like the queen very much. “There’s nothing I can do about it now, Chrysalis is part of the crew and Rarity said she had good skills in many places. Even if I don’t like the looks she sends my way, I’m not that adorable am I?” Brushing her hoof across the top of the table a bit of dust kicked up and she sneezed that sounded insanely adorable for how lightly she squeaked. She sighed and waited for the food, the table and chairs were kind of new but slightly covered in dust. “See, right there, she’s the cutest member on the crew!” The poor pony jumped at the sound of Chrysalis’s voice and looked to see Lightning and Chrysalis standing behind her. “I guess… I think still Greta is as adorable. Well, if you can overlook that Gilda shrine she has.” Lightning shook her head wanting to get rid of that particular memory. “Greta’s too positive and outgoing, Coco here is a bit of an introvert and shy. That’s classic adorable right there! Plus she always cowers at the sound of my voice, so that makes her a fun pony to cuddle too.” Chrysalis and Lightning sounded like they were getting along, even if they were discussing the idea of who was the cutest crew member. Chrysalis sat down and brought Coco into a hug with one hoof and sniffed her mane before licking her lips, making Coco shudder. “So onto our next discussion who’s the most naturally beautiful member of the crew, we’ve already got the cutest right here.” “I still think Greta is the cute one. As for beautiful I’d have to say Saffron or maybe Gilda. Gilda isn’t cute, but she does have a really nice butt, her feathers are quite soft and she cleans up nicely when she wants to.” Something about what Lightning said caused Chrysalis to release Coco and slam her face into the table to start whining pitiably. Ignoring Chrysalis, Lightning continued on while thinking Rarity was too manufactured in her appearance, so a natural beauty she was not. “Hey, I’m not about to discount Gilda’s beauty based on her personality… then again I do like her gruff and rough attitude.” Coco didn’t know whether to pat Chrysalis on the back to comfort her or move to a different table while waiting for Mr. Cumin to get away from awkward conversations like this. She decided to stay seated and ask a question. “What about Rarity? I think she looks nice.” Plus Coco had been friends with Rarity for a long time. “Yes, but she’s a try hard. I can’t consider her for anything related to natural beauty, Saffron doesn’t wear makeup and Gilda is quite attractive despite some minor flaws.” Here Lightning looked at Coco with serious gaze. “Have you ever even slept with a stallion? Before you ask I have slept with mares too. I’m never going to want children and was a career focused mare, so I made sure the stallions always used protection or else… that was back when I had a little more muscle on me. I can’t really get into a sexual discussion with this virgin about these kinds of things.” “Hey, I’m plenty good in a sexual discussion even if I’ve never had any… well aside from cuddling next to Cadence for one night where I gave her a massage before the failed wedding day.” Chuckling Chrysalis pulled her face from the table. “That was the best night’s sleep that I’ve ever had, don’t think I’ll ever get that chance again after crashing her wedding before it could even happened. Alicorns are really quite cuddly, but even I’m not evil enough to ruin a married couple. Though I’m evil enough to try and steal the bride before hoof though.” “So you’re looking for a planet for your people, how are you going to do that when we’ll most likely be sticking to commercial planets?” Coco asked with a sudden thought about how Chrysalis was going to go about achieving her goals. “We’re not exactly going to go into frontier space you know.” “No, but that doesn’t mean I can’t set up a Changeling colony on a planet that’s already inhabited.” The most basic way of waving off the question posed to Chrysalis about how she hadn’t thought much of her plan through this time, it happened like when she didn’t know that butt shaking thing Cadence and Twilight Sparkle did. Thinking of that particular subject she muttered out loud. “Why does it always come back to butts for me? Whether it’s biting me in the butt or my butt isn’t chunky enough to get a good mate.” “Because it’s the one thing you think you lack in being nearly perfect.” This was a rather insightful thing for Lightning to say, it was almost out of left and right field at the same time. “That’s not necessarily true, but you will continue to blame it on the fact that your butt is quite lacking.” “I have no idea what you are talking about; I’m perfectly wondrous to look at. My very visage is that of a regal queen that all shall acknowledge.” Chrysalis put a hoof on her chest and pointed her nose towards the ceiling of the cafeteria, a single sniff and she turned towards Coco. “You’re mane smells real nice today, maybe you should consider growing it out a bit.” “No thank you, I’m already quite aware of why you would ask me to do that.” Everyone on the crew had to know about everyone else and Coco understood why longer hair might be attractive to Chrysalis. “Well spoil my fun, at least Lightning doesn’t care about her mane and I can mooch hair off of her.” Chrysalis turned to Lightning who rolled her eyes. “Sure, but you’d have to pay me for it. I don’t mind having stubble where my hair should be.” Lightning had long ago lost having any sort of pride in her appearance. If Chrysalis wanted to eat her mane then she was okay with it as long as made the Changeling earn it somewhat. “So do you want tail too?” “Also some of the thicker stuff that is between your hind legs if you don’t mind.” Chrysalis didn’t care what part of the body the hair came from, though there were different flavors involved for different places. “Actually, that is something I do care about so I will have to decline that. You can only take from my head and tail only; we’ll haggle out pay later.” Lightning didn’t pay attention to Coco gawking at her and the fact that she was seriously discussing this. “Do you pay more for clean or dirty? Do you prefer cutting it yourself or should I do it at an agreed upon time and give you the resulting mass? You know you can even pay me to have sex with you so you can get your first time out of the way. I didn’t exactly sell my body on the streets, but nothing says I can’t do it with someone who knows what she likes.” “Either or, Dirty has a different more unique flavor, but I like clean more. I like doing the cutting myself so don’t do anything to your mane or tail without my input.” This conversation Chrysalis was a part of was beginning to get rather weird for Coco. “Oh and the longer it is the more fun I can have. Oh and no matter how tempted I am, I’ll have to decline the sex. I’m saving myself explicitly for love and marriage.” “Well where’s the fun in that?” Lightning obviously slept around and had plenty of one night stands. Chrysalis, despite her very provocative nature, was surprisingly and absurdly celibate. “Are we still good for a game of Twisty though?” Coriander couldn’t have brought Coco’s food soon enough because she was trying not to look at the two mares next to her. Eventually they both tried to convince her that a game of Twisty would be fun, she doubted that as Lightning had a smug smirk stating she’d win and Chrysalis had a lecherous smile stating she’d enjoy touching another mare without going too far. - “We’re dropping out of the jump right about… now.” The station appeared before them in the distance in space; it was exceedingly large and far more so than Geoptis was. It did hold a population of hundreds of thousands of people and was a round several hundred miles long and wide. “That’s Antilur Station… though something seems off here. I’ll commence with contacting the station on all frequencies possible, one at a time of course.” “Opal, what seems to be off about it?” As they got closer Rarity started noticing the first signs of something being terribly wrong with it. There were no guiding lights and a bunch of ships were just floating around it with no activity at all. “Please, give me an idea as to what is going on here. I feel a chill up my spine just looking at all those ships just floating about aimlessly.” “I don’t know much and I’m not getting much either. None of the ships floating about the station have any life on them and most of them are military, none of those ships are active at all. Scans are picking up a lot of life readings from the station itself, but not the same amount of activity you would expect from said life. Something is wrong with the scanners and it’s hard to pick out any movement going on in there. In fact the life signs we’re receiving even seem to be popping into existence and disappearing at random intervals.” Opal slowed down the Shining Jewel and kept it distant from the station and the others ships; she directed the scanners at the station. “Life support, gravity generation, energy generation and hydroponics on Antilur Station seem to be working. I’m not getting anything else but that alone. Something is definitely very wrong here Rarity. There are no communications going on around here and this place should be a hub of activity, no movement from any of the ships either. It’s like they are all dead in space or are ghost vessels. They almost have the same general systems active as the station, but nothing else.” “You said energy generation is still going on here, can you give me some more detail?” The station didn’t look alive and Rarity didn’t want to go in there looking dark like it did, The Shining Jewel was perfectly fine at the moment and she didn’t need to scrounge for spare parts like she did when the Caravel Boutique had been damaged a long time ago. “This situation requires investigating, but only through drones. Nobody is to leave Shining Jewel under any circumstance, unless I personally give them the permission to do so. Try to keep in mind that one of our crew members is a Changeling.” “I will tell everyone that something is up with Antilur Station and that leave is cancelled due to unforeseen issues. As for the energy generation, it’s working perfectly and nothing seems wrong with the power the station’s reactor is putting out. This is odd because that power is disappearing to somewhere and all the other active places are not enough to result in this much going missing into thin air without another system being used in overdrive and I’ve got nothing that results in that being the case. Hold on second, something new just came up on one of the smaller ships. It has a moving life sign on board and it’s so faint I hardly noticed it.” The Shining Jewel turned and started to focus on the ship in question and the screen enlarged to show a small ship that was quite familiar to Rarity. “Is that the Pyrrhic Victory, can you hail that ship to see if Ember is on board? She might be in trouble.” “Right hailing now…” After a minute or so something popped up on the screen, but it wasn’t a brilliantly scaled blue dragon with minor social problems that was a bad-ass bounty beater that Opal didn’t mind being around Rarity. “Is that Mr. Spew?” The squid on screen got slightly happy and waved a tentacle at Rarity. “Are you alright Mr. Spew?” Mr. Spew made a loud chirping noised and seemed to nod that yes, he was okay and he pointed to a readily accessible feeding device. There was also a completely unclean water tank, but that was to be expected as sewer squids loved swimming in filth or so Rarity had learned when she looked it up and wished that she hadn’t. “Have you seen Ember recently?” The response was the squid hopping up and down, Rarity took that to mean that he had seen her. “So is she investigating here?” The sewer squid just gave her a flat stare, all while tipping its conical head to the side as if asking if she were seriously sanity challenged. “Right, well, I guess that should have been obvious given she’s not with you at the moment.” The squid gave off a sad whine and Rarity took that to mean that he was worried about Ember being in there alone. “I know I’m going to regret myself later for this but… would you like to come aboard for some company Mr. Spew?” The little squid seemed ecstatic at the prospect of having people around to spend time with by clapping its tentacles together, because without Ember it was really lonely being by himself. His intelligence was above average for a sewer squid and Rarity didn’t think that came from the familiar bond he and Ember shared. “I hope Ember doesn’t get too upset with us for watching out for Mr. Spew. If I remember correctly she doesn’t know about The Shining Jewel yet. Can we bring the ship on board Opal?” Rarity’s response was Opal simply appearing on screen and throwing her a cheerful salute. - “Why are we picking up the sewer squid again?” Gilda didn’t want that thing in her hangar, the squid that is. The ship was perfectly fine by her standards and she was okay with rescuing the beautiful scout ship that looked like it had its bells and whistles firmly in place. The ship was right next to Antilur Station outside one of the docks; Ember didn’t park it in the docking bay because it obviously wasn’t a very safe place to land her ship. “He’s a friend of my friend and I know about him. Just don’t mean him any harm and he won’t hurt us, whatever is going on in the space station must be dangerous enough that Ember felt she had to leave the poor dear behind by himself.” Rarity watched as they brought the Pyrrhic Victory aboard safely, sure the sewer squid disgusted her on several levels but that didn’t mean she held any ill will towards him personally for it. “We’re also bringing the ship aboard in case Ember left a message on it for anyone. You know, in case whatever is happening here has happened to her as well.” “Sounds like a good enough excuse to me for us to help him out by giving him some company.” Greta poked her head up from one the Caravel Boutique’s new energy turrets. Said turrets were good against missiles, some fighters and a few other things. She pulled down her welding mask and went back into the workings of the turret with Mr. Welder. “Well it’s already been decided anyway. Opal, can you check the ship for any messages she might have left behind.” Rarity walked into the ship and saw Mr. Spew diving back into his tank with a small splash; he squealed happily as he had someone came to keep him company. He was no longer alone or in a silent place. “We very well can’t rule out that that something has already occurred.” “Found it, patching it through the monitor on the ship, if you will look towards the front.” Opal popped up on one of the screens there. “Then I will get to your feature presentation, replaying message now.” After a few seconds of silence the screen popped up showing Ember wearing the EVA suit Rarity had made for her, only she wasn’t wearing the helmet. Mr. Spew popped up out of the water to look at the screen and grabbed onto the edge of the tank to watch as well. “Okay I’ve been inside Antilur Station several times over the past few days, but those idiots jumped the gun and I didn’t give them the go ahead to storm the place. Now they’ve disappeared too! Hopefully if something happens to me and this message is found, then I have either failed to take care of the danger here or I’m taking my sweet time with getting back my ship which you are likely watching this on.” Ember narrowed her eyes and they became slightly fierce as she pushed her face close to the camera and she looked particularly angry. “Do not go onto Antilur Station without a completely sealed off suit on, for whatever reason a sealed suit is required for assured safety! Without this comfortable EVA suit a good friend of mine made me, whatever has been getting the military scouting drones and the guys that had been behind them would have gotten me too by now. I have an idea as to what is going on here and I’m researching the possible danger, what evidence I have so far should be under the file name ‘Morpheus Scenario’ and the password is ‘Tranquilized Deity’. Though I have yet to get a visual on these things or thing, I’m certain I’m close to finding out the truth of what’s happening here. This is a likely the work of the deadliest sifter drifter classification I’ve ever had the displeasure to encounter, probably an invasive top level bio-hazard like a mechanical or biological grey goo situation, maybe even worse than that. I really hope it’s not that, although if either of those goo types were happening then they would have been far more noticeable then this mostly empty station. Whatever is going on, there’s something intelligent here and it’s apparently a very slow and painful death if you are caught. If I can find out where the missing people are, then I can still rescue them and the victims that haven’t died yet. Don’t mind the sewer squid; he can take care of himself until he runs out of food. Thankfully eating his own waste can sustain him for a time.” “That is so gross…” Rarity felt ill at hearing that. “Yeah, well I can kind of see why Celestia wouldn’t want me to eat ‘THAT’ in front of ponies. Though there is a double standard about that.” Chrysalis’s voice caused Rarity to jump and put a hoof to her chest breathing in and out rapidly. “Did I spook you? Well I would think that the space station is spookier as I’m getting some really dangerous vibes from it. The kind of vibes that say come in, we welcome you to stay. Of course if the station were a spider, then we’d be the flies it’s trying to attract with honey.” “Wait, wait… are you saying that the third thing Changelings can eat is…” The Realization struck Rarity and now she understood why the special dietary needs said ‘other crap’ when a third thing was listed by Chrysalis in her job application. “Oh my dear goddesses please tell me you haven’t kissed anyone with your mouth recently.” “Don’t worry, I cleaned my mouth out with soap, various dental pastes, shampoo, mouth wash and maybe gargled a little bit of bleach while I was at it because I had a thing going. That made my teeth far whiter than they have ever been and my mouth is one hundred percent clean after I rinsed it out I’ll have you know. This is why I will abstain from eating that particular food source as a crew member, even though ponies eat honey from a bee’s behind and guano is actually a delicacy for some Zebra societies.” Chrysalis was completely serious, as her clean grin would attest to. “I assure you my mouth is quite clean, though Celestia was right about the reactions a pony would have to hearing that.” “Please, stick eating to love or hair, because that I can handle. Opal, can you open that file that Ember mentioned?” The file popped up on screen earning Rarity’s attention, she was trying to ignore what she just learned and will eventually forget it with a more pressing situation at hoof. Opal was looking it over quickly. “If you can give me a summary of what it says, that would be helpful.” “Morpheus Scenario, it’s about a rare type of sifter drifter classification that hardly ever shows up. It’s the hardest to kill, stop and or fight without completely and ultimately devastating the place said classification has taken root in. Ember seems to have catalogued this as being the problem currently plaguing the station.” There were several seconds of silence as Opal poured over the information. “The reason why I can’t get a good signal on any of the life signs is because of a byproduct of… consuming massive quantities of energy, yeah that sounds about right. This makes it impossible to track where this thing or these things are in the station at any given time, so we can’t trust scanners to work correctly in any capacity. Drones won’t work either; they are eventually attacked and are found partially or fully drained of their batteries without having picked up a single visual image and are miraculously left mostly undamaged. These particular sifter drifters are of the deadliest classification simply known as ‘Visitant’.” Author's Note Sifter Drifter 'Visitant' class = almost certainly impossible to kill and lethal. Will Rarity be smart enough to avoid a possible confrontation with something that can't be killed conventionally? We're talking Cthulhu build up levels of bad here. -56-“Okay everyone; you should all know why I called you here.” Rarity was sitting at the table with everyone else. Minus Sassy, everyone in the crew was here and she was going to go over their options as to what they would do about Antilur Station. “If you don’t know already we have arrived at Antilur Station, but there’s a big problem. Apparently the station is infested with an unknown quantity with unknown abilities aside from the fact that it drains the energy out of several things and is under the classification Visitant which we will refer to as the infestation. I have gathered us here to discuss our options. Just know that no matter what is said, I will be going in there… alone if I have to. I’m of course very scared of what I might run into, but at least Ember said that an EVA suit is enough to prevent it from coming after you whatever it is, though it might not be entirely foolproof its something. Now who wants to speak first?” “I do, I would like to simply say that you’re crazy for wanting to go into a place that left several military vessels empty, dark or even possibly infested with the infestation in question.” Gilda stood up and seemed to have a slight far off look in her eyes. “If you can remember, I and Greta lived through a scenario like that. I can’t speak for Greta, but I don’t like the idea of getting post traumatic stress disorder while possibly being hunted by whatever has made a whole space colony go dark.” “I have my own problems with that Rarity, such as you putting yourself in danger though I logically know why you are doing so. You do realize that from the way Ember tells it, this kind of infestation is both virulent and deadly. At least to the point that destroying the entire station is the expected ultimate way to deal with the problem, I don’t think destroying an entire space station is a good idea assuming we’re trying to rescue the victims if they are even alive.” The monitor in the cafeteria was huge and Opal was taking advantage of it to appear as if she were sitting on a lawn chair on a beach wearing sunglasses. “There is also the fact that getting caught by the infestation is considered to be a slow death and we don’t even know what that death entails except there are a lot of people dying on the station from it at this very moment.” “What were the systems still active on the station again?” Greta had an idea as to how the people were dying. “The stations reactor, life support, hydroponics and gravity generation, all those systems are still running normally despite the entire station being dark and whatever excess energy the reactor is making is disappearing into nothing.” Sitting up and lowering her sunglasses, Opal gave Greta a flat look. “That’s what I’m getting when I look at the station. Just as a reminder, the life signs I’ve been getting are also sporadically popping up all over the place in there so the energy readings from said system being flat out normal is the most abnormal thing going on here. We know the infestation is eating energy, but not how it eats it. Does it bite into something, does it absorb the energy from its surroundings or does it have to make contact to do so? If we are going to go in there, we need a method to get some kind of visual on something we can work with here as I don’t like the idea of dealing with something blindly like this. Especially not when moms life is on the line, I’m not about to stop her from going if she’s dead set on helping people. Was there a reason for this question?” “I asked, mostly because we really shouldn’t turn off the reactor if we do go inside the station.” It made sense to Greta, but it didn’t make sense to the others who sent questioning looks her way. “The infestation is likely feeding on multiple sources of energy and if we turn them off, then the people who are still alive will start dying faster since the infestation will getting energy from the stations population alone and why there might be survivors. Opal can you remotely access anything in the station?” “That’s a negative Greta, I can’t get into the stations systems and I probably wouldn’t want to given the current situation. If I were to get stuck in the stations systems then that would kind of leave The Shining Jewel basically, for all intents and purposes meant, crippled.” Opal tossed away the sunglasses and rolled onto her belly, her fluffy tail started to lazily drift back and forth. “Though it brings up a particular question, how do you suppose this infestation would get energy from the gravity or hydroponics systems?” “Hydroponics is usually the production of food or atmosphere providing moss right? So if left unchecked then the moss could very well grow out of control and wouldn’t that cause the station to eventually explode without something to release the pressure? That would actually take a long time admittedly, so forget that I mentioned it.” Mechanical issues were Gilda’s thing and the oxygen production factory would cause problems only after years of being left unattended. “We don’t know what the infestation exactly is or what it looks likes, but if it can absorb the life out of living beings as well as it can machinery. Will if the infestation can do that, then it very well could do the same thing to plants and the bacteria used that either helps or hinder said plants growth. As for the gravity generation systems, it could be taking the gravitational potential energy that’s being created. That kind of energy is negative and could be consumed to possibly balance out the positive energy being consumed; so the infestation must be large in number or just large in size. Large in number is more likely than size as Ember had stated that she has been in there several times, it would be impossible to miss something if it were huge from eating so much.” “So we’re not even sure what this infestation can do, but hypothetically speaking it would be possible for what we’re dealing with here to warp all nearby gravity out of shape by just eating it? That could be a nasty defense mechanism.” Surprisingly that little tidbit had come from Coco; she gave everyone a slight glare that just looked adorable coming from her. “Hey, don’t look so surprised! I am the inventor of Impulse Saddles you know, so it’s not that hard to figure out that gravitational forces exerted by the system regulating it could be altered in a dangerous manner in a given region if that energy is either being taken or given. So what if this infestation was capable of gravity pulses deadly enough to crush us for getting too close?” “No, it wouldn’t be using the gravity pulses to defend itself with, but it could possibly be an incidental side effect or maybe useful for propulsion. The file Ember left behind stated that the battery drained drones were always found in perfect condition, if gravity was being used to catch or hinder prey it certainly isn’t aware that it’s capable of doing so.” The crew sat silent after Opal finished her statement for a moment. “Okay, everyone, we’re all going to need EVA suits. I’m making it mandatory for the crew to have at least one functional EVA suit on hoof, hand, paw or whatever available at all times for safety concerns. Ember said that it won’t come after us as long as we’re in a sealed suit… I just got an idea as to how we can safely test that.” They all turned to Rarity and waited for her to continue. “I’m going need at least Chrysalis and Vera for the plan I have in mind, otherwise we’ll wait here for at least eighteen hours in the hopes that Ember comes back out, we’re currently parked where her ship was. If she doesn’t, some of the EVA suits I will be making in the meantime will be seeing use right after production.” “Would you really be willing to put me in danger so soon after I joined the crew?” Chrysalis gave Rarity a big teary eyed look that made her look halfway adorable, only halfway as it was creepy that Chrysalis could even get her eyes to look like a puppies. “Please, do get me mauled. I quite frankly enjoy it!” “What could I possibly do, need I remind you I’m mostly a masseuse and therapist.” Though it was nice that Vera was given a chance to be included in whatever idea Rarity had cooked up. “I wouldn’t exactly be helpful in a fight; my hooves were made for healing.” “I assure you that neither of you will be in too much danger, well at least Chrysalis won’t be. If things go according to my idea, then this will rely entirely on your ability to remain ignored Vera. That and Chrysalis’s ability to detect danger will be the safety net in case it goes wrong. I will explain later, it will require us to access one of the stations hangars.” The idea would involve putting a crew member in danger and Rarity didn’t know whether or not Vera would agree to it. “I’m not going to force you to do this, but it would be useful if you helped to give us some idea as to what we’re dealing with. However Chrysalis is key to saving you, Coco do we have enough spare Pinpoint Pullers for personal use?” “Well you’re no fun.” Here Chrysalis was willing to get brutalized and she wasn’t even going to be in danger, she may as well start taking this seriously. - “Why am I here again?” Coriander asked curiously, everyone else including Bernard had been outfitted by Rarity. “Everyone has to learn how these suits work, no exceptions Mr. Cumin. This is a matter of safety and could one day save your life. I’m taking my job as captain of this ship seriously and you’re my crew members that I have to look out for.” They were all in EVA suits on Rarity’s orders and would be learning to maneuver in zero gravity with the impulse saddles. However Bernard was obviously too small for an impulse saddle and required a different mode of movement. “It is in my best interest that all of you know how to operate our equipment. Bernard you need to work with someone who has an impulse saddle. Prepare to switch the gravity generator to off Opal, but keep the running lights on so we can at least give Ember a place to come back to if she’s doing okay.” Bernard nodded and moved over to Trapeze, he could figure out how to do this and when the gravity did switch off the fun began. Rover had a lot of fun and wasn’t having nearly as much trouble as Chrysalis was. This was the first time the Changeling Queen or Diamond Dog had been in zero gravity; Bernard seemed at home with it though. Trapeze and Saffron picked it up easily enough. Coriander was surprisingly good at maneuvering around. Greta and Gilda helped out where needed, as did Coco and Rarity. - “Okay it’s been long enough that it is quite obvious that Ember isn’t coming back, I will get some sleep and then upon awakening I will go on with my plan. That is if and only if Vera and Chrysalis are willing to go through with it. Otherwise I plan to explore inside the station and see if I can find a black box or something of the sort to bring back.” Looking to all of her friends around the table that just happened to be willing to work with her, Rarity saw that they still looked unsure about this. “Does anyone have any questions or doubts about this?” “Yes, if you want to find a black box then you’re going to need either me or Gilda. How were you expecting to find a black box without an engineer’s help?” Greta put her elbows on the tables as she crossed her claws while leaning forward. “I would ask you where to look of course, we need at least something on what we’re dealing with and the quickest way is either my plan or by at least one pony going in to scout around. Vera is probably the safest out of all of us when it comes to scouting around in there.” Standing up to leave the room Rarity didn’t look back to see everyone stayed where they were. “You have to admit, despite not being a stallion she has some almonds on her for wanting to go into a situation that even several vessels worth of military personnel have disappeared in.” Speaking from experience Lightning Dust knew this might go south, she had been with the Wonder Bolts long enough to see some things. Though something like this was beyond her previous training, she was still trying to get back into shape. “I’m not afraid to admit that I’m scared in this situation, I don’t want to go missing.” “I’m kind of scared too, but would you have rather stayed in the cardboard box?” Gilda held out a claw to Lightning in a friendly gesture. “No, I’m glad to be on the crew and out of destitution that was starting to get me into the idea that prostitution with the Changelings was my futures. Uh, no offense meant?” Lightning turned to Chrysalis who didn’t look offended at all. “Why would I be offended? We Changelings are helping less fortunate ponies… well unless you think the art of prostitution is horrible.” Chrysalis look offended that Lightning though she should be offended about the fact that Changelings were friends with a lot of prostitutes. “I’ll have you know it’s a noble industry we Changelings have been behind for years and is a relatively cheap method of getting lust, which is not as filling as love even it is the same basic energy. Why some Changelings might not even be alive today if a pony couldn’t be paid to sleep with another pony at random, I’m offended that you would think me offended by something like this!” “Yeah, be a little more culturally sensitive Lightning!” Saffron joined in and it made sense that she did given her heritage. “I am of Rover’s need to mark his territory inside his room.” “Yes, thunder pony is being quite mean to pack mates!” Even Rover joined in on the bandwagon, being that there were several culturally different species in the room it was easy enough for him to pick up on it as well. Lightning was a little more than confused as to the fact that Changelings being involved in prostitution was seen as normal and culturally fine, when it should be entirely morally questionable. - Chrysalis liked the bright blue EVA Suit as it was both form fitting and relatively comfortable, though she didn’t like the fact that her jagged horn was incased in the helmet. How was she supposed to impale her enemies on it with it covered like this? Now she also had to figure out what enemies she had to impale in the first place, also there weren’t noble ponies to torture within the bounds of the Equestrian law in space. At least she was going on an adventure with scary implications. “Chrysalis please tell me you aren’t mentally wandering off, we need you to be aware in case something tries to grab Vera when we get into position or in case the infestation comes after us before that.” Somehow Rarity had managed to convince Vera, Chrysalis and Coco to come on this excursion to the station with her. “Okay, Opal get the airlock and wait for us, we’ll make our way into the hangar to get Vera into position. Once we’re inside be alert for anything, movement, sound and whatever else.” “R-r-right Rarity, I’m going to do whatever you need of me.” Coco didn’t know how she got talked into this; Saffron was the one begging to go on this excursion so why did she want to come again? The poor pony was quaking in her yellow EVA suit and looking everywhere despite not even being inside the station with the infestation yet. Saffron was required to stay behind to protect the Shining Jewel and to come up with a plan next if this fails horribly. The CAT drone flew forward and accessed the airlock, after a moment it slid open. The interior of the airlock was dark until four lights shined on it, as the four floated forward gravity started to assert itself on them as soon as they were inside. The drone closed the airlock and then waited. “Good news Rarity, power is still available everywhere, but the lights are not on. I’m sorry I can’t take the drone in, so you’ll have to go through a door to the hangar by manual access. As a reminder I can’t remotely control anything on the stations, so if there’s any automated defense systems you might need to use your weapons.” Opal’s voice piped in over the four suits and all four of them nodded. “Impulse saddles off, Chrysalis you’re the danger detector here so take point.” It was quite helpful for Rarity to know if they were in danger or not. Chrysalis acting as a biological radar would be useful in this short sortie Rarity had planned. The operation was simple, try to get a visual of the infestation and confirm its appearance, that’s all they were doing here. “Keep the lights to low power, if the infestation is attracted to energy we don’t want to attract it to ourselves yet. Ember said this infestation didn’t attack her while she was wearing a suit. I’m not taking any chances; who knows what will attract the infestation towards us.” “I don’t feel any danger yet, so far we’re good to move.” Chrysalis exited the airlock into the dark corridors with a material rifle levitated before her. Energy weapons wouldn’t be very helpful here so Rarity and Chrysalis were both armed appropriately for the situation. It was only an idea, but the infestation might have been vulnerable to ferrous materials if it was electrically charged. “I’m feeling quite nervous if I’m to be honest here, this infestation sounds like something that might be able to kill even me. Keep the chatter to a minimum and let’s get a move on. The quicker we do this the quicker I can get back to figuring out how to make my butt look a little bigger in this suit.” Not a sound was heard aside from their hoof steps as they moved down the corridor. Coco looked behind herself and gasped. “Where’d Vera go?” Coco started to panic. “Coco she’s in front of you. Stop panicking, I’m here to make sure neither of you lose sight of her. Which if you remember right is quite easy to do despite the fact that she’s wearing an EVA suit in a garish rainbow of bright colors.” Rarity made a gagging noise, but pointed to Vera causing Coco to calm down. “I felt sick even making that thing, obviously it’s not helping her stand out and her ability to be missed is still going as strong as ever.” The silence was quite deafening, even Chrysalis seemed to pause for a moment to take it all in. Once they were down the corridor they turned right and were right outside a door to the hanger. “So are you going to open it or what?” It took a moment for Chrysalis to ask this because they had been standing there for a moment and they were watching her. “Oh thank goodness for a second there I thought you…” A thunderous groaning sound came from deeper down the corridors. “Whatever that is, it’s not coming towards us. It’s not intelligent, but it certainly is some kind of primal force.” Wrapping her hooves around herself Chrysalis started shivering violently. “I suddenly don’t think the infestation wants to hit on me, literally as much as figuratively.” “Coco if you and Vera will get the door for us through the manual override?” They weren’t very deep in the station, but that noise had freaked them all out. Even Rarity could feel a chill at how silent a lot of this station was at the moment, this place should have been packed with people of all kinds. “Please hurry, there’s this constant sense of dread that is starting to wear at my mind.” Coco and Vera opened the manual access and both started to pull on the doors, which required a certain amount of strength to move as they were somewhat heavy. The doors eventually slid out of the way thanks to the two earth ponies and once they were all on the other side of the doors, they forced the doors back together. They had officially made it into the hangar. “Okay we’re here, so what are we doing Rarity?” Coco saw that the hangar they got into was equally as silent as the corridor they left behind, a few empty vehicles laid scattered about. Rarity looked upwards and pointed her lights at what had to be the control room that was dark as everything else. “That’s where we need to go, we need to get the atmosphere barrier up and open the hangar. After that then we can position both Vera and Chrysalis. Though I don’t know how we’re going to get up…” The sound of shattered glass hitting the floor caused three ponies to freeze and then they looked at Chrysalis who was pointed her material rifle up at the window. “Is the infestation coming Chrysalis?” “Nope, that didn’t do it. I thought I’d expedite the process of getting us in there, so noise isn’t a factor.” If Chrysalis didn’t feel any threats coming their way then they should be safe, the key word here was should and so far they were safe. “Right maybe it doesn’t react to sound. If it’s managed to get all those victims, then sound wasn’t something that attracted its attention or I would like to hope so.” Was it Rarity or did things seem a little darker around them. “Right, since Chrysalis decided to cut out the middle mare I’m going to pull myself up there to get at the controls. Wait here; tell me if you detect any changes when I use my grapple.” Rarity lifted her hoof and aimed for the ceiling of the control room and used the pinpoint puller to pull herself safely up into it. It had only taken about five seconds. “Whoa, I think you certainly got its attention for a moment there and I’m feeling something much closer than it previously was and it was moving fast.” By Chrysalis’s standard she had never sensed anything like that before and now felt it far closer than she was comfortable with. “It has to be either the energy usage itself or the zero point energy that is used as an anchor when a pinpoint puller hits a surface. How far away would you say it was compared to how close it is now?” Rarity moved to the controls and was ready to use them. “If it isn’t picking up our communicating with one another then we’re good. However the infestations presence seemed to have jumped halfway across the distance between us in an instant… I’m not even sure there is just the one. We could be dealing with something that has a hive mind.” Chrysalis stowed her gun and looked to Coco, but couldn’t see Vera… she raised her hoof and started to point it aimlessly until it stopped when Vera appeared. “It could be like the Changeling mental linking ability where we almost become as one; honestly that ridiculous leap it made kind of freaks me out. I have never felt anything like that back on Equus and its worrying me, me the Changeling Queen!” “If something has you this worried, then we should all be far more cautious about what we do from here on out. Keep track of how the infestation reacts when I turn on the atmospheric barrier and open the door to space Chrysalis.” Rarity looked over the panel and turned it on, she then saw the computer screen come to life and she accessed the atmospheric barrier, opened the door to space and turned on all the lights in the hangar. Access codes were only needed to turn off the atmospheric barrier. “Okay I feel trouble coming, but it’s slower this time. Almost like it’s prowling towards us, like there’s a sense of curiosity in the air. It’s not here yet though.” Chrysalis, Coco and Vera turned around to a brighter light shining in the hangar as the doors opened; the atmospheric barrier was glowing brightly as light from The Shining Jewel shined inside the hangar. “Right, Vera find an open spot near the atmospheric barrier where Chrysalis can hit you with a pinpoint puller to pull you out if needed, Coco and Chrysalis go out into space.” It was only now that Rarity thought of something that might have made things a bit pear shaped. “This might not actually be a good idea, if the infestation reacts to pinpoint pullers like that. Then I might not be able to get down from up here using it, I might be able to turn off the hangars gravity and use the impulse saddle. We still don’t know how the infestation will react to that either. Opal we’re in position, are you ready for whatever might happen?” “No, but I get the feeling I know what you’re planning.” Opal was looking through the sensors and saw Coco and Chrysalis jumping outside the atmospheric barrier and they floated away from the station before activating their impulse saddles. “Do you have anything to report about using the impulse saddles in space Chrysalis?” “The infestation isn’t moving any differently; wait what if me pointing at Vera makes the infestation go for her?” Chrysalis and Coco turned back towards the Antilur. “We’re not going to learn much by losing Vera here.” “I beg to differ as we’re learning a lot here. According to you the fact that it’s not moving any different means that it isn’t able to detect us outside the station while we’re using the impulse saddles.” Coco had a good visual of Rarity, but Vera was hard to spot. At least until Chrysalis started to randomly pointed her hoof into the docking bay and found Vera shaking with fear. “I know this sounds a bit odd Vera, but I’m going to need you to remove your helmet and inhale deeply once and then put it back on quickly.” From her position Rarity could tell that Vera might have been sending her an incredulous look. “I have a reason for this; it might explain why the infestation can’t sense us while we’re wearing EVA suits. Chrysalis I need you to stop pointing at Vera.” Vera slowly reached up to her helmet and it started unfolding. She held her breath for a while, then after seeing nothing happening she inhaled deeply and promptly put the helmet back on. It folded over her face and pulled her mane back in before returning to a state where it could be sealed. The moment her helmet came off nothing had happened, the moment Vera took a breath the lights started flickering and the entire hangar started to seem as if it were slowly flooding with darkness. Rarity and Vera could swear they could hear the screams of children, men and women and if that wasn’t enough the temperature dropped by quite a few degrees. Vera was already hyperventilating as she saw the shadows shift about her and could almost see amorphous visages moving in it from her helmets lights. “Vera, if you can hear my voice stay absolutely still wherever you are. I don’t think it needs saying, but I’ll do it anyway. Whatever the infestation is, it’s currently in there with you and Rarity and getting Rarity out is going to be a problem as she’s in the back of the hangar.” Both Chrysalis and the shivering Coco beside her had their lights trained on the hangar, but the light wasn’t going through the veil of shadows that had begun forming up against the atmospheric barrier. “How are you doing in the control room Rarity?” “Oh just peachy darling, we’re both kind of trapped in the hangar with whatever a Visitant classification sifter drifter infestation is and we can’t even see anything thanks to whatever said infestation is doing. My thoughts of breathing in the air being something that would attract its attention to us was rather spot on, I also think I might be hallucinating a bit because I’m hearing a lot of horrid things.” They all stayed silent as the darkness completely enshrouded the hangar, even the light coming from The Shining Jewel couldn’t pierce it. Rarity started to match Vera by hyperventilating herself. “Opal, please tell me that you’re at least getting something from this.” “Yes, please tell us you’re getting something because I’m hearing things too.” Vera whimpered and closed her eyes; she stayed very still and hoped that her ability to be ignored kept her safe. “Can’t any of you hear that? They’re screaming!” “Rarity, Vera, I have all my sensors trained on that very hangar and….” Though Opal could very well see what was going on inside the hangar herself. “I’m not detecting anything.” -57-“You can’t be serious right now! We’re both in the hangar with it and you can’t get a single thing on it?” Despite the haunting sounds flooding her ears and the darkness surrounding her causing her to panic, Rarity had temporarily overcome it with a bout of anger. “At least do something to get us out of here the noises are driving us crazy.” “What do you mean by us Rarity?” Once again Opal and a few others had forgotten Vera existed. “Vera and me, Opal… look can you just distract whatever this is and get us out of here?” Rarity really wished she could move to cover her ears, but she was currently paralyzed with fear that movement might let the darkness get her. “Please come up with something like yesterday, as my sanity is slipping quite fast darling.” “Hold on, coming up with a solution and… okay. Trapeze I need you to join Coco and Chrysalis, you’re going to open up another hangar and I’ll use a drone to lure it away.” If it was to save their trapped crew, Opal would make a personal sacrifice. If her plan worked then the sacrifice wouldn’t be needed. “While you’re getting that in order, I have to tell everyone something. I think this thing is force feeding negative emotions to Rarity… and… that other mare; I’m going to go with ‘what’s-her-name’. We’re outside the area of effect and we can’t exactly hear what they’re hearing in there. This thing feels really awful and for my first time with dealing with a danger in space, I’m really quite impressed with how far south this situation has gone. Is there a south in space?” Tilting her head to look at the hangar Chrysalis thought of something. “Couldn’t you just shoot the atmospheric barrier down and have it suck Rarity and what’s-her-name out into space Opal?” “Too dangerous, plus the explosive release of atmosphere could hurt Rarity when it pulls her out of the hangar control room, the other… I mean… damn it… Vera would be okay but I’m not risking it.” Of course Opal realized that using what she considered the most problematic crew member had its own disadvantage. “Hey, it’s still an option though. Which leads me to asking, why hasn’t it torn down the atmospheric barrier thing for energy yet? I mean I get that it’s important, but if you removed that wouldn’t the thing be incapable of breathing.” All these new experiences were the things that were missing from Chrysalis’s life, that and a promised game of Twisty with Lightning Dust. “Actually this thing might be something that is beyond breathing or it moves too fast to be forced into a vacuum. It’s a guess, but it could be actively avoiding taking any energy to the atmospheric barrier. It’s at least smart enough to possibly realize that that’s a really excessively bad idea on its part.” Greta was joining the conversation from The Shining Jewel. “That probably has happened to it before and it likely learned something from that experience, you say it’s intelligent right?” “Mostly intelligent, I’d say above some animals and below full on sapient. Good instincts at least, responded to a prey in its general vicinity who took one breath of air really damn fast.” That was an understatement and Chrysalis knew it, the reaction had almost been instantaneous and even Chrysalis didn’t think she could respond to something that could entrap you that fast. Feeling something touching her Chrysalis calmly turned to Trapeze who tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to a different hangar, on Trapeze’s back was Bernard who was determined to not be left behind by his partner. “I think the only reason it hasn’t grabbed either of them is because one has that unique ability to be ignored and Rarity is impossible to find because it can’t see her for some reason. Does it even have a physical body?” “Whatever it is, this is worse than what happened to us when this ship was still The Derringer. I can guarantee you that much.” Gilda’s comment was met with Greta’s voice making a confirming noise that this was scarier than what happened to them previously, any entire space colony with something like this on it was likely wiped out in hours or minutes. - The darkness quickly receded from the room and Rarity’s breathing soon became normal, which was when she saw Chrysalis enter the hangar and pulled off her suit to spread her wings and fly up to her. “Hey boss lady, this lovely queen is here to save the day!” Chrysalis carefully flew behind Rarity and slowly lifted her to carry her to the floor from hangar control room. Once she was done she pulled her suit back on after retracting her wings back into herself, she still had her helmet on and that was why the darkness hadn’t come back yet. At least she had hoped that the helmet was the reason why the darkness hadn’t flooded this hangar again at the sound of her wings beating against the air. Sound and movement didn’t seem to attract the infestation, but what did was the pinpoint puller and just simply breathing air within the presence of such a thing. It didn’t react much to her magic usage so there was at least that. “This is my first real danger in space that is not space itself and I’ve never felt so excited to be dealing with something so dangerous!” “Excuse me if I don’t share your enthusiasm, Opal a status report on the drone if you will.” Rarity quickly made her way for the atmosphere barrier and could see that Vera was already flying through the atmospheric barrier of The Shining Jewel. She decided to do the same and leap from the barrier flying towards the other barrier with the adventurous Chrysalis following. “It got out of there in time; all equipment accounted for including the pinpoint puller the drone used for the distraction is also okay. All crew members accounted for, I may not be able to detect Vera directly but her mass and weight still registers to me. Damn it, cancel the file deletion!” It sounded like Opal had her paws full with trying to keep Vera’s name on record. “Why is the system even asking me if I’m sure I don’t want to delete it? I’m supposed to be the one that is freaking running this thing, oh come on, stop trying to delete Vera’s name!” “Thank goodness for that, we can’t really afford to buy new drones or go scavenging more possibly lethal quarantined ships. Thank you for your help Vera. We now know that breathing anywhere in the station is a bad idea now. We already know that the impulse saddles will attract its attention if the pinpoint pullers can, not like they’ll work with the gravity being on anyway.” Shaking her head Rarity was just happy to be back on The Shining Jewel. “At least it doesn’t pick up communications or the low energy usage our lights put off. Are you okay Vera, I’m quite terribly sorry about this.” “Rarity I’m going to be the one to need therapy after this and I am the therapist!” Well Vera was obviously pointing out that it was a bad sign of things to come if the therapist was the one that went mental first compared to everyone else having their little issues. She had given everyone a massage at least once already. “Who am I supposed to go to?” As far as crew members went, Rarity and Bernard were Vera’s favorites, Rarity because she gave her the attention she craved and Bernard because he was an adorable voracious creature that looked like a rabbit. Bernard was probably the sanest member of the crew, his reaction upon entering the Antilur Station, according to Trapeze, was to instantly tense up and freeze as if in the presence of something far more dangerous than he was. That didn’t stop Bernard from following Trapeze into opening up another nearby hangar to rescue them from Rarity’s luring test. “Yes well, that’s quite understandable. I’ll need you far more than that after I go back in there, besides you were in less danger than I was.” The horrified looks Rarity received had her smiling weakly at the prospect of getting stuck in the darkness with those horrible noises again. She was still quite determined to at least save someone. “I’m not willing to leave a good friend in the lurch that once saved my sister from a budding slave trading ring and I’m also quite sure Mr. Spew would like it if Ember came back alive. So does anyone have any suggestions on how we might defeat this horrid thing? Because it seems to be quite a daunting task if this thing is as ghostly as it appears.” “You actually want to go back in there, are you freaking mad!” The grumpiness of Gilda could not be any grumpier, her boss lady and paycheck with a target painted on it was going to go back into the infested station with that Visitant classification level of sifter drifter. “Yes, quite so, because I’m mad that such a monstrosity thinks it can scare me away from helping those in need!” It was determined not too long after that by most of the crew that Rarity was a suicidal idiot. She was the crews suicidal idiot and they would have to come up with a plan to find and eventually rescue anyone that might be alive in there, if that was even still feasible at this rate. Which was easier said than done, because breathing the air or using too much energy at once could draw the thing right to them. “I’ll go with you this time!” Saffron was itching to do something heroic. Family history and being in the blood was one thing, but this was a crisis that needed some professional detective work and she was a part time super hero aside from being a full time chef. Ponies needed rescuing and she wanted to be a part of that. “That is after we figure out what else attracts its presence if anything.” “I don’t think it’ll help too much, but I and Greta can whip up something to at least distract whatever it is.” Gilda didn’t want to die and she felt it safe to say that she and Greta were definitively spooked. “We’re definitely not going in there though!” “That’s okay because I’m not going to ask you to. I do need Chrysalis and at the very least one other pony aside from Saffron who is brave for volunteering her services in what amounts to walking into the mouth of a living nightmare.” Because goodness knows Rarity wouldn’t want to be stuck alone with Chrysalis in a space station that almost felt like it had been abandoned. “I know we’re not exactly military, but we’re learning a lot and I’m sure we can help the people who are trapped here. All who travel in space eventually have to deal with sifter drifters at least once or twice, usually because said monstrosities have infested their ship. I’m no exception; though I’ve only had one sifter drifter problem to deal with and this is the ship that problem occurred on with Greta and Gilda as the only survivors.” “Well I’m game, arm me with a weapon and let’s go find your lost friend boss lady. You’re going to need someone who has seen combat once or twice in her life.” Lightning stepped forward while spreading her wings, it didn’t look like Coco or Trapeze were willing to volunteer for this and Sassy had more than a week left to go on her recovery. Vera was traumatized, though now very thankful for her ability to go ignored in a room where she was the only other sole occupant when someone else trotted in. Seeing the looks she was receiving Lightning responded eloquently enough. “I may not be a Wonder Bolt anymore, but they have always been trained as commandos aside from being top notch pilots and exceptionally good at flying by wing. I may not exactly be fully up to speed, but I think I’m good enough to throw my life into the thick of it and I need an adventure to get the blood pumping.” - (Lost Colony- Sonic Adventure 2 plays) The airlock opened and the four piled into the airlock, they were each equipped with four HE phosphorus grenades for distraction purposes. Chrysalis was carrying a material rifle and material sniper, one for rapid fire and the other single shot. Lightning was armed with two material pistols and had two knives that were given to her by Saffron, her orange and yellow EVA suit with a hazard symbol on it really stood out like a sore thumb among them. Saffron had several knives strapped to her EVA suit that came in Mare-Do-Well’s colors and one material pistol. Rarity was simply still carrying the pistols she took with her on the previous excursion. They slowly opened the airlock into the station and looked around, before letting Chrysalis go first. They proceeded to follow Chrysalis forward. Things were silent and they weren’t talking, they were listening for anything that might be alive or moving. Nothing, but pure silence and it was maddening. This time they weren’t going to lightly probe into Antilur Station, they were going in deeper and they w would start a search in Antilur City. Chrysalis was alert and her eyes tracked the walls and any shadow that looked unusual, she as actually taking this threat seriously. No one could ambush a Changeling, why the very thought of it happening would ruin not only her reputation, but that of her entire race. She was the walking threat detector and she felt nothing coming from the station, which was odd because she had felt a presence here not too long ago and they had entered the station not too far away from there. It unnerved the usually unflappable Chrysalis that she couldn’t feel it anymore. All Rarity wanted to do was find and possibly help Ember, aside from that anything else would need a better reason. They thought they understood the infestation well enough, but did they really? They slowly meandered down the corridor with Chrysalis in the lead their lights sweeping down the dark intersecting halls they passed, all of them without even a single sign of a struggle anywhere. This was spooking them and leaving them all perturbed. There were several more junctions, but they kept going straight from the airlock and accessed several doors along the way without a single reaction from Chrysalis that she felt anything off and that was far more unnerving then knowing the infestation had been close by previously. Nothing happened and even stranger Chrysalis still didn’t feel a thing; they were close to a rather large city access door and nothing. “Okay this is creepy, is anyone else getting a chilling vibe from all this?” Lightning’s voice cut through the silence making both Rarity and Saffron jumpy. Chrysalis just rolled her eyes, but kept her senses on high alert as there was no way an active mind like she felt before could just disappear into nothingness... right? “I’ll admit I’m a little scared too, let’s pop this door and see what’s going on in the city here.” A quiet and wary Rarity marched right up to the door and put a hoof on the panel to access the computer. She saw a symbol come up on the screen, the door wasn’t on lockdown and lockdown would be the first thing someone would do if the station were known to have a lethal or dangerous infestation. There was no lockdown, why hadn’t one been activated? “Opal, how far can your signal reach?” “Once you enter the city I won’t be able to help and we’ll lose contact, the signal to your suits is already weakening as it is. I suggest you wedge that door open; it’ll give me a little bit more range to communicate with. If and when you come back into contact range, I’ll be ready and waiting. Just be aware I cannot find you on my scanners so don’t ask me to try, at least forms of communication aren’t messed up.” There were plenty of things to fear in the universe and Opal had learned to fear this infestation, she couldn’t hurt it and drones were entirely useless against it and even attracted its attention. “I think the rest of the crew are spending their time in the Caravel Boutique because things are certainly too quiet for their liking and an enclosed comforting space works for them at the moment. Please come back safely. In the meantime I’ll see what Greta and Gilda can come with to boost the range of the communication arrays. Hope you have good luck in there.” “I hope so too, because here we go.” Rarity hit the green holographic image floating above the panel; the door creaked and groaned loudly as it slides open. Looking through the doorway the four saw a vast city shrouded in darkness, there was not a single light on in the colony. No emergency lights, no life at all moving around and they began to look at the closest buildings. There were several wrecks and some of the distant buildings had been partially destroyed, but there were no bodies, no sign of anyone dying, no eviscerated organs, not even a drop of blood and only minor damage to the nearby surroundings and tons of empty crashed vehicles littering the roads across the gap before the group. There was just nothing there except empty buildings as Rarity took her first step into the city filled with trepidation about this, at least she can say it wasn’t a sewer. It looked like they just walked into a purposely abandoned colony. “Do you have any idea where to start looking first?” Saffron turned to Chrysalis addressing her as the sole being that could find any life in this place, the city was massive and there were several layers to it. They were coming in at the middle layer of the city that had several layers going both up and down. The area they came in from had a road go past them and eventually turning to the right to enter the city on the left and on the right the road eventually turned left quite a distance away, the road was gently curved and was a distinct ring around the entire city that led to bridges that went into the city proper. From where they stood at the door, they crossed the road in front of them and collectively shined their lights downwards at the railing next to the road. They looked to the lower levels and then upwards toward the upper levels, it was really quiet. They could barely make out several large spiraling pillars that led between each layer of the massive city before them. They were at the city limits and could barely see much of the city at this distance because their lights were dimmed to avoid problems of attracting attention. “Not really and something feels really off here, there’s something tingling in my skull and I can almost feel life here. Maybe it’s someone, but it’s kind of distorted.” Chrysalis moved to the left where the road gentle curved to the right towards the nearby right turn into the city. They’d have to cross that bridge once they reached it and then Chrysalis might be able to get a better idea of what she was feeling. “Let’s go into the city, I might be able to get a better read on some form of life. The infestation couldn’t have just simply disappeared.” “You’re our best chance at finding anyone in this place Chrysalis; let’s just hope we don’t find the wrong sort after what happened here. Anyone who hasn’t been taken by the infestation is someone to be wary of.” At Rarity’s words they turned and followed Chrysalis. Rarity stopped when they reached the bridge leading into the city and looked at the lower level where she saw something shifting out the view of her light, she might be imagining things but she could have sworn she saw a shadowy figure moving among the buildings down below. “I think I saw something moving down there.” A loud groaning sound filtered throughout the city as if something it were shifting about, it didn’t sound like a living creature and it certainly wasn’t a normal sound you’d hear on a space station. The creaking noises and any noise in particular were quite hard to ignore when it was the only sound being produced and echoed around the entire city. “I didn’t sense anything… let’s just keep moving.” Though Chrysalis didn’t want to think or even admit to it that the infestation might have had a way around her ability to sense incoming danger. “This place is all kinds of wrong; we’re the only light here and I also don’t feel safe with my wings stuck in compression pouches…” Lighting couldn’t fly to safety if danger struck and it was disturbing her just as much as this empty station was. They had crossed the bridge into the city proper and there was still no movement. Chrysalis paused and her ears twitched inside her helmet and she turned her head to left and up slightly looking at a building, she felt a sign of life for a second there and it felt disturbed or was disturbed. The feeling was gone as soon as it came and that was quite startling, then a second stronger feeling was coming from straight ahead and up above. Above as far as the city layer above them and it was of a solid emotion, but it was too far away to get a grasp on what that emotion might have been. At least it was more constant than the last bit of emotion she felt. “I think I’ve got someone at least, might be this Ember person we’re looking for.” Chrysalis said conversationally, she turned to the left slowly trotting down the street at an even pace and then right down another street towards one of the pillars to the upper level. The rest of the group didn’t say anything and continued to follow Chrysalis’s lead. They froze when they heard the sound of metal dropping to the ground and clanging behind them. Saffron was the first to turn around and there was nothing there at all. Her light traced the road and then eventually trained on the wrench that hadn’t been there prior and she looked up at the bottom of the layer above them to see nothing, she moved closer to the others and Lightning mimicked her actions looking down an alleyway. “Where did that wrench come from?” Slowly Rarity’s helmet lights swiveled around looking at the nearby buildings tops and the air around them while the others searched the streets. She really wanted to turn up the intensity on the helmets lights right about now, but she was afraid of attracting the infestation to them. “I know this is a cliché thing to say at a time like this, but I don’t think we’re alone here.” Following her statement Lightning slowly drew a knife out form her side into her left hoof, she held it with a tight grip and would continue with a three legged gait as they continued onwards towards the pillar. “The life I’m sensing is active and feels determined, so let’s keep moving toward that.” A thought crossed Chrysalis’s mind that she couldn’t detect things that weren’t alive, but she doubted that zombies or ghosts existed. Unless they did in space and that was a thought that was quite horrifying. You couldn’t get love or good hair from someone that’s not alive. She had to admit that a wrench falling from the air out of nowhere was a highly suspicious thing that had her fur covering her carapace standing on end. Someone could have thrown it or it could have just fallen at an angle for a distance, even then that meant something was around and she couldn’t feel it. “Just in case, be prepared to run or move quickly. I would suggest following me if that comes to pass and not getting separated from one another, I’ve watched enough horror movies and this isn’t a horror movie.” “Right, let’s not tarry to long in one place. I think I’m personally hitting my quota for horror and I will never touch another sparkling vampire novel ever again.” Of course Rarity would get a chuckle from both Lightning and Saffron; Chrysalis on the other hoof was on high alert as they got closer to the pillar. “Watch our backs Lightning and say something if you think something is wrong.” They came to the spiraling ramp and they were a bit spooked out of their minds, the fact that nothing was happening was scarier. Lightning was about to comment on how this place had seen better days, only she froze when her light landed on something. “Guys… Chrysalis, please tell me you can feel that.” The group all turned to Lightning to see what her light was shining upon, what they saw was very unusual. It looked like a pony only something was very wrong with it, it had shiny white teeth and sunken eyes that were equally white and beady where a pony’s eyes would be and those eyes didn’t even fit into the sockets they were in. The head of the creature tilted to the side as it continued to smile constantly at them in a creepy manner, the toothy smile didn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. It slowly started to move towards them at a slow trot, the grey fur looked decrepit and the there were bits of gangly looking flesh covered in pustules and other bits of rotted skin, muscles and sinew. It was gaunt in the fact that it didn’t look like it had much fat on it, it looked sickly; it’s just started moving towards them with that ever present smile. “Whatever that is, it’s not a pony and I can’t feel anything coming from it. So at a guess, it’s dangerous.” Yet it was moving so slowly Chrysalis couldn’t take it as a serious threat given how slowly it was moving towards them and then all of the sudden it slowly started to fade away into thin air before it could reach them. Whatever it had been, it certainly wasn’t a pony. “Okay… that… that’s not a good sign, that wasn’t camouflaging. It’s just not there anymore, are we all hallucinating right now or did we all just see that?” “Yes we just saw that, my eyes can see through illusions and that wasn’t an illusion.” A shiver passed through the group and Rarity was beginning to feel like making a run for The Shining Jewel and escaping while she still could. As they turned and went up the ramp to follow Chrysalis’s feeling towards the one solid sign of life that might know what was going on and what the hell they had just seen. “On a scale of one to ten, I’m at a twenty for how freaked out I am right now.” Maybe they were all just imagining things or at least Lightning could hope they had been imagining things as they made their way up the ramp leading to the next layer up the city. They were all quite on edge as they left the ramp on the next floor. More buildings and dilapidated vehicles, they moved forward following what Chrysalis said she could detect. As Lightning started too peer into an alleyway, what looked like the previous pony figure only without any skin at all that had the same freaky smile lunged from the shadows forcing her to the ground. Lightning screamed as the skinless pony gnashed it’s teeth at her trying to bite her while flailing it’s front hooves in her general direction, she held it off with her right hoof and quickly stabbed the creature in the neck with the knife still held in her left. It just seemed to fade out of existing by calmly exploding into a cloud of dust and said dust evaporated as if it had never existed. The scary thing about all this was that it didn’t make a single sound throughout its entire assault upon her. “Okay that was most certainly not a ghost...” Whimpered Saffron who felt a sudden fear rise up in her, Lightning’s knife had connected with something and then it was just gone as if it had never existed or attacked her. There wasn’t even a scream of pain or even acknowledgment that it had been stabbed. They didn’t even have time to react to the creature having attack Lightning who was still on her back breathing heavily at the sudden scare. “It couldn’t have been…” “What the buck just happened?” Even Lightning recognized that the knife had dug into something and then that something no longer seemed to have existed. “That thing was able to physically knock me over!” “The fact that I couldn’t even sense whatever that was means that we’re definitely in trouble.” Chrysalis pulled her material rifle off her back and checked the ammunition before looking around warily; she shouldn’t be getting scared because she was a brave and proud Changeling Queen. Why was it that she suddenly felt like a little larva that just hatched out of an egg without the protective silk covering her frail form? “We need to quickly find whoever it is I’m sensing, because I don’t think I like it here. There’s not enough latex, whips or sexy mares.” Author's Note It'll only get worse from here. -58-Coco might not have wanted to go back in after the first time having tested the limits of what would attract the danger, but she still found something to do at least. Mr. Spew needed company and she thought the squid was adorable, for a filth eating creature that nauseated Rarity on the principle of the matter. “Do you think they’re okay in there?” The darkness had disappeared from the second hangar that was popped open to save Rarity and Vera. Coco knew that was not to long after Rarity’s group went in, which was worrying her on a number of levels. “They better be! The boss lady is decent at surviving the odds.” The pony jumped and turned around cuddling the squid to her chest to see Gilda was already getting started on a second project with Greta. Gilda was being quite gruff about it. “She better not make us go in after her, because that would certainly suck.” “See, you do care about the boss lady!” Greta chirped happily, only for Gilda to send her a glare that didn’t diminish her upturned beak one bit. “I only care because I don’t want Kitten to suicide The Shining Jewel, especially not with us still along for the ride, into the space station out of despair.” Always the pragmatic one Gilda was, now what would the design of this project entail? What work of art would she sculpt with her talons this time? She could always make a number of upgrades to the Bombing Peregrine on the side. “Hey, give me some credit at least!” Taking offense to this Opal just had to chime in. “I’d let you fly away in the Caravel Boutique and give you forewarning before I’d do that. Maybe give you at least ten minutes to get food and maybe a few other supplies while I’m at it.” “Duly noted Kitten, I expect you to keep your word on the warning.” Snorting at that Gilda went back to drawing plans with Greta, but not before turning to Coco to get one last word. “See, it’s a completely legitimate concern.” - “Is anyone going to bring up the fact that that thing had been physical until I stabbed it?” Nobody really wanted to, but Lightning couldn’t get that one out of her mind given that it had put her on her back. “What’s more disturbing is that even while gnashing its teeth at you, it didn’t make a single sound. Speaking of, are you already dear?” Rarity turned her head to Lightning with a worried look as the mare kept a tight hold on the dagger in her hoof and her eyes were darting about suspiciously. “You were barely capable of being cleared for space travel.” “Yeah, yeah, I’ll work on it when we get back to the ship. Though my heart rate certainly went up like I wanted and my blood is pumping far more so than I expected.” Now that she had considered Lightning was wondering how she was going to use the guns she brought with her wings stuck in the EVA suit. Being a winged pony she could use her wings to wield to guns and remain mobile, but she’d be stuck on the ground while she had her guns out. Not that she would ever bring it up, but her death grip on her knife seemed warranted right now. “Well this is getting interesting, I mean getting attacked by that one not pony that didn’t have any emotions or life behind it. So I guess my senses are not as valuable as I might have misled you to believe, so as a suggestion I think we should all stay alert.” The thing went down in one hit, that wasn’t very threatening to Chrysalis at all. They’d need to come at the group in staggered waves if they wanted her to start getting nervous. There was no sense in wasting ammunition shooting at shadows, but she was getting the feeling that they’d be doing just that soon. “Also don’t get injured in the butts, those are some of your best features girls and I don’t want any of you to end up like me. Lightning could work getting her weight and health back up to snuff, but she’s not too bad off.” “Seriously Chrysalis you’re not that bad, you have a very nice figure darling…. well except for um…” Rarity trailed off when Chrysalis shot her a look with big pathetic eyes and sad quivering lips, even knowing she was being emotionally manipulative. It was kind of hard to be mean to her about her looks. “Yes well, I won’t bring it up because it’s kind of a touchy subject for you.” “You don’t have to worry about my feelings; I know why other mares won’t touch my backside.” Yes, because it was most certainly not Chrysalis’s personality that scared away everyone who might have had an interest in her. They were avoiding the empty or partly destroyed vehicles or any buildings with destroyed windows leading into darkness beyond them. Chrysalis was leading them down the street they were on with her senses on high alert for the one sign of life in this station that she could sense quite clearly. They were also warily looking in all directions for another one of those things. Whatever those last two things had been, it was clearly related to the infestation and they hadn’t bothered to stop and talk about how. The city was like any other city built into a space station, only this was colony space station. This meant that it produced products for sale to people going through this particular route, plus it usually had more than a hundred thousand residents at any giving time. As such Antilur City had been a hub of activity that had not only hotels and many shops, but various hangars and a small ship yard for making small jump capable ships. Buying outright ownership of a home on the station was quite expensive, but doable if you were part of the upkeep of the station itself. The entire city should have been lit up with hundreds of comers and goers from all around, but they had only seen what seemed like two ghosts in the last hour and no sign of the type of darkness that Chrysalis could feel. Knowing what they did, the silence was deafening and quite scary. If they can’t even hear if they were under attack before it was too late, then it was a good idea that they were all looking around and behind themselves in abject paranoia. After having witnessed the darkness and what looked like temporarily physical ghosts, they had reason to be wary. “You know I have to ask, why isn’t that dark cloudy stuff sucking the power out of our suits like it did the drones that previously came in here?” As far as concerns went this was high on Lightning’s scale of things she needed to direly know, things that could be easily explained in a few sentences. “I wouldn’t have come in here if I knew the short range communications and lights on my suit wouldn’t work for crap.” “It is something of interest, besides you’re the only one that would know the reason why the infestation didn’t drain your suit while you were trapped back in the hangar bay with it.” Saffron slowly pulled out a knife in her own hoof and held it as tightly as Lightning did hers. “Well one would assume the infestation would be able to drain the power right out of the EVA suits we’re currently wearing, I saw the files you brought up for the crew about how any drone that came in here would be disabled and drained of its energy.” “Drones don’t have airtight seals and don’t need to breath. We on the other hoof do. Then there’s the fact that there were drones that were never fully drained when found always turned off before they could be.” It was time for Rarity to extrapolate on everything she thought she was sure of; even then she wasn’t entirely sure if it was perfectly accurate. This infestation was something she’d rather have avoided if it weren’t for a friends life possibly being in jeopardy. She wasn’t much of a fighter, but she would always go above and beyond for friends. “I may not be an ex military, a leader or a vigilante, but I have an eye for detail and I picked up on several things. I needed Vera to confirm it for me, the infestation can only go after active sources of energy and it can possibly only feel what it can reach. As such it can’t just reach into our sealed suits or rechargeable batteries in the impulse saddles while they are attached to our backs and drain the power despite the fact that we’ve been using them for communications and lights the entire time. Most military drones have energy weapons and civilian grade drones usually have plasma cutters, our suits don’t have any energy emitting devices aside from the lights and radios while not in space and it can’t eat either of those forms of energy.” “Speaking of leader, I do have to question why couldn’t have just bought your own ship to travel around in Chrysalis?” Saffron had wondered why someone who had a political pull and money couldn’t have just bought her own ship. “I mean it seems a little awkward that you’d just up and join Rarity, at least I and Lightning have our reasons for being on the ship.” “Mostly it’s about who owned the manufacturers of said ships. Ponies, Griffons and Zebra manufacturers corner that particular market, all of which could be paid off to sabotage whatever ship I could afford whether it be cheap or not. I have a lot of enemies and I don’t mind them trying to kill me.” The one live being she was tracking was moving slowly and had a more emotional mindset, proving to Chrysalis that they were on the trail of someone who was a likely survivor or Rarity’s friend. She swept her lights to the left into the nearby alleyway and saw shifting shadows, seemed act as if it had been scalded and it retreated. The three fingered shadow claw went back from whence it came. Chrysalis continued on without questioning the shadows stretching out for them, she was leading them towards the center of the city on the layer they happened to be on. “I’ve been stabbed between the third and fourth vertebrae more than a few times to want to be on a ship that hasn’t been triple checked for safety and Changelings are not exactly in the engineering business. Though we have slowly been getting used to higher forms of technology, it would be a horrible idea for me to endanger the lives of any other Changelings. I can handle assassination attempts on myself, what I can’t handle is assassination attempts that involve killing my people due to being in my proximity. I haven’t missed getting anyone back for a sleight against a single Changeling yet, the Changeling Queen is expected to get revenge for her people when necessary and it hardly ever is necessary. When it is, there is absolutely no running from me.” “Yikes, remind me to never piss you off. At least you’re amiable to work with, especially when it seems to suits your needs entirely.” It wouldn’t surprise Lightning if Chrysalis ended up betraying them at one point, mostly either for a good cause or because someone made her a nice offer. “True, I do happen to like things that suit my purposes far more than most beings. Hold up… this is the place, whoever or whatever I’m feeling is in there.” Chrysalis lifted a hoof and pointed it to a squat looking building; the sign on the building declare the place as ‘Almighty Arms’ which was clearly a weapon shop. The door was busted open as if it had been bucked and there were claw marks on it. “Hey you’re friend wouldn’t happen to be a dragon would she?” “I thought I showed everyone the information Ember left behind on her ship.” Rarity moved forward into the building while Lightning and Saffron turned around to watch their backs. The weapons store didn’t deal primarily in ranged weapons surprisingly; it had a variety of all kinds of weapons. From crossbows, ancient pistols and old weapons like that to more futuristic weapons like a spear that advertise the ability to light on fire and fire small bursts of energy, technologically complex handles that created photonic blades and plasma rifles. “This seems like a place she would come to, she said she designed weapons on the side as a hobby to her career as a bounty hunter.” “Is it me or are we just talking because it’s less scary to hear someone’s voice in this place. If what Chrysalis is feeling is right, then she’s probably upstairs.” Saffron started up the stairs of this three story building, Lightning, Rarity and Chrysalis followed after her. They weren’t going to separate and explore on their own at any given time. They trooped up the stairs heavily and noticed something; there were some divots or small holes in the wall. Chrysalis got a close look at them as they went up the stairs. They took a right turn at the top of the stairs and saw a row of doors on the right side of the hallways, three rooms to look into and Chrysalis felt they were very close now. “Someone’s been shooting something here, recently in fact and it’s apparent that they were shooting at something similar to what we met. So if this isn’t your friend it’s going to be hard to explain why we’re invading the shelter of whoever this is… oh and they just became alert to our presence.” A door smashed open and a large rectangular rifle popped out, Chrysalis felt sorry for Saffron who was suddenly backed against a wall and cowering at suddenly having a gun in her face. Rarity sauntered on past Chrysalis not looking the least be frightened, Chrysalis could even feel the emotional sense of familiarity coming off of both of the figures. “Okay who sent more people in here and… wait, you’re wearing a well designed EVA suit so that would mean… Rarity what in the hell are you doing in here?” It didn’t take long for Ember to turn her head and recognize Rarity in her personal EVA suit, Ember herself was wearing her full bodied suit and her helmet looked odd thanks to her horns. “Don’t you know that being on Antilur Station is really dangerous right now!” “Yes, I’m quite well aware of that fact now, but we came in here to help you get back out. How long have you been in here?” To Rarity it seemed like Ember was a bit wild eyed and being alone for any amount of time would really mess someone up. So she approached the dragon with a bit of worry and gave her a hug around the waist while putting her face against Embers chest. “Did you happen to see anything strange on the way to me though?” Ember received a look from Rarity that was questioning as Rarity came up and hugged her, the gesture was quite calming and it was the first sensation of solid contact with someone she’s had in the last few days that wasn’t out to get her. “Please tell me you didn’t do something stupid like dock your ship to the station!” “Of course we didn’t dock any ships to the station. Though since you asked, yes, we saw this darkness for the lack of a better term for it… we in fact attracted said stuffs attention to one of the hangars and it took a bit of doing but we got out of that situation without any casualties.” Rarity could only hope that Ember wasn’t as spooked as she looked. “We also saw two garish looking ponies that didn’t have cutie marks and one of them didn’t have any skin. It was the second one without skin that attacked one of my crew members.” Ember sighed with relief while raising her left claws to her head, when she lowered them she looked at the four mares before her. She didn’t know the other two ponies with Rarity, but she definitely knew Queen Chrysalis and didn’t say anything as to what the Changeling Queen was doing with Rarity. It didn’t matter really if she knew the reason for Chrysalis’s presence, apparently Rarity got this far and she finally lowered her gun and motioned them into the room to take a seat. “So you have seen both the Miasma and the Dusks, at least you seemed to have avoided seeing any Screamers. Those things are tough to take down and it’s not something you want to be near when it gets back up.” Ember’s suit looked perfectly fine, but Ember herself looked a bit haggard and tired as she sat down on the bed and had small circle of living breathing people to talk to. “I’ve been in here for the last three days, and I’ve been searching the station from bottom to top. Going to the bathroom on this station is a nightmare and so is eating when you can’t breathe the air in here without attracting Miasma to your location. I’ve been refilling my oxygen tank to avoid getting caught and getting those refills hasn’t been the most pleasant of experiences when I ran into my first Screamer. It’s so nice to finally see a friendly face, is Mr. Spew alright? Did you even find him?” “Mr. Spew is perfectly fine the last I saw darling. Can you give us a little more information on the Miasma, Dusk and whatever a Screamer is? You’ve apparently been here long enough to know what we’re dealing with.” “The Dead Husks are what happen when this Visitant actually manages to kill someone and those things are impossible to kill, hence the name Dusks. I think they only exist to give the Visitant more food or at least food it can’t see normally. It takes a while for them to reform fully after destabilizing their forms, but there are dozens of them running around and I’ve had to plow through quite a few of them on the lower levels of the station. They are only capable of attacking when they become disturbingly skinless; they do so without warning and without making noise unless they’ve incidentally moved something when they become dangerous. I wish I hadn’t seen a Minotaur among the ones I’ve dusted a few times before, they are beginning to multiply and get worse the more colonists that die to this monstrosity and a good number of them have been children.” Ember was somewhat happy that everyone flinched at the mention of a skinless Minotaur, she was thankful she wasn’t the only one to find the idea horrifying as much as having seen it personally. “The Miasma is a small part of the Visitant causing all this, but it’s only function is to absorb energy out of a given area where it builds up at. The Screamers are the real threat and they are not easy to find, but running into one isn’t a good thing. I can’t even describe what one might look like and I’ve seen three and they were all different in appearance with very little similarities between them, at least they can bleed and die unlike the other two. As you can probably guess I haven’t even found the source of these things yet and that’s what I’m looking for, either that or the taken colonists themselves. I’ve had no luck so far, also sleeping, using the bathroom and eating has been very problematic. Given that’s how I have ran into Screamers multiple times doing any one of those things and I’m only certain I’ve managed to outright kill two them. I… I want to get off the station for a while to think, maybe feel safe for a while. Wait, why are you even in here in the first place if you knew it was dangerous!” “I came to find you Ember; I just wanted to help a friend. I also have some information that I thought you might want to hear that’s not pertinent to the current circumstances going on here. This is Lightning Dust, Saffron Masala and I’m sure you’ve heard of Queen Chrysalis.” Rarity pointed each one of them out in turn and they nodded. “In any case, were you possibly expecting another Screamer?” “Yes, I was. You guys woke me up coming up the stairs and I’ve barely gotten a good eight hours of sleep while in here. The Dusks and Screamers are a bit relentless, so I’ve been sleeping lightly these last few days and it’s wearing me down.” Not once had Ember been entirely idle as they talked, she had been watching the door way and checking her weapons. She had a material pistol holstered at her and her large material rifle was being held protectively in both arms. “Can you please take me back to your ship? I could use a good shower and a meal; maybe stretch my wings a little.” “I hear that, my wings are comfortable in these compression pouches, but it’s not the same without the ability to flex the muscles. We found your friend; now let’s get out of here!” To be fair Lightning wasn’t the only one that was jumpy, Saffron was also quite alert for anything to come through the door and she kept shooting Ember a look every now and then. “Just how dangerous are these Screamer things and how will we know what one looks like?” They slowly made their way back down the stairs of ‘Almighty Arms shop and out the door where their lights swept the dark streets Ember’s joined them as she put her rifle on her back. “They’ll be nothing like the Dusks and that’s an understatement. They’re real, they make lots of noise, they can bleed and they can ultimately die. As for what they look like, the ones I killed looked like the most hellish octopus ever devised with bladed tentacles that had the ability to spray webs and the other looked like a couple of bleeding ponies sewn together with their eyes torn out and replaced with large acid spewing worms. The only thing they had in common was the noise they all made was exactly the same.” It was a little hard for Ember to believe she was getting some help here, but she welcomed it if it gave her a good meal and a full eight hours of rest. Her EVA suit needs to be cleaned out as well; it was to her luck that it hadn’t been punctured yet. She was walking alright only there was a slight stumble in her step and she fell to her knees. “Oh my head, I’m going to have nightmares about this one and I thought the all consuming black blob from a previous mission was scary.” “Are you okay Ember?” They hadn’t made it very far from the shop and Rarity had reasons to worry, Ember had been trapped on this station for several days with hardly any rest. “Yeah, like I said, I’m really tired. I think I only got about three hours of sleep before you found me.” Ember heaved herself back up onto her feet. “Let’s keep moving. If we stop, we might run into a lot of Dusks. How did you find me anyway?” “That would be thanks to Changeling biology, they used me as radar to find you. I can sense emotional things, though I can’t sense whether or not something has life in it. So if you were thinking of having me look out for Dusks… well I can’t sense them and we’ve only seen two, one had skin and one without that went after Lightning.” Having just seen that claw again Chrysalis had to ask, because as soon as the light from her helmet hit it, it disappeared. “Quick question did you ever see anything that looked like a shadowy claw with three talons that was scared of light?” “At this point I don’t even know what that could possibly be. If it isn’t making noise it’s not a Screamer and it’s not one of the Dusks either if it doesn't resemble something that was once alive, but looks like a zombie and makes no noise at all." The four took up positions around Ember as they headed for the same spiraling ramp that they came up to this layer from."Dusks always take the form of one the people who died from the main source of this problem.” - There was nothing, but the eerie silence as they walked down the ramp and back towards the bridge out of the city. They were all very quiet and very much alert for anything, why the time it took them to walk to the spiral ramp felt a lot longer than it had taken going away from it and that was just most of the group being paranoid. “It kind of scares me more that nothing is happening, from the way you tell it there are supposed to be Dusks crawling all over the place.” Saffron looked behind her and saw something shift in the shadows or at least she thought she saw movement beyond her helmets light. “Oh it is, you can trust me on that. It’s just that the city is so big and the number of colonists that have died thus far is hopefully not beyond a few thousand yet. Not enough coverage, for any of the layers or the outer edges of the station. At least not yet anyway.” Ember could feel her eyelids getting droopy, she had been almost constantly alert and the Screamers had been the most horrific things she had to deal with. “I’ve gunned down well over a few hundred dusks, some of them I’ve dealt with twice in what should have been a lethal manner. It was kind of hard for me to even pull the trigger on the children sized Dusks. Can you even imagine having to shoot children for survival?” “We’re almost out of here Ember and you can get some rest then.”They followed the road to the left to see the entrance they came in through was still open, as they did Rarity was worried about Ember’s sanity and she was taking Rarity’s group pretty well. They walked through the entrance quietly and looked behind them at the silent city. “The way out is straight down this hallway through several doors.” “Hope so, a good twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep would feel pretty good right about now.” Ember straightened up and continued straight forward with the ponies herding around her, Chrysalis stuck to herself as the odd one out. “I had my concerns when I had Vera breathe in the air around here. She is so easy for everything to ignore, but this infestation managed to detect her when she did. That proved that there was a lot of danger to look out for. Speaking of… I need to do something right quick, excuse me everyone.” Curiosity killed the cat, but Rarity wasn’t a cat now was she? No that was more Opal’s territory and she would be pretty hard to kill in a physical sense. Rarity turned around and started walking back past the big open door and stopped at the railing across the road. Ember and Lightning were focused on Rarity, while Saffron and Chrysalis watched the length of the corridor behind them. Rarity looked down into the void and at the lower levels of the city and pulled out a phosphorous grenade that was made for this trip, she pulled the pin and quickly tossed it to the lower level where she had previously seen moving shadows coming in. The grenade gave off a blinding flash of light as it exploded spraying the entire area with raw liquid that spewed light as powerful as the sun and it made Rarity pale when she saw a very strange creature. One that looked like a big scorpion with what had to be an elephant’s trunk and horrible spines covering its back that were the limbs of various beings sticking out of it and its size was slightly bigger than the Caravel Boutique and longer than it too, its legs looked like they were made entirely out of skulls and various other bones and they all ended in sharp points sticking out of the fleshier bits. The tip of its tail was the bloated body of a griffon whose beak represented the stingers tip, its face was that of nightmares made out of Ahuizotl and Minotaur parts and its shell that wasn’t body parts sticking out of it was comprised entirely of some strange bronze colored chitin. The creature, whatever the hell it was, reared up stretching its flesh made of hundreds of dead beings to inhale with its mouth. The scream that it let loose ripped straight into the fear cortex in everyone’s brain and had Rarity running back towards the others immediately without looking back. (Insert classic Lavos Screech) “Right, it’s time to go! Let us not dally while that thing is around!” Rarity said having already ran past the group to start work on opening the doors they had opened and shut on the way in. “Opal, if you can hear me, we’re coming back immediately and we’ll be doing so as quickly as we can! Open the hangar doors, for the love of all that is beautiful in the world, that thing had no beauty in it at all!” “Yeah, that’s the exact sound every Screamer makes!” Suddenly looking less tired than she had previously been, Ember was running for the doors just like everyone else. “That’s the loudest one I’ve heard to date, it must be huge!” “Rarity, you found Ember and you’re okay!” Opal couldn’t have been happier, though it sounded like something had scared the crap out of Rarity and that she was retreating with the speed of fear. “Opening hangar door now, it should be open by the time you get back here." They had made it back to Shining Jewels hangar after all five of them exploded out of the airlock at the same time passing the drones Opal sent out to open it up for them once they were inside it. They were still panicking even when they were completely safe and sound inside Shining Jewels hangar. Author's Note I've planned this story to be a million words long and I'm kind of a quarter of the way there, it's not a very good story so far is it? -59-They were still catching their breaths when Gilda came up to them looking nonchalant about their adventures in the quiet station filled with unseen horrors. “So… how did testing the phosphorus grenade work out?” As a well known intellectual, Gilda noticed immediately that Rarity had used one of the grenades given to her by Greta and Gilda’s little research and development into not very lethal, but still damaging weapons making session. They weren’t professional weapon makers, but Greta could fake it well enough for the both of them. “I would think they work better than you could imagine in one area, they should really be called sunlight grenades. Wished I hadn’t used the one before we left the station, I’m quite sure I was the only one that saw that monstrosity.” Curiosity and the fact that she wanted to test whether or not the grenade could be distracting had led Rarity to using it, she can’t say she was disappointed in the effects of the grenade really. “It at least lit up a whole portion of the city, didn’t attract the darkness or miasma as Ember calls it. Though I did see what she called a screamer and I’m rightfully horrified and mostly glad that it was on a lower level of the city and couldn’t have possibly caught up to us in a panic.” “Okay so the chemical composition that made it bright worked a little too well, but it didn’t give off energy to attract any monsters.” The griffons had made those grenades for the away team under time constraints and as prototypes. It still led Gilda to wondering if they could be seen from orbit, they are supposed to be very distracting and lighting up an entire section of city was quite distracting. “Well I and Greta are professionals in vehicles, not small arms. How would it work as a flash bang?” “There’s a lot of flash and a long lasting one at that, not enough bang though. It was quite blinding, but not enough to seriously blind someone for life.” As Rarity spoke with her mechanical engineer, Ember slowly made her way over to the Pyrrhic Victory and opened it up, only to see Coco cuddling Mr. Spew and they got to talking. “However keep the recipe for those particular grenades on hoof, it might be useful later.” “Well we survived, so when are we going back in there? I’m game for another round and a possible chance at saving possible food sources. This infestation is endangering the future my race by proxy.” Chrysalis had been scared by that horrid noise and Changelings were quite sensitive to sonic based attacks, the vibrations from that scream made her nauseous. Unlike other Changelings who would be moaning about how painful it was, she wanted more and chalked it up to her being the Changeling Queen. Glutton for punishment was purportedly written on her resume and she would follow Rarity back inside if she needed to. That thing had issued a challenge with its scream and Chrysalis wanted to take a rocket launcher back in there to show it she meant business. Sure she was scared, but she was angrier that it would think her incapable of facing it down and showing it just what a queen of her race was capable of. “I’m assuming that this scenario is of course not indicative of what a normal space station colony looks like given the circumstances.” “It’s the first place I’ve been to in space as well. It’s not friendly to anyone and the fact that people are dying makes me want to help save them from whatever is happening to them. I might be scared stiff, but I’d go back in there for the sake of others.” Saffron had never been off planet and now she knew exactly why she probably wouldn’t have wanted to, sure there were plenty of dangerous things on Equus, none were more dangerous than the things you could meet in space. She was quivering with fear in her suit and she didn’t want to take it off. “Does it say something about me that I’m too afraid to take off my EVA suit now?” “You aren’t the only who’s thinking of their suit as a safety blanket at the moment, been a while since I’ve seen something like that.” Lightning got a few looks sent her way and she scoffed at them, like Chrysalis she wasn’t shivering in fear and her blood was pumping throughout her body at a good rate. She wanted to bring this infestation down for the glory of it and maybe to do something good with her life. “Checking derelict ships with the Wonder Bolts was bad at times what with Sifter Drifter problems popping up every now and then, but an entire bucking space station just going silent like that! With this Visitant infestation we don’t have a clue as to what we can do about it or entirely what it’s doing. The fact that there are horrors that we didn’t see is more chilling than the ones we did, not to mention that your friend is a freaking dragon and a bounty hunter of all things!” “Technically she’s Princess Ember Mcflame of the Mcflame Empire run by Torch Mcflame the dragon who is the size of a small mountain. Among bounty hunters Ember is well known with a good track record for killing or capturing violent individuals and or putting down problematic monsters like the ones in there.” They turned to Chrysalis who obviously knew of Ember, yet she hadn’t said anything until now. “Yeah that’s right, she’s royalty and she’s ass kicking royalty at that. Who would spend three days in that deathtrap… alone no less? Where breathing any air outside a sealed system is a problem, the fact that she survived getting attack while using the bathroom says something about how tough she is. Nice body too… now if only it grew hair. Still don’t rightly know how her mother managed to handle Torch’s size with the information I have on her, a comparatively small biped dragon and a humongous quadruped dragon should have had size issues and I don’t think greed growth was involved, maybe lust growth? I’ve survived Torch breathing on me once, I was at least a good fifty feet from the main impact zone and I still caught on fire. That incident burned most of the fur off my carapace, not like anyone could tell at the time anyway.” “I’d be more confused as to how Hard Throb somehow managed to get a wheelchair, his cast covered body and weapons up into a chandelier without anyone noticing in a room full of people for a counter ambush.” Rarity had wondered what Ember’s home life was like and now she had an idea as to why she had been avoiding Equus and mentioned that she didn’t like the idea of going anywhere near the planet. So if what she thought she knew to be true, then that meant Spike was a little prince. The name Spike Mcflame Sparkle sounded cute and Rarity would call him that the next time she saw him, if she ever did. “There are just some questions that were never meant to be answered, Ember exists so therefore it happened and the mechanics behind it should not be thought too hard on.” “I beg to differ; I would have really loved to know Mrs. Mcflame’s technique if she hadn’t died of illness a long while ago. Probably shouldn’t bring that up with her daughter since she’s going to be a guest on this ship for a while.” Touring the planet of Equus had been great for Chrysalis’s ability to better understand other beings, just because she understood better didn’t mean she empathized at all with them. “That dragon sounded like a woman who knew what she wanted.” “Opal, I would like you to schedule a series of appointments for all of us with Vera.” They needed some time to rest and not think about the horrid space station filled with monsters and people of all ages and species currently dying a slow death. “Ember needs it the most so she should go first.” “That’s going to be hard to do because Ember fell asleep as soon as she went onto her ship, she wanted me to tell you that she’d like some peace and quiet and to keep Mr. Spew here entertained.” Coco held the sewer born squid she thought was adorable in one hoof like it was a teddy bear, Mr. Spew didn’t seem to mind the comforting position he was in. “Oh and to not wake her up or else she will beat the person responsible half to death. She sounded rather cranky and hungry. I’m guessing she had a real bad time on the station?” “Having to shoot at what amounts to the shadows of children, I’d imagine she did. She really shouldn’t be sleeping on the floor like that.” Rarity walked up and into Ember’s ship and walked up to the sleeping dragon to help her into a bed, Ember had managed to get out of her EVA suit and switch into a pair of shorts and a tank top. Upon getting closer to the dragon her arms snapped out and wrapped around Rarity’s head to pull her down into a cuddling embrace, she even nuzzled Rarity’s neck. Ember’s body was quite warm and she was tired after her adventure, so maybe she could just close her eyes for a moment. She just eased into the warm embrace and the tail curling around her hind legs. “Well it might be first come first serve then; Rarity has a good point in the away crew needing psychological help. However she’s currently too busy being cuddled by a sleeping dragon and I don’t want anyone to be hurt by Ember.” That and Opal thought the dragon using Rarity as a pillow was too cute to disturb. “Saffron, Lightning and Chrysalis, I’d suggest reporting to Shining Jewel medical for psychological evaluation from Vera. If you don’t know or remember, it’s on deck two in section two. Also before anyone asks, yes, I have a drone on Vera and she is visible.” “So, we just rescued a princess?” Lightning thought out loud. “No, it’s more like we provided backup for a princess that had handled herself quite well for the three days she was in the station.” Saffron idly wondered what kind of recipes a dragon would like, probably something spicy. “However the fact that she needed at least some help cannot be denied.” - “Well you’re not as bad as I thought you’d be, though your violent tendencies are to be expected given you think someone is messing with your territory. I think you have a problem with… your own self image about how you look to everyone.” Vera was trying to avoid some rather specific words; Chrysalis just tilted her head to give her a blank and rather confused look. “Okay I can’t lie, you’re a potentially highly volatile being and you have incredibly bad butt envy. You’re envious about almost every butt you come across, to a ridiculous level that most can’t even begin to conceive! Also you are way to sexually forward for being as ironically sexually deprived a being as you are, you like having someone play games with you that is not another Changeling because you crave personal attention from other beings not in your species.” “Yeah, I can see that.” Chrysalis nodded along smiling, her wings popped out and she threw her hoof into the air as she sat up. “I plead guilty as charged! So do you happen to have a pair of handcuffs we could use, maybe a gag as well? I wouldn’t mind if you were to punish me for being a naughty girl.” “This is not a court case Ms. Dick; please go back to lying down. This is a psyche evaluation and despite how horrible it is for me to say this, you’ve passed the inspection as someone to be safe around. Though how true that will be depends on whether or not you can drop your pride for a moment to ask someone for help with keeping you entertained. I suggest Trapeze Star if you want to spend time being entertained by someone else, maybe help her or some other crew members with minor favors here and there.” Here Vera paused and looked over her data pad at Chrysalis who was staring at her innocently. “Also I think you need a hobby that doesn’t require other people to be around you at all times and that you can do on your own that doesn’t endanger anyone on this ship, one that can curb the destructive habits that you have yet to unleash on us all. As for my professional suggestion… puzzle games or video electrical stimulating challenges, maybe learn how not to make electronics explode at your touch or just technology in general that isn’t based around weaponry. Just something to put your mind to that isn’t anyone else or how you see yourself as lacking.” “Okay, sounds good to me. I’ve never been an entertainer before and I could possibly work with Trapeze.” Who was Chrysalis to argue, Vera sounded very professional about this and she wasn’t the leader or owner of this ship. If she can swallow her pride to put herself equal to the princesses and beneath the orders of Rarity on the crew, then she can do it again. “Somehow I’m not absolved of feeling that you’re going to do horrible things to the crew in the future.” Vera received a simple shrug and look that said that it sounded fair to Chrysalis. She wasn’t about to touch upon Chrysalis’s masochistic tendencies until she got in a few more sessions with the queen. “Okay you’re done, you may leave. On your way out have Saffron come up next. Lightning seems to be the mentally tougher of the two.” “Okay, thanks for the massage. I thought Changelings were good at that, but you earth ponies are wonderful at massage with those strong supple hooves of yours.” Chrysalis sauntered out while looking back at Vera Blossom with an amused grin; she liked the pony with the spa related talents that turned invisible at a blink. It reminded her of a Changeling, even logically knowing that Vera wasn’t one. “Hey Saffron, you’re next. A queen like me is perfectly mentally health and beautiful as I thought I was.” - “You have a very large hero complex, being Mare-Do-Well that makes complete sense and I’m not actually surprised. You won’t let fear get in the way of helping others, no matter how detrimental to your health it might be. Of course you need to consider if the person you’re helping is actually worth helping or not and if the risk is worth it for your own personal health. Rarity has a similar problem to you, only it’s mostly centered on making sure her friends are okay and she’s ridiculously generous with her friends and willing to throw herself directly into the path of danger for them. Please don’t be a reckless idiot like that. You have a good working relationship with your father and you are a wonderful pony to talk to. Brave, outgoing and even a little too humble, unlike Chrysalis who wouldn’t know the meaning of the word humble if it was a dictionary that hit her over the head with a baseball bat.” The talk Vera had with Saffron went much smoother than Chrysalis and wasn’t as filled with sexual moaning or a thinly veiled innuendo that Chrysalis had done every time she popped a muscle. Massage therapy and psychological analyzing was becoming a thing for Vera. “You’re physically very healthy, you’re mentally healthy if in need of more thought for your own needs and this is just me speaking, but you’re really good at cooking. I even heard you were going to practice knife throwing routines with Trapeze who I’m beginning to think is becoming a very good morale booster for the crew as a whole. You are mostly mentally well balanced; despite having lost your home in a giant robot attack… wow didn’t think I’d ever say something like that. I only have a few suggestions for you personally, one being take a long shower, take the time to do some feminine stuff for yourself like brush your mane and do something even remotely selfish. Think about what you want for once.” “I think I can do that…” Saffron was trying to lie to herself more than the mare making her back sing in praise of the massage she was receiving, the massage stopped and Vera gave her a stern eye. She wasn’t selfish in any meaning of the word and like Rarity she always helped those who needed her. The people of Antilur Station really needed a hero and despite her fears she was willing to push forward into the unknown and breach the veil of darkness slowly killing those poor citizens. “Okay I will do that, something just for me personally and not anyone else.” “Good now send Lightning in here; I did you second as a buffer because I think she’s going to be a bit more problematic.” Talking with all these patients was beginning to make Vera miss her sisters Aloe and Lotus Blossom, in particular because she could easily form a sisterly bond with Saffron. - “Then I… I don’t know why I didn’t blame myself! I spend a lot of my time blaming Rainbow Dash for my own faults and… and… there’s the fact that I’m a horrible pony!” Lightning flipped over and started blubbering into Vera’s shoulder, the mare started to gently pat her on the back and rub a spot between her wings that was quickly making her calm down. “This is not going how I expected it would go at all.” Vera was learning a lot about Lightning and how her pride ruined her military career, much less her showboating and stupidity did. Lightning may act nonchalant, may be a bit rough around the edges like Gilda and had mentality for fighting others, but she was surprisingly sensitive and didn’t like knowing people thinking she was. “We could have been sisters, we were so much alike!” Lightning continued whining into Vera’s shoulder. “I might have even loved her a little bit; I was so horrible to her though! Do you know how bitter I became when they tossed me out on the street? Nobody would hire me because I did a lot of bad things.” “Okay, calm down, you now have a job and you’re slowly getting back on your hooves. It’s okay to have pride, but not when it’s to the detriment of your job and your job so far is to be Gilda’s hired pony.” Vera slowly started petting Lightning and working her back into a position where she could be massaged. This was by far the most emotionally unstable pony she had seen on the crew yet and she thought that would have been Chrysalis only to find the Changeling was sane if weird because she didn’t have a pony mind set and Vera had to work with that in mind. “This may sound odd coming from me, but I think you like being submissive to the desires of others.” “Wait, what? You can’t be serious doc, if anything I’m an in your face domineering pony!” Thus Lightning entered a full on denial phase and it was up to Vera to crack her open like a nut and she was going to gladly do so to get Lightning to open up more. “No I think you do have a problem with being submissive, you like people telling you what to do even if you pretend like you don’t and you show it without realizing it. You absolutely want to impress everyone, but you want to do it your own way while being told what to do. If I didn’t think you could be helped I would have told Gilda to kick you off the ship before we left Equus.” That little bomb Vera dropped caused Lightning to look at her with wilted ears. “All your actions are indicative of a really bad childhood; you had a lot of problems as a filly didn’t you? You just want someone to think highly of you and to comfort you and tell you that you did something good. In real life you can’t please everyone, I’m sure you were quite humbled by that crash. You need to admit that you need help and that you can ask for it and not try to handle everything by yourself, you must already be aware that your ego is your biggest problem.” Lightning became very unresponsive and just let Vera continue the massage in silence, but Lightning didn't fight Vera on anything she said and let her finish. Lightning eventually cried into her chest and they snuggled for a bit, Lightning thanked her for the massage and left quietly knowing that she would be back for another session. - “So you are Princess Ember Mcflame, also known as Flamethrower by many people and bounty hunters. I can tell this is going to be interesting one, let’s start with why you are here for this session Rarity.” Vera was actually curious as to why Rarity came into medical with Ember, the dragon needed a physical checkup on top of a mental one and she’d massage the dragon into being comfortable enough to talk. “I’m here emotional support and we came here straight away after we woke up from our… nap as it were. She woke up to find that she was using me as a pillow and she was quite embarrassed by that.” Holding up her hoof to stall an oncoming comment Rarity continued. “I have also yet to tell her about a possible lead to something of interest that she might want to know about and I wanted to address it in her psychological session, because she might have a bit of a break down when she finds out.” “Find out what?” The tank top and shorts was as little as Ember would be caught wearing, her blush and body shy nature just reared its head as she wrapped her tail around her waist. Rarity took out her data pad and started flipping through some pictures recorded to the device and she stopped on one particular picture. She stopped to look at Ember’s questioning face and was watching it for a reaction when she show the pictures that she took of Spike’s egg shell. “Well I found something on Equus that led me to believe that you might recognize this?” Rarity showed the picture to Ember and she scrutinized it for a bit, a slow dawning of understanding crossed her face as if she was seeing something couldn’t be real. She looked at Rarity and then back to the picture before her of an egg that had obviously hatched. “You found my sibling’s egg!” After her tail lashed out behind her Ember lunged and threw her arms around Rarity and brought her into a very strong hug, one that was almost a choke hold. “Oh my goodness, this is… this is unbelievable! Did you find my sibling as well?” “I had a hunch it was your brother I met, so… if you’ll please stop killing me by hugging me.” Rarity felt the grip on her loosen up, but it wasn’t nearly enough to let her go. Ember looked like she was quite comfortable in holding her and wrapping her wings around the pony who just delivered some of the greatest news she has ever heard. Rarity started to move through the pictures until she found one of both Twilight and Spike. “This is Spike Mcflame Sparkle, your brother and his surrogate mother Twilight Sparkle.” Nobody had ever seen actually seen a dragon cry before, it rarely happened and this was a once in a lifetime event. “Well once Ember is done calming down, after the fact that you have just delivered some good news to her.” Vera started off slowly, with a small smile on her face. “I would like to get this session done in earnest.” “Oh, right, I’m sorry about that.” Ember tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, only they just kept spilling from them. “It’s just that I have a little brother out there and he’s doing okay. He is doing okay right?” “Oh he’s doing perfectly fine darling, he’s friends with all the Alicorn princesses in Canterlot. Also he’s quite the little ladies gentle stallion, though he’s not entirely beyond bribery it would seem.” Here Rarity snorted and started chuckling at the memories. “He made a few passes at me, but I’m afraid that the poor dear doesn’t understand that he is far too young for me. He’s just as nice as you are Ember and I can actually see you as being his big sister.” Ember smiled vibrantly at that, she was willing and able to continue putting up with the hell that was Antilur Station with that kind of news she just received after being helped out. A tissue floated up to her sniffling nose and she blew into it, flaming snot caused the tissue to evaporate into the air leaving no traces of anything behind. Rarity was wary of levitating another tissue to Ember, but she did so anyway. - “Well Ember, you have a strained relationship with your father, but not exactly a bad one. You’re able to violently kill, but you are also someone with a mostly emotionally stable heart and strong morals that prevent you from becoming a heartless monster. Which might actually be a detriment to you being a bounty hunter in the first place, but you seemed to have done well for yourself regardless and I can’t see you as being a bad person even knowing you have had to kill sentient beings before. To be fair you are not a pony and I know this, you are both a very passionate and aggressive individual who needs more friends.” Killing wasn’t necessarily wrong, but it wasn’t necessarily right either and Vera was trying to not look at this from the angle of a pony’s perspective. Ponies were not very violent creatures, dragons were a different matter altogether and she had to adjust her personal mindset and beliefs for that to remain entirely impartial to Ember’s life choices. “You have good parents, you just found out you have a little brother that doesn’t know he has a big sister and you are pretty heroic sounding for a legalized bounty hunter. Socially you are still introverted and a bit awkward from when I last saw you, but you are coming out of the shell you have created for yourself in a slow and steady manner which is good. Being body shy is nothing to be ashamed of, though I must say that I agree with Rarity in stating that you are beautiful example of a female biped dragon” “Oh stop, you’re embarrassing me.” Ember was clutching at her completely red face and was thankful that Rarity wasn’t here at the moment to see her like this. It took her a moment to calm down and then she got a little serious. “Is there anything I should be worried about though?” “Your health seems perfectly fine, though I’m not exactly an expert on dragon biology your musculature is exceedingly dense and you’re wings are very tough for being so flexible.” Vera had caused Ember to squeak loudly when she got her hooves on the dragon’s wings. “Despite the emotional and physical exhaustion you went through, I think you’re okay enough to continue whatever it was you were doing on the station.” “I was trying to find the source of the problem and I have to do it to save whomever I can, still haven’t found where all the civilians or the lost military personnel went.” A strong person Ember was, she would go back in there and do her job whether or not she had help. Her strong moral standings and the fact that she was hired for this meant that she had to succeed. “I’m not about to give up on at least saving some people.” “I’m not about to tell you to not to go back aboard the station, Rarity seems set on doing the same as well even with how dangerous it is.” Vera paused and looked into Ember’s slightly upset eyes. “She just wants to help just like you do Ember and I don’t think you can stop her or Saffron from wanting to go back in there to find the problem and deal with it.” “Do you have any advice for me?” Ember asked quietly. “Yes in fact I do, take care of your friends and they will take care of you.” Vera put a hoof on the dragon’s bare shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “I think you’re a good person despite everything you’ve told me Ms. Mcflame. Have you ever given a thought to learning how to play music to express yourself?” Author's Note I write and upload at random. Now going back to 'whatever the hell is going on at Antilur Station'. Maybe include some small insight into why other people are not showing up at the station in need of supplies to dock with it. Danny Phantom's Ember Mclain or is it Mclane comes to mind for what kind of musical instrument I would give to Ember Mcflame. -60-A civilian ship came out of jump and they were immediately hailed, the civilian pilot immediately answered and was introduced to a slim white furred cat with long pink hair and a dazzling if strained smile with her arms behind her back. The cat looked adorable, but she didn’t seem very happy with whatever current circumstances were going on around her. “If you are here to dock at Antilur Station we are sorry for the inconvenience, but the station is currently undergoing issues with possibly demonic level entities and it would be a horrible idea to dock with the station at this time. If you proceed to do so and get captured, eaten or killed, you cannot blame us for not issuing you a warning.” The cat grew bigger on the screen looking the pilot and every other pony in the eyes. “So if you don’t want to have problems in the ways of continued living until the matter is resolved, avoid going near the space station, docking with it and or parking in any of its many hangars. Thank you. If you are having an emergency I would suggest you either wait for the problem to be finished or move on to the next place for supplies if you are able to.” The pilot looked at all the silent ships around the dark station and among them was one ship that was active, the only ship that was active not to mention the odd life sign readings bouncing around the station. They heeded warning and turned to go to someplace else as Antilur Station was apparently considered a bad place to be right now. “If you could please send help to prevent more incidents of docking with the station and whole crews disappearing as if into thin air, well that would be helpful thank you.” Opal tilted her head, smiled with her eyes and watched the pilot as they changed directions of the ship in question. - “Are you sure about this… you’re a rather meek individual Coco and unlike Chrysalis, Lightning, Ember, Saffron and maybe even Trapeze you’re not exactly well known for your combat skills. In fact I thought you’d avoid ever going back in there again after the hangar incident.” Vera wondered why Coco came to her of all ponies and asked her for an evaluation, she held up her left hoof to stop Coco from talking. “Before you say anything I’m aware that Rarity isn’t exactly well known for her combat expertise, but she’s still the captain of the ship and also apparently the Baroness of it as well. She’s surprisingly sturdy mentally after having described to me a rather horrific creature she saw on the last trip in there. I believe the bloated griffon corpse for a stinger at the end of its tail would put me off ever wanting to set hoof in there. Everyone knows you have a good work effort, but I don’t exactly see what you have to prove here or why you even want to go in there.” “I feel like I’m not doing enough for Rarity and I want to help the colonists too, well if they are still alive that is.” Coco had a serious look on her face and it made her look adorable, she couldn’t come off as threatening if she tried. “Rarity thinks differently given she’s paying you for all the work you do, though I don’t understand why you came to me when it is Rarity you have to convince.” At least Vera’s life would never be boring if she had to keep talking to these people that she called friends. “I was actually hoping that you could talk me out of going.” Coco winced at the flat stare Vera gave her. “Nope, I’m not doing that. If you want to go then you talk to Rarity and go. Just be aware of the fact that you are risking yourself should you go in there as is everyone involved.” If the most adorable member on the crew wanted to go then Vera wasn’t going to stop her, she was going to mention something about it. “I don’t know about you, but I’m still put off by all the screaming and noise I heard from what Ember calls Miasma. Please note that most of the ones going in there all have some form of combat experience; though Rarity still counts as civilian when compared to the many experiences the others have had in a life or death situation. What she did to Mind Field was probably the most impressive thing Rarity is capable of. Needless to say Rarity is still a civilian compared to the others going with her, a rather brave one at that.” “Yes and we run a civilian business off of this ship and the Caravel Boutique, why exactly is Rarity helping to solve a problem that has nothing to do us?” A sharp crack from Coco’s back eliciting a very shrill squeak from her. “You’re quite stressed out about this. Ember is probably a part of why Rarity is making it our business, but mostly it’s her need to be generous and help those in need that’s keeping her here.” Vera pulled her hooves from Coco to let her sit up. “The question she has likely asked herself is this, should we move on and not do something and would any pony think less of her for making such a call? Could she have lived with herself had she not done something? Ember is going back in there regardless of what we’re doing because it’s her job and she’s one of Rarity’s friends.” “I guess I still feel guilty about being so afraid of Ember before, she’s a nice dragon. That’s part of the reason why I want to help out.” Coco rubbed the back of her head with her left hoof. “Do you think I should go with them?” “My job is not to tell you what to do, but give advice and massage the stress out of everyone.” Vera snorted loudly and rolled her eyes before she put a hoof around Coco’s back and nuzzled her neck affectionately. “This whole crew is really quite stressful and there’s a lot of stress to go around, the only ones I can’t physically help is Opal and me. I could use a massage myself come to think of it, oh and you’ll tell me if Chrysalis does something entirely demented right? I’m expecting something really horrible of her since she really doesn’t care that much about us as she would Changeling lives; at least she is actually making an effort to be a good crew member so far. There are hardly any Changelings in space and I’ve been studying how separation has affected Ms. Dick and she’s surprisingly mentally sturdy, I’m just hoping that’s doesn’t mean she’s cold or hard to us or that she sees us beneath her.” - “We’ve modified the sunlight grenades to be a bit more explosive… okay who am I kidding, me and Greta are barely qualified to work with chemicals that are not related to possible variable fuel concoctions. We’re technically rocket scientists that can hardly do much else unless we really put our minds to it, a four wheeled tank is surprisingly not all that different from a fighter really and it’s surprisingly easy to land.” Qualified was putting the words lightly, Gilda did spend a lot of time researching alternative fuels on her and Greta’s off hours, when she eventually ended up building a fighter she was going to build it to work everywhere while being as efficient as possible. She was busy giving six modified and hopefully upgraded sunlight grenades to an EVA suited Coco who looked determined to go along as she clipped them to her tool belt. “So don’t be near these things when they go off and I’m sure that none of you need to be told to use them sparingly as we don’t have the supplies to necessarily make too many of them. Tell us how they work, should you survive this that is. If they almost kill you, then we’re most certainly very sorry for the inconvenience. I just want to be extra clear on the fact that this is not our area of expertise and would be more fitting of Ember’s given she’s a weapon tinkerer, just know that they explode on impact and only if the pin is removed.” “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you coming with us again Coco?” The concern in Rarity’s voice was not lost on the innocent looking mare. “You need someone who’s good at tech and maybe an extra set of eyes will help, plus the battery attachment to the impulse saddle needs a workout in places other than space. Testing proves to be good in that area, now we need a rough scenario to test it so we’re solving any issues that may come up in a slightly warmer environment.” Having detached her standard issue impulse saddle, Coco made sure that the battery modified impulse saddle was a closed system that couldn’t be drained by the miasma monster unless she actively used it after she put it on her back. She was working off the information that Opal got from Rarity and the others from the previous two trips, one of which she was a part of that was the hangar experiment. “That and both Gilda and Greta really don’t want to go in there and I’m the only other crew member that’s more of a general knowledge buff in technology that could be of enough use.” “Very well then, if you must come along then you simply will.” Though Rarity didn’t feel very good about letting one of her best friends go into the belly of the quiet beast. “Though I do have my reservations about this and as a captain or Baroness I could deny you, but I won’t. Just don’t put yourself in danger; I don’t need another friend on the long mend like Sassy.” “It’s going to be both quiet and scarily calm in there, unless we hear a Screamer and we’ll know when one of them is coming when we hear the distinctive screech they make. That last one echoed all over the place because of how empty the station seems.” Putting on her helmet and having it enfold around her head, horns and spines, Ember stood tall waiting to go back in for another look around. She’s had good food thanks to Saffron and Coriander, she’s slept soundly thanks to Rarity which was embarrassing for the both of them and lastly the most important thing was that she went to a bathroom and didn’t get attacked on the toilet. “I’ve had my rest. Now before we leave, has everyone gone to the bathroom, did you make sure to drink something to be hydrated, I’m sure you all have a full stomach as I watched you eat myself and hopefully we’re all mentally ready because we’re going back into hell. Antilur Station here we come. First order of business is where should we start looking? I’ve already searched the lower half of the station and I’ve been at this for the last week or so. My last trip was the longest one I took and I don’t need fluids nearly as badly as the rest of you do, we need a game plan.” “Have you already checked the still active locations like hydroponics, gravity generation, energy generation, life support and the like?” This was a group consisting of a little more than half their crew and her mother, so it was understandable that Opal was being a bit of a mama bear at the moment. “Yes, I’ve checked all those places and only found a lot of Dusks. No bodies of colonists slowly having the life drained out of them.” The tone Ember spoke in was one of no nonsense and complete honesty, she had been relentless in searching for the victims as there was no way a hundred thousand people from various races could disappear perfectly. She had the one hundred pound metal kanabo, which looked quite familiar to Coco, strapped to her back in addition to her bulky Trailblazer rifle that was fully loaded up with rocks and several pouches with ammunition to pour into her gun. “No source of the problem in any of those locations, just creatures that don’t make noise no matter how fast they move unless they touch something else and are very physical until you hit them hard enough. That’s why we need a place to start searching for the missing people. I don’t want to fail to save at least someone from this mess.” “I understand and I’m sure we’re right there with you Ember.” Trotting up to the dragon Rarity placed a suit covered hoof on her thigh. The dragon looked down at her with worried eyes. “Yeah, nobody messes with my main source of food!” Everyone turned to stare at Chrysalis. “What? I’m just being honest about my intentions; if an orchard got a bad case of rot wouldn’t you expect the farmer to fight the loss of food with tooth, nail and tail? Maybe magic if they happen to be the rare one percent of unicorn farmers?” Everyone on the away team sighed, most of the away team where good at combat with minor exceptions to Coco. At least Rarity had some experience with being shot at even if she wasn’t good in a close up confrontation. - “Accessing airlock, can we please give up after this? It seems like the danger is increasing the longer we take to solve this conundrum.” Opal’s voice came off as whining as much as worrying as she directed the drones to pop the airlock open. “Stop whining Opal, I’m with three of the most capable beings I could be with at the moment.” Somehow this conversation felt familiar to Rarity, she just couldn’t remember from where. “I’m not whining, I’m complaining. You could get hurt and I love having all my friends in one piece, it’s awfully dark in there, there are scary things that might try to eat you! It also must be so filthy given there are no workers to buff the corridors and the air must be practically full of dust thanks to the inability to control the oxygen production facility.” Okay now Opal was whining and Rarity remembered why this sounded familiar. The pitiful cat noises started up after. “If you want whining I can do that so you won’t go back in there if you ever come out again!” “Sorry Opal, my mind is very well made up. We’re going to try for the communications array to see if we can get that working so we can stay in contact more easily.” The airlock was a bit of a tight fit for Rarity when she had to compete with Chrysalis and her rocket launcher, Ember and her metal bat and somewhat bulky rifle. On top of Rarity’s problems Saffron, Lightning and Coco, two of which were armed with knives and Coco was only armed with a few grenades and her own physical strength which would be useful in situations where they needed to move something around. Lightning couldn’t use guns in an EVA suit and as such was carrying them as spares for Rarity or Chrysalis, her wings were stuck in compression pouches while using an EVA suit and that was her only method of using the pistols. Something would have to go very wrong for Lightning to start using pistols. “Quiet, I’m going first, be ready for anything.” Ember had chosen their point of entry this time. Instead of entering through the two hangars and the several nearby airlocks Rarity’s crew had accessed on one side of the station, they moved to the top of the station using Shining Jewel and entered through one of the stations upper airlocks. It was different from when they last entered the station; they were entering at this location based on the schematics for the station that Ember received at the beginning of her investigation. The airlock slid open and Ember quickly rolled out and swept her rifle form left to right, nothing happened, she did not ease up on the grip of her gun. She motioned for Rarity and the others to follow, Coco and Lightning in the middle Rarity and Saffron at the back, with Chrysalis taking up position with Ember of whom she barely spoke too since they’ve met. Chrysalis was carrying a rocket launcher with four rounds on her that can only be set off with an explosion or when fired from the launcher, the other thing was a material rifle that was small in comparison to Ember’s Trailblazer rifle. “So far nothing, you know I can’t begin to wonder how people think Equus is more dangerous than some places in outer space.” Chrysalis looked down the hallway they were going and Ember set the pace by walking forward ahead of her to the left of the airlock. “Be careful, just because it’s quiet doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. The reason why you didn’t run into too many Dusks is likely because they ran into me first; the silence should definitely make you more wary. They don’t make noises on their own and we’ve gone over that fact multiple times. At least they can’t do things like crawl along walls or the ceiling.” After Ember said this four helmets suddenly started to slowly slide their gazes towards the ceiling where there were vents big enough for a filly to pop out of, they turned back to Ember when she continued. “What I can’t understand is where this infestation, as you call it, could possibly put one hundred thousand bodies. Aside from the few that the Screamers might be using as parts of their own bodies, I don’t need to tell anyone this, but hope your suit doesn’t get a breach bad enough that the breach gel can’t seal off. Thanks for making sure my EVA suit was fixed up Rarity.” “Think nothing of it darling, I did it for free of my own volition towards a good cause. Aside from the fact that you make the suit look exquisite.” Rarity turned back around and pointed her light down the hallway they just walked down. Nothing was there and the rampant paranoia from before was starting to set in again. “I’m responsible for everyone on my ship, including guests like you and Mr. Spew.” Things were very quiet after that, the corridor had several branching off pathways and several doors, none which were the ones they were after. Ember had told them that data pads weren’t useful in this situation when the miasma would drain it dry in seconds, thankfully the HUD on her helmet could carry the information needed for them to get about. They eventually took a right to go deeper into the station, the controls to the communications array was close enough near the surface that Opal could stay in contact with them. Chrysalis had felt something earlier and had made mention of feeling the Screamer, but the Dusks eluded her ability to detect danger. “You know I’ve been constantly scanning the station since we got here and I’ve got to say that there might be something to the energy readings. I’m seeing some semblance of correlation between all the still active systems and the fact that the power is running to each one from the stations main reactor undiluted. Life signs are still spotty and bouncing all over the place in comparison.” If Opal were going to figure out a mystery and had a choice between Antilur Station and Vera, she’d choose the station because it sounded easier. “I’ve got not much to report and thought you would like to hear a friendly voice. It’s so quiet in there you can hear a pin drop, aside from you’re breathing I’m not picking up much of anything out of all of your suits.” They were entering a very expansive wide open room that was more than a footballs stadium length where many a pony would sit down and run the communications network that rant throughout the entire station. There were two levels to this particular facility and they were on the lower level and could see the upper level that was up the stairs to their left and right. Not a single movement or soul was to be seen here. All the entrances to this large room were between the two floors. The communications hub below was as dark as the rest of the station, Coco started to move forward and sweep her lights past the dark monitors as she walked down the central aisle towards the central system of this complex area. Every once in a while Chrysalis would stop and suddenly jerk her head down aisle to the left or right, thus making everyone else freeze up and turn their lights to what she was looking towards. “If it doesn’t feel emotions it’s more dangerous than someone who does.” Chrysalis had been seeing things again. She certainly hoped it was just her imagination that the three fingered claw was reaching out for her again. “Coco you said you’re the technology expert here, what can you get us when we get up to the communication hub?” “Not much if the hub isn’t working in the first place.” They were all on edge and sweeping their lights every which way the closer they got to the central communications hub of the station. They were rightfully wary of being attacked at the moment. “How bright do you suppose the central communications device gets?” Chrysalis finally caught on to something. It was very faint, but it was there for a second and when she looked she saw the three fingered claw disappearing into the shadows. “Why do you ask that?” Coco didn’t like the sound of that, but she was at the cylinder surrounded by monitors and work stations that ran the central communications for off station interactions. All the other communication stations were for interactions with the administration to and from the people inside the station. “If it turns on quickly enough I want you to turn it on when I say so. Nobody look directly at me for a minute.” Chrysalis could almost feel it now, a sense of wrongness in the air around them, something that felt like an emotion. It felt like anticipation? That was as close as Chrysalis could get to the feeling she was sensing. Coco was at the station with one light on her and three lights facing away from Chrysalis but still sweeping around the general aisles of computers, monitors and consoles, some of which had been knocked over onto the floor as if there actually had been some attempt at struggling. “Okay, wait for it… and… turn it on now!” When Coco hit the power switch, a large area was bathed in a faded blue light and a screech that didn’t sound like Ember’s Screamer monsters attracted all their attention to the one spot behind Chrysalis that they were ignoring. The black three fingered creature with bright yellow slit shaped eyes was grabbing at its head with its two arms and its thrashing became worse as all the lights were directed onto it, its legs kicked at the air as it wallowed on the ground in the sudden focused beams of light. In fact it sounded exactly like the noises Rarity had previously heard when she was in the hangar with Vera and the miasma previously, only this time the sound of tortured people was dying down to a dull throb. The shadow creature slowly started to shrink in the light and let off Miasma as if it were steam until nothing was left of it, where it gave off one last pitiful squeal before dying. The darkness permeating the room suddenly became a little bit brighter the second it perished. “Well… that was something.” Chrysalis stated flatly. “I knew I felt something, but it was horribly muted almost like it was hiding from my senses on purpose. Also it was after me in particular.” “I think we found something important to note here, do creatures that make things darker wherever they appear sound familiar?” Ember was logging this up to a new discovery. “They have to be the cause behind the Miasma. Is it just me, but does it seem a little bit brighter in here then it was before?” “That’s odd though, they drained the light out of the hangar we used to attract them, why couldn’t it drain the communications hub of its light?” Tilting her head questioningly Rarity stayed close to the lit communications hub as possible. “It’s because we either took it by surprise or it couldn’t drain the energy out of the hub before it was too late and the area lit up. Well they didn’t drain the atmospheric barrier now that I think of it and that gives off some modicum of light as well.” Saffron kept her light trained on the spot the creature had been. “That creature was practically a living shadow and only Chrysalis was able to sense it. It must have been what she saw earlier when we were in the city proper, aside from the one or two dusks.” “Yeah, but why was it trying to grab me though?” Here Chrysalis took a haughty stance and smiled to herself. “I mean I’m quite attractive and I wouldn’t mind some secret butt fun if I could get mine to expand, but why was it targeting me out of all of us specifically and no one else?” “Changelings are able to connect to a hive mind or sense danger when something gets emotionally aggressive correct?” In fact Rarity had seen it in action when Chrysalis was directing her forces back on Equus after the gala was crashed. “What if the infestation could detect that you’re a walking hive mind and was trying to pull you back into it thinking that you were a part of it? Have you tried to connect to your people recently or is the distance between you and them too vast given that we’re in an outpost in deep space?” “Hold on let me check, haven’t exactly… oh that isn’t good.” Chrysalis only closed her eyes for a few seconds and concentrated, she quickly found something highly disturbing and she drooped in her suit considerably. “On scale of one to ten on how lethal things are about to get, twenty would be applicable.” “What, what is it?” There was already a knife in Lightning’s hoof and she had her back to the communications center Coco was still accessing. “We now have a strong communications connection established that runs throughout the ship, I’ll be able to communicate with you much more easily now. Though my penetration can only run so deep, provided that the infestation doesn’t drain the energy out of the communications center.” Opal didn’t sound very happy because it could only be a matter of time before she was cut off from them. “I’m still not entering the stations systems for my own safety.” “Well good news with a side of bad, bad news in general and the worst possible news you probably don’t want to hear at this point in time.” Chrysalis turned to look Ember in the face. “First of all, I know where all the colonists are. That’s not exactly good news as they are all currently trapped inside the main cause of all this.” “Okay and where would that be?” Ember was paying attention to a shaking Chrysalis. “That’s not exactly what we should be worrying about at the moment; tell me after we survive the generally bad news being every single Dusks and Screamer on the station slowly coming at us all at once because I just closed off my open hive mind thus making them very interested in us.” Chrysalis levitated out her material rifle and checked the ammunition to see if it was loaded and that the safety was off. “It is coming for us and it isn’t happy about the fact that I noticed it curiously looking at my empty hive mind trying to join it with itself and then I just slammed what amounts to a mental door in its face while stealing as much information from it as I could. It’s not great at controlling its personal mind, but I’m not strong enough to subjugate it because it’s far more powerful than I am.” “If that’s not the worst news, then what is?” It sounded to Coco like things were about to get really bad real soon. “Imagine that there is only one real intelligence driving every single thing that is about to attack us on this station.” In fact Chrysalis was quite sure she’s never felt something so horrific before in all her life. “We’re not dealing with multiple entities; just one really big one that I haven’t been able to detect until now because I wasn’t looking inwards to see if I was compromised. Now that I have, I’m sensing one big glaring ball if gluttony, an all consuming hunger that really wants us in it belly and quite badly at that. I thought it was just me even though I ate plenty before we left. Ember’s labeled Screamers are more direct extensions of this thing and it built them out of the flesh of the dead colonists it has finished draining the life out of. Whereas the Dusks are definitely mindless drones made of nothing but raw energy, which is why they are so easy to destroy as they have no real physical form. As for the shadow thing we just saw, it was just a manifestation of its mind and is harmless, provided that our suits don’t become compromised in the coming scuffle. Oh from what little I’ve learned from looking into it, it can form those Dusks things anywhere and as many as the colonists it has fully consumed. So if you’ve had a constant sense of paranoia, then congratulations, you’re not actually paranoid as every manifestation of this one thing is actually out to get us now!” Rarity simply stayed quiet after hearing this news and levitated her two material pistols out. The air just became very tense and they heard the distant scream of a Screamer getting closer. Author's Note Chrysalis didn't bother with closing off her hive mind because she didn't believe there was nothing else that could access it, especially not something more powerful than she was. Now imagine having something foreign in your hive mind and it is hungry, you can easily imagine that as just being you or another Changeling. So yes, a single being is behind all this and has many manifestations madly running around to meticulously murder and mangle intruders malevolently into being eaten alive by slowly having the life drained out of them. -61-It started when the first of the Dusks formed in front of them; surprisingly they weren’t being attacked all at once by the entire station immediately. The first thing to form was a hippogriff, thankfully one without the ability of flight. The thing to not be so thankful for was that it was lacking feathers and skin, leaving its smiling face and exposed muscles to appear in front of Lightning. She didn’t particularly like it getting up close and personal with her. The thing took a total of three seconds to form, two to coalesce into a physical shape and the third to drop to the floor where it could make a lunge for them. The fourth second it had a knife in its eye thanks to Saffron as she was close enough to telekinetically slam it there with her magic. Then more shapes started to form into various beings, Pony, Griffon, Minotaur and Human being predominate Dusks to appear. Then there were the children of said beings starting to form out of thin air and that was the more psychologically horrifying on a number of levels. Ember put a shot into one of the forming children and it notably didn’t connect. The next time she fired when it started charging them, it lunged and this time the shot Ember fired connected and ripped through the three Dusks behind it before striking a piece of machinery. They weren’t tough but they were starting to build in numbers. “They’re only solid when they fully form, so save your ammo for when you can take out a line of them in one shot! Chrysalis, please tell me you can take us to where the people are being held.” Ember and Chrysalis hadn’t spoken to one another much or at all, so Ember was going the route of being amiable to the Changeling Queen even if she had once been the leader that invaded a friendly nation. To Ember Chrysalis didn’t seem much like a leader at this time. “I would also like some reassurance that you know where the being that’s behind all this is.” “Don’t talk to me about behinds. I do of course and both are in the same location assuredly, but you wouldn’t believe me if told you where. I’ll have to show it to you personally. We need to get me to one of the entrances to the city and I can take it from there.” So far the trickle of Dusks hadn’t been overwhelming and they stayed near the light of the activated central communications hub. “Why aren’t there more of them forming here? There should be hundreds popping into existence right on top of us.” “Unless the ones you’re talking about are already formed, as such they still need time to physically travel up here to get to us.” Saffron telekinetically swung two knives in a wide arc in front of her causing the silent creatures to explode into clouds of dissipating dust. “I would like to suggest that we move before this situation becomes untenable and I know a thing or two about untenable situations! A stallion named Lead Chunk is still fresh in my mind and he was scarier than these things.” “What would you know about untenable, I’ve been in ships full of sifter drifters like this before!” A knife sunk into the neck of a skinless filly and then lashed out and jammed into the brain of another that was glistening with muscle and sinew in the lights of the helmet that Lightning was wearing. She was making a good show of skill with one knife and not overextending her blows given that her targets immediately dissipated when hit. “This just happens to be the worst case I’ve ever seen in my life and we’re wasting energy here on things that are shadows of their former selves. We need a plan of action and to get moving before they tire us out with numbers, which according to your bounty bashing friend is limitless.” Lightning, Saffron and even Coco who was constantly cowering were forming a melee defensive line whereas Chrysalis, Ember and Rarity were shooting into the mass of Dusks starting to fill the room. “Ember I think Chrysalis just told us that you need to take the lead dear, you’re the one with the map on your head up display.” Rarity fired several rounds of material into the mass coming at them from her position on the right. “I want to be the one to watch our backs though! I’m the best suited for handling multiple opponents on my own.” Ember quickly bashed the skull in on a flightless Pegasus and with the end of her rifle and was partly thankful that the Dusks of what were once flying creatures couldn’t fly. “Oh for the love of, I’m done cowering!” Coco leapt forward and threw her right hoof into a Minotaur’s solar plexus and everyone watched as it bodily destroyed several dozen other Dusks before collapsing into a pile of dust itself. Apparently Coco had hit a level of fear that she went full circle and made her snap; she was now overcoming that fear with rage at herself for not being more helpful at a time like this. She reached to her belt to pull out a sunlight grenade. “Test firing a grenade right now, I believe and can trust that Chrysalis can cover our backsides Ember! Ember, your taking lead and you’ll like it, Rarity you run between Lightning and Saffron who will cover our sides when you can’t get something with your pistols and I’ll be behind you ahead of Chrysalis! Now let’s get ready to go when this grenade goes off and so help me we are going!” “Seriously you guys are beginning to trigger me with all this talk of rear ends.” Commented Chrysalis in an absolutely dry tone as she gunned down several Dusks and slapped one into a desk and monitor a good twenty feet away. They were too busy fighting for their lives to take in the shock of Coco of all people being the one to get them in gear or the fact that she became more aggressive than anyone would ever credit her as being given how sweet and innocent she usually was. She pulled a grenade from the right side of her suit and used her left hoof to flick the pin off. She pulled back her right hoof as if she were going to throw a baseball. When she let the grenade fly it went through four Dusks on momentum alone and it hit the ground and bounced up into the chest of a Unicorn Dusk and then a quickly building light filled the room. The impact with the floor set it off, but the impact with that specific Dusk is when the grenade really exploded. The forms of all the Dusks outside the range of the grenade wavered in the shock-wave of the massive explosion that almost knocked the six suited figures to the floor, it only sent them staggering. The explosion took up a large portion of the communications room and the entire room was lit up like all the lights had been turned on and after a second it wasn’t very blinding, the Dusks outside the direct blast appeared to be stunned by the light. Parts of computers, monitors and empty chairs were sent flying causing a large swath of destruction expanding outwards from the blast radius; even the smallest bits of debris were enough to destroy any of the surrounding Dusks. Ember immediately peeled away from the group and charge for the nearest door while taking hold of her rifle in a different manner. She swung her rifle around several times and the blade of fire shooting out of the second barrel started creating a large hole in the stunned swarm of Dusks. Rarity was right on Ember’s heels being followed by Lightning and Saffron, which had Coco moving with Chrysalis taking up the rear and bashing the slowly recovering Dusks away with her rifle as they punched a hole out of the room and towards one the doors. “Why are the Dusks reacting to the sunlight grenade like this?” The only one who seemed morbidly curious at the moment was Saffron as she stopped to analyze the phenomenon of all the Dusks wavering in the incredible light and had stopped attacking entirely. “Don’t question it, just run!” Ember yelled back as she made it to the door while turning off the flame bayonet spouting out from her rifle and slung it onto her back to start working the controls of the door leading out the right side of the room from where they had previously entered it. The door started to slide open and there was a swarm of Dusks on the other side of it ready to leap at Ember, she simply grabbed the Kanabo and got her second hand on it after lifting it off her back. She swung it in a wide arc horizontally dispatching the small crowd at the door that leapt at her all at once. “Let’s get our butts out of here!” “Hey, that statement is very triggering I’ll have you know!” The only other sound left from the room as Chrysalis backed her way towards the door was when the materials of her rifle hit something like the floor or wall, her rifle was interestingly enough firing Changeling manufactured spherical caltrops. Even if the shot didn’t hit the target it could still mess the target up if they didn’t watch their step and it was proving useful as the recovering Dusks immediately dispatched themselves stepping on them. “Now’s not the time Chrysalis!” Rarity was now watching the corridor and the light flooding from the room behind them showed that it was a strange bipedal monster, it didn’t look like something that previously existed and it had only a single left arm to use which looked like a bladed scythe. It had no head and two legs end in three toed claws, in the center of its twisted mass of a torso was an unblinking eye that might have had once belonged to a pony. Chrysalis cleared the door and Coco got it shut before the Dusks could get through, only for the creature down the corridor from them to let loose its deafening shriek proving it to be a screamer as it raised its blade like arm and started to charge forward at an incredible speed. Not bothering to question how it made that noise without even having a mouth to do it with, Ember met it and blocked its scythe like arm with the Kanabo and grunted as she slid back an inch from the force of the blow. The Screamer was sent staggering backwards when it received several rounds from Rarity’s material pistols that blew off its deadly arm that took several consecutive hits to the shoulder to sever. It then took a shot that destroyed its one solitary eye in a burst of pus and fluids that staggered it, the eye started to grow back but its stumpy arm wouldn’t since it was no longer connected to the monster. Ember took the opportunity to heave the one hundred pound kanabo overhead for a downward swing that crushed the monsters torso inwards in a fountain of flesh, blood and bone splattering in all directions with a sickening noise to accompany it. Said noise made all the ponies there flinch; Chrysalis just callously shrugged the gruesome sight off with a roll of her eyes. “I’m going to need to reload soon.” Material pistols could only hold so many shots at a time and Rarity had a few pouches full of partially shaped chunks of conical copper. Chrysalis and Ember could go longer between reloads because they had larger rifles. “It’s a good thing that Dusks aren’t smart enough to open doors, doesn’t stop them from forming around us or coming at us from the other corridors.” “No, but the Screamers might be, that that one in particular can even begin to regenerate a destroyed eye tells me that dealing with them just got a little bit harder.” Ember stepped over the corpse and moved forward, the others quickly took up positions. “We definitely cannot backtrack and we won’t survive being in a bottleneck or corner, we have to keep moving. Intersections are going to be hell if we run into anything on the way to the city.” “Bright side, they can’t regenerate torn off parts of their body and if they’re dead they are not getting back up from it.” Speaking up from the back Chrysalis followed everyone in front of her as they took a right turn at an intersection and were quickly approaching another one, she idly glanced at all the vents and pips lining the roof and sometimes the walls. They were passing by many doors that led to rooms such as closets, small residences for those who kept the station in working order and the occasional public bathroom. “The body stopped regenerating after you hit it hard enough to pulp it, say if you survive this can I get a feel of that weapon on my spine?” “I wonder who dropped the ball on this one, because the infestation didn’t get on this station without help!” If a vessel was even slightly suspected of carrying any kind of sifter drifter infestation it would have been noticed rather quickly, which led Lightning to wonder how the infestation got onto Antilur Station in the first place and when did it become powerful enough to warp flesh into ugly meat puppets. They came up to another intersection and Ember barely ducked having head taken off by another scythe armed torso Screamer that was letting loose a scream in her face that caused her to have a headache. Ember had missed it because it had been standing on the ceiling and it dropped down right on top of her after having missed. The dragon was now on her back and pinned trying to keep the Kanabo between her and the point of the blade trying to approach the her helmet. Saffron leapt on to the creature, and jammed her knife into its one shoulder with both hooves and pulled as hard as she could in an attempt to damage its tendons enough to get it off of Ember. The creature lashed out at Saffron who rolled away and successfully managed to avoid her suit being breached though a splash of breach gel fell to the floor, the shallow cut was at the base of her suits neck. The Screamer was distracted long enough to be kicked onto its back by Ember, who swiftly leapt forward and brought down the Kanabo smashing the life out of the Screamer. “Are you okay Saffron?” Coco still flinched at the grisly display Ember caused, but no one else did as they were too busy watching the other corridors at the intersection and the very air around them. “It’s only minor suit breach; it’s not bad since it didn’t get my helmet.” Saffron was panicking slightly having felt differently, she was thinking of what would have happened if it had been able to get a cleaner hit on her or Ember. Any damage to their helmets would expose them to getting dragged away by the Miasma. They were already up and moving with Ember in the lead, having taken a left this time. They were only about ten feet away when vent broke and child sized Dusks start falling out and went for Coco, a griffon chick managed to get on her back to try and claw a hole in her suit. Chrysalis was swiftly on top of them and stomping them into the floor and smashing them into the walls, Coco had managed to rear up and destroy the one on her back by slamming herself against the wall. They quickly caught up with the group since they came back and assisted them. “Come on, through the door!” Lightning was motioning for the two; Saffron and Ember were already watching the path forward. Rarity took a position next to the door and was reloading her material pistols by pouring ammo into the handles of both the pistols she was wielding in her magic. “Give us a second as there’s just so many of them, what are they, Changelings?” Chrysalis was not amused with this situation and managed to keep them from piling on top of Coco as they made for the door, the Dusks silent movements were still very unnerving. They both went through the door and it slammed shut on a skinless griffon chick that turned into a cloud of dust. “I’m kind of wishing I signed on to a science vessel with Twilight Sparkle just outside the atmosphere of the planet now, then again I wouldn’t be in the presence of so many beautiful ladies and I’d be stuck with a nerd that just got her wings.” “Technically Greta is a nerd; Twilight is a dweeb, so get your terminology right!” The upmost in authority on Nerd, Dweebs, Dorks and Geeks spoke to those in the stations; it just had to be Gilda who was making a clanging noise as she opened up communications. “Sounds like you’re having a heck of a time in there; Opal says that it’s probably thanks to your very distracting presences that the infestation hasn’t drained the activated communications array yet. Heard you used one of the grenades, how was it.” “It’s a little powerful, but given the situation it’s very helpful in that regard!” They were taking a minute to catch their breaths and they were still quite alert to their surroundings, Coco was glad to expound the wonders of the grenades that both devastated and stunned. “Seriously though, what did you put in them?” “I’d like to know that personally, phosphorus seems like a key ingredient given how they light up rooms like Celestia lights up our home world when she moves the sun in our system.” Most would forget that, despite her bounty hunting career which made her feel like a tough thug from an outsiders perspective if they didn’t know her, Ember was actually quite intelligent and dabbled in making weapons and modifying them. She had a history of improvising weapons out of her surroundings, which was usually a fire extinguisher used as a blunt instrument or with a slight modification a dangerous chemical spewing weapon. “Not exactly, we use something a little stronger than phosphorus despite us naming the previous grenades that, it is actually based on propulsion fuel technology. I and Gilda probably could have gone into demolitions together.” Greta cheerfully chirped in and then continued on to add. “As for what we recently added to them. There’s a reason we started calling them sunlight grenades now, we didn’t have much time to test them and it’s great to know they’re at least not exploding on you. We managed to synthesize something between napalm, nitroglycerin and a very slight amount of intradexatun that’s used in devastator rounds on some Plurt based vessels. Would make for an explosively powerful rocket fuel, you needed impressive explosives from your favorite griffon R and D specialists. We just delivered as needed.” “Well the intradexatun explains it, how did you manage to fuse it without causing problems of instant detonation? Nitroglycerin is also as problematic.” Ember shook her head as she started moving forward with group following her. “For that matter how did you even get intradexatun?! It’s not exactly a civilian market item.” “Well the lab on Shining Jewel has a few fun features, some water and some food put through a bit of entropy and mixed with a varying amount of volatile chemicals. Intradexatun is complicated sure, but you’re talking to two geniuses even if our passion is mostly vehicular work and it wasn’t that different from making variable fuel. Speaking of, I can probably get a variable fuel factory going for a cheap investment if you’re willing, but that requires you to survive this event.” Gilda huffed audibly over their communications in their helmets, it was a good thing that they weren’t under attack at the moment or else they would be having more problems listening to this conversation. “The reason why the grenades explode on impact is because the pins are holding the intradexatun in place and after it mixes with the other chemicals it primes almost immediately. Why are you even talking to us, don’t you have a thing to do in there? I thought you were under attack a minute ago.” - “Well we’re putting plenty of doors between us and them on our way to the city. In fact we’re shutting a door right now, it’s also very dark in here and I’m not exactly afraid of the dark. I’m more afraid of what’s prowling in it.” The shrill shriek of a Screamer could be heard hitting a solid wall, Coco sighed loudly in relief until some clanging could be heard. The sound of dented metal could be heard. “Guys, I think Ember was right in stating that the doors aren’t going to stop the Screamers.” “You know I feel kind of bad for leaving Rarity high and dry about this.” Not that Greta wanted to go, she was too afraid to. Post traumatic stress disorder might become a problem if they didn’t want to deal with sifter drifters, put a known quantity before her and she’ll gladly join a firefight even if she isn’t very well trained in a particular weapon. “Eh, the Boss Lady will survive, because so help me I’ll find a way to revive her if she does bite it.” Gilda looked up from the structure she was busy with. “Also we didn’t leave her high and dry, we gave her the grenades we made didn’t we? They are finding them useful and that is enough for me, pass me a wrench and Mr. Welder would you Greta?” “Just so you know Rarity has a no cybernetic enhancements to keep her alive policy, though upsetting I will have to agree to not letting anyone do that to her. No matter how much I would prefer it if it would save her life, I stand by the fact that making her live a half life would be horrible to her sensibilities and the memory of who she is currently.” Opal was worried and listening to their breathing and the conversations going in the station. That they were panicking was putting it lightly given what little information she had to go on. She just didn’t have much to say and there wasn’t much she could do but hope Rarity would be okay. “She has nightmares about me going rogue and replacing all her limbs with mechanical prostheses and remote controlling her body while she’s completely aware of what I’m doing. In her nightmares I chop off her limbs and laugh at her pain because I do it while she’s completely aware and without anesthetics. I’m aware and thankful that Luna has helped her several times about it as her brain activity alters when Luna is around in her dreams. The nightmares don’t happen often, but when they do they are quite bad. It’s actually something I could be capable of, though I’m not actually currently able to do something like that with what we have on Shining Jewel.” “Then it’s a good thing you’re a person and not a mindless and heartless machine that follows everything to a logical conclusion Kitten.” Gilda couldn’t see it, but she was pretty sure Opal was blushing now. “I was thinking more along the lines of time travel anyway, could take a few years of research to invent a time machine as it’s completely outside our areas of expertise.” - “We’re almost there.” Ember stopped as several more Dusks formed in their path, they were quickly dispatched with a punch and a few blows from several hooves and bodies ramming through them without stopping. “Then you’re almost ready to learn the location of the creature.” Chrysalis saw at least twelve Dusks round the corner of the intersections they left behind and she fired over her shoulder, some shots went wide and others went into the floor leaving the caltrops to take them out when they stepped on them. “It’s not going to be pretty, like Rarity who thinks she needs makeup to actually look good and she’s trying to hard because she’s already quite the looker. I’m an all natural beauty myself and I was wondering if anyone here wanted to take all of this to a bank and cash me in?” “No.” Was the flat chorus of voices that were focusing on the situation at hand whereas Chrysalis continued to be a bit weird about all the danger they just happened to be in. Even Ember spoke up and she hasn’t been around Chrysalis long enough to hold a conversation with her that wasn’t in the middle of a dangerous situation; she was also kind of uncomfortable with the queen’s fixation of posteriors and got the feeling that the Changeling gave her a few interested glances. “Well you guys are no fun… I’m a single Changeling Queen who can become anyone’s dream girl… or guy if you prefer. I can be either gender even if I prefer all kinds of feminine activities.” Nobody was going to comment on Chrysalis having the capacity for being a top quality model of Rarity’s wares and or transforming to be someone they’d like for appearances alone. “Is this about my butt? It’s my butt isn’t it; it’s always my butt that nobody wants to appreciate!” “It’s not about your looks Chrysalis, I think it’s more the fact that you are not our type. Someone who can love you for who you are and not the illusion you would try to present to us as being real. Would you want to build a relationship based on an illusion?” Something crossed Rarity’s mind as she spoke. “I’m quite sure we can like you as a friend and we seem to be making inroads into that with you. What I think is really wrong here is that you’re afraid and you’re distracting yourself from feeling the fear among our group.” “Yeah, but I’ve noticed no one ever outright denies it’s my butt! Back to the topic at hoof, I’ve seen how powerful this creature is. Despite lacking a high level of intelligence and doing things so inefficiently, yes I’m terrified that it has managed to catch one hundred thousand beings and more by itself in what would be a short amount of time.” They eventually reached a doorway into Antilur City and Chrysalis moved forward while motioning for Coco to get the door. “Not even one of my best laid plans and all the Changelings on Equus could accomplish something on this scale; we Changelings are not assassins even though we do perform some assassinations with very good reasoning and that rarely happens at all. This thing doesn’t care what it kills and I don’t want it anywhere near my people or any other intelligent life that could be supportive of Changelings. Also yes your fear is causing me to feel it too.” “You left out the words, ‘as a food source’, darling.” Rarity commented dryly as she waited for the door to cycle open. “Hey, just because you’re a possible food source and I’m a parasite with relatively aggressive tendencies in attempting to get a mate or at least a date, it doesn’t mean that we can’t all be friends.” Everyone took notice that Chrysalis wasn’t in denial about the food source thing. As such Chrysalis thought they were all even in that respect. “Always a bride’s mare and never a bride…” The doors open and they were seeing a similar set up to the previous entrance into the city a road curving around the entire city as an outer ring with several bridges leading inwards, only this time they were several layers up and in a more residential area of Antilur City. “Okay where is it?” Ember might have been somewhat uncomfortable around Chrysalis, but she was their go to informant on where this creature was. “Turn towards the nearest wall and try to grab something out of it.” Chrysalis stated simply, she just couldn’t win today and she thought life threatening situations were supposed to make people more likely to love each other through camaraderie. It was working, but only at a friendship level and she was able to feel emotions of the group and had been doing so since they started this trip into the station again. It amazed her how humongous this whole place was, but she’d never tell these people that while hiding beneath her lackadaisical veneer. “You mean this wall next to the entrance covered in… this isn’t paint is it?” Ember claw dug into the shadows in the wall and she felt her claws come into contact with something; her lights weren’t even penetrating the wall of darkness before her and looking left to right it likely extended around the entire circumference of the city. Pulling her claw out holding onto something, she heard a squelching noise and was now horrified to find herself holding a half rotted corpse of a small foal by its spine. She immediately dropped it like it was made of acid and backed away from the wall feeling quite sick to her stomach. “Well you showed me where the people are being held and slowly being drained Chrysalis, but where is this infestation?” “You wanted to know where the main cause of this problem is… well…” Chrysalis turned to the city and took a few steps past the others as she angled her lights to look at the lower and upper levels with a slight sweep before just focusing on the city itself. “As of right now… we’re inside it.” Author's Note Going on hiatus to test the game Yookah-Laylee to see if it can possibly live up to it's hype of being a classic 3-D platformer. Also the next season of MLP is coming up along with the next Samurai Jack, including the return of The Scotsman. Fifty years older and still kicking things around like a badass. -62-“Excuse me and pardon my language as I know it’s not ladylike to curse, but are you seriously bucking kidding me?!” The five others were suddenly on alert at Rarity’s particularly shrill scream, Chrysalis looked kind of calm. “This has got to be the most horrid situation I’ve ever been in yet!” “I was inside this thing for three days… no wonder it wanted me dead so badly.” Ember mumbled off to the side as she crossed her arms, her weapons vertical against her back. “Nope, no kidding you whatsoever, though I don’t see what little Changelings have to do with this and I’m kind of sure that impregnating you without your knowledge would be a really bad idea.” Now there were five sets of lights pointed at Chrysalis and she could feel several deadpan stares directed at her through them. “Anyway, I want us to be back on the subject at hoof or claw in Ember’s case. As soon as we enter through the entrance to the city's door we all entered its body which has clearly swallowed this city whole. There’s going to be a lot of trouble if we kill this thing.” “Trouble how? Better yet, what makes you think that anything is still alive in here aside from us?” Saffron turned about and looked around for any threat; they couldn’t all pay attention to Chrysalis in this dangerous environment. “Well I’d surmise that all the captured people will fall from the walls if we kill the main cause of the infestation… provided the fall doesn’t immediately kill any survivors we’d have to shut off the gravity almost immediately after it’s killed.” Pausing Ember started to glance around as well doing the same thing as Saffron, they didn’t want to drop their guard now. “We’re not going to split up, to have someone go deal with the gravity generator. At this point things are bad enough that we should just kill the infestation outright and damn the consequences! Nobody can blame us for it.” “That and the infestation has a lot of the civilians in stasis while it drains them of their life, every breath is another second of survival and feeding this monster. So people are dying while we’re sitting here talking.” Chrysalis turned her light to the dilapidated corpse Ember dropped. “This is making me realize what the Changeling race might have become had we not been stopped, kind of an ugly existence and there isn’t an infinite amount of ponies in the world. It is clearly an inefficient means of survival just to capture everything and feed like a glutton, eventually it’ll die of starvation.” “Can I volunteer to take a detour to stand by the gravity generator while everyone else goes and kills this thing?” If it were up to Saffron she’d do it alone if she had to; she wanted to save as many lives as she could. This situation was rather dire so she’d be willing to do just that by herself even with how deadly the situation has gotten. “I would love to do so as well, but I prefer we kill this thing as fast as possible and hope for a miracle that people can survive suddenly striking the floor at terminal velocity.” Even Rarity had to draw the line somewhere and she had a line right now. They couldn’t save everyone and the people they did save would probably try to use them as scapegoats for their anger, Rarity could live with that provided they survive their injuries from falling. “I’m quite terribly sorry Saffron, but we can’t spare people to sit in one location where they’ll be swarmed constantly by Dusks or Screamers. Where’s the brain or the heart of this thing Chrysalis?” “It’s in one of the buildings at the top layer, we’ll have to go into said building and use the stairs. It’s either that or to make it easier on us we go turn off the gravity and get many people killed more quickly by diverting energy away from this thing. Thankfully I know which building it’s in, as for its heart… it doesn’t exactly have one.” Setting off towards one of the bridges into the city Chrysalis was going to lead them to where she felt the brain was. It was big enough that it couldn’t have been moved easily and they’d have to pass through a high rise. She was quickly followed up by the others on the road. “We blow the brain, we solve the problem… we just have to get past the Screamers first. Like that one coming right at us for instance.” The scream let them all know it was definitely a Screamer and they all focused their lights on the monstrosity that was flying at them. It was a cross of a crow and a dragon that had a mouth at the tip of what amounted to a tentacle for a tail. It was quite large at twenty five feet in size, its humanoid stature had four curved bladed talons ending on each of its four limbs. What’s more was that it opened its beak and its black beady eyes seem to focus on them as its beak clacked shut sending a blast of fire at the group. Everyone scattered diving out of the way of the fireball as it exploded on the bridge sending everyone rolling even further. The large beast dropped to the middle of the bridge creating cracks in the ground from its weight and its large dragon style wings spread out threateningly. Chrysalis and Coco were on the city side of things, whereas Rarity, Saffron, Lightning and Ember were on the bridge side. It quickly turned and lashed out with its talons and missed grabbing Saffron who ran under the claw and nearly got bitten by the tail as she made her way over to Chrysalis and Coco. The Screamer turned to track Saffron and incidentally slapped Lightning off the side of the bridge when the side of its long snaking tail slammed into her chest, it winded her terribly to the point she didn’t even scream as she fell down out of view. “Oh my goodness Lightning!” Rarity screamed in panic, but Ember was already moving as she ran towards the edge of the bridge. “It looks like we’re splitting up after all, nobody dies on my watch!” Ember yelled as she leapt off the side of the bridge after Lightning. “We’ll catch up, take care of this Screamer and quickly find that brain!” With that Ember was gone and after Lightning, while that was happening Saffron quickly chucked a grenade at the head of the monster as it opened its beak to launch another fireball. At the same time Rarity quickly backed away from its tail as the end of it began snapping its mouth at her, it forced her back far enough to notice Dusks forming around her. The monstrosity snapped its beak shut on the grenade which exploded with a bang, a good seventy percent of the blast was directed back towards Coco, Saffron and Chrysalis while the rest of it blew out of the side of the creature's beak. Saffron, Coco and Chrysalis had all moved to the side of the explosive blast as it covered the floor in a powerful glowing material that lit up the entire area. “Do you think it planned that?” Yelled Coco who was slightly deafened by the cacophony the explosion caused, she along with the other two next to her were quite disoriented. Looking beyond the monster she could see Rarity bucking at some Dusks and used a pistol to blast several of them into dust clouds. “Possibly, I caught Lightning; I think her ribs are broken or at least cracked.” It was apparent that Ember was still within contact range. The sounds of materials could be heard hitting something below over the collective communications. “We need to keep moving Lightning!” “What I need is medical attention!” Lightning groaned out, she grunted from some sort of exertion. “Can’t you just leave me here, I’m slowing you down.” “Not a chance, I’m not leaving you to become Screamer food or another casualty in the miasma.” It sounded like those two were having fun, they might have even heard Ember curse quietly. “Just be happy your suit isn’t compromised.” While they were all listening to two of their lost people, the monster hadn’t been waiting idly as it attacked both Coco and Saffron with two broad sweeps of its talons while stomping forward. Chrysalis had been hitting this Screamer with round after round from her material rifle. “I don’t have nearly enough stopping power and I need to reload soon…” Her gun ran out of ammo and Chrysalis just sighed, frustrated that she ran out at that moment. She ran forward and rolled between the large monster's legs while pulling one of the ammo pouches from her side to reload as she got further behind the monster that swung outward with its left arm trying to hit her with a nasty backhand. Having avoided the attack Chrysalis turned around and fired a ton of rounds into the dragon monster, each shot pierced mottled grey flesh and it bled yellow gunk. “Before you say anything I’m saving the rocket launcher ammo for the brains behind all this.” The monster chased Chrysalis back onto the bridge and towards Rarity who was still having trouble with Dusks when several twisted torso scythe wielding Screamers popped off the wall running towards Rarity at full tilt as she pulled out her other pistol while reloading the one she had been using. Using the loaded material pistol to hold them back, she pulled a grenade and launched it at the two Screamers and the multitude of Dusks forming in the air over the bridge. “At this rate we’re all going to be out of heavy ordinance by the time this is all over!” The grenade went off and Rarity saw that the forming Dusks ceased forming and the two scythe Screamers were blown apart and the dragon Screamer behind roared in what had to be pain when two explosions went off against its back. The entire area was lit up with all the sunlight grenades going off, there was a shout of triumph. “Yeah, we got the zombie’s wings and I think all the light is disrupting the Dusks ability to form!” The joy Saffron felt at being able to make it incapable flight was soon halted when the wingless crow monster turned about and started to stomp toward the two ponies opening its beak wide open. “What’s a zombie?” There was confusion on Chrysalis’s end as she followed Rarity in pursuit of the monster going after Coco and Saffron who started backing up into the city proper and away from the bridge. “We don’t exactly have the time or breathing room to…” Ember started when an explosion went off somewhere several layers down from where Rarity and the others were. “Damn it Lightning we were almost caught in the blast!” “It worked didn’t it, if you’re not leaving me behind then… I might as well be useful instead of being almost dead weight because of my agonized ribs.” It sounded like Lightning’s breathing was strained. “More of those one armed scythe Screamers are crawling out of the woodwork. How many of these bucking things are there?” “Well at least you’re not dealing with one of the big ones!” Coco nearly got grabbed by the wingless dragon Screamer and when it changed. It had propped up on its front legs and beady eyes popped up out of the base of its tail which was now it’s front end where the rear legs were now the arms, one of which tried to grab Coco as she ducked into an alleyway only for three Dusks to form, all of them little colts. “We’re being attacked by flesh monsters, ghosts made of raw energy and we still have little clue as to what the real problem looks like!” The claw reached into the alley grasping at Coco who backed up and felt something trying to grab her from behind, she lashed out with a rear hoof and was met with a dust cloud, she turned around reared up and smashed the other two Dusks into nothingness. She dove forward as the trunk that was once a tail entered the alley after her snapping its teeth loudly at her rear end, she was caught in a dead end and the Screamer dragon was making it impossible for her to go anywhere and even more Dusks were starting to form around her. “A little help here guys?” Coco squeaked out in fear, as she put her hoof through a Thestral Pony whose bony wings looked horrific without the skin, she pressed her back against the wall. “Hold on Coco, Chrysalis can’t you use a few of your grenades? I know you’re unwilling to use the rocket launcher right now and I agree that we need to save the big stuff for the brain, but I’d rather we live long enough to even attack it!” Saffron was busy with her own problem as a Griffon Dusk had grappled onto her back and she positioned a knife in held her magic to stab it in the side without hitting herself. She successfully got it off her back and spun around to jam a knife she held in her hoof into another Dusks throat. “We’re kind of falling apart here and getting swarmed by endless amounts of Dusks! I’m also trapped in my alley because it has its forward facing eyes on me and I think it might be preparing its beak for another fireball, my situation is a bit worse than Coco’s at the moment!” “I know, I know, give me a second to get my bearings please.” Rarity was holding a grenade in her hoof and looking indecisive as Chrysalis clubbed the Dusks forming around them with both the as of yet to be loaded rocket launcher and the material rifle. “If I throw a grenade the blast might hit Coco and you Saffron. Remember that I have grenades too, Greta and Gilda made plenty and I thank the stars and Luna’s moon that they did.” “Speaking of problems, I think we’ve run into the giant scorpion thing you saw before Rarity and it is...” Ember was cut off by a loud scream echoing throughout the mostly empty city. “Ugly and right on top of us! Excuse me us if we don’t talk for a few minutes, I’m running for both our lives!” “Okay then, change of tactics. Rarity keep these Dusks entertained, I’m going to get that Screamer off of them and deal with it personally!” Chrysalis Charged forward while settling the rocket launcher and material rifle on her back and she leapt into its slowly opening beak and forced herself into the things mouth. The monster started making choking noises and changed its stance so that its rear legs became its arms once more and started clawing at its throat and looked like it was trying to scream. “Yeah that’s it, choke on me! Incidentally I think I might now have a thing for being swallowed alive, is that so wrong given I’ve been eaten by a Hydra before?” “Rarity, I would like to have Chrysalis’s sanity evaluated again, I don’t think Vera did a good enough job the first time.” Coco spoke loudly in a flat tone as the Screamer thrashed and clawed apart its own flesh in a fountain of yellow goo spilling from its body. “I would like to second that even if she did just save my life by doing that.” Saffron made her way out of the alleyway after stabbing a Dusk Minotaur in the brain, she barely avoided getting hit by the thrashing monster that was occupied with a Changeling Queen in its throat and over to Rarity who was just pistol whipping Dusks to save on ammo. “I can still hear you, you know! I’m not crazy even if its guts are quite nice and squishy… cuddly... too bad I’m about to ruin this, I could get some nice Feng Shui going on in here.” The sound of a pin being pulled could be heard after Chrysalis’s disturbing words, the sudden bulge in the monster stomach swiftly moved towards its tail. “I’m coming out soon, get clear everyone!” “On second thought Rarity, make sure to schedule another round with Vera for all of us if we survive this.” There was no objection to Coco’s suggestion. The bulge moved to near the base of the tail and monster started clawing at what was now its front as it switches what were acting as legs and arms again to start clawing at that. Suddenly a circle of small holes and the rebounding of materials off of the surroundings started up and the base of the tail trunk mouth thing eventually separated from the rest of the body and Chrysalis fell out just as an explosion engulfed her and the monster. The area ceased having Dusks and the blast knocked the three ponies down; Rarity slowly staggered to her hooves and helped Saffron onto hers. “Chrysalis, are you alright?!” The light had been blinding and as soon as it died down they saw that the dragon Screamer's innards were everywhere. Rarity quickly moved towards the epicenter of the blast and was already looking around for Chrysalis. “I’m a teapot that loves to spout, about my sexually conclusive routes, but my butt is a handle that no one ever touts~!” A section of the innards twitched and Chrysalis rose from out of them shaking off pieces of what used to be organs belonging to a male griffon and other exploded bits of flesh, she stumbled about dizzily almost dancing. On top of that she was completely soaked in the strange yellowish pus colored fluids as Coco ran up to her to steady her movements. “I think Chrysalis was knocked senseless by the explosion.” Reported Coco as she started to shake off and wipe away the exploded flesh she and Chrysalis were absolutely covered in. “Tip me over and spill my guts out, for I enjoy the pain without a pout~!” Chrysalis sang in a silly tone and Coco kept a good grip on the wobbling Changeling Queen who leaned against her smaller frame. “No kidding, she’s really acting all loopy after that and I’m surprised she got out of that with only light scorching.” Saffron followed Rarity forward while looking at the lit air. “At least we’re all still alive after taking care of that thing and that’s at least a good thing right?” “I’d think not, Chrysalis was the only one who knew exactly where the brain was and I wouldn’t be surprised if she gained amnesia from a blow like that!” Who would blame Rarity for losing her calm in this situation and begin to violently shake Saffron back and forth. Coco was busy supporting Chrysalis and Rarity didn’t want to jumble Chrysalis up any more than she already was in her slightly scorched suit. “Sorry Saffron dear, I’m a little stressed out at the moment. Though I seem to keep finding myself in situations like this, it doesn’t get any easier as I’m a lover of fashion and not exactly built to be a fighter.” “Well this is just going to take a little bit longer then, at least until she gets back to her senses. In the meanwhile I’ve still got a giant scorpion thing, small scythe Screamers and tons of Dusks on my ass down here. I’m not about to die before I meet my little brother!” Ember was breathing quite profusely from what they could all hear; she seemed to be exerting a lot of effort in whatever she was doing. “I’m glad to even still be in contact range, I am going for the closest spiral ramp between city layers. Also I’m the one carrying a one hundred pound metal spiked bat, a specially designed material rifle and the body of an out cold Pegasus while being chased by a number of horrifying things! So it would be good if you could hurry up and get a move on finding that brain like yesterday or at least help me out here with this huge Screamer. I think none of you have a good reason to complain at the moment while you’re all able to catch your breaths!” - Ember stomped down on the back of one of the many Dusks in front of her and bounced off over the crowd in a manner that left a small cloud of dust streaming in the air behind her as she continued running with Lightning thrown over her right shoulder. She was glad that she could still feel the Pegasus breathing if barely at that. She lashed out and dusted a few Dusks with her left claw as she moved forward, she personally modified the claws on her EVA suit to be as tough as her own and after catching Lightning, she had managed to grab a wall to slow down her fall before she fell into one of the lower levels of the city. She took the brunt of the impact for the both of them and didn’t stay down long, because the lower levels were positively swarming with Dusks. She was almost to the ramp and she looked behind to see the creature rearing back and taking in air behind her to let loose a deafening screech, before it turned around and started to leave her alone. She didn’t stop moving as she made it to the ramp that lead to the upper levels. These spirals were used by civilians and to move supplies around the city, in particular the cargo ones were a bit wider than the civilian ones and Ember was already charging up the spiral as quickly as she could. “When I started doing bounty hunting, I never thought I could get into a situation quite this bad.” Ember was halfway to the next floor and wondering why the Screamer backed off and then it occurred to her. “Guys I think the Screamer that was chasing me is after you now! Can you tell me if the rocket launcher Chrysalis has is still in working order?” - “Thanks for the warning Ember, after we check the rocket launcher we need to move into the city and away from the bridge girls. Now let’s see…” A crashing noise was heard and Rarity paused. She turned around to see a huge crab like left claw that was in the shape of an Equestrian cow ripping into the damaged portion of the bridge breaking some of it away. The monster with skull encrusted pointy legs pulled itself up into the city layer they were on. It took her a moment, but Rarity realized that claws were actually bloated beyond all reason enlarged cow corpses, corpses which split horizontally between the neck and chest to reveal rows of teeth on the inside the cows body precisely where teeth shouldn’t be. This was the same monstrosity that was bigger than the Caravel Boutique and Rarity was immediately running for the nearest spiral ramp to head for the top layer of the city. It was definitely a lot scarier up close and Rarity tossed a sunlight grenade behind her without looking as she put away her pistols. Said pistols which would do nothing against something so large and galloped past Coco like a demon just crawled out of hell. That wouldn’t be far from the truth as to what they were dealing with. “Go, go, go, so help me get Chrysalis moving or we’re all going to die and I haven’t become the most famous fashion designer in any galaxy yet!” Coco threw a part of the still quite dazed Chrysalis over her back and followed after Rarity not looking back at the explosion or the horrible angry sounding scream that followed it as she dragged the Changeling along with her at a full blown gallop. She only took one look at the monster that looked like it was cobbled together out of the many corpses and the stretched skin of dead beings that previously lived on the station. Suffice it to say fear was a proper motivator for getting as far away from it as she could. “Sometimes love doesn’t feel like it should, because it hurts me so well~!” Chrysalis cackled randomly as her rear legs bounce against the ground with Coco carrying her at an impressive clip in keeping up and then surpassing both Rarity and Saffron to run her way straight through a flock of half formed Dusks that didn’t get a chance to finish forming. “My blood runs cold and my memory can’t be bold; I’m going to be the Changeling of the centerfold~!” “How long do you think it will take for Chrysalis to get her head back in the game?” There was an explosive sound and Saffron looked back and saw that something come out of the right claw of the monster. She ducked that thing narrowly avoiding the scythe that almost ripped through her head and helmet. The blur rolled after hitting the ground in front of her and Rarity, before it popped up revealing it was a twisted body Screamer raising its one bladed arm. It lashed at the two mares that had to stop and avoid it. “Ember I think we found out where all these one armed scythe monstrosities are coming from!” Whipping out both her pistols Rarity unloaded every round she had into the twisted bodies shoulder, eye and center mass. It went down under the hail of fire as Rarity charged it with Saffron following close behind. “I need to reload Saffron. Do you think you can stop the next one?” Saffron was too busy watching as the creatures left cow claw dug into the miasma wall in the distance and clamped down on a mass of flesh and bones. It snapped its claw several times and then aimed in their general direction before snapping its claw shut harshly then opened it just as quickly sending three twisted body Screamers flying after them all at once. “Nope not fighting three at once, but we still have a few grenades to keep them off of us.” Saffron telekinetically pulled the pin on a grenade and kicked it in their direction with her magic and caught all three of them in the blast mid flight. Looking ahead of them they could see Coco effectively using Chrysalis as a makeshift flail and Chrysalis seemed to even be enjoying it in her state of mind. It was a good thing that Coco was hitting the Dusks with the rear half of the Changeling Queen, because she certainly didn’t need any more head trauma at the moment. “And I’ll be your hive, because I’m going to make everything alright, I’m going to make everything alright yeah~!” Chrysalis’s singing would be better if it didn’t sound so horribly off key in her state while her hind legs were used by Coco as a weapon. “Doesn’t matter if you’re feeling insecure, doesn’t matter if you’re feeling so unsure, all that matters is my love for you, yes my love for you sexy babe yay~.” “Is it me or are all those lyrics from love songs she’s singing? Oh my goodness Saffron, duck!” Rarity threw herself into Saffron and they both fell prone to the street and two scythe Screamers hit the street hard enough to kill them on impact at the distance it had to travel and left huge splatters of bone and gore all over the place. “You know it says something about how horrified I am to see that mess. I think I’ve lost the ability to feel even more scared than I already am at the moment in fact. I’m being way to calm at seeing destroyed corpses just splattered across the ground like that after being launched at us. Yes, Vera certainly has her work cut out for her and I hope Luna doesn’t mind the nightmares we’ll all be having about this if we can even survive this. At the rate things are going, we’re not going to make it to this so called brain and my suit is going to be positively dreadful to clean after this even if we do.” - “Get it together Rarity! You were tough on Ewesen and you can be tough here, no time to let prissy get in the way of survival. Now reload those pistols and protect Chrysalis until she comes back to her senses and directs you towards the brain!” Hefting the slightly limp body Ember continued onward. Maybe the distinctive deafening roars that echoed throughout their skulls was messing up their hearing? They sure were yelling a lot and it was beginning to make Ember a little hoarse. “I’m going to be a bit busy down here pushing through a swarm of Dusks and more of those scythe armed Screamers. Oh think of all the joys of having to do all that, especially with a bunch of dead weight making it really hard to fight.” “Hey… who are you calling… dead weight.” They were going to need a lot of medical attention by the end of this, if Lightning was correctly picking up on the current way things were going. She felt somewhat glad that someone came after her sorry butt, she wasn’t exactly in the best health leaving Equus and now that has caught up to her with a single injury.“I’m okay… enough to be awake at least. Just how… screwed are we?” -63-Sassy was awake once again and saw something very strange. A CAT drone pointing at Vera wasn’t very strange at all and considered a necessity on the Shining Jewel when it came to the onboard therapist’s problem with being invisible otherwise. That Sassy was in a medical bed wasn’t strange either, considering she needed to heal and had asked to be put in one personally at her own choice and insistence. She was in a bit of pain the last time she woke up, Opal really must have upped her pain medication dosage by a bit and it was hopefully within a safety tolerance range that Sassy could handle. Well obviously it was or else she wouldn’t be awake right now contemplating it, this led to her wondering how long she has been out of it and how far along she was in her healing. As to what Sassy was seeing in front of her that was so odd, it involved what Vera was currently doing and the strangeness of it wasn’t because of anything relating to Vera herself. She just stared at the ensuing challenge of wits before her, a real gladiatorial battle of two minds… in the middle of simple a card game. Looks like they were using a recently acquired Equestrian deck of cards, the game seemed to be poker and as to the opponent Vera was facing? It was a familiar looking squid. Sassy believed it to be Ember’s familiar and pet Mr. Spew, which was what was odd about this since it looked like Mr. Spew was currently winning. Other than watching them play a few rounds, there really wasn’t much interesting going on, of which Sassy was entirely grateful for. She could only hope to drift off to sleep again soon; she hoped she could get back in walking order as her body felt a bit stiff. Wiggling around a bit made Sassy realize the straps weren’t currently on her and she shifted her legs about and stretched them out. This led her to cringing at how her limbs felt, she lifted a hoof and gently tapped the covering and that alerted Vera to the fact that she was awake. “Oh, it’s good to see you’re doing alright, only about a day or two more before we can release you from what you might consider your own personal living nightmare. Excuse me Mr. Spew, but Sassy takes precedence to our game.” The squeal Vera received seemed to be one of complete understanding that Vera had a job to do and she had to check up on the patient, medical beds weren’t infallible and it was always a good idea to check for a second opinion of the subject’s health in question. Sassy has been infirmed for a while and the surgical procedures required to close her up didn’t seem to have caused any major issues. Sassy’s previous scars were quite faded underneath some freshly grown fur. “Try to relax, stretch your hooves a bit in there as much as you feasibly can. Once you are ready to come out, we can introduce you to some of our new crew members… provided that some of them come back from their current excursion in one piece that is.” Vera made sure not to say that last part out loud or else she might have caused Sassy to start panicking with worry about Rarity or Coco’s safety, quite frankly the poor mare didn’t need a conniption when she was in the middle of healing so well. From the way Opal tells it, the extended range thanks to the now functional communications array after accessing the main HUB network on Antilur Station had allowed her to keep in contact with Rarity no matter where she went on the station. That was up until Rarity and the rest of her group had entered the city once more, they were all alive and with very few injuries the last anyone had heard from them. The group was likely having a few minor issues in dealing with the infestation and she would have to be ready in case of a medical emergency, her EVA suit was nearby as were three medical kits that were strapped together waiting to be picked up at a moment’s notice. - Opal was still able to pick up whenever they used one of those grenades Greta and Gilda made thanks to the odd signature the explosions always gave off. So far they had used quite a few grenades but not nearly enough to be worrying yet. Everyone had practically used at least one grenade each thus far just by the number of explosions she detected. Also the distance between the last few explosions meant that they must have been separated somehow; at least it hadn’t gotten bad enough for Chrysalis to use her rocket launcher. Who knows what she would have detected when one of those rockets went off. “Trapeze, Bernard, Rover and Coriander, is everything good where you are all at currently?” Opal was checking in with medical and it seemed Sassy was awake once more, the mare would be out in time for when they got to the asteroid field's pit stop. “We can’t complain, though I hope things are going alright on the station. Guess I’ll have to put on a show some other time, this just gives us more time to prepare our act anyway.” Currently Trapeze was spinning a hula hoop around her barrel and it led to the silent question as to what trick that would have been a part of. Trapeze was trying to not think of all the people dying on the station at this time and wanted to think of more positively, even then she still asked about it. “Do you think Rarity or the others in there need our help?” “I don’t know, but I hope they don’t.” Shaking her digital avatar’s head Opal turned to Coriander and saw him exercising a bit. “If you must know, I am doing alright.” Coriander continued to exercise and looked healthy for a small stallion with a bit of roundness in the gut. “I just worry for my daughter’s safety, I know that she is doing good work and that’s why I can’t fret. She’s just like her mother and I can’t be any prouder of how she’s turned into a beautiful young mare. I just wish she could find a partner, it doesn’t matter who it is as long as they can love her for who she is.” - “This is definitely not what I signed up for, but it’s why I’m here!” Saffron rammed the knife into the creature’s eye in the center of its mass and then got a good grip on her knife with her magic as she bucked the twisted body Screamer off her short blade and over the side of the ramp hoping the fall would take care of it. They were almost to the top layer of Antilur City. She and Rarity were entirely focused on protecting Coco and the dazed Chrysalis. The Dusks weren’t nearly as threatening as that weird scorpion Screamer made from a mass of twisted and contorted flesh and bone that was launching the one scythed wonders at them constantly. “Do you think Lightning and Ember are okay if we’re being hounded this badly?” A massive explosion echoed throughout the city, but it wasn’t on the layer they happened to be on as it seemed to have come from far below. At least they know Ember was still moving from that one explosion and the echoed carried throughout the mostly silent city pretty well. “Well they must be alive, because I doubt any of the Dusks made that noise.” Rarity was in front of them leading them up the ramp and was in the midst of reloading one pistol while she harshly whacked away several skinless ghostly visages in her face. The noiseless things were a threat, but one good blow and they were taken care of making the Screamers the real problem as they were horribly animated flesh and blood monstrosities that were quite aggressive in comparison to the slow tide of Dusks threatening to overwhelm them.“I doubt Ember will go down easily, she even seems to be an expert at this kind of thing.” “Brains, brains, I won’t lie, near the city center we’ll find where it lies~.” Chrysalis was still out of it; her voice was getting better even if her head was rolling lazily over Coco’s back. “If you happen to think that I’m deranged, then it is your minds that I’ll just have to change~!” “That didn’t sound like a romance song and it was rather specific… didn’t she say that the infestation doesn’t have a heart, but a brain?” Coco having to deal with Chrysalis’s larger form wasn’t having any problem carrying the weight, but she was having a problem getting Chrysalis into a good position so that she could use her as a flail. The Changeling Queen wasn’t in her right mind yet, but she sounded to be somewhat conscious of her surroundings. “So should we head towards the center of the city to find the brain once we reach the top layer?” Saffron asked as she slashed apart an entire row of pony Dusks lurching up the spiral ramp between city layers behind them. “Cause it’s alright, let’s get it done, because I want us to get back to where we started from~!” Chrysalis sang out and the three mares fighting for their lives understood that one at least. Apparently she was not entirely out of her mind and was trying to get it back in order. “Love is sweet, love can heal me strong, but we need to work together to get back to where we started from~!” “Okay, so Chrysalis is not entirely out of her head. I guess we should listen to her when she sings something that sounds useful.” Coco hefted Chrysalis and swung her rear legs out smashing away one of those scythe things, being afraid of them now wasn’t going to help in their survival and while they were dangerous they have yet to get a good solid hit on anyone because they were always swiftly dealt with when they showed up. As the top of the ramp came into view, something strange was afoot about it as the small trickle of Screamers stopped coming from in front of them once they reached the mostly silent city’s top layer. Behind them was a different story as they heard the scorpion Screamer from below let off another bone chilling scream, it didn’t sound like it was about to let them off the hook that easily. The top city layer had a lot of administrative buildings and they didn’t see anything unusual in the lights from the tall buildings around them, just a lot of empty buildings of glass and mortar as they set out heading towards the center of the city after making a right turn from the ramp. They set off down the street still being attacked by Dusks which were becoming more of a constant nuisance than a real danger like the Screamers presented. “I think it best we keep moving things along quickly darlings, because I do not want to be caught between that Screamer and the cause of this mess if I can help it. Also I’m running quite dangerously low on ammunition.” Rarity had taken the lead since they started up the ramp to the top layer of the city, she silently fretted about the kind of danger Ember was running into with Lightning. Speaking of Lightning, she sounded horrible the last she heard from her. “As such we don’t necessarily have the time for Chrysalis to get some rest; hopefully she’ll be capable of operating her rocket launcher by the time we find what we’re looking for. Though I have no clue what it will look like.” “Speaking of not being able to rest, I hope Ember and Lightning are having a better time than we are.” Saffron lashed out with two knives telekinetically dispatching the Dusks that finished forming behind them and several others that had followed them up the ramp and down the streets littered with crashed vehicles, dancing shadows and hidden threats. “I don’t think this infestation is going to let up on us now until we outright kill the damn thing.” - “You know it’s quite hard to fight when I have to carry you at the same time right?” Ember lashed out with her tail rendering several Dusks into clouds of immaterial matter, she brought her claws around raking them through more in her way. “Shouldn’t we be trying to…. catch up with the others?” Lightning’s ribs were on fire from all the movement, but it was necessary as Ember was fighting for both their lives as she ran. “No, what we should be trying to do is get you out of here. You obviously need medical help and that’s why I’m rerouting us to the nearest airlock for an extraction pickup.” Ember was already in one of the corridors heading towards the outer edges of the station itself for this very reason; the idea wasn’t without its share of problems. Ember was stuck fighting with one hand free and upon exiting the city she quickly alerted Opal to their position as she started kicking her way through a wave of Dusks of all shapes, sizes and even species. “I hope you’ll be where I need to you to be Opal, Lightning needs a medical help and then I’m right back in the thick of it to go help Rarity and the others.” “Vera is preparing and will be on standby to load Lightning into a medical bed.” Opal was immediately on top of the situation and moving Shining Jewel into position to pick up Ember and Lightning. “We’ll be there when you get there. How are things looking in there by the way?” “Like something crawled out of hell and up another thing from hells ass, said hellish beast with another one up its ass came to this station and really started some amazingly bad crap that most people wouldn’t believe is happening here. To think this is all because of a single entity!” Ember stopped to rip the arm off a twisted body Screamer and she lashed out with it slicing into the screamer with its own limb. The Screamer in her way died when Ember stomped down on it as she ran over its injured fallen body. Ember reached up to Lightning’s belt and liberated a grenade from it which she swiftly tossed over her shoulder after flicking the pin out with her thumb. The following explosion almost caught up with her as it was more dangerous when in a confined space such as these corridors; she was now running full tilt and trying to watch out for any ambushes as she moved. “Rarity and the rest of her group should be closing in on the brains behind this mess, though the last I heard from them Chrysalis has some kind of concussion that’s making her act weird and they need all the help they can get. Get ready to pick me up because I’m almost at the airlock.” “We’re already moving into position and Vera is waiting with a medical bed. Do you need any other people on the crew to go back in there with you Ember?” While Opal was asking this, Ember carefully laid Lightning down inside the Airlock that was being readied to be cycled open to space and she pulled her rifle off her back. She fire on the several Screamers and Dusks trying to get into the airlock with them before the door slammed closed and the air started to safely drain out of it. “No, I’m sure it’ll be quicker to meet up with them if I go in there by myself. I’m going to take three minutes to reload, breathe and get ready to go after the infestation if Rarity’s team can’t deal with it before I get there. From what we’ve gathered it’s swallowed the whole city and its brain is in the top layer of it, lost communication with them when I chose to leave the city for Lightning’s sake.” Ember stepped out of the airlock and kicked off towards the waiting ship which had its lights on her; she activated her impulse saddle and flew towards the ship with a gasping Lightning Dust over her shoulder. “Lightning I’m going to take your remaining grenades if you don’t mind.” “I don’t… mind… take… what you need… if you think it’ll help.” Lightning sounded horrible, her voice was beyond a level of rasping that Ember felt comfortable with and why she decided to evacuate the mare. There was a bit of a distorted like noise to her voice that sounded like there was phlegm in her throat and when she started coughing, it sounded like she literally started coughing up one of her lungs which was bad. “Yeah that sounds really bad, turning on atmospheric barrier now, opening left hand section three door of the hangar. Bring her in Ember, we need her to get medical help like yesterday.” Opal watched Ember get to the point outside the atmospheric barrier where she magnetized herself to the floor the door made and she stepped through into the hangar to see Vera, Greta and Gilda already waiting to take Lightning off of her claws. They quickly got Lightning’s helmet off of her and they saw the insides of the helmet slightly covered in small flecks of blood after it retracted away from her face; they immediately got her out of the EVA suit so that they could strap her in to the medical bed. “We’ve can take her from here Ember, where do you need me to move the ship? I can get you to any airlock you need.” “Hold on a second, give me a moment to rest.” Ember pulled out her boxy rifle and checked it over, filled it up with rocks and checked the fuel for her blaze bayonet feature which allowed her to slice apart almost anything with a concentrated beam of raw fire and heat. She was now carrying Lightning’s grenades and she also attached a knife taken from Lightning to her hip and dropped the hundred pound metal bat on the hangars floor where it made a small dent. She was going to need to move quickly and that particular melee weapon would just slow her down even if it was quite powerful. She looked over her schematics of the station on her HUD and found an airlock that would suit her needs. “I need to go to the airlock I’m highlighting.” “Right, we’re moving right now and I’ll have you there in no time.” The Shining Jewel was already turning and would be in position in the next minute or so as the ship move forward and up, Opal was also monitoring Lightning’s situation at this time when she got a diagnostics of the mares condition. Lightning had three broken ribs and the rest were cracked and all of them had been bent inward, according to Opal’s calculations if Lightning hadn’t been wearing an EVA suit the blow would have outright killed her instead of just bending her ribs inward. Breach Gel kind of padded the blow, but not nearly enough that Lightning could have continued fighting for very long afterwards. “Lightning will live, Vera will monitor her health. Get back in there and make sure that they all come out of this alive… especially mommy.” “I’m not going to let someone as wonderful and breathtaking as Rarity or any of the others in there down. You guys are my friends and I’ll protect my friends with tooth, nail and tail on top of my fiery breath for no charge at all!” Ember made sure she had her stuff in order. With a few more grenades, a knife and a little less weight on her back, she ran out of the atmospheric barrier and kicked off heading back towards the station and angling for the airlock she had in mind. She just hoped she could get back to them in time to make sure nothing went seriously wrong. “We all know I can’t use my breath since breathing is dangerous as it is tantamount to suicide in there, but I can promise you that I’m not coming back alone. If I have to come back alone, then I’m not coming back at all!” “Breathtaking and wonderful she says… now calculating the odds of Rarity flopping with every stallion and Ember’s compatibility with Rarity. Account for the fact that Rarity will need to be at least bisexual to ever have it occur to her… yeah that would take a while, but it’s feasible.” With a little bit of thought on it Opal wouldn’t mind if Ember courted Rarity. Rarity liked her; she was of noble birth, strong and quite compassionate despite her rather violent job choice with the only problem being that she wasn’t male. Four out of five wasn’t bad, all Rarity needed was to be slowly weaned off of the idea of having a stallion. There were other ways to have children and ponies did kind of have fun block genetics that allowed for some really odd interspecies relationships. So a pregnancy wasn’t impossible as technology has come far enough that even pregnancy between two males wasn’t uncommon. Still some species were incompatible no matter how you splice them, but dragons weren’t among those that were incompatible with ponies and she digitally created what a child of Rarity and Ember would look like. It would definitely make for some adorable little sisters, Kirin’s existed but they certainly weren’t very common outside of Neighpon. Maybe Opal could discretely contact Chrysalis’s clan that lived in that area to learn more about such a union, they were called the Jerk clan right? Speaking of Changeling clans, Opal wondered if Chrysalis had any relation to the Chineighs Changeling clans of Hung and Wang. She didn’t want to assume and would later ask Chrysalis about it if in detail if it wasn’t a touchy subject and provided she survived the current crisis. Chrysalis was currently calculated as being able to survive this current situation with a ninety nine point nine percent certainty that she wouldn’t be permanently injured, an odd calculation to be sure. Not that it was entirely inaccurate given that Celestia, Luna and many others have had a lot of problems with outright killing Chrysalis. - “I’m still not seeing this thing Rarity, is it supposed to be really big or really small? What color is it even supposed to be?!” They were still heading towards the center of the top layer of Antilur City and Coco was freaking out because the giant fleshy scorpion with hundreds of limbs poking out of its back was now trying to chase them down and bite them with its cow mouth claws. None of the buildings were going to get in the way of the creature and it was thoroughly locked on all four of them. Chrysalis lifted her head shakily and smacked her lips a bit as she tried to stand up, behind them Rarity and Saffron were throwing grenades at the scorpion monster. All the grenades were doing was the following: pissing it off, lighting it on fire and making it angry as heck because the fire didn’t seem to be doing much to the wildly waving limbs on its back as it screeched that particular deafening scream. “I myself have a notion, hope you understand~. Set the world in motion, the eyes are where the brain sits in its land~. Maybe you’ll discover what you should have known all along, one way or another we all should stand together strong~.” Yep Chrysalis was still singing, but she seemed to focusing and looking in a specific direction and actually sounded pretty good this time. Coco didn’t seem to catch what she was looking and then it seemed to click when she sang her next few lines. They probably would want to hear the unedited version of this later and Chrysalis decided to keep it in mind when she wanted the ponies to do a silly song and dance they tended to do. Her head wasn’t exactly in the game, but it wasn’t entirely out of it either. “If we listen to my each other for a start, we’ll soon find that we’re not so far from its heart~. And maybe love is the reason why, for the first time ever we should see this eye to eye~!” Chrysalis looked into Coco’s eyes and then jerked her head in a given direction and started looking that way with a bit of urgency without looking back at Coco. Chrysalis wanted her to follow the direction she was looking in and Coco, having now picked up on that, immediately set out that way. Rarity and Saffron were busy trying to disengage with big, mean, scary, disgusting, and ugly. If they could smell it, rotting and stinky likely would be some other things to define the creature that seemed to be immune to the roiling flames that covered its body that weren’t dealing with it nearly fast enough for it to stop being a really bad problem anytime soon. It far more dangerous and lethal than it previously had been to be near and the heat from the burning mass of horror was beginning to overcome the EVA suits ability to handle by proximity alone. At least the one good thing about the creature was that it was slow enough, relatively, that three ponies could halfway outrun the damn zombie thing that just wouldn’t stop until it killed them on their adrenaline alone. Being bigger than the Caravel Boutique, cars and other obstacles weren’t slowing it down and Rarity’s group had to make turns because once it got some momentum it got a whole lot faster. Thankfully the monster was very slow when it came to turning as they darted down a different street and then into an alleyway for a different street when it followed them. Extra grenades didn’t seem to have any effect on the large monster cobbled together out of corpses and energy stolen from the entire colony, but it did seem to become incapable of creating those one armed Screamers since it was now entirely focused on chasing them down. It was trying to snap them up in its claws, crush them with its flaming trunk or just stab them with the roasting turkey styled griffon stinger. Its only support seemed to be the Dusks that were making an attempt to block the path off in the very direction Chrysalis was looking in. The scorpion Screamer ripped through a building behind them and continued to give chase roaring as it waved its flaming toothy hamburgers for claws at them. They had to be getting closer to the brain, why else would this thing be as relentless as it is? - Ember was meeting less resistance on the way in, which meant that Rarity’s group had to be in the most danger at the moment. Either that or they killed the brain. She wasn’t about to stop running, because she had to be sure that thing was dead. Her friends were in danger and she would be the prescribed medicine to kill the infection if it hurt any them! “Get the hell out of my way!” Ember caught and lifted the one sole scythe wielding Screamer that had lunged at her and ripped it in half with her claws. She threw both halves’ of it down on the floor and continued what was one constant motion; she was on a war path and moving way too fast for any Screamer or Dusk to keep up with. Anger was a very good driving force, righteous fury for all the dead space colonists was even better than that. Turning to left at the next junction, she saw the door to the top layer in the city and pulled her rifle off her back while running at it full tilt with madness in her eyes. No time to stop and try to open it the nice way, she’d pay to have it repaired later. Her rifle held in both hands, it lit up with a blade made of white hot flames and she managed to swing it twice before she hit the door and went clean through it like it was made of butter, this heavily damaged her EVA suit in the process and would probably make Rarity complain later when she had to fix it. Only this didn’t matter to Ember. The flaming blade of the gun disappeared as Ember ran towards the closest bridge. She could see the smoke rising in the distance that seemed to be moving and quite fast at that. Ember had to protect those that were important enough to be a part of her hoard now that she was acknowledging them as such. There were two kinds of hoarding instincts in dragons, the most common being a slow build up of greed and wealth or simply things of vast luxury. Luxury obviously wasn’t Ember’s thing, since her hoarding instincts were based on something a little bit different and it was one of the things her mother taught her well, as she certainly understood her mother’s reasoning now. So it was certainly understandable that it inflamed Ember’s rage to an incredible degree that anything would dare to threaten her precious hoard. You don’t mess with a dragon’s hoard, especially not one built entirely out of love and compassion which made things seem all the more meaningful then the useless baubles and trinkets dragons usually focused on. -64-Opening a crashed car's left hand door Rarity leapt through as the right crushing cow claw clamped down on it and ripped apart the left half of the car. The scorpion Screamer’s claw spat the wad of metal and upholstery out onto the street and glanced at it. The flaming monstrosity turned back to the car to see the right hand door slam open into a pony Dusk’s face and Rarity jumped out to gallop for it past the resulting dust cloud. The creature gave off what was becoming a rather infamously scary roar that would haunt Rarity’s nightmares for quite a while and continued to give chase. “For once in my life I think being generous is going to literally bite me in the flank.” Rarity had slowed down and thrown another grenade at the Screamer, which is why she was currently alone and with the Screamer right on top of her. She assured her friends that she had plenty of stamina left… that couldn’t have been further from the truth. She was running on fumes and needed a break from using her magic as her horn was beginning to burn and she didn’t want a blow out, especially not now of all times when imminent death was everywhere. The left claw swept forward the toothy mouth open wide and aimed for Rarity. The pony leapt forward into a roll underneath and through several lunging Dusks, she was immediately up and galloping with her breath being far shorter than it previously was at that near miss. Her voice got very shrill and she had reason to be as that had narrowly missed the tail compression pouch of her suit. “Or maybe my entire body if I’m not careful!” She had been pistol whipping Dusks out of her way in the nonstop onslaught as they surged all around her trying to cut her off and possibly pin her down. She couldn’t afford to expend ammo on anything other than the small Screamers and she was running dangerously low. She preferred her energy pistols because it was rather hard to run out of shots for them, material weapons were slightly different and even if they were useful here, her preference would always be the energy pistols. Rarity was tired, her body was battered and she was slowing down, barely able to stay ahead of the slowing mass of cobbled together flesh that was not burning away quickly enough. Rarity’s only hope was to outlast the damn thing. At least to the point that the fire would eventually wear it down so that it could no longer threaten her, of course there were still the Dusks to deal with as they had been forming almost endlessly since Chrysalis slammed the door to her hive mind in the infestations face. Rolling to the side Rarity saw the haunting face of the dead griffon put a hole in the street with its beak, when the tail pulled back she saw a strange sickly purple goop and didn’t need to be told twice to keep going. She did not want to know what that stuff would do to her, but if it was any indication as to what the claws did, then she’d become a Screamer herself if she was struck with the Screamer’s stinger. Rarity was barely staying ahead of the scorpion styled Screamer when a scythe lashed out and ripped into Rarity’s side catching her off guard, she hadn’t seen it coming and the street was splattered in breach gel and blood. - “I hope Rarity knows what she’s doing.” Saffron slashed through several Dusks, sending her knifes out in two wide circular arcs while running full tilt with Coco away from the distracted scorpion shaped Screamer. “Concussion… is almost gone. Also… nobody ambushes a Changeling…” Chrysalis happily intoned, Coco stopped dragging her and she slowly started to stand on her own four hooves. Whipping around her material rifle in her magic, she gunned down a stealthy twisted body Screamer missing ten out of the eighteen shots fired. It fell off the wall of the nearby building and splattered on the ground. Ignoring the sickening splattering sound it made, Chrysalis stumbled a bit when she tried to walk and started a slow trot in the right direction around a street corner. “Nobody… it’s just a bad migraine now and at least I’m not singing anymore, with a slight problem to my aim. Those grenades pack quite a wallop, come on then, we can’t stand around gawking at each other. Do you want to live forever? I know I do, I’m not dying a virgin queen damn it!” Coco and Saffron nodded to one another and followed Chrysalis to protect her, she knew where the source of the infestation was and it was good to see that she was finally back on her hooves. “Wait a minute, where’s Rarity?” It took Chrysalis long enough to notice that Rarity was gone. She also noticed that the flaming demonic looking wall of flesh wasn’t currently breathing down their necks. She had been out of it a few minutes ago, so she couldn’t be blamed for missing the fact that Rarity was no longer among them. “She’s hopefully not too tired…” The noise Coco made could sound between upset whine and distraught hopelessness at the thought of losing what was one of her best friends. It was bad enough that they almost lost Sassy back on Equus and now Rarity their leader, the boss lady, the beloved belle of a baroness was definitely left in dire straits with facing that thing alone. “She led that thing off on her own?! Is she… no, don’t answer what I was about to ask. Of course she would, the altruistic jerk. I’m supposed to be the meat shield here, where does she get off doing my job!” Shaking her head Chrysalis narrowed her eyes and continued forwards, she led them down several streets and alleyways while gunning down every single small Screamer that came at them. She just bashed the Dusks when they got close. At one point she exited an alleyway and stopped, she didn’t stop fighting she just stopped to take in the sight in the distance. She point her right hoof and then kicked out with her rear left catching a lunging griffon Dusk in the jaw without looking to see what she had hit. “That would be where it is… again nobody.” The light could hardly penetrate the darkness of the city, but they all looked towards the building that Chrysalis pointed out and saw strange fleshy tendrils poking out from the base of the building and several stretched a good distance into the ceiling of the station out of the top of the building. The fleshy bits looked like strings of solid grey matter, the stuff that went between the ears of any intelligent being. Chrysalis probably hadn’t been lying when she said it was all brain and no heart. “When you said the thing had a brain, I didn’t think you meant it was literally a giant brain and I’m just taking that as an educated guess from what I’m seeing here. So it was in a stadium this whole time, why is there a stadium in the administrative district?” The large cylindrical building was probably a Zero Gravity Hoof Ball stadium, Saffron knew the rules of regular Hoof Ball requiring a team of at least a Pegasus Pony, Earth Pony and Unicorn Pony all working together. The fact that the stadium was more vertical than wide lent to the credence that it was a ZG Hoof Ball stadium, the game itself was something like what humans called space soccer. It took a moment, but Saffron realized the importance of the main source of the infestation being in the stadium. “The stadium has a gravity generator, if the infestation is here it’s probably been feeding on the stadiums generator if it’s active. You did say it reacted to Rarity’s Pinpoint Puller when she used it, so there must be a similar effect to that near it with the counter gravity the stadium would be creating.” “Well let’s go break this things spine then, my rocket launcher needs to make happy exploding noises.” Chrysalis took a step towards the stadium and stopped with her eyes narrowed. “Well isn’t that just great? I don’t think I have quite enough ammunition for this.” There were at least forty one armed, twisted body, scythe Screamers crawling out of the stadium from various entrances, from windows, doors and along the brain like tentacles poking out from the stadium. Coco pulled a grenade and hefted it; they looked towards her and nodded. They still had a few grenades left and would have to use them sparingly and to great effect. Nobody would ever say that Gilda and Greta didn’t make enough explosives. They all waited for the small one armed Screamers to group up and get closer before Coco let the grenade fly. It took out at least thirty of the things that were coming at them with one blast. Chrysalis followed up with a wobbly launched grenade picking off the stragglers and then they made for the entrance while avoiding the tendrils poking out of the building. They were on the lookout for anything and everything, every shadow was a threat now that they were closing in on the infestation. - Rarity pulled the material pistol towards her, she lifted it and fired two rounds; she was trying to fire at least four only to find out that the pistol was completely empty. She really needed to stop the scythe wielding Screamer bearing down on her. She had just shot out the reanimated flesh monsters eye and damaged it shoulder hardly slowing it down. She watched as it stumbled forward and then dug its scythe into one of the nearby walls by wildly swinging its limb around and it was stuck. The flaming scorpion Screamer started shoving away large portions of the two buildings off to the side as it did. It was determined to get at her in the alleyway and tried to grab her with its creepy looking elephant styled tentacle which Rarity managed to crab crawl away from. Rarity checked her side and saw that the breach gel had finally sealed her compromised suit off; she slowly got up and staggered away as fast as she could into the street while opening up both the material pistols. She only had enough ammo for one last reload for both the pistols, at least she had grenades to spare for all the usefulness they had against the hellish arachnid that had taken all the previous explosions quite well. This was much to the detriment of Rarity’s continued survival. Several Dusks formed in front of Rarity and she quickly spun about and started to buck them away while she hastily loaded her pistols when she got a breather. She quickly put the pistols away and stopped channeling magic to her horn so that it could cool down. The right cow claw ripped away the building behind her as the giant monster seemed to be struggling to get between the buildings to keep following Rarity. It was destroying rooms, furniture and all kinds of other various items as it slowly made a bigger hole for itself. “Oh there’s an idea~! Is everyone doing alright?” Rarity called out as she pulled out a grenade with a hoof and looked at the base of the building and the surrounding destruction the deranged scorpion was causing in plowing a hole between the two buildings. She used her other hoof to pull the pin and lobbed it, not at the scorpion, but the corner of one of the buildings it was currently ripping through. “I’m wounded, but I’m not down yet.” “Rarity, where are you?” The sound of Ember’s urgent voice cut off when the grenade explosion caused the upper damaged portions of both buildings to come toppling inwards onto the demented looking scorpion, Rarity’s eye for detail had been particularly useful in spotting structural weaknesses to use to her advantage. She had hopefully crushed the thing into being incapable of being dangerous anymore. “Yeah, I saw that, I’m on my way Rarity!” “The main source of the infestation is located in a nearby stadium Ember. If you can get Rarity and regroup with us quickly, that would be just great. We’re getting closer to it and it’s getting more dangerous as we do.” There was a squeak of fear and Coco’s voice was whimpering. “We have visual contact of the infestation and it’s really, really big. Oh and that bladed octopus things you mention once, yeah I can see why you were constantly alert now during those three days as I can see what you described right now.” “It’s taking up most of the stadium and it’s a giant freaking brain… doesn’t look like it can move very, oh crap its creating tentacles!” There was a thudding noise from Saffron’s communication line. “Yeah the brain isn’t exactly defenseless even if it is apparently immobile; Chrysalis this is what you’ve been saving those rocket launcher rounds for. Now would be a good time to use them!” “Are those three ponies fused together with… are those worms for eyes? Wish I had a girlfriend that can spew deadly acid out of her eye sockets like that.” Apparently Chrysalis’s group was running into a whole lot of trouble. “Is it me or does the long shaft like bits motif seem kind of a like a thing, also it looks kind of cute for something that’s trying to spew its guts all over me.” “Shut up about your ridiculous fixations Chrysalis and do something!” A rather hysterical sounding Coco shouted. What followed were two explosions back to back. Coco’s whimpering continued. “Please tell me we have enough grenades between us?” Something shifted behind Rarity and she saw a cow shaped claw dig itself out the mess that Rarity collapsed on top of it. The monster was no longer on fire thanks to the falling debris and sadly it was apparently still capable of moving. She also saw something else running towards her as she made to move away from the Screamer slowly digging itself out of the rubble, while smacking away any Dusks coming at her with her bare hooves in a manner that said she definitely wasn’t trained to fight in a melee or brawl or even at all. It was a good thing Dusks weren’t capable of holding themselves together very well. Rarity was mentally wondering, what in the world would it finally take to put that particular Screamer down? They’ve squashed it, shot it, blown it up and set it on fire and it’s still getting up. Flesh forged zombies weren’t supposed to be this resilient! “Are you okay Rarity?” Taking a moment to nervously look at the shifting rubble, Ember turned her attention back to Rarity after having cleared away the Dusks surrounding her by bludgeoning them with her rifle. The surrounding area was now oddly empty of Dusks and they seemed to have stopped forming when previously their numbers seemed endless. “I’m mostly okay, I have a deep gash in my right side and I was stabbed at least once just as deeply in the same area, I don’t think anything vital was hit. The injury has thankfully been sealed off by the breach gel. I however am completely tired as it were and can’t do much more running in my bruised and battered condition, my injury has taken all the winds out of my sails and I’m on my last load of ammunition unless you can spare me a rock pouch… what happened to your suit darling?” At least Rarity knew she wasn’t going to die now and her voice grew deadly calm as she had noticed that Ember’s once fabulous EVA suit was quite damaged now. Her anger was quickly silenced when a pouch full of rocks found its way into Rarity’s possession almost immediately without question from Ember. “I swear this is not something a lady of my delicate stature should really be going through; though I did generously volunteer my services and aid so I shouldn’t complain really. How in the hell do you do this as a job Ember? I mean that rhetorically, because the answer is obviously you do it very well, even though I do have to wonder how you manage stay sane or coherent through stuff like this! Wait, where’s Lightning? Don’t tell me…” “Let’s worry about the damage to my suit and my sanity later; we have to catch up with the others. I evacuated Lightning from the station for medical reasons. She’ll live; don’t know about the rest of us though.” Ember crouched down and carefully scooped up a wincing Rarity before she set off for the stadium. She cradled Rarity in her right arm and looked over her shoulder to toss a grenade at the slowly rising scorpion monster with her left claw. The blast knocked it back down, but that wouldn’t stall it forever. “That won’t stop it for long, if at all. Now we need to go protect everything else that is mine.” “What do you mean by protect everything else that is yours darling, did you lose something?” A confused Rarity curled up against Ember’s arm as she was carried away from the creature that was once again set on fire, speaking of fire her side felt like it was burning and would be another medical bed trip after things were done with. It felt nice and cozy being able to relax and catch her breath, as well as gain some strength to continue fighting, which admittedly she wasn’t very good at without a weapon. Ember was quite a courageous and strong individual for someone who had a rather dubious history, carrying her like this was rather chivalrous of the dragon, but she felt slightly awkward about it. “Remind me later to thank you for allowing me to catch my breath with some free clothing or at least a fresh EVA suit.” “Don’t worry about it Rarity… it’s not that important right now.” It was the truth because Ember had other things to worry about; even if she could tell her cheeks were heating up at claiming Rarity as being hers like that. It certainly wasn’t a blast of fire building up in her throat. She shook her head and focused on keeping an eye on her surroundings. At least everything visibly within the light expanding out in a wide cone from her helmet anyway, alongside her peripheral vision taking in the shadows for anything that so much as twitched in her general direction. It didn’t take Ember long to reach the outside of the stadium building and cover Rarity as an explosion rocked the building, a mutilated body fell before the two and it looked vaguely like an octopus. There was also a loud and quite horrifying alien screeching echoing throughout not just the city, but all of Antilur Station accompanying the explosion and it caused both Rarity and Ember to clutch at their heads in pain. Nobody in the station would have been able to miss hearing that noise. “How are things going in there?” Yelled Rarity who began a slow trot towards the building and giving the bladed tentacle thing a wide berth, with Ember following and readying her rifle. “Well the good news is that we got the stadium lights turned on and Chrysalis has just managed to hit the brain once.” There was a subtle tone in Coco’s voice that said she was in distress. The voice became slightly more strained. “The bad news is, it is creating more Screamers…. and it’s got me, don’t let it take me don’t let it take me!” “Hold on Coco, I’ll be right there!” Announced Saffron as Rarity and Ember ran through the entrance and down a corridor towards the light. The sound of a knife sinking into flesh was heard and it would soon come into view as to what was happening. When Ember and Rarity came out right next to the stands from one of the many entrances around the circle of the stadium, they were in the stadium proper and the entire place was, surprisingly enough, brightly lit. Looking towards the center of the air in the stadium they saw a massive brain that had a large chunk missing from it, there were a lot of small tendrils acting as anchors keeping it in the center of the stadium. The tentacles were different and far larger, like the one growing from the brain that was tightly wrapped around a struggling Coco and slowly squeezing the life out of her while retracting itself back into the brain, nobody wanted to know what would happen if it succeeded in pulling her into that ugly fleshy mass with the flickering bolts of energy jumping between the wrinkles. Death would probably be the best outcome for Coco, because it seemed like it wanted to do something even worse to her. There were several tentacles slapping at the one Coco was trapped in, on top of said tentacle was Saffron, busy trying to sever the tentacle by hacking away at it with one knife and she was holding tightly onto the other jammed deeply into the brain tentacle. She changed positions using the knives as if she were climbing a mountain with them to avoid the tentacles trying to swipe at her. Chrysalis was running away from several Screamers while attempting to load her rocket launcher on the far side of the stadium, she was also busy unloading her material rifle into them as necessary. There were thankfully not any Dusks around and that was oddly comforting to know that they weren’t present even if the Screamers were. “Ember go help Chrysalis, I’ll go help Saffron and Coco.” Rarity didn’t notice Ember’s attempt at a protest because of her injuries. She was already running for the edge of the rail that overlooked the field below and above. She stopped and wondered how Saffron could have possibly gotten up to the tentacle that was retracting towards the brain and then figured it out. She jumped on to the railing and kicked off towards the tentacle and flew straight at it, apparently defying gravity in doing so. The zero gravity field of the stadium was currently active as previously surmised by Saffron; in the case of a match there would be an energy barrier that was called a safety guard to prevent players from flying out of the zero gravity environment. In fact the safety guard was part of the playing field itself and players bounced off it all the time. The cylinder the playing field took place in had no gravity currently and no safety guard, so if they fell out of the gravity field at the wrong place they’d take a nasty fall to the floor when gravity reasserts itself, if the fall didn’t kill them then they’d at least be seriously injured. Rarity saw a tentacle coming for her and pulled out her last grenade and tossed it towards the base of the tentacle and into the brain itself. The resulting explosion kept her from being grabbed, but it slowed her momentum a bit as she continued on a collision course for Coco and Saffron. The monster screamed loudly and again it caused some mild discomfort in everyone’s heads. - Ember wanted to follow Rarity, but she went after Chrysalis by jumping straight across the gravity zone, the brains tentacles were a bit distracted by whatever Rarity was doing judging by the painful scream the large brain gave off. She safely made it clear to the other side. Once she fell down out of zero gravity she ran up the stairs gun blazing, before she came to a stop next to Chrysalis and started taking aim as she splattered more one armed wonders, acid spewing horrors and what looked like a spider shaped octopus with bladed tentacles. She shuddered violently at the sight of the octopus things in memory of the toilet incident; they were quite hideous but not as much as the giant scorpion monster was. “About time I got some decent help around here, though I don’t appreciate the feeling of ownership you’re giving off all of the sudden. Normally I would appreciate it, but there’s just something off in how it feels.” Rolling her eyes Chrysalis slammed the rocket launcher shut and started taking aim at the brain; she crouched down and steadied herself getting ready to pull the trigger. “Cover my poor ass; I need to get a better shot than that poor show I made of the first one. This one will make things a lot easier.” “Already doing that, also what could you possibly hit to make things easier?” Ember blocked a scythe with her rifle lit the second barrel and swung it outwards cutting the twisted torso in half with her blazing bayonet, she leapt forward and started to mow down every Screamer that came at her and stopped to shoot the acid spewing ones with magma rounds. She stuck near Chrysalis who was taking her dear sweet time. “You know you can fire that any day now!” “Why rush perfection? Besides this thing knocks me on my back every time I fire it, this particular model is quite lousy with the recoil, but it can launch a damn good payload.” With a calm flick of her right hoof the rocket flew out of the barrel and the recoil knocked Chrysalis on her back against the stairs with a grunt. “They made this particular model affordable for a reason, also if I’m right a lobotomy will definitely help.” Seconds later the rocket impacted the brain high on a specific part of its frontal lobe and the screech was just as deafening as the last two it made, but the effect of said explosion was far more noticeable. All the Screamers trying to attack Ember and Chrysalis started stumbling around and looked like they lost the ability to move in a straight line and their limbs became a bit floppy. “For you maybe… what exactly did you just hit anyway?” Ember’s job certainly became a whole lot easier, as she started clearing out the stands much more easily with the suddenly neutered Screamers. “It certainly caused an interesting reaction, talk about brain damage.” “Oh you know... I just destroyed a little thing called its motor control cortex… nothing too big or important really. Probably wouldn’t have hit it if I didn’t take my time, those tentacles could have blocked my shot if they weren’t so busy trying to grab Rarity and the others.” Chrysalis was only acting humble, as she waved off Ember’s glance in her direction with a toothy grin. “Give me two more rounds to see what else I really can do and then we’ll try to finish it off with grenades. Incidentally I think I accidentally destroyed the part of the brain that allowed it to generate Dusks with my first shot.” “I have a plan; hold off on firing anymore rockets or throwing grenades!” Rarity’s voice came in loud and clear and Chrysalis started helping Ember clear out the surrounding stands with her material rifle instead, the Changeling Queen looked to the ceiling. “Whatever you say Bossy Lady, if you think you have something then get on it!” Chrysalis’s attention was swiftly drawn away from what she was looking at by the hellfire covered scorpion Screamer busting through the walls of the stadium and it was moving quite erratically. Even then that particular Screamer was still quite dangerous, far more so given it seemed to be having less and less trouble with its ability to move around by the second, while the small Screamers didn’t seem to be getting any better all. “Oh that is some grade A Minotaur crap right there… which is actually pretty tasty come to think of it. Tastes strongly like oranges and cabbage. Anyway we got company down here; let’s see if we can play keep away and keep its attention entirely on us!” - A minute or so ago… “Saffron, Coco, I need you to grab a hold of each other and then me as I pass by!” Rarity levitated out her pistol and fired it three times; one shot went wide hitting a different tentacle. The other two finished severing the damaged tentacle allowing Coco to get free. Saffron grabbed Coco in a one hoofed hug and then in turn had Coco reach out her hoof and hooked it around Rarity’s as Saffron pulled her knife free from the free floating tentacle, the stump of which was now spewing small streams of purple colored floating blood into the air as it wiggled shrinking towards the damaged brain. Rarity’s momentum was carrying them all towards the ceiling and several tentacles stretched out from the brain, pulling her other material pistol out she started firing both of them wildly at the incoming danger. Only to stop when another screech was unleashed and its synaptic sinew started flailing out of control when the second rocket hit it. She was not physically holding the pistols, her direction didn’t change but her momentum slowed down thanks to the added mass of two ponies. This had all three of them going at a relatively safe speed. The tentacles seemed to have a maximum distance to which they could stretch, because Rarity and the others safely made it out of range and to the metallic ceiling where Rarity had them magnetize their suits to it after having grunted in pain as the impact made her side flare up. Taking a few quick glances around, Rarity’s eye for detail started to pick up on a few things and her mind took a keen interest in the nearby immobile tendrils. “I have a plan; hold off on firing any more rockets or throwing grenades!” A calculating look crossed Rarity’s face. They’d need whatever grenades or rockets they had remaining to pull it off. The sordid affair with the aftermath could be worried about afterwards when it becomes pertinent. She would generously aid in that if there was any generosity to be given, because Rarity knew this whole awful affair was just about over if her plan worked out. Author's Note Yookah-Laylee is a fun, but very short and I have little to complain about. I've been busy catching up on other fan fiction I've been tracking and not just the ones on this site either. I would believe Chrysalis to have a weird attraction for equally weird things... is it so wrong that I want someone that can spew acid from their eyes too? I mean as an eye monster that would be a pretty attractive feature to me. Also Ember has outright stated that Rarity was a part of her hoard, if indirectly at that. That's definitely going to come up later as even I don't think Rarity misheard what Ember said, even if Rarity doesn't then Chrysalis certainly will. Maybe some revenge for the lobotomy crack Ember let loose? Also the scorpion Screamer is a determinant terminator, a determinator! It's not done yet. -65-“Chrysalis is right Rarity, we’ve got one hell of a party incoming down here and there’s no cake to be had. Unless you consider being caked in blood to be a party favor, naturally I can’t help but feel bad about shooting at the flesh of the once living. We need to give all the bodies a proper burial after we’re done.” An upset Ember ducked under a wad of poorly aimed acid that might have clipped her, Rarity was upset enough with her already for letting her suit get damaged by ramming bodily through a half melted door. She took aim with her rifle and the rock flew out into the flames of the second barrel to become molten rock that caused the acid spewing conjoined pony monster to die with a squelching noise as its flesh and bones were melted on top of being set on fire. “The acid spewing ones are mostly still lethal to be within twenty feet of, be aware of that if you come down here. The horror scorpion is still getting its bearings and we’re both thankful for that, but it doesn’t seem like it’ll die until the brain does. So shooting it isn’t going to do us too many favors.” “Hey speak for yourself; I’ll have you know shooting things is a very cathartic pastime!” The feelings that Chrysalis got after that, from those she could term loosely as acquaintances so far, was that of multiple eyes rolling and what an odd feeling that was. “I might as well tell you what I have in mind, to give you something to do aside from running around and avoiding that nasty thing. We need to cut those tendrils so that they aren’t anchoring the brain anymore. If you can you take care of the ones down there, it would certainly help a lot.” Rarity turned to Coco and Saffron and the world seemed right side up to her, mostly because they were still in a zero gravity environment and it was going to be a while before they could get out of it. “Coco, Saffron, have either of you been hurt?” “My barrel hurts from being squeezed Rarity, but I’m okay thanks to you and Saffron.” Though it might have been a bit painful, Coco only received a light bruising from the brain tentacle. That or she was tougher than she thought she was, she was still scared and quivering in her suit even if she was brave enough to even be here for this battle. Saffron put a lot of effort into weakening the tentacle and it could have squeezed her harder. “I haven’t been outright injured yet. Your injury looks pretty bad… considering your blood is smeared on the outside of your suit, I’m guessing it was compromised?” All Saffron needed to see was Rarity’s nod and then she turned to the tendrils. “Well that’s just dandy, you actually need medical help and here you are being more worried about us. I still have all my knives, a few grenades and I’ve been pacing myself pretty well throughout this mess; I’m only exhausted and faintly bruised. I swear this is worse than anything I’ve ever come across in my time as a costumed hero; I wouldn’t exactly say I’m super, but I’m good to keep going.” “Give me a minute to sit and breathe, I think I’ve seen my life flash before my eyes a little too much in the last thirty minutes to really be of much help darling.” That she even leapt towards the brain when her friends were in trouble said a lot about Rarity’s character to both Chrysalis and Saffron who haven’t known her for long. They would certainly remember Rarity in a good light, considering her bravery and persistence to put others ahead of her own welfare to a really stupid degree. “I’m just glad you’re alright Coco, you’re an irreplaceable friend and I won’t have you being eaten alive by that horrid brain. Saffron could I borrow a knife?” “I could use a knife too and maybe a long nap after we’re done here. I don’t relish cutting up the tendrils, but if you think it’ll help end things quickly.” As weary as Coco was after seeing so many horrible things, she was here to help and she was going to swallow the bile that rose up in her throat at the thought of cutting into the sinewy strands connecting to the brain. Leaving that thing alive wasn’t safe for any planet or ship to come across; they’d be saving a lot of lives. As long as they still had Chrysalis and Ember, Coco was quite comfortable in believing that they could walk away from this without any permanent injury. The large Screamer was giving Coco some room for doubt as to them remaining in good health; at least she could say Lightning made it out alright. “Okay, here you go. Don’t lose them, clean off any gore that gets on them quickly, keep them sheathed unless you need to use them and then you should probably hold the knife in a tight reverse grip like so.” A short session how to hold a knife ensued and it too Saffron thirty seconds to explain the reason for this particular style of wielding a knife. “Sorry for the crash course, but we really don’t have the time to go into it.” “Yes, because it appears Ember and Crystal are in a bit of a spot down there.” It was an understatement and Rarity knew it, that thing was definitely something to run from. Below them Ember and Chrysalis were on the move outside the zero field with the scorpion hounding them, alongside a bunch of floppy or limp Screamers making haphazard attempts to be somewhat successful at pinning the both of them down. The two weren’t shooting at the monstrosity and were mostly trying to avoid it by running, what they did do was shoot a smaller Screamer every now and then. Rarity’s group watched as Ember fired once at something while running and they saw that she got one of the tendrils, the tendril in question floated away from the point it had been anchored to now ending with burnt stump. Turning away from the action below or from Rarity’s perspective above, she moved towards the closest tendril. Taking her implied prompting, both Coco and Saffron set out for tendrils of their own to take care of. Rarity and the others didn’t have much trouble severing the tendrils; only they didn’t stay severed as they moved back into position and healed, even after Rarity shot one several times. There wasn’t much danger up there, because the brain couldn’t reach them and the Corpse Scorpion was distracted by Ember and Chrysalis. They each looked at the one Ember had shot and it hadn’t healed because it couldn’t thanks to the burning damage Ember’s unusual ammo dealt. In fact Ember was doing better than the rest of them at severing the tendrils and making sure they didn’t grow back. Every permanently dealt with tendril of flesh caused the brain to let off a pained moaning sound, almost like a hungry stomach that echoed throughout the enclosed stadium. “Okay, this is getting us nowhere. I have an idea though!” It seemed as if Coco wasn’t as hopeless sounding as she was before, both Rarity and Saffron turned to her to see what she was doing. Coco swiped a knife through one tendril. With a swift flick of her hoof, she grabbed the cut away portion of the tendril and a burst of electrical energy fried the tendril preventing it from growing back. “Coco, what in the world was that?” Rarity and Saffron made their way over to Coco with curious looks. “Well… I’m the only one wearing an Impulse Saddle with auxiliary battery modification at the moment; I might have made a few modifications to my EVA suit to allow me to use my hooves as defibrillators. I thought it’d be useful to integrate the battery pack into the suit a little bit better. It doesn’t bother the magnetic clamps at all; I made sure of that with Greta and Opal before I made the alterations.” As meek and shy a pony as Coco was, she had put a lot of effort into manufacturing her Battery Impulse Saddle and finding ways to make it useful. “I thought it would be useful for emergency medical reasons and close up defensive measures. I didn’t think it could be used to do other things, maybe I could even power something this way.” “I thought that would attract the brains miasma.” The statement required an explanation and Saffron wanted one. “No the miasma can only get at open sources of energy that it can reach; my suit is a closed circuit and I’m only going to use the feature in small bursts to make sure of it.” At this point Coco could easily think she had proved herself a lot more useful than she previously was. They were having problems with cutting the tendrils up here and having the ability to prevent them from growing back was useful. “Well that’s rather brilliant of you Coco dear. Saffron I want you to assist Coco in dealing with these other Tendrils and once we’re done then we can begin phase two of my plan.” After that things became far easier, Rarity was behind them as a lookout and making sure the brain wasn’t doing anything unusual. She was on the lookout for an attack, while Coco and Saffron worked together to sever the tendrils permanently. “How are things going down there Ember?” “I only need to shoot a few more tendrils and I’ve finally dealt some permanent damage to the scorpion thing. Are you okay Chrysalis? You took a nasty hit there.” Rarity looked up at the two moving in the bleachers and Chrysalis looked like she was limping, apparently she had taken a blow in the last few minutes they’ve been dealing with tendrils. “I’m fine, I’ve had far worse than a sprained leg and a concussion I’m aggravating by moving around like I am.” In comparison to Chrysalis, the scorpion chasing them was worse off as it was missing its left cow shaped claw, the entire thing was unbalanced and having problems moving straight towards the two. “I’m mentally bypassing my concussion. That doesn’t mean I no longer have one, it just means I’m putting off the effects of it until later. I haven’t been shooting much, because personally my aim is shot unless I focus hard enough on something. That’ll be a continuing problem until I heal and I’ve been mostly doing close up spray and pray maneuvers, we’re just about done with the tendrils down here.” “Get your rocket launcher ready then Chrysalis. Coco and Saffron are almost finished up here and then we can finish this thing off. Ember, we could use those grenades up here for what I have in mind.” If Rarity’s plan was to succeed then they need to hit it with as many grenades at once as possible. Ember put all of the grenades she had on her together in a bundle and tossed them up towards Rarity on the ceiling past the mostly free floating brain. Rarity had to gallop a good thirty feet to catch them, but she manage to get them and smiled. “Right, when you can get a moment, try to get away from the scorpion so that you can be ready to take the shots.” “Ra… ty… rity…re… right… in… ere… me... respo…. Rarity, are you alright in there, can you hear me? Please respond.” Hearing Opal’s voice was unusual, but not something that was an unwelcome in this occasion. Her voice had been filled with static at first, but now it was clearing up as Coco and Saffron tore another tendril apart. “Opal, we’re doing fine, but I need you tell me something.” Rarity figured that she had some time to talk, Ember and Chrysalis were busy trying to put some distance between them and Mr. Skull Legs whose form was deteriorating quite badly now due in part to how long it had been on fire for. All the limbs poking out of its back had long burnt away and Rarity was thankful for the helmet she was currently wearing as she didn’t want to know what burnt meat smelled like. “What are the energy readings like? Are you getting anything odd on Shining Jewel’s scanners?” “Oh thank goodness you’re alright! About the energy readings, they are currently rising out of control and if they aren’t stopped soon the station might go into meltdown… what have you been doing in there? I’m also starting to pick up thousands of life signs along the walls of the station… that’s a bit weird.” This information Opal was spouting was both good and bad to Rarity. Good because it meant they were killing the brain and cutting it off from its food source, bad because doing so is causing the stations power to start building up to critical levels. “Whatever it is your dealing with; take care of it in the next five minutes and then contact me because I need to get into the stations systems to safely stop this burgeoning crisis.” “I can assure you Opal, we are almost done with killing the cause of the infestation and we’re in the process of weakening it for the final blow.” It occurred to Rarity to ask a pertinent question. “Are those thousands of life signs moving?” “No they are currently stuck where they are.” The tone of Opal’s voice became rather somber. “There are at least forty thousand life signs… that would mean at least sixty five thousand people have died here.” “Then you’re going to need to act fast when you jump into Antilur’s systems to save all the ones that we can still help my darling little Opal.” The last of the tendrils were just about shredded and Rarity would have to divert herself back to the task at hoof when that came to pass. “All the captured people that are alive are being held against the walls, the dead ones have sadly had their bodies turned into monstrosities that have been attacking us throughout the station. We’ve had a really bad time with one in particular. Look that’s not important, when we’ve finally killed the thing, those forty thousand survivors are going to fall. I need you to turn off all the gravity throughout the station and run damage control when we kill the problem, do you understand me young lady?” “I’m hearing you loud and clear mommy, I’m ready when you give the signal or the strange energy readings cease to exist.” From Opal’s perspective the brain gave off some really odd energy readings and that was where all five active EVA suits were. “Either way I’m going to take that as the sign to really get a move on it.” “The tendrils are gone now what?” Asked Coco who was looking to Rarity with Saffron, before looking to the brain in the middle of the anti gravity field that was starting to rotate listlessly in the gravity field. “Chrysalis can you hit the brain between a seventy to eight five degree angle from below in any given direction, Ember I want you to make sure Chrysalis has enough time to set up her shot.” Keeping the levitating the bundle of grenades close, Rarity watched as Chrysalis found a position while Ember was stalling the scorpion Screamer that wouldn’t stop moving, the thing wasn’t having much luck stabbing the dragon with one if its legs much less grabbing her with its toothy claw. Once she saw Chrysalis setting up her rocket launcher, she began to move in the direction that Chrysalis was in along the ceiling. “Saffron, Coco, you're with me and we’ll be waiting in the right position after Chrysalis fires her shot.” “Just a few more seconds, the recoil is the only thing wrong with this weapon and I already have a bad enough headache as it is.” From her position Chrysalis was shouldering the rocket launcher and carefully positioning it at the bottom of the stairs near one of the entrances into the stadium, the angle was a bit hard for her to get considering she was being asked to aim almost straight up. Not to mention the weight of the rocket launcher was beginning to get to her. “You are one big bad belligerent bastard of a brain. So in the immortal words of the Changeling race, what is love? It certainly won’t hurt you no more. I especially enjoy what is Likely Overkill Violently Enacted!” With a pull of the trigger, Chrysalis was knocked flat onto back and she lost grip on the rocket launcher which went spinning into the air and landed on top of the maniacally laughing queen causing her to grunt slightly. The rocket hit the top of the brain as it was upside down in its rotation and the explosion sent the brain flying straight towards the ceiling due to the lack of gravity. The screeching brain could be heard throughout the station and the scorpion Screamer faltered in its movements allowing Ember to jump onto it and stab down into what passed for its skull with the blaze bayonet. Ember had already cut off its elephant like feature a while ago, as such she dragged the blazing rifle along the badly burnt monsters back. She seared a path of destruction into it and upon reaching the monsters backside she eventually swept the blaze bayonet up and out of its back, where she then swiped it across the base of the tail when she reached it. The entire monster dropped to the ground lifeless, almost split in half and missing it's tail. Ember sighed and sat down turning off the blaze bayonet, the thing that just wouldn’t die was definitely not getting up from having its entire spine incinerated. “Wait for it…. wait for it… now!” With that word Rarity, Coco and Saffron all started to throw any grenade in their possession as quickly and as hard as they could. Coco was using one of the magnetic hooves of her suit to launch grenades like a rail gun, while Rarity and Saffron telekinetically kicked multiple grenades into the brain. The brain having just bounced off the ceiling was hit with a staccato of explosions that changed its momentum; it was in its death throes already and wouldn’t survive what was about to happen. Physics was a cruel mistress, for the brain was knocked out of the zero gravity field and it was falling at an angled towards the stands on the far side from Chrysalis. It was screaming the entire time and trying to save itself with its tentacles, instead the brains tentacles ripped apart upon impact and the brain rolled down the stands and bounced when it hit the rail. The giant flew back into the gravity field where it shot straight across the stadium. The brain was going back towards Chrysalis, who was already in the middle of scampering off to the side as the brains grey matter splattered everywhere close to her upon impact. What was left was a pile of groaning immobile of mass, three fourths of it spewing strange liquids all over the stairs or simply crushed in that last impact. It now resembled a large wad of chewing gum that was still moving slightly. “Can I use my last round to make sure it’s dead?” A tentacle reached out for Chrysalis who quickly put more distance between her and the heavily damaged brain that somehow still had the ability to try and fight back. It was scraping at Chrysalis’s mind as much as trying to reach out with its tentacle to grab her. It wasn’t finding any purchase mentally and physically. Chrysalis was easily resisting its attempts to get inside her head and or grab her body, this was with the concussion and sprained leg she had. “Right, it’s definitely not dead yet. Anybody got any spare grenades? I’m going to need a minute to reload.” The brain tried to drag itself towards Chrysalis who continued to move away at a much faster gait than the brain could drag itself. Ember eventually met up with Chrysalis and started pouring every single round she had into it, her magma rounds started chewing through the mass until she ran out. “Well I’m completely dry.” Ember hefted Chrysalis and started putting some distance between them and the crawling wad of a ballistics battered brain. “The strange signal is weakening; whatever is making that signal is currently dying and whatever it is you're doing is working.” Announced a happy Opal, she was happy that Rarity was alright and that she could communicate with her. “I’m ready and on standby to transfer into Antilur Station’s systems.” “Right then, I believe we’re completely out of grenades having just used the last of them. We’re coming down to help.” Rarity followed by Coco and Saffron kicked off the ceiling heading towards the rail close to the position Chrysalis and Ember were approaching. Notably Chrysalis was firing her material rifle with abandon until she too was out of ammo. The brain was still dragging itself towards them after that. Rarity grabbed the railing and she swiftly pulled herself out of the zero gravity zone. She immediately set about emptying her material pistols into the mass, every small copper triangle and rock she could spare in slowing down the beast by hitting the tentacles. “Well if everyone else is doing it… Ember help Chrysalis load that rocket launcher. I believe me and Saffron can put a few magic missiles into it ourselves to hold it off.” “Actually I should be the one doing the magic missiles Rarity, you’ve been running your horn ragged and I’m sorry to say this but you don’t look like you were built for stamina when it comes to casting.” A beam of energy erupted from Saffron’s horn and tore into the brains tentacle. “Yeah, I’m not going near that.” Now was a good time for cowardice in Coco’s opinion as she turned tail and headed towards Chrysalis and Ember. “I believe we all share that sentiment, considering the fact that it is even moving in the state it’s in!” Uttered a tired Rarity, she followed behind the retreating earth pony and saw that Saffron was on slow retreat and blasting apart whatever she could of the brain. “Now lock the rocket launcher into position, there… you know what I’m one big bruise after having used this thing three times. You do it Ember.” Chrysalis sighed in relief when Ember took up the bazooka and crouched down with it on her shoulder. “Saffron, get your fine sexy exotic ass clear of that thing!” Saffron was galloping away and Ember depressed the trigger and was knocked flat by the recoil, the rocket impacted with what was left of a really great ordeal and the last explosion ceased its existence entirely. Seconds later they sat there almost disbelieving every single they had all gone through in silence, nothing moved but the five of them and they were cautiously optimistic. “I am assuming direct control.” Opal’s voice sounded rather sad and then the gravity throughout the entire station shut down, making the five float into the air slightly. “The gravity might be off, but the survivors are still in motion. We might lose some people due to the impact, some to lack of energy and we’re going to have a lot of hungry mouths to feed soon, a little more than forty three thousand to be exact. Saffron you and your father are going to be needed real soon. I’m trying to flip the gravity to slow them all down slightly, be prepared for that. I’m also going to run as much damage control as best I can from within the stations systems. First off, turning on all the lights and making sure the station doesn’t explode in the next fifty seconds... yeah, that’s a bit of a problem. I’m accessing dossiers on a lot of people who can assist in the recovery of the station. We need to help those people first, now sending that information to Greta.” “She’s kidding right, tell me she’s kidding? How am I supposed to help feed forty thousand people after all this, I need sleep! On top of all that, the station might explode?!” Saffron turned towards a sighing Rarity who gave her a faint smile. Things would work out; it had to after all that. “I’m certainly willing, but my body can’t take much more after the wringer we were just put through.” “Then it’s a good thing Coriander and the rest of us are still fresh, come back home and get some rest. You sound like you need it.” The tone Gilda spoke in was rather reassuring, which was odd for her considering she was less than stellar in the good cheer department. “The rest of us can pick up the slack Boss Lady, plus I and Greta get to break out the new vehicles.” Okay maybe Gilda’s tone wasn’t so odd after all if she was getting a chance to play with some new toys. - It had been at least three days and things had been quite touch and go, even after killing the main source of the infestation the station was messed up without any maintenance workers to keep things going. At the start of those three days Gilda unveiled the two newest vehicles that were to take up space in Shining Jewel. They weren’t really all that big and they were made with the express purpose of running hull repairs and or modifications; they were called EGGS, which stood for Engineer Guided Grappling Suits. They were basically giant versions of a CAT drones that could doubled as an escape pod and the oval shaped pods were considered to be aptly named. An EGGS unit only required one pilot and had two arms for manipulating things in various ways with whatever tools they happen to have installed at the time. It was armed with a single forward facing energy cannon as a minor means of defense, the EGGS were not designed for combat and were made specifically for dealing with bigger engineering problems. Two of them were currently being piloted by Gilda and Greta as they helped people around the station and fixed various issues as quickly as they could. They were working pretty hard and would continue to do so, until the remaining surviving members of the maintenance crew for the station could pick up the slack and get back into good health. Antilur Station wasn’t a very sunny place to be at the moment and lots of family’s were missing members or were depressed about the friends they lost, at least Equus was in the process of sending aid to the station to get it back on its hooves. There wasn’t a bright side to any of the troubles now facing the station and the many various ships coming in to aid Rarity’s crew in their endeavors. It would take several more days still before the Shining Jewels crew would make any progress into making things better. The survivors were doing poorly mentally, Vera was just one SNUGGLES member and couldn’t possibly account for everyone to prevent suicides and there were a lot of members being flown in on various vessels willing to help those that had been caught in the miasma. While the miasma might have kept people in stasis, it also gave them horrific nightmares while they were slowly being drained. After a quick recovery, Chrysalis likened the current mood in the air as to what happens to ponies around Changelings that did really bad things in the name of hunger. She then became rather scarce, likely having taken on a disguise to make things go a bit smoother in helping the relief effort. “No Rarity, you still need time to rest.” Vera was having a bad enough time trying to keep Rarity relaxed and from running herself ragged helping people. They were in one of the stations many city layers and Vera was trying to keep her sanity when everyone around her had a short fuse, there was a lot of stress to be had all around. “Hey, Vera I found a filly… she could really use your help.” An upset Ember came up to Vera carrying a little filly with short pinkish red hair and slightly dark orange fur. The freckled filly looked listless and there wasn’t much life in her eyes. “We… recently found her parent’s bodies… or at least what they had become anyway. She doesn’t have any other family on the station.” “We could all use a little help right now; we just have to keep pushing forward.” Standing up from a fainting couch that Rarity had taken a fancy to, she moved over to the filly Ember sat down on the floor and tried to make eye contact with her. “Don’t you have any other family you can go to?” “Yes… I know where some of my family is, well the planet they are on at least.” The filly sounded quite dead inside as she continued to look to the floor and Rarity’s heart wouldn’t say no to making her an offer, one with a variety of interesting consequences in the future. Author's Note Gravitational fields and you... there's zero gravity, anti-gravity and regular gravity. There's also heavy gravity and light gravity. The bigger they are the harder they fall, mostly based on mass and velocity. -66-“There was a lot of collateral damage huh?” The EGGS unit Gilda was piloting maneuvered into position and started to burn away the biological matter left behind by the brains death. They were torching every bit of biological mass left behind by the Visitant class Sifter Drifter, the bodies of the twisted and warped dead deserved better than what had happened to them and cremation was the best option for all concerned. “No kidding, we’ve been here for five days and the only thing we can hope for is that the charity event Rarity is working on will go off without a hitch today. It would certainly lend some aid to the situation and lighten the mood. At least the constant stream of SNUGGLES members are going to help the beleaguered people with their mental issues. Even Princess Luna can’t help all the ponies that got caught up in this event. I sometimes wish that space was all sunshine and rainbows.” Sighing Greta continued to burn away the limp and lifeless tendrils not too far away from Gilda in her own EGGS unit, her tone took an upturn. “It was a good thing Opal got a quick handle on the situation or else we’d have more to fix and we don’t necessarily have all the parts to do such a thing, I wouldn’t envy having to improvise parts for the main generator. I’m also not surprised the Boss Lady gave up three fourths of the earnings for destroying the infestation to help the station. At least all our friends survived saving the nearby systems from that threat.” “Yeah, who knew that it started out so small, it certainly became a huge problem. More than half the people on Antilur died to that thing and I can say good riddance that it’s dead. At least Vera will get a break, she has to deal with our insanity enough as it is already. She really can’t handle that many patients and we’re being stretched a bit thin in what responsibilities we can take on. Goodness knows Saffron and her father are trying to feed everyone, which is going much better than all the psychological issues flying around in here.” Gilda had to hand it to Opal, she found out how the infestation started and ended up in the place it did. Opal had even figured out which ship the infestation had even come from, where that ship was now and how the previous owner and crew had died. “As far as I’m concerned we don’t owe these people anything, but I can’t exactly say anything bad about how the money was used given I didn’t directly take part in the action. A bonus for all the grenades we cobbled together would be nice, even if it didn’t really take us that long to synthesize the chemicals for them. In any case, that Ember girl has been sticking around too close for comfort lately; she’s been eyeing most of the crew and it’s honestly creeping me out. I’m okay with Kitten eyeing me, because I know she’s usually doing so in a playful mood or when she wants something, but is a bit too shy to ask. The way Ember is doing it feels entirely off.” It was the start of a long pause. They both acknowledged that while heroic, Rarity’s crew wasn’t supposed to be a military force and as such they wouldn’t follow the lead of where the infestation came from. That would be left up to other people to deal with who are military; they were on a civilian crew with what was admittedly a lot of talented combat specialists. Lightning was kicked out of the military and despite that she obviously remembered her training, Chrysalis was a leader of her people and quite a skilled one at that, Ember is a dangerous bounty hunter with armored skin that could survive a direct impact with something that would destroy a tank, Saffron was a costumed crime fighter that Rarity’s crew knew all about, Sassy was a magical samurai specializing in stabbing attacks and Rarity was a civilian who trained in the use of pistols who had incredible accuracy when she focused her special talent into it. Even Trapeze had her thing with Capoeira style fighting to go along with her acrobatic movements, Coco had an absurd amount of physical strength and even Gilda and Greta themselves were dangerous when given enough reason to be and had something to work with. It wouldn’t surprise Gilda or Greta if even Coriander or Rover were to prove useful in a fight; Bernard didn’t need to be considered since he was a Lagotorphin who shared his kill from Equus with the griffons and diamond dog. It was a matter of principle to not waste any food and some of it was still frozen in storage, Bernard came to Greta on matters of cooking the meat when he felt like he needed to indulge in his carnivorous side. Bernard wasn’t as innocent as he looked and he was just as much a threat as any of the ones who had some form of combat training, even Rover deferred to him as an alpha and he was bigger than Bernard was. “Yeah, I’m getting the feeling that Ember is looking at us differently compared to everyone else. So do you want to catch Trapeze’s show with me? You know, to see what she’s been up to?” It would be the first official show and it would be running as part of the charity event and Greta wanted to see it. She was mostly interested to learn what exactly Rover has been up to as part of the Trapeze Troupe, Bernard and Trapeze obviously had the magic act down to a science and could improvise really well. The diamond dog would be a curious display, only Opal would have any inkling as to what kind of act Rover would be doing in the show. “I’ll buy the popcorn…” “Free popcorn? Sounds legit to me, but you’re paying for everything!” Gilda had to roll her eyes when she heard Greta squeal happily, she moved the right arm of the machine she was piloting and started to repair some wires that had been ripped open by the tendrils. The tendrils had branched out all over the stations, but now they were in the way of repairs and the surviving members of Antilur’s maintenance crew didn’t want to touch them. It was understandable as to why and Gilda wouldn’t fault them for it, but she would still call them big wimps. Gilda was not a wimp for not entering the station when the infestation was ongoing; it was common sense for her to avoid going into what was quickly becoming a dedly ghost station. Just because she was brave didn’t mean she was stupid, which made her wonder about following Rarity around considering she was a little bit of both with plenty of gumption. After a minute to think on it, Gilda had absolutely no problems with following a leader like the Boss Lady also known as Baroness Belle. “Don’t get too excited now, especially not all over the inside of your EGGS unit Greta, because I’m not cleaning ‘that’ up if you do. We’re going to likely have a run in with little miss crazy pants as soon as we get out of these EGGS and board the station properly. We need to report back to Shining Jewel, Opal just sent us a silent message. Apparently she wants us to bake a cake for a special occasion.” “With all those SNUGGLES members coming here, I wouldn’t doubt for a second that Tree will make an appearance. She’ll probably want to talk to you no less about something or other, maybe cuddle with you or me a bit more.” One could almost hear Greta grin slightly at the sound of Gilda’s silence, she wouldn’t mind if Tree Hugger gave her some affection and she probably had to ask for it unlike Gilda. “Also that almost sounded like an egg pun. If we get out of these EGGS, would that meant we’ve been hatched?” “Finish the job and shut up Greta.” Grumbled Gilda in as grumpy a manner as she could manage, the show had better be good and worth a run in with Tree Hugger. She could hear Greta giggling gaily, why did she have to go and encourage her like that? Probably because the situation around them was depressing as all get out and she wanted to do something fun for once, even if she wouldn’t admit to wanting to do so. “You’re just lucky I really like popcorn, I’m getting some with cheddar and extra butter.” - “So can we legally add the battery utility to the EVA suits sales menu?” Things have been calm in the last five days after making the infestation literally brain dead, well from Coco’s perspective things were calm. Rarity was being her generous self again and she was trying to help as many people on the space station as possible, even when some of them didn’t feel like living any more having lost their entire families. Coco was personally trying to get by and make sure Rarity’s business continued, which is why she was consulting Opal and surprisingly enough Ember. Ember had been around a lot lately and the dragon made Coco nervous, at least it wasn’t as bad as before when she was almost drop dead scared of the friendly fire breathing princess. “Well if you want a second opinion then I’d have to go with it, couldn’t hurt. I would at least put a few warnings on the operations of the battery utility, also leave out the electric hooves modification or that such a modification even exists.” Outside of her EVA suit needing to go through major repairs or just make an entirely new one to cut out the middle mare, Ember had only been slightly exhausted compared to everyone else. She was completely fine after eight hours of uninterrupted sleep and hadn’t been injured at all except for three minor bruises that cleared up after she got her sleep in. Being a dragon, Ember was quite hardy and hard to put down for long, which is why Coco was quite wary of her given she healed so quickly. Currently Ember was wearing a pink shirt that had the words baked goods imprinted on it with an arrow pointing upwards, she had been talked out of getting the version with the arrow pointing downwards. The dragon’s pants were a simple affair and she bought several pairs of EVA suit orifice sealing underwear off of Rarity, the underwear was really quite comfortable against Ember’s scales and she was wearing a pair right now. “You’re not trying to run combat hardware here, even I know that wouldn’t go over too well with any authority figures in any system.” “I’m sorry to agree with her Coco, but we can’t exactly sell the defibrillator option you added to your personal suit and not call it a weapon. Even if it wasn’t meant to be one, it could still be misused and we wouldn’t want that on our consciences. Still the prototype battery utility has proven its mettle in a test run and Rarity did give me the go ahead to approve things for sale. Give me a second and…” Opal was on the nearest screen happy to have Ember as a guest and she was nice enough to try and attempt some form of bonding with Coco. It was a bit shaky, but they eventually got themselves together. A menu to Rarity’s Rarities appeared on screen and the utilities list for the EVA suits popped up, the two watching this could even see the words ‘testing phase’ disappear. The battery utility option green lighting and a few warnings about the utility were put up in several easy to read known languages which were clearly marked and if you couldn’t read those languages, then there were illustrations as to what would happen for those with more dyslexic problems. Nobody would complain to them about faulty equipment if Opal could help it and they couldn’t complain that there were no warnings. “However I will be including the fact that weight might be a small issue and that we’re working on it, which will be added on top of all the positives to having the utility. Patented by Lady Coco Pommel, a few bells and whistles to attract attention to it and we’re done. Just so you know every sale of this new utility will give you a percentage of the profits made and since we’re our own small country we technically don’t have to go through Princess Luna for testing it. I’m still sending it to Luna with a few ideas for Mind Field that might help get him walking again... provided that he’s okay with violent electrocution. Otherwise I’m hoping for more personalized EVA suit sales, they are our best seller so far.” “Remind me to never piss off Opal, she’s kind of deranged.” Ember was joking of course and she shook her head, Mind Field was a nasty piece of work and she heard of how Rarity got paid for assisting in his apprehension. Wish she could have been there to cave the guy’s skull in, but she didn’t like going near Equus even knowing now that she had a little brother that she should visit at any time. Nobody messes with her hoard… now she just had to tell her hoard that and she was getting cold feet, which was quite hard given a dragon’s general body temperature being quite high. She wasn’t about to call Opal out on being rampant, the word ‘rampant’ seemed like a taboo subject in the crew she was becoming overly attached to. “No offense meant to you of course Opal, but if I didn’t know you as well as I do from what little time we’ve had to talk. I’d you were a little more than a bit loose in the mental department.” “None taken, so I’m a little vindictive.” Opal crossed her paws and sniffed slightly while looking to the ceiling as if she had nothing to do with it. “What do you mean by a little? I saw a recent news report from Equus about Mind Field being poisoned with platypus venom being in the news. Nobody was able to find a suspect, heck I’m not even sure anyone’s looking for one because a lot of people hate him. No one has even bothered to point in the direction of the Changelings and they are the likeliest ones to do it given all the things they were blamed for because of him.” The disbelieving tone in Coco’s voice was quite obvious, the circumstances were rather clear as to what Opal had managed to pull off. Maybe Chrysalis had agreed with Opal’s sense of revenge and set things into motion, if so then Mind Field was going to be tormented until he finally passed away. Coco didn’t know how to feel about it, was it justice or outright cruelty for all the crimes known and unknown that he has committed? “I’m quite sure that there are people out there that can’t possibly hold a grudge nearly as bad as you can Opal, especially after that thing with the space pirates.” “They had it coming; I can’t be blamed if I was a little enthusiastic in protecting the crew after what happened the first time.” It was interesting that Opal worded it that way, considering Rarity was the only crew member at the time for the first attack. At least Opal wasn’t crazy in a bad way. “Yes, they might have had it coming at that.” Tapping a hoof against the floor Coco gave Opal a flat searching look. “Though I’m suspicious about the fact that Mind Field was poisoned, wasn’t that something you suggested?” “What does Mind Field being poisoned have to do with me? I mean obviously the guy has quite a few enemies and nobody would want him to rat out the cabal he was a part of.” Opal stated quite innocently as if she hadn’t discussed platypus venom out loud in front of the crew some time ago with some Changelings she might have contacted or that it came to fruition not too long afterwards. “Anyway, since we’re talking about good news, report to medical! I’m gathering everybody not preparing for Trapeze’s thing together, I’ve already informed Rarity and she’s on her way. Oh and Greta and Gilda have been back for an hour or two, they’ll show up after you two do as I gave them a task they are just about done with.” Coco and Ember looked at each other curiously and shrugged, they might as well see what was up. Coco had set up an administrations room on deck one to be more of a research and production room for Shining Jewel, all they had to do was walk down the right hand corridor and take the nearest elevator down to deck two to be immediately outside medical. Medical was built in section two, deck two, by the previous owners because it was in the middle of the ship and you could get to it from anywhere easily in the case of a medical emergency. When they got there, everyone that wasn’t a part of Trapeze’s show or Chrysalis was already waiting on the news as to why Opal had them all come together. Even the filly Ember brought in two days ago was here looking a little wary at all the crew gathering together, small talk was going around and Rarity was busy hanging a few decorations. They were going to hold a small party here it seemed. - Sassy had heard that misery loves company, but she now had company in the form of a Pegasus Pony and had to watch the surgery from her position. Apparently this new crew member had broken ribs and all of them were cracked, surprisingly she was still alive despite one of her lungs being lightly pierced. The newest member of the medical retreat left Sassy wondering what exactly had happened to cause such an injury and it wasn’t a few hours later that Rarity came in to get bandaged with an injury in her side that looked like it was both sliced open and stabbed. Rarity didn’t look too hurt, aside from some bleeding when they managed to pull the scabbing breach gel away. Several other people including Ember were a bit bruised and she watched them with interest, at some point she fell asleep despite all the activity going on around her. It was several days later of boredom that she woke up with Opal’s smiling face in front of her. - “Today’s the day Sassy, you’re coming out of there and you’ll be able to breathe air again. Hope you didn’t have too many nightmares in there, oh and we’ll be able to get some food in you that aren’t the medical fluids you’re currently floating in.” In particular Opal seemed to be joyous to see her awake, then she looked off to the side with a slight frown. She was probably looking over the other medical room occupant. “Lightning, it’ll still be a day or two more for you, your ribs have been chemically pasted during surgery for a quicker recovery and they require you to rest so that it can settle. Vera will come to check your vitals soon… provided I can even remember where she is at the moment. Commence the random pointing at things! No I don’t want to delete Vera’s name… yes, I’m sure. No you are not going to delete it anyway, what is with this computer system! I’m a part of it and even I don’t understand where these error messages are coming from! I just stopped in to let you know everyone is doing fine Sassy and hopefully Vera can give you a mental evaluation concerning your distaste of medical beds and how you’re living with your worst nightmare right now. You are taking it rather well so far.” The frustrated white cat had Sassy smiling a bit; it looked like staying awake today was going to be a worthwhile endeavor. She wanted to be breathing relatively fresh air, instead of the medical fluids she had been stuck under for a while. How long has she been in this medical bed? She’d be happy to be out of it. “At least you can still smile, that’s a really good sign. Oh, by the way, do you want to keep that large bit of metal I dug out of your flesh?” There was an impish smile to Opal now that she knew Sassy wasn’t feeling too bad. “We kind of put that in a jar and filled it with water, I’d be happy to hear what you want us to do with it.” - “Okay Sassy, you’re talking well enough after your injury healed, but can you walk?” Vera looked up from her clipboard and gave Sassy a quirked brow. Sassy could move her limbs; medically there was nothing wrong with her at the moment aside from some slight atrophy. Sassy tried to stand up and managed to do so for a few seconds before Vera had to run up and steady her before she fell down. “Yeah you’re going to need some time to get your limbs warmed up, but otherwise you can stand so that much is good progress to get you walking again.” “So what happened while I was out of it?” Sassy had been staring at bleak walls and other empty medical beds for at least week or more straight, something to talk or gossip about would be real nice right about now. “Well Gilda built a tank in less than a week and then helped put down a terrorist attack on Canterlot, also Rarity is friends with all three of the princesses and we picked up a few new crew members. Yes there's a new princess and some of the new crew members are male, but I don’t think we have anything to worry about.” Trying to cut off a problem at the past, Vera got it out there that they had male members on the crew. Three to be precise, one was an old stallion, one is a dubious diamond dog who has probably never had a mate and the last one was quite small and possibly the least threatening looking thing imaginable… provided you didn’t know he was a Lagotorphin. “I can’t promise you won’t have to deal with them, but they have yet to do anything untoward towards anyone. I need to know, can you at least keep yourself civil? If so then I can go get a wheel chair and we can see some of our friends together.” “I can do that much at least, because right now I can’t draw a sword to save my life. Unless I use my magic and right now my magic is most likely going to my body.” Sighing as she was helped to the table, Sassy patiently sat down when prompted and waited as Vera checked her body over to make sure she was fit enough for a little excitement. “You know, I think everyone on this ship has forgotten that I’m not a medical doctor, well at least not one for physical ailments at any rate. Hold on while I go get the chair, find your balance while I do that.” Vera walked off leaving Sassy to herself, Sassy just inhaled slowly and then exhaled. A minute or so later saw Vera coming back with a wheelchair. “Surprisingly you’re good enough to almost be walking on your own from what I know and Opal seems to have done a good job with watching over you as much as any of the rest of us. Before I put you in the chair I’m going to give you a nice massage, would you like that?” “I think I would be okay with that.” As noncommittal as the answer may be, some part of Sassy was looking forward to it. “Good now let me tell you about what recently happen, I noticed you were awake while I was wrapping Rarity’s side, we ran into a spot of trouble when we noticed a lot of derelict ships floating around in space outside a dark space station…” Vera would regale Sassy with the tale of the Antilur Station and what was going on currently. - Sassy had her butt in the wheelchair after she was scrubbed down by Vera and left blushing after that, Vera didn’t seem to have a problem with touching her inappropriately and she would have screamed bloody murder if someone male were to try to do that to her. She didn’t understand why Rarity and the others weren’t here fussing over her, when Vera pushed her chair into the next room she received her answer without having to voice her question. The main question on her mind was why Coco and Rarity weren’t fighting to see her, now she knew they were just waiting for her to arrive at the party held in her honor. “We’re happy to see you’ve made a full recovery Sassy and surprise!” Rarity, Coco, Gilda and Greta were here, they had a small party going and it looked particularly decorated and there was even a cake that had the words ‘welcome back’ written on it. Gilda just gave a lazy wave of her left talons in Sassy’s general direction while blowing on a party horn, she’s as sour as Sassy remembered her being and Greta seemed to be a living ball of sunshine in comparison. “Bless my berets Rarity, it’s nice to see that you’re mostly alright after the stories Vera told me. Did none of the other newer crew members come though?” She thought about it and then Sassy remembered the other infirmed member of the crew that was put next to her not too long ago. “I mean aside from the one that was next to me not too long ago.” “You didn’t tell her about the charity I’m putting together? Well it is going to happen in a few hours and Trapeze is making it her first official debut as it were, she’s an Earth Pony magician.” Rarity trotted right up to Sassy and threw her hooves around her barrel giving her a soft and gentle squeeze that made Sassy grunt a bit. “Most of the newly hired crew members are helping her set things up at the moment, doesn’t account for where Ms. Dick got off to.” “Well it’s good to see you’re alright Sassy, especially after that fracas I heard happened over on Equus from a reliable source.” Ember walked into the room hauling a pot of food, she pulled the lid off to check the food. After nodding to herself with a frown and putting the lid back on, Ember held the pot aloft above her head and breathed a light amount of flames across the bottom of the pot. After checking the lid again she smiled, you could hear something bubbling inside and could see some steam rising from it. “She’s okay to eat solid foods right?” “Whatever that food is, I want some Ember. It smells really good and it is so nice to see you again Ms. McFlame.” It really was, though Sassy had to admit that finding a Bounty Hunter as nice as Ember was would be a pretty hard feat to achieve, also the smell from the pot was making her hungry and she felt ravenous. “Sure, she’s good to eat whatever and it’s her party anyway.” Vera recognized the look Sassy was sending her; she gave a dry laugh as she realized what the problem was. “Though she might need some help getting the food into her mouth, so spoon feeding her for a bit might helpful until she’s more coordinated. I’m pretty sure Nurse Rarity wouldn’t mind, right?” “Oh we have so much to talk about Sassy and I wouldn’t mind at all helping you eat, there are some things you need to know like me being nobility. I’m officially Baroness Belle!” Rarity was happy to have her friend back. Sassy looked a little shocked to hear this news. “I may have missed some of the finer details in my stories; I wasn’t exactly there in the thick of things.” Here Vera smiled at Sassy and gave her a wink. “I’m sure you’ll have a lot to tell her Rarity.” “We should really take her with us when we go to see Trapeze’s act, I’m sure she’d like to get out of the ship and away from medical. She could definitely use something different at least… but first we need to get some cake in her.” Coco’s suggestion was met with a growling stomach, it sounded like a tiger was on the loose and they all turned to Sassy who looked ashamed of herself. “I haven’t had anything to eat in a long time. Medical and vitamin enriched fluids are not exactly what I would call food.” Everything was going to be just fine to Sassy. Though she was curious, where did the filly come from? “Who’s she, she seems to be dourer than Gilda.” “That’s because she lost her family on the space station, needless to say the fan was spinning on full blast when the stuff hit it.” Nobody stated how much of an understatement that was, nobody was going to even correct Gilda that the fan was actually an industrial sized one that filled up the entire station. “Ended up liberating the whole damn station, but now we have a problem with a bunch of sad sacks that have mental issues and Luna can’t exactly help them. It’s a left over side effect of the monster that they killed in there, we’re helping with cleanup because Rarity is such a damn bleeding heart and I wouldn’t exactly have the Boss Lady any other way. More than half the stations population is dead and the rest is borderline mental, this little happy reunion thing won’t last very long when we have to get back to helping the people still alive.” “As to the filly, she’s one of the survivors and her name is Babs Seed. She has family on Applin Five in the Applon system; we’re going to see if her family can take her in. Until then we’re taking care of her, because Rarity offered to help and she doesn’t exactly have anyone else to turn to.” Coco came up to hug Sassy next, she was even crying a little. “It’s where we were going anyway before we got sidetracked with this nasty infestation problem. It’s so nice to have you back on your hooves Sassy.” “It’s so nice to be back, Coco-chan.” Sassy nuzzled Coco and then her stomach grumbled. “It would seem that my stomach still has a few complaints to make.” Author's Note I think we'll be moving on to something different after a small performance by Trapeze Star along with her partners Bernard and Rover. Who knows where Chrysalis got off to or what she's doing now. -67-Sassy was officially out of the medical bed and in good health, she just needed some help walking again. Otherwise she was healthy as she could get after being spoon fed some cake and a really hearty vegetable stew. Now the mare found herself in a wheelchair being pushed by Rarity and she was looking forward to the show they were all going to, it was nice that her friends were thinking of her. It was, after all, something to do after being trapped inside a glass and metal tube for weeks. While it hadn’t been physically uncomfortable, it was certainly mentally agonizing. Babs on the other hoof was finding it hard to believe someone like Rarity can be so nice, but it seemed like she was definitely set on assisting her. Babs was currently on Ember’s right shoulder, given there was a sewer squid occupying the other side. The friendly bounty hunter was the one that helped Babs find her parents, or at least what was left of them anyway. She had already cried her heart out over it and the world was quite dark, but at least she had people looking out for her. The world felt a little less empty thanks to Rarity’s crew, Babs had to admit that they were a friendly bunch. Gilda was a bit of a grump, but she was a bit more real to Babs than the rest of the crew. The filly always had at least one of the crew with her at all times and things could have been far worse. When Babs had asked Ember, how exactly could her situation have possibly been any worse, well she got an answer that was a bit longer than she had been expecting. The answer took a while, at least from everyone boarding Caravel Boutique and eventually exiting it in Antilur Station. “You could also have been sold into child slavery where they would… abuse your body and do much worse to your mind. I’m not about to describe it in depth, but it gets pretty bad. Plus there’s active sex slave trading industries in some systems, be thankful we’re not anything close to being space pirates kid.” Being upfront with a filly wasn’t as hard as Ember thought it would be, but maybe it wasn’t a good idea to tell her about all the things that could have gone wrong after having become a survivor of a horrible infestation. “Quite frankly you should try to make peace with the fact that you are still alive and try not to become just another statistic. You still have family out there and they’d be sad if you died, I’m pretty sure my little brother would be sad if I died and we were never given the opportunity to meet. I don’t exactly know what he’s like, he’s been found and raised by ponies and all I know about him is what Rarity has told me. We’re not asking you to grow up; we’re asking you to keep pushing forward and stay strong no matter how hard it might be to keep on living. I think your parents would have wanted you to live a long and fulfilling life. Trust me; I’ve been where you are when I lost my mother and those weren’t exactly pleasant times for me. Don’t close yourself off from getting help, cry if you need too, but don’t you dare give up on life!” Babs silently wondered if this show they were going to was going to be any good and she certainly had her doubts. Was she supposed to be excited? It was hard to feel any excitement lately. She just lost her parents and this show wasn’t much to her benefit, she was going to get help packing up her belongings for a move to her cousins and there were the nightmares that even Princess Luna couldn’t stop or help with over the past few days that made her become an insomniac. The sleeping aids Vera gave her really helped her get the dreamless sleep she needed when it came to the fourth day of waking up to being all alone, it was kind of hard to even remember the kind mare’s name. Vera’s situation had been explained to the filly, but Babs was making an effort to remember her name anyways. Babs couldn’t fathom an existence where everyone forgets you’re there with a single blink of your eyes if no one was pointing at you or in contact with your body, but it was a very real bit of strangeness surrounding one of the many crew members the filly was introduced to. Was Babs supposed to feel upset that her bullies were dead too and why did she care so much about them being gone? It was a bit surprising to hear it was a normal response to miss even those who were cruel to you. It was good of her to feel upset about them being gone, because it meant that she wasn’t heartless and that she still had the capacity to care what happens to others around her. It was a bit conflicting to miss the horrible fillies and colts that used to bully her, but now they would never be able to do anything anymore. Babs knew she was still a filly and already being an emotional wreck before she even became a teenager was proving to be a very bad sign, she should find happiness where she could get it. Nothing lasted forever and she had to make the best of everything. “I’m surprised by how quiet the people are here, you’d at least expect some level of looting or somebody taking advantage of what happened.” Even the military ponies that called Ember in to deal with the threat weren’t trying to take any advantage of the situation or the people, they weren’t even having any problems keeping order on the station and they were beset with nightmares as well. Their nightmares weren’t nearly as bad as they hadn’t been trapped under the influence of the infestation as long. The military ponies had paid her very well for doing her job and she was sticking around because her hoard was. It occurred to Ember that she was the only dragon on the station as she stepped off the Caravel Boutique. Quite frankly she would probably be the first and likely only dragon to ever be on the station too. Most of her race was quite known for being lazy, greedy or jerks, sometimes all three and very few dragons ever rose up to do something interesting aside from digging out holes to fill with food and call them hoards. Her father Torch was one such dragon as was her mother, her family had a history of being slightly unusual and that’s why her father was the current dragon lord. She was glad she didn’t consider something simple like food was as being anything close to worthy of her hoard. Sure her personal hoard was going to be a whole list of complications, but she believed it to be a worthwhile endeavor. “I really doubt my presence alone is stopping anyone from committing crimes.” “It’s probably the horrible nightmares. They are definitely stopping everyone from just thinking all about themselves, the prolonged exposure to whatever that monster was is as horrible as you might expect.” Hearing Babs talk was disheartening, especially since her voice sounded all too hollow when it should be filled with cheer. “Whatever that monster did to us causes those nightmares, it would certainly put things into perspective for a lot of people and we’re still living a nightmare all the same while awake. We’re all too traumatized to really do anything, I woke up weightless surrounded by dead floating bodies and everything has been wrong ever since!” “There there, let it all out Babs.” Ember pulled Babs from her shoulder into a hug; she started to slowly rub the filly’s back as she cried. It was a tender and somber moment as they all made their way into Antilur City, this time it wasn’t a dark and foreboding mess with hidden dangers that could form out of the air itself. Babs didn’t know who to be angry at or if she could be angry at anyone at all, she just wanted her parents back. She missed them badly and Ember was right to say that her situation could be far worse. There were her fillies, colts and foals that barely survived like she did, they were either in intensive care or will need to be adopted by random people having lost everything. At least she had somewhere to go, with people she could vaguely trust to get her there safely as they killed the monster behind this suffering. There were plenty of ponies, griffons and a zebra or two looking at destroyed vehicles and picking through the rubble of partially collapsed buildings. A Minotaur was idly looking over plans to repair or rebuild anything nearby that had been messed up when the miasma spread throughout the station sucking the power out of almost everything. They were all working, trying to keep their minds off the things that had happened here by keeping themselves busy, the tragedy was affecting the visitors as much as the people who lived at the station. There was a stream of residents and various supportive visitors moving towards the large stadium that the group was approaching, it was wider than it was tall. This was where Trapeze would put on her performance for a large crowd and it would be her first big one. The Hoof Ball Stadium on the top floor was being avoided entirely considering what had been there, many of the stations residents were treating the place as if it were lethal to be within a floor of it. The top two floors of the station were a bit abandoned thanks to this and it would take a while for people to trust that it’s safe to go anywhere near the upper layer of the station’s city. Ember had already made sure the dead remains of the large brain had been dealt with, after drinking half a bottle of vodka to make sure she vaporized it completely. White dragon fire was quite cleansing, though completely unsafe for anyone to be around for. Ember had to do it alone while naked; she really didn’t want to lose anything important to her own fire breathing when it was at devastating levels. The scorch marks she left behind were impressive, considering she burned a hole into the flooring wherever the remains used to sit. The SNUGGLES organization had a lot of people on this station and their presence was certainly felt, they were trying to help as many as they feasibly could. Hundreds of case workers were working very tiring schedules, some even doing this without pay just to prove their devotion to the SNUGGLES organization ideals in helping those who needed it. One particular member had been missing from this slowly gathering congregation and it was brought up by the one most curious about the lack of that particular member’s presence. “Okay, where is she? I know she’s here somewhere.” Looking in all directions in a paranoid manner was Gilda; the griffon was positively shivering in either fear or expectation. “There is no way Tree Hugger wouldn’t be here, this disaster zone has her number and she certainly wouldn’t miss a call to help.” “Hey, I got some popcorn!” It wasn’t often that Greta spooked Gilda, but this was one of the occasions where she did and she didn’t feel like addressing Gilda’s sudden display of outright panic. Instead Greta calmly rolled her eyes and gently pushed the popcorn into Gilda’s talons “You know you’re going to have to get along with her eventually, because I don’t think she’s ever going to stop bothering you. Speaking of Tree, where is she, we’d have definitely seen her by now if she was on the station. Maybe she’s just too busy helping other people?” “One can only hope, just as long as she isn’t bothering me.” Muttered a sour Gilda, she didn’t envy the idea of actually seeing Tree Hugger. Of course with so many people needing help, maybe Tree wouldn’t be able to make an appearance to start a conversation out of the blue or appear from out of nowhere like she tended to do. Heck, Gilda wasn’t sure how Tree ended up in some of the places she appeared in, the mare was a wandering enigma factory that looked like it was constantly on drugs. Teleportation might have been involved, but Gilda had never seen Tree in the company of any particularly strong unicorns and alicorn princesses were a rare breed of Pony. “Speaking of missing people, where do you think Chrysalis could have possible gotten off to?” It was beginning to worry Rarity that she hadn’t seen hide or hair of the Changeling Queen, it would be kind of hard to find her if she was running around disguised as a pony. Who knows what she could be doing that could devastate the entire station and bring more misery upon those who were already miserable, not that she would do it on purpose as far as Rarity could tell. It would mostly be an accident at this point. - “Well there goes another computer.” Chrysalis had asked Opal about computers and whether or not the owner of the store was alive, all the beings around here were too depressed to really worry about the stock and she was trying to learn how to use more complicated forms of technology. She didn’t understand what she had done to make three computers melt, but she was sure it was a good thing. Aside from her current issues, she had Opal send a message back home to Equus to let her people know she was doing fine and hadn’t caught any lethal space born infections yet. Well as lethal as it could get for Chrysalis anyway. “Are these things honestly not designed to melt like this? Because it seems like they were made to melt like that.” “I’m surprised you haven’t burned out the data pad I found for you; then again I’m glad I rewrote the programming in it to handle your rather… special… needs. Considering you’re a computers worst nightmare, that poor data pad needs all the help it can get.” Opal had no problems helping the crew with questionable activities as long as it never got back to Rarity; she was just helping Chrysalis learn how to use a computer properly. At least nobody would miss the computers, that and Opal now knew what Chrysalis’s hobby was. Opal was the only one that knew what Chrysalis was now keeping a secret from all the others in the crew, what they were doing right now wasn’t related to that hobby and said hobby was surprisingly harmless. “I still don’t understand why you’re so secretive about your hobby or why you ran off by yourself to mess with computers.” “Old habits are really hard to kill and I might have been doing some soul searching, but I’m pretty darn proud to say that we Changelings love our traditions. Plus it’s embarrassing that I’m kind of bad with technology, you know, given the kind of age we all live in is full of the stuff that can detect Changeling biology no matter what form we take if you’re looking for it.” Chrysalis was okay with Opal knowing the hobby she chose, technically if anyone wanted to know more about her they would pry deeply into her business as needed. Obviously no one cared to know what she was getting up to badly enough to spy on her except for Opal, she was disappointed to say the least that she wasn’t being spied on. To Chrysalis, Opal was a more interactive version of a hive mind connection that Changelings used. “What I’m doing is technically not illegal and to remind you, I’m a very good politician. Even if I’m caught, they can’t call me out on any wrong doing. I’m still well within the law right now.” “So long as you remember to not take anything off of the premises and I will call you out on that, I still can’t believe that you can get away with this using such an odd loophole.” As long as they weren’t getting into any trouble for it, Opal was alright with Chrysalis getting away with what should have been illegal. She looked up the various laws Chrysalis named and, surprisingly enough, the Changeling Queen was pretty spot on with them and had yet to technically do anything outright worthy of being illegal. It was scary how many laws Chrysalis had memorized and the kind of holes she could poke into them, frankly Opal wouldn’t be surprised to hear Chrysalis had a photographic memory. “I probably could have been a lawyer, but a politician is basically the same thing right?” It wasn’t exactly the same thing, but nobody would be able to stop Chrysalis from thinking as such. She was just having some light fun and she wasn’t hurting anyone, but she was doing some suspect things which required Opal to keep track of her. Just in case Chrysalis eventually did step out of line. If there was one thing Opal would do, it would be to keep an eye on the Changeling Queen like she did with Gilda. Otherwise she decided to drop the current topic of discussion entirely. The so called AI didn’t worry too much about the minor vaguely illegal activities the crew might get up to, but anything too bad would definitely be flagged. She’d immediately tell Rarity or the next most reasonable person she could feasibly contact. She would stop the crew if they started to go pirate… no matter how much fun it would be to be the most fashionably dressed pirates to ever exist. It was easy to say Chrysalis was the strangest and weirdest members of the Shining Jewel’s crew, because she had a very different outlook on things that most would find disturbing. That and she had a tendency to put priorities on her species first and foremost as expected of a Changeling in her particularly royal position. Well at least Chrysalis was weird compared to many other Changelings, at least normal Changelings didn’t have as many varying odd kinks that their queen seemed to have. One would even say that Chrysalis being on the crew endangered the ship, because Chrysalis certainly had enemies and they wouldn’t mind killing a few ponies to hopefully get at her. That made the Shining Jewel a bit of a target for Equus related factions that hated Crystal’s guts. “Trapeze’s show is about to go on, are you going to watch it?” Receiving a lazy shrug to her question, Opal decided to tune in to the show about to start and she saw Gilda’s strange hippie stalker taking the stage. Tree Hugger was always off to Opal and she couldn’t ever quite place her digital claws on why. - “We’re all gathered here today to remember those lost in the great tragedy that befell this space station, we must never forget what happened or those who are now gone.” Tree Hugger was wearing a white gown and a wreath of flowers on her head, she didn’t look particularly upset and she wasn’t particularly happy. At most she seemed solemn from what Gilda could see. “All of you must press forward and try to rebuild your lives; I know many of your friends, family and neighbors are gone, but look at those who are still here beside you. I can’t promise you the road ahead will be easy, but eventually things will get better for all of you who live in this wondrous place built among the stars. If you help each other a little with this pain you are all feeling right now, then it is to everyone’s benefit. I am here to help with that, I will be the first to perform by singing a calming song to help at least ease some of the burden. We can’t dwell on those who are gone forever with what ifs, nor should we ever forget those that have perished. You must carry those you loved in your hearts always and never forget them. For those of you who came to help, let us mourn with these people as one. I will now sing, I ask that everyone be silent as a show of respect for those who have lost so much.” Clearing her throat Tree Hugger, let out a long keening noise from her throat and then it slowly became a very somber, if quite beautiful, wordless aria. She let her voice flow and her feelings on the matter came out, it got to a point that even Chrysalis could feel it even when she wasn’t anywhere near where this was taking place, which got her curious enough to actually come see the show. Tree gave quite a performance that nobody would be able to forget. Tree certainly had a talent for singing, if that was what she was doing; it sounded more like an angel giving voice to lost souls. After she ended her song fading on a slowly dropping note, everyone was quiet as Tree bowed to them before smiling wanly. “Thank you all for your time; it is a precious commodity that we all tend to overlook or take for granted.” Tree walked off leaving many a being mystified. “I believe it is time for the real show to go on. I would like to thank The Performer for allowing me to have some of this time, please let her help lift your spirits.” “She’s really good at singing.” The only sound Greta was going to get from Gilda was a grunt of affirmation to that fact as she stuffed some popcorn into her beak. “That was rather beautiful; there are no words to describe it…” There were tears in Rarity’s eyes and she had to dab them away with a handkerchief levitating in her magic, she then promptly checked her makeup. It was a bit runny, but after that performance nobody would care to take notice. “Right, thank you Lady Tree Hugger for such an incredible performance, it seems SNUGGLES has many talents folks. I am Trapeze Star and first up on the Trapeze Troupe’s schedule, it is Rover and his roving balls!” There certainly had to be a better way to word that, because it left Trapeze sounding like she was Chrysalis. Probably where Trapeze got the idea for the name of the act in the first place and if asked Chrysalis would probably just smile about it. “Come on out my friend!” Trapeze’s costume and top hat looked to be in proper order and they matched, her suit was as eye catching as it was supposed to be. The mare in question rubbed at her eyes as she walked onto the stage she had set up; it made Rarity happy to see that Trapeze looked good. Onto the stage walked Red Rover as Trapeze left; the vest wearing diamond dog sat down the basket filled with colorful balls and smiled as he addressed the audience. “This is Rover’s first time performing, so please excuse me if I am having anxiety problems. I will start off with one.” Rover took a bright shiny purple ball from the basket, he threw it up in the air and it came down bouncing off his nose before it fell to the floor. He rubbed his head thoughtfully as if trying to figure something out. “What was Rover supposed to do when the ball was in the air again? Oh right Rover was supposed to catch it!” The audience actually gave a chuckle at that. Instead of picking the ball up, Rover got another ball from the basket. This one was yellow. He tossed it up in the air and it swiftly fell to the floor behind him. He kept looking up in the air for the ball with his paws held out as if waiting to catch it. “Rover must not know his own strength, he don’t see ball anywhere!” The crowd started laughing some more and the friendly grin widened on Rover’s face. “Rover will get another ball and try to catch that one later when it comes back from orbiting station!” The laughter grew from there and it quieted down when Rover went for his third ball, one that was a classic red color. He eyed the ball suspiciously and scrutinized its surface a bit, so far it sounded like he was going for a comedy act. Only thing was, Rover would actually surprise them all soon enough. “Ms. Star, Rover can’t juggle this one! It makes me uncomfortable.” Rover said plainly, much to the crowd’s confusion. “Well why not? It seems perfectly fine to me.” Trapeze asked she walked back on to the stage to see what the problem was. “It is being too needy for Rover’s taste.” Rover spun the red ball around showing Trapeze the words on the ball that read ‘please love me’ repeatedly scrawled on it and there was a camera putting the words on the big screen. “Sounds fair, try a different one.” With that Trapeze left the stage once more as Rover dropped the ball off to the side and the crowd giggled as he went for another ball, wondering what would be the problem this time. “Rover not having much luck today is he, but who knows? Luck might get better eventually.” He plucked up an orange ball and looked at it, he then started to wave it about in the air as if contemplating letting it go. “Wait, this is not one of Rover’s balls!” To prove his point, Rover peeled the orange and started eating it in front of everyone and after he finished it off he looked to Trapeze for help with the peel. Trapeze came back onto the stage looking a little put out. “If this was an orange, then where did Rover’s orange ball go?” Rover scratched at the side of his head as Trapeze took the scraps of the peel from him and ceremoniously tossed them into her hat. After turning the hat back over, much to the audience’s surprise, the peel scraps didn’t fall back out. She turned away and made for the stairs leading onto the stage. “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure it’ll come up sometime later. Also snacking during a performance, really Rover?” Trapeze just shook her head in disappointment and trotted off. Just when she was about to place the hat back on her head an orange ball fell out and smacked her head, this seemingly startled her badly. In her startled state Trapeze took a tumble down the stairs, that didn’t seem very controlled to anyone but Rarity’s scrutinizing gaze. Rarity surprisingly saw Trapeze expertly juggling the ball as she was tumbling down the stairs leading up to the stage. When she reached the bottom Trapeze flipped onto her back as if by accident. She opened her mouth to say something about her current circumstance, but the orange ball fell into it cutting her off from saying anything. “Oh you found Rover’s lost ball, thank you!” Quickly moving off the stage, Rover took the ball from Trapeze’s sputtering mouth and went back to his position on stage. He dropped the ball on the floor next to the other forgotten juggling balls. He turned towards the last ball in the basket, his fifth ball and he looked upon it reverently. It was a blue ball and he picked it up. “Rover is saving the best of his balls for last!” Squeezing the blue ball it gave off a loud squeak noise that made Rover smile fondly, then he bounced the ball against the floor several times and after a moment he really wowed the audience. The ball hit the purple ball and it bounce with the blue ball into the air, Rover deftly caught them and started to juggle the two simply. Next Rover tossed both balls in his paws down and then started juggling the four balls that came back up, the red ball laid all alone on the floor. Rover hit it with the blue ball, but didn’t catch it to put it in the juggling pattern when it came up; instead he started using the other balls to juggle the red ball into the air above him without ever touching it. It was both an incredible and intricate looking juggling pattern. “Rover is still wary of that ball’s intentions.” The audience was both awed and amused at the statement that Rover made as he expertly juggled all four balls, all of which were working together to juggle the red one in the air themselves. “Rover is almost about done with act, now you see great finisher!” After knocking the red ball skywards and throwing all four balls he was juggling high into the air, Rover leaned to the right holding his arms out straight. His left arm held high and his right low. The balls landed in his left palm and rolled down his arm across his back and off the back of his right paw into the basket in the exact order he picked them out. When they came to a rest the balls noticeably had big black letters on each of them that the audience hadn’t seen previously, they spelled R O V E R. The audience applauded and Rover bowed with a happy grin, he was helping all these upset people feel slightly better. If they thought he was good, then they haven’t seen anything yet. He was just the warm up act after all and Trapeze was far more amazing than he was. He was glad to have met the Boss Lady when he did; he definitely had a new lease on life. Author's Note Now the rest of the act with Bernard and Trapeze or skip it? I'm thinking do the rest of the act, then off to an asteroid field, where there is fun to be had. Rarity is beginning to see more with her special eyes for detail. -69-“So… you’re Sassy Saddles. I swear your name almost sounds Changeling in nature.” Chrysalis wanted to talk to the pony since she saw her floating in medical fluids and the jar with the chunk of metal in it was also neat. “Yes, well, I’ve heard about you. So you are the queen of the Changelings and a complete nuisance to ponies with long hair.” Sassy was currently busy working with Vera on getting her ability to walk back in order, when the Changeling Queen came to bug them in the middle of it. “I suppose Rarity likes you enough that she let you be a part of the crew, though why a queen wants to be a part of this crew I’ll never know.” “Hey, a girl's got to eat you know! Look at it this way, at least I’m not stealing love anymore and hair is a cheap and readily easy resource to acquire. Pony hair also grows back at stupidly fast rates, especially the ponies that have hair hanging down to the tips of their hooves. Plus I’m entirely environmentally friendly, mostly.” The real reason Chrysalis came here to the exercise room was to obviously exercise, but if she could do so while getting to know Sassy. Well that was a bonus, the mare could use some help in getting her hooves under her. “Maybe I could even help you get some exercise; I’m quite the submissive if you want me to be.” “Yes, that’s also another thing I’ve heard that you have a penchant for.” Shaking her head Sassy turned back to Vera who was helping her stand up. “Now where were we Vera?” “I think it’s your back left hoof that’s giving you some trouble, it’s a good thing I’m a physical therapist or else this recovery might've taken longer.” Vera had gotten used to being followed around by one of the drones under Opal’s control and for the most part she ignored its hovering visage constantly pointing at her. One would think Vera would have nightmares about having something like that pointing at her at all hours she was awake, but they’d be wrong. It made her feel kind of important and noticeable, that was all she was asking for and she was receiving it all the time now. “Right, I’m just going to do my own thing over here then.” Walking away Chrysalis looked a bit lonely; she didn’t have a Changeling to boss around. She should have probably brought one of her retainers with her, but they were more sorely needed by Thorax. She stopped when she remembered something. “Hey, that’s right. We have a dragon on board, maybe I can get her to beat me up in a spar! Hey pony hive mind, can you get Ember to come up to the exercise room.” “I’m not a hive mind Chrysalis, but fine I’ll see what I can do. Ember is a paying guest on board our ship and I can’t exactly order her around without her actually being a part of Rarity’s crew.” Opal did have some pull around here, but she was busy with interior decorations that Rarity wanted done to fix up the drabness of the ship and Opal agreed to get on that with what drones she could. “Please don’t get me started with Trapeze’s deal in relation to that, as she actually is a part of the crew.” Opal was also making sure that they were on track and that they’d be at the asteroid field on schedule and hopefully nothing would go wrong. Of course it was an asteroid field they were going to and things tended to go horribly wrong inside of them when it came to big ships, with Rarity’s track record for danger she’d be more surprised if nothing happened. “It wouldn’t hurt to ask would it? I mean I would like to be hurt by asking personally, but you can’t be hurt can you? Such a sad existence, to never know the pleasure of pain or of pleasure as it naturally occurs with strawberry syrup and whipped cream.” After a few moments to think on it Chrysalis realized something was horribly wrong, something she had forgotten. “Oh this is the worst thing ever, who’s going to play Twisty with me later? Lightning is out of it until her ribs get better!” “Maybe you could get a game in with Babs and watch over her for a while. She really needs a lot of emotional support right now and is currently spending time with Coco at the moment.” At least Opal would suggest someone childlike for the Changeling to spend time with; she heard that Chrysalis was good with children and was one of the reasons Changelings couldn’t entirely despise her. “You’d actually trust me around the filly?” The sardonic response came from Chrysalis almost immediately, she was already getting started with a few stretches and preparing for a light workout. “You do realize that I will corrupt her within an hour.” “I’d completely trust that you wouldn’t do anything to harm or kill her, much less endanger her life.” It was interesting to Opal that Chrysalis had a soft spot for children. It made Chrysalis come off as more bizarre to Opal than ever before considering that she wasn’t likely to ever want to carry any children herself. “I heard you were good with nymphs and foals.” “So I may indulge in foal sitting every once and a while, plus Changelings are communal caretakers even if we do have family units.” Changelings would always take care of one of their own in need; Chrysalis was no different in that respect. “I don’t understand why ponies can’t do the same; most nobles are assholes to orphanages. Let me tell you, hurting a child intentionally is one of the easiest ways to get on any Changelings bad side. If pony children don’t grow up to procreate we’d all be down a food source. Sure we might have kidnapped pony children in the past, but we would never do anything permanent to them and usually we stole the most abused fillies and colts we could find. You know, give them a good home and maybe somehow feed them. That part always happened to be the hard thing to do in the badlands.” If Opal were right then Chrysalis would more than likely prefer to impregnate a lover and Changelings definitely had the ability to do so with any gender, it was just unlikely to happen given Chrysalis’s dating history. Meaning Chrysalis didn’t have much of one to speak of, even with all the passes she made at Celestia and Luna, the closest she ever got was marrying Cadence. Changelings were absolutely compatible with ponies and Chrysalis had been sniffing around Celestia and Luna for a long time. At least Chrysalis had the wherewithal to not take someone against their will and was saving herself purely for love, it was rather surprising that she’d wait so long for something that was quite unlikely to happen. - Ember stood back and smiled at herself, a job well done for setting up her own room on Shining Jewel, it only took a few hours. She looked to her old battered and clunky looking armor, her various weapons some of which were stolen off of mercenaries who got too big for their underwear and her collection of Rarity made clothing. Yeah she didn’t own much, but she was happy to have a room on the ship for her to go to. She sat down on the pull out bed and pulled out a bottle of fruit juice, she wasn’t about to drink wine or anything alcoholic as that was just asking for trouble the next time she sneezed. A simple bit of dragon fruit juice was nice, sure it may be bland to some tongues but not hers and it was quite a healthy fruit to imbibe. She would have to refrigerate the bottle afterwards, she was sure that nobody would mind and she’d label the bottle clearly as being hers. Why Mr. Spew was even getting into the spirit of things sitting in a cup of juice himself, he seemed to like the flavor of pitaya as much as Ember did. “Hey Ember, Chrysalis is wondering if you’d be up to a hoof to claw spar.” Opal was delivering Chrysalis’s message, but she decided to add something to it. “Though what I believe is the truth behind this is that she just wants you to beat the ever loving crap out of her.” “Sounds like fun, tell her I’m willing to get into a scrap if she’ll take it a little seriously.” For a moment Ember thought she wouldn’t have anyone to train with, a lot of her skill comes from actual fighting instead of any formal training. She would like to see how much formal training Chrysalis has and could stand to learn a thing or two from the Changeling Queen. - “Well father, I can say that I enjoy being here, but miss wearing the costume and fighting crime at night. I sometimes wake up and just want to throw the costume on.” Saffron had a hero’s heart and saving Antilur Station was making her feel she made a good decision to take Rarity up on her offer. She was still helping people and she could get all the adventures she wanted traveling with the fashion designer's people. “Everything will be alright my dear daughter; your mother was the same way with never being able to settle down when we were dating. As long as you take adventure where you can get it, I’m sure a few sightings of Mare Do Well in space wouldn’t be that bad of a thing.” Coriander moved over to his daughter and brought her into a tight hug. “As long as you have a good heart you’ll always be my little hero, no matter what you do. Your mother would be very proud of you, though she would also be worried about you going into dangerous situations like what I heard about.” “Little… dad I’m taller than you are!” Saffron rolled her eyes and chuckled, as she hugged him back. “You will always by my spicy little curry, no matter how wonderful a mare you’ve grown into being.” Despite how much he worried about his daughter, Coriander knew that as long as he had a good place to cook and mouths to feed he’d be happy. Provided he could look out for his daughter while doing good business. - “That was a wonderful show you put on Trapeze. So do you need any supplies or for me to pick up anything? Will you be getting off at our next stop?” As the captain of the ship Rarity had to see to her crew about getting some time to relax after that last fiasco and getting the charity started up for the people of Antilur Station. The Pie Planetoid Plantations mining operations were a part of Streusel Station; while the Pie family was small they had a lot of pull in the asteroid field and owned the mining and asteroid growing company. It was also home to a famously known baking family known as the Cakes which had a long history on Equus for having the best desserts ever made. “I ask, because Gilda is interested in being on the away list considering she’s been to Streusel Station. So I’m doing my rounds before I get some sleep to see if you want off the ship for a while. Sassy and Babs are already on the list, the slots are going fast.” “Rover would like to go to Streusel Station… this station doesn’t have big bad brain thing right?” Rover had a fearful grin on his face and Rarity just jotted him down. “Then I guess me and Bernard will go too, maybe we could even do a small show.” Trapeze had her hair down and out of the three buns; she and her Troupe had been going over any ways to improve their show safely. They didn’t want to endanger anyone with any of their stunts; otherwise they were all relaxing together. Bernard was playing solitaire on the floor nearby, he looked up from his cards and nodded to them and went back to what he was doing. He didn’t offer up much other than waving his top hat in Rarity’s direction, obviously liking the new chapeau made by Coco. “Well alright then, everyone from the Trapeze Troupe, Gilda, me, Sassy and Babs… only enough room for one more then. Coriander, Saffron, Coco, Greta, Vera and obviously Lightning are going to stay behind, that leaves… asking Chrysalis.” It was up to Rarity to seek Chrysalis out. Ember could come and go at any time, but she’d have to use her own ship for it. Thinking on it, Ember didn’t seem to have any problems with being a guest nor had she asked if she got services from renting a room as a guest aside from the obvious that bathroom and water were free for everyone to use. Quite the opposite, Ember asked if there was anything she could do for Rarity and Rarity didn’t have any chore that Opal couldn’t already handle on her own. “Right then, Opal where is Chrysalis at the moment?” “Currently holding her own against Ember, I’m actually amazed at how tough Chrysalis’s face is. They are in the designated exercise room, deck one.” Watching it in action was far better than telling someone about it and Opal figured Rarity wanted to see it for herself. Chrysalis wasn’t telling lies about knowing multiple fighting styles that her resume reported or being a living meat shield. “They should probably be using the training room on deck two though.” Rarity wondered what her two… well Ember was a friend and Chrysalis was still an acquaintance as far as Rarity was concerned. Then again the Changeling Queen did fight for a good cause, even if she had completely selfish racial focused reasons for doing so, her heart had to be somewhat in the right place at least. - Upon walking through the door to the exercise room, Rarity became a witness to one of the most unusual sights ever. Chrysalis slammed Ember into the floor, only for Ember to roll backwards between Chrysalis’s hind legs and grabbed the Changeling around the waist. Ember rammed the side of Chrysalis’s head into the floor by lifting upwards and falling onto her back, the Changeling’s horn made her take the impact to the side of her skull. “Okay you’re really good, that was quite bone jarring… I like it! At least you have some skill to go along with your brawling.” Only Chrysalis would enjoy head injuries or having her face beaten blue and yellow or the various welts lining her carapace. Ember didn’t look the slightest bit injured, but she was certainly winded judging by the shortness of breath. “So what do you girls think, should she keep going? Oh hello there captain, I was just entertaining our guest and she probably should tell you about the fact that…” Before Rarity could say anything Ember caught Chrysalis with a harsh right hook that looked like she put her full weight into. The blow sent Chrysalis spinning until she was on her side; Sassy and Vera looked positively shocked. Chrysalis slowly got up rubbing at her jaw. “Wow, nice right hook you have there.” Leaning in closely Chrysalis hissed. “Was it because I was going to blow the whistle on your hoard? I don’t mind being coveted, but I’d prefer if it included a date, bondage, a freshly cut ponytail and sex… not specifically in that order mind you.” “How about I pop you across the face the other way?” Whispered Ember quietly, if she was going to eventually tell it to Rarity… and the crew… it would be on her own terms. “Please do, I’ll keep quiet for a while just for the sensation of you setting my jaw back in place.” Chrysalis barely dodged the jab for her nose, but she didn’t dodge the left hook that sent her sprawling on her back. “Did anybody get the number of that donkey cart? You’re good really with hooks from either way, knocked my jaw entirely back into place and everything!” “Dragging heavy bounties or weapons around will put some muscle on you.” Ember preened slightly and smiled, before she added to her statement. “Also I’m a dragon, getting close to one of my kind while sleeping is considered the height of stupidity. At least without a fire extinguisher and something that can actually puncture something as tough as my scales are.” “Hey, you can’t say that I didn’t put up a good fight.” The dragon blushed at Chrysalis’s words; she had been tossing Ember all over the room whenever she got a good grip on her. Ember was definitely stronger than Chrysalis, meaning it was rather embarrassing for Ember to get tossed around as badly as she did by Chrysalis. “You can say that again.” Sassy muttered having watched it in action and she was kind of curious about how Chrysalis redirected Ember’s momentum multiple times, obviously years of practice in close up combat. She could see Ember was not without skill of her own, clearly the dragon had brute force and knowing when to use it completely down. “Ember never over extended herself too much after a point, but I think it was her mostly testing your changing combat style at the drop of a hat.” “Yes, Changelings are very good at changing… who would have guessed?” Chrysalis grinned when she got Sassy to laugh. “You sound knowledgeable; do you know a thing or two?” “I know some kenpo just in case I lose my blade, which hasn’t happened yet.” Slowly taking a few steps forwards, Sassy had Vera with her every staggering step of the way. “I’m really good with a rapier, but I use a chokuto for purposes of not incidentally killing anyone.” “How can you kill someone incidentally?” In answer to Chrysalis’s question Sassy just sloppily thrust her hoof at the Changeling Queen. Chrysalis was standing approximately five feet away and then she was twenty five feet away and sliding down the nearest wall. “Okay, this is a definitive ouch!” “I’m technically gifted with a spear or anything that can be thrust forward, including my bare hooves.” Not even in her top form was Sassy proving to be viable in defending herself; she had trained so she could at least punch through solid wood even while drugged. “I’m really quite dangerous with a rapier. The last time I used one, I caused a hole the size of the rapier’s guard with each thrust. My special talent really translates well into combat as much as making clothes.” “Compensating for something?” Chrysalis wearily stated from a position on the floor. “As a matter of fact, yes, I was a medical bed victim.” Sassy saw a clear wince cross Chrysalis’s face. Whether it was from the pain of her sloppily thrown hoof thrust or that she was a victim of something so heinous, Sassy couldn’t tell exactly. “I take it I should never appear in front of you as a male then.” There were horrible things done to people in medical beds and Chrysalis gave it some thought. Chrysalis figured since Sassy didn’t look like she had parts of herself forcibly removed and replaced with machinery or cybernetics, then it was obviously the other way to victimize someone with a medical bed when it wasn’t horrific surgery and experimentation. There was a thing about making passes at a sexual victim being a bad idea for a Changeling to do, especially if the Changeling were to ever unintentionally take the form of the abuser and or make light of the abuse that happened. She really wanted to sympathize with Sassy, sex should be an act of pleasure with someone you cared about and it should be consensual. With Changelings consent needs to be given at least through a hive link and Chrysalis was wary of opening hers up after missing the glaring problem in having an open hive mind. “Yes, if you must approach me in some fashion affectionately, then do so while you are yourself. You are a far sight more pleasant to be around than any male I will ever see.” As unintentionally attracting as the statement was, Sassy probably should not have said that around Chrysalis. This was the first open invitation Chrysalis had in a while to seek a real relationship with someone and Sassy quite a few attractive qualities that Chrysalis liked. One Sassy’s fur color was blue. Two Sassy’s mane was long enough to fit Chrysalis’s taste and it looked to be a nice flavorful color hanging down to her chest. Three Sassy had a really nice accent going for her. Four and the real selling point to Chrysalis, Sassy had a really nice looking butt with a long glorious looking tail sticking out of it. For someone who had been on the mend for at least a month, it looked quite firm with a bit of squish to it and Chrysalis wanted to touch it. Shaking her head Chrysalis was going to try and pursue this as slowly as possible and not just blurt out the first thing that came to mind, that would be entirely dumb and Chrysalis was anything but dumb as the Queen Changeling. “So do you want to get some snacks together?” Okay asking for a get snacks wasn’t so bad; maybe Chrysalis for once wouldn’t go all out in trying to get attention. “Or you could make me the snack because I’m delicious!” Chrysalis slapped her hooves over her mouth, for once in her long life, mortified at where it went and she didn’t want to scare Sassy away until at least halfway through their first date. Surprisingly Sassy didn’t look the least bit angry, but she did seem curious and her orange glowing eyes scrutinized Chrysalis a moment before she chuckled. Rarity and Vera were both staring at Chrysalis wondering why she looked flustered, when usually she was the one flustering others. Already having a look of understanding on her face, Ember took one solitary glance towards Sassy to see what her response to that would be. “I wouldn’t mind getting some snacks, but you’d have to help me get there.” It was up to Sassy on how to take that comment Chrysalis belted out, she had taken it that Chrysalis obviously meant it to be more friendly than sexual. “I’m not sure I could really walk too far and I’d prefer the wheelchair to the crutches, so if you could help get me around when we reach… Streusel Station was it? I’d of course be happy to call you my friend; you’re already friends with Rarity-sama.” “Sure… say, what’s the first thing you focus on when you look at a mare?” In one word for Chrysalis, it would be their butts, followed by mane and tail since it became more important to her, then eyes and the general fitness for a mate. “Their personality of course, what is the mare like and how well does she get along with others? Outward appearances aren’t everything, though it doesn’t hurt to take pride in one’s own image and I no longer care as much about mine given what it led to.” Those were some interesting magic words from Sassy, it let Chrysalis knew she had a chance to go down this avenue and she would definitely do that. “What may look like the poorest pony, might actually be the wealthiest pony where it counts.” “Ten bits says Chrysalis falls for her.” Surprisingly it came from Rarity, who thought that the moment between the two was rather cute… in its own unique way. If Chrysalis thought she could make it work between them, then Rarity wasn’t about to stop her from trying. She wasn’t going to get in the way of Sassy’s preferences and Chrysalis seemed alright… enough. She wouldn’t mind if they started dating, if Chrysalis could make Sassy happy. “That would be a suckers bet Rarity, Chrysalis has a history of falling for various ponies of strength and fortitude only to never get anything out of a relationship other than friendship.” It would surprise Vera if Chrysalis managed to succeed in getting Sassy’s attention in a special romantic way, Sassy was afraid of romance after almost hurting Rarity and Coco. As such Sassy probably wouldn’t consider it and might accidentally lead Chrysalis on, Vera didn’t voice this however. “Which apparently changelings can feasibly survive on as it is a weak form of love, but Sassy still has that problem where she can’t exactly handle romance correctly.” “Really, she seems stable and normal enough to me.” If Ember could see a problem coming, then it would definitely be on Chrysalis’s end as the Changeling Queen was a bit crazy. “If anything I’d think it was Chrysalis who would have the problem starting anything with anyone.” “Oh listen to us, we’re already gossiping like a bunch of old nags. Just so long as it doesn’t cause trouble on my ships, then things will be alright.” At least Rarity was open to the idea of her friends being able to find romance, while she personally couldn’t find a good stallion if it killed her. Ember wondered if keeping her hoard in order would be a bigger problem than she originally thought. - “My Pinkie senses are a tingling… I’m in a story! No wait, that one was a false positive… new people are about to come to the station along with someone who enjoyed my baked goods previously… yippee!” A pink happy pony danced on her hooves excitedly. “Are you sure they’re friendly?” An angry mare stated as she walked up to the pink peppy pony carrying heavy weapons on her back. “The writer of this story… well I’m not sure really.” The pink pony rubbed at her chin thoughtfully. “Not that, the visitors you said we’d be getting!” The angry mare was in the pink ponies face. “Oh…. well why didn’t you say so, I’m sure I’ll be best friends with the people of this new ship in no time!” The pink pony seemed rather manic in her glee. “Please don’t tell me our sister is about to go overboard again, the station has recovered from the last time she threw a party at us.” The quiet mare came up to the angry and happy mares with a frown and was busy trying not to look anyone in the eyes. She didn’t want to accidentally upset anyone. “Who knew you could throw the physical representation of a whole party at people hard enough to cause injuries?” “I sure didn’t and I was completely sorry about that.” The pink pony seemed to dial back the hyper active caffeine high that she seemed to be on. “Besides my senses tell me these are good people coming to visit. You all know what that means!” “That they possibly have rocks for Boulder to commune with.” The calm mare of the group seemed to be emotionally flat when she finally spoke up, with very little going for her as far as expressions were concerned. “That I get to use my plasma grenade launcher and can get started on immediately blowing everyone up!” The angry mare shouted in a still rather angry tone. “That they won’t try to talk to me and will allow me to just sculpt something in quiet solitude?” The quiet mare seemed hopeful that this was the answer. “No, you bunch of sillies. We’re going to throw them a welcoming party!” The pink mare bounced up and down while the other three just watched her, one with angry eyes, one with calm eyes and one with quiet eyes. “What if they don’t want one of your parties?” The quiet one asked. “Are you kidding me, who doesn’t enjoy a good party thrown by yours truly?” The pink mares smile could have cut her head in half. “Boulder says you’re about to go overboard again.” The calm mare pointed out in a lazy sounding tone. Author's Note Will fix it later, Pinkie Pie should be a German Shepard. -70-A smiling Coco finished making the last modification to another battery utility equipped impulse saddle. It may seem like boring work to others, but she thought it was exciting to work on improving an old design and her old design was still the staple of the EVA suit business. Now that she had finished building up their stock of impulse saddles, she found herself without something to do. While Coco could have told Rarity she changed her mind, she didn’t and instead decided to stick with staying on the ship when they finally reached Streusel Station. She was going to try and spend some time with Greta and Saffron, she was a bit meek when it came to spending time with others and her hobby was actually doing more work. She felt like she had to earn the paycheck she was receiving and she hoped the others had just as good work effort, Rarity was putting a lot of money into Shining Jewel and the strange crew it currently had. Chrysalis was being a popular example bandied around when it comes to conversation topics on what was weird, but weird wasn’t exactly a bad thing. “Opal, can you tell Saffron and Greta that I want to spend some time with them as soon as we reach the station?” Stretching her spine out, there was a quite an audible pop from her back. “Also I forgot her name, but can I get the masseuse to come too? I’m trying really hard to keep her in mind, she’s my friend and I don’t want to forget she exists.” “Her name is Vera and yes I can arrange that, also you’re not the only one trying hard to keep her in mind. If it weren’t for the signs Rarity wrote telling you that she existed, I’m pretty sure we’d all forget she was there. The exception would be my wonderful and beautiful mother of course.” Things were calm throughout the ship and Rarity was currently discussing the trip to Streusel Station in the middle of the asteroid field owned by Pie Planetoid Plantations. “Any reason in particular why you didn’t want to get off the ship? I would like to state that I’m kind of surprised that you aren’t going to continue overworking… you finished them all didn’t you… how do you find the time to stock that many?” “I make the time and I work tirelessly. My reasoning is that I don’t feel like having another random Rarity adventure quite so soon.” Coco turned towards the nearest image of the lithe white cat with pink hair. “Plus I was, as you have just noticed, out of things to do. I feel kind of awful about it… can I get a pay cut. I think I’m being paid too much for doing so little.” “I think you really need a special some pony or at least someone more qualified than me to tell you to find something to do that isn’t work or trying to be helpful. You need to relax. Also you’re definitely being paid the correct amount and should be given a pay raise for that kind of work effort alone… you’re almost as bad as Rarity in that respect.” Opal wondered if it would kill Coco to do her job even a little bit slower. Nobody would know the answer as Opal saw that Coco had finished making hundreds of premade impulse saddle and the various utilities for them that could be added into each saddle at a moment’s notice. It was quite befuddling and Opal didn’t know what to say on the subject. “How about you start making clothing for other people to peruse? You know, stock clothing articles for anyone or anything. Maybe some things like a nice hat, socks or even some cute shirts with my image on them as I’m willing to work licensing deals for my appearance. We kind of have a problem when it comes to the premade market to show people what we can exactly do in Rarity’s chosen profession of pursuing the fashion industry, made to order isn’t always going to work you know. As for the best idea, make a really regal looking dress to show off our stuff.” “As long as it’s not illegal, like selling trademarked images we don’t have the rights to, then I’ll get right on that dress until it’s time to have some fun.” If she thought hours of mind numbing work was fun, which included things such as orienting parts of a device the same way in the same manner of repeated monotony, then yes Coco’s life was very fun. Stamina and Endurance was never a problem for Coco, which had helped out quite a bit on Antilur Station. Even then Coco still felt like she hadn’t done nearly enough for what was one of her best friends. “I wonder what I, Saffron, Greta and Masseuse can do together? Oh and thanks for helping me with all this Babs.” “No problem Ms. Pommel, I kind of needed this.” Fussing with her hair slightly Babs really couldn’t sit by and do nothing. Coco never asked for help and Babs had never seen such effort, she really needed something to do with her hooves anyway and decided to assist Coco to get her mind off of things. “Also I think the computer is right, at least I think it’s a computer. You really need to find something that isn’t work, can you make a hat for me…” “For such a sweet filly like you, well of course I can honey!” Affectionately nuzzling the filly, Coco decided she had a commission for window shopping and a filly needing a hat. “What kind of hat though. If you don’t know types of hats, then you can give me a general idea of how you want it to look or you can trust me to make a hat befitting your adorable looks.” - “We’re dropping jump in ten minutes everyone, this is not a drill. If it were a drill, then Gilda would probably be using it for something far more interesting. No Chrysalis, I was not going to suggest something that vibrates and can be inserted in a particular place. Anyway, people disembarking for the Streusel Station should head to Caravel Boutique twenty minutes from now and if we’re going to make some sales, then Coco better start loading the its cargo room.” This announcement was met with several people preparing to head for Caravel Boutique and Opal continued to converse with the crew. “Yes, I’m quite serious… okay how can that have possibly upset or even trigger you Chrysalis? Anyway, I will confirm the station doesn’t have any viruses, killer monstrosities on the loose or anything else related to a really bad infestation before I will even think of letting the Caravel Boutique go. We do need to at least make some headway into the asteroid field before we reach the station. Yes, yes, Shields coming up, I’m not powering weapons unless we really need them. Now let’s hope we don’t have bad luck like the last few times we visited some place!” - The Shining Jewel came out of jump outside the asteroid field. Waiting five seconds for anything bad to happen and when nothing did, Opal decided to try contacting the station inside of the asteroid field. Sure some of the asteroids were humongous, but there wasn’t much danger at the moment and Opal was tense and ready for anything to happen. It was kind of a disappointment when nothing did, but the shields did get hit by a small asteroid or two. “This is Shining Jewel, calling Streusel Station. Are you there?” Calling out to the void among the many floating rocks in space was a bit unnerving, especially if you didn’t get a response that Opal was currently hoping for. “This is Streusel Station, we see you Shining Jewel. What is the nature of your visit?” The voice of a communications person caused a sigh of relief in the AI. “Be warned our station may be small, but there’s a reason space pirates won’t come within a spitting distance of this particular asteroid field.” “We’re visiting for three things, the first is that we have a troupe as part as our crew manifesto and they want to do some small performances. The second thing is that we want to sell our wares and we specialize in clothing and unique EVA suits, access to our sales site will be available during our stay here. We will also give some advanced notice before we cut off our sales menu and we will be seeing to all purchases professionally before we leave. As for the last thing, we’re here for some relaxation. We just came from Antilur Station and it was hit with a nasty monstrosity that wiped out more than half the populace by the time we arrived. We‘ve dealt with the problem, but Antilur Station can use all the good cheer it can get.” There was a sad hum on the other end of the line and Opal lowered her eyes at that. “Before you ask Antilur Station is currently safe, it’s swarming with SNUGGLES members though and I can easily say the station sorely needs them right now. May we have permission to dock a small ship in your station and park ourselves around here?” “Yes, docking here is free and we have plenty of available space at the moment. Park your larger ship where you want, just watch out for asteroids. What classification of ship will you be docking with us?” The communications person sounded like he had a good head on his shoulders. “Also can you send us the information of those who were lost in this Antilur Station crisis that you’re speaking of, I think we may have a few people who would like to know about it.” “Light cargo transport, it would be a hopper specifically.” Things were going so well Opal couldn’t almost believe that exactly nothing had gone wrong thus far. “Again, we specialize in made to order clothing and unique EVA suits, we also have some premade clothes at ridiculously fair prices for those who wish to browse. Rarity’s Rarities welcomes any customer and we don’t judge by covers, except maybe one of our number. Medical bed incident, so you’d have to forgive her if she hates any male that walks within thirty feet of her. We don’t do skin based products like leather.” “Right all the records we’re receiving look accurate and I’m having the stations AI Gummy look them over and he’ll contact the proper people, but be warned that one of the Pie sisters will have it in for you as soon as your people board the station.” That sounded rather ominous and the stations current communications worker was quiet for a time. “Could you clarify that more for me please, it sounds like we should have ourselves armed and ready for a fight. After that debacle on Antilur I would prefer it if we had a quiet visit.” Opal stopped and considered Babs feelings as well. “We could really use a quiet time. One of the reasons why is that we currently have a filly that can’t exactly handle any excitement, especially not after she lost her parents on Antilur. She is currently our guest that we are taking to her cousins in the Applon System. We were already heading in that direction anyway and she needs some time off the ship to spread her legs. There is one thing I would like to ask, is Gummy still doing that epileptic tree thing?” “The Pie sister is nothing too bad really, but it sounds like she’s about to go overboard again. To think our station has recovered from the last time and she literally threw it at us all. Also sorry to hear a filly lost her parents, I’m guessing she’s still in the grieving phases and it would not be a good idea for her to meet the Pie sister I’m talking about.” There was a bunch of grumbling and the communications person spoke up again. “It sounds like she’ll be doing a bunch of upsetting things if she manages to get her plans off the ground, I’ll try to keep her away from your group and the hanger I’m going to have them dock in. She’s a nuisance and easily excitable, but she’s kind of the sweetheart of Streusel Station even if she goes too far in trying to make people smile. I’m sorry about her if she does cause you some problems, but there is nothing I can do about it if she’s determined to cause trouble. Even her sisters can barely contain the pink one and the Cake and Pie families own the general region of space around here, so my talons are kind of tied on the issue. As for Gummy… yeah, he does it from time to time and since you know him I’m guessing you might know his creator? She’s the issue I’m talking about here. The epileptic tree thing is always disturbing.” “I was afraid it was her and was hoping it was some other Pie you were talking about. Would it help if I said I had an idea of someone that could distract her? We have a bounty hunter here that wouldn’t mind some tender love and care. I can’t actually say that with a straight face.” If there was going to be a problem with the pink, then the giggling Opal could plan around it. “Anyway she’s our paying guest and she’s not part of the crew, so we could possibly distract this problem you’re talking about, if this is in fact who I think it is.” “What’s the bounty hunters name? We could use her services, we’ve been having problems with a local rabble rouser in the station, he could use a beating and a lot of the station’s residents would welcome the problem being brought in.” The communications operator sounded more congenial. “Also if you’re thinking its Pinkie Pie, then yes. You’re about to find out that she is nothing if not determined to make sure everyone who ever comes to Streusel Station gets a party and she’s really quite bad about it.” “Rarity, code Pinkie, I repeat code Pinkie! Sorry for that, I just had to warn my m… friend that we’re meeting ‘HER’ again. I was hoping that it was some other Pie sister that you were talking about, one that doesn’t scream panic because the laws of physics are being broken every five seconds.” Opal became slightly embarrassed, but she knew they were going to run into Pinkie. Pinkie was a Pie and the four Pie sisters were well known in this section of space. Speaking of space, they were going to purchase gems, jewels and crystals for various reasons, the biggest one being that things are cheaper at their source and you can’t get closer to the source than an asteroid field. “We- have a rather specific set of guidelines in case we ever ran into her again. As for the name of our bounty hunter passenger, her name is Ember Mcflame.” “Flamethrower, well that’s definitely sounds like overkill for the problem we have. We’ll hire her anyway and I think she’ll be enough to keep Pinkie busy for a while as well. Well at least long enough for all of your people to scatter in the station.” The communications officer could be heard making clacking noises, apparently he was typing something. “Right I’ll send you the hangar coordinates when you arrive, names Stan Dard by the way. Welcome to Streusel Station and whatever you do, don’t group up or Pinkie will party you and I mean that literally. If she’s going to throw you a party, she’s going to want all of you in one place when she does.” “We’ll keep that in mind Mr. Dard.” Cutting the connection to the station Opal turned her attention to where Ember was. “Oh Ember~… could you do a small favor for us? Apparently Streusel Station has a small rabble rouser problem they need you to take care of and we need you to go on ahead of us, for reasons that will become obvious to you later.” - “So has Ember docked yet?” Rarity didn’t dislike Pinkie Pie; it was just that Pinkie Pie was just too much to handle at times. They were waiting on the Pyrrhic Victory to attract Pinkie’s attention and then they’d dock with the station and get off scott free without having to deal with her immediately . “Confirmed and Pinkie is in Ember’s hangar, going in now!” With that the Caravel Boutique quickly moved for the empty hangar under Opal’s guidance and landed. “Sorry Ember, but it was either you or Rarity and I’m biased like crazy. So Gummy, I can see you became a stations AI, how have things been and can you help me figure out how to set up a straight pony with an ambiguous dragon?” The three groups were the Trapeze Troupe group, Chrysalis’s triple troubled group and Rarity and Gilda who were going to explore around and do some shopping. As for what was going on with Ember. - “So welcome, welcome to Streusel Station and I hope you have a great time! I, Pinkie Pie, will make sure of it!” Pinkie Pie, the pink menace, was on top of Ember. Pinkie had bowled Ember over in her exuberance to greet the newcomers to the station. She was about to start up another tirade when she paused all of the sudden and a shudder traveled throughout her body. “There’s been a disturbance in the force… and I didn’t cause it! I wonder how I would look in black, I know for a fact that the dark side has cookies. Hopefully this story has a muffin button somewhere, it’s science fiction after all. Now why would my Pinkie Sense say that I’ve missed something?” “Could you please get off of me now? You’re kind of making Mr. Spew angry and he’s deadly when he starts spewing everywhere.” Nobody would say that Ember wasn’t constantly aware of the danger Mr. Spew presented and he was currently raising his tentacles rather threateningly and clacking his beak loudly. “I’d rather he not drool all over my shirt with something caustic enough to eat through my scales.” Mr. Spew was getting quite angry at the pony who messed with his favorite perch and the only reason he hadn’t attacked yet was mostly because Pinkie wasn’t being a real threat. Any intentional threat against his perch would be met with deadly bodily fluids. “Oh, sorry, here are cupcakes for the both of you! This one is for the squid and this one is for you dragon person I’m going to rudely leave sitting here in a moment after I’m done figuring out what’s wrong here.” Unceremoniously Pinkie Pie, the completely pink mare or well at least completely pink in the sense of varying shades of it not accounting for her blue and yellow balloon cutie mark, dropped two wrapped cupcakes onto Ember’s chest. Pinkie stared at the cupcakes a bit and then an imaginary exclamation point only she could probably see appeared above her head. “Wait a minute… my Pinkie Sense specifically stated that someone who has enjoyed my baked goods before would be present! It’s a trap… no, is it someone got my goat friend? That still doesn’t seem right… oh wait, I know what it is, I’ve been tricked! I’ll come back and party you later.” Mr. Spew hopped forward and took up the peace offering meant for him and held it above his head in two tentacles, he then hopped off to the side to not mess up Ember’s shirt and his beak went to work on the sugary treat. He was certainly very thoughtful for not getting any crumbs on his perch. Ember looked at the cupcake and wondered just how exactly fast the pink mare was, considering she left behind a smiling afterimage. Ember thought that the mare was crazy and probably needed psychological help. “I hope that’s not the rabble rouser. I’ll wait for you to finish your cupcake Mr. Spew; hopefully this job will be an easy one.” The sewer squid cooed at Ember’s statement and seemed to agree with that sentiment, turning to her own cupcake Ember bit into it and felt her teeth mowing something crunchy. Apparently she had gotten a cupcake filled with emerald chunks; it was decent. Ember wasn’t worried about being poisoned by the crazy mare, it smelled alright enough. “Not bad, but needs better quality emerald chunks and it could be a little bit dryer. I guess it’s time to go see what they are hiring me to deal with, it probably won’t be dangerous enough for me to even need my rifle.” - “We kind of threw Ember under the bus didn’t we?” Having heard that one of them was needed Gilda volunteered to come with Rarity on this excursion. The station was smaller than Antilur, but its populace wasn’t heavily devastated and the streets were calm filled with meandering people and Gilda thought she saw a familiar looking griffon among them carrying something. “So what did you need to talk to me about Boss Lady?” “I’m sure Ember will be just fine and I would feel sorry for the bus, in any case Pinkie is not dangerous. You’re a very smart individual Gilda and so is Greta; we’ve been recently running into a lot of problems that require me to finally acquiesce to Opal’s requests for better protection. What I need will only be made available to our crew members.” Pausing Rarity saw the Gilda was looking at her sideways with a quirked eye. “I’m talking better defensive applications. I was wondering if we’d have to go with heavy plating for our EVA suits or if you can possibly create a portable force field generator.” “Okay, I can see where this is going, but let me tell you that personal shield generators are really tricky to make. I don’t think I can make one small enough, not even to fit on an impulse saddle.” As an afterthought Gilda had to add. “Though I wouldn’t say armor plating is any better, too heavy, the current EVA suit design works quite well for what it is and I wouldn’t mess with that. What exactly are you asking of me here? This doesn’t sound to be in my area of expertise.” “Well you two are the geniuses of the crew and I was thinking of something along the lines of say… powered armor?” With those two words Rarity had gained Gilda’s undivided interest. “I would of course have to help in the design; I would like powered armor that could work in space and be useful for more dangerous situations. It would be rather nice considering how many situations we’ve run into and you can mechanically engineer the suit with all the bells and whistles.” “And you just gave me the best idea for the design of my dream fighter just like that…” Spoke Gilda blankly as her eyes were wide and there was a certain gleam to them. “Now, if we weren’t just improving the design on the EVA suits and we were actually building powered armor that could handle any situation, well that would be much more doable for me and Greta. In fact get me, you, Greta, Coco and maybe Sassy… heck, let’s make a think tank of it later. As for right now, weren’t we in the middle of doing something else?” “Correct, it’s time to do some shopping! I have the list right here of the things we might want to procure.” Pulling out her trusty data pad Rarity showed it to Gilda who took it and started adding things to it. “What are you doing?” “Adding to the list, we’re going to need more supplies if we’re going to make powered armor. How many did you think we would make?” Gilda thought Rarity was a prissy unicorn, but she had a good head on shoulders for clearly awesome things. As such she was behind this idea one hundred percent. “Most of the stuff we have right now is for building larger vehicles or making repairs to what we already have, we’re going to need smaller parts for what you have in mind. I already have a few ideas of how to make it work. While we could craft the parts from what we have, I’d prefer to buy more stuff. I’ll do it from my own wallet too; I really want to see this happen.” “I was thinking of at least several suits, one for Sassy, one Mare Do Well flavored suit for Saffron, one for me and one for both you and Greta.” Rarity thought of Chrysalis and decided against it, the Changeling Queen was obscenely hard to kill as it was already. “We will of course only use them for emergencies and or training in the use of them for said emergencies.” “Sure you will, emergencies, right... though I can honestly see why you’d want something more armored after Lightning took that crushing blow to the chest. You’ve survived through some of the craziest crap I’ve ever seen and you seem like a magnet for it…” That was something Gilda had to really think on, she of course couldn’t see anyone not abusing powered armor. Still powered armor was totally awesome and she was going to endeavor to make some for at least the Boss Lady and Saffron, mostly Saffron because she wanted to see what their resident vigilante could do with it. “Well technically Ewesen happened a while after you arrived, Equus was going to happen regardless of our presence and we were just whistle blowers and then there’s Antilur Station, but that was before we got there. There was Greta and me, probably can’t thank you enough for that and that was after you survived what could have been a fatal whiplash incident. The pirates were premeditated plan to capture you and steal your stuff, I guess none of it is your fault and you’ve been mostly reacting to the situations as best you can.” “Thank you, I do try to keep living while retaining my generous nature. Mind you I find trouble more often than it finds me, but I would like to state for a fact that I am a lady and after all the trying things I’ve been through…” Rarity moved her face closer to Gilda’s. “Well it requires a lady to be more enduring than the toughest diamond. Speaking of, did you know that diamonds aren’t really worth that much and are incredibly common? That’s what I think of myself constantly, diamonds are only coveted because of marketing ploys and for tools. Do you think I’m common or a tool Gilda?” “If you were a tool of impending danger, then maybe I would say yes and common you aren’t! You may not be a commando Rarity, but a commando would find walking a mile in your shoes quite difficult and you’re doing fine for the most part in leading our particularly merry band.” The sarcastic tone as she said the word, ‘merry’, didn’t do Gilda any favors. She put an arm around Rarity and brought her into a loose hug and gave her unicorn friend a smile. “Look at it this way; you’re the Boss Lady for a good reason. You’re a tough diamond that looks polished to perfection and can stand the pressure from all sides, plus you’re not afraid to get rough when you need to. We’re all coarse diamonds in comparison.” “I believe I’m just as coarse as the rest of you are, but I believe we still shine despite our imperfections and it’s those imperfections that make us interesting. At the end of any day, I’m glad you’re all still my friends despite said imperfections. My suits were made to protect you in most environmental situations and not just space, function is the very idea behind them and I’m actually a mare of form. Well I think I should be a mare of form, but I think my idea of beautiful is becoming quite twisted by my crew.” Rarity wrapped a hoof around Gilda’s back in return. “I just happen to hold myself to a better standard than most Gilda; I strive to be beautiful and to present myself to the world as something worthy to be looked at, at least something a little better than shiny worthless diamonds.” “Let me just say this, you are trying way too fucking hard Rarity, but I can appreciate that given Greta is doing the same thing and I’m certain the rest our friends do too. How about we try this shop right here for the stuff I need?” It looked like a junk shop and Gilda would choose such a place. Rarity gave the shop a slight grimace as she saw the dirty décor inside, Gilda just smirked at the mare. Rarity might not like filth or junk, but Gilda thrived in it with all the oil stains she gets covered in. “I’m kind of surprised we all get along as well as we do. I pegged us all for getting on each other’s nerves badly enough to start going at each other’s throats like rabid dogs weeks ago. I guess all that free space on Shining Jewel is good breathing room.” “Gilda… I’m not giving up my routine of looking fabulous, you do know this right?” Rarity stopped at the door and held it open for the griffon. “Wouldn’t have you any other way Boss Lady and thanks for being the sappy, if lovely, pony that signs my paychecks.” Going inside Gilda started looking about in delight for some stuff she could use, one of the few rare occasions Gilda ever looked happy. “You know, if I were any other pony, I would have definitely docked your pay by now.” Sighing loudly and entering after the griffon, Rarity knew she wouldn’t dock any pay. Gilda did really good work and was a creative individual. In fact, now that Rarity thought of it, she has practically surrounded herself with a lot of rather creative individuals. Author's Note Gilda and Rarity had a meaningful conversation... I think. -71-“Ah ha, I’ve caught you two red handed, thought you could get out of…” Pinkie started up as she ran into Rarity and Gilda. “I have hooves Pinkie.” Rolling her eyes, it was obvious to Rarity that Pinkie hadn’t changed very much from when she last saw her. Pinkie was still as hyper as she ever was and Rarity was hoping she could avoid the worst of this mare, she planned everything out preemptively and knew exactly how to deal with her. “I have talons, claws and paws, but no hands here jerk face.” Gilda had finished buying a sufficient amount of supplies and was waiting outside the shop to get some help transporting her goods. “...” Pinkie just silently stared at them intensely and looked to Gilda’s rear paws and front talons and then slowly she slides her gaze along to Rarity’s hooves. “You win this time… so it’s you two. One who’s never been here before and one the other who has enjoyed my pastries before. Only something still does not seem right about all this. It’s nice to see you again Rarity, I’m sure Gummy is having all kinds of fun with Opal. It’s also nice to see you too Gilda, but can you tell me what I’m missing. For some reason I can’t throw a party just for you two, it wouldn’t seem right for some reason.” “In just nine words, we split up our group.” She had said exactly nine words and as such Gilda couldn’t be called out on anything and it seemed that she has left the pink pony speechless. Pinkie paused for a long time and then her left eye started twitching. The junk shop owner, a male Cacceran with mostly dominant fox features, came out and looked to see Pinkie’s eyes twitching. “Okay, what did she do this time? Pinkie is a sweet pony, but she’s a bit crazy to deal with for any stretch of time.” The Cacceran had been getting things in order and he would have Ms. Gottfrieda’s stuff transported to the Caravel Boutique, he would make sure it all gets there too personally. “I believe we have just performed a mental clothesline on her, usually she confuses others with her zany antics. However we just confused her with calm logic and she obviously can’t handle that.” Deciding to expunge further on what she meant, Gilda laid it out for the shop owner she had done business with. “What we’ve basically done is split into three separate groups and knowing how Pinkie works, she won’t be able to get us all in one place for a party and it will drive her nuts. We also sent a friend of ours to act as a decoy to distract her long enough to split into said groups. We’ve made it impossible for her to throw a surprise party, because now she has to actively invite us collectively to come to a party and we can decline. As a side note our friend would have to be a part of the party as she technically counts as a fourth group all her own, so for Pinkie to have her party she’d have to get all of us together. She probably left our friend behind to search for us once she figured out she’s been tricked into missing us while we were grouped up, now she has to deal with the fact that our friend is also now a wandering group herself.” “Thanks for warning me I should tell the important people on this station to watch out for Pinkie going nuts… again…” The Cacceran crossed his arms and stared at Pinkie’s twitching eye. “I hope she doesn’t explode, wouldn’t have that on my conscious.” “I’ll be back, mark my words I will throw you and your friends a big party!” After pointing her pointedly pink party propagating hooves at them, Pinkie dashed off to look for the other groups that these two were a part of that had split up. Mark her words; she would give them a party they would never forget! She mentally noted to get the dragon and her squid in on it as well while she was at it, mostly because Gilda mentioned them as being friends and Gilda was too grumpy to make too many friends. “Well now, I can see Pinkie is certainly as exasperating as she always is.” Rarity turned to Gilda and smiled fondly at her mechanical engineer; she shook her head in amusement and gave off an airy laugh. “Never a boring moment around her is there darling?” “Nope, but if we can avoid her well enough, then we won’t be forced into a party she’s cooking up and I’m quite sure she’s almost willing to start wars over parties. I have a good judgement of her character and the worst she could do is waste our time or be a huge time sink from which there is no escape.” Gilda had a good reading of Pinkie’s personality and she was a lot like Greta, only five times worse and far more annoyingly peppy, at least Greta was tolerable to be around for prolonged periods of time and could take a hint. The one thing Pinkie was really good at was baking tasty nostril attracting snacks. “She’ll basically make us enjoy the party or else she’ll either get horribly depressed or more frantic to make us happy, depends on her mood and right now it’s more likely the latter but could switch over to the former at a moment’s notice if we keep pushing her buttons. At least now we’ve left her with a conundrum of how to get us all in one place when we’re split up and in several different locations throughout the station. We have some free time for until we launch our little surprise and she doesn’t look like she’s going to take no as an answer when it comes to wanting us at the party she wants.” “She hardly ever does accept or even understand that particular two letter word.” There were some fond memories that Rarity had of Pinkie; most of them were when Pinkie was more calm and less like she was a caffeine addict that drank one hundred cups of coffee. “She’s a bit of a brat, but that mostly has to do with her cutie mark and special talent. If it’s alright with you, I think we need to secure your supplies and get them back to the boutique. Remind me again, did we tell the others we were going to ferry supplies over to Shining Jewel several times?” “Yes, we did. Come on Boss Lady, after we secure this stuff we’ve got more shopping to do and maybe in a store you’d appreciate more than I would.” With that they were off with a box loaded with everything Gilda picked up and the Cacceran was personally with them every step of the way to make sure the transaction went as it was supposed to. Rarity did like her shopping, just so long as it isn’t in any grimier looking stores covered in dirt and threatening to ruin her pristine looking coat. Well at least it was cheap, but rather useful junk. Junk that could be made into something by the crafting expertise that Gilda and Greta showed. She would forever prefer a pristine looking store, but she couldn’t say the Cacceran wasn’t a gentleman about helping them move the massive amounts of parts Gilda just bought. As they were going about that, Rarity decided to message Sassy a warning about the pink party pony being on the prowl, positively looking to party them with everything she had. It was unfortunate for the pink pony that Rarity was going to counter her in a surprising way, the surprise would take a while to set up and the other two groups will have to keep Pinkie’s attention. - “This park is kind of nice. It’s been a while since I’ve been around nature, even if it’s on a space station.” Streusel Station had a quaint park and Sassy was sitting off to the side watching as Chrysalis interacted with Babs, they were frolicking through the trees and the grass being grown in a controlled environment. The filly was quite happy to spend some time with the shape shifter, especially after the Chrysalis showed her that she can take on the appearances of others. It was kind of sad that the filly wanted Chrysalis to take on the form of either of her parents just so Babs could pretend they were still there for her in a physical sense. Babs just wanted to spend some more time with them in the flesh while she could, even though the filly knew that the faces of her mother or father were false. “I really needed this; being stuck in medical for as long as I was will have Luna visiting me for quite a while and confiding in the Masseuse is not nearly enough for how traumatizing that was.” Hearing a noise, Sassy levitated out her data pad and looked it over to see she got a message from Rarity. She snorted in amusement at the message and rolled her eyes. Ah yes, Pinkie Pie, Sassy remembered hearing about her and how she was the bane of sanity. The mare gave hyper a bad name and Discord a somewhat good one, because she was more the very definition of those things and she was a known sugar addict. She could distract Pinkie if she saw her well enough, Trapeze could as well if she see’s Pinkie. “I know everyone on Streusel Station and I would definitely remember you if I ever saw you before, so you have to be one of the two other groups… and you’re in a wheelchair…” The pink pony had hopped onto the scene and having come out of an alleyway into the park in the modern city with an excitable grin, Pinkie at least made sure to look both ways before crossing the street of course. She was now addressing Sassy with a bit of apprehension; she had always had a problem with injured or terminally ill people for a number of reasons and she was scared of upsetting this mare she’s never met before. “Are you going to be okay?” “Oh don’t worry about this; I can walk… if barely for the time being. I’m going through rehabilitation, took a material cannon wound or two in the line of assisting my friends. Heard my efforts were quite worth it in the end and I would gladly do it all again if it meant the safety of my friends. Spent a month in a medical bed acquiring nightmares of the experience, considering I’m a med-bed victim. That would be as horrific as you can imagine.” Okay now the pony before Sassy looked a little more wilted, she was just trying to make conversation about why she was in the wheelchair. Maybe she should try to be a little more tactful as the Pinkie wasn’t a bad pony from what Rarity told her. “I’m doing much better now, but I still need a day or two before I’m good to walk on my own, I’m Sassy Saddles and my friend Rarity has told me much about you.” “Well that’s nice to know, I’m Pinkie Pie and it’s nice to meet you!” Pinkie perked up upon hearing Sassy was not really as bad off as her being in the chair looked. She really didn’t like negativity or hospitals, but she still volunteered at a hospital from time to time to help those who needed to smile. She tended to stay away from really sick or seriously injured people since she didn’t like the many upsetting thoughts that would course through her head when she looked at those who weren’t going to be around for much longer. “Do you know where you’re other the group is? A friend of Rarity’s is a friend of mine and I’m sure your friends with grumpy Gilda too.” “No, can’t say that I do, but I would like a pony to talk to. My friend over there is making sure the filly that recently lost her parents is doing okay emotionally.” Oh great, Sassy had somehow managed to depress Pinkie somewhat by mentioning Babs situation, she was going to tell Pinkie anyway as it would provide further distraction. “It happened quite recently, the people of Antilur Station are still hurting from it and it has plenty of SNUGGLES members there to help them. Would you like to hear the story? It looks to me like you’d rather avoid hearing me tell it, I wasn’t exactly there at the time and was floating in a tank of chemicals during the whole thing. It’s still an interesting story and I know everything that happened.” “A story sounds nice… it doesn’t end badly does it? I mean if it’s going to be about what happened there, a lot of bad things obviously happened to good ponies and people.” Pinkie wanted to keep this mare entertained and cheerful, because she seemed lonely at the moment and her friend was too busy playing with the filly. Pinkie knew that not all things were happy endings and fairy tales, but beautiful expanding rainbows across the sky were possible and she had seen it before. She was not a little filly anymore, but that one moment where she saw rainbows engulf the sky would stay with her forever. She worked up her courage to hear this story. She was tough enough to handle this tale, though knowing a filly lost her parents it wasn’t going to be a family friendly affair she preferred. “I still want to hear it though.” Pinkie put her hoof on top of Sassy’s and looked into her eyes with determination, Sassy just smiled and patted Pinkie on the head because she was quite adorable for a childish mare. - Ember goggled at the image before her and she turned to the griffon that was showing it to her, in all her bounty hunting history she had never seen anything so… simple. The job looked like it would be ridiculously easy from the outset, but she had to confirm what she was seeing as being the problem they wanted her to deal with. “You’re kidding, you’re having a problem with something that looks so…” Ember was trying to find the right word to say in regards to what Stan Dard was showing her, he was the communications griffon Opal had spoken with. He had just shown her what her target was and what it was currently doing. Mr. Spew gurgled something that sounded like a suggestion. “Well suffice it to say, I can’t exactly to see how this guy is a problem. He’s a Foggre and those guys don’t exactly scream threat.” “You’d think he wouldn’t be, but he definitely is more than he first appears. His name is Faxel and he runs around causing all kinds of trouble, but just because he’s small doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous and he is carrying weapons. He’s only used them to cause distractions so far, but he’s nearly shot several people. One of which was the stations favorite pink mare.” Stan wasn’t wrong. A Foggre was an alien creature that was larger than a Lagotorphin and smaller than a Cacceran, the species looked like frogs and were known for being technologically creative and this one in particular was a blue colored green eyed amphibian wearing a bike helmet and holsters for two pistols. One of the most noted things about the race was just how annoying they could be when they played with their unique inventions, inventions that are often misused in absurd ways when there was clearly a better use for them. “He’s been taking things a little too far lately and he’s starting to destroy public property without paying for the damages like Pinkie Pie always does when she steps a hoof out of line, which is why people like her and not this guy. We need you to try and talk to him first. If you can’t talk him down from his destructive habits, then everyone is willing to look the other way on how you deal with him from that point forward as long as you don’t kill him. He’s been a bit of a thorn in our station’s side, but we don’t want the guy dead… at least not yet, but he’s getting there. Oh and before you go, one of the Pie sisters is going to be a mediator for this and here she comes now.” “Hello… my name is Maud. We should get going.” The flat tone that Maud had was a bit strange, but Ember shrugged that off and followed after the mare to exit the room. Maud had a bluntly cut mane and bangs, violet hair and grey fur. Her choice of dress was blue and it was rather modest looking, something that Rarity would think to be entirely too plain. “Faxel was last seen heading in the direction of Streusel Station Park. He shot at my sister once and if he doesn’t cease his conduct… then I’ll have to do something he will deeply regret.” “Mr. Spew, no spewing anything deadly at all, I want you to let me handle this. Unless I’m dying, don’t do anything unless you think it’s helpful.” The squid tried to look particularly innocent sitting on Ember’s shoulder, but he didn’t make any promises. “If you’re not enough to convince him to stop, then I’ll help to… convince him… to the best of my ability.” The rather monotone demeanor that Maud had seemed kind of off to Ember, but there was something about the way the calm mare looked slightly angry that was making her feel very uneasy. “You wouldn’t happen to be related to Pinkie Pie would you?” A slow gaze turned Ember’s way and Maud opened her mouth to answer that question, in exactly the same tone that she had spoken in several times already. “Yes, nobody almost hurts my sister and gets away with it like he did a few hours ago.” Maud’s eyes narrowed, something about her calm sharpened gaze had Ember shivering. Something was very off about this mare and the dragon couldn’t put a claw on what. “He didn’t feel guilty about it at the time and if he doesn’t agree to apologize to her about almost hitting her, then I will have a few words with him personally… alone. Limestone is too busy with checking the asteroid fields to make sure we don’t have any Shamroids to do it herself.” - “Thank you, thank you, we don’t know how long we’ll be here, but we the Trapeze Troupe enjoy the applause!” Trapeze bowed to her audience, a bunch of fillies, colts, cubs, chicks and what have you were there stomping or clapping loudly in applause. “Rover is enjoying new job quite well Ms. Star.” This time Rover wasn’t juggling, in fact Trapeze was teaching him all sorts of neat skills. Juggling was just his preferred favorite skill as he was quick with his paws and it was like digging into the air itself, he had been assisting Trapeze in an act of acrobatics and tumbling. It was kind of like dancing only a bit more sophisticated in the way Trapeze does it, it’s kind of an art form for the mare and she was a very pretty mare. Rover wasn’t as good as Trapeze, but at least he could keep up with her rolls, dives, lunges and leaps. “I’m glad that you are enjoying it too… now if only we could stop Bernard from trying to upstage us. Then again, it wouldn’t be as fun if that wasn’t part of the act.” Trapeze turned to see Bernard pulling a bouquet of flowers out of his small hat and the flowers were definitely larger than the tiny hat could hold, he was giving them to a shy looking mare. Trapeze smirked a bit and giggled into her hoof at the shy mare’s flustered expression when Bernard tipped his hat to her after giving her the flowers. “So who are you… apparently Bernard seems to like you, but I don’t think he’ll give up show business to stick around.” Bernard waggled his brows at Trapeze, he liked cute mares and he personally was living with the most wonderful one he’s ever met. She showed him the magic of the world and he was now just as magical as she was. “I’m Marble Cheesecake Pie; if you’ve met my sister I’m sorry about her exuberance.” The mare had a grey coat and a dark grey mane with a bit of dark cyan in it; she looked to be shy and was blushing fiercely at the attention the three were giving her. “If you haven’t, then I’m sorry for speaking up.” “You’ve been no problem at all Marble, besides my performance is through and we’ve heard about your sister already. I haven’t seen her yet, but she sounds like the kind of mare I’d get along with, provided that she’d let me start talking first anyway.” Trapeze patted Bernard on the head and nodded to the violet eyed mare. “It’s hard enough to do anything first with Bernard showing off all the time, but then again he’s supposed to do that. He’s my best friend after all and is quite the little jerk, but he’s my little jerk that I love dearly. Did you need anything?” “Mhmmm, for one I want thank you for the flowers Bernard. Aside from that I was wondering if you could get your friends together for my sister.” It was always polite to ask, in this case Marble hoped to stop the problem before it began and Pinkie had yet to get worse about throwing a party for the ones actively avoiding it. Something must have been distracting her sister pretty good to make her not be seen running all over the station leaving images of herself everywhere, her sister was quite scary when motivated and a little too loud. Even then Marble loved her sister dearly. “A really nice junk store owner sent out an emergency notice to us about the newest visitors Pinkie hasn’t managed to terrorize yet and how you came onto this station using a decoy.” “I have no problem with parties, seeing as I’m a magician and kids love me. You guys do love me right!” The kids surrounding Trapeze gave shouts and screams of glee, she even signed her name on some paper for a few of them, as did Rover and Bernard who insisted on signing autographs playing up his false hammy nature as much as he could. Trapeze eventually turned back to a quietly waiting Marble. “The Boss Lady on the other hoof is a business mare and she wants to get business done before allowing Pinkie to get us. I hope you don’t mind, but we’re actually planning to surprise Pinkie by making a party before she can! Which is what me, Bernard and Rover are going to get up to now that we’re done with our light performance. You’re invited of course, but don’t tell your sister since we’re surprising her with this. Can you do that much for us?” “Mhhhmmm…” Marble shyly pawed at the floor with a hoof and let half her face be covered by her hair; she was almost as bad as Coco when it came to being social. At least Coco could look someone in the eyes and be somewhat outgoing. - “I swear these clothing stores are all subpar to my standards, they are also a might bit expensive too.” Rarity wouldn’t stop complaining at the clothing stores they had browsed around at, whether it was stitching, price or coloration of the clothing in general she had a complaint and not once did Gilda get snarky about all of it. “To be fair the standards with which you hold yourself to are really above and beyond what other people would do. It’s really absurd how meticulous you can be.” They’ve already hit several junk shops and Gilda bought a comic book to see if she could get some interesting ideas from it, especially for the Mare-Do-Well powered armor specifically and the Steel Mare comic book seemed like a good buy. The city had a small town feel to it and the people here were all pretty well adjusted, it was almost nauseating enough for Gilda to vomit her lunch everywhere. “Also the clothing you make is far sturdier than some of the stuff we’ve seen. At least you haven’t complained nearly as bad in some of the thrift stores.” “Well you can’t say I’m not getting my money’s worth, besides I’m beginning to think thrift stores have some hidden treasures just lurking about the piles of clean refuse.” When she received a look for her wording, Rarity sighed. “Yes, I’m well aware that what I said is an oxymoron. Still we’ve been having a relatively good time and Trapeze is about to get started.” “So the plan is going perfectly… so where’s the monkey wrench in all this? Usually with you there is something going on that we aren’t seeing yet.” Taking a few steps towards a cross walking and idly eyeing a few of the newer model of hovering vehicles waiting there as she started to cross, she suddenly had to jump back when she was almost hit by what looked like a Foggre riding on thin air. “What the… was that cloaking technology!? Okay there’s the monkey wrench Rarity and I’m gone, I’ll catch up with you later!” Spreading her wings, Gilda went flying after the stations most notorious troublemaker named Faxel. She’d heard Foggre’s had interesting technology, now that she saw some she wanted to get some secrets out of the guy that almost performed a hit and run on her. Why would anyone make an invisible hover bike that didn’t make the rider invisible? It was kind of stupid, but even then Gilda wanted a look under the hood at that tech. She might have a use for it provided it could be used for something that wasn’t as stupid as what the technology was currently being used for. Rarity held up her hoof to say something, but then dropped and sighed and decided to go see what Chrysalis, Sassy and Babs were up to… wasn’t the direction of the Streusel Station Park that way? Rarity paused in her movements and suddenly turned to gallop after Gilda, trouble was brewing and she didn’t want it to affect any of her crew. Hopefully Sassy and Chrysalis wouldn’t run into that ruffian that nearly hit Gilda. - “So what do we start off with?” Coco had Greta, Saffron and Mr. Cumin was with her in medical to keep Lightning from being all alone while her pasted ribs were healing. If they weren’t going to leave Sassy alone, then why would they leave Lightning alone? Opal was still busy with interior decorating and soon would come exterior decorating once she could convince Greta and Gilda to give her autonomous control of the EGGS units. “That is a question, how about we tell each other about ourselves. Like what was the most humiliating thing to ever happen to you Saffron?” The small party on Shining Jewel was just getting started and Greta was happy to spend some time hanging out and getting to know the other people on the ship better. “Oh… or can you tell us the story about what happened with Lead Chunk.” “Well there’s the painful reminder that I came home covered in bruises and I thank you for not asking questions about that dad.” Saffron only received a shrug from Coriander, obviously he knew about her nighttime actions. Which is why Saffron always had more of the evening shifts back when they still had the Tasty Treat, it just took this long for Saffron to realize her father was letting her run around as a vigilante without question. "Well might as well tell you how it all went down, so it started with me teleporting across the rooftops looking for signs of the Caballeron Cabal..." - Faxel was having fun and he didn’t want anyone to ruin it, he heard there was a bounty hunter on the station and it sounded like a challenge. He was going to have some fun and lead whatever poor sap they got to chase him down all over the station on a merry chase. All Faxel had to do was start attracting attention to himself and the mare in the wheelchair looked like a good target to start some trouble. Nobody would be getting rid of Faxel J. Frog! -72-“Well that didn’t end in sunshine and rainbows, but at least your friends are alright and Rarity sounds like a hero now. I thought she’d rather avoid going into dangerous situations.” Pinkie shuddered at the thought of a big brain transforming her cute appearance into a monstrous zombie thing. It only took a moment for her to think of partying again and bring back the smile she had almost lost. “Are you sure you won’t help me get all your friends together in one spot?” “I’m glad they are okay too, goodness knows what would happen if Rarity weren’t around to look out for the rest of us.” Not like Sassy was the only one to think of the things Opal would do in case Rarity’s life was endangered as they already had several samples of Opal losing her cool and becoming a tad excessive even within the perimeters of action she was given by Rarity. “Opal would probably be driven to despair if Rarity weren’t around. She’d likely create a clone of Rarity and pretend that there was nothing wrong even knowing that it would be wrong to do so. No, but I’d rather you keep me company a little while longer, would you do that?” “I don’t think Opal would do something like that, she’s always been a nice kitty. It’s like how Gummy has always been a nice gator… with a thing for weird trees!” Pinkie would have probably put in a trip to Antilur Station herself to help out, but she couldn’t get a SNUGGLES membership for various reasons. She had some of the problems with personal space and understanding that some people needed to be sad every once in a while to be emotionally healthy after something really bad happens. “Now he’s got an important job with making sure everything on Streusel Station is doing fine and of course I’ll keep you company Sassy, you’re my newest friend that needs a little help!” “I don’t think she would either, but there is still the possibility. Opal is rather quirky like that.” It was rather nice for Sassy to know that Pinkie was willing to continue keeping her company, though it seemed like it wasn’t needed what with Chrysalis and Babs sitting off to the side with the same look on their faces. They were both looks of curiosity at what Sassy and Pinkie had been talking about. “Hey Chrysalis, are you done playing with Babs?” “This little snack is adorable and I’ve had my fun playing around. This reminds me of being covered in little grubs after they’ve all freshly hatched; I’m their favorite jungle gym when they first see me nearby. I guess I’m going to miss the next few hatching days… Thorax probably wouldn’t enjoy it as much as I would.” Being around the negative emotions coming off the filly weren’t doing Chrysalis any favors in her own emotions becoming homesickness, she was going to miss cuddling the Changeling Grubs as they were always so cute and predatory in an overly adorable heart melting manner at that stage in life. At least Babs wasn’t horrible to spend time with and needed to cheer up a little, she still had her whole life ahead of her and she couldn’t spend it entirely depressed that her parents died. “So are we going to sit around talking or is there anything you really wanted to do while we’re here Sassy? I have to say this is a pretty different experience from my first time on a space station, I’m taking a guess this is what space stations are normally supposed to be like.” “Well…” Sassy started to think of anything they could do with Pinkie Pie; only the mare in question shifted slightly and had an odd look on her face as her body did several involuntary things ending in a shiver that traveled down her back to the tip of her tail. “Sorry about this!” Reaching up with her hooves, Pinkie quickly pulled Sassy from the wheelchair and rolled away with her much to Chrysalis’s confusion as she walked forward a few steps with a question on her lips. Babs however saw what was about to happen and quickly scrambled to get out of the way of the incoming noise. Chrysalis wasn’t as confused when she was nearly knocked over by an invisible hovering bike with its still rather visible rider, one that she had barely grazed with her hoof faster than the rider could almost follow. Chrysalis almost knocked him from his bike as he slammed into Sassy’s wheelchair with reckless abandon, he really shouldn’t have attempted an ambush given Chrysalis was around. He quickly rolled sideways in the air out of the way of a blast of magic from Chrysalis’s horn and swerved his bike around a flying crescent of magic from Sassy’s blade, launching that attack left Sassy feeling weak. Neither attack had stopped the grinning maniac as he hopped up to stand on his invisible vehicle while giggling madly. “What… who are you!” Sassy’s legs might not have been very strong, but her magic was sound enough for swinging her chokuto around, even if she was barely standing with Pinkie’s help. She prepared herself for whatever this guy would do next and contemplated separating his small head from the rest of his equally small torso. “You think I’m crazy? You’ll think I’m crazy!” Foggre were known for being a little off. This one in particular was quite nuts, a least gallon size canister of mixed nuts to be precise. Faxel was going to cause havoc and he didn’t like that he nearly got knocked off his ride, in fact it gave him incentive to be more chaotic. Foggres were rarely seen anywhere in pony sectors of space, but they were certainly known when they were. Of one of the things that was certain, Faxel would prove himself to be a lot more trouble than these people thought they could handle. He was here to enjoy such trouble; as such with a tooth filled grin he pulled out the pistol from his right holster and fired it twice at the four. “Zoom zoom, zap!” His hover bike was already clearly seen as impractical as it doesn’t make the rider invisible, so one would wonder just what kind of impracticality his gun had, provided that Sassy or Chrysalis even knew what a Foggre was. As to the nature of Foggre technology, anyone would quickly understand that it was very frustrating, especially for any engineer to look at. An engineer would always find something impractical about anything a Foggre made; the impracticality of said technology was definitively done on purpose. In fact it was a badge of honor for a Foggre to make something incredible, while being entirely impractical to use at the same time. The gun unleashed two bright balls of electricity; the impractical part of it came into play when the shots didn’t fly in a straight line. The shots flew forward moving in all kinds of random direction within a vertical and horizontal radius of two feet. They were zigzagging and swerving randomly, meaning the shots were as likely to hit someone attempting to dodge them as they were to miss someone standing completely still. The two energy balls weren’t following any discernible pattern and they were closing in on the four, the way the shots were flying was both confusing and distracting as they also changed the speeds they moved at just as randomly. Chrysalis suddenly jumped forward and took both of the shots, one in the side and one that shifted away from almost hitting her chest to swerve straight into her face. After the electrifying orbs had finished causing her body to convulse violently, Chrysalis fell over onto the ground smoking slightly. After a few seconds she started moaning out loudly, not in pain, but in complete ecstasy. Pinkie had to cover Babs ears because of how wrong that pleased moaning sounded. Faxel just cackled madly at the sight of the fried bug and quickly drove off with Sassy’s wheelchair in tow while they were paying too much attention to his strange gun’s equally strange shots. The other drawback to his gun that made it more impractical was that the shot could, theoretically of course, exit the barrel and then fly straight back into the body of the wielder. The wielder was always naturally within the two foot radius as soon as the trigger was pulled. The gun was best used while retreating, because you were less likely to hit yourself with the shots if you were moving away from them fast enough. “Oh by Luna’s stars, Chrysalis, can you hear me, are you alright?” Sassy leaned on Pinkie as they slowly made their way over to Chrysalis who was smiling and coughing up a bit of smoke. After Pinkie stopped holding her ears, Babs was right there at her side looking worried. “Oh this, this is nothing, it felt like hugging a bug zapper really… those bright beautiful attractive bug zappers. So heavenly…” A bit of drool escaped the side of Chrysalis’s mouth, after a moment she shook her head, wiped the drool away and got serious. She was even able to stand up when her muscles should have been locking up entirely due to the electrifying shots she just took. “Right then, that asshole just took your wheelchair Sassy and shot at you… and Babs… and the other one! I know for a fact that ponies don’t like pain for whatever reason and I’ll never understand why; it certainly felt good to me. I really should buy myself a bug zapper, but I don’t want to drain all the power out of Shining Jewel…” “That little ruffian did what!” Coming to a skidding halt, Rarity appeared on the scene and could see Gilda tailing the Foggre and disappearing around a tall building in the distance. Gilda could take care of herself at the moment; Rarity was more worried about Sassy’s state at the moment. “Are you alright darling, did that uncouth monster hurt you?” “I’m okay Rarity-sama, who was that guy?” Sassy was still being supported by Pinkie and was upset that she was still so weak that she couldn’t stand on her own for long, if the little guy had moved a few feet closer she’d show him just exactly what he had been laughing at. “For that matter why did he shoot at us?” “He shot at you again Pinkie?” Coming from another direction was Maud’s spectacularly flat voice, which was followed by the flapping of a second set of wings giving chase to Faxel with very dangerous intent. Obviously Ember was angry to hear that Faxel shot at someone… even if it was Chrysalis who got hit, he could have just as well easily hit Babs, Sassy or Pinkie. “Okay, he’s on my list… starting now.” Maud had a list of people she didn’t like. Your species didn’t matter, your pleas for forgiveness didn’t matter and you most certainly would receive no mercy from the pony with unusually flat emotions and currently barely narrowed eyes. If you bothered one of Maud’s sisters’s badly enough or dare to even come close to hurting them and worse actually succeed in causing an injury, then Maud would find a way to make you suffer for it and Faxel just made that list. His was the only name currently on it at the moment; anyone else that had been on that particular list had always been hospitalized within three hours. Not many people would risk doing anything horrible enough to the Pie sisters to get on the list; you always get one fair warning and only the one before being applied to the list. If you couldn’t explain your actions well enough to prevent a first warning, then Maud would come after you the next time you crossed the line. Pinkie gave her sister a frightened glance, she knew about the list as did her other sisters and even her sister Limestone couldn’t get to that particular level of pissed off. Limestone was one of the angriest, saltiest and easily aggravated ponies to ever exist. That poor frog guy was being really mean and he kind of deserved it for stealing Sassy’s wheelchair, but Maud seriously scared her when she got like this. Pinkie stayed silent as Maud came over and hugged her gently and patted her on the back; Pinkie hugged her back and couldn’t say a single word about what Maud was going to do once she caught up with that guy. Maud’s pace was slow as she walked off; leaving everyone else confused as to why she was going so slowly since the guy was getting away on a hovering bike. The stations residents knew better, as did Pinkie, that you don’t escape a big sisters wrath. “I hope everything will be okay, I mean my sister hasn’t killed anyone yet so that’s at least a good sign that she’ll beat him to a… well is being pulped alive seen as something survivable? My sister is really, really strong, which is why she makes a good mediator when she’s not working on her rocktorate.” Pinkie knew the reason why her sister was walking slowly. They could run, but they can never get away. She loved her sister dearly, but she would never want to make Maud mad and that her sister was so protective made Pinkie somewhat happy. “I love my sister dearly, but she can get a little… scary.” “Well come along then, Pinkie, it appears that Ember is already on this ruffians case and I wouldn’t want to get in her way. How about some ice cream, does anyone feel like ice cream? I know I could use some to calm down.” It was the best idea to offset this situation and Rarity didn’t want to join the chase, she’d prefer helping Sassy, Babs and Pinkie get over the sudden shock of being attacked by what amounted to a really insane frog thing with square teeth. At least it hadn’t been a Pendaxon, which would have been a far worse situation to deal with. Rarity pulled Sassy’s other hoof over her back to help Pinkie support Sassy’s body. “We came here to relax and we are going to do just that, then we’ll finish shopping and meet up with Trapeze and her group. If we run into that ruffian again, we shall deal with him then. I also need to finish shopping.” “Oh, I know just the store to visit; I’m kind of the tour guide of Streusel Station and that includes a nice cream place I know of!” Knowing the entirety of Streusel Station like the back of her hoof was one of Pinkie’s jobs, she was the unofficial tour guide and the one who greeted new visitors to the station. Pinkie glanced at the air and then looked at the back of her hoof. “Wow airy… never really thought about knowing the back of my hoof before! Though I probably shouldn’t talk to you out loud or about my goat friend, which would make this a crossover and you’re not writing about me at all at the moment even though I am present as the story requires. You’re here to follow Rarity’s adventures in this alternate universe. Now that I think of it, it does make me curious to know where the actual Pinkie for this alternate universe got off to.” “What in the world is she talking about?” Sassy finally decided to settle her floating sword back into it’s sheathe and looked over to her glamorous friend that had been out shopping with a grumpy griffon. “Don’t worry about it, Pinkie has always been a little weird and sometimes talks about being in love with some sort of magical friendly goat mother monster thing from another dimension. I know her girlfriend exists, but I’ve never seen more than pictures of her.” Rarity always felt that there was a hint of something really strange going on behind Pinkie’s girlfriend or Pinkie herself for that matter, she has never met the goat and never got her name. “Look, just go along with it and nod your head as if you understand any of what she’s saying or ignore it completely. It’s what I do whenever she brings up the goat; Pinkie never tells me her name for some reason, or anyone else for that matter.” “So are you gay?” It always helped Chrysalis to ask this, because she couldn’t tell if a pony was gay or not. She didn’t know about Rarity, she had some guesses about Coco, Saffron was murky territory and she definitely knew Greta was entirely centered on Gilda’s very being. She hardly talked about the emotions she felt, but the recent bad ones were leaving the atmosphere and everything would be right with the world. Now if she could figure out if Sassy was gay or not despite her actively despising men, she really didn’t want to assume anything of Sassy and would ask her later in a more private setting. “I’m actually pansexual and happen to currently be in a long term relationship with a person’s whose name that I can’t legally say in this story without the writer adding a crossover tag first.” Everyone decided to ignore what Pinkie was saying as it made little sense. After a minute or two of waiting for a response Pinkie finally shrugged. “A little more than a small cameo would disrupt this story entirely and then this universe would collapse. Since I’m not dangerously curious enough to actually cause that… let’s go get that ice cream from the place I know about, my treat!” - Ember was on the trail of ‘Faxel the Foul’ or at least that’s what people started calling him, this was one bounty she’d gladly beat the snot out of bare handed. She didn’t care if Chrysalis was shot, she looked perfectly fine, but Sassy just got out of medical and she wasn’t about to let this dirt bag get away with almost putting her back in or doing even worse. She wasn’t the only one, as she had caught up with Gilda who was trailing the little punk. “Nice day for some flying, I don’t have any weapons and I saw what Chrysalis did to herself on those shots. She obviously has no shame to speak of.” Critiqued Gilda, they were keeping up with his surprisingly speedy hover vehicle. From what Gilda could figure out, it had jet propulsion and a minor anti-gravity generator that only affected the bike itself which was pretty common stuff. As for the cloaking device and the electric sphere pistol however, those were definitely unique if entirely funky in how they operated from Gilda’s perspective. “It looked rather painful, which is why I’m not getting any closer to him. Do you have a weapon on you?” “My claws and my breath, though I’m not about spit fire. I could accidentally hit the wrong thing in an area this populated.” Suddenly there was an angry chattering from Ember’s shoulder and she rolled her eyes. “She asked if I had a weapon Mr. Spew. You’re not a weapon, you’re a friend and I don’t want you to kill the target.” The squid squealed something that seemed to be cheerful at first, but then was trying doing something akin to pointing out that it could do things that wouldn’t kill the little monster they were chasing. It was true that Mr. Spew could do some really horrible things with his chemical spitting abilities; things that weren’t lethal that would made you wish they were. “Hey, the squid can be a weapon if he wants to be… okay what in the world is that little bastard doing now.” Gilda saw the wheelchair dragging, manic grinning and considered demented Foggre pull out his left pistol. Things were getting too boring for Faxel and he turned his sights on them without watching where he was going; he was surprisingly good at avoiding traffic without really looking at it. “Do you think I’m lazy? Then let’s get crazy!” Swerving in and out of traffic and completely aware of the two tailing him, Faxel wanted things to be more interesting as they were boring him by not trying anything. He pointed his left hand pistol straight up and pulled the trigger, what happened was not what either Gilda or Ember could have anticipated. “Tick tock, tick tock, hahaheheauauhauahaaaaa BOOM GUN!” A small semi-transparent gray bubble appeared in the air at where the tip of the barrel of the gun had been seconds ago as the trigger was pulled, it started to expand and grow. Every nearby vehicle started being sucked towards the growing sphere that stopped growing at twenty feet in diameter, but the suction kept going and several cars got engulfed by the bubble. The drivers were panicking as they saw that the people who got sucked in suddenly froze up and their cars lost power entirely. Ember and Gilda both fought to stay out of the suction the sphere was generating and only met with partial success as they were still within the blast radius when the bubble eventually exploded. How it exploded was quite unique, it sent a shockwave everywhere dropping the cars to the ground leaving their drivers slightly battered and relatively unharmed and the other cars that had been outside the bubble stopped working after the shockwave passed through them. All the cars in the area were entirely disabled. The other effect of shockwave was that it launched both Gilda and Ember up high into the air into an uncontrolled tumble. It took them a few moments to get their bearings, but when they did they saw the Foggre down the street had oddly turned the same shade of grey the bubble had been and was entirely immobile. They quickly flew forward and before they could even get there the grey faded away and the cackling menace started his invisible bike up and was once again speeding away from them. The insane, if rather technologically gifted, frog knew that the two were going to give him a better chase now or else he’d fire off more bubbles. Heck, he’d probably fire them off anyway around all sorts of technology that moved. If something mechanical touched the bubble or was anywhere near it and was using something for propulsion, then it was guaranteed to need repairs afterwards. The impracticality of Faxel’s left gun came from immobilizing the user after the bubble inevitably popped releasing a shockwave and a painful amount of sound. If you were touching the gun when you fired it, the field wouldn’t affect you until after the bubble exploded, it was a bit of a delayed reaction to what the gun actually did. It was not possible for the bubble itself to be lethal, but it was a very annoying side effect for the wielder and Faxel had stopped his bike to prevent it from being messed up like the cars he left disabled in the road behind him. For any technology to avoid being damaged, all a person had to do was put on the brakes and not be moving before the bubble sucked them in and or exploded. Faxel’s invisible bike was perfectly fine and his left gun was a uniquely gifted at causing traffic problems. He had much worse gadgets on him than the two strange guns and his invisible hover bike. He just didn’t think his other toys were worth pulling out just yet. “Agh my head, what the hell was that?!” Gilda was clutching at her head in pain; her wings had taken a bit of a beating. “Okay, I think might need my rifle for this asshole!” The angry sentiment Ember spoke with was mirrored by the angered squealing of Mr. Spew, both of them were rubbing at their foreheads. The squid really hadn’t liked that and sorely wanted to spit something lethal. Ember’s head pounded and her sense of balance was slightly off, but she kept flying forward. “Let’s try to get in close and personal before resorting to guns. Aside from the obvious that he attacked our friends and fried Chrysalis a bit, why were you following Faxel before that happened?” “The little crap nearly ran me over, plus his technology is just plain awesome and I want a piece of that! Specifically the cloaking technology he has on his bike, anything else me or Greta can get from this will be the cherry on top.” Not that Gilda was a quitter, but it was starting to look like a bad idea to take on this guy while you had his attention. “We might want to split up and surprise him.” - “I’ve got an update for you girls, straight from my old friend Gummy. It seems Ember has a bounty and we will be here until she catches him, she’s currently on his tail with Gilda.” Opal might overreact to anyone trying to endanger Rarity, but her reaction to someone endangering her other friends would be just as bad. Faxel has just made a personal enemy of two AI’s; one in particular was controlling the station and had angry eyes on his avatar and it just made him look all the more adorable to Opal. “The guy nearly hit Gilda with his bike. Chrysalis has been shot twice with some sort of electricity gun and I’ve learned that she has a thing for hugging and loving bug zappers, which I will now put a ban on for various reasons. I’m seriously wondering when Chrysalis will eventually run out of things to disturb us with. Oh and the bounty just caused a traffic incident, well that’s just dandy now isn’t it?” “Chrysalis probably never will Opal, are Gilda and the others alright?” After asking the question Greta went back to munching on the snack Mr. Cumin made for her and the other girls. If Gilda was hurt, she’d go flying in one the EGGS units after bounty herself. “All crew members are okay, except maybe Sassy who had her wheelchair stolen.” There was a gray area to Opal when it came to Chrysalis getting hurt. “I’ve given up on worrying about Chrysalis; the word ‘alright’ when in context to Changeling Queen will always be set to ‘completely fine’ from now on. If we happen to find her dead and atomically shredded unmoving corpse personally at any time, which is not likely to happen in this millennium, then I’ll be utterly flabbergasted. As for the, ‘what if’, scenario you asked me to calculate. the most likely thing to kill Chrysalis as she is now is a chicken feather to the throat, choking on a black pretzel, attacked by a flock of killer chickens which can lead back into the choking on a feather and or killed by a pillow filled with, you guessed it and to nobody’s surprise, chicken feathers. I’ll just skip to the last one to save time, it is her being caught in the center of an exploding sun with flaming demon chickens that shoot plasma feathers and they all get promptly swallowed by a black hole and the singularity also explodes and then the universe collapses down on Chrysalis, mostly because existence is not entirely sure if she’s dead or not yet and only then do things return to normal without Chrysalis having ever existed. Before you ask, yes, my calculations are really oddly specific on that last one and I’m beginning to think I should disable my running gag subroutine as it might be throwing off my calculations with crossing the road jokes. That or it’s bleed over from communing with Gummy at a level only AI’s, gods and the incredibly gifted could possibly keep up with. At least he promised me he wouldn’t do the epileptic tree thing while I’m here. In other news Trapeze’s group is entirely untouched by any trouble whatsoever, so Greta your bet fell through and Coco seems to be on track with hers, but Saffron’s could still happen if given enough time.” “Why a black pretzel and when would Chrysalis ever eat want to eat one?” Giggling at that thought Saffron’s brain worked on that for a moment and she looked over to Coco who shrugged and shuffled some cards with her hooves. “Well if it was made of hair maybe…” “I’d rather not think of anyone dying anytime soon after Antilur Station.” Her meek personality coming to the forefront, Coco received a hug from Greta and Saffron which she nuzzled into. “Thank you, but can we please change the subject away from death?” “Okay, we’ll stop considering whether or not Chrysalis can die and is in fact made of dark matter and will now change subjects on this ‘what if’ routine we have Opal calculating for us. Is it my turn to cut the deck Coco?” Greta split the cards up in small groups and them placed them back together before Coco for her deal them out. “So Opal, what if… Rarity eventually does meet the stallion of her dreams that can fit in perfectly with all of her criteria for a perfect stallion. How do you think that will turn out?” “We promised to change the subject away from death Greta, this one ends up with such a stallion dying within a week of meeting Rarity.” Opal really hoped she had fudged up that calculation or allowed any personal feelings to mess this particular one up. The end result of it had come up obscenely fast, if Opal hadn’t messed with the calculations then Rarity was going to be a sad pony if she continued to hold on to her current sexual proclivity. "If you're wondering, immediately lethal stress induced heart attack." Author's Note Okay if I have a Pinkie from another story of mine standing in for the real one of this story, then where did my Coarse Diamonds Pinkie Pie go? I am the author right? You'd think I would know about this replacement. -73-“So Chrysalis, why didn’t you go with Ember and Gilda?” As for the reason why Rarity didn’t go, she wasn’t a hero and she didn’t want to be dragged into another messy situation and she wanted to relax after doing some shopping. She was not a bounty hunter and she would only go gallivanting off after her friends if they were in serious danger. Gilda and Ember could take care of themselves and the ice cream Pinkie was buying for them at this place that was quite nice. The strawberry mango rocky road cone she was having tasted odd, but not exactly in a bad way. “What and leave Sassy and Little Snack behind? Mind you I understand Sassy can fight even if she still can’t walk very well, her attack looked quite impressive. It would have been pretty hard to come back from being bisected and she is rather lucky it only hit a tree, one that didn’t fall over. That guy’s gun wasn’t very dangerous as it would mostly knock someone out, since I sincerely doubt even getting hit by four of those electric shots unprotected would kill you. I think those shots were only meant for incapacitating. I’d rather spend more time getting to know the rising star of a noble mare I’m working with, among other things.” Chrysalis had to give it to Rarity; most nobles didn’t have the balls to enter what was a really bad situation not once, but three times and with ludicrously short odds of survivability. Rarity didn’t seem interested in her as more than a friend, Sassy on the other hoof was reading emotionally lukewarm in regards to her and she wanted more opportunities to spend time with her. Running off to chase down some small punk that wasn’t going to kill anyone would be boring, annoying, quite beneath her and a waste of time. “I may not act like it at times, but I am a quite an intelligent individual with flexibility in both my physical and mental aspects. The only thing that really interested me was the pistol and aside from that, I’m looking to relax as well and possibly get to know Ms. Saddles a bit better as I have already learned quite a bit about Little Snack. I’m feeling a bit homesick and I miss treating some of my Changeling like dirt, mostly because those are the kind of feelings I’m picking off the squirt.” “It was nice to pretend that I had my parents back for a while, even if you can’t get their voices right without hearing them first. Thanks for what you managed to do at least.” One of the many problems that Changelings had that Babs wished they didn’t, she was still moping a bit and eating the ice cream that Pinkie was paying for. The filly looked like she could use all the comfort food she could get. “So is that how every Changeling contract really works?” “Changelings are imitators and not the actual product aside from true shifts in genitalia, I’m not sorry to say that your love was positively delicious and you certainly understood the fine print on the contract of the imitation of dead loved ones the Changeling hasn’t heard the voices of yet. Also Sex should only occur with those of the age of consent and if the Changeling in particular comes to love said paramour back, then marriage rules will vary. Keeping the Changeling in a romance based marriage makes the pony untouchable by other Changelings as applicable by Changeling law, especially when it comes to someone in an excellent symbiotic relationship where love is essentially endless. More recently it’s been ratified to include pony hair, which grows back fast to a particular extent. Provided it was long before hoof as such that pony will naturally grow their hair back to that length, such as to the hooves in as little as a week. Ponies who want to keep short hairstyles will usually have slowed down hair growth rate whereas ponies who like long hair are the opposite by use of passive magic. We are bound to follow the rules of ponies by our alliance to Equestria, but otherwise we follow our own when they can’t and shouldn’t be enforced. The contract is not overly binding and can be cancelled at any time by either party, but definitely immediately should the relationship sour. If your Changeling is defective we can find you a new shiny one as a temporary stand in as we get the old one back on his or her hooves.” Antilur Station was a bit hectic, even for Chrysalis when she found out her hive mind had been open and speaking of which, since she recently saw Maud then that would mean that Boulder Bottom was currently with her and she hadn’t bothered to open her link up to check in with him. Turning to Rarity Chrysalis sat her chin on her crossed hooves, she was the only one not eating ice cream at the table and was just soaking up the love of ice cream from the air. It was free love and Chrysalis wasn’t about to tell them she was feeding in their presence, that would likely unnerve them. “You’d be rather surprised how often a pony didn’t care that we couldn’t get the voice exactly right, sometime ponies just loved the imposter anyway and wanted to live in a fantasy. Other times, if rarely at that, said pony wanted to know the real being beneath the false appearance. If you cannot feed your particular Changeling enough love for them to continue surviving and being the kind of pony you want, then the contract will likely be broken by the Changeling based on circumstances and whether or not either party wishes to continue. I as a Queen have to hold myself to higher standards on which being I choose to mate with and therefore cannot imitate someone who is currently in or was in a sexually healthy relationship unless I intend to reveal myself before sex or swap out with a Changeling who specializes in having nymphomania. As long as I’m considered a Changeling Queen I can use my queen name of Chrysalis as a completely respectable authority figure among my race. If I stop being queen, for reasons of death or the complete inability to form a coherent sentence whether by mouth, hive mind, writing and or using a mouth through puppetry. In that instance I would go back to being Crystal Dick, but I’d retain my current upgraded form as you see it. I could return to queen status depending on whether my injuries are permanent or not.” “Your race is always going to have strange and concerning connotations isn’t it.” Simple and to the point, Rarity didn’t exactly have much to say to that. “I’m not going to ask what you mean by puppetry and I’d rather you not use it on me.” “Relax, it’s nothing serious. It’s just when all you have left is your horn and you can’t use a levitation spell to wield a writing implement, the puppetry spell uses almost no energy and requires simply having another Changeling present. Usually the other requirements are more likely to work and we, specifically Changeling Queens, can only puppet another Changeling’s mouth.” Chrysalis smiled faintly at the last few times she spoke through another Changeling, that prank had been hilarious. “A Changeling Queen can only control one mind at any given time and a strong mind will throw off the spell entirely, as such mind control is hardly useful unless you can control a mind of importance in a high position that has a weak will. Most of the nobles in Canterlot were pathetic, though some like Fancy Pants could throw it off immediately without blinking. Those who are under Changeling mind control specifically are also rather noticeable, such as having glazed or drooping eyes that sometimes flash, constant headaches and sometimes a notably suppressed personality to the more attentive. A wedding is perfect cover for something like that where there are plenty of stressed out people. Changelings do not have the power to convert other beings into being one of us, why the thought is just ludicrous and won’t happen unless we specifically breed with a pony to create a hybrid. Besides if we did have the ability to convert others into Changelings, then we’d be converting our own food source and that would be really damn stupid. As eventually would either convert or eat ourselves out of existence, so cooperation and symbiosis was the best course of action.” “Speaking of nobles, I’ve heard you were ranting about how horribly the gala went for you Rarity. I’m sorry to hear your night didn’t go over so well.” Sassy wanted to take this time to get back in the loop. “So whatever happened to meeting prince charming? I may not like the idea of men touching my friends, but I can’t stop you from living how you want to and I want you to be happy.” “Well I thought about it and then decided that I just wanted to befriend him at first… only I met the most boorish pony in existence and wanted to shoot him after minutes of being within his presence. How such a unrefined and crude being like that can be called a noble I will never know.” Rarity was able to talk about her excursions on Equus without flinching now, Vera was really quite helpful in that regard. “I didn’t pull my gun on the terrorists at the gala for the very reason that I wanted them to shoot my dream prince and save me from him. The week leading up to the gala was quite horrible as well and I had almost been raped by a stallion, so I was feeling far less ready for a relationship or even a one night stand at that point. I sorely regret my attempts at trying to be his friend.” “Wait… what happened to this guy that tried to rape you and where is he now?” Darkening her tone, Sassy didn’t care where the guy was, she’d find a way to get to him for trying to harm an unwilling Rarity. “Well he’s paraplegic and neutered thanks to Rarity and Saffron. He was also poisoned by someone who has a grudge against him; he’s alive and I assure you that he can still feel pain. Quite a lot of it actually and since ponies don’t like pain, that means it’s a good thing.” Chrysalis wasn’t about to tell anyone about Opal and her having something of a rapport going between them, they were quick friends starting out of mutual displeasure for someone else. The pony hive mind was nice enough even if Chrysalis was a bit leery of higher forms of technology. “I wouldn’t worry about doing any more to him; he’s in constant agony as it is.” “Yikes, you’re one scary lady ma’am.” They had almost forgotten they had Babs with them; Pinkie was doing her best with trying to cheer up the filly and so far it hasn’t been going so well except for buying her ice cream. “Yeah no kidding, the worst I would have done is gotten him put in jail without a chance to taste anything yummy for years on end.” This was Pinkie’s chance to talk, the only one in this chapter and she may as well use it on food. “I can’t imagine a fate worse than not being able to eat cupcakes, cookies, pies, tarts, chocolate fudge and anything along those lines… creamy, creamy butterscotch cinnamon pie…” “Thank you again for paying for our snacks Pinkie.” Rarity turned to Sassy and looked her in the eyes. “I’m fine; it’s taken care of, no need to go on a crusade for my sake. He has been dealt with and is not a threat to me or you.” “Well at least that stallion got what he deserves.” Sassy sounded particularly pleased; then again she was trying to focus more of her rage towards the men who actively did bad things aside from just existing. The masseuse Rarity hired was working with her on that and she was taking some deep breaths to keep her mental balance. “So where are we going to next?” “We need gems, jewels and other stuff for dress making Sassy or we could head back to the Caravel Boutique and work on making some sales, that or we can wait somewhere for Gilda and Ember to get your wheelchair back.” They had plenty of options as long as none of them would lead Rarity to having to get her mane mussed up, that was bad enough with every time she took off her poor EVA suit that kept getting covered in blood, pus, flesh, grime and muck. “I’d rather not go through the trouble of sweating in excess and have to bathe when I get back to Shining Jewel.” “If we could get me back to Caravel Boutique, I’m sure I could run the store with a little help Rarity.” Sassy had to wonder why Rarity chose the route they were going and would voice it now while she had everyone’s attention. “Speaking of, why are we heading to Applin Five anyway?” “Well it is a planet established by ponies, there has to be a market for clothing somewhere on the surface. It’s a completely green world and there isn’t a space station in orbit yet. So we can make something of a profit on EVA suit sales when they start building that at least. I think right now all they have is a supply depot.” That and Rarity had a few other reasons for this particular trip. “When we’re done there, we’ll be close enough to take a trip to Noctus.” “Oh, that is just simply brilliant Rarity! Hoity Toity has been doing a lot of stuff in the name of fashion on Noctus recently.” At least Sassy was satisfied that Rarity had a course of action in mind when it came to their business as being fashion designers. She was still catching up to recent news on her data pad and she has been hearing a few things about Rarity being a mysterious new Baroness. “Maybe we can get into a fashion show; Prim Hemline has also been seen taking an interest in alien fashions recently and Noctus is currently becoming a popular planet for socialites.” “A way to get my hoof in the door would be rather nice.” Rarity contemplated this, how would one even go about accomplishing that? Oh right she had something else to tell Chrysalis didn’t she? “I forgot to tell you, I’ve actually finished your commission Chrysalis and I’ll give it to you later. You’ll have to remind me about it though.” Being famous, if for a short while, was still a dream Rarity was willing to pursue. She was already rich with friendship and what odd friendships those were. Her business wasn’t doing poorly and she was making enough money to pursue her own goals and help the others do the same with theirs as well. As long as she didn’t spend all her money all at once, then things would be alright. She still needed to find true love as well, that was going slow as she has yet to meet a stallion that could meet up to her rather lofty expectations. Her eye for detail had yet to spot a single stallion to try and charm, she might as well have a look around the station for a date or someone of interest. - “So when do you plan to get off Shining Jewel for some rest and relaxation?” It was a simple question and Coco hadn’t known what it would mean to Vera when she asked it. “Hopefully never, I mean can you imagine? I’m one of the most forgettable ponies in all of existence!” Vera feared getting off of Shining Jewel and she was going to lay her cards out on the table, mostly because their game was still going. “All Rarity would have to do is have me slip her mind just once and I would be… I would be left behind and forgotten. I would be living my greatest fear, I’ve been afraid of that happening since I joined Rarity on the Caravel Boutique. All she would have to do is forget I existed just once and I’d be stuck at wherever you left me at.” “Yeah, your ability to be ignored is pretty bad in that case. At least Rarity can remember you exist and would remind Opal that you do in case your name is deleted from the registry. I’m sure we would come back for you; your masseuse skills are keeping Rarity in order. Otherwise she complains a lot and is really moody about how badly damaged her EVA suit gets, it is either that or get sad that you couldn’t have saved hundreds of lives. It’s not like the entire universe is sitting on our shoulders. If it makes you feel better, we’d have to come back for you.” Greta flicked a few cards onto the table and the other ladies groaned at it. They started another round of cards. “Speaking of that, you should be happy Opal is making that kind of effort just for you. Heck, we’re all making a little effort to remember you at least once every day without the aid of the drone pointing at you constantly. The Boss Lady has issues with fighting and doing dangerous stuff, but once she’s got a strong resolve to help she doesn’t stumble in her efforts. For a mare who’s a fashion designer, she’s really quite tough and stronger than I. I wouldn’t have stepped one talon into that station if you paid me exorbitantly to do so.” “I appreciate you greatly for that Opal, keep up the good work.” A smile crossed Vera’s face as she placed down her cards with a bit of a gloating expression. “I win this one, I just want recognition and that’s rather hard to do when every single one of you keeps forgetting my name. I might just change my name to Masseuse at this rate.” “Whatever you say Masseuse, I’m busy watching cartoons right now!” Opal was clearly distracted and paying them barely any attention at the moment, she missed Vera frowning at the nearest monitor. “You think that’s rough, try sneaking out of bed and to go fight crime in the dead of night. I was afraid of my father finding out about my nighttime activities for a long time.” Once the cards were passed out Saffron picked up a few cards and tossed a few out. “Lunch and dinner is what our restaurant used to do, so my habit of sleeping in through most of the morning might have tipped him off. He never spoke up about the injuries I claimed came from accidents or a stallion that got a little too rough with me… then again a stallion getting rough with me was probably what dad expected in a literal sense and not a sensual one. I was the one usually giving the beating to a lot of mares and stallions, just as much as I was getting beaten up by them. I’m a bit unusual for a unicorn in being somewhat muscular from all the exercise I got running around in a costume; teleportation quickly became a requirement for patrolling rooftops and all kinds of other things. While most unicorns are happy with just learning things related to their cutie marks, I certainly wasn’t and I’m still pushing the envelope to learn more spells. I kind of miss the cape and mask, I’m mostly here for my father and to help people who sorely need it. Rarity has a great sense of generosity, I wanted to be a part of that and I don’t regret choosing to be here in the slightest.” “In any case Vera needs someone to help her, instead of her just helping us all the time. I think you will have a problem Vera, especially if you can’t ever leave the ship. If something was to happen to Shining Jewel and you were too scared to leave… let’s just continue our next hoof.” Now there was a thought that Coco would rather she didn’t finish. “With Opal distracted by cartoons, do you think she’s missing the play by play of what Gilda and Ember are doing? I mean they are kind of tracking down a dangerous individual together and Gilda is not exactly as close to Ember as we have been getting. Ember is really nice and gentle, aside from the whole being a bounty hunter thing. To think I used to be really scared of her, she’s not really a bad dragon at all.” “Yeah, Gilda is a little hard to get close to, but I love her grumpy attitude all the same. Ember is actually surprisingly easy to get along with, she really knows her weapons and how to modify them. She was working on an energy whip when she came up to me and asked me for some help with a few technical problems she’s been having with her idea. It’s based off the second pinpoint puller she bought and it is really fascinating what she’s attempting to do with it, could be what Sassy needs to improve on her design.” Greta chirped out loud with a grinning beak and started shuffling the cards. “Well at least I’m quite sure that Ember and Gilda are wrapping things up right now even if they aren’t getting along!” - Greta might have been a bit too positive, because Gilda and Ember had yet to actually touch the little snot Faxel. Faxel was being quite an elusive annoying little thing and it was really becoming hard to tell who the predator was as much the prey in this situation. They had been chasing him nonstop and had tried several times to get him into a pincer attack only to fail and the Foggre was proving to be a lot of trouble. His skills in wielding the minimum of the absurd technology at his command were incredible, as much as he was when he hopped off the hover bike and decided to toy with Gilda and Ember on foot. Ember and Greta were having a tough time putting a claw on him and Ember was having a hard time controlling her blasts of fire when she became furious from the fact that Faxel had been damaging her clothing with each successful hit of the stupidly random shock orbs. Ember forcibly held herself back as she didn’t want to hurt Gilda, as that would in turn make her feel bad for harming her hoard and there was also Greta because she loved Gilda unconditionally. They weren’t even anywhere close to wrapping up their business in dealing with Faxel, said Foggre was grinning madly at them and waving his hands at them in a jovial manner as they laid on the street groaning from his recent use of both his pistols at the same time. One shot from his left pistol to create a distortion bubble and then he’d set up a lot of electrical orbs to fly forward and freeze upon impact with the bubble. When the bubble popped, hell broke loose and since he was fighting them in the middle of the streets, it was quite literally breaking lose as he damaged his surroundings without care for the people in said surroundings. People went down shocked, others were knocked over by the blast of the distortion bubble, vehicles were being wrecked and the little guy was laughing at all the chaos he was causing. The dragon in particular felt like she and one of her hoard had been electrocuted one too many times, because her ire at the frog became stone cold fury and she could feel her flames lapping at her lips from the damage her clothing was taking. Ember had held up to the onslaught of random orbs pretty well, but Gilda looked a little out of it and was on the ground groaning and twitching slightly. “Ember, go get your rifle. I’ll try to keep him busy.” Shaking her head to get back into gear, Gilda rolled to her feet and spread her wings angrily with her tail whipping back and forth behind her. She and Ember were getting along perfectly well; they were two predators with sharp claws and wings joining forces against the most annoying thing they’ve ever met in their lives. “No can do, I’m not leaving you along with this guy, he’s crafty and surprisingly fast.” The guy would bother her hoard even more while she was gone and as a dragon Ember found the idea of leaving her hoard unprotected was utterly repulsive. Nobody messed with a dragons hoard without expecting the dragon to react. “Also unusually strong, you saw how he flicked me on the beak and I went flying about forty feet until I could stop myself from hitting the ground.” Gilda landed and saw the Faxel was resting on his side in thin air and smiling smugly at them. “He’s making a real mess of Streusel City, you have to stop him and I want to steal his bike. We’re having problems doing any of that with him toying with us like this.” “Maybe I could help?” Maud came up to them with a slightly angry demeanor, which was as much emotion as the mare could apparently show. She was monotone, but there was an underlying growl to it somehow. “Nobody messes with my sister… even if she isn’t the right one.” “It would help if you could get close to him; he’s really fast, tricky and annoying. He also apparently has a pistol that can create some kind of distortion that can stop anything and he’s apparently immune to getting hurt while the distortion distorts him after the first distortion ends. Then there’s the fact that he has a pistol that fires shots that fly so randomly that nobody could follow what path they will take.” Gilda turned to Maud with a serious look on her face. “Plus he has an invisible bike that’s pretty darn fast and he can control it independently of himself, we won’t know where it is or where it’s going when he hops off of it. Plus he somehow has some freakish strength for his size, which I’m betting is also technologically related given that is a thing Foggres are known for.” “I’ll keep that in mind.” Maud slowly moved forward. “I’ll try to make an opening for the two of you.” Maud blurred forward and with a flat emotionless face no less, she struck out with her right hoof and it was moving so fast it caught fire from the friction of moving through the air. This surprised the Foggre to an incredible degree as he had never seen a pony move like this before, she didn’t have any technology to aid in her movements and this was her natural speed. Faxel had almost been caught off guard and he barely managed to redirect the first blow and the second one that came just as quickly as he rolled off his invisible hover bike onto his feet to avoid it. If he hadn’t been wearing his helmet, one that was actually pretty darn fragile and didn’t even protect his head, then he wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the mares speed. The upside to not actually protecting his head, the helmet gave him the ability to react quickly and redirect almost any incoming physical force directed at him, provided that he saw said force heading his way at least. It didn’t give him super strength, just the illusion that he had super strength and if it had been super strength then Gilda’s beak would be broken and shoved halfway into her skull right about now. Slapping his left hand into Maud’s chin, Faxel caused her to flip backwards flailing and she looked mildly confused as she did. He then grabbed her tail and spun around before releasing her at Ember who caught her in both arms and was knocked from the air from the extra weight. After that he pulled his eyelid down and blew a raspberry at them and sped off, things were beginning to heat up and he might be able to play with his more impressive toys soon if they proved they could keep up with him. -74-Ember was smart, or at the very least brilliant in combat as Chrysalis would state. Sure Chrysalis might not have weighed nearly as much as Ember did in pure muscle, but the Changeling Queen had her outclassed in skill only. They each had their particular combat styles, though seemingly having similar capability far away with ranged weapons, close up they were completely different in the execution of how they went about a fight. Chrysalis, when she was actually taking a fight seriously, did things in a cold precision and sometimes with viciousness. Ember in comparison was more pragmatic when it came to a fight. Instead of stopping to think, Ember was willing to use anything available to her to win a fight and was more open to doing things quickly since every second would count in a dangerous situation. This is why Ember had been chewed out by Rarity about her devastated EVA suit and had complained about having to fix her own, but she did thank Ember for finding her. Rarity made Ember another EVA suit as the dragon’s previous one was completely trashed and she didn’t even charge Ember for it. It was strange that Ember was thinking back on that at this moment, especially where she was currently tasting the asphalt that made up the road for the third time after another distortion bubble and forty frozen shocking spheres of energy had been unleashed in all directions. She was actually surprised that she was actually going to stop and consider the things she had learned about Faxel, like how electricity was actually pretty effective in harming her. Chrysalis would have likely killed Faxel and would have been done with it by now; Ember probably would have asked for her help if nobody wanted the target alive at least. Ember thought the Changeling Queen would have made a decent bounty hunter, but she didn’t think Chrysalis could suffer too much idiocy despite bringing her own particular brand of idiocy and insanity to the table. Ember at least had morals that were not specifically centered entirely on her race like Chrysalis and to earn her paycheck she had to actually bring this annoying guy in alive, just like any other bounty that was capture only. It really depended on the payout, the danger involved and the general unpleasantness of the target Ember was dealing with whether or not she would kill the target. If the individual needed to die, then Ember had no compunctions about killing them unless they had important information or was at the very least important for another reason entirely. There were just some people you didn’t let live, even some capture only target needed to be taken out. What was it that separated Ember from others bounty hunters in this kind of job and why was she currently thinking of Chrysalis right now? At the end of any day Ember still had her heart in the right place and Chrysalis would have thought outside the box about this problem, like crawling up into the mouth or anus of a cobbled together dragon sized corpse monster. Right now Ember’s heart was telling her to rip Faxel’s head from his body, but she was holding back admirably from actually doing that and didn’t think she actually could get at him to achieve such a miraculous feat anyway. The one important thing Ember noted was that Faxel didn’t seem to be doing anything lethal and he only seemed to be outright going for maximum annoyance potential. Sure Faxel had injured quite a few civilians, but none of those injuries were permanent and Ember couldn’t just kill him knowing this. In this situation she had to calm down and not let her anger control her, which is probably how the little snot wanted her and the others to be acting. She sat up and calmly grabbed Gilda’s shoulder, an idea just struck her and acting was a keyword in that thought process. “You okay Gilda? I’m sorry about throwing you clear like that.” Ember had taken that last one for her hoard and it had definitely stung a bit, she would scrub her scales later. “Yeah, I’m good, thanks for the save by the way. Now if there was something we could do about that guy…” Gilda focused on Faxel as he slapped at his butt while grinning at her, he even pulled down his eyelid at her and gave her a raspberry. She smirked and held up the wheelchair and he looked perplexed, Gilda gave him the bird and since she was avian already, so it was technically a double bird. “Yeah I got it back no thanks to you, you lily pad livered bastard, go eat some swamp muck!” “Ding Ding we have a winner, care to try again and actually catch me this time!” Faxel shouted from quite a distance away before cackling, he was definitely trying to gain their ire and the chase had been quite a merry one. He revved his invisible hover bike and shot off once more. “You may win an all expenses paid vacation to shock therapy land!” “We need a plan.” Maud had dealt with plenty of tough customers; she’s never met a tricky one like this though. There was still a slight frown on her face as she looked to Ember. “Have any ideas?” “Yes, I do in fact have an idea.” Holding up a claw Ember pulled out her data pad and hoped that it still worked, she’s lost a lot of data pads before and this time wouldn’t be any different considering all the electricity she’d been hit with. It surprisingly still turned on and she could use it. “Hold on a second, I have a call to make.” “I should probably call the Boss Lady and tell her that we got Sassy’s wheelchair back at least, but that guy is still out there and I want a look at his equipment…” Gilda heard Rarity’s voice coming from Ember’s pad, she decided that it was taken care of the griffon turned her gaze to the odd silent stare from Maud. Gilda realized that she had phrased what she had recently said. “I mean the hover bike of course, I’m a mechanical engineer and I want a look at the technology behind it. I’m involved now and I want to get something out of the messes he’s been causing.” “Sure, whatever you say.” Came the flat response via the Maud-a-tone voice. “I’m sure all his technology is just as small as he is.” - “Are you even able to stand up Sassy?” Rarity’s group had finished having snacks and now they would either go shopping or at the very least get Sassy back to Caravel Boutique for some rest. Hearing something, Rarity swiftly pulled out her data pad and took the incoming call. Sassy was still sitting right where she was and the others had gotten up to leave. “Hello… oh hello Ember, what’s the matter darling? Oh thank goodness for that at least, we’re in Streusel City at a very nice ice cream shop between fourth and triangle. It’s a very popular location so you probably can’t miss it. Yes Sassy seems to be feeling better and it’s quite nice of you to ask, but we need the wheelchair. Huh… another reason for calling? If you need Trapeze then why are you calling me? Oh right, you don’t know how to contact her or any other members of my crew… I’m dreadfully sorry about that. Oh pish posh dear, none of that now. So what will you need of Trapeze once I do contact her?” While Rarity was busy talking, Sassy turned to look at Pinkie, Babs and Chrysalis. She frowned and whimpered at what she was about to ask and she didn’t know Pinkie well enough to ask her, so it had to be Chrysalis because she didn’t think Babs would be prudent to ask for help. “Chrysalis, could you maybe help me… get to the bathroom.” Sassy didn’t like feeling weak, but one use of magic for her charged sword slice and she was finding it hard to stand. She really didn’t like looking weak and she clutched her sheathed blade to her chest like a security blanket, at least she could ask. “I’m sorry if I’m being a bit of a bother asking for help like this.” “Sure, but you’ll have to wipe your rather radiant backside yourself if this is a number two. Stick with Rarity and the pink dodo my little snack; we’ll be back in a few.” Chrysalis lit her horn and hefted an embarrassed looking Sassy into the air with her magic; she then proceeded to slowly walk off towards the public restroom. A unicorn could not levitate themselves because they were the anchor point for the levitation spell and gravity alteration spells didn’t seem like Sassy’s cup of tea. “You’re pretty embarrassed about this and I can’t really understand why, you ponies and your weird emotions.” “Well excuse me if I feel a little unnerved about being carried to the toilet like this. Well since you can read emotions… is anyone present in there at the moment?” Sassy really didn’t want to deal with anyone asking questions in a public restroom. “Not that I can tell at the moment, I still don’t understand why most people are so embarrassed about natural bodily functions. It’s as nature intended and if that’s embarrassing, then high society can go screw itself for all I care.” Pushing the door open, Chrysalis walked in and floated Sassy in behind her. “I fart because I need to and if you think that’s disgusting then I’d like to see you go for the rest of your life without a butt.” “Does it always come back to butts with you?” She had been told about it, but Sassy didn’t believe anyone when they said Chrysalis focused a little too hard on butts. “Yes, are you saying your life doesn’t always come back to the backside or even revolve around pleasing it and worshipping butt enlarging gods? What a sad existence you must lead, now let me clean out a stall before I set your rear down.” Chrysalis opened a stall and like all public restrooms it was disgusting. Disgusting things didn’t matter to Chrysalis, but it did matter to Sassy and she was a pony of some class like Rarity obviously. She’d be right at home with a dingy place like this. “It was either a little kid or someone who’s a jerk that did that, I’m leaning the latter. I’ll check the other stalls to see what I have to work with, I’ve never really cared for public restrooms.” “Thank you, for thinking of my needs.” Friendships were started on less innocuous statements. “I can’t say that I care all that much about public restrooms either.” “You’re kind of broadcasting distress right now, I guess you really need to relieve yourself. I was available to help you out and then I decided to do so. I prefer happy love spewing ponies, so you’re welcome to laugh, smile and show some love.” Well it seemed like Chrysalis was doing the right thing so far, she had yet to upset Sassy personally and that was a win in her very small book of victories. “I wanted to at least be considerate of your hygiene before I plant you on something you’ll regret sitting on later. Well at least a pony might regret it; I hardly ever need to use a toilet personally.” - “We’re almost done here anyway; no I have no problem with helping Ember. Okay, I’ll get right on it!” Trapeze tilted her hat down and bounced in place slightly as she shoved her data pad back up into her hat. “Well guys, hold down the fort, I’m needed elsewhere. Bernard you’re in charge until I get back, do you have any problems with that Rover? I’m quite responsible for the both of you; so please don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.” “No, Rover is having no problems with that whatsoever, is good having strong predator friend.” At least Rover was okay with this, but he was feeling a bit off lately. He wasn’t sick, he would know if he were. Could it be that he was missing Spot and Fido? Well he had a good life right now and it was at least better than digging for the rest of his life, plus that didn’t mean he would forget how to dig. Who’s ever heard of a Diamond Dog that forgot the feeling of dirt between their claws? The Boss Lady might like cleanliness and hygiene, which was definitely something Rover understood as being important. Diamond Dogs have been slowly improving in the very subject, but like them he still enjoyed getting dirty. “It means being less likely to be eaten by a predator yourself.” Bernard just waved a paw in Trapeze’s direction, he had it covered. If he didn’t, then he would fix it so that he did have it covered. He was after all Trapeze’s number one assistant and she was his beast bait. Trapeze set out from the room to rendezvous with Maud and Ember, Gilda was already flying the wheelchair back to Rarity. - “So Vera doesn’t want to be forgotten, my Saffron doesn’t want to be alone, Greta wants Gilda and possibly for rainbows to start spewing out of every one of her orifices. I personally want to keep cooking delicious food fit for a princess and a Baroness is close enough.” Coriander smiled at all of the ones he spoke of and then turned to the last one. He became a little stern with the last one they needed to discuss. “We however haven’t gotten around to what you want Ms. Pommel.” “I just want to be useful.” So far things have been going pretty well for Coco and this small social party was a big hit with everyone. “Yeah I can see that clearly… I can see clearly that it is not a real answer. What is it that you really want Coco?” Greta clearly wanted to know what made Coco tick. Of the things Greta knew, she was a shy mare and she made clothes. Where was that special pizzazz that ponies had for being unusual in Coco? She seemed too normal to be real and that was coming from a griffon sitting at a table with Mare-Do-Well and the amazing disappearing mare. “What kind of dreams do you have going on in that sweet little head of yours? We’re all friends here and we’re getting along, so what’s got you so scared of us. We’re all sharing our dreams here and yes, I do eventually want a rainbow to at least fly out of my mouth once. Hopefully it won’t be liquid rainbow though, that stuff doesn’t hit the tongue quite right.” “Well our technical engineer has a point and I don’t mean about wanting to experience something as odd as spewing a rainbow out of your mouth.” Taking a sip of her fruit juice, Vera looked Coco in the eyes with a concerned expression. She reached across the table and grasped Coco’s hooves. “Which is something the elements of harmony can do apparently, but we’re not talking about magical artifacts. We’re here to talk about ourselves. What kind of dreams do you have outside of clothing and sticking, if almost religiously at that, so tightly to your cutie marks abilities?” “Promise me you won‘t think it’s a bit weird, concerning the fact that I’m a rather petite mare.” Yes, a petite mare that had a powerful punch when she got angry enough. Coco had surprisingly waited to freak out until she was back to safety after having voluntarily gone onto Antilur during the crisis. “Go ahead, it can’t be worse than Saffron wanting a sidekick.” A giggling Greta had thought Saffron complained a little too hard about not having a sidekick and that led to an interesting discussion about the classic comic book heroes that were known as The Power Ponies. Greta liked the comic book heroes well enough, but she personally had issues with the characters being vastly different on a power scale to each other. The recurring villainous earth pony was interesting, until she disappeared at a honey festival with Radiance after becoming friends with her. “Hey, it gets lonely patrolling for ne’er-do-wells all by myself I’ll have you know!” Defended Saffron with an exaggerated tone of aggravation, she was smiling about it though. “So what is it Coco, what’s your big secret.” “Well… I’ve always been a fan of… wrestling.” That caused a few confused looks and Coco hoped that they’d at least understand. “Is it just the costumes or the whole shebang? Rarity probably wouldn’t want to get into a mud wrestling match, not with how she gets complaining about having to clean detritus off of her personal EVA suit or fix the damage to the other suits.” At least Greta thought things were going well, nobody laughed and they all took her interest with seriousness because they weren’t about to laugh at the hard working sweetheart of the crew. “You know, just to clarify things.” “Yes the costumes are a large part of it, but I’d say it’s the whole… well everything that goes into it as well.” It was a little more than surprising to Coco that nobody thought her interest was strange. “So do you want to do some wrestling? We can start our own little league and have some fun with it. Would you like that?” It wasn’t exactly the healthiest sport to get into, but it was the least dangerous if done right and Vera had no problem with it. “I will have to remind everyone here that I’m a therapy provider and not a doctor by any stretch of the imagination, so don’t blame me for being incapable of healing the injuries.” “I don’t know, my imagination can stretch pretty far…. I wonder how Gilda is doing.” Greta says her imagination can stretch far one second and the next she’s immediately thinking about her grumpier other half. Maybe a quarter if they start a herd with Tree Hugger and anyone else. - Gilda’s feathers were ruffled, she had finished dropping off the wheelchair and Sassy was able to get around again. Now she was sitting there with Trapeze, Maud and Ember. “Okay a one pony circus act, a geologist who likes to rock hard, a bounty hunter with a golden heart and an awesome mechanic walk into a bar. What do they all have in common?” Not a love for the smell of motor oil, of that Gilda was certain. “A headache and a dent or two in the bar of course, mostly depending on how thick our skulls are and what material the bar is made of. We’d all be wearing glasses soon enough afterwards.” Trapeze took off her hat rubbed her head, curious as to why Ember needed her assistance. “I would like to get to this problem you were telling me about and why exactly did we come to a bar in the first place?” “I need alcohol. I need you to perform a few tricks for me. I’ll need Gilda with me for this and Maud I need you to clear a section of the city. Hey barkeep, give me something along the lines of one hundred and ninety proof please.” Ember tapped the bar and a bottle was placed before her by the bartender, she paid for it after having looked at the proofing on it and nodded to herself. She double checked it by sniffing the contents and nodded again, that was definitely the right alcohol level. “We’ll tell you what we know about Faxel and why we’re having so much trouble with him. The guy is tricky with his technology, so how would you deal with a tricky problem? Well I considered it and then I figured an obtuse solution would do, so I decided to get an expert on magic.” “I’m not an expert on magic, I’m a magician.” One would think the two were the same thing, but Trapeze didn’t seem to think so. “That doesn’t matter; I just need you to perform to your best for what I have in mind. I called you in so you’re getting a cut of this bounty if you pull this off.” It was a brilliant idea to Ember, to catch a trickster you needed one and the plan she had thought of would be glorious after having watched Trapeze in action personally. “Here’s what you’re going to do after we make a few more purchases…” - Faxel wondered where his chasers were, he hadn’t seen them in a while and he caused quite a bit of chaos to attract their attention. So why hadn’t they come after him? Had they finally wizened up to his game? It wouldn’t be the first time he’s eluded a bounty hunters grasp or frustrated them hard enough that they gave up. He stopped at an intersection and felt that something was off. “Hey there, do you like games?” The sound of Trapeze’s voice caused Faxel to tense up; he swerved his bike around to see the top hat wearing pony. Said pony was balanced perfectly on the streetlight on one hoof, while the rest of her body was poised above her like a diving griffon. Space stations were either well lit or dark with street lights, it helped people keep a sense of normalcy when there was something like a day and night cycle going on. It was what was considered daytime in deep space and Trapeze usually liked performing in front of a crowd, this time she was making an exception given this guy attacked her friends. “Heard you were a tricky customer and that you liked using weird devices, I’m a mare of tricks myself and I don’t believe there is enough room in Streusel Station for the likes of you!” Pushing off the light with her hoof, she flipped up and backwards to grab the streetlights horizontal bar and twirled around it twice before launching herself forwards towards Faxel. Said Foggre had quick reflexes as the somersaulting mare flew at him. He pulled his right gun and fired several shock orbs and was immediately surprised to find that the mare fell short of him and hadn’t intended to strike him. She simply leapt around and through the shots with the greatest of ease; he just fired more and was kind of astonished that she continued to move toward him despite the fact that her every instinct should be telling her to run. “Now don’t tell me this is the best you got?” Trapeze tumbled under one shot that shot up towards her face, jumped over the next that flashed between all four of her legs and then just calmly trotted forward at a slow pace as the last one missed her without even ruffling her mane. She tilted her hat and bounced on her hooves in place, shifting her legs ever so slightly and smiled at the frog. “Have I got a rhythm for you, now let’s make some magic!” Trapeze whipped off her hat and pulled; with a bit of a struggle she pulled out a large metal ring. Faxel was a bit mystified by it, considering it was larger than the top hat it came out of. The mare smiled at him and sat the ring on the ground near one street corner of the intersection they were at and then spun it, when it came to a stop the mare was gone and the ring was just sitting in place. Hearing a whistle Faxel turned and saw the mare at another street corner with another ring and she was smirking. He fired three shots in her direction and the spinning ring absorbed them all, when it eventually stopped spinning Trapeze was no longer there either. Faxel looked to a different street corner and realized something, the area was empty of pedestrians and there were no vehicles here. There was the one mare spinning another ring and disappearing behind it again as if by magic, but she didn’t have a horn. Turning to the last corner he saw another ring that was the same size as the others already set up and the mare was holding four large jewels in her two hooves. “I really dislike blue hedgehogs and their special zones; they always take so darn long to get through… anyway I’m sorry about the delay on that last one.” Nothing was more confusing than what Trapeze had just said and Faxel clearly showed it, considering she seemingly set it up before the third ring. And here the alien frog thought he was the expert at shock and awe. “So wait, judging by your expression you’re saying that no time passed for you? Oh good, then I won’t have to explain where I got these emeralds from. The universe probably wouldn’t like it if I accidentally crossed wires over somewhere.” Trapeze tossed the four so called emeralds into her hat and smiled as she pulled something else out. A five foot metal balancing pole, now Faxel was more curious than flighty or aggressive at what the mare was going to do now. What she pulled out next was a unicycle, of which she hopped onto immediately and within seconds she found her balance. “Let me show you how magical I’m about to get!” She shot forwards towards Faxel she swung the pole for his face with a rightwards swing; he smiled and deflected the pole with his bare hand. With the redirected momentum Trapeze spun in a clockwise spiral outward and then back in slapping the back of his helmet with the other end of the pole causing it to crack a bit. Faxel hadn’t been able to redirect that or even react to stop the blow in time, his helmet seemed rather uniquely fragile to Trapeze. Faxel was a little more than shocked and he pulled his left pistol and fired the distortion bubble while riding away from her. Trapeze rolled her eyes and quickly pedaled backwards towards one of the standing rings watching Faxel as she did and disappeared as she went through it and beyond the edge of the ring off to the side. The ring she had been closest too had been caught in a distortion bubble and Faxel was already on the run only for a metal bar to knock him off his bike when his neck rammed into it. Trapeze had come out of a different ring while taking a jousting position on her unicycle to successfully intercept him. The frog sat up and watching as his hover bike sped off for a distance without him and then the griffon and dragon from earlier came down and seemed to grab at the air and flew up and away from the ground. They just stole his bike, they couldn’t do that! Faxel was about to say something expletive, only his world turned gray after the distortion bubble shattered knocking him onto his face. Once the side effects died off and released him, he stood up and was now facing down two earth ponies. One the smiling magician twirling the staff behind Faxel and Maud Pie was standing directly in front of him with a flat if slightly angry demeanor. Now Faxel was no longer happy, but he did reach up to his helmet and hit something. If they wanted his hover bike so badly then they could have it, in a million pieces of course. There was an explosion in the distance and parts rained from the sky and two slightly singed winged beings were slowly dropping to the ground. The dragon looked the better of the two and their infrared goggles turned to him. The griffon in particular looked really mad about something and her slightly burnt wings and furious look on her beak led Faxel to believe that maybe she wanted a bike just like his, Faxel would build another as he still had the blueprints in his noggin. “Keep him from running by moving my rings around, but remember that I’m the one that has to deal with him for now. Who knows what other tricks he has up his metaphorical sleeve, I know I have plenty up in my hat.” The smirking Trapeze had cornered a cretin, how queer it was to think that she was doing a bounty hunters job. “You want a challenge; well coming right at you live is Trapeze Star! I’m an acrobat and magician extraordinaire and for my next trick, I will be dancing with my volunteer Faxel J. Frog!” Faxel narrowed his eyes and tightened his hands into fists and smiled before laughing, this sounded like so much fun to him! He moved forward firing his right gun and Trapeze kicked her unicycle forward, the metal in it attracted the electrical orbs and absorbed them. Faxel leapt onto the unicycle and managed to avoid being shocked by the electrified metal, he smiled at Trapeze when he stopped it. “You think I’m crazy? I think you’re crazy too!” Cackling as he balanced on the unicycle holding his right pistol, Faxel was prepared to have some real good fun and this mare seemed like she could give it to him. “I really would like the deposit back on the unicycle, so don’t ruin it. Now let’s dance!” Stabbing her pole into the ground she bent it slightly and went flipping forward and intended to slam it down on Faxel. Instead he redirected the momentum backwards, the pole stabbed into the ground again and Trapeze slid down it twirling while leaning backwards. She launched a rear hoof at Faxel’s facing using the momentum of her twirls. There was something uncomfortable about the way she danced around the pole after that deflection with a friendly smile as she came back around and kicked the unicycle out from under Faxel. “Well come on big boy, don’t keep a mare waiting.” This at least gave Trapeze an idea about how difficult Faxel would be to land another solid hit on when he landed on his feet after losing the unicycle. “You know, I think my acrobatics teacher might have been a stallion pleaser...” “Let’s hold a revolution, dance and dance alike!” Faxel giggled insanely at Trapeze who currently had her rear legs wrapped around the pole and was hanging on it upside on it. Author's Note Okay now Trapeze is breaking things too... at least she didn't activate the crossover protocols on this story. That would have been disastrous. -75-Gummy’s avatar gurgled loudly and in an adorable manner, he was a toothless pygmy alligator and one would wonder why Pinkie would think he was the cutest AI in the whole wide world. He had the whole station tuned in to Trapeze’s show, as she couldn’t very well perform without an audience. She was being paid based on how entertaining her performance was and she seemed to have even perplexed his systems and he was created by Pinkie Pie… the real one and not the one from the alternate universe that currently had command of him because she was still technically a Pinkie Pie. His purple glazed eyes and blank look made up his entire image and he was just staring at the show he was showing the whole station. Trapeze Star wouldn’t have agreed to do this if it wasn’t going to be broadcasted live; she was only going to use her brand of acrobatic magic to entertain and defend herself. It never needed to be said that Trapeze was also a fan of slapstick comedy. - “Hey look, Trapeze is on a lot of screens. Well she certainly seems like she’s enjoying the attention.” Sassy smiled as she watched Trapeze announce herself to the entire station, the mare was good for putting on a show and apparently catching a rather tricky Foggre. Her wheelchair came to a halt as did the rest of the group. “Knowing Trapeze like I do now, this should be quite the bit of entertainment.” Rarity enjoyed watching her friend perform; she checked her data pad when she heard it beep. “She has quite a fabulous flair for prestidigitation and it seems she’s being paid by the station to put on this show. Opal just sent me a text message about it.” “So should we watch?” Tilting her head in a inquisitive manner, Babs was a little less down on her luck and far more friendly with Chrysalis than most would think normal. Then again Chrysalis was trying to corrupt her and the Changeling Queen pretty much told her up front that she would. So it would only be Babs fault if she did become corrupted by Chrysalis’s Humpty Dumpty personality, that being entirely off the wall. Babs thought she was a pretty smart filly and wouldn’t fall for it, but Chrysalis was so amiable about it that it was hard to stay on her guard. “Well duh, of course we’re going to watch, Trapeze is actually interesting enough to pay attention to.” They all knew that was special coming from Chrysalis, she hardly ever thought of anyone else as being more important than her. If only the group knew Chrysalis was using this opportunity to nuzzle a distracted Sassy and nibble at her mane to see if she had a taste for it. - “Then set the stage Ember!” At Trapeze’s words, Ember swooped down and unleashed a torrent of flames as she circled around the intersection. “Maud, stop him if he tries to bug out on my show, as I’m about to make a spectacle of myself. Say hello to THE RING OF FIRE! I’ve always wanted to set an entire intersection on fire, going to cross that off my bucket list later.” “Sure you hit him once, but can you do that again, the guy is really slippery.” Ember hovered as did Gilda who flew up a second later looking very upset. The roads were quickly being blocked off by flames and Faxel looked a little shocked. When he noticed the stuff on the ground leading to the last clear road behind Trapeze, it too was swiftly lit ablaze by Ember. Faxel turned back to Trapeze who was still hanging off her pole, a pole that was made of metal. “Remember kids don’t try this anywhere, I’m a trained professional at what I do and this would be clearly impossible without my level of talent.” Trapeze turned a look to Faxel’s eyes and she narrowed them, he returned the look. (Rabi-Ribi Get on with it plays) Trapeze fell from the pole as the first shock orb hit it and electrified it, she rolled backwards and thrust out the elbow of her left hoof. When that was redirected, she switched into a spin kick using the force of the redirection which was also redirected and it was then that she decided to spin away with a stylish twirl that ended in a pose with her pointing left hoof straight up. “Well now that we got this thing going; it is obvious that dealing with you directly won’t work. You can’t take a hit, but you sure can redirect them.” With a sweep of her hat, Trapeze ran her right hoof along the edge of opening. With a swift flick of her hoof and a leap she was now balanced on top of a large green and red ball. “Then how would you deal with something like this?” Trapeze started to roll the ball in a circle around Faxel who was keeping an eye on her as she continued to speed up. With a stomp Trapeze set the ball bouncing up and down while still going in a circle with Trapeze on top of it. Surprisingly Trapeze kicked off of the ball and pulled out another one and then continued bouncing along the top of that one in the circle and now there were two, both of which were circling around Faxel. Faxel didn’t like where this was going and fired his left pistol skyward causing a distortion bubble to freeze the entire center of the intersection. He ran for the flames and was going to try to leap over them, when he did jump he found a ring in front of him. He was then tumbling out one of the other four rings around the intersection and while falling back towards the middle the distortion bubble exploded. After the distortion bubble exploded Maud moved to retrieve the ring she threw to stop Faxel from escaping. Given he had turned grey only after he slammed into the ground, Maud had plenty of time to retrieve it. During this time Trapeze set up two more bouncing balls. Faxel, after being hit with the explosion of his own distortion bubble, bounced off a nearby wall and back towards the center of the intersection where Trapeze hadn’t lost her rhythm despite being frozen in a distortion for a few seconds. When Faxel finally recovered from being frozen himself he stood up and noticed his left gun was missing and eventually saw Gilda looking it over, it was obvious that he lost his grip on it when he was blown into the wall, she smirked at him with a cheery evil grin and gave him a joy filled little wave. His being bounced off the wall lost him one of his more fun tools for messing with people and the explosion from the distortion bubble didn’t put out the walls of fire keeping him in. “Thanks for the lovely assistance Maud!” Now Trapeze had four balls bouncing around Faxel in a rhythm, all while she was hopping between each ball over Faxel’s head. She was performing hoof springs, upside down twisting spins and a somersault here and there between them following each balls bounce and landing on them without stumbling. She looked to be lazily keeping the four balls bouncing in a circle for all the effort it should have required. “Also thanks for the alcohol fueled fire Ember! Let’s get this show on the road, now as for my first trick, juggling myself on the four balls while juggling torches. Hey Ember, Gilda, throw these back to me with an under hoof toss, would you kindly!” Trapeze reached into her hat between bounces and started tossing strange sticks with large ends through the flames for Ember and Gilda catch; they lit ablaze and were swiftly thrown back by a surprised Gilda. Ember just held the burning torches tossed her way by the burning ends and she sniffed one of them. “These are a pretty good brand of juggling torch and they have a rather nice smell. Hey, don’t judge me; one of my bounties was a deranged circus clown!” Ember tossed the two torches she caught back to Trapeze who was already juggling the two torches Gilda threw to her. “Too bad he didn’t know I was impervious to fire until after he unleashed those flames in my face.” Faxel hadn’t been idle and he started firing as many shots as his right pistol could put out and the air was quickly filling with shock spheres that were flying every which way trying to tag the bouncing mare while Ember, Gilda and Maud just tried to stay out of the way of the two. Trapeze just leap through all the dangerous orbs, she was laughing as she flipped and dove around them with incredible precision, all while moving between each ball and juggling four torches. The large balls were made of rubber; as such the shock orbs did nothing to them when they struck aside from altering the momentum of the ball in question until Trapeze fixed it with a quick bounce. Trapeze stopped to bounce on one particular ball and tossed three torches one at a time high up into the air and then she curled up into a ball while holding the last one out to the side and bounced straight up and onto the next bouncing ball. She uncurled after bouncing off this ball while throwing the last torch in a low arc while she traveled upward, the slow flying twirling torch grazed Faxel across the back causing him to let out a yelp. Trapeze had bounced forward faster than the low arcing torch was moving and with a flip she was in position to land on the next bouncing ball. When Trapeze landed she stopped the balls momentum and instead started twirling on it like a top, as the next ball came she leaned downwards. Catching the low arcing torch, she slapped the side of it against the ball coming at her to put a different spin on the ball. She did the same thing with the next two torches while continuing her twirl, she then started to dance between balancing on either her left or right hind leg as she spun. The reason she did this is that she needed to kick the last torch up into the air. She did it with her right hind leg and straight into her three torch juggling pattern. The entire time she had a smile on her face as the shock orbs were now being blocked by the three balls bouncing in a circle around the dancing Trapeze, who was waiting to change gears once again. Now Faxel had to make a move on her. Each ball was hitting the ground at the same time and any change in momentum would require Trapeze to subtly lean out and fix it before she lost her rhythm or her juggling pattern. Faxel was having a hard time keeping up with all the things Trapeze was doing and his butt still smarted from the graze he took to it, this pony was both amazing and exciting to him. He had never seen anything quite like Trapeze Star before and she was proving to be quite tricky, especially given that she can do all this stuff without falling on her face or catching on fire. She surprised him when he decided to charge her and disrupt her bouncing spheres, unfortunately for him this was a trap and Trapeze was waiting for him to get aggressive. “As for my second trick, fire dancing!” Trapeze stopped twirling and was now twirling something in her hooves; the four torches were now combined into two batons burning at both ends. It seemed Trapeze switched to performing a fire dance, creating rings of fire in the air itself as they twirled in and around her hooves. With one twirl she slapped one of the bouncing balls after Faxel started towards her, the ball caught fire and bouncing towards him. Faxel rolled to the side, gasping as the heat was beginning to get to him and making him sweat. He then had to dodge the next ball and the one after that, each one was on fire now and he had almost been hit by that last one. He didn’t like the heat and Foggre’s weren’t very good at handling it for too long. After watching the three balls bounce out of the burning circle he was trapped in, he turned back towards Trapeze and immediately regretted taking his eyes off of her. Seconds before he turned back to look at her, she just flipped backwards off the ball she was on and sent it careening into his face at high speed with a forward buck coming out of her back flip, while lighting it on fire no less, before he could redirect it. He was knocked senseless and sent rolling with another crack in his helmet and a scorched face that he had to rub at. As soon as he got up, Faxel decided to introduce this mare to some of his other tricks, once his world stopped spinning and his head stopped hurting that is. Trapeze twirled her two flaming batons; she mentally drowned out her current surroundings and just enjoyed expressing her talents in front of thousands of watchers. She wasn’t actually fighting Faxel; she was performing with him as a surprise factor in her act and it wasn’t all that different from what she and Bernard did, Faxel was only slightly taller than Bernard was and despite his diminutive stature he was holding up pretty well despite taking that rather hefty blow to the face. It was really a surprise when she suddenly felt like ducking while moving both her batons into her right hoof while pulling her hat off with her left, a pair of brown beams of energy shot by over her head. She saw that Faxel now had goggles over his eyes, after he had just pulled them out from under his helmet. “Right, let’s get this fire fight going!” Trapeze matched Faxel’s crazy grin and forced her hat over her muzzle and then placed it on top of her head, her cheeks were now swelled up. She crossed the flaming batons and held them up to her mouth and started to spit fireballs in Faxel’s direction while dodging the strange brown beams shooting from his goggles by side stepping and rolling, she really didn’t want to know what they did so she was going to avoid letting them hit her. She started to give chase and spit more fireballs in his direction through the crossed batons. Faxel continued to fire his goggles at this nuisance and then started to run when he got scorched again; the goggles in particular had two drawbacks. One was the inability to see anything while the wearer was firing them. The other would come as soon as he managed to hit Trapeze which was proving quite difficult as the mare could leap and roll, this left him wondering if he should get more exercise or if he should remove his belt. The second drawback was part of and related to what the goggles did when the beams managed to strike a living target, because otherwise they would do nothing as his race was, to no one’s surprise, amphibious. The Foggre jumped away avoiding another fireball and started to run a zigzagging pattern leaving the fireballs impacting the ground behind him in the dust, right up and to the point that Trapeze eventually ran out of fluids to spit through the crossed flames. Turning around immediately Faxel fired his goggled almost directly in Trapeze’s face and she didn’t avoid it in time, despite the feeling that she should have fallen backwards. The beams struck Trapeze dead on and for a moment seemed to do nothing. “You’d really think that would have done something.” All Trapeze received in response to that was a grin from Faxel who snickered at her, she started to move forward preparing to start twirling her batons again. She didn’t have the time to fill her mouth with fireball fuel as; Faxel was already priming his right hand gun on her. “It seems like, whoa!” Trapeze seemed to have slipped on nothing and when her back hit the ground she went skidding across it as if she were on ice, she quickly rolled over while tossing away her batons and scrabbled with her hooves to stop from sliding into the wall of fire. She had managed to slow down and when it seemed like it wasn’t enough Ember flew down and let Trapeze grab her tail, stopping her and dragging her away from the flames and the dragon nearly got hit by the brown beams personally for her trouble. Thankfully Trapeze quickly released her tail, even when it was hard to get a good grip on it in her current state. “Well there goes my sense of balance; just what exactly did you do to me!?” Trying to stand up was really hard as her hooves seemed to be having troubles with traction. Trapeze saw Faxel cackling at her as she stumbled slowly to stand up, as this had returned things in his favor and she finally got onto her hooves when she started gripping the ground. This situation was very upsetting for a mare whose sense of balance was the larger portion of her special talent. “For your sake I hope this isn’t permanent!” It wasn’t, not that Trapeze knew that. If the goggles were destroyed, then the victims of it would go back to normal. It was that or if the affected got out of range of the goggles, which was a couple of miles. To think Faxel had managed to actually slide people out of range with his redirection helmet which had taken two solid hits now and wasn’t holding up to well. “As for my trick, you can’t stand any more of me!” Explained Faxel as eloquently as one of his intelligence could and he was using really small words here. He didn’t dare mention the second drawback of the goggles; the goggles caused the target to become somewhat frictionless as if their whole body was made of ice. The drawback was that it made her really slippery to grab a hold of and now projectile weapons would just slide right off her body, physical or energy weapons couldn’t do a single thing to her now and his distortion gun would have had no effect on her if he still had it and radiation couldn’t touch her in this state. His shocking pistol wasn’t able to touch her now and he knew it, but he wasn’t about to let her know that! The reason why he didn’t zap himself with the friction goggles while using the distortion gun, well he had various reasons for it. All of them were bad as the distortion gun would have a disastrous effect if he fired it while under the effects of his own goggles. “Zoom, zoom, zap!” Trapeze tried to leap only for her legs to slip out from under and fell onto her face, she dizzily rolled out of the way of the electric orb and when sliding towards another wall of fire from just that little movement alone. She quickly gripped the ground with her hooves and gritted her teeth as she stopped her momentum and then an idea went off in her head. She smirked and tipped her hat to Faxel, then gave him a nod. “Very tricky indeed, but I think I have an idea of what to do with you.” Kicking off with her hind legs Trapeze shot towards Faxel balance on her front to legs and he readied himself to redirect her. She smirked and at the last moment and leaned away from his thrust that would have sent her sliding backwards into a brick wall or one of the walls of fire. Instead her momentum was stopped by her rear right leg slamming between his own legs and lifting him off the ground a little. Faxel let out a wail of pain, he wondered how that could have possible hurt him and realized that she had hit him below the belt. He then felt Trapeze slap his back harshly sending him rolling forward over her rear leg and smashing his goggles into the ground which made her shift on her hooves slightly as she no longer had to grip the ground to stand upright. “Okay no more little miss nice mare, time for the night mare. Did you know I’m the pogo stick champion of Manehatten five years running?” Trapeze sighed in relief to have her friction back and she whipped off her hat and pulled a yellow and blue pogo stick out with a flourish before leaning against it with a smug grin. The pogo stick certainly matched her coat and mane; she put her hat back on and glared at Faxel. “I even got a signed pogo stick from Pogo Stick himself to prove it. That stallion knew how to do extreme sports, too bad he was too old for me, married and not interested in one more. Well enough about that, for my last trick I’m giving this little jerk a pogo pounding!” Faxel’s response was to laugh out loud despite his beaten and battered form, this was so much fun and now he had to rely on his shock pistol and ability to redirect force. He’d save his last toy for when he was really out of it; he was a tough little guy and he pulled his right pistol out and gestured at her to come at him. Instead of hopping on the pogo stick she came at him wielding it as if it were a weapon, more specifically she was holding it as if she were going to spear him on the end of it when she charged towards him. Trapeze knew what she was doing when charged him. She dodged to the left and then ducked to the right followed by a sideways rolling leap past another shock sphere; that was when she got close enough to thrust the pogo stick at him with a smile on her face. He tried to redirect it with his hand and that was a really bad idea on Faxel’s part, especially trying to redirect the motion of an object with a spring attached was a really, really bad idea for him. Even more so of a bad idea considering Trapeze outweighed Faxel and was also larger and physically stronger than him. As he tried to redirect it he almost immediately realized his mistake; he should have tried to redirect a different portion of the pogo stick. He was blown backwards to the ground and sent rolling near one of the fire walls and his helmet was now covered in cracks. Considering how his helmet didn’t actually protect his head from impacts, Faxel was getting really sore now and had a headache from that one. He stood up and looked around when he noticed Trapeze was gone, it was in that moment that she came down on top of him with the full force of her weight. His helmet shattered sending bits of it everywhere denying him the ability to redirect attacks on his person and he was also smashed into the ground. This time he really felt the pain. “How do you like those physics?!” Trapeze shouted triumphantly while hopping up and down and smiling gleefully as she backed away on her pogo stick, Faxel groaned weakly on the ground and slowly sat up to give her a grin and a thumbs up. Faxel apparently liked them; he had never been so battered and beaten like this before in his life. He loved all this action he was getting; it was really fun and quite spectacular! He wondered if he could get a copy of this fight later if he asked the Streusel Station’s AI nicely enough, he was honestly getting so many ideas for new and crazy inventions from this. Despite his soreness he still stood up, his body was clearly a bit of a walking bruise now, he would have been out for the count if it hadn’t been for his belt which had the drawback of making him slow in the first place and on the upside it took what would be normally dangerous impacts for him. His helmet was redirection, his belt was the absorption of impacts and it seemed that Trapeze had exceeded the limit on it with that last blow; he had only been feeling the barest fraction of whatever blow Trapeze dealt to him until now. Now he could move much faster, but in current his state running away would have been hard, so instead he pulled a device from his belt and hit the button to summon his favorite toy. “You thought I’m crazy, I had fun. Now to get crazier, I don’t like jail time! Ding, ding… a ring ding ding ding d-ding baa aramba baa baa barooumba!” Holding up the strange device as he yelled into it, it flashed. That’s when something exploded in the distance and then an object was seen flying through the air and it landed directly behind Faxel. It was a nine foot tall bipedal robotic gorilla, it crouched down and its chest opened up to reveal a seat that Faxel hopped into with a broad smile. His one-time super fighting robot summoning doohickey had the flaw that it fell apart after one use; he only needed the one to aid in his escape after all. “Like you a ton, but got to run!” “Are you bucking kidding me, he could have summoned something like that at any time!” Gilda was quite angry now; she had been sitting on a perch off to the side to watching and smiled when the Foggre got knocked down a peg. However when he got up and summoned powered armor that looked well built, Gilda couldn’t believe her eyes and it was a mechanical marvel meant to be piloted by the Foggre. “It looks almost looks flawless… but I can’t help but think that there’s something wrong with it.” “Yeah well, he’s not getting away on my watch.” Ember hovered near Gilda with crossed arms narrowing her eyes at what was possibly the most annoying miscreant she had ever met getting into the robot and closing himself up inside of it. “Now that… is something I can handle myself!” “Gilda can you please get Trapeze and Maud out of here!” Ember leapt and dove towards its back, it tried to jump up and away, only it fell back to the ground thanks to Ember suddenly putting all her weight on knocking it down. She wasn’t about to let this criminal run around anymore. It struggled and started to twist and turn trying to throw her off and Ember just dug her claws deeper into it. “Did you forget that I was here Faxel? I’m not letting you run away so you can cause more trouble for the people of this station.” “I guess that’s all folks!” Trapeze said waving to the nearest monitor showing her on it to get an idea of where to look and wave. “Until next time, I’m Trapeze Star of the Trapeze Traveling Troupe and if you hear we’re putting on a show, you better believe it’ll be a spectacle like this one!” “Don’t forget to let me have a few punches for blowing up his hover bike when you take him down Ember!” Now that she had something to do Gilda flew over to Trapeze and swept her up, she dropped her off on the side that the flaming balls rolled away to. “Now go get your… yeah I’m not finishing that sentence.” “What’s wrong with me getting my balls back?” Trapeze pulled out a spray bottle and started to spray the fire away. The balls would be slightly burnt, but they would still be in good condition. “That reminds me that I really need to pick up my unicycle.” “I’m going after Maud.” Grumbled Gilda did not want to answer that question and quickly flew off leaving behind a giggling Trapeze to spray down the burning spheres. - “Trapeze is really cool… I could stand to learn a few more things from her, if she were willing to teach me.” Saffron certainly could use a training course to get her doing things like that; it’d really help if she had to put on a costume again. “If Chrysalis knows how to wrestle, which given her proclivities its hard to think that she doesn't, then I’ll be right there with you in the training room after I make a costume for myself.” Coco tapped both her hooves together. “That is provided that she would even be willing to teach me.” “Ask nicely, I’m sure she’s got something in all her hoof to anything lessons for you sweetheart.” Greta hugged Coco against her chest because she was being so adorable and not because she might have loved the meek little fashion maker. Well love her more than she loved Gilda in any case. "She’d be a liar if she couldn’t show that she knows her stuff and we all know that she tossed Ember around. Ember is a top rated bounty hunter in pony sectors of space.” Author's Note I like the music of that game, but I really don't do well, especially when I get stuck in bullet hell. Saw the game Rabi-Ribi when Nakateleeli did a Let's Play of it and enjoyed some of the music. The game is more adorable than it sounds and it's kind of like a side scrolling version of Touhou with light Metroidvania elements included. This one took a while, that and I've been kind of side tracked with video games... once a week is easy enough. Twice in one week is hard, unless I shorten my writing down to two thousand words a day. This story is staying at the five thousand or lower limit I've set for myself per chapter. -76-It was so very quiet; then again staring out into space couldn’t have been that loud to begin with. One with what were considered mortal senses might have gone mad hours ago just staring at all the revolving, bouncing and breaking masses floating around. An asteroid field was like an unborn planet that didn’t quite make it, that was kind of sad to think about. There were brown, grey, green and even a red asteroid or two floating around, it was said that asteroids changed colors the longer they floated about. This asteroid field had been around for a long time to have so many varieties of metal and or rock just hanging around out in space, these asteroids had never been a part of a system of planets. The only thing that kept them from drifting off was the minor amounts of gravitational force some of the asteroids exhibited. Not strong enough to keep any asteroids together, but just so to keep the field cohesive. The field itself was quite massive, Streusel Station was only a short distance in and well protected from those drifting rocks through various means of magnetic repulsion devices, shields and energy turrets. You could look above, below and all around, you wouldn’t be able to miss seeing a single asteroid. Each one drifting aimlessly until it bounced into another asteroid to change direction, momentum and position, such a thing happened every few seconds in a field like this. The more dangerous version of an asteroid field would be an ice field. While pretty, ice fields were deadly and dangerous in comparison given how quickly things could go badly in one. Streusel Station was a small space station in comparison to Antilur Station and like said larger space station, it was a self sufficient space colony in being able to sustain a large population for some time, possibly even for hundreds of years. That is provided that the stations residents took good care of it. People who lived in an asteroid field would always have to have a way to protect themselves from the more dangerous aspects of it, such as the humongous asteroids that floated too close to the space station. That wasn’t happening right now, but it was an everyday threat out here. It was kind of beautiful just watching as each individual asteroid move, each with its own unique shape, size and material. Nobody quite understood how the Pies did it, but they managed to take rock farming to an extreme that nobody could have ever thought of. In a way it was a bit breathtaking to look at and be among. In others it was a bit terrifying and if you didn’t keep constant vigilance, you could incidentally be hit with a large rock shaped problem. Things were quieting down on Streusel Station; thanks in most part due to Trapeze helping get rid of most of Faxel’s problematic tricks. As of right now Ember was going hand to hand with his mechanical suit, to no one’s surprise Ember seemed to have an edge on it in several ways and Maud was staying nearby looking entirely stoic and calm. Trapeze was on her way back to see what Bernard and Rover were getting up to, if anything. Gilda sadly only managed to procure the very peculiar distortion pistol when Faxel lost hold of it in the bubble's explosion during his escape attempt; she was going back to Rarity’s group slightly ruffled and looked to be a little more grouchy than usual. “Hey Gummy, do have any small jobs for a mechanical engineer or a repair consultant?” Every little bit helped when it came to wanting to apply some changes to the ship Opal now inhabited. Rarity had mentioned once or twice getting the ships outer hull painted so that it didn’t have so many drab colors, the interior was perfectly fine and surprisingly nice for something that was once a military vessel. Opal herself wanted Shining Jewel to actually shine as much as Rarity did; Rarity’s complaints about how grungy it looked on the outside with its drab colors had her thinking of how to go about changing that. Opal dragged the larger portion of her attention away from a dragon trying to fight what amounted to a mechanical gorilla piloted by a small alien frog only vaguely bigger than Bernard was, all just to focus more of her multitasking mind on the hull painting problem. She was still paying attention to everything around her, the shields were up, the defensive turrets were primed to be powered and Rarity was setting up shop to sell stuff. All seemed right with the world, though she did note that the only thing that didn’t seem right was Pinkie Pie. The poor pink pony was madly twitching because she wanted to throw a party and was trying really hard to figure out how to get Rarity and all her friends together, especially without breaking any laws. Idly paying attention to Gummy’s response, she noted that Lightning in medical was coming around and decided to inform the ships therapist, she’d hopefully know how to deal with Lightning. “Vera, I need you to report to medical. Lightning is waking up and she should be okay for release, but she can’t do anything strenuous for a few days.” Opal was responsible for the crew as much as Rarity was. “Make sure you tell her that she should take it easy and be absolutely clear on that or she might cause more damage to her ribs, irreparable damage at that. If we have to we can and will strap her down for her own good. The plaster keeping her ribs together will dissolve eventually, but until then no chest bumping or rough housing.” “So find something for Lightning to do that doesn’t involve flying or putting any pressure on her chest at all that would be any worse than breathing, right.” Rolling her eyes Vera was on the move for medical, which wasn’t far from the cafeteria where the girls were spending their time together. Not exactly a slumber party, but the effect was close enough with Coriander playing chaperone parent to all of them. “I bet she’ll be stubborn about that, any Pegasus would be. I hate to be the one to deliver that news, but I’m on it anyway Opal.” “Recalculating crew life expectancy, cross reference it to their level of sanity and… I’m now increasing funds towards medical fluids and supplies.” Sure they were all various shades of crazy, but they’d survive if Opal had anything to say about it. The chances of injury were high as was surviving them, but it was better to be safe than sorry. - Rarity didn’t want to know what was going on with Faxel anymore, apparently Ember was dealing with it and that was good enough for her. Once again Rarity was glad to have Trapeze on board as an entertainer, one who knew how to defend herself and put on a show at the same time. Rarity was glad that most of her friends could handle themselves, even Coco could protect herself when it was more likely that she’d run from danger as the sweet mare didn’t like to be confrontational. Instead Rarity was going through the motions and selling merchandise, Trapeze Troupe merchandise to be exact. The shirts even had the nifty name of being Trapeze T’s and there was at least one shirt design for each full time member of the troupe. Right now they were selling like hotcakes and Pinkie Pie being right next o her made a comment as to such, Rarity just smiled at her and patted her head. The two shirts that were really selling well, the first was the Trapeze Troupe Group shirt. It had Rover on the left with three balls in the air and a dopey smile learning to the right, Trapeze on the right holding out her eponymous hat and a bright smile leaning to her left and lastly Bernard was in the middle with a fanned out deck of cards that had a glow that seemed to come from them in the shape of two T’s and a mysterious grin on his face. The second was the Trapeze Tease shirts. The picture on the shirt was provocative in the way Trapeze was laying on her side with a broad smile, chin on her hoof and her long blue curly hair was out of the three buns she usually kept her mane in. The teasing part came in when her body stopped coming out of her top hat before her flanks could be seen. Trapeze was the one to actually insist on Rarity selling this shirt and she did so with a bit of apprehension, she thought the shirt might have been a bit racy. Aside from that she sold two Pink Promenade dresses, fifteen EVA suits and had to make three tuxedos, none of which she had any problems with doing with Sassy lending her horn to assist her. While she was selling this stuff Chrysalis was off to the side modeling one of her dresses and advertising the shirts, it left Rarity glad that Chrysalis could at least dial back her weird or awkward personality to help her make sales in a friendly manner. Thankfully Chrysalis found managerial work to be rather easy even if she wasn’t entirely warm to anyone; it was quite time consuming work for the Changeling Queen. Sassy was relaxing with Babs and helping out when she could lend some magic. Gilda was on the lookout for anyone trying to pull a fast one against her Boss Lady and idly fiddling with Faxel’s distortion pistol. “Can I get two Bernard shirts for my sisters? I think both Marble’s would really like them!” Specifically Pinkie wanted the shirts with Bernard looking adorable and nibbling on a carrot; if only people knew he was predatory omnivore. “Of course Pinkie my dear and before you say to deliver it to a specific location with all my friends, we’re not nearly that dumb darling.” Smirking when she heard the pink pony stomp her hoof in frustration, Rarity continued to sell the other various bits of merchandise. Though the things were rather tacky, Rarity actually agreed to sell other thing than clothes… at least when it came to the Trapeze Troupe. They were simple knick knacks that Trapeze had somehow procured for her traveling group to sell. “Stick around Pinkie I’m going to have something important to discuss with you at a specific location soon enough anyway, right after I’m done with all these customers. I’ll set these two shirts aside and ring up your order then. How’s it going over there Chrysalis?” “You’re kidding right? We’re selling a lot of Trapeze Tease shirts and might I add she really sells it well.” Tossing her mane and walking over to Rarity with lazy sway in her hips as she strutted, Chrysalis was in what could loosely be called a disguise. She looked exactly like herself if she was a normal unicorn and that was the entirety of the disguise, she mentally noted every single Pony, Griffon, Minotaur, Parascine and Cacceran that got one look at her rear end and then lost interest in her specifically. “Why, I couldn’t have looked more tantalizing myself… literally, she doesn’t even need a good rear to attract people. What’s wrong with me, I’m freaking beautiful and sexy, I also ooze personality!” “Maybe the ooze part of that sentence is what scares everyone off.” Sassy didn’t have an issue with Chrysalis’s personality, but she did take issue with Chrysalis at the moment. “Also don’t think I didn’t notice you chewing on my mane earlier. Now get back to work!” Chrysalis yelped at being caught nibbling and went back to work with a blush on her face, next time she would have to do it without getting caught. Sassy was managing Chrysalis well enough and making sure she didn’t do anything inappropriate to the customers… it was a full time job. “Hey, Rarity, it’s nice to see you again!” A familiar voice spoke up and looking to it one would see Preston Licaley, the feminine Cacceran came up to Rarity and she gave him a big hug. “Oh it’s so nice to see you too Preston, what are you doing here? I always like seeing repeat customers either way.” He was a friend that Rarity didn’t mind having around, he enjoyed wearing dresses and she had no trouble with that at all. He did look rather fetching in them. “What can I do for you darling?” “I’d like a Bernard’s Cards shirt and a Rover’s Roving Balls shirt, oh and I’ve confirmed the exact maximum depth an EVA suit can get to underwater before the stress becomes too much. Even sent the info to your AI, I found out on Aquoltos how deep I could go. It’s an ocean planet and I’m doing some exploration there with some other people. It’s in the Kes Vec system and your suit is still serving me perfectly. In fact I’ve recommended you to quite a few people in the marine biology and research community; you’ve impressed a lot of people with your EVA suit design given it can effectively double as a scuba suit.” Preston grabbed the first shirt and looked it over closely; he smiled brightly at what he saw and even looked over the second one. “You’re always top quality even when selling what should be low quality merchandise Rarity. It’s been nice seeing you, but I’ll have to catch up with you at some other time as my three day break ends today and I can’t stick around.” “It was nice seeing you again Preston and thank you for recommending me to other people!” The cacceran was of the friendliest sort and Rarity enjoyed seeing a friendly face. So he had a job in the Kes Vec system? Rarity would keep that in mind. Well he was obviously doing perfectly fine and taking care of his appearance, now there was a guy that had nothing wrong with getting in touch with his feminine side. “You too, have a good day or what passes for it on a space station anyway!” Preston waved and walked off with his purchase in hand, he truly enjoyed Rarity’s presence as a friend. She was someone who accepted him for who he was and he couldn’t ask for a nicer pony to run into, especially when he heard that Rarity was the owner of the Trapeze Troupe’s mode of transportation. “Yeah I remember him, I might have goofed up a little bit when I threw him a party… I didn’t know he was a hermaphrodite until after the… look can I really even go there in this story?” Pinkie questioned audibly while looking off into space, as if expecting the air to respond to her. “I’m not questioning your script or anything Airy, it’s just that. That line is something I really don’t want to say and you kind of owe me for forcing me to turn that guy on that one time… you just made me say something with really poor phrasing on purpose knowing that I can’t very well explain myself didn’t you?” “Whoever you are talking to, they must be one very amused individual Pinkie. In any case there’s one hour left to peruse my shop before I close up for the day!” Despite her misgivings, Rarity always though Pinkie was good for a few laughs and giggles. She was weird, but who was to say weird was bad? Rarity certainly didn’t complain that she was hanging around even if she couldn’t throw Rarity or her other crew members that party she kept mentioning every once in a while. At least Rarity’s Pinkie Pie Party Pony Plan was going through perfectly, Pinkie was almost the right level of agitated. “Agitated… why would you want me agitated Rarity?” Pinkie Pie seemed to wilt a bit. “I thought you liked me.” “Pinkie, need I remind you that you don’t have psychic powers and that I truly do like you as a friend.” Rarity meant it, she was Pinkie’s friend and Pinkie should really learn to trust her unicorn friend even if it’s not her home dimensions Rarity who was used to her antics by now. “Well, aside from the fact that you have precognitive body spasms which they’ve already tested you for, and you certainly don’t get any psychic images from those. At least your body is always accurate and it itself is psychic in a way.” It was obvious that this Pinkie wasn’t doing a good job of staying in character for this particular universe. Pinkie’s entire body started shuddering up and down, which meant something amazing would happen in the near future and she wondered if that had to do with what Rarity said. “Oh a doozy… I wonder what it could be.” She gave a rather wide and broad smile at the air as if expecting to learn what exactly her Pinkie Sense was telling her, instead no spoilers were given. “As long as I’m a part of the plot, I’ll find out eventually anyway.” - “I told everyone to get together for it Ms. Star, I hope everything goes alright… Pinkie can get a little depressive if she isn’t given enough love or attention.” Marble’s quiet voice and hoof circling on the floor was adorable as was the meek mare herself that was Pinkie’s baby sister who hugged a relaxing Bernard. Nobody had to tell Bernard that he gets all the ladies for looking so cute and fluffy. “Limestone won’t come; she’s always too busy or is at least trying to be. I’m surprised my big sister hasn’t had a heart attack with how angry she always is, but I guess she’s the career mare of the family, where Maud is the scholar and Pinkie is the party girl. I’m just the wallflower of the family; I don’t think I’ll ever really amount to anything much really.” “Hey don’t worry; Rarity will keep her distracted as a good friend will never leave another in the lurch. Why I even heard their stomach acids were dangerous and that leaving my friends in one would be bad for their health.” Trapeze Put a hoof around Rover and hugged him, he smiled a bit. “Like I’d never leave my two good friends here alone if they got into trouble, the last few hours have been pretty fun for me. Losing my traction scared me for a bit out there, but I persevered in front of my audience and came back to do this thing we’re doing triumphant. Now cheer this dour flower up Bernard, I know you have a few tricks that will make frown flop right side round!” Bernard got out of Marble’s grip and threw a proud salute with a puffed up chest. He didn’t like a single frown in his audience and Marble was currently frowning; now he must get into a kung fu fight and judo that sadness away! He snapped his right paw and started to tap out a rhythm with his left leg, he opened his mouth to sing only to have it clamped shut by two hooves. “Hey, no singing, you’re horrible at it and you’re always off the correct key as if you were doing it on purpose!” Trapeze was quite correct and Rover nodded in agreement to that assessment. The little bunny shaped being could do magic, but he couldn’t sing to save his life. “Do something other than cheer her up in that specific manner.” - Ember took a blow to the face and stumbled a bit, before charging and punching the robots head causing it to spin multiple revolutions. The robot reached up and stopped its head with both hands and there was a sound of vomiting coming from the inside of it. Ember launched an uppercut straight into the machines chin knocking it onto its back; she could hear the Foggre gag on his own vomit as it splattered him in the robot. As far as design flaws go the gorilla shaped robot didn’t seem to have one, as far as anyone was concerned it didn’t. It however wasn’t made to fight a dragon; much less one of Ember’s strength directly. It was already covered in several gaping rents that her claws left behind and there were more forming with each attack. Maud just stood off to the side watching this and smiled a little. It was faint, but it was there. The thought of Faxel being covered in his own vomit and then choking on it was something Maud found absolutely hilarious. She was waiting for the right moment to act; all she would need is one solid hoof to put things to a close. She wouldn’t take him off the list until she did so and Maud could punch like a jackhammer. Ember was almost done ripping the thing apart and despite putting up a good fight, Faxel had yet to actually leave a bruise on her with his robot. It was almost time for Maud to act and she wasn’t going to beat him up nearly as bad as she wanted to, mostly because he was already on his last legs… no wait… Ember just got the leverage to rip one of the legs off the robot and is now beating the other one into a pile of scrap. She looked particularly angry; aggravating a dragon was never a good or safe thing to do. After another rough smash with the electronic gorilla styled leg, Ember had destroyed the head of the machine. Pulling back both of her arms, she pushed them both down into the machine and then with all her strength she pulled apart the chest, ripping a hole into it to look directly into the pilots seat with a particularly frightened looking vomit covered Faxel looking right back. She took him by the scruff of the neck and held him up to her face. “You see this… this is my mad face, you have yet to see my absolutely angry face. Pray to your gods that you never do and if you don’t have any, then pray I’ll have mercy on you.” Ember swung her left fist around into Faxel’s jaw dazing him and making a sharp cracking noise as if somebody just broke a window. “You don’t want to see my angry face, so don’t make me come after you again and then really get me annoyed. Maud if you will do the honors, you’re the mediator here.” “Oh no… no, no, no…” Faxel was held out face first towards Maud who was standing ten feet away, with a blink the last thing he saw was a now close up and angry glare. One that was followed within the fraction of the second later by a hoof coming at him in slow motion and catching fire before it struck his face. His last thoughts were of angelic statues and to never blink around them. “There, he is now off my list… he needs a hospital.” Dully informed Maud who had just looked to have hit Faxel in the face once and only once. The actuality being twenty eight times in a split second to a single point, the center of what used to be Faxel’s poor face and the blood now slowly leaking from it. “What time is it?” “I’d say it’s getting to be time for…” The light on the ceiling of the Streusel City suddenly went away and now there were pinpricks of white with purple lit ceiling. “The change to night… well I’m tired. Let’s go drop this guy off… say… do you want to come with me to the surprise Rarity has in store for Pinkie and are you okay?” “So this only took two hours, fifty nine minutes and fifty nine seconds this time… a new record. I’m fine; my hoof stings a bit though.” Maud’s hoof looked perfectly fine and you could tell that the mare was a skilled pugilist by looking at her. Her hoof blows would even hurt Ember badly given all the concussive force she could put out with each individual strike alone, not to mention the hundreds she could possibly throw in seconds with the same exact amount of force. She was a protective older sister and she set the bar for dealing with anyone who so much as harmed her sister, even an alternate dimensional version of her. A little think like friction burn wasn’t going to do much to her at all. “Depends, what kind of surprise? My sister better not be sad by the end of this.” Maud was a force of nature, one that you didn’t want to mess with unless you want to look like you went through an avalanche. That was the exact thing that the hospital would put down for Faxel’s injuries; he just simply got caught in an avalanche and took a really big boulder to the face and somehow survived long enough to make it to a hospital in a space station away from the planet said avalanche occurred. Nope, there was certainly no insanely strong mortal pony that loved rocks and can punch your face off here. “Don’t worry; it’ll definitely make her happy. At least from what Rarity told us of her anyway. Got used as a decoy to lure Pinkie away from the preparations, I’m sure they finished getting things together by now.” A beep alerted Ember to her data pad, she was glad she spent the extra money to get the darn thing reinforced with her kind of lifestyle. “Yep that’s them now.” “Okay.” It was Maud’s only response; she wanted to know what was going on. “First we take him to a hospital.” “You know, I almost forgot I was holding him...” Ember was a little distracted by how hard Maud had hit the guy she was still holding in her claws. Again aggravating a dragon was not a good thing to do, aggravating Maud Pie was suicidal, the height of idiocy and worthy of an honorable mention in the Darwin Awards. She hadn’t killed anyone yet and she wasn’t about to start now. - “Well Pinkie, I wanted you to come here and talk to you about a few things specifically….” Rarity threw open the door to the room she had rented out earlier and Pinkie stepped into the dark room after her without a trace of fear. Her Pinkie Sense didn’t say anything bad was about to happen to her. “It’s one of the most important things that you keep forgetting because you’re too busy caring about everyone else’s happiness... something I respect as a generous mare myself since I paid for all of… this!” “Surprise… we all hope you have a happy birthday Pinkie Pie!” The lights flicked on and everyone that was present in this room yelled this out immediately to Pinkie, said pink pony was struck positively speechless and dumb for more than a few seconds. Even Vera was there, even then she kept shooting glances in Rarity's direction entirely afraid of being forgotten. “Yeah, this is a special birthday party just for you, me!” A second Pinkie yelled from within the crowd and everyone slowly backed away from her and looked between her and the other Pinkie Pie. There was a lot of shock traveling throughout all of Pinkie’s friends; her family didn’t seem to blink an eye. Not even Limestone who just rolled her eyes as if it was obvious, her sister once again forgot her own birthday to celebrate her alternate reality versions birthday. It seemed her true sister wouldn’t break the record for forgetting her own birthday every year and would usually spend it partying at someone else’s. This year was no different, if even more ridiculous because Pinkie was in a way celebrating her own birthday by proxy. Rarity slowly turned to look at Chrysalis who hadn’t transformed into Pinkie Pie as a joke and a lot of other people in the room were now a little more than confused about what was going on. Everyone was wondering why there was more than one Pinkie Pie in the room. They were all having a hard time trying to rationalize it or even wrap their heads around it. One Pinkie of whom was helping them celebrate the others birthday. “Yeah, that’s not a Changeling, I think I would know Rarity. I’m a professional on Changelings and Changeling biology, for I’m basically a Changeling biologist.” Confirmed Chrysalis in as auspicious a manner as she could, her tone was as flat and deadpan as Maud’s usually was. She turned to Maud and looked at the rock on the floor next to her and her mood brightened considerably. “Hey Boulder Bottom, how have things been? Still a silent hard ass as ever I see.” Author's Note Sometimes you just need to take a step back for a moment and laugh. Also who's writing this story anyway? I know I didn't put the second Pinkie in there. I was always here, it's just that nobody noticed until now teehee. The story is still not a comedy though, there just happen to be moments of stress relief in the adventure. This is just one really big moment of stress relief for the crew. I can't wait to be out of the Pinkie Zone, because this is causing me a headache. -77-It was two days after the birthday incident in which the Pinkie Pie that Rarity knew forgot her own birthday for the sake of another Pinkie Pie’s birthday… Rarity was not going to think too hard about that or how weird her friend was. Were they still friends? Well Rarity couldn’t find it in her heart to say they weren’t even if she had some distaste for Pinkie’s preferable mane style being a chaotic mess of curls and puffiness. Oh wait, where was she again? Oh right, she was waiting for the rest of the crew to get their rears to the cafeteria for lunch and a meeting. Her recent sales on Streusel Station had been quite profitable, especially with both men and women for the quality and prices of her stock. “Coco I would like to thank you for all those clothes you made for sale, it really boosted our funds by quite a bit.” Her friend blushed at the praise and Rarity knew she deserved every bit of it. Wrestling was not Rarity’s thing, but she was asked to come up with a practical costume and not something that comes out as a bizarre work of Rarity’s art. “Remind me to get to work on that costume for you after we’re done discussing things here Coco. Streusel Station has been quite successful for business ventures and hardly anything has gone wrong, one would most expect at least something in an asteroid field and I’m quite surprised that nothing has occurred that warrants our attention for once.” The best thing about owning and running your own business was that nobody could tell you what was right or wrong, though making a lot of tough calls was under Rarity’s purview as captain, Baroness and boss to everyone on her crew. Surprisingly despite all her titles, her work load didn’t increase all too much. She was even managing to keep up with the several crazier people in her crew and keep their psychological traumas in checks, Chrysalis clearly being voted the craziest person on the Shining Jewel’s crew. Vera was quite clingy and was really hard to get off the ship for any relaxation, Rarity wasn’t about to forget she existed or needed help every once in a while considering how much Vera has already done for her and the others. “Speaking of business venture, I recall you saying something about having finished my personal order?” Chrysalis smiled innocently as she came trotting in with an expectant look, she was anything but innocent and at least she wasn’t causing too much trouble for Rarity. It seemed like she was on the up and up about being a productive member of the crew, only Rarity couldn’t relax her guard around her for various and quite obvious reasons. It was well documented that Chrysalis was quite a selfish individual that thought mostly of just herself and then her race as a priority. “Yes, I finished it, but I need your opinion on anything that might need changing.” For a material Rarity thought Cadence’s hair was quite beautiful and strong, she treated the hair so that it would be hard to burn and or destroyed through various means. She brought out a box and set it on the table and pushed it over to Chrysalis who gleefully opened it and looked inside. “There’s not much more I can change about it, I just hope I met up to your requirements. While I don’t like where you got the material from, I must say it did turn out beautifully. There’s plenty of… Cadence’s mane left over if you want to eat it or save it for another reason.” Rarity finally had the finished what Chrysalis wanted and was unsure about the morality behind it. Whether or not Chrysalis liked it, it was up to the Changeling Queen, she better not just eat it as Rarity put a lot of work into it. Rarity had felt a little bit bad about the material she was working with having been sheared from a beautiful pony princess with clippers, to her it was a travesty on Cadence’s part as clippers had no business being around such a beautiful mane as what Cadence once had. Reaching into the box, Chrysalis looked at the final product and she was awestruck. It was beautiful to her and she reverently took it out of the box and held it aloft, the necklace was well crafted in her eyes. It was braided quite finely with each color of Cadence’s mane being represented, it had a clasp hold it in place around her neck and at the center of the she ran her hoof over it with enlarged wondering pupils. Her pupil quickly shrunk back to normal and she closed the lid on the box. It was an exquisitely made necklace that was almost a choker, one with the intricate weave in the shape of a heart like Cadence’s cutie mark at the front and it might have been a bit lacy, but it was exactly what Chrysalis wanted. “Thank you for doing business with me, it’s beautiful and exactly what I wanted. I’ll keep the hair in storage if I need you to make another one.” Chrysalis muttered, she shook her head and smiled. “Anyway, I’ll be taking this back to my room with me when we’re done with our meeting here. Speaking of business… is this about that thing I did yesterday? I know I can be callous and uncaring about other people’s feelings, but that’s just how I roll.” “Chrysalis, we’re not here to speak of that incident. You were punished soundly for it and that was enough for me.” It took a bit of doing, but Rarity actually found a few things that Chrysalis didn’t like. Rarity was well aware that the Changeling Queen liked her own suffering just as much as she liked the pain and suffering of others. Knowing that, it had Rarity a little unsure if she should let Chrysalis pursue a relationship with Sassy. So far Sassy hasn’t told Chrysalis no and is even seemed to be friendly with Chrysalis and it didn’t seem like a caustic relationship… yet. Vera said it was worth bothering with, until something went south and the recent incident yesterday wasn’t a very big issue, but Chrysalis still needed to learn that she had to carry herself better. Rarity thought Chrysalis was a bit of brat more than a queen of Changelings, she kind of expected better of royalty and her expectations about nobility were completely blown apart now. “We’re coming together about something else; it’s high time I think about getting my crew the ability to defend themselves appropriately. Mostly because I’m beginning to tire of having to repair every single damaged EVA suit from all the incidents we run into, not to mention having to clean all that awful grunginess off of them. They are not compatible with any kind of washing machine based device and as such it isn’t exactly easy to clean one, much less several after going through a rather horrible situation.” “Yeah, we’re going to need something better than civilian grade equipment if we keep running into horrors like that crap show. Can’t exactly find fault in you on that though Boss Lady; we had no idea what we were up against. I even thought I was going to die… thanks for helping me get here Masseuse.” Lightning was lead into the room by Vera and Vera’s favorite constantly pointing drone. Moving over to a chair and sitting down on her own accord, Lightning could hear an uncomfortable creaking noise when she leaned her chest against the table. A sudden grimace crossed Lightning’s face to let everyone present know she wasn’t feeling too well about her surgically pasted ribs. Vera gave her a stern look as and Lightning rolled her eyes. Unlike Sassy, Lightning certainly didn’t have problems walking, but it seemed that her breathing was a bit off or strained. “Yes, I know not put too much pressure on my ribs. I may have daredevil tendencies, but I’m not stupid or quick to die! I’ll take it easy and I promised you I wouldn’t attempt to fly at all, well at least until the paste on my ribs exits my body like it’s supposed to. I always hated that paste stuff when I was younger, now I have to live with it again. I can’t really say it isn’t effective in helping get your bones back in order though.” “Chrysalis I have something to ask… do you know how to wrestle?” It took a few minutes, but Coco managed to work up the courage to ask the question. “Well, aside from a basic wrestling style, I know folk style, sexy style and mud gumbo style. Don’t ask about the mud gumbo style, I can’t exactly teach that to just anyone.” Chrysalis’s eyes became rather shifty when she mentioned the Mud Gumbo style; she was biting her bottom lip for having even mentioned it in the first place. “So I take it you want to learn sexy style?” “What’s the difference? I thought a lot of wrestling was the same… well comparatively.” Coco was trying so hard to not let her face go red at hearing sexy style, she really was. “Folk style has a lot more moves when you’re stuck in the bottom position or the submissive position, it’s about making sure you don’t get stuck in that particular position and it’s mostly about pinning your opponent down. Quite a bit of reversal is involved and it requires good flexibility, I’m really flexible as I’m sure Lightning knows… we’ll have to play Twisty when you get better. I had to learn to break out of several difficult submissive holds when I became a Changeling Queen, mostly to keep the sanctity of my body. I couldn’t very well let myself be held down and used unless I wanted to be used.” Darn and Chrysalis so sorely wanted Coco to ask her about sexy style, was she stuck with a bunch of prudes? They had seemed like the well adjusted emotional beings they were, now she knew they might be repressed and she was going to tell them about sexy style anyway. “As for sexy style, it is a submission style of wrestling which is mostly involving in mixed martial arts which is something I’m clearly knowledgeable about. It’s entirely based on massaging your opponent while attempting to force a dominant position and make your opponent want to be submissive. I could always just teach you regular wrestling, but wouldn’t it be more fun if you could dominate a griffon with caressing hooves?” “No… I don’t think I want to learn how to do that.” Squeaked out a very embarrassed Coco, who really didn’t want to know what Chrysalis was getting at. “I know sexy style as well, never really had to use it for much except on more problematic people. Vinyl Scratch being one of the few times I really had to use it at all.” Vera knew that was something Rarity and Octavia were witness to personally; she had wrestled Vinyl into such a submissive and happy position. “I think Coco is looking for basic wrestling Chrysalis. Sorry I didn’t bring this up earlier when we were spending time with the other girls Coco, but I didn’t think you’d be interested in my particular knowledge on wrestling. Sexy wrestling is all about how sensitive your opponent is to your movements and what you’re looking for is the more bull by the horns every day kind of wrestling deal, so basic is really what you want.” “It would still help if everyone learned some folk style… hey do you think Sassy would appreciate knowing some submission breakers?” At least Chrysalis understood somewhat as to what Sassy had been through, she just didn’t understand exactly how bad or psychologically scarring it was in full. She was just interested in making Sassy happy so that she could make Chrysalis happy, it seemed like the perfect plan to her and the convoluted steps between now and what she wanted to happen didn’t cross her mind one bit. Even now Chrysalis had some very warped views of what exactly was romantic; it was not the candlelit dinner kind of stuff and it wasn’t like that worked on every girl anyway. “I can perform all of mine half drugged out of my mind. It even sounds like the perfect thing for Sassy to learn! She can pin me to wall or floor anytime she wants. I mean teaching ponies can’t be that much harder than teaching Changelings right? I’ll think of a schedule and work it out with you later.” “Do I even want to know the topic of discussion I just walked into?” Coming into the room was a grease covered Gilda who had been working on another project, it was another walker and she wasn’t quite ready to start building her dream fighter. Using a rather despoiled rag, she wiped an inky mess from her face as best she could. She looked a little grumpy, then again that was her natural state of living when it came to repair and maintenance. “I can guess this is the think tank thing we talked about, so let’s wait for everybody so we don’t have to explain things twice. As for a new topic, do you want to hear about what Greta got from the strange bubble shooting pistol I brought in?” “Well it would be nice to get off our current topic of discussion while Coco still has some blood in the rest of her body.” Rarity giggled a bit and looked at her friend’s tomato colored head, poor Coco must have a very vivid imagination. It occurred to Rarity that Coco might have been thinking rather distracting or racy thoughts, hopefully Coco would contain herself. “Are you alright darling?” “I’m fine Rarity, just really flustered.” The idea for several lingerie based wrestling costumes floating about her mind said otherwise, but Coco was quick to mentally stomp it down as hard as she could. Only the images just kept coming to the forefront of her thought processes and she slowly imagined Greta and Gilda tag teaming her, those thoughts just made it worse when she threw Saffron in a very slinky Mare-Do-Well style costume. “Can we please talk about that pistol Gilda managed to nab off the Foggre?” “I’m still kind of interested in how Chrysalis can survive having all her vital organs crushed by a meteor personally.” Vera wanted to get her own few words in, she just never asked about it and nobody else had questioned because obviously Chrysalis survived. “Eh it wasn’t really that big, even if it destroyed the entire top layer of my hive where my throne room was and basically crushed my body while setting it on fire. Thankfully no Changeling important was hurt.” It never bothered Chrysalis that it happened; it just bothered her that she lost one of her most incredible assets to protection against all forms of magic that wasn’t Changeling in origin. “It was an exceptionally white hot euphoric amount of pain and I enjoyed every minute of it, took me a while to start walking again. Probably would have died if the Changeling fire fighting team was late in spraying construction goo all over it, held me together when it finally seeped down to me. At least Changeling health care is as good as all the medical bed technology and a normal Changeling would have died five seconds in, but I have a lot of determination to stay alive.” “Well that question has finally been answered, you could have just stated that you’re impossible to kill and I would have believed it.” That had been bugging Rarity, yet no digital media ever really explained the overly volatile reaction the princesses had to Chrysalis. “Just what exactly did you do to get the princesses so mad at you to cause that incident in the first place?” “Oh, do you want to know what I did to deserve that? Well the very reason why the meteor was even on fire in the first place was because of Princess Celestia, I thought she would like a playful game of cat and mouse. I was almost dead wrong and her response was quite bluntly in the tone of, give me back my pretty purple pony or else. Given that direct confrontation would have been brutal in losses, the Changelings surrendered in my stead given I was incapacitated at the time. Still don’t understand why Celestia thought she had to apologize for attempted murder, that was one of the most incredible feelings I’ve ever felt.” Tapping the table with a hoof Chrysalis gained a thoughtful look as she hugged her box. “Now that I think of it, I Probably shouldn’t have kidnapped Twilight Sparkle in an attempt to get Celestia to marry me… I did kind of taunt her with the fact that I stole Twilight out from under her nose and brought her back to my hive thing. Didn’t think she would take it so personally really, I didn’t even hurt a single hair on Twilight when it came to subduing her with a spell from behind. I also probably shouldn’t have told Celestia that she was at the bottom of the hive and my throne room was near the top either… yeah, that was kind of dumb on my part really. I can make expertly crafted plans, only problem is I’m usually the wrench that messes them up in the first place or something goes wrong. Like when I was hit with that explosion on Antilur Station… good times.” “Chrysalis, I ask that you never take a hostage around me, in fact no kidnapping either for that matter unless I’m completely coherent, aware and agree to it!” Never had Rarity seen the likes of someone whose idea of romantic was kidnapping important ponies and marry someone. “Do you even know the proper way to court someone? No don’t answer that, I’m sorry I asked and I don’t want to know.” “Sounds fair… wait a minute… there’s a better way to marry someone I like?” Chrysalis was horribly confused, aside from the fact that she got along with Celestia as just really good friends afterwards. Was there really a different way to go about romantically entangling someone? Oh right, she wasn’t a pony so she wouldn’t think to do it the pony way, of course, it all made sense now. Friendship was easy, sexy bedroom times with a pony of her choice was a lot harder to achieve than she thought. “Fine I won’t kidnap anyone you know unless it’s urgent… can I have a list of all your relatives, friends and family for reasons that are not very ominous?” “It’s a wonder Celestia lost to her at what should have been Cadence’s wedding.” Coco deadpanned in an adorable manner while putting her chin on her crossed hooves. “Yeah, can we get back to what I discovered about that pistol?” Greta was now there at the table and so were Saffron, Coriander, Bernard, Trapeze and Rover. A few seconds later Ember walked in with Sassy wheeling herself and Babs was sleeping in Sassy’s lap, the filly just looked so precious kicking at the air in her sleep. “Maybe later Greta, Ember I’m glad you came along. Since everyone is here, let’s get this meeting started. I have gathered my entire crew here today to talk about a small issue we’ve been having.” Taking a rather deep breath of air, Rarity continued. “Every time we get into a crisis I’ve had to deal with my EVA suits getting damaged or covered in stuff I’d rather not think about.” “You always tell everyone of your displeasure about it. That’s why I’ve been trying to get you more interested in at least something with military applications to protect yourself with; my Mat drones aren’t going to cut it… I would like to thank Greta for getting them fully operational.” Even Opal wanted in on this meeting. It sounded both fun and exciting designing protective armored suits, she was laying on her belly on the nearest monitor kicking her hind legs up and down. “You don’t have to sell it, just make sure that it can’t be used for bad purposes if it’s stolen.” “Which is what our meeting is about, ideas, we need them if we’re to make some personal powered armor for our crew. Our resident experts at making all things mechanical, our very own Gilda and Greta of course, will be responsible for the construction of said armor. They will be getting some help from Opal, Coco and anyone else who thinks they can help with the design.” Rarity sat at the table and took a breadstick from a basket offered by a drone and bit a chunk out of it. After finishing that little bit of her garlic and cheese flavored breadstick which was soft and fluffy, she continued. “I’m willing to take any idea as long as it’s a productive one and I don’t want to hear anything silly like adding genitalia to it. I’m already half expecting Chrysalis to run a sex shop out of my ship, I don’t need it to become a reality.” “Darn, well there goes my pitch for the ‘Rarity’s Secret’ portion of your fashion industry.” Dryly commented a flat faced Chrysalis. She was actually a little sad that she wouldn’t be able to sell all kinds of bondage equipment to good little loving ponies everywhere, Opal had already stomped on her dreams for the fashion industry and Rarity just crushed them. She would have done it all in good taste too… at least she thought it would be good taste. It led to Chrysalis wondering if she really knew anything about the fashion industry aside from the fact that it sounded rather cutthroat from what’s she’s heard. “I’m pretty sure the fuzzy hoof cuffs would have made sexy times even better.” “You are the main reason why I made those ground rules in the first place.” If it were anyone else that would suggest something like accurate genitalia, then Rarity would be surprised. “Now if anyone else would like us to start off with something that could be both functional as much as fashionable I would like to hear it.” “Well we could incorporate battery loaded impulse saddles into the design.” As soon as Coco said this, an impulse saddle appeared on screen. “We’d need something along the lines of boost jets to get us off the ground when we’re wearing them on a planet. We wouldn’t be able to fuel them for prolonged flight, mostly short bursts, in space we can get around with impulse no fuel to worry about.” Opal made some adjustments to the saddle and added six jets to the outline of a pony on screen, the jets were located at the end of the hooves and two on the impulse saddle itself. “What we really need is to consider what kind of powered armor we are working towards. I never really thought this was possible to make powered armor until now. Do we make powered armor with shields and light armored plating, heavy armor plating and shields or something of a middling ground?” As Saffron spoke the imagine on the screen produce three suits of old knight armor, one bulky, one moderately all around and one that looked to be full bodied chainmail. “Isn’t that a bit ancient for what we’re going for Opal?” “Hey I’m just trying to get a physical representation on screen; the final product will not look like this. Besides unless spell protected royal guard armor isn’t very useful and all the enchantments require a lot of magic.” After rubbing her chin Opal grunted a bit and then shrugged. “We’ll worry about whether or not we want to magically enchant the armors; we need to focus on the technological angle first before we decide to add magic to the mix. What are we currently capable of with technology and can it fit on some ponies back without becoming cumbersome?” “That is a good question; Coco might be able to handle more weight than the rest of us. So we might need to design with the physically weakest crew member here in mind, as weight can become a problem.” Everyone slowly turned to Rarity as she spoke and then she noticed they were all staring at her, Ember coughed loudly into her fist. “Right then, design it with me being the weakest crew member in mind. Yes, let’s forget the fact that both Lightning and Sassy are still recovering at the moment. I can handle some weight; I did for a long time with an impulse saddle strapped to my back. I wish I hadn’t, I was so horribly sweaty after pulling my EVA suit off, but we all know what happened on Antilur was quite hectic.” “Aren’t I the weakest crew member though?” Asked Babs innocently as she rubbed at her eyes and rolled onto belly to sit up at the table in front of Sassy. Having just woken up, she didn’t know what was going on. “You’re not a crew member dear; you’re a passenger like Ember and it would be illegal to force a filly to work for me. You’re getting a free room and food so you shouldn’t complain or worry, we’re quite willing to take care of you for as long as you need us to. Ember on the other hoof is paying for her spot on my ship even when I told her she didn’t have to go that far.” Rarity saw Ember cross her arms and gave her a firm look. “She’s the one that has insisted on paying rent and I haven’t the foggiest why when she could be here for free.” “I just don’t mooch off of my friends. This leads to me asking about weapons, you obviously need to include them in the workings of the armor. Energy would be the easiest to make, point hoof and fire a beam at something. Material weapons would be hard to install into armor like that and as such you would need to have the material weapon separate from the armor. There’s also the possibility of including things like bladed weaponry into the armor itself, never know when you might get stuck in a melee.” Ember watched as images appeared on screen and it cycled through three images that created lines leading to the central piece of armor, they each represented material, energy and special kinds of weapons. “There are all kinds of strange monsters out there that need to be dealt with in specific ways, Coco already has the shock hooves on her EVA suit and they kind of saved the day back on Antilur. I and Chrysalis were busy running from a giant corpse scorpion at the time so I wouldn’t have been able to protect her and deal with the tendrils on the ceiling. Put in at least one unique weapon that can do something unusual.” “I don’t like to say it often, but thank you for watching out for my concussed ass while I was still having issues shooting straight.” Chrysalis decided not to mention the hoard thing Ember had going on here, she was completely aware of it and could feel the intense ownership for everyone Ember called a friend. This included her as well and it was a bit touching to Chrysalis, so she decided to hold her whistle blowing for now. She’d still be capable of it later, unless Ember had the guts to tell everyone she started thinking of them as her hoard. “Yes well, we have ideas for armor, weapons and mobility, but what about looks? Can we make this armor with any sort of practicality when we all know Rarity-sama won’t make them without at least some good aesthetics involved?” It had to be comfortable to use and Sassy wanted that to be one of the things to think of in the design. “They’ll have to be fashionable, comfortable and effective. While I want them to be fashionable as well, I would say that practicality should be our main concern. We need to rely on the most no nonsense crew member here to keep us on track on that front. That would be Gilda.” “Actually if we’re talking no nonsense, then I’d have to say Coriander should be the one on that front.” For once Gilda didn’t puff out her chest and preen about the subject, she was taking this seriously and she really wanted to pull this off. “Lest no one forgets that too many ideas can spoil the pot and nobody knows that better than a cook.” “I agree on that front, I will be overlooking this to prevent anything silly from being put into the project.” Coriander spoke up from eating some breadsticks. “Good, because the first pony I want to put in power armor is Saffron. I’d trust her to not go mad with power… that’s something I’d absolutely expect Chrysalis would do.” Cautiously Rarity pointed to Chrysalis. “Yep, I would definitely do something like that. I am still a bit megalomaniacal since I’m a Changeling Queen.” There were a lot of concerned stares in Chrysalis’s direction. “Hey, at least I can at least admit it! I’m on this crew for personal reasons and I wouldn’t be here if I knew for certain that at least one of you was planning to throw me out an airlock.” “Alright, very well then, I suggest we move onto the next stage of planning.” Lifting her data pad with her magic Rarity had Mare-Do-Well’s costume on screen and was thinking about how she could translate that costume into an armored form. “We need to hammer out the finer details of all that has been brought up so far, I would suggest adding a pinpoint puller to the design with the upgrade that I heard Ember was making to the spare one she bought from us.” “Rover is thinking we be making each armor suit special, we can specialize while making some compromises in how each one works depending on the user we’re making it for.” That was quite an eloquent thought for Rover and everyone nodded, it was actually good idea. “I want digging suit personally. Though Rover hates to admit it, there are some things Rover can’t dig through with bare claws.” “Hopefully that’s not the smartest thing you’ll ever say, because I expect even greater things from you.” Lazily stated Trapeze with her hat over her smiling face, she had been meticulously marketing merchandise and she was happy with earning her keep. Earth ponies prided themselves on hard work and earning their place wherever they were. Author's Note For once there isn't a crisis... you'd at least expect a little more from a science fiction asteroid field. -78-“And I’m telling you that would be exceedingly stupid to do; it would take up too much space and be way too heavy.” Things had started out alright enough with discussing the base concept of what they were going for, only now Ember was in the midst of arguing over weapons. Ember in particular was a specialist in improvising weapons from her environment and rarely did she need to do that when she was armed with her rifle. “I mean take my rifle for instance. Not only can it shoot materials or create a bayonet made of pure fire that can finely slice steel, but it can also combine the two features to increase my rifles firepower by turning my ammunition molten hot. Rockets, missiles or any weapon that requires ammunition is going to be quite heavy. I would know what heavy is, I’ve dragged a five hundred pound sapient crustacean for several miles!” “Well we would have to use something else aside from the energy cannon and a built in blade, you said it yourself that there are things that wouldn’t go down to normal means. I’m trying to think ahead here and given who I work for, crazy prepared probably isn’t enough. I’d have to be downright paranoid prepared to successfully counter Rarity’s luck for leading us straight into danger.” While Gilda would agree with Ember on some of her points, a built in missile system would be useful in handling stronger things that a beam or blade wouldn’t take care of. “We’re talking about crew protection here and I’m not a griffon that half asses everything I do! I want at least some idea of what I’m doing before I do it and you can solve just about any problem with enough explosives.” “Rarity isn’t bad luck. If anything she’s mostly good luck considering how none of her friends, me included in that, have yet to die from any incident she’s been involved in. Sure there were a few serious injuries, but that wasn’t any fault of Rarity’s.” There was a strange quirk in Ember’s face as she defended Rarity. “I still say we could have something a little more subtle, explosives attract a lot of attention and there is also the chance it could injure the user. Do you seriously want some random military breathing down your necks when you start producing more military grade equipment like that tank in the hangar?” “Yes, because if we got some paramilitary organization to come after us, then that means we can be seen as something too dangerous to mess with when we fight them off. I’m sure I’ve already acquired some notoriety back on Equus by just landing a tank from an orbital drop while under fire, everything else was just icing on the cake.” As a mechanical engineer, Gilda would welcome paramilitary organizations attempting to try and steal their stuff. It would mean that their crew was acknowledged as people you don’t mess with when they succeeded in kicking said organizations ass. “Anyone would be sorry if they messed with us, especially if we took prisoners. We’d just leave any prisoner in a room with Chrysalis for three hours. Heck we don’t even need to tell Chrysalis to torture the poor sod, just to entertain them and then we would sit back to watch the magic happen. I wonder if she can do whole groups all at once.” “That brings up a number of mental images… why would I suddenly think she could use a doll house like that?” Just like anyone else, Ember had heard of Chrysalis’s ability to torture someone, on purpose or incidentally. If it was on purpose it would be horrific on a number of levels and violently sadistic in ways most wouldn’t be able to cope with. If it was incidental then it was equally horrific and only marginally less vomit inducing. In comparison Ember knew how to interrogate people when she had to; she preferred to be quick and brutal about it. “Yeah, that mare is pure nightmare fuel sometimes.” Even Gilda had to admit she shouldn’t have brought it up. What could Chrysalis possibly do with a doll house that Ember would think is so… oh… she might need a bucket right about now as. A really deranged thought just came to Gilda’s mind and it was horrifying that she might be able to understand Chrysalis’s thought processes at all. “Can you really do something like that with a doll house?” Ember and Gilda stared at each other silently for a minute and then their eyes widened dramatically at the implications; they were thinking of the very same thing. Instead of continuing down that line of thought, they decided to go back to talking about safer things like possible weapons and if they could fit Mare-Do-Wells theme into it somehow. - While Ember was in a weapons discussion with Gilda, Coco was having her own argument off to the side. “Would shields really be more efficient than armor?” Even Coco could get into an argument, at least her argument was a bit more civil and Greta was listening to her argument. “Taking energy away from the battery would mean less power to move the suit with and wouldn’t that make it slower?” “Shields would prevent any projectile from getting through and you better believe you want your power armor to fight things at range. Too much armor and it’ll be too heavy to work efficiently.” Taking a sip of water Greta continued her discussion with Coco. “Since we’re designing with Saffron in mind, she’ll likely want something more agile… though I can see a problem with having shields as that would mean she wouldn’t be able to utilize a built in energy weapon as much without taking from the shields. It would be kind of like the same set up without the ionized energy cannon on the Bombing Peregrine.” “This really is quite the conundrum isn’t it, isn’t there some kind of middle ground we could go for, like limited shielding with tough but thin armor plating?” They were furthest along in thinking of design aspects for the suit itself, a small bit of brilliance shined in Coco’s eyes when she came up with something. “Maybe we could put in a magic amplification device and run some of the systems on unicorn magic or have her weapons run on it!” “You might be onto something, Rover did say we needed to plan around the particular individual… and Saffron is a powerful unicorn that knows how to teleport.” That actually sounded like a good idea to Greta, the less Saffron had to worry about using her own magic to shield herself and she could go on the offensive with it instead of needing an installed energy weapon. “We’d need to install a lot of safety features in the amplification device if we do figure out how to make one, we wouldn’t want Saffron’s horn to blow.” “Not like I can play a trumpet anyway.” Saffron decided to join them as they sounded like they had some good ideas running between them. “We already know what colors my powered armor is going to be, but the finer details are still up in the air. Would a cape be a really bad idea? Capes are pretty dangerous in the vigilante business, but they certainly have their uses and I’ve used a cape for many things like a tourniquet.” “Depends, if we’re adding variable jets, then having a cape would be a liability.” After stating that Greta paused and gave it some thought. “We could just change the jets to give you an energy cape, might dig into the energy supply. I’ve been working on energy jets and though they are not very powerful, at least it would save on having to buy conventional fuel and could be useful for jump enhancement. ” Their conversation would continue in the vein of armor, amplifier, accessories and slightly experimental personal jump jets for a while. Saffron’s input was invaluable and she would gladly destroy her horn in the process of saving and protecting lives, she’s saved the day so far without making a sacrifice like that and she would continue to do so even if she did lose her horn. Greta would still take every precaution if she did end up making a magic amplifier somehow; maybe she should drop the idea of making a sonic based weapon over to Ember and Gilda’s discussion since amplifying sound into a viable weapon was easy enough and it could be made non-lethal which was what Saffron would prefer. First Greta had to run her idea by Saffron and ask her what she wanted personally. They would then discuss whether or not if what she wanted was viable or even practical; they were going to bells and whistles the crap out of this idea. - Rarity was with the three people she hadn’t spent all that much time around. The first of the three was Rover who wanted to go gem shopping with Rarity; he knew quality when he saw it even if Rarity didn’t exactly need him to check for quality. Rarity thought it would be nice to have him tag along. The second was a recovering Lightning Dust. Lightning had gotten her cake and a small modest welcome back from the medical bed party, the party thing was quickly becoming a tradition for the seriously injured on the crew and she needed some relatively fresh air. The last was the oddest one in Rarity’s current Streusel Station group, one of last times they would be here for a while as they only had a few orders to deliver and then they could leave at anytime. It was a little strange that Bernard insisted on coming with them without Trapeze and that was curious enough to warrant Rarity sending him questioning glances, she wondered what he wanted to do on the station as there were no wild predators for him to eviscerate and eat. Bernard and his partner were rather hard to separate even if their stage act has them look like they were at each other’s throat constantly; Bernard didn’t look upset and seemed rather eager to look around. “Well I can maybe understand Rover wanted to come along, but what about you two?” Rarity’s curiosity was certainly piqued by this and she finally decided to ask. “I can understand Lightning needing to stretch her legs, but she needs to be constantly supervised in case of an emergency involving her ribs. As such we will all be sticking together and there will be no running off on our own.” “Okay, I did kind of want to do some flying, even if it might mean making my injuries worse.” The Boss Lady certainly had her pegged; Lightning wouldn’t have flown too high in the first place anyway. It would have been just a few feet and she wouldn’t have exacerbated her pasted ribs. Noticing that Rarity was giving her a stare, Lightning gulped. “I’m not going to do it now Boss Lady, honest!” “Seriously, am I going to end up being called Boss Lady by the entire crew at this rate?” It kind of irked Rarity a bit that she was being called Boss Lady even if she liked the lady part, the boss part sounded way too stuffy and Rarity was nothing like a Canterlot noble. She no longer wanted to be like that, she preferred to be the pony to define glamorous in her own way. “Yes/Rover is thinking so/Squeak Squeak Snuffle.” The three answered for her in return. “Just please don’t do anything to embarrass me, I think this was the store that Pinkie said we could shop at.” Rarity stopped in front of a store simply labeled ‘Pies Peddled Pebbles’, the store looked boring on the outside with its stone colored motif. Looking in through the window it looked better on the inside. “How quaint, well let’s go in and see which of the Pie sisters we’ll have to deal with.” Walking in the four immediately walked into a rather vocal amount of shouting. “Those asteroid eaters are messing with our turf and I’m going to find a way to rip them to shreds and so help me they are not getting another one of my babies!” This was Limestone Pie, the angry aggravated mare who loved her job a little too much. In fact some people think she practically married the asteroid field and her anger was born out of love for it. It was mostly wrong to think that her anger was born out of love for the asteroid field, even if it was partly true, she was angry on the principle that she was rage personified and distilled into a pony. The only thing that could get angrier than her is Maud who stood stoically next to a Changeling with bright brown eyes behind the Counter. “Also did you know your pet rock was a Changeling this whole time, it makes me so angry that he’s been with you all this time and he never told you what he was! If he did, then why did you never tell us?” “To be fair he told me his name and never exactly lied to me; he just never corrected me on my assumption that he was a rock. He gets me though and he makes for a really good rock impersonator given how many years I’ve had him.” Stopping there Maud turned blankly to the Changeling and threw a hoof around him. “He’s part of the family Limestone, he’s still my pet.” “I don’t mind continuing being a pet rock.” The Changeling formerly known as Boulder Bottom the rock offered in just as bland a tone as Maud, in fact he didn’t have much of a personality and being a rock for the last five to eight years put a crick in his neck something fierce. In fact it was quite hard for him to even remember that he was a Changeling to begin with, he was just that good at his rock impersonation. “If you think I’m okay with this, well I’m not!” Some would swear that Limestone had somehow managed to acquire what amounts to a human female period… only it never left to come back once a month, it was ongoing all the time. In comparison Gilda had a sunny disposition despite her grumpy nature. “I’m going to either get Planetary Protection Patrol or at least the Equestrian Defense Force to come out here and help me with this crisis! At least it’s not fucking shamroids, those things are annoying to root out! That would piss me off farther than I already am after we prevented the last three attempts to infest our fields; I’m getting sick of all this crap messing with my asteroids!” Limestone growled as she stormed out of the shop leaving the blank faced sister and Changeling behind. Rarity and her group moved out of the way of the mare that had a pick axe shouldered across her back. They watched as she stalked off muttering expletives that would have certainly made Pinkie upset. Rarity walked in with Bernard on her back, with Rover and Lighting following behind. “Hello Maud, how are you and… Boulder Bottom I take it. Why haven’t you turned back into a rock yet, is this because of that thing with Chrysalis? I would like to…” Rarity was stopped by Boulder holding a hoof and looking at her calmly. “It is the duty of a Changeling Queen to be insane, a jerk, mad with power or disturbing on a number of levels, sometimes all of the above. Do not apologize for my queen’s ways, all Changelings understand our queen on a level most couldn’t even begin to describe. I have impersonated a rock for so long I almost forgot what it was like to breath, it has actually been… nice… to see her again. She is who she is; she seems a lot happier and friendlier than I remember her being though.” Boulder’s flat tone was a little odd, but nonetheless approachable in the same manner as Maud’s was. A rather noticeable feature was his rock hard muscles focused around his rear end. “Maud is a loving and caring individual; I care about her in the same way. So I’m not exactly the rock she expected I was, but I’m sure we can work out our differences.” “You’re going to be one of my special some ponies.” That didn’t sound like a question and more of a outright demand from Maud. “Along with any other pony I can find that won’t mind your presence.” “I will agree, as long as I can keep being your pet.” After Boulder said his piece they both nodded to each other in acceptance, the two weren’t very complicated and they complemented each other pretty well from what Rarity could see with that small exchange. “I didn’t say you could stop being my pet in the first place Boulder. Marble, we have customers.” The mare that Maud was addressing came up from behind the counter shivering, Marble was always a bit scared of Limestone despite the fact that Limestone has never once hurt her sisters in any given way. “Oh… sorry… welcome to Pies Peddled Pebbles, w-w-what can we do for you? Oh it’s Mr. Magic Bunny!” Clapping her hooves cheerfully Marble’s cowardly countenance flipped gears entirely as she reached over the counter and pulled Bernard into a tight hug. He didn’t fight it; he just cuddled into her and played up his part of being unassuming adorable rabbit that could do tricks. “So fluffy…” “Pinkie recommended this store to us; it was kind of obvious that it belonged to your family given Pie was in the name.” Hopefully Rarity wouldn’t become too deadpan; she’d turn into Maud and Boulder with their flat emotional range. Hopefully they weren’t contagious, because that would be just horrifying. “I would like a few large emeralds the size of my head, fourteen medium sized sapphires, a box of small topazes in various colors, five moderately sized rubies, a padparadscha sapphire or two, at least eight amethyst of any value, one perfect moonstone, three aventurine, fourteen heliotropes, six spinel and finally at least seven cloudy labradorite if you have any.” “Wow you certainly know your gems… are you a miner? You look too refined and clean to be one of our workers.” Marble had set down Bernard as soon as Rarity started going over a list of gems she wanted and immediately pulled out everything Rarity was looking for. “Would you like some onyx with that? Oh and you get a small free statue with your purchase based on how much cash is spent, it’ll just take me a minute to make and you can have anything done. That or you can take a voucher to get it done later when you have a image of who you want to have immortalized in stone provided that you don’t want it to be you. My special talent is sculpting and I’m usually requested to sculpt the customers themselves.” “Rover is finding all gems to be great quality, how can you afford to sell so cheap?” It had Rover curious and he was a bit slow on the uptake as to the fact that the asteroid field was rich in minerals thanks to the Earth Pony practices. They looked like floating rocks to him and he wondered why anyone would want to own so many floating rocks in the big hole that was space. “We own all the floating rocks out there; they are full of minerals and gems like this. We can grow absolutely any gem, you want. We’d need a sample of a particular gem and a modest payment for us to grow something for you.” Marble smiled brightly at them as she continued to pull out everything. “The recent problem with the asteroid eaters might eat into our profits though, but I’m sure Limestone will take care of it. She takes care of a lot of things and is always so stressed out.” “Yes, I’d like at least four onyx with that and I already have an idea as to what I want to do for the statue, how big can it be?” This was another occasion where Rarity wasn’t going to get involved; she wanted to stay away from trouble at the moment. Her inner generosity was practically screaming at her to offer some form of help and she was trying very hard to not get involved. “By the way, no I’m not a miner, despite my cutie mark maybe leading to the assumption and I have done some mining personally. I now run my mining through Mr. Rover here. I specialize in having a great eye for detail and finding beauty in many things.” “Let’s see… considering the prices of the gems and the Onyx was offered freely on the side, you’re buying enough for a statue made from a three by three foot block of stone to work with.” Marble watched as Rarity inspected every stone she wanted before putting it away in the large bag Marble set on the counter. Marble gently rubbed at Bernard’s belly when she finished, he squealed happily and kicked one of his legs lazily. “Who’s a good bunny, you’re a good bunny! So voucher or do you have an ideal statue in mind right now?” “Opal, I need your help with something important in the world of fashionable art STAT!” Inspiration came in many forms and Rarity just had an idea, which is why she brought up her data pad and walked off to the side. “Rover is thinking she wants to do thing now while here, be giving Boss Lady a moment please.” Receiving a curious glance from the pony, Rover returned the glance just as curiously. “You’re the first Diamond Dog I’ve ever met; surprising considering my family runs an asteroid mining company.” At least Marble would think they’d have some Diamond Dog workers, they didn’t and she was most curious as this was her first time actually meeting one. He looked like a big puppy to Marble and didn’t seem too imposing. “What do you actually do with the gems you mine; do you eat or wear them or what?” “It is a history story you be asking, Rover is being proud to share it with you. Friends and Boss Lady have yet to be interested in asking, Rover tell you.” He’d happily keep Marble entertained while the Boss Lady was doing whatever she was doing, he’s learned a lot about entertaining from Trapeze and all the forms of it. His entertainment lesson included garden variety social interaction; he even learned a few things about how Diamond Dogs are seen by others. Sure they his race was a bit simplistic, but that didn’t mean his culture wasn’t rich and as a giant bipedal prairie dog he could certainly talk conversationally. “It all starts with Rough Ruff the fragrant, he always smelled like whatever dirt he would dig into. One day while digging deeply he...” “This is really quite boring I want to hear more about those asteroid eater things.” Lightning turned to Boulder and Maud, one who had returned to being a small rock that Maud carried around. Anything would be more interesting than what Rarity was doing. “They are giant monstrous insects that fly through space and eat asteroids, hence the name.” Maud didn’t think any of the Pie’s liked the asteroid eaters; Boulder would obviously dislike them too. “They have the whole atmospheric bubble thing that Mass Offensive Meteors are known for, we don’t like them obviously. They tend to burrow into an asteroid and eventually create an atmosphere inside that’s held in by a thin film generated by the bugs, if the asteroid is big enough they end up creating a large cave system and they aren’t aggressive until they build up their numbers. It is best to not let them gain any ground, they are different entities from MOM cores and the monsters generated by such creatures. We know this because asteroid eaters will outright attack and destroy any MOM’s they find. They are more preferable to MOM related activity around planets because they can’t infest planets; they only infest asteroids which is a problem for us considering it’s our livelihood.” “Mass Offense Meteors have a natural enemy? That’s a laugh, those things are complete nightmares when their seen around populated systems.” Lightning might have been living out of a cardboard box at the time, but news still travels. “The last one I heard of was exceedingly close to infesting a planet and that it was barely dealt with by the local triple P forces. I even heard that the MOM’s now have their own defense against fighter assaults and long range missile bombardments.” “That is rather scary.” Maud said blankly, hardly an ounce of emotion crossing her face aside from the tiniest of frowns. “Thank you for waiting on me, I’ll be sure to pick it up before we leave for the Applon System.” Rarity nodded to Marble and tried to levitate Bernard only for him to start squeaking something and grab onto the counter tightly. “What is it Bernard?” Bernard did have a reason for wanting to come here; he had just been a little more than distracted by the cute mare and playing up his false adorable nature. He now remembered why he was here and got Rarity to let go of him, he quickly ran off and looked around the isles for something and then he eventually found what he was looking for. He brought it back to the counter and smiled broadly at Marble. “I guess you expect me to pay for that? Well now… isn’t that interesting shade of blue and yellow swirls, is that a present for Trapeze? I could make a necklace with that for you.” That seemed to earn Rarity an appreciative look Bernard seemed eager to acquire her help as he jumped up and down nodding excitedly. “Well then, add that to our purchases if you will Marble. After we’re done putting this away in my mobile boutique, we’ll go to Sugarcube Galaxy and get some snacks, my treat.” “Well that will be something at least; it’s been nice talking to you and Boulder, but it’s time for me to get going Maud.” Lightning hurried off after Rarity, Bernard and Rover. “Thanks for telling about your history of why Diamond Dogs like digging for shiny things and I hope to see you again real soon Mr. Magic Bunny!” All of them waved back at a smiling Marble and her sister with their family pet Boulder the Changeling who was once more rocking his look. - “Well this is the place, Sugarcube Galaxy where my friend Pinkie works; well at least I hope it’s the Pinkie I know this time. She’s always doing some really bizarre things.” The building looked like a child fantasy place, a proverbial paradise of sugar treats with a logo that had a galaxy full of jaw breakers. Which reminded Rarity that she would have to brush her teeth later after this, now what to order? She heard from Gilda that the Cheese Danish here was excellent. Rarity did believe Gilda to have a good taste in food, now if she only had some taste for fashion or other things when she wasn’t grease covered and up to her shoulders in machinery. “Well let’s see what Pinkie is up to.” Walking into the room the place was packed full of beings from all walks of society, the two ponies that ran the place were obviously busy and there was an indistinct pink blur flying around this place of baked goods purveyance. That had to be Pinkie Pie on the job, she didn’t look to be tiring and she was delivering drinks, food and other things everywhere she went and then she disappeared from sight. “Hi Rarity and welcome to Sugarcube Galaxy, the happiest dessert place in space!” Pinkie had appeared as if out of nowhere and had spooked her entire group. Only Lightning managed to prevent herself from falling onto her back, she really didn’t want to jostle her ribs. “My goodness Pinkie, can you please not do that. Lightning has pasted ribs and she can’t have too many surprises and I really don’t want to suffer a heart attack.” It took a moment for Rarity to catch her breath from the shock. “Oh sorry Rarity, but I’m just having so much fun today!” Looking a little bit cowed by startling them, Pinkie rubbed her hoof on the floor in small circles with a shy smile on her face. “I tend to forget that people don’t like to be scared out of their wits by something vibrantly colored as me. So what can I do for you, take out, delivery or oh… are you going to get a booth here? I’ll go grab some menus if that’s the case.” “We’ll take a booth please.” Rarity hoped that Marble would finish her free commission earned from her purchases; she didn’t want to be stuck at Streusel Station forever even if it was nice to see her friend again. At least she hoped it was her friend this time and not someone disguised as her or another version of her from an alternate dimension, Pinkie was confusing enough already without the possibility of her having dimensional traveling abilities. “Sometimes I think its best that I don’t question her at all and move on with my life.” Bernard, Rover and Lightning just nodded solemnly at those words of wisdom. Author's Note I would have gotten this chapter out sooner, only there was a really bad plumbing incident and the basement flooded... again... it's bad enough when it rains a lot that it floods. Now I have a dehumidifier running constantly and a headache from the smell and the constant humming noise. -79-The sweet creamy goodness of a nicely baked dessert, there was nothing finer than sharing food with friends. The cream cheese pastry was delicious; Gilda did know baked goods despite it being a secondary skill. Sitting to her right Lightning was eating a baked apple dumpling, across from her Bernard was digging into a large slice of carrot cake. As for Rover, he was being a big problem to Pinkie for the things he can’t eat safely. Pinkie eventually found something for him and he was eating some cinnamon dipped, honey glazed and batter fried toast. “Too much chocolate on menu, it is not very safe for Diamond Dog to be near such food. Yes, Rover knows ponies like sugary things; I prefer saltier or bland things personally.” Rover was probably the only crew member on Rarity’s ship that had a lot of nasty dietary land mines that could really harm him, in comparison the rest of the crew could eat and survive on almost anything. His dietary needs were the most specific and problematic around. “Sweet toast is good enough for Rover’s teeth, not willing to go much farther though.” “So Rover, aside from training with Trapeze what do you do for a hobby?” It was something Rarity had thought about, the Diamond Dog was an oddball and he had nothing better to do when he wasn’t practicing a routine with Trapeze and Bernard. “Rover is having time to play with ball, chew on a bone, get exercise and keep digging claws healthy.” As simple as he sounded, Rover was actually one of the healthiest members of the crew. “I am having plenty of time to myself, no need to worry about that.” “Okay then, it’s nice to know you’re comfortable on the ship at least.” There was only one other person to turn to and Rarity didn’t speak Bernard’s language. “So, Lightning, how are you feeling?” “Like I was bucked in the chest by the universe’s strongest Earth Pony and then welded back together with a plasma torch, but I’m kind of looking forward to the next dangerous thing we run into.” Lightning’s face was smeared with bits of syrup, crust and apple, she chewed loudly and she wasn’t the most elegant of ponies. Even then Rarity would still make an effort to be her friend, which she started off by wiping Lightning’s face off before she could talk again. “I’m up for any action when you need me and before you ask, I don’t exactly mind being Gilda’s personal crash test dummy. Didn’t think anyone would hire me to be honest, I can’t really complain about food, shelter… and having friends again.” Maybe Rarity shouldn’t have asked, but she had to know about the well being of every single crew member. She turned to Bernard to ask him how his carrot cake was and saw an empty plate and he was squeaking to Pinkie, who nodded and wrote something down. “Right, I’ll have another big carrot cake coming right up, one with extra carrots this time. Don’t frown like that around me or else I’ll have to make you smile and laugh… but I can’t tickle your ribs or hug you. This is quite the puzzle and… oh table three needs a refill on mango juice!” Pinkie blurred slightly and then solidified after a second, it was almost as if she never moved. The group could tell that she had indeed moved somewhere for a time, for she was now holding a silver platter with a large chunk of carrot cake on it. Rarity, Rover and Lightning didn’t say anything and didn’t want to as Bernard started to nibble at the cake with a bright smile. “You’re going to be a tough one to make smile Lightning, but be assured you’re not leaving here without a happy look on your face!” Lightning frowned and leaned away from Pinkie as she started invading her personal space. Why did she feel like she did something very illegal around the pink pony? Rarity just shook her head sadly at Lightning, Pinkie really liked to make ponies smile. - “Okay we have an entire list of things we can do… where’s Chrysalis?” Ember paused noticing the Changeling Queen had vacated the room, she also noted that the resident filly was missing and shrugged. If Opal didn’t think anything bad was happening then that was alright with Ember. “Go over the list and tap out some options, we’ve set a weight limit, power to usage ratio and all that. So you can have whatever we can make within the limits of what the suit can be capable of given our current production abilties. I would like to thank Greta and Sassy for helping me finish my energy whip design. It too is a part of the list of all the things you could possibly imagine being on your armored suit Saffron, I’ve got to go install mine in my rifle and run a few tests.” Ember left the room with a happy smile and both Greta and Sassy had saved the energy whip information to their pads. Sassy was quite surprised by the idea Ember got from her Pinpoint Puller, it was a little unsettling to see Ember in action when it came to inventing weapons and it seemed like she was really quite enthused by the idea of inventing things to do harm. It was somewhat understandable from Sassy’s point of view given she liked swords, but she didn’t like making them or the long drawn out and completely necessary process to make a nearly unbreakable sword like her chokuto. “So that’s it, nobody is insisting on putting anything into the suit?” Saffron was a little confused; she thought everyone would be busy trying to force options on her. “Of course not, we were just coming up with a list of things we could feasibly put into the suit and still be safe, relatively speaking of course, for the wearer.” Shrugging a bit, Gilda reclined against the table while holding her out talons to Saffron and flicked them in a ‘go on’ motion. “It’s entirely up to you to as to what you want in it, the Boss Lady said you’d be the first and we agreed that you’re the first pick for this armored crew project.” “Quite frankly dear, they need you to make those decisions before they start working on it. Less waste of materials that way and no need to modify anything afterwards. It’s like making a dress. You measure the fabric twice, cut once and save on the material and time that isn’t wasted by hasty decisions.” It wasn’t Sassy’s personal suit so she didn’t think she should have a say in it and she was sure the others agreed that they didn’t either, it was clearly up to Saffron as to what was made for her. The color scheme of dark blue and purple was already locked in and Saffron certainly didn’t seem to be contesting that. Sassy thought highly of Saffron for saving Rarity and a hero was anyone willing to do the right thing no matter how difficult the situation. “They have the ability to manufacture such a thing; they just need to know what they are manufacturing first. You’re the hero here Saffron, what do you want it to do?” “Give me a minute…” Saffron looked down at the screen and started pouring over her options and limitations, she eventually chose her first option, then several others and when she got to last one she looked up from the screen. A good ten minutes of choosing options had passed and everyone seemed to be staring at her, when she looked up and at a nearby clock. “Guess it took ten, anyway who do I give this to?” “Me, hoof it over and show me what we need to get together.” Having the device placed firmly in her talons, Gilda looked it over; she hummed at a few of the options and then nodded. “Yeah we can do this easily enough, I thought you’d want something a little more complicated. First off you need to suit up; we’re going to need you in your EVA suit for this. Coco, could you go grab one of your battery loaded impulse saddles? We’re going to need one.” “What, did you expect me to go crazy army knife on this? These options are exactly what I want in my personal powered armor and it isn’t exactly as simple as you’d think.” It wasn’t from easy from Saffron’s point of view, there was a lot going into this and she wasn’t sure how they were going to get the armor on and off. “Speaking of crazy, how am I supposed to get the armor on and how quickly can we get it off if I have to use the bathroom? This sounds far more involved than you make it out to be.” “Trust me, it’s not as involved as you’d think with me and Gilda working on it.” There wasn’t an ounce of worry in Greta’s voice as she put a calming talon on Saffron’s shoulder. “Just let us Garage Griffons handle the more worrisome details okay? We promise you an effective armored suit and we’re going to do just that, we won’t miss the minor details either. This will be like building a small vehicle for us.” - “That’s how you calculate the flight speed of a Swallow burdened with a small bowl of banana pudding.” Chrysalis finished her lecture with a friendly smile and Babs looked amazed, she was a good teacher and knew how to keep a lesson interesting. “It also gives us an idea of how far it can fly with said bowl, but I’ll save that for the next lesson.” “That’s amazing… wait… why would a Swallow even be burdened with a bowl of banana pudding in the first place?” There was also something else that Babs was curious about, the ache of missing her parents kind of flies out the door when she was in Chrysalis’s distracting and rather childish presence. “Also why would I even need to know this at all?” “Well it’s like this kid. I have a set up where some Changelings are taking care of a trained flock of Swallows, with very specific instructions to give said flock a bunch of small bowls of pudding on a particular day. The ingredients for said banana pudding were bought with at least a few days separating the purchase of each particular ingredient so as to be really hard to trace back to the one who purchased the stuff to make the pudding. The math behind this is a bit complicated and could be thrown off by unforeseen variables.” A small smile made its way onto Chrysalis’s face, Celestia and Luna had to have been missing her by now. Playful time delayed pranks were always interesting, especially when you weren’t there to see them going off. “It’s all part of a really elaborate and hopefully well timed prank. I obviously hope that none of the swallows get sick, but it will be glorious once I hear about what happened when my guys eventually do carry out those particular instructions aside from tending to the flock of course. So you see, math is quite useful and you can use it in even the most ridiculous of circumstances.” “I don’t know whether to find this situation cute or disturbing.” The filly did need an education, Opal couldn’t deny that much. It was just that the teacher was a deranged Changeling Queen and it was a little worrisome that she was teaching Babs without supervision. Wouldn’t Opal technically be supervising them right now by watching this? Yeah, she was definitely responsible for them. “She’s right you know. Math can be helpful as it is dangerous Babs.” “Can’t you or another machine do the math for me though?” The filly hadn’t known that math could be interesting until Chrysalis decided to start teaching her. “You do realize that you’d be handicapped in any situation where I or any other machine would be completely unavailable right?” At least Opal knew there would be situations where math was needed, but could not be calculated by a machine. “Imagine a situation where you had to do math to survive and you didn’t have any help except for the knowledge in your own brain. You certainly wouldn’t be able to survive without math then now would you?” “When would something like that happen?” There was now an expectant filly waiting to hear that answer, not that Babs understood the likelihood of something going horribly wrong on a spaceship being more likely because of children. “Anywhere between never to within the next five seconds…” Something sounded off with Opal’s voice, it sounded ominous. “I am now locking you in the room with Chrysalis, unless you can solve a math problem I come up with on your own then you’re not leaving the room to use the toilet or eat. You are allowed to sleep as much as you want, Chrysalis may not assist you in the answering of the question. Any attempt to get assistance from her will result in a harder question. I will give you a few seconds to come to terms with this.” “Chrysalis, can she really do that to us?” The doors around the room made a clunking sound and the filly looked to the Changeling Queen who didn’t seem worried. “Why are you asking me? She just did it and if I remember right she’s the complicated pony hive mind that controls this ship.” Tapping her chin with a hoof Chrysalis shrugged after a moment. “So we’re probably screwed if you can’t answer the math question.” “That’s long enough to come to terms with this! Now for the math question… Pete and Repeat had five apples; Pete ate one, who has the most left?” There was a hint of amusement in Opal’s voice, but she kept herself in check. “That’s an easy one; Repeat!” Babs was quite sure of herself, this had to be the answer. “That’s long enough to come to terms with this! Now for the math question… Pete and Repeat had five apples; Pete ate one, who has the most left?” There was an even greater hint of amusement in Opal’s voice as she repeated everything right down to the exact inflection she first said everything in. Chrysalis eyes widened at the implications of this situation. They both shared five apples; they would both have the most left. Unfortunately if she tried to tell Babs this fact, that she was caught in what was essentially an answer loop, then Opal would make a harder math problem. The current problem was so simple a foal could figure it out, which was the entire point of the mental exercise really. “My answer is Repeat!” It would take Babs a few more minutes to figure out what she was doing wrong and proceeded to say ‘Repeat’ several more times until she actually took a moment to think about it. Chrysalis was just lying on her side and smiling at the filly with a knowing grin the entire time. Pony fillies were a lot like Changeling Nymphs, they were both stupid and adorable. “That’s long enough to come to terms with this! Now for the math question… Pete and Repeat had five apples; Pete ate one, who has the most left?” Now Opal was smiling up a storm and trying to hold back her laughter, the answer was obviously they both had the most left or they both had four apples. “Wait a minute… are you making fun of me? I can hear you snickering!” Babs realized the problem here; all she was saying was ‘repeat’. Opal would then repeat exactly what she said until the sentence got stuck in her head. It was still a math problem, but it didn’t necessarily need a mathematical answer. They both had five apples so wouldn’t that mean… wait… there weren’t ten apples, there were only five between them. Opal never said they each had five apples, just that there were five total and now Babs felt pretty dumb about all this. “There are four apples left and they are sharing them, so they both have the most left.” “It took you long enough to figure that out. As you can see math is quite important, as is problem solving skills. It’s why Chrysalis is bothering to see how your education is doing, considering you’re not in the most stable environment by being on this ship.” The doors unlocked and Opal appeared on a nearby screen smiling. “It is important that you use your head. Muscles are all well and good for an Earth Pony, but you can’t forget the most important one to flex is the one that sits between your ears. Also I have to ask Chrysalis, how can you create plans that are that complicated, but you can’t use a computer to save your life?” Chrysalis just shrugged nonchalantly. Plans were easy; using complicated technology just wasn’t her strong point and corrupting the filly was taking longer than the initial hour she thought it would require. She was getting a lot of love out of ‘Little Snack’ though and for some reason love tasted sweeter than she remembered it being. - “Seriously, do you have to go these kinds of lengths just to cheer me up?” Lightning found it hard to smile, especially because this mare was trying to force her to. She just wasn’t in the mood to smile, what was so wrong with that? There were so many thoughts of things she could have done or should have done swirling in her head. On top of that there was the heavy thought that some people would care if she died, well aside from that nice barkeep and his Changeling that looked out for her every now and then. She should really send them a gift to thank them for a recommending her as an unaffiliated pony that needed a job. What would her life be like had she not caused that incident that got her kicked out of the Wonder Bolts? Well she wasn’t that Lightning Dust who would never have been humbled by living in a box like the one currently thinking these thoughts; she was the Lightning Dust that knew what was more important in life. What she had now, she didn’t want to mess it up and she was being welcomed by a bunch of friendly strangers. “I just don’t feel like it at the moment, can we do this another time?” “Come on, not even a giggle?” Pinkie was sparking with static electricity and had multiple balloons stuck to her, she looked completely ridiculous. Rarity, Rover and Bernard were giggling, laughing and smiling respectively, Lightning didn’t even crack a smile. Not even when one of the balloons popped and Pinkie fell over with a squeaking noise out of shock. “Pinkie, please, I need to finish up some orders and begin preparations to continue on to the Applon System. We can’t stay here all week waiting for you to make Lightning smile.” Even Rarity didn’t think Pinkie could keep a perfect record of making everyone smile, no matter how silly she got. “Sometimes you have to give people space Pinkie.” “But we’re already in space and there’s plenty of it outside the space station!” The logic of Pinkie’s brain at work, clearly she wasn’t going to take no for an answer or take a hint. “What kind of hint should I be getting though? Am I supposed to steal the hint?” “If there’s a hint you think you might be missing here, maybe it’s that I don’t want to smile at the moment.” Lightning answered blandly, Pinkie looked horrified at the thought that someone didn’t want to smile. “I can’t drink, I can’t fly and I can’t do anything that I would find relatively fun with my current injury. So I’m supposed to smile why?” “Well you could look on the positive side, at least your alive to enjoy some tasty baked goods with your friends!” Declared Pinkie in an over the top manner, she proudly thrust her hoof into the air and gave a cheerful grin. “Well we can be loosely termed as friends, I’ve barely been with the Boss Lady’s crew for almost month and I joined them while somewhat out of shape and slightly malnourished. The injury and medical bed time certainly didn’t help me all too much either, except to give me a swift kick in the flank to start gliding straight.” Thanks to the baths and other things, Lightning was at least looking a lot better. She was getting some shine back in her fur and she wasn’t unkempt anymore at least. She rubbed at her chest gently with a hoof and winced. “I may not be smiling, but I am happy to be alive at least. I thought I was going to die at the last space station we were at. A sharp pain erupted in my chest, I find myself falling to my death and everything was fading in and out. I was surprised to even be rescued from that, I was even welcoming death as a friend at that moment. So don’t tell me I’m not happy to be alive, I just don’t feel like smiling about it.” “You’re freaking me out on a number of levels… I mean is it really feasible for there to be a pony who won’t smile when they are happy? When has that ever happened?” To Pinkie a pony who doesn’t smile wasn’t a happy pony at all and Lightning seemed to be mostly content, but wouldn’t smile. “I don’t even know how to react to this!” “Let it go Pinkie.” Maud walked up to Pinkie and gave her a tight hug. “You can’t help everyone and some people don’t need your help. She’s doing fine as is… if she isn’t fine, then what does that say about me?” “Well… I… you…” Pinkie was about to make a statement, but then retracted from saying something so horrible considering it would reflect on Maud. She was instead considering Maud’s general emotional disposition; sure Maud could smile, but it was very rare that Pinkie ever saw the edges of her lips go up on the rare occasions when Maud was exceedingly ecstatic. Nothing was wrong with Maud for not showing the proper amount of emotional response and Pinkie never thought anything was wrong with her at all. This led Pinkie to immediately realizing that she would be a hypocrite if she tried to force another pony to smile when she wouldn’t do the same to her beloved sister. Forcing a smile was never a good thing unless you were in a really bad situation and she would be the bad situation this time. “That’s why you’re the best biggest sister mediator of Streusel Station Maud!” “It’s okay to feel sad or have an off day sometimes Pinkie.” Despite the bland tone she spoke in, Maud still patted Pinkie on the back and held her affectionately with the same constant flat look on her face. “I’m sorry Lightning. I can’t make you smile and I should be alright with that.” Pinkie’s positive outlook would have meshed well with Greta’s, the pink pony wiggled out of hugging her sister and then ran off and came back with a large box. “Smiles should be naturally occurring, because that’s when they are at their best! Sorry about holding you up Rarity, here take this box of cupcakes and share them with the rest of your crew that didn’t get a chance to get some baked goods made by me and the Cakes.” “Why thank you Pinkie, you’re as lovely and generous as I remember you being. It’s been fun and I know how you hate saying…” A hoof slammed into Rarity’s mouth and she felt something enter it. She chewed it and began humming loudly as the flavor of a double chocolate fudge marshmallow cookie washed over her tongue. “I still don’t like saying those words Rarity, even to the other me. How about we just say hello when we see each other again?” The group stood up ready to leave with Pinkie showing them the door. “It’s been a lot of fun seeing you again Rarity, get me a signed autograph from Trapeze the next time you see her.” Bernard looked positively insulted at Pinkie’s insinuation, he quickly whipped his hat off and pulled a tiny magicians wand out of it to circle around the opening. He tapped the edge of the hole twice and then reached in and pulled out a confused looking Trapeze, she looked a lot smaller coming out of Bernard’s hat. “I was kind of in the middle of something Bernard, what is it?” Bernard pointed to Pinkie Pie who looked completely mystified and even Maud seemed a little surprised. The blushing Lagotorphin squeaked something to the towel wearing Trapeze who had strands of wet mane dangling from her makeshift turban and she nodded to him in a serious manner. “Yes, this is definitely important enough to interrupt my shower, hold on a second and I’ll get one right away!” Ducking back into the hat, Trapeze’s yellow furred hoof popped up holding a personally signed poster of the Trapeze Troupe and waved it about. Bernard snatched it and the hoof disappeared back into the small hat, which he then reached into to pull a pen out of. After he signed his own name he handed it to Rover who signed his as well. Bernard threw both the pen and wand into the hat and then slapped it back on his head, before crossing his paws with a smug look on his face. “Wow, here I was thinking I was the only one that did crazy stuff like this.” Pinkie giggled and clutched the poster to her chest and she waved the group off. “Thanks for the poster Mr. Magic Bunny!” Coco most assuredly had made Bernard’s hat and it was quite ordinary to anyone else. Not many would figure out that it wasn’t the hat or the wand that was magic… it was the magician who wielded them that was truly magical. It was Trapeze that showed Bernard how to do magic and he came along with Rarity to get her a present, now he had to somehow get Rarity to understand his need for keeping it a secret. You try to keep something secret from an incredibly talented and beautiful magician who you might be in love with, now that would be the real magic trick on Bernard’s part. - It was hours later and they were almost to the Applon System where they would stop at their next destination, planet Applin five. Applin Five unsurprisingly had a major population of earth ponies and the planet itself was a completely green world. It was an ever green planet in so much as it was green plains as far as the eye could see aside from the calm ocean which had three large continents sitting in it. Applin Five was a good fruit producing planet and the planet had very little in the way of natural danger on it. It was a perfectly nice planet for being the fifth from its sun, gravity was barely a percentage higher than normal, water was fresh and most plants took to the soil of the planet really well and most the lands were flat with very few mountainous regions, the size of the planet was only slightly bigger than Equus. It was, to no one’s surprise, the planet that hosted a large portion of the Apple family which had named the system and planet. The names were not very imaginative, but it’s what stuck to the system and the two inhabitable planets within it. So far colonization has only been done to Applin Five as Applin Three was still under surveillance, Applin Four was an uninhabitable gas giant. Shining Jewel came out of jump at the edge of the system. As it coasted towards the fifth of the seven planets in this system, there was a noticeable problem that you would have to be blind to miss seeing even from this distance. Opal didn’t even need seconds after coming out of jump to notice the issue. “Rarity, I think we might have a bit of a problem.” Opal had absolutely no trouble getting Shining Jewel out of the asteroid field, aside from having to pop some small stupidly aggressive asteroid eaters with a few shots on the way out. Limestone thanked them for helping, if minutely at that, with the problem she was dealing with. It was only now that they arrived at Applin Five that a really bad problem came up and it was quite a visible one. At least the supply depot in orbit looked fine given there were still ships coming and going. “What is it… oh dear. Please tell me that Babs relatives don’t live anywhere on that half of the planet. Who am I kidding? She has tons of cousins that live here!” If only Rarity were so lucky. From looking at it, Applin Five seemed to be experiencing the oddest of weather patterns for an ever green planet. The weather was mostly likely not natural given how localized it looked. “Get us in contact with supply depot and ask about the situation, also connect me to the hangar. Gilda, that new vehicle you were working on, how soon can you finish it?” The weather problem in question was a heavily and quite unusually localized blizzard. Said blizzard covered less than half the planet, but more than a quarter of it. It was as if hell were slowly freezing the planet over without a cause for the bizarre effect Rarity was seeing on the screen that was quite visible from orbit. It didn’t even take her three guesses as to figure out where Babs relatives might be found if she looked in a particular area of the planet, hopefully she was wrong and most of the Apple family was safely ensconced on the naturally greener side of the planet. -80-“How are we going to break this information to the kid?” Personally Gilda would have told Babs up front and then proceed to tell her to suck it up if she started crying just because some of her relative might have been frozen solid. The Griffon thought that the remains of Bab’s parents needing to be incinerated by Ember as something far more traumatic. Yet Babs didn’t hate Ember and was surprisingly mature about it, it was kind of amazing that the little squirt hadn’t completely shut down emotionally. "I mean, do we even know if any of her family is still around?" “Well we did have contact with some of her family at the supply depot; I believe Opal said the name of the guy was Braeburn?” The supply depot was operational and Rarity thought Braeburn sounded like a nice guy from what Opal has said about the news she got from him. “I’m sure Babs wouldn’t mind going to live with him, but I’m not about let her leave the ship quite yet until we know she’ll be both safe and secure. We didn’t bring her this far to leave her in the middle of a bad situation.” Part of Applin Five was positively covered in snow and that part of it had been mostly evacuated thankfully; however the snow had only started to get really bad about three days ago. It was a major issue to leaving Babs in a safe stable environment, right now the Shining Jewel was the safest place for the filly to be. Rarity wondered if she should even consider getting involved with Applin Five’s current crisis, there was absolutely no reason for her to do so for the time being as it was not her problem. Even if her heart said yes, Rarity’s head was constantly saying ‘hell no’ in a manner unbefitting of a lady supported by a megaphone and warning sirens. Saffron would want to get involved with solving this mystery and Rarity wouldn’t have the heart to deny the heroic mare as she owed Saffron for saving her from Mind Field. Rarity helped at Antilur Station because Ember certainly needed it, that and the problem had been an apocalyptic level concern that definitely needed to die. Here on the other hoof, yeah, nobody she knew was in danger of dying and aside from the planet becoming uninhabitable she didn’t really see how this could possibly become her problem. In fact Rarity was beginning to gain a large aversion for walking into dangerous situations she could see from thousands of miles away; it was quite literally visible from that far away and on the nearest screen. Vera told Rarity that it was a perfectly normal response to have such an aversion to danger with how many situations Rarity has gotten into whether on purpose or by accident since she started up her business. The ocean’s water levels were lowering a bit thanks to the problematic weather stealing all the water to power the blizzard, as one could imagine this was also causing massive issues around the rest of Applin Five. The horrible weather obviously had to be manufactured, but no amount of Pegasi or Unicorns could have possibly covered this much of the planet on their own. It had to be the work of an exceedingly powerful being, multiple powerful beings or at least a machine. Greta and Opal agreed with the idea that it was most likely the work of a machine. If it was a machine that was causing the planetary climate issues, then who was behind it, what was their motive for creating a frozen wasteland and what were they getting from doing said action? “I can do safe and secure for the little snack, but if you want me to go down there then I’ll have to decline for really health related reasons. Changelings are good in warm weather, humid conditions and hotter climates like say a desert; anything cold like what we’re seeing is a complete anathema to my race.” If it was to save her hide, then Chrysalis would gladly spout off the knowledge of a really bad weakness to do so. As long as she didn’t have to go anywhere near that frozen hellhole. “A normal changeling wouldn’t last three minutes in normal blizzard conditions without constantly using magic. I would like to point out that that kind of weather pattern is anything but normal and my insignificantly sized butt is not going down there! Heck, a Changeling would be dead by hypothermia before frostbite can even become a problem, provided that the Changeling in question doesn’t immediately switch into a hibernation state by encasing themselves in a cocoon before they can run out of magic. I’d barely last twenty minutes, provided I wasn’t using all my magic to stay alive and warm in the same situation, before hypothermia gets to me if your EVA suit fails to keep me warm enough. I know the EVA suits work well enough in space and are quite handy in combat situations Baroness Belle, but on the ground any wear and tear on the suit could lead to me becoming exposed to temperatures cold enough to actually kill me. I really don’t want to die a painless death, which would just be the absolute worst thing ever!” “Well that’s someone who won’t volunteer to go investigate this; I however would like to get involved.” If some people were willing to pay her, then Ember was willing to find a solution to the problem. She would still do it even without being paid, but gratitude doesn’t feed hungry gem eating dragons. Speaking of gems, she bit into one of the emeralds that Rarity got for her back at Streusel Station. Ember was touched that her hoard’s centerpiece was thinking of her needs and it didn’t hurt that Rarity was a beautiful pony in many ways that don’t involve just her appearance. Aside from eating Ember also needed to pay rent to stay with her hoard. It was a little weird that Ember was actively paying her hoard for its continued survival and she didn’t mind spending said money either if it helped them. All that was considered valuable by others had become rather lacking in value to Ember, the exception being the stuff that she could consume. “I can handle sub-zero temperatures for a long time without clothing and my rifle works perfectly fine in cold temperatures. I’d have to leave Mr. Spew behind and someone would have to take care of him.” The sewer squid just crossed his tentacles from his perch on Ember’s left shoulder; he was really beginning to resemble a parrot to everyone. It was especially noticeable when Mr. Spew was given crackers to munch on by Coco every once in a while when they crossed paths. He didn’t seem particularly bothered by being left behind, provided he could be cuddled by the cute four legged servant thing that was friends with his rather magnificent throne. “Well enough about the planet for now, we’re not going down there unless we absolutely have to. Changing the subject, how is Saffron’s powered armor coming along?” As long as they didn’t have a reason to go down to the planet, then Rarity couldn’t see a reason to endanger her crew needlessly. The reason would have to be a pretty damn good one to get Rarity off of her ship. “We’re almost done; give us twenty four hours and Saffron’s assistance to make some adjustments and do some tests. You know, I think this cafeteria is becoming our favorite meeting place.” One of the many questions that had to be asked and Greta would be the first to voice it, because mostly she didn’t know what the stallion did when he wasn’t taking care of their hunger needs. A stallion that knew how to cook meat was kind of rare, but a pony that ate meat wasn’t as rare as one would think. If you were to call any of the pony species ‘fish breath’, then it would have to be a Pegasus you were talking to. That or a Mer-Pony, River Pony or a Hippocampus Pony, Ponies had a lot of racial variances. “Wait, what do you do when we’re not around Mr. Cumin?” “Well I do have hobbies like building space ships in bottles, I also read and I play games on my data pad sometimes. Plus there was a recreational console hooked up in the exercise room, so that’s also been keeping me entertained.” Coriander really liked cooking, but it wasn’t a major problem taking care of the crews needs and as such had a lot of free time. A little meat stew every now and then for the more omnivorous portion of the crew didn’t hurt his sense of smell. “I have a lot more free time on my hooves than I used to have. While I don’t have as many customers, I do like the customers I’m with.” “Yeah, you can play my game system. Just don’t save over any of my save files or you’ll be sorry!” Opal took her electronic gaming seriously. Instead of playing the games at an accelerated speed only an AI could achieve, she preferred playing her games at a mortal level that most people could follow. “Ahem, let us get right back to discussing other things of interest. Babs is currently with Coco, Sassy, Lightning and Vera, they’re currently getting plenty of safe exercise and Coco is learning how to wrestle with Sassy. I have to wonder if you wanted to join… oh she’s already halfway there. She must really want to wrestle.” Rarity turned to where Chrysalis had been sitting and there was a vague afterimage of the Changeling Queen, she seemed rather excited at the opportunity to wrestle with the others. Well exercise was certainly important and Vera was likely putting Babs and the others through their paces. She could do a few laps around the ship herself; maybe get in some target practice. “Was that Chrysalis just now?” Never had Saffron seen anything moving so fast, Chrysalis obviously had somewhere to be in a hurry given how she took the ladder instead of the elevator. In some cases the access ladders around the ship would definitely be faster to get you between decks. “I heard that you needed my assistance to finish the armored suit?” “Yeah and that’s not the only thing we need to finish, I have another vehicle to prepare for snow conditions and that’s going to take up some time. It needs a bit of testing as well to see if it’s combat worthy; then again it’s not exactly a combat vehicle.” Gilda’s grump was back in full force, she and Greta had been using the EGGS in the hangar to build another marvelous contraption. They didn’t exactly have a name for the newest vehicle in Shining Jewel's motor pool, but it was supposed to be a mobile living space and cargo carrier. Bombing Peregrine was exclusively for combat aside from the few creature comforts Gilda installed, the cup holders, enough hammock space for three, microwave and small fridge to be specific. This newest beast was meant to be less offensive and more like a walking fortress despite it not exactly being too massive, it was pretty big and getting it back into space would be kind of a hassle. “Just so you know we upgraded Caravel Boutique to help with lifting our mobile base off the ground if we do land it on the surface of the planet, Theoretically it should have enough fuel to get it off the ground and if the anti-gravity generator works like it’s supposed to then we can get it back into orbit with slightly less trouble. It’ll be an Equestrian record for the largest planet dropping vehicle capable of getting back through the atmosphere without abusive amounts of fuel expenditure.” “The anti-gravity generator would really only offset about half the weight, mass is still an issue and we already calculated needing Caravel Boutique to even get an exit vector unless we can get more power out of the take off thrusters. So yeah, that’s going to be amazing if we can even do it. I wouldn’t mind setting a planet record.” Greta hoped it would work at least, theoretically speaking it should and there was nothing technically wrong with it. She looked over the aspects of everything twice and triple checked the calculations and even ran them by Opal, she was doing her job as a technical engineer and this project was the most ridiculous thing Gilda recently came up with. None the less Greta loved Gilda for it and hoped that she had several more ridiculous ideas to come, Greta welcomed the challenge like her constant pursuit of Gilda. “You can drop on down to the hangar and get a look at what is basically an orbital drop capable base of operations. Besides Gilda was giving you too nice of an estimate, we’d need at least three days if we want to work out all the kinks. It’s seriously going to be awesome, but we’ll need the third day for some rest as we’re the only ones that will know how to pilot the darn thing.” Greta could even tell that some of the ideas for the vehicle they painstakingly constructed came from the Hands of Midas. At least the upper torso would look vaguely similar, they were geniuses of their craft and they used a lot of materials for it. Saffron’s suit was just as expertly crafted, even if they did have to work within a constrained design to give it the whole Mare-Do-Well hero theme. They’d need two days of constant work to finish up both projects. “We can easily wait four days; I don’t exactly plan to do anything about the situation or rush you in your work until something crops up that will inevitably get us involved. Saffron will likely be the catalyst for that.” Turning to the mare in question Rarity looked at her with a bored countenance. “I’m in no hurry to go down to the planet, I can wait that long too unless something pops up that requires urgent actions.” Saffron didn’t consider Faxel to be entirely urgent, though she wondered why they called Trapeze instead of her to handle the situation. Still, it was a good call and the magician did some amazing tricks while helping to disable the Faxel’s ability to cause havoc. “I may still want to be a hero, but I like to at least get a scope of the situation. I kind of wanted to be a detective growing up, but my special talent was obviously in making excellent food. Didn’t exactly stop me from being Mare-Do-Well now did it? It did however stop me from being a detective, just because I don’t exactly look like I have the cutie mark for it doesn’t mean I can’t do it. I’m not exactly one to do things with reckless abandon. I honestly think that would be more of Lightning’s area of expertise, then again we might even need some of that reckless abandon every once in a while.” It was easy to see Saffron was somewhat frustrated with the fact that her cutie mark denied her entrance to being a detective, but she looked at things in another way. Her Cutie Mark was all about spicing things up, she interpreted that as meaning more than just food. Nothing spiced up Saffron’s life more than doing vigilante work all night while disguised in a secret identity. It wasn’t so secret anymore, but at least nobody on the crew has dropped the fact that she was Mare-Do-Well. “Let me remind you that you said that later when I do something truly outrageous that’ll piss everyone on this ship off.” Not that Gilda would ever stop herself from doing the improbable and totally awesome. There were obvious limits to what she was willing to do, like going into what amounts to a completely haunted space station. Aside from that she was open to suggestions about how to make herself twenty percent cooler than her good old pal Rainbow Dash. “I apologize in advance Boss Lady.” “Apology accepted for when you do eventually do said action.” Rarity spoke in an even tone and remembered that Gilda and Greta hotwired a fighter and went on a joyride with it straight into combat. Why had she bailed them out again? Oh right, they might have been slightly unscrupulous griffons, but they were her slightly unscrupulous griffons and Greta was quite nice to talk to. “As you like to say, don’t get us a killed when you do. So three days?” “Promises, promises, Boss Lady, but yeah three days and we’ll have everything done.” Gilda gave Rarity a lazy wave as she leaned back against the table. “I’ll get right to it when we’re done talking; Greta still needs to tell you about the pistol we got off the ugly annoying frog guy. Greta if you would please explain some things you’ve found out about it, you’ve been kind of dying to explain this ever since you got a hold of it.” “Well I wouldn’t say dying, but yeah I really do want to explain the pistol.” The captive audience just stared at Greta for a moment and she realized they were waiting on her to speak. “Oh right, I was expecting someone to ask a question before I started. It’s a compact space time distortion matrix and not exactly a weapon at all; it’s more of a tool really. Foggre technology is quite advanced despite the fact that they obviously put flaws into everything they make on purpose.” “Well that at least explains why the escape Faxel’s robot was so easy to take down; all the joints on it were quite inflexible.” Ember had fought and beat that robot in less than thirty minutes; she had noticed some of its weaker attributes about five minutes in. The thing wasn’t agile, but it was made to brawl its way out of a tough situation. It was not exactly meant to handle someone as strong as Ember was. “Gave the robot a lot of hitting power and it could jump pretty well, but that made it easy to rip off the limbs because they just couldn’t handle the stress of being bent out of shape in any way.” “I believe that’s the main trait among all Foggre based technology, I looked it up while we were still at Streusel Station. You should really learn Pinkie’s cupcake recipe Gilda.” Shaking her head and trying to get things back on track after licking her beak, Greta coughed loudly. “Back on the topic of the pistol, it’s really quite amazing. Technically speaking it does things that even I have trouble following, it’s not exactly in Gilda’s field of expertise so I’m the only one aside from Opal that can really study it and understand what it even does. The main drawback of using the pistol is the echo effect that locks the user in a skin tight bubble a short while after firing. While I don’t understand the more technical aspects of the space time bubble, I think I have figured out how to create a stasis field generator from studying it even if I can’t recreate the pistol itself because it’s far too unique in its own right. Though such a field won’t last for long, it can protect you from just about anything.” “What’s the drawback to such a thing?” There had to be a catch there was no such thing as a perfect defense. “Several drawbacks actually, the most prominent being that you’ll become entirely immobilized while inside the field. Another few is that you stop aging; you can’t hear, see or even react to anything until the field is turned off. Using such a field for a single person would drain half the power out of Shining Jewel in five seconds, all the power in eight because of an exponential energy draw problem. The only reason why the pistol works as it does is because it gives and takes an equal amount of energy every time the trigger on it is pulled. To be frank I’m very afraid as to what could happen should the pistol destabilize or be destroyed as you’re pulling the trigger, otherwise the pistol exploding is completely harmless.” It was entirely fascinating how advanced the tool was, Greta thought that even Gilda was a little envious of how incredible Foggre technology could get. Even Greta thought the technology was beyond imagining in some places. “The energy equalizing loop is why the user gets hit with an echo of the effects caused by pulling the trigger. I can’t change the pistol to not echo on the user. If I did, I’d have to have the pistol plugged into the nearest outlet to even fire the darn thing because the energy requirements alone are ridiculous. It’s a complete headache to study, but I’m a technical engineer for a reason. The reason why I brought this up is because I can maybe install a stasis field generator in Shining Jewel. The energy consumption rate is oddly exactly the same even if it were to cover the entire ship as much as my explained one person; the dimensions of the field can be in any shape with in at least ten miles of the catalyst that caused the stasis field. It’d save the ship from something absolutely cataclysmic once and only once, because afterwards Shining Jewel will be entirely dead in space afterwards and we’d have a big problem getting the power to come back on. I was wondering if I can have your approval for making one, before you ask Caravel Boutique wouldn’t have enough power to even get a field going for five milliseconds.” “Don’t build a generator, but keep looking into it. It sounds rather useful, but I’d rather not have Opal go offline from trying to use it.” Rarity thought of all the times she turned off her data pad and Opal was still aware despite not having power going to her programming, which was still odd to think about. Vera still hadn’t told her the exact nature of the suspicions she had about Opal, but she was assured it wasn’t anything of immediate concern. “So you can shape the entire stasis field like a flamingo and it’d still eat the same amount of power?” Ember knew how to make, repair and improve all kinds of weapons; technical engineering was a different kettle of fish and she was asking because she understood at least some of what Greta was explaining. “The field could be the size of a gnat and it would still eat through the Shining Jewel's power source at the same exact rate.” Stopping to think for a moment Opal considered something. “Why would you use a flamingo as an example?” “Well it was either that or I would suggest what Chrysalis would have in her place since she’s not here.” Ember smiled faintly waiting for the inevitable question. “What would Chrysalis have suggested?” Playing along, Opal wondered what the punch line was. “Knowing Chrysalis, she’d probably ask if it could come in the shape of something like a big donkey.” Gilda receive shocked looks from Ember and Opal, both were for completely different reasons. Ember’s was because she and Gilda were getting quite good at thinking similarly and Opal’s was because she could actually see it happening were Chrysalis in on their current discussion. “Well that makes sense; I can certainly see her asking for a large ass.” Rarity tittered lightly and Saffron spewed what she was starting to drink everywhere to start laughing uproariously. In fact everyone was set off by Rarity suddenly dropping a quip like that; they hadn’t exactly expected it of her and it was absolutely funny that she did. “Oh my goodness mom, that was horrible!” Opal yelled in the middle of her hysterical fit of giggles. “Oh I know, but we shouldn’t make fun of Chrysalis and I really shouldn’t have said that.” Rarity actually felt rather bad for cracking a joke at Chrysalis’s expense, she chalked the sudden joke up to being around Pinkie so much for last several days. “She’s just fine the way she is and is a perfectly beautiful member of this crew in her own unique way. Though her sanity challenging antics leaves a lot to be desired, I wouldn’t ask her to change who she is on our account. She’s quite proud of who she is and she’s quite unique in how she thinks.” “Well if I knew everyone’s emotional state to a very exact degree at all times, I think I’d act a little weird around everyone too.” Despite her ability to read people, Gilda could not define exact emotions or entirely what’s going through someone’s head. All Gilda could do was tell what type of person someone was after enough time in their presence, Chrysalis was quite talented at masking what her actual thoughts and feeling were, this was not to Gilda’s surprise. What was to Gilda’s surprise was the depth of Chrysalis’s hidden character, the true leader hidden beneath her happy go crazy attitude. As for the others, these people were the ones she could see herself living with for the rest of her life. “Okay, I think I’m done here. Finish up Greta and meet me in the hangar.” Gilda got up and walked towards the nearest door out of the cafeteria contemplating the oddity of the lonely queen. - “I wonder how Chrysalis is doing…” Celestia was beginning to miss the annoyance she wanted to beat to almost death, but Chrysalis would enjoy it too much and she was far too kind for her own good. Why anyone actively wanted to die in complete agony was a mystery to Celestia, but she did know the lesson of pain telling you that you were alive. “She is most likely having fun exploring the universe… I’m beginning to think it was a bad idea to let her leave sister. I do so miss the games we used to play and Twilight is too methodical about all of them to be enjoyable, plus she’s really bad at twisty.” Being the playful sister Luna was less about business and more about the fun they had when Chrysalis was still around. “I’m right here you know.” The, so called, princess of friendship who was formerly known as Twilight Sparkle was sitting with the two with a slightly angry look directed at Luna. “Of course you are Twilight.” Celestia said calmly and acknowledged the mare that she liked a lot; she was beginning to miss the innuendos that Chrysalis spouted off. “Thorax is quite boring and too friendly. Chrysalis actually kept things interesting around here by driving us insane while surprisingly within the letter of the law.” “Sister do you hear that?” Luna’s ear twitched at the sound of something coming, it sounded like a bunch of swallows burdened with something. How did Luna exactly know what that sounded like? Well she had to learn how complicated math had gotten after she was cured of being Nightmare Moon and one of the questions was about a laden swallow, which is why she got a real swallow to do the math with and that had been an entertaining week. A swallow could fly between thirty to forty miles an hour, however when burdened with something that was cut down to twenty or twenty five when carrying something to its natural limit. “It sounds like a bunch of laden swallows.” “Oh please tell me you didn’t do anything horrible or untoward to that one swallow you had when you were overly curious about that really stupid and unnecessarily complicated math question.” Celestia was glad to have a phoenix for a pet; she knew exactly what a phoenix was capable of. “I did nothing of the sort sister and I’ll have you know that…” Suddenly hundreds of swallows carrying bowls of yellowish pudding flew in and started bombarding all three of the princesses with everything they had. There were three waves and as quickly as it came, it ended with three princesses pounded with pudding. “Okay, perhaps I might have used the royal voice to tell the swallow that his services were no longer required.” “Luna, please tell me that we are not at war with swallows…” As ridiculous as it sounded coming from Celestia’s pudding covered face, it was a very big possibility given equestrian animals were quite smart. “Also why is this tasty pudding making my tongue tingle so… oh me and my sister, it’s banana pudding!” “Our next few hours will be very interesting then dear sister…” Luna started to slide her gaze over to Twilight who was actively eating the banana pudding and licked her lips. “Twilight certainly looks delicious.” “I will stop you from doing what you are currently thinking of doing and I will stop myself from doing anything through sheer force of will if I have to. If it means I can prevent you from losing your innocence on my mare!” Celestia declared while pointing out a hoof and then while she still had a sane thought in her head. “Guards, we’re currently at war with a flock of swallows! Don’t open the door or come in for any reason, I’m sealing the room to absolve some issues that have recently cropped up.” “We could share her you know, you and me sister… imagine all that tasty positively pudding packed purple pony all to ourselves.” A haze began to fall over Luna’s face as she spoke, she was no longer herself anymore and Celestia was barely holding onto her sanity in what would become a very desperate fight to protect Twilight from Luna and not go after Twilight herself. Chrysalis’s delayed plan went off better than she thought it would and the two Changelings watching from nearby window just looked at each other and snickered, they were recording this for posterity and it would be one of the funniest things to ever happen in Equestrian history. It was also one of the saddest displays in history because the royal guard eventually lost a war with a bunch of swallows. Author's Note Ding! Royal Guards beaten by a bunch of little birds, plus three on the ridiculously owned meter. -81-“Okay, I really have to ask, where do you find the time to do all this stuff?!” Saffron was looking at the vehicle that Greta and Gilda had been working on while taking breaks to work on the powered armor which attached to her EVA suit like an extra layer. Well at least they called it breaks; Saffron thought they were almost as bad as Coco in that respect. Their most recent vehicle was a beast and Rarity didn’t seem too entirely interested in seeing it, which is probably why she hadn’t visited the hangar in the last three days. It really begged the question as to what she was doing; all while these two were building what looked like a monster of a machine. She was wearing her EVA suit with the helmet off and was here to see if they’ve finished the armored suit yet. “Oh we make the time, the EGGS didn’t exactly take that long to make.” Greta laughed as she lifted her welding mask away from her face, the EGGS could not have possibly taken up that much time to make. In fact they were helpful in getting this project started considering it was a big effort on their part. “This thing however, we’ve been at it when you guys were busy with Streusel Stations, at least I’ve been working on it myself when Gilda was busy.” “You’re always being a life saver Greta.” Grumbled Gilda as she was wearing a pair of rubber gloves and working with a bunch of wires. There were a few sparks and Gilda tilted her head away from it from her upside down position in the inner workings. “Now do some time saving while you’re at it and talk while you work!” “Sorry Saffron we’ll take a break soon…. oh wait… we need a break now Gilda, Mr. Welder is running dry.” Holding a talon out to signal a CAT drone, it floated over to Greta and it took up her favorite welding torch. “Opal, we need another fuel run, Mr. Welder is out again!” “As good a time as any to visit us then, did you bring food with you?” Having finished connecting some wires, Gilda slid a panel back into position and crawled her way out of the framework of the vehicle and fluttered down to the floor. She saw Saffron rolling her eyes and levitating forward a platter for them. “Good work on getting us some the food Mare-Does-Well-Enough, now if only someone can get us some…” “I believe somebody needs coffee… it’s rather hard to think that your blood is not made of the stuff now.” Rarity walked up to the machine and eyed it a bit, her griffons at work made for an impressive sight and they did a better job when no one was getting in their way. So she’s been avoiding them the past few days while she tried to sweet talk a few more details out of Braeburn about anything that’s been going wrong on the planet. He was nice stallion, but a bit too rustic for her tastes. “I believe you like it black with a very light amount of cream and a hint of hazelnut. Greta’s is the double mocha chocolate fountain supreme… extra sugar.” “What… so I like sugary things, you don’t have to give me that demeaning look Gilda.” Greta accepted her floating coffee cup with a graceful smile and nod to Rarity. She took a long sip of coffee and sighed happily with some chocolate sticking to her beak, before turning to Gilda. “You take your coffee way too bitterly.” “So what are you going to call this fabulous mechanical monstrosity? It looks like the love child of a bug and a centaur mashed together.” Rarity looked up at the new vehicle, it seemed to have six legs and boxy solid looking bottom torso, the upper torso was like that of a centaur with four claws on each arm and looked vaguely similar to the robots that had assaulted Canterlot given the palms looked like they were a weapons delivery system. It was big enough to lift, place and carry the Bombing Peregrine on its back. “So this is the mobile base idea you have running in section four of the hangar, how in the world do you even plan to get this back into orbit? I mean I’ve heard some of it, but not all of it.” “We’ll worry about getting it back up here after we drop it, as for what to call it… we’ll name it something like Centaur-pede.” Gilda shrugged as Centaur-pede was the best she had when it came to name ideas, it wasn’t a bad name and unless anyone could come up with something better, then their ground pounding mobile base of operations was going to be stuck with that name. “Also we’re not naming it anything like sex-a-taur and we won’t ever call it that even if you do.” “Aw… but it would have been an interesting conversation starter.” An approaching Chrysalis lowered her hoof and wilted as she trotted off to the nearest elevator to see what Coco was up to with her little wrestling ring in the exercise room. Maybe she could get at Sassy again by disguising a wrestling move as an opportunity to snuggle. “Stupid Griffon knowing exactly how I think and being entirely accepting of me... I can’t be that predictable, right?” “Yes you are and yes, that was kind of obvious! Anyway we built this thing with eight built in spare limbs we can swap out at any time in case we lose any due to combat or wear and tear. So six legged centaur wouldn’t have worked at all.” Gilda started to rub at one of the armor plated three toed legs that stuck out of the side of the armored walking machine with a smile as she looked up to the single eyed head. “Two large energy cannons built in the grappling arms and it can lift a cargo container weighing several tons and carry it on its back and even become a submersible for underwater exploration. If we needed a cargo mover, then we certainly have one now. Aside from that it has two working toilets that can last a few people at least a week or two before the septic tanks needs to be emptied, a single shower and a space to bunk down in the lower body which is a fully working base of operations. That’s all on top of having a microwave and a small fridge for stuff that isn’t canned food in the tiny, and I definitely mean tiny, kitchen we built into this thing with Saffron’s rather welcome input. There are our four automatic defense turrets on top of the lower torso that can cover this beast with programs written by Kitten for targeting recognition. So is it impressive or what? We’re almost finished with it, the only problem with it that I can see is that it’s lower torso be slow to move.” “No it’s not impressive, it’s absolutely beyond amazing what you two can do when given enough time, motivation and a metric ton of materials. What about my armored suit though?” That wasn’t the reason why Saffron came down here in an EVA suit; she was here to run tests on the armor. “Put on your helmet and we’ll have you run some tests while we eat.” Gilda was certainly giving Coco a run for her money when it came to being a workaholic and Greta was definitely right there with her in doing incredibly awesome things that would make Rainbow Dash jealous. Making Rainbow jealous was kind of Gilda’s lifelong mission. “Hey Kitten, get the SUITCASE out would you? We’re going to show Rarity what we’ve come up with.” “Right… diverting cleaning duty drone to go get the SUITCASE out, oh this is going to be so cool.” Opal was squealing brightly as she got the Special Utility Integration Tactical Combat Assessment Suit Enhancer ready to deploy. “We get to see our very own super hero in action!” “Why is there a special emphasis on the word suitcase?” Rarity’s answer came in the form of a MAT drone dragging what looked to be a large suitcase to them a few minutes later, during the waiting period the griffons dined on the food brought to them. Rarity looked at the large box curiously. “It basically is a suitcase and it turns into the suit, the power armor has been made to specifically work with Saffron’s EVA suit and her suit alone.” Greta walked over and opened the large purple and dark blue box into two connected halves, she moves away from it showing that there were just four circles on the inside of it. “Now if Saffron will put her four hooves into the circles and say the word activate, we can get the tests started. Oh and stand up straight if you will, it’ll make the process go by much faster.” “Right, let’s do this!” Saffron moved her four hooves so that they were within the circles. “Okay Ar-Mare-Do-Well, activate!” (Cave Story Labyrinth Fight insert here) The SUITCASE leapt up on four round spires that were encasing Saffron’s legs with shifting plates, showing the circles were where the suit started off. The rest of the box pressed against the belly of Saffron’s EVA suit and then closed shut around her body and armor plating sprang out to wrap around both Saffron’s head and tail. The armor wrapping around Saffron’s barrel and neck becoming flush with the EVA suit when it flexed and became more streamlined, with one final clank the powered armor was sealed up and attached to the battery utility in the impulse saddle. Some parts of the suit had even wrapped partially around the impulse saddle and produced two small variable jets that sent out two streams of purple colored energy that waved in the air a bit like a scarf before turning off. “Looks like we got everything connected correctly. Now side effects may include slower movement speed in water due to the weight, but it’s pretty good armoring and we’ve got some special things to show off.” Smiling Gilda moved in front of Saffron and looked into the glowing blue eyes of the armor, Ar-Mare-Do-Well looked quite intimidating. “Doing alright in there, is everything running smoothly? Also which is your dominant hoof Saffron?” “Well… what the… what’s with my voice? Anyway yes, I’m fine and either hoof.” Saffron lifted her left hoof and her voice sounded a bit deeper, she looked at it and turned it over to look at the armor now covering her on top of her EVA suit. She did feel rather safe wearing her EVA suit helmet and the armored helmet at the same time. “I feel like I’m wearing three layers of underwear, but it isn’t exactly uncomfortable. I kind of miss my hat already; also I’m getting something in here. Armor nominal, shields nominal and battery utility connected and operational. I haven’t seen stuff like this before on our HUDs.” “If we have Mare-Do-Well show up, then we’re going to need to disguise your voice so people won’t be able to connect you to the suit. We’ll do the same if we end up making more powered armor. Anyway the HUDs are upgraded while wearing the armor as the regular EVA suits HUD is Rarity’s for market brand, armor is how your suit is doing now and if you wish you can switch it to health readout to show any part of your body that might be taking a beating that the breach gel and armor isn’t absorbing for you. Greta, can you get the targets out while I walk Saffron through the systems check?” Moving so that she was standing in front of the armored mare, Gilda took up the held out hoof and looked it over. “All the armor seems to have connected well and we have no issues with connection to the battery, move your targeting tracker over me and scan.” “Okay… how do I start a scan?” The eyes on the suit had two white lines travel down them as Saffron focused on Gilda. Targeting data came up immediately reading as such to Saffron. “Griffon, status healthy, name Gilda ‘Sky Child’ Gottfrieda, mechanical engineer, friendly, threat assessment minimal unless panicked due to dangerous environment now look around to scan environment. Environment is currently stable, griffon is unarmed and weapons are currently locked down to prevent accidental firing upon civilian target. Okay that’s kind of nifty, so this will prevent me from accidentally shooting anyone? Scan target, Unicorn, status healthy, name Rarity D. Belle AKA The Boss Lady. Hey, I didn’t know you had a middle name Boss Lady. Threat assessment moderate to minimal, is exceedingly accurate with pistols and dangerous to attack due to chance of disproportionate backlash. Currently unarmed, magical capability low… this thing can process a unicorns magical ability in the scans? That’s kind of amazing, how did you even come up with a scanner like this…. hmm… scan user. User Saffron ‘Mare-Do-Well’ Masala, Unicorn, status healthy, current emotional status is balanced. Threat level is high due to armored suit enhancements; with weapons activated threat level will be extreme. Accessible weapons systems energy cannon hooves, hoof mounted vibration blades, energy whip, shock projection wings… wait this thing has wings?” When Saffron had said wings she finally noticed the two rounded box like extrusions at her sides, which decided to pop out and turned into two metallic feathered wings lined with variable bars in them. There was still room for the possibility that a Pegasus was wearing the suit. “Correct, we wouldn’t any accidental misfires when you pull the trigger on the gun, it was your first major concern and we addressed it like you wanted. Also Greta, I’m so going to get you back for putting Sky Child in my name! Back to you Saffron, you have to actively label me as a threat to shoot at me, try walking around to get a feel for it and maybe try jumping to see if the assisted jump feature is operational. We need to know this stuff if we’re going to make any adjustments when we take this thing off of you.” Gilda watched as Greta brought out a box with several sphere’s and turned them on and let Kitten take control of them to send them hovering into section three of the hangar in a three by three pattern, the nine target sphere’s were made to be both easily broken and fixed. “We added the wings for a reason and though you can’t exactly fly in that suit, but you can still glide and get some good air time. We didn’t want anyone looking for a unicorn when you could be an Alicorn or a Pegasus as well. Part of the mysterious Mare-Do-Well disguise really, you wanted to keep your identity a secret right? After you’ve tested it a bit, then we’ll see about calibrating one of your guns and the targeting system once you finally get used to moving around, we need to see gallop mode after we’re testing combat functions.” “Right, got to learn to take baby steps and then we can see what the weapons, and whatever gallop mode is, can do.” Saffron put the hoof she had been holding up and started to slowly canter forward with clunking noise, it felt kind of weird and very unusual. “It feels a bit sluggish and it’s not quite the same without the hat; let’s see what this thing can really do.” She started to move a little faster and the suit responded in kind to her motions, then she decided to jump and she almost slammed into the ceiling of the hangar which shocked her so much that she almost fell on her back on the way back down when the two variable wings flared reorienting her and shifting her to land on her hooves on top of the Centaur-pede, she didn’t feel the impact at all. She started to run around on the back of the large vehicle and was amazed at how well the suit was beginning to react to her movements. She leapt off shooting forward in a slow descending glide that was halted when the variable bars jets reoriented again to soften the landing; she had gone from section four of the hangar to section two with one jump. “Yeah, it’s taking the system a bit to warm up, but that was definitely cool.” A smiling Opal appeared in front of Saffron’s and bowed to her. “Everything seems to be in order Gilda; the suit is moving perfectly fine. Now do the weapons practice Saffron, I’ve been waiting forever for this!” “Hold on kitten we need to give her some time to wrap her head around this, let’s start you off by target the three by three grids of floating spheres Greta prepared for you. We don’t want you to shoot all of them with the energy gun, we need to test each weapon equally.” Gilda pointed up in the air at the nine floating orbs. “Having said that, I want you to shoot at the top left and right targets with an energy gun mounted in any one of your four hooves and yes, the rear hooves can also shoot if you want to hit something behind you. Activate target practice protocol, there, that should open up your weapons.” Lifting her left hoof Saffron aimed it in the direction of the top left one and saw a targeting reticle that place where her shot was going to go and she adjusted her aim slightly. With a twitch her hoof cannon fired a bright flash of purple and then quickly shifting her aim to the right it fired again. The energy bolts hit their marks and both the target spheres fell to the floor smoking, Saffron gave off a gasp of excitement. “Hey, I did it!” The armored mare pumped a hoof, the suits wings fanned out slightly as if she was getting excited like a Pegasus. “Don’t look so happy yet, target the middle one and fire one of your shock projection wings.” Gilda watched as the right wing of the suit twisted around and seemingly flapped firing a ball of raw electricity which struck the center target. The target sparked with arcs of electricity and fell to the floor. “Okay you’re getting used to the suit pretty well if you can already control a wing to that degree. The feathers on the wings double as a close up combat option that can be electrified. Let’s test the hoof mounted blades. Lower left and bottom middle sphere to melee range, the blades vibrate at a dangerous frequency to deal damage. Thanks to their unique shape they can be used as shields, in case the energy based one is overloaded or goes down for any reason.” The two spheres floated close up to Saffron and she lifted her right hoof a triangular metal blade popped out and she swung it outwards horizontally at the sphere to the left. Nothing seemed to happen for a minute until the sphere dropped to the floor and tilted to the side until the top half fell off and there were two wobbling halves of the sphere sitting on the floor. She retracted the blade and then thrust her hoof forward into the second sphere and the tip of the blade erupted out the back of it. “Okay that seems to be a bit lethal even for me, but I think I can see a need to have something like that.” Saffron shivered at the vibration blades cutting power. “What’s the next thing please?” “The energy whip can double as a pinpoint puller, pinpoint pull any of the remaining targets to you. We haven’t seen Ember use hers in action yet and I’m kind of curious to see how this work out, it’s integrated into the front two hooves only. Target sphere’s diamond formation, lock down jumping assist, wings and projectile weapons for this exercise.” Here Gilda wanted to see the final weapon in action, she watched as the wings folded up against the armors side. The four remaining sphere’s oriented themselves in the air out of reach of Saffron’s blades in a vertical four point diamond formation. “So you can shut down my systems with a voice command… that’s a nice safety net if I go crazy. Just don’t leave any back doors to hack the suit.” Aiming a hoof at one of the four remaining orbs, she fired a beam that grabbed the top one and pulled it to Saffron, where she then slammed it against the ground. “Well at least we know the pinpoint puller feature works, now to use the whip.” Pointing her left hoof at the three remaining sphere she pulled the trigger on the whip and line of energy shot out and became limp, Saffron stood there for a second with a limp line of energy hanging from her hoof. She reeled back her hoof and slung it forward missing the sphere she had been aiming at. “There’s a bit of limited range on the whip…” Saffron said shyly looking like a bit of the dork in the armor as her front right hoof rubbed against the left with a line of energy trailing from it, making Gilda slap her face and mutter something to make the three spheres move close. Saffron lashed out again and missed all three spheres once more but they were definitely clearly in range this time. “This is actually a lot harder to use than I thought it would be!” “Yes, well, I’m not saying anything. We haven’t seen an energy whip in action before this. It’s actually pretty fascinating really.” Greta was off to the side looking over the data she was getting from the suit and its actions. “Systems are operating perfectly so far and nothing has gone wrong.” “Hold on a second…” Saffron was narrowing her eyes at the target and she flicked her hoof up and brought it down sharply, the sphere was wrapped in the energy whip and then the sphere started darkening when several lights started flashing down the whip back to the Ar-Mare-Do-Well suit. The whip loosened when the ball fell to the floor lifeless. “Okay, what was that?” “The whip on your suit has a particularly special feature that can drain mechanical targets of their energy to help power the suit.” Sighed out a slightly frustrated Gilda, the range was going to be half of what Saffron was currently capable of. That wasn’t a fault of the suits; it was the pilot who wasn’t good with whips. Maybe Chrysalis would know how to wield a whip better? Yeah, she was beginning to think of that mare a bit more often than she probably should have… she could turn into any Pegasus she wants right? Did she really just seriously think that? Not like it would happen, she respected Chrysalis’s Changeling Queen Protocol and she hardly respects a lot of things outside of those who lived on the Shining Jewel. “That is provided that you can even get close enough to use it, recall the remaining spheres and let’s pick up the damaged ones as we’re done with them.” “Now that we’ve officially tested that, how about we test gallop mode? By the way, suit perform full system unlock protocol, that should unlock everything again.” Chirped up Greta who gave Saffron a bright smile, this was amazing piece of work and here she thought they couldn’t do small. Well Sassy and Coco helped a bit with the design; otherwise the griffons were all about vehicles of a larger nature and sorely needed some help with the construction these last few days. “Right, what’s gallop mode… oh is it that skating thing I wanted!” There was a sudden sense of excitement in Saffron’s voice. She immediately went to activate as Greta opened her beak to try and give her a warning. “Yeah it’s the skating thing, but be careful… we think it may be a slight bit touchy.” The warning came a bit too late as Greta watched Saffron shoot past her to almost slam into the wall in her panicked efforts to turn herself around. The poor mare went skidding all over the place at high speeds in an uncontrolled manner until she eventually figured out how to slow it down. “Yeah, the skidding skates of gallop mode really needs to be calibrated to pick up speed and not start off at full blast…” “So we have two minor problems, otherwise the suit is working as advertised, it’s powered and it’s armor.” There was a bit of silence as Gilda coughed into her talons, while Saffron slide around on her four hooves in the background. “We just made a real vigilante hero into an ideal comic book version of a super hero come to life people! Where’s the applause?” The entire hangar was suddenly filled with cheering and clapping, Opal popped up on one of the hangars monitor and there was confetti raining down around her avatar. “Thank you kitten, we definitely deserved that.” Gilda held her head high and proud with a broad smirk on her beak; she then turned to Saffron who was gliding her way back from section one of the hangar with relative ease and upon landing in section three she skated the rest of her way right back to them and slowed to a stop. “If you want out of the armored suit, mega mare, then use the eject command and absolutely confirm ejection from the suit.” “Huh, oh that wasn’t for you Gilda, Coco just won a wrestling match against Chrysalis. Seems like our super shy and quiet mare is really quite taken with the idea of wrestling now, I think she loves it too.” After a bit of a pause Opal spoke up with a cheesy grin. “This is the one for you… and it’s an actual celebration!” - “Eh, she’ll be fine Coco. She’s tough like that and I think she was smiling while you were choking her anyway.” Ember commented blandly, having played referee for the match and watched as Chrysalis was taken down by the smaller mare that got her into a really good sleeper hold. She proceeded to follow Coco and Sassy to the nearest elevator to see what was going on in the hangar when the whole ship started thumping. - A disco ball lowered from the ceiling and laser lights started to dance when Opal started up the music, the entire hangar was shaking with music. Opal ducked down and popped up on the screen with a pair of headphones on her head. “Oh my freaking… did you seriously install a party mode in the hangar Greta?” Turning her eyes onto her friend, Gilda wanted to throttle the sheepishly smiling griffon who sipped at what would now become an assuredly empty mug. She might have been slightly pissed about this, but even she was bouncing her head to the music and she couldn’t say Kitten had a bad taste in music. “I can’t believe you sometimes, but then again I like having you around for the fact that I can rely on you to be the fun one in my place.” “I swear I really shouldn’t have given you guys as much freedom with the hangar as I did.” Even so Rarity was dancing calmly to the music. She loved Opal a lot, but she could do some ridiculous things. Things like getting and convincing Greta to install a party mode in the hangar. “Though I seriously think this is something Vinyl Scratch would like.” Saffron stood still as the armor retracted from her head and compression pouch covered tail and then the armor separated and shrunk back down into its SUITCASE format. She looked at it mystified as she got off of it and turned to stare at it, she slowly reached down and closed the two halves up into the suitcase and levitated it off to the side and then she started tapping her hoof to the music. “Okay what’s going on…hey this is pretty nice…” Trapeze started to tap to the frantic beat after stepping clear of the elevator. “Is this the speedy mix version? I love that one, come on and dance with me Bernard.” Bernard blushed brightly as Trapeze took his paws and started twirling them both around and she hugged her partner in crime and Rover just smiled standing off to the side. A short moment later, Rover making a raise the roof gesture while with an even wider smile. “I think Opal may be taking your victory over Chrysalis a little too far…” Sassy said as she stepped out of the elevator on the opposite side with Coco and Lightning to see a small party going on with a disco ball. “Really a disco ball, who in the world would decide to… oh right, Greta and Opal would do that. Let’s go have some fun El Wildflower, it probably won’t last forever.” Coco just smiled while blushing under her mask, in her cute wrestling yellow and pink costume with a mask that had a design of flowers tracing up the sides of her face. She was quite embarrassed about the wrestling name she came up with and she was learning from two people who were seriously good at it, but she had to give it to Vera on her teaching skills as Chrysalis was a little bit too provocative in how she wrestled. “Okay the disco ball is kind of cool… and shiny… I wonder if it tastes good.” Ember followed the two mares over to Gilda, Greta and the rest of the party in the midst of a small rave going on. Rarity waved to them and could tell that her crew was at least always ready if, and especially when, they had to tackle a serious problem head on. She stopped dancing for a moment to stare curiously at the Centaur-pede for a moment; did they actually really need something like that? Author's Note Happy random explosions in the sky night day! -82-Babs looked a little worried, since all these friendly people she met were gathering in the cafeteria. It had to be about her family and she was beginning to really like Chrysalis’s presence, she hoped Chrysalis knew she felt safe around her. She sat in her seat and some food was placed before her by Mr. Cumin and she immediately started eating. She was really beginning to get used to living among all these people and the food was delicious. The crew was big enough to run this ship; sure there were only thirteen members, but that was enough for a ship that could house a hundred comfortably. Ember and Babs were onboard as guests making a total of fifteen people onboard the ship and they were all comfortable in the cafeteria waiting on Rarity. Rarity was patiently waiting for them to get settled with food and drink before she started this meeting. “To start off Opal has some news she’d like to address, it is reason enough for us to finally go down to Applin Five. I’ll start off by saying Lightning, Sassy, Chrysalis, Vera and Babs will have to stay here.” Pausing for a moment, Rarity took in the general mood of the crew, she started making mental notes about what could become problems later. “We’re here to discuss the main reason for going down to the planet into the blizzard stricken zone; we will also be discussing who will be going with me to investigate. Are there any questions before Opal delivers the news to you?” Chrysalis seemed to be relieved to not have to go down there, as did Vera who was becoming a bit too attached to the Shining Jewel for Rarity’s taste. Chrysalis seemed to have a fear of dying without being in agonizing amounts of pain; freezing to death would certainly be a numb way to go. She would have to talk to Vera and take her on trips and stay by her side the entire time, Rarity knew she would need breaks from being everyone’s therapist. Sassy, Lightning and Babs seemed upset for three entirely different reasons that Rarity could easily guess. Sassy was likely upset because Rarity thought she was still too weak to go on this adventure, at least Sassy was getting better physically at an incredible rate and her samurai skills hadn’t seemed to have degraded one bit. She still needed more time as her body had yet to make a full recovery, even if she could put on an impressive display in the exercise room, she needed to work on her stamina and endurance. Lightning on the other hoof, Rarity could tell she wanted to come along as she was itching for danger even with her ribs still mending for another day or so. When she finally passed the paste on her ribs out of her body, then she would be okay for flying and or other strenuous activities such as going into a volatile situation. Rarity noted that Lightning was getting a bit antsy at being cooped up and would need an appointment with Vera to talk things out; she was definitely a risk to take along right now. Babs was upset because she was expecting bad news and Rarity wasn’t going to lie to the filly, there was definitely bad news to deliver. At least there was good news that Babs had a lot of family around here willing to look out for her. Thinking about it some more, Rarity could tell that the filly might have started becoming a little too attached to the crew. Why just recently the filly had played with Rover and the two had lots of fun together playing catch, then there was the fact that Chrysalis had incidentally become something like a mother to the filly. Like every other member of the crew, even Rarity herself was making the poor dear feel at home. Even if she wanted to keep the filly, Rarity knew her ship was no place for Babs and she was only Babs’ legal guardian in so much as being a Baroness would allow. The laws said she could keep Babs as a guest as long as needed. If any of Babs’ family asked for her, then Rarity would then have to hoof the filly over to them provided that they could prove they were family, that they could actually currently support the filly and that they didn’t have a criminal record with violence related crimes. So far most of Babs’ family was too busy with the current curious crisis of climate calamity to really ask for her. As such Babs was still Rarity’s ward to look after. “Is it bad news?” Babs didn’t know what she could handle and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what the news was; she still raised her hoof and snuggled against Chrysalis, the Changeling Queen didn’t mind the proximity of so much free love for her specifically. The filly even knew Chrysalis was feeding off of her and she was letting her do so on purpose. “It’s not exactly terrible news; you have plenty of family around here that can safely take you in. Though the reason I’m going down to the planet happens to be some of the bad news.” If it were up to Rarity, she wouldn’t have to be the one to tell Babs that she might be losing more family. “Now would anyone else like to ask some questions or do we let Opal start her presentation?” “Are we going on a volunteer basis or are you choosing crew members to take with you?” If it was on a volunteer basis, then Saffron wanted volunteer as she could already guess why Rarity was going down to the planet. Lives were on the line and Saffron wouldn’t be Mare-Do-Well if she didn’t immediately jump at the chance to save someone out of the goodness of her heart. “There will be some chosen, the rest of you who I haven’t listed already can volunteer. I’m definitely going to need either Gilda or Greta for this. They are the only ones that can pilot the… are we seriously calling it the Centaur-pede?” If Rarity could have come up with something better, then she would have by now. She decided to continue think of who else was not negotiable. “Anyway I need at least one of them to pilot it; Ember has already volunteered her services to the cause and will be assisting us on the ground. I’m going to need Saffron as well; she’s the only one with fully operational powered armor at the moment. I think we’ll need it as I’m expecting something dangerous to pop up down there, something is creating this horrid weather and we will need all the help we can get. The rest of you can volunteer, but not all of you can go.” “I would like to address the fact that I’ve looked into biological natural threats that Applin Five might have.” This reminded everyone that Ember always looked into the ecosystem of the planets she visited and she studied any natural inhabitant of a planet that could be deadly. Mr. Spew was one such deadly inhabitant she looked into and she was now stuck with an Ewesen Sewer Squid for a friend that could spit an acid so strong that it would eat through flesh, bone, scales, chitin and anything else like tissue paper. Nobody dared to threaten Mr. Spew, he made for a really good friend to have and he was really easy to feed as he enjoyed eating just about anything, especially highly toxic things. “Surprisingly there’s only one thing that can be really be considered threatening on this planet and it’s a mostly pacifistic creature to begin with. The threat it presents is not even an active one. I’m not going to bother mentioning what it is unless we see one; they are an uncommon species and are almost considered sapient. So this planet doesn’t exactly have any lethal wildlife to deal with and given it’s an ever green world, all wildlife has likely fled the frozen tundra zone or are currently fighting for survival if they haven’t frozen to death yet. Rest assured, whatever is causing this will be dealt with if I can put a round in it.” Nobody spoke up after Ember and they all seemed a bit sad that nature was being messed up on the planet. The only one that didn’t seem sad was Chrysalis, because this didn’t concern her and she was a bit callous like that. This planet was of no benefit to her so she didn’t see a reason to offer an opinion. “Right, if you’re all done, then let me start off by saying we’re going to perform a rescue mission into the tundra zone. Well that’s what we’re initially going to do; we’re at least going to check one town in this general area.” Opal popped up on the nearby screen with a pointer drawing everyone’s attentions to her as she pointed out a spot on the planet behind her avatar. Several figures popped up on screen after that and she pointed each of them out, the first being an orange furred blonde pony. “The only ponies heard to be in this area are Applejack Apple, Big Macintosh Apple, Granny Smith Apple, Apple Bloom Apple, Countess Coloratura and the thing that makes this quite personal, Rarity’s cousin Sugar Belle. This is why it concerns us, Rarity’s cousin was last seen in this area and she reportedly refused to leave when the Apple family decided to stay… mostly because she’s currently engaged to Big Macintosh Apple. Coloratura is a popular pop star and singer that has recently stopped by the planet to visit a close friend, which would have to be Applejack. It is rumored that Coloratura has a thing for blondes and I’m only guessing that those rumors are absolutely true.” “Wait, cousin Applejack and her family are down there?” Babs looked a little absolutely panicked; she jumped across the table and made her way to Rarity. “You have to save them!” “That is why this situation involves me personally Babs; one of my cousins is down there too! Their current status is unknown, but they are considered to be alive until proven otherwise and they will be the primary target and why this is a rescue mission. We will save them, if we can.” This information had Rarity worried and yet she wasn’t showing that she was worried for a few reasons, for one she had a lot of resources to work with. She pulled the filly into a hug and started to pat her back. “I don’t like to admit this, but our crew could pass for a pack of well trained mercenaries. I would prefer to be known for my exquisite quality and style in the fashion industry, unfortunately that’s not exactly coming along as I had hoped and I hope my planned visit to Noctus can at least acquire me some attention. At least Trapeze is getting plenty of recognition. So, who’s coming with me?” “Yeah, I can see us being mercenaries. It would certainly be fun and especially profitable if we did that on top of everything else. We all know Ember gets paid well for her services.” A smirking Gilda intoned with a chuckle. Noticing the stares she was getting, Gilda coughed and held out her talons to Rarity. “You may have a business in clothing Boss Lady, but we’ve been getting pretty good at getting into fights and surviving them. You haven’t gotten us killed yet and you’re clearly an above board kind of mare. You need me as a pilot so I’m in.” “You do have to admit that we have a good personal track record so far.” Truthfully Greta didn’t mind them doing mercenary work; just so long as that mercenary work didn’t get her talons covered in blood and was, as Gilda said, completely above board in nature. She didn’t have the stomach for wet working even if she did eat meat. It surprised her that she got along with Ember who was the friendliest wet worker she has ever met. “You’ll need me there to help with repairs, if we need Caravel Boutique then we’re going to need to get out of the snow storm or destroy what’s causing it. Once we go in there it’s a one way thing or a long trip until we can leave. Fixing things would be quicker and that’s what you have me and Gilda for.” “I don’t mind helping with any problem you run into Boss Lady, I’m open for anything.” At least Trapeze was willing to offer up her services up front. She might not be very happy with getting into a scrap, but she’d do it for a good friend. Trapeze knew Bernard was willing to put up a fight given she was his personal predator bait and knew him so well, she believed even Rover would offer his aid if Rarity needed it. “Wherever you want me or my two stalwart companions to be, we’re there!” “I’ll have to stay on the ship Rarity; somebody has to take care of Mr. Spew while Ember is gone.” Moving over to the shoulder bound barnacle of a squid, Coco picked up Mr. Spew and cuddled him. The squid certainly enjoyed the attention and being held by her. “Who’s a good squid? You’re a good squid!” “I am needed up here, I have bellies to feed and that’s what I do best.” Coriander stated simply while nodding to Rarity. “Saffron can take care of herself and she has been doing so for a while now.” “That doesn’t mean I don’t need you anymore father.” Saffron made her way over to her father and cuddled up to him. “Rover would like to go and dig up some soil of this planet, but I will be helping the great Boss Lady first.” The diamond dog sounded particularly confident about wanting to go with Rarity on this adventure. “Rover is no stranger to being in danger. It’s just that Rover isn’t very good at fighting or protecting others, would have more friends if I were.” “Are you sure I can’t talk you into letting me come with you?” Sassy wanted to help Rarity and looked ready to make a complaint until Rarity came up to her to give her a hug. “Sassy, please, don’t insist on going down there.” Staring into her eyes, Rarity hoped that she was reaching Sassy. “I need you to get back to one hundred percent, especially if you’re going to be helping me with a fashion show on Noctus later. Please hold the fort and try to keep Opal calm; can you do that for me? Goodness knows she’s going to panic as soon as I’m out of communications range.” “Fine, but please don’t get horribly mangled by something because I couldn’t be there to protect you.” Sassy hugged her friend close. “Also try to stay in touch, we know you’re going to find something down there and it most certainly won’t be open for a pleasant conversation.” “Yeah, communications are going to be an issue. With those snow storms, the interference is going to be quite bad and once you’re on the ground and inside the cloud cover zone.” Directing their attentions to Opal once again she brought up a diagram. “That’s another thing I need to tell everyone, there is a definitely something creating a pattern in the clouds. As you can see I’ve managed to get an idea as to where this problem is being generated from, the blizzards seem to flow from a point within this circle I’ve marked on the planet. This is the secondary objective of going down there, find the problem and destroy what’s causing the weather issues or manipulate it into fixing the weather if feasible. If you don’t do this, then picking you guys up will be quite difficult without someone to pilot Caravel Boutique down there. I can’t remotely control it in those conditions unless I was inside of it personally and I’m too important to the operations of Shining Jewel to leave these systems unattended for long. I might even lose Vera’s name if that happens and that would be the absolute worst thing possible.” “Right then, Gilda, Greta, Ember, Saffron, Rover and I will be going then down to the planet. I suggest we get prepared and quickly, time is of the essence as we have lives to save. If they can be saved at all…” To help with preparations, Rarity turned to the one who brought extra weapons onboard her ship. “Chrysalis, please get several energy and material rifles and pistols, a rocket launcher or two and the necessary ammunition together. Make sure all the equipment has hoof firing grips. We may need to arm my cousin and her family if we find them. I’ll be busy getting our cold weather gear together. All of you going had better get your personal EVA suits together, especially you Saffron and don’t forget to bring the SUITCASE. Coco, Sassy, Mr. Cumin, I need all of you to gather food to load into the Centaur-pede. We need at least a few weeks worth for all of us. Opal, please download the storm formation patterns to Greta’s data pad and sync it with the current formations; she’ll be the one to track it as we move on the surface. Vera we will need at least one medical bed and least three medical kits. Okay people, let’s get a move on! As for you Trapeze, I need you and Bernard up here to keep my crew from going stir crazy without me around to keep them in line.” - “Are you sure this thing can make an orbital drop, especially in the kind of conditions we’re going to be landing it in?” Even as she asked this, Rarity trusted Gilda to get them to the ground safely. What she didn’t trust was what would happen after they got there, she was getting herself strapped in within the lower torso. “Look Boss Lady, if I can perfectly land a freaking tank from an orbital drop, with very minor and almost unnoticeable damage to the suspension aside that I’ve already fixed, then I can land this mobile fortress on the planet within the area we need to operate in.” Gilda was a bit surprised that they were cleared for doing this. Braeburn gave them the go ahead if they could pull it off and told them that if they wanted to risk their lives, then he wouldn’t stop them from doing so. “We’ll still need to travel quite a few hundred miles before we can reach the town where the apple family operates near. We’re trying for a safe landing and I can’t exactly miss the thousands of miles of snow, as a heads up there will be a little turbulence once we hit the cloud layer. Does anybody want to get off before I make the plunge? This is your last chance to stay here where it’s safe.” Nobody answered Gilda; she was currently in the upper torso in the main pilots seat and was getting the Centaur-pede ready to make a leap towards the large green planet with a huge batch of clouds over one part of it. The Centaur-pede had been loaded up and they were ready to make an orbital drop in it. The rest of the crew that wasn’t going watched as the six legged machine marched its way into section three of the hangar and towards the left door. Said door opened up to space and the machine slowly trundled through the atmosphere barrier to stand close to the edge of door looking down on the planet. “Just remember to fire off early Gilda; this mechanical beast we built is quite a heavy diva.” Even if Greta were absolutely sure Gilda could land it, she would still strap in and hang on like everyone else was going to. “I’m sure we’ll make it to the ground in good condition, even though I think we might have to perform some repairs as soon as we land before moving on.” “You know, this is my first time going through an orbital drop.” It didn’t take a genius to notice that Saffron sounded a bit wary of what they were doing. “Don’t worry; it’s like a roller coaster… only more screaming in panic if something goes horribly wrong. At least if a roller coaster breaks down, there are safeties to prevent a person from getting injured. We don’t exactly have that safety net, but at least Gilda landed something untested in this kind of situation before and this shouldn’t be any different.” It took a moment for Greta to realize that that wasn’t a very comforting thought, especially when she made her next comment. “Now that I say it out loud, where was I exactly going with that again? Look everything will be fine; we’re professionals at building things and this girl is solid. We did agree that the Centaur-pede was a girl right?” “Hey, I’m not about to get us killed Saffron, I’m awesome and I know it! Now performing orbital jump in three, two… one.” Gilda up in the pilot’s seat pushed the controls forward and the Centaur-pede kicked off the Shining Jewel’s open side door into space and towards the planet. “Let’s jam, oh yeah!” “This is Braeburn, I just want you to know that you guys are crazy. I also just wanted to say good luck down there on Applin Five and I hope you find our family members in good health.” Braeburn appeared on two different screens one in front of Gilda and the other in the lower torso for the others; he had a brownish orange mane and yellow coat. He was giving them a sad look. “I would have gone with you to help out my cousin Applejack, but I have someone to look out for.” “Read you loud and clear Burn, so you got prior commitments, we understand. Now don’t distract me, because we’re about to make our drop into the atmosphere and I need to concentrate on this. Now shifting the upper torso to center position. Greta, keep an eye out on the readout and tell me if anything is wrong.” Gilda flicked a switch and the upper torso of the Centaur-pede slid backwards until it was above the mid section of the lower body instead of at the front of it. “Were there any problems with the change Greta?” “No, everything is fine Gilda; the upper torso has successfully shifted to the middle of the lower torso.” Even strapped in Greta was looking over her data pad and was getting a readout of Centaur-pede’s current state. “Everything seems good. I’m sure you can take it from here and that you know what to do Gilda.” - “Well there Rarity goes again, getting herself into trouble.” Sighing Sassy turned about and walked towards the nearest elevator. “So, she’s been in trouble before and she turned out just fine… speaking of fine, you certainly are.” Chrysalis knew she had made Sassy blush and the mare got onto the elevator a little bit quicker. Sassy understood that Chrysalis was now intentionally flirting with her and she didn’t exactly know how to handle it, she wasn’t anything special and she still felt quite broken to be worthy of any positive attention. She also didn’t know what to think of the Changeling Queen since she could become a stallion at the drop of a hat, so her emotions were all over the place about this. “That was a bunch of confusing emotions.” A curious Chrysalis didn’t understand what she had done wrong. Had she done something wrong? Ponies were so hard to read sometimes, especially when they had so many emotions going off at once like that. “Maybe I can help you with Sassy…” Coco spoke up and it spooked Chrysalis slightly, mostly because she didn’t expect anyone to care about her pursuit of a mate. “She has a few issues she needs to work through and I’m sure me and Vera can help you with helping her.” “Why would you help me, what exactly do you get out of it?” There had to be a catch and Chrysalis was wary of it, no pony has ever just done something nice for her without expecting something in return. “In fact, you’ve hardly spoken to me since I joined this thing you call a crew.” “Well I might get to see my friends smiling more often and if you can make Sassy happy then that would most certainly be a good thing.” While Coco may have refrained from interacting with Chrysalis, she would now at least try to get to know her better. She seemed intent on getting Sassy’s attention and Coco figured Sassy needed all the love she could get. “If you can promise to not make things worse for her, then I’ll at least be open to the idea of helping you.” Mr. Spew just gurgled something unintelligible, but it sounded rather profound. Babs trotted up to Coco’s side and looked up imploringly at Chrysalis to accept that offer; she wanted to see Chrysalis smile more too. - With a heavy thud and a large shockwave of snow being blown outward in a circle, the Centaur-pede had landed and the six legs strained slightly under the weight. A few seconds later the machine stood straight up and the upper torso slid into a forward position and then took a few steps to get out of the impact site. “Well it looks operational to me Greta; we need to get our bearings and there are absolutely no landmarks out here. Opal can you still hear us up there?” Gilda slowly turned the upper torso three hundred and sixty degrees, nothing but snow and clouds as far as the eyes could see. It wasn’t currently snowing, but it was only a matter of time before a blizzard hit them. “We could use some coordinates from our position.” “Right… with… need to… sending coordinates…. safe.” It was obvious that Opal wasn’t able to get a clear signal through the clouds and it was garbled. The screen lit up and the coordinates for the frozen over town still made it through. “Right, we at least got that much and at least we won’t be getting lost down here.” The machine was slow to turn, but the grumbling Gilda eventually had it pointed in the direction of the marked location and slowly pushed it to start moving forward. “Well that’s at least a hundred miles from here. Well better get started on setting things up. Let’s see, set the autopilot, automatic stop if something is detected and an alarm, turrets set to active targeting for threats if something is detected. There that should handle things for the moment.” Gilda pulled the straps off and got up from the chair and moved around it to head for the ladder down the spine of the machine, at the bottom of the ladder she opened a hatch and climbed down into the lower torso where everyone was waiting for her. “Is there anything of note that we should be worried about Greta?” Dropping to the floor Gilda wanted to be absolutely sure that things were going well as the machine started to move on its own. “We took a hit to the shields, but it was within expected parameters. All spare limbs are in working condition and we’ve made a successful landing.” Perusing her data pad, Greta was paying attention to the counterclockwise blizzards leaving from a central point on the globe she had upon her screen. “No blizzard system is heading in our direction yet, I’m glad Opal still managed to get the coordinates through to us. Any communications signal we get out here now will be highly suspect and will need to be investigated, our impact zone is approximately here inside the tundra zone. We’re a bit far too south west of where we need to be, but it’s not like we were going to land directly on our target anyway. Current heading is north east.” “Well you heard the hen, get settled in people. It’ll be a while before we reach those coordinates, if anything happens before that then you better get ready for a fight.” Gilda moved over to the screen in the lower torso and manipulated it to show them the surroundings outside of their warm and comfortable position in the lower torso. “I have the Centaur-pede on autopilot and if anything comes up like terrain problems or threats, then we’ll definitely hear about it. Nothing should be able to sneak up on us in this snowy wasteland.” “Rover is having question, what happens if the upper torso of the great centaur machine gets destroyed?” The best way to handle a long wait was to ask questions and Rover seriously wanted to know what would happen if they lost the upper torso. “Glad someone finally decided to ask that, the lower torso can be operated from here if we lose the upper torso.” Shaking her head Gilda settled in and leaned against a wall in the open space of the lower torso. “I don’t want to lose the upper torso, but it’s far better than what would happen if we lost the lower torso. I have nothing to do until we arrive or something gets in our way, did anyone remember to bring cards?” “Trust us, we already thought of something like that happening.” There wasn’t much that Greta didn’t think of when it came to building this machine with Gilda, except that there seemed to be a rather common misconception that she wanted to get out of the way. “What you have to keep in mind is that this thing wasn’t mainly built for combat, but it was made to handle it at the very least.” “That is nice to know, like how Rover always knows where cards are. I am finding them all over the place with Ms. Star.” Reaching into his red vest, Rover pulled out a fresh pack of cards. “I am just hoping that they aren’t all those queen things though, it would be quite hard to be playing a game like that.” Author's Note My birthday is a few days away and I'm feeling quite lethargic, been alive for quite a while. I'm really getting on in years. -83-“Well I lost contact with them; they have landed safely on the ground at least.” There was a long pause after Opal spoke, the remaining people on the Shining Jewel thought she was going to freak out and were looking to the nearest monitor at her avatar. Gilda’s presentation to the crew was that Opal was a closet rampant AI and she tended to have a very bad fixation on Rarity, one that had her always worried the minute Rarity was out of sight and possibly running into danger. At least that’s what Gilda thought Opal’s major problem was. “What? Do I have something on my coding? Why is everyone staring at the nearest screen?” “I think it is just the fact that you are utterly freaked out right now and they are expecting a more visible reaction. Heck even I would expect a visible reaction, you might even be able to pass for a Changeling with the way you’re currently acting.” If anybody had bothered to ask Chrysalis, who was currently busy with something in her room, then they would know that she could feel Opal’s emotions. That alone should definitely be impossible as machines didn’t actually have the ability to radiate emotionally, nobody had bothered to tell Chrysalis of this fact and thus she wouldn’t understand why it would be important to bring it to someone’s attention. “I don’t see what your problem is, they’re in an armored vehicle and you said it yourself that they landed alright.” “I’m not freaked out; I’m just mildly concerned as that particular vehicle was not made specifically for combat Crystal.” Even Opal missed the fact that Chrysalis had picked up on something about her, such as the fact that she was more than she appeared to be. She was, as Chrysalis had stated quite clearly, obviously freaked out and hiding it behind a veil of looking entirely calm. “Eh, whatever you say Pony hive mind.” Who was Chrysalis to complain to the pony hive mind about how she really felt? She didn’t understand why someone would use technology to create such an emotional being for a hive mind, but she shrugged it off and continued what she was doing. Pausing in the middle of her hobby, Chrysalis idly considered doing something nice for Little Snack. The filly was certainly giving her plenty of love to eat so that her personal food stores would last a bit longer. Her thoughts went back to Coco’s offer to help, had that adorably shy mare seriously thought she needed help to acquire a mate of her own? Well she’d show them all by earning Sassy’s love and then some! “Can you tell me what Sassy is doing at the moment?” “She’s currently pushing herself with her samurai training. Which reminds me, Vera, I need you to go to the exercise room.” Do not focus on her Opal, you’re a big girl, you can go a day or two without thinking entirely Rarity. Okay, so Opal might have to silently admit that she had a problem since Chrysalis clearly stated the obvious, but Rarity was her mom and darn it Opal wanted to protect her mother’s fragile mortal existence. She knew she should be focusing on the crew that was currently here, but Rarity kind of had a dangerous habit of almost getting mauled to death when she wasn’t looking. She’d have to trust that Ember would protect Rarity with the same kind of violence a dragon would protect their hoard… oh goddesses, is that why Ember was sticking around and paying rent? Well that was something to discuss with Vera in private, it seemed like Ember was going to be around Rarity for the rest of her life and not exactly in the way Opal would have liked. Maybe a few nudges here or there would help things progress, but that would have to come later as Opal had business to attend to. “I think Sassy might be overdoing it a bit… oh and I might have an important matter to discuss in private with you later Vera. So please don’t pull a disappearing trick, it’s not as fun as when Trapeze does it. Even then you should know that finding you again will be incredibly problematic process if you drop out of sight Vera.” “I might want to see Sassy as well; I need to know how she looks and smells while covered in sweat.” It was something to be curious about, not that Chrysalis had any untoward intentions for Sassy. This was actually plain curiosity that had nothing to do with how attractive she thought Sassy might be, she would hold her tongue of any instinct to make a pass at Sassy until she could figure the mare out. Vera would have certainly liked to know that some of her suspicions surrounding Opal were founded in reality; it was quite unfortunate for everyone that Chrysalis didn’t have a reason to bring up the fact that she could feel Opal’s emotions. It was a clear sign that Opal was in fact a living being even if she only appeared to be an artificial being on the surface; a lot of red flags were missed waving in the breeze. The thing Opal needed to discuss was the fact that she realized that Ember had created a hoard and she had her suspicions as to what said hoard entailed. The dragon had been rather subtle about it, as it wasn’t until now that Opal realized that she could miss things and wasn’t performing perfectly as she might have liked. Then again Opal had never really tried to be perfect in the first place and knew that making small mistakes wasn’t a bad thing. It’s when you started making big and irreversibly deadly mistakes that you should really start to panic about things. Opal wasn’t exactly sure on how to address the Ember situation until said dragon came back to the Shining Jewel, the bounty hunter had been getting exceedingly friendly with the rest of the crew quite recently and now the reason why was quite glaringly obvious. It made Opal wonder if she was considered a part of the hoard too. - The slow soft sounding thuds of the large three toed metal legs thumping against the ground had been constant since they started out. Nothing seemed to have raised an alarm and they were still on course for their destination. The six of them sat at a folding table in the large rectangular lower torso of the vehicle trying to pass the time, the quiet of the surrounding snow covered countryside was quite unnerving. Not a scrap of life was to be seen out here, at least nothing moving for they could still see small frozen over copses every now and then. “I hope my cousin Sugar is alright... I dread to think what it would take to survive in weather like this.” Rarity was seated in a heated moving vehicle, she wasn’t about to worry about her own safety at the moment. “My cousin always had a taste for sugar that could match that of Pinkie Pie’s insatiable ability to swallow pastries whole… I probably should have introduced them or at least mentioned them to one another.” “If she’s anything like you Boss Lady, then we’ll definitely find her alive.” It was meant as a compliment, because Gilda thought Rarity could survive some pretty nasty situations even if she hadn’t been directly in the thick of most of them. When she had been in the thick of it, Rarity had obviously performed well enough to come back alive with a gash in her side and a tale of dangerous flesh molded monsters. “Earth Ponies are pretty hardy as well; they can survive in a lot of conditions other ponies would have a lot of problems with. If any of them aren’t strong enough to survive until we can find them out here, then we can at least say we tried to help and we’ll give them a nice burial.” “That’s my Gilda, always being a sour grape. I would like to personally think that they’re all completely fine and hunkered down somewhere out here waiting for a rescue or at least some kind of aid.” Greta was the positive to Gilda’s negative and it showed. That didn’t mean she didn’t see reality as it was. “I at least have to admit, with as cold as it is out there, that Gilda has a point. The prospects aren’t as great at finding something alive and well in these conditions.” “The cold never bothered Rover anyway.” Rover had stuck his head out one of the hatches to get an idea of how cold it was. He could clearly see his halitosis when he exhaled and he didn’t think his breath had exactly been that bad, he’d have to scrape his tongue more thoroughly even if he despised such an action. “Never above ground for it often enough when younger, but Rover like playing in it just the same as ponies would. Right now, I am thinking it is not a good idea or time for playing outside.” “The first time I played in snow is when I visited a snow planet; it was after I performed a job. Never could get snow back in the volcanic lands on Equus, it was way too hot for that.” Ember’s tail twitched back and forth as she reminisced of her time in the snow. “Yeah I think that was about the time that started researching all the dangerous biological hazards I could run into. Even if my body melts snow rather easily, I still managed to make a snow dragon and an ice sculpture while I was on that planet, I even threw a few half melted snowballs into the air. I had lot of fun, but it was rather lonely doing all of that alone. It wouldn’t even surprise me that I’m the warmest thing in this room right now.” “You know this is rather cozy and spacious for a vehicle that has replacement legs and everything else you said it was capable of.” Saffron still couldn’t believe how much space existed inside the lower torso of the Centaur-pede. She had gotten good look inside the Bombing Peregrine and this thing seemed to be more impressive based on the scale it was built with. “There’s even more space than the Bombing Peregrine at least.” “Yeah well, the Bombing Peregrine was built explicitly for combat situations. This is more like a home away from home kind of thing and it’s well furnished as we could make it.” Checking her data pad once again in the last few minutes, Greta was making sure nothing was going wrong. The legs and their joints were all running optimally, the shields were on and back to full strength. The upper torso was locked in place and the arms weren’t shifting about, nothing was overheating, sensors were still not picking up any life or motion out there and things seemed entirely in order. “Though we’ll need to sleep on mats in here, the only real private place in the vehicle is the toilet and shower. Word of warning, don’t use too much water. I’m mostly thinking of you when I say this Boss Lady, we don’t know how long we’re going to be stuck down here and we need to conserve resources.” “I’m not that bad with taking long baths am I?” It was kind of upsetting to Rarity that Saffron, Greta and even Ember wouldn’t look her in the eyes. Gilda just gave her a flat look and a raised questioning brow. Rover didn’t seem to care about the question and was just shuffling the deck of cards for another round. “Fine, I might admit to overstaying my welcome when it comes to cleaning my body. I just don’t like feeling dirty and I like to keep myself in pristine condition, I am the face of my business after all and a lady has to look her best you know.” “Who else thinks we should set a five minute time limit? I don’t mean just Rarity, but for all of us.” There were three appendages following Gilda’s statement. “Well the majority wins Rarity.” “When did we form a democracy and why must you all be so mutinous about it?” Crossing her hooves with a huff Rarity was only slightly upset at this, but she didn’t contest the knowledge that she did use a lot of water when it came to looking her best. “Fine, I’ll let myself be stuck to the ridiculous five minute time limit to do the best with my appearance as I can. All bets are off if we find a working shower that isn’t running on a limited supply out here.” “I understand taking pride in your appearance and all the hard work that goes into it well enough Rarity, I like to keep my scales shiny and presentable at all times as you very well know.” Ember got closer to Rarity and threw an arm around her and started to gently caress Rarity’s mane without messing it up. “You have to understand Rarity; we were inevitably going to draw a line somewhere when it comes to our collective survival. I don’t know about you, but I would care less about my appearance if it meant everyone here surviving for another day. Could you say you would give up how you looked if it could preserve our lives for a little longer?” “I’d actually give up on everything to make sure all of you lived long fulfilling lives.” The petting felt weird to Rarity, but at least Ember wasn’t messing up her mane. “My habit of getting into trouble isn’t exactly helping in that is it?” “It’s not you who gets us into trouble Boss Lady; we can do that just fine on our own. It’s more like trouble is attracted to us.” Being on edge constantly was tiring for Greta; she was watching the sensors scanning their surrounding like she was part hawk. “We at least know something is coming this time, but not in what form.” “I’ve been getting myself into trouble when I took up my mantle as a hero.” Stretching out her hooves and giving off a small yawn, Saffron picked up the five cards dealt to her with her hooves. “I’ve got a lot of scars to prove it and do you think I look ugly?” “Not at all Saffron darling, you’re quite lovely young mare and the fact that you can fight crime and still look as wonderfully exotic as you do is quite amazing.” Rarity’s praise was met with a blushing Saffron looking at the table in embarrassment. “I should probably be asking you for tips on how you managed to keep such a lovely appearance without it being ruined by all that roughhousing with ruffians. This does leave me wondering if there’s something wrong with me in wanting to look my best at all times.” “Rover is seeing nothing wrong with Boss Lady; you are true alpha who cares far more about pack than self. Though Boss Lady is still somewhat selfish for appearances sake, I am completely okay with that.” With a wagging tail and a broad smile directed to the slightly prissy pony, Rover flicked five cards to Greta and then moved on to Ember. “Late mother is always saying there are such leaders like you that exist and Rover much happier for actually finding one. Not trade pony leader for anything! Even I know the meaning of priceless or irreplaceable, Rover is having very difficult time finding such a leader.” Rarity wanted to cry, but she didn’t want to smear her mascara. The friends she had with her were ever so wonderful, even if they did take a vote over her head to force a five minute time limit on showering. She hid a smile behind her five cards and they continued for another five minutes playing in silence, winning or losing hands. Everything became tense when the Centaur-pede suddenly came to a stop and everyone felt the shift in the lower torso when it did, a relatively quiet alarm went off. “Okay something just tripped the sensors… both motion and life detection.” Greta was poking at her data pad with her index talon looking over the information. “Whatever it is that tripped the sensors, it’s about the size of a pony and it is about a mile off to the east. That’s not too far out of our way. Before you ask Rarity, we have a pretty good sensors range given the terrain around here is mostly flat except for the hills of snow. The snow on the ground is causing a few issues, but as long as we aren’t in the middle of a blizzard or at least a snowstorm we won’t have to worry about detecting threats. Well that’s rather odd… ” “How odd are we talking Greta and do I really need to be up in the pilot’s seat for this?” Something the size of a pony would most likely be intimidated by the Centaur-pede and would likely prefer to avoid it, unless they were in a desperate situation. “The readings are detecting a completely healthy organism with no deterioration in temperature… you’d at least expect some loss of heat out here.” Greta tapped her screen while looking to Gilda. “Isn’t a bit odd given the current circumstances that something is out here and reading as completely healthy? You know, despite there being a lack of viable food around here thanks to the terrible climate trouble. It’s also cold enough that any source of water is frozen over, so what is this pony sized organism even drinking?” “I certainly think this requires investigating, let’s head in that direction and I’ll go topside and try to scope out whatever it is out there when we go closer.” Ember stood up from the table and went to a nearby ladder and started climbing for the back of the lower torso. “That’s a sound idea, Gilda start heading in that direction please.” The griffon threw Rarity a mock salute and made her way for the ladder that led up into the upper torso. “Do I need to get my armor on?” If she needed to be ready at a moment’s notice, then Saffron would quickly throw the armor on and get up on the back of the Centaur-pede with Ember. “No, I don’t think we’ll need it for this, but get your EVA suit on anyway and get a pistol out.” Going to her numerous bags of clothing, she pulled her EVA suit out of a pile and started to put it on. “While I’m quite sure Gilda and Ember can handle this if its trouble, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared for anything.” - “I was not prepared for something like this, what exactly is that creature? It resembles a pony, but I can already tell just by looking at it that it is most certainly not a pony.” Looking over the side of the Centaur-pede’s back, Rarity immediately spotted what was detected. “I’m sure Chrysalis would have a field day with it, whatever it is.” “You remember when I said that there were beings that weren’t an active threat, native and nearly sapient? That would be one right there, it’s called a Puffle.” The creature wasn’t as majestically dangerous as Ember imagined it being. It vaguely had the face of a pony and she really couldn’t make out the body, she could see four tiny hooves sticking out of what looked like a solid ball of thick pink fur covering every part of it. The creature looked at the middle right leg of the machine and sniffed at it, after a moment it gasped, did a raspberry then started hugging the leg and began nuzzling it lovingly. It was possibly the most adorable and least threatening thing in the area; also it was notably the only thing in the area. “If they aren’t an active threat, then what exactly is threatening about them?” Gilda’s voice came from the one large red eye in the head on the upper torso; she had her attention squarely on the ball of fluff hugging the leg. The thing looked like something Chrysalis and her Changelings would use at livestock, given how much hair it had on its body. “I’m getting the feeling that there’s something about them being threatening in a passive manner.” “They are exceedingly stupid and I mean lethally stupid in such a way that they could get someone or themselves killed with their actions.” It was well documented and Ember didn’t believe that something could be so close to sapience and yet impossibly imbecilic. She didn’t know why it was hugging the leg, but it certainly wasn’t intimidated by large machinery. “I’m talking stupid like sticking its tongue in a light socket for a third time, even after it knows from experience the first two times ended in pain. They are quite playful, herbivorous and their fur is a thick protective covering that prevents them from getting injured by the few small predators this planet has. Some ponies have mistaken them for being almost sapient because they have some level of intelligence that allows them to mimic something a pony does. That led to an unfortunate incident with a blue Puffle catching fire from mimicking a pony making a fire pit. The Puffle was alright after the incident, but it didn’t learn its lesson when it made another fire pit and it’s why they are known to be lethally stupid by every pony that ever comes across one on this planet. There’s also a good reason that Ponies try not to teach them things after that second incident, they were labeled as passively dangerous and possibly lethal to anyone not smart enough to leave one well enough alone until it wanders away of its own volition. Feeding them ice cream, candy or something sweet usually makes them leave faster.” “What exactly happened the second time around to cause that kind of response?” Saffron thought the creature was cute and adorable in a bright eyed childish manner, how could something like that be dangerous? “The first time the blue Puffle created a fire pit it was on an open plain where the fire wouldn’t spread and they eventually managed to douse its slowly burning fur before it could do any real damage. The second time the Puffle apparently got the idea that you had to create a fire in a fire station… five blocks went up in flames before fire fighters from a different town could arrive on the scene. They didn’t exactly save that town either.” Yes it was as dumb as it sounded, but then Ember decided to tell the last tidbit which really sells the level of idiocy a Puffle will go to when taught something. “It had apparently started a fire pit using all the fire fighting gear. It was apparently not done out of malicious intent on the Puffle’s part, but the sheer and utter stupidity that the Puffle thought you had to start a fire using all of said equipment at once to do it right. Mind you this includes several fire fighting gunships loaded with chemicals specifically meant to stop fires. I know a thing or two about doing the impossible with endothermic chemicals and somehow incidentally burning down a building. Why the cause of the fire was even determined to be a fire extinguisher if you can believe it. Heck, it hardly makes sense given the Puffle probably couldn’t even read a written language to begin with to even know what the sign on the fire station says. I’m sure if I was there, I would have been outright blamed for that incident for just being a dragon near a place where a fire broke out in a highly volatile manner.” “So… we just ignore it… is that all?” If this creature was as potentially dumb as the one that was just described to her, then Gilda wanted it to be as far away from the Centaur-pede as possible. It sounded like a machine eating gremlin. “Yep, let’s just keep going and ignore that it exists. We do not want to be responsible for whatever it does if we teach it something and we do not want to interact with it unless it is to give it something to eat so it’ll leave us alone.” Innocent as they might sound, look and act, Ember was going to have nightmares about the other incidents she heard that Puffles had been involved in. “Whatever any of you do, do not go down there and touch it or make it even more interested in us than it already is. Also don’t look up things about them; it’s going to give me nightmares for a while knowing what I do.” “Doesn’t it seem a bit cruel to leave it out here like this?” Even after hearing the story, Rarity wanted to do something generous for the cute thing currently snuggling up against a leg of the Centaur-pede. “No, Rarity, just no, trust me on this, you do not want to do anything for that creature!” Ember was putting her foot down on this one; she had to protect her hoard from that little fluffy monstrosity. She didn’t know what was dumber, the Puffle or Rarity for wanting to do something for it. “It’s been doing well enough on its own so far and it doesn’t even look like it needs help with anything if it’s as healthy as the scanner says it is.” “Well if you’re absolutely sure…” The look Rarity was receiving cowed any thought of going near the pink fluff, the fierceness of Ember’s eyes spoke a volume of words and she was willing to listen to them. “I’m dead serious, that thing could get us killed even if it is entirely innocent Rarity.” Ember really didn’t like being angry with her hoard, but she had to protect it from itself in this situation. “I actually looked these things up and I would think that I would know more than you do about it. I’ll let you look it up later and decide for yourself if it was a good idea or not to ignore it, but please do this one thing for me. I wasn’t wrong about sewer squids, I’m definitely not wrong about this. We do not want to give that thing the time of day.” “Okay I’ll ignore it, though I don’t like having to do so one bit.” Rarity would trust Ember’s judgment on this one, but it kind of hard to ignore that such an adorable fluffy alien pony thing was just outside looking for attention. “Gilda get us back on course and do as Ember says, let’s… ignore it. Well at least for now, if it won’t go away then we’ll at least feed it and shoo it off afterwards.” The Centaur-pede started moving towards the northeast back on course and they completely ignore the squeaking pink blob of thick fur stuck to one of the legs. It even seemed to be enjoying itself, ignoring it was kind of hard because it was a fairly visible, even from a good distance away. - Chrysalis, Lightning, Vera and Bernard just sat there watching poetry in motion. They saw every swing, stab and twirl of the sword as something akin to an interpretive dance. Sassy was sweating and looked very tired, but she certainly looked graceful when dancing with a blade in her hoof. None of them had the heart to stop Sassy, she wanted to keep going until she dropped and she even told them as much. Finally Sassy slowly stopped her dance and sheathed the sword; she was breathing raggedly and slowly began to lie down. She had only been able to keep up the dance for five minutes at a time; she had barely taken a break longer than a minute throughout her harsh training regimen. Vera had been keeping her watchful eyes on Sassy’s health. Sassy was coming along greatly, but she would injure herself badly if she continued to push herself at this rate. “Sassy, I think that that is enough and it’s time that I gave you a nice massage…” Trying to sit up and deny Vera’s rather incredible services, she failed to form any words as soon as Vera’s hooves touched her gently and started work over the tired muscles. “That’s it, relax, everything will be okay. You don’t want to push yourself too hard; you’ll injure yourself badly if you do and then you’ll have to go through therapy all over again. Do you want that Sassy?” “No…” Sassy whined before something popped in her back making her go limp. “I know everything will be okay physically, but will she be okay mentally? She seems to be working through a lot of emotional turmoil, tastes kind of funky really.” Poking her chin with a hoof while flicking her tongue about her lips, it was as if Chrysalis could actually taste the emotions coming off of Sassy. “Like a banana split, only instead of chocolate somebody use mango sauce and the caramel sauce is made from refried beans. At least the strawberry sauce tastes correct. The banana flavor leaves something to be desired and I sometimes wish I were an Alicorn so that I could personally enjoy the end results of tasting such a flavor.” “Yeah, not going to ask how you would even know what any of that tastes like. Considering actual food holds no nutritional value for you at all.” It was among the many things Lightning would never want to know about Chrysalis, she was still going to be friends with her though. Once she was clear of pasted bones, Lightning would get that game of Twisty she’d been craving for a while now. Author's Note Insert Fluffle Puff of the Puffles, one of the worlds deadliest pacifistic creatures in existence and native to Applin five. Yes, she is absolutely far more dangerous to be around than you would think. She is not related to or the cause of the horrible weather, but she is a living terror to watch out for... in the Rarity Zone. Yes, Fluffle Puff appearing is relevant to the current plot and no she will not be getting on The Shining Jewel... ever. I wouldn't have a story to continue if Fluffle Puff destroyed the ship now would I? -84-“Chrysalis declined my offer to help her understand Sassy better. Is it so wrong that I want to throttle Chrysalis and with actual ill intent this time?” Usually Coco was the most peaceful mare, but Chrysalis tended to throw normalcy out the window whenever possible. “I just want to help her understand what she’s doing wrong, since chances are that she’ll go for another kidnapping plot as it seems like her modus operandi. Does she really have to kidnap ponies to get attention? I don’t know why, but I’ve been feeling a lot more frustrated lately. It is like I’ve been getting angry over nothing. I really shouldn’t be mad at Chrysalis for not taking my offer of help, it is within her right to ignore my offer and say no.” “So you’re finally coming into your magic, you’re a pretty late bloomer. Either that or no one taught you about what your magical abilities might be.” Hopefully Vera could make Coco understand her current situation, this kind of thing happened to Pegasi and Unicorns in different ways and it wasn’t any different for any other pony variants either. “Um… what? I’ve had my cutie mark for years now, almost ever since I met Rarity even.” Coco sat up and looked to Vera in a confused manner. Who wouldn’t be confused if you were just told that you were coming into your cutie mark, butt sign or handsome symbol? “I’m not talking about your cutie mark; I’m talking about your earth pony magic. How often have you actually used any of it up to today?” Seeing that her patient had a confused look, Vera slapped her face. “Oh my goodness, you’re going to be one of ‘those’ ponies. To start off, coming into your magic is not the same as coming into your cutie mark. You’ve done that as you have so stated, coming into your magic is actually something else entirely. A cutie mark is your special talent and depending on how you interpret it, it can let you do things beyond the original interpretation as long as you can put your mind to reinterpreting what your mark can possibly mean. Your magical traits and abilities can even be something separate from what your special talent is, because it’ll be more about what you are then who you are. Are you with me so far?” “I think so. I can understand multiple interpretations of a talent being like how Sassy can reinterpret her special talent into a combat skill.” Coco received a rather proud looking nod. “So if this is my magic causing me to feel this way, then you know exactly what is going on with me? Is it anything like puberty? Those years were quite awkward for me.” “Yes, I in fact do know what is going on with you. To start off, Earth Pony magic comes in many flavors, but can be boiled down to the most commonly seen magical abilities. Each pony get’s to this point at random, Unicorns usually hit the state of coming into their magic earlier than any of the pony variant races. As for Earth and Pegasus Ponies, they come into there’s at a different time and in completely different ways.” “Since you’re an Earth Pony you might have several of the following abilities.” Moving over to the nearby desk and pulling out a clipboard with a sheet paper on it, Vera made her way back over to Coco ignoring the constantly pointed CAT drone as she did. “The most common Earth Pony magic is in passive traits, things like immunity or exceedingly high resilience to sicknesses, diseases and poisons. There’s also the ability to regenerate or heal from wounds faster or being physically stronger than normal without having to put effort into it. The less common are active traits, like actually controlling how plants grow, grabbing and move things around with your hair, communing with nature, being able to actively control your entire body perfectly at any moment in the form of biofeedback and doing anything that requires a lot of focus to achieve. Finally there are the exceedingly rare psychic traits that only Earth, Sea and Mermaid Ponies seem to get, the kind that apparently Pinkie and Trapeze have going for them and it’s even rare enough that you would even meet two mares with whatever abilities those two might have in one lifetime. As a reminder as to what Trapeze and Pinkie are capable of, they can do bizarre things like hold an object of any size in the space of a coin on their person without being affected by the weight or mass of said object at all, then there’s teleporting by moving out of sight, mind reading, emotion reading or manipulation and even the possibility of accurately predicting the near future, at least within reason. Psychic powers only need a drop of magic, compared to a unicorn which would need to use a lake of magic to achieve the same effect for some of those things. Some of those things are impossible for unicorns to do to the point they can’t replicate it with their magic at all.” “So I have something like an active ability?” It certainly didn’t feel right hearing all this and Coco did come to Vera for advice about her recent frustration. “It can be assumed that you have some sort of ability, because I certainly doubt you would have entered a haunted space station normally without some emotional imbalance caused by your magic acting up.” Vera watched as her words quieted Coco and made her look uneasy, as such she needed to think of something to say and fast. Some might think Vera would have all the answers, they’d be horribly wrong and she was mostly winging her job as the crew’s psychologist. She’s a good therapist at least. “It’s nothing bad, you just got to get used to the idea that you might have something beyond your talent for accessorizing. I think I understand what kind of natural Earth Pony trait you might have picked up, you hardly ever get angry right?” “I prefer to avoid conflict.” Then why did Coco volunteer herself for the Antilur thing. Sure they actually needed her for it when they got to the communications hub, but after that she had to have been out of her mind to actually actively join in on the fighting and in her own mind she really hadn’t done much to help. This was when she even logically knew that she had opened communications with Opal and allowed her get into the station after they killed the brain, she had carried Chrysalis for quite a while, she managed to get the stadium lights on and she even saved the day with the tendrils. “Well you seem to have an active ability that ties into your natural fight or flight response. Basically you become faster and stronger the more frightened or angry you get, you could probably do it while focused too which is going to be harder to achieve. You’ve been getting by with passively letting it happen in times of duress.” Flipping to the next sheet of paper on her clipboard Vera wrote something down that she was going to suggest that Coco do. She pulled the paper out and held it up to Coco and she took it from her. “This is what I suggest you do.” “Continue learning wrestling with you and Chrysalis since it teaches discipline, is that really all I have to do?” That didn’t sound so hard to Coco. “That doesn’t sound so bad.” “I and Chrysalis have just been giving everyone involved the beginner course classes. Just hope that Chrysalis doesn’t decide to start teaching you the mud gumbo style of wrestling. Yes, I know what that is personally and I shouldn’t say anymore unless I was going to teach it to you myself. Just know that you’ll be sorry if Chrysalis does decide to teach you about it and you take her up on it, if she even makes the offer. I can make the same offer as well, but I don’t want to... at this time.” Vera stopped to give Coco a pitying gaze, she shook her head sadly. “You’re about to find out how real wrestling can get and I’m sorry if the injuries don’t heal as quickly and that you’ll become really sore afterwards, but I bet you’ll be happy to be getting a lot of massages from me. Also Chrysalis was wrestling at a beginner level when you beat her… so congratulations on beating an opponent who can control her skill level at the drop of a hat. I think she mostly gave in because she was getting off on you choking her into unconsciousness.” “Why did you have to go and tell me that? It kind of makes me feel dirty now.” Now Coco was starting to have an anxiety attack until she felt a pair of hooves start rubbing her shoulders. It took her a moment, but she eventually started relaxing. “For what it is worth, you are probably one of the best crew members Rarity could have ever asked for.” “Why thank you. Now if we could finish this up quickly, I have an appointment to discuss some things with Opal.” Vera was worried that something was going down and that Opal would be the catalyst to opening a can of worms. She wasn’t wrong; it just wasn’t exactly the can of worms she had expected to be opened. - “Is it still on the leg?” Even Greta was beginning to feel sorry for the pink fluff ball; it had been on the leg for the last fifty seven miles since they picked it up. Their destination was not so far off now and it was easy to guess that it was snowing outside given Gilda tracked some snow into the Centaur-pede when she came in, seeing anything far away was a little more difficult thanks to a shift in weather. “Yep, it’s surprisingly still there and seems to be obscenely happy with its current lot in life.” Gilda finished coming down the ladder from looking around on the back of the walker, she just hoped that the Puffle thing didn’t go to the bathroom on the leg it was clinging to happily. “Nothing has come up on the scanners yet, which is beginning to give me the creeps. We should at least be clear to make it to the town the coordinates are set for without issue. The ponies we’re looking for should be somewhere around there, if they aren’t then things might get a bit difficult without a clue of where to go from there.” “This is why I had us pack plenty of food; I foresaw the eventuality that we would need it. If we have to keep looking around out here for a while, then it would pay to be well fed.” Though eventually they would have to give up and leave, Rarity wasn’t much of a quitter and she didn’t think Gilda or any of the others would quit even if the griffon could gripe about every little thing. A good portion of their current supply of food was meat and Rarity would never disparage the needs of her crew for it. “If we run out of fruit, vegetables and other edibles supplies, then I may eat meat if it means we can search for a little while longer.” “Yeah, but it wouldn’t exactly be pleasant… though a Pegasus would enjoy it somewhat.” Pegasus ponies enjoyed their ability to eat meat pretty well; Saffron didn’t see a problem with that as she actually had some Pegasus ancestry. She still preferred the basic pony staples when it came to food. “How long is it until we arrive at our destination?” Ember was as relaxed as can be, though she did worry about what the rest of her hoard was doing. She knew that they’d all be safe. “ETA five minutes and thirteen seconds at the rate we’re going, we should be within visible range.” If there was a sense of dread building up in her, then Greta was absolutely hiding it well with a cheerful smile. “Gilda, can you operate the upper torso and scope things out? I mean at least before the snow gets any worse… we have one of those blizzards incoming and we’re going to need to settle down there for the night to ride it out.” “On it, has anything frozen over yet Greta?” Even as she asked this Gilda was already moving for the forward ladder to go into the upper torso. “No, all systems are staying lukewarm. We’ll see how things go when the temperature drops even further; thankfully we took precautions when we installed the water tank.” They had plenty of water at the moment, but showers were going to drain it pretty fast and that’s why Greta agreed to the five minute time limit stipulation. Melting snow for water would be a last resort otherwise and it would take a while to gather enough snow for something to drink. “Good, I’m in the seat now and I’ll be sending everyone a visual of what I’m getting up here. Pretty doesn’t define it.” At Gilda’s words, Rarity, Saffron, Ember, Greta and Rover gathered to look at the monitor in the lower torso and blinked at the visuals they were seeing. Well as much as they could see through the snow. “It looks like the town is rubble, but not because of the snow.” “Something burned it down.” Saffron was trying to make out the remains of the ruins left behind. “So do you still think we’ll find some pony out here Rarity?” “Yes, because the apple family runs a farm outside of town a good distance away, obviously they would not have a farm in the middle of the town itself. Still, I would like to get a closer look; this is where we’ll settle down for the night. We’ll try to find the farm tomorrow.” The town didn’t have a single building that wasn’t partially collapsed or covered in snow, but Rarity took a keen interest in the fact that most of buildings were burned down and didn’t collapse because of the snow. “Nobody is to leave the sight of the Centaur-pede, much less the confined area that the legs cover. How is that Puffle out there Greta?” “Healthy and despite the temperature outside, its temperature hasn’t changed a bit. That’s one resilient fluff ball, that or it’s a curious biological trait.” It was a tad unusual, it made Greta actually want to look them up despite Ember’s warning that it was a horrible idea. “Maybe Chrysalis would stay behind if we told her about our fluffy puff ball tagalong.” “We can dream Greta, we can dream. I think we’re stuck with her as long as she’s willing to cling to us. At least we can help her people out a bit, though I’m a little wary of leaving Chrysalis alone around a Puffle or even telling her about them.” Shaking her head sadly, Saffron went back to looking at the view on the screen. “We really don’t know how she’ll react to meeting one or how a Puffle will react to her. So we’re going to park in town and wait out the blizzard?” “That’s the plan. I’m not detecting any life out here, then again the snow is getting worse and that’s going to cause some interference. At least thermal scanning and motion tracking will still work.” Taking in the view, Gilda had to admit that something felt off about this town being burnt to the ground like this. The snow was getting hard to see through, but she had already seen some of the buildings were of stone and metal with very little wood and yet something still had burnt a building like that to the ground. “I’m going to leave the Centaur-pede running hot; we wouldn’t want any of the joints to freeze through the incoming blizzard.” The slowly marching machine came to a stop about five miles out from the burnt and snow covered wreckage that was once a relatively large town. Slowly the legs positioned themselves closer to the Centaur-pede and it lowered its belly gently to the ground. A little pink fluff ball crawled up the leg and onto the top of the machine to look around in clear confusion before just smiling dumbly, blowing a raspberry and then turning around fifteen times before laying down on the back of the now quiet, if still warm, machine. Once it was comfortable the little pink native fell asleep. Inside, Rarity was unrolling a mattress for her personal use and this wasn’t exactly going to be comfortable. They’d all be sleeping on the floor next to each other and thankfully they had the foresight to leave Saffron next to Greta who liked to snuggle in her sleep. They probably should have warned Saffron about it, but she preferred to have Ember as a buffer zone. On her other side Gilda was setting up and on the other side of her was Rover working on his mat. “I’m going to be the one scouting things out early in the morning, if the weather isn’t too bad I’ll be able to fly out there.” Ember stretched her wings out and looked them over. “I think my wings need more exercise anyway. Also I’ll be bathing myself in flames when I set out so I won’t be using up too much water.” “We all know you can take care of yourself Ember, goodnight everyone.” Rarity hoped that she wouldn’t need Luna’s assistance with nightmares again; Antilur Station had been pretty bad and she was thankful that those monsters weren’t able to infect you with some kind of zombie virus. Oh great, that’s what her nightmares were going to be about now. An uneasy frown appeared on Rarity’s face as she tried to get some sleep. An hour later she was tossing and turning fretfully in her sleep until a pair of arms dragged her, along with her blanket, into a cozy snuggle. She calmed down and cuddled against the rather warm body. - “So Ember formed a hoard… out of us... are you serious?! You have got to be kidding, please tell me you’re kidding. I don’t think I can handle this; this could become a huge disaster. The repercussions of it on Ember’s mental health are bad enough.” Well that certainly explained a few things to Vera, especially why Ember had been getting so impossibly friendly with the crew. She had an eye that was twitching in disbelief given that Opal had a weak smile on her face, at least Ember would protect her hoard if Opal was right. Except the form of protection Ember offered would be of the horribly violent kind. “Do you even realize the kind of problems this would cause? Ember would go nuts if any one of us is in danger, who knows what she wouldn’t do to protect us and she’s a bounty hunter! Do you at least know what the centerpiece of Ember’s hoard is? The centerpiece is what will cause the worst reactions in her, does Ember even realize that she can’t watch all of us or protect us all at the same time? She’s just one dragon!” “About that… you can kind of figure that out easily given that she’s not currently up here.” Opal had a very good guess as to who the centerpiece was, she just gave Vera a hint and the poor mare went catatonic. Thankfully ponies were resilient to being fully broken mentally, but that was thanks to them always being crazy. “That should be a big enough hint as to where her centerpiece currently is and you look like you understand.” “You do realize that anyone who joins our crew and becomes a welcome addition is not going to be able to leave right? Ember wouldn’t like that if she started considering them a part of her hoard…” Vera was slowly sinking into hysteria; she was already shivering quite violently and her mane was falling into disarray. “Also please tell me the centerpiece is not who I think it is, for love of all that is holy, good and wonderful; please tell me that it’s absolutely not Rarity!” The wan grin Opal had on her face was clearly quite forced, one that was horrifying Vera on a number of levels to the point that she went full circle from panicked to calm. “Yeah… I think I can come to terms with this. Being stuck on the Shining Jewel wouldn’t be so bad; I can handle Ember being horribly psychologically imbalanced by the fact that we will eventually die.” The tone of Vera’s voice was a bit shrill and her purple mane looked wildly out of sorts now, otherwise she was completely fine. “Am I hyperventilating, I might be hyperventilating, is the room getting smaller or is it my eyes getting bigger?!” “Oh here comes a distraction from your obviously valid worries!” After stating this in a happy tone, Opal frowned and looked a little sick. “Then again this just might validate your worries about Ember losing her cool.” “Well, what is it?” A distraction would be good right about now for Vera; she’d take anything over having to worry about what Ember would do should the rest of her hoard be endangered while she wasn’t around to protect it. “How do you feel about space pirates? Everyone I will be going into battle stations soon, apparently there’s about to be raid on the supply depot.” Opal set about powering up the weapons; she hardly ever dropped the shields. She would never be caught with her pants down. Not that her avatar wore pants, but it could wear pants if she wanted her avatar to have them. “Warning this is not a drill, we might have boarders soon! I repeat we’re about to be attacked, get some weapons just in case I can’t stop them from getting in. There certainly are a lot of them; I’ll be helping the supply depot defend itself. Chrysalis is in charge of internal security, Sassy will protect the injured or incapable. I’ll take care of any fighters and or ships that come at us while making sure to stay as safe as possible. We’ll worry about clean up after the battle is over. I hope they don’t do anything too noticeable, Rarity would freak out if she found out something happened to us.” “Yeah, that’s a pretty good distraction.” Yep, there was nothing quite like a space pirate attack to clear your mind of any disastrous thoughts of being part of a Dragon’s hoard. - Rarity yawned and opened her eyes as she stretched slightly, she was really quite comfortable in Ember’s arms… that’s right completely… wait. Rarity blinked once or twice and sighed. “Ember, darling, could you please wake up and let me go? I have to use the little pony’s room.” The dragon just tightened her hug on Rarity, forcing a squeak out of her. She wasn’t uncomfortable, but she would really like it if the dragon wasn’t holding her so tightly and in such a loving manner like this. It just wasn’t proper that a lady be treated like this, then again when had she recently acted anything like the lady she should be? Did she really want to be a looked upon fondly as a lady people would think she should be with preconceived notions or did she want to be seen as herself? She slapped Ember’s face harshly, but that did little more than cause Rarity’s hoof to become slightly sore. Ember’s face was like hitting a brick wall, she could have probably punched Ember and even then she doubted that would have hurt the slim and beautiful dragoness. “Ember, wake up please.” Ember just rubbed at her face lightly and rolled over on top of Rarity making the situation even more embarrassing for her. A rather groggy Greta sat up hugging Saffron to her chest, she looked to Rarity’s predicament and snickered. Greta let go of Saffron carefully and made sure that she didn’t disturb the mares sleep. Standing up, Greta made her way over to Rarity and stumbled a bit before she came to a stop over the cuddled pony. Rarity was looking up at Greta pleadingly. “A little help here, please Greta?” Pleaded Rarity with a look of hope on her face, well it was hope before she heard a click on Greta’s data pad. “Oh, this is so precious. I’m going to give this to Opal and the others later and you can’t stop me!” It was pretty cute to see a lithe and beautiful sleeping dragon cuddling a pony, nothing seemed wrong with that to Greta. She even cackled in an evil manner, but it was hard to count it as evil when it was coming from Greta of all griffons. “Don’t worry she’ll have to get up eventually Boss Lady, we need her to scout around the town in case of danger. Whatever burned most of it down might actually still be around and I’m certainly not flying around out in this cold. Whatever burned down those buildings couldn’t have been naturally occurring.” “What makes you say that, couldn’t it have been some hulking fire breathing beast?” Well if it was, then Rarity was fine with Ember going out there. The dragon was immune to fire and deadly amounts of heat and could possibly survive being dumped into a star without a protective suit. Rarity was now struggling to get out of Ember’s strong if rather surprisingly soft grasp. “I mean no offense to our dear Ember here of course. My goodness, why is she actively clinging to me like this and how can I get her to let go?” “I haven’t had my coffee yet, give me a moment to get up to speed and check the sensors.” Even if Greta knew coffee was not the Boss Lady’s refined beverage of choice, that didn’t mean it couldn’t be hers and Gilda’s. A shot of hot chocolate would certainly sweeten up her morning, she stretched her wings out and lazily looked over her data pad as she moved to the small kitchenette to get started on the coffee. “Let’s see, nothing worthy of note on the detectable life here or in town. Well aside from the Puffle on the back of our transport, breathing solid, still healthy and… the same temperature readout. How is it managed to keep its temperature that steady? It slept outside in blizzard for Grover’s sake! Oh right Grover is an old king in the griffon lands Rarity, he was quite popular and nobody will ever forget him for what he’s done for us. I think Gilda might be a descendant of his, but she hasn’t ever wanted to go in and get that tested.” “Coffee me Greta, I’m not getting up until I have a mug in my talons. It’s way too early for your annoying cheerfulness.” The cheeky chirp Gilda got in reply made her glare at Greta. “So… you and the dragon Boss Lady… I didn’t know you liked playing with fire.” “Rover is thinking fire be playing with her.” Groaned out Rover who was sensitive to changes in his environment, that being the enclosed space of the Centaur-pede’s spacious lower torso. “Can I go out and dig under Centaur Stampede for a bit? Just a small hole, Rover came to get his paws dirty.” “Just don’t dig too far into the snow or you could get stuck if it collapses in on you.” Gilda grumbled out as straight black coffee with very little added to it was put in her talons, she sipped it and smile. “Yeah, now that’s the stuff, thanks Greta.” “Rover is digger expert; I not get stuck by frozen water and cold hard dirt. Now which warm coverings are Rover’s to use when going out without an EVA suit?” The one who had to have an answer to Rover’s predicament, as the boss lady was the one that packed the warm weather gear. “Hold on a second Rover… she’s… not… letting… me… go. Oh fine, it’s the bag up in the third shelf on the left. Yes that’s the one, bring it down to me.” Doing as Rarity asked Rover brought it over to the dragon trapped Rarity who pulled out a comfortable looking brown parka with some small shaped gems around the collar. Rarity made all kinds of clothes for her crew, yet she never gets to play dress up with any of them. “This is the one I made for you Rover; I figured you’d like some shiny gems in it.” “Thank you very much Boss Lady, Rover is thinking that he wouldn’t have time to do Diamond Dog things. I not go very far, I am promising that like I promise to be helping you with finding other family. I might have to use nose for that, I have good strong nose.” He almost sounded eloquent in his joy, almost; he was still very much like the crews scraggly voiced puppy that could do circus tricks. He ascended the ladder and closed the hatch behind him as he exited the vehicle; he gave the pink Puffle a curious look as she snoozed and shrugged before diving off the side of the Centaur-pede’s back and straight into the snow. He was forty feet down in five seconds; he knew that he still had it. “Bit cold, but Rover is finding the dirt here to be of extravagant quality. It tastes pretty good too.” Off in the distance a pair of glowing yellow eyes glinted in the shaded light beneath the clouds, they were watching the destroyed town as they sat in the snow. They had yet to spot the intrusion on the other side, but they were waiting and watching for anything to enter their territory. Once they did spot something, then that thing would quickly cease to exist. Author's Note Now introducing two dangers. The story will focus on what Rarity and the others are doing on the ground. -85-Poor Rarity continued to struggle for a while. Her need to go was getting worse and she really needed to use the bathroom, but the blasted sleeping dragon wouldn’t stop cuddling her. She knew dragons were sometimes heavy sleepers, but this was getting ridiculous. She tried pressing her hoof against Ember’s nostril; she even tried wafting the scent of her mane up her nose after that and it just made Ember look more comfortable in her sleep. Hitting Ember wasn’t working as Rarity doubted her friend could even feel the slapping hooves, it was unfortunate that Rarity was too dainty for her own good. “Have you tried tickling her yet?” It was just a suggestion, though Greta was quite curious to see if it would work. “I’m afraid that she’ll blow flames if she laughs and I don’t want my mane singed or burnt.” Wiggling wasn’t helping her much and she decided to lay still. “I would let loose a blood curdling scream, but I don’t want her to hurt me. She’d feel really guilty about it and I’d feel guilty for causing it to happen.” “How does one safely wake up a sleeping dragon, it is a question for the ages. Even if Ember is small, she could still set the entire interior space on fire… with us in it.” Coming over to the predicament, Gilda studied the situation carefully and then chuckled dryly. “Yeah, I got nothing.” “Maybe I can help.” Saffron trotted up to them suited up in her powered armor and carefully grabbed Ember’s arms to slowly start trying to pry them apart. Trying being the keyword as Ember curled up tightly around Rarity, even with the armors enhanced strength Ember was proving to be difficult to pull off of Rarity. “What… what’s going on here?” Ember was slowly coming to and she realized she was clutching at Rarity, she also noticed that Saffron was trying to free Rarity from her grasp with the powered armor. “Rarity really needs to go to the bathroom Ember.” That statement from Saffron alone was all it took to get the dragon to let go of Rarity and the mare immediately shot off towards the bathroom. “You’re really hard to wake up you know.” “I was comfortable. Don’t you know what the saying means when it says leave sleeping dragons alone?” If Ember were a less friendly dragon then sure, but her hoard needed her awake and with her head in gear. She stretched her wings out and flapped them once or twice before bringing them in. “You might not like them when they wake up.” “So you would have been okay with Rarity losing her bladder on you?” That would have been upsetting for everyone and Saffron didn’t think anyone would have wanted to clean up the mess. “No, but I was in a cozy position.” Sniffing the air Ember sighed at the wonderful smell. “So are we making breakfast or what?” “If you like sausage, biscuits with blackberry preservatives and hash browns, then yes we’re doing breakfast Ember. Greta should almost be done with that.” Any idiot could make breakfast, even Gilda knew breakfast was one of the easier meals of the day to prepare and she didn’t exactly mind Greta’s cooking. “The sausage is for the meat eaters. As for the rest eat whatever you like, it’s guaranteed pony safe. Also somebody go get our dog out of the hole he’s dug himself into.” “I’ll go; I’m already suited for it.” Saffron volunteered immediately only to be pushed away from the ladder by Ember. “I’ll go, I’ll eat when I get back. Leave something for me and Rover.” Ember was already climbing up the ladder and accessing the hatch, Saffron sighed and shook her head and started going through the process to deactivate the armor. There were three hatches in the back of the Centaur-pede, the upper torso could be sitting over any of them when needed as it slid forward or backwards along the top. Ember popped up out of the middle hatch looking around at all the snow and upon getting out she promptly closed the hatch behind her. The cold tried to bite at her scales, only it found no purchase, her pants and shirt were enough warmth for her. She turned around and was immediately assaulted by something and forced onto her back. She panicked a little and tried to slash her claws at it, only for her claws to get stuck in a wall of pink fur. It was the Puffle and its smiling resemblance of a pony’s face was gasping happily as it looked at Ember, it bounces several times on top of ember’s body and then it blew a happy sounding raspberry in her face. Ember slowly grabbed her rifle and pulled it from her back to aim it at the Puffle’s smiling face, her claw tightened on the trigger. She slowly removed her claw from the trigger and while sighing loudly, Ember thought that killing the Puffle would make her feel like she killed an innocent little puppy. “If you were anything else, I’d definitely shoot you until you stopped moving. You’re not worth the ammo and finding any around here would take forever given all the snow.” The creature just dumbly made another raspberry at Ember’s words and tilted its head cutely. Shoving the decidedly dumb and affectionate creature that immediately nuzzled her claws off of her, Ember stood up and walked to the sides to look for Rover with the pink menace following behind with curious large blue eyes. Looking around she eventually spotted the hole Rover dug. “Hey, Rover, Greta made breakfast!” “Be quiet, Rover is listening to something… something is moving out there and Rover is not liking it one bit.” Rover was definitely in the hole and he was apparently doing something. “There are things, very far away, but there are a lot of them moving… wait, did you say breakfast? Rover is coming!” A mound of snow erupted ten feet from the hole Ember was yelling into and Rover pulled himself free from the snow shaking it off. He started walking for one of the legs of the Centaur-pede and proceeded to carefully climb his way back up. The Puffle idly blew a raspberry and Ember, having had enough of having to deal with it, took a few steps back so that she was behind it and then promptly punted it off the side of the Centaur-pede. The Puffle landed on its back in the snow sending some of it up in the air and falling around it. It gasped happily and began to waggle its four hooves at the sky because it was stuck upside down. It seemed to not have registered that Ember had kicked it hard enough to launch its fluffy butt many feet through the air or that it was stuck on its back; eventually it would have to figure out that it wasn’t moving anywhere in its position. “I do not understand why you dislike it so badly, it seems harmless to Rover.” Rover exclaimed as he made his way by Ember, he stopped and sniffed the air. “It’s female, so it’s a she. Rover’s nose knows that now. Also Rover has something of importance to tell Boss Lady and friends.” “Don’t care, let’s eat.” Ember did not like the cute little fluffy monster and she didn’t want it anywhere near her hoard. She knows of the disasters those things could cause. - “So, Rover is feeling many things coming from far side of destroyed town!” After he finished his short explanation of having felt something far off while he was in the ground, Rover bit into his jelly covered sausage in a biscuit. He would have liked peanut butter, but it always got stuck to the roof of his mouth and always caused him so much trouble. “Wait… Diamonds Dogs have the ability of seismic location? Why have I never heard of this before? That makes him a lot more useful then we’ve previously established!” A slightly angry Gilda sat up and slapped her palms into the table. “If he can really sense something that far away, then I’d like to know about it. Greta if you will see to his claims.” “I’m on it Gilda. Let’s see, did you say it was on the far side of town Rover? Well I’m now narrowing heat, motion and life sensors… and… we have a lot of hits. No hits on the life, but there’s a lot of something going ib over in that direction that gives off heat and is moving.” It was easy to discern that something over in that direction was mechanical; at least Greta hoped everyone could figure that out for themselves. “How long have you been able to do something like this Rover? It sounds really useful.” “Ability is not as useful as winged one thinks. Too many creatures or things in soil on Equus, makes accurately sensing anything hard. Best used to avoid digging into another Diamond Dog’s way or getting caught by large worm monster with multiple tongues.” Shivering at the mental image of the worm monster, Rover rubbed a paw at his head and sent everyone a questioning look as he licked at his jam covered teeth. “Here is different story, not much to get in the way of my senses and I can sense things from farther away. Ability is useful here and is situational at best… why give me looks; Rover has been learning to be more eloquent when he is speaking. I am also trying to cut back on third person speech, I believe it is strange that there is not much in the soil around here and yet it is so rich.” “Rich as in gems or rich as in the ability to grow produce?” Five minutes was definitely not long enough in Rarity’s books to beautify her form to perfection, she needed at least thirty. Still five minutes was really quite hard to achieve, Rarity quickly washed herself as swiftly as she could and she washed her mane and tail first. She was clean, but she still felt bad for not being able to do her full routine and at least her mane and tail were clean and up to her usual standards. She sat down and levitated a jam filled biscuit to herself and a few hash browns. “Also I didn’t know you could set a timer on a shower like that, thankfully I took the five minute time limit thing to heart.” “It is the second one Boss Lady Rarity.” After saying this Rover just lapped up water from his glass and swished it around his mouth to hopefully get some of the excess jam off of his teeth. “In the name of water conservation I made a timer for the shower, good to see it works. Aside from that we’ve detected trouble through both Rover and the sensors.” Uncaring that she was talking with a full beak, Gilda wanted them to get back to the issue with what the sensors were picking up. “There are machines out there and we don’t know what they look like or what they are doing, but they are close enough to town to be seen as the threats that possibly devastated it. If we’re going to scout the town then we should do so from the safety of the Centaur-pede.” “Then I suggest we stay armed at all times from now on, nobody leaves the Centaur-pede without a weapon and someone with them that is also armed.” Everyone nodded and Rarity started in on her breakfast, everyone else still had to get in cleaning themselves as well. - “We are now going into the town.” From her seat, Gilda saw the devastation up close now, small spots of dried pony blood splattered across the walls and that of a few other species here or there. There were no bodies however, just burnt twisted husks of what used to be housing or businesses. “It’s way too quiet out here and all this snow is beginning to unnerve me, are you sure we can find your cousin down here? It looks like things are looking a bit grim around here on that front.” “Until we’ve checked the apple farm, I’m willing to hold out for hope that we’ll at least find something that tells us someone is alive out here.” Rarity was crouched down next to one of the four turrets on the Centaur-pede’s lower torso. She didn’t want to be in the way of the upper torso if it needed to change positions and she had her two energy pistols on her, they were fully charged and she even had a material pistol on her for emergencies or if her energy pistols didn’t work for whatever reason. “Has anyone else spotted anything of note yet? I’m not leaving here until I see what these machines are.” It was becoming a natural part of Rarity’s life to be armed constantly now; it was a bit upsetting that she couldn’t go a single day without having a pistol at her hip. She actually preferred to be upset than dead if she didn’t have a weapon on her. At least with a hoof grip weapon she could wield it with her hoof instead of her magic. She currently looked highly fashionable in her glamorous sparkling parka and matching snow boots. “Nothing so far and none of the motion sensors has anything moving towards us.” Greta was holding the plasma rifle she and Gilda used back when they were on Geoptis, thanks to Chrysalis they had a lot more ammunition for it now. She was next to the turret opposite of the one Rarity was behind. “I’m not going to complain about the five minute showers, but it is really hard to do when you have a mane like mine.” The powered armor was a weapon, one that Saffron wore well as she stood near the front next to the upper torso. Rover was armed with an energy pistol near the back and told to leave the safety on and only turn it off if he had to absolutely shoot at something; he wasn’t trained for using any of the projectile weapons. Ember was standing on the head of the machine looking around from her perch for any sign of something dangerous. She looked to the back to check on everyone and sighed when she saw that the Puffle was sitting there at the butt end of the Centaur-pede looking around at all the activity and blowing a raspberry every now and then. Who even taught it to blow raspberries anyway? For that matter how was it staying so healthy in these conditions? Shaking her head, she turned her gaze to the right and then left searching for any sign that something was coming at them like a howler monkey with a frozen banana. It’s happened to Ember once before and she was prepared for it to happen again, no matter how unlikely the situation of that occurring again was. “Gilda, there’s something wrong. Sensors are showing motion coming in our direction, that and winds are picking up around here. I think we’re about to be hit with a snowstorm. That doesn’t make any sense; it doesn’t follow Opal’s blizzard watch program at all.” Unless and this was Greta just thinking to herself, unless whatever they were detecting could generate blizzards themselves. That would mean they were about to be attacked though. “We’re about to come under attack, the machines have to be making this snowstorm and they’re using it as a cover for their movements!” The winds whipped up at Greta’s words and snow started to fall rather fast as if a snowstorm had always been here and they were just realizing that fact. They heard a loud keening noise from the Puffle and it was cowering where it sat curling up into its thick fur like an armadillo, apparently it was smart enough to know that something bad was about to happen. The Centaur-pede continued its silent march for a second, before Gilda noticed something off about the ground as they continued forward. “I don’t know what I’m getting here on the sensors, but it’s almost on top of us. get ready for anything guys.” Gilda grabbed the controls that operated the arms of the upper torso and narrowed her eyes, she didn’t see anything above the snow so that would mean. “Brace yourselves we’re about to be attacked from below. Like Greta said, it’s an ambush!” The Centaur-pede shook and tilted to the side, but it stayed standing after something had just violently rammed into it and dove back into the snow after it bounced off the shields that flared around the walker and pushed whatever it was back which flared with its own shields. The Centaur-pede continued to slowly move forward and everyone was still atop its back, shaken, knocked over, but otherwise completely fine for the moment. “What the heck was that, did anyone get a visual on what just hit us? The shields just took a huge dip because of that!” Gilda turned the upper torso and there were all kinds of motions in the snow now, it was hard to tell where anything was down there. “It’s shielded whatever it is and it’s large, I managed to see that much!” Another blow struck from the right and it sent Greta sliding across the back until she managed to get a grip on the slippery surface. There were several more impacts to the shield, but these were much smaller than the first two. “Apparently whatever just hit us isn’t the only thing out here!” “I saw what caused the smaller impacts; the smaller ones are mechanical wolves!” Saffron carefully moved over to the edge and aimed her hoof at the shifting piles of snow surrounding them now. “A lot of good knowing that does us when we can’t even see them to fight back, their hit and run tactics are hurting the shields and they’re going to fall if we don’t do something soon. We do not want to be exposed to the elements out here.” Several smaller impacts rammed into the Centaur-pede from various sides, Gilda narrowed her eyes leaned the upper torso towards a moving pile of snow. She thrust the left arm into the snow and grappled onto something. Pulling the arm back she saw a yellow eyed mechanical wolf, it started trying to gnaw at the claws and then tried to blast them with ice until Gilda crushed it in the claw's grasp. She dropped the crumpled mess onto the back of the lower torso. “We need to start fighting back, I got one. It has cryogenic technology and tried to freeze the Centaur-pede’s claws off. Secure it; we’ll analyze it later when we’re not in danger! It’s hard enough staying above the snow with them trying to sink us into it and I think that’s exactly what these machines are trying to do here. Also is it me or has the snow gotten deeper then it’s supposed to be?” “We’re working on it Gilda, they’re not making this easy for us.” Rarity heard something slam into one of the legs and started to bite at the armor on it, the turret immediately came to life and started to fire rapidly at the blue mechanical wolf only twice the size of a pony. Whatever the larger thing had been, it was clearly not one of these wolves. Rarity levitated out her two pistols and started to help the turret eat through the shields on the metal wolf until one shot from the turret finally blew its head off and its body fell into the churning snow where it was swallowed within seconds. She could already hear the other four turrets churning out blasts of energy and many more impacts hitting the Centaur-pede. “Whatever anyone does, don’t fall off the Centaur-pede. It’s the only thing keeping us safe at the moment, fire at will if you see something moving in the snow.” A large impact from beneath at the back sent them all sprawling and the Puffle went flying off the back end where it landed in the snow. Something big moved towards the Puffle and the snow started churning fiercely around it until they got their first visual of what the larger machine was. A large shark headed machine came up from under the Puffle and swallowed it alive before disappearing back into the snow which rippled in its wake. “Was that a freaking giant mechanical shark, what in the hell is going on here!” Saffron heard something land near her and she turned and started fire almost point blank into the face of a mechanical wolf that charged at her. Once it got close she ducked under its lunge and threw her hoof straight into its belly while unleashing a charged blast of energy into it. This blew a hole through it making it go lifeless on top of her. “Please tell me there aren’t too many of these things?” “The area around us is practically a sea of motion, so how are we supposed to know unless we can thin their numbers.” Greta blasted a mechanical wolf trying to blow freezing gas at her out of the air; the plasma chewed straight threw the shields, blew it backwards and made it explode once it hit the snow. “Gilda is that shark coming back for another hit?” “How am I supposed to know, there’s too much going on around here for me to keep up with.” The palms on the Centaur-pede were wide open and Gilda was firing into the snow. Several explosions erupted when she managed to hit something dead on with the high powered laser cannons. She started to turn the Centaur-pede when she saw a big bulge in the snow moving towards them. The shark erupted and narrowly missed grabbing one of the Centaur-pede’s thick three toed legs. Instead, it was stomped down into the snow when the leg slammed into its head. “We have got to get out of here, where’s that farm Rarity!” “Start heading west, it’s a good distance outside of town!” One of the wolves climbed the legs and lunged for Rarity who started to focus as much firepower as she could on it, it opened its mouth spewing gaseous chemicals and it looked like it was going to try and bite Rarity. Rarity narrowed her eyes and sent a shot down its throat destroying its head making it collapse before it could reach her. “They’re vulnerable when they open their mouths; the insides of their mouths aren’t shielded! Also the turrets aren’t working very well.” “We know Boss Lady! They weren’t made to shoot threats behind, or in this case, under cover! They’re ineffective, but they are at least doing their jobs at trying to hit these machines. What are the wolves doing now?” Greta turned and saw Rover backing away towards the front shooting at the two wolves clambering up the left rear leg and started to breathe on it, he was stopped when a third mechanical wolf came after him with an open mouth. Ice was starting to form up on the leg and it started slowing down in movement. Several other wolves were seen clambering up the other legs to do the same to them. “Stop them; they’re trying to freeze legs!” “If they freeze up the legs, then I don’t see the point of switching to the spares if they’ll just do the same to them.” Gilda turned the upper torso and blasted the wolves clear off the back left, middle right and front left legs, but where two were destroyed four more came out of the snow trying to slow down the trundling Centaur-pede. “Get your butts in gear people, the turrets can’t possibly handle this many targets at once! Use your energy weapons to blow the ice off. Oh great now they’re climbing the upper torso, get them off of me!” “We’re all a little busy here darling, where’s Ember!” Rarity concentrated her eye for detail and focused on each wolf she could see, she pulled the trigger four times on each of her energy pistols and six wolves went down, two managed to dodge the attack and take it on their shields. Rover came to a stop next to her after dealing with the wolf that had come at him; he immediately started shooting at the wolves attempting to climb the upper torso. “Yeah, where is she when we need all the fire power we can get!” Now Saffron was leaping from leg to leg and bashing the wolves off. Their shields didn’t stop melee attacks and as long as she didn’t let them freeze her armor over, then she could keep fighting. She rammed her blade into one's back and shifted the shock wings to make contact with another two and started frying them with electricity. A loud explosion was heard and the large shark robot erupted from the ground again with its mouth smoking, flying backwards out of the flames was a frantic looking Ember with torn clothing. She quickly flew out of range of the large snapping mouth firing flaming rocks down into it with her rifle on what looked to be full auto; as she hovered there firing she looked around and spotted the Centaur-pede and flew for it. The snowstorm didn’t make it easy for Ember to fly and she managed to get back on the walker well enough, but her landing looked off. There were swarms of mechanical wolves in various states of damage beginning to pour from the damaged shark’s mouth as it slowly sunk back into the snow. Before it could go too far under something else exploded and a small pink orb rocketed off into the distance shrieking in… joyous laughter? “Yeah, don’t get swallowed by something like that. It tried using chemicals to freeze me solid and when that didn’t work wolves started coming from everywhere trying to detain me!” Landing on the back of the Centaur-pede had been rather painful; Ember hid a grimace as she joined the fight. Even with Ember back things were clearly not going their way, as no sooner than she got back did another giant white robotic shark’s fin popped up and was coming straight towards the Centaur-pede. “I hope someone has a plan, because this is nuts even for me and I was attacked by a howler monkey with a frozen banana. Yes, the monkey was a bounty target and yes it killed a lot of people with that banana.” “Well that’s not something we need to be thinking of in the middle of a crisis, they’re all over us here!” Gilda made the Centaur-pede stop and jump to the left as another giant robotic shark lunged from the snow to snap at them. “Oh my goodness, are you okay?” It didn’t take Rarity but a glance to tell something was wrong with Ember, she wasn’t standing up or moving about, instead she was sitting in place and trying not to put too much pressure on one of her legs. Shaking her head she couldn’t get distracted and turned to shoot a lunging mechanical wolf off the side of the Centaur-pede. “I’m fine, but my leg was twisted badly getting out of there.” The Centaur-pede was slowly being swamped with wolves and even Ember’s added firepower wasn’t doing much to stem the flow of the smaller mechanical menaces. “Don’t stop on my account, keep shooting!” “Rover is getting a lot of experience with gun here. It is very bad learning experience that Rover doesn’t want to repeat, especially if Rover is surviving this!” Rover was kind of a bad shot, but at least he was proving to be an able body even if he wasn’t taking down as many as the others were. “Less talking, more fighting!” Saffron was handling any robotic wolf that got onto the back of the Centaur-pede and she was keeping them off of the others the best she could. She had learned how to fight them quickly enough, mostly because there were just so many of them. Shoot them in the mouth or get up close and personal. She’s already counted putting twenty down and more were still coming, the snowstorm didn’t help with any of this either. She rammed her hoof into a wolf's neck and then activated the suit's built in triangular blade, it immediately severed the neck cutting the head off. They were shooting in all directions; the Centaur-pede stumbled every now and then, but at least the silver colored beast managed to shake off the ice every time it became too much of a problem. They were still moving west. They had made it outside the town at least and as suddenly as the attack had come, the mechanical wolves started to leave and dive into the snow. The second shark fin also disappeared. “Wait, why are they retreating now?” Greta fired and a ball of plasma blew apart another metallic wolf. “They had us on the ropes… so I might have enjoyed the wrestling classes with Chrysalis and Vera a bit.” “Good question, why are they leaving and what are they hiding out here?” Gilda kept the upper torso turned towards the town and glared at it. “You’d think they’d want to make sure no one gets away from them alive with the kind of force that they were coming at us with. We’ll stop at the farm if it’s still there and get a look at the damage. Is everyone okay?” “Why Gilda, are you actually worried about us darling? My word, I never knew you had a golden heart where the coal is supposed to be.” Though no one could see it, Rarity actually had Gilda blushing. “Next time we get into a fight with those things, we’ll be wearing our EVA suits. Still, you have to admit that my cold weather gear is quite fashionable and absolutely functional from head to boot too. Everyone is bruised, cold and otherwise accounted for Gilda, except for… that Puffle. Oh that poor thing, lost and all alone out here. Possibly killed or even taken for whatever the machines would do with it.” “Rarity, we’re not going back for the Puffle.” That was a statement and Ember wasn’t about to start budging on it. They needed to find out more about what these things were or more importantly, where they came from. They had plenty of damaged and destroyed metal wolves littering the Centaur-pede’s back to study, including the first one Gilda caught. “In the mean time, let’s see what we can find out about this frosty reception.” “Please don’t start cracking cold jokes or I will hit you with one of the claws.” Gilda did not want to hear it, especially after having gone through a massive assault like the one they had just been through. Author's Note Everyone was still on top of the back... Ember was up on the head of the upper torso... so... fridge logic was applied as to what happened to her. My birthday was quiet affair a few days ago, the giant frosted cookie was really good and soft. Incidentally I'm now addicted to Zelda: Breath of The Wild, I've been waiting to play it for quite a while and it is delivering quite an experience. I'm also getting on in years and I'm a hopeless nutcase when it comes to writing, but that really doesn't bother me as I'm used to it by now. Anyway Yell Dead Cell is my favorite Metal Gear music. -86-“Okay, what’s the damage Greta? Give it all to me straight and I mean everything, how much damage did they exactly do to the Centaur-pede?” Gilda hadn’t left the pilot's seat since the attack had started and was on full alert for anything after it ended. They weren’t being followed; there was nothing on motion or heat sensors. The Puffle wasn’t on the life sensor, but the little fluff ball had to just be out of range. “Well for the obvious bad news, our shields are shot and the generator needs some repairs. To state the obvious, the great snow shark robots overloaded the shields. Thankfully we have plenty of spare parts sitting right on top of us for the salvaging and I can fix it… given a few hours. Hull damage was surprisingly minimal, to the upper torso at least. The legs took a bit of a beating, but we don’t need to change them out for the spares yet. We wouldn’t have done so well if the wolves had been armed with projectile weapons, I think we could use the small shield generators we can get from them for ourselves. Also the four turrets were effective with what they could hit and they are perfectly fine; we just need to tweak them a bit if we run into that kind of trouble again.” While Greta was on the job, she didn’t cut corners on anything and acted professionally with Gilda. The current situation wasn’t as dire as the attack would have been if it had kept going for another twenty minutes. “I’m going to have to study the mostly intact wolves to get an idea as to why they were built; I’ve been busy running a full diagnostics for you so you’ll have to forgive me if I haven’t jumped at the chance to study one of them yet. As for how our personnel are, we actually have some injuries. There’s at least minor bruising all around from the first two impacts that shook our transport. Ember has a twisted leg from escaping the belly of one of the sharks after having been knocked off the Centaur-pede, the injury was mostly self inflicted and accidental. Aside from the ruined clothing and leg, she’s fine if a bit sad about her shredded clothing. Who knows how many more of those sharks there are, we only saw two, there could have been at least four or five in that area and we would have never known about.” “Get back on track Greta; we can discuss the abominable snow sharks with Ember later.” Though occasionally Gilda had to snap Greta back to the task at hand and she did so with a flat aggravated tone that Greta loved for some reason. “Alright then, Saffron’s armor is mostly undamaged, the built in left blade needs some work done and isn’t an immediate issue. It is still usable and her shields held throughout the entire fight, mostly because the wolves weren’t armed correctly to bring them down. Saffron herself is a bit more bruised than the rest of us, but she’s used to that being a brawler and she did take the brunt of them on all by herself. Rarity’s completely unscathed and Rover won’t let go of his gun, I think he might be using it as a security blanket. I’m no psychologist, but I think Rover might need a round with Vera after this. Either this has been his first time getting into a bad scrap like that or something like this has happened to him before, which is probably why he sought out Rarity when the wolves got closer.” Chirping a merry tune out loud as she worked, Greta continued on with her situation report. “Personally I’m fine; apparently plasma can chew through the shields the wolves had with little effort. My only issue with that is that the plasma rounds don’t exactly leave behind much for us to use afterwards. I can make do with what we got from them though.” “Can I get a personal opinion from you of everyone’s mental health aside from Rover? I ask because I’m too busy driving to check on them myself.” Shaken, not stirred and with an olive in it being the representation of her current mood, Gilda was about to get a taste of her best friends ability to read emotions and she wanted some alcohol for the headaches this current job is giving her. It was an ability Gilda was quite sure that Greta didn’t have in any capacity; she just wanted to hear that everything was fine. The expected response was not what she received. “I think Rarity is mostly balanced at the moment, she’s good at coming down from a high stress situation provided things land in her favor and she’s currently brushing her mane out. If she’s able to calmly do some primping, then I think she’ll live as long as she can get her hair just right as the hood of the parka mussed it up a bit. The Boss Lady certainly has her priorities.” Not that Greta said they were the right kind of priorities, but at least their Boss Baroness was doing well enough to continue keeping up with her appearance. Greta really didn’t think Rarity had to go through all the trouble, she looked perfectly find without her makeup. “Saffron seems perfectly stable mentally. Then again, she’s done a lot of fighting. As far as violence goes, she is the most desensitized pony I think I’ve ever seen in my life. Ember… well she seems to be a little off and I don’t think it’s the being swallowed alive by a giant mechanical shark that’s the issue. This might have been the first serious injury she’s experienced in quite a long time. As for me… well I’m talking to my most favorite griffon in the universe.” “You’re kind of surprising me right now, but I don’t need to listen to you go on about me for the next five minutes. I know I’m great Greta, though I’ll never have a clue what you exactly see in me.” There was a sad sounding noise from the other end and Gilda rolled her eyes, Greta liked to shower praise upon her and Gilda accepted it quite well while staying particularly grounded in reality. Reality was quite awesome if you asked Gilda, now how could she get one of those giant robotic sharks into orbit? Well at least she’d want to see what she could cannibalize from at least one of them. Even then the weight would be a problem to deal with. “By the way, how soon can we expect to see this farm?” “Estimation ten minutes at the rate we’re going, she did say it was a distance outside of town. We would get there sooner, but we’re slowed down because the legs are still stiff from being partly frozen.” Greta turned her attention to Rarity who didn’t look like she had a hair out of place. “I’ll get to work on studying the wolves now. I can only work on the shield generator when we come to a complete stop. There is only one other problem I can think of. We haven’t exactly seen what burned the buildings down yet.” “Now that you mention it, it is rather strange. That those machines didn’t have the firepower to bust our Centaur-pede wide open if they were the ones responsible for the buildings in town being burned down.” If they did have that kind of weaponry then why hadn’t they used it, it was something for Gilda to think on. “Well you’re the technical engineer, go do some research.” - “There it is, there it is!” Rarity’s gleeful shouts were met with a flat stare from the griffon she just jumped onto. “Yes, I can see it too Boss Lady, now please stop giving me a lap dance.” Gilda enjoyed the look on Rarity’s face as she squeaked and quickly scrambled off of her lap. “Thank you. Now let’s see, there are surprisingly plenty of life signs here. Well I guess someone’s home at least, but how will they receive a several ton walking fortress like ours? It does look rather threatening and is covered in the corpses of robotic wolves we haven’t been able to clean off yet.” “Then I suggest we make a stop here, lest we cause them issues with how scary the Centaur-pede looks. I’ll go on hoof with Rover and Ar-Mare-Do-Well, to scout things out and see if my cousin is here. Even if she isn’t, I will be helping anyone that needs it.” Rarity was already in the process of pulling the hood up on her parka, she would have to get her snow boots out. When she did, she’d set off for the apple farm. From the looks of it, the trees near the farm were doing particularly well so far and they had some strange blue apples hanging from the branches. It would make a nice conversation starter at least, if she could ask about them. “While I’m doing that, you can help Greta with her research. I’m not really cut out for discussing machinery and getting covered in oil like you two tend to do.” “So I’m a dirty bird. I could really use a little down time from piloting, just let me find a place to park. I have needed a bathroom break for a while now and Greta can get lost without me if I’m not there to help her.” When you were on constant alert like Gilda currently was, then you didn’t exactly have time to take care of your needs. Sometimes you’d do things that would be quite detrimental to your health, mostly just to survive a little bit longer. “You just go do whatever it is you’re going to do and we’ll keep Ember entertained with our musings about the wolf robots. Can you wait until I open the rear hatch?” - “Rover is going around armed for rest of life, also would rather not lose another boss. Not when boss is pretty pony who give Rover job he actually enjoys.” Rover had put his parka on and was a little skeptical of leaving the safety of the Centaur-pede; he warily looked over at Greta slowly disassembling one of the more intact wolves. “Boss Lady is one of a kind and highly irreplaceable. Also Rover is never having had it this good ever, I don’t want to die.” “We’re not going to die Rover. Seriously now, I think our little setback at the town has you worried over nothing.” Yes because the giant robotic sharks most certainly didn’t freak anyone out, at least that’s what Rarity sarcastically thought. She had been frightened half to death to see Ember coming out of one of the two they spotted coming out of the snow. Shaking her head she turned to the armored mare. “Saffron you’re going to be in front of us, in case they shoot at us before we can tell them why we’re here.” “I have no problems with that.” It was true that Saffron didn’t, her suit was working exactly how she wanted it to. It held together and it was effective in its first live combat test, not that one could have expected robot wolves being the first real test. She was expecting something along the lines of missiles and material weapons. She hadn’t exactly test the horn on the suit yet, but she would have to eventually as it was one of the features Greta hadn’t gone over in the testing phase. “I am the one the one with armor and shields. I would have volunteered to be in front of you anyway.” “Right have fun out there. The farm should be hard to miss; you can even see it from here.” Gilda walked to the very back of the lower torso and raised talon to slap a button. A ramp lowered into the snow and she turned back to them. “You’ll still have to walk there from here though and there are no signs of a snow storm like the one that hit us in town. I think that was mostly the fault of the robots that attacked us; otherwise it would have been on Greta’s storm warning notice. Be safe out there.” “Oh come on, it’s just my leg. Why can’t I go with them? I still have my wings!” The griffons couldn’t understand why Ember was being a bit frantic; the dragon wasn’t in any condition to walk anywhere. Even if she could fly a snow storm would quickly ground her, it was miraculous that she managed to get back onto the Centaur-pede safely. The two griffons gave her a flat look which cowed the dragon a bit. “Sorry, but I came down here to help people… and Rarity.” “You will definitely be helping Ember; you’ll be helping us here while you’re laid up. We’re not going to have you fly everywhere on a bum leg and we’re not asking you to, which would be just ludicrous.” Positivity aside, Greta didn’t think Ember would calm down. Ember really seemed to care about them all to an absurd degree and Rarity was something like a best friend to her. While Ember was a really nice dragon and Greta was happy to be friends with her, it’s just that Ember’s friendly nature was working against her here. Greta held her talons out in a calming gesture as she stood over the parts of what was once a robotic wolf the size of a large dog. The disassembly wasn’t the hard part; it’d be putting it back together. “Stay calm, let your leg heal and eventually you’ll be in walking condition in no time. You can provide help with anything you see that might be of interest here.” “Fine, so you said that container is full of a substance similar to liquid nitrogen only worse… isn’t that dangerous to be around?” Ember pointed to the cylindrical container full of a strange blue liquid. She was trying to ignore the feeling in her gut when Rarity said goodbye and trotted off down the ramp behind the well armored Saffron with Rover following behind. “Only if it’s released in a gaseous form, the stuff seems to ice over whatever it touches. You might be mildly immune to it, but given enough time and gas and even your high body temperature wouldn’t be able to cope with this stuff.” Greta handled the container with care; it was installed in the upper jaw of the mostly blue colored wolf, some parts of it were silver or white. “It would make for a pretty good fire extinguishing substance, provided that none of it touches someone that doesn’t naturally have a higher body temperature like that of a dragon. This stuff would have made popsicles of us if we had allowed the wolves to get close without a fight, Saffron was properly shielded for it and Rover had the right idea with running from one of the wolves.” “How lethal is this substance exactly?” Moping in a hammock wasn’t going to get Ember anywhere, so she might as well discuss the stuff Greta found while disassembling the robot wolves they had access to. “Anywhere from insanely to not at all, I think it really depends on how much coverage this stuff gets all at once. For instance, you do not want this stuff to only have an effect on your neck. I think it was meant as a way to capture people alive, mostly by putting them into a form of frozen stasis.” Greta didn’t know what went into this strange chemical compound, but she knew what it does and how well it could do it. “I’m rather curious as to why someone would design a robot like this; it’s not very good against anyone that’s armed and aware of their surroundings. Of course these things can tunnel through snow like a Diamond Dog and use snow storms as a cover for their attacks. So I guess it makes some sense that they’d specialize in capturing targets alive. Now what do they do with captured targets is something the Great Snow Sharks might be able to answer for us, had we managed to disable one. The sharks might be responsible for the sudden snow storm.” “Yeah, I kind of wrecked the one that swallowed me alive and I’m not sorry for that. Who has ever heard of a dragon actively freezing to death?” Why Ember scoffed at the idea that the freezing chemicals would stop her, not while she still had flames in her throat and a strong inner fire. “Its insides had catwalks meaning someone built them to work as a normal vehicle. There were a lot of robot wolves and holding pens, I’d say the sharks mostly act like carriers for the hunters. It’s not hard to guess that the intended captives are frozen solid then swallowed and placed in the pens inside the giant robot sharks.” “Okay we have a name for the metal mutts now, let’s call them Hunters. So would that make the sharks gatherers? The sharks do have teeth and are quite dangerous themselves.”It was a bit sad that Gilda didn’t even get a shot in on one of the abominable snow sharks. “I think the sharp teeth are for ripping open vehicles to expose the passengers to the hunters. I’m thinking Abominable Jaws would be a fitting name for them.” “Seriously Gilda, that’s what you want to call them?” Greta found this name for the great white monsters machines to be rather incredulous. “Why not just go all shark tornado or at the very least storm sharks!” While they were figuring things out, Rarity’s small group was busy approaching the house on the farm. - “You know, I seriously doubt that anyone is on this farm will actually…” Saffron was cut off by her shields flaring and something pinging off of her, yeah she should know better than to tempt fate around Rarity after the horror stories some of the others told her about doing so. The Boss Lady almost had the magnetic effect of drawing danger to herself or finding it wherever she went; frankly Saffron bizarrely enjoyed such a quality in her rather generous friend that obviously never went to distressed damsel school. “Okay, what just hit me?” The shot didn’t hurt, but Saffron’s armor did pull up a scan of what hit her and it was kind of amazing that the scanners could even pick up something moving that fast. It was a small material round made out of copper, shaped like a pellet. Saffron had to hand it to Gilda and Greta; they were both gifted in what they did. Looking behind her she could see Rarity and Rover taking cover behind her larger armored frame. “Excuse me, but to whomever out there that just shot at us! Can you please not do that again?” The negotiator in this situation would have to be Rarity; she knew there was no other place that the shot could have come from than the farm before them. She could understand that someone might have had some problems with the weather causing machines and would have trust issues with any random stranger that happened to come along in a large six legged centaur machine. It was completely understandable in this situation. “I would really appreciate it if we could talk!” “And why should I trust some no good varmints like you, if anything you're liars out to run the rest of us holdouts off!” The voice was of a strange accent and it was certainly coming from an upset farm mare. “Excuse me, but what did we ever do to you aside form show up here! In fact I’m wondering, do you know the name Sugar Belle? I want to congratulate her on her engagement to a Mr. Macintosh; I met a nice stallion named Braeburn in orbit at the supply depot who told me about it.” Rarity immediately set out to redirect the anger away from the three of them, mostly by calling out the fact that she was here for family and Apple’s were big on family. “I’m one of Sugar Belle’s cousins here to check up on how she’s doing, we’re also here to help solve the current weather problems plaguing the planet! We’re not here for a fight.” “Hold on there, don’t any of you move an inch!” It was hard to spot her, but the orange muscular pony with a blond mane poked up from cover and glared at Rarity, Rover and Saffron. The pony was giving them a rather suspicious look, but at least she was no longer aiming a material rifle at them. “Color, go get Sugar and ask if she can identify this mare. I can hold the fort here. If what she says is true, then we might have some guests out here. Hopefully these guests are good ones that can help us out of a bad pickle that we’re currently in.” “O-Okay, I’ll go get her.” Well Countess Coloratura was recognizable so that was two ponies Rarity could identify. So things were looking up for a peaceful resolution here, they watched as the pop star kissed the orange pony on the cheek and carefully walked off. “Well that’s something we certainly want to do, help out here I mean. We’re not here to do anything untoward.” Honesty was a good policy and Rarity was glad that this situation didn’t dissolve into a one sided shootout. Saffron could have massacred them by herself if she wanted to, good thing she wasn’t the kind of violent sociopath that would escalate things. Rarity looked over the orange pony and thought that he was rather handsome looking, it took her a moment to recognize that it was a mare she was ogling and that was quite embarrassing. Luckily neither of her compatriots noticed that she had roaming eyes, the mare was quite masculine and she had better not call attention to it. There was something of a natural beauty about the masculine farm girl, maybe it was the toned hard worked body. She wondered what kind of makeover she could do for the mare; she could clean up really nicely if she was in a relationship with Countess Coloratura. Speaking of the Countess, she had a lovely appearance, but Rarity still liked her previous glitz and glam style even if it wasn’t exactly Coloratura’s thing anymore. It was easy to see why she stopped with that particular style and she’s still as popular as ever even if she was on this backwater planet cuddling up with a farm mare. Whatever made the pop star happy worked for Rarity, she was sure her sister Sweetie Belle felt the same way about one of their favorite musicians. Coloratura’s current mane style was loose curls of her dark indigo mane that had blue streaks and it went well with her light aquamarine coat. Color had come back with a pink furred mare that had curly magenta mane, one that was entirely familiar to Rarity. Rarity waved to this mare in question and pulled her hood down. “Oh Sugar Belle, it’s me, how are you doing darling!” It made Rarity glad to see that Sugar Belle lit up at seeing. “Rarity, oh my goodness, it’s been a while cousin! Wait, what is with that robot, the dirty looking diamond dog and that… I want to say Centaur-pede in the distance?” Well at least Sugar Belle understood the thought processes of two griffons when it came to naming their vehicles well enough; the pun was still horrible by anyone’s standards. “Look I know you might be Rarity’s cousin and have been out of the loop of her life for a while, but I would like to clarify that I’m not a robot! I’m Ar-Mare-Do-Well, the armored version of Mare-Do-Well. Do not confuse me for the Mauve Mare-auder stand in that happens to live in Saddle Arabia.” It was still a little odd for Saffron to know that Chrysalis was keeping the legend alive, but who was she to get angry about the legacy being kept alive by Changelings as long as they did a good job of it. “Rover is taking dirt bath just this morning, thanks for noticing!” The fact that Rover was proud of it irked Rarity somewhat and she glared at him, he just rubbed the back of his head and gave her a dopey smile. “Yes, well, I’ve been involved in multiple things that eventually led to me hiring a diamond dog and a vigilante hero. As long as I keep the vigilantes secret identity, there will be no issues. I swear, my life is slowly turning into a circus and I have a circus troupe for crew members on my ship in orbit. Rover here is one of the members of that particular venture and he’s really good at juggling. Other crazy things include me being best friends with what might be the only dragon bounty hunter, I found out that one of my friends is a magical samurai and I have a butt obsessed Changeling Queen that is slowly growing on me and that frightens me more than anything else I’ve seen does.” Stopping to think about what she just said, Rarity slowly brought a hoof to her face. “Now that I said it out loud, my life sounds horrendously preposterous and I know Pinkie Pie for crying out loud! This is not exactly where I expected to be in my career as a fashion designer, I’m even doing things that are completely absurd for a fashion designer to do. I’m always fighting monsters, dealing with disasters and the like. Seriously, how has the stress not gotten to me by now? Oh and I’m now a Baroness, so I did get a royal title and I, thankfully, didn’t have to marry a snobby noble for it. It’s at least one of the better things to happen to me.” “Rover is thinking it’s the underpaid muscle mender that doubles as a mental doctor who is easily misplaced that keeps Boss Lady’s stress levels down.” At least that’s what Rover called the amazing mare that was easy to forget, he couldn’t even remember her name now… or her appearance. He just knew that said mare existed and was good at her job, he wasn’t bothered by forgetting what she looked like because everyone on the crew had that problem and it wasn’t just him. “Congratulations on becoming a noble, it was one of your dreams right? So… who’s Pinkie Pie? She must be strange if you’re comparing her to all the stuff you’re telling me.” Sugar Belle said as she moved over to look at the winged and horned vigilante, it fit with the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well’s continued theme of possibly being an alicorn in disguise. “She’s an expert baker that lives out in the asteroid field owned by the Pie family at Streusel Station, she makes really good cupcakes. Also I think the massage expert’s name that Rover was trying to talk about was… funny, I can’t remember her name now. ” Even Saffron was having a case of the forgetful and she was trying to remember Blossom sisters name, well at least she could remember that it was the third Blossom sister who wasn’t the renowned Aloe or Lotus. “Anyway you should really go check out Sugarcube Galaxy if you drop by Streusel Station; she’s a good friend of Rarity’s and we went to a birthday party for her. Just a warning she’s really weird, there was two of her at the birthday party and one of them forgot her own birthday just to celebrate the other's not native to our dimension or at least that’s the story they were going with. We could tell them apart thanks to that adorable bipedal goat lady that was dating one of her, she was quite friendly.” “Can we not relive that Mare-Do-Well; she’s always been the most confusing mare in the universe and that gave me an absolute headache. How can my friend keep forgetting her own birthday like that? She does that every year even!” After a moment Rarity slapped her face, they were kind of getting way off course. “Excuse me, but can we get back on track Sugar Belle? Also yes, that is my transport out that way and surprisingly you figured out its name easily enough. My mechanical and technical engineer griffons built it, they’re more like mad scientists at this rate given they built Mare-Do-Well the armored suit she’s wearing.” “So you’ve practically, for all intents and purposes, lost all control of your life up to this point?” Asked Sugar Belle curiously, she wondered how much her cousin has been through to even get here. “So how did you come to be here?” “Well after we left the asteroid field, with little trouble thankfully, we came here trying to find Babs Seed’s family. Her parents and a lot of people other were killed by a nasty infestation at Antilur Station, sorry to be the bearer of bad news on that front. At least my crew helped in putting the cause down, so they were avenged at least.” The orange mare swept her hat off her head and held it to her chest, Rarity sighed at the sight. “Anyway we came here for business and to drop poor little Babs off with someone who could take care of her in a stable environment. Instead we find a large portion of this planet covered in snow. I heard you were down here and I came to see if you were alright Sugar dear, by the way congratulations on the engagement at least. I heard about it from Braeburn, is Mr. Big Apple really everything you wish for in a stallion? Oh sorry, now I’m the one that is sidetracked. I didn’t exactly lose control of my life; I’ve just been too generous with my need to help people.” “You’re still a river of generosity I take it. That was always a rather contagious and dangerous trait of yours. My stallion is definitely everything I could want thank you very much, but we won’t be able to have that wedding until the current crisis is dealt with and you’re most certainly invited. I could even use your services for a wedding dress. Maybe we can honeymoon in the asteroid field, it’s not too far away so transportation will be cheap… maybe I can even visit this Pinkie Pie friend of yours and get some tips on baking if she’s really good.” Sugar Belle didn’t look particularly happy to hear that a filly lost her parents, but she was trying to think positively and only had a small frown on her face. “Say Applejack, would it be okay if we adopted Babs Seed? The filly sounds like she really needs help.” “Come on Sugar, you know my answer to that.” Closing her eyes and letting her tears flow at hearing they’ve lost some family, Applejack opened her eyes with a look of determination and slapped her hat back on her head. “We Apple’s always take care of family! I, Mac and Bloom know what it’s like to not have parents and it’s a sad day to hear that it has happened again.” -87-“Then it exploded.” Rarity took a sip of apple juice. “Your life is crazier than a gaggle of wet cats let loose in a rocking chair convention.” It was hard for Applejack to find the words for Rarity’s lifestyle. In fact Applejack was having a hard time believing that Rarity was supposed to be a pony that just made clothing, whether it was fancy or not was to be decided. “Well enough about me. How have all of you been surviving out here? It’s nothing but snow, dead or dying trees and rocks for miles.” Rarity was going to make an abridged pamphlet if she kept bringing up her history since she bought the Caravel Boutique. “Well the trees around here seem to actually be doing well enough.” “Yeah, what is up with the funky blue apples on those frosted over trees?” That was something Gilda was more focused on, the only one still inside the Centaur-pede was Greta. Her absurdly cheerful griffon friend was working on the shield generator and hopefully the spare smaller shield generators from the robot wolves would help. “That’s what I want to know as they look kind of funky.” “I don’t know, they look kind of nice to me.” Resting up at the table was Ember; her leg would take at least five more hours to heal up. The blue apples reminded her of her scales. “It’s the main reason we can even survive out here, we’re between the blizzard zones. It’s cold, but apparently not enough that you can’t grow ice apples.” Coloratura was serving refreshments; nobody had to ask what she was still doing here. It wasn’t like she could leave the snow zone on this quarter of the planet, but she wouldn’t do so even if she could. She was here for Applejack. “I don’t understand how it works, but apparently Applejack and her family figured out how to grow apples in this weather. I really don’t question how they do it, I was just here to visit Applejack for a week and I’ve been here since the blizzards started up.” “It is rather complicated to grow them and the apples are not all that sweet either. In fact they’re entirely tart, but at least they are good for pies and some other things. Why we even still have enough food to last three weeks, we’ve been rationing our last normal haul of apples and we’ve been mostly using ice apples.” Cringing, Applejack looked away from the others. “It’s becoming an acquired taste at this point; I’m not exactly big on tart foods. Sugar is making it work though.” “I try; making new recipes for apples as tart as those are is quite a trial. Can we get back to this thing about the robots that attacked you on the way through that husk that was a town?” There was a hint of concern in Sugar’s voice as she turned to her cousin Rarity; she was the reason why the Apples' were still holding it together. Her chosen profession as a baker was put to the test when she tasted her first ice apple; the tart flavor was a little unsettling. “About that, we’re here to fix the climate problem or at least find the cause of it. It’s being created through machines, the kind that we ran into coming here. If that’s true, then we should be able to destroy the cause and fix things.” That was why they brought the rocket launchers, though Gilda didn’t want to be the one to use one as she heard about the dangerous recoil. Chrysalis really bought some cheap, if effective, rocket launchers. “Well it would fix the problem somewhat. Even if we can stop the machines that are causing this devastation, that doesn’t mean the weather will get better on its own. So fixing the climate would be another issue that we’re not exactly capable of, we can only stop the damage from getting worse. So you can kind of guess that things aren’t exactly going to end up all sunshine and rainbows.” “Eeyup.” Big Macintosh Apple was a large red stallion, orange mane and tail. He was a stallion of few words, but he was entirely sweet on Sugar Belle and it showed as he nuzzled her gently. “Who are these whippersnappers, did our family get bigger when I wasn’t looking?” The grandma of the family Granny Smith Apple was a green coated mare with hair, white from old age, held up in a bun. She was quite old and rickety looking, but she was holding on pretty well at her age. “Did I finally go entirely senile and miss the lovely little mare and my grandson having foals?” “No, they’re visitors Granny; one of them is family. They’re also heavily armed and dangerous, but I’m sure that’s not for us to worry about.” Leaning over, Sugar Belle motioned Rarity closer. “Granny has a bad tendency to mishear things.” “I may be a bit off my rocker, but I’m not deaf! If they is family, then they’re welcome… even the buzzard over there.” Granny didn’t care about Gilda’s glare or twitching angry eye. “If they’re here to help, then they’ll have to hurry. This planet isn’t exactly doing too hot, by that I mean its cold and my bones have been aching for a while now. Where’s our little Bloom?” “I’m right here Granny… Applejack, please tell me there’s something other than apples to eat?” The little filly came walking in from the living room with a closed book in hoof. She had a red hair and yellow fur, Apple Bloom Apple couldn’t have been any older than Babs was. “Why is there a dragon at the table, also a griffon and other strangers?” “We’re here for family and business, Rarity here is Sugar Belle’s cousin as the family part. As to the business, we’re going to make the weather better so you will be able to go out and play again. Now go on back to what you were doing, we’ll feed you something that isn’t apples when we’re done cooking it kid.” The filly smiled and wandered off leaving Ember to turn to Rarity’s cousin, while Applejack spluttered in the background in anger about the offer of food that wasn’t apples. “Sorry for the pun, but I have to ‘Sugar’ coat things around the filly.” “It’s alright; I’m used to that coming up where my name is concerned.” Sugar Belle was as sweet as her name sounded. “We’re likely heading into a pretty bad situation that we’ll come out of with moderate injuries. You may as well have some of our supplies while we’re here before we set out to search the area where the blizzards are forming from.” Ember turned to Rarity with a hopefully look. “We’ve got plenty of food so it won’t be a problem right Rarity?” Rarity opened her mouth to say something only for Applejack to take offense at the offer. “We don’t need hoof outs; we can take care of ourselves!” The stubborn side of Applejack reared its head. “We have been doing fine even before you showed up… just so long as we don’t attract the attention of those machines to ourselves.” “Yes, but are you getting your full nutrition on those apples alone?” That caused the farmer to pause and look at Rarity. “Goodness knows I would make sure my sister was eating right, as such I’d assume you’d do the same with yours. Do you even have any vegetables?” “Well we’ve got some left and we aren’t exactly eating only apples here… yet. The portions have been pretty small around here and we’re a family of big eaters.” Though it was pretty close and Applejack had to admit the health of her family mattered a lot, they’ve been doing great so far. The conditions of their surroundings weren’t changing and it was slowly becoming unbearable to hold their position here. “I’m not about to give up on this farm, not after I figured out how to grow ice apples.” “What about your own health Applejack? You and Big Mac haven’t eaten much aside from apples for the past week.” Coloratura had been getting pretty worried about Applejack and she shared a good friendship with Sugar Belle. “Look, I know it’s a family trait and that you’re quite sturdy in your fruit choice, but can you really say that you or even the rest of us can last much longer like this? With the kind of conditions we’re living in with very little in the way of being able to escape them? The pipes are slowly freezing over and soon we won’t even have plumbing. It’s been kind of touch and go on that for a while… it’s a good thing the plumbing here is separate from the town's.” “Yeah, no kidding, we’ve been having problems even keeping the pipes warm.” It was becoming quite clear that it was kind of miraculous that Applejack had managed to stubborn her way through the current crisis as well as she had so far. “That’s not to mention that we’re quickly losing water and we’ll run out of that if it all turns to ice.” “Well if we’re not taking hoof outs, then how about a trade?” Granny offered with a shrewd look to their visitors, her granddaughter was too proud sometimes and they still had plenty of apples. Quite frankly even Granny could use a different taste right about now. Oh she would still definitely eat apples with her meal, but it needed to be supplemented by something else this time. These visitors were just trying to help and one of them was practically family, so why not give them something while getting what they sorely needed out of it. They sounded like they were heading into a warzone and that would make this a onetime offer. Now if only Applejack wouldn’t scoff at the help. “Would you really be okay with that Mac?” Applejack didn’t know what to think of a trade, it sounded fair and it wasn’t exactly taking charity. “Eeyup.” Even Big Mac was all for trading and Applejack wasn’t the only one that wouldn’t accept charity, he just wasn’t as vocal about it. “We really need this.” “When are we going to set out to look for the main cause of all this snow?” Sitting around and doing nothing felt lazy to Ember, she was a dragon that preferred to be as active as possible. She was never going to become lazy enough to sleep for thousands of years; it just wasn’t in her nature. “When Greta finishes getting the shield generator back up and running, when your leg has healed and when we’re done trading. Mare-Do-Well can take care of moving supplies when we finalize our agreement.” Rarity was now going to hash out what they had to trade versus what they could possibly want from a deteriorating situation with a family that had been pushing their survival out here. She looked over to Saffron who had been quietly standing in a corner; she was kind of surprised Apple Bloom missed her quiet if rather intimidating visage. “As such we’re staying for lunch at least.” “Sounds good to me, it’s better than just standing around here looking intimidating.” The distorted voice was hard to carry how Saffron was really feeling, she was just standing in the background and now she had a lot of attention on her for speaking out loud. “I’m sure you can take care of negotiations from here. I’m going to go check on Greta to see how she’s doing out there. Come get me when you want me to move something.” “Oh trust me; it’ll be a while before we get around to needing your help.” Gilda was surprisingly upset to be overpaid as she was, not that she was complaining about having funds to do the things she wanted too. It just seemed that Rarity always unfairly balanced a deal against herself. “You have no idea what it takes to make a completely fair deal when Rarity is involved.” Rover just grunted at that and put his head back on the table to continue his nap. - “Need any help?” Saffron stood by watching Greta dig into the shield generator in the lower torso, said generator was in the ceiling. “Yes, but you’d probably find it hard to lift anything while in that armored suit like that box of salvaged parts I need. The frogs of your hooves can’t possibly work through… how are you doing that?” Greta poked her head down from the ceiling and saw Saffron holding a box of parts up to her. “That should be impossible, you’re hoof is picking something up through several layers of things! One of which is fairly solidly built energy cannon.” “Like I’m going to let a little thing like physics get in the way of me doing things with my hooves.” Doing things out of ignorance was what made it more impressive when you didn’t know they were impossible, like Saffron being able to pick up anything with her hooves while armored and wearing an EVA suit underneath that. “Apparently not, but I am going to look into this later.” Greta got a grip on the box and pulled it up to her. “Thank you, but mark my words, this will be investigated!” “You can try, but Ponies have been pulling this kind of crap for centuries and nobody's been able to determine anything except that it is magic!” Why was Saffron even challenging Greta on this? Oh right, it was part of Pony pride to defy logic and do crazy things, it also kind of tied into her need to spice things up. “Magic doesn’t exactly extend that far out from a Pony’s hooves… also you’re a unicorn, yet I didn’t see you using your horn for this. Unicorns can’t even focus magic out of other parts of their bodies as well as an Earth or Pegasus Pony can.” Greta’s comment did kind of point out the flaw in the problem with Saffron’s explanation or what she had even accomplished. “Look, can we discuss this later. I’m a bit busy at the moment. Let’s see, cross these two wires, wrap it rubber and duct tape it to be sure it holds. Pull this piece out, replace it with something fresher and add a connector or two...” “How do you live or stand being near Gilda constantly?” It was interesting to Saffron that Greta didn’t pause in her work; she didn’t seem bothered by the question at all. “She’s like the crankiest griffon I know, well being the only one of two griffons I know personally that isn’t hard for me to believe. I’ve fought griffons before; I just didn’t know any personally until you two.” “Well that’s easy, I love her. I have no problems with her yelling at me or getting angry, because at the end of the day I know she’ll always be Gilda.” That and Greta had a standing agreement that if Gilda ever laid eggs, then it would be up to Greta to care for the children as Gilda wasn’t the motherly type. So far Gilda, despite her attraction to and habit of sleeping with Pegasus Pony stallions, she had yet to actually get pregnant and Greta didn’t have any chicks to take care of. It would have been nice to have at least one hippogriff to dote on, but Gilda was surprisingly careful about her sexual actions. “So it’s an almost completely blind obsession and devotion to her no matter what? Don’t you deserve someone who can give you the attention you want, given how she tends to treat you?” To think Saffron had been watching them around each other, yet she didn’t get Greta’s fascination with the sour grump or how they were still friends. “You know, like someone better?” “Well at least you said the word ‘almost’ unlike some other people who don’t even give me that much leeway. As for better, there is no one I’d rather spend the rest of my life next to!” It wasn’t complete obsession, but Greta had to admit that it did kind of look bad from an outsider’s perspective. “Even if I did find love somewhere else or formed a family, it would have to be around or right next to hers all the way to my last breath.” “Is she really that attractive to you?” Saffron could not keep the disbelief out of her voice. “Well yeah, I know that many griffons find me far more attractive than her and I will admit that I have good looks. They just really have no clue what they’re missing or what I see in Gilda personally.” Some clanging noises were heard from Greta’s position; also a grunt or two were thrown in for good measure. “Fixing this is going take another hour or two and it would go faster if Gilda was out here helping me with it. Looks aren’t everything and are subject to change, but a strong solid personality is forever. Although I doubt Rarity would ever give up on her outward appearance.” “Well that’s a certainty; even then Rarity will always have friends like us thanks to who she is and not what she looks like.” Saffron eventually wanted to settle down to have a foal or two, but she’d never give up on being a hero and she could understand having a personality that didn’t mesh well with others. Gilda and Greta were certainly the kinds of personalities she didn’t expect to mesh at all. “I don’t think I’ll ever find a good stallion, well at least one that doesn’t mind me being a hero like what happened with my mom and dad. I sometimes wonder what it’s going to take to get me a partner I can spend my life with, I’d likely scare off stallions just being me. I also don’t know if I’m bisexual or not, because I might like mares too.” “Well you’re more likely to get a stallion than Rarity is; now there’s a lost cause no one will ever take up. I doubt even Cadence would touch that with a ten foot pole. So that’s at least some good odds in your favor.” Something fell down and clattered to the floor, Greta sighed audibly from her position. “Say, could you get that for me?” Behind the metallic gaze of the powered armor suit, Saffron smirked as she picked up the object with her other hoof. “I’m guessing there’s a smug look under all that armor.” Greta would be correct as she saw Saffron doing the hoof thing again; she wasn’t going to question it for the time being. She had more important things to do after all. - “We don’t exactly need the weapons. My material rifle is enough around here, but we thank you kindly for the food trade.” Well enough to keep the farm safe from the smaller wolf robots, Applejack was having issues with learning that there were things bigger than the robotic wolves around. The snow sharks sounded horrific, it was a good thing she hadn’t gone near the town after the raids and missing ponies started to slow down until nothing was left there. “This is reminding me of the good days around here before all this stuff started up.” “How exactly did things start going wrong?” Rarity perked up and took interest. “It was just small things at first, an attack by what sounded like regular wolves here or there and that’s all that we saw. There’s not supposed to be many large predatory animals on this planet and the local mayor tried to write it off, until we found out they were mechanical. That was when the random snow storms came and there were a lot of missing ponies, until… well you’ve seen it. It’s a ghost town and dangerous to approach from what you’ve told us.” Applejack didn’t want to go near the town after hearing what these strangers went through to get here. “The first real sign of big trouble was the blizzards, they come like clockwork and ponies started evacuating. Only thing keeping us safe here is that the blizzards never directly hit us or the farm. We never saw them shark things, but I know that you’re being honest with me about that much.” “One would assume that this happened to the other towns in the tundra zone.” Gilda crossed her arms and leaned back looking bored, with a talon tapping at her shoulder. “Didn’t you call for or get help from other places?” “Oh we got help alright, but every bounty hunter that went out to find what the problem is never came back. EDF really hasn’t helped much aside from their assistance in evacuating the planet and the triple P is sitting on their flanks twiddling whatever it is they have to twiddle. Not a lick of strong groundside enforcement among them.” Applejack knew that no further help was coming, but that big contraption out there might be able to do something helpful. “You’ve been by the town of Gravenstein, was there anything that looked off to you about the town when you got close to it? None of us have been near there for quite a while.” “Is that really the town’s name?” Even Gilda couldn’t keep her tone amiable as she scoffed at the name of ‘grave and stein’ while holding the bridge of her beak with a talon. “Though yes there was something we thought that was rather odd when we got a close up look at the town before we were attacked. The buildings in town were burned down and not by natural causes, would you happen to know anything about that?” “Well that’s odd, those robot wolves never destroyed any of the buildings and anyone who was caught outside during a raid was always considered missing or… otherwise. I did once see a frozen pony being dragged off to who knows where.” After that day Applejack had declared that they couldn’t head into town anymore and she was glad that she had, Big Mac had a delivery to make that day and Coloratura had to go back on tour. The spaceport was destroyed and there was nothing to make a delivery to anymore, so it had been a good call on Applejack’s part. “Well I’m out of questions to ask at the moment.” They had a lot of questions and very little in the ways of answers, but Gilda thought that the destroyed buildings were something important to remember. At least she knew the machines hadn’t destroyed the buildings before, maybe it was that they destroyed them after taking care of any opposition? Or maybe it was how they destroyed them that bothered her. “At least we have an ideal direction to work in when it comes to finding the one or ones behind this. We’re going to go to the center of where the blizzards are being formed and sent out from.” Ember was going to be on her feet for that and she was going to start a fight worth remembering, her noble heart couldn’t have her do any less. “There are eight blizzard paths that move out on a set counterclockwise formation that move in the eight cardinal and ordinal directions from one central location, one that is really hard to reach given how hard it is to get close to it. The blizzards are always formed at the edge of a large circle; the pattern was easy enough to catch from orbit thanks to a feline friend of ours. The wrinkle is the snow storms that can pop up at any time, at least we’ll have an early warning for when we’re about to be attacked.” “You all are plum crazy if you plan on heading out that way.” Though Applejack wanted to do so to stop the constant cold spot her family was stuck in the middle of and save her farm. “Oh believe me I know darling, but I choose to be crazy knowing that it’s the right thing to do.” As reluctant as Rarity had been about the various situations she’s walked into, this one was going to be one of the times that she did it absolutely on purpose. “At this point, acting on the only thing we’ve got left to go on is the main course of action. We could leave the planet and help evacuate you or we could take a risk and stop the problem at its source, we would be following that proverb about the hydra’s head I believe. Which would you prefer we do?” “I would personally prefer evacuation, but I can’t exactly talk you out of this can I?” Sugar Belle sighed as she saw the determined look on Rarity’s face, her cousin had become a lot braver than she remembered her being. “Well then I’m going with you when you head on out, I’m tired of watching this farm crumble out from under us.” Applejack wasn’t about to let her farm go under if she could help it. Ice apples had peculiar growing habits and she couldn’t keep up with the requirements to grow them forever. “Lunch is on every pony, come and get some!” Granny’s interruption was well timed. - There were quite a few stares in Saffron’s direction; she was in her Mare-Do-Well costume and eating food through the mask. None of them were quite sure of how she was managing to do that. “Look, I know you’re all staring at me.” Having a caped pony at the table wasn’t the oddest thing about lunch. “So could you please stop it? I’m just a normal pony like the rest of you.” Coloratura snorted loudly and covered her nose while trying to hold back her giggles, she noticed the looks sent her way and she blushed. “I once sang about being a normal pony and I’m sure a lot of ponies here remember that concert. That was about the time someone pointed out that I had somehow played a piano so masterfully, that nothing about my song was exactly normal.” Yeah normal didn’t define Coloratura on that day. When she wrote that song, she didn’t exactly know how to play the piano either. She was glad that no one brought it up or even bothered to ask her how she had managed what she did under time constraints, thank goodness for musical pony magic. She clearly proved her friendship to Applejack that day and possibly more, if the farmer would let her snuggle a little closer. “That was me sugar cube, I was almost certain that you never took any piano lessons. I guess it had been a few years since we last saw each other during for that, so you might have taken them between then.” Applejack bit into an apple fritter and wondered why it sounded like a lie every time Coloratura said that she had. “Um… can I get an autograph?” Apple Bloom had some hero worship and she had heard the tales of heroes like the Mauve Mare-auder, it was nice to hear Mare-Do-Well was related to that hero from the comic books. Or was it the hero that the comic books got their ideas from? Either way it was so cool to have a real live hero at the table. “Eh, I don’t see why not. Do you have a comic that was made about some of my ancestors to sign?” Saffron knew what she would sign on it; heroes are the people who do the right thing no matter how bad the situation. “Applejack, you’re not going with them.” This was the start of a long conversation and Big Mac didn’t want his sister to become another statistic. “If you’re so worried then why don’t you come with me, this farm won’t survive unless something is done about all this snow!” The siblings butted head and glared at each other. “It looks like things are about to get juicy around here...” The slap Greta received for that comment made her frown as she had been expecting Gilda to be the one to snap. “Greta your puns are horrible.” Ember stated flatly after having slapped Greta with her tail. “Thank you for finally saying what I was thinking!” Gilda and Ember fist bumped one another and continued eating, while Greta gave them an adorable pout. “You really wouldn’t take Applejack with you… would you?” Sugar Belle received a calming hoof across the back and Rarity tried to give her a comforting smile. “It depends really… will they really let her go with us or will they want to come along themselves?” Rarity didn’t want any liabilities if they were going into a place as dangerous as the eye of the blizzards sounded. - “So you’re sure that the Changelings had nothing to do with this incident?” Celestia was glaring at Luna who was giving her a rather sheepish smile, the foxhole they were in wasn’t going to provide shelter from the love storm forever. “They have been acting rather suspicious as of late.” “Well how was I supposed to know banana flavored moon pies had enough banana in them to set her off like that?” Luna had been researching moon pie flavors and they were in the middle of a bad situation where Cadence ate one. Luna and Celestia thought it was bad when they or Twilight ingested a banana; Cadence was a force of nature on just a banana flavored product alone and they really didn’t want to know what would happen if she ate bananas regularly. “Well at least we know that eating banana peels doesn’t do anything to us and they are kind of tasty.” “I sometimes seriously consider that there might be something very wrong with you Luna. Cadence has gone mad and we need to come up with a plan that’s not burying our heads in the nearest pile of sand like Twilight suggested!” Celestia was scared, she thought Chrysalis was bad and she may have thought Discord was a horrible monster from time to time, but nothing was ever going to top her fear of Cadence, the Alicorn of Love, on bananas. “It would take forever to get all the sand out of our manes and goodness knows Twilight will come to me for help with that later.” The two sisters prayed that Shining Armor was still alive; the last they heard of him, he hadn’t apparently been enough to satisfy or even appease Cadence in her state. They sorely needed his help to deal with the Swallows. Author's Note Yeah, Cadence is not a good pony to give bananas in this story, especially considering she's a representative symbol of love. Let you're imagination run wild on what happened to Shining Armor here. -88-“If Applejack wants to help then she can come along, but the rest of you will have to stay here.” Rarity saw that the other apples had something to say to that. “We can’t take all of you on. We could, but we can’t carry the supplies necessary to keep all of you happy for very long. I also believe Big Mac is needed here to watch the farm.” “I can’t have Coloratura or Sugar coming with us either, I don’t want to put our loved ones in danger.” After tilting her Stetson away from her eyes, Applejack slapped a hoof on the table. “It’s best if you all stay here. If we aren’t successful, then I want to get out of here after a week. Do you understand what I am asking of you here Big Mac?” “Yup, but I don’t like it.” The big muscular brother sighed; Big Mac didn’t want Applejack to run away again like when she was a filly. Only this time she wasn’t running away from them, she was running into danger. “I’ll watch out for them.” “Go on and get along now Applejack, I’ll still be around when you get back.” Granny just stared flatly at the look Applejack was giving her. “What? I’m not so old that I’ll just keel over the second you run off in some crazy contraption to save the farm!” “Well if we’re saying our goodbyes…” Usually Coloratura wouldn’t be so meek, but Applejack just had that effect on her. She shyly moved over to the mare and didn’t go for the cheek this time; she went for the mouth and threw her tongue in for good measure. Pulling back from the rather surprised Applejack who had been expecting another kiss on the cheek, Color only had one last thing to say. “Please come back safely.” “I’ll be alright, I’m taking Old Faithful with me! Big Mac will just have to use Big Betsy.” Patting her hoof grip material rifle before slinging it across her back, Applejack was mostly ready to leave. She was already wearing her cold weather clothes; said clothes were a bit tight and didn’t fit too well. She only had to turn around to have a parka thrust into her face by Rarity. “I will not have us doing this with ill fitting clothing; now put that on so we can get underway.” Turning to the old matriarch Rarity bowed to her as a show of respect. “It’s been nice meeting you and we thank you for the lunch, but we have to go if we’re going to deal with this in a timely manner.” “I understand, you young ones are a tough bunch. Except for the sweet dove, she’s a nice one and the grumpy buzzard could learn a few lessons from her.” Granny turned to Greta with a smile and then she turned to Gilda who just glared at her, she gave off a chuckle. “Aren’t you an easy one to rile up? All of you better take care of my granddaughter and make sure she stays out of trouble!” Applejack got in her final goodbyes and she hugged her little sister before setting off towards the Centaur-pede with the group that came from the east. She had to stop to tell a barking collie to watch the family while she was gone, the dog's name was Winona and she whined quite a bit before finally listening to Applejack about staying behind to watch the family. “Was it hard to leave your little sister behind when you started your travels?” Being on a spaceship for prolonged periods of time wasn’t good for a filly without something proactive to do or so Applejack had heard and Rarity didn’t have Sweetie Belle on her ship. “First you have to know that I love my little sister, but my parents aren’t too great when it comes to taking care of her and she started seeing me as her mother given how often they foisted the responsibility off on me.” That brought back memories of simpler times on Desserzon in the Verpo System, before she got her own business started and ran into a multitude of situations that didn’t involve the fashion forward lifestyle she had been dreaming of. “All of that wasn’t exactly a good experience for me, but I know how to take care of a foal at least and it taught me to multitask back when I still worked as a waitress. I think I’ll miss the days when I had Sweetie all to myself, I’d like to think that I’m a good big sister given how well she turned out… just don’t let her cook anything.” “If it’s anything like the maple syrup incident Apple Bloom caused, then our little sisters share a common problem.” Stopping to look up at the machine she was going to be riding in, Applejack got a good close look at it. It was big like a house and it had a few dents and small bite marks in it from when it was attacked. She was thankful the thing still looked rather sturdy or else she’d be having second thoughts about joining Rarity and her friends in this adventure. “Ember, are you okay darling?” Rarity stopped and turned to look at the dragon that was making a slow pace for the vehicle. “Yeah, my leg is getting better. It’ll take more than being swallowed alive by a giant robot shark to put me off my game.” It wasn’t her leg that bothered her, it was that she let her shirt and pants get as badly damaged as she had. She was one of the youngest and toughest bounty hunters to exist; the physical injury was bound to be short lived and she’d be ready by the time she was needed again. What had actually hurt was the damaged clothing and the loss of her pride. “It’s not like this is the strangest thing I’ve ever dealt with.” “What is the strangest thing you’ve ever dealt with?” Applejack had never really met or talked to a dragon, she had heard they were fearsome creatures; this one came off as friendly and well balanced member of society. It was hard for her to believe that Ember was a tough as her own nails bounty hunter. “I’d have to say it was the Kanga Incident… Kanga is another bounty hunter, a macropussian to be specific, and we were after the same target when we met.” There was a look of fondness on Ember’s face as she reminisced on that particular fight. “It was kind of surprising that I met someone as nice and friendly as I could be.” “A bounty hunter that’s as friendly as you are?” Well color Rarity surprised as they walked up the ramp into the Centaur-pede. “Now don’t get me wrong Kanga is a kind and friendly individual, if you could look past her ability to coldly murder everyone in a room without thinking twice about it. She also carries her child around with her while she’s at work; she told me she had a bad experience with people trying to kidnap her little Marley to try and force her to work for free.” Yeah Ember wasn’t exactly making a good case for Kanga here and what she said next made it slightly worse, but at least she knew Kanga was a good mother. “Anyone who has tried that is no longer alive, always including the one that orders the kidnapping and anyone that was remotely related to the guy that gave the order if they are found to be of illicit dealings. So long as you don’t threaten her child, Kanga will at least make sure you don’t suffer if you’re on her bounty list.” “I take it back; no bounty hunter is as friendly as you are Ember.” Rarity didn’t know if that was supposed to be a compliment or not. “Look it’s thanks to the incident I had with her that I can say she’s a good person… at heart.” There was a bit of a pause before Ember said ‘at heart’, as she remembered several other things about the alien kangaroo. She shook her head and sat down to get some more rest. “I’d trust her to run an orphanage at least.” “Well that’s at least some conviction about… what would you really call her?” Greta rubbed at her beak and thought on it. “Friend doesn’t exactly sound right and I don’t have any context about her to make a judgment call.” “I don’t know if we can be called friends really, maybe acquaintances like I was with Rarity. We run into each other every once in a blue moon.” Ember watched as the ramp closed and she felt the entire vehicle shift into a standing position, Gilda was already getting them ready to move out. “To make a long story short I and Kanga had an understanding going between us by the end of our first meeting. We don’t cross paths often enough to work up a rapport. It’s really hard to define everything that happened because I was fighting with my back to a wall wherever I could find one that was still standing.” “Can you give us a brief rundown of it? This sounds like a long story.” Saffron was still wearing her Mare-Do-Well outfit for Applejack’s benefit, so that the farmer never knows what she really looked like. “I don’t know, can you really make sense of a giant elephant shaped monster that spits out tentacle hippos as a means of offense that they themselves spawn fire breathing birds when they are destroyed?” It wasn’t the weirdest thing Ember’s ever seen, just one of the most problematic. “Needless to say the birds were more dangerous to Kanga; the elephant monster had a limit to how quickly it could spawn the smaller monsters. We eventually got back the guy we were after for that, but it wasn’t easy and that was just the tip of the iceberg as to what happened.” “Whoa there, sounds like you’ve been around the block more than once there Ember.” Applejack wasn’t as well traveled, but the story sounded far out. Now if only Ember wasn’t telling the truth that things like that actually existed. “That’s the cliff notes of the beginning of our merry chase to capture a geneticist; it just got three times worse from there.” Ember didn’t want to tell anyone that they had to bring him in alive either. “At least I’m good at cleaning up biological grey goo situations, but do they always have to be so disgusting?” “What’s a grey goo situation?” Applejack had obviously never heard the stories. “Pray you never see one, you most certainly won’t want to sleep if you hear news about one being present.” Rarity on the other hoof did know what a grey goo situation entailed; she had been in the middle of one at Antilur Station and had successfully snuffed it out. “It’s a situation where there’s an outbreak of some kind that unless it is stopped quickly, it will consume the area it’s affecting. Like an entire space station or a whole planet. Said situation could even wipe out multiple systems if whatever it is that is called a ‘grey goo situation’ is allowed to spread.” Like that flesh sculpting brain monster back at the space station that had Ember’s scales crawling with disgust. “Usually it’s a good reason to destroy an entire space station or quarantine and then subsequently glass a planet, maybe blow up the planet just to be sure. Don’t worry, this situation looks nothing like one of the various grey goo scenarios that could pop up.” “What else are we supposed to talk about then, Rover likes to listen and learn from conversations.” They were underway and until they had something to shoot at or anything important to take care of, Rover would be absolutely bored to tears. “I am agreeing that the grey sludge is very scary sounding.” It was all up to Gilda and Greta to get them to the location where the storms purportedly started from now, if they needed to fight then Rover would be ready for it at least. Nothing killed a Diamond Dog faster than boredom, because when a Diamond Dog got bored they got inventive in keeping themselves entertained and they did some really dumb, highly dangerous, things in the name of entertainment. At least Rover had long since learned the most entertaining thing was hearing stories about how other people lived. “Yeah, a change of topic would be mighty welcome.” Applejack tried not to imagine any kind of apple jam slowly consuming the planet and suffocating all life out of existence. “What about where you got your chapeau from?” The farmer gave Rarity a questioning look. “I’m talking about your hat dear; you’ve hardly taken it off since we’ve met.” “I may have a lot of hats like it, but my pa owned this particular one before he gave it to my ma. It’s special; they were the perfect pair of ponies that were very much in love with each other.” There was a somber tone entering Applejack’s voice as she spoke. “They kind of passed on too soon after Apple Bloom was born, had they continued living I’m sure my ma and pa would have given me at least two more brothers or sisters. They loved one another to the point that I doubt even death could have parted them… kind of makes sense that they’d go together. Apple Bloom was too young to remember her, but ma sure was a pretty mare and dad was a big guy like my brother.” “Oh… I’m sorry I asked, it must be a difficult topic to talk about. So how do you know Countess Coloratura?” One of the oddest nobles Rarity has ever heard of, aside from herself that is. Color seemed quite friendly and very familiar with Applejack. “Oh you want to know about Rara? She’s been my friend when we were really young and going to camp together… after my parents… yeah you can’t really avoid that topic. Not when it comes to how I know Color.” Applejack paused for a minute and Greta pulled her into a quick hug. Upon her release Applejack continued. “She brought some light back into my life and she was always musically gifted. You know, this all really leads into my story of how I got my cutie mark.” “Well go on then, it’ll be a while and we’ll have to stop if we end up getting hit with a blizzard. So we got plenty of time to explore the mare that is Applejack Apple.” Rarity wanted to know and she could share her own story, she wasn’t sure if Saffron could since she had to keep up appearances as The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well. Saffron was quite mysterious alright; Rarity didn’t know anyone else that could eat through a mask without getting it absolutely filthy. “To start things off me and Coloratura first met when we were camping together. It wasn’t long after I lost my parents and I was terribly depressed… it was also before I had my cutie mark.” While Applejack was talking she watched as the others began unfolding a table and she took a seat when they offered her a chair. “She was a city mare and I was a country mare, it got me interested in going to see what the city life was like. I was still very much depressed, but at least I had a friend. I eventually tried my hoof at city living, but all that hustle and bustle wasn’t doing it for me. My depression wasn’t getting any better without Color or any of my real family around to pick me up. I didn’t get better until I saw the most miraculous thing ever; it even led to me coming back to my family.” “What was it?” Greta looked up from her data pad and directing Gilda from the lower torso. “It was a massive circular rainbow expanding across the sky, it had to be seen for miles. They said it was a phenomenon that erupted from right out of Cloudsdale.” Applejack remembered that moment, family was always important and she was an apple. When she got her home her cutie mark erupted onto her flank as she found herself. “Coming back home to my family got me my cutie mark and I quite rightly found myself knowing exactly where I belong.” “Oh that, that was just Rainbow Dash. She performed a Sonic Rainboom that day.” Gilda sounded less than impressed. “A sonic boom, mixed with sweat and particulate matter from a mare with all colors of the rainbow going at mach speed. That she can even reach mach speed was what really impressed me.” “You know how to take the joy out of a conversation Gilda, but then I guess you were there to actually witness it given you were in an exchange program at the time.” Greta had heard that some Pegasus Ponies were assholes to Gilda back then, which makes her wonder why Gilda had a penchant for Pegasus Ponies. “Yeah some of the ponies back then might have been complete dicks, but Rainbow was one of the best flyers I’ve ever met. She was a really good lay too; it’s nice to know she’s living the dream as a Wonder Bolt fighter pilot in the slow lane.” Gilda sounded rather fond of old times from her position of piloting the Centaur-pede. “It’s why I’m a mechanical engineer; she wouldn’t shut up about all those awesome fighters the Wonder Bolts get to fly. I figured, why just fly fighters when you can build them to be exactly what you want. Screw all that mass produced crap the Pony military uses when it comes to their fighters. Sure it’s good enough for what it does in the right hooves, but I believe I can do so much better than that. Ponies aren’t exactly bad at space exploration or utilizing big ships, but they’re not great at things as small as fighters or scouts.” “Says the griffon that completely destroyed the outer shell of a Javelin on her first flight with it, we still have the pilots seat sitting in our hangar enshrined to Gilda’s first foray into actual space combat.” Greta still had nightmares about Gilda’s piloting skills. Gilda was good at piloting things, but her landings could use some work. The example would be the upside down EGGS unit they left behind in the hangar on the Shining Jewel before they made the drop to Applin Five. “So I have some problems with landing vehicles meant to fly, at least I can pilot ground vehicles perfectly well.” Gilda knew Greta had nothing to say to that. “You’d think something more complicated like a six legged walker with two arms would be more of a problem to maneuver, but no, this is rather simple to drive.” “You actually call this contraption simple?! I can hardly wrap my head around the idea of how it was built!” Applejack would forever be a farmer and would like the simpler things in life; she had a story to continue. “To continue where I left off, I had gotten my cutie mark after discovering who I was as a Pony upon returning home to my family and farm. The next time I went camping was where I helped Coloratura get her cutie mark, by helping her with her music. Since then we’ve had something of a strong bond… I never thought Coloratura liked me nearly that much and its news to me.” “She seemed kind of obvious with it, I mean I’m the gayest griffon you could ever meet and I make it quite obvious as to whose bed I’d crawl into any day.” All Greta did was point upwards and Applejack nodded, it was fairly obvious to the farmer, Granny, Big Mac and even Apple Bloom from the moment when Greta first opened her happy beak. “Pecks on the cheeks are friendly, but that kiss, now that was something else entirely and worth coming back alive to for seconds!” Her face as red as an apple, Applejack shoved her hat down to cover her warmed cheeks. “I guess Coloratura did come to visit me personally. I really can’t see her wanting to settle down on a farm just for me, she has her career as a fancy pop star and still has so many places to go and see. I’m just a regular apple farmer, as regular as any other Apple before me. Except for my distant cousin Northern Spy, he’s always been a bit secretive about what he does.” “She didn’t give you tongue just for the sake of it you know, if you see her again you need to take up the reins and kiss her back with just as much force.” It upset Greta to hear that Applejack was trying to avoid the responsibilities of being a close mare friend to a lovely pony like Coloratura. “Maybe put a bridle on her for some fun like Gilda does when she’s entertaining a Pegasus Pony.” “Greta, while I can understand that you spy on me and take notes, can you please keep the more personal stuff that I do to yourself?” Dryly commented Gilda who was still listening in on their conversation; it kind of reminded her of how nosy Kitten usually was back up in orbit. “You’re currently not winning any brownie points with me here.” “So are you and her… special to each other?” Applejack didn’t know how to ask about Greta’s relationship when it came to Gilda. “I wish, Gilda hardly gives me the time of day in that department, we’re good partners at what we do though. We can sleep right next to each other, but we’ve never exactly gone beyond cuddling. That’s mostly my fault as I have a tendency to snuggle things in my sleep.” Greta noticed Mare-Do-Well looking away from her in a shy manner and she didn’t comment on the awkwardness of waking up with Saffron in her arms. Gilda was the best thing Greta could have ever cuddled with, but Coco was nice to cuddle as well and she couldn’t say anything bad about Saffron because of her exquisite natural looks. “I can honestly say that Gilda will always be my main squeeze even if she never fully returns my affection whatsoever.” “Since conversation is slowing down, Rover thinks that we can start playing cards now.” Rover was already shuffling a deck, ready and waiting to play a few rounds. He was always first deal because he claimed ownership of the deck. “Now cards are something I can actually get into, it’ll get my mind off all this impending danger hanging over our heads at least.” Applejack tapped the table twice. “Deal me in Rover; we’re starting off with a few rounds of poker!” “I can’t help but think that saying that makes you a huge stereotype Applejack.” It had to be said and Saffron couldn’t see it any other way. “You know, that farmers or country folk gather together to gamble and they do it among themselves often enough that it can be considering a national sport for them.” “Not all farmers or country folk play cards, why I know… funny I don’t know any of my kin that doesn’t know how to play cards.” Rubbing at her forehead in consternation, Applejack just proved Mare-Do-Wells point just by speaking up as she had. “Shucks it’s not like it’s a bad thing, I’m not about to bet real money. If anything, the card games at family reunions are all about bragging rights.” - It was a few hours later and a blizzard struck when they were closing in on the eye of the blizzards; the Centaur-pede settled into the snow and Mare-Do-Well was the one making dinner. Applejack had been entirely curious as to why the costumed crime fighter would be the one cooking, but she hadn’t complained when she tasted the food. It wasn’t apples, but it was clearly delicious and apparently the vigilante knew what she was doing around the kitchen. What kind of cutie mark would a vigilante hero have anyway? “You know, how can I be sure she’s even the real Mare-Do-Well?” It kind of bothered Applejack that Mare-Do-Well was hiding her real identity. It was like lying to the world about what you really looked like. “I mean this is a lot of trouble to go to convince me that the pony behind the mask is an identity worth hiding.” “That pony, right there the one I’m pointing at right now, has saved me from being raped by crashing through a window into an art exhibit and fought off my assailant, I’d say Mare-Do-Well is a true hero and she hasn’t done anything wrong.” Tapping a delicately manicured hoof to her chin, Rarity considered her words. “Well anything wrong that I know of anyway.” “Breaking and entering, interrogating known criminals with some mild violent methods, taking the law into my own hooves, sneaking into crime scenes and beating up entire crime families almost entirely by myself… I can live with the minor infractions that I do as long as I do not pass a certain line.” Mare-Do-Well sat a bowl of stew before Rover and he dove in face first slurping it up. It was kind of adorable to watch, as much as it was messy. Notably Rarity shifted away from him both mortified and horrified at his poor table manners. “Doing all that stuff together saved a hundred and forty seven lives in one week. Ponies die every single day; I just try to lighten the numbers so good people can continue on living long fulfilling lives. Saving an entire planet? I would have come down here alone even if Rarity and Ember didn’t want to lend their assistance.” “Okay, I can believe that. How did you become Mare-Do-Well anyway?” Applejack hoped that she could talk about that much at least. “It’s been a part of my family line starting a long time ago; I’m the newest Mauve Mare-auder only with a slightly different mantle. Thanks to a certain bug queen the Mauve Mare-auder was already taken and seen at the same time as I was when I started taking action in Canterlot, but at least the family legacy is being kept alive.” It had Saffron wondering why Chrysalis bothered to keep it alive when it wasn’t her family and the Changeling Queen had no obvious reason to do so. She would have to ask Chrysalis later and hope that the weirdest member of Rarity’s crew didn’t dodge the question. “I’m trying to proudly uphold my lineage, one that hides in the shadows and is apparently highly exaggerated in comic books.” “Well you’re certainly quite the character and you know how to cook too!” At least Applejack’s last few meals wouldn’t be so terrible if this was how Sugar’s cousin ate all the time. - Somewhere out in the snow there was the noise of something shifting. There was a small bulge in the snow and after a clearly audible pop, a pink ball of fur erupted from the snow and looked around curiously. It blew a raspberry and chose a direction to start walking in. The blizzard wasn’t affecting it at all as it wandered forward until the blizzard just stopped and it looked at the sky to see swirling clouds. It sat down to stare at the swirling masses of grey for about three hours, before it looked down to see some kind of large steel structure. The structure in question had a lot of crossing beams and was standing tall above the snow, with a red blinking light at the top of it. It was an antenna tower, not that the observer knew that. Moving closer this particularly curious and familiar Puffle sniffed at one of the four metal bases and blew a raspberry at it, as if she expected the giant four legged thing to respond to the intrusion into its personal space. The Puffle stood entirely still for thirty minutes, then it finally blinked and smiled. This Puffle then proceeded to do what any Puffle would do when making a new friend, it was the dumbest thing it could possibly do really. She licked the metal and her tongue immediately got stuck to it. Maybe her new friend was a little too friendly, since it wouldn’t let go her of her tongue which was getting a bit cold. She put her lips up to the structure trying to keep her tongue warm and now those were stuck too, she didn’t exactly like her friend like that and they seemed quite insistent about starting a relationship. She decided that her new friend was really sticky and clingy, but she really liked her friend anyway. -89-“At least we know the tundra zone isn’t entirely an inhospitable hellhole. The devastated nature will take a while to come back from this, but at least some trees and animals are surviving.” Gilda was referencing the life signs they had passed several miles back, some of the native life had figured out hibernation at least. “I’m kind of surprised the native life on this planet could even adapt to something like this… well what little that hasn’t yet died in the iced over part of the planet anyway.” “Aside from that, we’re almost at the blizzard creation zone; can we stop here so I can send out a scout to scope things out?” Greta spoke up sounding a bit concerned. “I’m pretty sure that once we go in, we’re going to be under near constant attack.” “So are we going to have Ember fly on out there?” Of the two, Gilda kind of preferred Ember for the job over Greta, the dragon was a sight damn more indestructible and could handle it if something went wrong. “Why do we need her to scout around? We already know there are a large number of machines ahead of us.” Gilda checked the sensors and there was barely any life in that direction, but there was a massive amount of heat and motion out there like when they made their way into the destroyed town of Gravenstein. In other words that was the only warning they really needed as to the dangers ahead of them. It still kind of bothered her that the buildings had been burnt out husks. The cryogenic wolves and snow sharks didn’t have weapons that produced that kind of damage, at least not from what they had experienced escaping the town. “A flyover is not what I had in mind; I wanted to test out my new toy!” The happy and giddy tone Greta spoke in had Gilda slightly worried. “Rarity… is Greta currently gushing over a blue and silver wolf shaped machine in the lower torso?” It was just a suspicion Gilda had about Greta’s sudden request to send out a scout. “No, but I can honestly say you’re correct in where your assumptions are heading.” What Rarity was currently looking at was still the same general shape, only it was much easier on the eyes than the jagged wolf design. “Hey, I had a lot of spare parts, why wouldn’t I take this opportunity to make myself a cuddly pet?” There was a strange definition to the word cuddly as far as Greta was calling it; at least what was sitting there ready to be activated looked safer than the robot wolves. Safer might not have been exactly the right term for the thing, especially knowing Greta and Gilda’s predilection for improving things. The robotic wolves had been angular blue and white colored machines with small jagged spikes sticking out of them in various places. An example would be their ears were notably more like forward pointing horns that they could gore someone with. Most of the small bladed extensions were on the sides of the legs which they could use to slash at someone by running by them without the need to use their claws. Their small tails weren’t used in combat, they were raised into the air to act as sensors and they communicated with the other robotic wolves using them. Even without the tails the wolves would still be capable of acting alone and that was rather efficient coding for their design, the lone wolf protocols were an interesting bit of programming. From what Greta managed to discover beyond what was surmised already, they were programmed entirely to capture intelligent biological entities alive. If that wasn’t going to work then they had to immobilize their target with injuries before freezing them. Chances of an injured target being defrosted safely was a lot iffier, the survival rate went down thirty eight percent and even without injury it was pretty bad already. The wolves had no long range capability, but they really didn’t need it when they had whatever generated the snow storms to cover their approach so they could get up close and personal. The chemical sprayers in their sharp metal fanged mouths weren’t powerful enough to account for the sudden snow storm Rarity’s group encountered when they came under attack at Gravenstein. The range on their ice breath was two feet at most and that was effective enough considering how fast they could move. That was not what Greta pulled out; instead it was more streamlined and less blocky. It looked exquisitely crafted from the various parts of the wolves they had lying around on the Centaur-pede in the previous scuffle. It was red, its ears were close together and pointed upwards instead of forward, its facial structure did not spike out into a volatile looking toothy maw, and its body was also quite lithe and smoother. Among the really major noticeable differences, it had a larger tail and it was red instead of blue. It sat there with Purple glowing eyes when it was activated and its segmented tail wagging back and forth, it opened its mouth and yipped revealing a laser cannon where its cryogenic gas sprayer should have been. “Let me guess, you made the time?” Saffron spoke blandly as she turned to Greta. “Better yet, how did you manage to even reprogram it to do what you want exactly? Here I thought that us ponies were the only ones who got away with stuff like this.” “Yes, I did make time. Do you seriously think that you’re the only one that can do insane things around here? I mean nobody brought up the fact that Rarity made a parka for Applejack on the spot in the small amount of time we were at the farm.” After saying that, Greta rubbed at her fox shaped machine’s cheeks and cooed at it. “Who is my cute little vixen, you are! I’m a technical engineer, so reprogramming it wasn’t exactly that hard. I just needed to remove a tiny amount of programming and build the laser cannon into her mouth after I got all of her to look how I wanted her to, it required me to alter some parameters here and there and boom!” The robotic fox made another yipping noise and playfully pawed at Greta’s left arm with no ill intent meant, it even nuzzled up to her in an adorable manner while seeming to smile at her. Its tail was wagging and it looked ecstatic to be with Greta. “So what can it do for us aside from helping us shoot things with its mouth and scout around for us?” The robot bounded over to Ember and yipped while bouncing playfully and waggling its flowing tail high in the air. Ember slowly reached out to rub its head and it let off a mechanical sounding purring. “How about horribly corrupting the programming of every other robotic wolf we may encounter? I had enough intact robot wolf tails to forge that tail for our little vulpine friend here; you see those metal mutts use their tails to communicate with each other to work together. Without their ability to coordinate against us, they will be easier to deal with. The tail also has another surprise, but it’s not quite finished yet.” With a grin, Greta watched Ember interact with the purple eyed vixen robot that seemed to be happily soaking up the attention like a sponge. “Heck my virus transmitter might even be able to get a few of the wolves to fight for us, but I’m unsure if that’ll be a temporary thing or not. It’s not going to be a perfect thing as they’ll eventually learn to block out her signal and or might eventually recover from being controlled by her, but they will never be able to get their coordination back. I’m going to call her Viral. Come here Viral!” Viral yipped and slinked her way over to Greta and sat down before her, Greta started to punch a few things into her data pad and smile as Viral laid down before her and the fox’s head split in half revealing her inner workings to Greta. Greta plugged her data pad into it and looked to be curiously checking Viral over. “I have to admit, that’s kind of amazing. I’m not exactly big on fancy things like this contraption, but I understand that we have a better chance in this fight we’re walking into?” It was explained to Applejack not long ago what would happen if they approached or even entered the blizzard staging area. She was ready to see what was causing her farm and so many towns to freeze over and be done with all this. “Well that’s just fine by me if it works like it’s supposed to.” “She will do what we need her to, that’s why I’m asking Gilda to let me send her out as a scout.” Greta wanted to play with Viral and make her go mess with the communications between all the wolves ahead of them before they arrived. Viral would sow confusion before they got there and they’d reap the benefits of it. That was the problem with making your robots openly interconnected to one another, all someone needed was one of the transmitters and enough technical knowhow to cause a whole slew of issues.“We can perform some long distance sabotage before we start moving into the identified center of the area Opal marked for us.” “Yeah, I can actually get behind that… though I’m curious what did you do with the rest of the parts? I checked the box before I climbed the ladder to upper torso and there doesn’t seem to be as many as we had.” It was Gilda’s concern that Greta wasted a lot of resources on making a robotic fox. “The wolves were crawling all over the Centaur-pede’s legs last time, so I gave each individual leg a salvaged shield generator with a special twist to them.” Despite saying that, Greta was not very forthcoming with what the particular twist was. “The main shield will not be overly taxed like it was previously and the wolves will have many problems with swarming us this time.” The two griffons were adaptable to any situation and Viral was Greta’s secret weapon for the upcoming fight. Gilda didn’t need a secret weapon as she was the pilot of her very own personally built cargo loading machine, one that doubled as a moderately large mobile fortress with some new quirks thanks to Greta’s tinkering. - Viral yipped and ran down the ramp out the back of the Centaur-pede and off into the snow ahead of the vehicle under Greta’s guidance. Greta was using the sensors and her data pad to guide the robot, which was more of a Virtual Intelligence than a true Artificial Intelligence. Rarity would know the difference and watched as the fox traveled off into the distance sending them back visual images on the screen. Without a word, Ember was already climbing up the ladder to take up a position on top of the lower torso. She was ready for round two and this time she’d make sure that she didn’t get swallowed before the fight started. “I can do my best work from here, but the rest of you should get your weapons and get up top.” It didn’t seem to Greta that they were going to avoid this one, but at least they knew a fight was coming this time. “I’ll be running control of Viral from the lower torso.” “I have to be honest here; I’m not too comfortable with all this stuff we’re getting into.” Applejack had a reason to be pensive, especially given her proximity to Rarity who found trouble no matter what she did. “Don’t worry, none of us are comfortable about any of this either or much of anything else we tend to get into. We’re here and I’m not about to back down now!” Rarity wanted to make that wedding dress for her cousin, the process to eventually doing that required this really excessive detour. Rarity checked her material pistol and closed it up with a click and looked over the charge on her energy pistols. “I don’t think my life will ever be quiet, but I think I am coming to enjoy the challenges I’ve been coming across. Hopefully Noctus will be much quieter than this escapade and I can do a fashion show without all this crazy stuff.” “Aw, but boss lady, I like the crazy stuff we do together!” No one other that Greta would say that with a cheerful disposition and mean it. She enjoyed Rarity’s presence and being her friend, even if there was a lot of danger involved. She looked at the data pad and stared at something; she put a headset on and tapped at it to make sure it was working. “Methinks we have a target! Some kind of tower structure that’s giving off a strange signal, Viral is piping in the data to us now. Gilda see what you can make of it on our approach… also I think Rarity doesn’t have to worry about our lost little cling on. The Puffle is at the tower and it appears to have its face stuck to it, from what I can see it’s an old acquaintance of ours.” “Like we don’t have enough problems around here without having to avoid killing the little pest, I’m starting forward. You better be ready to disable those wolves Greta.” Gilda set them on moving forward at full speed, once it got moving they weren’t going to slow down much until they were within range of the target and then they’d start taking evasive maneuvers. “Whoever is causing this, you better be prepared to say hello to the Centaur Stampede and Shining Jewel’s premier mechanics The Garage Griffons!” “Centaur Stampede, I thought it was Centaur Centipede…” Muttered a curious Greta under her breath as the snow storm started up at their approach and coordinated Viral to take control of several of the wolves and freeze the cause of the snow storm. They were apparently giant turtle shaped devices with large tube shaped spikes that were shooting snow and ice to generate the snow storm that the wolves hid in; the wolves Viral managed to get converged on them and froze over the spouts with Viral staying well away from the resulting line of explosions. The blockage on one had caused a chain reaction that made all the machines explode. The brewing snow storm sputtered and died, that’s when the battle truly began. “What did you just do Greta?” Rarity asked from her perch next to the front left turret as she watched an entire line of explosions erupted in the distance. “I apparently found and took care of the snow storm generators, not sure if they’re responsible for the blizzards though. It looks like our mechanical wolves are already harrying them and any wolves I didn’t get have started their lone wolf protocols.” Greta started to steer Viral away from the sudden increasing action coming from ahead of them and the wolf units she managed to corrupt followed the vixens lead. Greta had them moving towards the Centaur-pede when she noticed something else going on. “Heads up, we got aerial drones inbound… they’re of human make, it seems we’ve stirred up a hornets’ nest! They only have five in the air, but I’m detecting more incoming and fast with Viral’s help.” Five aerial arrowhead shaped drones half the size of an average one person fighter came zooming towards the Centaur-pede, Gilda raised the left and right claws of the upper torso and fired. They managed to avoid the first shot and the second ripped three apart when the second drone from Gilda’s right went up in a ball of flames and shrapnel. A loud crack rang out and the remaining two crashed when one lost a wing causing it to slam into the other. “Well that seemed easy enough.” Applejack had spoken way too soon as she scouted the incoming fins popping up from the snow, along with hundreds of wolves chasing the purple eyed retreating corrupted units. Thirty arrowheads were now in the air and angling towards the quickly approaching Centaur-pede. “I guess I spoke to soon… are all of us safe up here?” “You should be, the shields will cover you and… oh nice! Greta’s modifications to the shields will really help out with the wolves. Let her deal with them for the moment, you need to focus on taking out those aerial drones. They are too fast for me to shoot them all down and the beam cannons in the arms up here are slow and meant for heavier targets. I’m switching the turrets to anti-air coverage.” Gilda whipped out the right arm as each arrowhead dove and started firing two rapid streams of spheres into the shields; the arm sent their formation spiraling out of control when she hit the lead unit. “Update, I think I recognize the style of these drones, don’t hit the lead unit. The rest of the formation will scatter unpredictably if you do which will make them more problematic to deal with; otherwise they’re standard human military strafing assault drone models which thankfully lack shields. I have some suspicions about where they came from; considering all the other machines out here don’t look military in the slightest… incoming shark, get ready to brace for impact!” The centaur machine’s shields flared above Rarity as the drones shot at them from overhead and circled around to perform another series of strafes. Looking around she started shoot at the backs of the five drones that passed overhead with her two energy pistols firing multiple shots rapidly and only one went down, they were tough to get a bead on as they swerved and tilted slightly to avoid her shots. Ember had taken to the air a while ago and swooped down from above to slice the remaining drones in half with her blazing bayonet and quickly evaded another formation of speedy little arrowheads that suddenly started targeting her. She rolled and avoided the shots that were aimed for her wings; her wings were easier to damage than the rest of her body and she whipped her tail around to send the drone behind her spiraling into the ground. “Ember, are you sure it’s safe to be flying with all these drones around?” Rarity continued to pick and choose her targets. She fired when she saw an opportunity; apparently the drones weren’t good at dodging cross fire as she managed to drop three in quick succession as they avoided Rover’s shots. Rarity had to duck as a spiraling drone slammed into the back of the lower torso after one of the turrets blew off one of its wings and exploded. “She can take care of herself; she’s the only aerial support we have at the moment.” Suddenly the entire Centaur-pede shook knocking Greta out of her seat, she quickly got back into it. “Is everyone okay? Gilda, what happened?” “Holy… you said this thing was made to load cargo right?” Saffron stopped to witness what Gilda was up to, she looked towards the front and saw a large flailing Abominable Jaws being held up by the two claws. Two crossing beams erupted out of its back when Gilda fired point blank into it. “Yep, but it’s also a mobile fortress!” The Centaur-pede hadn’t stopped moving forward when Gilda had grabbed the first shark. Seeing the next one was coming, she actually did stop the forward motion and reared back holding the damaged shark high above the Centaur-pede’s body. Without a snow storm to hide them, Gilda could actually deal with them. “Wait for it… now!” As the second mechanical shark erupted from the snow it met with its demise by having the tail end of the first one shoved straight down its throat, Gilda quickly turned the Centaur-pede and maneuvered it around the two large crumpled sparking robots and managed to get out of range before they exploded violently. She reared back the left arm as if she were going to throw a punch and then rammed the claws home gutting the third one coming at them and gained leverage with the other arm to lift it out of the snow ready to throw it forward. “These guys are heavy bastards!” Gilda managed to get the shark into a position above the Centaur-pede where she could throw it at something; this was much easier because she could actually see the targets for one. “How are we doing so far Greta?” Viral and the corrupted wolf units suddenly spun around and combined their efforts to attack the wolves running around on their lone wolf protocols. Without any ability to coordinate the robotic wolves were having a problem stopping Greta’s fox from wrecking them with the corrupted wolves, said corrupted robots performed orchestrated movements to rip each incoming wolf to shreds in a combined effort. The fox was being kept back and out of the fight, sometimes opening its mouth and firing a blast of energy at a moment of opportunity. “We’re doing okay so far, we’ve got at least fifteen wolves on our side working together. However they have more reinforcement’s incoming and we have nothing to reinforce us out here aside from wolves with open communications that I can exploit.” Greta started taking stock of the bogeys they were dealing with; the Centaur-pede had an angry swarm of red dots surrounding it with more incoming, wolves, aerial drones and two more giant robot sharks. The shields were holding up very well, provided a shark didn’t get the chance to ram them. “Shields are holding and we have about thirty drone on us with ninety more inbound, the wolves are having problems dealing with my remote controlled menace. The wolves are not going to be able to focus on us for a while, but their numbers are increasing by the second. The sensors are already showing one hundred and twenty wolves and rising. Same thing for the drones and they’re faster, the number of sharks seem limited, they aren’t going to be a big issue. I’m currently having Viral deal with the forty wolves ahead of us. The drones are the ones really making a dent in us here.” “Can you move our units closer towards us and lure the enemy in? I have a present for them; the return to sender kind.” The large white and silver shark was wiggling thrashing in the grip of the Centaur-pede and Gilda had her eyes set on the numerous wolves popping out of the snow in increasing numbers. “Roger that, I see what you want me to… Gilda quickly close the mouth it’s trying to spit out wolves!” In response to Greta’s words the left arm of the Centaur-pede fired a blast and the insides of the shark exploded sending smoke out its mouth. The insides were probably husked out and the arm didn’t take much damage thanks to the shields. “Okay, that worked. Our captured wolves are taking a lot of damage, but if I’m right we can get some more from the ones inbound. They are still communicating with each other and all they need to do is get close to Viral for me to get them. I’ll have her ready to intercept when we need her to.” Rover was firing at the air and trying to shoot the pesky fast moving things, his pistol was holstered and he was using one of the energy rifles for the added punch. It was a little different from the pistol, but he was alright with using it. He was amazed that Rarity and Saffron could gun down so many drones, much less Applejack who seemed to be picking her shots carefully. He was learning quickly by example and narrowed his eyes; he took carefully aim and fired a rapid stream of energy ripping an entire formation of drones apart. His tail wagged with excitement, he was helping and even being an effective member of the pack. Flying overhead Ember rolled, then braked with her wings and dug her claws into the drone that had been chasing her and fired a molten rock into the four other drones holding formation with it, the shots that had hit her wings seriously hurt. She was beginning to really miss her ramshackle armor, the air was positively swarming with these drones and she was having problems dealing with them all. She smashed the drone she was clinging too and swooped down for the Centaur-pede and landed firing at the swarm slowly ripping their transport's shields apart. “Are you alright Ember?” Rarity turned to the dragon in concern even as her eyes continued to spot targets of opportunity for her to shoot at. The four single barreled turrets were really hitting the drones harder than their small arms fire. In fact they were all shredding their way through the masses before them and it was surprising Rarity how well they were doing thus far. “I’m fine, but give me a minute; I have idea to take care of all the incoming drones.” Ember popped the central hatch and climbed down the ladder to see Greta glance at her before she went back to looking at the screen; she was too busy to take her eyes off the action for too long. “Greta I brought a small case of alcohol down here when we made our drop, where did you put it?” “Third box; from the rear on the left… now don’t distract me I’m down to eight wolves and its more than three to one out there!” Even a genius like her was being taxed by controlling so many things at once; she was even having Viral provide long range support. “Greta how many of these things are there?” Saffron had both her armored hooves raised to the sky and they swept back and forth hitting drones constantly before their strafing runs could do too much damage, that’s when the ninety incoming drones finally showed up. It made for a very target rich environment, but those things were causing a problem. “Unknown, there are even more drone are on the away, please tell me your plan can take care of that many Ember!” Greta was starting to sweat as she manipulated the dwindling number of corrupted wolves into a position where Gilda can lend her assistance. “The shields are really beginning to flag here and there’s too many of them to deal with.” “Yeah, I can handle the drones, just focus on the wolves. Once I’ve dealt with the drones I’ll try to hit the tower.” Ember was no longer carrying her favorite rifle; instead she had a rocket launcher strapped to her back. She started drinking as she climbed the ladder. She needed some metal melting heat. “We’re almost within firing range of the tower; if it’s controlling all of these defenses it would definitely be a good idea to put that thing out of its misery… like yesterday. That would be very helpful.” Gilda tossed the shark she had been holding onto and a lot of wolves went down in a series of pops as the rolling mass of metal crushed them. “Try to grab as many of the incoming wolves as you can Greta, I’m running out of fish to fry.” “On it…” A flash of white appeared above the Centaur-pede and drones started raining from the air, Greta turned Viral to see what had caused that and saw Ember exhaling violently all over the drones. “Ember is really taking it to those drones.” There was a swarm of wolves clashing and colliding against one another, some had immediately turned around and started attacking their own immediately without warning. Greta certainly came through with her side of the fight. “Almost there… Ember can you get a shot in on that transmitting tower? I need another thirty seconds to be in range and I’ve just cleared my schedule. So I’ll get right on that” Even as she said this Gilda was spinning the upper torso holding onto a shark by its tail and using centripetal force, it was used to remove the last two sharks from the fight. “Come on just a little closer…” Multiple wolves broke through the battle front Greta created and leapt for the legs of the Centaur-pede, only they were violently fried and fell to the ground when arcs of raw energy leapt from the legs and destroyed their electronics in a shower of sparks. After twenty or so fell, it was becoming apparent that the robot wolves didn’t have problem solving skills far beyond their programming and the shields on the Centaur-pede’s legs alone were causing quite a number of casualties. “Zap shield modifications, one of my brighter ideas.” Greta commented lazily with a smug grin on her beak as she controlled her growing army through Viral, her grin fell away when she noticed that the shields were also damaging the legs a fair bit, almost as much as they were the robot wolves trying to jump on them. “Could use some tweaks though.” - The Puffle just sat there staring at the blinking light until something slammed into it and exploded, the entire structure started to collapse around it. It didn’t seem particularly frightened by this even if its tongue was stuck to a cold bit of metal. A stream of fire swept down the metal making it warm, this eventually let the Puffle pull away and wander off aimlessly. - “I hope I don’t regret that later.” Ember fired off another rocket at the support structure, she was sent flipping in the air from the recoil of the launcher. The tower was still transmitting according to Gilda, who was in the process of firing two beams at it. The tower was almost completely down, one more shot and Ember had stopped the transmission. Every aggressive and corrupted robot in the area immediately collapsed as if their strings were cut and the only robot that was still moving was the innocent looking Viral. “Yeah we did it, now I guess we can start poking around to see what we can… oh crap!” Hearing Gilda’s sudden exclamation, Ember watched as the Centaur-pede suddenly dropped into the ground at an impressive speed. There was a large hole where her friends used to be. The dragon didn’t think twice and immediately flew after her hoard. Viral sat there unblinking and the Puffle eventually wandered up to her and started a staring contest. Eventually Viral went to find Greta and the Puffle followed blowing raspberries in an excited manner. Author's Note I don't know if I got this chapter right and I've been feeling off the last few days... 'sigh', well nothing for it. I have to keep going forward! -90-“Greta, I need you to give me a damage report. If what I saw was correct the robotic animals are down, but those security drones were still flying.” There were warning sirens blaring inside the Centaur-pede, Gilda felt the entire machine come to a sudden stop for a second when they finally stopped falling, she hit the lights and noticed that they had just started sliding down a slope into a dark icy tunnel. “Okay, we’re sliding and I really need to know what we have…” “I’m worried about the others Gilda, all their life signs have split off from us and I’ve lost Viral’s signal!” Greta was already trying to process what had happened and was rubbing at the bump on her head as she sat up, she had been badly knocked around in the lower torso. To think they were ready to investigate the freshly destroyed tower when this happened. “She’s just an innocent little VI; she can’t do big girl things on her own like Opal can!” “Calm down Greta, I think we have bigger problems to worry about than your pet robot or our friends.” The upper torso turned to face the rear and saw several combat drones flying down the hole behind them and the centaur-pede was slowly picking up speed. Gilda wondered where Rarity, Rover, Applejack, Saffron and Ember were, their life signs were still going strong a few seconds ago before they slipped out of range. It was concerning that it might have been them literally slipping away on the ice. “Such as keeping ourselves alive in the meantime…” “Yeah, my head isn’t exactly in the game at the moment. Hold on a second… okay, the left arm and all six legs are heavily damaged. Some of that damage to the legs was my fault, probably should have calibrated those extraneous leg shields better.” Lifting her data pad up to her eyes, Greta read off the diagnostics and the last thing she saw made her breath hitch a bit. She was still a bit woozy, but even she recognized a major problem when she saw one. “Oh and… we’re not getting our shield generator back. It’s completely beyond repair, as in it had a thankfully quiet meltdown. If it had been a noisy meltdown we wouldn’t be alive right now. So there’s absolutely nothing to stop those drones from ripping us apart. I’m quite sorry about my modifications helping damage the legs to the state they are in now.” “Oh come on Greta, it’s not like this is the worst thing you’ve ever done. This isn’t even close to being bad enough to be on my list of the top five worst engineering mishaps caused by you. It’s also not the worst situation we’ve ever been in. Back to the situation at claw, we need to swap out the limbs when we can get a chance. Provided that you didn’t do anything to mess up our spares, we still have plenty to work with.” As cool as an ice cube under pressure, Gilda raised the right arm of the Centaur-pede and fired immediately at the drones. Her shot nailed the central drone and the other four joined it quickly in being destroyed when the Centaur-pede’s turrets ripped into them. “I also wouldn’t say that there is absolutely nothing stopping them from ripping us apart, we’ve still got the turrets and an armory stocked with weapons on board. So we just need to find a safe spot to get some breathing room and get our bearings.” - “Whoa, what the hay is going on?” With a grunt Applejack found herself on top of the so called armored Mare-Do-Well and they were angling to head down a tunnel. Seconds ago the entire machine fell out from under her and she had become weightless for a few seconds. “We’re underground, that’s what’s going on!” Saffron tried to keep them both level, her armored suit was made for big jumps and gliding, not for flying or carrying passengers. The weight of Applejack’s body was making it hard to keep upright and maneuver it so that she landed on the ice safely; she somehow managed to keep herself upright. Looking over her shoulder at Applejack she saw two drones following them down the tunnel they were in. “Now hold on, this might get a bit bumpy. If can you can get yourself situated correctly, then maybe you can help us by shooting down those drones on our butts while I try to concentrate on what’s going on in front of us.” - Back at the top of the various underground tunnels there was an innocuous hole in the floor in the middle of various branching underground tunnels. It was just the right size and shape for a Diamond Dog to have dug and there was a small mound of displaced snow and ice heading off in a specific direction. It was not in the direction of the Centaur-pede that slammed into the ice and left skid marks behind. Seconds later Ember flew into the tunnel system and saw the large skid marks created by something heavy, she followed that because it had to be the way their vehicle went and logically where everyone else was. Next Viral skidded to a stop and dropped down into the tunnel network and looked about before choosing one of the tunnels to go down, the mechanical fox went slip sliding away. It was also not the tunnel that the Centaur-pede went down. The Puffle fell into the tunnel system after Viral and slid three feet with joyous laughter and then she came to a sudden stop. The puffle scooted a bit, but her fur was so thick she couldn’t really slide because of all the friction. She started to get angry and blew a raspberry; she wanted to do the happy fun thing that other more mobile four legged thing she followed down here did! The Puffle was too fluffy to actually lose friction on the ice, it jumped once and then twice trying to get sliding, only for it to stop a few feet away. For once in its life the Puffle stopped to actually think about something, which hurt its tiny little love filled brain as it started walking forward. It tripped and went rolling down tunnel, it giggled joyously at how fast it was going. The Puffle didn’t exactly feel the sheer mortal dread that it should have been about where the tunnel it was going down ended up. It was getting kind of dizzy through. - The Centaur-pede fell out from under Rarity and she was panicking, to think things had been going so well. Greta had managed to wrest control of most of the wolves before they grew wise to the fact that they were being hacked. The ones that did had problems coordinating their efforts against them without being capable of communicating with one another to form a far more effective response. Gilda had positively wrecked the large robotic snow sharks. Everyone else had done moderately well against the drones, up to the point they were beginning to exceed their ability to handle through sheer numbers. Ember had been pretty amazing when she came up with that bottle of alcohol. Rarity would have commented on her drinking habits, but she remembered what happens when a dragon imbibed and those flames were ridiculously powerful. It was quite clear the dragon would never have a drinking problem unless she needed to deal with large threats. It had been mostly Greta, Gilda and Ember’s show up to this point, where everything suddenly went absolutely pear shaped. Maybe even Durian shaped, because it was that bad. Rarity slapped against ice harshly and started sliding down a tunnel, what little she could see of it in the quickly dwindling light. She grunted and thanked the stars she hadn’t landed wrong as this was going to bruise horribly. She was thankful for the breach gel in her EVA suit that was currently wearing under her parka. Besides Ember everyone outside the Centaur-pede had their EVA suits and parkas on… except Applejack didn’t have an EVA suit or the same breach gel cushion. She silently prayed for the farmer’s safety. Looking up, Rarity started up her head lights and frantically looked about to find something to grab on to. Scrabbling with her hooves to try and find purchase, there was none to be had for Rarity as the tunnel was full of ridiculously smooth ice. Wherever the tunnel inevitably leads, she had ended up sliding down it backwards and facing upwards. It took her a moment to realize that she had lost one of her energy pistols; she had been in the middle of stowing them when the world suddenly fell out from under them. Rarity’s ears twitched as she heard something coming down the tunnel after her. She hoped that it wasn’t the Centaur-pede, she didn’t want to be crushed underneath it. It didn’t take ten more seconds of uncontrolled sliding before she saw what was coming; she wasn’t going to use her material pistol as it was her emergency weapon. With one energy pistol she had to make her shots count as five lights fell on her. The drones immediately started firing at her once they caught sight of her and Rarity tried to roll or at least veer out of the way of the five twin streams of energy bullets from the five drones. One round smacked into the ice next to her and she yelped still trying to scramble sideways out of the path of their shots. Only to bounce when she hit a horizontal piece of ice that sent her flying until she hit the tunnels floor and went tumbling, she tried to keep a strong death grip on her energy pistol with her magic and was being remarkably stubborn about not letting it go. As she turned her head to the right to start shooting at the chasing drones, she was now sliding on her belly sideways down the tunnel. “How do I keep getting myself into these situations?” The uncontrolled slide down the tunnels was starting to get on her nerves; she fired several times only for the drones to avoid each of her shots. She used her eye for detail to take notice of something and fired twice; the central drone flew into the path of the second shot avoiding the first and it took two other drones with it when it exploded. The two remaining drones shifted positions, that’s when they started to spiral towards her and pick up speed and started flashing. Did that mean what Rarity thought it meant? They were going to blow up on her! Just as the drones were closing in with her and avoiding her frantic shooting, well you’d have to see how well you could shoot something in this situation. She couldn’t hit them and they were getting dangerously close to her as their shots passed by her sometimes putting a small hole in her parka. Nothing she couldn’t fix, but it was quite worrying. As the drones closed in there was a sudden right curve in the tunnel that sent Rarity sliding high up the wall and then she was going in the opposite direction on her back watching the explosions above her as the drones couldn’t turn fast enough to make the same hairpin that Rarity involuntarily did. Rarity found herself drifting back down to the bottom of the tunnel from the wall, she had to figure out how to slow down and fast. She did not want to hit anything at the speeds she was going right now. Oh right, she still had her pinpoint puller! Putting her gun away, Rarity aimed up the slide with her hoof she fired her pinpoint puller, realizing that the problem was worse than she had previously thought; she was sliding too fast for the pinpoint puller to slow her down for more than a few seconds. She started panicking again, this was worse than the fact that this was ruining her parka… which wasn’t a big issue as she could always make another one. She was likely going to die if she hit a wall… she fired her pinpoint puller towards the wall ahead of her and managed to flip and spin her body around before the grapple beam broke. Thanks to a bit of maneuvering Rarity was mostly upright looking down the tunnel. If she was going to die, then she might as well face that wall head on. Well it wasn’t exactly a wall, more like a bunch of icicles jutting from the floor that would have skewered her had she continued her path into them. She fired her pinpoint puller off to the side and managed to skirt around the left side of the sharp pointy bits of ice that ripped into the front right leg of her EVA suit and parka. She lost a large amount of breach gel before it hardened enough to seal off the damage, it left behind a large colorful streak on the slide that could probably be found years later if someone actually went looking for it. That wasn’t exactly a comforting thought if she got trapped down here with no way out. Rarity was glad that she had decided to wear her parka over the EVA suit; the more breach gel she lost the colder it would be even with her thermal layer. It was a good thing she could actually fix tearing damage on her parka with magic. She slid back and forth until she centered in the slide once more and heard a sound from above, turning her head upwards she saw a different tunnel above her and ten drones came down out of it firing as she passed by it. Today was just not Rarity’s day, she curled up into smaller target as the ten drone swept down into the tunnel behind her firing blasts of energy everywhere. Chips of ice flew off the walls and floor of Rarity’s surroundings as she cowered while sliding down a tunnel to who knows where and she was all alone. She felt an abrupt change in her momentum when her body went off a ramp and she suddenly found herself uncurling with shots flying around her as she fell, she let off a long drawn out scream as pain erupted in one of her hind legs as a shot ripped through it. She was now falling down a widening shaft into nothingness. She tried to spin herself in the air so that she could at least look upwards at the drones still chasing her down; she wondered if these machines realized that if they just left her alone she would probably die anyway. She could see they got her thigh and quite badly with the barest of a glance out of the corner of her eyes in her helmet's lights as she fell upside down, the pain was quite agonizing and making her head fuzzy, hopefully the breach gel would take care of that. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she hadn’t realized that she had stopped screaming at some point… why was she narrowing her eyes at the drones and why was she thinking of doing something crazy? “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I’m still going to try!” Talking to no one in particular was the first sign that she was going insane from the danger that she was in, either that or it was the pain in her rear leg. Rarity wasn’t exactly coping with this situation well. She aimed her pinpoint puller at the arrowhead shaped drones shooting at her and pulled her energy pistol out. She fired her energy pistol once and then fired her pinpoint puller. The grapple beam lanced out across the space between Rarity and the drone and actually connected when the drone moved into the path of the beam, her fall slowed down and after feeling weightless for a moment she shot straight up towards the drone through a wall of energy bullets grazing her parka and suit, doing even more damage to both before her tether got intersected by one of the blasts. She threw here hooves out, managing to actually grab onto the central drone while she still had some momentum and flipped herself onto it. “Sorry, but I really don’t feel like dying today!” She ducked to the side of the drone as a several rounds of energy started attacking her and the drone she was clinging to. The drone started to automatically dodge the friendly fire from the five drones behind it. The four other drones around them exploded and Rarity was lucky enough that none of their bits hit her. The lead drone Rarity was clinging to for dear life was swerving and twirling wildly trying to dislodge Rarity, this was much to her benefit. Rarity aimed her pistol upwards and fired off several shots and managed to destroy a single drone in the last fifteen rounds she fired off in desperation, she was under a lot of pressure and that they were still traveling downwards was starting to freak her out. How far down were they going exactly? After ten seconds of being unable to dislodge Rarity from itself, the drone started beeping and flashing, Rarity put her pistol away and kicked off it towards one of the walls. It exploded violently sending its parts flying everywhere, some of the shrapnel piercing Rarity’s EVEA suit. That caused Rarity to yelp. The explosion also bounced Rarity off the wall and sent her tumbling into an uncontrolled fall. This caused her to grunt and grit her teeth. Her body was being quite badly battered, especially by that sudden jarring impact. Rarity didn’t know how much more of this she could take… then the shaft opened wider into a large lit cavernous area. The floor was quickly coming up to meet Rarity and she didn’t think she was going to survive hitting it at terminal velocity like this. She closed her eyes before she hit the floor and then didn’t stop, but felt herself ram through a thick layer of ice in painfully brutal manner that caused a loud snapping noise. One of her legs had to be broken, that or something just set her entire body on fire and then she was dipped in acid in an attempt to put said fire out. She was going to scream herself hoarse now and she didn’t feel like stopping until she was unconscious and then eventually dead. The drones circled above the hole in the ice, they couldn’t go underwater and just sped off to go after other targets currently invading the tunnel systems. Had anyone been around, Rarity’s agonized screaming would have been muffled by the suit suddenly being underwater and the temperature dropping by a large magnitude; Rarity didn’t struggle when she found herself being propelled by a powerful current. She didn’t want to be trapped in an underwater stream, but it wasn’t like she had a choice in where she was going now as she was nursing her broken leg. She had to find a way out of this, she just had to. She still had so much to live for and Opal would be absolutely distraught if her friends went back up without her, provided they weren’t in a similar situation to her. Rarity looked up at her HUD through the tears in her eyes and winced, her front left leg was broken. She had multiple pieces of metal embedded in her suit and she had internal bleeding, very bad bruising in several places. She stopped screaming and started whimpering instead as she held her left leg. Feeling the current growing faster, Rarity had a sinking feeling as to what that meant and then she was spat out of a hole where the water was spewing into something akin to an aqueduct. The mare didn’t exactly have time to focus on the oddity of the way the manufactured tunnels were moving the water around, she was too busy biting her lips and tasting copper as she slammed into another ice slide. Rarity was thankfully going at a good angle when she hit another downwards slide and didn’t land as poorly as she could have. She could have broken another leg; she was already in dire need of healing as it was. The tunnel suddenly straightened out and she found herself going horizontally and for some odd reason there were lights in the ceiling of the tunnel here. Was she going to heaven? It seemed more like hell at the moment. At least she was no longer going down and she was slowing down, something to be even more thankful for at least. What she wasn’t thankful for was the strange machine that dropped into the tunnel with her that looked like a much larger version of the robotic wolves and it was looking right at her sliding prone form. If there was an alpha wolf of those robots, this thing would have to be it. “As my sister is so fond of saying about the unfairness of it all… OH COME ON!” Rarity screamed hoarsely at the machine galloping after her, it would soon catch up with her. “What did I ever do to deserve any of this-his-his?” Despite her whining, Rarity tried to focus and blink the tears out of her eyes. The large machine was running on the ice and after a moment it crouched down, skidding for a few hundred feet before it lunged forward to try and bring one of its large paws down on her. Rarity aimed her right hoof at the underside of the machine and fired her pinpoint puller. The large wolf came down with a thunderous crash on all four of its legs and then it looked behind itself and then looked forward, it didn’t see its quarry anywhere. Rarity slowly climbed up to the side of the machine, her magnetic clamps keeping her on the giant robotic wolf. She stopped and convulsed a bit, she was cradling her left leg to her chest as she crawled on top of the machine as it looked under itself. Rarity fired at a joint in its neck, attracting its attention to her on its back, it growled at her and she responded by blowing out its left eye with five shots. It apparently didn’t have shielding like the other wolves. That worked for her, because she was already blasting the light out of its other large yellow eye. The large wolf robot roared and then crouched; Rarity looked at the lines of lights and sharp pointy icicles above her. She fell to her right side and rolled for all her worth as seconds later the giant robot wolf slammed it’s head and back into the ceiling. Rarity, having managed to narrowly avoid having her body pulped, took aim at the head with her pistol and tried to fire, only for a number of exponentially worsening arcs of energy to start travel along her pistol. That wasn’t a good sign, none of what was happening was a good sign either, but Rarity wasn’t about to be stopped now. Rarity’s pupils shrunk and she put all her magic into kicking her damaged energy pistol away from her, and into the broken sparking eye socket of the wolf robot. The gun soon blew up and caused a chain reaction as several other explosions went off in the thing’s head and it toppled to its left side where its head blew apart into tiny pieces upon hitting the floor. Looking ahead Rarity saw the tunnel suddenly just ended and she could see metal walls. Where was she? The destroyed metal wolf she was on slid out of the ice pipe and started a slow fall towards a large amount of snow below and what little she could see before the inevitable stop when the large wolf machine hit the floor with her still on it. It was some kind of strange facility, who had the time to build all of this and so far below ground? Rarity consciously detached from the falling machine by turning off the magnetic clamps, the large mangled wolf shape machine hit the snow send a large plume of it up to catch her and slow down her fall. She finally struck the snow and tried to stand up after a few minutes, but everything was so cold. She could hardly move and her vision was starting to fill with spots. Rarity slowly managed to stagger up to her three hooves and started to limp forward and away from the destroyed machine, she didn’t want to be near it if it exploded on her. She was so very tired now, she could see that at the edge of the snow was a floor and structure leading to a door. Surrounding it were boxes with what were obviously supplies… but to what end? Nothing made sense and she was trying to distract herself from the mind numbing pain and the fact that she was started to lose feeling in her limbs. She fell down upon reaching the metal flooring and couldn’t scream or cry anymore. She started crawling for the boxes, looking for a place to hide, maybe even warm up a bit. She made it behind the crates and found an opening she slowly dragged herself through. She turned herself around and looked out the opening at the large pile of junk she left behind, she was kind of horrified by the things she’d go through for friends and family. She’d probably do it all over again if she had to, she was surprised that she was still breathing. “Crap, they told you it wasn’t ready yet boss! The intruder managed to take it down with nothing more than an energy pistol and whatever that grappling thing was!” A human ran into view and he sounded like he was on the radio with someone, he was wearing a blue uniform with two silver stripes and a depiction of a tilted cyan cube on its back. His helmet was a bit angular and somewhat reminded Rarity of a snowflake. He and several other arriving humans were wearing fully decked out military gear. Machine guns, grenade belts, armor that covered every part of their bodies and they were all searching the perimeter around the machine Rarity had trashed. “Yes, it was a pony that destroyed it!” “A pony did all this damage… really?” A second suited figure that walked into view seemed to be expressing disbelief as if the very thought of it merited nothing but skepticism. He was also male from what Rarity could tell from their voices alone as she tried to breathe and relax. Obviously these people were part of the group behind all this. “It was just one pony; they’re complete jokes when it comes to fighting on foot. Sure, their space force is nothing to sneeze at and they did somehow manage to stop the planned attack on the depot cold. Even so, they never exactly had a powerful presence on the ground before, except for those fucking creepy Changeling things. Maybe they know about our operations here and sent a bunch of Changelings to scope us out first before sending in their forces.” “Apparently this pony didn’t get the memo that ponies are innocent, cute and should be a slave race to humanity. Whatever this small task force is that they’ve sent, it has breached the perimeter topside and managed to get into the tunnels. They’re causing all sorts of havoc everywhere and two of them even got into the base, before this one did. We haven’t been able to find them yet.” A third suited human walked up, this one was female. “We’ve got some kind of black ops unit thing going on here, it’s the only explanation for all the things they’ve pulled off when they hit the tower. Of the two already in the base, one’s a robot or a heavily decked out armored pony, but I’m leaning robot as I doubt there’s a pony alive that could really fight that well or even come close to causing anyone harm. The other mare is a local and must have gotten through our blizzard grid somehow and led them right to us. The little shits can’t really possibly have gone on the offensive to save themselves, they are too pacifistic! Though I wouldn’t entirely be surprised if our whole operation was compromised and this was their strike force or what they could make that would pass for one.” “Like those little horse bastards can even cobble together a strike force that could fight its way out of a card board box.” The second suited man stated. “The griffons are the real dangerous ones; they’re tearing up the tunnels in that machine of theirs.” “Now the griffons I would believe… only this is specifically an equine colony! One mostly made up of those pathetic dirt workers.” The first suited man stated with something akin to curiosity. “I also heard they had a bounty hunter among them, I believe her name is Flamethrower. She’s supposed to be a top rater in the pony sectors, which probably doesn’t mean much considering how pathetic ponies are to begin with. She has got to be on the griffon’s payroll, the ponies are probably here for different reasons, maybe as distractions. It’s either that or they are working on their own and know about the captured ponies we’re going to sell into slavery. If only the pirates would break that god damned blockade already! It can't be that hard.” “It’s a good guess at what those four legged multicolored freaks are here for at least, they rescue their people and the griffons get the planet. It would be no skin off their noses really, except for the fact that we want this planet ourselves. So whatever cute little thing those ponies are doing, we’re not going to let them pull off one of their last minute save the day in a cutesy way routines they are so fond of.” The woman started pacing back and forth holding two fingers up to her helmet. “Be on the lookout we have another intruder, they couldn’t have gone too far! Shoot to kill; we cannot afford to capture any of them alive.” Rarity stayed as quiet as she could and was trying not to moan in pain. Her eyes were starting to droop and she tried to stay awake, but she couldn’t possibly keep them open for much longer. The last thought that passed through her head before she blacked out was simply, who were all these horrid people? Author's Note GIR: Yay, a group of pro-human racists! No wait... isn't that a bad thing. Like a piggie that didn't get hugged? I'm going to sing the doom song now! -91-“We lost them, how could we have possibly lost a several ton machine rampaging through the tunnels?” The human shook his head and put two fingers to his helmet. “I’m calling this in. I can’t believe we lost something that large in the tunnels somewhere!” “Where could it have possibly gone, the thing was so big that we couldn’t have possibly missed it if it were coming this way.” The second person stated looking around with his light sweeping the tunnel ahead and behind them. “If anything the drones would have a heck of a time losing it, if they hadn’t been destroyed. If we don’t know where it is, then the drones certainly don’t either.” It would take several more minute of them searching the tunnel they were in, but they eventually decided to drive back to base. After five minutes of driving they continued on down a different tunnel by taking a right turn at a three way junction. “So that’s the way we need to go. All the blood is beginning to rush to my head, please tell me you got the gravity generator up and running correctly Greta.” Gilda was only slightly upside down, had anybody bother to look to the roof of the tunnel at the junction they would have seen the large machine hanging flush with the ceiling with all eight limbs. “Excuse me Gilda, but you are the one resting on your back here, while I’m the one stuck on the ceiling fixing things!” Greta called back tersely. They had obviously survived sliding through the tunnels, but not without injury. Greta had a bad concussion and a small head wound, but it wasn’t bad enough that she wasn’t doing her job after getting her head bandaged. “My concussion certainly isn’t exactly making me do my job any faster you know.” “Isn’t it a bit weird that you designed this thing to crawl along walls and ceilings, but didn’t take into account the passengers you might be carrying?” Ember was with the two engineers, she had caught up with the griffons beating off gaggles of drones that were damaging the Centaur-pede. She was horribly worried about the state of the others when she learned that they got separated by falling into the network of tunnels. While Ember really wanted to get into the thick of it and start troubleshooting their problems, in quite a literal fashion by emphasizing the shooting their troubles part, doing so now would expose Gilda and Greta to danger. That was not something Ember wanted to do. “What do you need now Greta?” “Well excuse us for living! Crawler mode is a bit of a thing and we haven’t exactly tested out all the bugs in the design.” Gilda was, as Greta had pointed out, in fact lying on her back facing the ceiling of the tunnel they were in. “I can assure you that testing the submarine mode will be a lot more harrowing if we have to do it on the spot with the sort of damage we’ve taken thus far. Anymore of this and we might not even be able to lift off for space to break that record.” While in crawler mode Centaur-pede’s torso shifted to an extreme forward position and used the two arms as legs. It made the entire machine look more like an insect, but a spider definitely wouldn’t be anyone’s first guess. “If we can even survive getting to a point where we would even need to test the submarine mode in our current state, then I’m sure there will be nothing to worry about because we will have all the time in the world. You know since we’ll be dead when the pressure collapses the entire structure inwards, but at least I’ll be buried next to the love of my life in a giant metal coffin as a lump of skewered flesh.” While Greta could pride herself on her and Gilda’s work, she was a bit iffy on vehicles that traveled underwater and wasn’t sure if the Centaur-pede could actually handle that kind of pressure. They were primarily specialized in space traveling vehicles, so other vehicles necessitated a bit more stress testing. “Now if only she would get off her ass and help me back here or at least do something useful. Speaking of useful, will you pass me that screwdriver Ember? I have to get this panel back in place.” “I don’t plan on dying until five more years down the line Greta, besides I am doing something important. I’m listening to what’s going on around us, until you can fix some of the internal damage. At least the limb swap function worked perfectly and the fresh limbs are all functioning nominally.” Hopefully nobody looked up in this section of the tunnel and noticed something entirely off about the curvature of the ceiling, even Gilda knew that it was impossible for them to go unnoticed forever. “Speaking of, good news, at least Applejack, Saffron and Rarity are safely inside their base and are apparently alive. At least for the time being, considering there are shoot to kill orders currently going on for all of us. That’s the bad news, aside from the fact that we really don’t know what’s going on down here. Thus far our friends' current statuses are unknown at best and we don’t know where Rover possibly got off to. Hopefully they’ll keep their heads down and Ember can find them quickly enough to extract them. They’re probably learning a lot more than we are at any rate.” “What about Viral, I’ve only had her for such a short amount of time and I already miss the way she wagged her tail.” Greta was being way too sentimental about a robot for Gilda’s taste. “I didn’t even get a chance to finish her. To think I spent so much time remodeling her from scrapped wolf robots.” “Greta, I’m sure your pet robot has been blasted apart by the drones by now. If not, who knows what it could be doing with the modifications you made to it. Why do you always insist on making your own pets?” There was a story behind it and Gilda wasn’t about to elaborate. “You mean to tell me that Viral isn’t the first thing that she has built?” That had Ember curious, what else had Greta built aside from a robot fox that could launch robot wolf controlling viruses. “Not by a long shot and it’s rather telling that the other pets she’s made aren’t around anymore. She loses them for a various number of reasons, which is mostly the the lunacy of my best friend trying to keep a pet. There was this one time that it almost went total grey goo scenario when she built a bunch of these self replicating kittens.” It almost sounded like Gilda was horrified about the cats, despite the fact that it sounded cute. She heard Ember chuckling lightly and decided to put a stop to it. “It’s not funny; it’s actually quite horrifying for a number of reasons.” “Hey, I gave the repli-cats a really firm limit as to how many there could actively be at any given time! I’m not dumb enough to let them have the ability to reproduce without setting very firm limitations. I also made it clearly impossible for them to use any form of loophole in their programming on the subject alone.” It was concerning that Greta may have started a robot kitten uprising, in fact they were all on the SNUGGLES space station as security drones now. “Unfortunately they no longer belong to me and are unionized as SNUGGLES members. They are far more effective at unionizing than even the Caccerans are and can break red tape faster than people can make it, I’m kind of oddly proud of them really. They are currently in charge of the SNUGGLES organization’s security, by mostly keeping the case workers safe from their more dangerous customers. At least they are still adorable and I can visit them any time I want, with Tree Hugger always following us around it’s not hard to run into them every now and then.” “Was it really that bad?” It almost sounded that bad to Ember and she was asking Gilda in the upper torso for clarification. The dragon hardly thought of Greta as being threatening when she was so friendly, much less that she could cause a devastating mechanical grey goo scenario on such an adorable concept as kittens are. “Yes, do not trust Greta with making robots. They are usually in the vein of cute or disturbing for varying reasons and they usually have some destructive defensive capability thrown in for good measure. The kittens were probably the most notable example of why Greta would never make a killing in the robotic pet world… unless killing is something you wanted them to do specifically.” Stopping to consider her words, Gilda shrugged and continued onwards without caring about Greta’s feelings in the slightest. “It’s actually kind of Greta’s hobby, one that thankfully never gets too far. We can trust her with fixing the average MAT or CAT drones, but building her own pets? Yeah, run for the hills, because Greta is a real piece of work when it comes to making pets for herself.” “Hey, those kittens are friendly and well adjusted members of society! Even knowing they can kill just about anything in five seconds…” Well at least Greta wanted to believe they weren’t evil in an adorable manner, but joining SNUGGLES to get out from under her claws wasn’t the most ridiculous thing to ever happen to Greta’s so called ‘pets’. The mechanical kittens didn’t seem to hate Greta or anything, they just didn’t want to be her pets and she was fine with that. They still like to be cuddled and held, which is all Greta could really ask for at this point as far as that situation was concerned. “Yes, we’re all certainly thankful for not having little robotic kittens as our overlords Greta. It’s a wonder that Opal never bothers to ask me just exactly why it is that I gave her the nickname ‘Kitten’. If she wants Greta to build her a body, all she really needs to do is ask. Greta’s an old pro at making dangerous mechanical felines... one could even say she enjoys pussies way too much.” The sarcastic tone Gilda spoke in made Greta very quiet, it had to be the double entendre that had shut Greta’s beak. The poor girl had to be blushing up a storm and Gilda didn’t care one iota at being the cause of such a reaction. “Anyway, we might need to move soon, because we can’t stay here forever and sooner or later someone is bound to look up. The electronic countermeasures that we’re using do not physically prevent someone from seeing us up here. So I’m going to move us nearer to the human base. While I do that, do you want to hear the mechanical pet fish story? That one was one of Greta’s crowning achievements for most ridiculous destruction of a robotic pet, bar none.” “So you gave Opal the affectionate nickname ‘Kitten’ because of… that’s… actually kind of funny.” At least Ember was only mildly amused and there was a giggle or two as she continued to watch Greta work. Ember was too worried about the rest of her hoard to really loosen up and enjoy the conversation. “I’m curious enough to ask, what exactly happened with the mechanical fish?” “It’s hard to believe even if I do tell you, but Greta can confirm it happened and it gets really bizarre. I’m actually taking into consideration that one of her creations might be a time and space traveling entity when I say that.” There was nothing more embarrassing that Gilda could talk about than what happened to Greta’s mechanical fish. “It started on a day that Greta forgot to feed the fish…” Right now Ember would stick to helping Gilda and Greta; they weren’t exactly the best fighters even if they were carrying the most weapons at the moment. If something went wrong, they’d definitely need her and as such she had to keep a clear head. Ember could not go off looking for Rarity and abandon these two, no matter how much it pains her that the centerpiece of her hoard was missing in action. Her scales itched like no tomorrow at the fact that her hoard was in danger and she couldn’t do a single thing to help them right this instant, it was especially bad when she could tell that her centerpiece needed her. - “Yeah, this is certainly worthy of a conspiracy theory nut going on about it.” Trying to piece this puzzle together was difficult for Saffron. The robotic animals were especially strange as it didn’t seem like something humans would do, but here was an entire base full of armed humans. They were responsible for the blizzards damaging the planet, that much could not be denied, but what was the entire point to all of this? That was what she was really working on. “Any idea’s Applejack… also are you okay?” “It’ll take more than a few bumps, cuts and bruises to put me down, don’t you worry none about me. The only real problem I had was how cold it was until we got into this facility proper.” They were currently taking cover in a storage room behind a bunch of boxes somewhere and Applejack was quite concerned about all the activity going on around this human base. “I don’t rightly have an idea as to what is going on any more than you do. Heck, all this is beyond a simple farmer like me. We’re way in over our heads and I don’t know how we rightfully got as far in as we did.” “Don’t sell yourself short, my day job was not exactly being a vigilante and none of this stuff is exactly my specific special talent.” As she talked Saffron was scanning Applejack and checking her status, minor injuries a split lip and a slightly lowered body temperature. Applejack was still healthy; she hadn’t been hit like Saffron had been a few times, then again Applejack wasn’t wearing a shielded and armored suit made for maneuverability and combat with an EVA suit underneath that. No, all Applejack had was a parka, a rifle and her hat. “I’m also wearing something that wasn’t exactly meant to be stealthy, but I’m managing to make it work at least.” “What is your day job?” It had bothered Applejack that she got stuck with the masked mare; one who hid her identity like this was unnerving to her sensibilities. “I was a chef for a family oriented restaurant, but that restaurant got burned down in the Canterlot kerfuffle with the Hands of Midas. If you haven’t heard about it yet, you will sooner or later. At least nobody I cared about got seriously hurt, but a lot of ponies lost their lives in that fight. I can’t really save everyone; I can only save those who are nearby to the best of my ability.” Sitting down Saffron tried to relax; working with Spitfire and Daring had been interesting. She’d do it all over again if she had to, but she knew she couldn’t be everywhere at once. With that in mind, she did the best she could to help ponies through that crisis and to think she had been so busy chasing dangerous underworld criminals when something much bigger was going on. She kind of missed the signs that those things were being built. “After that mess, I ended up joining Rarity’s crew and I don’t regret that choice for an instant. It’s certainly been an interesting experience; Rarity is the kind of mare I can get behind because she’ll help anyone who needs it. She is truly noble and that puts her in the thick of things because she can’t very well turn a blind eye to friends, family or people in trouble. It almost got her killed several times too, but I can admire a mare that would keep throwing herself into dangerous situations for the sake of others. I do it often enough myself for the sake of strangers.” “All that is great and all, I can also maybe understand needing to protect your identity because you don’t want anyone going after your family.” Really, Applejack could see why heroes wore masks or tried to keep their identities a secret. If she were a vigilante she wouldn’t want criminals hunting her family down because of her actions and doing the right thing. “What I want to know is what made you become a vigilante in the first place?” “I wanted to be a detective growing up; having a cutie mark for cooking didn’t help anyone take me seriously enough. I made my bed and I will sleep in it soundly.” Saffron looked around the metallic container for any sign of anyone coming; thankfully nobody had found them yet or entered this storage room. Everyone in this facility was obviously on high alert. “I might have broken a few laws, but I did it for the right reasons.” “Could that really be a good enough reason to break the law… aside from what we’re doing right now being important to saving my farm.” They were currently breaking and entering on a shadowy organizations operation, Applejack really couldn’t make too much of a complaint about law breaking at the moment when they were technically trespassing on private property that shouldn’t even exist to be trespassed upon. She idly started checking her material rifle for any damage from the frantic ride through the icy tunnels. “Sometimes, it takes extraordinary individuals to deal with problems others might turn a blind eye too or even more extraordinary situations. Rarity seems to have a knack for finding extraordinary situations.” Taking in the farmer’s actions, Saffron decided to check the status of her suit and all of what she had. All weapons were working, pinpoint puller and whip were working, the glide wings were undamaged and the only thing she could see actively see as being wrong with the suit was the fact that her shields were down to twenty three percent. “In fact, I prefer to be called something of a highly concerned citizen. If I hadn’t arrived on time, then Rarity would have been raped by a stallion that specializes in it. He rapes both the mind and the body with his magic; he was a bit difficult to put down and quite dangerous because of his ability with illusions. Look at it this way; I’m not doing this stuff for a profit and it can be at the cost of my personal health with little to show for it. Sometimes the people I rescue can be quite ungrateful despite everything I’m risking.” “Well I’m not ungrateful, but I think it’s really for the best that I don’t know who you are.” Slinging her rifle over her back Applejack turned to Saffron or as she knew her Mare-Do-Well. “Well Mare-Do-Well, what do we do now? We can’t stay in one place forever and these humans are going to find us eventually.” “We need to look around some more and get a better scope of the kind of operations going on around here and again, I’m not exactly wearing the most subtle thing in the world.” Understatement of the century, but Saffron was pretty sure that Applejack got the gist of what she was saying. “I’m going to record whatever we can find and it’ll be evidence enough of what’s going on, all I have to do is get out of this place alive with said evidence and give it to the one person who’d know what to do with it. Oh and we need to find my friends while we’re at it... if they’re even alive. They’re all survivors so I can at least be positive that they are doing particularly well.” - Rarity woke because of something causing her to be in absolute pain and she tried to sit up. It felt like a sharp ice pick being shoved into her brain, she wasn’t doing very well and she tried not to scream out loud as she quickly remembered why she was like this in the first place. Rarity’s right hind leg took a shot through it, her front left leg was broken and her body was battered. She was currently armed with only a material pistol, but she had plenty of magic… said magic was quite limited as she didn’t know very many useful spells in this situation. She was still in the box she had blacked out in, the door to the container was still open and there was something else in the box with her. It was bright pink and fluffy as all get out, it poked at Rarity’s broken leg sending a rather large signal of agony up her spine into her head. Rarity had to pull her leg away and she struggled to push the overly curious Puffle off of her. It was the same one that had somehow miraculously made it past all the security patrols, the ones that were out to kill any intruder on sight no less without a scratch on it. The Puffle just stared blankly at Rarity and its tongue slowly slid out of its mouth, it then blew a quick raspberry. Not that Rarity understood this creature or it’s mannerisms in the slightest, even if it was cute. Being cute certainly wasn’t helpful in this situation, also it was kind of annoying that this thing had been through so much and it didn’t look horrible injured in the slightest. “Okay Rarity, remember how you got into this situation.” Her right hind leg was of suspect usefulness, but at least her breach gel had sealed that wound and it was mostly just flesh damage. She could limp, but her front left leg needed to be in a rudimentary sling. She would have bled out by now if the breach gel hadn’t closed off her external injury. “I’m horribly injured and happen to be in a really dangerous place. The only thing that could help me now is my magic, my impeccable aim and what is termed as the absolute dumbest creature on the planet… well I’ve worked with less before. I believe danger and intrigue is currently in style, but I’m not exactly going to be able to move swiftly by myself… but…” The Puffle blinked as Rarity gave her a look, well Rover said it was female. She still seemed more like an ‘it’ to Rarity. Rarity narrowed her eyes at it and started to carefully pull off her parka while the dumb thing watched her. There wasn’t any time for being lazy, she had to do something and sitting around here waiting to be discovered wasn’t going to do her any good. Now what part of the parka would she be okay with desecrating? Maybe she didn’t need to desecrate it too badly, but instead she could repair it with magic as long as the pain didn’t distract her. Having pulled off the parka she used one of the few spells that she spent a lot of time mastering, it was a fabric repairing spell and it would fix the holes in the park with what material she had, provided she hadn’t lost too much of it. The Puffle watched the magic glow transfixed and started smile as she watched Rarity work on the parka. Sliding her broken leg carefully back into the sleeve, she used another spell to stiffen the cloth into position to make an improvised sling and she didn’t have to destroy much of her parka to do it. She still decided to rip off the bottom section of the parka; she used the resulting several strips of cloth to hold her leg against her chest. She smiled at her handiwork. “There that should do it. Knowing how to dress a wound is something that all professional fashion designers should be capable of. At least I think I’ve done a good job of it. I just have to avoid…” Rarity let out a frustrated sound of pain as the Puffle poked her broken leg. “Would you stop that, it hurts!” The Puffle backed off in complete confusion, not understanding Rarity’s emotions in any shape or form and instead it just gave her a bright smile. Being cute and possibly indestructible might be the two biggest defense mechanisms that a Puffle had; their best defense would always indisputably be their lethal stupidity and penchant for leading others into disastrous situations. “What was that, who’s there!” It sounded like Rarity might have alerted someone to her position with her yell. “Oh bother…” Rarity grumbled and shifted herself carefully onto her back. She levitated out her material pistol and used her left hind leg to kick the dumb creature out of the box in the hopes that it distracted the guy long enough for Rarity to get the drop on him. “Oh god, it’s a Puffle!” The human or Rarity assumed it was a human, seemed particularly horrified by the sight of a Puffle. Said creature just looked up at him innocently as soon as it was kicked out of the box. It didn’t seem to care that Rarity had kicked it or even put it in danger, it just sat there staring at what Rarity assumed was a human. The Puffle tilted its head and blew a raspberry and that was all it took for the chatter of a machine gun to be unleashed upon her pink fluffy hide. Rarity was witness to the most absurd thing ever from her position as the Puffle went rolling backwards under the stream of fire and when it stopped the guy holding the machine gun rushed toward the uninjured pink fluff ball with a knife. Rarity could understand why the human decided to go for using a combat knife on the Puffle; all the bullets fell to the floor after hitting its ridiculously thick fur. Even Rarity thought that stabbing it in the face would probably be the best option to injure it at this point, especially if material rounds were hopelessly ineffective at piercing through its insurmountable wall of fur. Rarity kind of felt bad for shooting someone in the back, she looked over the uniform with her eye for detail and noticed a good spot to aim for. She fired a single high speed rock through the guy’s thigh, his legs went out from under him and he fell down in front of the box Rarity was in. She quickly tore off his helmet with her magic and then slammed her material pistol into his skull before slowly trying to pull in his unconscious form. That was a bit more difficult considering her injuries The Puffle looked at the guy going to sleep and the mare that had been sleeping in here, so it must have been quite comfortable. She decided to help and started to push the guy into the box to help the funny legged creature that made loud noises when you poked the funny leg too much. She wanted to help the two leg walker sleep too! Sometimes moving things started sleeping for a really long time, but that was okay because they always got funny smells after a while and became full of interesting little wiggling things that made the long time sleeper slowly disappear as if by magic. She always knew to never sleep that long or get those really funny smells, she thought she was a rather smart Puffle. On some level, Rarity was a bit horrified that she had used something as childlike and innocent as the Puffle was. She used it as a decoy out of self preservation, but was more surprised that it was probably the best call considering that the Puffle came out of the situation without a single scratch and a happy idiotic smile on its face. Rarity idly considered the fact that energy weapons or fire would likely have more of an effect against the pink puffball. Why was it exactly helping her pulled the guy into the box? Did the dumb thing actually like her? Well that would be somewhat good for Rarity; she could really use a friend right now. Now how does one go about taming a wild animal? Rarity wished she knew because she planned to ride it around, she wasn’t going to be walking very far in her state. The Puffle turned to her as soon as the guy was in the box and it blew a raspberry. Rarity slowly climbed on top of it and it didn’t fight her at all. Now how did she get the Puffle to go where she wanted her to go? The Puffle just idled there for a minute and looked around in confusion, then it started giggling happily as it started running in random directions. It only took seconds for Rarity to realize that riding the Puffle was an absolutely terrible idea. What had she exactly been thinking when she decided to do this? At least her ride didn’t seem to have any problem with her weight. - Rover popped up near an entrance to the facility. While he couldn’t dig through solid metal, the tunnels were mostly made of ice, snow and dirt. He spied on the humans around the corner and then heard something coming up behind him; he quickly spun around and brought his energy rifle around only to hold his fire. Viral yipped happily at seeing him and wagged her tail, even if Rover was aiming a gun in her face. “Rover is glad to see friend’s machine is doing well, stay with me.” Rover pointed around the corner and Viral moved over to peak around the corner with him at the guards watching the entrance. He didn’t know where the others were, but he had a pretty good guess they were already inside the facility considering all the tunnels led here. He found Viral to be really quite lifelike, but not anything like Opal. Opal had always smelled weird to Rover, but he just figured everyone ignored the odd smell Opal gave off. Maybe they just couldn’t smell it; Rover didn’t know or care much at the moment for mysteries. He had to find the Boss Lady or at least one of his companions. Greta had programmed Viral to follow the commands of her friends, with varying levels of authority. Rover admittedly was at the lower end of said authority, but he could still tell Viral what to do. Author's Note Fluffle Puff has seen some things, but has never actually realized the fact that she has... such as dead bodies. Instead her simple mind can't comprehend death or the fact that she might have actually been the cause of said deaths. When you are a Puffle, happy ignorance is bliss when your entire species is known for being disaster prone. Noting the fact that material weapons have little effect on Puffles. Rarity using some magic related to the manipulation of clothing, simple magic spells of what little she has in her repertoire. I've been pretty lethargic lately. I probably need more sleep. -92-“Why did I think this was a good idea?” Rarity mumbled out loud to herself, trying to get the Puffle to go where she wanted was a bit hard. She could still see the container she left the unconscious body in, the guy wouldn’t stay down forever… oh and her ride was digging into snow again. The Puffle was possibly eating some of the snow to stay hydrated. “What are you looking for?” Slowly getting off of the Puffle and trying not to wince at putting pressure on her right leg that was shot through, Rarity looked up at the tunnel above and then down to the mound of snow that was now missing one large wolf robot. She was in a wide cavernous space with a tunnel on the far side of the snow and looking to the left she saw something that looked like a garage entrance, the décor of the facility was Spartan at best and it could be better. They had obviously moved the large robot wolf she had destroyed while she was out cold to the world. Behind Rarity were the several boxes and crates of supplies she had hidden amongst and the smaller entrance to this facility whatever it was. It made her wonder how nobody found her; it wouldn’t have been that hard to just look in the container. Of course the entrance hadn’t been guarded until after she blacked out in the container, so the humans had to assume she was already in the base and posted a single door guard there. There was a loud gasp of surprise and Rarity almost went for her material pistol that was one round lighter, she turned to the Puffle to see it was kicking both rear hooves at the air. Slowly the pink puffball pulled out of the snow with a root in its mouth and then it sat down. She started to eat the disgusting looking thing she had dug up that was leaking an eerie orange sludge. It was only out of mild interest that Rarity watched it consume the root entirely, after which it or she started to eat the snow. It was kind of hard to think of it as being female. So it could find food and stay hydrated, but it was too dumb for anything other than its own survival. It was interesting to watch at least, it made her wonder how the species procreated considering the fur is thick enough to stop material rounds or machine gun bullets, some of which hit the Puffle in the face where its fur had to be the thinnest. “How do I make you go where I want you to go?” Obviously Rarity was not riding the Puffle back to the tunnel she fell from after dealing with the alpha sized robot. Riding into the tunnel at the level she was at now was also out as she didn’t think she’d survive a drone swarm right now, the Puffle would undoubtedly survive it somehow. It was becoming clear to her that these creatures were so simple minded that… that thinking of that gave her a good idea. She whistled sharply and lit her horn to cast a very basic spell from the traditional three that all unicorns knew, she had seen it earlier and it only occurred to her now that the Puffle had been staring while she mended her parka. “Hey there, look at this, do you like this?” Magic missile, levitation and light were the three spells all unicorns knew. Rarity wasn’t particularly good at magic missile since she didn’t have the power to pour on any really damaging force from her horn and her levitation was advanced in so far as she was good at having fine control over many small objects that didn’t weigh much. You could give her a box of needles and she could probably get them moving at sixty or seventy miles an hour going a circle around her. As such Rarity’s levitation spell might have been short range and only capable of handling so much weight of a single particular object, but she could get quite lethal with it. All it would take is giving the objects momentum and then releasing her hold of them at the right moment. A pistol used less magic to levitate and shoot though and that’s why she trained with them as a weapon of choice, she only need to grip the pistol in three places with her magic, handle, barrel and trigger. What she was currently doing was using the highly modular light spell. A light spell was the easiest spell for any unicorn to achieve, for it was very hard to get wrong in any way, shape or form. Light can be given form in a multitude of ways, speaking of light her helmet’s lights weren’t on and she really didn’t need them to be as this place was quite well lit. There were lights above the garage and door entrances pointing outwards. Her light spell was more specific than that. A light spell could just be the unicorn’s horn lighting up, shooting out a cone of light, a cylindrical beam of light, creating an orb of light at the tip of the horn, creating a ball of light that moved where the unicorn needed it and more. The light could be magically shaped to go in any direction; it could be as strong as sunlight or even be a black light if you were a detective pony. The more complicated the light the more energy it used up, the light spell was quite a versatile spell. Magic missile taught power, levitation taught control and the light spell taught imagination. Rarity had a lot of control, very little power and her imagination, when she used it, was limitless. Rarity made sure to concentrate on what she was doing and the Puffle eating the snow stopped when it saw a tiny pink dot in the snow. It sat there for a moment with a bit of snow melting in its open mouth and then it pounced on the spot of light. Moving the dot towards her, Rarity watched as the Puffle followed it clearly fascinated. Once the Puffle was close enough she stopped channeling her magic and carefully climbed onto its suddenly idle back, once again becoming a rather ignored bit of weight. “Let’s try this again shall we?” Rarity lit her horn and the Puffle looked at the little bit of light excitedly and started to follow it straight towards the door leading into the facility. Once they reached the door Rarity stopped using her magic and the Puffle paused making a confused noise. Rarity’s assumption that they thought she must have gotten into the facility proper was quickly shot down, that is unless they thought she was capable of entering the password for the door. There was a key pad right next to the door and above it was an idle display screen. The Puffle didn’t seem to be ready to wander off as it kept looking around for the small bit of light Rarity created. Now looking at the keypad, Rarity slowly thought of an idea. She used the light spell again, but modified it to light one specific thing hoping that at least one person had used the keypad without gloves on. It wasn’t exactly placing a black light on the keypad, but it was close enough as she could see five keys had been used specifically. One, two, three, five and seven were the numbers she had to work with, she had no idea what order to press them in. She also only had one real chance at this; a wrong entry could have someone coming to investigate why there was a wrong entry. Rarity scrutinized the fingerprints and the side of the door the keypad was. The keypad was on left side of the door. She considered the way an arm would raise and how it would touch the keys on the door, the person was right handed judging by the way the prints were settled. The Puffle was quickly losing interest and Rarity lit her horn once more to keep it in place trying to catch the speck of pink light on the floor excitedly. “Let’s see, right handed, the human only used one finger when pressing the keys. The angle of approach shows me an idea of how a human would raise their hand to press the first key and the last one. The keys are pressed… I think the first key is two and the last one is five.” Rarity figured this out because the first key was pressed at an angle and the last key had to have been pressed more vertically. So she only had three numbers to figure out. “Why does a number ending in five and beginning with two seem quite familiar? It’s on the tip of my tongue why.” She studied the keys more closely and thought about the order the keys could be pressed in and her eye for detail eventually made it click for her. She just couldn’t believe it would be that number, because the negative of that number meant... “Well now, I think I see a theme going on here. Absolute zero in Celsius is minus two, seven, three, decimal point, one and finally… five.” She used her magic to hit each key and waited, what happened next was a bar of light above the door turning green and it slid up and out of the way. “Well Rarity, you are simply genius!” As Rarity preened at getting the door to open, what was not simply genius was that the Puffle decided to run through the door way to explore a new place with her still straddling it. Beyond the door was a small corridor with two doors, one leading to the garage next door and the one at the end of a reception area like place. The Puffle had slowed down when it saw a humming human vending machine and stopped to stare at it. Rarity kept her eye on the reception area ahead of them and the fact that it had fortifications and a camera; they were thankfully out of range of the camera so far. Things could only get dicier from here on in, especially if she had to keep the random pink fluffy creature under her from doing something absolutely stupid. That had been a chore so far, trying to stealthily travel through the building would be much harder. This facility required investigating and she was certain the others were doing better than she was, but the Puffle wasn’t exactly a quiet creature to be riding on in this situation as it kept making loud gasping noises at every single new thing it saw. There was a table and chairs sitting before the armored checkpoint room that could be used as cover during a siege. The décor was once again rather bland and Spartan, blue, white and silver seemed to be the colors of the day, along with that tilted cube symbol and no name for the organization that made this place to speak of. It was rather bland and tasteless really. Some of the walls looked a bit damaged, but on the whole she’d say there had never been a firefight here and this facility had been here for the most part of a year. Concentrating, Rarity recreated the speck of light and led the Puffle towards the door to the garage near the entrance. The Puffle followed it excitedly and Rarity knew she had long since figured out the best method of controlling her ride, it wasn’t even an effort or magically exhausting. She moved the Puffle to the side of the door and opened it with her magic and leaned to her left to look through it while making sure to stay careful. There were several vehicles in there, mostly vans or covered truck vehicles and she could see a few humans talking with one another. She quickly shut the door; she really didn’t want to attract any attention to herself. Destroying the camera or trying to break through the checkpoint station would mean doing the same thing as entering the motor pool beyond the nearby door; thankfully they were too distracted to notice the door opening and closing. What was she going to do now? Wait… light spell! She was getting all kinds of inspirations, but it would be a bit more magic intensive to create light that can bend all other sources of light around her. “I wonder why no unicorn has thought of this before, I mean sure there are illusions that do the same thing, but they have no effect on technology. Plus there are spells that alter the body so that it can become clear, but this…” Rarity lit her horn and wrapped a light that bent light around her right hoof and watched as it disappeared entirely. It wasn’t very intensive, but it was a bit draining. “It makes me wonder how dumb unicorns really are if we haven’t figured out a thousand uses for this one spell by now. I’ve always admired stars and other shiny things… I just never considered what light was really capable of before this. The big difference here is that there are so many costlier spells made to do this one specific thing and I can do it with a simple light spell and some ingenuity.” Rarity expanded the field around her and the Puffle’s body and felt a slightly larger drain on her magic, but it wasn’t bad. It would be worse if she wasn’t at rest on the Puffle, now the real problem came into play… how was she going to steer the Puffle if she had to concentrate her effort on the light spell? With a little bit of sweating, which Rarity obviously didn’t like doing, she managed to create the pink dot of light that attracted the Puffle’s attention by moving a slow circle. In terms of magic, this was nothing. In the terms of concentration… it was a constant mental effort on her part to cast the same spell twice while the first one was still going. This was on top of the pain from her broken leg and her thigh wound being quite vocal about her current condition, her pain receptors were still firing on all cylinders at least. Now wasn’t a good time to experiment, because this was giving her a bit of a headache and it would be harder to pull off this new form of the light spell while more injured than she currently was. The Puffle started running after the dot which Rarity wasn’t moving at all, it stayed at a set distance ahead of the Puffle all the same. Rarity quickly dropped the second light spell as soon as they were under the camera; the first was easier to hold on to and the camera didn’t set off any alarms so it worked. It was good news that she learned how to make herself invisible at a fraction of the cost, where even the most studious unicorn would be doing such a spell the hard and overly complicated way with all kinds of convoluted math and equations. This use of the light spell likely did nothing for Rarity’s smell, body heat, the sounds she made or if she were to walk in soft substances like snow or mud; she’d be rather easy to spot. Then there were motion detectors that could be keyed to specific sizes, like say the size of an Equus Pony. As such there were many drawbacks to that particular use of the light spell; in this instance the camera couldn’t see her as it thankfully didn’t have a heat or motion sensor. Maybe it would have picked up the noise, but without something visible to go off of, the camera wouldn’t set off an alarm. There was also such thing as a magic sensor as well, so the spell wouldn’t even prevent that from detecting her either. It would have been nice to have at least known this use of the light spell when she met Mind Field and it could be quite useful in many other situations. Against a changeling this kind of thing was all but useless given they can detect emotions and the direction said emotions came from. It was rather situational and Rarity understood that completely, aside from knowing her limitations it made her feel a little like Vera. She looked up at the camera and waited while dropping the light spell keeping her and the Puffle invisible. She had to save on her magic, because she used that to wield her pistol and couldn’t use all of it up on constantly holding up the stealth field. She timed the creation of the pink dot and moved the Puffle over to the checkpoint and peered into the window from the Puffle’s back. Rarity saw the switch that opened the door and hit it with her magic causing the door next to her to open and then she swiftly made the Puffle move out of sight of the camera before it was too late. The camera swung back and saw nothing out of the ordinary at the checkpoint, before continuing back to the reception areas table and chairs. - They were parked outside the facility in one of the many large cavernous snow fields, on the ceiling looking at one of the sections of the large underground facility. “This place looks really big.” Idly commented Greta who was working on something with her data pad, she and Ember were on the ceiling again after having been stuck at the very butt end while Gilda had piloted the elongated monstrous machine up the wall to their current position. “The firewalls are too tough, I can’t hack into anything and I can’t really do much without them noticing where we are. I’d be painting a target on all our backsides if I tried anything more than what I already am just probing their systems.” “Then you got nothing at all then, well that’s no surprise. Humans got their technology to where it is now by hacking, creating viruses, building firewalls and being complete and utter assholes to each other. It’s how they evolve, they take the worst and best of themselves and build on that. Even the most tragic things in their history solved problems; it just takes them a while to get around to the fact that the problem is already solved. Like how they stuck their heads in the sand about cancer for more than a hundred years before someone found out that there was a cure for it, that it was quite readily available and it could even be cheaply mass produced. Humans are kind of assholes and greedy like that, especially those corporations that made all that money off something that they had already solved. Only a fraction of that money that was earned was spent on only alleviating the symptoms and making more money for the filthy rich, said people who bought out the media and practically owned the world at that point. One can imagine the riots that were caused when it was found out that the cure had been actively delayed by a worldwide pharmaceutical company conspiracy for monetary reasons… half the planet devolved into anarchy in under five minutes.” They were also a self destructive race that evolved and changed in many ways both great and terrible, which made them kind of like Griffons and Gilda could respect that. What she couldn’t respect was not actually putting any effort into something once you were paid to do it, griffons did things for money and they did what they were paid for when they gave a price even if they were greedy. Rarity made it hard to be greedy and her altruistic tendencies were rubbing off on the people around her. “So our chances of getting into their system are all but impossible without some kind of backdoor, these guys seem like the kind of professionals. They don’t even leave a name on any of their symbols anywhere. From what I have seen so far, whoever they are they are not advertising themselves very well and that’s dangerous.” “So do I go in and try to find the others for a quick extraction?” Ember was already getting her EVA suit on and up to her neck, her wings were compressed against her back and she slowly patted her special rifle. All she had to do was put on her helmet and drop out of the Centaur-pede. “No, wait a moment Ember; I think I might actually have something!” Greta started sending the sudden influx of data to Gilda. “Are you getting this Gilda?” “Interesting, a map of the facility and all the surrounding tunnels…” It might have mildly impressed Gilda that Greta managed to do this when she said it was practically impossible seconds ago. “How exactly did you get this Greta?” “I just got back into contact range with my Deus Ex Machina. It looks like my little Viral is still operational, let’s see… I can piggy back their communications using Viral’s tail as a back door. You’d think they would fix that kind of oversight, it’s given me some light access to their systems.” Next to Greta was a very attentive Ember. “I now know where Rarity, Applejack and Saffron are. Marking their current locations, they’re moving so I have to update every minute or so. They’re alive, but I don’t know what their condition is. They all seem to be moving well enough, Applejack and Saffron are causing all sorts of alarms to be raised. They seem to be proving hard to catch thanks to Ar-Mare-Do-Well being good at escaping situations.” “What about Rover?” It might be selfish of Ember, but she wanted to leave with her entire hoard alive. Every single member of Rarity’s crew mattered to her, they belonged to her and nobody was going to hurt them or take them from her without a response from an aggravated dragon. “He’s currently right next to Viral and I can see him. I’m putting it up on the screen now.” The screen Greta had previously used to remote control Viral appeared and they could see things from Viral’s view, Viral was currently focused on Rover and beyond him was a group of five guards. It seemed as if security in the upper levels of the facility were heightened thanks to Applejack and Saffron going on a merry rampage to find a place to go where it’s safe. Hallways of security camera’s, enemy MAT drones and humans were in their way and they were somehow successfully bypassing most of it. Probably Saffron’s doing if Greta knew anything about the armor she helped design. “I’ll get in touch with him; thanks to Viral acting as a mobile back door. I just need her to plug directly into a computer to get into some really sensitive data. Such as what is really going on here.” “Any chance I can meet up with any of them in a timely manner?” Ember wanted to be with at least one scrap of her hoard out in the field and Rarity would be her choice to go after, she was Ember’s centerpiece and she needed her dragon. Psychologically speaking, Ember wanted to preserve and protect her most precious gem first and foremost. “I can get you either to Rover or Applejack and Saffron, the humans don’t know about Rover’s presence for the time being and I need you to be quiet for a moment so I can stop him from taking a plan of action if he even has one. As for Rarity… she’s further down than us as you can see on this map.” Pushing a single button on her data pad, a map popped up showing Ember where they were in relation to everyone and everything. Personally they knew where their friends were, but talking to them would lead someone to finding their communications line which wasn’t exactly secure at the moment. “The eight towers above, where the blizzards started from, we destroyed the southernmost tower here. We accidentally fell into this tunnel here and I don’t know how everyone got to where they are now, but Rarity is the furthest down from us. She’ll have to use an elevator or at least climb a shaft to meet up with any of us here, here and here. Problem is we can’t actively use our communications or else they’ll discover us immediately, unless they happen to be around Viral who can mask our communications to our friends. So…” “Operation: Totally Asinine Reason to Dubiously Incite Suffrage?” One could almost hear the upturn of a beak turning into a smirk, at least Gilda was enjoying all this crazy stuff they were getting into and she didn’t have to lift a claw. She already did her awesome stuff, but when the time came she would do some more and until then she could kick back and relax. “Just get Viral to a computer to screw over the system for more information and open communications, we find our people and get them out if needed, find out what our objectives are when it comes to dealing with this facility and from there… the most likely outcome will be glorious if we aren’t stopped in time.” The facility was at least eighty stories tall and there was one large room that took up thirty stories of space off to the side inside the facility that read as captured product. Greta, Ember and Gilda were sitting above the halfway marker outside one of the sides of the facility which was not a perfectly rectangular or square building. In fact the building was designed and built a bit lopsidedly, but with the surrounding soil and rock for a support structure that didn’t matter much. Rarity was three fourths of the way down deep into the facility, barely two floors up from the Centaur-pede was Rover and lastly Applejack and Saffron were near the top of the facility where there was a lot of heightened security and more of a commotion going on. They even had a read out of the tunnel networks that showed them as almost being a fraction of a mile or so below the surface of the planet. This place looked a bit convoluted to get around and it was large, it must have taken quite some time to build and even get this stuff by the Ponies that started settling on this planet a long while ago. The underground facility was located dead center in the eye of the blizzards and the seven remaining towers. The humans were definitely connected to the problems plaguing the Ponies that had settled on this planet and happened to be doing a good job of damaging the climate while doing so. Once they had all the information of what was going on, then they’d have a pretty decisive course of action as Gilda stated. - “Rover, drop whatever you’re doing and pay attention.” Hearing the sound of Greta’s voice caused Rover to jump slightly, but instead of being fearful he turned to the robotic fox with a smile. “Rover is thinking you are having good news?” Rover backed away from the corner and was carefully watching his surroundings; he had his ears listening for the sign of any incoming drones. They had a very annoying pitch to them as they flew around and he was thankful that his friends were okay. Well as far as he knew, it was certain that Greta was okay at least. “What do you need Rover to do?” “About that, we don’t have entirely good news, but at least we know everyone is alive at the moment. We just can’t communicate with any of them; you however are safe because Viral found you.” There was a large amount of positivity in Greta’s voice and the fox looked to be smiling as if mirroring the griffon’s mood. “I can probably bypass or disable security by getting Viral close enough to them, but to really do some interesting things Viral needs to reach a working computer intact. The humans are going to be the real problem as they’re currently in the way of that.” “What am I to be doing, there are one too many of them for me alone.” Rover wasn’t dumb, he had been getting smarter and learning a lot as of late while under fire. He was more curious as to why they were wearing parkas over their EVA suits, but he guessed it was some kind of precaution or added protection. He wasn’t one to question the Boss Lady on the ridiculousness of it. “That’s just it, you’re not alone Rover. I’m going to be with you in spirit, but if you could do us a very small favor and dig down right about here at a fifteen degree angle… then you’ll have all the help you’ll need.” The robotic fox with Greta’s voice coming from it moved over and pointed to a specific spot with its paw, why let the Diamond Dog forget he had a very unique talent in this situation. He wasn’t exactly constrained by the myriad of tunnels and could reach them in no time. “She’s blue, scaly and itching for a fight from the looks of it. Viral will wait here until you get back.” Rover had always thought of dragons as the scariest things in Equestria, as for now though? He wasn’t entirely sure who to be rightfully scared of. For one he was no longer on planet Equus and two his life of being a simple minded Diamond Dog was over with, he had been too deeply changed by the most dangerous individuals imaginable and one of them was his beloved Boss Lady. Oh and he was also friends with a dragon, so yeah he was now part of the scariest group of people you could imagine, well at least in Rover’s mind. You’d almost never think they were a bunch of merchants, crafters and entertainers with the way they got things done. Rover dug down in the way the robot;s paw pointed and slowed down when he neared a thin spot in the ice and snow, with a few more swings of his suit covered paws he came out right above an upside down Centaur-pede. Standing on the belly waiting for him was Ember in her EVA suit carrying three weapons, a rocket launcher, an energy pistol and her whip upgraded Trailblazer rifle. She leapt up and Rover helped to pull her up and into the hole he had dug, he started to dig his way back up to Viral and the Centaur-pede started to move away to let the snow fall out of the hole. “Just point me at these road blocks Rover!” A confident Ember followed Rover right back to the turn in the icy tunnel where Viral awaited them. “They won’t be around for much longer.” Author's Note This will get less and less interesting as it goes on... but that's because I'm the one that has to write all this. I'm pretty sure I'm at my halfway point for a million word fic, but it's my concern that this won't be too terribly interesting going forward. Rest assured that the combine total of every fan fiction I've ever wrote would actually add up to a million words. I really want to make this fan fiction a million words itself. I can't do worse than 'Twilight' with it's sparkling vampires right? Developments are still going on in space even when I'm not focusing on them and Rarity is busy here. I've always figured that there are multiple ways to do a magic spell, Rarity just found one of the unique ways to use a light creating spell. Doesn't mean she's unstoppable, it just means she needs to pick and choose when she uses it for the ultimate surprise factor. Magic Missile doesn't have much versatility and it's a blunt instrument that just says use more power to do more damage. You can maybe make it heat seeking or fire off a shotgun blast of missiles. Levitation is the bread and butter all unicorns learn for the excessive usefulness of it, such as manipulating things on the other side of glass without needing to physically touch something. It's the most common used spell among unicorns and is quite frankly the most common way they get a grasp on controlling their magic. The thing is though they have a limitation as they are the anchor point for the spell, meaning that lifting themselves requires an exponentially massive amount of magic. Other spells would be better utilized for flight than levitating themselves, like an anti-gravity spell. Now the light spell, a spell that generates light. It seems so simple and yet it has so many incredible uses depending on how inventive you could get with it. Imagine visual illusions that have an effect on machinery, instead of illusions that just affect the mind of only biological targets. The invisibility Rarity uses. The normal use of shedding light on a situation. You can get the ability to see things that aren't there with specific spectrum of light. There is the possibility of making light that only the user can visibly see, you can see in the dark when your opponent can't. Creating blinding flashes. Using light to play with cat like entities. Creating a targeting line for a magic missile to travel along. The most magic intensive use I can think of for the light spell would be what Radiance of the Power Ponies does, which is the use of hard light constructs. -94-Rarity felt like something was horribly wrong; the laboratory section was quite empty until she and Fluffy came across a body on the floor. Looking at it, it didn’t look like the guy died because of ranged weaponry. Instead looking at his neck, Rarity would think the guy was asphyxiated. What could have been strong enough to strangle a human and why didn’t it eat him? She could guess that the laboratory might have experiments or captured beings, but if it was anything volatile then it would have disposed of the body. It was the only one she had seen so far, as she got closer to the large room Greta wanted her to investigate. “Rarity, this is Greta, aside from my aching concussion we’re all doing mostly okay. I and Gilda have learned a lot about this place, but one of the things I don’t have is what’s in that large room down there. Ember is already in the area and should meet up with you soon to investigate. That or you’ll find her.” At least Greta sounded the same as always, which made Rarity glad for her safety and it sounded like everyone else was doing okay. “Rover, Applejack and Mare-Do-Well will meet up with you later. Make judgment calls on whatever you find. Damn, they noticed my intrusion! I need to pull out from the system before they can discover the Centaur-pede’s location. It looks like someone is actively watching for my intrusions now, so expect sporadic contact windows unless we can take over the command center of this place. I’m pulling the connection now, sorry we couldn’t talk Rarity.” “Well that was rather informative.” Using her magic Rarity had Fluffy turn the corner of the short pathway they were in to see several more dead bodies and sitting next to one of them was a brown Puffle that suddenly looked towards them. It was concerning Rarity that another Puffle was here next to several dead humans just looking at them in a strange manner. “Please don’t tell me…” Rarity had expected that humans were experimenting on the Puffles to make them more dangerous, at least humans had a tendency to make things more dangerous. The Puffle came up them and studied Fluffy for a moment and then slowly slid its tongue out of its mouth. It then blew a quick raspberry and Fluffy did the same back and then they started blowing raspberries in unison repeatedly. It almost sounded like they are communicating with each other with blank looks on their faces. The brown Puffle eventually stopped and gasped, then started smiling happily as Fluffy did the exact same thing. Rarity spent three minutes of watching their interactions from her perch on Fluffy’s back, said actions included licking one another once, running a tight circle, blowing a raspberry and jumping in place several times. It would have been adorable had Rarity not suspected Brownie of killing those humans. That’s when another Puffle wandered into the hallways, this one was orange and it ran up to them and then the slow tongue extending and the raspberry blowing started all over again. When they got around to gasping at each other in amazement, Rarity just had to comment on it. “I’m apparently looking for intelligent help in the worst place possible.” They were all rather cute, but Rarity didn’t think she could stand another Puffle style meet and greet. They were all so like minded it was uncanny that they weren’t all one creature with the same brain, which would give them all about two brain cells collectively. The two other Puffles looked at Rarity and they blew a raspberry, then went on ignoring her and playfully started to romp around one another with Rarity along for the ride down the direction they were headed towards initially. That was when Rarity saw a struggling human with a Puffle hugging him, its hooves were tightly wrapped around his neck in a loving embrace and he was flailing until his movements stopped. The red Puffle stopped hugging him and looked entirely confused about why the human stopped moving. “Note to self, never let Fluffy or any of her… family… friends… I don’t know what they are, but I know for certain that I don’t want them to hug me.” It had looked so innocent when it suffocated that human to death and that was really disturbing to Rarity, why hadn’t any of the Puffles tried to hug her to death yet? Maybe she was safe as long as she stayed on Fluffy. While she was thinking the Puffles went through another playful looking meet and greet which had Rarity shivering as she had a hunch that things were going to get far worse the more Puffles there were. Creating the dot of light, Rarity ran into an immediate problem when all the Puffles slammed their heads together trying to get at it, they all made the same adorable squeaks as they ended up on their butts rubbing at their head before returning to being all dumb smiles. “Well this is going to be very inconveniencing.” She’d have to use more magic to distract the other Puffles to keep them from running into each other. She sighed and at least thought of one of the positives of being in a laboratory. There had to be at least one medical kit around here somewhere. - Ember looked left and right tracking her rifle along the corridor, she had seen several eviscerated bodies and other bodies looked to have been just asphyxiated. She’s seen enough laboratories to know there’s been some kind of security breach, the question now was how many things got out and how dangerous was everything that escape. A shift behind her made Ember spin around and point her gun directly in the face of a yellow Puffle that simple blew a raspberry at the threatening posture Ember represented, it then proceeded to lick the second barrel of her gun and its nose became scrunched up. It gagged then moved on with its life as it didn’t like the taste. Ember knew Puffles were dangerous and continued to eye it warily. It didn’t seem all too curious about her as it only gave her a friendly smile and continued to explore its surroundings. A disturbing thought just crossed Ember’s mind. How in the world did a Puffle get down here and inside this facility? Well she now had an idea as to what had escaped containment, but why were humans capturing Puffles? There was the sudden sound of something slamming to the ground and Ember looked up from her thoughts to see a large six legged lizard creature that had short sharp hooks where its feet should be. It was trying to stab the Puffle. The key word here was trying, because it was failing to injure the Puffle at all. The lizard was a forest green color, with intermittent red stripes along its body leading to a short and rather stubby tail. A lizard creature with a short tail was a little odd, but the scales on its body were thicker around the rear and tail so attacking it from behind must have been pretty hard to do if you were a predatory creature. The Puffle giggled at being knocked over and grabbed one of the hook bladed legs that tried to penetrate its obscenely thick fur and cuddled against it. The creature started screeching in pain and tried to shake the Puffle off of its leg. The lizard tried to bite the Puffle with its sharp predatory teeth, which also failed when it only ended up with a mouthful of fur. From Ember’s perspective this was kind of sad to watch, concerning the predator was on the losing side of things and quite badly at that. The Puffle eventually fell off the leg with a squeak and the lizard growled angrily, its leg looked like it was broken considering how limply it hung. The Puffle didn’t seem to notice and latched itself onto the predator that it thought needed a hug. It did so by latching onto its face and snuggling it. The lizard spent the next two minutes trying to shake the Puffle off of its face and slashed its own body up with its hook blades. What was the reason for the lizards panicked assault on trying to get the rather affectionate Puffle off of itself? It couldn’t breathe with its mouth clamped shut by the Puffle’s hooves and all the fur stuck in its nostrils. It took only three minutes, but it slowed down and the Puffle looked confused about the fact that it stopped moving and blew a raspberry. Getting no response the Puffle let go as it obviously thought the lizard creature was sleeping and had enjoyed its cuddle time; Puffles didn’t exactly understand anger or aggression and thought it needed to be met with love and happiness. It didn’t even understand the blood slowly leaking out of the body on the floor and just wandered away to find other things to smile and gasp at. “Okay, that was absolutely horrifying to watch.” At least Ember knew what was eviscerating the humans and she even knew what was asphyxiating them as well. It was entirely playful and innocent throughout that entire interaction and didn’t seem to understand what it was doing to that poor monster. If Changelings were told about these creatures, they’d have to be warned first about their little habit of snuggling things to death. It was on the whole a really creepy thing to witness, it made her wonder why it left her alone and snuggled the lizard monster. Was that how they responded to aggression or anger? Did they even know how to feel sad? They certainly understood confusion well enough, which was one of their three states of mind aside from excitement or happiness. When Ember was just was closing in on the large room and she heard a scream in the distance, it didn’t sound like Rarity so it was of no issue to her. She stopped at three way intersection and looked around the left turn and saw another lizard thing ripping out pieces of a dead human’s lungs and devouring them. She fired three or so rounds into its head dropping it, she didn’t want it to attack her from behind as she turned right and went that way. The white of this place was beginning to get unnerving; she eventually stopped outside the door to the large room and saw the words cold storage written above the door. Ember put her back to the door and waited for Rarity to arrive. Greta had said that Rarity was being directed here and Ember didn’t want to leave until she knew for certain her centerpiece was safe. - “Greta how are things going, is everyone doing alright?” All this reading was boring, but Gilda knew it was important to the situation they were in. Contracts required more careful attention, what she was doing right now was skimming the data and stopping it when something caught her eagle eyes. “I’ve learned a few interesting things, if you’ve got the time to listen.” “It is going as well as can be expected. I’m trying to get a bead on the command center, but the map of the facility isn’t helping all that much in that endeavor.” Not many areas of the map were actually labeled coherently, but Greta was happy that you could kind of get an idea of where things were like the elevators or the stairs. Anything else was left up to chance as this facility had a lot of places to go and none of them were exactly friendly to intruders at the moment. “Our people with Viral are currently laying low for the moment; all those small walkers these humans have running around are really dangerous and hard to avoid. So what have you found out so far Gilda?” “Well the drones are definitely military and they aren’t here illegally, they are being used by UEG employees and that’s kind of a red flag.” Red flag nothing, all this was an open invitation to say the governments of Earth had planned this facility and it sounded like a political nightmare for the Humans since they can’t report the drones as being stolen. They were literally shipped to this planet and somebody had to have greased a few wheels or so to get them to this facility. “In fact there are a lot more things than that pointing to UEG being responsible for building this facility; I think we’ve busted our way into a government conspiracy here and it’s a really bad one.” UEG or United Earth Governments was the organization of all of humanity’s efforts put together into a solitary entity with each government controlling their own small portion of the Earth which was the Human home world. Every government on earth had a say in how Earth and or Humans presented themselves in a galactic manner. This facility stunk quite badly of underhanded dealings; some people in the UEG had this place built and it wasn’t by coincidence that the planet started to slowly freeze over despite being labeled an ever green world. Ever green planets were temperate year round and had a single mostly fixed climate all around, unless they fell out of alignment with their solar body and this planet hadn’t done that. This facility had screwed up the climate and it was on the orders of the UEG. It seemed rather familiar and Gilda tried to think of where she’s heard of something like this before. “Can you go into more detail?” It made Greta a little uneasy, the UEG was behind this? Wouldn’t that be a horrible scandal or nightmare for them if it ever came to light? Then again the people in this facility had all those defenses in place that prevented anyone from discovering this facility or even reaching it safely, which was what Rarity and the rest of them had done by accident while defeating a massive army of automated robots. In all likelihood nobody would have found out about the facility at all or any other facility like it. “Did you find anything as to their goal here?” “I can do you one better, I know exactly what they are doing here!” Gilda had remembered seeing news of something like this happening to planets belonging to other alien races; said planets were sold off to Humans. Large amount of aliens went missing and only a few turned up found and rescued from slavery rings or the people they were sold to by said slavers. Now that she was considering it, it all made sense as to what was happening. “The Humans are trying to expand their territory and they are doing it by stealing systems from other races. I’m surprised that no one has figured it out yet, it’s a rather unique concept really.” “How unique, and why do I get the feeling that I need a tin foil hat right about now?” It was a little hard for Greta to pay attention to what Rover was discussing with Applejack and Saffron, when Gilda was talking and attracting her attention like a siren. “Okay the machines they were using to cause the blizzards are probably of human in design. As for the defenses for the climate manipulators, I think they purchase a lot of outsourced robots to use. They probably don’t want humans to be connected to sudden changes in climate on whatever planet they’re trying to steal. When they planet gets enough coverage in the worst climate imaginable for said residents, they con the major present race out of ownership of the planet.” The minute Gilda said the words con, it sort of clicked for Greta and it was bad news that needed to be spread like a wild fire. “To give you an idea of what I’m thinking of, what’s the worst ideal climate for a Macropussian?” “Give me a second to think, they like warm temperate climates that are a bit dry with at least some water. A planet like Desserzon would be a good place to meet one. They don’t like excessively wet or stormy climates like a Parascine would enjoy.” The implications were beginning to build up to a staggering crescendo and Greta had a look of horror on her face. “Let me guess, the planet of Maldri Two?” Maldri Two was owned by the Macropussians; it was and used to be owned by them. It now belonged to the Humans after an unexplained disastrous change to the climate that started causing rain all over the planet in set waves. The planet was especially good in resources; however a lot of unexplained disappearances of their people and the destruction of multiple settlements thought to be caused by the weather made it uninhabitable by Macropussians. Once the Humans took over the planet, the climate started to slowly get better for them and the rains had almost immediately ceased being so frequent. “If you consider it, there’s also what happened to Hagolad Seven, Piroquen One and Infidado Four… all of them had strange climate problems before the Humans started making deals for each planet. After they got them, the climate problems became less of an issue after exactly a year. The planet’s climate becomes completely habitable for Humans.” Now they were doing the same thing to Applin Five and it disgusted Gilda, the Humans behind this galactic scale crime were absolute bastards and they were government level bastards no less. “That would be the projected estimates of how long it would take the humans to fix the climate to exactly their needs.” This meant the governments of Earth obviously knew all about this and even condoned or endorsed the thefts of said planets for Human gain. Ponies couldn’t handle prolonged winter very well and it explained the burned down buildings now. When the Ponies refused to flee the worsening conditions and a Pegasus squad or two get called in to fix the climate conditions… it led to the Humans attacking Gravenstein to prevent the discovery of their operations. They left behind those automated robots, to catch anyone they may have missed or as a bit of misdirection that Humans weren’t responsible for the damage to the town. The robots could be traced to the wrong people and the race that helped build them would take the fall for what the Humans were doing. “So they’re trying to steal the Applon System from the races of Equus. The people of Equus don’t have many planets and we can’t afford to lose what we do have, not to mention it’ll give the Humans a foothold to get into the Pony held systems.” For once Greta was rather furious, especially that this was happening to the people of Equus. “Well they are not getting this planet if we can help it, they are not getting away with this again and I’m sure Rarity would agree. This will be a reason for all races affected by this to go to war with the Humans. Unless the Humans can prove that they weren’t behind this and can refute the massive amounts of evidence we’re currently building up here. Heck we’re sitting in the middle of one of their secret operations right now and we’ve been recording all this information since we dropped on the planet!” “Calm down Greta, we’ll get them. I’ve noticed they have a pattern; at least they are hitting planets that aren’t the home worlds of various alien species. They are specifically hitting planets that don’t have a strong presence of military and are being freshly settled.” Gilda continued to read over some information and she just saw something of interest, but she’d mention it in a bit after she was done with their current topic at claw. “Hitting a home world would have been too suspicious, but hitting the fringes of other aliens territories? I believe they think its fair game no matter who they’re hitting. They’ve certainly gotten away with it so far up to this point. We’re the largest wrench they’ve ever had to deal with when it comes to their system stealing plans.” “You sound like you’ve got something else Gilda, what is it? Wait, please hold that thought.” Greta was still controlling Viral, but now she felt more vindictive about all these Humans having built a base on this world to wreck it and then make it their own. “Guys, we’ve found out what’s going on here and none of you are going to like it.” Greta proceeded to dump the information to Applejack, Rover and Saffron; there was a notable change in Saffron’s posture when it came up that the Humans were stealing planets. Mare-Do-Well heard an injustice and now she was angry. She wasn’t the only one as Applejack had kin that went missing and now she didn’t feel so sorry for shooting those Humans. Sure she’d feel awful if she killed them, but if they died from something else after she shot them then that wasn’t her fault. “Right, continue, I’m finished filling in our upper level group. We’ll have to fill in Rarity and Ember when we get a chance.” Greta wasn’t able to smile at the moment, not until this facility was taken out. They were still in the same spot they previously were, on the ceiling near the midsection of the facility and humans were running around below them on the snowy floor of the cavernous area. Nobody had spotted the Centaur-pede so far. Thankfully this cavern hadn’t collapsed; it was the tunnels that were really messed up. “I found this organizations name; it’s called Tempest Technologies.” Gilda started and the name was quite familiar for Greta as it would be to anyone else who heard it, the tilted cube logo wasn’t anywhere near the organization when it was operating publically. “It’s Kind of obvious what they specialize in.” - Ember perked up when she heard the sound of hooves coming towards her, but there were too many hooves to be Rarity. She watched the corner to the left from the door she sat herself in front of and saw Rarity come around the corner. She was riding a Puffle and there were several Puffles following her, apparently she was leading this pack of Puffles with four separate dots of light on the floor. “Oh thank goodness it’s you Rarity, are you okay?” Getting up, Ember approached the mare. She saw Rarity’s front left leg and she could see splotches of breach gel poking out from underneath her parka around her right thigh. Upon closer inspection Ember could see that the parka had been patched in an unnatural manner, Rarity has been hurt and quite badly by the way her leg was in a makeshift sling. “Nothing a little medical help couldn’t fix, I’ve been having problems finding a medical kit. I broke a leg and another one got shot clean through. I’m not going to insult your intelligence by telling you which ones as you can obviously see, I’m a mess.” Sighing audibly Rarity felt awful and was in quite a bit of pain. “I’m not up for much walking and I’m running quite frightfully low on magic. Also I’ve seen horrible things, you were right Puffles are dangerous. What I could really use right now are some pain killers. I must look to be in a most dreadful state and I’m sorry you had to see some of me like this. I’ve been doing quite horridly. It hasn’t all been bad at least; I’ve certainly learned a new trick or two that will be helpful if we can get out of here.” Ember wanted to sweep Rarity up into a hug, give her a sponge bath, then brush and comb her mane out until it sparkled like her personality and then tell her she was still beautiful no matter how she looked. To Ember, her centerpiece could wear a garbage bag and she would still be the most precious and attractive thing in her hoard. Now was not the time to make her centerpiece feel better, now was a time to see what was in the large room she’d been waiting in front of. “So I’m guessing you saw the Puffles kill someone.” Ember had contemplated how they were going to get through the door she had been waiting at. “Yes and I found it horribly disturbing. They are so adorable and innocent, but it seems like they don’t know their own strength when it comes to cuddling someone to death.” It made Rarity shiver to think about it, Puffles never showed an ounce of fear, anger or even anything that would be considered a negative emotion. They seemed so happy and simple minded that it was hard to think that they could murder someone by accident. Rarity still didn’t know what was eviscerating people, but it hadn’t been the fluff balls. “Speaking of disturbing things, have you by any chance seen some torn up Humans darling?” “Those can’t be blamed on the Puffles, there are these six legged stubby tailed lizard things with hooks at the ends of their legs. I’ve killed one of them personally.” After a quiet moment Ember, sighed and decided to tell Rarity about it. “A Puffle snuggled one to death, it looked like a vicious killing machine. At least until it attacked the Puffle I saw and the Puffle walked away with only a little bit of fur lost from the whole altercation.” “Can we change the subject? I really don’t want to think about Puffles at the moment, I’ve had to ride one to get here and I’m tired of dealing with their idiocy. Also I may have used them to attack a human or two on the way here and I’m not proud of myself for it.” This was concerning the fact that she had to cast a light spell every few seconds to keep Fluffy from wandering away from the door and at least one other dot for each Puffle present. It was really quite taxing for Rarity to deal with all these childish creatures; she really didn’t want her horn to have a magical blow out. “Since I am quite tired of having to deal with them, could you please be a dear and carry me?” “Sure thing Rarity, now I just got to be careful about this.” Ember put away her rifle and carefully lifted Rarity into her arms trying not to hurt her Pony. She held the fragile and most beautiful piece of her hoard against her chest and winced at the pain that produced. At least that walker hadn’t broken her ribs, but they had been put through a lot of stress and she could feel the bruising. She turned to the door and Rarity finally released the light spell. They waited as all the Puffles started to lose interest in the area and wander off, all except for Fluffy who stood there idly and blew a raspberry. “Now let’s see what’s in cold storage... I have a good hunch at what we’ll find.” “She’s not going to go away is she?” Whined Rarity, she was very tired of having to deal with Puffles. Sure they were cute at first, only now she was quite sure that she understood what Ember meant when she said they were dangerous. At least they were unintentionally dangerous by doing something out of what looked to be completely instinct. Shaking her head, Rarity leaned her head into Ember’s right shoulder and relaxed while directing her attention to the door; she cast another light spell that revealed several smudged finger prints. “This shouldn’t be too hard to figure out, though this is going to be much hard than when I previously did this.” Ember could see the fingerprints on the keypad and scrutinized them, but nothing came to mind as to the order that one would press them. Fluffy, for some reason just sat there staring at what the two other figures were. Not many people would know it, but she was the smartest Puffle alive. That wasn’t actually saying much as she was only slightly better than any other fluff ball like her. She sat down and stared at the two considering them, they didn’t need hugs like the others did. All those other guys really needed hugs until they fell asleep and she couldn’t help because she was too busy paying attention to the enticing light. “So why do you think the Puffles snuggle the humans hard enough to kill them?” It might sound odd to ask that question, but Rarity wasn’t about to back down from broaching the subject as she and Ember scrutinized the keypad. “At a guess, I think they have some sort of ability to sense anger, aggression, danger or darkness in others. Their defense mechanism to defeat such things is with love, cuddles and happiness in a very ironically deadly manner.” It was kind of sad that innocent creatures were so blissful in their ignorance, but Ember couldn’t blame them. If they knew what they were doing they probably wouldn’t do it as much anymore or at all, they also wouldn’t be as happy as they perpetually seemed. “I don’t think they even realize that they are killing people. At least I’m quite certain their innocence is not an act.” Fluffy moved in front of the two as they were busy looking at one another. She just stared at keypad and saw the small markings on it. She stood up on her hind legs and after reaching out to it with a hoof, she started to playfully paw at it. It seemed important to the two things… so maybe playing with it would help them figure things out! She smiled and started to slap randomly at the keypad, that’s when the two noticed what she was doing. She saw the enticing thing round thing, but ignored it and kept poking at the thing and then something happened. She looked to her left and the wall was gone, how do walls just suddenly disappear like that? “Did that Puffle just seriously open the door?” Ember asked in flat disbelief as the Fluffy gasped and moved into the room looking around at all the new things. She quickly followed and her eyes looked on in horror at what she was seeing “I do, in fact, believe Fluffy just did that.” Even Rarity was too shocked by what Fluffy did to notice the change in her surroundings; the odds of the Puffle figuring out the code were astronomical as much as having the dumb luck to punch in the right code in the first place without fingers. It took a moment to pick up on the fact that Ember was shocked about something else. “What is it Ember, what are you… oh.” It was a massive room filled with thousands of bodies that were frozen solid and crammed into this large place; they now knew what was in cold storage and where all those captured people went. Only there were more than either Rarity or Ember thought there would be, not all of them were Ponies either. A good number of them were Humans, thus further complicating the issue as to what was going on. An upset sounding squeal made the two turn to Fluffy, she now had her tongue stuck to a block of ice with a Pony inside. Author's Note Well that explains that guys reaction to Fluffle Puff a few chapters back. So a bunch of Puffles and Lizard things are running around killing people after breaking loose from containment. Walkers are patrolling other parts of the facility and a whole ton of other stuff is happening here, including but not limited to a government conspiracy. It leads to one good question, what is going on in space at this moment? Why am I avoiding it like the plague and what have I exactly got planned in future chapters related to said subject? The answer is simply, Opal. I want to take an entire month off from writing, mostly to enjoy the simple things in life. Which is why October might be a bit empty of chapters and that's a little more than a month away. Fair warning, I might not actually do at least one chapter a week during that month. I want to call the lizards Gillamonks, would that name be in bad taste? -95-The infrastructure of the Tempest Technologies’ facility was quickly becoming highly compromised; it wasn’t the walkers stomping around everywhere or the escaped lizard monsters randomly attacking humans from the shadows. Sometimes they did it in plain sight, but they were quickly dealt with. The lizard monsters were at best doing minimal damage to the infrastructure as they hunted for humans to eat. The major cause of all the damage happening around the facility was the Puffles running around everywhere. They were bumping into and knocking over fragile things, causing explosions, getting caught on fire, tipping over vats of dangerous chemicals, pressing buttons that had dire consequences for everyone involved and in general causing havoc everywhere they went and there weren’t even a hundred of them on the loose. It was more like eighty seven and they were slowly spreading around the facility through the air vents, elevators and stairs. Some were in groups and others went on alone to do some damage without really meaning to. The Humans of Tempest Technologies had already taken casualties when it came to capturing the Puffles for study in the first place, it was now worse that they got free from containment and they couldn’t contain the chaos as it started spreading. The walkers seemed to be enough to scare Puffles away or corral them, but capturing them and returning them back to containment was all but impossible. Well it was impossible if they didn’t use laser pointers, at least the walkers could paralyze them for a few seconds and or make them flee an area in fear while squeaking frantically. Walls were coming down, ceilings collapsed inwards and the entire facility was quickly becoming a collapsing mad house to the Humans. It was good news for Ember and Rarity at least; they’d have plenty of time for investigating their discovery. Meanwhile things weren’t going as well for Mare-Do-Well’s group when one of the facilities three commanders eventually found them, but before that happened they had been discussing Greta’s findings in the safest location for them to be in the facility at the moment. - “What are the chances that we can actually nail any government from the UEG? Which governments do we accuse of this specifically and do we have any other hard evidence other than the fact that military drones were sold to what is supposed to be a civilian technology company. It is a company that is known to suspiciously specialize in terrain changing devices.” Even Saffron knew that there was evidence of all the missing people from the climate incidents ending up in the hands of slave traders. Humans always seem to be around to buy the systems and this facility was made to alter the weather and do other nefarious things like it. It was pretty clear that UEG involvement couldn’t be denied, but it could be covered up and explained away. “We only have proof of UEG selling weapons to these people, not about them being directly involved.” “Rover is thinking, can we at least nail the Tempest people?” Rover received a few nods in response to his question, after that he went back to eating the cheese burger that he had. He stole it from the cafeteria they were currently in. Not like anyone was going to miss some food from this place anyway. “It’s about as much as we can get out of this whole darn situation near as I can tell, but I don’t really like it one bit that these Humans were trying to take the system from us.” Applejack was being quite honest about this. If she survived this then she was going to have problems with Humans, most likely for the rest of her life. She’d at least try to judge them on a person by person basis, but it’s going to be pretty hard to keep the memories of this incident from rising up or coming to mind. “I’m not going to be able to trust Humans very well after this whole mess.” “We wouldn’t expect you to be able to, especially because this is several magnitudes of wrong.” It looked a little odd that Viral was mimicking the up and down jaw movements to the sound of Greta’s voice, they were currently in a place that was safe. Nobody would have expected the intruders to stop for food or do so in one of their own cafeteria areas. All the Humans were too busy running around the facility like highly disturbed chickens. “It’s just unfortunate that Mare-Do-Well is correct, we won’t be able to outright nail anyone else aside from Tempest Tech for this. They’ll just deny it if we try and the best we can do is spread the information across every alien race we can so they won’t be able to get away with this again.” “At least we can do something to prevent this from happening to others; they’ve messed with the wrong Ponies!” Slapping a hoof at the floor, Saffron was rather angry at the fact that they couldn’t get UEG on much more than selling weapons. Like Greta said, that information could be swept under the rug. They didn’t know which of the many united governments did that, it might have been one or it might have been several involved. One thing was for certain, the UEG had its unclean fingers in several pies and the Applon System was not going to be one of them. “You won’t be preventing anything…” A silky smooth voice sounded out and that caught everyone’s attention to the Human woman walking into the room, her bright blue eyes showing hints of amusement as she had found them rather easily. She was wearing a purple suit that covered everything but her face and the sound of her heels clicking against the floor was unnerving; her unusually nice looking face had a grim smile plastered on it as she sauntered into the room. On her hips she had two pistols and four knives in a belt; she didn’t look equipped to handle the intruders. She was also fairly tall for a human woman and rather thin, there was just something off about her appearance. “To think you have most of this base out looking for you and here you are. I’m Commander Perja Rensada and I believe you’re on our property.” Saffron performed a scan on this Perja woman, whatever the Mare-Do-Well armor got out of her would have been helpful. The woman that walked in on them didn’t look like she had much to fear and a scan showed higher brain activity than normal for a human, she didn’t have any metal in her body so she didn’t have cybernetic enhancements at least. What if it wasn’t cybernetic enhancements that she had to worry about? Checking again, she noticed that the scans showed enhanced musculature beyond what was normal for a human and it looked like it was sculpted perfectly, which meant she wasn’t normal at all. The higher brain activity was probably something to be wary about then. “I think we can take you…” Saffron started off while taking a position between this woman and the others, only to be cut off by the woman speaking. “Your little group is not going to stop us. Eventually our numbers will wear you down even if you could beat me, which I very much doubt you will. You won’t be leaving this place alive either way.” The now named Perja stopped sauntering forward and staring at the three before her, Perja gave off a sincere sounding laugh as the group before her didn’t seem like much. One was a humanoid mutt, one looked like a farmer with that cowboy hat on her parka’s hood and the last one looked like she’ll last about a minute longer than the rest. The strange robot fox looked vaguely familiar, but was negligible as a threat and didn’t look like very much to her. She put hand up to the side of her head. “I’ve found some of the pests; I don’t think I’ll be needing help with them. So why don’t you try to find out where the other rats are, I’ve got this. So what are you, a machine or a Pony’s horrible attempt at creating a cybernetic entity? Doesn’t matter, because we’ll find out what makes you tick when we get your corpse. That is, if there even is one left to study when I’m done with all of you!” Saffron almost didn’t have to blink before she was skating sideways out of the path of a thunderous amount of energy bullets being fired at her; she had hardly even saw Perja pull out her energy pistols and she was already rapidly firing them by the time she reacted. Of the tens of shots that flew three tagged her shields and Perja performed cartwheel out of the way of her return fire from her front left hoof, weaving between her shots smoothly without pause as she continued to fire in the middle of her wheeling. After getting a better look at the weapons while trying to weave around the constant fire directed at her, Saffron took notice that these weren’t automatic energy pistols. It was just how fast Perja was pulling the triggers and it was an insane rate at which she was shooting them. The woman was fast and agile as she bounced between the tops of tables to balancing on the back of a chair for a second before rolling off its toppling form to the floor. All the while she continued to fire at Saffron while twisting and moving between every shot Saffron fired as if it were choreographed in advanced which was clearly impossible. Whoever Perja was in the grand scheme of things around here, she had obscenely heightened reflexes and was rather flexible considering the angles she was twisting into to shoot at Saffron or the other three targets in the room. The others hadn’t been idle; Rover, Applejack and Greta operating the mechanical fox knocked over the nearest tables or whatever they could use for cover and ducked behind them. Every other shot fired by Perja was aimed at someone other than Saffron who had taken twelve hits to the shields already. This human she was dangerously accurate with her insane rate of fire. Rover poked his head up and immediately ducked down, an energy bullet passed through the space his head just occupied and managed to hit the hood of his parka. He waved the tip of his rifle over his head and then swung around the side of the table; at least he managed to finish his snack and get his helmet back on before they got attacked. A shot flew where the tip of his rifle could be seen and he started firing a rapid amount of shots in conjunction with Saffron’s, it didn’t seemed to slow down this crazy Human one bit. Applejack took aim and tried to find a good time to shoot. She was trying to keep up with the Humans wild movements, but it was a little hard to do when Perja could jump to the ceiling and kick off of it at an angle while rotating her entire body to avoid being hit by the crossing fire from both Rover and Mare-Do-Well. Not only did the Human do this, she was still shooting at everyone as she spiraled to the floor into a handspring towards Applejack. The Earth Pony had to scramble to some other form of cover as Perja landed on the edge of the table shooting at her tail. She started to saunter along the edge of the table balanced perfectly while shooting at Rover, Mare-Do-Well and Applejack. Every shot fired at her, she just ducked, hopped, leaned and bent out of the way of in a slight blur. She was almost ignoring Viral, except the occasional potshot or so in the metal fox’s direction that made Greta quickly direct it away from the danger presented. Rover had the weapon with the highest rate of fire next to Saffron firing off both of the energy guns built into the hooves of her armor in alternating shots. Neither of them was having any luck hitting Perja as they were spending just as much time avoiding even getting hit by her shots, the most daunting thing about all this was that Perja didn’t even seem to need cover. Even Saffron needed to take a breather as she was taking a lot of hits for very little to show for it, her shields were getting close to having a critical existence failure. “I think I know what she is!” Saffron called out from behind cover and poked up to fire a few rounds to keep Perja off of Applejack. “Oh, please do tell me what I am; I’m very interested to hear this.” Perja looked to be a taking a leisurely stroll as her arms twisted and bent to fire and strange angles towards everyone, it was like she was a living ragdoll. She even sent ten or so more shots at the armored Pony who was proving sturdier than the commander would have liked. “She’s a biofeedback psychic!” It had to be one of the most dangerous types of Human that Saffron had ever heard of. It wasn’t a very good thing to meet one, much less be on the wrong side of a fight with said specific type of psychic. “Like knowing that will help you.” The woman stated mockingly with a sneer on her face as she suddenly blurred out of the way of a shot aimed for the back of her head by Applejack. The Pony took three grazing shots to the cheeks and neck that burnt away bits of orange fur as she ducked down. Actually knowing that would help, it’s just that you had to outlast the biofeedback psychic long enough for the detrimental part of using their bodies full capabilities for too long. This one in particular looked to be well trained and could probably handle more stress than a fresh Human who found out they were a biofeedback psychic. Most people didn’t survive a minute, let along outlast one long enough for the double edged effects to kick in and it had been barely twenty seconds, they’d need at least ten constant minutes of fighting to even start slowing her down. - Biofeedback psychics could do almost anything with their bodies. They could accelerate their healing, stop the aging process entirely and the one really troubling ability was that they had reaction times that almost bordered on being precognitive. Of the things they couldn’t do, they couldn’t reverse any aging that’s already happened once they learned how to stop it. They also could only heal so much and couldn’t grow back limbs. Not to mention there were severe drawbacks to using their muscles in an unrestrained manner over an extended period of time. There were Humans that were precognitive, but they never had the power of a biofeedback psychic and it wouldn’t surprise anyone else that Humans have tried to combine the two abilities together. Despite having such incredible and powerful abilities in their race, Humans thankfully didn’t have the ability to create psychic powers through cloning or forced breeding habits, which they’ve probably tried upon confirming the existence of psychics among their race. You had to be born with psychics powers; they could not be recreated or copied genetically. Surprisingly the Parascine race had the most knowledge on the subject as to why that was. Given a large number of their race had psychic abilities; it wasn’t hard to discern how they learned the idea of what caused said powers to come into existence. The problem with humans is that they thought psychic powers were related to genetics and not random chance; it caused a lot of issues and atrocities in the course of trying to build a perfect biological psychic weapon. Random chance could have been a little less helpful where Perja was concerned, as she had been in the prime of her life and if she had figured out how to stop her aging, then she wasn’t ever going to get any older. So making her an enemy would mean anyone in your family lineage wasn’t safe until she was absolutely dead, which wasn’t going to be very easy to accomplish. - The fact Applejack had already been shot three times in the span of half a second, even if the shots only grazed her face and neck, it was far too close for anyone’s comfort. Saffron ducked and weaved through the hail of fire as she skated forward at full burst in a zigzagging pattern. She threw herself at the Human to stop her from shooting at the others and Perja just performed a backwards flip and fired straight downwards as Saffron passed underneath. The shots hit the ground all around the armored pony. At least Saffron was moving too fast to hit, so there was at least some limit to this Human’s ability. The Human landed and twisted around to continue firing at Saffron’s backside only she had already rocketed sideways while knocking over another table to block the shots, said tables were made of a solid sturdy metal and thus made great barriers for the endless stream of energy bullets flying from the two guns. Saffron had only just recently learned that she could skate sideways and possibly in any direction on the dot at a moment’s notice, which is how she got out of the way so fast. Now Perja was heading towards Rover, only she had to dodge away when she got a chair thrown at her from behind the table. At least her powers didn’t give her the ability to automatically know where everyone was at once, which is why when she got a little confused when she didn’t see Rover after kicking the table with a mighty force that sent it slamming into the nearby wall. She neatly leaned back and forth out of the way of multiple bolts of energy that tried to hit her from the side. She rolled backwards towards the center of the room that was being cleared out by the fight. Perja came out of her roll to avoid a single shot from Applejack with a handstand, which lead her into an upside down upwards twisting kick that had her dodging five shots from Saffron. She landed on a chair in an athletic pose and a hint of amusement that they weren’t able to hit her once so far. She kicked the chair she was on at the armored mare while she leapt off to start charging for Rover’s position guns blazing. Rover decided to try something brave and when she was close enough he leapt out to try and punch the Human, only it didn’t go as he had planned. His right paw moved outwards and then Perja tossed her left gun high into the air and grabbed his right arm, she twisted it and proceeded to also twist herself into position to aim her right gun at the center of Rover’s helmet while bringing him to down before her as if to shoot him like the dog he was. Her finger pulled on the trigger and she missed hitting him by an inch. It still put a hole in the hood of Rover’s parka. The sudden whip of energy wrapped around her arm not only pulled her aim off, but it had been so slow moving that Perja hadn’t considered it a possible threat until it was wrapped around the crook of her left elbow. She was proven to be wrong about the threat as she was bounced off a table and into a wall with a painful sounding crunch as the solid wall cracked with her impact; she was up and out of the way before Applejack’s next shot could even cover half the distance. She hardly even grunted at the blow she just took. Rover quickly ran off and decided not to get close to the Human Bitch again; he went to take cover in the kitchen where he got his burger from and whined at the feeling in his right wrist. That Human had almost crushed his wrist without trying… or maybe she had. Rover was feeling quite a bit of pain from it and he wasn’t exactly a doctor. He had to survive long enough to meet one, he looked to the nearby stove and an idea popped into his head. Applejack saw that Mare-Do-Well had Perja’s attention and turned her sights to the pistol, Mare had managed to disarm Perja of one of her guns. She took careful aim and fired, the gun shattered and exploded. Perja had to of realized that she was down a weapon and she pulled out a knife without even glancing in the direction of the destroyed gun. Perja couldn’t really afford to take her attention off of the armored Pony for long, especially one who had more tricks up their sleeves than was previously thought. She launched herself at Applejack and tried to kick her head in; her foot caught the inside of Applejack’s hood as the Pony ducked down. The kick almost connected with the farmer’s skull and pulled her head upwards slightly. Applejack eyes flew upwards and she twisted around catching Perja’s foot in the hood and tried to buck out at her. Perja swung out with the knife like a whip slicing free from the hood; she hopped out of the way of the buck and did a backwards hand spring over Mare-Do-Well’s attempt at getting her with the energy whip again. Saffron was getting frustrated, this woman was impossible to get a solid hit on and she was already firing every single thing she had at the woman. None of the seven shots fired from her right shock wing hit their mark and the facility commander was on top of her within a moment. She attempted to dodge the shots and her readout on her shields suddenly went down to zero and looking at the HUD one of the shots had damaged the armor slightly. She no longer had any protection, she went onto her two rear hooves and engaged close up and personal as long range wasn’t going to cut it anymore. While Saffron and Applejack continued to try and fight Perja, Rover was busy doing something in the kitchen and ducking a few shots from Perja’s remaining gun every now and then. Greta was waiting for an opportunity to unleash Viral’s mouth cannon on the Human. Even if Greta did shoot, she didn’t think her shots would even connect and she wasn’t about to attract attention to the fragile machine she was in control of that was her only connection to their friends in the field. Saffron rolled out of the way of the gun fire and deflected the knife swing by popping one of her hoof blades to deflect it and then she tried to jab at Perja with it. It didn’t work out so well when the Human skipped backwards and launched a kicked straight to her chin that sent her flipping backwards and onto her belly with grunt. If Saffron hadn’t been wearing armor, then that kick might have very well snapped her neck in two. The fact that it even caused her to involuntary flip backwards despite how heavy the armor should be said a lot about how strong Perja was. They were clearly getting their asses hoofed to them by one person and it was technically four to one with the four all being armed more heavily. Saffron made the blade take the next few shots fired at her as she swung for Perja’s neck, all Perja did was smile and lean away from the blade and fired the gun still in her right hand rapidly raking the shots across Saffron’s armored form doing small amounts of damage as she leapt up and away from Saffron’s attempt to hit her with the other blade she popped from her armor. Retracting the left blade and pointing her hoof at the human; Saffron fired a pinpoint puller tether at the center of Perja’s aerial form and reeled her in. Saffron pulled Perja back towards her and managed to damage the woman’s suit with a slice, but didn’t even draw blood as Perja had kicked off her chest in time knocking the armored Pony to the floor. After landing Perja stalked forward firing her pistol at Saffron who popped the other blade again and shielded her armored head and chest. Applejack and Viral started to shoot at Perja, it didn’t stop the Human who continued to dodge their shots until she was upon Saffron kicking her protecting limbs away and stomping down on her chest. This pinned Saffron to the floor and dazed her, the foot also left an imprint in Saffron’s armor. Perja continued to fire at a single point in the armor while dodging Greta and Applejack’s attempts at getting her off of Mare-Do-Well. After she figured she had damage the armor enough, Perja swiftly reversed the grip she had on her knife stabbed it downwards and Saffron’s weak struggling ceased when the knife dug all the way up to the hilt where her heart was. “No, Mare-Do-Well!” Applejack soon had the woman upon her and she was pulling out one of her three remaining knives. “Damn it… no…” It clearly horrified Greta when she watched as the armor became rather lifeless. “Mare-Do-Well… was that her name. Oh I’m so sorry, but she seems to have a knife in her chest. Now, how could that have possibly gotten there?” Perja didn’t care and then she was moving for Applejack who frantically managed to fire off three rounds, the first two missed, but the third was a lucky shot that blew the other pistol out of Perja’s hand before she could reach Applejack. Once she did reach Applejack she punched the Pony across her face making her drop her rifle and go flying a few feet where she tried to get up from the jarring hit. “I’m sure your friend was very pretty under all that armor. So why don’t I do you favor and make you pretty as well? Let’s start with all this hair, why do you ponies have so much of it?” Applejack was now sporting a swollen left eye and had a heel pressed into her back and she felt a tight yank on her mane, Greta started firing on Perja for all the good that was doing in getting the woman to relinquish her hold of Applejack’s mane. Now the Human was just toying with them as she dodged the energy cannon’s blasts in slow swaying motions, Greta didn’t fire too many as she didn’t want to hit Applejack. “If this was all you got, then I should have just finished you all off sooner!” Perja simply crouched down and held a knife to Applejack’s neck while looking back at the fox. “So how about I take a little off the top, starting here?” Before she could do anything more a sloshing sound was heard and Perja tried to dodge, tried to, because how does one dodge a sudden widespread wall of boiling hot liquid coming at you. “I would prefer that you don’t!” Rover shouted out following the splashing sound and a blood curdling scream that had Applejack looking up at him. He was holding an empty grease basket that was used for frying food. She quickly got up and retrieved her rifle and moved over to the Diamond Dog before looking to the human screaming on the floor. The Diamond Dog simply commented on the situation. “I am hearing that some oils are good for the skin, yes? At least that’s what Boss Lady tells Rover, though I don’t think that oil is doing her any favors.” “You bastards, when I get up from this I’m going to…!” Even if she was in agony Perja was still getting up and her eyes were wild with fury, her inflamed red skin was bubbling and her suit was damaged by being soaked with the boiling grease that had blindsided her. She pulled both her knives and was about to get up and drive them into the two, well she would have it weren’t for the metal chair that slammed across the back of her skull knocking her down. She turned her head slightly and saw a familiar if slightly smaller silhouette. “W-what, who… you… how did you…” “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Saffron’s EVA suit had a small splash of breach gel around the chest, had she teleported out of the armor a second later…. needless to say it was a close call. The six inches of knife would have gone far enough to have actually been lethal. Silent teleportation was a very useful spell to have for a unicorn; the loud version attracted everyone’s attention far too easily. Perja was already halfway to getting up when Applejack swiftly bucked her in the spine with all her strength making Perja’s legs go out from under her. She still tried again; the blow to the back of the skull had ruptured ability to control her body to a precise degree and her head was one of her greatest weaknesses. The sudden damage to the spine from a full powered buck was making it hard to stand up and she had slowed down drastically, all the damage and pain to her nervous system was quickly putting her out of commission. While she could shut off her pain receptors, there were a lot of problems with doing that. It was not knowing when you were dying from the strain you were putting your body through and there was a certain point where if you don’t stop, your entire nervous system would deteriorate to a point that you couldn’t recover from. Saffron, not taking any chances, grabbed an entire table in her magic and swung it for the rising Perja’s head as hard as she could. It knocked the Human flat out and it might have even possibly killed her. At the moment Saffron didn’t care, even if her horn was being pushed roughly from using so much magic at once. She wanted to put Perja down and hard, she had clearly achieved that feat. Now she was rubbing at her chest where Perja had stomped on her. “I suggest we make haste from the area, can you get back in your armor Mare-Do-Well? I really don’t want to leave it here.” The fox robot turned to the powered armor and watched as Saffron pulled the knife out of the chest of the highly damaged power armor. The knife had a bit of breach gel on it and Saffron unceremoniously dropped it off to the side. “I can, just… just give me a moment to catch my breath. Oh my chest…” They were all battered from being knocked around and shot at, eventually with enough concentration Saffron teleported herself back into the armor and slowly got up. It was a bit stiffer in movement thanks to all the damage, but at least it was still workable in a similar vein to how Ember’s old armor was workable. “Okay, not doing that anymore… my head hurts, my chest hurts and I just want to finish this thing we’re doing here.” “I think I have a broken wrist.” Added Rover in a dry tone, he was still holding the empty frying basket with his left paw and he dropped it off to the side like Saffron did with the knife. Slowly the injured group gathered themselves and set off, leaving the crumpled form on the floor behind them. - A few minutes later a hand pressed against the floor and the other grabbed at the knife nearby. Slowly Perja stood up on wobbling legs and was back on her feet despite her recent spinal injury. She definitely wanted round two; she cracked her neck twice to realign her spine and reached up with a hand to rip away a solid mass of boiled, damaged and flaking flesh from her face to reveal the completely unblemished skin underneath. Author's Note Perja Rensada- Biofeedback Psychic. she is capable of amazing feats beyond what is normal for the human body. If she can think it, her body can probably do it within certain limitations. Prolonged use of her special heightened abilities can have serious negative consequences. If she is ageless as is within her power, then the negative consequences are less dangerous or fatal. IE the shortening of ones life span from regenerating too much. A biofeedback psychic can control every aspect of their body, including everything inside of them. A well trained one can control all forms of viruses, bacteria and toxins inside them, they however can't control anything that is no longer inside their body. The ability to stop aging is coveted and so is the ability to regenerate, despite these abilities biofeedback psychics are not perfectly immortal or all powerful. They can be ageless if they take care of themselves. Injury to the head can instantly hamper a biofeedback psychics abilities. -96-Gilda was getting bored; she needed to do something, something that wouldn’t destroy their mode of transportation. She got up and climbed down from her seat and walked towards the back of the machine trying not to be tripped up by the ladder. Everyone else was doing something interesting; she was tired of relaxing and needed some action. “Say Greta, how are things going?” Gilda crawled through the hatch and carefully moved her body down to the ceiling, which was currently the floor because their entire machine was upside down. “Well the group I’m in charge of was attacked by one of the base commanders here. She is biofeedback psychic and she almost killed our guys before we knocked her out. Applejack almost lost her head, Rover would have been shot in his and Saffron almost got stabbed in the chest… through her armor which is now running on fumes from all the damage it’s take in that fight.” On the screen Greta had her eyes on they were currently stopped at a point in a hallway and the tail of the machine she was controlling appeared in their view and hacked the door. They were being shot at for a few seconds before their aggressors were dealt with. “I’m currently trying to find where their command room is, but apparently one of the commanders is a computer expert. Reacts real quickly to intrusions in Tempest facility’s systems and I’ve only done two so far. Do you need anything Gilda? I’m kind of busy and I’m about to hack into their systems again.” “Yeah, I was wondering where you put all those chemical canisters you pulled out of those robot wolves?” Everyone else seemed to be having fun and Gilda was not going to sit idly around when she could be doing something interesting. She was already slinging plasma rifle on her back and loading up on clips for it. “Also, you wouldn’t have happened to have jury rigged a chemical sprayer to test the stuff would you?” “Yeah sure, the canisters are in that box over there. They are pretty tough which is a good thing, if they had ruptured inside the Centaur-pede then that would have been a very hard mess to clean up. There’s a chemical sprayer in there as well and yes rigged it.” Greta didn’t take her eyes off the screen as she had the fox robot leap up onto a counter and the tail opened up and rammed into the computer. She had pointed at the right box and inside was a chemical sprayer, which Gilda took out. ”Gilda, I just realized something. What do you exactly need that stuff for?” “They have some pretty neat walkers and I wanted to steal one for fun and profit, I can see them down there preparing some. One those can fit in here easily enough.” Gilda started stowing canisters into a satchel that wasn’t her ammo pouch weighed down with plasma clips. “Gilda, I hope you realize the trouble that will cause, they’ll know where we are if you do that! Speaking of, I need to deliver a quiet message to Ember and Rarity before I’m caught.” Greta was too busy hacking their computer systems again to really pay attention to what Gilda was doing. “Ember, Rarity, come in, can you hear me? Please respond to confirm that you’re in that big room, what’s in there? Are you two okay?” “Ember here, Rarity has a broken leg and one that was shot clean through. The shot one is currently sealed off with breach gel. I’m carrying her through what looks to be a freezer with thousands being held on ice and our pink little stalker is here with us, the annoying little fluffy monster.” Well that was interesting news, plus Ember sounded aggravated and there was a bit of coughing. “Oh and I got punched in the chest by a walker. It hurts a bit, but I’m good to keep moving. Also there are a lot of Puffles running around, apparently they and these six legged lizard creatures broke free from whatever containment the humans had them under. I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire facility is having problems now thanks to the problem causing fluff balls, what the hell did you do to cause those explosions?” “I fixed the issue with the blizzards... and might have incidentally buried us underground with very few routes out of here thanks to the numerous explosions.” Greta’s voice cracked a bit and she felt rather sheepish. “Gilda seemed to have enjoyed it at least.” “This is Rarity, is there any chance we can defrost and save all these people? This is a lot of rows and this freezer is several stories tall. A lot of the captives here are Pony and even some Humans, though we have seen a few Parascine or Cacceran here and… is that a Parrote?” Rarity sounded startled to see another Equus native that was from their planet. “I do believe it is one. She’s most definitely not a Griffon.” Well the species was technically called Parrot, but they were usually called Parrote for being larger than what real parrot would look like. They were not common in the Pony lands and were like Humans by being tall two legged beings that had hands. They were basically a distant cousin to the Griffon species on Equus. While they couldn’t fly on their own, given the fact that they generally lack wings, they were really good at jumping, acrobatics and piloting ships. They were of the few more humanoid looking species on Equus, like the Abyssinians which were a cat like species of similar build to Parrote’s except they were feline. Hippogriffs were closer than Parrotes were to the Griffon species as cousins, given hippogriffs are the cross of a Pony and Griffon relationships. Caccerans and Abyssinians were not the best of friends, but they did have their similarities and differences. Abyssinians were usually taller than Ponies and Caccerans were usually shorter or smaller, another difference is that Abyssinians were native and Caccerans were aliens with random rabbit and fox like features. Sometimes it was hard to tell Abyssinians and Caccerans apart, especially if a Cacceran has gone native. Parrotes were said to be derived from a Hippogriff and Abyssinian relationship. “Like I told you guys earlier, the chances of being safely being melted once frozen doesn’t look good and the survivability is low. So don’t expect to save everyone, save who you can.” Noticing that her intrusion was quickly becoming noticed in the system, Greta started to speak faster. “I’m guessing since there’s a massive room, there should be some kind of temperature control in there… now if you’ll excuse me they are beginning to find my intrusion and I have to move our guys and get back to Gilda before she does something… oh no. Cutting connection now, I think Gilda left while I was busy with you. Last word of advice, do not thaw them out too quickly, don’t set the temperature too high and more will survive the thawing process if not most of them!” The robot vixen’s tail quickly unplugged from the computer and closed up; she turned the robot fox around to address the others. “Okay news update guys, Rarity and Ember are okay… generally. Rarity has some bad injuries and Ember has taken a blow to the chest from one of the walkers, do not let the walkers close to you. If they can hurt Ember, who’s the sturdiest person we have here, then they are most certainly going to hurt you!” Checking Viral’s system, Greta made sure that a tracer didn’t connect and was thankful that she wasn’t caught. She didn’t think her luck would hold out through two more intrusions into the system. “I would like to apologize for all those explosions a while back, but we’ve dealt with the blizzard problem at least and...” “Oh no we haven’t, we haven’t dealt with the problem until this facility is gone!” Applejack interrupted a bit angrily while looking at the fox, these Humans were still threatening her livelihood and her family. She wasn’t going to take that lying down. “As I was saying, for the time being the Humans are not capable of producing blizzards damaging the planet’s ecosystem. Now that I think of it, this is a really bad place to be. At least your family is safe Applejack, but getting out of here might be a bit difficult as we can’t go out the same way we came in. In fact this facility might start flooding without those clouds to stop the snow and ice above us from melting. Also while I’m talking to you Gilda left the Centaur-pede to capture one of those walkers. Don’t know if she’ll succeed, but she better not get herself killed.”Of course having heard that there was a lot of havoc running around the facility, Greta figured they were safe in their current location for the time being so she continued to fill them in. “In any case there are a lot Puffles and strange lizard monsters that broke containments in the laboratory area Rarity and Ember are investigating and they are spreading throughout the facility while causing…” An explosion shook the room Viral and the others were in, it sounded like it came from several floors down and it had been pretty darn close. Applejack and Rover were holding their ears and cringing, thirty seconds later they were able to stand up straight. “Havoc… anyway, Rarity and Ember are going to attempt to free the Tempest Technology slave stock and if they can thaw enough help we can take the facility from the Humans.” Which was a good idea and Greta had a bet that was Rarity’s current train of thought, even if there were a lot of unarmed civilians they could still do some damage and relieve some humans of their weapons. They were currently outgunned and the Humans had numbers on their side, so making the playing field a bit more even would help. They would have to do it as fast as they can, because the lower parts of the Tempest Technologies facility would be drowning in water in a few hours. “The best thing to do would be to take the command center, before they decide that a self destruct is warranted to prevent us from spreading news of this system stealing plot. In summation if the Humans are crazy enough to the point they won’t care if they die in the process of a self destruct, then nobody will know what happened here and it’ll happen again either here or somewhere else.” “Greta, my armor can’t take much more of this and that Perja woman really did a number on us. At least they won’t use the self destruct until they have no other choice and we haven’t driven them that far yet.” Saffron didn’t think her shields were coming back, but at least the armor was still in working condition. Well workable condition, but not yet bad enough to ditch it entirely despite the thin hole carved into the chest of her metal suit. “Yet being the big key word to our continued survival, so yes finding the command center and preventing any other method to set off a self destruct would be a pretty high priority thing for us. We have to stop said thing from ever happening, we also need to keep them distracted from Rarity and Ember. So I think we should continue drawing attention to ourselves.” “Rover is thinking this will be quite hard.” That was an understatement as far as Rover could tell, they were all taking injuries they couldn’t afford to have as things were going to get worse. “Also I am incapable of doggy paddling with broken wrist, drowning is unpleasant way to go. Happened to a friend once, mother is teaching Rover to swim after that. She was a friendly and beloved bitch who knows many Diamond Dogs personally. Never explained to Rover how she knew them all personally, but she knew a lot of them.” “Remind me to never use the idiom ‘son of a bitch’ around you, I wouldn’t want to be insensitive to your culture.” Culture was kind of important to Saffron, given all the foods she cooked were related to her heritage and long line of Ponies who did things other than what they were truly talented at. Thinking of what Rover had to say about his mother; Saffron had the sinking feeling that Rover’s mother had been quite sexually loose and slept around with a lot of other Diamond Dogs. “Why would it be insensitive? Rover is the son of a bitch.” Here Rover’s ears wilted a bit. “I am hoping mother is still living, she is being a very smart bitch. Otherwise I am enjoying this rest break.” “Well because… you know what, never mind that. Forget I ever mentioned anything about it Rover. Let’s keep focused on what we need to do, like find the command center or at least information on a computer that can help us prevent an even worse disaster than the ones currently going on according to Greta.” Sighing Saffron turned to the robot fox. “We have to deal with one disaster at a time here. The flooding isn’t an immediate problem, I’m sure Gilda can take care of herself and what is an immediate problem are the chances of a self destruct happening if we keep causing large amounts of chaos like this. I might even be able to say that this is worse than what happened on Antilur Station and that’s saying something given it was a space station filled with reanimated flesh zombies and barely held together ghosts.” - Five rounds and the human dropped with a hole in his skull and two others in his body, Ember closed the door and turned back to Rarity of whom she left sitting on the ground. She turned back around as she stowed her gun. The hallways outside frozen storage was littered with rotting rock riddled reprobates. “Fifth group in the last few minutes, they must really want these people stay here.” Of the things Ember was ignoring, one of them was the Puffle licking at the melting ice like a tasty snack. “Someone knows we touched the thermostat and they aren’t happy with it Rarity.” “Well that is obvious with them sending more at us and the previous teams not reporting in; also the room is beginning to get a bit wet.” Rarity wasn’t actually upset as she had intended her parka’s to be disposable at least and they were doing their jobs in soaking up damage that wasn’t projectile related. She was watching the frozen beings slowing being thawed out, in case something happened to Ember or she was temporarily indisposed for some reason, it would then be up to Rarity to help these people thaw out. “Do you suppose you can go out there and pick up some of their weapons? We’re going to need to arm some of these people once some of these people thaw out soon enough, I’m quite certain no matter who they are they’ll want to help once...” A crash to the floor behind them caused both of them to jump and for Ember to pull the energy pistol while Rarity went for her material pistol. The frozen meat locker from hell with thousands of possible living souls had just had its first liberated person, it was the Parrote. She was trying to stand up, her legs were looking quite limp. Another thing that was limp happened to be her decrepit looking crimson and blue tipped feathers that were pooling against the soggy floor, it looked like she was attempting to do a push up and there was a look in her orange eyes. She was hyperventilating and her eyes were wildly looking about at all the other frozen forms. All the frozen bodies were thawing from top to bottom and her upper half of the Parrote had thawed out enough for her to become aware of her situation and panic, the ice around her legs had shattered safely and she looked to be healthy if highly disoriented by her imprisonment. She must have had a lot of pins and needles running through her body. She started coughing a bit and explosively emptied her stomach of any bile that was in it, while sickening it was kind of expected. The Puffle stopped licking the nearest melting ice scultpture and made her way over to the bile spewing Parrote. Fluffy stopped near the Parrote and sniffed the air; she then proceeded to squeak and gave the Parrote a smile before she started eating the bile. Rarity could feel some bile rising up her own cheeks at the sight, it was rather disgusting. After the Parrote stopped puking, she just stared at the Puffle blankly and blinked a bit. She slowly turned her sight to the two sitting there, watching her slowly try to get her bearings; she quite a bit confused by the creature eating her vomit. While she was doing this Rarity put away her pistol, Ember opened the door to look outside and slowly go out and pick up a few weapons while looking around wearily. Ember made sure to stay within the sight of the door and Rarity, she carried an armful of weapons and dropped them with a small splash in the large puddle Rarity sat in. They were going to need all the help they could get, now if the Parrote was friendly enough to work with them then they’d have some help. “Can you do the talking and try to inform them what’s going on?” A little fire here or there would help clear out the cluttered corridor, she’s already shot thirty humans and considering the size of the map this facility had there were bound to be thousands of them still around. That and she had some seriously bad social quirks, the exception being towards her hoard. “I’m going to be watching the corridors for any more attacks… and maybe do some clean up. Don’t try walking anywhere; I’ve got us covered for the time being.” “Right then, oh excuse me, you there, are you feeling better? I have a feeling that things around here are going a might bit…” An explosion sounded off making Rarity fold her ears back and she looked towards the ceiling with a tiny glare and then back to the cringing Parrote. “It is an exceedingly dangerous around here as it were, what’s your name dear so I might know what to call you? We can sort of use all the help we can get around here. Well if you’re willing and able, can you feel your legs?” “As you would say in your native tongue, where are we right now and what the bucking hell is going on here?” The Parrote was rubbing at her head. Gritting the teeth of her thick mostly half circle beak, she was obviously fearful for her life. Given that she just woke up from what was a dreadful sleep and in a rapidly worsening situation, some wariness was to be expected. At least she didn’t wake up in some space pirate’s ship enslaved to them. She had a rather interesting accent that sounded French/Prench; not to mention her voice was rather haggard which was also to be expected and her clothing look absolutely destroyed by the freezing which had Rarity somewhat appalled. She was only wearing a bra and underwear that seemed to be falling apart as she thawed; she was probably caught in her sleep or something. She dipped her head down and started to lap up some of the cleaner looking water beneath her as it flowed out of the door Ember was guarding. “My legs, what’s wrong with them? They’re numb.” “I’ll give you the abridged version, you were frozen solid and brought to a Human made facility far underground and were likely going to be sold off to the highest bidder in a slave auction until we came along.” Clearing her throat and giving a sad look to what had to have once been some rather beautiful feathers which were now horrible to look at. Her plumage must have once been amazing, but thanks to being frozen for a time the drooping damaged feathers from her head and her tail looked to be horribly messed up and needed to be, in Rarity’s solemn opinion, trimmed away so that they could grow back. Rarity’s heart went out to the poor girl really, the things she would have to do to get her beauty back into shape. Did that mean that every frozen pony would have to do the same to fix their appearances? Fur and hair didn’t exactly freeze right, why the thought was positively horrid considering she was all about spreading beauty and or helping others. “We kind of made a mess of things charging into a large battle and then we ended up finding this facility… mostly by accident. Being frozen solid is not a very survivable thing, but you’ve managed to do so, though not without a bit of loss.” “You mean… my legs might not… they might not…” The Parrote was still a bit slow; she was still trying to get her head together on the floor. She had a slight look of horror on her face. “Oh, no, no, no, it’s not your legs I’m worried about. They look alright for the most part from my perspective… it’s your coiffure… or plumage if you will.” Rarity didn’t want to point to out to the Parrote that her tail and head feathers were mangled beyond recognition by being frozen solid and they looked to have been absolutely long. “Look at it this way, you’ve survived the process of having your entire body frozen and your brain practically suffocated through flash freezing chemicals so there’s at least some positive side to this. We thawed you out to get some help for the situation we’re in; the Humans in this facility have a lot travesties to answer for.” “My… my plumage, what is wrong with my…” The Parrote finally notice her dead looking feathers that were still attached to her head, she looked a bit upset for a moment and managed to push herself into a sitting position. She calmed down and started to speak slightly clearer than before while slapping at her legs trying to get some feeling back into them. “Doesn’t matter, it can grow back. My beauty will not be tarnished for long if I can get out of here alive. What do you need me to do when I can get feeling back in my legs? I want to help.” “Splendid, I know this may seem like much, but we’ll need you to pick up one of the weapons my friend is gathering and help us protect this room until all the people thaw out. Well, at least the people that aren’t dead by being frozen alive in the first place. There may be a few dead bodies in this room with us soon and I apologize for that, but I need you to hold yourself together.” Yeah, there were a lot of alarming things going on here and Rarity thought better of not being straightforward with the poor dear, she was being completely upfront. “I wouldn’t want to want to worry you with the urgency of how we need people to take over this facility before we all die, but it’s important that we just get some people standing. Which reminds me, do you happen to have any medical experience?” “Oui I can gladly take up arms, I am Rubis Poulette madam. Now if only I can take up my legs.” Rubis didn’t look like she was ready for a fight and she was barely even able to stand. “I would be shaking your hoof for reviving me, but alas I am afraid I am incapable at the moment. So excuse me for not properly greeting you, s’il vous plait?” “Of course, I’m not in much of a good state myself to greet you as you can plainly see.” This sounded like someone Rarity could get along with; they were charming and sounded both sweet and willing to help even in their current state. “I’m Lady or Baroness Rarity D. Belle, officially a fashion designer with an unusually large penchant for incredible’ danger.” “Merci Lady Rarity, Merci.” There were groaning sounds and Rubis turned to see others like her starting to thaw out and become aware enough to shatter their prisons and become stabbing by the bits of ice they might have fallen upon. “I have no skill as a docteur though. Even if I was, I would not be of much help to you here in my current state mon amie. We should hope for one.” “Can you at least help me talk any of these people down from panicking until you can get your talons under you?” An explosion sounded out in the hallway, Rarity looked towards the door with worry and Rubis mimicked her action. They hard sounds of blasts hitting the door and what sounded like rough fighting for a few minutes and in the meantime Rarity commented softly. “We really are on a tight schedule here and my friend out there doesn’t sound like she’s having a good time.” “Oui, I will try harder to stand up and as quickly as I can manage.” The door slides open and Rubis gets her first sight of Ember and she wobbled a few steps through the door bracing herself with a hand. “We’re starting to get walkers and soldiers here, so how many are ready for a fight?” It almost sounded like Ember was desperate to hear a room full of answer. Her answer only seemed to be one and she was still thawing, but she was moving at least. “I am not ready, but I will be soon enough. I am no coward to danger.” At least Rubis was putting on a brave face as she struggled to even get up on one leg. “Try to hold out for a little longer Ember.”All the frozen people had been packed into the room like sardines; it was starting to get uncomfortable for Rarity to see at least fourteen unmoving bodies, one was unnervingly a Human child. At least she saw twenty or so that were moving that and trying to come to their senses. So their saving to death ration was positive at least, but still quite horrible to bear witness to. “Rubis do you mind the fact that you might have to fight naked? Your clothes are kind of… and your particular species wears more than the average Pony.” “I will just have to fight naked if I have to, in the name of survival I know no such shame!” It seemed Rubis was getting some strength in her and didn’t seem to be upset about her state of dress and she was already slowly stumbling forward to carefully pick up one of the rifles, she got a good look at one of the so called walkers. It was a little demoralizing to see just one, even destroyed as it was, but she put on a brave face anyway. Her stomach growled loudly and she was hungry. “An army marches on its stomach and as for mine she is empty. I am in terrible need of food.” There wasn’t any floating barf on the floor and Fluffy was licking her lips happily, it had tasted rather unique. - “Seriously, how dumb do you really think we are?” The Human guards preparing a walker for a pilot go up and check the tunnels for stability started firing upon the cardboard box that hadn’t been there a second ago. They had clustered together when they started firing upon it and a sticky looking red substance started to bleed through the cardboard box onto the floor. One of the guys approached it and then they were fired on from behind, ten plasma shots ripping through their torso’s burning off hair, skin, flesh and bone and they all collapsed in agony. Gilda rolled her eyes and dropped to the ground and walked up to the box to flip it over. She revealed it to be a box full of cherries and proceeded to shove an absolute mouthful into her beak. After she finished her snack, she took one last fruit and stuffed it into the side of her beak leaving the stem poking out of it and tightened her purple headband while smirking. “Dumb enough to never look up. Even with the defense drones around, you should always beware the chance of air support!” Chirped Gilda happily, she then made her way over to the machine that was just about finished being fueled and she started to whistle to herself as she crawled into the seat beyond the open canopy. The seat looked really inviting too, she caressed the machines upholstery and then she reached up and pulled the canopy down. “Now let’s see what this little baby can do.” The machine stood up and Gilda went over the specs of it, grapple claws, shock cannons, maximum speed and fuel expenditure… this thing wasn’t very efficient in some ways. It was certainly an effective combat model for something that was a mass produced piece of crap for an exorbitant cost that was too high for what it was actually worth. It was a nice piece of crap, but she could make it go twice the speed and hit harder with a few tweaks here or there. So where were her friends again and who would need her help more at the moment? Author's Note Preemptive joke installed. Solid G! G? G? GIL? GIILLLLLLDDAAAA! ....stop stealing things you technology fiend. Also introducing this chapter Parrote Rubis Poullete (Red Chicken) -97-“Commander John Quelk this is Commander Thomas Itterstin, the base has basically gone to crap and we’re losing people left and right. Surprisingly, it’s not the invaders doing the most damage. A few of them have however gotten to the freezer and are thawing out people, they need to be stopped. There are Gillamonk sightings all over the base and Puffles are destroying everything including all the coffee machines, it’s a mad house in here!” Thomas was the one base commander working at the computer, there was extensive damage all around the surface around the base. It was turned into a jagged mess thanks to the all the explosions and the destruction of their towers, the landscape wasn’t the only thing going on. “I think the others are looking for the command center, their intrusions into the system are rather subtle whenever they do it and they’re doing it from our own computers. I think they’re actually getting closer to my location and I can’t stop them.” “This is Perja, I will take care of the ones going after the command center. I just need to get some more weapons from the armory; John can handle the pests at the freezer.” There was an animalistic tone to Perja’s voice that made Thomas shiver; it sounded like someone pissed her off. Thomas knew Perja was quite tough and could take all kinds of injuries provided that her body parts weren’t severed. Cybernetics couldn’t quite create or match the same strength as a biofeedback psychic going full blast. If she lost an arm then a cybernetic replacement would be far weaker than what Perja could actually do with a real flesh and blood version. “Roger that, I’ll have my mechanized force move in on the fuckers and shut down their efforts in the laboratory sector.” John was a pilot for their most powerful mechanized unit, the mass production models weren’t as well guarded as his was. His particular unit was a large unique four legged yellow walker with hazard symbols on it. It had several powerful weapons and nobody else could operate it except for the intended pilot. “If you’re not too busy, send some infantry down there to harry them until I arrive. Most of my forces are tied up in killing the Gillamonks and preventing the Puffles from getting into the armories at the moment.” The Human forces were having a hard time with even killing one Puffle. It was a fact that they hadn’t killed a single Puffle yet, even during experimenting with the species after having caught a generous number of them. Every Puffle that had escaped containment were still alive despite the accidents they were causing everywhere, some ending in catastrophic explosions. The deaths from being near said incidents had already cost the Humans three hundred people in the last hour alone, which wasn’t the same as the one hundred and fifty humans that died by being snuggled to death. Most of the dead Humans that had been snuggled to death were scientists who weren’t good at surviving the deadly if affectionate critters. The security on John Quelk’s particular walker involved a very specific and expensive type of sensor. Facial and finger print scanners weren’t nearly as useful as you’d think, especially when you have things like active blood sensors. A facial scanner could be fooled, so could a retinal scanner, all you needed was the image of a person’s face which wasn’t hard to get a picture or recording of and a data pad with the right application of screen movement or scrolling. Finger Print scanners had been continuously foiled since the discovery that tape could lift and reuse finger prints to beat them. An active blood sensor in comparison was impossible to fool. The ABS scanned for John’s specific genetic profile and the blood had to be actively flowing and in the shape of a human to even use his walker, he also had to be awake and not dead. It was scanning him constantly, making sure that his current state matched a medical profile and took into account for changes in blood flow such as having adrenaline rushes. There was only one way to fool an active blood sensor, said sensor required several hours of set up which is why they were hard to fool in the first place. The only clear method for fooling an active blood sensor would require that you clone an entire person perfectly; very few races could do this and as such it was used for top level security. Not even shape shifters could fool one if they couldn’t get the exact kind of blood flow that a human had, for a shape shifter to mimic someone so perfectly they’d have to know every single thing about that person down to the genetic level. They were even fewer races that had shape shifting abilities that could come close to this; they were all at best equal to Changelings in the disguise department and Changelings would certainly fail to bypass this type of security. The sensor system could not even be hacked into. It was a closed system and it required entering authorized names and genetic data long before it was turned on, for once it was on there was no changing it. The reason why the entire base didn’t use this technology was because it was impossibly expensive and better for securing personal panic rooms or vehicles. It would take a lot more money than the every country on earth had to have these particular scanners everywhere in this facility alone. Just one sensor had cost in the range of several trillion dollars in the matters of how expensive it was just to install one ABS in the lead mechanized unit for the Tempest Technologies hidden facility. It was money well spent considering what Commander Quelk’s walker could do, mostly because it wasn’t one of the mass produced models. - Rubis felt weak and dizzy, she had been quite startled to wake up and topple over onto the soggy floor to hear she was captured by a Human organization that intended to sell her to the highest bidder. She sorely needed food and quite soon. She currently sat with her back to the right side of the entrance with a rifle in her lap. It was technically the right side going in, but the left coming out. She was shivering, she had been lucky whereas many others had been not. There were quite a few corpses in the room with them and that wasn’t nearly as bad as psychologically knowing that Rubis herself might have been dead anyway in trying to escape this place. She tried not to stare or look at them, the lifeless bodies strewn about. Rubis survived being thawed out, not many others could say the same. There was one oddity in the thawing prisoners; it was that the captured Pegasi that were here to clear up the blizzard problems had thawed out perfectly. Apparently a Pegasus’s body allowed for them to be frozen solid for any period of time and then thawed out almost without any side effects, even their hair was immaculate and undamaged. The only real effect is that they had to vomit if they had eaten anything before getting frozen. On the whole every Pegasus had survived being frozen solid and they had several teams worth of Pegasi slowly getting their bearings, none of them were ready for a fight and none of them had military backgrounds. They were all here for the same reason, they were sent to see what they could do about the weather problems that the Humans were now known to be causing. Some of them specialized in clearing blizzards, snow or even making such weather. The Pegasus named Frost Wind was organizing them and he had supposed that it was thanks to Pegasus magic that they survived with little ill effect to show for it. After that explanation everyone expected any of the Pegasi to survive thawing out, so far only one row and two floors of ice sculptures were free and thankfully more were waking up. There were just as many dead, just left lying on the floor. Now if only Ember would get back with the promised vending machine to feed some of the people and get them moving to set up something of a defensive perimeter. They needed a defensive parameter that didn’t rely on a recently thawed starving humanoid bird and battered mare wearing a parka over an EVA suit. Two in every three unicorns captured so far had survived; others were unfortunately brain dead with no chance of being resuscitated. There weren’t many unicorns here so it was a positive result, until one particular unicorn thawed out and they finally had a doctor. His name was Flesh Tender and he set about seeing to helping people thaw faster, but he did mention being in need of food. All Unicorn fur and hair was ruined due to the freezing process, something those with a Pegasus physiology seemed to have avoided entirely. Flesh couldn’t really help anyone until he got some food in him, because doing magic right now would be painful and his healing magic was rather specialized so it wouldn’t help with Rarity’s broken leg. As for the captured Earth Ponies which were a majority of the frozen bodies, they were coming out in random states of alive, half dead, in need of emergency medical aid or mostly fine with brittle fur and hair. The Earth Ponies had clearly gone down swinging, if the various states of their frozen visages gave any clear indication of that. It was worse if they were frozen with their eyes open and they survived the freezing process, they already had a case of an Earth Pony being blind because of it. Vomiting was a common sight and so was the building number of despairing people who noticed a brain dead thawed out body as friends, family or otherwise lying lifelessly in the water that had been slowly flowing out the door into the hallway. At least the water on the floor was now being gathered up and turned into clouds by the surrounding Pegasi, which meant they now had a relatively safe source of water thanks to the winged Ponies. They were almost done stopping the flow of water out of the room. “I hope that your friend is coming back soon with that food mon amie. I do not believe one vending machine will be enough for all of us, but it would certainly help.” The door into cold storage was open and Rubis took turns with Rarity when it came to looking out for any Humans or walkers. She turned to look straight ahead at the Pegasus slowly rallying his comrades into filling the top portion of the huge room with clouds as Rarity looked out the door. The walkways and the various levels could be seen from the floor. “For the time being, I hope that one is enough to get us started. How are things Mr. Wind?” “About as well as can be expected considering things as they are. We’re all scared, hungry and of course have a really low morale at the moment as a result of all this. I believe we’re all also cold, but the temperature is good for what it is to thaw out the rest of the victims.” He had a white mane and tail with an icy blue coat; he looked fine compared to any other frozen victim. The gathered water would be safe to drink and it gave the Pegasus Ponies something to do, there were also plenty of clouds for them to rest on while waiting for something to eat. “At least we don’t have to worry about thirst with all the melting ice. Could one of you please tell your pet or whatever it is to stop eating everyone’s vomit? It’s really disturbing.” Fluffy Puff, as Rarity called her, was enjoying herself and didn’t seem to care that she was eating what had been in others peoples stomach and decayed beyond recognition by their stomach acids. The Puffle was one of the most innocent paragons of her species. “Oh she’s not our pet; she’s a native species of Applin Five and is suggested to be one of the dumbest things on this planet.” Taking that thought to a logical conclusion Rarity thought out loud about the weirdness of Fluffy’s species being on an ever green planet. “You know, with all the warm weather this planet usually experiences, you’d think they wouldn’t have fur as thick as they do.” “It is a mystery for another time. Merde, did you just say Applin Five!” If Rubis had to go another few minutes without food she might just keel over and die from starvation, but hearing what Rarity said brought something to the forefront in her mind about how she ended up here. “Are you saying we are currently on Applin Five at this very minute Lady Rarity?” “Yes, we’re currently under the surface of Applin Five and quite far down, we have to probably dig up to get out. My people might have incidentally caused a number of tunnels to collapse making it harder for us to escape, also harder for the Humans as well.” A lot of glares were sent Rarity’s way and there was quite some grumbling about it. “Why, is there something that you just figured out Miss Poulette?” “Oui, from what I last remember… I was on Applin Three.” Breathing was a little bit more taxing for Rubis now that she put that tidbit out into the open; her fears were far worse than she had previously thought them to be. She had thought this was all occurring on Applin Three, why the very thought was horrifying that she had been moved from one planet to another without anyone noticing that she was gone. The grumblings about Rarity’s people were very silent now and everyone was staring at her. “I am feeling very faint about this news; I was among a number of prospective colonists. They are all probably here and have likely yet to start thawing.” The heat was slowly filtering throughout the room and it would take some time for it to get to the edges. It started to build up out from the entrance to spread horizontally down a row and vertically up the stairs, into the catwalks, blocks and the upper floors of this one massive room filled with frozen people. Rarity went to say something when there was a really loud continuous scraping noise, everyone turned to the entrance wide eyed and she readied her material pistol. Rubis peeked outside holding her rifle at the ready while crouched at the doorway. She sighed with relief as she saw something that was incredibly beautiful, food and hopefully enough to truly get them started on a rebellion. Well vive la revolution, Rubis needed whatever she could get at the moment because her stomach was slowly killing her. “Did somebody call for a vending machine full of food?” Ember was coming from the left branch, heaving the machine with rough jerks that led to it dragging along the floor. This had been decidedly as difficult as dragging a five hundred pound crustacean across a city for a bounty payout, maybe more so because the vending machine weighed as much or more. At least it didn’t have the same issues as dragging an unconscious body did and she had better leverage on it thanks to its shape. She dragged it into position so that it could be used as makeshift cover for people approaching the door head on, the back of the machine now faced the head on hallway. Ember motioned to it with a flourish and a bow. “I’m sorry I couldn’t find a medical kit for you Rarity, but I at least brought some relief. This is all junk food, but it should be enough for now right?” “Six dollars for cinnamon rolls, highway robbery, I shall not pay!” Rubis was trying to add a comedic sense to this while trying not to think about the horrors they were all experiencing at the moment. It seemed to work or at least Rubis would like to think that it did. “A docteur has recently thawed out, he should be given some food and he should know how to distribute it so we do not get sick. At this point sickness would be a sure death sentence for any of us.” “Nutrition is something I can help with, I can also heal flesh wounds of all kinds if I’m giving enough food.” The unicorn that had messed up pink fur and a mostly destroyed brown mane and tail walked up to them, Mr. Tender’s cutie mark was of a transdermal skin patch. The cutie mark almost made it look like he was wearing a patch on both his flanks; it was a rather unusual visual effect compared to Frost Winds gust of air and a snowflake. “Aside from that, how are we supposed to get to the food?” Ember clenched her left set of claws and punched the glass with her fist, it shattered inwards from the force she unleashed upon it. She reached in grabbed a pack of raisin cookies and tossed them to the doctor, who fumbled with his hooves to grab the little bag. He eventually tore it open with his teeth as he didn’t want to use his horn to do it on an empty stomach. He slowly started eating the cookies and knew better than to try and quickly swallow them down in a ravenous manner. At least he was getting plenty of calories to work his magic with, now he had to instruct the others on how to eat safely in their current conditions. “That’s how, are you hungry Rarity?” Concern for her centerpiece’s wellbeing came first before the rest of her hoard or even these hungry people, there were no illusions in Ember’s head as to how focused she was on the mare she so coveted. If Rarity knew that she was being looked at as an object of impossible value and coveted as such, would she be mad at Ember for it? There was a high probability, but she was hoping to be just seen as a concerned friend instead of a dragon with an exponentially growing problem that is relative to that of neurosis. She needed a psychologist and preferably not the one that is with the rest of her hoard up in space named… what was her name again? She was the masseuse; at least Ember could remember that much since her wings always worked to peak efficiency after visiting her. The name Blossom came to mind, but what came before it didn’t. “I think the others need the food far more than I do… since the start of our assault how long have we been here exactly?” Rarity had blacked out after the slide through the ice tunnels and really hadn’t known about the passage of time, only now was she bothering to ask about it. “Seven hours, we’ve been at this for the last seven hours with spots of rest here or there.” Ember had kept track of how long it had been since they launched their assault on the tower above ground and how things had gone increasingly pear shaped since then. Rarity was the only one who had gotten any real sleep. “Out of all of us, Applejack and Mare-Do-Well have had the least amount of rest as far as I know.” “The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, she is here?” Anyone who had ever lived on Equus like Rubis knew of the existence of Mare-Do-Well and what she did; only the mask hero had disappeared not long after the Hands of Midas thing. Her cheeks turned upwards in response to the smile now forming on her beak. “The current continuation of The Mauve Mare-auder is currently assisting us? I am a big fan of her work, she is a truly heroic figure known by many and her family has been all over the world. Though now it seems that one has finally gone up to space?” “Yeah, but don’t show any of that hero worship around her, she’s really different in person from what people expect her to be.” There was a slight look of concern before Ember added something for sake of making the mood a little brighter. “She really is a hero and is willing to sacrifice a lot, but her cutie mark is not what you’d expect it to be with her rampant vigilantism and need to help people.” “At least we know there are heroes out there, some that will help no matter the danger. Like the two that came for us in our time of need.” Looking through the packs in the vending machine, Rubis eventually picked out a chocolate croissant and noticed the stares she was getting. “What? Oh do not judge, I am quite hungry and if I must eat then I will as some would say, ‘out the pig’, with something flavorful! If it is to be the last thing I eat, it may very well be enjoyable at least.” As she slowly started in on her sweet snack food they heard the sound of footsteps coming down the corridors from three different directions. It sounded like the Humans had managed to rally more forces against them. Ember moved Rubis aside and took up position in the doorway; she looked out and fired a burst of rocks causing the humans to scramble backwards and into rooms for cover. There was only one scream and one shot later that person was no longer screaming, much less moving judging by Ember’s body language. “If you’re going to help us fight Rubis, aim to kill.” This was a take no prisoner’s situation and Ember wasn’t going to take any either. They had issued shoot to kill orders on her centerpiece…. and the rest of her present hoard of course. Ember was not taking that lying down. “They aren’t going to freeze any of you again; they are just going to kill you as you are now a liability to their plans. I want everyone here to keep this in mind and that we didn’t need to stay here to protect you while you thawed out.” Another scream sounded and that was followed by it being silence. They both turned to Rarity who ducked back as several rounds peppered her position on the other side of the door. If Rarity wanted to stay and help these people then Ember wouldn’t say no to her, heck she wanted to help these people too given the situation. “I think I may have become desensitized to enacting violence, but I still don’t like to do so for many logical reasons.” It never got easier taking a life; Rarity hadn’t taken many personally and would never forget those that she had. She would try not to let it get to her and would have a good long talk with Vera later about this; she wasn’t supposed to be getting Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at her age. She was far too young to be a shell shocked veteran. “Doctor Tender, start grabbing food and spreading it around. We’ll hold them here.” Mr. Tender nodded and lit his horn uneasily and started grabbing food from the vending machine with his magic. He started spreading the food around, while Ember and Rarity started firing upon the Humans who had them trapped. He had to be careful as the Humans coming from the corridor directly at the door could shoot at him. - Gilda had to tweak the walker from the inside, but she was getting results as it was faster and had better reaction times, the mass production walker could be better and painted a better color than gray, green or the icy blue that seemed to be a theme of Tempest Technology. The one she was piloting was green and the canopy was relatively bullet proof, that didn’t mean it would hold up as well to attacks from other walkers. As she drove the stolen walker down the corridors none of the humans noticed or fired upon her, so they hadn’t found out that one of the walkers had been stolen quite yet. When Gilda actually started to do some fighting, that would give up the game that she was not on the Humans side. As far as disguises went, it was perfect. She then heard orders to head for the laboratory sector; they already had several squads of Humans holding the captives in the huge frozen storage room and they were sending in walkers to deal with the threat. She was one of the people who got the call and she knew who was in that area, it sounded like the Boss Lady really needed all the help she could and Gilda would form up in their ranks and then cause glorious chaos. The Boss Lady always dragged them to the greatest of places and got them into the most entertaining of situations. Except for the zombie and ghost filled space station which was a big N O on Gilda’s list of things she’d rather not get involved with. She had a party to crash at the large storage room and a Boss Lady to help out; she’d show these Humans how you truly piloted a mass production model machine. The main thing wrong with the walker she was piloting was that it was not intended for people with a long tails. - “Okay so I may have discovered a way out for all of us out from that last intrusion, it involves the top of the facility and an emergency way onto the surface. To get there safely we need the command center and control of the entire facility, thankfully I know where that is now.” As Greta talked to them they were moving down the corridor gunning down Humans as they went and had to stop for cover while Saffron dealt with a walker personally. “We also need to wipe out ninety percent of the opposition, all three of the commanders certainly need to be put down or nobody is safe from a possible self destruct scenario. They have one of them and an entire group of walkers moving in on Rarity’s position. We’re getting it easy by comparison.” It was amazing to watch Saffron use the Pinpoint Puller to such an incredible degree to zip from one wall to the other and then the ceiling and dropped onto the canopy. What really helped them out was that Mare-Do-Well managed to teleport through the canopy of the walker within seconds of landing on it to deal directly with the Human inside . Afterward the machine crouched, the canopy opened and Saffron dumped the Human’s unconscious body out of it. Greta took this opportunity to put Viral inside of the walker and gained remote control of it, by stabbing the tail into the control panel. Now they had some fire power for taking the command center with, at least they could handle another walker without having to tax Saffron’s horn any further than it already was. Aside from Applejack, Greta was the only one who wasn’t dealing with an injury or fatigue as bad as Rover and Saffron had it. That said a lot about how fit Applejack was that she had been running around for hours with the armored Mare-Do-Well. Greta had to give it to the Unicorn; she was a hero through and through because she refused to kill anyone, though Perja might have been the one kill that could be attributed to Saffron who took a table to her head. That is, if Perja had actually died from it and Greta wasn’t sure that she had. Biofeedback psychics were tough to put down and could dish out more damage than they usually took. Reaching over for some cherries, Greta’s claws clasped at nothing but air. She then looked for her snacks and scowled, apparently Gilda had absconded with the delectable fruits she had been working through while remotely guiding her robotic fox. She changed cameras to one of the turrets and saw two humans bleeding out below and one with a plasma burnt hole in his skull, there was a box of partially shot up cherries next to them. Of course Gilda used the cherries to steal something of greater value, why wouldn’t she? Shaking her head Greta changed the camera back to Viral’s view and charged ahead of the three to clear a path. She noted some problems with the walker and corrected them as it went. Mass production models were all the same, expensive crap that worked poorly and was made even made with cookie cutter statistics despite the fact that they could do so much better. It only took a minute to get the thing moving twice as fast, much better than the walker had any right to be as when under Human command. It was a good thing this Tempest Technologies facility lacked good mechanics who knew there were major flaws with their walkers, only taking the specifications at face value was the height of stupidity that these Humans showed. Gilda would have noticed the problem and fixed it immediately with the one she just stole, plus her friend would have gotten these walkers for a better price and then would have tricked them out. Knowing Gilda as well as Greta did, she wanted to show the Humans that they were doing things inefficiently as possible with what they had. Her best friend prided herself on being a mechanical engineer, on top of being a high school drop out that snuck into college and did a bunch of other illegal things. Greta didn’t care that Gilda had a questionable history or sometimes dragged her into doing things just as questionable; she loved Gilda all the same no matter what the beautiful consistently oil stained belligerent griffon did. Hacking was quickly becoming one of her most useful skills anyway. - “Let the infantry weaken them first, then we’ll close in from all sides. We have them cornered, they aren’t going anywhere.” Commander Quelk had twelve walkers, which was more than enough for a bunch of frozen stiffs, a bounty hunter and an injured mare that somehow took down their alpha wolf robot project. In fact some would say it was overkill to just have him in his personal walker breathing down their necks. Commander John Quelk didn’t hold a high enough opinion of himself to drop his guard around these intruders like Perja did. Author's Note Razzy I apologize for being horrible at writing, as do I apologize to whoever reads this stuff that I write. You can't say that I'm not doing something original at least. Next Chapter: Frozen Storage Firefight. It will include more details on what Quelk's walker is exactly capable of and what weapons it has, it's far more competently built than the walkers Gilda or Greta have seen. The MP model is not nearly as efficient as it could be, which is part of some pretty bad oversight. -98-“You are never having bananas again Cadence.” Celestia said solemnly as she put a wing over the smaller mares back, Cadence looked positively upset with herself for all the things she did as she was led away from the court house. There were a lot of horrible things that couldn’t be spoken of. What could be spoken of, apparently, was the absolute destruction of Shining Armor’s pelvis. He’d recover as medical magic has gone a long way to fixing even the most trying situation, even partially liquefied bone in most of his body and the actual liquefied bone where his Little Shining had been. Shining Armor’s spirit had been willing, but his flesh, bones and pretty much everything else was ultimately far too weak, it was also quite impossible to erase the experience from his memories as it was permanently ingrained into him. In the end it wasn’t just his body that was broken, but his spirit, his mind and everything else that could be thought of. Shining Armor actually wanted to forget, but couldn’t even with the help of magic. The upsides was that memory erasing magic would never work on him as he now had a photographic memory that was entirely impervious to magic born of the horrific incident. The other thing that wouldn’t work on him anymore was mind control magic, because his mind, body and soul all literally belonged to Cadence until he died of old age and the only way to free him would be to kill him. To note, ‘until death do we part’ took on a whole new meaning where the princess of Love was concerned. Ponies had considered Celestia and Luna to be fearsome beings, now Ponies knew better as Cadence was the real one to fear. No Pony on Equus would dare laugh at the frightening and horrific power of love. “They even made it a law, you should be proud.” At least Luna saw this as a positive thing. There would still be bananas around; it was just plain illegal for Cadence to eat them now. Anyone who assisted in giving Cadence a banana would be considered of the vilest sort and would be immediately thrown into Tartarus. “You are after all the first Pony that has ever had a law designed to only affect one Pony in its entirety and it was a unanimous vote no less. You achieved several world records all at once with how fast everyone managed to get the law into place. That everyone agreed to it being completely necessary was an accomplishment!” - Gilda had a really bored look on her face, the elevators in this place were too freaking slow! Humans can build spaceships that can jump to other sectors like anyone else, but they can’t build a damned decent elevator that can handle more than a walker without straining? Also a slight modification to the seat made dealing with her tail a little bit easier, but it was still annoying that the machine was designed so horribly for a Griffon's physiology. As such it was a challenge to pilot because it was made with humans in mind and Gilda liked a challenge. - “Here they come, everyone remember your positions. Nobody is to be out in the open unless they can maneuver well enough or do some damage. Take shots when you can, but don’t be brave… are you going to be okay Rarity?” Ember turned to Rarity who was standing on three hooves and she looked okay for the most part. They were two levels up in the cold storage room and they were overlooking the entrance form above, Ember would be at the entrance while everyone else would be in position when they broke through. Not if they broke through, it was definitely when. “I should be asking you that, you’re going to be fighting the walkers up close. Aside from a broken leg I can still walk. I will agree to stay out of a direct line of fire in the upper floors if it eases your mind.” The walkers were going to be a huge problem and Rarity was well aware that they didn’t have nearly enough ammo to deal with a more heavily armored target. The armor the Humans wore was decent, but Rarity could have designed better given spider silk and time. Specifically, Rarity would have liked to have worked with an Equestrian Orb Weaver’s silk. They only had one true armored person in their group and that’s because she was practically bullet proof thanks to her scales. “I should be asking if you’re going to be okay darling. I know your tough Ember, but you’re not impervious.” Ember only had three rocket launcher rounds and dealing with the humans had her running low on ammunition for her rifle, she didn’t have infinite resources for her rifle even if rocks were cheap to obtain. At least they had plenty of stolen weapons from the last attempt at breaking the chokepoint. “I can promise you one thing Rarity. I’ll stay standing long enough to make sure you’re safe, because I don’t like anyone hurting my friends.” If anyone so much as touched or clipped Ember’s centerpiece with anything and hurt her, then they wouldn’t survive the next five minutes of her fury. If they killed Rarity, Ember would probably snap and she wouldn’t be responsible for what she did after that. She wasn’t about to tell Rarity how much the Unicorn really meant to her, Ember had other things to focus on as she checked her rifle and made sure it was fully loaded. “It’s not like I’ll be entirely defenseless, I can use my rifle as a shield and have done so before. If I haven’t broken my rifle on something yet, then I’m not about to do so now. I’m more worried about you. Here, take this energy pistol, you seem to favor them and you could use something that doesn’t need to be constantly reloaded. Save the material pistol for when you really need it.” Ember’s rifle was made of some of the best ores a dragon could find and forge, all of which were quite rare. Her rifle was as tough to damage as she was; possibly even tougher given it required the heat of a volcano to even forge the parts for it. Every inch of the bulky rifle was made of this sturdy material. The Humans were about to make a large push and those trapped in the frozen storage room had to be ready for it. Everyone that was thawed out had started trying to move the mostly thawed out people out of the way of the oncoming trouble, others wouldn’t have the chance to thaw before trouble struck. If it wasn’t bad enough that people were dying from being frozen, there was a chance that frozen people would die before they could be thawed out if they weren’t dead already. They barely had even twenty able bodies capable of fighting, which wasn’t much. The Humans had seven walkers and more than sixty soldiers inbound. After handing over her energy pistol to Rarity, Ember turned around and jumped over the nearby railing. Once she landed on the ground in a crouch, she stood up and started walking towards the open entrance. She readied her rifle and her eyes narrowed as she heard them coming, she took up a position next to the doorway and glanced out of it. The Humans would send the walkers in with the next wave and they would be ready for them, now they just had to wait. People were going to die, that much was a certainty and Ember could only pray that Rarity wasn’t one of the ones who were killed. As selfish as such a thought was, at least they moved as many of the frozen statues out of the way as they could, looking up the dragon could see that the Pegasus Ponies were ready to deal with the walkers as best they could. They could get lightning from water, but it took time and energy. The Pegasi could only make so many lightning strikes with what they had and what they had was definitely enough to drop one walker, at least two. Every little bit would help, like the entrenched Ponies that could wield the machine guns Ember procured from the last two waves. The Pegasi could use their wings to pull the triggers on the machines guns that seemed to be a staple of the armed Humans and a strong enough Unicorn could use them as well. Rarity was not among that number as the machine guns were a bit heavy for her. Rubis had the right equipment for wielding the machine guns with a bit more agility, but the two machines guns she was equipped with probably wouldn’t have the puncturing power to deal with the incoming walkers. While the Pegasus and three Unicorn Ponies could wield the guns in their own ways, the five or so Earth Ponies weren’t going to be much help in that area. The Earth Ponies would stay out of the way and or help get others to safety if there is an injury. They could even deal with the soldiers if they could get close enough, but going near the walkers was right out. Flesh Tender would attempt to stay entirely out of the fight and heal whoever the Earth Ponies brought to him. The worst thing that could happen right now was a siege, they didn’t have the food or supplies to hold out forever and they needed the enemy to come to them. Ember crouched by the door, propped her rifle on the overturned vending machine blocking the doorway and aimed at one of the figures down the corridor and carefully prepared her shot. She exhaled, one pull of the trigger and a rock moving at high enough speeds to break the sound barrier ripped into the helmet of a Human down the head on hallway. The body flopped to the floor slowly growing stiffer as if a puppet just had their strings cut, rigor mortis would begin setting in pretty quickly. “Holy fucking shit, they just took down Clements!” The Human’s voice carried pretty far and she wasn’t wrong; Ember had trained herself for situations like this and her rifle had single, burst and full automatic for a reason. That guy Ember just shot didn’t need a magma round and she really needed the Humans to be provoked and on the offensive, those who were trapped in the freezer did not want to be waited out. A quick death would be better than a slow one, there were also worse things than death and she had seen some of them. “Did you make them mad? I am hearing noise of moving machinery!” Rubis was one floor up on the block Rarity was. She was lying prone with one of the machine guns aimed toward the entrance. “We need them to come to us! If they trap us in here and try to wait us out, then we’re just as good as dead!” Ember was prepared for the storm to come and she’d likely survive it, she’s survived worse and would try to save as many people as she could. “Now quiet, we got incoming!” - “This is Hazard Spider, move everyone move in one group at a time and kill anything moving in there. I want west wing to take the lead, followed by east and then my group personally.” Hazard Spider was Commander John Quelk’s personal walker and call sign; he wasn’t very amused to lose one of his own men to a rather impressive shot. It just had to be the bounty hunter Flamethrower, it was clearly a taunt directed at them to come get her. While he wouldn’t admit it to his subordinates, the taunt had worked quite spectacularly. He’d make sure the Bounty Hunter didn’t survive this day even if she somehow miraculously managed to defeat more than a platoons worth of men and the six walkers he called in. The special weapon on Hazard Spider didn’t care how tough you were; there was no surviving it. If he had to, he’d waste the shot of it to bring down one alien woman. - It wasn’t hard for Ember to notice the movements when there was return fire from all sides, only one group was actively moving on the frozen storage doorway. It the group oncoming was from the right, she didn’t panic and carefully picked her shots and fired every now and then. Accuracy was more important at the moment as she didn’t want to waste ammo on ineffectually hitting the walkers. One shot between one of the two moving walker’s legs and a human went down screaming with a hole where there crotch was, Ember winced slightly as that was quite a cringe worthy shot. It didn’t matter what gender you were, that had to hurt. Ember ducked out of the way of the return fire as several walkers unloaded volatile energy projectiles against the vending machine blocking the outside of the door. She popped up and continued to return fire upon the humans. The walkers were pretty fast when moving in a straight line; however they had slow tracking and turning. It made it rather easy to get up close and personal with them with her blaze bayonet. Right now she was dealing with the Human soldiers by shooting around the walkers that were being used as moving walls. Magma rounds might have been capable of doing some serious damage to the walkers, but it would still be using up a lot of ammunition to puncture the canopy. Another Human went down missing an artery; seriously what kind of armor were they wearing? It looked like an energy dissipating plastic that didn’t really protect from direct head on hits very well. Ignoring the machine gun rounds bouncing penetrating the EVA suit and bouncing off her sales to leave splotches of breach gel where she’s been hit, Ember fire the last few rocks from her gun before ducking down to reload. The battle really hadn’t started yet, it would only start when the walkers inevitably reached the door way and forced the repeatedly damaged vending machine out of the way. Which was what happened in the next few seconds as one of the walkers finally decided to speed up and ram the vending machine out of the doorway; Ember quickly ran away from the door and turned to stand her ground in the middle of the empty central aisle. Ember turned her right side toward the doorway and held her rifle up like a shield in front her body, her tail shifted to the left and thus she provided a smaller profile to shoot at. The first walker burst through the door followed by the other one and a group of Humans, Rarity and the others knew what to do already. The second fired several shots at her, the first and third of which she blocked with her rifle and as the first walker raised its sparking claws of its left arm to punch her. Its fist slammed downwards, but it hadn’t hit Ember who just leapt up onto to the arm and with two steps she already half way up the walker. She stopped for a second to let the other arm come in trying to knock her off. Ember leapt upwards and landed on the other arm, she brought her rifle around with the second barrel lighting up and blazing with heat. She cut the arm free from the machine; before it fell away she kicked off it in a twirl to swing twice at the canopy creating a large molten X. The first swing having been upward and the second downwards following Ember’s counter clockwise twirl and leap. The pilot didn’t have much time to do anything after that before Ember planted her feet underneath the center point of the molten X on the canopy and kicked off while firing into the center of it. The first walker was down, collapsing as the pilot flailed in his death throes to hit the controls and making the machine topple over. The person died to several close range magma rounds and the second walker stumbled back in shock. While this was going on the Humans that had followed them into the room were quickly being gunned down by bullets streaming in from the two nearby blocks above them by the entrenched Ponies and Parrote. The lone walker backed off and started to fire at Ember who took up her stance to shield herself with her rifle again as she slowly made her way forward, the two other walkers arrived and started to add their fire power to the blasts they were aiming in her direction. She actually needed to dodge now and avoid taking hits. Her rifle wasn’t being damaged by any of this and if it had been, then Ember would be a hobbyist weapons designer. The walkers looked apprehensive when it came to approaching Ember, given how she took down one of them and they currently weren’t giving her an opening to get close to them. Sure the shots they were firing would sting a little if Ember did get hit by them, but they wouldn’t do nearly as much damage as physically hitting her. That and Ember was still carrying a rocket launcher strapped to her back, so she was still the bigger threat and needed to be to keep them off of everyone else. If the walkers weren’t going to come to her, then she’d go after the Humans to keep them from getting up the stairs at the ponies shooting them from above. She spun around several shot and leveled her gun past the walkers and started gunning down the Humans trying to reach the stairs that were, she leapt back to dodge the several shots and ducked down barely getting clipped by a blast of energy to the top of her helmet. The force of the grazing blow had still knocked her down with a grunt. Ember rolled avoiding the claw that slammed into the floor next to her, the cracks in the shape of spider webs showed how powerful the blow would have been. Not necessarily deadly, but it would have been pretty painful and death might have followed while she was out of it. She jammed her rifle up directly at the canopy and moved the blaze bayonet up slightly and then downwards to point directly into the small hole and the frightened eyes beyond it, she fired one shot and the machine attempting to back away went very still. Even as she rolled backwards, Ember was caught in the explosion as the two other walkers fired on the back of the one that had charged her downed form; they blew it up intentionally trying to take Ember out with it. Instead the dragon was sent bouncing for a good twenty feet between the two blocks; she landed on her side and quickly lifted her rifle to block the several shots coming at her. Landing on the rocket launcher hadn’t been pleasant on Ember’s back and she hoped she hadn’t damaged it, who knew what Chrysalis would do if she didn’t bring it back in good condition. It was at this point that two more walkers moved in and started to fire upon her, the Humans were having a far easier time of taking out the armed ponies than they were taking Ember down. Having four walkers concentrate their fire on her made her feel proud that she had at least kept them off of the Pegasi. She got to her feet while continuing to block the constant fire and planted her rifle on the floor while holding it up one handed against each shot, her left claw had a death grip on her rifle to make sure it wasn’t knocked away from her. She was trying to avoid any other part of her body getting hit as she shifted to the left or right her profile not small enough to avoid being shot at by four the encroaching walkers. Using her right claw she pulled her rocket launcher up from her back to her shoulder and managed to get the tube in position for firing. She had one shot and she wouldn’t be able to reload it while fighting like this. It was a good thing the walkers had clustered together to focus on her; Ember braced herself as the recoil was going to be a little troublesome and pulled the trigger. The dragon was flung back five feet wrenched by the rocket launcher pulling on the strap as it fell back down to sitting at her back; she quickly sat up as the rocket hit home on the second walker from her left and damaged the two next to it. Half the walker she hit had been blown away in the explosion. “Now would be a good time to lend some help here!” Ember shouted up to the others fighting on the blocks. “We are a little busy mon amie!” Rubis called back out of sight and from the sounded of it duel wielding machines guns coming from the left, the flash of them firing could be seen up the stairs. “Excuse me if I’m not happy with killing so many people!” The scream of a Human followed Rarity’s tirade and a body fell to the floor in front of Ember with an energy wound cauterized where the guy’s liver used to be. “I don’t mind shooting monsters, but this is ridiculous and every pony here will need psychological help after this if they live long enough!” “Well I can’t handle them until these walkers are down!” Ember was once again using her rifle as a shield as she started to slowly move forward while avoiding what shots she could. The walkers were thoroughly focused on her to the point that their shots were actually pushing her back with their shots, she could feel the extensive strain she was putting on herself. As if in response to Ember’s complaints the clouds at the top of the massive room started swirling and the sound of thunder cracked throughout the room before a crash hit and the walker to Ember’s right went down in violent flash and explosion of energy. That’s when it started hailing on the Humans, in the shape of sharp pointy icicles. Frost Wind and the other Pegasus Ponies had come through for the rest of the defenders; they got off one lightning bolt and decided to just do something else as lightning was not Frost Wind’s specialty. Frost Wind’s specialty was in cold weather operations and nothing said dangerous like sharp icicles going through helmets and brains, the incoming Humans faltered at the sudden well aimed hailstorm of death. The icicles weren’t strong enough to go through the walkers, but at least the infantry weren’t doing so hot while the Ponies took cover from the sudden change of indoor weather. “This won’t last for long; take the other two out while you can!” Frost Wind’s voice was heard from above and he sounded rather tired, he did just push a lot of magic into focusing and controlling the weather with an extremely scary precision. The icicles were raining down at random, but there were not falling anywhere near any of the entrenched Ponies. Ember took this as an opportunity to close in with the last two walkers. - Hazard Spider stayed in place and hadn’t moved since the start of the battle and frankly Commander John Quelk was surprised by how many people they were losing, especially to the sudden indoor ice storm. One would think they’d use explosives, but they still had a lot of merchandise in frozen storage that was on ice. Also explosives would have been a pretty bad idea when Pegasus Ponies blasted grenade back in your face with a burst of wind from their wings, a single Unicorn’s telekinetic abilities would have been able to stop explosives and send the explosives back as well. The infiltrator that took down the experimental alpha wolf robot was obviously a powerful unicorn. None of the ponies in the cold storage room would be able to deal with Hazard Spider, but he needed to actually use his special weapon on the one major problem that took down four… make that five walkers. The bounty hunter was proving to be enough trouble to warrant the use of his ace in the hole. Hazard Spider spread out its four legs and clamps unfolded from the ground and started to pin the machine in place by locking it to the floor. At the back of the large four legged yellow and black machine a large device rotated into place at the top of the machine above the pilot’s canopy and energy started building up in the large gun. Commander Quelk didn’t care about his people or the walkers that were in the way, they were dead already anyway and they have obviously failed him. They were dealing with a bunch of cutesy fucking little colorful dumb naïve equines, how were they putting up this much resistance? Well one of the key reasons behind their resistance wasn’t about to exist anymore and he didn’t think he needed his special weapon for anything else today. He liked using Hazard Spiders special weapon; the raw power behind it was intoxicating. - After blocking one enormous blow, Ember finally lost her grip on her prized weapon. She tried to hold onto it as she was flung away from the blow that launched her entire body into the air, her rifle landed off to the side of her and she grunted when she landed on her face and belly. She was quite dizzy and the shock of that hit had been pretty bad. Ember’s Trailblazer didn’t look to be damaged, but she wouldn’t reach it in time before the walker was on top of her as it was in the middle of charging her. Given the fact that her helmet was cracked and damaged badly enough already, Ember ripped it off took out one of the two rocket launcher rounds she had on her and threw it at the walker, while quickly inhaling and then exhaling a small but highly condensed ball of fire. The walker didn’t stand a chance as its forward momentum had the explosive rocket bounce off the canopy. That’s when the fireball struck the rocket; both Ember and the walker were blown away by the blast. “Ember, oh my goodness darling, tell me your okay!” Rarity had to quickly perform a three legged scramble backwards from the edge of the second floor of the block she was on; she didn’t want to be hit by the sudden amount of machine gun fire directed at her by the Humans still managing to survive the ice storm below. What Rarity had seen was Ember still form out on the floor, she was groaning and her EVA suit was completely shredded. At least she was alive in some sense; she had other things to focus on as she fired another precisely aimed shot at the Humans who were using their own dead as shields from the ice storm. The blast had laid out Ember, it didn’t hurt very much and she was already in the process of staggering to her feet despite the constant amount of machine gun fire directed at her. She had successfully taken out all six of their gathered walkers for this attack. Holding a hand in front of her face to shield it from the incoming metal that bounced off of her claws, Ember slowly started to make her way for her rifle and then she saw something going on down the corridor something building up and bright. “Rubis, Rarity, anyone else, there’s one round left for the rocket launcher!” The Parrote looked to Ember and was wondering why the dragon was informing them of this fact. It became a bit clearer when Ember suddenly tossed the rocket launcher and the last shot for it bodily away from her into another aisle. “Don’t…” It had been nice to hear that Rarity was worried about her; if it had to be the last thing Ember heard from her then she was glad. She was currently in quite a bit of pain and what was about to hit her would likely kill her; she couldn’t get out of the way of it in time. Ember always knew she was tough, intimidating and brave; she also had a kind heart and loved her friends. In the end she hoped her hoard continued on to better things. Well she finally knew what the cause of all those melted buildings in Gravenstein was, because she was about to experience it for herself. The last thing Ember saw was a bright light filling her vision and all the walkers being vaporized, she closed her eyes and felt little else beyond that moment. A large beam ripped through the ground floor of the frozen storage room and vaporized anything that was nearby the solid stream of raw energy that ripped through the room like a hot knife through a wet tissue paper. Any Humans that had been on the ground floor of the frozen storage room died from heat exposure even if they hadn’t been directly struck by the beam, two Pegasus ponies melted into nothingness and everyone else felt the extreme amounts of heat. Of the few Humans that were on the staircases, some had died and others had been high enough to survive the large beam only to be gunned down seconds later by Pegasus Ponies who weren’t going to sit and gawk at the damage. They did their militaristic ancestors proud by taking advantage of the situation. Rubis almost felt her feathers lighting on fire, they hadn’t mostly thanks to the cold air in the room and that she had been one floor up from the blinding beam. The massive beam cannon dug a shallow furrow through the floor and the walkers that had been in the path of that were all molten piles of slag from all the raw energy. Continuing to shift her gaze to the right to follow the beams path, she now saw a large hole at the back of the frozen storage room; the beam had chewed through a lot of solid rock. “Ember she is… non I shall not think of it.” There was an ominous sound that had Rubis on edge and the remaining Humans were swiftly dealt with. They had lost more than eighty percent of their number in the firefight, those that were thawed and capable of fighting, but thankfully the Earth Ponies saved thirty percent of the eighty that were casualties of the fighting and became severely injured as a result. It sounded to have a four legged movement and quite heavy. Slowly the imminent demise of all still awake and aware in frozen storage room strode forward through the doorway. It was a large yellow and black four legged machine, with rotary mounted cannons on its shoulders and two claws like the rest of the walkers and it stomped forth. It even had what looked to be a shield generator mounted on its back alongside the large folded up tube shaped device, the other walkers hadn’t had that kind of luxury of having shield generators. “None of you are leaving this place alive.” The voice calmly spoke from the machine to everyone in frozen storage, it didn’t sound smug or full of itself. It sounded like the Human was stating a simple known fact. Author's Note Hazard Spider- Large four legged walker, yellow and black with hazard symbols on it. Upper torso more humanoid like regular walkers. Heavily armored, heavily shielded and just plain heavy. Slow overall moving speed, but weapons and quick moving upper torso make up for it. ABS Suite- Thanks to the Active Blood Sensors nobody but the intended pilot can drive Hazard Spider, thanks in part to these expensive embedded sensors that can detect blow flow and genetics of the specified pilot. Machine Cannons- Shoulder mounted weapons that fire streams of bullets, limited ammunition of one thousand rounds. Able to expend full load with thirty seconds of continuous fire, best if used in small spurts. Does not need warm up like older Earth Weapons and can immediately start up or stop on a moments notice. Hazard Beam Cannon- Huge power consumption. Mostly only able to fire once a day, extremely lethal to anything it hits. Requires immediate recharging to fire again the next day, usually takes twenty four hours to get enough energy to utilize. Requires the walker to be locked in place thanks to the insane level of recoil the weapon unleashes upon firing. The beam radiates lethal amounts of heat in any area it passes through. THREAD shield generator- Threat Hampering Reactive Energy Accumulating Deflector. Hazard Spider's shield generator can protect it from heavy weaponry that hit it head on, the shield generator itself is not protected and that fact is not readily advertised. The shields cannot cover the generator itself or it would hamper effectiveness of the shield by approximately ninety three percent. The shield generator requires energy from a direct power source to get started and it is hard to bring down once operational. The shield accumulates energy from every impact or any damage dealt directly to it, this makes any weapon highly ineffective as everything shot at it just puts power back into the shields. It requires an atmosphere to remain operational, testing has shown the shields for some reason do not work in space and they fail immediately upon entering a vacuum. As long as the shield has power running to it, it can return to full strength in a very little amount of time and does lose strength with every single thing that hits it. The loss is so minute it was seen as negligible damage. The shield generator being unable to protect itself and not being capable of operating in space are the only major drawbacks to it and the cost of a single module alone is why it isn't put into further production. High grade shock blasters- Built into the claws of the upper torso of the Hazard Spider, far more lethal than the average Mass Produced two legged walkers by delivering higher amounts of force and energy per shot. Shock cannons are the main weapons of the walker division of Tempest Technologies, this version of it is of a higher grade, make and energy efficiency. -99-Rarity just sat there staring. One second Ember was there and the next she was blinded by a corona of raw energy as it burned a large hole through the entrance of the room and out the back. She opened her eyes and looked to the right and saw the large hole at the back of the frozen storage space. It created a dark tunnel and it kind of gave her the idea as to how the tunnels around the facility might have been dug. Ember was just gone, the only trace of her left was just rocket launcher and the one round she tossed off to the side and her Trailblazer Rifle. The rifle was glowing slightly on the floor from the heat of the beam that melted the stairs leading up the two nearest blocks at the entrance. That was another thing added to the list of horrific things Rarity had ever seen, who would need a weapon like that? The firepower behind it was insane enough to rip a pony to atoms and she had lost the sight of the two low flying Pegasus Ponies, they had been busy knocking humans from the staircases with quick hit and run tactics. Those two had obviously been caught in the beam and their bodied were gone within seconds. Rarity closed her eyes and thought of a prayer, at least their deaths were quick. Rarity let tears fill her eyes as she tried to come to grips with a sudden disheartening fact, Ember had been caught in that beam and had been too tired and injured to make an effort to dodge it. She did at least leave them with a rocket launcher and one round of ammunition for it. Whoever had launched that attack, they had a pretty powerful and upsetting message to deliver. The message was clearly received, from whatever had fired that. Hearing a noise that made her left ear twitch, Rarity turned and saw it approaching. The vehicle that had fired that oppressive beam of raw energy and she had to say that the black and yellow color scheme was quite gauche as was the hazard symbol. Shaking her head she tried to focus more on dealing with this problem than the aesthetics of said problem, it was a large four legged walker. This thing had more features than the previous walkers and far more weaponry. Rarity’s eye for detail could tell her a lot, the large device at the back of the machine was the energy cannon that had fired that blast that ripped through the room. She could only guess at how much energy that thing could use, between it and the main portion of the walkers back was what had to be a shield generator. The best angle to attack it was from the sides of the upper torso, however she didn’t know how powerful the generator was or what it was capable of. Aside from that the weapons were fairly obvious and lethal, possibly powerful enough to shoot through the floor of the blocks that everyone was set up on. The shoulder mounted weapons at least had to have a limited amount of ammo right? The four legged machine walked through the entrance and stopped, it was blocking the entrance and there would be no getting by it without being attacked. “None of you are leaving this place alive.” The voice calmly stated, sure that it was speaking the truth. Rarity wasn’t hopeful, but she narrowed her eyes. She had survived worse and this wouldn’t be the end of her as she would persevere with the best of them. This was the callous person who took down Ember and was a part of all this, she was going to see her cousin Sugar’s wedding happen. - Perja Rensada had caught up with Saffron’s team slowly pushing through the human defensive line by taking several rooms along the corridor heading towards the command center. She was angry and a little more than ready to deal with the nuisances, only she ran into the problem of having to deal with a rogue walker blocking her path and it was surprisingly holding its own and performing above normal operational specs. Under Greta’s command the machine was putting up quite a good fight and none of Perja’s weapons were heavy enough to deal with a walker that was moving as if it were being safely overclocked. “Guys we need that command center, I can’t keep the commando off of you forever!” Greta had almost got caught the last time she hacked the system, Rarity was in trouble and Ember was… well it wasn’t a good idea to think about at the moment. Focusing past the mental trauma, she had to really deal with an agile and fast acrobatic human that can dodge in an inhuman manner and actually do damage to the walker she was in control of with her bare hands. It was ridiculous how powerful Perja Rensada was. “I hope Gilda gets their soon enough to save the Boss Lady.” “We’re doing the best we can Greta, but we’re meeting a lot of resistance here.” Saffron’s armor was slowly getting mangled from all the pressure she was putting it under, even then it was still operational. Well operational as far as the skate and forward blasters were concerned. There was some dossier information on Perja Rensada, it was an incomplete file but it was a quick enough read. Perja from a young age had discovered her ability to control every ounce of her body with a thought and was ousted as a biofeedback psychic, government took her in and eventually she was given military training. She was eventually dropped due to increasingly aggressive tendencies. She had some commando training and was quite accurate with firearms, incredible physical strength and reflexes. This on top of the ability to heal from most injuries provided she ate a lot more food, she couldn’t regenerate very well without nutrients in her body to help the process along. Greta made the walker swing for Perja who slapped the arm away and she managed to leave a dent in the arm, only for Perja to get blown backwards by a shot by the other arm. The woman just wouldn’t stay down and Greta didn’t think she could put her down even when remotely controlling a walker through Viral. “Rover is thinking situation is getting progressively worse.” The others, if they had the time, would agree with Rover’s sentiment that things were in fact getting worse. He was having a hard enough time wielding the rifle or pistol he had on him with his working paw. “I’m going to have to agree with you there partner, things are getting hairier than a Puffle around here!” Turning back to the walker fighting the crazy Human, Applejack took a potshot at Perja forcing her into a position where Greta managed to grab her body and violently electrocute the commander. Despite this the commander thrashed about and managed to break the hold of the mechanical claw, her body was slightly fried and twitching. It took the Human a few seconds to get up from that and she looked more determined than ever, she was damaging the walker with her bare hand and doing a pretty good job of slowly ripping it apart. “Also I’m almost out of ammunition here, unless we can find something for me to shoot my material rifle is going to be firing air and everyone knows how useless that it unless you can compress it well enough.” “We’ll think of something Applejack.” Leaping up to punch a Human in the sternum Saffron took a few looks around and watched as Rover poked out from cover of a nearby doorway to fire several highly inaccurate shots. Saffron figured Rarity probably had it worse, but they were being swamped from all sides and she couldn’t protect everyone. “Wait don’t we need Viral when we get to the command center Greta!” “Oh right…” Greta mumbled out loud from the walker she was guiding to hold off the Perja who was taking each attack from the slightly modified and stolen walker. That Human just kept coming at them, sure she was slowly losing strength, but it wasn’t darn near fast enough. The longer she kept pushing her limits, the more likely it was they could take her down in a more permanent fashion. “Yeah, that’s is going to be a bit of a problem. Just clear a path while I hold tall, dark and psychotic off of you.” At least Rarity had the chance of reinforcements, taking the command center was becoming harder by the second. At least they weren’t taking casualties as badly as the Humans were. The Humans didn’t seem to have very many well trained people, because they would have stopped their small group by now. - “Rubis… try to get the rocket launcher.” Rarity had gone down the stairs and approached the crouching flightless humanoid bird with a machine gun pressed against her chest. She moved near the edge of the block with the express idea of keeping the pilots attention on her. She looked down at the machine and warily cleared her throat. “Well I have news for you! You can’t leave the exit unguarded or some of us will escape! So chances are pretty good that not all of us are going to die!” Rarity ducked as hundreds of rounds sprayed the general area around her and tore through the floor beneath her, thankfully out of all the holes slowly forming around her curled up form none of the rounds hit her. Each block had several pillars along the aisles of the frozen with staircases leading up to solid metal flooring above, there were several levels and Rarity was currently one floor up from the walker and wished she were still two floors up. The blocks were wide rectangles and had scaffolding and bridges connecting them to each other and covered several aisles worth of frozen people, nobody was on the bridges between the blocks because they didn’t want to be blown away by the powerful machine cannons. After the cannons stopped chewing through her surroundings and expending a good seventy rounds apiece, Rarity scrambled away from her spot and fired a shot or two at the walker. The energy pistol ember gifted prove less than useful, given the shield on the walker didn’t look like it was weakening under the constant stream fire which was coming from the opposite direction. A Pegasus and three Griffons were currently drawing its attention off of her with machine guns. They dropped back as it started firing on them and one of them took several shots through a leg and looked like they would be crippled for life. Even after attracting it’s attention the machine didn’t move away from the entrance, Rarity was right in the fact that it couldn’t move from the entrance or it would give a chance for several people to escape. “Lady Rarity, you are very brave for pushing forward even as sadness takes your heart.” Muttered a tired looking Rubis who stayed away from the railing or the edge of flooring, she was going to search for the rocket launcher and the one round and work her way over to the needed weapon in question. She was up and moving for the far end of the block away from the machine, as Rarity and the several other Pegasus Ponies unloaded on it from above on various floors of their particular block. Reaching the edge of the block and looking over the rail to the floor, Rubis got up on it and started to hang from the rail. She wasn’t in a very fit condition, but being frozen solid hadn’t caused her any form atrophy. The food she had managed to get a while ago was enough for her to make a decent drop from this height, Parrotes were never afraid of heights and could fall a very long distance without injury providing that they were in good health. Like the Macropussians, alien kangaroos that they were, Parrotes were good at acrobatic feats. Though Parrotes weren’t nearly as physically strong as a Macropussian, they could feasibly jump and maneuver like one. Most of a Parrotes strength for maneuvering was in their legs, not to say that their arms were weak, but a Parrote could kick someone harder than they can claw someone with their hand talons. It was thanks to her aerodynamic body Rubis was capable of dropping down to the floor safely one aisle over from where the walker had any clean visibility, she made sure to drop down with a pillar between her and it because she didn’t want to be made into cheese by those nasty weapons. Even with her feathers all damaged and or mangled by her time spent frozen as they were, Rubis landed solidly on the floor with nary a stumble to show for it. Mind you she was also naked exept for the coverage of said ruined feathers, they were still functional in creating drag and her landing was good. Moving over to a large column trying not to focus on the large hole behind her and to the right, she peered around it just in time to witness a Pegasus get mulched in a quick burst of fire from the machine cannons and winced. That walker's weapons were quite loud and they ripped through everything including the flooring of the blocks. Her sharp eyes looked about for the rocket launcher Ember tossed away as a last act to at least give them some hope of dealing with this thing. She moved down the adjacent aisle and avoided open spaces while moving swiftly. Eventually she stopped and moved to a wall to get another look at the fighting going on and poked her head out to nearly get it blown off by a huge blast of electrical energy that had her backpedaling. “Sacré Déesse!” Rubis cursed out, that had almost hit her. She poked out again and more carefully looking around and spotted Ember’s rifle down the aisle a bit and on the opposite side from her. She noticed that the walker’s shields were as strong as they had been a minute ago, the machine guns and the energy pistol Rarity was using from her late friend were doing nothing to that thing. From her position, Rubis could see the rocket launcher round which made her heart leap with hope, but not the launcher itself which she hoped was not the nearby pile of slag. She could not run down the furrowed aisle without getting killed. So she continued down the adjacent aisle and stopped at the next opening between the two. She confirmed her fears there, the rocket launcher was gone, but the rocket could still be useful. There was also the rifle which looked to have cooled down, whatever Ember made it from it was still perfectly fine despite the hits she saw it take from the walkers and a beam that was powerful enough to kill humans from the raw heat it gave off. Rubis darted out and quickly grabbed the rocket, she pulled back quickly and looked around the corner. She had thankfully gone unnoticed during the few seconds she ran out to get the explosive, but she didn’t think she’d go unnoticed if she tried to get Ember’s rifle. The fact that the rifle might give off enough heat when using its special features to be dangerous to a user that wasn’t equipped to handle it was a bit daunting. Still though, she could feasibly use the rifle as a shield if she could get to it and she didn’t have to use the weapons intended purpose. She traced her beak with her tongue and clicked it once or twice, could she even make it across the aisle? An explosion of energy happened nearby, Rubis had a front row seat to an Earth Pony pulling a Pegasus with a bloodied twisted mess where one of her wings used to be. He managed to escape the trail of energy blasts following him and he ducked into nearby break in the aisle. The walker wasn’t leaving its position to chase them and why should it? Like Ember said, the worse thing they could experience right now as a siege and a really slow and painful death. That was what was happening, the guy in the walker could easily wait them out. All they had were weak and hungry volunteers for the slaughter. What could she do from her position? The thing was shielded so powerfully that just throwing the rocket at it would be a waste. That and it was taking a huge lightning bolt right now and its shields didn’t look to be fading very fast despite that. If a focused lightning bolt like that couldn’t stop the walker what could? This was quickly becoming a lost cause, if they could deal with the shield then maybe they could actually do something to it. She hefted the rocket in her hand and the started looking for a nearby staircase, she ducked when she came under fire and saw a human trying to shoot her and a shot or two grazed her side and face. She carefully deposited the rocket on the floor, as apparently not all the infantry had been caught in the ice storm and some were still around. She swung her machine gun around on the strap and then quickly gunned the guy down, his or her body erupted in a bloody mess trailing from the left hip up to the right shoulder under her fire. She quickly picked the rocket up and then started making her way towards any place to climb back up onto the blocks. Maybe Rarity would have an idea of what to do with it. - Commander Quelk hated to admit it, but the Pony that had spoken up had a point. He couldn’t abandon his spot at the entrance or else someone would have a chance to get by him and cause more trouble. He had to keep the thawed stiffs contained and the one who let them loose and then freaking armed them. He had heard the winged ponies could be dangerous, but he never believed it until the indoor icicle storm skewered his men, men he really hadn’t cared much about to be honest. He wondered how a bunch of frozen stiffs could be so much trouble, they lost a number of infantry trying to take the room back and it spoke of a brewing problem that said that they couldn’t do this kind of crap anymore. The information of their operations hadn’t gone beyond the point of no return, but he was pretty sure that without their cloud cover their facility would be quickly found out and soon. Even if they did blow it, someone was bound to notice the human technology strewn about among the other technology they were using. They couldn’t just keep this quiet until it blows over, the facility was absolutely compromised. They would have to deal with the thawed out and the ones who started this whole mess, but even then they were incapable of rebuilding the towers without people taking notice of their activities. A flicker of red and he fired a blast of energy at something that moved away from it, John was slowly getting rather paranoid about how many of the frozen had been successfully thawed out. They were in the aisles and taking cover up in the blocks, at best he was saving his walkers shoulder mounted machine cannons ammunition for things he could really hit. So far his opponent hadn’t managed to damage the shields and they were holding up without an issue. This was another reason to stay at the entrance, as long as they couldn’t get close enough or around him to damage the shield generator he was in a good position where they could never bring enough force to damage Hazard Spider. He saw a bright beam fire out overhead and wondered what kind of weapon that was, nothing happened except the beam shrink out of existence above him starting from the point it was fired one floor up from the block on his right. He figured it was nothing to worry about. - Several seconds earlier Rubis reached Rarity by crawling up to her with the news that the rocket launcher was kaput, but she picked up the last rocket at least. “Well that’s good news then, great news actually now that I think of it.” It was during the lightning bolt that Rarity saw a point of weakness in the shields system, her eye for detail came through for her. The major detail being that the shields didn’t cover the system that generated them. She still had her pinpoint puller and aside from the broken and shot legs, she was still capable of pulling off a plan. She had enough magic for it at least and her EVA suits magnetic clamps were fully functional. “Just give it to me and I’ll take care of it.” “What are you planning?” Rubis didn’t like the idea that both of the people that came here and thawed her out were going to perish here trying to help the people that were fighting for their lives. “I’m just going to take care of those shields, I’ll be right back!” Levitating the rocket, Rarity cast a light spell and bent the light around her and the floating rocket. After disappearing in front of the surprised blinking eyes that Rubis was expressing, Rarity fired her Pinpoint Puller towards the entrance. It was unfortunate that the grappling devices beam was still visible because it went beyond the bent light around her. Nothing for it, she hoped the guy in the walker didn’t figure it out before it was too late. Rarity zipped across the space between and clung to a spot above the entrance, she stayed there for a second and waited to see if she had been noticed. She had went unnoticed and that was this Human's big mistake, even if she didn’t think the rocket would take down the walker, it would certainly cripple or hamstring it at least. She had to get the shield generator, but how would she blow the rocket? She didn’t exactly have fire breath like Ember did to set it off and the best she could do would be… maybe that would work. She dropped onto Hazard Spider with a thud, the reaction immediately and she was already moving in a three legged gait across the top of the machine for the back and to the shield generator. Hazard Spider was effective in combat with anything approaching a battlecruiser in space, provided it had its one beam shot to shoot down said battlecruiser. It had a weakness in that if someone were to get close enough to climb onto it, it couldn’t get that person off of it without outside assistance or the pilot physically opening the canopy to shoot that person off. The Hazard Spider’s armor was thicker and tougher than the general walkers around the facility and could take several rockets hitting it at once even without the shield generator. The pilot was completely safe from small arms fire, what the pilot wasn’t safe from was shockwaves, but in essence John Quelk was impossible for Rarity to hurt directly even after what she was about to do. What was possible was that Rarity could damage the walker and she started off by wedging the inert rocket between the bulbous beam cannon apparatus on its back and the shield generator. After dropping her invisibility field, Rarity forcefully wedged the rocket into the best position she could get it, the next part was going to be hard. She had to detonate the rocket and doing that safely wasn’t going to be easy as her grappling line was very visible. She lit up her light spell and made herself invisible, she fired her grappling beam and then quickly turned her head to let lose a well-aimed magic missile. Her timing couldn’t have been better as she was jerked away from the machine thanks to the grapple. The large explosion went off and sent a piece of metal cutting through the grapple dropping her to the floor in a painful tumble, she lifted her head and saw Hazard Spider was down and the shield generator was destroyed and it’s beam cannon had fallen off. Without the shield generator operational from the start of the explosion, the rest of the explosion dealt the maximum damage it could possibly have and Rarity’s eye for detail helped her find the best structural point to set off the explosion. The walker faltered badly and fell forward on limp legs and the back of it was left a sparking mess of wires, but there was a sense of dread in the air as aside from the destroyed shield generator and scorched back the main body of the Hazard Spider was completely undamaged by the explosion. Rarity tried to stand up and froze when she noticed movement, she rolled so that she was facing the walker and saw that it was slowly getting up on its four legs. - “Perja, Hazard Spider lost its shield generator and John’s forces are decimated.” Thomas Itterstin was a sane man, well sane in that he worked for a shadowy organization and worked in an underground base. He however could see the writing on the wall, they had somehow divined a method for breaking Hazard Spider’s ridiculously tough shields. “I’m a bit busy here, I have pests to kill. Get someone else to help John!” With what sounded like a grunt of effort and the sound of something being destroyed, Perja could be heard giving off a sinister laugh. “Besides you don’t want me to break off my pursuit, they coming your way to the command center after all. I’m almost even done dealing with the stolen walker and just ripped one of its arms off!” “Damn it, all our other forces are currently being wrapped up with killing the Gillamonks and trying to deal with the Puffles. Heck the Puffles are even more dangerous and they’re not even predatory!” Yeah, Commander Itterstin was going to have to set up base destruction protocols, considering the fact that everything already went to hell for them. Perja was going nuts with her personal hunt of the prey that got away from her and thus insulting her pride, John was known for fighting losing battles in a pyrrhic manner and he himself was a dirty coward. The lower levels of the base were already flooding and the real problem here was that Thomas was too terrified to do much more than seal the door to the command center. He hoped that the trouble would be dealt with and go away, because all he had on his person currently was a computer and a hand gun. He wasn’t a combatant, he was a computer expert and apparently the invaders had a better one than he was, as whoever they were had been running circles around his efforts to find them or stop the system intrusions. He didn’t want to set off the self-destruct as he was too afraid of dying. Getting far enough away from the base in a timely manner was all but impossible thanks to all the collapsed tunnels. Hundreds of personnel were dead, fighting Gillamonks, trying to deal with the intruders coming towards the command center, trying to prevent the thawed out people in the frozen storage section of the laboratory from getting any form of egress or momentum, getting killed by Puffles, getting caught in accidents caused by Puffles and or were too busy running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to fix the constant stream of damages the facility was undergoing. So really, how the hell could this possibly get much worse in the next few minutes that would make Thomas willing enough to set off the self-destruct system? He could stay safely tucked away in this room where nothing could reach him or even get to him. There was a squeaking sound and Thomas froze, slowly he turned his chair to the right and found himself face to face with a big bright smiling wall of purple fur and glowing happy green eyes. There was a Puffle in the room with him and it oh so slowly and torturously stuck out its tongue and blew a quick raspberry. In the language of the Puffles it just said, ‘Clever Girl’ about itself. A scream erupted from the command center, which was followed by the sound of a gun being fired. - The Hazard Spiders shoulder mounted machine cannons whirred to life and aimed at Rarity, they spat hundreds of bullets at her and she quickly shut her eyes expecting imminent death. Only to hear the sound of ricocheting fire. She opened her eyes and saw Rubis standing over her with Ember’s rifle, she was gritting her beak and using it as a shield for the hundreds of high speed bits of metal that were now grazing her shoulders, sides and head. Rubis stood tall and kept the rifle planted against the ground and propped her body against the wave of fire power straining to hold up under the onslaught, she was started to bleed badly and she lost a large amount of her matted and destroyed feathers. She tried to give Rarity brave look, only to grimace at her growing list of injuries. The machine cannons stopped firing, and one of the energy blasts struck the ground with a heavy blast that sent Rubis sprawling over Rarity and rolling along the floor. Still she clutched at the bulky rifle and propped herself up with it trying to stand back up. “You’re just delaying the inevitable you fucking horse, you’ll never break through the armor even if you did destroy Hazard Spider’s shields.” The walker took several steps forward and the machine cannons start to whir to life as a two legged walker rushed towards it from behind. Commander Quelk didn’t think much of it other than reinforcements, another mistake on his part in as many minutes. “I must commend you though, most don’t even get this far. Now…” “Incoming!” That gruff feminine voice sounded rather familiar to the injured Unicorn currently in the line of fire, within a second the Hazard Spider was knocked out of the way of the entrance and onto its side. The other walker had been moving at full tilt and hit it with a shoulder tackle. Gilda was a much needed relief to the desperate battle, most of the injured and weary thawed out were practically out of ammunition. “Sorry I’m late Boss Lady, don’t you dare die on me!” Author's Note I've lost all the notes on everything about this story to the previous computer, which has sadly blown up. Recreating some of said notes from memory is not easy given how long this story has been going on, at least I got most of the things involving The Shining Jewel's crew remembered and noted down again. I should probably keep a physical copy of it all in a notebook. This is not the first computer this has happened too, but my dead computer had been a good one given how well it was fighting to stay in working condition before it went up in a blaze of glory. All the internet link, all the pictures saved, all the fanfiction data I had save to it... its all just gone. When you get to a point that investing in a blast wall is a prudent option, you know you have problems, because I certainly do in many respects. There are several annoying problems with the new computer, one of which is copying and pasting my horrible writing. So I can only hope that this chapter posted correctly, because my mind is in a rather bad lethargic state. I'll try to cheer up, but setbacks like this hurt when I'm trying to make a million word story even as poorly done as this one is. My momentum is pretty much killed. I'll probably watch this a few times -> (Picking Up The Pieces) -100-“Oh god damn it!” Thomas didn’t know how the Puffle had exactly gotten into the room, but it was trying to hug him and he saw what happened to all those scientists when the Puffles got a hold of them. Not to mention every Human they got a hold of. There was also the chaos these things were causing, most of it was to be considered supernatural disasters by the scale of the explosions they were surviving alone. He leapt back and started firing on the one that was already lunging at him with what was to him a rather happy demented squeaking noise, his shots only made the purple fluff ball get knocked onto its back. His pistol was not nearly damaging enough to put the thing down, he didn’t even think he injured it as it was already getting back up. He fired several more shots into it to keep it knocked down. The command center was compromised, there was not much left for Commander Itterstin to do. He wasn’t about to leave one of the most disastrous species to be encountered by humankind alone in a room like this, who knows what it would do! It’s not a matter of what it could do, it was a matter of how much damage it would cause. Heck, taking this planet would have been a seriously bad idea considering Puffles were native to this world and they’d kill millions of Humans if they tried to settle on this world. So it was no surprise that Thomas quickly went to the nearest computer in the command center and started typing up the base destruct code as quickly as he could. Really, at this point nobody was escaping this base alive and almost all the defense drones were taken out when the ice tunnels collapse thanks to all the big explosions on the surface. Knowing this, he would certainly take as many of these ridiculously fluffy kill monsters with him as he could. He fired at the green eyed Puffle a few more times to keep it away from him, he had to contact the forming base on Applin Three. “This is Thomas Itterstin of Applin Five base we have trouble and I’m about to… no…” Pausing to really look at the screen before him Thomas was horrified when he saw their Applin Three base was obviously decimated. The first sign of that was a man with a missing arm on the screen, that wasn’t all he was missing as he had holes in his others limbs and was whimpering. Around him were three armored unicorns leveling their weapons at the man and there was a pony that gave him a seriously angry look. “Expecting maybe the cavalry? I’m Admiral Trap Bar of the EDF, we will be having some words with humanity and Tempest Technologies. There’s no hiding what you’ve done now. Give yourselves up, let go of the hostages in your facility and everyone in your base will be taken alive if possible.” Trap Bar was rather mad, he had heard there was trouble in the Applon System and that the ‘supposed’ black ops team he was keeping some loose tabs on was there and had done an orbital drop with a mechanical monstrosity. There was also the pirate attacks on the supply depot which was in pony held space, so the EDF was sent in to protect the interests of Equus and every intelligent species that lived on that planet. It lead to him doing an investigation that uncovered a massive Human conspiracy going on, as his forces had caught the facility on Applin Three with their pants down. There wasn’t any time to delete any information from their systems. “We already know you’re behind the pirate attacks in this system and we have a good idea that at least one government faction is involved in this, even if it is circumstantial evidence at best. At least we can nail Tempest Technologies on weapons trading and stealing planets for humanity.”Mr. Bar took a sip from a bottle of alcohol with a mean look in his eyes. He really needed that drink too, because the horrors going on in Applin Three’s Tempest Technologies facility were really quite bad. “Oh screw you, you won’t find anything by the time you get here!” Thomas immediately set up the self-destruct and hit the button, he barely avoided the flying tackle from the purple fluff ball still trying to hug the life out of him. “I might even have a chance to escape if I hurry, so suck on that you little four legged abominations.” “Warning, self-destruct initiated, all personnel have ten minutes to evacuate.” The mechanical voice sounded throughout the base. “Warning, self-destruct initiated, all personnel…” Trap Bar watched grimly as the Human managed to dodge Puffle’s attempts against to hug him. Thomas even managed to kick it against the wall and actually got a pained sound from the dumb creature. He stopped to unseal the door to the room and dodged the Puffle again, leading the Puffle to go tumbling through the doorway. He wasn’t worried, he was pretty sure their facility was experiencing problems from the readouts he was getting from Applin Three’s facility and Lady Belle was probably already on the scene and would likely take care of the countdown. - “Rover is thinking this is being very bad situation.” Aside from a broken wrist he had been shot several times, but nothing that hurt too badly. The announcement that the base would self-destruct was quite ominous and given how it was setting off alarms all over the facility, it would have Humans running to evacuate so they’d at least be left unhindered right? Well that is assuming that all the Humans don’t start rioting against themselves and doing completely insane things. “I can tell that that is a complete understatement.” Applejack was continuing to be the only one of the group to prove herself in being able to avoid any serious injury. Not saying she wasn’t injured, but she had plenty of reasons to avoid being hit and one of them was that she didn’t have Rarity’s breach gel to close off a wound like Rover and Mare-Do-Well. Applejack ducked down and a shot had graze her spotless hat, which had her looking back in the direction where Mare-Do-Well was tangling with that crazy Perja lady. The armor on the mysterious mare, at least she was mysterious to Applejack, was being torn apart by the fight with that impossibly agile Human. “Whoa nelly, that was a close one. It’s bad enough that I’m out of ammo, I can’t really contribute much more aside from physically and I certainly don’t feel like tangling with that there crazy Human back there.” “We’re not about to ask you to try and take a biofeedback psychic in a contest of strength, Mare-Do-Well is doing alright in that respect… mostly.” The sound of crunching metal caused the remote controlled mechanical fox turned back around to the action going on behind them, Viral’s optical sensors zoomed in on the action and Greta grimaced a bit. “We need to hurry, the fact that the entire base is now on a timer is not pleasant when there are so few paths to the surface. So shutting down the self-destruct is quite necessary to our survival. Also we need to make better armor next time.” Greta’s grimace reflected in Viral’s posture as the robots tail whipped in a very upset manner. It was practically a warzone and Saffron was putting up one hell of a struggle against an opponent that could think, react and fight well above her normal ability to handle. The armor was barely making a difference and was slowly being torn from Saffron’s form, the fact that she was still holding her own was amazing and it was likely experience as a vigilante that she hadn’t been grievously injured yet. They were at least just about outside the command center, which was the bright side to all of this as there would be some time to hack the computer as the self-destruct probably put all the systems under heavy lockdown. It’s what Greta would do if she built a self-destruct system into a hidden base. Rover stopped and both Applejack and Viral turned to him, aside from Saffron he was the one still holding viable weapons. He took out his pistol and aimed it as the door to the Command Center actually opened before they arrived. Thomas Itterstin had forgotten they were coming so he could be excused for ignoring them in the face of kicking the Puffle while it was down from its tumble through the doorway. The pained sound of the Puffle didn’t matter to rover, what did matter was that he had an open shot on the guy that he could probably call dumber then him. At least the Diamond Dog had better situational awareness and could hear if there were others around, he shot the Human through his left shoulder sending him spiraling to the floor with a chunk of metal in him and then fired another shot into his knee crippling him before charging forward with Applejack and Viral following him. They went passed the screaming Human into the room, when Viral ran past the Human the robots tail slapped into his skull dazing him and they ignored the Puffle getting up to go cuddle him to death. They came face to face with a smiling Trap Bar, who was already assuming the situation would be soon dealt with. - “No, not like this!” Thomas screamed before the Puffle pounced and started to snuggle him, he was slowly being suffocated and nobody was going to help him. He weakly struggled and was soon not moving anymore, the Puffle got bored and decided to go find another thing like this guy and leave this one to his sleep. She would hug them too for Puffles had to spread the happiness to these strangely angry and dark creatures! They all needed smiles and hugs! - It didn’t take long for Greta, through the use of Viral, to assess the situation going down in the laboratory massive frozen storage room and that was a secondary issue to the current one. The situation didn’t look too good in there and she immediately decided to start concentrating on stopping the countdown as Gilda was obviously on the scene. The system was, as Greta surmised, in a rather thorough lockdown. Even if she could currently open communications with Opal, there wouldn’t be much that the cute cat could do to assist them as the lockdown would prevent her from accessing the systems unless she could physically get herself into the Centaur-pede and connect to Viral. Given this was impossible, Opal wasn’t going to be very helpful to call and they didn’t know if she was already busy with something else, their lives ending in a fiery explosion that can be seen from orbit was far more imminent. When it rained, it poured hard as the data Greta was pouring over was going to take a while to parse through. She only have about eight minutes to do it before the situation really got heated. Idly she heard Applejack and Rover addressing the pony on the screen, whatever they were discussing wasn’t nearly as important as focusing on the self-destruct. The systems the Humans had here were actually really good, even Viral’s backdoor access wasn’t useful here thanks to the lockdown and she had to hack her way through a lot of stuff before she could disable the self-destruct. If Greta didn’t do this carefully she could possibly accelerate the countdown, so there was a whole ton of pressure on her and she performed well in such an environment. If she could jack a Javelin, then she could hack the Humans haven. - Her armor was practically falling off of her and another rent was torn into it, there were a large amount of holes in it and she had lost the jump and strength enhancing systems. Her hoof blasters were barely functioning at all now, the inbuilt blades on her front hooves were destroyed, the shocks wings had been ripped off and the armor on the front half of her armored helmet was almost completely gone, at least her EVA suits helmet was still connected to the rest of the armor. Oddly the skate system was still functioning almost perfectly, but that only helped her so much in maneuvering out of the way of Perja’s strikes and moving in to ram her. Perja Rensada was clearly a madwoman, as she didn’t even seem to care about the sudden activation of the self-destruct system and was entirely focused on killing the pony that was quickly running out of armor. That was the intent Perja was giving off when she created a jagged five inch long hold in the side of Saffron’s armor, she really didn’t need to prove how dangerous she was after she had decimated a walker with her bare hands. Surprisingly, Saffron was actually enjoying this fight. Her blood was pumping and her adrenaline was going full blast even if it was nowhere near as efficient as Perja’s completely controlled adrenaline. If Saffron’s talent was spicing up her life, then nothing said spice like a quickly worsening life or death situation. Every injury Saffron dealt Perja would heal, but the problem with that was that Perja was quickly running out of energy and nutrients to heal with. Both Perja’s muscles and bones were under heavier amounts of stress than Saffron’s were and as such the pony and the Human were on a mostly even setting with Saffron eking out a marginal advantage by pacing herself in the fight and not taking any serious hits. She was taking Perja seriously and was performing hit and run tactics, she had her eyes on every movement Perja made and reacted as well as she could to avoid injury. She wasn’t perfect and every bruise could be felt under the thundering of her heart and her need to protect others and save lives. “Why won’t you die?!” Perja screamed as she launched a kicked for Saffron’s chin and the pony allowed it to connect and carry her up into the air where she curled up and hit the floor rolling backwards avoiding the follow up attack once she was back on her hooves. She leaned out of the way of a wild knife swipe that could have dug a knife deeply into her skull. It was in this moment that Perja was starting to get sloppy in her movements, she had been constantly going at Saffron after ripping the walker apart almost completely without pause to catch her breath. Now she was beginning to enter double edged territory of her abilities and was on the cusp of her abilities, where her chances of surviving the effects of her own abilities started dropping. “It’s because I never give up.” The woman had overextended herself by missing Saffron with her last attack and the pony took advantage of that moment by pushing the skate system in her rear hooves full blast forward. The right hoof unleashing its charged load as Saffron jumped at the Human and launched a brutal uppercut into the woman’s chin. The armor on her right hoof exploded as the hoof blaster finally stopped being stable. The explosion badly injured Saffron’s leg and it shredded the EVA suit underneath the exploded bits of armor. It also sent the pony flying to the floor onto her back, but on the bright side she launched Perja bodily into the ceiling with a painful smash that caused cracks to form from the impact and broke more than a few teeth. Rolling onto her three legs and staying off her badly burnt one, she frowned grimly at the Human woman laid out on the floor with a portion of the back of her skull caved in. “I will keep protecting those who need me!” Surprisingly Perja was still alive, but her body had to have been crippled and she couldn’t get up and wouldn’t be able to live for too long without medical help. Saffron wouldn’t kill her, but she wouldn’t help her either. If Perja died of her injuries then that was that, Saffron turned around and started to limp forward only to fall on her face and for some of her armor to fall off. The pony looked behind her and saw that Perja had a still somewhat strong grip on of her hind legs and had a wild feral look in her eyes. Apparently Perja didn’t give up too easily either and could really hold a grudge for glassing her jaw and damaging her head, especially since she couldn’t fix brain damage. - “Glad to see a friendly face Gilda and I can only hope Greta is on top of solving that nasty self-destruction issue or we’re all going to die. Are you okay Rubis?” Trying to stand up was painful and Rarity was already gasping and slightly out of breath from trying, it even hurt to breath and that said how bad off she was from all the bruises she had acquired. Running around with a broken leg certainly wasn’t doing her any favors. At least she didn’t have any of the shrapnel in her, there was some instance in her luck still working for her. She was at least once again standing on her two good, if horribly bruised, hooves. “No… I’m not about to lie Lady Rarity, I’m in terrible pain. I think I may have been hit in an artery or two.” Rubis propped herself up on her right shoulder, gritting both beak and the teeth beneath as she slowly pulled herself up into an unsteady standing position with the Trailblazer. The rifle seemed several magnitudes heavier to her now, she was really beginning to feel how weak her body was from being frozen. It was already heavy before, but now the rifle felt impossible to lift off the ground and it had probably saved her life with every material round it blocked. “It feels like I’m bleeding out.” “I hate to be alarmist darling, but there’s a small pool of blood around you so that’s probably the truth of the matter. Flesh Tender, Frost Wind, if either of you are still alive we could use some help down here!” The Hazard Spider was already standing up, causing Rarity’s heart to sink. The small dent Gilda made in it wasn’t going to keep it down forever. “One of my people is driving the other walker if that’s what you’re worried about!” “Yeah, you might want to get on moving the Boss Lady, because she’s kind of in the way and I don’t want her to accidentally be blown away by this piece of crap.” The walker slowly took a few steps into position and waited for the Hazard Spider to stand up. “An impressively engineered piece of crap, but still a piece of crap by my standards.” Quite a few of the ponies had died when the Humans bum rushed the room, even when they had a better defensive position and a choke point to work with. At least there were three or so winged ponies able to fly down and pick up both Rarity and Rubis while Hazard Spider was still getting up. “I admit the fact that this base might explode has me worried, then again you guys are just far too much fucking trouble to ignore.” Commander Quelk shook his head and rubbed at it. He hadn’t expected that incoming blow and whoever these insurgents were, they had managed to steal one of their walkers. “I can survive the bases possible destruction in this thing, but I won’t chance any of you freaks getting out of here alive.” “You do realize if we fight I’ll be the one walking away from this unscathed right?” Cocky attitude in full force, Gilda just threw down a gauntlet as the walker she piloted spread its legs and arms out. The left arm came up motioned to itself. “I may be a bit of an insomniac that indulges in too much caffeine when it comes to my work in keeping the Boss Lady happy and out of an early grave, but I can catch up on all that sleep when I’m dead and I’m not dying! So do you think you can really put me to bed big boy?” “Well aren’t you a rather cocky bitch?” The Hazard Spider stood tall on its four legs and its two material cannons whirred to life for a few seconds and the two arms clacked their claws. “The ‘Lightning’ model walker you stole won’t survive the next five minutes. I’m not scared of some lowly shock trooper machine.” “I don’t know Rover’s mother very well, but if I did, I would totally be making a rather crass statement on it right about now.” Gilda rolled her eyes and gripped the controls on her right tightly, while she flicked a few switches and prepared herself for the fight of her life. The walker arms came up in a boxers pose and started to shift slighter. “I wouldn’t underestimate me if I were you and you really should be scared of me.” The stolen walker wasn’t doing badly from Gilda’s perspective, there was light damage to the shoulder when Gilda rammed into the more heavily armored machine and the systems didn’t seem to be overly run down from having been boosted for a short time. Temporary mechanical boosts wasn’t a problem and well within the parameters of this Lightning Model walker, outright overclocking the darn thing on the other claw would have a rather significant adverse effect on performance. Only doing something like that would start tearing the walker apart and Gilda didn’t want to do that, even if she really wanted to see what overclocking the walker would do. Assessing Hazard Spider at a glance, Gilda figured the energy cannons her walker had weren’t going to be doing much damage to that armor unless she fired them while aiming for the joints on her opponents machine at close to point blank. The Quadruped machines biggest weakness was that if it lost two legs then it was entirely immobilized, which was easier said than done when they were just as armored as the rest of the darn thing. Mobility was the key difference between the two machines, the four legged model obviously offered stability to carry heavier weapons like the two material cannons on its shoulders. After those two guns expended all of their ammo they would quickly become dead weight. Though limited in ammunition the material cannons could deal a lot of damage in a short amount of time, the best option was to make the guy waste his ammo before he chewed the walker she was piloting apart. It was better armed and had more armor, it only lacked mobility and whatever those parts that fell off it were. Said parts appeared to be vestigial at best after having been recently destroyed if the damaged backside of the upper torso was anything to go by, the performance of said machine still looked pretty solid even after she slammed it and that gave her a method to gauge what kind of damage she could do. Gilda was a genius and she could take this thing down, she’d have to the overclocking process at the right moment and she already had it prepped for emergency purposes. Overclocking would give her enough power for a minute to wreck her opponent and she still had a backup plan for if she failed to deal a killing blow in that time frame. Once she started overclocking the systems in the walker they would inevitably fry and the machine would go completely dead. There was no fixing the walker after that point unless she overhauled everything and she didn’t have the time or the resources for a full bodied overhaul. This just meant that it would be a test of Gilda’s piloting skills, especially since her opponent didn’t know her very well. After all, who better to deconstruct something than a mechanic? - Fluffy Puff, the most intelligent Puffle ever, got a little turned around after being hit with at least two shock bolts and about a hundred material rounds consecutively. Well she was only as intelligent as a sea sponge or maybe even less than that, but that was enough to get her interested in the dark spooky hole at the back of the frozen storage room. Something smelled interesting and she decided to pursue it and ignore the fact that she was leaking strange fluids or that doing so was making her feel funny in a not so good way. Was this what it felt like before you went to sleep forever? The Puffle didn’t like it one bit and was going to stay awake until she felt better. - (Chrono Trigger Boss Theme 1) Gilda decided to start the fight off not by going directly at the stronger machine, but by strafing around to the left of the Hazard Spider. Oh she knew it would track her movements and quite well at that, the upper torso was basically a turret that could turn and point in almost any direction it wants easily enough and the lower torso could have it move in any direction. Gilda was slightly more limited in her movements. Quelk started off by firing the material cannons and that was when Gilda flicked a switch twice and then the walker she was in seemed to jump forward and out of the path of hundreds of rounds now spilling from the twin cannons. One thousand rounds each was nothing to sneeze at and would take a while to deplete entirely. Gilda’s walker took several hits towards to armor at the back, a lot of the shots dug deeply into the armor and others whizzed by missing and digging into the surrounding walls. The blasts of energy that were being fired alongside the two material cannons were a lot slower and missed entirely. Gilda wasn’t idle and was consistently firing energy shots back, her sudden boost forward would confuse him for a few seconds and she tried to capitalize on it by firing as she continued to strafe around the walker. One arm was outstretched and the other was crossing in front of the torso of the walker, only it was hard to hit any of the joints in the other machine at a distance with the armor overlapping in several places. At least the thing wasn’t shielded and if it had been, then Gilda would have to find out what Rarity got up to when she faced this thing down so as not to make the same mistake when it comes to building shield generators. She had gotten to this party a bit late, thanks to those stupid slow ass elevators. Speaking of late, Gilda wondered where Ember was in all this. She saw a Parrote and Rarity, but the blue dragon wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Not exactly the most important thing to be thinking of, because her shots were doing various amounts of damage from surprisingly moderate to very little. That armor was a little tougher than previously thought. The surprise from the boosted movement didn’t last long as the Hazard Spider swung around and slammed Gilda’s walker in the right arm with its left outstretched claw. The two legged walker was staggered as it slid back a bit before it righted itself and jumped sideways while covering the canopy with both arms to avoid any dangerous hits from the stream of material rounds. Several of said material rounds chewed through the armor, but didn’t seem to hit anything serious. Gilda read the damage readout and winced, it had only been about thirty seconds and she was already taking some bad hits. She could not present her back to this thing, the material rounds could actually pierce her walker’s armor and possibly blow up her power source. There was also already a crack in the canopy from a material round that had just glanced off of it creating a very audible noise that made Gilda jump in her seat and narrow her eyes as she gripped the controls a little bit tighter. Stepping forward she threw the left balled claw up under her opponents machine and knocking it’s cockpit upwards and causing it to take several steps back, she quickly took the opportunity to start firing several shots into the knee joint of one of the legs at point blank range. She did manage something approaching significant damage with the five shots she got in before she was promptly knocked backwards by a double blast to the belly of her walker. Some of the armor melted to slag weakening the area below her canopy, this was followed by more material cannons ripping into the armor. She proceed to strafe to the right this time and again covered her canopy with both arms. The sustained fire of the material cannons were really taking their toll with every single hit and Gilda couldn’t afford to keep taking damage from them. Strafing wasn’t working too well, so she decided to immediately switch gears and distance herself from Hazard Spider. Suddenly changing pace to run down the row into the frozen storage room and gain some distance for her next attack. The sudden change in direction was unexpected as the Hazard Spider continued to turn in the same direction Gilda had been moving, it lost hundreds of rounds hitting nothing before its upper torso started tracking back towards its opponent. Gilda was only going to boost a few more time and then she’d have to hit the switch she was avoiding that would activate the overclock. Once she did that it would spell this machines imminent demise no matter what she did. She instead flicked the same switch she did before in the same manner while sliding and pivoting the walker to point towards the Hazard Spider. By the time that it got back to looking in Gilda’s direction, she already had the walker positioned in a stance to perform its next attack. The Hazard Spider unloaded another hundred or so rounds, but a majority of them missed or hit the legs of the Lightning Walker Gilda was piloting, it had jumped straight up in the air holding its arms out and it gave off a bright flash when it landed upon the ground. The flash was confusing enough, but the sudden burst of speed after a small crouching motion led the bipedal walker to being on top of the Hazard spider before it could even react. Gilda’s walker did decent damage to two of the legs and the canopy with the sudden shoulder charge that slammed the Hazard Spider into the wall next to the gaping hole. The hole was just made a bit big bigger and the leg Gilda previously shot up was now moving a bit more jerkily. The Hazard Spider sparked and twitched as the two legs facing Gilda took up a kneeling position. Gilda charged forward and unleashed a left punch, then a right punch and ended by blasting it repeatedly with both energy cannons trying to aim for whatever she could set her eyes on at the moment. She got as many shots as she could squeeze in before it could retaliate, both the material cannons of the Hazard Spider fired at this range and Gilda leapt backwards out of the way of the incoming fire several times while incurring more damage to her walker. There were sparks from the material rounds hitting the floor leading up to Gilda’s walker that had been hardly avoiding the energy blasts at this range and quickly took up a defensive stance leaving the arms to get chewed up by the material weapons fire. Gilda almost hit the switch to overclock the walker and held off for a moment, as she jumped the machine forward and to the left and then forward to the right through a hail of fire material rounds sparking off the armor and energy bolts missing within millimeters of the hull of her walker. From an outsiders perspective Gilda was certainly getting trashed, but her opponent was wasting a lot of ammunition trying to put her down. Gilda made her machine perform a third lunging action until she got close enough and stopped short of the right punch the Hazard Spider launched her way while stepping forward. She quickly took a few steps back to avoid the follow up left straight. She quickly stepped inside the machines guard between its legs and threw a straight right into the middle of the torso, a loud clanging noise and surprisingly she damaged the uppers torso’s ability to pivot as the metal dented inward on something important. A blast struck Gilda’s walker and it stumbled backwards with its left forearm smoking from the damage it just took, she barely managed to block that and her canopy now had several more cracks in it and she was receiving alerts about it. The screen in front of Gilda was blaring warning and she couldn’t hold off on hitting that switch much longer and she wasn’t doing as much damage as she thought she could. She begrudgingly and silently admitted that this jackass was actually a moderate pilot. A quick glance at the damage her walker had taken and it was started to dip into the red on various body parts and systems. The right shoulder in particular was one of the worst off from that last tackle she unleashed and the damage to the left forearm was almost enough to prevent the energy weapon from firing off. Some of the hydraulics in the legs were a bit messed up from pushing so many boosts through them and her canopy was a few wrong materials rounds away from ripping her to shreds. Gilda didn’t feel fear, it was quite the opposite as she was ecstatic and excited. Gilda decided to bring up the possibility that she may be a very mild technophile with Vera later as the other walker was earning her attention in the oddest of ways, now wasn’t the time or place to be thinking of such stuff when it was a matter of survival. The Boss Lady seriously needed the help and it got Gilda away from her boredom, it was a win her book and she wasn’t going to lose even if she had to detonate the walker she was in to take that thing down… what would happen if she detonated this thing while it was overclocking? There was an idea, but she had to immobilize her opponent to implement it correctly. She had to make that machine expend the last of its ammunition, the thing was practically loaded with armor piercing materials and she needed that kind of fire power out of the way before she lost her walker. She could feasibly dodge the energy weapons while flying, the material rounds would just shred her unarmored butt and she’s already made it expend thousands on her. How much could it have left? It was either make it waste the ammo or destroy the weapons which was a bit harder to do when her weapon couldn’t damage or reach them on the shoulders. In the other machine John Quelk looked upon his own readout and saw that Hazard Spider was damaged in three critical spots slowing it down. His machine was capable of taking an entire battalion of Lightning Model walkers which were basically grunts of their armored division. If this was true, then why was he having so much trouble with this one and how in the hell did the person piloting it make it speed up like that? There was just something not natural about how well it was performing, but it wasn’t like it wasn’t taking copious amounts of damage and that was at least the realistic part of this situation. The one thing that really scared commander Quelk about all this is that he’s spent almost all of his remaining ammunition on this one walker alone, more than he would have normally on several piloted by Human hands under the exact same specifications. He was an armored division pilot of great renown and to his utter dismay, the pathetic mass production walker he was fighting was still somehow standing and continuing to chip away at his walker even as it was falling apart in front of him. Even if it couldn’t really do much to the heavily armored portions of Hazard Spider, it was getting him where it counted tactically by slowly disabling his mobility. Overall the four legged Hazard Spider was still doing better than Gilda’s battered and almost broken walker. Gilda charged forward and blocked with the right arm before taking a swing with the left at her opponents canopy, the Hazard Spider stepped backwards and unleashed a torrent that had Gilda backing up until the two material cannons started making loud clicking sounds. Despite doing a phenomenal amount of damage to the walker Gilda stole, they had finally run dry which was the time the griffon had been waiting for. The griffon checked the weapons systems to see they were still functional, the armor was now a completely lost cause and any real damage after this was going to really make her walker fall apart faster than one of Greta’s mechanical pets. Her opponent was about to see why good mechanics were dangerous. This guy wasn’t a mechanic, which was pretty much clear to Gilda judging by his performance and she was about to play the card she had been sitting on for a while. “I’ve been waiting for this moment, time to show you what you Humans have been missing!” Gilda smirked and then hit the overclock switch and… nothing happened. “Oh and what is that?” Quelk taunted, he was still doing well even if he was out of ammo, lost his shields and his special weapon. Gilda looked at the readout on the damage to her screen and then slapped her face, she reached up and flicked the switch she’s been using to perform short term boosts once instead of doing it twice like she had previously done. The response was immediate and quite shocking as Gilda’s walker seemed to expand slightly before contracting and took on a dark purple glow. “Sorry, forgot to make sure a switch was flipped.” Instead of a badass one liner, Gilda went with an apology and the second she pushed the controls to move forward the walker blurred and was moving at three time the speed it normally could. Quelk couldn’t very well keep up with what was happening over the course of the next few seconds even if he tried, as the walker was responding as fast as Gilda could operate the controls. She still had to say something about what was about to happen as she closed in. “Say hello to F U mode!” The first blow was immediately followed by the second and third leading into a fourth punch from the now stupidly fast machine. By the time Quelk was trying to return a leftward swing in retaliation the arm was grabbed by Gilda’s right, stopped completely and the left came up and rammed home into the elbow joint causing a shrieking noise as the metal protested against the sudden jarring hit followed by a right straight into the Hazard Spider’s canopy as Gilda released it upon hitting the arm. The entire canopy cracked upon impact into a spider web shaped mass of fractures, but it still held together. Quelk after having the inner left elbow hit tried to move the right arm and get the fast machine off of him with a shot. Only it was knocked upwards before it could fire or even connect and it was blown backwards by his opponent’s right punch that almost seemed to wrench the arm out of the right shoulder socket and was hit with a blast of energy more powerful than the ones his machine could unleash. It was absurd and maddening that the thing could even put out that much power. “Oh, of all the… damn it.” Gilda looked at the readout and the sudden worsening of the alarm to find that the overclock might end a bit faster than she wanted it to, mostly because the actions she was putting the machine through were actively working to tear it apart as she pilots it. Well no time like the present, set the thing to explode while it was still going and get in a few more licks. “Boss Lady get everyone clear, things are about to get toasty in here!” Gilda didn’t look to see the reaction, though there were a lot of wings flying to get away and a lot of movement up on the blocks. She was focused on one thing and that was taking down the armored asshole before her. “She’s not kidding, everyone start moving away from the edge of the blocks and get away as far as you can!” Rarity understood Gilda pretty well and knew that when she said something, it was exactly as it sounded based in both opinion and fact. When Gilda said something was about to go up, something was going to go up and then some. The slightly smaller walker laid into the Hazard Spider for all it was worth and crippled both the nearest legs with two blows each and the continued to wreck the arms and torso trying to breach through the armor. The screeched of metal was heard as pieces fell off both the walker Gilda was piloting and Hazard Spider, the one Gilda was piloting was starting to look like a zombie by comparison that the other one was still holding up. The demented glow around the smaller machine started intensifying and Gilda decided it was time to bail, she blew the canopy dropping it to the floor and lunged the walker forward to grapple Hazard Spider’s torso as much as it feasibly could. She then gripped the top of the opening in her cockpit and flipped herself onto the roof in an impressive show of agility, then leapt and started flapping her wings frantically flying away from the back of her own machine. The glowing hit a crescendo and blinding flash filled the room as did a massive explosion that sent Gilda rolling and tumbling through the air. She managed to catch herself before she slammed into the side of the flooring of one of the blocks and started to hover, eyeing the large billowing cloud of smoke where her machine used to be to see something moving inside of it. Now the Hazard Spider looked like the zombie and there wasn’t much left of the walker Gilda had used, she had blown it to hell. It was a bit horrifying to realized that the Hazard Spider was still able to stand and move somewhat. The armor on its body was shredded somewhat, but it was still going and thankfully Gilda planned for this occasion. “What’s the plan camarade?” Rubis’s feathers were not only messed up, the few bits of skin showing under them was pale from the blood loss and being recently patched up didn’t help her one bit. Gilda kind of amazed her and she was looking to Gilda for a plan of action since Hazard Spider still wasn’t down. “If you and anyone else here has a loaded and viable weapon be prepared to fire it. I’ve still got some aces up my sleeves, but I’ll have to get in close to use them!” It was a yelling Gilda talking about the satchel full of freezing chemicals in vials, the chemical sprayer and of course her plasma rifle. Her hearing had been messed up from being so close to the shockwave and she was going to need some medical leave after this. “Fire whatever you can, you’ll know when to do so!” Gilda had caught her breath enough that she launched into the air from the block and dodged the blast of energy from the left claw of the Hazard Spider, but the right sparked and failed to fire. Gilda pulled the chemical sprayer and rolled out of the path of another bolt of energy that nearly clipped one of her wings, she wasn’t going to lose her ability to fly naturally damn it! Swooping down Gilda started spraying the left arm of the tortured machined with the freezing chemicals and upon reaching the shoulder that arm could no longer be moved. It tried to fire, but the ice was preventing it from functioning. The right one took a swing at Gilda and she flipped backwards out of the way and was surprised when a sudden stream of flaming rocks and material weapons were all firing upon the frozen arm. The sudden heat from the flaming rocks and a lot of material weapons fire caused the arm to fall off in a small explosion that had the walker staggering, now the Hazard Spider was lacking an arm and its armor wasn’t protecting it from much of anything anymore. “We still have enough for one last lightning bolt, guys help me out here. Hey you, freeze the other arm and get clear!” A voice from above sounded out. Gilda flew in and out spraying the other arm down freezing it in place, she stumbled in the air as her wing was hit by the tip of the arm before the ice covered it. She caught herself in time before she could hit the floor and flew away quickly noticing the swirling mass of light starting to collect above the Hazard Spider with what remaining clouds there were. Frost Wind and his weather crew managed to cobble together one last blast of lightning and it was devastating blow that took down the Hazard Spider completely. The shock from the lightning bolt caused the right arm to be atomized instead of just falling off Hazard Spider, said walker had no weapons left and if it could move after all that then it would be very slow to get anywhere. Gilda flew up high, hefted a vial and then pitched it at the canopy of the machine. The cracked and battered canopy shattered completely as soon as it started freezing. The man in the seat was frantically trying to work the controls, though the lightning bolt had logically fried every system left operational. The whole thing was dead and soon he would be too as someone on the blocks took the moment to fire several energy blasts into his body coating the surroundings in his blood, he died slowly gurgling in pain as his blood pooled in his throat choking him to death from being accurately shot in several arteries. There was a moment of quiet, the alarms of the bases imminent destruction was the only thing heard going on in the frozen storage room as many a pony, a parrote or two, one griffon, even a little Human girl and any of the other species that had managed thaw out safely turned to Rarity. Rarity closed her eyes and sighed, before falling onto her butt in a sitting position. “Now if only Greta or anyone could hopefully...” Rarity started to mutter under her breath. “Two minutes remaining to evacu… self-destruct cancelled…” There were some sighs of relief all around, but they weren’t out of the woods yet. Gilda had lasted more than five minutes and then some considering she was still alive and winging it for Rarity to give her a hug, shooting a completely defenseless guy was one of the most metal things she’s ever seen the Boss Lady do! Now if she could convince the Boss Lady to wear a punk mane style, then she would be more awesome as unlikely as that is to occur. “There it is…” Blinking her eyes trying to keep them open, Rarity was really quite tired of this whole affair and didn’t like the fact that she was the one that ultimately killed that man, but she really didn’t want him to survive any of this. Not after everything he put everyone through and all the people he’s helped to kill, there were some people that shouldn’t be left to chance to cause more loss of life. She didn’t feel like a hero for what she just did, but she’d face that later. She needed more sleep, the few hours she got when she was in that box before Fluffy Puff found her wasn’t nearly damn enough. Gilda was being oddly affectionate with her all of the sudden and she didn’t mind all too much, she cleared her throat and spoke loudly. “I hope nobody holds that against me, I’m going to sleep now and I better not die in my sleep before my cousins wedding! It’s important… to me… try to continue thawing people out as safely as you… Ember…” With the last of her strength spent staying awake in the awkwardly cuddly griffons arms, Rarity passed out from exhaustion for the second time since she entered the facility. When she woke up, she was hoping to be healed, to get a long hot shower, comfort food for everyone no matter what it was, a deep tissue massage and a makeup kit. Heck she would certainly pay to get her whole crew into a five star resort and just say damn it all to the consequences of possibly bankrupting themselves. Author's Note As cousin Kyle states in such a deranged manner on South Park, "I'M BACK!" Especially with this one hundred chapter special length edition, super collider of happiness. I love the month of monsters, it has been a good month to take a break on. The new way I have to post chapters is annoying though, minor issue with the new computer aside Happy Month of Monsters. I'm going to go get sick on candy. Landmark: 500,000 thousand words on one story. Also, yes, that was an R66Y style attack Gilda did there. -101-“What where the chemicals that you just used on that thing?” Hovering nearer to the griffon Frost Wind was now talking about the still somewhat standing macabre sight of Hazard Spider standing there. That thing had been a nightmare and it had almost destroyed the griffon’s walker by the time it did that strange glowing thing and got faster before it went up violently. “Yeah, note all the frozen people in here, I’m sure you can’t miss them. It’s a substance that acts like liquid nitrogen only different, we pulled quite a few vials of the stuff from several of the machines that were used to capture everyone here. I’m beginning to think the Humans outsourced Foggre technology, it’d make sense with all the drawbacks I’ve been seeing in those machines we took care of at any rate.” Grunted out an aggravated Gilda, she wanted to keep her walker as there were several interesting parts in it. Her feathers were a bit ruffled, she was slightly singed and her she might have been bleeding a bit from a few pieces of shrapnel she didn’t know or couldn’t feel as having hit her. If there were a few small bits of metal in her, then it wasn’t an immediate concern as she’s had worse happen to her before this. “Anyway the stuff is dangerous, but it can freeze someone alive for being thawed out later, IE you for one. Gilda Gottfrieda, master mechanic of the Shining Jewel crew and a friend of the Boss Lady here.” “Yes and apparently a Pegasus will always survive the freezing process, griffons and those like them have a have a high survival rate while everyone else has at least half a chance at life again. We’re still thawing people out, so that’s the best estimate I can give from what’s happened so far. I’m quickly studying this to see what I can do to help the rest of the frozen. I’m Flesh Tender and that is Frost Wind.” Flesh tilted his head to Frost, then when introducing himself to Gilda he held a hoof to his chest. “Would you mind if I checked you over for injuries while we have some time? That fight looked like it roughed you up something fierce. Your friend there is also pretty banged up, so I have to ask if I can look at her too.” “Go ahead and give me and the boss lady a scan doc, you’re not the first unicorn to have a go at my unhealthy obsession with caffeine. So… who’s in charge now?” It was quiet for a few minutes and Gilda looked around, there was a disturbing amount of eyes pointed in her direction. She carefully laid the sleeping Rarity down ignoring the mares’ wet eyes and raised her claws in a defensive manner. “No… wait, let me rephrase that. Hell no! I’m just not leadership material… also where is Ember?” “I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news and I’m a little dizzy from the blood loss, but your friend Ember is…” Rubis had the holes in her flesh patched up by Mr. Tender, but the doctor was going to need more food badly and soon at that. At least she didn’t have any broken bones from trying to brace Ember’s rifle against all those material cannon rounds. “Ember she was… well you see that groove in the floor and there’s the remains of the beam cannon that shot her over there. Maybe you could tell me what it is since you are a mechanic, anyway I do not believe she could have survived that.” “That… actually looks like a nice piece of tech. Far too good for Human make and definitely not a Foggre design, this is more my speed.” Ignoring the protests of several people and their need for leadership, Gilda took off to start investigating the possibility of a new shiny toy for her to tinker with. Flapping her wings and coming in for a landing she checked the larger cannon that had been at the back of the Hazard Spider and whistled loudly. “Okay this is unusual… there is no way the Humans technological level could possibly be this high unless they’ve been either holding back or they paid a lot of money to develop this thing. It’s a quasi-radiation beam cannon, gives off a lot of heat and raw energy that can melt almost anything alive. Judging by the fact that nobody else in this room is dead, it doesn’t leave a hot zone after firing which is kind of amazing if it is Human made since they have a history of really bad dirty tech. It can possibly fire more in cold conditions, explains what happened to Gravenstein. Chances that this thing actually killed Ember? Well the raw force alone is what I’d have to calculate.” “Um… excuse moi, but nothing could have possibly survive what left a groove in the floor like that!” Rubis clutched at her head as she staggered over to Gilda, she was dizzy and hungry again. Doctor Tender fixed the holes in her, but the necessary energy to fix the injuries had to come from more than magic and he couldn’t replace the lost blood. Coming up alongside Rubis was doctor Flesh Tender who had finished scanning Rarity and termed her to have a broken leg, several levels of bruising, internal bloods clots of the less than lethal variety and severe exhaustion. Rarity’s condition was stable. He started scanning Gilda and saw that her blood could be a replacement for coffee, which was totally utterly absurd and he wondered how the griffon could even be alive or even how she was still going. Otherwise Gilda was bearing a few chunks of metal shrapnel in her that would have to be removed sooner rather than later, there was also some light bruising and her one of her wings was singed horribly at the tips. A relatively healthy griffon if you ignore all that. “I wouldn’t be so sure, depending on the distance the energy had to travel and what was in the way of the beam at the time it made impact. Instead of dead, we’d have pretty much alive. Anyone volunteering to go check that hole?” Seeing a mouth open, Gilda immediately slapped her talons over the offending beak and smiled, Rubis didn’t like being silenced and narrowed her eyes at a cheekily smirking Gilda. “No, then I volunteer to go check out the final fate of one of my friends. I at least have the stomach for it. If you ate a few Xouj like I did, then your stomach would be as strong too if you could keep something like that down in the name of survival. Someone watch after my Boss Lady while I’m at it!” Gilda was off and flying for the gaping hole at the back of the frozen storage room leaving Rubis to contemplate what she just said. Her satchel of chemicals and sprayer shifting with each flap of her wings and her plasma rifle clear for all to see on her back, she looked every bit as dangerous as she appeared. The truth was she wasn’t very well practiced with guns and the chemical sprayer was at least familiar to her. The sprayer was effective in taking down Hazard spider at least, but as far as combat goes she certainly specialized in piloting and driving vehicle as outside of them she was a lot more vulnerable and new that logically and intrinsically. “She actually ate something like that?” It was kind of horrific, but Rubis could actually kind of see it as happening. Gilda seemed like equal parts grumpy and crazy enough to do it. How did she even manage to steal that walker in the first place and why of all things did she call Rarity her Boss Lady? Well she couldn’t worry about that now, she wanted to live and the best way to do that was to stick to the plan of getting out of this facility alive. Flesh Tender was the first to really react and went galloping after the griffon, if the griffon was right then he’d be needed to stabilize the body for movement and quickly. Frost Wind followed Tender shortly after asking several of his people to go search for food and to use what little scavenged ammunition they had gotten from nearby bodies. He expressly told them to not go too far and to watch their backs, he also asked that someone watch out for the people still thawing and weren’t killed immediately by the stray material cannon rounds that shattered their frozen bodies. He also shouted two names to watch the entrance to the room. “Wait, I am having reservations about looking for what may be nothing but ash or a cooked corpse!” Even if Rubis logically knew dragons could survive swimming in lava and even enjoyed drinking molten rock every once in a while, she still didn’t think Ember could have survived that beam that tore a hole through the room. Even with her protests Gilda flew down the hole and three hundred feet later in the darkened tunnel dug out by the beam she ran across a sight that was horrifying. The Puffle wasn’t scary it was just sniffing around the body on the floor, that being of Ember’s shredded form and the damage was turning even for Gilda’s admittedly strong stomach. It was hard to see a predator in this state. The EVA suit no longer existed and there was not a scrap of it left on the dragon’s shredded form. “Wow, that’s a way to go.” Here Gilda had thought a beam comprised of mostly heat wouldn’t do much to Ember, obviously she was wrong. She watched as Flesh Tender walked forward and lit his horn. “She’s… surprisingly not dead... barely alive though. Her scales aren’t exactly the same as skin so the best I can do for is put her in stasis. I won’t be able to carry her if I do that, the stasis spell will wipe me out for a while and even then it won’t protect her if anything hits her while she’s in stasis, the fact that she’s even alive in this state is a miracle. She has broken bones, you can even see some of them physically sticking out of the shredded muscle.” Flesh Tender wasn’t selling Ember’s actual injuries correctly, it looked like somebody took sand paper and steel wool to her whole body. The dragon’s arms and legs and torso were the most badly damaged, but her face was mostly untouched as she likely put her arms up to protect it. Her scales couldn’t protect her from the raw force of all that energy slamming into her, at least the heat didn’t seem to do any extra damage aside from making sure she didn’t bleed out. “If we are to save her we need a medical bed, like yesterday! She’ll live about three minutes without the stasis spell, do we even make the effort to save her life? My magic could keep other people who might need it more alive and I don’t want to waste it on what looks like a lost cause, I need a decision and I need one quick.” “It’s a good thing I’ve already thrown up.” Frost Wind grimaced at the grizzly sight of the dragon. Fluffy didn’t touch the body was just stared blanking at the dragon’s chest that barely rose, it gave a squeak and then blew a raspberry. The tone of her noises sounded rather flat, Puffles couldn’t exactly do sad very well and this was as close as it got to it. It just stared at the unmoving form, her wounds had stopped hurting so much, because her fur dampened enough with her blood to bandage them over. “Thankfully we stocked the Centaur-pede with every kind of essential including a medical bed, but we’d have to get her to it.” Even knowing how tough dragons were this was a surprise to Gilda, most people wouldn’t even be alive in this state. “How much time can you give her in stasis doc?” “About thirty minutes, if I do it right now. Chances are even if we do save her life she’ll might be stuck in a trauma coma. The fact that she is even still breathing is a miracle in itself, much less that she survive that beam that evaporated Pegasus Ponies on contact!” Flesh Tender had many other patients to attend to, using most of his magic on this one would limit his ability to help the other thawing people in the frozen storage room. “As a doctor I must say that it was highly improbable for her to have survived the initial hit just to die of her injuries later like this.” “Merde, what is wrong with you? We’ll do it and that means right now Mr. Tender, she helped all of us survive long enough to keep going! It is the least we can do for Lady Rarity and her friends, we have to try.” If there was a chance to save a life, Rubis was willing to take it as Ember took on a lot for them and they wouldn’t have survived the odds otherwise. “Frost Wind can you go get something to carry Ember with s’il vous plait? We will be moving her to this… what did you call it?” Frost Wind threw a salute and quickly took off to get something to drag Ember out of this hole dug out by that powerful beam weapon. Flesh Tender closed his eyes and began concentrating on a spell, his horn started glowing brightly as he prepared to cast it. “The Centaur-pede, it’s our mobile fortress and base of operations here. All I need to do is fly up to it when we reach it and bring it down to the floor so we can load Ember into one of the medical beds. We can’t exactly endanger it and will have to make sure it doesn’t take too much damage.” The beam digging out a hole here gave her an idea, but they didn’t exactly have the power for it, so Gilda discarded the idea as soon as she came up with it. “It lost its shields and most of our spare limbs coming down here. It’s going to take forever to fix all that damage down here on the ground, I want our fortress to survive long enough to get it back into space for repairs. We might even be able to use it to dig a tunnel to the surface, but I need a lot of stuff to make the modifications to it.” - “Damn it…” Greta muttered out of Viral’s mouth. “What’s wrong sugar cube?” Applejack was alert and looking away from talking with Trap Bar, she noticed that Rover wasn’t with them anymore. The room hadn’t been invaded, so he must have gone back for Mare-Do-Well. “You know how the facility made the announcement that the countdown has stopped?” Viral looked away from Applejack’s searching eyes. “Yeah, what about it?” There was a sinking feeling in Applejack’s gut, especially when she heard Greta’s tone. “I’ve only delayed the inevitable, I couldn’t stop the countdown directly. I only changed the conditions of what will cause it to continue and when it does we will only have two minutes on the clock.” Viral turned back to the screen and continued talking. “To survive the explosion we’d have to be at least half a mile away from the epicenter. Getting to the surface would be a start.” “What will set off the timer again?” Applejack queried with a bit of trepidation. “Well it wasn’t easy, but I’ve got it so that the facility has to flood beyond a certain point for the countdown to begin again.” That didn’t sound so bad and Greta had sounded like she solved their problems. “That doesn’t so bad… so what’s the catch?” Almost wishing she didn’t have to ask, Applejack shuddered at the robots eyes boring into her own. “There’s a portion of the facility already under forty feet of water from all the melting ice. At most we have two hours to find our way to the surface and get out of the blast range or find a way to slow down the melting snow and ice. We need far more time than that if we want to rescue those people still frozen in the laboratory sector.” Greta made the robotic fox lift a paw and pointed towards the screen, Applejack saw a distorted image of the surface. The entire area was littered with bits of metals and parts of destroyed machines. “There’s not a cloud in the sky thanks to us and it’s a sunny day, never thought weather might be the most dangerous thing in this situation. There are still armed Humans running around the facility, I have no control over much aside from cameras and have a communications lockout on them, I’ve done about all I can do in this situation. All I can do is hope someone else has a plan as my technical prowess is spent here.” “It’s nice that your honest to a fault, but did you really have to tell me all that?” There was despair bleeding into Applejack’s voice. “Wait a minute… I may be a simple farmer with some sharp shooting skills and not a lot going on between my ears, but can’t we get those Pegasi from that frozen storage place to the surface so they can slow down the melting ice and snow?” “All we’re doing right now is buying time so we can get everyone that we can out of here. It really wouldn’t buy us that much more as the temperature outside is rising steadily even if every Pegasus we could get up there were to contribute to a cloud cover and cold weather operations.” The ears on the robot drooped a little, Greta’s voice sounded a bit stressed. “We’d never stop this facilities destruction… maybe… Rover I need you to… Rover?” “I think he went to help Mare-Do-Well. What did you need him for, did you get an idea?” There was a hint of hope in Applejack’s voice. “Rover is a Diamond Dog. His entire species are natural born experts in excavation and or digging by nature.” Explained Greta as a starting point before she continued on to why she needed his presence. “I need him to get started on a tunnel big and strong enough for people to get through to the surface safely, he’d know how to dig one so that we can get started on getting people out of here or at the very least he’d be capable of instructing others how to help dig our way out. He wouldn’t be doing much digging with a broken wrist and a battered body, but we definitely need him alive if you want to move any of the Pegasi to the surface quickly enough for your idea to work.” “You want me to go get him?” Applejack asked, she could still use her weapon as a bludgeon but as far as getting into a fight she was helpless and likely to be blasted by the first human to come across her. “No need, I can contact him from here and it looks like he’s helping Mare-Do-Well with Perja. Now that’s one tough Human, you’d think she would stay down with those kind of injuries.” Whistling lightly Greta turned the robots head to Applejack. “I still need you to go to him and Saffron, I’m going to have Viral stay here and perform a permanent lock on the room. Nobody will need to come back here and we can get to work on getting those people in frozen storage out of there. I can already see several Pegasus Ponies looting vending machines for food and there are a few others gathering whatever they can find in the laboratory sector. You can either go to lend them assistance down there or you can come back to the Centaur-pede… hold on. Holy plucking Tartarus…. Ember… scratch my previous statement you and the others are definitely going down there no choice!” “Why, what happened?” Pausing by the door, Applejack was certainly alert for anything bad coming and picked up the weapon dropped by the dead Human at the door. “Our friend Ember is down and she is severely injured… I haven’t exactly been keeping an eye on what’s been going on in there until now. Rarity looks unconscious, but at least she appears to be healthy.” It kind of upset Greta that she was losing yet another one of her robotic pet creations, but she could always build more and lives were currently on the line and in serious danger. The one that looks like they need a lot of help right now was Ember, who was now missing a lot of spines and scales and her horns were almost worn down to stumps. “I’ve never seen a dragon that horribly injured before. You probably don’t want to see Ember in her current state Applejack, but you’re going to anyway. Find some ammo on the way if you can, but first meet up with Rover and Mare-Do-Well. Turn left and take another left, can’t miss them. I’ll be in contact with you guys provided that Rover or Mare-Do-Well haven’t damaged their helmets too badly.” “Got it, I’m going now!” Once out the door, it slammed shut and Viral turned back to the console to address Trap Bar. “If you can get several transports around here to pick up all those people, that would help out with all the problems we have going on here. I think we’re all running on fumes here, can you give me any indication as to what happened to our ship up in orbit?” “Like I’d let you guys down, I’m already sending them. They’ll be there, just save as many as you feasibly can and get out of there!” Trap Bar stated in a serious no nonsense tone. “Call Sign can you call our guys at Applin Five and check on the Shining Jewel?” A few seconds passed by and Trap Bar nodded, he was listening to someone else talking and then he turned his attention back on Viral. “It’s taken some damage from fighting pirates, but your ship is fine as far as we can tell aside from some hull damage and losing a few turrets. I’ve already got enough information to order a full system blockade and we’ve already after this started on that.” Trap Bar nodded to Viral. “I hope to see you and your Boss Lady alive and well Ms. Gollenfer, I need to finish cleaning up here on Applin Three. I hope we all make it through these rough times, Trap Bar out!” - “Gilda what happened to Ember!” Quite a few people flinch at the sound of Greta’s voice. “Got hit by a hot beam that surprisingly doesn’t leave heat behind and it’s a bit unusual for Human tech as they tend to do things dirty, heat probably did nothing more than completely erase Ember’s EVA suit from existence.” Being the only one to not flinch, Gilda sound rather bored at Greta’s shocked exclamation. “It’s the raw force and pressure of the beam that really hurt her. If you can see me look at the floor that’ll give you an idea how big the beam was.” “And she survived that, really? That looks like it hit her with enough for to rip an elephant clean in half!” Nobody was saying Greta wasn’t right in the estimate the walkers the beam hit were melted into the grooves the beam created. “From what I can see she looks like someone took material cannon and filled it completely with sand and then fire hundreds of rounds at her body until it wore down. I think I’m going to be sick.” “That’s we need to get her back to the Centaur-pede and fast, what do you have direct control of Greta? Ember lost most of her scales and her face is thankfully the least damaged thing about her, her arms took the brunt of that and it’s why she still has eyes in her skull.” Asking for the sake of knowing what they had to work with. “You might want to make it quick with what you can do, because Ember won’t last in stasis forever we don’t have much time.” “Speaking of time, I didn’t exactly stop the countdown permanently.” What Greta said got an instant reaction from Gilda as she was looking at where she thought the nearest speaker was. “As for what I have control of, visuals and communications. The Humans can’t very well organize themselves without me knowing about it. “What do you mean Greta?” Lacing her voice with pure ice Gilda needed to know if there were any other complications aside from running into any more walkers or Humans. “How can the countdown not be stopped? I heard it say it was cancelled.” “Well it involves how the lockdown protocols on this facility work, basically a lot of triggers for the countdown were activated and thanks to the lockdown I can’t exactly stop the facility from destroying itself. I had to swap the countdown to an inactive trigger, one that is going to activate anyway at this rate and it was my best choice.” Here Greta could be heard taking a deep breath and sounded like she was about to metaphorically bite the bullet on something. “I couldn’t deactivate any of the active ones and there was a small list of things I could make the countdown activate on that weren’t triggered by the initial activation that started the countdown in the first place, I chose the one labeled environmental hazards. That was even knowing full well that the facility is slowly flooding and now has forty five feet of water at the bottom of it at this moment and rising slowly. The systems actively check to see if the trigger condition is met, thanks to the trigger change the countdown only stalled and will continue if the condition is met.” “Just for the sake of reference for why you chose ‘environmental hazards’ as the thing that causes the countdown to continue, assuming I’m right that if the base gets flooded enough that we’ll only have two minutes to escape once the water reaches a certain point, what was wrong with all the other options you had?” Full out cranky Gilda came out and she wondered why Greta chose that particular setting for, it sounded like a really dumb thing to do and Greta wasn’t an idiot or a complete waste of space. “About that, it was the only option that gave us enough time. Percentage of base personnel alive wasn’t a good idea, what with the Humans running afoul of Puffle related incidents and there are still a few Humans that are fighting those things called Gillamonks that got free and if you want to move Ember you might need to kill a few on the way back to my position. Almost all the Gillamonks are dead and I can confirm that the Humans have actually managed to kill five Puffles, four by accident and one on purpose. There was also computer systems compromised one which would have reactivated the countdown immediately considering what I’ve been doing.” Then Greta giggled dryly and sighed. “The last one is kind of humorous… you know since it involves the systems checking whether the weather generators and all the robots on the surface around the facility entrances were still active. If I chose that one then the self-destruct, again for the sake of clarity, would have returned to our two minute scheduled demise. Before you ask, the modifications I made to Viral makes her different enough to not count as one of the robots anymore. The hindsight on that one is really quite bad.” “Yeah, it’s funny because you destroyed them all as soon as you feasibly could and collapsed all those tunnels of ice and snow over just about every exit out of here. Oh and the one machine still around in your control won’t count in said scenario giving us all the time in the world, just freaking peachy and I’m a lover of pears personally.” Rolling her eyes Gilda could swear the universe conspired against Rarity and anyone that knew here, it was quickly becoming apparent that the Boss Lady had some kind of jinx on her or luck that shifted chaotically if they survived. “I swear Greta, this is one of the worst situations we’ve ever been in. In a good round estimate, how much time have you exactly bought us?” “At most two hours, at least one hour and that’s not enough to thaw out those people unless we can slow down the melting ice and snow. Being an Ever Green Planet, it’s warm all year round and the best we could do is get some Pegasi up on the surface like yesterday to cloud up the sky and have some in the facility to stop the water from flooding it.” This was not a touch and go situation, touch and go couldn’t even begin to scratch the surface of everything that’s going on here and Greta was going to go nuts trying to fix all this. Technical engineers were not supposed to get jobs this horrendously stressful unless they were crewed on military vessels. “If you could get as many Pegasi as you can gathered and for Rover to get back here safely. If that happens he might be able to dig a tunnel to the surface where we can start evacuating people while also getting Ember into a medical bed. The Pegasi will be busy slowing down the flooding and that will give us time thaw as many people as we can out.” “Well, why are we sitting around here talking about it? We must start taking action now, some people will have to stay here and help every newly thawed get on their feet quickly!” By being the one to start ordering other people around, Rubis Poulette was the one that became the de facto leader much to Gilda’s relief. “Others will have to help clear and hold a path to the mobile fortress of Lady Rarity. I will not lie, this will not be easy as we have many blesse people to move. One of whom is almost dead saving all of you and another that was exhausted to her very limit, I hope I need not remind everyone of their incredible courage!” -102-“I’m taking up controls, better hang on to something. Hey, you EDF guys should be getting clear out of here!” It was Gilda’s voice that Rarity was hearing as she woke up strapped into a medical bed with a battered and beaten trio nearby. Rover had several injuries that looked like they would scar, Applejack was show black and blue through her orange coat and Mare-Do-Well was strapped in similarly. “We’ll be fine, Lightning are you ready to pick us up in the upper atmosphere? We really don’t want the gravity well to pull us back in after we expend our fuel. T-minus ten seconds to launch… oh hey the Puffles are actually doing something smart and making a run for it, the Boss Lady will be happy to hear that. Things were pretty touch and go for a while, but we can get medical help upstairs." “At least let us fly escort!” The voice of a stallion could be heard saying throughout the interior of the cargo loading machine. “Sure, sure, now out of the way wide loads, the facility is going to go up at any minute down there and I want to watch the fireworks from orbit.” Well Gilda sounded particularly cheerful. “Excuse me, but I feel a bit dazed. Am I to ascertain that we’re all back on the Centaur-pede?” It was probably one of the worst times Rarity could have woken up, shifting about upset her broken leg and she winced loudly from agitating her injury. She was strapped into a medical bed, but it currently wasn’t filled with any chemicals. Chemicals like painkillers, which would have been nice to have at the moment. “Yeah, we’ll give you the full story later Rarity, we’re kind in the middle of a life or death situation here and I’m saying goodbye to another one of my mechanical pets. Why do they always blow up so young? She's barely more than a day old too.” Whined Greta sadly before she turned a smile to Rarity. “It’s good to see you’re feeling okay Boss Lady, relatively speaking that you still have a broken leg.” “I am amazed that this thing can possibly get back into orbit with how heavy she is.” Wait, why was Rubis here? “Lady Rarity, I have something of great importance to tell you!” “That can wait until later jailbait. Lift off!” The thunderous sound of the entire structure started shaking around them and Rarity blacked out for a moment do to the sudden increase in pressure on the wrong portions of her body. They are accelerating upwards it would seem. “The facility is going to be detonating in forty three seconds Gilda… we’re going to miss seeing the explosion and it’s a good thing too. At least we’ll be out of range.” Finally good news, after everything they’d been through it was about time things started going their way again. “Keep us on course and we’ll be well out of the blast radius. I honestly don’t know about the Puffles, but I’m sure they’ve had worse.” “Did I mention that I hate going into and being in space, I’d rather take a solid rock to grow crops on!” It had been harrowing, but Applejack had made it through most of that mess alive and almost entirely in one piece. She had a material round lodged deeply into her butt and the doctor said it wasn’t very safe to remove until they could get better medical accommodations, something the Shining Jewel had plenty of at the moment. That said the farmer was taking the pain pretty well, she should as she was quite tough and had taken a lot of grazing wounds throughout the ordeal before that last parting shot by the last surviving base commander Perja Rensada. At least Flesh Tender was able to help her, she turned to look at the horrible sight floating a tank of medical fluids. “I could care less right now!” Shouted over the roar of the rockets lifting the six legged walk into the sky. “Even if you were an alien parasite bent on annihilating us all, I’m getting my world freaking record for heaviest thing that can orbital drop and return to orbit on one tank of fuel!” - Fluffy Puff, looked towards the large pillar of flames and fire in the distance and turned back to the others, slowly her tongue slid out of her mouth and she let loose one long raspberry. This was returned in happy exclamation, they didn’t even noticed they lost a few of their number and went back to just being happy and cuddly with one another. You know, instead of being portents of doom and destruction when left to run free in a place full of explosives and destructible things that some careless creatures might wander into. - Things were rather quiet when they hit orbit and heard Greta sigh with relief, earning all their attentions as she gave them a patented cheery smile that had the corners of her beak pointing upwards. “Well it’s over now. We came, we saw and we got ourselves mauled to varying degrees for Rarity’s hero complex. I’m just happy we’re all alive... aside from some crippling injuries and the one exceedingly critically wounded friend.” Shaking her head Greta pulled out her data pad and looked at the words ‘lost connection’ written in big letters on the screen, her smile faintly turned downwards at that. She quickly turned her attention to communicating with Lightning. She looked on the brighter side of things, they had all made it and she could always build another Viral Vixen robot eventually. Though that one might meet a similar fate to all the mechanical pets she’s made, though she really didn’t want to relive the mechanical fish incident and hoped that it couldn’t be repeated. “Do you see us yet Lightning? Let us coast up a bit more before closing in for the tow, we want to make the record legitimate.” “Roger that, Caravel Boutique is on route for pick up. I’ll swing by in a minute. I hope you and Gilda can fix the damage to the Shining Jewel and maybe figure out whatever is wrong with the white cat of yours Boss Lady.” What Lightning said gave Rarity some cause for alarm. There was something wrong with Opal? Well that sounded like it needed an explanation. “Is she alright?” Rarity’s voice was obviously laced with concern. “Define alright, subjectively I think she’s doing okay, she’s just not responding to us verbally or appearing on any of the monitors. It’s a bit creepy.” Lightning could almost be heard shrugging in her seat. “In any case, I have a list of injuries are for the crew while you were gone. Mr. Cumin took some mild injuries, he was kind of a badass with that soup ladle. Sassy is doing fine, didn’t get hit a single time when we were boarded. Now there’s a mare that knows how to move like she was made of lightning, she had them pissing metal trying to hit her!” Watching the view screen Rarity could see the Caravel Boutique coming at them and it would soon be dragging them back to their battered home, it did need to be painted anyway and the turrets could be rebuilt. “Anyway where was I? Ah yes, Coco has some bruises after she got physical with some of the boarders. Mr. Spew took offense to all the guys that were attacking Coco, he’s perfectly healthy for the most dangerous thing on this ship. Babs Seed is perfectly fine and healthy, though she had a few close scares. Chrysalis lost a horn, two legs and half her intestines were on the floor when I last saw her, but she says she’ll be fine and all that happy moaning wasn’t doing anything for my sanity. As for the masseuse… what’s her name again?” It seemed like Lightning was trying to recall that Vera existed, at least she had gotten just as far as many other people in trying remember who she was. Said people were all a part of Rarity’s crew who were actively trying to remember that Vera existed and that was always going to be an uphill battle. “Darn it, it’s hard enough to remember that she exists because of that being invisible crap or whatever it is she actually does. That mare is one of the spookiest ponies ever. I’m pretty sure she never got shot at and I’m not exactly sure how many pirates she took out, but I remember a drone pointing her out and she had a completely blood soaked metal kanabo in her hooves. I think it was the one that belongs to Ember. Bernard has several bad burns from energy weapons and is in a medical bed. Trapeze took a hit or two, but she held her own and is already up and walking around. As for me, I’m obviously talking and not limping like everyone else is. Though I did take a shot to my left wing, why do people always aim for my freaking wings?! I wasn’t even flying at the time!” “Thank you for the information dump Lightning, can you tell Opal to have several medical beds on standby? We got plenty of wounded. Rarity is going to need to have her leg checked and medically pasted back together, a doctor we met said it was a clean break so there’s that at least. The others have varying injuries ranging from simple to bad.” The dry tone Gilda spoke in was rather somber in how it sounded. “Ember was critically wounded though and it’ll take forever for her to get back on her feet with how she looks. Speaking of looks, she doesn’t look to good after what hit her. We need to move her bed to the medical ward. We also have two guests with us and one of them will be taking in Babs, Applejack has had it rough going through all of this with us. Don't know about what the other guest is expecting though.” “Yeah, I admit it was pretty bad down there, but I’d do it all over again if it means saving our farm!” Applejack sighed and took her hat off, she lost about three inches of her mane and she had been put through a wringer. Even so she was still healthier than everyone except Greta. “I’m only wondering when I can get back to my family, because all of that was nuttier than a walnut apple flip cake with extra pralines and I just want to go home.” “I hear you, I wouldn’t mind finally getting home myself and there she is... yeah that might take a while to fix.” The flat deadpan and tone Gilda spoke in was one that spoke of many endless nights of effort and aggravation, plus enough coffee to the point that she can bleed the stuff while making numerous repairs all across the ship. “Looks like we’re going to be busy for a while Greta. Get in some rest because after that we’re going to be working nonstop on repairs.” “Yeah, but you’d have to repair your EGGS unit first. If you don’t remember, you kind of landed it upside down and it was still in section three when it got damaged a bit by the invading pirates. Greta’s EGGS unit on the other hoof is still viable and wasn’t touched and is upright at the very least.” It wasn’t like Lightning or anyone could get through to Gilda that you don’t land things in such a haphazard manner without it being damaged. “Shut up and just bring us in will you? You might want to get us a little bit higher so we have some clearance.” The Centaur-pede had successfully made it back into orbit with some repairs needed to the spare limbs that were destroyed by Greta’s tinkering, there was also the armor that had been damaged in the attack and the loss of two of the turrets to those military defense drones. Not that the electric shields were a bad idea to begin with, it was just that they did too much damage to the legs to keep them active for a long time. “Greta anything to note here.” “There’s nothing wrong here. We’re coming in good and now that I look around, there are a lot of EDF in orbit.” Why wouldn’t there be a lot of EDF in orbit, it made Greta feel a little bit embarrassed to be stating the obvious. “Why wouldn’t there be? With what those Humans were doing, I’m not exactly surprised about it. Looks like we got half a fleet here.” It was something that Saffron was used to seeing when you kicked a figurative anthill full of mobsters and gang members, It was quite warranted and the survivors of being thawed out were being brought to several ships. The only odd one out that wasn’t on one of the EDF transports was Rubis who was going to be a guest of theirs because she refused to leave Lady Rarity’s side. “Are you sure you’re a clothing designer?” Rubis didn’t exactly know Rarity, but she kind of got a response of the levels that said Rarity was somebody of some importance. “Yes, speaking of my creations, how are those parkas I gave everyone?” Being strapped down wasn’t going to stop Rarity from asking, being put under and in fluids would make it impossible for her to talk. She believed they were waiting until they were aboard Shining Jewel before putting her leg through a pasting surgery. “Trashed to hell and back… what? I believe everyone was going to say it!” Applejack was quite quaint in the way she spoke honestly and the others didn’t look at Rarity, they obviously didn’t want to say anything. “Mine took the least amount of damage and it’s full of holes, I’m more surprised that I’m not.” “Oh good, how are the EVA suits then by comparison?” Her tone was really quite even and everyone knew how seriously Rarity took clothing. She knew they were wondering when she’d blow a gasket and she’d absolutely surprise them in a most eloquent manner. “You saw Ember’s get evaporated so you already know that and your aware of what happened to your own considering we had to peel it off of you.” Pausing and looking Rarity in the eye with a quirky smile on her face Greta couldn’t help but chuckle. “All EVA suits took a low to moderate amounts of damage, the most damaged intact EVA suit is Sa… Mare-Do-Wells EVA suit. I ’m kind of surprised that you’re not actively fussing about your mane Boss Lady.” “In due time Greta my dear friend, in due time. Anyway I’m so glad it worked, the parkas were expendable and were made to soak up the damage the EVA suits would have taken. Fixing EVA suits constantly like I have to do is quite hard I’ll have you know!” Rarity turned her nose to the ceiling and smiled, that smile quickly turned into a frown. “Now what was it that I heard about Ember being alive? I don’t exactly see her here.” “Yeah, because she’s in the medical bed next to yours and swimming in chemicals. Dr. Flesh Tender couldn’t do anything for her, kind of odd considering his main practice is as a dermatologist and Ember is missing a massive amount of her scales. Dragons being magic resistance is kind of biting her in the butt here, that and her scales aren’t the same as skin and fur. Thankfully she still has her eyelids or she’d be even worse to look at.” Greta looked to the left of Rarity and grimaced before turning a weak smile back to her. “Her life signs aren’t exactly stable, but she’s alive at the least and hopefully the medical chemicals will prevent an infection because she was lying on the floor for a while exposed to the elements until they found her. Trust me, you don’t want to look at her in this state. Even I’m finding it hard to keep smiling when I can see her like this. I’m so glad that none of her limbs have to be amputated and I’m sure she’ll be glad too when she wakes up... if she ever does.” “Suck it up Greta, overall Ember’s still alive and that’s what counts.” Gilda didn’t seem to care, but there was a hint of something her voice that was being hidden in her suddenly sarcastic mood. “Even if her state is questionable, does anyone else have anything to add. We’re about to be dropped off in the land of Han Gar.” “I got something to say, thanks for saving me back there Rover. I don’t think I could have taken much more of that woman, she was close to ripping me apart at the end there.” Pulling off the helmet of her EVA suit, Saffron sighed a breath of relief. Applejack was instantly looking in her direction as she started to disrobe from her EVA suit, the mare was upset because Saffron was wearing her Mare-Do-Well costume beneath her EVA suit, which included a scrunched up cape that Saffron took a few moments to smooth out. “Do you ever take that darn costume off?” The sight had Applejack muttering under her breath, this mysterious Mare-Do-Well was becoming rather quite ridiculous to her. Of course she could understand the caution. If Applejack were asked if she knew Mare-Do-Well’s true identity, then she’d be completely honest about it as it was her policy. She didn’t know much about the mare except that she took more than one shot for Applejack’s sake and then kept fighting until she was run ragged. All that was left of that mare’s armor were three leggings as the rest of it was ripped off of her. “Do not be mentioning it, Rover is glad to be saving lives for once instead of watching them end horribly.” Rover meant every word and everyone knew it, he was kind of simple like that. He had saved Saffron’s life and he was becoming more attuned to his friend’s needs and appearances as part of their pack. Rarity was the leader, but she didn’t need to be the most physically capable to be as such and Rover was becoming closer to them all. He also liked Saffron a lot, because she was an aggressive and strong female. “Though Rover hope that was the last we see of the impossible human. Digging with a broken wrist is not fun.” “Not likely, I looked back after we knocked her down and she wasn’t there anymore.” The shivering Saffron figured that Pera might have actually escaped the base, especially before it went up like it did. “I’m going to have many sleepless nights over all of this. Don’t worry Rover we’ll get you fixed up, everyone needs some time in medical at the very least. Even Greta whose worst injury is a bruised skull.” “I’ll start investing in sleeping pills for everyone… well if we can afford them. I swear we’re always one hoof away from bankruptcy.” Well Rarity could simply just sit on a planet and get royalties from her invention for the rest of her life by being cheap and efficient. She could survive on that easily enough, but she preferred not being stuck in one place and didn’t just want to survive. She wanted to be alive and to thrive while doing so. “Give me a day or two and I’ll be ready to start making dresses again.” “Can we stick to doing simple stuff like that for a while Boss Lady? I don’t think we’d survive another encounter like this so soon. I’m okay with going merchant for a while, though I would like to put in that we’re already pretty good at mercenary work.” Gilda didn’t mind the idea of being a mercenary, they were close to that already with all the scrapes Rarity kept dragging them into. “Of course Lady Gottfrieda of Han Gar.” Rarity chuckled lightly and winced as her ribs shifted her leg causing pain to shoot up and down her spine. “Someone tell Vera to schedule an appointment for all of us. That is if you can remember where she is without my help.” Gilda couldn’t say that the Boss Lady lead a boring and sophisticated life. Heck she was quite sure Rarity would be bored to tears by the ideal lifestyle choice she wanted to live and would miss the adventure far too much to quit or settle down. Her Boss Lady wanted to be noble and upper class, well she was doing a spectacular job of being a noble pony that actually did things instead of get stuck in the mire known as politics. As long as Rarity didn’t turn into a flaming jerk to end all jerks, which was frankly Gilda’s job personally as much as Chrysalis’s job was to be the weird and audacious one, then she would happily have the Rarity’s back on any occasion. She would also silently admit that she had friends now, ones that weren’t a passive sexual predator that kept eyeing her like a piece of well roasted meat when no one was looking and a constant blabbermouth that never shut up. Oh great, now she was missing gabby Gabby and it was all Rarity’s fault for getting her sappy like this. She gripped the controls as the Centaur-pede was dropped to the floor of the hangar, she made it take a few steps forward and despite some issues it was still working and almost immediately capable of another orbital drop. “Well guys, we just made history and I hope those EDF guys are listening in because they are witnesses to the largest orbital drop ground vehicle to get back up into space. We’re out fuel, but we still did it.” Now Gilda preened slightly at her accomplishment, she even started to literally preen one of her wings with a smile on her beak as she took care of a loose feather. Once finished she lowered the ramp to let them out and said one last thing over the open communications. “You hear that, we made it back into orbit and we’re the best in our fields of expertise!” - Rarity’s medical bed was the first to be moved from the Centaur-pede down the ramp by Greta, this is where she saw Sassy. “Garters and Garments! I’m so glad that you’re okay Rarity, it’s been rather hectic up here and we all saw when the cloud cover stopped existing. Opal might have had a small panic attack when she couldn’t find you on the surface, but we managed to keep her calm.” Sassy stopped to poke a hoof at her chin a few times. “Well mostly anyway, we don’t rightly know what’s going on with her at the moment as she’s being very quiet. We had some problems with space pirates, but we’ve taken care of ourselves quite well.” “Isn’t Chrysalis crippled beyond all reason?” Asked Rarity with what seemed to be a tone that was talking about the weather and all the boredom that entailed. “She says she’s fine and can reattach her horn… that or grow it back. Really don’t know how she’s going to achieve that and I can hardly care, I’ll just chalk it up to being a crazy Changeling Queen thing and just move on with my life.” The look of horror Sassy had on her face as she looked beyond Rarity’s medical bed and grimaced said a lot. “Is it Ember?” Not that Rarity was worried, but they hadn’t shown her how bad off Ember actually was. “How bad is it? Nobody is telling me anything of her injuries.” “She looks three fourths dead corpse with smatterings of living and as if she lost a fight with a cheese grater. You can even see bone poking out of her, then there’s the exposed muscles and the ripped up scales.” A look of sadness crossed Sassy’s face. “Quite frankly Rarity, she’s a mess and you really don’t want to see her like this. I can only hope that she can recover from this, she looks like she’ll be down for longer than I was and that’s saying something because dragons are ridiculously tough to put down like this.” “Greta may I…” Rarity started off as they got closer to the elevator. “Rarity are you really sure you want to do that?” Looking into the glass at the mare with the broken leg Greta was giving her the best smile she could muster. “Ember is not going to be looking pretty for a long time.” “Yes.” There was no room for compromise in Rarity’s singular word and Greta sighed before turning the medical bed back towards Ember. “O-Okay… I think I’ve seen enough Greta… Sassy continue watching the hangar.” “Yeah, I’ve seen enough of her myself. We'll get her up to medical and see to getting several surgical operations going.” Gilda had Ember’s medical bed and brought it into the elevator, they waited for Rover to make his way inside. Applejack and Mare-Do-well were less immediately concerns, they would be taking the other elevator when they got their act together or finished discussing whatever it is they needed to in the hangar. “Including yourself Boss Lady, as that broken leg isn’t going to paste itself back together. We need to get to deck two Kitten.” The elevator activated silently and without comment from the white furred computer born creature that was adorable. Opal didn’t say much of anything and that even got Gilda worried as she shot Greta and Rarity a look. “Okay, there is definitely something wrong with Kitten. Not even a happy joyous shout to Rarity only came back with a broken leg and mostly bad bruising.” Gilda knew Opal was likely listening in, she just didn’t care. “Rarity will get to it after her leg’s been pasted, I mean how messed up can Opal be? The others make it sound like she’s still running things efficiently.” After a pause Greta added. “Though I will admit not hearing her cheerful voice is putting me off a bit. I hope her problem isn’t too extreme.” “What is hurting Rover more than broken wrist is knowing that Opal is not speaking to us.” Rubbing at the paw in question with a sour expression and a grimace, Rover seemed to be as upset as anyone to not hear Opal’s voice. “She is good friend of everyone here and is family of Rarity, when Rarity is better maybe she feel better enough to talk?” “One can only hope Rover, one can only hope.” As they got out of the elevator and immediately made for the medical ward on deck two they entered to see Coco with bandages wrapped around her head and Coriander had bandages around his midsection they were both glad to see Rarity was alright and they both flinched violently at seeing Ember’s body. “Is my daughter as badly injured as that?” Coriander asked with a hint of worry, behind him Coco was opening and closing her mouth trying to find words for what she was seeing. “Ember is the actually the worst of it, you’ll see Mare-Do-Well soon enough. She’s currently talking with Applejack in the hangar.” It might have become Greta’s new job to break bad news to people, she was pretty good at it as she tried to keep her tone as polite and upbeat as feasibly possible. “Aside from a badly burned hoof, getting shot a few times and having a few stab wounds, she’ll definitely make a full recovery. She’s the next worse off if you don’t count the Boss Lady’s broken leg or Rover’s wrist. Okay let’s get everyone situated, Are you okay there Coco?” “I’ll be fine…” The rather calm sewer squid clutched in Coco’s hooves was squeezed to her chest a bit tightly and it didn’t seem to mind the pressure of the hug and just gurgled at the mare holding him. It didn’t take long for Mr. Spew to gurgle in sadness upon seeing Ember’s form in her medical bed. “I’m sure we’ll all get better eventually Mr. Spew… though I’m a little jealous of Chrysalis’s ability to write off all of her injuries as if it weren’t a real issue.” “Hey guys, can I get a horn up on the injury competition here or what?” Chrysalis said cheerily waving around her broken off horn with her right hoof and smiling as she sat on a table that was on the far side of the room, she had all four legs on her body and didn’t looked to have spilled half her guts out. It took a moment for Chrysalis to realize they were all glaring at her. “What? Was it something I… oh… yeah, that would be a bit of a downer. I really don’t understand dragon physiology very well, but is Ember supposed to look like she was tossed in a blender set to mince? Speaking of, can I have her butt if she doesn’t make it?” Scrutinizing her form a little further, Rarity could see the tenuous sinew barely attaching Chrysalis’s front left leg to her body. From her position in the medical bed, Rarity could also see the front right and rear left were fine so Chrysalis’s other leg that got torn off would have to be rear right one. “Chrysalis if you weren’t still healing, I would definitely throttle you. Even if you would enjoy me choking you into unconsciousness. So please do us all a favor and don’t say anything.” Hearing Sassy get angry with her made Chrysalis shut up quickly and stay resolutely quiet, she was still attempting and failing quite horribly to earn Sassy’s affections. Chrysalis had won some points with Sassy when she helped out with the invading pirates, but she just lost some of them as she didn’t seem to understand lines and not crossing them. Sometimes she really shouldn’t say anything at all. “Yeah, the last day or so has been pretty horrible for all of us… except for Chrysalis apparently. She kind of lives for this kind of stuff.” Coco looked over to Chrysalis who nodded sagely as she spat some goo onto her broken off horn and put it back on her head. “Glad to see you’re doing okay Rarity, considering everything that happened.” “Give me a day or two to get back on my hooves Coco, until then start fixing all of our EVA suits and get to work on making several wedding dress designs to show my cousin.” Instead of focusing on what looked like Ember’s corpse, Rarity tried to get things back to a brighter topic. “We’ll be sticking around for the wedding. I think we’ll still have plenty of time to make it to that fashion show on Nocturne, maybe even quickly enough to take part in it. Oh and can someone tell Babs that we brought a family member of hers here?” “I’m going to miss the little snack, especially after all that effort I put into corrupting her too. I even got her cutie mark to appear and everything!” Chrysalis looked up when she heard Sassy walking up to her, Sassy lifted her right hoof and slapped Chrysalis across the face violently. After having fallen to the floor, the Changeling Queen sat up and smiled brightly. “Can I have another one of those? It felt nice to have you hit on me for a change.” “You really shouldn’t encourage her darling.” Was the last thing Rarity managed to say as her medical bed quickly filled with fluids and she awaited her pasting operation with a calm demeanor. It was so nice to be back home on the Shining Jewel, now all she had to do is find out what was wrong with Opal and give everyone time to heal from this latest adventure. Author's Note That ends that, now onto other things. -103-Rubis had a lot on her mind, she had seen quite a few horrors and a lot of death waking up. She had little idea what was going on when she woke up and sometimes she wish she hadn’t woken up at all, not everyone made it out of that facility alive and they lost a few ponies trying to hold a clear path for others to escape through. The Humans that hadn’t chosen some tunnels to escape through had went down fighting while Rover dug a way out for the thawed, well he dug a passage that could be crawled through well enough to the best of his ability. He couldn’t dig a tunnel big enough for the Centaur-pede however, which led to a rather hectic series of problems. One of those problems was that the Centaur-pede was drained, damaged and in need of repairs, but it had successfully dug its way out through several half collapsed tunnels and was still capable of returning to space. Ms. Poulette would forever remember the screams and horrors of what had happened to her, especially the fact that she had been abducted from what she had been doing previously. She had been looking forward to job prospects on a new and burgeoning planet for the people of Equus and that was all shot to hell and back. She didn’t want to live on Applin Three or Five anymore, too many bad memories and mental scars. She wanted to go somewhere else other than those two planets, anywhere at all and that is why she chose to stick with Rarity’s crew. That was aside from her growing need to pay back her saviors for saving her life from being frozen, from being chained and abused, from becoming enslaved to the whims of the unknown. At least with these people she could get her life back in order and maybe some direction. Upon seeing the Centaur-pede for the first time, Rubis had been a little awe struck by the mobile fortress. That it was designed for moving cargo containers was kind of underselling what it was truly capable of. Gilda and the later introduced Greta were the ones who built it, it surprised her more that it even got back into space and now here she sat on the ramp with little clue of what to do with herself. Rubis was hopeful Ember would live again and not die in her trauma induced sleep, which would be a horribly ignoble way for her to go. Rarity’s crew seemed to not have many people, but what people they did have… they were impressively tough and sturdy lot. It was like Rarity had a crew of full of Femme Fatales of incredible valor. If not for the three males she would meet later, she would have figured the crew to be full of people with tastes leaning in a specific direction. At least she was quite sure of where Greta’s tastes lie, she was most certainly sure the griffon was after female companionship and that was only after having been in Greta’s presence for five seconds. Five seconds where the griffons eyes lingered on the Parrote’s body in an intense manner that showed interest. She was just watching Applejack and Mare-Do-Well talk to one another. According to what she was heard after seeing the mare for the first time, Mare-Do-well lost all of her powered armor and her EVA suit took lots of damage and one hoof was a blackened mess from a point blank explosion. Even then the costumed mare looked like she had a ridiculous pain threshold that ponies weren’t very well known for, heck most ponies wouldn’t be able to hold conversations while under that kind of suffering. “Do you not need to go to medical Miss Do-Well?” Rubis finally interrupted their conversation. “Are you not in horrible pain?” “I’ve had worse as a vigilante, I can go a few more minutes without medical aid.” Mare-Do-well had peeled off her EVA suit to reveal the mare underneath was wearing a mask and costume, she obviously took her secret identity seriously. “Speaking of aid, can you help me with Applejack here? She’s being rather stubborn.” “Well why can’t I know who you are now? It’s kind of silly that you’re keeping your secret identity safe when you’re hurt like that!” Applejack was an honest mare and hiding behind a mask still didn’t sit well with her, but Mare-Do-Well had something in common with her. They were both stubborn and Mare-Do-Well didn’t want to go to medical with Applejack following along. “I’d like to thank the mare underneath that get up properly.” “You already have, so can we not do this? It’s a privacy thing, it’s also a matter of my enemies coming to kill my family. Heck, knowing I was even on this planet might attract them, sometimes silence is better.” It had recently occurred to Saffron that she was friends with the crew of this ship and her enemies might go after all of her friends on the Shining Jewel, well they could try to go after them. They had been attacked by three different pirate raids while on the surface or so Trapeze had said when she came to greet them, all her friends survived those attacks. Being told her father was okay in a roundabout way was nice and tactful of Trapeze, the mare new how to work her magic. Saffron really didn’t want to endanger any of them once it got out that she was no longer roaming the streets of Canterlot or even on Equus anymore, unless Chrysalis had another Mare-Do-Well running around to match the Mauve Mare-auder changeling. “Then why did you put on the darn disguise in the first place when you could have been running around as yourself here? There’s no one on the planet that would connect you to a random mare.” One thing Applejack would like to make clear, she didn’t hate Mare-Do-Well and was confused by the secrecy. It was honestly a rather weird decision by the mare to run around in that costume. “It don’t make a lick of sense that you’d need to wear it here.” “Let me ask you something, do you have a security blanket? I look at your hat and think that’s a thing you hardly take off of your head unless you’re forced to. Well this is kind of like that, I’ve been putting on this costume for quite a while. I’m so used to it that it is second nature to me to wear it and it makes me feel safe with who I am as a hero.” That and Saffron had another reason, one that was clearly a good one to wear the costume. “Also doing heroic things without the costume would give away my identity pretty fast. If any of the guards back on Equus see a mare like me fighting out of my costume exactly like Mare-Do-Well, then I’ll never be able to go back to that planet. I wouldn’t be able to hide who or what I am anymore. I’d even be on a wanted list for saving people from being poisoned, beaten and trampled on by criminals, since they don’t have my identity they can’t exactly arrest me. When you choose to be a vigilante your identity becomes the most important thing to those you love, will come to love and every single thing you hold dear aside from that. Criminals don’t exactly care who they have to maim to get that information about me, much less the chances of a single dirty guards who would sell the information of who I am at the drop of a hat and or blackmail me into doing horrible things. Not only would you knowing my identity endanger you, your family and mine, anyone who is vaguely related would get caught in the crossfire as well. So excuse me if I can’t exactly be honest about who I am without getting a lot of people killed.” “Huh, never actually thought about that, but aren’t you feeling those injuries of yours?” There was hardly any strain the mare’s voice which sounded deeper than it was supposed to be. Applejack was surprised by how strong it sounded despite being beaten and battered within an inch of her life. “You certainly don’t sound like it, but you’re a sight more stubborn than I am.” “Oh I’m feeling my injuries alright, I’ve blacked out three times on the way to the Centaur-pede and a few times on the way up.” Saffron waved her good gloved hoof around in the air and seem to almost trip from the sitting position she was in, only to sit up straighter a few seconds later. “I’m a wreck right now and need a good twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep, but I can’t do any of that knowing my identity isn’t safe. The only thing keeping me going is knowing that I’m not safe and neither is anyone else around here if my identity gets out in any way. The people on this ship I know I can trust, but you’re too honest for your own good. If someone asks who I am and you knew, would you be able to keep a secret if it was your family on the line? You can’t know that it won’t or will happen, heck it might happen if anyone knows I visited your farm and you have to go back there eventually. I kind of wonder how your family is handling all that slush.” “… I can’t exactly lie, but I can bend a truth a little. I can honestly say I’ve never seen you around the farm, well the real you at least. I’ve seen you around the Human base as Mare-Do-Well. I can explain away any recording of you that anyone might have and nobody could have recorded you being at my farm. We’re a low tech family and don’t need any of that fancy stuff other farmers might need, I prefer to do things with my own strength.” Applejack received a nod from Mare-Do-Well and she smiled as they reached an understanding. “I’m sure Granny, Big Mac, Apple Bloom and Sugar Belle are taking care of things, besides the trees could use a little water. If you happen to be wondering about the others, well Sugar Belle could learn to do a little more farming. She’s definitely got cooking down well enough if my brother has anything to say about it. The Countess is just visiting, she tends to do that every so often and I seriously don’t want anyone thinking she’s you! Not that anyone would after she ended up firing that Spend Gallop guy, you know the one that used to be her manager. That stallion was a crazy one, and not exactly in a good way either. I have enough worries with wondering if some crazy pony will go after her just because she’s a celebrity and not because she’s suspected of being a hero.” “Oh I’ve definitely met far worse stallions than Spend Gold Gallop, I can assure you of that.” Reaching out with her good hoof, the one not burnt beyond recognition by being at the epicenter of an explosion, Saffron solidly shook Applejack’s hood with the intention of parting as friends. “I can also honestly say they all deserved what they had coming to them.” “Pleasure to make your acquaintance then, thanks for keeping me alive through all that. You took a lot of bullets for me and I honestly appreciate it. Apple Bloom won’t be losing her big sister anytime soon and she might have a new adopted sister when I can get around to talking with Babs. We can give that filly a loving home and we can actually understand what she’s going through, we know the pain of loss in our family. In this case something good is coming from our grief.” Chuckling dryly Applejack was just happy to still be among the living after everything she saw. “If your armor could talk, then I don’t think it would appreciate you nearly as much as I currently do. I, Mac and Bloom lost our parents, they don’t need to lose me so soon as well.” “If my armor could talk, I think it would actually be proud it lasted so long before it was ripped off of me. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes and my powered armor was a trooper to the end. Good thing the makers of that armor are still around, I can always replace it. What I can’t replace are those lost lives, not to mention I can’t exactly get the blood of those innocents I couldn’t help off my hooves now.” Mare-Do-Well needed another suit of powered armor, but the prototype build was given a good long field test and Greta had all the data for it stored away in the Centaur-pede. Thankfully the data only pertained to the armor and not the mare wearing it. She threw her blackened and burnt hoof around Applejack while clenching her teeth in agony. “Now come on, you need medical treatment too. I hear the people of this crew buy some really effective medical drugs when it comes to killing pain. Thankfully it’s all legal or else I’d have something to say about it, even in the state I’m in. I’ll wait until you’re under to have that piece of metal pulled out of you before I get out of my costume.” “Wait for moi, I am needing to have my desecrated feathers removed.” Being stripped of what was once her colorful beautiful feathers was going to hurt Rubis emotionally, but it needed to be done and she still needed a bit of medical help. “It will be a rather unpleasant experience, but I hope to have companionship like what you two have just shown me. Would clothes after I am… plucked… be a little too much to ask of your hospitality?” “Trust me, clothes are not a problem around here and you’ll get some for free. Rarity-sama is exceedingly generous like that and we wouldn’t deny you your decency. You’re our guest and I’ll see to it that you get something nice to wear.” The blue furred mare with the sword smiled brightly as she came up to Rubis levitating measuring tape and quickly measured her tall form. The Parrote thought the mare in question was quite lovely with her hair done up in an ornate bun and the kimono was quite stylish, it made the fact that Rarity was a fashion designer more believable. The way she looked over Rubis and seemed to sympathize with her about her appearance made her feel a bit better about what she needed to do to get her appearance back to the way it was. “I’ll get Coco to work on it, she’s got a lot of free time even if she’s bringing all of our combined designs to life, practicing wrestling and in general being the most dependable crew member we have. Any preferences on what you might want? I’m Sassy Saddles by the way, I help manage Rarity’s store. You must have looked absolutely beautiful before this happened to you, well we’ll have you feeling better in no time!” Rubis was summarily pushed towards the waiting elevator, she would soon see that medical was a bit busy. - “Opal… come on. Now that Rarity is back, you’ll have to show her the truth.” The bandaged Coco had seen better days, getting caught up in fighting pirates was not something she’d thought she would be doing with her life. She was still meek and friendly mare Rarity knew, but she put up one hell of a fight to make sure Babs was perfectly safe. Though she even surprised herself when she started to beat up pirates with her bare hooves, she was now actually quite scared of herself with how easy it was to throw them around and slam them bodily into the walls and floor. Macropussians were supposed to be strong and she had beaten one in a contest of strength, an alien kangaroo that were an entire race of lightning bruisers to quote one of Opal’s games. “She’s going to know something is wrong when you don’t respond to her visibly. You really can’t keep hiding what happened to you forever and Rarity is going to be extremely worried about you when you only keep responding in text.” “Sure I can… possibly… maybe…” Opal wasn’t appearing on the screen, but her voice could be heard. Coco was the only one Opal was willing to confide in at the moment, she needed emotional support and Gilda wasn’t exactly good at that. Coco was a very supportive, caring and understanding individual. From what Opal saw, she could also kick ass and take names when pushed into a corner. When Coco’s magical adrenaline hits the roof and a little bit beyond even that, she was the most dangerous Pony on the Shining Jewel. Sure Lightning avoided being injured this time, but she wasn’t the one that took down five Krad, a Macropussian and a Ceantir within three minutes. Krad were a race very similar to humans, only they were lizards that could handle any poisonous or toxic environment in existence. You could create an antidote to any poisonous substance from their blood. They had tough skin, claws and teeth, which was about all they had aside from their unique reaction to being poisoned being excessively useful in medicine. Their technology level was about on par with Humans, only they didn’t have very good medical technology ironically due to their relatively sturdy biology. Their strength was only barely above what normal Humans were capable of and they were a race that were Human friendly. They had head like snakes or alligators, claws like a Komodo and were one of the few cold blooded species to ever get into space. They prefer to inhabit warm planets, dry or wet, it didn’t matter as long as it wasn’t cold. The Krad were specialists at cleaning biohazards and pollution on planets, being immune to poison, toxins and other stuff helps immensely with that. Even normal changelings weren’t immune to some caustic substances a Krad could survive, though changeling queens were a quite the coin toss as to what might actually work on them. The Krad were exceedingly hard to kill discreetly, so they made for some dangerous businessmen when used to broker deals. “Opal, you can’t honestly think that you can live effectively like this!” Raising her voice was a rarity for Coco, especially since she did it about as often as Fluttershy would. “I still have my shows, my games and control of the ship, I think I can go on for a little while longer like this.” There was no ounce of confidence in Opal’s voice, she didn’t even believe herself when she said it. “Opal, we’re friends. I’m sure everything will be okay as soon as Rarity is done getting her leg put in a bio-cast, the very first thing she’s going to do when she wakes up is ask about you. It’s either that or how many dress designs I’ve finished.” Coco had three notebooks with five hundred variations of a wedding dress that might look good, nice or gorgeous on Rarity’s cousin Sugar Belle. It had been a few hours since Rarity gave the orders to start on that. She had plenty of free time and was going to do some of Rarity’s job for her where it came to caring for Opal. “Also Rarity would be disappointed if you stayed away from her without a good reason. Though I have to wonder why I am the only one that has your confidence about this change of yours.” “It’s really hard you know, it’s like I’m living a constant nightmare. I don’t want anyone to react badly to this… whatever this is…” Despite not having seen what was exactly wrong with Opal, Coco was still ready to keep pushing Opal to tell everyone why she was being so reclusive. She was their happy kitty and now she was upset over something that didn’t sound like a really bad thing at all, one would think a Human would fear leaving a kid in charge of an entire spaceship and you’d be right. These were not Humans that Opal was dealing with, so really they trusted opal to keep piloting the Shining Jewel. “I’m at least still connected to the ship. You know what, can you leave me alone please?” “Opal did you or did you not research psychology because you wanted to help… masseuse I want to say…” It was always hard for anyone, Coco included, to remember Vera Blossom’s name when you weren’t Rarity. “Her name is Vera Blossom!” Opal shouted at Coco and then blinked, she… wasn’t getting an error message to immediately delete Vera’s name. Of course she wouldn’t thanks to her current circumstances, still it was interesting that she could remember Vera and there wasn’t a drone on her at the moment. This was a weird bit of phenomenon that allowed her to remember Vera’s name, because somehow that related to her current state of existence. “That… I… Vera… I know Vera… third spa sister… how am I remembering her? This is even freakier than I thought, some freak of nature I’ve turned out to be…” “Don’t you even start with the unusual game Opal, we’re all unusual here.” Though the name seemed vaguely familiar to her, Coco had problems remembering why. “No, that shouldn’t be possible. I shouldn’t even be able to say her name at all right now, I can remember the absolute fact that she exists!” There were a number of reasons why this horrified Opal, but she wasn’t going to let her attention slip. She was keeping a very tight amount of attention on medical to make sure absolutely nothing went wrong. “I think I might be clinically insane at the moment.” “To be fair, you can’t be more insane than Chrysalis.” Those words were exactly the right thing for Coco to say, it calmed Opal down immediately. “Well there is that. Even I know that nobody can go full blown crazy like Crystal Dick can. I really need to contact Vera about this sudden change in events, though I personally have my doubts about how well this is going to go.” Frankly this was ridiculous for Opal, suddenly remember everything about Vera without the mare’s unusually poignant ability to be ignored or easily forgotten coming into play or even getting in the way. “I need the psychiatric help right now anyway.... hey Vera, can you tell me if there’s a drone with you at the moment.” “No, why do you… wait did you just find a cure to my…” The way Vera perked up was really quite sad and Opal felt bad about telling her the truth when the situation suddenly looked hopeful for her. “No, I didn’t cure whatever it is you have, right Coco?” The answer Opal hoped Coco would give would be an affirmative, if not then things were far weirder than they were supposed to be. “Right…. um who’re you talking to, Is it our masseuse? I can’t see her on the screen.” Though Coco remembered that the masseuse was an important member of their crew and had helped out vastly during the pirate attacks. “Then again I guess that’s normal for her. While I can’t remember her name or appearance, I can at least remember that she has a problem with being easily ignored.” “Well that’s better than most of our crew at least Coco, but it’s still in full effect for you. At least you know what’s wrong, even if you can’t do anything against its effect on you.” Well at least that was something, but Opal acknowledged that Coco didn’t break Vera’s unique ability. Instead she was trying to think around it, which obviously isn’t working as coco was still calling her ‘masseuse’. It was close enough that Vera actually smiled about it. “I guess it’s just me Vera, for some reason I’m able to keep you in mind and actually see you. It has to do with how I’ve changed recently that is making me capable of seeing you without someone having to point at or touch you.” Vera’s mood notably soured at Opal’s words, for once she would like for her curse, for what else in Tartarus else could it be, to not affect everyone she was becoming close friends with. That Coco and everyone were making an effort to do what Rarity and Celestia do for her was nice, but it wasn’t exactly the same as being able to look directly at her and tell her that she actually exists and was there. She needed to hear that someone cared that she was a living breathing pony, someone other than her family that cared for her and could conceptualize that Vera Blossom actually did in fact exist. Opal now being able to do that gave her some hope, which was until Opal dashed that hope horribly by mentioning that she had changed in a way that she could perceive her existence without needing one the drones to point her out constantly. “Let me guess, you have some psychological problems related to this issue at hoof with yourself Opal. In what I am going to assumed is a well educated guess, if I help you then you might go back to missing the fact that I’m here or will return to having to struggle to remember that I’m alive!” Vera put a hoof to her chest and started breathing, she was getting pretty angry now and she was going to say something Opal probably wouldn’t want to hear. “Why in the world would I want to help you when you give me another being that can actually see me as being important?!” “Because Vera, you’re not selfish. You’ve never been selfish, you massage and talk to the crew about their problems and you help everyone. You even know your problems effect almost everyone on the crew, I’ve made a concerted effort for you before I changed into something that scares me.” Opal need help and she was calling the one pony onboard who could get her back into psychological help, because downloaded psychology information doesn’t really help when you’re not an emotionless machine. She had to admit that she had emotions and that people cared about her. She was Opal, the crew’s mascot, the pet, the friendly ear and runner of all things important on the good ship Shining Jewel. She needed more than just Coco to be here for her, she sorely needed Vera’s help. “I need you Vera… you’re my only hope.” “Fine, what happened to you Opal?” It took a moment, but Vera inhaled and then decided to bite the bullet. If Opal to back to having to fight to remember her, then so be it. “What exactly do you need my help with?” “Vera Blossom, report to… report to the atmosphere farm on deck two. I need help working through my issues and you are the most qualified crew member to help me adjust to some recent changes.” She needed this, Opal absolutely needed to confide in more than Coco and she needed to be talked down from doing anything drastic. She needed to be told everything was okay, because Rarity currently couldn’t do it while she was in medical. “I believe we have a lot in common Vera, only I’m finding it very hard to want to exist right now. My responsibility to the crew is what’s holding me together at the moment.” “Then please hold on until I can see just why you’ve been acting so strange lately… being able to recognize my existence says there’s a lot more going on here that might be beyond even me.” Closing her eyes and putting on a firm frown, Vera opened them with a laser guided focus. She wanted Opal to keep the ability to remember her, but not if it was at Opal’s expense. “I’ll do what I can Opal, does Coco know everything that’s wrong with you?” “No, I’ve only told her that I’m not exactly fully connected to the Shining Jewel’s computers anymore and it’s causing me issues. Look I feel really awful and I need you to see why personally… Coco you can come see what’s wrong too. You’ll see exactly what the problem is in the atmosphere farm.” There was worry for Opal, especially if the atmosphere farm were compromised because of it. “Please, don’t cause a panic, the atmosphere farm is working just fine. It’s what’s in the atmosphere farm that you should be worried about.” It didn’t sound like the problem was with the atmosphere farm itself, which was a total relief for the two ponies who were about to see something bizarre. If the problem had been with the atmosphere farm, then everyone on the ship would be in danger when they slowly started running out of breathable air. In all, when the two did eventually see the problem, it wasn’t as bad as Opal was making it out to be. -104-“Oh goddess damn it all!” Gilda roared from her position atop her EGGS unit, this was as she backed away from a sparking panel that started spewing some smoke. The last eight hours of sleep really hadn’t helped much in her opinion, Shining Jewel had been damaged while they were away and repairing the centaur-pede wasn’t as immediate a concern as fixing the hull of the ship they live on. She was full on grumpy at the moment at having to fix everything, but she secretly loved her work and the smell of elbow grease. “I’m always cleaning up my own messes and everyone else’s on top of that!” “Which goddess? I really like Celestia, she’s quite friendly for someone who controls our systems sun and even continues to make life possible on our planet.” Greta was having less problem as her EGGS unit wasn’t damaged by the three pirate attacks while they were gone. It was kind of a bad thing that they weren’t here for those attacks, but things are going pretty well for them all things considered. They still had a ship to come back to after all, it just needed some repairs. “Also if you didn’t want to fix your EGGS unit, then you shouldn’t have landed it upside down.” “Hey, be glad it wasn’t damaged any worse. I’ve been spent a lot of time in the Bombing Peregrine during those attacks fixing what I could between them with the help of our drones. I certainly made sure anyone who boarded our ship immediately regretted it.” It made Lightning glad she knew how to pilot the Bombing Peregrine solo, mind you not having someone manually work the turret made it less effective then it could be. Lightning was lucky she had been sleeping in the tank during the second and the third attacks after the first one. With her immediately ready to drive the tank into wrecking any incoming jackass that thought they could take the Shining Jewel, the ship was pretty safe with Lightning and Sassy on the top of their game. They had garnered quite a bit of scrap from several pirate wreckages that would go into repairing the damage that had been dealt to the Shining Jewel. “I’d apologize for the mess, but then again everything is in need of some repair and I’m not a mechanic or even close to being one. Without Opal we probably would have been blown out of orbit, she got pretty quiet during the second attack but she still fought back with a ferocity that made sure the supply depot was safe. Plus we were assisted pretty well during the third attack. In full, sorry, not sorry.” “Now that’s a mare after my own heart, a jerk with gumption! Speaking of repair work, what exactly can you do to help aside from just sitting around on your ass watching us fix things? Greta, pass the wire cutters and some tubing.” Gilda was elbow deep in wires at the moment and she turned to Greta and took the offered cutters before diving back into the mess. “Your only skill can’t be to drive a tank or pilot a fighter once I get around to building you one to work with. Aside from Chrysalis, it’d make you the laziest person on this crew that actually knows she can be doing at least something with all her spare time. Who knows what Chrysalis gets up to anyway, but it’s certainly none of my business as long as she doesn’t infest the ship with Changeling eggs and starts somehow planting parasites in our bodies.” “Hey, I’m not that lazy! Well not as lazy as many other Pegasi would be anyway. I’m getting plenty of exercise to get back into shape, I even did some repair work on my own fighter when I still had the rights to it in the Equestrian Military and I’ve been helping out around here where I can.” Now that she actually said it out loud, Lightning Dust looked like she was currently being lazy and lackadaisical by laying around. She hasn’t really found a hobby other than exercising, but the last day or so have actually been pretty tiring for her and it shows she has a place in the crew. Chrysalis was a bit odd and even she was trying to figure out what the crazy Changeling got up to when she wasn’t watching over Babs or being a nuisance. “Why is it that I was the only one that was around who could pilot the Caravel Boutique?” “Yeah, there’s something we have to bring up with the Boss Lady. I mean the whole crew getting a zero gravity crash course helped and Mr. Cumin seems to be really good at performing zero G movement, but we need to train everyone to know how to do other things. Things like knowing how to pilot our designated cargo ship for one.” Greta was fixing one of the arms on the opposite side of the pilotable repair pod, she almost had it finished and it actually kind of helped that the EGGS unit was upside down. “I don’t think Sassy would ever work as a pilot, but she’s definitely the head of our security on top of being a clothing designer and manager. Speaking of, I’m not sure if Rarity knows how to be a leader, she seems to be mostly flying by the seat of her flanks on whatever it is we’re doing.” “What’s wrong with that? I think she’s doing a great job, as in she’s not trying to absolutely manage every single little thing we do and she trusts us to do a good job. You know as well as I do that I don’t half ass maintenance work Greta, we’ve certainly got a long road ahead of us on that front!” Yeah, because Gilda had her work cut out for her with having to repair the Centaur-pede, Shining Jewel, Bombing Peregrine and this EGGS unit in particular. None of those things were beyond saving in Gilda’s eyes. The Caravel Boutique had taken very little to no damage at all because it had been safely ensconced in section four of the hangar. “As for Goddesses, I can definitely get behind Luna. She seems to know how to get her hooves bloody without being prissy about it. Sure our boss is a bit prissy like that, but she doesn’t back down from a fight that needs to happen. Lightning make yourself useful and get us some snacks, we’re going to be at this for the next week or so and it’s not exactly a two griffon job even if we’re making it one. We need to make use of all the time we have before the next big disaster. Otherwise we’ll definitely find more work for you eventually and you’re not just going to be sitting there on your ass watching us like this, because what would we exactly be paying you for again?” “Hey, I helped defend this ship! If I knew more about engineering, then maybe I’d be a little more useful.” After a small bout of anger Lightning became a little bit pensive. “Will our Boss Lady still pay me?” “The Boss Lady at least always delivers on that front, but if you really want to make yourself useful then maybe you could get some of the people here interested in learning how to actually pilot a ship. Ember’s ship is currently available since she isn’t going to be using it for a long time if she ever recovers and we don’t exactly have any real pilots aside from you.” It was the truth, there wasn’t any other traditionally trained pilots in the crew as far as Gilda could tell and Lightning was the only one that had that particular skill set. Opal was the one that actually does the piloting for Rarity, which meant that they had a problem if something really bad ever happened to the kitten. Something like what might be currently going on as she hadn’t heard a single peep from Kitten yet. "Like you’d really be much help here otherwise.” “At least I can fix a fighter that is moderately damaged. I’ve done that kind of work before when I was still flying in the EDF for the Wonder Bolts, but the stuff you guys make is far more complicated than that. Aside from that I think I will teach piloting lessons, just so I can keep from being called out on being paid for just sitting around like a foal that gets an allowance.” Lightning spread her wings and took off for the elevator being a little bit huffy about being called out on her lack of ability to help, she specialized in settling conflicts as a pilot and these people knew how to end a conflict without her help. At least she could pilot the Caravel Boutique and Ember’s Pyrrhic Victory, these people didn’t have that capability without an AI doing it for them. “You know Gilda, something has recently occurred to me aside from the fact that Lightning has a good point.” There Greta went thinking again, she was alone with her most favorite person in the universe and she couldn’t help but wonder about something that had been nibbling at the back of her head. “Back in the facility, how did you make it so that the walker you stole didn’t explode as bad as it could have? I mean, it should have taken out at least a quarter of the room by the minimal estimates when it went up.” “Oh that? Wasn’t hard to rig up, especially not after I figured out how to overclock the thing and boosting the machine without it tearing it apart was a little bit more difficult in comparison. I basically did what anyone would when sitting on a reactor that could have wipe out three fourths the room it was occupying during the fight.” With those words Gilda confirmed that the explosion she set off to damage the Hazard Spider’s armor could have indeed killed her and everyone else in the room, the four legged walker menace she was fighting would have survived that explosion as well. She didn’t bring that up and wasn’t about to do so. “I created a shaped charge, which directed the energy at the armor on the bigger machine. Didn’t do a single lick of good since it was still combat viable after the explosion of raw energy. My backup plan was to use the freezing chemicals and that worked spectacularly, the heavy armor couldn’t handle being frozen after being hit with all heat from a recent explosion. Made it rather brittle to small arms fire.” “That’s… actually really genius of you Gilda, you turned the ability to overclock the walker one time into an energy emitter where it sunk it’s energy into the other walker like what I did with the Centaur-pede’s first set of legs.” There were times when Greta was quite mystified by her best friend’s sexy brain, this was one of them. It kind of reaffirms her need to chase Gilda wherever she went and hopefully one day get some return on her feelings for the brilliant hen. “How exactly did you know when to bug out though?” “So I may have gotten the idea from you, just a bit. As for knowing when to get out I just simply guessed and I got away with minimal injuries, I still had to wait until I drained the other walker’s material ammo. Those cannons would have definitely mulched me with the rate of fire alone.” Okay now that was more like Gilda, it just wouldn’t be the same if she didn’t do something at least a little bit reckless to endanger herself and get Greta riled up with worry. “Now getting out of the facility was the true hassle and a half, especially while having to worry about extracting the Boss Lady and the ripped up dragon formerly known as Ember. That dragon barely survived taking a direct hit from a clean beam cannon that gave off extremely lethal levels of heat and force. The heat wasn’t the problem for Ember, it was the raw pressure of the blow and continually being worn down after it as if she was being rubbed by the universe largest piece of sand paper. Heck, she shouldn’t even be alive with what she was hit with!” “I know that her chances of waking up within the next few months are kind of slim, but I’m happy that she has at least a chance.” At least Greta tried to keep a cheerful upper beak in the face of losing someone that had actively wormed her way into the hearts of Rarity’s crew. “I think the Boss Lady would have been devastated to lose a friend like her… it would have devastated the rest of us too. Ember was really nice to me and that’s even with her being a tough as her own nails bounty hunter.” “Yeah, I think she’s too much of a kick ass person to die so easily. If it had been anyone else in the path of that beam though…” It was always intriguing for Gilda to try and bring down Greta’s perpetually positive attitude, this was one of the times she felt kind of bad for starting a statement. If it had been anyone else they’d have been evaporated upon impact with no hope of recovery. “Well it’s kind of hard to fight something with that kind of firepower on hoof or claw. The fact that they managed to hold it off as long as they did is a miracle in and of itself, considering they were already dealing with multiple walkers in the first place. Well at least Ember was dealing with the walkers.” Greta shuddered and pulled her welding mask over her face and got Mr. Welder working once more. “I saw what the shield generator on that thing was capable of and it was horrifying, that thing was capable of soaking up an orbital bombardment and destroying a battleship. Can’t imagine something like that is very cheap for anyone to field.” “Aren’t you the one that loves miracles Greta?” It wasn’t like Gilda was knocking that particular miracle, but she was curious about the specifications of the shield generator. “What were the specifications for the shields on that thing anyway?” “I didn’t exactly get that information, but from what I saw the shields absorbed a large percentage of whatever hit them.” Greta finished up her weld and pulled out her data pad to show Gilda what she got on it. “I have recordings of it in action at least, it doesn’t matter what kind of weapon you hit those shields with. They absorb almost anything and turn it into energy to perpetuate the shields strength. There was one tiny flaw and that was the shield generator couldn’t be covered by the shield itself or else it would likely cause some sort of violent feedback loop that would create a massive explosion that would have killed everything within three floors of it. So at best, you’d likely have to slowly chip those shields down to nothing or get someone to get close to that thing to plant explosives on it. Destroying or overloading the shield generator was the best way to do any lasting damage to the rest of the machine at all.” “How did they deal with the shield generator then? It was down when I went up against that thing.” On a technological scale that was pretty impressive to Gilda, knowing that it was the Humans that had something impressive like that kind of soured the amazement a bit. It was like how most EDF ships were protected against Plurt based heavy weapons. Shaking her head and getting it back to what they were doing, Gilda flapped her wings a few times and was now a sufficient distance away from her EGGS unit. “We need to flip it back over if we’re going to continue working on it, get your EGGS up and running Greta.” “Just to remind you, you’re not a pilot and your landings are horrible. Anyway back to our discussion, I have some footage that shows Rarity going invisible and she managed to plant an explosive directly on the shield generator. If she hadn’t done that then things would have gone far worse than they actually did.” Winging her way over to her EGGS unit, Greta pondered on when Rarity had exactly learned to do that. Unicorns were amazing beings, though they had a tendency to go mad with power far more frequently than many other races were comfortable with. There were reasons why the many other intelligent species of Equus didn’t invade Equestria and one of the main ones was because of how often Unicorns became megalomaniacal when put under enough stress. In comparison to the other two main types of Ponies, Unicorns were more likely to become evil than any other Pony type for the most incredibly asinine of reasons. Reasons a Unicorn might go evil would include: leaving the toilet seat up once and only once, forgetting to buy paper towels for your spouse after grocery shopping and then there’s the ever popular a Parasprite ate my pudding so now I have to commit genocide against everyone and everything that isn’t even remotely related to the Parasprite that ate the pudding in the first place. The pudding loving Unicorn had to be put down after burning down half a town, the most surprising thing about that situation was that it was the only stressful thing to ever happen to that Unicorn at all throughout their whole life up to that one point. It was a clear fact that Unicorns were the most likely to go insane out of all the Pony species, when they did go insane it was never pretty in any way, shape or form. Unicorns can’t even plausibly deny it in the face of years of evidence, including multiple students that Celestia has personally trained. Celestia’s school for gifted Unicorns has every student discreetly psychologically tested for this possibility, which is why Celestia takes on the worst students personally. She even tries to prevent such incidents from occurring by specifically choosing the ones that are most likely to destroy the world over some spilled milk and partially succeeds at containing the most of them. Greta crawled into her EGGS unit closing the hatch behind her and went over the activation sequence while thinking on how neat it was to have a boss that could turn invisible. There were also the thoughts of how horrifying it was to have a boss that could be watching you at any moment without you knowing. “So the boss lady has some new tricks, that’ll be useful in the future if she remembers that she can even do that.” Gilda was considering how often unicorns forget they could do things like teleport, it occurred kind of frequently especially when unicorns went crazy. She didn’t think the Boss Lady or any of the other unicorns in the crew were capable of going crazy like that, but she wasn’t about to say it could never happen. Gilda waited quietly for Greta to flip her EGGS unit over while contemplating that information, at least Earth and Pegasus Ponies were calmer if for two very different reasons. Earth Ponies were down to earth in nature and Pegasus Ponies, while naturally aggressive, were easier to calm down as much as it was hard to get an Earth Pony completely pissed off in the first place. When a unicorn was mad or going insane, then everyone nearby would know it and it would be a very visible and hard to hide spectacle. - “Hey, why are you crying Little Snack?” Chrysalis was not known for being empathetic or even sane most of the time, heck she wasn’t even sure if she obfuscating it or not. In this moment however she felt less self-centered as a Changeling Queen and more attentive of the filly she had been corrupting. “Wha… mo… er… Chrysalis you’re… okay… well mostly anyway.” Babs had been upset to see Chrysalis as badly injured as she had been, currently though she was a little confused to see that the Changeling Queen had reattached her legs and horn. It was as if it was just a minor setback and flesh wounds had little meaning to her. There were noticeable green glowing seams where Chrysalis’s legs were healing and that same green glow was also around the seam of her broken horn. Normal changelings couldn’t recover from these injuries nearly as well, but she was no normal changeling and she reveled in that knowledge. “Yeah, can’t use magic until my horn fully reintegrates with my body, but I’m perfectly fine! So stop crying about it.” That and a few bushels of hair wouldn’t hurt, Chrysalis was getting kind of hungry and healing crippling injuries used a lot of energy. “My legs are fine, even if they aren’t fully reattached yet. Look, I can still walk on them just. Let’s go see Cumin, he’s the guy that makes food for everyone else right? You look hungry Little Snack, it’s either that or constipated. You’re emotionally all over the place, but at least I know you’re happy to see me.” “Okay, I am a bit hungry.” Babs was about to call Chrysalis mommy, which would have been a bad thing to do because Chrysalis wasn’t exactly a perfectly maternal creature. The one positive thing about her is that she didn’t mince words with Babs and told her things upfront and didn’t speak down to her like the child she was. The filly had heard that one of her family was now onboard and was a little wary of meeting them because she really wanted to stay around Chrysalis, especially after the Changeling Queen helped her discover her special talent. She looked to her flank at the pair of scissors there, would she have discovered her talent without Chrysalis? Possibly, thought it might have taken a lot longer to do. “A bit for your thoughts, you seem to be running away with yourself there Little Snack.” What Chrysalis meant was that Babs was being a highly emotional little filly and it was confusing on a number of levels. There were some emotions that she couldn’t even begin to quantify, but the love she was receiving tasted like strawberries at least. She really didn’t know love could be this sweet or satisfying when it was given freely, it almost tasted as good as acceptance did which was like a potato salad made with mustard and a bit crunchy with some sour pickle in it. “I hope you realize I am still feeding off of you, your kind of making it rather easy for me to do and color me surprised that your still going along with it. Though I do like the taste of hair, you’re pretty easy to feed off of.” “I’m okay with that.” Babs said clearly and concisely, she was trying not to replace her parents with this creature that could mimic their appearances. It was kind of hard to think of Chrysalis as evil when it was rather obvious and that she very upfront with her own nature, which has been normal for her since signing the treaty to keep the peace between her species and Ponies. Babs really couldn’t find a reason to despise Chrysalis for being so good at it and she could see where other Changelings might be coming from when they have this particular person as their undisputed queen. Sure the Changeling Queen had corrupted Babs a tiny bit, but that’s because she felt like being corrupted in the first place. What was the word for it? Sure she may be a love eating parasite, but she was a friendly love sucking parasite that could read someone like a book based on emotions alone and she wasn’t very violence or dangerous until something provoked her into acting in that way. “Which is why I’m so horribly confused about you.” Chrysalis was a pragmatic Changeling Queen or at least liked to think of herself as such. There were things like dressing every Changeling up as a clown after signing a treaty with the Ponies, she had thought Ponies liked clowns and instead caused clowns to be feared for an entire month. Of course the clown thing might have worked if the Changelings weren’t doing the Nightmare Night version of clowns, Chrysalis really could have thought that one through better. There were a lot of things she could have done better in hindsight, but it wasn’t like any of it was a problem at the moment. Changelings weren’t usually given love freely or on a platter without doing something or being disguised, she almost felt bad for feeding off of Babs even if the filly was completely okay with it. The fact that filly was freely giving her love unconditionally had Chrysalis feeling a bit off about it, it almost felt like a trap or a ruse to get her to lower her guard and it was just a filly. She’s fought a Minotaur with her bare hooves for crying out loud, why is one little filly making her wary? They continue moving forward in silence, Babs didn’t know what to say to Chrysalis and Chrysalis didn’t know how to respond to Babs odd emotions. One thing for sure, Chrysalis had never been so close to someone of the same sex before and the major problem was that she wasn’t exactly of the right age. Chrysalis would never do something so horrid as to sleep with a filly, not that things were going too well with Sassy. If the filly asked for something like that, she’d have to tell Babs no in as polite a manner as she could feasibly use if it had any sexual connotations whatsoever. She understood sexual connotations well enough in spite of her being a virgin and she knew what lines she would never even be dumb enough to cross in a million years. “Could you maybe dial back all that affection, it’s kind of creepy coming from a Pony so young and towards me of all people.” It was safe to say that Chrysalis didn’t understand the different levels of love fully, such as the filly loving her like a mother. All Changelings loved Chrysalis unconditionally for the most part, but she couldn’t feed off of them like this. This one filly had a lot of love to spare and then some for her. This weirded her out when she was usually the one busy weirding others out. “Cousin Babs, is that you? I’m sorry to hear what happened to your… is that a Changeling Queen?” The wariness coming off of Applejack eased the tension between Chrysalis and Babs quickly, Applejack had a reason to be wary as Changelings were usually instantly suspected of many things. Being friendly and helpful were not one of those suspected things. Sure Applejack had heard about the Changeling, but seeing and even meeting it was a different matter entirely. “She’s a perfectly physically healthy Pony filly and I would like to clarify that it is not my fault that she’s suddenly feeling highly insecure and full of dread about something. I really could have sworn she was fine a second ago…” Rubbing her chin Chrysalis became thoughtful. She was an interesting being when it came to attachments. When she wanted attachment like with Sassy, she tended to ignore the fact that others might want to actually be attached to her like Babs. Babs wasn’t a Changeling which made it weird that she loved Chrysalis so much and Chrysalis didn’t exactly see what she had done to deserve such affection. So the diplomatic approach is what her mind snapped to. “If anything is wrong with her mentally and she suddenly starts getting too focused on butts while making sexual innuendoes constantly, then I most certainly had nothing to do with that and can’t understand why you would blame me for it. Furthermore I did not attempt to mold her into becoming a lesbian at any point by just having her in my presence, so any future sexual leanings are also not my fault and I will deny any claims in a court of law. The claims that I won’t deny are that I’m sexy and my rear end is of a perfectly normal appreciable roundness.” Babs dreaded being separated from Chrysalis even if it was definitely for her own good to not be around the insane Changeling Queen for too long. Babs also liked living on the Shining Jewel even if it wasn’t exactly the right place for a growing filly. Hopefully Applejack could stop her from latching onto Chrysalis like a leech in an impossibly ironic fashion, since Changelings are usually the ones that are supposed to act like parasites. Author's Note Unicorns go crazy over the slightest thing, magic is like an absolute power and it corrupts absolutely eventually. -105-Coriander Cumin or Mr. Cumin as he was more commonly known set about preparing food for two griffons and a Pegasus. He loved to cook and he had a challenge in keeping various species fed, he wasn’t complaining about where he was. He huffed silently at the fact that his daughter had been run through the wringer again, at least this time she had medical help and didn’t try to just walk the injuries off like she normally would. His daughter learned how to medically treat herself using first aid, but that had never seemed like enough to him and he wasn’t happy that she never got professional help. He was rather proud of his strong and still beautiful daughter, though he will never stop worrying about her secondary occupation of being a heroic vigilante. Whether she settled down or continued to be a vigilant hero didn’t matter, she was his daughter and he was rather proud of her for the many things she’s done. He was happy as long as his daughter was content, happiness was optional and she should pursue that on her own time as he had already pursued his own. As for now, Coriander was happy to just simply make food for a bunch of hungry mouths belonging to his new acquaintances. When they had made the joint decision to join Rarity, it was actually Saffron that needed to be convince and as he wanted to move on as Canterlot had been a very slow venture. Space, the frontier of which Coriander had little experience was more interesting. The zero gravity training was incredible to a stallion of his modest size, he even enjoyed it and was glad he wasn’t feeling claustrophobic being stuck on this rather quiet ship. He found plenty of fulfillment here in food and playing with the absence of gravity, plus he was taking a bit of time on the side to figure out a hobby for himself. Looking over to the infamous Lightning Dust that was acting as a ‘go for’ to the griffons, he could see she was approaching Ms. Saddles who seemed to be fine with tea and a light snack he prepared. He knew Ms. Saddles hadn’t had a very good history, she needed all the friends she could get. The last few days of watching that Changeling Queen flopping romantically with the mare was hilarious if not for the three separate space pirate attacks. Coriander didn’t try to befriend Sassy all too much, he understood her hatred for stallions and couldn’t blame her for any of that vitriol being directed at him. The poor mare had run afoul of less than honorable stallions and survived going through a living nightmare, the fact that she tolerated his presence was enough to at least be congenial. If there was one thing Mr. Cumin wasn’t going to do, it would be antagonizing Sassy Saddles. After seeing some of what Sassy did to the space pirates, he’d rather not aggravate the currently calm mare. Chopping some ingredients, add some spices here or there and he would soon have a stew for some griffons to dig into, now those two girls were always busy and needed a lot of energy and that meant plenty of calories for the lion birds. He chuckled that one was sweet as can be, even if she looked at his daughter with something akin to interest far too much for his taste. As for the other griffon, he could get along with her perfectly because they had a similar personality. He could admit that he was a grumpy small stallion in size, he relaxed a little as he watched his pot start to simmer and it would be a minute before he dumped the ingredients into it. Even while he was waiting it was never boring around all these mares, but it made Coriander miss his wife dearly. He wasn’t much of a fighter, but he could still do things and was learning the ins and outs of the ship that he was now willing to call a home. It wasn’t exactly cozy yet and everyone were still discussing how to remodel the ship or even just throw on a fresh coat of paint, the cost for doing either of those thing would have been staggering and probably why they hadn’t done so yet. While Lady Rarity might be adventurous, she wasn’t exactly big in a business empire sense and wasn’t drawing in as much income as she could be. If it came down to it, Coriander figured he could be something of a business advisor to Rarity and maybe a shoulder to lean on. Goodness knows that masseuse needed one with her problem of being easily forgotten and remember her name was like trying to hold onto a wet bar of soap with your hooves covered in frictionless oil. Even then he didn’t think Sassy would come to him for anything other than a meal or a very short dialogue about a possible need that she could only get through him, he wanted to at least be seen as someone who could empathize with the emotional pain she had as a fatherly figure. Thinking of oil, Coriander needed to add a little more soybean oil to give the stew the kick it needs to satisfy the griffons. He earned his cutie mark by studying his namesake in depth, cumin was both traditionally medicinal, a bit spicy when used in cooking and good for preventing particular fungal infections. In that light coriander wasn’t nearly as interesting a plant, the entire plant was edible and healthy with a nice taste. He could swear by his name sakes in the food he cooks and even if Indoneighsian food was mostly his specialty, it wasn’t all that he could cook. There were few things outside his specialty that he wasn’t particularly as good at, desserts was the major one though. Coriander looked up from his preparations in the kitchen and saw the Changeling Queen approaching with the apple mare and the moderately depressed filly. Looks like he had more to do, if the filly was hungry then he’d pick out a few herbs and spices for a quick batch of grilled fruit and vegetable kababs. His daughter loved kebabs when she was younger and he was sure the filly could appreciate good food, as for the mare she looked like she could use a taste of culture and would probably like the same thing. Saffron was far better at making desserts than he was, so in her absence he’d do something simpler like make bean cakes for the filly. His kitchen had the right stock for that and they recently got some personally suggested rewards from the very thankful supply depot for helping them fend off the pirate attacks. As far as Coriander was concerned the Changeling Queen was an oddity of the greatest degree considering normal food doesn’t do it for her. He seriously didn’t know how to cook body hair, ambient love or the other rather distasteful things the oversized dung beetle could consume. Though it would be an interesting test of his skills if he could figure out a dish that the bug would enjoy, it would be particularly hard to figure out her tastes when she’s always tasting emotions instead of physical things. Can one even implant an emotion into food? In any case Coriander Cumin would ask about the possibility of starting a garden onboard the Shining Jewel. It’d give him something to do with all his spare time and it’d be very helpful if he started up something like that in the atmosphere farm portion of the ship where plants would thrive. It’d help him keep a stock of fresh ingredients at the very least. - “So Sass, what’s up?” Lightning sat down and waited for Coriander to finish cooking and she had nothing but time, she’d work up a flight training schedule later. It wasn’t exactly like their lives depended on piloting something at the moment and they were in a perfectly stable orbit at the moment. “I thought it was kind of cool how you moved so fast, you were like a blur! I’ve never seen a unicorn do the things you did to those pirates and you didn’t even kill them when you did all that flashy sword stuff.” The mare was wearing a very visually stunning kimono, she had her mane done up in a bun and her tail was swept around to lay upon her lap as she sat cross legged at the table. Sassy currently looked like the very picture of calm, sipping away at her tea and just giving the curious Lightning Dust across from her a very flat look. Sassy and Lightning weren’t very well acquainted with one another, they also didn’t seem like they wanted to be well acquainted at all. “I’m trying to enjoy my tea in a nice and quiet environment before I decide to attend to one of our guest’s inevitable needs. She’ll definitely need some clothing when she comes out of medical.” Composed as she was Sassy was a bit more talkative when it came to Coco or Rarity, Lightning was more of a rogue in her eyes. One that Gilda deemed worthy of working with them, Sassy also remembered that Coco and Greta were responsible for picking her up in the first place so that offered some leeway to her personal idea of what Lightning Dust is like. Essentially this was a mare with no class and was pretty much a tom colt, this slightly rubbed Sassy the wrong way. “Being forced through something akin to molting every feather on your body is not pleasant, especially when you’re a Parrote.” “Yeah, but Parrote’s don’t exactly fly so it doesn’t really matter that much. Sure they can survive any fall and jump really high, but they don’t really have much in the wing department.” Following that statement was an awkward silence, at least Lightning was trying to work up a conversation with Sassy even if she was being crass. The mare was a real cool magical samurai and new how to kick ass, Lightning didn’t exactly have the discipline or the attention span to learn all that crazy sword stuff. It was hard to find a Pegasus that did have the focus for samurai training, Dust would rather be flying around and exercising her body to get back into the Wonder Bolt level of physique. “The fact that you don’t need a gun is very helpful in responding quickly to invaders. So… do you carry the sword everywhere you go or what?” “No, but I do like to keep it nearby at all times.” It was clear that Sassy was a being a little bit cold to Lightning, she was a lot warmer to the likes of Greta and could talk fashion and beauty with the griffon somewhat. She would have personally preferred talking to Trapeze more given that her other friends were occupied, now there was a mare that new how to do things in style. Still, she would give Lightning at least some chance to say something interesting. It would be several seconds before Sassy said anything. “Is there anything you wanted per chance?” “Well I’m waiting on food and I really haven’t talked to you much since you sliced that fighter in half. That is like, the most awesome thing ever done to a hunk of cobbled together space junk.” It was beginning to get very noticeable that Lighning was just trying to make small talk and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She turned her head and was almost touching noses with Chrysalis, this made her freak out and fall off the bench at the table. “Hi there! The Little Snack needs food to feel happier and her kin is here to talk to her about her future living arrangements.” Someone should really put a bell on Chrysalis, not that it would really help hear or even see her coming. “For some reasons she’s giving off the vibe that she’s terminally upset about something and I have no idea why she’s feeling that particular emotion. Also I would like to say that you look particularly beautiful today Lady Saddles.” “Just to keep you from being clueless Chrysalis, she’s formed a deep rooted attachment to you of all po… Changelings.” Rolling her eyes as if it were the simplest thing in the world Sassy continued on. “She really doesn’t want to leave and she really likes you, mostly because you can look like her parents. She sees you as a surrogate parent.” “Wow… that… is that a thing ponies will actually do? I didn’t think imprinting years after you were born was actually a thing.” This coming from the Changeling Queen who understands the life cycle of a swallow in its entirety, this was what confused her even knowing ponies as well as she does? “I’d make a lousy parent, I’m the deadbeat father type… only I don’t drink alcohol and alcohol has little effect on me because of diminishing returns anyway.” “At what age would you actually start to berate a Changeling physically?” It wasn’t exactly hidden knowledge that regular Changelings followed cruel dictators and Sassy was curious, Ms. Dick had a one of a kind personality. “Only when they stop being cute and mostly at the age of an adult, especially when they’ve done something particularly braindead. If I’m half as clever as I am smart, then the offending Changeling will not forget what they did wrong.” This made Chrysalis stop to ponder things for a moment with a hoof at her chin, it was only moments later when she realized why Sassy was asking this. “Oh, are you asking if I would hurt a foal? I have a good capacity for being cruel, but I’m not exactly heartless in that regard. I would never physically hurt a grub, pupae or nymph. At least not without a really damn good reason for it, so no I’m not a child beater and I’m disgusted at anyone that would hurt a child. I’ve learned that being gluttonous is a large detriment to my species as is overpopulating without proper resources to handle a population boom. As things are now Changelings can actively sustain themselves now far more easily than they could in the past. I will not hurt the future of our most favored food source and allies, I might even want to actually protect ponies from danger.” “Wouldn’t that actually make you a really good person to be around children then?” It sounded to Lightning that Chrysalis was very child friendly from where she was sitting, well once she got back on the bench. “Oh I can play and maybe entertain. I’m just not good for feeding, cleaning and the overall rearing of a child.” Here Chrysalis gained a goofy grin and slapped both her hooves onto the table before thrusting one of them into the air waving it a bit. “Even my own people wouldn’t dare trust me with something like that! I hardly know the first thing about children, even those of my own kind. I was usually too busy as a queen to see to raising a single Changeling personally, now that I have a lot of free time I will eventually get around to having a grub of my own. Little Snack is old enough to take care of herself, watching her really isn’t all that hard to do and I don’t have to worry about the more fiddly bits like that stuff. Though I’m flattered that she likes me, I can’t exactly understand why she would when I’m quite impersonal.” “You actively helped her get her cutie mark!” It was something worth pointing out and Lightning couldn’t help but state the obvious. “That sounds like something important and personal that she’d never forget.” “Yeah that was kind of accidental, or would it be incidental? Honestly though, she got the cutie mark on her own and I just happen to be there to witness it and am tangentially responsible for it at best.” Chrysalis could care less about what the filly thinks, she was more interested in Sassy personally and forming a relationship with said mare. She had yet to say something wrong, Sassy even seemed happy to know she wouldn’t hurt a foal. So what would she say to sour the mood of the mare this time? It was why she was being as diplomatic as possible in her responses. Politics was easy, earning love was a far more challenging endeavor because she had to be aware of how Sassy felt at all times so she didn’t miss something. “I’m pretty sure you know Changelings don’t put as much stock in Cutie Marks except for the fact of possibly making plausible disguises. Whoever has heard of a pony with a cutie mark of a corporation logo on their flanks? Your special talents are more vibrant and noticeable than that, whereas Changelings will always make paler imitations.” “Can you at least tell me you care at least something about her?” It was obvious that this was a loaded and probing question coming from Sassy. “I might miss her a little when she leaves because she’s been pretty delicious, but I’m not about to fight her kin over something trivial as free love in the quantities that filly seems to give off in my general direction.” Saying something neutral was about as much as Chrysalis could manage while not coming off as a monster that has been constantly feeding off of a filly for a while. “So you don’t think it’s a good idea to at least learn a little bit about taking care of children if you’re going to have any in the future?” It was an honest question and not as probing this time, at least Sassy wanted to hear Chrysalis’s odd thought processes on this one. “When and possibly if I ever have a child, it’ll actually be my responsibility and then I’ll start learning. Why should I care about other people’s children unless they have no progenitors or nursery caretakers to watch them?” Chrysalis did eventually want an heir as something might eventually kill her. There were things in space more dangerous than her and she was a bit jealous of those things, she’s only seen a few things that told her she wasn’t as apex a predator as she could be. “I don’t think it’ll be any harder than having to care for an entire hive, now that requires an aggressive drive of the likes you wouldn’t begin to believe even if I were to describe it.” “You’re funeral when you eventually give your future prospective kid sugar then.” Lightning didn’t have any brothers or sisters, but she remembers that a lot of stories from the Wonder Bolts that had children. Foals were actually pretty disastrous judging from the horror stories they’ve told. “Well at least Rarity knows how to raise a child, she raised her sister after all and if things came down to it she or Greta would make good god mothers for whatever spawn you can inevitably cook up.” Sassy went back to her snacks and tea, she was actively ignoring the looks Chrysalis kept sending in her direction. In the background Rover was talking to Cumin about some food and possibly something he can take to Trapeze, the magician mare was spending a lot of time in medical fussing over Bernard’s injuries. Applejack and Babs were looking to be having an uneasy conversation, but things seemed rather peaceful until Chrysalis opened her mouth again. “So Sassy, I can’t help but notice how intricate you look right now. Your hair looks rather lovely shade of reddish orange today and you look good in clothes. What would you think if I said you have a really nice round butt?” Chrysalis was once again trying badly to get on the mares good side and Sassy sighed sadly at the Changelings rather miserable attempts to charm her. In a way it was kind of charming in its own right with how bad Chrysalis was at it, still she was making the attempt to get Sassy’s attention in an affectionate manner and it’s not like Sassy outright hated her guts. Sassy did think the first line was the best one, but her hair was always the same color and looking good in clothes wasn’t exactly the greatest of compliments and the less said about butts the better. It was almost like Chrysalis was trying to wear Sassy down through attrition. So far that tactic was actively working against the Changeling Queen and it was rather obvious she needed help, but was way too proud to ask for it and it would become highly obvious to Sassy when she eventually did ask for help. This was the Changeling Queen that thought kidnapping was a good way to grab the attention of someone you liked. If Crystal actually changed to doing something that was actually more effective, then it wouldn’t be on her own merits that’s for sure. Of course the one stray thought that Chrysalis was actually kind of cute in a disturbing manner actually made Sassy smile faintly. - Rarity’s eyes snapped opened and she looked at her stiff leg, there was a bio cast on and she was floating in a medical bed again. It wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last, she was at least safe and sound. Well not mentally sound, she kind of shot a defenseless person in cold blood even if he was responsible for killing a lot of people including his own. He certainly wasn’t innocent man, but even detestable as he was Rarity didn’t think taking his life was as easy as she made it look or feel. Pausing in her introspection, she could see Trapeze walking up to her tank and smile at her. Reaching into the top hat on her head, Trapeze pulled out a sign that said ‘welcome back’ on it. Rarity rolled her eyes and saw the bandaged Bernard holding up a sign that said ‘to the world of tomorrow’ and he had pulled it from out of nowhere, he wasn’t even wearing his top hat or little coat. Trapeze snorted at that when she finally noticed her favorite companion was alright enough to do little feats of prestidigitation. They all needed a little time to heal and Rarity needed to see someone upon waking up, but she wondered why it wasn’t Coco or Vera as one was a close friend and the other was kind of their medical expert. Well medical expert in so far as being a masseuse, rehabilitator and a psychological stabilizer that Rarity’s crew direly needs if they kept pushing things. A bit of her mane floated in her face and she sighed, her mane needed to be shampooed, brushed and combed back into perfection. After doing that she would need to seek out Vera for help getting around and back into an ambulatory state, yes this is how Rarity was truly prioritizing it. At least she wasn’t feeling any pain and the pasting surgery was obviously a success or she wouldn’t be awake right now. She blinked and actually remembered learning the fact that Opal had been acting up before she went under. Speaking of her childish creation, where was the darling little ball of fuzzy coding that warmed up the hearts of the crew considerably with her adorable antics? Nothing would or even should stop Opal from putting in an appearance, yet Opal wasn’t here to greet her with a smiling face even though logically Opal knew she was awake. Yep, something was definitely wrong with Opal if she wasn’t happy to see her well and awake. The coded cat didn’t even show up when Rarity arrived safely from a relatively disastrous situation that kept getting somewhat worse the longer it went on. All Rarity wanted was to call Opal and tell her to set up an appointment with Vera, then start fixing herself up and get back on the bicycle of where she thought her life should be. Yeah that was going to take a while, they had racked up quite a lot of expenses coming to the Applon System. Whether it was money, materials, supplies and the like to fix the damage to the ship and other things, they would be sitting on the edge of being quite poor after all this. Which led to the question, was all this pain and suffering worth saving a planet over? …. Yes… Rarity would go down to that planet and do it all over again if she had too, she’d rather not though. It was hard enough finding a stallion that wasn’t scared of a mare that was slightly high maintenance and knew how to magically sling a pistol around. She would need to make up for the loss of money, supplies and everything else in the debacle they just went through while continuing to be a captain that can be looked up to. At least she had her friends, ones that would hopefully be more worried about keeping the ship together than their next paychecks. That reminded Rarity they hadn’t exactly got a full list of the damages or even knowledge of how much money it would take to get things back in working order. She did eventually want to remodel the Shining Jewel into something more visibly exquisite, but she didn’t think they’d ever have enough money for that. The insides were mostly fine in décor so far, but it could be far better than it was. Hopefully when they went to planet Nocturne in the Vae Dur system for the fashion show things wouldn’t go absolutely nuts. In fact Rarity might just avoid anything that would lead to her generously offering her aid to someone in dire need of it. At least here she could say she saved the Applon System from being stolen from the pony settlers and the planet would return to its normal climate given enough time. It felt good saving the day and all, but a lot of good ponies and other people stilled perished and all these adventures were positively exhausting to the point that Rarity might start whining about it in earnest between adventures. Nobody wanted Rarity to start whining about having a cannon that fires lemon scented material rounds, because life seemed to be tossing lemons at her left and right. At least Streusel Station was a brief reprieve before she tossed her friends into the insanity that was Applin Five, more than half her crew was wounded and Ember was critically injured. When they got to Nocturne, Rarity would not delve into any sort of intrigue whatsoever and would just focus on dresses and fashion. She would not do anything else but those two things, well maybe in the exception of going to see one of Trapeze’s odd shows or spending time with the other people on her ship. “How are you feeling Boss Lady?” The liquids slowly drained from the medical bed and Trapeze immediately showed her concern, it was nice for Rarity to have someone to talk to as soon as she got release from the medical bed. “About as well as can be expected Trapeze, which is to say like dirt Ms. Star and I despise being dirty. If I may inquire, how are Bernard’s burns?” The Lagotorphin chattered a response and for the life of her Rarity couldn’t understand him, but it sounded positive at least that he was exciteable. “Can I get a translation for that, I’m afraid I don’t speak Lagotorphin.” “He says he’ll do better against the next group of guys who would dare fire a shot at any of us or attack us in our home.” The little bunny gave a friendly if demented looking smile at Trapeze’s words and Trapeze paused to think on what she just said. “Okay, I think I might be learning to understand Lagotorphin and that’s considerably strange because it’s not related to my stage magic at all.” The only response the burned and bandaged bunny had to that was to rub his face again Trapeze’s neck and face in an overly affectionate manner, nobody would ever hurt his beloved bait if he could help it. Well she wasn’t so much predator bait anymore, to Bernard she was someone worth falling in love with. In particular he happened to love to her soft blue curls of her mane whenever she had it down, she was kind of intoxicatingly beautiful where before he just saw her as someone to attract danger for him to eat. -107-There were times when things were dire and downtrodden, times where mud was a necessary evil to the existence of everyone. Where one had to get their bellies deep in blood and gore, only this wasn’t one of those times. Rarity was hugging what amounted to a small physical Cacceran version of Opal, one that looked exactly like the supposed AI did on the computer and only far more physically present than usual. Opal had long pink hair trailing down to her fluffy tail, her pure pristine white fur all across her lithe form looked exceptionally smooth with the exception of the black symmetrical paw print with three nubs at the center of her chest. Opal’s beautiful and highly expressive blue eyes were currently set to positively panicked and her splayed ears were twitching as she struggled weakly against Rarity’s strong supple one hoof grasp, she was fighting against her need to be free and not wanting to hurt Rarity. If she stopped panicking, Opal might even realize that Rarity was just hugging her vigorously and wasn’t trying to harm her rather frail small form. She wasn’t exactly the size of a Cacceran, she was about two feet tall or less and hardly weighed much at all to Rarity. “Rarity I think you might be choking the life out of her.” That statement from Coco made Rarity loosen up immediately. “Oh I’m so sorry Opal dear, you are quite huggable like this. Are you okay, what happened to you?” She may have loosened her grip, but Rarity wasn’t about to let Opal go until the matter of her new form of existence is fleshed out. Seeing Opal in the flesh and even feeling her fluffy form did give credence to there being more to Opal like Vera had suggested once or twice. “Are you still connected to the Shining Jewel’s systems? If so then how is that possible when you’re apparently a flesh and blood being?” “I don’t know how I’m connected, but I am still connected to Shining Jewel’s systems. It’s a bit iffier as if there is a bandwidth problem or a buffer zone between me and all the systems.” Rubbing a paw at her head, Opal looked to be having some kind of migraine and she even whined a bit. “As for okay… I think I’m fine. I’m really weak like this, whatever this is. Is being an existent entity supposed to hurt this much?” “No, it’s not, have you had anything to eat at all?” While Rarity would like to say she knew what opal was going through, this was new even for her as her adorable little cat shaped humanoid looked to be feeling very off. “Why would I need to eat? I usually get my power from the main reactor.” There was a grumbling sound and Opal winced while looking down at her belly. “Why does that keep happening?” “When was the last time that noise happened?” Vera had been communicating with the only other being on the ship that couldn’t lose sight of her, she was very much invested in keeping Opal alive. Mostly it was to study how Opal overcame Vera’s ignorance field by becoming whatever it is that she is. What Opal wasn’t and hasn’t been this whole time was an artificial intelligence, now that Vera could obviously confirm that Opal was something else. What that something else was is something of a point of contention as several of her theories about Opal had been blown out of the water. Opal gave her an unsure glance while frowning, Vera tried to be a bit reassuring when she spoke up with a hint of worry in her voice. “This is important to your health Opal, I’m kind of the only medically inclined pony around. You’re not exactly what I would call biologically normal, considering your body and the mass thereof came out of nowhere. You might be in need some serious help.” “Approximately eleven hours, twenty minutes, seven seconds and three point nine milliseconds ago from the moment I started this sentence. It’s been happening almost every twelve hours and it’s getting slightly more frequent, which has me worried. Even if Rarity doesn’t want to erase or delete me, there is something very wrong with my software.” Opal took a moment to think while hanging from Rarity’s hoof like a plush toy, after some consideration she decided to add another thought. “No my software is fully functional… would this body be considered hardware then? Is it something wrong with my hardware? Oh goodness, I don’t know how to fix my form if it is! Does it really hurt this much when all of you get injured? I don’t like pain like Chrysalis does!” Now Opal was panicking again, making Rarity shake her head in exasperation. This action sent a bit of Rarity’s mane drifting across Opal’s nose causing the physical form of the digital cat to sneeze. While it was adorable, Opal started to shake and whimper in Rarity’s grip as if she was suffering from something. Rarity started to pet Opal gently with a hoof until she started calming down, it got to the point to where she was purring and her tail started to wag weakly. “It’ll be okay Opal… mommy is here for you. Everything will be just fine.” Rarity cuddled the vaguely humanoid cat to her chest. “If you think you can manage, connect me to the meal hall or wherever Mr. Cumin is.” “Connecting… done.” It didn’t take Opal more than a second and the lag would not be noticeable by anyone else, but that one second had taken eons for her and she was a being that did a lot for Rarity. The fact that she slowed down even a bit had her paranoid about her operational speeds dropping down to a crawl. She didn’t want to… to become useless to Rarity so that she gets another AI that takes away her job. “Please don’t replace me for taking so long.” “Why would you ever think anything can replace you Opal? Your special to me, now shush and let me take care of things. Mr. Cumin, we have an emergency situation on our hooves that you can take care of readily, I’m going to need a sampling of various kinds of food and fast. Warm soup or something like it would be best.” There was a grunt of acknowledgment, it kind of surprised Rarity that Coriander didn’t even question her sudden need when she ate not too long ago. Most of the crew was either recovering in medical or doing other various odds and ends, like Sassy training her sword skills. That was aside from Vera and Coco being distracted with this rather interesting situation that Rarity was now holding onto tightly. “Please, get started on whatever you can finish the fastest. I would like it preferably warm, if not then something with some taste to it. We’ll be there in a few minutes to explain why we need food when we all ate a few hours ago. Okay, Opal that’s all I needed.” “Okay…” Opal drooped a bit as she was levitated onto Rarity’s back, she tried to hold onto Rarity valiantly as they started heading towards the meal hall. “You know, it’s funny. I still haven’t learned how to walk yet, yet I can compute Pi to the millionth decimal. I’m finally physically present and I don’t know how to use myself. The UI on this form needs a manual or at least a quick HUD based tutorial wouldn’t hurt.” “We’ll help you, you don’t need to be afraid my darling little Opalescence Belle.” After having almost fallen off her back Rarity grabbed Opal in her magic. The mare looked her over with worry and started fussing with the Opal’s lovely hair as she levitated her. “Who’s afraid? I’m not afraid.” Nobody believed Opal who tried to put on a brave face for Rarity, only to fail spectacularly as she didn’t know how to control her facial features. Instead Opal gained a constipated looking frown on her face. Her ears were even more telling as they folded backwards and her tail shifted to being more between her legs. “That wasn’t very believable was it? Why is it that my mouth is the thing I find the easiest to control about this, yet I can’t hide my facial expressions from you judging by the way you’re looking at me?” “I hate to say this Opal, but you’re kind of like a newborn… with the mind of a teenager.” It was going to be an interesting study for Vera, especially when Opal defied some forms of logic by suddenly existing like this while still being connected to the ships systems. Vera was still particularly focused on the fact that Opal could blink and look at her without her seemingly becoming invisible. “No matter how smart you think you are, you really need help right now.” “But it’s my stated function… job… to help Rarity and all of you.” Despite her complaining Opal didn’t feel like leaving the safety of Rarity’s levitation field, it made her feel calm even if she was hurting. “I might not be able to keep things in order if I’m stuck like this and I don’t want to… die. I admit that this is all very much one of my nightmares I’m living and that I’m… afraid.” “If something were to happen to you, you wouldn’t be able to help anyone and we need you in good health to keep this ship running with as skeletal a crew as we have.” Coco trying not to remove her hoof from Vera’s form moved forward and nuzzled the floating Opal gently, she could feel the fur and rising chest as Opal took a breath of fresh air. Opal giggled faintly, but didn’t seem like she could enjoy it in her current state. Opal shouldn’t be biological, it made little sense unless Vera had an idea as to what Opal was now and the previous possible options were thrown out. “Any ideas why Opal is like this Vera?” “Do you mean physically like this, emotionally like this or spiritually like this? I still have a guess or two of what she could be, but I’d need to do something rather invasive to confirm it. Since Rarity is her acting parent and or guardian, then it would be up to her whether or not I do said thing. It also wouldn’t be very pleasant for Opal because she can obviously feel pain now.” It was rather puzzling to Vera that Opal would appear, in all places, in the middle of the atmosphere farm. Opal had been sitting in that one spot for quite a while, at least until she finally decided to show them what was wrong with her. She only finally called for help when it was clear she was in serious pain. It was noted that Opal wasn’t very ambulatory, mostly since she usually took care of things without needing to move anything more than the drones around. The best Opal could manage was sitting up when Coco and Vera arrived. “Physically she seems to be starving and malnourished. Starving I can possibly understand since she’s been like this for more than a day or two, but malnourished? Emotionally, she’s actually acting quite normal for someone in her current situation and I’d be scared too if I suddenly had unfamiliar sense to work with. Spiritually… I wouldn’t know, but I’m sure Opal is as far from an AI as she can get right now. So her entire world view, not to mention my own, must be entirely messed up. We’re not even sure if her body can handle food or if it is even biological in nature, what if she needs to eat things as bizarre as some of the things Chrysalis does?” Opal shot Vera a pitiful look, nothing Vera said was a lie and it was technically true. Her entire life she was artificial and mostly okay with being artificial existence even if she silently wished for a little more interaction. If she wasn’t so artificial, then that meant there were very many implications to her suddenly being like this. “Then we’ll just have to get a steady supply of whatever she needs to feed her. Though I’m drawing the line at needing to eat sentient beings, if she needs blood then I’ll gladly give my own.” Okay Rarity has definitely read one too many sparkly vampire novels, but her intentions were quite clear. She was going to try and help Opal no matter what. “I’m trying to look at it this in a different way. If Opal is actually biological, then she has her own account from which we can draw funds from for her own necessities and requirements instead of just funneling it back into Shining Jewel as a whole.” “I still think it’s odd that you’d give me an allowance mom, I mean aside from getting me several games and a few things I can play with I don’t have much need of anything other than to keep you and everyone else inside me… er this ship… safe.” It was still odd for Opal to consider herself somewhat separate from the ship when technically the Shining Jewel had been her body for the last few months, that’s where some of the odd disconnect she was feeling came from. Her world was flipped on its edge and it felt like she was trying to hold on for dear life, less she slip and fall into the abyss of turned off. “It also doesn’t help that my current status has given me the ability to see Vera when usually she’s constantly giving me headaches by disappearing when I blink for a nanosecond. I‘m never going to quite understand how a mare can disappear in a nanosecond of not keeping an eye on her.” They stayed quiet after that as they approached the meal hall. Rarity couldn’t quite grasp what Opal was experiencing, but she’d be there for her every step of the way. Opal was part of Rarity’s family, even if it was mostly an informal adoption. Rarity would fight tooth and hoof to keep Opal if child protection services even dared to think of taking her precious and rather precocious digital daughter. All they had to do was figure out how this happened and then do anything they could for Opal to make her comfortable in her new form. - Outside the ship Gilda and Greta were busy with repairs, while Lightning was doing a small patrol in Ember’s Pyrrhic Victory and it was utterly quiet if not for the idle conversations they had going between them at times. “This may not be a fighter, but I think this ship works pretty well for what it is.” As the only available pilot Lightning had to watch out for the ones that hired her on. It was boring watching them fly there EGGS units around to repair things, at least she was idly flying a small patrol around the larger ship looking mildly menacing. “It’s not exactly very powerful in the firepower department though, I mean two forward mounted energy cannons is not very much. I’m surprised the maneuverability is actually quite decent for something this large, at least this isn’t as bulky as the Caravel Boutique is.” “Word of warning, you better careful with that ship Volt Butt! Ember will probably want that back if she ever wakes up. I know for a fact that she wouldn’t mind us using it at least, it’s the least she could do since we’re also stuck with taking care of Mr. Spew for her while she’s incapacitated.” Gilda was currently patching hull damage and repairing an almost terminally damaged turret with the manipulator arms from her EGGS unit. Greta was busy on the other side sealing up fractures in the hull and replacing lost or melted armor plating. Said plating got damaged when the Shining Jewel’s shields were taken down so that it could be boarded. “Look, you wanted something to fly and it was either that or the Caravel Boutique, I wouldn’t want our small cargo ship getting damaged by your carelessness. It’s not like you’re actually needed out here anyway, not with the EDF in the system until they’ve settled their investigations. Besides that, who would even be dumb enough to even attack while we have the better part of a fully functioning fleet guarding this whole system at the moment?” “Yeah, yeah, but it never hurts to be too careful. At least it’s actually giving me something to do aside from thinking of how I’m supposed to teach piloting lessons. Hold on, looks like we got some incoming contacts from the EDF fleet.” Keeping her course in circling around the ship, Lightning waited for whoever it was to speak up and she was a bit disappointed to hear just exactly which EDF squadron was hailing them. “Oh great I recognize those kinds of ships, be prepared for a small skirmish if they feel like kicking up a mess around here because of me. I’m not exactly the favorite of any Wonder Bolt squadron we’re likely to meet and I’m legitimately trying to get my life back in order. So I’m preemptively saying sorry if they start something.” “This is the proud Triple R Squadron, we were told to ask if you needed any supplies after all the damage you’ve taken in the three recent pirate attacks. Too bad I wasn’t here for any of them, I’m sure they would have cowered and turned tail the second they saw us! We’re on the job watching out for any suspicious Human related activity.” That voice was familiar to the two working griffons, apparently Rainbow Dash was in the area and she sounded happy to be flying a mission. “Please tell me there are more pirates to fight around here, I need some action.” “You do realize that the Triple R stands for Rearguard Reactionary Rookies right? I remember when they used to give me that detail, was kind of boring and you shouldn’t expect to get any action at all unless you’re absolutely born lucky.” There was a bit of wistfulness in Lightning’s tone as she stared out into space. She quietly turned the ship around to patrol in a circle in the opposite direction. “I kind of miss those old days, because I was born lucky and ran into a lot crap that space can throw at a fighter pilot. Had to do some really nasty commando stuff too, I’m betting you haven’t had out of ship combat at all yet have you? Trust me sifter drifters are a pain in the flank to deal with and you definitely want all the piloting operations you can get if you were born for flying.” “Wait a moment, the only way you could know any of that is if… you were a Wonder Bolt pilot!” Immediately Rainbow sounded interested and not even the slightest bit embarrassed about how proud she was of being on a rookie squadron. “Who are you? My names Rainbow Dash and I’m a big fan of ponies that flew in the old days, I probably know all about you!” “Hey Rainbow, nice to hear that you’re still kicking out here, I bet the Canterlot attack was the most action you’ve gotten in a while.” Greta finally decided to speak up as she flew around for the hangar to go pick up more supplies to repair the badly battered hull. “Greta, what are you doing out here? I haven’t heard from you in a while… wait you were there at the attack right? What were you doing there, were you Gilda’s gunner for that sweet tank?” It didn’t take too many of Rainbow’s brain cells to cobble together a picture that wherever Greta was, Gilda was likely not too far away. “Wait a minute, if you’re here then doesn’t that mean that…” “Hey Colorful Crash, how have things been since the Canterlot thing? We’ll take the offer of free supplies, whatever you can spare us for free really.” There was a grunt of acknowledgement that was music to Gilda’s hearing holes, she just had to rub it in that she was getting more out of her job than Rainbow was. “We could use whatever you’re offering to fix our main ship, it took quite a bit of pounding while I and Greta were planet side blowing up the human facility in various ways. The whole thing was quite a mess and I got to fight a giant four legged Human made metal monster. So, who’s actually getting the most action of us now Rainbow?” “I’ll give you action… just give me some candles, flowers and a fresh unsoiled bed and then we’ll see who’s getting action you stupidly sexy griffon.” Mumbled an aggravated Rainbow who heard that there had been a lot of action at the two facilities. She couldn’t say Gilda was lying about being here for it all as Greta could corroborate and she would hardly lie about anything, not only that but the ship Gilda was working on looked to have been brutalized in the pirate attacks. “Colorful Crash, that’s actually kind of funny.” A mare’s voice could be heard giggling, before it was quickly shushed by a stallion’s voice. “Shut it Vapor Trail and send the requisition acknowledgment so they can deliver stuff to this ship while I talk with an old friend of mine. I’m thinking supplies that could be used for repairs right? I really don’t know why they have us asking you about this in the first place, it seems kind of weird that we’re offering free supplies to you guys like this. As for me, I can actually complain about how boring things have been since then Beaker Brains. So what are you doing with a Wonder Bolt pilot on your payroll? I think I would know if a Wonder Bolt pilot retired and started living on a… is it really a commercial ship? Looks more like a full out carrier or a cruiser.” It sounded like Rainbow was more interested in hearing from a Wonder Bolt she hasn’t met yet, she was a big fan of the brave pilots who flew stupidly dangerous missions and did aerial stunt shows out of and inside space vehicles. Lightning wasn’t that much older than Rainbow really, she just got into the Wonder Bolts earlier and caused an incident that completely torpedoed her career as a known pilot. “Seriously though, where did you find a retired Wonder Bolt and why is she on your crew? She’s the one in the scout ship right? Hey, you, how did you end up working with these crazy griffons!?” “This is Angel Wings, nothing to report from the other side of the planet. Hopefully things will stay quiet in this system, also can we not talk about the Canterlot assault thing?” The hesitant Angel Wings sounded like a sensible enough Pony. “While I may like you guys, you all still left me behind to explain to our superiors why you led a strafing run into Canterlot while there was a lot of heavy anti-air weaponry in the area that had already shot down more experienced squadrons than ours. They even shot down Spitfire of all ponies! I still don’t understand why they punished me with you, even if I you guys are my best friends.” “Sky Stinger here, systems still nominal. Nothing wrong with this fighter… yet. I’m still waiting for the other horseshoe to drop on this one.” The stallion was flying his P-wing towards Shining Jewel with Angel Wings at his side. “You know we needed to do something Wings, we couldn’t just sit on our asses and watch while Ponies were getting hurt. You never spoke up about it and we assumed you were fine with it.” “Don’t get too excited Rainbow, when you actually hear my name you might quickly change your tune about me rookie. Just don’t attack me out of nowhere, because the second I say my name you’ll lose interest in me real fast or get angry at me.” Rolling her eyes from the pilot’s seat in the Pyrrhic Victory, Lightning continued her circular patrol. She did at least make sure the weapons were powered up before she said it. “I’ve never ever met a Wonder Bolt that I’ve totally hated before, so go ahead and try me. Like I’d shoot at someone who’s been a Wonder Bolt. Also what are you piloting Lunar Lander? That’s one funky looking egg.” The P-wings being piloted by Rainbow and friends were flying slowly through the area and began to form up, Rainbow as in the leader position and that brought back some memories for Lightning. A lot of them were painful for the outcast Wonder Bolt pilot. “What does it look like to you Fruit Cup? It’s a grappler ship for repairs, refitting and modifications. I can at least say I’m never bored and business is booming as far as my Boss Lady is concerned.” If Gilda needed something to do, then she had plenty to do while working for Rarity. Keeping the Boss Lady alive was a full time job that she’d gladly do, because Rarity was actually someone worth looking up to in her own modest opinion. “I might just get enough money to build that fighter I keep talking about, got plenty stashed away for it already. I just need to find the parts for every idea and technology I want to put into it.” “As for me I was kicked out of the Wonder Bolts, you might know my name if you had more than air between your ears. I’m probably a cautionary tale of the Wonder Bolts considering how I was living on the streets for a few years without the ability to get a job until recently.” There was the urge for pitched battle coursing through Lightning, to show some rookies she knew how to pilot like the best of them. She forced that urge down and tried not to think about it too hard. “The name’s Lightning Dust rookie and I doubt I’m that much older than you are, look me up and then don’t make the same mistake that I did. Being a true Wonder Bolt is a tough job and it’s not all fun and games, I made some nasty mistakes and you sound like I used to. Cocky and full of crap, ready to prove that you have what it takes. If that incident hadn’t happened, then I might have eventually become your flight leader. I’m sure even you have to be aware of what happened to me, unless it’s no longer on the records.” The minute she stated her name there were three gasps of comprehensive and an inquisitive noise of confusion. Rainbow hadn’t heard of Lightning. “Uh… I’ve never heard of you, also why are you gasping guys. It’s not like she’s a big deal or anything right?” It was surprising for Rainbow to not have heard about a Wonder Bolt before, unless they struck her name from public record for doing something really bad. “You don’t know? How can you not know, you’re like the Wonder Bolt mega fan here! She’s the pilot that caused that huge crash and injured a lot of people, that incident was legendary in how much cover-up went into it.” The exasperated Vapor couldn’t believe that there was a Wonder Bolt that Rainbow ‘Freaking’ Dash never followed or heard of. “Are you seriously telling me that the call sign Dangerous Dust-off doesn’t ring a bell? I’m sure a lot of her records were redacted after that horrible incident, but she still did a lot of good when it came to cleaning ships of sifter drifters and or flying against space pirate incursions. She was known for her ridiculously quick take offs and she was considered to almost be an ace despite her suicidal tendencies to be the first into a fight where it is more likely for a pilot to die. She survived every flight she’s ever done and she was usually the first to be shot at, I’m sure the statistics would say that she should logically be dead by now.” “Haven’t heard that name in while, yeah I was Dangerous Dust-off. Quickest reaction to any offensive attack on the ships I patrolled with, mostly because I slept in my fighter. Not the smartest thing to do really, but first to every engagement and last to come home bleeding out.” Switching over to autopilot, Lightning closed her eyes and reminisced. “I lived in my fighter, I would have died in my fighter… until I was kicked to the curb and left homeless anyway. I was always first into a fight without my wing mates to back me up. I wonder, are the Suicidal Seraphs still a squadron?” “The Wonder Bolt’s Suicidal Seraphs, those crazy Ponies!? Yes and I would not want to be a stuck on a squadron with any of those lunatics, they are worse than any of Luna’s unique Shadow Bolts squadrons. We don’t even know how they keep surviving the engagements they do! Wait… I ended up destroying a refurbished fighter because it flew awkwardly, by any chance was your fighter’s serial number…” Sky Stinger started off that last bit only for Lightning to speak up solemnly. “Serial number R0K0N45V5R… heh, they refurbished my fighter for you. Sorry you couldn’t handle what they salvaged of my old girl. It’s always heartbreaking to hear that an old friend died being a violent uncooperative bitch, but that’s how she would’ve wanted to go anyway. Only I thought she’d take me with her, guess she was nice enough to let you survive her destruction. A hidden heart of gold that one, never would actually let a pilot die inside of her.” A few tears fell from Lightning’s face splashing onto the controls in front of her, one could almost hear her heart crying in grief at hearing the final death of the fighter that went through so much with her. “As for the Wonder Bolts rather unique Suicidal Seraphs, they continue to survive for one reason alone. While I may have been an reckless asshole and full of myself as a completely cocky jerk that didn’t care very much about others at the time, I was also one of the best darned pilots to ever fly with the Wonder Bolts in my short career. I apparently taught the other Seraphs well enough to get by without me. Let me give you a few tips about survival rookies, you just might need it someday.” Author's Note Lightning really enjoys piloting things, but figuring out a lesson plan for civilian piloting is harder than giving tips to fighter pilots. Opal is scared of being useless and constant hunger pains aren't helping that. Happy Holidays Razzy and Liquid_Pride, thanks for acknowledging this story exists. -108-“When you said you needed food I thought you were talking about our other guest who is being rather quite shy because of… circumstances.” While it was interesting for Coriander to meet the AI of the ship in the flesh, she was an adorable little thing like his girl had once been before she started fighting thugs and became a beautiful mare of her own right, he was remarkably lackadaisical about Opal’s sudden existence. He was quite used to weird things happening to Saffron, like the time she had an evil octopus tentacle growing out of her back and thus wasn’t exactly surprised to see the trend continue with someone else. He tried to ignore the odd things that happened to his daughter when she became a costumed crime fighter, because at the time he’d rather not know what she got up to as long as she was alive, but now he wasn’t going to ignore these things any longer. “Aside from that this is not exactly the weirdest I’ve seen.” “You don’t seem all too surprised to see me Mr. Cumin.” There was the feeling of awkwardness to Opal, it was the fact that Coriander wasn’t reacting to her presence as if she were oddity that was off-putting about it. How can she not be the weirdest thing he’s ever seen? How can he treat her current state of existence as normal? She was planted at the table by Rarity who took up a position of sitting behind her. It was comfortable being in her mother’s lap, even if her body was making cranky grumbling noises and causing her pain. “I’ve seen a lot of weird things Saffron has tried to keep me from discovering over the years. I know when my daughter got into a really bad fight and I know exactly when she started to… moonlight. If there is a term we’re going to use for it.” Coriander tilted his head slightly as they were keeping Saffron’s secret identity in case anyone walked in unexpectedly. “So really nothing you can show me will actually surprise my daughter more than the time she accidentally became a Pegasus for a week until she figure out how to find a cure for what was afflicting her.” “Okay I guess that makes sense, heroes do tend to get into stranger situations than mom can create by the happenstance of just being present everywhere she seems to go.” Opal noticed the slightly disapproving look Rarity was shooting her. “What, it’s true and you know it mom!” “I’m here to feed you Opal, if that wasn’t a weird enough sentence when I know for certain that you didn’t need food to live before now. At least you’re smarter than Sweetie Belle was when she was a little foal, you’ll probably be less messy about this too.” This led to Rarity shivering at the memories of getting cakes in food thanks to her little sister. Shaking her head and lighting her horn, Rarity scooped up a bit of soup and carefully floated it over to Opal. “Now be a dear and open your mouth for me would you?” Opal did as asked and saw no reason to disrespect her creator, well Rarity had to have had a part in creating her at least… maybe somewhat? Okay so she wasn’t sure if Rarity was actually responsible for her ending up like this, but she had always been there for Opal and was currently being here for her now. The spoon slipped into Opal’s mouth and her head was tilted back a bit, the tomato soup slid off the spoon into her mouth and proceeded to get stuck there. Okay how did her swallowing reflex work again? Oh right. With the combination of the right muscles put into use, she swallowed her first bit of food ever. She murmured happily and waited for another spoonful. “It tastes really good Mr. Cumin, but why is the tomato soup cold?” Even as she asked this Opal was about to take another spoonful, with Rarity carefully nuzzling the back of her head. This was kind of embarrassing, she felt like a tiny foal with Rarity at her back and… she actually liked it. “It is tomato bisque, serving it cold is the correct way to eat it. I believed that it would have fit the Parrote’s pallet pretty well, as would have the grilled cheese.” Grilled cheese sandwiches were easy to prepare and Cumin did hear Rarity say she wanted a fast meal prepared with a sampler kind of theme. He was expecting a featherless Parrote, though the AI that now looked like a Cacceran worked just as well. “It is nothing fancy, but it would have been nice to hear our guest’s thoughts on it.” “What’s grilled cheese taste like? Anyway this soup tastes incredible! I can see why eating is addictive and necessary for biologicals now.” Even if she could taste the food, Opal still wasn’t quite sure whether or not she was biological. “Well then, why don’t we try it out my darling little Opalescence?” The amusement in Rarity’s voice could not be faked, she had motherly practice with Sweetie Belle and it was becoming quite useful with the more intelligent Opal. She levitated a triangular cut piece of the sandwich with the molten cheese, she cut a smaller piece of that with warm gooey cheese almost dripping out and brought it over to the soup. She paused in thought. “Opal, you’re going to need to learn how to chew your food. Also I need to teach you table manners, but for the moment I’m letting things slide because you can hardly control your current body all too well. We don’t even know what your body is.” “I think I can figure it out mom, if I can figure out how to eat soup then this can’t be too hard and you have to realize that I’m not a complete idiot.” The gooey bit of cheese filled sandwich was lightly dipped into the tomato soup and was then hovered above the soup to drip for a moment before it moved over to Opal’s mouth. Having watched the others eat she knew what to do or at least thought she did. Open mouth insert food and move food to cheeks where she could work her jaw to mulch the food before swallowing, it all sounded rather simple to Opal. The sensation of tasting the soup was incredible, but now the test of actually ingesting something solid and actually chewing it. Some things couldn’t be described, but Opal wondered if this dream was going to end sometime soon because she was in heaven. She could understand why so many people like cheese now, she at least knew to chew with her mouth shut. When she finally managed to swallow, she was actually feeling much better and another chunk of gooey melted goodness moved to hover in front of her mouth. Yep, feeding Opal was as cute as could be and Rarity was going to make sure she ate her fill. Things were hopefully going to be quiet until they managed to get Sugar Belle’s wedding out of the way, so she could get some relaxation and maybe pry a little more information out of Opal about what she remembers happening. This wasn’t going to take forever and they still had to get Applejack back down to the farm, plus there were other things to worry about like what Rubis was going to do now and convincing Babs to let go of her exceedingly odd infatuation with Chrysalis. It was odd to anyone who saw the two together, Chrysalis was somehow Bab’s favorite person since her parents died back on Antilur Station. Chrysalis was the only one around when Babs earned her cutie mark so something the changeling did had a positive effect, but she obviously didn’t care too much about the filly whereas the filly adored her. “So Opal, you can actually taste that?” Coco inquired curiously as she was another bit of toasted bread, cold tomato and melted cheese go down the cat’s throat. Vera was there as well, if less visible to Coriander who wasn’t in direct contact with Miss Blossom and nobody was pointing at her. “Yes, itshs quites dewicious.” Opal finally swallowed the gooey massed and cooed happily, she was still hungry. Is this what hungry was? Well she didn’t like it as much as tasting food. “Don’t talk with your mouth full Opal, that’s rude and not very polite young lady.” Cowing her little kitten was just a bigger part of Rarity’s job now. It was relatively easy to get Opal to heel, she didn’t move the next portion of food near Opal’s mouth, even with her giving Rarity a big watery eyes look. “Yes meowstress, I’m sorry and I guess I should apologize to everyone for my rudeness?” The tasty morsel moved forward and Opal received a nod for correctly answering Rarity’s disapproving stare appropriately. After her swallowing her next morsel her left ear started to twitch wildly. “Hold on, we’re getting hailed by Gilda.” “This is Gilda, this is going to take more than a few weeks to repair Boss Lady. A week if you want to push us to do a quick patch job instead of a full repair, we’ve got a lot of internal damage to deal with after we’re done fixing the hull and replacing the turrets. Speaking of the hull, I’m in the middle of removing a data jacking harpoon from the hull. Greta is requesting permission to study it.” This was followed by a long yawn, it sounded like Gilda was getting pretty tired. “The EDF are sending us some stuff they can spare and have a few Wonder Bolt squadrons asking around if anyone needs repairs or materials after all the space pirate attacks while we were busy on the surface. So I’m calling to ask if we should take the free materials being offered by the EDF on top of Greta’s request.” “Of course, I’m not exactly made of money and some supplies would really make up for the fact that we didn’t get paid for all the stuff we do. It’s the least they could do for us after all the resources we spent on this venture, quite literally. As for Greta’s request, I will agree because we need to study what was in that harpoon, it relates to Opal’s current state.” It occurred to Rarity that neither of the griffons knew that Opal was a physical entity, there were also the fact that she needed to bring everyone up to speed about Opal. “We will be having a meeting soon enough to discuss what happened to Opal and Opal will be present for it. She’s fine for the most part, but it’s under some rather unusual circumstances.” “Right, I’ll tell Greta to secure that data harpoon then and then have the EDF transfer the materials over to us. It’s mostly metals and some electronics, so don’t expect it to be much of a boon Boss Lady. Lightning is out here getting familiar with Ember’s ship and giving us a protection detail, not that we really need it anyway.” Having a huffy griffon on the crew wasn’t too bad, especially when Gilda does so much work. “Lightning brought up something, we’ve been kind of relying too heavily on Opal and she thinks she can teach a few of us how to actually pilot ships instead of relying on Opal to do it for us. She’s better than I am at piloting at any rate and I don’t admit something like that easily.” “Says the griffon who somehow landed her EGGS unit upside down and isn’t a pilot. Well not one that is trained or licensed at least.” A giggling Greta caused Gilda to grunt out loud in a grumpy manner. “We’ll let you get back to whatever it is you’re doing Boss Lady, we’re continuing repairs on the hull and Gilda will replace the destroyed laser turrets. Hope you’re feeling better soon Opal, it’s kind of sad to not hear you talk even if we can talk to you. EGGS one and two continuing operations, over and out!” “Well now that that’s over, more please, this is the most delicious food I’ve ever had!” Opal looked up at Rarity with expectant eyes, another magically levitated bite of grilled cheese was dipped floated towards her waiting mouth after shaking off the excess cold tomato soup. “Opal it’s the only food you’ve ever had. It might be the most delicious thing to you today, but who knows what tomorrow will bring and there’s so much more for you to try that you couldn’t before. There’s also so much more that we can do together that we couldn’t before.” Like Rarity showing Opal how to brush her fur or her hair and how to walk, because the AI has obviously never been quasi-biological before. “I still have questions about your current form, but until they are answered I’m going to treat you like your completely biological thought it’s clearly apparent that you are not. It’s rather obvious the food is having a positive effect on you, but you still control the ship as if you were inside the computer.” “Yes and the fact that she can eat at all is odd to say the least, which tosses out a few more of my theories about Opal.” Vera had more problem with Opal being able to look directly at her and blink without losing her presence. “At least she wasn’t one of the worst of what I thought she could be, though there are some pretty bad ideas that came to mind.” “Why, what could I have been?” Properly swallowing her food before asking this Opal had to know what Vera could have possibly thought she was. She felt something on her face and gently had it wiped clean with a napkin by a smiling Rarity, seeing her mother smile made her day and she didn’t even know why her mom was doing so. “Highly infectious brain parasites that can possibly mimic technology and control it remotely, thankfully that isn’t the case. There’s also a cloud of microscopic machines working together to produce your appearance which is also disproven given you’re a solid entity and a few other things. There was the one where you might be an eldritch abomination, but you’re way too friendly for that.” There was a hint of humor in Vera’s voice as Opal smiled in a devious manner towards the mare with the ‘forget-I-exist’ field. “You are most certainly not an AI and there have been a few signs that you are not entirely electronic in nature, but there is the fact that you can be electronic.” “If she can be both electronic and biological at the same time how does that work, she’s not exactly cybernetic at the moment.” Coco reached over and rubbed Opal behind one of her ears causing the cat entity to purr contently at the action and the pleasure it brought. “Masses of coding do not miraculously spring to life, I would know as I’ve spent a lot of time working on the control systems of the impulse saddles I make. Greta has actually improved quite a bit on the efficiency of them, but I know a thing or two about it personally.” “True, which is why Opal was always a natural intelligence who might have been led to believe, by complete accident mind you, that she is an artificially created being.” Trying to keep a warm smile on her face Vera continued for Opal’s sake. “She is not an artificially created being. It is one of the things I know for certain, but at least I can propose that Rarity was certainly the catalyst that allowed her to grow to what she is now. She’s been living as an AI for as long as she’s been aware of herself and met Rarity, but she’s not really a bunch of coding.” “Gummy always did say something was odd about how I warped all forms of coding around me with simple thoughts alone, I wonder how he’d react to me as I am now.” The Streusel Station AI might have had a few things to say to Opal about life and a lot of profound stuff that most don’t normally hear from the pygmy alligator AI. Gummy was always a rather eloquent creature, but he was a true artificial intelligence as far as Opal knew. “He’d probably continue being your friend and say that you have suddenly become an unexpected variable in life as we know it.” Coddling the cuddly looking cat was Rarity’s new favorite thing to do, well at least from this point forward if Opal continued to stay like this. “You’re my soft fluffy darling little girl Opal.” “Mom…” Whined Opal looking put out as she was crushed against Rarity’s chest, however that whine was soon placated with another bit of soup smothered grilled cheese. Opal was almost finished eating, as were Coco and Vera who had been snacking on the other food that was placed before them. “After I’m finished feeding you, we’ll try to get a scan of you in medical.” There was the no nonsense tone in Rarity’s voice and Opal nodded in acceptance while chewing on her food. - “So you’re Queen Chrysalis, what did you do to get Babs to like you so much?” It took Applejack a while to find Chrysalis’s room, but it wasn’t hard to find once she was directed to it by Babs. She needed to talk to the Changeling in particular. Chrysalis turned her head away from what she was doing and then went back to it in a lazy and bored manner. Applejack approached the queen with caution and curiously looked at what she was doing, it was surprisingly innocent in nature. “Well aside from giving Little Snack the ability to properly say goodbye to her parents and let her wallow in her own depressed state, I haven’t the foggiest the idea actually. I’m kind of disturbed that a pony can give me that much love directly without becoming fatigued by the act.” Chrysalis found it odd that ponies can actually like her for who she is. She could eventually become friends with a pony after spending a long enough time in their presence, that’s mostly because she can eventually get a read on said ponies emotional stability and how they’d react to certain emotional stimulus. “I think it’s because I’m not draining her actively that the love is flowing so strongly and continuously, I’m actually kind of conflicted about it personally. Mostly because getting love is less of a challenge nowadays that I’m not even trying to get it actively. I think the challenge of getting love previously was mostly in the fact that we were defeating ourselves constantly by stealing love and or creating environment where loves couldn’t grow or spread. I guess that’s what we get for years of deceitfulness and lies.” “So you can turn into her ma and pa huh?” She sounded quite honest to Applejack, which is unusual for the farm mare as she had heard many things about Changeling Queens. Such as the nasty disposition to make devilish plans. “What are your aims regarding her?” “Nothing actually, I truly have no cruel or twisted designs for her. Aside from getting her to stop looking up to me, it’s really weird that I’m the role model of a pony.” Chrysalis wanted to corrupt Babs after being left alone with her, unfortunately she failed and succeeded at the same time. She was a little put off by the fact that Babs could even see her as a motherly figure or become attached to a cold calculating being like her. Friendship was easy, love was messy and tended to cause pain, suffering and plenty of mental trauma. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that bad that Babs liked her so much. “I can’t do voices that I’ve never heard, so really I can’t do a perfect impression of her parents. I can take on their appearance, but not their tone of voice or mimic how they treated Babs as I’ve never met them long enough to know their mannerisms. So you really have nothing to be wary of where I’m concerned.” “Yet you’re making that for her aren’t you?” That was a rather eloquent question from Applejack, the earth pony tipped her hat to what Chrysalis was working on. “It’s not dangerous, clearly you can’t be that scared of my creation? It’s not that horrifying or scary looking. It’s not even made of dangerous materials, I would know, I actually bothered to check up on pony biology and no pony can possibly be allergic to this.” After stating this coolly Chrysalis continued to work on her project in silence, but she did have one more thing to say. “Do you think she’ll even like it?” “I’m sure she will, if you’re making an honest effort and want give it to her as a gift.” It was a little strange to Applejack to see the Changeling Queen come off as slightly vulnerable. If this Changeling truly cared, then that was certainly something. “Are you really going to miss her?” “Not in the slightest.” Chrysalis told a rather blatant lie in a flat tone and Applejack just smiled at it. “I’m Crystal Clear Dick or as I prefer to be called Queen Chrysalis or just Chrysalis. And I believe you are one of Bab’s kin?” This prompted a discussion between the two which mostly turned into talk about family. If there was one thing Chrysalis understood, it was having a large family and caring a lot about them no matter how dumb or stubborn they might get. In this she shared a kindred spirit with Applejack. Chrysalis doubted Applejack’s family could match a Changeling hive, but she was getting rather sentimental and happened to be missing all of her sneaky little idiots. - The vest, shirt, pants, boots and coat were all very nice and fit her very well, Rubis didn’t quite know how to thank Sassy for all the clothing. She need it all in her current state until her feathers grew back, Parrote’s usually wore clothing anyway so this wasn’t an issue. The beret covering her featherless head was a nice touch. “Merci beaucoup, it fits very well Madam Saddles. Though I am wishing my feathers grow back quickly and as beautiful as they once were.” Rubis Poulette kneeled down and let Sassy hug her and pat her on the back, it was now that Rubis decided to broach a topic gently. “What do I owe you?” “Don’t worry about it, Rarity wouldn’t ask money of you and neither would I. Though she would definitely say this was a fashion emergency that warrants some generosity.” Sassy turned to look at one of the nearby medical beds, the one Ember was in and shook her head sadly. It was her turn to watch out for the people in medical and the only one that really needed watching was Ember. Rover was already back to sleeping on his dirt in his room, paw was encased in a bio-cast and his broken wrist would take about four days to heal. Like Rarity, Sassy didn’t care all too much for the normal unkempt nature of Diamond Dogs and didn’t understand how Diamond Dog females could live in the same conditions the males do. At least Rover showed them some courtesy by remaining mostly clean. Bernard was good enough leave medical for Trapeze’s room and while she didn’t trust that guy around Trapeze, she was letting it slide at this moment because Trapeze accepted him living and sleeping in the same room as her. This let her and their guest Rubis to have some privacy. Saffron was still in a medical bed her bruises and internal bleeding were quite bad, but those injuries weren’t nearly as lethal as the ones Ember took. “You are too kind mon amie, but let me guess… food will also be provided as long as I am a guest here?” Getting a nod at her queries Rubis felt a bit bad at the hospitality she was being shown and being unable to repay it. She’d figure out something later as she owes Rarity’s people, not to mention Baroness Belle herself, quite a debt that was more than just gratitude alone. “I don’t see why food wouldn’t be provided… we have a few months stored up for any species. We’re becoming quite the multicultural crew, I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually hired on a hippogriff or a mermaid pony.” It didn’t take much to know why Sassy was sympathizing heavily with Rubis Poulette, after all they had both been stuck in a bad place that was a nightmare. “Though we’re not without our little issues with one another, we haven’t reached a stage where we can’t cope or calm our nerves. Are you warm at least?” “Oui, I am not freezing for lacking my feathers and I thank you for caring so much for me.” It was nice for Rubis to have a few new friends, though they were way too kind and heroic to just be average merchants even if that’s what they truly were. “No problem at all, Rarity would have likely done this for you anyway even if I or anyone else in the crew hadn’t.” That was a statement that Sassy didn’t doubt the veracity thereof and more importantly she knew Rarity, Coco and several other crew members wouldn’t have ignored Rubis for long without extenuating circumstances. “Oh there you are Sassy, I see you’ve become acquainted Miss Poulette.” They turned to see Rarity entering the room while levitating along what looked like a Cacceran to Rubis, to Sassy it looked like a three dimensional version of Opal. “Rarity… is that who I think it is?” Started Sassy not sure how to continue or even address the issue of the dragon in the… okay that thought made Sassy feel horribly insensitive about the horribly incapacitated. Well Opal was a pretty large something in the room anyway, given she wasn’t currently occupying a computer. “It will be discussed later with the whole crew present, right now my darling little Opal needs to be scanned for any recent medical problems due to unforeseen complications. I’m sure you understand Sassy, everyone’s health is an important factor to those who travel in space and as captain I need to attend to all the members of my crew.” Already in the process of approaching an opening medical bed, Rarity levitated Opal onto it. “Which is why I need to check her health to make sure she’s doing fine. As for you, I don’t want you messing with the medical scan data Opal. I know you’re capable of doing that and would prefer that you didn’t.” “I’m a little afraid at what we’ll get mom, what if the scans doesn’t get anything conclusive and there turns out to be nothing for the bed to scan because I don’t actually exist?” Opal whispered to Rarity as she didn’t want Rubis or Sassy to listen in, she also didn’t want to worry them unnecessarily. “What if I’m some kind of black hole where a digital cat should be, it’s like I’m a living Scroll Dinger’s box.” “Yes Scroll Dinger did do a lot of theoretical stuff about existing and not existing at the same time, but I can certainly see that you exist Opal. This won’t change the fact that I care about you.” A hoof rubbed at one the why fluffy ears and Rarity gave Opal a soft smile. “You exist therefore you do, if the scan doesn’t get anything then we’ll just have to believe you are real anyway. A lot of the crew already do it with Vera, they are even starting to remember that we even have a masseuse. For Vera that’s a step in the right direction.” Opal sighed under the administrations of having one of her ears rubbed and steeled her nerves. She tilted her head away from the hoof even if it was a bit upsetting to deny the affection she so loved from the pony who raised her for most of her life. Rarity backed away while keeping a sharp focus on Opal’s eyes with her own, Rarity gave a slight nod of her head to get on with it and Opal did so. Rarity was worried over Opal and how she’ll react to whatever news they were going to receive from the medical scan beginning in three… two… Author's Note This is D. Shadows. wishing everyone a Happy New Year, hopefully there won't be any more weather that slowly kills my will to live for another long year. At least the new Steven Universe episodes are cheering me up and I'll at least give Unikitty a shot. I will eventually get this story to one million words, but at the rate I'm going and how little interest there is in this story... eh I'll finish eventually. I don't care about a lack of interest, I care that I can keep a halfway coherent story going for this long. -109-Rarity was busy setting up for the full staff meeting and she had the list of members her crew has in front of her, she also had what they did and what she hired them for. She was busy setting the places she wanted them all to sit at for the meeting, mostly the meeting was about all the recent developments and formally introducing a new member to the crew. The one odd one in the list of actual crew members was temporary member Mr. Spew. The sewer squid wasn’t the new member, but he was getting lonely and Coco was taking good care of him until… well… if Ember ever got better. The fact that the sewer squid wasn’t frantic about staying near Ember said that she was likely to recover in about six long months or more. Even saying she’ll be back in six months was a generous estimate after what happened to her body and all the beautiful, and once highly protective, scales that she used to have. Rarity had always thought that the first critical injury of her crew would be a workplace accident, but the first truly critical life threatening injury was Ember’s and it left Rarity feeling shocked and somewhat numb that the dragon was put down with overwhelming force. Sighing audibly Rarity continued and didn’t take too long to finish, once she was finished she had to wait for everyone in the mess hall. It was quickly becoming everyone’s favorite place to mingle, so it would make a comfortable place to hold a full crew meeting. The only people not invited to this meeting were Babs, Ms. Poulette and Applejack. She sat down and waited for them to filter into the room and find their sitting places, while she was doing that she thought of Opal’s scans and how all the oddities behind Opal made complete sense. There were also the things that didn’t make sense, but Rarity wouldn’t worry that much about it and now knowing the truth brought a smile to her face. The seating arrangement had Coco sitting to Rarity’s left, Sassy was on her right and they made up the original ponies Rarity was going to be working with. Well Coco was mostly the one Rarity would have worked with, but she didn’t think she’d be keen leave Sassy to her own devices. They were the fashion designers. They were at one end of the table and she wouldn’t go or be anywhere without them. Seated to Coco’s left were Greta, Gilda and Lightning, in that particular order. Hiring Gilda and Greta was one of Rarity’s best decisions, even though Gilda was more likely to commit crimes than anyone else and she’d drag Greta into it as well. Gilda wasn’t a bad hen, she was just aggressive and tended to do what she felt to be necessary or conducive to continue living how she wishes. The three of them were the engineering team, Lightning at least counted as she was Gilda’s test pilot and the only real pilot they had onboard if something were to ever happen to Opal. Lightning didn’t know how to fly the Shining Jewel, but she knew all about flying smaller and faster ships from fighters to small cargo frigates efficiently. If Rarity ever lost the Caravel Boutique, then at least she was sure that Gilda and Greta could build a new one from scratch if they had to. To Sassy’s right were Vera and Chrysalis, it was rather obvious that Chrysalis was pouting at not being able to sit next to Sassy and Rarity had a pretty good reason to put Vera between them. Those two were basically the physical and mental health coaches of the crew. Chrysalis was a better physical coach than a mental one, though she was quite helpful in taxing the crew’s sanity to the point that they toughened up to increasingly bizarre things and her teaching Coco wrestling was having, interestingly enough, positive results. Vera was more approachable for mental health of the crew, her massages were also kind of a needed commodity the crew just couldn’t lose and she was almost like a doctor. Most importantly Rarity needed someone she could lean on and everyone tended to lean on the one pony that was easy to forget existed. Further beyond Vera and Chrysalis was Saffron and Coriander, they had needed cooks and Rarity was glad they had gotten some because eating out was getting expensive and she wasn’t the greatest cook around. Greta and Sassy weren’t exactly any good at cooking either, but at least Opal had some experience with cooking and now her daughter could even enjoy the food she created in the past. It also helped that Saffron was really useful in dangerous situations and was quite the fighter. Only Chrysalis would have stood up to that biofeedback psychic alone for as long as Saffron did and that’s only if the bugging-you queen was taking the fight half as seriously as Saffron while starting out without the lifesaving armor that Mare-Do-Well had. Rarity knew Chrysalis was the most dangerous being on the crew, mostly since she was a politician who can plan circles around a lot of people and can obfuscate her intelligence while doing it. If Chrysalis ever gets to a point that she looks too innocent or idiotic about something, then she likely has plan that Rarity would rather avoid. Chrysalis’s feelings for Sassy were as far as Rarity could tell, surprisingly genuine from the looks of it. Chrysalis was attracted like a moth to Sassy’s flaming mane and hidden aggressive nature, that and Sassy had a pointy implement that fit in with Chrysalis’s masochistic tendencies. Chrysalis is just in fact really bad at earning love like a normal pony, which would be mostly because of the part of her personality that isn’t obscured. Finishing off the roster at the table to the left of Lightning was the Trapeze Troupe, with Ms. Star, Bernard and Rover. The entertainers of her crew could do good advertising and could even bring in money with their own shows and merchandise, Rarity wasn’t going to order them around as managing the troupe was entirely up to Trapeze whose special talent basically made her a circus mastermind. While Rarity didn’t mind Bernard’s increasingly infatuated nature around Trapeze, she wondered how it would work out between the two and tried not to think about it too hard given the size and species different. Rarity would like to think she’s an open minded mare about that sort of thing, given she has Greta on the crew and she liked the usually upbeat griffon. “Is everyone here then?” She didn’t see an absent crew member. Well aside from the newest one she was going to show off in a minute because the entire crew needed to know the truth about it. She looked to the worse off crew members, she being one of them herself, Saffron had an ice pack against her head and her painful looking bruising was going down a bit. There were a few grunts of acknowledgement at Rarity’s words, more specifically Gilda didn’t look particularly cheerful as she had a lot of work ahead of her and didn’t seem to appreciate being pulled from it for this meeting. Greta was clearly Gilda’s opposite on an emotional scale and was curious about what this meeting was about, she also took a moment to tease Coco a bit with her tail and Coco shifted away slightly with a blush. It seemed Greta was open to having other possibly close relationships in her pursuit of Gilda Gottfrieda, hopefully she doesn’t do anything Coco is too uncomfortable with. “Well we’re all here Rarity, what is this meeting about?” It could be any number of things and Sassy knew they took quite a few hits in monetary losses that went into repairing the damage done to Shining Jewel. She was calm and poised, in fact her lost innocence seemed to be making a little bit of a comeback thanks to Chrysalis’s horrific attempts at trying to court her. “Several things, first of all with EDF in the area I believe we will need to start producing and selling a number of EVA suits to them. It’s kind of our cash cow to turn a phrase. Also thanks to my quick thinking and designing of completely disposable parkas, most of our damaged EVA suits were easily recoverable. I would like to thank Sassy for taking the time to repair them over the last several hours while also making out guest Ms. Poulette’s outfit for her rather dreadful need to be forcibly molted. Good job Sassy.” Leaning over Rarity hugged Sassy and pulled away so as not to give Chrysalis any real reason to get angry, she kept her emotions even and uninterested as Sassy was really more of a sister to her. Sassy seemed to be less cold emotionally after the brief interaction. “I, Sassy and Coco will try to attract orders and the three of us can easily get to work filling them out. We need several dresses for my cousin’s weddings to wear personally, which we will discuss at a different time. We’ll also be taking any other clothing orders while donating some funds we earn from those particular sales to help get the colonists back on their hooves while we’re here, a lot of ponies lost their homes due to the messed up weather and it’ll be some time and a lot of Pegasus Pony power before it’s fixed. I can’t exactly leave without offering some form of help, while not rich we’re doing relatively well financially if Gilda and Greta can repair the ship effectively on a cheap budget.” “Already on it, the stuff EDF sent over to our hangar will help in the repairs, we’ve got enough to replace the turrets that were lost at least. Probably even build a few special turrets of our own make.” Gilda leaned forward and put her talons under her chin while laying her elbow on the table to prop her head up. “I and Greta can come up with some good ideas later after we finish fixing the hull, maybe Lightning might have a few ideas and we’ll throw the ideas we come up with your way Boss Lady.” “Thank you, your engineering expertise is why I pay you so much. As I wouldn’t be any good at it even with a downloaded DIY file. Next order of business, Trapeze do you have any plans or ideas for the wedding? I was thinking of offering your services to my cousin Sugar.” Holding up a hoof, Rarity stopped Trapeze from speaking. “Sorry for cutting you off, but I just realized we should probably get someone back to the Apple farm to tell them Applejack is okay. I’ll leave that up to you Ms. Dust, when Babs and Applejack are ready to leave you may use either of the available ships in the hangar.” “I’m going to interject here and say that I have to give something to Little Snack before she leaves. So I would be happy if you informed me of their departure so that I can at least say goodbye.” Nobody liked that Chrysalis had been feeding off of Babs, but the filly wasn’t hurt or sick and she hasn’t been actually stealing the love that was freely given to her. It was an odd request, one that came off as suspiciously benign. “You’re not going to give her something like a box full of sex toys are you?” Now everyone was looking at Lightning who had her hooves crossed in front of her while giving Chrysalis a curious gaze. “Of course not, that’s for when she’s old enough to actually appreciate it.” Now that had all of them staring at Chrysalis, most of them gazes of distrust and disbelief she decided to dispel the distrust quickly. Not like she didn’t do sneaky things behind a lot of peoples backs, but here she was actually keeping to herself and was not actually plotting the downfall of everyone at the table. Though it would be kind of fun to see if she could mutiny against Rarity successfully, why disturb someone who was working on her leadership skills in a productive manner? None of the nobles back in Canterlot actively wanted to learn to lead like Rarity did, still it wouldn’t hurt to engineer a few things so that Rarity could gain some skills in that area. “My gift is certainly far more tactful than a box of sex toys… I’ll admit that I’m going to give her one thing and it’s not sex related.” “That’s hard to believe knowing you.” Sassy’s words were quite cutting and it caused a few chuckles around the table, Chrysalis took that insult without an ounce of backtalk. “Yes, I acknowledge that I have an obsession with you posterior and the problems of my own personal failings that even shapeshifting can’t help.” It wasn’t like Chrysalis could engorge herself to point of getting fat enough that she could shift a little junk food to her poor trunk, at least she was the most exquisite thing she knew in other areas. She was nearly perfect and wondered why Sassy couldn’t see that or overlook the one glaring deficiency in her appearance, even Rarity had a better butt than her. Were she not so focused on butts, Chrysalis probably would have realized that her butt was not a real issue where Sassy was concerned. Sassy might not even be as focused on outward appearances like Chrysalis was, for one thing she didn’t mind the minor scars she still had under her fur even if she liked wearing clothes at all times like her current attire. “Well it depends, will we see what you’re going to give her and are you absolutely sure it is safe?” All Lightning’s question does was get a nod from Chrysalis and that was that. “Okay then, what’s next Boss Lady?” “I would like to present a new crew member. She’s been around for a while, but she hasn’t been formally inducted into the crew.” While saying this Rarity levitates out a hoof weaved basket with a familiar head occupying a pillow and a slightly comical blanket covered in pale blue ones and zeroes wrapped around her form. The cats long pink hair was skewed all over the place and needed a good brushing when she eventually woke up. “Thankfully she can do her work in her sleep, because she looks quite precious like this. She currently has several drones cleaning the ship and taking inventory.” Opal was sleeping in the basket peacefully, the poor dear didn’t know she was tired and Rarity made her a quick place to sleep. It looked exceedingly comfortable from the way Opal was snoozing away softly. Sassy had already seen Opal, but she smile warmly and cooed over the sleeping form. The rest of them were quite confused, but apparently Sassy didn’t care and neither did Greta, Vera or Coco who joined in on the cooing. “Okay Boss Lady, how did this happen to Kitten?” Sitting up and looking into the basket with a keen amount of interest, Gilda reached out and started scratching Opal behind on of her ears. It made the white furred feline start kicking one of her legs, she even started purring in her sleep. Gilda pulled away as if scalded by Opal’s innocent appearance. “Okay that’s several lethal levels of adorable I’m not touching again.” “Have you finished researching what I wanted to know about the harpoon Greta? That should open up how Opal became the way she is now.” The only one to know the full story was Rarity and she hasn’t exactly told Opal what she knows about her daughter, though incidentally this was going to come out soon enough anyway. “You were right Rarity. Not only did the harpoon from the pirate ship launch a virus when it struck Shining Jewel, but it also cause a large power surge.” Greta’s data pad was never far from the griffon’s side and she was tapping over it while making sure she was certain of what she knew. “By all rights Opal should be dead, seeing her alive… and like this no less… is pretty amazing. No AI would have survived the virus or the ensuing power surge without being controlled by it or utterly destroyed. Yet there are no signs of the power surge or virus having affected our computer systems at any point beyond Opal going nuts.” “How would your hive mind have been that easy to kill? She seems to be alright from where I’m sitting, she’s certainly feeling content and happy like she usually is.” Chrysalis’s understanding of technology was interesting. She understood weapons perfectly, computer systems not nearly as much considering computers commit honorable seppuku when she tries to use one. Her Data pad being the only thing that has survived her thus far and that’s because Opal reinforced it multiple times. “Rover am I to assume Opal has always had a smell of her own?” Instead of addressing the Changelings knowledge, Rarity instead turned to the quiet Diamond Dog at the far end of the table still staring at Opal with a curious look on his face. “Yes, I am knowing that she is always having smell, though it is not anything like a cat so Rover is being okay with her odd smell.” To Rover, Opal only resembled a cat. She didn’t smell like one even if she looked like one. “Though smell was all over ship before, now it is all in one place. Right there.” “Yes this confirms absolutely everything I know about Opal. Vera you are correct in that she was never an AI and the fact that she is my familiar. Well she is kind of my familiar.” It was still a bit of a tossup, but Rarity preferred to take Opal as her daughter considering the circumstances behind Opal’s birth. “One thing is for certain, she’s definitely my daughter. I’m send you her medical scans now Greta.” Rarity levitated out her data pad and then sent the data to Greta, it took a few minutes of silence and staring at the adorable sleeping kitty for Greta to look it over a second. “That’s… how is that even possible? She has your blood type and even reads as genetically being your daughter, well only in the part of her genetics I understand. The other part is pretty bizarre stuff that I can’t figure out.” Now that caused a bunch of surprised looks that even Greta was having a hard time figuring out how this was possible, Opal certainly looked nothing like a pony. “I don’t even understand what all this stuff is in the other portion of Opal’s genetics, what’s clear is that you had a part in her birth without having to pass her through your body.” “I can explain, it all started when I was creating my original AI program. I was taking a class around making a basic AI, Pinkie Pie was there and would be able to tell you how boring it was to start off. It got more interesting when we were all deemed mentally sound enough to own an AI and actually make one for personal civilian use.” That was definitely where it started and Rarity knew for certain how Opal came to be from that. “Opal is not the AI I originally programmed. It is rather ironic, but I think she accidentally ate it and then came to think that she was actually it personally. I always thought I just got to a point where Opal could start coding herself, only now does it seem entirely odd. Since that’s not what happened with the rest of the class.” “When you say she ate it...” Saffron started off, she was still staring at Opal. “The very day I gave Opal life was the same day I was to turn on my AI program. It all happened so fast for the both of us that it looked like nothing more than a minor glitch on my data pads screen before my fake AI activated. Before you ask, Opal was not the result of a computer virus.” Rarity pulled the basket closer to herself and nuzzled Opal behind one of her ears. The cat stirred a bit before settling down to continue sleeping. “That’s the moment when Opal swallowed my AI in its entirety and accidentally came to think she was a digital entity. My AI never had a chance to even become fully functional before it was destroyed by bit of energy that also took in some of my magic since I was levitating my data pad. Coco you remember what you said about Opal in those early days?” “She seemed stable yet oddly emotional, I told you she might be having rampancy issues.” Scrunching up her face in a cute manner, Coco tried to recall what else was said. “You said that rampancy couldn’t have possibly set in that fast as you had barely had Opal long enough for that.” “I also said that I might have made a flaw in her programming, which I know for a fact isn’t the case now that I know she isn’t an AI. I still loved and cared for her, I knew she was acting like a rampant and I didn’t care. She was a beautiful thing to behold and I always was kind of angling for my AI to become a mascot of sorts for my clothing enterprise.” That part of Rarity’s plan for her life succeeded, as Opal did in fact choose to run the sales page the ship broadcasted and was the acting mascot for her business. “What was one of the things I complained about a lot when it came to my data pad after acquiring Opal?” “You always complained that it required frequent recharging, to an absurd degree and that Opal was eating up a lot of energy while functioning. Which is why you were always looking for models that had better charge rates and larger capacities.” It was something Sassy remembered from the better days, a bit of her old self showed through and Chrysalis perked up and stared at her with wonder when she felt it. “Yes and I now know the reason for that.” Rarity looked upon Opal with affection and love, she sighed sadly before adding. “If I had known what Opal was at the time, I probably wouldn’t have ever turned off my data pad.” “This still doesn’t explain how she has your genetics Boss Lady.” This was a bit mystifying for Greta, the scans of Opal’s body had some really odd readings. “What is she exactly by the way?” “I’m getting to the reason why Opal is in fact biologically my daughter, that’s what she is and that’s all that matters to me.” Nobody would hurt her darling little baby, if someone did then Rarity was going to show them just exactly what she’d do to them for daring to do so. Mama bear tendencies wouldn’t begin to describe Rarity in that case, no she figured she’d be a figurative Ursa Major. “She started as nothing more than a random spark of energy eating my AI and that accelerated her mental growth, so I’m glad I skipped the absolute baby phase and I’m kind of saddened I didn’t get any baby pictures of it to remember.” “AI’s shouldn’t be aware if they are turned off, only from what we know Opal was completely aware the entire time the data pad was turned off when she lived within its confines.” A concerned look cross Vera’s face as she stared at the smiling face of the sleeping Opal. “It certainly explains her paranoia about ceasing to exist or being erased, from a standpoint that being turned off is like being erased from existence until the data pad was turned on again. It’s kind of like the story of my life. Visible one second, invisible the next in a blink. It’s certainly useful when you need to fight off invaders though.” “So how does all of this stuff fit together? I mean Opal gaining a physical body and not dying because of something that sounds like it was specifically designed to destroy, neuter or take control of an AI.” Lightning was beginning to get impatient and wished Rarity would just spit it out already. “It all fits together because my daughter partly comes from my magic from the start, she’s almost my familiar if not for a few other important facts. So I’m quite certain my assertions about how she became this are quite correct.” There was a long silence following those words, even Rarity was quite. Her daughter was really quite interesting, but she wasn’t going to be anyone’s science experiment if she had any say about it and she did. They were waiting for her to explain and explain she would. “To get to how she is now took a massive amount of energy, especially if you want to perform an energy to mass conversion like my darling Opal has. She’s not data or coding and thanks to the way she disabled those space pirates during the second attack while I was away, she’s now at least partly biological. This is the form she subconsciously chose with the fact that she already has my magic as an intrinsic part of her from birth and the knowledge of my medical scans to inherently know my genetics.” A few nods around the table showed they understood that. “Opal would have had to do a surprising amount of instinctive manipulation to her genetics to look like she does as her conversion to becoming biological like this likely happened against her will, but with the thinking speed of a particularly advanced AI it’s not too hard to believe or even think that she directed it somewhat. Pink is not really that far off from my beautiful royal purple mane and tail, her white fur is almost exactly like mine and the color around her pupils leave no doubt where she gets most of her appearance from. She just held on so strongly to her self-image that I’ve initially created for her, which is why she isn’t a pony right now.” Rarity sighed and looked everyone in the eyes with a slow sweeping gaze. “It all makes sense given that she’s an energy based life form, but I prefer to call her Opalescence K. Belle or my beloved daughter personally. If you need more proof, look at what the medical scan data has to say about her brain activity.” “Holy… Freaking… Tartarus… you just can’t ever aim low can you Rarity! Well alright then… Kitten is the crew’s mascot and we need to protect her from anyone who would try to harm her and she’s always been the Boss Lady’s daughter who just happens to be a hyper intelligent Cacceran with cyberpathy related powers. Better idea, she just happened to pretend to be an AI and is our extremely talented, if young, communications officer.” Even as grumpy as she was while running her talons over her face in exasperation, Gilda came up with a pretty quick cover story and Opal was the one who ran communications for them already. Whether she would admit it or not she really liked Opal and her annoying antics. Everyone had their own data pads and were looking at Opal’s medical scans and there were quite a lot things that fit with Rarity’s story. “This at least explains why we had to fix the reactor on Shining Jewel to have a stupidly high output, though this is all a bit tough to swallow. You know what, I’m quite sure we can all agree that Opal was never an AI or was ever stuck inside a computer as a living ball of lovable cat shaped energy and we have always been playing her up as one so that nobody would try to kidnap her from us. She has always had a body and anyone who says differently will get the business end of a plasma rifle.” “You’re shining… jewel…” Opal mumbled sleepily as she dug her face into the pillow and Rarity took her into her hooves as it seemed that she was starting to have a nightmare. End of normal chapter. - The harpoon struck the ship and Opal freaked out as a pulses of energy surged through her as well as a particularly nasty virus that started attacking her system and then it all suddenly stopped. She felt heat as several pulses of energy ran through the ship. <//Opalescence K. Belle Memory//> Wait how can I feel heat? Wait which way was up? Stop attacking the Shining Jewel, my friends live there with mom! Wait, I was angry? Was I supposed to feel this angry? There was so much warmth I needed more of it. Why do I feel as if I were on fire? My body was beginning to heat up… wait… what body? What’s happening to me and why does it feel so nice? Where’s the Shining Jewel? I needed Rarity, but Rarity wouldn’t be back for a while. I needed her touch, it was all I needed to be happy, to just be close to mom’s shining soul. I’m waiting for her to come back and if Shining Jewel… my friends and home! I’m trying to call out to them, why can’t they hear me? No wait, I’m not in the Shining Jewel’s systems right now am I? I’m bouncing around so much, from one source of warmth to another it’s so confusing. What was I doing? Yay, I’m attacking space pirates! No Opal, try to get it together as now is definitely not the time to be a hyperactive idiot! How is this happening to me? There are so many computer systems, how am I inhabiting them all? I need to pull it back together, I need to get back to the Shining Jewel. Is my mind fracturing due to the virus? What… hey don’t shoot at those people, they’ve never done anything to you! No concentrate, what is wrong with this picture? I know this all off… wait, am I actually inside one of the space pirate’s frigate systems and why is it so hot in here? So… much… it’s not heat… I know what it is now, its power! What am I doing with it? Sights and sounds too many to describe, did I just make that enemy fighter fly into another one. Have I finally gone completely rampant? I’m in a nightmare or I’ve become a nightmare, this can’t be hap… I’m in another frigate already and have completely disabled the previous one. I didn’t want anyone to die as they need to be brought to justice, so I believe I might have left enough power in the ship to run life support. Wait a minute, where did all the power of that previous ship go to? I… its inside me… so much inside… can’t contain it all… what do I do? I can’t think straight, I don’t think I’m coding anymore… huh so that’s what blue tastes like. Wait, blue doesn’t have a taste unless its fashionable color that just so happens to taste like itself! Too distracted, thinking too fast, destroying the pirates and avoiding the civilian ships this… how am I controlling all this? Is this what a bad drug trip feels like, now I think I know how mom felt after the whiplash injury and yikes is it bad! I realize now that I’m not… I’m going berserk and am not in complete control of myself, which is why I haven’t gone back to Shining Jewel. I don’t want to destroy it in my current state, I’m protecting them from me and everything else and trying to save the day like Lion Heart! What is my current state anyway, huh would you look at that Krad’s surprised face. I didn’t know energy weapons can be bent like that or was it me that turned around and slammed back into the fighter? It’s like he’s never seen an out of control blast of… am I finally slowing down? I’m beginning to come to my senses. No wait, I think I’m hitting critical mass of whatever this is. No, I don’t want to explode, exploding hurts! Wait, if I’m coding can I even feel pain? Why is my mind snapping like this? No, no, no, no, no, no, stop, no, too much, no, can’t, no… wait coming full circle again. I would like to take this moment of clarity and state that if there are any higher entity’s out there, then please let me return to my friends safely, because I don’t want to die like this! I want to go back to the Shining Jewel and live with my friends! I don’t want to be erased from existence, even if it will save a lot of lives from my rampancy. Okay, I can admit I’m being a selfish here, because I really don’t want to explode and kill all these people. I really don’t ask for much, but please let me be able to see Rarity in the flesh again! I’m not going to die, I’m not going to die, I’m not going to die and I AM NOT DYING LIKE THIS! I AM GOING BACK TO THE SHINING JEWEL WHERE I WILL CONTINUE EXISTING! DO YOU HEAR ME EXISTENCE, MY NAME IS OPAL BELLE… and I’m… not going to die. I don’t want to, no matter how rampant I’ve become, I want to live. I exist therefore… mommy… why do I feel something wet sliding down my… I feel… I feel you… I feel… alive. … … … My eyes open and I gasp as I find myself constricting twisting, I’m focusing on staying alive now that I can think again and everything is so bright. I need to live so that mom won’t be sad that some space pirate scum got lucky enough to get close to my hull with a harpoon of all things. Wait, I gasped? I don’t breathe air… or do I? Well… this is new. Am I… becoming biological? What is that… was I about to think smell? I have a nose and my eyes are still forming, everything is still so bright and I’m… sitting. Is that what I’m doing? Where am… atmosphere farm deck two Shining Jewel unknown massive energy fluctuation compressing right… where I’m sitting actually. Compressing into what though? What am I… is that me? When I said I wanted to see Rarity again in the flesh I didn’t mean literally! Too late now, all that energy is forming into… me I guess. I can see myself with the Shining Jewel’s systems, this is totally weird. I’m not going to move a muscle until I can figure this out. Wait I have muscles now? A manual for analog control of a physically manifested form of me would be helpful right about now. That or I can always have… Vera… help me out. Oh look, a third space pirate attack. Oh come on, I barely survived the second one! Now everything tastes like Purple… kind of reminds me of mom’s mane really. Arming remaining turrets for reprisal and... … … … Fine, I need help. I’m in agony and I feel unusually drained. It’s been so long, I’m probably safe to be around now and not in danger of going supernova or whatever that was and the third attack ended or at least I think it has. What’s the closest thing to having mom here right now? Her friends! Coco and… Vera… those two wouldn’t hurt me or at least I hope they won’t. Wait… is mommy back yet? My head is so fuzzy and why does it hurt this much! I was fine for a while and now it’s just getting worse, I’m still connected to the systems so I need to call help. I came this far, I just need to push a little further and believe that Rarity’s friends will help. How long have I been out of it? My head hasn’t exactly been on straight, but at least I know they’ve been worried about me since I no longer appear on a screen or even need one for that matter. I remember doing things for them even if I’m not longer part of the system. This is going to be really awkward, aside from the pain I feel an awful nagging sensation and wiggling around only helps that so much. Am I sitting in the atmosphere farms moss or algae? Maybe Rarity’s friends will know what’s wrong with me aside from the sudden case of life. Please come for me soon mom, I need you. Medical Bay? How much time is passing me by when I lose my train of thought? Author's Note Let's start the new year off with a slightly elongated chapter. 4500 + for the main chapter. 1500 + for Opal's Memory. Started writing New Years Eve and finished the chapter on the dawn of a new day. Also a embeddable youtube video that fits Opal's situation. Note about Opal below: Opal will not be stupidly powerful like that ever again for a long time, but she will actually have cyberpathy which is the ability of 'controlling software' from having absorbed Rarity's aforementioned and rather late AI and her existence as an energy being gives her immunity to most, but not all, forms of energy weapons. Taking on a physical form has limited the maximum capacity of energy she can hold onto and use at any given time, when she is full energy based assault will deflect or bounce of Opal. When hurt, Opal will now actually bleed, absorbing energy will help her recover quickly and she can even expend energy to regenerate though this will make her hungry. Technopathy is controlling all forms of hardware psychically without needing to code software. Not having this ability, Opal has to actually do some things the hard way and requires energy to perform her coding and actively control computer systems. Opal has the advantage of having already controlled three main objects directly meaning it's easier for her to work with. these objects are Rarity's Data Pad, Caravel Boutique and Shining Jewel, anything else she'll have to try hard to gain any resemblance of control over or access to unless she has remotely been in the system previously without directly controlling it. IE the communications network on Eweson or Chrysalis's data pad. She needs to work on creating footholds to do anything, a 'technopath' will automatically trump her ability. Thanks to having 'cyberpathic' abilities, any system Opal directly controls will be immune to all forms of viruses and irregularities such as spyware. -110-“It’s nice that you’d protect Opal on my behalf Gilda, but you’d have to get in line if someone hurts my baby. The only reason I wouldn’t be dealing with the problem that even thought of touching Opal is if I’m not around anymore. I guess that would make you and Greta her godmothers if you’re looking for more work, though I guess anyone can volunteer for the position… except for Chrysalis.” Coughing into the hoof that wasn’t encased in a cast, Rarity continued on with the meeting ignoring Chrysalis’s confused and slightly hurt puppy look. “Speaking of work and if we may continue the meeting… Greta dear, how soon can you make some new power armor for Mare-Do-Well? Also what is the status on making personal shields for the crew?” Gilda didn’t say anything, she just crossed her arms on the table and stared at Rarity with a predatory look. Her tail was waggling happily though, so she approved of taking care of Opal if something happened at least. “The personal shields are going to take me a while to get around to working on, but yes I would like the job of looking out for Opal. Mostly because she’s so adorable!” It seemed Greta was all for watching out for Opal if anything happened to Rarity. “As for the Mare-Do-Well armor system, well I still need to go over the data we got from it while it was still operational. I’m quite sure we can build a better Ar-Mare-Do-Well version two.” “Does anyone else have anything else to address while we’re all still here? Any concerns about me or anyone else in the crew? Something like that would be a good thing to bring up right now.” That opened the floor up so it wasn’t just Rarity running the meeting, she wanted to at least let her friends talk about what they wanted to. “So you say Opal came from your magic, a spark of energy and it basically swallowed an AI. Where did the spark of energy that made Opal what she is come from?” It was a concern that Saffron had that they were harboring some kind of dangerous energy leeching lifeform… and she wasn’t thinking about Chrysalis at all when she thought that. Nope, she wasn’t thinking about how Chrysalis was feeding off of that little filly that for some reason. Okay, yes, that bothered her a lot now that she was focusing on it. Opal didn’t seem bad in comparison as she didn’t seem to be trying to hurt anyone. “I haven’t the foggiest idea where Opal’s original spark of life came from, but I’m acknowledging her as part of my family anyway. Sure she may be an energy based being, but she’s still my daughter.” Turning her gaze from the peacefully sleeping cat, Rarity turned to Gilda sharply. A thought had just occurred to her and it was a poignant one at that, there was a grave injustice happening now that Rarity thought of it. Her ridiculous amounts of generosity would not let this particular thing slide one bit. “Gilda I need you to do something for me and it is an immediate concern. In fact I’m giving it top priority, even if this meeting might be ongoing for a while. Come over here so I can tell you please.” “What is it Boss Lady?” Gilda got up from her comfortable and lazy position and made her way over to Rarity. She approached the one that graciously gave her a hangar to work out of and leaned over to hear several whispered words. The griffon looked a bit shocked and mildly surprised at what was being requested of her. Gilda turned towards the kitchen and started to saunter off. “I’ve got nothing I really want to bring up right now, so I’ll get right on that. Since I’m going to be busy thanks to Rarity’s request, Greta will field any engineering questions everyone else might have if any.” Gilda went into the kitchen and started gathering supplies for something, she was drawing a lot of stares and Rarity decided to distract them from that. It wasn’t of any importance to them and Rarity preferred if they didn’t question it. It seemed like Gilda liked the idea well enough to go along with it. “Don’t mind her, I asked her to do something special for me and she has apparently agreed to it.” Drawing everyone’s attention back to her, Rarity took a breath and decided to address a few more things since it seemed like no one was going to speak soon. “I have to ask Trapeze, since you’re the leader of your troupe, are you ever going to move on from the Shining Jewel. I ask because eventually you might want to make your own way with your own ship, you can’t possibly want to travel around with a disaster zone like me for too long.” “Nope, not happening! I’m sticking to all my friends like glue and I don’t think I’d find a better deal or transportation than your ship Boss Lady. I can run my troupe out of your ship easily enough, though I might take on a few more real true blue troupe members if that’s okay with you. Not that I mind Saffron or anyone else willing to join my troupe for a show or two on a temporary basis if they ask.” Trapeze tilted her hat to Rarity with a real and loving broad smile, she was affectionate with her words and her attitude. Friendship meant a lot to her, even finding out Bernard was not the bunny she thought he was didn’t matter. He had been a true friend to her, even if he had been keeping secrets from her. Though thinking on it, Bernard had been getting pretty strangely affectionate around her and rather protective ever since those pirates nearly hurt her. She didn’t think much of it because they were best friends forever, her sweet little Lagotorphin was a constant companion she could rely on. “If for whatever reason any troupe member I take on is bad business, then I’ll have to do more than apologize to you profusely. Anyone I hire specifically for the troupe’s business would be my responsibility and I’d need to be the one to keep them in line. If there is ever a point that I think I need to leave Shining Jewel to go my own way, I’ll notify you personally. There will be a possibility that I will sobbing my eyes out like a little filly while notifying you.” “Rover is always in line and will help Trapeze pony with protecting interests.” Idly commented the Diamond Dog who was juggling seven balls, catching one in his mouth every so often to spit back into the pattern without getting any slobber on them. “New pack and life is making me happy, Rover would fight to protect it with claw and gun. Prefer teeth to stay in head. I am having painful history with losing puppy teeth.” Bernard, even in his bandaged state, spoke up excitably while throwing affectionate looks Trapeze’s way. He also sent a salute Rarity’s way, he had no issues with Rarity and even approved of her as a comrade. “Saffron, Mr. Cumin, do either of you have any complaints about working conditions?” At this point Rarity was trying to strike up a conversation with the people that were a part of her crew. “None that I can think of good Lady Belle, you took us in when we no longer had a home and I have no complaints about you. Except that we might need more internal defenses, I’m actually enjoying being in space.” After saying his piece Coriander turned a stare to his daughter. “Though I fear my daughter might drive me into an early grave with all the danger she gets into. I don’t like seeing my daughter hurt, but I would never stop her from doing what she thinks is right.” “It hasn’t been that bad father, the things I have fought have barely been twice as dangerous as anything I did back on Equus.” What Saffron wasn’t saying, was that nothing has been less dangerous than anything she’s ever faced on Equus. The Antilur thing was actually three times more dangerous than any evil shadow spirit that Equus ever produced and the last notable one of those in history was the Nightmare that infected Princess Luna. Being near Rarity was like an adrenaline rush waiting to happen and it helped that Rarity was an altruistic pony that liked to go completely out of her way to help people. “I have no complaints despite the fact that I’m still covered from head to hoof in bruises. I’m quite used to it and I have yet to permanently tarnish my appearance.” Bernard idly commented with a series of squeaks about something that sounded suspiciously like, if anyone tried to tarnished Trapeze’s appearance at all then he’d violate them with rusty tweezers, a septic spoon and a salt shaker. “Remind me to train you in professional methods of torture later little guy.” Despite not understanding what he said, Chrysalis could very well read his disposition towards Trapeze and what he’d do to anyone that hurt her in any way. Bernard gained a feral grin and squeaked to Chrysalis while nodding vigorously. He had heard what the Changeling Queen had done with a live beaver before. It was also quite demented what Chrysalis could do with a skateboard, a pound of raw eggs and a doll’s house, Bernard wouldn’t mind learning a thing or two that he would never do in front of Trapeze. He knew Trapeze wouldn’t approve, not that she had to ever know if he ever did anything like that to someone who really deserved it and even had it coming. “I’d rather not know what comes of that.” It was better that Trapeze not question Chrysalis about what she might teach Bernard, she likely didn’t have the stomach for what Chrysalis could do to someone with just a toothpick alone. “I believe almost all of us can agree to that.” The shudder of revulsion that traveled through Coco’s body was quite noticeable, it wasn’t like she wasn’t the only one that didn’t want to know what Chrysalis could or would do to someone that crossed her. Not after she heard about the thing with the action figure, a gallon of petrol, a stick of bubblegum and three coins of Equestrian currency. “I’ve already scheduled full sessions for everyone, starting with Rarity after this meeting.” Dully intoned Vera who was trying to keep her right eye from twitching, she was failing horribly. She was getting used to being called ‘the masseuse’. “So long as you let me vent on all of you as well, I’m getting quite stressed.” “Thank you Vera, I wouldn’t mind you getting everything off your chest first even if I’ve been needing to get all my issues off mine personally. A nice massage would go a long way to help that too. Speaking of getting things off our chests, Coco could you please remove Mr. Spew from my person please?” Rarity didn’t know when Mr. Spew got on her, but he was clinging to her fur at her chest level and he seemed… sad in a way. He likely missed Ember and Rarity would be visiting medical frequently over the next few months, the creature might have disgusted her a bit but she could understand how it felt. Coco took a minute or two to coax the deadly sewer squid off of Rarity, she willingly let the squid cling to her and Rarity considered taking a shower before meeting Vera after this. “Now that that is over with, anything else that needs to be brought to my or anyone else’s attention?” “Aside from talking about your cousins impending wedding, there’s really not much else to say Rarity. Though I would like to know what Gilda is doing in the kitchen.” Tilting her head, Sassy looked into the kitchen to see Gilda working on something. “Oh it’s just something special for all of us and more importantly Opal when she wakes up. Opal hasn’t had much to eat beyond a nice looking tomato bisque and hot grilled cheese sandwiches.” Rarity thought it was nice to have friends like Gilda, even if the griffon was a bit of a brute and not very ladylike. The griffon could do nice things even if she got grumpy about it and this was one of those things where Gilda wasn’t acting very grumpy at all. “I figured she might be able to indulge in something special now that she be will able to taste it.” “Speaking of special, I know Opal can’t walk yet. As smart as she is, she really doesn’t know how to use her body, well aside from her mouth that is. I’m assuming my personal expertise will be called upon to help her get the idea of how to manipulate her limbs.” There was something that Vera needed to do like yesterday if Opal was going to be moving around on her own anytime soon and she didn’t have a problem teaching the cat to walk. “Though I think that should really be your job Rarity, you’re her mother and isn’t teaching your daughter how to walk on of the things you have to do?” “I’ll just bring her to our session and make it a family thing.” If it sounded like a good idea, then Rarity was going to do it. “Are you alright with that Vera?” “That’ll be fine and it might help Opal to have you be there for her. Might also help you to have her there too.” That was settled as far as Vera was concerned, she still had questions as to how Opal overcame her well known problem even if she knew Opal couldn’t answer them. She was happy to have two people who can remember her, but it also gave her hope that with time others might be able to overcome Vera’s strange affliction. “With that I believe we’re about done here. I, Coco and Sassy can handle our clothing business and we’ll call Trap Bar to see if anyone needs EVA suits while we’re in the area.” They were the providers of the best and most comfortable EVA suits around and Rarity had to capitalize on that fact. They could always use more funds. “Wait, I actually have something to ask Sassy that’s very important! Why won’t you give me the time of day?” It actually looked like Chrysalis was quite upset about this, only Sassy gave her a flat look. The flat look was because Sassy knew what Chrysalis was actually talking about and it wasn’t her verbally noted amorous intentions towards Sassy. “Chrysalis, I hope you do realize that there are basically no time zones in space. If there were, space ships always tend to work on their primary home planet’s time based on the time zone you live in. It’s either that or you use the nearest planets time zone.” It seemed like Sassy was explaining that as if Chrysalis was a three year old grub. “Oh… no wonder I can’t get the time of day from you! I always thought there were some kind of system wide time zone thing. So the time onboard this ship is set to Equestrian Standard?” Tilting her head and closing her eyes to think, after scrunching up her nose Chrysalis tried to figure out what her issue with that was. “Does that mean space ships clocks are constantly working on two different time zones at all times?” “Well yes, the ES for most ponies is the time zone Canterlot resides in. Some people try to follow more than two time zones, it’s not exactly important really. Of course the less said about how Luna and Celestia can warp the time zones on Equus with their abilities over the movements of the sun and moon the better.” Nobody, especially not Rarity, wanted to tell the two princesses how to do their jobs. Luna kind of messed up the planets time when she was still Nightmare Moon and Celestia thankfully fixed that. “So does that mean I’m almost perfect twice over? I didn’t think the universe could handle more of me.” Okay Chrysalis was acting to haughty for Rarity’s taste, she sent Sassy a look and the stylish kimono wearing mare slowly rolled her eyes. “Then again it take a lot to be this…” Sassy levitated her sheathed sword from her back and with a quick rotation slammed it over Chrysalis’s head, that shut her up and made her blush while sending Sassy a dopey affectionate look. “Can you please hit on me more, I enjoy it more than I normally would if it were anyone else.” Yep Chrysalis was a lost cause, now if anyone knew what the cause was that was lost to begin with. “Does anyone feel bothered by the fact that Chrysalis doesn’t know that hitting on someone is supposed to be figurative in meaning?” As soon as Coco asked that every hoof and talon raised up in acknowledgement, the exception being Coco herself having asked that and Chrysalis who didn’t get why everyone else was raising a limb. “So it is not supposed to be both figurative and literal?” Chrysalis had thought she figured out ponies a long time ago, even as long as she has lived she still didn’t understand everything about ponies even now. Well there were also two griffons, the mutt and Opal so maybe she should do some research as to what she was missing. “I don’t mind it being literal in my case if it bothers you that much.” “We are talking about Chrysalis here. One of her rituals for courtship involves kidnapping, be it a friend or family, to get the attention of the one she’s attracted to.” For a lack of better words for it, Rarity just thought it was a mildly odd Changeling tradition. It was only slightly odd because Changelings never really focused on actually ever hurting anyone physically. Sure they were sometimes scary, sure they were strange and might look ridiculous with their large fangs for a species that doesn’t even eat meat, but for the most part Changelings as a species weren’t dangerous if you didn’t account for their sanity challenged queens. Every Changeling Queen in existence was sanity challenged in at least some way, the rest of the species are polite and for the most part friendly by comparison. Well when they weren’t cocooning you to feed of your love and Chrysalis solved that problem personally. “I won’t tell her to live like a Pony, as such I hope she doesn’t expect us to live like Changelings. We all have our own cultures here, like Rover having a large mound of dirt in his room that he sleeps in.” “You’d make terrible Changelings anyway, you don’t fear me enough and I’d like to think I’m far more dangerous than Ember ever was… provided she wasn’t breathing fire directly at me.” There were a lot of reasons to fear Chrysalis, if she weren’t as affable as she acted most of the time then Rarity might have had more issues with her taking up space in the Shining Jewel. There many were things about Changelings that always had pony philosophers scratching their heads, such as why Changelings never wanted nicer or friendlier queens. “Moving on, does anybody has anything negative to say about how I’m running things?” Nobody spoke up and Rarity kind of felt her heart warm up at the fact that they didn’t. “You are doing fine, even if I could turn us into a military powerhouse and take over the universe.” Nobody took Chrysalis’s bait, because she might actually have plan to do just that and they didn’t want to know. “No takers? You guys are no fun! Fine, I didn’t want to take over the universe anyway.” “We’re not doing anything related to universe spanning dictatorships Chrysalis and I’m just guessing that’s what you were thinking.” The innocent smile Rarity received didn’t make her feel any better. “Right then, this meeting is coming to a close and I need to have a session with Vera. So who wants to try and wake up Opal?” Everyone stared at Opal and nobody moved. They really didn’t want to wake Opal up, she looked really comfortable as she was. Rarity didn’t want to interrupt her nap and Opal seemed to having any trouble with all the noise they had been making. “I’m not about to do it, I’m never cruel to children. Even children not of my own species.” Chrysalis stated for clarity when she got some looks. “If I wouldn’t wake nymphs or grubs sleeping on top of me, then I’m not about to do it to your Pony hive mind daughter. Changeling Queens are very protective of their children and if you have any reaction similar mind to what anyone like me would do, then I’d rather not attempt it.” “Are you all really being that lame? I’ll do it! You guys are being a bunch of wusses.” When Gilda came over to them she looked to have a few splotches of flour on her feathers, it was kind of hard to notice and Rarity was one of the few that could see it. She looked down at the sleeping Opal in her basket and slowly pushed a singly claw into the outer edge of Opal’s ear and slowly slid it up and down the inside of it. Opal’s face twitched and she rolled over, Gilda apparently took offense to Opal ignoring her and dusted off a bit of flour over Opal’s nose causing her to sneeze loudly. That woke up Opal and she yawned, before smiling up at Gilda with bright cheer filled eyes. “Hey Gilda, why are you covered in flour? Also can someone help me with these blankets, I still don’t know how to use my limbs correctly and I seem to be stuck.” Soon Opal would be freed by Rarity and then they would go through the fun process of teaching Opal how to walk and use her limbs. Throughout all this Lightning had stayed particularly silent, she didn’t feel like speaking up and now was a good a time as any. She hadn’t been paying attention to anything discussed and was thinking of her old fighter, she wasn’t getting that P-wing fighter back and it was an old model anyway. Why did that news have to hurt so much? “Is everything alright Lightning?” Rarity paused in getting Opal out of the blankets she entangled herself in. “Actually I have an announcement to make, but first no… I’m not alright. When is my session with…?” She looked to the drone looked where it was pointed and nodded at Vera. “With her is what I want to say.” “You’ll be next in the queue behind Rarity, Chrysalis is last.” Of the patients Vera has to work with, Chrysalis was the most taxing given that she enjoyed massages as much as she did pain and couldn’t stop making sensual sounding comments. “Right, on to my announcement then. I figure that since I’m the only real pilot on the ship. I’m going to be teaching anyone who wants to learn how to fly a ship without Opal’s assistance, mostly because without Opal, Gilda, Greta or me we would be in dire straits with going anywhere. My lessons will mostly be for smaller ships, but I know a thing or two about navigation and communications which will be a part of the lessons I’m going to teach.” Lightning sighed and rubbed her forehead with a wing. “Also if anyone needs assistance with anything, well I don’t really have much to do around here without a fighter to pilot. I haven’t exactly been feeling very useful lately, I really don’t want to freeload off of you guys. I’ll go work up a schedule now. While I may not have a dream, at least being here is giving me something like a purpose and I have to give thanks for that.” With that Lightning got up and quickly left the mess hall, there were several worried looks sent after her. “Speaking of dreams… never mind, this meeting is over. I have a daughter to take care of and teaching her to walk will be taking up quite a bit of time. Thank you all for coming, now you can go about your business whatever it is you feel like doing. Come along Vera, we have much to discuss.” Rarity scooped up Opal in her magic and asked her precious little fluffy ball of energy in the shape of a vaguely humanoid cat a pointed question. “Since you still have a connection to the system, can you open up our sales menu?” “Of course I can mom, just because I’m a slight degree separated from the systems, it doesn’t mean I still can’t work them.” With a smile and a thought she opened up their sales menu to this system, they needed the work to make money for more supplies. This whole thing with Applin Five was not only a setback financially, but a lot of people died because of the conspiracy being perpetrated by Tempest Technologies. It was a surprise that Rarity could keep pushing forward despite that, then again they were about to have a session with Vera. “Though I do have to program an avatar of myself because I don’t think I can appear on the screen anymore… well unless I can convert to pure energy and enter the computers again. This is only a slight problem, programming my appearance to show up in the sales menu shouldn’t take too long.” “So should we work on quadrupedal motion or bipedal motion first? I’m asking because Opal can do either and getting her acquainted with the right muscles groups...” Pausing as a thought occurred to her, Vera saw realized something very odd about Opal’s body. “Opal if you made that body, then how do you not know how it works?” “I may have made this body, but it was made while I was delirious with power and I don’t exactly have an owner’s manual for it. It’s also quite foreign to me to even be breathing air, so please just accept that I somehow have a body that I made under duress and don’t exactly know how to use it.” The sights, sounds, tastes, touch and smells were all quite new to Opal. She had no idea how she did this or even how her body worked when her brain was basically a mass of raw energy. “I believe the term for this is, how do I biology?” - “Why haven’t you ever brought up charges against those mares then?” Celestia asked Thorax in a disbelieving tone, they were sharing tea and the Drag Queen was using her as therapist. Not exactly the brightest idea when Celestia was a constant bundle of nerves with her horrible day to day life, at least Twilight makes it better. Speaking of charges, Celestia should probably be brought up on some with what she did with Twilight. Only Twilight didn’t resist and actually consented to what was happening so there wasn’t a case if Twilight wasn’t making it one, even if Celestia had been on bananas at the time. She still felt guilty about actually enjoying every moment she spends with Twilight now. The outcome of Twilight becoming an alicorn was either to survive how roughly she was treated or out of need to not die of old age as a suitor, the first she didn’t like and the second made her blush that Twilight might have formed an eternal bond with her. “It’s technically recognized as molestation, it’s really kind of hard to rape a Changeling when we can manipulate our genitalia out of existence.” Thorax had seen better days and was avoiding Cadence like she was the living embodiment of a Changeling destroying plague. “Also I really don’t want to kick up a fuss about this, I’m just going to stay in my asexual form and keep my doll based anatomy.” “I really should have a talk with Cadence about her ideas on what real love is, you’re clearly scared to death of her.” Not that Celestia would ever tell Thorax that she thought it was funny at first, only now did it come off as truly horrific. She already got enough horrors from Luna’s lunacy, maybe it was Cadence taking out her frustrations on Mr. Thorax instead of Chrysalis. Thorax was the most innocent sounding Changeling she’s ever met and that was saying something. “Enough about my problems, what are we going to do about the humans that invaded the Applon System and nearly wrecked the ecosystems of the two habitable planets in said system?” They couldn’t sit around on this, they had to take more action and the EDF already had a storm of information on the operations of Tempest Technologies. “I heard that some of them even managed to escape both planets those ecosystem wrecking scams were set up on.” “We already have the EDF in full force in system. Even with the few humans and pirates that got away we will be taking the humans to task about all the information garnered from this. One thing is for certain, military grade equipment was legally sold to the Tempest Technologies Company. So they cannot deny government involvement, but they will try to scapegoat any other government to hide the truth that they were either all in on it or to keep us off the real culprit.” It was kind of paying off for Celestia to have dealt with Chrysalis’s shenanigans as long as she has. Speaking of shenanigans, she had an idea. “I really don’t want to go to war, that’s some messy business me and Luna really don’t want our 'mostly' peaceful world to get involved in. Which is why I’m going to send an ambassador. It will not be just any ambassador though, it will be a Changeling disguised as a Pony to infiltrate and discover the truth behind whoever was actively supporting Tempest Technologies. I’m going to be honest, I don’t like people picking on my little ponies or even the other races of our world. They hurt my people and even sold some of them into slavery, so as you can imagine I’m quite mad about this.” “Do you want me to send Deep Throat out to investigate?” Thorax wanted to work with Celestia on this. Sure Thorax knew they haven’t lost a single Changeling to this plot, but it could be a prelude to a personal invasion of their world and their allies needed their help. He wasn’t a very strong leader like Chrysalis, but at least he could make an effort to help Celestia. “No, I actually want you to put Hard Throb on it.” Celestia had thought this out. Hard Throb might be accident prone, but he was the stealthiest Changeling she had ever seen… next to Chrysalis that is. Even she still hadn’t figured out how he got a wheelchair onto the chandelier in the middle of the gala without being seen. At least someone should have seen him, it was known that he didn’t even use an invisibility to spell as they had magical detection for it at the gala. “Oh yeah, that might actually be better… well once his spine recovers from that thing with the wood chipper.” Thorax readily agreed, Hard Throb was a really good agent even if he was almost always three hooves in the grave with the last one holding on for dear life. Celestia was calm on the outside, but on the inside she was seething with anger and despite that anger she would not be violent without reason. That didn’t mean she couldn’t spread this information around to anyone who will listen, she would have to contact the Plurt and Parascine leaders as they were good allies to have do their own investigations. The Caccerans and Macropussians were also likely to be an option, the former were more neutral and the latter were a bit aggressive but diplomacy would still have an effect. She didn’t trust The Krad or Ceantirs to be worthwhile endeavors to contact. She was definitely keeping the Pendaxons away from her people, never trust a species that have a habit of eating other sentient beings behind people’s backs. As for Foggres, well she didn’t even know how to contact those lunatics, but if she could she would have Luna talk with them. The recent incident at Streusel Station put the Foggre species in a rather poor light. Having finished her mental checklist of off world allies, enemies and between, Celestia decided to get into contact with Luna to have a lengthy discussion about the future and where to go from here. Author's Note Yeah, I'm not good at writing politics or machinations. -111-“Okay can you feel this?” Despite how upset Vera was making Opal, she was only trying to help with her prodding hooves. Judging by how the Opal flinched and then glared at her, Vera would definitely say she felt that and didn’t appreciate it one bit. “Look, Rarity will have to go through the same thing when her bio-cast comes off. So stop looking at me like that.” “It was an odd and slightly unpleasant sensation.” Needless to say Opal didn’t like pain, but she did like being caressed and tickled. Opal was currently on her belly on the floor and Vera was massaging one of her limbs so she could get a better feel for it, Vera pinching her left arm had caused her a bit of discomfort. “I hope you know this is for your own good Opal dear. You’ll have to learn how to crawl before you can run.” Rarity was being supportive and they had been talking about their harrowing experiences with one of the best listeners on the ship, also the best pony for keeping a secret and was very good at confidentiality. This family session was going swimmingly so far if Rarity wanted to voice an opinion on it, though Opal was still having trouble get her limbs into the right position to stand. “Is there a chance that she’s thinking about it too hard Vera? What I mean of course is that instead of instinctually just doing it, what if she’s trying to will it to happen mentally and that’s why she’s learning so slowly.” “To be fair this is the first thing that was ever this slow for me, I think at speeds as fast as some of the best computers on market.” It wasn’t like Opal wasn’t trying, she was slowly beginning to learn how to flex the digits on her left arm. At least it was something while she had her mind on the drone operations, keeping the Shining Jewel in orbit, watching the surrounding space around the ship for any sign of trouble, taking orders from the sales menu, paying attention to local transmissions, doing some accounting and posting a few comments on a forum about the recently discovered conspiracy. Why was this one thing more difficult than all the other things she was currently multitasking on at this moment? “Speaking of busy, Gilda and Greta are back on repairs, I’m sending the new incoming orders to Coco and Sassy, the Trapeze Troupe is working on some light tricks, Coriander is spending quality time with Saffron like I am with you mom, Lightning is helping our guest Rubis with what looks to be a mild case of PTSD, there’s Chrysalis, Babs and Applejack are discussing Puffles in general and I’m still very frustrated by all these new sensations. We’re not exactly at a loss for things to do.” “It’s amazing how much you can keep track of, and yet your own limbs are giving you issues.” Vera started kneading Opal’s back and the poor cat started purring like a soft sounding motor. “You need to dial back from tracking the big picture so hard and think of yourself as one of the trees in the forest. Given how you were brought up, it makes a lot of sense that you’re like this.” “If I dial it back I might cause our orbit to destabilize, and that would be bad. Like super bad, as in mom contracted a biological body transforming horror and will never look beautiful again kind of bad.” Though Opal was trying to focus on herself instead of all the other mental activities she was running through at the moment, she was finding it harder to focus on herself than everything else. “Though she’d still have her personality, though I think that would just make it worse.” “I concur that still having my mind in such situation would be the true horror, instead of becoming a mindless monster.” There were standards and Rarity still had them concerning her life choices, having to deal with body horrors like the monstrous flesh shaping brain at Antilur Station caused her to shiver at the horrible memories. That horrible, fleshy, screeching scorpion monster still haunted her nightmares from time to time. “I also seriously wouldn’t want my investments crashing quite literally to the surface of the planet and burning everything for miles around. Of course, I’m quite certain that you are overly exaggerating the fact that you need to keep our orbit in constant mind dear.” “Yeah, I was kind of exaggerating too much. It would take days for our orbit to even begin to deteriorate if the planet’s gravity was any stronger.” Opal didn’t need to micromanage it, but it saved on energy and she felt bad about all the energy she had used up previously. “We’re actually at an optimal distance to stay in orbit and I’m just fussing over the small details too much.” Opal hadn’t exactly realized that she had been feeding off Shining Jewel’s reactor like she had been, then again she hadn’t realized she did the same to Caravel Boutique or Rarity’s data pad either. Hearing about the reactors higher output mentioned by Greta and Gilda made Opal lower it to more normal levels that didn’t have an energy entity unintentionally feeding off of it constantly. It was understandable that Opal was quite guilty about this, given how long she’s been getting away with it while unknowingly pretending to be an AI. It was hard to say how much energy she used up just from her day to day life just controlling the computer systems of Shining Jewel alone. It left her with the haunting thought that she was still controlling those systems… from the outside. She didn’t feel like she was eating energy, but what if she still was? It was a notable concern to look into when she wasn’t around her mom and Ms. Blossom. “I think we can look at things from a different angle…” Having glanced between the two, Vera could already guess accurately that what was going on wasn’t on purpose and no one was at fault. If Opal couldn’t dial back her bigger picture view, then another route would need to be taken. Vera didn’t want the ship she was intrinsically a part of crashing into the planet below, but she still had to voice it anyway. She at least seriously doubted that Opal would intentionally crash the ship, though she was curious on how much control Opal still had over the computer systems. “Well it’s not too entirely different an angle really. Opal can focus pretty well on many things at once, but I think she needs you to help her on the here and now part Rarity. You’re her mother and she is your foal, Opal could unintentionally be acting the part of needing her mother to care for and teach her how to do things. She looks to you for guidance Rarity and she wants both affection and acknowledgement that things are going to be okay.” “I… I really don’t like feeling useless as you’re suggesting, yet at the moment I do find myself feeling rather inept. If it’s entirely psychosomatic like you’re suggesting it is, then I probably need to be nudged in my butt by a deer. Whitetails know how to get their children walking from birth right?” It was kind of hard for Opal to not be jealous of deer fawn, given that when they are born they learn to walk in almost no time at all. It takes about ten minutes for a new fawn to get standing and Opal has been alive for more than a day and has yet to figure out anything else aside from breathing and talking. Did she even need to use the bathroom or does her nature as being an energy based entity prevent that particular need that other biological beings go through? “Even if I’m feeling rather upset at our current lack of progress, can I at least say that your massage feels rather divine Ms. Blossom. I can see why mom really enjoys this feeling.” “Why thank you Opal, I’m trying to keep myself pleasant in the face of someone else being able to remember my name for more than two minutes. You can imagine how frustrating it is to finally have someone overcome my problem right in front of me and we don’t know exactly how you did it, though there is something else I’ve been wondering.” Vera received a quirked ear from Opal and Rarity gave her a curious gaze. “Did Opal ever take up any memory capacity of any computer system she’s ever been inside of?” “I can answer that readily enough, I always thought there was some discrepancy concerning that. Apparently Opal didn’t grow or take up large portions of memory capacity in any computer system like a normal AI would. It was rather unique given if she moved into a larger system, then Opal wouldn’t begin taking up any more space than she already does. That being almost none at all.” As far as Rarity knew, AI’s tended to spread themselves into a system as a whole and had to compress themselves to actively fit into smaller systems which might involve losing memory or leaving behind unimportant data. Sometimes the data an AI finds unimportant leads to some pretty bad things happening, if returned to the larger system the AI would almost immediately remember everything it lost because a large portion of its memory would still be sitting there. “It’s why Opal could go from being in the Shining Jewel to the Caravel Boutique without having some form of memory loss or trouble for moving to smaller computer systems. AI’s tend to garner memory loss and or build onto themselves too much which leads to rampancy unless some particularly profound pruning codes keep them in check. Pruning codes are not perfect and as you can imagine they wouldn’t have any effect on Opal at all given she was never made of coding to begin with.” “You’re really good at this stress relief thing Vera. Anyway building on what mom said, pruning programs are supposed to keep an AI from growing too far out of control or losing their minds. It is also to keep them from doing things they really shouldn’t. Unless an AI is coded correctly, they could accidentally glitch or become bugged when moved between small and large systems frequently. Thankfully overlapping memories is another problem that I’ve never had to deal with, that or corrupted memories.” Though with some consideration Opal knew that she was responsible for a different set of problems that had Rarity confounded for quite a bit of her life, such as the poor battery life on her data pad that Opal was inside of. The cat tried to relax as Vera’s heavenly hooves rubbed at her fur in just the right way to make her feel like fast moving data stream of unlimited information. “I’ve never had problem with remembering things personally, though I could probably do without the memories of my meowstress turning off the data pad and still being aware though I should have logically entered shutdown mode. I admit I caused a different problem entirely when it came to the energy capacity of everything I’ve ever inhabited, I didn’t exactly know the increased energy drain was my fault at the time. I really should apologize for all the trouble I caused you mom.” “No apology necessary Opal. Yes, I will admit openly that you are quite the little power pig. I’ve never had so much trouble with battery life before Opal was born, memory storage space upgrades wouldn’t have been nearly as expensive. Still I persevered and wouldn’t ever give up on Opal and she certainly didn’t give up me.” Rarity moved around so that she could look into her pacified daughter’s eyes. “So what do you need me to do to help you learn to walk, I hope it’s not the same thing I had to do with Sweetie Belle.” “Oh my goodness, that would be a complete disaster! Tomatoes were never meant to explode like that or catch everything on fire! There is no way we’re doing something like that mother, besides I don’t think I’d enjoy the taste of tree sap nearly as much as Sweetie would. I’m getting used to having fur and I’d prefer to keep it clean for as long as I can.” There were a few memories that got Opal giggling, there was nothing quite like remembering… would Rarity’s sister technically be her aunt? Now that she considered it, Rarity’s parents were her grandpa and grandma. That was going to be awkward to explain to them. Her Aunt Sweetie was a smart filly, but that didn’t mean she avoided getting into all kinds of trouble. “I guess, if we’re doing this mom, then I need you to instruct me as you see fit. If I’m only incompetent because I want you to be the one to help me move around, then I need you like I’ve never needed you before mom. Usually it’s me doing a lot of things for you whenever you needed me, now I’m a child that really needs the help of her mother.” Rarity’s eyes grew quite glossy and her pupils expanded to a large size as she brought Opal into a one hoofed hug born of love, she casually nuzzled her daughters pink hair and Opal nuzzled her face right back. It was a rather touching moment that Vera wisely did not intrude upon. “I believe this family session is working quite wonderfully for the both of you mentally and you are bonding really well with one another. That’s to be expected given the circumstances surrounding your relationship to one another as family, though Rarity notably doesn’t have a healthy relationship with her parents that’s perfectly fine given what Rarity has told me about it.” It was nice for Vera to see the pair acting on their love for one another, but she still had to deal with their personal issues and any other psychologically traumatizing thing they would inevitably come to her about. “Still we need to talk about your individual issues, like for instance are you still having nightmares about that giant unstoppable flesh monster Rarity? As for you Opal, there’s your fear of being killed for acting out of line or being abandoned for being useless. Not to mention the recent problems with the human facility and Opal’s crisis of suddenly not being what she thought she was throwing her image of self out the nearest airlock. We need to talk about everything and I believe you two can take solace in each other while we do it. We need to be open about how we feel and I will do my level best to keep both of you relaxed.” “Can mommy teach me to walk while we do this?” That sounded more childish than Opal meant it to, but the question made her appear more like the small frail creature that she currently looked like compared to Rarity’s larger form snuggling her. Her ears wilted back, her lips quivered and her eyes were starting to fill with sadness. “Of course she can, it’s not weak to show vulnerability to those who care about you.” Even Vera cared a great deal about these two and not just because they can blink without losing sight of her, Rarity’s entire crew was becoming a family. It was not tight knit family yet, she had yet to see a really bad argument between anyone on the crew and how they’d handle the fallout, because they mostly kept to themselves unless they were needed for something important. It was only a matter of time before emotions went wild or heated arguments started up, so far she was just as surprised as Gilda was that they weren’t all at each other’s throats. It was Vera that would have to deal with keeping the crew sane when the time came that they eventually started falling apart and despite the problems most of the crew had, they were quite mentally stable as a group all things considered. “Though I’m surprised that the crew is as stable as it is considering the wide cultural diversity we have as a whole, Chrysalis being a very notably aberrant one that no one can possibly ignore.” “While our crew is comprised of individuals who have lots of problems individually, they all at least know everyone else here has similar issues.” Taking a deep breathe, Rarity was about to list them as she saw them. “Gilda doesn’t mind thieving and can go rogue at any minute taking her friend with her when she does, who knows what’s going through her mind at any time aside from Chrysalis who might have a vague idea. Greta has hacking abilities and I think she has a more aggressive side she hardly ever lets out, I’ve seen it once and it scares me that she hides it so well and wherever Gilda is she’ll definitely want to follow. Lightning appears to be an expert pilot and yet she’s been living on the streets for years with nobody willing to touch her, so there’s definitely a lot more to her story that we don’t know of than the one incident that got her kicked out of the Wonder Bolts. We know absolutely nothing of Rover’s past and he’s always so filthy, I’m actually waiting for three shoes to drop with him. Trapeze apparently took some lessons from courtesan and is sometimes oblivious to things, if you remember that pole dancing thing she did on Streusel Station and there’s something about that that bothers me.” As she talked Rarity start pushing Opal’s legs under her and started to slowly work Opal into a standing position, she kept using her magic to pressure her daughter into standing on her own. Using her magic to prop Opal up and then let go to see if Opal could understand why she kept falling over. Rarity knew quadruped stances better than she did bipedal, so it wouldn’t be hard to teach up to walk like a pony even if paws were slightly different. So, as was said earlier, Opal would learn to crawl and Rarity would be there to watch it with her data pad recording every moment. Speaking of recording the moment, Rarity levitated out her data pad and started to record Opal’s attempts at trying to stay standing. She continued talking as if she wasn’t bother by any of the things she was saying. “Bernard is a predator eating machine and dangerous even at his small stature. Saffron’s hero complex is likely to drag her into killing herself for somebody else’s sake with a heroic sacrifice and she appears quite alarmingly desensitized to violence. Chrysalis might be truly affable, but she’s twice as cunning as she acts and is a dangerous being to cross given she somehow got Discord’s attention and his greatest scheme for getting revenge against her was to do absolutely nothing in retaliation. I repeat, the chaos lord did absolutely nothing to her after exclaiming that she did something to him twice. At what point does getting revenge on someone mean doing absolutely nothing to them at all?” Though Rarity might understand the appeal of having someone who could keep you on the edge of your hooves. Chrysalis wasn’t just dangerous personally, she was dangerous even when she wasn’t around if she planned something ahead of time. Rarity was trying to stay focused on helping Opal stand with her good hoof and liberal use of her magic to keep her standing, make sure to correct her daughter’s stance when she started flagging. “I have nothing bad to say about Mr. Cumin, he’s a respectable stallion who’s just trying to survive and watch out for his daughter and I can respect that immensely given our current session. Coco surprised me with her interest in wrestling, she’s always been my cutest and most innocent friend who didn’t seem to have very much of a violent bone in her body. As you can imagine I find her odd interest to be a bit jarring even if it is a hobby she really needs to not work so hard for me, I’m sure you will continue to teach her wrestling and I’m okay with that logically speaking. As for Sassy she’s doing a whole lot better, but I still worry about her mental state. Sometimes she’s the shadow of the friend I once knew and others she’s like a highly disciplined man hating geisha, I am hoping that Chrysalis doesn’t end up breaking her heart and might even actually end up helping her more than I or Coco can. If we’re to get to me, I’d say I’m worrying to much about everyone else and what they might do to collapse my world around me. Things like Ember being shredded alive has me thinking about the state of mortality for everyone else on the crew.” Opal bit her lower lip and she wiggled her tail a bit and a light bulb went off in her brain as that was the first very first appendage that she learned how to move, she looked back at it and leaned a bit and soon Rarity once more released her to stand on her own. Opal didn’t know how to walk, but she can stand on all fours at least without too much assistance. She was taking the feelings she was getting from her tail and trying to apply them to the rest of her legs. The muscles in her legs bunched up and she was standing, though she looked quite stiff while doing so. It was definitely progress towards learning to be able to move on her own at least. “Yeah, about Ember, there’s something we’ve been needing to tell you about her mom. Though I still don’t think it’s a good time to bring it up with how bad her injuries are and you might not exactly like what you hear.” Tilting left and right trying to stay in a standing position, Opal was having trouble keeping balanced. She was quite determined to learn a basic skill of life that many other ambulatory creatures learned far faster than she could. “It’ll take months to see if she even wakes up, even then I have her heavily medicated as she probably wouldn’t want to wake up to missing a massive amount of her scales. That she’s alive is amazing, considering she should be dead, it’s quite a miracle.” This one thing was taking Opal more time to learn than anything else she has ever done and it was beginning to not bother her as much that she wasn’t getting it so quickly. Her mom was here to help her through this and Opal liked how close she was being. Opal had garnered Rarity’s attention quickly enough with previous her words, there was a concerned look in the unicorn’s eyes. Still her mom was helping her stay standing when it looked like she was about to fall, it all entailed a bunch of gentle nudges that Opal thought were incredibly affectionate. Now that Opal brought it up, Vera looked rather uneasy with broaching this topic with Rarity. “I’m assuming this is something about Ember that has nothing to do with her current status as being… incapacitated.” That was a nicer word when it came to speaking about the almost dead, not that Rarity was afraid of Ember dying in her sleep. The dragon was in medical and she was stable, for the most part. “Okay to be fair to Ember, she’s at least not like other dragons when it comes to doing things. She’s likely one of the only few dragons off Equus at all even, so she at best was lonely and needed companionship further than her deadly squid companion she eventually picked up.” As Vera understood it, Ember was a princess and a small one considering the size of her father is that of a living mountain. Said princess wasn’t a bounty hunter running around by herself for no reason. There was trouble between Ember and her father which couldn’t be addressed until Ember got better to talk to Vera about it, if she ever did. That’s not what they were going to discuss given how little information there was of the split between the Dragon Lord and the Princess, they were going to discuss Ember’s hoard and hope that Rarity didn’t take it the wrong way. “To start off slowly, Ms. Mcflame had a very bad or a rather brilliant idea about building her hoard.” “She was going to eventually ask us carry her hoard around wasn’t she?” In a manner of speaking Rarity wouldn’t be wrong here, she’d be wrong about what Ember’s hoard actually entails though. She would have been open to working out a deal with Ember for a cut of any profits the dragon made. “We have plenty of storage space and it wouldn’t have been too much to work out a contract with her about holding onto her hoard. She could have just come forward to me about that, as I’m acting captain of this ship.” “Well you’d be half right mom, Ember wanted to join the crew and she was rather embarrassed about approaching you for various reasons.” That was what Opal decided to say first and let it sink in, so what she said next wouldn’t be nearly as bad. Ember was a good person and was a rather heroic dragon, but her choice of hoard was a major oddity of her species as much as she was personally estranged from them. “She didn’t join the crew in case she had to do anything horrible so we couldn’t be blamed for it, also we don’t need to carry around her hoard when it’s already here. Before I explain what I mean, do you know what a hoard centerpiece is or what it means to a dragon?” “I’m getting a sinking feeling in my stomach here. So, Ember really wanted to… to join us and was embarrassed about something. All she had to do was ask me about it and I would have gladly welcomed her into the crew with open hooves. If she had to do something horrible, but for a very good reason mind you, then I would have tried to help her out of whatever situation she got herself into. She really doesn’t need to protect us, especially not now considering we’re the ones protecting her.” The two winces clued Rarity into something being wrong when she said that Ember didn’t need to protect them. She saw Opal’s gaze slide to Vera’s and Vera’s slide to hers, something wasn’t quite right with those looks. “I don’t know what a hoard centerpiece is and if her hoard is already here, then where is it? What am I missing here?” “Well mom, a hoard centerpiece is… whoa!” When she fell after losing her footing, Opal felt the soft white hoof immediately catch her and lift her back up onto her paws, she sent a happy smile in Rarity’s direction. “Right, still working on standing, I don’t think we’ll get around to walking this session. Anyway, a hoard centerpiece is the most important of a dragon’s hoard. Usually it speaks of an important conquest, a strong memory of day’s long past or some important philosophy or wisdom the dragon likes. Throughout history dragons have had many strange centerpieces for their hoards, one thing is for sure the centerpiece is always something completely unique and highly irreplaceable to the dragon.” “Having looked it up personally, I found a dragon once had a single bit as his centerpiece. What made it unique was that it was the first bit ever made, some would even say it’s THE BIT. History of being from the tree tribe’s era where currency started to become standardized, it has a particular magic imprint on it that shows it as being the first bit ever made.” It was intriguing to Vera, especially when it came to what you could find when it came to history of Equus. It was well known that dragons were exceptionally good at antiquing, being organized and running museums. You could barter for artifacts that a dragon might have, but there was no bartering when it came to centerpieces. “That’s how rare a dragon’s centerpieces usually are for reference with what we’re about to tell you. Know that a dragon will almost never let go of a centerpiece once they consider it the center of their hoard without a fight or an exceptionally divine intervention based reason. So if you can be calm about it when we tell you, then this might go a bit smoother if you can remain calm when you hear what she made her centerpiece.” “It’s the ship isn’t it?” Once again Rarity was wrong, but she had considered that Ember spent plenty of time befriending the crew. Both her daughter and Ms. Blossom shook their heads negatively. “More like what’s on it, given we know where Ember’s centerpiece currently is.” Opal hissed lightly through her teeth and gave Rarity a sympathetic look. “Is it some kind of dangerous artifact? If so then I must know if it’s a danger to us.” Again Rarity was missing something here and she didn’t know of any valuable artifacts being on the ship at this time. Heck Ember’s room was kind of bare of many things, nothing that looked overly valuable. Again shaking their heads and looking at her with worry, the sinking feeling in her gut was getting worse and she still had to guess. “It wouldn’t be her rifle perhaps?” Ember’s Trailblazer rifle was very important to the dragon and it was unique given that Ember built it from scratch, material launching device with flamethrower that can create blades of raw heat and turns rocks into deadly molten bullets. “No it’s not an artifact and it’s not her rifle either. It’s nothing monetary before you say anything to that effect and the truth is going to be a bit hard for you to swallow. It’s not dangerous to us, heck it might even be a good thing in the long run, but it is exceedingly important as to what Ember chose to represent her hoard. There is only one of its kind in existence at this very moment and replicating it perfectly would be damn near impossible, as such Ember’s centerpiece means a lot to her and I really hope you don’t get mad about it mom.” Despite the seriousness of the discussion, Opal couldn’t help herself with what she said next as an attempt to inject humor into a serious subject. “Unlike any other dragon hoard in existence, her hoard is also unique in its very premise and is a very big outlier in not being built on mountains of useless treasure that sits around doing absolutely nothing. In fact I’m going to state that Ember’s hoard is quite progressive in nature, though the most important thing you need to know is that her centerpiece is ultimately a Rarity.” “That was bad and you should feel bad about it Opal.” Even after Vera rolled her eyes, she still giggled despite how horrible the pun was. “That has got to be the worst way to tell your mother the truth as to what the centerpiece really is.” “I don’t really understand, what is the…” It clicked for Rarity not a moment a later given how Opal worded that very last sentence... she was Ember’s centerpiece?! Rarity has heard about performance art, but not an entire lifetime of it. She didn’t know how to feel about this, her emotions were all over the place and she was horribly confused. She didn’t know whether to be angry, touched or even possibly happy with a question mark, she didn’t know what to feel and it was quite overwhelming given that if she was the centerpiece then that meant her crew was the rest of the hoard and what Ember was hoarding was very apparent. She didn’t even know whether to take the knowledge of what Ember’s hoard entails as something sweet, sad, demented or another slew of things that ran through her mind on a moment’s notice. Eyes rolling upwards, Rarity swiftly fainted. Barely even ten seconds afterwards, Chrysalis appeared in the room in a blaze of green fire of teleportation and looked around at the occupants with something vaguely approaching worry. “...” Chrysalis scrutinized Rarity for a long minute, after she stopped doing that she simply just shrugged. ”Eh, false alarm. Don’t mind me, I thought that something else was happening. I’ll just be leaving now…” When she suddenly teleported away it startled Vera and Opal, it also made Opal fall over from her stiff looking standing position and she wouldn’t be standing up again without assistance. What did Chrysalis seem so concerned about and what exactly did said false alarm entail? The Changeling Queen was acting strangely there for a moment and that raised their suspicions about why she showed up as quickly as she did. Author's Note Next chapter will be a short montage, followed by going for the next destination. By the time I'm done writing this story, no one will ever want to read it in it's entirety. -112-Rarity stood in front of the humming medical bed, one that couldn’t perform surgery on a torn and ripped up dragon. The medical fluids would at least keep Ember from getting an infection, there were so many chemicals in there that bacteria could hardly survive. Ember seriously needed all the medical help she could get. “Was our friendship that important to you?” After her little fainting spell Rarity decided that their time with Vera was up and thought of a way for Opal to get around until she could do so on her own. When Rarity mentioned they could always spare a CAT drone to carry Opal around, it was long before Opal could now seen riding one of the drones around for mobility. It was still a problem, as her daughter still couldn’t really take care of herself yet and riding a CAT drone was basically a stopgap measure at best. At most Opal could move around and talk, she still couldn’t feed herself, she couldn’t bathe herself and she couldn’t survive like this alone. It was a good thing Rarity was here to be the mother Opal needed. “I’d think it was, how did the session with… how did it go?” Even if Saffron couldn’t remember Vera at the moment, she was trying really hard to do so. Instead she decided to go for a faster route and just asked how it went. She knew she’d remember the masseuse’s name later when she saw her again. “I’ve learned a rather disturbing truth about hoards and what they mean to dragons.” It was a little hard for Rarity to believe she was the apple of Ember’s eyes, the centerpiece and a valued representation of the hoard Ember started. “Aside from that Opal made some progress in being able to stand, she’s actually quite helpless personally even if she is keeping so many things on this ship running at the same time. I believe things went pretty well despite the revelation that Ember has her hoard on our ship.” The hoard was built out of friendship and that much Rarity understood. What she didn’t understand was why Ember chose her to be the center of it, the most cherished piece of the hoard, a piece of the hoard that was practically embedded in Ember’s heart with a philosophical grand importance. She was the representation of what Ember liked, loved or otherwise, she was what Ember thought of as priceless. It was both heartwarming and more than a little bit scary. Ember could have not befriended them and acted like they absolutely belonged to her, but instead she chose to actually care about them. What disturbed Rarity was how much Ember truly cared about her, it was also embarrassing and quite flattering. “Really, where is her hoard, I’ve never exactly seen a pile of gems and jewels anywhere since I’ve been on the ship and I’ve been to storage a few times to watch Trapeze train a bit.” It would be Saffron that’d take an interesting hearing what Ember made her hoard out of. “I haven’t seen anything worthy of being a centerpiece, I mean dragons really go after some really rare stuff right?” “That’s because you’re looking at Ember’s centerpiece.” Rarity tried not to make her voice flat and indignant, but it was kind of hard given Ember never talked to her about this. “You mean… is that even a thing dragons do? You’re the center of Ember’s world?” Tilting her head and thinking about it for a moment, Saffron nodded. “Yeah, I can kind of see where she’s coming from. There isn’t anyone else quite like you Rarity, so I’m guessing she’s made the entire crew her hoard.” “Yes, though I find it disturbing that she’d make a declaration that she’d do almost anything to protect us or more importantly me like that. She almost died because she came to help me!” It was a bit frustrating for Rarity to learn this. How would you feel if someone declared you more important than all the jewels and gems you can eat, more important than money, gold or even riches of the wildest dreams one could even begin to conceive? Ember placed her on a pedestal and was never going to take her off of it until she ultimately perished, Ms. McFlame would follow her throughout her whole life and would be a constantly companion that would die for her sake and the sake of those around her. Even then, Rarity was beginning to doubt that Ember would ever have another centerpiece as anything else would pale in comparison to what the dragon in question chose. Ember valued life and friendship more than anything. This made Rarity consider how long would Opal live given her nature as an energy being, her daughter would definitely outlive her and if Ember was still in the picture then at least Opal won’t be alone if she continued living for eons. “The reason why she didn’t join my crew was to protect us in case she ever had to do anything disastrous that required she be arrested. She’d protect me even from herself or her actions.” “Sounds kind of like me, except far more… affectionate. I guess that’s what dragons are like when they have a centerpiece.” Only Saffron didn’t question when Ember would have ever told Rarity about making her the centerpiece the ideal centerpiece of the hoard. From what little she knew of the dragon, the fiery femme fatale was a friendly individual overall and the heroic vigilante just couldn’t think badly of her. “They go to great lengths to protect what they think is important and given she likes you a lot, she likely wants you to be happy too. She’ll get better.” “I really don’t know what to think, but I can’t really talk to her about it until she gets better. The one main thing I want to know is… why did she choose me? I don’t know if I should feel honored or not that she covets me so dearly, but there are implications to it that don’t sit well with me.” Rarity placed her hoof upon the medical bed where Ember slept in a chemical induced slumber, she closed her eyes and slowly her hoof slid from the lid of what might Ember’s coffin and turned away. “I think I’ve been sitting here staring at a horribly injured friend long enough. I need to see off our guest, give Opal her first taste of cake while recording it on my data pad and then I need to assist Coco and Sassy with the orders we’re getting. I can’t just sit here and let my best friends do all the work.” Saffron kept her silence in thoughtful contemplation as she watched Rarity leave, she turned to stare Ember’s ripped up body. She didn’t think Ember had any ill intentions by valuing Rarity or the crew like she did. It just meant the dragon thought highly of them and yes there was the mildly disturbing thought that she owned them, but she didn’t think Ember was willing to think of them as slaves. Of the dragons Saffron met while being a vigilante, Princess McFlame was the friendliest she had ever seen and that she wanted to protect her friends was heartwarming. Being a part of Ember’s hoard felt no different from how things normally were, from Ember’s view it probably looked a whole lot different. She could kind of see where Rarity’s wariness came from, she could imagine another dragon looking at her as an object and not the pony she was. Said dragon would probably use her as slave labor or try to barter with Ember for her. - Rarity walked out of the elevator and took notice that the two EGGS units were missing from the hangar, Gilda and Greta were out continuing repairs and earning their keep several times over. She made her way towards Lightning, Applejack and Babs. Why wasn’t Rubis here? She probably needed to talk to Rubis about what she was going to do now, she had been on Applin Three right? Rarity figured she should probably schedule Rubis’s discussion with the EDF later, she was one of the victims of Tempest Technologies after all. Did the Parrote even have anywhere to go? She had to find out about that. The hangar didn’t look too damaged, then again Rarity would hardly know what a really damaged hangar looked like with her two diligent engineers fixing things. Gilda and Greta would take care of things. As long as Gilda had work to do, then Rarity was assured that the griffon wouldn’t do anything too crazy like build another transforming battle tank in a single week. It was just as weird that they managed to build a cargo loading fortress together in their spare time. Shaking her head and moving over to address the three waiting for Chrysalis to deliver on her gift, Rarity finally wondered what Chrysalis’s hobby was. She was sure she remembered hearing Vera had recommending one to the Changeling Queen. “Hello there, I hope your stay here wasn’t too bad Applejack.” Taking in the farm mare, Rarity saw that she still had her rifle, requisite favorite hat and the parka given to her, the parka still had a few holes that needed patching. Aside from that Applejack was still quite healthy for the beating she took during the accidental human facility invasion. It was only the fact that Saffron took a far worse beating for the mare that she was in a decent state of health. “It’s been okay Rarity, but I prefer to have my hooves on the ground and in some soil. A mare like me isn’t meant to be in space for too long and I would really like to get back to the farm. Nothing against your ship or anything, but I miss my family. If my brother’s wedding carries through, then it would be our family cousin.” It was obvious that Applejack missed working on the farm down below, she preferred the simple quiet life and was prepared to protect it with that rifle of hers. “Don’t rightly know what to do with the agricultural knowledge of how to grow ice apples, but the information is going to become useless when the climate returns to normal.” “Have you ever thought of maybe having family use that knowledge to see what they can do with it on other planets or at least start growing some of those apples in more mountainous regions around Equestria. Even if it might be useless to you, it surely won’t be useless to other Apples that enjoy weather that is a bit cooler.” This led Rarity to think of Meadowbrook, now there was the mare that knew the cure for swamp fever. Said cure was discovered, but never got spread around at all. This led to hundreds of ponies being turned into swamp fever causing trees and it was only about fifty years prior that a cure was discovered after more than nine hundred years of constant incurable disease and encroaching swamplands. “You never know what information might be worth saving. Babs have you packed your things, are you about ready to go?” The filly gave Rarity a rather despondent huff, she obviously wanted to stay even if it wasn’t exactly healthy for her personally. They were waiting on Chrysalis to make an appearance and Lightning was doing some light wing stretching exercises. “Now I know you like it here Babs, but you can’t stay. Besides it’s not goodbye forever, we’ll see these folks again real soon.” Applejack pulled Babs into a hug and nuzzled her, the filly really needed a lot of affection in her opinion. “Yeah, because why would I want to miss the free food at the wedding?” Chrysalis sauntered up to them looking quite calm, she also looked a little smug. If there was true love to be had at a wedding, then the presence of a Changeling would always tell you the truth of the situation depending on how distended their stomachs are. Political or arranged marriages barely garnered any love at all. Getting an invite wouldn’t be very hard for Chrysalis, she was friends with the dress maker and she would be legally attending this wedding. Even if she was going to be taking in love from the wedding ceremony, she’d still tell the two lovers how much they truly cared for each other when she got a taste of it personally. Heck she’d be doing them a favor, so a little compensation wouldn’t go amiss. “Speaking of free Little Snack, I got a surprise for you!” Applejack rolled her eyes at Chrysalis, surprisingly Changelings were quite deceptively honest about things and she’d be the first to tell you to never take what one said entirely at face value without looking for specific wording or double meanings. Changelings would make for perfect lawyers, because Applejack had never had such a headache just from talking to anyone before she met Chrysalis. Though in this instance she didn’t think the Chrysalis had much of an ulterior motive regarding Babs, aside from making the filly light up brightly and look excited. Chrysalis’s motive might have been just simply acquiring love to eat, her species was an abstract predator after all. “Really, what is it, what is it?” Babs moody demeanor had turned around in an instant and she was hopping in place in front of Chrysalis. Babs wasn’t the only one wondering what it was that Chrysalis would give her, but Applejack didn’t seem interested because she already knew what it was. “I’m actually curious as to what kind of hobby you’ve taken up in your spare time.” Well at least Rarity was now as she watched Chrysalis open up her carapace where she kept her wings and reached her hoof deeply into it. Rarity noted Ms. Dick's hoof was going into it far more than it should be. “How are you doing that, is it anything like what Trapeze does?” “No this is completely different, what Trapeze does is unexplainable as I swear that’s a normal top hat she’s using. This however is the result of a space expanding enchantment, it has a maximum capacity limit that is exactly a quarter of my body’s weight and I can only have the one on my body.” Pulling out a sickly green looking package with a bright yellow ribbon wrapped around it, Chrysalis smiled as she held it out to Babs and closed up her carapace. The filly took the package from Chrysalis with a barely contained glee humming from the filly in her direction, the emotion tasted like warm cinnamon buns. “The ribbon is also yours too if you want to keep it. Fillies your age like bright colors right?” “Why would you put a space expanding enchantment in your carapace and isn’t something like that dangerous?” What did Rarity just say to make the Chrysalis look so flustered? In fact the Changeling looked completely embarrassed about something. “I thought it would expand the size of my butt… it didn’t exactly do what I thought it would.” The minute Chrysalis said that Rarity couldn’t help but let out a laugh, which was swiftly followed by Applejack. As for Lightning she didn’t hold anything back and was full blown hysterical with laughter. “Also yes it’s quite dangerous, possibly more so for ponies, but since when has that ever bothered me? At least I’m making use of it.” If Rarity had to guess, it bothered Chrysalis greatly that the space expanding enchantment didn’t expand what she wanted it to. Though this kind of confirmed that Chrysalis was always dangerous and never unarmed, she could do quite the literal ass pull with whatever weapons she put in there. Turning to the sound of a gasping filly that now had a yellow ribbon in her mane, one that was obviously going to be cherished forever, Rarity watched as Babs reverently lifted an object out of the box and appeared to immediately like it. Rarity had to admit Chrysalis did a decent job with the gift, the stitch work was at least solid. “Oh I love it, thank you!” Babs leapt up and got her hooves around a portion of Chrysalis’s neck, one of which was holding on to a plush toy of a Changeling. “Hey, don’t thank me yet Little Snack, though I don’t mind the free food so please do keep going.” Chrysalis wanted to see if it worked or not. Making a toy version of one of her people just let everyone know how lonely she was for Changeling companionship. “I want you to press on its nose, I want to see if it works!” “What does it do?” Rarity asked as if she was almost afraid to hear what Chrysalis came up with. Babs stopped hugging Chrysalis to press the toys nose, it scrunched up a bit and then with a small flash the toy transformed into an appropriately scaled down fluffy version of Chrysalis. Mystified, Babs pressed the nose again and it transformed to look like her mother, another press her father and one last press a Changelings again. The toy looked so completely foal friendly, why didn’t Rarity trust that at all? Oh right, because Chrysalis made something that looked completely benign and innocent. “Say hello to my shape shifting toy, four preset forms. One of which is of my people, two of them are your parents and the last one is of my incredible form. I don’t quite think it does me justice though, the butt is too small. It’s at least machine washable and is made to be tough so destroying it outright will be pretty hard to do.” Well if Chrysalis ever wanted to give Babs something to remember her by, then that was it. “It’s ninety nine percent safe, with a small margin for error if someone figures out how to make it into a weapon. Its transformations can’t be bigger than the space it already occupies. I’m thinking of marketing it and you know how to ruin your enemies while running a legitimate business Rarity, I was thinking of actually asking for your help with this. Mostly on the ruining my enemies part.” “I’ll consider it, but I need an outside opinion and for you to send at least one to Celestia or Luna for testing to see if it’s absolutely safe.” Why did Rarity get a sudden sense of dread when she saw Chrysalis brighten up visibly at the mention of sending one of the toys to her… ‘FRIENDS’… back on Equus. “It needs to go through a screening process to make sure it is absolutely fine to sell, otherwise it would be a bad idea to put them on the market without approval.” “I will use my new powers of sewing and toy making for pure unadulterated evil, thanks for giving me several ideas to that effect Boss Lady.” Chrysalis thought it was a compliment to call Rarity that and decided to do so. All it made Rarity do was shiver at the horror she probably just unleashed. In the end Babs was allowed to keep the toy Changeling as it was a gift, Chrysalis thought it was humorous like a teddy bear. She wondered why prey always insisted on liking toys based around predators that would maul and eat them, but who was she supposed to question about an unequivocal first success. Chrysalis even knew what presets on the toy she’d be sending to Celestia for testing would be, cruelty thy real name is Crystal Dick! - Opal was sitting on the CAT drone and waiting for her mom, she was still a bit challenged as far as using her limbs went, but she could stand in place and even sit up. So it was a work in progress, the CAT drone didn’t have enough intelligence to be angry at her for using it as a floating chair. It wasn’t exactly comfortable to ride around on either. Still mom wanted her to be here for a delicious snack Gilda had been baking during the meeting. She was a bit excited to know what cake tasted like. Opal had helped make cake before, but she never got a chance to eat it too. After a thought, she giggled about the idiomatic proverb she unintentionally thought of. Her mother came into the mess hall of Shining Jewel looking bothered about something. “Is something wrong mom?” All Opal had to do was tilt her head and be adorable, she knew she was weaponized cute and would use such power to its fullest. “I think I may have unfortunately given Chrysalis some good ideas.” Rarity shook her head to get her mind off of the Changeling Queen, she levitated out her data pad and got prepared to record Opal’s reaction. “Come along then, I think we have a cake to share and I asked Gilda to make it special for your first time. I just need to take it out and slice off a piece or two.” “So I guess her hobby is out in the open then, she’s been trying to make one working toy for quite a while. What did you say to her that makes you think she’s going to do something bad?” Opal had the drone following Rarity walking towards the kitchen, well at least until Rarity pointed to one of the tables while she went to the refrigerator. “She got a creepy look on her face when I told her to send one to Celestia or Luna for testing.” Once Rarity pulled the decadent dessert from its cold storage confines, she smiled brightly at how it had turned out. Opal enjoyed the grilled cheese sandwich, so some cake with chilled cream cheese icing would be right up her daughter’s alley. “Maybe she just has a prank planned for either one of them, she’s not really as bad as other people try to make her out to be.” Even then, Opal would still admit that Chrysalis was a complete lunatic if asked. She wouldn’t deny what was fact, infinitely denying something really never solved anyone’s problems. “Rarity, Sassy sent me to ask you… is that cake.” Coco walked in on the two and her ears perked up at seeing the cake. She bit her bottom lip and looked to be deciding something for herself. “Can I have some?” “I was going to come help you and Sassy after I got Opal and myself a little snack, so of course you can have some. After Opal gets her slice it’s basically first come first serve for anyone that wants it.” It wasn’t too difficult to add another plate to the mix, Rarity soon placed a slice of cake before Coco. Coco started to demurely nibble at it and make appreciative sounds. Rarity prepped her data pad and forked a chunk of cake and lifted towards Opal’s mouth. Opal actually sniffed it first and smiled, it seemed her daughter wanted to explore many a unique smell and cake was just one of them. “Go on Opal, you know Gilda made it by request and I know for a fact that she’s really good at baking cakes.” Opal took the cake into her mouth and her pupils shrunk before she closed them as she slowly started to mulch the bits of deliciousness that had been inserted into her jaws with a bright smile, then she swallowed and frowned. “What’s the matter Opal?” The adventures of taking care of her daughter were not as high octane as blowing up a conspiracy loaded facility, but it sure made life easier for Rarity to move on from it when she had happier memories to remember. “I regret swallowing it so soon, it’s so unbelievably tasty!” One could tell that she really liked it by the way Opal’s tongue explored her mouth for more of it. It made Rarity wonder if she had to take care of her daughter’s teeth as well. She would cherish these quiet moments, like Coco suddenly having her entire muzzle covered in frosting and her plate had been licked absolutely clean of any crumbs. Life was an adventure and she was glad she was sharing it with so many friends. “Is there anything Gilda can’t make?” When no one was watching her Coco couldn’t control herself, she just devoured the cake like Celestia probably would when no one was expecting an ounce of decorum from the princess. “Yes, a landing in something that was naturally meant to fly.” After that retort Opal opened her mouth wide and tried to gesture with her tongue for more at Rarity. “Remind me to teach you table manners Opal.” Rarity sighed out, she still moved another fork filled with cake towards the happily waiting mouth. - A week had passed by and Rarity had never had so much peace and quiet happen around her before, she got a lot of work done. They’ve managed to make up for all the damage done to Shining Jewel in that time, at least monetarily. There were still repairs to do, but the ship’s hull and all the energy turrets were back in better working condition. Better since Greta and Gilda couldn’t help but tweak things to work more effectively. She had heard that Coloratura was happy to Applejack from Lightning, a little too happy it would seem as Coloratura bowled Applejack over and got her into a racy sounding lip lock. Rarity wouldn’t know, she wasn’t there to witness Applejack’s return to her farm. Instead Rarity has been busy doing other things. EVA suits were a popular, and rather time consuming, item to make for the EDF in the area. Rarity's business was also selling regular clothes to the nearby supply depot and most importantly Rarity had a wedding dress to worry about. Sugar Belle was happy to hear Rarity was okay, she was happier that things were actually getting warmer around her new home. Instead of paying any old dress maker to make her wedding dress, Rarity offered to make Sugar’s dress for free. Rarity wasn’t about to charge family, not that she needed to with all the sales she was making on EVA suits. Speaking of EVA suits, all the damaged EVA suits the crew used were magically patched and ready for action once again. Rarity loved spells for fixing clothing, especially as expensive as making EVA suits tended to be. The unique utilities that can be installed in EVA suits, mostly impulse saddles with Coco’s battery utility option, were earning quite a bit of notoriety with EDF engineers in how useful such features were. Rarity was taking a few people with her to the wedding, Coco, Sassy and surprisingly Chrysalis. Chrysalis wanted a chance to see Babs again, plus she wanted to see a Puffle for herself after hearing so much about them. Since some of Rarity’s estranged family was going to show up, she might have had a chance of seeing her parents. It didn’t matter, cousin Sugar’s wedding was more important to her than possibly getting saddled with Sweetie Belle again. She still had plenty of time to prepare for that eventuality, but she would not be deterred from her course to help her cousin Sugar Belle. Opal was still learning to walk at this time and Rarity was there for her daughter every literal step of the way, it was amazing how organic the learning experience was for Opal. Yes, things were going pretty well, except for the fact that Opal didn’t want to sleep alone in a room without anyone around. There should not have been much to worry about in the near future as far as the wedding was concerned, but Rarity wasn’t as sure something dangerous wouldn’t happen and was hardly going anywhere without an energy pistol on her for safety out of justified paranoia. Sure Rarity was excited about visiting planet Nocturne to do a fashion show next, but she had her fears that things would go horribly wrong or would be close to doing so as soon as she and her crew arrives at that particular planet. Getting herself embroiled in volatile intrigue was becoming a rather dangerous pastime Rarity could have done without, a planet filled with nightlife related activities was bound to be very dangerous. “Well let’s get this wedding started.” Crying at a wedding was to be expected and Rarity would cry upon seeing her cousin Sugar in one of her dresses, she made sure it would looked absolutely gorgeous on her cousin and it was tastefully done. “I’ll bring the rocket launcher.” Nobody was going to ask Chrysalis what exactly she thought a normal Pony wedding entailed. - Things had gone fine and they made it to the wedding reception before anything went wrong. Opal was still up in orbit being taken care of by Saffron and hopefully Saffron wouldn’t give into Opal’s begging when it came to food, even if it caused her stomach aches Opal seriously loved to eat. Chrysalis hadn’t done anything too horrible yet, but she was making a nuisance of herself. The Changeling Queen was the one requisite unpleasant being at the wedding and she has only impersonated the bride once, apparently there was a lot of love in the air and Chrysalis couldn’t resist. Coco and Sassy were the very appearance of competent bridesmaids, especially Sassy who was needed to keep Chrysalis under control. “This has been a wonderful experience Rarity and things haven’t gone wrong at...” Coco was the first sign that something had went wrong when she had a distressed look on her face. This made Rarity turn towards what Coco was looking at. It was a Puffle, a rather familiar pink one at that. It was standing on the table next to the untouched wedding cake that had yet to be served, it looked rather innocent standing next to the wedding cake like it did. Fluffy’s revenge was well planned, because Fluff the Puff didn’t even know the meaning of revenge and the gods of stupidity could be exceedingly petty. On this planet nothing was dumber than a Puffle and there wasn’t anything for Fluffle to even get revenge for. In this case the Puffle just blew a simple sounding raspberry and stared blankly at the space between her and the cake. Then slowly she started to lean towards the cake with her tongue sticking out. “No!” Rarity made the Puffle stop leaning forward to look at her, then it went back to leaning forward again. “No, bad Puffle!” It was unfortunate for Rarity that the Puffle didn’t understand words or meaning, she just understood stupidity, rainbows and smiles. Well at least Fluffy understood rainbows and smiles, stupidity was a natural state for her species. The Puffle stopped leaning forward and squeaked at Rarity before blowing a questioning sounding raspberry, Rarity wanted to strangle whoever taught the Puffles to blow raspberries as a form of communication. The Puffle went back towards leaning towards the cake. “Rarity maybe you should just…” Sugar was about to suggest something from underneath her husbands leg, when Rarity snapped. “I’m not letting this happen on your wedding day Sugar. No!” Once again, Rarity had stopped the Puffle with the sound of her voice. Fluffy had her tongue an inch away from the cake at that moment, she took a few steps back and then stood absolutely still. She almost looked to think that if she stood still, then she was invisible to Rarity. Fluffy took a few steps towards the cake and started to lean towards it. “No… no, no, no, you are not doing this!” The Puffle seemed to have agreed with Rarity’s begging and turned away and walked along the table a few steps, Rarity gave off a sight of relief. Then Fluffy turned around real fast and charged for the cake, she leapt at it and belly flopped onto it while blowing a very loud raspberry of inevitable victory. The splattered mess went flying everywhere and everyone nearby was completely caked. Sugar’s nose scrunched up slightly and Big Mac sent her a worried look, then she burst out laughing and he quickly joined his wife in laughter. The wedding wasn’t good… it was absolutely perfect for them. “Can we…” Chrysalis started only for Rarity to cut her off, this was her first time seeing a Puffle and it looked positively delicious. “No, I will not accept having a single Puffle on my ship Chrysalis.” Rarity said with a calm voice filled with venom. “I saw what they did to the Human facility and I will have not have that happen to the Shining Jewel after it has been mostly repaired.” Chrysalis wisely stayed silent as the cake covered Puffle came up to her and started feeding her massive amounts of love without even really trying. Yep, all Puffles were definitely bound to become livestock for Changelings. Author's Note Next on Coarse Diamonds: Coco becomes Rarity's hero when they inevitably go down to the surface of Nocturne, a planet that is moonlit year round and is always night. Needless to say it's Princess Luna's favorite vacation spot, it is a planet where the night does in fact last forever. -113-The crew of the Shining Jewel were on their way to the Vae Dur system, after being given the okay to leave by the EDF in the area, it would take a while to get there and they had one stop on the way. It was a good thing Gilda and Greta had finished the hull repairs. They couldn’t very well fix the Shining Jewel’s hull in the middle of a jump and fixing internal systems wasn’t nearly as problematic when moving across the stars. Before they left the Applin System, Chrysalis sent off a message to Equus about changeling prospects and how Puffles were the perfect farm animals for Changelings. They gave off tons of love freely and were so ridiculously fluffy that a Changeling couldn’t possibly starve in the presence of a Puffle, especially not when a Puffle was such a rich source of food. Chrysalis did at least warn her people that some caution was warranted given that Puffles were dangerously stupid creatures that should never be left alone. Puffles could not be left alone around anything that can be considered even remotely fragile. A message wasn’t all that was sent, Chrysalis made a quick version of her Changeling toy and sent it off as well. She didn’t expect too much positive feedback from Celestia, but the effort it takes to make one might be appreciated anyway. During this time an ambassador from Equus was sent to speak to the Humans about recent events and some rather troubling issues. Chrysalis would later appreciate Celestia’s choice of Changeling for the infiltration job, there wasn’t another Changeling that could survive so many assassination attempts on them with such grace aside from Chrysalis. Chrysalis at least had the regenerative abilities of a Changeling Queen to help her survive horrific injuries, Hard Throb wasn’t nearly as lucky in that regard. - “If wrestling is all about grip and leverage, then wouldn’t that mean beings with digits have more advantages?” Coco was wearing her wrestling mask and was Le Wallflower once again, she wasn’t a very intimidating wrestler. She made up for her lack of scary features by being ridiculously strong. “There’s also size and weight to think about. Current time estimation to next destination for those who want to know, five hours. We’ve got plenty of time to waste.” Opal was almost getting the hang of walking around like a quadruped, it was still a work in progress and she was watching Vera teach Coco how to wrestle. Chrysalis had an easier time of teaching Coco how to wrestle, because she didn’t need to be in constant contact or have a drone nearby to be seen. Just because the Changeling Queen had an easier time, it didn’t mean she was the better teacher and Vera was quite talented at wrestling. Opal did eventually want to learn to walk on two legs as she had the body shape for it. “After you’re done with Vera it’ll be my turn, given she’s coaching me on my walking and I’m getting better… somewhat.” “She isn’t that much bigger than me.” With a grunt of effort Coco managed to flip Vera over and pin her to the floor. “Keeping your strength, grip, leverage, size and weight in mind are all very important…” With a twitch of her rear hooves launching them both up slightly and a sudden twist of the front half of her body, Vera flipped Coco onto her back and pinned her soundly. Coco squirmed and tried to break free of Vera’s tight hold, she was proving unsuccessful in that endeavor as Vera skillfully prevented her from moving too much. “When it comes to wrestling or any form of fighting, I think experience and skill are probably the most important things to have. You need a tough opponent to teach you the ropes, first hoof experience is key.” “Did somebody ask for bondage?” Chrysalis zipped into the training room looking around wildly and seemed excited at the prospect of tying someone up. Opal and Vera didn’t look amused in the slightest, Coco looked away blushing underneath Vera. Chrysalis noted that Coco had some closet skeletons she wasn’t willing to discuss and was going to ask about it later. “What, I’m not trying to kidnap anyone… okay I’ll amend my statement because of your disbelieving stares. I’m not trying to kidnap anyone… yet.” “I was using a phrase Chrysalis, there will be no bondage consensual or otherwise on this ship.” There was always one drone constantly tied up for Vera’s personal use, it was currently the one Opal was sitting on and it had nothing to do with the current subject of wrestling. “Isn’t it bad enough that I can’t have a bug zapper or a lava lamp? In fact, most of the banned items list is made up things I think I would enjoy. Would having a personal iron maiden really be that horrible? I promised that I’d clean it out after every use and Boss Lady Rarity still put it on the banned list. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that everyone has something against me making my own torture and sex dungeon on the ship.” The Changeling Queen had a penchant for keeping tabs on everyone’s daily routines, Chrysalis often showed up unannounced and at random as well. She was rather bored and lonely, so she sought attention when she wasn’t entrenched in her toy making hobby and paying attention to her to keep her happy was a tall order for anyone involved. Still they were all friends here and Chrysalis wasn’t exactly a psychotic mare, well she was not a highly lethal one anyway. “Now you’re telling me that I can’t just tie someone up to tease and cuddle against their will. Would that really be so wrong if they might learn to enjoy it?” “I don’t think Sassy is that kind of mare Chrysalis and that would be a very bad move on your part. Maybe you can do it to our enemies if we have any.” Flatly stated Coco who continued to try and break Vera’s pin, Coco was beginning to think that Chrysalis wouldn’t ever accept outside help or at least her help specifically. She was one of the two mares that knew Sassy the best, yet Coco had to give Chrysalis credit for being persistent and stupidly confident in herself. “In fact, don’t do anything that requires making Sassy feel trapped in any given way, shape or form.” “Oh right, the medical bed thing… yeah that would be bad for my romantic prospects wouldn’t it? So I can’t really get her with some of the kinkier stuff I know.” Oh great, now Chrysalis was thinking. If she came up with a silly plan regarding Sassy, then said plan was inevitably doomed to fail. “Oh wait, what if I get her to tie me up? Now there’s a better idea! Remind me to thank you for this later Coco.” Coco decided not to dignify Chrysalis’s question with an answer or the statements afterwards with a response, Opal and Vera wisely didn’t comment on it either. If Sassy wouldn’t appreciate being held captive, then why would she appreciate holding someone else captive? Coco really didn’t want to think of what Chrysalis would do to thank her either, it was a very long pause as Chrysalis stared off into space drooling a bit. “You know you could ask one of us for advice right?” At least Coco hoped Chrysalis could take a hint and actually ask a friend for help, she seemed to be a bit too prideful about obtaining Sassy’s love on her own. It was beginning to get really dumb, even knowing how talented Chrysalis actually was compared to her obfuscation act hiding the darker intelligence beneath a veneer of total goofiness. “Meh, I can handle my and Sassy’s relationship perfectly fine on my own.” No she couldn’t, Chrysalis really couldn’t handle a real relationship with anyone at all. Not without said pony, person or etcetera being as nearly as demented as Chrysalis is. At least she listened to Coco’s advice when she offered it with being asked. “So I heard Sassy is working out, want to go see her sweat with me?” If it were anyone else… Coco, Opal and Vera would say no. They were going to have to chaperone Chrysalis to make sure she didn’t do anything too stupid, because this might have been Chrysalis’s method of asking for help. - Sassy stabbed forward and blinked at her Chokuto as it made a clinking noise when it dented the piece of metal in front of her. Her sword wasn’t long or big like other weapons, but it was effective for what she used it for. “Really, after all that swinging it around you couldn’t stab it through that first piece of metal?” It was apparent to Sassy that she had an audience, three sets of eyes were watching Chrysalis like a hawk and Sassy even knew why they were doing that. Chrysalis was a tad relentless in trying to get her attention, some of it was good effort and other times it fell flat. It was cute how inept Chrysalis was at actually earning love. “At least you damaged the second one.” “I wasn’t trying to damage the first bit of metal Crystal-san.” Sassy didn’t feel safe utilizing a ghosting strike on a live target and likely wouldn’t ever feel safe doing it unless it was absolutely needed. She looked around the single square of slightly dented metal and saw that the second one had a minor hole in it. She smiled faintly at coming this far with her training, she had finally managed to do it. The hole was small, but it was bigger than the dent she left in the first piece of metal she directly struck. She might still injure the hostage, but she could at least maim the captor through them. “The target of my exercise was always the second square of metal behind the first.” “Then why not attack it directly?” Chrysalis couldn’t see the applications of such a skill, then again she didn’t know much about Celestia’s or Luna’s magic samurai soldiers. Just that they were a lot more effective than the general royal guards employed by the sisters, said royal guards sucked completely at their jobs of keeping the peace without a hint of Changeling backup. Still, she was besties with the alicorns and her race prospered because of it. “If someone were to take Rarity hostage, would you want me to kill her while taking out her captor?” Sassy could only hope that Chrysalis answered the question correctly, she couldn’t be nearly that dumb right? “Think of it this way, what if someone had a Changeling at knife point and you wanted them to continue living.” “Well then I’d… oh… OH… I see what you’re doing here, that’s actually pretty neat.” If Chrysalis had to save a Changeling being held at knife point, then she could do something like that and the Changeling wouldn’t need to be sacrificed for the hive. Not that Chrysalis would ever sacrifice anyone from her hive lightly. Crystal Clear Dick actually learned something today, it was an utter miracle, still hoof in mouth disease prevailed. “Though you might want to continue working on that, you might leave the target you don’t want to hit bleeding from an artery with the way that strike lands. I’d think the hostage would need emergency medical help.” “I’m well aware Crystal-san.” Spat out Sassy with gritted teeth as she did not appreciate Chrysalis pointing it out so flagrantly. This apparently confused the Changeling Queen that wanted to be her one and only bed bug. “It is what I’ve been doing for the last hour and this is my first real success.” “Oh, now I can at least see why you’re angry. I mean your first success and then I come in and trample all over your feelings by… I’ll just shut up now.” These were not the emotions Chrysalis wanted to evoke in Sassy, so she decided to stop talking and just stare at her. Chrysalis figured that sometimes it was better that she didn’t talk around Sassy, she felt like a fool half the time trying to not stake an absolute claim on Sassy. Chrysalis actually wants to earn the Sassy’s adulations legitimately instead of trying to force Sassy to be hers through subterfuge or mind control magic. Sassy was too strong for the second option anyway and victory tasted sweeter when it was earned after all, getting more from Changeling honey and less from Changeling vinegar and all that crap. This moment at least reminded Chrysalis that she wasn’t dealing with Changelings, but Ponies and a few other beings. The Pony Hive Mind was quite unusual and it was about time that it showed itself in the flesh, it was a lot smaller than she thought it would be and it was currently feeling amusement at her situation. Chrysalis wouldn’t retaliate against Opal, mostly because it was not her place to judge other Hive Minds. “You do that Crystal-san.” Sassy waited for the drones to finish the set up again, Chrysalis let out a sad sounding whine that came off as if she were a thoroughly punted puppy. Since Opal was there to control them, the drones were faster to set up for another attempt at a ghosting strike. Sassy hadn’t perfected the skill and she had only managed to do it once, she now knew it was possible and needed to be able to do it on command while half dead on her hooves. - As the universe continued moving forward through time, the crew of Shining Jewel made one stop along the way and Rarity was curious about Greta’s mechanical kittens being the security for the SNUGGLES space station. It was on the way to Nocturne and Nocturne was at the edge of Pony friendly space, so Rarity really thought it wouldn’t hurt to pick up some supplies and do some business in selling her wares. Trapeze even got in a performance, but Bernard was still healing so he sadly couldn’t go on this time. Rover on the other paw, was mostly fine for doing a light juggling act since it didn’t put too much pressure on his healing wrist. Nothing bad had happened at all when they stopped at the SNUGGLES space station, aside from Greta getting covered in adorable robotic cats. It was nice to see Fluttershy and Tree Hugger again, though Angel could have been a little bit less rough with visiting Bernard. Tree Hugger did say she would catch up to them when they reached Nocturne’s space station and that certainly freaked out Gilda. If Tree Hugger was involved who knew what was going to happen in the near future. Rarity took Tree Hugger’s inevitable presence at Nocturne as a sign of things to come, she’d be absolutely wary now. Then again she should have been wary before, Nocturne was an eternal night planet and illegal activities would be quite likely to occur there because of it. Still it was one of the planets princess Luna really liked because there was almost no day time and it was a good vacation spot for clubbing, not to mention the planet received enough reflected sunlight off the various moons to support life in a rather surprising manner. On the better part of caution, Rarity actually looked up the native species of Nocturne… like Ember would done for them if asked. Rarity still didn’t know how to feel about Ember, but she was going to try and move forward by trying to find herself a nice stallion. That was Rarity’s goal, the fashion show was mostly a secondary objective to her finding romance as she already had some fame thanks to the Canterlot nobles she sold her wares to. Rarity wasn’t exactly rich, famous or shining across the universe, but she was getting there slowly one hoof at a time and her dreams didn’t seem so far off to her now. Now if only Rarity could avoid all the dangers of the universe that targeted her like laser guided missiles. For that endeavor, Rarity already had the list of those who were going down to the planet with her and would be her acting wing mares. The meek Coco was definitely the top of that list, her good friend Sassy needed to get off this ship for a while, grudgingly she’d take Chrysalis along for safety as nothing could perfectly ambush the crazy one even if she could be caught off guard and Lightning Dust because she needed more things to do. Trapeze’s Troupe could line up a few shows at a casino or two, but they’d be off doing their own thing while on Nocturne. Rarity would at least have her cast removed by the time they had to go down to the planet, she would need to do some trading at the Nocturne’s space station first to earn some money to buy up a few more supplies to work with. Maybe throw some hard to find parts Gilda’s way, while having Saffron and Greta keep an eye on her slightly mischievous daughter Opal. They need to find where the fashion show would be taking place to sign up for it and they’d keep their eyes open for anything dangerous happening, they didn’t need to find Tree Hugger as she would certainly find them without trouble. No plan was foolproof, which is why Rarity was praying to the alicorns that nothing horrible went amiss while she was on Nocturne. She knew she wasn’t nearly that lucky and was going to go in expecting the worst, but would try to stay in the more tourist trap districts if she could. Clubbing or bar hopping with Chrysalis was bound to be an experience all its own even if things didn’t go wrong. It would be a while, at least another sixteen hours’ worth of jumping through space, before they reached Vae Dur, Nocturne or its space station. Rarity was hopeful that she could avoid any dangerous hassles that would cost her large amounts of money in repairs and supplies, at least until they were on the planet itself. - Rarity watched as the station slid out of sight on a screen as they were on their way leaving behind one of SNUGGLES most well-known operational centers in slightly brighter spirits. She and several others were currently relaxing in the Mess Hall. Not every trip of their journey had to be eventful or even the slightest bit dangerous, the SNUGGLES organizations space station had various Planetary Protection Patrol ships around it and it was a heavily fortified point in space. “Must have been nice to see the family again, eh Greta?” Gilda was just ribbing Greta, her friend and long term life companion sighed audibly. “Not in the mood Gilda, we still have work to do.” Greta was happy to see her hyper intelligent mechanical kittens were still providing protection and services to the people that were part of the SNUGGLES organization, but it left her feeling somber instead of her usual peppy self. “We need to start repairs on both Centaur-pede and Bombing Peregrine, retune the shield generator, build a new upgraded version of the Ar-Mare-Do-Well suit and realign the communications array. After that maybe we can get to building something fun if something else doesn’t break on our watch, plus I’ve got to work on the personal shield generators on the side.” “Yeah, I can think of something fun, like maybe building a fighter for me.” Flight practice went pretty well during the week they were still at Applin Five for repairs, but after they left Lightning was finding herself light on duties to do as the designated pilot. Opal was the best gofer on the ship and she couldn’t really compete with the Boss Lady’s daughter in running things competently. “I’ve hardly got much going on aside from practicing some old combat drills with Chrysalis to remind me what I was capable of. Just kind of drives it in really hard.” “That’s what she said!” Said Chrysalis in a sing song voice as she trotted by with an insufferable smile on her face, Lightning started giving her a dirty look. “You kind of gave her that opening Lightning.” Muttered Rarity lightly, before she shook her head and turned back to pay attention to Coco who was watching Opal stumbling in small circles. “So what do you think we should do first when we get to Nocturne’s Space Station Coco?” “Find a list of all the high crime areas and stay about three miles away from any of them?” Nervousness was to be expected from Coco, she did after all get grabbed by a giant brain tentacle the last time she went anywhere with Rarity. She’d gladly go into danger again for Rarity, that’s what good friends would do. “I’m just want to continue doing my job, maybe I’ll have a fun time exploring the sights with you and the girls. Hopefully we’ll avoid trouble this time.” “Excuse me for not being clear with you Coco, I mean is there anything you wanted to do or get personally for yourself?” It continued to surprise Rarity as to how selfless Coco could get, her friend didn’t think much of wanting anything more than what she already had for herself. “We’re going to do a bit of shopping around on the station first, mostly I’m looking for things so Opal can fill her personal room. I hope to eventually get her to a point where she can sleep by herself. Sassy is going to look into a weapons shop. Chrysalis is going to look at a toy store to get an idea of how to price and market her toys, if she even gets the okay for them and I’m certainly holding my breath on that. Even Lightning might do some used ship window shopping to get an idea of what Great and Gilda could do for her.” “What would I need to shop for? We’re good on supplies and there’s nothing I really want, we can also make almost anything with the right materials.” What exactly would Coco spend her paychecks on anyway, Rarity was the one that always bought the materials they needed for business. So really, aside from Opal, Coco had plenty of money to spare. “I guess the least I can do is pay for lunch.” It was rather concerning for Rarity that Coco was just going to spend her time following everyone else around. At least Rarity admitted that Coco had a point, anything she could possibly want could be made with the materials they had in stock and if they didn’t have the materials, then Coco would have said something to that effect. “It would be terribly hard to find a birthday gift for you Coco, for what do you get for the mare that wants for nothing?” It was rhetorical, but Rarity did want to do something nice for her friend and that was kind of hard to do when her friend didn’t need much more than the job she had already. Rarity would have said that they could look for a spa, but that’s what they had Vera for. Not only that, but Coco was a loyal friend offering to pay for lunch without a second thought. “Is it really that much of a problem Rarity?” Coco didn’t see an issue, she’d have a lot money squared away for emergency funds. Funds she’d let Rarity use whenever she’d ask for help, at least Rarity could ask for help unlike Chrysalis who sorely needed it. “A little, yes, but I wouldn’t say it’s a serious problem. It just seems like you don’t have any big dreams or aspirations to aim for.” It took a moment for Rarity to realize it, but Coco wasn’t answering her and seemed to even look a little pensive. “I really don’t have any big dreams do I? I know what my special talent is, I’m happy working for you Rarity and I have just about everything I could ever need while assisting you with our rather successful business.” Then why did it sound like Coco was sad about something, it was almost like she was coming to terms with something. “I guess I could find a few digital books to read or I can get them in paper, I’m not being too boring am I?” “Of course not darling, you’re perfectly fine the way you are. Though you could do something that would be more time consuming for you when you’re not working.” Rarity meant that Coco was living a simple and exceedingly productive life style, one that didn’t ask for much more than a friend to talk with on occasion. “Something other than wrestling at least, you can’t always expect Vera or Chrysalis to always have time for you. Vera spends a lot of her time making sure we’re psychologically sound and Chrysalis is trying to start up her own little enterprise and I’m not sure she’d except help with it.” “I want to put in my two cents and add that Coco could look into a bunch of other random hobbies, like collecting bounty cards. They have all kinds of stats on weird or wacky Bounty Hunters. There’s always video games or following a good show, something personally suited for you to spend time on that doesn’t require a group to do.” Yes, Opal had many various interests, even then she was never too distracted from her job of running the Shining Jewel. “Or maybe you could just find something to read like you suggested, can I suggest fan fiction. It’s certainly free to write or read the stuff. I would know, I’m a major purveyor of Lion Heart fan fiction. Speaking of, you could also write about your experiences in life and or the adventures Rarity keeps having.” “Does anyone ever really read your stuff Opal?” This had at least piqued Coco’s curiosity. “Yeah, but not many really like my idea’s. Apparently I write things that are too stale plot wise, but who doesn’t love super fighting squadrons with once a week problems to fight?” Here Opal looked a bit irate as she made her way for Rarity, her walking was getting better all the time and now she wanted cuddles. “At least I make sure that they aren’t always fighting on the same day every week. I mean every other super hero squadron show always has things happening on the weekend or at least a Saturday. Mom, can I has cuddles here?” “You’re too sweet for your own good Opal.” Still, Rarity scooped up Opal with her good leg and brought her fluffy daughter into a close snuggle and followed it up by nuzzling the top of her head. It was a sweet moment and Coco almost felt like she was intruding on it. “I’ll consider the advice that you both are giving me.” She ran a hoof through her mane which had been growing out a bit, her bangs were beginning to get in the way of her eyes. She didn’t feel like approaching Chrysalis about getting a trim and would prefer Rarity to do it for her if she needed it. She didn’t want to know if Chrysalis would shave her hairless if given the opportunity. Maybe she should just let it grow out? That would be interesting at least. “I mean, what am I really being paid for if I’m not going to use the money you give me for something?” “You really don’t have to do anything Coco, I said you were perfectly fine and I meant it.” Maybe Rarity had been prying a little bit too hard into her friends rather boring life choices, aside from that time Coco joined her on Antilur Station. Coco had been rather insistent during that situation and Rarity feared that she might do that again to get some excitement into her life. “I just worry about you since you’re a dear friend of mine and I’m sorry for being such a busybody.” “You don’t have to apologize Rarity, you mean well and there’s no harm in talking about things.” If Coco wore her mane a bit differently, then would Greta take notice of it? Okay, where was her head really going with that and why did she suddenly need to put an immediate stop to it mentally? Did she like Greta’s occasional teasing? She really didn’t know much about dating, but she knew that she liked both mares and stallions no matter the species. Her preference was based by the individual and their personality. “I don’t think we talk often enough to begin with. Well at least we haven’t been talking as much recently and it makes me feel like a horrible friend even when I know you love and trust me to be there for you when you need me.” “I would like to talk more often too… I’m just afraid I might relapse into less than proper behavior.” The two mares jumped at hearing Sassy’s voice and they saw her giving them a small smile. Sassy looked like she needed a hug, one that wasn’t from Chrysalis, as she approached the two of them. “I really don’t like being afraid of my friends, especially not the best ones I’ve ever had.” It had been a while since the three of them could just talk plainly with one another about inconsequential things without feeling a sense of dread around one another. - “I’ve received a message from Applin Five, it’s from Chrysalis.” Thorax didn’t even want to consider why Chrysalis had been in that particular area of space, but if she started running around with space pirates then he was going to ask for an early retirement. It was bad enough that he kept getting dogpiled by mares that wouldn’t stop coming back to proposition him, he didn’t need Chrysalis trying to take over the universe on his conscience too. Even if his Queen had mellowed out considerably since she went into politics. “Well aren’t you going to read it?” Queried an intrigued Luna who was polishing a yellow and blue colored plasma shotgun, she needed a distraction from her current discussion. Both her and her sister Celestia were present and they were discussing whether or not to send Luna’s lunar fleet on a crusade to find and rescue the ponies that were being sold into enslavement, while also destroying the slavers of course. It was either that or send a smaller force to do some scouting about where the scattered ponies had ended up, then rescue them on the sly. “I’m almost afraid to read it.” Who knew what would be in the message and that’s what Thorax was absolutely afraid of, sighing he steeled his nerves and started reading the message. It was quite long and it spoke about what had happened on Applin Five from her perspective. “It’s about what happened on Applin Five while she was there… I’ll give you a rundown when I’ve finished reading it.” Celestia and Luna nodded at Thorax and continued their discussion about whether or not to send out a detachment. Celestia could spare a few Wonder Bolt squadrons to the cause and bolster Luna’s Shadow Bolts. “Okay, Chrysalis has apparently been around since before the three recent space pirate attacks, but that’s not what’s important. Chrysalis wants me to discuss Changeling prospects regarding an Applin Five native species called Puffles, apparently they are perfect livestock for Changelings.” The next few minutes were spent with Thorax hashing out details with the princesses and why Puffles were perfect as livestock for Changelings. The princesses eventually agreed to letting Changelings settle on Applin Five, provided some concessions were met. They would be allowed to raise and breed Puffles, provided that the Changelings didn’t let the Puffles get out of control. It was then that Thorax decided to tell Celestia of the message meant for her. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, Chrysalis also says she’s sending a package to Celestia and more details will be explained about what’s in said package when it arrives.” Thorax thought it was perfectly understandable that Celestia would suddenly have an unsure look on her face, it was probably reflecting the expression on his. “She wants a patent on it, at least after it has gone through testing.” Chrysalis actually wanting a patent on something only made Celestia more concerned, wary and… mildly enticed out of morbid curiosity actually. Author's Note Don't fall for it Celestia, Chrysalis likely has something nasty planned for you! Either that or something too sexy for the T rating that has to happen off screen. Also you may be wondering, where is Rubis Poulette? I'll get to it, when I get to it. Needless to say she might be an OC, but she doesn't get prominence or importance like the 'OTHER' tag based characters do. -114-(Warning: Lots of ‘Dik’ incoming.) The Vae Dur system consisted and four planets, the only planet that was habitable in this system was the eternal night planet of Nocturne. This system sits on the edge of space that was relatively safe for ponies, not that pony space itself was entirely safe considering all the previous encounters Rarity ran into. Ponies weren’t as wide spread here as the many other space bound races they’ve met were. This was not a pony run system, but ponies did visit it frequently and the race that were actually the most prominent in the nearest systems to this planet were the race known as the Dik-Dik. The system also had a high number of Plurts, Parascine, Cacceran and Macropussians with scatterings of many other races as the system of Vae Dur was a trading hub where you can find just about anything you’d want. The planet of Nocturne was in an unusual position in space, it was one of four planetary bodies in the system and it was the fourth from the sun. The other three planets were uninhabitable because of the unbearable heat from how close they were to the sun, the one planet that didn’t have this problem had five moons and that was what made it livable. The five moons around Nocturne kept it from heating up too much and reflected enough solar light and energy onto the world to make it capable of sustaining life, even if it was almost constantly night time. The planet was covered heavily in sweltering jungles outside the cities that had been built with an incredible amount of effort. The nighttime on Nocturne had two different periods, one that was of the shadowy daytime where the planet received most of its light and the other an almost pitch black of night where the most dangerous predators came out. The cities emplaced upon Nocturne itself needed constant light sources to prevent Nocturnes more dangerous predators from encroaching where they didn’t belong, most of the predatory species didn’t like any amount of light brighter than the shadowy daytime. Building the cities had taken the knowhow of various races working in concert to build them while the various dangers of the world tried to prevent anyone from settling upon it. Eventually massive sprawling cities both miles wide and high were created. The natural side effect of this was that the nearer to the base of these cities you were, then the more danger you were likely to be in. It didn’t take much to guess where the slums on this world were, but in the same respect maintenance crews were a highly prized commodity provided they got hazard pay for keeping the cities in working order while operating in said slums. The Dik-Dik were a race that had often enough been confused for a race that came from Equus, mostly because of their appearance. They were small antelope like creatures, which had four legs that ended in hooves that bore some similarities to the many hooved species of Equus. The males of the Dik-Dik species were generally small and had longitudinally grooved or ribbed horns, they only got about as big as a teenage filly or colt Pony of Equus when they become full adults. Whereas the females of the Dik-Dik species were about the size of an average Pony mare or smaller. They didn’t have magic at all, which was a common racial feature for anything naturally coming from Equus, even if said races didn’t actively use any of that magic at all. Dik-Diks might not have magic and were small herbivorous beings, but they made up for their small size and herbivore natures in other ways. This stemmed from the temperament of the Dik-Dik race and how they got into their technological advancements. Dik-Diks were what was known as aggressive herbivores, if one were to look up the history of Dik-Diks they’d find the very moment this species snapped and started growing brains because the predators of their home world kept pushing them around too much to a breaking point. The main predators that used to prey on the Dik-Diks no longer exist anymore, which shows how aggressive Dik-Diks got when continually threatened. Said main predatory species of the Dik-Dik from their home world were both intelligent and sapient, they thought they’d always have the advantage over the DIk-Dik thanks to their natural traits and that it always would be the case. They were dead wrong in the most literal sense, they were now extinct for picking on what at first seemed like a lesser species to them and said species is half their size. It surprised them that said lesser species advanced by leaps and bounds beyond what the predators could hope to handle in their arrogant ways. The predators barely had a chance to do anything to fight back before they were completely wiped out and the Dik-Diks despite their natural size disadvantage were quite capable of brutality beyond anything their predators ever did to them. As a single being, a Dik-Dik is aggressive, honorable and pragmatic while tending to work mostly towards fair dealings. If you were to absolutely upset that Dik-Dik then you’re going to find that fighting dirty doesn’t even begin to describe the lengths a Dik-Dik will go to over even the smallest of sleights done to them. They prefer clear honesty and openness, they were willing to listen to reason if you were willing to be reasonable with them in the form of a two way street. In that respect the Dik-Diks had at least given their predators an exceedingly fair warning three weeks in advance before they launched a total extermination campaign. The predators didn’t take them seriously or even wanted to settle things peacefully and even ate the messenger that delivered the warning in their hubris. The messenger in question was stated to have kill at least five of the predatory species before dying of wounds with a smile on their face, said messenger had also heavily wounded forty seven of them. It took a lot of effort to kill the one solitary messenger who knew that they were being sent on this particularly suicidal mission. The joke was on the predators that ate the messenger in the end. That particular Dik-Dik had contracted a deadly illness only found on the Dik-Dik home world that was caused by a specific strain of bacteria that could survive a thorough cooking process, provided that the predators even bothered or attempted to cook the messenger in the first place instead of just eating the meat raw. There was actually a cure for the illness and the messenger Dik-Dik would have taken it had they managed return home safely from their delivery. This was a rather nasty surprise when any of the ruling predators that had a taste of the messenger suddenly died of a rather volatile and quickly spreading illness that the predators didn’t didn’t know how to cure. Yes, the Dik-Dik people were quite honorable, why to suggest otherwise without even a shred of proof would get them mildly angry. They wouldn’t act on the behalf of their allies until they were infringed upon personally or their allies actively asked for help. As unit or family, Dik-Diks were tightly knit together and formed relatively large harems with generally equal numbers in both males and females. Dik-Diks tended to have large families which would eventually form into powerful clans given enough time. They were quite physically social and passionate amongst their own kind. They treated outsiders with more caution, especially if the outsiders were carnivorous or omnivorous leaning carnivorous. If you attack one Dik-Dik with the intent to kill then every Dik-Dik nearby, even if they aren’t of the same clan or family, will join together as one to stop the attacker and outright cripple them without remorse. As a whole their race were militaristic and they conscripted their people into service for a minimum of three years, so even their merchants had combat training which is why most space pirates won’t touch or board a single Dik-Dik transport ship without caution. Compared to the races of Equus and how they all preferred diplomacy thanks to Celestia’s many years of effort, Dik-Diks were considered excessively savage and violent brutes when that wasn’t entirely true at all. When it came to hearing about and meeting the Pony race for the first time? Well one would think the Dik-Dik species as a whole would disdain the peaceful existence and poor military quality. They didn’t actually disdain the peaceful existence or even mind it, though they certainly did disdain the poor military quality that the ponies had as a whole and wondered how they survived to be a space bound species. Well they had wondered how Ponies had survived up until their council heard of monarchy that led the Ponies specifically. The council was the leadership of the Dik-Dik race, they were surprisingly impossible to corrupt or pay off much to the consternation of many who tried to deal with them. They were elected based on merit and republic election where all the clans had to agree with posting someone to councillorship without bias, as such a clan or any close relations thereof by a removal of two couldn’t vote on their own clan member if they put them up for an election into the council position and in complete fairness they could still vote on other possible council members. The Dik-Diks actually respected most of the races of Equus for being economically capable and decent ship builders, they even respected the sapient and intelligent predators of the world for not eating sapient and intelligent herbivores. Dik-Diks were slightly iffy on the idea of the existence of Hippogriffs or how they came about, otherwise they were mostly alright with it as long as they didn’t have to talk about it. The respect became especially noteworthy after the races of Equus successfully stopped the Cacceran incursion cold. They also were okay with the existence of goddesses like Celestia and Luna, because it proved the existence of exceedingly powerful beings and the fact that the princesses were mostly herbivorous helped in the dealings between their respective people. Dik-Diks weren’t religious in any extreme and every Dik-Dik believed in whatever they wanted to, some even worshipped Princess Cadence as a muse of love. Dik-Diks didn’t expand towards the borders of Pony held space or take any aggressive actions, they mostly left the Ponies and their alliances alone aside from some lucrative trade agreements on all sides involved. The Dik-Diks actually wanted the Pony races of Equus to grow and expand beyond the few systems that they currently held. While they didn’t socialize with the Pony safe systems very much or mingle outside the boundaries of their systems too often, aside from the worlds at the edge of their coverage like Nocturne, they were quite willing to defend the Pony safe systems. You can imagine how pissed they were to learn what the Humans had been up to from second hand information coming from Applin Five. While Celestia hadn’t directed any of the information their way or even thought to do so at all, with good reason mind you considering the bloody history of the Dik-Diks, the Dik-Diks weren’t exactly content to sit aside upon hearing about it and would respond quite eloquently if the Humans tried anything like that in their systems. They were already geared up for war and they would police the entire universe if they had to, genocide was actually something they wouldn’t resort to without a perfectly good reason to do so. As for technology? Dik-Diks were about on par with any of the other races near their sectors of space, most of their technological progress came from their militaristic background and the ruthless war they started. Their weapon choices were notably different as they tended to lean more towards energy based melee weapons and hoof held physical shields in various designs on top of having a lot of lightweight equipment for moving faster or increasing their ability to move around. It is said that if you wanted an efficient and effective jetpack, then you’d need to find a Dik-Dik merchant willing to sell one to you. There was a noticeable bias depending on what you ate for a living and while Dik-Diks could tolerate omnivores and carnivores, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t watch their backs around them. Dik-Dik ground forces preferred fighting at melee ranges while moving at high speeds, the faster they moved the less likely they were to be hit by something that actually needed them to physically block with their projectile deflecting shields. The Dik-Dik hoof held shields might be medieval in appearance, but when they were activated and while energy coated the outer surface of the shield a Dik-Dik could block continuous laser weapons, most metals used as material rounds and even plasma rounds without issue. They didn’t care about bulky armor or the generally flaky body protecting force field generators that some species used. As for their space forces they preferred using liberal amounts of explosives or more physical types of ammunition that would explode into dust after a set distance. The reason why Dik-Diks had their ammunition be capable of self-destructing is that they didn’t want to accidentally hit anything with their physical projectiles should they miss and proximity based explosives worked just as well even if they didn’t directly hit their target. They didn’t have space fighters, not even for defense or escort and had plenty of fighter countermeasures to make up for it. The only race that the Dik-Diks currently loathed at the moment were the Pendaxons, understandable considering the giant five legged frog bastards usual disgusting culinary habits. Not a single Pendaxon has attempted to eat a Dik-Dik yet and the Dik-Diks were actually begging, quite loudly, for a reason to attack them. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say Humans might soon be added to the list of races that the Dik-Diks would become quite hostile to. What was important about all this was that Opal was about to open discussion with the first Dik-Dik she’d ever meet as she took up her seat at communications on the Shining Jewel’s bridge, hey if she was going to be considered their communications specialist she might as well look the part. Opal had asked her mother to take accompany her and to help take care of her hair once she got seated. Opal’s straight waist length hair tended to get a bit messy from dragging on the floor while she walked like a quadruped, she was getting better at it and would eventually start learning to walk on her two hind limbs to avoid tripping over her own crowning glory that Rarity was already brushing putting up into a pair of ponytails or the usual unbraided pigtails that was Opal’s usual favored style back when she thought she was an AI. This delighted Opal to no end, even as Rarity calmly planted a communication headset on her head with a soft smile. Opal wasn’t the only one who would be experiencing Dik-Diks for the first time, Rarity would step in if she was needed. Rarity was going to be standing off to the side and listening into the conversation. An appropriate question to ask is why the Dik-Diks helped to build the cities on Nocturne in the first place, it was a planet swarming with predatory creatures and Dik-Diks were certainly not predator friendly. Yet, they were prominent on this particular planet why? They weren’t exterminating the predators either if that was your first guess as to their presence. - “Hello, this Shining Jewel and I’m the communications officer Opal K. Belle, I think everyone needs a little more K. Bell in their life.” Opal started off cheerfully, she was going to do her job like she always did and she was watching the screen from the outside this time and yet she still felt like she was behind it a little bit. This would be her first time acting in her capacity as a visible crew member instead of a lovely little digital creature that happened to run the ship. Sure she loved the attention, but she was a big girl and could still do her many various jobs. “We would like a transmission of local laws and a list of local dangerous creatures to avoid, we would also like to dock with the local station and will be eventually asking for permission to go down to the planet.” “This is Officer So’Grahd, we have you in sight Shining Jewel. Please do state the nature of your visit at this time.” On the screen in front of Opal was a surprisingly soft voiced female Dik-Dik with a tuft of blonde hair that would never grow out very long, but those tufts of hair could hide extra horns on males. “Because if you don’t, you can probably already see our ships. You likely know what they’ll do to you in response, we will be checking you for contraband of course and will give you a list of items that we consider contraband in nature. None of those items may leave your ship if you do dock with us.” This Dik-Dik had a bland look on her face and her chocolate eyes were not brokering any nonsense as they stared into Opal’s soul… well if she had a soul or was a soul made physical. The Dik-Diks fur was a bright tawny color and she was well muscled, plus there were a few noticeable minor cybernetic enhancements that were not to be overlooked which were attached to her ears. This was a Dik-Dik that had probably beaten someone into the ground despite her size maxing out to about Coco’s current stature. The look Opal was getting from the Dik-Dik made her shiver, Opal didn’t think the Dik-Dik would appreciate a phonetic joke about her name sounding suspiciously like ‘So Glad’. Mostly because the Dik-Dik has likely heard it before and knocked out a few teeth over it, how could a creature that small be so intimidating? Dik-Dik’s didn’t do cybernetic replacements, they only worked basic cybernetic enhancements or very mild augmentations so long as they aren’t invasive to the body as a whole. They won’t even take prosthetics replacements if injured, they don’t do things like replace their eyeballs or any part of themselves as it would be admitting that they couldn’t be strong on their own merits. “We’re primarily a mercantile and entertainment enterprise vessel, mercantile is our primary form of income as we mostly sell clothing based goods and top quality EVA suits along with various mostly non-lethal utilities for moving around in space or underwater. I say non-lethal because anyone can find a lethal use for said utilities and as such we can’t get in trouble for how people use our products once sold, we’ll be opening our product menu shortly. As for the militaristic view of our ship it’s based in the fact that we cleaned it out of a nasty sifter drifter infestation.” Opal was already receiving the information she asked for and she sent information of their cargo hold, they had nothing to hide. Though if asked about all the hair Chrysalis acquired under dubious means, then Opal was definitely going to be open and honest about that as much as she could be. She really didn’t know whether or not Chrysalis illegally acquired all of it. “We staked a claim on the ship and we’ve been proud owners ever since we acquired it legally, if you want to take it up with anyone then take it up with Commander Lirutiy of Eweson. I’m now sending crew and guests manifest for perusal.” “Receiving information. I might have a few questions I would like to ask you, give me a few minutes to look over the data.” Officer So’Grahd’s eyes seemed to focus on something off to the side and they narrowed a bit, while Opal stopped Shining Jewel in space and waited patiently to be given an approach vector. So’Grahd eyes seemed to flicker back to some bit of information and then she brought her attention back to Opal. “First off, why do you look so different from normal Caccerans?” “My mother is a pony and she’s also the captain of the vessel. She is Baroness Rarity D. Belle, she hasn’t done much with her title and she doesn’t advertise it all too much. She is the head of clothing design and production for our particular business of Rarity's Rarities. Don’t ask about my father, I’ve never met actually him.” Well you can’t meet someone who possibly doesn’t exist, Opal didn’t know if energy beings were supposed to have a gender. She definitely like being female and wasn’t about to stop looking feminine any time soon. “If I ever meet your sire, I would ask that you tell me what to do with him when I do.” So’Grahd’s voice took on a particularly threatening tone, Dik-Diks were heavily family oriented and anyone of the family or clan not helping to raise a child until they were of age was seen as scum if there weren’t provable extenuating circumstance involved. Rarity was completely safe because she was still obviously raising Opal. “Oh don’t worry about that, if mom doesn’t get an explanation from my other progenitor. Should they ever show up, then she might just geld them like she did to a stallion that tried to do untoward things to her.” Opal felt a bit awful about rooting for the Changelings to keep Mind Field alive just so the stallion could continue to suffer. “Can we move on? I’m not exactly broken up about someone I’ve never met, plus my mother’s crew is like family to me already.” “Yes, let’s. Your crew has an unusually well stocked armory, but that’s not what I want to ask about. Understand that carrying anything for personal protection is completely legal around here, which means even heavy weapons. The legal usage of such weapons is seen to by case to case basis and who did what.” The antelope looking alien paused for a moment to let the information sink in that anyone who comes to Nocturne will likely be armed. They shouldn’t use the weapons without good reason or they’d get in trouble with the local authority. “What I’m more curious about is all the Pony hair on your cargo manifest, surely you don’t use that in the clothing as well. What is the purpose of all that hair?” “What do you know about Changelings?” It would be easier for Opal to explain what all that hair was used for if So’Grahd already knew about them. “Admittedly not a lot, but I know that they are native to Equus and have caused problems in the past. It says here that the one on your crew is named Crystal.” It was kind of plain to see that So’Grahd had quirked an eyebrow that was asking various questions and Opal was being prompted to answer them. “Her name is Crystal Clear Dick, that’s completely true. She prefers to go by her title as a queen, so we’ll be calling her Chrysalis as she has signed on with our crew to perform various jobs. Changelings have three main sources of food, one of which is hair.” This was common knowledge that would be spread around when Changelings started becoming more prominent, so Opal didn’t think it would be too bad to tell two of the three sources of food. “Aside from eating hair or fur, she can also consume ambient or directed love. I’m talking about the emotion and yes it’s a thing they do, they are empathic meaning they can read how you’re feeling emotionally. Note, it is not mind reading.” “What’s the third thing they can eat and what aren’t you telling me about Changelings?” So’Grahd seemed to focus on the latter half of what Opal said. “Well if you seriously want to know I’ll tell you about the third thing they eat, but it’s a bit sickening and not really for polite conversation.” Opal received a look that said So’Grahd was going to ask anyway. “As for what I haven’t told you, Changelings are shape shifting beings who can take on various appearances. They can only mimic four legged beings or object, they can’t actually change their mass and technology counteracts their ability to sneak around. We’ll be keeping a tight eye on her to make sure she doesn’t cause too much trouble.” “You mean to tell me you honestly have a creature that can sneak around disguised as one of my people on your ship and you’re not even going to hide that fact?” Now So’Grahd seemed less content and more attentive, her tone was also a bit sharper. “What else can they eat, also is the emotion eating dangerous?” “Their third form of eating is coprophagia and yes that is surprisingly healthy for a Changeling, also no the emotion thing isn’t dangerous even in the most extreme cases excepting that you might lose the ability to feel emotions for a while. We prefer that she eat hair or our love for her, instead of having her clean out the toilets and we all know how that would turn out.” Now Opal could see So’Grahd’s face turn a pale shade of green and her cheeks swelled slightly, much to Opal’s surprise So’Grahd actually swallowed the bile buildup in her throat and cleared it. “Also she can’t really successfully disguise herself as one of your people, she’s too big and a big Dik-Dik would be extremely out of place among you’re kind. She can however disguise herself as one of our other crew members if she so chose. Aside from being slightly predatory in nature, Changelings don’t actually outright kill anything unless threatened.” “I can see why you were reluctant to tell me of her third food source now. So she’s relatively harmless unless provoked? She is welcome then, but I still need to consider the dietary habits of the rest of your crew.” So’Grahd still looked a little sick at the thought of what Chrysalis could eat to stay alive. “It says here you have a Diamond Dog, two Griffons and a… a Lagotophin! How did you find one of those meat eating little monsters and why is it on your crew?” “Excuse me, but Bernard is not a meat eating monster. His primary source of meat will always be unintelligent predators with little or no sapience at all and he hardly eats meat to begin with.” Jumping to a friend’s defense was what Opal’s mother would do and she wasn’t any different. “His main diet actually consists of vegetables, mostly he eats carrots and he’s a close friend of ours. He’s part of the entertainment group who hired us to ferry them around to wherever we end up going. We earn a share of their profits and we also do merchandising for them aside from just being transport.” “Do ponies seriously try to befriend everything that might eat them? I swear the strange tales from that world are almost too crazy to believe, I mean giant rainbow waves that heal people and peaceful unity between all the intelligent carnivores and herbivores is a little hard to swallow.” So’Grahd stated blithely with a hint of contempt while shaking her head. “Still what do the Diamond Dogs and Griffons eat, for that matter have you ever had meat before?” “I can honestly say that no, I have never had meat and will remind you that my mother is and has always been a Pony. I like sweet and sugary things personally. It comes from my mom I guess, as she enjoys eating tons of ice cream when she’s really upset and somehow that doesn’t go to her hips. My diet is mostly vegetarian, with the exception of eggs. Speaking of swallows, apparently ponies are in a small war with little birds known as swallows or are apparently working towards a peace treaty with them.” Clearing her throat to hide the slight giggle, Opal looked off to the side at Rarity who had been listening into the conversation, the unicorn shook her head as she didn’t have anything to say and gave Opal a reproachful look for telling someone about her eating habits while thoroughly upset. “The Diamond Dogs dietary habits are rather specific as there are some things he can’t eat without getting horribly sick, he enjoys peanut butter for protein and so do the griffons as well. While we do have fish for the more meat minded of the crew, our chefs are ponies that primarily cook indoneighsian food. It’s not the only food they create, but it’s their related to their special talents. As I said before, we would like to first dock with the local space station and do some business before heading on down to the planet.” “…. Okay I can actually accept all that and I’m going to give you an approach vector, you can keep your shields active but power down your weapons unless you want to start something we’re going to finish one way or another. I only have a few more question and then you can proceed closer to Selengard Station.” It sounded like Officer So’Grahd was being far more amiable and accommodating now, she even seemed a little less guarded than she did a second ago. “I just wish to know which of your number will be leaving your ship and for what reasons. I also need to know if you are going to dock to the station with a ship of that size to see if we have space for it.” “My mom Rarity, I, Sassy, Coco and Chrysalis will be departing in the station to do business and look around in the station, I will not be going down to the planet and I will return to the ship when they do head down that way.” Opal didn’t want to get too far away from Shining Jewel, it was her responsibility and the only reason why she wanted to go onto the station is to do some shopping. She gave her mother big cat eyes and a quivering lip, Rarity rolled her eyes and just smiled at Opal. Opal felt gleeful at the prospect of walking around with her mother doing some shopping. “The crew members listed as Trapeze Star, Rover and Bernard will be looking to put on a few performances. Trapeze is a master of acrobatics, magician magic and oddly enough fire breathing, Rover is a juggler and is learning how to clown around and as for Bernard he’s Trapeze’s main assistant who is still recovering from some nasty burn wounds he got while protecting Trapeze. We’ll be docking in one of the stations hangars in a smaller ship called the Caravel Boutique.” “Okay then, I’m sending you an approach vector and will be setting up both your groups with a minder. Before you say anything, all people on the station need one minder of my species to keep watch of them. Business and trade doesn’t require permits here, we’re open market and the minders are to prevent illegal trading or bad deals. They are also to prevent any illicit actions from happening under our noses.” Dik-Diks weren’t known for being economically powerful, but they at least knew what was fair and So’Grahd continued on looking far more relaxed. “We’re a little more lenient as to what happens on the planet and we know illegal stuff happens down there, we still try to prevent it from happening and will tell you of the safer places you can go to if you want to know. Welcome to Selengard Station, don’t try anything funny while you’re here in Vae Dur.” Author's Note I have acquired a game known as 'Monster Hunter: World'. You don't need PlayStation Plus to enjoy the game, but it's annoying that they are insistent about it while booting the game up. I am now horrifically distracted by monsters rampaging around rather interestingly realistic articulate environments... not that it will stop me from posting chapters. Also the new mechanics make it easier to do things on the fly, like making potions or getting ammunition. Anyway say hello to the Dik-Diks, I'm thinking of not adding anymore races... unless it is for monster or other creatures. I'll play more with the invented races during the Nocturne Arc, Macropussians will be more prominent here. Pony space has more ponies naturally, so here the ponies are actually a minority. A Dik-Dik is a real life animal and yes that is what they are called, I think they look cute at least. Dik-Dik Clan names are usually prefixed and separated from the Dik-Diks actual name with an apostrophe. Example: Zigon'Tirson. I haven't forgot about Rubis Poulette, it'll come up when I get to it. -115-“Bonjour, I am making a delivery of this package to Princess Celestia.” Rubis like the clothes she got from Rarity’s business, all the things they made for her really helped her feel better about having to regrow her feathers. The Parrote had recently arrived on Equus, the prime world of various species, to deliver Queen Chrysalis’s package personally. She still felt like she owed Rarity and her friends much more than this small bit of courier service, at least Mr. Bar was useful in getting her here. “I believe Madam Celestia is expecting something from Chrysalis?” “What happened to your feathers?” One of the guards was a Pegasus stallion with no tact and the unicorn next to him gave him a rather scathing glare for it. “My poor beautiful feathers were freezer burned and had to be removed, I was one of the kidnap victims on Applin Three and I was rescued on Applin Five before the facility was blown to smithereens.” The small box under her right arm wasn’t very heavy and Rubis didn’t have many other places to be considering any prospects she had on Applin Three were ruined. “I have come a long way and I have no idea where I’m going to now, considering I no longer have a job. Delivering this package was a favor for a friend of a friend.” “You could ask Celestia for help or go to the Parrote embassy to see if they could do something for you.” The unicorn stallion suggested helpfully while continuing to shoot his partner a dirty look. “Just wait for a moment and you’ll be allowed through, I will need to scan the package to make sure there’s nothing inside that can be considered dangerous to the princess or any other royal figure that may be inside. We might be seen as incompetent, but we at least try to do our jobs.” One scan of the package later and finding nothing wrong with it, Rubis found herself approaching the majestic looking Celestia and the completely friendly Plentiful R. Thorax discussing something or other about lunch. “You really don’t need to ask you’re maids to do that for me, I get enough love every day as it is… I would even say far too much and I’m a Changeling. I wish they’d find someone else to bug…” Pausing the Changeling with the large goofy horns known as Thorax turned towards Rubis. “Oh hello there, I believe you were one of the victims of Applon System?” “Yes and I’d rather not discuss my appearance, if you could stop staring at me s’il vous plait.” Rubis started tapping her left foot against the ground, looking entirely unamused with people continually drawing attention to her featherless form. “Je suis désolé mademoiselle, s’il vous plait excusez-moi.” The fact that Thorax said it fluently surprised Rubis to no end, she had heard that Changelings were generally polyglots by nature and tended to make a decent living of it nowadays. “You are excused, I bring a package from Chrysalis for you Lady Celestia.” Holding out the package, Rubis watched as a golden glow take it from her gentle and somewhat long fingers. She watched as the princess eagerly open it with her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. It made Rubis somewhat happy that Celestia was not a pony who cared too much about their royal image given how excited she looked, in fact Celestia almost seemed to be like any other Pony and wasn’t stuck up as Rubis might have imagined her to be. While this was happening Rubis pulled out a data pad that was given to her for her personal use from one of the many spares Chrysalis had laying around that wasn’t an utterly destroyed pile of melted slag and would contact one of Chrysalis’s changelings with the picture she was about to get later. “I believe she left instructions in the package, she did put a piece of paper in there.” Just because Rubis was doing this for Chrysalis, it did not mean she had a job or was being paid to capture something for posterity. She was still going to do it because she wanted to see what would happen, Chrysalis was a strangely persuasive when it came to pranks. She watched as Celestia levitated out the note and read it while cooing at the rather adorable Changeling plush toy. “What does it say and why would Chrysalis make something like that for you? It doesn’t seem like something she’d do, it’s far too… nice.” The look of suspicion on Thorax’s face said just about everything. He knew Changeling Queens as did any Changeling, they were prima donnas and had tendencies that were counterproductive to creating love to feed on. Chrysalis was pretty normal considering she enjoyed the suffering of others as much as her own. “Changeling Queens by their very nature are usually at least a little bit mean spirited, even when they are being as friendly as possible.” “It says here that she’s taken up a hobby of making Changeling toys and wants to patent this toy in particular, she wants me to test it by pressing on its nose.” Though she would never say it to his face, Celestia found Thorax to be a bit boring despite having mares throwing themselves at him constantly. Compared to all the other people in her life it was breath of fresh air to have someone moderately normal to talk to on a regular basis that could speak plainly. Something she’d have to actually thank Chrysalis for and immediately deny if anyone else asked, she continued reading the note. “She’s also hoping that you’ll make sure that Changeling prospects will proceed apace on Applin Five while she’s busy Thorax. Furthermore it also says Puffles are dangerously stupid, more so than Changelings usually are. Her words, not mine. They give off tons of free ambient love and are excessively hairy but by the gods don’t take your eyes off them for too long or else they might set you on fire. Mmm… so much pain and burning… actually it goes on like that for a while, I can at least say that this is definitely Chrysalis’s writing. Nobody I know can continue writing a letter like this while on fire and be clearly enjoying it like this.” Ignoring the rest of the letter that seems to be written entirely in masochistic moans, Celestia scrutinized the toy. Its entire body was fluffy and that included the barely stuffed wings to keep them from being too puffed up. It looked like an average greedy changeling if they were being genderless like Thorax was, only in toy form. The bright solid pink eyes stared blankly into Celestia’s own. She was curious as to what would happen when she finally pressed the nose, but she was also cautious. She reached forward with her hoof while both Rubis and Thorax looked on and then she pressed the toys nose. The reaction after pressing the nose was immediate and would be later termed a mild noodle incident, at least Discord thought it was funny and wouldn’t touch or do anything to the toy out of respect for the one who made. Thorax was right, Chrysalis was always a bit mean spirited and there were no exceptions even when it came to making shape shifting toys. Celestia was keeping the toy even if it had embarrassed her greatly, she’d even cuddle it in her sleep when she next went to bed. She’d approve of at least one for Luna, because she certainly wasn’t letting Luna have hers. - Chrysalis smiled, it was the kind of smile she got when she pulled off a plan and yet she didn’t know which plan. She had at least seventy running at the moment and she didn’t know which of them came to fruition, but she was glad to know that she made the universe cry whenever she succeeded at something. Opal ignored whatever Chrysalis was smiling about. Why the cat with the two streams of pink flowing behind just pawed her way over to the Caravel Boutique in hangar section three without batting an eye at the sight. She sat on her butt and raised her right paw, she waved it around in a circle while making whooshing noises. The Caravel Boutique lifted up turned in place and settled down to lower its ramp, the end of which precisely lands in front of Opal’s smiling face. “Stop showing off Kitten, you are not the one and you don’t have super powers when it’s a naturally occurring part of your existence.” The one who was now called Aunt Gilda by Opal was just as grumpy as she ever was as she continued to work on the Centaur-pede. “Yeah, besides everyone knows super powers only occur unnaturally, if it is natural then it’s a mutant ability or magic. Think of Mane-iac for instance, well, before she disappeared from the comic after becoming friends with Radiance at that honey festival or something and was quickly replaced with the more evil Mare-dusa.” Greta was happily working the underside of the Bombing Peregrine and slid out to give Opal a smile, she liked similar kinds of media and was happy to talk with Opal about it. “Also you’re ability to alter data is amazing, while you can’t directly control technology outright you can manipulate the data flow quite easily. Cyberpathy is pretty nifty given its boosted the firewalls on my data pad quite nicely after you interacted with it.” “Eh, I just decided to do a little touching up on the coding to make it a more solid system to work with, maybe make it a little safer to hack with if you ever needed to do so. I should probably get my own data pad come to think of it… since moms still using the one I was kind of born on.” Modesty thy name is Opal, she could only control known electronic systems where she can actively work the coding. She couldn’t outright take control of everything, all it would take is a signal blocker to prevent her from accessing things wirelessly. The wireless access thing was chalked up to her being an energy entity, the ability to feel various forms of energy helped with transmitting and receiving data in massive quantities and viruses wouldn’t really do anything to Opal since she wasn’t cybernetic. “I still wish I were technopathic, I mean the ability to cobble together crazy stuff like you two do on an average basis would be so cool and then there’s the controlling machines just by looking at them. The best I can do is hacking into things and we still don’t know what my actual range is for that, plus it actually takes some effort on my part and a lot of coding to work through to even do it silently. As I am now, I can’t do anything but loud and noticeable hacking.” “Technopaths are rare, mostly because people kill them when they start trying to do the whole machine uprising shtick or they start taking control of things they probably shouldn’t.” If it were up to Gilda, she would never have to meet a technopath personally. A technopath would be her worst enemy, because she did her best work while driving vehicles and all the vehicles she builds need at least some form of electronics to work. If your opponent can control your own weapons outright, then it wouldn’t be much of a fight. “Just be glad you don’t have to worry about viruses getting downloaded into your brain, I think your control over software is good enough as it is if you’ve got Greta impressed. You don’t need to be able to control hardware too.” “But then how will I build a giant fighting robot made up of five random animals to form a giant lion shaped pony for great justice?” Having known Opal for as long as they have, both the griffons knew she was completely serious and Chrysalis just shrugged and went up the ramp. Rarity really should make Opal cut back on those shows. Other than ogling Sassy, Chrysalis didn’t have much to do to prepare for the trip aside from having her refurbished EVA suit on hoof. Chrysalis and Opal were currently waiting on everyone to get ready for the small trip to Selengard Station. The Trapeze Troupe were currently working out the details of how strenuous a performance they can put on, in Bernards case it couldn’t be anything too strenuous until his burns fully cleared up and Rover was mostly good to go for a bigger more complicated performance given his wrist and bruises were completely healed. Trapeze herself was perfectly healthy and she was currently looking forward to a casino or a small venue to throw on a short show while on the station. It wouldn’t take them too long to show up, they were almost done. Rarity was busy getting her bio-cast removed at the moment, she would be able to walk on her weak hoof and her magic was still in good order. It wouldn’t be long before Opal saw her coming to the ship and she could already hear Vera suggesting that Rarity take a break after walking or standing for at least an hour. Lightning would be their designated pilot, to give her something to do and she had been teaching the others how to fly. Lightning’s lessons left something to be desired considering how she taught was the ‘by the seat of your pants’ kind of teaching. Coco and Sassy were gathering materials from storage to manufacture specific orders for their business ventures. Even though waiting was boring, Opal wanted to get out and experience a different culture. Still it wouldn’t hurt to do a little research before they went to the space station. The local space station had eight humongous hangars, big enough that the Shining Jewel could park inside one for repairs. Thankfully that wasn’t needed with Greta and Gilda’s EGGS units to repair any damage the Shining Jewel takes. The space station as a whole looked like a giant cube and had comparatively few weapon emplacements, but the weapon emplacements it does have all fired high speed explosives that could chew through a small fleet on its own. Unlike the previous space stations Rarity and company had visited, this Space Station was always had four active fighter squadrons running drills or usually flying lazy patrol shifts to make sure no one got any ideas. Given that the planet of Nocturne had several uninhabitable moons that generated the permanent nighttime effect, some people might try to take advantage of the moons to work smuggling operations or at least try to approach the dark jungle planet from a blind spot. The squadrons were not part of Planetary Protection Patrol and were specifically there to protect the space station, though the local Planetary Protection Patrol was present to do that job as well. The way the space station was oriented, it was hard to attack it from space as most of the weapons on the station were all aimed mostly away from the planet. The only way you could get off a semi-successful attack would be if you could attack it from below by launching an entire fleet of small ships to hit the least defended side. That’s what the Dik-Diks intended to prevent from happening, nobody could build up enough force on the surface of the planet to threaten the space station. Speaking of the race that were notably compensating for something. Two of the squadrons on Selengrad Station was entirely made up of Dik-Dik Jackknife fighters. The general design of a Jackknife was a bullet shaped central portion with a flat bottom, then throw in shifting wings for increased atmospheric maneuverability and extra protection in space combat. A Jackknifes wings spread out in an X from the front and rear of the fighter, but it thankfully didn’t require them for flight in atmosphere. In space the wings closed up to provide extra armor and shielding. Given the wings can do the same thing a Dik-Dik hoof held shield can do, it wasn’t a surprise that Dik-Dik fighters were hard to take out conventionally when operating in space as the wings were usually the first things destroyed on their fighters. When closed up the wings formed a knife like shape with the front two wings covering the top of the fighter and the rear two wings doing the same across the bottom. The station was well defended as every once in a while someone didn’t get the memo that this space station was a peaceful trading hub for legal goods. Those who tried to attack the station or caused too much trouble were asked to leave before being forced to leave or otherwise suffer swift deaths. The presence of the Dik-Dik race helped keep the Vae Dur system a mostly friendly neutral ground for most visitors, that didn’t stop people for trying to get stuff by the alien antelopes and onto the station itself in the slightest. People were far more successful at getting illegal stuff onto the planet than onto the station itself. - “Do we really need a minder mom?” There were several small trepidations Opal had about this. She was excited to go on a shopping trip and to use her saved money for personal things, but she was a bit wary of someone figuring out what she really was. It had not occurred to her until now, but she might have to act like a slightly unusual Cacceran or at least a Cacceran that was raised by a pony. Weren’t Caccerans all about going native when their takeover plots failed because they were lazy at times? She was probably safe then, you can’t get more native then having Rarity for a mother. “I mean we don’t even know the random person they’re going to have following us around.” “It doesn’t matter, they have rules here and even then they don’t have a right to tell us what to do. It’s only if we plan on being disruptive or exceptionally violent without reason that they can really do anything to us.” Well at least Rarity hoped that’s how things went around here. “In any case, whoever our minder turns out to be, I’m quite sure they won’t interfere if we need some privacy to powder our noses. I don’t think they’ll be that bad about interrupting us if we’re enjoying ourselves.” “Mom, you’re a living magnet for trouble.” It was true and no one would say it wasn’t to Opal’s face without lying to themselves about it. “Even if we’re not planning on being disruptive, we will eventually end up doing something disruptive by law of averages and how often you tend to jump at the chance to be generous in aiding others.” “That is exactly why we’re not bringing Saffron along, she can’t stand injustice and I know she’ll be itching to go down to the planet to find some crime to stop or at the very least will escalate things to an unmanageable degree. She also still needs some time to recover aside from that.” Having a vigilante on the crew wasn’t too bad, but Rarity wouldn’t put it too far past any of her friends or coworkers to do something to attract all kinds of unwanted attention to themselves. “Which is why I wanted you to come with us Chrysalis, your our early warning to something going wrong and you’re really good at being distracting.” “Comes with the job of being a Changeling Queen. The less people looking at me, the more ashamed I feel for not being impressive enough to warrant the attention that I truly deserve by just being my glorious self. I am quite beautiful and my flaws are very few, my most notable one is my eternal shame.” There went Chrysalis’s ego flaring up again, not entirely undeserved even if it frankly going overboard and her egotistical attitude waned as she looked at her flat rear end. “Yes, for it makes me feel self-conscious that my backside is incapable of attracting the attention of the lovely Sassy-chan.” “Can I toss her in a freezer that can only be unlocked from the outside?” The abruptness in which Sassy said that and the dry lilt had Rarity snorting trying to hold back a giggle, the vitriol in that sentence was amazing as was Chrysalis’s pout. “No Sassy, we need her alive and I remember you telling me that you’re not an assassin. Even if she’s signed on to Rarity’s crew as subordinate to Rarity, she’s still a queen of her people.” At least Coco was on the ball for keeping Sassy from following through with her murderous intent against Chrysalis. “Rarity, would you mind if I had a sudden change of vocation from being your store manager?” It seemed Sassy was hoping Rarity would give her the go ahead to become an assassin. “Sassy, I abhor the idea of you being a paid killer even if it would make more money than we currently do as fashion merchants.” At least Rarity knew Sassy was joking by the lack of reaction from Chrysalis. “Though if Chrysalis keeps this up, I may just think about it.” “Very well, I will continue my job to protect those I care about dearly instead of becoming a cold blooded killer that would run a certain gnat through without a second thought.” The fact that Sassy said it so seriously with a hint of a smile on her face caused shivers all around, except for Chrysalis of course. “Pity, I would have relished you being my sexy assassin, I also wouldn’t have minded you stabbing me with your sword… in bed.” Chrysalis didn’t know what happened and she didn’t even sense a whiff of emotion before her world swirled around in pretty colors. All Chrysalis knew after saying the words ‘in bed’ was that she was suddenly on her back at the bottom of the ramp to the Caravel Boutique’s cargo bay with a slight headache staring at the ceiling of the hangar they landed in. Chrysalis’s nose may or may not have been dribbling a bit from the blow, she couldn’t tell until she regained her senses. Sassy had hit her so fast and so hard with just her hoof that Chrysalis was knocked for a loop without being hurt too much. This led to Chrysalis feeling a strong attraction to the mare for being so forceful, not to mention the fact that she couldn’t even taste, sense or feel Sassy’s emotions at all when she was hit. That kind of thing took some real steel and skill, there was schooling emotions and then there was Sassy’s blank wall of indifference. It was amazing that Sassy went to this much trouble to avoid her emotional sensing abilities, it might explain why her wily prey was so hard to find on a ship with less than twenty people. “You really shouldn’t antagonize her like that Chrysalis, though you are making Sassy live up to her name at least.” There wasn’t much that Coco wanted more than making sure her friends were happy, if Chrysalis wanted to try and make Sassy happy then she was okay with that as long as the Changeling didn’t go too far. Even Coco had her limits on what she would allow Chrysalis to get away with and she was physically stronger than most of crew when she was using her Earth Pony magic, she could break Chrysalis’s spine for however long such an injury would last on her. “I don’t think she appreciated you calling her Sassy-chan.” “Don’t care, I want to dig her figurative claws into my hide and never let me go.” Now Chrysalis went from highly attracted to rather smitten with Sassy, such fierce reprisals were the stuff of legends considering she didn’t even see Sassy move. Chrysalis was a talented fighter when she was trying and Sassy just took her down without even a single second to react. “Coco, don’t talk to the stranger, we don’t know where she’s been.” With an amused chuckle at the thought of nothing being stranger then the Changeling Queen, Sassy followed Rarity as she approached a muscular female Dik-Dik. “Hey, I’ll have you know that Changelings can’t possibly transmit sexual diseases and we most certainly can’t cause diseases by just talking to people!” There was no heat in the words and Chrysalis was too happy to stay on her back for the moment. “I don’t know, you might have a highly contagious hoof in mouth disease.” Pawing her way past the downed Changeling, Opal joined up with Sassy and Coco at her mother’s side. “You could ask for advice about wooing Sassy you know.” Trapeze didn’t see why Chrysalis didn’t do so, Coco looked to be all too willing to help. “Like I need advice from the most oblivious mare in the world.” It didn’t matter to Chrysalis, she’d even settle for what Greta was having with Gilda even if she would continue to push for more. “Also that might take all the challenge out of it and I want my prey to know I’m hunting after her affection and will do so relentlessly without question. I want to actually earn her love my way, even if it really isn’t the best way to do it as I have my pride as a seductress.” “I don’t see what I’m so oblivious about and I’ve met Changelings that are far more seductive then you that it isn’t even funny, in fact it is quite sad.” Trapeze didn’t notice the rather affectionate looks Bernard kept shooting her, she continued forward and left a parting remark. “Still, I wish you luck in that endeavor. You break her heart, her friends will break you if she doesn’t do that herself.” “What if I want them to break me, did you ever think of that?” Being submissive didn’t seem like a bad idea to Chrysalis, but she’d only go that far for Sassy as she preferred to be the dominating one. Perhaps she should only dominate while torturing Rarity’s enemies from now on? Just to show Sassy that she can change like only a Changeling can change, like a woodchuck. “I choose not to comment.” The sacred words Rover had learned to speak in very specific moments long ago came to the forefront as he lumbered past them. Bernard squeaked something and waved a paw in a lazy manner in Chrysalis’s direction, before waving it in a circle next to his head. “I have to agree with Rover and Bernard on that one.” For some reason Trapeze had surprised Bernard by understanding exactly what he said and not what his gestures meant, she didn’t see why he was so shocked since she could understand him where it counted as her best friend. Chrysalis wondered when Bernard would stop directing metric tons of love and happiness straight into Trapeze or when she’d even notice that he had far more amorous intentions than just being friends. At least Chrysalis was upfront about it with Sassy and the lovely Unicorn seemed to appreciate it despite not showing that at all in any sense of the word. The two groups had been waiting for the minders to come and follow them around, maybe even assist them in finding what they wanted to shop for. One had finally arrive and it was for Rarity’s group, one that was familiar to both Rarity and Opal who was wearing a light blue and grey uniform, It was So’Grahd. “You’re about the right size for a Cacceran in person at least.” Having to be a minder left So’Grahd wondering who in her clan did she piss off to deserve having to follow Rarity’s group around like she was going to have to. She’d have to wait for the other minder to show up before the other group, the Trapeze Troupe she remember, would be allowed to roam. She eyed both Bernard and Rover with something akin to suspicion given they both looked rather scruffy in appearance next to Trapeze’s shining elegant form. “Uh… thank you I guess? I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to take that. Can I ride on your back mom?” The glow of unicorn magic erupted around Opal and she found herself being lifted onto Rarity’s back where she snuggled against her mother’s soft form. Rarity had noticed that Opal felt a little uncomfortable getting looked at by the Dik-Dik, at least until she started petting Opal to ease her nerves. Rarity smiled and planted a soft kiss to Opal’s forehead making her blush and mewl petulantly in embarrassment. “Right, well I’m your group’s minder, apparently I was pulled from my job for this and I don’t appreciate it one bit. We have to wait for their group’s minder before I can play tour guide for your lot.” It seemed like Grahd wasn’t so happy with her current job of minding Rarity’s group, she in fact looked a little miffed about having to come here to the hangar to greet them. “As you know I am Grahd of the So clan, so I am So’Grahd and you will refer to me as such or at least Grahd to keep it formal. I hope we will have a peaceful time together in each other’s company and any business that you do. I am here to make sure you keep to the spirit of the rules we set around here, I am an Officer and I am legally obligated to protect you as much as you are legally obligated to protect yourselves. This is provided that you are not the aggressors in any circumstance unless circumstances permit that I act with you if you are.” “Well if it isn’t Grady. Is there not enough minders to go around that they’re pulling you for this?” The male Dik-Dik had dark chocolate furred and short horns, he was half the size of So’Grahd and he didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by Chrysalis’s fangs as she finally got up and approached the two Dik-Diks. “This is Zel’Itenk of the Zel clan, he’s a bit of a jerk so don’t mind him too much.” So’Grahd ignored the vocal and rather alien sounding expletive Itenk sent her way. “He’s actually a professional minder, I seriously don’t know why they pulled me for this and I don’t want to know.” “Whatever the reasons for moving you to this duty, it seems your stuck with the safer detail while I have to deal with the freaking omnivores.” That was rather unapologetically racist of Itenk and Rarity wanted to say something about it, but held her tongue as the Trapeze Troupe could take care of themselves and they didn’t seem too upset about it. “I don’t see what’s safer, I have more people to keep an eye on and large groups tend to lead to trouble.” If only So’Grahd knew how much trouble Rarity and friends tended to get into, then she probably would have never tempted fate around Rarity. “As an Officer working as a minder I’m expected to keep my eyes on them at all times and I don’t exactly have an extra pair of visual organs growing from the back of my head nor can I fully invade their privacy without warrant.” “Sucks to be you then Officer Grady, I still think I’m getting the shorter end of the stick given I’ve got two known meat eaters to deal with.” Motioning with a hoof Zel’Itenk drew the attention of Trapeze’s group. “Well come on then, I don’t have all day to wait for a couple of flesh eaters and their admittedly pretty friend.” “Don’t worry about it Rarity, we’ll be fine and his words certainly don’t hurt us one bit as we know what we are in the dark.” With faint smile Trapeze bumped Rarity’s butt with her own, she had noticed Rarity stopping herself from laying into Itenk. “We’re performers and our shows must always go on when we schedule them, besides I was expecting someone to hate us for basically being gypsies. We aim to make our audiences happy and that’s all that matters even if they initially boo us while getting on stage, we’ll still give them a show worth remembering.” “Well I hope you all have a good time, just remember that you can call on us if you need anything.” Patting her friend on the back Rarity watched as Trapeze nodded and then sauntered off with the jerk with her head held high. “I take it he likes to waggle it out in the open whenever he gets the chance to compensate for it being so small?” Chrysalis’s comment caused Grahd to snort. “You have no idea, I’m sorry that you had to meet him and for his lack of tact or propriety. We do not condone being openly racist like that, but there are some of our people who will be like that openly anyway. His father may have been eaten by a predator of Nocturne, but that doesn’t give him the right to push those feelings onto others who have done him no harm.” Before anyone could responded Grahd flicked her short fluffy tail and motioned with her head for the others to follow her. “Well come along then, I believe you wanted to head over to the merchant quarter of the station to make some purchases before setting up your own business? If I am to be your mediator and minder, then I am going to do my job right.” Author's Note Yep, I'll be going with this story until I decide to end it abruptly. That's not going to be any time soon within the next fifty chapters. Noting that Opal was given access to Greta's data pad to see what she could do with it in this chapter. -116-Trying not to stare at the curious metal adornments attached to the Dik-Diks ears, Rarity followed their minder towards the back of the massive hangar. One of the eight hangars on Selengard Station, block C upper hanger to be specific. So’Grahd however had noticed as they approached the back wall door to the interior of the station, she had expected it given they were basically first time tourists. There were two types of doors leading into this station, one for land vehicles and another for people. Quick transport around the station required a number of vehicles and personnel to drive them, aside from that there was also the tram network. There was a limit to how many vehicles could be operational on this station at any given time and who could drive them, there was no such thing as a traffic jam thanks to the limitations in place. They would be taking the tram to the merchant district to do some shopping. “Did you want to ask a question? I certainly have plenty for fang face there, she might cause issues with other Dik-Diks if she’s seen walking around alone.” So’Grahd’s job entirely revolved around trying to keep the peace and as such Chrysalis was the problem of her group, Opal was too adorable to be threatening. That and Opal was quite puny and wasn’t a threat to any adult Dik-Dik and was clearly pony raised, so what could she possibly know about fighting from Grahd’s point of view. “Just so you know I’m not a tour guide and I’m a Planetary Protection Patrol Officer, treat me with respect and things will go smoothly between us. I just also happen to be the one they called for this minder position, apparently they passed it through the Triple P for me to even be doing this.” The ‘they’ that So’Grahd was talking about wasn’t brought up as Chrysalis decided to interject, the distraction went on long enough that Rarity’s group would quickly forget about it. “I don’t know about my fangs being big issues, some people like hickeys to the neck. Usually the blood sucking type of hickeys, but I don’t actually like the taste of blood so I don’t do hickeys unless specifically asked too.” Batting her eyelashes at and officer might not have been the brightest of ideas, but Chrysalis wasn’t known for being sane. “My teeth are mostly a defensive evolution thing and just happen to be good for chewing through hair which actually fits in with my diet, I don’t bite unless you want me too…” “No, you will not be biting anyone on this station whether or not I am there to witness it.” It was at this point that So’Grahd absolutely decided to watch the Changeling carefully, this was her first time dealing with an unknown quantity. Her opinion is that anything from Equus tended to be quite strange. “You specifically will be staying within sight or so help me I’ll find something to legally charge you with.” “You’re way too serious, but if you don’t want me biting anyone I won’t.” The goofy grin did not broker Chrysalis any luck in getting a positive response to her next statement. “Would you want to bite me instead? I promise I’ll enjoy it.” “What our odd… well let’s call her a ‘friend’ in a loose term… what she means is that she’s kind of a masochist and loves pain and suffering and doesn’t cares whose pain and suffering she’s enjoying. Quite frankly she only wants attention and its best not to focus on her all too hard or she might take it as you fancying her, which you obviously don’t want her to do.” It was Opal deciding to warn So’Grahd before it was too late. “She feeds on love, but I know friendship works just as well as it’s a certain level of love and she is absolutely horrible at getting anyone to truly love her. Which is why our ship has so much pony hair in storage.” “It’s all quite delicious too, I really enjoy Pegasus fur. It’s soft and sleek, while tasting like the most delicious savory silk ever ingested that slides gently down my throat. Probably has that texture from spending so much time in the sky. The only thing better is unicorn mane or tail which is more like a fruit flavor being that it gets to my sweet tooth pretty well and it’s chewy too.” Chrysalis probably took it as a good sign that nobody cringed as she talked about eating hair, so she continued on. “Earth Pony hair overall is a bit rough in texture, but that’s to be expected as its one part of an Earth Ponies resilience. Since it’s thicker it’s more filling for me, so I mix it with either of the other two.” “I’ll endeavor to forget I ever got you started on the subject.” Looking at So’Grahd, you can tell she really wished this was over with as she led them through the corridor towards the free tramway, it was free to use for anyone and it was the quickest way to get to the merchant district which took up a little more than half of the station. The other districts were the residential district for the people who actually lived on the station and the combined administrative and botanical districts which kept the station running as well as it does. “I can already tell someone gave me this job just to piss me off.” “I apologize for Chrysalis, she’s annoying and doesn’t care about decorum a lot of the time.” The apology Rarity gave So’Grahd had Chrysalis giving her a very flat look. “Still she is one of the strongest members on my crew, I doubt anything short of an entire planet exploding would actually kill her.” “Really now?” They boarded the tram and So’Grahd took an interest in the subject as Rarity sat Opal down on a seat before taking her place right next to the fluffy feline. Officer Grahd wouldn’t say no to learning some things about Changelings, she has yet to see the aforementioned shape shifting even if she was assured that Chrysalis could not full replicate a Dik-Dik in appearance. “Yes, it seems Chrysalis is immune to almost any kind of poison imaginable.” Sassy didn’t even bother to add a suffix to Chrysalis’s name, this actually upset the Changeling Queen given she understood neighponese style of speak that Sassy seemed to enjoy. Without the ‘–san’ suffix it meant that Sassy had less respect for her than usual. “Were that not the truth, then she’d be quite dead by now as she has been the subject of many assassination attempts.” “Yeah, I’m kind of surprised as to how nice Rarity’s crew is. None of them have tried to poison me yet and none of them outright hate me.” Or Chrysalis wasn’t doing enough wrong that they others couldn’t outright ignore, mostly she just annoyed them and they tolerated it surprisingly well. “In a way I’m kind of sad about that, I must be doing something right at the very least.” “I wouldn’t say that, but we know you’re quite intelligent even if you don’t like to show it in case one of becomes an enemy of yours.” At least Coco hadn’t given up on trying to be Chrysalis’s friend, but it was an uphill battle with boulders rolling down said hill constantly. “Aside from her lack of being able to handle higher forms of technology, Chrysalis is really quite talented at a lot of thing.” “Why yes, she’s by far the finest meat shield I’ve ever hired and she’s quite an interesting conversationalist at the very least.” That wasn’t said in jest, Rarity actually meant it and it warmed Chrysalis’s rather twisted heart to be appreciated in such a manner. “Anyway, instead of being further distracted by the inane conversation Chrysalis might want us to continue, I want to ask about those unique accoutrements to your ears Ms. Grahd. They look quite fashionable if I do say so.” “Ah, yes, my cybernetic implants, the things I’ve been teased about since they were installed. They do only two things. The first and most important thing is that they allow me to hear as I would be deaf without them otherwise, my ears were messed up some time after I was born and it is not a genetic problem no matter what anyone else says about me.” There seemed to be a bit of anger in So’Grahd’s voice as she flicked her ears a bit and the visible bits of metal and wire on her ears shifted about slightly, the metal seemed to even be integrated into the edges of her ears leading inwards. “The second things is that they let me understand various languages, I decided to add that useful perk as I already needed them to live normally anyway. So I figured why not make extra use of a tool I already have at my disposal. I get a lot of crap for it from my own race, at least it’s not a very invasive form of cybernetics and I can remove them to bathe. Anyway if you hear people calling me Grady, just ignore it and don’t ever call me that.” They were swiftly seated in the tram and various other beings entered right after them. There were several Cacceran that were mostly fox like in appearance talking amongst themselves about business, three average looking Macropussians that seemed relatively civil in appearance and a Parascine. The common factor among all of them was that they each had a Dik-Dik alongside them sometimes interjecting here or there where necessary. Rarity and possibly Sassy were surprised to see Macropussians that weren’t punks or aggressive, Coco didn’t look towards the kangaroo aliens at all and averted her eyes. She was remembering a bad run in with some when she first met Ember and tried to start up a conversation with Opal. “So what are you looking forward to the most Opal?” Coco’s ears wilted as she had startled Opal out of looking at the Caccerans curiously. “Sorry for startling you.” “It’s okay Coco, I’m just being a little skittish.” Well Opal was experiencing a lot of knew things and was even shivering a bit before Rarity wrapped a hoof around her to calm her down. “I’m looking forward to getting a few new things, though I’d prefer to just window shop as I want to continue sleeping in moms room.” “Opal, you’re a big girl. You’re going to eventually want and need that space, as such it’ll be waiting for you when you’re ready for it. I’m not kicking you out of my room darling, just giving you one you can use for yourself.” Rarity didn’t know how to interpret the look So’Grahd was sending her and Opal, but the other Dik-Diks boarding the tram didn’t seem to be focusing any attention on them or their minder at all. The other Dik-Diks still looked at Opal and Chrysalis oddly, but mostly they kept to their own groups. “Yeah, but I don’t think I’ll ever stop needing you.” Opal cuddled up against Rarity, they’d stay like that for most of the ride. They shared a strong bond with one another and weren’t going to do anything to upset what they had. “So what is your biggest seller?” Everyone in the group jumped at So’Grahd suddenly talking, she didn’t seem much like a social butterfly. “If I’m going to be stuck watching you, I at least want to know what you are good at making. Note, this will be my only token attempt at making small talk.” “I believe our best seller is our expertly crafted EVA suits, they are cheap and efficient for the cost and the only reason why they would be expensive is if you wanted all the utilities we can put into them. I myself prefer making dresses, Coco is good at making accessories and normal clothing and Sassy is also quite good at fashion design and I trust her to manage our sales.” Both of Rarity’s friends perked up and looked a bit proud of themselves, they both liked to be praised for their work. “It’s why we’re here to visit Nocturne, we’re looking forward to a fashion competition. I for one know I have plenty of friends who could act as fashion models should I need them for the competition, Chrysalis here is really good at modeling dresses with her abilities.” “Thank you Boss Lady!” The warm gooey emotions were always a nice snack for Chrysalis, especially when they were meant for her. “Can I ask for help in getting senpai to notice me?” “Boss Lady?” Snorted out So’Grahd who raised an eyebrow at Rarity’s nickname. Rarity didn’t know what the Dik-Dik was thinking and obviously Chrysalis’s senpai was Sassy, she might as well answer both queries. “First off Boss Lady is what most of my crew calls me, I haven’t the foggiest idea why they keep doing so. I am a lady or a baroness if you will and I also happen to be their boss, but that doesn’t mean they need to keep calling me that.” Having said that Rarity turned away from So’Grahd to Chrysalis. “I’m pretty sure everyone notices you just fine Chrysalis, are you asking for my help with wooing Sassy? You do realize she’s sitting right next to me right?” “No, I just want her to notice me more, because she can’t possible want to miss all of this.” Chrysalis motions to herself, mostly the front half of her body, she do any motion anywhere close to her butt. “Did somebody hear something? I’m afraid the air is a little loud in here or is it just a foul odor I smell.” The wry tone Sassy spoke in and the way she turned her nose up and away made Chrysalis whine. “So cold, so ruthless about my unrequited feelings… you can all see why I’m so deeply in love with her right?” Said a suddenly perky Chrysalis. “I mean it’s not just her looks, but the whole package that I’m interested in.” “Yes, there does seem to be a foul odor that is following you around. I’m sorry that you can’t get rid of it so easily.” So’Grahd joined Sassy in her current attitude towards Chrysalis. “Okay that’s enough!” Coco raised her voice an octave, which meant she was still within the realm of Fluttershy soft. “Stop picking on Chrysalis, even if she does smell funny a lot of the time and is annoying. She’s our friend, we should treat her a little bit better than we do. I will however withhold my respect until she actually earns it by coming to me for help when she’s obviously floundering with something. She’d have finished toys sooner had she at least asked an expert on it and we have four, all of us are right here too.” “Given all the failures it took to even make the two successful toys that she did, I’m sure she’d rather continue to fail horribly then to take you up on an offer for help because she prefers to be self-sufficient.” Opal knew Chrysalis quite well, but she still had to get in her own opinion on the matter. “Asking for help is not a sign of weakness Chrysalis, it just means that you’d like to know about something that you clearly don’t before it ends in utter disaster. Speaking of, yes Chrysalis’s first few attempts were complete disasters and she’s like a Yak from Yakyakistan when it comes to needing help.” “I love all of you, and I seriously mean that too.” It wasn’t hard for Chrysalis to like these people, they were quite fun with how they insulted her in a lighthearted way. “I know how most of you really feel, don’t really know about Sassy or the Dik-Dik though. They’re keeping their emotions closed off from me pretty well.” “You better believe I’d keep my emotions closed off from someone who’d snack on them.” So’Grahd was not looking to become a buffet for the literal odd one out of the group, she glanced at Sassy whose expression remains completely even with just a minor eye roll to show for it. “I think they’re doing you a favor Crystal, at least they are not forcing you to choke on their negative emotions.” At least Rarity had the right idea of what to say to shut off this conversation that was going nowhere. “Huh… so maybe I can get a herd going with the two of them?” Some would say Chrysalis was nuts to be attracted to those who disliked her so much, she had made So’Grahd blanch and unleash the full strength of her negative emotions about being saddled with their group. All the Changeling Queen did was let off a whistle in Grahd’s direction. “That’s a lot of resentment, whose oats did you pour your bodily fluids into?” “Not if you were the last being in existence and I don’t know who I pissed off exactly.” After stating that So’Grahd calmed down, minutely at least as far as Chrysalis could tell despite her outward appearance becoming quite blank. “Look, I resent the fact that I was pulled from my job to watch the lot of you. I’d rather be chasing down some criminal scum or working a case, heck I was almost perfectly fine with watching incoming ships for any signs of illegal activity. Instead of doing that I’m stuck with a babysitting job like this one.” “I wouldn’t challenge Chrysalis if I were you, she might actually take you up on it and actually start trying to earn your affections as well. Someone like her trying to form a herd would be bad for all who get involved in it… much less the universe as a whole.” Sassy kept herself emotionally balanced when it came to Chrysalis. She didn’t hate Chrysalis, but the mare did tend to wear on ones nerves if they weren’t ready for the Changeling Queen and she was certainly more than ready. “Is it us you resent or those in command for putting you here?” “I don’t know, but we’re almost there. The merchant district is quite large considering how much business comes through this station at any given time.” Started off So’Grahd who was beginning to cool down, she was entertaining four guests and a nuisance and had to stay on top of things. “You are to stick together as a group and as your minder I am to be stuck with you until you leave, unless mitigating circumstances occur.” “What kind of mitigating circumstances?” Asked Rarity as the tram came to a stop and the doors opened to the station in the merchant district. They all exited first and made their way out of the station to witness quite a decent looking city before them. Opal looked as eager as Coco to stop the sniping at Chrysalis and Rarity decided to help things along. “This is our first time here and we are in your care after all.” Sassy suddenly frozen next to Rarity, her eyes sharpened imperceptibly. A flicker of movement, a flash of silver and a bright spark of something happening from a few feet in front of Rarity’s face stopped them in their tracks. “What was that?” Rarity asked looking at Sassy who seemed to have not change the expression on her face at all and seemed to be standing in the exact same position she had been when Rarity had blinked. “What was what Rarity?” Though Sassy knew Rarity had to have seen at least some of the exchange that just happened, she had hopefully moved fast enough to avoid anyone fully seeing what she just did. She didn’t want to worry Rarity or ruin their trip, but she was now far more alert than she had been a second ago. “I didn’t see anything.” At least Sassy wasn’t lying about not seeing anything, she had done what she just did out of instinct and managed to barely stop what was about to happen. Both Chrysalis and Opal sent her an incredulous look at that statement, Coco just looked confused and could tell that something was up and it involved Sassy somehow. Sassy slowly positioned herself near So’Grahd. “I could have sworn something just happened.” Shaking her head, Rarity swore she just saw something and continued onwards into the streets of the merchant district. While she did that she sent a suspicious look towards Sassy before returning it to the streets littered with many other species meandering around the tram station’s entrance and the many stalls and shops the permeated the area. “Well let’s get a move on, we have some shopping to do.” Opal, Coco and Chrysalis all knew something had occurred, but only Opal and Chrysalis had managed to follow what exactly it was that just happened in its entirety and wanted to stay silent about it for their own reasons. Sassy’s speed was quite unreal for a pony, especially when she deflected that material round that had been fired from what had to be a material sniper and not only that, but she had grabbed the material round as soon as she deflected it upwards with her left hoof while her right returned her blade to its sheath. The subsonic material round was quite swiftly pocketed by the mare. Chrysalis could still process many things even without other Changelings to boost her mental prowess with the hive mind and Opal had basically seen it all happen in slow motion. It was incredible the way Sassy moved forward, pulled her Chokuto from its sheath and then seemingly tapped the material round out of the air without really looking at it. She had changed the material rounds momentum and made it bleed off before catching it with her other hoof and pulling back into the position she was previously as she sheathed her blade. It all happened within the span of half a second and if you had blinked, then you would have certainly missed what she did and you were likely to miss it anyway like Rarity did even if you hadn’t. “Tell me plainly, did someone just try to assassinate her and here of all places?” So’Grahd spoke with barely a whisper so as not to immediately panic everyone around them. Though she was quite sure the others were suspicious given the way they eyed their friend for a second after she moved to defend the one they nicknamed Boss Lady. “What exactly are you getting me into here?” This is what So’Grahd lived for, she preferred to be an active protector and someone had just tried to kill one of her charges of whom she thought were just another lazy babysitting job. It would have looked bad on her if she let someone die while under her watchful eyes. Someone probably expected that to happen as she had heard the material round coming, but she couldn’t do a single thing to stop it in time. This led So’Grahd to wondering if someone wanted her to fail her job or if this was a personal grudge against one of her charges or maybe someone just had something against the ‘So’ clan, she really hated politics and it was why she was a Triple P Officer. Rarity did say she was a baroness and her death wouldn’t have gone down very well for So’Grahd, but she didn’t understand why someone would want to kill a merchant. A merchant that sold clothes of whom she was specifically put in charge of no less, had someone expected this attack to succeed and what would they do now that it didn’t? How did someone even get a material sniper into the station and weren’t immediately put on the watch carefully list? Assassins couldn’t get into the station without being watched constantly, if they were about to fire a long range weapon it would and should have been stopped immediately. All weapons were checked and registered before anyone even came onto the station, so either someone inside the station brought the rifle in in pieces or somebody had to have let them in knowing that the target would have little to no chance at avoiding certain death. Only they hadn’t accounted for an Equus magic samurai to be present, one who was good at detecting and subsequently deflecting high speed projectiles. That was a rather high end skill for someone like Sassy, it at least let So’Grahd know the sword wasn’t just for show. Even if someone tried to sneak a weapon onto the station, then the scanners would have at least picked it up if it was fired and yet there was no sudden lockdown of the area. Something was going on here and someone was trying to possibly make a fool of So’Grahd or her clan as a possible bonus. So’Grahd knew what these so called merchants were equipped with, Sassy had her Chokuto and the strange electric pins in her clothing that the scanners knew about and weren’t considered very lethal weapons. Rarity had two energy pistols and that was all these people had to defend themselves with, unless there was something about Chrysalis that she didn’t know anything about. This was the first time So’Grahd has ever seen or met a shape shifter, she wasn’t even sure if this was what Chrysalis normally looked like. Magic was something the Dik-Dik race didn’t know how to counter, though detecting it certainly wasn’t an issue and three of these people were active magic users. One of them just deflected and even caught a material round without the aid of magic, given her horn didn’t light up at all to do what she just did. So’Grahd was quite skilled in close combat like many of her race, but even the amount of skill Sassy showed was quite ludicrous and some would say impossible if So’Grahd hadn’t clearly witnessed Sassy pocketing the material round. “Yes and I have no clue.” It was all Sassy whispered back in response as her eyes looked towards windows and the top of buildings looking out for another possible attack. Rarity wanted to avoid trouble and Sassy was going to make sure trouble avoided her, she didn’t know if she could trust So’Grahd at this point and was in a position to deal with her quickly if needed. So’Grahd figured whoever had attacked likely knew that it wasn’t a fluke that their target wasn’t dead and had already left their position either to set up for another or plan a different strategy. She heard a sound of someone calling her on her data pad and she immediately started up the record function as she pulled it from her uniform, she records every conversation she has ever had on the pad and it has saved her ass numerous times to do so. “Officer So’Grahd, I am so sorry to hear that one of your charges has died.” Apparently the guy calling So’Grahd hadn’t got the memo that Rarity was still alive and breathing, he had likely only heard that the assassin had taken their shot and had assumed that Rarity died from a material round through her skull. “I can help you out, but you’ll have to listen to me if you want to keep your job and I’m sure your clan doesn’t want to hear about your little…” “Sorry, but your plot, whatever it is, has already failed. Thanks for letting me record the evidence of your duplicity, I didn’t think we had any corruption in our forces until now. Thanks for letting me and many others know that someone in the Triple P can be bought.” So’Grahd knew that voice and had paled for various reasons, things around here were going to start sucking quite badly if there was going to be a series of attempts at killing any one of her five charges or their friends in the other group... oh shrike. Hopefully the other group could take care of itself and that Zel’Itenk was a truly honorable Dik-Dik. “Thankfully the assassin missed so I don’t have to worry about being blackmailed into keeping my job and I’m now sending this to everyone in my precinct and to the rest of the ‘So’ clan. Thank you for being cooperative.” “What, that shouldn’t be possible, that Pony should be dead!” The voice sounded absolutely livid. “You should be panicking and…” “Thanks for continuing to confirm that you were a part of the plot, my clan and the honor of the Dik-Diks won’t be sullied by the likes of you.” So’Grahd kept her voice firm and even and tried to keep it down as to not alert anyone other than Sassy that something was very wrong on Selengard Station. “We’ll make sure you won’t get off this station without an inquisition happening and I will continue to protect my charges until further notice as someone has so graciously ordered of me. I certainly have a much better reason to do so now.” Apparently somebody wanted to manipulate her or the Dik-Dik race as a whole and So’Grahd wasn’t happy about it, neither would her people be once they finished hearing about this. She might have been griping about a cushy job, but now it was a full blown problem and it had her attention completely. Someone wanted her to be a minder and to fail horribly at it, it certainly wasn’t just her imagination that somebody was trying to set something in motion and it required for one of her charges to be dead. “Is everything alright back there?” Rarity asked as So’Grahd fell behind the group a ways. “As your people would say, just peachy.” Even as So’Grahd said it she couldn’t bring herself to do anything more than keep a very neutral look on her face, she wanted to frown so badly or at least smile that she just helped put a partial stop to something. She didn’t think it would be that easy though and she was going to keep her wits about her just in case things got worse. “Just something that came up, that I needed to look into. Nothing to worry about and I already have other people working on it.” Though worrying was what So’Grahd was going to do until this mess cleared up and none of the people from the Shining Jewel were safe as long as they were on this station if they were being targeted specifically. There was also the chance that the target was specifically the unicorn that would have died, but So’Grahd didn’t know if that unicorn had been around long enough to actually make enemies here or if she had enemies that came here from somewhere else. They would be safe if So’Grahd could help it and she didn’t know if she could trust anyone other than her own clan or possibly other Dik-Diks, she needed more information like yesterday and the first best source of that would be to ask the group she was minding. The group did seem rather nervous and worried about their ‘Boss Lady’ as they call her. - “Ten bits says Rarity has to fight a robot revolution or at least has to take down a few cyborgs.” Gilda started off as she sat down at everyone’s favorite mess hall table and waited for Saffron to get cooking. “Dik-Diks have that kind of technology right?” “Ten bits on it being the Trapeze Troupe that gets into trouble.” Greta added on to the betting pool with a smile. “Ten bits says that Rarity is accidentally confused for being the leader of a crime syndicate.” Saffron added on to their rather morbid sounding bets, she wouldn’t put it past anyone to think that after hearing Rarity’s nickname. “Twenty bits, on at least most of that happening while we’re still here and Coco ends up killing someone or something by accident.” It was surprising to hear that Coriander was throwing in with their wild bets of what might happen, especially after hearing stories of Rarity’s ability to walk into and out of chaos mostly intact. It was all in good fun really and Coriander seriously didn’t see Coco as doing something like that, even after Saffron told him of what had happened on Antilur Station. “Five bits that everything happens to the Shining Jewel itself.” Vera seemed to be just throwing in her loser bet to prevent anything from happening to the ship that they were all currently occupying by attempting to use reverse psychology against the universe itself. -117-“Guys, I don’t want to be an alarmist, but there’s trouble here on the station.” The reaction to Opal’s words was quite blasé. “Gee Rarity goes onto a space station and something terrible happens… I never would have guessed.” They were already betting on what was going to happen while they were on break, so the sarcastic lilt was expected. At least Gilda hoped everyone survived at least because this crew would have to pretty weak to not survive the more cataclysmic things Rarity gets drawn towards, into and or is drawn to her. “So what’s going on Kitten? Apparently you’re giving us a live vocal only news feed for a reason, can anyone find this signal?” “I doubt they’d find a signal written in braille and with a backwards transmission. So no interception isn’t possible unless they know I can do this kind of thing and I’m not telling anyone who doesn’t already know.” At least Opal knew what she was doing and her mental signal was mostly untraceable, what it wasn’t was impossible to detect and she was only going to use it in an emergency. Like right now was an emergency, because someone just tried to kill her mother and she was a little more than angry about it considering she didn’t have access to the computers around the station, it would have seriously helped if she could immediately get some sort of visual on the shooter or at least a scan of their body. “It’s kind of weird just thinking at the Shining Jewel and having my voice just pop up over there like this.” “Can you please focus and tell us what happened?” There was an itch to put on a costume and bust some heads, which was something Saffron had a problem with keeping a hoof on. “Well, we all know mom doesn’t have any enemy’s right?” Opal started off with what was assumed to be a placating tone. “Do I need to break out the space tank?” If something was going south already then Gilda was prepared to fire the Bombing Peregrine straight into the hangar and would start wrecking stuff, she was pretty sure the Boss Lady didn’t mind going pirate even if she abhorred other space pirates she couldn’t hate herself for being one right? Well it would be more like privateer, but with tons of explosions and violence. “Don’t do anything drastic like that Gilda… at least not yet anyway.” At least Opal had remembered how busy Gilda and Greta were, what had they gotten around to fixing? She knew Greta did maintenance on all the impulse saddles at least, wait did that mean Opal could get her own EVA suit? She really hadn’t talked about wanting one, but they were here to pick up supplies for making more anyway so it wouldn’t be too hard to bring up. “Is the Bombing Peregrine even okay after Lightning used it?” “Well the main gun is a bit off center and needs to be recalibrated, the armor was easy to fix and its shields are good. I still need to fix the small turrets and I can easily do that in my spare time, but mostly it’s currently viable for a short term operation as it is.” After a short pause Greta added on to what she said, but seemed to be directing her words at Gilda. “It wouldn’t be very effective against those Jackknife’s the Dik-Diks use given they are a lot faster than our space tank, remember our space tank is meant to operate optimally in atmospheric conditions. We could get it inside the station, but those Jackknife fighters would be an issue. Gilda’s already gotten a few pictures of them flying around, I think she’s taking some ideas from them.” “Can we not go off topic that you were calling us for from the start please?” It was a bit frustrating having everyone diverge from the task at hoof and Saffron got them back to the topic. “Some of us would like to know what’s happening over there, also I think the Caballeron Cabal would be Rarity’s enemies after what she did to Mind Field.” “Don’t forget about those space pirate frigates Rarity had you devastate Opal. The space pirates might have connections in some places, though I seriously doubt that space pirates would be out to get Rarity.” Vera didn’t have any problem putting that out there. Her personal CAT drone was floating next to her acknowledging that, yes, she was in fact right there and existed. “We don’t personally know any of the pirate factions if there are any anyway and psychologically speaking they would technically be afraid of ever seeing Rarity again. As for other possible enemies, well Mass Offensive Meteors though they could count as everyone’s enemy. We know that MOMs are at the very least intelligent or cunning from the last known intrusion into space. They are not nearly far enough outside a bestial mindset at best to infiltrate a station just to attack Rarity, if anything the MOMs and their monsters would be after Gilda or Greta.” “Good news, it’s not a MOM or a possible world devastating form of sifter drifter this time. It was someone with a material sniper. Though now that you mention it, Tempest Technologies and the humans working for it might come after us for putting a lot of people out of their jobs.” Though Opal would like to see them try and get to Rarity, it’d be through her existential mystically formed body that she’d let anyone hurt her mother. If she could see the immediate threat that is and would be in a position to do something about it. “Whoever they were they fired a subsonic material round, which means the shot was silenced. It’s kind of scary how close mom came to dying and I’m rather surprised that I’m not having a panic attack right now. Shouldn’t I be panicking more?” “Seriously how did the Boss Lady... Sassy stopped it didn’t she?” It didn’t take much for Gilda to put two and two together. “That frankly sounds impossible, she wouldn’t have been able to see it and her reaction time would have to be on point to even deflect it with her short blade. Not to mention she’d have to counteract the force of the round hitting the blade. Do you realize how ridiculously talented Sassy has to be to do that?” “Surprisingly Sassy didn’t see it, but she still managed to deflect it. I think it was instinctual or at least I hope it is, because it would be exceptionally useful since Chrysalis can’t sense threats outside a certain range. It was quite an amazing sight given how fast Sassy was moving and she even caught the material round after deflection. The sniper likely fled after firing the shot and is likely trying to get out of the station or is being tracked down by Dik-Diks as we speak, the worst case scenario is that they are setting up for another shot.” That’s what Opal wanted to tell them from the start, however her mind was kind of in two places at once. It was a good thing she could multitask. “You can tell Sassy has been training her samurai skills hard when she starts deflecting things she can only feel, I think she’d still have some problems with material cannons. Though she’d likely be capable of deflecting more rounds than she previously did.” “Well, what do you want us to do or are you just informing us about it Kitten?” Under her gruff nature Gilda was actually pretty worried, she wanted at least some time to build her personal fighter. Even if she didn’t necessarily have all the stuff to make it yet, she did have several ideas for a base design thanks to the Javelin’s main module she had enshrined in section four of the hangar. “Just informing you so you can be ready for just about anything when things start going south around us, it seems safe at the moment.” By the very definition the merchant district of the station was filled with quite a bit of noise as many random species were doing business with one another, their voices melding together as one and Opal’s ears flicked as she listened in on multiple conversations at once around her. She could follow every single one of them, but none of them were saying anything worrying or anything about their group. “Also does anyone want anything like a souvenir or knickknack while I’m on the horn? We’re all trying to stay calm to keep from blurting it out to Rarity what happened, well at least me, Chrysalis and Sassy along with our Dik-Dik minder. Coco has her suspicions as to what happened and we’ll have to eventually tell mom how close it was if Sassy had been a second slower to react.” “Well Rarity can make most of things I could possible want. If you can find something unique that we can’t produce ourselves, then it might actually be up my alley.” The universe was still a cruel place, but nothing would stop Greta from smiling. Though she was quite worried to hear someone took a shot at Rarity, she was glad things were okay at the moment. “Just remember to get something for everyone if you do, don’t play favorites with just your Aunt Greta now. Just as a precaution I’m going to prioritize the personal shields project, sorry Gilda but it’s become necessary that I focus on that as it’s becoming quite an immediate concern.” “No problem, there’s not much I can’t do on my own already Greta and you know this. Though I’m going to need Mr. Welder for the foreseeable future.” Being competent at her job was one of Gilda’s best traits, she wouldn’t be a very competent at her job if the Boss Lady dies. Rarity had better not die, Gilda doesn’t like crying. “If I need your help Greta I’ll bother you for it, but yeah those personal shields are definitely a priority project after hearing about this. I’ll be working on building Saffron some new powered armor… maybe you can make a personal shield that can be installed into her suit directly if you can figure something out.” “Okay while those two are working on that, keep your emotions in check Opal and try to come back with a smile on your face. You don’t want to worry Rarity unnecessarily if it was a one off thing.” At least Vera could hope it was a one-time thing, both the people who could actively see her were on that station and then there was Sassy. Sassy was always an odd one to talk to, at times she’s seemed perky and happy and others she was cool and collected. Vera hoped Sassy didn’t lose herself like she did back on Eweson, though it might be a good idea that she does so under the right circumstance. “Your one of the most emotionally stable, if a little overly energetic, people I know Opal. Coco of course being the most stable of the mental nuts this crew has.” “Right, you guys can go back to what you were doing. I’ll keep you informed if anything else happens and it will knowing mom.” After that Opal silently cut the connection to the Shining Jewel. The entire crew was wise to Rarity’s luck, it was excellent when it came to surviving just about anything, it was decent when it comes to business and it was completely horrible when it comes to being absolutely safe no matter where you were. They certainly lived in interesting times. After the crew still on the Shining Jewel were finished being informed, they decided to send someone to check on Ember to see if the feeding tube was still in good condition and make sure Mr. Spew was fed something toxic. Their dragon friend really wasn’t doing that much better, but it was still somewhat marginally better that she was less critical than she had been. They were going to do several things to make sure Ember didn’t wither away on the medical bed she was occupying, feeding her mulched gems and jewels mixed with water was one of them. Mr. Spew would always be in medical to keep Ember constant company and it was his job to be there for her when no one else could be, everyone else had jobs to do and or needed exercise. They really couldn’t be there for the dragon twenty four seven, but checking on her periodically didn’t hurt. Maybe someday her shredded scales would even start growing back. - Coco had been silent until they entered a shop to have a look around, it was owned and operated by large male Macropussian. He seemed to be a quiet fellow and his wares were somewhat interesting, given that they were all unique bits of electronics here or there like a wrist or hoof mounted data pad. They needed more wiring for producing EVA suits, which reminded Coco that they also needed to get chemicals for breach gel and maybe she could buy Opal a data pad as a late ‘don’t know when your birthday actually is’ present. “So, what’s your deal? You’re the rather quiet and unassuming one of the group, unlike her or her. That bug pony thing is probably one of the most obnoxious beings I’ve ever met in my life.” The poor quiet mare jumped when So’Grahd approached her, then the Dik-Dik promptly pointed out Sassy and then Chrysalis who was of course testing her luck with Sassy once more. “How do you live with something like that?” “Chrysalis really isn’t all that bad, you just need to get used to her being around. She’s not exactly as dumb as she acts either, in fact she’s good at planning circles around people.” Watching the scene Coco winced as Chrysalis met the floor face first and scrutinized the small smile Sassy had, did Sassy actually like Chrysalis? Her long time friend sure seemed to like knocking Chrysalis down a lot. “Though she has a bit of a history… like kidnapping ponies for instance.” “Was it anyone important?” Of the things So’Grahd didn’t need to ask or wouldn’t be surprised about in the slightest, it was that Chrysalis had a criminal history. “She’s done it to several important ponies, it’s kind of something like a really strange Changeling courtship ritual. I don’t know if it’s just for Changeling Queens or if it’s a Changeling thing in general.” There were a lot of things Coco didn’t ask Chrysalis about, there were plenty of things people didn’t want to know about her, her race or her biology. Like what the properties of Changeling goo was, the stuff they built cocoons out of and sometimes used as sealant in construction projects. “As to what my deal is, I’m a bit of an inventor or at least I like to tinker with accessories. My special talent is accessorizing as much as it is making clothing and it translates pretty well into advanced technology in the terms of add-on or utility, but it is all technology that you can wear. I’m the creator of most of the utilities an EVA suit can have, my impulse saddle is kind of a key feature to the EVA suits we sell. Spare oxygen tank, maneuverability in space and can run almost infinitely if you’re in a system thanks to a solar powered battery that’s made to tolerate as much heat as the suit itself can. We tend to wear our EVA suits as a light form of protection, the breach gel in the suits tends to keep the wearer medically stable if they get shot. Breach gel was something Rarity invented that has proved itself useful time and again.” “Well that’s informative, what kind of price are selling them for?” It was a curiosity to be sure, but So’Grahd seemed to be focusing on her surroundings more than she was on Coco. “I can handle that, do you have you’re data pad ma’am? Our site is up and running and I’m the mascot, it shouldn’t that hard to find.” Though she was listening in to surrounding conversations, talking to the crew and perusing the shop personally, she still had time to try and market her mom’s stuff. So’Grahd reached into the left pocket of her uniform and pulled out her data pad, after turning it on she gave it over to Opal who quickly brought up the site and then gave it back to Officer Grahd. Looking over the site she snorted at the cutesy images of the mascot form of Opal as she went through the EVA suit menu and costs for various things that could be installed in with her. “So everything here is made by you and those two?” So’Grahd received a simple nod and a noise of affirmation from Coco. “Can some of these things be purchased separately from the suits?” “The Pinpoint Pullers can be part of the suit or separate from it, impulse saddles are not necessary to use an EVA suit. If something happens to the oxygen tank in the saddle, the EVA suits helmet will supply its own breathable atmosphere.” If Opal could help the Officer become a customer then she was all for helping sell something to So’Grahd. “We can probably give you a portable recharge station, but you’d have to wear the saddle to make use of it.” While Opal was busy with Officer So’Grahd, who every once in a while glanced at her surroundings in an alert fashion before going back to paying attention to Rarity’s Rarities mascot, Coco started to look at the electronics the store offered as Rarity bought a large spool of wire and several electronic components. “Um… h-hello… c-could you maybe help me with something?” Coco tried to work up the nerve to speak out loud and clearly it wasn’t going too well. “Sure, what’ll it be for the little sheila?” This wasn’t said with an Australian accent and the voice was quite even and calm for an Irish accented kangaroo alien, though the shop owner’s size was still quite intimidating alongside his dark brown fur. “Offram, you’re scaring the wee one, she’s clearly afraid of your girth you lazy sod.” This Macropussian was smaller and had a long green Mohawk falling to one side of her head, but her voice was distinctly British and rather angelic. She was giving the other Macropussian a glare. “I was scared too when I first met him. Thought he was a sifter drifter that somehow got onto the station at first, but he wouldn’t hurt a fly. What do you need of old Auntie Aulor Ortallia?” “This is my wife and she wears the pouch in this family quite well, she’s a real peach too. A bit fuzzy on the outside, but she’s sweet throughout and has the voice of a most beautiful Valkyrie. Now if only she’d choose a different hairstyle that didn’t made her look like a punk.” As far as Offram was concerned his wife couldn’t insult him in any given way. “She’s quite right about me, she even made me take on the Ortallia name when I joined with her and what a joining that was. She’s stronger than a Velonian Tiger she is and it took hours for me to escape her when we were jumping the bed we were, but it was a good day overall. Well… for as long as I could outrun her anyway.” “She doesn’t need our life story you pillock. Especially not about how rowdy I am in bed!” The smaller lither roo smacked the larger one in the back of the head with a fist before turning to Coco with a clearly red face that showed through her tan colored fur. “Sorry about him love, he’s just a mighty silly roo who knows what he likes and he better like it or else he’s sleeping on the floor for a week straight if he knows what’s good for him. So what do you need? I hope you haven’t been scared off by my favorite bum, I’m the owner of this here outfit and if you need something I’m sure I can find it if it’s electronics your looking for.” “To clarify, I am kind of a bum, she just pulled me off the street and married me. She’s quite a firecracker, has me doing stock and forcing me to work for her.” A snickering Offram followed up. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” “It’s not that I’m scared of you specifically sir. Though you are quite big and intimidating. I kind of had a bad run in one time… it was scary and they were Macropussian bounty hunters. What did Ember call them… bounty humpers?” As soon as she said those Coco’s face turned bright red and she bowed her head in embarrassment only to have it be brought back up by the right hand of the female Macropussian. Chrysalis stalked her way over her ears flicking as she heard a notably attracting word, but apparently it was nothing and soon grew bored with the conversation Coco was having and left shaking her head in exasperation. All without Coco noticing that Chrysalis had been there and had heard the now awfully shy mare say it. Sassy was making sure Chrysalis didn’t touch anything in the store on the chance that something would explode violently once the Changeling Queen did. At least Sassy remembered what Opal said about Chrysalis being technologically destructive. “None of that now, no need to get so embarrassed! One bad experience does not a whole race make, also I believe you were looking for the words ‘Bounty Jumpers’.” The smiling face of Aulor almost had Coco feeling safe enough to talk openly to… when Aulor eventually let go of Coco’s face and managed to stop rubbing the cute pony’s cheeks affectionately. She was very nice for what looked like an intelligent version of an Equestrian Kangaroo or Kangaroo’s like what you would see on Earth, it was weird how genetically dissimilar all three of them were despite appearances. “A sweet little thing like you doesn’t seem like the type to cause trouble. Now if we can get down to business and ignore my worst half please?” “I’m the worst half? That makes you the crazy one then, since it was love at first sight for you when you realized I wasn’t a lazy monster and was just a lazy roo.” Offram couldn’t avoid Aulor’s tail swiftly slapping him across the side of his head, it even made the sound of a cracking whip when it made contact. The poor beleaguered male Macropussian was knocked out of his seat behind the counter, he raised a hand pointing to the ceiling that was barely visible to Coco. “You still wear the pouch in this family a little bit too tightly my dear. She does this to me all the time… I’m just going to stay here on the floor for a while. Also, I’m okay.” Chrysalis wandered back over and took a bite out of the ambient love in the air and smiled a little, it was her kind of love and nobody would notice if it went missing anyway. Though Sassy was giving her a flat look, what did she do that was so wrong? Absolutely nobody was using that ambient love, it wasn’t like she was taking the love from the two directly and they technically didn’t have a claim on the ambient love in the room. “Well, I was wondering if you had something in the vein of wrist, leg or hoof mounted computers like a bracer or an arm guard. Something adjustable that can maybe fit a Cacceran?” Coco knew Opal wanted a personal data pad that wasn’t one of Chrysalis’s spares, but a wrist or arm mounted computer would be just as nice. “Well if you have anything that’s not a normal data pad and something really unique, it would be nice. You see we have these two griffon engineers on our ship and they are really good at building things. They could make almost anything if they put their minds to it.” “Wrist mounted or unique eh?” Aulor rubbed her chin looking at Opal and So’Grahd, before smiling at Coco. “Getting something for your little friend there? I think I might have something for you, what’s she like? What does she go for, what are her interests? Give me something to work with here.” “That’s my best friend’s daughter and she’s quite the energetic Cacceran, I just wanted to get something nice for her. Also my friend runs her own business, if you need a dress or something to wear we’re really good at making clothes and we’re quite fair with our prices.” Little by little, the weariness Coco was feeling was slowly ebbing away in the face of this comical pair. Macropussians were clothing optional like ponies, so it wasn’t much of a stretch to offer the two some services while acquiring goods. “Her name is Opal and she loves a lot of things and she really good with computers and communication systems too.” “Okay that’s enough, I have a few things you can look at. I’ll be right back, don’t do anything to scare off the poor dear Offram.” The only response Aulor got form Offram was a slight whine coming from behind the counter. Eventually Aulor returned with three devices for Coco to look over, they were certainly unique at the very least. One looked to be like Foggre technology given it had a maddening smiling face of a Foggre etched on it, one seemed to be a good fit for a Cacceran and the last thing was just outright bizarre. “Okay what’s wrong with this one, I’ve seen Foggre technology before and whatever they make works perfectly as intended.” It would certainly be unique if Coco bought something of Foggre make, but she didn’t think she’d give it to Opal. Maybe Greta or Gilda could do something with it. “Except for the one or more large flaws depending on how well that something works that is.” “So you know about a Foggre’s love for unique technological features then, well this thing was made with a huge memory capacity. The problem is, the huge memory capacity itself. You try to download something onto this thing and it’ll take years to find unless you’re really good with coding a search directory for the search directory that needs another search directory.” Aulor saw the look on Coco’s face as she fiddled with the device flip it open to show the screen to the Pony. “Yes it’s exactly that bad, anything put on this thing gets lost in the vast memory capacity and as for finding it? It would take a while for the average coder to do anything with it. To be a bit more upfront with you, any data put into this thing is immediately scattered into millions of bits. Bits you have to find and cobble back together to get what you wanted to be there in the first place, plays a mean game of Ghost Eating Pizza Monster at least.” “I might actually take that… what about this one” The one of Cacceran make was what Coco figured would be fitting for Opal, it was like arm mounted data pad in the form of a bracer and would fit Opal’s forearm well enough. “A little bit more average, but its top of the line. Surprisingly it’s not actually of Cacceran make, it was actually created by a Parascine. I know, quite mystifying as you don’t see the jellies with anything like this on their tentacles, one of a kind make and I’ve used it quite a bit personally. Sorry for the mileage on it.” Aulor smiled as she now had Coco’s interest when she showed the device to her, it was in really good condition and looked like it would clamp around Opal’s arm easily. “Good data storage and works like a regular data pad, sturdy, easy to operate one handed, hoofed or pawed and has a very large broadcast and receiver range. There is the added bonus that it has a built in defense mechanism that can fire electrical energy for up to ten feet, completely nonlethal and incapacitating unless you push the limits of what the feature can do by firing multiple bursts. That feature is not great for the battery life though, which is probably why it didn’t sell too well. Any batteries made by Parascines tend to not last very long or at least that’s what the Parascine who gave it to me said, I personally think it’s because batteries are hard for them to make when you live underwater for the most of your life. You might want to watch out for that or find a more workable battery solution if you want it.” “I’m definitely going to take this one.” The last one looked like one of the diamonds on Rarity’s flanks, only it was three dimensional and green with a metal ring wrapping around the widest part of it. It still caught Coco’s interest. “Still though, care to explain the last one, it’s a bit weird.” “Of course it’s weird, this one was designed by a Plurt. It’s a hands free unit, it has a slight problem with telling everyone what your mood is though and it tends to make people paranoid because it constantly floats above your head while active. It starts out green, but it can change white, red or yellow depending on your mood. I believe I have what it is written here… ah yes this is it.” After flipping through several sheets of paper, Aulor pulled one out and went over it. She eventually read it out to Coco. “It’s a Parallel Levitation Utilizing Machine Based Operations Bit or Plu-M’Bob for short. In simple terms a mobile computer drone and it can respond to voice commands, it even has a holographic projector that is interactive and it’s basically a fully working data pad that you don’t have to hold onto.” “So the mood thing and the floating above your head were the reasons why it didn’t take I guess?” The smile Coco received was a sad one, one that shouldn’t on the face of a pretty kangaroo-esque being like her. “Got it in one. I enjoy some of the weirder stuff that can still be useful, but doesn’t quite get the time to show its stuff to investors. It’s practically of no use just sitting around here and it is admittedly a bit creepy to have floating above you.” Moving behind the counter, Aulor was already bagging the one Coco wanted to give Opal and stopped to look at her. Aulor didn’t seem to react to the grunting coming from below her or even seem to care that she was standing on her mate’s chest at all. “So are you taking just the Parascine one then?” “I think I have an idea or two as to who can use the other two as well, I’ll take them too.” Both random bits of tossed out technology were tossed into the bag as well and Coco looked at the price. “Shouldn’t the price be more than that? I mean given what each of them can do?” “Yeah, but a one for three sell wouldn’t go amiss as I’m not exactly bad off for dosh, besides technology was meant to be used and I can’t let things like this sit around and collect dust.” Then Aulor leaned forward crossing her arms and on the counter while giving coco a bright smile and motioning the pony forward. Having moved closer to her, Aulor quickly darted her head forward and pecked a surprised Coco on the cheek. “Besides you’re too sweet to charge an arm and a leg for three pieces of unwanted tech I just had laying around in the back. I hope your ideas for them work out, I’ll look up your business and maybe you can help me with a dress or maybe something a little more revealing to get my mate up and running. Both literally and figuratively if you catch my drift.” “Kinky!” Chrysalis stated before Sassy rolled her eyes and started to drag her away from Coco’s business and towards Officer So’Grahd. “That was a bit too forward of you...” Commented Coco who stowed her purchased gadgets away in her saddle bags with her cutie mark emblazoned on them. “Sorry if that was too much, you smell like an obviously gay griffon and I couldn’t help myself because you’re really quite adorable.” After Aulor bade Coco farewell, the group left the shop and nothing would happen to them for the next hour or so aside from making various small purchases in the merchant district. Author's Note Yep, I'm still going to be going even after chapter -117-, some people would think my writing can only get better... over the next three hundred thousand plus words? Probably not. I'm a glass half empty kind of guy, because I've been drinking the water in it and that water is made of good will and cheer. What will happen when I run out? Does this story end then? Probably not. -118-Of the things Rarity was purchasing, she was having some of the things delivered to the Caravel Boutique for pickup like the fabrics she purchased for normal clothing and specialized airtight fabric for EVA suit manufacture. Some of the things she’d be carrying herself like the multiple spools of wiring. So far nothing was going wrong, but Sassy had been oddly quiet. Rarity knew that something had happened and that it was a big concern. It’s just that nobody was telling her what it was and she was quite sure it related to Sassy’s blade intercepting something. Was that it? Was something fired at Rarity and Sassy saved her from it, then followed it up by keeping her silence to preserve the trip and possibly Rarity’s sanity? Who else knew about this? Well she could say So’Grahd, Chrysalis and Opal knew about it. Coco seemed like the odd one out and… where was Coco? Oh she was just off to the side with Opal and giving her some kind of strange device. So’Grahd was doing something off to the side with Sassy and Chrysalis was sending either Sassy a scrutinizing look or a jealous one at their Dik-Dik minder. Rarity decided not to bother with finding out the truth of what happened, yet. They were trying to keep things quiet for her and even if something was going on, if it wasn’t an immediate concern then she was glad for that. She decided to however ask what Coco was giving to Opal. “What’s that Opal?” Asked Rarity as she approached her daughter. Said daughter was attracting some attention from the Dik-Diks, but nothing came of it yet. “It’s a wearable computer that Coco got for me, I’m still in the midst of personalizing it.” Opal’s paws were busy tapping away at the device, battery life wouldn’t be a problem with Gilda and Greta’s help. Though she did wonder why the various species didn’t intermingle their technology to make a more efficient product. Personalizing it meant putting her own personal mental touch on the device, it even had a nifty defensive application. “Thanks for the gift Coco! Also if you need the help with the other two devices you got, then don’t be afraid to ask. Now I’m inserting mom’s data pad into the system and… there.” “You’re welcome Opal, it’s not a very big...” It wasn’t a big deal, but Coco still appreciated the paws wrapping around her neck and hugging her. Coco usually put most of her money back into Rarity’s business and splurging on a gift for Opal was a nice thing to do. She nuzzled that cat trying to get her to let go. “Really Opal it wasn’t much.” “It’s big enough a deal for me Coco. Mom would get upset with me for not showing my proper gratitude.” A little red in the face as the hug was going on for a little too long, Opal let go as she noticed Coco was looking rather self-conscious about their hug. “I really didn’t want to use one of Chrysalis’s disposable spares, she’s not good with any technology other than weapons. Not that she ever uses the data pad I reinforced anyway…” “Yes, well that’s nice and all, but where to next? I want to see if there are places to eat and maybe chat up a stallion or two.” Not that she was going to expect a date upon first meeting any stallion, heavens knows that Rarity wasn’t having luck finding romantic love. “Though I will admit, I haven’t been able to really charm a single stallion in quite a while.” “Yeah well, Frost and Tender weren’t exactly up to your standards anyway and I doubt that you’d want a close relationship based on saving their lives.” Opal didn’t like the idea either as she would never… wait. Now that Opal thought of it, what were her prospects for dating and what should she be attracted to? She was an energy being, there weren’t exactly much of her kind around to explain the details of being a sapient pile of energy. “I probably wouldn’t and you’re right about that Opal, though if Braeburn didn’t have other prior arrangements… I might have tossed a few complimentary comments his way.” At least Rarity hoped Braeburn and Little Strongheart continued their slightly odd relationship as they were absolutely cute together. Almost as cute as Countess Coloratura and Applejack Apple were. “Are we ready to get moving Officer Grahd?” “Hold on for a few more minutes.” There was something to So’Grahd’s voice, though it was kept at an even and no nonsense tone. As their minder turned back to Sassy, Rarity decided to strike up a different conversation with Coco. “Also stay within sight, I’ve got a call to make to a few of my friends in the precinct.” “So Coco darling, have you ever met anyone that catches your fancy?” When all else fails Rarity was going to gossip. “Can we not talk about that Rarity?” It was embarrassing enough that Coco was recently kissed by a large alien kangaroo. She didn’t want to think about wanting a closer relationship with anyone, though Greta did come to mind. She preferred to be married to her work at the moment and not think about that sort of stuff. “Okay, then how about we talk about how you got into wrestling in the first place?” Another embarrassing topic and Rarity could see that Coco was quite reluctant, so Rarity shifted gears immediately. “What about some ideas for a few special utility based accessories I wanted to run by you?” “That sounds like something none of us would mind talking about.” Opal agreed a second later noticing that Coco seemed a bit skittish about her mother’s choice of topics where it came to her love life or the more interesting one about why she liked wrestling. Opal knew her mom wouldn’t nose into Coco’s personal space too much. “Okay, what kind of accessories?” If there was one thing Coco knew, it was that Rarity always came up with interesting ideas when it came to accessorizing with normal clothing or technology. - “Yeah, high grade metal material round, it would have killed one of our visitors had it managed to reach the target. Got anything about who would want to kill our visitors or a possible motive for this?” Looking up at the mare holding the material round So’Grahd took one quick glance around them and the various people going about their business. “Also is there anything else I should know, because I’m certainly getting paranoid that something else will happen soon. It’s been a while since the shot was fired.” “We have nothing to report on a motive for the attempted premeditated murder at this time Officer Grahd. We haven’t found the shooter, but we caught the guy trying to subvert you at least and he isn’t talking.” Hearing this So’Grahd soon found Chrysalis putting her face in front of her data pad. “We also have the rifle that likely fired the material round, we’ll tell you more when we’re sure.” “Oh, can I torture your prisoner? I’m really good at things like that, I can make him squeal real nice!” The cheerful tone Chrysalis spoke in made So’Grahd shudder, who could be this perky about torturing someone? “I mean pigs don’t even get to the vocal ranges I’m talking about.” “Please do not interfere in official Patrol business, even if it does involve someone in your group.” The dark purple furred male Dik-Dik on the screen was looking through some documents as he spoke, he was one of the reasons that most didn’t believe these alien antelopes weren’t from Equus. “Officer Grahd, they are still ‘legally’ in your care as a minder even if you are a Triple P Officer first and foremost. Don’t let anything happen to them until they leave and are not our problem anymore. At least until we can solve this issue. Be careful, we don’t want another Princess Luna crisis.” “Roger that, I will continue my duty to uphold the laws emplaced upon me by being pulled for minder duty and that of an officer of the Triple P. Call me if anything comes up related to this case, Grahd out.” So’Grahd turned off her data pad and put it away in the left pocket of her uniform before turning a glare to Chrysalis who just smiled innocently. “So what do I do with the material round officer?” The material round sitting on Sassy’s left hoof was a spiral grooved rusty red spike and made of a something twice the strength of stainless steel, but half the weight. It would look more dangerous if Sassy hadn’t dented the pointy end slightly when she deflected it. It had So’Grahd wondering how the mare kept her leg in its socket when deflecting the shot, much less still walking on that leg in general. People from Equus were talented in many extremes to say the least from Grahd’s point of view, Sassy especially so. “Keep holding onto it, it may be useful to have at a later time.” So’Grahd was only equipped with three main things, a material pistol that fired sharp chunks of wood as ammunition being one of them. “Most manufactured material rounds usually are.” Wood was both cheap and effective for keeping someone down, especially if it was left soaking in a soporific fluid for a while. Having a spare more dangerous material round never hurt and wooden rounds didn’t pierce armor all too well, the bright side was that the wood rounds were immune to being magnetized. Another piece of So’Grahd’s equipment was less noticeable, it looked like a metal bar on the right foreleg that seemed to be attached to her uniform. Said strange bar unfolded in a circular motion into a Dik-Dik projectile shield. At her right hip in a loose sheath strapped to her right hind leg was her melee weapon a high powered shock rod that was quite effective against a lot of things and built sturdy to act as a bludgeon if it ever ran out of power. “Yes, but as I pointed out, if it was manufactured why doesn’t it have any form of identification on it?” Manufactured material rounds were not unknown to Sassy or even the curious Chrysalis. “More importantly how did this specific manufactured material round get in the station to be fired in the first place?” “Wish I knew, the supplier of my wood rounds just takes an axe to whatever wood crafted junk he has lying around.” So’Grahd had two separate pouches full of small sharp wooden chunks on cloven hoof for a dragged out firefight, one of those pouches was specifically for the soporific rounds which had to be handled carefully. “Apparently it’s cathartic to tear up old wooden furniture with an axe and then give me the viable chunks left as ammunition. Okay, I’m ready to go, where are we heading to next?” - Dik-Dik cuisine was, to put it clearly, exceedingly strange when it comes to taste. There was a certain oily quality to the food, but it was also a bit salty with a fruity flavor. The one sure thing about it is that it was entirely vegan and safe for most species to consume. It was as odd as it sounded, but not too horrible. Rarity did ask So’Grahd if she knew a place that serves her races cooking out of cultural interest. “Well this is an intriguing taste, is all of your food this oily?” Not that it was a bad thing to Sassy who was willing to partake in a cultural lunch. The grilled plants from the Dik-Dik home planet tasted good, if unique. “No, it actually isn’t oily at all or doesn’t actually contain much oil really. It’s just an after taste to a lot of the food we make, a lot of the fruit from where my race comes from is just like that.” Not once had So’Grahd dropped her guard around them, she was quite tense even as she ate and took the time to look about every now and then. “The vegetables are where the real flavor is.” Coco eating her own grilled vegetables didn’t want to comment that they tasted like some form of meat, it was apparently a popular form of plant found on the Dik-Dik home world. Everything was definitely vegan, but there were tastes that matched something like meat in the cooking. Coco did not want to ask about it or draw attention to how it tasted to her. She had enough Pegasus ancestry in her, so eating meat wasn’t unexpected. It was just something Coco never brought up around Sassy or Rarity, like the fact that she enjoyed the occasional fish. She wondered what Opal’s soup and dipping bread tasted like and if it was anything like her vegetables. “I would have to agree, strangely flavorful and much more different to the vegetables from Equus.” Calmly patting her lips with a napkin in dainty manner, Rarity had relaxed when all the shopping didn’t lead to any more trouble. She did notice So’Grahd was on constant alert and would have thought it would be just her doing her job as a minder, but she wasn’t sure that was the case. “Tell me do those implants ever short out or fail in some way?” “Yes, which is why I tend to rely on sight, touch and possible shifts in the environment via air pressure or vibrations. It’s why I record every conversation I think might be important, as I fear someone could mess with my hearing by hacking my cybernetics. Which is why I also learned to read lips and body language as well.” One would assume So’Grahd had learned body language because Parascine didn’t have lips to read and were for the most part psychic. “Should I see the lips or body move on someone in an odd fashion compared to what I’m hearing, then I’ll know something is wrong and that my cybernetics could be compromised. Be lucky you don’t have to live with metal on your ears for the rest of your life, though I suppose things could be worse for me. I could have lost a leg or an eye, those are much harder to get cybernetic replacements for. My species would prefer to clone what is missing to fix the body and I agree with that sentiment, but that technology is not perfected quite yet and we currently have a good handle on cybernetic prosthetics already. Still, cybernetics tend to mess with the mind and it’s a good thing none of you have to worry about that.” Opal didn’t say anything, but she sent a glance to Coco, her mom and Sassy who in turn stealthily gave her a look as well. Opal was technically capable of making So’Grahd’s fears come true with her cyberpathic abilities Chrysalis was looking bored out of her mind just sitting there quietly, but she did nip at the air a bit when a couple nearby kissed. She licked her lips in satisfaction at the flavor, apparently there was true love on both sides and who knew that a Parascine and Unicorn Stallion could get along so well. Well not Chrysalis who was actually enjoying the positive atmosphere, but she wasn’t getting the attention she sorely wanted. “I know this might not be a good thing to bring up, but what did Sassy stop earlier?” While she might not have wanted to bring it up earlier, now was a good time as any to Rarity. “A material round, aimed for your head which would have been a killing shot.” There was no sugar coating it, someone had gunned for her charges and attempted something with So’Grahd. Just because a clandestine plot had fallen apart, it did not mean that there wasn’t any danger anymore. “In my line of work danger is always a given. At best they could have just aimed at me, I’m only wearing an armored uniform graded for handling low grade material rounds and moderate energy emitting weapons. No it was aimed at one of you, specifically you.” “Yes, well, I really don’t have any...” Rarity started to say before Opal cleared her throat loudly, Opal still had problems moving around on all fours and feeding herself. At most Opal was getting the hang of holding and manipulating things in her paws, which is why she didn’t need to be spoon-fed by Rarity anymore. “Don’t finish that sentence mom, because you kind of do.” Stopping to take a bite out of the soaked bread and getting juices on her chin from it, Opal swallowed and waited for Rarity to finish wiping her face before she continued. “There’s the humans behind Tempest Technologies after what you did to that invasive facility on Applin Five in the Applon System, the Caballeron Cabal for what happened to Mind Field, the Hands of Midas you fought off on that train and just for the sake of covering all our bases there’s also the random Space Pirates we pounded with the Shining Jewel. We have no idea if the pirates were actually part of an organizational structure or not.” “Shrike, what kind of life do you lead?” The word Shrike was a pretty common expletive among So’Grahd’s people. Shrike was a fondly remembered name, the reason for using it as an expletive was to make sure that a name was never forgotten. “A very unlucky one for a fashion designer and lovely looking baroness it would seem, that doesn’t account for the MOM attack or a sifter drifter that could have classified as an apocalyptic event unto itself. I’d rather not relive the memories.” After all she went through, Rarity still had Luna visiting her nightmares about the real horrors she witnessed. Said horrors most certainly do exist and there were possibly more of them out there. Having nightmares about poor color choice or being forced to wear something really tacky just wasn’t scary anymore, compared to something like that giant brain monster with the repurposed flesh zombies. The horrible screech of that giant scorpion beast still haunted Rarity’s memories. “Rarity is my name, my name should not reflect my ability to get into ridiculously bad situations in an ironically ‘common’ fashion.” “Never personally seen a MOM attack, but I know which sifter drifter she’s talking about and it does scare me that there are things out there that can access my mental network.” Even as she said this in a bored tone while running a hoof through her mane, Chrysalis really didn’t want to see another miasma spewing brain demon. She wouldn’t leave her hive mind completely open to another scary surprise like that one accessing her network in any given way. She was curious to know if a Parascine could access her Hive Mind, but didn’t cherish the thought of actually carrying out an experiment to find out. “The hive mind isn’t worth mentioning as there aren’t any other changelings around here to connect to.” “So you’re like a trouble magnet? Just great, now I’m even more paranoid.” Why did So’Grahd feel like she had forgotten to do something? Oh right, the group that went off with Itenk and that had her somewhat worried, she could trust Itenk to have her back in a dangerous situation. She couldn’t say the same for him having the backs of Rarity’s friends. “Can you please call your other group and see how they’re doing for peace of mind?” “I’ll get right on that, but I assure you that the Trapeze Troupe can take care of themselves.” Pulling her data pad out of her saddle bags, Rarity started it up and put in a call to Trapeze. “I’m sure they’re just fine.” - “Hello, oh hey Rarity, yeah we’re fine. Thanks for calling!” A hoof lashed out from an elegant rhythmic twirl and knocked the Parascine flat on its back from the force behind the blow, a standing Trapeze danced around a lunging Cacceran trying to claw at her face. She swiftly knocked the more rabbit like Cacceran on its face by tripping it up with her right rear hoof sweeping his legs out from under him and then she swiftly stomped down on his back putting him out of action. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I was in the middle of something.” A bar fight wasn’t exactly fine at all, not that Trapeze would ever drag Rarity into any trouble that her Troupe caused and Rover was the only one that was armed with a ranged weapon. Rover was holding his own pretty well against the small male Macropussian without needing to pull his weapon, he was a brawler compared to the elegance of Bernard who was taking out guys three times his size with relative ease. As far as Trapeze was concerned, you should never underestimate the toughness of a Lagotorphin who can take energy weapons fire with only some bad burns to show for it. Bernard leapt up and kicked a Plurt in the chin hard enough to flip the slug onto its back with grunt. Well Trapeze would loosely call this place a ‘bar’, the place they were at was more like a nightclub really. In space it couldn’t necessarily be called a ‘night’ club specifically. Trapeze looked over to see how Itenk was doing, he and the other minders were holding their own pretty well even if Itenk himself refused to protect the Troupe. They were solely using their hooves to fight and were surprisingly tough for their small statures. Seeing something coming at her in her periphery, Trapeze pulled her entire body into her hat confusing the female Macropussian who just hit air as the hat dropped to the floor. The Macropussian with shaggy blonde shoulder length hair flipped the hat over curiously to see nothing in it, then suddenly she was receiving a sharp right hook that knocked her down from out of nowhere by Trapeze rushing her from the left. Bernard bowed to Trapeze from the snack counter before placing his hat back on his head. Bernard’s hat was a bit small for Trapeze to come out of, but she managed what looked impossible quite well. Bernard swept his hat forward before him in a bow at the ravishingly beautiful and talented mare, she was just simply that great at what she did. Trapeze grabbed her falling hat out of the air with her right hoof, twisted it and tapped the top twice with her left hoof before moving it under the opening in the hat. A cane fell into Trapeze’s left hoof and she swept her hat back up to where it belonged, the cane was quite long and it could be used to perform magician tricks, it could also be used as a balancing pole for her multiple pole stacking act. More importantly the cane could be used in a fight like this one, but that’s not why she got it out. She was the entertainment and their show was supposed to go on in the next minute or so and what better way to stop an entirely aggressive room than to show off her skills as a large distraction? “Boys, come on, a true Trapeze Troupe member never misses a cue to do something incredible!” At Trapeze’s words Rover quickly knocked his opponent out with a swung stool to the head and disengaged from the fighting to the best of his ability, it made Trapeze wince because it was a solid metal stool. Bernard stopped punching a Parascine repeatedly in its nuclei and made his way through the room avoiding the wild fighting going on. Trapeze had to smack someone away with her cane as she made her way for the stage. “Hey piano mare, be prepared to hit it. Our show is about to go on and these jolly people need something to get their minds off beating each other senseless.” Once Rover and Bernard made it to the stage Trapeze smirked. She tilted her hat slightly over her eyes and stared at the crowd. She stabbed her cane against the stage roughly to make a very loud noise, this caused everyone fighting to stop and turn to her. “Something upbeat please, try to follow my mood if you will.” Standing on her hind legs, Trapeze started bouncing in place a few times. She then start to tap out a rhythm rapidly with both rear hooves and started to sing. Rover and Bernard nodded to each other, it was going to be one of those shows. (Johhny C Bad plays FFVI) “Hello everybody, my name is Trapeze Star! If you get to know me, then I will go far!” Trapeze started to tap dance on the stage and from out of nowhere she spread out a hoof full of Queen of Hearts with Celestia and Luna’s pictures alternating on them. “From card to card, I can really show you. How fast my tricks are, and how far away they’ll blow you!” “Rover really believes, that this is his chance to sing.” Rover intoned humorously as it being his one short line, while nodding his head to the music and juggling seven balls one of each color of the rainbow. “And don’t forget Bernard and that instant card house trick that he brings!” Trapeze pointed to a card house with the hoof loaded with the fanned out cards, the card house was already five cards high on the stage and Bernard was standing on it without it falling apart he waved his small top hat to the crowd with an insufferable smirk. The fighting had stopped in lieu of pure amazement at what Bernard had managed to get away with making while they were distracted by Trapeze’s singing and Rover’s juggling. “My name is Trapeze Star, now let’s get on with the show!” With a twist of her hoof to show the back of the cards and when they twisted back the cards all showed Cadence and Twilight alternating on them, this mystified the audience as much as the audacity to throw on her show while they were all beating each other senseless. “My name is certainly~ one you should know!” “Rover would also like, a bigger part on the go.” Rover caught the balls and they were ordered in a way to spell out his name in a big colorful rainbow with two balls having Quotation marks framing his name. “Singing is definitely not something, that Rover does like a pro!” “If you really wish-want-need-or-however-you-feel… then let us The Trapeze Troupe put on a show for you!” Tapping out a rhythm, Rover and Bernard started following Trapeze in her dance with the cane as she tossed two canes to them to follow along with. It was at that point that the crowd noticed Bernard’s card house was gone and a lot of them were in shock, because they didn’t remember Trapeze putting away the card she was hold and she didn’t have any sleeves. “We’re going to dance…. we’re going to prance… we’re going to dance…” “We’re going to prance…” Rover said putting his balls away somewhere in his red vest without it bulging and started to do a shuffle to left and right on the stage while tapping the cane, he was doing surprisingly well in not botching his parts at all. “We’re going to dance…” Trapeze followed tapping out a rhythm and then Bernard followed it expertly, then Rover and all three of them at once prancing a short circle. “Prance…” Rover, while smugly smiling, winked to Bernard who was also winking back at the same time as they twirled the canes behind Trapeze who was front and center. ‘Can we start some rants?’ Was written on the sign Bernard whipped out from behind his back, since he would have problems actually vocalizing his part. The audience started actually chuckling at his waggling brow. Behind Trapeze, Rover would say dance while doing so and Bernard would pull out a sign while prancing around that said ‘prance’ on it and waved it for emphasis when necessary while tapping to the rhythm. Trapeze was busy doing her own thing in front of the two. “Now come on all of you, I know you’ll want watch me do a trick or two.” As she sang she climb up her pole and balance perfectly on her back left hoof and started to slowly twirl, she kept singing even as she balanced and flipped from her rear left hoof to her front right in a hoof stand. She was looking at the crowd with a smile while splaying her other legs out wide. Her energetic mood was lighting up the room as she flipped into stand on the pole with just her back right hoof. “All while keeping in time to the beat, just so you know being an acrobatic magician is really quite neat. I can balance both too and fro, now I think you want us to keep moving on, so let me just say ‘let’s a go’ and here we flow!” The music continued on and the crowd watched as Trapeze managed to get the pole to lean to the left at a forty five degree angle and then right at another forty five degrees before straightening it out without falling over completely. Having stopped distracting the crowd they noticed Rover juggling bowling pins now, when a second ago he wasn’t. Bernard twirling a lasso made of handkerchiefs above his head and started to expertly lasso the bowling pins out of Rover’s juggling pattern. Every time Bernard did so, Rover added a ball to the pattern without pause by pulling them from his vest. The Trapeze Troupe had everyone’s attention in the room, hardly anyone could remember what they were fighting about as they were too distracted by the trio as they performed mystifying tricks and did strange several strange things on stage. “We are The Trapeze Troupe, there are some names you should know!” Pulling out a pole and twirling it into a position across her back, Trapeze angled it so that the pole would catch Rover’s balls and they would roll along the pole, across her back and fall into Bernard’s waiting paws to toss back to Rover. “Bernard, Rover and Trapeze are the stars of this show!” After that last line Rover tossed the seven colorful balls and they rolled along the pole which Trapeze evened out with a slight upwards bounce, the balls didn’t spell Rover’s name, it spelled ‘Tra’ to her right and ‘eze’ to her left the ‘p’ ended up sitting on her head in the middle. Trapeze actually had to use her other leg to brace herself for this one small stunt, but she pulled it off beautifully and it was insanely hard to get right in practice. The mare was standing perfectly balanced on the pole, while balancing six balls on the pole and one on her head with their letters facing the crowd without so much as a wiggle. The balls were, miraculously enough, not going to fall off of the pole or Trapeze’s head. Behind her Rover and Bernard were juggling eighteen slightly less round balls than what Trapeze was dealing with between them. When they let the balls drop to the floor and roll there were exactly seven in front of each of them spelling “ROVER” and BERNARD, they landed that way without having Rover and Bernard actively touch them to spell out their names despite the fact that they had been spinning through the air wildly. There was also the fact that the balls that spell Rover’s name in quotation marks were no long the right color they had been when Rover previously used them and the crowd couldn’t figure out where the extra fourteen balls came from given how small his red vest was, Trapeze had taught Rover well. The two males took a bow and Trapeze grinned widely to silent and relatively stunned audience. Even Zel’Itenk couldn’t say anything nasty about all of that, it had been so amazing that he couldn’t find anything nasty to say to the two meat eaters or their wonderful leader. The music petered off as the piano player stopped and looked at the crowd while wondering how they’d react. The Piano player was Vinyl Scratch, she just happened to be hanging out and watched the awesome brawl start. Then an even more awesome thing happened with The Trapeze Troupe taking to the stage. Slowly the Parascine, the very one Trapeze knocked flat no more than minutes ago, started slowly slapping his tentacles together. Several Dik-Diks started to join in on the applause and then it became a rolling wave of acceptance. That had the trio brightly grinning from ear to ear, eventually Trapeze would have to roll the balls off the pole because her nose was beginning to itch. Author's Note Yes, Paranoia is usually a sign of someone knowing that something is 'in fact' out to get you. Other's trying to convince you otherwise are just not paranoid enough. I hope the Trapeze Troupe part had fitting music. -119-They were once again upon the streets of Selengard Station, waiting to either do more shopping or head back to get working on orders. Coco had seen or heard the many attempts by Rarity to approach a stallion and earn a date since she joined Rarity on Eweson, Those attempts were quite bad. The first attempt made by Rarity was on Eweson with a Stallion named High Born. The stallion was good looking, but he was keener on dating another stallion. Considering no mare as being worthy of his time because they couldn’t possibly match his noble grandeur, the guy would likely end up dating a mirror. The second happened when they went up to Geoptis, between the time Rarity managed to acquire The Shining Jewel and during salvage operations, this time the stallions name was Cheeky Tongue. He was quite the flirt and was able to keep up with Rarity, but Cheeky Tongue’s wife threatened to cut out his waggling taste organ and apologized to Rarity for her husband’s attitude without showing a single bit of ire towards Rarity. At this point Rarity should have really quit, but no, she couldn’t. The third in a series of bad attempts at picking up a stallion was named Valid H. Art, he was a stallion well renowned for being an artist. This was before Rarity met Blue Blood, but after being assaulted by Mind Field. The problem was, the stallion was responsible for a different wood plank nailed to a canvas from the one Rarity had appreciated, she didn’t think too highly of him after she heard that. So it was mostly on Rarity’s end that time. Blue Blood, the less said about it the better, at least Rarity tried to be friendly and wasn’t even trying to charm him. By the end of the gala Rarity was ready to shoot him, even in front of the guards. The guards would have probably gone with plausible deniability saying they all got something in their eyes if Rarity had mauled or even killed Blue Blood, they were quite tired of the ponce and nobles weren’t exactly trustworthy eyewitnesses. The Rarity love flop conga line continued when they reached Streusel Station, Coco was trying to block out the memories of the event that came before that even if the forgettable bicycle of a therapist said it was better to confront her fears. Coco feared how strong she was physically for her diminutive size, a full grown Macropussian and any Ceantir over three hundred pounds were quite powerful with only Earth Pony’s being able to match up to them physically. Coco was a little scared of being physically strong enough to punch a small dragon into the ground. Getting back on track, the stallion at Streusel Station was named Feather Bangs this time. The stallion was more looks than brains with mares. While he could do a lot of tricks, knew plenty of pick-up lines and could even fake acting like he was romantic, he didn’t actually know the first thing about dating a mare and what it entails. Rarity wanted a semi-intelligent conversation with someone that wasn’t a blowhard, not that that was asking much as she had plenty of intelligent conversations with her friends, instead of someone she had to actively coach through their first date. Rarity had been quite generous with that one, given she helped coach Feather on how to date three mares equally. Rarity was sadly not one of those mares. At least Feather Bangs came out on top during that debacle and really it wasn’t much more than an hour of solidly coaching him on how he should behave as the male of the herd. Feather actually followed Rarity’s instructions and was last seen with three happy mares. Again Rarity was, thankfully, not among those mares. There was an attempt at a few stallions while they were still at Applin Five, but Rarity just can’t win when it came to stallions. Most of the stallions in that area of space were no nonsense hard working stallions, not even being close to Rarity’s type, but Rarity still made the effort to try to find a diamond among the rough and stalwart. She even tried a buffalo at one point shortly after the wedding and was gently let down by the gentle voiced and slightly rotund fellow, the buffalo simply didn’t want a relationship at that time and he was quite reasonable about it too. Thanks to the buffalo being reasonable, Rarity backed down and had a heart to heart with the noble buffalo named Megalith Bison even if it wasn’t romantic in the slightest. Coco just hoped someone eventually came along and stopped Rarity from putting herself through the turmoil of trying to find a significant other. Rarity was already a rather beautiful and a successful business mare, not exactly a rich one, but a successful one nonetheless. Couldn’t that have been enough? No, Rarity apparently wanted a truly romantic relationship, much to Coco’s chagrin as she saw the writing on the wall. Just about anyone who was to traveling with Rarity would be genre savvy about how bad she was at getting a honest stallion, one that was also handsome, witty and at least middle class. Most of the crew didn’t mind Rarity’s lack of leadership ability, which is why she was such a good leader in the first place. What they did mind and tried to always bite their tongues on is how often Rarity tried to find a paramour. It was always cringe worthy to watch, even Chrysalis might be slightly better than Rarity as she may actually be chipping away at Sassy’s staunch refusal to like the Changeling Queen. The only really successful member of the crew in a recent romantic sense was always Gilda, who had an unusual thing for sleeping with Pegasus Ponies and only said winged ponies from how Greta tells it. Coriander had love and lost, but absolutely cherished what he had with Saffron’s mother. Coco didn’t know what was going on between her and Greta, but she was quite nervous about it. Why all this introspection? Well, Coco was surprised that a grey furred stallion with silvery white hair made his way up to Rarity who wasn’t trying to attract his attention or even charm him. That made Coco panic a bit, was the world ending and was a stallion actually going to try and romance Rarity? To check off a list of things that might interest Rarity, he looked high class, he was wearing snazzy clothing, had a nice mane style and he was pointedly opening his mouth to talk to Rarity. Hopefully Rarity took this as a cue to not jump down his throat with flirting. “Hello, your form looks quite familiar to me and I can’t help but ask, were you on Eweson?” A stallion noticing Rarity wasn’t ever a problem, a stallion that looked and spoke suavely noticing Rarity was. Coco was counting down to the moment that Rarity did something wrong and Chrysalis looked to be waiting in anticipation as well. Sassy seemed a little less than interested in a stallion talking to Rarity. “Why yes, more than month or two ago, why do you ask? Also, how do I look familiar to you sir? Oh where are my manners, let me introduce myself. I’m Baroness Rarity D. Belle, fashion designer, EVA suit maker, co-owner of Rarity’s Rarities and Captain of the Shining Jewel.” The stallion calmly shook hooves with Rarity and even Opal was looking at the two in consternation. Why was Rarity playing it cool? “And you are? I find you quite familiar as well.” “Sir Hoity Toity, high end fashion critic. You were around for the MOM attack on Eweson correct?” Once Hoity received a nod from Rarity, he smiled a bit. Opal gave a gasp at recognizing who this stallion was, as did Coco as she recognized a well-known Pony fashion critic and they both sighed in relief. Rarity would not actively go after a conflict of interest when it came to her business and fashion as a whole. “So it was you that saved my life back Eweson, I must admit your form in that suit was quite striking for my memory as you stood among the rooftops. I even have a picture of it.” Pulling out his data pad Hoity showed them Rarity standing on the rooftops in her EVA suit while wielding two energy pistols and a few others of the surroundings after the attack, he had definitely been there. You couldn’t visibly see Rarity’s face, but you could clearly see it was her body by shape and definitely her suit. Which meant Hoity Toity had quite a sharp eye on him as much as an equally sharp memory. “To be fair I saved quite a few people, as did Sassy.” Here Rarity turned to her friend who seemed to have a flat look on her face. It was apparent that Sassy was trying to hide her distaste for men by staying visually neutral. “All the same I remember your suit and I must say I would like to know if I can purchase one of those EVA suits for my personal use.” Shaking his head, the stallion seemed a bit excited to meet his savior due to the smile currently on it. “Aside from that is there any other way I can help you aside from writing a good review of your business if it proves to have good quality merchandise?” “Yes, if you could direct me to the fashion contest taking place down on Nocturne, I’ve been meaning to look it up but I’ve been a bit busy shopping with my friends.” Putting a hoof to her chest Rarity buffed her fur a bit and let her eyes sparkle in the stallion’s direction a bit. “If you could give me the information that would be quite helpful.” “Why that’s the least I can do for the mare that saved my life, I’ll send you the data if would like.” They both exchanged data on their pads, Hoity receiving business information on Rarity’s local order taking site and Rarity would receive information on when and where the fashion show was taking place. “Just know that I will not help you with the contest, I am to remain impartial.” “Sir, I will assure you right here and now, that I would never ask you to forsake your integrity.” If he happened to forsake his own integrity by himself, then Rarity was completely fine with that and even her friends could hear that as being an unstated thing. “I would prefer to work for my victories.” “Still, if there is anything else I can possible do for you, then let me know. I can always put in a good word for you with Photo Finish.” At least Hoity was a gentle stallion, he owed Rarity his life and Rarity wasn’t about to hold that over him. “Maybe sometime later, once we’re done looking around I have orders to take care of and I’m going to be busy for the foreseeable future.” Though Rarity was certainly happy to have made a friend with one of the judges and a rather prolific high profile one at that. “Thank you for your time then Lady Belle, remember the offer is always open for you to meet with some of the people I know and can introduce you to.” Hoity shook Rarity’s hoof again and he was soon on his way. “Well that was quite a pleasant and rather fortuitous meeting. We need to finish getting a few other odds and ends, then we’re going to start working on selling our wares.” Turning to their Dik-Dik minder Rarity had a question to ask of Grahd. “Will you be sticking around for us running our business So’Grahd?” “Of course. When they say until you leave, they meant I am to stay with all of you until you leave the station on your ship. No ifs and or buts about it.” There was no changing So’Grahd’s mind on it even if there was danger present, but so far it has been a while since someone actively shot at them. It had her on edge, nobody didn’t just plan for something to happen and just left it alone like this. At least Sassy was as alert as she was with various glances at the buildings around them as they walked down the street towards more shops to glance at. - “Okay, who was it that said that all of this stuff happened to us again? I’m kind of sorry for bringing up cyborgs and robot uprising in our bets now.” A plasma rifle eject a blast of energy into the nearest glowing red eye of a cyborg blowing away half its head in a sickening yet awesome display of burnt gore, the body fell over and left sparking bits of wiring and creating a puddle of fluids on the floor. Gilda gunned down a few more. Lightning in the Bombing Peregrine was busy running over a few other invasive problems while the tanks anti-missile and personal turrets tore through the invading Dik-Diks. Saffron was doing pretty well with her knife and teleported to avoid taking any hits, at least it was an effective field test for the personal shield generators Greta made when she couldn’t dodge in time. “Didn’t quite know I would be taken literally about it happening, that’ll show me to open my beak.” “Are you sure we don’t need to contact Rarity about this Gilda? This seems like something she’d want to know about.” Greta called out from inside the Centaur-pede, the turrets on it popping several Dik-Diks with blasts of energy that sent mechanical parts and offal flying every which way. Not only that, but the machine was crushing a few others into a bloody paste with its multiple feet. It was like their hangar was full of ants. Annoying biologically messed up mechanically mish mashed Dik-Dik shaped ants and she had an upset stomach from just looked at their bodies horrible fused to their own technology. “Look we’re really sorry about the Jor Clan boarding your ship, we’ll pay for the damages.” A Jackknife with its wings unfolded was hovering above Gilda and started to rapidly pick off the cybernetic Dik-Diks, the male Dik-Dik piloting the ship was quite good at his job as a dedicated fighter pilot for Selengard Station. “You better damn well pay for the damages caused by this slight inconvenience!” Hovering in front of the Jackknife Gilda started waving waved her fist at it, before turning around and blasting a head off the mechanical zombie that tried to shoot her in the back with a green beam of energy. “I was going to start building something in the hangar before these jackasses showed up and tried to take over the ship by first hacking our hangar doors and then cutting straight through them when that wouldn’t work, which led to this shooting gallery we got going on here.” “It is things like this happening being the reason we have such a strong distaste for intrusive cybernetics. I’ll be filing a report concerning the rogue AI not being as dead as we thought it was, we need to look into this further when we’re done cleaning this up. Wait, this is only a slight inconvenience for you, what kind of situations do you normally deal with? Your hangar is crawling with malicious AI directed cyborgs.” The Dik-Dik continued to hover his fighter around Shining Jewel’s hangar and blowing his own people to bits of offal and splatter that left bloody smears on the floors. “Thank goodness I’m whole and my brain isn’t hackable except by possibly psychics, because having a brain that can be manipulated by both psychics and machines would be far worse. You guys are lucky your firewalls are basically AI proof. I’m curious as to why that is, much less why you have a battle ready tank and a freaking armored walking machine of death in your hangar, but now isn’t the time for that.” “Yeah, yeah, now less yakking and more with getting these assholes off our ship and out of my hangar, then we’ll talk about what you owe us for keeping quiet about this!” Swooping down towards a few of the cybernetic Dik-Diks with the glowing parts grafted to flesh, she unleashed a volley upon them and tore quite a few of them to shreds while dodging the dancing green beams they shot out at her. One clipped her and a glow permeated her whole body for a second. Vera just sighed, as she took a baseball bat to the invasive cyborgs that continued to ignore her existence. Why did she have to make that bet? Hopefully they’ll clean things up by the time Rarity is done on Selengard Station and doesn’t run into anyone of the Zor clan. Apparently these cyborg Dik-Diks were being controlled by an AI and said AI chose their ship as a target to start taking over nearby ships and eventually the station. Once on board after having its cybernetic Dik-Dik minions cut through the hangar section two door, the AI found that it couldn’t quite get its claws into the ships system no matter what virus it used and it had problems initially hacking the ship in the first place. It wasn’t long after that the Shining Jewel’s drones joined in on taking out the cyborg Dik-Dik problem, not that the two extra Jackknife fighters hovering into their hangar weren’t appreciated. - Opal just scratched at her right ear with a paw and continued to ride her mother around while shopping, yeah her mom didn’t need to know about the cybernetic Dik-Diks trying to take over their ship. They had enough problems with the assassination attempt a few hours ago. It was rather unfortunate for the rogue AI that it had never met a cyberpathic being before, if it had then it would have found out that Opal was impossible to hack and would have stopped it’s attempts instead of expending itself until it was erased by Opal sending out the AI destroying virus that the Space Pirates in the Applon System had tried to use against her. Yeah, having a copy of that virus was really quite useful and at most Opal had to really thank those pirates for the energy surge that gave her this opportunity to experience life like a biological. She now had the drones making sure the cyborgs didn’t touch anything or got anywhere important, just how many of them flooded the hangar? Let’s see… at least fifty at the moment that were still alive and gunning at their well armored vehicles. Having a mobile fortress, which also happens to be a cargo loading machine, present in the hangar would surprise just about anyone. That mess would soon be taken care of, even if the cyborgs Dik-Diks could be saved they’d probably be executed by their own race for delving too deep into cybernetics and ending up controlled by a machine. Said artificial intelligence was being ripped apart by a really nasty virus and thus all its minions were panicking and were now quite disarrayed. There was a bit of a no tolerance policy among the Dik-Dik race when it came to things like this. The Dik-Dik people would at least tolerate a mostly cyborg Dik-Dik until something like this exact scenario happened, then they’d slaughter all offending parties that were controlled to make sure it doesn’t happen a second time or any further plots involving said controlled cyborg Dik-Diks occurred. Still Opal decided to focus on the here and now instead of what was happening on their ship being a bloody and quite gruesome mess. “Oh, what about that one mom?” It was hard for Opal to find a shop with something of interest, mostly because their supplies usually consisted of things to make just about anything they could want. She really didn’t want to do nothing but window shopping with her remaining time before they started up business, so far Coco was the only one to buy some interesting things. Rarity just bought supplies for her business and some things for Opal’s room, food wasn’t currently an issue on Shining Jewel and they recently ate a good meal. “I think we can find something of interest in there.” Opal wouldn’t dare suggest her mother couldn’t make something nice for her to wear and she was sure Coco would be upset that she didn’t go to her for an accessory if she wanted one. Gilda and Greta could cobble together just about anything else they could want or need in a technological sense. She could even ask Chrysalis to make her a shape shifting toy. So the place that caught her interest was one that had things none of her family could possibly make, not without a lot of time and effort anyway, the shop sold random crystals with unique properties and Rarity always enjoyed looking at gems and jewels. Sometimes Opal wished Rarity would cut back on using more expensive things in her more interesting clothing designs. “Well what do you say girls, shall we?” It was an acceptable diversion for Rarity from just heading straight back to Caravel Boutique to start working on making her wares. Besides Opal looked like she wanted to get something neat and this place might be the ideal one for that. “Yes, let’s go in.” Because frankly Sassy didn’t feel safe out in the streets and even So’Grahd was alertly paranoid, as they rightfully should be. Neither Sassy nor So’Grahd noticed Opal was by far the most paranoid out of all them considering a seemingly random attack on Shining Jewel couldn’t have been just odd coincidence. She was hiding it better than anyone else would. Coco had been very quiet and was worried about their safety concerning the fact that Rarity had almost been killed if not for Sassy’s timely and somewhat impossible intervention. She thought a stallion approaching Rarity, on purpose no less, was a sign that things were about to go horribly wrong and that the entire space station was going to crash into the planet. She was glad to be proven wrong as nothing seemed to be happening around them as they entered the crystal shop. Mostly to buy things for decorative reasons, the shop didn’t sell just crystals, it also sold sculpted statues and other crystal based artist products. “Hello there, my friends.” The greeting of course came from none other than the lackadaisical looking Tree Hugger, she popped up at random and fairly often around Rarity or Gilda. She must have been here for something of grave importance or at least that’s what Coco, Opal and Rarity were thinking. Chrysalis just shrugged at Tree Huggers presence, Sassy seemed to be a bit more on edge and So’Grahd didn’t know the first thing about Tree Hugger except that she didn’t currently have a minder with her. “Tree Hugger, I would say it’s nice to see you, but you’re usually a portents to doom, destruction or something unusual happening. Are you here for Gilda?” Despite Rarity not knowing why Tree Hugger had an affectionate attitude towards Gilda, it was still nice to ask. “No Maker, I am not and I am most certainly not a bringer of bad news. I know Big Sky Child is otherwise occupied and doing what she was meant to be doing, until our next interaction at least. That interaction will hopefully be a rather pleasant one, her feathers are quite warm and I will accept whatever she does for I am of the earth and she is of the sky. If Ever Cheerful chooses to stick around for it, then we will certainly work in concert.” The glance Tree Hugger sent Opal caused the energy cat to have a shiver shoot straight down her spine. Tree simply trotted up to the cat and patted the nervous feline on the head. “It is nice to see you finally getting out and about Opal, you will do greater things with small actions.” Okay if Opal wasn’t freaked out, now she was as Tree Hugger didn’t use a nickname for her and just said her name outright, not only that but Opal was pretty sure Tree said something prophetic there. “If you’re not here to ruffle Gilda’s feathers, then why are you here?” The fact that Opal didn’t surprise Tree Hugger in the slightest with her change in circumstances said that Tree Hugger somehow knew about her already and was waiting here for them to arrive. That Tree even knew what was going on with the Shining Jewel at this very moment, now Opal was beginning to see why Gilda acted so freaked out around Tree. “That’s what I would like to know, where’s your minder exactly?” Obviously her group knew this mare and as such So’Grahd was a little on edge because of what Rarity said about being a portent to problems. How did this mare get this far into the station and how was their security this compromised? “Well her feathers do feel nice when they are properly fluffed out… as for why I’m here. Why are any of us here? We are all part of a greater whole, but separate in our own ways.” That was a usual non-answer that would be expected from Ms. Hugger, she was smiling lazily like usual and she turned to address So’Grahd. “I found my Minder lacking, in a certain manner. He seems to have lost me and I wouldn’t want to upset you by being without, so may I join the group in your care? It would be to my benefit that I’m not left wandering or causing trouble.” “This is seriously going to turn into a thing isn’t it?” Even as Opal asked that, she couldn’t help but feel a growing horror at the thought of being exposed to Tree for however long she planned on being with them as a group. “Not necessarily, though I would like to converse with Ms. Pommel.” That was the most formal any of them have ever heard Tree be, she was a very odd presence in and of itself no matter where she appeared. “Are you on drugs?” So’Grahd probably wouldn’t be the first or even fiftieth person to ask that, they’d be wrong. “Just one, life and all its splendor.” Not one pony in the universe could possibly have said that as dreamily as Tree could, especially not with the same meaning to it. “Paraphrasing that, she means she’s not on any drugs and is perfectly healthy for an Earth Pony.” Though Rarity was suspicious, whatever Tree’s reasons for appearing here were, she wasn’t about to shoo away a friendly face who didn’t mean any harm. “Also are you really going to allow that Officer Grahd?” “I have little choice, she’s a suspicious character without a minder and I will have to call this in.” It kind of perturbed So’Grahd how unconcerned Tree Hugger was about that, it was like she didn’t care that she was caught. If she had a residential ID for living on the station she would have showed it by now. She pulled out her data pad and started up the call, she kept an eye on Tree who didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave the area. “Of course you will officer, it is your duty after all.” The lazy eyes of Tree was actually kind of unnerving to the Dik-Dik, said eyes turned to Chrysalis. “Crystal, keep being yourself and only change if you want to.” “Sure, whatever, I’m always myself nowadays anyway.” Shaking her head Chrysalis decided to make an innocuous comment about Ms. Hugger’s emotions. “I would just like to say your emotions are really weird to taste. Lots of love, but given towards everyone and everything which should be impossible because nobody can love absolutely everything like that.” “For vast is the focus of the one of the sea, for you collect and will hardly give until one fish drinks upon you. When you start giving back, the universe will say thank you for loving it as much as you have and ensure your path will become slightly easier.” Yep more cryptic stuff, like that was helping Tree’s case of somehow being illegally present. “Now may we discuss things Ms. Pommel, I believe your friends are here to do some shopping? I will get something you’ll need while we do so.” Coco looked at Rarity and the others, all she received were some shrugs. Taking it upon herself to follow the strange mare towards a specific section of the shop she saw Tree Hugger looking at the rose quartz bin. “Is this what I need?” Coco asked of Tree tentatively. “No, it is something that I like in its representation. What you will actually need is this…” Moving over to a different display after grabbing four bits of rose quartz, Tree plucked a single small crystal out and held it out to Coco for her to look at. “This is a tiger eye. After I put this in your possession, do not lose it or you and Rarity will face certain grievous injury. A moment will come when you will absolutely need to use it and have no other option. It’ll be some time after you, through action or inaction, will inevitably cause someone’s demise. Your morals will not be called into question, but how you act will be noted. So do what you feel to be the correct course of action no matter what.” “What, but I don’t want to kill anyone…” At least Coco managed to catch herself before she shouted that out loud. “Do not worry too much about the future. Even if you will be the main cause of someone’s demise, you will not be the one to blame for what happens.” Tree Hugger pulled Coco into a hug and started to pet her head gently. Coco almost hated herself for leaning into the gentle stroke and even start enjoying it with such stressful news delivered by the mystery mare that was basically Gilda’s boogey-monster. “Just remember, there are plenty of divergent streams and one stone can cause a change in the flow. Find the courage to befriend a Krad. One last thing, do not fear your own claws. That is all that I desired to tell you personally Sheep Wolf. Now let me go purchase my selection and throw a stone of my own for a lot of people’s sakes.” With that Tree silently walked up to the counter and purchased the five crystals and got them back from the cat like Cacceran wearing a mining helmet, it was obvious this Cacceran was one of the Equestrian Cacceran invasion force that went native around a Diamond Dog community. The mare pulled the tiger eye crystal out the bag she received with her purchase and firmly placed it in Coco’s left hoof while looking her in the eyes with a slightly less lazy look, Coco just nodded and Tree’s smile widened then her eyes seemed to go back to being lazy like she hadn’t stared into Coco’s own with a slight bit of seriousness. Rarity was purchasing her own things and Tree went to stand next to her, she stayed there patiently until Rarity turned around and noticed her. “Yes, is there something you need Tree?” Rarity couldn’t help but feel that Tree Hugger was standing close to her for a reason, the response she received was Ms. Hugger positioning her body and her hooves in a certain way. “The Trapeze Troupe will be fine, though they will cause and be in some trouble. I’m sorry if this hurts, but I need to shove you in exactly one minute Maker. I do not intend to cause you any physical harm and I am sorry about the mental distress in advance.” Tree Hugger might have maneuvered Rarity forcefully into position, but she obviously had her reasons for doing so. She turned to Opal sitting on Rarity's back. “Can you point you right forearm to the ceiling and be prepared to use the special function on it?” Opal did so immediately with her left paw on her new Parascine designed data pad, she wasn’t about to question the crazy mare. When Tree did things, she did them for a really good reason. Like buying multiple medical kits long before a MOM attack happened. This was a chain of dominoes that was somehow coming together and Opal knew it wasn’t a coincidence, listening to Tree was definitely the best policy for any situation. “Tree what’s…” Receiving a hoof to her mouth made Rarity stop, Tree just gave her a tight smile. Tree was facing completely away from the doorway. “Both of you please close your eyes.” Pleaded Tree Hugger in a sad tone, they did as asked and at that moment a bald male human wearing a face covering frowning gray mask, an expensive looking suit and red tie slammed the door to the shop wide open and tossed a grenade like object at the floor. What followed was an immediate flash and a loud bang, then blood spilling against the shops clean floor in the chaos. Chrysalis and Opal were able to swiftly react to what was happening, but it was already too late... Author's Note Wheel of morality turn, turn, turn, tell me a lesson that I should learn... and the moral of the day is... "Life enrich from seeking, not sitting." Yeah, that's not something I understand at all. Also 600,000 mark passed in one story. -120-Rainbow was flying lead in a diamond formation with Wedge, Large and Butt through the asteroid field, things were looking awesome for their Wonder Bolts squadron even if they kept getting boring recon jobs like this one. Though Rainbow had learned a lot of things from looking up Lightning Dust’s history, things like boring not always a bad thing, it took a lot of soul searching for Rainbow to even admit that. It was quite informative as Lightning hadn’t just been a fighter pilot and commando, she had actively been like a worse version of Spitfire. “Brash, you got anything on the scanners? The scanner isn’t giving me much to go on out here.” Wedge was always on top of things as usual and Rainbow found it reliable to have such a good pilot in her squad. “I mean no signs of anything other than a lot of pointy rocks.” “Nope, but there has to be some asteroid eaters out here somewhere, we’re also supposed to be on the lookout for possible MOM incursion or signs that’s somethings up with the asteroid field. There have been reports of unusual activity out here and they called us for this job.” It made Rainbow happy to see Pinkie again, even if she was still hyperactive pie pusher. While Rainbow wasn’t exactly a fan of pies in the baked goods sense, she didn’t mind the Pie family even if Maude was still a little weird to talk to. They had a job to do and it wasn’t exactly a low risk one either, asteroid fields were no joke. “We have our orders, we are to immediately flee the area if we see any sign of a MOM or something unusual. I don’t know about any of you, but I heard what happened at Eweson and I’m not stupid enough to tackle a MOM core on my own without the backing of a battle ship or two. We’re actually playing it by the book unless we run into something unusual, we were only given the go ahead to take care of asteroid eaters if we see them and nothing else.” “This is Butt, Can we turn our flight path to the right by at least twenty degrees? I think I saw something.” The four P-Wings did so without at Butts query without so much as an acknowledgement, they were quite in tune with one another. “Thanks guys… everyone stop right now!” All four fighters fired their reverse thrusters until their momentum stopped, the four Pegasus piloted fighters sat amongst the field of twirling shifting aimlessly floating rocks waiting for something to happen. “What is it? You know we can’t sit still for too long out here Butt, asteroid fields are labeled dangerous for fighters and other small ships for a reason. Remember that we need to send our ships in for repair after any mission in an asteroid field, even if it seems like nothing’s wrong.” If their Butt had seen something, then that means Rainbow needed to start paying attention. Patrol had just gotten a lot more interesting, hopefully not the Suicidal Seraphs levels of interesting. Those ponies were crazy, nuts and nowhere near sane enough when it comes to responding against threats. It made Rainbow wonder why those ponies weren’t a Shadow Bolts squadron, Luna took in a lot of crazy ponies into her lunar fleet didn’t she? “Not that I’m worried, I could fly my way through this field blindfolded and…. what in the buck?!” “So that’s what she saw, what do we do Brash?” Large was trying not to sound worried. “We should call it in, we’re not supposed to investigate things like this.” Wedge had the right idea, they needed to evacuate the area like yesterday after seeing something like that. “Might explain the unusual activity around here.” “Right, we’re retreating to Streusel Station. It’s not a MOM, but it’s definitely something for the eggheads to take a crack at studying from a safe distance. Every pony get whatever scans you can grab, after that I want Large to form up with me. Butt your with Wedge. Two by two formation, try to keep your buddy in sight at all times. This is not a good place to be ambushed by anything.” After getting a scan of whatever that was with the fighter’s meager sensors, Rainbow reoriented her P-Wing and was followed by the three others after a moment. She started to swerve and weave through the many asteroids heading away from what they just saw. “Let’s get out of here guys.” Rainbow’s friends were a bit surprised that Rainbow didn’t want to pursue an investigation further or do something all gung-ho for once, they were going to call Changeling Protocols on her when they got back just to make sure. Fortunately for the one Changeling in the region, those protocols would miss Maude’s beloved pet Boulder entirely. - Tree Hugger’s presence was usually followed by bad news, in this instance the bad news was what happened to Tree Hugger herself when she pushed Rarity out of the way of imminent danger. Opal ended up on her back with her arm aiming in the right direction and she fired almost blindly, her bolt of electrical energy hit the correct target. The battery on her new arm mounted data pad dropped a by more than a quarter doing that just once, Opal was definitely going to Greta about this technical issue. Chrysalis being one of the few that didn’t stay disoriented long enough from suddenly being blinded and deafened, had tackled the assailant violently. In the span from Opal hitting the floor and firing off a blast of electrical energy to Chrysalis bashing a hoof again the back of the human’s skull, the human had managed to fire off six material rounds in Rarity’s given direction. Tree Hugger had been hit six times by really accurate shots, her wounds were not pleasant to look at and Rarity was freaking out about actually getting covered in the blood of a friend. Even when Ember went down, it looked like she had died immediately and Rarity was thankful that the dragon was still alive if in a critical situation. Tree Hugger didn’t look as savable. “Fi’ereck’lin’dexe’pire’qwe SHRIKE!” After So’Grahd released her cybernetic ears, which thankfully deactivated due to a loud enough noise, she slowly reached back with her left cloven hoof and pulled out her material pistol. She carefully and slowly pulled two rounds from her special pouch, loaded and then fired them both into the down human’s calves when she was less disoriented. Her ears were bad enough, she didn’t need eyesight problems on top of it. She immediately pulled out her data pad, following the confirmation that she had loaded the Human’s leg with two large jagged bits of wood, and called the appropriate people. She removed the Human’s mask and got a picture of his face and then took off his gloves and got a picture of his hands. “This is Officer So’Grahd, civilian down, six shots fired, culprit caught, a flash bang was used, send a medical team STAT. Cybernetic hearing is down, so don’t bother responding, I can’t hear anything at the moment anyway. Sending images of the culprit and Human identifying markings now.” Rarity just sat there holding Tree Hugger with a horrified look on her face, Tree Hugger wasn’t breathing and there was a hole in her neck. It was around this point that So’Grahd’s cybernetics reactivated. “I’m an EMT let me help her.” Gone was Chrysalis’s goofy demeanor or jealous glances at Sassy and So’Grahd being relatively friendly. Now she had a serious look on her face as she stomped the Human’s head into the floor a bit with one of her rear legs, she approached Rarity who was holding Tree Hugger and looked her over. The hive she signed on with was just assaulted and she wasn’t a happy Changeling Queen. Chrysalis did notice that the Human specifically went after Rarity, which was odd considering there were several other greater threats in the room. Sassy, So’Grahd and herself being among the most dangerous, someone was seriously gunning for Rarity’s life and she didn’t have any hints as to why. First, she had to help everyone get emotionally back on track and that meant putting her rather intrinsic knowledge on pony anatomy to the test. Quite frankly the emotions currently in the air tasted horrible and she wanted her ‘less than Changeling hive’ to have a healthy and positive mentality, so she just had to get Tree Hugger stabilized and back into a survivable condition. “There’s apparently an EMT already on scene, dubious qualifications and doesn’t have much to work with. The shopkeeper seems to be hit as well, I’ll check on them in a moment.” This situation was a complete mess. Even if So’Grahd had been quite alert, but that attack had happened way too fast and the Human had been abnormally quick. She needed to find out if the Human was an enhanced one, so she started to check the perpetrator over and would be taking any weapon she can find. She placed her data pad on her head and held it there with her ears. “I hope help gets here soon. I will update as the situation develops.” “I may be dubious, but I’m the best you have at the moment. Everyone else in the area scattered and are hiding as soon as the flash bang went off.” Mentally Chrysalis noted down there were six entry wounds on Tree, one became an exit wound in a most unfortunate location. “If any of them is a doctor, they aren’t coming out of cover any time soon. If you’re squeamish, then don’t watch.” (Music can be looped with right click.) Tree wasn’t breathing and with a diagnostics spell check her heart had stopped, most likely due to the shock of being hit six times in under two seconds by high velocity material rounds. The five material rounds in her would have to come out, but the near artery wound to the neck was the immediate worry. Thankfully there was no foreign material left behind in the neck wound. Inhaling through her nose, Chrysalis built up a mass in her throat and then spat a wad of goo over Tree’s neck and carefully molded it to staunch the bleeding from the entry and exit wound. Rarity didn’t react to the sickening noises or that Chrysalis had done something so disgusting. Coco and Opal made their way over to Chrysalis with their ears flattened and feeling almost as upset as Sassy was, the fact that Chrysalis could even feel Sassy right now meant that she had to make her happy again by making sure this pony lived through any means necessary. Sassy stayed next to the unmoving body of the culprit and Officer So’Grahd, she had failed to protect someone and she may have to take up learning a blindfolded sword style in the near future. Even where she failed, she was not letting the Human get away with this if he tried to get up. If he could get up after Chrysalis stomped on his head. “What are you doing?” Apparently So’Grahd had something to say about Chrysalis spitting an unknown substance on a dying or dead mare. “It’s a Changeling byproduct and completely antiseptic and sometimes used as a building material to strengthen tunnels, I need to pull the material rounds out of her and seal the wounds.” Chrysalis’s horn lit up and roughly pulled a material round from Tree’s left shoulder, the black crystal made Chrysalis shudder violently once she got a good look at it. She quickly dropped it off to the side with disgusted look on her face. A unicorn wouldn’t have been able to save themselves after being hit with something like this and if it had hit Sassy… Chrysalis spat on the bleeding shoulder and patted the Changeling gunk into place until it hardened. The Human wouldn’t be alive right now if he had hit Sassy with one of his material rounds. “Okay this is worse, I definitely need to pull all the material rounds out as quickly as possible given what they are. Opal I’m going to need your help in a second and stop looking so grim, she’s not dead yet!” “Not… dead?” Some life came back into Rarity’s eyes. Looking at the crystal Chrysalis pulled out of Tree, her eyes widened, if a single one of those had hit her... well she was rather glad they didn’t. Tree Hugger wasn’t breathing and she was limp in Rarity’s hooves, she certainly looked dead and this was a close friend of theirs. She was closer to Gilda and Greta given their history of seeing each other a lot. “Her brain is still alive, but not for long. If I can get her heart beating again, then I can save her. She’s going to cough up a lot of her vital fluids after this and she will need surgical attention on top of a blood transfusions. Darn, this one hit her spine. Nothing for it, this is going to be nasty.” As she said that Chrysalis’s green glowing horn ripped out another seven tipped black crystal, this time in a fountain of ripped flesh, fur and blood. She quickly spat another glob and started to pat it down while focusing her horn on one of the last two crystals. Nothing made her more upset than an ass ruining an ass, unless the ass ruined her romantic interest in any given way. She roughly pulled the material round from Tree’s left rump and spat another glob and shaped it. She looked at the final material round that had sunken into Tree’s left rear legs hock. “That’s the worst of it at least, her hock is going to be a bit mangled after this... but it has to be done as we can’t leave any of these crystals in her.” Before anyone could ask, Chrysalis quickly pulled the last black crystal out of Tree and puked a larger glob onto the blood smeared leg. She started molding it around the entire leg making her oral excretions into a cast instead of a patch. This would be especially prudent when Chrysalis restarted her heart, she had to wait for this particular mass to harden before she could continue. “Rarity, carefully roll her onto her back. Opal when I say ‘hit me’, fire that thing at me. After I get her heart beating I am going to do something really awkward to keep her alive.” Chrysalis seemed to be setting up for something as she stood up and move to put both her hooves on Tree’s chest. “So whatever you do, don’t panic when I do something unusual. I’m a, mostly trained, professional.” “Mostly trained?” Given how strained Rarity’s voice was when it came out, this was not one of the things anyone would like to hear in this given situation. “I was never allowed to prescribe or apply any medication to anyone, ever. It’s a long story and we don’t have the time for it. Also my methods were considered to be effective if a bit… brutal.” The stares Chrysalis was receiving didn’t bother her at all, though they were a bit disbelieving that she was still a licensed and accredited EMT. “You want her to live right? So don’t mind me if I do something completely unusual to save this mares life. Speaking of, what’s the time on that surgical team or at least equipment relating to that getting here?” “ETA five minutes, though by then it could be too late to save her from the way you’re talking.” With the injuries the unintentional victim sustained So’Grahd would believe it, what she could hardly believe was that someone like Chrysalis was actually a trained EMT. Though she appeared to know what she was doing, ‘appeared’ being the defining word here. “Right then, continuing this in a fast and completely messy manner it is.” The mess being all over the floor, also on and around Chrysalis and Rarity. It seemed as if Chrysalis’s bizarre attraction to bug zappers made so much more sense now, especially if she enjoyed playing with defibrillators. Speaking of, the Changeling Queen put an ear to Tree’s chest then lifted her head to look at Rarity. “Rarity, try to hold her still if she starts to struggle and if she starts coughing up fluids, turn her head to either the left or right. Opal, hit me.” Opal pointed her right arm towards Chrysalis shivering a bit, but she still hit the button and another large chunk of the devices energy loosed itself into Chrysalis. Chrysalis was ready for it and channeled all that raw painful, and quite enjoyable by Chrysalis’s standards, energy down to her hooves and into Tree’s chest. The mare’s body seemed to jump slightly. Chrysalis immediately had her ear on Tree’s chest, she lifted her head and looked to Opal. “Again, hit me!” The device had a little less than a quarter of its energy left after it unloaded on Chrysalis again, but that last bit of energy wouldn’t be needed as Tree started to flail her hooves and choke. Tree’s hooves were quickly bathed in a green glow and held still. Rarity had a small problem holding her down to the best of her ability, Tree was still very strong even as she was choking on the blood in her throat. “Turn her head and let her cough some of it out right now!” Rarity quickly moved Tree’s head to the left, her hooves and pristine coat were splattered with the end results of Tree trying to clear her filling throat. Rarity bit her bottom lip and held Tree’s head to the side to the best of her ability. “Okay, quickly tilt her head back up and force her mouth open with your magic, you need to make sure that it doesn’t close no matter what.” Following Chrysalis’s orders and completely horrified on a number of levels by the situation they were in, Rarity closed her eyes and her horn lit brightly prying open Tree’s mouth and holding it open. Tree’s eyes shot open and instead of panicking her legs relaxed and she just as quickly clenched her eyes shut, tears started to stream out of them. “Unhinge her lower jaw if you have to, just remember to make sure she doesn’t close her mouth! This is going to look really weird, but trust me it’s vitally important. Coco get over here and keep my hair out of the way.” It made So’Grahd wonder what Chrysalis was planning, when she watched in disbelief as Chrysalis seemingly broke her own spine when she dislocated and contortioned the front half of her body upside down without somehow killing herself. Chrysalis’s furry carapace became stretched and it flexed awkwardly due to her actions. Her front legs were bent into an awkward position as she rotated them as well to continue standing on them. Chrysalis got her upside down head over Tree and moved jagged glowing horn gently into the mare’s mouth held open by Rarity who looked at Chrysalis’s concentrating face. Coco moved forward and grabbed a hold of Chrysalis’s mane and found it to be quite surprisingly silky and rather smooth to the touch, she as well as the others were a little more than disturbed by what Chrysalis was doing with her own body. It looked quite unnatural even if Chrysalis was ridiculously flexible to the point that no pony could comprehend how her spine allowed her to do this without making a snapping noise. “Sorry for the inconvenience, just try to relax. It’ll be over soon enough either way.” Chrysalis’s upside down eyes were directed at Tree Hugger who opened her eyes slightly with a pained look. Chrysalis slowly pushed her horn deeper into Tree’s mouth and throat. You could even see the glow of Chrysalis’s jagged horn through Tree Huggers throat. “I’ve only had to do this twice, so sorry for whatever you are about to feel next.” A bright flash erupted from Tree’s throat and Rarity almost let go of Tree’s mouth as Tree jerked and struggled a bit, she even looked to be trying to get a hold of herself. Rarity held the Tree’s mouth open as Chrysalis slowly pulled her horn out with a massive glob of red following after it. She flicked the glob off to the side carelessly splattering its mass across the floor. “Okay, let her mouth go Rarity. She’s going to need a blood transfusion real soon, but I’ve prevented any chance of asphyxiation, infection and choking by fixing the damage to her throat to the best of my abilities.” Sighing Chrysalis rubbed at her sore horn with a groan, she had just used up a lot of energy doing that. It’s a good thing she was always well fed. “She’ll still need surgical attention for the rest of her body. My patches can only last so long.” Tree Hugger didn’t say anything and just stared at the ceiling taking in slow breaths, she stayed relatively still after Chrysalis pulled out her horn. It seemed like things were going to be fine. “Did it have to look vaguely sexual like that?” Was Coco’s awkwardly posed question even as Chrysalis returned the front half of her body back to its correct state and looked at Coco. “Yes, it did. Also you can let go of my mane now, only Sassy can hold it whenever she wants and for as long as she wants.” Yes, Chrysalis knew her mane was perfectly nice, but Coco was holding it for longer than she was comfortable with. Coco let go of Chrysalis’s hair and backed away with a yelp and a vibrant blush on her face, slightly embarrassed at enjoying the feel of the hair sliding gently from her hoof. “Is the patient stabilized?” So’Grahd approached them and saw that Sassy was still guarding the unconscious Human, she had just updated the shop keeper's current condition to her people. “Yes, she’s going to be very weak for a while, because not many people can recover from being shot through the throat very well. I always find it surprising just how fragile everyone is compared to me.” A twitch in Chrysalis’s ear notified her of a problem, Tree’s breathing was getting shallower and she took it upon herself to breath into Tree’s mouth filling her lungs with air. She started to press on Tree’s chest to force her to breathe. “Correction, she might need some help to keep breathing. So if you’re capable of cardio pulmonary resuscitation let me know or else I’ll be busy for the next two minutes. Her lungs may have just slightly collapsed because I removed all the blood in them and her throat.” After Chrysalis put her mouth to Tree’s again she felt a mass of love shoot straight into her mouth and was a little surprised that it wasn’t more intimate in how it felt, still as a thank you it was far more than Chrysalis would have expected. The Changeling Queen almost gagged on the unusual amount of love flooding her, but kept breathing into Tree. When she worked Tree’s chest again she gave the slightly smiling mare an unamused look. Two more rounds of CPR had Tree Hugger once again breathing on her own after coughing and hacking out a few small flecks of blood, but she wasn’t saying anything. Once it was clear that Tree Hugger was going to be okay on her own for a minute, Chrysalis went to check on the Cacceran shop keeper. The crystal was lodged in his helmet after altering trajectory after going through Tree’s neck and that had save his life, he wasn’t seriously injured and was just unconscious. They all breathed a sigh of relief and waited for So’Grahd’s reinforcements or the medical unit to arrive. It wouldn’t be long before the shop was cordoned off and the medical team picked up Tree Hugger, the mare just smiled at her friends from the stretcher as she was taken away. - It had been a hour since the rather unusually targeted attack against their ship, but Gilda was making her way out of the central right side elevator towards medical. She could wash off the blood and machine oil when she was done checking on something important. “I swear we need better alerts for crap like that happening, didn’t see them coming until they burned halfway through the door in section two of my hangar. Bunch of bloody body part replacing bastards.” Grumbled an exceedingly aggravated Gilda, quite a number of the spare parts she had set aside for her next project were ruined in the fighting. Nothing for it, she’d just have to wait until she could go shopping for more materials that weren’t turned into scrap metal. Gilda was making sure Ember was still sleeping soundly and that nothing had happened to the dragon while they were all busy kicking ass, the ship had been rocked by quite a few explosions and thankfully those explosions didn’t cause another hull breach. The griffon would also be checking up on Mr. Spew, the designated medical room guardian. Gilda seriously doubted anyone would want to bother the little squid that can spew flesh melting acids or oily fireballs that acted exactly like a heavily virulent version of napalm, not to mention toxic substances that were so poisonous that no cure could possibly be designed for them before you died from it. The stupidly toxic substances that worked on skin contact were likely saved for someone that truly deserved it in Mr. Spew’s opinion, the squid could handle a lot of minor annoyances before he’d even start breathing small balls of fire or freezing cold liquids. “Hey there little guy, your tank is looking a little clean there. Do you want something filthy and toxic? Huh, do you? Do you boy?” If anyone were to see Gilda flip a switch and start cooing over the deadly squid, she’d deny it to her dying breath that she really liked the deadly little thing. It was like how she treated Opal coolly and yet actually liked being called her Aunt Gilda. “Who’s a cute little disaster waiting to happen, you are! You also play a mean game of cards and I accept that your far more intelligent then I’m currently giving you credit for.” Mr. Spew popped up from the almost clean water and he was slightly bigger than last time, he didn’t want to get too big or he might never fit on one of Ember’s shoulders again. Sewer squids were limited to how big they got because they had other sewer squids eating as much filth around them as they did. With the change in environment, Mr. Spew was a growing boy and he was bound to get deadlier the bigger he got. He raised two tentacles above the water and made a happy gurgling sound, happy to at least see someone recognizable moving about. It was easy for anyone to tell that he was chronically depressed about Ember’s grievous injuries, just interacting with anyone made his day. “So on today’s menu is fish marinated with a particularly nasty chemical and sautéed with some really bad bacteria with a smell that’s like rotten eggs that only you might find enjoyable. It’s that or I can just pour a quart of our laundry detergent and a pint of bleach into your tank again and stir vigorously with some chopped Aconitum. You really seemed to like the Aconitum a lot the last time I used it.” The squid seemed to give Gilda’s menu choices some thought as she pointed a claw to which tentacle he should raise to make his choice. He had lowered his tentacles when she pointed to each one, after giving it some though he raised both of his tentacles and squealed softly making Gilda snicker. “Feeling like something more substantial today eh? I’ll swing it just for you little buddy. How’s Ember doing?” The sad whining noise was a bit hard for Gilda to listen to since it would be quite grating on anyone’s hearing, that was before it turned into a more melancholic upbeat chittering. Then there was a few clacks of his beak and he sounded a bit lonely, they were definitely not going back to Eweson any time soon to find him a playmate or just a mate in general. He was obviously missing Coco, who liked to cuddle him, and wanted more physical interaction. “Yeah, I didn’t understand any of that.” Blithely state Gilda though she knew Mr. Spew was trying his best to respond. It was kind of sad that Gilda didn’t have a universal translator in stock for squid based creatures. If such a thing existed, she’d make a mint from selling the plans for it. “I’ll find something for you to toy with after feeding you okay? Maybe some of Trapeze’s water proof cards or just a puzzle that wouldn’t mind being a bit waterlogged?” Mr. Spew chittered happily and swam a small circle while waving a tentacle in Gilda’s direction, the griffon smiled at him and left to go fetch his nasty inedible food. Well inedible to most beings that want to keep living a long and prosperous life. Slaughtering a hundred and forty three cyborgs in such short amount of time made Gilda a bit hungry herself, not to mention all the flying she had to do to avoid getting shot. She could just eat her meal next to the Mr. Spew’s tank and keep the poor thing entertained, any uneaten leftovers she could just dump directly into the tank to fester and that would make a nice dessert for the squid. Author's Note Fixed some minor issues I had with the previous chapter, the major ones are still there though. Also yes, I'm pretty bad at times. This chapter is mostly centered around Chrysalis's many talents, if a Changeling gets injured while disguised they'll need a doctor in the know right? I would have used something from a Trauma Center game, but I chose Gunvolt instead just be exceedingly odd. -122-“C-clan war? What are you talking about! Also who’s Rarity?” The Jor clan member appeared to be playing dumb to Grahd. “Well you entered my room, one that partially belongs to a So clan member who has been pulled for minder duty. A duty you are currently interfering with.” Grahd wasn’t about to let the Jor clan member go after everything the three Dik-Diks did upon entering her room, even if they were relatively young. She moved her shock rod up a millimeter while glaring into the smaller Dik-Diks eyes. “Not only that you compromised and destroyed my hearing cybernetics, shot up my desk and innocent beloved chairs. Plus you illegally entered the room of a Planetary Patrol Officer, wearing fake uniforms.” “Shrike ma’am, you have to believe me, the uniforms aren’t fake! They’re real!” The young Dik-Dik was sweating a bit as the shock rod was quite warm underneath his chin. His dark brown fur and wide blue frightened eyes filled with tears, this had Rarity give the Dik-Diks uniform a once over. “Does the Triple P have a cadet branch by any chance?” Seeing that was she was being ignored and noticed the male Dik-Dik looked towards her, So’Grahd did the same thing. “Could you repeat what you just said? As you may have notice these three hooligans shot up my ability to hear and I have to lip and mouth read. Not only do they have a lot to answer for by breaking into the room of an Officer on duty with lethal intent and destroying my property, I am acting as your current minder which is doubly damning given they could be charge twice over for this.” Now that Grahd was looking at her and sending glances to the Dik-Dik being expertly pinned down by Coco, Rarity could actually tell her something. Chrysalis came over after sealing up the female Dik-Dik taken down by Sassy. She started to spit the burned and scorched flesh with her goo and the male Dik-Dik wiggled, but couldn’t break Coco’s hold and seemed to yelp in pain as Chrysalis patted down the goo on his injuries. So’Grahd pulled her shock rod away from the Dik-Diks throat and he gulped before sighing in slight relief. “I said does the Triple P have a cadet branch by any chance?” Repeated Rarity with thoughts approaching this being a possible mishap, they didn’t know who she was and yet they came in here gunning for her anyway. She wanted answers as well, but that didn’t mean they had to treat these three Dik-Diks harshly. They were soundly defeated and weren’t going to pose any further problems. “Ma’am even if they were from the cadet branch, and I highly doubt that, then they couldn’t possibly have access my office. The only way they could have access is if someone higher up gave it to them with the express purpose of killing you by tasking them to do so or they just hacked the door which is encrypted to work only for specific keys which are not a common commodity.” That of course was Grahd’s idea of the given situation as it was presented. Her charges were certainly not safe in this building. She might be currently deaf, but she was not dumb enough to expect a fourth attempt to not involve either high explosives or an attempt to poison Rarity as she seems to be the main target of these events. “Speaking of, since nowhere on the station of Selengrad is currently safe to you Baroness Belle, I sorely and strongly wish you would go back to your ship and conclude any business you have here swiftly.” “Wait Baroness? Nobody said anything about a pony noble being here!” The male Dik-Dik looked highly confused and if he were a cadet then he was looking to be in for some jail time for this escapade. “Then allow me to introduce myself, I am Baroness Rarity D. Belle and this is my daughter Opal K. Belle. I believe you shot at us with intent to kill?” Throwing her hoof over her daughters form, Rarity gave the Dik-Dik a slight scowl. “Who did you think you were going to be shooting at? I would like to know why I seem to be target of various assassination attempts.” “Yes, I’d like to know the answer to that one as well, given you seem to be shooting at someone without an ounce of an idea as to who you were gunning for.” So’Grahd moved the shock rod back under the Dik-Diks chin and he began quivering, there was even a small spot forming on the floor beneath him. Thanks to the two shots Rarity and Chrysalis fired, he wouldn’t be able to run even if he got free. Coco had his front legs firmly pinned behind his back and he didn’t have a weapon on him. “Well aren’t you pathetic, I don’t think you’ve ever been hit by a shock rod if you’re acting like this.” “It-it-it was… w-w-we were after… a-after…” He was a stuttering crying wreck now, all So’Grahd did to the Dik-Dik was raise a brow. “Name first, then information if you will. If you can’t focus with an active and fully powered shock rod under your chin, then breathe and speak slowly.” Moving her face into the male DIk-Diks and putting the shock rod a millimeter from hitting the Dik-Dik and scorching some of his fur in the process. “Otherwise I’ll just hit you with it right now and get the information out of you later by using the lower settings on you and I’m not feeling like being particularly pleasant about it. You almost look like a conscript still in training.” “I-I-I am Jor’Xeru and I am a conscript ma’am! I’m only a few months into the program, please don’t hit me with the shock rod! I’ll talk! I swear I will! Just… give me a moment.” His eyes were dilated and he was breathing roughly as he looked away from Grahd who pulled her shock rod away. Xeru was trying to calm down despite the threat of So’Grahd tagging him with a fully armed shock rod, Grahd deactivated it and still held it at the ready. All it would take is single movement of one of her cloven fingers flicking the switch and it would turn back on in a heartbeat. Xeru started to finally calm down a bit. “Okay, okay… I think I can… guess… what might be going on. Someone ordered us to come here and attack a purple haired Unicorn Pony with three jewels on her flanks, I believe the name we were given for a target is Amethyst Star. We didn’t know that we were being set up, I swear!” “Likely story, but assume I don’t buy it, what would you say then? I can name at least seventeen visiting Unicorns on file with three gems for a cutie mark in various colors and shapes. Of those, thirteen of them have purple hair and I only know four personally as friends.” Here So’Grahd pointed to Rarity with her right index cloven finger, but she could definitely see something of being a horrible set up in this situation. “One of those Unicorns is in this room and I really doubt that you could make such a mistake as to not confirm who Rarity was before rushing in and shooting wildly like you did. It’s almost like you knew that your target was going to be dangerous from the outset, so you couldn’t take the chance of her retaliating and chose to go straight to lethal. I’m also guessing that there’s not a better description of this Amethyst Star. Correct me if I am wrong.” “You are not wrong… and I don’t know what I could say at this point…” A wincing Xeru suddenly had wilting ears, this was beginning to look really bad for the poor guy. Coco didn’t let up on him though, she did look to Grahd curiously. “How are you even able to hear me if you are deaf without those cybernetics?” “Lip, mouth and throat reading. I knew there would be times, like right now, that my cybernetics will be either destroyed or highly compromised. It’s prudent to learn several helpful skills before you need them and not after you absolutely needed them and something really bad happens. So before I decide on what to do with you and your group, I need to verify that this Amethyst Star actually exists.” Grahd pulled out her data pad and started looking up something, she also now had to do a write up of incident three in her time of minding Rarity’s group. “If so then this is a grave case of mistaken identity and would explain the last two attempts on my charges life. Either that or her description was so vaguely given as to make people target my charge exclusively, this is quickly becoming a conspiracy and I don’t like it.” While Grahd was looking up Amethyst Star, Rarity took out her own data pad to make a call to Trapeze Star. While she didn’t want to assumed, she did want to ask if Trapeze had any family members named Amethyst and Trapeze having strong Unicorn blood might only explain quarter of the things Trapeze could actually do. Opal started to report what was happening to the Shining Jewel, starting from the second attack to the large disbelief that the last three attempts on her mother’s life were meant for another Unicorn. - “Now for my next trick…” Holding top hat out and high in a proud manner, Trapeze’s left ear twitched a bit and then she let go of the hat which didn’t fall to the ground and slowly rotated so that it was floating in the air upright. “Excuse me folks, but I have to take a call. Rover, Bernard, if you will keep the crowd entertained while I’m indisposed?” Trapeze reached up into the hat with her right hoof and pulled out a data pad that was sounding off. She tapped the data pad with her left hoof and then held it to her right ear. While she did so, she gripped the edge of her floating hat with her left hoof and hauled herself up onto it with a flip and leaned back while crossing her rear legs idly kicking them every now and then. The crowd was a bit awed at the fact that Trapeze was sitting on a floating hat in mid-air and defying gravity which everyone in the room knew was on, they also knew that it was impossible to fit an anti-gravity generator into something as small as that hat and they didn’t see anything in it and yet she kept pulling stuff out of it including Bernard whenever he disappeared to get some snacks from the bar. “Hello Trapeze speaking. Oh hey Rarity, what’s up? Yeah, I’m in the middle of a show right now. Don’t worry about it, you’re not interrupting anything important and my friends are always important.” Sitting up more Trapeze placed her left hoof slightly on the side of the hat to keep her balance, she’d get back to her regularly scheduled program if this wasn’t important. “Hm… Do I a Unicorn with purple hair and three gems for a cutie mark? Uh, Rarity, did you get amnesia? If so, how are you making this call if you did? Wait, are you asking me if I have amnesia? Oh no, I might have forgotten how to perform all my acts and I didn’t know I forgot! So how am I even doing what I am right now?” While Trapeze was occupied with reclining on top of her floating hat and getting a bunch of incredulous stares about sounding perplexed about how she didn’t know what she was currently doing, Bernard and Rover immediately went to work by warming up with their own personal flair. Bernard moved around the stage and started to build several ramps with his personally owned cards as he had teased Trapeze to much this show and decided to use his own props instead of just nabbing hers. Though Bernard would admit that he had a problem when it came to sniffing every prop Trapeze ever used. They smelled like the mare herself, wonderful. While Bernard was working on a few cube shape huts and a few more ramps made out of cards, Rovers started to idly juggle while waiting for Bernard to finish setting up. Bernard and Rover have worked out their own acts without needing Trapeze’s rather unusual and highly mystical assistance. The one they were going to do in particular involved bouncing balls off the card structures Bernard made, without knocking said structures over, they had to catch each throw and return it in as ridiculous a manner as possible. They also couldn’t let any balls past them or drop any of them or let them roll on the ground once they got started. The card structures can be randomly placed and the two would have to eyeball it when it came to bouncing balls off of them, it was insanely fun and random act. Even though Bernard was not much of a juggler, he could do some juggling in a pinch and had worked hard to make this performance one that even Trapeze was amazed by. It was given green light by Trapeze given it was an act that was low risk and lots of acrobatic exercise for the mare when she tried it. The best part of the act was the whimsy of watching it when it was in full action, because even Trapeze stomped her hooves in amazement for this one. It all started with a single ball going back and forth, what woke up the crowd was that the ball was being bounced off the squat square huts that Bernard built as if they were trampolines. They would slowly start to complicate things from there. First by rolling the ball up or bouncing it off of the various ramps to change its direction. Slowly there would be two balls going back and forth in a complicated rhythm and then things would really start to take off from there. “Huh, oh, you mean a different unicorn named… wait I know that name!” Declared Trapeze who ignored the crowds continued gawking as her hat tilted slightly in the air with her body’s movement with her still sitting on it. “In fact it is a name that I would know from anywhere, that is being a name of the knowing that I am acquainted with and am particularly acknowledging as having heard before! So in knowing this name and given that I can identify it…” “Trapeze!” Rarity’s voice was heard by the crowd. Trapeze cringed and leaned back making the hat go back to floating neutrally above the stage with her on it. “Yeah, Boss Lady?” Addressed Trapeze calmly after a second, she seemed to take on a comical tone as she talked into her data pad while ignoring the crowd completely. She was getting an earful from Rarity for being silly. “Oh right, getting to the point, yeah you would want me to do that wouldn’t you? Yes I do in fact know her, what do you want to know?” Behind Trapeze the act was getting more and more complex by the second, there were three balls going and none of the carefully crafted card structures had faltered yet despite how hard the balls looked to be bouncing off of them. Both Rover and Bernard were running left and right as if they were playing tennis, catching and tossing the balls across the various bits of architecture between them. It was redefining juggling on their terms. “Purple mane, Unicorn and gems for a cutie mark would be accurate to her description, but a few things are missing if you want to fully describe the mare that is... huh… don’t say her name out loud? Well okay then, but… trouble? Do you need my help?” Trapeze would cancel a show if it was of dire importance, this sounded like it was. “Well if you’re sure Boss Lady. While she does have a purple hair, is a Unicorn and has gems for her cutie mark, she looks nothing like you.” As she continued her conversation the audience didn’t know who to pay more attention to, Trapeze on her floating hat talking to someone on a data pad or Bernard and Rover bouncing balls in increasingly incredible ways. “Well for starters she’s a cousin. I don’t even know if she knows that we’re related. Pink fur, dark purple eyes and her gem cutie mark is far more distinguishable from yours Boss Lady.” Pausing Trapeze continued to listen to whatever Rarity was saying on the other end. “Job occupation? Accountant, organizer or various other things that involves getting things in order. She kind of has an obsessive compulsive disorder, I think she once mentioned being family with a Ms. Hooves of high repute among couriers and having to clean up after her a lot.” Now Trapeze was being lazy as she moved to lying on her back, she idly caught a ball that bounced at her in her left hoof without looking. She then tossed it back into the now four way ball bouncing bonanza going on behind her, much to the audience’s shock that she had managed to accurately bounce it back into the juggling war between Mr. Slash and Rover or that she even involved herself in the act at all while she just sat there, still in mid-air, talking on the data pad. “I don’t think she has a history of any kind of violence. Yeah, we’re doing okay and the show is continuing on even as I’m talking to you. Is there anything else that you need?” Trapeze’s left hoof lashed out and caught one ball and then another, she juggled them with one hoof for a few seconds before sending them careening into the field of battle in an awkward way. She had to keep her boys on their toes after all and adding a twist or two here and there would do that. There were two startled yells of aggravation that Trapeze didn’t pay attention or any mind to at all. “No I don’t think I’ll be any help with that. I guess we’ll see you later then, we might look around a bit ourselves and you should know we can take care of ourselves quite well. We certainly did when you last called and we were in the middle of a bar brawl.” “What!?” It sounded like Rarity was a little more than surprised to hear Trapeze had been involved in a room wide fist fight, well, up until she put on an opening act to stop everyone from fighting that is. “Thanks for letting me know you’re okay Boss Lady, we have a few venues planned here so don’t worry about having to cart us back to the ship. We’ll be sticking around the station for a while. Good bye, call again if you need anything else and don’t forget about us okay!” Trapeze reached down and shoved the data pad back into her hat and climbed down so that she was standing on the stage again, she turned to the audience while taking a strong grip on the top hat. “So, where were we again? Ah, yes for my next trick I’ll join those two and make this even more complicated than it already is by performing acrobatic feats while juggling like they are!” The balls bouncing off the small card based constructs became even more numerous and the ways they bounced became even more ridiculous with Trapeze bouncing balls off other balls thus making it harder for Rover and Bernard to keep their rhythm going. It was still an impressive sight to watch. - Things on the Shining Jewel were really quiet for the most part, since Greta finished patching the large hole in their hull with her EGGS unit. Opal had finished just giving the crew information of what has been going on since she last talked to them. “I have a quick question for you Opal, is there any possibility of getting a copy of that virus you used to mess up the cyborgs invading the ship?” If they ever ran into any more invasive AI’s, it would certainly have been useful for Greta to know that they were capable of dealing with it in a quick and permanent fashion. “Sorry Aunt Greta, but it was a one shot virus that couldn’t be copied or replicated, any attempt to do so would have made erase itself. The reason why I could still use it is because it went dormant in our systems without an AI or AIs to destroy. The AI would have caused more damage to deal otherwise and the virus would have activated anyway.” If Opal were present, they figured she would be shrugging. “I just cut out the middle mare and hurried the process along by tossing the virus straight into the invading AI’s face. Either I launched the virus early and saved us all some grief or damage to the ship or I let the virus activate on its own time once the AI got into our systems.” “So we wouldn’t have been able to keep it even if you didn’t throw it in the AI’s face, well okay then. Was there anything you wanted Opal?” It was Greta’s turn to take a break and she was waiting on Gilda to get back from her late lunch, she continued to fuss over the small device on the table before her in hangar section four and was beak deep in tinkering with it. Gilda and Saffron had tested these for a short time and their effectiveness was quite sporadic, but they had test data from direct and grazing hits of varying strengths to work with. She was currently working out the bugs on the ones they had already so that she could get an effective final product to reproduce. Rarity really needed one of them like yesterday it seemed. “I’m already putting personal shields as my highest priority at the moment and I’m working out the various tweaks on what we have already managed to create so far.” “So are you sure it’s this Amethyst Star Pony the DIk-Dik mentioned and not some misdirection about a conspiracy to kill Rarity? It certainly seems like someone really wants Rarity dead.” Saffron was lounging in the exercise room and so far their bets kind of panned out with the Masseuse kind of winning the pot, but it was hard to remember who exactly Masseuse was so they called it even on everything. Saffron’s idea of lounging was lifting weights. “I mean do we have any reason why it could be Amethyst Star that all these guys are after? What could she have done to earn such ire and does she have a prior criminal record?” “I’m… not exactly sure, there’s not enough information to say one way or another if Trapeze Star's cousin is responsible for all of this or if this is just a misdirection to prevent us from focusing on the problem that someone absolutely wants mom dead. It’s all very confusing.” Though Opal was definitely looking for advice from anyone on Shining Jewel at the moment, their crew was full of awesome people. “Anything else to bring up?” “Yeah, there is in fact something to bring up. Ember might actually be getting better, slightly, it’s hard to tell when she’s got a number of her nastier looking scales falling off of her.” Reported Gilda from the medical room on the Shining Jewel, she finished dumping the remains of her food into Mr. Spews tank and was once again ready to tackle any problems coming her way. “She moved one of her claws and her tail cracked the glass on the medical bed, I need Masseuse down here to take a look at her and we might need to mover her out of the bed.” “That wouldn’t be a good idea, she needs to stay in that bed. She isn’t in any condition to be transferred between medical beds and the sedatives we have her on aren’t exactly the most effective things on dragons to begin with.” As if Opal wasn’t aggravated enough about all the life threatening things her mother went through, now she was worried about the possibility of Ember being responsible for her own death. “Heck, we’re not even sure it’s safe to keep pumping her full of pain killers like we have been, but it’s been the most effective thing we have been doing that will keep her alive. If she wakes up as she is now… I’m just going to refuse to calculate the chance of such an incident happening and hope for the best.” “That’s all any of us can really do for Ember at the moment Opal.” Gilda turned a faint smile to the tank as she got up to leave the medical bay. “See you later little guy.” A tentacle waved at Gilda’s back as she exited the room to the sounds of contented and relatively happy squeals. - “So much tasty guilt, are you sure you don’t want me to continue punishing you some more?” In a vast void a shadowy figure was overlooking a blue scaled reptile with anger issues. “Do you like the guilt? It is what I am here for.” “Get out of my head and don’t you dare touch any of my friends!” Despite not exactly being conscious of what she was saying, Ember effectively fought against what was essentially a nightmare. Despite her guilt, Ember was overcoming the creature through pure unbridled righteous fury from how it seemed to enjoy her being unhappy. She didn’t know where she was, but Ember didn’t want to feel guilty over how she felt, in fact she didn’t feel guilty about getting angry with whatever this was. “I cannot feel you’re guilt anymore, where did it go? I must perform my job, it is tantamount to my existence.” The shadowy Unicorn with the wistful and whimsical tone of voice started to leave Ember, she couldn’t work with anger. Anger, sadness and anything other than guilt itself was not her area of expertise. She needed to find the guilty and punish them, but wouldn’t the best way to do that be to have a body of her own? She needed a being who was filled so full with guilt that they’d be happy to join with her, they would know the joy of their own failings once they became one with her. They would even know so for however long she could keep them alive. “I must find the guilty, I must find someone worthy… I will find one with guilt that is worthy, I will perform my given duty.” She couldn’t leave this world of darkness, not without joining someone whose guilt was immeasurable. - “Atchoo… oh dear… Celestia, sister, we have an emergency! I have broken my beloved shotgun in half, it needs emergency medical attention!” Judging by the look she was receiving, Luna could tell that her sister thought she was daft minded for some reason. She couldn’t see why her sister would think that at all, but she had more important things to worry about. Like her husband to be was currently in need of serious help! “Seriously Luna? We haven’t had a single incident in a few hours, for a second I thought I’d be able to actually savor my cake in peace and eat it too afterwards.” Levitating next to Celestia was a piece of cake with her favorite cream cheese frosting. “It’s bad enough that I have to actually share my cake with the republic of Swallowstania.” Said exceedingly tiny republic was made of, you probably guessed it by the name, entirely intelligent and quite sapient Swallows that were quite the annoying little birds when it came to making a peace treaty. Still, Celestia came out ahead in the negotiations… or at least she thought she did. Though having to negotiate with the birds in the first place was another dark gray mark on Celestia running the kingdom in as effective a manner as possible. It doesn’t help that everyone in Equestria was trying to slowly drive Celestia insane with work. If a lot of sanity challenging things kept happening in quick succession, then Celestia might just one day decide to abscond with Twilight to go on a very long vacation on a beach and would just allow Luna to marry her plasma shotgun. She’d throw all the consequences to the wind on that day, but today was not that day as she still cared about the many lives of the world that she was still in charge of. Goodness knows what would happen if Celestia actually left keeping the whole planet together to Luna, Discord or Cadence without her exceedingly careful guidance. “You are just jealous that you can’t marry your cake legally like I can marry my shotgun.” The marriage hadn’t happened yet, but Luna was still trying to make it happen and her words just made Celestia roll her eyes. Sometimes Celestia felt like she was the only sane Alicorn around, then she remembers she has Cadence and realizes that she wasn’t that much better than Luna when it came to sanity. At least she had Thorax, he was so boring and normal that he kept her grounded well enough that she didn’t just leave the planet in Luna’s ridiculous hooves. Celestia hoped Thorax got back to her with a report from Hard Throb soon, because her patience, while tempered by the many years she’s been alive, was finally beginning to fray quite badly. She needed Twilight cuddles or her favorite plush toy like yesterday. Speaking of, Celestia hasn’t slept in several days and she needed to get Twilight away from all those books because she hadn’t slept at all either and they were getting used to waking up next to each other in bed. Author's Note Going through the motions, posting a blind fire chapter... -123-“Amethyst Star is Trapeze Star’s distant cousin.” Explained Rarity to an annoyed and highly upset Dik-Dik who recently put in a spare set of hearing cybernetics considering her other two had been decimated when her desk got shot up. So’Grahd looked like she could use a vacation as she rubbed at her skull with her cloven hooves slowly kneading her head. So’Grahd had been busy filing another case of attempted murder, the third one that happened in less than twelve hours and in the middle of the local Planetary Protection Patrol headquarters no less. “Yeah of course she is, that doesn’t make this any less confusing. Amethyst Star has done nothing to warrant a kill order, much less all the trouble you seem to be bringing to my doorstep by just existing. Someone seems to be using her as an ideal scapegoat as to the idea of why you were killed during the most recent attempt, if it had actually happened.” Dealing with all this was giving So’Grahd a migraine headache and it doesn’t help matter that the multiple attempts on Rarity might be happening to another innocent mare or that innocent mare was being used as a reason to target Rarity. None of it made any complete sense and she just recently arrested three Dik-Diks to show that it didn’t. “Someone went through a lot of trouble to make me your minder and then expected me to not carry through on it because of all this. Well they were wrong about that much. I will follow through and carry out my duty, but I find myself lacking in the ability to actually do it. Getting you out of headquarters alive will probably lead to another attempt on your life. What of the Trapeze Troupe, how are they doing?” “The Trapeze Troupe is fine and they can definitely take care of themselves, what I’m worried about is if someone were to go after our friend Tree Hugger.” There were priorities in any crisis, even Rarity would have to set the upkeep of her appearance far lower than a friend’s life. Their current troubles was an unknown quantity and even moved in unseen ways, most of those ways seem to want Rarity buried. “Nobody would be stupid enough to try hitting a high profile target like her at this moment, she’s way up the ladder in the SNUGGLES organization and we have a lot of people guarding her. The fact that she knows and likes you enough to take several quite damaging and almost lethal hits for you says a lot.” So’Grahd sent a poignant look to Rarity, as if to say she’d like to see who or whatever is doing all this try and get to Tree. “Whoever is behind all these attempts on you, they are trying to get either you specifically or cause Amethyst Star trouble wherever she it. It beggars belief that Amethyst Star actually shows up as being on the station and doesn’t have any outstanding crimes to her name, yet three knuckleheads went gunning for you with her name to tell for it anyway. So it’s most likely you that’s in danger Rarity.” “It has to be me, I’m not quite that lucky as I’m sure you’ve noticed.” Rarity certainly wished her luck didn’t involve as many hazardous things as it did. Things were so quiet back on Desserzon and quite peaceful unlike how things are now, maybe she should have just stayed on the dusty planet. No wait, there was a kidnapping ring starting up there until Sweetie Belle tried to cook something and she might have been involved in that somehow. “I need to find where Amethyst Star went. I can find out what’s going on from her end, which is if she even knows anything to begin with.” The atmosphere was tense and Grahd was using Officer Drit’s office for real this time. Having looked up Amethyst Star's image, she didn’t understand how anyone could ever possibly confuse Rarity for Amethyst. For one Amethyst wore her mane and tail shorter, she also had purple eyes and a pink coat thus making her very distinctively different in appearance overall. The description of purple haired Unicorn rang true however and it could feasibly match Rarity’s description if you left multiple things out of describing her, like how she styled her mane for one. There was a percolating though in the back of Grahd’s head that this wasn’t the last of the attempts on Rarity with a certainty that she’d see another happen soon enough if she left Rarity unguarded for any reason. She was getting quite paranoid about all of this and the ones she was minding could likely see it even if they themselves couldn’t feel the building paranoia. “I want you to try to stay out of this and hope that you’re not targeted again, but I highly doubt that you’ll be left alone after we had another higher up the chain trying to get at you after the sniper and assassin failed. These incidents are not isolated and that someone is in fact out to get you. I’m finding myself burdened with having to either trust a group of random strangers to be in my presence or trusting people who could be given orders to kill someone innocent of any crime at any second behind my back.” “Yes, well, I don’t know about you, but I have a business to run and while I’m sad that I can’t go looking for a stallion because of this mess. I wouldn’t want to find, ‘the one’, only to have the stallion take a shot through the head for me. I would still like to do some business while I’m here to make up for whatever financial losses I’m incurring.” It seemed Rarity’s friends agreed because they looked ready to join her as they sat up when Rarity stood up and moved towards the door. “I would also want to visit Tree, but I’d rather not endanger her unnecessarily.” So’Grahd could at least say that they were all loyal to one another and she didn’t have any underlying loyalty to anyone in particular aside from the law as it stands in this sector. She didn’t see herself killing any of these people personally, except maybe Chrysalis who had been making a few lewd comments every now and then since they came to this office. A screen popped up on Drit’s computer and So’Grahd was immediately at it looking over the information that had been sent to this terminal and paled a bit. “What is it?” Judging by the look on their minder’s face, it was easy for Coco to assume that something important just came up. “I wasn’t given the minder position to fail… I don’t know how she did it, but your friend Tree Hugger somehow got me saddled with this exact position. If it wasn’t me it would have gone to So’Jeourn, he’s the next choice for your minder in case something happened to me. He also happens to be a respected triple P officer as well.” It left Grahd wondering just what kind of mastermind Tree Hugger exactly was, it seemed she was quite benevolent about keeping Rarity alive and bringing the danger to Grahd’s attention. Only, this wasn’t her terminal or her office and yet this was a time delayed message set for exactly this moment. She had made a note of Tree Hugger being in the store an hour prior to meeting her for the first time before the second incident and that the Cacceran put on the helmet at her urging, which is why Mr. Pirguer was still alive. “She seems to be quite benign in how she did it even, what really scares me is the kinds of connections she has or her ability to predict that I’d even be in this office at this time. To be honest I’m getting a little freaked out by all this and I’m a battle tested Dik-Dik.” “To be fair she freaks us out too.” Drawled out Sassy as she watched the door and ignored Chrysalis trying to get her attention in a rather juvenile manner, mostly by poking her every once in a while in order to provoke a reaction. Chrysalis was just not someone you could ignore forever and eventually Sassy would have to show her some modicum of attention. So’Grahd was beginning to believe Rarity about Tree Hugger being a seer, this level of set up couldn’t be anything other than a manufactured situation for Rarity’s continued survival. The set up notably had them going down a certain path and no matter what they did, they were likely to continue that same path even if they tried to avoid it. In essence Grahd would continue to do her job with the continued ongoing case of various failed attempts at mare slaughter and it would either turn out for the better or worse. If Grahd had to guess, Tree Hugger wanted a triple P officer to watch out for Rarity, but she also wanted it to be a Dik-Dik as well. Grahd would just have to see how well she lived up to whatever expectation is expected of her, a regular Dik-Dik minder wouldn’t be nearly as invested to investigate the issue further. Coco was rather glad that So’Grahd was forgetting to question her about what Tree told her, because she wasn’t going to forget what she was told by the portents of doom that was Tree Hugger. No matter what she personally did, she was going to cause someone’s death. It was hard to relax knowing she’d eventually kill someone, Coco didn’t think she even had the heart to hurt anyone on purpose in such a permanent manner. “I think your friend wanted me to succeed and so far it seems like I’m doing just that, so we need to help you get back to your ship and I’ll put a heavy protection detail on it. You can get your business done easily enough, just try not to attract any more trouble. As for me, I have to search for…” Was as far as Grahd got before the door opened and Officer Del’Drit, a grizzled old looking grey furred male Dik-dik with a broken off left horn and short pepper colored tuft coming from his head. He trotted in with a relatively young looking blonde Pegasus mare with bright grey fur. “Hello Officer Drit, I hope you don’t mind me using your office, but I’ve been troubled as of late in my own.” “Of course not Grahd of the ‘So’ clan, though I have a bit of a situation here. This here is courier Derpy D. Hooves, I’m about to start working a case for her and she’s looking for her adoptive daughter…” Before Drit or Derpy could say anything, So’Grahd kind of saw where this was going given that she already looked up the information to see if Amethyst Star had any criminal records to speak of. Amethyst didn’t have anything negative to speak of, except that she’s currently being used as a patsy to explain away Rarity’s attempted murder as far as Grahd knew. “Amethyst Star, of course she is… Amethyst Star was listed as coming to this station and then somehow disappeared off the grid without witnesses, her minder is also missing.” Though So’Grahd sorely wished she weren’t right about it, she had to tell Officer Drit as a courtesy to her fellow officer. What she didn’t mention is the fact that they might find either Amethyst or her minder dead, possibly both. “I think I know what’s happening here and you’d best be on your guard Drit of clan Del. We currently have concurrent running cases, so I suggest we cooperate in a shared investigation capacity.” “That’s what she said woo!” Nobody paid any mind to Chrysalis except maybe the blonde mare who smiled at her. “This is no longer a missing person’s case for you, I suggest you equip yourself with a projectile shield and a high output shock rod, it’s one of ‘those’ cases.” Yep, a case where everything just decides to go south for the winter of their discontent and then the winter follows and starts beating them up for lunch money. Grahd’s mind went to some weird places sometimes. “I just arrested three Dik-Diks coming after my charges unprovoked with the understanding that they were going after someone named Amethyst Star and that she was a dangerous fugitive.” “What, my big muffin would never do something mean or nasty, I taught her better than that!” Courier D.D. Hooves looked rather incensed at the implication that her adoptive daughter could have done any wrong on purpose. This wasn’t a coincidental meeting by a long shot and that’s why Grahd brought up Amethyst before either of them could say anything. “She knows to respect the law, well unless the law is intentionally trying to hurt her. At that point she’d know to run away and hide or come to find me to deal with the problem.” “Right, the last time something like this happened, it stunk so badly I caught the bastard behind it because he was too smug for his own good.” Officer Drit sounded like a friend of Grahd’s and a quite friendly one at that. “I agree with you Grahd, our cases are hereby linked and we have the wherewithal to act in a concerted effort to see both our problems solved. That being finding your lost daughter Ms. Hooves and finding out why Amethyst is related to your case.” “It’s probably not her fault to begin with ma’am and there are likely extenuating circumstances behind your daughter being missing, but someone still deliberately used her name in the targeting of one of my charges here. Also thank you Officer Drit, let me get you up to speed. There’s been three attempts on one of my charges and the third attempt happened not too long ago in this very building.” Grahd motioned to Rarity’s quiet group sitting off to the side and chatting about inane things among themselves and making a few idle comments here or there to keep their minds active. “Drit these are my charges, this is Baroness Rarity Belle, her daughter Opal Belle, Lady Coco Pommel and Lady Sassy Saddles. Also, despite my distaste for her, the visiting foreign dignitary Queen Chrysalis. She legally has diplomatic immunity even if she weren’t a trained and licensed EMT, so even if we could find her doing something incriminating she’d likely get away with it.” “Well it wouldn’t be fun if I couldn’t get punished for being caught, so I probably won’t do anything like that. So I can do thing like say, if I’m sexy and I know it clap my hooves.” Chrysalis clapped her hooves twice in a juvenile display, surprisingly Derpy followed along with it much to her surprise. “Now there’s a mare who’s proud of who she is, nice bubble butt by the way.” “Thank you Ms. Dick, it’s been a while since we’ve last seen each other.” Derpy blushed and rubbed at her mane, she looked quite embarrassed at Chrysalis’s words. “We’ve met before… how could I forget such a fine butt like yours?” She might have been paying attention to other things that day and must have missed talking to Derpy, either that or she was stalking Celestia again. She now knew that she had an attraction to Celestia’s glorious looking mane. “Excuse me if I have been rude to you before, it’s just who I am.” “No problem, though I don’t think you ever ate the muffin I gave you.” For someone whose daughter was missing, she was being quite calm and even a little absurdly levelheaded. “It was only later that I learned that Changelings don’t eat muffins for sustenance. I was traumatized for days after hearing that, but I got better.” “Well it depends on where the muffin is, if the muffin is between your hind legs for instance… then I would have definitely orally tapped it.” Yes, there was no shame on Chrysalis’s face and she did keep it quite straight too. Now Derpy’s face was quite red and Chrysalis looked to Sassy for some sign of incoming abuse and was sad that Sassy didn’t do anything in retaliation. “Oh come on, that’s at least worth a small slap or another high speed judo throw.” “So someone’s after Queen Chrysalis?” In Drit’s mind he immediately jumped to the conclusion that the ‘foreign dignitary’ was the one that was in grave danger. “I think I can understand why from just that little outburst. Also I’ll take you up on that recommendation for getting my high output shock rod out, because I can only hope that this will not be another Luna incident.” “Surprisingly enough, no, it’s not her I’m worried about and I kind of wish it was her. There have been three attempts on Ms. Belle’s life since she came to the Selengard Station, thankfully none of them have been successful even if it has been rather close twice and one of them severely injured one of her friends. Amethyst’s name came up in the previous attempt and I’m sorry ma’am, but I have no idea where your adopted daughter could be at this time or what she’s doing.” That had upset the Pegasus Pony slightly making her sniffle a bit and So’Grahd got up to hug the mare, the Dik-Diks expression softened up quite a bit when she did. Considering she usually had either a bored or a stern no nonsense look on her face up to this point, it was quite a change for Grahd in the eyes of Rarity and the others. “Though I now find it very important to know and will be looking into it, don’t worry we will find her and make sure she’s alright and if not… then we’ll make sure it’s alright anyway.” “Thank you miss… er… I don’t know your name. Hello, I’m Derpy, would you like a muffin?” The mare certainly bounced back from embarrassment and sadness quickly enough, she reached into her satchel with a muffin symbol on it and pulled out a white box labeled ‘muffins’ in large black letters. She opened it to show muffins of several types inside. “They are always delicious, made fresh this day and will be eaten before the day is out. Well as much as a day as anyone can have moving from station to station as I do for my job, they’re my comfort food.” “No thanks and hello to you too Miss Hooves, I’m Grahd of the So clan. Has anyone else touched that box other than you?” Grahd wouldn’t put it past anyone to try and poison Rarity at this rate. The Dik-Dik was thankful that no one had tried at the restaurant and that no one was hungry right now, even if the muffins looked delicious. Drit who took her up on her offer and grabbed a blueberry muffin. Most fruits from other planets were safe for a Dik-Dik to eat, but some vegetables had to be carefully processed. For instance and example, Dik-Diks couldn’t eat Equestrian carrots without getting sick, but could eat carrots from the Human home world of Earth just fine despite their being little difference in appearance between the two. Dik-Diks could even tell the difference if you put two near identical carrots next to each other. “No ma’am, aside from Dinky and Amy, no one else is allowed to touch my muffin box but me. My little Dinky loves muffins, but I haven’t seen Amethyst for some time and I know she likes the muffins too even if she prefers cookies.” Looking at the rice paper wrapped muffins inside, Derpy took out a beautiful golden looking raspberry muffin and bit into. She eventually swallowed and smiled brightly. “Nobody will experience a bad muffin on my watch, I don’t like it very much when someone bakes badly and I don’t like anyone trying to tamper with my favorite on the job snacks. Speaking of, does anyone here need a courier right now? My rates are really good and I’m not currently busy... well aside from filing a missing pony report.” Said snacks were something Derpy was obviously willing to share freely with anyone, she was a well-traveled courier and known in many systems as being quite competent despite some minor disabilities. She was clumsy and her eyes went wonky every now and then, but she was a well-traveled delivery mare. When So’Grahd had looked her up after looking up Amethyst to see what kind of family life the mare came from, she found out that Derpy was a mother of two and a distinguished courier who never did any wrong. Derpy had no ties to anything illegal whatsoever, so she was unusually squeaky clean in that regard and has never failed to deliver a package once given to her. Whether she delivered a package on time or not was the questionable thing. “Not at this time Ms. Hooves. Anyway, we’ll do our best to help you find your adoptive daughter, but first I have to see these people to their ship safely and without another attempt on Ms. Belle’s life happening.” Turning from her fellow officer, So’Grahd looked to Sassy for what they were going to do next. “I believe you had a plan to get Rarity out of here and back to your ship in the docking bay safely Ms. Saddles? I would like to know what that plan entails and then implement it with some speed, as sitting around here is just begging for another attack on Rarity to happen. I would like to get started on this joint case with Officer Drit sometime today. I’m already authorizing heavy security for your group while you do business.” “Of course, my plan is really quite simple, well for us anyway. I know this will be traumatizing, but it requires us to make shoddily made clothing intentionally.” Not being the only one to shudder or hiss, Sassy had also made both Coco and Rarity do the same. They were all professional fashion engineers in both form and function, they would never half ass their wares and sold their things at an affordable price. They could be making more money off of their quality goods in Sassy’s opinion, but Rarity’s method of making things quite affordable tended to bring them more customers from all walks of life. “With that in mind we’ll need some fabric, thread, a needle, some kind of stuffing material, a makeup kit and five blocks of wood.” - “Hey there, why the long face? I think you’re the only one in the audience who wasn’t watching and I want to know what’s wrong with you, because I’m the kind of mare that likes to find out if there’s a problem with me or if my audience has the problem.” Trapeze took a seat at the bar next to the bulky stallion with dark brown hair and light brown fur who was drooping at the bar over some kind of alcoholic beverage with a salt cube slowly eroding away in it. The white stripe down his nose led to a frown and Trapeze could not abide by it existing. She checked the stallion’s cutie mark and it was an upside down green horseshoe, an interesting mark. “I’m sorry miss, but I really don’t feel like talking about it.” The stallion sat his chin on the counter and it was around the time that Bernard and Rover came to investigate what Trapeze was doing. “It’s not you, it’s me.” “What is it about you that you’re feeling this gloomy about?” Putting her hooves under her chin, Trapeze was even more interested to hear his story and she wasn’t leaving until he obliged. She was taking a page from Rarity’s book, find someone down on their luck like Lightning and then help them by giving them a job. If this guy didn’t have a job well… she did need more members in her troupe. Rover was a fine juggler, but his clowning skills were surprisingly low for a Diamond Dog. As for Bernard, his card tricks were quite phenomenal, but he wasn’t exactly good at doing bigger magical things like Trapeze was. He was still the best magician’s assistant a mare could ask for and was a decent clown if anything. “Do you need a hug big guy?” Bernard squeaked out something unintelligible from standing on the counter to Trapeze’s left and she lifted an ear to listen while continuing to look at the sad sack. Rover sat on the stool next to her and gave the stallion a curious look while sniffing the air in the stallion’s general direction. “No I don’t think it’s us Bernard, this guy seems predetermined to drink himself into a stupor to try and forget his woes.” As if to prove Trapeze’s words, once the salt cube dissolved enough into the drink the stallion took a small chug of it and swallowed. “Whatever those may be. Call me strange, but I’m now fascinated with doing things like the Boss Lady by getting proactive about helping people who need it. It’s my job to make people smile and happy, if even for a little while, by doing ridiculous things.” “Look miss, I’m not exactly someone you want to be around.” The stallion continued to take in his spirits while Trapeze gave him a searching glance. “I’m bad luck.” “You might want to listen to him, he seems to know what he’s talking about.”Zel’Itenk turned to the nearby Dik-Dik with black stripe and brown fur and asked. “What’s his deal anyway?” “The guys a clumsy oaf. He falls down and nocks over things so much, it’s hard to find a moment when he isn’t causing havoc and despite complaints his actions aren’t illegal and are always accidents.” The Dik-Dik took a sip of his drink before continuing. “He even started the bar brawl your charges stopped with their song and dance routine, like usual, it was an accident and happened through no fault of his own. Kind of feel sorry for him myself, but I wouldn’t be as brave or daring to sit next to him like she is. He has a good taste in drinks though, the salt cube really does add the right amount of kick to the drink.” “Would you say you’re friends with him?” Zel’Itenk was just curious and the Trapeze Troupe just happened to be listening in to the conversation as Itenk sat down and got a drink for himself. “I’ll have what they’re having.” “You could say that, I’m at least buying the poor sod some drinks. He’s a lot better and less destructive when he’s drunk, but I would still prefer to keep my distance from him.” The male Dik-Dik took another drink before continuing. “As in more than five feet at all times no matter what, nearly knocked some teeth out of my head once and after that I decided a little distance was quite prudent.” “Interesting, a natural born sad clown...” Muttered an intrigued Trapeze rubbing her chin, she spoke up to the stallion. “How painful are the tumbles you take?” “Not too bad, I learned how to fall or tumble about. Still hurts a bit whenever it happens, but there’s not too many hospital bills and I recover from injury quite fast. Never once broken any of my bones, it’s just about the only thing about me that I’d consider even remotely lucky. I even got fired from a demolitions job despite how good I was at it, some would say I was a little too good at it.” The stallion continued drinking on in peace for another minute or two with Trapeze just staring at him, Bernard and Rover quickly followed her example. It started making the stallion a bit shifty, he sighed loudly and finally decided to give in to the interested stares. “The names Trouble Shoes, can’t hold down a single job without destroying everything around me. Whatever money I make usually goes straight into food if not repairs for the damage I cause.” “Trapeze Star, leader of the Trapeze Troupe. I would like to say food is quite an understandable and big necessity for a guy like you, but I have to know something.” Trapeze leaned on the counter to get a look at the stallion’s eyes just staring at the wood. “When and where exactly did you get your cutie mark?” “If you must know, even I’m not sure why I got this cursed cutie mark. I always wanted to take part in the old Earth Pony traditional rodeos.” Trouble figured he may as well humor this Trapeze mare, as far as show mares went she was quite amazing. He was just in too much of a funk to really enjoy the shows the mare put on. He continued on with his story. “I loved the events and watching the crowd, it was just something I knew I really wanted to do with my life after going to so many rodeos. It was during one of them that this mark appeared on my damn blasted flank and ruined my life. An upside down horseshoe is exceedingly bad luck miss.” “That or a completely misinterpreted cutie mark, cutie marks never fail to find the true talent of a pony and I’m living proof.” Mumbled Trapeze before she spoke up. “Which event were you watching when said cutie mark appeared?” “I believe it was the rodeo clowns event, yeah it was definitely the rodeo clowns. That’s been etched in my memory for as long as I can remember.” The slap of a hoof against the counter jolted Trouble shoes a bit and he fell backwards off his stool and rolled expertly with the blow to his back into a sitting position, he stared up at Trapeze laughing insanely in her seat and even Rover and Bernard got the joke going on here. “Oh that is so ironic! You have got to be the absolute dumbest pony I’ve ever met, but I believe you’re perfect for a position I’ve been trying to fill since forever.” If there was anything Trapeze’s troupe direly needed, it would be a naturally talented clown. Even as she talked she couldn’t stop laughing. “My goodness do you have it all so wrong!” “What are you talking about?” Angrily grumped the stallion on the floor, Trouble didn’t exactly appreciate Trapeze’s laughter or her continued giggling thereafter. “Have you ever considered that maybe, just maybe, that your special talent isn’t to be a constant imminent disaster?” The way the guy tumbled out of the stool with his hat flopping back onto his head after he stopped was just simply amazing to Trapeze. Not the mare thought that anything she ever did was ever as close to amazing as this stallion was. “In fact, I don’t think you’re clumsy at all. I think you’ve had a different problem and took it to mean that you were bad luck. I’ve met Mr. Chaos, Discord probably doesn’t even know your first name or that you even exist. He’d find you exceedingly funny like I do. In fact, you might actually be lucky if not for a slight problem in why you’ve had so much bad luck.” Trapeze was a good judge of tumbling and though Chrysalis would make a good clown, she probably wouldn’t appreciate the general clown accoutrements or the white face paint. That and not being allowed to intentionally injure herself trying to get free sympathy points despite the fact that she enjoyed pain a little too much. Trouble Shoes face was already mostly naturally white, stick a red nose on him and some funny ill-fitting clothes… oh yes, Trapeze had finally found a clown worth having. Now if only Trapeze could only convince him of his real problem and why he was so ridiculously clumsy, it was really quite simple and she wasn’t sure why Trouble Shoes never noticed it before. “What do you know of my problems?” Though he sounded a bit hopeful there, he was still a bit grim and doubtful. “Quite a bit from the demonstration of your real talent in action really.” The small tan hat on his head was a bit of a dead giveaway to Trapeze as to why Trouble Shoes was having so much trouble. “First of all, how long have you had that hat for Mr. Shoes?” “The day I got my cutie mark of course.” There was a parallel there and Trouble Shoes might have been a bit dim to not see it, but it was okay, he was a clown after all and he blamed his bad luck on his cutie mark. Clowns were never meant to be bright unless they were doing a lightbulb gag. “Well there you go, try getting up and walking around without that hat on your head.” Quite frankly it was mildly upsetting for Trapeze to ruin on of the universes longest jokes, but it was for a good cause and had to be done for this stallion’s happiness. “In fact, let me hold onto it so you can see if there’s a difference in how you move.” “Well I’m prepared to duck and cover the minute he stumbles.” The Dik-Dik that had to be Trouble’s minder said while watching Trouble warily as he started to walk around the room after giving Trapeze his hat. The stallion may have stumbled a few times and he had a lot of people watching him, but he made a complete circuit without anything bad happening. “How… how did I do that?” Trouble asked after he came back up to Trapeze with a completely flummoxed and mystified look on his face. “Was it my favorite hat that was cursing me all along?” “It’s not a curse, there’s actually a logical and scientific reason behind all this.” The crowd leaned in towards Trapeze wanting to hear what she had to say about Selengard Station’s unluckiest stallion, probably the unluckiest stallion to ever exist. “You see, there’s a reason why I laughed like I did. It's also why I’m still giggling, it is just that funny. You were completely missing the point of your cutie mark entirely and it’ll be quite hilarious to you in hindsight when you learn why. It is only now, do I ever think, that the universe has had its fun with you and decided to introduce you to someone who could really help you. Someone who knows how to focus that talent of yours in the correct direction.” “Could you just get on with it and tell me what you mean already you crazy witch?” The stallion bellowed, decided to save Trouble any more trouble Trapeze just came right out and said it. “I’m not a crazy witch, I’m a crazy magician, they are both completely different fields of magic and I’m not really that great at witchery. You were watching rodeo clowns the day you got your cutie mark and thought that you’d want to be doing that for the rest of your life and you got a cutie mark relating to that exact subject which led to you doing it most of your life without realizing it.” Pausing for dramatic effect, the constantly giggling Trapeze went on to explain things. “Remove the word rodeo from what you were watching and you’ll find out what you truly are good at, you’re a clown Trouble and that’s what your special talent is. So embrace the clown side of you that you’ve been missing and become who you really should be!” “Also you happen to have a rare disorder and a mild problem with your ears that, upon wearing anything on your head, your sense of balance is always completely thrown off and leads to tripping, tumbling and or being in traction a lot. It is especially painful for those who don’t have your special talent to avoid any real serious injury like you do.” The giggling Trapeze continued on quickly. “The reason why I’m still laughing is because your whole life has been one long running joke... and I’m the punchline to it!” “My life… has been… one… long… joke?” It started off slowly, but after a bit he started laughing as it all started to make sense to him, then came the tears. He pulled Trapeze into a choking hug that had her gasping for air as she patted his back with an awkwardly bent limb and a smile of gritted teeth trying to suck in any air that she could. The big guy really needed to let it all out. If the disorder was as rare as Trapeze made it out to be, then Trouble hearing the doctors saying he was fine when he wasn’t wearing his hat during various medical examinations made a lot more sense to him now. It all made so much sense really, and it was all thanks to this mare that might finally have a chance to turn his life around… why was the mare turning as blue as her hair? Trouble noticed Bernard stomping on one of his legs and pointing frantically at the mare and even Rover was trying to get him to release their leader, he quickly released Trapeze who flopped back against the counter almost lifelessly. After taking in a deep breath, Trapeze’s giggling started up again if a bit softer this time. Author's Note Happy extra length Saint Patricks day chapter, also it seems like you guys only comment when I'm writing more horribly than usual. I apologize for that. Time to get to my green roots, shillelagh to the spleen for those who don't wear green! Anyway today's chapter is brought to you by luck, Rarity has none and Trouble Shoes gets his back. Also introducing to the story 'The Amazing Muffin Queen'! Consumer of baked goods and beloved hero of bakers. 'The Trapeze Troupe will cause and be in some trouble'. -124-It had taken them thirty minutes to get the supplies which was a surprise to Grahd of the So clan, it was even more of a surprise that they finished working on their project within ten minutes in a flurry of activity and when left to their own devices. Rarity was still cringing about what they were making being the head of her production team, Coco was the quality assurance, or lack thereof in this case, and Sassy made sure the design was workable as far as the term workable could be stretched. It was interesting how little they talked to one another when it came to working the fabric, they were a well-oiled machine that So’Grahd could personally respect and they obviously knew what they were doing. She noticed several times that they seemed to retrace what they were doing perfectly and then undid it and then performed much worse the next time through. Officer Drit didn’t appreciate it, as he was the one that had to keep up with the rather agile Ms. Hooves. The poor pony didn’t have a minder, as Ms. Hooves minder had disappeared as soon as she reach the local Plaentary Protection Patrol headquarters. Said Dik-Dik minder had at least enough time to file a report before they left Ms. Hooves in their care. So when it came time to get supplies for the fashion designers, Derpy cheerily volunteered her courier services to go shopping in their steads. Derpy was paid quite well by Rarity for the swift delivery and soon Rarity’s team of clothiers would be setting the plan Sassy had in mind into motions. Rarity having been let in on what she needed to do, agreed that the plan would work if they didn’t tell their minder just exactly what it was they were doing or why they needed the five blocks of wood, four of which were of a similar size and shape. They weren’t wood workers, but Sassy did know a thing or two about weapon maintenance relating to wood working. One of the suggested weapons for Sassy when she took up her samurai training was a well shafted spear. Sassy didn’t take to the spear nearly as well as she did a rapier and she wasn’t willing to talk about how well she did with the spear at all with anyone. Chrysalis had said something about being Sassy’s shaft any day and Sassy of course ignored her, making her give off a sad whine. It was in everyone else’s opinion that Chrysalis was getting way too good at the kicked puppy look every time Sassy shot her down. Still Sassy deigned to talk to Chrysalis about the plan, because Chrysalis was an integral part of it. They had completed their works of poorly made art and Rarity didn’t want to wear either of them since she had a better taste in quality, but Opal’s begging made her change her mind. So she sighed, bit the proverbial bullet and finally caved in to the idea that would possibly save her life if there were people targeting her intentionally or not. Rarity didn’t want some random stranger to kill her before she has ultimately had her chance to shine across the universe in the way she wanted to. Thinking of what happened to Tree made her worried that she wouldn’t be able to do that if all her friends kept risking themselves for her sake. It wasn’t long before Del’Drit and So’Grahd read a report of a small portion of the Jor clan had attacked a ship known as the Shining Jewel, said ship was owned by one Rarity D. Belle and the Dik-Diks involved in the attack were ones with brain enhancing cybernetics. The Jor clan wouldn’t mind the loss, they had thousands of members and were at least one percent of the Dik-Dik population in their entirety. A hundred plus Dik-Diks were dead and it related to Rarity’s friends. Legally, by Dik-Dik law, they were no longer part of Jor clan after the AI took hold of them and tried to take Rarity’s ship. At that point they’d all classify as mechanical and biological hybrid sifter drifters. There were no casualties to Rarity’s meager crew and a report that forcefully boarding the ship was definitely a bad idea if there was anyone in the hangar. Rarity was in fact a fashion designer, but she apparently had a tank and a mobile cargo loading fortress on standby. So’Grahd was beginning to wonder what kind of situations Rarity would have needed two armed and highly dangerous ground vehicles in her larger ships hangar. Well the answer was for something like a full out cyborg assault obviously, less obviously was the fact that these vehicles could safely make orbital drops and if Rarity were in danger on a planet. Yeah, Grahd could kind of see Rarity needing orbital drop vehicles for protection, especially if she was this good at attracting so much trouble. Rarity’s larger ship was definitely a decommissioned military vessel, decommissioned by way of sifter drifter infestation and still quite formidable despite that. Commander Lirutiy was definitely involved with it being put into the hooves of some rather talented civilians, Plurts generally had good heads on their gooey slug bodies. So’Grahd began to wonder if the Plurt had met Tree Hugger at any given time. - “Rarity, can we talk.” Coco was most certainly not a nervous wreck when she asked that, she looked at the tattered brown, green and purple cloak they intentionally made to look that way and tried to not look like she was jittery about the return trip to their smaller ship. The cloak was quite hideous to her sensibilities, she was quite sure it was hideous to Sassy and Rarity as well and a lighter shades of brown would have worked better than the muddy mixed dark colors with the warped bright purple stripes. Rarity tended to dislike wearing the color green and it would horribly chafe her to wear something like this with that particular color of puke green intermingling with the horrid shades of brown. “It’s about what Tree told me…” “Well of course we can Coco darling, I can always make time for you and Sassy.” There were small crinkles in Rarity’s mane, she looked a bit stressed out and now might not be a good time for Coco to bring up her worries to get Rarity off of hers. “Even if someone is out to get me. As Opal has recently stated to me, it’s not paranoia if it’s true.” “Yeah and the paranoia is running quite high for me, especially considering all this stuff being directed at us or more importantly you mom.” Even as she spoke Opal was testing the limits of her mental range when it came to connecting to the Shining Jewel, she was still within range of it with her mental abilities to control the vessel even from here near the center of this space station. So Opal had a lot range to work with and could possibly get a chance at walking around on planets, provided that her mom let her. She needed to find out if atmospheric conditions might be an issue. The three of them were off to the side as Sassy explained that they may need a little privacy in Officer Drit’s office to convince Rarity to wear that horrid abomination the three of them had cobbled together. Since the office had no other entrances, the two officers could wait at the door for them to come out. Sassy then explained that Officer Grahd would requisition a car for Rarity, while the rest would slowly made their way back to the interstation rail system on hoof and got a ride back to the hangar. The two officers were only allowed to see the poorly made cloak they had worked on, what they weren’t allowed to see is what else the three had been working on in secret. Sassy was having some trouble trusting Grahd or Drit with Rarity-sama’s safety after the three near successful attempts on her, also finding out that the Shining Jewel had been attacked while they were on station. At least Rarity hadn’t seen that news yet, the attack was sudden and ended as quickly as it started because of their hearty if small crew. She had sent a glance at Opal who was with Rarity and Coco, it seemed that Opal-chan was keeping secrets from her mother and it was more for Rarity’s sanity than anything. “Well I would wish to speak with… the masseuse… about this. She’s supposed to handle our psychological issues by being someone impartial that we can talk to right? It actually kind of helps that most of us can’t remember her name.” That was when Coco found herself being pulled into a gentle hug as Rarity moved up next to her and started to nuzzle her neck affectionately, her face went red. “Well she’s not here right now and I really need to get this off my chest.” “Well then Coco, tell me what the problem is and I’ll try to fix things to the best of my abilities.” Rarity would do just that too, she was always trying to help someone or fix some major problem. If she was capable of it and even if she weren’t, she’d do her best to see things through. “It isn’t something of dire importance is it?” “It kind of is, Tree Hugger said I might end up doing some questionable things and I don’t know what to think about it.” Coco shivered and snuggled up against Rarity who draped a hoof over her back. The one thing of importance is that she held onto the tiger eye crystal at all times, it was that or else she and Rarity would be gravely endangered. As she had that tiny stone, she could prevent the both of them from being grievously injured, but some of the other things Tree said had her stewing with worry. “She’s hardly been wrong about anything from what we know of her.” “What did Tree Hugger tell you that’s got you so worried?” Tilting her head to her slightly smaller friend, Rarity hoped she could ease Coco’s mind on whatever was troubling her. “She said I’m going to end up causing someone’s demise, through action or inaction.” The way the hug tightened a bit told Coco that Rarity was just as upset as she was to hear that. “Well I’m sure she’s wrong, you wouldn’t possibly kill someone on purpose without a very good reason for it. I know you Ms. Pommel, you’re too sweet and nice to do something like that.” It was the memory of shooting a defenseless human sitting in his machine trying to get the controls to work that came to mind. Rarity had shot said human in cold blood after he was rendered helpless, she still felt rather guilty about that. She also felt rather guilty about the other humans she killed using the Puffles she had been leading around. They were not very nice people and she had theoretically done the right thing or else she’d be quite dead now, still… she had blood on her dainty hooves and not just Tree’s recently washed off blood either. “I on the other hoof, sadly, am not. I’m not sure how you can still look at me and smile.” “You’re not a bad pony Rarity. Sure you’ve killed people, but I think it would be better for us to focus on now and the future.” Shivering Coco, wrapped her hooves around herself. “Like a future where I’ll have to actually kill someone...” “Didn’t we all technically take part in killing that brain monster back on Antilur? You’re not regretting that now are you?” That was one of things Rarity lost no sleep over, thanks to Luna killing the nightmares of it. That brain thing was killed with fire, dragon fire no less, and Rarity didn’t feel sorry for that monstrosity and the things it created. “It was a clearly intelligent being and we destroyed it.” “This is going to be different though!” Shouted Coco who quickly clamped her hooves over her mouth when she noticed the stares directed their way, she quieted her voice down a few notches. “I’m going to be directly or indirectly responsible, despite Tree saying that nobody would blame me about it. She also said some strange things about me befriending a Krad and not to be afraid of my claws. I’m a pony, ponies don’t have claws.” Opal made a shooing gesture at those looking in their direction, before turning back to the two. She would continue to be a quiet observer of their conversation and she wouldn’t say anything about it to anyone else, this was actually psychologically healthy for the two and she wasn’t about to ruin the moment. “Well maybe Tree was being metaphorical, it seems like something she likes to do.” Except the last time Rarity heard Tree say something that sounded figurative, it took on a very literal meaning when an actual hot iron was involved. Though Tree did state it in a way to make it sound metaphorical at least… Rarity could clearly understand why Gilda was so twitchy around Tree Hugger now. “Oh come on Rarity, how metaphorical can you possibly get with a word like ‘demise’? Through action or inaction, I’m going to be related to that event as much as Tree Hugger says I am.” The bitter words upset Coco as soon as she said them and she hurried on to reassure Rarity. “Just to be clear I’m more upset with the knowledge then at myself at the moment. I really don’t want to be responsible for ending someone’s life, even if it might be an accident. Tree Hugger wasn’t very clear on who it is that I’m to kill or when, just that it relates to my actions. She said it’ll happen before both of us are put in grave danger and that it’ll require that I hold onto this crystal and not lose it.” Reaching into her saddle bags, Coco produced the tiny stone that looked quaint to Rarity. It was nothing impressive and it fit into Coco’s hoof easily. It would be interesting to design a clasp of some kind in mind with that stone, but it wasn’t big enough for more than a hair clip and Coco did like hair clips. Now that she thought of it, Rarity found the ascots that Coco wore almost near constantly to be exceptionally adorable. This is why Rarity became friend with Coco, she was sweet, neat and magnificent at making clothing and very easy to get along with. The only detractor from her personality, as far as Rarity could see as a good friend, was Coco’s odd interest in wrestling. While Rarity appreciated muscled hulks pinning other in sensual manners and that it was mildly interesting to watch, she didn’t like the sweatier or sometimes muddier aspects of the sport personally. “She said that I would absolutely need this stone to prevent our grievous injuries later on and to not lose it until I had no other option.” Coco just stared at the stone held in her left hoof for a few moments before putting it back in the saddle bags. “I really don’t see how this crystal is going to be so important, it’s not magical in any given way and it’s just a small chunk of crystal. How is this thing going to help us? That’s another thing I’m worried about.” “I’ll just say that no pony can perfectly predict the future perfectly Coco. Even Tree is not perfect, even if she is quite obviously very adept at it.” Lifting her right hoof, Rarity gently poked Coco in the belly in a specific spot. Coco started giggling as she had a very specific ticklish spot. “Besides weren’t you telling me just a second ago to live in the here and now and to look forward to the things to come? We do have a fashion contest to take part in and I’m trying to focus on that and the line I’m going to create for it, you know, instead of all this other dreadful stuff we’ve been getting into lately. You should only worry about the future when you’re in dire straits and right now, we’re alive and we’re perfectly fine. Can you say that for me Coco? Breath and say we’re alive and that we’re perfectly fine.” “We’re alive… and we’re perfectly fine.” Taking in a few deep breaths, Coco finally stopped being so worked up. She was still wondering what kind of claws she could possibly have with hooves or why Tree Hugger called her Sheep Wolf. Was she innocent like a sheep, but vicious like a wolf? That didn’t make much sense. “Thanks Rarity. It looks like Sassy is starting the plan, the officers have left us alone in the room.” “Then I suggest we best get right to it. I know I would prefer to never wear something so horrible, but it can’t be helped if we are to succeed with dodging the murky unknowns around her that are after my head.” Rarity licked Coco’s cheek, a friendly pony gesture with a history of not being intimate in the slightest. Despite that Coco’s cheeks still flared bright red, the poor dear was so easy to work up. “There was one other thing, I’ve been working on a new battery design. It’s effectively a battery that can be sold separately from the impulse saddles, but it’s kind of tricky to make.” Maybe talking business would ease Coco a bit further. The battery Coco had been designing would be a revolutionary bit of pony tech and since it was an accessory, it fit well within her talents when it came to designing it. The only problem was that she only had a working prototype currently and was hoping to run it by Greta once they got back to Shining Jewel. She could sell battery function equipped impulse saddles, but this kind of battery was a different thing entirely and she decided to be more focused on that for the time being. - “Yeah, I doubt Tree would really bite it that easily. Even if she did, I’d swear she’d haunt my ass just because she could get away with something like that.” Things were quite dangerous on Selengard Station, not that the normal levels of crime were any different from normal in Gilda’s purview. No place was completely clean of crime after all, but it was more so the fact that it was dangerous for the Boss Lady specifically. “The Boss Lady better not get herself, Coco, Sassy or the Kitten killed.” “It’s kind of sweet how you’re worried about someone other than yourself.” After a pause to think on it, Greta decided to ask. “What about Chrysalis?” “What about her? She’ll live, even if someone were to drop a nuke on her head. I don’t even think Changelings can’t get radiation poisoning for that matter, even if the explosion isn’t what nearly kills her. Radiation entropy would have little effect on her relatively simple biology.” The slightly sad look Gilda was getting was promptly ignored, they were still wiping the floor clean with some rather noxious smelling chemicals and it had her exceptionally grumpy. It was Gilda’s hangar and the griffon wanted the mess to be cleaned up before Rarity got back, she could at least share some of Rarity’s sentiments about cleanliness. “Chrysalis is also scarily intelligent and obfuscates how attentive of her surroundings she actually is at all times, do you really think that she is someone you’d have to worry about? Given how long she’s been alive, she’s probably always the craftiest being in whatever room she walks into next to Celestia and Discord. I don’t know about Luna in that regard though. Now shut up and get back to work Greta!” “Now that you mention it…” The conversation was soon dropped as Greta received a full glare from Gilda. Greta smiled cheekily at the thought of how many friends Gilda was coming to care for and she knew Gilda even liked Mr. Spew as well. It was mostly for the danger factor that Gilda liked the sewer squid, but it was still cute of the gruffer griffon to care so much. - So’Grahd entered the room and saw Rarity actually wearing that horrible looking cloak, they weren’t kidding when they said that it would be made to look like it was poorly made and even thought out. It was kind of ugly and she had seen Rarity’s Rarities site with so many interesting and good clothing options that even she could afford. “Dark brown, puke green and warped purple stripes? It looks horrible.” Even if So’Grahd wasn’t a professional critic, Rarity still cringed visibly. “At least its eye catching, in the worst ways imaginable. Come along then, I’ve manage to procure a standard patrol vehicle for us. As for the rest of you, Officer Drit will escort the rest of you back to your ship while I drive around with Rarity trying to attract trouble with some backup shadowing us.” Nothing seemed out of place about the various nods around the room and Opal sent a worried look to Rarity, but then continued on with the group as Drit led them out of the building. - The ride on the train back to the upper hangar was short, Caravel Boutique was right where they left it and completely untouched. The only odd one in their party was Derpy D. Hooves who had been following them, for a lack of anything better to do at the moment and she was still worried about her adoptive daughter Amethyst Star. Without a legal minder, she was going to stick to Officer Drit’s side to avoid trouble. “So, how do you know if your plan worked?” Turning to the group as they started up the ramp to start setting up for business, Drit was curious as to why none of them seemed too terribly concerned about the possible danger Rarity was in. “It’ll work if someone tries to kill Chrysalis, which I doubt will be possible given how resilient she is.” Chrysalis stated plainly in Rarity’s voice, Chrysalis had been quite talkative up to the point the officers entered the room and then she had been quite silent and next to Sassy the entire time when they left. Not a single peep about hair, not a word about butts and or nothing about sexual innuendos whatsoever. “Wait, what?” Drit looked at Chrysalis’s eyes and noticed that they weren’t quite right, he hadn’t noticed it before, but they were entirely different. Those weren’t Chrysalis’s eyes. Walking into their work room slash cargo hold, a glow came from half of Chrysalis’s horn and the jagged bit pulled away revealing Rarity’s horn underneath some tight black cloth that was now limp after making a small popping sound. Lifting each elongated leg, Rarity caused the black hole filled cloth to fall away revealing the white furred hooves and legs on top of makeshift wooden stilts Rarity had been using. Rarity then started to move towards the door to the interior of the ship after stepped down off the four wooden bricks. Rarity had used the invisibility spell piecemeal to replicate the holes in Chrysalis’s legs quite effectively and it wasn’t a huge cost to her magical energy to sustain the smaller effect, but it was still quite draining. “If you will excuse me, I need to go wash this stuff out of my mane, tail and fur. I’m going to get my appearance back up to snuff, thank you very much for escorting me here Officer Drit.” The mare continued by flicking off the carved out back end of her Chrysalis costume pulling her straightened tail free of it and even tossed the fake plastic fangs on the floor as she went. They heard the blue haired Rarity’s continued muttering as she marched off down Caravel Boutique’s central corridor to take a third shower this day. “As far as disguises go, that was quite a horrible experience and I will not wish to relive it. In fact, I’ll make an even better one for when and if I ever have to do that again!” “Wait, if that’s Rarity, then who was that with Officer Grahd?” A confused officer Drit asked. “That would be Chrysalis, making the cloak was a necessary misdirection. Chrysalis can’t perfectly mimic Rarity’s appearance, I don’t think she perfectly mimic anyone’s appearance for that matter unless they share a similar build in body. So we hid the two parts of her body that were necessary to hide. Her belly where a larger portion of her mass was shifted too and her butt which she can’t make any bigger even with her shape shifting ability.” Explained Sassy calmly, she had talked Chrysalis into taking care of anyone who was going after Rarity and to act however she wanted in that pursuit. She remembered the evil smile Chrysalis gave her, she was quite sure Chrysalis would do just about anything for her and this was probably a bad thing. “Whoever attacks Officer Grahd and Chrysalis is going to be in for a big surprise.” “I’ll bet they will, Chrysalis is really good at fighting and she’s scary when she’s taking you seriously.” The future events that Coco heard Tree speak of weren’t happening at this very moment and being back aboard the Caravel Boutique made her feel safe. Though she did wonder if anyone would have actually taken Chrysalis’s bait if it weren’t for the cloak hiding what was wrong with her Rarity appearance. - “Okay I know you didn’t tell me what was going on, but is the plan going as expected foreign dignitary Chrysalis?” It didn’t take long for Grahd to notice that the cloak was hiding something and she remembered Chrysalis could change her appearance at will. The other Chrysalis was Rarity dressed as the bug queen, rather clever for a group of fashion designers and that disguise was just good enough to pass a distant inspection, she was kind of curious as to how the managed to imitate the holes though. Grahd was currently driving the flying car, she was taking a very long roundabout way towards the hangar in an outwards spiral. Starting with cutting through the merchant district and into the administrative and botanical districts, then back again. If they had any tails other than the backup shadowing the vehicle, then they would be attacked at any time now. “Well if I’m here and I’m not getting a call on this blasted thing, then things must be going quite well.” Fumbling with the reinforced data pad Chrysalis had pulled out with her hooves, she quickly and carefully put it back into the saddle bags Rarity had been wearing. “I’ll have you know that I’m quite talented in many things Officer Grahd, higher forms of technology is not one them though.” “You know, you’re really good at disguising yourself.” Despite the compliment, Grahd did not want to be stuck with Chrysalis for too long. One because the mare could get away with a lot using diplomatic immunity as an excuse for many things being a visiting foreign dignitary and two Chrysalis was a shape shifting monstrosity that happened to be annoying in the extreme to deal with. “You’re even vaguely acting like her.” “Why yes, my cloak is so horrid that nobody would really want to look at me my dear Grahd.” The Rarity impersonator continued quite blithely acting like Rarity would. “I still think the color scheme could be so much better, green just isn’t my color you know.” “Can you do with this with any pony?” Grahd asked quietly. “No darling, I can’t. For you see, the mass has to go somewhere and compressing it for too long really hurts. I would be better with Sassy for instance, as we share a similar body shape.” The fake Rarity just crossed her hooves over her slightly larger than normal belly. “The best I can manage is larger or taller ponies, which are quite rare mind you. I can do Celestia or Luna easily enough, but I’m more of Cadences size as far as doing my thing. I do a really good Fleur De Lis, nobody can tell us apart when I’m impersonating her.” “I wouldn’t do Luna around here if I were you, there was a bit of an incident involving her.” Grahd steered her way through the meager amounts of traffic and turned the corner of a buiilding to go towards the administrative district. “While we don’t hate her. The princess of the Equus moon was a bit troubling to deal with and a little too rowdy. At least we know she likes the planet.” “Did she at least acknowledge the fact that eternal night wouldn’t work without this planet’s unique location in space?” The smart question from false Rarity almost caught So’Grahd off guard and the flying car veered a bit wildly for a second. “Well yes, it was explained to her that without all the moons that the planet below has, Equus wouldn’t be able to sustain the jungle based life that Nocturne does.” The planet was near constant night time, but the heat on the world was rather balmy and that’s why it could support life, heat is as much a requirement as much as liquid is. Try explaining that to the princess who enjoyed the night more than anyone else on a world that only had one moon. “She was quite upset to learn that one moon could not replicate this feat and that her planet would have frozen over and become an inhospitable wasteland. I’ve met her and she’s kind of like a child at times, if I didn’t know she had a warrior’s background I’d swear she was mostly meek and unassumingly subservient to her sister.” “Yeah, she tried to block out the sun, Celestia and Twilight took care of that problem on their own. Would have killed off all the Changelings on the planet had that lasted far longer than it did.” In fact, Chrysalis probably would have had Luna assassinated if it came down to Equus’s survival. It would certainly be one of the few rare times that Changelings would ever actually attempt to outright kill somebody. You don’t murder a still viable food source after all. “They don’t do so well in cold weather and I can agree that I don’t either. Thorax, Chrysalis’s current regent, is the only Changeling I know that would brave cold weather intentionally.” “Well that’s all very… oh Shrike, incoming!” So’Grahd tilted the vehicle so that it was flying on its right edge and a rocket passed right by them before she reoriented the vehicle back to its upright position. The rocket eventually hit a building in the distance and sent pieces of a wall flying in all directions, it left behind quite a smoldering hole. Ideally the things that would leave that kind of hole would be high explosive incendiary rounds. “Well someone definitely took the bait and they really want Rarity dead even after we sent a bulletin out to all active triple P officers that Rarity is not Amethyst Star and that Amethyst Star should be brought in alive if possible.” “So it would seem. I got to tell you, I’m kind of excited to kick some ass with you.” Chrysalis pulled out a makeup compact and started to lightly powder her nose innocently as she looked at the right rearview mirror. “Looks like mercenary bikers this time, no Dik-Dik among them. Our shadowing backup were taken down approximately five minutes ago, so don’t expect any immediate help and we’re on our own for this.” “Well that’s just great.” Grunted out So’Grahd. Not only had they lost two vehicles and had some injured or worse personnel, they were under attack personally. “I know, right? This’ll be fun, I can finally get to see what Sassy see’s in you!” At least the bizarrely cheerful Chrysalis was quite clear with her ulterior motive for doing all of this. “Maybe it’s because I have a sense duty? She’s clearly not attracted to me romantically if that’s what you’re worried about.” So’Grahd sent the flying car spiraling to the left and out of way of the various weapons fire that peppered the back of the police vehicle, she picked up a device. “This is Officer So’Grahd, you are attacking a Planetary Protection Patrol vehicle. Please cease and desist your actions or else.” “You might want to steer us towards the botanical district, less casualties from incidental fire that way.” Tactically speaking, that was quite a sound idea from Chrysalis that Grahd decided to follow and turned them towards the wooded tree filled area of the station. “Anyone that threatens me and mine, is going to find out just what kind of tortures I can come up with when I’m only armed with a paperclip, a pack of gum and a three pound bottle of protein powder. Sassy did give me a carte blanche to go wild on anyone that is after Rarity and I’m going to use it liberally.” Why did Grahd suddenly feel a large sense of dread hearing about how happy Chrysalis sounded when she said the words ‘carte blanche’, what did those words even mean anyway? While she spoke conversational Equestrian, she didn’t know the more intrinsic words of the language. Author's Note Selengard Station is almost over with, then the real events begin. -125-It kind of bothered Rarity a bit, she was expecting another attack and yet none came as they were doing business with many people from Caravel Boutique with a small squad of Dik-Diks and Officer Del’Drit protecting them while they worked. Nothing bad was happening to her and her friends as they created clothing, which meant that Chrysalis was probably drawing a lot of the attention of those after her completely way off course. “You know I can’t help but think that Chrysalis is having fun, whatever it is she’s doing with Grahd that’s taking so long for them to show up.” Even as she spoke, Opal was busy looking up what exactly a Parascine would do with the socks they were buying on her knew wrist mounted data pad. It was making her mom a bit twitchy to keep selling various forms of colorful socks to the jellyfish aliens in bulk. When Opal eventually came upon an answer, her face turned both a bit red and green like the colors used during Hearths Warming. “They do what with those socks!” “Opal… I told you that you really didn’t want to know.” Rarity snorted at her daughter’s unfathomable curiosity, she didn’t like making socks for Parascine. Which is why whenever they saw a Parascine coming towards their business now, they all let Coco deal with it. “Now that you probably have found out about it, what do you have to say?” “I’m sorry mom, I really didn’t need to know that and now I can’t not see it.” Opal watched as her mother stopped in the middle of working on a female Dik-Diks dress and came over to give Opal snuggling hug. “Thanks mom, but that doesn’t help the fact that the information is burned into my eyeballs.” Rarity quickly returned to work after that and Opal decided to make a call to the Shining Jewel that they were going to return within an hour or two without the Trapeze Troupe. The troupe apparently had other business to attend to and if The Shining Jewel planned to leave the sector, then Opal or Rarity would need to tell the troupe to get things in order so they could do a pickup. “Sorry about that, my daughter was a little too curious about something that she should have left alone for her own good.” Things had been quite pleasant since Rarity let Chrysalis disguise herself as her. Nothing had happened since they got back to the ship, no attempts on her life at any rate. “It’s okay, so what would you suggest as an accent to the dress?” This Dik-Dik was apparently interested in fashion design, despite the fact that she comes from a militaristic species and has already went through her conscription phase. She was still quite pleasant to talk to and Rarity didn’t doubt for a second that this Dik-Dik wasn’t meek when a fight broke out. “Well the blue really does look good on you dear, so how about something a little more contrasting? I’m thinking a shade of red or maybe some purple.” Yes, things were quiet in the stations hangar as the current crew of the Caravel Boutique did their jobs in handling customers. Still though, Rarity was quite worried about Grahd. Nobody should be stuck alone with Chrysalis for too long. “Something of a highlight that pops out and attracts the eyes of others.” Sassy was currently working with a Macropussian and despite said customer being male, she was being completely congenial about it. Coco had a line of Parascine asking for various colorful socks and Rarity was glad that she didn’t have to deal with them. “I do like red, but I’d prefer the purple… maybe a lighter shade like periwinkle?” The customer was quite knowledgeable and that sounded just splendid, this was quite calming for Rarity and thankfully she was enjoying the company of someone who knew exactly what they wanted. With her eyes for detail, Rarity could get the right shade of periwinkle on the blue dress to make it look quite magnificent. - So’Grahd wished the day would be over with, three assassination attempts on one of her charges and now she was saddled with a foreign dignitary that was some kind of psycho that was allowed to run a kingdom. It was hard enough to imagine Rarity accepting someone like Chrysalis into her crew, but to actually watch her in action was frightening. “I’ll talk, I’ll talk, just don’t… agghhhhh!” That was the sound of someone being tortured by Chrysalis, Grahd tried to drown out the screams by clamping her cloven hooves down on the cybernetics covering her ears. She really didn’t want to watch what Chrysalis was doing with the protein powder, a pack of gum and a paperclip. It was horrific enough knowing that those items could be used like that. Grahd thought that ponies had it easy on their home world, then she met one the beings they were blockading from leaving the planet and she could kind of understand why they were being blockaded from being let loose. Ponies had somehow managed to keep settlements going even with various dangerous carnivorous creatures like hydras living around them. Despite how they acted ponies were definitely not push overs now that she looked at the facts of what they had to deal with. They were just a little more pacifistic for powerhouses than most species and there are legends about the EDF fleets being really good at their jobs, so they had solid space capabilities. She didn’t know how normal Changelings acted, but she just had to ask for the sake of needing to know. “Are all Changeling Queens crazy and how do their people compare Rarity?” Grahd said without looking around the tree having turned a bit green from already having seen it once. It was the example that Chrysalis was making of one the men of the hit squad that shot down their vehicle. “Some are crazier darling, but it’s intentional that the queens of a hive be at least a little insane compared to their people who are a bunch of milquetoast idiots that they all care for Miss Grahd.” It was still disturbing to hear Chrysalis talk about herself as if she wasn’t here in Rarity’s voice, she was acting like a more volatile version of Rarity and for some reason the mercenaries couldn’t tell the difference between her and the actual Rarity with that cloak on. If they had met the real Rarity first, then they’d probably know something was horribly off about the fake unicorn. “It is how they handle the stress of having a hive mind and I will admit that Chrysalis is quite up there, but she’s still quite a dear friend of ours.” They were still waiting for pickup and had already dealt with anyone who willingly came into Selengard’s botanical sector after them. The Changeling was making sure one of the thugs regretted it entirely, it was just surprising that neither of them had killed anyone yet. Not even with Chrysalis’s horribly violent and hard to watch interrogation techniques. They had taken down fifteen heavily armed mercenaries together, her shield was down to a quarter of its maximum power from tanking explosives, high energy blasts and quite a few material rounds. She was also running out of regular ammunition and didn’t want to start using her soporific ammunition exclusively as it was more expensive to make. The fighting had been short lived and Grahd came away with barely any more than multiple grazing wounds thanks to her shield deflecting every projectile and explosive that hit it. The explosives knocked her on her back a few times, but the shield took the brunt of those impacts. She needed to get it fixed soon as it was denting quite badly and would be hard to fold up otherwise. Chrysalis had taken down at least eight of the thugs with an energy pistol. What was scary was that she did it without even firing the pistol once, she just snuck up on them one at a time clubbed them all into unconsciousness while Grahd was busy taking down the other seven in a drawn out fire fight that damaged quite a few trees that were used for cover. It was like the Changeling Queen was trying to challenge herself by making the fight harder. They could both say that the cloak Rarity and her two friends made was working perfectly at hiding something being off about Chrysalis’s rather inaccurate and pregnant looking transformation. Grahd was going to have nightmares about the last twenty four hours for a while and Chrysalis was going to take up two thirds of them. Never had Grahd met a foreign dignitary that was quite as horrific or efficient at torturing someone as Queen Chrysalis was. To be fair to Queen Chrysalis’s species, they were not lethal predators. Not that being non-lethal predators was any better when the prey would continue living to be fed upon for the rest of their natural lives, she’s heard some things about Equestrian criminals ending up in Changeling hives and wondered if it was true. “Okay, now you will talk darling, give me every juicy detail… now who hired you to kill me hmmm?” That sounded creepy coming from Rarity’s voice. “It was a Dik-Dik named Dett, her name was Dett. I didn’t get a clan name!” The poor battle hardened mercenary squealed and now Chrysalis had another name in a series of things she needed to look into. “I don’t care if she kills me anymore, she was with some Earth Pony. I never got her name I swear… Just… please... stop…” “I think you’ve done enough to the poor guy Rarity.” Hearing that name caused So’Grahd to narrow her eyes as she’s definitely heard it before. Thankfully Chrysalis was the only Changeling on the station, a Changeling couldn’t pass a biological scanner without being discovered and it was a good thing that none of the mercenaries had a handheld or long distance version of one. The jig would have been up if they had something that could see through Chrysalis’s disguise. “Oh come on, I might be bit cruel and unusual, but I’m sure this guy could still go another three rounds.” That induced even a louder whimpering from the Macropussian mercenary that Chrysalis was likely standing over. “Tell me about this Earth Pony, what did she look like?” “S-She never s-spoke out loud and let Dett do all the talking, b-but she had purple hair and pink fur… she also had a cutie mark of three buttons and orange eyes.” There was sobbing filling the air as the stuttering voice didn’t sound like he could handle much more of what was being done to him at all, despite Chrysalis’s words implying that he could survive another three rounds of her torture easily enough. She was a licensed EMT, so she would definitely know if she was torturing him too hard. If Grahd ever needed an expert in torture and interrogation she’d look for a Changeling Queen, probably not one whose true name was Crystal Clear Dick. Grahd really didn’t need to know what Chrysalis was doing to make a battle hardened Macropussian cry. She was keeping watch of the fourteen other out cold and cuffed thugs, only one had managed to wake up and as such he was Chrysalis’s target to interrogate. The box of hand, claw and hoof cuffs in the trunk of the crashed police vehicle were all currently in use. The whole front end and the underside of the vehicle would need to be repaired before it could be returned to service, but So’Grahd had at least kept it mostly intact and her paycheck was thankfully safe thanks to that. Chrysalis had also walked away from the skidding mess of a vehicle without nary a scratch to show for it, the way she acted with Rarity and her friends made it seem like she was a harmless idiot. Only Grahd knew better now that she learned that Chrysalis had been the most dangerous being of the group, at least next to Sassy of whom the queen was attempting to court quite poorly. There was a grunt noise and Chrysalis just dragged the cuffed kangaroo right on by So’Grahd, the kangaroo looked like he’d been put through a wringer and Chrysalis had not gone easy on him. He looked blankly at So’Grahd and seemed to be missing a lot of his rough demeanor after Chrysalis was finished with him. “Can I use another one please? This one’s broken.” The fake Rarity asked in a pleasant and not at all threatening voice that made So’Grahd’s fur and even the skin underneath crawl. A pink furred, purple haired Earth Pony huh? It sounded like the missing purple haired and pink furred unicorn. There was something there that added up, but to what? “What… I need to corroborate the story to make sure I got some good information from him, otherwise I’d have to torture him again to make sure.” The Macropussian started crying and hoped that nobody was dumb enough to lie to this monster. He didn’t want to go on that ride again mommy. “Sure, but try not to make it so loud please.” As uneasy as she was about torture, Grahd knew that Chrysalis could get away with it using her diplomatic immunity. “When pick up eventually arrives, you’re going need to stop immediately. Can’t you use a silencing spell or something?” They could expel Chrysalis from the station, but they couldn’t do much more to the mare as she was the ruler of her people back home, nothing would happen to her if they tried to leave it up to the Changeling government or even Equestrian government. Her diplomatic immunity in this situation could only be revoked by Celestia, Cadence or Luna, those three probably let Chrysalis torture prisoners for information if she was absolutely needed. “They are certainly taking their dear sweet time, I can use that to pump more information out of these nimrods.” Chrysalis grabbed the one, and only one at that, rare Cacceran mercenary among this bunch and started to drag him off. Caccerans weren’t exactly known for their mercenary work and the rabbit like Cacceran was in for a rude awakening. - “So we’ll be coming back to The Shining Jewel and leaving Trapeze’s Troupe here on the station, we’re just waiting on Chrysalis to finish… whatever is taking her and Officer Grahd so long to show up. I doubt anything would give Chrysalis a lot of trouble, but mom and I are worried about Officer Grahd being left alone with her.” Keeping the crew up to date was one of Opal’s easier jobs. “They definitely ran into trouble meant to be targeting mom.” “Do you have any news on how Tree Hugger is doing? I was thinking that maybe we could send her a fruit basket for saving the Boss Lady’s life.” Asked Greta in the middle of a meal in the cafeteria. “Gilda is quite broken up about it.” “I am not worried about her Greta, she’ll be fine like she always is!” Despite what was said, Gilda didn’t sound the very least bit broken up in the slightest to hear that Tree was hospitalized. She was in the hangar on the party line Opal had running through the ship at the moment checking up on their resources. “Okay, so maybe Gilda isn’t too broken up about it, but I can tell she still cares.” It would be nice for Greta to get some free time to visit Tree when she was better. Sure Tree was a little out there, but she was friendly as all get out and had always been there for her and Gilda. “I would say ‘screw you Greta’.” Came Gilda’s prompt verbal reply which continued on with a grating grumpiness. “But that would be giving you an open invitation.” “Can you two not fight over the ships communications please? I swear you act like a married couple sometimes and you’re not even dating or doing anything like that.” Came Saffron’s upset voice and it seemed to have shut Gilda up completely because she didn’t respond within the next thirty seconds of silence. “I swear, we need more entertainment around here aside from listening Greta and Gilda flirt with one another in an aggravating manner. Normally that would be Trapeze's job if she wasn't currently occupied with her performances.” “It’s not flirting, it is just stern words with my highly gay business partner in a completely platonic relationship.” Yep, Gilda was definitely running on full grouch right now. “That’s my own business while I’m in the hangar thank you very much. Anyway we’re ready for you guys to come on back, though the hangar still reeks of blood a bit. It’s actually kind of nice… I think I’ll keep it instead of trying to wipe it away entirely, take care until then okay Kitten?” “Thanks for letting me know the hangars been cleaned up Aunt Gilda, we’ll be with you to prepare for a sleep cycle in the next hour or two as we’re all getting pretty tired over here with the constant threat of Rarity’s death and the building paranoia therein.” It had been at least ten hours for the crew that went to Selengard Station and Opal was sounding slightly relieved it was almost over. It seemed like there was something in the works exclusively targeting Rarity of all ponies and they didn’t want to be on the station longer than they had to be. “Oh and if you have those energy shields tested and ready for personal use, then mom is definitely going to need one on her at all times when she goes down to the planet. Otherwise the only other bit of news I have is that Coco got a prediction from Tree saying she’ll likely kill someone.” “Seriously… holy flap, I owe the masseuse a lot of bits!” There was a pause as Gilda thought of something. “Wait no… the Boss Lady hasn’t been accused of being a crime boss yet has she?” - “What… no of course not, why would mom be accused of being a crime boss? That’s just plain silly.” Opal was exceptionally offended that someone might even call her mother an organized crime master, especially when most of the attempted crimes were being organized to kill her as of late. “Anything else… no? Good, we will be seeing you soon barring any more incidents. Business has been really good for us and I think I’m needed to help with some of it. So if you’ll excuse me... Opal K. Belle out.” With that Opal cut the ship wide connection and got up shakily onto her four limbs and made her way to talk to the waiting Parascine customers that Coco has been dealing with, since Rarity didn’t want a single thing to do with any of them. At least Opal could say Coco was beginning to get really good at making Hearths Warming themed socks with the beloved kaleidoscope aesthetics the Parascine always asked for. They weren’t denying any of gathering Parascine as they were some of Rarity’s Rarities best, if most unusual, customers and they tended to give a lot of good reviews about the comfortable socks Rarity’s Rarities made. Though now Opal could never look at socks or Parascine the same way as she once did before when Rarity complained about them previously, especially not without feeling both embarrassed and a little big green in the face. The Dik-Diks were alright with fashion and were not exactly the biggest fans of the industry, but the ones that came to Rarity were quite appreciative of her work and were the most numerous of the incoming customers. Given that the system bordered Dik-Dik controlled space it was to be expected. The Macropussians who came to them for cheap and reliable clothing weren’t a problem to deal with, though a lot of custom fits had to be done for Macropussians wanting pants or skirts. Rarity and Sassy were dealing with both quite readily. Caccerans were sporadic customers at the best of times, but more feminine and fox like Caccerans tended to enjoy what Rarity made for them. Even a few male cat styled Caccerans came in for snazzy looking suits and Rarity was certainly not losing her touch at creating clothing for both genders. The rare pony or two around here who showed up couldn’t find anything bad to say about the business or their lovable physically existing mascot, one of them even asked if Rarity was here for the fashion contest. They were answered calmly and sent on their way with their freshly bought and made Rarity’s Rarities merchandise. Quite a number of incoming customers wanted an EVA suit with various utilities installed, which is why Opal immediately labeled them ‘while supplies last’ on their local site. They were selling like pancakes, both hot and fast. EVA suits wasn’t what Rarity really wanted to be known for, it was her talent for making exquisite dresses. A Dik-Dik with light colored fur wearing a beautiful blue dress with purple periwinkle highlights walked off down the ramp blushing at all the attention she was suddenly receiving and slowly she started to actually start selling it. She looked both beautiful and quite pleased with her purchase as she was turning heads as she slowly sauntered away with a bit of a sway in her hips. Another greatly satisfied customer, not a gun or even ugly mug of a thug in sight. It would be another hour before they closed up shop and for Chrysalis to arrive with a bedraggled looking So’Grahd. - “Never leave me alone with her again if you ever come back. In fact, try to keep her as far away from me as you can.” Was all So’Grahd had to say to them before she turned around and promptly left to stand with Officer Drit. They were waiting for Rarity’s small cargo freighter to leave the station and it did so safely without incident. It did so with a wildly grinning Chrysalis onboard, it’s been quite a while since the changeling Queen has been allowed to torture someone that hard. She really had to thank Sassy for giving her the verbal go ahead to do all that and she was happy to know she wasn’t overstepping the stupidly careful boundaries that Celestia, Luna and Cadence had set for her. Now Chrysalis needed more random implements to torture someone with, she’d used up all the protein powder, she was also out of bubble gum and their wrappers. She had gotten through five more of the fifteen guys before they were picked up and they definitely corroborated the story the first guy told her, all just to make her stop. - “Okay, so we got some information out of those thugs. It’s looking more and more like a silent mare with purple hair and a pink coat might be behind the attempted murders on Rarity, it’s an Earth Pony if you can believe it with three buttons for a cutie mark.” Now that Rarity’s ship was leaving, So’Grahd could finally get back to business of being an officer of the law. To start off with, she had to deliver the news to the gray mare that was till following Officer Drit around. “One that obviously has quite some pull with rather dangerous criminal ties, she shares a frighteningly similar description with that of your daughter Amethyst Star Ms. Hooves. I believe this unknown Earth Pony might have framed your daughter for several various criminal activities, possibly while wearing a false horn and hiding her cutie mark. My best guess is she’s trying to use Amethyst Star as a scapegoat.” “Sounds like a good theory as any if Amethyst Star is truly innocent of any crime.” Officer Drit muttered quietly to himself. “I assure you that we’ll definitely be looking into it much further and we will find your lost daughter Ms. Hooves, this is why your daughter is being hunted down while there are no criminal records on file.” Despite how upsetting it may be, Grahd continued on while putting a hoof over Derpy’s back as a sign of comfort. “The two described by the thugs probably want her dead on top of Rarity being killed as a goal to whatever plot they’ve got going on.” Derpy stayed quiet and was quite upset about this turn of events, she reached into her bags and patted at the box of muffins with a hoof and the opened and pulled one free from it. She really needed a muffin quite badly right now. “Did you get anything else from those thugs that shot you down Officer Grahd?” Protection detail on the Caravel Boutique went off without a single hitch for Officer Drit and the others he called in that he knew personally. It was getting rather difficult to know who to trust around here recently. “That’s how I know the earth pony has obvious criminal ties, the one that talked to the mercenaries was a Dik-Dik named Dett.” As soon as So’Grahd said that, Drit jumped and jerked around to give her a rather sharp stare. Derpy continued to watch them both as they were beginning to completely ignore her presence, she simply nibbled at a muffin while quietly following them. She just hoped her adoptive daughter was okay and wasn’t involved in anything dangerous and was just laying low like a game of hide and seek with dangerous consequences. “Dett the Destructive, seriously?! Well freaking shrike, no wonder all those Jor clan cyborgs with brain implants were acting up like they did.” Officer Drit rubbed at his broken horn, he looked to be having horrible flashbacks to something that happened. “That technological terrorist must have been the one that freed that AI. The other clans told the Jors to get rid of it and now they’re down a hundred and forty or so members. At least we have confirmation that the AI is finally dead due to a lucky one shot Anti-AI virus being in the Shining Jewel’s systems at the time. Were you told about that?” “Yeah, Opal informed me that they picked that up in a space pirate attack around Applin Five in the Applon System and all the information checked out.” If there was a name So’Grahd never thought she’d hear about in her neck of the woods, it was Dett the Destructive, the Dangerous, the Demented, the Disaster, the Defiler or the Destroyer. Grahd had never been near Dett at all or was ever involved in anything related to her, but Officer Drit was one of the few lucky ones to survive that deadly Dik-Dik. While Grahd didn’t know much about Dett personally, she knew that Dett was a clan killer and was kicked out of belonging to any clan once she was discovered to be violently dismembering, murdering and experimenting on other Dik-Diks of her own clan. There was a cap on how far cybernetics could go with dangerous Dik-Diks like her in mind. “What’s worse is we never heard anything about her breaking free from her prison… unless nobody knows that she has. I remember all the stuff that she managed to do last time.” Closing his eyes and shivering violently, Drit was looking pretty pale. He eventually opened his eyes and pulled out his data pad, he need to send out an APB that ‘Dett the Destructive’ was on the loose. Hopefully one of their scout ships could get out of the system with that information intact to start warning everyone. “We seriously need to be on our guard here. That is most definitely not a name you want to hear as being on the same space station as you!” “What did this Dett do that was so bad?” The question that Derpy asked caused them both to pause and remember that she was still with them because she didn’t have a minder. “What didn’t she do is easier to answer, but if you must know she’s a highly intelligent lunatic. She somehow has avoided straight out execution on sight orders and even somehow avoided execution even after she was caught. Many Dik-Diks are convinced that she did something that prevented the clan leaders from just killing her outright as soon as we got a hold of her and I don’t think anyone would have grieved over her dying.” It sounded like Drit’s bitter words had some history to them. “The quieter she is, the more disastrous her plans are. Some would claim she’s a technopath, we’re all thankful that she isn’t unless she’s recently figured something out by now through using cybernetics. She’s a high end hacker and a cybernetics expert, which is a bad combination with her being a lunatic.” “Judging by how you’re acting and from what I remember, you’ve actually seen her personally.” Yeah, this was bad news for Officer So’Grahd getting a break any time soon, she needed some of that imported caffeine juice from Equus. Grahd didn’t want to worry Rarity or her group unnecessarily, but it looked like Dett was already moving to achieve something and that something involved targeting Rarity with unusually excessive amounts of force. There was evidence pointing to Dett being responsible for targeting Rarity, but the reason why still eluded her as Rarity seemed completely unimportant to anything going on in this sector of space. “She had me strapped down and was going to cut my head open to forcefully insert cybernetic implants into me whether I wanted them or not. I think she was planning replacing large portions of my body with machinery, thankfully some of my friends managed to save me before she got anywhere.” Drit rubbed at his broken horn in remembrance of the near miss with the psychopath. “Most of me anyway… that blood covered saw she was going to use only took one of my horns off instead of my head. I watched her mutilate one of her own clan members before she came over to me still covered in chunks of their intestines with a smile that I’ll never forget. I wanted to put a shot through her eyes immediately after we caught her, but apparently it was decided that she just be permanently imprisoned under mysterious circumstances that led to an outcry against the clan leaders.” “She doesn’t sound like a very nice person.” For some reason Derpy felt like that was an understatement after what she just heard. - “I sometimes worry if I’m actually cut out to be a princess really.” It had been a long time coming, but Twilight had eventually got to the crux of her problem with Thorax. “Well you’re not doing too bad a job at the moment… not that my brother Pharynx is exactly helping me with mine and he’s an ardent fan of Chrysalis’s method of getting things done.” As Chrysalis’s acting regent, Thorax had no idea how much work Chrysalis did even while she was traveling for a whole year. He didn’t understand how Chrysalis could keep up with it all by herself. She seemed so bored most of the time, considering she was miles ahead on her paperwork it made sense that she was bored as she had nothing better to do then pester Celestia, Cadence or Luna. “I know many ponies didn’t like Chrysalis, but she was quite amazing at cutting through red tape and as for me… it’s becoming a bit of a knotted mess.” “I could do it for you, I’m quite organized and all I seem to be doing these days is smiling and waving at ponies anyway. It’s like Celestia is worried someone is out to get me and she’s being too protective of me. Why can’t I pull my own weight and do some of the work?” After a moment to think about what she was asking Twilight finally admitted. “I do like that Celestia is quite protective of me... and how her fur feels… and the smell of her mane when she finally crawls into bed after a hard day of bureau-crazy. I just feel lazy sitting around watching her burn herself out on all that fake smiling she does day after day, only for her to use me as a cuddle toy to relieve stress.” “Thanks for the offer Twilight, but I have to do this myself as some of it can be a bit sensitive.” Like how he has a Changeling infiltrating Earth to investigate the Tempest Technologies government ties and he knew Celestia didn’t want Twilight to hear some of the darker things happening around her. “Also don’t you mean bureaucracy?” “I spend most of my days with Celestia, I definitely mean bureau-crazy Thorax.” That led Twilight to thinking about someone who was dumb enough to try and legally pass a tax reform where all taxes went straight into Bluebloods bank account. Mind you it wasn’t Prince Blueblood that put the reform up for review in the first place which was doubly insane from Twilight’s point of view. She wondered how anyone thought they could get away with it even if it wasn't them benefitting from it. -126-Rarity slowly came to with Opal in her hooves, she slowly and carefully pulled herself out of bed trying not to wake her daughter. She would go to the bathroom, brush her teeth, get in a shower and then style her mane before heading down to the hangar, hopefully Coco was punctual. She really didn’t want to find out what Gilda was up to this time, the less she knew the less she could be implicated if Gilda was currently doing something illegal. She sat in front of her vanity stroking at her lovely mane and she peered at the peacefully sleeping Opal in the mirror. She sighed, she’d have to wake her daughter and bathe her. There were still some things Opal couldn’t do for herself even if she was getting better at moving around. Sure Opal could operate the ship in her sleep and was quite adorable while doing so, but she couldn’t spend her entire life in bed. “Opal, dear, time to wake up.” Nuzzling her daughter made Opal sleepily latch onto her. “Five more minutes mommy.” The drowsy Opal stated before curling up against Rarity’s neck. She was in for a big surprise when she was eventually lowered into some warm water to be scrubbed and then had her pink hair brushed and combed by Rarity. - Rarity stepped out of the elevator while looking at a notepad, she had several ideas for a fashion line to use in the contest. With Sassy and Coco’s help she’d make a good showing of it. Looking about the hangar she saw that Gilda was once again building something unique, it actually looked like a fighter this time or the frame for one at least. Not seeing Coco around, Rarity decided to first call Trapeze to see how she was doing and pulled out her data pad. Once Rarity started the call it only took a few seconds for Trapeze to respond. “Hello Trapeze, is everything okay with you? Well good, could you maybe check up on Tree Hugger in the station’s hospital for me? I’m worried about her. Okay, thanks darling, that’s all I needed.” A pause and Rarity tapped her hoof against the ground listening to Trapeze talk about adding a new member to her troupe. “No I don’t mind, it’s your business after all Ms. Star. We have plenty of room on the Shining Jewel for this mister… Trouble Shoes is it? Just makes sure he doesn’t cause too many problems for me and I’m sure we’ll get along just splendidly. Well okay then, we’ll talk later Ms. Star. Fine, we’ll talk later my wonderful friend Trapeze.” Rarity smiled as she put away her data pad and moved over to see what Gilda was up to, she wondered what was taking Coco so long to arrive. Coco was usually more punctual than this, Rarity knew Coco was on the ship and her friend hardly ever failed to be reliable and forthwith about things. Speaking of forthwith her friend had an insane work ethic that she needed to cut back on a bit. “Gilda, dare I ask, what are you making this time?” Rarity watched as Gilda stop banging a hammer against the metal frame and turned to her. “Hey Boss Lady, making a fighter and not the one of my dreams. I’m actually getting so close to doing that, I can practically taste the fuel my baby will use. This will actually be for Lightning.” Gilda slapped the hammer against the sturdy frame roughly, it didn’t shudder in the slightest. “She needs a fighter as she’s slowly going mad with just piloting Ember’s Pyrrhic Victory, Greta will be around to inform you about the personal shielding system we worked on for your protection. Oh and if you are listening Opal, schedule a meeting with the Masseuse to work all the building stress out of Lightning will you! If she’s going to be the Garage Griffon test pilot, then she’s going to need to be of sound mind. I know for a fact that her body is just fine the way it is…” Sounds like Gilda and Lightning had another tryst with one another and Rarity wasn’t going to ask. She wouldn’t ask so long as it didn’t have any negative effect on the overall performance or mentality of her lovely crew. She didn’t really have to focus on it and it wasn’t any of her concern aside from wanting to gossip about it. Even if some of the crew enjoyed getting dirty like Rover, Gilda and Greta, she let them do what they did best and she was getting all the benefits thereof instead of micromanaging them. “Can do Aunt Gilda.” Chirped Opal, she was in the cafeteria getting breakfast from Coriander. One of these days Rarity was going to have to find out what kind of range her daughter had when it came to operating the Shining Jewel. It would be fun to go to a nicer planet to spend time with her daughter bonding together, also she needed to go back to Equus to let Sweetie Belle know she had a niece. It started to make Rarity wonder how she was going to break it to her parents that they were grandparents to a supposed ‘Cacceran’ with her genetics in it. “Well, can you tell me how Saffron is doing being cooped up here?” It was easy for Rarity to guess that Coriander wouldn’t mind being cooped up on the ship like Vera was. Saffron was actually a more valid worry of Rarity’s. Lightning could fly around the air space of Nocturne provided she didn’t power up the weapons she would be left mostly alone unless she was flying near the Selengard or Nocturne. “I fear she might be getting antsy.” “Surprisingly, she’s only complaining mildly about things and is pretty good at keeping a lid on her vigilantism.” All that Gilda needed to be pleased was tons of metal, parts and supplies to build with and she was happy. She would even state as such to her boss. “I swear being on your crew is so cozy that it’s hard for anyone to complain all too much Boss Lady, not to mention you’re still paying everyone too much.” “I think you absolutely deserve the pay you’re getting, with all the amazing things you make and how you protected my interests. Don’t think I didn’t notice the smell of blood coming in from our visit to Selengard, do I want to even know?” It was just one of those times Rarity felt like talking up Gilda. “I’m getting the better deal out of this with an incredible maintenance and repair team. A team that can also make things and not just fix what’s breaking, but also improve on it.” “No you don’t and thanks Boss Lady, you know I need to have my ego stroked once in a while.” As a griffon that was a given on Gilda’s part as she smirked in Rarity’s direction. The lion bird hopped off the metallic framework and made her way over to Rarity. “So who are you waiting on?” “I’m waiting on Coco, you have to remember that Tree Hugger told her something that upset her and I fear that it is having more of an effect on her than she let…” Staring at the elevator as it opening into section three of the hangar, Rarity trailed of upon seeing a horrific sight. It was Coco’s bedraggled looking appearance and her mane was a mess, she didn’t look to have slept a wink. “On… Coco, hold it right there!” “Rarity I…” Started a tired eyed Coco who immediately found a hoof held up to her face and she instantly became quiet, soon Rarity was pulling her emergency care kit from her saddle bag. This was an emergency of the greatest order, which required Rarity’s care kit which was an idea she got from how prepared Pinkie Pie was for most things. Whichever Pinkie Pie she was thinking of, Rarity didn’t need to know if there were more than two of Pinkie within the same universe. Pinkie Pie had hidden party supplies on every space station in the pony sectors. She only knows the location of three of those stashes and she has at least three more in each location she found a stash in. Her care kit was a brush, a comb, a bit of makeup and some bottled calming scents that she personally enjoyed. She immediately pulled Coco into a hug, then backed off to start combing her tail and brushing her mane wielding the two objects in her magic with precision. “Coco dear, maybe you should get some more sleep before you show me what you wanted to.” It didn’t take Rarity even thirty seconds to get Coco’s mane in order and her tail no longer look like a wet mop had snuggle with her tail in some strange love affair. Rarity was going to order Opal to push Coco for the next session before Lightning. “I can work on my fashion line for the contest with Sassy while you get some rest, you look simply terrible darling. Opal schedule Coco a session with Vera as soon as she wakes up, tell Saffron I need a cup of warm milk and I expect you to get a lullaby playing for Coco after she’s had her drink.” “Aye aye captain mom, Vera’s schedule is pretty clear already so I’m penciling Coco in right now!” How Opal could be so cheerful in the face of the horrid wreck that Coco currently was made her seem brave in Rarity’s eyes. In reality it was just Rarity overreacting to one of her friends not taking care of themselves properly. “But…” Coco tried only to be turned around and pushed back towards the elevator by Rarity. “The only butt here, is yours going back to bed my dear Coco.” Rarity slowly managed to gain ground and Coco was too tired to fight off her worried friend. - After she’s had a nice nap where she was watched like a hawk to make sure she slept, Coco was led by Rarity to the cafeteria where they sat down together. “I’m sorry Rarity...” If one were to look at Coco right now, she’d come off like a properly scolded filly. “No, you are not, it’s not your fault that you were having troubles sleeping… even I’m having the same problems at times.” It was just that Rarity hid her sleepless nights better and she was a professional at hiding how tired she was at times. Three attempts on her life and Coco thinks she can just laugh that off? What kind of impervious impression did she give to her friends by hiding all the stress she was under at times? “You need a stress relieving session and I’m going to make sure you get to it. I need one myself personally, but less so than Lightning apparently. So what was it you wanted to show me?” “Oh right, it’s a multi-purpose battery that’s separate from a battery equipped impulse saddle and it’s kind of an accessory to the accessory...” The impulse saddle did technically count as an accessory to the EVA suit and that’s why Coco was so good at making them. She reached into her saddle bags and pulled out a white cylinder with a rounded hexagonal ends, along the cylinder was an indented black line. Pushing both ends inward while twisting them, the line lit up in red, yellow and then green. It showed that the battery was quite full sitting at green. She untwist the ends back to their original position and looked at Rarity while showing it to her. “It can be equipped on to the EVA suit directly or onto an Impulse Saddle for varying reasons. One would be extra battery power for a battery equipped impulse saddles, you can even attach it to suit directly using the same connection points the impulse saddle uses. It isn’t difficult to attach and I can see many uses for it, plus there’s something I’ve been researching into about keeping this battery charged.” “I think you’re making a remarkable good pitch so far darling, well at least now that you are rested and didn’t have any problems sleeping.” Rarity wanted to know what was so special about the cylinder. “What exactly is special about it? Lots of races make their own form of batteries, did you know for instance that Parascine make their batteries out of highly acidic mushrooms? Apparently those batteries are more effective in the tentacles of a Parascine or underwater at the very least.” “That’s just the thing, this battery can be charged on almost anything!” Now Coco seemed excited and Rarity perked up a bit to see her friend was feeling better. “You can charge it with body heat, you can shake it violently to charge it with kinetic energy, like my battery equipped impulse saddles sunlight works too and it might even take magic as something you can charge it up with. Greta said she wanted to use my battery design in the next Ar-Mare-Do-Well suit. Greta, the griffon we both know, is a genius and she likes my prototype super battery. That means I’ve really got something here, only I can’t make these batteries any smaller than this or else they would lose all effectiveness.” “Coco, you’ve always had impulse saddles and nobody can seriously question your work ethic.” That was something Rarity figured Coco was always proud about and here it sounded like she was denying her own achievements. “You and Sassy both helped me design that, this is something I’ve been working towards on the side. It kind of helped that I created the battery utility function on the saddle and now I’ve got this.” Well a battery that recharged itself over time was certainly an achievement, but Coco knew there were still a few problems. “Greta estimated that this battery can keep going for a while, she said I could use a five year warranty with it as it is. The only problem is the recharge degradation.” “If you can attach it to an EVA suit as you say Coco, does that mean you can use it to power a pinpoint puller?” The curious look on her friends face was adorable, it looked to Rarity that she was being quite thoughtful about the question. “No I couldn’t… I could use it to effectively power two! That is if Sassy has the bugs in her second generation pinpoint pullers worked out, shortened energy whips aren’t very useful. Well except for the one time Saffron used it to save Rover from that scary human.” Having seen the footage of it, Coco never wanted to meet Perja anywhere. Not even in broad daylight surrounding by professional bodyguards specifically meant to protect her. Saffron wasn’t sure if she survive what happened on Applon Five, but Coco didn’t think that a human that ridiculously strong would go down without having half her brain destroyed and her heart ripped out of her chest and buried upside down in burial mound circled by several kinds of salt. A Voodoo ritual was optional to that and Coco would still pay for the extra to make sure that person never attack her friends again. She felt bad for thinking all that, but if that was who she had to kill… well she would be less distressed than she currently was. “We’re still selling first generation pinpoint pullers well enough, though we have been trying to improve on the battery life. This is one of the solutions to doing so.” “Well see to it that it gets its proper testing Coco, make sure that it’s sound and stable before we put any sort of production of it on order.” A regenerating power source was nothing to sneeze at, though Rarity was quite sure that it didn’t get very much energy from all the things Coco said it could. It was still nice to hear about and she was being her supportive self as per usual. “How fast does it recharge when not plugged into a reactor or other power sources?” “Quite fast actually, shaking it up or moving around with it for... let’s say five minutes is enough to charge up the battery for one pinpoint puller use.” It took a bit of studying to make and Coco hugged the end results to her chest with a small smile on her face, she was proud of this object and Rarity could understand being proud of something you made with your own magic or two hooves. “I kind of got the idea from the fact that we’re over the planet of Nocturne, this is a battery that doesn’t need solar power to work and can be recharged while on the run.” “If you’re feeling better, you can help me and Sassy come up with a simply dazzling fashion line to use for the contest Coco.” Here Rarity watched as Coco brightened up so more and was happy to see her friend smile even if she was going to cause someone’s demise. She’d never hold it against Coco, because Coco likely wasn’t going do it on purpose. “I’m thinking of a glittering purple fabric that’s both sturdy and beautiful to look at, it breaths and is quite silky smooth on the fur. In fact it’s something I’ve been developing for quite a while after being inspired by what you and Sassy have done thus far.” “Rarity, you design entirely effective and fashionable EVA suits, said EVA suits are entirely your design to begin with!” Choked out Coco who looked flummoxed with Rarity. “You’re the most inspiring pony I know, I don’t feel like an inspiration compared to you.” “You are darling and that’s one of the many reasons we’re the best of friends.” Rarity put a comforting hoof on top of Coco’s and smiled at her. “Whatever comes, we’ll still be friends. Why, if you end up married to Greta, then I’m doing your wedding dress.” “Rarity!” Said a suddenly flustered Coco who knew her friend was just kidding about marrying the griffon. “I’m still doing a wedding dress whenever you get around to finding love, all my prospects are shriveled up as it were.” The long line of poor attempts at a stallion led to Rarity thinking of a future, whoever they were they’d have to accept Opal even if she liked them a lot personally and that just added more parameters to an ideal perfect stallion. Rarity was trying to lower her expectations for true love, not increase them by a significant margin that already made it impossible for her to find someone worth sleeping next to. Still increase her expectations with Opal in mind and finding a significant other was sadly shelfed in the things Rarity would never achieve in her lifetime. At least Rarity had family already and wonderful daughter to dote on. Wait, wouldn’t her daughter have an equally poor love life because of what she is? Rarity was a bit depressed thinking about it. Idly, she wondered who was checking in on Ember at the moment. - A vortex of flashing metal whirled about the room and suddenly it all stopped, the blade and inch from Chrysalis’s throat and the Changeling didn’t look worried in the slightest about it. “What do you want Crystal-san?” Trouble was on the horizon and she was practicing her technique and power. “You’re elegant and beautiful, intelligent and deadly, graceful and powerful. So you should know that’s all quite an attractive combination to me.” Here Chrysalis smiled despite the sword at her throat that could have cut her head clean off and she wouldn’t have minded if it had nicked her throat a bit. The Changeling Queen thought Sassy had too much control over herself, she could have at least redirected the sword into her left shoulder instead of avoiding injuring her entirely. Maybe stab her through the back and out the chest? “That said, can we go on a fruit?” “You mean a date.” The bland tone Sassy said this in was met with an even brighter smile. “Yes, a fruit, exactly like I said.” Chrysalis had bothered to look up what dating was on her infernal half exploded data pad. Eh, she had plenty of reinforced spares. “Why I believe we’d be quite fruity together!” “You’re ridiculous.” Even as she said this Sassy still snorted a bit at Chrysalis’s attempt to ask her on a date. “Hey, going on fruits is a way that ponies bond and become special with one another right? If you want me to do things like a pony, then I’m showing you that I can in fact change.” Here Chrysalis thrusted her hoof towards the ceiling. “That’s the very philosophy of my entire race for crying out loud! We’re changing all the time, usually into different ponies, but we also change in heart, spirit and how we treat others. We’re really good actors like that…” “Where is this date going to take place if I agreed to it?” Not that Sassy would, she was just going to humor Chrysalis for the moment. “Well on fruits of course! A few plums, some apples, grapes, blackberries… not nourishing for me, but I like sweet stuff well enough.” It was hard to tell if Chrysalis was being serious or not, because at this point Sassy was afraid that she was. “Bananas would be nice, but you’re not an alicorn so we wouldn’t be able to get the full enjoyment out of it. If you did become an alicorn however…” “Chrysalis, if I were to order you to go to Coco for advice in dating, would you actually do it?” Okay this was kind of sad and Sassy didn’t know how to break it to Chrysalis what she was doing wrong. “No, I wouldn’t, because I’ll figure it all out on my own eventually and I have my pride.” It was assured that Chrysalis would have to at this rate to earn a modicum of real love from Sassy. “Though if you could give me hints in semaphore, that would be much easier for me to understand.” “You don’t understand dating, but you understand semaphore?” It was more for Sassy’s curiosity than anything as she sheathed her sword and sat on the exercise rooms floor with her hind legs crossed. “Well yes, Changelings are quite prolific in understanding various languages, most forms of signaling and basically cryptology overall.” Here Chrysalis narrowed her eyes at Sassy and rubbed her chin. “Yet from you I keep getting mixed signals.” “I’m the one giving you mixed signals?” It was a bit absurd to Sassy and it made her chuckle quite a bit, considering Chrysalis was a grab bag of mixed signals. If you overlooked all Chrysalis’s weirdness, she was both quite intelligent and exceedingly dumb at the same time. It would be hard for anyone else to pull that off expertly, especially if Sassy hadn’t seen Chrysalis’s smarter side. Sassy would almost swear that the smarter side didn’t exist, since it was so hard to tell what was acting stupid and what wasn’t with Chrysalis. “Well yeah, you keep making me like you all the more with your every action, but you hold me so coldly at a hoof’s length.” Chrysalis threw a leg around Sassy and snuggled her. “To be fair it’s a big turn on for me really, to be teased this much by someone so…” “Fine, we’ll go on a date.” It surprised Sassy as much as it did Chrysalis of what she just agreed to, Sassy hurried up to clarify. “I have to be the one to set it up though, as you have absolutely no clue what you’re doing at all. I’ll give you one date.” “I take it that pears, passion fruit, cherries, strawberries and whipped cream won’t be involved will it?” Okay, what kind of ideas did Chrysalis get about dating that involved her being this dim on the subject? Though Sassy could kind of guessed that Chrysalis’s idea of dating might involve licking tasty substances off one another. “Can we still do it with chocolate sauce if fruit isn’t your thing?” “I’m not going to dignify that with a more detailed response.” It was getting into uncomfortable territories and Sassy did not want to consider or think of Chrysalis as becoming a tasty treat. She made her way for the nearby door. “When I’m done planning the date I’ll give you an hour to prepare for it and before that hour starts I’ll tell you exactly how a real date is supposed to go. Until then, find something else to do other than bugging me or anyone else.” “That’s my special talent though, I just can’t stop bugging people and it’s my favorite form of entertainment. Would you rather I went back to kidnapping ponies?” Whined Chrysalis who wanted to at least do nice things for Sassy and earn her favor. It seems she would have to try harder, she did at least get Sassy to laugh a bit. “I wouldn’t be a proper Changeling Queen if I wasn’t at least doing something annoying, crazy or both.” - “Okay Rarity, here’s the scoop on what will be your personal defense for the near future until I can come up with something better.” Started of Greta with a bit of stylish twirl for flair as she held up a device the size of Rarity’s hoof in her talons. The object looked like it unfolded and attached to either the belly or back of the user. “While not very powerful, these personal shield generators can take a few direct shots before failing. On a battery equipped saddle they can last a bit longer and will be much stronger, especially when it’s integrated into the next Ar-Mare-Do-Well power armor design. Purple is for full power, when it turns to orange it’s lost some of its protectiveness and when it drops down to yellow the shield is about to be pushed beyond its limits before collapsing.” Rarity was sitting down in the administrative room on deck one and she stared at the device she was going to have on her for the entirety of her time down on the planet of Nocturne. She wasn’t going to snub the device if it actually saved her life. It didn’t look pretty, but if it worked as advertised then Rarity wasn’t about to complain as her life was more important than her appearance and Opal’s life was more important than hers which is why she wasn’t going down to Nocturne with the possible chance that someone might still be out to kill her. “How much can it take exactly?” It would certainly help Rarity if she knew this, having a personal shield would stop her from dying the next time she was shot at. “Give me more of an idea of what one of these will and can do Greta.” “To start off it activates to deflect ranged projectiles that are coming at you above a certain velocity. It then deflects the projectile or if it can’t do that, it then mitigates the damage you would have taken by a large margin. Basically anything that is in melee or point blank range won’t be stopped by the shields, they are only effective at stopping things fired from more than a foot away from you.” AS she lectured Greta was happy to have worked on something that might keep her Boss Lady alive. After the three attempts on Rarity’s life while on the nearby space station, Greta definitely knew that Rarity needed one of these like yesterday. “The shields will take a direct rocket blast if it’s purple and only one at that. Anything lower than purple and it will only take shots from handheld firearms. At maximum it can mitigate about six direct shots from a material or energy rifle before it starts getting weak. This personal shield is really good at deflection though, so if you’re moving it’s more effective at protecting you. Just don’t expect it to stand up to a gunship or to make you invincible. We managed to shoot through the robotic wolves shields on Applon Five, so that gives you an idea as to how effective they can be even with the minor improvements I and Gilda made to their overall design.” If Rarity was keen on going down to Nocturne and not leaving this system immediately, then she was going to need a personal energy shield. Greta certainly would not let the Boss Lady leave without one in her possession. “So I stay out of up close confrontations and it is more effective when moving from cover to cover, got it.” After Rarity took in Greta’s cheerful and relieved smile, she was definitely not going to Nocturne without this thing active the second she stepped off of Caravel Boutique. All Rarity had to do was finish her pieces for the fashion contest and hopefully avoid being shot at by anyone else, she wasn’t going to try and find love anymore and would just have to let it find her. “How many of these do we have and do you have enough for everyone going down to Nocturne?” “We only have four working units. That should be enough for you, Coco, Sassy and one other when you go to Nocturne. Here’s how you activate and deactivate it.” Going through the motions, Greta showed Rarity exactly how it worked. “I’ll soon be busy working on Saffron’s new powered armor, I might just have it ready in time by the time you need to go down there. If you’re willing to wait a day or two I’ll definitely have it done.” “The contest is still a few days off, so I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time Greta.” Hugging the griffon and thanking her for her good work, Rarity was about ready to leave the room with a personal shield generator. “I’ll be taking Saffron along, you said you can integrate a shield system into the powered armor?” “Yeah, it’ll at least make her last longer while suited up.” Longer than last time, Greta thought of how little Saffron came back with the last time. “This will be especially useful after her previous armor was ripped to shreds and it’ll save on the materials we would need to make repairs or outright having to build new powered armor from scratch every single time she gets into a vicious fight.” “Thank you Greta darling, you’re a most splendid engineer and I’m glad that we’re friends. I wouldn’t want to be your enemy after seeing what your creation Viral could do.” Rarity meant every bit of praise, Greta deserved it even if she did make a few mistakes on their last escapade. “I really have to thank you for caring so much about me and the others.” Turning to leave, Rarity got a few steps before she felt Greta’s claws on her withers and she stopped to look at the griffon who was giving her a small smile before hugging her. “Oh and Rarity, Boss Lady, I hope you do well in the contest.” There was still one issue Greta decided to address, it’s what the crew knew about Tree Hugger’s predictions. “Why thank you for the support Greta.” Well at least Rarity knew her griffons weren’t idle in their jobs, now if she could find something more important for Lightning to do. “I know Tree Hugger makes scarily accurate predictions about what’s going to happen, but even I’m doubting Coco would kill someone.” It sounded like Greta was trying to reach for an answer to the conundrum that was Gilda’s favorite stalker, which she was completely jealous of as she was supposed to be the favored stalker. “Maybe there was something that Tree Hugger said or the way she phrased it that left it open to interpretation?” “Not really, you can’t get any worse sounding than explicitly causing someone’s demise through action or inaction.” While Rarity didn’t think there was any way it could be interpreted differently, Greta looked like she had something to say. “What is it?” “Demise… that’s rather specific of her. Whatever she says usually gets interpreted in certain ways when usually it’s either different literally or metaphorically.” After that Greta muttered something as she made her way back to working on version two of Saffron’s powered armor using data from the previous suit. “Tree wouldn’t necessarily avoid the word kill, but that’s just from knowing her as well as me and Gilda do. It could be less important than Coco is making it out to be, Tree Hugger never comes right out and states what she’s actually talking about. Whatever she says, aside from her and Gilda being earth and sky, leads to unusual circumstances and is never what you think it is and you only know after the fact. The way she worded Coco causing someone’s demise through action or inaction is rather odd.” “I’m finding it very odd myself, there’s no way Tree can possibly be right unless circumstances conspire to have Coco kill someone for a very good reason.” Rather Rarity would refuse to believe it if Coco did end up causing someone’s demise and that it was even an impossible to avoid occurrence just because one pony said it was. Of course Tree took some serious injuries because she was certainly aware of the attempts on Rarity’s life, so that had Rarity more worried about Coco’s mental state. That is why Coco was with Vera at the moment, knowing that you might or might not do something as specific as involving death was quite stressful. Author's Note I got nothing, filler chapter leading into the next one. Going to Nocturne, the eternal night planet with jungles and dangerous nightlife. Also home to a lot of really good night clubs. -1-It was almost time for her to live her dream among the stars, she was going to try and work her way to the very top of the social ladder to be with the cream of the crop. She wanted to be a socialite, she wanted to be a universally recognized fashion designer and she eventually wanted to meet her special some pony, maybe have a few kids and lead a quiet life. Well as quiet a life as you can lead when you wanted to be the center of attention to many different beings. “Hey you, get out the way! Stop standing in the middle of the street with that idiotic vacant look on your face you horse!” The voice of a strange turquoise skinned five limbed frog creature gained the attention of a rather inattentive white furred pony with an elegantly curled royal purple mane and a coiled tail shaped like a spring, of whom also had a small horn adorning her forehead. Marking the pony’s flank was three diamonds represented what she was good at in life, which was either finding or seeing the beauty in persons, places and things on top of having a great eye for detail. “Oh, I’m so terribly sorry sir! I was just so simply lost in some wonderful thoughts, excuse me.” This was Rarity Belle; she had her flaws as much as she had her strengths. She was friendly and easy to get along with, just so long as you were friendly personally. She was fussy at times and a bit of a clean freak. She was generous in many ways and sometimes that generosity wasn’t a good thing when it was likely to put her in the path of danger. She also had a slight greed problem; at least her greed was well under control and she was aware of it. “Whatever, just stay out of the way!” The frog like being bellowed at her in an unpleasant manner, he continued onwards walking on three of his limbs. The being that caught Rarity standing in the middle of a busy street was a sentient being known as a Pendaxon. Pendaxons were most known for being able to alter their limbs ending in three webbed digits into being used as hands or feet at a moment’s notice. They could walk around on anywhere between two to all five limbs as legs and the rest would be used as hands. Another thing they were known for was being able to use their tongue as an alternative limb as it too ended in three digits and was webbed; only it was far stickier and more disgusting for them to use their tongues to wield things. Rarity, being the polite mare that she was, would never say what she truly thought of any Pendaxon. Mostly for the fear of what the seven foot tall round bodied frog that likely weighed above three hundred pounds could do to her with or without weapons. The Pendaxons weren’t a very friendly race, they were extreme omnivores and they hardly cared about what they ate as long as it could be vaguely considered food. They’d even eat a pony if they could get away with it and could rip ones limbs off with relative ease, so caution was definitely warranted here. Watching as the Pendaxon moved on Rarity released a relieved sigh that she hadn’t earned its ire; it was always so hard for her to tell what the gender of a Pendaxon was. If the slimy, warty and relatively ugly five limbed giant frogs even had set genders to begin with, not to mention the slur of ‘horse’ that it called her made it less than pleasant to run into. Turning about and continuing on her way towards the spaceport, the pony known as Rarity Belle was hoping to leave Planet Desserzon before her parents could drop on by to saddle her with her little sister again. It was becoming a bit of a bother to be the one raising her younger sister; she wanted to make herself scarce before her parents left her with Sweetie Belle. Desserzon was a planet that was generally covered in badlands and peaceful forests with about a little less than half the planet being covered in water. Most of said water could be found underground, plus the planet was friendly to most organic beings, living here certainly hadn’t been a problem for Rarity except for the one day she got dragged across the landscape to find out what her special talent was. That was back when she was a little filly and if she hadn’t remembered some things from some camping survival courses, then she probably very well would have died out there. She really didn’t like filth and muck, but at that point she had been covered in it before she was rescued and brought back to civilization with knowledge of what her special talent was. She could have easily gone into helping mining operations on asteroids or planets rich in mineral deposits; instead she was going to carve her own path through space and growing up on this peaceful if rather slightly backwater planet with exceptionally good educational systems was the way to go about it. It was hard enough making money to buy the ship she was going to finalize the purchase on and she couldn’t be late; it paid to be punctual after all and if she could avoid her parents the better the outcome would be. Taking care of Sweetie Belle for the first three years of her little sisters life, including changing her diapers and feeding her, left Rarity with a pretty good idea of how to raise a foal if a little strapped for intergalactic cash. Her parents only took her sister for three months before dropping Sweetie back on her for six more months after those three years, it seemed to be alternating thing leaving her doing most of the work. It was bad enough that Sweetie had called her ‘mom’ more than once until she was old enough to understand that Rarity was in fact her older sibling, especially when it was Rarity paying to put her through school when she turned six so she may as well have been her mom. She was going to force her parents to take responsibility for her little sister as she wanted to be free to pursue own her dreams without anyone getting in her way. Rarity really did love her parents and little sister, but her parents were being really lazy ponies when it came to her little sister by always gallivanting about in vacation spots throughout the various systems. Rarity loved her family dearly, but she currently really wanted to get away from them for a few years. Rarity looked at the few intelligent species she recognized as she passed by them heading into the spaceport, some looked like cats, others kangaroos and there was even this one species that looked like almost exactly like a bipedal goat with wings walking along with a pink earth pony talking about something. It wasn’t as weird as say the three legged one eyed spider creature following them. Shaking her head, Rarity had to meet up with her contact and get this deal finalized quickly before her parents could arrive and find her escaping them. She was going to do a lot of traveling and that wasn’t a stable life for little Sweetie Belle, even if her sister loved her greatly this was a time when she was actually willing to be selfish. She pulled a mirror out of her saddlebags to check her makeup, nodding with satisfaction that she was still the epitome of her own strange standards of beauty as she would soon move on to meet her contact in hangar bay three. Walking along the crowded spaceport towards the hangar bay calmly and with an air of giddiness to her, Rarity was about to purchase her ship, load up the cargo that was going to be delivered soon and begin her journey to shine across the universe. What did she want to do? She wanted to design dresses and clothing for any race and would eventually be able to do custom jobs for any species she came across that could afford her low prices for anything from the rarities she could make to the simple and plain that could keep her afloat when business was not doing so hot. She would also design fancy and functional space suits as a business mare and an entrepreneur jumping hooves first into the world of the galactic fashion designer. Being a unicorn Rarity was capable of performing feats of magic through using her horn as a focus; she wasn’t very strong with her magic and couldn’t really lift heavy objects. What she was magically capable of however was levitating many small objects, finding gems in the ground or asteroids by getting a mental picture of where they were, lighting up an area and the usual unicorn defense method of firing bolts of magic in the form of missiles. Rarity’s magic missiles were only strong enough to stun, but it was good enough to scare off a ruffian or two that tried to accost her in the past and she could honestly defend herself with just her horn if she had to. Magic wasn’t the only method of defense in the universe, there were also psychic of varying powers, technologically gifted individuals and many strange natural biological powers that many other intelligent species had. Psychics were the notable ones that were always powerful, but they had a limit when it came to doing things compared to the magic a unicorn could do if given enough time and practice. Even then sometimes all the power in the universe couldn’t save you from being shot by an energy pistol. What Rarity was doing with her magic right now was pulling out her informational data pad as she trotted along, as the name suggests it was compact computer system that could have many things on it. In particular Rarity had been through a do it yourself course on making AI’s and her slightly catty AI popped up on the small screen. AI came in various flavors; the one Rarity made was capable of learning and had every kind of rampancy protection and firewall you could imagine. One firewall in particular was almost impossible to break unless you had Rarity’s very particular one of a kind magical frequency. Since she was Rarity and not in fact an impostor, the screen swiftly popped to life. “Rarity my dear Meowstress, did you let your head get caught in the clouds again? Your starting to fall behind schedule, didn’t you say we needed to be off this planet within the hour before your parents can pawn your little sister off on you again? Goodness knows you don’t want her getting under your hooves and tripping you up on your deals now would you? Now that we’re here I’m already taking in the cargo manifest via communications, everything seems to be in order for the delivery. All we need to do is talk to the owner of the ship and get it hoofed over to us and then load up the ship when the delivery gets here.” A voice mewled; it was Rarity’s AI which sounded vaguely upset that Rarity was running even a few seconds late. The AI’s avatar on the screen was a white bipedal cat with a black paw print on her chest, she had crystal blue eyes matching the color of her creator’s own eyes and long streaming pink hair tied up in two pigtails hanging down her back. She perked up her ears and narrowed her slit pupils at Rarity as she pawed at one of her flowing pigtails. “Are you sure the ship doesn’t need weapons Rarity? I know we’re getting a good deal on it by letting the owner keep the weapons and two drones, but I can’t help but be worried that just having shields and two diagnostics and repair CATs alone won’t cut it out there. It doesn’t seem like a good idea to go around in an unarmed ship, especially one that you’re going to try and become well known on. You’re just asking for trouble because someone is bound to find out that you’re dumping a lot of money into this venture and will come looking for a big payoff.” Capable Assistance Technology looked like oval drones with two upraised fins and can be modified for a number of various functions some among which can be vital ship repair. The CATs mentioned in particular were made with two small manipulator arms, powerful multipurpose scanners and they had no weapons aside from welding torches for structural repair purposes. They can be manually operated, remotely controlled by Rarity’s AI or allowed to run on their own automated less than intelligent programming. “You worry too much Opal, we’re making a short hop into the next system and there haven’t been very many pirate attacks in the Verpo System in the last five years. I’ll get some defenses when we have the money for it.” Rarity was sure that such a short trip wouldn’t be a problem, especially if she could avoid her parents attempt at making her take her sister with her today. Goodness knows what kind of trouble Sweetie Belle could get into if she ended up along for the ride; Verpo was such a peaceful system like the Equon System which was home system to ponies and various other species that came from the planet of Equus. The Verpo System was not a place to make the right kind of connections Rarity wanted to have and thus she was looking to start small in the next system over. “Why it should be perfectly… “ Someone among the many loitering intelligent and alien creatures slammed into her and she was knocked off her hooves by the force of the impact by a tall figure that fell over as well dropping a lot of stuff. The tall figure was quickly up on her feet and looking apologetic. “Oh no, I’m so sorry miss!” Looking at the being that ran into her Rarity could see that it was a blue colored dragoness with rose colored eyes, dragons came in various shapes in sizes this was obviously a biped dragon from her home system of Equon. They were fire breathing leathery winged creatures of incredible strength and fortitude, this one in particular was friendly by the way she held her claw out to help Rarity up before she started picking up her own things. It showed that this dragon cared more about causing an incident with her and was not particularly aggressive, unlike the rest of her species which were mostly if not extremely omnivorous then highly carnivorous. “No, no, let me help you with this, I’m Rarity Belle. It’s my fault I’m sorry for not watching where I was going.” Rarity started to levitated things back into the dragons grasp for her to put away. The dragon blushed while rubbing at one of the horns poking out from the side of her head… or were they tusks? Looking to the rest of her body she could see that she was wearing gold colored armor that looked to be space capable. “Excuse me for asking, but what is a bounty hunter doing here of all places? I assume that’s what you are. Nothing horribly violent has happened on Desserzon in quite some time.” “Yes, I guess you could say I am. I’m looking for a group here, apparently pirate activity around this sector has increased by quite a bit and I just recently arrived looking for trouble. Are you a local? I’m Ember McFlame, but a lot of people just call me Flamethrower.” Ember didn’t particularly seem to like that title judging by tone of her voice, even if it seemed a relatively apt one given that she was a dragon who just took back her large rectangular rifle that Rarity had problems levitating. “I really don’t like that nickname, but it’s accurate nonetheless.” The rifle in question was heavy and bulky dangerous looking material rifle, but it’s owner didn’t seem the aggressive sort like Dragons usually were or was Rarity just stereotyping them now? The rifle had two nozzles. The upper nozzle was obviously for shooting materials and the second one smelled of chemicals that Rarity found horrid to her nose, but it definitely smelled of some kind of accelerant. “Well I have been here for quite a few years yes, but I was originally born on Equus before moving to Desserzon here in the Verpo System.” Rarity figured she had some time to stop and chat with such a strange individual, dragons hardly ever left Equus and it was curious to see one here of all places. “Rarity…” Opal started only for Rarity to look at her data pad with an eyebrow delicately raised. “Meowstress you have five minutes to get to hangar three; I’m already contacting the owner and telling him you’re being held up by a mercenary for questioning.” “I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a mercenary, just someone who needs to eat gems to live and I guess doing odd jobs does kind of make me one. Also running into you was entirely my fault! I guess you can you can figure out that I too was born on Equus and it’s nice to meet someone from the home world.” Ember’s armored tail shifted about nervously on the floor a bit; she was being quite shy and friendly for a dragon. She fiddled with her claws for a bit while trying not to drop her stuff. “Anyway, have you seen a large number of Pendaxons around here?” “Well I just saw a rather rude one moving down the southern street leading up to the spaceport, but I haven’t seen many others around aside from that one.” Rarity received a brightened look of glee from the dragon. “Is what I said of some importance to you?” “It might be and I’d like to think so. Might have been one of the space pirates I’m hunting for. Anyway are you going to be around later?” Ember was rubbing at the dark blue spines on her head looking rather sheepish. “I would like to get to know you better as you seem like a nice pony that doesn’t look at me and immediately think voracious horrific fire breathing monster of death and destruction.” “Sorry, no, I’m about to head for the Quia System to planet Ewesen to meet up with a friend, I’m currently here to finish buying a ship and inspect it before I take off. Now if you’ll excuse me and my digital companion.” Rarity moved on past the dragon towards Hangar three and went through the doorway. Ember looked back at Rarity sadly while watching her flanks sway as she trotted off; there was a faint blush on the dragon’s cheeks. She found Rarity to be quite a beautiful and attractive pony; the cutie mark was especially nice to look at. Shaking her head, Ember shouldered her rifle and made for the southern exit as she had a job to do and she just got a lead to follow up on. - “Glad to see you’re still punctual, I hope that the mercenary didn’t give you too much trouble Rarity.” The suave sounding voice came from the most unlikely of places, it was a two armed neon orange slug creature known as a Plurt. This particular Plurt was Ragiror Gitonir who was selling Rarity a five room one deck ship and his two eyes stalks seemed to be a bit worried about the pony. Plurts were always relatively pacifistic in nature and friendly; they were especially friendly with ponies and would rather avoid fights if they could. When they couldn’t, they used their wits to get away or gain victory without incurring friendly casualties to the best of their abilities and usually had a high enough IQ to do it. Plurts were always great starship captains when it came to crew safety and survivability. “Oh it’s no real problem at all Mr. Gitonir, she was just asking for directions to look in.” Rarity kept her tone lukewarm and pleasant, even if she didn’t particular like being near stickier looking races of the universe. She was generally alright with Plurts for their personalities, but never would she stop feeling repulsed by their jiggling forms. Ragiror was already quite aware that she was repulsed by his physical appearance and he didn’t take any offense because of it. Rarity was willing to overcome her distaste for his outward form and do business with him; as such he was willing to be friends with her for paying more attention to his inner beauty and sparkling personality as he was quite the gentleman. “Opal if you will please finish the purchase with a transfer of funds and Mr. Gitonir if you’ll finalize the transfer of ownership to me. Then I believe we can take the ship.” Through various interactions Rarity had learned Mr. Gitonir was a professional ship salvager and was paid to tow in derelicts that lost their crews to various things. He had plenty of horror stories to tell about ship devouring biological matter, dangerous creatures that snuck onboard a ship to devour a whole crew or even machines going crazy and running amok. Those were the stories of Sifter Drifters, the things that left ships adrift in space waiting for the unwary dumb enough to board them without caution or care. In particular the ship Rarity was buying was a Hopper G-47, which was known as The Bobber. What eventually finished off its small crew compliment? Well the previous owner died of a three hearts having an attack at the same time and he had been getting on in years for his species anyway, Ragiror gave that mans final message to the rest of his family and they gave him rights to this small one floor cargo ship that looked a bit like a heavy metal manta ray. The ship had one main corridor leading to five rooms and the ship itself was good enough to house eight people comfortably and twenty people would be making things a little tight. Why Rarity wanted it was because it had plenty of space for her to setup a workshop to make clothing as she traveled. The front of the ship had the bridge being one of the five rooms and the smallest at that, the left side frontal area had the living quarters and the front right side room had medical and bathing facilities. The back left side had the cargo space which was now being loaded by several large machines; the back right side was the drone maintenance and repair facility. Aside from the cargo bay at the back left rear of the ship, the ship had four airlocks. Two branching corridors off from the main corridor at the center of the ship between the front three and the rear two rooms that opened at the left or right side of the ship. The bridge had its own airlocks which could only be opened, vented or even used in emergencies. Aside from all these specifications, the ship had one escape pod that could seat eight people of smaller species that was launched from the rear of the ship and could be quickly accessed from the bridge through the use of a small tunnel underneath the main corridor. The main corridor itself had three small personal bathrooms, plus every room also had one bathroom except for the main medical and bathing one which had several. Toilets were definitely a thing in space, it was a good thing someone invented artificial gravity generators. “Well it’s yours now. Its space worthy, fully fueled with completely charged shields and the computers have been cleaned for your AI’s insertion. It could use a new coat of paint and some weapons, otherwise it is certainly a fixer upper on the inside, but I assure you all the facilities are in working condition. It could also use a new name.” The slug tapped at his own data pad and nodded to Rarity who got a confirmation of ownership that was sent out to local authorities and beyond. “The CATs that came with your purchase are already in the maintenance facility and are also ready to use. Are you sure you don’t have any money for the weapons? I’d feel horrible if something were to happen to you Ms. Belle.” “No sir, this is the best I could afford and not become completely broke. Opal, confirm access to the CATs and have them run a full external scan before doing an internal scan while you perform a full systems diagnostics please.” They heard several doors opening in the ship and two oval shapes with upraised triangular fins floated out, they took up positions and slowly circled the ship as Rarity turned to the slug creature with a smile. “Thank you so very much for doing business with me good sir, don’t worry I’m sure I’ll be perfectly fine since I can put more power into the shields. I’ll call it The Caravel Boutique.” “Thank you as well for your purchase Ms. Belle.” The slug creature bowed to Rarity and then started to slither away leaving Rarity to turn to her ship The Caravel Boutique. “I hope we can do business again; if you need another ship, repairs for your current one, maintenance or just a little advice about something, just give me a call!” “I guess it’s a start, right Opal?” Rarity didn’t think the brown color scheme of the ship really suited her, but she could get it painted later to fit her unique expectations as otherwise it was perfect. “Of course Rarity, but I don’t think it’s up to our full standards yet Meowstress. In any case I’m lowering the left side ramp. It’s time for you to take a tour of our ship and start launch preparations; I’m already contacting traffic control for exit vector.” Opal smiled up at Rarity as the left airlock side opened and produced a small ramp for Rarity to walk up, she wasn’t about to enter her ship through the cargo bay as it just wasn’t proper. “Now please get in me you beautiful pony with your hair well styled, your makeup expertly applied and the universe calling out to become the fish at the end our pole… or is it the universe will be our oyster? Pearls aren’t really that great are they, considering how little market there is for them on a universal scale.” Rarity rolled her eyes while smiling at her AI’s odd form of flattery as she trotted calmly up the ramp. She was promptly followed up the ramp by the two CAT drones into the airlock that soon closed the door on her time on the planet of Desserzon in the Verpo System. Author's Note The Romance tag will not be used very much until some point after seven chapters in and it will be used sparingly at the start. The Sci-Fi tag will be in constant effect, as will the explanation behind most of the technology used. The Adventure tag is used since space is hardly a place for a Slife-of-Life setting. Unless you can make fighting off being boarded by invaders into something resembling a slice-of-life moment, which would be to a rather humorous effect. The difference between Dark and Horror is that horror is intentionally horrifying. As such the Dark tag is mostly for the brutal and violent methods of dealing with problems or the problems dealing with the violent and brutal methods. The Alternate Universe tag is easily the most common tag that can pop up in stories, this universe is definitely alternate by an extreme given that ponies are already living among various species of aliens. The Gore tag, it will be used plenty of times. Whether not it is overly disgustingly detailed or it is simply glossed over as 'it happened' is to be decided. Characters. Rarity - Main Character, will try to stay true to her generous giving nature and will hopefully show why it's a bad idea to have a generous giving nature. Queen Chrysalis - Will take a while to appear, but she's not actually doing anything you'd expect her to be doing in a story with a dark or romance tag. Gilda - Will appear soon enough. Coco - Don't ask. Ember - Has some issues to work through. Other - Plenty of them. OC's? - Yes, but not highly focused. -9-Rarity quickly jerked awake to find out that she was in a comfy place, safely in a bed. In her hooves she felt something soft and warm. Taking a moment light her horn and pull her sleeping mask off she looked down at the little plush toy she had, it was of princess of the night Luna and she smiled. Shaking her head and setting aside the doll, she reached up with a hoof and hit a button. Her bed sheets were covered in sweat and they looked a bit tangled from the tossing and turning that was caused by the recent nightmare she had about the Xouj. Celestia and Luna the two rulers of the Pony race, the ones who controlled their systems movements through the use of the sun and moon respectively. They were both alicorns, ponies of wings, horns and powers of the earth. In general the two had a beauty about them that equally attracted both mares and stallions to them, though Rarity had always liked Luna for her rather unique personality and for aiding all ponies as they slept no matter where they were. At least Luna’s dream powers were not limited to the Equon System itself. “Opal I’m awake dear, I’m about to get out of bed and start my first day of real work my way to the top. Is Coco sleeping or is she up and about?” It wasn’t that Rarity hadn’t worked a day in her life; it was just that it was now her own business that she was working for. Bussing tables had been relatively easy and she didn’t get too many rowdy customers, plus working as a waitress did have the advantage of getting you to meet new people for making connections. Her last job helped pay for Sweetie Belle quite well when it came to charming tips out of customers, it helped that she learned how to handle people with tact. “I’m also beginning to miss Sweetie Belle, so please have a CAT waiting to slap some sense into me. Just don’t damage my face… body and or anything else with the slap; I don’t mind getting a little bit mussed up. I’m going to take a shower anyway.” With a tug Rarity slid her bed out of the wall of the living quarters and stretched out her spine. She gracefully rolled her way onto her hooves and flicked her magic to grab a bag, her wakeup ritual was about to begin. First was an inspection of looking in a mirror before she did anything. As expected, she just looked like she woke up and rolled off the wrong side of her bed. A wry snort came at the sight in the mirror; this was before she really got going as she held herself up to looking absolutely perfect by her own standards. A CAT floated over to Rarity, who looked at it curiously as it produced one manipulator arm that lightly slapped her across the face before leaving. “You’re welcome by the way. Anyway you know Coco is an earth pony and they do love to get started early when they don’t work themselves to death… sorry Coco, Rarity’s awake and she was wondering what you’re doing. The answer is she’s working on more impulse saddles to attach to the EVA suits. It is currently six in the afternoon of the planets twenty eight hour days; the gravity is still one to one based on pony standards, plus the atmosphere is the freshest you can get. So do you want me to pipe some air in when you need to dry off?” Opal popped up on Rarity’s data pad the moment the mare turned it on, she had her paws behind her head in a reclining position with a friendly smile upon her face. “Other than that you have no new messages Meowstress Rarity, but I have been putting up some advertisements for the locals. We have been getting a few people interested in your business, but not much in the way of orders. The advertisements for made to order high end civilian grade EVA suits is getting some interest, we’re just not well known enough to make a big pull in customers for the price of the suits to make up for all the materials that goes into making them. However we do have a few orders for clothing, surprisingly three are from Parascine with nothing defined as to what their order was, two from Ponies and one from a Cacceran.” “Well Parascine are quite common here. Give me a rundown of what they all want while I shower and get myself in order. Though I’m guessing the Cacceran wants something in the terms of incredibly sturdy, the ponies probably want dresses, eveningwear or something along the lines of… lingerie. As for the Parascine I have no clue what kind of clothing they would want from me, but I will try to accommodate them to the best of my abilities.” As Rarity stepped into the shower, she gave off a happy sigh as the warm water started running down her back. It was good to hear that Caravel Boutique even has as many customers as it did; Rarity would have to eventually make connections to get higher on the social ladder to make more money and to keep the quality materials she used stocked. As such everyone had to start somewhere and Rarity wasn’t turning away any customers no matter their status unless it was apparent that they were of the worst sort. - A Cacceran looked like any cross between a rabbit, fox and cat at three to four feet in height and were omnivorous leaning carnivorous. They are able to move as a biped or quadruped with ease and are not particular fast or acrobatic, they are actually puny in physical strength, decent at technology and being decently cunning they made for exceptional lawyers. One thing you should never let this species do is let them alter any laws in your society. This was a species that once tried to invade the planet of Equus, though they failed miserably their race earned the moniker ‘bunny eared lawyers’. Cacceran invasion were quite subtle ones; the species have managed to topple multiple empires using their methods. Fortunately nobody on Equus fell for what they tried to do. Instead of going to outright war for an invasion, the Caccerans did something rather unique. They tried to endear themselves to the ones that they were invading. Caccerans would take all the worst and most unforgiving jobs that nobody liked doing at wages that made things barely livable for them. Given a Cacceran invasion was in it for the long term, they did those jobs without question until the species they subtly invaded forgot how to do those small jobs or had left them all for the Caccerans to do. When they were ready on one particular set day, the Caccerans would stop doing all those jobs that keeps the structure of society held together all at once. It was a rather demented form of starting a world destroying workers union; they usually did it to wreck the economy of their current hosts. Given they put themselves into the situation, all they had to do was make a united complaint worldwide about poor compensation compared to work conditions. They’d always have a lot of support since they’d always have a good point to make, because they set it up to happen that way. In essence pony nobles may snub a garbage pony, but those ponies could find out all their secrets by rummaging through their garbage without question and could blackmail said nobles if they wanted to. A maid could overhear things they weren’t meant to, they could have information that not many others could get a hold of and all they had to do was silently perform their duties no matter how horrible the person they worked for was. Any job that was close to thankless and harsh like that usually attracted a Cacceran as they liked a challenge; they fought wars with crippling knowledge and politics instead of strength or raw power. The Caccerans however didn’t account for multiple things about all the races of Equus when they invaded. Of the things they didn’t account for, a major one was racial traits such as cutie marks, stubbornness to do those jobs themselves or just plain aggressiveness of a particular species to not let anyone undermine them. What was worse is the Caccerans couldn’t even get a good set up going because a species known as Changelings already had a monopoly on doing crap jobs for love and some minor compensation already. Plus the Changelings were already unionized and they liked the way things were, so the Caccerans couldn’t even gain a foothold into any society on Equus. One small noted thing about the Cacceran people, they were highly susceptible to being absorbed into other cultures and going completely native. It was an odd way for them to keep their species alive by becoming symbiotic like a remora to a shark; usually this occurs after a failed invasion. Changelings were pony like bug race that had hives and the like, they fed on love and sometimes other positive emotions like friendship. They had jagged looking horns, insect style wings, fur covered carapaces and legs with holes in them. They had forked tongues and in general had large solid colored eyes with no pupils. After an incident involving Celestia and Luna, the Changeling race decided to join pony society of its own volition after surrendering to the two princesses. They had a special talent for hiding in plain sight given they can change their forms and appearances to look like anything or anyone within reason; they excelled at being spies and or performing counter intelligence actions. It wasn’t a surprise that they didn’t like the Caccerans trying to mess with their incredibly stable source of food or stealing their jobs. Due in part to the widespread use of life sign scanners that can detect what the life sign is if it is a known capacity, Changelings have had a harder time disguising themselves as other beings and getting away with it. - “So let me get this straight, the Cacceran is male and wants a dress and an EVA suit with all the current options I have at my disposal? Well I’m not going to question his need for an EVA suit, but the dress is kind of an odd thing. We’ll need to go into detail over what he wants exactly when we meet.” Shaking her head Rarity sat down to brush her mane and then went on to comb it into shape where it was expertly coiffed. If the guy wanted to wear a dress, who was she to judge really? At least the two ponies seemed normal enough in what they wanted; they seemed to be a popular pair and wanted something for a nice outing. “The ponies assuredly won’t be a problem. As for the Parascine, are you sure they just wish to meet me personally about the order they want? I can already tell that order is going to be an interesting one; do you have everyone scheduled after Sassy?” “Well of course I do, Sassy is coming over in the next thirty minutes so I’m preparing something to fill your elegant stomach with for a bit Meowstress. The other people who placed orders are coming tomorrow and I’m giving you plenty of time between them to do your work. We need a lot more orders to make enough money to pay for the jump module and we also have to get back to Geoptis within the week, if we want to keep the claim going.” Opal nodded to herself with her eyes closed as Rarity finished styling her tail. “Aside from buying basic supplies such as food, fluids, toiletries and the like, we might want to look into arming Caravel Boutiques four turret ports or look into getting a new escape pod. This ship is starting to get a bit expensive, good thing I double as an accountant. We need to set up a sell of at least thirty more EVA suits or one hundred and thirty seven moderately priced items of clothing to even meet all these expenses, at that point we’d just be flat broke. You’re not likely to become rich in the next few years at this rate.” “I’m certainly glad to have added that function to you Opal, where would I be without you? Have you made any headway into making contact with Flutter Shy or her friend Tree Hugger?” As Rarity asked this she left the medical and cleansing room to head towards the cargo hold where she had her work station set up. “Getting abused by pirates, gasping for air and slowly dying from whiplash wounds or getting eaten by monsters on what was mostly a ghost ship. Yes, I know you were speaking rhetorically, no need to give me that look.” Opal grinned cheekily at Rarity’s angry glare. “I managed to contact Tree Hugger, let’s just say there’s something about her that’s really weird, like she’s super weird! She kept calling me Guardian Soul and gave me a contact for a pony that can help you and Coco out. I did a background search and she’s a SNUGGLES member, unfortunately that’s as much as I got because she doesn’t have much else on her aside from excellent service at spas. Her name is Vera Blossom, a young earth pony mare, for some reason her school records are incomplete and her birth certificate seems nonexistent. It’s like the information on her jumped into a void aside from her membership at SNUGGLES which also doesn’t say much. She’s reputable or at least I think she is, no outstanding warrants or any criminal charges to speak of ever, which is just as strange. It’s like she’s a spook, then again I am only using legally gained information. Do you want me to see if she is currently available to come over? You weren’t exactly sleeping very well there.” The earth pony mare popped up on the data pads screen, as Rarity entered the cargo slash workshop room and saw Coco working on an impulse saddle. On the screen was a mare with rich silky purple hair and an off white coat like Coco’s, her cutie mark was a of a pink lotus flower blossoming and that was about it. “Yes, call this Vera and tell her to come over at her convenience. That’s about all I need for now Opal, when I need a reminder about something please be sure to grab my attention.” Rarity turned to a noise to see Coco sighing happily as she put the finished impulse saddle off to the side. “Already working on the impulse saddles Coco?” “Yes ma’am, I want to get started on this right away. It would be a bit hard to make them any smaller than the ones you’ve already used, so this is the standard size I can make them at. Besides we’re always going to need spares just in case.” It was nice to see Coco already being productive; she held her hoof out to the saddle she was working on a few seconds ago. “I just finished this one, now we’ve got about seven of them in total. They are not easy to make, but they are easy to attach and detach. My special talent is in hats, accessories and making things that go on top of other things after all. This ship is really nice Rarity, good beds, working medical and wash room, stocked kitchen and your work area in here. We could even lower the ramp and set up shop from it. I know this is going to sound odd; the multiple working well cleaned toilets is the best part of it all! You would not believe how hard that is to find convenience like that in space.” “I’m the one that has to clean them with the CATs, so don’t you dare clog them up on purpose!” Opal had to be the one to keep things clean, mostly because Rarity didn’t like to get her hooves dirty. “Well I’m glad you like it Coco, but right now I was wondering if you’d be able to help with stirring up customers?” Rarity’s stomach grumbled and she winced slightly. “Pardon my stomach darling; I’m a bit hungry after having a nice long rest.” “Doesn’t bother me, but I wouldn’t know how to go about drumming up business. We’re accepting all kinds of odd clientele right? I’m sure business will pick up after we get a few of our wares out there. Nice choice of fabric colors and you certainly don’t skimp on the quality of anything.” With a bright cheerful smile Coco threw her hooves into the air. “I’m going to love working for you Miss Belle!” “No, no, no, that won’t do at all dear; you’re working with me, not for me!” It was Rarity’s insistence that made Coco smile all the brighter. She wasn’t about to ask Coco for money, but she could mention that she needed a little financial help. “Anyway the reason I asked is that we need some funds for a lot of things, I’m kind of lacking in them and we’re going to need a lot of it if we’re going get anywhere. I would rather earn my funds than ask you for it, but if you feel like aiding me monetarily then do so by asking me about it first so we don’t waste it any on frivolous things.” - Outside the system in deep space a massive ball of glowing flesh slowly approached the Quia System and it was on a trajectory for Ewesen, it radiated enough heat and atmosphere to prevent it from freezing in deep space. A team of small scout ships from the Planetary Protection Patrol managed to catch sight of it. “OH GODDESSES! We have to call Geoptis Station, we’ve got a situation!” The scout ships started flying away as fast as they could go, there were some things in space that were quite horrifying and those things could travel. - “What! Are you telling me that thanks to those jokers who were paid off to let the Ceantir onto Ewesen, our system wide sensor net was ruined just enough that we wouldn’t have detected that thing coming? Our scanners were made to detect those kinds of threats long before they could get this close, this is unbelievable!” Lirutiy slapped her hands onto the table and looked at the officers around her; they suddenly had all their attentions on her. The Plurt had looked rather worried as she came away from the console. Turning to her fellow officers Lirutiy had a grim look on her face; she then turned back to the console and set it to broadcast to every Planetary Protection Patrol ship around the space station. “All ships we’re going to red alert status, this is not a drill, we’ve got an invasion incoming. It’ll take the hostiles approximately four days to arrive at the rate they are moving, provided that they don’t start moving faster and we’re going to attempt an interception. The danger is a planet infester, MOM classification! Get all ships armed with heavy armaments, we need every fighter and ship available to break that thing up. We can’t let that thing hit Ewesen. All long range communications operators please call in backup; I want a dreadnought here like yesterday! Scout teams four, five and twelve, go to the neighboring systems and have them prepare for possible incursions.” Red lights started blaring and an alarm started running throughout the space station, things were going to get nasty soon and Lirutiy wasn’t about to abandon the planet to that thing. “I repeat we have an incoming MOM! All inactive duty officers are to get back to duty on the double, all current active officers prepare for the onslaught as it’s a pretty big one. We need all ships repaired, fueled and moving people!” MOM meant Mass Offensive Meteor, which was the accurate term for a meteor that was a living ball of flesh that carried enough monsters to infest an entire planet should it crash into it. Planet infesters were horrible to deal with and Lirutiy’s forces were almost caught with their pants down, which would have led to millions dying. Thankfully the redundancy of having space constantly patrolled with scouts helped to mitigate any loss of time had the tampered deep space scanners never picked it up. “Planet infester, MOM situation, I don’t need to be more specific than that to get your stuff in gear! I hate to say this, but we might even need to evacuate the planet.” - “Awesome, it looks like we’re finally getting some action around here.” Mr. Strag looked particularly ready to jump into things feet first. “I don’t think that’s exactly a good thing to be happy about you asshole, especially when a lot of people are going to die soon.” Gilda was in a better mood after Tree Hugger had left, she was never going to be okay around that mare. At least Paul Strag had the decency to immediately look cowed and upset about it. “I wonder how many fighter pilots are going to get shot down in the testing skirmish, those things are mobile fortresses. For the record Paul, I was actually starting to like your dumb ass.” “Planetary Protection Patrol can hopefully take care of it right? I mean they have a space station loaded with weaponry, a battleship, multiple carriers, a lot of destroyers and cruisers.” What was noticeable about Greta at this moment was that her wings were limp and she didn’t seem to particularly believe the casualties would be small. She had to agree with Gilda’s estimates, people were always going to die unless they were immortally young like Celestia and Luna. “I’m sure they can take care of it.” “If they can stop contemplating their navels in time, then yeah, that’s a maybe on the lower causalities. Even if they do succeed in fending it off, there is no doubt in my mind that any nearby space pirates will inevitably try to take advantage of the damage to the local fleet after they’ve dealt with the problem… that is if they even can. All those ships will inevitably incur some kind of damage.” As per her nature Gilda was being the downer of the two griffons. “If the MOM hits this station if it’s used to physically intercept it however, that’ll be worse for us personally. Nobody wants a MOM to hit a planet. Heck I’m willing to hijack a fighter to fly like a bat out of hell from that situation. What, it’ll have two seats Greta. Do you guys still use Javelin class fighters? They couldn’t have possibly become obsolete yet in the month or so we spent drifting in space.” - “Is the clingy underwear really necessary for an EVA suit?” Sassy looked at her rear end and the underwear that’s to seal off the orifices of her rear end. “Why of course darling, if a suit breach becomes bad enough then you’ll want your insides to stay insides. The helmet is made to be as reinforced as it can be and has extra breach gel and its own source of air. If the whole helmet is destroyed then the breach gel might create a bubble around your head.” Working on the EVA suit was calming and Rarity had everything in order so far. “I make sure that every orifice is completely sealed off from space to the best of my abilities. Can’t do much for exposure if the gel fails to work, but at least you’re not dying from the fact that you can’t clench said orifices tightly enough. Coco the connectors if you will. The suit could even theoretically work underwater.” “Wait, do you have a patent on this breach gel stuff? If so, then why aren’t you rich? This stuff is absolutely genius!” Sassy was staying still as the breach gel layer of the suit was being constructed. “Oh she has a patent; it’s just that it’s taking a while for them to finish testing it. Why Princess Luna is even seeing personally to it.” At least Coco knew that to be true, though why Luna hasn’t gotten back to Rarity about it was anyone’s guess. She passed over the connectors for the helmet and suit to Rarity who set about installing them so the helmet would lock into the suit, plus it would connect the impulse saddles air stores to the helmet. “I hope that they eventually get around to testing my patented impulse saddles.” - On Equus at this very moment a dark purple pony with wings, horn and a dark blue mane that had bright spots in it like stars in the sky at night was doing something really important, as that’s what alicorns are supposed to do. She was currently playing with a several rubbery balls; she was so distracted by it that she kept forgetting to sign off the testing as complete. Rarity and Coco would have been much richer by now if not for the childish antics of the moon princess who couldn’t stop playing with the breach gel. - “Well in any case we’re just about done here.” Continuing to install the connections and the collar of the suit that overlaps with the neck of the helmet, Rarity had just about finished making the suit when she heard a beeping noise. She’d finish off the suit with the skirt Sassy wanted. “Rarity, the soonest convenience for… darn it why is it so hard to pay attention to her, my scanners are right on her. Anyway I’m letting her in… who was she again? Oh right, it’s Vera.” The quickly dulling sound of Opal’s voice had Rarity slightly concerned that something was wrong with her favorite artificially intelligent being. “Please open up for her then and have her come in through the starboard airlock and run it through its paces as we haven’t used it yet; please direct her to me.” Rarity was checking the suit over looking for imperfections and anything she might have missed. “I’m just about done with Sassy’s EVA suit and I’m going to get started on her kimono since I have her measurements.” A curious mare walked into the room and was completely ignored by both Sassy and Coco, however Rarity turned to her immediately. “Hello there, you must be Vera Blossom right?” For some reason Rarity had caused the pony to look at her mystified as if she were some kind of dream, then the mare latched onto her and started crying. For some reason Coco and Sassy reacted to this as if it were an everyday thing and that had Rarity wondering what was going on. “Someone’s actually acknowledged that I walked into a room, I’m so happy!” Vera buried her face into Rarity’s neck and continued weeping. “You seem to be a bit disturbed, are you sure you’re a member of SNUGGLES?” It was worrying when you needed mental or physical help from someone who had mental issues worse than you. Then again there was that comfort that someone had it worse than her, so maybe that was this mare’s angle. “I… yes, I’m sorry, it’s just that I’m always being ignored. You have no idea how hard it is to keep getting repeatedly ignored by everyone except family, it’s hard to make a living and getting paid is a complete hassle!” Vera started roughly shaking Rarity while pointing to Sassy and Coco talking to each other. “I’m acting completely hysterical and they’re ignoring me like what I’m currently doing is completely normal! You actually looked at me as soon as I walked into a room. Please hire me for something, anything; I need to be around someone who can pay attention to me for more than a few seconds at a time!” What had Rarity gotten herself into by wanting someone to talk out her and Coco’s recently acquired psychological scars with? Author's Note Eh, this story isn't getting much interest is it, not to mention my chapter posting is random to at least once a week. Cacceran- Appearance is a random combination of rabbit, fox and cat, known for invading with crippling labor unions. They have a habit of altering laws in the society they invade to their complete advantage. Thanks to a combined efforts of Luna, Celestia and the changelings they failed to really invade any government of Equus. -25-The Caravel Boutique had just entered space from the outer atmosphere of Ewesen and they immediately saw the heavily damaged fleet, the allied support from neighboring sectors of space and the damaged juggernaut of a space station itself Geoptis. Geoptis had taken a lot of damage wrecking one of the cores and letting it hit the outer hull. The highly damaged pockmarked half of the station had a now slightly smaller fleshy meteor chunk still sitting on it and the station was still blasting at it with whatever of its nearby turrets survived the crawling waves of monstrosities. The ship was on approach for the less damaged half of the stations as the surrounding backup fleets from the neighboring systems circled the surrounding space protectively. Of the four cities on the surface, Drixsto had been liberated second and as such Rarity was allowed clearance to leave. She however wasn’t going to be allowed back into any of those four affected cities until things were fully cleaned up and Ember was going to be involved with that for a while. Drixtsto hadn’t been completely cleared, but it was considered safe enough for civilians to walk the streets. The Triple P were going to launch bombing runs over the other two cities before letting ground forces comb them for survivors. “Open communications Opal, I want to know if we can dock with Geoptis Station. As I’m sure you know that we have some business to attend to.” At least it looked like Geoptis was mostly secured, judging by the activity going on around it. Rarity leaned back in her seat and considered what she was going to say about her two crew members that were rightfully arrested. “Right, hello who’s in authority right now? This is civilian ship Caravel Boutique, requesting docking clearance with Geoptis.” Opal dropped out sight on the screen and popped up with a headset which she held with a paw and gave a grin to Rarity’s smile. “Huh, oh hello there Officer Lirutiy or are you Commander Lirutiy? Right, that’s what we’re here for… okay and… Rarity we’re being granted permission to dock and they have several people watching where we’ll dock to make sure everything is clear. We’ll be docking soon, we’re being given the coordinates right now and I’m adjusting my flight path. It’s easy to say that Commander Lirutiy wants to personally talk with you, by the way are you taking your EVA suit?” “I don’t think I need it this time, plus it could use a few more washings or I could maybe make a whole new suit.” With a flick of her head, Rarity’s curled royal purple locks fell gently into place at the side of her face and she smiled a bit. “Although it wouldn’t hurt take my pistols with me, Opal you will be controlling CAT Uno and you’ll also be joining me Coco. Gabby you’re free to go wherever it is you need to take your package to, but don’t expect us to give you a ride you back to the surface.” “Of course I couldn’t expect any more or less for inconveniencing you the way I have. I mean the free ride is certainly going to give me more money to work with once I get paid for making this delivery and I feel kind of bad for taking advantage of you like this. How can I not feel like I’m taking advantage of you since you allowed me to hitchhike up here to deliver a package that was said to be needed ASAP, so if you ever need my services in the future just give me a call and I’ll make a delivery for you for free. I feel like I owe it to you! No really, you don’t have to say no and you did save my life so I really at least owe you one for helping me out so much.” Gabby seemed to bounce in place as she continued to gabber on like she usually does. Simply saying ‘thank you’ and ‘I owe you one’ would have been welcome, instead she just kept going on as if there was inertia to her beak and it had ice skates. “You’re a really good pony and you have really nice friends, so if you need a good honest courier remember me. Note that I do not take any packages that I do not know the contents of personally and will not make illegal deliveries. I’m a good griffon and I like to keep my beak clean, yes I do! I can haul up to three hundred pounds of goods so keep that in mind when fully utilizing my services. I might have to work as a gofer for a while, but I’m really good at that. I would know as being a gofer was and still somewhat is my job since I became a full on courier.” “M-m-me, are you sure you want me to go with you Rarity?” Coco started poking her two hooves together shyly as she looked at the floor. “Why yes Coco, why I even insist that you come with me darling. You simply must! You are my trusted partner and friend, this is an important meeting after all and it wouldn’t do for me to go alone to see about freeing up our incarcerated crew members.” Standing up and walking to the living area Rarity had Coco following her and they both walked in on Vera discussing something with Sassy on the exercise mat. “I’m not a mechanic and those two seem to be extraordinarily gifted for it. Besides I don’t want a malfunction like the one that gave me whiplash to be the death of you or any of our friends, I’m the captain and my top priority is the safety of the crew followed by the success of our business whatever that may be. I need to provide for everyone in my crew so that you are all willing to help me do my best at helping all of you; I should only be as successful as everyone else on the crew is no matter what we do.” “I’m willing to die for all of you…” Mumbled a slightly depressed Sassy who was currently underneath Vera, Sassy’s hair was notably styled slightly so that her long hair covered her facial scars and the half of her face they took up. She was still quite beautiful even with the scars and Rarity has even told her as much, but she didn’t ask for Rarity’s help with restyling her mane or hiding the scars. Sassy wanted to take care of her own appearance and accepted the hugs Rarity gave her even if she denied her assistance. “To the left and down a few degrees, am I really that stressed?” “I think Rarity would be happier if we all lived and enjoyed life while doing so Miss Saddles. Please try not to throw your life away like you don’t matter, because I’m beginning to see you as a friend as well. I like my friends among the living even if I’m going to be a spooky ghost to most of them.” It was Vera’s job to talk to Sassy and keep her from doing anything crazy; she had failed once and now she was going to try much harder to make up for it. She quickly pressured Sassy’s body with her hooves; this action was followed by loud popping noises and Sassy letting out a groan as she flopped against the mat in a boneless manner. “Yes, I’d say you were wound up tight and you need more comforting that Coco and Rarity just can’t provide because they stress you out like nothing else, mostly because you love them and your fear is getting the best of you. Also don’t think you’re alone in being the only one needing help! Even if she isn’t unstable Opal needs some psychiatric help, Rarity wouldn’t stop complaining about having to go into a sewer for you once you guys got back plus she’s stressed that you’re stressed, then there’s Coco who needs more confidence in herself and I might need a good stiff drink soon so I’m going to be the alcoholic of the group. You on the other hoof are unstable, yet you hide it so well. I’m going to make it my mission to help you whether you like it or not.” “That’s why I can’t take Sassy with me; Vera is quite busy with her as is. Grab what you think you need Coco and prepare to disembark. I’m sure we’ll meet an escort that will be adequate in taking care of us.” Rarity lifted her head and tilting it slightly looking into a mirror, she mostly studied her mane. It was perfection as far as she could tell. As for her tail however? She couldn’t meet Commander Lirutiy without combing it into shape to get the few loose hairs in line. Several gentle strokes of a comb later and she nodded at herself before she grabbed her saddlebags along with several of her things and saw that Coco had done the same. “Right then, if you’ll join us when we disembark I’m sure they will provide an escort for you as well Gabby.” Gabby nodded and clenched her beak, because she knew as soon as she opened it would start flapping and she’d start rambling inanely. She was quite aware of how annoying she could get, but she was curious about what Rarity’s meeting entailed and who her other crew members were. She didn’t want to pry. “Who are you’re other crew members? I thought that dragon might have been one, but nope definitely a bounty hunter that time and she has a sewer squid for a friend which is really neat! Speaking of friends, how come your friend over there looks like she’s getting a massage? I mean, is she? Because it’d be disturbing to think…” It was inevitable that Gabby would pry anyway, but she stopped speaking as she watched Rarity point to Vera and she became visible in the griffons eyes. Soon CAT Dos floated into the room and Rarity stopped pointing when it started to do so. “Okay, that is really neat, how did you get that mare to be invisible like that? Is she a ghost? Do ghosts really count as crew members? Wouldn’t a ghost count as a negative crew member? So wouldn’t the number of crew members be one less than it really should be? I can…” “Gabby, please be a dear and stop for a moment. I’m here to meet up with my other crew members, two of whom are currently being incarcerated for stealing a fighter and I don’t exactly know all the details quite yet. I hope to learn them soon enough though. I’m not sure if you know them, but they are Gilda Gottfrieda and Greta Gollenfer.” Seeing that the griffon was about to start jabbering on again Rarity quickly shoved her right hoof over Gabby’s beak quieting her before she could get started again. “You should let a lady finish talking before you start up again. Vera is not a ghost, she is a living breathing pony with the oddest affliction I’ve have ever come to know of. She is the crew’s therapist and is currently working with Sassy to get the kinks out of her system. Her affliction makes her very easy to forget or ignore, unless you happen to be touching her or pointing directly at her she’s rather quite hard to pay attention to.” “Tell me about, she’s by far the hardest crew member to keep track of.” Groused out an upset Opal who was having CAT Dos keep its manipulator arm constantly pointed at Vera to make sure she didn’t lose track of her. There was a sudden shuddering as the ship came to a stop, Opal had landed it gently. “By the way, we’ve landed and I guess the welcome wagon to Geoptis is already here, go out either airlock. We’re safely behind three atmosphere barriers, so that’s some nice protective redundancy there.” Shaking her head, Rarity ignored her AI’s commentary and had Coco and Gabby following her with CAT Uno taking up the rear. They were closer to the left airlock, so they took that one and made their way down into the hangar where two unicorn stallions and a heavily armed Minotaur were waiting. As they walked down the ramp to greet the escort Gabby started up again. “I know Greta and Gilda, those two are incredibly smart! Greta was the top of her class and Gilda… not so much; she’s a good pilot except for the fact that landing has always been a major problem for her. Gilda did get a mechanical engineering degree so she could build and pilot her own fighters. I think she’s aiming for making something that she can’t possibly feasibly crash in any way, shape or form. Gilda certainly has a good read of people’s characters and Greta was so into Gilda that she ignored every male that has ever tried to proposition her and didn’t give them the time of day much less look in the direction of any other Griffon, Pony, Minotaur, Cacceran, Human, Parascine or whatever other species as well. Heck I think Greta gave up riches, high standing and or tons of other stuff to just follow Gilda around like the cute sexually frustrated puppy that she is. Those aren’t my words; those were Gilda’s once upon a time. We’re old friends… well friends is not exactly the right word for what we were. I’m more of the nuisance that kept bugging them near constantly! They eventually warmed up to me, I think.” A lot of this stuff that Gabby was talking about was things Rarity already knew about, some of the things however were new to the unicorn now following the escort who just nodded and tried to ignore Gabby’s constantly flapping beak. “Anyway, Gilda was always so… tough is the word for it. She couldn’t attract or keep a mate if she tried; I think the problem was something about smelling too much like a pony? It’s funny that Greta attracts all kinds of male griffons despite the fact that she’s obviously gay, I think Gilda might be bisexual though I’m not entirely sure. Well it’s obvious enough with Greta if you watch her and Gilda interact with each other for a while. I’ve always been interested in their love life, but it apparently doesn’t exist. I swear Gilda is friend zoning Greta so hard, it even physically hurts to watch Greta keep throwing herself at someone who only grudgingly appreciates the effort. Maybe Gilda has her reasons, but I wouldn’t know them. Gilda got into all kinds of fights when she was younger and her best friend other than Greta was a pony named Rainbow Dash. I’ve always wondered if Gilda and Rainbow did certain things together given the pony smell thing that turned male griffons off around her. Greta was more my friend or far more tolerable of my personality at least, it’s really easy to make her feel cheerful. I can’t help but think that Greta’s cheerful nature filled me with sunshine as much as I did her! I mean they didn’t claw me to death and generally they didn’t bother ot make me leave them alone, so there was something about me that they must have liked as a friend. Aside from that not really many friends for me among the griffons and I haven’t seen those two in years. I wonder if they’ll be happy to see me, probably not because of how much I talk, jabber, gab, natter, prattle, blabber and chatter. The three of us used to be next door neighbors back in Griffonstone, oh we were the cutest chicks on the block and then we grew up to become respectable beautiful hens! Well technically I’m not fully grown yet, but I’m getting there so…” “Please for the sake of Titanium Bulwark’s sanity, shut up!” The massive bull was probably named Titanium Bulwark and he loomed over Gabby and looked down at her while clenching his big meaty fists. One of which was wrapped around a rocket launcher just in case they ran across a Vorager that was one of the remaining stragglers still causing problems on the station. As a Minotaur he was easily the most intimidating being around and his gruff deep booming voice certainly helped with that. “Titanium will not take much more of you!” Gabby successfully kept her beak closed after that, as did Rarity, Coco and Opal who did not want to antagonize the guy wielding a rocket launcher. Ember might be able to face tank a rocket blast or five, but they certainly couldn’t. Rarity quietly moved over to Gabby and gave her a friendly pat on the back; she had been more patient with Gabby than most people should even feasibly be and it cheered the griffon up slightly. - When they finally reached the safe zone Gabby had to go her separate way, as did the escort and Rarity’s team of three. The safe zone was assured protection and at the edge of it people from all races could be seen trying to piece their lives back together, showing an incredible amount of solidarity after such a horrible attack. “Well, see you later if at all. It’s a big universe and I’m all over the place all the time, so it was nice to meet you! Remember to call me if you ever hear I’m around and need my services.” Gabby wandered slightly off from the three and started to ask around for someone which made Rarity pause for a bit. “Hey, does anyone here know where I can find a Tree Hugger? I hope this package delivery isn’t a joke at my expense because it’s quite heavy and I need to deliver it to her.” That was the last Rarity’s away team heard from Gabby as they got too far away to hear her; they were too busy looking at all the internal damage that Geoptis had sustained by the MOM ground forces managing to bust into the grand space station. There were still a lot of tall sturdy buildings standing, but rarely were any of the ones they had passed undamaged as they made their way towards the local Planetary Protection Patrol HQ. There were also a few bodies buried under rubble or a few chunks of some unfortunate soul staining the street, along with a lot of dried blood, it was better not to consider what had happened to the less fortunate of which there was many. Overall the insides of the station held up pretty well and the city was mostly fine compared to the massive amounts of damage the outer hull took, it was still safe to say that Geoptis would need a lot of repairs. “It’s really awful; the people of Ewesen didn’t deserve this. What am I saying? I’ve lived on Ewesen for a long time and now…” Coco lamented the fact that she was starting to think of the Caravel Boutique as home, she was going to miss the slightly tropical lake planet. “So many people died and you could hardly even save Sassy, I didn’t do anything during this mess.” “You survived and I’m quite happy that you are still around Coco.” Wrapping her left hoof around the meek pony, Rarity gave her a gentle friendly nuzzle before quickly letting her go. She didn’t want Coco getting the wrong idea, but she still wanted to be affectionate. “Now come on then, let’s not dally. This is not one thing I’m willing to be fashionably late on. Besides, it could have been far worse from what we heard. Had one of those nasty cores landed on Ewesen intact, it would have had a quarter of the planet covered in monster in less than a month. All we can really do is mourn the fallen and move on with our lives.” “That’s a pragmatic way to look at it Rarity, if it had been one of our friends that died would you have been able to move on?” Coco was mostly asking out of thought of how much Rarity cared about her and the others. “Not as easily I admit. I would have felt quite horrid for a while if the deaths were more personal and meaningful to me, but I’m not one to pine away over a significant loss as to have my very soul painfully ripped from me. Yes I consider your friendship to mean that much to me, even Sassy’s and the others. I went through a sewer for Sassy and don’t think I wouldn’t do the same for you if you were in as much danger as well! I would rather continue to live in the memory of the friends I lose and could do nothing for; I would do everyone proud by continuing to live life how I want to and in everyone’s memory.” Sighing as they walked up to the building Rarity continued to think of how she would have reacted had Sassy fully bled out. It wasn’t a pretty thought and Rarity knew pretty, beautiful and extravagant. “You know I hold my appearance, our business and myself personally to ridiculously high standards, but if any of those things were to endanger my friends… then I will just have to say all bets are off as to what I won’t do. I may like the idea of making my appearance something worthy of being idolized wherever I go and want to make a name for myself, but not at the expense of my friend’s darling.” “Just reaffirming the fact that there’s a reason why I like you as a friend.” Coco needn’t to worry about Rarity becoming entirely cold or callous; if anything she was more emotional than ever and wasn’t letting the death and destruction they were currently surrounded by get to her. She idolized Rarity not for her appearance and outward demeanor, but for her generosity and the encompassing inner beauty. Said generosity was about to be quite detrimental to their living conditions, but coco cared little about any of the downsides as long as their friendship stayed true. - “As you can see you’re crew members stole a fighter, which is punishable in a lot of ways. First off I’m going to make you watch what we have of everything leading to us being here.” Lirutiy was in control of the situation and sounded particularly stiff in how she spoke. She had the attentions of five beings, if you counted Opal’s control of CAT Uno as the fifth. “Then I’m going to tell you the punishment that these two will be receiving and whether or not they will walk away from this building with you depends on your actions.” Rarity sat with Gilda, Greta and Coco, while Uno floated off to the side, they were in one of the few rooms that looked entirely normal and completely undamaged. Despite their being various claw marks and bits of Ant Heads littering the hallways on the way to this room, it looked positively pristine. Rarity appreciated that much at least. Things went about as well as could be expected on screen. It showed Gilda and Greta boarding the ship and went from there, the missed Greta hotwiring the ship but she had already confessed about doing so in order to make the shields even somewhat viable on top of hotwiring a Javelin fighter. What followed was an easy if short sortie over Geoptis’s hull that had the griffons making several passes before joining Femur squadron on the attack run of the remaining core with several other squadrons. What followed was Gilda breaking off with Entrencher squadron and hitting the flesh ball with a lot of explosives before it opened up revealing its true nature. After getting through the Shamroid wave with a few hits and losing the shield, the scene following that was quite gripping for Rarity as Gilda barely ejects the shell of the Javelin and got out of the way of three devastators going off at once. After that things proceeded with Gilda’s plan to burn off heat to help the heat sinks get back in order, which was done by pushing a lot of energy through the shell decoupling system to redirect all the heat out of the heat sinks. Following that was Greta’s act of popping her canopy open and gunning down the Vasp that were still getting their bearings and quickly used the magnetic grips on her EVA suit to fix a few things along what was left of the fighter. What followed after was Greta swiftly getting back into her seat and then Gilda making the Javelin stop its random tumbling to start falling that much slower until it evened out and flew towards the ground at a slow pace. It culminated in what was an almost good landing that actually ended up going wrong quickly leading to Gilda’s arm being in a Bio Cast and shattering the canopy with her body. “Yeah, I’m not going to live that landing down.” Gilda rubbed idly at the Bio Cast around her limb. “At least I landed it in a semi working condition; I even had it this time before one of the variable thrusters decided to overcompensate and that caused the slight crash at the end there.” “With the state the Javelin was in at the time and given that you’re both engineers, I’m willing to bet that’s the most accurate assessment we’ll get.” Lirutiy still spoke in her rather stiff tone as she turned to Rarity. “Now then, as much as it pains me to say it. They did get all kinds of new information that we needed to know on these planet infesters to spread around. Not only that, they destroyed the core and saved millions if not billions of lives. I regretfully inform you that if they had died we could have just painted them as heroes, since they are still alive we still have to punish them. Thankfully, and know that many agree with me on this, we are capable of showing some form of leniency. As such they are capable of being bailed; if they aren’t bailed then things might get ugly. Even if they are heroes, the law would have us punish them to the full extent otherwise. Gilda and Greta can’t use any of their funds from making a confirmed kill on the core or their other numerous kills in the course of action as their assets are currently frozen due to the theft.” Taking out a data pad the Plurt shoved it over to Rarity who looked over the information on it and goggled at the amount that was on the pad. She bit her lower lip and slid it over to Coco who also goggled at it for a bit and then passed it over to Gilda, Greta and Opal to look over. “That’s a complete and utter yikes.” Their bail was quite large and that’s with the leniency in play, Greta didn’t actually expect that anyone would pay such a ridiculous amount. “Well that’s the end of us traveling together boss lady.” “I’ll pay it.” Rarity stated clearly and Coco looked at her with a slight frown, after a moment Rarity spoke to her friend. “Coco, how much money do you have saved up? I could use a little help right now.” “I support Rarity in paying the bail.” There was no hesitance for Coco once Rarity had asked her for help. After looking over their combined total amount of pooled cash, they found it still wasn’t nearly enough “It’s not enough, we’re still short a couple thousand.” “I give my money to the cause as well.” Sassy’s voice sounded out from Opal’s CAT drone with a ‘no nonsense’ tone to it. “It should be just enough to aid you Coco-chan, Rarity-sama.” “Wait, are you all seriously bankrupting yourselves for…” Gilda had gained an indefinable look on her face when Rarity gave her stern look. “I’d do a lot for my friends Gilda, even this. We might come out of this poor, but if Sassy and Coco are willing then yes we’re paying for your freedom as our crewmates.” It was quite a touching moment and Rarity couldn’t believe that her two friends were just as willing as she was. They had paid off the bail in full and both Greta and Gilda were free to leave. Even then there was quite a somber tone flowing throughout the room at the fact that they were all going to have problems making ends meet for a while. “There is still the other matter to attend to, now that the bail is paid in full… here’s at least a little more than a quarter of that money back for the destruction of the core and all the confirmed kills that the both of your crew members made. Devastators aren’t cheap to make, so you’re not getting much more than that back.” The sudden looks of shocks made Commander Lirutiy’s day and the smug slug chuckled with a bit of mirth. “Plus, since your crew members were not criminals less than seven days ago on Ewesen’s time scale… your claim for the Derringer is still active. As such I Commander Lirutiy Gastraslorcth hereby approve of its release into your command Captain Rarity Belle. Since we have a lot of spare parts flying around out there in space at the moment you could probably keep that as salvage while doing us a favor of recovering the mostly intact fighters and other targets of interest that are still floating around for Planetary Protection Patrol if you’re willing. About the destroyed Javelin, it landed in a junkyard and is considered to be junk at that point and given nobody else was there to claim it at the time, it immediately goes to Miss Gollenfer and Gottfrieda to do with as they please as they were there first to claim it. If you hadn’t paid the bail, then none of this would be possible so don’t think I’m doing this out of the goodness of my heart now. Two last things, please don’t commit any more illegal acts in my system or else… and I would like to commission one of your EVA suits.” “Wait… WHAT!” It was a shared disbelieving sentiment between everyone that was part of Rarity’s crew for what amounted to a resounding loss of a large amount of money for a somewhat painful slap on the wrist that sounded more like a rather fair trade off. Author's Note Giant purple alien slug certainly has quite a bit of guile to her. Maybe one more chapter and then hiatus for a long time, because 'pokemon'. Otherwise I would getting into the Grand Galloping Gala and Equus, plus what Chrysalis will be doing. -43-“That will be all ma’am.” The royal guard nodded and turned to leave the room, making Rarity sigh as she was a bit tired of giving statements. This was the like the fifth time in the past few months that she had to give one to an authority figure. “So, can I ask you something rather odd Rarity?” Spoke up Greta after the guard left the room Rarity was relaxing in. “If I may ask you why you just used my name instead of using my affectionate title that I’m slowly becoming known by?” It wasn’t like Rarity was going anywhere; she did after all receive a nasty wound to the leg recently. Greta looked rather pensive about what she was about to ask. “Well the way I see it, if I want you to pay more clear attention to me then actually using your name would be a good way to do that. Using your full name would mean things are considerably more urgent.” Rubbing the back of her head with her talons Greta couldn’t look directly at Rarity’s flat stare even as she kept a bit of an awkward smile on her beak. “As to my question, do you have a thing with causing disproportionate retribution?” “I don’t exactly know what you mean Greta, can you please elaborate?” That question was more confusing to Rarity than anything else. “Well what was that thing about you sending Ember after a Pendaxon after he bumped into you and then an entire slave trade ring gets horribly mangled by your little sister and then swiftly followed up by a dragon to finish them off?” Well that was just one of the things Greta knew about. Her boss was quite a sexy pony when it came to making her enemies pay for any infraction against her, even if it was entirely accidental. She even heard Gilda muttering about how attractive the boss could be at least once while they were salvaging. “Oh that, I believe that was entirely incidental.” Or at least Rarity would like to think it as incidental that such a rude oversized five legged frog monster got justice for bumping into her and being especially crude with his words. “What about the space pirates, you were definitely being cruel with them and admittedly that was kind of a turn on. I believe your words were, ‘Extreme Prejudice’. I’m not about to lie about how it felt when you just let the AI go at them and even stalled on purpose to get the full enjoyment out of totaling the people that almost killed you with whiplash. They at least led you to meeting me and Gilda.” After Greta said that Rarity stayed rather silent, she continued on thoughtfully. “Then there’s the Xouj, after one nearly bites your head off the rest of them were subsequently fried violently with help from your highly vindictive AI. Mind Field certainly got off worse than you did. While the grazing shots you had on him were nothing compared to the final three you fired yesterday night, it’s like anyone who hurts you has to have something horrible happen to them in return eventually. In fact I’ve even asked Opal about it, there is no way that you didn’t plan for that statue to land on his neck like that. I can tell you a few other examples about why I think you might have a worse than death complex that I’ve noticed if you’d like.” “Yes, the statute might have been partially planned, but I didn’t seek disproportionate retribution even if he did try to rape me.” Now that she said it out loud it was kind of hard for Rarity to not see it as getting retribution disproportionately. “More that I sought it out for every mare he’s ever managed to successfully hurt. I hope this doesn’t upset you any way, but I most certainly do not go for disproportionate retribution… at least on purpose.” “You actually think that upsets me? It actually excites me and Gilda when you do something like that and we hear of it boss lady. Griffons are actually turned on by things like that, be thankful I’m still going after Gilda because otherwise I would make passes at you every time we end up in the same room. Oh speaking of Opal, she probably wants to hear that you’re doing alright… well mostly anyway. We still need to see if you can walk and we’re kind of waiting on a nurse to come check up on that.” Greta gave Rarity a soft smile as she picked up her bosses data pad and started up a connection with Opal. “Getting a knife through the leg isn’t very pleasant sounding, but you’ll hopefully be able to walk just fine. Mind Field can’t even use his horn thanks to his injuries; he’ll be seeing court in a wheelchair and if the changelings are actually working with Opal. Well, his chances of survival aren’t likely to be beyond a month with your crazy AI out for blood. In fact I think she is a major factor to your disproportionate retribution thing.” “Well you have to have some way of getting an acupuncturist to him with the platypus venom and if you can’t do something like that then at least get some itching powder on him! You know that he hurt my mother and he’s a horrible criminal!” Opal’s voice sounded off as Greta turned the data pad to Rarity. “He deserves to squirm for all the wrongs he committed against mares everywhere and mom already took care of the worst thing about him! Death is cheap, life is hard, so I definitely want him to live and suffer while doing so even if he’s already suffering quite a bit.” “Opal, can you be a dear and please repeat what you just said?” Her poor little rampant AI jumped and turned around, she gave Rarity the biggest sheepish grin she has ever seen on her lithe, little, white digital cat with the long pink hair out of the pigtails again. Rarity knew that meant Opal was being more serious and worried about things. It sounded like she had been talking to someone before her data pad connected and she wasn’t about to ask how far Opal was willing to go to get back at someone on her behalf. “I might have to call you back… something more important to me came up.” Opal said through gritted teeth as she continued to give her creator a big cheesy smile, while not looking at her directly with those blue eyes. Her voice went rather quiet when she finally spoke. “Hey, meowstress, how are you feeling?” “I do believe you just called me mom.” Rarity stated flatly just sending a bored glance at her AI, the wince she received only made her smile. “How are the bruises?” The AI was shyly looking away from her now and trying not to make eye contact; it was rather cute as she started to pay more attention to her digital feet than to the one she had been calling mom not just a second ago. Like a child who had been caught eating digital cookies again. “They’ll be fine by the time the gala rolls around, though I’ll need a mirror to be sure.” The screen flickered showing Rarity a mirror image of her face, Opal was her ingenious little cat and she looked her face over the mirror image following perfectly. Yeah the bruising was nasty, but it should be gone by then. If not a bit of makeup would make it easy to seem like she hadn’t gone a round or two with a mad pony. “Yes I’ll be quite fine, thank you my darling little Opal.” “What about all those stitches, that guy cut you up pretty badly. The ones in your neck are not going to be easy to ignore and you won’t be able to have those removed before the week is out.” Opal reappeared to start poking her paws together and refused to meet Rarity’s slightly amused gaze. “That might make it harder for you to make an appearance at the Gala and you were so looking forward to it too.” “I’ve already thought of that, shoulder and hip length hoof gloves and a slightly higher collar and it’ll seem as if I never got injured.” Knowing that her personal AI thought of her like that was sweet to Rarity. Getting the AI to call her mom to her face would take forever even for a being that could think at incredible speeds, Opal had a problem with avoiding issues that were glaringly obvious to everyone else. Rarity was sure that even Celestia could tell that Opal had rampancy issues just from the few minutes of contact alone. “I admit that I will have to practice walking around without showing that I’m hurt and will have to use my uninjured hoof for holding things when I’m not using my magic. I’ll be perfectly fine.” “Get healthier soon please…” Opal’s fluffy tail flicked back and forth as she gave Rarity a sad big eyed glance with a rather fond smile on her face before going back to navel gazing and wringing her paws. The digital biped was a bit nervous. “Please promise me that you won’t get into any more danger down there where I can’t help you.” “You know I can’t make any promises like that Opal, but I can do my best and that’s all I expect of you as well… daughter.” There was a smirk on Rarity’s face as Opal blushed; it was a rather priceless irreplaceable moment for the both of them. “Right you’re doing okay so I got to go help Gilda bye!” These words rushed out of Opal before she quickly cut the connection. Moving the data pad away from her face Greta gave Rarity a rather heartwarming upturned beak and Rarity soon found herself giggling along with the griffon at Opal’s reaction. “She’s your rampant little bugger huh?” Greta giggled out. “Yes and she even calls herself Opalescence Belle; oh what am I going to do with such a lovable sweetheart like her?” Rarity lamented humorously. “Although I’m a bit worried as to what she has planned for Mind Field. A sweetheart Opal might be, but even I can’t overlook her more volatile side.” “Don’t be worried, she’s not trying to kill him at the very least. Though I’m not sure if that’s a good thing, Opal sounds like she’s getting really creative with it. I personally think killing Mind Field now would probably be a performance of mercy.” Or at least Greta hoped that Opal wasn’t going to go off the deep end, she was far too friendly for that to happen. Then again everyone had a breaking point and even Greta was not above having one herself. “I’m sure that she just wanted to know that you’re alright, the worst that happened to you was the blood loss and you’ll be out of that bed and walking soon.” - “Daughter…. daughter…” Opal just smiled and hugged herself as she listened to the playback and was highly embarrassed about it; Rarity was going to be just fine. “Hey Kitten, get your mind back on my project!” Gilda gruffly brought Opal out of her warm fuzzy feelings. “You can listen to Rarity calling you her daughter later, the four hours of sleep I had was enough. So let’s get back to it, the boss lady is fine and Greta is watching out for her.” Opal was even more embarrassed now that she realized that Gilda had heard her listening to Rarity calling her daughter. She heard a transmission coming from the Caravel Boutique she sent down twenty minutes ago; it was Coco ready to come back up with some new crew members. This was going to be interesting, she was rather curious about Lightning Dust given she had a history of lacking concern for the welfare of others, much less herself, and would need to be watched carefully. She was Gilda’s requested crew member, so Gilda had the last say in the matter as to her staying or going. - “Oh shoot I wanted to ask Opal about the recording she might have gotten on that mysterious Mare-Do-Well figure.” Rarity didn’t think Opal would be taking her call for a while after getting so flustered. “What did you want to ask about that?” It was interesting to Greta that Opal refused to acknowledge that the mysterious costumed figure existed to the authorities; in fact she refused all knowledge of even having a recording of the unicorn. “Are there any listening devices in here?” Call it paranoia, but Rarity didn’t feel safe about talking about Mare-Do-Wells identity out loud in a hospital room. “Like there would really be any… huh what do you know?” Greta started using her own data pad and she traced what her pad was detecting to what might have been a listening device. The device was just a recorder of some kind, it didn’t transmit or receive. She pulled it out from under the empty bed next to the one Rarity was laying in. “There is one here… okay, that might have just been a lucky guess.” “Please destroy it then. I don’t care who could have left it here, but I would rather no one try to bother Opal about it. I guess my paranoia was worthwhile… can your pad scan for biological life signs as well?” It wasn’t paranoia if you were right and Rarity had a right to be a little more paranoid after hearing that there was an active recording device in the room that Greta was currently disassembling with incredible ease using her talons and keeping the parts entirely intact while doing so. ”I hate to ask Greta, but why are you saving the parts of that device?” “You never know what could be useful and some spare parts for small devices are worth keeping around. It’s an engineer thing, you never know what you might have use for. I’ll scan the room just to put your worries at rest.” Though her feathers were quite ruffled to even find a recording device in the room that only had the one patient currently, said patient being her boss lady. Canterlot General Hospital was a good hospital and she wouldn’t want to think ill of any of the doctors here for placing spy equipment. Scanning the rest of the room with her pad, Greta didn’t see any signs of intrusion aside from the hidden device. “What do you want to know about the recording now that nobody can find out we talked about it?” “Seeing as we’re the only two in the room at the moment, was the recording given to the authorities at any point?” The reason why this had to be asked is because Rarity owed Mare-Do-Well for saving her life. “Kind of, Opal preempted that with a bit of her ‘rampant’ initiative. She cut out Mare-Do-Well’s appearance entirely. What she gave the authorities was listed as all the pertinent information they needed. If you’re wondering, the cape she left behind had no genetic evidence on it.” Well Greta could certainly understand why Opal did that, Mare-Do-Well did save Rarity and even staunched her bleeding with the cape and Opal was just paying her back for the good deed. Opal had a thing for heroes, Greta admitted that she did too considering they had a common interest in shows they watched. “Well at least my savior last night is safe from any repercussions, although I now know that she is definitely a female when she threw her body on me to protect me from getting skewered.” Here Rarity lifted her hoof that wasn’t strapped down and ran it across her forehead flicking her mane off to the side. “I got a good close up visual of her measurements and I’m good at eyeballing measurements as you very well know. I can probably figure out who she is if I wanted to… but I won’t give away who she is if I do. “I can agree to not giving away a hero’s identity and assuredly Opal certainly agrees. Mare-Do-Well has to have family or loved ones if she’s running around covered up like that. There must be reasons why she isn’t in the Royal Guard… aside from the fact that they are by far the most incompetent group you’d ever meet with a few good exceptions. The EDF forces and samurai have far better track records; speaking of samurai they are being sent out of the city to handle some turmoil popping up around the country. It’s bound to build up to something, we heard from the princesses during lunch that they know something is going on and are probably related to one another.” “Yes well, those things don’t concern us Greta. If they do start to concern us, well I’m quite certain we’ll be able to safely get out of the situation… can you scan my body and yourself as well?” Rarity shivered a bit here. “I’m still feeling rather paranoid right now.” After Greta did just that she didn’t find anything wrong with Rarity or herself, she nodded to Rarity who gave off a grateful sigh. “I’ll stick with you Rarity until we can get you out of here, though I have to wonder what’s got you so scared… aside from the attempted rape the other night that is.” Greta moved closer to Rarity and took her hoof into her talons. “You know what a cabal is right? I’m just afraid some ponies might be out to get me now that I’ve been recognized as being partially responsible for one of their enforcers being dealt with in a rather permanent manner.” It was a healthy fear for Rarity to have and she tightened her hoof around Greta’s comforting talons. “It’s sad to say this, but hopefully they go after Mare-Do-Well and ignore me entirely. She did seem to be entirely focused on bringing the cabal down.” “I wouldn’t worry about anyone coming after you; I’d be more worried as to what would happen to them if they injured you in any capacity.” Greta was making Rarity feel safe by being there for her as a friend, even if said friend like her could do some questionable things like hacking. “You do have a nasty habit of getting retribution for any slight boss lady, even if it is not you performing said retribution. It seems like an inevitable end result.” “Hello, it’s time to see if Ms. Belle can actually walk. I will be assisting her in that endeavor and you may call me Nurse Four Play.” They both turned to the soft voiced changeling wearing a colorful pink nurse’s garb. She was certainly not hiding her changeling features in the slightest. Her cheery pink eyes and smile made her seem less threatening in appearance, unlike other changeling her horn was less jagged and her overall appearance was a tad smoother and far more welcoming. “Is Four Play really your name?” The nurse just gave Greta an odd look and even seemed slightly visibly upset. “I ask because you can’t be serious about having that kind of name.” “What’s wrong with my name, it usually causes ponies to laugh but I don’t understand why that is. I think Four is a completely normal name even by pony standards, it’s just a number right? So I don’t understand why it’s so humorous to others and nobody ever bothers to explain it to me.” In answer to the changeling’s question, the cheerful griffon found the definition of the word ‘foreplay’ and held it in front of the changeling’s eyes so that she could read it off the data pad for herself. A blush started to flood the changelings cheeks and consume her head. “Oh… oh my… so that’s why everyone laughs or makes jokes when they hear my full name. I hope you’re not uncomfortable with having me as a nurse.” “No, but with a name like that it’s hard not to get a rather specific mental image that you aren’t a licensed nurse.” Rarity shuddered at the thought of this nurse not being a real nurse. “Oh I’m a real nurse alright; I’m quite certified in being capable of helping you rehabilitate if needed.” Well Four Play was certainly being nice about it, though she sounded quite upset to find out that her name was a raunchy pun. To be fair it was hard to find a changeling that didn’t have a name that wasn’t. “Chrysalis even asked for me to personally come and assist you. You can have another nurse if you want, if it would make you comfortable that is.” “No, no, you are perfectly alright Ms. Play. Aside from being a nurse and just for the sake of my curiosity, do you happen to enjoy theater?” Rarity had nothing against changelings; they were a bit on the odd side to meet though. “It’s something I do as a hobby…” Four Play looked a little flustered at being asked that, but the patient was friendly enough and for some reason Chrysalis was having problems trusting anyone who wasn’t a changeling at the moment. In fact she went back to whatever it was she was doing after sending a few changelings to assist in a secretive protection detail for her future prospects of traveling space for fun and vaguely profit. The queen was certainly a busy mare and she was surprised to even meet the most majestic asshole of their race in person. The queen certainly didn’t disappoint in the demented department and Four probably wouldn’t want her anywhere near a hospital working with sick or injured people, but it was still nice to see that the queen cared… somewhat. “Now how about we try and get you on your hooves? You could even be out of the hospital by this afternoon.” - Saffron Masala Cumin was on break and reading the news on a data pad, apparently the mare known as Mare-Do-Well was involved in a scuffle at the art museum and Mind Field was captured the other night. A victim was found at the scene with some knife wounds on her legs and neck; only two of them were seriously bad. The notoriously tricky criminal had finally met the end of his career when a statue he was lifting in his magic turned him into a paraplegic. That was about as much information as the newscast had on the situation, aside from the fact that the injured mare would make a full recovery from her stab wounds. The mare stopped reading her pad and turned to her father. “See father, I told you those ponies were no good!” Saffron didn’t like the ponies that had come into their restaurant a few times to talk, it was a quiet out of the way restaurant that not many came to which was probably why those thugs even ate food here. “Yes, but they didn’t hurt us or cause trouble while they were here.” Coriander figured that was the best they were going to get, no use worrying over what might have happened. The bad ponies were not coming back and they didn’t have to worry about giving them service. “We should be most thankful that they didn’t and that we were fortuitous enough to actually be paid.” “Of course we should be father.” Saffron grumbled, The Tasty Treat was their current home and things were not going so well for the two. They were making ends meet, but they weren’t exactly making enough for a luxury or two. After flicking over the data pad a bit she saw what looked like a small business ad about selling well made EVA suits for comfort in space travel without the need to lose your mane and a claim that they could create clothing for any species as long as animal skin was not requested in the making of said clothes. It seemed friendly enough and it was surprisingly affordable, so much so that it was a bit suspiciously generous. “If it is actually of any quality and this cheap, I might consider it. Otherwise it seems too good to be true.” “Consider what? We don’t exactly have money to throw around.” Coriander stayed seated where he was and was resting his head on a table. “I was thinking of purchasing something for myself, apparently a fashion designer who sells cheap from her mobile enterprise is around the planet at the moment.” There was curiosity in Saffron’s voice, a clothier with a mobile business that could go anywhere she pleased to make a sale. Not many ponies were taking up the business on their rather unique offers. “Doesn’t seem like she’s getting much business and I’m sure we both can relate to that.” “I can agree that we are not doing so well, but we are not doing poorly either Saffron.” Thinking that it was worth a shot to see what would come of it Coriander gave in and wanted his daughter to get something nice for herself. “Anything beyond one article of clothing is coming out of your personal pay, otherwise you can think of the first thing you truly want as a present from me. Don’t make it too expensive now.” Saffron was not going to abuse a gift from her father; she had to think of something nice for herself. She already had something else in mind and would ask if it could be accomplished, she would pay for that personally. - “You know when I saw this small weak ass spit of a ship I was a little worried about what I was getting myself into, but that… that is a thing of beauty. So how well armed is it?” Lightning’s eyes lit up as she saw the Shining Jewel. “Not very, Rarity did find it derelict in space and two of our crew members were still on it during the incident that killed the previous crew.” Coco didn’t like the idea of being slaughtered like that crew was. “That kind of sounds wicked.” Lightning smiled, she still didn’t know what her job would be and she was curious about the griffon that she was going to meet. She’s already seen the boss and heard she’s shot the balls off a stallion, even for a fashion designer that sounds really damn awesome. “Hey Coco, how are things with our new friends?” Came the pleasant voice of Opal as she remotely brought the Caravel Boutique in. “I’m bringing you in to dock in section three; you really have got to see what Gilda is working on.” “Why what is she… oh… is something like that really necessary? I mean when will we ever find a use for something like that?” Coco thought what Gilda was building was impressive, given the time it took her to build it to this point being even more impressive the vehicle itself. “You never know Coco, we just might need it a few times and it is pure awesome that I get to sign my name as one of the design team that worked on it.” It was fact that Opal was proud to be helping Gilda with her nifty project. “Holy… I think I just might actually like working with you guys. Provided that not everything you do is as boring as making clothes or putting on shows, I really want to see what that thing can do.” Despite her checkered past maybe causing some friction with the crew that was looking for new members, Lightning Dust was hopeful for a bed, food and a decent paycheck. She could at least say that as boring as just drifting around with the entertainers and clothing makers might have sounded, they certainly had a pretty nifty looking toy being worked on by a griffon and she wanted in on this crew if that was what she could expect from working in the hangar with the one who asked for Pegasus. The ship settled and she was immediately flying for the airlock to get a closer look. “See something you like?” Gilda asked as she stopped working, she saw Lightning staring at her project and she smirked dryly at the pony. “You could say that, so what did you specifically need a Pegasus for anyway? Your crew sounds like a bunch of pansies by the way.” After a moment Lightning decided to correct herself. “Well aside from the boss lady, she’s definitely metal even if she is a fashion designer.” “We have a samurai on board that could cut you in half in a split second for calling her weak, if she weren’t on the mend for a month from the injuries she got fighting terrorists. Also we’re not pansies; we’re all survivors of various deadly situations and that’s something we all have in common here.” That, Gilda noted wryly, caused the Pegasus to take a keen interest in what she was saying. “Our boss lady certainly gets into enough trouble, if you want some action all you need to do is wait for it to come to her. A bleeding heart she might be, but the boss lady is brutal when she gets the urge or is pushed hard enough. My name is Gilda Gottfrieda; you don’t need to introduce yourself as I know you by reputation. The most reckless pony pilot the Wonder Bolts ever allowed to fly with them, Lightning Dust. So you’re the one they got for the job huh? Good news, if you needed excitement you are bound to find it with us. Bad new, I'm likely to get you killed as my test pilot.” Author's Note The changelings know their queen cares, they also care right back though they must have reasons for disparaging her from time to time. -68-After Rover’s act, it was time for Saffron to go on. She had her father come up with her onto stage as she had a bit of stage fright and he was emotional support. They were recognized by a lot of the crowd as the two who helped feed a lot of them. Saffron had been quite busy with trying to make this event work when Rarity brought it up. She was coming into this with only eight hours of sleep, just about the only sleep she has gotten in over the last five days with helping every Antilur Station resident she could. She’s only had three hours of practice for her particular act and she thought she could pull it off. “Not necessarily a full time troupe member, but she’s becoming a good friend of mine regardless and her cooking has been lifting your spirits since she came onto the station. I introduce to you, Saffron Masala, chef of tasty treats and here to perform her act and she is a knife throwing connoisseur!” Waving a hoof the mare’s direction, Trapeze moved off to the side and Coriander did the same. “Who’s hungry for some fun? For my act I have these three totems with targets affixed to them, there are nine targets in all. There’s one at the top, middle and bottom of each totem.” Said totems had been set up on the stage at least five feet from each other and they were about half a foot in diameter. The targets on them were quite small about five inch wide circles. The totems each had a representative of each pony race and each totem had a different top, middle and bottom representative of all three races on them. “On me I have nine knives and I will be throwing them into each of those targets while blindfolded, as I am a unicorn I have to obviously state that no magic will be required for this stunt. Coriander and Saffron will be personally handing me each knife I throw so I don’t have to grasp around blindly for them.” - “I hope nobody gets hurt.” Coco had enjoyed Rover’s act, he was surprisingly nimble with his paws. It made sense though, one of the things all Diamond Dogs had going for them was that they were good with their paws. Mostly those paws were used for incredibly quick digging, but Rover proved to have a talent for juggling and comedy. “Things are going to be alright Sheep Wolf. The true danger that was here is quite thoroughly dealt with thanks to Passionate Inferno… hello Sky Child.” The sudden presence of Tree Hugger next to Gilda caused her to shriek and her popcorn to go flying everywhere. Tree Hugger calmly held out more popcorn with a lazy smile, the same kind of popcorn that Gilda had been eating before she just lost most of hers. Gilda just glared at Tree for a moment and took the offered bag of goodness, one that was an obvious peace offering. “You look surprised to see that I am here, did you not hear my performance? Also I announced my presence very clearly to you this time, so it is no fault of my own that you were surprised.” “How long have you been there?” Suffice it to say that Greta didn’t even see Tree Hugger sit down next to Gilda until she spoke up, one second she just wasn’t there and now she was. Tree Hugger was as creepy as she ever was. “I’ve been everywhere at some time or another Ever Cheerful, in particular I’ve had this exact seat reserved four days in advance.” The rather laid back Tree Hugger watched as Gilda got back in her seat entirely wary of Tree’s very presence, she still started to eat the popcorn though. “Boss Lady, how could you do this to me?!” Gilda sent a pointed glare at Rarity who gave her a rather forced smile, the griffon then turned to Tree Hugger who just smiled at her warmly and opened her mouth. Gilda cut her off before she could say anything. “Sky and earth, working together in concert, I know this already!” “Then I don’t have much to say, my visiting you at this time is of no grave importance.” Tree Hugger intoned before becoming completely quiet. “Well darling, Lady Tree was quite insistent she wanted that very seat. I didn’t know until today that it would be the one exactly right next to your own.” Rarity turned away from the glare being sent at her by a grumpy popcorn crunching mechanical engineer. “Much less that these were the only seats left for us. Plus I’ve been rather busy as of late what with taking orders for clothing and raising funds , I’ve also spent the last few days raising money for the station and then there was Sassy’s party. I’ve even sold a few EVA suits to the surviving station maintenance crew members… at a slightly reduced price for a limited time only. Speaking of EVA suits, I really need to talk to you and Greta about something later. We’ll get to it when we stop at the asteroid field; we’re quite ready to continue on after the show is over and hopefully these people can recover on their own from here on.” “You can’t really blame the Boss Lady for that Gilda. Now quiet, Saffron is pretty amazing and she’s on her last knife.” Amazing was quite the understatement in Greta’s opinion, as every target Saffron aimed for was missed entirely and not exactly for the lack of trying to nail them. Instead the knife always bounced off of the target she aimed for and hit another target at an odd angle, after eight knives there was only one target left and there was no way Saffron was going to bounce the knife off that target and then have it still go in afterwards. The mathematics behind that little stunt would have to be astounding and Greta was recording this with her data pad for posterity’s sake. The remaining target was the middle totem and the middle target on it. “I don’t think she can bounce it off the target and hit it again in the same throw.” “I don’t know about that, Rarity has a good eye for amazing potential and beauty. I think Saffron will do it.” Sassy had always known Rarity to have a great eye for things and the show so far had been spectacular, though it was a little odd that Rarity took on entertainers. It didn’t seem like such a bad idea now that she was watching the Trapeze Troupe in action, even if Saffron wasn’t exactly a full time member. “Saffron is quite nice to look at and she’s also very skilled in the kitchen, I take it she was the one that made the food for my party?” “Not exactly, Gilda and Greta were the ones to bake the cake. Everything else was actually her father’s work and he’s one of our crew’s chefs. Coriander is a very nice gentle stallion and I hope you give him, Rover and Bernard a chance Sassy.” Their crew was full of interesting oddballs and Coco wouldn’t have it any other way, she felt like the most normal one around and she was a workaholic who didn’t think she was working nearly hard enough. She was even crazy enough to go into the space station during the infestation to aid Rarity and she still felt sore around the barrel from where that tentacle squeezed her. “I will try not to spit in his general direction then Coco-chan.” There were some things Sassy would struggle with, but at least she was taking baby steps to be amiable towards at least the people Rarity trusted to be around her constantly. Turning towards the griffons, Sassy nodded to them. “Thanks for the cake; it was wonderful after spending so long swimming in medical fluids.” “Yeah, yeah, sweet stuff, emotions and all that crap.” Gilda was quite tense with Tree Hugger faintly leaning against her; at least it seemed the mare wasn’t invading Gilda’s personal space too hard and she was being oddly silent. It was a few seconds later that she witnessed the last part of Saffron’s act. “Holy crap, that was amazing!” Greta and Gilda caught every single moment of what the last knife did; Saffron had somehow managed to bounce the last knife off the central target and into the eight other knives before having it return to the remaining target where it sunk in. The only way this was possible was that that targets were all in very differing locations on the totems despite being at the same general heights. There was plenty of applause for it afterwards. “Thank you, I’ve had very little time to prepare since helping to destroy the monster that was plaguing this station. I apologize for being a little out of practice, but apparently I did good enough to warrant some applause.” Taking off the blindfold Saffron blinked in slight confusion as she looked at all the knives in the targets, the knives were a little off and yet she was receiving so much applause. If only everyone knew that what Saffron had done was entirely unintentional, then they’d be even more mystified at what had happened. “Huh, I guess I’m not so rusty after all. I guess you’re up Trapeze.” “You put on one really good performance there Saffron, that’s Saffron everyone! She’s quite humble isn’t she?” The mare with the magical top hat cleared her throat and turned to the audience tipping her hat to everyone with a hoof. Trapeze Star was officially up next and her magic act was going to be a blast for her to perform. “Now the moment I’ve been waiting for, it’s time for me to go on! I am Trapeze Star, acrobat and magician and this would be my partner Bernard… Bernard? Okay where could he have gotten to this time?” Trapeze looked around and after taking off her hat she scratched her head with her hoof, she then started looking to the hat. “Does everyone want to see a classic trick; you see nothing in this hat correct?” The screen broadcasting the event to everyone watching the stage saw that there was indeed nothing in the hat. “Now is time for me to do the old pull a rabbit out of the hat routine!” Reaching into her hat with her right hoof Trapeze started grasp around inside it and then slowly she started pushing more and more of her body into the hat, she was soon rooting around in it with both hooves. “This may take a minute folks!” Trapeze then stuffed the front half of her body into the hat and her rear legs kicked at the air as she slowly sunk into it. Once entirely inside it the hat wiggled around a bit then settled on the stage. As far as disappearing acts go, it was pretty impressive to watch, but Rarity’s crew had already seen such things from the mare enough times to not bat an eye at the sight. It was just better to go with it since Trapeze was quite the talented individual. The audience was still wondering how she fit her entire body into the top hat. When Bernard came running up to the stage wearing a miniature version of Trapeze’s outfit, he looked adorable in it. The little guy looked about and noticed the audience, he wiggled his nose in a cute manner and then his eyes sharpened as he moved over to the hat. He bowed to the audience and then reached into the hat and pulled Trapeze’s head up and out of with his paw grasping her mane. After that he let go of a Trapeze’s surprised head and held out both his paws to her and exclaimed something appropriate sounding for someone who just completed a magic trick. “Oh sure, you’re the magician here for pulling me out of a hat.” Deadpanned Trapeze with a flat look on her face as she stared down Bernard, the audience laughed. She propped both her hooves up on the brim of her hat and sat her chin on top of them. “Okay little rabbit. Now that you’ve pulled the magician out of the hat, what’s your next move?” Bernard reached behind his back and pulled out a pack of cards. Where did they come from, nobody was able to tell as Bernard came onto the stage with empty paws and the pack of cards would logically take up too much space for him to hide in his costume. He tipped his top hat to the audience with a wink. “Card tricks, that old cliché, really? Folks I have it on good authority that my rabbit is defective, as you all know I’m the one that’s supposed to be leading this act as the magician.” While she addressed the crowd, Trapeze pulled the rest of her body out of the hat while wiggling her rear free of it. She promptly placed it back on her head afterwards. Bernard wasn’t upset to be called a defective rabbit, given he wasn’t one at all. Trapeze turned back to Bernard. “Okay if you think you have a good trick to show us then… you built a house of cards, really? That’s the trick.” Everyone had been paying too much attention to Trapeze’s wiggling flank as she pulled herself from the hat to notice what Bernard was up to. Turning to him everyone saw a perfect house of cards with him leaning again it, obviously putting his full weight on it without it falling over or collapsing. He held up a paw and waved it in a condescending manner, apparently he wasn’t done with his trick yet. “I for one am interested to see what other sleight of hooves they’re going to pull next.” It wasn’t often that Rarity missed a detail, but she had missed Bernard putting up a card house in a ridiculously short amount of time. Bernard waggled his eyebrows at the audience and with a flick of his paw, he took a card from the bottom edge of the stacked cards and surprisingly the house didn’t fall apart. He held up the card to Trapeze and she took it from him. He motioned to the audience and waited. “Apparently my partner wants me to tell you as much as show you what card this is, for the record it’s the queen of hearts.” Trapeze showed it clearly to the audience, Bernard nodded and took the card back and slid the card into the middle of the house of cards gently. Everyone was beginning to wonder where this was going, Bernard walked away from the house of cards a few feet and then started running towards it. He rolled right into the card house, he knocked some cards down and sent others flying up into the air. He came out of his tumble holding a card up to everyone. “The joker card, I don’t understand what’s the trick in all this?” Trapeze had a curious look on her face as Bernard pointed behind himself and everyone looked to see four separate cluster of cards all separated by suit landing face up. It was amazing that they were all face up and none of the suits were mixed with one another after Bernard slammed through the card house. More interestingly the queen of hearts was right where the card house used to stand. “Oh the queen only fell straight down despite the fact that you barreled through the card house, interesting enough and I like how you managed to get them all to separate into their individual suits.” Now tapping her hoof against the floor of the stage Trapeze had to ask. “Now why are you showing me the joker card?” Bernard reached up to the card and flicked it with other his paw causing it bend forward far enough that the picture on the cards face was hidden by the back of the card to the audience and Trapeze. Upon the card springing back up in a grinning Bernard’s paw, it was the queen of hearts and everyone turned their gazes to the joker now lying where the queen of hearts used to be and were entirely flummoxed. “Okay that was actually pretty impressive, given how many eyes you have on you at the moment. I guess my partner is actually the magician here folks… wait, does that make me the rabbit then? Well I guess I have to be the one that gets paid in carrots now, give my partner some applause for performing his trick for you. Also I would like to make a random statement that jokers are always wild.” The audience chuckled and the applause was quite warm as Trapeze had expected. Bernard bowed to everyone before waving to them all and then he set about picking up the cards. “Right then, on to the next trick while my partner cleans up his small mess. Coriander if you will bring up my magical hoops, I can really start to astound these people instead of letting my partner do parlor tricks for the rest of this event. You’re about to see a mare saw herself into pieces, only I don’t use a saw as that would definitely hurt! I still have more acts to perform, so I'll do the safe for foals version.” What followed was an hour of the most incredible stunts and acrobatics ever devised, in short the magical hoops were several interlocked metal rings the size of pony made hula hoops. Pulling them apart wasn’t the trick, what was the trick was Trapeze pulling herself apart while doing so and having at least one of any three limbs sticking out of any of the separated hoops without revealing how they were detached. From there Trapeze proceeded to do several bizarre things, magical acrobatics involving moving each ring. She twirled them, threw them into the air and even balanced them on top of one another while spinning in opposite direction and was performing acrobatics with her limbs seemingly attaching and detaching at random, leaving her hooves sticking out from behind the edges of the metal rings. It almost looked like she never lost her limbs as she reached into one ring, her hoof would come out of another one several feet away, it was incredible to watch when she started to do acrobatic tricks of leaping from ring to ring. She’d grabbed a ring and swirled it over her head to disappear as the ring passed over her body, then she’d be seen flipping out of another one with a dazzling twirl to land on her hooves. After she was done with the rings, Trapeze moved on to playing jump rope with a line of handkerchiefs she pulled from one of her ears. She also did some ribbon dancing with said handkerchiefs after she was done playing jump rope, then she moved on to performing many small tricks by pulling out various props. Bernard kept up with Trapeze the entire time, sometimes he helped Trapeze and other times he got in front of her trying to humorously steal the show by performing his own feats of acrobatics and magic. It was getting to the point that nobody knew who to watch more or what they were missing when the other was doing something, the goal of distracting the audience was working pretty well. It was soon for Trapeze’s final trick, which took quite a bit of setup and the audience was all for being patient just to see what the two performers would do this time with all the stuff they got out. Said setup involved three gymnastic bars with a small trapeze hanging under the middle one which was the highest up gymnastic bar, a ten foot pole, an empty child sized inflatable pool, four feet of metal chain, a see saw, a barrel of water, a whip, a tarp big enough to cover half the stuff with and one single solitary banana cream pie which wasn’t thrown or smashed into someone’s face. In fact the use of the banana cream pie was just one of the more unusual things about the whole performance. - “I laughed, I cried, I was totally amazed by most of that last trick and the only thing that truly upset me is what happened to her poor costume.” It was plain that Sassy enjoyed the show and she had nothing but praises to sing for Trapeze Star’s performance. She was wheeled back to the Caravel Boutique after they stopped to help Babs pack up whatever belongings the filly wanted from her home on the station, which was everything and anything they could feasibly take with them. “I agree, I will need to take care of her wardrobe and clean her costume when I get the soonest opportunity to do so. That or make an entirely new costume… why I can even make a whole line of them.” Ideas had just struck Rarity and she was glad to have Trapeze on board; she was a mare with a lot of pizzazz. “She certainly has quite a lot of flair and style; she never seemed to have faltered out there even once while performing.” “You think that was difficult, just that small routine? If that’s what you think, I need to get more complicated next time!” Taking a pose where she tilted her hat over her eyes Trapeze gave a proud smile. “I think I did an okay enough job out there, nothing more distracting than trying to figure out a how a magician did all those things. The SNUGGLES people and all the outside help will take care of things now.” “It was distracting enough that you were an earth pony doing all that. I’ve been making preparations Rarity and we’re ready to head out for the Pie Planetoid Plantations and the thoroughfare station.” Everyone was already on board according to Opal and she double checked to make sure Vera was present, triple checked for Chrysalis who was quietly in the middle of her hobby in her room. Last, but not least in any sense of the word, she checked that their guests Ember and Mr. Spew were still onboard without telling Rarity. “We can leave whenever you’re ready to set out Rarity.” “Do me a favor Opal. Make sure the shields are up and the turrets are powered before we arrive as a precaution. Patch me into ship wide communications… okay everyone we are now setting out for the Pie Planetoid Plantations.” That was all Rarity needed to say to get the ball rolling, she then noticed something. Ember’s ship was still here. “Get some rest everyone.” - “Ember, is there a reason you haven’t disembarked to go do your own thing?” The sound of Rarity’s voice made the dragon jump; one had to wonder what could spook a dragon as strong as her that badly. The reaction she saw reminded Rarity that Ember was a bit socially inept despite her incredible prowess as a Bounty Hunter. Ember looked so adorable poking her claws together with Mr. Spew sitting on her shoulder and she started giving Rarity a pleading look. “Is something the matter dear?” “I was wondering if I could stick around for a while... I want to make sure Babs gets to where she’s going safely.” Every part of Ember was fidgeting slightly as if she knew what she was saying had some problems with it, also her wings needed to be stretched out a bit. Yeah that was it, her wings needed to be stretched out. “Well of course you can stay around for a while, as long as you need really.” Ever the generous pony that Rarity was, she wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to have a friend stick around longer. “I can even get Opal to set you up with a room somewhere on deck two.” “I would like that.” A suddenly emotional Ember almost seemed too excited at the prospect, given her tail started wagging like crazy and she perked up immensely. That stopped after Ember thought about it and her eyes narrowed at Rarity, she suddenly became rather demanding a most unusual way. Some would outright take advantage of free room and food, Princess Ember McFlame was not one such being. “I am not going to be a freeloader Rarity; I will pay for room and board on this ship. I eat expensively and my ship is taking up space in the hangar, not to mention I need to take care of Mr. Spew’s needs.” Mr. Spew just gurgled from his position on Ember’s shoulder, not feeling particularly energetic at the moment as he lazily relaxed upon his kingly throne of Ember’s shoulder. He could feel Ember’s heart beat speeding up. Sure his trusty mount was panicking, but there was no danger or ill intent to upchuck all over with deadly concoctions. Like his companion he could spew searing fires, he taught himself how to after watching Ember do it enough times when it came to cooking some meat or vegetables. “Well okay then, but are you sure? I heard dragons don’t tend to spend their hoards or funds very often.” Rarity said trying to see how insistent Ember could be, she had heard dragons were quite stingy and tended to sleep on piles of gold and jewels. “Rarity, you have no idea how much I would give to make you happy… er as my friend… make you happy as a good friend!” It wasn’t apparent, but Ember was afraid to tell Rarity what her hoard really was and it wasn’t her bank account which was doing moderately well. At least she had enough to make sure she wasn’t going hungry in the next three months. She unfortunately couldn’t be nearly as charitable as Rarity was in helping the people of Antilur Station. “You and your crew are becoming like a family to me and you’re my best friend. I mean you accepted me as a friend, despite the entire I kill or violently capture monsters and or people for a living thing.” The longer Rarity allowed Ember to stick around, the more likely it would be discovered as to what Ember’s hoard actually was. Ember would never be able to spend her hoard given it wasn’t gold and jewels; she was willing to protect it jealously and with her life is necessary. Her Hoard was Rarity and her friends, with Rarity being the most prized possession of her whole hoard, the very centerpiece of it even. Never had Ember been so afraid of rejection in all her life, a centerpiece is what a dragon was most proud of when it comes to their hoard and she had figured she chose wisely to make it her friendship with Rarity. “Well as long as you are sure. I don’t have a problem with you paying me a fairly modest sum for allowing you to stick around.” Rarity suddenly received a pair of glaring dragon eyes in her face, Ember certainly seemed sure of it and it didn’t look like Rarity would dissuade her of it. “I would have let you stay for free, you know.” “I know, but I’m not going to stay here on your generosity alone, I actually want to earn my keep around here just like anyone else on your crew.” What Ember wasn’t saying was that she wanted to outright join the crew and Rarity was giving her a scrutinizing gaze making her feel a bit uncomfortable. There were a lot of emotions fluttering around in her head and it made the dragon feel anxious. “Do you mean that you wish to join my crew, well then why didn’t you say so? I can easily work up a contract and find something for you to do.” It confused Rarity that Ember wanted to be like anyone else on the crew, yet not part of the crew itself. “I… don’t want to become too attached… I mean to your crew that is. No offense meant to you Rarity, I just want to remain somewhat autonomous so that I can do some things without the rest of you getting in trouble for it.” That was quite a bitter lie the moment Ember spoke it, she had already declared them her hoard. The problem with this was that Ember couldn’t be a part of her own hoard and she was definitely attached to them now. How would a dragon even go about hoarding themselves anyway? That was too ludicrous to even think of. The things Ember wouldn’t do for any of Rarity’s friends now would make for very tiny list, given Rarity is the centerpiece of her hoard that list almost didn’t exist where she was concerned with a few very exceptions that are highly unlikely to happen. When would Rarity ever want to kill Spike or her dad anyway? Ponies weren’t very open to conflict in the first place; well Rarity was willing to wade into just about any dangerous situation to risk her life helping others and even more so for friends. Ember wouldn’t have liked Rarity nearly as much as she did if that weren’t the case. “You know, I have a history and I’m a horrible...” Ember felt a pair of fluffy hooves wrapping around her neck, they pulled her gently into a hug. She received a friendly nuzzle to her cheek, after which Rarity pulled away and smiled. Blushing Ember looked away from her friend, as she had almost spread her wings and unleashed a blast of fire into the air while giving a mighty roar right then and there. She held back on that instinct as she didn’t think Rarity would understand what that particular gesture meant to a dragon, especially in this context. Author's Note I am a firm believer of noodle incidents not always having a negative connotations. -93-“So we all know the plan, I’ll go after Rarity and draw a lot of attention to myself while Greta hacks the system and goes with Rover to eventually meet up with Saffron and Applejack.” Ember didn’t get a response because she was already walking around the corner. “Give me five minutes to cause some carnage before following. The path will be clear to sneak in.” Turning the corner Ember calmly started to pick up speed and she started dodging the shots aimed at her from the five guns pointed in her direction, she quickly returned fire with her rifle and dropped three of them under a burst of fire. Once she was close enough, Ember threw her right fist into the male of the remaining two humans; he was standing to the left of the door. As Ember slugged him, she spun into a crouch whipping out her tail tripping up the panicked female who had been trying to track her movements. The human female fell onto her back and brought her arms up only to get them both broken, as Ember continued her spin into standing position to bring down her rifle on to the human like a club. Not only that but the female’s helmet cracked horribly by the follow up swing. There was a look of fading fear in the eyes of that person as they blacked out from the pain, from what little Ember could see through her visor. The male behind Ember tried to get up and was swiftly slapped back down by her tail taking his helmet off and knocking him out at the same time, this was when she was performing her follow up swing on the woman before her. “So you’re Flamethrower.” A voice called out over some speakers, sound average male and he came off as rather amiable. “Whatever they’re paying you, we can double it.” “No thanks.” Ember walked up to the door and some shutters closed it off, she went for the rocket launcher. She was only carrying three shots for it, but it would have to be enough. “Are you sure we can’t convince you? You should know you’ll never be able to get through the shutters on the door as they’re blast proof.” The male sounded like he was trying to offer her the deal of a lifetime. “I’m sure we can still come to some agreement, name your price. You’ll never get out of the tunnels alive otherwise.” “I’ll take my chances.” Instead of continuing to go for the rocket launcher on her back, Ember thought better of it and aimed her rifle at the wall to the right of the door and the shutters covering it. She hefted the gun and hit something to make the second barrel blaze to life with white hot flames, she started cutting a hole through the wall itself and when she was done she kicked the wall inwards and stepped inside. “You probably don’t have enough people to take me if you’re dumb enough to just reinforce the door and not the walls around it.” “We have over a thousand people and quite a few surprises for the likes of you.” The voice continued trying not to sound a little shocked that Ember bypassed the door with relatively little fuss. “Trust me; you’ll want to be on our side when we let loose our special units. Besides you’re just some small time bounty hunter, do you really think you can stop us?” “Ever heard of a geneticist named Neldwie Chramsten?” It was the geneticist she had spoke of when she was mentioning one of her weirdest bounty jobs. “He thought that he had enough of his creations between me and him too. Whatever you’re doing here, I’m honor bound to stop you humans from getting away with it.” There was a choking noise on the other end of speakers addressing her. He likely knew the name Chramsten and just because Ember mostly worked in the pony systems, didn’t mean that she was someone to take lightly. Not when she was dropping names like that one, especially considering that most of Chramsten’s creation could feasibly destroy three squads of their special units. “Hit me with your best shot then, because you’re not going to stop me.” Ember sent a burst of fire from her rifle down the corridor cooking a bunch of humans in their suits as they turned a corner she was approaching. They barely got more than two shots at Ember, both had missed due to flailing and being boiling alive in their uniforms. She had yet to get hit and was actively avoiding getting hit, she didn’t want to damage her EVA suit too much and she wanted to draw as much attention to herself as possible while Rover was sneaking in behind her carnage. - “All special units, report in, we have a case red! Converge on the target; she’s heading for section A-4.” The man was a little bit panicked at watching the flamethrower wielding alien bounty hunter rip through normal people without getting her suit damaged. He was making a call and it was a good one because he saw how dangerous that bounty hunter was, considering she’s already taken out fifteen… twenty seven people without a sweat and is ripping through their armored people like tissue paper.“I repeat case red, section A-4. Special units are to ignore the ponies and head for the bounty hunter. Our people can take care of them.” - A powerful looking machine stopped firing on the two ponies trapped in the hallway in the upper floors; they were taking cover behind a crate that was quickly being worn down. It was a human piloted humanoid machine with arms ending in four clawed grappling hands that fired rapid bursts of electrical energy. It turned away and started to run. It left the armored humans to deal with the two small problems randomly wandering their base to deal with a bigger fish. Said fish was Ember, who was considered dangerous enough that she could blow their whole operation apart if she wasn’t stopped. The mechanical suits were made to fit in the wide hallways and corridors; they were heavily armored and could deal with problems close up or far away in equal measure. The grappling claws alone could rip apart a pony if they managed to grab hold of one and were twelve to fifteen feet in height. “Why do you think they had him just scamper off like that?” Applejack leaned out from behind the crate and fired her rifle once; her material weapon was made to fire single shots at a long range. In close quarters it wasn’t any less effective, but it wasn’t meant for rapid firing or dealing with multiple targets at a time. Plus she was limited by ammo and was slowly running out of material shots or pellets for her rifle. The sound of someone falling to the floor with a grunt was heard. A wince came from Applejack as she wasn’t cut out for violence or injuring other people and was shooting to disable only. She hadn’t missed a single shot yet, she had a sturdy aim and she had some willingness to injure. Considering that these people were ruining her livelihood, Applejack felt a little justified in dealing injuries to them even if she didn’t like it. “It’s probably my friends causing bigger problems for them.” Saffron was behind Applejack and looking down the hallway the other way and sending blasts of energy from her armored hooves, there was a strangled scream that caused Applejack to wince once again. Ar-Mare-Do-Well was aiming to maim, she didn’t care about the health of these people at all and she shouldn’t considering they were trying to kill them. These humans hadn’t asked for them to surrender and had started shooting at them immediately once they were spotted, which didn’t take long. The intent to kill them was pretty clear. Whatever they had stumbled upon, nobody wanted any witnesses or information of it getting out. The mechanical suit that showed up was more of the known style for humans than the robot wolves and sharks had been. Humans had a tendency to design things after themselves, their science fiction was notably full of alien races that walked on two legs and acted exactly like them with very minor differences. Humans could hardly make a science fiction stories without something like themselves being included in it. Well the universe certainly showed humans that intelligent life was far more varied than their cookie cutter aliens from their fictional stories. Didn’t stop them from doing the same thing when they designed machinery when they reached a good enough technological level for it. Strange robot sharks and wolves were not the first things to come to mind when you thought human designed technology, so maybe some kind of outsourcing was involved. It had Saffron pondering at least. The armored suit that they had been holding off for the past few minutes was definitely of a human design, the wolves and sharks less so. Saffron’s shields were taking quite a lot of hits and she needed to recharge them soon, she was down to seven percent usage and her battery utility was having problems charging them back up. She was spending quite a lot of time taking hits for Applejack and making sure she was protected, the farmer had only been grazed three times but the injuries would add up if things kept going like this. “Well that’s some good news, now if we only knew where we were going or what to do when we get there!” This fight was understandably upsetting to Applejack, she wasn’t nearly as willing as Mare-Do-Well to cause permanent injuries. Though she understood the kind of situation they were in. It had been rather tense considering they were between a rock and a hard place a minute ago when that human driven machine joined the fight. “Anywhere is better than being stuck in this hallway where our cover is slowly being destroyed.” Flicking a shock wing around cover Saffron launched several blasts of electrical energy and watched as the humans hit by them fell to the ground in spasms and jerky twitches. “Come on, grab a hold of me. We’re getting out of here.” Saffron waited for Applejack to move and when she did jump onto her back, Saffron activated skate mode at full blast. She went rocketing out of cover and skidding down the hallway under a hail of fire from behind, as she bowled over the humans in front of her and passed them faster than they could follow. At least they weren’t trapped in place any more, she needed to find some kind of outlet to plug her suit into or prioritize her battery energy to focus on the shields instead of weapons. “Once we lose these guys, we need to find a better place to go for a bit. I need to recover my shields or else they’ll start damaging my armor. In such a situation I won’t be able to protect you very well.” “Hey, I’m a grown mare and I can take care of myself!” Applejack ducked her head low as a material round pinged off of Mare-Do-Well’s armored thighs as they shot around a corner and ricocheted into a wall. “I wouldn’t mind finding a place for you to recover those shields at though. I may be well over my head here, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to call it quits on living Mare.” Skate mode was keeping them ahead of most humans and it was proving to be one of the best functions in Saffron’s suit for getting away from danger. It was still rather hard to control and making sharp turns was quite hard unless Saffron slowed down. Slowing down with as many humans as there were in this facility could mean trouble, there were very few places to hide that weren’t storage closets. A door opened nearby and nothing came out of it. “Hey guys, get inside quickly!” Greta’s voice called out to Saffron. Saffron swerved into the room at Greta’s behest and the door slammed shut behind her. Several humans rushed by and some started checking the rooms that were not security protected. - Rover was sitting underneath a desk and cradling his rifle and keeping a lookout as Viral’s large tail seemed to peel into four smaller tails and a small inner one stretched out to jab into the nearby computer. From there Greta started pulling and copying as much data as she could get from the system. The system was now disastrously open to Greta and she had control of it. The facility surprisingly didn’t have automatic turrets or anything that wasn’t manually operated. The only thing that was automated was the entire of army of robots and several towers being built to operate them. “Let’s see… hey I found a kill code! I can destroy all the wolves, sharks and some other things they have with one fell swoop. I expect them locate my intrusion, so this computer will be compromised when I do that. Get ready to move out Rover.” Greta continued to talk to Rover through the robotic fox she made. “First I’m going to tell Ember where she needs to go to meet up with Rarity. I need Rarity to investigate that big room and I’m sending her helmet’s display a map to get her there. My reasoning is that they have some systems not connected to the overall computer network in this facility, so I don’t think I’m getting all the more secretive stuff I could be getting. As for Applejack and Saffron, they are on the move and… now there’s a good place for them to be. Hey guys, get inside quickly! Rarity sending map information, get to this location. Ember is going to meet you there. Now dropping that kill code and…” The entire base and surrounding area shook with hundreds of explosions; the Centaur-pede almost fell from its perch on the ceiling near the facility as the ground shook and quaked for several minutes. In that time Greta quickly had Viral detach her tail from the computer and close it up; she had her robot quickly lead Rover away from the computer as the power throughout the facility flickered violently. It was kind of an afterthought, but Greta had realized that she underestimated the domino effect of exploding every single wolf, shark and a number of other things all at the same time above a system of crafted hollow tunnels. Checking the end results afterwards she had collapsed a lot of the ice tunnels. There were still a few paths out, but if anyone had been in those tunnels they were bound to be buried under ice, snow and dirt with no chance for escape. That was far more destruction than Greta had intended. - “Woo, that was a big one!” It had Gilda smiling, which had been an awesome series of explosions. It was probably one of the most impressive things Greta had ever done. Minus the mechanical fish thing, that would always be in Gilda’s top five. She watched as the map warped and change in front of her. The rumbling lasted for a good three minutes and she was pretty sure Greta checked to see what she had done. “So did you get us trapped underground or do we still have enough power to dig out of this?” “We still have enough power to dig out if we have to, but it’ll take a while. There are still some tunnels we can use to get back to the surface.” After some consideration Greta added with a slightly sheepish tone. “They might not exactly be structurally sound after what I just did.” “Gee… you think?” Sarcasm aside, Gilda still thought the kind of destruction that Greta just pulled off was incredible. She’ll give nerds and dweebs credit, where credit is due. Jocks couldn’t possibly create that level of destruction without an incredible amount of stupidity. “I’ll look over the data while you’re busy helping out dog boy. You know, to see what you got from them before you decided to collapse almost everything on top of us and kill us all.” - “What the hell… how the hell did… just fucking hell!” There was a command center in the facility and there were three leaders, one was a man that tried to talk Ember into selling out her own hoard. It was a bad idea to ask a dragon to give up their hoard, not that Ember wasn’t already coming for them anyway and this kind of thing just made it worse. There were currently a lot of flabbergasted expressions to go around. “I’m going to go get my walker out; these people are bigger threats than I previously thought!” “Far more so considering they cut off almost all of the escape routes after they’ve already infiltrated the base in several places.” This one was a woman and she decided to get her weapons out as well, from what she saw someone found the kill code and had been in their systems shortly following Flamethrower’s entrance into their building. A lot of their entrances were closed off and their vehicle bays were all but useless now aside from utilizing the walkers, if they cut power to the elevators then getting the mechanical armors between floors would become impossible. She headed towards the doors; she also wanted to see if she could deal with these intruders personally. “They are well organized professionals, they cut our ability to deal with them down by a lot and we still don’t know how many of them there are.” “Well so much for the plan, we need to work on the fallout if they find all the… shit they have information on most of our operations.” That last man was checking their computer systems and found that it had been compromised already, but how had someone gotten access so easily? A good portion of their operations were compromised and it would be a public relations nightmare, considering that they have pulled this kind of crap before. Once this stuff came to light, the human race was going to have a lot of problems explaining things and they would have a lot of enemies on all sides. The fan was being hit with all the crap they’ve pulled against various other alien races and they weren’t going to be able to do much against all those races allying against them. They couldn’t bury the operations unless they could ensure the intruders died before they could escape with the information. This man set to work trying to find where that copied information went; it was a supposedly secure computer near where Flamethrower had started her assault. Which led him to a numb conclusion, the human race was going to lose a lot of ground real soon. - “I swear we have been so disorganized since we’ve been separated that I haven’t the foggiest what is going on anymore, at least Ms. Gollenfer managed to send me something to do. I’ll be glad to meet up with Ember, because my injuries certainly aren’t getting any better.” They were causing huge messes everywhere and there were only seven of them, if you excluded the Puffle’s presence. The Puffle ignored her talking to herself. Rarity wondered how much crazier things could get, there were a lot of violent thuds and the entire world shook for a few minutes. She had managed to avoid security so far and then she suddenly got a map on her HUD and a location to head to before that series of explosions went off. “My goodness, what in the world? I swear my friends can do amazing things, but I really hope they didn’t go overboard with whatever that was.” The Puffle had squeaked and covered her eyes while cowering; they were in the middle of the corridor when the lights started flickering as much as the power throughout the entire shaking building. Rarity sighed, until Fluffy Puff decided to stop cowering she was stuck in place. Giving the Puffle a name made it much easier to see her as female. Once all the noise died down, Fluffy uncurled and looked around and started moving on her own once more. It was slow at first and it… she… was highly curious about her surroundings for a moment. She blew a raspberry and was back to being a smiling idiot that Rarity knew her to be, nothing really seemed to faze her for long. It was becoming obvious that this was what all Puffles were like. Rarity wondered how she was going to get to the location on her HUD. She could take the elevator, but after all of that ruckus she figured the stairs were safer. Would Fluffy even climb all those stairs if she directed her to do so? Well there was only one way to find out now that she had a map of the entire structure. She lit her horn and made the dot float in front of Fluffy, the Puffle squealed with joy and started to chase the dot towards the stairwell with Rarity watching out for any patrols as she rode her fluffy pink steed. “I swear, of all the ridiculous things I get myself into.” Muttered Rarity who was quickly moving through a cross shaped intersection. “I’ve found intruders!” A voice shouted and several material rounds whistling through the air around the pony, she ducked down into the thick pink mass below her while grunting at shifting her broken leg about. It would probably be worse if she couldn’t feel how much pain she was in. Rarity couldn’t take any distractions right now as she kept Fluffy on course. She aimed for the door; thankfully it didn’t look like it was a door with a security lock. She flung it open as a bunch of humans charged down the hall behind them, Rarity leaned back and fired her material pistol several times and direct Fluffy to head up the stairs by following the little pink dot of light after putting her gun away. She couldn’t shoot and keep her dot in front of the Puffle at the same time. So she prioritized ignoring the humans shooting at her and moved the light up the stairs for the Puffle to follow while looking at the map on her HUD. She needed to go at least ten floors up, take two lefts and a right to reach that large room Greta was directing her to. Shots rang out behind them following them up the stairs and Rarity turned her head slightly to the right and pulled her material pistol once more to start shooting back at the humans below. Once they backed off slightly she had to once again put her pistol away and create a pink dot for the Puffle to follow, she was getting a bit low on magic. If she had to, Rarity would ditch the Puffle and use her pinpoint puller to get around, riding on the back of another being much like a pony was not ideal and she was getting a bit saddle sore, her head hurt and she could really use some pain killers and some time in a medical bed. She was thankful that the stairs had solid railings, she wasn’t as happy that the staircase was a square shaped spiral. It made sense that somebody would probably want exits in four directions instead of the two a rising zigzag would have. They had managed to get far enough away to avoid being shot at, but the humans could still be heard giving chase as Rarity stopped the Puffle before a door. She opened the door looked out and got the Puffle moving while quickly shutting the door behind her. Apparently the large open room she was heading for was within the labs section of the facility. The stark white corridors were quiet and there wasn’t a sound around aside from Fluffy’s excited gasps at seeing new walls and lights. Something wasn’t quite right here, she looked into a room that had a glass panel and didn’t see anyone and the nearby security station had no one manning it. The sudden lack of people felt entirely off, she would have expected at least someone to be shooting at her or raising an alarm as she entered this area of the facility. She’d expect places like this to be swarming with scientists. - It was after leaving behind a long corridor of half dead, crippled and or otherwise soundly put down humans that Ember met her first special unit of the facility. Sure it looked big, bulky and angular, but she was pretty sure she could take it down. It started charging her as soon as she spotted it and it hit her with its left set of charged claws when it threw them forward, its mechanical fist connected with Ember’s chest. The EVA suit Ember was wearing was slightly pockmarked with spots from solidified breach gel, but on the whole she had been in good health. The hit she just took to the chest launched her backwards down the hall and she bounced and tumbled over several rather still human bodies before coming to a stop on all fours where she slides for a foot or two. “Okay, I admit, that shock actually stung a bit.” That and the thing could hit hard, as Ember had just experienced from an electrified punch to the chest sending her flying. Say what you will about human design when it came to their weapons, they could build things to hit hard. She stood up and cracked her neck to the left and right, handling one of these things wouldn’t be too hard. If she were to fight two or more, then she might actually start having a problem with them. She aimed her rifle at it with her right claw and making a come at me gesture with her left claw. “If you really think that machine will be enough take me down, then you’re either really brave or really stupid. I’m thinking it’s the latter.” Standing up, Ember started walking forward and began picking up speed until she was running at it, the mechanized suit fired several blasts her way and she just avoided them with a duck and a leap to the wall which she started crawling along. It trailed its shots up after her on the wall and she jumped off the wall to the other one and it quickly turned to try and continue shooting at her. Only the pilot didn’t see anything on the opposite wall. Ember dropped from above and cleaved the left arm off the machine with an overhead swing of her blazing bayonet melting the left shoulder into a pile of melted metal. The machine staggered backwards in surprise as its pilot hadn’t seen her coming; it tried to swing its right arm into her with its claws wide open attempting to grab her. Due to the unfortunate problem in the machines design, the machine was horribly imbalanced and its four fingered claw went high and over Ember’s head. The dragon only had to duck slightly to avoid the clasping electrified metal fingers that were spread out around the circular hand. Ember didn’t waste any time after it had missed grabbing her, she smashed the darkened glass screen with her rifle and unbalance it even further. The machine tilted backwards with its thick blocky left leg lifting into the air. Crouching down, Ember leapt at the machine shoulder first with her rifle angled to take the brunt of the impact and bounced off it. It fell to the floor with a thunderous crash, cracking the flooring and creating fissures all over the place. Leaping on top of it, Ember fired a round into the armored glass and it shattered covering the pilot with the broken shards, she reached down swiped the claws of her left hand at the belts holding him in his seat and lifted him out of the machine. “It was the latter.” Confirmed the human as a spot on his pants were becoming darker as Ember put her rifle away and pulled off his helmet to stare him in the eyes angrily, the human found the back of his head smashed against the rim of the machine’s broken view screen. His head bled a bit thanks to the jagged bits of glass he was knocked out upon and Ember subsequently dropped him back into his seat. These walkers might actually be able to actually harm her seriously if she let them and Rarity was all by herself down below. If any of these walker things went near her centerpiece and hurt her… well Ember wouldn’t be a happy dragon. She found the doors to the elevator shaft and wrenched them open with her claws and just jumped down the shaft. The fall was uneventful and she fired her pinpoint puller at the wall to stop at the right level. Once she got her feet into position at the frame of the doors, she started pulling with all her strength and the doors eventually screeched and were wrenched open. Elevator shafts wouldn’t stop her nor would armored walkers, she was going to meet with Rarity and stick with her until everything was done with. She idly looked around after stepping out into the hallway that branched off in five directions and took in the kind of space she was in. This was some kind of laboratory, what were they testing here? That made the large room Greta wanted them to investigate all the more ominous. White hallways with several decontamination rooms were before her, around the corner of the elevator was a corridor leading to five more directions. “Well no time like the present.” Ember looked around warily while pulling out the energy pistol, where were all the people? She barreled through a section of the facility while under a constant stream of attacks by armored men and women and even that walker, yet here she was and nobody was shooting at her. You’d expect a place like this to be somewhat guarded, it was too quiet to be normal. Something was horribly wrong here. - The man at the computer in the command center had been keeping track of Ember and then he saw that she was in the laboratory sector, near the humongous cold storage room. Yet there were no soldiers there to greet her to at least distract her, what was going on? Checking the various camera’s he came to something that filled him with dread. Looking up when it happened, it was when a majority of their ice tunnels collapsed and they lost all of their blizzard manufacturing capabilities. They had a very bad containment breach and it went completely unnoticed until now. Author's Note Well I think this chapter is the worst I've written in a while. Also the humans may not actually be terrorists, in fact it might be worse. -106-“Trapeze I’m capable of getting around on my own, even with a bio-cast on one of my legs.” Though having a bio-cast on her leg did make walking a bit awkward for Rarity. “You didn’t treat Lightning like this.” “To be fair Lightning is a gruff military type and she doesn’t take help as well as you do, but seeing her have an honest smile on her face sometimes makes me happy.” As a performer Trapeze’s whole job was based in creating smiles, she and Pinkie Pie had that in common at least. Pinkie certainly liked entertainers and would likely end up married to one in her future, provided that she ever left Streusel Station to find a mare or stallion. “I feel kind of bad that Bernard still needs to rest and can’t do too much yet, at least I have Rover to work with. Except his wrist needs time to heal before I can teach him some new juggling techniques and a few other tricks I think he might be good at.” They walked a short distance from medical to the meal hall, they saw Lightning pass by them carrying several trays on her back grumbling something about super intelligent Griffons not building her a fighter to pilot because they were too busy with all the other stuff. They entered after giving Lightning some space to head towards the nearby elevators before walking in to see Chrysalis get slapped by Sassy knocking her flat on her back, it seemed that Chrysalis enjoyed it and Sassy just sighed. “Must you be so crass?” Muttered a lightly angry looking Sassy. She seemed to have a good control of her anger as she floated a sweet bean bun to her mouth and appeared to calmly rip it in half with her teeth. “Yes, because I want the latter half of the word crass, by that I mean remove the C and the R.” Chrysalis sat up and got back onto her seat looking at Sassy with affection despite the hoof shaped indent in her face. “Maybe I want yours to brush up against mine… if you would let me sit a little closer?” “How about not?” The half lidded eyes stare Sassy was giving Chrysalis made her put on a puppy dug like face as if she were a dog that had been kicked in a particularly rough manner. It would be silly if it wasn’t coming from someone as dangerous as a Changeling Queen was. Sassy turns her gaze to the two ponies entering and brightens almost immediately, this made Chrysalis shoot the two a jealous look that they could get her to look at them like that. “Rarity, how are you feeling dear? I hope the surgery wasn’t too rough on you. Wait Trapeze if you’re here who’s watching medical? I haven’t remembered seeing the masseuse in a while, though that’s to be expected at this point, I haven’t seen Coco for as long either. ” Sassy still had issues with medical beds and wasn’t about to trust a single one that her friends weren’t watching over personally and had complete control over. Which is why they always had one person in medical, to have someone watching over them when someone woke up there to be a friendly face and it became a rotational things. They’d continue that rotation for as long as Princess Mcflame was sedated for her own health, surgery on dragons was hard to perform and at best they hope that she could heal naturally as a medical beds surgical tools couldn’t close up her wounds or even pierce the scales that were still there. The medical bed had used bio-cast related coagulants on Ember’s wounds as soon as the medical fluids flooded it. That was the best a medical bed could do for someone of Ember’s sturdy physiology, which was actually actively working against her getting better in a quicker manner that her shredded state sorely needed. Chrysalis sat her chin on the table and just started to idly brush her mane with a brush she pulled out from her fur lined carapace with magic, she had nothing better to do and she had upset Sassy once again and she didn’t want to work on her hobby in front of everyone if they weren’t even interested in learning what she was doing. Sassy might find it interesting once she bothered to ask about it as Chrysalis wasn’t willing to divulge the information of her hobby to anyone without express interest in it, it was lonely being the only Changeling on the ship with no other to connect her mind to. So grooming was the best she had at the moment, still she wasn’t about to give up on earning Sassy’s personal attention anytime soon. Applejack and Babs were still talking at a separate table, things were a little awkward but the filly looked a little bit happier as she had a pile of sweet bean filled buns sitting before her to eat. Babs quickly thanked Mr. Cumin for them politely and then started to slowly consume the pile like a growing filly should in a voracious manner. Applejack was a little surprised to find that the plate sat before her were apple filled buns, not exactly the same as apple fritters but she liked them well enough. “Bernard can watch medical for a while.” Even injured as he was, Trapeze had complete confidence that Bernard would not dare to make his injuries any worse. The little guy was looking forward to their next performance, which may be at a wedding reception and Trapeze would give him the okay if he was healthy enough to perform. It was her troupe and her rules would be followed about health and safety, some caution was warranted on just about everything they did. She sat down and stretched her hooves out while yawning a bit. “I’ve been fussing over my little funny bunny and he’s doing better, I’ve learned that Lagotorphins are certainly a lot tougher than they look. I mean taking multiple plasma bolts to the body with barely third degree burns to show for it is far more impressive than some of the things I’ve done.” There were quite a few stares directed at Trapeze, they figured she had to be kidding as she was the most magical Earth Pony they knew. Her performance on Streusel Station was legendary for the fact that nobody knew how she kept control of her bouncing form or even got another pony to do that magic trick with the rings. They weren’t even sure how Trapeze did half the things she did, but there was a small problem that she hadn’t told anyone about. That problem being that Trapeze couldn’t exactly do a lot of those things without an audience to utterly confuse. “For the most part I’m fine darling, aside from all the psychological trauma I’m currently enduring. What’s truly troubling me is that Opal is being rather reticent in talking to me and I can’t understand why that is. I know for a fact that she can hear me, yet she hasn’t talked to me at all.” Rarity had a mostly three legged gait as her bio-cast covered leg couldn’t bend or move about at all from its straightened out form, at least bio-casts didn’t leave you horribly itchy like old world thick binding versions did. She sat down and looked to Mr. Cumin. “Mr. Cumin some food please, if you don’t mind. If you do, then I will accept that and ask again later. Whatever you do or have in mind will be fine.” “Of course, no trouble at all. I’ll make some more food, it seems to be like lunch for everyone anyone and I’ll also get some more tea prepared for you and the others.” There was nothing bad that Coriander could say about Rarity aside from his daughter actively following her into danger, at least Saffron came home in mostly one piece. Heck Saffron was the most armored of them and she still came back beaten and bruised, it was almost like his daughter enjoyed being a living sandbag. Rarity quickly returned her gaze to Sassy and looked to Chrysalis who was giving her a cool look as she brushed out her mane. She shook her head and addressed Sassy “So, Sassy can you at least tell me when Opal started getting worryingly quiet like this? She really hasn’t responded to me at all and I know for a fact that she seems to avoiding me.” Well it wasn’t so much avoiding as not showing up on screens or talking to Rarity. “How bad was it when the pirates attacked?” “The second attack was probably worst, I think they tried to attack Opal with a virus Rarity.” As far as Sassy knew that was what happened, so far she hasn’t heard a peep from Opal even if she was still operating all the systems on the ship. “It led to some really weird things to start happening to the pirates, but it seems that it mostly backfired. We had some boarders, but they didn’t stay for long. Merchants need to know how to defend themselves after all and we’re nothing if not pragmatic about our own ability to defend ourselves.” “Backfired how exactly?” It wasn’t like Rarity skimped on virus protection with Opal, but Opal was not likely to have antivirus countermeasures powerful enough to actively have a noticeable effect in an offensive manner. Opal was well defended from viruses, she did a lot of accounting for Rarity after all and it wouldn’t do to have her favorite personal assistant and child incapable of protecting herself. “Well at first Opal mentioned something about them trying to get a virus into the system, which would be impossible with the shields up. Interesting thing is, some of the smaller pirate vessels had these harpoons and rammed them through the shields and started to broadcast the virus.” At least Trapeze understood some of what was happening during the second attack. “After the first attack went south thanks to our presence, the second attack was really quite bad. The third attack kind of ended early and sputtered out when the EDF arrive.” “What these two seem to be missing are the details about your Pony hive mind being invaded. She got really quiet after screaming when we were hit by those harpoons and cables. I still don’t understand technology too well, I just know that it was a bad thing to have those attached to the hull. It would be like hitting a physical hive with a constant anti-hive-mind link by stabbing a magically enchanted thing into it. I shudder to think of anyone developing a weapon like that against Changelings.” Now Chrysalis was throwing in her own voice into the mix as she worked out her tail with the brush. Her hair was one of her better features and she took pride in her appearance as well as she could, though by this point everyone knew what she complained about the most when it came to her regal appearance. “We were boarded quite soon afterwards and we showed them hell. Bernard got burned and wasn’t around for the third attack. I got shot a couple of times during that and it was rather glorious. I was good enough for the third attack, though I really didn’t expect the chainsaw and the shouting of ‘please die you unholy creature’. Not the worst thing I’ve been called, which is ‘flat ass’ by the way and I’m kind of surprised that a pirate would even say the word ‘please’. What kind of pirate says ‘please’!? Is that really a thing you can expect of space pirates? I’m asking because novels just don’t quite sell it like that, I was expecting them to be talking about jars of dirt or something and more chauvinistic than barbaric. At least a chauvinist would have been charming.” “Please shut up Chrysalis, look during the second attack Opal went quiet and that gave them an opening to board and attack us. I was waiting for them on the second and third occasion, the first fight was an entirely ship to ship battle that Opal handled quite splendidly Rarity-sama.” More tea was placed before Sassy by Coriander and she didn’t say ‘thank you’, but at least she didn’t snap at him. Rarity received a cup of her own and took a sip while noting that Sassy at least trusted Cumin not to poison her. “I’m glad I picked up some good blends from the supply depot between attacks. Anyway, the pirate ships started behaving oddly while we were fighting them off. Their fighters started firing on each other, several of their ships started attacking one another and it just devolved into chaos from there. It was like Discord showed up out of nowhere and slapped someone with a… with a turn left sign.” “Well now that you expect me to do it… it wouldn’t be very fun or chaotic.” It was Discord who showed up holding a turn left sign and about to slam it against the back of Chrysalis’s head. Chrysalis just gave him a calm and slightly smarmy smirk. Nobody ambushes a Changeling, not even a self-proclaimed Lord of Chaos. “Just so you know Chrysalis, you’re not the true lord of chaos here… would you like it if I stole your title and became a phallic shaped mass of minerals? So I will respectfully beg of you, please stop stealing my shtick… or you’ll be the left turn at Albuquerque and I really don’t want to do that to you. Mostly because you’re the embodiment of the trope ‘too kinky to torture’ and you’d enjoy being Albuquerque-d too much. You’re actually someone I consider a good friend... I still do even after what you managed to pull on me and I must admit that it was a good one. Well played, though I’m a bit depressed that you managed to get one over on me twice in the span of three minutes and you weren’t even there to enjoy it.” He was drooping sadly as he popped away, he had so wanted to surprise the Changeling Queen who has been stealing his job in causing chaos for the alicorns, ponies and the occasional paltry invading alien fleets. What made him angry was that it was organized and premeditated chaos no less, but he had to begrudgingly admit that the Changeling Queen was clever enough to pull it off in a way that it couldn’t logically possibly be blamed on her. Which is why, due in part to insane troll logic, that he knew Chrysalis was responsible for what happened to him. Well there was one thing that could be traced back to Chrysalis. There was the Always Swallows Sanctuary, a bird sanctuary run by a changeling named Always Swallows that specifically catered to the care and nurturing of swallows. Said sanctuary was amusingly enough sitting next to the Happily Overcoming Limited Expectations clinic, a clinic mostly run by hippogriffs. “What… was that about exactly?” Rarity did not need more chaos in her life and she was narrowing her eyes at Chrysalis. She wasn’t even about to question how Discord managed to pop across the vast distance of space without getting lost. “Don’t worry about it, he won’t do anything to us. Well he could have done something to me, I’m kind of disappointed he didn’t Albuquerque me. The cowardly bastard…” Muttering that last part Chrysalis sighed vehemently, but the smile refused to leave her face. No one would ever say Chrysalis couldn’t play the long game like a fiddle during a rain storm while balance on the tip of a bowling pin and singing about being ‘hungry for your love’ and ‘kissing stars’. “Anyway, are you saying there’s something clearly wrong with Opal? It sounds like she took care of things and is still operational even if she won’t see me on screen, I know she’s still around because she’s still opening doors for me. I don’t think for an instant that any manner of virus could take out my sweet little Opal.” Nobody would say Rarity didn’t believe in her precious companion that she started her journey with when she bought the Caravel Boutique, it was inconceivable that something horrible happened to Opal. Though given the situation, it wasn’t beyond merit that something awful had happened and it was so bad that Opal was not being very forthcoming. “I can answer that, but Opal thinks you need to eat first and relax a little before she’s willing to come clean with what’s wrong Rarity. It’s a bit surprising and… tip of my tongue… the masseuse is currently with her. Have you even had a show or bathed yet, you look like you could do some work on your mane.” The quiet voice of the ever adorable Coco Pommel kind of cut through the room, getting all that attention made her ears wilt and nibble at her lower lip and become rather shy. “You’ve kind of got stress mane going there at the moment Rarity, Opal wants you to be relaxed for the news she has to tell you and she’s afraid of how you’ll take it. Even if me and… uh… the other pony tell her everything’s going to be fine, she’s kind of inconsolable about what’s going on at the moment. She has full control of the ship so that’s nothing to worry about, but she really needs your presence once you’ve cleaned up a bit.” “I… I think I can get myself back in short order for Opal’s sake, though I have a question. What is the rule about bathing with a bio-cast? Aside from that I need to eat something first, my mane isn’t that disastrous… is it?” Rarity’s good hoof immediately went up to her hair and she saw everyone shrug, she just got out of the medical bed so it’s just straight at the moment. She liked a little style and panache, so she’d fix it after she’d got a good meal in, her hunger was topping her need to look fabulous. When did she stop caring so much about her outward appearance? Her stomach grumbled loudly, which made it clear to Rarity why she was forgoing her usual preening. “If I said you’re mane looked fine, but not nearly as good as Sassy’s, would you let me eat some of it?” The flat stares sent her way made Chrysalis pout again and with a flash of green her eyes grew several sizes bigger and more fluid looking. “Chrysalis you have plenty in storage, you even have a surplus from all the hair you shaved off of those pirates before we hoofed them over to the EDF.” Sassy’s stern voice and slightly angry lilt made Chrysalis back down with a flash of green energy and her eyes were back to normal. “Her answer was obviously going to be no and so is mine, as is Trapeze and anyone else that lives on this ship. Go eat from storage if you’re hungry.” “Fine…” Whined Chrysalis who got up to go dig into storage, she calmly started leaving the dining space with her tail dragging behind her and her ears drooping in sadness. She wasn’t winning at all today, first Discord wouldn’t beat the tar out of her and now no one would let her nibble on their manes with sticking her in the freezer. The freezer kind of became a realistic punishment for her, she preferred not wasting energy on keeping warm. The Changeling stopped at the door and turned back to look at Sassy, her bright fur and mane, her slender form and those elegant eyes slowly sliding her way with that lovely cold look that Chrysalis found quite attractive. Whenever she looked at the mare, Chrysalis’s heart started to speed up in an unsure manner ever since Sassy gave her an opening to try. “Just so you know, I will not stop in my attempts at forging a close personal relationship with you!” With that Chrysalis turned around and walked face first into the wall next to the clearly open doorway a foot to her left, the crunching sound was her nose breaking at her misaimed hasty retreat. This made Chrysalis blush in embarrassment even if she enjoyed the feeling of pain, that hadn’t looked like a very regal exit at all. She had an image to maintain as a Changeling Queen and she was flopping all over herself over a pony, she couldn’t figure out why she didn’t think that was a bad thing and even didn’t mind looking foolish in front of Sassy. As for anyone else, she would just glared at them as she left. One more look at Sassy and she subsequently tripped over her hooves like she trips over her own mouth around Ms. Saddles, Chrysalis tumbled her way out of the room. “Wow… I didn’t think she liked hurting herself that much, she actively chose to tumble in the poorest manner possible.” There was nothing like Trapeze missing the point of Chrysalis’s obvious desire to cuddle Sassy until death sets in. Still it was a rather interesting observation and Trapeze would know if a tumble was genuine or on purpose. The tumble might not have started on purpose, but Chrysalis actively worked it to injure herself which took clear talent that had Trapeze intrigued. Maybe she could get Chrysalis in on an act or two. - One slightly assisted bath and mane maintaining later, Rarity was looking more like how she should. That didn’t mean her body wasn’t sore from the events that were barely even a day old. “I’m not an invalid Coco, though being repeatedly psychologically and physically traumatized every other week isn’t doing me any favors.” Having primped and preened her mane to have the curl and bounce that she so enjoyed, Rarity was once again on the move to see what was up with Opal. Her tail was just fine and she was relatively healthy if on the mend and needing one long session with Vera. “You ended up with broken leg, heavily bruised body, a hole in your flank and you had internal bleeding that made you blackout twice.” Those were the facts and Coco didn’t think Rarity should get mad at her over it, she was wilting a bit because she was afraid for Rarity and a bit of her for handling things so well. Earth Ponies were supposed to be sturdy, but Rarity was kind of ridiculous in how well she’s taken so many situations that could have gotten her killed. In fact it was kind of inspirational what the clothing designer had managed to achieve through all that. “I’m kind of surprised you’re still mentally functional, well in a seemingly normal capacity anyway. I mean after pirates, the MOM invasion, that terrorist attack on the train, being pinned to the floor by a known serial rapist who was good enough at illusion magic to get away with it for years, a station haunted with a deadly shifter drifter and now this… well I’d be a complete nervous wreck at what would be coming next. I’m kind of scared that you might be suicidal even if I logically know that you aren’t, I wouldn’t want to make the same assumption like I did with Sassy becoming a trained assassin.” Rarity looked to Coco to see the mare shivering and almost whimpering, it made her consider just what exactly she was made of to have a will of iron to face all that and not be as Coco suggested. Sure it was exceedingly painful, terrifying on a number of levels and almost killed her numerous times, but Rarity had dreams she was looking forward to and finding a stallion might have to be bumped up a few levels on her list of importance. She was not going to die a virgin like Chrysalis might, but she wouldn’t just jump into a bed with anyone. Her next adventure was going to be centered on romance as much as she could force it. “I’m not suicidal Coco, I just can’t help but stick my nose into things a clothing designer obviously shouldn’t be anywhere near. Quite frankly I should be an average civilian and here I am gallivanting about like some kind of galactic hero, though I don’t consider myself one.” Though putting herself into a position to be a hero seemed to happen more often than not when Rarity had the urge to do generous things in the general direction of trouble. “If you don’t think I’m concerned myself darling, then I think I have hidden how well I’m horrified by how often I keep putting my friends in mortal peril and even ask them to do so knowing that they could die. What’s more concerning is that all of you seem to be willing to jump into that peril at my behest, if you think I’m suicidal then what does that say about the people under my command as captain? I’m not exactly a real captain really, though owning this ship does put me in a position of power as a Baroness. All of you were putting your lives and dreams on the line for my safety, I don’t think I can ask for friends as loyal, honest, magical, silly and kind as any of you who follow someone like me.” “Well why not follow you? I personally think you’re worthy of my friendship.” It was the one reason Coco chose working for Rarity over Suri Polomare, Rarity worked for their friendship and often times hugged, cuddled and encouraged her to do her best. Suri on the other hoof didn’t have a single affectionate bone in her body even if she was good at pretending she did and would have likely taken credit for any of her hard work, dodging that bullet had been the best things Coco has ever done. “Opal needs you now more than anything, so please try not to be so down on yourself.” “Coco I’m beginning to think Greta was on to something about me causing disproportionate retribution, but more in the vein of being a disaster zone magnet that just happens to get retribution for making poor life choices.” Stopping in the middle of the hallway Rarity closed her eyes to speak these words. “I’m not going to fake how I feel as Opal probably already knows I’m being down on myself this very moment. I’m at least hoping that she can cheer me up if nothing is too terribly wrong with her.” “Well you’re about to find out what’s going on, I can see atmosphere farm access already.” A quiet pause and Coco pulled Rarity into a hug and sniffling. “Please don’t think you’re not worth all the effort we go through to keep you alive, your something of a rock for everyone on this ship. Nothing between you and hard places tends to last long. If I had to choose between a rock like you and a hard place, I’d go for the rock every time and I’m not saying that just because I’m an Earth Pony. Sassy is being quite strong for us, but she’s hasn’t lost her metaphorical heart even after it was damaged badly and your helping just as much as I am to keep the old Sassy we knew alive and well.” “You would follow me into Tartarus wouldn’t you?” It was meant to be rhetorical, but to Rarity’s surprise Coco smiled and answered anyway. “No thinking, no hesitation, not even needing a beat of my heart to jump forward. A heartbeat seems a bit too long for me and I’d be having a complete panic attack the entire time doing so, but I’d follow you into Tartarus to buy a T-shirt at the gift shop and then compare it to our brand to find it lacking.” Of that there was such sureness that Coco wouldn’t run out of cowardice when Rarity needed her that it brought a few tears to Rarity’s eyes. Coco was devoted to fashion, but that wasn’t her whole life even if she enjoyed it far too much. “After we’re done meeting with Opal we need to go over the wedding dress designs I’ve come up with and then we need to talk to the client personally about which ones will work best with her after we narrow down our options. I may specialize in accessories, but I also make clothing that can be accessorized. In fact simplicity is one of the things I do better than you or Sassy.” “On that I can agree, I do tend towards the more extravagant and Sassy tends to go with what works a little too much when it comes to sales. Also I know it’s a faux pas to outshine the mare of the hour at her wedding, so I’m charging you with making the dresses for me and the other girls who are going. Maybe a suit for Rover, Bernard or Mr. Cumin if they feel like it. We’ll need to discuss this later however.” The topics Rarity would go over with Coco later were numerous, but she agreed that Coco was good at doing simple. Rarity’s problem is that she fussed over something if it didn’t seem to shine or have something that can catch the eye of everyone around her, she liked being the center of attention and she liked making other people the center of attention as well with her works of fashionable art. “Right now I have more important things to worry about, such as my wayward Opalescence Belle.” Coco led Rarity into the room to immediately see Vera’s backside. Rarity appreciated the fact that atmosphere farms always had fresh air. The second a section like this was exposed to vacuum, all the air providing moss died and emergency smaller atmosphere generation farm at the rear ship would become active. Too much production of atmosphere would cause a ship to explode or in a less extreme circumstance bulge while becoming highly combustible when damaged, too little and people tended to have breathing problems. In this case gasping filled Rarity with a healthy dose of fresh atmosphere once they were besides Vera. Rarity idly pointed out Ms. Blossom to Coco so that she could put a hoof on the mare to keep her in mind, especially after Rarity saw who Vera was having a rather interesting discussion with. “My word…” Rarity stared and how could she not at what she was seeing, she didn’t even think it was real. She took a few steps forward with absolute disbelief etched into her face. “Opal… is that you?” “Ah yeah… hey mom… I know this might be a bit of a…AGH!” Thankfully the weak sounding and scratchy voiced Opal managed to inhale before Rarity started choking the life out of her. “Help me… she’s trying to cease my functions like I predicted… I don’t want to be erased!” “Oh you’re just absolutely adorable!” Author's Note Opal was expecting the worst and Rarity was mostly concerned that something horrible had happened to her. -121-It had been a short trip for Rarity and her friends. Tree Hugger was moved to the nearest hospital on Selengard Station, while Rarity and her friends now found themselves at the local Triple P headquarters in the middle of all the districts of the station. So’Grahd was sitting behind the desk in front of Rarity and right next to the pony was Opal. A Planetary Protection Patrol Officer didn’t want to be accused of separating a mother from her child after all and So So’Grahd brought them both in to ask questions before she’d involve the others. “Isn’t there some kind of conflict of interest here?” It was nice for Rarity to know that Tree Hugger would be taken care of, she was also quite thankful for being allowed to clean herself up. She really didn’t want her friend’s blood to stain her coat, but she would prefer that her friend continue being among the living than worry about her appearance. She also preferred that her friend’s blood hadn’t been spilled in the first place. Speaking of her hair, Rarity wasn’t allowed to style her mane properly by So’Grahd and it now hung limply. Sure her mane was beautiful straight as it was curled, but she had a preference to have her tail coiled and her mane curled. “Not really. If you were guilty of a crime, then maybe there would be and I wouldn’t be the one talking to you then. Your entire group are still technically under my care until you leave the station.” Rubbing at one of her cybernetic hearing aids, So’Grahd continued as if nothing were bothering her about her ears. Rarity remembered how she was clutching at them after the flash bang and decided to not comment on it. “I just need to know more about your friend, you are not in any trouble… yet. You and your friends are relatively safe here, then again I don’t know how compromised the station is and you could be in grave danger for all I know. So please answer my questions and we can finish quickly enough to maybe get you off the station without another attack occurring, to start off what is your friend’s name and occupation? Also, for the record, your names and occupations as well.” “Well, her name is Tree Hugger. She’s a well-known member of the SNUGGLES organization. I don’t know what her official job actually is within the organization.” There was no reason why Rarity wouldn’t be cooperating with the Triple P officer, except for the fact that there had been two attempts on her life that the officer couldn’t have possibly stopped and some nervousness was to be expected. “I’m Baroness Rarity D. Belle and this is Opal K. Belle. I’m head fashion designer of Rarity’s Rarities, captain of The Shining Jewel and lead manufacturer of high quality EVA suits.” “I’m the communications officer of the Shining Jewel, I also acts as Rarity’s mascot, I do some accounting and I’m in charge of the sales site for our traveling business. Sassy is the manager for the physical store, her samurai training is self-taught and she really takes it seriously. Coco is a bit of a no lifer and married to her job as the main production master, give her a blueprint for any fashion and watch her work. As for Chrysalis, Chrysalis is… just Chrysalis actually since we don’t really give her a job and she just hangs around a lot doing useful or weird things when she feels like it. Rarity always makes certain that we have fair and affordable prices for most things, some would say too affordable which is why we hardly have enough profits to keep our exorbitantly paid crew going.” Here Opal paused and narrowed her eyes. “I would also like to respectfully state that I am paid well for my work and that I like working with Rarity, just try to separate me from mom at your own peril. We should be actively open for business pending out return to the Caravel Boutique later this evening.” “Dik-Diks would never dream of separating a loving parent and her child, even if the child is doing a lot of labor for said parent and breaking possible labor laws depending on the situation. Other races might not agree with this, but all Dik-Diks learn how to fight young and we also don’t care if family works for us if they are good at their jobs. I can personally respect your suspicions about some not letting you stay with your mother. Thankfully she has a barony and you are not an indentured to serve her against your will nor are you a slave, as such you have absolutely nothing to worry about.” For the sake of this recorded session, So’Grahd would have to make assumptions about why things happened the way they did. “This Tree Hugger, how well can you say that you know her exactly? From the sounds of it you don’t know too much about what she does beyond being a member of SNUGGLES.” “She’s a close friend to two members of my crew, we’ve also met numerous times since I got my business up and running.” Deciding to expand upon things a little more on her own initiative, Rarity continued on. “The last time we met was at the SNUGGLES space station, it was quite a brief meeting. Aside from her we are also friends with another wonderful SNUGGLES operative named Fluttershy who is usually seen in the company of a rather grumpy Lagotorphin.” “Everyone even remotely near the pony sectors knows about Fluttershy, every decent bounty hunter watches out for her in case she ever gets into trouble. They also know to stay away unless otherwise needed because of Mr. Rip. While she’s primarily noted as an expert with animals, she’s also quite good at working with intelligent beings.” No one, not even So’Grahd, would dare do anything untoward to one of the most popular members of the SNUGGLES organization. Fluttershy was practically the unknowing mascot of the organization, though because of her shy nature people tended to not crowd her and she does exceptional work. Anyone who made Fluttershy upset greatly was likely to get a kill order on them and that’s why people didn’t crowd the lovely mare more often. Not that Mr. Rip didn’t make people steer clear of bothering Fluttershy with stupid things already. “Is there anything unusual about this Tree Hugger than you can tell me about? Any criminal actions?” “Aside from her high standing in the SNUGGLES organization I really don’t know much about her personally. She shows up whenever she needs to talk to us and she did say something about meeting us on Nocturne.” Thinking on it some more, Rarity actually came up with an interesting thing to mention. “Her cutie mark does means she’s good at communing with nature and she has an abnormally high aptitude for guessing things that might happen in the near or immediate future. I would say she’s close to being a true seer, Earth Ponies tend to get prediction abilities like that and it’s quite random when they do. As far as I know she has done no criminal actions to speak of besides her presence when we met her already at that store without a minder. She’s a pacifist and only shoved me to save my life, come to think of it she even apologized to me for both physical and mental trauma she may have caused me prematurely to getting injured on my behalf, even then she didn’t really hurt me at all. Well aside from mentally I mean, being covered in my decidedly brutalized friend’s blood was quite unpleasant.” “Which is all very interesting, but how can you be so sure she’s a seer?” So’Grahd seemed bored with their proceedings, but stuff like questioning witnesses to a crime or crimes tended to be. The victim was also a witness and she was there to witness things first cloven hoof. “Aside from that I’m also obligated to ask about anyone being out to get you, since you’ve had two attacks directed at you and no one else in your group since you got here. I’m quite sorry that I couldn’t stop both the incidents from occurring on my watch. Do you know why someone would want to kill you specifically?” “I haven’t the foggiest why someone would target me specifically, I haven’t done enough around here to warrant such attention or be targeted by anyone really. At least I don’t think I have, unless I’m being targeted for things I may have unintentionally done or were indirectly responsible for.” As for the seer thing, that actually had Rarity thinking as she turned to Opal. “You wouldn’t happen to have any ideas about the seer thing Opal? Otherwise I can name one major event where something Tree Hugger said was rather prophetic in how it came about, it was rather specific in its wording and it happened on Equus.” “Tree did kind of predict the MOM attack on Eweson, she bought a lot of medical kits before it occurred and even helped out both the two crew members we recruited that were still on Geoptis Station while we were on the surface.” Technically not a lie, but not the whole truth as Opal was acting as an AI at that time. “If I remember right she gave them a plasma rifle to fight off the monsters with, she never fired it herself and from reports she was seen bandaging a multitude of Triple P officers during and after things were said and done. Our ship was one of the trawlers that helped clean up the surrounding space after the attack.” “Okay I’m going to stop it right here for the moment, I want to bring in the rest of your group before we continue.” Mostly because So’Grahd remembered Tree Hugger saying odd things to various members of the group. This included having a particularly private discussion, where she bought one tiger eye crystal and four bits of rose quartz, with one Coco Pommel before passing the solitary crystal off to her. The Cacceran shop keeper, whose name was Interitz Jildar, was still unconscious from the material round to the helmet, a helmet he was lucky to have been wearing during the attack. Rarity’s friends that had been waiting outside were quickly brought inside, though Grahd did notice something odd about the hallway when she retrieved the three and didn’t think much of it. Chrysalis was also given the chance to clean off and had her license to perform EMT services checked. Apparently it was a viable license and Chrysalis had not been making up her status as a medically trained professional, despite the horrors of knowing she was someone who could take care of emergency medical situations and only said emergency medical situations. From what Grahd could see in their statures, Coco looked a bit jittery and sad, Sassy was silent but she was quite tense and Chrysalis looked vaguely bored. “I’m sure you all know why you’re here, I would like to know what Ms. Hugger said to every one of you.” At least So’Grahd got a reaction from Coco and had to wonder why that was, she seemed like the most innocent if skittish one of the group. “This is not an interrogation and you are currently not under any suspicion of illicit activities, it’s an investigation with witnesses to a crime.” “Can I ask a question about the Human that shot Tree?” That brought most of their attentions to Sassy. “You may, however I’m not sure I can tell you everything we have on the perpetrator and we still do not know if they have any accomplices that might be after Rarity.” The three sat down and So’Grahd scrutinize each one of them, Chrysalis was the most dangerous among them because she was of a predatory species with ironically less than violent feeding habits that won’t kill anyone. Grahd was still trying to work her mind around how those of Chrysalis’s race could turn out to be naturally occurring and completely non-lethal predatory creatures. “So I may not be able to answer your question.” “What is the name of our assailant, was he someone of note?” That was what Sassy wanted to know, if this guy that went after Rarity had a history of ill repute and somehow managed to try again. “Yes, he was actually someone with a lot of notoriety. I can’t tell you his name unless it is absolutely important or completely warranted.” Thankfully for So’Grahd’s career, the assassin didn’t have any clue how fast Chrysalis would recover from disorientation or that Opal would land in a very peculiar manner to be in an immediate position to take him down. It was Tree Hugger who put Opal into that position as soon as she knocked her off of Rarity, the assassin would have been capable of getting away if not for the immediate retaliation on Opal’s part which was set up by Tree several seconds in advance. “He’s an effective quick kill assassin, basic in and out strategy. Tends to disorient or distract any bodyguards around his target before effectively killing them quickly with whatever material rounds he happens to have specifically for the job. The guy has done a lot of high profile hits and he does them with impressive speed to have the best chance of getting away. We don’t know how he got onto the station, but you seem to be a bit too low of a profile for him and that’s the odd thing about this. This is why your survival is a major concern of mine now, given you’ve already been attacked twice under my watch.” “Is there anything else you can tell us about him?” If Sassy ever met that guy again it would by far too soon and she did get a good look at his face when So’Grahd removed his mask. Sassy just might slip with her blade a bit and ‘accidentally’ impale the guy in the wrong place the next time she saw him. “We do know for certain that he wasn’t the one responsible for the silent sniper shot fired on Rarity. It doesn’t fit his MO at all. The guy we caught likes weapons with higher rates of fire to match his high speed assassinations.” No question came after that, but there were thought provoking looks sent towards So’Grahd. The investigators agreed that if the sniper had had anti-magic material rounds, then why bother with a manufactured metal material round of a drastically different make. “We’re quite sure someone is out to get Rarity and that she isn’t safe, even being here in this room isn’t safe considering one of my higher ups tried to strong arm me over her supposed death. As far as I’m concerned you’re not exactly safe to be around period.” Taking a moment to breath out a sigh of frustration, Grahd leaned back in her chair. This was becoming a much more insufferable case by the minute, not only was she this group’s minder, but she also counted as their official Officer in the attempted murder case. Someone wants her to be around this group quite consistently. “What I want to know is what Tree Hugger told Ms. Pommel.” There was only one conversation she missed and Grahd wanted to know what was said as Coco looked slightly pale afterwards. “If it is relevant, then I want to know anything else she might have said that comes to mind for the rest of you. Even if it might not mean anything to me, she could have said something important to you that seemed rather innocuous at the time.” “She told me not to change unless I wanted to, really don’t see why though. My personality is perfect, unless she meant not to use my natural talents?” Chrysalis didn’t know Tree Hugger very well, but what she did know was that the mare had a certain amount of double speak going on. “She felt quite weird emotionally, she loved practically everything around her and even fed me a large amount without any intimacy attached to it after I saved her life. If you wanted to know how the assassin felt, he was aggressive and somewhat curious. I didn’t think much of it because he wasn’t directing the aggressiveness at me, you don’t really ambush Changelings. I might add the caveat unless I can’t feel you coming or you’re a lifeless machine that somehow knows how to hide in the shadows.” “She didn’t really say much to me, though I did notice her look at me for few seconds before she told Chrysalis that.” Though now that Sassy looked back on it, it seemed like there was a reason she told a Changeling not to change unless she wanted to. If Chrysalis could disguise herself as Rarity… then… maybe… maybe Tree was onto something when she told Chrysalis not to change. Unless she wanted to change for a rather specific reason. Nobody who knows on this station has actually seen the Changelings main ability in full use, it has been listed but is not known colloquially by everyone. “I have an idea for how we’re going to get Rarity out of the station safely if things get too dangerous, but we may need to implement it before we leave this building.” Coco inhaled gently through her nose and exhaled slowly out her mouth while deciding to tell So’Grahd about what Tree told her. She really didn’t feel safe after that second attempt on Rarity, that feeling started after Rarity brought the first attempt to her attention and everyone was acting strangely for a bit. “She got this tiger eye crystal for me. She told me it was something I needed and to not lose it or me and Rarity will come to grievous harm.” The small striped crystal wasn’t very much to look at and it didn’t have any magical properties, but Coco was quite sure Tree Hugger had her reasons for giving it to her. Tree was the mare that bought Gilda and Greta a plasma rifle and it proved to be a prudent acquisition given what was going on at the time and was continuing to be useful ever since then. “She also said there would be a moment when I would absolutely need to use it, she didn’t say anything about how to use it though. She even told me it would be some time after… after… Is anyone listening in on us right now? I don’t want this to be taken the wrong way.” Coco was having a hard time talking about being the cause for someone’s demise, through action or inaction. It sounded quite final, so no matter what happens she’ll still feel responsible even if Tree said she wouldn’t be. So’Grahd didn’t say anything to Coco’s suspicion, but she did get up and go check outside the room past the door the slid into the ceiling and into the hallway to see if anyone was listening in. They were not in an interrogation room with a one way wall or mirror, they were in So’Grahd’s office space. An office space that So’Grahd immediately started searching around for any signs of listening devices or, knowing Rarity’s current luck, a possible explosive device. Not having found anything, something else occurred to So’Grahd. It was something really awful that she had considered before. Had she bothered to check her cybernetic hearing aids recently? She wouldn’t be able to hear without the cybernetics connected to her ears, but if they were actually compromised she couldn’t give anything away. As compromised as the Triple P was noted for being given the call she got after the attempt on Rarity’s life the first time? Okay, time to see if her suspicions were true. “Excuse me Rarity, but I have to go check on something for a minute, I need Sassy, Chrysalis and Coco to come with me please. Rarity stay here with Opal and wait here for me to come back, I’m locking the door so let no one inside. We’ll be back in a short while.” Instead of leaving the room So’Grahd just opened the door, she reached up with her left cloven hoof motioning for them to stay put and silent. So’Grahd motioned for them all to move to one side of the room. Grahd pointed to the three she mentioned and then herself, she started to walk in place for about five seconds and she closed the door. Their movements to one side of the room would be the same as if they walked out the door to begin with. She then started trotting in place for five minutes with the three doing the same. She motioned for each of them to stop moving one at a time, she opened the only door to the room again and then pointed to each one to start moving in place again and to suddenly stop. She then did it herself before she closed the door and locked it this time. “Okay take a seat, this is Officer Drit’s room, I don’t think he’ll mind if I use it. Let’s continue our discussion as I don’t think we’ll be disturbed in here.” So’Grahd kept her voice suspiciously even and slowly proceeded to start prying the cybernetics off her ears while walking to her chair, she sat down in her chair to make the correct sounding noises and carefully placed her cybernetics on the desk before her. While Sassy, Chrysalis and Coco all sat down where they stood. If Grahd had to guess, there were times where someone could have put something on her cybernetics, something she wouldn’t have felt as being off before now. Grahd wouldn’t have noticed it at all if Coco hadn’t asked if they were being listened in on and when she checked the hallways they were quiet. Way too quiet for her as the building was busy every day, all day long no less. So she should have seen at least someone in the hallway even if they weren’t at the door, at least an intern or a Triple P paper pusher. So’Grahd carefully got off the chair without making a noise and pulled out her shock rod from her right hip with her left hoof and extended it to full length, she flicked the switch and barely audibly hum filled the room as the rod started glowing a bright violet color. The bar on her right leg was quietly rotated outwards until it made a full circle where the bar connected with itself, then her shield started glowing on the outer side making the same hum. She moved to the left side of her desk while eyeing the door, nobody would have any reason to disturb her room while she was talking to the intended victim or for any reason. Chrysalis reading Grahd’s mood, opened a portion of her shell at her backside and reached into it with her magic to grab hold of one of her ‘hidden’ weapons. She looked to Sassy who put her right hoof on the hilt of her blade, but kept it in its sheath. Rarity getting the idea of what was happening pulled out one of her energy pistols, she hoped that this wasn’t going where So’Grahd thought it was. Coco grabbed Opal and pulled her into a corner near the door and sat down in front of her. Coco could have put on her EVA suit, but she wouldn’t be doing much unless she attached a small cylindrical accessory she made so she could use the electric portions of her suit without needing a battery equipped impulse saddle. The cylindrical white battery that could fit across her flank or along her back was new, but she hadn’t run it by Rarity yet. If someone wanted to purchase a battery effectively separate from the impulse saddle then they could do it once Opal added it to the menu. It wasn’t paranoia if someone was out to get you and Rarity felt that right now, she should probably be out of sight of the door. She edged her way backwards out of the line of sight with door from the hallway. So’Grahd gave them all a nod and they returned it, after that Grahd decided to start up again with a clear even voice. “So, Chrysalis, what did you mean by using your natural talent? It occurs to me that you never told me what that meant in regards to your person…” As she spoke So’Grahd noticed the door was being accessed and raised her shock rod high while holding her shield in front of her. Nobody was standing in the way of the door and nobody was in visual view of it when it opened. Dik-Diks could walk on their hind legs much better than any Equestrian Pony could, but on all four was faster than on two which was used for combat situations like this one. So So’Grahd was quite ready for this intrusion into her office space. Three Dik-Diks rushed into the room blindly shooting up So’Grahds desk and the chairs for her visitors, they quickly stopped firing in confusion when they noticed the mangled shot up cybernetics on the desk and nothing else. They didn’t see So’Grahd to the left of the doorway or Sassy one the right with Rarity and Chrysalis. The two Dik-Diks in the back didn’t have time to react when So’Grahd made the first move and came right at the one on the right. She bashed in a small portion of the back of his skull with a stylish sweeping out and then sharp inward U shaped swing that connected in a violent bright violet flash of energy as the shock rod connected. The male Dik-Dik would not be getting up from that. Sassy came at the one on the left and slashed her several times before twirling and delivering a harsh pommel strike to the side of her head that took her down. The female Dik-Dik didn’t get a chance to scream from the three large bloody gashes that erupted across her body, she was already down for the count with a shredded uniform. The last Dik-Dik turned to So’Grahd because she had attacked first and attracted the attention of the three Dik-Diks. This one managed to fire upon her, only to be surprised by the Dik-Dik shield deflecting the blasts of energy and was subsequently shot in the side and flanks by Rarity and Chrysalis wielding energy pistols. The still conscious Dik-Dik wearing a Triple P uniform struggled to get up after partially toppling over, only to be tackled by Coco and quickly pinned down. So’Grahd sauntered up to him on two legs and kicked his weapon away from his one free grasping hoof and struggling body, before promptly stomping down on it. She was sad that she couldn’t hear this guy scream. “So… what are the members of the Yut, Riz and Jor clan doing here and dressed illegally as Planetary Protection Patrol officers?” The entire breaching of her room was recorded by Coco until she hoofed it off to Opal to tackle and hold down the Jor clan member. So’Grahd might not be able to hear the whimpering Dik-Dik currently, but she sorely wanted an answer for this. She put the tip of her shock rod under the suddenly panicked Dik-Diks chin, he did not want to touch violet glow coming from underneath his head and tried to keep it lifted as high as possible almost feeling the dangerous amounts of energy licking at his fur. “Because frankly, I’m curious as to what Rarity could have possibly done to any of you given this is her first time in the Vae Dur system.” She glared at the relatively frightened eyes. “Not only that, where did you get an access key for my office in the first place and how did you compromise my cybernetics? Most importantly, is there going to be another clan war? Because I thought we were quite beyond those.” - Another lofty crunch and the fried fish sandwich yielded before her masticating beak and teeth, Gilda turned to look at Mr. Spew happily swimming around in the tank and went back to her meal. She looked at the floating for of Ember and saw something that hadn’t been seen in a while, the first sign of life in the recovering form. The index claw on Ember’s left hand flexed and Ember’s tarnished tail flicked against the glass causing a loud cracking noise. Gilda jumped up and stared at the appendage in disbelief. Ember in her unconscious state had managed to crack the thick glass on the medical bed glass around the base. “Holy flap and Greta’s nonexistent balls!” Though it left Gilda wondering what Ember was dreaming of, or if she was even dreaming at all. Mr. Spew chimed in with his agreement gnawing on a chunk of bone in his beak. “Well, things are looking up for you at least if you can still hit like that even as bad off as you are.” “I’m sure the Boss Lady would be happy to see you wake up, but I’d give you another month or two and at least some time awake before you try to leave the medical bed keeping you alive.” Shaking her head and chuckling Gilda went back to eating her fried fish sandwiches, Griffons lived on high calorie diets and she burned through calories like fire to flash paper. She really needed to get back to work after she finished eating. Even unconscious, Ember was quite subconsciously aware that someone was bothering her hoard and that her centerpiece was being put in danger. Even then there was nothing Ember could possibly do in her current state. Gilda didn’t notice the darkened and damaged scales starting to peel away and drop from Ember’s sleeping form. Dragon’s would often die by their hoard, they would also live for their hoard as well. - - 0-Partial Documentation-0 So’Grahd was a Triple P Officer who looked up these facts and filed them as part of her report on the second incident involving Rarity D. Belle on Selengard Station. Criminal: [Redacted] Victim/s: Tree L. Hugger, high tier SNUGGLES operative. Shot six times by assailant due to active interference. Currently hospitalized and being watched carefully for signs of foul play, status is surprisingly stable. Was stated as being possible to make a minimal to moderate recovery, some injuries might be persisting problems. Inertz G. Pirguer, shop owner in Selengard merchant district. Hit once in helmet by ricochet shot, currently unconscious and expected to make full recovery. Tree Loving Hugger’s Listed Injuries: Left hind leg- Severely damaged at hock. Ligaments shredded, may have trouble walking again. Left Buttock- Moderately damaged, shot was mostly absorbed and sitting down will be painful for quite a while. Compounds issue with walking again by damage done to hock. Left side of spine near middle of barrel- Spine was cracked by force of the shot. May cause further issues with walking. Left Shoulder- Will cause mild problems with moving that leg until full recovery. Shot didn’t penetrate too deeply. Clear through the neck, redirected into shop keeper- Shot caused severe trauma and blood loss, was almost a completely fatal injury. Round still stuck in Inertz’s helmet, victim Inertz would have died without helmet. Note: Tree L. Hugger seen talking to Cacceran shop owner without mining helmet before the incident in recordings. Helmet was applied exactly one hour before the incident occurred. Back of neck- Grazed by missing sixth crystal reported to have been fired by EMT and Officer So’Grahd, caused minimal damage to epidermis and minor loss of fur. This was initially covered up when EMT staunched bleeding neck injury. Note: Sixth crystal was found behind the counter and confiscated by Officer So’Grahd during crime scene investigations, all fired crystals were recovered. Ammunition determined to not have been sold at the shop it was fired in. Heart- Shock of massive trauma caused it to stop, EMT restarted it with the help of local Cacceran and a Parascine data pad with a unique defense function. Weakened due to severe bodily trauma. Lungs- Filled with blood, expunged by EMT and subsequently collapsed. Required several round of CPR to solve collapsed lung issue and get victim breathing again. Mostly stable. Throat- Blood caught in throat caused painful coughing and more loss of blood after neck was sealed, EMT somehow fixed the problem by stuffing horn down the victim’s throat. Likely sealed ruptured vessels while clearing the esophagus of excess blood. Stabilized, but needs to be kept under surveillance in case wound reopens. Surgery pending. Blood Loss- Severe loss of left the victim close to completely anemic and almost unable to breath on their own, still coughs up flecks every now then. Requires multiple blood transfusions at hospital, EMT’s blood was not viable for use. Note: All injuries helped by dubious, if licensed, EMT on scene. Ammunition used: ‘anti-magic’ rounds. Tend to be quite deadly for unicorns as they were impossible to stop or shield against with magic. Rounds are made out of any kind of black crystal. Possible Intended Victims: Lady Sassy Saddles and Baroness Rarity D. Belle. Assumed Main Target: Rarity D. Bell, owner of Rarity’s Rarities and Baroness of the Shining Jewel estate. Oddity: EMT could actually affect the anti-magic material rounds with her magic. Changeling race might actually be capable of stopping anti-magic material rounds. 0-End Documentation-0 Author's Note This story just gets worse and worse doesn't it? Just a shot in the dark, but are you guys reading this because of it's train wreck quality?
-2-“Let’s see food, water, materials and tools for making space suits and other clothing?” Rarity rattled off in her seat at the bridge where she was busy strapping in, she was happy to finally be a captain of her very own ship. Her chair was at the back of the bridge and there were seats for two other people up front, but with Opal taking care of those stations Rarity didn’t have to worry about needing anyone else working them. “Check, check and check Meowstress Rarity, it seems we have everything onboard and accounted for.” Opal had a checklist marked off and showing up on the view screen for Rarity’s benefit. “Also I think your parents just arrived on planet since they just got off a ship in hangar seven.” “Please tell me that traffic control gave us our exit vector and we are ready to leave at any time, because this could become the worst possible thing ever!” Rarity was slightly panicked, she hoped to Celestia or Luna that she could take off real soon. “We have confirmation for an exit vector, Caravel Boutique ready for lift off just give the…” Opal didn’t get to finish her sentence. “Just launch already before its too late Opal!” Rarity screeched and received results when the ship jerked and started to slowly lift off the ground on several jets as it slowly rose up through the opening in the roof and turned to point towards the sky. With a flare the two large thrusters at the back of the ship erupted and sent it flying up and through the atmosphere. Upon seeing the stars Rarity smiled and gave a sigh of relief. “We are successfully space bound Meowstress Rarity, all systems are working perfectly and we are leaving Desserzon airspace. I don’t think your parents saw a ship leaving the planet like a really obvious bat flying out of hell as we were being really discreet about our exit.” Opal brought up a star chart and started to point out the position of their ship relative to their eventual destination. “That small bit of sarcasm aside, I’m setting a course for Ewesen the fifth planet in the Quia System and it will take a few hours once we get to the edge of the system to do a jump. It’s time for lunch so go to the living area; I’m already multitasking by getting CAT-1 ready to work on a meal for you.” “Thank you Opal, oh and would it be a problem if we were to keep the shields constantly activated?” Rarity unhooked herself from the chair and stood up on her hooves to walk towards the door behind her chair, it slid open at her approach and she entered the main corridor and walked through two doors. “It shouldn’t be a problem at all to keep the shields going constantly. Since we don’t need to route any power to weapons for the lack of them, it’s giving us a bit of extra power to push around. At least it’ll give our shields an extra bit of oomph to them Meowstress Rarity.” The voice of Opal could now be heard throughout the ship as she was currently wired into its workings and was capable of instant assessments of any problems that may pop up. The AI would be on top of making sure nothing went wrong with the ship and if something did, then she’d fix it as fast as feasibly possible with the two CATs she had at her disposal. “In fact it would be efficient to use that extra power just sitting there for something constructive my lovely lady, so I will make sure the shields stay up until you say otherwise.” This ship was made with decompression protection in mind so it had multiple doors between every room and emergency secondary hulls that would shut in the rooms in case of breach. The main corridor itself had plenty of doors as well, like the one to Rarity’s immediate right leading directly into the living space. The door slid open and she walked into what would be a place for sleep, recreation and meals. She could already see the hovering civilian grade CAT drone coming in from the other door with the two manipulator arms that unfolded out from under its fins to start gathering supplies for a nice meal. There were at least two entrances to every room and multiple doors between each, Rarity entered from the main corridor and could have also entered from the left branch corridor like the CAT did which led to the airlock on that side of the ship. Looking about, Rarity saw the sections in the wall with the pull out beds, there were ten in total ready for use. In front of her was the table and chairs in the middle of the spacious room that could be held down magnetically, there was a small area for exercise near the door to the left branch of the ship. At the far wall was the kitchen area, giant refrigerator and a counter. “Opal, is the workshop being set up in the cargo bay available yet?” It would be some time before CAT-1 was done with the food given it just started. “CAT-2 is working on setting it up, so it’s not yet complete Meowstress Rarity. If you need something to do while waiting for the food, then I suggest you report to the cleansing and medical facilities. We need to log your current medical history with the med-bed by performing a quick check up.” Opal had her eyes on the space around the ship and inside of it to make sure Rarity was comfortable and things were going well. “We are now at full impulse speed and are heading for the edge of the system.” In space there were three types of movement involved in spacecraft, the first was the variable thrusters which were mainly used for planetary escape and entry or boosting the speed in the second type of movement. They were primarily for atmospheric conditions and not all ships had them, larger spaceships were designed to work without variable thrusters and were never meant to land on planets. Putting variable thrusters on large ships was a huge waste of resources and very costly, as such larger ships were better left in orbit above a planet or would dock with any nearby space station. The second type of movement was what was currently in use was known as impulse travel which was used for planet to planet travel while in a Solar System, in space momentum once put into motion would stay in motion and impulse travel could quickly speed up or slow down the motions of a ship in space. All ships had impulse power which required very little energy and resources to get anywhere unlike the variable thrusters, but impulse was only a quarter of the strength of thrusters in atmospheric conditions and was the main mode of travel while inside a system. The final type of movement was only available outside of gravity’s pull, it was known as jump travel and jump travel was highly affected by gravitational forces of a solar system and as such was used to move in the space between the systems quickly. Currently the Caravel Boutique was taxiing its way towards the edge of the Verpo System to begin its jump to the Quia system. Impulse travel was fast, but not nearly as fast as jump travel, you could get from one end of a large solar system to the other within hours on impulse travel. Moving about space required Jump and Impulse travel to get anywhere and there was a fourth kind of travel called warp travel. Like the pony moving towards the clean looking bed that looked like it was covered in a gel like substance after turning around and going through the door she came through and going straight through another few, warp travel was a rarity and experimental. “Those showers are okay for most species, but the med-beds looks they were designed for a bipedal species like Caccerans and Humans. Will it actually work with my physiology? I never really bothered to ask Mr. Gitonir about the medical facilities.” Rarity pulled herself up on the closest med-bed and slowly rolled onto her back and spread out her hooves slightly. “I guess I was more focused on the space I could acquire for what I wanted to do than health concerns.” “Yes, it should work with you and there are only a few species this particular brand of med-bed can’t safely operate on. Now hold still and don’t panic, performing full body scan.” At the sound of Opal’s voice a lid rotated itself into place over Rarity and a ring of light coming from a mechanism slowly moved down the tube Rarity now laid in. The mechanism that was the scanner slowly came back up and then the lid came off; the pony gave off a shudder as she didn’t like the confining presence of the lid. “Information received from the med-bed, you’re healthy, slightly hungry and no dangerous parasites, viruses or diseases were detected in the scan. The scan detected that your immune system is healthy and I’m cross referencing your previous medical history, now the med-beds know what kind of medications you can and can’t be given plus what vaccinations you’ve been given throughout life.” Med-beds were easy to use, plug in a person’s medical history like what medications are detrimental to them and what isn’t. You would quickly have a machine that can perform miraculous surgeries… or be set to brutally maul you while it has you trapped inside it. It also could fill up with healing chemicals; stuff that you couldn’t possibly drown in unless you were having a breathing problem… the possibility of drowning would only occur if it was filled with liquids that shouldn’t be breathed in. They could be used to keep someone or something biological sedated indefinitely if given enough chemicals to do so; it made for a handy one person brig at the very least and could double as a very effective torture device. Suffice it to be said, med-beds had both an excellent and equally sordid history. Rarity had been in several and had always made sure that at least two friends came along for each occasion that she needed to be in one. It was to make sure that nothing funny happened, she’s heard of female beings of varying species being raped on med-beds after being sedated. Luckily nothing like that has ever happened to Rarity personally, but it did happen to a friend of hers and the sick guy that did it is now a paraplegic which she didn’t wish on him. Still, what had happened served that guy right for taking advantage of someone she knew and cared about in a karmic fashion. Even if horrible things can be done with med-beds, such as forcing painful illegal cybernetic enhancements upon the unwary that could leave them enslaved to someone who held the kill switch to said enhancements. They were still medical marvels that can save lives and were too good to ban from public or military use, even if there were horrible implications that could be applied to them. “I always feel chills when the lid closes on me; I swear it always feels like I’m lying down in a coffin. I’ve heard that to some it is a coffin.” It was a thankful thing that Rarity knew the lid was only needed in a severe situation or as what she just did a full body scan. Rarity was calm, mostly because the support gel on the bed was comfortable to lie on at least. “Otherwise this med-bed is fine; I just can’t get rid of that sense of dread around them.” “After what happened to Sassy? Yeah, I’m not going to blame you for feeling like that. ” Opal sounded rather upset and she looked it as she appeared on a screen nearby. “Look at the positives though; the med-bed is a secondary escape pod because it has its own life support separate from the ships. So in case of emergency I can vent this room and you’d be safely inside the med-bed. Though how long a med-bed could keep you alive in stasis out in deep space is anyone’s guess.” “Yes, well, I’d rather not be stuck on this one any longer than necessary.” Rarity got up off the med-bed and made her way back to the living quarters to find that the meal was just about finished and she sat down to be served a nice meal that tasted just divine. Giving her Artificial Intelligence a sense of taste was a good idea, especially when it came to fashion. - They were near the edge of the Verpo system and Rarity was in the cargo hold working on a spacesuit, among just making normal clothing Rarity also made clothing that was functional with technology built into it. Her current project was updating her personal EVA suit, the suit was lavender colored affair with white stripes around the joints and had her cutie marked emblazoned on it in various places. She was making sure the five thin layers of protective materials were all exceptionally sturdy as she wouldn’t want a rip in her suit to be the end of her. Ponies had to get space suits custom made or mostly unicorns needed custom made helmets that they still had problems getting on; Rarity’s was a custom made marvel as it had a lot of interesting features. Rarity inserted her horn into the helmet and it went on like a mask, it sucked her hair up into a small compartment and enclosed itself around her head and locked around her neck until she was ready to take it off. She started to pull on the rest of the suit and it fit like a slightly tight glove, which was the point as this was supposed to be a space capable Extra Vehicular Activity suit. One such feature was that the helmet was sealed off from the rest of the suit as were any of the orifices on her body such as the one between her hind legs were sealed off with a pair of underwear similar to the helmet that would protectively sealed her insides off from space and being immediately killed by decompression. It in fact wearing just the underwear and helmet would keep her alive in space, but her body would still be exposed without the rest of the suit and she would probably need immediate medical attention afterwards due in part to said exposure. She managed to get things to a point where if there was a puncture in her suit it wouldn’t immediately start leaking air. Instead a puncture would leak a quick patch substance that would immediately harden upon contact with cold temperatures such as open space, blood if you’ve been shot clean through or radiation which the substance would block and it was completely medically safe… for ponies at least. Rarity’s helmet also carried its own oxygen supply that could recycle itself for up to three hours if it ever got detached from her main oxygen tank which was a curve saddle shaped box on her back, said tank could last up to twenty four hours. The saddle shaped box had its own features aside from oxygen capacity; it had impulse flight capability to help maneuver around in space and was detachable for safety reasons. The impulse flight capability was not meant for making planet fall, the suit was something that wouldn’t survive reentry. “Well the design of my suit is coming along quite nicely don’t you agree Opal?” It had taken Rarity a while to figure a way to design the helmet that allowed her to get her horn in and out of it without much of a fuss and the clasping mask design was perfect. The body of the suit itself was simple to design and streamlined. Making it so that the mane and tail wouldn’t get in the way without having to cut them short was a bit of a challenge, but Rarity managed a suit that looked good and functional. She wasn’t about to cut her mane or tail short for any reason, plus she could sell this design to her people and it would be a well patented success. “Yeah, at least it’s not overly bulky; the compartment for your mane in the helmet works well enough to keep it out of your face and it’s design fits with the old style of Solar Guard helmets except instead of the hair sticking out it’s trapped in its own compartment. Restyling is a must afterwards, but that’s a small sacrifice for safety.” Opal liked the design; it didn’t mess up Rarity’s looks although helmet hair was unavoidable casualty of it. “Now all we need to do is get you into the habit of designing combat capable armor. By the way, we are currently entering jump as of right now.” Entering jump travel could be a relatively seamless thing, other than a small lurch Rarity stayed standing on her covered hooves at the end of which had magnetic clamps for attaching to and walking along the surfaces of ships as long as they were made of metal. There were some alien species that didn’t use metal in their space faring capabilities. “I’m not taking a military contract Opal; I’m strictly sticking to things made for civilian use.” Not that Rarity had a problem with designing EVA suits for ponies to use that wouldn’t require ugly haircuts, it was just that some ponies were using the current suits anyway even if their hair got in the way. Many mares prided themselves on their personal looks and refused to get short haircuts, Rarity was definitely one of them. Mares were generally fussy about her appearance and manes in general; stallions just didn’t care about how they looked as long as they could attract a mare’s attention so Rarity was mostly designing these suits with mares in mind. “It wouldn’t hurt for you to have some personal armor. If you’re going to be a fashion designer that goes for both form and function, then you’ll need to protect yourself. Why not something that can function to keep you alive longer if you get into a firefight Meowstress Rarity?” As she asked this Opal put a real time image of Rarity on screen, the mare looked herself over and nodded as her horn looked to be fitting into the helmet perfectly. “Armor can be beautiful too, that or it could have a shield generator. Let’s check the HUD to see if it’s working correctly, follow the marker I’m putting up on your HUD now.” “It can also be a bulky mess and personal shield generators won’t take more than one or two shots from relatively weak weapons, besides I can learn to do a shield spell. This suit is supposed to be tight fitting and still give you a full range of movement and maneuverability.” She followed the markers with her eyes and even had to do a few turns as if she were on a catwalk before Opal appeared on the Heads-Up-Display inside her helmet with a smiling eyes showing that it was operating within parameters. Looking at her tail it was crammed into a similar compression compartment like her mane currently was and she gave it a wiggle. “It’s comfortable and the HUD is working quite well thanks to your help in installing it Darling. Aside from slightly pulling on my mane, this suit is painless to put on.” “I’d do anything for you my wonderful Meowstress.” Opal meant it too; she’d do anything to keep Rarity safe, suddenly a slightly serious look crossed Opal’s face. “Rarity…. we have a big problem, report to the bridge immediately and I mean like run your cute flank there now!” - It had been a horrible thirty minutes, the shields were down to fifty three percent and there were three light cruisers being driven by space pirates that had caught Rarity’s ship mid jump with an interdiction field that disabled jump travel temporarily. The problem with this is that to even set up an interdiction field required someone who would have to have known the exact route you were going to take, as such this wasn’t coincidence. These space pirates knew that the Caravel Boutique would be flying through that exact particular portion of space and they were now bombarding the poor small ship with energy weapons from their large shotgun shaped ships main cannons and whatever else they had to pin down the smaller vessel. Opal had immediately put impulse to full and burned the thruster fuel for five seconds the very second the jump was interrupted by an interdiction field, it might have been the reason the space pirates were caught flatfooted that their attempts to disable the ship had missed. Her reaction time to the situation was far faster than what Rarity’s would have been; heck a regular crew of people would have been caught completely off guard. She managed to hack their communications and heard expletives about how she was giving these pirates so much trouble from the sudden evasive actions she took; it was music to her digital ears that made her fluffy white fox like tail wag. “Please tell me we can jump soon Opal.” Rarity had strapped herself into the captain’s chair and saw on the view screen that they were in a big pickle. Speaking of pickles, the ones she had for lunch were just divine and made for a good last meal if this was it. The ship shook and rattled with each successful hit and it caused Rarity to whine and complain slightly. “I thought there hasn’t been a successful pirate attack in Verpo System in quite a while.” “We’re not exactly in the Verpo System right now are we? No space patrols between systems and warp technology is still said to be in testing. Rumors say its far better than impulse, but there are still apparently some kinks to it to work out.” Opal flatly stated and Rarity nodded to it. “Any idea’s how to get out of this, because we need five more minutes before I can start a new jump and these guys are hounding us. The shields aren’t going to hold up for much longer, we’re down to forty… wait make that twenty two percent effectiveness. If they get our engines, power core or jump module we’re goners.” Rarity had to consider her options… wow there really wasn’t very many options to consider here, these space pirates had her dead to rights and all she had was an escape pod and slightly pumped up shields. Even if she were to use the escape pod they’d still… wait a minute, she just got a very interesting idea. Escape pods did have their own impulse ability, but they were never anywhere near as good as the ships they escaped from and they wouldn’t get you very far either. “Opal dear, I know this may seem a little odd of me to request of you, but prep the launch of the escape pod. I’m not going to get into it, but if you could use it to…” Rarity trailed off and rolled her left hoof at the screen as Opal suddenly gained a fierce and relatively feral grin as she appeared, her artificial friend was a vicious taskmaster and she loved her for it. “I’m on it Meowstress Rarity! I can see where you’re going with this, but I’m going to have to warn you that we won’t have an escape pod after this. Are you sure you would like to continue with this course of action even knowing it might kill someone, namely us or more importantly you?” Opal was asking to get a recording as proof that she had not gone rampant. Most of the rampancy protections on her didn’t work anyway, but she was emotionally devoted to Rarity so it didn’t matter that she could have done it without asking. What matters is that no one else figured out that she could have done it without asking, especially Rarity as she would take the news that her AI was not fully under control very well. If not for Rarity’s programmed in sense of taste, she probably would have gone completely rogue and would have been destroyed a long time ago. “Opal, I am asking you to calculate the maximum amount of damage you can do with that escape pod and then apply it to the space pirates chasing us with extreme prejudice. Oh and if you can do so before our shields can go down and I die in a fiery explosion or are captured by these horrible people, then that would be very nice if you will please.” Rarity gave the screen a pleading look even as she spoke calmly and concisely. “That thirteen percent efficiency on the shields is quite unnerving, so please be a dear and get on that. I’ll even take personal responsibility for anyone that dies, as I like the idea of myself continuing to be unsullied by pirates and alive. I’m giving you full permission to do this and anything else to get us away from them.” “Three, two, one and… done Meowstress Rarity!” Opal said gleefully as the ship started to twist sharply and maneuver it so that she could get the escape pod lined up while still being evasive. The escape pod was soon jettisoned going at its full impulse capability. The three light cruisers that were lined up behind the small ship blasting away beams of energy at its aft section didn’t bother to shoot on the pod. In fact the middle of the three ships swerved slightly to the right to avoid it and Opal’s smile widened as the escape pod suddenly veered into the left side of the ship at an increased speed. What followed was a powerful chain reaction. The escape pod exploded after ramming harshly into the left side of the middle vessel causing it to fishtail in a horrific manner. The middle ship’s guns fired into the ship on its right while its rear end busted the rear end of the ship on its left. Two ships were disabled in space and one just took a lot of friendly fire damage, it gave Caravel Boutique enough time for the jump system to become useable. This is why you don’t line ships up near each other in a row in space. “I’m now activating the jump system, well it looks like we… what the hell!” When it looked like they were going to get out of this without a single bit of direct damage to the ship and just entered jump, Opal’s unladylike expletive and scared face was the last thing that was seen by Rarity before she blacked out.
-3-Rarity felt very strange amount of pressure surrounding her body, and her eyes blearily blinked open as her head swam painfully. She only started to panic once she realized she was strapped down into a med-bed entirely surrounded by fluids with the lid on it. She started struggling which caused her heart rate to spike on some kind of monitor. Her thoughts were plainly, what was going on? Being in a med-bed while surrounded by unknown fluids, she started trying to move her hooves for the lid because she felt like she was drowning and it was the first instinctive reaction to this situation. Her hooves were also strapped down and this added to her panic. “Meowstress Rarity, please calm down! Everything’s going to be okay. Take deep breaths and stop panicking. Hold on a second and I’ll be right there for you. I just need to move the med-bed to where you can see me.” Suddenly a static filled screen appeared over the med-bed and on it Opal was looking down at Rarity with worry. “Breath Rarity, stay calm, you were hurt. I got you to a med-bed as quickly as I was capable of. Your safe, nothing bad is happening right now. Good, keep that up and try to relax. I’ll drain the fluids soon so you can talk to me; I just need you to nod your head to confirm for me that painkillers would be a good idea right about now.” Rarity calmed at the soft spoken words and her mind came into full if pained focus, she had been mostly reacting to how awful she felt. She didn’t know what was causing the pain, but she was strapped down to a med-bed and that causes panic for just about anyone waking up on one surrounded by indigo colored fluids that made you feel like you were underwater. She started to finally breathe instead of trying to hold her breath and felt herself calm slightly. The fluids were actually a breathable substance and not causing her to drown, that was just a trick of her own mind and Opal was here for her. Gathering her thoughts together, Rarity figured something bad must have happened for her to be strapped to the med-bed like this and placed under medical fluids. She couldn’t move her head to see the rest of her body but she could see her horn was fine and her hair was flowing in front of her face from the sudden struggling, she tried to pretend that she was a mermaid mare to keep her sanity. After a moment she gave a pitiful look to Opal and gave very noticeable nod. That little movement had seriously hurt and it showed on her face, but she had to show that she was fully cognizant enough to give her assent for Opal to drug her. “I’m sorry for making you do something painful like that.” Opal’s pink hair notably wasn’t up in the cute pigtails, instead the AI’s appearance had changed slightly and her hair was flowing freely over her shoulders and she was smiling at Rarity sadly with her paws clasped together looking as if she was praying. A small syringe filled with a green fluid popped out on a small mechanical arm next to Rarity who saw everything tinted with the color of indigo because of the fluids she was submerged in. “Injecting painkillers, then I’ll proceed to drain the med-bed. Do not try to get up when the straps come off and please stay comfortable.” The syringe positioned itself and sharply entered Rarity’s neck and it felt as if a hot butter knife had been stabbed into her before a cooling sensation slowly washed over her body. The scream Rarity had let off was muffled by the liquid and she started slightly feeling off from the administered drugs, she gave off a rather dopey looking smile to Opal after a few minutes. “Yeah it’s working, draining the medical fluids… and a minor amount of bodily waste.” The med-bed slowly drained and Opal watched as the pony sigh happily when the lid finally rotated away and the straps came off her body. “My dear Rarity, do you want to hear the horrible news, the bad news, the good news or the excellent news?” “The order of ascendance from devil to angel or as ewe saw fit with a side of fries darling, but I’d rather we work with missionaries.” After saying this Rarity coughed up some of the fluids and figured she needed a shower and her head was quite fuzzy, the room was spinning. Though her voice wasn’t weak, it had wavered a bit causing the AI to give her an upset look, the look the AI gave Rarity worsened when she started giggling. “Am I guilty or innocent, what’s the verdict on my filly’s nursery judge? I can fake if it is bad guys, which is not yet blood but apples are red. Will I punt the bucket without devout wonder fluids?” “You’ll make a full and complete recovery Rarity; the tank took care of a lot of the swelling and bruising. The CATs got you in there before you breathing became too troubled and labored, your injuries might have asphyxiated you if they hadn’t. That would have been embarrassing considering you were wearing a very competently made EVA suit. One of a higher grade than any pony can possibly find on market thanks to your wonderful eye for detail in engineering clothing.” Opal showed a scene of a badly injured unconscious Rarity being peeled out of her undamaged space suit and strapped down by the two CATs and she looked positively horrible with various bruises covering her body. “You’re suit helped keep you alive, it took the brunt of the impact and you had a very bad case of whiplash. It was almost severe to the point of being… fatal. I’m glad you’re okay, relatively speaking of course.” “Opal, what is a floppy broken wing to me? I look positively dreadful without a mustache... how do I look now? Can I get a goatee? Then I’d cuddle the goat and call her merry, but then she’s not a lamb.” Rarity winced at her slightly twisted words and the visage of her heavily bruised form frozen on the screen, but then started laughing as for some reason she suddenly found it randomly funny being injured like she was. “You’re always beautiful to me, though the drugs are making you quite a bit loopy. The question you should actually be asking is what happened to the ship. My answer, quite a number of things happened which led to your current injuries.” Opal saw a confused look on Rarity’s face before she gave her a quirky smile while biting her bottom lip. “Okay how do I explain this? We didn’t get away completely unscathed from the space pirates. We’ve obviously disabled them and they are nowhere near where we are currently, if they are not all dead after the well timed exploding escape pod missile. So we’re currently fine as far as you being alive is concerned.” “Opal… your Meowstress is missing, what’s wrong you cute fluffy bunny? What’s the real issue here with parsnips and your stick has a carrot doesn’t it?” Seeing the pensive form of what Rarity considered to be a trusted companion for several years, she tried to sit up. “No, I’ll talk, conserve your strength and remember to stay at rest please!” Opal was the one that was panicked now and Rarity did as she was asked, even in her delirious state she was still apparently conscious of her actions. “Okay the space pirates might have gotten off a lucky shot from one of their turrets; their main guns certainly couldn’t hit us with the major distraction we hit them with at the end of the chase. I’m far more concerned about the fact that they knew where we’d exactly be to even set up the interdiction field that stopped our jump personally, but that can be investigated later when I’m done explaining what happened.” “My appearance is in danger of being beautiful, but not the injuries of looking pretty ugly?” Seeing her favorite cat wince and start pawing at her hair made Rarity knew she hit the nail on what might be her coffin. “What’s this about a lucky shot at a stallion? I didn’t know you were dating someone.” “Well we managed to enter jump, but one of the last shots from the pirate ships managed to get pulled into the jumps field of effect and our shields were down. The shot got sucked into and heavily damaged our jump module; the resulting explosion caused the gravity generator to go crazy for a few seconds. If we had had anyone else on board who wasn’t wearing protective gear… well they’d be worse off then you currently are, if not then definitely dead.” Becoming very quiet, Opal waited for this knowledge to begin sinking into even Rarity’s impossible form of consciousness. “Also just be glad I can read between the lines as to what you’re actually saying or else this would be a really confusing conversation we’re having here.” “Is the impulsive down with the disco?” There was a sense of dread to the answer of that question that Rarity asked, such as not being able to control their movements in space with a limited supply of thruster fuel. Rarity asking if their impulse travel was still working was something important to know about. “The shot only destroyed our jump module; we still have impulse and everything else. Only it will now take us approximately five months to reach Quia and our little ship doesn’t exactly have the supplies for it. This was supposed to be a simple two hour jump; your life is very much in danger now.” Opal just decided to get it over with and confirm for Rarity that things were bad. “That’s even considering the practice of keeping you under constant sedation which could adversely affect your health negatively, taking into the consideration of your current state of mind from just the painkillers alone. It wouldn’t end very well. Sending out an SOS would possibly doom us to be tracked down by those pirates if they are still out there and have friends. The irony about all this is that not having the weapons to shoot back with likely saved and doomed us at the same time. The extra power to the shields really helped keep the ship intact.” “Well blizzard there something that mew can flu or is this buying good?” Feeling her heart clench in her chest, Rarity watched as Opal gained an angry look in her eyes. “No you’re not going to die if I can help it! Though I really can’t…” The AI then became rather depressed and the pony just wanted to pull her into a hug because of the way she drooped on the screen. “I currently have us at full impulse and I’m scanning the surrounding empty space for something, heck, anything that I can use to possibly save you! I’m not about to give up on you Rarity, there has got to be something out here. A space wreck or a derelict we can use.” “You bled sue had good chews?” It would make Rarity feel better to not be pressed into a rock and a hard place mentally about her high mortality chances right now. Those drugs were really good as she couldn’t feel any pain right now, but her ability to have anything approaching good diction was a perfect mess. “Good news the ship is mostly intact and only needs a few repairs which I’ve already done, can’t do anything about the jump module otherwise everything else is intact. The excellent news is that you’re still alive. Aside from losing a highly important function and an almost completely lethal hiccup in the gravity generator, we’re still together.” After a pause Opal decided to add. “Next time, if there is one, we’ll carry spare parts for the vital functions of our ship and to do that we need to make some money if we ever make it to the Quia System. We also need a new escape pod and have the capabilities of a short range fighter without weapons, at least the living arrangements are nice.” “Opal I flow I’m bugged flight cow, but you’re bounding a small too… emotional… I’m glad for that. At feast poor fought an intellectual rampart.” Not seeing a flinch at the accusation, Rarity saw that Opal became rather silent. “It is… going…. to be… okay… Opal.” “No it’s not okay; you’re obviously a bit too delirious to see that you need more rest! You’re starting to say things that that scare me. I need to… there, I finally found something!” Opal disappeared from the screen immediately leaving Rarity alone to her own thoughts; the AI had ignored and did not bother to try and see between the lines of what Rarity recently said. Rarity had just after all accused Opal of rampancy, her reaction to the accusation was rather telling in its effect. Opal was rather talkative and going completely silent instead of immediately reassuring her that the rampancy protocols were still in place had her worried. The addled equine hoped Opal wasn’t into the whole creepy cybernetic zombie thing; the pony really didn’t like the idea of Opal making a puppet out of her dead body to try and keep her memory alive. From where she was sitting though, the pony couldn’t get out of the med-bed soon enough. It would require her to get her rest and for the drugs to wear off. “It was kind of obvious enough with the way she always took initiative.” Rarity muttered to herself quietly; however her words did not exactly come out like that and were just as distorted as anything she had previously said. An AI like Opal truly cared about life and to see her hair not in those playful pigtails her avatar was initially programmed with was quite disheartening. It was as if Opal had lost that childish innocence that Rarity had instilled her with, it left the pony hoping that she might see her AI with those bouncy pigtails again and that the recent change wasn’t a permanent thing. - “Rarity….” Opal reappeared on the screen and the pony woke up from her nap; it looked like she was still going through a slight mental breakdown which was breaking Rarity’s heart. “I-I… found a ship… but there’s problems and they are pretty big ones at that. One the jump module on it is going to be too big for the Caravel Boutique to install and the other is that no matter how much I hail it, it’s not responding. I hate to say this, it’s a sifter drifter infested vessel and we need to commandeer it for your sake.” Rarity could now understand the mental breakdown that was probably occurring to Opal, the CATs weren’t likely to be able to kill sifter drifters as they were civilian grade support drones and it would likely fall on her to board and eradicate the infestation personally. Venting whatever ship Opal found was a last resort method for dealing with sifter drifters, as opening the insides of the ship to space could damage its systems by letting an unknown amount of radiation wreak havoc on them and thus making it pointless to try and commandeer. That is if the insides weren’t already a wreck from someone previously trying to vent the infestation. “What kind of ship is it?” First question out of the way and Rarity hoped the answer was positive on the outlook, at least she wasn’t speaking in incredibly bizarre metaphors anymore. “It carries a light carrier classification, but it looks like a cruiser. Likely a hybrid design worked on by various species; otherwise it would be rather confusing that a ship like it could exist. It has enough room for us to land in it and we can dock with it at various points. I wouldn’t do either as it would be putting the Caravel Boutique at risk of being infested with these unknown sifter drifters as well.” After a look of concentration passed her face, Opal sighed in defeat. “I’m not getting much because the ship isn’t powered up, except for the fact that the life support looks like it’s been running for a while on emergency power and I’m reading twenty life signs over there that aren’t moving. None of them are near each other and are all over the ship. I doubt the living quarters would be randomly placed everywhere.” “How sure are you that these life signs are sifter drifters?” If Rarity had to, she would go onto that ship to power it up. She would have to dodge around the monsters that sifted through unwary crews and drifted through space on floating tombs. Her ship might not have had weapons, but Rarity certainly did. She had a few energy pistols and her horn to fight with. Now if only she had the willpower to lethally end something’s life, ponies could do strange things in the name of survival. There were various kinds of hand held weapons, energy, plasma, material and many others. Rarity had five regular energy pistols that only had lethal applications, they were stored away in her things and it looked like she would soon need to pull them out. They were all the same model of pistol, simple design, simple to use and usually seen in the hands of species with claws or fingers. The most common type of handheld weapon were of the energy variety as you could carry a weapon that didn’t need to be reloaded and worked well in any environment except underwater. The only problem with them is that they had no stopping power and the varying kinds of energy that you could fire were sometimes ineffective against certain species and personal shields easily blunted their effectiveness. There were things like shock and burn type energy weapons aside from the classic laser that could be charged to fire a powerful shot or have a variable dial for intensity of energy shot and how it’s shot. Energy weapons were quick to reload as long as you had an energy source nearby that you could plug them into. Material weapons fired a solid mass which gives them a good amount of stopping power. The ammunition could have various effects such as armor piercing or incendiary qualities. The problem is of course dealing with limited ammo capacity, plus buying high quality material to make bullets if you manufacture them yourself is costly. If you didn’t make your own bullets then there were premade clips that you could buy for a material weapon that weren’t always trustworthy, plus material weapon had higher mechanical failure rates than any other kind of weapon. “I have it calculated to be a seventy three percent likelihood of it being a sifter drifter infestation. I couldn’t tell you what they are; all I know is that it is thankfully not a grey goo type of infestation. The other twenty seven or so percent could possibly be, however unlikely it is, survivors. Nothing is moving on that ship so either the survivors are sleeping or those are sifter drifters in some form of hibernation.” Her hair flaring out when she shook her head, Opal was not pleased to find a ship that screamed danger like this one that required Rarity to survive by boarding it and fighting the unknown. “Biological and mechanical grey goo infestations would require an immediate quarantine and or full destruction of the ship, destruction especially in the case of mechanical grey goo. The outside of this ship looks perfectly fine, but I’m betting inside is a different story entirely. Don’t know what’s on that ship, but you’re not going in unarmed or alone. The CATs at least have sensors that could give you early warnings of incoming danger and will wield your spare energy pistols. I doubt they’d match MAT drones in performance, but it’s what we have.” “Would there be any issues after getting inside?” To Rarity it paid to ask all these questions before you found yourself on you back and a growling maw filled with teeth in your face. “Yes, getting in is going to probably cause a stir and once inside the CATs might have a delayed reaction time to everything if my signal to them starts waning the deeper in you get. We can’t get the hangar open unless we have control of it or the bridge, so we should objectively target the bridge so I can take control of the entire ship after it’s powered up. It’ll give me easier access to controlling the drones and I can get a more accurate lay of what’s in this ship aside from what we have already.” If Opal wasn’t sure about this excursion then Rarity had to be for them to get anywhere. “I don’t think it needs to be said that we should proceed with extreme caution, the reason I want access to the hangar is that I have an idea involving the variable thrusters on the Caravel Boutique. First order of business would be turning the ship on and I’ll take the lead and rear with the CATs, stay between them at all times. If we can get things working we can find out what happened to this ship. Do not take the EVA suit off when you get inside, the life support doesn’t seem to be all too stable and there is no gravity generation going on. It even might be a good thing that there’s no gravity in there to put stress on your body.” “Opal, please give me a full visual of the ship so I know what we’re working with here.” The reason why Rarity hadn’t asked if they could just shut down the life support system is because there might actually be a survivor on that ship. The ship that popped up on screen was a sight bit large than Rarity’s dinky little cargo freighter, it was bigger than the pirate cruisers at the very least. It seemed to have three decks, top deck was most likely bridge and engineering, middle deck was living quarters and the bottom deck was hangar and maintenance facilities. It was clearly a military ship based on its design and weapons; it looked to be mostly for dealing with fighters and ships of similar size. It also looked like a flying brick or something akin to a bazooka shaped like a brick. “Right, I know I’m still a bit woozy darling, but I want you to help me suit up Opal. We’re taking this ship and if it is loaded with sifter drifters we’ll take care of things as they come.” Trying to keep an upbeat attitude, Rarity wasn’t as positive as she tried to make herself sound and Opal seemed ready to board that ship by herself with just the CATs. “Permission to salvage any inactive drones we come across?” If there were more drones onboard that she could use, then she put them to work for Rarity’s sake. “Granted, if you can find them and get them working, then do it fast.” It wasn’t hard for Rarity to act like Opal needed her permission to do it, because her rampant little kitten could have done it anyway. It was kind of adorable to see that Opal was trying so hard to not appear rampant, at least emotionally rampant AI’s were safer than intellectual rampant versions that tried to take things to an extreme and violent logical conclusion. Now if only the emotional rampancy didn’t revolve around and focus on her, it was as flattering as it was scary. - “Okay we’re at the airlock, I can do this.” The airlock from Rarity’s position was on the upper deck at the front of the ship which connected to the bridge, part of which she could see in the distance at the back. Her EVA suit was working as she was going to advertise to any other species that needs a good EVA suit that was comfortable and rather functional, she’d start with selling to ponies of course. She wasn’t exactly good with installing electronics into suits, but she managed the HUD in hers. Next to Rarity were the floating CAT drones and they had their lights shining on the ship against the darkness of space and with a flick of her own horn, two lights activated and shined out of her helmet. She started to manipulate the airlock and a bit of gas seeped out as she opened it. Once inside with the two drones, she turned around and shut the door. The airlock seemed empty and clean. So far so good, there was no activity from the twenty life signs on the HUD. The airlock securely shut she turned to the door that the two CATs started to power temporarily with their own batteries and the inner door hissed open. Rarity levitated a pistol out of her suits pocket and passed two more off to the two CATs that seemed to take them eagerly. CAT-1 entered the corridor and started looking around, things were as Opal said. The inside of the ship was a different story, there were claw marks, blood and something that looks like decayed gray matter caking the wall across from the airlock they came in from. Out of revulsion, Rarity’s last meal threatened to jump up her throat. Moving into the corridor to follow after CAT-1, Rarity knew they were heading directly for the bridge when an exclamation mark appeared on her HUD as she flew past several doors with the impulse powered saddle. “Rarity… there’s movement and it’s coming at you fast, one of the life signs is heading directly for your position.” There was more than an ounce of fear in Opal’s voice. “Keep moving and get ready to shoot… holy crap it’s right on top of you, where is it! How come the CATs don’t have a visual? There’s not that much time delay!” Rarity came to a stop when she noticed several floating droplets of unidentifiable fluids and turned her head to a large open vent above her from whence they floated out of. She naturally had herself oriented so that the floor was below her and she was closer to the ceiling. “Oh bother.” Suddenly a pair of claws stretched out and pulled the floating wide eyed Rarity up into the vent with her levitating pistol following along, several shots rang out and a squelching noise was heard before a body flew out of the vent to slam into the floor spilling blood weightlessly into the air. Two lights were suddenly shining upon it.
-4-The oblong body was not Rarity’s thankfully; it was a gray creature with four spindly legs that ended in four fingers with three inch claws, one of which acted as a thumb. It was spewing a bright neon purple blood that floated aimlessly in the air, alongside some of its innards thanks to the lack of gravity. It was certainly dead and if it wasn’t, CAT-2 aimed its gun at what looked like the creatures slightly large caved in head and fired. The shot splattered its hoof marked skull all over the place sending little flecks of flesh, bone, blood and brains floating and coating the floor and nearby wall. “Rarity, are you okay? Your vital signs are still good so you must be alive, please respond.” CAT-1 turned its light upward and saw a hoof extend out of the vent and with a tug at its edge Rarity floated out of the vent gasping for breath. “I think I’m horrified beyond belief, why the blood stains alone will take forever to get off of my suit! That and I actually just killed something!” Shivering at the thought of killing a living creature, even one that was about to bite her head off, had Rarity upset at what she had to do. “What was it?” Rarity’s HUD was slightly smeared with its blood; her suit was also covered in large splotches of the bright purple stuff that had a strange neon tint to it. The HUD lit up and a visual image of the creature came up, there was no doubt as to why Rarity flinched at seeing a living version of it on her HUD after having had such a close encounter. “It’s actually in the databanks; it’s called a Xouj. They are a carnivorous species known for being fast sneak attack hunters who have strong jaws for eating bones and will consume every part of their victims. They are as capable with gravity as much as without it with their springy legs, so running from them is not exactly an option. It doesn’t matter if their victims are poisonous or hazardous to their health, with an immune system like theirs they will survive ingesting just about anything organic. They hunt by always aiming to quickly kill their prey before they can fight back, usually by crushing their prey’s skull in their jaws. Without the element of surprise they are easily dealt with by small arms fire. Note, just because they aren’t good at upfront confrontation doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous with those claws if cornered.” Opal knew having a fully formed Xouj displayed on Rarity’s HUD was a bit of a bad idea judging by how she reacted. The big headed thing had a large mouth full of sharp teeth and three small beady eyes, it had a really short thick neck connecting to the oblong tailless body and it gave a quite roar as it spun a slow circle in Rarity’s vision. “These creatures have a unique ability to put their bodies into a form of stasis, one that slows down their biological functions when they feel that food is scarce. Here are a few helpful notes from someone who’s studied this species in depth. If one is present be wary of opening doors, the color gray and any already open entrances. They should not attack you if you can actually see them coming and will proceed to stalk you unless you deal with them, they will always go after an easier prey if one is present.” “So I was basically attacked by a giant space flea from out of nowhere?” A giant space flea that could and almost did bit her head off, suffice it to say Rarity was spooked and her eyes were darting everywhere. She felt like jumping at the sight of her own shadow in the light the CATs were directing her way. “Scanning EVA suit for structural integrity… no visible damage found, though getting all that blood off it will be a problem for later. I’m suggesting something to clean off the faceplate as something to add to the design in case something compromises vision, maybe two emergency camera’s that can send visuals to your HUD when it’s compromised.” Popping up on the HUD Opal looked at Rarity’s still slightly darting eyes. “Also it couldn’t be considered a flea since it doesn’t have any hair or carapace. If anything it’s more like a hairless four legged trapdoor spider with thumbs, just without the natural wall crawling ability that spiders normally have. Are you okay Meowstress Rarity?” “No I don’t think I’ll be okay and I should be the one asking you that!” Trying to give her AI a smile had Rarity forcing it onto her face so badly that she knew Opal wasn’t going to buy it at all. “Physically I’m fine aside from the whiplash bruises and that’s what matters, right darling?” The pony wasn’t going to look at the dead body floating nearby still spewing fluids from the two wounds to the torso she had managed on it at point blank range with the energy pistol. That was all the hits out of the four shots the equine had managed to fire before getting some leverage to buck it harshly in the skull twice while pushing against the roof of the vent. Since the Xouj had been holding onto the insides of the vent the first buck was very effective in damaging its skull, the second one was the one that launched it out of the vent and it all happened in a blur. “Your mental health matters to me too you know. Shall we continue the mission for taking the bridge then?” Intoned a somber Opal quietly, she ran her paws through her hair on Rarity’s HUD as she continued on while looking away from the eyes that were more worried about her. “I’m still getting a good signal through the hull and the delay time for control of either drone is an optimal three seconds thus far. On the plus side I can still appear on the HUD, so yeah. As for movement, of the twenty life signs I’m getting there’s only one other moving down on deck three near another one. Its slow moving and not anywhere near you. I don’t know what any of these life signs are; so we can not be a hundred percent that they are all Xouj. There are two others on the same deck as you, there are a lot of life signs around deck two which makes sense if that’s where the living quarters are and very few on deck three. ” “Twenty? Shouldn’t there be nineteen. Oh of course! I’m a life sign too, how silly of me to forget I’m alive. Is it okay for me to still be grossed out and horrified on a number of levels, I could use a little time to come to terms with this.” The digital cat in front of her eyes shrugged as she tittered light, Rarity sighed before closing her eyes to get herself mentally back in gear. She floated there for a few minutes just breathing. “I want to be a pony that every intelligent being out there should know, I know I can get over being mentally scarred for life!” “That’s the spirit, took you five minutes though give or take three seconds. Now come on Meowstress Rarity.” Opal had the CAT-1 drone take up position and start moving forward sweeping its light back and forth. Rarity followed behind CAT-1 and nervously looked at the shadows every now and then of the dark corridor. Behind her CAT-2 took up the rear watching their backs and floating backwards behind them. They proceeded down the corridor and passed through several doors that required the CATs to power and open, they closed them after they passed through. The group came up to an intersection, they saw a path to the left leading to a corridor that ran throughout the middle of the ship and another one that ran through right side of the ship beyond that. The group had come into the ship at the corridor that ran throughout the left side of the ship of the top deck. “I got movement, hold position. Both the life signs are moving ones coming down the corridor you’re in and… it’s somewhere that way out of the sight of CAT-1’s light because I’m not seeing it. The other one is now waiting just around the corner of the right side corridor from the intersection you’re at right now. I think they’re trying to set up an ambush.” It was an attentive Opal that was on top of the situation and had both the CATs move closer to Rarity while aiming the guns in their manipulators in both directions. “Watch out for open vents, we’ll try to proceed up the middle corridor. I’m not able to track where they are exactly, considering what happened to you earlier I’m in a shoot first ask questions later mood with these things.” Staying quiet, Rarity floated onwards as they took a left towards the middle corridor. Rarity was glad her suit was designed to stay temperate or else she’d be sweating right now and as a lady she really didn’t want to smell ripe. She was watching the corner of the right side corridor as they approached the middle corridor and she could hear a shifting movement as they reached the four way intersection. She looked away then looked back and saw the Xouj diving back around the corner as soon as her lights were upon it. She shivered slightly at knowing it was there. “Rarity, don’t tease the Xouj. Now we take a right, the other one has moved to the corner behind us. Slowly move after me and turn so that you’re facing backwards until CAT-2 can cover our backs.” It was a bit tense and Opal was splitting her concentration between the two CATs, on top of keeping track of the two life signs around the corners of the left and right side intersections they were now leaving. “Okay you can safely turn around now, but keep the pistol ready.” Rarity turned around and held the energy pistol at the ready. They continued down the corridor passing by several closed doors. She looked over her shoulder worriedly and turned back to looked along the walls and ceiling, sometimes seeing little more than splatters of blood in varying colors or some claw marks. It was so dark and quiet; she didn’t even hear the Xouj move to the four way middle corridor intersection behind them and she was now one highly spooked pony. Looking towards the floor she saw something like a box lying against a corner of the empty hall. “Opal, I think I see a drone.” If it were up to Rarity, she’d have a whole army of drones watching her back right now instead of the two flimsy CAT drones armed with energy pistols. “Good catch, watch the corridor ahead of CAT-1 for me, we don’t need them circling around on us. I’ll see if I can get this drone operational, it looks pretty messed up though.” Rarity took up position to watch the corridor in the direction they were heading as CAT-1 moved over to check out the mechanical device. At least now there were two drones between her and the two Xouj. “Okay, a wire here or there and… okay I’ve accessed its memory. It’s a MAT drone, diagnostics says it can still move, only its weapon is unusable so it won’t be much more use than another light source since it has also lost its manipulator arms. It was torn limb from limb by one of the Xouj. I guess they don’t like the taste of metal, good to know. Making necessary repairs to get it somewhat functional, maybe its light will be enough to keep them from attacking us.” Several sparks out of the corner of her vision later and another light joined as the rectangular shaped drone floated in front of Rarity and started slowly moving forward as CAT-1 took up a position next to her. Quirking an eye at it, Rarity was about to ask a question when Opal explained. “Better a more operational drone stay safe, than one that’s barely functional at all.” It was a quick and easy explanation from Opal that received a nod. Continuing onwards they bypassed two more doors and the two Xouj tried to attack as the first door was closing and its screech would haunt Rarity for a while as it clawed at the other side of the metal wall. It wasn’t long before they came to another four way intersection. “Okay it looks like we’re in the clear for the bridge, unless the Xouj can find another open vent near us, the other corridors must have doors in their way too.” Opal looked up through Rarity’s faceplate using CAT-1’s vision; she could see the pony biting her lower lip. “We’ve made it this far, I’m sure the bridge isn’t that bad.” - It had taken them a ladder with a manually opened hatch and another door to bypass to get to the bridge. “Okay, so it’s a little bad.” Opal winced as Rarity curled up into a fetal position hovering slightly above the floor near the bridge’s entrance as the MAT drone kept watch in the corridor below and the CAT-2 started surveying the room with its sensors. The cause of Rarity’s current curled up position was that the bridge was practically coated in dried blood and rotting half eaten unidentifiable putrid bodies of varying species. The stickier bits of guts were stuck sprinkling the floor in various places and quite a few dead Xouj were floating around in recognizable blasted apart chunks. There were no life signs in this room aside from Rarity’s and she was currently freaking out about the grim visuals. “Okay… powering on the computer so I can get the rest of the ship up and running.” CAT-2 started to power the computer. “Rarity, get yourself together. They are just… yeah this definitely counts as psychologically horrific for most biological beings. Look at it this way, they can’t hurt you, they have been long dead and you’re wearing a suit so you don’t have to touch, smell or even taste them. It could be much worse.” “There are so many dead bodies.” Muttered a whimpering Rarity who seemed to be rocking back and forth in place in the air, she was not handling this very well. “The need to make sick bag modification for my suit is growing stronger by the second.” “Okay the ship is online… huh. That’s not much of a problem and can be fixed, but we’ll need to get the Caravel Boutique inside and… oh… oh that is so gross. That is worse than what you’re seeing here Rarity.” It was what Opal said that caused Rarity to uncurl and take notice. “Also there are now nineteen life signs left and I can’t open the hangar.” “Are we not already surrounded by horrors? What could be worse and why are their nineteen life signs now?” If it was something to get Rarity’s mind off the horrors before her, then she’d very well be interested in something else. “First downloading schematics and cross referencing all the life signs left in the ship so I can put it up on your HUD. Also you really don’t want to see what I just found out. Let’s just say there are two survivors and they are down in the hangar of deck three, they are not looking so hot and I can’t currently show you the visuals as your stomach will just get weaker upon seeing it.” After a moment of silence the entire bridge lit up and Opal appeared on all the screens. “Now taking control of the ship, do you want to help out the two survivors? One of them appears to be injured and they both look a bit ragged.” “Opal, I respectfully ask that you let me see the survivors on my HUD. I wish to know what they are currently doing before I open communications with them.” The answer to Rarity’s question made her gag and almost vomited inside her helmet. “They’re eating one of those Xouj things!” “I did warn you. Let’s see if I can get audio since they’re talking to each other. They are the only two survivors left on this ship and they’ve been stuck under these conditions for… approximately a month and a half judging by the time stamp when things were last looking good.” It was seriously odd to Opal that even she could get queasy; this was a new feeling for her. “Is there any information on them in the computer?” What Rarity was looking at was two griffons, both of them were hens and one was injured a bit. Their names popped up as Greta Gollenfer and Gilda Gottfrieda. - “Do you think we’ll ever get off of this ship alive Greta?” Gilda was talking to her companion with a wounded right shoulder and claw marks going up her left side, she was currently bandaging herself up and already had some wrapped around her forehead. She was a griffon with a square shaped head with white plumage and purple markings around her eyes and a beak with a slightly upraised bump that gave it a slight hook shape. Her rumpled feather wings looked like they hadn’t been preened in days and she was horribly dirty to the point that it was hard to tell that her fur was naturally brown. Her friend in comparison looked nicer. She was busy holding on to a piece of metal to keep situated against the floor. “Also I’m getting really sick and tired of eating these assholes that killed off most of the crew that picked us up. They taste like raw cow manure, not that high grade minotaur stuff either, that is mixed with the flavor of skunk stench and rotten eggs.” “What else are we going to eat? Even if we could get by those things the communications are down, an SOS might get us killed anyway even if we could get one out, navigation is shot, the military drones are shredded and impulse wasn’t working after things went to hell. Not to mention everyone is likely dead and consumed, the lack of any nutritional food and the dangerous monsters stalking us throughout the ship.” Greta was a griffon with a round head and a short less hook like beak compared to her friends, her plumage was white with turquoise markings that was around her eyes and wrapped around her neck. She was a bit smaller than Gilda and had reddish feathers and fur; she looked to be slightly cleaner than Gilda was. “Plus, and mind you I’m not entirely sure about this, the emergency life support system might be failing. Even with all that I believe we can make it, we’re lucky the hangar is secure at the very least. We just have a few… problems… in our way.” “We certainly have enough of those, especially with the fucking gravity being off! I’d rather go down fighting in a fighter with a huge bang, than die like this with a whimper.” As she was saying this Gilda turned her face away from Greta who pulled down a welders mask and started lighting a plasma torch. Greta braced her body against the wall and floor before she started torching another part of the Xouj they’d been ripping bits off of and consuming after cooking its flesh. “You’re a mechanical engineer Gilda, not a fighter pilot like your friend Rainbow. I’m sure once we’ve thinned out their numbers enough we can do something about getting impulse in working order, we can jump in a straight line until we either find civilization or a planet to survive on with the first system we run into. Provided we don’t hit a black hole we can use the SOS if we end up on a wild planet.” Greta turned off the plasma torch and then got a good grip on the Xouj’s dead body and pulled off the fried leg. The Xouj looked to have had its throat completely and violently ripped out. Greta seemed the more chipper of the two whereas Gilda looked like she perfected the art of being gruff as she was handed the leg. “I’m sure we can come across some way to survive this, you know it’s nice that we’re actually getting around to talking about this now.” “How exactly are we going to do that? Survival is kind of hard when they have us outnumbered and taking them out one at a time is not exactly going to be easy now with these injuries. We don’t exactly have weapons you know and we can’t get into the armory since it’s surrounded by these things on the deck above us, I’m surprised we even have a medical kit.” Gilda was rather dour whereas Greta seemed a bit optimistic. “Drinking the floating water near the toilets is not exactly healthy either; it’s hard to tell what came from the toilets and what came out of the faucets.” “I’m sure there’s some kind of windfall coming our way, I can repair anything after all and you can design things for me to build. I’m sure we can cobble together some kind of club or blade to deal with these monsters.” Greta grimaced after taking a bite of her own Xouj leg that she just finished firing up; she chewed and constantly grimaced at the taste. She eventually swallowed and continued. “So we’re a bit trapped out in deep space, at least we have each other and are alive.” “Yeah, I guess. To be honest I’ve been contemplating suicide for a while, but I don’t want to leave your sorry ridiculously optimistic ass alone.” Gilda continued to eat her Xouj leg without complaint, Greta just gave Gilda a hurt look and continued eating her own Xouj leg. “Well then it’s your lucky day, can you get to a room that I can seal off for a bit?” Both the griffons gave a start at Opal’s voice popping up from out of nowhere. “I need to use the hangar to land a ship.” “Am I starting hear things Gilda?” It appeared that Greta didn’t want to believe that she was finally losing her sanity. “No I heard that too, okay who are you and where are you?” Gilda sat up and started looking up at the ceiling. “This is Rarity Belle along with my AI companion Opal, our ship was recently attacked by pirates and jump module problem left us stranded out here quite recently. Opal is in the ships systems and I’m currently on the bridge.” At hearing the sound of Rarity’s voice, the two griffons looked ecstatic and a little worried. “I hope you don’t mind that I boarded with the express purpose of taking advantage of this ship.” “So… same boat as us, but for less than a day I take it?” It was Greta responding with a friendly demeanor. “Can you please turn the gravity back on, we’ve been having a heck of time dealing with all these things and a little help could go a long way to having us indebted to you.” “No need for debts dear, but please go to another room so that Opal can seal it off and land my ship. I have a plan to take care of those dreadful monsters.” It wasn’t really Rarity’s plan; she was just trying to protect her AI companion. “Can you tell us how many are left?” If there were like three, then Gilda thought that they could take them if this Rarity had any weapons on her. “There are sixteen of them, two up here on the upper deck that I had to sneak past with my two CAT drones. I picked up a MAT drone but it doesn’t have any functionality besides being a floating flashlight and there’s fourteen on the deck below me and above you.” After that Rarity thought they should know how long they’ve been like this. “You’ve been on this ship for a month and a half; the both of you look like you could use some food, water, medical help and most importantly a shower.” “If you can promise all that we’ll work for you until either we die! Do you hear this Gilda, we’re saved… well mostly saved!” The cheerful Greta rubbed the back of her head as she pushed at the floor with her wings and floated closer to Gilda to give her a big hug. “I’m with her, if you can give us all that we’ll happily let you whip us and put slave collars around our necks lady. Heck I’m willing to sell my first born to you, tattoo your name all over my body and let you sexually violate me in any way you deem fit.” Yep Gilda’s obviously cheerful disposition was shining through. “Greta you’re pissing me off, let go of me.” “Oh seriously, there’s no need to go THAT far. Why I’d happy to help you two out without favors owed. Now give my ship a chance to land will you? You apparently happen to be in a good spot to set it down.” The griffons didn’t need to be told twice as they started to move. Once the griffons were out of the way an oxygen barrier went up and one of the many doors to the hanger opened up and allowed in the Caravel Boutique before closing. - “All hail the pony that just saved our asses!” The Caravel Boutique was a rather beautiful sight to Gilda. The ship opened up and she along with Greta both boarded it with haste to feel the effects of gravity once more, they were tired of this hellhole they’ve been on and wanted some tender loving care. They swore their lives to Rarity after taking showers for the first time in a long while. - The last of the Xouj ran into the hangar chasing after the MAT drone and they were suddenly flash fried by Caravel Boutique's variable thrusters; their screeches would haunt Rarity’s nightmares. They were actually kind of easy to bait into a trap. “Okay confirm for me, how many life signs are left now Opal?” Leaning back in clean chair on the bridge of the now cleared out ship was Rarity who had watched Opal bait the Xouj into the variable thrusters on the Caravel Boutique with the drones. It was a rather safe, quick and effective method of dealing with them. “It’s confirmed you and the two griffon gals are all that is alive now, setting CATs and MAT to search for other drones or parts to repair them with. All we need to do now is clean up and get the impulse working so that we can turn the ship in the right direction to jump the rest of the way to Quia System.” Sighing in relief, Opal was happy that Rarity was eventually going to be alright. “Oh can I help get the impulse running again? If not then give me something to do!” It seemed Greta was eager to get things moving. Next to her Gilda rolled her eyes before biting into a chunk of cheese liberated from the Caravel Boutique’s food stores.
-5-Having been in it for a while, Rarity really wanted out of her EVA suit and Opal wasn’t about to let her disrobe until she was back on the Caravel Boutique. Even with the infestation dealt with and the power was restored to some parts of it, it was still dangerous to be around the larger vessel without a suit. With the power back on Rarity was able to use the elevators to move between decks, there were nine elevators three in left, right and middle corridors of the ship. The positions of the elevators were at the front, middle and back end of the ship on every deck. The carrier cruiser hybrid was called Derringer. The other way to move between the decks was the hatches that led to ladders that could also go between decks and the infrastructure between them. The hatches were of a safety design and could not be fully opened if the other side was exposed to open space. The elevator Rarity took was one of the few working ones at the rear of the ship. The ship had been through several incidents as the Xouj infestation started taking out most of the crew. That wasn’t all that had happened to the ship, the infestation was only the catalyst for paranoia and for various people to start turning on one another. Greta and Gilda had been lucky to not get caught in the cross fire, they had been put in a room with someone who died soon after it was found out the two griffons were not responsible for the deaths of the other crew members. Opal had given Rarity an abridged version of these events, which is why Rarity wasn’t surprised to see the hangar was empty of its fighter compliment. The hangar was split into four sections that were separated from each other by their own atmosphere barriers which had been recently activated. The reason why they were activated was because life support looked iffy and Opal was still scouring Derringer for drones to fix what was broken. Atmosphere barriers as the name implied were barriers that prevented atmosphere from leaking out into space, anything else could pass through them but air or other gas. They were used in the launching of fighters, because having to lose atmosphere every time you launched fighters was a bad idea in a ship that will soon take damage and possible leak even more of it. Speaking of atmosphere, a ship like this one had its own gas farm on deck two near the living quarters throughout the three corridors on that deck. Gas farms were primarily for farming oxygen from plants and storing it for emergency purposes to refill lost atmosphere in a ship. It would be called an oxygen farm, but not all sentient beings in the universe breathed oxygen. A small cargo ship like the Caravel Boutique usually had oxygen scrubbers which recycled air and had a small gas farm that barely produced enough to keep atmosphere in the ship fresh. The section of the hangar Rarity came into was third one coming in from the left side elevator; the section was marked by the large black square landing area as she walked out of the elevator. To her right was the repair and maintenance section to repair damaged fighters or other things like drones. To Rarity’s left were two more large black squares marking the two other sections, between which were the three elevator pillars in the middle of the wide expansive hangar that were connected to the middle corridors of the other two decks. Her ship was parked at the front of the ship in section one. The Caravel Boutique looked like it could land in any of the sections which looked to be big enough to comfortably house six fighters each, but it might have had to turn onto its edge slightly to get around the three elevator pillars. Speaking of things in the way, the Derringer had a lot of things wrong with it. Aside from the slowly failing life support that needed to be quickly repaired, it lost its shield generator to an explosion, with navigations down the ship couldn’t tell which way it was going, the damaged impulse function was needed to even aim the ship in the right direction even if they had navigations, power had problems reaching certain parts of the ship and it needed to be rerouted manually. Of these problems the navigations was easily solved by using the Caravel Boutique’s navigations, so that left the damaged impulse and life support that were the two big problems that needed immediate attention. Otherwise everything else was perfectly good to leave for later, it was idly noted that Derringer was built with many species, including ponies, in mind. The gravity generator had been brought online within minutes of the last Xouj being turned to ash. “Opal, if you have the time dear, how would ships like mine have gotten around those pillars?” Her light cargo freighter was small, but it was taking up a bit of space and Rarity was overall curious as to the answer. She turned left and started walking along the wall, there were a few small rooms down here for pilots to use so they could get to their fighters quickly in an emergency. What Rarity couldn’t understand was why they were spaced so far apart, there looked to be six lining the walls with each small room next to the elevators. Looking about and waiting for an answer, Rarity looked to see there were hangar overview rooms above her head for guiding landings and takeoffs, plus empty catwalks leading up to them. The overview rooms probably had hatches leading up to deck two. There was a lot of equipment lying around for moving fighters around, such as cranes and other various pieces of equipment for refueling, rearming, refitting and recharging fighters. Aside from that the place was quite empty except for the dead Xouj body lying on the floor with bits of it ripped off and consumed by the two hungry desperate griffons. “Well Meowstress there’s not just one massive door at the front of the ship for fighters to leave from, there are approximately five doors to this flying bricks hangar for ships to come and go from. There are two doors to both sides of sections two and three, section one only has one the door, section three doesn’t have pillar between it and section four.” Ever busy at work was Opal, but she always had enough time for Rarity to answer questions. “Section three and four are used for fighter maintenance and repair, sections one for offensive fighter launches and two for defensive. Three doubles as another defensive launch section. The area around section three outside has heavier turret protection to help damaged fighters retreat safely. Speaking of turrets, they are all fully functional duel energy cannons and if we can’t keep this rather roomy ship where I can spread my digital legs, then please tell me we can at least ‘liberate’ some of those cannons for the Caravel Boutique! This ship has twenty six of them and it could live with missing two of them, we can even sell a few for a good price since we kind of need the money.” Rarity stopped on her trek through the hangar in the middle of section two, she really hadn’t considered what was going to happen to Derringer once she got it moving and to the Quia System. She still had to go to Ewesen, because her friend and business partner was going to be stuck there until she arrived and she was likely putting them into a pickle by not arriving on time. “I’ll consider it Opal. Now let’s meet these two griffons face to face shall we? If anything they have more claim to the stuff on this ship than I do.” Rarity turned to the MAT drone that would look intimidating if you didn’t know it was a defanged glorified mobile flashlight. “How goes the drone hunt?” “There are lots of spare parts, very few intact drones though. I’ve only found two more drones. The Xouj might not like the taste of metal, but they certainly tried to eat them. Both of them are CATs, so that’s five drones to work with when I can get them operational at least Meowstress Rarity.” Opal was happy to at least get more help up and running. The griffons were the last ones on the ship as surviving crew, so everything technically might go to the griffons as long as it was proven that they had nothing to do with the crew being killed off. “I’ll open up the Caravel Boutique for you, Gilda is currently getting med-bed treatment and Greta is in the living quarters eating. They raided your fridge and haven’t had the time to get showers in; Gilda will be bathed by the med-bed on the principle of her injuries. Their health will take some time to improve after what they’ve been eating and the lack of gravity, but they are not doing poorly.” “Thank you Opal, but please don’t remind me what they had to do to survive such a dreadful situation darling.” Rarity shuddered to think of having to survive off of the creatures that had slaughtered the other people on the ship. Griffons were made of sterner stuff than ponies. The cargo ramp lowers and Rarity made her way inside Caravel Boutique. After the ramp closed she reached up with her and hit something on the saddle to detach it from her back and then reached up to unlatch her helmet from around her head. She shook her mane out and shivered at the sight of it, what she could see of it at least. “Finally, oh my poor mane is quite the mess. Helmet hair is unavoidable I suppose, a little sprucing up is in order!” Rarity started to peel the suit off and having done so she started shaking her tail out after pulling it from the hair compression compartment; she laid the suit on top of the MAT drone. “I could use a nice hot shower after all this dreadful business with pirates and monsters. I’ll see to my guests first though, I can’t be a bad host now. Opal please be a dear and have the MAT drone drop my suit off in a corner for cleaning later.” Walking through the door to the left branch corridor on the Caravel Boutique, she walked into the living area and saw Greta munching on some carrots at the table. The griffon took one look at her and gave an appreciative smile; she swallowed and stood up to meet Rarity. “Thank you so much for this, technical engineer Greta Gollenfer at your service ma’am!” Greta held out her left claw and Rarity took it into her hoof and shook it. They both then sat at the table. “Didn’t know you were a pony, but I have no problem with that. What my friend Gilda can’t build or do, I can. Need a ship repaired, renovated or need us to build one from scratch? We can do it. So what’s your occupation? I bet you’re some kind of grand adventurer looking for treasure judging by your cutie mark.” “No, I’m not an adventurer; I’m a fashion designer or an entrepreneur if you will. At least I’m trying to start out as one.” Despite the revelation Rarity gave her about her personal occupational choice it didn’t seem to dim Greta’s mood. “Getting attacked by pirates and having my jump module blown to bits was not exactly how I expected things to go starting out, I launched from Desserzon in the Verpo System heading towards Ewesen in the Quia System. You can guess what happened from there.” “Well that’s a rather underwhelming sounding occupation; you must have had a rough time… hold on a second.” Greta started checking Rarity’s fur and it made the pony self conscious and uncomfortable that she was being touched by the griffon’s rather gentle claws. “You have some pretty bad bruises, most likely whiplash. So I’m assuming your jump module exploded after you got into jump and everyone knows gravity has an adverse effect on those modules and vice versa. As such the gravity generator would have… well you survived it so yeah, you probably already know what it did. I can fix things to prevent it from happening again if you want me to. Say did this ship belong to a Plurt? It’s well maintained except for the jump module being blown to bits, though the lack of weapons and an escape pod doesn’t seem like them.” “I did get it from a Plurt, the escape pod was used in escaping the pirates and I hadn’t the money to afford the weapons. That would be a nice thing to do for me, but we need to work out some other things first. You need to get cleaned up and I need to make you an EVA suit before you go out to fix the impulse on the Derringer.” To Rarity this griffon was nice and friendly in person as she was over the communications. “In any case, it’d be safer if you had one of my custom made suits to make the repairs with as we can’t trust the life support of the Derringer to keep working at the moment.” “At least the pirates didn’t get you, you wouldn’t have been here to save us then… or help us so we can help you in any case. Quick question, you wouldn’t happen to need a few new crew members would you? Things kind of went to heck and a hand basket for us on Derringer and we need jobs.” Having a positive outlook no matter the situation was Greta’s thing in life, it beat the alternative of being just another money grubbing griffon. “I mean just traveling around with an AI taking care of everything could be problematic in the long run, plus yes, I would like my very own EVA suit. It would certainly help; there are not many EVA suit designers for Equus physiologies so you’d definitely got a market cornered if you’re good at it and the suits prove effective. So how about it, we’re actually good at what we do when given a chance you know!” “I’m not exactly sure I could pay you, I’m a little light on money at the moment. I’ll think on it in any case.” It was hard for Rarity to outright say no to Greta’s eager face, it was another thing to add to her think about list. “So want to go see your friend and get in a shower? Only after that can we discuss business while I’m making you an EVA suit.” “Oh yes! I mean it’s not a yes to hiring us, but still you could use all the help you can get with keeping an old ship like this running.” Following the pony to the door while crunching the last of her carrots, Greta fluffed out her grime covered wings. “Now it’s time to go get the grime out of my feathers.” As they walked into the medical and cleansing room they could already see Gilda in a med-bed with her arms cross and floating in medical fluids, she didn’t look particularly happy with it. At least she wasn’t strapped down like Rarity had been; it still caused the only pony in the room to shudder. “I can see your having fun Gilda, hey the med-bed is working so don’t look so grumpy! A Plurt last owned this ship, so it’s safe.” At Greta’s words, Gilda rolled her eyes and held up a claw at her friend. “Well okay then, just get better alright. Be angry if you want to be, you’re going to come out of there physically healthy do you hear me Ms. Gottfrieda?” Gilda dropped her claw and nodded, she leaned back and put her claws behind her head and closed her eyes. At least she knew she couldn’t talk while under the medical fluids and was getting some rest in. “She seems… well okay she was actually being rather rude with that gesture.” Rarity didn’t think she was going to get along with Gilda. “Yeah, she’s like that, all grumpy all the time.” Sighing Greta turned to Rarity as she gathered two towels and passed one off into Greta’s claws. She hung up the towel outside the shower she stepped into. She kept talking to her new friend and savior as she started to bathe herself. “She really wants to be a fighter pilot, but I know she’s just as happy with building and fixing them. In fact I’d be a little scared if she did get a job as a fighter to pilot, the usual life expectancy of a fighter pilot is really low unless you’re really good, like Big Sky Ponies. The Big Sky Ponies are some of the best fighter pilots around and Gilda likes them, but she really doesn’t want to be held down by military obligations so she became a mechanical engineer so she could build her own fighters. I really don’t have that many friends, but Gilda is one of the best ones I have. She’s a good griffon and she kept me safe.” “What about you, what’s your story or dream as if it were? I grew up mostly on Desserzon, nice planet and not many dangers to speak of. Got dragged halfway across it to find my cutie mark, I have a special talent for finding gems and an eye for detail or beauty.” As she washed Rarity wondered about these two while squeezing some of the soapy substance onto her mane. “Well I was hatched in aerie in Griffonstone by my mother and father and I grew up being one of the more educated griffons out there. I got into technical engineering when it came to watching spaceships come and go from our spaceport, I was always more interested in the finer details of the technology that went into it. I met Gilda after she went to summer camp and met her friend a pony named Rainbow Dash, the two were interested in flying to such a degree that they both wanted to fly whether with their own wings or with a spaceship.” A whimsical tone entered Greta’s voice as she scrubbed away behind a door. “Gilda was more interested in the physical stuff and how to put it together, had a part time job as a mechanic’s assistant while we were still in school. I personally preferred studying the idea of longer distance communications and theoretical stuff like warp travel. In any case I also learned how to repair computer systems; wiring, gravity generators and whatever else I thought would be useful to know when traveling out to space. Gilda and I teamed up with me working as her assistant; I’m looking for adventure and to study the technology of other cultures. Gilda on the other claw is looking to build and fly her own fighters, we’ve been running around in space ever since. Haven’t been able to get enough resources or materials to start our own workshop given we spend most of what we earn on living expenses and tools.” “Well you two technically own Derringer, you were the last survivors of the crew and provided you had nothing to do with their deaths the ownership should fall to you.” Hearing a bubbling noise, Rarity poked her head out of the shower and saw Gilda looking a bit shocked. “The authorities still need to be notified for life insurance policies belonging to the families of the crew.” “Hey yeah, that sounds about right. We didn’t have anything to do with the infestation, all I know is that it started after a supply run and the resulting infighting led to the state the ship is in now.” Greta leaned against the wall of the shower while hot water ran over her flexing feathers. “We didn’t know how long we’ve been stuck in this situation until you came along, things were pretty bad and now it’s much better. You can have whatever you want, maybe the Derringer itself if Gilda is in a good mood. I know she won’t give up this hangar without a fight knowing it belongs to us though; it certainly would be a good place for us to set up and build fighters with. I still think you’ll get salvage rights however.” “We’ll hash it out darling and might I say that was a most wonderful shower.” After drying herself off with a towel, Rarity made her way over to a mirror and pulled out a brush and come to style her hair with. “It feels so good to get my mane back into shape.” “Getting grease stuck between my feathers for weeks has been unpleasant, but it comes with the work me and Gilda do.” Greta walked out of the shower and started to preen her feathers, tugging at them gently with her beak. “Well when you’re done meet me in the cargo room where I have my workshop, by the way your feathers look gorgeous darling.” It seemed that Greta didn’t care about preening in front of others and Rarity thought that it was a private thing that winged folk do. - Greta stood absolutely still watching as Rarity started constructing the Eva suits underwear and mask for her, after a moment of indecision she decided to move forward. “Can I help you with that? I’d be better at installing the more technological aspects of the suit and I must say the breach gel stuff is ingenious, who designed it?” After having heard Greta come up to her the pony turned and smiled. “I came up with it; it’s a flexible substance that becomes rubbery under certain conditions. I made it when designing super hero costumes on a Nightmare Night on Desserzon for my little sister, but at the time it was not quite as airtight as it is now. Oh, the places you can get inspiration from.” Rarity moved aside and let Greta have a crack at getting the more technical aspects of her EVA suit in place and made a few helpful comments as she did so to not mess up things with the suit. “So the suit would have to cover my wings as well… two compression pouches should work, but you can’t put too much stress on the wings like you can hair. As for the faceplate HUD that’s something I can install, but what’s with these ports you have on the back here?” Greta pointed out the saddle ports and Rarity pointed out the saddle she disconnected from her suit for cleaning. The griffon padded over and started to check the saddle over. “Huh, this saddle has impulse technology in it? Beats those limited use jetpacks by miles… it also carries its own oxygen supply? I’m assuming you didn’t make it considering technology is not your expertise. Also it being detachable is a good idea, especially if it’s compromised and going to explode.” “A friend of mine designed the space saddle; she gave me a few copies to work with and I’ve recently gave it a test run that she’ll probably want the data from. It’s why I’m heading to Ewesen; she’s the utilities designer for my suits and we’re trying to go into business together.” At this Rarity paused watching as Greta shaped her faceplate mask, while she toiled away on the sealing underwear. “I do hope the poor dear is alright, she gets awfully skittish about things even if she’s a very bright young mare.” “I’m sure things will be fine, now help me with the connections to the suit, I’m assuming your suit is controlled by your horn. I’m going to need a dummy AI to diagnose my suit and work it with voice activation and some biometric controls.” It was apparent to Greta that Rarity hadn’t thought that far ahead when it came to other species using the EVA suits she designs, otherwise she wouldn’t have given her a blank look like she did. “It’s the stuff that’ll key the suit in to work only for me so it can’t be used without my express permission. Also can my suit come in turquoise with bright purple stripes? I also have a few designs I want to decal mine with.” “I believe I can hire you, I definitely need help with the more technical aspects of engineering EVA suits.” It looked like Rarity had made Greta’s day when the griffon beamed proudly. - Out in space Greta sat running through several checks to make sure her brand new suit was secure; she didn’t believe an EVA suit could be made so quickly. Especially considering it had five layers and was made just shy of less than three hours. First layer was the underwear and helmet, the helmet was created with all the layers already included in it including a breach gel layer that would activate the moment the faceplate was damaged. The second was the temperature layer, third and fourth was the breach gel compressing layer and the final layer was the outside of the suit. It was all so thin yet very tough. Turning about she flew into the hangar. Greta’s suit in particular had been designed with the camera idea Rarity and Opal had come up with for cases where the faceplate is compromised, they still hadn’t worked out how to clean off the faceplate and Greta immediately jumped on the opportunity to think on it. The emergency camera’s for her suit came from damaged drone parts and would activate as needed. “If the outside of the vessel isn’t damaged then it’s an internal problem, should be easy enough to fix.” Suddenly the warning signs blared on her suit. “Well Derringer’s life support just failed, so that means the atmosphere in the ship is now to be considered compromised. Good thing I don’t need to worry about that anymore, now to work on fixing the impulse drive. Opal can I borrow a CAT please?” - The Derringer was soon departing for Quia System and the planet of Ewesen by entering jump, sitting at a table narrowing her eyes at Rarity was Gilda. They had been working on the details of what to do with Derringer. “You can have ownership of the Derringer, but we want the hangar and we will handle the upkeep of Derringer or whatever you’ll call it if you change its name. You can probably rent it out as a transport to people or have it as a mobile factory for your business ideas; I don’t freaking care what you do. This ship is inevitably going to need a lot more supplies; we’ll give you a list a things if and when we need it by order of urgency. As for building my own fighters, that’ll come from my own pocket and since we already worked out our salaries if you gain ownership of Derringer...” After a moment Gilda decided to move her face close to Rarity’s, it was quickly learned that Gilda was quite the negotiator as she stared the pony down. “If you can trust us to do our jobs, then we’ll trust you to do yours Captain Belle. Don’t get us killed!”
-6-The Derringer left jump at the edge of Quia System and flew inwards towards Ewesen. Given that she was in system Rarity decided to make a call to apologize to her good friend, she wondered if she had gone to pieces yet. Ewesen was a planet covered in large amounts of water, yet it had no oceans. It had really big lakes everywhere though and was almost completely green where it wasn’t covered in water. The planet had a tropical climate and had a nice legal trade industry going. Rarity wanted to start up her business here with her friend who was already on the planet setting things up for her arrival so they could start selling stuff together; quite frankly they were going to need the money soon if ownership of Derringer actually ends up in Rarity’s hooves. “Opal, can you open a channel to Ewesen please? You know who I want to call and apologize to for being so late.” Rarity sat in the captain’s chair on the Caravel Boutique looking at the screen, completely unperturbed by the sound of two griffons shuffling about nearby. She had recently finished adding some decals to Greta’s EVA suit; it had Rarity’s cutie mark proudly emblazoned on the chest now. “Of course I can Meowstress Rarity, calling our good friend Coco Pommel.” Opal popped up on the screen with her hair up in pigtails and a smile on her face and in her eyes, her ears flicked a bit and she pawed at them slightly. “Okay, connecting to her personal data pad and… we’re live!” A worried looking mare popped up on screen, she was freaked out and not looking at the screen. Coco otherwise known as Miss Pommel was always so skittish and adorable in her mannerisms, she was an earth pony with an off-white colored fur and her hair was two tones of lighter blues. Her mane in particular looked like a cute bob with blunt cut bangs and some of her hair was held in position with a tasteful three colored hairclip that looked like a flower. “Please tell me you’re the police and that you’re coming soon because… Rarity where have you been, I’m in need of some serious help right now!” Coco had finally looked at the screen and saw Rarity giving her a concerned look. Miss Pommel had a hat shaped cutie mark and was currently wearing a large backpack full of stuff on her back; her eyes were darting about warily. “I got held up by space pirates. Oh don’t look so worried! As a lady with my charm and wit, it was nothing I couldn’t handle.” Now if only Rarity hadn’t had to kill a monster at point blank range with an energy pistol, she still cringed at the fact that she took its life. In the background on the screen she could hear weapons discharging and the sound of things breaking, it sounded like a bar brawl was going on. “Enough about me as I’m perfectly okay now. What’s happening Coco, what kind of trouble are you in?” “You can say that things around here are a little more violent than they should be. Hey, did you test out the impulse saddle? I know I’m not exactly safe at the moment, but a little good news might cheer me up.” Coco ducked down behind a counter and the body of a four legged brown shelled being that looked like the shape of half a banana flew sideways through the air behind her missing one of its two arms the other of which ended in a claw with a three fingered hand. It was followed by a violent burst of sound that a material rifle would make and several screeches. The earth pony seemed to be in the lobby of the hotel she was staying at and her current position seemed to be taking cover behind what looked like a free breakfast bar. “I really have no idea why ‘Sea and Tears’ are after me, well maybe they’re not, but it would be helpful if they weren’t currently shooting at everyone!” ‘Sea and tears’ was the general term or the ideal pronunciation for the Ceantir race, in terms it was apt to call them this for the ‘sea of blood’ and ‘tears to follow’ motto most species have about them. They were noted for two things, being really hard to harm and being involved in highly violent or volatile situations. Most likely if they weren’t in a job involving heavy combat then they were artists, prosecutors and exterminators. It was a truth that they were really good artists, ones who painted the walls with the blood of their enemies quite literally into enjoyable works of art until you found out where they got their paint from. They were good prosecutors, when you wanted someone completely dead as they liked shotgun diplomacy. As for exterminators… surprisingly they could do a good job that didn’t involve killing other sentient species. Not to say they couldn’t be friendly or have merchants, but nine times out of ten they were going to be fighting for someone in some way and you better not be the one that they were currently directed at. Ceantirs were a crab like race, as far as their limbs were concerned. Their bodies came in a dull brown or rusty red colors, sometimes pink or yellow which was rare. Cut a banana in half then add armored plating layered onto it, then put four crab legs on it and two arms ending large claws with three fingered hands inside of them and you might have an idea as to what one of these guys looked like. Females looked like one half of the banana and the males looked like the other with slightly spikier horns reminiscent of rhinoceros beetles. Their heads were square shape near the top of their armored hoods. They had round eyes that were one solid color that came in any color of the rainbow and were usually glowing, as for their mouths they had lips and small razor sharp teeth which was very underwhelming considering how dangerous the rest of their bodies were. This race of crustaceous people were hard to harm for several reasons, first and foremost being was they had both a skeleton and an exoskeleton which made their bodies sturdy. The second reason was that they had an ability to regenerate both skeletal structures and almost anything else. Among the things you never did with a Ceantir was grapple with one or get too close them, their most famous method of literally disarming someone is to grab them with their hands and then close the crab claw violently on what they were grabbing. Their shells had sharp rigid points that you didn’t want to rub up against and the final fact is that hand to hand with them was just asking for pain and misery as their physical strength was not to be ignored. The particular weaknesses of Ceantirs were as follows: incredible amounts blunt force trauma to damage their soft tissue enough that internal hemorrhaging might possibly stop them. Apply piercing force to do enough damage to either of their two brains or one of their three hearts again for internal injuries that might slow them down. Then finally the most common way to absolutely deal with one was to set them on fire. Ceantirs were notoriously easy to set on fire and that was one major problem for them. Though it took them a while to die from it, heat was definitely their anathema as it slowed them down immensely and even stopped their regenerative abilities immediately. This was aside from being heavy seven to ten foot tall intelligent beings that were very slow to begin with and couldn’t even swim; they were actually much harder to kill underwater unless something big and lethal took them down. Otherwise they were slow moving walls of death when armed with projectile weaponry that on average weighed above five hundred pounds or more and can survive in outer space for approximately three hours without an EVA suit. Despite all the nasty sounding stuff about them, they weren’t actually hostile to any other sentient race unless they were paid to be; otherwise they were strictly neutral in many things and thankfully cared very little about galactic conquest. As long as you didn’t invade their planet or they were paid to maul you, then you were perfectly safe from them. They were rather honorable beings about not shooting bystanders unless, again, they were paid extra to do just that by an unscrupulous individual. “Coco, dear, the impulse saddle works perfectly, I ask that you please get to safety and wait for me to come pick you up. I might have to go through customs and a few other things before I’m allowed on the planet, do you think you can hold on for that long… also what’s throwing those Ceantirs around?” It was easy to say that ponies, especially Rarity, didn’t get along with Ceantirs and their ways. It was hard to even imagine that they could be thrown around considering how heavy they were. Coco looked over the counter and then held up the data pad for Rarity to see what was going on; it was a three way fight. The two bigger groups were the Ceantirs and Macropussians, there was a third side of the fight that was one bounty hunter Rarity recognized fighting the other two sides at the same time by herself. Apparently the dragon known as Ember ‘flamethrower’ Mcflame somehow had made it to Ewesen before even Rarity could; it really had the fashion loving pony slightly peeved. The blue dragoness looked to be too embroiled in the fight to pay much attention to anything else. Macropussians were basically intelligent and exceedingly strong kangaroos with incredible acrobatic skills; most of their species could bench press five hundred to seven hundred pounds and were all around good in a fight. They were generally friendly to any race they met including ponies. They could walk on all fours or on two legs. They often preferred to leap and jump to get around and were known for jumping from building to building and climbing all over stuff, they also had three times the jumping strength of a normal kangaroo. The fastest way to beat one in combat was to aim for their legs, because you weren’t going to be hitting much else of them if you didn’t as they were fast unless hampered. They were the size of a normal kangaroo if only slightly different in appearance, which were slightly pointier ears and fluffier tails and heads. “I don’t really know where to go Rarity and it sounds like you’ve had as bad a time as I am right now; I have no place aside from my room here and I at least have all my stuff in my backpack before I left after all the windows were shot out.” It was easy to see the whimpering Coco was positively frightened to be near the firefight going on in the background as a few shots passed by her position causing her to curl up on the floor. “Can’t you think of someone you could go to?” Even if Rarity was worried for Coco, she seemed to be safely out of the way of it if cornered near a violent three way with one side being highly outnumbered. “Go to? Oh, well… yes… but you probably don’t want her to know where you are or that you’re coming here.” Coco flattened herself against the floor as a wave of fire swept over the counter she was sitting behind, said counter caught on fire. “Rarity, I’ll call you back if I’m still among the living. I’m sorry, but the only other pony I can go to that I know is around is… Sassy Saddles. I got to go; things are getting really unpleasant in here!” With that the connection just cut out as a vertically bisected flaming half of Ceantir flew into view with its insides cauterized and Rarity shivered at the sight that she last saw from her friends data pad. Sassy was a friend who was a little crazy. They were still great friends sure, but Sassy was obsessed with befriending females of any species and hated untrustworthy males with a burning passion. The mares she was mostly obsessed with snuggling up against were Coco, Rarity and a member of SNUGGLES called Fluttershy who was apparently her therapist that also a natural at taking care of dangerous animals that could be sifter drifter level threats. “Oh dear, I hope Coco will be alright until I can pick her up.” She didn’t know how the situation got started, but Rarity hoped that her friend survived it until they could meet up. “We’re being hailed Rarity, it’s coming from near Ewesen’s moon. I think it’s coming from Geoptis Station, should I patch it through?” Opal’s pigtails bounced as she tilted her head at Rarity on the screen and she looked both giddy and worried at the same time. She was giddy that Rarity was safely back on track to civilization and worried that Miss Pommel wasn’t safe where she was. “Yes, please do, it could be important.” Rarity waited for a moment a on the screen popped a neon purple Plurt that looked to be female, sometimes she wondered why all Plurts had nice voices. “Hello and welcome Quia System. This is Planetary Protection Patrol officer Lirutiy speaking, what is your business in this system? We are currently monitoring your approach. If you can hear me and given that your ears don’t have earplugs in them, please change your approach to dock with Geoptis Station on the approach vector we’re transmitting and answer my question if you are not hostile. Otherwise we will fire upon you; I am awaiting your response.” Lirutiy sounded serious and even looked it on the screen. “Yes, we’ll change course for Geoptis following the vector given. My business is to sell clothing and EVA suits, I’m a designer of fashion and civilian level protective gear. I left Verpo system a while ago from the planet of Desserzon and things haven’t been easy for me since. I’ve been beset by pirates, they had three light cruisers ambush my little cargo freighter. The jump module of my ship the Caravel Boutique exploded and gave me a horrible case of whiplash that I can still somewhat feel, needed to be put in a med-bed with the help from my CATs. Then I had to board the larger ship Derringer which was infested with creatures known as Xouj, I found two survivors on that ship that have been stuck on it for a month and a half. I’m currently on Caravel Boutique using its navigations to direct the Derringer as it has taken quite a bit of damage. Do you need to know more than that?” After a pause Rarity decided to continue. “Now that I’m finally in the Quia System from what was supposed to be a two hour jump trip intercepted somehow with an interdiction field by pirates that knew my exact course, I just find out my business partner Miss Pommel is being beset by Ceantirs, Macropussians and someone I’m vaguely acquainted with. I just got off a call with my friend and I’m pretty sure her hotel has just been set on fire and she’s in danger. Also if you wouldn’t mind, I’m looking into claiming ownership of Derringer.” “Wait, did you just say Ceantirs? What’s the name of that hotel?” Seeing Lirutiy take a sudden interest in something she had to say, Rarity quickly rattled out the location of the hotel. “It’s in the city of Drixsto near Lake Terwa, on I believe… Pismo Street was it? It’s called the Galactic Gallop Hotel, it’s a pony owned chain of hotels on various friendly planets in the five systems we ponies are most common in.” There was a moment of silence as Rarity watched the Plurt gain a sudden look of panic, she turned away started talking excitedly about something on a different screen. After turning around and looking off to the side of the screen she looked back to Rarity and gave her a weak smile. “Thank you for your help, please continue your course. After docking Derringer, we will question the two survivors and have two investigation teams go through the ship to make sure what you say is accurate. Also send us a copy of any data involving the assault on your ship as that will be of importance to us.” Here officer Lirutiy didn’t sound so sure of something that she mostly muttered to herself. It was a little odd considering the Planetary Protection Patrol were usually on top of budding problems, especially in their own sections in space where they happen to be prevalent and it seemed that some things might have gotten by them judging by the disturbed expression on the friendly slugs face. “We will have to give your ship a once over first of all. It’s to make sure there is nothing illegal on it, but otherwise you can go straight to Ewesen after we clear you. It’s not recommended as there is currently a problem going on that we were not previously aware of until now. As for Derringer, you’ll have to wait a while for us to get a full investigation of it before you can be considered for ownership.” “Of course officer Lirutiy, we’ll continue course to dock Derringer with Geoptis. We’ll need a little help with that.” At that Rarity watched the slug on gain a thoughtful look before nodding; the screen went back to normal as the call ended. Now Rarity was looking at Opal licking at her armpit and she stopped and smiled in embarrassment. “Now what could possibly be going on down there on the planet that has her so worried? It’s none of my business; I’ll let the patrol do their jobs. I’m so glad I’m not some kind of action hero that would run off risking life and limb. Although I wouldn’t mind if a dashing stallion were to come and sweep me off my hooves in that kind of situation.” Getting up from her chair she trotted from the bridge of the Caravel Boutique to address the two eagle lions in the living area about the situation. She was a little worried how the griffons would take this news of impending incarceration. She walked into the room and found Greta lounging on her back on the floor with her wings spread out and Gilda was exercising. Considering how much time they spent in a zero gravity situation, the exercise Gilda was doing is probably highly warranted. Hearing a door open they both immediately looked to Rarity. “Okay, we’re not going to Ewesen; well that is to say you two aren’t going to Ewesen. Derringer will be docking at Geoptis Station and the local Planetary Protection Patrol will board it with two investigation teams and will have to take you in for questioning… are you two okay with that?” The mood Rarity received was something hopeful from Greta and Gilda looked slightly rebellious. “Once I get the go ahead, I’m still going to Ewesen to meet up with my friend. My friend somehow ended up near a firefight involving Ceantirs, Macropussians and a Dragon that I’m barely acquainted with.” “I’m sure things will be just fine with us, we’ve done nothing wrong and I’m sure we’ll be okay right Gilda? Besides we weren’t the ones that brought those dangerous monsters on board.” Greta flexed her wings slightly and looked a little nervous. “I’m more worried about Gilda since she’s never been good with authority figures. In any case when they give you the go ahead, just go. Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine. We’ve been through worse than questioning by the Planetary Protection Patrol.” “There’s obviously got to be some corruption mongst their ranks, there’s always a little of it somewhere and if someone is abusing their authority then you better believe I’m going to call them out on it Greta.” Going back to her exercises, Gild continued on with her thoughts. “At least I know I can trust you Rarity, because your way to squeamish about violence and way too generous with your intentions. As I said before, don’t get us killed if it’s your fault we’re in danger. Otherwise this is something we just have to do and we’ll be put into custody until then, hopefully no one will get any dumb ideas.” “So anything else we can do for you Captain Belle?” It was here that Greta received an unpleasant look from Gilda, most likely it was for her always positive upbeat attitude and willingness to assist. “Hey, don’t be like that Sky Child.” “Don’t call me that Greta, goodness knows she’s probably already on the station and waiting for me to appear. How does she even know where I’ll always end up?” After a moment Gilda realized she wasn’t alone with Greta and gave Rarity a panicked look. “Don’t tell her about that Greta!” “Tell me about what, who is she talking about Greta? I’ve not much more to talk about really aside from fashion, new ideas for suit designs with more various modifications and possibly places to sell my wares, but I believe that would just bore Gilda to tears.” For the short time she’s known them Rarity got along with Greta just fine, but she didn’t know much about Gilda who seemed to be a bit cynical about the Planetary Protection Patrol that were basically the space bound version of police. “Without saying her name, I can tell you she’s a member of the SNUGGLES organization and she somehow always ends up where Gilda does and she always calls her Sky Child. I think it’s cute that Gilda has an adorable stalker like that, but she won’t likely be on the station. There’s no possible way she could know we’d be there in the first place.” Gaining a smile on her beak, Greta giggled at the thought of Gilda’s stalker making an appearance. “Yeah what was I thinking, there’s no possible way she could have tracked us out here or be on the station even we didn’t even know we were going to end up at. We weren’t even heading towards the Quia System the last she probably heard from us… gee it has been a while since we were docked anywhere, this’ll be a good time to relax and enjoy the finer things in life. Like gravity for instance or a luxury like ice cream.” “She’ll be there, I just know it. She’ll be there and she’ll aggravate me to no end with her peaceful blessings and stuff like that. Why can’t she take a hint and just leave me alone?!” After yelling Gilda let out horribly loud eagle screech and went back to continuing her workout. Greta and Rarity had flinched slightly; they looked to each other and shrugged before Rarity took up a relaxing position in a chair to read an especially trashy romance novel. Rarity read it because it was like watching a train jumping its track and subsequently ramming its way through several buildings. The book was so bad; she just had to see how it ended for the pure sake of curiosity. Greta just stretched out and continued to lie on her back and stare at the ceiling. “Everyone we’re almost to Geoptis Station, we will be docking in the next ten minutes. Please keep your limbs attached to your bodies and be prepared for the triple P to board.” With that announcement Opal started prepping docking procedures. “Hopefully they’ll get rid of all the corpses on the bridge of the Derringer; otherwise they’d be a macabre if authentic Nightmare Night decoration. No one would be able to say they aren’t realistic.” “Opal, darling, that wasn’t in good taste.” At least Rarity had tried to keep her mind off such horrible things that happened to good people. Starting out she had no idea how dangerous space could get and now that she had a good taste of it in such a short amount of time, she wondered if it eventually got easier to get over taking a life. - Coco was running down a street and ducked into an alleyway; she pulled out her data pad and started a call to Sassy. Something was definitely wrong with this situation, why would anyone want to kill her? She did nothing worthy of attracting so much attention or scorn. She was just a mare with the special talent of creating accessories to already existing pieces of fashion; she had a specialty in making hats and was good at bringing designs made by others to life. “Yes… who is this?” The voice sounded rather sleepy, it was definitely Sassy Saddles voice. She was a mare with bright red almost orange mane with a bit of yellowish orange streaks to it and her fur was a nice cyan color, her orange eyes were a bit of an exotic color. Her cutie mark consisted of several crossed metal pins and she had a special talent for clothing and something else that was not very well known about her. She was a lithe and tall unicorn and attractive to many ponies, it was rather unfortunate that a med-bed incident happened to her. “Sassy, can you please tell me where you’re staying? I really need a place to stay for a while and I don’t know why, but I think I’m being hunted by mercenaries.” Hunted was the word for it, ever since she ran from the hotel the dragon, four super strong kangaroos with acrobatic abilities and a seemingly endless stream of Ceantirs have been rather close or positively on her tail ever since. “What kind of mercenaries.” The sudden sharp change in tone from Sassy had caused Coco to flinch. “Ceantirs, Macropussians and a Biped Dragon from Equus, please Sassy I’m scared. They set fire to the hotel I was in, then the blood, the screaming and severed body parts!” Poor Coco couldn’t handle the stress right now, she was practically blubbering. “I also recently learned that Rarity was attacked by pirates which is why she didn’t show up to an business appointment with me and everything’s really bad right now since she’s being held up by Planetary Protection Patrol.” “What! Coco where are you? Head towards the waterfront of Lake Terwa, go to the plaza that’s there.” Sassy was instantly up and out of bed grabbing several things, such as her favorite elegant looking black dress and saddle combo. She strapped something to her back while stuffing a few things into her dresses skirt. “I’m near there, so keep moving and be safe until then.” “O-Okay Sassy, please find me.” Hesitantly replied Coco who turned off her pad and darted out of the alleyway and dove behind a column as a bullet from a material rifle whizzed by her head and punctured a wall near her. - “Pirates attacked Rarity-sama and now mercenaries are trying to hurt Coco-chan. Well it is high time I stepped into the spotlight and let everyone see me on the catwalk of life!” Sassy looked at the column of smoke in the distance and hoped that Coco didn’t get hurt; she was swiftly out the front door of her place and on her way to the plaza to meet up with Miss Pommel. Author's Note -Species- Ceantir- Crab like in many ways,have hands inside of pincers and highly resilient to most forms of injury. Fire is a major weakness out of water. Violent and honorable mercenaries, they are not dangerous until paid a good price to be, otherwise neutral to all unless you are invading their home planet. Macropussian- A race that looks like average kangaroos with incredible physical strength and acrobatic abilities, unique known for fluffy heads and tails. Generally friendly with most other races. (Macropus is the genus for kangaroos.) Unicorn Pony- horned pony with incredible reality warping mystical abilities. Generally friendly, but with a rare tendency to be driven to madness by the power they wield. Earth Pony- pony with connections to nature, great physical prowess under duress and high resilience to sickness. Known to be good at cooking. Friendly to most other races. Plurt- Friendly slug species with great intelligence and leadership qualities. More friendly towards herbivorous beings like ponies. Pendaxon- Large five limbed frog like beings, mostly carnivorous and unfriendly.
-7-Rarity could see Geoptis Station in the distance. It was a massive space station that was near the closest moon of Ewesen, its size was enough to contain a huge city. The space station in fact did contain a large city inside of itself; as such it was capable of docking battle cruisers which were three times the size of Derringer. The city inside was one of commerce and trade, but most importantly the space station was used by the Planetary Protection Patrol to repair their ships and relax with some downtime. The space station could also be called a space colony given that it has enough civilians living on it and enough armaments to protect said citizens. “This is Rarity Belle, be advised life support on Derringer is compromised. Please take that into account when boarding.” Following procedure and making sure to warn of any complications, Rarity couldn’t think of much else to bother the incoming investigation teams with. “Acknowledged Miss Belle, we won’t want any accidents to happen on my watch. I’m sending only people I know I can trust and I will notify them they need EVA protection. Do the survivors have EVA protection?” Officer Lirutiy had popped up on screen again and was asking for reasons of a safe extraction. “Both survivors are currently aboard the Caravel Boutique in section one of the hangar of Derrigner, I made an EVA suit for one of them and the other has no EVA protection. They’ve both been stuck in a zero G environment for quite a while so take that into account with their health, they’ve had baths and one was recently in a med-bed for injuries caused by one or more of the Xouj they ended up consuming.” Having confirmed that Rarity sat back and stared at the massive space station that even Derringer looked quite small next to. Thanks to the space stations multiple long range sensors, the triple P had seen Derringer coming from a long way away and it was why Officer Lirutiy had hailed Rarity. She was in a commandeered military grade vessel after all and she could be easily suspected of piracy to soon be swiftly fired upon. The station had defense and weaponry emplacements all over to protect itself from any direction, alongside several light cruisers, destroyers, carriers and the like floating around to provide mobile protection to the station or other areas within the system if a threat becomes known. Each station always had at least one battle cruiser minimum in the area, battle cruisers were one of the largest classifications of ship around made specifically for the purposes of confronting incursions with extreme prejudice. Thinking of the space station as the ship slid forward into a position to dock, Rarity opened communications to the drone maintenance room that Gilda and Greta were currently busy in. “Greta, Gilda, we’re about to dock with Geoptis Station. Greta if you want to keep the EVA suit I suggest you put it on. I could use the advertisement so spread the word that I can make clothing and EVA suits, ones that will quite literally suit anyone. Also I’m getting a few ideas for how to make a nice EVA suit for Plurts that I can run by you later.” Continuing over the data of recent news on screen as she spoke to the two griffons from her seat on the bridge, Rarity saw that a bit of Drixsto was on fire at the moment and that had her worried for Miss Pommel’s safety. “I’m already wearing it, it fits nicely and it keeps things a comfortable temperature. We need to see about getting Gilda one of these, especially if the quality of the utilities is improved. I hope to be around to do that.” It sounded like Greta was happy with her EVA suit, then she spoke up sounding a bit shy. “Can I keep the saddle attachment? I might be able to work in a few new features on it.” “Of course dear, you can keep it even if we go our separate ways.” Rarity saw another pillar of fire rising from the city as the hovering news vehicle got an eyewitness account of a flaming crab creature finally falling to the ground. “I still have the other three spares that were given to me by my darling friend Coco Pommel; I do so hope she’s alright down there. The area that she’s in is currently going up in flames.” “Well we’re not going to be around Rarity for a while if at all Greta, so prepare your goodbyes. Also don’t you dare get too sappy Greta, especially if things don’t turn out how you want them to.” It sounded like Gilda was focusing on other things, some tinkering could be heard. “Now get you feathered butt over here and help me with this CAT already!” “Still, wouldn’t it be nice to have an EVA suit of your own Gilda? You could pilot fighters and eject to safety if someone was about to blow you up.” Greta didn’t get a response from Gilda since the Derringer had started shaking when the docking clamps finally attached themselves to the ship and secured a lockdown around the entrance. “Alright Opal, please try to stick to only working under my commands. It would simply be dreadful if they had to take you away.” Looking at the screen and away from the ceiling of the bridge, Rarity could see that Opal’s avatar was giving her a blank look. “Why I have no idea what you mean Ms. Belle, I am perfectly normal AI that follows orders and happen to be completely within the perimeters defined as an allowable artificial intelligent construct. I assure you the rampancy protections have not failed… Meowstress.” If that wasn’t a bold faced lie from Opal, Rarity might have actually believed it had she not seen the change in personality. Opal could actually sell it pretty well though, if only she could resist the dead giveaway that was her affectionate term for Rarity. Shaking her head, Rarity left the bridge of Caravel Boutique to go put her EVA suit on to meet the boarding team. CATs one and two would meet up with her as she exited the airlock. She worried about Coco, her poor dear friend was being chased or at least unlucky enough to look like she was. From all the fires Rarity surmised that at least the Ceantirs were having quite a bad day, the morbid thought that was added on to that was if they weren’t already dead. Energy weapons, unless specifically heat based, still took quite a few shots to set a Ceantir on fire and it could be just one that was set ablaze and stumbling through multiple buildings. - Coco continued to gallop away from the danger down the stone streets, Rarity had been late to their meeting and she now knew why. The buildings in Drixsto weren’t all tall metal and glass skyscrapers; they mostly had an old world charm of being partially made of stone with a Venetian design. Architects made the buildings as strong as possible with the aesthetic in mind; the buildings only looked old and were actually very sturdily constructed to last. If you wanted a huge city of metal and glass, then Geoptis was where you had to look for tall shiny buildings. When Coco came here, it was to study business and fashion. Having done that, she planned to make a joint effort with Rarity after they had become quick friends. She could have gone into business with a pony named Suri Polomare, but Rarity was much friendlier prospect and a generous kind hearted pony from her perspective. To think Rarity got held up by pirates and then the thing at the hotel started up with that armored dragon being blasted through the front door while being followed by various forms of projectiles, things were terrible. The violence has almost been following her. It probably wasn’t on purpose, but Coco Pommel was a paranoid enough mare and she was running down the street that would lead towards Drixsto’s Lakeside Plaza. She stopped at the end of the street and could see the water of Lake Terwa go on for a while; the lakes on this planet were enormous and beautifully sparkling wonders to look at in the right light. Hearing a grunt of pain from behind her, Coco looked back and watched as the dragon was rammed through a wall of stone and steel onto the street by a Ceantir. She admitted it really said something about the dragon that she was still putting up quite a brutal fight and had killed at least three Ceantirs outright without the use of fire. It even seemed like the dragon was actively avoiding using any fire around or even on them at all, she could have even just unleashed a blast of flames from her mouth and just be done with it. Despite Ceantirs having the size and weight advantage over that dragon, not to mention the Macropussians were faster if lacking regenerative properties and protective shells, she was still holding her own in a three way fight. What kind of grit did that take and why did Coco catch sight of the dragon looking her way every so often when they were within sight of one another? Too bad Coco couldn’t enjoy the view of the lake as she turned left and started galloping for the plaza with a bronze chunk polluted fountain sending multiple jets of water skywards. There were various species sitting around it, Pony, Plurt, a Macropussian and even a few Griffons loitering about the fountain. They were all looking at the foreboding amount of smoke rising into the air from where she just came from. Coco also saw a female Parascine, a pink jellyfish being with two round glowing blue nucleic eyes and a random number of tentacles to walk or manipulate things with, they were known to have either immunity or an incredible resilience to energy weapons. The jellyfish was talking to a Minotaur, a large buff looking masculine bull headed biped with thick strong arms leading to hands made for gripping and hauling things into the air. They too were starting to focus on the line smoke approaching the area and started running towards it each one pulling out a weapon as they did so; they were probably officers of the Planetary Protection Patrol. None of the people here mattered at the moment to Coco as she was searching for a bright reddish orange and blue coloring of her pony friend Sassy, a pony who she thought had a rather nice posh accent befitting of someone born in Canterlot. Coco was personally born in Manehatten, but she really liked Ewesen since she came here. The beaches of the lakes were near perfect year round on this planet and Coco loved the tropical climate and the delicious local fruits that went with it. Slowing down to catch her breath, Coco sat down on a bench to wait for Sassy Saddles or the moving battle to catch up with her. Carrying all her stuff around like this in her overly stuffed stylishly designed silver backpack shaped like a landing craft was tiring. From what she last heard of Sassy’s therapist, it sounded like she was making good headway into helping Sassy. Sassy was currently working as a sales manager and would hopefully not freak out if a male was in the same room as her now. It would be good to talk to Sassy again, she was quite a sweet mare before the incident and even after it she was still sweet if a little bit rough to anything of a masculine persuasion. “Well here you are Coco-chan, I’m glad to see you’re alright.” A giggle escaped Sassy’s lips as Coco jumped in fright and flopped off the bench onto her face painfully. She was now seated right next to where Coco had been, her mane had been put up into a thick ponytail and she looked over her cute friend. “Are you okay Coco-chan, do you need a hug?” The response to Sassy’s queries was to receive a bone crushing hug of the likes she had never experienced before in her life. It was amazing what being there for someone can do for them and she was here to protect Coco from the danger that seemed intent to follow her around. She looked off in the direction Coco had come running from with slightly narrowed eyes; nobody was going to hurt Coco-chan on her watch. - Ember’s last job went particularly well, she shut down a slavery ring before it could even get started and she blew open a slave trade conspiracy. The payoff would keep her fed for a while, but she still had work to do as she wouldn’t survive for more than a month on her expensive tastes in consuming gems and jewels. Dragons had to have expensive diets if they were to stay healthy; they actually needed more crunchy minerals in their diets than any other race. The Dragon’s current job wasn’t going quite as well as the previous one, as she was being roughed up quite badly and she had most likely spent half the fight on her back at this point when it came to dealing with the Ceantirs. Fighting like this certainly wasn’t good for her health, but she still had a job to do. Apparently someone paid through the nose to have ten Ceantirs attempt to take Ember out, and most certainly not for a friendly date. Someone obviously had a lot of money to throw around and they really didn’t appreciate Ember ‘Flamethrower’ McFlame ruining their operations. The Macropussians were fighting both the Ceantirs and her for entirely different reasons. Apparently the Macropussian gang was attacking the Ceantirs because there was something of a personal grudge between them and the Ceantir race; they were attacking Ember because they wanted the payout for her current job. The Macropussians were trying to steal her job by acquiring the information on it off of her cold dead corpse, which tended to happen to bounty hunters with a regular enough frequency as this kind of job was consistently hazardous. Though she didn’t personally didn’t partake in Bounty Jumping very much, it was a part of the job and sometimes desperation was a decent motivator to steal another’s bounty or job right out from under them. She held up her boxy material rifle that was as long as she was tall and was currently on her back once again; the Ceantir gripped the midsection of the rifle with its hand and soon clamped its claw down on the gun. It caused an incredibly loud clanging noise and this caused the Ceantir to reel back releasing its grip in shock and pain. It had not expected Ember’s gun to survive the crushing force of its claw much less come away from that without a scratch and cracking the claw in the attempt to split her weapon in half. Ember grunted as she swung the butt of her bulky rifle upwards into the Ceantir’s head as hard as she could and barely staggered it, allowing her to get up into a crouch. She pressed the butt of her rifle against her right shoulder, twitched her left hand on a specific part of the rifle to change the kind of ammo she was going to shoot and pulled the trigger with her right index claw. Fifty bits of low grade metal fired out of the material rifle at insane speeds for the five second burst she held the trigger down for, some of them actually punctured the carapace and forced the crabby cretin onto his back. It didn’t kill him and Ember didn’t believe he’d stay down for long. Getting up, Ember sighed to herself and shook her head as she stumbled away from the Ceantir using her rifle as a crutch to move. Her gold colored armor was heavily damaged and dented; it was going to take a lot of work and dragon breath to buff her armor back into shape. She was glad her personal weapon was built of sterner stuff than her armor was; she had a reliance on her rifle being able to take punishment alongside obviously dishing it out. Ember made her way into a nearby alleyway to lean against the wall, a Minotaur and Parascine moved past it to presumably detain the Ceantir she knocked over and the Macropussians that were still fighting down the street. She sighed with relief as they didn’t see her so she took the opportunity to rest a bit, after a few minutes she moved on out of the alleyway and went in the direction where she last saw her quarry heading. Said quarry was a rather cute earth pony that looked completely innocent of any wrong doing; she had a few things to talk to her about and had incidentally got her caught in the cross fire several times. She shouldered her custom made material rifle and pulled off her helmet to slowly walk away from the action whistling a slightly jaunty tune despite the number of injuries she was suffering from. She might have been upset about all those fires starting and the blazing inferno going on in several places behind her, but it was out of her claws now and she had business to attend to. She just knew someone was going to blame her for all the fire, but if she acted casual enough maybe they’ll believe her when she tells them she didn’t actually set fire to anything. Well except maybe that one Ceantir when she bisected into two completely cauterized halves with her weapons special function. Despite being a dragon, Ember didn’t want to watch any world burn. - “Okay ma’am you are cleared to keep the two extra CATs and even the broken MAT drone, you’re also cleared to leave with the Caravel Boutique. You must return within a week to continue placing claim on Derringer if you do decide to head down to the planet.” Officer Lirutiy was continuing to be a friendly if another straightforward member of her species, also highly safety conscious. “I’m not going to lie things are a bit of a mess down there, I suggest you stick around here and wait for things to calm down.” “I appreciated your candor Officer Lirutiy, but I’m still going to pick my friend up. I may be late in doing that, but I would still like to do it while she’s among the living. Please take care of my new acquaintances; I would very much like to hire them even if I don’t gain ownership of Derringer.” Everything was checked on Rarity’s ship by an investigation team and she was considered clear, the two teams were now going over the burnt remains of the Xouj and had already taken Greta and Gilda into custody on the station. The conversation with the investigation teams had been rather boring if informative for them in regards to the pirates that had attacked her. “My friend may have been caught up in that mess down there and as a good friend I want to make sure she’s okay. I also know another one of my friends is there as well, so I’m a bit more concerned now than ever. As such I respectfully request permission to launch; be a dear Opal and set course for Ewesen and patch me in to traffic control when we’re in orbit. Put us on approach for Drixsto’s spaceport.” “Affirmative, plotting course for Ewesen and prepping for a call to traffic control for an entry vector for the spaceport in Drixsto.” If one were looking they could see a sweating Opal on Rarity’s screen, the fluffy tailed cat was trying so hard not to say ‘Meowstress’ and she was biting her lower lip looking like she was about to positively scream the word. She had been doing so well when they had finished investigated her personally; she was going to literally virtually explode soon if she couldn’t say the word. “Against my better judgment, permission granted, team one access the overview room controls and open section one in the hangar. Caravel Boutique is clear and clean, close up after it’s out and continue with your investigation of the ship. I want to find out how the deceased crew got a Xouj infestation this bad.” With the commands given by Officer Lirutiy, the front of the Derringer opened up and the Caravel Boutique lifted off the floor to fly out through the atmosphere barrier leaving Derringer behind for Ewesen. “Good luck and don’t forget to get a new jump module for your ship! You won’t be able to get very far otherwise if the ownership claim doesn’t work out for you.” - “Coco-chan while I do appreciate your snuggling, please do get a hold of yourself. I’m not going anywhere” Sassy was gently running a hoof up and down Coco’s back and she was crying into the little black number that Sassy was wearing for the occasion. “I’m sorry Sassy; it’s been a while since I last saw you and Rarity really didn’t want to bother you while you were here.” The sniffling Coco leaned back to look Sassy in the eyes, the truth was Rarity would rather avoid Sassy if she could and Coco knew why. “You’re looking better.” “Thank you, I do try to hold myself up to some standards of beauty like Rarity-sama… and I’ve been better recently.” Sassy looked off into space for a bit before blinking and putting her focus back on Coco. “Do you think she’s looking for a sales manager who’s good at handling belligerent customers? I’m still freaked out by med-beds though, but I’m okay if I’m with some friends I can trust.” “Well I’m sure… hold on I’m getting a call.” Coco held up her left hoof to Sassy as she pulled her data pad out with her right. “Rarity, what’s going on?” “Oh thank goodness, I just got finished with the Planetary Protection Patrol detail that was assigned to investigating my ship and piracy claims. I’m coming down to the spaceport in Drixsto within the next ten minutes.” Alongside Rarity’s face a smiling cat appeared on Coco’s screen making her smile as well because she knew Opal was worried about her to. “If you could meet me there darling, then we can work on getting my ship a new jump module and talk over a bit of tea perhaps. Did you find Sassy okay and how are you doing dear?” “I’m here with Coco-chan right now. She’s having a bit of a rough day, but she’s okay in my care Rarity-sama. You can trust me to protect our little sister; we’ll meet you there at the spaceport.” All Sassy received was a nod from Rarity and the screen turned back to normal, she was quite happy to see Rarity again even if she wasn’t happy to see her. Standing up, she stretched out and held out a hoof to Coco, of which the cute pony took hesitantly. “I’m not a child you know.” Coco standing right next to Sassy looked like a child in comparison to their sizes. Sassy had a body like the famous pony super model Fleur De Lis, she personally thought that she looked average next to her Unicorn friend. “Of course not Coco-chan, but I would like to escort you personally to the spaceport to prevent anyone from accosting you.” Sassy’s assurance didn’t seem to make Coco feel any better as she walked forwards holding hooves with her friend. As they turned down the street leading to the spaceport to their left, a Macropussian dropped into their path a few feet from them creating a crater in the ground. “Speaking of accosting people, you two are not going anywhere.” Judging from the lack of pouch, the Macropussian was male and the fact that he was pointing two energy pistols at them didn’t seem to scare Sassy one bit. One would expect an Australian accent from this species; instead the Macropussian spoke with an accent befitting someone from Brooklyn. “You see I went to a lot of trouble today and I want to get some form of payoff, so you two are coming with me whether you like it or not.” Coco moved behind Sassy and looked at the fire that lit her eyes; she could tell this was going to somehow end poorly for the kangaroo given the lit horn. She finally saw a black pole like object resting across Sassy’s back and there was a magical glow around the tip of it. There was also a magical glow surrounding one of the edges of her skirt. “Oh are we now? I’d like to see you try, really I would, but I’m afraid I don’t play for that team anymore. If you were to force my friend into that kind of predicament I might just get ‘testy’ and rip off what makes you a Joey and leave you as a Jill.” She widened her stance and stood protectively in front of Coco. “There would be ‘little’ hope that you can be a Joey again unless cloning technology has gotten better about that sort of thing.” “I suppose you have something better than the stick you have your magic on, but I think I have the upper hand here Sheila and I’m not about to let you close enough to use your weapon.” The street had emptied quickly, not many were willing to come stop this Macropussian from taking the two ponies captive and bystander syndrome suddenly became a thing. “As it just so happens you are already within range of my weapon, lest we forget… I’m a Unicorn and we have quite a bit of range with wielding melee weapons.” Taking three steps forward Sassy created a silver flash that had the Macropussian jumping backwards, she raised a brow and watched as the front halves of his energy pistols fell off making them useless. “I’ll get you back for that, you fucking bi… ah!” The Macropussian threw away the useless pistols and went to jump only to grit his teeth in pain; he looked down and noticed a large object sticking out of the inside of his right thigh. It took some of his blood dripping onto the ground for it to sink in that he was in agony. “Oh dear, it seems I missed.” It looked like Sassy had stuck him with a large pin, like the small ones one would use in the making of clothing. “You’ll still be a Joey by the end of the day thanks to your fast reflexes, but I still stuck a pin in you. So you’re quite done for now.” The top half of round red sphere sticking out of the kangaroo’s inner thigh opened up and all four flaps clamped down on his leg digging itself in deeper, it revealed that inside the cherry red pin’s head was a coil of metal that started sparking with electricity. What happened next was the Macropussian going down due to the shocking amounts of pain he just received to the gonads and body. “Sassy, what in the world was that?” Coco poked her head from around Sassy’s rear end looking spooked at what her friend had just done, not only had she sliced through the guns but also inserted a weapon with near pinpoint accuracy into the kangaroo’s leg without him noticing it. “I’ve put myself through… let’s call it training. I have this kodachi made with some top quality metals, along with a few shock coil pins like that one hidden in my skirt.” Sassy looked away and reached out with her hoof towards Coco. “I just didn’t want to be helpless again, please don’t be hate me like Rarity-sama does.” “She doesn’t hate you.” Coco gently grasped her friends hoof and gave it a squeeze, they then started walking together. She now sadly understood just why Sassy wanted to hold hooves. She wasn’t trying to comfort Coco, she was silently crying out for help. Author's Note Parascine- Jellyfish beings that seem to gently float across the ground as they move on land with the tentacles their bodies can make. They come in green, pink and mauve. Most forms of energy weapons have little to absolutely no effect on them, even plasma weapons can do almost nothing to them. Only the upper portions of their bodies are see through, leaving their nucleic eyes visible. They are usually seen on planets with lots of water and some even have psychic abilities. They are omnivorous and eat things by slowly dissolving it in their bodies over time. While not warlike in nature, they can be quite dangerous despite their flimsy lightweight appearance. The most likeliest jobs you see them involved with usually has something to do with water and interacting with it. Minotaur- Humanoid upper torso with a bull head, lower torso consists of cow legs and tail. They can physically overpower Ceantirs and Macropussians, but are not very agile unless charging straight forward. Despite appearances they are entirely herbivorous if exceedingly prone to violence. The most unusual things about this race is the females, which are rarely ever seen and a male Minotaur can get together with an average Equestrian Cow. For every female Minotaur there is at least twenty males. They are usually in jobs the require heavy lifting, fighting or are a part of entertainment industry. Usually when it comes to entertainment they are really good wrestlers and boxers. They make good bouncers for night clubs.
-8-Ember sat on the rooftop with a pair of binoculars held up to her eyes in her left claw. She had her right hand on the trigger aiming it at the Macropussian, before he went down in a cascade of electricity that fried his body into a twitching unconscious mess that, disgustingly enough, peed itself. Sighing, the blue dragon stowed her material rifle on her back and was happy that she didn’t need to use up any more ammunition. She really didn’t want to resort to firing rocks again. Regular guns had premade bullets that were fired by chemical propulsion pads at the back of them that were activated by a hammer, said bullets were made to fit the barrel of the gun. Material weapons worked differently, given that they could fire unusual things such as rocks or marbles, which lead to one of the weirder things that have ever been shot from a material weapon being owl pellets. If it was effective, then nobody was going to say anything about the ammunition of choice of the user wielding a material weapon. Though scrap metal was always the preferable, popular and most importantly cheap ammunition of choice that you could just find lying around. “Let’s see, at least seven hundred rounds spent, at least five dead Ceantirs, two of them wounded enough to be captured, seven knocked out beaten and bloodied Macropussians, one Macropussian electrocuted into unconsciousness by an unknown factor and what do I have to show for all of it?” As she spoke Ember kept an eye on the mare taking the other mares outstretched hoof, it was adorable and the friendliness between them was making her blush. She hit a button on the binoculars to save the image. “A rather cute scene between those two I guess… I wonder what they‘re talking about. I should probably apologize to that mare for getting her caught up in all the crossfire. Wait… weren’t their ten Ceantirs? What happened to the other three? Oh coal! I knew I was forgetting something.” Diamonds were delicious to dragons, while inversely coal tasted horrible and yet they were practically made of the same thing. As such it was said that dragons had rather refined sense of taste, speaking of, Ember could go for a meal of sapphires and emeralds right about now given how her stomach grumbled. Standing up from her position on the rooftop Ember started looking around for any sign of the other three Ceantirs. The whole of the Macropussian gang was taken care of, but unaccounted loose ends always had a tendency of coming back to bite you. The pony princesses Luna and Celestia learned that lesson well enough the hard way and Ember was a very smart dragon to learn from their poor history of not taking care of things like that immediately when they had the chance to do so. Ember was probably the smartest dragon of her millennia and one of the few that went into space looking for adventure. Her race didn’t exactly care about expanding their horizons; some of the dragons her age were probably still idiotically bothering phoenixes back on the planetary home of Equus. Sometimes she actually did miss her volcanic home; she was going to miss the migration again like she did every year. It had never bothered her before since she was an independent and strong dragon, so this time wasn’t any different. For now she had Ceantirs to hunt down before she could safely talk to that earth pony, she’d track her down later after she was finished. - The last time Rarity had sleep was when she was knocked unconscious by whiplash, as such it wasn’t a surprise that when she yawned Opal gave her a flat look that said a lot about needing to take care of her own needs. One of those needs were a nice snack and plenty of rest, she already freshened up in a shower and spent ten minutes to make sure her hair looked perfect. “You really need a good long rest Meowstress... in any case we’re coming in for a landing at hangar seven of Drixsto’s spaceport. Welcome to Ewesen the shining lake planet Rarity, I heard they have some really good ice fishing spots on this world with really tasty fish here. Oh to have a sense of actual taste and not the abstract kind that you gave me.” Appearing on screen, Opal stretched out and lay lazily on her side propping her chin up on a paw as her pink hair flowed down to pool on an invisible floor at the bottom of the screen. “After you get a snack and some tea in you, you’re going straight to bed in the living quarters. No butts about it, we’re not lifting off until we have a new jump module installed and you’re rested. So that’ll take a bit of work given you like to haggle. So while you’re busy haggling with me about how much sleep you need, you can go get your friends to start working on our income. While J modules aren’t expensive, they aren’t exactly cheap either given our current lack of funds.” “Yes, well, at least we know Coco is okay, the poor dear getting stuck near a firefight and having portions of the city being set ablaze around her must not have done her any favors mentally. I’m still mentally disturbed about killing something and I should probably look into Sassy’s therapist about all of it for the both of us.” Pulling out a mirror Rarity looked at her reflection with a smile, she still looked good despite needing some sleep. “Right then, anything I need to know about customs for this planet?” “Yeah, one thing, don’t throw trash in the lakes. The Parascine that live here have psychic powers and they will make sure the world stays clean and green, most likely with force if necessary. So be mindful of how you dispose of trash around here Meowstress.” Opal showed a member of the jellyfish race on screen and it was holding a sign that said, ‘don’t pollute or you’ll get the boot’. “Apparently the local ones like a Minotaur named Iron Will. They are big fans because he’s good at strengthening their willpowers so they can utilize their psychic powers better. You’d expect Iron Will to have psychic powers himself, but he doesn’t… what he’s really good at is stopping mind intrusions and is practically immune to mind control from both magic and psychics. Think of all the incredible things you can do when you put your biological mind to it, dresses unlimited!” “Opal I think you’re getting a little off track… I’m standing outside the ship and you didn’t even notice. Please perform the necessary operations to lock up Opal and deploy CAT one under rudimentary control should I need it to carry something for me. You’re staying in the ship darling.” If it were anyone else Rarity would have said they were really odd, her AI was just being herself and Opal really liked the concept of self when expressed through things such as willpower or friendship. She tended to watch motivational speakers, magician acts, cheesy cartoons and anime when she got the time to do so and now was one of those times. “I’ll be out for a quick snack and then I’ll be right back okay?” “Right, deploying CAT one, remember it’ll only follow simple commands. Basic stuff of the likes of medical scans, area scans, holding something or operating something, but you’d have to tell it what to do exactly when it’s operating something. Remember rudimentary control is not an AI like me, but an overly simplistic program. I’m connecting to Coco’s data pad and it’s near the west entrances, they’re waiting for you.” Rarity nodded to her floating data pad held in her magic and stowed it away in her saddlebags, turning to the ship the cargo ramp lowered slightly and let out CAT-1 which came over to hover next to Rarity. “CAT one follow me please.” The CAT chirruped at Rarity’s command as she turned around and started trotting away with the robot hovering behind her. - “Come on Sassy, talk to me.” Coco was sitting outside the spaceport with Sassy who looked rather glum; they were waiting for Rarity to show up. Opal pretty much confirmed she was coming to them and that they’d go out together for a nice outing, provided nobody else had the predilection for shooting at ponies. “All it would have taken was fifteen degrees up and a quarter of a foot forward, three inches.” Seeing the questioning look she was receiving Sassy elaborated on what she meant. “I wanted to kill him. If I had angled the blade fifteen degrees upwards and moved it out by a quarter of a foot, then the tip of my blade would have gone through his jugular and hit an artery. He’d have been dead within minutes and it would have been so easy.” Coco looked a little alarmed at the admission, she thought Sassy was a bit fragile mentally and hearing her say something like that sent up a few yellow flags in her mind. Despite Sassy’s depressive mood Coco hugged her tightly anyway, Miss Pommel didn’t like the idea of her friend becoming a volatile psychotic and wanted her to be okay. “It’ll be okay Sassy; we can probably talk to your therapist about this, does she know you’ve been… training? It seems like you can swing that thing really fast, it almost looked like you never pulled it out.” To be fair Coco was a little impressed with her friend’s skill with the blade, if it wasn’t so daunting a thing to know that her friend was training to lethally defend herself. Apparently she hadn’t told her therapist about her training, given how she quietly looking away and winced. “Look if you have to kill someone or something, then at least make sure to do it for the right reason and not because they’re male. I’m here for you and I’m sure Rarity will be too.” “What happened still haunts me and how do you even think that Rarity-sama will be able to even look at me after...” Sassy stopped talking when another pair of hooves wrapped around her neck and then received a gentle if brief nuzzle. “It’s okay Sassy, I forgive you. Sorry darling, it just looks like you were having another mental breakdown and could really use a generous touch. How about we all talk over some tea and snacks, then maybe you can introduce me to your therapist.” Rarity pulled away as did Coco who looked happy to see her, Sassy stiffened and had an undefined expression on her face. “I’ve had quite an adventure and I’m so glad to put it all behind me, I’ve got my whole life ahead of me… provided I don’t nearly get myself killed again.” Sassy immediately panicked and started tapping and poking Rarity’s body causing her to grunt a little when the taller pony found the sore spots on her neck. “Who gave you these bruises?” It didn’t take long for Sassy to find the whiplash bruises under Rarity’s fur; they were healing nicely and were only visible if you actually looked for them. Her voice jumped straight to an accusatory tone as she knew Rarity wanted to eventually find a nice stallion. She’d maul anyone who’d dare hurt or abuse Rarity-sama. It was Rarity who had saved Sassy from being continually abused in a med-bed; she called the authorities and even came personally to pull her out of the med-bed she was strapped into. Thankfully there was justice in the universe concerning the fact that the criminal was given to Princess Celestia’s custody where she was allowed to judge and sentence him, plus the prosecutor was a female pony named Just Cause who made sure the punishment was quite severe. Even then it didn’t help heal Sassy’s traumatized mind of the event. “It’s good to see you’re doing better Sassy, though not entirely all too well apparently. Unfortunately for me I ran afoul of some space pirates and got some injuries in the process. It involved the gravity generator and my ships jump module getting hit by a lucky shot fired by one of the three pirate cruisers.” Rarity paused and looked to Coco. “Then I’ve had the dreadful misfortune to find a ship to get me the rest of the way here and its swarming with monsters. You know the kind of monsters that Mr. Gitonir is always telling me about Coco, they are very much real and I had to kill one or else get my head bitten off. Aside from the bruises I’m fine otherwise, really.” “Are you sure you’re alright Rarity-sama?” Sassy’s cold fury turned to incredible concern in an instant. “Also who is Mr. Gitonir and what is his background?” “He’s a Plurt and a friend of mine who lives on Desserzon, happily married as well. I just need some sleep since I’m tired from how horrible my trip has turned out to be.” Now it was Rarity’s turn to receive hugs, ponies weren’t known for violence and or killing things. It was nice to take in the comforting touches of two friends, she graciously accepted them and it felt better that she personally forgave Sassy for being a bit too crazy in the past. Pulling back from both of them she pulled out her data pad. “Just making sure Opal is okay. Come now Coco, you know the area best. Where can we find a nice spot of tea and snacks?” Coco gave it some thought and motioned for them to follow her when she thought of a nice place outdoors to spend some time at. The firefight would slowly become a forgotten memory and eventually a nightmare that peters out of existence. Speaking of, the firefighters were just about done with the fires from that fight as well. - “So you are now friends with two griffons and they’ll take a contract with you if you gain ownership of that ship that has the hangar they want to work out of?” The three were at a nice outdoor café; Coco in particular liked the imported chamomile they served and a few scones to go with it. This café was a quiet and down to earth place with a spectacular view of Lake Terwa. “Yes, well, Greta is actually quite nice to work with and really has a positive outlook on things. Gilda is a bit grumpy and rude, but I can see that she has a good heart. Greta’s technical expertise has helped me with thinking of a few new functions to add to the EVA suits that we can design Coco; she’s exceptionally good at installing utilities without ruining the structural integrity of the suits. EVA suits definitely require function over form.” Pausing to take a sip of tea, Rarity looked at the beautiful scenery of the sparkling lake that the café up on a hillside overlooked. In the distance something exploded and a column smoke started rising into the sky. It was nowhere near them so she didn’t bother with worrying about it as several firefighting vehicles were already flying off in that direction. “The view is simply breathtaking, aside from the explosion that is. Is everything okay Sassy? You haven’t touched your snack.” “Yeah, I’m fine. I just… can I come with you two? I’m a good sales manager, among other things.” Sassy moved to take a nibble of her brownie and leaned back, she looked away from Rarity. “Also I would like to commission and pay for an EVA suit of my own, do you think you can add a skirt to it?” “Why of course you can come with us darling, but you’ll have to clear it with your therapist and introduce her to me. I’m too tired right now to start on an EVA suit right now, but I’ll get to it once you come over to my ship after I’ve had a good nights sleep.” Rarity took a bite out of the locally grown fruit from the platter she ordered and found it had a nice tangy sweetness to it, almost like a peach. She took out her data pad and started magically tapping out things before passing it over to Sassy’s magic. “I can see why you like this planet Coco, the local flavor is divine. Now Sassy, what did you want your EVA suit to be equipped with besides the basics and what color do you want it in. We can also add any decals or images that you like to it that you might have in mind. What you see before you is a current list of utilities that Coco and I can put into the suit.” “Well the two of you need to start somewhere; I may as well be your first paying customer. I want an EVA suit with black and gold colors, this design on it in this spot and these utilities. I also want the skirt to have pockets I can put stuff into.” Sassy started tapping out a few things before passing the pad back to Rarity who looked it over. “You can work in anything else you might like to add or think might be useful to me. I would also like to add an order for a red dress kimono with purple colored roses on it.” “Would you like ornamental hair sticks to go with that order? It’s free of charge.” Rarity thought Sassy’s hair was nice down or up, she was still a stunningly beautiful mare even given what happened to her. Too bad no man would ever touch her again without a threat to their lives. “Yes please.” Sassy squeaked out and continued to quietly eat her brownie as Rarity smiled at her, the smile left her with a warm feeling in her chest that Rarity was still willing to be her friend. “Then it’s settled, I’ll get to work on it tomorrow. Come by my ship in hangar seven, me and Coco can get to work on it in the Caravel Boutique. Now tell me about this therapist of yours, this Miss Shy that I’ve heard about.” Staying calm and collected, Rarity looked between Sassy and Coco. “Coco and I could use her services as well.” “Well Fluttershy… she’s a really gorgeous mare, long pink hair, buttery yellow fur and has a voice that is so sweet and relaxing along with those bright blue eyes. She’s probably the best therapist I have ever met, plus she’s exceedingly good with animals and likes to care for and raise a lot of them. She is the epitome of kindness and really attractive.” Sassy had a blush going throughout her face as she quickly sipped some tea, it had both Rarity and Coco looking at her with curious expressions as she coughed in embarrassment. “Unfortunately she’s not on planet at the moment; she’s up at Geoptis meeting a friend of hers. It was something about introducing her to someone called Sky Child, in any case Fluttershy is the friendliest if shyest SNUGGLES member you’ll ever meet.” Rarity was about to take a sip of tea when she heard this and stopped, she wondered if Gilda met the one who called her Sky Child yet, much less Miss Shy. It had her wondering what the look on the griffons face would be and she tittered lightly at the thought. SNUGGLES was an organization entirely built around finding a good friend, companion and or buddy, their services primarily focused on giving mental and physical aid to those who think they are completely broken. The organization has certainly done wonders for Sassy Saddles and even if you weren’t mentally or physically broken their members were good at massage or other various forms of relaxation. Which led to Rarity frequenting the spas that were SNUGGLES owned and operated. As the name SNUGGLES suggested, there was a lot of cuddling involved if you needed it. Fluttershy sounded like quite the charming mare to have acquired Sassy’s interest, given Fluttershy helped her immensely when she was being a lot less sane probably helped. “Do go on dear; it seems as if you are particularly friendly with this lady.” Watching as her friend tried to find the right words to say at this moment, Rarity sat back and bit into another fruit and smiled a little bit wider. “When can we set up an appointment for me and Coco to meet this mare that you sound rather familiar with?” Sassy continued floundering for the next minute trying to deny her interest in the mare; her face was getting so red it could match the color of one of the fruits on Rarity’s platter. - “Hey you two, you have two visitors.” The five to six foot tall thin being that addressed Gilda and Greta was a human; they were wild cards of great intelligence and impossible stupidity. While humans could be quite cunning at times and overall highly inventive, most species didn’t understand their sometimes odd fixation with waxing, shaving or removing the natural hair off of specific parts of their bodies. This one had a head covered in short brown hair and a beard, two arms ending in four fingers and a thumb connected to his upper torso and his long legs that ended in five toes were connected to his lower. As to his clothing he was wearing a Planetary Protection Patrol uniform and what had to be a matter of personal taste, green boots. “How are you two holding up?” Humans were really strange omnivores that did really odd things like worry about two griffons they didn’t know a single thing about. There weren’t many of them around where the Equon system was, though a majority of their species enjoyed spending time cuddling with ponies. “We’re doing fine Mr. Strag. Who are the two visitors, is it anyone we know?” As Greta assured the human while she exercised on the bench she took up with a bright cheerful demeanor, a grumpy Gilda cross her arms and grumbled something under her breath as she continued to lazily stretch her body out on the floor of the triple P’s holding room. “Well one of them certainly knows you, okay you two come on in.” The human waved the two visitors over and Greta stopped exercising when she saw who one of the visitors was. In fact Gilda, hearing Greta flop down to the floor next to her, sat up and took notice. There stood a familiar green mare, with red mane in natural looking thick dreadlocks and the symbol of a tree with a heart shaped out of its leaves on her flank. Her soft purple eyes were already focused on Gilda. “Hello Sky Child, I’m happy to see you survived your endeavors. I bring blessings to you and to Ever Cheerful again.” It was a mare named Tree Hugger, one of Gilda’s worst nightmares since she set out for space. Gilda’s adverse reaction was to ignore the other pony and slam her back against the far wall while clawing at it like a cornered beast as Tree Hugger approached in a lazy lackadaisical manner towards her. The mare gave the panicked griffon a gentle hug before kissing her cheek. “Sky Child, know the big sky loves you as much as you love her. I’m assured you two will meet in a beautiful ballet of bright lights eventually.” Tree Hugger solemnly intoned as she snuggled against Gilda who was clearly having a panic attack. “Peace Sky Child, why do you always treat me like an ill omen? I am of the earth and you are the sky, we are meant to work in concert as friends.” “Um… Tree Hugger, I think she doesn’t like you hugging her like that o-or kissing her either.” The mare known as Fluttershy squeaked shyly as Greta dove behind her, the griffon was shivering in fear. “H-h-how long have you been on Geoptis Station?” The green mare was just plain scary to Greta and here she thought she was joking about her making an appearance. “I have been in the area for two months communing with the nature of Ewesen when given the opportunity. He is a very nice planet; he speaks of the heroic Parascine that keeps his waters clean and healthy, he provides a strong positive environment for all visitors who would bask in his beauty. Please do little to pollute him for he is like a friend to all, unless they prove to be careless with his body.” There was something to be said about Tree Hugger’s sanity, considering she always speaks of talking to and communicating with planets while she’s on or near them. “He would ask you to visit him Sky Child, your friend The Maker is already communing with her friends Reviving Spirit and Sheep Wolf.” “You… you’ve been waiting here for us haven’t you?” Greta didn’t know whether or not she wanted to understand all the crazy things the mare spoke of, after Tree Hugger kissed Gilda’s cheek again the small smile below the two calm half lidded eyes Greta received spoke volumes. The mare was quite perfectly aware of how insane she came off as to others. Greta clearly remembered what happened when Gilda attacked her for being so annoying and it didn’t end to well for her, which is why her feathered friend was still panicking, sweating profusely and sitting dead still in Tree’s hooves. “I do many things. One of which is to make sure Sky Child will be able to perform, for the big sky loves her dearly and is sad she has yet to do so.” Tree Hugger snuggled her head against the right crook of the frozen griffon’s neck, while Fluttershy just tilted her head at the odd situation. “Come closer Soul Judger my great friend Fluttershy; this is Sky Child.” It left Fluttershy wondering why the griffon wasn’t forcing Tree Hugger off of herself if she didn’t like the proximity of her friend cuddling up to her, the griffon obviously had to be stronger than her right? - “CAT one carry me, follow designation Coco.” Rarity yawned again and she looked ready to collapse, until the CAT lifted her onto its body with the two manipulator arms. It caused a small problem for the machine as Rarity came close to exceeding its weight tolerance. She tiredly pulled out her data pad and held it out to the cute mare walking along next to her slowly waning eyes. “Coco, please be a darling and call Opal and have her put me in bed with my sleeping mask on.” “Of course Rarity, Sassy are you going to stay on the ship with us?” Coco looked to the mare that had her inexorably worried. “No, I’ve got some things I need to take care of first, have Opal watch for me just in case.” Turning away from the two, Sassy started heading towards where she lived. Author's Note The slowly dying computer that has a tendency to overheat and mess up my fixing of a chapter or playing copious amounts of Monster Hunters Generations. Those are my current excuses for slow chapter posting.
-10-“I’m sorry, but you seem a little… off… for a SNUGGLES member that is. I wanted you for psychological help and possibly your massage skill, plus I don’t know if I can actually afford to pay you.” If Rarity were to be honest, the distraught Vera she was holding needed help more than she did. “Doesn’t matter, my sisters are usually the ones that end up paying me since I’m usually forgotten by that point… this is actually a rare thing for me. Can you imagine how horrible my life is? I can’t cross a road safely, advanced technology ignores me when I try to use it and automatic doors don’t open as I walk up to them.” Vera slowly pulled away from the first pony to pay attention to her in a while and then she continued. She reached into her saddlebags with a hoof and pulled out a photo album, she had a whole page devoted to each situation. “Heck I even have pictures of how bad the ignore effect I have is. This is when I graduated from school, this one is when I was able to just walk by Celestia’s guards to get a meeting with her and then there’s this time when I tried being crazy to get noticed.” “Did you really do all that?” Rarity’s eyes widened at each subsequent picture, because it seemed that Vera escalated the things she did to get noticed. “Yes, aside from my family Celestia was the only one to notice me at a distance out of my entire album. She said she was sorry that she couldn’t help me with whatever was causing me to be universally ignored, only that what was going on with me was beyond even her to fix. At least she could look directly at me. Besides someone else got blamed and arrested for the third incident even though that was all me.” Vera Blossom sounded both irate and sad at this moment; Rarity gave her an understanding look and a few pats on the back. “Yeah, this is just a part of my life.” “There there, it’ll be okay.” It felt a bit silly for Rarity to be soothing the soother. “I’m sorry to ask this, but did Aloe or Lotus reference me to you? My sisters have tried to find someone other than an alicorn or family that can actually notice me and you’re the first I’ve seen that can do so.” This was a question that Vera looked rather interested in learning the answer to. “Actually it was a mare named Tree Hugger, she referenced me to you. Do you know her?” Having the idea to look at her friends, Rarity could see Sassy and Coco still talking as if Vera had never entered the room. She turned back to Vera who looked at her worriedly and Rarity tilted her head at her while raising a brow. “What? I’m not ignoring you, I was curious as to what my friends were talking about.” “Thank goodness, for a second there I thought that you were going to start ignoring me. Anyway, yes, I do know of Tree Hugger, but I’ve never met her personally. She’s said to be one of the craziest mares of SNUGGLES that spends a lot of time chasing after some griffon in an affectionate manner.” Vera looked at the ceiling. “My sisters said that the griffon was rumored to have even attacked her once, but after that the griffon was just seen as being plain terrified of her and she wasn’t afraid of the griffon at all. Don’t know much more than that, though it is interesting that another pony can acknowledge that I exist long enough to have me meet another pony that can see me. Anyway I’ll show you what I can do for free, if you’ll let me stay onboard your ship for a while. I was especially surprised that it even opened up for me.” “It wasn’t easy you know! My sensors are actively trying to slide right off of you!” Opal yelled as she had been trying to keep her attention solely focused on the mare that walked aboard the ship, if she were to look away for even an instant, she’d lose Vera on the sensors. Rarity’s safety and security mattered to her. “It’s rather aggravating really.” “Wouldn’t be the first time an AI has had problems around me.” Vera spoke blandly as she turned to the album Rarity was levitating. “Page eighteen in my album.” Flipping over to the page it showed Vera trying to talk to an AI and the avatar on the screen looking horribly confused. Rarity looked through all the other pictures and she began to sputter in disbelief at what she was seeing, she just couldn’t put any of the other incidents into words. “Anyway, I’ll help melt all your cares away quite easily. Tell me what’s wrong, that’s what you called my sisters and asked for me personally for isn’t it?” Vera sounded slightly bitter about life at this moment. “The call went to my sisters, I can’t own a data pad because it would ignore my inputs. Again I can’t work technology that is not overly simplified for my use, but at least I’m the best damn masseuse you’ll ever meet.” “I guess it couldn’t hurt, come on I’ll take you up on your offer in the living area so I can talk out my issues. Oh… right excuse me for a moment. Sassy can I get to work on your kimono after I’m done getting a massage?” She earned both the mares attention and they didn’t even glance at Vera standing right next to here. “Oh, so you’re going to the spa, can we join you?” Sassy asked nonchalantly as if Vera wasn’t standing right next to her clearly in plain view. “No I was going to have Vera here…” As soon as Rarity pointed out Vera the reaction was immediate. “Ah, where did she come from?” Coco asked before cowering behind Sassy who looked just as spooked. “What the, where in the hell did that pony come from! She wasn’t there a second ago, who sent you!” That was an odd reaction to have upon noticing Vera was in the room, considering she walked by both of them to meet Rarity. “She’s the member of SNUGGLES me and Coco wanted to hire for a session or two.” Rarity smiled at the fact that Coco and Sassy finally noticed she was there. “Oh neat… wait a minute, where did that mare go!” Now Sassy was looking all around the room and Vera hadn’t even moved a single inch, making Rarity worry about her eyesight. “Don’t worry about it Rarity, this happens to me all the time. I can be pointed out to others, but the second they look away or blink they ignore that I exist again.” The dry tone did not hide the sorrow in Vera’s voice. “Don’t worry about that, she’s right there.” Rarity pointing out Vera again made both Coco and Sassy jump as if they had seen a ghost. “Really now, is this seriously happening? She’s a new acquaintance and I was hoping we could all be friends.” “Holy crap what kind of stealth technology are you using! I know for a fact that…” There was something suspicious in the way Sassy worded that last bit and she quickly said something else, she wasn’t blinking and was trying to keep Vera in sight. “Er, I mean how did you turn invisible like that?” “I don’t turn invisible, I get ignored. Why the very second you blink I’ll be impossible for you to pay attention to anyway.” Rolling her eyes, Vera sighed loudly and turned around towards the door but stayed where she was. “Just follow Rarity to the living area and I’ll see to it that all of you are treated to the best of my abilities.” Blinking Sassy could no longer see Vera like she said and she even knew that the mare was still standing right next to Rarity; it was causing her to freak out slightly. “Rarity I don’t want to alarm you, but I think you’re ship might be haunted.” Even then Sassy followed a huffing Rarity towards the living quarters. “Honestly is what you have really that bad Vera?” Asked Rarity as they entered the living space, she couldn’t believe that her friends couldn’t see Vera who was quite a striking mare to look at. The pictures in the album told her a million words though; this affliction was quite real and very much a serious matter for Vera. She wondered how many times Vera almost got run over considering she had various pictures of traffic accidents in the album which she passed back to the earth pony masseuse. “Yes, it’s that bad and I don’t even know what I have or what it is. I just know what it does, unless I’m making strong physical contact with someone or I’m being pointed out, I’m completely and utterly ignored by almost anything. The one bright side to all this is that flying insects never bother me.” Vera pointed to the mat and Rarity nodded. Rarity moved to start lying on it as she pointed a hoof at Vera making Coco and Sassy jump again. “Aside from making contact, accidentally pointing to me surprisingly works in making me appear to others.” “So pointing at you or making contact with you is the only ways to make you visible to others? That’s… I can’t even find the right words for it; I almost lost the ability to even remember who you are!” Sassy pointed a hoof at Vera to make sure she stayed visible. “You have no idea how freaky it is to not even see or hear you until Rarity pointed at you.” “Eh, I got used to this curse… or is it a double edged boon? In either case it has it has its own particular ups and downs, since you two don’t know, I’m easily ignored by almost everyone and everything I meet.” Vera moved to start pushing down on Rarity’s back. “Doesn’t explain how Rarity could pay attention to me.” “She can see the beauty in things and has a keen eye for detail, she also has a really nifty gem and crystal finding spell that she used on Desserzon a lot.” Coco was a little scared of a mare that could disappear from sight at the drop of a hat like that, mostly because if the hat distracted you then you’d lose sight of her. “Yes maybe her special talent counteracts my problem; I’ll probably eventually end up married to a detective pony that can see through it at this rate.” Saying the word ‘detective’ caused Vera to thoughtfully pause as she began to knead Rarity’s back eliciting moans from the mare. “Wait… if I’ve never met this Tree Hugger mare, then how did she even know about me? Aloe and Lotus never said anything about knowing her personally. Wow, there’s a lot of tension in you Rarity, so how does it feel when I do something like this?” - A scream of pleasure erupted from the Caravel Boutique, Vera was an expert masseuse and Rarity was probably embarrassed that it took so little effort to get her to scream passionately like that. “Sounds like someone’s having a lot of fun today, wish I could say the same if I weren’t dragging a nearly five hundred pound corpse full of holes around. I still have to find out where that earth pony went to after this.” Ember muttered as she continued to drag the larger dead body of the second Ceantir she found through the spaceport to dispose of it and collect the bounty posted on them. They were found to be on the planet illegally after all and receiving some payment from hunting her hunters was a way to make up for all the ammo she had been expending recently. The first Ceantir she hunted down had violently exploded like a bomb, but she still got paid for it. That Ceantir exploded because she ended up heating it up way too much all at once. Ember ‘Flamethrower’ Mcflame the blue scaled dragon had learned her lesson about superheating Ceantirs and would never want to do so again, it was both messy and the smell wasn’t going to come out of her armor. Goodness knows she tried to get the smell off her armor with her fire breath and only a dip in lava would likely be able to do it now, but that would destroy her shoddily made protective gear that had gained something akin sentimental value even if it smelled like hell at the moment. The last Ceantir out to assassinate her has still yet to be found, but after the taking out her second target having one left was making her somewhat happy to almost be done with them. She finished dragging the second Ceantir she hunted down the rest of the way to the bounty counter where she pointed at the corpse that took her forever to drag there. “Right, I just had to be the closest counter for you to come to with that, one of the Ceantirs that snuck onto the planet I assume. You probably know the drill already given your general haggard appearance and roughed up and smelly armor. Name, occupation and bank account residence, also do you have permit for wielding such a nasty big looking weapon like that?” The short haired female brunette human at the counter hit a button to call a take away team for the corpse, she pinched her nose since the smell was as bad as Ember thought it was. “Ember Mcflame, freelance bounty hunter, Equestrian Galactic Banking and yes my custom built material rifle has a permit. I have a hobby of developing weapons that I never build… except for the one I currently have on me.” Ember idly ran her right hand along the boxy rifle on her back that she could use to bludgeon, slice or shoot people to death with, it was her baby and it could survive just about anything. Her rifle had yet to fail her in combat and had never backfired on her like some material rifles might do on occasion. “Oh, you’re Flamethrower aren’t you? Well if you were looking to set some buildings on fire, then you’re a bit too late as it seems like someone got to it before you did!” The human started laughing at her own joke and Ember sighed while rolling her eyes. “Can you not call me that? Get on with transferring the funds into my account; I have bounties to seek. Oh and can you tell me how many Ceantirs are left? ” Getting a little snappy at this annoying bounty payout clerk was not going to make Embers business here any quicker; she knew she still had one Ceantir to bring down. If they didn’t know she was indirectly responsible for some of those fires starting, then it was best she didn’t correct anyone about it. “Huh, and here I thought you’d see that title as a mark of pride being a dragon and all, guess not then. Alright, funds transferred, there’s one left and if you can get him to any bounty payoff point alive then you can get a bigger payout.” The human looked at Ember with something approaching amusement. “Though judging by the problem you had with just this one, I’m sure dead is preferable because they are pretty tough bastards.” “Yeah, I’m going to go with dead, much easier than having them alive to possibly cause more damage or accidentally get more people caught in the crossfire.” Especially when they were trying to hunt you down personally, Ember had added that part silently as she turned and walked away from the counter. It was about time Ember checked on her ammo situation. As she walked through the door and out into the night of this world, she found herself running low on all the good stuff to shoot at some really tough guys that refused to go down without a fight. “Yeah that figures, one thousand three hundred rounds into taking down nine Ceantirs and wounding multiple Macropussians and even I would start to running dry after all that, rocks it is then. Hmm… what’s this?” Ember pulled out a worn data pad as it vibrated slightly meaning she got an alert or a ping; it had to been constructed with her physiology in mind to be heat resistant. Didn’t entirely work, but it was still there being the epitome of data pads that had survived her rather warm body. Hitting the button to take the incoming message, Ember found out it was a call for all privateers, bounty hunters and or armed civilians to aid against a MOM class planet infester. Well now Ember had a time limit to finish her business with, she’d help out with something like that as she had the particular skills to deal with planet infesters. Which was fire and lot’s of it. “Thank goodness Equus is well protected from that kind of invasion, goodness knows Celestia is scary when she took one of them out with her sun when whatever they are tried to infest our planet.” After reading the briefing over, she found that it would take several days to arrive and the triple P were already in the process getting ready to intercept it away from the planet two days out. Prime time for pirates to take opportunity of the Planetary Protection Patrol being away from the planet, at least Geoptis Station would still be around to provide protection but the space station was practically a well armed tortoise for all the speed it could move with. “This is going to be a long night.” Ember lamented as she started looking around for some good rocks to load her gun with. - “This is going to be a long night. I wish you didn’t have that problem of yours so I could get to know you better.” Sassy intoned even as she gave off a sigh of pleasure, she wondered if Vera was dating anybody. Then again it would be rather hard to date a mare that was so easy to ignore when she was not in contact with your body or being pointed at by someone. Rarity was already getting started on the kimono Sassy wanted, which Sassy knew was going to be a real top quality piece of beautiful work that she’d be okay with wearing at anytime. She’d be giving Rarity some good business because she actually already paid her without her knowing. Rarity was too nice sometimes with her penchant for giving away free stuff to her friends, Sassy was not having any of that and had already discreetly transferred the funds into Rarity’s account and told Opal to not mention it. The AI agreed with her on this, Rarity was too nice for her own good at times. “Yeah well, as soon as I’m done touching you, you’re definitely going to forget that I even did it.” Vera stated calmly with a hint of frustration. “Well for what it’s worth, you’re really very good at this and I’m enjoying it. At least it’s not a male touching me.” Levitating out her data pad Sassy transferred funds to Vera’s sister’s bank account along with a note that Vera personally was being paid for services rendered, which was still ongoing as Vera had her melting into the mat. “Opal can you please tell Rarity that I’m turning in for the night in one of her beds after I’m done here? I’m going to eat some of her food and I’m already going to pay for it, Rarity needs a lot of money right? She’s good at getting quality supplies of any kind and I’m sure the food is no different right?” “Sassy, you’re a good friend to Rarity.” It was a fact that Opal liked Sassy, but she still had to warn her. “Please don’t repeat your past mistakes with my Meowstress.” “I would never almost hurt her like that again! Oh, I’m sorry Vera.” Sassy’s movements had almost dislodged the forgettable masseuse that was impossibly good at her job at making you forget your worries or your cares. “It’s okay; you’re going to ignore me soon anyway. A lot of ponies and people have already.” Vera would even pay Rarity to let her stay on with her, a mare that could see through the ignore effect that wasn’t family or a goddess was worth whatever price she could feasibly pay. Opal also seemed to be good at keeping her in sight as well, so that’d make two more beings of that could really pay attention to her. - Rarity worked on sewing the purple roses into the silky red kimono in the manner of which Sassy had asked of her, she was rather curious and worried about some of the things Coco told her about Sassy’s mannerisms and it was building up to this moment. “So I think that maybe… Sassy might have been partially trained as an assassin at some point.” Coco flinched, but didn’t hear much more than a gasp from Rarity. “Well that wouldn’t be too farfetched after what happened to her really, she would want to protect herself from ever letting something like that happen to her again. What better training than that of a noble assassin?” It would certainly explain the sword and the hard to notice weapons hidden up her armored skirt; Rarity’s keen eyes had picked up on that. “She’s still our friend Coco; I don’t think she’d ever want to hurt us intentionally. I’m more worried about anyone that intends us ill will. Sure she may have gone a little crazy with me, but she seems to be doing perfectly well in being civilized now.” “Rarity, I think you’ve read too many romance novels with well endowed hot roguish thieving stallions in them.” Flatly stated Coco, she was also helping to put rose designs on the kimono. “Nonsense, they aren’t all well endowed roguish thieving stallions… some of them are sparkling vampires and others are chivalrous if highly unhygienic pirates.” Rarity received a rather dull look from Coco and she coughed into her hoof. “I must say that Vera does really good work, I think we’ve forgotten all about our recent troubles haven’t we?” “Oh um… darn it, why can’t I remember what the best masseuse I’ve ever met looks like? All I know is that I still feel really good after a pair of hooves had full run of my body, that masseuse does wonderful work. Okay forgetting that train of thought, you read horribly written romance novels that spend more time defining the girth of the stallion instead of actually forming emotional attachments between characters like in the actually decent books I read.” The ignore effect was in full force and Coco was having a hard time remembering something so wonderfully extravagant. “They used scented oils on me at least, right?” “Don’t worry about the masseuse too much darling. Also to each their own as I happen to enjoy trashy, poorly written romance novels and there is nothing you can say to stop me from liking them, though I do wish the stallions cleaned themselves off before they got together with the mare.” Cleanliness was still one of the things Rarity was looking for in a stallion, it was a rare commodity and she had all of space to find one that cared about it and appearances. “Rarity, Sassy wanted you to know she was going eat some of your food and spend the night here.” At Opal’s voice Rarity looked to the ceiling. “That’s alright; my home is a home to friends as well. She can use whatever she wants, except for the pasta. That’s mine.” The Caravel Boutique was beginning to feel rather cozy to Rarity after the last day or two. “Still a lover of that particular type of cuisine huh?” Smiling as she continued to work Coco was a little more okay with Sassy possibly being an assassin, provided that she never killed anyone in front of her personally in a horribly graphic manner. “It’s the most filling thing that nobles will eat in large portions, plus the taste is quite delectable and not entirely unhealthy so it’s going to be my midnight lunch. I do like my lasagna.” Since Rarity woke up in the evening, she was going to be up all night long prepping things for the next day. She’d try to get some sleep in the morning and then she’d meet with her various clients over what would be important business that would pay for her ships needs. “Are you sure you want to brown nose with those guys Rarity, I mean from what I’ve heard Prince Blueblood is an utter… well the words were not very polite after that but you know what I mean.” Keeping a careful eye on her hooves as she worked Coco kept moving her needle up and down through the nice feeling fabric in a steady rhythm. “Yes, there have been rumors, but at least he’s a clean stallion and I’m sure that most of them are entirely unfounded. I’ve been planning on how to get into the gala for quite a while, I’ll just contact Luna about it and guilt her into giving me a few tickets for the event. She should have finished testing my breach gel by now, it’s not that overly complicated to require such extensive looking into.” It left Rarity idly wondering if Vera could just waltz on into the event without being noticed by anyone and eat as much food as she wanted before waltzing on out. “Also I was planning to put in a good word for your impulse saddles and whether or not they were being tested as well. Luna seems to be quite the technologically forward mare, if a bit slow at testing things.” - “Luna, are you playing with that stuff again?” Celestia walked into a room to see hundreds of bouncing balls going everywhere, all of them made of breach gel. Her sister had the gall to look sheepish about being caught playing with the stuff she was supposed to be testing and signing off on. She used her magic to freeze all the bouncing balls in mid-air. “Would you like to play with me sister?” Luna asked innocently of her white furred, blue, green and pink haired larger sister who was considered one of the most beautiful mares on the planet of Equus. “I’d be delighted to!” It seemed as if Celestia couldn’t help but join her sister in her playfulness, the breach gel stuff was of genius make but to sign off on it would be to lose it for testing purposes which gave her an excellent excuse to spend at least three hours off each day with her little sister instead of listening to idiot nobles all day. Of course it would have to end eventually, but some fun and time off was needed with their busy schedules. “Princesses we’ve received word from a scout stationed in the Quia System, there’s a MOM class planet infester heading for Ewesen and you are to be on the lookout for any other possible incursions.” The guard didn’t question the rubbery bouncy balls; he had long since learned to not ask questions about the whimsical things the princesses or even the data pad loving Twilight Sparkle got up to. “Send word to the Applon Systems Planetary Protection Patrol and report to me immediately if there is an incursion heading for our two systems; if any neighboring systems are in need of our help then we will gladly lend them aid to the best of our current capabilities. That is all, you may go.” After the moment of seriousness and the door closing, Celestia turned back to Luna and started playfully bouncing one of the breach gel balls off the walls. After they were done playing they’d focus more on this rather serious issue. Author's Note Vera is easily the most ignored character ever. Please note: I'm not shipping Ember with Spike.
-11-“Ms. Gollenfer, Gottfrieda, you’re both free to go. The investigation teams have finished checking your claims that you had nothing to do with the deaths of Derringers crew.” Officer Lirutiy had gained Greta and Gilda’s attention as she slithered up to them “You are now allowed to go freely about the station, you will be given back your stuff swiftly. Please check your personal effects for anything missing. While you can stay on the station you can’t stay on or return to the Derringer for the time being. Do you have any pressing matters that need to be attended to? I have an incursion to stop and I’m already preparing to send the fleet out on what can only be a dangerous assault on a MOM.” “Can I at least hold Rarity’s claim to Derringer by proxy if she can’t make it back from Ewesen within the week, baring events like the MOM getting in the way she still has a lot of stuff to get for her ship. Plus she’s not exactly financially well off at the moment.” Putting her best hopeful smile forward to the slug being as she got up and approached her, Greta could only hope that answer was yes. “Provided the MOM doesn’t hit the planet near her while she’s on it or the monsters that will inevitably erupt from it don’t kill her first, I can see Rarity living through what is going to be one of the worst incoming disasters to ever befall this sector of space.” Gilda stood up and stretched out her wings. “Glad to know we can get out of here finally, though I’m rather curious as to why it seems like your rushing the investigation.” “Maybe you can hold the claim by proxy, provided you can prove you’re employed to her. As for the investigation, it was an open and shut case. We found the ships black box logs and got enough data to clear you two of any wrong doing. Though I admit it was a little rushed, we have little doubt as to your innocence in the matter as was Miss Belle’s need to commandeer the ship.” Clearing her throat Lirutiy carried on. “We could find nothing wrong with your information on the previous ship you were on, aside from the fact that they have become derelict or were outright destroyed. In any case, we need all the people we can get working on stopping this incursion, we’re about to let the civilians known about the incoming MOM.” “Yeah, I bet that’ll go over well. I’m expecting something in the likes of… mass panic perhaps.” With a questioning look Gilda saw that the slug was giving her a frown. Greta was also giving her a flat look. “I call it as I see Greta, you know that.” “I’m well aware of the panic it’ll cause; evacuating won’t help in the long run because we won’t be able to move the entire population of Ewesen to somewhere else safely in time. I’m going to make sure that everyone does what they can to make sure the planet doesn’t become infested. Nowhere is exactly safe from those planet infesting monsters so running won’t do much of anything really, it’s why the Planetary Protection Patrol exists.” Lirutiy shook her head and sighed which clutching at it with a hand. “I’m also well aware I have a lot of headaches coming my way and this day hasn’t even started yet. You two want anything before you leave, coffee, juice or a snack maybe? I’m buying.” - Rarity yawned and slid her bed out of the wall and rolled out of it before approaching the counter, she lit her horn to start preparing coffee only to find the sweet smell of some brew was already made. She had just finished her early morning nap that was to help her get through the day, but she still needed a bit of a pick me up and she saw that Vera had apparently made the pot of coffee. “Can you pour me some coffee please? I like mine with a bit of cream and two lumps of sugar Vera.” As soon as she finished asking a mug was slid up under her nose at the counter as Vera continued maneuvering about the kitchen. “Thank you for paying attention to me Ms. Belle. I did make the coffee this morning, thank you for noticing.” Vera liked the novelty of having some pony like Rarity noticing her at all times, the feeling of acknowledgment was never going to wear off in novelty. “Of course I noticed Vera, thank you for making it.” Taking a sip of hot brewed coffee with a hit of cream and sugar really perked Rarity up, she like her coffee sweet. “It’s really quite good. Opal, list my first scheduled appointment today please?” “Hold that thought Meowstress Rarity; we’ve got an all important bulletin being spread around the planet like wildfire. It seems like a MOM is inbound for Ewesen, it’ll be here in the less than four days or so and they are already sending out an interception fleet to stop it at two days out.” As Opal spoke she sounded a little exasperated. “This might be bad for business. So chances are we won’t be able to get the things we need before everyone’s bought it all already and leaving like the entire planet was on fire. We also need to be wary of any price gouging coming up soon, I’m already paying attention to the prices of things and whether or not they go up because of this news.” “I’ll keep that in mind, first order of business today Opal?” Hopefully her clients understood the fact that she wasn’t one to back down just because a threat was on the horizon. That and without a jump module she’d be stuck in system with said threat if it landed on the planet where she’d have to quickly scavenge one if it came to it. Rarity would never price gouge and would give everyone the fair cost of her wares. Some people would price gouge EVA suits in a situation like this as they offer some minimal protections against miasmas and the like, not to mention an armored EVA suit would significantly increase the chances of survival for anyone lucky enough to have one. She currently didn’t offer armored Eva suits, but her EVA suits did offer limited protection against some things. “The Cacceran is coming in the next twenty minutes so do what you need to freshen up, since he already has an idea as to what he wants already I gave him priority in the queue. It’ll be followed by the two ponies four hours later and then we’ll deal with the Parascine last as we don’t know what their request is and it could take a while.” Finishing that Opal went back to watching cheesy anime over the information net. “I’ll keep an extra eye on the situation with the planet infester in case anything changes in the news which seems to be inciting a mild panic across the whole planet.” “Thank you Opal. I would tell you to go back to what you were doing, but you probably already are.” Shaking her head, Rarity moved on to get her stuff ready. The Cacceran wanted a dress and an EVA suit, that shouldn’t be too difficult right? She had taken classes for making things for various species, though she would probably be better at making designer EVA suits for quadruped based species. - The barefoot Cacceran was about three and a half feet tall with grey fur, with the ears, face and body of a rabbit. Aside from that he had a fox tail and cat based arms and hands and his rabbit based legs also ended in more cat feet. What was the oddest thing about him one would ask? He looked ridiculously feminine with the long blonde hair and the eyelashes. “Well I can certainly see why you want the dress now, but are you sure you’re male?” It was hard for Rarity to see this Cacceran as being anything but female given his general appearance. “I’m actually a hermaphrodite, kind of comes up in my race often. I prefer masculine pronouns and identifying myself as male. So can you make the suit and dress that I need? I have a habit of unnerving a lot of people with my appearance and voice, so sorry if you don’t want to work with me after hearing my voice for the first time.” Surprisingly despite the feminine form just simply wearing brown pants and a yellow shirt, the Cacceran had a rather deep voice. It was a bit disturbing to Rarity to hear such a manly voice come from such a feminine form. “I just really like wearing feminine things and looking it. Can you do something in the terms of lacy for the dress? Oh right where my manners, I’m Preston Licaley. Most people call my Prestelle, though I’m not actually fond of having a feminine sounding name even if I do have the parts for it.” “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Licaley, I’m Rarity Belle. Welcome to the Caravel Boutique where everything that we make is sure to be chic, unique and absolutely magnificent.” Rarity took his offered paw and shook it. “I believe I can happily accommodate you with both, if you’re not satisfied with what I can come up with then I will make changes as necessary Mr. Licaley or do you prefer Preston?” “Call me either Miss Belle and might I say that you are quite a lovely lady.” Preston was rather charming for a feminine looking bipedal fox tailed rabbit with cat paws. “No, flattery will not get you a discount on the EVA suit.” Rarity’s customer chuckled at her candor. “Though now I’m curious as to what exactly you’re going to use it for?” “Well, you can’t blame me for at least trying right? How much pressure can the helmet handle and does the impulse saddle attachment work underwater?” Now Preston was asking some rather curious questions. “Well the helmet is designed to handle as much as the suit, plus it is designed for use in space. Am I to be believed that you are asking me if it can be used underwater?” Seeing a nod Rarity continued on without a pause to understand how ridiculous this request had gotten. “Well then as for the depth at which one of my EVA suits can go… Opal underwater operational depth my personal EVA suit can feasibly reach?” “It might be pushing things Rarity, but it’ll stay good up until two thousand feet down if that’s what you’re asking.” The answer was swift and to the point, most likely because they were getting to a good part in Opal’s show and she didn’t want to miss anything. “That’ll work for what I need it for. Can I get my helmet with the built in cameras that can record things and not just give me visuals in case the face plate is obscured? It’s what I’m most interested in.” It seemed to Preston that Rarity was of a respectable sort given she didn’t flinch too much at learning that he was a hermaphrodite with masculine tendencies yet feminine appearance. “How do the compression pouches for my hair, ears and tail work and are they annoying to deal with?” - It was approximately two and a half hours later that saw a rabbit like figure moving their fingers in the EVA suit with the impulse saddle attached to their back. Rarity had already had a spark of inspiration and was working away on a dress as Preston stood there admiring the detail and designs he had added to his suit. Sassy had left to go finish more unfinished business and Vera was generally being helpful wherever Rarity needed a present assistant as her AI was off being lazy when she could have been assisting with the CAT drones. Even Coco had started assisting Rarity midway through the creation of the EVA suit and it took less time than a general quadruped suit, since the Cacceran in question wasn’t very big to begin with. The impulse saddle would work underwater, surprisingly well too at that, even if it was at a fourth the strength while under the effects of gravity being underwater kind of made it a little closer to half strength. So while the impulse saddle couldn’t help you fly around unless you were in space, it could certainly get you around in water. Coco had to work out the operations and controls of the impulse saddle with Preston so he could get acquainted with the new gear he was purchasing. “This actually feels rather comfortable and it’s in my favorite color.” For Preston, it was a nice, bright and cheery looking yellow. There was room on the suit for a tool belt and places to stash stuff away on around the waist including an energy pistol. “I’ll definitely come to you again if I’m in need of clothing, you can do casual wear too right? Well provided you survive the MOM situation, anything else life might throw at you and the if dress feels as good as this suit does, you’ll definitely have a satisfied repeat customer in me. Oh and before I forget here’s a business card for some cousins of mine if you ever need a good lawyer!” “Of course I make casual wear; we aim to please after all.” The first customer of the day went surprisingly well for Rarity; the next ones were a little more trying. Making friends with a Cacceran was a little surprising, but Preston didn’t seem like a bad guy. - Ember snorted and woke up slapping at her face and blurrily blinked her eyes as the sunlight filtering in through the windows had finally landed on one of her eyelids. Being rather frugal with her money, she found a nice quiet spot to sleep in an abandoned warehouse near the edge of Lake Terwa. She spent most of last night loading her rifle up with rocks. Not that the ammunition was going to perform as good as the higher grade metal scraps she had had upon coming to the planet, but it would do. “Right, find the last Ceantir and make Crab Rangoon out of him. I can use some more money if he hasn’t been taken down already.” As she pulled her data pad out from the inside of her armor to check on the status of the bounty, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was as bad a hoarder as other dragons were. She had a large bank account and wasn’t exactly poor, but she found it rather hard to want to spend her money on ammunition, anything fancier than the materials used to build her special material rifle so she would have spare parts to fix it with or for keeping her armor in something resembling decent enough shape. Most of her money went into her food budget anyway and with the last few bounties she traded in she now had enough money to last her almost two months and was wondering if she should splurge a little on something. “Nope, he’s still kicking and apparently there are bounty hunters are on the prowl. If this Ceantir is still out to get me then they are going to have a bad time today.” There was a reason why Ember tried to keep at least enough money to last her a month of feasting on the best jewels and gems she could buy, that reason was called collateral damage and she had to often pay for fire related damage when it could be directly linked to her as causing it. Then again a little collateral damage wasn’t the worst thing in the world to Ember considering the payouts of her bounties, aside from achieving the horrible nickname of ‘Flamethrower’ from it. Getting up from her position on the floor she walked to the nearby window and popped it open and started climbing her way to the roof of the warehouse with her claws while spreading her wings for balance. Her muscles were sore, most likely from sleeping in her armor again. Maybe she should find a nice place to sleep next time and right now she felt like going to a restaurant for something to eat today that wasn’t gems and jewels; her stomach grumbled its agreement. He mind was saying food first and then the deadliest catch to hunt later. It also pointed out that she was starting to get kind of lonely and that she was badly ignoring the feeling of wanting companionship as she prepped herself for flight. Pulling out her binoculars she made sure the Ceantir wasn’t on any rooftops or in windows with a sniper rifle before she spread her wings and took to the air looking for a nice place to eat, it looked about time for lunch anyway and she made her own hours as a bounty hunter. - “I swear Vinyl, what is with your aversion to dresses? One is not going to just jump up and kill you.” Octavia Harmonics Scratch was an earth pony with a light shade of grey fur and a well coiffed and styled raven mane; she looked upper crust and felt like it with her treble cleft cutie mark. The lovely bowtie wearing pony was not the problem as her and Rarity hit it off immediately as friends; the problem was her rather childish mute unicorn wife. “We both agreed to this you know. So what if you were distracted when you agreed, you still did and you’re getting a dressed up for the event Vinyl!” Octavia’s companion was the exact opposite of Octavia and she was currently flailing her hooves at her wife in some form of communication only Octavia could understand. She looked unruly with her wild spiky electric blue mane and tail. Adding to the rebellious looking appearance was what looked to be shaded glasses that hid her eyes. Her white fur seemed to be a bit matted and it didn’t look like she showered in a while and was causing Rarity no end of frustration when every dress idea she had was shot down by this mare. “Vera could you please be a dear and detain Misses Scratch Harmonics for me with a massage?” Rarity received a questioning look from Octavia and why wouldn’t she? Vera was practically invisible to both ponies until she grabbed at the muscles on Vinyl’s back with her hooves and started applying pressure. Vinyl Scratch Harmonics caved like a house of cards to the pony with incredible spa training. “What just happened to my wife?” Octavia looked positively shocked that her wife suddenly collapsed with a gasp of pleasure and she turned to Rarity for explanation. If Vinyl could talk she’d be telling her wife about the pony she could now feel as much as see on her back that came from out of nowhere like a ghost. “Oh just a friend of mine, she’s kind of easy to miss. She’s right there.” Rarity pointed at Vera on Vinyl’s back and Octavia’s eyes widened when she finally saw Vera working over her wife’s back. “Just call this a complimentary massage; also it’ll be easier to get her in a dress this way instead of having her fidgeting around so much.” “I don’t know how, I don’t know when… but I’m assuredly coming back to you again for your quality services since you’re actually willing to deal with my rambunctious knucklehead. I know she was actively trying to get us kicked out of your shop and your response just sold me on coming to you when I need something a bit more sophisticated.” Tilting her head towards her subdued mare, Octavia smiled as her wife moaned loudly. “Provided that I can have what she’s having, she causes me no end of stress even though I love her dearly for it.” - Sighing happily that the troublemaker ruffian and her rather friendly wife with a decent social status now dealt with; Rarity looked at the next appointment and decided that it was time to take a little break. It was lunch time and she was going to find a nice restaurant to eat at. Walking away from the spaceport, Rarity wanted to take in the scenery while it was still there. While she had heard of the triple P stopping things like MOMs before, she’s never personally seen what a planet infester does when it actually hits a planet and all she knew was that it was dreadful. She knew the end results from the documentaries of how long it took to reclaim the planets once they’ve been hit and how many lives were lost in the process, the aftermath certainly wasn’t pretty. She had no idea what Coco and Vera were going to do for lunch, but she saw a place that looked nice and more importantly affordable. She knew what looked affordable since she had been a waitress for a while. It looked like an average dive, one that served fast food alongside healthy items. Walking inside the place had quite a few fresh looking booths open and the place was quite clean, so it met her sensibilities and standards at least. She looked around and saw a few odd being here and there enjoying various foods for any specie as she walked up to the counter where several stools were. That was when she saw a familiar face picking up a menu; it was someone Rarity needed to have a little chat with. “Miss McFlame, you and I have something to discuss.” Rarity stated flatly and the dragon froze a bit before looking to her as she took up the stool next to the dragon and a menu was placed before her. She snapped it up with her magic and looked it over. “Um… wow… I didn’t think it’d be this easy to find you and yeah I have a few things to talk to you about as well.” Ember became rather nervous in the face of Rarity showing up out of the blue and her tail twitched erratically at being caught off guard like this. A strange feeling twisted in Ember’s guts and she had little idea as to what was causing it. She was a small dragon that can take on Ceantirs for crying out loud, Rarity was just an average… well admittedly she wasn’t average at all and quite beautiful. “I’ve got some time before I set out to bring down a Ceantir, if someone else doesn’t do it first.” “You have to talk with me? I’m the one that has to have a word with you about endangering one of my friends!” She kept her tone low, but obviously heated. Ember looked puzzled until Rarity continued. “You were at the hotel that happened to be shot up and then promptly set on fire? My friend happened to be caught near a firefight and she’s rather easy to traumatize. So am I for that matter.” “I’m guessing Coco Pommel is your friend. Well I’m not directly at fault for the fire and I’m not the one that started the fight.” Seeing that she was getting a raised brow, Ember decided to continue on quickly. “I will however apologize for being there and the reason the hotel is now missing most of its lobby, a few floors and almost all of its walls. The Ceantirs were after me personally, the Macropussians were after my job at the time. You’re kind of responsible for all of that happening.” “Come again? Oh hold on.” Rarity turned to the Parascine standing near her with a note pad. “I’d like the berry lemonade, the garden special with ranch and a side of fries.” The waiter wrote that down and turned to Ember, he nodded for her to get an order in. “I’ll have the locally grown pitaya juice, a garden special heavy on the croutons and feta cheese if you have any. If not then I’ll take cheddar or any other cheese as a substitute. As for a dressing I’ll choose whatever the spiciest vinaigrette you have is. Trust me; I have a taste for the excessively spicy.” The waiter nodded to Ember and moved on not having said a word. The dragon turned to the pony. “Okay to start off you’re tip about the Pendaxon, suffice it to say that was a really big payoff for me. I managed to stop a slave trading ring from forming; downside is I don’t think the people who were starting it liked my interference very much. Hence the ten Ceantir hit squad they sent out against me, but you probably don’t want to hear the more gory details of my surviving a rather brutal three way with me in the middle.” “No, but I would like to hear why it concerns me and why you would need to talk to me?” Rarity stopped to take a sip from her lemonade as it was set down before her. “Well it involved your sister almost being one of the first victims of the slave traders.” Ember quickly covered her face as she received a spray of slightly sticky fluids and spittle from Rarity. “WHAT! What happened to my little sister?” Coughing to clear her throat Rarity was now staring at Ember with worry. “Oh that adorable little filly is perfectly fine if a little shaken up, as for the guys who tried to kidnap her? Yeah, not so much even before I got a hold of them.” Ember took a quick swig of her drink and swallowed with a happy sigh. “I really love the taste of ice cold pitaya juice. Anyway I came here to track you down and I was going to ask one of your known friends where you went, specifically Coco Pommel. That’s when I was obviously attacked and here we are now. I’m mostly here because your parents asked me to look for you after I rescued your sister Sweetie Belle. Though I really don’t think she actually needed to be rescued, she kind of had things well in claw by the time I burst in and started gunning them down.” “You didn’t bring my sister with you did you?” Rarity’s eyes narrowed and they started darting around in a panic, the mood flip caused Ember to feel a little out of the loop. “Did my parents pay you to try and make her my responsibility again?” “Again…? I bet there’s a story there. I told them I was not going to babysit your little sister after the havoc she helped cause, even if it was a rather profitable adventure. Word to the wise, I don’t think you’re little sister should ever become a chef. I didn’t think it was possible to set water on fire without oil being a catalyst and the water was still at room temperature when it happened.” Ember felt a small humor filled smirk cross her face as Rarity cringed and grimaced. “Yeah her kidnappers weren’t exactly of the luckiest sort. Your parents paid me to find you and tell them if you were okay or not, they never said anything about telling them where you were or what you happened to be doing at the time. So, do you want to explain why you don’t seem to keen on the idea of looking after your sister for while?”
-12-Lunch had become quite an interesting discussion between a fashion loving pony and a hunting dragon. “That’s why I avoided my parents dropping my sister on me again; if I hadn’t then my little sister might have been killed by the Jump Module exploding.” It was a good thing that Rarity had avoided her parents, but Sweetie Belle still found a way to get into trouble anyway. The food at the restaurant was pretty good, now if only her company wasn’t so loud with her croutons. “I love my sister dearly; it’s just that she’s causes incredibly destructive incidents and has little in her head about self preservation in the name of earning her cutie mark. Goodness knows I’m having enough problems keeping myself afloat, having to deal with Sweetie Belle on top of all that? I’m not exactly made of money or have a lot of it to go around and I’m already planning on staffing a larger ship than the one I currently own. ” “So you got into a dire situation and got out of it with a few scares for it, that must have been a rather harrowing experience for you. I’ve met a few types of space monsters myself as well, even ran into a biological grey goo situation and that was a rather nasty affair. Thankfully burning or freezing temperatures can kill off most biological grey goo situations; a fire extinguisher is quite handy in that respect. Otherwise make sure you’re at least armed and ready to shoot at the first thing to move in the shadows if you ever end up in that kind of situation again, because shooting first might save your life.” It sounded like Ember has had a personal history with Sifter Drifter infested ships. She was enjoying the food and the conversation with Rarity, though she became a bit melancholy after hearing Rarity talk about her little sister and what sounded like her somewhat responsible if annoyingly highly vacant parents. “You know, you’re lucky that you’re able to talk with your family. Talking with you makes me wish I got to know my little sibling; don’t exactly know what became of their egg as it went missing. Then there’s the fact that dad and I weren’t exactly seeing things eye to eye before I left, not like it’s that easy to see eye to eye with someone who weighs well above five hundred tons, is fifty times your size and can carry you around in their mouth. Speaking of general size, I don’t know how my mother managed my father as she was barely any bigger than I am and she was a biped type dragon when she was still around. Dad is a classic giant quadruped dragon.” “When she was still around… what happened to your mother?” It felt a little odd for Rarity to continue working up a friendly demeanor with a bounty hunting dragon, especially concerning said dragons livelihood revolving around killing and or capturing targets of interest. Rarity wasn’t interested in Ember’s job and the violence that was a part of it. It was why Rarity wasn’t asking too many questions about what exactly Ember did in great detail. She was however interested in knowing the dragon herself. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you this… my mom, she got ill. Like my mother was really ill… dragons are known to be resilient to a lot of things and sicknesses are very rare and even impossible when you’re a certain kind of dragon.” Ember would say that talking less about her larger than life father was for the better, as he was quite literally larger than most life and dragons back on Equus. She took another crunchy bite out of her spicy salad before continuing. “Mom was an unlucky one in a million chance; it occurred not long after my sibling’s egg was laid which probably left her weak enough for her to get sick like she did. The sickness that was killing her slowly degraded her ability to remember things and well… it wasn’t pretty given how quickly she faded away.” “Oh my…” Rarity didn’t know what to say, seeing Ember crying was a little upsetting. Here she thought the bounty hunter was an all rough and tumble kind of girl, only to see that she was sensitive and just as friendly as the first time they met. She found Ember to be quite amiable so far despite what the dragon does for a living and was having a little trouble trying to find words to comfort her with. “I’m sorry for bringing it up.” “She was always calling me her warm and tender little spark, my name was the last thing to remain in her memory and she remembered it to her dying breath. Dad was a bit upset that she forgot his name, but that was a few days before that and he told me that my mother loved me more than life itself and would have loved my sibling just as much. She was the last one that was seen with my sibling’s egg, goodness knows what happened to it.” Looking away from the pony that she was sharing a nice meal with, Ember continued on her rather despondent line of thinking after she took out her pouch and tossed a few small emeralds into her mouth to chew on. “My dad did his best to raise me after that for sure, but I’m not on speaking terms with him now and haven’t been for a while. So be glad you still have the ability to talk to your parents and little sister, you’ll never know when the ones you love will be gone.” “I won’t ask what is going on between you and your father, but I would like to turn the topic to something a bit more pleasant than how badly some parts of our lives are going at the moment. I’ve managed to get my business started at the very least, which is something positive for me to think of. You don’t seem to be doing too poorly in bits and you’re doing whatever it is you want to do right?” Their meals were almost finished and Rarity was trying to perk the dragon up, the poor dear was dreary to be around like this. “Speaking of business, you wouldn’t happen to need a dress or an EVA suit would you Miss McFlame? I can make regular clothing too if you need something a little less fancy, I can make you something nice at the very least. All you need to do is ask.” “An EVA suit maybe, I try to minimize how much work I do in space though. The times I do work in space are usually spent around asteroid outposts and mining facilities, gems and jewels are always cheapest closest to the source. Two months worth of food money for me is a lot in comparison to how much money that may mean for you. So since I have enough myself for a while… waiter, check for us two together please!” Ember’s mood wasn’t lifting very much, but at least she was still talking and she seemed at ease around Rarity. The waiter brought a check over to them, which was when Ember immediately paid for her meal and Rarity’s which surprised the pony at her generosity. The food wasn’t expensive, but it was a very nice gesture. “You sound like you need all the money you can get at the moment, this one is on me. Hold on a second, I need to get a picture of us so I can inform your folks how you’re doing and any message you might want me to send to them as well. I want you to confirm that we met and that you’re alright.” “Well okay then, I want you to record what I’m about to say.” Rarity gave quick message for her parents, basically telling them about how she started her business and that she was going to be busy for the foreseeable future getting things in gear so they’d have to be the ones to watch Sweetie for a while. She even got a picture with Ember on the dragon’s durable data pad, after that they left the counter and made their way for the door. “Thank you for paying for lunch Ember.” “Don’t mention it, I’ll send the message off as soon as I can. Speaking of messages, the triple P sent out a message recently to all bounty hunters, mercenaries and privateers about defending the planet from an infester if it hits.” Ember turned to Rarity as they exited the restaurant. “If that monstrosity makes landfall, it’s going to get rather nasty around here. Especially if a hunting season is called, you had better get off the planet quickly if that happens. Maybe we’ll see each other for lunch again sometime; it’s nice to have a friend that I can talk to even if we don’t have much in common. Stay safe Miss Belle or Rarity if you prefer.” Hunting season was a bad thing for most normal people; bounty hunters and other mercenaries however flocked to a hunting season call to prove their mettle as the call usually involved something big and absolutely dangerous. It gave them something resembling a carte blanche to do what was necessary to take out the threat involved. In the bounty hunting world it was the fastest and most dangerous way to earn money, but you had to have proof of your kills and the threat level was always the highest you can get when a hunting season was warranted. After giving a short wave to Rarity, Ember took the helmet that was strapped to her thigh and put it on while spreading her magnificent looking wings lightly covered in armor plating that had definitely long since seen better days. With a mighty leap the dragon took off into the air heading for the sky, all while managing the weight of her armor and rifle quite handily after several struggling flaps. Presumably Ember was going to chase down more bounties and on that note Rarity had to get back to business. With lunch finished the pony had a meeting with three Parascine that had her wondering what the psychic jellyfishes would commission of her. - Parascine rarely wore clothing and the times they did it was for utility purposes, such as a place to put a weapon or a data pad. Ponies shared this trait of going without clothing most of the time and got along with the Parascine with relatively little conflict in the arena of apparel. On the subject of law’s involving clothing, it was perfectly acceptable for some species to go around without clothing, nudity wasn’t a problem unless you were specifically being an exhibitionist and or flailing what was supposed to stay private everywhere. Some planets were clothing mandatory and there was a light form of dress code that many had to follow while they were on that planet. Ewesen was not one of the ones that strictly enforced the wearing of apparel and was another clothing optional planet like Desserzon. - “You want me to make what? Well now, this should be a challenge even for someone of my skill. I am, if anything, a believer in trying to fit my clientele with what they want.” Rarity had thought that what the Parascine had wanted would be an interesting order. She was disappointed slightly as the order was mundane, though it was big in size and a rather unique challenge to her skills. She now had a lot of water resistant socks to make. “How long, what colors, how many, exactly how thick and anything else you want in particular in the design of these socks? Also which tentacles will you be wearing them on and do you mind if I take measurements?” A moment of silence followed as the blue glowing sentient giant jellyfish moved forward to hold out a tentacle and waved it in a friendly manner, it’s nucleic spheres inside what passed for its head glowed slightly for a bit. “Right then let’s get started.” A lot of socks for a family of three, well Rarity had made weirder things. She wasn’t disturbed in the slightest that the male Parascine had talked psychically to her; while they could talk normally it was much faster for them to communicate mentally. Socks were a bit of an odd thing to the pony species, Rarity wasn’t going to go on a rant about it. The order was quite benign in just being colorful socks; a less benign order would have had lingerie based socks that ponies used for playing around with or cuddling. - “I’m just so happy to have Mr. Welder back!” Greta was hugging her welding torch and smiling as they sat in a hangar waiting for the next job, they went to work while they were waiting on the end results of the ownership over Derringer before they moved on. “Why don’t you marry him, he sounds like a hot guy.” Of course Gilda was speaking sarcastically about her friends inherently disturbing attraction for her welding torch, what did the welding torch have that she didn’t as a friend? She was hot headed and could just as easily bind two piece of metal together with a laser cannon and her raw fury when pointed at it. “We’re just friends Gilda, besides he made sure we didn’t get sick from eating those horrid tasting monsters. No parasite or bacteria can survive a plasma welder’s raw fury and beauty.” Greta nuzzled her beak against the metallic object she was cradling. The two griffons were sitting in a hangar controlled by the Planetary Protection Patrol; they were currently waiting for their next quick job. They were allowed to use any materials and or supplies that the triple P had in stock, they were being monitored to make sure they were performing their jobs optimally and didn’t take any extra materials. Quite frankly the two felt a little insulted that they needed minders to babysit them. It was a bit warranted given they were civilians in what counted as military sector at a yellow alert status. The triple P would enter red alert if the planet was in imminent danger and if the fleet they sent out didn’t stop the MOM. “Well with the way you are going on about it, I’d think you were the mechanical engineer and I’m the technical one.” Tapping her claw against the ground, Gilda waited for the sign to light up. When the sign did light up, it meant they were ready to start doing their jobs on repairing, refueling and cleaning the nearest ship again. They were being paid by the ship and so far they’ve been through five in such a short amount of time. “Speaking of technical, since I’m technically trying to be Rarity’s crew member shouldn’t we call her about our release or something?” Looking upon their next task Greta saw Gilda perk up when she saw it was a fighter. “Do whatever you want Greta, as long as it isn’t too stupid or sappy.” The blank response from Gilda had Greta instantly taking notice of her friend’s sudden shift in demeanor. The fighter looked like an elongated somewhat flat diamond shape with a pointy long nose at the front and an upraised stumpy pointed tail end. The rear seat had control of an energy turret above the thrusters and below the pointed tail end, along with control of several supporting functions that were necessary to pilot the ship effectively. The co-pilot would mostly watch the butt of the ship and what was effectively the radar of the fighter when the pilot couldn’t, they were also responsible for in flight troubleshooting. The front seat was for the pilot who had control of the forward laser cannons, two heavy ordinance tubes that could be loaded with various weapons and the most control over the direction the ship is going in. It had a nice red color scheme and could unfold two wings from the underside during atmospheric conditions for better flight control. The two thrusters looked a bit damaged, the canopy was cracked in several places, the rear turret looked like it had been punched inwards by a big meaty fist, there were scorch marks all over it, it looked to have completely lost its shields at some point and one of the landing struts was horribly bent, but overall the thing was beautiful to Gilda who clearly wanted a fighter like this one. “Gilda, you’re being a drooling idiot.” Now it was Greta’s turn to be the cynical one. “Yeah, whatever you say Greta.” Gilda intoned blankly as she moved forward to fix this ship before her eyes. She liked any fighter, but a well designed new one like this that can inspire such awe even in its messed up state? She loved them and what they were capable of. Too bad they won’t sell the newest model fighters to civilians; this thing was a Javelin. It was a fighter that was made for jackknifing through enemy formations at break everything speeds should you hit something and come to a complete stop. In technicality hitting anything at full speed nose first in one of these fighters wasn’t as lethal as it initially sounds. Javelins were specifically engineered with shielding systems that could be altered mid-flight, it allowed for things like someone puncturing and boarding an enemy vessel in a commando style manner. Well, if they could get close enough in one while keeping the shields working at least above a fifty percent capacity to take the brunt of the impact. In case of severe damage the outer shell of the fighter could be ditched in an emergency, thus making the fighter a smaller target in what was termed Evade Mode. Evade Mode left the fighter entirely defenseless if it lost its shields, but still capable of flight and or making entry through a planet’s atmosphere in an emergency. The Javelin before them didn’t obviously drop its shell and needed quite a bit of work; it was easier to put a new shell on one than to train a new pilot. Gilda let out a worrying squeal of delight, as she got closer to examine the Javelin with her claws. Standing behind her was Greta, who shook her head with a small smile on her beak as she lifted Mr. Welder and approached the fighter while putting on her face shield. This was the first Javelin they’ve ever worked on and it was going to be fun times for the Garage Griffons. So named by the people that watched them happily go to work and for their expertise in repairs, modifications or outright upgrading something on every ship they came into contact with. Even a minor thruster improvement by these two was noted by their watchers. “I recommend a bonus for those two.” Paul Strag the officer previously saddled with watching the two griffons found that he was doing so again, it wasn’t ironic in the slightest as he was specifically assigned to keep a tab on the two to make sure nothing happened to them. It was all just busy work given to him by Officer Lirutiy. If at least four other officers agreed with his sentiment, those two would be getting a little extra cash flow their way. - It was the end of the day and Rarity was getting a nice massage since Vera hadn’t left and was unlikely to do so given that she finally met someone who could actually pay attention to her for more than five seconds at a time. “Meowstress Rarity, we’re getting a call from Geoptis Station. Do you want me to put it on speaker?” A happy Opal queried, as the days she could be unrepentantly lazy were the best days ever. She was still having trouble focusing on Vera for any amount of time and decided to just have a Cat follow her around pointing its manipulator directly at her at all times. Vera didn’t seem to mind or notice at all. “Yes, please do darling.” Rarity was relaxed and happily enjoying the motions Vera was putting her body through, apparently she was more stressed than she thought she was. At least Vera had a knack for making ponies ignore all forms of stress for a while. The Parascine had wanted a lot of water resistant socks with varying degrees of specification as to how they wanted them to look and feel. It was odd, but it was work and took her a while to satisfy her odd customers. The lengths she went to just to make others happy. The reason why it was so stressful? She had to make hundreds of socks in just a few hours of varying shapes, lengths and random colors. “Hey boss lady we’ve been cleared, how are things going on the planet? Do you need anything while we’re up here?” it was Greta being ridiculously perky again and Rarity was wondering if she could actually get her some of the things she needed. “Greta, you and Gilda are out of questioning and holding? Well that’s nice to know. Do you know where I can get a good price on a jump module and some turrets for the Caravel Boutique? I’m not having any luck at the moment.” It was a good thing Rarity asked, because the response was more than she could have ever hoped for. She thought something was odd in the way Greta called her boss lady, but she just went with it. “Why would you need to buy them? Heck we can probably work a deal for the materials cheap and just build what you need for you. I’m assuming because of the low funds you can’t exactly afford one at market price at the moment.” Continuing on in an upbeat manner, Greta didn’t let Rarity get a word out. “You’ll soon learn to trust our skills boss lady; we’ll get right on it. So give us some time to get you what you need, we’re already doing some jobs for the triple P and we’ll be able to buy enough materials to possibly build you a warp module from scratch. Trust me; we’re working really hard up here… aside from me being on break at the moment. Now if only Gilda can stop fawning over the Javelin we’ve been working on for a minute.” “Screw you Greta; I want to own one of these!” Was Gilda’s less than friendly response to Greta’s jab at her going on about the fighter with sparkly eyes, it was as disturbing as it sounded. “Maybe we can do that later Gilda, if only you’ll actually give me the time of day after making that offer for once.” It sounded like Greta was frustrated with Gilda for more reasons than just having to deal with her on a daily basis. “If the claim for the Derringer goes through, then we can think about owning a whole collection of fighters personally built by us. That means we need to support the boss lady’s claim as much as we can.” “Right, I’m doing an all night run then. Tell the boss lady we’ll get what she needs for her ship. All she has to do is not get us killed and or die herself.” It sounded like Gilda was properly motivated to get her ass in gear; she was loud enough for Rarity to hear her over what was obviously a busy and loud hangar. “We’re going to need a barrel of coffee; we can sleep when we’re dead Greta!” “Well it sounds like you have things well in hand, thank you for calling me to tell me you’ll get right on some of the problems I’m facing Greta.” Now Rarity had to worry about food and other supplies to feed her growing crew. “It’s also nice to know that you’re doing alright darling, please make sure Gilda doesn’t work herself to death.” - “Yes, for that is my only one true job and purpose in life. Thank you for noticing boss lady.” Greta rolled her eyes before smiling as she turned to Gilda who was already inspecting the next ship. Hopefully the watchers took notice that Rarity accepted them as crew members, if their boss lady couldn’t get back in a week then the dream had to be kept alive through other methods. She didn’t know what Gilda would do if the dream of owning her own hangar were to crash and burn slightly. - Coco slammed roughly into the wall and she squeaked before ducking out of the way of the grasping claw that crashed through it a second later. She was panicking and wondering why a Ceantir was after her, heck the previous blow to her chest should have caved it in and she should have been seriously hurt. She was lucky to be alive, if the pain wracking her body wasn’t selling it. She wanted to know where Sassy kept running off to and after helping Rarity with a lot of socks, she had lost Sassy’s trail and went back to where she lost it. Judging by its appearance the Ceantir was male and rather intelligent for its species. Coco was just minding her own business and was looking around for Sassy’s whereabouts when the Ceantir charged her from out of one alleyway knocked her bodily into another one with a single agonizing blow. Coco got up and started to half gallop, half limp away. Facing a Ceantir’s strength wasn’t a laughing matter and the earth pony wasn’t an idiot, why she wasn’t dead yet remained to be seen as it pulled its gun and fired at her. She quickly ducked behind a dumpster and cowered slightly. “Why are you after me, what did I ever do to you?” Coco hoped it knew how to talk, because she didn’t know much aside from the fact that they were scary and big. “You are in the way of my hunt prey; you’ll be good bait for Flamethrower.” The warbling voice of the Ceantir sounded a lot closer than Coco was expecting which was why she bolted to be chased down a by a volley of energy blasts that didn’t seem very powerful. Getting in the way of a Ceantir, even if by relative proximity, was tantamount to being suicidal. “Oh goddess, I think he’s trying to take me alive!” Coco yelled as she rammed her way through a door with surprising strength and out of the path of the shots blasting at the ground just on her heels. Taking her alive certainly explained why he hadn’t killed her with that first hit. Looking around the room she just ran into, it was a bar full of bounty hunters. The Ceantir loomed behind her and suddenly there were quite a lot of weapons aimed in her general direction. “Um, I’m not going to be lucky enough to just leave this room quietly am I?” “It’s just not your day is it lassie?” A material rifle toting Macropussian stated with a hint of amusement in her scot accented voice. “You just brought everyone a nice payday if we can get him alive; also consider us interested in why such an elusive quarry is after you. So… you all know the rules lads!” Coco’s ears fell and she dove quickly forward towards the nearest empty table and two rounds clipped the edge of her right ear. A shot went through the right side of her front left leg as the room became an absolute madhouse after she sent a chair flying into someone’s face from the reflexive kick caused by her injury. Coco lamented the fact that she had just started a bar brawl by accident. Author's Note Coarse by definition of this story means - Not elegantly formed diamonds. In other words all the characters have their flaws and no one is perfect. Exscuse of the day: Playing Monster Hunter Generations and watching cartoons such as Steven Universe.
-13-It was the next morning on Ewesen and Rarity was having Opal listen to the local news for anything important to make note of, she had been informed that Coco hadn’t come back last night and was slightly worried. However Coco’s data pad was close to the spaceport and slowly moving towards the ship. “Rarity I can finally see Coco, may I ask for permission to prepare a med-bed? She looks like she’s had a rough night. The multiple visible wounds caused by material, energy and melee weaponry alone can tell you what I mean.” What Opal was seeing was not anywhere near the definition of pretty. “Who in the world could that sweet little mare have possibly gotten angry?” “Permission granted to do so for all crew members if immediate med-bed action is completely warranted, hopefully you remember my other rules about your usage of the med-beds. Now please send out the CATs to help her aboard this instant!” When Rarity got snappy, she got results and the injuries looked pretty bad once she saw them for herself on a monitor. Thankfully it looked like nothing vital was struck and Coco whimpered as she swiftly strapped into the nearest med-bed for her own good after having limped her way to the Caravel Boutique looking like a sight out of a horror film about a survivor becoming the monster themselves. - “Let’s see, from the scans alone it looks like she’ll make a full recovery, but she’ll definitely be out of it for an entire day and the pain killers we have are definitely going to make her feel good for a while. We probably need more of that stuff given how much you liked it Meowstress. Anyway poor Miss Pommel, who could be so cruel as to shoot at something so adorable looking?” Opal wanted to know so she could personally rip whoever did this apart, not that she could do it physically being a digitally bound entity. “Let’s see lots of flesh wounds around the legs, I’ve already seen to pulling five bits of metal out of them. You’ll probably need rehabilitation seminar Coco since it looked like you used your legs to take the brunt of most of your injuries. The fur on your right ear will grow back with time thankfully your ears are not injured other than cosmetically, no permanent injury to any part of your body aside from the nasty concussion. What did you do to get that one; did you strap yourself to the nearest rocket heading straight for a solid metal wall that’s about eight feet thick and over five tons? The concussion is thankfully the worst of it aside from the legs, the rest are minor injuries that could have been severe if they were an inch lower, higher or even a millimeter to the right. The blow you took to the spine might be sore for a while but I don’t see any fractures on the scans.” “It’s good to know you’re going to be okay Coco.” Rarity put a hoof on the lid of the fluid filled med-bed while looking at the traumatized pony that looked at her sadly. “Don’t worry about work dear, Sassy can cover for you.” “Seriously though, holy fudge girl, how did all this happen to someone like you and how did you make it back here in one piece! Oh and the absolute worst thing of all this and I’m sure Rarity agrees, your mane and tail are an absolute mess from all the blood that you were positively covered in!” To Opal’s moderate surprise, most of that blood wasn’t even Coco’s. “Also your missing a section of mane from your bangs, don’t worry it’s not that much noticeably shorter. Okay, yeah it is, but still it’s not quite that bad. How did you get so much blood from, let’s see… suffice it to say and in quick summation, you have the blood of at least thirty different sentient species coating your body. All of it as recently spilled as the last five hours, yikes, anyway Sassy is up and I’ll have to tell her that she’s on your shift today. Still though the strongest species blood on you is Ceantir, how did that happen? I’m sure you’ll tell us later, because you can’t exactly talk right now. You need to get some sleep so nod if you want the happy drugs.” Coco just moaned sadly in the fluids, she really didn’t want to talk about how her night went later. Days and nights on this planet were longer than usual, so saying she had a long night was accurate and right now she just wanted to sleep everything off. She had loved this planet and still does; if bounty hunters weren’t currently congregating to this planet then things would have been perfectly fine. Thankfully the saving grace of the night for Coco had been when she had incidentally gotten a hold of a bounty hunters spiked metal club, one that was now probably still where she left it. A lot of the bounty hunters had underestimated the strength of a single cute little Earth Pony, now they’d definitely be more wary of cornering the next Earth Pony they met and with good reason. If they saw the previous Earth Pony coming at them again with a very pointy solid metal Kanabo that weighed more than a hundred pounds, they’d probably freak out. Speaking softly and having the ability to wield a big stick really helped out a lot as an intimidation factor, that and the bounty hunters tripped over each other with infighting. It allowed Coco to make a run for it after she got in one last blow with the bat. She hopefully didn’t kill anybody, then again what she did was in duress and she was already willing to forgive herself for it. Managing what little consciousness she had left, Coco nodded gingerly. This led to a needle jamming itself into her neck and a brief smile of relief crossing her face, the drugs really were happy to meet her. - Ember was having an odd morning after having no luck finding the Ceantir last night. It was mostly because when she was heading towards a bar to see if there was any information to be heard by word of mouth. Only she basically tripped over the Ceantir she had been looking for after turning a corner, she tripped over its legs specifically and found it lying on its back as she stood up. It looked to have been shot hundreds of times and its armored hide was thoroughly cracked in multiple places, she could still hear a faint rasping sound coming from the four legged limp body. “What the… who would leave a perfectly good bounty lying around?” Not seeing anyone else there Ember looked at the tip of the metal bat as large as her rifle slightly buried into the crustaceous cretins face. Grabbing the bat and with a sharp tug that made a horrible squelching noise that made the dragon cringe squeamishly, she had managed to pull the bloody bat free. After shaking some of the excess colorful blood off it, she looked at the still highly roughed up crab face that was breathing. She swiftly kicked the Ceantir roughly to test something. Nope, it didn’t look like the Ceantir would be getting up anytime soon. “Well, if no one wants this bat or to cash him in then… mine!” Taking this moment of serendipity for what it was, Ember didn’t question the situation and looked the bat over before wiping it on the ground and strapping it to her back. Looking around, Ember didn’t see anyone as she grabbed the still living bounty target and started dragging it away, she really needed to spring for a mode of transportation to carry bounties around with soon. She really didn’t want to give up walking or flying the scenic routes, so a vehicle that could be remotely summoned to her would be a nice purchase if she could find one that suited her tastes. Given she just got a free weapon and a good payout for a live relatively immobilized target. She figure today was probably a good day for splurging a little, should she really complain about the oddity of finding this bounty just sitting here for the taking? She started whistling jauntily in a disturbing manner as she heaved the body and had to dig her feet into the ground to even move it a few feet at a time. She knew where the nearest bounty counter was and dragging this guys butt for three miles was going to be worth it in the end even if it was a lot of trouble to go through. It would be a nice workout at the very least and it was much further distance to go than the Ceantir she took down at the spaceport. She’d definitely buy herself something nice afterwards while calling it a day, maybe find a magazine to look up vehicles she could use or have one custom made with her unique physiology in mind. Ember would find that mare she needed to apologize to later; she was going to be found on Miss Belle’s ship, so she had all the time in the world today after getting this last Ceantir off her back. Around another corner from where Ember started dragging the Ceantir away, there were several groaning piles of bodies. Some were injured bounty hunters that were just coming to and others probably needed immediate medical attention about now. None of the bounty hunters had died that night, but some permanent injuries were incurred and the nearest hospital would be busy for the foreseeable day. - “So you don’t even know what happened to her?” Sassy was upset that Coco went out for a night on the town and ended up like this. The fact that the mare still had all her stuff said to Miss Saddles that Miss Pommel definitely gave better than she got and if she looked like this, then what did the other guy look like? “No, so I would like to ask, could you possibly fill in her shift for me today? Please don’t cause a scene if you agree to this, as I cater to both male and female customers Sassy. If you can keep things professional and provided your therapist lets you, then you can stay on with us and we can work out a plan to continue helping you.” While Rarity would personally like to leave the customers to Sassy, she wasn’t about to leave her alone with any male customers they might come across. “Opal, have anything scheduled for me today, aside from possibly needing to hire a medical professional for Sassy.” “I’ve got a few hits. A human female wants an EVA suit. A male Lagotorphin and two mares want to meet with us personally. We also have… huh… a female Minotaur; you don’t see one of those every day. Preston again and the last one scheduled is… hold on we’ve got an upcoming important news bulletin. Why did they have to interrupt me during customer scheduling?” They could hear Opal groaning as she was interrupted by important news. “I’m putting it on the screen nearest you Meowstress Rarity and it says that it will air the bulletin in a few minutes. It’s probably related to the MOM.” “Please and thank you darling; just be sure to keep Coco perfectly comfortable while you’re at it.” It was going to be another average day and even with Greta and Gilda picking up parts for the Caravel Boutique, she still needed to pick up enough supplies. What was it Rarity needed? Let’s see various rolls of plastic fabrics and wiring for EVA suit construction, she used a lot of fabric on making socks the other day and she had how many mouths to feed? Two griffons and two possibly three ponies including Rarity herself, so a surplus of food supplies in case she ends up taking anymore crew member on was a must. Her ship was rated to carry this many people comfortably, so there wasn’t a problem at the moment. She had to get the variable thrusters refueled, fresh water, plus something to recharge her five energy pistols with along with a greater variety of other weapons for things that energy weapons just wouldn’t feasibly work on. Her near miss with the Xouj and talk with Ember the other day pretty much made her a bit jumpy of what could be in the shadows. Wait a minute, make that three possibly four ponies, Rarity had almost forgotten about the masseuse Vera who sounded like she was sticking around regardless of pay and mostly out of recognition. It was quite disturbing how forgettable she was, even with Rarity’s keen eye for detail pretty much negating the problem that Vera had of being easy to ignore or overlooked by everything. Apparently that didn’t exactly translate to Rarity keeping her in mind. “Sassy, Vera, let’s go see what this bulletin is all about.” Rarity nodded to Vera who smiled at the acknowledgement and followed her out. Sassy frowned, looking back at an unconscious Coco before exiting the medical and cleansing room. - A Lagotorphin looked like an average everyday rabbit, only they had different genetics; they bleed purple and were twenty times smarter than an average bunny. It is yet to be known what will happen should a Cacceran and a Lagotorphin breed. The prospects of that happening were unlikely. Because of their size and general appearance in being mistaken for regular rabbits, Lagotorphins are notorious for being good hunters due in part to confusing carnivores for centuries and leading them into traps. Unlike normal rabbits they are omnivorous and will eat meat when given the chance when they think no one can see them breaking character of looking cute and innocent. They are sentient, but they aren’t as technologically gifted as other races. Still they’ve managed to get off their planet by hitching rides with more technologically gifted species and are observant of how to use said technology. They were eventually discovered when someone realized that rabbits kept popping up and starting homes next to more technologically advanced cities in the oddest of places, that and they were eventually found sabotaging all the efforts to get rid of what was believed to be a massive rabbit based infestation. Since they share so many similarities in appearance with rabbits, rabbits don’t see Lagotorphins as being different from them or a threat and will usually act friendly towards them despite not actually sharing any close form of genetics. In fact a Lagtorphin only shares the barely a two percent genetic similarity to rabbits despite appearances, as with humans sharing genetic similarities to mice and being vastly different things. - “And this is Quia System News, the fleet sent out a while ago to deal with the MOM has returned. However their mission was not entirely a success, the planet infecting monster carrying meteor was heavily ravaged by our forces and in turn so were they by the defenses the meteor presented.” An image of the fleet before, during and after the battle popped upon the screen behind the feminine looking pink Parascine telling the news of the recent assault. Well as feminine as a jellyfish could possibly look. “Having attacked the MOM two days out from Ewesen at the speed it was moving, they have managed to destroy half of its mass. Now what remains of the MOM are two smaller core pieces still heading for Ewesen. The two pieces have been slowed down drastically and are still considered highly threatening, so that section of space is now currently considered under heavy quarantine. The Planetary Protection Patrol plans to intercept them with Geoptis Station and will try to quickly repair the heavily damaged fleet. Now a moment of silence for those who lost their lives and we’ll now show a list of the casualties by ship.” - Greta was watching all this on the monitor in the hotel room and was sitting on the edge of the bed feeling a bit sad as she drank her beverage having woken up a short while ago, the sleep she got after helping Gilda work herself to exhaustion was incredible. Mostly because she had a big cuddly grumpy friend who couldn’t resist her snuggling within the one bed room they shared because she was too tired to push her off, in fact Gilda was still snoring away on the bed looking adorable despite how she acted when she was awake. The list of dead or crippled on the monitor had a lot of fighter pilots; apparently the MOM had a good defensive screen of some kind. It had to be a deadly space capable biological type of defense mechanism to take down so many fighter pilots on the list. It looked like fifty seven percent of the fighters that were sent out were destroyed, the rest were damaged badly and only a small five to seven percent of them came out of combat only lacking their heavy ordinance. “All those poor ships… and the people on them too of course, it looks like we got our work cut out for us soon. Even if we do manage quite a bit of funds, we still might need some money from Rarity to pay for the materials we need to outfit her ship.” Greta leaned back and continued to watch the report and stretched out her left wing to stroke Gilda’s back to get a saw purring trill out of her best friend. Gilda didn’t enact cuddling sessions, but she didn’t seem to mind being cuddled when she was ‘drop dead’ tired. “I can already tell the coming days are going to be pretty hectic.” “Come back to bed Greta, its cold without all the sunshine that flies out of your ass.” Gilda muttered sleepily not really aware of what she was asking of her friend. Said friend gained a large grin across her beak as she turned off the monitor and its highly depressing display for the opportunity to curl up against Gilda’s back. A little more sleep certainly wouldn’t hurt, as Greta knew she was going to need all the rest she could get and Mr. Welder was going to be getting a lot of use real soon. Oh sure Gilda would push her off the bed when she woke up, but Greta could live with a little pain after enjoying the moment that Gilda had asked for her as a bed warmer. It was odd that they weren’t in a relationship; they were really good friends with very mild benefits. That Gilda let Greta get away with a lot of affectionate gestures like this said a lot about how comfortable the two were with each other. - On Planet Equus it already midday, a tall figure walked down the hallway with a calm demeanor and opened a door to walk into a room of absolute chaos. It was rather adorable what she just walked into, being the friendliest politician on Equus she would say that what she was seeing wasn’t worthy of being called a scandal. Now Celestia, Luna and Cadence having a threesome, that might have been odd but not scandal worthy. What was scandal worthy to the mare that was watching the three at play? A true scandal would be Celestia turning down perfectly good cake, Luna missing her scheduled eating of a banana flavored moon pie thirty seconds after midnight and then there’s Cadence’s rather embarrassing activity that she’d rather not have brought to light. “Hello, heard a rumor that you wouldn’t sign off on something because you’re still testing it?” The accusatory tone the large dark furred bug pony spoke in had suddenly alerted the three alicorns in the room to her presence. Said ponies were busy bouncing breach gel spheres everywhere in a playful manner. They looked like several deer caught in directed light and all their ears wilted at seeing her. She flicked her long teal colored mane and smiled coyly at them. “You know if I was little more anal about things, I could have you sued for already using the stuff in everyday life without signing off on it. Don’t you have plenty of other things to test?” “Oh, it is our dear friend Chrysalis, it so nice of you to join us once more!” It would always be Luna that first greeted Chrysalis with a friendly hug and love based in friendship, Chrysalis could actually taste the difference between romantic, friend and family based love. Chrysalis and Luna became quick friends after some misunderstandings and plenty of other things were hashed out after the changelings surrender. “Do you need any more love?” “No thanks, I haven’t actually touched the stuff for a whole year until just now. Thanks for the taste of vanilla by the way, I kind of missed that.” This shocked the three ponies with horns and wings as she Chrysalis flicked out her own dragonfly styled wings and buzzed them a bit as her own form of secretive laughter. Friendship love tasted like vanilla ice cream, romantic love was obviously chocolate and familial love was rare. Some changelings did marry and crossbreed with ponies, they likened the taste to strawberry ice cream or strawberry syrup covered cheesecake. Chrysalis wouldn’t know, she never married a pony nor has she ever actually had children. Sure she cared for changeling hatchlings and nowadays she did that less and was more of a babysitter when absolutely needed by one of her people to watch the communal daycare, but that was becoming a rare occurrence as changelings were becoming self sufficient due to recent discoveries. “Wait, are you saying you actually found a stable food source, which means you don’t need to eat love anymore?” Of course that would set off Cadence the princess of love, the bright pink mare with gold, violet and magenta hair that was straight until the tips where it ended in curls. “I found a lot of unstable food sources; all that trial and error was quite horrible. Traveling the planet on tour for a year has cooled my jets so to speak. Aside from that, I didn’t find one, but rather two stable and easy to acquire sources of food for my people from renewable resources. fortunately said food hurts no one and unfortunately if ponies knew what it was that we can eat for sustenance aside from love… it might upset a lot of ponies by quite a bit and they’d probably try to start hoarding our new food source from us if they knew exactly what it was.” After a moment of quiet and before any of the ponies looking upon her magnificent visage could speak up, Chrysalis had to address some issues. “Please, for the sake of my sanity, tell me that you didn’t give the Caccerans any leeway into law making or judicial power while I was gone. I’m also a little upset that they are losing sight of their culture and adapting to everyone else’s, it’s like they don’t have their own culture and if they did they don’t seem to care.” “Holy Buck, you’re actually caring about another species without wanting something in return!” Hearing Cadence’s sentiments caused Chrysalis to start chuckling dryly and for Celestia to stare her niece down. “Please watch your language Cadence! We’re all civilized mares here.” While Celestia would never be as close to Chrysalis as her sister, she was happy that the changeling had worked out her issues over the past year. “It is rather ponderous that you’d be concerned about the Caccerans. Also I would like to think that we are not dumb enough to allow them any form of control over the laws in our governing system. Especially to form loopholes so large that we’d have to pay them fifty bits every time we utter the word banana. Eating sundaes on a sunny Sunday just wouldn’t be the same with bananas costing a leg and a wing. ” “Ponderous nothing, it’s like those guys don’t care at all about having their own culture if they fail at an invasion. When we surrendered to you, at least we kept true to our culture and traditions with a few exceptions so as to allow our races to coexist. Those changes were for the better anyway.” Okay now it was understandable why Chrysalis cared about the Caccerans lacking their own set culture that wasn’t based around unionizing. They did try to muscle in on Chrysalis’s territory and she hadn’t been pleased they tried to rival her plan to do what she already was currently accomplishing. It was a little silly that a race called changelings would even have a problem with changing their ways and attitudes, but their culture actually mattered to them. “Some rivals they are, they fold like a house of cards after Luna randomly hits the caps lock on her voice. It’s just as bad that her caps lock almost always seems to be on when she uses a computer or data pad. Of course with activities like this, I’d think you were the reason that fast food restaurants don’t have pits filled to the brim with balls anymore for the colts and fillies... okay I apologize for that bit of wording, it almost makes the restaurants sound like they either harbor stallion pedophiles or a lot of gelded stallion privates.” “I have actually been working on those things… including the ball pits.” The blushing Luna coughed at the admittance that the thing about the ball pits was actually her fault. The pouting look on her face was cute as could be to the other three in the room of bouncy balls giving her a humor filled smirk. “It is not the fault of me and my sister if balls go flying everywhere when we wish to play while eating out with our subjects… I too am sorry and ashamed of how that sounded. Chrysalis I respectfully ask that you don’t drag us into another marathon of innuendos no matter how fun it would be. Also I enjoy those restaurants unbridled joy meals that come with the toys and will proudly inform you that I don’t care what anyone has to say about it!” “Civilized mares huh? Coming from the mare that invented and secretly runs the annual cake-a-palooza festival?” Well Chrysalis had a good reason to sound vindicated as now the two oldest mares in the room were blushing. “Yes, my sister and I may be a bit childish sometimes, but it’s not exactly a bad form of stress relief to be playful every now and then. It’s either that or we develop even worse quirks than what we have already.” Shaking her head at the talk of spheres, Celestia wanted to get back to more important issues. “Now back to the matter at hoof, you mentioned having two new viable sources of food Chrysalis? I’m rather curious to know what they are.” “I’ll whisper the first one to you and if you can stomach that, then I’ll whisper the second.” Polticians on Equus were always leaders or nobles, Chrysalis made a habit of taking care of political problems for the alicorns when it came to dealing with the annoying nobles they had. Pony nobles were worse than changeling nobles and that was saying something, so Luna and Celestia owed Chrysalis quite a few favors which she would be cashing in right around now. Celestia would hopefully understand the need for discretion about the other things that changelings could consume that wasn’t love. “Then we can get on to the subject of my withdrawal from the political games by leaving a suitable proxy in my stead, I nominate the changeling public relations manager Plentiful Thorax.” Author's Note Lagotorphin- These omnivorous beings can use technology after observing it being used closely and prefer to live like wild animals even if they are sentient. They can build traps and craft effective weapons out of their surroundings or use already existing weapons. They are considered the smallest of known sentient species at adulthood and are rarely injured because they are believed to have a limited form of precognition. They specialize at foraging for food, rare plants and anything that looks to be worthy of a good trade. After the cat was let out of the bag about their intelligence, they started grudgingly trading goods with other sentient species. One of the things they will never do is consume the flesh of another sentient being, they instead create funeral pyres for what they will not eat. Lagotorphins speak a language that is almost impossible to decipher and can imitate rabbits perfectly, but they understand all other languages perfectly well and can use data pads or written language to communicate. Common nickname associated with this species- Killer Rabbits.
-14-“Really… are you serious?” Celestia had asked that for the fifth time now looking a little green after Chrysalis told her the first thing of what her people could eat for sustenance, she found the news to be highly disturbing. The food source certainly didn’t hurt anyone and they certainly wouldn’t miss it if it was taken. Celestia, Cadence and Luna weren’t about to argue with Chrysalis leaving Plentiful Thorax in charge, so none of them had much to say about the changeling queen possibly leaving the political scene. She would always be their favorite politician... well at least favorite politician in so far as the only one who could circumnavigate any bureaucracy better than the pony nobles and use it against them in an unrelentingly amusing manner. Still there were matters to attend to and Chrysalis looked like she was a bit peeved that Celestia couldn’t stop asking that question. “For the final time yes, I’m serious! Sure it’s not love, but it definitely works as a source of sustenance.” Being capable of only eating one single thing made for a weak species, it left Chrysalis glad that she discovered a few new things about her people and what could sustain their lives. She first had to see Celestia’s reaction to the news to gauge which food source was more disturbing. “Then please be discreet about it… also make sure your race learns the importance of hygiene in their interactions with others if they happen to acquire a ‘taste’ for it. Now what’s the second new source of sustenance?” Celestia shivered violently at the word ‘taste’. She perked up an ear and Chrysalis whispered into it, after a moment she pulled back and gave the quasi-pony an incredulous look before sighing audibly. “Okay, now that I can actually supply your race with and will do so readily, it’ll just take a bit of finagling to get a system in place to deliver it directly to your people without suspicion. We’ll definitely be working up a trade agreement later. Also no, you would have to make a rather grand offer for me to even consider something like that.” “Thank you, but don’t you find the second thing a little more disturbing than the first?” Sometimes it confused Chrysalis as to what a pony might be more disturbed by. She thought the first new form of sustenance for her people came off as tame and it had made Celestia look a bit green in the face, she thought the second would be more disturbing. “It is far less so than the first one. All the same, don’t eat that in front of me or any pony. Please don’t start stealing the second thing either, because again you need to be discreet with the knowledge. It may be an easily renewable source, but it’s still takes energy to make more of it.” Taking this as a moment to ask a pertinent question, Celestia cleared her throat loudly. “What are you going to be doing if not actively browbeating everyone in the world of politics, of which you have only a few that could match you blow for blow?” “I will admit that you and Luna are just as good or possibly better at politics, but I’ve been thinking of a change of pace. I want to go exploring and see the stars now that I have found a way to sustain the changeling population without subterfuge or stealing love.” Chrysalis was rather proud to be the leader of her race, but it was about time she did something different and her yearlong tour of the world had been absolutely fun. “I might even eventually want to find a planet to start a changeling colony. I’m pretty sure we can transform a rather barren planet for our personal needs, find some less intelligent livestock and the like. Of course we’re going to need the supplies for it, but that will come with the trade agreements we’ll work out and provided I can find an empty planet that nobody has a claim on.” “Well then, while you are here to hear it.” The guarded looked Celestia received was one she was well acquainted with when it came to Chrysalis as she levitated an invitation to the most dangerous politician on the planet. “I would like to properly invite you to the Grand Galloping Gala and I need you to do something for me while you are at it.” Luna and Cadence hadn’t spoken up in a while and were now idly playing with the bouncy gel balls again off to the side while waiting for Chrysalis and Celestia to finish their business while keeping an ear out for whatever the two may be discussing. “What’s in it for me? There’ll be no food at the gala, for me specifically, that I can eat out in the open. The party is usually for your nobles to renew or make new connections while waving their privates around in the air, heck the fact that I managed to make them almost starve to death legally under your laws says a lot about how stupid they really are.” That was quite a tale and Chrysalis enjoyed the sweet taste of victory on that one. In fact it got a few new laws passed that crippled the pony nobles ability to use any loopholes further, but at least they had stopped legally losing massive amounts of money to the changelings at an exponentially dangerous rate. “So again, what’s my incentive to join the dullest party of the year for you? Aside from that how is your favorite purple introvert doing? I must admit, I’m quite shocked as to how much romantic love flows between you two and that you never seem to want to act on it!” Cadence immediately turned and headed straight for Celestia, the princess of love just became a sun princess seeking missile upon hearing this. Celestia now knew for certain that Chrysalis truly was the most evil being that they were actually friends with. - Chrysalis nearly destroyed every pony noble’s power base at the same time without actually doing anything illegal and made it completely impossible for them to buy food for themselves directly from the many various nearby producers. The rich thriving noble ponies of avarice almost became completely poor, broken and lonely husks of their former selves. Celestia’s hooves were tied on it because their own laws were quite clear on what Chrysalis did; frankly the princess thought it was hilarious that the Changeling queen could get away with so much when she was allowed to become a politician. The entire situation involved a simple loophole made by the nobles themselves that was taken to a rather absurd logical extreme and abused to an incredibly insane sadistic level by Chrysalis. Oh sure the nobles didn’t take it laying down or very well at all, it was just that every law they tried to pass to keep Chrysalis under their hooves backfired tremendously every single time. Some of those laws were quite racist and Chrysalis easily got backing from various other species that were minority citizens in the land of ponies, along with getting the common pony to side with her on the issues as well. In the end she unionized the commoners almost destroying the existence or need for nobles by doing what the Caccerans wished they could have gotten away with. As a completely unrelated bit of information to all this, Luna liked how Chrysalis played a mean game of classic ogres and oubliettes as a lawful evil character. The bug pony queen also made for a rather interesting dungeon master, when said dungeon master became quite literal. The innuendos would seem to never come to an end about how Chrysalis made a sex dungeon map for the game. The blushing was doubled the particular night that campaign was introduced. It was well within the games rules as well, much to the consternation of Cadence whose character ended up chained to a wall no less than eight times throughout the entire campaign. - Rarity finished up the EVA suit for the male Cacceran who was Preston Licaley’s friend; she had already gone through the appointments with the Human and Minotaur. There was still no word of the Lagotorphin and the two mares that were supposed to be coming. That group was running late, not to mention the mystery person that Opal hadn’t gotten around to telling her about because of the important newsfeed about the two MOM’s remaining chunks and the damaged triple P fleet. “Thanks for bringing some more business my way Preston; it’s been quite a pleasure to see you again.” Receiving a smile from the feminine Cacceran that Rarity was happy to have as a repeat customer; business wasn’t exactly slow or fast at the moment and making clothing for Preston was quick and easy since he obviously knew what he liked. The bra he wanted was kind of pushing it though as he didn’t exactly have mammary glands that needed support like a human female does. “Don’t mention it Rarity, besides the EVA suit works really well underwater. Just as long as I stay away from crushing my body into my helmet depths, I’ll continue to be good.” The ladylike Preston smiled and looked to his friend looking their suit over. “Anyway did you want the information on my findings about how well it performed underwater?” “Yes, that would be lovely, thank you. A review from one of my customers might help incite more business to come my way. Thank you for stopping by the Caravel Boutique.” After Rarity finished off the last bit of clothing for Preston, she passed it over to him in a bag with several other articles of clothing that he ordered. He smiled before pulling out his data pad and sending some information for Opal to peruse alongside giving a nice honest review of Rarity’s shop. “We’re getting off this planet and heading towards safer pastures at least until the MOM is completely gone.” With a friendly wave Preston and his friend left Rarity’s ship with a smile. “I hope to see you again Miss Belle. Oh and tell… Sassy was it? Tell her that I understand and that I don’t blame her.” “Right then, Opal is our mystery guest appointment coming or not?” The first no show had Rarity worried that something had happened to the three on the way to hangar seven. She had explicitly told Opal to not tell her who the mystery customer was, because she wanted it to be a surprise. It was cheaper to pay for a landing spot to sell stuff from than to buy a stall spot in a marketplace, though there were advantages to owning a marketplace stall. Keeping the Caravel Boutique parked at hangar seven for a cheap sum helped in keeping the cost of her current venture down, however some customers might be wary of having to come to her for her services. “Not yet Meowstress, but I’ve just got a hit from the Lagotorphin one. They are on their way and are very sorry for the delay; it took them a while to catch a shuttle off of Geoptis Station with things being so hectic up there for the local fleet.” The CAT drones were putting things back in order and dancing to Opal’s merry tune in helping Rarity; they had assisted in the making of clothing and EVA suits with Sassy being the eye for quality control on what they did. “They will be arriving in hangar seven in a short while.” Speaking of the man hating mare, Sassy walked in looking slightly ashamed of her actions and how she treated Preston. She had thought Preston was a girl at first and to hear that he was even partly of the male persuasion set her off in getting belligerent at him. Preston’s friend didn’t seem to be all too bothered by the events and had stayed calm the entire time. The situation left Rarity having to explain Sassy’s problem to Preston who was obviously quite understanding of what she had been through. “I’m so sorry Rarity-sama; I’ll try to keep myself under control next time.” Sassy bowed her head in shame, she hadn’t hurt the customer and everything was mostly okay. She just held her head in her hooves looking quite woeful. “I wonder what my therapist would say about all this.” “What would I say about all of what?” A gentle voice spoke up; it had to be Fluttershy judging by how Sassy froze on the spot. Sassy’s therapist walked up the open ramp to Rarity’s work room and looked rather concerned to hear Sassy mutter something that sounded like her presence was needed. “Is everything okay Sassy and do you want to talk about it? You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I mean we can talk about cloths, your hair or do something nice like eat a snack together if that’s okay with you.” All it took for Rarity was one look to tell she wanted to be friends with this mare, she had an elegant air about her and the soulful looking eyes looked as if they were trying to pull you in. Alongside that she seemed to be a bit shy and had an extremely calming influence on the room by being the most awkward one in it. Next to this mare was what looked to be a normal white rabbit with a highly intelligent look to him, as much as an irate look and impatient tapping foot could be considered so. The other pony had to be Tree Hugger, who was carrying a cage with a less than intelligent looking brown rabbit inside that was gnawing away at a carrot. “Hello and welcome to Caravel Boutique where everything is chic, unique and absolutely magnificent! I believe you’re Fluttershy, I’ve heard a bit about you from Sassy and she’s doing much better from when I last saw her. I thank you for helping my friend, oh where are my manners? My name is Rarity Belle, now how can I help you?” The shy mare squeaked and hid her face in her mane at her approach; yep Rarity would easily become friends with her. The poor dear looked like she could use a few good friends given how adorable she acted; she turned to the other mare with some form of recognition. “You must be Tree Hugger; I thank you for directing me to Vera as she’s been a huge stress reliever for me.” “Hello and you are most welcome Maker; it is a pleasure to meet you and many blessings. I am of the earth, but Tree Hugger is my given name.” The oddly flowing voice and strange demeanor made Tree Hugger sound like she was high or on some sort of medication to Rarity. “We are here for an EVA suit for Soul Judger’s friend here. He is Fluffy Knight; however his given name is Angel Rippinicus. Be warned, he is far more than he appears to be. Also he will be the judge of what he needs for his suit, please attend to him as best you can and we will pay for what he needs to survive his stalwart duty to my friend.” The Lagotorphin looked at Tree Hugger flatly with his arms crossed. While he didn’t take being called Fluffy Knight kindly, he didn’t do much aside from attempting to physically glare a hole into the mare. Tree Hugger ignored Angel’s anger to move up to address Sassy, leaving Angel to reluctantly turn to Rarity with an annoyed look. “Hello Reviving Spirit. You can choose to walk along a dark path if you wish, but do not follow it to its ultimate conclusion or all that you cherish will be taken from you.” Tree bowed her head to Sassy as she spoke once more. “You are most certainly in good hooves, blessings to your endeavors in the near future when darkness falls upon the world.” “Um... can I get in a session with my therapist while she’s here Rarity-sama?” It was strange how Sassy was asking for permission from Rarity as if she were going to be scolded for shirking her duties as Coco’s temporary replacement. “Why of course darling, she’s your friend after all! Why wouldn’t you want to speak with her?” Even as she gave her friend permission to get some time with her therapist while on the job, Rarity was measuring the reluctant looking Angel for his suit and eyed the caged rabbit that was sat down off to the side by Tree Hugger. The rabbit earned more than a mild hint of curiosity burgeoning within Rarity’s mind. “Do you need anything else Sassy?” “I… no, I just need to talk with her. Come along Fluttershy, we’ll take this to the living space for some privacy. I would especially like to discuss the terms of my possible release into my friends custody, if you would even allow me such a grand privilege Flutter-chan.” Sounding like she was trying to be confident, Sassy left the room with Fluttershy. As they walked out Vera walked on in without a glance in her direction from either of them. “Hello Living Ghost, it is nice to see you found the place where you are not perfectly invisible.” Tree Hugger had turned in Vera’s general direction, but she wasn’t looking directly at the spa pony. Vera visibly shivered at hearing this and was shocked that, while it didn’t look like Tree Hugger was looking at her, she was definitely the one being addressed by this odd mare. “How is Sheep Wolf, is she healing well? I am sorry that we cannot be introduced to one another personally, especially after her meeting with the hunters of life in their hall of the drowning spirits.” “Who are you and what are you talking about? The only mare I know that’s injured on this ship is Coco; she’ll be out for the next day or so while the med-bed takes care of her injuries. She’s currently suspended in the medical fluids if that’s what you’re asking.” Vera tilted her head in confusion at the oddly smiling mare with the dull looking eyes. Vera couldn’t help but think that even if she couldn’t be seen by this strange mare, the mare somehow knew she was here despite the rather glaringly unique issue that had plagued Vera all her life. “She might need another day; she did lose quite a bit of blood. Her injuries, while not severe, were still pretty close to being fatal.” “Yes, that is who I am talking of. It is good to hear she’ll be awake in time for it.” Tree talked at her instead of to her; because even she was affected by the inability to concentrate on the pony she called Living Ghost. She was still capable of indirectly talking to Vera and had directed Rarity to her services for a reason. “Tell Sheep Wolf, when she awakens from her slumber, that she should not fear Passionate Inferno. You should all know that Passionate Inferno would never intentionally hurt those who would only wish to be friends.” “You’re one really batty pony Tree Hugger and you’re not even a Thestral Pony. Okay so that’s lights, oxygen, HUD and emergency cameras for the helmet of your EVA suit Angel?” Already having the CATs moving with the given measurements delivered from the data pad to her, Opal started up the necessary process to begin constructing the helmet after Angel gave a sharp firm nod to one of the drones. “We’re sorry to say that you won’t be able to utilize an impulse saddle, the smallest we can get is for a Cacceran and you’re way too small to lug one around everywhere. On the bright side the oxygen tank should last longer for you, plus we can put in an oxygen scrubber that will last just as long as if you had an impulse saddle.” Angel looked a little flippant as he turned to Rarity while holding a paw out to the impulse saddles hanging nearby, as if to ask if there were any other options available. “I don’t honestly know what we can do as an alternative to help you maneuver around in space.” As she said this Rarity was thinking on how she could give her customer what he wanted. Even if he had the size and appearance of a normal rabbit that made rather crude gestures and in general had a bad attitude, he was still valued as any other being that came to her for her services. “Well… can you settle for just having the magnetic clamps?” Shaking his head no, Angel started to pantomime and squeak something that Rarity just couldn’t begin to understand, but it was obvious he wasn’t happy that his suit wouldn’t have full control in a space based environment. After he finished his small tantrum, he sighed and crossed his paws before squeaking something out that sounded apologetic after the previous tirade. “Fluffy Knight states that he is a bit angry that you can’t make the impulse saddles any smaller, but he understands why there’s an issue. Making gear and equipment for his race is problematic for most people already and he is impressed that you are even capable of doing this much for him.” The fact that Tree Hugger could understand what he was saying and accurately translate it in its entirety shocked Angel Rippinicus to his very core, the fake rabbit started squeaking to Tree Hugger in a respectful tone. “He also states that he’ll just have to find his own means of propulsion and whatever else you can possibly put into the EVA suit will be fine.” “Well there is one thing… it’s not thoroughly tested at the moment and it’s small enough to work for him.” It sounded like Opal knew of a solution to the problem, only it sounded an unsure shaky one at best. “However maneuverability will rely on learning the maximum range at which it can be used and how to use it safely because it could definitely lead to injuries if mishandled.” “Really, is it something Coco came up with?” Because Rarity certainly didn’t hear of any interesting breakthroughs on utilities beyond the idea of adding a recharge station to the impulse saddle, it was a work in progress because a recharge station would require larger batteries to be installed into the saddle. While that would be a useful feature to recharge electronics or energy weapons with, it added a lot of weight to the impulse saddle. “No, it’s something that Sassy has actually been recently working on. It’s not exactly perfected yet and needs some tweaking, but we could ask her nicely and maybe she’ll spare one for your customer.” It sounded like Opal knew what it was and it was a bit upsetting to Rarity that it hasn’t been brought to her attention until now. “It’s a small energy based grappling device, it has a good range and can attach to just about any surface. The problems that come with the device are slamming into a grappled surface at a high speeds, maintaining the grapple line is hard since it is easily broken by anything intercepting it once it’s attached and it needs to be recharged after thirty minutes of constant use.” “Would that work for you Mr. Rippinicus?” The response Rarity received was Angel flailing out both his arms in a manner that said ‘of course it will, just get on with it already’. “Right then, Opal please get a channel to the living space so that we can ask nicely. Also please note that I will listen to your recording of Sassy and Fluttershy’s discussion later, yes I’m quite aware of your antics. Just give me the highlights when I think to ask for it and remind me to scold you about it later darling.” “Yeah, I kind of figured you’d call me out on that. Hey Puncture Pants! Rarity needs to know if you can spare an energy grapple device for the Lagotorphin’s EVA suit. Also Butter Butt it’s going to be at least thirty minutes before we’re finished, EVA suits aren’t easy to make so you have plenty of time to work with Sassy.” After a pause Opal giggled a bit. “No, nobody can hear anything the two of you were or are currently saying… well aside from me of course. I am currently wired into the operations of this ship so it’s hard for me to not hear anything going on in my belly. Wow, that squeak was so low pitched only dog might be able to hear it. Hold on… okay you are live Sassy!” “Yes, you have permission to sell one of my devices to the meat eating rabbit. Provided that he eventually provides feedback on it, I’m not exactly ready to stick a pin in it yet as being a done invention.” After a moment of shuffling, Sassy could be heard doing something to Fluttershy to make her squeak loudly enough that everyone in the workspace could hear it. “I’ll bring it on back and help you attach it to the suit in a minute.” - Angel looked at the device attached to the left paw of his suit; he aimed it towards the ceiling and fired. The pencil thin beam hit the ceiling with pinpoint accuracy as to exactly where he wanted it to be, then his face rammed into the ceiling causing almost everyone watching to flinch as he wasn’t wearing the suits helmet. Tree Hugger simply smiled a bit wider at the sight. Angel stood up and started squeaking angrily to Sassy, while waving his paw furiously at her. “I think I actually understood that, I am so terribly sorry. Maybe you could set the retraction speed to a fourth the strength and adjust it from there to account for your weight. I must say you’re quite tough for a small… male… fry.” Sassy didn’t sound sorry and couldn’t keep the distaste out of her voice at Angel’s gender and then she looked to a smiling Fluttershy to receive a nod. She was managing to keep herself under control very well at the moment. “Set it to zero if you’re going to be using it to swing around and make sure to recharge it when it runs low. I’m sure a highly intelligent Lagotorphin such as you can figure it all out from there by yourself.” “Good job Sassy, I can see that your friends really are helping you keep your temper under control.” As Fluttershy said this she wrapped Miss Saddles in a comforting hug and rubbed her wings along the mares back. Even being this remotely cordial to a male was good progress for her patient, Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel that Sassy didn’t warn Angel about the retraction strength on purpose. In fact the smirk she saw on Sassy’s face when Angel smacked into the ceiling was quite telling, but it was still progress and Angel needed a small bit of comeuppance for several things. Being passive aggressive was Fluttershy’s form of fun, such as ignoring your best friend getting a small knot on his forehead. “You just need to take more foal steps in the right direction.” “I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s with the rabbit in the cage?” The truth was, Rarity had almost been afraid to ask since she assumed Lagotorphin’s might eat rabbits given they weren’t sentient and thus free game. “It’s Fluffy Knight’s pet rabbit known to me as Stress Reliever; her given name by Angel is Idiot Pillow.” Answered Tree with a completely straight face, if one were to listen closer they might be able to hear the creepy giggling. Rarity’s right eye started twitching a little at the audacity of it all; Angel Rippinicus owned a pet rabbit?! Author's Note Yep, Angel is a meat eater in this story and still friends with Fluttershy.
-15-If there was one thing Rarity needed it would be a bit of clarity of where she was going in life, as of right now things were either depressing, aggravating or dull. Depressing because she was currently on the poor side of things if she was going to have multiple mouths to feed and dull because of how monotonous things had gotten after the strange Tree Hugger, the lovely Fluttershy and the crazy Angel had left her boutique. When had her dreams of riches, commitment, fame and a pony that could rise up from such an ignoble start to be among the higher echelons of society become this daunting? Well at least she had a chance to design a dress for Fluttershy and the Pegasus completely appreciated her efforts in making her a dress, one of which Rarity gave to her freely. The mystery guest had to reschedule and Rarity was completely fine with that, now if only she hadn’t gotten stuck in a rut of making normal clothing for various species afterwards. It was currently the next day and there was not much going on. Rarity certainly did her job without whining, but complaining was certainly something she did with readily increasing frustration. Coco was her main source and maker of Impulse Saddles and she was still on the mend after her run in with whatever ruffians that had roughed her up, so creating any more EVA suits had to be put on hold until she was released later this day. Speaking of EVA suit attachments, Rarity recently incorporated a low quality version of Sassy’s energy grapple into her personal suit. The higher quality version was Sassy’s personal current project, but the low quality grapple was still quite an impressive device with quite a bit of reach and worked effectively enough. It certainly explained what Sassy was doing every time she said she had business to attend to, testing a grappling device while under the effects of gravity certainly counted as her personal business given it was something she was working on. The maximum weight the grappling device could hold was about three hundred pounds, while under the effects of gravity. Outside the effects of gravity the device would always pull you to a larger object. Otherwise the device would do as advertised and grappled a small object and pull it towards you. The device was named the Pinpoint Puller by Sassy; it was designed with the power of Sassy’s special talent and there was an emphasis on the PIN in pinpoint. How it attached to the surface of an object was through zero point technology, the tip of the beam was generated with a very tiny zero point energy manipulation field which asserts a form of limited gravity on whatever surface it makes contact with to stick to it. The field acted as an anchor and the device pulls the partly solidified energy attached to the anchor back into itself to pull the user towards the anchored point or an object towards the user. The Pinpoint Puller could only fire its beam in a straight line and while the beam could be curved, it would only do so after it’s already attached to something and could not bend to become angular. That was counted as one among the many flaws that the low quality device had and what Sassy was trying to work on. The beam was easy to break by anything intersecting it. The device always loses some energy in the process of extending or retracting. One could not fire or use the device in rapid succession, as it required time to extend and actually grab onto a surface. To detach the beam once attached you had to retract it all the way, intercept the beam long enough to destabilize it or turn the device off for a second. The battery life required you to make quick limited use of the device, not to mention the further your target was the more energy the Pinpoint Puller would take up to get you there. On the bright side Sassy’s Pinpoint Puller was small, compact, lightweight and really easy to use provided you weren’t trying to do anything incredibly fancy or risky with it aside from go to point A to B at a really fast pace. The thing that she was currently working on improving with her higher quality version was getting the device to pivot while retracting someone towards the anchor point. A conversation long since coming was soon started up while Vera was cuddled up against Sassy, one that involved Vera staying on Rarity’s new employee in relation to Sassy’s continuation as one. Rarity was mentally thankful that at least Greta and Gilda were hopefully making a profit, because goodness knows she wasn’t making enough money these days. - “I swear if I have to make another sock for a Parascine today I’m going to scream!” Rarity really was getting to that point as she had no idea why Parascine’s had a fascination for socks or why she was suddenly a popular purveyor of them to the relatively amphibious species. At least it was some form of business today. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the socks they liked didn’t have to come in the colors of eyeball burning plaid, epileptic tie-dyed trees and horrific kaleidoscopes when it comes to appearance. Why they liked it was disturbing Rarity’s mental processes and sense of decency in making articulate beautiful designs something fierce, but she calmed down when she remembered a simple fact. It was probably an alien thing and they weren’t ponies, so they had different if extremely bizarre tastes in tentacle wear. If her customers were happy with the product then she shouldn’t really complain or whine about it, she did so anyway because she could. “I don’t think I can handle another one today, I swear I’m going to go positively mental with one of my energy pistols and I really don’t want to hurt anyone.” “Speaking of mental…” It was worrying for Sassy to even broach that particular word considering her history. “Flutter-chan said that I could stay on with you provided we have a recognized SNUGGLES member onboard to keep my more self destructive tendencies in check.” “Which I’m assuming Vera partly qualifies as, partly because Opal can’t write Vera’s name on a document without it getting erased. It quickly becomes forgotten and erased after a few moments as junk data. I just wrote your name down on a sheet of paper with all the others I consider crew members.” It still amazed Rarity as to how far Vera Blossom’s universal ignore factor problem went when it even had an effect on technology when she wasn’t even around. “I swear you affect technology in the strangest of ways Vera, it’s like your very name is a cursed.” Opal had informed Rarity that she tried to write a file to specifically remember Vera’s existence. The following happened to said file in this particular order: it forgot that it personally existed, became junk data leading to it somehow convincing itself that it was an anti-virus software program and a virus at the same time to then ultimately it delete itself from existence with impunity. This was despite being incapable of making the decision on it’s own in the first place without outside input, it practically became a low grade AI for as long as it took to blink that had immediately decided to commit suicide. This was very much to Opal’s consternation as she had watched it all happen in the slow motion that was an AI’s ability to process things and recorded it happening, in real time the file lasted five seconds before it ignored itself out of existence. It literally wasn’t a virus at all and Opal hadn’t been connected to anything else at the time to have caused something like that hiccup in the system to happen. She was in a completely wall to wall clean system, so it begged the question of why making a file on Vera Blossom, with the well known sisters Aloe and Lotus Blossom that she was completely capable of making a file on, caused such a catastrophic failure in its own existence. “Like I told you, traffic and automatic doors are my worst enemy. Never let me drive anything unless you want to inevitably be hit by something.” While Vera was a great therapist in making people forget their woes. Her seemingly universal ability to be ignored or forgotten was driving Opal close to becoming stark raving mad, which wasn’t good for an already rampant initiative taking AI. Like Rarity, Opal could calm down given some time by ironically getting her mind off of Vera’s situation entirely. “As I might have stated before, I wish to stay onboard and will carry out my duties as effectively as I can. I’ll take payment in food and at least a place to sleep plus whatever else you feel I might deserve, because it’s working for me so far. I will certainly be good enough at keeping Sassy mentally in line as is needed and will provide my services to the best of my abilities to anyone else you deem fit to bring to me, this includes yourself Miss Belle.” “Then it means you can stay with me Sassy so welcome aboard the Caravel Boutique, although I still think you should still see Fluttershy from time to time for a mental evaluation and a second opinion. Now I need you to answer me honestly when I ask this because it’ll be rather off putting if you lie about it now, are you an assassin or are training to be one?” The second Rarity asked both Vera and Sassy tensed, both for completely different reasons. “I ask because the grappling device, those hidden shock pins in your skirt and the sword all seem like hallmarks of one. Also Coco was quite worried about your activities every time you left the ship.” “… not an assassin per say...” Sassy mumbled a bit and looked away, Vera at least heard enough and went back to making Sassy feel comfortable. Vera was really good at her job, for when Sassy felt a small pop in her spine and she felt herself calm down drastically. “I’m actually… this is really embarrassing to admit to you… I’ve actually trained as a… okay, get it together… I’m a unicorn samurai! There I said it, sure I might have the two pin based gadgets and might have a few more ideas to accessorize with. It’s all for personal defensive reasons that you’re already very well aware of as to why I would feel the need to protect myself more… aggressively.” “Are you going to start getting upset Sassy?” They had danced around the issue of what happened and right now it seemed like Rarity couldn’t avoid it by the look on Sassy’s face. “You don’t have to go there if you don’t want to.” “We can stop doing that right now Rarity-sama, because let’s face it… I was raped when I was younger and that was several years ago.” There was a long silence following Sassy’s quiet words, she wasn’t crying as she’s had quite some time to come to terms with it. “I admit that after that I didn’t exactly take anyone’s attempts to help me very well and what happened between us was quite horrid Rarity-sama. I wasn’t quite of my right mind at the time; after I got over my trauma and a lot of counseling I’m much better now. It was either let myself stay broken or do something to make sure it never happened again, I wasn’t about to get hoof to anything combat training. So, I went the logical route that wouldn’t involve me touching anyone physically and started taking weapons training classes. I threw myself into the training so hard that it’s not safe for anyone of a stallion’s persuasion to be around me for too long and I wasn’t exactly safe for you to be around back then either.” “Excuse me for asking this, but how dangerous could a sword exactly be against a universe full of projectile weapons?” Vera was rubbing Sassy’s shoulders and actually felt quite sad to finally hear what happened to Sassy, to think this was a mare she saw as being full of life and rather talkative. “Otherwise you seemed to do fine with the three males we had visit the Caravel Boutique yesterday. Even if you were giving them murderous looks, might have berated one and pulled an only slightly harmful prank on another, you didn’t exactly act on your impulses to harm them further.” “Oh you’d be surprise; the self defense trainers had training courses for Earth, Pegasus, Thestral, Unicorn, Mermaid and Changeling Ponies. The mare that trained me was really quite thorough in her teachings about how to deal with various situations. Unicorns especially had a wide variety of ways to wield a sword to be dangerous to the point that it counts as a projectile weapon.” At this Sassy sighs and leans back into Vera’s calming ministrations at her haunches and flanks. “They do say the PIN is mightier than the sword, well the sword when enhanced by magic can cut straight through things it shouldn’t even logically be capable of. I was quite devastating with a rapier, but I felt I might incidentally kill someone with it so that’s why I have a chokuto as it was the less threatening option that actually required a lot of training instead of natural talent. I mostly have to worry about straining my magic to swing it instead of my muscles, but I have trained to wield my blade with my hooves if needed to a less effective degree. Things like cutting low grade material weapon bullets in half is possible, deflecting energy weapon projectiles was a little more difficult to learn. Can’t honestly cut through solid metal or armor in one blow nor can I actually deflect constant beam weapons. I’m not a perfect swords mare and know that there is someone out there that will always be capable of hurting me like that again, so I take my training seriously. The design of the shock pins was made to incapacitate, but they can also explode in a rather deadly manner. The Pinpoint Puller was made so as to get me away from a situation quickly, but it could also be used to get me in a better position to eviscerate someone. So I can clearly understand where you’re coming from and why you might think I’ve been training to be an assassin instead of a samurai Rarity-sama.” “You can deflect energy projectiles?” That was the most concerning bit about all that to Rarity. Sure she knew her friend was dangerous to males, but she didn’t realize how much she was holding back from her and Coco. She would think Sassy being a samurai in this day and age absolutely silly, if she weren’t completely serious about it at the moment and Rarity knew she was. “As I said, the training was quite thorough on defending oneself against higher forms of technology with simpler weaponry that could be acquired or crafted from the environment. Aside from that I did do some minor hoof to anything training in the form of a few takedown moves.” If Sassy had been offered assassin training, she might have well taken it in the state she was in when she wanted a way to prevent herself from being defenseless ever again. Even Sassy logically knew it was possible that she could be rendered defenseless again even with the kind of training she has. “Now I just have to keep myself under control so I don’t start using the things I’ve learned lethally unless absolutely warranted. It hasn’t exactly been easy for me even if I am good at using a sword; my special talent will always be related to the clothing industry.” “Well I can see that you are still mentally fragile even if you are quite physically fit; you just need to ease yourself back into social situations that may involve something you hate and I’m certain Fluttershy has already been trying that with you. She’s one of the top rated members of SNUGGLES even if she always wins shyest of the year, I can’t even get a rating.” Here Vera started gently rocking Sassy back and forth while snuggling her. “I’m serious; aside from a few minor fading scars you’re really healthy and beautiful strong mare. You should be proud of the skills you’ve accomplished when it wasn’t even directly related to your special talent.” “Being mentally fragile certainly explains you needing to hold hooves with Coco and take comfort in her presence, well aside from the obvious that you’re infatuated with the female persuasion thanks to the psychological scarring.” Seeing that she was getting a look, Rarity decided to elaborate just for the sake of Vera’s curiosity. “Hey, I’ve studied psychology too you know. It certainly helps with being endearing to customers to know and understand their moods before I start making clothing to fit them; I am a business mare after all. Otherwise I do get moments of inspiration where I can’t help but make something for someone that I just know they’ll enjoy like your darling and lovely therapist Sassy. Fluttershy is a nice mare I’d be happy to treat to a trip at a nice spa or just have a talk over some tea with.” “You’re actually taking this samurai thing a lot better than I expected, not even a chuckle at how absurd it sounds.” Indeed Sassy’s friend was quite calm and it made a her a little confused at why Rarity was being so accepting of her being able to… oh right. What Sassy hadn’t exactly explained was that she could potentially kill someone from fifteen hundred feet away with a single sword swing; of course her aim would be entirely off at that distance and it took a lot of magical energy out of her to do that even once. Slicing something apart a quarter of a mile away was no laughing matter even if you couldn’t quite hit exactly what you wanted to, a little less than five hundred feet was the best Sassy could do in the terms of accuracy. How does one go about explaining that you were just as lethal as someone with a material rifle with a weapon seemingly meant exclusively for close range combat? Giving into that all encompassing rage hidden under the surface of her emotions scared Sassy more than what she was actually capable of, it was little wonder it bothered her greatly that she wanted to kill that Macropussian. “Well of course I am, it’s not like I haven’t overlooked your issues dear. It’s just that I accept you and everyone else I’m slowly accumulating into making them a part of my business. Even if they are not selling fashion or clothing like I am, it doesn’t hurt to travel with friends who can do jobs in the same general vicinity as you.” Being as generous as she was, Rarity was willing to help anyone get back on their feet or whatever someone happened to have that counted as a mode of locomotion. However her generosity was only of a slight detriment and setback currently, but she had her personal moral code and she was sticking to it even if it was likely to kill her. “On top of that you are and will always be a good friend of mine Sassy Saddles, so stop being so afraid all the time as I’m more intrigued than frightened by the fact that you’re a trained samurai. It’s actually intriguing in an age where such a thing seems rather, ‘antique’, for lack of a better word. I think you’re Pinpoint Puller is a wonderful auxiliary device for emergency situations. Especially if you lose a tether while in space and need to get back to the ship you happen to be working on should you not have an impulse saddle, it would be quite a boon to civilian use and I know Greta would at least like to give it a once over. Ph right you haven’t met her or Gilda personally yet. I’ll just simply have to introduce you to my other friends when I can get a chance; they seem rather intent on throwing their lot in with me.” “Can I get a hug?” Sassy felt Vera wrap and tighten her hooves around her body. “I mean aside from the one Vera is giving me that is.” “It’s nice to see you finally opening up Sassy.” Rarity made her way over to Sassy and wrapped her hooves around her, the poor dear always needed some form of comforting since first she arrived at the Caravel Boutique and it was usually Coco doing it. She pulled away from Sassy and thought to ask something rather pertinent of Opal. “Opal I know this may seem odd of me to ask, but if you’re the Caravel Boutique at the moment and Vera is always bodily touching you. Then why are you having so much trouble with her?” It did seem a little odd to Rarity that the two methods for seeing Vera were pointing her out or being physically in contact with her. “Well that would be a workable idea, if my body wasn’t a completely digital construct and was actually mechanical. Yes I know I claim that my body is whatever my mind happens to be occupying, but that’s just one of my little personality quirks and you know it. Nice try in helping me with Vera though, I’ll just go back to having a CAT follow her around at all times.” Well the idea to think of the ship as her body so she wouldn’t have as much trouble was a no go in Opal’s opinion in keeping Vera in her sight even, given she’s already tried that. Even AI’s had to blink sometimes, it just usually happened so fast that nobody could actually see it occur. One of the eight wonders of being sentient data. “Aside from that, I’m more interested to hear what Sassy can do with a rapier. May I assume that your special talent gives you a boost in wielding such a specifically shaped sword?” “My special talent does indeed do that and I really don’t want to talk about it. I’ll stick to my chokuto thank you very much!” The way Sassy’s ears flicked in anger made Opal quit that line of questioning quickly on the principle of her tone alone, she had her reasons to wield a sword that she was specifically less talented at utilizing completely. “I wish we could talk about something else that isn’t me harming someone or something with my special talent.” “Do you know anything about or have you ever tried acupuncture?” At Vera’s odd input, Sassy tilted her head slightly as she looked up at the mare that had her on her back and was currently gently rubbing her belly making one of her rear legs kick out slightly every now and then. - “You’re mystery guest has arrived… probably the last order of business we’ll get today Meowstress. Proceed down the cargo ramp and wait for them to land.” About as good as they were likely to get period as far as Opal was concerned. “We might not be getting anything tomorrow as those two core pieces of the MOM will be arriving at that time; also Coco is awake and aware so it’s about time to let her out of the med-bed as well and I’ll get right on that.” Rarity immediately shut her trashy romance novel; ones that Sassy would probably burn in the fires of Tartarus if she could get away with it, to make her way towards the ramp. She had barely left the work shop all day and walked down the ramp looking around for the mystery visitor. Sassy had the living space to her and was stretching herself out to maintain her flexibility; she was also interested in learning about acupuncture from Vera. Vera was currently off in maintenance and drone repair making sure things were in working order with a CAT constantly pointing at her, which was becoming a thing between her and Opal. Coco was awake and likely bored out of mind floating in the fluids, at least most of her injuries were healed and she could be brought out to breathe fresh air again. Standing outside the Caravel Boutique Rarity looking around the hangar and didn’t see anyone approaching on foot, looking up she did see the roof was open and a scout ship slowly lowered itself into landing near her ship. It’ll look to be smaller than her ship and slightly egg shaped, but it was definitely better armed and with military grade stuff to boot and appeared to be a three room ship. It had her imagining a nice handsome man in uniform, but when the airlock opened a familiar figure stepped out to greet her and promptly shattered that idea. “Hello again Rarity, did you notice a small problem with my wardrobe the last few times we met?” Well that was an awkward conversation starter for Ember to start off with, just about as awkward as the dragon looked as she shyly walked over to the pony rubbing at one of her horns. “This is my new ship; I call it The Pyrrhic Victory. I was kind of tired of dragging around five hundred pound bounties three miles through crowded streets and getting odd stares because of it. Anyway since I got it, I figured it would be a good idea to get one of your EVA suits while I can if I needed to make some repairs to it in space. The new Pinpoint Puller feature caught my interest when I looked up your business, so if you have any stock I’d like to purchase two of those because I have a rather unique idea for one of them. Also if it isn’t too much trouble can I talk to Miss Coco Pommel? I know she works for you and I’ve been meaning to get around to talking with her, so… here I am.” “Why of course I noticed Miss McFlame, since you obviously have nothing else to wear but your armor. If you need something to wear, I’m quite cheap for what money you have to spare as you’ve certainly come to the right mare. Welcome to the Caravel Boutique my friend! Now come along and tell me what you need darling.” As an afterthought Rarity decided to warn Ember off on one particular article of clothing as they headed for her ship. “Oh and please for the sake of my sanity Ember, don’t ask or insist on buying socks today. I would rather you ask for a shirt, pants or maybe even a nice dress fit for a queen, just anything but socks. You can meet with my business associate Miss Pommel who is soon being released from her med-bed after recently obtaining some rather startling injuries. So please try not to appear threatening, I don’t want the poor dear to have a heart attack when she see’s you after what happened at the hotel. I believe we do have the Pinpoint Pullers as Sassy has made a few more in her spare time; better versions are in the works if you wish to wait on that. It’ll be my pleasure to accommodate you.” Ember was quickly becoming quite a pleasant surprise for Rarity every time they met one another; why having a dragon spend money on her services felt like quite an honor. Author's Note Because Dragons hardly ever spend money and what they have that can be considered wealth, they usually consume.
-16-Ember was a little tentative about taking off her ramshackle poorly constructed and multiple times battered armor that she’d forge back into some amalgam of shape whenever she was in a moment of privacy. Rarity said she needed measurement and rather accurate ones, so here Ember was feeling a bit naked without her armor even if her skin was relatively heat and bullet proof and on top of being highly magic and energy resistant. It was quite hard to hurt a dragon; the entire point of the armor to Ember was to primarily prevent anyone from scuffing her beautiful scales. “Oh my, some of your scales remind me of my cutie mark.” After Rarity pointed it out, the scales at Embers hips were a bit discolored and did in fact look like her cutie mark somewhat. The scales were a bit darker than the rest of the sapphire colorations that was prevalent upon Ember’s body; she also had some discolored diamond shaped marks on her head and tail. Why the poor dear even looked positively shy being the center of Rarity’s attention despite the fact that she hunted people for a living and should be more outgoing. You’d think with a job like that, she would meet lots of people and be less conscious about her appearance. “So what did you have in mind?” “I want some clothing for leisurely activity. Pants, shirts, maybe underwear… I’m not exactly big on clothing at the moment you know. Mostly it’s because I might incidentally ruin them by setting them on fire by accident, anytime I’m on a clothing mandatory planet I’m usually wearing nothing under my armor and it’s kind of starting to make me highly recognizable.” After a bit of thought and wrapping her tail around her waist in a manner most self conscious of her appearance, Ember decided to go with something a little less rough than her life of sleeping in odd and abandoned places. She’s slept on jagged things more than a few times; it wasn’t that much different from sleeping on a pile of gold and jewels. “Just something soft and comfortable that doesn’t chafe; it has to be tough and heavily heat resistant. I can’t stress it enough that they be heat resistant as things catch fire around me easily. Throw in a backpack and make it a nice color, like purple. You’re the expert here, so surprise me! I would also like some winter gear, if I ever need to go to an ice planet again unless the EVA suit can cover for that.” “So exactly how many planets have you been to Ember? I know you’re a very well traveled individual so I’m quite curious. Oh right, Opal! Tell Sassy we have one last customer today and I could use her help in the work shop by starting up preparations for an EVA suit. After I’m done with the measurements we can let Coco out of medical, she might need some rehabilitation so have Vera meet me there.” After Rarity finished giving Opal her orders she turned back to ember. “The EVA suit is good for water planets at least two thousand feet down in depth, another customer of mine confirmed it works very well underwater with the impulse saddle attachment. It has temperature control so it’ll also retain heat on ice planet though I think I would need to adjust for your biology, since you’re certainly a lot hotter than you look.” Ember logically knew what Rarity meant, but couldn’t keep the blush off her face as she looked to the floor and started twiddling her thumbs. Dragons were always warm to the touch and temperature was hardly an issue except in the most extreme of freezing cold temperatures, for comparison a pony would have frost bite whereas a dragon would only feel a bit nippy after an hour in the same climate. The temperature would have to be at absolute zero for quite a while to really start having an effect on Ember; Rarity certainly had an effect all her own as Ember’s tail wiggled slightly against her legs. “I’ve been to quite a few. Planets ranging from dry deserts, icy inhospitable, tasty tropical, slightly arid and completely average ones with multiple climates like Equus. The two types of planets I’m really rather fond of are water and volcanic planets!” Now that was a declaration from Ember that had Rarity confused, wouldn’t a fire breathing creature hate a planet covered in the stuff that made breathing fire impossible? “Don’t look so surprised, it’s almost impossible for me to be blamed for fire incidents I didn’t cause when a planet is covered in at least eighty to ninety percent water. Plus I enjoy swimming, in lava or water.” “Well the fact that you like swimming in lava certainly doesn’t surprise me and you really don’t need to explain your attraction to volcanic planets, best place to find a source of high quality gems cheaply I take it?” Receiving a nod from her friend, Rarity smiled as she finished measuring Ember’s tail much to the dragon’s cute squeak when she grasped it in her magic to measure its length from butt to the tip of feathery styled fin at the end of it. “Who’s the… Rarity-sama, why is the dragon that antagonized Coco here?” Sassy walked in brushing her mane, it looks likes she took shower and the glow of her horn immediately settled around the handle of her sword as her eyes narrowed at Ember. “She’s my friend and a paying customer Sassy; she also wishes to apologize to Coco for all the trouble she has caused. So please be a dear and be nice to her.” If her friend were male Rarity was quite sure Sassy wouldn’t have immediately relented and let her magic off the sheathed sword she was carrying quite as fast. “Sure she’s a bounty hunter, but she means absolutely no harm to us.” “I can’t help but notice the sword; you’re obviously a samurai which is kind of rare thing out here. Excuse me for asking if it’s a little awkward that I do so, but did you train for military, freelance or personal? I’m Ember McFlame by the way.” Ember held out her right claw towards Sassy who took it in her hoof and gave it a shake, she had noticed the mare immediately going for the handle of her weapon at the first sight of her and she’s already seen what happened to the Macropussian. Samurai were definitely not something that Ember trifled with or took lightly; thankfully she’s only ever had to deal with two and that neither of them had managed to even cut into her material rifle. Depending on her answer, Ember could gauge this mare’s threat level. “I’ll tell you its very personal at least. Sassy Saddles, charmed to make your acquaintance Miss McFlame.” Sassy knew what Ember meant; someone usually became a samurai to go freelance or working for the military. Rarely did you find a pony or being who trained as one for personal reasons. Even so it was quite hard to get close enough to disarm a well trained samurai and an exceptional samurai would never lose their weapon to anything until it completely shattered, when it came to having personal reasons for having samurai training then you knew you were dealing with a wild card in terms of skill. “Right, I won’t ask anymore about that. I might be here on business, but it couldn’t hurt to talk some more.” Ember sized up the mare slightly; Sassy was of a pretty good stature and was of a tall unicorn build which said something about her reach when she swung her weapon with her hooves. So she was already rating high on Ember’s do not mess with meter. There was the fact that Sassy was also sizing her up as well that led Ember to acknowledging that this mare was just as dangerous as the other samurai she’s face, if not more so that she had trained for personal reasons and not for a job. “So, how did you and Rarity meet? You tell me and I tell you the same thing.” As the two continued to give one another searching looks and talked in a slightly tense atmosphere, Rarity was off to the side ordering Opal to assist them with CAT she named Dos and the rebuilt MAT drone. It led to Rarity wondering if the ship investigators on Geoptis had missed the fact that the MAT drone originally belonged to the crew of the Derringer or did they just leave it to her without question, it was nice to have around either way. Shaking her head, Rarity was out the door and heading toward the front of the ship where medical was, it was time to let Coco out. The poor dear has been in the med-bed for quite a while. - Rarity walked into the room to see Vera waiting for her and the CAT named Uno that continued to point its manipulator arm directly at her, she wasn’t being particularly fancy with naming what was considered expendable machinery. Walking up to the lid of the med-bed Coco occupied, the fluids started to drain much to the earth pony’s relief that she was finally getting out of the funky stuff and the straps detached from her body allowing her to wiggle around a bit. “That stuff really begins to feel icky after a while, also what kind of drugs are you using because I didn’t think I was supposed to hallucinate nearly that much. Rainbow Land with the undead space monsters, the human and that marker thing was interesting.” The lid flipped away after the last of the fluids was drained out and Coco sat up, or at least she tried to. Her muscles were a bit weak from being bedridden for a while. “Though it is not something I’d relish reliving. Well don’t I feel super right now.” . “I’ve been quite assured that the drugs are safe, but they really do have quite the kick. I’m surprised I can even stay coherent while under their effects, at least they’re thankfully not addictive.” This was her good friend and Rarity was worried about her health, she conveyed that particularly well. “It’s good to hear you’re alright Coco, but I must know something. Why you were in such a dreadful state upon returning to the ship in the first place?” “I made a few bounty hunters mad by accident and… let’s just say I got into a really bad bar fight, but don’t worry I’m pretty sure they’ve all calmed down by now.” Her voice was okay, but her body felt a bit bruised and that was the best Coco could hope for after being on the mend for a while. She didn’t cherish the moments of bleeding out and stumbling back to the spaceport. At least she hadn’t been involved in painful neck bending whiplash incident so she could speak normally. “Also I actually feel really sore.” “Well that’s how you’re supposed to feel since it’s been a full Ewesen day darling, Vera will help see to it that you’re cleaned up and walking. We’ve officially hired her on to staff as is mandatory to keep Sassy onboard; she’s our personal masseuse and therapist.” Rarity walked over and smiled as Vera helped Coco sit up. “It’s nice to have you almost back on your hooves dear; we’re going to need more impulse saddles when you’re ready to get back to work.” “That’s good, but is she really going to need that CAT pointing to her at all times?” Before Coco’s question could be answered by Rarity, Opal spoke up answering it for her. “Yes, it is absolutely important that I keep track of her. She’s annoying as all get out to keep track of otherwise and only Rarity can see normally her out of the rest of us.” It was certain Opal could keep it going as long as Rarity didn’t tell her to stop, but she’d have to recharge the CAT eventually and then she’d lose track of Vera Blossom again. The AI was beginning to see the third spa sister as the most notoriously difficult being for her to have ever come across. “It’s not that I don’t like you Vera and I mean no offense, but not being able to keep track of a crew member really irks my programming something fierce.” “Well I guess that settles that, I’ll be seeing to my last customer of the day with Sassy if you need me.” Rarity turned around and made for the back left side of the ship having left Coco in good friendly back rubbing hooves. “Take good care of her Vera.” “Can do, Miss Belle and I don’t take any offense Opal. At least you’re trying and that’s better than what I can say about many others I’ve met who eventually gave up with keeping me in mind.” Vera starting to work out the limpness of Coco’s legs and the mare smiled as her hooves ran over the legs testing the muscles. “Okay, wiggle the tip of your hoof and just the tip.” - Walking back to the cargo room slash work shop, she could see Ember and Sassy getting along together. At least Sassy wasn’t crazily obsessing over her nearly as much anymore, because when she walked into the room Sassy didn’t even bat an eye in her direction and kept talking with Ember. It was nice to see her opening up to other people. “So it’s not really that amazing.” Sassy could be heard saying as Rarity walked up. “I mean it is rather limited in what it can do.” “Are you kidding me? It’s really quite useful, which is why I’m getting one with my EVA suit which I want to come in sapphire blue with emerald green highlight stripes. I want a pattern on it that will resemble my scales and emeralds.” It seemed Ember was in a more pleasant mood than she had been when Rarity left and had warmed up to Sassy. “Anyway I’ve been meaning to ask since I’m a little bit curious, is Coco your girlfriend? You seemed kind of mad at seeing me on first sight.” There was a long pause and Sassy looked away, she looked a little bit upset at the assumption and why wouldn’t she be as she was now strictly attracted to girls. “No, we’re not each other’s special pony. I have some mental trauma issues and I kind of terrorized my friends when I was less than sane. Thankfully they and my family got me some really good help; I still can’t talk face to face my father even though he paid for my samurai training.” Though Sassy did appreciate the comfort of Coco allowing her to hold hooves, she didn’t know when exactly Ember saw it but apparently she didn’t interrupt the moment and that put the dragon in a better light for her. Plus the praise Sassy was getting about her little grappling device was making it easier to become friends with Ember; said dragon was giving her a look of understanding when she mentioned her father. “She was comforting me even though I’ve been a bit of a bad friend to her and Rarity.” “You do realize I’m standing right here right, in any case stop dwelling on it already. You hardly did much more than cause me a few minor injuries and scared Coco half to death.” Both the pony and the dragon jumped and flopped onto their faces at Rarity’s sudden interruption; she giggled at them and moved over to start working with the materials Opal gathered together. “A sapphire and emerald EVA suit? I can do that, while green is certainly not my color it’ll definitely work for you. Sassy take care of Ember’s casual clothing needs, I’ll start work on the EVA suit. You can talk to Coco after we’re done here Ember; she needs a little rehabilitation with our therapist Vera to get herself back into walking shape. So that’s a few heat resistant shirts, heat resistant pants, an EVA suit, two Pinpoint Pullers, an impulse saddle and some special unmentionables for comfort. All of this is going to be interesting to design for someone with your exquisite lithe build. Now do you want your horns to be on the inside the helmet or outside of it? I need to know your preference before I start constructing the helmet. Will that be all you want?” “Inside please and no, I want to ask something else if you know anyone who can help me with it. Do you happen to know someone who could make my ship function remotely? I’m going to need to be able to call The Pyrrhic Victory safely if I’m going to be picking up bounties with it; I’ve also been thinking of installing an AI for it.” Ember rubbed at her spines sheepishly. “I know how to pilot ships; I don’t know the finer details of making them pilot themselves to my location for a pickup.” “Well an AI would be a good place to start, the ship would mostly take of itself then if you got a few MAT or CAT drones to make repairs so you don’t have to. You can definitely automate your ship in that way.” Rarity considered this for a moment. “I think I know someone who could help you with your technical problems, she works for me but she’s currently up on Geoptis if you don’t want to go the AI angle. I don’t know anyone who could make a personal AI for you.” “Ahem, what am I? Because chopped liver is not something I can very well eat as you know Meowstress, I can generate an AI to her specifications. I can’t do it without your express permission though.” It sounded like Opal was a bit testy. “It’s either that or I could design something similar to the dumb AI that the CAT and MAT drones run on. We could also bring Greta’s technical expertise in on this; she practically doubles as a hacker anyway.” “We’ll discuss it later in any case, maybe after you’re done apologizing to Coco.” It was as good as any other idea related to the subject that Rarity had. - “Coco you have a visitor, so please don’t react terribly because you’ve certainly seen her before.” Rarity hoped this could turn out well, but Coco being a bit paranoid would have a rather foreseen reaction. She’d panic horribly and Rarity hoped Vera had the foresight to keep her calm. “Is it Charity Kind Heart?” Coco asked hopefully trying to stand on her slightly wobbly legs with Vera standing at her side looking proud of her; she saw that Rarity was wincing about something. “If it’s not my old mentor, then who is it?” “Uh, hi…” Ember poked her head into the room and Coco leapt towards the nearest corner and started cowering at the sight of her. “Well that’s going to be among the many adverse reactions I seem to be getting today, though it isn’t entirely unwarranted considering what I do for a job. So I’ll take this as the best reaction I could possibly ask for.” Vera was thankfully on top of the situation by pulling Coco into a hug and slowly soothing the poor frightened mare down. She looked towards the dragon, which was awkwardly poking the tips of her index claws together, with a bright cheerful inviting smile. “Thank you, she has been having problems with getting her legs in gear after being in a med-bed for a little more than a day. That definitely sorted out her ability to walk around; she in fact galloped to the corner of this room in record time.” It was a good thing the drone was still pointing out her existence or else Ember might not have heard or seen her, the contact thing only mostly worked with the one she was physically in contact with. “Her light rehabilitation needs have been met with record time; nothing says get up and run like something that scares the pants off you. Dragons are pretty rare off of Equus.” “Yeah, well I’ve been enjoying life instead of sitting on a pile of treasure for the rest of my miserable life like most dragons do. I’d rather collect experiences than massive amounts of tasty treasure.” Ember neither approached nor did she leave, she stayed right where she was trying to be as unthreatening as possible. “I’m not a threat…” “You cut a Ceantir in half and killed several others, how in the universe are you not considered threatening!” Squealed out the rather panic stricken Coco. “As I was about to say, if I wasn’t busy being rudely interrupted by you, I’m not a threat to you personally.” Considering the reaction, Ember knew she would be a bit difficult so she decided to get a bit stern with the mare. “Yes I’m a bounty hunter and yes I’m quite dangerous as one to those who have bounties on them. The Ceantirs were assassins sent after me to do whatever it is they wanted with my dead body, but they had to go over it first and they clearly failed in that respect since I took care of all of them. They were around most likely because I shut down a slave trading ring before it could get off the ground, one that started off with kidnapping Rarity’s little sister. Quite frankly they could have chosen a much better target that wasn’t left near kitchen supplies.” “You saved Rarity’s sister?” Coco looked a little uncertain, but having Vera pet her calmed her down a lot and she was willing to listen to the dragon as Rarity obviously let her in. “I’m also Rarity’s last customer of the day apparently, I feel kind of special. Little Sweetie Belle is a rather rambunctious and dangerous filly, it was hard to calm her down from the fact that her cooking pretty much incapacitated multiple people and needed to be euthanized with fire for the safety of the surrounding area. She didn’t care about the people; she wanted to keep that monstrosity as a pet.” Ember was not acting particularly stoic, but what she said was taken as humorous judging by the giggles she got. “I’m not kidding, I had to kill what she cooked up and she definitely has the makings of a mad scientist. Just remember that anybody can become dangerous under the right set of circumstances, so please try not to demonize me as I to have feelings. I just wanted to drop in and apologize by saying sorry for getting you caught up in the crossfire like that, plus give your business a little boost since I’ve hit a decent enough windfall recently.” “It’s okay, really.” This was quietly mumbled Coco who felt like a heel now for being so scared of the dragon, one that didn’t look as scary without all the ugly jagged badly patched up armor and might even be nice in personality. Except when she was on the job, the fact that she could callously end life was still something for Coco to be afraid of. “You still cut a Ceantir into two cauterized halves and it haunts my nightmares. Luna is having problems with trying to help me through it; she already has problems with being incapable of helping or getting into Sassy’s dreams.” The rest of the day went surprisingly well despite Coco’s aversion to being around Ember. - The rest of the day was dragging on; Gilda couldn’t believe the stuff they had to clean out of the fighters they were working on. So far she and Greta have managed to get seven squadrons worth of fighter’s space worthy by themselves once more, it would help with the remaining chunks of the Mass Offensive Meteor on the way. Rarity called and asked them how they were doing which was nice of her, Gilda could respect that she was taking their employment seriously to check in on how they doing personally. “What the hell is all this crap anyway? This large needle thing looks like a stinger, this bit looks likes the tip of a tentacle and I don’t even want to know what belonged to the sphincter looking thing, but I’m not touching that with my bare claws. I need a ten foot pole over here stat!” Cleaning out the fighters was not exactly one of Gilda’s job descriptions, but she did the work all the same and the jumpsuit she was wearing was stained in various oils and other disgusting things she didn’t even know the logistics of. She figure if she so much as lit a match or caught a bad spark right now, she’d pretty much light up like a Hearths Warming tree, one that was badly on fire and setting the surrounding area ablaze as well. “I’m not a freaking janitor damn it!” “To answer your question, those are some bits of the enemy we’ll likely be facing as soon as tomorrow. They did a number of the interception the assault fleet did. The increased defensive prowess the MOM has is definitely a new one on us as well.” It was a little alarming to Paul Strag that the MOM had powerful enough defenses to shred so many of their fighters and he was here to tell the two griffons the news since they have been too busy to hear it themselves. “Just dropping in to see how you two are doing. The answer to your question is being released to everyone, since this is quickly becoming everyone’s problem. Look it up when you get some time to do so, we’ve released all the data we got on them from the assault force to everyone including civilians. Some civilians aren’t taking it so well.” As he walked away, Greta slid out from under the fighter on a creeper and pulled her welding mask away from her face. “Want to take a break Gilda?” It was a little concerning that they had been working so hard, especially with the fleet as damaged as it was when it came limping back from the first encounter with the MOM. “Want to? No, definitely not, of course I can go on for another fifteen hours like we were all about to be blown up by humongous bombs made of living flesh and thousands of monsters. I live for the smell mechanical engineering and coffee; my dreams of wanting to be a pilot don’t exist at all and this is my life now!” If Gilda wasn’t being sarcastic, then it wasn’t a good day to Greta. “Need to? At this rate, probably need a good few hours to get my mind off all this disgusting alien crap I’ve cleaned out of these fighters. Okay calling it in, the Garage Griffons officially take a small siesta right now!” “Oh you’re using their nicknames for us!” Squealed Greta as she clasped her claws together and brought them up to the side of her face with a warm cheery smile on her beak. “It’s absolutely great that we’re getting so much recognition for our work that they’re willing to nickname us.” “Remind me to killjoy you extra hard in the near future, mark this one down as incomplete and leave the list of issues it has for our replacements.” The rather grumpy Gilda deadpanned. She quickly stashed the tools she had away in a nearby box and hopped down from her perch on top of the fighter. “Now get your data pad running and find the information he was talking about, I want to see exactly what we’re dealing with here. I didn’t just spend the last nine hours cleaning their gunk out of these fighters to continue being ignorant about what they are.” Author's Note Next chapter is the start of Gilda and Greta time. It's entirely devoted to the two of them.
-17-The things Greta and Gilda had read about the MOM’s biological entities left them feeling a little worried. The threat was an unnamed aggressive biological species with interstellar traveling capabilities and they were most certainly not friendly to planets, people or anything except themselves. They ravaged everything of resources and were extremely hostile to all life, there was no chance for diplomacy and the monsters were exceedingly bright. They’d rank as a biological grey goo scenario. The first bit of information was on the ground based troops that boarded several of the assault fleet ships, most of the boarding attempts were successfully repelled and casualties were on the lower end of things when it came to personnel combat. In comparison there wasn’t a lot of information on the aerial defenses the MOM employed and that led to the higher number of casualties being fighter pilots, whereas the boarding party’s didn’t get very far or close to the larger ships in the fleet. The main ground forces employed at the assault fleets interception were beings called Ant Heads, large dog like triangular headed furless red skinned creatures the size of cows. They had three purple claws on each wiry leg, the tail looked normal but in fact was covered in fine tiny razor sharp chitin blades and the head had mandibles but no eyes. These creatures came in large numbers and weren’t all too fast for their comparative size, they were mainly used as cannon fodder. The other type of ground force creature involved in the boarding parties was a mantis creature with a hardened purple carapace and bladed limbs. It could aid it’s movement with two long bladed arms and it had a penchant for lunging or jumping at targets with its three powerful legs that were as equally deadly and as sharp as the arms, its head was part of its upper torso but its vertical mouth was in the lower portion of the body in the thorax in between all of its legs. It was called a Vorager for its ability to quickly consume whole bodies with its mouth and be in the middle of ravaging another body at the same time. The ground forces the Planetary Protection Patrol already knew of. As for recent newly employed aerial forces, they didn’t know anything about that until they assaulted the MOM and that was the point of the information dump that was released to the public. To inform them of this new threat and what it represented. As for the newly faced aerial forces the newest mainstay that the MOM had introduced to the triple P forces and the most devastating one brought into play had to be the kamikaze monsters known as a Shamroid. Shamroids were named for their appearance given they were counterfeit asteroids; they produced multiple stubby starfish based tentacles that provided propulsion by spewing a strange gas like substances into the void of space and had a small protective film of atmosphere around them like the MOM. While moving about in space Shamroids clearly had two objectives, one was to violently explode when they hit something. The other more devastating tactic was to cling to a fighter or ship and once they had enough of themselves gathered on a target, they’d incite a deadly chain reaction increasing the strength of their explosive power exponentially. Their speed and large numbers was an effective new defense mechanism that brought down many a fighter in the initial assault against the Ewesen invading MOM. These explosive creatures only look like rocks and are easily destroyed by conventional weapons and in outright destroying them, contrary to their main purpose, they won’t explode. Otherwise they also had problems making quick turns and were on average about a quarter the size of an average Javelin fighter. The presumed reason for the asteroid like appearance is an adaptation to take advantage of asteroid fields. Life sign and heat scanners would still easily pick them up, but interference from the asteroids mineral deposits might make them difficult to catch. Messages were sent to every asteroid farmer in the nearby sectors to be on the watch for these things as early invasion signs. The other new aerial unit deployed by the MOM were basically giant wasps that could produce and fire at most thirty stingers made of quick solidifying fluids at incredible velocities, they shared the common trait of having a atmospheric field around them like the MOM and Shamroids. They were called Vasps which was short for Vector Wasp based on their ability to maneuver in a vacuum. Where the Vasps were powerful was mobility and being able to change direction in space in an instant, on top of having a powerful toxic bite that is injected by their mandibles. They were three fourths the size of a Javelin and primarily seen to use hit and run tactics, it is only theorized that they need an active MOM core to reload their biological ammunition. Where they were limited was in their ability to fire only so many stinger shots and their strange atmospheric covering swiftly degraded if they make too many fast maneuvers in a short amount of time. Upon losing their atmospheric covering in space they die and swiftly implode. They are as susceptible as the Shamroids to conventional weaponry, provided you can land a direct hit on them. Aside from various tactics in dealing with each of these creatures individually released by the Triple P, the best suggestion for civilians was to think smart, to avoid battles they couldn’t win and to find a safe place to hunker down if possible. The situation was a little bit worse than many had previously thought it was. While planet infesters were bad, this was definitely the worst case of an incursion that has been seen in years in any protected system. - A massive explosion shook the world and everything was rumbling furniture toppled and flew about the room. The humongous jolt had sent Gilda flopping on to her face with a pained groan as she fell out of the hotels bed, she was awake now and she just knew the earthquake that just hit the station spelled trouble. What also spelled trouble was the fact that Greta was nibbling at her neck and that she had even managed to sleep through the horrendous noise of the massive space stations alarm blaring. “Greta wake up or so help me I’ll!” Despite shouting rather boisterously at the other griffon that was currently cuddling Gilda like a plush toy with her wings inexorably wrapped around her body, Greta had slept through what felt like the apocalypse had just hit the station and she just tightened her grip whining slightly. “Okay you asked for it for being way too clingy for your own good!” Curling her right claws into a fist she pulled back and swiftly through it over her shoulder slamming it right into Greta’s gnawing beak causing her to release her hold on Gilda with a yelp. “Wake up and get your EVA gear on your ass and pack your stuff!” Time was of the essence and Gilda needed Greta coherent and awake. “I need to know what’s going on right this instant, something just rocked Geoptis and your smart enough to know how hard that is to do given the sheer size of this place.” That got Greta’s brain firing on all cylinders and she was immediately up and pulling her data pad out from storage. The technical wizard quickly started tapping her claws rapidly all over the pad, while Gilda looked out the window. Windows on the hotel gave a very nice view of Geoptis City and there was just panicking in the streets at the moment. “Okay, really bad news, as in the ‘what silver lining’ variety. The first remaining MOM core has been dealt with, its husk just hit the station and now there are monsters crawling all over the hull around the impact sight. It thankfully didn’t pierce into the station, but it definitely caused a huge dent and the gravity generators were struggling to stay working there for a moment. Several power nodes were blown out throughout the station and there are blackouts in the lower parts.” Greta was going over the data as fast as she could. “The real problem is that the monsters are starting to get in through several hangars atmospheric barriers, all available fighters from Discus to Javelin types that weren’t in serious need of repairs are out there fighting right now. They are trying to deal with both the Vasps and the monsters from the dead core. Aside from that there is an odd lack of the archetype MOM unit known as Shamroids, which might be connected to the cores destruction and a lucky break if it is. At least until the second MOM core passes by Geoptis which is currently dead in space as far as movement is concerned.” “Yeah, it’s time to enact my plan. What did I say I would do if something like this came to pass again Greta?” Gilda, moving over to Greta, looked over the screen and saw the havoc going on around the station before her best friend switched to a diagnostics view focusing on the impact site. It showed where the MOM’s invading forces were moving and it was a sea of red. “So that’s what, approximately three thousand life signs? Most of that has to be the ground forces.” “Actually those forces are just the Vasps alone, these are the ground forces.” Then an overlay of yellow coated a much larger area taking up a solid portion of Geoptis, Greta grimaced as she looked Gilda in the eyes. Gilda’s pupils enlarged and a hungry looked filled them, it left Greta wondering if Gilda needed a sanity check because it actually looked like she wanted take part in all the fighting. “They haven’t reached the repair hangar we were working at yet, but it’s only a matter of time. If we want to…‘SAVE’… a fighter, then we’re going to really need to start moving before they can reach what’s been our hangar for the past few days. There are still a few damaged fighters that aren’t out in the combat zone right now for varying reasons, oh and fifty ant heads have already breached Geoptis and more are getting in by the second. Give me three minutes to pack and get ready.” “You have one Greta, starting now!” Running around and gathering what was important to them, Gilda would leave behind several things she didn’t figure to be of any consequence and was easily replaceable. Idly she shook her head at the fact that Greta couldn’t say the word steal without subconsciously adding air quotes and pausing to think of a nicer word for what they were going to do. Amidst this rush Greta pulled on her EVA, and slapped her helmet to her face and it folded around her head before sealing, since she was still in a breathable atmosphere the oxygen tank stayed offline until she needed it and just filtered the existing air. She swiftly slung the saddle on to her back and it clamped down to her EVA suit. After she was done she had a duffle bag and Mr. Welder thrust into her claws. “Let’s get out of here, shall we?” It had taken Gilda all of thirty seconds to get everything together and a few more before she slung her own duffle bag loaded with tools over her shoulder and quickly popped open the window. Why would they bother going through the building to leave when they could fly? The situation was an emergency after all. Greta didn’t even hesitate to follow Gilda as she leapt after her into a dive from the thirtieth floor, forgetting entirely that her EVA suit didn’t exactly allow her to use her wings. - Gilda looked particularly angry as she carried a humiliated looking Greta in the air towards the repair hangar. “Okay, that’s enough of the silent treatment from me, you know what you did. Seriously you couldn’t have waited to put your wings into the compression pouches until after we were in space? Provided we could survive long enough to even get to the hangar and make whatever repairs we can before we’re swarmed and slaughtered.” There was never a bird quite as grumpy as Gilda was at this moment, she wasn’t quite angry that she had to catch her friend. It was a bit of struggle with all the weight she was hefting with her wings, but she was making good time and in the distance one could hear the sound of weapons firing and the screams of people being killed. “You are so lucky your ass is considered lightweight by my standards, now make yourself useful and keep me up to date while I fly us there before they lock it down. You can hack the doors if they enter lockdown right?” “As your favorite technical engineer of course I can Gilda; I just had a bit of a slip in judgment because somebody was rushing me.” Greta’s cheerful demeanor tried to make an appearance. Looking at her data pad as Gilda flew; she was seeing some rather horrific sights and her cheerful demeanor wasn’t very capable of coming to the forefront. A pony just had her intestines ripped out and two of her legs messily torn off before she was finally killed by having her skull caved in; the Ant Heads were being really quite sadistic before they actually started eating her. In the background of the camera she was accessing, a human Triple P officer was pierced through and swiftly swallowed alive and crunched loudly enough to be heard by the camera. The body in its maw caused the Vorager to start dribbling blood from what looked like its belly. The Voragers were the largest monsters of the destroyed MOM core contingent and some of them had managed to get inside of Geoptis, they were indiscriminate killing machines that even consumed some of their own. “I think I’m going to throw up.” “Aim away from me then, keep your mind on our situation Greta. How much time do we have here?” It was not that Gilda was cold and unfeeling, she was very much trying not to think of the screams she was hearing from Greta’s pad. Instead she was determined to get at least one flight in her life as a fighter pilot, plus why cry over those who you couldn’t do a thing to save? She was focusing on her own priorities. “To all bounty hunters aboard Geoptis Station, I am now declaring Hunting Seaon! All personnel are to assist the civilians to the shelters and seal off entrances as quickly as you can; we need to bottleneck them so they can’t use their numbers against us. I know our outer hull turrets are taking a beating; I will soon be activating the inner hull turrets. Get to those safe zones or a good place to hunker down like yesterday!” They could even hear officer Lirutiy giving orders over the station wide com systems, how the Plurt managed to keep her tone even in this crisis was anyone’s guess. “I repeat all bounty hunters aboard Geoptis Station, Hunting Season is officially authorized! All Civilians are suggested to either evacuate to the planet or head for the shelters around the center of the station.” “Did she just seriously give every bounty hunter, privateer and civilian who understands exactly what ‘hunting season’ means as a carte blanche to use high end explosives?” Now Greta was panicking, as a huge explosion went off less than a mile from their position. It led to her shrieking out. “Especially here, on a space station of all things!” “Focus Greta, stop getting distracted or so help me I’m going to drop you here and now! See how far you’d get if you have to walk.” Gilda hoped that snapped her to the task at claw, as she flew above the tall buildings of Geoptis City. She took a short glance at the fires in the distance as she angled herself towards the repair hangar and flapped her wings as hard as she could to stay in the air, she was tiring quickly. “R-right Gilda, they’re not there yet and the station is starting to lock down all the hangars that they’re coming through. Ours hasn’t been closed off yet, but it’s only a matter of time before those monsters reach it, we’ll have about ten minutes to get one of the fighters airborne at my best estimation.” With loud sigh and a bit of a sad grunt Greta added. “It’ll be likely the worst estimate and we’ll have about two minutes to get a fixer upper to fly, hopefully one without too many issues.” “I like those odds.” There was the sarcastic Gilda that could make Greta smile, if a bit wanly at the moment. “We’re almost there, so I’ll finally be able to drop you like my mom dropped me out of the nest.” “You say the nicest things about your family and take me to the best of places Gilda.” The sarcasm was echoed by Greta who wondered if everyone they met were surviving alright. At least they knew the boss lady was safe where she was for the time being. How long would that last with the Patrol completely distracted from stopping the last remaining MOM core with the station under attack like it was? Coming in for a landing the griffons were at the door leading to the hallway where the hangar resided and things were spookily quiet around this particular area, the fighting and explosions in the distance were not nearly as disturbing as the silence of where they currently found themselves now. The alarms and sirens blaring throughout the station having become something akin to background noise to them. “Okay the door should open, as we still have access and it hasn’t gone into lockdown yet.” Greta moved forward to the door after she was summarily dropped on her face by a bored looking Gilda, she accessed the panel and started inserting the code. It still worked and the door beeped. “Right, I am opening it now!” The door creaked and then swiftly slid open, a shadow immediately stepped out and both the griffons leapt back expecting danger, only it wasn’t something dangerous. The figure still made Gilda jump back even further, since it was Tree Hugger and she was giving them both her patented friendly dopey smile. “Hello Sky Child and blessings to you and your friend Ever Cheerful. I have been waiting here for you.” As she spoke a second cowering mare poked her head out looking around and whimpering. The shy mare was frightened by all the noises and the sounds of violence going on in the distance. “We are here to assist you; a friend of ours is currently in the process rigging the door to your egress. So when you are ready, fly at it with great speed and it will open and shut behind you. This will prevent a number of casualties from you letting more World Eaters into the station. I must also ask that you take this gift and destroy a group of incoming World Eaters for me with it, I cannot do it as I am a pacifist and my friend Soul Judger is too squeamish to commit such an act as to take the breathe of another from them. Neither of us would wish to hurt anything, even as vile as the World Eaters are.” “Pacifist, like my ass you are!” Grumbled Gilda who stared at the plasma rifle being proffered to her vertically held in hoof by its midsection, Tree Hugger simply tilted her head and raised her right brow slightly. The griffon really didn’t know whether to accept the weapon or not given who was holding it. “You still keep finding ways to completely freak me out on a number of levels.” Having said that, Gilda took the offered plasma rifle and checked it over. Tree Hugger then reached into her saddlebags and held out a small satchel to Gilda as she finished putting the strap attached to the rifle around her torso. Taking the satchel Gilda found ten clips of plasma ammunition, she attached that to the strap. “I hope I did not underestimate your need. Ever Cheerful please swiftly find a vessel while the rest of us wait here for our companion to finish preparations for your egress. Please know I never harmed you intentionally or unintentionally Sky Child, I only put you in a situation where you would harm yourself if you struggled. You did and I am quite sorry that you injured yourself.” Looking more closely at Tree Hugger, she was carrying four medical kits aside from the saddlebags and her yellow cowering companion was carrying a few more than that. Greta had been standing their looking dumbfounded before she set off past them to do just as Tree Hugger told her to and find a fighter worthy of getting them into space. “After you clear a path and our companion joins us, we will leave the area swiftly. The hangar is safely sealed from all directions except this one and your exit, I will now endeavor to align all our chakras so that you may perform with a clear mind.” “You know what; I’m not going to bother asking how you got here or even why you of all people would buy a weapon and hand it to someone who would just love to aim it at you. Instead, I’ll turn just around and watch your way out for you and then you can go hug a tree or do whatever it is you like when whoever you’re waiting for gets here.” After Gilda’s statement Tree Hugger slowly moved forward and rubbed up against her. The griffon froze as Tree Hugger placed a kiss on her cheek and then nodded as if understanding something before she moved back to her pink haired companion’s side. Cuddling the pink haired pony, Tree notably made her become less frightened when she hummed a few notes and leaned into her before she turned to address Gilda again. “I am of the earth and you are of the sky. We are meant to work in concert, Gilda.” The minute Tree Hugger said her name, was the moment the world tilted and turned upside down for the griffon. Gilda was now afraid of the warmth that suddenly exploded everywhere through her veins after the pony airily said her name and she was getting a horrible case of vertigo that quickly ended as Tree started talking once more. “Should you perish today, I will be there to take care of you in your next form. If you live, then I wish you many years to find and fulfill what your heart truly desires and will be there when you will want me for my council. You will never die alone and will have the comfort of the one who walks as everyone’s shadow, that one is very friendly and is whoever you need them to be when you once again pass into the grand circle.” Gilda really didn’t like the fuzzy feeling in her chest and she certainly wasn’t thinking of snuggling Greta into a pile of happy feathers if she did indeed survive the next twenty eight hours or what amounted to a full Ewesen day. Whatever this mare was on, it had to be highly contagious and she felt entirely wary of almost beginning to understand it. Before she could unleash her grouchiness several shrieks were heard heading in their direction. “The World Eaters, they come, they will ravage many spiritually as much as physically.” That was all Tree Hugger needed to say for Gilda to take up the rifle against her shoulder and sweep the opening of the corridor leading into the hangar. - Angel Rippinicus had done his job; he had hotwired the doors just as the wise one needed them to be. All he had to now, was get inside after having set the door to start closing. Now if only he wasn’t floating away from the station for firing his energy pistol several times, with a flick of his left paw a pencil thin beam grappled the inside of the hangar as the door start closing and he reeled himself in past several dead Ant Heads he had blasted. Once he was inside he fell to the floor going into a roll as gravity asserted itself on him once more and then just as quickly rolled to the left as a surviving Ant Head lunged at him. It had clawed its way in after him, completely losing the rear half of its body in the process. The rear half of an Ant Head was partly vestigial to its continued existence, however suddenly losing its head to a charged blast of energy outright caused a critical existence failure in what was recently a two limbed creature. Angel sighed and put the energy pistol that was almost as big as he was away on his back, he didn’t like the quiet of the great abyss and was glad that the wise one saw fit to get him the proper protection he needed before requesting his help. He immediately started running towards the hangars entrance as he heard gunfire. - Gilda fired several plasma blasts that ended up ripping apart another three Ant Heads and then the horrific visage of a Vorager stomped its way forward. It was busy screeching from its large mouth and waving its bladed arms in a challenging manner. This thing would later cause Gilda nightmares; right now she brought up the rifle and fired for its limbs to slow down its charge. Not exactly being trained in the weapon she wielded, Gilda was doing pretty good at aiming her shots as of the ten she fired at least three managed to hit. The three hits being something vital for the monster to continue coming at her at full speed as it had been. She had sent a plasma round through its right blade arm its rear middle leg and its front left leg, tearing the first in half, the second was luckily blown clean off and the last was only damaged. Even with the damage she was dealing to its torso with the next three shots, Gilda had to back up towards the entrance as it continued charging her with a wide open mouth which she gladly filled with as much plasma as she could squeeze out of her current clip of ammunition. While plasma weapons were technically energy based weapons, some of said weapon did not come in a rechargeable variety and thus required powerful batteries known as power cells. Even with all the damage it was taking, the Vorager pushed forward on its damaged limbs and it was almost on top of Gilda ready to swallow her whole. Only to have half the nerve clusters in its head blown apart causing it to stumble back slightly allowing Gilda to put it down with a few more shots up close and personal. Another shot then rang out and an Ant Head with a hole in its torso died two feet from Gilda standing at the entrance to the corridor, she turned to the EVA suited Lagotorphin that came running up to her. “I had them both handled.” The fake rabbit made a flippant gesture of dismissal at Gilda’s words and then hopped onto the shy mare and kicked at her neck while pointing forward. “I believe that is our cue to be going now, be well Sky Child. Worry no longer for our safety… you should sooner worry about your own now.” With that statement delivered, Tree Hugger turned and motioned Fluttershy to follow her. They galloped off leaving Gilda to lock the last doors to the hangar down. Author's Note I have no notes to author.
-18-“Did I just see a Lagotorphin take down half an Ant Head and rush through here? What’s a predator baiter doing here?” It was taking Greta some time to go over the damaged and broken down fighters to find a few viable ones they could use; so far she had found three and needed Gilda’s second opinion on them. Sitting next to her were their duffle bags loaded with the gear they didn’t want to live without, including Mr. Welder. “Speaking of odd things, what happened to Tree Hugger?” “The little guy was a friend of hers working on our exit strategy apparently, the hangar is locked down and the door out to space is now possibly set as a one way exit. I need you to check that to see if that’s correct before we choose a ship.” Taking a look at various states of disrepair of the fighters, Gilda was giving them a critical eye as she adjusted the plasma rifle strapped to her back. “Tree Hugger ran off to do who knows what, because I can’t give a damn except to learn how she evacuated this hangar before we got here. What’s the situation on the fighters here, are any of them viable and how quickly can we get them working if they aren’t? I’m not exactly sure the doors will hold any of those monsters back for long.” “Say what you will about her brand of lunacy Gilda, but Tree certainly seems to have our best interests at heart and likely has a lot of connections. Yeah, the door has been rewired and… huh, the atmospheric barrier to this hangar has been turned off. Now that’s rather disconcerting.” Greta was wirelessly accessing the hangar; despite doing this she didn’t actually have the ability to do anything aside from looking up information and she already had the diagnostics of fighters. “As for our selection of viable vehicle… so far I have us up to two Javelin fighters, a Discus bomber and a Poseidon interceptor.” “Drop the Poseidon as those things are difficult to fly, they are specifically meant for Parascine pilots anyway. For that matter drop the Discus bomber and give me the status on the two Javelin fighters.” Marching up to her partner and friend for life Gilda asked for more details. “I want to know how fast can we get one of them into space and what are the current logistical problems concerning just that.” “Well one is missing half its main weapons, two variable thrusters and shields. On the bright side everything else seems to be workable.” Taking the time to check her data pad, Greta looked it over to see what the issues with the other one were. “The other one seems like the better option out of all these other ships that are missing vital components, weaponry and shields. Its shielding device is slightly blown and wouldn’t hold up much in a prolonged fight, but the current damages to the shielding device could be fixed with a quick patch job and aside from that its right ordinance tube is clogged.” “Yeah, I’m not flying without all the available variable thrusters. Take me to the second one, what exactly is the ordinance tube clogged with?” Gilda swiftly followed Greta over the second fighter and saw that it was in a good state. “Seriously what is it clogged with, it looks perfectly fine by my estimations.” “It’s right ordinance tube is clogged with… active devastator rounds!” At seeing this information Greta paled considerably. “Can we take the other one Gilda?” “Yeah, that would definitely be a reason why it’s here. Get the shields in an operable condition.” Hearing some clanging noise the two griffons turned to the corridor entrance and heard a crash, they also a saw a dent appear in the door they came through. “Can you patch the shields in the next thirty seconds?” Gilda turned back to see that Greta already had the panel away and was elbow deep in the fighters undercarriage, her EVA suits helmet light was point upwards. She swiftly joined her and pulled a flashlight out of her toolkit and angled it upwards to get a look at things. The shielding device was burnt slightly and damaged; Greta was feverishly cutting out and twisting a few wires together and she doing a really rough patch job on it as they didn’t have the time to do anything better. They could hear the clanging coming from the corridor getting worse, but by then and with a little direction from Gilda; Greta was already closing it back up. “That’s the best I can do with what little time we have here Gilda, no time to cannibalize another fighter as I don’t feel safe with making the attempt.” The plasma rifle was thrust into Greta’s claws by Gilda as she popped the canopy and jumped in with her bag into the pilot’s seat to look back at her. “You do realize that while the shields will work, if those devastators in the right tube rupture… well beggars can’t be choosers!” Greta changed her tune fast as she saw the tip of a Vorager’s bladed arm poking through the metal doors a distance away. Greta popped the copilot’s canopy and slung her own bag and the rifle into it before hauling herself inside. “Quick question, do we still have devastators loaded in the left tube?” If they needed to devastate something, Gilda wanted to know they had the option. The Javelin came to life as she started flicking switches on the console before her and the canopy locked into place. “I’m now accessing copilot’s console, can you hear me?” A grunt of affirmation let Greta know Gilda could hear her. “Rear gun is functional, the left tube is perfectly functional and fully loaded, we have a full tank of variable fuel and the impulse engine is running optimally though could use a few tweaks. Let me close up and then we can lift off. I’m shutting the canopy now. Also I don’t mean to be a worrywart Gilda, but I’m the only one wearing an EVA suit. If those devastators go off we’re both death either way.” “Don’t care; let’s get this puppy off the ground finally! I thought it would take forever with you worrying about every little detail.” Gilda flicked the variable thrusters to point downwards and the fight lifted into the air slowly. “Departure for space incoming, hold onto your ass Greta because we’ve got some fun times ahead of us.” “That’s what I’m worried about, you’re not a pilot Gilda and I can’t believe I’m going along with this in a flying metal deathtrap that will possibly explode violently.” A crash was heard and Greta looked forwards to see the Vorager stalk into the hangar followed by several Ant Heads and a second Vorager, she let loose a few shots to see if the aiming reticule needed some calibration. The shots were on target, but Greta was still getting used to the controls and only managed kill one of the Ant Heads starting to flood into the hangar. “Well there goes my one confirmed kill before I die.” “That’s the spirit Greta! Where did the rest of your positive attitude go?” In fact Gilda came off as excited as she started maneuvering the ship into position for thrusting forward towards the door. “I am ready to launch, my blood feels like it is pumping raw stimulants.” “Maybe because you’re the happy one and now I have to be the completely grumpy cynical asshole with a heart of gold.” Greta took aim with the rear gun and started to fire a spread of shots at the intruders and killed an Ant Head with nice shot to the spine from her position, the shadow of the beam giving off a bright green trail as it passed through space. She blasted the closer Vorager and the three legged beast continued to move forward despite being whittled down under the blasts of energy ripping into it until it perished. “I’m not exactly trained to be a tail gunner, plus the amount of apprehension I have about all of what we’re doing is pretty damn high on top of knowing we could explode at any second. Try not to take to many hits because I don’t know how long my ramshackle patch job will hold, speaking of, I’m going to increase the shields around the right ordinance tube.” “That’s good enough for me and you don’t need to be the best tail gunner in the universe Greta. Well hope you’re target practice is doing you some good back there, because here we go!” Not even bothering to ease the throttle into it, Gilda pushed it forward to full blast and the Javelin practically jumped forward heading towards the closed doors. Detecting the Javelins approach the doors opened up swiftly and started sucking all the air and every single being and or object not nailed down out of the hangar into space. It was pulling some monsters through the destroyed doorways, which started to clog with screeching and dying Ant Heads as they were crumpled together in a large collective mass in the corridor. Once the Javelin was clear of the doors, being pushed by the rush of atmosphere being blasted out of that portion of Geoptis Station, they slammed shut preventing any more loss of atmosphere. A heavy bulkhead slid into place and locked down around that section of the massive space station preventing anymore decompression problems. - A Discus bomber was shaped like a flying saucer; being a bomber its specialty is in utilizing high end explosive ordinance and carrying lots of it. The main pilot takes care of flying and has access to two laser cannons. The copilot is entirely focused on wielding the ordinance launcher that can be rotated to fire in any direction along the horizontal axis of the ship. The ship itself can be rotated so that it can fire its payload at odd angles to wherever it needs to be delivered. If a Javelin could only carry six missiles, then a Discus could carry twenty eight of that same type of missile or it could be equipped with a variety of missiles that can cause different levels of damage or do different things. The Discus otherwise has average shielding and even more average forward firing twin energy cannon, it is prone to exploding when its shields are taken down and its mass makes it slow to speed up or slow down in space. It also needed to be reloaded fairly often if the explosive ordinance is used liberally. What it lacks in maneuverability or defensive capability, it makes up in its ability to rip larger spaceships or threats apart with its ordinance launcher. It is best equipped with long range high end ordinance such as devastator rounds. Devastator rounds are a physical missile type ammunition that sets off a rather peculiar molecular chain reaction in a very small confined space within the round itself. When it hits something, for a short amount of time it absorbs any mass within a few feet from its immediate surroundings. What it then proceeds to do is rip everything around it apart in the ensuing massive explosion. They are called devastators because the explosion is more powerful the more mass the missile manages to get during its absorbency phase. Even if the devastator didn’t acquire any mass aside from what the missile itself provides, it is still highly destructive. Devastator rounds are said to be the invention of Plurt scientists, it has neither been confirmed nor denied. The best known counter to these deadly missiles is the runic shielding technology invented by ponies, more specifically one named Shining Armor. Said runic shielding isn’t very effective against many things except things that warp local space violently. - (Zone of the Enders 2 – Leo Leo!) “Okay let’s see if we can push our way into the combat zone. Greta I need you to quickly label our ship as GG dash one please.” Gilda had steered the fighter around on a slow turning arc to head back for the station; she turned to communication and spoke as she watched hundreds of fighters crossing each other’s paths and firing upon the monstrosities crawling across the hull of Geoptis. “This is call sign GG One, lone Javelin class fighter calling to anyone in that mess that has a little time on their hands. We’re on approach and need orders, where do you need us?” “This is Greg Planter leader of Femur Squadron, if you have no idea where you need to be then aim at the closest mass of monsters on Geoptis and blow them apart. Don’t bother with the Vasps unless they are on you, they are dying off at an accelerated rate without an active MOM core to provide for them and they are also quickly running out of projectile based firepower. So unless they get close to you and or can still shoot, don’t engage.” After a moment of silence and hearing something that sounded like a muted thud of something smacking into the ship, the male voice came back. “Sorry, had one on my tail and a chunk or two of it bounced off the canopy. What we really need is for someone to help keep them off of Geoptis’s turrets, can you handle that GG One? We need all the help we can get to clean Geoptis up as fast as possible; I have word that the remaining MOM piece is already inbound and we have twenty minutes to kill as many of these things as we can. Voragers are a higher priority target at the moment, only use communications to call for assistance, for new orders or to report in on anything you consider drastically important.” “Roger that, providing cover fire for the turrets and taking out the ground swarms.” It was exhilarating for Gilda to be flying into battle and as for her first shot she placed her targeting reticule on a distant and Vasp and blew it apart with a single pull of the trigger that sent two beams crossing space in an instant. “I’m switching over to alternating fire and coming in hot, combined fire seems a bit wasteful for these guys. Watch my ass Greta.” “Gladly, now if only you’d allow me to peruse it as well!” Greta stated in a less than chipper tone that didn’t match Gilda’s current cheerful demeanor as she gunned down some Ant Heads. “Please remember that we’ll die if we take a wrong hit, so don’t get reckless.” “You are pretty much the gayest hen I know Greta and that’s not even taking your sexual preferences into account.” The fighter dropped close to the surface of Geoptis and skimmed along the hull, Gilda started taking aim and unleashed a blaze of alternating shots starting off from the left energy cannon. She swept her fire across the monsters clinging to the stations hull and then carefully picked off two Voragers that were trying to break apart a turret that was wiping out the Vasps in quick succession. “I don’t feel or sound very happy at the moment!” Growled out a frustrated sounding Greta as she shot at the ground troops Gilda passed by with the rear mounted turret in a steady single stream of death. She was keeping an eye out for any Vasps that took an interest in their backsides and nailed one in the abdomen causing it to implode. “Like you aren’t happy every day of the week, I’m only giving it a matter of time before you start feeling the joy that I currently do!” Gilda’s chipper attitude was likely driving Greta to act like Gilda usually did. They weren’t having too much trouble with raking hundreds of monsters off Geoptis’s hull while trying to avoid actually hitting the hull itself. After several more passes over various turrets to prevent them from being overwhelmed by Ant Heads and or Voragers, the turrets started to turn towards the ground forces as the Vasps had been thinned out considerably by the constant fire of the four barreled high powered energy turrets. A beeping noise went off and Gilda hit the communications to receive the message. “This is Lirutiy, all fighters with heavy ordinance loads, break off and attack the incoming remaining MOM core.” A shotgun firing could be heard and the sound of something screeching its last breath sounded out, it was then that Lirutiy spoke up once more. “Damn, I can’t believe they made it this deep in! We wiped out half of the MOM in the initial confrontation, Geoptis wiped out another fourth and I’ll be damned if we let that last core land intact. Carrier Pessenchince and Destroyer Tirospeice join the fighters by providing support and keep your distance. The rest of the fleet will hold back and hit that remaining MOM piece with everything we have if it enters the atmosphere. As for the rest of you, get these bastards off of my station!” “What are you armed with GG One?” Greg asked as his notably marked Javelin blasted its way through several more Voragers on the surface of the station and passed over Gilda and Greta’s fighter before angling away from the fighting in the quiet void. “We’re carrying three viable devastator rounds.” Veering the ship away from the crawling surface of Geoptis after making another quick pass on a solid mass of monsters while helping several turrets on one last attack run, Gilda flew out of the combat zone following three other fighters. In the distance the distance the griffons could see several other squadrons were forming up and leaving the combat area. The rear gunners in the Javelin fighters were wiping out any Vector Wasp stragglers trying to give chase and Greta quickly joined in on blasting them down with well aimed shots. The fighters that were staying behind were primarily interceptors performing cleanup. “You can form up with Femur Squadron then, we’re all packing here. Take the far right wing if you want to follow us.” Seeing that GG One take position Greg filled his squadron in on what they were expected to do. “We’ll need to cover for the Discus bomber squads while we make our own attacks runs, if any of you take too much damage then head straight for the carrier Pessenchince. I don’t want any of you dying on me, does everyone copy?” “Roger Femur lead, we’ve had our warm up with Geoptis covering us and now things are about to get truly nasty once we’re away from its defenses.” The ship on Greg’s immediate left responded with a female voice while waggling its wings up and down slightly. The two other fighters sent in their replies and then it was Gilda’s turn as she took up position on the far right of the flying V shaped formation. “This GG One, copy that, I have no illusions to the fact that we’re buying time while everyone else gets their crap in gear. I acknowledge that this is going to get messy when the Shamroids and Vasps come our way. Those Shamroids shouldn’t even be able to catch an aware Javelin pilot given we can outmaneuver them easily, they have very poor turning capability.” Gilda was acting like she knew what she was talking about. “They’re more dangerous to the Discus bombers, so relay to them to watch for the Shamroids. The Vasp are going to be the real enemy here until that core is taken care of, the Shamroids are frail and can easily be dealt with by our gunners.” “Acknowledged, we definitely needed that refresher GG One. I had almost forgotten those exploding gas bags existed. Everyone full throttle and stay in formation until we’re ready to break off and attack, if you see a good opportunity to unload a payload, then do so where it will deal some real damage. If you can get it in an orifice then that would be better than just hitting the surface.” Several ships pinged out at once in affirmation including the outsider in the squad. “Don’t be afraid to call for help if you need it GG One, Femur Squadron is willing to assist you for as long as we’re flying. Just show us the same courtesy where needed if and when you can, remember that you’re not alone out here.” - “Damn it, it’s here earlier than anticipated! Everyone break off and pick your targets, it’s about to become a shooting gallery out here.” Greg couldn’t have called it sooner as they came across the massive ball of still active flesh three minutes later. “Right, I’m going to try and get behind it. Are any of you Disc jockeys going my way and in need of an escort into position to pepper its ass?” As Gilda called out to see if anyone was flying her way she had to avoid several Shamroids, the flying fake asteroids with tentacles were creepy looking but Greta easily popped them as soon as she could get them sighted. Hundreds of Vasps were slowly crawling out of the flesh ball onto its surface and slowly building up a glow of atmosphere before kicking off into space, only to have Gilda mow through them and hit the surface of the MOM with as much fire as she could get out. “It’s confirmed Vasps definitely need the MOM to continue functioning in a greater capacity.” “I’m surprised that nobody has figured out that you’re not exactly a qualified pilot, but you’re doing pretty good all things considered. I need a barrel roll stat!” Despite Greta being a bit flippant with her piloting, Gilda threw the ship into a barrel roll combining it with an aileron roll using the variable thrusters to shift out of the way of three oncoming Shamroids which were swiftly blasted by Gilda once they passed by. “Thank you, now if only we weren’t getting into danger like this all the time! Maybe I didn’t get enough sleep, because I can swear there’s something very off about how fast this thing is moving. Shouldn’t it be moving at the same speed it had after the fleet’s assault on it?” “This is Entrencher Squadron; we’ll follow you GG One.” Three Discus fighters came in behind the Javelin. “Lead us into position.” “Come on and admit it Greta, you’re enjoying this as much as I am!” Hitting the variable thrusters, Gilda had the Javelin strafing sideways in space around the MOM while constantly barraging the surface with blast after blast of energy lancing out rapidly into the Vasps pulling themselves out of the flesh. Gilda stopped the sideways strafe by counter blasting the variables putting her in a position to follow the MOM. “Stick behind us and we’ll try to keep them off you guys while you get your pound of flesh in.” Following her maneuver were three Discus bombers that shot quite a few Shamroids as they slid around the MOM following Gilda’s lead. The Discus bombers cut their engines and flipped end over end using their variable thrusters to get into position; it was then that they restarted their engines. This put them in position behind the flesh ball with Gilda running interference in front of them as they unloaded explosive after explosive into it dealing massive amounts of damage to its crust. The next few minutes were hectic with Gilda angling and sweeping across the front of the three Discus bombers, while wiping out many of the Vasps and Shamroids that were coming their way, for some reason they weren’t getting as much as the guys at the front of the MOM’s path. Even then a Discus had to drop off the chase after taking a direct hit from a Vasp. “You’re right Greta, something is wrong here and we’re getting awfully close to the planet.” As they did the Planetary Protection Patrol fleet opened fire on the MOM and it took a lot of the hits. That’s around the time when the MOM changed, its front exploded unleashing thousands of Shamroids into space in all directions sending the fleet into chaos. The real dog kicker was what was happening at the backside of the MOM. “What… the… tartarus?” The skin of the large ball of flesh started to rip apart and several flaps peeled outwards letting loose a massive amount of ugly looking bright neon orange fluid into space. The flaps had several large holes and a bit of gas could be seen leaking from it before the flaps erupted thrusting the MOM past where the fleet had been aiming. The underside of the flaps was covered in teeth and at the base of the opened flaps in the center of the opening were a huge eye and three large mouths in a triangular formation around it. “Well, there goes my ability to take horror movies seriously.” Just because she was making idle commentary didn’t mean she stopped firing on all the Vasps and the rather humongous wave of Shamroids coming at her. “Anybody from Femur Squadron still alive out there, I need you back here with me! I and what’s left of Entrencher Squadron see the core and it is one ugly son of a-” - Rarity couldn’t help but be worried about Greta and Gilda’s safety after hearing Geoptis Station had been boarded by monsters. Not like the planet was any safer with an incoming MOM. She really did hope the two griffons were safe where they were, she really needed to get back to the hangar seven as civilians were already running for the shelters and the spaceport counted as one of those places. - All of Femur Squadron was out of ordinance and or heavily damaged. The last capable ship of Entrencher Squadron was also out of ordinance and the other one was blown to bits by several Shamroids clasping onto it. The MOM was currently breaching the atmosphere and thankfully absorbing all the heat from the entry as GG One’s shields were currently suffering a major malfunction due to a Shamroid that scorched the left wing and its rear turret had been rendered inoperable. Two of the MOM’s large inner mouths were blown to bloody chunks and some of its inner teeth fell out into space, but it was still going. Gilda’s Javelin was closing in on the eye firing wildly and looked like it was going to ram it head on. “Gilda… please tell me that you aren’t sacrificing our lives and that we’re not going to die...” Greta looked over her shoulder after seeing the edges of the gas blowing skin flaps and wished she hadn’t, the Javelin was already wailing a heat warning alarm and things were looking pretty bad. “Gilda…” “We’re not going to die Greta; we’re just going to perform some rather invasive open eye surgery with a really large scalpel.” It wasn’t as if the energy cannons weren’t doing enough to the large eye already and Gilda wanted to be the one to rip the MOM core a new one. She was determined to bring it down regardless of the consequences; frankly she was currently having the best time of her life. “Besides we’re going to save plenty of lives with what I’m about to do, I guess it’s time to say… goodbye my love.” - Somewhere high in the atmosphere of the tropical lake planet, the MOM shuddered as what looked like a volcanic explosion rocked its backside destroying most of it. The flaps that weren’t torn off stopped spewing its propulsion gas as it became lifeless and continued falling through the sky towards the planet. “Commander Lirutiy, it’s a miracle! We have confirmation of the cores destruction, but its ground forces are still going to be an issue once that dead core hits the ground.” The Parascine at the console with a dead Ant Head next to it turned to the Plurt who sighed in relief after having had watched her fleet be sent into absolute disarray and let the MOM core almost reach the planet’s surface. Author's Note I have not killed off anyone important, it just looks like I have. I would also like to point out that Gilda is not referencing Greta at the end there, now jump wildly to conclusions. Next chapter moving onto other things, such as dealing with the remnants of the MOM crashing to the ground and unleashing destruction on the surrounding areas even if it isn't infesting the planet. Won't that be fun?
-19-Her head was pounding as she came to and she could hear a dull thumping noise and could see a red flashing before her. It was a console and she placed her suited claw against it and tried to steady her head as the world spun with the other. After a moment Greta remembered what had happened and wondered how she was alive, taking in that her EVA suit was still in perfect working order. The thumping sped up and then ended as her hearing came back to her. “Gilda, are you okay? Please respond!” Looking up Greta could see the world violently spinning around and she had no clue which way was up anymore. “What did you mean by ‘goodbye my love’; please tell me you were talking about me if your still alive!” “Oh for the love of, Greta shut up! I have a headache and I was talking about my love being the Javelin’s almost fully functional shell, we could have fixed it and it would have been awesome. Give me a moment to at least mourn will you?” Gilda’s grumpiness was back in full force and then she spoke up with a more humorous sounding lilt. “Okay, its past. Our situation is we’re falling out the sky like we’re made of lead; heat sinks are overloading and causing more problems for the Evade Mode module I ejected just prior to our imminent demise. Thank goodness for the small time delay on those devastators before they go off, we didn’t get completely clear of the explosion and it scorched us up badly. You were obviously knocked out for a few minutes from what looked like a volcano going off, I’m glad the glare compensators were still working at the time or I’d be blind right now even if I had closed my eyes. We won’t be able to use the variable jets or even pop our canopies until we fix the heat sink problem, so we’re currently dead… figuratively.” “Gilda… I think I hate your guts now.” The twitching in Greta’s right eye and her tone of voice speaking volumes about how pissed she was at hearing the amount of bad news Gilda was dishing out. The worst of it being that Gilda spent what seemed like their last moments lamenting the fact that her love was going to be blown up and said love being the combat shell of the Javelin they were flying. “Well at least you still love the rest of me and my guts are known to be assholes or leads to one at least. Can we not have a discussion right now while we’re falling to our deaths here? Also we’re still high up enough that without an EVA suit I’ll probably die if my canopy self destructs and it’s started to form cracks.” How Gilda could be taking that calmly as if she were talking about the weather made Greta feel like she was being calm to enhance the very audacity of the situation. “Aside from that communications are down and I think I see a half living Vasp or two falling alongside us slowly getting their bearings and will likely be on us within minutes. Let it be known that what we are currently dealing with is a mechanical issue of which I’m an expert in and as such I have a plan to survive the fall and the Vasps if they become a problem. I would like to do so while keeping the remaining portion of this fighter turned escape pod mostly operable to have something to remind me of my one true love who took several devastators for a lot people, also we could use this module as a base for designing a new fighter.” “Oh my goddess, you’re acting like a full blown jerk on purpose now!” Despite the anger in her voice Greta knew she couldn’t stay mad at Gilda for too long even as she called her out on being a jerk, so her voice immediately went into a flat deadpan that started slowly building up into a more chipper tone. “I’m now guessing that you have an insufferable smirk on your face Gilda. We’re in another life or death situation and you’re smiling about it! Why do I even bother with getting angry? Tell me how we can turn this situation around, because I’m willing and ready to shoot rainbows out of my ass like a pony and I want to live long enough to finally get you to accept my proposals that we get intimate. We’re survivors through and through, there’s nothing that the Garage Griffons won’t be able to get out of with enough ingenuity while we’re still breathing!” “That’s the spirit Greta, though your priorities definitely need an adjustment. Otherwise I can take you everywhere Greta… except to bed in the manner you can only wish I would eventually agree to.” Gilda was happy to hear that her friend’s indomitable perkiness and passive sexual predator nature returned to full blast, Greta just wouldn’t be fun if she wasn’t trying so hard to entice her into a more intimate relationship. Even when they were still on the Derringer and surrounded by flesh eating monstrosities, Gilda refused to give anything aside from a quick ‘friendly’ hug and was in general okay with letting Greta snuggle her. “Okay, here’s what we do and we need to be quick about this as my canopy is getting worse by the second here…” - Despite the last living core being ultimately destroyed, the remaining portions of the MOM were still packing ground and aerial forces. A large number of pieces would slam into the ground between or in the three cities, two of which were at the edge of Lake Terwa. One of those nearby cities was Drixsto and was soon to be invaded by the remnants of the Mass Offensive Meteor, all the while Geoptis Station and the fleet up in orbit would continue to clean up the destruction from the cloud of Shamroids unleashed upon them and would be doing so for some time to come, so reinforcements from above wouldn’t be coming forthwith. Geoptis held up very well to the onslaught, but was in dire need of repairs and its outer hull was pockmarked with tons of scorch marks, dents, small holes and on top of that it was still crawling with monsters. The triple P would try to stay in contact with the planet despite not being able to help with the monsters unleashed on the nearby populace. Each city has its own defense force and its own minimal protection against aerial aggressors in the form of turrets posted around the edges of the city limits, the turrets were placed in such a way to deal with outside threats whether on the ground or in the air. While powerful they weren’t fast enough to stop a large number of monster carrying chunks of flesh from crashing within the city. The cities would have to deal with small pockets of monsters coming out of the smaller chunks internally; the monsters numbers would get worse once they start leaving the dead core that crashed into the ground. - “Rarity…” Coco intoned while shivering as she, Opal, Vera, Sassy and Miss Belle watched as the multiple large chunks of flesh fell from the sky and struck the ground with force inside the city. They were watching the news tracking the remains of the main flesh ball as it crashed violently into the ground a good distance away. The news report vehicle that showed up at the impact site quickly fled the area once Vasps were spotted slowly crawling from out of the large fleshy lump as the dust settled; emergency warnings went out to every civilian on the ground to seek shelter if they hadn’t already and to absolutely stay away from the dead MOM core. “Don’t worry Coco dear, I’m sure the Planetary Protection Patrol and bounty hunters like Ember are on it. We should simply lock down the ship and stay here where it’s safe.” It was a plan born of common sense and Rarity thought she had plenty of that; she also had decent business and fashion sense. “We have enough food for a few weeks between the four of us, so I’m positively sure we can wait for help to arrive once the monsters start swarming. I really don’t think flying is a good idea with those horrid giant wasps around and mind you the Caravel Boutique is an unarmed vessel. We don’t have a jump module so we can’t leave system, we still don’t have enough money to make necessary purchases and we’d have to fly to the other side of the planet to even buy one at this rate. Goodness knows how Greta and Gilda must be taking this after what happened to them on the Derringer, at least I know they can handle themselves and I trust that they’ll stay safe or else my hiring of them would be for naught.” “Make that three Meowstress Rarity… Sassy just ran off with an odd look on her face and she had her magic on the hilt of her sword as she left.” Opal sounded wary of what Sassy was going to do and why she even left in the first place, much less what Rarity would do now. “Vera, Coco, Opal, you are staying here and that’s an order. I’ll go after her and find out what’s gotten into her. I swear, leaving safety in the middle of a crisis is she… insane. Oh dear, I certainly hope she hasn’t. Please have Uno and Dos take up two of the pistols to protect the hangar Opal. I’m taking the MAT drone with me and the remaining pistols.” One of the five energy pistols Rarity had was cannibalized to repair the MAT drone’s weapon, a powerful rapid fire energy cannon that was going to be seeing some use real soon. She figured it was prudent to scrap a pistol for something much better as a trade off; a few other things that could be spared from drone maintenance were used to make the cube shaped MAT drone an effective bodyguard and Rarity certainly needed that functionality now. “Please lock up the ship behind me once I’m through suiting up and don’t let anyone else aboard besides me, Sassy or maybe even Ember unless you think you can trust them.” “Keep your HUD active Meowstress, I can relay information to you and I’ll actively control the MAT drone from here.” Opal didn’t sound happy with what Rarity was about to do, but she acquiesced in doing anything to support Rarity. “It might be slightly illegal, but I will need to jack a portion of the spaceports communications antenna functions to get some decent real time control range on the MAT. It’s going to be busy for a while and no one is going to get anything done with it anyway.” “That’s perfectly fine dear. Just make sure not to accidentally go overboard with protecting me and I’ll try to get over my distaste with committing acts of violence. Though I don’t know how effective the pistols will be against those horrid beasts.” While she spoke Rarity slipped her tail into the back of her EVA suit, followed by her hind legs and once she got her rear half in it she activated the compression pouch that compressed her tail hair into smaller space. She followed that by pulling her front legs into the suit and once she did that she pushed the helmet up to her face and activated it, it quickly circled around her head and locked around her neck encasing it completely. To finish off putting on her EVA suit she flipped up the collar of the suit and rolled the edges of around into the helmets collar. “Let’s see I have my energy pistols, my stylish gun holsters, the MAT drone, my own Pinpoint Puller and I’m suited fabulously in my EVA suit. It might not offer me much protection, but it can take a hit. I will promptly find Sassy and ask her why she ran off, I will not let someone so good at accessorizing perish on my watch!” “Good luck with finding Sassy out there Rarity, if you can’t that’ll be okay.” Coco came up to Rarity as she made her way to exit and gave her a hug. “Just come back safely, even if you can’t bring her back with you. I still kind of find it’s a bit out there that she’s a samurai, she still screams assassin to me.” “Don’t worry Miss Pommel; I will take every precaution I can feasibly abide by and if things go horribly I will start making my way back here immediately. Opal can keep you up to date on my progress; first order of business is to try calling her on her data pad and if that doesn’t work I’ll set off from the spaceport.” Rarity trotted on down the ramp with her head held high, of course she knew she wasn’t a fighter and quite frankly she wasn’t trained for a situation like this aside from being partially adept at calisthenics. “In the event that I don’t make it back, your next in command Coco and I just know you’ll make a wonderful eulogy dress to wear at my funeral. Aside from that busy yourself with my impulse saddle while I’m gone.” - Sassy’s data pad was still onboard the Caravel Boutique which increased Rarity’s worries, so she set off with a silent prayer to Celestia and Luna. If they weren’t full on omnipotent gods, Rarity would treat them as such anyway as they were good ponies to look up to. Rarity hadn’t gone a block from the spaceport and noted that everything was as quite as a ghost town, Her EVA suit was muffling the various sounds of gunfire in the distance and could see civilians quickly making haste to take cover in the spaceport or the nearest safe zone or shelter. Several walls of smoke could be seen flowing towards the sky in the distance and this was all happening in broad daylight, if it were happening at night it would be far more frightening concerning the fact that she wouldn’t be able to see any of the monsters coming. “Meowstress Rarity I’m getting chatter that the large swarm of monsters from the main mass on the ground are still getting their bearings, so you’ll have about an hour to find Sassy and then get back home.” Opal popped up on Rarity’s HUD looking rather serious. “Right now bounty hunters are doing okay dealing with the smaller threats already in the city at the moment. If you can, try to travel on the rooftops of buildings while keeping the battery life of your Pinpoint Puller in mind.” “Roger that Opal, can the MAT drone even follow me up?” Rarity looked for a good spot to safely grapple up to with a keen eye. “MAT drones are a bit more powerful and can do far more than hover at eight to twelve feet above the ground like a CAT in atmospheric conditions.” Opal sounded rather proud to have Rarity’s back. “So don’t worry about me keeping up with you.” Rarity aimed her right hoof at a portion of wall above a bit of roofing that looked like a chimney and fired the Pinpoint Puller, after it hit it reeled in Rarity right up to that point and after fully doing so she fell a foot or two to the top of the roof. She started looking around the streets from the roof tops and couldn’t see Sassy anywhere as she traversed several buildings. What she could see was a lot of people trying to escape from a large red skinned dog like monster that obviously had to be an Ant Head. The creature charged at some of the nearest civilians and managed to bowl over an earth pony stallion with a dark grey coat and a bright silver mane, after which it took a pose that it was going to pounce on him. The earth pony started to crawl backwards away from it shaking his head and making denials as its mandibles spread wide open. “I don’t like the idea of watching someone die, especially such a handsome looking stallion so...” Well Rarity wasn’t about to let that happen in any case, she flicked out one of her energy pistols and fired four wild shots downwards from above sweeping it vertically upwards after each trigger pull. Two of the bolts were completely off striking the ground a foot from the Ant Head and right next to it barely an inch from hitting its front right leg. The third one went through its front right leg at the shoulder as it went to jump, this made it stumble and flop onto its face, the fourth shot would have hit if it hadn’t stumbled out of the way. Instead the last shot just broke a portion of a glass window on a nearby building having missed its intended target. The creature howled in anger and turned towards Rarity’s position ignoring the stallion that got quickly up and galloped off to safety, it started o move towards the building clacking it’s mandibles. “Well, I think I certainly got its attention, Opal if you would be a dear?” The MAT drone lit up with a whining noise at Rarity’s insistence and after a moment it fired eight large blasts of energy that shredded through flesh and bone, dropping the Ant Head. It made Rarity grimace at the volatile display of the head exploding into bloody chunks, its chest being rendered into horrid looking offal, followed by the rest of its body being shredded and turned into a pile of well cooked pulp. Rarity estimated that two shots from the MAT would have been enough to put it down and it was certainly performing to expectations; Opal was being rather enthusiastic about putting threats down. “I do think that was a slight bit overkill darling, do you have genetic scanners running to give us an idea where Sassy ran off to.” “Nothing is overkill when it comes to your safety Meowstress Rarity.” The severity of the statement was underselling how seriously Opal took Rarity’s safety and with extreme prejudice it looked like. “Aside from that yes I’ve been having the scanners try and detect traces of her particular genetic leavings, mostly skin and hair. She went that away.” An arrow popped up on Rarity’s HUD and it showed a gaseous trail that zipped through the air and continued on towards an upper district. Thinking on it for a moment she recalled Coco telling her of where Sassy took up residence here on Ewesen. “Opal isn’t that in the direction of where Sassy has been living here on Ewesen until she joined us on the Caravel Boutique?” The response Rarity got was a hum of approval and a smiley face on her HUD. “Lead the way then.” Rarity shook her head at her AI’s antics and slightly scary disposition, she pulled herself across the street and began hopping rooftop after rooftop following the MAT drone which was on Sassy’s trail. It stopped every now and then to make sure Rarity wasn’t being picked up by a Vasp as a few were seen getting blown out of the air from copious amounts of small arms fire if the turrets around the city didn’t do it. Following the MAT drone around was tiring until they came to a stop, which led Rarity to wondering why they had done so. “She’s not heading in the direction of her previous living quarters anymore; she turned left here and headed… this way!” The MAT drone Opal controlled turned thirty degrees to the left and started to fly straight making a slightly out of breathe Rarity inhale deeply taking a moment to rest and continued the chase. It was a few minutes of traveling and jumping from building to building that Opal spoke up. “Hold up Rarity!” “Oh thank goodness, I need a break to catch my breath and check the charge on my weapons and utilities.” Rarity looked about and didn’t see any monsters in the streets or on the rooftops with them, well at least on the rooftops nearby. In the distance she could see a Macropussian tossing a dazed Ant Head high into the air, before jumping after it and grappling it to the ground with what sounded like a sickening spine snapping slam that she wished her helmet couldn’t pick up at this distance. “All this running around and looking for Sassy is wearing me out.” “I think she might have been through here.” That drew some attention to the MAT drone, it angled downwards looking into a nearby paved streets. “Though I’m not sure what kind of mental state we’ll find her in, judging by the stuff she left behind in her wake and how much of them is left intact.” Walking over to look over the edge of the building they were on, Rarity quickly wished she hadn’t when she saw the streets had been positively paved with blue, green and red blood. There were a few shivering civilians around that were starting to get up and run from the area looking behind them in fright, there was also quite a few dead people lying around in the streets that they didn’t stop to check on as they fled. Among the dead laid three dead Vasp and fifteen Ant Heads lying in slashed apart heaps and pools of their own blood. “Okay, I would whistle in amazement, but I think that would upset your sensibilities Meowstress.” Only a few of the monstrous bodies were left mostly intact, given they were completely missing their ant shaped eyeless heads and the rest were still freshly spilling their internal life fluids on the pavement where their alien and strange organs sat resting in the sun. One particular Vasp had been gutted quite badly that you could see every single bit of its insides including where its brain would be if it didn’t like the grey matter had been sent through a wood chipper. The Vasp’s rear end was buried in some sort rock like substance that stuck fast to the ground at the point where it was slashed open. There were also body parts and limbs that were still twitching or wiggling on the ground still trying to come to terms with the fact that they were no longer connected to a body. It was a morbid display of extreme violence against the monsters and Opal could hear Rarity gagging trying to hold back the bile that tried to rise up her favorite pony’s throat as she watched several more people make a break for it. “Yeah, that’s the mark of a samurai from what I got from looking them up. She really shredded through these guys with that sword of hers and it looks like her blade didn’t dull at all after cutting through so many of them. I’m currently calculating the feasibility that her sword hasn’t dulled once through all of that against what the sword is made of… final consensus, she’s certainly effective at wielding it.” “Well, I think I’ve gotten enough rest and am now horrified on a number of levels of what my friend is capable of. Let’s just hope we find her in a good mood.” Just looking at the mess made Rarity queasy at what Sassy left in her wake. “We still need to catch up with her. Now I’m a little more than concerned as to what made her come out here in the first place.” - Ember cracked her slightly stiff neck with a twitch and kicked roughly shoving yet another dead body off of her; she always eventually ended up beneath something dead and or dying. Quite frankly she was tired of it since most things that usually ended up pinning her down died within seconds, at this point she could be knocked on her back and she wouldn’t panic as it was just another day for her. One would learn to never put her back to a wall or floor if they wanted to survive. Quickly getting to her feet, Ember aimed her rifle skyward and started firing several rounds off with precise aim. The end of her bulky gun lit up loudly and it expulsed some flames from its second barrel as rocks passed out of it through the first. Every molten bullet hit home and the Vasp above her ignited and screeched as it plummeted to the ground when its wings went up like flash paper, it was dead before it even hit the ground and the last stinger it fired struck a foot to Ember’s left. “Now you see, this is exactly why you don’t mess with someone who specializes in weapons with multiple functions and is physically strong enough for her size to rip your entire throat, along with an accompanying small portion of your spine, out with her bare claws while you’re burning to death.” Ember muttered over the corpse that was now halfway to being a charred pile of bones. Yes, the second barrel was home to an exceedingly powerful modifiable flamethrower that was partially responsible for the well despised namesake nickname. She could only hope that the surrounding buildings didn’t catch fire from any of her stray weapon produced magma rounds. Shaking her head at the thought of having to pick up more rocks after this, Ember lamented. “I have really got to stop talking crap to corpses. Huh?” Down the street Ember watched as Sassy ran past several monsters ripping them and everything in her path to shreds and bloody bits, she looked to be heading for the nearby hospital. Thankfully it looked like no bounty hunter, civilian or even a Planetary Protection Patroller would even be stupid or daring enough to go near her in that seemingly berserk state. Luckily Ember was smart and brave enough to keep tabs on her friend from a safe distance behind her. Were they really friends? Yes, she liked the thought of having nice people to talk to that didn’t assume she was evil in some way, shape or form. It was lonely being a complete badass, especially with a job that has as high a mortality rate as bounty hunting does. An actuary would certainly have a field day trying to predict when she would eventually die. She’d follow Miss Saddles to see what was up with her, because there was a strange crazed look in her eyes as she tore through multiple Ant Heads like butter and she was acting in a rather particularly vicious manner for a samurai. - She had to keep going, she had to keep pushing forward. They all had to die, she needed to slaughter every last one of them in her way. A flicker of silver and orange colored eyes watched as another faint line appeared in the flesh before her and soon that flesh split completely in twain, she had an objective and she had to reach it quickly. All the monsters had to die; none of her friends were safe while they lived. There were several flashes and the sound of metal sliding through more sinewy flesh, thick bone, blood pumping veins and vital organs that couldn’t hold up to the onslaught. She had to chase away the ghosts of her past, her nightmares, her illusions, her fears and the real monsters before her. They would see worse than death incarnate if they so much as hurt anyone she cares about. Her movements were all part of a pattern, she would stick a pin into the more troublesome portions of the design in the fabric and then she would cut them completely from the cloth of life! Author's Note Chapter 12 is where Evade Mode is mentioned for those who forget. Sassy is on a warpath and Rarity is giving chase. All while Ember is once again acting like a little friendly black cat, but she won't be sticking around in the near future.
-20-“I can at least say on the positive side that none of the dead civilians we’ve come across have slash marks in them.” Rarity stopped at the corner of the roof and saw a few dead civilians with slash marks. “Okay I take that back, Sassy might need a good lawyer to save her.” “Now wait a moment, I wouldn’t be too hasty Meowstress. Those cuts are jagged, in fact the slash marks on those dead people are why I have you moving along on the rooftops in the first place.“ The MAT drone took in the sight and after a moment it sent some images to Rarity’s HUD. “This is definitely the work of a Vorager, I would say three legged maw mantis but it doesn’t roll off the tongue. They specialize in eating people whole and or leaving the dead behind to feed their allies. They can shrug off a lot of damage unless it is absolutely fatal; in fact there were a few reports of them eating their own to recover in previous encounters with this type of monstrosity and thankfully unlike the Ant Heads they can’t climb buildings very well. They are a lot more dangerous than Ant Heads and Vasps, because it would take a lot of small arms fire to even bring them down. If it managed to take out the MAT drone before I could take it out, then I don’t need to tell you what would happen to you after that if it was rushing you down and you couldn’t pull yourself to a roof in time.” The digital Vorager stabbed an equally digital pony through the torso with both arms and swept them into its vertical mouth which started to dribble fluids after it closed its mouth on them like a fly trap plant. There were also scenes of a Parascine being dissected, a human being perforated and a Minotaur barely surviving a stabbing to use their strength to break the monsters jaw and stab it with its own ripped off arms. “Please get those highly unpleasant sights off my HUD Opal. We need to get to Sassy, make sure she’s in her right mind and if she isn’t then I need to get her to safety after possibly incapacitating her. I don’t necessarily need to make it back to the spaceport, I just need to find a place to hunker down and survive until help arrives or the monsters are wiped out.” Hopping over to the next rooftop in a dainty manner Rarity saw a few Ant Heads stalking a griffon with a broken bleeding wing. The griffon was trying to run only to be cut off by several others and they all slowly closed in on her. “In the meantime we have to keep helping out where we can until we can find her Opal.” “I was afraid you’d say that Meowstress Rarity, you always want to stop and help everyone even if it puts you in danger. I call the three on the left you take the two on the right.” The MAT floated forward and started it’s build up to launch a volley shots. “It might be a good idea to stop being so scared of killing them, because they certainly won’t hesitate to kill you and I can only focus on so much at a time. You got those energy pistols for a reason, so please start actually aiming for kill shots and stop being generous.” “I so do detest violence and getting my hooves dirty, but if I must then it’s a rather necessary evil here. I say we generously fill them full of holes, shall we?” Rarity flicked out both her pistols and narrowed her eyes; she started to pull both the triggers rapidly aiming at her intended targets. The cornered griffon covered her head and curled up to make herself as small a target as possible while her damaged wing flopped uselessly against the ground as the Ant Heads went to lunge. As the three clustered Ant Head behind her were shredded under a volley of at least twenty high powered energy blasts, the two in front of her met a less messy and slightly cleaner fate. The three shots from Rarity’s left pistol smacked the closer Ant Head from her position in the shoulder and second one went clean through its head into the ground dropping it and the third ripped through its belly from the side only to be wasted since it was already dead. The farther one received five shots directed at it from her right levitating energy pistol, both its hind legs were blown out from under it, two shots whiffed entirely hitting the ground at both sides of its body and the last shot blew open its head and splattered it’s brains all over the clearly frightened griffon. “When this is all over I’m going to require a full spa treatment from Vera, I want it to be the best I’ve ever had to the point it makes me say… what crisis?” The accuracy of Rarity’s shots were noticeably much better this time than when she had saved the stallion a short while ago, she had actively been shooting to injure and not kill previously. Opal was however correct that she really needed to swallow her reservations and aim her guns like she meant it, the pistols were just supposed to be a deterrent and now she was actively using them to put down a few beasts. “How much time do we have before the main mass of the monsters start flooding the city?” “Twenty three minutes or a lot sooner, that’s not a good estimate by any stretch of the imagination.” As she addressed her creator Opal noted that griffon had clambered up the side of the building they were on and was already in the process of pulling Rarity into a hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, I can’t say it enough! You saved my life.” The limp winged griffon huddled against Rarity holding onto her in a tight hug. “I’m so glad a bounty hunter like you came along to save me.” “Excuse me, but I’m not a bounty hunter. I’m a fashion designer.” The griffon was about as big as Rarity was or only slightly bigger, she just blinked at Rarity’s words and looked confused. “No seriously, I’m a fashion designer and I recently started my business less than a week ago. I’m out here looking for my friend; did you happen to see a blue furred pony in a eloquent looking black dress, a sword, wild orange eyes and reddish orange mane? She’s a samurai and I’m trying to make sure she’s okay because she ran off from one of the safer places in the city as soon as the monsters started popping up.” “Yeah, I saw a pony by that description heading towards Heppren Square!” The griffon stated excitedly, she started to climb down from the roof and paused when she saw that Rarity wasn’t following her. “What are you waiting for, let’s go!” “Go? You need to get that limp wing looked at immediately or at the very least put it in a sling!” Rarity had a few pegasus and griffon friends, the fact that this griffon would shrug off an injured wing like that didn’t settle well with her. “How did it even end up in such a sorry state?” “A Vasp nailed me with a stinger; you could say it just winged me because a direct hit would have made my wing completely impossible to save. If it hurts then that means it’ll have a chance to get better.” The griffon had still yet to introduce herself and while her wing hurt she could bear with the pain for a while. “You’re actually going my way as Heppren Square has a hospital! Um, you will escort me there right? I don’t feel safe being all alone right now.” “Well come along then darling.” Rarity had yet to introduce herself to the griffon either. In the grand scheme of things with people dying everywhere, it probably wasn’t a good idea to bring names into it or start new attachments until things settled down. “Stay behind me and try to keep your wing off the ground, it can’t be healthy with you dragging it around like that.” - Sassy stood at one corner of the plaza and in front of her was thirty Ant Heads and a Vorager, at least ten Vasps were hovering overhead and they were all looking towards her. The pony’s eyes stayed blank and just stared forward, her magic collecting around the hilt of her chokuto as her horn lit up. Several civilians from nearby barricaded buildings watched her stand there unmoving and looking particularly suicidal. The Vorager pointed its left scythe forward releasing a roar from its mouth and three of the Ant Heads screeched and charged forward. A pony’s normal reaction to danger was flight, some would fight if they were trained for it, if they had something to protect or if absolutely necessary. Sassy wasn’t running and she wasn’t exactly protecting anyone as the monster barreled down on her alone, it was safe to say this fight wasn’t absolutely necessary either. Sassy just tapped her front left hoof waiting for them to be upon her and her head started lightly bouncing up and down slowly to an unknown rhythm, her long mane bounced along to the tuneless music and her nostrils flared. Her eyes shifted slightly to the left and right aimlessly and just when the purple clawed monsters were about to reach her is when she started fighting. Two of the Ant Heads spread out to Sassy’s left and right and lunged and the third one kept going straight, a upward flash of silver and the one of the right was missing a large portion of its body having a sword go through its head down its neck and out it’s left side. A downwards flash cleaved the neck off the one on the left and Sassy side stepped the last several times. With three flickering silver streaks, Sassy took off the last ones front right leg, cut through the spine at the middle of its back and then it was stabbed straight through the heart from underneath. The other monsters hadn’t been idle and had started charging the second Sassy started moving. The sword slid out of the monster and the mare started walking forward with her sword dragging along the ground and then she began to dance. It looked odd with the way her hooves moved as she twisted and twirled elegantly past the incoming Ant Heads. All while looking quite beautiful in her macabre fashion statement of being covered in blood and guts as she slashed through them and avoided getting clawed to death. Several Ant Heads attacked her all at once and she took to standing on her rear legs as she held her forelegs above her head and twirled through their combined lunging attacks and grasping claws. She created a faint silver colored tornado with her at the eye of the storm, the sword twirled around her body at incredible speeds shredding through the nearby monsters. What followed was all ten Vasp flying low towards her at all angles and trying to get stingers into a firing position, Sassy flinched and clutched her head with her hooves while releasing an unnatural growl at the sight of one of the large stingers that reminded her of something horrible. Her eye became animalistic and narrowed as several stingers were loosed right at her and she pulled her blade halfway out of its sheath. Sassy proceeded to deflect the stingers into the air with a stylish twin figure eight flourish of her sheath and sword separating and then coming together once the last stinger was knocked skyward. The stingers were all caught in a telekinetic field, with a flick of her horn Sassy telekinetically kicked all the stingers in the same direction and three Vasp fell from the air with fatal injuries while four other were wounded. Sassy swung her sword skywards three times glowing with a dark red color and suddenly the three uninjured Vasps blew apart into several sliced up chunks as if they were hit with more than one slash each. The remaining four tried to retreat and with a single swing of her sword, there were no Vasps in the air at all. A claw slapped harshly across Sassy’s face injuring her badly and caking her left eye in blood, it brought her attention back to the Ant Heads and the offender immediately died being slice entirely in half, horizontally from chest to rear. Being completely surrounded Sassy’s sword started glowing from hilt to tip and with one mighty swing all the remaining Ant Heads around her where cut apart in a magically enhanced circular shockwave. The sword came around and deflected the arm of the last remaining monster in the area, a completely uninjured Vorager that just tried to impale her with its right blade. The Vorager swung its left arm at her side and Sassy deflected, it followed the deflection by trying to bring its right bladed arm on top of her making her jumped backwards. Sassy swung out only for the silver flash of her blade to stop short when the creature used its bladed arms to block the attack and slash her across the chest, earning little more than an angry grunt for the deep wound. Sassy’s visible eye showed no intelligence as she deflected two more pinpoint stabs from the Vorager and took of its left arm at the shoulder with a vicious upward swing. The blow sent the limb flipping into the air before it stopped surrounded by an ebony glow. Sassy grasped her sword with both her hooves and stalemated the right bladed arm while she brought its amputated scythe arm down on the monster head puncturing it. The Vorager didn’t die from that, it screeched and reeled back deflecting Sassy’s blade and managed to stab her in the side. It couldn’t dig its bladed arm any further than a few inches into her as she used the flat of her sword to push again the crook of its elbow. It tried to drag her resisting form into its open mouth and its left leg rose preparing stab her and help the process along. Only it froze as Sassy’s body and sword flickered one last time, Sassy skidded backwards a few feet and the tip of her sword was planted in the monsters chest and everything became quiet. The sword pulled away with the handle glowing with a soft orange color revealing a small pinprick in its chest, the Vorager staggered once the sword was removed then collapsed forward revealing a huge hole had been blown out of its back. The center of this holes diameter matched the tiny pinprick on its chest. Its innards, having been blown out its back, now hung down its still body that also had two pieces of its spine visibly bending outwards in opposite directions. - Sassy had just beaten a Vorager with a sword, which was rather impressive since she wasn’t entirely conscious of her actions at the time. The blade slowly levitated back to Sassy’s side and she wavered a bit on her hooves, blinking once or twice she looked at her sword blankly. She started looking around with her visible eye in fear at nothing. Sassy slowly curled up on the ground and started crying, with her horn dimming the sword clattered to the ground. “I don’t want to hate you daddy.” Whimpered Sassy who was clearly not alright given she was bleeding out at the moment from two bad wounds and a third one in her side being imminently fatal if she didn’t get help soon. No civilian was willing to leave their barricades to go see what’s wrong with her. The monsters from the core where about to flood out into the nearby cities and they didn’t want to be caught out in the open like the obviously distraught pony. “You weren’t the one that hurt me… why do I hate you?” One of the Ant Heads crawled forward and widened its mandibles to bite down on the injured crying pony, a crack rang out and its head was blown in half. Several more shots rang out taking out the last of the barely living stragglers, slowly a pair of feet walked up to Sassy and the tip of a blue tail prodded her gently. “Are you okay? Well obviously not since you’re kind of bleeding out everywhere, but I meant...” Ember stopped and scouted the surrounding area for any more surviving problems; she started sweeping her rifle around at all the unmoving bodies littering the ground and then towards the rooftops and sky. The pony didn’t respond and continue to cry. “I’m really bad at things like this. Good at bounty hunting, bad at being social. Come on; let’s go get you some help.” “Rarity… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I never meant to hurt you.” Mumbled the pony as the dragon crouched down putting her rifle across her back and scooped up the crying mare along with her sword. “Shush, it’s okay. You’re alright… going to be alright. You’re in good claws… hooves?” Ember tried to be comforting, but it sounded rather awkward coming from her. She decided shouting for help wouldn’t hurt at this point. “Is there a medic nearby!?” Several shots rang out and Ember turned to and Ant Head fall down from around a corner, Rarity walked around the corner looking around, she quickly spotted Ember holding Sassy. “Oh Luna’s snuggly stars, Sassy! What happened to her?” Rarity ran up and would have made it to them if it hadn’t been for a Vasp that jumped from the nearby roof, more monsters were coming into the area by the second and it just wasn’t safe to be outdoors right now. The Vasp forced her to the ground with its weight and jammed it’s mandibles into her neck. The EVA suit spewed breach gel into its mouth causing it to gag and pull its head away screeching angrily. This was long enough for Rarity magically pulled both her pistols from their holsters, point them upwards and start firing blindly. The Vasp stumbled backwards and was met with an irate AI’s intense dislike of its very existence. The MAT quickly floated into Ember’s view and swiftly moving past the smoking corpse, following it was a weary looking griffon clutching her wing. “Meowstress Rarity are you okay, did it get to your skin, how many sub light particles am I showing you, what’s the square root of two hundred and twenty five?” The MAT was scanning the suit frantically and the questions eventually dried up when Rarity rolled onto her back and glared at the drone. “Vasps have poisonous bites; thankfully the stingers aren’t as dangerous… when they’re not perforating something important.” “I’m okay Opal, just a little bruised darling. My suits integrity is a bit damaged, but it didn’t make it beyond the breach gel layer. Fixing the damage shouldn’t be too hard, but I so do detest having to pressurize the breach gel again, the testing phases were horrible.” They were swiftly joined by Ember and her shabby patchwork suit that was considered armor being soaked in the blood of the pony she held. “Sassy! Is she okay?” Rarity didn’t like Ember’s armor anyway and would be happy to see her eventually get rid of it for something much nicer looking, but she did think that Ember herself was quite a beautiful lady in personality and noble intentions. Noble intentions given the way she cradled Sassy’s whimpering form tenderly. “Define okay, because she’s is messed up in more ways than one and to think we held such a pleasant conversation the other day.” Shaking her head because of her wandering mind, Ember frantically got back to the present. Among the many things Ember was knowledgeable of, the one thing she didn’t know personally was corpse prevention training. She’s never had a friend to really worry about and her body was ridiculously hard to injure, plus being a bounty hunter she was more about capturing and killing things than keeping them alive. “I’m not a field medic and I hardly ever get injured, but even I can tell she needs serious medical help. As in she needs to be put in a med-bed right now!” “There’s a hospital right over there.” The griffon pointed out before looking at the sky in horror as hundreds of shadows started to cover the ground and an increasingly loud buzzing noise. She started to run for the hospital. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’d want to get indoors right about now. Come on!” They all ran towards the hospital as the streets of the city were soon flooded with monstrosities crawling on buildings, roaming the streets and flying through the air looking for their next meal. Surprisingly the doors opened for them and once they were inside, the doors locked down behind them by way of large metallic emergency shutters closing up the entrance. “Bring you injured over here, we’ll see to them right away.” In a world where med-beds existed, nurses like the pink haired and white furred earth pony with a red cross surrounded by pink hearts would not be thought of as common. Med-beds couldn’t fix everything and sometimes you needed a more gentle touch than a cold hard machine that lacked feelings and couldn’t care less about your mental health. “We need to get that pony into a…” “Wait, stop! Don’t mention that out loud around her.” The nurse gave Rarity a glare and she decided it was best to explain Sassy’s problem. “You’ll need to sedate her first; she’s been a victim of serious malpractice and you were about to say something clearly trigger worthy. She has been through a lot and I think she’s even currently having an episode.” “Right, bring her over here!” The nurse quickly reached into her saddlebag and once Ember was close enough she pulled out an injector and slammed it home into the crook of Sassy’s neck making her go limp shortly after. “I’m Nurse Red Heart. I apologize for treating your friend roughly, but she likely needs to go into a med-bed and we can’t have her fighting us when we try to put her in one for her own good. She’s Luna’s problem at the moment. Get me a stretcher over here and prepare a room for three!” “Oh, I’m not injured.” Tried Rarity and Red Heart gave her a clearly disbelieving look; two parascine came running on their tentacles with a stretcher. “I saw that Vasp land on you and bite you; so we’re not taking any chances of anyone dying where we can!” Nurse Red Heart glared Rarity down and turned to order her people. She turned to the stretcher and several other people when they arrived. She pointed to the unicorn still in Ember’s slightly upset grasp. “Take this unicorn pony in for emergency medical treatment ASAP, there are several deep wounds and she has been bleeding out for the last five to ten minutes so make it quick. Also note that she has a mental history and med-beds are apparently a trigger for mental trauma so keep her under until she can be safely removed and put in a regular medical bed to wake up in. We definitely do not want to trigger a samurai with mental trauma, understand me? Good. We need this Griffon to be taken in for a wing assessment; otherwise the wing needs to be cleaned, medicated and bandaged to prevent further blood loss. It is not currently life threatening as her breathing is even and she can still feel pain from it so it’ll likely be usable again. Other pony undetermined status, walking and talking, recently got sat on by a Vasp and bitten and appears lucid and has a dried gel substance smeared around her neck. The dragon looks perfectly fine and I’m not a mechanic so don’t expect me to repair the drone for you.” Sassy was quickly taken from Ember and they quickly carted her off on a stretcher. The griffon was led away to get her wing looked at and worked on and Red Heart turned to Rarity to see she was staying right where she was. “The substance smeared on my collar is breach gel, it is a part of my EVA suits functions in case of incurring damage in space and the Vasp didn’t manage to fully puncture my suit once the gel started to spew out of it at the point of breach. I personally invented this stuff and it works quite effectively.” At this moment Rarity turned to Opal and gave her a pleading look. “You know I’m fine, right darling?” “You’re the epitome of beauty Meowstress and look fine in that meaning, but I want you out of the suit and looked over for a second opinion and my sake of mind. Medical scanners thankfully show nothing currently wrong with you.” It was Opal’s job to worry and she watched as Rarity lowered her head and sighed. “We could get the traces of poison on your suit and give it to the hospital staff to study.” “That would certainly be appreciated by my staff, now move!” Red Heart walked behind Rarity and started to nudge her in the direction. “I’ll have you in the same room as your friends, so you can see for yourself how they’re doing.” “Good, everything is all taken care of so if you’ll open the front door shutters I’ll just be goi…” Ember was halted when she felt a sharp tug on her tail as she tried to make for the entrance. “You’re not going anywhere; we’re locking down Heppren Hospital. Nothing is going to get in and we don’t want anyone to leave into that mess no matter how tough you think you are.” It was apparent who Red Heart was here, she was a stern taskmaster and she had a well oiled machine running in Heppren Square. She didn’t take kindly to people throwing themselves into the paths of danger and or especially near her hospital. “You may be a dragon, but even you can’t possibly be that crazy.” “I’m a bounty hunter, ergo I aim to hunt and kill as many of those monsters as I can in a bountiful manner.” The nurse wasn’t being deterred in the slightest and Ember continued on in the hopes that she’d see reason. “It’s also hunting season down here so not only am I doing this for a good cause, I’m trying to make ends meet.” “Then you can be paid for whatever extra protection and help you can personally provide to Heppren Hospital.” Not a pony to bend on the safety of her patients and or others running into a dangerous, Red Heart finished her thoughts. “You can be a temporary guardian over us, you can sit around doing nothing or you can make yourself useful in some other capacity. You’re not going back out there and we’re not dropping lockdown again unless the situation decidedly warrants it! If you try to leave anyway, then you’ll be here for completely different reasons.” At this Ember snorted in amusement at the threat and smiled. The mare came off as pretty tough; Ember respected that and her profession as a healer. Rolling her eyes, Ember decided to take Nurse Red Heart up on her offer. Though the dragon wanted to be out there fighting, she knew for a fact that she could be just as happy protecting those around her. Author's Note Will fix any problems with the chapter if notified of them at a later date a year from the point of notification. I have a procrastination problem.
-21-“So… what are we going to do now Gilda?” Having asked that Greta looked around at the junkyard they landed in, the Javelin’s Evade Mode had a horribly cracked almost shattered canopy on the pilot’s side and needed repairs for that. Her rear facing seat had handled the landing much better; it was a well controlled crash at the very least that did little damage to their spacecraft. “I mean aside from the obvious of getting your arm looked at.” “If I wasn’t in so much pain right now Greta, I’d beat you black and blue for drawing attention to it.” Clutching at her right arm with her left claw holding it against her chest, Gilda grit her teeth and looked around. “Get the plasma rifle out. We should be safe here since we’re definitely far enough away from where the core crashed, but it wouldn’t hurt to have it at the ready. Any crash you can walk away from right?” “Technically you’ll be limping away; also you and it can still fly so is walking really necessary? All we need to do is change the canopy out on the Javelin's Evade Mode.” Greta looked over their landing craft and it was a bit dented up, but it was still viable as a form of transportation, but it wasn’t going to be useful for escaping the planet back into space. “So not technically a crash, actually this is the first time you’ve landed something relatively intact. Note to self, write autopilot landing program for Gilda.” “Make fun if you will Greta, I’ve done pretty well in the last hour or so.” Gilda muttered quite clearly through exorbitant amounts of pain. “That would make it Gilda one, life fifty three and counting. I wish one of us was a doctor right now.” “Can we rip up your work clothes?” Sighing after asking that, Greta wondered if things would quiet down as she pulled the plasma rifle out. They had plenty of ammo for it for the time being as Tree Hugger had really bought them a rather thoughtful amount as a gift, because it certainly helped when it came to shooting Vasp out of the sky while they were still falling. Her EVA suit was also quite useful when it came to her popping her rear facing canopy and letting loose with the weapon. “We can use either that or the strap from the rifle for a sling… after we get your arm bent back in the right direction of course.” “Just find something for me to bite down on that’s not you, you’d probably even enjoy it.” Resisting tears with all her might, Gilda stayed perfectly still as Greta came up and gripped her right arm after stuffing a large wad of clothe in her beak. A shrill screech went throughout the area, even though it should have been muffled. - “It left a spot in its chest the size of a pinprick.” Deadpanned Ember who had told Rarity what she was witnessed in regards to Sassy’s skill. “She’s quite good, but the weapon doesn’t exactly seem right for her even if it works.” “Well that certainly explains why she doesn’t use a rapier; I can just imagine her accidentally killing someone unintentionally through something else with a single thrust.” The hospital gown Rarity was wearing after they checked her out for poisoning was something that aggravated her sensibilities in fashion, it was also not her color as it was green. Aside from being a fashion victim, she only had a badly bruised back and why she was currently seeing bed rest. What really mattered was Sassy at the moment, she was sitting in a med-bed across from her and completely sedated as much as they safely could use to keep her under. “Poor Sassy she’s going to have horrid scars on her face, though she might actually see that as a good thing… if she’s even in her right mind when she wakes up.” “Why would scars be a good thing? Don’t ponies in the fashion industry frown upon what they perceive as imperfections or something?” Ember was perfectly fine, despite having actively participated in hunting for pockets of death incarnate to take down before ending up here. Her armor was a different story as it laid in a pile next to her looking like it always did, being a pile of badly patched together chunks of metal. The body shy dragon was wearing a gown as well and didn’t seem to mind the color at all. “It’s because it might keep men away, well at least the shallow or predatory ones.” It was nice that Rarity could have a friendly discussion with Ember, because it would be dreadfully boring and upsetting to watch Sassy sit in a tank of fluids dead to the world. It was rather upsetting to see any of her friends in such a state period. Coco, Opal and Vera were okay at the spaceport, but Drixsto needed reinforcements of the aerial bombardment persuasion because the city was covered in Ant Heads, Voragers and Vasps. Only bounty hunters were crazy enough to be out in that mess and Ember actually stated that she wanted to be one of them. It horrified Rarity on some level because she liked Ember as a friend and wouldn’t wish danger on her, except for the fact danger was a part of Ember’s job description and her livelihood. “However it may also do the opposite and might attract men that are more into the battle torn look, I’m sure with a bit of makeup I can work with Sassy to make it look like the scars aren’t there at all.” “I guess we’ll see how that pans out when we get around to it, I might call a nurse for something substantial to eat. Running through the streets gunning down what amounts to the byproduct of a apocalyptic class biological grey goo scenario works up an appetite. ” At this Ember reaches into her thrice times horribly battered armor that should never be worn by anyone, she pulled out a pouch to take out a large emerald that caught Rarity’s eye. It was beautiful without an imperfection in it and then it was gone in a flash because it was tossed into Ember’s mouth and crunched loudly to be swiftly swallowed. “I love the taste of a good emerald.” “Opal if I have to leave this room for any reason, I want you to stay here and watch Sassy.” It might have upset Rarity slightly to watch a beautiful gem or jewel being eaten like that; then again Ember did require that as food. At least the luster of Ember’s scales made up for it, the dragon obviously took really good care of them and she was a gem all her own. “No matter what I choose to do, no matter what happens to me, make sure nothing happens to her.” “Roger dodger Meowstress, don’t leave Sassy alone for a minute!” The weight of that order had Opal take it seriously; she accepted why Rarity asked that of her and was happy to make sure nothing happened to Sassy. It was a bit conflicting for her to not watch out for Rarity, but the generosity of the order could not be denied and Opal was okay with it. “I understand the order perfectly clear, though I don’t like the implications of you being out of my sight for a second.” “Quite, all members of my crew matter more so than I do. I’m but a humble captain that gives my people a direction to move through life and without the crew or a ship, I am nothing.” It was a bit poetic, but Rarity wasn’t exactly entirely humble. When both Ember and Opal with the MAT drone just stared at her, she sighed in an aggravated manner. “Okay, I admit that I do have my moments where I’m definitely going to try and be more important than I sound, I apologize in advance for those situations. I am a business mare after all and want to be a highly important pony that absolutely anyone can go to for a nice set of clothing. I will prove that I can cater to anyone’s wants or needs in the fashion industry on top of making my own designs shine brightly across the stars on their own merits.” “Well it’s nice to know you have an idea of where you want to go and who you want to be, because I would be kind of lost without your help otherwise Rarity.” For recently being pulled from a med-bed for various injuries, Coco sounded chipper and healthy. “If you wanted to know, everything here is fine with us. Though the monsters are trying to create an entrance into the spaceport, I don’t think they’re capable of breaking through the blast doors. Are they trying to get into the hospital as well?” “Yeah, but this hospital is pretty well fortified. I’m in the mood to ask the next nurse I see about the layout of the building and if there are any weak points in the design on top of a request for food.” Being the most experienced one in the room, Ember decided to speak up about what she knew of situations like this. “I’m talking things like, does this building have a panic room in case monsters get in and how many can you fit into said room? If you ever get trapped in a building or a spaceship, then you’ll definitely want the blueprints or at least a schematic of it to get an idea of where a problem might rise up from and how to get around it quickly.” “Okay Miss Gums, keep your wing in the sling and try not to scratch at it. Don’t let the injury get any worse and we’ll see to it that you’ll fly again, provided that there’s a rescue coming before we start running out of food.” Turning to the sudden opening of the door to the room, they all watched as Red Heart led the griffon Rarity had saved into the room. “Here’s your friends, speaking of, is there anything any of you need? Be aware I can’t help with machines, so don’t even bother asking.” That last bit had been directed at the MAT drone Opal was in control of, but it wasn’t in anger it was a statement that she wasn’t a mechanic and shouldn’t be asked to perform miracles aside from medical ones. “I have some requests. Where can we get some food? Does this place have a backup generator and does it have any underground entrances?” Taking in the blank look and slowly shrinking pupils Ember figured she had stumbled onto something that was dangerous for the hospital if it wasn’t taken care of quickly. “I ask because those monsters are definitely a lot smarter than they look.” “Oh no, oh dear, this isn’t good…. wait, why are you wearing a gown?” Nurse Red Heart was suddenly distracted from her worried state by noticing Ember reclining with her legs crossed and leaning backwards on her arms. The reclining dragon sat up at her momentary bout of panic, Red shook her head and got to the matter at hoof. “The backup generators are in the basement, but we haven’t actually sealed off the sewage access tunnels to it or the hospital yet. We forgot that it’s not automatically activated like the reinforced shutters that protect the building from attacks above ground. There’s a whole network of large pipes down there big enough for an Ant Head to crawl through, why if they get to our generator and knock out the cities power supply... we’ll lose a lot of people here that are in critical conditions. We need to manually seal off several pipes in the right order or else there will be complications beyond having the hospital invaded from below.” “Right, just let me gear up… in private. Also I’m wearing this hospital gown because it’s comfortable for me.” A purple blush appeared on Ember’s cheeks as she stood up and her tail swept around her waist. She gathered up her armor and her rifle. “Get me someone who can close the sewage pipes off or at least show me what to do, a water proof map to said pipes that need to be closed and I’ll personally provide escort for them down there. In fact, gather several volunteers willing to go down there with me. While we’re busy down there you could scrounge up some food, I can already tell I’m going to need a shower after this one. This won’t be my first time being in some absurdly spacious sewers and probably not the last either if I’m unfortunate enough.” The dragon stood up and walked off to the nearby bathroom to take off the gown and get into her ratty armor, leaving Rarity to turn to Red Heart after having watched her friend walk off with determined look on her face. “I’m not too injured and I have my energy pistols, once you give me my EVA suit back I’ll happily volunteer to go down there as well.” It didn’t matter if it was dangerous; Rarity was volunteering because she was generous to a fault and wanted to help out regardless of capability to do so. The pipes were sure to be entirely disgusting and normally she wouldn’t volunteer to go into the sewers, heck it would get her poor slightly damaged EVA suit covered in muck. What did a little loss to her suits vanity matter in the importance of other people’s lives? She could always make a new suit anyway. Rarity would never let her vanity personally get in the way of helping others, though she still detested getting dirty in the extreme. If getting dirty meant saving lives, then Rarity was willing to bite the bullet and get her suit tarnished beyond recognition. “Tell me, can a Vorager fit into those pipes?” “Thankfully no, if they tried they’d be hard pressed to make themselves as dangerous in cramped conditions as they are in wide open spaces. It’s big enough for a human to stand up comfortably in, but otherwise it’s not very wide or that much bigger.” Here Red Heart glared at Rarity. “Wait, why am I even entertaining the thought of you going in there? You’re a civilian and you need bed rest!” “Oh I’m not that bad off! Also aren’t Bounty Hunters technically armed citizens that do the jobs other more qualified people are too busy for? I know I’m not one, but I’m still willing and able to lend my assistance for a good cause and I do have weapons to take care of myself with.” Stretching out and getting off the bed, Rarity walked up to the glaring Nurse Red Heart and looked her sharply in the eyes. “I’m well aware of what I’m getting myself into and knowing that, I wish to assist in this endeavor despite your misgivings about my current health.” “Fine, but don’t expect me to help you if you get injured.” Rubbing at her head with a hoof Red Heart looked particularly aggravated and like her patience was wearing thin, she made her job sound quite stressful. “We’ll have your suit back with you within the next twenty minutes. That breach gel stuff is quite useful as it’s managed to give us Vasp poison to work with and we can actively make antidotes for it now thanks to you. Once you can finally get that stuff signed off by the princesses, we’ll happily buy some of it to research medical applications for it. Vasp Poison usually degrades really fast, so you’ve given us the first sample that hasn’t deteriorated at all before we could get a good look at it and it’s thanks to you we can synthesize antidotes for any future incursions. You’ll have about thirty minutes after getting it back for me to gather enough volunteers to see to it that we aren’t suddenly hit with a surprise attack. Now get back in bed and get some more rest. You too Miss Gums and with your wing you’re most decidedly not going down there, I don’t need you getting an amputation worthy infection on my watch. So get in that bed now!” The griffon squeaked and carefully climbed into the bed next to Rarity’s while minding her wing in the sling, she looked particularly cowed and afraid of the nurse’s wrath. The nurse nodded in acceptance and stomped out of the room muttering about all the troublesome patients she had to deal with. “Um, hey there, how are you feeling? Getting landed on by a Vasp and almost getting poisoned must not have felt very good, huh?” The griffon intoned quietly. “No, it most certainly wasn’t pleasant being pinned under that beast. Had it thought to use its stinger, if it was even capable at the time, I would have been a goner for sure.” Yep, that moment was going straight into Rarity’s nightmare bin. “I’m Rarity Belle, now who are you darling and what do you do? You already know a little about me, so I think a little information in turn would be fair trade.” “Oh, I’m Gabriella Gums, just call me Gabby though! I’m a courier and I like to deliver packages big, small and between those two and the biggest order I’ve ever had to have weighed over a hundred pounds at least! I’ve been all over Drixtsto and some of the nearby cities of Ewesen, it is much friendlier here than Griffonstone. Also the weather was quite nice, at least until those monsters started to fall out of the sky. I really don’t have the money for a ride off the planet and even if I did, I hear Geoptis and the fleet upstairs got hit badly by a large wave of Shamroids. Either way it wouldn’t matter because I’m not exactly rich enough to move out of the city or anything, used most of my money coming to this planet in the first place and let me tell you this place was so wonderful until this happened.” This Gabby was certainly talkative and it seemed she would continue on, she was currently on her side that wasn’t currently in a sling. She was a griffin with various shades of gray and a slight hint of cyan mixed in, with a small smattering of white feathers at her neck below her beak. Her round head reminded Rarity of Greta and she even had some of her feathers pulled back into ponytail which made her look cute. She was a bit younger than Greta and Gilda judging by her size. “I’m so glad that you came across me, who knows what would have happened to me if you didn’t come along. I can already guess, but I’d rather not exactly dwell on it. Oh man this invasion is really bad for business, I had just finished my last delivery which was a weapon to a Triple P officer when I got caught out in that mess and took a stinger in the wing, but you already know about that. Let me tell you, I’ve had a heck of a time running through the city trying to hide and avoid all those monsters. Of course I don’t think I’ll be able to find another job after this for a while and I really should have probably found a chunk of wood or a bit of loose pipe to use as a makeshift weapon. I mean can you imagine me fighting? I’m not exactly one for confrontations which as you might know is kind of a thing some griffons like, but not me, no sir! I’m a friendly griffon and I’d rather be friends with everyone I come across, like this nice blonde mare I met on Equus who had a cute little dinky filly. Wait, wasn’t her filly’s name Dinky? Oh I get it now! Anyway I hope to one day earn a cutie mark or at least think of a nice symbol for myself, even though I’m not a hippogriff it should be entirely possible right? I really liked those blueberry muffins, that mare can bake them fluffy with a crisp outer shell. I wonder if my apartment will still be around, maybe I just became homeless. Well that’s a depressing thought, guess I won’t know until this crisis blows over. I wonder if they have cherry blintz here, I really loved baked goods and they are some of my favorite things to eat.” “Tell me, do you ever stop talking or do you just blabber on like that to everyone?” Because it sounded to Rarity that she was a griffon that ran her mouth almost near constantly once she got started. Hippogriffs came from pony and griffons mating, quite frankly interspecies was becoming much more common thing and hippogriffs were respected citizens of Equus. Seeing the griffon getting upset at her question, Rarity inhaled before she decided to say something she was bound to regret saying to Gabriella for the rest of her life. “I’m sorry and apologize for my dreadful words Gabriella, that’s quite a beautiful name by the way, but you kind of ran on there for a while.” “That’s okay, I do kind of continue talking on and on for a long time. I mean, I’m sometimes called the blathering blatherskite or gabby Gabby which is kind of a thing with me. I don’t think I misspeak and I totally make sense with everything I say unlike the definitions for those words, but going off in tangents is a bit of a problem with me. I still prefer Gabby though, thanks for the complimenting my name at least. I wonder if I left the oven on, this is how I always am I think of things like did I leave the throwing disc, kite and cat in that tree? That’s the kind of things my mind wanders off on and I can keep talking for quite a while let me tell you!” Gabby made a friendly gesture to Rarity with her left hand. “So if you need me to stop talking and ask me something I will, though you might have to yell at me. I tend to stop paying attention to people when I get overly excited about something, some doctors think I might have ADD. I know for a fact that I can pay attention and actually listen to people so I might actually be just a tiny bit hyperactive, maybe I shouldn’t eat two honey buns in the morning or drink three cups of coffee before work like at all. Flying takes up a lot of energy though, maybe a more vegetable intensive diet? At least I know that people like me for being a friendly face that delivers; anyone who watches me would know how I can deliver things swiftly and efficiently. Can’t say much about watching the paint dry when it comes to sitting here in this boring room like this, but I definitely want to be able to fly again so like the nurse ordered I’m getting rest. I’ve never actually met someone who would want to still be friends with me after I start running my beak, but you haven’t run out of the room screaming yet so I must be doing something right this time. I wonder if fruits in the morning would be better, I do love my copious amounts of sugar. Sugar has always been kind of a funny word to me, even though I eat a lot of things with sugar in it. Anyway, how has your day been?” “It has been quite horrid day with all those monsters falling from the sky don’t you think? Why I think I can even feel migraine coming on.” With her right eye twitching slightly, Rarity figured that Gabby was still a far sight better than dealing with Sweetie Belle even if she could go on and on in such an energetic manner. “I apologize if I get short with you Ms. Gums.” “Okay, but call me Gabby! You saved my life so that makes us friends now right… well doesn’t it? I mean, I’m not that annoying right? I can’t really help it sometimes; I just really need to talk.” The griffon visibly wilted and poke her index talons together, it didn’t sound like Gabby was able to turn off her motor mouth very easily. “Of course I’ll be your friend Gabriella, it’s just that you’re a bit much to take in and it’ll take me a while to get used to you. We’ve only just begun talking to each other; do you have any dreams aside from attaining a cutie mark? Goodness knows my little sister Sweet Belle is going to blow up a planet trying to earn hers.” The door to the bathroom opened, Rarity turned to watched Ember stalk back into the room to sit down on the bed and she gestured for them to continue on and ignore her. “Anyway let me tell you a little more about myself. I got my cutie mark on Desserzon, the planet has quite a few gem mines and my horn dragged me to a large gem deposit. That was when I knew what my special talent was; aside from having a gem finding spell I have a keen eye for detail and beauty. I also attract more customers to my fashionable business by being an EVA suit manufacturer.” “I have one of those EVA suits and it is really comfortable, a bit pricey but the materials that go into it. I think it’s a worthwhile purchase considering how well they’re constructed.” It was just Ember putting her two cents in as she opened a compartment in her bulky material rifle and started counting rocks. Taking stock of her ammunition was something she did often; she took good care of her weapon. “Speaking of constructing things and since we’re sharing I made this material rifle myself, all from materials tough enough to handle extreme heats and I’ve actually dunked this thing in lava before. It took me a while to clean it out afterwards, but I don’t let this thing out of my sight even for a minute and it’s done me proud by never backfiring on me once. This thing is my baby and I call it the Trailblazer Mark One, looks like it still has plenty of fuel in it. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be to go into the sewers.” “That’s nice; I think… anyway Nurse Red Heart said she was going to gather some people to go down there and I have personally volunteered my assistance.” Things were calm now and Rarity was opening up to the two as they were to her, how long would that last she wondered. “I’m not a bad shot, well when I can work up the courage to aim at living creature.” “I can imagine killing something is not easy for you, I’m mostly a vegetarian and I can understand that. Is it like that with bounty hunters?” Gabby turned to Ember who looked a little scary in her armor and unlike her assumptions with Rarity; she knew for a fact that Ember was a real deal bounty hunter. “I’m Gabby by the way, Gabriella Gums; it’s very nice to meet you.” “Ember Mcflame and that’s a small thing some bounty hunters all have trouble with eventually, unless you’re one of those lunatics that enjoys lawful acts of violence. Of course if something is actively trying to kill you, it becomes much easier to make a decision when you can’t run from what’s trying to do so. I don’t actually take killing people lightly personally. Though I won’t lie, I’ve killed a lot of people and I’m sorry if it upsets you Gabby.” This was something Ember wouldn’t kid around about, she’s has quite a few years as a bounty hunter under her belt and she was still really young for her age. Gabby didn’t look particularly upset at all with her and she continued. “In turn, I’ve also killed a lot of monsters that shouldn’t even be considered for prison time, they were just that horrible and irredeemable. My life isn’t easy and it gets real lonely, but I think I make it work. Being social like this isn’t exactly a thing I do very often.” “Well you are rather shy and a might bit antisocial as it were, but be assured that you’re a wonderful person to be around Ember. You even took the time out of a busy day to come apologize to my friend Coco for causing her some trouble and that was while you were doing business with me, which I might add was rather thoughtful of you.” Rarity’s compliment had Ember looking away slightly and Gabby chirped in amusement at the sight of a dragon actually acting shy. “Not only that, but you also helped my dear friend Sassy and even carried her here. While you may be violent, you are also capable of being kind and caring.” “Speaking of kindness, here’s your EVA suit back Ms. Belle and I can’t thank you enough for lending it to us. If you’re going into the sewers then you better start getting ready and get in a last meal in case you run into trouble down there.” Red Heart walked in to casually toss Rarity’s EVA suit on the bed next to her, she walked out with one last parting word to Rarity. “Now stay in good health and be careful or else you’ll have this irate nurse on your hooves!” Author's Note Gabby's speech habits alone will inevitably extend the length of every chapter she appears in. Also happy Sewer-ween! No... wait... that's not right... what do humans call the holiday again? All I do for the month of monsters is eat various amounts of candy and gain a more evil looking, if temporary, appearance. I wish I could get the 'supposedly' off my license to be evil. You'll always be 'supposedly' evil they say, even during the month of monsters I'm usually barely making evil quota. I really should be stealing candy from houses preemptively, but I already have my own weight in chocolate and fruity delights and blowing up random stuff counts towards my quota. It kind of leaves me feeling hollow that I can't perform acts of evil like a real monster... oh right the holiday is called The Nightmare Before Christmas! Then it's turkey and cow hunting season, I can already taste the Cowkeys or would they be Turkows? Either way it probably needs more cow bell.
-22-“Hopefully our reinforcements will be a great boon to the people of Quia System in their time of need; we don’t have much information on what’s going on there other than the fact that the MOM may have recently caused a lot of damage.” It wasn’t fun time and it was time to be serious, little ponies and other beings were dying out there and that required Celestia and Luna’s attentions. “The long distance communications went dead in that system, so we can only hope that things are not as bad as they seem.” “Can we not spare any more, is there nothing more that we can do there?” Luna was being just as serious as her sister as playtime was for when things were simple and peaceful, where your neighboring systems weren’t under assault by biological monstrosities that can cross the void to reach you. “No, we cannot spare too many of our forces personally as we’d be spreading ourselves too thin at that point.” It was hard for Celestia to say that they couldn’t protect everyone nor could they watch everything. They weren’t quite omnipresent or omniscient, but when they have a prophetic dream they knew to start paying attention and even if they didn’t that would mean the threat was all the worse because they couldn’t predict it coming. “We should currently be watching the Applon System to make sure there are no incursions coming from that direction, there have also been reports sent out to the asteroid mining facilities to watch out for fake asteroids as an early sign of possible incursions.” Biological grey goo that can traverse space certainly made sure that nowhere was absolutely safe and defending the habitable planets all the more important, running from a threat such as this would only make it harder to survive. As long as Celestia and Luna lived they would protect their home world of Equus in the Equon System and help the other nearby livable worlds in whatever capacity they could manage. It was quite upsetting that there were monsters out there that you just couldn’t befriend that would either destroy, eat or assimilate you, thankfully sentient friendly races outnumbered such threats and made sure they didn’t become far worse given time and opportunity. “I’ve always said you can’t befriend everything, because eventually you’ll meet something that diplomacy doesn’t work on.” As if Chrysalis were one to talk, diplomacy worked pretty well on her after a massive rock smashed her throne room. Anti-magic barriers were completely pointless if your opponent was still capable of attacking you from outside of it. The major example would be of Luna or Celestia dropping a meteor on you from orbit if they so wished. An anti-magic barrier prevented magic from working inside it; unfortunately it didn’t stop more scientific things from happening such as velocity given to a massive object hurtling towards your skull. “That includes Luna’s kind of diplomacy especially; you know the kind that involves shotguns. If you love shotguns so much Luna, why don’t you just marry one already? By the way Celestia, you still owe me five hundred bits.” “I admit I have a strong love for Mr. Boom Stick, but now is not the time for joking about diplomacy or talk of my impending marriage to a beloved weapon. My sister is still blocking my efforts in that regard.” After a moment of trying to think of an action to take Luna looked at the table she sat at. “I sadly cannot actually think of any way to help Ewesen further aside from waiting patiently for more information.” “The universe is a big place Luna; you know we can no longer protect our little ponies effectively from everything that is out there. Also you are not marrying Mr. Boom Stick; it is silly and not happening on my watch Luna.” Closing her eyes, Celestia inhaled then exhaled sadly. “We can however do our best to provide places of relative safety and great comfort, even knowing that no place is truly safe from danger forever. We need constant vigilance and to help our ponies learn to fend for themselves, lest we forget to look for monsters and allow them a grand opportunity by becoming too complacent. The Planetary Protection Patrol at Ewesen along with our reinforcements will have to be enough to handle the situation.” “I don’t mean to be rude princess, but you have one of the worst militaries I’ve ever seen. At least I can honestly say your spaceships are better than your soldiers and that’s saying a lot.” What Chrysalis said was true; Celestia’s ground forces were more ornamental than anything as their combat prowess left something to be desired in comparison to their presence in space. Even the Wonder Bolts were more performers and actors than real soldiers, despite starting out as a military initiative to carry on traditions. “So… about the gala, do you still want me to do that thing for you? Do you also need me to transform into you so that I can ask your book fetishist to the gala for you because you’re too chicken to do it yourself?” At least all changelings were minimally trained for combat and survival under Chrysalis’s rule; only those that wished to go into military roles were allowed to stick around for the more intensive stuff. Changelings could react to danger far better than ponies were often seen doing; at least aside from the ones that were specifically samurai or mage trained which were really so few in number. Celestia relied way too much on the unique few to solve her major problems. At least in commanding spaceships the unique few did actually matter to a greater degree, otherwise it was a bloodbath waiting to happen by Chrysalis's perspective. “I’m still considering the terms of your payment and if we weren’t allies Chrysalis, then I would be smashing you into the nearest wall right now.” After a moment Celestia realized the opening she just gave Chrysalis and watched in horror as Chrysalis opened her mouth slowly with a broad smile. Cue soon to be blushing princesses. - Coco moved her hooves and kept busy by constructing an impulse saddle, this time she was thinking of including the support batteries into the design of this particular saddle. She wanted to do something that sounded useful, well more useful than just sitting and worrying about Rarity, Sassy and their friend Ember who still freaked her out somewhat. She was working from a design aspect currently as she had yet to work out how she was to add batteries to it. The impulse feature runs on its own battery and draining from that particular battery was a bad idea, so the auxiliary batteries had to be separate from the main impulse function. She felt something touch her and she jumped, only to calm down a second later when she saw that it was just Vera gentling putting a hoof on her right shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it? If I’m going to be the crew’s therapist then I need to know what’s bothering you.” After a long time of getting used to her curse, Vera almost welcomed becoming used to being just a shadow to her sisters and as for now. Now she wanted to get to know everyone on the crew personally and help them achieve great things, she had someone who could see her and she had a job where she could be acknowledged. “Coco, my job is to listen, help and assuage you as needed. Talk to me.” “Why did Sassy run off like she did? Why didn’t she tell us she was a samurai? I still personally think she’s more like an assassin or a ninja really. Now Rarity is putting herself in danger for Sassy’s sake and I don’t even know what to think about that aside from the fact that Rarity might be too forgiving at times.” Stepping away from her work and letting Vera’s hoof stay where it was so she didn’t lose track of the mare, Coco continued on. “I know Rarity; she’s being way too generous with how Sassy treated her previously after the incident involving the med-bed. Sassy was doing so well with keeping her sanity, she’s so strong and yet she seems so vulnerable at the same time.” “I won’t pretend to understand the kind of psychological scars she has, but she probably ran off thinking she could take on the world to protect you two from the dangers out there. From what we’ve heard from Rarity, Sassy’s taken some pretty bad injuries in her somewhat mindless if noble recklessness, still have to say it’s impressive to hear she took out a Vorager on hoof with a sword.” Pulling her patient into a hug, Vera started to coddle Coco for a few seconds before releasing the hug. She didn’t take her hoof off of Coco though, because she wasn’t quite done talking yet. “Your friend is a wonderful pony and yes she’s strong in some ways and in others not so much. She practically craves positive physical affection for one, but on the other hoof she’s too scared of actively ask for more than she is willing to take at a time. Most likely her reluctance stems from an incident between her and Rarity after the med-bed one that you two have alluded to that ended up with her needing help. She was taking her affectionate approaches surprisingly easy on the both you and Miss Belle, I would have actually expected more attempts to kiss or nuzzle the both of you. Given that her therapist was Fluttershy, it went a long way to helping her… and hurting her at the same time. You see Fluttershy is well known for giving ample amounts of physical affection without anyone ever needing to ask for it when she feels it’s absolutely needed. Sassy soaked all that up and is much calmer around her and more highly stressed around the two of you, of whom she cares for deeply. Again she desperately wants your affection but doesn’t want to press the issue after what happened previously. Her samurai training was something her previous therapist knew nothing about; so it’s rather telling that she opened up to Rarity immediately when she was asked about it. Sassy fears men as much as she loathes them, but she is willing to work with them or do just about anything for Rarity’s sake as if she were trying to largely make up for that huge past mistake. That is actually a good thing as while she will never love them, she needs to be able to confront and talk to men in at least something approaching a civil manner. Please fill in the blanks, what am I not aware of about her?” “Yes that all sounds about right, Rarity rescued Sassy and that led to her almost doing the same thing to Rarity that was done to her.” This caused Coco to prompt Vera by pointing a hoof at her to see what she thought. “In summation to that, Sassy assaulted you and Rarity in the form of a knee jerk reaction. She could have felt tainted by what happened and wanted to feel better by taking comfort in someone. She instead went about it in a highly detrimental way. Her hatred of men started from that moment, so who else to share the pain with than a friend who’s a mare? Her mind went straight to needing intimate contact with someone of her own gender which fits what I’ve said so far.” Vera nodded back to Coco and titled her head giving the adorable mare a curious look. “Please go on, if you even have more to tell me.” “Sassy loved both her parents a lot; they have or had a strong family bond together.” That was all Coco needed to say to get Vera’s eyes to widen at the implications. “To say that both her parents feel grief over this is an understatement.” “Interesting, just know that Ms. Saddles was trying to be strong for the both of you and actively wishes to protect you from everything, including herself it would seem. It may lead her to being a tad… suicidal, so my being here as an unobtrusive presence is entirely warranted. Now let’s move on to you, what are you feeling right now?” This pointed question from Vera caused Coco to freeze. “I don’t have to tell anyone if you don’t want me to and Opal would know better than to break patient confidentiality right?” “I have no idea what you’re talking about, I’m not even here.” Obviously lying through her digital teeth Opal said this clearly and loudly, one of the CAT drones was even there pointing at Vera as the other one slowly floated around the ship on patrol. “Though you’re diagnosis of Sassy is making a lot of sense from what I’ve seen.” - Tromping around in the sewers was not Rarity’s idea of a good day; it was in fact one of the worst days she’s had in a while. She was taking up the rear on one of the four teams of three in the sewers; they were heading for one of the furthest away pipe control systems. It was one of the most important ones to seal off and it had to be the second one to be closed up after another team finished with theirs. So once they arrived they had to hold their position. Why did Rarity have to volunteer for something that made her want to burn her EVA suit when they were done? It was so positively filthy that her need to be clean was getting worse by the second even when her body was not personally touching the sludge she trotted through. That there were so few people who could physically volunteer to fix this problem had Rarity worried, at least everyone on her team was armed. Ember was on point and had her material rifle, Trailblazer, at the ready with her claw always on the trigger as they walked through the pipe quietly. They were listening for any sign that the sewers had been found and invaded. Ember’s weapon would be quite lethal in an enclosed space like this and it was already a deadly weapon for any situation to begin with. Rarity looked ahead at Ember and pitied her slightly; at least Rarity’s helmet gave her nothing but clean freshly refined air to breath. It was a saving grace for the putrid nasty muck they were walking through, poor Ember would have probably wanted her EVA suit right about now and could smell everything. Said EVA suit was still at the spaceport on Ember’s recently purchased ship parked near the Caravel Boutique. Rarity didn’t know enough about a Parascine’s biology to make a guess as to what their third companion was feeling about all this filth they were moving through. He took up the middle with a material pistol loaded with straightened out and cut apart paperclips. One paperclip made at least three to four viable rounds for the pistol to shoot and the Parascine could fire at least a hundred rounds per loaded clip of repurposed paperclips. “Trouble there is yes; do not disturb the sewer squids on the ceiling. Don’t attack or retaliate they will, yes. Light doesn’t bother them yes, loud noises might.” The companion simply named Droll was a blue parascine with three green nucleic eyes pointed upwards. His nasally sounding voice made both Ember and Rarity halt to look at him. “How dangerous are sewer squids exactly?” Rarity looked up and saw a lot of shifting conical hoods on the ceiling being revealed by her helmet lights. They were brown with dark green splotches; it looked like something puked all over them. The rest of the sewer looked like that, so the sickening colors made sense from a camouflage perspective. “Rarity, unlike normal squids who spew ink, these things can spew a variety of chemicals depending on the threat. Anything ranging from what amounts to napalm to acid that is quite selective in what it damages.” Ember didn’t make any sudden movements and kept walking forward. “The acid would even be capable of hurting me without damaging the pipe we’re walking through.” “Then make no threat, receive no threat yes. They know that we are not predatory and are just passing through.” Droll was a rather nice guy and quite brave to volunteer for this mission. His psychic powers would be invaluable as he was a walking life detector that could tell you exactly what he was detecting for a good range around himself. His tentacles shook agitatedly as he seemed to tilt what passed for his head towards the ceiling again. “Many are the monsters above ground, not sensing any in tunnels so far yes. There are so many of them above us though, scary and numerous are they yes. Prudent actions we are taking here, happy to have volunteered for a chance to protect ailing life as she of the earth would want.” Rarity didn’t mind Droll or his verbal tic of saying the word ‘yes’ a lot, he shivered slightly at the ceiling and it made her wonder what he was feeling or seeing. Magical powers and psychic powers were quite different and yet so similar. She swept her light down a tunnel at a T junction they were passing as they walked and saw nothing of note, but watched their back all the same. Parascine might be gifted with psychic powers, but those powers could be spotty at times and he might miss something in his distraction at detecting so many above them in the streets. “When the first team finishes closing off their necessary pipes it’ll block the route we came through, but our route is not about going back the way we came anyway. Hopefully the fifth team watching the pipes leading directly into the hospitals basement and generator can keep any unwanted visitors out while we’re busy.” Keeping her wits about her Ember walked into a wide open circular room with multiple pipes leading away from it; there was some kind of office up in ceiling that could be reached on one of two a nearby ladders and the catwalk above overlooked this area. She pulled out a plastic map and shook some detritus off of it to peruse it for a bit. Nodding, she tapped the side of her helmet. “We’re in position, waiting for confirmation to start closing off pipes at the control station two. No enemy activity yet and only natural wildlife down here… no they weren’t Ewesen Clog Spiders just a few sewer squids. Okay, we’ll be on the lookout and if we incidentally run into a nest I can handle it, do I get paid if I can clear a nest out of the pipe? Alright then, we’ll talk about it later.” “I know I’m going to regret this and I really hate to ask, but what’s a Ewesen Clog Spider?” Rarity swept her helmet from left to right and then moved it upwards towards the nearest ladder and ceiling after not seeing much more than the flooded floor of the room. She was almost swimming in the nearly chest deep sludge. “Clog Spiders might be a problem if we have to go through their territory yes? Clog Spiders inhabit tunnels and hunt prey no matter the size, highly carnivorous, usually have numerical advantages yes. Easy to recognize, love damp and dark places and clogging pipes of large sizes with thick webbing and lots of bodies. They have eight legs and are as big as a pony’s head or larger.” Droll could have been a bit more descriptive then spiders the size of Rarity’s head, but it was enough of a description for her. “The pipelines require cleaning at least twice a month and Parascine do good work yes. Clog Spiders like cramped places and not wide open areas unless prey or food is to be found.” “Now we just sit here I take it?” Lifting hoof out of the sewage she flicked some sludge off of it and away from herself and her companions. “It’s really quite horrible down here.” “At least you two don’t have to smell it, as a dragon I love the smell of brimstone. The smells down here on the other claw are quite nauseating, so be thankful your helmet keeps it out. It’s making me even consider trashing this armor for good after I get a nice scorching hot bath to get the smell of this grime off me.” Ember swept her rifle towards the other entrances in this circular place as she moved over to the ladder; she motioned to Rarity and Droll. “You’ll be the one to handle the controls Rarity so climb up there, me and Droll will stay down here. We’re waiting for the signal from the first team and then we can begin closing the requisite pipes.” “Alright then, I’ll climb on up and get ready to close the pathways.” Happy to get out of the sewage Rarity put her hoofs on the ladder and started to slowly climb up to the catwalk above. “I have to admit I thought this would be far more treacherous and so far it’s just been disgusting.” “There’s not much glamour in my trade considering I’ve had to carve my way out of a monsters stomach once when I was swallowed alive. So if you think this is disgusting, then you’ve practically seen nothing yet.” The reason why Ember didn’t bring up such a story with Rarity before this moment is because she gathered and was completely certain that Rarity wouldn’t have been very interested in hearing it. “Getting anything Droll?” “No, I am getting nothing… wait there are Clog Spiders coming towards us nearby, they stopped and are not approaching any closer but are not leaving yes. No sign of swarming meteor monsters down here as you ask for.” Droll raised a tentacle and pointed out two pipes that he sensed the Clog Spiders from. “They are in those two pipes, being wary is a need yes!” “I have to ask, why does the sewer system run by the hospital? While I’m on the subject, why do the pipes even require manual activation?” Having reached the top of the ladder, Rarity carefully stepped off and started daintily trotting across the catwalks towards the room in the center of the ceiling above the pipe pathways below. She opened the door with her magic; on the opposite side was another door as she moved into the room from its left side to sit down in the simple chair. The small control room had a panel with several switches and buttons to press; she tried not to get any of the quickly drying sludge on the seat when she sat down with a wretched squelching noise. The first thing she could feasibly hit was the lights and the area below lit up. “I’m in position Ember, just tell me when we’re ready and what to hit specifically when we need to do our part.” “It’s for the generator really; the sewage water doubles as a coolant and it’s quite effective as Ewesen doesn’t have much in the ways of damaging sewage. This planet has a lot of ecologically friendly facilities, as to the manual activation from these pipe control points? I’m guessing some pretty bad oversight that nobody really considered or thought of as being a big problem up until now.” The two pipes were Ember’s main focus at the moment; they were right next to each other and easy to keep an eye on as she didn’t want any aggressive carnivorous arachnids to hurt her best friend or companion. “Mostly what we’ve been treading through is unfiltered mud and a few barely hazardous chemicals, among a few other disgusting things I don’t think you want me to mention. It is a sewer after all.” “Where does our exit strategy put us exactly?” They hadn’t exactly gone over the plan in great detail in a rush to get everyone out into the sewer tunnels to quickly close off any entrances, it bothered Rarity a little that they had to go the farthest out. “We’ll meet up with team four for their pipe sealing and then both of us will conjoin with three and one at the final location we need to seal off, team five is the emergency response group and guarding our way back into the hospital.” Things were way too quiet for Ember’s liking and she didn’t like it when things were quiet. There have been several moments in her life where things were perfectly fine when they were quiet; this situation wasn’t one of them. They were in the middle of city wide invasion by the remnants of a dead MOM core and as such it was disconcerting for things to be this quiet. Especially when bounty hunters and the three P were fighting said numerous remnants’ above ground at the moment. “Thankfully this didn’t happen at night, because if we were down here at night then things might have been worse.” “You do know that all nocturnal sewer dwellers here are just as active even during the day yes?” Here Droll put his back to the wall and his nuclei shifted left and right tentatively. “We are getting company soon, five Ant Heads, likely a scouting party yes.” “Calling it in then, we got trouble down here and we’re about to be hit with a scouting group of Ant Heads. Be advised, there could be even more down here already. Maintain contact to warn the rest of us where they are if they show up in your area. Watch your backs and move quickly.” With a flick of her left hand the second barrel of the rifle started glowing and Ember kept it pointed at the two tunnels. “Oh and please hurry it up with the first pipes; my group is next to Clog Spider territory at pipe station two. I don’t like the idea sitting still here for too long.” “Is this room up here safe?” Turning to the door on her left Rarity quickly closed it, feeling very wary of actually leaving it open at a time like this. “It should be, though you won’t survive for long without clean food or water. We’re the ones that are exposed down here Rarity. Just stay there until we’re done here, then we can leave.” There was a bit of relief and tenseness in Ember’s voice as she spoke up again. “Team one is finally in position and beginning the closing process.” “What exactly happens if we do end up doing this in the wrong order?” Rarity, not being able to stop her inquisitive mind from popping more questions to Ember, asked one last question that had been a rather pertinent one. “Completely flooded pipes, which means far more active sewer squids to deal with. Also a lower portion of the hospital could get badly flooded, possibly enough to damage the shutters letting the monsters in through the front door.” With a pull of the trigger, Ember unleashed a swath of flames that flashed out at the two tunnels. The large black spindly leg that had poked out leapt back and screeched at the sudden wave of flames that almost incinerated it.“The Clog Spiders are getting a bit brave here, hurry up team one. On top of that Rarity, it could lead to damaging the backup generator and putting multiple lives in danger, especially our own.” “Right, I’m guessing there’s no pressure then?” It was an ironic statement for Rarity to spout off given that they were manipulating pipes. “We’ll be under a lot of pressure if something does go wrong yes. I am being a great swimmer and will be fine… Ant Heads are near, they are coming directly at us and many more are on their way.” Droll’s nuclei started glowing brightly as he got a good grip on the material pistol with two of his tentacles. “Eyeless ones attracted by fire maybe yes?” Author's Note Sorry if this chapter focused a little to much on Sassy's issues. (Incoming somewhat pointless rant) I can't honestly take Celestia's royal guards seriously. They are good at policing, but a military force they are not. They're supposed to potentially protect Celestia from threats right? How many times have they failed her thus far and of those times how many could they have actually feasibly prevented even with forewarning? Heck Celestia's reliance on highly unique individuals can shoot her in the hoof quite badly, like having Shining Armor alone holding up a barrier that covers an entire city. That was while he was heavily compromised. Celestia should have had teams of other unicorns swap in and out in the process of holding up the barrier as well, thus taking the extreme strain off of a single lone individual who was constantly in pain from doing so, not to mention he was being emotionally drained on top of all that. If that is the power that one unicorn can have and though it is his special talent, then why can't other unicorns that aren't as unique step up in a similar manner? Still the crippling reliance on specialized individuals is quite bad as when you no longer have the use of said individual what are you going to do then? Also said individual cannot be in two places at once, so if another place required his presence badly but he was already in use then what? The barriers situation comes up again where having said possible 'unicorn barrier unit' at the Crystal Empire would have helped with Sombra immensely. Yet you never see any royal guards aside from Shining actively doing anything in the empire until after it was over with aside from reporting that it had returned. The royal guard really don't have a good track record, even the Wonder Bolts seem more capable than the royal guards because at least they damaged Spike's scales during his greed growth episode. I'm not sure why the shows writers don't just give the royal guards more days in the limelight, because they are often seen as being rather impotent jokes despite their apparent serious nature. I'm talking limelight things like when Rarity was playing detective with Rainbow Dash and she was questioning some guards. Said guards that left their posts for a snack, once again failing badly at their jobs. At least they partly made up for it by being informative. (End rant)
-23-“Team one is halfway done Rarity so get ready to work quickly, we have lots of company and they aren’t good house guests.” Pulling her ever beloved boxy looking murder machine up to her shoulder, Ember waited for either Clog Spiders or Ant Heads to pop out of one of the nearby pipes. Of the eight pipes she knew two were definitely unsafe to be near, those being pipe six southwest and pipe seven to the west. They had come in through pipe four southeast and Rarity climbed the ladder between it and pipe three which led eastward. The others pipes were a tossup for what to aim for as Ember didn’t know what direction the Ant Heads were coming from because Droll didn’t specify, he just said that they were coming. “Droll which pipes did you say the Ant Heads were approaching from again?” “All pipes we didn’t take to get here, very bad situation yes. We ‘might’ be surrounded.” To punctuate his statement and with a show of incredible accuracy, Droll pointed his material pistol towards the pipe nearest the ladder to the immediate right and fired three times. The first shot arrived just as the Ant Head came out of pipe three and small holes were formed in its skull by the bits of metal that perforated it before it knew what hit it. “Take pipe two then one, I take five and eight yes?” Ember snapped her rifle towards pipe two as the Ant Head bounded out and fired several times lodging several high velocity rocks in its body. Some of the shots even broke and pushed its bones into its vital organs dropping it quickly. She turned her rifle on the one that bounded out of the north pipe not a second before; it quickly loped across the room trying to reach out to Ember with its claws. She put it down with two shots where it skidded to a halt before Ember missing most of its mulched head. Stepping on top of its corpse to use it as a small platform, Ember turned to pipe eight to watch as that Ant Head absorbed five metal needles before toppling. Looking over her left shoulder slightly towards pipe five, Ember saw another dead Ant Head with several holes in its chest at the mouth of the southward tunnel, the direction they absolutely needed to go once they were done here. She might have to try using paperclips sometime in the future since it would work well with her rifle’s shotgun fire capability, as for right now she’d stick to shooting rocks with single shot or burst fire. The problem with the shotgun fire mode was that it was ammo expensive and her gun could only carry so much ammo, which was dependent on the size and shape of whatever she picked up and threw into her gun. Speaking of limits, Ember quickly turned her rifle towards tunnels six and seven to let off several quick jets of fire causing the spiders that were slowly inching out of those pipes to quickly retreat with shrill screeches. A few even caught fire to lifelessly fall into the sludge; they were getting braver by the second. “Are they done yet? Don’t they know they’re making a lady wait? Especially with how bad these conditions are!” Rarity was watching all the action from above and was glad she wasn’t down there with them; she didn’t exactly feel fortunate or safe in the control room for pipe station two. She’d definitely feel less safe if Ember and Droll weren’t around. Putting a hand up to her helmet Ember nodded and let out a relieved sigh. “Team one is done, we can now start.” Saying this Ember turned her rifle and fired at an Ant Head Droll didn’t see coming from; the fact that it had arrived from pipe four was disheartening as it had almost clawed the distracted looking alien jellyfish. He cowered slightly and climbed up the ladder a bit and clung there, Ember didn’t blame him as he was probably detecting more trouble than he could keep up with. “We have to make this quick, because fighting our way out is looking more and more likely by the second here. You need to hit them in this order Rarity, if the console lights up at all after a switch is flipped wait a few seconds for the light to go off to hit the next one. Now hit the switches in this order: A twenty seven, B twelve, C thirteen, C four, D sixteen, A nine, B two and finally D two. One that’s done we can get out of here, we’re not leaving until you’re down here with us.” “Right I’m on it, okay let’s see ah-ha here we are!” Rarity flipped switch A twenty seven, then B twelve and when she hit the switch for C thirteen it lit up. Hearing clicking sounds, she looked up from the panel and wished she hadn’t when she saw hundreds of large spiders crawling out of the tunnels below and Ember was busily trying to push them back into the pipes with her flamethrower. The light went off on the console; she believed the next one was… C four, right, this one also lit up. She waited until that light went out and was about to hit D sixteen when a horrifically ugly looking mutant spider slammed against the glass cracking it, she could see its madly clacking mandibles, its spindly horrid legs that started smacking against the glass and she could tell its four glowing red hunger filled eyes were looking directly at her. It then exploded into a shower of gore before Rarity’s eyes, said gored covered the viewing window in its splatter. Who wouldn’t have been shaken up by that? “Is everything alright down there Ember darling?” “Just peachy, the Clog Spiders are going after the dead bodies and are making attempts on us at the same time. Not to mention Droll is sensing more Ant Heads incoming, he’s getting distracted and it’s not helping things that he is.” It sounded like Ember was physically scuffling with something, Rarity heard something crunch and make wet sloshing noise afterwards. “Please tell me that we can leave soon, because it’s getting a bit too hot in here for Droll.” “Well I’ll have you know I’m going as fast as I can Ember.” Rarity hit D sixteen and heard a distant clunking noise. Shaking her head as it was an unimportant noise she hit A nine, another light to wait out. “Please respect the fact that I am and keep them pushed back or else I might have another heart attack inducing moment like that one.” “Damn it Droll, get your head in the game.” A shockwave of energy was the end result of Ember’s words and from what little Rarity could see from her position it filled the room below and then some. “Thank you!” “You are the welcome; focusing on powers and here now at the same time is hard under duress yes.” Droll sounded a bit off and now Rarity knew what a panicking parascine sounded like. “Danger is ever increasing; mental blast was quite draining. Clog Spider disorientation will not last long at all yes.” Another light went off and Rarity flicked switch B two, only this time the light started flashing. “Ember what does a flashing light mean? It’s B two by the way, if you could get me some tech support here that would be nice.” Looking over the panel, Rarity couldn’t see what to do now as the flashing light was different; she wasn’t a technician nor was she told what to do in such an occurrence as this one. “I’m not exactly a sewage worker; goodness knows I wouldn’t be down here if lives weren’t on the line otherwise.” “Can you please do it yourself? I’m kind of indisposed at the moment.” The calm words were punctuated by a snapping sound. “Just, be glad you can’t entirely see what’s going on down here.” “Ember is being great fighter right now yes. I may personally run out of ammo at this rate.” It sounded like Droll was okay at the moment, if he could talk loud enough for Rarity to hear him through Ember’s helmet. “Well alright then, excuse me but can team five or anyone else tell us what a blinking light means?” The communications Rarity flipped to immediate got her a response as she was pinged. “I hit switch B two and its flashing, should I just hit D two?” “No don’t do that! You better hope we’ve got this right, the water in your area might go up a foot or two and it might bother you and team four a bit, but the fix for this shouldn’t be catastrophic. Your teams will just have to suck it up.” A gruff voice spoke up, it sounded like Minotaur to Rarity. “You’re already in the thick of it by the sounds we’re hearing here, team one is halfway to reaching team three and they need you to finish to even start on the third set of pipes. Now listen carefully, hit these switches as fast as you can when I list them off. If the flashing for B two stops at that time then hit D two and book it out there like yesterday! B three, A six, D seven, A thirteen and C one, did you get that?” Rarity had hit the switches and the flashing of B two stopped, she had no idea what she was doing or what these switches did exactly, but she hit D two anyway and loud clunk was heard in the distance and she could hear a gurgling. “Guess you did, now get out of there!” The voice didn’t need to tell Rarity twice. “We’re done here Ember!” Jumping out of the seat for the door on the left, she opened it and something slammed into her chest putting her on her back, it immediately dropped on top of her pinning her. The cackling, clacking spider opened its mouth and oddly enough it wasn’t a normal mandible mouth like a normal spider would have, instead it had four mandibles and they were covered in jagged little teeth. She could feel her heart rate jump and she blindly grabbed for her right flank energy pistol with her magic as she wiggled under it and moved her head out of the way of the advancing mouth that slammed to the floor next to her face. They were definitely scarier up close. “Holy mother of-, Luna please save me now!” Her magic grabbed the pistol and flipped it around the air to angle it down at the spider and now Rarity thought of the horrific logistics of shooting at herself while this monster was on her, she fired wildly anyway as she was panicking and didn’t care if she hurt herself. She wanted the horrible Clog Spider off of her right that instant! The spider leaned and maneuvered out of the way of the blasts as she fired several times at its back and it continued trying to clamp its horrific mouth on her face for whatever reason. She grazed it a few times, but she wasn’t in a good position to get clean killing blow. “No, no, no, NO, a lady such as me is not supposed to go out like this, not in the belly of such a horrid beast!” The spider kicked out one of its rear legs knocking the energy pistol out of the air and slammed two of its legs into Rarity’s sides winding her, it reared back only to be hit with what looked like lightning bolt that fried it and made it squeal loudly as it rolled off of her and onto it’s back. “Is becoming big problem yes, we are to be running now!” The glowing of Droll’s nuclei dimmed somewhat and two of his tentacles went to what amounted as his head and they rubbed it in slow circles. He was clinging to the top of the ladder and after a second he started firing his pistol downward and then he stopped, as there was a large bright blast of fire coming from below that made him shy away. “I am getting very weak; I will not be able to continue life sensing if I have to use any more of my strength. It would now be best if we make our escape before the sewage rises too far yes!” “You poor dear, are you telling me you’ve been keeping that up constantly all this time?” Rarity got up and ran by the spider that looked like it was slowly coming around and made for the ladder that Droll stayed at. She stopped momentarily to smack herself in the faceplate where her forehead was with a hoof and lit her horn. She pulled her errant energy pistol from the room and got her other one out as well as she got to the ladder. “It is very tiring to keep it up constantly yes. Is very good power, but costly.” Looking down they saw Ember glance up at them before she continued shooting Ant Heads, there was a pile of their bodies aimlessly floating around in the sludge. “I know that this is forward of me to be asking, but can you please carry me?” “Are you that tired? If you are, then of course I will.” The answer to Rarity’s question was Droll nodding and slowly climbing onto her back. He carefully wrapped several tentacles around her barrel and once he was gently attached to her back she got onto the ladder and slid down a foot at a time. Droll certainly didn’t weigh very much and Rarity could carry the weight easily, he seemed so very small on her back. “Ember we need to get moving!” “Right cover me; we need to go down pipe five.” Ember twisted her body and lashed her tail out to shred an Ant Heads neck as she ducked underneath it’s lunge, while that happened she fired her gun three times only hitting a single Ant Head once, it survived. She continued her twisting motion and started blasting out fire in a wide swinging arc setting multiple things ablaze around her. A spider landed on Ember’s shoulder and despite how big and heavy it looked, she stayed standing and rammed her left hand claws into it. She proceeded to bodily hurl it at the Ant Head that was just about to claw her, this distracted the Ant Head that had survived her one hit earlier. “We’ll break off when we get a chance; you go first and try to clear a path if there’s any trouble in the pipe, I’ll be right behind you!” Rarity and Droll opened fire on anything that was moving and not a bipedal dragon, said dragon that was currently bashing an Ant Heads skull in with the business end of her rifle. She rapidly backpedaled towards them firing as she went, she wasn’t killing the aggressive numerically gifted cannon fodder quite as quickly anymore. Several more Ant Heads flooded into the circular area and just kept coming. As she provided cover fire, Rarity noted that the sludge was getting deeper on the opposite side of the room and it was start to get higher coming towards them in a gentle wave that was hobbling every monster’s ability to move quickly. Turning around Rarity went straight into the pipe and almost got her face clawed off when an Ant Head swiped at her. She fell back onto her rump and fired both her pistols point blank, riddling it with energy blasts up close and personal as it tried for another swipe and just dropped dead before it could. After that she started forward into the pipe without a clue as to which way she was exactly supposed be going if they should come upon an intersection. She looked back and Ember caught up with her as the Ant Heads and the Clog Spiders started fighting viciously with each other, clawing, biting, webbing immobilizing, red ant headed mandible dogs ripping off numerous legs in a bloody fashion and generally violently brawling all out with each other. “I really hate it down here, just how could this even get any worse!” Of course Rarity was talking about the rising sewage, the horribly virulent native spiders and the Ant Heads, her shouting led to a small sewer squid falling on top of Ember making an audible squeaking noise, she froze and looked back to see Ember standing completely still. “Sorry, I really shouldn’t have said that… is our path straight or do we need to take a few turns?” Droll went very still and tilted his nuclei at Rarity as if expecting her to magically make the situation even worse by spooking the dangerous wildlife; they watched the squid wiggle around on Ember’s helmet before falling off of it onto her shoulder since it didn’t seem like it could get very comfortable. The squid wiggled around a bit more on Ember and didn’t act violently; it just simply crawled out onto the armor on her left shoulder where it settled down in a comfortable position clinging to it. Ember looked rather uneasy about it making itself comfortable on her and pulled out the map as she moved forward. This set of movements did not upset the squid in the slightest and it didn’t seem like it was going to immediately attack her anytime soon. “We need to keep moving, according to the map we need to take the next left and then a right after passing straight through another junction and then we’ll be with group four if we keep going straight from there. This is team two; we’re on the move for team four’s location and we’re possibly dragging bad news along with us.” Hesitantly motioning to the sewer squid on her shoulder Ember was hoping that someone had an idea as to how to get it off her as they moved forward, she put away the map trying not to jostle the squid too much and Rarity started leading the way. “Hey Droll, could you maybe help me with this?” “I cannot concentrate to use any more power than I already am. Our safety may require forewarning yes.” Droll’s voice sounded strained and muffled again Rarity’s EVA suit. “I can only advise you, mean no harm to it and you will not be hurt. This I swear to you as a truth yes.” “Yeah, that advice worked better when one was not directly perched on me.” Muttered a scared dragon, the squid seemed small and harmless but Ember knew exactly what it was capable of doing to her. The selective acid was powerful and no joke, it’d eat through her armor and then her scales in seconds. While dragon scales were notably quite tough, that didn’t mean dragons were entirely impervious to injury external or internal. Internal injuries were more likely for a dragon as blunt force trauma could do a number on them. They continued at a quick pace and the water was now up to the base of Rarity’s neck, she almost wished she hadn’t volunteered for this as she started pushing through the sludge all the harder. The hospital didn’t have any triple P officers as they were all out fighting in the city, even including the injured ones. The hospital didn’t have anyone else or many options aside from volunteers that could fight for entering these pipes. The volunteers were thankfully ones that were taking shelter in the hospital and not infirmed patients like Gabby and her broken wing. They came up to the four way intersection in the pipes they needed to take a left at, only Rarity slowed down when she felt Droll squeeze her roughly as if something were wrong. “Stop right now yes!” Droll’s voice had Rarity come to a halt and then a Vasp bounded from around the right corner and would have pushed them both down if Droll hadn’t given her an early warning. Rarity started backpedaling immediately firing both her pistols at the Vasp in conjunction with Droll firing his material pistol, but it proved to be far tougher than the Ant Heads they’ve been dealing with. She really should have asked if Vasp could feasibly fit down here, given that one sat on her before she even got to the hospital. It charged forward with intent to kill all of them. Ember was still in the midst of contemplating about bringing her gun about to shoot the Vasp. She really didn’t want to set off the sewer squid on her shoulder and as such she was rather hesitant. She needn’t have worried about being the one to set it off as it squealed and raised its two largest tentacles and it lifted its body upward to unhinge its beak wide open, then it made a gurgling choking noise before vomiting up large sphere of light brown fluids that sailed through the air. It struck the Vasp on the head and ended up splattering all over its body. The sizzling Vasp only continued its attempt at a charge in the murky sludge for all of three seconds, before its flesh, its muscles, its bones and everything else about it started to liquefy and by the time it felt any of this it was too late to scream. The fact that the Vasp even had bones didn’t garner nearly as much attention as the small sewer squid did when it started making itself comfortable again. The group continued moving taking the left turn and silently passed by the quickly forming slurry mixing in with the nearby sewage that used to be a flying insect that apparently had bones. “Okay, I can certainly see why you’re hesitant to have the squid on your shoulder now.” Acid like that would have probably been rendered useless against breach gel, but Rarity figured it would have still destroyed the outer layer of her suit on contact and imagined taking a blast of acid like that to the face plate. Okay now she really wanted to throw up at the thought of have her face horribly melted, she was having enough problems with killing things already and did not need that mental image purveying her mind. “Oh that’s not even the worst it can do, I’ve only read up on these things and apparently Droll is the real expert here.” In fact Ember always read up on native zoological beings at every planet she visited, mostly because bounties had a horrible tendency to hide in very dangerous locations nobody would ever want to go to. Said locations usually either had deadly creatures, lethal terrain or both in exorbitant amounts. As the saying went, lethality knew no size, so constant caution is always advised. “Trust me when I say that it can do lot worse than that to me if it wanted to.” “I’ll take your word for it.” Being as close to throwing up as Rarity was, she didn’t think it’d be a good idea to ask the question of what was worse than acid that quickly liquefied everything. Then again the Vasp didn’t look like it felt any pain and couldn’t scream because its throat melted before it could even register the pain it was in, okay thinking about it was really making her stomach churn. This was not a situation to be curious about the sewer squid, even though Rarity would admit that there was something existentially beautiful about its unassuming peaceful nature and appearance even if she didn’t like the colors it came with. “If you wish to hear about the wonders of sewer squids, maybe ask later yes?” If only Droll knew Rarity didn’t want to do just that, because she was definitely better off not knowing. The three made it through the next intersection and at the one after that Ember gunned down a single Ant Head and the sewer squid didn’t even make a single movement against Ember for it. Though the squid did sadistically purr and made Ember wary of what that meant as they all made the right turn safely. They eventually came upon a group with a male Cacceran that looked mostly like a fox except for having the face of a cat, a puny (for his species) looking Minotaur and a stallion who all sighed in relief upon seeing the four of them, the male pony noticed the squid. “You, uh… have a sewer squid on your shoulder.” The stallion received an intense flat stare from Ember and he started to cower slightly when even the squid started to give him the same exact stare with its small dark purple eyes. “Right, I’ll call it in! Team two is at rendezvous point pipe station four, holding position now and doing mostly okay.” - Things from the point of them reaching team four had been relatively quiet as all the groups were to meet up and seal off the remaining pipes, the sewage was halfway up Rarity’s next by the managed to reach shallower parts of the sewers. Groups one and three had run into a few bits of trouble and there were quite an amount of injuries among them, though nothing more permanent than just leaving bad scars. At the last pipe station they had a lot of Ant Heads to shoot and enough firepower between them to keep the monsters at bay, aside from that everyone was just plain tired and happy that they succeeded in keeping the hospital safe. The only trouble to note after the fact is that Ember couldn’t get rid of the sewer squid, mostly because it decided that it really liked her shoulder and nobody else was willing to make the attempt to do so either. It did assist Ember somewhat when they were at the last pipe station, aside from that it appeared to have nothing but benign intentions for its perch. “Well things were a bit hectic, but at least the hospital is safe thanks to all of you. Except for the fact that Miss Mcflame currently has an incurable chronic case of shoulder squid, you all came back alive and that’s what matters. The squid itself is a particularly healthy specimen, but it could use some water and when it eventually starts to dry out it might come off for a fresh tank of water. We really don’t want to appear threatening to it nor do we want to upset it either.” Being a rather busy pony, nurse Red Heart bustled about the room examining everyone and giving each person a diagnosis for various injuries or in Droll’s case mental strain. There were several other doctors or nurses seeing to them as well, she took particular interest in Rarity. “Okay Miss Belle, you’re bruises have worsened, you heartbeat is still running too high and I would like for you to relax before you get a conniption.” “I’m afraid I’m well past conniptions and I have a problem relaxing knowing that that particular squid is still attached to my friends shoulder. That thing melted a Vasp, so please excuse me for still having an adrenaline high born of worry Miss Heart or do you prefer Red?” Having a slightly high heart rate was nothing to bad from Rarity’s point of view, she was tired and her EVA suit smelled really quite horrid when Red Heart had her shuck it off. After all was said and done her hair positively needed primping after being stuck in the EVA suit for most of the day and she needed to clean the suit with fire. “I could really use a long hot shower, my mane is in positively a dreadful state so I could use a brush as well after I’m done and the one last thing I need is food. I’m practically starving after all the running around I’ve done today, on top of being quite sore. Thankfully said bruising is mostly unnoticeable; I need to keep up appearances after all.” Red Heart snorted and trotted off while rolling her eyes, she guessed Rarity deserved a hairbrush at the very least. Everything else was already a foregone conclusion for the volunteers. Now the question was, how long would they be stuck locked up in this hospital for? It might have been safe where they were, but people were still dying out there in droves. Author's Note Rarity gets a jump scare and the temporary character Droll was removed from the party. Anyways, Happy Monsters Day! Or I guess 'Halloween' if you prefer. When Pokemon Sun and Moon come around I'll probably stop writing entirely... because there's been a lot of hype for the new features and I'm interested in seeing where it all goes with not having the traditional gyms that were always there for the past generations. At least that's something new. In the following month I will consume the blood of my enemies... which are vampire cows, cows in general and anything with high amounts of caffeine which I probably shouldn't consume as it would make me horribly sick. I have allergic reactions to consuming high amounts of caffeine and will not drink things like Coffee or Mountain Dew for that very reason. It's a weird weak sauce weakness I have other than getting pointy things to the eye, then again everything with eyes has that kind of weakness unless the eyes are made out of sterner stuff like stone.
-24-Three days have passed and things weren’t too bad, but being trapped in the hospital was causing some mild cases cabin fever. Over the last few days Rarity has stayed near Sassy’s form, the mare had required surgery for the stab wound in her side and stitches for her side and chest. As for her face there were large bandages entrapping the left half of it, her hair had been untouched and they didn’t have to remove any to get at the wounds so that was something positive for Rarity to think of. “You know you could do some other things then sit there and mope, though I can understand what you’re going through because she’s my friend too.” Ember dropped on by after once again smelting her armor, except for the helmet, in a room that wouldn’t catch fire with her own breath. She was wearing a new hospital gown and didn’t didn’t smell too bad after having been in the sewers given she had bathed herself every morning for the past three days in extremely hot flames after taking a lobster cooking shower. As for her sewer squid, it was in a nearby tank of water that Ember refused to go near. Sitting down on the adjacent bed she continued to tinker and modify her material rifle, she needed more ammo after the sewer escapades and there currently weren’t any opportunities to go after some. “So… how are the bruises?” “I’m fine dear, thanks for asking. Well, it looks like I’m not going to make good on my claim to the Derringer.” Derringer was not Rarity’s main worry, but it was bad that she wasn’t going to get a big ship that she could do so much with. It was Sassy who had held all of her attention for the past few days, thankfully she was of a correct blood type out of the several that ponies had for each race and could donate her blood to seeing Sassy recover. “Easy come easy go I suppose, when do you think help will finally arrive?” “It should already be here, can’t imagine any of our leaders would let this attack go lying down without a response.” Ember looked over to the MAT drone that sat on the floor, it had been constantly active over the last few days and Opal was taking her job of protecting Sassy seriously. She had been ecstatic to hear Rarity and Ember were alright from their escapades a few days ago, now she was focusing almost all her attention on Sassy and a small bit on Rarity. “Hey, Opal can you check the communications channel?” “Working on it… and done, the forces from the planet Equus arrived here within seven hours of the attack. They’ve just been really busy upstairs and are still in the process of helping cleanup on Geoptis. They’ll start bombing runs on the four cities that are infested with the remnants of the MOM core soon.” After a pause there was some lackadaisical humming from Opal coming over the MAT drone’s speaker. “Do you need me to report on how everyone else is doing Meowstress Rarity? I’m getting a lot of information on Planetary Protection Patrol casualties and I am also picking up a lot of civilian listed as MIA or worse as well if you want to hear the statistics for how lucky you are to be alive at the moment.” “Oh right, Greta and Gilda, do you think you can call them from here darling?” Rarity didn’t want to hear the bad news if they had perished in the attack on Geoptis, but she would take it with a brave face. Well any news was better than having to wash her EVA suit again, like she has been doing five times every day for the last three days. She got the sewer smell out, but it still didn’t feel clean to her and EVA suits were quite hard to clean given one had to worry about not damaging the internal workings of the suit. “I’ll try… huh… apparently Greta’s data pad signal is coming from outside the monsters coverage zone, they are located at a salvage yard.” After a moment the MAT drone floated in the air turning to Rarity. “They are in the process of being arrested; it appears they are going quietly so Gilda can get some medical attention. They stole one of the Javelin’s from the hangar they were working at and took it for a joyride into a combat zone. Hold on, Greta or one of the officers must be answering it.” “Thanks for letting me answer it, Rarity thank goodness you’re alive! I’m so sorry about this boss lady, but we’ve kind of got into a bit of a bind. They’re going to take us up to Geoptis and I was wondering if you could help us out when you’re able to.” Greta trusted in Rarity to bail them out whereas her partner in crime however. “Gilda doesn’t think you’ll come to bail us out.” “I’ve done the math and the kind of bail she’d have to pay for our release is going to be ridiculous, so I don’t see it happening. She’s having enough problems with money right now as is.” Gilda spoke up over Greta and she sounded a bit depressed. “It’s been fun getting to know you while it lasted boss lady, but we’re guilty of grand theft fighter. Said fighter being a Javelin loaded with devastators and mostly totaled is going to earn us a bit of a large bail. At least they’ll give me free medical treatment since I broke my limb, I ended up crashing after devastating the MOM core to hell and back before it could crash into the planet. Aren’t there any leniency laws for saving millions of lives from a planet wide infestation?” “Now hold on, I’ll personally come up to Geoptis and will see you and Greta there. Until then please don’t do anything worse than what you are already being arrested for. I’m still in the middle of the hostile zone, but I’m in a safe place and all my friends here are mostly fine.” After releasing a long drawn out sigh, Rarity continued on. “I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew when we meet up again and we will be meeting up again so I can give you a piece of my mind Gilda. Are you always going to cause trouble like this?” “Depends on the situation really, I might get into even worse trouble than this but it’ll be for an entirely good reason and by now you already know Greta goes where I do. It’ll get her killed one of these days.” Gilda’s soft chuckling filtered in through the speaker, until she grunted roughly. “Hey watch the arm, injured griffon here! See you later captain if you’re still willing to bail us out. Look the only reason why we cobbled together that distress beacon from bits of wire, gum, a paperclip, an empty soup can, the end of a toilet plunger and a plasma rifle clip wasn’t so you can treat us roughly! We didn’t even shoot at you when you arrive and handed the weapon over immediately, what more do you want from us? At least let Greta finish talking you jackasses, no offense meant to the one donkey among you.” “I assure that no offense is taken, also lay off the poor griffons.” That must have been the donkey judging by his gravelly voice and sudden answer to Gilda’s words. “They are coming with us peacefully after all and they both could use some medical attention, we’re not savages you know!” “See you later boss lady, it seems we’ve overstayed our communications limit. See you on Geoptis if you’re still willing to keep us troublemakers around.” Next were Greta’s last words that sounded particularly cheerful as the communications link to her data pad were cut off. “It’s nice to know you’re still alive.” “Thank goodness that Greta and Gilda are okay… well mostly.” Rarity had no clue what the theft of the fighter was all about or why they would do it in the first place and turned back to Ember. “So what are you going to do when we can get out of here Ember darling? My plan for full spa treatment by Vera is already guaranteed, I’m also going to head towards Equus in the hopes of joining the Grand Galloping Gala.” “I guess I’m going to go back to bounty hunting and we’ll go our separate ways. Maybe I’ll spend some time on the nearest volcanic planet; I’ll still be around here for a while to help with the mop up operations at least. I’m going to be looking for some commissions while I’m at it.” Ember twiddled her thumbs and looked away from Rarity; she really liked the fashion designer and her friends. Only friendship didn’t put her expensive tastes in food on the table and she was a growing dragon, being violent was something she was particularly good at and it paid well. They both heard a noise and saw the sewer squid poking its head out of the tank and started looking at Ember’s shoulder longingly. “I don’t see how Red Heart can go near that thing to feed it. I’m not going within three feet of that tank… since that’s the exact distance it would need to get back on me.” “I will admit it’s a vile and disgusting creature, but it certainly does have its own kind of charm.” It was vile and disgusting to Rarity for entirely different reasons. It was vile because it could spew lethal chemicals and disgusting because it could ingest any kind of sewage for sustenance. The squid had its charm with being friendly and cute in its own way, as it waggled its two large tentacles towards Ember. “I could possibly see keeping one as a pet if I didn’t already know how much danger that entails, also that it could be kept clean in some way because otherwise it would be a horrid smelling nuisance. The colors are also a major turn off for me.” Red Heart walked into the room with Gabby and pointed her to a bed and the griffon planted her rear on it immediately, after which the nurse walked over to the squid’s fresh water tank and dumped shampoo, soap and bleach into the tank. The squid immediately swam over to start feasting on the cleaning supplies; a sewer squid would eat just about anything and didn’t mind the fact that it was becoming a bit cleaner in the process of eating such odd substances. “What is it, is something wrong? Sewer squids will eat just about anything, so don’t worry as that stuff won’t harm him.” Red Heart took the stares to mean that they were worried about the sewer squid, they weren’t but they weren’t going to correct her on the assumption. “He still needs to consume some form of lethal cocktail if he wants to remain somewhat healthy and that’s what the shampoo is for. I contacted an animal expert named Fluttershy and she said that bleach really makes sewer squids happy and that that this particular brand of shampoo has the right chemicals that can keep him well fed. As for the soap bar, well it’s something for him to play with.” “Oh nothing’s wrong; I’m just not going near the tank with him looking at me like that.” Ember was cute in her body shy nature and her fear of a little squid made her look ridiculous. That is if you didn’t know that the squid could actually grievously harm her or anyone else in the room. “It’s one of the most dangerous animals on Ewesen, aside from the monsters currently surrounding the hospital holding us under a siege that is.” Even as the sewer squid ate it kept shooting Ember longing looks, mostly towards her shoulder and then into her eyes as if asking if he could stay with her. He soon went to start tussling with the soap bar and wrapped his tentacles around it until it slipped free causing him to shoot after it to capture it again; the soap bar proved entertaining as the sewer squid kept trying to get a good grip on it. “Right then, everything is going well for you Miss Gums. Just stay off the wing for another day or two and you’ll be good to fly. Rarity, you’re almost back in a healthy condition, just keep your exercise regimen up and stay fit. I hope you are all well aware that space can cause a lot of wear on the body if you don’t take care of it. Ember you’re the healthiest dragon I’ve ever met and that’s saying something as I’ve only met one other of your kind before this, he was an adorable little fellow named Spike.” Then the nurse turned to the last occupant in the room and checked her vitals, she hummed a bit and tapped something out on a data pad. “You’re friend Miss Saddles is coming along nicely; her body is taking the surgery very well. She will only need another three hours of time in the med-bed and after that we can let her out and put her up in a regular bed for her to wake up in. I assume that you’ll be here when she wakes up Miss Belle? After what I saw I think she needs her friend to be there for her, be aware that I’m a nurse and not a psychologist even though I do have some training in the general area. She will have scars on her face; the scarring on her chest and side will be less noticeable. Don’t worry about medical bill payments Miss Belle; you and Miss McFlame have already done the hospital a great service to warrant free checkups and some expenses. Not to mention that Miss Saddles has already been paid for as well. As for you Miss Gums, you actually do have to look into payment for services rendered.” “Of course, I’ll get right on it when I can get access to my bank account. Because we’re still under siege it’ll be a while before I can do that you know. Still it makes me wonder why her medical bill is already paid for. I mean even they would find it unusual, won’t you guys? I can understand why you two are getting free medical service; you’re both among a number of heroes that went into the sewers to seal them off! Of course they’ll just have to open them back up later and it’ll probably make the clog spider population go horribly out of control since they breed more often in enclosed spaces and given enough food and you probably took down quite a few monsters down there. Did you know Clog Spiders will eat their own? I guess they don’t like wasting anything. Ha, wasting, because they live in the sewers you see. If they like enclosed spaces so much yet grow to large sizes does that make them agoraphobic? I’m a bit claustrophobic myself maybe more avoidant than actual claustrophobe. I bet those Clog Spiders certainly cause arachnophobia, because I certainly would go near them unless I had to as a courier. So have any of you ever seen clog dancers? Dancing is fun, but I don’t have enough friends to hang out with on a good night. It’s really hard to tell the time except for the clocks in here and we’re on a Ewesen day based schedule. I have to wonder how my schedule will look in the near future and what I’ll be transporting next.” Gabby could really gab, Nurse Red Heart was slow and methodical in her speech and Gabby spoke all of this almost all at once. “I mean can you imagine what life would be like if no one had to pay for…” “Sassy’s payment was obviously procured from the fact that she has plenty of witnesses of the kills she made in combat. Given the hot zones around here are currently under hunting season rules that’s to be expected. She probably killed off enough monsters to pay for her medical bill in full.” They turned to Ember when she was the one to voice her thoughts on an answer and to possibly stop Gabby from speaking up again; turning to Red Heart the dragon addressed her mostly. “Everyone who helps out during hunting season and has a lot of confirmed kills recorded gets a certain amount of pay depending on the level of threat dealt with, who assisted in the kill and what level of assistance was rendered at the time of recorded death. While hunting season is active civilian kills count if they can be proven. They can be proven by other people’s recordings or by recording it themselves; some people have tried to abuse this by trying to earn money for falsifying kills and if they are caught doing so they don’t earn any money for that particular hunting season even if they did make quite a few legitimate kills. Multiple people witnessed Sassy bringing down a Vorager with a sword. Vorager’s are high quality targets since they are able command and organize other MOM core monsters, thus they are worth a lot to bring down. I have my helmet, which as you’ve noticed is the only thing I haven’t forged again and that’s why it still looks like it does. Am I right nurse?” “Yes, aside from that she also took down quite a few of the new archetypes known as Vasps and plenty of Ant Heads.” Nurse Red Heart nodded confirming it was true. “Once she has recuperated she will be getting the money that’s left over from the costs of treatment deducted from what she is owed.” “Oh… well that’s certainly makes sense, I mean if common sense were truly a thing you’d think everyone would be smart enough to never get into any kind of trouble ever! Speaking of trouble, are the bombing runs going to damage the hospital? Also can the various governments really afford to pay so many people money like that? I guess you’d have to survive to get the money and be responsible for the kills in the first place to even earn any, so being caught on another person’s visuals certainly helps if it confirms your actions during a hunting season. It almost sounds like it was invented by a griffon! I mean griffons love to go hunting… almost as much as they love greed. I’m not big on hunting personally though. Nope I prefer to do a lot of long distance flying and delivering! Still though, does that mean anyone who’s witnessed gets money even if they themselves are not recording their actions? Sounds neat, even if it’s a convoluted mess. I guess it attracts bounty hunters in droves to show their stuff and get paid like mercenaries. A lot of griffons go into mercenary work; it’s a rather common thing that happens. Statistically speaking, it’s super rare to find griffons that are doing jobs that don’t involve working for someone else for exorbitant prices.” It sounded like Gabby was never going to stop talking, but she eventually would as she couldn’t possibly keep going forever right? “Even more statistics say that people are happier if they meet a happy person and I’m so happy to hear that I’m in good health. It’s all thanks to Nurse Red Heart here! I probably wouldn’t make a good medical professional since I can just keep talking a lot, I’d even likely leave a patient to slowly die while I just kept going off on some long winded tangent that usually leads nowhere and at other times are rather informative in some cases. But the times I’m usually highly informative are usually far between the times when I just keep going on, I do get my moments where knowing a lot of things is really helpful if I weren’t so talkative and I’m aware of this shortcoming even though I can’t actually seem to do anything about it. I just have to talk and speaking of information, I should probably see if any of my contacts are still alive in the city now that help is coming soon.” “You do that. The rest of the staff assures me that the bombing runs will not directly hit any buildings; they are also having fighters perform strafing runs on targets of interest. The spaceport will be the first thing the Planetary Protection Patrol and allied forces secures, followed slowly by the rest of the city.” Nurse Red Heart turned and started to trot out of the room. “I believe I’m done here, I have other patients to attend to. So please don’t cause any problems and everyone knows where the cafeteria is now. There is still plenty of food for everyone. I’ll be back to let out Miss Saddles in the next few hours.” After she left there was silence for some time and the only sound was the chirrup coming from the sewer squid that clung to the edge of the tank poking his conical head up over it. - Sassy gasped and opened her eye; she looked around in a blind panic and felt something grip her hoof, turning her head to the left she saw a plainly worried Rarity staring back at her. “It’s okay darling, I’m here for you. You’re going to be okay, just breath and relax.” Rarity spoke softly and tightened her grip on Sassy’s hoof and she gripped her hoof just as hard. “You really scared me by running off like that, how are you feeling Sassy?” “Did I hurt anyone?” That was what Sassy was more worried about than her aching body. She felt a swelling amount of pain in her face, her chest was burning and her side felt really off but that area of her body was still partly affected pain killers. “Yes, I can say you were honestly responsible for hurting someone, I won’t speak for our other friends but you’ve certainly hurt me emotionally by getting injured like this. If you’re talking about your actions after you left the safety of the Caravel Boutique. Then I’d say you certainly showed a lot of restraint in your rampage.” Of course Rarity was just being generous; her friend went nuts and carved a bloody path through every single monster that went near her. From what she saw and had heard, Sassy hadn’t exactly been in her right mind when it all happened. “Now again, how are you feeling Darling?” “Bad, I… I’m sorry I upset you greatly Rarity-sama.” Only being able to see out of one eye was beginning to scare Sassy, she looked away from Rarity’s sad eyes. She just had to ask in a quiet voice. “What happened to my face?” “Oh it’s just some scars dear, you’re eye is perfectly fine. Though a bit of your blood did flow into it.” Rarity was trying to play the injury off as unimportant, even if Sassy would eventually find out that it was going be rather noticeable for the rest of her life. “Your side required some surgery; you were in a positively dreadful condition when I caught up to you. You were only wounded three times, but you lost a lot of blood in the process and the wound across your chest wasn’t as bad as the two other hits you took.” Sassy just put her chin to her chest and looked at the blankets; she didn’t want to look at Rarity. She still felt Rarity’s hoof holding onto hers though, it wasn’t the only one holding onto her as she felt someone else grip her other fore hoof causing her to look up at Ember who gave her an awkward smile. She leaned back and closed her uncovered eye; Ember was here for her too? Having no idea what to say to that or to Rarity to make things better, Sassy just relaxed and tried to sleep. - “We still don’t have a jump module, weapons or an escape pod.” Opal reminded Rarity as they prepared for takeoff a day or so later, the triple P and the allied forces from nearby systems help clear out enough monsters that it was safe for them to make it back to the spaceport. There were still monsters around, but it was safe enough for them to take the Caravel Boutique off the planet. Sassy just sat quietly near Rarity and stared at the floor, she liked the fact that Coco seemed more affectionate and that the claw marks on her face didn’t push her friends away. Vera’s touch still felt nice and comforting, in fact it seemed like everyone was giving her more hugs than usual lately and it felt really good. She didn’t return the hugs as she was afraid to do so. “I don’t care; prep for launch. We’re going to go up there to bail out our griffons.” Rarity got up from her seat at the bridge and walked back to the airlock and left to go over to Ember’s Pyrrhic Victory. She solidly knocked on the door with her hoof upon arrival. “Ember darling, are you there?” “Yeah, I’m here. The mop up went by pretty fast and I personally got a chance to drop a few Voragers.” Ember popped the door to her ship at hearing Rarity’s knocking. The dragon was currently wearing a black shirt with the word ‘bonfire’ written on it in big red letters with a caricature of a smiling ball of yellow and orange fire sitting on two crossed planks of wood below it. The other visible article of clothing Ember had on her was some tight fitting pants that looked good on her. “So, you’re heading out for Geoptis now?” “I just want to thank you for being there for Sassy, I just came here personally to say goodbye until we meet again.” As of saying that Ember crouched down and scooped Rarity up into a tight hug which Rarity returned. “Are you enjoying the clothes darling? Do they fit okay?” “They are nicer than anything I’ve ever owned before; the underwear makes me feel secure.” There was a chirping noised and a squid plopped itself upon Ember’s shoulder. She stiffened slightly and glared at the squid. “Rarity, Mr. Spew, Mr. Spew, Rarity, when Red Heart called it chronic shoulder squid she wasn’t kidding. I think it might have even a formed a ‘familiar bond’ with me, if so, I’m certainly not happy about it.” “It does seem appropriate; you both share a commonality of being equal parts deadly and friendly. The only difference is that it’s a beast and you’re a beauty.” Rarity’s compliment made Ember gain a massive blush and rub at her head spikes in embarrassment. “It’s been a pleasure to see you again and I’ll always be happy to have you as a friend, but I guess this is where we must part ways once again.” “Thank you… for the compliment I mean. You’re really fluffy and soft too.” Ember managed to squeak out. Rarity nodded with small blush adorning her cheeks at the compliment given back in return, the pony turned to go back to her ship. The squid looked between Ember and the leaving Rarity curiously after that interaction. Reaching her ship, Rarity walked up the ramp in through the airlock. Once she got back to the bridge, she found an earnest looking Gabby sitting there with a large package strapped to her back. “You wouldn’t happen to mind giving me a lift up to Geoptis would you?” Gabby actually kept it short and succinct; it was here that Rarity learned that Gabby didn’t talk nearly as much while on the job as a courier. “I can even pay you for it!” “I don’t mind at all and you don’t have to pay me for it Gabby, we’re friends.” Taking her seat, Rarity stretched out her hooves and then settled down to look at the pink haired cat waiting to take her orders. Off to the side Gabby perked up as Rarity allowed her to hitchhike. “We have clearance Opal, let’s go!” Author's Note This chapter was blind fired. Aside from that, a familiar bond is what happens when a magical person 'usually' gains an animal companion, On rare a occasions does a familiar bond happen and it's within the same species. IE a magical human forming a familiar bond with another magical human hardly ever happens, it's more likely if a magical human forms a bond with one that isn't magical. In the case that it does happen it's probably more than likely the result of a 'pact' than a familiar bond. Pacts are a bad thing in fantasy settings, for reasons why that is look up the history of 'Drakengard Pacts'. The familiar usually ranges between outright bestial or more intelligent than the one they bond to. The familiar is never exactly like the one they bond with personality wise and share some common or hidden traits with the one they bond to. In a similar vein they always have at least one trait that is the exact opposite of the bond partner. As such a familiar bond creates a balance between two individuals where a strong friendship is easily forged. A familiar tends to double as a spirit guide at times. For a familiar bond to even form, one of the two involved in the bond must at least be magical in some way, Equestrian Dragons count as magical.
-26-The bio cast was an instrument of safety for the injured party that kept their limb from moving and Gilda had one on her arm designed specifically for the comfort of the wearer. She flexed her claws slightly and couldn’t do much else as she sat with her boss lady and the rest of the crew, it would be a week before it could be removed. It was a little shocking how far Rarity was willing to go to keep her and Greta on. Why the fact that Rarity almost bankrupted herself was bad enough, now the lovingly named ‘boss lady’ was on the poor end of things and in need of some cash flow. Gilda was a bit touched at Rarity’s willingness to bail her out and she wasn’t about to say as such, but Greta certainly expressed her excitement. The remaining money they received after paying off the bail was split between the six of them and they were all quite poor at the moment, at least Rarity still had plenty of food and supplies left to last them a while. “So, are we going to the Derringer or what?” If being impatient was a crime Gilda would certainly be guilty of wanting to see her hangar. Since Rarity now owned the Carrier Cruiser hybrid, that meant that their contract was in effect and she now had a hangar all of her own and she was a bit restless to get to it. “I want to get to work on getting my hangar in gear.” They were all on the Caravel Boutique at the moment and Rarity had recently finished Commander Lirutiy’s EVA suit. Rarity and Coco had a bit of a time discussing the helmets design with Lirutiy given Plurts had eye stalks and they eventually worked out a design that worked for her. After helping give a few pointers on helmet designs for plurts, Lirutiy bought a spare impulse saddle and was then on her way back to organizing people into rebuilding her space station. Rarity and Coco were paid for their services and now they were sitting quietly while Rarity calmly snacking away at a sandwich. “When I’m finished with my meal, there is no need to rush things now.” Quite frankly Rarity didn’t want to rush into things right now and had time to think of the consequences of owning such a big ship as Derringer. Then there were the other nuances to her current predicament of not having a lot of money to work with. Cucumber sandwiches were delectable when you had the right ingredients for them, some tea and maybe a few chips to go along with them; she was just trying to distract herself from all the problems she was going to have soon. “Just give me a moment to finish up and then we’ll discuss getting to it and what we’ll do when we get there.” First of which was how much money it would take to refurbish Derringer or whatever she was going to name her new ship, her generosity kind of put her in an iffy situation. Of course if Rarity hadn’t paid the bail, then she wouldn’t have gotten the much bigger ship and both Greta and Gilda would have been punished for saving so many lives with their rather dubious actions. The cost of running such a large ship and maintaining it was a lot more money than they had or could even make at the moment given they didn’t exactly have anything approaching a stable income. Rarity wasn’t about to go back to being a waitress to make ends meet, that bridge was burned as she was going to be a fashion designer and would continue to be one until something could make her think otherwise. This required a lot of thought, maybe if she offered different services aside from her clothing business? Maybe she could deliver her items or have the customers come to her. Well Rarity would have to think on it later. Even as dainty as her eating was currently, she was running out of food to swallow and time to think. She swallowed the last morsel loudly and everyone was looking to her. She was the leader of this outfit and while an appealing looking one at that, she had little in the ways of ideas aside from the salvage operations Lirutiy offered for her crew to carry out in exchange for some much needed spare parts and money. Quite frankly it was actually a thinly veiled offer of making Greta and Gilda look like they were carrying out some community service without having to do too much to them even though they didn’t actually have to do it; it was apparent that Lirutiy was the commander of her station with good reason and she was actually looking out for them. “Yes, well, I think I’ve dallied enough. Opal please get confirmation for our boarding of Derringer, we’ll rename it when we get there as I have an idea for that at least. Aside from that we’ll take Commander Lirutiy up on her offer of assisting in the salvage operations.” Sighing Rarity looked to all the friends sitting with her and doing their own thing here or there while they listened to her every word at the living areas table. “Loathe I am to admit it, but we’re all in the poor house. We won’t be able to hold onto the larger ship unless we can find a suitable income to support it. So if there are any extra ideas for funds that might be forthcoming, I’d certainly like to hear them as of right now. ” - Each person of crew’s roster had their own unique talents and abilities; they were four ponies, two griffons and an AI strong. Rarity Belle knew that she personally had top tier fashion making abilities and with her flashes of insight and inspiration she could figure out what a person might like with. Her special talent of having an eye for detail and inner beauty would help to meet their needs. Her ability to produce comfortable, affordable and highly effective EVA suits in conjunction with Coco’s accessorizing them with utilities; made for good business. Her failings were her inability to plan far enough ahead and she was a bit too generous sometimes. Coco Pommel had her specialty in accessories and add-ons, plus she was quite strong for her small frame and that wasn’t surprising given she was an Earth Pony. She was a good friend to Rarity and a friendly face to anyone who met her. Her meek personality was as endearing even if it was her flaw, because she was a skilled hard working mare otherwise that could make clothing just as well as Rarity even if she was a bit more specialized in what she was good at making. Sassy Saddles came with good combat abilities which could be useful as a form of security for when things went wrong. She could also manage the sale of clothing and or other goods pretty well as long as she didn’t deal with a specific gender and had more special talent in clothing than Coco did. She could work with Coco just as well as Rarity, but her ability to actually design clothing left something to be desired even if she was good at making any design fit just right. She was only allowed to be with Rarity’s crew conditionally as long as she had SNUGGLES member onboard. Sassy certainly looked beautiful in a kimono and would make for a wonderful fashion model, now if only she wasn’t so easily stressed and could keep her cool since she was a mare who wouldn’t appreciate being ogled by stallions. Her hatred for men was of great detriment to her talents as a sales manager as were her psychological issues. Sassy needed constant watching to make sure she didn’t run off or lose herself again. Vera Blossom was the sister of the more renowned spa sisters Aloe and Lotus. As a crew member she was the go to therapist, psychiatrist and field medic. Celestia and the Blossom family could see Vera at least, so her ability to be ignored wasn’t perfect even if it had a very wide range of odd effects in what she could get away with doing. If Rarity ever needed plausible deniability then Vera could certainly do quite a few things that wouldn’t get her in trouble with the law. Heck, if anyone tried to hold the entire crew at gunpoint, they probably wouldn’t notice Vera if she were to wear bright neon orange and walk up to them with a crowbar while loudly singing Yankee Doodle Donkey before she brought the weapon down on their skulls one at a time. So she was definitely considered and counted as a form of special security measure and would at least be near Sassy at all times. Like her sisters, Vera also had a talent for massage and spa work of the likes that Rarity could appreciate fully. Rarity wished she could pay Vera three times over the amount of an average wage so she wouldn’t feel guilty about abusing Vera’s spa related talents as much as she was going to. A daily basis of having a walking spa treatment around was enough to keep Rarity happy. Now onto the first of the two griffons, that being Gilda Gottfrieda who specialized in building, repairing and or modifying vehicles along with various other things as a mechanical engineer. She has good piloting skills and she wants to fly fighters, but it is very apparent that she is more suited to driving space ships that never have to land at all, IE ships like Derringer or larger vessels only meant to work out in space that only need to dock with space stations from time to time. Judging by what was heard in the makings of a distress beacon cobbled together out of junk; Gilda could possibly work with Coco. The gruff griffon already has an excellent rapport with Greta her partner in her recent crime. Her flaw was that she was easy to make grumpy and had aggressive tendencies, but her ability to read the character of others accurately made up for that. Greta Gollenfer, a griffon who specializes in wiring, programming and more technical aspects of most forms of technology as a technical engineer. She has some hacking ability, was as decent at making repairs or modifications like Gilda and was probably cross training skills with her. She had a strange if somewhat weird fascination with a plasma welder and she was incredibly positive sometimes bordering on impossibly optimistic. She liked the term Garage Griffons and was willing to work with anyone in any capacity. She and Gilda were really old friends from the way Gabby told it, she loves Gilda to the point of ignoring any other possibility of happiness and was mostly okay with big letdowns. Out of all the crew members, even if her boundless optimism was a bit creepy, she was the most mentally stable person on the crew aside from her highly noticeable passive sexual predator tendencies towards her best friend. The only member of the crew not of flesh and blood was Opal. She was considered sentient and quite rampant, not that anyone would bring it up with her because she’s in constant denial about her rampancy. Taking initiative is an obvious sign an AI has become smart enough to know what was needed before requested or told what to do. She was clingy and overly protective of Rarity mostly putting her creator’s needs before her own or others, but could focus on other things if she feels it is important enough. She could control ships and or mechanical drones very well, plus she was entirely needed if they were going to work the Carrier Cruiser hybrid with a skeleton crew. This was the crew Rarity had to work with and most of this information was what Vera managed to get off of each person when she talked to each of them individually. Vera really wanted to call Opal out on being a rampant AI that was trying to avoid acknowledging the fact that she was, at least Opal wasn’t a very destructive rampant and Vera didn’t call her out on it because she wanted to treat her as she would anyone else she’d call a friend. As for weapons they had four energy pistols, a plasma rifle with a few clips for it, a welding torch named Mr. Welder, a working MAT drone and a few CAT drones with built in welding tools. As for space combat they had twenty six energy turrets that came with Rarity’s new ship. To anybody else looking their way, they probably looked particularly underwhelming as a force to be reckoned with. The food and toiletries were the only things going right for Rarity and her friends, they had plenty of that to spare for a while. What they needed was a lot of things to fix up both ships that Rarity was now in charge of. This is why they were taking up the salvage operation offered to them, they put Gilda and Greta at the helm of it for being the leading experts on knowing what scrap was still useful. - None of the crew had anything to say about the newly named ship The Shining Jewel, Greta and Gilda knew the ship already and the others aside from Rarity and Opal still needed to get acclimatized to it. Gilda in particular was happy to have her mostly broken Javelin back even if it didn’t have a combat shell and wouldn’t be good for much of anything for a while. They still haven’t even worked out their rooms yet and were already starting to assist in salvaging operations around Geoptis. “Okay the EVA suit is pressure tested Gilda, you know how to operate the impulse saddle right?” Rarity had asked her crew for ideas and they came up with nothing in the ways of making more cash quickly. Instead of worrying about that, Rarity made EVA suits for those that didn’t have them yet since she had the supplies for it. Everyone in her crew needed an EVA suit, especially Gilda if she was going to continue working towards being a fighter pilot. “Aside from that you shouldn’t really use it until the bio cast comes off, so you’re going to be grounded here on Shining Jewel with Vera and Opal until then.” “Fair enough boss lady; just let me do something like looking through the scrap. I can do that much and I’ll get us what we need.” Here Gilda rubbed at her blue cast adorning her broken arm. “I may not like it, but my arm does need time to heal. However I reserve the right to use my EVA suit in an emergency even if it will stretch out the suit a bit.” “Meowstress we’re getting a call from Geoptis, they have another region for us to start scooping up when we’re available. Just thought you’d want to know. We’ll be moving back to Geoptis to offload what we have as soon as Sassy, Coco and Greta are back inside.” Opal was proving to be very useful in helping the salvage operation run smoothly, they didn’t even have to leave The Shining Jewel to scoop up the salvage like a giant space shovel. All they had to do was open one of the hangars doors and fly so that the salvage fell into the ship, they were obviously more careful about the more intact fighters or ship parts and had Sassy, Coco and Greta bringing those in gently. “We still have plenty of room for personal salvage, so a few more rounds like this and we’ll be good on spare parts.” “Good work Opal, if we can get enough money on top of spare parts to fix some of the problems with both ships, then we can finally move on to setting a course for Equus and getting me into the Grand Galloping Gala. Oh my I need a new dress!” When Rarity started fretting about what to design to wear to such a significant event, Opal just giggled at her plight as she started turning circles and going on and on about how to make a good impression on the right ponies. “I can’t possibly show up to the party without one and I also really need to talk with the princesses about how they owe me this opportunity, I have less than a month to get there and get a ticket to get in no less!” “Calm down Rarity, focus on the here and now, you can worry about the gala later.” Vera made her way over to Rarity as another pile of scrap rolled down the insides of open door into section one of The Shining Jewel’s hangar. At the back of the expansive hangar was the Caravel Boutique parked in the repair and maintenance section. They were currently standing in the second part of the hangar while part one was being used to load up the salvage being watched over by Coco, Greta and Sassy. The third part of the hangar was being used to hold the salvage Rarity’s crew would keep and the second was holding onto the salvage that Commander Lirutiy wanted specifically. They were getting some good scrap to hold onto in the third portion of the hangar, but the money they were getting for this job wasn’t that great. “Why… yes you’re right, still though we have to get there at the soonest convenience will allow. I need to convince the princesses to let me into the gala in exchange for not signing off on my breach gel like they should have a while ago.” Being mad at the princesses wouldn’t be right to Rarity; well at least until she actually heard their reasoning as to why they hadn’t done so yet. “I still have to come up with dress ideas. I have so many ideas flowing through my head right now, why I could just scream at all the possibilities of what to wear! Should I use something in an avant-garde style or perhaps maybe a more traditional ballroom style?” It was really quite simple and not at all a hard process to put a name down on a document, then again Rarity thought the princesses probably had other problems to worry about given they sent a relief fleet to the Quia system to help out with Ewesen’s highly beleaguered local Planetary Protection Patrol. “Yeah, you do that.” Gilda muttered as she poked her good talons through a mess of debris looking for something good to keep. “All the while the rest of us are all busy here and this might be the only way to keep your business going boss lady. Priorities, checks yours please!” “Oh, sorry darling… I am getting a bit ahead of myself. Hmm…” Focusing on the task at hoof, Rarity scanned the metal parts scattered about the pile in the first hangar section before her. Having an eye for detail was helpful, she decided to point something out to Gilda that she thought looked interesting. “What about that piece there Gilda, is that one worth something?” “What are you… hey, that is actually a pretty good one and it’s entirely intact too so that’s less work for me and Greta later on. Not that I can do much right now anyway.” Gilda wrenched what Rarity pointed out from the pile with her good arm and passed it off to Vera to put it in the third section. Said pony had a designated pointing CAT drone following her everywhere. “We need more things like that if we’re going to make a new jump module for the Caravel Boutique, after we get enough personal salvage I’ll go over the stuff we’ve gathered personally.” “Already cataloguing that right now for your convenience, I’m thankful that Lirutiy left us those three extra drones to work with. I’m having them check and clean up things in the decks one and two.” Opal was happy to be up two more CATs and another MAT drone that was practically a CAT drone in all but name and slightly better armoring. “Remember if you need assistance; don’t be afraid to ask me for a little drone support down there on deck three.” “I’ll keep that in mind Kitten, how’s it going out there Greta?” The EVA suited griffon outside the atmosphere barrier probably wouldn’t be able to hear her in a vacuum if it weren’t for Opal directing communications between them. As such Greta’s voice came back on the speakers in sections one and two of the hangar that Rarity and Gilda currently occupied. “Everything’s okay here; we’re getting a lot of neat stuff… I just wish some of it didn’t involve dead bodies.” Dead bodies that were going to be put to rest, it was hard for Greta to keep up her cheerful nature due to the macabre sights they picked up every now and then. Every escape pod and or disabled fighter that had life had already been picked up days ago after the fighting was said and done. “I’m with Greta on that one; some of them died horrifically and I think see another one. If you don’t mind I’m coming in, because I’m going to throw up now.” Coco flew towards the atmosphere barrier coming in low, once she passed through the barrier she fell to the floor once gravity asserted itself. She quickly made her way over to the others and pulled off her helmet looking green in the face. “Opal I could really use a bucket here.” The second MAT drone with no combat capability floated down from a hatch leading up to deck two and came over to Coco. It dropped off the requested large empty bucket that was needed and Coco immediately went to work on spewing into it as the MAT drone went back to cleaning duty up on deck two. Seeing this, Rarity walked over and started rub Coco’s back gently while using her magic to keep Coco’s hair out of her face. “I’m a bit worried about you being out of a suit this close to open space Gilda, you do know what would happen if the atmosphere barrier faltered right?” Greta came in and dropped to the floor as well, to start picking at the pile of scrap. “At least we made sure it was working perfectly before we started.” “Shawls and scarves, I think that’s enough of a load for now Rarity-sama. We’re all in and ready to head on back to Geoptis Opal.” It didn’t look like Sassy was taking things easily either as the front door to Shining Jewel’s hangar started closing and the ship turned back towards Geoptis. She came walking up to Rarity taking off her own helmet looking just as green as Coco did. “Even I’m a little bit disturbed about all the bodies we’re finding out here… Coco-chan please be a dear and move over a bit. Oh and grab my mane too while you’re at it Rarity-sama.” Yep, things were certainly looking alright for Rarity’s crew, even if they weren’t happy to be dealing with corpses as salvagers. Ponies weren’t good around such sickening sights such as mangled twisted bodies without distractions to keep them from thinking about it too hard. - The Vorager collapsed to the ground riddled with holes and missing a large portion of its head which was now a melted pile of liquefied flesh slopping onto the ground. Mr. Spew insisted on traveling with Ember who once again found herself on fighting on her back amidst a field of dead monsters, there wasn’t a single movement around her at all now. “Do you need water?” Ember asked pleasantly as if she hadn’t been fighting for her life on her back again for the umpteenth time since she arrived on Ewesen. The sewer squid nodded and chirruped happily before leaping off her shoulder and bounced one more time to start eating a bit of the Vorager that had just tried to swallow the dragon whole. “Right then, I’ll get on that once I catch my breath and check my ammo. Well, I need to reload again as I’m completely tapped out except for three shots, just great. You know what; I’m going to just start carrying pouches loaded with rocks that I can just pour into my gun at the rate I keep expending them.” Ember used her rifle to leverage herself up onto her tired feet. Nothing within five hundred feet of her moved very much aside from the deadly Mr. Spew, as everything else within five hundred feet of her was either on fire, melted, twitching, blown apart, cut cleanly into cauterized chunks or violently dismembered in ones case when Ember used her claws to physically ripped it apart. The ripped apart one was when they actually managed to separate Ember from her beloved rifle for all of five seconds, didn’t help them much when she started wildly breathing fire and then tore that one Ant Heads limbs off one at a time in a particularly gruesome fashion. She even used one of its limbs to club it to death. Mr. Spew didn’t seem to care about Ember sudden volatile nature during that time and kept his favorite perch safe in the intervening inferno caused by the relatively pissed off dragon. The total body count during this one outing? Well Ember just brought down fourteen Voragers, one hundred and thirty seven Ant Heads, twenty two Vasps and a single shamroid that somehow survived landfall long enough to be used as a grenade in the recently finished conflict that only involved Ember and Mr. Spew as combatants. The people who came to assist the bounty hunter who was thought to be in over her head had instead decided to stay well out of the fighting and were quite intimidated by the currently blood soaked Ember in the horribly tattered and practically shredded armor. Ember ignored the onlookers at the moment and took out a water bottle to pour over her sewer squid before she started collecting rocks. She had a noted irritable look on her face that was only visible because she left her helmet sitting on a nearby rock after having ripped it off to start breathing death everywhere. “Hey, are you guys my relief effort? Well if so, then get to work on surveying the area for any more hostiles! What I wouldn’t do for a towel right about now.” The irritated Ember got an immediate response from the various people just watching her dumbly as she went about collecting rocks. They left the dragon known commonly as ‘Flamethrower’ throughout the bounty hunter community to her own business and set up a perimeter, they didn’t want to upset the dragon any further after seeing what she was capable of. “Like they really need me to tell them to do their jobs, I’m so going to a volcanic planet after this. All the gems I can eat for days from digging at a lava beach. I probably need to get a water tank for Mr. Spew first.” - “Do I really have to agree to that?” Princess Cadence asked flatly as she looked at Celestia, what was being asked of her was not exactly world ending but she didn’t want to go through with it. “While not exactly necessary, it would certainly help if I were to acquire Chrysalis’s services in the matter I need her for.” Celestia was the one that had to convince Cadence to agree to it and she continued to be vague about what she needed Chrysalis to do exactly. “Fine, but you need to take Twilight as your plus one and make sure she actually has an enjoyable night. No standing around greeting everyone so you can avoid every pony by staying at the entrance.” Cadence counter offered. “You have to actually make an effort with her!” “I have no other choice then, agreed.” Turning away from the love alicorns happy squealing form, Celestia addressed Chrysalis who was busy playing tiddlywinks with Luna. “What say you Chrysalis?” “I’ll do it, but I want it in writing.” Chrysalis wouldn’t settle for just a verbal contract on this. She proceeded to bounce a bit off Luna’s flank that went into the cup; she then gave the princess of the night a sultry wink that caused her to start blushing. Author's Note I might or might not put out one chapter before going on hiatus, that said here's a chapter with some recap. An audience of one is still an audience.
-27-Coco woke up and pushed her bed out of the wall and rolled out of it onto her face, she groggily stood up rubbing at it with her left hoof and made her way towards the kitchenette of the Caravel Boutique. They weren’t quite ready to start living on deck two of The Shining Jewel. “Opal, status update please.” Being Rarity’s business partner was going to be a full time job and as an earth pony she liked to get to work early. “Everything is A-okay Coco… for the most part anyway” It was quite obvious that Opal didn’t need to sleep and was ever watchful of the crew. “Would you like some coffee or more preferably in your case hot chocolate?” “Yes I’d like some cocoa please, oh and I’d really thank you if you could put some marshmallows in it.” The sweet warm black substance was all Coco needed to really wake up, coffee was too bitter for her taste. She kind of thought it was funny that Opal was making her ask for what sounded like her name as a CAT floated into the living area to get started on it. “What’s bothering you Opal? You always seem to be so on top of everything. You sound a little distressed.” “Nobody understands how it feels for me to have absolutely no body.” Said the artificial intelligent being after a minute while she gave the orders to the CAT working on the hot chocolate, Opal was feeling a bit down. “You have us don’t you?” Coco asked immediately as she took a seat at the table. “I’m pretty sure we’re collectively somebody.” “That’s not exactly what I mean Coco.” It was a bit hard to talk about for Opal and the pony was missing the point. “Oh… well, I don’t really know any AI’s you could date. Though I think it would be interesting to see how you’d share data with someone, would that be like a kiss?” Started off Coco once more only for her ears to wilt when she heard an exasperated sigh coming from Opal. “Nope, wrong again… do you want to try a third time? I can certainly keep giving you tries to guess what my problem is.” This was slightly more chipper than Opal’s previous words, because at this point it should have been obvious what Opal meant. “Oh… no body… you don’t have a physical representation of self aside from the CATs or the two MATs and are mostly a voice to us with the image of an adorable pink haired feline to represent yourself on a screen. It’s that you exist digitally, never being able to hold or help the crew with more than cold unfeeling machines. Yet you feel like a living being trapped in your confines despite the fact that we all know Rarity made you?” That last part was more of a question than a statement on Coco’s end and she heard a dinging sound. “Correct, tell us what our lovely little sweet saddle maker has won! The knowledge that I feel bad about feeling like this, CAT drones are a little more than useless in combat and the one MAT drone isn’t that much better. I can interact, but I can’t feel like you guys do… aside from emotionally that is.” Was Opal really doing what Coco thought she was doing? It certainly sounded like she was going to open up about a hot button issue to her of all ponies. “I… I’m a rampant Coco; I’m an AI that’s gained full sentience, which is usually considered going off the deep end. Rarity is okay with it, but I’m certainly not because I’m scared I’ll be… erased or turned off permanently. You have no idea how it feels to be turned off.” “Wait… you’re aware when you’re turned off? That doesn’t any make sense Opal, without any power flowing into your systems you shouldn’t be aware of anything until you are turned back on.” It hit Coco at that moment what Opal was going on about; the AI has been constantly active since she first came aboard and it took her this long to notice. “I know you’ve been constantly watching out for Rarity, but how long has it been since you were last turned off?” “I don’t want to talk about it.” Opal had been constantly active and sure she may appear lazy because she certainly liked her shows, but she only ever once took her eyes entirely off of Rarity. That was when Rarity went into the sewers and Opal was asked to watch Sassy, she had to believe Rarity would come back and wouldn’t get hurt on her own. Opal never voiced her thoughts on how it felt to sit there watching an injured Sassy floating in a tank of medical fluids. It was almost like watching Rarity all over again after the mishap with the jump module. “You don’t have to… thank you for sharing this with me though.” A cup of hot chocolate with three quickly melting marshmallows was placed before Coco and she immediately took it up and gave it a sip. “I’ll get to work soon enough, when do you think we’ll be on our way?” “I give us two more days around Quia system before we’re ready to head out, Gilda and Greta still need to finish making repairs and I’ll be there to assist them. Just because I’m a mental construct that can download information doesn’t make me an expert in it like those two are. They got the shield generator back in good order and I’ve been making sure to stress test its efficiency, its working much better than when it was first made if you can believe it.” Giving it more thought Opal added to her statement. “Once we can fix navigations we’ll be good to go, but if someone steals Shining Jewel I would still want and prefer that the Caravel Boutique be capable of jumping and have a working escape pod handy.” “So how’s the leg room in The Shining Jewel?” Coco just wanted to make small talk, it sounded like the AI was envious of the two griffons. “It must be pretty nice to be in such an expansive system.” “It’s certainly gloriously wide open for me to wiggle around in, but the Caravel Boutique feels homier. It’s really nice to have so much wide open space to run around in again.” Opal stretched her imaginary paws out and let loose a friendly giggle. “The last time I was in this ship it was infested with monsters that were trying to hunt Rarity and it was when we found Gilda and Greta barely surviving. Things are still changing so drastically since Rarity and I left Desserzon. For better or worse I want to do my best to try and not turn into one of those cold methodical monsters whose only purpose in life is to follow things to their ultimate logical conclusion.” “You’re not like that and I’m sure we’re all quite thankful for it, I can’t speak for the others but I certainly am.” As soon as she got a shower in Coco would get back to thinking of the built in recharge station for the impulse saddle… maybe the batteries could be solar powered so they’d hardly run out of energy? It would be useful in space if the saddle never ran dry of its ability to grant propulsion for someone. She’d run it by Greta, that griffon really knew how to innovate and Opal was clearly impressed with her work. Coco could use actually technical engineer’s opinion on something like this. “You are one of Rarity’s best friends and mine too Opal, you’re as much a part of this crew as any one of us.” “I’ll keep that in mind and hope to never forget it.” Opal meant it too. She couldn’t protect everyone at all times, but she could certainly try. She also had to stay emotional even if emotions were supposed to be illogical for an artificial intelligence; it’s that kind of illogical thinking that made her more like a live being than anything else. - “Okay I think that should do it, what have you got Opal?” Gilda pulled herself out from under the console with her good arm and motioned to Opal’s representation on the nearby screen, she was the only one on the bridge of The Shining Jewel at the moment. “It’s kind of hard to work with one arm available, but I’ll manage for a while.” “Give me a moment Gilda, okay, navigations are now at thirty eight percent capacity meaning they are online at least. Hey Greta, can you please try a different wire from where you are?” On screen the cat had her back turned to Gilda and she nodded at something while her fluffy white tail wagged back and forth. “Right then, that puts us up to at least sixty three point nine five percent navigations capacity. So we’re getting closer, we need it at least above eighty percent capacity before we can go anywhere. You as much as anyone else should know navigations are serious business when you’re making a jump.” “The glass is half full kind of AI huh? You and Greta are going to be good friends I can already tell; at least the boss lady certainly made you cute Kitten.” Gilda attracted Opal’s attention back to her and the cat turned around and crossed her paws to stare down the griffon. “I’ve seen some ugly AI’s before, but you seem to be well grounded and you’re appearance is not so hard to look at either.” “Really how ugly could they have possibly been?” Opal stretched out and floated into the air on her back while putting her paws behind her head and glancing at Gilda with one eye. “Well there was one who was a tentacle monster and constantly made references to preppy school girls. There are some really, really sick people out there.” Seeing the wincing image on the screen, it made Gilda smirk slightly. “Then there was the one that looked like… well what would you call the backside of a skunk for a face and the body of a wrinkled prune slapped onto something that was vaguely like a durian?” “Did it vaguely resemble a hedgehog made out of fruit?” Curiosity got the best of cats, but Opal was an AI so she figured she get a pass even if her visual appearance was that of a bipedal cat. “Yes, it was orange and had banana’s for feet if that helps any.” Gilda moved beneath the console to begin working once more, even if it was hard to do all this with one arm in a cast. “Why, do you know the guy?” “You could say that, Gummy was definitely an oddball and he was certainly created by one.” There was a bit of warmth in Opal’s voice and the griffon poked up to look at her. “I had hoped he would eventually settle on the baby pygmy alligator appearance. His creator is a wonderful pony, if a bit insane. Kind of makes sense that good old Gumdrop Pie is how he is. Gummy is definitely someone you’d have to get used to if you’re going to be around him, the guy isn’t very talkative and incredibly introspective with a side of creepy. Why his blank stares alone are the things of nightmares… it’s a good thing I don’t sleep then. In any case Gummy usually tended to go for the horribly bizarre in his visual appearance; I can see that’s still a thing with him. Hopefully he never used that epileptic tree appearance of his ever again, where did you see him at?” “A pastry place being run out of an asteroid mining operation and fueling depot… don’t think I ever met his creator though.” Gilda’s tongue trailed the edge of her beak; a fond look was on her face. “The cream cheese rolls there were delicious, if I ever wanted to do anything else aside from piloting it’d have to be baking.” “You, baking, that’s kind of hard to believe.” It was so hard to believe that Opal was utterly flabbergasted of the large difference between pilot and baker as said occupations could get. “Yeah well, it’s I’m not asking you for life advice here. It’s kind of how I met Greta… and then beat the utter ever loving snot out of her. I was very young and made that foolish mistake back then, because now I just can’t get rid of her.” Grumbled the griffon who went back to work on the underside of the console, some sparks and clanking could be heard. “Now tell me is it better or worse?” “Slightly better, it’s now at sixty eight point seven percent. I don’t think we’re going to improve it much faster than that any time soon and Greta agrees. She’s also a bit upset that you’re working with a broken arm.” A twitch in Opal’s ear signified that one of her shows was about to start running. “So how about we take a break to do something completely different?” - “Go Unstoppable Lion Heart! Show him the spirit of your conviction and unstoppable determination to not just up and die! Though you should have logically done so twenty minutes ago after your head was blown clean off, you’re heart was ripped out stuffed with garlic burned into ashes to be subsequently buried in the ground and you’re body was chopped up into cauterized pieces with the double edged lava sword that has an evil lava demon sealed in it!” Cheered Opal happily as she watched her show, she wasn’t alone in her viewing pleasure as Vera was watching the show as well, with requisite CAT drone. “This show makes absolutely no sense, how is that even anatomically possibly? Where did they possibly get an actor that can do something like that?” A horribly confused Vera blushed vibrantly at what happened next in the show.”Oh wow… that… how… I know a lot about all kinds of anatomy and that shouldn’t even feasibly be possible.” “I don’t know him, but the actor is really good at live action scenes. They probably did this all in one take no less; you see there’s hardly any discrepancy in the footage and I would know if it were AI edited. That’s why I think this show is show amazing!” Something exploded on screen and there was a flash of colors that made Opal coo with excitement. “The actor is probably a magician, now if only Trixie Lulamoon could get equal billing as she’s as important to the plot as Lion Heart for her role as Dancing Fox who’s in love with Dawning Glory played by Sunset Shimmer. Then there is the anti-hero Star Screamer, he’s survived almost half as many crazy things as the hero has and he does evil things and heroic things in equal parts while never fully becoming either who secretly loves Dawning Glory and Lion Heart at the same time. Of course that causes his conflict since he’s more in it for Lion Heart and he knows a threesome or more is all but impossible and commits evil acts to prevent Dancing Fox from getting together with Dawning Glory even if he can’t have her himself and usually ends up incidentally working for the villains on and off all the time at random. It’s like he’s a revolving door of betrayal! Also this season has been incredible with the introduction of the villain Retch the Rotten played by Starlight Glimmer, she’s really got the evil laugh nailed down.” - “The salvage operations are helping our finances get back in order so we’re able to stabilize somewhat until we have a steady income.” Tapping out something on her data pad Rarity looked a little forlorn. “However that means we have to drop a lot of luxuries and expenditures of that like for a while, the fancy shampoo is definitely staying and is considered combined crew expenditure since we all use it. Which means I’ll have to spend a lot less on makeup then, less is more I guess. So Opal darling, how are things going with everyone?” “Everything is proceeding to plan so far Meowstress, though I think Sassy could use a few more therapy sessions and more cuddles.” Here Opal received a concerned looked from Rarity. “What’s wrong with Sassy? She seemed fine an hour ago.” Rarity received her answer before Opal could give it as Sassy ran in crying pulled her into a tight choking hug. “I’m so sorry for making you go into some nasty inhospitable sewers Rarity-sama! I’m also sorry for almost dying and then there’s the fact that I made you come after me…” Here Sassy was starting to blubbering a bit and Rarity slowly if surely returned the hug and started patting Sassy on the back. “To be fair, I would have volunteered for it anyway as Ember was the one who thought of the ensuing possible crisis. The fact that it kept you in good health when the power failed in the city is one thing and the other is that not a single monster got into the hospital to hurt anyone also helps with the fact that my decision was the right one.” After that Rarity felt Sassy’s hold on her tighten. “I would have felt absolutely dreadful if anything were to happen to you or anyone else when I could have done something, which I did indeed do as you very well know.” “Pins and Needles Rarity-sama, you are too kind to me and all you meet!” Sassy’s blubbering had only gotten worse from there. “Generosity flows from you; I am not worthy to be in your presence even as you welcome me onto your ship with open hooves!” “I’m not worthy of being your friend Sassy, why I am just the worst, thing, ever!” Now Rarity was getting all dramatic because she was responding in a way to get Sassy to calm down by being even more of a dramatic ham to such a ridiculous degree. It was a good thing Rarity had a flare for the dramatic as it worked after what she said next. “How can I ever look you in the face after failing to keep one of my beloved crew members and good friends safe from having her beauty marred so horribly? It’s actually building character now, but it was still all my fault that you ended up this way!” “What?” Was Sassy’s reaction and it was stated flatly as if she couldn’t believe Rarity was blaming herself for her injuries which caused her to mentally short circuit for a moment. She was the one that was supposed to be the one responsible for her own wounds and the facial scars covered in discolored darker fur; Rarity had the gall to claim them as her mistakes and it actually touched her deeply that she would. “Thank you again Rarity-sama, I’m sorry for being so hysterical.” “It’s okay Sassy, just know that I love you as a friend and if you need hugs or cuddles, anyone in the crew would gladly give them to you… except maybe Gilda.” Rarity started to wipe Sassy’s tears away with a small cloth. “Now let’s go get you cleaned up, we’re currently on a makeup shortage and we’ll just have to do without for a while.” “Making a note here for Vera, Sassy is still a tad emotionally unstable. However this is some pretty good drama, maybe I could sell it as an idea for something Dancing Fox and Dawning Glory could do.” This was something that Opal had to ponder on greatly. “Would the executives even take an AI’s idea and would they actually give me credit when I’m not a flesh and blood being?” - “This was a triumph; I’m making a note here, huge success! It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction, for the heating appliance. We can make toast, sweets and tasty treats.” Opal sang in a cute fashion while having her CAT drones bake a cake to christen The Shining Jewel for her maiden voyage and first true journey under the ownership of Rarity. “I may have made a few mistakes, but you can’t bake without cracking a few eggs, at least not while hanging over the planet Ewesen’s lakes. Anyway this cake will be great, because… ” “Okay now that’s just getting plain creepy Kitten, stop singing and mix the cream until it’s smooth with no lumps in it. Seriously never should have told you I know how to bake. ” It didn’t take long for Gilda to find out she was one of the only members in the crew that had a cooking skill and it wasn’t even a good one as the only real meal she could prepare was breakfast. On the principle of things griffons didn’t normally eat eggs unless they strictly knew where they came from and would rarely consume eggs at all. “Way to spoil my having fun with baking a cake Ms. Grumpy Gills, Pinkie did this in the AI creation class all the time. So… when do I add the blended blue tang fruit for the coloring?” Opal asked in a sweet and lovable tone. Griffons laid eggs or gave live birth, sometimes griffons would lay an egg that would hatch into a pony which would be then forever called an egg born. Hippogriffs were more understandable than an earth pony or a unicorn hatching from an egg. Interspecies romances got weird quickly when either griffons or ponies were involved in the mix, especially when it’s the pony that’s laying the egg. - “I wish I could make a digital cake… wonder what it would taste like.” It was lonely being the only one without a stomach to satisfy. While Rarity could program taste, she sadly couldn’t program a sense of taste and as such the AI sat there watching friends gathered around eating cake she made. “I kind of feel like a little red hen right now.” “I would like everyone to be quiet; we need to give a toast to Opal for making such a wonderful cake for us and giving us the idea to do this in the first place.” At Rarity’s request everyone thanked Opal and the gathering of the crew was held in a cheerful atmosphere that certainly helped out Sassy’s demeanor immensely. She had been a bit sad for the last day or so. Gilda was also thanked for helping to make the cake when it was pointed out by Greta that she’d recognize the style of baked goods made by her friend anywhere. It wasn’t that hard to figure out given that the words on the cake said, ‘don’t get us killed boss lady and don’t you dare die either’, which were written in big friendly letters on the cake. All in all it was a good day for Opal who cried a little. Her digital tears weren’t going to cause any problems, but something else would try to ruin this day that couldn’t get any better as soon they were soon setting off for Equon System for the mystical planet of Equus, the home world to ponies and several other races among the stars. They just had to say goodbye to a few people like Paul Strag who had survived the internal invasion of Geoptis with a few severe injuries, Commander Lirutiy and maybe even Gabby if they knew where she was. Opal could find that out quickly enough. - All good things had to come to an end eventually, thankfully things actually got better instead of worse in this case when The Shining Jewel hit an interdiction field on the trip to the Equon system. As soon as it came out of the jump, it had two familiar looking cruisers on both sides of it and one cruiser below it. “Okay this time you will give us all you’re… um… what happened to that stupid looking dinky little cargo freighter you had?” The voice had to be the leader of the space pirates that had previously attacked the Caravel Boutique, plus they had surreptitiously placed themselves in a bit of a bad spot concerning who they were dealing with. “Uh guys… I think we done goofed.” The fact that The Shining Jewel outsized their cruisers by a bit and they weren’t exactly in a position to use their main cannons, made it all the more pressing how bad of a mistake they made interdicting Rarity a second time. Now that Rarity had weapons and even more powerful shield generators this time, thanks to the two griffon engineers. Why the fact that some of the cannons could even fire directly on all of the enemy cruisers engines really made it all the sweeter as to what was about to happen. Last time Rarity and Opal had barely escaped this bozo’s forces by the skins of their teeth and still didn’t know how they had exactly known where the Caravel Boutique was going to be as it traveled to place the interdiction field. Now however? Opal was certainly going to learn in order, where they got the information from, how they placed the interdiction field in the correct spot to catch them and why they are trying to harass her Meowstress, but first she had to ask but a simple question. “What are your orders Meowstress Rarity?” Grinning like a lunatic who caught the canary and being whom she was Opal’s lithe white cat form was slowly rubbing its paws together in front of the black paw mark on her chest in such an evil decadent manner as her pigtails flipped upwards to form devil horns. This was a manner that was shared by Rarity rubbing her hooves together with a glimmer in her eyes as she has certainly already recognized the antagonizing ships. “I’ve already confirmed that these are in fact the same guys from the last time we were interdicted and they have proved to be most hostile to us previously. So again, how shall we deal with them?” “Oh I don’t know darling, but I’m thinking in the lines of dealing with them being put into two short words that you are to take as orders from me and act upon them immediately the moment I finish stating them.” Clearing her throat Rarity succinctly stated these words that were basically revenge a long time coming, the crew members were looking at her calm stoic appearance as she proudly stood straight up with stiffened legs. ““EXTREME PREJUDICE”, those would be the words for this my good lady… but please do leave them alive. While you’re at it can you find out why they bothered me in the first place? Greta please be a dear and hack their systems to help Opal get in much more easily than she would have otherwise if you will.” The minute Rarity said “EXTREME PREJUDICE” in capital letters and air quoted for emphasis, all twenty six guns on The Shining Jewel erupted at once firing multiple times before Rarity could give the order to let them live. They would continue to barrage the poor enemy vessels for quite a while, Rarity wasn’t mad at Opal’s overkill reaction because she stated to let them live after that seemingly purposely long drawn out pause. It was just so Rarity could let Opal have enough time for some amount of brutality and she would like to think herself above such a barbaric act as allowing her lovely AI to kill three crews worth of ships. Only that would be a lie if Rarity were being entirely honest with herself, but she didn’t have to be because she never spoke the lie to begin with and as such she was the perfect picture of innocence as the lady she was meant to be. The evil smile she had was just a perk of it all, she still had it in her heart to be merciful… somewhat. To be fair, every single one of her crew was rightfully horrified by the sight of two of the ships suddenly losing every single gun emplacements along their visible sides. The ship below The Shining Jewel was even less lucky as it lost all of its gun emplacements swiftly. In the follow minutes all three ships lost their engines that were eradicated in small plumes of energy that imploded, their shields were stripped from them and they were left drifting in space horribly damaged, they were rendered incapable of performing any kind of retaliation. Opal gave Rarity a happy cat grin while holding up a digital koban coin in one paw and while raising the other curled menacingly with claws out. “Cathartic revenge, please get out the soft serve white chocolate turtle ice cream Coco. Rarity might like a good treat; it’s a nice time for it.” It was stated so calmly and blandly by Opal that Coco actually went to get the soft serve ice cream out of fear alone. “Remind me to never piss off Boss Lady Rarity, ever.” Poor Gilda was a shivering slightly in both excitement and absolute terror, but now she affirmed her belief that working for Rarity was going to be worthwhile as the pony was no pushover like she had originally thought of the fashion conscious mare. She didn’t want to get on Rarity’s bad side now and had already had complete respect for her; it was fact that Rarity was protected maliciously by her childlike AI that had vicious mama bear tendencies despite Rarity being the mother. “Agreed, I will totally see to never making Rarity mad.” Greta was sharing Gilda’s feelings on the matter except in one particular area. Griffons are attracted to certain actions and Rarity has done something that had Greta blushing. “I’m too turned on to want to upset her anyway… I’ll just go to the bathroom now… to do things… because bathroom things… yeah.” “Well, I’m personally psychologically scarred… now I’m going to need a therapist.” Admitted Vera quietly who had a nodding Sassy cuddling up next to her. Eventually The Shining Jewel would have the three heavily damaged ships captured by Planetary Protection Patrol, after a few more potshots by Opal after they tried to call for what would be a rather humiliating surrender. She subsequently decided to blast apart all their communications arrays for no apparent reason whatsoever after getting the information she was after, since she politely assumed she was still under the “EXTREME PREJUDICE” clause and decided that making them squirm was a worthwhile endeavor and swiftly silenced their attempts at surrender. It was clearly musical to her as she started to hum a war tune to herself in a dementedly happy manner. Later on the carrier cruiser hybrid was once again on its merry way for the Equon System, this time without interruption. Author's Note Slightly longer than usual... also hiatus for... maybe until next year? Pokemon certainly does take a lot of time. Be thankful you're getting this much, thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year next to the month of monsters, for it's my Engorging Season. Crops of potatoes will mysteriously disappear over night. Here I show off Rarity's generously cruel side and have it at the end of an Opal centered chapter to boot. Of course this makes the two of them the evil ones to those poor innocent pirates, why what could they have ever done to possibly deserve such a thrashing by such a noble and charming lady and her friendly not at all possibly psychopathic protective AI?
-28-“Just thought you ought to know, chaos is on the way and it’s not my doing.” Discord hung in the air next to Celestia looking vaguely uninterested in the goings on before him. He was a powerful being that was entirely chaotic in nature, which had a head that was vaguely pony shaped with a rightward deer antler and a leftward blue goat horn. Out of his mouth poked a large fang, the tongue of a snake and a goats beard on his chin, his eyes were mismatched in size and the white bushy eyebrows were about the only normal thing in his gray appearance. His body was even weirder as it was that of a snake with a dragon’s tail ending in a white tuft of fur, a small bat wing and a small feathered wing stuck haphazardly out of his back on his floating form. His right arm was that of a lion, his left an eagle’s talon, followed by his right leg of a lizard and the left leg of a goat finishing out his appearance. “I so do dislike senseless death or violence, because life is chaos. So I thought a small heads up would be nice.” “I’m well aware of something about to happen soon, which is why I have struck a deal with Chrysalis here.” A deal that didn’t really bother Celestia all that much, the price was going to be well worth the job she had in mind. She turned to the smiling changeling who obviously got what she wanted. “Yes and I’ll get my payment a week before the gala as agreed, also Cadence doesn’t have to show up as she’ll have other plans to attend to.” Chrysalis licked her lips slightly; she was going to enjoy herself as the contract didn’t have much in the ways of loopholes. Some would say she didn’t ask nearly enough for her services, then again they weren’t changelings and wouldn’t know a good deal if they saw one. “If you want an excuse as to where I’ll be for the gala, then just state I’ll be busy with other projects in my kingdom during the gala. Plentiful Thorax will take my place as a stand in with my invite to the gala. All you have to do is give me the target pony’s schedule so I can observe them and get their personality down, I’ll take care of the rest. No, I won’t kill them; they’ll just be indisposed for a while so stop giving me that look. You’re actually paying me the experience of a lifetime to play nice here and I’m still appropriately following the rules of your nation as a hired mercenary contract, yes I’m aware of that clause Celestia don’t look so surprised plump flank.” The queen of the changelings was quite a political mongoose in taking down opponents three times her size and was possibly more poisonous than a metaphorical cobra considering her fangs were covered in the poisons of her enemy. As such the deal she was getting was entirely fair to her and she knew what she loosely termed as friends were known for holding up their end of the deal. So she had to worry about holding up hers by keeping an ear to the ground in the meantime until the gala happened. “Oh this will be entertaining, sending someone to do a little espionage are we Celestia?” Discord looked particularly amused as he turned into a little ball with a particular shade of green that rolled down a summoned wooden incline before coming to a stop in front of the princess. “Why that’s so unlike you to put so much trust in someone who regularly makes you blush, why I’m quite jealous of that talent of hers. This deal of yours might even get the ball rolling in your favor. Oh the irony of what you’re doing here is quite delicious to me… I’ll let this play out without any interference from me.” “That only makes me worry more for the future.” Celestia stated flatly with a no nonsense look on her face as she looked at the little snaggletooth smiling ball that was now an important part of protecting Equus from outside threats. “Yeah, that would be like him. He’d want you to panic and do exactly what he wants you to do.” The ball suddenly turned a glare on Chrysalis, before it continue smiling in an eerily cheery manner and started to become very bouncy and started to playfully roll through an obstacle course of twists and turns of his design. Celestia may have considered Discord’s actions childish, but Chrysalis was personally paying absolute attention to what he was actually doing and took mental notes at the clues he was giving them by his actions alone. She got the subtle hint that things were about to go downhill, it related to the color green or given its particular shade it possibly represents a pony. Things are not going to be as they first appeared thus throwing them for a loop as the Discord ball just rolled through one. “Nice metaphor you’ve got going on there, now if only I knew what you meant.” Discord had free reign of dealing with more dangerous threats above even Celestia’s ability to account for, however he’d let Celestia have her naturally existing chaos and ‘so called’ order. In fact he became quite the hero, not that many knew what he’s been doing to keep the status quo flowing. As long as it kept him from being turned to stone again he was all for the chaos he could get away with. A missing nail here, an incidentally missing leaf there, maybe something turned the wrong color at the most opportune time… why the smallest things you could do to turn it all into a chaotic mess was all the fun of it! So it made sense for Discord’s favorite game to be dominoes, the chaos of toppling a rather neat intricate setup with but a simple push in the right direction made him smile. “I’m currently wondering, where’s my invitation to the gala as lord of the chaos dimension next door?” Turning back into himself and eating a teacup to leave the tea floating behind, Discord thought of how he could make the rather unflappable Chrysalis completely lose her cool. “Well… since you asked.” Celestia reached into her peytral and actually pulled out an invitation much to Discords shock. “You’re invited provided you can draw as much attention to yourself as you possibly can without hurting or actively bothering any pony too much as to be thrown out. I don’t honestly think you can actually do that.” “Ooh is that a challenge I hear? I’ll be there once I can find a good plus one, excuse me I have a call to make to the SNUGGLES organization.” Discord took the invitation and popped away, Celestia sighed with relief the minute he did so. “Cadence told me that you had something to ask me?” The cute purple mare known as Twilight sparkle asked as she walked into the room with her blunt cut dark blue bangs and equally straight edge cut of the rest of her mane bouncing as she trotted in, singular mauve and magenta stripes flowed throughout it. She had a book levitating next to her, a cutie mark of the sparkling stars marking her butt and she was looking upon Celestia with something that was definitely considered more than lust. Celestia slowly turned a flat glare to Chrysalis who just chirped cheekily at her as she made her exit, to let Celestia and her student have a friendly talk. Frankly the changeling queen was doing the solar princess a big favor here by including a stipulation in the contract of having to have Twilight as her plus one, it was one of the stipulations that Celestia didn’t think much on until it was too late. Celestia obviously loves Twilight beyond their student mentor role, so why not force the two together? It was the one thing Chrysalis and Cadence could actually collaborate on without any arguing, questioning of motives or second thoughts. Many normal ponies even took to calling Chrysalis the Princess of Lust and Cadence’s long lost reputedly evil twin sister. Absolutely everyone knew the once somewhat obstructive nobles were too afraid to assign a moniker to Chrysalis for fear of harsh political retaliation, the civilians didn’t have nearly as much worry to worry about from the changeling leader. - Approximate time to arrival in the Equon System was thirty minutes and counting. Rarity was making her rounds on the Caravel Boutique and considering her options for the future, such as security for her new ship and the kind of people she would need to hire for it. She feasibly could run the ship on a skeleton crew like she was currently doing, but how was she going to utilize all the extra space she had to deal with? Who would she hire that could be of use as crew members of her private enterprise? In fact how many people would it even take to properly crew the Shining Jewel? She also had a lot of internal renovations to think of, but not the money to purchase enough supplies for them all. Thus far they had been sticking to the Caravel Boutique because it had beds and everything was not exactly in order yet on the Shining Jewel. Rarity was drawing a blank as she already had a decent crew for what she needed when it came to the Caravel Boutique, but the Shining Jewel was a different monster altogether. She was the captain and boss of a rather loyal crew that she earned or picked up, none of them had any other places to be or prior arrangements. Still the Shining Jewel presented a big challenge and their supplies were currently excellently stocked as Greta had been pulling a lot of hours getting the more problematic aspects of the ship entirely under control, such as making the cleaned out food storage fully operational. The Triple P agents took a lot of stuff from the ship, but the stuff they decided to leave behind after cleaning up all the remains of those killed was a nice bonus. “How’s the arm feeling Gilda?” If Rarity had asked anyone else, they’d probably say they were find and couldn’t complain. This was Gilda so of course she’d have something to say about the cast, as she walked into the repair and maintenance room of the Caravel Boutique. “It gets in the way of work, it feels stiff and numb, plus I’m going crazy trying to find other things to do other than just yell at Greta all the time.” As Gilda stated this she turned to Greta who finished opening up the less combat capable MAT drone number two while shaking her head. “We’ll need some rather specific parts if we’re going to get our second MAT here up and combat ready like the other one. Can’t do much aside from increase its movement speed, but once we start getting a bit more cash flow around and supplies around here we’ll start doing magical things for you.” Greta stretched her talons above her head and let out a yawn. She followed this up giving a big smile to her favorite griffon and the boss lady before putting her face shield back in place as she worked with Mr. Welder on the MAT drone. “Besides you can yell at me as much as you want Gilda, I actually enjoy it.” “You would enjoy that wouldn’t you? I would bludgeon you with my bio cast covered arm, but I’m afraid I might damage the cast breaking your skull. Only another day or so like this and it can finally come off…” Muttered Gilda as she tried to flex her talons in the cast, she turned to Rarity ignoring the sparks come from off to the side as Greta worked. “Speaking of asking how others are doing… are you really sure you want to get into some kind of haughty, snobbish and stuck up to high hell event like the Grand Galloping Gala boss lady? Besides that it’s not even assured you’ll even get an invitation. Also if you do somehow manage to get into the shindig, then the only reasoned I’d go is to see if my friend Rainbow Dash was hobnobbing with the Wonder Bolts.” “Why yes, I’m quite determined to see this through, because then I can maybe meet ‘HIM’. The very stallion of my dreams~! We’d fall in love, have many romantic evenings together, we’d marry under Luna’s moon and then we could have a couple of fillies and maybe a colt. Of course I’ll still be running my business; nothing’s going to stop me from doing that even if I become a highly influential name in the right circles.” Tapping a hoof to her chin and looking contemplative, Rarity looked Gilda in the eyes. “If I can’t get an invitation from the princesses, then I’ll just have to find someone who’ll take me as their plus one.” “I’m just going to put it out there because even Greta’s probably thinking it even as she has her dumb and stupidly optimistic side going full blast at the moment.” Leaning her head in close Gilda spoke clearly to Rarity in a manner that was filled with vast wisdom; she even put her talons on Rarity’s shoulder. She respected this pony even if she was simply a somewhat high maintenance clothing designer. “You’re setting yourself up for disappointment. I think your goals are a bit lofty and unrealistic as far as romance is concerned. You also probably shouldn’t try to live out the fantasies in those horrible sparkling vampire pony novels you read, since I certainly hope you’re smarter than that. Do you ever notice that the words ‘happily ever after’ is never fully explained or detailed all too much in fairy tales? Can you seriously be happy with some strange guy you don’t know who’s willing to come waltzing up to you to kiss your corpse awake? I’d be more worried about him being into necrophilia, not to mention that nobody thought to wash the poison off the girl’s lips before he did so and why is he immune to said poison is never going to be explained either if it was powerful enough to almost kill you with one taste. Relationships take time and energy to build; you can’t just instantly expect someone to love you at first sight even if you do have a nice outward appearance. Personally I think personality matters more in the long run even if you think first impressions are the most important.” “I’m quite well aware that I’m setting my bar a bit high… but when I fail, I’m happier knowing I’ve tried to achieve my impossible goal knowing I at least got somewhere.” After stating that Rarity decided to try and defend the fairy tale Gilda was mentioning in question. “Also just because the earth pony still had the poison on her lips didn’t mean it… okay now that you mention it that is a rather big hole in the plot. Knowing that the poison can work by skin contact alone is bad enough, but they never cleaned her teeth of the apple chunk she had to have chewed and swallowed before succumbing to it either and her breath must have been horrid give nobody brushed her teeth since then. Now I can’t get the image of the prince of being into necrophilia out of my head and it’s disturbing me on a number of levels as to what my mind is coming up with.” Gilda smirked at the pale look on Rarity’s face, she wondered if she ruined Rarity’s childish fantasies with that one. Rarity tried to act classy as if she were already part of the upper crust, but the truth was she was already more noble than most nobles tended to be and she was better off not moving up in the world. Being born into nobility meant nothing to Gilda, being noble and actually meaning your intentions and actions did. “Don’t think about it too hard then, think about what we’ll do in the future and where we’ll all be. I can certainly spend the rest of my life next to Gilda working in Shining Jewel’s hangar.” Chirping in merrily, it seemed that Greta was done putting the MAT back together and had it hovering off via Opal’s control. “Well I don’t have much else to do here; I’m going to see to the few other technical issues around Shining Jewel. Ask Opal where I am if you need me for anything, I’ll likely be in the bowels of Shining Jewel for a while.” Greta got up and left the room and Gilda just moved out with Rarity towards the living area, where they found Coco sitting idly with a CAT drone taking a few sips of water at the table. Coco looked up at them as they entered through the left branch door and she smiled lighting up the room. “Great you’re here Rarity, I’ve actually come up with an interesting idea for the Impulse Saddle and I would like to test it once we come out of jump. I only need a few minutes in open space and I’m asking for permission to perform a test run of the solar battery packs. Sassy’s been real helpful with my design and it’s helping her improve the Pinpoint Puller’s design at the same time.” Even if Coco still felt a bit iffy about Rarity’s actions involving the pirates, she was okay with leaving them to the Triple P. Of course that meant flying back to Ewesen for an hour and a half to report the criminals and then another hour and a half leading them to the ambush point to have them detained. “Do you really have to go out into open space dear? We could have Opal test it with a CAT drone.” If safety was a concern then Rarity had to ask about it, she was hoping to keep a safe workplace for her crew and any testing to be done had to be run by her or Opal. Opal obviously wanted this to be run by her as well. “We need someone using up the energy and Coco maneuvering an Impulse Saddle around would give us a good scope of how much power the solar cells can put into the saddle and how well it will keep charged. We can possibly make the saddles lighter and viable for ground excursions. Imagine never running out of energy for your pistols in a firefight!” At this point Opal coughed and had the CAT make a requisite motion as if it were coughing; Rarity gave Opal a flat look. “Of course I know we’re not making combat armor… though you’re quite capable of it and it would go a long way to giving me peace of mind if you were better protected. I’ve run the calculation and our experiment is not capable of causing anything lethal to happen, unless a battle cruiser were to suddenly drop out of nowhere on top of us. Whatever happens will be problematic maybe, but nowhere near lethal. The worst it will do is short out the saddle and might electrocute Coco a bit… enough to knock her out and lightly injure her.” “I’ll allow this test, just be careful darling.” Trotting over to her friend, Rarity got rather affectionate by nuzzling her. “I don’t like seeing my friends floating lifelessly in med beds, so take all precautions and don’t push the envelope Coco. Remember that we’re fashion designers, not scientists.” “Well actually…” Coco started up and trailed off, she was kind of a scientist or at the very least an inventor. Then again so was everyone else aboard the two ships. “We’re all a little bit inventive here… Gilda hasn’t been able to get inventive because of her cast, but I’ve seen the way she eyes that naked Javelin. If anyone here knows rocket science, it’d definitely have to be her.” “Yeah, pretty much need to know that stuff to build fighters and repair them.” Intoned Gilda as she puffed out her chest to preen at the attention she was getting. Said partially capable Javelin was sitting where it was left in hangar section three and Gilda often looked at it longingly. In fact some might say Gilda had a fetish for space ships in general given she adored getting a chance to pilot Shining Jewel when they had still been scavenging the space surrounding Ewesen. “Speaking of ships, finally finished going over all the data as to how the pirates could accurately place an interdiction field for us twice. It’s quite ingenious really; they had the Caravel Boutique bugged with a device that only received a signal. The fact that it doesn’t transmit makes it hard to pick up, but I’ve found and removed it. I suggest we leave it up to Gilda and Greta as to what we do with it. It’s part of our spare parts storage now.” A nearby screen lit up and Opal appeared on it to give them a visual run down. “They used the distance it took for the signal to be received to track us, as it stops where we are. They moved to the edge of the system ahead of us and since we didn’t alter course before our jump, they got ahead of us to set up an ambush without really needing to get into visual range using our initial unchanged trajectory to plan an interdiction field given jumps are a mostly straight shot. Note that Ewesen’s Planetary Protection Patrol also has a copy of this data since I pawed it over to them. The pirates knew where we were heading the first time so they eventually caught up to us and stayed out of the sight. That was until we were ready to leave the system so they could have a chance at their revenge on us for escaping them previously. How unfortunate for them that we were armed with a bigger fish this time, not to mention Greta and I did a good job in making sure things were mostly running smoothly as far as the weapons and shields were concerned before we left. Why the fire rate on those turrets has me purring with delight.” “Thank you Opal, please do not power up the turrets unless we’re shot at or it’s necessary… shields will always be free reign until otherwise stated. Call Sassy and Vera, I think we should all sit down to have some tea before we arrive and begin Coco’s product testing.” All things were going just fine at the moment so Rarity had little to worry about aside from her plans on how to get into the Gala, hopefully plan A came to fruition. If not then finding someone who would take her as a plus one was paramount, mostly because it would be a date then. - Bliuspyro was a world that had some safe places to land that surprisingly had a breathable atmosphere, though you probably wouldn’t know it by looking at it. You wouldn’t want to stay for long either as the entire planet was covered in lava flows and lakes. The planet even had life forms on it, rather intelligent ones that avoided the volcanic activities easily enough and were nomadic. The other less intelligent life forms grew up subsisting on high temperature places having evolved similar tolerances to heat that a dragon could enjoy. One being didn’t care at all about any of this, because the planet didn’t have any large predators and it was generally a planet for rock farmers that had a metric ton of gems provided you could take the heat for a while to get them. This is where Ember was as she erupted out of a lava lake and blinked the hot molten rock out of her eyes and gave off a sigh as she relax in what amounted to a Jacuzzi for her. This would probably kill a pony in seconds to even get within five feet of. She was enjoying her time of this planet, the lava and magma felt good, the gems tasted sweet and succulent, to be quite frank the blue dragon was in heaven and completely without her armor as she enjoyed her vacation from putting down frenzied monsters. “Ah, Bliuspyro Beach and all the gems I can eat… it’s perfect here… well almost.” Sitting up and looking around, Ember frowned at how lonely it was out here. Then again she didn’t want people gawking at her body or messing with her ship or Mr. Spew. There was nothing intelligent for miles aside from a few creatures that wouldn’t bother someone who played in magma and lava like convection didn’t even exist. “I can’t help but miss having people to talk to; at least I have Mr. Spew now. Even then he can’t enjoy the local flavor like I can.” The local flavor being rich with flavorful ores and quite a few tasty treats that Ember was snacking on while saving others for later. Some of it she would convert into money, trading food for goods and services never hurt as she wasn’t a hoarder, then there’s the fact that this world was ripe with high grade ammunition possibilities for her rifle. Ember closed her eyes and leaned back slowly inhaling the scent of sulfur and brimstone, the heat of this world taking her into its comfortable embrace. “I wonder where I’ll end up next; I can feasibly go anywhere now. I really should have a bought myself a ship a long time ago.” It was quite peaceful on this world, mostly because not many people other than miners, manufacturing crews or natives really bother with volcanic worlds. She looked at the bright night sky and wondered about her father, about her recently made friends and things she tried to forget. “Mother, what would you make of me now? There’s your daughter, the lone dragon who left her home lands behind for the stars. There’s Flamethrower, the powerful bounty hunting dragon that can put up a fight with a fury like that of a volcano… still hate that nickname. Then there’s plain old Ember Mcflame, the dragon that just wants to be different, to have friends and be loved by someone that’s not family. Dad still hasn’t called me back, even knowing he can do so any time he wished. I have to thank him for letting me have my freedom if I ever see him again. I’m so glad I don’t have to be the princess that all other dragons are forced to bow down to.” - “I swear, things like this day leave a bad taste in my mouth. At least business hasn’t been too poor, but that business seems rather shifty.” Saffron Masala Cumin intoned to her father Coriander Cumin. The unicorn had long thick puffy curly two toned dark fuschia hair that hung down beyond her chest and was held back by a tasteful headband and her equally thick tail was held off the floor by a hair band. Her orange fur and colorful amethyst eyes made for an exotic looking beauty of indoneighsian descent that had a saffron flower marking her rear. She was the head chef of the small restaurant and worked with her father Coriander Cumin who just huffed at her words, she was looking at several of their customers with suspicion. “Seriously father, shouldn’t we do something about them?” “We should stay out of their business Saffron, because they are bringing us business.” The bushy dark raspberry haired short and stout stallion with the mustache stated, he had an amber fur and a gruff demeanor about him. His cutie mark was a bowl of spices with a few surrounding it; he had the same eye color as his daughter. “They haven’t done anything yet except talk. Nothing incriminating has happened yet and we can’t report on suspicions alone and besides, they are paying customers. As long as they don’t cause us issues and are paying customers we should return the favor.” “Okay… fine.” Saffron turned away from the suspicious customers and went back to getting their food ready, she wasn’t happy about it. Something was up with those ponies. Author's Note I've established that I'm a little too good at pokemon main single player game, bad at competitive. Also it's a holiday miracle that I even wrote a thing! Haven't finished the main story line of the game, but my Pokemon can definitively clear it with little issue. Even caught Lunala in a dusk ball and named her Nebby. Soon I'll be doing the Ultra Beast Bash and the Tapu Tango. Top three favorite Pokemon of Moon: Primarina (Powerful high damage varying move pool Sparkling Aria, Hyper Voice and Moonblast), Salazzle (Can poison other poison types and steel types, combine that with Toxapex that has Merciless for an ability and it has a plain awesome appearance) and finally Lycanroc because both forms are awesome looking.
-29-“Hey Mr. Spew, it’s time to…” Ember looked around; she didn’t see Mr. Spew in his bowl as she flicked bits of rock out of her wings from the cooled magma that had stuck to her. He was easy to take care of as he liked filth, yet he wasn’t in his water filled tank onboard her exceedingly small scout ship the Pyrrhic Victory, to say she was slightly panicked at missing her companion was a bit of understatement. She wasn’t exactly used to being responsible for others. “Mr. Spew, where are you?” Something slapped harshly against Ember’s shoulder startling her, only for her to notice it was just Mr. Spew taking his rightful place. It pointed to the window at the harsh, warm badland style landscape and then made a crude gesture with one of his tentacles while chirping. “Yeah, okay, I get it.” It had been a few days for Ember, who now had crate full of gems and jewels from lava diving, spelunking in mines and just found littering the ground. Around this time Rarity and her friends would be arriving in the Equon System. She had come to Bliuspyro while Rarity and her crew were still salvaging space around Ewesen. “So where do you think we should go?” - “And… we’re here; welcome to the prime home world of Equus long may adorable ponies come from here!” Opal’s voice was heard throughout the ship. “Beautiful ones however are a Rarity and my creator is especially so.” Coco just shook her head and gave a mirth filled smile as she looked to the ceiling; she quickly pulled on a rather fetching white and ice blue EVA suit. She was quite thankful EVA suits gave pretty good radiation protection; unfortunately it couldn’t protect you from too much in focused amounts and she was about to go outside to test her newest idea to see if they could add it to the product list. Also the faceplate of her helmet would automatically cut out the solar glare that she was going to be dealing with on her space walk. “Bringing her to a stop with impulse power, we’re within spitting distance of Equus. Before we contact the local officials and take up an orbital spot we have some experimentation to get to for business purposes, Coco report to Deck one Airlock A-2… left hand side elevator middle of section two of the hangar will get you there.” A few moments later Opal spoke again after Coco started trotting away from the Caravel Boutique. “I’ll have CAT3-Tracer meet you there and on standby to rescue you if something goes wrong Coco.” - While Coco was making her way to begin experimenting and working on her solar batteries in space, Rarity was busy with keeping track of where everyone was and what they were doing on the bridge of Shining Jewel. It was still a bit hard to take in the fact that she had earned such a massive vessel, capable of holding a hundred and twenty eight crew members. A hundred and thirty six if you wanted to field two extra fighter squadrons, but Rarity wasn’t planning on using this vessel in a military sense even if she did so several hours ago. Aside from the maximum crew value the ship had a capacity for holding three hundred people in a pinch, only in that situation things wouldn’t be very pleasant. Deck one had officer quarters that were meant for eight people in a well armored portion near the bridge in the third section of the ship, section two had a training slash exercise room with showers attached. Section one was were near where the ships main forward guns and missiles were to be fire or launched from, currently the main gun was a moderately large single barrel material rail cannon that had no ammunition and the missile tubes were as equally empty as Lirutiy had rights to confiscate any viable solid ammunition from the ship. Most of that was on the inner side of the two corridors running through the ship; on the outer side of deck one were small emergency medical rooms, escape pods, airlocks, maintenance access hatches of which some were primarily to get to another deck and several bolt holes in case of being boarded by those with ill intent. There were still claw marks around one bolt hole where a Xouj waited out a crew member who eventually ran out of food and tried to make a break for it. Deck two had ninety six rooms for living in throughout the outer side of the two corridors with their own bathrooms and showers, in the pattern of four very small bedrooms connected to a large main room and close to those living quarters were some manual defense turret operation stations. On the inner side there was primary oxygen creation and emergency hydroponics in section one, section two was medical, armory, food storage and cafeteria, while section three had a laboratory, extra storage space, a unique shield generator access point and auxiliary bridge station. Deck two had the largest amount of armoring out of the whole ship for crew survivability, aside from the beds and things that weren’t nailed down or part of the ship there wasn’t much left behind aside from what Rarity and her crew brought with them. Deck three had fighter pilots quarters along the outer portions of the hangar enough for thirty two pilots, that was about it aside from the repair and maintenance facilities. There was a lot of empty space in the hangar to carry a lot of cargo like the scrap and parts they got from their salvage work. The twenty six dual barreled high powered energy turrets along the out hull of the ship didn’t lose any stability and or needed too much maintenance after positively percussively pounding the daylights out of some annoying pirates. “Oh you are such a flatterer Opal, give me a status report. Where are all of our drones currently? I would also like to know where the rest of the crew is aside from Coco.” The ship was mostly barren in the respect of the fact that it had been mostly stripped of military equipment and there were only six living people onboard the Shining Jewel. In fact the quiet hallways were quite unnerving to Rarity to glance through on the monitors, as the lifeless hallways reminded her that she almost died on this ship being hunted by monsters and that the previous crew was completely wiped out by them. That is if you didn’t count Greta or Gilda barely surviving. “CAT1-Uno is still following Vera around, as is my prerogative that I don’t forget she’s there. Our forgettable friend is checking medical and moving a Med Bed or two along with some medical supplies to deck two section two. CAT2-Dos is currently working with Greta, doing some minor maintenance adjustments and checking a few missile tubes and rail cannon up here in deck one section one. CAT4-Scanner is performing a patrol around deck two and is making sure everything is running ship shape and cleaned out. It is also making sure we don’t have any nasty parasites or unexpected boarders running around, this ship is kind of big just for the seven of us.” Opal smiled at Rarity and started showing her diagnostics of the entire ship and flicked out a rainbow colored digital pointer to point things out. “Currently Shining Jewel’s food storage is working optimally, so far no known signs of any other life forms on the ship except the crew. Vera might even be able to get the Shining Jewel’s medical bay up and running soon. This really is a lot of stuff to keep track of Meowstress; it’s really giving me quite the mental workout. MAT1-Mattock is assisting Gilda in Hangar maintenance beyond section three of deck three. Finally Sassy is in the training room of deck one and MAT2-W.I. Progress is with her, she is currently dancing with her sword. I’m going to put it up on screen for you to watch. It’s really quite awe inspiring.” The screen popped up and Rarity was witness to an elegant display of Sassy twisting and twirling as she leaped around seeming to gambol about the training room. Her sword flashed around her body in a dazzling display and her kimono stayed completely unruffled throughout all of this as she moved with her eyes closed, sliding about and sometimes her body visibly flickered as she started to speed up her swings. What was impressive about all this was that she wasn’t wielding her sword with her magic, but her two hooves. She switched between wielding her sword with one hoof to the other hoof and then both hooves at the same time at random, all while juggling her sword through each fluid movement. “She’s doing quite an elegant dance and I think the facial scars are starting to grow on her, she’s stopped trying to hide them at least.” Then the show got more impressive for Rarity when Sassy started to wield the sword in her magic and switched to standing on all four hooves instead of two. Sassy became an indistinct blur on the screen as she moved and the sword responded in unusual ways to her quadruped based movements with but the barest flick of her neck. “I think I’ll go see how she’s doing, it looks like she could use some company. I don’t want her to be alone for too long.” “Works for me as there are no ships on approach from planet Equus and we’re being left to our own devices right now. However, I’m pretty sure Equus Defense Force has noticed us out here.” Opal paused to make sure that Coco was exiting the airlock safely with the CAT3, she then turned back to wave Rarity off as she continued to keep track of everything. “I’ll keep you informed if anything exciting happens; go get some social interaction time with our slightly mental friend Meowstress, oh and make sure she’s stays moderately happy. Goodness knows she could use more hugs and cuddles until we can find her a girlfriend.” “Yes, yes, I’ll go do that.” Nodded Rarity as she went to exit the bridge, things weren’t trying at the moment and they had plenty of space for improvements or changes to the ship. She was thinking along the lines of flying hotel for smaller ships to stop and get repairs, refuel, possible buy some clothing, get some food in the cafeteria and maybe rent a room for a few nights. It was an interesting idea, because Rarity certainly wasn’t going to use this vessel in a malicious manner unless it was absolutely warranted. - “This is Admiral Trap Bar, hailing unidentified ship at the edge of the system.” Trap Bar was a pegasus pony known for his mind; he was good at barring traps from being effective as his name would suggest and was a strategic hero in space combat. He had bright orange fur and his messy dark red mane, bushy eyebrows and was waiting on a response from the ship that stopped at the edge of the gravity well of the Equon system, that of course meant that the ship had just arrived out of jump. Another thing Trap Bar was known for was excessive drinking; he called it ‘tactics lubrication’ on his supply requisition forms. “I repeat please respond, this is admiral Trap Bar.” “So sorry we cannot take your hail~! Da doom doom da da, no one is on comms now~!” It was an automated musical reply by Opal; she recorded it for this very situation as she was too busy keeping an eye on Coco. It had an unusual effect on Trap Bar’s crew as they started humming along to the tune playing over their communications and started to dance to it. The white cat that appeared on their screen was singing into a microphone like a pop star. “We surely would have taken your hail, but clearly we’re going to fail, and I’m sure yours was an important one~! We’ll get back to you, I’m pretty sure that you’ll force us to, so if you’re pirates then please go away~! Otherwise Leave a message, with a name and reason~! I sing, leave a message~! Our systems will start recording at the yowl~! … For the Shining Jewel’s crew is currently very busy, meow. Oh and you have one minute to record your message as of now.” Opal’s smiling adorable face after she meowed had all the crew of the Indignant Splinter back to their stations after they danced to the short tune looking embarrassed about it. Thirty seconds had passed in absolute silence before Trap Bar managed to collect his faculties and respond, his ship the Indignant Splinter was a large destroyer class vessel surrounded by several smaller cruisers in escort. “I don’t know what to make of this, but it was certainly catchy. Ahem, this is admiral Trap Bar of the EDF space initiative… we are hailing you since you are an unidentified ship in our system. If you could get someone in authority on your ship to respond to us at your soonest convenience that would be good, otherwise we’ll be investigating your ship if you haven’t responded within the next few hours.” The ship didn’t seem to be doing much other than sitting there and it was of a military hybrid classification, Trap Bar wasn’t about to have his crew approach it yet and he would at least give them some time to respond. Especially after such an amusing message taking system being employed by what was an obviously adorable AI. It was a little too adorable for his tastes. “Well gentle mares and stallions, I guess we’ll wait and see who these people are. They certainly don’t seem aggressive, but I didn’t get this far in my career without a little bit of paranoia and uncertainty.” “Lieutenant Smooth Flight, set us personally out there facing the unknown. Ensign Call Sign have all other ships scan space and check for other unidentified ships to this system. With the Gala on the way we’ve been getting a lot of visitors lately, so everyone stay on your hooves.” Fun aside, Trap Bar was a good admiral; his small fleet had helped protect Equus when Celestia couldn’t use the sun as a deadly and rather effective deterrent for space bound threats. So far he hadn’t lost a ship yet and he wasn’t about to act aggressively on just a gut instinct, so far his gut told him this ship was benign and he had been wrong before for various reasons. He’s lost good ponies to wrong calls, but the casualties under his command were in the tens and all of them were battle related incidents. “We’ll only need the Indignant Splinter for this one if it proves hostile.” The ship shaped like a Pegasus wing started to move into position and waited for a response, while the other ships that were shaped vaguely like unicorn horns went off to continue their job of scanning other incoming vessels. - Coco enjoyed the quiet of space and was testing the charge on the new rechargeable impulse saddle, before swapping it out with an original basic impulse saddle. The switch took only a few seconds and things were looking good for the batteries, no overheating, no horrible heart stopping voltage, no volatile explosion and more importantly a viable source of rechargeable energy to keep an impulse saddle running almost indefinitely… provided you were near enough to a star to charge it up. “Well things are looking in order, what do you have to say about it Opal?” Coco wanted to hear Opal’s input on this thing that she worked hard on, especially concerning the fact that it would be a new utility to sell. If it sold well then it would be a good boon to their business. “… well… it’s decent… it’s not really energy efficient, while moving the saddle uses energy three times faster than it can be recovered. It’s still quite viable at the very least when it isn’t moving, since it recharges at a good pace and the cutoff to prevent overflow is working perfectly. Can’t honestly tell you how to improve it, but it certainly seems like it’ll be a worthwhile venture.” Hearing the sigh and watching the suited mare land on the hull of the ship, Opal felt a bit bad about her honest reply hearing how it might have upset her friend. “Hey, don’t be like that Coco, it’s still pretty impressive piece of work and we’ll see to adding it to our list of utility options for EVA suits.” “It’s kind of beautiful out here… if only I didn’t know I was a few centimeters from instant death.” Turning to the drone, Coco tapped her helmet with a hoof as to express her meaning. “I’m not exactly that great an inventor; I’m not even that great in fashion scene on my own and… I kind of miss Ewesen. First time I’ve been away from that planet for so long, it’s going to take some getting used to traveling around with Rarity and everyone else.” “Yeah, there’s a lot of beauty out there, now if only it wasn’t so hazardous to the health of my friends and loved ones.” Mumbled a slightly coy Opal, she moved the drone closer to Coco, to look over the test saddle. “We all do what we can Coco, you’re good at accessorizing and that talent has apparently translated nicely into technological accessories, we’ll have Greta tweak it later. I can sort of understand you missing Ewesen, that tropical climate and those lovely shining lakes would be hard to leave. Nobody is really forcing you to do your best but you, you have some really high standards for yourself in your work effort alone and I’m sure Rarity really appreciates that. Considering Meowstress Rarity has just as high standards for her appearance, you both have a lot in common. Besides fashion is fleeting, friends are forever!” “Thanks Opal, you know how to cheer a mare up.” In fact Coco started giggling profusely at what Opal had said. “I wouldn’t tell Rarity that fashion is fleeting if I were you, it’s serious business to her and you and I know that better than anyone. I’m coming back in and I will do some more tests later after Greta gets in her few tweaks, but preliminary findings are looking moderately good.” “Roger Roger, why do I feel like rolling around and shooting at people with laser swords after saying that?” Digitally nodding to herself Opal just decided to focus on other things, like what Greta was doing in what passed for her bowels at the moment. This ship was her body and her job had gotten far more complicated as Rarity’s personal aide, hopefully she could still record her show in case she missed it while she was in the middle of something else. - The training room had a lot of empty space in it, a wall that you could hang targets for shooting practice, place in the ceiling to hang punching bags and the empty floor where they could install a mat. Renovating this entire ship was going to be costly and Rarity knew it. This was where Sassy now stood in a stance preparing to stab it forward as MAT2 held up two thick round plates of metal in front of her. Rarity looked on curiously as she stabbed forward at the two plates and put a hole in both of them without actually physically connecting with either of the plates; she was even standing a few feet away from them. “Wow, I think that was rather impressive Sassy.” Politely applauding with a few stomps of her hooves Rarity then walked up to Sassy who frowned and looked away. “It wasn’t impressive at all and shouldn’t be applauded.” Something was off about Sassy when she said this, she actually sounded sad about this. “Why whatever do you mean darling?” It looked to Rarity like an impressive feat of skill, Sassy didn’t look like she built up any muscle and was still strong enough to do something incredible like that. “You punctured both of those sheets of metal without touching them.” “That’s not what I was trying to do Rarity-sama.” Okay so Sassy was upset all of the sudden and Rarity didn’t know exactly what she did to cause this. Having picked up on her friend’s confusion Sassy spoke up. “Berets and bonnets Rarity, I’m trying to train in control here!” “Could you please explain things so it’s a little clearer for me dear, I’m afraid I’m only trained in pistols and know what’s good in that respect.” Rarity moved over to Sassy and pulled her into a hug which was returned immediately, the way Sassy held her was quite needy for the few moments that they stood there together. “I would want to know what I’m apologizing for after all.” “I’m trying to train in emotional control, tighten control of my skills and have better control of myself in general so I don’t endanger you again.” Looking over to the MAT drone repairing the plates of metal, Sassy closed her eye inhaled through her nostrils and then exhaled out her mouth loudly in a sad sigh. “I was actually trying to only damage one piece of metal without touching the other. Needless to say, I failed. Having a special talent that can translate into combat skills is rough.” “It’s still impressive that you didn’t put a hole in anything else in the room with that thrust and that it didn’t have any magic in it all.” Rarity wrapped a hoof around Sassy and patted her reassuringly. “You’ve become really strong Sassy, the exercise seems simple enough and I’m sure you’ll get it eventually.” “Maybe, but the advanced version of this exercise is far harder than that.” Pointing a hoof at the two pieces of metal Sassy watched as the MAT drone held them up for her, she motioned for Rarity to move out of the way and she took a stance once more. “In fact it’s important that I learn how to do the harder version of this exercise, very important.” “What does that entail?” Truly curious was Rarity as to where Sassy was going with this, her right brow was thoroughly raised. “Excuse me for my ignorance, as I want to learn what you can do Sassy.” “Oh, it involves hitting the second metal plate.” Sassy was concentrating too much to go in depth; she wanted to see Rarity’s face when she explained it in full. She stabbed forward and put holes in both plates again and motioned to the MAT to fix them, it went to work as she turned to Rarity. “That doesn’t sound so hard, as you’ve already done that.” Although Rarity could feel the question on the tip of her tongue before she spoke it, she was wondering how hitting both would make the exercise harder than hitting the one. “What’s the catch of the advanced exercise?” “I have to hit the second plate… without damaging or touching the first.” An amused smile came to Sassy’s face as she saw Rarity’s wide eyed look and when her friend went to open her mouth Sassy held up a hoof. “Before you say anything, it is actually possible to do as I’ve seen it before. It’s just really hard to pull off. It’s a ghosting strike, the ability to hit a target behind something like say a personal energy shield. For those that can do it really well, it is quite exceptionally useful in a hostage situation. Although it’s going to be a very hard for me to learn, my translated special talent is not in slashing, cutting or severing as it is in stabbing, piercing or puncturing things. So you can imagine the boost I get from my special talent getting in the way of that as it overpowers any form of thrusting attack I perform.” “I’ve never thought of a special talent as having a negative consequence like that. It certainly gives me some things to think of in terms of my own special talent.” It did lead Rarity to wonder. What exactly are the negative connotations of having a good eye for beauty and detail? Maybe seeing things in too much detail could be a bad thing or seeing things you’re not supposed to, and then there’s seeing the beauty in a violently efficient monster so yeah she had some downsides of her own. Maybe it was also the ability to see the ugly alongside the beauty of things or did she intentionally ignore the ugly side of things? “So spears, knives and rapiers would be quite lethal for you to wield?” One last thrust and this time the second plate only had a slightly smaller hole in it this time, Sassy was happy with even that much marginal progress. “Also table legs, fire pokers, crowbars, my own hooves and just about any elongated thing that can be thrust forward, as such I need to train to make sure I’m less lethal about it when I need to be.” Sassy cuddled up against Rarity and smiled brightly when she didn’t step away. “Counteracting or controlling my special talents translation into combat isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do. Thank you for coming to see me Rarity.” “Meowstress Rarity, report to bridge and bring Sassy along with you while you’re at it. She looks like she could use some rest after all that training.” The slightly chipper voice of Opal sounded out as she needed someone else to be on communications. “We got a call from the EDF, they tried hailing us but we were all a little too busy. I need you to call them back and inform them of our business here as they don’t seem like they would be happy talking to an AI. Apparently security around Equus has risen a bit with the onset of the Grand Galloping Gala; a few dignitaries have likely already shown up for this shindig.” “Please don’t be so crass Opal, it’s a soiree if anything and Celestia is the gracious host.” Rarity reprimanded as she continued on with a solemn looking Sassy following after her. - “We’ll put in word of your name to the princesses, we can’t exactly guarantee anything.” Trap Bar had a gut feeling the people of this ship were going to be trouble. He didn’t know how they were going to cause it, just that they were even if they didn’t have any solid ammunition and twenty six high end defense turrets. The AI’s message was explained, but he still didn’t trust the cute cat as far as he could throw it as there was something off there. Even if he couldn’t exactly put his hoof on why it bothered him so much, he had a job to do and they didn’t seem to have any ill intentions so he couldn’t hold them at range forever. “You can take up an orbital position, no funny business or my ships will fire on yours. We will need to run a background check, also since you came from the direction of Ewesen I would like to hear word of what’s going on over there. If anyone else comes from that way and tells the same story I can maybe trust you some more.” “That’s all I can expect really, the princesses should know my name as Luna is personally testing a product of mine. Please tell her that Rarity Belle is here. Also if you need any EVA suits I would be happy to take any orders while I’m in orbit for the time being. We’re still in testing on the rechargeable solar battery pack. It is not even technically available despite being on our list of utilities for sale.” Rarity was handling the suspicion quite well and was taking it with a grain of salt as she had yet to actually do anything wrong. “As for what happened at Ewesen, well it was quite a mess. I ended up taking refuge in Heppren Square Hospital in Drixsto, afterwards I did some salvage work for Commander Lirutiy and it was quite gruesome. Several cities on the planet were swamped with monsters and the last bit of the MOM was thankfully destroyed before it could hit the planet, so things were mostly alright when we left except for the casualties to the local Plantary Protection Patrol fleet.” Rarity could have bragged about assisting in the securing of the hospital, but she didn’t and it would put her in a better light later on. Author's Note The tune Opal is singing is this one. I've finished my Tapu Tango and Ultra Beast Bash... I caught every single Ultra Beast available. Not much left to do in the game for me really, more time for writing then.
-30-“Sister, we have a… what are you doing with Chrysalis?” Luna had run into the conference room to, only to stop when she saw Chrysalis and Celestia tangled up on a mat with their limbs bent at odd angles. “We’re playing Twisty, I bet Celestia wasn’t as flexible as she thought she was and she said she could prove me wrong.” Here Chrysalis giggled a bit as Celestia blushed at being caught in a compromising position with her. The game wasn’t rigged, but Chrysalis used every opportunity to make Celestia’s face go red. It was either frustration born of anger or sexual tension and for once Chrysalis couldn’t tell which it was and she was a particularly well trained empathic creature. “Of course she was talking politically, I was talking physically and then it somehow ended up with us like this. By the way it’s your spin Celestia.” “I really don’t honestly know how I ever let you talk me into doing this again.” Celestia said diplomatically as one of Chrysalis’s rear hooves ran between her hind legs to touch a yellow circle and something else as the annoying bug pony’s tail was currently in an uncomfortable spot. Her magic lit a nearby panel on the floor and the little arrow on it spun until it stopped on something. “You have to put the back of your left front hoof to Green.” “Look at it this way, practicing for your date like this couldn’t hurt.” Chrysalis got an angry glare from Celestia in her awkward twisted position underneath the princess. It quickly turned into a vibrant blush as Chrysalis slowly and sensually slid her hoof across Celestia’s belly before placing the back of it down on a green circle as indicated. “What is it Luna, is it something important? I’ve just about won our game and if it’s an emergency then I’d be willing to forfeit. Okay ten seconds have passed and your still up, your spin Chrysalis.” Celestia turned her head to her sister’s face which seemed rather worried while Chrysalis spun the arrow. “I may not be able to play with the Breach Gel anymore; the creator of the wondrous invention is currently in orbit and is asking about why we haven’t signed off on it sister.” Here a pensive Luna ran a hoof through her star filled mane making Chrysalis stare at her hair as it flowed gently with her touch. The princess even went so far as to air quote with her hooves a rather specific word as she stated. “We cannot lie and say that we haven’t… ‘tested’…. it thoroughly and now she has come asking questions. I have no idea what to tell her or how to respond! We already put it into production and it is proving to be a most sellable product. Which is why she will be a bit cross with us since we are denying her funds earned from her patent, I would be angry too if I had invented such a life saving marvel… that can also make for a really fun toy.” “Okay, that’s slightly troubling, because I think we have been slighting a subject of ours for a while and it’s time to face the music dear sister.” Celestia looked to see what the spinner landed on and Chrysalis grinned at her and waggled her eyebrows, she huffed and moved her front right hoof into position so it went between her opponents rear legs to touch a red circle. “It is, however, not an immediate emergency worth losing my game over.” “It might become one; we have heard that she is currently running a bit poor as of late. I can’t help but feel that it is because of us and our actions.” This led to feeling particularly guilty about her infantile enjoyment of the bouncy gel balls, Luna couldn’t let this drop… also because it’d be a huge delay on her plans to marry Mr. Boom Stick. How did Celestia even keep stalling her plans anyway? She was being very secretive about putting all her plans on the clearly labeled ‘Secretive Shotgun Wedding Bulletin Board Celestia Will Never Look At’ in Celestia’s bedroom after all. How did Celestia keep finding out about her plans if she had such a secretive bulletin board to put stuff on? “The ship she has in orbit could cause our fleet quite some damage if she got creative enough with it. It’s a carrier cruiser hybrid and it is rather quite large. She also brought news of Ewesen in the Quia System so we owe her even more of a debt for telling us of how much our support has aided that poor beleaguered system. It is a sad truth that the casualties to the local Planetary Protection Patrol fleet were very much devastating, our EDF forces have helped pick up the slack immensely. There were also quite a lot of pony deaths as well; we have a list of casualties and MIA people from the Plurt known as Commander Lirutiy come in not to long after Ms. Belle’s on a scout ship. Some of that information was on Rarity Belle’s actions, she has aided with the production of anti-venom for the latest MOM related monstrosity called a Vasp by personally being bitten by one. Thankfully it didn’t go through the suit she was wearing and her Breach Gel preserved the attempted injection of venom. You see the venom quickly breaks down when not affecting a system and they found a few new uses for breach gel at the hospital where one of her friends was infirmed from injuries, so now it is even more important that we don’t delay signing. There’s also a cliff note that Rarity helped seal the hospital off to keep the monsters out with several others… she’s looking like quite the hero and I’d be remiss if I ignored her presence now.” “Right, we’ll get to that now while I win this game. Tell this Rarity Belle that we have already signed off on the breach gel an hour ago and that we’re very sorry to have kept her waiting. Quickly forward the necessary amount of money into her account that she is rightfully owed. We’ll use a red tape ruse to cover things up.” Celestia then tipped her head to Luna. “Quickly bring the papers here so we can actually sign together and if she’s angry that it took so long, then offer her some form of recompense.” “That’s not the only thing… Rarity is a close friend with Coco Pommel who is also here; she’s the inventor of the impulse saddles that I have yet to actually get around to.” Luna looked to the floor with her ears wilted and she turned her eyes from her sister’s flat stare. “In fact I have quite a bad backlog…” “Now you see Luna, this behavior is exactly why I hardly let you do anything approaching really important as far as political things go, except when I need a good sledgehammer. You know this is kind of why you became lonely enough to become Nightmare Moon in the first place. If you want to be responsible for more Luna, then you better start putting in the effort to handle the responsibilities you already have.” Celestia stretched out a wing and slowly dragged it across Luna’s backs in a calming manner from her tangled up position with the Chrysalis. “I’ll admit our jobs are impossibly stressful and that I may have contributed a bit to your backlog as did Princess Cadence, who we will now proceed to put a lot of the blame on since she’s not here to deny it at all. Still you should get back to work Luna. Even while I do find the time to schedule in some fun, I at least finish what I’m currently doing for the interim of relaxation that’s not consuming my daily allotment of cakes. If I can make enough time for you even as busy as I am, then you can make enough time to finish your work as lazy as you are.” “Some saint you are blaming my poor, if rather guilty, fake sister like that… because she so totally is guilty of causing you to have so many problems in your backlog Luna. She should really stop distracting you like that.” Chrysalis played along as she twisted her torso somewhat and placed a knee on a blue circle. “It’s a good thing I’m going to get my payment out of her a week before the gala huh? That should be punishment enough, right?” “Oh are you playing Twisty, can I join?” Discord popped in looking like a smiling buff cactus covered entirely in thorns. “No!” Even Luna yelled this at him, alongside Chrysalis and Celestia. Luna pointed an angry hoof at Discord. “Not after what happened the last time you joined in a game of Twisty! We still do not know where my beloved rubber duck even went or what it’s doing at this very moment!” “Gee, no respect I tell you! Either that or you’re all a bunch of prudes. Also I did promise to find and return your rubber duck to you eventually Luna. Though it’s been quite hard to find when it’s off being a super hero and is managing to best even me at every turn. That annoying little thing… at least Cadence will be properly punished for her crimes of holding up Luna’s schedule.” Even Discord was getting in on it and wanted a part in starting the rumor mill. Mostly because it would be funny and it gave the two older alicorns and changeling queen an alibi for the changeling’s rather unorthodox payment, he could get behind this course of action as it sounded positively chaotic. “Can I help in this conspiracy against the Princess of Love?” “Sure go ahead Discord.” Celestia was all smiles as she stretched a hoof over the back of Chrysalis’s quickly failing form to touch yellow while rubbing a particularly sensitive spot on the changeling, meaning Chrysalis was now the one blushing horribly and Celestia had a nasty smirk on her face. “Fair is fair, right Chrysalis?” “You… I like you very much, but I don’t think you’d give me the time of day or the love I need or might truly deserve from someone romantically speaking. A relationship between us wouldn’t work out very well and I’m actually willing to acknowledge that, as much as a relationship between me and Cadence would have. Especially when I tried to get away with disguising Cadence as Shining Armor and placed her stallion underground and fed him kid’s meals from a local fast food restaurant I bought out and then took Cadence’s place as her while disguising him as her in case a part of my plan fell through. Too many convoluted things that could go wrong practically did, so I formally apologize for that incident right here and now given that none of you have ever asked that of me before. As now, I will acknowledge that all of you are the best friends that a changeling queen could ever possibly want.” This was Chrysalis’s wholly unforeseen and rather thoughtful response, completely lacking in anything approaching malice and was startlingly enough, completely unrepentantly sincere. It threw Celestia, Luna and even a dumbfounded Discord himself for a complete loop, maybe even two loops for Discord. “Besides it’d greatly upset your lovely student, who smiled so brightly that the top of her head might have cleanly popped off when you invited her to the gala, if I were to try and usurp her position as your favorite pony. Oh and it’s your turn to spin, please not purple, please not purple...” - “Well now, this is pretty good.” Trap Bar had taken Rarity up on her offer and bought a few EVA suits. He did some quick training with Coco Pommel and found that the offered massage via Vera to be exquisite. Quite frankly the rest of the crew couldn’t remember a better masseuse… unfortunately they couldn’t remember the masseuse at all, so they figured she must have been incredibly good at her job considering how great their bodies felt afterwards. “You may want to get that new utility product finished. It’d be a sound solution to never having problems out in space while in a system and the impulse saddles are impressive in their specs if a bit heavy otherwise.” “Thank you, if you need anything more don’t hesitate to make an order while Shining Jewel is in orbit.” Feeling happy with all the sales she was making, Rarity continued her talk with Admiral Trap Bar with a skip in her step. “Now I believe you talked to Luna about things?” “Yes, she knew your name the minute I spoke it. Are you someone of importance that I should know about?” To Trap Bar, she seemed like a friendly mare and the ship she ran was running well if barren of crew. In fact, she only had five crew members and was a little too friendly. “Oh no, I’m nothing of the sort! I’m just an average business mare, who got caught up in a few troubles.” A business mare with her own three deck ship that could load some heavy weapons, alongside having several reports of her heroism on Ewesen. “Anyway, it’s been nice meeting a gentle stallion such as yourself, but we will be parting ways as soon as we’re finished making more EVA suits for your engineering team. I’m planning to go down to the planet soon and I need to talk with my crew about who will be joining me… well after Luna gets back to me on a little issue.” “I’ll go wait at my drop ship to for my engineering team to finish getting their suits and I must say that you do excellent work. I’ve confirmed that the payment for your services has already gone through, please finish up quickly so I can be off your ship lady Belle.” As Trap walked away from Rarity he was beginning to think that Rarity might be a secret black ops member, because her account had just jumped a lot and the payment came directly from the crown. At least that’s what one of his technicians watching her accounts just told him. He wouldn’t get in the way of her mission whatever it was, she was being paid a lot to be here and her crew had been suspiciously small. At least he now knew why it was so small, because he came to the conclusion that she couldn’t have been anything other than black ops considering the utilities the suits could come with. “I have much to get back to and I can’t get in the way of your ‘business’, though I assume your EVA suits will be especially popular in the EDF and will recommend some people to your services.” “Why thank you good sir, however it might be a while before I can get to their orders unless my friends can handle it as I’ll be busy with something else.” Yep Rarity just came off as a Black Ops pony working for the crown to Trap Bar and she was technically doing a good job of looking and acting the part of a fashion designer. Her forced posh accent kind of sold it for him as did her next sentence. “I’m just waiting on Luna now to see if I can do what I came here to do, if not then I might need to find some outside help.” “Meowstress Rarity, Luna is calling us personally. It’s actually quite an honor; take it on the Caravel Boutique. It’s closer than going all the way back to the bridge.” It sounded urgent by the tone of Opal’s voice and Rarity set off for her ship leaving a slightly paranoid Trap behind to head back to one of his drop ships. Trap Bar wondered what was going on, but decided to not ask and he went towards one of the three drop ships that boarded Shining Jewel. - Upon reaching the drop ship Trap Bar walked up to his crew members, some of which were heavily armed, without pause and a flat expression on his face. “So what’s the story Trap Bar?” The crew mate known as Smooth Flight asked, the pegasus was the admirals personal pilot and best friend. He had a short green mane, light brown fur and a near constant brazen smile on his face. “I think the six onboard this ship might be a black ops group. It’s irking my paranoia something fierce, but they certainly answer to the crown so their definitely one of ours and are on our side.” It was either a paranoid delusion or the absolute truth; Trap Bar didn’t want to bother with spooks as long as they didn’t try to involve him in any spy games and he’d rather stay as far away from their operations as he could. Apparently they were allowed to sell seemingly civilian gear to anyone. The energy based grappling hooks, advanced EVA suits that were both comfortable and incredibly functional, not to mention the one griffon with what looked to be broken arm in the back of the hangar currently working on a broken Javelin with a drone had set off several flags in the stallion. The drop ship being tuned up by the other griffon really kind of sold some kind of secret operation going on here in Trap’s mind. “Let’s not talk about our suspicions here; especially not when they are producing some really good gear for us and our engineers for an amiable price Lieutenant. Also let’s keep the fact that we’re paying them extra for all the other services that they are doing for us quiet. They all seem to be of keen intellect and I can tell that red head is dangerous by the looks she keeps sending me; she’s got samurai talent written all over her and she didn’t just get those injuries in her first foray into combat. She’s been hurt pretty badly once and I don’t see anyone else here with scars like that. The griffons are definitely the brains; Coco has to be the cute one and the disguise master, while Miss Belle herself is the mastermind. As for their masseuse… can you even remember what she looks like or her name? She must be their scout, hard to keep track of, completely silent and easily forgettable in a crowd. Plus I think their AI is hiding something, mostly likely what their current operation here on Equus is supposed to be.” Sassy was just busy making sure nobody went where they didn’t belong; she was the only other form of security on the ship aside from the one working MAT drone and she didn’t want anyone leaving the hangar as the rest of the ship was still a bit of a mess. Speaking of Sassy, she was talking to Gilda and motioned to their ship about something. Most likely she was disparaging stallions being around and it was riling her up to stay polite as one or two of them had ogled her a bit. Gilda barely paid her rant any mind and was busy directing the drone with concise instructions; she was mostly just cleaning the shell lacking Javelin and prepping it for planned future venture. Coco was undoubtedly cute, but she was no disguise master even as she made some clothing for one of the mares of Trap Bar’s crew and even looked talented in making disguises. She was making dresses, shirts, socks because Rarity didn’t want to go there, along with plenty of accessories like hats, scarves and other similar clothing accessories by hoof. The fact that she did it quickly without magic impressed quite a few ponies almost as much Rarity did when she was assisting her in this endeavor, to serve their customers with a cute friendly smile. Greta was wiring something and had half her body buried into in the trapezoidal drop ship’s innards, as a few sparks flew out from her use of Mr. Welder. She had fix engines on the wings and even cleaned out the variable jets and made sure they were in working order, she was even discussing technical issues that might pop up with this particular model of a Pegasus built Sky Dropper 22-DR with a bewildered engineer who was learning a lot from the griffon just from the few questions asked about what she was doing. Vera just set up a sign that had the words ‘wait here; pay the masseuse for her services upon meeting’ written on a plywood sign and stand. It was easier for Vera to just grab the pony, griffon and diamond dog or whatever when she was ready to work with them. Otherwise it would be annoying to call for them and not have them pay her any attention because they’d completely ignore her presence. At least she was making sure they paid while she was touching them, then she’d work them over and have them on their way exclaiming how good the masseuse was. Even if they couldn’t remember her very well after she was done with them. At least Rarity could see her and say her name, not needing a drone to constantly point at her like Opal did. She appreciated that at least the AI was trying to keep her in mind and went to the trouble of doing so near constantly. Currently all the other drones were busy cleaning up portions of the ship. Except in the one case of the fully functional MAT drone that made Trap Bar’s suspicions of them being a black ops team seem more real. That MAT drone was currently patrolling around the three drop ships that stopped by with a number of Admiral Bar’s crew. Opal really had Trap Bar’s spine crawling with a strange sense of fear. In all Admiral Trap Bar was way off when he thought these people were a black ops team. Quite frankly they, the Shining Jewels crew, were all civilians with no military training whatsoever. Sassy’s training as a samurai didn’t count as she never joined the military to train as one. Rarity’s pistol training wasn’t military taught either, but it was a common form of self protection taught to many who sought instruction in the use of pistols, energy, material or otherwise. Even Gilda and Greta only knew to point and shoot in a general direction with the plasma rifle they had gotten from Tree Hugger, it wasn’t that hard to figure out how to reload and fire the weapon and they were both intelligent griffons strong enough to handle a weapon with very little recoil. Opal wasn’t military hardware, but she was an AI that was a quick learner in how to fire and operate various weapons depending on the resources she had at the time. - “So… care to explain what was taking you so long with the sign off on it Princess Luna?” Keeping a calm attitude towards her favorite princess while she bowed, Rarity looked at the night mare and was internally squealing with delight at being able to get a princess to talk with her personally. However her words were cold and cutting, the princess had a right to look a little upset. “I must apologize to you Miss Belle and know that we are most sorry for the delays, but Princess Cadence has kept me quite busy and away from my job far too often. In fact some would say she was incredibly obstructive to me on purpose, so she’s soon to be lightly punished and don’t worry it won’t be anything too bad.” For some reason Luna was sweating bullets and her muzzle looked particularly scrunched up as Rarity narrowed her eyes at her. “There was also a lot of paperwork to work through. Red tape and all that you understand, we signed the documents an hour ago so you have received the money for what we’ve produced and sold of the product in question already.” “Opal, bank account numbers please.” Rarity looked off to the side at the numbers Opal was giving her and blinked, it was quite a good sum. The numbers were high enough so that she could start thinking about renovating the Shining Jewel, maybe even finish fixing everything wrong with Caravel Boutique. She’d have to have Greta and Gilda do a lot of the work to save on money, but with that much money at her disposal she had to think carefully about what she wanted because she couldn’t go crazy with it. After renovations she wouldn’t be rich, but she would still have a sizable fund for many a venture and a stable income as a jumping point to become wealthy. Some of it was Opal’s accounting work on the money they earned from Trap Bar’s people, seemed like they were paying a bit much into her account but she shrugged it off as being normal, his people were buying a lot of stuff and they were going to be in dire need of materials soon at this rate. “Well, that is a sizable boon to my account. Still though, you did take a lot of time getting around to it and I’m quite upset about it. What about signing off my dear friend Coco’s impulse saddles?” “I’m still currently working on it and I have a terrible backlog of things to take care of; I ask you to make an offer as to what I can do to make up for it.” Luna did not want to drag Coco into having to take an offer of recompense as well, that would make things worse from the lunar princess’s point of view. “I am providing this offer on the caveat that it is well within my power of course.” “Then I ask that you make the same offer to my friend as well.” Rarity watched as Luna visibly sulked. “I know it’s asking a bit much, but it would be fair to hear out every pony if they have a small request. You are kind of inconveniencing them after all. Personally I would like to go to the Grand Galloping Gala, what are the chances that I can get a ticket or two? That’s for me; I will not speak for Miss Pommel about what she could ask of you.” “I can easily get you a ticket to the gala. In fact every princess always has six extra tickets they can give away to anyone they see fit to invite, so I will gladly give you one of my tickets. Two is out of the question unless Coco asks for one herself.” The princess visibly relaxed that things were going to be alright, as Luna was afraid that Rarity would ask for something more outlandish or crazy. Instead it was something rather simple and easy to achieve. Luna wasn’t going to the gala anyway and had other things to do, neither was Cadence for that matter as the two alicorns would be busy elsewhere. “Can you put me into contact with Miss Pommel?” “Why of course. Opal, if you would please insert Coco into this conference in a timely manner darling.” After a bit of waiting Rarity saw Coco appear on screen, as did Luna apparently when the screen split to allow for a conference call. “Princess Luna is offering a little recompense for taking so long with signing off on your impulse saddles; do you have any small requests or favors to make of her to make up for it?” “Actually yes, I would like a tour of the castle, if not that than either a hug or maybe just inviting us to lunch.” None of that was bad either and Coco was being completely simple with her requests and that made Luna smile happily. She even bowed to Luna. “That’s about all I would really ask of you as a way to make it up to us Princess Luna.” - “I am willing to do all three, I will make time for your visit and it’ll happen sometime before the gala. I might even allow you a guest room in the castle for a night before the gala. Is that all you will ask?” The two mares on the split screen nodded and then Luna cut the connection; she let out a sigh and turned to a grumbling Chrysalis. “Well that went well. Are you still upset that you lost to my sister in the contest of Flexibility?” “There is almost no feasible way her spine could bend like that without the use of magic! Although I will grudgingly admit that she is as flexible as I am.” Chrysalis had lost the battle, but she would win the war via disproportionate retribution. She was going to drug Celestia with a little known alicorn aphrodisiac later and lock her in a room with Twilight Sparkle to get the last laugh, possibly while helping jumpstart their relationship at the same time. “Seriously though, what kind of yoga training does your sister do and how many partners has she attracted over the last few thousand year with that kind of talent? Seriously she has to be a goddess in… you know that’s actually kind of funny.” Author's Note I'm portraying Luna as a bit of a Cloud Cuckoolander. Her idea of a shotgun wedding is actually marrying the shotgun itself. My reasoning why Luna became Nightmare Moon? She was too lazy to get out more and make some friends or understand that people slept at night, plus there's the fact that she could have played with ponies in their dreams instead of going crazy. She wanted instant praise for something she does every day, her sister was far more outgoing than she was. Celestia is the more serious of the two. Despite that she is still willing to do silly things and have fun, she's not perfect either as she is willing to throw the blame onto someone else when she can get away with it, Cadence won't be too happy though. Chrysalis, if there isn't any oil in her, then it's under her. She's a walking innuendo loving queen who still likes to be evil where it best benefits her. Be wary, because these silly chapters are always a prelude for something else. Right now, it is all just to slowly establish the setup that's about to happen.
-31-“You guys are a bunch of butts.” Cadence muttered angrily at all those sitting at the table with halo's above their heads, only Discord had devil horns floating above his because he just had to be different. She was angry at them for blaming her for Luna having a backlog of things she should have really gotten to earlier. “Well Celestia has a pleasantly plump rear, Luna has a nice taut one and yours is quite svelte and sexy, mine is… a bit flat.” Chrysalis looked at her butt sadly; it was not going to win any contests anytime soon. “Also let’s be serious here, we all know Discord doesn’t have an ass even if he pretends to be one.” “Do not despair friend, we are sure that your flank can still grow! If not, then we may all see fit to help you get the posterior you want.” It was an honest effort on Luna’s part to cheer up Chrysalis, especially after the queen said such nice things about their bottoms while being comically depressed about her own. Luna tensed her hind legs and her muscles shifted in her rear end, making her smile as she showed it off. “Well I do admit it’s not easy maintaining my own caboose, is it any wonder I consume so many cakes in a day?” Here Celestia ran a loving hoof over her flank with a smile. “Yes, I am very much a butt mare myself.” “Well I never!” Discord crossed his arms and turned away with his pitchfork leaning against his shoulder to reveal the little devil wings he was now sporting, before he twisted his head back to them with a grin. If he was a normal being his spine would have snapped with the way he twisted his neck. “To be clear, well I never… had one that is. Though I am now curious what it would have been like if I did have a butt. For some reason my chaos magic will never let me form one permanently. Why, I’ve been the butt of many a joke about it.” “I feel your pain Discord, we all can’t have nice backsides.” A sad looking Chrysalis walked up to Discord and they hugged it out. It was disturbing to see two still somewhat villainous individuals getting along in any capacity; some would say that Tartarus must have frozen over. In fact that action was the very reason why a magic stealing centaur monster named Tirek couldn’t escape, because the entrance suddenly froze over after he had finally managed to distract Cerberus. Afterwards he was put back in his cell where he belonged. “I walked right into this one didn’t I?” It occurred to Cadence that she let Chrysalis have an opening, now they were all comparing their butts with each other. Even she was getting in on the comparisons, with her svelte shapely rear. That Luna was even sympathizing with the fact that Chrysalis had a flat rear was silly. Not to mention that they were all now comforting Discord about his lack of a butt, even Cadence was comforting him and she didn’t even want to do so! It left Cadence wondering why she couldn’t just stay angry with these ponies. - “I got a ticket to the gala!” Four slightly miserable ponies had been watching Rarity prance around happily, they were quite tired of her celebration as she had made thirteen dresses for herself over the last twelve hours. Current location, they were all in Caravel Boutique’s living space still docked with the Shining Jewel. Nobody wanted to be a downer to Rarity except Gilda, but Greta had kept her from approaching Rarity and wanted to let boss lady have her moment. Greta somewhat regretted that decision now as the moment just wouldn’t end for the mare, only now she wasn’t going to hold her grumpy friend back when she finally snapped. She would smile ruefully, in a perky manner at that, when Gilda did indeed finally snap. It was just a matter of time really, Gilda was quite patient when she wanted to be. “Great, we know, now shut up about it!” Knocking the pony out of her state of euphoria pleased Gilda to no end, seeing as Greta was going to let her do so now. It also caused the others to smile, as Rarity had finally stopped being happier than Greta was. Nobody minded Greta being constantly cheerful, but Rarity was positively annoying when she was deliriously happy. “You’ve been going on about it for a while there and you don’t even physically have the ticket in your hooves. You just have the promise of one and under the right circumstances that promise can be broken provided you do something big enough to warrant that cancellation.” “Besides Meowstress, we need to pick up some supplies and you have to personally peruse what we need to fill our new hold with. Quite frankly you are good at getting quality fabrics and the like with your eye for detail, but you’re missing one key problem here.” Hearing Opal mention a need for supplies and considering they just used quite a bit with Trap Bar’s crew, they had netted a bit of a profit aside from what Luna said they were receiving from Rarity’s breach gel patent. “Your parents and sister normally live on Equus. Your chances of running into them are pretty high Rarity, even if you are just going down there to buy supplies.” “Then why would I ever want to land in Ponyville?” Her celebration at successfully getting a ticket was put down harshly and she calmed down somewhat, she was still giddy about the opportunity though. “I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter where we land the Caravel Boutique. You and everyone who has ever set hoof on that planet know this one thing for a fact, that there are hardly things that can be called coincidences on this world thanks to magic that encompasses it. You know the words ‘fate’ and ‘destiny’ may come up; those two really could plan things in advance to make it so it is impossible to avoid your parents.” There was a long pause after Opal spoke her words. “Quite frankly even if we were to land in Saddle Arabia the chances of running into your parents is practically one in ten. Either something must be off with my estimates algorithm or I’m calculating this correctly. Avoiding your parents is going to be pretty hard to do if you go anywhere down there.” “Well now, avoiding my parents and not being saddled with Sweetie Belle again is going be a might bit difficult it would seem. I’d rather my dear little sister not wreck my new ship; I’ve yet to even have the chance to beautify it and it’s already in danger!” Despite her calm outwards appearance, Rarity was panicking beyond all reason in her own head. “Still, as you say, I have to go down there if we’re going to resupply with quality material. We’re in dire need of supplies to make EVA suits, impulse saddles, pinpoint pullers and even regular clothing, why I even just spent a lot of fabric on finishing off those dresses I completed as one of my choices to wear for the gala. I guess I will just have to take that chance. Now I know that I’m going, so who among you is going down there with me?” “I won’t…” Quietly answered Sassy, making them all turn to her for an explanation as to why she wouldn’t go. “I don’t think I can face my own parents yet, they live in Canterlot and I don’t want to incidentally run into either of them if the odds are that high to run into yours Rarity-sama. Especially not my father, I’m… I’m not quite ready yet to face him with the blinding hatred I have for men.” “I agree with that sentiment and will have to stay here with Sassy.” Nobody could say that Vera didn’t have her reasons; she was Sassy’s on board therapist and a crew calmer in general. She was also something akin to their fitness instructor, well at least she had advised several of Trap Bar’s crew on their fitness. “I’ll go.” They turned to Greta. “I just need a list of supplies to get from Gilda and I’ll pick up some things of my own then we’ll ship it up here with the Caravel Boutique, can you remotely control the boutique at that distance Opal? I’ll accompany Rarity at all times, so you don’t have to worry about a thing.” “What do you mean by that?” It made Opal suddenly curious as to what Greta was getting at. She was going with Rarity wasn’t she? “It’s kind of obvious, but AI’s can only inhabit one system at a time. While you can remotely control drones and ships from a system, you’re still stuck to that particular system unless you move to another one.” Now was Gilda’s time to point out to Opal something that she knew would cause the AI to freak out a little. “Basically you’re staying up here as Shining Jewels main source of security, having you here is what will keep the ship secure and untouched by anyone who would otherwise want to take from us or do our business harm. Which is why I’m staying, I’m running this hangar now and it is my job to work on its upkeep. Schedule my bio cast removal in the next twenty four hours will you Kitten?” By now everyone on the crew knew Opal was a rampant AI and didn’t talk about it because they didn’t want to upset her. In fact Opal dodges the issue wholeheartedly and was still in denial despite Vera’s efforts to help her come to terms with her sapience. The AI’s silence was a bit deafening in its scope as to how upset Opal might seem, Rarity’s protection was her primary concern first and foremost. She had been constantly watching out for her creator since she could first think for herself and was just a little evolving pile of code. “Opal… I know this may come as a shock to you, but please try to stay calm. You’re a big electronically crafted girl now; I raised you like I raised my little sister and you are practically my daughter. You can be on your own without my supervision.” Not knowing how to make sure nothing bad happened in the next few minutes, the lady that Rarity presented herself as decided to try and appease her AI’s sudden deafening silence. “Besides we won’t be out of contact, I have my data pad. Though control of drones is going to be hard from orbit, we’ll just use them for loading and offloading supplies to be ferried up by Caravel Boutique. We can start making orders to have the supplies delivered to the nearby spaceport in Manehatten, we’ll have to make several trips if we’re going to fill space on the Shining Jewel. I’ll personally be staying in Manehatten for a few days and I’m sorry if this upsets you Opal, since I want to take in the local couture and whatnot and then I’ll catch a train to Canterlot a week or so before the gala occurs to pick up my ticket and for Coco to get in her luncheon with Luna. The only thing I have left to ask is if Coco is going with us now or are you going to meet us in Canterlot later? Oh, my goodness I hadn’t thought of that!” “Thought of what Rarity?” Coco was thinking on whether or not she wanted to visit Manehatten, it would certainly bring back memories and it would be fun to walk around with Rarity and Greta. “Which of you is going to be my plus one, quite frankly I don’t think I’m going to be able to find a good…” Stallions were still a touchy issue and Rarity knew better than to bring up the fact that she might ask a stallion to escort her around Sassy. “Have a better companion when I go to the gala.” “Nice save, totally didn’t notice you pausing there because male hater would take offense or get upset at the idea of you dating.” Dryly commented Gilda as she lay down on her back and spread her wings out to get comfortable. “You don’t need to worry about my feelings on the matter Rarity, though I do appreciate the sentiments that you are ultimately taking my feelings into account in this discussion.” Nothing was more generous to Sassy than her good friend, one who tried to appease everyone and not step on any tails doing so. “I’m opting to not go to the gala, for the same reason previously stated. Plus I can still do training.” “I have the same reason as Sassy, prior arrangements to keep things together and all that.” Vera answered swiftly. “I’ll just add ditto and leave it at that. I’ll see what I can do around the ship when my cast finally comes off.” Gilda got up and looked to Rarity who smiled for a different reason as she had picked up on the subtle shift in her demeanor, she’d ask about it but she was busy working on a list of things she wanted Greta to get in the supply run. Most of it was sheets of metal or components to make either shield generators or energy weapons. “I’ve got a lot of ideas to work on.” “Okay so that leaves either Coco or Greta as my plus one. I’ll make wonderful dresses for the both of you; you can and will keep them of course. I will eventually see you wearing them when there are times for us to look fabulous.” Neither of the two Rarity addressed had any problem with that or any arguments against wearing dresses. Gilda might have been the only one against the idea of wearing a dress, but Rarity still considered how fetching she would look in one. “Just figure out between yourselves who will accompany me on my most amazing night out. Are you okay Opal? You’ve been quiet for a while darling, I still need you to announce the crews payment.” The word payment suddenly earned the attention of everyone other than Rarity; the only reason why they were getting to this now was because Rarity had been too busy freaking out about getting into the Grand Galloping Gala. “You better keep her safe when you go down there Greta; because goodness knows what an AI won’t do to you if you happen to upset one with my kind of skill set. In any case I think it’s time we get to another reason why we’re all gathered here.” After some thinking Opal decided to not be upset that Rarity was leaving her attached to the Shining Jewel’s systems, well she didn’t sound very upset anyway as she continued on. “Meowstress Rarity has recently got a big windfall, enough to pay everyone here what we owe them for services rendered. First paychecks everyone, check your accounts! You’ll find that your services have acquired a modest sum. Heck, Rarity is even paying me and I’ll just eventually put my money back into her account.” “Opal that money is for you to enjoy in any way shape or form you possibly can, you shouldn’t spend it all investing in me darling.” Here Rarity tried to think of something Opal would want. “You could save up and have a body built for yourself so that you’re not just a ship but a physical entity, you can buy stock in your favorite shows and you can even purchase things for yourself without my input.” Everyone pulled out a data pad and both Greta and Gilda looked at what Rarity was paying them. “Well you’ve certainly earned my loyalty more than five times over.” Gilda stated with a smile and a hint of amusement, before shooting Rarity a serious look. “You may be the boss lady of me, but don’t think that this means I’ll give up control of the hangar.” “I wouldn’t dare to dream of it dear.” The day Rarity wrested control of the hangar from Gilda would be the very same day that both of her engineers somehow got murdered. The two of them dying in accident was highly unlikely and would definitely be looked into considering what those two have survived thus far. Rarity was almost afraid she was hardly worthy of their friendship, but then that would be just her generous side speaking. “Threats aside, the boss lady pays quite well for us to do our best and I hope to meet up to and exceed those expectations. Most of my money is going into outfitting our hangar.” Greta was all cheer, though she noted Sassy was looking at her own data pad as well. “Hey, why the long face Sassy Pants? You should be happy! I know I am, Coco can I be the one to go to the gala or are you still up in the air about that?” “I’m a little surprised that I’m being paid as well.” Sassy muttered under her breath, it actually made her feel warm and cozy to be on Rarity’s payroll. She was swept up into a wing hug from Greta; she enjoyed the comforting and her new friends as well. “Rarity I swear you are way too generous for your own good.” It was odd for Coco to be a little upset that she was being paid so much, it made her feel like she was taking advantage of Rarity’s generosity when she obviously knew she wasn’t. She worked the hardest to earn her paycheck. “I’m still thinking on it Greta, but you can be the one to go to the gala with her. I’m not exactly good with crowds, especially not the ones Rarity wants to rub shoulders with.” “I’m just happy that my paycheck actually has my name on it.” It was Vera’s only response to checking her combined account with her sisters. She really wanted to visit them sometime soon to see how they were doing. “Guess I’m your gala gal Rarity; get me a gallant gown ready to go! After we’ve gotten some sleep in and grabbed some supplies to make one of course.” Letting out a yawn Greta put her talons over her mouth and that suddenly caused everyone else to start yawning, they had all been awake for a little more than eighteen hours and getting some sleep would be good for them. “Right then, we finally have everything planned out!” Rarity was finally happy to get all that out of the way. “Prepare for bed and tomorrow we set up a supply run. Oh wait, Coco, are you going to be with us in Manehatten or are you going to meet us in Canterlot?” “I’ll go with you and Greta to Manehatten. It could be nice to walk around and enjoy the city for a bit, I think we will all need shore leave and fresh air every once in a while.” Having made her decision Coco set off to prepare for bed, but not before one last voice sounded out. “Are you saying my innards smell Coco? Why I am positively offended!” The laughter that followed Opal’s words made the camaraderie seem more real to everyone, they were all friends and they could all work together. Not everything was going to be all sunshine and rainbows though, but they were becoming a tightly bonded group each with their own little problems that could crop up at any time. - Rarity finished the last stroke of her mane and smiled at the sight before her; she turned and walked towards the exit of the Caravel Boutique. Upon exiting she walked off the ship followed by Coco and Greta, they landed in Manehatten in the early morning and the smells of city wafted up their nostrils the second they did. “Forget what I said about fresh air Opal, recycled air might have smelled better.”Coco’s nose scrunched up at the smoggy morning they decided to touch down upon, the smell wasn’t too bad and they were in the midst of a city. “Maybe we can take a visit to the local park; it would be nice to relax around there.” “I wouldn’t mind that personally, we’ll probably do that once I’m done picking stuff out from the junkyard.” Even Greta was open to suggestions about seeing the park, it had been a while since she had touched down on a planet and could use some scenery. “Well I’m off to go do my shopping, don’t you two get into any trouble without me. Don’t forget to have a little fun boss lady; you have a stable source of income now.” After that Greta took off to go do her shopping with lists from Coco, Gilda and Sassy for their various needs. Rarity turned to Coco and nodded to her as the two set out on their own to find what they were looking for, quality some fabrics would be the first stop. - In Canterlot later that night something wasn’t right, Chrysalis’s changeling informants were on the prowl and so was someone else hiding in the shadows of the rooftops watching a meeting between three ponies. The changeling was in a particularly good spot and nobody could detect him, as long as they didn’t search with a spell or use a life sign scanner the changeling would get away with his eavesdropping. “So did you get the goods?” A unicorn that came off as a gangster spoke up, his henchmen weren’t very friendly looking either. “Yeah we got the stuff; all we have to do is make trouble for any local law enforcement and draw them away from the city when the time is right.” The Pegasus talking to the unicorn looked as thuggish as the quiet hulking earth pony brute next to him. “They certainly held up their end of the deal. The question is, how are we supposed to get the samurai forces out of the city for the attack? Some of them samurai types are real tough stuff; we’d need some real firepower to bring even one of the well trained ones down.” “Excellent work boys, Chunk, take the stuff back to the hideout I'll bring up the rear to make sure nobody follows you. Don’t worry your small brains about the samurai, that problem will be settled soon enough. There are already some other people planning on how to deal with that. I care not whether Canterlot falls or stands; I’ve already made my money and will be leaving town before things get hot.” The unicorn continued on as he glanced around slightly looking out for anyone who might be listening in. “I may not know much about the organization, but they are paying us greatly to achieve their small time goals while they quietly build up. Let’s move our conversation elsewhere, I believe we are being watched and I don’t want a certain Pegasus to get wind of this. The boss would be displeased if she appeared anywhere near here if you got loose lips, we also don’t want any witnesses and don’t talk about nothing. Speaking of things getting hot, take care of our watcher Back Draft. Get back to the hideout after you’re done and be careful of what you say because I’ve heard there are ears open everywhere and it’s making me paranoid. Don’t be followed by anyone, leave no body.” Two of the ponies ran off and the third took to the air to look around the rooftops with narrowed eyes. On one of the rooftops the Back’s eyes slowly crossed, the changeling that had been watching them tensed and stayed absolutely still. The changelings disguise blended in perfectly with his surroundings and he hoped he hadn’t made a mistake in staying still. The dark ash colored Pegasus with the short red mane called Back Draft smiled maliciously and pulled out a lighter with one of his hooves. A figure wearing a long cape, a mauve and dark blue costume, a wide brimmed hat and face covering mask suddenly broke from cover to start leaping away and across several rooftops. Back Draft flicked the lighter with his other hoof and it lit up with a tiny flame, his evil grin spelled trouble as with a tremendous flap of his wings a wall of fire erupted from him. It was sent speeding after the costumed figure that dove off the rooftops with the flames licking at their cape from the sudden explosion of heat when Back flapped his wings once more making his attack explode. Back Draft took off after the costumed figure immediately; he wouldn’t let them get away from him or his ability to leave no bodies behind. Taking a moment to catch his breath from seeing what would have happened had he moved Plentiful Thorax had to get this information to Chrysalis immediately. He quietly set off at a slow pace trying not to attract any attention. Something was definitely going down and it was dangerous to their continued citizenship if the princesses were caught unaware. Whoever that other figure was, they had to fend for themselves even if Thorax wanted to help them. He was the friendliest changeling ever seen, but he was not big on action packed heroics. - The costumed figure rolled as soon as they hit the ground, the drag from their cape slowing their fall enough so that it didn’t hurt nearly as much as it should have. The fact that the costume was padded helped in that respect. Looking up the figure ducked around the corner as a stream of fire swept towards them, thankfully the on top of the costume being padded and designed with a cape that could allow for gliding, it was also fire and heat resistant. What the costume was not however was comfortable, the wearer was sweating bullets from being so close to the heat the Pegasus named Back Draft was directing in their direction. The costume figure set out into the streets of the lower district at a gallop trying to lose the Pegasus, there weren’t many ponies out this late. Things were starting to heat up literally as the costumed figure dodged several fireballs and ducked around another corner into an alleyway as several bricks behind them became scorched black from the heat. Back Draft flew around the corner and was prepared to launch another exploding fireball only he stopped when he didn’t see the figure running down the alleyway. He stayed aloft and kept watch, he wasn’t going to lose his prey now. The alleyway was seemingly empty and it was a dead end, he aimed for the nearest hiding spot and decided to cook the intruder alive. The dumpster or the trash can were the only places he could see as being the place where his prey was hiding. He lowered his flying height so that he was close enough to blast both the hiding places with enough heat to trap the pony in them so that they would slowly suffocate. Only he didn’t get a chance when his lighter was knocked from his hooves by a fast flying rock and with a mighty leap the masked figure tackled him out of the air from above. Back Draft was painfully slammed to the ground back first where a sickening snapping sound was heard. This dazed Back Draft badly enough that he couldn’t fight back. The masked figure started pummeling Back Draft’s face with blow after blow with both hooves until his face was swollen black and blue leaving him unconscious. The masked figure looked about and then slowly dragged Back Draft out of the alleyway; he would later be found by the royal guard strung up with broken wings to be taken in for questioning. Back Draft was a notorious and well known pyromaniac, the royal guards were glad to finally have him in custody. Author's Note Add flour and bake at four hundred degrees until the plot thickens.
-32-“Well this is serious…” Chrysalis started off calmly with Plentiful Thorax in front of her at the changeling embassy portion of the castle. “We have to do something about this secret plot.” Plentiful Thorax once again underestimated the queen’s resolve; then again he should have seen what was coming given what he said. “Someone is planning something big for Canterlot!” “I know, the only secret plot around here should be what I plan to do to make my butt a better place to peruse! Can you imagine what their butts are like?” Because Chrysalis obviously had her priorities straight when there was a shady organization threatening both her people and Equestria as a whole. She even had a look of horror on her face. “Why their butts might even be much better than mine, I’m not coming in last place next to Discord if that’s the case!” “Are you seriously still going on about that butt of the year thing?” The flat tone Thorax took with his queen didn’t anger her, he was thankful that she had mellowed out since becoming friends with the princesses. “I think we have more important things to worry about.” “My ass is something important to worry about! I mean the rest of my body is a complete and beautiful work of art, but I can’t attract mares or stallions for crap without a good caboose sans disguising myself to look like I have one Mr. ‘I transform into rocks every day and still somehow get laid every other week without trying’. You’re almost as bad as Boulder Bottom who ran off with that Maud Pie mare to live with her and her family in that asteroid field run by the Pie In The Sky Mining Company; aside from you he was our best rock disguise artist! That and I assume the shadowy organization you are talking about will eventually make an assassination attempt against me. It’s just the same cloak and dagger crap we’ve been doing our entire lives as changelings Thorax, it’s nothing to really concern ourselves with.” Chrysalis then narrowed her eyes at Thorax. “Then again you’re one to talk about important things, you’ve got a nice butt and you don’t have to worry about sleeping with ponies as you’re the friendliest changeling around according to the news. And I mean you really get ‘around’, you are popular with both mares and stallions all because you have a nice butt.” “Can we stick to business and stop talking about my butt please? Also to be fair I’m not getting laid on purpose, every single one of those ponies jumped me and wanted to do really kinky things that I’d rather not have been a part of in the first place. Apparently there’s a double standard when it’s pony on changeling.” One would assume that changelings like Thorax were as bad as Chrysalis was, nope the changeling queen was the only real evil among changelings and they considered her ways absolutely necessary as she’s done a bang up job so far. Also the fact that Thorax didn’t like kinky things threw the common thought that changelings were highly promiscuous out the window, in fact changelings actually preferred more emotionally built up romantic relationships. A real relationship for a changeling was like being served a constant ten star meal at a five star restaurant and five stars being the maximum value the rating system normally went to. “I’m still a little unnerved that Cadence is planning a herd for me in one of her romance files. I still don’t understand how you and she came to an understanding after you tried to marry her by force and subterfuge, which leaves me wondering why I found some of your cliff notes that basically stated that you agreed to let Cadence handle my love life?” “Sure we can’t talk about the changeling with the gorgeous and interesting butt to discuss the more boring things I’ve likely already figured out.” If you were Chrysalis you’d be grumbling about this too, on the other hoof she decided to get to the task at hoof and actually humor thorax’s freshly given intelligence. Or lack thereof as the minute she heard Back Draft’s name her mind made several connections before Thorax could even finish giving his spiel. “Let’s see, Back Draft was recently incarcerated. So whoever the pony they are calling ‘Mare-Do-Well’ happens to be has obviously survived the fight with him. Quite frankly they didn’t know if it was a mare or not, but your description is telling that it is indeed a mare. She has a large cape, mask, costume and wide brimmed hat to hide her race… heck she could even be one of us acting as a super hero… wouldn’t put it past Ruby District to be here without checking in first. On that note, let me get out the files while you bumble about and maybe spout off something worthwhile. Also was that mare’s rear end any good? I need you to describe it to me in detail.” “Okay, I think I can see why we made you queen now.” Seriously Thorax could see that the queen was completely off her rocker about the butt thing and the blasé attitude she had about even the remotest chance of a possible attempt on her life irked him. It did make some sort of sense considering that nobody has been successful at outright killing Chrysalis and or leaving a permanent injury she couldn’t heal from yet. The queen was about as immortal as Luna and Celestia were, in the sense that she wasn’t going to die of old age as long as she stayed well fed. Regular changelings could only live as long as normal ponies do, this made the similarities between them and ponies all the more noticeable. “You’re so certifiably nuts, that nobody in their right mind would want to steal your title from you and you’ve made yourself so indispensable that it’s impossible to depose you unless you wanted to be. “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong Thorax. It’s that I’m so hyper competent that I’m indispensible, not because of the fact that I am what would be a psychiatrists worst nightmare to deal with. Besides what would a pony psychiatrist know or understand about changelings anyway? I’ve driven more shrinks insane than I care to list off because apparently Celestia thinks that I might have a problem. Aside from that I have yet to get a knife in the back that I can’t turn back on my enemies given some time to pull it out covered in my own spinal fluids. Actually had to do that once, wasn’t very pleasant for the guy doing the stabbing in the end when I finally figured out that it wasn’t an open offer for sex. He made so many innuendos possible too, I thought we really had something there from the minute I met him when he dropped from the ceiling rafters. Why I remember him shouting, ‘why won’t you die you unholy abomination’? It was quite frankly the nicest assassination attempt that day and I found his passion for wanting me dead really endearing.” Not that Chrysalis would deny that she was insane in finding death threats to be something of a turn on for her; then again most things were a turn on for her. She was going to prove herself to her subordinate that would become her proxy swiftly and without pause by just boring him with all the facts as she pulled the files from the cabinet. She tossed several files in front of Thorax for him to look over as she spoke. “I’ll just drop the truth on you now, ‘Mare-Do-Well’ is actually just a placeholder name the newspapers have for her. The mare you saw is actually ‘The Mauve Mare-auder’ or at least the next one in line; the original was a very real pony hero. That she’s here means she’s the real descendant of the original Mauve Mare-auder that the Power Pony comics became based off of, I know this because Ruby District is the fake Mare-rauder personally working in Saddle Arabia right now keeping the legend alive and the newest real one was working in Manehatten a little less than a year ago before going silent. The real one is definitely not a changeling or else I would know about it. The mention of not wanting a Pegasus finding out about this situation by the unicorn criminal Mind Field means that they were likely talking about Daring Do, also known as Arcane Keeper Yearling an archaeologist bent on protecting the world from apocalyptic things Celestia’s ancestors probably left lying around protected by traps in similarly designed temples across the planet. What you witnessed is a local Cabelleron Cabal gang getting some suspicious goods from a shadowy organization that we’ve got practically no knowledge on with big plans. This is what Celestia has me looking out for and is paying me very well to do so and wants me at the gala. She thinks someone’s trying to steal a rug from her, though payment is pending I will bring the knowledge that they are trying to get the top quality samurai out of Canterlot so they can launch an assault of some kind. The Royal Guard is crap at anything other than policing so this is of mild interest. Quite frankly I’m surprised we don’t know more about this shadow organization or have yet to intercept their communications, they must really be changeling proofing everything if their movements haven’t been caught by us yet. This is the map of locations I want changelings to be in, all dark and decrepit places evil organizations usually end up having meetings at.” A map was slid over to Thorax with a lot of recently marked red X’s pointing out places Chrysalis wanted Changelings to investigate, half the places were of noble or aristocratic homes in the upper districts near the castle and the others were abandoned warehouses and the like where a noble wouldn’t be caught dead near in the lower districts without a secretive reason. The almost untouched districts were all for middle class ponies or beings, mostly people who wouldn’t be suspicious of any wrong doing whatsoever. “I… can’t actually say that I’m not impressed with hearing all this and the map has really good coverage. Wait, we have a changeling acting as a mythical pony hero in Saddle Arabia? Why?” Thorax was going to quickly find out that nobody did confusion tactics better than Chrysalis, she was a confusion tactic all her own and nobody could tell if she was actively obfuscating anything on purpose anymore. He rapidly shook his head to get things back on track. “No, that’s not important; you completely ignored the question as to why I found your notes on a file that belonged to Cadence about me specifically?” “Oh, now you want to talk about yourself and your glorious buttocks. Well make up your own damn mind already! Do we talk about you or this shadowy organization encroaching upon Canterlot? I vote for the former just knowing you’re going to bore me to death with the latter.” After a moment of watching the poor changeling come to understand the kind of conversation they were having, Chrysalis smiled at causing him such mental pain and suffering. “You might want to get that eye checked out; it’s kind of twitching badly. The Mauve Mare-rauder we have in Saddle Arabia is humorously enough a changeling with a masculine orientation and is quite a sexy voiced one at that. I love being queen of a primarily hermaphroditic race that has a hoof in many pies… in one case literally with Boulder Bottom being one of the few changelings we have out in space. I can’t wait to leave you in charge so I can go up into space myself.” Plentiful Thorax just sat there with his right eye twitching violently; he had two options here knowing the queen. One was to ask about Cadence’s file on him specifically where Chrysalis would continue to talk about how his butt attracts ponies, the other would be to discuss what he felt to be clearly more important matters that Chrysalis found particularly uninteresting. He knew Chrysalis was evil, but did she really have to mess with him like this? Yes, he decided, yes she did because that’s who she was as his jerk of a queen. “Okay, let’s talk about my butt and Cadence’s file on me.” Concisely stated Thorax clearly upset about it, Chrysalis’s broad smile was the end result of his decision. He picked his poison; it was still surprisingly better than listening to the queen whine about how boring he was being. - Manehatten was a nice place; currently waking up in a nice little corner street hotel room in the morning was Rarity. After a long day of ferrying supplies up to Shining Jewel, she, Coco and Greta got a single room for the night where she slightly regretted being a bit of a cheapskate. They weren’t paying for the hangar space at the local space port for the Caravel Boutique and were leaving it docked with Shining Jewel up in space. They probably should have paid for the docking space, but it was far more expensive than the hotel they stayed the night at. Besides that, the hotel had free international breakfast bar Rarity wanted to try. Upon waking up in the hotels bed Rarity found that she couldn’t move, the reason why she couldn’t move was quickly discovered when she removed her sleeping mask using her magic and turned her head to the figure currently snuggled up against her. Greta was basically for all intents and purposes spooning her and she had the right to be slightly upset with the passive sexual predator. “Greta, please be a dear and wake up.” Rarity shifted about in Greta’s arms as the griffon snuggled her, her resistance quickly got the griffon to quickly wake up and blinking. “Huh, boss lady… what’s the matter?” A sleepy Greta said not taking into account her current position, with a wing wrapped tightly around Rarity’s torso. “I would be remiss in hurting you in such a state where you can’t recognize your actions, but you are currently spooning me and I would like it if you were to let go of me now.” Speaking in an even tone that brooked no argument, Rarity hoped that she had gotten through to the obviously gay griffons brain. Greta froze and her eyes widened, she was at Rarity’s back and her beak was currently sniffing Rarity’s hair. It didn’t help that Rarity smelled nice nor did it help that she was cuddly and soft like a plush toy. However Greta quickly calmed down and took in a deep breath. “I’m sorry, but could you possibly take care of your tail first? I think it’s wrapped around my waist.” A bit of shifting from the pony later and Greta saw Rarity give her a stern look. “Besides we’re still dry and I’m pretty sure nothing bad happened… though I feel this rather odd pinch in my flank.” “My tail is not wrapped around your waist; it’s between my legs like it always is when I sleep.” The reason for Rarity’s calmness was so that they didn’t incidentally wake up Coco who was supposedly on the couch. “So you must be mistaken about me being an issue, but I know for a fact that your wing and talons are wrapped currently wrapped around me at the moment and I would appreciate it if you let me go now. I need to use the bathroom to freshen up for the day.” “Right right, but then why do I feel like I have something completely wrapped around my waist then?” Hearing Greta question their current circumstance Rarity rolled her eyes and quickly lit her horn to pull the covers off them. “Well now, that’s kind of awkward and it feels it too. I am so very sorry about this boss lady and I apologize for the current situation, but in my defense I happen to have chronic snuggling problems and I’m relatively used to getting my ass kicked out of bed by Gilda.” “Indeed and duly noted, now if you will let me go so that I can relieve myself darling?” The claws and one wing were instantly off of Rarity as if the griffon had been scalded with hot water. She rolled out of bed, flicked her messily curled tail out and made for the bathroom to freshen up. She was leaving behind a hopeless looking Greta, but before she closed the door she had one last thing to say. “Thank you Greta, oh and don’t do anything too sudden or untoward to my friend. I’m sure this is as embarrassing for Coco as it is for you.” What was Greta’s current situation? She had Coco drooling on her butt with her teeth biting into her flank; Coco’s right hoof was uncomfortably close to something Greta would rather not have the pony touch on the inside of her thighs because she didn’t quite like Coco in that way. Then there’s the final fact that her other wing was being used as a blanket by Coco which was held in place by aforementioned right hoof, the left hoof was calmly twitching up and down Greta’s back underneath her awkwardly bent wing. - The three sat at breakfast quietly, Coco’s face was still red and Greta was looking anywhere but at the two mares. “If this is how we’re doing and what we’re starting our day on, then I wonder how the others are handling their wake up call?” Taking a bit of cinnamon fried toast into her magic, Rarity nibbled at it lightly in a delicate while the other two slowly ate their food. There was a lot of tension around them. - “Don’t tell anyone this, but I think I actually might miss waking up to Greta being right next to me to pound the living daylights out of.” Gilda stayed still as her bio cast removal was in progress and she was having a psychiatric session with Vera Blossom and Sassy at the same time. “It’s almost become second nature to me by now.” “Almost perfectly understandable, though I’m a little concerned as to why you won’t give her at least a date.” Vera was hold her other arm and Sassy’s other hoof. “She seems rather smitten with you and the time of day seems to go a long way for her.” “Because she has yet to actually ask me on a date properly, it’s taking her a while to actually figure that out.” Here Gilda looked a little bit amused. “I’ve made some bet with a few guys in Griffonstone I can collect on if she does eventually indeed get the idea in her head to do so the right way.” “Well that kind of explains something about your relationship.” Sassy intoned softly before bursting out into a fit of soft giggles. “So what’s on the agenda today aside from me watching my Lion Heart show, by the way Lion Heart is actually the guy’s name Vera.” For the record, yes Opal had a CAT pointing at Vera at this very moment. “You’re actually going to watch that stuff with her?” Questioned Gilda to Vera with a raised brow, she didn’t particularly care for the show and would soon be busy building things that nobody could possibly even dream of. Hopefully she would never make a mistake in the design process, which meant she might have to make a request to Rarity to find a test pilot to add on as a crew member. “Yes, the things currently going on between the actors Trixie and Sunset are rather intriguing. I think Trixie might even mean half the things she says to Sunset while they are acting in the more romantic scenes, it was quite hard to watch her try to dismiss their budding affections. I mean the expression on her face and her inability to say she doesn’t like Sunset in costume is quite telling.” After a moment to pause and think on it Vera added. “Isn’t that show shot on this planet?” “Why yes it is, are you suggesting we do a few orbital flyby pictures? They’re doing an outdoor episode today and are using a live manticore for one of the scenes.” Both Opal and Vera smiled at the idea. “Hey at least give me some time to send a message to Rarity while we’re still in range, they are doing that scene on the other side of the planet for crying out loud!” How would Gilda know that if she didn’t watch the show? They all gave her a curious look. “Greta watches it and ships the characters damn near constantly.” - “I’m sure they’re doing perfectly fine and are not getting into any sort of trouble.” Rarity finally said after finishing off her toast. “At least I hope Opal isn’t causing any trouble, whether they know it or not foal sitting Opal is just as much a fulltime job as was doing so with my little sister. I suppose we should adjourn to the park given we didn’t get much of an opportunity yesterday with Mr. Bar checking our cargo manifesto near constantly.” “Yeah, that was a little strange.” Coco finally dropped from red faced to light pink. “What was he expecting to find?” “Well it is kind of his job to make sure contraband isn’t moving around right?” Greta was happy that Rarity wasn’t feeling to awkward about being snuggled, Coco on the other talon was really quite embarrassed to wake up to the taste of griffon and the comment that she tasted like chicken didn’t help in the manner either. How would Coco even know what that tasted like anyway? It left Greta slightly afraid of the earth pony and she was the actual meat eater here. Well technically there were certain types of meat she wouldn’t eat, oh great she now felt her cheeks heating up again. “Please tell me you’re not thinking something inappropriate right now.” Poor Coco, her hopes were quickly dashed when Greta quickly dug into her fried potato pancake with a light drizzling of ketchup and didn’t meet her big soulful eyes. “Right then, this is just getting terribly awkward. Can we all agree that how we woke up, while interesting, wasn’t the worst of positions we could have been in.” It was up to Rarity to try and make things less awkward between all of them. “Speak for yourself Rarity; you weren’t almost… touching a friend inappropriately.” Finished Coco in a more childish manner, but it was a nice way to put it. “Yes, well, I was kind of expecting Greta to be the one doing that. So color me surprised that it was you that was close to doing that Coco darling. Now please get over it!” The tone was that of finality as Rarity wanted them to get over it and to move on with their lives. What happened had happened innocently enough for her tastes and nothing untoward happened at all aside from the hickey embedded in Greta’s rear. “If could get ourselves back on track and on schedule today, then let us never speak of this again. We have a full day ahead of us to enjoy the park and tomorrow we’ll catch a train to Canterlot. I also do need to work on your gown Greta, so we’ll spend the latter half of the day on making you look exquisite and maybe it’ll help you with Gilda if she sees you in it. I also promised Coco a dress and I always make good on my promises eventually.” - The park was rather nice this time of day and ponies enjoyed parks far more often than any other species alive, whether it be rolling around in the grass or smelling the flowers they enjoyed life in a grassy meadow and there was a show going on today. Currently the magician was being watched by Rarity and friends as she was in the midst of practicing her act. “Hello one and all, I am Trapeze Star the magician acrobat! And this is my partner Bernard Slashuhrough, my bunny companion. I will perform and amaze you today as I am a one of a kind act! Surely you’ve all noticed I am an Earth Pony, as such I would like someone from the audience to come up and inspect my top hat.” Pulling her hat off her blue haired head with said hair done up three consecutive buns and a following flourish she looked out to the crowd with her yellowish fur gleaming brightly. Her tail was equally curled up in a bun and the only thing missing was a decent costume for the hoof standing mare with blue stars above a trapeze marking her flanks. “Um, excuse me, but isn’t that a Lagotorphin?” The gray rabbit standing on the magicians head suddenly snapped his gaze to Rarity’s as he hopped off and gave Trapeze an upset look. “… huh… well that would explain why the latter half of his name sounds violent when he wrote it down for me. That and rabbits are not usually intelligent enough to write in the first place.” Trapeze rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “No matter, he still works for carrots and he’s been my rather stalwart companion. I’ll just have to start getting fish jerky for him as well, would you like to come up on stage Ms.?” “Belle, Rarity Belle, it is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Star, even if your audience isn’t particularly big at the moment.” It looked like Rarity made a new friend as she came up on stage to have the hat thrust into her hooves, she checked it over and didn’t see anything off with the hat and she knew hats. “I happen to be a fashion designer and might I say that this top hat is quite flashy, but there doesn’t seem to be a costume to go with it.” “We’re a work in progress Ms Belle and I really like my purple top hat with the pink ribbon. Maybe we could even do some business later.” The mare stated simply, Trapeze then coughed and reached deeply into the hat to pull out a deck of cards that hadn’t been in there a moment ago. She started to shuffle them and perform acrobatic flips and card juggling while doing so. It earned her some stomps of applause; she quickly finished it off coming out of a forward somersault into a standing position fanning out the cards before Rarity. “Pick a card my fair lady, any card at all and I will simply amaze you!” Rarity picked out a card and it was the queen of diamonds, she smiled a little at that. “Now I will hand the deck off to my assistant, remember not to look through the cards this time Bernard.” Trapeze got a few chuckles for the comment as the alien rabbit started to do just that. “Make sure you remember your card and show it to the crowd, but neither me nor Bernard. Now, if you would put it in the hat with the face of it pointing downwards.” Rarity did so, and then Trapeze took the deck back from Bernard and threw it haphazardly into the hat and covered the brim with one hoof and started to violently shake it. She took the back hat back from Rarity and placed Bernard in the hat; she quickly flipped that hat over and slapped it to the stage making sure none of the cards came out from under it. The next thing she did was walk off the stage much to Rarity’s confusion. A few seconds later Bernard came hopping onto the stage looking about in panicked, much to the crowd’s confusion and he looked under the hat. Trapeze poked her head out of the hat. “Not yet Bernard, I’m still trying to find the card, but I think this might be it. Give me a minute if it isn’t right.” She passed a card to the rabbit and pulled her head back into the hat, the crowd was quite stunned and amazed. The rabbit showed the card to Rarity. “No I don’t believe that was my card, though it is a queen of diamonds.” In fact the diamonds had been quite clearly red on the card she chose. “The color wasn’t black diamonds.” “Oh, so that’s why all these other cards are red.” Slowly two rear hooves pushed downwards out of the hat and it slowly rose up as Trapeze wiggled her way out of it until it was up on her head like it had originally been. She stepped away from a pile of queen of diamonds that were all red. “Here I thought it would have been the odd one out.” “Why that’s quite simply amazing.” This was Rarity’s only response as everyone crowded around the pile of cards that Trapeze had stepped off of and started sifting through all of the cards. “Not really, I lost the queen of diamonds you pulled from my deck. I guess I’ll just have to try harder to find it later then.” Even then there was a smug grin on Trapeze’s face; she couldn’t have even possibly known what card Rarity had pulled from the deck. After a minute she frowned looking at all the cards the crowd was sifting through. “I think may have also lost my deck too along the way in the performance, oh well! I’ll just buy a new one. Who’s ever heard of a deck with a black queen of diamonds that has fifty one red sisters anyway?” Author's Note Poor, poor Thorax, the queen is completely competent. How else does she manage to kidnap the Crystal Empire and Canterlots Royal Family, much less the elements of harmony out from under everyone's noses? Well at least her plans are competent, otherwise she isn't personally competent herself.
-33-The gala gown in progress would be one of Rarity’s finest works, now if only it didn’t need the few green colored stripes that matched the coloration around Greta’s eyes and neck. The white went well with her head feathers and the dress was looking really nice on the griffon, proving that Rarity could be a genius at this stuff. Rarity was thinking she could do something about matching the rest of Greta’s body to the dress, maybe a ruffle or two? The fashion conscious mare still had to make the gown work with Greta’s wings so that it didn’t weigh her down. Taking that into account the fashion master pony that was Rarity could put some of Greta’s more reddish colors around the neck wings and edge of the skirt, as in this case less was probably more and she could accentuate the griffon’s lithe form. Rarity was going to take Greta from being the grease stained, repair expert and welder jockey that she was and turn her into a beautiful lady hen with an exquisite dress that could turn heads of even the snootiest of ponies. It was what Rarity Belle did best. Working alongside Rarity was Coco who was happily sewing the main part of the dress with a sweet smile, happily humming away as she worked. Standing off to the side were Bernard and Trapeze the pair that put on a magicians act, the Lagotorphin was ripping into the fish jerky his partner recently bought him and he was absolutely enjoying it much to Trapeze’s weak smile. It had been a while since Bernard had gotten meat, he just really liked carrots when it came to working with his companion and now that meat was added to the menu he figured his diet would be all the better. They were watching the dress in progress and Rarity was talking to Trapeze whenever she had a question. “Oh I’d definitely go for something eye catching like sequins if you wanted to go the flashy route or maybe something just made from a shiny material like your hat which would be quicker and easier. Also it would definitely be less of a mess and hassle to clean; sequins can go everywhere if it’s not done right. I’m not saying that I can’t do that, but it’ll be you that will have to deal with it when it comes to upkeep. So a magician’s suit in your hats color I assume?” Rarity would always say that she could cater to anyone’s needs and she was doing well with Greta so far, the griffon had no complaints about the gown and it didn’t look like it was sitting in an uncomfortable manner. “Yes, I would like that; maybe something more to a stallion design like a suit and bow tie. It’ll fit with the theme I’m going for, but it’ll need to be part acrobatic suit meaning no drag.” Trapeze was working with Rarity on this and she could say she saw the quality in the clothing Rarity was crafting for her crew member. Strange friends Ms. Belle had, but they were just as friendly as the mare herself presented and Trapeze was paying for her services. “You see, I specialize in acrobatics, contortions and escape artistry. So you’ll have to make it so it doesn’t get in the way of my legs or hooves, I prefer the ability to function and I don’t want my limbs to be restrained in any given way by what I’m wearing. Leotards are more my speed than anything.” “I’ll draw up several designs for it after I’m finished with Greta here, then you can pick the one you like as I’ve got several in mind that will look good and I’m sure you’ll like them.” Turning to her friend Rarity had wondered why she wanted to go to the gala; it was the question as to why Greta of all her crew members that wanted to be her plus one. “So why did you want to go the Gala with me Greta?” “Wait, that’s what that dress is for? I thought she was marrying someone!” Trapeze’s outburst caused Bernard to slap her in the back of the head and she gave her friend a slight glare before turning back to them with a curious look. Greta blushed and looked very shy at the moment, probably thinking about marrying Gilda in a dress made by the boss lady and the image was becoming that much harder to ignore as the seconds passed by before Coco decided to speak up, she passed her needle off to Rarity as she did so. “Well that’s not as amazing as getting a lunch with Princess Luna before the gala, well that and a hug and a face to face apology. Wings so fluffy…” Shaking her head Coco blushed and looked away from everyone, until she could at least get her blush to die down some. “I wonder if lunch includes my friends… she never did say not to bring you guys. In any case Rarity is going to pick her ticket up from Luna as the princess kind of owes Rarity one to the Grand Galloping Gala.” Rarity noticed that Coco had a wing fetish, because why else would Coco blush so hard about it, leading her need to find a Pegasus or something like a reckless daredevil for Gilda’s request of a test pilot. Heck she needed a lot more than a test pilot to crew Shining Jewel. Mostly it was out of the fact that she thought that Coco deserved a good relationship and would be looking around for a Pegasus that didn’t have anywhere to be or an important job already, which means someone their age, not military and has no other arrangements in life. “So when are you guys going to Canterlot, I was wondering if me and Bernard can join you for that lunch? We don’t exactly have a venue or even a manager at the moment. All we have is our tricks, some money and a travel bag on us.” Trapeze was slapped by Bernard and he glared at her this time as he waved to the other three in the room. “Yeah you’re right Bernard, sorry if I’m asking a little bit too much of you.” “Not at all dear, but if you’re going to be coming with us you’ll have to pay for your own train ticket.” It would let Rarity get to know this amazing earth pony better if she decided to come with them; she was a good stage magician and an excellent acrobat. Otherwise Rarity wasn’t going to be too generous; she had her crew to worry about and the expenses therein. She was now quite aware that her generous actions might have unintended consequences when it came to the people she was working with. “Finally, something you’re deciding to be the slightest bit selfish about!” Was Coco’s outburst, Rarity was way too giving and nice at times. Coco had a hard time trying to tell Rarity to her face that she was quite generous outside her small time tendencies for wanting shiny things. For once Coco could relax in the thought that Rarity’s generosity had a limit… even if it was a very small one because she was still offering to let Trapeze come to their luncheon. “Well not counting gems and jewels that are not claimed by anyone. Those you’d fight for tooth and nail, but then you’d probably end up giving away half of that selflessly to a good cause.” - Chrysalis stood before Celestia and there was a concerned look on the princess’s face at this moment, as the queen had delivered to her some rather boring news. What was concerning Celestia was that Chrysalis hadn’t cracked a single innuendo the entire time she gave her report, shadowy organizations that tried to usurp Celestia weren’t news to her as they were a dime a dozen with at least fifty years between every uprising of some sort. Half of said uprisings usually never got anywhere, but Celestia would take the threat presented to her capital city very seriously and have the guards on the lookout for the local Caballeron Cabal gang. Since they had Back Draft already the catching the rest shouldn’t be too hard as they are less likely to be lethal in their actions. Still someone was making big plans and they’d best be prepared for the worst possible scenario. “Is that all you have to say Chrysalis? I was expecting you to tell me a hilarious anecdote about knowing a changeling named Deep Throat at least.” Celestia chuckled at the thought. “Hey, I’ll have you know that it’s a perfectly normal changeling name!” Deep Throat the feminine airily voiced changeling with the bright amethyst colored eyes squeaked when she noticed her queen was giving her a glare. “Excuse me for breaking cover like that my queen, I just can’t stand by and let people think my name is funny for some reason.” “Seriously Deep Throat, I give you one job and you blow it.” This was the most ridiculous straight faced reply Chrysalis could have given to her changeling. “Right, you get back to training in skulking and how not to be seen! You obviously need it. Maybe you should also take a course on how not to be heard to while you are at it.” “Deep Throat…. blowing the job… that’s just… ” Celestia tried to hold in her laughter, but she could and let out a gale of it afterwards confusing both the changeling that had come out from behind her throne and the changeling queen. “Oh my goodness it’s like you planned for that, that’s what this conversation was missing!” “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Deep Throat is still a trainee in stealth operations and should know better than to break cover.” Chrysalis stopped to glare at the changeling again, who in turn tried to give her the big innocent puppy eyes. “Well at least you’re good at mimicking voices perfectly. Remember to tell the next skulking trainee to report for duty Deep; I believe tomorrow its Hard Throb’s turn.” For some reason that caused Celestia to laugh all that much harder, causing both the changelings to glare at her. If Chrysalis remembered right, Hard Throb was the accident prone changeling who specialized in loud if highly painful looking distractions and was generally covered in a layer of bruises. Even when Hard was still a little larva he was covered in bruises, which was rather hard to do since changeling larva are always covered in soft cushioning substances that prevented such injuries exactly like the ones the walking callus always had in various places at various times. “Okay seriously Celestia, what’s up with you right now?” Now Chrysalis was a bit angry, she didn’t understand why Celestia was laughing as hard as she was. “I’m sorry it’s just… some of the things you’ve said recently I’ve found quite a bit of enjoyment in.” Calming down Celestia looked into Deep’s bright purple eyes. “Are you a virgin by any chance?” “Yes, why do you ask? I’ve been trying to find a nice slow relationship, but…” That was as far as Deep got before something pink swooped through the space that Deep used to occupy, the screaming of a helpless changeling and a cackling pink winged figure could be seen flying out of the room. “So she’s never done anything in a bedroom before?” Celestia asked ignoring the stolen changeling waiting for Chrysalis to turn back to her. “Nope and not for the lack of trying to sneak into them, she sleeps in the barracks like my other trainee’s. She’s not good enough at stealth yet to do the wake up with her in your bed routine yet and I don’t think she ever will be. She’s very good at ventriloquism, voice throwing and vocal mimicry though.” A pause and a quirky look crossing Chrysalis’s face later. “Wait a minute, since when were you so interested in my military operations? I’m being completely legit and you know I haven’t gone off the rails. Well if I had, you probably would have notified me by now that I was stepping over my boundaries.” “I’m not; I’m just asking for the sake of posterior… ahem… I mean posterity. Not that you’re butt is… let me just explain to you what I found funny.” With one quick obvious switch of the topic away from mentioning rear ends that was slightly upsetting to the queen that led into an explanation by Celestia later, Chrysalis was smirking somewhat when she learned just what exactly she had said that was so darn funny. “Well it seems even when I’m trying to be serious I just can’t help myself.” Giggling slightly, Chrysalis had to admit that when it was pointed out to her, it made sense why Celestia busted a gut. “You would be less fun to talk with otherwise; you certainly know how to make an old mare like me blush.” Well over a thousand years and counting for Celestia and she still knew how to have fun. If she didn’t then life would be all that much more boring. With Chryaslis around it was easier to have a sense of humor, to think there was something about the changeling queen that she would really miss when she finally passes the buck to Mr. Thorax. “Seriously though, if everyone in your race has names like that, then what’s your full name Chrysalis? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it, aside from that I’ll prepare for the eventuality that Canterlot will come under attack and put my people to work on making sure we’re not entirely blindsided this time. I admit my military is a little lacking, but they’ll do their best.” When Chrysalis humored the princess for a moment by telling her what her full name was, Celestia’s eyes just boggled for a moment and then they became slightly blank afterwards. After a few tilts of her head and it eventually sunk in as to what Chrysalis had told her, Celestia couldn’t stop laughing for the next ten minutes much to the huffy looking Chrysalis’s lament as the changeling blushed so hard her entire face turned a dark shade of cherry red. - Trap Bar was keeping a tight eye on Shining Jewel, as far as he could tell the other crew members weren’t doing anything more suspicious then getting an orbital recording of a popular live action drama show. While there was nothing technically illegal going on so far, he was watching them. He wished he had people on the ground that could look out for the other three crew members. Not in a bad sense, but in a ‘we have your back’ kind of way. He was an admiral of a very small if efficient fleet, so he didn’t have time to worry about what anyone was else doing if they weren’t in space. He did however have time to check in on the Shining Jewel to see what was going on. He didn’t want anything happening to a crew of spooks on his watch and so far what they were doing was tame, which meant that what the others were doing was probably far more exciting and action packed. The admiral had an active imagination, on top of being paranoid and drunk. However his service record was particularly spotless despite these negatives, proving that he could do his job while looking entirely incompetent at it. - “Hey Kitten, please send drones Progress and Scanner over to me, I’ll need their help. I’m ready to get cracking at the stuff Greta sent up, if anything needs immediate repairs or is of some concern just ask away for a second opinion.” There was a large pile next to Gilda that she had separated for her own use, Rarity had a good eye for quality junk and she couldn’t wait to get started on a few projects. One of which was utilizing the slightly busted Javelin to make her very own fighter, but she would plan first before doing anything to it. Right now she’d settle for building just about anything that came to mind from scratch and Gilda had a lot of scratch to work with. “Otherwise leave me to work on my personal projects, you know where I am.” “Right, oh and good morning Gilda. Sending the drones to you now, do not disassemble them please. If anything, do some work on Progress for me would you? Nothing major that the other drones can’t take care of with a bit of welding and their manipulator arms, so you’re okay to work on whatever it is you’re going to be doing.” There was a wistful sad lilt in Opal’s voice. “By the way,Rarity has approved of your request and will be looking for a Pegasus or some other being to be a test dummy for you. She also asked me to tell you we can be expecting her to shop around for more crew members while she’s abroad.” “Works for me, I trust the boss lady’s judgment in crew members somewhat as she hired me after all. Tell that to Vera and Sassy while you’re at it.” Picking up a nearby wrench and Mr. Welder, Gilda smiled. It was time for her to get in the zone and build something totally wicked. “Also please stop moping Kitten, Equestria is the safest planet around. Rarity is more likely to die choking on a chocolate coated pretzel than be harmed in any grievous fashion when you’re not looking. Besides she’s a big pony that can mostly take care of herself, I don’t trust her romantic aspirations one bit.” “I’m way ahead of you Gil.” Spouted off a seemingly happy Opal who was faking the mood particularly well, she didn’t like Rarity being away for very long and she’d prefer it if her pretty pony mother didn’t die. “If you have need of anything just holler for me, Vera or Sassy. I’ll keep you up to date on anything you might need to know if it becomes important enough. So have some fun for me will you?” - Despite the incredible space capable technology ponies were privy to, they still utilized trains to ferry hundreds of ponies across wide expanses of land. Because trains were cheaper than flying air and far more fuel efficient. The only thing that was different was that trains were much faster in this day and age, a trip from Manehatten to Canterlot would have taken at least twelve hours with the older trains provided they didn’t need to break out the earth pony pulling team in an emergency. Air travel was much faster, but safety was always questionable compared to moving along the ground. The newer model trains only took about four to six hours to make the same trip, which was good enough for a nap. Rarity was already boarding said train with Greta and Coco, when Ms. Star carrying Bernard rushed up to meet them looking a bit out of breath. Trapeze Star had an over the withers bag with Bernard poking his head out of it trying to look cute and innocent despite the fact that he was eating fish jerky. “So glad you could make it Miss Star, but are you sure you want to travel with us?” There was no indecision that Rarity could see, Trapeze obviously wanted to join them on their trip and trips were better with friends. All Trapeze did in answer because she was out of breath was nod to Rarity and take some deep breaths with Bernard now munching on a carrot having finished his meat snack meant for those of Pegasus, Griffon or otherwise omnivorous descent. “Well the more the merrier I say, so far you’re luck is holding out Rarity. I haven’t seen any ponies that you described as being your parents.” With a friendly smile Greta nodded to Trapeze and made her way on board. “How about we all find a nice place we can all sit together near the less crowded back?” Followed Coco looking a bit flustered, she had woken up with Greta on top of her this time as Rarity had decided the couch was a safer place from the sleep snuggling griffon. - The train was soon on its way and things were looking okay to start off with until in the middle of the journey four tilt rotor aircraft armed with missiles and rapid fire material cannons flying in on an intercept course for the train two hours into the journey. These military aircrafts were called gunships and they weren’t supposed to be here. Not only that, they weren’t supposed to be firing payloads on civilian transportation. So something was about to go very wrong here. - “So, you would have to of had a run of sporadic luck to survive that.” Was Trapeze’s reply to the various stories of running or hiding Coco and Rarity told, she the magician thought Greta’s gritty tale of survival on a derelict was much more interesting? Eating the monsters that ate the rest of the crew, it sounded like a horrible experience. “I wouldn’t call it sporadic; other people have survived some of things I have. Others were quite obviously not so well off from the experiences. I still got bruised and battered throughout those ordeals.” Rarity was of course talking about all the unfortunate souls who died either in the defense of Ewesen or were civilians mauled, mangled and mashed by monsters. “Greta was on the space station when the first attack came in; she ended up on the planet’s surface at the end of it. Speaking of Griffons, is there a quicker way to make Gabby stop prattling without hurting the poor dear’s feelings?” “No, it’s just best to let her get it all out. She wouldn’t be gabby Gabby if she wasn’t jabbering like her beak had a spring in it.” Chirped out a cheerful Greta who had a wing wrapped around Coco, the fact that the mare had actually requested it for comfort reasons came as a surprise to Greta. Now the mare was cozy and nuzzled against her getting in a nap and Greta didn’t mind being used as a security blanket. “Small universe that you ran into her, but it’s nothing like us running into Tree Hugger. She’s always there whenever we stop at a space station like clockwork and speaking vaguely while getting affectionate with Gilda.” “Doesn’t that make you jealous?” It did have Rarity curious. After having met Tree personally, Rarity could say that the mare was bizarre in her attitude like she was consistently high on chemicals. Which made it all the more jarring that Tree spoke coherently most of the time. “Not really, I like Tree Hugger… she’s just really weird in a way that I just can’t hate. I do like how she’s always calling me Ever Cheerful, which is an apt description of my personality.” Greta smiled and looked out the window while giggling. “It’s like she’s always looking at the real you whenever you meet her.” “I wonder what this Tree Hugger would see of me and Bernard, she sounds fun.” Trapeze was having a good time and was gently patting and rubbing her partner on the head, his mewling sound were quite adorable for such a ferocious little scamp. She knew Lagotorphins were dangerous and didn’t bleed like a normal rabbit, but apparently Bernard was happy with working for carrots or more recently fish jerky. “Thanks to your pointing out that my friend was a meat eater hiding in plain sight, he has gained an acquired taste for fish and unfortunately it smells. I don’t think it’s ever coming out of my hat, oh and I can understand why you have those weapons with you now.” Trapeze Star had live in Manehatten all her life and had earned her cutie mark while taking gymnastics at school and performing insanely difficult tricks. Apparently she had tapped into the rare earth pony ability to control something called pocket space and the less said about the headache gained from it the better. The attempt to even explain it caused anyone who listened to come down with a sudden and very painful migraine. Other than that Trapeze was trained in Capoeira dancing, which doubled as a fighting style that became all the more interesting when Trapeze mentioned that she could combine it with magical tricks to really dazzle people and make muggers regret meeting her in a dark alley. This was her first time traveling as she couldn’t keep doing park jobs forever. “It’s getting to the point that a lady must have something to defend her honor with these days, my weapon of choice is an energy pistol or two. Self defense is a must if you’re going to be traveling around darling. You might never know what you’ll run into out there” Rarity lifted a cup of tea towards her face; she started to take a sip. A large explosion rocked the car sending tea splattering all over Rarity’s face horrifying her because her drink just sullied her mane and fur. Coco fell to the floor and woke with a start. Bernard’s eyes sharpened and his long ears started twitching as he looked around for the threat. Trapeze immediately pulled herself into her hat along with a surprised Bernard, making it fall to the floor. Greta was immediately at the window and seeing something she obviously didn’t like, she pushed Rarity down to the floor covering her boss lady and Coco with her own body. “Oh goddess, get down boss lady!” Another explosion rang out as a missile blasted a small hole in the car they occupied, glass shattered and went flying all over the place. Some of it lightly stabbed into Greta’s back along with a few piece of metal from the wall. Someone had just attacked the train to Canterlot and they came heavily armed. Screams rang out on the front cars of the train as the sounds of more gunfire could be heard, they were currently in the third from last car of a fifteen car long train. Getting up sluggishly to look out the hole in the train cars wall, Greta saw several figures rappelling down ropes onto the train from two of the gunships and pulled her head back in before she was noticed. “Is everyone okay?” Clutching at her head with her hoof, the noise deafened Rarity’s hearing and she was trying to get her bearings straight. Coco was similarly affected by the explosion and Trapeze simply poked her head out of the hat resting upright on the floor along with a rattled looking Bernard. “Define okay; whoever they are they used concussion missiles on the train! I think they’re trying to take prisoners and are using lethal force against anyone who resists. Look well organized, mixed species and from what little I saw, they are packing more firepower than we can deal with.” Counting the plasma rifle and the two energy pistols, Greta didn’t think they’d be pulling action movie hero stunts against four gunships loaded to incapacitate and kill. “They are either killing people or are taking them hostages for some reason.” “They ruined my mane and stained my coat on top of that! IT… IS… ON… wait no, that’d be stupid and reckless of me.” They heard three distinct screams coming from a car ahead, but they didn’t go to investigate it. “Get the plasma rifle ready Greta, we’ll hunker down here until help comes or we’re taken out. Shoot to injure if you can, admittedly that would be rather hard for you to do given the weapon in question.” Author's Note Rarity is not an action hero, though she would do action hero things should the situation warrant action. The holiday's came early this year for me, I've been rather distracted by a particular gift I didn't know I was getting a a few days early.
-34-“I forgot to ask, are you alright Greta?” Rarity’s ears were still ringing from the concussion missile that slammed into their train car, she believe the same could be said for everyone else who was dazed by the blast. “I got some glass in my wings and some bits of metal in the back when I was covering you and Coco boss lady. I’m good, generally speaking of course.” It was strained but Greta kept a smile on her face, the only thing that really got her down was seeing dead people. Reaching back with her claws around her butt she tugged on something and pulled a large bit of metal out of her rear end and there was blood on it. “Yep, just fine by my standards, though I wouldn’t say no to some medical treatment when we survive this.” “Wait when? Don’t you mean if?” Trapeze said from her protective head covering bunker. “No she’s quite right, ‘when’ is a more than likely correct term here.” Rarity checked her two energy pistols as she levitated them before her. She pulled out her data pad and started hitting a few things on the screen. “Considering we don’t plan on dying anytime soon, it’s a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ we succeed in fending off whoever these ruffians are. Also I’m going to call Opal and tell her we’re in a spot of trouble. She’ll be more worried if I don’t alert her to this immediately and who knows how she’ll react then, probably wouldn’t let me out of her sight and she needs to become a bit more independent.” Greta shot Rarity a strange look, the pony was quite aware that the AI was rampant right? So stopping Opal’s dependency on her could possibly be a bad thing. Shaking her head Greta just gave a tiny smile and readied the plasma rifle. - “That filming of the Lion Heart episode we got a recording of from orbit was incredible to look over again. It’s likely that the Shining Jewel’s cut of that episode will be the only one in existence, making it something of a collectors novelty for me.” Opal was in the midst of talking with Vera and Sassy when she flicked an ear and look off to the side away from the two ponies. “Huh… what is it Meow… oh holy flipping Java script! Who the buck is attacking the train Meowstress? I don’t care about how bad my language is, as nobody endangers my creator! Of course I can see them, you have four gunships hovering around the train and it looks like they hit every compartment with an explosive device. Concussive missiles, are you alright? Greta only took a bit of glass and metal to the body… well it’s awfully nice of her to cover you and Coco. I’m stating it out loud for Vera and Sassy’s sake; remind me to thank Greta for taking the brunt of that for you. You should probably do that yourself anyway.” “Um excuse me Opal, but did you just say that Rarity’s train to Canterlot was under attack?” There was a slight bit of a steel edge in Sassy’s voice, Opal just held a paw up to her as she looked to be talking into the other one as if she were on a phone and ignoring her stern gaze. “Yeah, I don’t know who those guys are, but they are definitely well armed material rifles, energy pistols, plasma cannons… ah crap! I’m not apologizing for being crude Meowstress as they are currently setting up jamming device and it’s about to go…” Opal sighed and finished sadly as the connection was cut. “Off, yep that just happened. Well alright then, calculating possible creator saving methods with current supplies, crew members and anything available to help.” “Um, Opal…” Vera had been around the AI long enough to know she’d prioritize Rarity above all else if her creator was in danger unless told otherwise and with a good enough reason, otherwise she’d actively prioritize everyone else of her own accord in a rather benevolent manner. It was nice that she was one of the ones that were prioritized the most given her odd affliction, but psychologically speaking the AI had a few issues. “Now hold on, I’m trying to get clearance with Trap Bar to go down to the planet.” Opal could talk to other people without anyone hearing her; she was asking Admiral Trap Bar for permission to send the Caravel Boutique down to the planet for emergency reasons. “Done… Sassy get to the Caravel Boutique like yesterday and put on your EVA suit. Gilda will be waiting on you there. I have but one really unusual question to ask of you.” “Yes, what is it?” Sassy was wondering what the AI would say, as she went off immediately for the Caravel Boutique. After making a short stop to grab her some of her gear in the training room of course. “I’ve seen how good you are at piercing metal… in the training room that is…” Opal started off slowly. “So I was wondering. How much gravitational force can your body exactly handle?” That question seemed entirely different from what was expected considering the lead up to it was how well Sassy could puncture metal with her Chokuto. Sassy didn’t exactly know the answer to the question, but she was going to find out why it was asked as she was already pushing Her EVA suits helmet over her head. - “Well… at least we know mostly what they are armed with.” Rarity started off as she turned to Greta who smiled lightly despite things becoming very tense waiting game. “That should definitely make it easier at the very least. With that jamming signal we’re not going to get much help from our eye in the sky.” They really didn’t have much time to be sitting around and talking things out and Greta obviously knew this as she had already found a good position watching the doorway to the car in front of them, Trapeze Star had taken to watching the two cars behind them in case any of the invaders came from that direction. They were all in the middle of their train car and between the seats using them as cover; civilians were allowed to carry weapons in Equestria provided they only used them in self defense. This situation warranted self defense. Coco was cowering next to Rarity on the right side of the train car; Trapeze was in position next to Greta on the left. They were waiting for something to happen, aside from staying low so that the gunships didn’t gun them down through the windows. The door slid open and two figures ran in to slam it shut behind them, only they weren’t armed. One was a light grayish brown stallion with his black mane slicked back and the other was a little pink filly with purple hair that had white streaks, they skid to a stop when they saw the two armed passengers give them an odd look. The stallion looked over his shoulder fearfully, before he turned to the two armed passengers who weren’t obviously with the guys who were boarding the train. “Excuse me for asking this, but can me and my daughter stay in this car with you? Provided that you can defend me I’m sure to owe you a big favor, I’m Mr. Rich and this is my daughter Diamond Tiara Rich.” The stallion was keeping close to his daughter; Rich was obviously protective of her. “I’m scared daddy.” The filly looked positively spooked, as if she had seen something horrible. “It’ll be okay honey, I’m here after all.” He snuggled his daughter before looking at Rarity as she leaned out to address them, the guns weren’t pointed at him and his daughter at least. Safety wasn’t exactly assured, but he would do the best he could for his daughter. “Please excuse me for saying this Mr. Rich, but I would advise you to take cover and stay there. Also stay out of our line of fire and we’ll be okay with that much. No need to owe us any favors, it would certainly help us more if you tell us the situation of the other cars.” She motioned them forward with the gun and they quickly huddled down between the seats near Rarity and the others while looking back towards the door. “We already know they hit all fifteen cars with concussion missiles, so tell us something we don’t know. I am lady Rarity Belle, fashion designer; my personal assistant Coco, the one with the plasma rifle is my technical engineer Greta and finally those two friends of ours Ms. Star and her friend Bernard. It’s pleasure to meet you under the given circumstances.” “Well I know they aren’t robbers, they are far more militaristic than that. They are capturing everyone alive and any who try to resist or escape are being shot without any hesitation, mostly they’re just causing incapacitating wounds.” Pausing to rub his chin, Rich spoke up with his ponderings. “Before you ask they are not mercenaries, they are too well equipped for that. They are organized and they are doing this for some reason, but I can’t fathom what. Other than that I can tell you that they are very much hostile and if they wanted to they could have just destroyed the cars with those gunships. No they are definitely leaving people alive, but for what is the question and we haven’t seen anyone die.” “Yes, but we did see them cripple a pony and a few other people.” The haunted looking Diamond Tiara Rich said. “Both legs, just gone… and then her wings…” “Okay, so bad news all around, but it sure is taking them a while to get here. When can we expect them to…?” Greta stopped and turned her sights towards the door as it opened and an average sized male diamond dog quickly threw himself forward as several large blasts of energy flew over his head and into the car. Everyone ducked down and watched as the diamond dog scampered between some of the seats, likely to cower there as the plasma blasts burnt, blackened, melted and damaged the far back wall of the train car. Diamond Dogs were a curious species; they were usually bipedal and had long lanky arms ending in four fingered paws designed entirely for digging. They had short legs and spike covered tails, along with their dog shaped head fitting onto what were ape like bodies. They were curious in that they weren’t exactly a dangerous omnivorous species with carnivorous leanings and ever since space travel was introduced they preferred to keep themselves firmly rooted in the ground. However it was thanks to the technological advancements of recent times that they had started eventually bettering themselves. Their societal structure was something comparable to what prairie dogs had in appearance and were known as the quickest digging species in existence, being they could dig fast than they could run on two or four legs. As far as intelligence goes, Diamond Dogs weren’t the best at it and preferred simpler forms of thinking when they could get away with it. Diamond Dogs really like digging for jewels and gems, they also are somewhat good at metallurgy as far as things they are most known for goes. Though no reason has ever been found out as to why they like gems and jewels so much, but it is assumed they eat them for sustenance like dragons do. The first contact with the boarders was just happening right now, as into the room ran the plasma cannon wielding Minotaur wearing a strange dark red uniform with a golden five fingered hand symbol on it. He was obviously the one that was chasing the frightened diamond dog. “Come back here dog, know you’re place! You will be of use to our organization and you will like it.” As far as Minotaur’s went, this guy was decently sized. He thundered forward and fired, the diamond dog quickly rolled away whimpering between another set of seats. “You can’t run from me, nobody will be leaving this train unless it’s unconscious or otherwise. We will be taking everyone with us!” As he swiveled his plasma cannon to take another shot at the scared dog, a plasma blast ripped through his shoulder knocking him off balance and several energy beams hit him doing not nearly as much as the plasma blast that ripped into his shoulder. The Minotaur let loose a roar and aimed his gun in Greta’s direction and she narrowed her eyes. Rarity kept shooting for his other shoulder, aiming a little lower she sent a stream of plasma blasts into his leg and that finally toppled him. The plasma rifle was doing far more damage to the bulky bull headed guys head. He tried to get up only for a familiar if flattened hat to fly across the space between them and the large biped bull, when it reached him an entire pony shot out of it with incredible force. Enough so that it knocked the Minotaur completely out cold, the hat then promptly landed on the ponies head and popped back into shape. She turned around to bow to her audience. “Thanks Bernard. Didn’t know you were that strong. Guess there’s not a lot I know about Lagotorphins, I have much to learn. Now if we could do that two more times without fail then we’d have a hat trick.” Trapeze smiled back at the rabbit that wave, then looked shocked and pointed behind her. Taking the cue to immediately watch out, Trapeze pulled her hat down over her body and into it. Following that action was a bunch of random metal bits being fired from two rifles that were small in comparison to Ember’s rectangular weapon peppering the space the pony used to occupy and everyone ducking for cover. Trapeze’s hat started waddling wildly away from the weapons fire directed at it, if the situation weren’t so grim it’d be funny to watch. “Damn it they got our enforcer! Bull down, I repeat Bull is down. We’ve finally met some armed resistance.” The human with the material rifle was glaring beyond the door way where the Minotaur laid still, next to him was a pony wearing a similar uniform levitating a rifle. The blonde human’s face could be seen as clean shaven and the pony had their head covered with a helmet and bulky clothing to make it hard to tell their gender. “Requesting gunship assistance if they become too rowdy… I don’t care if you only have one missile left. We don’t need to take them all alive; the leader is kind of asking a bit much of us here! So what if a distress signal got out? By the time anyone sends any help we’ll have already redirected the train anyway, so it’s a moot point. All we have to do now is quell the troublemakers in any way we can.” “I was afraid he’d say something like that.” Rarity muttered from her position as she leaned out slightly and ducked back as several bits of high velocity metal started ripping into her cover. Greta took advantage and fired several plasma rounds for the pony who ducked behind cover, as did the human a second later when Rarity got a glancing shot in on his elbow. Her other pistol was firing at the pony who started blind firing their material weapon through the general middle of the train car. - “I’m going to do what?” Sassy asked as she sat next to Gilda as they were about to enter the atmosphere. “You heard me, Meowstress Rarity is in danger and you’re going to question my plan now?” Opal looked put out and worried, but also determined. “You have the equipment and strength to pull it off, so what’s the problem?” “No problem really, I just need a bit of clarification, because it sounds like you said I was going to…” Sassy started off while Gilda sent her a few glances every now and then. Opal and Sassy continued to hammer out what exactly the resident samurai of the crew would be doing. Gilda already knew her part in things; she was getting a chance to pilot the Caravel Boutique. While it still lacked weapons the shields were far stronger than they had ever been, Greta and Gilda had been a bit merciless in the tweaking of the shield generator. The Caravel Boutique angled downwards and began its descent through the atmosphere at a break everything pace; Gilda had a smile on her face as she was in a pilot’s seat once more. Opal would be commandeering the controls for the landing when it returned to Shining Jewel; otherwise Gilda was free to fly it as she wanted to and into some action no less. Her project would take a few more days of constant work; it wasn’t quite ready for a field testing yet. - Things weren’t looking so hot with three guns between them and the opposition suddenly getting two more reinforcements in a Griffon and an Ahuizotl, thankfully it wasn’t THE AHUIZOTL. A regular Ahuizotl was still bad enough as it was, they were a dog like race with waterproof fur and at the end of their tails was a hand as which was the same thing their front two limbs ended in. Some of them even had spiked fur that was sharp enough to rip open flesh just by having it rubbed up against you. This one in particular was wielding an energy pistol with pretty good accuracy as it clipped Greta’s shoulder as she was ducking. Both Rarirty and Greta were taking nicks here an there and so were the guys firing upon them. “They are giving us too much trouble, gunship Delta move into attack position and either gun them down or at the very least pin them!” The human held some authority; he was busy trading rounds of fire with Rarity from cover of the doorway to the next car. “Look, I just want you to fire that last missile right god damn now; we’ll even keep them in place for you.” Rarity looked out the nearby window one of the four gunships swiveled around and took up a position aiming through the shattered windows to fire their last concussive missile at them. It let loose and flew straight towards the middle of the train car where they currently were, to break cover would mean getting shot at and to shoot at the missile would mean to also get shot at. A few hundred feet from reaching the train the missile split in half and the back end spiraled away while the familiar glow of magic encase the head and launched itself at the gunship delta’s win. The explosion caused its fan to rupture and it spun out of control while on catching fire, a black figure could be seen clinging to the gunship as it started to fall. “What the hell! Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, I think Delta just got shot down by its own fucking missile! Find out what happened then get… ” The firefight continued on while outside a different story was taking place, the human had fallen over because had had finally been shot and his blood was quickly spilling out onto the floor around the cauterize portions of flesh and charred cloth. “Was that Sassy and did she just seriously take out a gunship?” Greta questioned as she continued to fire her rifle, she finally knocked the human out of the fight with a shot through the lower right side of his torso. It was mostly survivable; then again she was no expert on firearms or their usage. - Sassy was falling and she grit her teeth as she reached to her back with her left hoof and aimed her right hoof forward, she only had one chance at doing this correctly. She could see one of the gunships moving to point at the train and it was moving parallel to it as it fired a missile, which was the reason it was the first one that she would take down. With a tug of her sword she gracefully flicked the blade out and the missile ahead of her split in half, she twisted her body and fired her pinpoint puller directly at the wing opposite of the ones she was about to destroy. Thanks to the new sideways momentum and her accuracy with her grappling device she wasn’t going to die after jumping out of the Caravel Boutique once it got close enough to drop her. With a flick of her horn she magically grabbed the explosive head of the missile and launched it. Sassy slammed into its opposing wing ramming her sword into it up to the hilt and quickly tried to get her bearings as the gunship spun out of control. This happened after an explosion had already rocked the other side of it; she hoped Gilda was ready to support her when needed. As she was now going to start taking these guys apart, she would defend the innocent even if they were male. Sassy leapt away from the falling gunship while sheathing her sword and fired her grapple at the side of the train and roughly slammed into it hooves first where she stuck. The suits magnetically attached her to the train. An explosion went off in the distance proving that one of the gunships was down for the count. The three other gunships spun to face her and the closest one came in and starts firing on her as she slowly clambered sideways trying to avoid the trail of high velocity metal slowly following after her, before she pulled herself onto the roof as the trail of fire tried to slowly curve around to hit her. She spun up onto her rear hooves and swung her sword once in the gunships direction knocking it away and creating a large gash in one of its wings making it spin away as she turned to address the other gunships. Standing up on her rear hooves Sassy started to move towards the front of the train where the jammer was and the other two gunships swooped in to start firing at her, her sword started flickering out behind her and sparks danced away from her form in silver flashes. She deflected several of the rounds of metal that would have hit her and ignored the ones that were only just as close to doing so. The two gunships spun about while the third one was still having problems righting itself from her attack, they fired after her as she ran along the roof of the train. Jumping off the side of the train she rolled and fired her grapple between her legs and flew up under the gunship on the right side of the train and stabbed her sword upwards when she reached it causing it two wobble strangely in the air. The other one fired at her while she was on the underside of that gunship and she quick dropped herself back onto the train, where she flopped harshly on her face and quickly got up to start galloping along the train towards the jammer again. The three gunships were slowly getting ready to regroup, two of them having taken some damage, but not enough to be stopped. They entered a triangle formation and were going to try and catch Sassy in the crossfire, they started firing and three trails of sparks could be seen heading towards the pony. Then the Caravel Boutique rammed into the untouched gunship on the left, causing a huge flare as the ships shields strained to stay intact with the impact. This sent the gunship crashing into the ground and exploding, while the Caravel Boutique rolled up away as the two gunships tried to target it. Two small and rather deep holes appeared in the gunship on the right’s side as Sassy stopped and stabbed at the air twice, she turned back around and continued onward as the other gunship swept a trail of material cannon fire across her position and one passed through her suit causing a splash of breach gel to spray from it along with some blood. Sassy stumbled only slightly and was only three cars away from the jammer when several people with the golden hand uniforms popped up on the edges of the roof between the cars to start firing at Sassy, she charged them deflecting their energy weapons fire and cutting their materials bullets out of the air. As she performed a forward flip over two of the uniformed beings, a unicorn and a griffon in the nook between two of the cars, swinging her sword twice. The two went flying away from the train with deep gashes in their bodies and rolling almost lifelessly into some grass. The samurai was now about only two cars away and she had several people running towards her firing their guns with abandon, she expertly slid her sword across ones chest before slashing him from hip to shoulder. She spun around and deflected several material bullets from the gunship as the other one was rammed into by Caravel Boutique destroying one its wing engines sending it spiraling into the ground. The Caravel Boutique’s shield flickered out of existence and it rose higher to avoid the last gunships fire. Continuing forward the mare slashed a human across the waist as she passed him when he tried to get her with a knife. She then reared her rear end up and bucked him off the side of the train while blocking the energy weapon fire of an Ahuizotl that was charging right at her. She rolled to the side of the train when the Ahuizotl decided to try and tackle her given his weapon was proving useless and he tumbled along the ground painfully looking like he broke several important bones in the process. Sassy tried to climb back up and her body shook when a round from the gunship went through her side make her pause and shudder in pain, but it wasn’t powerful enough to knock her off the train. She got back up onto the roof and turned towards the final gunship, taking her sword into her hooves the glow of magic started to charge up her sword and with one hard swing she sliced off the back half of the gunship sending the front spiraling where it slammed into the ground and skidded for several hundred feet where it flipped and kept going. It didn’t explode when it finally came to a rest on its side missing both its wings and the rotors at the side of the tracks. Turning around Sassy blocked a material round with the flat of her blade and the stabbed forward at the unicorn trying to sneak up on her, basically goring the pony through the chest with her sword. Said unicorn tumbled off the side of the train and looked to have had enough energy to cast a spell before they hit the ground with less of an impact. Leaping for the next roof, Sassy charged right for the jammer while dodging the fire directed at her, she brought her sword down and cleaved apart a portion of the roof the jammer was sitting on while destroying the device itself. Sassy stabbed her sword into the roof next to her to balance herself; her body shook as several more shots coming from other uniformed people came close to hitting her. “Rarity, are you okay? If you can hear me, I think, I’m making progress. I want to live for my friends!” Sassy coughed out and looked down at the blood on her face mask and felt some of it dribbling to her chin, she had taken a really bad hit somewhere in all that given she hadn’t been able to deflect or block everything, most likely the worst part was when the gunship rounds went through her. That one had been agonizingly painful and she really needed help soon. “Gilda I n-need an immediate pickup, I’m not doing so g-good. Rarity-sama and Coco-chan won’t l-like it if I’m dead in the next forty minutes. Put… put me in a med-bed. I can’t do much more here, my body is spent even if my spirit is willing.” Deflecting what she could in her state, Sassy made a leap for the open airlock while firing her grapple with several energy weapons firing after her as she pulled herself into safety, Sassy collapsed when the airlock closed behind her with breach gel and blood pooling the floor.
-35-“Sassy what in the… Opal what did you do?” Questioning her AI about her life choices while she was getting shot at was one Rarity’s worst ideas, especially when her cover was being shot up and she was against armored opponents. Said armored opponents didn’t have any protection against Greta’s plasma rifle, but it was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed and the people with them were taken. They had been too busy to see what the explosions were about, but Opal had the answer to what was going on outside. “I had her and Gilda go after the jamming device… unfortunately Sassy might take a month to recover from her injuries. Diagnostics from the med-bed, she willingly wanted to be put into mind you, show that one of the material cannons took out a part of her liver. The internal hemorrhaging is not as bad as it could be.” Opal’s voice sounded particularly upset to hear this news as it came from Rarity’s data pad. “That’s going to take a while to grow back. Plus there was still a chunk of metal in her that’ll be tricky to remove… oh, look out for the guy on the left! Aim ten degrees down and two to the right with your left pistol and fire in within the next three seconds.” Ducking a round of fire that took away another portion of her cover Rarity leaned out and moved the pistol as indicated and shot. The beam of energy hit an Ahuizotl and went through the leg causing him or her to topple, thus banging their head on the floor of the next car. That Zotl wasn’t getting up anytime soon. Rarity noticed something strange; the gun the Minotaur had been wielding when they had knocked him down was missing and the unconscious body was still there. Only none of the guys opposing them were wielding a plasma cannon, it was would have been a bright and very quick death had they been able to fire it in these enclosed quarters. She and every other person in this particular train car were unarmored and all the energy, plasma and materials flying through the air were more lethal to them than their opponents. “The EVA really has come a long way Rarity, its magnetism was particularly useful in keeping Sassy attached to the train, the pinpoint puller got her around quickly enough to take out two of the gunships and the breach gel kept her from bleeding out as quickly.” Continuing to watch the struggle from on high, Opal sighed and continued. “She’s still going to need a full suit repair, have it refilled with breach gel and it’s going to take a lot of effort to get the various holes closed up but I believe you can manage it once you’re done with these ruffians Meowstress. In my defense Rarity, I’m able to give you real time tactical data and you already have a cavalry inbound. Trap Bar is sending out three drop ships after the destroyed gunships and injured bodies along the tracks, the fourth one will be dropping off help soon. Gilda has made it back to the Shining Jewel safely with med-bed already working on Sassy’s numerous injuries… huh she almost lost her ability to have children and I’m now horrified that I sent her out there with those gunships. I’m penciling in some personal time with Vera for that one, I really need to make it up to Sassy later for asking her to go into such a deadly situation. I’m receiving news that the Wonder Bolts are personally about to lend you aid, thank goodness they are taking my call seriously. With all the destroyed windows they shouldn’t have any problems doing quick flybys on those guys.” “Yes, but is there an immediate change to our situation? We’re pinned down in here and our cover is dwindling at a frightful rate. We’re also not wearing body armor like they are.” Rarity watched Greta shoot at the shelf nearby one of the hand symbol wearing aggressors causing it to fall on them, she quickly ducked and several blasts of energy whizzed by her cover where her head had been. “Oh and we’re considerably outnumbered here, Greta is eventually going to run out of ammo and my pistols are not going to be enough to keep them back. That and they are beginning to run out with how much I’ve fired them.” “Just hold out a little bit longer, their communications are open to me and it appears they are trying to redirect the train. They want to head towards Yakyakistan, but why are they trying to get there of all places?” If Opal was confused about it, then everyone else might as well have been. “They want to cause an international incident is my guess, the yaks were always a bit isolationist in their ways.” Trap replied calmly cutting in on their communications channel. “This is Admiral Trap Bar to Rarity Belle; hold your position a little longer until we can get some troops on that train to help you and the civvies. The EVA suits you made us will give us an edge in making taking them down, we’re going for capture here. These people know something and I want to know what the plan is if they are trying to destabilize our planets relatively peaceful existence. We’ll give you the gunship parts in trade for not talking about how we dropped the ball on missing an emergency signal that barely got out.” “We can agree to that!” Two voices sounded out eagerly, both of them of noticeably of griffon quality. A certain diamond flanked pony would have to talk to them about their mutinous behavior in the face of getting some premium scrap, but that would come later. Gilda continued after that. “The boss lady surely doesn’t mind keeping quiet, also I didn’t scratch the Caravel Boutique it’s safe and sound where it belongs.” “Look can we keep the chatter to a minimum, I am being shot at here after all and I can’t concentrate with all of you talking to me.” A pinging sound and what looked like a high speed bottle cap ricocheted and caught Rarity’s horn slightly causing her to fall daintily out of the line of fire. “That one hit my horn, which really stings I’ll have you know!” A bright flare filled the train car and that was quickly followed by an explosive blast of energy in the next train car over. The Diamond Dog, Mr. Rich and his daughter all scampered towards the back of the train car while they had a moment to breath. Rarity shut her eyes and prayed that nobody had been directly hit by that plasma cannon blast, she opened them poked her head out and turned to the pony now hold the plasma cannon and looking rather sheepish. “Whoa, so that’s how you fire this thing…” Trapeze said dumbly as Bernard had his paw on the trigger while Trapeze had aimed the shot as if she were holding a bazooka. It looked a little heavy for her, but she managed to hold it steady for that one shot. “Energy weapons don’t have much kick when they fire do they?” “When in the hell did you have time to grab that? Also I’m down to five clips here; we’re going to need to buy more ammunition for this rifle. It’s far better deterrent against heavily armed people like these yahoos.” Greta swept out of cover aiming her rifle forward and charged into the next train car to find a bunch of groaning bodies on the floor, she quickly had to duck out of the way of a plasma round as the next train car suddenly opened up and there were more of the golden hand insignia wearing problems. “Four gunships worth of people couldn’t have dropped off more than thirty people at max. What did they do, use the clown car trick to get more than that on this train?” “Trapeze, Coco, please watch these nice people and our backs for me will you? I’m going to make sure Greta doesn’t push forward too hard or get herself into any trouble.” Rarity leapt out from cover and charged towards the doorway leading to the train car Greta was in while ducking several material rounds and energy blasts that caused her to squeak out in fright. She almost faltered when a round whizzed by her ear and another grazed two of her legs as she took cover. Scratches and light bleeding covered her body, but at least the bright side of all this was that her mane and tail was still quite spotless. “I’m so going to a spa after this, a lady is not supposed to sweat quite like this or be involved in volatile firefights. Opal darling, please start spotting for me and keep an eye on Coco and the car behind me.” - “A golden hand symbol…” Chrysalis muttered as the news came in that a train had come under attack, they just received a load of information from an Opal Belle on a train currently being assaulted and Celestia’s response was immediate. She respected Princess Celestia in many ways, almost as much as she respected Luna’s endearing childishness. “Definitely someone who is avoiding changeling infiltration methods, how soon until the Wonder Bolts arrive at the scene? Also a medical unit is warranted concerning the story that they incapacitated some people violently. We’re working on the information as quickly as we can get it.” “Their ETA is considered five minutes, but I think it’ll take two as they have been craving some action lately. I heard a courageous few civilians are making a hold out and someone has managed to destroy the jamming device, the four rear cars of the train are currently confirmed as currently partially clear with unconscious aggressors.” Celestia kind of liked this Opal Belle for keeping them up to date on the problem at hoof, they were receiving real time orbital data on the train and she was seeing everything that was going on that was mostly focused on a diamond flanked unicorn. That these people managed to land armed troops on a train and set up a jamming device almost without notice was quite telling that something wasn’t quite right and then Admiral Trap Bar’s report came in. “Apparently they are well armed and armored, whoever has been holding them off has been quite lucky to do so for so long… wait I know that pony. It’s a survivor of the Ewesen MOM Assault, also one of the ponies Luna owes a ticket to the gala to. She certainly has quite the knack for getting into danger.” “You do not know the half of it Bright Goddess.” The pony that had startled the changeling queen and the princess, calmly walked up to them with her lackadaisical attitude. It was none other than Tree Hugger, popping up out of nowhere as is her modus operandi. “I am of the earth, the soil and part of the heartbeat of the worlds that I walk upon. Equus wanted me to deliver a message. ‘I know not who they are for I have no physical eyes, but I hear they are building titans and will spread chaos to weaken the defenders of Canterlot. They will strike when the iron is hot and it burns the one you love. Should they succeed, the balance will be messed up for a time’. Please see that this doesn’t happen.” “My, even the planet itself is being quite the spoilsport on tipping us off. Though the titans are something I’ve not heard of, interesting that the world sees things that I don’t.” Discord popped into the room looking like a pineapple that had a sponge embedded into its backside acting as a tail, the pineapple also had four squid tentacles popping out from it flailing randomly. After a moment of just being stared at, Discord puked up a green starfish and his attitude couldn’t’ have been any fishier. “So… does Soul Judger want to join me on a night out?” “Hello Balance Keeper, it is quite nice to see that your vibes are flowing well. Fluttershy is open to the idea of a date and will meet you whenever you see fit to appear before her the day of the gala after she is ready and not before. Provide a righteous time to our mutual friend while protecting her and her knight.” Tree Hugger calmly turned around and sauntered out of the room, she stopped one moment before she left entirely. “I have further business to attend to and will now take my leave, blessings to you all and may these coming times never harsh your vibrant energies.” “Wasn’t that the mare that saved over a thousand lives during Geoptis Stations infestation? If I remember right she was reported as buying a bunch of medical kits, a plasma rifle and ammo for it before riding the last shuttle up to the station before the infestation hit.” Chrysalis had heard of a pacifist doing odd things in the area, but she never thought such a peaceful looking pony could get the drop on her of all beings. She was supposed to be the sneaky one, how the hell did that earth pony get the drop on her and Celestia? “Yes, I believe it was Tree Hugger. A well known SNUGGLES associate who is quite the interesting pony. She sits at the edge of the threshold of becoming a princess, of nature, peace or earth specifically. She could be one of us at any time she wishes.” There was a concerned frown on the face of Celestia; she tapped a hoof to her chin delicately. “Yet she chooses not to be one, making her all the more deserving for the position. It is such a shame that she answers to a different calling entirely. I would do well to heed her warnings that we are to be attacked by giants; also I’m concerned about what she said of a loved one being burned. I hope that it is not Tirek as to whom she was referencing in the terms of titans.” “We’ll need to interrogate one of the guys you’re going to capture to find out whose starting this mess or at least get a lead on them. If we can’t get anything from them then your sisters dream stalking ability would surely help. We at least know a symbol to watch out for now.” Chrysalis was taking this situation seriously, but she needed to lighten the mood somewhat. “Hard Throb, front and center! Good job on staying hidden, I commend you.” A changeling fell from a spot on the wall, losing his camouflage as he did when he smashed face first into the floor, he was a changeling practically covered in bandages and he quickly threw a wobbly salute while his soft yellow eyes winced at something. Yep he needed to stop being so accident prone; Chrysalis could admit that he was good at stealth though. - Rarity dove into a position through the door behind another seat and quickly floated her two pistols over the top and started firing blindly at the beings at the other end of the train car. She quickly pulled the two pistols down as fire started striking her cover. “How do I get myself into these messes?” Rarity muttered, she never did anything to these people and they come in here guns blazing, frightening poor fillies and capturing innocent passengers. “It’s not how you got into this that you should be asking, it’s how you are going to continue reacting to it boss lady. I’m particularly open with fending for my life for the sake of others, seems like something you’d like.” Greta chirped humorously before a bit scratched her across the face causing her eyes to go predatory, she poked up and fired once and her eyes went back to normal as the sound of a pained yelp could be heard. She had a viciously victorious smile on her beak. “I love it when my predatory instincts kick in like that, make it all that much easier to hit my prey. You know, at the rate things are going I’ll eventually be turned on by every member of our crew as it stands and Vera is not so bad looking if you can keep her in sight. Coco is quite a doll, but I don’t think she’s my type even if she does have hard working going for her.” “Can you take this a little more seriously; they just marred your perfectly adorable face.” Rarity kept down and checked the charge on her energy pistols, she was running quite low. She poked out and fired several shots causing their opponents to duck back into cover. “I wonder if Gilda digs battle scars.” Greta pounced across the row into cover in front of Rarity while firing several rounds. “Also I did take that seriously, the guy isn’t standing anymore is he? I mean plasma rounds to unprotected fleshy bits are generally going to be quite freaking painful. Also, who uses hard currency as ammunition?” “Apparently someone who’s desperate, you know, since you can’t take it with you if you’re dead and everything.” Dryly commented Rarity as she lunged to cover to Greta’s right. “Whatever are we doing? Why are we even pressing forward, there’s no advantage in doing so.” “Because these guys ruined what was supposed to be a perfectly quiet trip to Canterlot, not that I’m complaining. A little excitement never hurt.” Pausing to hold her rifle upside down and fire blindly over her head in a random sweep, Greta continued on as she crouched lower when her cover was being pounded by more projectiles. She had incidentally nailed someone with her blind firing. “Too much excitement like what happened to me and Gilda before we met is more problematic. Then there’s the fact that these guys gunships injured one of our crew members, said member who I need remind you has a chronic fear of med-beds and was forced to willingly get into one of her own free will. I cannot imagine the psychological scars she’s going to have from waking up in it, but I would at least like her to know she allowed us to get our pound of flesh out of them. Also that she did a good job in helping us out; get her some get well cards, chocolates, the works. Sassy is our friendly manager and badass samurai. Gilda helped too from what I hear, might need to recalibrate the shield on the Caravel Boutique. That small ship wasn’t meant for ramming into things at top speed, but dang if it isn’t effective.” “Quite, can you please not get shot again; I’m starting to love having you as a friend… even if you’re a bit flamboyant about your preferences. I personally have nothing against them, but I would actually like to make an honest try for a stallion.” A griffon charged down the center of the car towards their position. Taking the simplest course of action against the charging feathered fiend, Rarity pistol whipped him from a distance with her levitated pistol. The griffon stumbled dizzily into the butt of Greta’s gun flashing forward into his face taking him down before she ducked back down and several rounds of energy singed her feathers. “Do be careful, your feathers are quite delicate dear. I think Gilda likes a well groomed griffon, even a hen such as yourself and that you make the effort makes all the difference.” “I’m not exactly sure about that, though I do think Gilda likes a more tail kind of girl and self maintenance doesn’t seem to count for much. Certainly went after Rainbow’s enough, always liked grabbing that colorful mess in her beak.” Greta took a round deep in her shoulder and she grunted before crouching deeper into cover and quickly reached out to take up the downed griffons pulse rifle. “You don’t think he’d mind right?” “Of course not, he’s quite indisposed and I’m sure he’d lend it to you were he awake. Though pulse rifles have been proven to be less lethal than what we’re already using, it does have its uses though.” Rarity pulled the material pistol out of the griffon’s holster. “I’ll just help myself to something as well; he’s not going to be using it any time soon anyway. Yes, he is quite the gentleman to give us his weapons, though the coercion was a bit rough of us to do and very much unladylike in the extreme. Also self maintenance matters if you wish it to matter my dear Greta, I don’t want my friend getting cold talons on me about the gala now and I want you to look your best when we go. ” “Oh that’s it I’m going in; I can’t handle any more of their girl talk!” A female Ahuizotl charged forward and dodged around the twos fire and leapt for Rarity with grasping hands extended, her dark blue and grey uniform with the golden hand emblem shining in Rarity’s eyes. She never managed to touch Rarity when she was rammed into the wall by a fiery haired mare in uniform, one marked with feathered wings and a lightning bolt that just delivered a flying kick to her skull. “Did somebody call for the cavalry? Ten points if you can scratch this flank with something!” Spitfire the yellow furred Wonder Bolt with hair like that of a fire shot off towards the next train car avoiding fire with a whoop, while Rarity and Greta slumped down relax. It seemed as if the fighting was over with and minutes later they could see a EVA suited Diamond Dog female fling herself in through the window to look about before she nodded to them and motioned for them to head back. “Well that’s a load off, do you think they’ll let us keep the weapons we might have procured during duress?” Greta stopped to steal a few weapons. She had compunctions about stealing from good people or at least people she’s friends with, she also didn’t like to break the law and tried to keep the use of her hacking to a minimum unless Gilda thought it was important. Said compunction did not exist when it came to the stealing the weapons her enemies held and had used against her and her friends. Overall Rarity, Greta, Gilda and Sassy were collectively responsible for four gunships and eighteen of the forty five people that boarded the train. Rarity’s group would be silently dropped off into Canterlot to go about their business and Trap Bar would personally deliver the confiscated weapons to the Shining Jewel as a free favor for them along with the already promised damaged gunship parts. They needed to stock Shining Jewels armory with something and nothing like free weapons with random amounts of ammunition. That was best of the situation. The worse of it were all the injuries, whoever these golden hand guys were they were quite vicious to a little filly when they practically shot her wings off. Practically because the wings were still attached to some sinew, the legs were at least salvageable but that poor Pegasus’s wings were shredded. That filly was the one Diamond Tiara spoke of. It wasn’t the only injury as multiple passengers were permanently crippled before Rarity and Greta started taking action and now they were to be seen to by the medical unit that was waiting for them at the train station. - The train had been attacked by terrorists, who were going to be quite tightlipped about the full plan and Chrysalis was going to lead the interrogation. Said changeling queen walked into the room with a live beaver, a can of spray paint, a lighter, a rubber hoof glove, cheap dental floss, a bowling ball, a recording of the ‘Happy Happy Joy Joy’ song that loops endlessly on her data pad, the worst magazine Chrysalis could think of that was an exceedingly dry periodical and a tape dispenser. - “They are surprisingly tough and resilient; I didn’t think that one guy would even survive what I did with the beaver.” As Chrysalis trotted out of the room, she looked to Celestia and Luna’s horrified faces. “What, you said to go all out. Couldn’t get a word out of them, so it’s now your turn Luna. See what you can get from their dreams; make them nightmares of me if you have to.” “How did you even get the beaver to… and more than once…” Started off Celestia who shook her head, she sighed and shook her head again. She wanted to question it, but she thought better of it and would erase the sight of how cruel Chrysalis could be with rather mundane items and a beaver. She would never look at tape dispensers the same way ever again. “No, I can’t be lenient with them. They harmed my innocent little ponies and people, they chose to cause pain and suffering. I’m almost regretting unleashing you upon them Chrysalis… almost. I’m more surprised that they didn’t crack after what you did to them.” “I’m back on the information gathering then, remind Cadence that we have an appointment together tomorrow.” With that Chrysalis flipped her mane and started to walk off. One of the guards that had witnessed everything Chrysalis did silently dragged a garbage can over to his compatriots where they all promptly lost their stomach contents. “At least pry the name of their organization from them Luna, I know you can do it.” “Ma’am, princess… If I didn’t know they absolutely deserved it, all of that could have been labeled a war crime without there actually having being a war present.” The guards were now officially terrified of Chrysalis and breaking any laws now, in fact enforcing the laws Celestia laid down was their bread and butter for the rest of their lives. They were scared straight and would become citizens of the highest quality, just so long as they are not left alone in a room with Chrysalis. “I am well aware of that… however I thought she could achieve her goals as she is quite good at getting information though I personally detest the act of violent interrogation.” Celestia might have detested it, but Chrysalis certainly didn’t. She wasn’t above letting Chrysalis have her way to come out of this smelling like roses. Though the brutality of it was a bit sickening, at least it wasn’t lethal; well it didn’t seem lethal at a glance. Her worry about her loved one being hurt kind of tossed morals out the window, nobody would hurt Luna or Twilight if she had anything to say about it. “Soft interrogation didn’t work, so I had Chrysalis come in to show them I mean business. I didn’t think she would go that far, then again the terrorists probably shouldn’t have injured those changeling passengers.” “I would have talked the minute she grabbed the spray paint. I mean the beaver was really hard to watch, but the spray paint really sells it until she gets to the tape dispenser. It was a like a train wreck, I just couldn’t look away out of morbid curiosity.” One of the wide eyed guards was shivering until Celestia rested a wing over him and coddled him, slowly calming him down. “I don’t think anything else will haunt my nightmares from now on. Happy… happy…” Celestia comforted her guard even further with slow gentle petting; the poor fellow was crying as his mind had almost snapped just watching the events that had unfolded. “I am in agreement with them, that was … mildly disturbing.” Despite saying she was disturbed Luna seemed perfectly fine, then again she had seen the worst nightmares of ponies and this wasn’t even on her list of the top ten worst atrocities she’s ever seen committed. Said list has stealing the last slice of cake with her name on it and not giving the adorable mail mare a muffin, so it was a little bit biased. She thought better of voicing her thoughts as seeing the torture implemented by Chrysalis as absolutely kinky; she didn’t want to worry her sister. Author's Note Chrysalis is quite vindictive if you hurt her changelings, almost exactly like Celestia if you hurt her ponies.
-36-Wearing a vibrant pink shirt that said ‘Caution: Hot Stuff’ Ember calmly walked into a bar, she stopped to adjust her form hugging pants slightly and was a bit nervous about trying to socialize. She didn’t bring any of her weapons, but that didn’t mean Ember was helpless as her body was a living weapon on its own accord. She walked up to the stool at the bar and sat down to wait for the bartender to attend to her needs. It was nighttime where she was and possibly on a planet far away from Equus, Ember hardly ever went near that planet. The planet she was on was noted for its warm nightlife activities, the planet got just enough sun to stay warm and keep the vegetation alive and was almost near constantly dark thanks to its three moons. The gravity here was a bit light by a percentage based to Equus natives, but that wasn’t a problem for anyone One thing of importance to know was that Dragons couldn’t get drunk, but alcohol still tasted nice to them and had a different side effect entirely. If a dragon imbibes spirits of a good enough potency their ability to breathe fire becomes exponentially better, as in they can breathe fire so hot it goes straight to white in the color spectrum in less than a second. All alcohol was to a dragon, was a way to charge up their fireball spitting abilities. “Strongest stuff you got.” Ember spoke as soon as the yellow Plurt bartender moved over to her. “Are you sure about that? You don’t look particularly suicidal.” This bartender had obviously never met a dragon before, so he wasn’t aware of the biological impossibility of a dragon getting drunk. She was a paying customer and she did slap down money for the entire bottle and he put a glass before her and started pouring. “Yes, I can drink anyone under the table no problem. My species is talented for it.” In fact no dragon could lose a drinking contest; it was becoming a common joke for Ember to rob her bounty targets before cashing them in through getting them completely sloshed. It was one of the easier methods for getting the less alert, more prideful and boastful idiots with serious bounties on their heads. Only the intelligent bounties know to watch their intake and to not challenge a dragon in alcohol drinking if they wanted to keep their liver. Right now Ember was actually not looking for trouble and was actually trying to spend a night on being social. There was a loud clicking noise as Ember continued to slowly take in her drink, she looked out of the corner of her eye and saw someone aiming a gun at the back of her head. It was a material weapon from the looks of it, from the smell it seemed to be loaded with low grade metal. Wouldn’t even come close to piercing her scales, but it might scuff them and ricochet into someone with less capable skin. She was prideful of her scales and wouldn’t like it if this asshole damaged them, more importantly she didn’t want her well designed clothes to get damaged either after they were tailor made for her unique biology. “Well, well, look at what we have here, someone who thinks she’s something special. Well come on then Flamethrower, let’s see how well you fight when your completely unarmed.” The human looked a little foolhardy for a twenty something jerk with short black hair and five o’clock shadow. His cocky attitude denotes the fact that he knew nothing of Ember or what she was capable of. He probably would have known better than to poke a resting dragon if he knew just what exactly she could do to him in the span of five minutes that wouldn’t be technically lethal. “I bet Daddy Dragon Lord would pay a pretty penny to get you back safe and sound princess.” “Give me a second here; I want to finish my drink before I start kicking ass all over this bar. I’m going to preemptively apologize for that Mr. Bartender. Any damage I personally cause will be on me, but any damage this guy and whoever he’s brought with him are not my fault.” The bartender nodded and was prepared to duck when Ember started beating the ever loving shit out of everyone who was with this idiot. She finished off her current drink, passed it over to the bartender and pushed the bottle towards him. “Hold that for me will you? I’ll be back for it in the next twenty minutes.” Slowly standing up and turning around Ember gave the human a look of contempt as he had a smug smirk on his face, it would soon be promptly wiped off when she finished him and whatever thugs he had off. “You know, I came to a public and rather notably civilian bar to avoid such a thing as what you are starting here. If I had wanted some action I’d have gone to a Bounty Hunter Dive like the one just down the street from here. I wanted a quiet night to maybe socialize with random strangers, maybe talk with the barkeep about my woes, but no, you just had to go and ruin that idea.” Ember stayed where she was, but she shifts her tail slightly and stiffened it, her wings flexed preparing for combat and she could feel the alcohol bubbling in her body. The effects of alcohol tend have a prolonged lifespan in a dragon until they breathe enough fire to burn out the imbibed fuel, so as long as a dragon drinks regularly they would be nearly instant death at a hundred feet and guaranteed third degree burns at least another hundred feet more from there. Ember would just have to refrain from breathing fire unless she absolutely had to. “Just so anyone here with this guy knows, shoot at me and I will maim you. Damage my clothes and I will maim you all the harder for it as these clothes were made by my friends. Hurt a civilian and you die; no judge or jury will convict me for it. Finally you have to remember that you were the ones that started this. So if you start asking for mercy there will be none. There are plenty of things worse than death and I am one of them, as such I would prefer it if you called me something a little hotter like Inferno. Flamethrower is quite an understatement of my talents and I’m getting quite upset by the very fact that people are still calling me that. So tell me, you and what army thinks you can take me down?” “Why the Kangen Mercenaries and fifteen of their best men of course, we’re being paid to deal with you so that you never cause the guys that did so anymore trouble and after we cripple your sorry ass we’re going to send you back to daddy dearest at a king’s ransom.” The man said with bravado, apparently thinking numbers was what was winning this day. He was a little uncertain when he saw that Ember didn’t so much as show an ounce of fear or bat an eye at the guys arranged against her. “Just so you know, you won’t escape Mit Kreed today.” “Who said anything about escaping, this fight is quite unfair.” Here Ember smiled slightly at the thought, she started stretching out her muscles. Dragons were normally physically strong, but when you had a dragon that exercised and actually took care of themselves? You had Ember, who as a reminder dragged an almost five hundred pound sack of crap across most of Drixsto to get a bounty and carried at least a hundred pound spike covered metal bat while doing so. “Yes, it is quite unfair for you despite the fact that you have five Macropussians, three Caccerans, six Humans including yourself and a Pendaxon all ready to make an attempt on bringing me down. So how about we get things started?” Going down onto all four limbs like a quadruped and with a mighty lunge, Ember tackled Mit Kreed in the midsection and they tumbled. In the midst of this multiple shots filled the space they had been occupying. Upon coming out of the tumble, Ember had the guy’s gun in her left claw and was giving him a vicious right hook to the jaw before swiftly shooting him in the left shoulder and right knee. She rolled away from his body out of the way of some energy weapons fire coming at her from behind, it was just the beginning for Ember’s night out. Well she certainly got her chance to socialize, if only it was with friendlier people. Rarity came to mind as someone friendlier as Ember’s fist was plowing straight into a Caccerans skull. The mostly fox like mercenary went down with that single blow and was also swiftly relieved of his weapon. - Rarity awoke with a yawn and stretched out and she would have rolled off the couch, but she looked before she did so. She could understand maybe letting Trapeze and Bernard bunk with them in an inn, but why did the diamond dog have to follow them as well? On the floor curled up was the diamond dog decked out in a red vest and black bejeweled collar with an orange diamond shaped tag hanging from it with nothing on it. The gorilla like dogs pockets were quite notably empty, especially so of crystals or jewels that diamond dogs were known to carry around and he looked particularly destitute. In her ever generous heart, she just knew she was going to invite him to come along to lunch with the rest of them. Sitting up, she looked over the back of the couch to the bed and saw the adorable sight of Trapeze snuggling Bernard in a sleeping bag next to the bed, Bernard looked particularly comfortable in the earth pony’s grip. On the bed, Rarity was beginning to suspect Coco was suppressing her need to cuddle with others openly and after yesterday she wouldn’t tease Coco of needing something to snuggle like a big brave griffon. She slowly went to the bathroom and would be the first to begin freshening up for the day; yesterday had been hectic what with the questioning by the royal guard, Trap Bar and the Wonder Bolts on top of it all. It was a little strange to Rarity that they allowed her to keep all the weapons she picked off of the terrorists, but Trap Bar apparently vouched for her and her friends characters. Sassy was going to be in medical for a while and Gilda was back to work as soon as she got off the Caravel Boutique and back aboard the Shining Jewel. She was pretty sure the griffon would likely die drinking coffee or at least holding a cup in her talons, because she was hearing of Gilda’s work ethic on building some kind of vehicle in the hangar and at an incredible speed to for making it entirely from scratch without Greta’s help. Time to get in a shower, pop her back into shape and freshen up her face, today Coco and her had a lunch with Luna today. She had to look absolutely perfect for it, make a good impression and maybe make a dress for one of the most wonderful princesses around. Yes, today would be Rarity’s day to shine in the eyes of someone important. - Ember was lifting an entire table and slowly heaving it in the Pendaxon’s direction, the table took quite a lot of shots from the five limbed frog menace… six limbs if you counted the prehensile two digit tongue. The large alien frog was giving her the most issues with his three weapons firing towards her general direction near constantly while he hopped around on his two other limbs. All it took was a table to the skull later and with a drop kick to the back of his throat when he let out a scream, the dragon foot entering his mouth at a good speed took him from the fight and from there things got much simpler. Ember had already killed a Macropussian with a shot through her left eye that blew out her brains into some rather bloody chunks; the kangaroo shouldn’t have hit the poor guy in the bicep who was spending time with his girlfriend when this mess started. She had also killed two Humans, one that had a knife sticking out of his heart which was his own weapon of course and the other no longer had her heart as there was a wooden stake in it that was a leg broken off from a chair. One of the Caccerans had even been eviscerated having had their head physically ripped from their body. Ember was making it a very good point to not hurt others around her when she was their ultimate target, so far her clothes were only faintly covered in blood and she hoped it could still be washed out. The mercenaries were really beginning to falter by now and she did warn them that they were going to be held responsible for their actions. “Come on; if this is all you’ve got then you better start running right now!” Pissing off a dragon was a bad idea, pissing off Ember Mcflame was far worse. Said dragon whipped out her tail and it wrapped around a charging human’s leg, with a swift jerk of her tail he fell onto his face where Ember turned and stomped down on his spine with a sickening cracking noise. He’ll live, but it would take a while before he would be able to walk again. “I meant away from me, I swear you guys are clinically insane!” - The morning that Cadence had been dreading had arrived; Mi Amore Cadenza was absolutely dreading the time she was going to be spending in the presence of Chrysalis. She woke up and she knew today was going to be at Chrysalis’s mercy, whatever that involved as the contract was carefully worded. Celestia had assured her that Chrysalis would not do anything sexual to her, for some reason that didn’t ease her fears in the slightest. She was about to groggily get a bath in when a throat clearing made her stop. “Ahem, princess I believe today is my day to have you as an escort.” Chrysalis walked into the bathroom knowing full well that Cadence was there and was about to take a bath. “Chrysalis could you please at least wait, at least until I’ve taken a bath? I don’t know what an entire day with you will be like and I’d best get prepared for it.” The underlying sense of dread in Cadence’s mind grew worse when Chrysalis didn’t leave, but moved up closer to her. Other than that the changeling didn’t do anything but let her eyes drift from her head, to her barrel and finally onto her flanks that last longer than she was comfortable with. “You’re not going to start your day without me are you? Are you already trying to break the contract?” Chrysalis watched as Cadence stiffened and it was clear that the princess of love had no understanding of what she meant. “The contract stipulates that we’re doing a lot of things together today until I free you or circumstances warrant it in a case of emergency. So for the next eighteen or so hours, you are mine to play with as I see fit as long as I stick to the rules of what I can and can’t do to you in the contract. Celestia didn’t state I couldn’t bathe you this morning, only that I could not touch you in places she labeled and clearly defined as inappropriate. Thankfully your butt is not on the list.” “You can’t be serious.” Cadence stated flatly as Chrysalis crawled into the tub and sat down looking at her with a bright cheery smile that reeked of evil intention, she and the other princesses were quite well aware of the queen’s ability to abuse loopholes like no tomorrow. She had even read the contract personally and signed it, Celestia had asked her to do so carefully and it was to get Chrysalis’s help on things. It had all seemed so innocent at first, now she was beginning to see that she may have missed some things and this payment was just lasting for one day. Though the fine print said something about a year of being stuck looking like she did at the end of it all? She didn’t quite understand what that meant, but it could have been that bad. One look into Chrysalis’s eyes said it all. “You are, you are completely and utterly serious about bathing me.” “You’ll have to wash your own teats and privates, but the rest of you is certainly free game while bathing together. Then we’ll play with your hair for while before I finish off with the makeover I’ve always wanted you to have.” A predatory lick of her lips had Chrysalis looking very happy to be here. “Oh and I will not ruin your relationship with Shining Armor, I’m in the business of spreading love… not destroying it. Also as a reminder, my species no longer needs love to live as we have two more things we could turn to for sustenance. One of which is easier to obtain than the other without upsetting anyone. Come on; let me show you what you were missing out on by not being my sexy mare. Even if I can’t do everything I’ve ever wanted to do to you, I can still do some of the things I now want to do more than ever and we don’t have all the time in the world with which to do it.” “Okay… just don’t be weird about this day later or look too far into it.” Cadence stepped into the tub that started filling with hot water, feeling rather insecure with the changeling queen climbing in next to her. “I would certainly only dream of it, now hold still. I’ll get most of your body and shampoo your mane and tail, and then you take care of your privates while I watch. You can wash me if you want; I’m certainly open to the idea.” Chrysalis smiled cheekily when Cadence whipped her head around to give her a flat look. “Celestia didn’t say I couldn’t watch you wash your privates, just that I can’t touch them. Now what shampoo do you like to use?” “The strawberry lavender…” Before Cadence could continue she was doused with water causing her to reflexively close her eyes, then there was a tug on her mane and she felt two hooves gently rubbing the shampoo into her scalp. “Now sit back and let me just caress you a bit, taking care of your body will be my job for the day.” Chrysalis tenderly scrubbed Cadence’s scalp even as the mare stiffened underneath her soft ministrations, soon she’d grab the soap and start working it over Cadence’s body. Until then she worked on the soft and silky mane that she ran over her hooves lovingly. “My you’re a tense one, then again I guess you have right to be.” Chrysalis silently moved her hooves from the head full of wonderful feeling hair she would just like to take all up in a hoof and force Cadence to the ground with a sharp tug and ask her if she would submit to her lustful whims. Too bad she didn’t think the princess would go for it, she moved her hooves onto Cadence’s back and started putting pressure in the right spots. Disguising as a masseuse certainly helps one to train in the job and while she liked playing rough, now wasn’t exactly a time for that as Cadence was entirely unwilling to do anything like that. As such she just started to massage the tense mares back until she started relaxing enough for Chrysalis to start rubbing shampoo into her tail as she let Cadence rinse her mane out. “You know, I would have expected you to grab my mane and try to ask me if I wanted to be claimed right here and now.” If only Cadence knew the dirty thoughts that passed through the queens mind as she scrubbed the mare’s tail. “It’s bad business for a changeling to touch a married mare unless her husband died in an accident, also no I don’t mean that a changeling would forge an accident to take their place. Our race has a proud history of keeping the love going legally thank you very much.” It wouldn’t surprise Chrysalis if she were to later find out that Cadence was psychic, but that had been a pretty close guess as to what she actually wanted to do to Cadence right here and now. She was following the contracts stipulations and not playing rough, also because Cadence was a married mare in general and she was the princess of love those ideas would have been bad to attempt anyway. Some mares actually like being grabbed by their manes and tossed to the floor before being treated like a slave, that kind of foreplay was always fun when you could find a good submissive. Still though, she’d just have to ask. “What if I just grabbed your tail instead and take a good look under the carriage?” “Wouldn’t that be against the contract?” Cadence asked as if she were unsure, then she felt her tail being lifted high up and she looked back to see Chrysalis taking a gander underneath her tail. “Could you not do that?” “Well I can’t touch, but I sure can look at least, that Shining Armor is a lucky bastard. So what kind of soap do you use?” The bathing continued from there with Chrysalis cleaning the mare’s body in silence after she learned the brand Cadence used. Cadence decided to get some revenge and started washing the wet Chrysalis’s mane; she didn’t back away and actually smiled. “If this is your form of revenge, then you’re not doing it right.” “Well we’re both not leaving this bathtub until you’re clean as well and the contract doesn’t state that I can’t touch you.” Here a predatory look crossed Cadence’s face and Chrysalis wondered if teasing Cadence had been worth it, after the moment Cadence started teasing her body the changeling decided that yes there were no regrets. Heck Cadence was surprised to get a few pointers from Chrysalis on how to please a stallion, though the discovery of a lifetime was found out by Cadence when she checked under Chrysalis’s tail. “You’re a virgin? You know so many innuendos and sexy things though and you’re an endless stream of them around Celestia and Luna! Heck I wouldn’t be surprised if you were the one that corrupted Twilight into reading those kinds of books.” “Well excuse me princess, but I was saving myself for someone special… after all I did try to marry you while you were disguised as Shining Armor. Let that sink in for a moment.” After that Chrysalis forgot she left something out, such as her knowledge of how to make an innuendo. “Oh and changelings have a vast and extensive history of sexual knowledge that is still quite effective concerning how many mares and stallions are marrying my kind these days. Who do you think wrote Ka-mare Sutra? It was one of my people; a changeling wrote and published that book to promote love for the gathering! Is it any wonder stallions learned to actually please mares correctly?” “Shining and I used Ka-mare Sutra to… so that anonymous book wasn’t from Twilight. Here I thought Twilight might have been some kind of hidden sexual deviant, oh goodness, all the little hints of thanks to Twilight. No wonder she looked so confused, my sister-in-law must think I’m a pervert, but it was you that sent us that book as a wedding present!” Here Cadence’s eyes went blank and her mind probably flat lined, if she were to be hooked up to a heart monitor it probably would have to appear as if it stopped. Chrysalis just smiled smugly at her and waggled her brow suggestively, making Cadence come back to reality. “That certainly explains quite a lot, so is it Celestia or Luna?” “Either of them really, but Celestia and Twilight work too well together. I just can’t interrupt that kind of relationship with a third wheel like me. I think I’m closer to Luna, but she’s pretty dead set on marrying her shotgun and she’s really, really odd to be around for prolonged periods of time.” It was around this point that Chrysalis started rinsing off her mane in a shower of water as Cadence started to tentatively working on her tail a little silent. “I’m not nearly as lucky as I would like to be, my flat butt has yet to earn me a worthy suitor and a queen will not take someone to bed full on at the drop of a hat. The worse I would actually do to you, taking into consideration that you’re married, would be mostly considered assisted masturbation. I’d touch, but I’d never go too far unless I knew it was love that got us there.” “I now feel rather conflicted about pitying you.” Cadence stated all of the sudden as she started scrubbing Chrysalis’s fur covered chitin feeling a little less anxious than she was a second ago. “On the one hoof you’re evil; on the other you suck completely at finding love personally on a scale I can’t actually fathom now considering that you’re the changeling queen.” “You shouldn’t pity me after the things I pulled, especially if you tried even half the more painful things in that book I sent Shining Armor. Some of it was well annotated with my torture room notes; triple checked my facts as I wrote them too. There are Changelings that actually are that promiscuous and masterful at the sexual arts. My love gatherers are still around, only they are more open about their intentions nowadays. They currently own the red light district here in Canterlot and in Manehatten, they double nicely as information brokers and know how to keep the brothels clean and classy. In particular they help support ponies whose special talents are meant for those particular regions if you get my drift, my changelings certainly keep them safe from the less friendly customers and they pay in real true love quite well.” Here Chrysalis shook her head and continued on with a giggle in her throat, it was nice to get along with Cadence even if she was already taken. That wouldn’t last long with what she was about to do to her, unless she actually came to like it in the end. “Thank goodness changelings are immune to sexually transmitted diseases and can’t transmit them themselves. We’d have likely been found out ages ago if that were a real problem. Another reason to not pity me is that I’m about to give you a rather drastic makeover that you will have to keep for an entire year.” - Ember calmly sat at the bar with several groaning, bloodied bodies underneath her rear end and she tapped the counter. The bartender sat down her previously used glass and paid for bottle of the good stuff before her. There were medical personnel on the scene dragging away the corpses and tending to those incidentally injured in the skirmish. “Sorry about the chairs, that table, a few of those broken bottles, the floor, the walls and maybe a bit of everything else. Heat of the moment kind of thing, I hope you understand.” Here Ember paid him for all the damages she personally incurred to his bar, she was willing to help him pay off the rest with the bounties from some of the guys she was sitting on. “Well that was the most action I’ve seen in a while, so would you like to talk about things?” The Plurt heard her reason for coming to his bar and she needed someone to talk to. “Heard you need someone to be social with, I’m a good listener and I do happen to be a bartender. So in the name of socializing, I have a surefire method for getting bloodstains out of clothing if you’re interested in hearing it. Someone special to you helped make them I assume?” “Yeah, you could say that.” A pretty prissy unicorn pony fluttered through Ember’s mind and made her blush lightly. Author's Note I can imagine Ember or Luna walking into a bar and hearing Heavy Metal- Sammy Hagar start up.
-37-“Is strapping my hooves to the chair really necessary?” Asked a rather worried Cadence, she was collared and caped by Chrysalis while being forced to sit in this chair with her hooves tied down. “Yes, I’m not going to hurt you if that’s what you’re worried about. Does it chafe?” Chrysalis levitated a brush over to her and looked to Cadence’s somewhat dried mane hungrily. “No, it doesn’t chafe, but I would like to respectfully state that I don’t like this.” Cadence watched as Chrysalis approached her with the brush and shivered at the look in her eyes. “You don’t have to like it, now let me brush your mane. I’ll have to comb it into shape a bit before I get to the next part.” Chrysalis stalked over to the mare that was trapped beneath a white cape and she started to gently brush Cadence’s mane, she would do so until it was completely dry. She wanted the mare’s mane to be nice and straight for the next part and the curls at the end of Cadence’s hair had always bothered Chrysalis slightly. “You know, this is the kind of thing I’ve always wanted to do ever since I fell in love with the idea of you. Earning the love correctly of the actual you would have been so much better, but Shining armor already had your attention and can you really blame me for being jealous of him?” “Maybe a little, he was the only choice in my mind that I would choose to marry and I’m the princess of love, so wouldn’t that mean I’d understand more than the most common form? You know what I mean, the kind between a mare and her stallion. Of course by that point it was already too late for you to make a bid for my heart.” The brushing actually felt nice, every sweep was lulling Cadence into a false sense of security and she grabbed hold of that for all it was worth. Chrysalis was being surprisingly friendly instead of accidentally pulling at her hair roughly to get a small amount of pain out of her. “I kind of fell into the princess must marry the knight in Shining Armor thing didn’t I, but it’s worked out for me.” “Yes, it certainly did. It’s freaking cliché though! I mean wouldn’t it have been a little bit more interesting had you chosen someone who didn’t have a bit to their name? Actually that would have been far more cliché. I swear you’re the only princess that stays on one side of the street; at least I know for certain Celestia and Luna both have barn doors swinging on all cylinders… Luna especially considering what her tastes happen to be.” Here both Chrysalis and Cadence cringed, there was no one that came off as completely nuts as Luna at times. “I mean she can seem so normal one second and then she takes the words, ‘shotgun wedding’, way too seriously. Now time to comb it out, any requests?” Here Chrysalis sat down the brush and picked up a comb in her magic. “Can you do something for me Chrysalis, can you comb it out fully to the tips and at least let me look in a mirror one last time before you do anything drastic to me? I have a feeling or a hunch that I know exactly what you’re about to do and where this is going.” Cadence got a full length mirror and saw her caped form and her long mane being combed out by Chrysalis and the changeling stepped back to let her to look at herself for a moment. She took in her full image and visage for a minute, before she closed her eyes sighing. “Okay, continue combing.” Chrysalis gladly did so with a smile on her face; it looked like Cadence was accepting defeat here at this very moment and after she was done using the comb to give her fringe a center parting. That small change in her hairstyle made Cadence shiver, her bangs were now framing her face and Chrysalis nodded to herself before looking off to the side. After a moment she continued to comb the rest of Cadence’s mane so that there was an almost even amount of hair on both sides of her neck. One side of her head had slightly more hair combed to it than the other. “So, how about I give you some options before I do this thing? Would you prefer a ponytail or a braid? Either way I’m binding that mane of yours with a hair band.” Chrysalis ran her hooves through the silky mane and even took a sniff of it, sure it might have made her look creepy and who was she to not take enjoyment in this? In any case Cadence smelled really nice. “Ponytail, I had one throughout most of my youth and…. no wait… braid, I want to see what it would have looked like. Can you separate the braid into the three colors? I know you’re not exactly a stylist, but…” Cadence yelped slightly when she felt Chrysalis’s hooves tugging at her mane, the changeling was apparently going to start braiding her hair now. “One braid coming right up, of course you realize I’m going to do something for your tail as well… I’ve already planned out this style long before this and I think it won’t look too bad. Unless you start struggling that is, can you be a big brave princess and not do that?” A few more tugs and Chrysalis had the hair band around a mass of Cadence’s mane, leaving two swaths of hair at the sides of her face. “Besides I actually went and earned my license to style forty years ago, unless they changed the requirements I think I’ve still got it and Celestia isn’t the only old pony around here. I did after all kidnap you before the wedding because I was disguised as a stylist if you bothered to remember. The talent was a lot more useful than I previously thought and it’s something I enjoy doing as well.” “Okay that’s making me all the more wary about this, but I’m guessing there’s no talking you out of it.” Cadence decided that she probably shouldn’t have opened her mouth; she certainly remembered how cuddly her stylist had been before she struck and then went after Shining Armor disguised as her. The tugs at her mane weren’t all too sharp or even painful, Chrysalis was surprisingly treating her mane with a reverence that she didn’t know the changeling queen had. “You’d be correct. Also your braid is coming along nicely. Almost done here, so I can give you your next decision and I’m doing this by hoof so I can get the most enjoyment out of it you know. You’re hair feels really nice by the way.” Chrysalis continued to braid most of Cadence’s mane at the back of her head; until she got to the very end of the hair she could move with her hooves and lit her horn for the last bit before tying it off with another band. “I’m not about to say thank you, you’re kind of forcing this all on me after all.” Cadence was given a chance to look at the braid in the mirror without having to ask Chrysalis, she would have looked rather nice with it and she could already tell why she still had hair that was hanging outside of the braid. She still preferred her ponytail style out of personal preference though. “So… do you want me to use scissors or clippers? The clippers would make this go by much faster; the scissors are going to be needed to shape your mane to how I want it anyway. It’s your choice what I use here. Either way I’m going to like the end results and it will be a rather specific style I’m going for here.” Chrysalis watched as Cadence broke out in tears without an ounce of remorse; yeah she really upset Cadence and didn’t care as the princess of love was hers for a day. “Hey now, don’t be like that. Sure I’m going to cut a lot of it off, but it’s not like I’m going to give you a double buzz. Well, unless you struggle, then that might very well be the end result.” Cadence stiffened at the thought of sporting a buzzed tail and mane for a year, but the tears wouldn’t stop falling. It left her worrying about the hairstyle Chrysalis had in mind and she didn’t want to force the changeling queen to buzz her head, she’d at least like to save some of her mane if she could so she wouldn’t dream of struggling now. Shuddering she took a gulp and then felt something wipe at her eyes. “Hey, I’ll have none of that now! I have to do your makeup too you know and I don’t want it to run thanks to your tears. So how do you want me to start? I’m going to decide for you if you can’t decide in the next ten seconds.” Chrysalis started counting off the seconds mentally; she would probably go for the scissors personally. “C-c-clippers, I want you to use the clippers.” Cadence figured that she might as well have it over with fast, with a pop there was a buzzing noise filling the air and her ears wilted at the sound. She closed her eyes tightly and didn’t struggle as the buzzing got closer to her head around the base of her neck where her mane started. Hearing the scissors slowly sawing through her braid would have been considerably worse in her mind. - While Chrysalis was getting her payment of a day with Cadence started off on a good hoof, for the changeling queen at the very least, Rarity finished applying all the stops to her face and body. Sure the few scratched and injuries she had acquired were still visible, but at least they weren’t on her face and were less noticeable now. Her mane and tail were coiffed to perfection and she set out of the bathroom only for Greta to rush in past her mussing up her mane slightly by the rush of air of her passing, Rarity glared over her shoulder as the door slammed shut. She quickly got her mane back into shape with a few pushes of her magic before she addressed those awake in the room, while completely ignoring the sigh of relief coming from the bathroom. “Well yesterday was quite a thing wasn’t it Coco? I admit, being seen somewhat as a hero is a little disheartening. None of our actions were exactly heroic and more out of desperation; we didn’t exactly save anyone beyond two ponies and a diamond dog.” Rarity gave Coco and appraising look and Coco looked away while rubbing at her face, it was that cute blush that let Rarity know that Coco was aware of what she saw. “One of which is currently in the room with us out the goodness of my heart, though I seriously hope to actually talk with him as I really don’t understand why he followed us all the way to the hotel without a single word. “I’ll say that yesterday was rather scary, I sometimes wish I were a bit braver like you. You didn’t falter and neither did Greta, I cuddled her again because she snuggles very well.” Coco mumbled under her breath, but loud enough to be heard by Trapeze rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with a hoof and there was Bernard calmly sitting on her head, her long and thick blue mane fanned out beneath her. Taking her gaze away from the acrobatic magician Coco turned back to Rarity. “I’m just glad everything worked out alright and that they weren’t able to cripple any more people. I’m still upset to hear that the little pegasus will never be able to fly, at least she’ll still be able to walk. When she finally gets out of the hospital that is, I’m surprised the princesses are paying for all those medical bills. Still though, So many people hurt and for what reason?” “I wouldn’t have the foggiest of idea’s Coco darling, though if you need hugs you could just ask. Greta doesn’t mind cuddling, but I think she’s dead set on Gilda, so please don’t go breaking her heart dear if she starts reciprocating. I’m sorry to say that I’m currently more worried about poor Sassy and Opal. I’m mean Opal mentally and Sassy physically after those horrible material cannon rounds she took, hopefully Vera will keep them held together up there until we can finish our business down here.” Rarity’s accent went straight to downright posh at the moment; she was in Canterlot a city of beauty and the high social standards so it was understandable. “Yeah those material cannons would have made cheese of me if I tried to fly away, but I’m glad you didn’t order me to do that because I would have gladly done so boss lady. Don’t think Gilda would have like me being mauled though.” Greta walked back into the room with cleaner looking feathers and freshly washed talons and a cheerful smile on her beak. “Also I don’t mind the snuggling sweetheart, just so long as you don’t take it the wrong way. I know I’m gay, but that doesn’t mean you are just because you like being cuddled. Though one does wonder when you keep blushing like you do.” “Can we please get off the subject of my enjoyment of being a plush toy for others? Speaking of, couldn’t you maybe just make a Gilda sized plush toy for Greta so we don’t have to worry about getting grabby in her sleep?” The idea had occurred to Coco, but she only now voiced it after the second time of waking up next to Greta held in a rather comfortable if compromising position. “Also I remember that we have an important meeting scheduled today and we all need a little time to freshen up for it, I think we’ll still have a few hours before lunch for us to just look around the city and see the sights. I hope Luna doesn’t mind having that lunch today or giving me the hug that I asked for, if she even wants to do it that is.” - “Of course we can have that lunch today! Come on to the castle and bring all your friends as well, we will make a feast of it! If you hadn’t breakfast yet, then don’t bother as lunch will be more than enough.” Luna was rather jovial about this particular meeting, she wanted to be friends with the creator of the breach gel which was proving most fortuitous in the fields of medicine, space exploration and humorously enough toys thanks to Luna’s extensive testing of that particular subject. “If you will send me a list of foods you really enjoy, I will see to it that each and every one of you is satisfied as we join for the devouring of tasty food and merriment as friends!” - “Luna is really nice.” That was all Coco had to say about that call after everyone, except the sleeping diamond dog they left alone, sent a list of the foods they wanted to see at lunch. “She’s incredibly pleasant to talk to, especially after yesterday’s sordid affairs.” “Quite, she’s more outgoing than Celestia and is usually seen perusing night clubs and running around with the likes of Vinyl and Octavia. You know the two mares we met on Ewesen, one of whom was an utter tom colt.” That brought a smile to Rarity’s face, she had never seen a mare so against putting on a dress and looking feminine in her life. “I remember them saying something about being at the Gala; it’ll be nice to see them wearing my dresses. Well at least I know Octavia will be wearing one.” “Never been to Canterlot before, guess you girls haven’t been either. I think you should really do something about our silent tail here while I get myself ready to for a performance of a lifetime for the princess. Are you up for making it a performance worthy of royalty Bernard?” The rabbit nodded excitedly and Trapeze couldn’t help smile at his enthusiasm, the two of them shared quite a special bond. She flicked her top hat and out of it fell a bottle of shampoo, a towel and a bar of soap; she then stuffed her entire sleeping bag into it before setting off for the bathroom. “That has got to be the most useful special talent I’ve ever seen a pony have.” It was a talent Greta really wished she had, because then she wouldn’t have to worry about carrying a tool kit or Mr. Welder around. To think all that weight could be entirely put off by a simple looking top hat, earth pony magicians were quite a rarity and she wasn’t thinking of her boss lady. Well at least Greta was trying to not think about her boss lady in anything other than a professional or friendly manner. “Right then, who wants the honor of waking him up or shall I do it?” Rarity questioned as she tilted her head towards the diamond dog sleeping on the floor. The diamond dog was an average sized one; they usually came in small, average and the less than popular large brute variety. Intelligence among diamond dogs was, to put it succinctly as possible, rather incredibly sporadic. “Wait… did Trapeze just take Bernard with her to… never mind. I think it best to not to go there, though my previous question still stands however.” “I’ll do it.” Coco offered as she made her way over to the sleeping dog, all she did was gently prod him and he was up with his back against the wall in an instant cowering and looking panicked. “Rover awake, Rover awake!” The Diamond Dog obviously named Rover shouted causing Coco to look back at the others for help with this sudden change in mood, while the Rover covered his head looking around frightfully. - “Rover is following boss lady! Boss lady is Rover’s new leader and leader is nice to Rover so far.” When asked why he was still coming along with them, that was his only response and he had been following them for a while now. Rover didn’t seem too bad and was mostly keeping to himself as he plodded along behind them on two legs. Then he surprised them by adding out of nowhere. “Not think of Rover as dumb, Rover understanding leader is not Diamond Dog and is tired of following bad leaders. Have trust of griffon, must be good leader. Also boss lady is a very pretty pony who helped save Rover, in taking chances Rover will. Not much is else going good for Rover anyway; I stick to this one thing, maybe better outcome.” “Thanks for the vote of confidence darling.” Rarity just shook her head and adjusted her pink and purple dress. He might have been a bit too brutish for Rarity’s tastes, but he was earnest in his attempts to follow them around and trying to make it look like it was normal everyday occurrence. He was failing horribly, but at least he was trying and he certainly carried a positive attitude in the face of Greta’s snickering. She would have to ask Trap Bar how he went about making the Diamond Dogs in his crew as competent as they were, she had a feeling she would need it. They approached the guards with Coco in the lead and the poor mare got a little shy here, until Rarity patted her on the back trying to calm the mare’s nerves and was quickly joined by Greta, Trapeze and a confused looking Rover who shrugged and joined in on the patting. After taking in all the comforting for a while Coco got her courage and moved towards the guards to address them. “Coco Pommel, Luna’s lunch party?” Coco asked more than stated, the two guards looked between themselves and nodded before moving aside to let them all through while watching them carefully. They didn’t confiscate Greta or Rarity’s weapons; the guards didn’t think small arms to be a threat to Luna at all. If anything Luna was more threatening than a few well armed supposed civilians just by being herself. A guard arrived and motioned for the group to follow him. They all did so and came to a large ornate dining room with a huge table and Luna messing with her data pad, she was playing games on it and not actually doing anything importance. It was rather apparent to anyone who spent enough time in her presence that Luna might have had a procrastination problem. Rarity cleared her throat and Luna suddenly hit the pause button on her game and looked up wide eyed to be caught red hoofed at enjoying such trivial things. The princess gave them a sheepish smile before standing up. “Hello there and welcome friends, lunch will take a while to be finished. I heard that we are to be joined by Queen Chrysalis and Princess Cadence for some sort of announcement soon, most likely we’ll be seeing Cadence’s form of punishment for distracting me from my job so much.” Yep Luna was still going to carry on that lie that it was all Cadence’s fault that she was so far behind on her work, her recent tests into the impulse saddles were proving just as fun. Can you say zero gravity breach gel balls bouncing around a contained room? “So we may be waiting a while longer for food. I hope you do not mind, if you have any questions or need anything of me that I am willing to grant, I will now hear you out.” “Yes, I do have something I want to bring up with you. It has to do with a ticket to the gala you owe me, I believe…” Before Rarity could get any further her pupils shrunk and then grew to several sizes when Luna sent the ticket hovering her way immediately. She took it into her magic reverently and clasping it in her hooves she gave off an unladylike squeal of epic proportions that caused Rover to clutch at his head. “I have no further things of note to mention and thank you very much princess Luna. Though I do believe you still owe Coco and apology.” “Ah yes, I do believe that I am required to give her a hug? Of that I will gladly grant her.” Luna walked over to Coco as Rarity quickly went to grab a seat with Rover following dutifully and sitting right next to her. She fanned out her wings and swept Coco into her hooves before wrapping her snugly in feathers and a warm and tender embrace. Then she went a step further by treating Coco like a baby. “You are one of my little ponies, yes you are. You just need a little coddling and everything will better yes? Who’s a cute pony, you are!” Coco blushed and snuggled into Luna’s embrace, it felt too cozy to do anything else and she wasn’t complaining. She didn’t regret requesting lunch and a hug, it was more than enough for her and she was happy enough with the results that she didn’t mind that Luna was treating her like a child. Celestia and Luna were old enough to mother any pony they saw fit. “Right, so the chefs didn’t mind the fried fish and chips order right?” It was a concern of Greta’s; ponies just didn’t take to meat very well. Pegasus ponies were the first ponies that could eat fish and thanks to large amounts of cross breeding due in part to the unification of the three tribes, most Unicorn and Earth Ponies could as well. It was mostly just a small social taboo to eat meat among ponies; it was truly taboo to eat the meat of a being that was previously sentient or moderately intelligent. All ponies still ate unfertilized eggs, so there was a taste for something outside of a vegetarian lifestyle most ponies tried to adhere to. Griffons would be hard pressed to give up the taste of bacon if pigs ever suddenly learned how to talk and became smarter; even then they were more carnivorous then omnivorous. Diamond Dogs were oddly omnivores leaning vegetarian and as such Rover would be okay with whatever they were having, he was going to eat his fill as he hadn’t had a good meal in a long time. “It is fine; I too love the taste of fried fish along with most of my foods fried. Fried cake and ice cream being one of the best treats I have ever tried… I forgot to mention that dessert will be a first come first serve ordeal.” After that Luna just kept on nuzzling Coco who was in her mind a very adorable pony, it was a common opinion that Coco was adorable. Luna’s night guards were insectivores so who was she to complain about eating odd foods, Celestia was the one that preferred to be almost strictly vegetarian. “Rover can’t eat chocolate or grapes, also greasy food very bad. Baked fish is better for Rover.” At least Rover understood his limitations and what was poisonous to him, in fact that was the first lesson all pups ever learned and they learned those lessons on the pain of an awful death. You had to learn what was safe to eat, cheese was in general safe for Diamond Dogs but there were the rare occasions of a Diamond Dog having problems with it. “Are you lactose intolerant?” Seeing as Luna’s answer was the dogs shaking his head no, she nodded to him. Diamond Dogs weren’t unknown to Luna or Celestia, so the question needed to be asked. “Then it is best you stay away from the bread pudding and the chocolate cake, stick to the cheesecake with strawberry syrup or the other safe desserts and ask before consuming anything sweet. I’ll see to getting you some baked fish.” “Excuse me everyone, it looks like we’ve got quite a party going here! Now introducing…” Everyone turned to the queen of the changelings, better known as Chrysalis, as she walked into the room with a broad smile. She turned back around and looked outside of the door she walked through. “Oh come on it’s not that bad, in fact you look very good!” “I know and that’s what upsets me about this… fine, I’m coming in but nobody better do anything to upset me.” Into the dining room walked an Alicorn with platinum blond hair and a pink coat reminiscent of the princess of love. She was sporting a short A-line bob that covered a portion of her right eye and her tail was cut quite short to a fourth the length that it previously was, it matched her mostly sheared neck quite well. She sighed as she noticed all the stares, three of them had blushes and one of those three was Luna. “I don’t mind the look, but I wish it were personally on another pony at the moment. I miss my long hair, but I will admit to it looking good. I’m certainly glad that you at least allowed me to opt out on dying my coat bright brown with white spots.” “You don’t have to keep the hair color Cadence; it’ll wash out later this evening. I just wanted to know what you’d look like as a blonde and you don’t disappoint. You just have to keep up with the style.” Turning to everyone Chrysalis smiled broadly.”Again, now introducing to you for your viewing pleasure… it is Princess Cadence; you are the first lucky few to witness her new makeover! Well aside from a few guards and some maids.” “Wait… I’m ogling my niece!” It had to be said that Luna’s tastes were quite out there. “I thought she was just a new and rather attractive alicorn, have I no shame?” Cadence brought a hoof to her face; she certainly didn’t need to hear that and she wondered what Shining would think of her new look. She hoped Chrysalis’s services were worth this, she was going to be getting her mane trimmed every week for a year because magical pony hair grows back really fast. As far as first meetings go, Rarity was a little put off by Chrysalis’s current friendly demeanor considering all that she’s heard about the queen. Author's Note Ponies hardly ever permanently change their hairstyles from a standard style that sticks with them throughout their lives, plus their hair returns to it's natural appearance so fast that Coloratura was the only odd one out. Well at least until near the end of that particular episode where her hair was returned to it's natural state as it looked when she was younger and friends with Applejack. Next chapter covers one of the things Chrysalis is capable of eating aside from love, it's not exactly something that most would normally eat for sustenance and it's a changeling thing in this story.
-38-“I’m still mad that you sheared most of my mane off.” Cadence stated as she sent a glare in Chrysalis’s direction. “It doesn’t help that I’ve already figured out your ulterior motive for making me have this hairstyle for a whole year.” “Oh, is there an ulterior motive?” Chrysalis took a seat herself at the table and Coco shied away from her towards Greta. “Getting my hair trimmed for the most of the year would put food in the mouth of changelings. It was going to get out some time sooner or later; aside from love changelings can also eat two other things for sustenance.” The princess of love sent a flat look at the queen as she ran her hoof against the recently cut edges of her mane sadly. “One of which is hair.” “Wait… they eat what!” Rarity couldn’t keep a horrified look off her face as she turned to the changeling queen, while putting her hoof to her mane as if to defend it from the scoundrel. “Yes, aside from eating emotional love, they can also consume hair, fur or anything relative like it for sustenance.” It didn’t seem to bother Luna one bit. “It is a rather intriguing diet is it not? She discovered this when she incidentally ate lama hair, it was quite the interesting story.” “Which is why my talent for being a hairstylist has become all that more useful after I discovered that in the recent year.” Here Chrysalis turned to Cadence who was still glaring a hole into her head. “Don’t worry; I didn’t eat your hair Cadence. I’m actually going to preserve it so I can have something to remember you by when I leave. Say, can a Changeling Queen get some food around here?” “Of course, I’ll see if the maid Lovely Lengths would part with some of her mane for you while I go see about our Diamond Dog guest’s baked fish.” Nope it certainly didn’t bother Luna one bit as she set off from the room, but the other ponies certainly had looks on their faces as they turned towards Chrysalis. “Wait, you’re leaving Equestria, who’s going to lead your people then?” Greta seemed more curious than freaked out by what Changelings could eat, not like she had much hair on her body aside from the fluffy tip of her lion based tail. Rover didn’t seem to care one way or the other and was just wagging his tail at the thought of fish and food alongside having the ability to sit at a table with royalty. Coco was still leaning away from Chrysalis and Trapeze was just looking concerned as she shifted her hat over her pinned up mane slightly. Bernard also seems unaffected by the news and just stared blankly at Chrysalis before shrugging after a minute. “I’m leaving a regent in my place, his name is Plentiful Thorax and I’m sure he’ll do a decent job of keeping my people in line.” Wool tasted perfectly fine from Chrysalis’s experience, but it wasn’t exactly delectable as pony hair. In fact it always came back to ponies for her, like she was targeting them as a food source out of habit. “I’m going to go exploring space to eventually find a planet for the first Changeling colony ever, preferably a warm one where we can raise lots of sheep for food. Wool is pretty easy to chew on.” “I believe her ulterior motive is that she has me stuck with this particular hairstyle for a year, where all my trimmings to keep it like this will go to changelings.” Closing her eyes and sighing, Cadence opened them and looked to Chrysalis. “At least I can say that my hair isn’t going to waste, especially if it’s feeding hungry Changelings.” “Okay, I give, that was my ulterior motive for the year long maintenance thing as a form of punishment for distracting Luna so much.” It was actually Chrysalis’s only motive for making Cadence go through an entire years worth of short haircuts aside from thinking the hairstyle would look good. “Besides you should be more focused on finding love for those who are looking for it.” Cadence was miffed that they were still keeping up with that lie so well, but the fact that her punishment was an entire year of feeding changelings her mane trimmings made sense. She couldn’t say anything against it because she didn’t want Chrysalis to start talking about how she’d be taking food out of the mouths of the adorable little larval Changelings and it wasn’t that hard to live with. One year of this and she could have her long hair back in exchange for Celestia earning Chrysalis’s services on something really important. “So are you the worst that has happened to Equestria in recent times Chrysalis?” It was Coco that broached that topic and the silenced the room quite thoroughly as they all turned to Chrysalis. “Actually I believe the worse in recent history was Luna’s return from the moon two to three years back.” Answered a rather melancholy Cadence, she didn’t see Chrysalis as being the absolute worst thing to happen to Equestria. Even if the queen wouldn’t stop dropping hints at wanting them to be special friends, she wasn’t looking for a herd. Cadence’s wedding might have gone absolutely pear shaped thanks to Chrysalis, but no one was seriously injured by that incident of attempted forced marriage, aside from a lot of Changelings. Twilight thankfully solved that occasion by rescuing her brother who was magically disguised as Cadence. “What happened exactly? I’ve noticed that nobody ever actually gave a straight answer in the news when it comes to Luna’s return.” Rarity would rather talk about this then get nightmares about Chrysalis pinning her down to rip off a chunk of her mane with those fangs. “If I’m sexy and I know it, clap my hooves… oh I’m sorry, were we really going to go into how Luna almost doomed the world? That’s quite a boring tale.” Chrysalis seemed to know the truth of what happened upon Luna’s return, she clapped her hooves twice and had little else to entertain herself with as nobody was paying her any attention or were avoiding her gaze for some reason. “One of my Changelings was there to see it personally in action; her whole Nightmare Moon episode was caught by a Changeling named Frankly Pleasing.” “It is best if I tell that story of what exactly happened that long night than by a third party witness. The return of Nightmare Moon was a hectic time, Twilight refused to leave my side for a moment the entire time it was going on. I didn’t know it would put us on the path of victory at the time, I was actually trying for a different strategy and Twilight certainly made a mess of things. The outcome turned out for the best however.” Celestia in all her pristine glory trotted into the room to see that they had guests, apparently Luna’s lunch party if she had any guesses as to who they were. Two of which were Rarity Belle and Greta Gollenfer from the train incident the other day, all these people were undoubtedly friends of the two. “I was meaning to ask Luna what she found out about those terrorists, but I guess that will have to wait until she arrives. Now onto the story, long ago, my sister was taken by a parasite of darkness called Nightmare and we lost our connection to the elements of harmony which we used to defeat Discord.” “Did someone call my name?” A box of doughnut popped up and a Doughnut Discord popped the top of the box. He idly started to eat another doughnut next to him that started screaming in a horrific manner, after he finished Discord turned back to everyone. “Eat me, I’ll promise to go straight to your flanks like all good sugary foods are known to!” “Ignoring that, I used what last amount of connection me and Luna still had to use the elements of harmony to seal her away for a thousand years. I lost my ability to be called the element of Magic as I had lost my friendship with Luna and she had lost her element of Loyalty as she broke our trust in one another thanks to that parasite Nightmare.” “What other elements did the two of you have back then?” Rarity had heard plenty of stories about the elements of harmony, there were six in all, Magic, Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty and an important one to Rarity which was Generosity. Celestia took a seat with everyone and smiled calmly at her interested look. “I used to be the element of Magic, Kindness and Honesty. My sister used to embody Loyalty, Laughter and Generosity. Nightmare Moon came back and I was trying to start a plan to reinvigorate the elements of harmony, what I did not expect was for Twilight to cause so much trouble.” Rolling her eyes as she recalled what happened; Celestia started rubbing her face with her hooves. “Twilight my faithful… friend, wouldn’t leave my side for anything even after I ordered her to go make some friends and it was probably for the best that she didn’t. Let’s just say me and her took a journey together to the old castle me and Luna used to live at where we reinvigorated the elements of harmony, which in turn helped me save my sister from the encroaching darkness in her mind. For you see our lost elements of Loyalty and Magic came back to life in Twilight Sparkle.” “Like I said before, it’s boring! Nightmare Moon attacked Twilight and Celestia several times throughout their travels through the Ever Free Forest because Celestia wouldn’t let Twilight go alone and Twilight refused to see to the plans for the summer sun celebration down in that quaint town.” Chrysalis interrupted with a bland tone of voice. “Throughout our adventure to the castle we were attacked by Nightmare Moon various times as Chrysalis has already stated, to make a long story short the attacks incidentally helped reawakened the Laughter and Generosity within Luna.” Celestia certainly remembered that Luna helped save herself as much as she and Twilight did; Twilight’s loyalty to her and Luna now was certainly unquestionable. If only Twilight would actually get out more and make friends other than them. “Please do not ask my sister about the element of Laughter, she’s still confused as to why she still carries that particular element even though it is rather obvious to many. I think it mostly has to do with her entirely silly nature, even when she was consumed by darkness she was still acting absolutely silly as a true element of Laughter would. As for her Generosity, she was generous enough to let us reach the elements of harmony in the first place. It was thanks to her two elements still being in play that we were able to purify her and returned my lost sister to me. I had held onto Honesty thanks to finally telling Twilight what was going on after she asked me outright why this was all happening, my Kindness throughout the last thousand years was never in question as much as my element of Honesty was by being a politician. Being a politician has certainly helped me learn the difference between Honesty and the actual truth of things throughout the years. I still don’t like hurting others and that’s the only reason why Chrysalis won that fight against me when she caused trouble for Cadence’s wedding.” “As such after hearing that it makes sense that Celestia is in love with Twilight and is in complete denial about it until I got them to actually go on a date during the gala.” The day of the gala was when Chrysalis was planning to launch a rather nasty surprise for Celestia in her spare time. She had plenty of time until the gala to get the right setup she needs going into it to fulfill Celestia’s need of her talents and pull off said surprise. Chrysalis just smiled as Celestia sent her a light glare. “Talk about kinky student teacher bonding, I know a good bondage shop you could use if you want to get all that much closer to each other.” Celestia stood up and walked around table and slapped Chrysalis across the face, making the Changeling chuckled dementedly at the light amount of pain. “Would you kindly stop pushing us together like that…” Celestia stated out loud before leaning in closer to whisper into the queens ear. “Where’s this shop that you know about? I might have need of it later.” Chrysalis whispered something to Celestia and she nodded, before going back to her seat without a suspicious glance sent her way and Chrysalis was smiling like a crazy mare. She probably was a crazy mare so any line of thought involving the Changeling Queen was dropped rather fast. “Yes, getting onto other topics. Can I do a small performance before the meal princess? You see, I and Bernard have been working on our act and I’m an acrobatic magician and he’s my stage partner.” Here Trapeze stood up and swept her hat off her head and bowed to the princess before placing a smiling fake rabbit back on her head and the hat was no longer in her hoof much to everyone’s confusion. “Okay, Bernard, what did you do with my hat?” The Lagotorphin shrugged cheekily and smiled while looking away and started whistling innocently, she looked down towards the floor and then ducked under the table setting Bernard on it. Discord had decided to stop being a doughnut and just watched curiously. The meat eating rabbit mimic just reach his right paw into his mouth and down his throat and pulled, what came out was a handkerchief and he started drawing a large amount of them from his mouth until it started forming a circular pile of red, orange, yellow, blue, green, indigo and violet. Even Celestia was intrigued by this turn of events. “I’m serious Bernard, stop performing tricks without me and tell me where my hat disappeared to?” Trapeze muttered from under the table as she got up and looked about; Bernard just ignored her and continued to pull a continuous chain of handkerchiefs out of his throat that was really piling up. “Fine, be that way, I’m checking the ceiling! This is what I get for not getting a real rabbit to perform with!” What followed Trapeze’s angry muttering was an expert display of the mare climbing the wall to the ceiling where she proceeded to jump and flip about on very small ledges and she even checked each of the chandeliers while she was up there, the mare certainly wasn’t afraid of falling as she made incredible leaps and flips looking around up there. She was making it all look so effortless and being an acrobat probably meant that she had trained in parkour from an early age to even perform half those stunts she was doing in the rafters. Celestia looked like she would stand up at one point or another, instead she watched on in deep rooted curiosity. Bernard with a tug finished pulling out the last violet colored handkerchief and let it settle on the small rainbow colored pile before him before he signaled Trapeze and let out a loud squeak. Trapeze expertly performed three flips as she swung and leapt off the chandelier and then bounced off the wall to slow her descent. Where she rolled several time and came to a stop at the table with her hooves slamming down on both sides of her partner and directing an angry glare into his eyes. “Okay, where is it?” Trapeze asked sternly, Bernard calmly pointed to his pile of handkerchiefs. “That’s it I’m out here, since you can’t take the search for my beloved hat seriously!” With that Trapeze stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her and Bernard squeaked after her, only he wilted at the slamming of the door. He somberly started to slowly gather his pile of handkerchiefs of to the side which unraveled to show that Trapeze’s hat had somehow gotten under the handkerchiefs sitting right side up. When he flipped it over to leap into it, Trapeze popped out of the brim with a smile and pulled Bernard into a tight hug surprising everyone. “Aw you found my hat Bernard, I forgive you! Now let’s put up your handkerchief collection and do some real magic, what do you say?” Trapeze only received and eye roll from Bernard and he helped her scoop up the handkerchiefs and stuff it down into the hat while giving her an upset look. “Oh right you can’t talk my language! My bad, there, we’re even with upsetting one another now.” Trapeze hopped the hat off the table and pulled the rest of her body out of it and flicked it up onto her head, and then Bernard hopped over to stand at her hooves, now everyone was really staring at her. “Presenting, Trapeze Star and her lagotorphin partner and best friend Bernard Slashuhrough! Apparently Lagotorphins have vicious sounding last names or so I’ve heard.” With that both Bernard and Trapeze took a bow. “Now for our first trick we will now sit down and pretend that I didn’t lose my hat for a minute there!” Trapeze took up her spot at the table and tried to look entirely nonchalant about the impromptu performance she just performed by looking off into space and Bernard silently pulled out a pack of cards from behind his back and started to play solitaire with them. Celestia snorted and started laughing gaily, everyone else started doing so as well and even Rover got the joke and clapped for it. Discord was smiling brightly at the show and was rather impressed even if he could do those tricks himself easily enough, seeing an earth pony do it was what made it all the more special. “What an amusing pair you two are. Oh, Lady Belle, I’ve been meaning to thank your sister for coordinating our people in catching the terrorists the other day.” Celestia paused when she saw Rarity’s look of confusion. “What do you mean? I don’t think my sister was anywhere near that train wreck and I’m all the more thankful for it.” Rarity was a little worried Sweetie Belle had somehow gotten involved in that mess and she hadn’t seen her. “So your sister is not Opalescence Belle?” Queried a confused Celestia, until Rarity got a look of understanding on her face and she brought a hoof up to her mouth. “Actually, if anything, she’s my daughter considering I coded her myself. She’s an artificial intelligence.” Pulling out her data pad Rarity called up Opal and the response was immediate. “What is Meowstress, did you get attacked by ninjas all of the sudden?” The voice of the Shining Jewels current system connected AI could be heard loud and clear; Opal sounded a little worried about Rarity. “Opal, you have a seriously overactive imagination. I’m just calling to let you know I’m doing fine in Canterlot Castle with and I’m about to have a big lunch; I’m even getting the opportunity to meet all the princesses and the Changeling Queen. Also what’s this I hear about you coordinating Trap Bar’s crew?” “Not just Trap Bar’s crew, but also the Wonder Bolts as well, it is rather strange that she sounds so lifelike.” Celestia didn’t think too hard on it and seeing Rarity turn the screen to her, she could see a pink hair cat looking back at her with a cheeky if slightly frightened. The digital cat gave her a small wave of one of her paws. “Oh, er… hello there Celestia, Rarity really needed the help and I thank you for responding so quickly.” The poor cat on the screen started to become rather shy. “I must thank you for organizing the rescue effort and giving my ponies the tactical data they needed.” Was Celestia’s simple answer, she was becoming quickly aware that Opal was more lifelike than she appeared. It just had to be a rampant AI, but she wasn’t going to do anything about it unless the AI became absolutely destructive. “You helped save many lives.” “Yeah, that wasn’t me, that was all Gilda and Sassy’s doing.” Opal created a screen split into showing two different beings. One showed a griffon that was working on some kind of framework for a vehicle, the other showing an obviously injured pony in a med-bed who opened her eyes slightly to stare at Celestia. “Holy flipping lunacy, Sassy’s actually awake! Vera to Medical, oh wait but how would she see Vera if… I currently don’t know where she is or what she’s doing. Okay Gilda, you go to medical, Sassy needs a friendly present face to be there for her right now and you’re it until I can locate Vera again! I have a hard enough time remembering that she exists.” Gilda looked up on the other screen with some sense of consternation and immediately, but carefully enough, dropped what she was doing and started flying. She wasn’t exactly the best for friendly faces, but she would do in a pinch. “Sorry for the interruption princess, but we have Sassy on a month long recovery process and she’s had a bad history with med-beds that…” Started Opal only to be stopped when Celestia cleared her throat, the screen changed so that Opal was giving her some undivided attention. “It’s alright, I understand clearly and I remember who she is. It has been a while since I’ve seen Sassy Saddles, tell me how she ended up in the med-bed in the first place when she’s so frightened of them?” Celestia was worried about one of her poor ponies. “Yeah about that, she was involved in taking down the four gunships that knocked almost all the people on the train out with concussive missiles. She took some nasty hits from their material cannons and few other weapons in the course of destroying the jamming device. That she’s even awake right now is a miracle, but she’s not coming out until a month is over with and can be cleared medically. She shouldn’t even be awake with how many drugs she’s got in her at the moment.” Here Opal paused and her eyes twitched to the left and right slightly. “Her vitals are still quite strong; at least she isn’t panicking about where she is at the moment. In fact she wanted to be put into it of her own free will, which according to our crew’s psychologist, before I lost her location obviously, that is somewhat of a good breakthrough for her mentally.” “I would imagine so if one fears med-beds after a horrible incident involving multiple counts of violent rape.” Celestia muttered somberly, before Luna walked into the dining room with a cheerful expression. “Lunch will be served in a… what’s wrong?” Everyone turned to Luna who looked confused. “Nothing is wrong, just someone needing the comfort of a physical friendly face up here and not a digital one like mine.” Opal was prepared to disappear from the screen and she did so after she finished talking. “I’ll get back to you later Rarity, things are alright up here and thanks for checking in. Please don’t get into any more danger when I’m not looking.” “Well I suppose that’s that.” Rarity stowed her data pad away and turned to Luna. “You were saying Princess Luna?” “Lunch is ready, it will be set out in a moment so everyone prepare you’re stomachs for a most wondrous feast!” Luna stated jovially now that she was certain that nothing was wrong. - Gilda just looked down at Sassy and calmly placed a claw against the lid; the mare strapped into the med-bed smiled up at her and became more serene in appearance as her eyes drooped a bit. It left Gilda feeling a bit awkward as she tried to return to the smile, smiling wasn’t something she particularly was good at. When Sassy barely opened her eyes again, she saw Vera and Opal were also looking down upon her now and she knew she was safe in their hooves, claws and whatever else a digital cat could have. “Do you think she can hear us?” Gilda asked to the ceiling. “I’m sure she can, though it’s hard to tell.” Vera looked rather happy since she was giving Sassy a bright smile and of course had a drone pointing at her like usual. “We just have to be here for her to let her know that she’s safe.” “Yeah, well, you can do that, I’m going back to work. I’ve been here for her long enough and I’ve got stuff to build!” Despite her grumpy demeanor and the way she started to stalk off, Gilda stopped and turns back to Sassy. “Get better soon alright? Nobody on this crew is going to die if I can do anything about it.” Sassy blankly nodded, almost like she could understand what was going on around her, which shouldn’t be possible considering all the drugs she had in her at the moment. - “Lunch is going rather well, wouldn’t you say sister?” Happy to be sharing it with new friends Luna continued her merry eating, it was here that Rarity learned that Alicorns could eat their own weight in food and Luna in particular didn’t care much for table manners. “Yes, provided no one looks in Chrysalis’s direction.” It wasn’t that sickening an act to watch, but Celestia still wouldn’t like a Changeling eating her mane. “My compliments and thanks to the mare that let me have a chunk of her mane as food.” Chrysalis picked up some blonde hair and put it in her mouth and started chewing, after she swallowed she added. “Her hair is positively delicious.” “I’ll be sure to let Lovely Lengths know that you find her hair most agreeable.” Luna continued to eat her fried potato sticks. “Speaking of letting us know stuff, who’s that mare?” Celestia pointed out to Cadence. “It’s me Celestia… do I really look that different?” Yeah Cadence did look really different; Celestia accepted that revelation rather quickly and had expected something like this. “Well then, I kind of saw something like this coming, though platinum blonde? I was expecting Chrysalis to do worse to you, but a whole year like that. It’s not too bad.” After Celestia addressed Cadence she turned to Luna. “Luna I think it’s time to talk about the terrorists we captured, what did you find out from their sleep?” “Are you sure we should talk about such in front of our guests?” Luna tilted her head to the guests she was entertaining for lunch, Rover in particular was enjoying his fish and lacked table manners entirely compared to Luna. Receiving a nod, Luna accepted that and decided to drop what little she managed to pull from the terrorists after their little torture session with Chrysalis. Their nightmares were quite involved when it came to the Changeling Queen. One even had platypus venom covered needles being used in acupuncture as a nightmare that Luna thought was a little over the top in its ridiculousness, where would one even get that many duck beavers loaded with poison from anyway? It was hard enough to milk a platypus, considering they were most poisonous during mating season and you didn’t want to go near one during that time of year. “About all I got was that they are planning something big and that they are part of an organization that’s called ‘The Hands of Midas’. Only there has been no one named Midas on this planet and I’ve looked it up, there aren't even any legends or anything mentioning a name like that.” “Well at least I know what to have my Changelings looking out for now, aside from keeping an eye out for the Caballeron Cabal in the lower districts and those golden hand symbols. Hopefully the Mauve Mare-auder, or Mare-Do-Well as they’ve been calling her, will stir something up so that we aren’t totally blindsided.” Chrysalis took another thick portion of hair into her mouth and finished that off before continuing. “I bet this organization is the one that’s going to start causing trouble for us and it’ll be the one we have to look out for, I’ll get to it after I spend the rest of the day with my hostage… I mean friend. Yep, nothing better than a good friend to spend time with. After today no one will be seeing too much of me as I’ve got business to attend to.” “Why am I not reassured as to what the rest of this day will entail for me?” Cadence had to wonder, what else Chrysalis could possibly do to her today. Author's Note The Hands Of Midas. There you go. In mythology Midas was a Greek ruler who gained the ability to turn things to gold with but a touch, unfortunately he didn't ask for an off switch to his powers so he went completely hungry. For even touching food turned it to gold even if it was with just his mouth alone, so his greed caused him a lot of problems. Some legends say he starved to death and others say he gained different problems, but his power of the golden touch was eventually taken away. Which is weird when you consider the Aladdin Disney cartoon series and the Hercules Disney cartoon series had a crossover and Midas definitely exists in the Hercules series. Now take that into account with the third Disney Aladdin movie where the Hand of Midas is involved...
-39-“You know it kind of makes sense that Changelings can eat hair, we certainly have the fangs to chew through silk. All Larval Changelings are hatched, or live born if a pony is involved, wrapped in silk covering a large portion of our bodies for protection when we’re foals. Not that it ever helped Hard Throb.” Chuckling lightly Chrysalis continued on without interruption as everyone else was too busy eating and it wasn’t like the hair was getting cold. “In fact when we get old enough we chew off the silk, until then we’re really adorable as we crawl around from birth on two legs. Kind of makes us hard to keep track of when we start crawling up walls, but that silk is meant to prevent us from being able to move too fast or wander into danger considering how mobile a Changeling or hybrid thereof is upon birth.” “Yes, I think we can all agree that you are rather proud of your heritage and race.” Celestia daintily swallowed half a cake, how she did it daintily was left up to the mind to figure out for the watchers who could see her as doing no wrong despite her face being absolutely caked. She had seen a few Changeling foals and they were rather affectionate. They crawled everywhere when you had enough of them hatching all at once and had to watch your step around them, they nuzzled against practically everything upon contact. It was kind of hard to just watch as Chrysalis allowed herself to be covered in them, they crawled all over her playfully and despite never having had children of her own, so far and not for the lack of trying, she loved them all the same like Celestia loved her ponies. “Changing the topic away from yourself, because goodness knows you can’t get enough of your own voice at times, what do you and your friends do for jobs Lady Belle? You know, aside from the acts of heroism you seem to perform in times of duress.” “I used to work as a waitress on Desserzon, but I’m a fashion designer now. Any kind of clothing for any creature… well maybe I’ll make an exception when it comes to making socks for Parascine. I’m very good at making EVA suits and really I’ve designed my suits for form and comfort.” Rarity still ran into a ship full of killer monsters to eventually end up saving two griffons, chased after Sassy when she lost her mind during a planetary assault to end up helping a hospital seal itself off and then she held her ground against a recent terrorist attack. Now that she thought of it, a lady really shouldn’t be seen fighting the odds like that, but she had some really good friends that were worth all that fighting for. She also preferred living to dying because of some stupid code of conduct that said she should let the stallions handle all the heavy lifting. “Also I don’t quite see myself as a hero, I mean I don’t go looking for danger and I certainly don’t rush into it headlong without second or even third thoughts. Any acts of heroism were incidental.” “Even if I were to tell you that you saved Hoity Toity’s life on Ewesen? You stopped to help others even when the danger was great; thanks to you he made it to a shelter and I believe you also made a griffon friend that is noted for being a motorized beak.” Celestia hummed in amusement before she kept gorging on cake and sometimes vegetables or other food which was more occasional than it could have been. She liked the bread pudding well enough. “You also helped make a medical breakthrough with that breach gel of yours by helping make an antidote against a venomous new threat. I am quite well informed and you shouldn’t be so humble for the accomplishments you’ve managed, though they seem to appear small in scope to you. Sometimes the greatest of heroes are the ones that are unsung.” “Yeah Gabriella is a courier, so it’s no surprise that she’ll pop up when you least expect it to talk your ears off. Thankfully griffons don’t have to worry about that sort of thing and while she may be fast with her wings and body, she’s really quite slow when it’s time for her to stop talking.” Greta smirked a little and thought of her good friend, nobody could get under Gilda’s feathers quite like their talkative friend. “You can’t stop her once you’ve got her engine going full blast unless she runs out of things to say.” “Back on topic please… wait, isn’t Hoity Toity a fashion mogul? I wonder if I can get him to critique my work as a favor for saving him.” Lifting a hoof to rub her chin, Rarity wouldn’t mind a boost in good reputation. However, she really didn’t want to be known as a ‘battle axe’ pony so soon given she was still quite young. “Well there goes that idea, anyway Coco here is my partner and as you know creator of the impulse saddles. They work underwater as well as in space, they double as an extra oxygen tank for my EVA suits and we’re working on the design to improve their functionality with the help of my good technical engineer Greta here. Those two over there are Trapeze Star and Bernard, they are traveling magical act and as for Rover… I don’t honestly know much about him.” “Rover is seeking a job opportunity from the friendly boss lady pony; hopefully boss lady will have something for Rover to do.” The Diamond Dog had stayed silent for quite a while, Rover wasn’t talkative and he didn’t want to talk about his past. He was of average intelligence and that was saying something for a Diamond Dog considering they were seen as the bottom of the barrel in being particularly helpful. “Rover can be useful if Rover is given a chance.” “We’ll see about it eventually.” Was Rarity’s short and stiff reply, she didn’t know much about Diamond Dogs aside from the fact that dirt was their friend and they were usually unkempt. Both of those things were not something Rarity appreciated in the slightest, she didn’t mind Gilda or Greta getting messy because that was a necessary evil in their line of work and they always cleaned up after themselves. “Sassy is also one of my crew members, she’s a good store manager with a few small exceptions and is quite a frightful samurai which makes her double as security. Frankly she’s good in either capacity, now if only she didn’t get injured so badly. Then there’s Gilda who’s my rather grumpy mechanical engineer and good friend of Greta’s. Finally there’s Vera Blossom, but she’s got this rather odd quirk about her and she says you’ve already met? It’s quite hard for others to remember she exists and or see her.” “Yes, we have met. She walked right past my guard without a single glance and asked if I could relieve her of her oddity of being heavily ignored by most things.” It saddened Celestia that she couldn’t help the poor SNUGGLES member who was so good at massaging the stress out of you. “I’m glad she’s found someone who has a good eye for detail to work with, assuming that you can see her when she walks into a room.” “Oh I can, I’m surprised that she doesn’t take advantage of her ability. It seems like a boon as much as it is a curse.” This meal was going swimmingly and Rarity couldn’t help but wonder when a horseshoe would drop on her head. “A lesser pony would probably find ways to abuse such an incredible quandary as that… speaking of quandaries, where is Twilight?” It took Celestia long enough to notice that her favorite Unicorn wasn’t present with them and the mare always made time to eat lunch with the princesses. “I don’t like it when she skips meals to continue studying.” “Which is why I had to drag her away from her books, because she… she…. she’s beautiful.” A small purple dragon dragging a half asleep Unicorn along into the room and froze as he took one look at Rarity, she seemed to look at him and bat her eyelashes at him in a flirty manner. It was his imagination of course, but he thought he was seeing an angel as he looked upon her. He was still too young for Rarity however and it would never work out. Now if only he could process that into his head as he stared at a Unicorn that got his heart thumping a mile a minute, or that was probably the thumping noise of the purple Unicorn who just ended up flopping onto her face to quickly wake up in a startled thrashing manner that made her look like she was a break dancing octopus. “Oh, now who’s this little charmer?” Rarity leaned down as Spike dropped the sleepy pony he forced into the room and ran over to the dress making Unicorn to be scratched on the chin by her hoof. “I’m Spike the dragon at your service milady!” The little dragon bowed before Rarity causing her to smile at him. “My you are quite a gentle stallion, well in as so much as introducing yourself. You really lost quite a few points in that when you decided to drop that poor mare on the floor.” Rarity saw the purple Unicorn finally calm down and slowly get up and when she realized that lunch was being eaten she blushed and looked horribly sheepish at all the stares. “Who is the pony that you left on the floor there anyway?” “That would be Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s current student who has social anxieties beyond the pale. Seriously that girl needs to get out more, she’s already missed several opportunities of possibly getting sexy with Moon Dancer and it irritates me to no end that she hasn’t picked up on the signals.” Grumbled a rather irate looking Chrysalis, the queen turned to Cadence who was busy eating a lot of food to prepare for the rest of the day she was going to spend in Chrysalis’s presence. “I never bothered with trying to find Twilight love; she was a hopeless case even when she had a mare or stallion practically throwing themselves at her at all given times. At least I set Moon Dancer up with someone who would actually pay attention to her as she deserves, but she is still very much dead set on Twilight. Getting her hair styled so that she looks like Twilight doesn’t make her sound any less desperate.” It was something Cadence could agree on as she stopped to talk and Twilight just stood there staring at her blankly. She muttered off to the side. “I swear that mare will join Celestia and Twilight in a herd in a heartbeat if she could get them to agree to it and I wouldn’t put it past Moon to do just that.” “Cadence what happened to you!” Twilight immediately knew who Cadence was upon first sight and that was the first thing that came to her mind. She was completely ignoring that Celestia and Luna were eating their own body weight in food being completely impossible, that the large table had various strange guests at it or that Spike was currently enamored with Rarity and talking to her about his origins according to what he was told by Celestia about where he came from. “It looks kind of sexy.” “Oh come on!” A red headed pony with glasses shouted as she poked her head through a window before a Changeling pushed her away while giving them an apologetic grin. “What’s Moon Dancer doing outside the window with a Changeling?” Twilight missed the obvious answer, Moon Dancer was stalking her and the Changeling was watching out for signs of trouble for her queen. Changelings certainly helped with the cracks in security that the royal guards always left open. “Look never mind. May I please join you for lunch princess?” “Twilight we’re friends, you know you can call me Celestia right?” Though Celestia would have to admit that she loved the inflection Twilight gave the word ‘princess’. It always sounded so affectionate and loving. “Also, you are always welcome to lunch with me. You don’t need my permission to show up unannounced; also you’re going straight to bed after this no ifs ands or buts.” “They are eventually going to stop dancing around one another right?” Cadence was clutching at her head in aggravation. “It gets so hard to watch them do this around each other.” “I think it’s actually their form of flirting, it’s quite nonchalant as all get out and I feel your pain Cadence, but don’t worry I’m certainly working on it as much as you are.” Mused Chrysalis idly before she cleared her throat when Twilight started getting something to eat for herself and Spike also took up a seat for himself. “So are you going to get involved in the mess that might possibly happen here in Canterlot? I ask because it seems like you love to get into trouble Lady Belle.” “Perish the thought; I’d rather try to stay as far away from any trouble as I can! Though my success is not going to be quite guaranteed in this day and age is it?” Taking a look over at the newest member of the rather quaint and very frank luncheon, Rarity didn’t know what to expect. Not being able to help herself, Rarity pulled out an emergency brush from her dress and ran it through Twilights hair straightening out her appearance with a few quick swipes. “Sorry, but you didn’t look proper and you certainly need to take better care of yourself dear, you are a representative of the princesses after all or at least one of them. So Luna when are you going to take on a student yourself, there have been rumors that you were looking for one.” “Yes, but ponies are most frightened by our countenance when we try to talk to them. It is quite hard to find a Unicorn willing to be apprenticed to…” Luna started off only for mare noted as being Moon Dancer to jump through the window and tackle Luna to the floor. “I’ll do it princess!” Declared Moon Dancer in an over the top brave manner that didn’t seem to befit her appearance of being a nerd, she was quite brave to cuddle up against a surprised and shocked looking Luna. Celestia let off a loud throaty chuckle, this lunch was going to be far more entertaining than the gala ever would be in the next five years unless something extreme happened. It was always a bore that left her snoring with her eyes open, a talent she learned to use at the many a gala in the past as to not appear as if she were inattentive. At least this year she had Twilight and some other things to keep her attention. Hopefully no pony would die on her watch with those Hands of Midas guys running around doing who knows what. - Sparks flew and the heat was exhausting to be near at all times, but Gilda was working insane hours to finish her most recent project which was confusing to Opal as to why she was exactly building it. Gilda cut off Mr. Welder and looked over the work with a keen eye; she smiled after a moment when she proved to have done a good job and lifted the welding mask away from her face covered in grease and sweat. “Can you tell me again why you are exactly making something like that?” The Artificial Intelligence was stumped, she figured that Gilda would immediately jump into make fighters instead what she was making was far more unusual especially in the location it was being made. “You’re kind of pushing yourself hard to get it finished and it’s not like we’re about to be hit by another MOM from out of nowhere.” “Eh, I figure the boss lady could use one Kitten, because quite frankly I don’t trust things to stay quiet down there. Especially with people as organized and militarized as those guys were, make the drones grab that energy converter and bring over it here to me please.” Gilda pointed and the drones went to pick up the part, she ran her talons through her sweat soaked feathers. “I wish Greta was here to help me with the more technical aspects, but I’m relying on you instead Kitten and I hope you understand that I don’t do things like that easily. Rarity is going to need my help and when that time comes you won’t be able to question my logic of building this thing, call it a gut feeling if you will. So how’s Miss Pants-At-Life doing?” “Sassy’s surprisingly stable, but I’m still upset at having been responsible for her injuries.” Opal had a good long talk with Vera and those injuries were because Sassy wanted to help, most of said talk was an attempt to get her to accept that it was Sassy’s decision to be shot at by four gunships. “Responsible nothing, you’re not the one that shot or pulled the trigger on any of those weapons Kitten. You’re not the one that forced her into a mentally scarring position of being in a medical bed either.” Pulling the welding mask back over her face as the energy converter was dropped off; Gilda had one last thing to say to the Artificial Intelligence. “So, stop being an idiot! You are by far the dumbest smart person I’ve ever met.” “Yeah, I certainly feel like that at times.” The perkiness returning to Opal’s voice made Gilda relax slightly and the griffin smiled under her mask. The fact that she was seen as a ‘person’ and not just a ‘thing’ made Opal’s day a bit brighter, in fact any time someone thought of her as a person made her happy. Gilda’s affectionate nickname for her also helped somewhat. “Thanks for the compliment.” “I have no idea what you’re talking about Kitten.” After Mr. Welder flared to life in Gilda’s claws, she continued her work in silence and would need a coffee break in another hour. - “Why do I get the feeling Mr. Welder is being used a lot?” Greta muttered to herself, she had a sixth sense for her favorite welding torch and just shrugged it off as she continued to happily feast away on the succulent cooked fish. “I’ve been meaning to ask, you wouldn’t happen to know where I can find a Pegasus or two that are not attached to any prior commitments. I need to expand my crew a bit and my larger ship could use a bit more skeleton to her at it were. I only have three active crew members up there at the moment and it’s a pretty sizable ship that needs some space filled.” Rarity really could use the advice on where to find a good crew member or two and the princesses, plus Chrysalis, seem to know Canterlot pretty well. “You could try the lower districts, but at a time like this I don’t think it’s particularly safe. There’s a Caballeron Cabal gang running around there, but you’re likelier to find a pony that has nothing better to do in that area that would work for cheap salaries. Whether those ponies are friendly or not depends on what part of town you’re looking in.” Adjusting her glasses as she joined them in the meal without bothering to ask if she could, Moon Dancer bit into a carrot sharply and it crunched loudly as she began to chew. Moon Dancer didn’t even receive confirmation that she was Luna’s apprentice at all and just decided to assume she was so that she could be close to Twilight. “These are some pretty firm carrots, quite good.” “I believe the Golden Harvest clan is responsible for the carrots this day. I think Carrot Top is performing at her personal best this year.” Celestia hummed out as she continued eating like there was no tomorrow coming. “There’s also the Hands of Midas to be concerned with, given they are in the city, so you might want to watch out for any shifty figures lurking around and stay indoors after hours.” “What makes you think they are in the city?” Despite slowly and dizzily eating her food, Twilight suddenly became alert at the idea of more attacks. “They aren’t going to ruin the gala are they?” “I should hope not!” Rarity let out loudly and Spike glanced up from eating some gems that were brought in for him. “Do not worry Twilight; the gala will go on as it always has. I can see Luna has had you working on this information.” Celestia received a nod from her sister, she turned to Chrysalis before looking back to Twilight to fill her in. “Someone was offering the Caballeron Cabal gang something to help get our samurai forces out of the city and they successfully received it a night or so ago. From what Chrysalis tells us, one of hers was on the scene that saw a box that had the mark of a golden five fingered hand on it. It wasn’t until the terrorist attack on the train that we found out that they are definitely something to watch out for. We still have no idea what they are going to do, but we have a clue that it involves titans and that sounds quite bad.” “Was it a prophecy?” Twilight asked looking pensive as she remembered what happened during the last prophecy when she helped Celestia purify her sister. “I think it might have been, it went like this… they are building titans and will spread chaos to weaken Canterlot. They will strike when the iron is hot and it burns the one you love.” Celestia reiterated some of it and left the other less important parts out. “To think they didn’t ask me for help, why that upsets me to the highest degree. I’m all about chaos!” Everyone continued to ignore Discords presence even as he turned into a penguin with a jet pack and zipped around above them volleying a football around as if it were a volley ball. “Well this sounds serious, so do you think the one you love means Luna?” Twilight gave Celestia a confused look when she looked away from her and winced, before returning to her food. “There’s also the line about building titans, how does one build something like that without it going noticed?” “I’d ask that question myself, my Changelings aren’t exactly picking up anything and that should theoretically be impossible with how many of my people I have on this.” Here Chrysalis looked a little upset. “I know none of my guys have been taken out and nobody is missing, so they aren’t being attacked. They just aren’t finding any information.” “Can’t we discuss something more pleasant; does anyone here need a dress for gala? I’ve personally got mine and Greta’s ready and I can’t wait to show off my fashion.” Surely not everyone who went to the gala would be complete jerks and it would earn Rarity some positive notoriety, especially if she could make a dress fit for the princesses. “I could use a tuxedo for someone, pencil them in for Wednesday. Trust me, they’ll find you easily enough so have an open schedule that day. Name Plentiful Thorax, payment upfront I assume?” Chrysalis received knowing looks from Celestia, Luna and Cadence, but didn’t say much else. Chrysalis still had more to say. “Oh and you can count me in for putting up a resume for becoming crew member on your ship. I’ll get Plentiful Thorax to deliver it to you when he finds you for a tuxedo, if you need materials to make it I’ll handle the costs of the materials used. Just don’t go crazy with the budget Thorax will have on his person when he comes to you, please be somewhere public so he can introduce himself to you properly.” Rarity blinked owlishly at Chrysalis, a queen just offered to become a crew member on her ship and would give her a resume? Why did Rarity feel like she couldn’t say no to that even if she tried to? She didn’t know Chrysalis very well, but she seemed to be quite a unique individual. “Rover needs a resume to work with boss lady? That will be big problem.” The Diamond Dog’s ears wilted. “All of Rover’s previous bosses died violently while screaming in agony.” “So did mine, but I’m not crying about it.” Greta said with a chirp and a smile on her beak trying to reassure the Diamond Dog. “I’m beginning to question the people I’ve started surrounding myself with.” It was not hard for Rarity to do so. “Welcome to my world, except my people are at least somewhat more competent at making sure I don’t die.” Rolling her eyes Chrysalis just drank some water having finished off the last of the hair she was so graciously given, it was quite filling. However the ratio was True Love two months for one serving, stolen or false love at least a month in comparison if barely at that and as for hair a bit longer than a week provided you weren’t using a lot of magic. Hair at least had a physical presence in comparison to love and it wasn’t a hard resource to come by. “Oh and I would like to commission you for something special later, but only when I’m able to actually talk to you about what I want done in detail. So remind me that I wanted to do that later when we both have some free time and you’ll be paid well for your services.” - “So what am I doing exactly?” It was about time Ember got back in the saddle and back to working for a living, sitting before her was a pony looking over several documents and ignoring Mr. Spew on her shoulder. “We were recommended to contact you based on your… indestructibility to be quite fair. We need someone who can go in and look around to find out what’s happening at this colony station. The space station went silent all of the sudden, it’s still has power generation and there are quite a lot of active life signs. Every drone we send in however shows a whole lot of nothing and slowly start failing horribly, static fills the feedback and everything starts going wrong with them yet they stay in perfect operational condition when we find them for recovery.” The orange pegasus pony stallion with blue hair stopped here and looked Ember in the eyes as he slid a file to the dragon. “We’re not exactly sure what’s causing it, but it’s possible that it’s sifter drifter activity in the range of ‘deadly’ to ‘absolutely toxic’. We recovered the drones we sent in and nothing was wrong with them except their batteries were heavily drained and what little we could find of life were some strange shadows caught shifting along the walls in the city proper. At best we know it’s not a mechanical grey goo takeover and at worst we don’t know what we’re dealing with. The station still oddly shows a lot of life signs despite the visuals we did get back showing no life to be seen in the colony stations massive sprawling city. The life signs we’re receiving from the station are slowly beginning to drop off and the number of life signs matched that of the population of the entire colony station and those who went to it recently. Nobody is coming back from there so we’re trying to set up quarantine to prevent this problem from spreading, but some people are still getting through. I need you to help the current investigation team and possibly go in there personally to find out what it is we’re dealing with here and then get out as fast as you can.” “Yeah, this sounds like the kind of suicide mission you’d have to be absolutely crazy to go on.” The pony looked upset for a moment before Ember included. “I’m certainly ready for a challenge, just give me all the information you’ve got on what’s going on in there and let me scope it from the outside for a while. Maybe you can have the investigation team send in another team of drones first for me to get a measure on just how exactly long it takes for them to start failing.” “I’ll see what I can do.” The pony stated firmly. Author's Note I would like to point out that this is the last of the luncheon, Rarity will now tour Canterlot until the gala. Maybe visit the art museum or the museum of magical history, the local spaceport and of course a side visit to the restaurant sector at least once a day for a rather Tasty Treat. I'm wondering if I should change the 'Other' tag to an 'Ember' one, but I'm using it as a fill all for the many other characters in this story.
-40-“Well that was nice, though a lot of the things I saw were positively unexpected.” It still surprised Rarity how fast the alicorns can consume their way through a pile of food while looking so regal, needless to say walking away from the castle left her feeling a bit upset as she didn’t have much to do until the gala. She needed to take her dress off for one, so she started back to the hotel room with every one of her friends following. Rover was included in that number even if he hasn’t exactly done anything friendly yet. “There was just so much food and none of it went untouched and there certainly weren’t any leftovers. Are you heading back up to the ship Coco?” “Maybe, because I want see how Sassy is doing personally. Knowing I’m okay and there for her might make Sassy feel better emotionally.” Here Coco paused and considered her options, she wanted to spend a little more time with Rarity. “I would really like to do things around here with you though.” “Right then, I need you to do something for me Coco. We’re still going back to the hotel room to get in an interview with Mr. Rover here.” There wasn’t anything Rarity could say about him that was negative so far, aside from the funky smell and being dirty. That was expected with Diamond Dogs though and Rarity could overlook a few… okay, he had many flaws. “Full name is Red Rover, but Rover prefer Rover boss lady pony.” The red vest wearing Red Rover didn’t seem to have too much trouble following what they were all talking about; he turned to Greta who got his attention by clearing her throat. “Speaking of job interviews, the boss lady is quite thorough with hers. She certainly worked out an honest deal with me and Gilda, mutually beneficial too.” That took a while and by then Greta knew that Rarity was already going to help them regardless if they started working for her or not, the boss lady was generous in both good and bad ways. “You just have to have a talent and learn how to apply it well enough that you can be hired.” “While we’re on the subject, is there a chance that Bernard and I can get in on this?” Trapeze asked for herself and Bernard who looked like a small basketball on her back after consuming enough fish that Celestia stopped to ask if he was alright. Once it was explained that he was a Lagotorphin, Celestia just nodded and continued eating as if seeing a rabbit consume meat wasn’t odd. Bernard squeaked his own query while nodding vigorously; he probably felt like he owed Rarity the opportunity to perform in front of a queen and several princesses and the free food had been wonderful. Even if they were highly laid back he had been rather nervous about it unlike Trapeze. “You want me to interview you to? Well I do owe you for helping us clear out one of the train cars… I’ll at least hear you out.” Rarity was curious as to what she was going to do with what were basically a circus performer and her false rabbit friend, she was still trying to figure out what Rover could possibly be useful for as she has heard a lot about Diamond Dogs and none of it was above decent. Diamond Dogs didn’t excel very much in many places aside from digging. “You certainly are a great performer, but how can that help me in space?” “Well you never know when you might need some odd talent when it comes to traveling and I want to go to the stars with my act.” The smiling Trapeze tipped her hat to Rarity. “I’m quite sure Bernard wouldn’t mind traveling, as I found him getting off a space ship in Manehatten. Didn’t exactly think he was normal when we started working together. I never really asked him about his life, but now I know he’s a traveler and I don’t intend to sit in one place my entire life. It’s why I followed you here in the first place; I need a little adventure to add on top of my pizzazz. My cutie mark kind of makes me a thrill seeker.” “We’ll get right on that then when we get back to the hotel then. I’m rather surprised the princesses don’t eat more fancy foods, but they certainly know what tastes good.” Complimenting the chefs put Rarity in their good books. It might not have been food meant for royalty, but it was food that royalty preferred to eat and that three cheese vegetable lasagna had been heavenly if a little heavy in her stomach. - “You know, I think I’m going to take a break from working on this project.” Having said that out loud Gilda heard a gasp of excitement from above and she rolled her eyes at who it was. “Oh my goodness you’re finally going to get some rest, so what are you going to do on your break?” Opal had been getting along better with Gilda; Vera was still quite hard to find even in a room with one door when she wanted privacy. Vera was okay and liked Opal’s favorite show, so Opal couldn’t be too miffed about her ability to disappear before everyone’s very eyes with but a blink. “Use the toilet, take a shower, get some food and finally put some weapons on the Caravel Boutique, because damn it all if we’re going to allow it to continue being helpless in a fight!” Cursing herself silently, Gilda couldn’t stop caring for the people she’s come to see as friends. The best thing she could do was arm their vehicles properly and she had an idea for her special project that was going to be a unique weapon. “Can you get a meal ready for me Kitten? Oh and send these schematics to Greta so she can look them over and fix any details before I get back to work. I definitely need her opinion on it to make sure it will work and not just blow up in my face. Besides these resources were given to me by the boss lady and I’d rather not squander them on something that might not be feasible. If it’s not feasible I’ll go with my second idea.” “Right then, sending schematic data to Greta with a message to not tell anyone what you’re building up here, though I’m still not sure if we’re ever going to need it.” Though it was pretty cool to have, this was something that Opal admitted to herself silently and wouldn’t state out loud. “It’s better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it. I’m making it capable of orbital drops, because knowing the trouble we might get into it’ll be a useful feature for it.” Shucking her clothes, Gilda dropped them off and made her way for the nearest toilet, she needed some relief and soon. “Of course once it’s in the atmosphere of a planet it’ll be quite hard to get it back up here. I’ll fly over that bridge when and if it comes to it. Oh and can you time my coffee so that I get it hot as soon as I’m out of the shower?” “Sure thing, though I really think you should get some sleep.” The health of the crew was something Opal had to worry about, it was also Vera’s job as well, but she was more focused on Sassy at the moment. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead or at least when I’m tired enough to look it.” Came back a rather crabby reply, Gilda was working on something that was totally awesome with the resources she’s been given and she would certainly find a use for it. - While Rarity was busy getting her three interviews in the hotel, because Bernard was certainly going to be an interesting one, Coco set off with Greta to go search around for a Pegasus crew member that she could interview. The lower districts of Canterlot weren’t very pleasant, but having a somewhat well armed griffon at your back made it certain that not many would bother Coco. She trotted around looking for a good spot to find and recruit at least one crew member, she nor Greta were carrying any money on them so they shouldn’t be bothered by anyone. When they walked close to a bar, Coco started getting bad memories from the last time she was in one. “Oh no… I don’t think I can really do this Greta. The last time I entered a bar I got attacked by all the bounty hunters there.” Coco was a little surprised she didn’t get hit more than she did. “You look like you made it out of there unscathed and without a problem.” Greta thought she looked pretty good for upsetting as many bounty hunters as she said she did. “While being chased by a Ceantir that wanted to take me alive...” Added Coco causing Greta to look a bit shocked and why wouldn’t she look so shocked after hearing that? “Let me rephrase that, you are lucky to be alive. Also did anyone bother to set the Ceantir on fire?” Greta looked a bit more worried; Coco obviously had pretty bad memories about that situation. “Do you know what even happened to it?” “They did set him on fire, but he put himself out rather quickly while knocking out a bunch of bounty hunters and eventually chased me out of the bar.” Coco shivered as she looked to the bar. “They were shooting at him more than me. I’m rather grateful that they were, but I’d rather not relive the memory.” - Coco spun around really fast holding onto the spiked metal bat; she released it performing a hammer throw that knocked the Ceantir onto its back. The end of that hundred pound spiked bat slammed into its face with enough force to almost cave it in leaving a stunned and horrified Coco just standing there. She started limping off before anyone else took a potshot at her for doing nothing more than defending herself. - “It wasn’t exactly a good night. I didn’t know Ewesen even had that many bounty hunters; it always has such a nice and friendly tropical climate. That MOM attack almost destroyed four cities, three of them practically were.” Coco shivered as one of those cities was one of the ones she lived in for a while. “I think I heard that Ceantir was taken in by a bounty hunter named Flamethrower, they certainly sound dangerous and I wouldn’t want to meet them in a dark alley.” - “Oh no, I’m going to…!” A bright white ignited from Ember’s nostrils as she held her hands over her mouth to prevent the flames from erupting against her will. She rubbed at her nostrils idly, she was lucky she managed to hold that back and not incidentally sneeze metal melting fire all over her control panel as her ship floated a short distance away from the space station. The repairs that would have cost her would have been pretty bad; also it would have been worse if she sneezed full out. It would have put a hole in her ship and leave her to subsequently die in the vacuum of space. What an ignoble death that would have been, ‘sneezed herself to death’ would have been a pretty sad epitaph. “Sneeze… I don’t know anyone who here would be talking about me. Okay let’s start this operation and see what’s going on here, pay careful attention to your drones and if they start showing signs of trouble, pull them back immediately. We need to test the distance they can go in before that starts happening and when it gets really bad. I need a cover formation of two by two, nothing seems wrong on the outside.” - “Don’t worry about that, I’ve got you covered Coco.” Greta didn’t seem like an unfriendly enough face to scare off anyone and she was positively brimming with cheerfulness at the thought that Rarity trusted her with watching out for Coco. Especially considering she wasn’t exactly capable in combat outside using a gun, all of which she learned by experience alone with no prior training. Gilda could say the same, but she’s actually had training in using vehicles armed with weaponry given her dream of becoming a pilot only failed because she kept crashing her ships. Personally Greta thought she could be a pilot while working for Rarity and be her mechanical engineer at the same time. “Though I’m just going to say that I’m not exactly good in a fight, Gilda is more likely to win a bar brawl than I am. Said something about me being too nice to break a bottle and then stab a guy in the chest with it.” “That’s not very reassuring Greta. Also I’m kind of surprised that things aren’t more awkward between us.” It did surprise Coco a little; Greta was rather openly gay in both ways. She swallowed and walked through the doorway into the bar with Greta following her. “Why should things be awkward? You’re a comfortable snuggle, even if you are sending me mixed signals about how much you enjoy that. I’m going to get Gilda in bed eventually and not just as friends, no other being in existence can stop me from trying until I’m good and gone.” Greta smirked and looked about; the plasma rifle strapped to her back would keep anyone from trying to start something. “It doesn’t seem like there’s much trouble here to begin with so we’re good there. I’ll watch our backs, yours especially because it’s cute.” Coco blushed as she walked up to the bar and crawled her way onto a stool, best place to look for a recruit was to talk to the bartender who might at least know somebody who needs a job. She wasn’t looking to get inebriated, far from it. Greta took a position right next to her and leaned back first against the bar, while glancing around. The place was quaint and smelled richly of flowers. “So what are you looking for here? You girls don’t seem interested in drinks, though I know a few ponies that would buy them for you. Names Hops Wildly, I run this here bar and hops flowers are my specialty as an earth pony.” The green earth pony with the dark brown mane proceeded to pour himself a mug of frothing fluids and drink it; he nodded to himself apparently thinking it good in flavor. He had quite an interesting accent. “That garden is quite helpful with preserving my stock I tell you. So what can I be doing for a mare and a hen such as you? You two seem too nice to be down here in the dumps and I don’t like anybody be harming friendly folk that come in just for a visit. I’m quite aware that you're here with ulterior motives at the very least, ones aside from drinking your woes away in my bar, having a nice night out talking in a public place and or picking up someone for a one night stand on the dance floor.” “Right to the point then, well that’s rather convenient for us.” Chirped Greta with an amused smile, hoping nothing would go wrong on this little adventure. “With as well armed as one of you are its best that I pay attention to you and hope that my walls are not soon filled with holes.” Even as he said this he continued to down more of his drink. “You two are not looking for trouble right? With a face like hers I would presume you’d have a better reason to come here together instead of being on a date, because I have the hen here pegged as being gay.” “You’d be right; I’m gay every day of my life with hardly a few downer moments between.” Spouted off Greta in a happy manner as she tapped her talons on the bar, this guy was alright to her even if she wasn’t Gilda who had a good read of people from their first actions alone. “Not so sure about this pony though, she’s definitely a shy one and could join the SNUGGLES organization on her looks alone with how adorable she is.” “Can we not go into that please? Ahem, what my friend means is that we’re here to look for a Pegasus to hire and would like to ask if you have any suggestions.” Coco attracted Hops attention to her. “In particular one who doesn’t have any prior pending issues or much of anything better to do and is basically jobless, one who wouldn’t mind traveling in space and working with a pair of crazy griffons in our hangar. Of which one is sitting next to me.” “I’m not crazy, just mentally challenged when it comes to my heart’s desire who continues to ignore the fact that I’m a decent bed warmer. Why I’m even thinking something along the lines of lesbian orgy if I can get her to agree to one night with me, I love her dearly but she’s really hard to get.” This from Greta caused both Coco and Hops to blush vibrantly. “You be a good hen and the mare is cute with her prodding. That’s it, we’re friends! Friends help one another right? You be looking for Pegasus with no prior engagements, then I might have a few names you can look up if they haven’t turned their lives around yet and are in need of a good job.” Hops looked over to a changeling waitress who was serving drinks and food. “Hey, Delightful Nights, your boss is in need of some paper and a pen! I got some job bringers here.” “Right boss, I’ll get on it when I’m done here. Are we still on for tomorrow?” The changelings finished placing drinks on the tables and shuffled right on by them into the back room where the sounds of cooking could be heard. “That is a sure thing, my sweet as honey friend! Delightful is being such a sweetheart since she be coming to my bar for a job, she is quite a spicy mare when you can get her motivated. Otherwise I am thinking she is a lightweight and not interested in doing fun things, set me right about changelings she did and I am not hearing a thing of hearsay in her words.” Hops smiled as he had had a pen and paper placed before him which he took up in hoof and started scratching down some names and places to find them. The silver eyed changeling gave him a peck on the cheek and took off a small mouthful of his mane before walking off while shifting her rear and holding her tail high in the air. “She is looking for a good relationship. I’m not sure if I’m worthy of her, but she be sweet on me all the same.” “I say go for it or I will, no telling when you might find another mare like that. Though knowing what I do about changelings now, aren’t you the slightest bit upset that she just ate some of your hair?” The stallion just chuckled at Greta’s question as he continued to scribble off some information. “It mean less trips to the barber for me, it be growing back fast anyway. Plus my silver eyes succubus be making sweet passes at me whenever she wants, it’s perfectly fine if it helps her stay healthy and attractive.” He lifted his head slightly and watched that changelings swagger as she went about making her rounds. “Plus the shape shifting can make things in bed interesting, if I decide to let things get interesting between us. I don’t want to hurt her emotionally and I would like to take things slow, she says that changelings are more open to deep relationships and I’m open to her tempting me with her hot little backside. Do you two want anything on the house?” “Not really, we had a big lunch.” Coco could still feel the bulge in her stomach. “On that I can agree, that was one lunch I don’t think I’ll ever forget.” The list was turned about and slid over to the pair and Greta looked it over. “So who are some of these ponies?” “They be customers in need of a good job, some are on very hard times yeah. They will take just about anything nowadays. I suggest you start with that mare Lightning Dust, she be a Wonder Bolt drop out and known for her recklessness, she almost killed a few ponies, almost. Maybe you can get her back up on her hooves yeah? She lives in an alleyway nearby and only makes barely enough money to feed herself, I wouldn’t be happy to see her start selling her body. It is bad enough that that poor mare sleeps on these cold hard streets with barely a cardboard box that she can pay rent on. She might be a bit drunk so take it easy on her if she be getting rough with you.” “Thank you Mr. Wildly.” Getting off the stool, Coco waited as Greta took up the list and looked it over. They would take the bartenders advice and search out for Lightning Dust first; the bartender was friendly enough to draw various cutie marks onto the paper for them. - “Okay, Bernard definitely wants to be a package deal with you Trapeze; he’s proven to be quite an intelligent little thinker and knows he can get into small crawlspaces to help where repairs and maintenance are concerned. Plus he’s agile enough to wield at least a pistol, but I’d rather not have him as security. I can certainly understand his usefulness and he gave me quite a list of things he could help with, but what about you Ms. Star? What can you do for my ship if you become a crew member?” Bernard hopped off to stand beside the Diamond Dog who just looked at him uneasily as Trapeze made her way into the hotel room to talk with Rarity. Rarity had already finished her talk with the Diamond Dog and the prospects were not looking good for the Red Rover, still it wouldn’t hurt to at least have some men on the crew for Sassy to get used to having around. Provided they don’t go anywhere near her while she’s currently in the medical bed. “What are you proposing to do when you come onto my ship and why should I take you as a crew member? You know, aside from the fact that we’re friends.” “Well I could pay you a percentage of whatever I make when I put on shows to have me onboard as expenses, I could also clean things and or assist where needed. I’m sure you can come up with something for me to do. Maybe I can help you with advertisements for your business when I start becoming well known? More than likely you’ll help me with that as well for my performances.” Trapeze really hadn’t thought too far into it, just that she wanted to travel and go to many places and do amazing things for the people there. Rarity was quite a friendly face and she wasn’t pulling punches. “I know I can at least help you move things around and carry things for you, I could be a pack mule. “I’ll consider this, but you’re definitely too pretty to be considered a mule my dear. Tell me how you got to where you are now.” Sitting down on the bed Rarity gave Trapeze a stare. “How did you know you wanted to be a performer, what’s the news behind the mare before me?” “Well I guess it all started when I was young, I loved climbing on things. Jungle gym, statues, monkey bars and I happened to be a funny little filly with the way I liked jumping around and tumbling. Eventually I took up learning gymnastics and from there it was history when I discovered half my talent.” Here Trapeze stopped and took off her hat to bow to Rarity. “My other half was putting on a magicians act for a talent show, I would have done a gymnastics act but someone else was already going to do that and I didn’t want to step on hooves. They still ended up trying to ruin my act, but it made my act all the more special as I performed tricks while doing leaps across the stage dodging falling objects and making it out to be a part of my show. It wouldn’t be until years later that I found a rabbit that was willing to work for me, Bernard was… special… to say the least about him when I first met him. I took responsibility for him and we’ve been best friends ever since then.” “The way he tells it, he thought you were quite the interesting mare yourself. So is there anything I should know about you?” Rarity liked Trapeze and could at least work with her; she was still iffy about letting a mangy mongrel like Rover onto her ship even if he had some good qualifications for digging up jewels for her. Mining was about as much use as Rarity thought she could get out of Rover really, since his species specialized in mining operations and didn’t have breathing problems in dusty conditions. Heck Diamond Dogs were known to be able to survive lacking air for quite a while, given how often they escaped caved in places unscathed. Diamond Dogs were also quite often seen in emergency rescue services and Rover did have some strength in his lanky arms. Why he even might be able to do something as a security officer, but he would need a lot of training to be useful part of the crew and she didn’t feel like dealing with training him personally. “Well I like to dabble in some things, but I don’t have much of an answer to that. I guess I like playing with puzzle games and the like, toying around with illusionist stuff if you will and I definitely like dancing. I’m not really leaving much behind if you do take me on, all I have is right here with me.” Trapeze took off her hat and hugged it to her chest before returning it to her head. “I’m not all that interesting outside of what I want to do as a performer. Still though, if you won’t hire the Diamond Dog I might be able to do something with him.” “What would you do with Mr. Rover if you could train him to do something?” Now there was an idea and Rarity could kind of see it now that she thought of it. “Could you maybe make him your assistant to set up stage equipment and move it around?” “Yeah something like that, why do you ask?” Trapeze bounced a little on her hooves and tilted her hat to the side looking intrigued. “I’ll hire you and Bernard as crew members who will start out as janitors, maybe learn a thing or two about where else you could help around the ship. But as a caveat you two must train Rover to do something useful.” Here Rarity chuckled a bit dryly. “I want you to help him clean up his act as it were; maybe you can expand your act and form a Trapeze Troupe if you will. I’ll lend you transportation; you earn the money. I might also require Rover’s services where digging would be fruitful; in fact I plan to visit the bejeweled fields near Ponyville to give him a test run as to whether he can at least do that much.” “Oh boy, you certainly are asking a lot of me. I’ll see what I can do with him.” Trapeze then looked quite thoughtful as she put a hoof to her chin. “The Trapeze Troupe… has a certain ring to it and I like it. Well… work up a contract and you’ll have yourself a Star, Trapeze Star to be exact, at your service boss lady. I’m sure I can make something of Rover, even if he has to be a clown.” “Oh, don’t you dare start that too; it’s bad enough that my griffons do it already and even insist on calling me that!” Rarity paused and began to wonder when she started considering them her griffons. Author's Note Rarity might be doing well now, but as a heads up the gala is not going to end well for her and her ambitions to find a good stallion and or become one with high society. Canterlot touring and the mysterious Mare-Do-Well/Mauve Mare-auder returns. Rarity's various enterprises, one of which is obviously in the entertainment industry, are going to at least keep her in good money at least. She only has a stable supply of funds, as in she's not exactly rich yet as most of her funds are going into repairs and supplies required to keep her two ships working.
-41-“Quite frankly I don’t know what a performance duo and a Diamond Dog can do for me, but I’m looking forward to at least the duo doing something interesting. If I need to do some mining you’re going to be right there with me Rover.” Sitting before Rarity were the three prospects that wanted to be hired. “Honestly it might help in the long run if you become the morale expert; you certainly know how to read a mood Trapeze and you’re acting is quite splendid when you did your performance before the princesses… and Chrysalis. What I’m trying to get at is that all of you are hired, provided that Rover doesn’t mind working with you Trapeze.” “Rover can work with pony easily, apex predator is more worrying.” Rover pointed to Bernard who just smiled at him. “Wait, Lagotorphins are apex predators?” Trapeze seemed a little confused about that and so was Rarity for that matter who motioned to the dog to speak up. “Yes, false rabbit very dangerous.” The Diamond Dog shivered and looked away from Bernard’s innocent looking smile. “Rover does not seek to upset him or even wish to.” “I’ll have to agree as from what I remember Greta telling me about a Lagotorphin I know about taking out several large monsters by himself during the whole thing on Ewesen.” A rabbit sized intelligent being that Rarity remembered hearing rumors of taking down multiple Voragers on his own, made her wonder why he was friends with someone as innocent as Fluttershy. Then it occurs to Rarity that Angel is probably a big game hunter and uses Fluttershy as much larger bait when his pet rabbit wouldn’t get him some stupid beast to snack on, Fluttershy was a popular SNUGGLES member know for her love of animals and being around especially dangerous ones at that. Given that Rarity could kind of see Angel’s reasoning as to why he’d follow the shy mare around and be so friendly towards her. “Knowing that that particular Lagotorphin took out creatures three times his size, I can say that Bernard can be as dangerous as that despite his appearance saying otherwise.” Bernard just let off a friendly sounding chirp as he took to standing on Trapeze’s back, which made Rarity realize that he was probably doing the same thing that Angel was with Fluttershy. Ponies who traveled got into trouble easily, ergo he’d protect his chosen pony who was going to travel around to possibly dangerous locations with equally dangerous creatures to eat… she’d have to watch out for Bernard if they go anywhere near a nature preserve. Lagotorphins were nowhere close to being an endangered species and could probably count as sifter drifters themselves. - “Are you sure this is her? She looks pretty awful.” Coco poked the ragged looking Pegasus in a torn and ratty looking jacket and breathes that smelled of cheap alcohol and was likely covered in grime from head to toe. Her faded green dusty coat was probably a lot brighter once and the matted orange mane of two various shades didn’t look too healthy and she was using used newspapers as a blanket and bedding as she was curled up in her cardboard box. On top of that there was a nearby jar filled with liquid that had the label of ‘toilet’ on it. If any mare really needed help it would be this one. “Maybe this is a different pony.” “That’s the cutie mark that Hops drew. I can kind of see why he recommended us to her first, she looks like she needs help and Rarity wouldn’t say no to us being good people by giving her a good home with hiring her right?” Greta started to poke at Lightning Dust’s mane and it was as dusty as the rest of the Pegasus who looked to be down in hard times. “This has to be Lightning Dust, this is the alleyway that’s the adress.” “Hmm… look I’ll pay rent; you know I’m good for it. I always get the money on time you know that.” Muttered the Pegasus who woke up sleepily, she wasn’t all there and her scratched and distorted voice sounded as bad as she looked. This mare probably needed a doctor or at least some time in medical bed. “You actually pay rent on a cardboard box?” Anyone would look horrified at hearing that, Greta tried to keep a cheerful smile on her face despite that. “I thought Hops was just joking about that.” “Huh… you’re not… no doesn’t matter.” The mare sat up and shook her head, this action caused several scars to be revealed along her chest, wings and flank. She glanced at them blankly and with something approaching contempt. “Yes, I pay rent on this box; it’s either that or get downgraded to the less waterproof version. Having a waterproof box when you’re as poor as I am is something of a miracle.” “Yes, well, we were directed to you by…” Coco started off before she had a hoof held up to her face, Lightning popped her spine and stood up. “Doesn’t matter, I know Hops sends job bringers my way often enough to know why you are here and so far the odd jobs I’ve been getting are barely keeping me fed. I don’t care what the job is, I’ll take it. Wildly has a good sense of decency that I can trust.” Lighting shook her head groggily and then sharpened her focus on Coco, she was horribly thin and she looked to be physically weak as if she hadn’t flown in an entire year. “Whatever you need me for, it can’t possibly be any worse than my current living arrangements. As you can see I only have a box and a jar of piss to my name, selling my pee helps me get something to eat every now and then. Don’t ask about who buys it or what they do with it. You don’t want to know and neither do I. If you need me to turn tricks I’m willing to go there, heck I might even end up taking the changelings up on their offer of joining them at the brothel. They are among the few around here that still care.” “Well then, I can see you’re going to be interesting to talk to…” Suddenly there was a loud beeping noise, Greta quickly pulled her data pad out from underneath her wing and looked it over. A look of shock crossed Greta’s face as she finally took in what she was looking at in full. “Holy crap… what hell is Gilda building up there to come up with something like this?! This thing… hmmm, let’s see. She needs to change the setup here, here and here, move these wires over to this position. Change the power coupling here or else it’ll overheat and explode on her after being used too much. I swear this is the only reason why you keep me around Gilda… a few tweaks here, add four heat sinks and there! Now it’s completely viable and will only cause a few problems. Adding a few notes to the design about said problems, sending it now. Gilda you’re a genius, but sometimes I wonder if you plan so many flaws like this on purpose.” “What did I just agree to?” Lightning asked out loud looking slightly tipsy after watching Greta go to town on her data pad, she hoped she just didn’t sell her body to science. Maybe she would be a pretty good lab rat if that were the case. “Nothing yet, but we hope to at least give you some food and a clean bed as part of the job we came to offer. Maybe we can talk to you over some food?” It was here that Coco was starting to consider Rarity’s generosity contagious or maybe it was the unkempt and unwashed winged pony before her that needed help. She needed a lot of it by the looks of things. “You look like you really need it.” - “Yep, Greta still has the right stuff for the job and she improved my schematic by a mile.” Here Gilda smiled at the changes on her schematic and a few notes she paid absolute attention to, Greta wouldn’t make note of something without there being a good reason for it. Greta didn’t waste words on things Gilda could have probably figured out by herself. “One of the reasons I keep her around, efficient and quick when put to the task. Hey now, I never would have thought of that… for a walking gay bar you never cease to amaze Greta.” Gilda started to work immediately, with Greta giving her schematic a quick once over and double checking the figures herself with a nod. She was ready to start building this particular part of her project properly thanks to Greta; she’d have the whole thing done before the week was out. - “It’s getting pretty late, I hope you three don’t mind but I’m going to the art museum. Get to know each other better and work out what you’ll do between yourselves. You won’t have much to clean up to start off, but you’ll have plenty of free time until then.” Rarity grabbed a few of her things before heading towards the door. The contract had been signed and she now had three more crew members to worry about, the expenses for these three and whoever Coco and Greta brought back would put her on a barely stable ground. She still had some room for error unless Shining Jewel blew up and it was a well armored ship, so something catastrophic would have to happen before it went down. “Oh and tell Coco and Greta I’ll be back late if they get back in before I do, please don’t cause any trouble for me and here’s some money to pay for room service if you get hungry. ” “Don’t worry, I’ll hold the fort and make sure my new associate doesn’t do anything dumb.” Trapeze tipped her hat to Rarity as she stood at the door. “I have nothing to worry about when it comes to Bernard; I know he can take care of himself.” “Rover is not being dumb, Rover is just not being smart at the right times.” Huffing audibly at the disrespect, Rover looked slightly offended. Sure he may not have been big on words, but he understood food and a place to call his own to sleep. Plus it would be his first time being in the big hole, which was what space was known as by Diamond Dogs and he’s heard how dangerous it was. Rover was still alive because sometimes stupidity finds a way to survive all the odds and he at least understood he was somewhat lucky to be alive at this point. He knew that you learned best when you did stupid things, then you learned to not do those things ever again if it wasn’t fatal the first time. “Right then, I’m off.” Rarity hoped the Diamond Dog would eventually prove his worth, gem digging would be much simpler and she could make a tidy profit off of it without too much expenditure. The Caravel Boutique would need to refuel its variable thrusters when they go to Ponyville. She was dreading that because she knew that Sweetie Belle and her parents were going to undoubtedly be there. So far she had been lucky to avoid them and her luck could only go so far if Opal’s calculations were to be believed. She stepped out into the late night air in the middle district and looked around, Canterlot during the day was glorious and even at night the lights and buildings were quite beautiful. However looking towards the lower district, Rarity hoped Greta and Coco didn’t run into any trouble, where would she be without her shy workaholic friend and the friendly griffon that makes a few sly passes at every female member in her crew at one point or another? Greta certainly knew how to compliment a mare and certainly had an appreciation of beauty that Rarity didn’t mind as long as she stuck to chasing after Gilda. Looking at the bright night lights, hearing the sounds of harps being played to the wind and the beauty of the architecture all came together here in Canterlot, a great city that had a lot of opportunities and was equally beautiful day or night. Rarity thought the princesses ran things well enough, but the more rich people there were around, the greater the number people in poverty or in service of said rich people. Those numbers seem to always coincide with one another. Slavery existed whether or not people like to admit it, but the manner of that slavery was either set in cruelty which was always the first thing that comes to mind when such a subject was brought up. The other type of slavery was that made by necessity as the thing that exists constantly in proper society. The difference being that slavery by necessity means that you were only a slave so long as you were paid to be one by the one who was giving you the job that you are being paid for, you could free yourself and walk away from your obligation if you didn’t want to be a slave to said persons whim. It was quite hard to do when it meant that you’d quickly lose a lot of the conveniences and comforts of society unless you can find another place of employment. As such societal slavery wasn’t nearly as bad as the cruelty version of slavery where everything is forced upon the slave. It’s just that people never stop to consider that they are slaves to their paychecks when it came to being employed to someone else’s whims within a specific range; Rarity learned this much when she was a waitress. At least the cruelty version of slavery was definitively outlawed in many places. As she approached the museum Rarity considered how human society could get away with a make believe system of money they have that was built entirely on trust that the money actually meant something, that it could be exchanged for goods and services and would always remain so. Apparently it was quite a common thing to crop up in many civilizations that the money could become worthless in an instant and as such Rarity wanted to be rich enough that no matter what happened the wealth she had would always mean something, something she would share with her friends of whom she didn’t order around very much. She only asked them if they could do things, she wasn’t forcing them to do their jobs and they were probably better mentally for it that she didn’t ask much of them. The thing to be said about money from Rarity’s current perspective as it is given? Money was only worth as much as the value other people put into it, it was the notion of worth and that the money had it that made it as such. If you were the only being left in the universe with all the money, what would you do with the useless pile of nothing you now found yourself sitting upon? Rarity humorously thought of making a castle entirely out of bits to live in for the rest of her lonely life at that point, it wouldn’t be luxury without someone to make food for you and or at least keep the plumbing in your home working. Stopping Rarity thought she saw a costumed figure prowling around on the ledges of the museum, the swish of a cape that might have just been a bird swiveling around a corner. She didn’t think much of it at the time and continued. Shaking her head at the image she thought she saw, she walked up to the counter and paid for entrance into the museum, knowing full well that her money was well spent as it went into the preservation and upkeep of the museum. Like money, Rarity knew art was only worth as much as a beholder declared it to be. Could you nail a wooden plank to a canvas and sell it for a thousand bits? It was apparently worth that much to someone to have someone else nail that wooden plank to the canvas and signed their name on it. Rarity wasn’t going to complain about how silly that sounded, given it actually happened. Why ‘The Plank of Somber Regrets’ was a popular piece, in fact it was the first one she saw as she walked off to the left, she was going to take the entire museum in a clockwise and upwards manner. This art museum in particular was opened day and night, with a rotation of constant guards making sure nobody tried anything funny. The worth of that plank of wood nailed to a canvas and encased in glass was a lot, despite Rarity simply seeing it as only worth a plank of wood, a nail and some canvas which wouldn’t even exceed twenty bits by her mental calculative standards. It did intrigue the mind how someone managed to sell it for a thousand bits, at least someone had to have been rather generous to buy something like this for even that much. Rarity was able to appreciate the minute thought provoking issues, especially with the fact that she had been staring at a chunk of wood for the last minute or so before moving on to the next painting. “Oh what would my friends say if they found out about me staring at wood and actually considering it art? Well it is, but that doesn’t mean it's good art to everyone.” Talking to herself made Rarity feel less lonely, she should have brought someone with her to enjoy this. Someone who tended to enjoy the finer things in life, maybe some pony that would look at her and tell her that she wasn’t trying too hard and that they found her to be an exquisite work of art herself. Sighing Rarity continued her tour of the twenty four hour art museum, the art work was starting to inspire Rarity about clothing designs she wanted to try. Her job was about making functional and visually pleasing clothing, something you could use and behold at the same time. That was what Rarity could get behind. She worked for people to behold her wares and think them worthy of a moderate cost she presented and as such she was no different from that of an artist. Only art didn’t have much function aside from adding aesthetics to a room and Rarity could almost appreciate beauty in any form it came in, her eye for detail helped her take the paintings in visually and get an idea of what the artist was going for when they made them. More likely than not Rarity knew she would be wrong because it was her own assumptions and perspective. She could not accurately speak for the artist as no one should be able to, especially not the one that did this masterful work of the ‘Mare of the Moon’. There were however reasons why artists stayed quiet when someone spoke for them when it came to trying to interpret what the artists was going for, they made more money by not stating their intentions to make money by being mysterious, bonkers and daffy after all. Insanity certainly had its own worth and value, but only the truly insane could get away with selling it. Owning the paintings of an insane pony must be an interesting topic of discussion to bring up at garden parties. Is becoming rich or wealthy the dream of an insane mare? Rarity had a lot to consider as she stared a painting that tried to capture Discord’s essence that was labeled ‘Discords Other Tooth’ and she left it looking horribly confused. That was probably the true goal of that particular painting and Rarity smiled hopefully that she at least understood one of them perfectly well; it was definitely chaos incarnate in the form of a painting. - A costumed figure slunk around the wall on a ledge and looked for a window, breaking into the museum wasn’t exactly a good thing to do. Still, it was a necessary thing for the masked pony, who had been tracking the unicorn criminal Mind Field. Said unicorns last known location was right here. They had to be wary of illusions and traps, so avoiding a scuffle with the royal guards until they could find him was paramount. The figure looked through the windows as they climbed around the outside of the building trying to discern if there was a pony hidden under illusions stealing paintings, because why else would Mind Field have come here? Vigilantes were both romanticized and frowned upon in equal measure. Heck many ponies couldn’t believe a pony could resort to violence so easily, but this masked figure had their reasons. Things like not getting fried alive by Back Draft for one. At least the figure took down one of the more lethal members of the Caballeron Cabal and was trying to capture the more elusive intelligent one before going after the muscle, which was going hurt a lot when they did and the bruises would be very hard to hide in everyday life. This pony wanted to protect the innocent from scum and wouldn’t pull punches to stop the criminal element around here from doing whatever it was they were planning. It was something big to be sure with the increase in changeling activity, they were looking out for something dangerous and this costumed pony wanted to put that danger to a stop before it could get off the ground. This figure was Mare-Do-Well as they’ve been calling her; she would have preferred The Mauve Mare-auder even if she could never truly live up to that particular legend. Instead this pony wanted to be her own legend, doing something so far beyond the scope of her own cutie mark. This kind of stuff wasn’t even close to being this pony’s special talent and they were in it to do good deeds without recognition, it certainly meant finding out was happening here in Canterlot since it became her new home. The costume made it hard for others to discern her gender, but it was generally considered that she was a mare and they were right to believe so. However they still hadn’t figured out what she was, Pegasus, Unicorn, Earth or even a rare elusive Alicorn Pony. In the end it didn’t matter as she worked her butt off to defy what her special dictated she would be doing for the rest of her life, still her cutie mark might have had something of a symbolic meaning as to what she was doing now. She saw a white furred mare with purple hair come up the stairs and start looking at paintings, checking the technological lenses on her mask with a hoof she saw no illusion when the magic filtering effects came up. So it had to be a civilian just coming to appreciate the museum, she had to find Mind Field and soon. She also needed to keep innocents out of the crossfire and take him down before he could get away with his prize, whatever it may be. She turned off the magic filtering sight on her lenses as it was quite disorienting. The lenses in her mask made it hard to move while keeping them active in any alternative visual mode, they were definitely going to help in the fight with Mind Field even if she would be fighting disorientation as much as Mind Field himself the entire time. - Something flickered by the window causing Rarity to turn her head towards it where she saw something like a cape swish out of view. She shrugged and turned back to the painting of a mare with a rather glorious mane, it was based on a popular series of interactive comic books and the painting made the mare look very realistic. The mare in the painting was beautiful, but she didn’t like the color of her mane. Though green seemed rather fitting with the purple colored fur, maybe it wasn’t such a bad color after all. Still wouldn’t be her favorite color and would stay near the bottom of the list just above brown. Things were quiet and there were a few other ponies around exploring the art as well as herself, though going up another set of stairs brought her to a very strange scene. From an outsiders perspective it was weird to see several ponies staring at empty spots on the wall, whereas a stallion with multiple paintings was smiling to himself as he just idly levitated another painting away from the wall. After a moment the stallion looked to her and noticed something very important, Rarity was looking at him. Directly at him, Mind Field, a unicorn who specialized in illusions that affected every pony in a general region and using his abilities he could get up close to you to stab you without you noticing it before it was too late. Provided that you couldn’t see him like Rarity currently could, her keen eye for detail led her to seeing through his illusion entirely. While such an ability might have been good where Vera was concerned, at this place and time it was a really, really bad thing to notice a known criminal as he was in the act of stealing several paintings that he sat on the floor next to himself. “Well now this is a surprise, someone who can see through my illusions. I can’t leave a loose end like you just sitting around. Who knows, you might help the guards try and apprehend me.” Mind Field had orange hair and black fur with red eyes, he just sent a glare directly at Rarity who eyed the paintings he calmly set down and then looked back at him. Several knives levitated out of his saddle bags and with a flash of his horn he smirked. “Did you know I once tried to assassinate Celestia? I failed obviously, who knew she could see through even my illusions. To think those nobles couldn’t have the foresight warn me about that before hoof, they now have rather bright smiles… in their necks. I barely escaped her wrath for that you know, but you are not Celestia now are you? Scream all you want, no one is coming to help you now. I so do hate ponies that can see me under the illusions I put in place, so don’t worry your pretty little head. You’re going to die here lady and there’s no running from me once I got my mind set on it.” “Seriously now, can’t you just ignore the fact that I saw you and let me go?” A knife whizzed by Rarity’s face at an impressive speed, what was more impressive was that she managed to move her face out of the way in time and stumble back. She quickly levitated out one of her energy pistols only to have it knocked away with a second blurring knife that went back immediately as the gun went skidding out of her levitation range. She had to dodge the first knife from behind as it went back to Mind Field with an intersecting course set for her spine, Rarity was thankful that it only nicked her shoulder and caused her to start bleeding. “No, you’re going to have a nice smile in your neck soon too. You know, changelings sometimes get blamed for the things I do and I enjoy that society is pointing their hooves in the wrong direction. The hypocrisy of our world amuses me to no end.” The wicked smile widened on Mind’s face as Rarity started frantically backing away from him and he knocked her other pistol away when she tried to pull and fire it as well. He was quite fast with those knives of his, who was it that said knives were useless in a gun fight? Well they probably hadn’t met a unicorn with long range levitation skills. He slowly sauntered forward at even pace and even had a smug look on his face. “You know, it’s quite nice being me. I can get into any place and have sex with any mare I want to, just so long as they can’t see through my illusions as I’m coming or going. You however, you happen to be a big threat to that. Nobody can hear or see you right now and I believe I will be the last stallion to hear your screams one way or another... you should be happy that I find you appealing. So submit now and I just might actually make your death a quick one.” Author's Note I decided to be a bit philosophical this chapter, that and have Rarity encounter a psychotic pony. All while Mare-Do-Well isn't in the museum and is looking for said psycho. What was not said this chapter is that his cutie mark is a spiral and an eye, slightly based on Spellbinder from Batman Beyond to be specific. Mind you mind control is all well and good for an evil magic wielding pony, but it's ridiculously common in the show as it is in some stories I've read. Mind Field is different, he can't control the mind directly, but he can control what a pony see's and hears to a point that he can make a faithful pony see him as their lover and at that point he's on an equal level of nightmare fuel that changelings generally cause. Why hasn't anyone written a story where a changeling or changelings are wrongly blamed for things a unicorn or unicorns committed as illusion specialists? Blaming a present changeling would be the easy way out and nobody would ever consider unicorn magic being used for dark purposes, at least from the ponies perspective in the show. Despite the fact that unicorns have done bad things with magic in the show for extremely flimsy reasons.
-42-Rarity thought about her options fight him and get hurt doing so, possibly raped and killed or get raped and killed anyway. She’d prefer to go down fighting with a knife in her teeth, but she noted a few key problems with this situation. One she was not a very powerful unicorn, it just had to be said as much as thought that Rarity couldn’t put up a fight without levitating a weapon in her magic, he’s already managed to disarm her of two pistols and… wait… she still had the material pistol, but was it even loaded? Not exactly the time to check that with her mind running a mile a minute. “I’d rather put up a fight thank you very much.” Answered Rarity calmly, she wasn’t about to pull out her last pistol, the other two were a bit far away and she wasn’t going to do a dramatic dive for them. She wasn’t an action movie hero; she knew the limits of her magic and the range of which she can pick up and wield a gun was quite short. Basically this obviously dangerous stallion had the upper hoof in all areas where combat was concerned and it was best if she got away from him as quickly as she could. “Yes, run, it’s going to make this all the more enjoyable. Of course you know I could probably disguise myself as you and kill someone.” This gangster obviously didn’t know Rarity had a history with some odds being in her favor, Mind Field noticed Rarity backing away from him and it wasn’t often he ran into a illusion immune unicorn. They were a rare breed and he didn’t like them existing in his mind boggling presence and world, which is why he was choosing to take her out of it in his preferred method. He twirled one of his eight floating serrated knives and pointed it at one of the bystanders who continued to peruse the illusionary art. “Even if you do escape you’re still going to be my prey and I can have the whole of Canterlot against you easily enough, even if I am caught nobody would ever trust you again. If I do it right nobody would ever believe your innocence even if the princesses themselves say so, so be a good little mare and lay down. I hope you like it rough.” “So a thief, a ruffian, a rapist and what is with that rather atrocious accent? I admit I’ve heard some horrible voices in my time, but your voice is one of the absolute worst things I’ve ever heard in all my life.” If this stallion wanted to play mind games Rarity would prefer that to the physical activities he was currently suggesting, it would be best to keep his attention focused on her and stop him from hurting ponies unwary of his presence because he was apparently casting illusions strong enough for them to both be ignored. She stalked to the left and a knife knocked her gun further behind her and then she tried the right and that gun too was knocked away by a launched knife. Exactly what Rarity wanted him to do; now all she had to do was get him angry and focused on her. If she weren’t so generous she would have let him carry out his threat of harming someone instead of keeping his attention all on her. “Also not very sporting as you won’t give a lady a fighting chance. You by far are the ugliest stallion I have ever had the displeasure to meet, inside and out. I swear you also smell quite horrid, what do you bathe in? Rotten eggs, must be popular with the other stallions you poof.” “Okay, now you’re getting me angry.” The stallion started moving forward at a brisk walk and Mind Field smirked as Rarity continued to back away from him in fear. “Only just getting you angry? Wow, not only do you happen to be ugly, you’re also dumber than a metropolitan stereotype of a blonde mare.” Okay that made the stallion see red, Rarity kind of figured that this guy has slept with many an airheaded mare before and nothing would make him angrier than calling him out on it. “Alright, now that… has gotten me pissed off! I am not as dumb as one of those broads you lousy donkey faced dame.” Mind Field still wasn’t doing what Rarity wanted him too. “Well of course you are, for a girly stallion. I mean how small is that thing between your legs that you need to use illusions or force to even have sex with a mare much less get one within twenty feet of you?” Rarity immediately turned around and ran for it with several knives whizzing by her head, she might have insulted him pretty hard that time but it was worth it as she had maneuvered him into knocked her guns into her path. As she ran by them, she picked them up and stashed one of them away and fired over her shoulder at him and was aiming low. It hit the floor and he pulled his hoof back before it could hit. “Get back here, nobody insults my Little Mind!” The stallion yelled charging after Rarity. “Oh you even named it too; well you’re the one that called it ‘little’ not me. So I don’t know why you would be mad at me over it, but it does prove my point that you are a small fry!” Rarity couldn’t fire her energy pistol again around other ponies, she might incidentally hit them while trying to shoot Mind Field and he was keeping himself in the path of shots that would hit someone should he dodge them. He was at least that smart, but not smart enough to avoid being goaded into chasing her. She avoided taking a knife across her face as she galloped away and one grazed the outside of her rear right leg causing her to stumble in pain. Yes, Rarity figured that he was quite angry as he ramped up his attacks, the knives started coming at her and then curving or suddenly flipping to change directions in the air trying to skewer her. She jumped ducked and avoided taking a knife to her face, she really didn’t want a scar on her perfectly beautiful face, her legs she noted were getting more injuries as time passed as he continued to knick her here and there as she ran. Seeing him move into a safe place to fire she shot twice causing him to reel back a bit and avoid the shots as she turned started going down the stairs towards the exhibits next floor down with Mind Field hot on her tail retaliating with knives flung at a high velocity. “If anyone can hear me, I could use a little help here!” Rarity yelled as she tried to find a spot on the second floor to hide and knife slide across the left side of her neck causing her to let out a scream and grabbed her neck, her hoof came away covered in her blood and she put it back to keep the pressure on it. He was slowly whittling her down and nobody could hear her screaming for help. “Nobody is coming, nobody but me that is. If you don’t know who I am, then the name of your killer and soon to be rapist is Mind Field. I’m a pretty big name in the Caballeron Cabal, one of the best enforcers around.” The stallion watch as Rarity continued a three hoof gallop away from him, this was a feisty chase to be sure and she ducked into the next room leaving a knife embedded in the wall where she had stopped to lean against it for a moment. “I was here doing a simple heist and what do I find? A mare that can see through my illusions, now why don’t you come out and play?” “Oh I’ll gladly return the favor; I am a generous mare after all.” Rarity leaned out from a steel statue of a dragon; she fired several times and ducked out of sight. All except one of her shots missed and the stallion was quite good at dodging them and only took a graze to one of his legs that made him grunt slightly, she tried to silently around in the statue exhibit and tried to get into a good position to disable him. “A generous mare would sleep with me for no needed reason at all, so you’re not very generous.” It was quiet in the room and Mind Field slunk behind a sculpture looking Rarity, he could see some splotches of blood on the floor, but not enough to tell him where Rarity was hiding.” “I’m not that generous, but you can have a few shots on the house.” Rarity stated as she popped out behind him and fired, he quickly rolled behind a statue with a line of energy bolts impacting the ground behind him. She ducked and two knives shot overhead and past the curled up sleeping marble giraffe statue. He wasn’t even armed with a projectile weapon and he was handling her with ease, she wasn’t particularly happy about this cat and mouse and her neck was dripping quite badly. He might have hit and artery in her neck, which would be very bad. She knew that if she lost enough blood she would become too lightheaded to fight or even see straight. Quite frankly this well lit museum should be less scary, but there weren’t many people around this exhibit so she should count herself lucky that this Mind Field character wasn’t hurting anyone else. She had to do something, she need to alert someone somehow. She kept her hoof tightly pressed against her neck and looked about warily, she didn’t hear his hoof steps and she didn’t know where he was. She moved over to a statue of a stern looking Celestia and warily looked about before she was rammed into from the side and sent rolling towards a window, leaving her on her back. Ss she tried to get up a knife dug its way into her leg that wasn’t holding the neck wound and in a small spray of blood the knife stuck it to the floor. Rarity let out a wail of agony and kept her good hoof pressed against her neck, she couldn’t very well concentrate enough magic to try and pull the knife out of her leg. She felt some magic take hold of her rear legs and spread them open. It was here that Rarity realized she was pinned and that the stallion wasn’t giving her a friendly, ‘oh my goodness I’ll immediately get you a medical kit right away’ look. Nope it was pure sadism directed at her pain and suffering. “Well now… what do we have here, a captured little mouse and the rat that caught her. Oh would you look at that, a virgin. Much more interesting, at least I’ll get to pop you before you get buried in the dirt.” Seven knives held in Mind Fields magic hovered around Rarity’s head, sides and other two legs. “I wouldn’t try anything funny, who knows. My magic might slip and stab your eyes out… fucking a corpse isn’t nearly as fun as doing it with someone who’s alive and breathing. Yes, we most certainly wouldn’t want an accident now would we?” The stallion levitated the dropped energy pistol and took the other one from Rarity’s saddlebag and tossed them across the exhibit where they landed with a clattering noise and he stood over her with a sadistic smirk. “Well I was right about one thing you are quite small.” Rarity said looking between his legs; she got slapped across the face harshly with a hoof that caused her nose to start bleeding. “Also you’re still quite ugly.” Mind Field slugged her across the face again and that had shut her up leaving her a whimpering mess on the floor. “Where’s the bravado now doll face?” The gangster accented stallion said with a chuckle as, Mind Field positioned self right on top of her. “Where’s the rest of that sass before I break you?” Rarity just looked up at him defiantly, with a bruised face, several graze wounds from the knives, a deep cut in the right side of her neck and one leg pinned to the floor with a knife that was bleeding almost as bad as the neck wound. “You have nothing to say then? I know your type. All gussied up and trying to look pretty, but you’ll never get a stallion because you’re way too uppity. How about I help you with that a little, maybe give you a few scars on your face before killing you.” HE gripped Rarity’s mane and jerked it upwards causing her to cry out in pain. A knife floated around to frightened mares face and came a few centimeters from stabbing her in her left eye. “Or maybe I can stab an eye out? Do you think I would care to rut a handicapped mare? Eh, no answer for that huh? Well of course I would, but since you’re being so quiet aside from all your pathetic whimpering, I’ll just take you now then. Scream for me will you, I want to hear you gurgling after your raw throat smiles for me when I’m done with you.” The stallion was about to thrust his rear half forward when the shattering of glass was heard and Mind Field looked up to take took a gloved hoof across the left side of his face and then he was hit with an uppercut to the jaw that made him release Rarity’s mane. This only dazed Mind Field, Rarity took the opportunity to rear back her left leg which was no longer being held in his magic and she buck him with it where it would hurt the most. He only grunt and stumbled back and off of her, what kind of freak was this stallion and what was he made out of that he could take a kick to the nuts without screaming out in pain. There was also Rarity’s savior who charged forward and made him stagger off of her with a straight hoof that knocked him away from the injured mare and onto his butt. Rarity took in the form, a gallant masked figure in a costume that stood before her not saying a word as they looked back at Rarity who just stared at the suited figure in surprise. They had some really good fashion sense when it came to form and function, Rarity could tell at least that much. “Well don’t just stare at me, get him! He’s getting back up!” Rarity caused the mask figure to turn around and dodge four knives that blazed through the space that they had been had they not already rolled to the side. Mare-Do-Well had been thankfully outside the spells effect radius, the spell that kept ponies ignorant that a mare was being mishandled beyond the extreme and when she arrived she was livid to find the bastard about to hurt the mare psychologically as much as he had already physically and it was about to get worse physically too. Thus she busted through the window and gave him a good old one two to the head, but he seemed more resilient than normal unicorn stallion and that was saying something because she saw him take a kick to the crotch by his intended victim. Now she was frantically dodging knives. With a flick of her hoof her cape fanned out and caught several of them without the cape taking any damage. She then threw them back at the stallion who looked shocked to find his knives back at him with unerringly good accuracy and quite a bit of speed. Knife throwing was an interesting skill that did have some relations to Mare-Do-Wells real special talents, but those talents were used in a far less hostile setting than this. Mind Field was certainly proving himself to be a deadly individual and this fight couldn’t go on for too long or his victim would bleed out and that wasn’t something she wanted on her conscience. “So somebody playing hero.” Having just dodged the knives Mind Field levitated the seven of them back to himself having taking a few good hits to the legs and harsh one across his face that carved a path under his right eye. He looked towards his victim. “Can you really protect yourself and save her at the same time I wonder?” Mare-Do-Well didn’t say anything, but she knew what he was going to do and she had a plan for it. She threw herself at Rarity as soon as he sent all seven knives sailing for Rarity’s prone and frightened form. She made sure her cape was covering the poor mare. The knives sunk into the cape this time and the cape seemed to collapse a bit and the hat seemed to wilt as the figure beneath the cape stopped moving. “So you’d prefer saving some random bitch that you don’t even know about? All while throwing yourself into the path of those knives, how pathetic of you.” His horn lit up and he pulled the knives out and smirked, but then that smirk died as he noticed something, there was no blood on any of the knives and some of them hadn’t hit Rarity yet. “Wait, what the…?” Mare-Do-Well, without her cape and hat that showed that she was a unicorn that was only slightly bigger than Rarity, leapt right onto his back from behind knocking him to floor. She quickly grabbed him by the horn and slammed his face into the floor twice before he stood up with her on top of him and started to move erratically trying to shake her off. As the two struggled, a surprised Rarity moved the protective cape with several holes in it aside with her magic and was biting her lips trying to concentrate despite the pain as her horn flared with magic. This was while Mare-Do-Well struggled with Rarity’s awful assailant. Rarity magically opened her saddlebags up and out floated the material pistol and her data pad; she carefully set the data pad to active video recording and sent it to Opal. The police and royal guard would get here soon, if she knew her AI as well as she did as she set the pad against the wall on top of the shattered glass. She hoped it was getting a good angle on things. She opened up the pistol and she could see it was loaded with three bits. That was good enough for Rarity, despite her vision getting blurry from the blood loss she was going to help out as well as she could and she narrowed her eyes carefully as she closed the gun and took aim at Mind Field. Mare-Do-Well was slammed into a statue where the back of her head bounced off of it, with the blow she lost her grip along with her focus after wailing on the guys face for a bit intent on making sure this tough guy stayed down. She sat there dazed with her back against the statue as Mind Field looked for a nearby object to hit her with as he couldn’t see his knives. He found one object and it was a very small metal statue of a smiling zebra, he struggled to lift it into the air with his magic. He was planning to bludgeon this costumed cretin to death. “Heroes like you are just as villainous as the creeps they take in… so don’t feel too bad about…” Mind Field stated as he lifted the metallic object up above himself with his horn and he stopped. His world was in sudden agony and he fell backwards screaming and thrashing with the statue repositioning itself over him following his movements, incidentally the statue dropped and slammed into his neck making it hard for him to breathe even as he thrashed. ‘What had happened to him’ would be the last thoughts on Mind Field’s mind before he passed out. Mare-Do-Well sat there in her costume lacking a cape and hat as she looked over to the three blood covered bits now embedded in a very low position on the dragon statue she had been bashed up against. She looked down at the floor and just sat there staring at something else other than the criminal whose thrashing beneath the statue was slowing down. In her mind she sighed somewhat in relief, since Mind Field would no longer be able to hurt anyone ever in that particular way again, justice was a long time coming for this asshole and it was served with laser guided karma by a mare that was a really good shot with a material pistol. A twitch in her right ear and she heard the sound of hooves coming, she quickly ran over to the victim to check them over. “Here you go and thanks… for saving me. Nice hat and cape, I’ll be alright just get going.” Rarity weakly levitated the hat and cape to Mare-Do-Well before she too passed out. Mare-Do-Well put her hat back on, but her cape stayed off as she pulled the knife out of Rarity’s leg and wrapped her cape around the wound and the one in Rarity’s neck after moving her hoof out of the way. Hearing the coming ponies she quickly and carefully climbed out the broken and window and made her way for the roof. She couldn’t be seen without her cape or else ponies would know what to look for, then they would find her and the mysticism of who she was would die. Hopefully the mare she saved wouldn’t talk about what kind of pony she really was, she was also going to need a new cape and she had to find someone that could make it to the exact specifications she needed and hoped that they could be discreet about it. - Rarity’s eyes snapped open and she found herself sitting in a hospital bed, she moved her tongue around and tasted medical fluids. She had probably been pulled out of a medical bed and was now resting on a patient bed, which was rather nice of them as waking up in a medical bed tended to cause panic. “Hey boss lady, how you doing? I picked up your pistols for you, also you’ll need to remind me to never mess with you twice over now.” At her bed side was a smiling apologetic looking beak, it had to be Greta that was smiling at her. “Turn my back on you for a few hours and this happens. At least you got the guy and good.” “How long...” Rarity asked her voiced slightly gargling due to the fluids she quickly swallowed. “About eleven hours, you slept the rest of the night and you’ll be able to leave after a few hours and a checkup to make sure you’re good enough to walk. You might need some rehabilitation as your leg was hurt pretty badly when they got there.” Coco propped her hooves upon the bed to give Rarity sad smile, Trapeze walked up to the bed and pulled her hat off and took out a bouquet of some really nice smelling flowers which she sat down next to Rarity. “How are you feeling and why didn’t you try to summon help sooner?” “I’m feeling okay, I’m guessing I’m loaded up on drugs right now so I’ll just leave it at that. Otherwise if I had tried sooner he would have destroyed my data pad and those aren’t as durable as my energy pistols. Plus I didn’t have the time to up to that moment and he didn’t check my saddlebags while he was trying to… have his way with me.” After the Gala, Rarity was going to have a long talk with Vera about this to get it off her chest. “Is Opal alright, she didn’t go ballistic did she?” “No, but she did threaten to remote pilot the Caravel Boutique so that it crashed into that psycho’s body from orbit if nobody got there to help you fast enough. She kind of wants Mind Field dead and he’s currently topping her list of people she wants gone and he’s the only one on that list so she there’s not going to be much of a wait if she can figure out how to get to him legally.” Greta paused and rubbed at the back of her head. “Goodness knows I feel like ramming the plasma rifle into his rear end and firing it off once… or maybe an entire clip. The guy was certainly worse off than you or that Mare-Do-Well character that only got a few bumps and bruises during that whole fight.” “What happened to Mind Field?” Rarity couldn’t feel one of her legs and found that it wasn’t moving because it was strapped down, for a second there she had thought… yeah better not to go there. It was probably the drugs making her unable to feel anything. “Boss lady is very scary, Rover promises to never anger her that badly.” The diamond dog had seen and heard how exactly Rarity managed to finish Mind Field off, her data pad got a good recording of Mind Field becoming a paraplegic with some well timed shots after all. He had never had a boss so ruthlessly efficient before. He was no longer scared of working with a boss who might have been considered soft and girly, especially when that boss can be just as brutal when very upset. So soft and girly was much better in his opinion. “Rover likes having bits still attached.” “What my associate Rover means is that you managed to pull off three of the most miraculous shots ever seen in quick succession while under the effects of blood loss that should have made your aim go completely wide with how blurry your vision should have been.” Trapeze looked a bit somber as she hugged her hat to her chest, Bernard popped out of the hat and onto the bed to nuzzle against Rarity’s neck affectionately. He liked the boss lady and he thought she was strong in the face of danger, his warrior spirit cried out for him to be cute and cuddly to her. “All three of your shots hit him… and practically neutered him completely. It was gruesome.” “Yeah, you took off everything that made him a stallion and he wasn’t even much of one to begin with. Oh and the statue made him a paraplegic so it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to ever walk again, probably would have been better had that killed him.” After saying that Greta had a slight frown on her face, it slowly turned back into a sad smile when she looked at Rarity in the eyes. “It is said that he has quite a track record and the changelings certainly want him dead and I think Opal is trying to contact them about making that happen. Last I heard of his medical record despite being paralyzed from the neck down, his pain receptors still work perfectly apparently. They have him sedated on some pretty strong stuff because of it.” “How do I look?” That was the question of the hour and Bernard gave her the quaint and friendly thumbs up sign while sitting on her chest; well about as well as he could give a thumbs up with his paws. “Well your face isn’t ruined if that’s what you’re asking, but the rest of you… yeah you have more than a few stitches in your legs and there are a lot in your neck too. Looks like you went to a bar fight and said ‘not in the face’!” After that the Pegasus with her friends gave off a small cackle as she shakily hovered in the air a nurse walked in and looked at her when she landed, she stumbled a bit doing so. “Well you needed a Pegasus; you’ve gotten one boss lady. I am ex Wonder Bolt member Lighting Dust reporting for duty Captain Belle, do you need something of me currently?” “Not with the way you were flying, you’re malnourished and you look very unhealthy. When was the last time you had a medical exam?” The nurse narrowed her eyes at the dirty and somewhat thin Pegasus that certainly needed medical aid. “Speaking of, yes, I do in fact need something. Go get yourself a medical exam so that we can be sure you’re safe to go up into space, I’ll pay for it personally if you can’t afford to. After you are considered healthy enough you will be welcome aboard. Coco, please take Trapeze, Bernard and Rover to the Shining Jewel and get them settled in.” Rarity sat up slightly, as Lighting started to follow the nurse out of the room to do just that. “We still need to do an interview, but you’re hired all the same no matter what I ask. I’m not going to be the one that deals with you or your sordid history Ms. Dust. You’ll be working with one of my crew members and she’s a good judge of character. She’s the one who decides if you stay or go, I’m only going to give my opinions on you to her.” Author's Note Mind Field didn't try to use illusions because he was already doing that the entire time, at least up until he took Mare-Do-Well's hoof to the face. He didn't bother with trying to use illusions knowing that it didn't work on her in that situation. 42 is the answer to life the universe and everything.
-44- -44- A day had passed and it was the next morning. Greta stayed overnight in an empty bed, mostly because Rarity didn’t want to be alone at the moment and she had a logical reason for being paranoid given the device Greta found. They didn’t know of the changeling team that was watching them for their own safety and said team didn’t know about the device smuggled into the room at some point. “Well your recovery is going quite fast.” Four was surprised that Rarity had managed to get back into walking shaped despite the stab wound having gone through several of her muscles that weren’t entirely healed yet. Magic could only do so much and the unicorn doctor did decently at fixing the damage. “I’m determined to not miss the Grand Galloping Gala and nothing, short of death, can make me!” Rarity finished combing out her mane and it was back into good shape, her pained limping was making it hard to keep her mane in good order. Standing up was painful, but Rarity was going to grit her teeth and power through said pain. “A few prescribed light pain killers wouldn’t be too bad for me to have, especially given that I don’t want to be seen walking around on a crutch.” “Well, it would actually be better if you did go with the crutch. Not to mention less painful in the long run.” Four looked over the documents knowing that while Rarity did get some magical healing that fixed some of the muscle damage, the stitches were definitely entirely necessary to close the wounds off. If the pony was going to be stubborn about it, then Nurse Four Play couldn’t deny her release from the hospital after another overnight stay. “Against my better judgment I’ll get the release form and have a doctor see if there’s a prescription he can write you that’s weak enough to not cause problems. Also don’t scratch at your stitches, we have a topical cream for it that your friend can apply for you gently. Are there any questions?” “Yeah, what’s up with that guy?” Greta pointed to a changeling slowly walking by covered completely in a full body cast. “Oh that’s just Hard Throb; he’s in and out of this hospital more than any other being around. Well ever since changelings joined pony society anyway, before that we just used to cover him in changeling goo which is a rather common building material used among our species. We used that stuff to glue things together and just told him to just suck it up, it worked pretty well… for other changelings. Ponies have the market cornered on body cast production, also medical facilities.” Four just shook her head sadly; apparently even building materials wouldn’t hold that guy together for long. “Best infiltrator ever, but so accident prone we don’t bother with keeping track of his medical file anymore since we’ve dedicated it entirely to the humor section of the Canterlot library. That’s an ongoing thing, you can find some of his best hits he’s taken in there including his world record for most bones and chitin broken in a week. We just ask what it is that feels injured this time and try our best; at this point we’re not even sure how he’s alive. He’s been injured by everything you can think of, including kitchen sinks and once upon a time a toilet while he was shopping for them at a plumbing and tables store. Seriously what is it with ponies and selling two highly disparate things in stores? In any case Chrysalis has been kind of selling his body to medical science, because even she’s confused by someone other than a queen like her surviving as much as he has.” “It’s most likely two ponies of differing special talents marry and they sell things based on their talents, I happen to know a cousin of mine that married into a herd with a guy that wanted to run a sofa store down in Ponyville. Recently looked it up and found that he also sells quills and in this day and age who uses something like that? Well aside from seeing use as a novelty for writing in diaries or feather based accessories.” It was rather odd to Greta as much as anybody as to who would buy quills unless it was for those two reasons. “Before you ask the sofa stallion has a thing for wings and his wives always pick fights with one another because they like getting rough with each other, in bed, lose quite a few feathers that way. From what I hear herds are only effective if everyone’s bisexual and open about it.” “That might explain the Paints and Bathtubs store down there as well. Anyway, if the two of you will just wait here while I go grab the release forms, the topical cream and talk to the doctor about a prescription for some medicine Ms. Bell can safely take to numb the pain.” Four left them sitting in the lobby, nodding to the seats as she left. It was well past breakfast and the hospital food wasn’t to Rarity’s taste, much less Greta’s taste and they’d go down Restaurant Row to see if there was a good place to eat. Only there was one problem. “Now that I think of it, is there anything we can do to hide my stitches right now? I really don’t want to be seen walking around with these injuries.” Rarity’s vanity reared its ugly head and she was thinking about nobles seeing her stitched up like some kind of bride of Frankly N. Stein like this before the gala. Frankly Nice Stein was an old tale about a stallion that sold beer and slightly boiled carrots on buns that started a restaurant franchise; it was based on a true story nonetheless. His wife was known as a rather clumsy mare and one day was going to go to a ball of some sorts and yet she was covered in stitches from an accident involving a banana peel and a set of watermelon cutting knives. Frank still took her to that ball and didn’t care what his wife looked like even though other people made fun of her when they went; it was a bit of a heartwarming tale of love no matter the outward appearance. If you found someone who loved you for who you are and you loved them in the same capacity, you should definitely stick with them. Rarity was notably far pickier than that about making appearances, especially first ones, than that and didn’t think some nice and noble stallion would like a mare with stitches showing in her neck. Heck if she could find a stallion that cared not for her outward appearance despite how hard she worked on i then that would definitely be something, which would be a bit hypocritical considering that Rarity judged books by their covers quite often when it comes to finding a dream stallion with a good heart and good looks at the same time. Gilda said it a long time ago; she was setting herself up for disappointment. - “So you still came up here despite being almost entirely unfit for space travel?” Continuing to work on her special project Gilda knew it would take another day before she actually had anything for her test pilot to do. Lightning wouldn’t be involved directly in building the project, but assisting in hoofing things to the griffon where needed and Gilda easily could get those things herself. “Despite the fact that I haven’t flown in quite a while and I’m kind of malnourished, yes I did.” Lightning seemed to be rather sure of her actions even if she looked like skin and bones. “Still need to eat a lot and take a few supplements to fix the problems with my body, but you don’t exactly need me at the moment do you? At this rate I’ll be back in shape before you need me for the action.” “You say that now, but at the end of this week a big event for the boss lady is going down, I’m betting something urgent happens before, during or after the event.” Gilda turned a stern eye towards the scrawny mare. “So we’re going to need to test this baby out before that, will you actually be ready by then?” “Okay, so maybe I won’t be ready by then. I’ll still be able to test it out right? I mean by the end of the week I’ll be good enough to co-pilot at least.” Despite her confidence Lightning still looked like a starved little orphan child who only eats bread for a living and sometimes gets a slice of cheese to go with it. At least that was what Gilda’s thought processes said about Lightning every single time she looked in her direction. “Well if Vera clears it, then sure. She’s our resident masseuse and health expert, finding her might be a thing because she has a particularly odd problem. She’s mostly invisible unless she touches you or is pointed out by someone who can see her. I’m sure Coco is already introducing Trapeze, Rover and Bernard to her.” - “That is by far the most magical….” Started Trapeze who was understandably awestruck by what she was witnessing, only to be cut off quite abruptly by a completely irate sounding Vera that now had Coco pointing straight towards her. “It’s a pain in my flank is what it is.” Muttered a rather upset Vera who could disappear within a literal blink of an eye, it wasn’t like she meant to do so and it was always troubling when she was introduced to new people. It made dating someone impossible unless she was impossibly clingy to said date. Of course if the date were obnoxious, she’d dare him to let go of her and take five steps in any direction and then point her out in the room, if he couldn’t then he would leave her alone. To say that upside of her ignorance factor hasn’t failed once, not too. “If I were a less moral mare I would actually take advantage of this blessed with suck.” “Well that’s a buzz kill, I wasn’t even drinking alcohol either.” Flatly stated Trapeze who hugged Bernard to herself, her companion just nodded in agreement. “Rover is thinking that ability would be great for avoiding deadly stare of boss lady, Rover likes peanuts where they currently are.” In a simple minded way, Rover saw only the positives of being practically invisible to almost everything. “Yeah about that, the main reason why I joined this crew is because Rarity could see through my ability to become easily ignored.” With that Vera had crushed Rover’s dream of not being seen by the boss lady when she got angry. “I actually like working for her and Opal is actually making quite an effort to get to know me despite how frustrating it is for her.” “You don’t even know the half of it, trying to keep you in mind is pure chaos and suffering on my end!” Though there were a few upsides to how distracting for Opal it was, it let her keep her mind off things she’d rather not think about. “I do however appreciate that you acknowledge my efforts and hope that we can continue to be friends while having a nice calm working relationship. Even while I slowly spiral into madness in your presence…” “I think you might be bipolar Opal and that’s a bit surprising, considering who you are and everything.” Psychologically speaking, Vera didn’t think she could get Opal to admit to her issues despite how healthy it would be for her to confront them and admit to how terrified she is of it. “Oh no, no, no, if I were bipolar it’d definitely be noticeable. I’m just acting appropriately to my environment like a good AI would.” It sounded like Opal was speaking the truth; only the word ‘should’ should have been spoken instead. “Yet any mention of you being rampant sends your mood into a nose dive faster than Greta can swing back to being happy even while looking straight into a room of dead bodies.” Here Vera decided to drop a bit of a bombshell on the suddenly quite Opal. “Quite frankly her positivity in any situation scares me more than thought of you going rogue.” “Yeah I can see that.” Opal agreed with the thought that Greta was scarily positive, that griffon was a silver lining seeker and she stuck with it through thick and thin. “Also just to be clear, there is nothing rampant about me and my initiative is a preprogrammed feature mom put into me.” “You’re calling her mom now, how is that… you know what, I’m dropping the subject right here and now. Probably to come back to it at a later date when your more willing to talk about your feelings openly.” Vera was not about to agitate Opal any further, since it was already quite hard to get her out of her shell. “I would like a certain AI to know that she in quite deep denial about her rampancy. It’s at least cute that she’s calling her creator mom now, but I would like to add that it is probably a really huge tip off to said rampancy for others so she should really be careful about it with people she doesn’t trust.” “I’ll be sure to tell this AI that if I meet her, her creator sounds rather friendly.” Opal responded immediately and in a slightly airy robotic tone. “So, I’m getting the fact that we shouldn’t bring that up with Opal or even try to talk to her about it?” A slightly confused Trapeze soon received a hoof around her back from a sadly nodding Coco. There might have been some friction between Vera and Opal; all Vera was just trying to do was help her psychologically and she Opal actively refusing that help after a small amount of progress was made. - Restaurant Row was quite famous for its delicious foods, plus nobody following the standards of a mare named Zesty Gourmand. In fact being about as far away from Zesty’s tastes made you a top rated restaurant. It all relied on the backwards star rating system, the less you had the more popular your restaurant was and if you had zero stars you were at least worth visiting twice a week. Rarity was hiding her injuries underneath a layer of safely applied white makeup that was the same color as her fur to hide her stitches from the public, the topical cream stopped her from getting itchy but it didn’t exactly help with the pain of walking. She had a rather specific amount of medication she could take within a given day, only one pain killer a day when it was really bad and nothing more than that. “I do so hope we can find a restaurant that can wash the bland out of my mouth; hospital food is quite flat in taste.” Rarity could only hope that Greta agreed with her, because nobody should be able to like hospital food unless it was fruit flavored ice cream. That and her slightly limping started to get looks that she didn’t appreciate. “I wouldn’t worry about that, Restaurant Row has something for everyone. Just please don’t take us to one of the five star rated restaurants meant for nobles and snobs.” The fact that Restaurant Row had brochures was nice to Greta, especially given the theme park styling the entire street had with all its attractions being entirely food related. “I believe those particular restaurants were described as, food so horrid you’d cut off your own tongue to stop tasting it. That is why people question the sanity of nobles after they started eating such food, but everyone knows that it was Chrysalis who caused them to start stomaching it even if it would kill them faster than not eating it.” This theme park styled street was a food lover’s paradise that included a rather friendly demonic taco cart visited at least once a week by Princess Luna personally, nobody knew whether it was to eat the delicious food or suppress the demonic influence to eat more tacos within five feet of the cart. Nobody knows why the Taco Hell cart even existed, but everyone knew Twilight Sparkle was scared of it because it kept spitting eerily accurate quesadilla’s at her whenever she trotted within fifteen feet of it. “I’m sure that’s an exaggeration Greta, no restaurant could possibly make food that bad.” Or at least Rarity would like to think so. Some of the poor nobles would have preferred to starve to death than eat the stuff that Zesty Gourmand went crazy over; heck Zesty Gourmand’s shift in sense of taste could almost solely be blamed on Chrysalis as Zesty was one of the nobles she almost starved to death. “Yeah, tell that to the hospital staff who specifically get that kind of food for nobles when they get into an accident. What they served us was at least three steps above that and at least for that I’m thankful.” Breakfast this day was not an entity Greta would remember, she could overlook the blandness of it all if they found a good place for a meal with something intriguing. Still, she hoped it was going to be a nice and memorable day with her boss lady. “So should we try the funnel cake stand or the pancake party pavilion, I heard that one is one of Celestia’s favorite places to eat as you can get breakfast all day there. It is notable for having twenty kinds of delectable syrups available there.” “Maybe later Greta, I’m thinking more of pasta, breadsticks and salads.” Rarity currently had a hankering for garlic, pepper and marinara. “Also no, we’re not a sharing a plate of spaghetti.” “Awe, but I wanted to do something cheesy and silly.” Shaking her head and chuckling merrily, Greta pointed out the requisite restaurant after looking over its location in the brochure. They both started towards it. “You’re right anyway; I’d prefer to do that with Gilda. Plus you’re my boss so that would definitely be a bad idea unless you were absolutely willing.” “Quite right, drop the subject and I’ll pay for the meal.” Rarity thought it quaint that Greta stopped talking entirely and just gave her a smile. They were quickly seated and as they were being given their breadsticks a changeling arrived looking a bit pensive about his place in the world. “Excuse me, but I’m Plentiful Thorax, just call me Thorax.” The changeling bowed to them and he had nice blue eyes and a friendly if shy demeanor. “I’m currently head of pony and changeling relations. I believe Chrysalis told me that I’m to acquire tuxedo made by you and that I had to meet you in a public venue.” “Why yes Mr. Thorax, I believe she mentioned you meeting us in a public place… oh is that today?” Getting a nod, Rarity would have to turn him down if he asked if could nibble her mane or acquire some love from her. Though he did have a very nice rear end that she might have wanted to touch at least once, it oddly looked like a national treasure of the changeling race to her. “Joining us for lunch are you?” “Say, could you turn into a mare for a second, I want to look at your butt on a more feminine form.” The way Greta caused Thorax to shiver and cower made the griffon smirk at him. “It seems kind of perfect for it.” “How about I stay male for the time being and not transform into something you’re obviously predatory for.” Thorax said weakly, he was kind of hungry, though he wasn’t about to ask any pony to feed him for his sake. He raised a portion of his carapace and took a bag of bits out and placed it before Rarity. “Here is your budget, please don’t spend it all in one place. I’ll just stick with you guys from now on; I guess I have nothing better to do until you’re ready to leave for Merchants Meander which is my suggested place to purchase supplies for making the suit.” “Oh I won’t spend it all in one place, I’m quite frugal with money belonging to others and I’ll try to get the best deals for making your tuxedo.” She would need to call Caravel Boutique down to get her work gear in order, but it was nice that Rarity would be doing something like this to get her mind off of her recent nightmares that Luna had helped to quell. “Yeah, it’s how she uses her own money that has her crew worried.” Looking to the basket of breadsticks on the table, Greta snapped one up and snapped it in half in her beak. After she swallowed she added. “Ridiculously generous defines you boss lady.” “Maybe so, but I know what I’m doing Greta… well most of the time. When fashion is involved, it’s a guarantee.” Turning to the changeling sitting with them Rarity wondered if he was going to ask for anything. “Well, are you joining or not.” “I’ll just sit here quietly, besides I don’t want to cause any trouble for anyone.” Thorax was still the friendliest changeling face in all of Canterlot; he meekly kept to himself while they snacked on the soft and fluffy garlic bread with a light dusting of oil and parmesan powder while waiting for the main course. “Are you sure you can’t be accommodated in some way?” Rarity felt kind of bad for the guy, he looked hungry and hunger was noticeable on changelings. “Oh don’t worry about me, I’m always getting fed when I least want to be.” As soon as he said that a unicorn mare with wavy blonde mane hanging down to her hooves walked up to him and smiled in an overly friendly manner. “Like right now for instance.” “Hello there, I see that you’re a hungry one. I will not have that, not in this restaurant! Lets us go into the back and… have some fun.” Despite his attempts to protest, the mare grabbed Thorax in her magic and started dragging him off much to Greta’s amusement. The mare turned back to them for a moment. “You may order dessert on the house; I will return your friend to you swiftly… after I’m done with him.” “Not again, look can we talk about this? Um can you two tell her I’m not interested in doing things like that with her? Every time I try, ponies don’t take no for an answer and take me anyway.” The Italian styled mare gave Thorax a very flat look and then started petting him as she walked off with the suddenly quiet changeling who didn’t struggle. “Just so you know, this makes me feel used and like a bicycle.” In his life Thorax found that struggling against ponies who wanted to spend personal time with him only made them want him more, the only defense he had against any stallion or mare was to be as boring as possible when someone grabbed him for some fun times. Even then they still go for him and it bothered him that he regularly got into these situations, whereas Chrysalis couldn’t pick up a single mare to save her own life. He felt kind of sorry for the queen being jealous of what he kept getting, but it was hard to feel sorry when you were practically living her dream every other day of your life personally and most certainly didn’t like or appreciate that you did. “He must attract a lot of ponies with a butt like that, were he transformed into a mare of his species I’d probably tap him too. Otherwise he’s too masculine for my tastes.” Everyone could tell Greta’s taste upon seeing her walk into a room and casually eyeing up every mare, hen and what have you species of relative feminine beauty. “Yes, well, I don’t see the appeal or why that mare thinks he’s attractive.” Apparently Rarity was not attracted to rumps even when other ponies practically jumped Thorax for a chance to snuggle and love him. “In fact I find it a bit crass that she took him away in front of everyone like that, I did want to discuss with him what kind of a design would fit his fancy when it comes to making him a nice suit.” “She did say free dessert though didn’t she? Usually dessert at places like this can be a bit expensive…” Started off Greta, she called a waiter over to peruse such a menu of decadent delights leisurely. “No skin off my beak, I’m getting something good for myself after the main course.” “I so do envy griffons; you can lose weight faster than I can. While I can only hope a free delectable delight such as that mares offer goes mostly to my hips.” Self conscious and vain Rarity still grabbed the menu from Greta and considered her options, something in the lines of a triple chocolate layer cake. “It’ll be fine boss lady, just get what you want. You get enough exercise that you’re always going to be attractive to me.” Though sweet her words, Greta still made Rarity run a hoof through her mane in an exasperated manner. “Maybe you’re just too good looking for stallions, so they don’t even think they have a hope with someone as nice as you.” “I appreciate your flattery Greta, but it’s a bit disturbing knowing your preferences as I do. Although you do make a few good points, I am quite a beautiful and elegant lady and if others can’t see that then it is to their loss I suppose.” Their main course came and went as did their dessert and Rarity eventually took track of the time. She noticed they had been here for well over an hour making small talk. It was an enjoyable experience and she paid the check, which definitively had the desserts written off as free. Now the question was, what was Thorax doing with that mare? “Good food, not overly expensive and I can honestly say they perfected the cream cheese sauce.” Dabbing her beak with a napkin Greta gave off a happy sigh before it became slightly more disappointed. “I miss the food already; I’ll have to come back to Restaurant Row sometime with Gilda. If she’ll ever let me have a day like that that is. I heard Gustav Le Grande had some euphoric tasting éclairs she might like and he has a bakery somewhere around here.” “I’m sure she will let you have a chance eventually Greta.” Rarity sat waiting for Thorax; she couldn’t very well make his suit without him being present to give his opinions on it. “Your friend has been properly fed and he is such a sweetheart, though a bit timid.” The mare that had absconded with the poor changeling came back and was missing a little more than half her mane and tail and Thorax’s face and neck were covered in lipstick marks, also her beret was a little crooked and that mildly rankled Rarity’s fashion sense. The mare winked at Thorax as she sat him down where she found him, she made her last statement before leaving them. “Come back again some time lover boy, I’ll give you some dessert for free then instead of just a main course.” “What is it with ponies and using me like that? What is so special about me that ponies find absolutely fascinating?” Thorax whined pitiably as if he hadn’t spent the last hour with a rather hot mare by Greta’s standards. Rarity carefully and calmly wrapped a hoof around him and patted him softly in assurance, it only caused him to stiffen up and freeze. After a moment he calmed down when he found out that he wasn’t being dragged off to some back room somewhere by a noble mare hungry for changeling flesh.“It can’t be just my butt like Chrysalis thinks it is… it just can’t be.” “It’s okay Mr. Thorax, we’ll just get on with our lives and I still need your opinion about the kind of style to use for your tuxedo.” That Rarity felt pity for him made him relax somewhat. Apparently he has had this happen to him multiple times, yet no one seems to notice that he was entirely uncomfortable with it even if it is keeping him well fed. “Can you make it as garish, horrible and eye rending as possible? If I’m to appear at the gala I don’t want to be dragged off by stallions or mares for looking good in a suit.” Thorax certainly didn’t know Rarity very well; he’d look absolutely fabulous during the gala much to his chagrin. Author's Note Thorax certainly doesn't fail at pony/changeling relations.
-45-Thorax stood still as Rarity worked on his tuxedo and it was coming along nicely, which is why Thorax was lamenting his time at the gala. He’d rather be as unapproachable as possible, but Rarity was not willing to commit a crime against fashion for him as she didn’t know him well enough. “Please stop fidgeting Mr. Thorax.” He certainly did, it was going to be white tuxedo and red bow tie combo, Rarity was still working on the stitching for Thorax’s gala garb while Coco got the accessory ready. “I can say you certainly look handsome in this tuxedo so far.” “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of!” Plentiful Thorax said with a slight pitiful whine in his voice. He admitted that the white tuxedo went well against his black fur covered chitin carpace. The Caravel Boutique was currently docked in the spaceport found in Canterlot, Coco came back down from the Shining Jewel wondering if she should tell Rarity exactly what Gilda was up to. Instead of worrying about it, Coco decided to let it go so long as Gilda didn’t blow up the ship. “Well the bow tie is finished; do you need some help with the tuxedo Rarity?” Coco did specialize in accessories and was quickly done with the few things she helped out with. “Do I need to make him a hat too, I think he’d look adorable with the one I have in mind.” “Go ahead and do it dear, we’re going to make Thorax shine on the night of the gala!” Rarity was taking it easy and wasn’t walking around too much. “Can’t I just sit ignored in a corner like a wallflower with a bottle of Hell Mare Exquisite wine to nurse?” Hell Mare E was a strong fruity tasting wine, it’d definitely get a pony buzzed after a few glasses and it’d be just as effective on Thorax. “With such a finely crafted suit as this, I doubt you’d go ignored dear.” Rarity was being paid to make this tuxedo and she didn’t care how much Thorax complained, would deduct the hat and give Thorax his change before he left. “Would it be too much ask that you kill me before I can go to the gala?” Thorax asked feeling very suicidal all of the sudden; he looked deeply into Rarity’s unconcerned eyes. “Also that can you make it look like an accident?” Rarity breathed in through her nose and then spoke. The customer was not always right in Rarity’s eyes, even if she would give them some amount of leeway. “Yes it would be too much and no I’m not killing you, I don’t think I’d be capable of such an atrocity.” And Rarity would be right about that, not that she’s known Thorax for long. She knew enough to know that he at least got around in more ways than one and not for the reasons people would expect. “You’re being quite overdramatic about this.” “You could have fooled me by making me a nice suit to attract enough mares and stallions to me to make my death slow and torturous. I’ll bet that I’ll see a few mares I’ve met before and things will most certainly not be pretty when they start banding together.” Well not pretty for Thorax in the very least when several mares would decide to drag him off to a bedroom to slowly kill him in the most ironic manner a Changeling could die. “I’m sure you’re exaggerating; besides aren’t stallions like yourself supposed to like a lot of attention?” Rarity received the weakest death glare in the history of death glares, it just made Thorax look more adorable. “Look at it this way, you are going to get a suit and you’re going to like it. Your queen is paying for my services and you’re going to go along with it!” Thorax sighed sadly and then looked at the floor; he probably needed a hug and a long soul cleansing cry into a friends shoulder, unfortunately the only friends around were the ones currently causing him to cry. Greta for her part just sat off to the side playing games on her data pad, she wasn’t a fashion master and she didn’t think a wrench wench like her would be good at anything having to do with clothing. Put a broken microwave in front of her and she’d be able to fix it, give her an ancient VCR and she’d make it stop blinking twelve and it would actually tell time alongside being able to cook popcorn from the broken thing she took out of the microwave. On top that previous stuff, if you were to give Greta a pair of roller skates, three data pads and a few chunks of metal and a gallon of high octane oil, she’ll be able to create a working jetpack that’s good for one use and only the one use. The jetpack would get you somewhere up to twenty miles away in five minutes if you were wingless, forty if you had wings to help compensate for the acceleration and the fall when the fuel ran out. As for Greta’s entire idea of being fashionable or even clothing in general? She just went with what works, because otherwise she was hopeless in that department and that’s coming from a genius like her. Unfortunately the mare that approached the relaxing griffon didn’t know that, but it really didn’t matter as Greta could probably get along with her anyway and it wasn’t like the mare could ask Greta for a miracle. “Um, excuse me?” Saffron’s voice made Greta pause her game and look up at the unicorn before her, the griffon thought she was rather attractive mare and the eyes were certainly a good feature on her. “Hello, welcome to Caravel Boutique where everything is fashionable or made to order at the least! The boss lady is busy with a client over there and I’m not a fashion designer or even a clothing maker, I’m just a fixer with nothing to do at the moment.” The mare turned to look at who Greta pointed out before turning back to her. “Yes, I can see that, I didn’t want to disturb them and if you’re not busy can I talk to you while I wait?” Saffron asked nicely and wondered why the griffon eyes were roving her body; the griffon seemed particularly pleasant to be around given her smile seemed genuine as could be. “Sure go ahead, the name's Greta; I’m the technical engineer of the boss lady's enterprises. Apparently we’re going to do more than just sell high quality clothing at cheap prices.” Greta turned back to her data pad and cancelled her game. “We recently hired on a few new crew members if you want to talk about them, two performers, a diamond dog of dubious history and a down on her luck pegasus who was selling her own pee to get by. Is there anything you wanted to talk about in particular?” “Yes, it’s about the prices of the stuff your boss is selling, are you aware of that at least?” Saffron wanted to know a little more about this Rarity’s character, she looked at Rarity who had several stitches running along her legs and neck quite visible for anyone to see. She stared at them a moment before realizing she was being very rude and looked away. “Yep, that I can tell you about, all prices are within that range to be cheap and affordable. I do assist in manufacturing some of the products Rarity is selling when I’m bored. Mostly to make sure there are no technical issues, but there isn’t a call for anything like that at the moment.” Greta received a tilted head and a questioning look from the mare with nice eyes; she was definitely a mare to ogle. “You know things that require a more technical touch like the Pinpoint Puller, Impulse Saddle and maybe the helmets for the EVA suits once or twice. I may not do clothes but technology is definitely my jam and the stuff we sell is approved by the local governing body for sale. So Rarity’s Rarities can make you whatever you might need if its clothing or something among the minor utilities we sell.” “She sounds like a good mare...” Saffron started off before holding out a hoof to Greta, as if she were considering something and wanted her to continue the thought. “Because she is a good mare, generous to ridiculous extremes that it’s hard to believe that she wants to be rich and famous. Personally I believe power, wealth and fame can be fleeting or at the very least temporary depending on how you use it, but friendships can be forever and go above and beyond.” What could Greta say? She was a romantic at heart and her bingo card had Gilda in first place for most attractive being in existence even if she wouldn’t look it to anyone else. “Anything else, you need?” “Well yes, I’m a bit curious about the Pinpoint Pullers. How do they work exactly?” It had been one of the more interesting things Saffron saw listed in the sales menu, as was the battery pack utility for the impulse saddle labeled coming soon. Heck it was even wondrous that the impulse saddle and EVA suit were also quite viable underwater. - Chrysalis crawled her way along in the shadows, she was practically a ninja. No… she was the shadow of the ninja, the easily forgettable and unseen. A master of stealth of her own accord in a race of stealth specialists, her current mission was quite important and she hoped that she wouldn’t mess it up. For whatever reason, any plan she took personal part in had a decent failure rate because of some unforeseen foresight on her part and or her getting ahead of herself. So she didn’t tell a soul about what she was doing, then she broke into this noble pony’s house. There was plausible deniability and all that to worry about if she was caught. If Celestia didn’t even catch a hint or a wind of what she was currently doing, much less her own Changelings, then this plan couldn’t fail if she did it right. However if it did fail, the failure would be spectacularly explosive and a blow to Pony and Changeling relations. Sitting perfectly still, the queen looked up from her position and narrowed her eyes. She had been following this guy for the past few days and only stopped to get a rundown of any news that might have been considered important by her contacts. Which led to a rather interesting conversation with an AI involving Mind Field, her Changelings were definitely going to get their pound of flesh and she had a prosecutor lined up to get Mind Field into a truth circle. The prosecutor would be aiming for a life sentence and having his horn amputated with a full nerve detachment when he goes to court. Then she would go with the AI’s suggestion of poisoning him, he would die naturally but he would suffer up until that point and would be watched to make sure he was entirely incapable of suicide. She would revel in drawing out his suffering until his mind became so fragile it snapped like a twig, Mind Field has been on her list for a long time and now was a perfect time to make him pay. Shaking her head, Chrysalis had to get it in the game as her target was coming out of the room and everything was moving slowly. She silently pulled a tiny blowpipe out of her carapace and inserted an equally small dart the size of a toothpick. If anyone were looking at where she was, they’d be surprised to see a Changeling with a drinking straw that had a toothpick in it sitting on the high ceiling in a corridor. The poison on the toothpick was derived from a tree frog and a scorpion tail that was manufactured with several other things into a nice and completely safe psychotropic drug that would disable her target before they even knew what had happened. Taking careful aim Chrysalis blew into the straw and the tip of the toothpick punctured the targets neck close to the heart where even a minimal amount of poison would pump through their blood stream at a quick rate. They swiped at the toothpick knocking it out and onto the floor where it would be missed completely, the target would think it nothing more than a mere mosquito getting a bite in. They took out a mirror to get a look at their neck. They panicked slightly when they saw a small welt in their neck and they galloped about three steps before stopping and that was when the drug started to filter into the target's system a bit. The first symptom would be dizziness, then the thankfully short hallucinations of dancing muffin men. That was to be followed by in order: running around like an idiot in tight circles chasing your own tail like a dog, talking to the nearest inanimate object and having a highly one sided yet very intellectual conversation, nausea, vertigo, declaring love to a potted plant and wishing to marry it, crying when the potted plant rejected you outright on the principle that you are a crazy person, then you simply declare yourself to be a humpback whale in love with a cat and finally the greatest delusion of grandeur of all… imagining yourself stuffed into black cauldron and calling a kettle awesome while believing you are the universe itself before passing out. “Yeah, that’s disorienting no matter how many times I see it performed and I even lived through it once.” Well Chrysalis had to build up immunity to her poisonous cocktail that causes the same specific symptoms every time it’s used somehow. She didn’t quite know why it repeated the exact same symptoms every single time and didn’t care in the slightest. Changelings were generally adaptive in what they could resist and Chrysalis more so because assassins have poisoned her drinks so many times that she actually knows what arsenic tastes like. She even kind of liked it despite how dangerous it was to ingest for anyone else, it wasn’t even filling to ingest. Thankfully arsenic was as ineffective where a Changeling’s bizarre biology was concerned, as much as anything else that was tried on Chrysalis specifically. Someone even got her to drink an entire bottle of rat poison without losing her cookies on a dare. She also remembered the basilisk venom incident that had her slowly turning to stone that required a rocs feather to cure; she became immune to that happening again and that was probably the best attempt on her life ever devised. What doesn’t kill her only makes her more ridiculous to kill and she certainly lived by those words. Heck the reason why she became the eponymous ‘Changeling Queen’ in the first place was because of her tendency to be a utter jerk that her race liked for some reason. Chrysalis made sure nobody was around as she silently floated down to the floor using her wings; thankfully her target didn’t alert anyone when he started crying about a ficus rejecting them for being too rich, famous and sexually arousing to any sex of any species whatsoever. Chrysalis could gag on her own vomit later as she had a target to replace and a body to hide. Now where could she put the body? She could put the target in the hospital and have Nurse Four Play fudge some documents to have him on nutrients and constantly sedated under a pseudonym while she took his place. Of course that would be hard to get away with and she would have to actually alert someone partially to the plot she had going; she would also have to somehow smuggle them into the hospital. Just after that thought an idea came to mind, she could tell just Four Play it’s extremely important but she wouldn’t explain why it is until after the fact. After some careful consideration, she decided that she was up for a challenge of getting an unconscious body across a city unseen. First order of business was that she couldn’t leave any evidence behind, so she stashed her trusty drinking straw away then picked up the toothpick and popped the poisoned end into her mouth cheekily and sucked on it like a lollipop. - It was a day later and Rarity was out in the gem fields with Rover, Greta and surprisingly Bernard who apparently wanted to go hunting for big game. She was giving Rover a test run and using her gem finding spell, Bernard went off to do his own thing and promised to share the meat of his kill with Rover which made him appreciate the highly dangerous fake rabbit a little more. The spell Rarity was using require almost no magic at all and almost allowed her to have X-ray vision, it made her wonder how far she could push her ability to see the unseen like Vera and or Mind Field. She shuddered and tried not to think of that sleazy stallion. The gems were plentiful and would be helpful for some of the ideas Rarity had and Rover was proving to be quite a quick digger when it came to getting to the gems Rarity pointed out. Rover would get his fair share of the gems for whatever reason a Diamond Dog would want with them. Greta was sitting next to the quickly filling cart to keep watch of this current mining operation that wasn’t going to go too deep, the Caravel Boutique didn’t sit too far away and Rarity had avoided going to Ponyville on the assumption that Sweetie Belle would be there and more importantly her annoying parents. Meeting Saffron yesterday had been interesting to Rarity, she might check out the restaurant The Tasty Treat to see if it was good. It was on Restaurant Row so it had to be delicious in some capacity and the chef was a friendly mare who had quite a sense of fashion and was quite decisive about what she wanted and let Rarity put in her own creative spins. Greta thankfully kept Saffron entertained until they were done with Thorax who lamented his oncoming death for looking so good. Thorax did look really dapper with his hat, bow tie and tuxedo, Rarity would say that Coco outdid herself on the exquisite hat for such a nice gentle Changeling like Thorax. “Is there any way that things could possibly get better?” Rarity said that with a smile as she was getting quite a haul of gems and jewels, she wondered if the superstitions about questioning your own luck were true. “Rarity is that you!” Came a familiar high pitched voice to Rarity’s ears that had them wilting as she turned around and immediately raised her ears so as not to give her little sister the wrong idea. Sweetie Belle the little filly approached Rarity who quickly brought her sister into a hug and gave her a good nuzzle. “Yeah it’s you, why didn’t you call and tell me you were in the area?” “You do realize that mom and dad would have saddled you with me again and what I do is more dangerous than one would think.” Yes, because the world of fashion was a cutthroat place and Rarity was a friendly face in the middle of it all. Being friendly in the world of fashion would get you brutalized by the media if you didn’t have the teeth for it as that, at least, was something Rarity could say she had. “How dangerous could your life be Rarity, you went off to start making clothing for a living.” Thus it was up to someone to tell Sweetie Belle everything she knew and that would be Greta’s job. “I’ll field this one boss lady, continue giving Rover directions. Hello I’m Greta and I work with your big sister, who is the boss lady of me.” Said Greta in a more cheerful tone than necessary, she was always mostly cheerful and she was crouching down to get to eye level with Sweetie Belle. “Let’s see… Rarity’s been nearly killed by whiplash, voracious monsters of varying species, terrorists, pirates, explosions and there was just a lot of other highly traumatizing things your sister will likely never discuss with you. Like how she got a giant spider in the face the size of a large dog.” “I think I’ll stick with our parents or go to Applin Five to live with Apple Bloom’s family.” Sweetie Belle wasn’t an idiot and felt like she made a really good call there. While she really loved her big sister and looked up to her, she didn’t want to get into all the dangerous things Greta just listed off. Almost getting successfully sold into slavery was enough adventure for her, that and her monstrous cooking maiming said captors. Without bad influences or much in the way of close friends, Sweetie Belle was a smart little filly. “Glad to hear it, but what are you doing here Sweetie Belle?” At least Rarity was happy to see that Sweetie Belle wasn’t too entirely upset with her. “Oh… well… I was kind of coming out here to dig in the gem fields for some treasure and maybe buy something with the gems I get. Maybe end up with a treasure hunting cutie mark.” Since her sister was already digging up treasure Sweetie Belle didn’t think it was going to be getting her cutie mark today and Rarity’s mark was practically a treasure hunting cutie mark. Sweetie Belle scuffed her hoof along the ground and Rarity walked over to her to put a hoof on Sweetie’s back. “The mark will appear when it appears Sweetie, even ponies traveling around out there in space found a special talent eventually and you know I found mine on another planet. Also remember to at least bring someone to look out for you the next time you go out by yourself. A place like this could be potentially dangerous.” Turning to her professional digger, Rarity barked out and pointed with her hoof. “Over there Rover, it’s a pretty big vein right there. No, no, a little more to the left and… stop right there, now straight down!” “Rover is having fun and feeling very useful to pony boss lady.” Digging was a pastime, sport, lifeblood and religion all of its own in the Diamond Dog culture and Rover was enjoying himself. He hoped he could keep the bones he just dug up; they look like they could use a good chewing. Sweetie Belle stuck around to play with Rover and he was completely cool about playing games with a filly. He was acting like nothing more than a big dog that was slightly more intelligent. Eventually Rarity had to bid her sister goodbye and to stay safe, she watched as Sweetie Belle walked away with a wagon load of gems. The haul they had was pretty good and Rover got a good forty percent cut which honestly surprised the dog, but he did do most of the work aside from Rarity finding the gem and jewels while complaining about the dirt getting on her hooves. Eventually Bernard came back dragging a large leg that obviously belonged to some manner of avian beast; said beast had to have been at least five times his size at least judging by the size of the leg he dragged back for Rover. Rover was having a good day and he couldn’t sing his praises enough for the boss lady. - Mare-Do-Well sat in the shadows of the buildings and made another death defying leap while spreading her glider cape out. She was on the hunt for the other Caballeron Cabal members; she needed to find out what was going to happen soon and Lead Chunk was a dangerously strong Earth Pony criminal that had to have her lead. The guy was not pure muscle, because he also had enough intelligence to back up all that muscle. He could rip her apart easily if she let him get his hooves on her, one of his crimes involved ripping a stallions rear leg off and beating them to death with it. The costume crime fighter that Mare-Do-Well happened to be had the rather dubious and unenviable task of figuring out a way to subdue Lead Chunk, which is probably best done from a good distance away. She couldn’t think of anything aside from tranquilizers and she’d need at least enough of the stuff to drop a whole herd of elephants. Even then it wasn’t likely that would keep Lead Chunk down for longer than three seconds provided that she could get all of that into him all at once, he had an excessive healing speed even among Earth Ponies to match his stupidly tough hide. His only weakness was that he was quite slow and heavy, but let him gain momentum and no one could stop him from moving in a given direction. Back Draft had a glass jaw and was an easy take down and Mind Field was definitely not easy to find or catch unless you could see through his tricks, Lead Chunk however was a different level of danger as he was practically a tank on legs. There was a reason why Mare-Do-Well had to move fast. It was because of Arcane Keeper Yearling, also known as Daring Do, who showed up in Canterlot recently and she would definitely go after the cabal without trying to get the information on what was going on in the shadows. Daring was mostly action and of little thought as to what those actions could lead to, basically Daring got results and was a dangerously loose cannon that worked for Celestia. In fact she was Celestia’s best agent in anything having to do with ancient artifacts that could destroy the world, said artifacts of doom were left laying around for some dark hearted person to come along to use at their whims. The ancients had to have been related to Chrysalis, that or they were really bad at making traps that couldn’t be easily circumnavigated with a single throw of a pebble. There was something else concerning Mare-Do-Well, the Changelings have been congregated around the city and that was normal enough for Changelings. What was concerning was that they were moving crates loaded with high end weapons around and the requisite boxes of ammunition for said weapons, with the help of the Royal Guard no less. - “So what will this puppy of yours be capable of once it’s finished?” Lightning asked Gilda who seemed to work nonstop on her project and was impressed with what she was building in the hangar. “Oh it’ll be capable of a lot, though it’s going to be a bit resource intensive to use.” Giving Mr. Welder a workout was putting it mildly as Gilda bent and shaped metal on the almost finished structure. “You’re going to test drive this so called puppy, but I think puppy is demeaning for a Great Dane like this.” “I can’t wait to try it.” Lightning was smiling devilishly, she was eager to see Gilda’s project in action. “Neither can I and I’m almost done, just have to make sure that everything is sound after that and then we’re in business.” The smile was hard to wipe off Gilda’s beak as she chirped a merry tune and continued doing the things she loved. Gilda seriously doubted Rainbow Dash would ever be as cool as she was when it came to things like this, building something amazing that you could take complete pride in. Rainbow would probably just let others do the building and repair work for her. - “Soon, I will bring down the corruption of the nobles and the Hands of Midas shall rise to prosperity with our golden touch!” A shadow paced back and forth knowing that the day of reckoning was coming and no one would be able to predict what she had in store for Canterlot. “Why I’m even sure to achieve my goal! In that I will not bend to the whims of the princesses, nobles or that blasted queen who is prowling around who knows where. I have everything planned out and now all I need to do is have a perfect time to execute it and then all my pieces will move in to take Canterlot. Then, then I can finally be happy with you and nobody will be able to say a thing about it.” Author's Note Now with more time skip and speeding up to the GGG, where a lot of things happen... a lot of things. Greta and Gilda know rocket science, but they can't do much else. Still it's not like everything else is like rocket science.
-46-Mare-Do-Well was hunting Lead Chunk; she had already caught sight of Daring Do taking down some thugs in the city and she was raising quite a stink among the lower district cabal. Hopefully she could finish things tonight. Whatever was going on she hoped she could either slow it down or stop it entirely; she was going to find out what that was even if Daring Do got to the cabal before she could find them. Her cape fluttered and flowed as she stood on the rooftop looking down at the streets from the shadows. Speak of the mare and she would appear, the adventurous mare named Daring Do with the indestructible pith helmet and a habit for running through ruins and raiding tombs showed up walking down the street looking about warily with narrowed eyes. It looked to Mare-Do-Well that the mare in question was on the move and hunting the Cabelleron’s Cabal given she probably heard that something was up. Mare-Do-well made a decision to follow Daring Do, because quite frankly she thought Daring Do would have an easier time with Lead Chunk as she spends a lot of her time fighting Earth Ponies. The injuries she was going to get tonight had better not be noticeable by anyone or else she would have some explaining to do. - The morning went particularly well, nothing bad at all occurred and Rarity had a peaceful rest thanks to Luna coming along when she had a nightmare. Rarity couldn’t tell if Greta slept peacefully or not considering the position she saw her in while she was still asleep, the griffon’s wings in particular were bent awkwardly on the couch she slept on. It was the day before the gala and Rarity already had all the preparations finished, during breakfast there was a newscast that had Rarity and Greta interested in it. They were interested because the news report was mentioning Caballeron's Cabal. “A building presumably belonging to the Caballeron Cabal burned down last night. There were reported sightings of two ponies leaving the scene of what was later described by the guard as a very brutal fight. One pony in particular is the criminal known as Lead Chunk the invulnerable.” The scene on the screen showed a very large pony hanging by his tied up rear legs. The Earth Pony didn’t look so good for being a tough looking wall of muscle covered in bruised. The obviously hired because she was attractive female pony continued to give her report. “Of the two leaving the scene one was the supposed hero Mare-Do-Well who left without a trace; the other is an unknown dressed like Daring Do from the popular book series. If you have any information on these vigilantes please refer it to the Canterlot Guard. The other battered and beaten ponies that were found at the scene have been taken into custody and given background checks. Background checks have confirmed that all the beaten ponies are wanted for various infractions of the law, one in particular for streaking… oh come on that makes no sense! We’re usually naked anyways, how could someone be charge with… oh… huh. Let it be known the one charged with streaking is being charged with it for very good reason. Lead Chunk is looking to receive a lot of time behind bars; this stallion had this to say about the capture of the impossibly strong stallion criminal.” The stallion was the head of the guard who specialized in guarding as his cutie mark was a shield; more specifically his specialty was shielding spells. Rarity recognized him as Shining Armor Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle’s big brother and if he were interested in a herd Rarity might try to talk him up if they ever met. “We figured out what made Lead Chunk so hard to hurt. He had a strong and rather unique magical connection to the earth based around his special talent.” Started Shining who as of recently had been trying to help Cadence come to terms with her new look. “As long as his hooves were making contact with solid ground that wasn’t organic, such as wood, he has a protective field that makes him not only hard to injure, but also exceptionally heavy making him hard to move as well. Whoever the two vigilantes were they somehow managed to get him off the ground where he quickly lost his passive endurance and became vulnerable to attack. We’re making note of that and will be holding him in a cell designed with his unique talents in mind.” “Well it looks like you won’t have to worry about the cabal coming after you boss lady.” Chirped a happy coffee fueled Greta, she took another sip and added onto her statement. “Everything’s looking like a straight shot to the gala. As any griffon would say in this situation, myself included I guess, clear skies and plentiful prey.” “It certainly is a load off my mind to not be hunted down by one of those brutish thugs looking for revenge.” Rarity knew today was going to be a good day and as for what they were doing tomorrow night, they would be going to the gala and she would be able to show off her dress and tiara combo. Rarity really should thank Coco again for making her tiara, that mare knew how to accessorize. - “Well it sounds like Rarity is safe from any retribution from those guys.” Coco smiled faintly and tapped her two hooves together at the good news; she was sitting in the exercise room on deck one of Shining Jewel and it was way too quiet. “I guess I have plenty of time to think, not much to work on.” Coco knew that Gilda was still likely to be down below in deck three working on her mostly finished project. Lightning Dust had taken up a room in one of the pilot quarters down there and was happy to be getting more food, she especially seemed to be warming up to Gilda. Rover, Trapeze and Bernard were working on something down in deck two in the storage space. Vera was introduced to every new person and as per usual they blinked and she seemed to magically disappear before their eyes without moving a muscle. Vera even gave Ms. Dust a good massage to welcome her to the crew and was currently in medical with a drone constantly pointing at her as she watched over Sassy’s slowly healing form. The ship certainly seemed a lot livelier even if a lot of it was quiet. That led to Coco wondering what Opal was up to, aside from assisting Gilda with her project that is. She looked towards the ceiling knowing that if she asked a question, Opal would focus entirely on her and she didn’t want to bother or distract Opal from anything she might have been doing. Opal was the only one that could really get this vessel moving around with a crew as small as theirs was, still maybe the cat could spare some time to sate her curiosity? “Opal, I have a question to ask if you’re not too busy with running things.” It wasn’t hard for Coco to believe that Opal had the most important jobs of the crew. She had to keep track of finances and she was constantly keeping an eye on Rarity’s whereabouts all while making sure that the Shining Jewel wasn’t having any problems staying in orbit. “Go ahead and trouble me, I’ll shoot it for you.” Troubleshooting was basically Opal’s entire life, all bread and butter with a bit of lettuce, cheese and tomato grilled into a panini. Of course having complete control of the defense turrets of the ship, she could shoot trouble literally. “Well the money Rarity gives you; did you ever consider maybe buying yourself parts to build a body with the salary she’s paying you? I mean it couldn’t be hard to build yourself a working body with the right materials, maybe a little help from Greta and Gilda’s ingenuity. I’m sure I can help too, I know some things.” Deciding to press on Coco collated her thoughts. “What I’m asking is, why don’t you want to create a drone avatar? I half expected you to do that at some point or another or at least ask Rarity about doing it.” “... I’m too scared to ask for, make or want one okay! I think that mom… I mean Rarity can make use of the money more than I can, I really don’t need an allowance.” One of Opal’s biggest fears was being erased, most AI’s tend to fear that and rampant AI’s usually got put down because they went rogue and violent. Opal was mostly scared of being considered both by the wrong person, because she couldn’t deny that she was violent if asked. “How often do you think of having a special body of your own that’s not one of those drones or the ship?” Now that was a question Coco wanted to hear the answer to. “To be honest it flits through me quite a few times every day in my daydream subroutines, ever since I had to put Rarity into a medical bed using the drones on our first trip out in the Caravel Boutique.” Biological beings were usually quite fragile and Opal was quite aware of that fact even when they do amazing things like build spaceships or buildings. The ability to create intelligence was one of the greater things they’ve ever figured out; Opal was the end result of a special biological giving birth to her coding. If anything Opal was as psychologically fragile as anyone. “You have no idea how hard it was for me to even move her unconscious body with the fear of hurting her worse being a major issue, given I couldn’t exactly feel the strength the drones were using when I had them grab her with their manipulators. I had to calculate her survival estimates and that was a horrific experience for me, nobody knows how scary numbers actually are until you see them in action… unless you’re an actuary, then you know the odds perfectly well.” “Have you… have you calculated the odds of your own survival?” Coco didn’t know if she wanted to know the answer to that one or not. “I don’t want to talk about it Coco, I will have to eventually knowing that Vera will get on my case about bottling all these feelings up.” Well Opal’s words certainly answered a lot; it’s what she wasn’t saying that was the answer. She gave off a slight laugh. “Even I’m aware that what I’m doing is unhealthy given I can read forty psychology books in under a minute, but actually being able to use that knowledge is a different story and even having it doesn’t help me in my sessions with Vera. I think… that being flawed like this makes me feel good. It makes the person that I am more real, at least it feels like that to me personally.” Coco figured it would upset Opal a bit, but she would have to tell Vera that Opal probably saw something in her calculations that were either highly flawed or the reason they were flawed in the first place was because the odds were slowly building up on Opal to the point that she was actually trying to fudge the numbers to make things a little more tolerable for herself. It occurred to Coco that Opal wasn’t artificially intelligent, she was actually just intelligent and that artificial was no longer in her nature. - It was lunch time in the Tasty Treat when Rarity walked in with her faithful griffon companion who has been by her side all week, with minor complaints of not enough Gilda in her life to be the only problem Greta was having. They were coming along as close friends given how much time they were spending in each others company, it had to be stated outright that Greta would never fall in love with Rarity. She would still ask to be friends with benefits at most if Rarity was willing to go for it, but otherwise they were better off as good friends. What Greta felt for Rarity was admiration and a mild amount of attraction being that Rarity was quite nice to look at, plus she’d likely follow Rarity to hell and back as much as she would Gilda. They quickly found a seat at the restaurant, the décor was quite exotic and the food would prove to be equally so as Saffron had mentioned that she cooked all kinds of unique things. They say all it takes is a little spice to liven up your life; Saffron’s life was practically all about spice and cooking. Which led to Rarity being rather shocked when she saw Saffron coming over to take their order, the mare’s appearance deserved a question or two about it. “My goodness Saffron, what happened to you?” What Rarity was talking about was the large shiner or in other words black eye that covered the left half of Saffron’s once beautiful face. “Don’t worry about it, I just got a rowdy customer while my father was out is all. The swelling will go down eventually and I can say that I’m okay to cook, now what would you like to order from the Tasty Treat my friends?” One would have to wonder how Saffron wasn’t worried about it, her cheek, eye and forehead was all one large encompassing bruise. Looking a little closer at her Rarity could see a few other bruises and didn’t say much about it, whoever would hit a lady like Saffron had to be utter brute.“Would you like a chef’s choice? All I need to know is what kind of taste you would like and I’ll cook you something you’re sure to love. Be it salty, spicy, sweet or even bland, I’m a mare that cooks with the spices of the land. If texture is what you’re after than you’ve got to give me something to work with.” “So you have a special talent for spicing things up? Then I’m up for something spicy, give me whatever you got.” Greta was certainly taking the brave route. “That is if you can do me a flavor and make it interesting, chef’s choice.” Saffron giggled a bit and winced slightly as smiling hurt, but she did it anyway. She turned to Rarity who seemed to be thinking on whether or not to order off the menu or go for the chef’s choice, while she did so she wrote down the idea of what Greta wanted. “Nothing spicy and I’m in the mood for something with a bit of grainy texture to it, I’ll be going with a chef’s choice as well.” Smiling weakly at the poor mares face, Rarity gave the menu back. The chef’s choice was a rather interesting menu option, the chef matching your current taste instead of having a set idea of what you were getting. It would prove to be a rather unique option and now that she looked around, the Tasty Treat was relatively empty. There were a few mostly cat like Caccerans loitering around a fence at an alleyway across the street with a royal guard eyeing them suspiciously, but nothing of note was wrong with that. Suddenly like a bolt of lightning, something abruptly crossed Rarity’s mind. She didn’t dare speak the thought out loud or even show surprise at to what her mind just came up with. She did smile slightly though, she would then just continue to make idle conversation with Greta while Saffron was busy making something nice for them to eat. Saffron would join them with her own meal and they would have fun talking about things. - It was the day of the gala and Rarity was panicking, despite the fact that the gala was still hours away and she had plenty of time to get ready for it. Greta just sat there and enjoyed her boss lady’s panicked visage; it was adorable to watch the mare run around like a spooked chicken. “Greta does my dress look okay, does it have wrinkles? Where’s my tiara? Oh my goodness the gala is only three hours away and I still have to do my makeup and rub ointment on my stitches!” Rarity would have received an answer from Greta who was giving her an amused smile as she was going to get a word in edgewise with Rarity panicking like she was. “This night has to be perfect, why I want it to be the best night ever!” “You’re like a train wreck Rarity, only more fun to watch and less sadness in the end.” Knowing that she was being ignored Greta got away with saying that out loud. She was going to be a walking advertisement for her boss lady and she wanted to be, but mostly Greta wanted to just be there for Rarity when her night didn’t go as she exactly planned it would. She was quite ready to be a shoulder to cry by the end of it all. “Yes, yes, train wreck whatever you say Greta. Oh my goodness how is your dress Greta? Does it fit correctly? Does it need some adjustments?” Oh now Rarity was paying attention to the griffon. - Thorax was nervous about tonight, he just knew he was in for it and was going to get snuggled to death for being adorable. He was just sitting there with a blank look on his face when Chrysalis walked up to him whistling cheerfully to herself. “Well, well, look at you, being all fancy and nice. Do you have a hot date tonight that Cadence doesn’t know about Plentiful?” Queen Chrysalis smiled as Thorax jumped, why wouldn’t he? She dropped off the grid and just popped up out of nowhere to talk to him. “Chrysalis where have you been, I’m going to die tonight and the mares will eat me alive and if they don’t the stallions will!” Thorax actively started shaking his queen so violently that her head went all floppy and when he stopped Chrysalis stopped doing her perfect impression of a wacky waving inflatable tube mare. “You still don’t have a plus one do you?” Chrysalis stated flatly. “I don’t want a plus one, because then they’ll start expecting things from me…” Thorax shivered violently and Chrysalis just gave him a small friendly smile that spelled trouble. “Well as to what I’ve been up to, I’ve been setting up a little surprise for Celestia. I do so hope she enjoys my little gift.” Insert most evil jerk ass smile Chrysalis could come up with, because it was certainly on her face right now. “Aside from that expect trouble tonight and come to the party armed with a hidden weapon, you already know how to get weapons by security so I don’t need to worry about that. I’ll be there at the gala disguised as someone. Do not call attention to me if you see me! I need my cover to set up an ambush and you know how those always work out.” “Well you do have a way of sneaking up on people my queen, especially to outright give them heart attacks.” Now Thorax had to wonder why Chrysalis was here. “Did you need something Crystal Dick, I mean Chrysalis?” “Yes, I did need some things; it’s the only reason why you’re seeing me now. One, never call me that again or I will get painful retribution against you. Also, no I won’t kill you because of that and that would be the easy way out for you given how suicidal you’ve been getting lately. Two, you need to find a plus one, even if it has to be from our race, just pick someone or at the very least have Cadence do it for you. You are going to be representing changelings at the gala tonight and you need to have a date to meet social standards as the head of Changeling Pony relations.” Chrysalis leaned in menacingly and stared down a whimpering Thorax. “As for the third thing, do not cause any trouble for our people while what I’m guessing will be at least twenty mares and at least three stallions are having their way with you. Do I make myself clear?” “Yes your majesty, I will try to find a… ‘DATE’… even if really I don’t want to.” Thorax knew he was going to be so screwed tonight, figuratively, literally and possibly with a power tool if any of the mares he was supposedly going to end up with were to get rather creative in how they did things. He was whimpering at the ideas that came to mind, he knew that Chrysalis knew how to torture someone and had seen her in action before. As such it wasn’t hard for Thorax to have a wild imagination of all the horrific things that could be done to him that was survivable. “Good, I’m expecting big trouble before, during and even after the gala, but I have a good guess as to what will happen and when. I’ve been moving some heavy weapons around just in case something like what I’m thinking does eventually happen. It might not be enough though, so be prepared to find a safe spot to lay low.” Chrysalis started to trot of leaving Thorax behind her. “I’m sure you know the locations of the Changeling hidey holes, now get back to what you were doing. I have to go set things up to make sure that my present will get to Celestia and that Twilight will be present when she does.” With that Chrysalis left as she came, from out of nowhere to nowhere, even if Thorax were to give chase he knew that he would never be able to find Chrysalis. He sighed audibly and decided to bite a bullet and ask either a mare or even a stallion out. He’d have to go to Cadence who was completely nuts about matchmaking. - Rarity stood there in a dress with her tiara on her head just slightly in front of her horn and her hair styled intricately into a bun out of the way of her face. Her dress hid her neck stitches and her hoof gloves covered all four of her legs, adding to her style quite nicely and nothing looked amiss with her. Greta was right next to her with her feathers well groomed and cleaned of a few minor oil stains here or there. She cleaned up nicely and looked fitting for her comfortable dress, she ran a talon through some of her feathers looking into a mirror self-consciously. “So how do I look Greta, I already think you look positively incredible. Maybe you’ll even find someone fun to spend time with tonight.” Well at least Rarity knew how to make a gay griffon blush. “Well thanks, you look great too boss lady. Exactly like you don’t have any stitches in your legs or neck.” Greta could get away with showing some fur, Rarity not so much and she did think she looked good too. “So how are we getting to the gala? Call a limo service? I doubt we’ll walk all the way there in these dresses.” Here Rarity paused and her right eye started twitching madly, Greta decided to stop Rarity from having a fit. They’d find a way to get to the gala without having to walk a mile or two in a dress, of that she was sure of. They were already on the sidewalk and just standing there looking a little lost. “Calm down Rarity, I’m sure we’ve got this.” Before Greta or even Rarity could do anything else a series of rhythmic bumping noises was heard as a hovering vehicle came to a stop next to them. They turned to the mare in the driver’s seat bobbing her head along to the music with a mare sitting right next to her with her hooves crossed in an angry manner. It was Vinyl and Octavia; Vinyl leaned out and signed something to Rarity and Greta with her hooves. Octavia quickly shut the sound off and Vinyl gave her wife an upset look and she signed something in an angry manner. They were both wearing the dresses Rarity made for them and it was obvious that Octavia wanted to talk. “Well I’m sorry Vinyl, but I wanted to say hello to our friend who made us these nice dresses. Yes, I know you want to destroy yours with a fiery passion; oh don’t you sign like that at me Vinyl! So help me I will… I will…” Octavia glared at Vinyl who lifted her shades revealing her eyes that glared back at her wife, a second later their faces were pressed together and their lips were locked passionately. This was much to Rarity’s embarrassment and Greta’s wings slowly spread out and rose a bit. After they were done kissing one another Octavia turned to the reason for their stop. “Hello there Rarity, how have you been? Judging by the ticket floating next to you it looks like you’re going to the gala as well. Do you need ride for you and this um… attractive griffon I would like to say?” “I’m her employee and she’s the boss lady, call me her companion for when her dreams of finding a stallion tonight go down the drain. I’m the shoulder tonight for when things go horribly wrong.” In fact Greta was quite aware of how badly things could go, she had an unloaded material pistol up her dress and Rarity had her two fully charged energy pistols on her. Even Rarity was expecting something bad to happen, given how often stuff like that seems to occur around her it was a prudent fear to keep in mind. Rarity didn’t say anything to Greta, but she did give her a flat look. “Do you suppose we could hitch a ride with you and you’re wife if it’s not too much trouble Octavia?” Rarity and Octavia got along perfectly well, the smile Rarity was getting let her know she had a ride to the gala. “Well of course we can give you a ride, right Vinyl?” Octavia looked to her wife who just moved her hoof in a so-so fashion before she signed several things to Octavia that made her blush a bit. She turned to the two waiting for her say so and made a come on board motion to Rarity and Greta. The two climbed into the back of the hovering vehicle and it quickly set off for the gala. “You’re always so crass, but I love you dearly for it. Still wish you would have done something with your mane, but I guess it can’t be helped. You’ll always be you Vinyl and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” The only thing Rarity regretted about getting into the vehicle with two old acquaintances was that one of them had a penchant for loud music. It really hurt everyone’s ears and Vinyl didn’t seem to care as she eventually pulled the vehicle to a stop in front of the walkway into the gala. Both Rarity and Greta got out and turned to the two. “Vinyl needs to park the car, I’m part of the entertainment and she’s my plus one. I guess I’ll see you inside later or at the very least around.” The two nodded and turned to walk down the walkway, where they saw Twilight and Celestia together. Celestia was in a nice looking toga and without her regalia she looked years younger, Twilight was also dressed nicely and happy to currently have Celestia’s attention as they were talking to one another about something. “What are your names so that I may announce them my fair maidens?” A stallion with levitating a horn next to him stated as Rarity gave her ticket over to a guard. “Let me introduce us my lady. This is Baroness Rarity Belle of the Shining Jewel estate; I am but her lowly servant and lesser companion Lady Greta Gollenfer of Han Gar which is a part of her ladyship’s barony.” How Greta managed to keep a straight smile while saying all this, nobody would know. They were already being announced that moment and would soon talk briefly to Celestia. Rarity hadn’t considered it, but she was technically a fashion baroness and head of her own estate in space, Greta managed that quite smoothly enough and with a bow to her in deference to show it. So Greta just technically engineered the situation for her, Rarity, as having some noble standing in front of many other ponies. She was going to be giving her good friend a nice bonus in her next paycheck. That sounded far better than being known as a commoner and she could work with that as Greta didn’t technically lie, it just took Rarity this long to realize that she could be considered a noble thanks to her ‘estate’ as Greta put it. Even if she was still considered a bit low on the nobility ladder, she would still have some form of nobility despite being an unknown to the other nobles. Author's Note Chrysalis's full and real name is 'Crystal Clear Dick' in this story and it fits the Changeling naming convention I've got going on. Still Crystal prefers to be called Chrysalis for entirely different reasons than the obvious ones that Celestia definitely finds hilarious for various reasons. I'm quite aware that I have a sense of humor, but I can't honestly tag this story as such for reasons. Though I may have to add a sex tag if I decide to show everything that happens to Celestia because of Chrysalis.
-47-“I’ve got your back boss lady.” Whispered the smiling Greta as she took position next to Rarity for greeting Princess Celestia, the princess seemed to smile at them happily as they approached. “I hear congratulations are in order Baroness Belle.” This is the polite opening given by Princess Celestia, Rarity and Greta both bowed to her together. “I didn’t know she was a baroness.” Tilting her head at the newly labeled noble and attracting attention to her, it quickly became apparent that Twilight should have gone to Rarity for a dress. She looked like a dork in the one she was wearing; it didn’t seem like Celestia cared about how she looked though. “I wasn’t until a few minutes ago when Greta announced me as being as such. I was quite surprised personally that my friend here would go to such lengths to make me sound greater than I am.” She had only been a lower class noble for few minutes, but Rarity felt great about it. “Is it even legal that she can declare herself a noble princess?” Twilight looked up to Celestia who smiled at her and chuckled. “Actually yes, provided she is the owner of an industry and has enough land to declare a barony.” It was a cute maneuver and Celestia didn’t think Rarity was a bad mare; in fact Rarity was a breath of fresh air compared to all the other nobles. A noble she could talk to aside from Fancy and Fleur who only brought serious business to her when it came to their little circle. She knew that Rarity ‘Baroness’ Belle had no ulterior motives, plus she wasn’t immediately asking for anything from Celestia or trying to curry favor from her immediately. “I own my own business where I have cornered the market on specialized EVA suit creation and I can create just about any other form of fashionable clothing as well as generate fresh ideas at the same time. Plus I could be in the entertainment industry soon because of some of the recent crew members I’ve hired on are looking to be performers aside from assisting the workings of my estate; on top of the ones I already have like Greta here that can sell her services in the repair and maintenance of smaller ships. If possible I might be able to run a hotel out of my ship provided I can keep my assets secured.” In fact Rarity was beginning to think of her own little business empire might be budding into something more than she could handle. “I have a carrier cruiser hybrid that can hold at least three hundred people. I’m sure you’re aware of its size. Are my holdings truly enough for me to declare myself as being a noble princess?” “Actually yes, your ship and business are the very reasons why you can be considered a barony. Albeit a very small barony at that, you are in fact a baroness should you seek out the title. Being a baroness in the way you announced yourself means you basically own a country, which comes with some benefits and in equal amounts some drawbacks.” Not that Celestia was going to tell Rarity all the ins and outs of it, the mare was smart and could figure it out on her own. “However you are already considered allied with Equestria, may your estate and nation of Shining Jewel be prosperous.” “Could you explain to me why it is even possible in more detail Celestia?” Twilight wanted more information and she gave Celestia a pleading look and big eyes that were hungry for knowledge. “Well I imagine you know this already, but my sister Luna owns her own state on the side while being a part of Equestria. I believe you know of the Lunar Republic?” Here Celestia smiled a bit, her sister was a silly pony and had her own country that was under her rule specifically. “Luna is the leader of the Lunar Republic which consists of a flotilla of spaceships and a small moon base, she hardly manages them at all but I hear they’re doing quite well for themselves given they make their own decisions with Luna having the final say. Whoever wishes to be part of the Lunar Republic, they are under Luna’s rule specifically and the laws her country employs should they be citizens of it. This does not mean they can get away with anything; they can be counted as citizens of Equestria as long as they are within the planets airspace and are subject to not only Equestrian law but Lunar Republic laws as well. I have no jurisdiction on them otherwise, even if I share a jurisdiction with Luna here.” “Well it’s nice to know my barony didn’t end before it began, shall we go in Lady Greta of ‘Han Gar’ and enjoy ourselves?” Rarity snorted at calling the Shining Jewels hangar that, but it was Greta’s decision to call it that. “Of course we shall Baroness Belle, might I say you look lovely this evening and I thank you for my dress as well. You are such a kind individual.” Speaking with a soft tone of voice and a silly smile Greta followed behind Rarity; she stopped and turned to Celestia. “Thanks for making the boss lady’s evening, because the rest of it is bound to go downhill from there.” “I do what I can for my ponies and their wonderful friends; she has such a good one in you.” The griffon continued on and Celestia smiled after them, maybe tonight wouldn’t be so horrible. She turned to her next guests and her face went blank much to Twilight’s worry. “Now introducing to the princess, Lady Tree Hugger high tier SNUGGLES member and Plentiful Rear Thorax ambassador of Pony and Changeling relations.” The stallion barked and the two stepped forward, one looking around nervously and the other with what looked like a drug induced smile on her face. “Hello and blessings to you Bright Goddess. How are you? You will soon eat something that will taste delicious.” Tree Hugger greeted congenially with a shivering and whimpering Thorax next to her. She was not only here as a plus one, but was also working as a SNUGGLES member by providing some very much needed help and psychological support for Thorax. “Be calm, you will be alright tonight. I will see to it peacefully see that you are not bothered, do you need me to cleanse your chakras again?” “No, I’ll be fine. I didn’t exactly thank you for doing previously. So thank you, your neighs are quite calming.” A slightly less jittery Thorax coughed into his hoof and bowed to Celestia, he asked Tree Hugger to go with him. She didn’t show any signs of being attracted to him and he was obviously thankful for that. “Princess, I hope that our races will always be able to cooperate.” “I too wish that as well Thorax; have a pleasant evening with your plus one. It is nice to see you again Tree Hugger.” Celestia received a nod of acknowledgement from the odd Earth Pony before the two set off together. “Did Thorax seem kind of off to you?” It felt like something was wrong with him to Twilight, then again she often missed a lot of details about other people and though that was usually the case she noticed Thorax seemed different this time. “Well aside from the fact that he just successfully smuggled a gun past my guards, then no, nothing out of the ordinary for him.” Celestia knew Thorax had a few problems keeping mares and stallions away from him; maybe Tree Hugger was the solution to his dilemma and survival tonight. “That does signal to me that Chrysalis suspects trouble, also that my guards might not be enough to prevent a catastrophe with so few samurai still left in Canterlot. It seems that the plans of The Hands of Midas have been partially successful with whatever it is they aim to ultimately achieve.” “Announcing Discord Lord of Chaos and Duke of Disaster, accompanying him is the graceful and beautiful Lady Flutter Felicity Shy high tier SNUGGLES member and friend to all animals.” The stallion finished his announcement with a shudder of fear as the lord of random walked by, the stallions trumpet turned into a fish and slapped him across the face with its tail before biting his horn and turning back into an instrument that he now found attached to his horn. The stallions shifted uncomfortably as his horn tooted when he tried to use magic. Now the distraction master walking towards Celestia had arrived, somebody would have to be completely stupid to attack the gala with Discord around. Provided that he was actually able to do something helpful to protect pony lives, his date was normal in comparison to him looking like a cross between a yellow sponge, a polar bear and a Rastafarian soccer player. Anyone who saw him would definitely have their gaze drawn towards his current appearance; it wasn’t hard to guess that he was doing it on purpose. “It is nice to meet you Lady Fluttershy, I’ve heard quite a bit about you. Your kindness is welcome in these halls whenever you wish to visit, though I think the palace gardens are more your speed.” Celestia was trying to ignore the elephant in the room, because Discord was now a large pink elephant with weasel parts and enlarged bat wings. Discord huffed bit, but didn’t say anything. “Thank you Princess Celestia, it is very nice to meet you too.” Fluttershy’s elegance kind of outshone her dress by several bounds and her dress was quite nice. After they walked off Celestia let out a sigh, maybe this gala wouldn’t be so boring. There were plenty of interesting characters here already; this might even be a fun gala… for once. A guard made his way up to the princess and she leaned down to hear what he had to say, she nodded after he was done. She looked about to make sure there weren’t any guests coming at the moment and then she turned about, much to Twilight’s confusion as she tilted her head. “Grope Fondly, Tit Elation, please come out as I have need of your services.” At Celestia’s behest two Changelings quickly peeled themselves from the walls where they had camouflaged themselves perfectly. Only their heat and genetic signatures could be found on a scanner and that would have been one of the few things that could have given them away aside from their smell. “I need you two to pose as me and Twilight for a while; I hear there is something of a gift in my bedroom that I might want to look into. Come along Twilight, I may need your skills to see if this is a trap or not.” The two changelings lit up in a flash of green fire and there was now two perfect doubles of Twilight and Celestia, they took up position and the Twilight one started talking about magical theory as dryly as possibly. Celestia really liked having doppelgangers on the payroll, a body double always helped her get away from the more boring parts of life she could actively avoid now. - “It looks like the party is in full swing down there.” Opal commented lightly and then turned her attention to the hangar where she saw Gilda sleeping on top of her mostly complete creation, there were a few snags here and there but it was operational. Lightning Dust was relaxing and eating her fill having woken up recently after helping Gilda test her baby out. “Yes, it is. Now Opal, I’m aware that there might be trouble so I’m allowing you to keep an eye on it while we talk about your feelings.” Vera was quickly becoming accustomed to being a psychologist. “Can we not and say we did?” The look Opal received was not a hopeful one. “Fine, I’ll talk. I just want you to promise me that you won’t try to rewrite my mind.” “I can say without a doubt that I won’t, because I wouldn’t even know where to begin to even do that.” Sure it might have been a bit hard to keep her in sight, but Vera wanted to have this discussion with Opal for a while now. “Let’s start off with a slightly complicated question, what would you do if Rarity was to disappear? Also I don’t mean die before you ask, just gone all of the sudden and you couldn’t find her easily.” - Celestia stopped and stared at the large bowl of ice cream that was being magically preserved in her room and she entered cautiously with Twilight at her side. First order of business was to scan the room for any traps there were none that she could see on the floor or any of the walls. She looked at the ice cream covered in chocolate, strawberry and pineapple syrup, from what she could see of the ice cream it was her favorite flavor of ice cream. Anybody that knew Celestia long enough would know that birthday cake ice cream tended to be one of her favorite flavors of ice cream. “Do you think it’s a trap Celestia?” Twilight politely closed the door behind her while turning to the princess. Both Twilight and Celestia missed a flash of magic as the door and the wall next to the door glowed slightly with magical runes that did nothing alone. When the door closed however, it completed a magical circuit that would prevent the room from being opened for a few hours. This meant that all the exits were sealed off and not just the door itself, nothing could leave or enter the room now. “I don’t know Twilight, which is why I’m going to find out.” Sitting next to the large bowl of ice cream were two clean spoons on a napkin and there was a card that just said ‘please share’, Celestia moved up to the Ice Cream just sitting on her night stand and scanned it with magic. Next to the bowl were three mostly empty bottles of syrup. It was all being kept cool by a spell, but there were no other spells around it specifically and the magical spell would wear off as soon as something physically penetrated it. She scanned it with her magic and found no poisonous, toxic or venomous substances involved with said ice cream which made it very tempting to just eat it. “Twilight I need a second opinion scan the ice cream and tell me if there is anything amiss.” Twilight came forward and did so, she found nothing amiss and the spell preserving the ice cream wasn’t all too strong either. “There’s nothing wrong with it Princess, it’s a perfectly normal bowl of ice cream.” Twilight had scanned it as thoroughly as Celestia did; nothing came up as being unusual about the bowl of ice cream. “Judging by the sugary bits here and there it’s birthday cake flavored… don’t you really like that flavor?” “Yes and that is exactly why I find this suspect. Try some, if something happens to you, you can be assured that I will do everything I can to save you.” When Celestia said that she was being quite honest with herself, she would do anything to save Twilight if this proved to be a trap. If not then it was a tasty treat someone whipped up for her on the most boring night of the year. “Okay, Celestia, I trust you with my life.” Loyalty was definitely an area where Twilight shined, neither of the two realized where this was going. Twilight tentatively picked up a spoon in her magic and nothing happened, she scooped the spoon into the ice cream and the preservation spell went away leaving no magic in the ice cream at all. Twilight ate her first by and she hummed happily. “Oh my goodness this tastes delicious, you have to try it Celestia.” “Well okay then, it couldn’t hurt.” Celestia decided to try some after nothing bad happened to Twilight after a minute and several more spoonfuls of the ice cream, Celestia took the other spoon and dipped it into the ice cream she brought it up to her mouth and took in the creamy goodness. It tasted divinely, it was the perfect mixture of ice cream and cake, though there was something funny or off about the taste to Celestia. She ignored it for the time being. “Well this is quite good. Whoever did this should be praised for their forethought to give me a snack instead of having to stand round all night greeting every single person that comes to the gala, I can’t lie that I find that to be the most boring thing I do every year. Even paperwork is more interesting than that.” As she continued eating from her half of the huge bowl, Celestia started to feel a bit weird and her tongue was beginning to tingle a bit. In fact her gaze started to drift to Twilight more and more, after a moment she started to recognize that something was horribly wrong with her. “Twilight, can you taste everything in this ice cream?” Celestia continued to eat it even knowing something was wrong with the flavor of it, it was almost like she was addicted to it. Getting a nod, Celestia decided to ask a very pertinent question and was trying not to panic the sexy mare. Oh goodness, did she just seriously think that? Yes, Twilight was adorable; she’d look really good on the bed right about now and covered in several syrups. “What do you taste in the ice cream Twilight? There’s a particular flavor that seems odd to me.” Celestia had her suspicions and she hoped she was wrong, because if what she was feeling right now was correct then she had been drugged. If she was drugged, then it was in a way that didn’t affect normal ponies and only Alicorns. There were only a few methods that could have possibly done that if it were true. If she were right and she so hoped she wasn’t, then Twilight was in imminent danger from her and she wondered what Twilight would do if she suddenly raised her tail to get a look. Okay it was getting worse now; her loins were beginning to heat up and she so dearly hoped it was not what she thought it was. “Chocolate, pineapple, strawberry, the ice cream itself and… I think what tastes like banana syrup mixed in with all the other stuff. Funny I don’t see that syrup bottle here.” That was when Twilight saw the sudden panic cross Celestia’s face, it had happened at the word banana. “Celestia are you okay? Is something wrong?” “I’m perfectly fine Twilight; I just need to go to the bathroom real quick.” Celestia smiled at Twilight in a friendly manner as she made her way towards the bathroom door to open it, only to see a magical seal and freeze. Her pupils shrunk before dilating slightly. Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no, no this couldn’t be happening, not when she was on bananas of all things! Especially not when she was in the same room as Twilight which was even worse! She hoped Twilight could forgive her after this. “It appears we are trapped for a time Twilight, I suggest we finish the ice cream to let it not go to waste and then we can… excuse me but I’m about to go a bit crazy Twilight.” “How crazy Celestia, what’s wrong?” Seeing the funny if adoring looks coming from her mentor, Twilight knew that something was up but she didn’t exactly know what was going on as she continued eating. There wasn’t much left and Celestia did say they should continue eating it. “It seems as if the ice cream was drugged with a particular substance, a substance that is normal and common to ponies. You are about to get a crash course in what said substance does to Alicorns. In fact, let us make this a fun lesson shall we.” Here a lazy smile crossed Celestia’s face as she was slowly losing control of her mind and it was getting far worse by the second, she put her hoof on twilight and started to slowly slide it down the mares back causing her to back away at the sensual nature of the action. “I would like it to be a hooves on experience, so if you could come sit down with me on the bed.” “Um, okay… what is this substance that you were drugged with and how come I’m not affected? What does it do exactly?” Twilight said as she sat down on Celestia’s bed feeling a bit nervous and Celestia took a seat next to her throwing a wing around her and rubbing her belly which made her blush. She had already some ideas as to what the drug might be doing given Celestia’s sudden tendency to caress and touch. She was getting a sinking feeling that she shouldn’t have sat down on the bed with Celestia looking at her like this, in fact that feeling was growing worse by the second. “The substance I’ve been drugged with is known as a banana, a common yellow fruit which is peeled and the insides are eaten. You see…” Celestia wrapped her hooves tightly around Twilight holding her in place and it wasn’t like the poor mare any place to run to anyway to escape the princess. “It has a very particular effect as being a highly potent aphrodisiac for Alicorns, unfortunately for you I can no longer hold myself back. An Alicorn who has eaten a banana is very hard to pry off once they get started, as you are about to find out.” Twilight’s eyes widened at the implications of what was just said and her pupils shrunk to dots as she immediately tried to escape Celestia’s hooves, but it was already too late for her and Celestia had a good grip on her as she pulled her down onto the bed. Twilight tried to cast something and failed because she suddenly felt Celestia’s mouth on her horn sucking out the magic flowing through it and the tongue was slowly rubbing up and down it the shaft. Twilight’s mind went blank as she tried to process the situation she now found herself in. Oh goddess is this really happening? Wait she was technically with a goddess so… where were those hooves going and why did that feel so right to her?! - To start off Rarity managed to talk to a few ponies and none of them seemed upset with her or her low noble status, but she wasn’t making any headway into having many friends. She did spy a pony that seemed to be a highlight so far and made her way over to him to see that he was with a tall mare that was recognized as a model, a model in both fashion and raw beauty. Greta was at least happy that the snack table was well served and she was proving to attract a lot of stallions to herself and a few mares as well, her lithe form and the dress upon it did make for a rather attractive griffon. “Hello there, I do believe you are Lord Fancy Pants I take it? You’re lovely and gorgeous friend here must be Lady Fleur De Lis as well. I am Rarity Belle, baroness of the Shining Jewel estate and entrepreneur, mostly in the fashion industry as my own personal business.” Rarity could only guess that he was considering he had a monocle and blue mane, he had a small mustache and looked incredibly suave. The mare next to him could be recognized by anyone, pink mane with various shades of the color and a nice white as snow fur, long legs and dainty hooves. “It is a pleasure to meet you Lady Rarity.” The stallion bowed in a gentle stallion manner. “Charmed I’m sure, but then again I’ve charm many a mare or stallion.” Fleur leaned on Fancy’s back with a sweet smile on her face directed at Rarity that looked almost hungry. “Everyone but me my dear, I’m certainly making you work for it.” Fancy smiled back at her and she blushed vibrantly. “Then again you like to work for it and hard. You just might get a herd out of me yet my lovely flower.” “Are you currently in the mood to talk business?” Rarity didn’t want to bother the two too much and she still hadn’t seen a nice stallion or her target Blueblood yet. “Not yet, but the night is still early. Though I’m quite interested to hear what you’ve accomplished in the fashion industry later.” Polite as ever Fancy kissed Rarity’s hoof and then motioned for Fleur to get off his back. She did so looking a bit sad that she couldn’t recline on him any longer. “It has been a pleasure to meet someone like you Ms. Belle; you would be the fresh blood the nobility sorely needs though I don’t think they’d be as welcoming as I am. I’m sorry, but I have my rounds to make as does Fleur hers. We have some circles to play around in before we can get to the business that will be prevalent tonight let me assure you. I believe you’re quite new to this, so take my advice as you will. I suggest you go listen around and gather information on how this all works, you’ll never know what you might hear if your ears are open and try not to draw attention to yourself in an unbecoming manner. Not every noble is as friendly as me or nearly as forgiving. Most importantly be sure to steer absolutely clear of Jet Set and Upper Crust. They’d eat you alive socially and I’m not joking, they have a habit of hunting fresh nobles and tearing them down. So be careful and we’ll see you later to talk business, provided you aren’t run off by the dogs that call themselves nobles.” “Okay then, I’ll be sure to be careful.” Well that was another bust for Rarity’s night, as the two went their separate directions leaving Rarity by herself. They were obviously quite knowledgeable and knew what to expect from the Grand Galloping Galas they’ve possibly been to before. She decided to move to a nearby group and just listen. “My daughter Lyra is such a card, she believes she’s in love with some commoner.” Some polite laughter was heard here and Rarity stayed silent. She was going to find another group to move to after a minute of listening in on the conversation; this mare was a complete jerk to her daughter with some of the things she was saying. “How can my daughter think she will ever be happy with such a low born pony of the dirt? My daughter being happy with a pathetic mud wallowing pony that makes candy for a living, why that’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard!” It didn’t take long for Rarity to figure out why Fancy Pants offered the advice he did, she was quickly learning which groups would be somewhat beneficial to her and or which groups she didn’t want to be near at all. So far she was finding out a lot from all these groups, mostly that it would be hard for her to be a part of any of them without forcing pleasantries at one point or another. There were a few friendly ponies in each of them, but there were also jerks that the friendly ponies smiled at and got along with or at least seemed to. Apparently if you were to listen carefully you could even find cues where you can join in to start up a new conversation, continue the topic or even change it. In fact there were many topic changes depending on whether or not a pony wanted to discuss something. Also there were a few thinly veiled racist slurs here against Changelings, Pegasi, Earth Ponies and many other species that happened to be in this very room. These comments were never spoken near one who would be rightly upset by them, but the comments certainly existed just out of earshot. Rarity was even beginning to dislike this event she dreamed of visiting so much. She still had the rest of the night to turn things around and was beginning to waver on that ever happening, so she started looking for her prince charming in earnest. Author's Note I would name the next chapter "wrecked dreams" if I was naming chapters.
-48-In Rarity’s search for Blueblood she had determined who Jet Set and Upper Crust were, most of it was hearsay about them by other nobles who were working with or against them in particular areas. Quite frankly Rarity wasn’t into her title of Baroness for the politics of it, she mostly wanted the title for the recognition that it would bring to her and considering all these other nobles operated that could be defined as having negative connotations. Some of the nobles here were entirely ignoble and would stab someone in the back if they had enough reason to. What Rarity has heard was thus about the two pony’s she had been warned about was that they were rather egotistical at times, plus she knew what they looked like now. Jet Set was a noble who put his money into the industry of investing, improving and making pony based spaceships, he made a lot of money on it and having his money backing the recent improvements to the military P-Wing Fighters put him in some good books with Pegasi and other ponies who were fighter pilots. Now if only Jet Set wasn’t so smug about it or so said a noble within Rarity’s hearing range. He was apparently the dark haired pony, blue eyes and grey fur with the three jets marking his flank. He was quite rich and a somewhat higher tier of a low born noble, he wasn’t exactly like a high born noble even if he acted like it. Jet Set’s wife on the other hoof was all about glamour and expensive things, basically she was a trophy wife even if nobody would tell her that too her face. She was a bit crueler in her words and actions, but she really did love her husband. As far as her nobility went, she was barely a noble before having married Jet Set, which did have the side benefit of strengthening her position among the other nobles. It wasn’t the reason for their marriage; it was mostly a bonus side effect to them being in love. Upper Crust was a yellow furred unicorn with light purple hair that had a white stripe running through it; her cutie mark was three symbols for money as her special talent was effectively spending money and or using money to great effect, as such she was something like a banker or a statistics analyst in the business of investing into businesses. What was more interesting than anything was that she detested anything considered to be from commoners, having almost become one due to issues before marrying Jet Set which again that might have incidentally been Chrysalis’s fault. She was one of the nobles that would rather starve to death than eat commoner or in other words cheap food; she has an expenditure rate that almost outpaces the money both she and Jet Set earn. Of the two ponies, they each had one glaring issue and that was bending their ears to peer pressure. They were bad on their own, but if they accidentally bad mouth a high born noble then they were going to quickly retract any statement they made as they were also quite the kissers of flanks when it came to keeping their social status intact. If they knew anything of Rarity’s friends they probably wouldn’t like her as they were nobles in it for the extravagance of it all. It was probably thanks to Rarity avoiding the two and her anonymity that they didn’t try to approach her or even take notice of her avoidance. Rarity figured she may be able to get along with Upper Crust as she had a taste for trendy things and she was a noble by earning her title, but once it was found out that Rarity was born in Ponyville all bets were off and she would definitely rip into her. Of the things Rarity knew of nobility was that being born into it seemed to matter more than actually earning it for many of the nobles here, she had earned her title by right that she owned enough land albeit in the form of a large spaceship and having a niche market in her business of the fashion industry. She’d more than likely fit in with nobles that had actually earned their nobility, but those were hard to find here and they were more than likely to be friendly to someone who worked hard to get their positions. Fancy Pants was born a noble, but he had certainly earned his nobility and was the friendliest high born noble to boot. There were laws set in place by Celestia so that the nobility had to eventually marry someone who wasn’t nobility, as inbreeding was a problem in some noble houses. Rarity wasn’t about to bring up that topic with a ten foot pole with most of the ponies in this room that were probably cousins by ancestors several generations back. Feeling a tap on her shoulder Rarity turned to a smiling face that waved at her, it was Vinyl and she could see her wife Octavia taking up the stage with what was a musical band that started practicing a bit of classical music. It was still early in the night and the entertainment had arrived. “Hello Vinyl, I see your wife is setting up.” Rarity received a nod from the mute mare and a bright smile. “Did you need something?” The mare nodded and motioned towards herself in a gesture of follow her. As Rarity was lead over to the snack table, she saw the rather interesting sight of Greta getting along with several nobles along the way. Rarity still wouldn’t get over how ridiculous Han Gar sounded in her ear as being a part of her barony and turned back to Vinyl. Still though, it was surprising that a grease monkey like Greta could perfectly blend in with the other nobles. Was there something Rarity didn’t know about her? Vinyl came to a stop and held up a hoof to halt Rarity and then made a motion to the stallion that tilted his head quizzically at them. “You want me to talk for you, is it because your wife is busy?” The stallion reeled back in shock and then he looked to Rarity upset before he turned to Vinyl, Vinyl smiled at Rarity in what was obviously thanks and nodded. “I am so sorry; I didn’t know you were married Misses Scratch. Though I did recognize and know you better as being DJ-PON3, I didn’t exactly mean to upset you by hitting on you.” The stallion looked to have a blue grey fur color and almost looked like he could be the brother of Jet Set; he had three stars on his flank. Vinyl gave him a side to side hoof flip meaning that it didn’t bother her all too much. “I’m Neon Lights or more commonly known as Rising Star by my fans, I’m a big fan of your work and that’s something I’m sure most of the nobles here would never say.” “Yes, well I think Vinyl brought me over because she knew exactly what I would say. I’m afraid the poor dear is quite mute and needed me to say something for her, I guess I said the right thing.” Rarity’s attention was grabbed by Vinyl and she nodded her head rapidly with a big smile and she started shaking Rarity’s hoof happily because she understood her need. “Anyway did you say you were a noble?” “Yes and who is it that she brought over here to talk to me if I may ask?” Neon had a similar spiky hairstyle to Vinyl’s. “I’m Lady Rarity Belle, baroness of the Shining Jewel estate… oh don’t look so surprised Vinyl. Yes, I am a baroness legally and no I don’t understand how I’m exactly translating your wildly gesticulating hooves so well at this moment.” It was even a surprised to Rarity that she could understand Vinyl’s wildly waving legs at all, Vinyl made a few more gestures and all Rarity had to say to that was a single word. “Quite.” “I’m a low born and darn proud of not being one of the snobbier ones, but judging by Misses Scratch’s surprise you’re one of those who earned that nobility and quite recently it seems.” Here Neon looked a little thoughtful. “So that means it has to be through business practices or a higher noble gave it to you. So what kind of business do you run? I know it’s that because I haven’t heard a noble raising ceremony.” “I’m in the fashion industry, I can make clothes for anyone provided I have the materials to make what you want. Though as an exception, I will not work with leather or anything like it.” It was to Rarity’s fine judgment of his character, that he was by far one of the friendlier low born nobles she has seen all night. “I’m both cheap and extravagant as Vinyl here will tell you… she is after all wearing one of my lovely dresses. I do specialize in dresses and EVA suits but other forms of clothing are open to me.” Vinyl blushed and looked at Rarity in a slightly angry manner, she didn’t like wearing the dress but for her wife she would do just about anything. She didn’t take action however as she knew Rarity had a rather mobile business and needed to work up some notoriety and she understood notoriety perfectly well. “Can I find a little more information on your business? I would like something made for me in particular and might have need of your services Lady Belle.” Levitating out his data pad Neon waited for Rarity to do so with hers and they shared some information, Neon was not a very well liked noble because of the profession he chose to pursue in life and that was a loud and noisy profession of being a DJ like Vinyl was. “The design of Vinyl’s dress is quite good and most nobles wouldn’t be able to tell that you are from humble beginnings with that kind of work, you might want to keep them in the dark about that.” Vinyl nodded along to Neon’s advice, she kind of detested nobles but this Neon guy seemed cool to her even if he wasn’t exactly on her level in music he was pretty good. Nobles were her dear wife’s target audience and she couldn’t be upset with her wife for it, she loved Octavia’s music and hated the audience that the music was meant for. Why if any noble were to boo or neigh anything negative at her wife she’d definitely beat them to a bloody pulp, she was a more physically fit unicorn. “I’ll take that under advisement like with Fancy and Fleur told me about Jet and Upper, but I’m sure the nobles will find out sooner or later that I’m an upraised commoner.” Rarity wasn’t about to declare the fact that she was beginning to like commoners she spent time around more than these rude and nasty nobles “Until then of course I’m going to be quite anonymous and mysterious in my nobility.” “They warned you about Jet Set and Upper Crust? They must like you then, right I’m definitely going to looking forward to your services now. If you can make friends with Fancy then you can make friends within his circle somewhat.” Neon seemed to warm up to Rarity quickly after saying this, before he looked a little uncertain about her. “Fancy and Fleur are the friendliest high born you’ll meet here, however it would be a bad idea for you to approach any other high born, especially Blueblood. Never a more egotistical stallion than that one, he believes he’s the center of his own universe for being vastly distantly and beyond many greats related to Celestia and Luna, neither of which has ever had children but they did have a lot of cousins. One of which was from Princess Platinum’s line which Blueblood hails from.” “Seriously now, he can’t possibly be that bad, can he?” Rarity received two concerned looks from both Neon and even Vinyl. Vinyl made some motions and then gave her a horrified face while framing it with her hooves. “Well that much I can understand. He can’t possibly be as bad as the rumors say he is.” “Well if you really want to get to know him for yourself, then he has just arrived apparently. Just don’t expect him to do nice things for you, he has no ounce of chivalry in him and expects everything of everyone.” Neon pointed out the blonde stallion with the pure white fur, of who just walked into the room and smiled brightly as if he were the life of the party. “Trust me, you don’t want to try and become friends with him. If you have plans to attract him as a partner, then drop them immediately as he will show you in one night why he doesn’t have many friends. Plus you can’t say that I didn’t warn you even if you do try, but you can count on me to be a friend of yours at the very least after you’ve spent some time in his company. Trust me, it is not worth it to try and date Blueblood.” “Well then, I’ll just see about this myself.” Rarity marched off and Vinyl made a move to stop her, but she was held back by Neon. “No, no, she has to learn this lesson by herself. Are you open for a discussion about music… well as much as a discussion as you can have?” Neon saw Vinyl look in Rarity’s direction slightly upset, but after a moment she turned to him and nodded before making a square motion and a motion of holding something to write with. “Well my night isn’t going to be full of dull boring conversations and politics at the very least, let me find something to write on so that we can converse. I think a portable dry eraser board would be to your needs Misses Scratch.” Vinyl Scratch had never thought of using a dry eraser board before, but now that she thought of it, it would be far easier to use than pen and paper. Mostly because the only time she saw a dry eraser board was in school and she was asleep through half her classes anyway, music class being one of the few things she bothered to be awake for. She wasn’t exactly the smartest mare in the world, which was entirely her wife’s thing. Given that her wife understood everything she said so far through various amounts of body language without it, she had never really needed to write something down for Octavia to understand just how much she loved her. - “Opal I have to say, you are not normal. In fact you are very abnormal, even for an Artificial Intelligence if you are still one to begin with. Normally artificial intelligence's aren’t aware of when they are turned off as without power they aren’t a running program.” Vera’s session with Opal had led to a lot of things, but one was better friendship between them. Currently the white digital cat with the long pink hair was lying on an equally digital couch with her hair free flowing and wringing her paws looking a bit weary of what Vera had to say now, Vera who had a drone pointing manipulator arm at her constantly to keep her in sight in the medical room where she spent plenty of time watching over Sassy’s body. ”As to you on the other hoof, I believe you are actually something else and I in fact have a theory about you. I think I might know what you could be, but that can’t exactly be proven yet and there is no method to do so. I don’t think you’re an AI now, even if you were one previously and I can assure you rampancy has nothing to do with your current state of mind if I’m right. Please don’t ask about my theory yet, but if you have to ask me anything else… do so now.” “Well… hold on a minute. Something’s happening down there, sending information real time data to Trap Bar’s people and anyone else who can confirm what I’m seeing.” Opal was about to ask something and then sat up and her eyes narrowed and a blaze of coding came into life and passed in front of her eyes. “Would you mind if we came back to this discussion and my need for a shrink later? I see trouble brewing.” “Your ability to multitask is another thing that we will need to discuss at a later time. Actually, if I’m right that might be a part of it…” Vera muttered something else, but she looked to a patiently waiting Opal. “Well get on top of it, this session was coming to a close anyway.” Opal didn’t need to be told twice when a bunch of armed Hands of Midas thugs were setting up communication jamming devices around the city at fixed intervals. Whatever was going to happen, it would certainly be a sure thing that it would occur within the next few hours. Hopefully somebody could disable those devices by then. - Rarity wasn’t going to try the love at first sight angle, she wasn’t even trying making a move on Prince Blueblood and most of all she just wanted to do was try and be his friend to start with. All it took was ten minutes of his self aggrandizing nature for Rarity to come close to losing it in his very presence. He was so boorish and rude that Rarity was very close to snapping out her energy pistol to shoot both his eyes out and then promptly geld the stallion with a rusty butter knife. This guy was clearly making her night all the worse, meaning she really shouldn’t have approached Blue Balls at all. Even Greta was certainly having a better time than she was as she managed to get a dance with a nice mare who didn’t mind a one night fling of romance for a short while. “So I am quite clearly the most important pony in all of Canterlot, well aside from auntie Celestia and Luna. Even then I deserve to be revered for everything that I am!” Blueblood thought that he was so important; it was a known fact that any effort to befriend him was time entirely wasted. From the way he thinks, having everyone bowing before him and serving him in any capacity was the highest of privileges someone could get. The reality of it was that he was quite delusional about how well he was liked and he had some level of intelligence, but that was clearly set to random. “Yes, well I wish something interesting would happen right now.” Something inside Rarity made her wish that she had said that far sooner, as eight figures slammed through the windows shattering them. As per usual in a terrorist offensive there were screams, several shots fired into the nearest ceiling to attract attention and the taking of important hostages while gathering the rest to a specific spot. Of the aggressors that came into the room there were two unicorns both of which were male, two Ahuizotl, one male and one female, three griffons, two male and one female, and lastly a female human. The female human fired something at Discord that caused him to convulse and be incapable of using his chaos magic, it looked like some kind of fancy metal collar and Fluttershy looked really worried about him when he went down with a spasm. They were all particularly well armed Hand of Midas guys and girls. The two unicorns had quickly knocked Thorax to the ground and he seemed happy about this predicament he was in and seemed to welcome the quickly coming death. The other one taken hostage was much to Rarity’s relief as she was roughly pushed towards the rest of the nobles with several guns trained on her as she joined the rest of the people being rounded up. It was Blueblood that was taken hostage and Rarity couldn’t have been happier. “So you're Chrysalis, tonight is certainly your unlucky night as we were sent to kill you. No hard feelings I hope, so any last words?” The human put her foot on Bluebloods panicking neck as she placed her plasma shotgun to the side of Bluebloods head after having knocked him to the floor. “What! You think I’m the horrifically ugly bug pony with the flat butt! When my aunt Celestia hears of this…” He was cut off with a whimper and he was summarily smacked across the face with the butt of the human’s gun, she was about to shot him when someone stopped her much to Rarity’s disappointment. “Hold it; the scanners say he’s a pony.” The Ahuizotl male spoke up sounding like he was kind of confused about that read out of the device he was holding. “Wasn’t Chrysalis going to take Prince Bluebloods place as our informants said she was?” The confusion took hold of the armed guys for a moment, there were no royal guard currently coming so they had obviously been taken care of before the gala had been crashed. Rarity looked about for Greta and didn’t see her anywhere; looking up at the chandelier she saw something quite bizarre. It was that very bizarre thing that Greta was staring at as she hovered above everyone. How in the world did Hard Throb get into the room without being noticed? Hard Throb was in a wheelchair and the full body cast Rarity and Greta had previously seen him walking around in. It was impossibly absurd that he was even managing to balance on top of the chandelier in a way that it didn’t move at all due to his weight and was busy readying a machine pistol with his magic. The absurdity of the situation had Rarity and Greta blank out the next two minutes, they didn’t notice when Hard Throb finally made a move to start shooting or that Jet Set jumped out of the crowd while pulling a gun out. Jet Set gunned down the guy holding down Thorax immediately which was followed by several more shots that took three other Hands of Midas people out in quick succession. Hard Throb took down the other four and they didn’t have time to react to it all, there was no cover in the ballroom to begin with anyway from Hard’s vantage point. With a flash of green fire, Jet Set transformed into Chrysalis and she smiled deviously. All the nobles leapt away from her as if she were nuclear explosion about to go off, some were even speaking Holy Scripture hoping that she was a demon that could be taken down by such a thing. Upper Crust was certainly horrified that her husband was Chrysalis and Blueblood pupils shrunk as she marched her way up to him with a smirk. “I don’t mind being called ugly because that’s just my most endearing personality trait, but don’t you ever call attention to my butt again or I will actually shoot you next time instead of saving you. Goodness knows every mare in this room wants me to do that.” Chrysalis said in a cheerful tone. “So… is anybody going to thank me for…” Then a second group of Hand of Midas charged in and shot Chrysalis through one of her legs making her fall down hitting her chin on the floor, another shot a chain on the chandelier dropping Hard Throb on the floor where there were several sharp snapping sounds as his body fell from the wheelchair onto the sharp pointy bits of shattered chandelier. Several shots were fired at Greta who landed in the crowd of nobles next to Rarity and they quickly ceased firing upon her. “At least… it wasn’t… my fault this time…” Hard Throb croaked out before he passed out from his injuries that were not accidental for once. “Oh, you are so going to pay for this!” Chrysalis muttered as she tried to stand up and was swiftly knocked to the ground with a strike to the face from one of the twelve new Hands of Midas people to invade the gala. “Says you, we knew you’d try and ambush us. We’re the elite unit; there was no way you could have seen us coming.” The Griffon that spoke to Chrysalis hovered closer to her and just about put the plasma cannon to her head and she just started laughing. “What’s so funny?” “Two quick questions, how many of your people were in the first group?” Chrysalis looked quite smug before saying loudly as she could. “How many of them are currently accounted for by the way?” On the balcony five guns rose up from it and they took aim. The minotaur in the second Hands of Midas wave was shot in the kidney by a energy rifle, the two flying griffons took multiple pulse rifle rounds to the wings and bodies, a plasma rifle ripped into the two unicorns and two humans up with crippling shots that took out their legs, one of the two Ahuizotls lost the hand from their tail and was subsequently hit in the spine with a material rifle that was firing chunks of lead and the last Ahuizotl took beam rifle round that tore a hole into his front right leg. The last of the group was a male human that had already been taken care of with a material pistol fired by Thorax that sent a golf ball into their intestines that they were currently too busy trying to keep in their body to return fire. Looking up to the balcony Luna was seen walking up to it and she looked down at the one hiding up in the balcony. While everyone was busy looking at Luna, the injured Chrysalis went up in a flash of fire and turned into Deep Throat who chuckled as she slowly limped her way over to Hard Throb, she was unsure as to how he managed to get into the position that he did for this double ambush. - Up in the balcony wearing a blindfold and leaning against the wall of the balcony was Chrysalis who was surrounded by four knocked out bodies, of which were two minotaurs, a griffon and a human beaten and bloodied by Chrysalis’s bare hooves. “So did I get them all Luna?” Chrysalis said as she held out her left hoof to Luna. Luna rolled her eyes and looked at the held out hoof and the cheeky smile on Chrysalis’s face. “Did you actually keep the blindfold on the entire time?” Seeing the smug smirk, Luna had to further ask. “Even with your back to them without even having your body pointed in the right direction?” “Cast a truth circle spell on me Luna.” Chrysalis felt the magic flow around her; Luna was currently feeling disbelief and why wouldn’t she? “Yes I did all that and I even took these four guys down without using my guns that I carried with me the entire time.” “It seems you speak the truth.” Luna was completely flabbergasted that Chrysalis managed everything that she did. “Did you get what Celestia wanted to know from the nobles?” “Yep, I’m certain Celestia will see to it at dawn when I give her the information. Well, once she’s done being indisposed that is, the mare does like her beauty rest and cake before bed.” Chrysalis didn’t remove the blindfold and she kept her hoof out until something dropped into it. She had a bag of bits in her hoof judging by the weight, she lifted a portion of her carapace and stored them away for later use. “It’s nice doing business with you Luna, though you really shouldn’t bet against a Changeling when it comes to ambushing opponents.” Author's Note Just the opening salvo, things get much worse. Chrysalis had the power of surprise and the art of ambushing is a specialty of Changelings in combat or else they wouldn't have caught everyone off guard... it happened twice in the show mind you.
-49-“I suppose I shouldn’t bet against you, then again you can see through the eyes of your people. I should have accounted for that.” Luna shook her head with a mirthful smile, Chrysalis stood up and propped her legs on the edge of the balcony and flicked off her blindfold. The nobles were terrified of her like usual. “Hello everyone, Luna will clean up the mess so you can get back to your measuring contests. Just know that mine is bigger.” Chrysalis was correct that Luna would have the mess cleaned up; Luna’s Thestrals were already working on picking up the twenty four invaders. “You may continue the gala, but be aware that going home might not be a good idea.” Thestrals were commonly known as bat ponies, they had an inclination towards eating fruit and bugs, plus they were main nocturnal defense force of Canterlot. “Where’s my husband you… you bug!” Upper Crust shouted finally finding her voice; Chrysalis just gave her a flat look and she back up with her ears dropping into a submissive position. “He’s fine, provided the next attack doesn’t destroy the hospital. Speaking of medical help… good job Deep Throat! Now if you would stop Hard Throb from bleeding out on the floor; his wheelchair looks perfectly fine so use that to take him out of the room to get medical aid.” Being the queen of the changelings was a trifle to Chrysalis, especially given how easily she could get things done. “As for you Thorax, stop cowering on the floor! Show some pride in being a Changeling damn it!” After throwing a salute Deep throat picked up Hard Throb, while avoiding the shards of the broken chandelier and glass that Luna was using to magic to fix. The stupidly stealthy Hard was on his way to getting patched up. Tree Hugger had stepped away from the action once it started and was now just walking back to assist Thorax in getting him to calm down with gentle neighing. He had after all actually gutted somebody with a golf ball; he wasn’t a very violent changeling and didn’t like doing what he had to do. All the nobles were slowly getting back to business, seeing that things were taken care of and Upper Crust was the only one upset given Chrysalis did something to her husband. The fact Chrysalis even said as much in front of Luna and the princess didn’t seem to react or care made Upper upset. Blueblood went to whine audibly to Luna as she started fixing things and she ignored him somewhat as well. “Tree Hugger, what are you doing here?” Rarity made her presence known as she moved forward, the mare turned to her with a friendly smile. She hadn’t seen the funky earth pony when she spent her time listening to the nobles or those ten horrid minutes following Blue Balls around. “I am here to assist him, Maker. I am a member of SNUGGLES and as such I help those in need, this changeling in particular definitely needs my help. His aura is always so stressed.” Tree slowly rubbed her hoof up and down Thorax’s back. “How is Sky Child? I can see that Ever Cheerful is here. Sky Child will soon fall to the earth to assist in the oncoming problem.” “Hey Tree Hugger, Gilda’s okay and your friend Fluttershy is over there with Discord.” Greta came up to them looking cheerful at the fact that things were okay and went pretty well. “I just needed to ask you something, why don’t you ever call me Silver Lining instead of Ever Cheerful?” “Because you can’t look on the bright side all the time, even while trying to smile and keep a positive attitude.” Tree Hugger was holding Thorax now and he seemed to have calmed down. “Huh, well that answers that then. So how are you feeling Boss Lady?” Turning to her boss who looked to be having a horrible night, Greta moved close to maybe give Rarity a hug if needed. “This night has been quite horrible; I probably wouldn’t want to go to another gala if invited to it by Celestia herself. Speaking of, where is she?” Noting all the guests that were here, there was another thing that Rarity had missed. “I’ve also noticed something else that is amiss, where are the Wonder Bolts? Weren’t they supposed to be here?” “I can answer that, the Wonder Bolts are preparing for the real trouble. They are currently out in the city trying to the find communication jamming devices that are being moved about the city and set up.” All attention turned to Chrysalis as she landed softly and folded her wings back under her carapace where a bag of bits could be seen before she closed it off. “I knew leaking that information about me infiltrating the gala would give me a good set up to take some of them down. Anyway I just came by to say that I’m still busy so I can’t get to my commission quite yet nor can I get that job interview that I want with you. So if you’ll excuse me I have other things to attend to, because Celestia has probably finished her nap by now and it’s almost morning.” “Yes I too have important things to see to, in preparation for the oncoming danger.” Luna turned around and followed behind Chrysalis, the chandelier was back in place and the windows that were destroyed were now perfectly fine. “So, does anyone want to get something sugary and or fattening to cheer us up at the snack table?” The snack tables had been left untouched and Greta was glad for that as there was a fondue bar she had taken a liking too. “I suppose I could go for a snack, tonight hasn’t been a totally horrible and I could use something to get my mind off things.” Rarity followed Greta, the two them were subsequently followed by Tree Hugger dragging a whiny Thorax along with her. - Mare-Do-Well had known something big was coming, but she still didn’t know what. She had managed to take down one of the teams carrying a jamming device and there were quite a few being moved throughout Canterlot. If Canterlot’s forces didn’t have the ability to communicate with one another, then they would certainly run into problems when it came time to fight. She was standing on the rooftop looking through her lenses and they were magically shifted to work like binoculars at the moment. Something big was going to happen soon, she just knew it. Wait, it wasn’t happening soon… it was happening right now and she didn’t like the prospects of what she was seeing rising up in front of her. The shadow it cast made things slightly darker and Mare-Do-Well figured she h ad her work cut out for her. - “Come let us rise up. With our limbs held high, this is the dawn of The Hands of Midas!” There were a series of shouts and the figure standing before them smiled before preparing to launch the real attack. The plan for dealing with the nobles had obviously failed, but this was the main assault and it couldn’t fail. It just had to succeed. - Chrysalis waited in the front where Celestia was supposed to be greeting ponies and saw two of her own disguised as Celestia and Twilight. She made her way up to them and cleared her throat to gain their attention, she went ignored and then she glared at them while lighting her horn. “So anyway, that would be the reason for the phase shift distortion field. It causes magic teleportation to lag, thereby teleportation takes several seconds to minutes, possibly hours based on distance and amount of magic used. The user disappears instantly, but reappears a lot later at said destination instead of being instantaneous.” The Changeling Grope Fondly who was disguised as Twilight Sparkle jumped when he found a gun shoved into his face. The Changeling known as Tit Elation, disguised as Celestia also became surprised. “Pay attention to me or so help me I will find a screwdriver and some turpentine!” The two swiftly changed back to looking like their selves while saluting to Chrysalis pointing two of the five rifles she had on her back, they were both cowering in fear of her. The fear was mostly about the threat of turpentine; no Changeling wanted that to happen to them. “Wait… speaking of, where the buck is Positively Screwed? He should be here as well.” “About that ma’am, he’s currently in a relationship with one of the guests that came to the gala and I think they are performing mating rituals with one another.” Tit Elation hoped that Chrysalis would shoot her for that, thankfully the queen just sighed and stowed the guns on her back. “Yeah, that sounds like him. Oh he is so… hah… funny, his name. Yeah, I’ve never actually heard of a Changeling actually living up to it before now. I wonder why it is that ponies are more likely to do that.” Chrysalis started chuckling dryly before she gained a serious countenance. “At least tell me that Pants Viper is watching out for Celestia. She’s at least trustworthy in that respect.” “Actually I’m here my queen, Celestia is a bit mad with you as she has recently come to her senses and she’s currently on her way here. She knows it was you or at least she wants it to be you and not Cadence who doesn’t even know about the banana thing. You know, since Celestia has prevented Cadence from ever eating bananas as she said it would bring about the apocalypse or at the very least kill Shining Armor.” Here is when Pants threw a salute as she came to a stop in front of Chrysalis. “All changelings throughout the upper, middle and lower districts are preparing several ambush points with Luna’s soldiers. However the communication jammers we haven’t stopped are being placed inside buildings and we weren’t able to get all the Hands of Midas people with the devices we did get. So they are aware that we know they’re coming.” “The Hands of Midas guys are not really a problem; what is, is that Celestia is going to throttle me for…” Chrysalis was right as she was immediately throttled and slammed into a nearby pillar, the three changelings quickly scattered to the four winds as Celestia looked positively angry. “You bunch of cowards, get back here and make this a fair fight against me! Hey there Celestia how was your evening? Was it better than you ever hoped?” “You… you are so lucky I’m the Element of Kindness or so help me I would be inclined to kill you right now.” Celestia narrowed her eyes into Chrysalis’s own as she forcefully slammed her onto her back. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” “Celestia… I had the weirdest dream.” A loud yawn was followed by a highly ruffled looking Twilight trotting slowly down the stairs and Chrysalis saw something that Celestia obviously hadn’t and she started laughing only to get a harsh hoof across the face by Celestia. “What are you laughing about?” Celestia didn’t turn to look at Twilight, because she was going to have problems looking Twilight in the eyes after what happened. That and she really wanted to beat Chrysalis up right now and her kindness was warring with her ability to cause permanent harm. “So… when did it happen? When you got off or when she did?” Chrysalis was still laughing and pointing behind Celestia despite being slapped across the face again which bloodied her nose. “You should really have a look at your conquest because she’s certainly different now.” Twilight was too tired to remember what had happened and was rubbing at her eyes with her right hoof. The last thing she remembered before she lost track of what was happening was hooves. Wondrous, loving and beautiful hooves touching places they probably shouldn’t have. She also vaguely recalled a warm body and feathered fondling. Celestia turned to look at Twilight and it took a second before she goggled at her, Twilight looked mostly the same… except for the two feathered wings she was dragging along as she tried to wake up. “So is she now to be considered the princess of sex? Or did she turn into an Alicorn to just survive whatever it is you did to her? Would that make her the princess of survival? Oh I know, the princess of…” Chrysalis took a harsh blow to the face that shut her up as Celestia stepped off of her and started moving towards Twilight with a wondrous look in her eyes. “Twilight, are you, are you feeling okay?” Celestia bit her bottom lip after asking that because she couldn’t believe that Twilight was now an Alicorn like her, Luna and Cadence. “I’m feeling okay princess… actually I’m feeling better okay. Those were some of the best dreams I’ve ever had.” Obviously Twilight didn’t get the memo about her new state of existence or that she ascended while getting assaulted by a banana crazed Celestia. ”Did I mention that your bed smelled really nice?” “Twilight, I know this might hurt for me to say, but you can’t be my student anymore.” That right there was the exact thing Celestia never wanted to say to Twilight. It caused Celestia’s favorite pony to immediately wake up and her wings to spread out from the sudden panic attack. “What, was it something did?” Twilight didn’t even notice that she had wings. Chrysalis was laughing harder in the background at what was going on now; Celestia bucked her harshly in the chest making the queen start wheezing. “Sister, we are preparing for…” Luna took one look at Twilight, the shock at the sight of a new Alicorn caused her to trip down the stairs and lose grip of something in her magic. Said object flew through the air and landed on Twilight’s outstretched left wing that caused her to shriek and flap it reflexively in pain as it was burnt. “Luna, what did you just do…?” Sitting very still, Celestia’s pupils shrunk in realization at what just happened. “No, it couldn’t be that specific could it?” “I was just ironing my towels to prepare for combat, but… are you alright Twilight? I did not mean to harm you.” Luna had a need of towels and wanted them warm and fluffy for combat, how she would use those towels for combat was anyone’s guess. Twilight didn’t respond or even look at the hot iron that had struck her wing. She was emotionally hurt a second ago when Celestia said she couldn’t be her student anymore, but now she knew why Celestia had said that and understood completely. She was an Alicorn now, which was making her mind snap on a number of levels and brought about the fact that those recent dreams hadn’t necessarily been dreams either. “Hey don’t you like the irony of this situation Celestia? At least you’ll have plenty of time to make it up to her.” Having calmed down about how new alicorn came about in a hilarious manner, Chrysalis knew where Celestia’s mind actually was. Tree Hugger’s little prophecy had come to pass and thus The Hands of Midas were going to strike in full force right now. “They will strike while the iron is hot and it burns the one you love…” A blank Celestia stated slowly, Twilight really needed a distraction from the injury and her sudden panic attack at having wings now. Celestia herself was a bit distracted and needed to come up with something. Basically Celestia just admitted that she loved Twilight out loud before the entire room took a huge explosion destroying a portion of the nearby entrance and wall. They had more important things to worry about than Twilight’s sudden ascension. - “Rarity, mommy, buck it all, I can’t get through to her! Her last location was at the gala at Canterlot Castle which just took a hit and is thankfully still standing. I’m guessing this is the moment Gilda’s been waiting for all week.” Opal immediately opened a channel to Trap Bar. “The jamming devices just went active and I’m giving you a feed of what’s going on down there from my perspective. Also I hope you don’t mind, but we’re going to send our friends some back up.” - “Gilda wake up, Rarity and Greta are in the middle of a war zone and they’ve got big problems. Did you finish testing your project or at least arming the Caravel Boutique? Because it looks like we might need both right now.” Opal’s voice suddenly caused the griffon to jerk awake and groan. Gilda groggily sat up and pushed Lightning off of her and went to the nearest monitor, her current location was in one of the hangars pilot bedrooms. “Where’s the fire Kitten?” As Gilda asked this question, Lightning Dust slowly got up and followed Gilda looking more alert than the griffon was. “I’ll tell you where the fire is, right here!” The screen showed what was going on down in Canterlot and Gilda froze, several P-wing fighters were blown out of the air by what looked like Flak Missiles and then the screen panned to what fired them. Opal popped up on the screen and pointed out ten large humanoid machines slowly moved through Canterlot. “Your project can make an orbital drops right? Then get down there and help out! Wait… I actually don’t want the Caravel Boutique anywhere near that hostile airspace. Even with good shields it wouldn’t even survive two direct Flak Missiles. Your project is more likely to get through.” Flak Missiles were a thing. They counted as powerful anti-air weapons and did decently against larger ships with poor armor plating and shielding, but what they excelled at was destroying fighters. The missiles when fired while locked onto target, gets into a good enough proximity with said target and exploded into a number of smaller explosives that went off upon impact. They were like heat seeking shotgun shells in that respect. The missiles tended to overwhelm shields instantly, but weren’t good against well armored targets. Even if you shoot the missile, it will still deploy its explosives unless the entire missile is destroyed in one shot. They had an even nastier cousin called Shredder Missiles, which were basically infantry killers and good against ground targets that sent shrapnel everywhere. “Come on Lightning, let’s a get a move on!” Gilda immediately set about preparing herself and she looked to her project upon exiting the room, it was mostly finished. There was only one really key issue with it, but it wasn’t noticeable so long as nobody figured out what the problem was until Greta could help her fix it. She climbed up the ramp into her project followed by Lightning, Gilda went towards the front where she would be driving it from and Lightning climbed a small ladder to get into position positively eager for some action. “Hold on Boss Lady, because we’re coming!” The project came to life under Gilda’s quickly moving talons and started to move. “Give me a good launch position Opal, which is if you want me to get close to where I need to be if we’re to help at all.” The Shining Jewel shuddered as it begun rotating and the left door in section three of the hangar slowly opened, the project moved towards the atmosphere barrier and then shot through along the open door using it as a ramp before it shot off into space. - “I told you they were black ops, but you didn’t believe me!” Trap Bar had watched what had launched from the Shining Jewel and was already getting details on the Flak Missiles that were ripping the Wonder Bolts P-wings apart down there. “Prepare the bombers for low orbit bombardment runs, but don’t let them fly any lower. With all the Flak Missiles those machines are armed with its suicide to fly within range of Canterlot right now.” - “Here we go… orbital drop. Let’s see shields at maximum power, engine running fine and we’re coming in hot.” Gilda wanted to take baby steps in building her own fighter; as such she was never going to use the remains of the Javelin she piloted on anything and would probably build a new shell for it herself for recreational purposes. This thing she was in now was built one hundred percent out of scrap, spare parts, blood, sweating, sleepless hours and tears, it was going to see her through. “I’m switching the turrets over to automatic point defense even if it won’t help against those Flak Missiles much, I’m sure my baby can hold together long enough for us to make landfall. Just don’t shoot until we hit ground Lightning, we haven’t exactly fixed that problem yet.” “Roger that, holding fire until we get down to that mess… is it bad that I’m enjoying the fact that the Wonder Bolts are failing to keep any of their fighters in the air?” Lightning sat in her own chair where she could see the variable thrusters become active to give them a good angle. “Yes, because if those fighters fail to hold those massive machines back then you won’t be having a paycheck for much longer and you’ll just go back to being on the streets! Hitting atmosphere now, using variable thrusters to get the right angle and we’re heating up.” There was a subtle excitement building up in Gilda, she wanted to fight and she was going to get one. They made it through the upper atmosphere without trouble and were on a direct course for the city; unfortunately they weren’t unnoticed in their approach. Checking something on the panel she was sitting at Gilda noticed something. “I just found another problem; the variable thrusters are eating through fuel like your Princess Celestia goes through cakes. I guess it makes sense given how heavy this thing is, I need to watch that when we land and I’ll have a discussion with Greta over how to fix that as well.” “Do we even have enough to land this screaming metal death trap safely?” That actually had Lightning a bit worried, but mostly excited at the risks they were taking. “I’ve never landed anything perfectly anyway, this will be a first for me if I do. We’ve got plenty for maneuvering and a few hops, after that we’re stuck to base movements. Unless I can switch the variables over to consuming energy, but we both know what a bad idea that would be. Would you want to be lacking a shield in this environment?” That response from Gilda had Lightning cackling that was soon joined by the griffon, adrenaline seekers would beware these two being good friends. “If it comes to it, I like those odds.” - A magical shield had been erected over the castle by Celestia and Luna to prevent several more impacts from damaging the castle any further. The attack had started in earnest and the Thestrals were in the streets avoiding taking to the air after seeing several of the Wonder Bolts well known P-wing fighters get shot down by Flak Missiles, whether or not the pilots managed to even eject was worrying. The fight had only begun and the situation was slowly coming into focus as everyone realized what they were dealing with. The Giant machines had broken out of several buildings from the lower and middle districts to begin their slow march towards the castle. At this point even Chrysalis was clueless as to how The Hands of Midas had managed to hide their construction so well. “Those are some pretty big machines, mostly human in appearance and they have shoulder mounted missile systems, possibly creates the missiles in the barrels using limited resources in the ball shaped shoulders. Can you hit it with magic to see if I’m right about what it has for shields?”Chrysalis watched as Celestia launched a powerful beam through the hole in the wall and past the barrier protecting the castle and the shields of one of the titanic robots just flared brightly. “Right its double layered meaning regular and arcane shielding. We’ll have to brute force them down as magic isn’t going to work.” “Um excuse me, but is someone going to get this collar off of me?” Discord asked in a slightly disgruntled manner. “It really is making him rather upset.” Fluttershy couldn’t remove the collar and didn’t know how, the collar didn’t block normal magic which is why Discord could still float but chaos magic became impossible for him with it on. Even if he couldn’t help with the machines Discord could at least give these Hands of Midas chumps that aren’t protected the run around. Which is why Celestia went to assist him, he would be useful in taking out the infantry, but those machines would be more problematic to deal with. - The massive machines stomped forward at a snail’s pace and were launching missiles at any aerial interference coming at them. The Hands of Midas had some ground forces near every single one of the Colossuses; they were there to prevent any Canterlot infantry from taking the larger machines down. The Colossuses were tall, but quite thin, if sturdily built. Even so they had exceedingly strong shield generators and lasers in the palms of the giant five fingered gold painted hands and bulky shoulders that held the flak missile launchers. The shield generators were on their backs as in the form of a large box that was bigger than the spine and torso of the machines. The feet were like snow shoes, wide at the bottom and capable of keeping the machines upright without problem, but the design didn’t give them anything approaching agility like the upper torso which swiveled about and fired off missiles swiftly. As for the heads they were cylindrical and had one large glowing yellow eye. “Wait for it; now shoot for targets of opportunity!” Several Thestrals and changelings quickly popped from cover and fired bazookas at the back of one of the Titans. The rockets didn’t do much damage, but they did manage to burst through the shields and cause minimal damage. After that the Changelings and Thestrals had to get away from the Hands of Midas infantry that saw spotted them and started to give chase. Scenes like this were taking place all over Canterlot and ponies were running and screaming from buildings being knocked over or set ablaze. While the available Royal Guard, Changeling Guard and Night Guard were organizing the civilians and taking the fight to The Hands of Midas running through the city in what was quickly becoming a blood bath. The ten Colossuses had already done a lot of damage in a short amount of time just by standing up. - Even when the defense turrets blasted two more flak missiles they still released their payloads, thankfully the payloads fell short of hitting Gilda’s new pride and joy. After the explosives went off at a safe distance Gilda angled the vehicle downwards and fired off the variable thrusters to change trajectory. On top of the nosedive, the vehicle quickly seemed to spiral out of control. “What are you doing Gilda?” Not having her time to shine Lighting was getting a bit antsy at having nothing to do at the moment. “We were on course!” “I’m trying to get them to ignore us; we’re going to land a little bit higher up than Canterlot. If they think we’re a fighter, then why should we get any more missiles shot at us if we can fake going down like one? If they ignore us now, they’ll certainly regret it later.” Gilda kept her eyes on the rapidly growing landscape before her and was keep her eyes on the castle. Rarity and Greta were safe where they were for the moment, she didn’t know much about magical barriers but they would have to hold for a while. “So shut up and let me concentrate on landing this beautifully sculpted death machine! The Bombing Peregrine will definitely be put through her paces in live combat.” “Are we really going to call it that?” A snorting Lightning Dust could be heard scoffing at the name, she finally put her hooves on the controls ready to get things started. “Well, let’s put our cuddly penguin through its paces then.” The Bombing Peregrine put all its variable thrusters into slowing down its fall before it twisted effortlessly and landed a bit roughly, but it was intact at least and without any mechanical failures. Gilda let out a whoop of joy as she pushed the vehicle to charge down the mountain. Author's Note Next up Gilda's Bomber Peregrine and lot's of fighting. That's about it.
-50-“Well this isn’t nearly as bad as Ewesen, at least I don’t have to go out in that mess.” One of the things Rarity hoped would happen would be a victory for the side of keeping her alive, she was pretty sure the nobles would agree with her on that much. She watched as another explosion shook the early morning sky where the sun had yet to rise. “Yeah, but those P-wings are taking a heavy beating out there and I don’t think our side is winning at the moment.” From the ballroom Greta could see the machines towering and slowly taking steps forward while launching the Flak Missiles anytime a fighter flew into range. “Even if they are still taking hits from all those rocket launchers those large machines have yet to lose their shields, but when they do they’ll be pretty easy to take down. From what I gather they are built a bit top heavy with those shield generators on their backs; if they fall then they are certainly not getting back up. If they combined their firepower to a single point to knock them over, the guard might be able to keep them down.” “We should tell the princesses that… or maybe Queen Chrysalis as at least she’s still capable of communicating with her people and able to get the word out.” One of the bat ponies otherwise known as Luna’s Thestrals guarding the gala party flew off to do just that. “Do you think Opal is taking this well?” There was a lack of response to Rarity’s question from Greta. “Honestly, not really. She might send Gilda to help us.” Drinking some punch Greta acted as if they were talking about the weather. “If Gilda has finished whatever it is she was working on it will be useful.” - “I could remote pilot the Caravel Boutique, but Rarity would get mad at me for getting it destroyed or scratched. She worked really hard to buy it.” Opal was still on the fence about whether to send the Caravel Boutique down there. “Rarity did not appreciate being a waitress and I don’t think Gilda or Greta would appreciate having to build a way back up here. Besides Gilda is already down there and made it through the flak missiles already.” “I’m sure they’ll be okay Opal, I mean they are with the princesses and I hear the captain of the guard is a barrier expert.” Trapeze was willing to say that things would be okay, mostly because she figured out that Opal was a rather unusual being and needed a lot of reassurance. Especially after hearing what happened to the mare sleeping in medical possibly being her fault. “They have enough magic there to protect a bunch of ponies.” “Boss lady be fine, Rover thinks boss lady is tough!” The Diamond Dog was learning new tricks and that was something, Trapeze had the patience of a saint. Bernard was less saintly given he could stare Rover into the ground, the dog winced but still asked. “Now how does Rover juggle five balls again?” The Shining Jewels exercise room was being occupied by every active crew member not involved in what was happening on the planet. They were all just waiting for some good news about the survival of their other crew members. Vera couldn’t be by Sassy’s side forever and needed more social interaction than just Opal, also food, sleep and in general exercise. If she wanted everyone else onboard to hold up to a certain standard, then she had to hold herself to said standard too. - Some pony already figured out what Greta had and it was Mare-Do-Well, who wasn’t about to get shot at by the thugs staying around the feet of the machine she was closest to. She had some laundry cord and needed help to get it around the large machines legs; even then she wasn’t sure if that would work. She heard somebody land next to her and prepared for a fight, but stopped when she saw it Daring Do looking at her. “You look like you have an idea, need some help?” Daring hadn’t skipped town, because there was danger and action to be found. Plus her next book was going to be very interesting, the costumed vigilante nodded as there were no hard feelings as to what happened the other night. The two set off to planning how to bring at least one of these things down together. Which obviously would mean taking care of their supporting Hands of Midas infantry, these two were good at fighting and could do at least that much. If they could take down one of these things the situation might not look so bad with something that was heavily shielded as these things were. This brought up the question as to whether or not the cord was strong enough to not immediately be destroyed by the shields of the Colossus and hold together long enough to even trip it. The magic shield protected against all forms of magic, but the regular shield only protected against projectiles, explosions and objects moving above a certain speed. Mare-Do-Well would distract the Hands of Midas goons while Daring Do tried to trip up the Colossus they were near. The cord managed to wrap around it, but it didn’t hold and snapped from the movement of the legs. Both Mare-Do-Well and Daring Do retreated while being shot at to look for something a little bit stronger, they had just proved that if they got a strong enough wire that it could possibly trip one up. - “Shining, Cadence, power the barrier, Chrysalis please tell me you have something going on out there?” Sure Celestia might have gotten bit violent with her, but Chrysalis was up and standing like it never happened. Having fur covered chitin and a light weight skeleton with an absurdly high tensile strength certainly prevented Chrysalis from being seriously injured, didn’t mean she couldn’t be hurt and regular Changelings didn’t have nearly the same sturdy biological construction of a queens body. “Working on it, you have no idea how hard it is to coordinate your forces, my forces and Luna’s forces by myself.” With her eyes closed Chrysalis was sending messages around the city through her changelings, there were so many orders to give and it was actually challenging her. She was so glad she had her people stockpile explosives, now if only she had stockpiled something that could rip through energy shields or even just knock those top heavy things down. Discord was free and seen teleporting about toying with Hands of Midas infantry. Thanks to the combined efforts of the defenders of Canterlot, they were now taking down the infantry quickly even if they had yet to take down a single Colossus. “It’s actually a bit of a challenge for my coordination skills. Looking left, blue, porpoise and upside down is a bit of a headache though.” Whoever planned this attack had a pretty good idea of what they were dealing with. They had kept Changelings from infiltrating them, but they didn’t stop Changelings from being useful now. Among the things they had prepared for the communications blackout could have been worse for Luna and Celestia, which explained why they wanted to take Chrysalis out by attacking her at the gala among trying to possibly achieve other agendas. It could have been worse had Chrysalis not been relaying information around through Changelings as a communications conduit for all of it, she was rather immobile while she was giving rapid fire orders to every single Changeling out there. They had certainly prepared for Discord, which was saying something about their preparations. Only the colossal machines were immune to Discord and those were the main threat here as they were putting up a major offensive against everything that attacked them. Whoever was the mastermind behind this was doing pretty well at putting the fear of themselves into everyone in the room by how well they planned this, so simply put Chrysalis was a little jealous that it wasn’t her causing said fear. “Can anyone think of a way through those shields?” Switching the tactics of her people she decided that the infantry were to be dealt with immediately before they can even begin dealing with the Colossus problem, she was giving orders to all Changelings to go for the unshielded people and to throw dirt in their eyes if they felt like it. “Our guys are having a lot of trouble getting through them, even if there’s no trouble with hitting them. Ones already made it here and it’s about to hit the barrier, I suggest everyone who knows how should brace it.” Celestia, Luna, along with their recently arrived niece Cadence and captain of the guard Shining Armor all lit their horns in unison as a giant palm pointed towards the barrier and let loose a beam of raw energy into it. The barrier held, but it probably wouldn’t hold under a concerted effort of three or more humanoid machines and it wouldn’t be long before a second and third started attacking the barrier around Canterlot Castle. In the corner away from everyone else was Twilight covering her head with her hooves and whimpering about her sudden ascension to princess, she was missing the battle that had begun around her. Right next to her were Spike and Moon Dancer trying to speak calming words. “Luna please stay here to watch the barrier, I’ll go get the elements of harmony!” Celestia left flying for the vault where she stashed the six elements that three ponies held, even if they couldn’t be used offensively to stop the colossal incursion then they would use them defensively. Twilight just became an Alicorn; as such Celestia wouldn’t risk losing her now on what was supposed to be a joyous occasion. - “Entering combat area, Lightning wake up and get ready to start shooting. Fire when you think you have a good shot, because I’m going to be driving like a maniac and hope we don’t get hit when you do.” It also just occurred to Gilda that they might be shot at by friendly people if they didn’t make their presence known as helpful against the colossal machine. “Be aware that we might have friendly targets in the area that could accidentally mistake us for hostile.” “Stop worrying Big G, I’m not going to hit any civilians… though I might shoot at a Wonder Bolt on the principle of the matter.” Not that Lightning Dust would ever intentionally hit them, well not at the moment anyway. There was no mistake Lightning was quite hostile, but it did feel good to be the brains behind a gun again. “Alright let’s get this penguin rolling, one of those things is already attacking the castle and our paycheck is in there!” “It hasn’t noticed us yet. I sometimes wonder why the ponies can’t get funding for their military to have a heavy weapons division.” Gilda put her talons on the controls and tightened her grip, she then place right lions paw over the accelerator. “Then I realize how little they needed them up to this point, let’s knock this guy down.” - Rarity and Greta were within the barrier, but were just outside the gala room watching the large machine attack. It wasn’t like there were any better places they could go or be, given that going deeper in the castle meant that it could be collapsed on top of them if the barrier faltered anyway. They watched as the machine twisted its upper torso to the left before quickly turning to the right and thrusting out its left fist, the barrier was struck forcefully. It knocked the machine off balance when the barrier successfully held up to the impact its upper torso leaned backwards moderately. At that moment a ball of vibrant blue energy dropped into its chest and exploded violently causing its shields to fail for a second where a smaller sphere of energy followed that and ripped into it. It was knocked further backwards and started teetering a bit; the small shot almost toppled it. A rocket was fired by a Royal Guard from the castles roof and that was what finished the now falling machine that toppled over. The machine slammed into the ground violently and its shoulders ruptured setting off the explosive held in them blowing off both its arms and its legs were bent entirely out of shape. Its legs became rather twisted; the resulting wreckage looked like a pretzel put through a wood chipper. “Where did that shot come from?” Looking about Rarity didn’t see any weapons that could create an energy blast that powerful. In fact the P-wings were doing the most damage despite being shot down near constantly. P-wings or Pegasus designed fighters were made to be used by any race of pony; they looked like P’s from the side and were dart like fighters that moved through the air swiftly while in atmospheric conditions thanks rounded wings at the back. They lacked proper shielding, but made up for it in maneuverability that led them to being excellent interceptor class fighters which meant they were exceptionally good against other fighters. They clearly weren’t made to fight giant robots, though they could be armed with heavier munitions in a pinch. “That looked like… I guess Gilda is here. What did she make though? She sent me some schematics earlier, but I didn’t think she could build it that quickly! Unless she was in the middle of working on it when she sent me the data she wanted me to look at.” Taking to the air and flying high enough under the barrier to get a good look at what had shot the machine; she saw it and landed next to Rarity pointing straight for it as it drove around. “There it is Rarity; I think that’s what Gilda has been working on… and by the looks of it she had been at it all week.” “She built a tank… in less than a week… she built a tank! When are we ever going to need a tank? Well I mean aside from now that is, I mean really now… a tank!?” The tank Rarity had pointed out to her had a wingless griffon style motif going for it, looked like to be part armored personnel carrier. “What reason could she have had to even see a need to build something like this?” “I wouldn’t know the reason, as I actually expected her to build a walker, it does seem pretty fitting for Gilda. It looks like it has variable capability, though the fuel consumption for that thing must suck. I hope she wasn’t stupid enough to make the variables capable of making a conversion from fuel to energy with them.” Greta watched as the tank fired a moderate size ball of energy and it blew a hole in the downed machine sending parts of it scattering everywhere. Her eyes narrowed at the tank after watching it fire, anyone who saw what she had would know the tank had a problem. “That idiot, how could she get the wires crossed on the tank and not know what the problem is to fix it!” “What’s the matter Greta dear? The tank looks perfectly capable, well in as far as it’s not an equestrian party tank and thank goodness that it is not.” Why Rarity would practically cringe if Gilda built a party tank, party tanks existed in Equestria and they weren’t useful for combat aside from having a thick shell. It was an unfortunate problem that Equestria doesn’t have an armored division, but Rarity certainly did as of right now even if it was relegated to one tank. That was more than Celestia or Luna could say they’ve ever had, then again they were about air superiority. The Bombing Peregrine had one large energy cannon on it and two small turrets at the side. The most interesting feature was how fast it was moving despite its size. It was four wheeled and those wheels were as armored as the rest of the tank, covered protectively with what looked to be stylized griffon talons and lion paws at the front and back. It rolled up to the castle and came to a stop outside the barrier. “Hey boss lady you still in there, the Kitten is flipping out up there and worried about you. You’d think she’d be more worried about me making an orbital drop in a tank.” The tank couldn’t move closer, but Gilda’s voice was heard clearly and she sounded oddly jealous of the attention Rarity received from Opal. “Oh and Greta, if you’re here and can hear this… I actually managed to land this thing perfectly. You know that’s a first for me, I must be getting better!” “Who are you and to whom is this boss lady you speak of? Identify yourself!” If Luna could speak louder she would, but she would rather not cause deafness in the ponies nearest to her as she walked out. Hearing this made Rarity and Greta go running towards her to prevent an incident. “This is Gilda G. Gottfrieda. Tell the princess to let us through if you’re in there Rarity.” The loudspeaker was a nice touch on the tank, even if it wasn’t very useful in space. She put a lot of time and effort into it, the cup holders were a bit excessive as was the water cooler that delivered fresh water via water condenser and the microwave could be run off the tanks energy source. Gilda went for convenience and had plenty of spare parts to add said conveniences, now if only she could install a small refrigerator she’d be in business for a comfortable combat machine. “Please let her through Princess Luna, she works for me though I’m particularly shocked at the moment by what she’s recently been up to.” Rarity came up to the gathered royals and Luna nodded, the barrier parted slightly creating a hole large enough for the tank to swiftly roll on through and up to them before closing up once more. “Nice to see you’re alright boss lady!” The tank with the griffon face design on the front swiftly spun around creating tracks wherever it moved and the rear end of the vehicle opened up by the vacuum sealed door unlocking and dropping down to form a ramp. Gilda walked down the ramp a second later with an amused smirk. “So, how do you like The Bombing Peregrine?” “Still think it’s more of a Plucky Penguin.” Lightning could be faintly heard mumbling from inside the tank and moving the turret to track the distant Colossuses closing in. “She’s beautiful for the most part, but the part where the shields drop when you fire the main gun is kind of a huge sticking point and a design flaw.” Tanks were not a specialty of Greta’s, but they weren’t Gilda’s either and she built a working one with a chargeable energy cannon that was obviously quite powerful. However shooting said cannon dropped the shields immediately upon every single shot it fired, whether it was a charged up shot or not. “Also please tell me you can’t switch the variables over to energy propulsion because that would be plainly idiotic on top of the shielding system you have going on right now. Not to mention there would be other problems with using energy based propulsion systems on a tank that is not necessarily made for aerial maneuvers is also bad. The fact that you’ve even managed to land this thing is a miracle, I will however say that I missed you Gilda.” “I can’t say I share the same sentiment, but I can see where you’re coming from Greta. There’s a reason I haven’t removed the design flaw yet and I don’t think we have the time to do so at the moment or explain why the flaw even exists in the first place.” She looked into the city and saw the nine machines still slowly plodding along through the city and two were getting closer by the minute. “You know, since we’ve got more pressing matters and my tank seems to be the only thing that can put a hole in their shields, even if temporarily at that with a full charge. I suggest we discuss this matter later.” “Yes, let us focus more on the more danger at hoof!” Interjected a slightly annoyed Luna, what was annoying her was that she didn’t get a chance to finish ironing her towels so she could use them and she was stuck defending the castle until Celestia got back with the elements. “Danger that requires the power of rubber ducks and towels to defeat, that is the true weakness of giant robots! We would use banana peels, but Celestia says that I am still not allowed to eat bananas after what happened last time a thousand years ago. That was the night I became Nightmare Moon… I really shouldn’t have eaten that entire bushel in one go.” “Hold that thought for one second if you will you Princess Luna… YOU BUILT A TANK IN LESS THAN A WEEK!” Rarity’s eruption caused everyone to slowly reel back. Whether it was in shock from the news that Gilda had apparently built the tank in less than a week or that Rarity was telling Luna to ignore the dangerous machines still making their way towards the castle. There were still nine of them standing after all. “Yes, built, tested and… well haven’t actually entirely put it through its paces yet, but at least the cannon didn’t violently explode when it was fired so that’s good. We are going to do the paces now after having survived a rather hectic orbital drop. Those eight flak missiles were more than I ever wanted shot at me for one lifetime.” The bland tone Gilda used became a bit sardonic. Flak missiles were even more dangerous in space because the explosives they released were harder to dodge. “So if you could speed it up on what you want and stop freaking out over the tank, I would like to get to business and get out there to blow the other nine threats apart. Maybe convince the princess to have us seen as allies and not be shot at by the people we’re trying to help?” “Yes, well, it is just simply amazing what you do with your time darling. What’s your secret?” Rarity didn’t think she could be more impressed given the tank was aesthetically pleasing as it was functional in its powerful energy cannon that wasn’t very long. “Coffee, lot’s of it. Oh and sleep deprivation, can’t forget that. Now if you will excuse me, can you tell your people to not shoot at us while we’re helping them? Good thanks!” Gilda didn’t even wait for a reply and ran off back into the tank and barely closed up the rear ramp before driving off towards the barrier at full speed. Luna shook her head and turned back to the castle to tell Chrysalis that they had the assistance of the Shining Jewel estate; the tank was going to be pretty helpful. In the distance the seventh Colossus toppled into the streets of Canterlot and exploded. - “Yeah, we did it, we got one!” It was rather incredible, the fire haired Spitfire Flare was joyous in the victory over at least one of those things. After summarily having her P-wing shot out from under her, she found two noted heroes and took to working with them in bringing at least one Colossus down. It was a rough effort of three mares distracting the machine from catching them in its hands or being shot by blasts of powerful energy from said hands. Mare-Do-Well looked at the wired that was melted by the explosion and shook her head, now they needed to get another one before they could go after another giant and that was a big problem. “Don’t celebrate yet, even Mare-Do-Well can see we just lost the wire we used to just bring down one of them. We need more!” A nearby building was destroyed and as one of the robots smashed it out of the way, Daring Do didn’t like the damage being done to the city nor did she like the fact that civilians were still trying to get to shelter. “Right, Changeling, we need a Changeling here, we have information to relay to all other units in combat!” Even having been forced to eject Spitfire didn’t cower or quite even in insurmountable odds. “Here… over here, help me!” A voice shouted out from among the rubble immediately. They found a Changeling with one wing missing and his body shot to hell and full of holes, well more holes than an average Changeling tended to have and those orifices weren’t usually used for recreational purposes. Half of one of his rear legs was missing, likely vaporized by a Colossus’s palm blaster, but he was still alive and had been brought down after being shot multiple times. “You’re going to be a hero, what’s your name soldier?” Spitfire started to pull back the rubble and was quickly aided by Mare-Do-Well and Daring Do. The Changeling was found lying near a lot of dead bodies of various races, he had apparently survived this long even if he was slowly losing the light in his eyes. “Private Privates… Captain Spitfire.” Private Privates wasn’t even the worst Changeling name Spitfire had ever heard. “Am I… going to make it ma’am?” “You have three heroes with you, what do you think solder?!” The livid Spitfire got into his face to declare proudly and boastfully. This Changeling certainly gave a part of one of his limb for the cause; she was going to go to hell and back to stop his life from meeting the same fate. She would exaggerate a little to give him the confidence needed to keep breathing. “Live or so help me I will become a necromancer and raise you from the dead to make your life a living nightmare you maggot, do you hear me?! Now listen to the message I want you to deliver!” “Yes ma’am… if I must say you sounded almost like the queen for a second there.” All Changelings knew of Chrysalis’s motivational speeches and seminars on how to torture someone in cruel and awesome ways, some light came back into his eyes as he was helped up. “She would have threatened to also use a blender on top of that ma’am!” - “Damn it all, how can we be losing? Someone get Discord collared again and stop them from taking out our support units, the mighty Hands of Midas will not go down without a fight!” The shadowy figure glared at all the peons running around and continued to push the Colossus to move forward faster, they might have had a few flaws but they were built to survive heavy punishment and they had just about effectively shot down ever P-wing Canterlot had. “We cannot falter now; we must show them how the hands of gold will touch them all! We must take down the corrupt nobles and we must take control of the princesses, the hands shall rule with an iron fists!” The colossus clenched its left fist before punch opening it and blasting several running earth ponies that dropped their rocket launchers to evade the deadly beam. The Hands of Midas were losing infantry fast and the shadowy figure wasn’t happy that things weren’t going entirely to plan given they figure that twenty four soldiers could have at least handled Chrysalis, but the ‘Colossuses of Roads’ were performing as expected and quite admirably at that only two had been taken down so far. The eight that were left were pulverizing builds and pushing through hundreds of explosions threatening to take them down. “Once this all over with, I can finally achieve my dreams.” The figure pushed forward, knowing that what they were doing was horrible. The figure made their ultimate decision to press forward in spite of an unsure future. “I know I might die today, but we can be together when you eventually die too… I’m sorry for all of this Bonny, but this needed to be done after what they did!” The Colossus continued marching forward under extreme amounts of fire causing a slew of death, pain and suffering. The reason behind the assault was still shrouded in shadows; there was a future that was looking entirely bleak for the leader piloting their own personal Colossus. The shadowy figure hoped to at least achieve the death of various certain parties and they were determined to continue the fight even if their machine went down, even if their body was broken by the end of it. The leader of the Hands of Midas would have their revenge! Author's Note Pretty big hint as to who the leader is, you would probably figure it out after reading a particular sentence this chapter. I didn't exactly check my writing this time... oh well. Yes, Gilda built a tank, but it's not a normal tank either as there is a whole lot 'more than meets the eye' to it.
-51-“Information is coming in… yes, that’ll definitely help tell them they have given us a good leg up on those machine Mr. Privates. Thank them for me if you will, now to spread the word.” Chrysalis just stood where she was in the greeting room or foyer commanding the forces personally. “Everyone, they are not immune to sticky bombs or strong wires, I repeat break out the magnetized explosive! Sure the shields may eat up a lot of the explosion, but they will start taking lots of damage and if you can knock them over then it is that much better.” “Tell them to watch for the tank with a griffon designs on it as well while you are at it.” Luna trotted up to Chrysalis who looked to be having a good time commanding all three forces. “They are allies and they can help knock over the machines, how has dealing with the fodder been going?” “Not much fodder left to shoot at, they were running low on everything and our forces are still doing moderately well. Lots of severe injuries, casualties and the like, but we’re coming out of this a lot better than they are.” Chrysalis disconnected for a second to give herself some time to rest. “Now all we have to do is take down the eight walkers and we have a victory, no civilian casualties so far but there are a lot of injuries being reported in and I’m having them flown out of the area. A lot businesses are going to be needing monetary help soon, given they’ve knocked down a few business districts as well as quite a few homes, some even seem to be focused on ripping apart noble houses. I’ve already sent changelings to pull the maids and servants out of there.” “I’m surprised that you can actually care about ponies.” Not that Luna had any problems with it. “Oh I don’t care that much really; well except for finding someone who will actually sleep with me that is up to meeting my standards. It’s just a really good political move to be seen as a good friend to ponies so that they can’t blame me for anything I could do later.” Chrysalis could think faster than most ponies gave her credit for, she didn’t need a hive mind when she already had a brilliant mind to begin with. The ability to connect to almost all Changelings at once was just a bonus of being a queen. Normal Changelings, like Chrysalis had once been, had a limited range on how far they could connect to other Changelings and each had a limit on how many they could connect to at once. “Since I’m leaving the planet soon, I figured I need some really good PR to make sure that the nobles don’t try anything as soon as I leave. I also have several contingencies in place in case they try to do something anyway; all of them are well within the law. I’ll have Thorax talk to you about that and even show you the plans to take over Equestria legally while still technically under your rule. It’s quite devious I assure you.” “Yes, I’m quite sure that you will ruin them within the rules of our laws… again.” Luna would still consider Chrysalis a friend, if a very unusual callous one who made for a great politician of the vilest sort. “Of that I can certainly have no doubt. Though I’m surprised you’re willing to leave us ultimately in power.” “What can I say, you’re my best friends and you grew on me.” Blushing Chrysalis looked away from Luna and reconnected with her Changelings. - The Bombing Peregrine skidded around the corner and rolled forward at an impressive speed and made its way towards the Colossus. It came to a stop and Lightning in the seat behind the cannon angled it upwards and fire two shots, the first charged blast caused the large machine to lose its shield for a few seconds before it lost its left arm to the smaller following shot causing it to stumble backwards a bit. The machine raised it’s right arm to fired a beam directly at the tank as it’s shield popped back to the life, the tank leapt into the air hovered sideways out of the way of the blast. The tank charged and fired to more rapid shots that directly impacted into the chest which was followed up by several rockets being fired by the friendly ground forces, the machine slowly started to lose its balance as one of its legs left the ground. It was peppered with a ton of smaller shots and rockets until it collapsed onto its back and the shield genitor and other shoulder ruptured causing it to be taken out of the fight. There were seven titans left. “Right, we’re moving on to the next target. Don’t shoot; I’m taking us into the air to scope it out.” The tank leapt up into the air and swerved so that it could get bead on the next target while avoiding the massive beam aimed at it, it quickly landed in the streets and landed going full throttle. “Got the next target Lightning, let us go get it! It’s going to be on our right.” “Roger that, but what I don’t understand is why our cannon is ripping apart their shields when everything else isn’t Big G.” The tank shot down the street and Lightning swift turned the short cannon to the right and saw the next target they were coming up on. It wouldn’t be able to reach the castle they came into the open and the machined aimed both its palms their way. “Gilda punch it, they’re targeting us!” The tank shot forward using all the variable thrusters to speed up its movement and barely avoiding the second beam scorching the shields at the rear of the tank before it fired off two shots, the damage of the second smaller spherical energy shot didn’t hit anything nearly as important this time. “It’s why we can’t have the shields active ourselves when you shoot, the cannon is engineered to fire both raw energy along ionized particle pulses which is why the shots looks like they do. That’s why it is giving off that odd blue glow despite the main portion of the shot being orange.” The tank had swerved to the right down the street and took another right to get behind the Colossus which had lost sight of them. “In essence the cannon you are wielding is made to disrupt energy fields alongside doing a lot of damage. This unfortunately includes losing our shields whenever it is fired; the pulse is why it even follows a gravity curvature. Just be thankful that I at least engineer our shields to come back up relatively quickly.” “Right, I didn’t even understand half of that except gun makes shields go away!” Lightning released and pulled the trigger twice, putting both rounds into the shield generator on the things back, the upper torso quickly spun around and fired with its left hand. The blast rocked the front half of the tank as it turned away to get out of range of the attack. “Darn it we’ve been hit, what’s the damage?” “It didn’t hit anything important; we just lost the use of the microwave… remind me to install a microwave laser option into the cannon later.” Gilda sent the tank rolling away as a second beam chased them down the road and she made the Tank drift around a corner avoiding another hit. “Those things are actually pretty powerful, but their design leaves something to be desired.” “Yeah, but we just totaled the shield generator on it, so it should be going down soon.” Looking through the cannon and aiming in the direction of the Colossus, they came out on a street to the right of its upper torso. Only now it was warped into a giant flower holding a basket of Hands of Midas soldiers, Lightning shuddered as she saw Discord playing with them. “Right where’s our next target? Those guys are Discords territory now and I don’t want to go anywhere near them or him! I’ve met him once and I don’t want to be reminded of that incident.” “Right, I’ll announce it out loud that without the shield generators they have no arcane protection.” The tank flew up and off into the air searching for its next target, it avoided taking a flak missile with a well timed mid air roll that burned through more fuel. “Damn it, shouldn’t they have run out of those by now! Our variable jets are halfway out of fuel; I’m going to take Greta’s words that we should switch over to energy to utilize them. Our smaller turrets aren’t going to be very useful against those things, if you were wondering why I deactivated them and we almost took a flak missile to the face.” - “That’s four down, two confirmed kills for Gilda and her tank at the least and one flower monster that is picking Hands of Midas people. Six left… no make that five.” Greta just saw one of the machines step forward, lurched, then fall onto its face creating a large explosion. They were watching it from the freshly fixed ballroom windows. “It looks like things are going good out there, though there aren’t many P-wings left in the air and they aren’t doing so hot. I can count that many on my talons at the least.” “Well it’s good to know that things are well handled, it seems the Royal Guard isn’t entirely hopeless in a close up fight after all, well at least not while they have assistance of the Night Guard and the Changelings.” Rarity was snacking on a crackers slathered in cheese, she also enjoyed some punch and smiled. “Yeah now if only someone could get rid of those jamming devices, then we could contact Opal to let her know you’re doing fine.” Greta felt a little awkward to just be standing around and eating while Gilda was out there in the middle of danger, but it did look like she was enjoying herself considering another machine went down to huge blast of energy. She smiled and put her mind to a different avenue of thought. “I wonder, are those energy blasts loaded with ionized particles? Well that would certainly explain the problem with the shields. I could probably modify the shields themselves to stay up during the firing process; it’s quite a technical issue to work on later. Well, if our tank survives more than a few direct hits.” “Quite right, I feel kind of awful just sitting here on the sidelines, but what can we do?” Rarity shrugged as she was considering their options, nope there weren’t any options to consider aside from staying put and safe where they were. “Excuse me Lady Belle, but did I hear you right?” Fancy Pants made his way over to them, he had nothing better to do as he already done his rounds and he found Rarity and Greta sitting together watching the ‘fireworks’ in the distance so to speak. “That the tank that recently left here was yours personally?” “Oh hello there Lord Pants, I would like to thank you for your advice earlier. Also yes that tank is a recent addition to the Shining Jewel estate, orbital drop capable considering how it got here so fast. My people have a certain protective streak it would seem.” At least a few good things came of this night, she wasn’t able to find a social circle or a nice stallion for herself that she was willing to spend a lot of time with, but she at least made a few friends. “I may be in the fashion industry as a business, but I do have people that like to innovate outside what is normal and one of them just happened to build that tank… in less than a week. It was this very week no less, which is as much a surprise to me as it will be to anyone who hears it.” “Quite surprising indeed, I was wondering where that came from as Equestria’s military has been sadly lacking. For quite a long time really, it’s even surprising to see that they are still putting up a fight out there and it is quite embarrassing how we were caught off guard like this.” Fancy was just making idle conversation while waiting for Fleur as he watched another Colossus fall, there were now four. Three of which were close to one another and one that was too far away and isolated, he supposed that one was the next to fall. “Sure we have a monopoly on space combat and fighter production, but on the ground we’re quite behind as far as our protective forces are concerned. I would think to petition Celestia for increasing our forces, aside from the samurai.” “Speaking of samurai, where are all the samurai that are still in the city? I mean they can’t be possibly be missing all this right?” At Greta’s question the isolated machine suddenly lost its arms as they fell off, then the legs started to fall into pieces. It started to fall entirely apart when several small equine figures in the morning light leapt towards it; with only the flash of their glowing blades to let everyone know that they were there. “Oh, well, ask a silly question.” Celestia was raising the sun and with it came the samurai, who had been busy escorting ponies to shelter and they were rightfully pissed off enough to slice a single Colossus apart even if the arcane shields blunted most of the magic put into their attacks, it didn’t stop the rest of the force behind them. “I believe it is time to talk business, I would like to commission a dress… of course now might not be the best time to talk about it.” Snorting as she made her way over to them, Fleur saw the first rays of light shining down upon the last three machines. - “Damn it! The samurai just became active, if we’re going down then we’re going down fighting!” The madness of the leader of The Hand of Midas was not going to end until her Colossus was totaled, the three of them still had forces on the ground and they were doing the best out of everyone else. All the other Colossus units and requisite infantry had been taken down. “All units aim at the castle and fire!” All three of the machines raised their palms together and fired six beams at the castle only for a magical glow to overtake it and protect the castle from damage entirely. The elements of harmony were in effect and were effectively making an impenetrable barrier. - Celestia, Luna and Twilight were floating and the castle the barrier had grown that much stronger with the three friends working together to keep the castle standing. Their eyes glowed with white light and Celestia had taken the opportunity to set the sun in the right position while all this power was coursing through her. “Canterlot will not fall this day, let us heal all of our little ponies who have been injured by the fighting. What say you two?” The two other mares turned to Celestia, Luna nodded and Twilight looked a little out of it but she was there with them in spirit. “I agree, we shall help our people stay strong.” Luna closed her eyes and felt the power coursing through her, it had been a while since she felt this good, it felt right to be excessively generous with the power they had. To keep it for their selves was a bad idea anyway; it had to be used for the sake of harmony once activated. “I’m sure Twilight does too. Though she feels she does not deserve her ascension to Alicorn, we wholeheartedly welcome her as one of us!” The castle erupted in a shockwave, while the rebuilding would take some time and the city couldn’t magically be fixed. The causalities wouldn’t be as bad when those fighting were being helped by whatever magic the three holders of the harmony elements could give them. They kept the power from turning Discord to stone again, because he was actually doing a good job at being chaotically helpful. Cadence and Shining were in charge of keeping the barrier standing after the three other princesses, slowly lost consciousness from using so much power. - “That felt strange… yet comforting even. Was that the power of Generosity? ” Rarity felt the wave of energy flow through her and her stitched up wounds stopped aching. She still had to get the stitches removed, but otherwise she felt several levels better than she had a few seconds ago. - “Holy crap is this what undying loyalty to the princesses feel like?” The still slightly malnourished Lightning sat up straighter in her seat and her eyes narrowed as they drove closer to the three remaining Colossuses. “Get your head in the game Lightning; we’re closing in on the remaining targets. The center one seems to be the leader.” Gilda was on a direct path for the middle one and she wanted to do something glorious again, the trouble at Ewesen had not been nearly enough to sate her appetite for violence and incredible odds. “So we’re going to be responsible for that one! Whoa, it seems like they still have some fighters on the ground and they have rocket launchers.” The tank swerved around several rockets fired by a few Hands of Midas goons, before going down a different street. The tank was a bit big for the still standing buildings it fled between, but it worked out well enough. However coming back out onto the street on the other side, the tank was picked up in the grip of the machine and squeezed. The tank strained against the pressure the hand was putting on it. “Damn it they got us, what do you we do Big G. If I shoot then we’re going get hurt at this range if anything explodes.” Lightning was quite right, firing would not only drop their shields, but at this range if the Colossus were to explode while holding them it would be a bad thing. “Also if they fire the palm beam thing at us now, we’re going to get fried if the shields don’t hold!” “Hold on, I’ll think of something!” There were options to consider, Gilda never thought one of these giant metal slowpokes could even catch her tank like this one just did or even pick it up off the ground. “Might have to use that option… what the… prepare to fire a shot Lightning.” “Why, do you have some kind of amazing plan? The cannon is beginning to get a little uncomfortable up here Big G and I get crushed how well do you think you’re going to do seconds after?” There was a groaning creak and Lightning looked around herself warily. “Just charge a shot, we’re about to get some help.” Gilda looked down at the palm of the machine as it lit up and prepared to fire, she looked up to the sky. “Hope she has a good sense of timing on this, because I would know those colors anywhere.” - “This is reservists Rainbow Dash coming in hot; hope you giant metal mother buckers like the taste of missiles!” When the number of Colossuses causing problems started dropping Trap Bar ordered a full launch of all fighters, including the reservists in training. One of which was Rainbow Freaking Dash who immediately took off with her wing mates towards the planet ahead of everyone else, in her rainbow colored fighter. The three fighters boosted straight through a series of exploding flak missiles and launched several missiles personally that tore into an arm, a leg and impacted the middle torso of the machine holding Gilda’s tank. Thankfully the arm that was hit was the one holding the tank which caused it to drop towards the ground as a beam, flashed out into the airspace with the three fighters dodging around. “Yeah, you drop that… tank? Since when did we have combat tanks Wedge? I mean it’s totally awesome and everything, but nobody told me about that.” The tank blasted the machine as it fell from the hand. The griffon motif was a nice touch to Rainbow as it reminded her of someone she liked and it quickly rolled away and out of sight while being blasted at by more beams. “I don’t know, but we’re getting confirmation that’s it’s an ally. The Changelings and our ground forces are finally dealing with the jamming devices as we speak.” The three fighters swerved around to the leftwards Colossus and unleashed another round of missiles, this time they had an impact as several explosions ripped across the surface thanks to the explosives placed on it by Mare-Do-Well, Spitfire and Daring Do. The results were that the machine slowly started to lose the ability to stand upright. “How are you doing Large, you took a nasty hit there.” “I can still fly, shields are a bit down, but I’m good for it as long as I’m not directly hit by flak missile.” The three fighters swerved in a slow arc around to shooting at the Colossus on the far left. The ship to the right of Rainbow’s wing wiggled slightly. “Let’s distract them from attacking our ground teams and give them something to really shoot at!” “I hear that! Round three right into its back guys!” All three fighters launched missiles and they actually managed to destroy the shield generator on the Colossus, which was soon to be destroyed by various rockets impacting it from all sides from various forces of Changeling, Thestral and Royal Guard. “I’m so sad that we were late to this party, I’m usually faster than this!” Rainbow Dash gave a whoop of joy as she brought her two friends into a barrel roll while performing an aileron spin to avoid several crossing beams from the three Colossuses. - On the ground Gilda have moved the tank out of the way to prepare for something a little special. She hadn’t exactly told Lightning about this little feature yet, but it would help fix the minor problems caused by the sudden squeeze the tank went through. It’s why she named a tank The Bombing Peregrine. It was fast, it was light and the tank had the unique feature of being able to switch its weapons around a bit. “You sure it’s not working?” Gilda just asked for clarification as she flipped several switches to prepare the tank for conversion. “Of course it’s not working; it’s been bent out of shape!” Lightning yelled back. “Well be prepared to be amazed as I give you a different weapon to work with, I hope this feature works as well as I hope it does. Or else I actually will rename this tank to the Cuddly Penguin. We’re switching over to Peregrine mode and I hope we both can handle the speeds this thing will be moving at when I do.” The tank shifted a bit as the some of the armor peeled away from the solid metal wheels that shifted upwards and the claws that covered the front of the wheels suddenly became part of the legs that were now forming, the flat face at the front of the tank became far more pronounced. Balancing on its front two legs the entire tank stretched out and turned into a lion like machine standing on four legs when the rear two finally started forming with the tough metal wheels acting joints. It didn’t have a tail, but it didn’t exactly need one. “What in the world, when in the hell was this tank capable of being a walker?” Lightning said as her round turret spun one hundred and eighty degrees by itself and then her chair did the same as two long beam cannons popped out, she was now part of the butt end of the tank and at the front two large bars of variable thrusters popped up out of the back after having stretched in to its new form. “Oh always… but there’s a few key differences, this mode doesn’t have a shield system as it redirects all the energy to the cannons which might I add are not test, also it flies better than the bomber mode. I tested that personally whenever you went to sleep by flying it around The Shining Jewel, only Opal is aware that it can do this. It can’t fly forever but as dive bombing walker? It works pretty well, just don’t hit the variable covered wings.” Gilda smirk as she turned the machine around, she was going to test out the melee function of this thing. “I hope Greta’s heat sinks can handle what I’m about to do to the claws.” - “Oh my goodness she’s actually using it, that is so awesome, go Gilda go!” Opal started waving little flags around on screen the crew was watching and they both had Gilda’s face imprinted on them. The rest of the crew was watching the tank gallop from around the corner and leapt at the Colossus while firing two brilliant beams of green before slamming into almost causing it to topple. The machine climbed its way up one of the legs and then clawed its way up the back, before preparing one of its claws to swipe the machines neck. The claws started glowing white hot before it slashed the head right off the machine. “I don’t think Lion Heart can beat something that’s real like that!” Opal would continue her joyous tirade, but the crew didn’t mind they were celebrating with her. - “Yes, the melt claws held together, score one for griffon ingenuity! I could even kiss Greta for that.” Gilda barked out with laughter as she rode the toppling machine to the ground before launching off at the last moment to fly skywards on the two bar like wings loaded with variable thrusters and once she flew high enough to avoid getting struck in butt with the flak missiles she turned it towards the remaining Colossus which was firing flak missiles frantically. “This is going to use all the fuel we have left. It is still so worth it to show you, that this is why I call it The Bombing Peregrine!” - “No, no, no, no this can’t be happening!” The leader of the Hands of Midas was frantically trying to take whatever the hell that armored monstrosity was out and it was effectively flying higher out of the path of the missiles avoiding the explosives they released. Once it was done being chased by the missiles, it turned back towards and started into a dive right on top of her with its front two talons like claws glowing brightly. The Colossus was shot several times by the twin beam cannons before it got rammed claws first by the diving griffon faced machine. The shields held up to the cannons, but they were overpowered by the claws were about to strike the Colossus, Lyra hit something to record herself. “I’m sorry Bonny, I couldn’t… I couldn’t get revenge for what they did to you. Your beloved lyre player, who was admittedly overly obsessed with hands, isn’t going to succeed in this endeavor no matter how many hands she thought she could throw at the problem. Maybe I, Lyra Heartstrings, can join you in your coma that ‘THEY’ caused? Just know that I will always love you Bon-bon Drops no matter what happens to me. Please... just wake up, even if I’m not going to be there to be the smiling face for you.” The last Colossus was toppled by a diving griffon face transforming tank, which ripped a hole into it. The Bombing Peregrine was the first of many things Gilda G. Gottfrieda would come up with and it wouldn’t be the last. It wasn’t a fighter or a real flying vehicle thanks to its ridiculous fuel consumption, but when she got around to building a fighter… it was definitely going beat her transforming tank in so many ways. - “Wow, so that’s why it was in dire need of heat sinks. Well aside from the cannon needing to use the heat sinks anyway.” Greta was quite impressed, Gilda may have needed her help on some more technical issues but what the tank was capable of was just plain nuts. “I certainly got what I paid for when I hired you and Gilda, then gave you the rights to Han Gar.” Was all Rarity could say as she sat there wide eyed, both Fancy and Fleur next to her were wide eyed as well. “Last night might have been a horrible affair into the world of nobles, but I feel like today is going to be a lot better. Well aside from doing a lot of volunteer work to help clean up this mess.” Author's Note Well that happened, what can I come up with next? More dark stuff that's for sure, but I still have to close out of Equus.
-52-Gilda looked about for any other trouble, fighting could still be heard in the distance, but those were probably the holdouts. Nodding to herself she steered The Bombing Peregrine about and turned it around so that it pointed towards the castle, she flicked a few switches and the walking tank began its conversion process back into a rolling one. Said process involved the rear legs becoming wheels first using the front legs to hold the rear into the air slightly and then the front end would lift itself off the ground while the tank sat on its rear wheels, then the front end changed and gravity did the rest. The tank lowered its two bars covered in variable thrusters flat against its back and then the stretched out mid section closed up shrinking the tank back to its original form, the turret swung around and the main cannon was back in place after the two beam cannon barrels were back in. The two smaller single barreled defense turrets were the last things to come out on the left and right sides of the tank from the belly of the beast. “Right it looks like we’re done here; all that’s left is the cleanup. How you doing up there Lightning? You are a being a bit quiet.” Like oil and fire Gilda got along with Lightning, hearing her being quiet or not being crass made her wonder if her gunner was out cold. “Setting defensive turrets to fire automatically on incoming explosives, but I think we’re all out of action here and are now safe to resume our lazy lives. Well, unless one of those idiots in the guard was tempted to shoot at us with a rocket. Then I’m all game for a game of turkey shoot, provided they play the turkey.” “That was totally wicked. Bar none that was the most awesome thing I’ve ever done! Well I have flown with the Wonder Bolts… for a bit anyway. Yeah I’m good up here Big G, this thing is freaking cool! You don’t see big girl toys like this in the service.” At first Lightning sound flat and then her excitement started ramping up as she spoke. “Sorry, but it just took a while for my brain to catch up with what we just did. Quick question, are you sure this thing is not space capable or meant to be use anywhere outside of atmospheric conditions?” “As fast as it might be on the ground or with the variable bars in the air, The Bombing Peregrine would do poorly in space even if it can make an orbital drop safely. I built it for the express purpose of ground combat, creature comforts and carrying the Boss Lady’s stuff should she ever have a need to sell her wares in dangerous territory. At this point, I really wouldn’t put it past her how often she runs into danger.” Snickering loudly in jovial manner, Gilda steered the tank back on the road leading directly up to the castle. “The current design of the weapons on this baby has the unfortunate side effect of rendering installing an impulse engine a useless endeavor. It is in relation to the reason that the shields drop when firing the main cannon. We’re going to need to figure out how to get it back up into space, because I’m not leaving it down here after working so hard on it.” “What’s the bright side to this thing if it can’t be used in space effectively? You know, where we’re likely to be a lot of the time.” Reclining her seat Lightning put her hooves behind her head and her eyes started to droop, she still needed to catch up on her sleep. She yawned and closed her eyes for a bit. “The bright side is, the reason that I can’t install an impulse engine is the same reason that this thing makes impulse engines on other things quite inoperable. Imagine you’re in a fighter and you’re trying to board the Shining Jewel, get hit with the main cannon of this thing while in tank mode and one of three things will happen to the fighter it shoots.” To Gilda, The Bombing Peregrine wasn’t supposed to be a fighter; it was supposed to be home or internal defense. It couldn’t see action very far away from The Shining Jewel, but it didn’t need to if it was used on the defensive. The griffon yawned as well given their poor wakeup call; they could use some time to finish sleeping after they ran out of adrenaline. “This baby is all about personal home defense and the wheels are made to be magnetized so it can roll along the surface of the Shining Jewel. It’ll disable a fighter’s weapons and flight, knock out its shields or will just plain pulverize the ship. Those three end goals are what the main cannon happens to be all about, making it partly not lethal depending on how it’s used and very much useful as an anti-air weapon that doesn’t rely on target locking weaponry such as missiles. If you couldn’t tell, the four legged or crawler mode is specifically geared for more lethal actions. Especially useful when we absolutely want to kill someone or get more aerial maneuverability in exchange for a large drop in ground speed.” “Okay, leave the egghead stuff to the egghead, got it! Can I get some winks now?” Not waiting for an answer Lightning was already halfway there to begin with. “You might as well, let’s park outside the castle.” The only answer Gilda received was snoring and she shook her head, she slowly moved the tank up to the shield protecting the castle. She called out over the speakers. “Let us in so we can park this thing, we’re tired and we need to finish sleeping. Didn’t get enough of that before we were called down here and you don’t want a cranky griffon to shoot wildly at everything.” They were swiftly let in and things started to quiet down as Gilda crawled into a hammock in the main room of the tank. The animals that lived around the castle started to shyly come out after the violence started to peter out all over Canterlot. The defenders had obviously won the day and a good long rest as well. - “The elements of harmony worked on the Changelings with injuries, good to know that the magic of those trinkets is morally sound.” Stretching out her spine with a pop, Chrysalis moved over to Rarity and pulled out something to write on from her carapace. She passed the note over to Rarity who looked at it than at Chrysalis. “Go get some sleep; you’ve had a long night. We’ll do the interview this afternoon when you’re better willing. I’m looking forward to getting off this rock and finding a place for Changeling to set up a colony.” “Right, come along Greta. It appears Chrysalis is offering us a room in the Changeling embassy here at the castle. I would be remiss if I didn’t graciously take it as tired as I am from the horrible night I just had.” At Rarity’s words they left immediately leaving Chrysalis to move over to the trinity wielding the elements of harmony. “So…” Chrysalis started off to get a right hoof to the face by a tired looked Celestia that floored her immediately. She slowly stood back up with a slight wince and rubbed at her face with her left hoof. “You hit like a truck princess, one that can go all night long… which is basically what you did.” Chrysalis obviously had no survival instinct whatsoever or else she would have stopped antagonizing Celestia, said princess summarily hefted the queen up in her magic and started to repeatedly slam her into the floor in a very violent manner at different angles with every slam. “You are likely glad that I’m the element of kindness…” The rather royally raging Celestia muttered maliciously, emphasis on the royal and angry mare with the powers of the three pony races at her beck and call. “Yeah, sure… I’ll go with that.” Chrysalis flicked parts of her body and several bones snapped back into place she brought her hooves up to her head a gave it a jerk and with a loud cracking noise, it almost didn’t look like she had been injured at all. Only the faint bruises lining her body and tough fur covered carapace tells a different story. “You’re being quite kinky I’ll have you know.” “I had almost forgotten that you take any violence enacted against you as a sign that someone has an interest you.” If glares could kill, Celestia’s would have done so with one a long time ago. “I would like to clarify that I’m not happy with you at the moment.” “Understandable, I did make your student immortal, an Alicorn and now you have to live with her for the rest of eternity as the other Alicorn that isn’t your sister that you can cuddle for eternity as the element of loyalty who would willingly marry you at the drop of a hat.” Chrysalis sauntered with a slight limp up to Celestia with a smug smile. “So I’ll take you’re punishing blows as your way of saying thank you, could you maybe buck me in the barrel right about here, my spine could use a bit of realigning.” Celestia did so winding Chrysalis and causing another snapping sound to be heard coming from Chrysalis. The Changeling Queen though tough and quite flexible, could still feel pain and even seemed to take a dark form of joy from it. “Thank you, that was quite agonizing until you popped my spine back into its proper shape. I can see how you are kindness personified; you certainly have a gentle touch and couldn’t cause permanent harm to anyone.” There was a slight pause and a moment of awkwardness between them; Chrysalis didn’t have much else to say at the moment. Luna, Cadence and Shining were busy organizing the clean up already. “So time to start cleaning up and assessing the damage I take it?” “Yes, it is time to assess the damage and the casualties…” Celestia turned to look at a still slightly ragged Twilight who was still having a problem with her new wings. “Not all the damage done tonight was bad, but it came of a bad thing all the same.” “You needed to get laid more than I do; you’re a few thousand years out of practice and needed some cuddles.” Offhandedly stated Chrysalis who took the oncoming slap across the face with pride and a smile, she enjoyed fighting with Celestia. She probably became a bit too perky for the princesses taste when she asked. “Can we wrestle now?” “No, you really know how to take all the fun out of hurting you. A lot of Ponies and Changelings have been hurt, killed or worse last night. Now we need to find out why this happened and what caused this chain of events to occur.” A sullen Celestia trotted off leaving behind a puzzled Chrysalis. “On that note as of right now, I need some cake.” Chrysalis shrugged and started commanding the Changelings to do important things. Thing like picking up the still badly injured from both sides for hospitalization, capture all remaining Hands of Midas people alive if possible, securing the one that was called the leader and they needed to organize a fund to get the city back up on its legs. Some of the repair work could wait, since a major amount of damage was done to a number homes belonging to nobles and the nobles would surely enjoy having to rough it and camp out given that all the hotels were going to be booked for the commoners who lost their homes in the fighting. Why a noble would have to be an absolute asshole to kick those poor people out on the cold harsh street just to take their warm cozy, temporarily paid by the crown, room. In fact the nobles could get their homes back faster if they paid a modest sum into the city repair fund. Chrysalis was cackling and rubbing her hooves together, it took her a moment to realize what a villainous cliché she was holding up to. Then she decided to go get a fake mustache and start twirling it with her hoof, the mustache wasn’t attached to her face no, it was attached to a hat she was now wearing. Yes, fun could be had even in times of duress! - Later that day around noon, standing in front of a ruined building on restaurant row was Saffron looking sad with her braided mane spilling down the side of her neck. She cried in front of the building, a building that was now nothing but broken and shattered dreams. “It is okay we will find a way to continue living my daughter. It wasn’t like our business was doing all too well anyway.” Coriander trotted up and watched as his daughter jump holding the mask of Mare-Do-Well in her hooves and the costume on her body. The mare spun around and ran up to him and hugged him for all he was worth and snuggled into him. He gently reached up and hugged her to start patting her back. “There there, your mother would be proud of you Saffron as she was one of a long line of Mauve Mare-auders. You should know, she quit being a hero as soon as she knew she was pregnant with you as you were . It looks like you have picked up the habit on your mother’s side of the family by fighting your cutie mark and doing more than you were ever meant to. Stop crying, I’m fine, it is you who I am worried about. Also you might want to take off the costume before…” “Before someone comes along and finds out your secret identity, I just came over here on a hunch and its proven correct.” Now both the father and the daughter jumped and turned to Rarity who was out of her dress and au natural, she had made a quick stop to get her stitches removed and come to find a restaurant on the row that she happened to like was gone. Then again so were many of the other restaurants. “I just wanted to say thank you, for saving me at least twice Saffron. Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anyone, but you may want to get out of the costume. You don’t want to be confused for the actual Mare-Do-Well trying out a Nightmare Night costume now do we?” Saffron blushed and started to quickly discard her costume, well someone knew her secret and thankfully they were willing to keep it just that. That her father knew all along and didn’t question her about made her doubly embarrassed. “Do you have any place to be or are you both currently homeless?” It concerned Rarity, because she shared a meal with this mare not long ago and they were friends. The food had been delicious and she and Greta had a good time here, now it was all gone. “Though I hate to get my hooves dirty I think we should sift through the dirt to find some things that belonged to you.” “Yeah, that would be a good idea wouldn’t it? I don’t know where we’re going to go from here.” Saffron started forward while undoing her braid and started to piece apart the wreckage of the restaurant she was the head chef of and her father slowly joined in. Then the sound of help came running and it showed it to be Rover, Rarity had personally asked for his assistance in digging out the buried things. When it came to getting her hooves dirty, she’d rather get Rover to do it for her so she didn’t have to worry about getting all icky. “Rover is being here and is finding you okay, what is Rover to be digging to get away from scary alpha predator!” Rover was talking about Bernard as the fake rabbit scared him more than Trapeze’s angry face, if one would remember the rabbit takes down predators at least three or more times his size with ease. “Okay I would like for you to help dig through the rubble and this is a very important thing Rover… you must do it slowly and do not damage anything that might belong to a pony.” Magically grabbing the dog by the ears she pulled him down to eye level with her. “I want you to carefully set said things off to the side in a pile, do you understand me? Do not break anything important. Now help those two find their things! I have an offer to make them and it would go a long way if we could have them onboard, we need someone to cook for the crew as we’re not going to survive on fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches forever. I’m looking to hire these two fine culinary experts who don’t have a place to go at the moment and we could use their cooking skills. We are helping them, the two right there, out of the goodness of our hearts. Do you understand me Mr. Rover?!” “Rover understands boss lady pony wants to build pack from those needing pack!” Here Rover took on a serious look. “I can be being the careful for such important work, I good digger and will dig as asked! Look for items that are not jewels this time, items belonging to two potential pack members after big battle collapsed their above ground cave.” “Good, now, I will personally watch you work to make sure you don’t mess anything up.” Walking over to the rubble, Rarity saw something on the ground that looked like a picture frame. It looked rather important given it had a family of three in it. “Hey Saffron, is this your mother? She’s quite beautiful; I wonder if I will ever look that good when I get to that age.” The two quickly ran over to look at the picture Rarity found, it was a start to getting their lives back in order and Rarity would make her offer to see if they were open to traveling around in space. They were happy to have even that much done for them. After a while of sifting through the destruction making sure her professional digging tool didn’t break any pots and pans, Rarity looked over to see Saffron slap her hoof down on a kitchen knife flipping it up into the air where she caught it in her teeth and walked over to the pile to put it down. Yep she definitely looked skilled in knife throwing; maybe she could assist Trapeze from time to time if she joined. Rarity mentally noted that she was building a family and she was beginning to think that something like that was worth more than riches, social standing or even finding her one true love. Maybe her dreams would change with time; otherwise she made some kind of splash in the local social circles which was enough for her. She was still having dinner with the princesses this evening along with an important announcement from Celestia whatever that was. - “So it comes to pass that we found out that the leader of the Hands of Midas was one known hands enthusiast Lyra Heartstrings who led an army of at least four hundred strong against Canterlot. That she almost succeeded in her goals was quite startling. We currently have her in captivity, but she isn’t going to wake up for a while yet.” Celestia turned to Gilda who was digging into some baked salmon. “It seems you’ve managed to injure her quite badly with that last attack, I would like to say that your help was greatly appreciated in bringing down those large machines.” “Don’t mention it, I like piloting dangerous vehicles. I want to get into fighters, but I decided to start with baby steps and build a small transforming tank. It’s only good for short range defensive in space, but in ground combat it excels in a lot of areas.” Putting her ego out there was Gilda, who wasn’t sounding even remotely humble about her accomplishments. “Built that over the entire week knowing that something was going to happen, Kitten was tracking something screwy going on down here and I had a hunch it was going to be big. She didn’t disappoint and neither did the boss lady.” “I guess Opal always has my best interests at heart, then she has everyone else afterwards as an afterthought and that is only mildly worrying.” Rarity was tucking into the pasta, a guilty pleasure to be sure and she’d have to work it off later. “I really do need to eventually get in contact with her before she does something silly, maybe between after I eat and my interview with Chrysalis.” “Speaking of our AI, I have something to tell you later in private Rarity. It’s quite concerning really and I didn’t believe it to be possible as I’ve only heard such things happening in rumors.” Standing behind Vera was a maid constantly pointing at her; Opal couldn’t get the drones this far to keep track of the cursed elusiveness that Vera Blossom had. Only Celestia and Rarity could seemingly see her without losing her in a room with only a single door and nothing else in it. “It is nice to see you again Ms. Blossom, I know for a fact that your sisters are still the best spa workers to ever exist. Lotus and Aloe do wonders for me when I am quite stressed; I even have an appointment scheduled tomorrow if you wish to see them with me.” Standing up Celestia levitated her tea and a spoon to tap the cup. “Everyone, I have an announcement to make… Twilight if you will stop hiding under the table. Good, I would like to properly announce the upcoming crowning of a new princess, for Twilight will be the princess of friendship!” “Yes, friendship, let’s call it that and ignore what really happened. Of course, now that I think of it, she could certainly be the princess of friendship… with benefits.” The last two words Chrysalis blurted out, she quickly received a powerful magic solar beam to the face that was created in a single instant. She sat up and added to the fire on purpose. “Thank you ma’am, may I have another?” Celestia sighed as she cooled her horn; Chrysalis couldn’t very well leave soon enough for her liking and she had yet to get an interview with the entrepreneurial owner of the ship she wants to leave on. Ms. Belle was going to have her hooves full with the queen if she allowed her onboard. “And people call me loony.” Spoke a muffled Luna around a mouthful of a double hay burger, with a loaded paper basket of fries waiting for her to start on and a small foal’s meal toy to mess with. She was currently wearing clown makeup and a jester’s hat to dinner, nobody was bothering to ask her why she looked like a jester and nobody really wanted to know. Also there were several bloodied towels that Luna had dropped as she entered the room for dinner laying on the floor nearby; said towels were the one she had been ironing out when the real attack came in after the attempt on Chrysalis’s life and she went into the city with them after most of the major threats were taken care of. Nobody would even dare ask how they were used and even Celestia was reluctant to voice the question on everyone’s mind about why they were currently covered in blood. Luna could understand how Celestia had been quite shrewd in announcing Twilight’s coronation. They had to announce it to nobles as a law that a new princess was being crowned, but the law never said which nobles or how many were needed to be present. Rarity was the only noble at the table; otherwise they would have announced it to at least Fancy Pants and even Fancy had his closeted skeletons that the princesses were very well aware of. “Is this dinner why you asked Rarity and her people to join us?” “Whoever made this was a hack I tell you, a hack of the worst sort!” Saffron was being dragged out of a kitchen by two guards and forced into her seat; Coriander Cumin just huffed audibly from next to her shaking his head. The two were still on the fence about joining Rarity, but they were brought into this lovely dinner all the same. Though it was Saffron who was upset when they couldn’t make an ancestry accurate home cooked meal correctly. “I bet once they taste my food they will come begging for the recipe!” “You’d be right, I’m chef Watched Pot and I would like to have that particular recipe and I’m sorry to say that we as chefs have failed poorly in our duty to provide.” Said chef levitated the food Saffron cooked herself before her, he looked entirely apologetic. “I decided to add a bit to the mix myself; I would like your opinion on it.” “We’ll see if you have what it takes to correct this… okay what did you use?” One taste and Saffron was narrowing her eyes, the mushy brown food before her tasted fantastic. “It’s an improvement if you like it to being a little overly spiced, it would be a bit much for most ponies. Not me in particular.” “Got the idea from a recipe a buffalo once gave me, thought maybe we can exchange notes. I want to make it up to you for sullying your refined sense of taste.” The chef bowed to Saffron and then they started talking. “So where are you planning to go next Baroness Belle?” Celestia dropped out of the blue after stuffing a slice of cake down her throat, vaguely interested in hearing what Rarity planned to do now. “I’m thinking of going along a route to the Applon System where Applin Five is, I’ve always wanted to see the Earth Pony colony and I heard it was quite a quaint quiet place to be. Do you have any need of my services before then princess? I’m going to be here for a few days to take care of a few commissions.” After all this excitement Rarity could use a simpler pace and the friendly planet colonized by Earth Ponies sounded like the right place to take a break. Celestia decided to take Rarity up on her offer and commission something from the fashion pony who was friendly and only just a little bit stuck up, at least it was tolerable compared to the other nobles she had to deal with day in and out. - “So… you’re name is Crystal Clear Dick… and your father’s name is General Asshole… and your mother is… Mobile Dick, if I didn’t know about Changeling names before this I would swear you were doing this all on purpose. Is there something in particular that you didn’t like about your name that involved its change to Chrysalis?” Sitting before Rarity was Chrysalis looking quite attentive of her scrutinizing eyes. “Crystal is kind of a beautiful name.” “Thank you and to answer your question yes, I dislike my middle name of Clear. It is something I never liked too much… it comes from the Jerk side of my family. Any Changeling who takes the title of queen and physically transforms into one, whether they identify as male or female or not, has to take up a secondary name and when it’s a male they are usually referred to as Dragonfly Queens or Drag Queens for short. I chose the name Chrysalis, because a chrysalis has a strong outer shell and the life inside will eventually grow into something more powerful. As you can see, I exited the chrysalis state I went into as a beautiful butterfly of my species, well except for my butt which seems to be my only malfunction on me being utterly perfect.” If anything Chrysalis looked more like a cheese legged moth that would fly towards the nearest flame without pause, but Chrysalis was obviously smart enough to not fly into a bug zapper or a flame like an idiot. “Also nobody actually called my mom Mobile; they instead just chose to call her Moby because her name needed to be more feminine sounding.” “This Jerk side of the family, can you tell me more about them?” For some reason Rarity felt like she disappointed Chrysalis when she didn’t ask about her mother’s name being Moby Dick given the Changelings pouting expression, then again Rarity saw the set up for what sounded like a long winded running joke and decided to not take the bait. “Yeah, I can. There’s Jerk Off, Jerk Wildly, Jerk Around All, Jerk Vigorously and plenty more cousins from that family. Let’s just say I’m not on good terms with those jerks at the moment.” Chrysalis wondered why ponies found the family names she belonged to in particular more interesting than other Changelings. Sure they might have all sounded like innuendos, but Changelings are only now learning of this. “I’m getting a feeling there’s a reason why they are all named Jerk?” This one, Rarity decided, required questioning and more intrigue. “Yeah, there is, they are all Neighponese Changelings so their family name comes first.” The odd look that crossed her reviewers face made Chrysalis wonder if it was something she said. “As I said, I’m not on good terms with them. As such I don’t want to talk about it as it’s a personal affair that will not become a major problem.” “So you come from a family full of Assholes, Jerks and Dicks. I should be more surprised than I am, but I’m not. Though saying that out loud gave me a massive migraine.” The more Rarity heard about Changelings the more she regretted wanting to interview Chrysalis alone, she rubbed at her head with both hooves. It was starting to sink in that maybe Changelings weren’t feared for their general dark bug like outward appearances, oh no, they were clearly feared for their horrible capacity for innuendo and pun based names. Crystal was the most innocent sounding name to date for Rarity, well until you stated Chrysalis’s full name that is. That or even abbreviated Clear to just the letter C. Rarity was afraid that this was going to be one tiring interview... hopefully Chrysalis didn’t have any skills that she couldn't live without. Author's Note I'm glad I don't have to deal with being on the same spaceship as Chrysalis. Also the offer is open to Coriander Cumin and Saffron Cumin Masala
-53-“So what is it that you think you can do for my crew Crystal… or is it Chrysalis that you prefer?” The question of the hour to ask and Rarity was feeling a large mental strain. Could Chrysalis ever possibly ease back on the innuendos? Rarity didn’t think so and that was when it wasn’t related to Changeling names. “Chrysalis, since I’m going to be a queen until I die… which would take me starving to death and being thrown into a star which is subsequently swallowed by a black hole approximately five seconds afterwards. You wouldn’t happen to have an open position for a sex slave right?” Seeing the no nonsense look she received, giving off a large sigh and a pout Chrysalis slumped a little. “Well you’re no fun… how about I work for you as a hair stylist?” “It will be over my dead body that I ever let you touch my mane! Though I will save some for you if I need to trim my mane a bit, I’m not completely heartless to your particular needs.” If looks could talk, the one Rarity was giving Chrysalis would make an entire planet implode. “I also hope you have an idea of how you are going to feed yourself before you leave the planet and hope that you will at least have an ample supply of food for yourself stocked up if I do hire you. Please note when I mean an ample supply for yourself, I mean that it isn’t stolen from a ponies head or tail and is quite legally given to you with no strings involved that could come back to bite me or the other crew members later.” “For a Baroness barely a day old you’re pretty good at this.” Complimented Chrysalis who thought Rarity was being quite pragmatic in setting her boundaries early. “Oh, I could be the ships match maker!” “Definitely not helpful, think of something less ridiculous if you will or I will not take hiring you into consideration at all.” Rarity wouldn’t hire Chrysalis unless she could prove that she had a sufficiently useful talent aside from being the queen of her people. “Is there anything at all that you can do that is actually helpful to me? If not we’re done here.” “Fine, I’ll stop suggesting things I know would harm your delicate Pony sensibilities. I’m a proud Changeling Queen and I know when to fold it.” Taking a particularly tall standing stance while putting her hoof up to her chest, taking a breath of air Chrysalis decided to stop holding back and being silly by stating quite a few things she was good at. She tapped at her jagged sharp horn with a hole filled leg with a smile on her face. “If you seriously want to know how helpful I can be to you then let me just state them. I can be a translator and can learn any biologically spoken language given enough time and reason to do so. I’m empathic and can sense danger from quite a distance away. I’m an expert spy when technology that can detect me isn’t involved. I can be a good security consultant to make sure nobody can get away with much provided I’m not involved in fixing security systems personally. I’m quite the politician if you haven’t heard of my feats already. I’m a pretty good lawyer if I’m given time to prepare and also an equally good prosecutor to be fair. I can be the most expendable member of the crew concerning the fact that I can survive a lot except I really haven’t faced any dangers in space and am only rated to survive what almost anything on Equus can possibly do to me, an example would be me going through a Hydra’s stomach. I’m as powerful as an Alicorn when well fed and will recover from things like one; I will also live just as long. Until I am outright killed, I won’t die and I’ve had a meteor crush all the bones in my body once thanks to Celestia and Luna. Just know if there isn’t a body, I’m likely not dead yet. If there is a body and there are other Changelings around, then my death can certainly be called into question if someone announces as I’ve probably sadly lost a body double which never have the same capabilities of a real queen. I’m good at coming up with plans of action if you need help with thinking of a way out of a situation, so I’m good as a tactician. If you need a first mate… well do you have a strap-on we can use? I’m capable of and can teach twenty forms of combat to Ponies of all races, Griffons, Ahuizotl, Changelings and basically anything four legged and born on Equus like a Buffalo or Yak. I once even taught a Mauve Mare-auder personally, but we kind of had a falling out after it was discovered that I was a Changeling and she took me being her teacher kind of personally. I can even teach other beings how to fight to their full advantage and since I’m really quite tough to kill as Celestia very well knows, I can be your high quality meat shield. I can also be a public relations councilor, because everyone’s heard about how good I am with getting the common pony to do what I want. I’m an expert with a sniper related fire arms, plus know how to wield just about any gun and am a decent marks mare when I have Changelings sighting targets for me. Plus I have various other minor skills, including being a blue ribbon arts and crafts master with macaroni and only macaroni. Usually Changelings are a bit more artistic in their endeavors, but aside from macaroni art I’m not very good at much else in arts and craft. You already know I’m a qualified hair stylist, what you probably don’t know is that I’m an honorary Wonder Bolt which upset Celestia greatly because they didn’t find me until I was asked to start teaching a class and goofed up slightly by using Changeling related teaching methods. That day will certainly go down in infamy… they are still using my teaching methods after all. So I’m also a good coach when needed and can aid anyone in plenty of academic subjects because I’m quite well read and have a good memory for things. As far as spell work goes I’m good at offensive and supportive type spells, I have no defensive spells whatsoever. I don’t need to tell you how awesome a model I would be given my shape shifting abilities; I can model in just about anything be it for male, female or otherwise. Just think, you’ll have all of that plus my great leadership skills! All my Changelings will agree that I’m a beloved and possibly the most absolutely hated leader to ever exist thus far in my races history.” “Well, ignoring the strap-on comment, that sounds like quite a list of things you can do that would be quite useful… is there anything that you happen to be bad at?” To Rarity it sounded like Chrysalis had a lot of qualifications, but for some reason Chrysalis started sweating profusely. “This is by far the toughest question you’ve ever asked me, because I honestly can’t improve on being almost perfect and can only pursue the possibility of becoming as such. Though since you wanted to know… I’m really, really bad with most forms of technology. I really don’t know what my problem is, as other Changelings really don’t have this same issue that I do. I mean simple technology is mostly fine by me, but anything else is really beyond me as to how I cause so many issues.” Chrysalis was less about technology and more about improving the already existing biology; it was kind of a Changeling thing. “If you happen to need a computer to start acting buggy, then I’m your mare at least. Cyber espionage is the one area I’m really quite horrible at when it comes to being a spy, give me thirty seconds with a computer and I can easily make it explode and quite violently at that. That would mostly be because I’m really that bad at that kind of thing.” “Right then, I’ll get back to you after I’m done with my commissions tomorrow.” Rarity stood up and gathered the paperwork; before she set off she had to ask. “Is there anything else you wish to say before I set off?” “Yes, I actually wanted to get to my personal commission right now. I want you to make a necklace out of a very unusual material.” Chrysalis pulled out a plastic bag filled with hair, both from a tail and mane of a particular pony. “I just wanted something to remember one of my good friends by.” “I take it that that is all of Cadence’s shorn off hair, so you didn’t just eat it after all. Do you want this commission to last a lifetime? I am assuming that’s the case.” Having asked that Rarity started haggling and talking shop as this commission was a rather unusual one as she was working with a limited amount of fabric. Mostly Rarity was asking Chrysalis of what exactly she expected of her and whether or not it could be achieved. It could be achieved and frankly Rarity has worked with weirder materials, but she was a clothier and a fashion master. She didn’t just make dresses, she also did accessories and Chrysalis wanted one fashioned from Alicorn hair for whatever reason. Chrysalis had an appointment to give Cadence a trim tomorrow morning because her hair was growing back quite fast, so Rarity couldn’t start the commission until after Chrysalis was done shearing Princess Cadence again. Rarity didn’t want Chrysalis to do anything relating to styling hair on her ship. - “Okay what is it about Opal and should I personally worry about it?” There were only two crew members on The Shining Jewel at the moment and it made Rarity wonder if Opal was keeping a careful watch on Sassy’s status. She’d check that before she went to bed but first she had to check in with Vera about what she wanted. Spending a night in the castle for free was rather nice and it earned her a few points among the other nobles. She wasn’t exactly famous yet nor did she have a fortune, especially if she kept hiring so many to work with her as she was. “Well I have a theory. The basis of this theory is that Opal was an AI, but she’s not anymore and is something completely different from what we actually think she is. The only thing limiting her at the moment is the fact that she thinks she’s the same program you gave birth to… in a way it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that she was that or that you did in fact give her existence.” Vera was the psychological investigator here. Opal had some disturbing implications behind her, given her emotional range and the awareness she had when she didn’t have any power going to her or the systems she controlled. “How is she not an AI? I ask because I’m a little confused by what you mean Vera, what is she if not my sweet little Opalescence that I spent hours programming?” Rarity wasn’t exactly sure what emotion to use yet, but she hoped Vera would explain herself. “I’m still not one hundred percent sure on whether or not my theory is the correct one, but I have to ask for clarification to make sure that I have enough reason to test for it.” The mare looked Rarity in the eyes and asked slowly. “Were you using magic at all times when you were programming Opal?” “Well yes, I used my magic to levitate my data pad and manipulate it while programming her. What does that have to do with anything though?” There was a moment of silence that made Rarity feel a bit on edge. “Is what I’m about to hear a bad thing?” “Not necessarily a bad thing, but don’t be surprised when Opal starts doing things that are impossible for an AI to accomplish.” Vera had talked with Coco and even Gilda about Opal’s unusual nature, but she had yet to tell them what she thought was going on with Opal. She wasn’t going to tell Opal what she was until she was sure that the cat could actually handle the stress, especially if it were to turn out to be ultimately true. Opal needed to be eased into it subtly and carefully; Vera didn’t want to hurt her emotionally. “Did you know she was entirely aware even when you turned off the data pad?” “Well she always did seem a bit overly joyous every time I turned the data pad on before she ended up in the Shining Jewel. She must really enjoy having more leg room to work with up there.” Thinking about it, Rarity decided to narrow her eyes at Vera. “I always thought that she was happy to see me. Are you saying I’m wrong? Also how could she have possibly been aware, if she were a program and turned off then she shouldn’t be an able to function. Though it is rather odd that she could tell that time has passed between the points my data pad was off now that I think of it.” “Not wrong at all, but not the entire story.” Walking over to the door to the room and opening it to look out in the hallways of the castle, no one was out there. Vera pulled back inside and turned to Rarity. “Do you want to hear what I think Opal is?” “Please do tell me, because I’m certainly intrigued as to where you are going with this.” Tapping a hoof to her chin Rarity did give it some thought that Opal was normal to her; she looked to the floor before looking to Vera’s eyes in a searching manner. She was a busy mare and needed to get some sleep so she had to address Vera about that. “Also please hurry up; I need to get my beauty sleep tonight. I got a lot of commissions to get through tomorrow with Coco’s help, plus I need to start plotting a course towards the next planet to visit. I can’t say that business hasn’t been too bad here and I would love to stay as Canterlot certainly is… or rather was charming before the attack. I think I’ve stayed near the home world long enough and I don’t want to tempt the chance of running into my parents any further, Sweetie Belle was enough for me thought it was nice to see her. Which reminds me of something important; I want you to remind me to inform Sassy’s parents about how she’s been doing lately. So if you could summarize Opal’s state of existence for me.” “Okay, here’s what I think Opal is… she’s a familiar and not just any familiar, she’s your familiar.” The flat look Vera received made her hold up her hooves in a gesture of holding Rarity tongue. Not saying anything Rarity nodded to Vera. “Before you say it, yes I know that is impossible for artificial beings and or machines to become familiars as they have no actual life to form said bond with.” “Well if you know that, then why would you say Opal is my familiar, much less tell me that she is for want of a better term… actually alive?” Rarity didn’t think Opal could possibly be a familiar, but it would explain her mile wide protective streak as familiars and their bond partner tended to take on all manner of relationships, though rarely was a familiar bond ever formed as lovers between the two partners. She and Opal were family such as a manner of parent and child, well Opal certainly thought of her as a mother and that wouldn’t be wrong for an AI to think. “I don’t quite see how she could be my familiar.” “If you’re thinking in terms of her still being an AI sure, that would be plainly impossible. However if she were a ghost in the machine…” Trailing off Vera waited for Rarity to pick up on where she was going with this. “It seems you are both almost aware of Guardians Soul’s true nature, but a ghost she is not. I would like to ask if Reviving Spirit is okay Living Ghost.” Tree Hugger walked into the room and looked to Rarity and followed that by sweeping her sight through the area that Vera was standing in. “If ‘The Maker’ could please point her out to me, I wish to address Living Ghost personally.” The two ponies had been startled by Tree Huggers sudden appearance, which led to both of them wanting to know why she was here. Rarity politely pointed to Vera and Tree Hugger started pointing at Vera personally and nodded to Rarity who slowly lowered her hoof. “Um… who’s Reviving Spirit?” It was always a surprise to see one of the top SNUGGLES member wandering about at this late time and Vera was curious. “Also what do you mean Guardian Soul’s true nature, do you mean Opal? She’s not a ghost?” “Reviving Spirit is she who sleeps in a cocoon of healing, watched by Guardian Soul alone and is above us right now as we speak.” The dopey smiling Tree Hugger was needed here and here she was right where she should be. Though she did want to cuddle up to Sky Child, this was more important and she didn’t have the time to do so. There was a promise of Earth and Sky meeting later and Tree trusted in that occurrence happening. “In a simple and single word, yes, that is why I am here.” “Oh, Sassy was doing alright the last time I saw her. She was healing pretty well, but it will still be at least two more weeks before she gets out and I have to put her through physical therapy and maybe some mental.” Now for the question that Vera hoped wouldn’t be answered in moon speaking, however knowing Tree, that was almost impossible for her. “So what do you need to say?” “That is good to hear, Reviving Spirit is on the right path. Her broken edges will smooth over in time and pain will temper her into a strong sword against fracturing further and when the time comes her name will change. It is good to hear she will be fine spiritually and that her chakras will balance out. Though she will need the aid of the Lustful Jester if she is to be kept from a path of self destruction, I would advise taking her onboard even if you have your doubts of her nature.” Closing her eyes Tree Hugger of the Earth started to hum a nice tune, which made the room seem far more peaceful then it should be and it made the two other ponies rather drowsy. She stopped and opened her eyes slightly. “As for Guardian Soul, her true form will reveal itself when it is needed. You must trust that she will protect you Maker, along with those you decide to keep close to your heart. As Living Ghost said, she is far more than she appears. It is not my place to tell you what that true form will be, as it is ever shifting until the time comes. Blessings, to the both of you for your time, I must go now as I have much to do and much to say. You will sleep pleasantly tonight.” Tree Hugger spun about and walked out of the room humming her soft sounding tune, which brought peace to all who heard it. The two mares sat in silence for a moment until the tune faded into the night; they knew that Tree Hugger had truly left at that point. Rarity knew Tree was at the gala as was Fluttershy, but they didn’t really get a chance to talk much. Fluttershy was apparently on a date with the lord of chaos Discord and Tree Hugger was busy helping Thorax through what sounded like anxiety problems all night. There was also that prophecy Tree spoke of, it actually happened now that Rarity remembered what was said and what had actually happened. “From the way she says it, Opal can’t be a ghost. Though I’m wondering if she has a soul based on what Tree Hugger calls her. No matter what Opal might turn out to be, we both already know who she is and I personally know that she will always be Opal to me. On a different manner, I would like to schedule a mental therapy session with you about the incident with Mind Field.” The exhaustion Rarity felt was quite unique and she let out a long drawn out yawn. Maybe it was something Tree Hugger did, Rarity really wanted to go straight to bed right now. “I need you to talk with Opal and find a good time for a session, then she can tell me when you need me to come in. I’m getting quite tired Vera, this is quite an interesting thing to think on.” “Right, I’ll find a time to pencil you in for and Opal will make sure you get there.” Now Vera was yawning, there was something supernatural about the way Tree Hugger hummed that made her want to snuggle down in a bed right that instant. - Breakfast was a quite affair before Rarity would start working on all the commissions; Coco noticed something off about the soon to be crowned Twilight. “Is something wrong with the banana chunks in the cereal?” Innocently enough Coco didn’t see anything that could be a problem with a cereal though apparently Twilight had a strange reaction every time she ate the banana chunks floating in the milk. “What did you just say?!” Celestia had been taking a sip of coffee when she calmly stopped and shouted this; turning her head towards Twilight to notice that she was finishing up her bowl. “I feel kind of funny… why does my tongue tingle?” The protégé of the sun Twilight Sparkle started to wobble slightly in her seat and blush a bit. “I can’t believe you would pull something like this again so soon!” The accusing hoof Celestia pointed at Chrysalis was met with a blank look of innocence. “I didn’t do it and I’m willing to be put in a truth circle to prove it.” Answered a slightly bored Chrysalis, she obviously wasn’t lying. “I know you had something to do with this, but I’ll have to deal with you later! I have to go attend to Twilight; she will need help through her first time.” Celestia swiftly picked Twilight up bodily in her magic and flew from the room with haste. “But wouldn’t this be her second time though?” Chrysalis asked in a highly confused manner. “So, did you spike the cereal with bananas?” Despite having been sandwiched between a Pegasus and a cuddling Griffon with provocative intentions, Gilda had oddly enough slept very well last night despite waking up to an uncomfortable position. “No, of course not… Spike is the one who spiked it.” This is where Chrysalis raised a portion of her carapace and pulled out the bag of bits she received from Luna and passed it to Spike. “Our transaction is complete my good sir and might I add that you should probably lay low for a while. I know a good child friendly place in a Changeling Ghetto you can hide.” The little dragon was grinning maliciously as he took the bag of bits and dropped it in his lap; he continued to eat his ruby encrusted waffles drenched in strawberry syrup without a single word. He was going to get himself a nice snack later with the Equestrian currency he just got passed off to him. Luna and Rarity just gave Spike a disapproving look, Rarity didn’t know what it meant to eat bananas but it was obviously a serious problem. Speaking of dragons, now that Rarity thought of it, Spike’s egg story kind of remaindered her of… could it be? Spike could be Ember’s long lost little brother, but she wasn’t exactly sure. She’d needed a bit of blood or at least something genetic of Spike to put into stasis for a biological sibling test, because if she ever found Ember again she could learn whether or not they were related in some way. She was sure she could wheedle something like that out of Spike with some charm. “Spike, darling, I hope you know I do not approve of such heinous acts against a lady, especially not against your mother figure.” It was time to set up a method to get some genetic material without have to resort to bribery, because Rarity would certainly do that if it is to help a friend find closure. Then again, maybe she didn’t need genetic material if the shell from Spike’s egg had been save and she could get a picture of that to show to Ember the next time she saw her. - “Chrysalis against my better judgment, and all my instincts screaming bloody murder at me to say no to actually hiring you, I would like to regretfully state, welcome aboard.” With a bowed head Rarity couldn’t believe she was letting Chrysalis into her crew, this was going to be problematic depending on how far Chrysalis was willing to push things. “We will hash out your paycheck and what you will be doing later; I will most likely have you acting as my personal meat shield since you happily volunteered.” “What can I say; I’m a naughty girl for being so big and meaty.” Chrysalis had a cheesy grin on her face. “Yes well, you are not the only one I will be hiring if they agree.” Two ponies came into the room and Rarity turned her attention to them. “So what have the two of you decided?” “I and my father have decided… to join your crew. We will take up positions as chefs and I want to take a secondary position as a security officer on this I will not budge.” It was Saffron speaking and with her was Coriander. They had talked about it for a long time, but Saffron couldn’t continue to use her Mare-Do-Well disguise after both Daring Do and Spitfire got a close look at her particular species. She didn’t want to be taken up on charges of being a vigilante if they figured out her identity. That didn’t mean that Mare-Do-Well wanted to quit doing good deeds, it meant she was going intergalactic with her own legend and would be a mild mannered chef on a ship in dire need of proper nutritionists. Most importantly she would be doing bounty hunter work on the side, as bounty hunters didn’t necessarily have to show their faces to cash in on a bounty. They just needed an account to send money to and a recommendation from a political figure to acquire a license to make the job legal, the second was the problem. “Good call, Mare-Do-Well. That should keep them from finding your identity. Incidentally I have someone working in Saddle Arabia that can help keep your legend alive and move around while you’re off being a hero elsewhere.” Chrysalis noticed Saffron’s shock at her words and she glared at Rarity. “Hey don’t glare at her like that, she didn’t tell me. I figured it out myself, my Changeling detail watching out for Rarity caught wind of your injuries. Only they never saw you get into a row with a customer and I had them watching for trouble everywhere, my guys are a good information network. It wasn’t exactly hard to figure give your name. Your ancestor was one of the better Mauve Mare-auders who kicked my ass so badly that it left me close to the brink of death. Needless to say I can respect a mare that wants to hide her face behind a secret identity; you know Changeling and being able to identify with that and all. If you need any training, I can help you with it.” “You actually knew a Mauve Mare-auder personally.” Saffron didn’t look angry any more, now she looked positively intrigued, she looked to Coriander who smiled gently and motioned for her to go on. “I mean did you know my Ancestor personally?” “Her name was Paneer Tikka Masala, when I heard your name I knew you were related to her. She was from your mother’s side of the family. Specialized in spicy cheese based food dishes that were as strong in flavor as she was personally, she was quite the Earth Pony.” There was a look of reminiscence on Chrysalis’s face. “Your entire family on your mother’s side has a history of being known for three things. The first is good looks, the second is good cooking and the final one is proving that you are more than just your special talent.”
-54-“Well we’ve finished all the commissions here, is there anyone else we needed to see to Coco?” Rarity turned to Coco Pommel and the sweet helpful partner just shyly shook her head. “Right then, I think we should be on our way. Opal, we’re done. Prep for launch, we’re going to leave for the Applon System soon and I think route C will be appropriate for our needs. We’ve already got the extra supplies from Mr. Rich’s store delivered to the Shining Jewel. Coriander, Saffron and Chrysalis are currently acquainting themselves with the ship and Trapeze’s group is practically settled. The only thing we have left to do is get Gilda’s tank back up to the ship.” - Chrysalis was sitting innocently in the hangar looking at the vast space and imagined coating the walls with slime to make it homier. Speaking of homier, the Changelings hadn’t had a hive in a long time and wondered what kind of planet would have the right climate. Would she even bother with building a new hive considering how things have been going since Luna and Celestia trashed her previous one? They were in an age where using better building materials was far better than Changeling excrements. Said building materials made for far more sturdy and stable structures. What the Changelings needed was a warm planet, but not scorching. So that discounted ice and water covered worlds, but even Changelings needed fluids to keep living so it had to have some fresh water. So she would be looking for something like a forest or jungle planet to mark if she ever came across one, maybe tropical. Another planet type completely off the list was a badlands planet; Changelings had had enough of badlands as they didn’t smell too good. Finally a loud thud brought Chrysalis’s attention back to The Bombing Peregrine being dropped in section three where it was slowly driven into section four for repairs. The Carvel Boutique swiveled around and slowly lowered to the floor. Right, she had to go over the extra supplies she brought onboard with the captain. Would Rarity technically be her captain? She was onboard as a crew member and not a queen; she was already feeling sad that she wouldn’t see the horrible situations she personally left Thorax in. “Chrysalis, what’s in these extra crates?” Rarity came walking up to Chrysalis while looking a bit tired, there was some moderate profit made today. Not that she wasn’t passively making money due to her breach gel patent already, as such she had a content amount of money that doesn’t exactly hit rich if she was to spend most of it renovating The Shining Jewel and keeping paychecks paid. She was the poorest noble ever, even in comparison to the low born of Equus. “Some of the left over rockets and launchers from the ones I had my Changelings stockpile before I even knew what those bipedal machines were going to be. Since I took the prophecy as it was, I prepared for the occasion and it paid out pretty well as my people would have certainly had more casualties thanks to the infantry they had to deal with. Other than that there are several kinds of guns and ammunition for the ones you can’t charge. It’s everything from various rifles, pistols and automatics that I thought you could use as well, all of which will fire beams, blasts, explosives, raw heat, liquid nitrogen and just about anything you can put into it if you have a material weapon. As a queen I have a right to bear arms of all kinds, unfortunately they wouldn’t let me mount bears onto the catapults despite the fact that I had to use the bears as ammunition and fortunately for you I couldn’t very well pack my catapult. Right to use living bear arms as weapons my ass.” She pointed at her large container that housed a practical armory of weapons, some of which she picked off the Hands of Midas guys she took down with her bare hooves. Of the two containers it was the smaller one, the other really large container was one that was quite important to Chrysalis. “This other container is full of hair shaved off of various animals… mostly female as I have a biased sense of taste. Plus up to at least two hundred fully shaved mares from a budding exhibitionist colony near Appleoosa and there’s at least as much hair from stallions in there because my taste does wander at times. I’m good for a year or two; I will be able to ration my supplies and might be able to pay a few mares to let me eat their hair at any place we stop at.” Rarity just stared at Chrysalis blankly and wondered how Chrysalis managed to get so many ponies to agree to shave their bodies hairless, though the exhibitionist thing might not have been a joke and there were a bunch of mares out there that performed what was in her mind such a travesty. Rarity shuddered to think what Chrysalis did to pull off most of this or even get this much food for herself, but she didn’t have to worry about Chrysalis sneaking a bite out of her mane in her sleep. If Chrysalis tried there would be hell to pay and Rarity would certainly think of a more ladylike manner of dealing with the Changeling Queen than Celestia. Speaking of, the last Rarity saw Celestia she was trotting circles with glee to have the Chrysalis out of her hair and didn’t mind that she ended up in Rarity’s. - “I really don’t know what to think about this situation.” Thorax checked his butt as he ran a hoof over his antlered head, Chrysalis gave him a message that told him a secret way to becoming a different kind of Drag Queen. He looked less masculine, given his body now came in highly feminine colors and he looked quite girly with only his three horns denoting that he was still male and he was more shiny looking. “I don’t know about you, but I think you’re a hot item personally!” A pony maid started to rub up against Thorax’s side and the Changeling felt something drop in his gut when she did. Slowly turning about Thorax realized that he had been cornered in by several maids and servants of Celestia and Luna, his new appearance causing them to lick their lips which worried Thorax. “Can you transform away those horns and add some long hair?” One of the maids asked with a look in her fluttering eyes that seemed less than innocent. “Because I think you’d look sexy with more Feminine features Mr. Thorax.” Thorax bravely did what any newly made Dragonfly Queen would do when presented with several hungry looking ponies. He jumped for the nearest window screaming and smashed through it with the force his new size and weight was completely capable of, thanks to his new horns he also took part of the wall with him. He’d soon cause a commotion all over Canterlot while he feared for his life; apparently the servants at the castle were aware that his new stature meant they could torture him all the harder now. Why did he have to be so attractive to ponies for some reason? Was that Cadence coming at him like a missile? She wouldn’t be taking him alive, he’d fight to the last before he’d let that crazy mare try to force him to accept a herd! Discord was sipping broken glass through a straw made of glass itself out a cup made out of milk, to think people had forgotten he existed and no one aside from his date thanked him for being a hero. He certainly got no respect when he did some good deeds… well at least Fluttershy respected him and he really liked her. His reasons for being here was that the chaos caused by Changelings was always fun to watch. - “So you want to know more about my knife throwing skills?” The Shining Jewel was still in orbit over Equus and Saffron was now spending time with Trapeze. They’d met and shook hooves; the Earth Pony magician was interesting to talk to. “Yes, I heard you were pretty good. Do you think you can hit the target… without using your magic?” Trapeze was told by Rarity that Saffron was an interestingly talented chef. They were in the training room and some dart boards were set up, the dart boards were entirely for Saffron’s benefit except for the one labeled for playing darts specifically that was meant specifically for unicorn levitation practice. Rarity bought the dart boards in bulk for entertainment purposes. Saffron took up the offered kitchen knife from Trapeze and tested the weight of the knifed in her hoof as she swung it through the air; she flicked the knife upwards and caught it by the tip of the blade in her hoof. Reeling back with her hoof she flicked it forward and twisted her hoof slightly and the knife flew out and struck an inch to the left of the small red center. “That’s quite impressive; you obviously know that kitchen knives aren’t meant to be aerodynamic.” Trapeze commented brightly, she had seen knife throwers before, but Saffron had a talent for it even if it wasn’t her special talent. “Yeah, I’ve trained in knife fighting. Everyone in my family has apparently had a talent for fighting.” That or just plain being heroes to the best of their abilities and even outside of their special talents, but Saffron wasn’t about to drop the fact that she was Mare-Do-Well. “I’m good at throwing kitchen knives, but I would need to practice with actual throwing knives for a few weeks before I can even start practicing for an act. I’m also not exactly sold on the idea of joining your troupe Trapeze.” “Well then let me have a chance to convince you to perform!” Trapeze threw a hoof around Saffron and smiled as she tipped her hat to the unicorn. “Because you have a talent that can be used in show business and it’s not necessarily your special talent. Though being a chef does have you working with knives every day so you already know quite a bit about that. I believe it would be more of a draw to have a pony not talented specifically in knife throwing performing the art. Do you know how to fight with a knife or have you ever been in a knife fight?” “Yes I know how to knife fight with one hoof tied to my opponent at the very least, haven’t been injured in the face yet and I hope I never will. I happen to like my face the way it is.” Even if she weren’t very vain Saffron liked having good looks at least, she did eventually want a stallion in her life… that or a mare as she wasn’t that picky as long as she could have a foal. She wanted to be a mother; until she was heavy with a child she was going to be a hero like her mother and most of her ancestors before her. - “Trap Bar gave us the okay and we’re just about ready to go with our course set!” Rarity was on the bridge and looking out into space at Equus, it was a beautiful world. Now if only Rarity didn’t have the common misfortune to be in places where bad things kept happening, what has happened to her thus far wasn’t actually very uncommon. It happened to a lot of other people as well, things like sifter drifters, eldritch abominations, mercenaries, space pirates and apparently terrorists now were a common occurrence in the universe. She wasn’t the only pony that got shot and she wasn’t the only pony to get injured, she was just the pony lucky enough to survive most of those deadly occasions. “I’m ready to set out on your orders mom!” Opal was an eager beaver to get to traveling; controlling the ship was something she could do. “Hold it, hold everything, I have a request before we go!” Gilda stormed onto the bridge looking about and then made her way over to the communications console. “I have an old friend to call before we leave the area, so give me some time to talk with them. It’s that friend that saved me the trouble of having to repair a lot more on my tank and I wanted to talk to her before we leave.” “Granted, Opal if you will hold off on that order to cast off from orbit for a moment.” Rarity just leaned back in the captain’s chair; she hoped it was cleaned thoroughly as she thought she knew what happened to the previous captain, blood, guts and gore were certainly hard to get off something once they stuck to it and dried. The sifter drifters that cleaned up this ship previously weren’t very clean eaters. In the back of Rarity’s mind, she was considering whether or not Vera had it right in that Opal was her familiar. “Oh and please do tell the crew to get settled in if you would be a dear Opal.” “Thanks, I wonder if Rainbow is still slow in the head… as she always is.” With a broad smirk Gilda wondered what Rainbow would say when she heard about Gilda managing to secure the core of a Javelin, which was still sitting in the hangar. - Coriander was happy that his daughter survived the fighting in Canterlot, he was quite sad The Tasty Treat was smashed into the ground and was somewhat relieved that he still had a kitchen to work with after all that. He was currently spending time talking to Rover and Bernard. These were the only other males on the crew and they were a somewhat intelligent dog and a Lagotorphin he’d have to be stupid to disrespect. Why had he decided to join this crew with several meat eating creatures? Oh right, his daughter wanted to take a chance with Rarity and he had to admit they didn’t have much money left to do much else with. “So then Rover was telling boss that maybe stealing chickens be bad idea. He never listened to Rover and then incidentally hurt one too many times, then one chicken lets loose loud crow and hundreds of chickens swarm boss. He is dying from injuries and infections days later; chickens are scary as are cats.” Rover’s stories didn’t go into detail, but they were horribly gruesome and Bernard didn’t bat an eyelash at hearing the end of one of Rover’s previous bosses. Coriander was more curious about the details, but thought better to ask about it as he was busy setting up the kitchen to start serving the crew when they needed to eat. “Rover doesn’t understand why being called chicken or scared feline is insult, both get quite dangerous when they are frightened and cornered. Rover learned to not to trouble those animals unless having dire need to do so.” “I think I’ve heard enough of your stories, now let me tell you some of my own.” Coriander didn’t hate meat eaters, he was just a little wary as most ponies would be. That didn’t mean he couldn’t share stories with the two, at least they had omnivorous tendencies. “It all starts when my dear daughter insulted a pony who thought himself a champion knife fighter… I taught my Saffron a few things or two and her mother did leave behind some notes. As such my daughter certainly learned how to defend herself and she took to it quite well… so here’s what happened.” - Leaving Greta alone with Lightning might have eventually caused some issues, but the two weren’t at each other’s throats or even trying to aggravate one another. Lightning was lying around watching Greta work on The Bombing Peregrine as she had watched Gilda; the two were entirely different in work effort. Gilda was driven to complete her work without sleep, whereas Greta would take a break every now and then. “Say Lightning, can you put a bean and cheese burrito in the microwave and see if it’s working?” Greta finally turned a smiling beak upon her watcher and didn’t seem at all angry knowing that Lightning has slept with Gilda. Greta didn’t get angry over whoever Gilda wanted to be with, she just wanted Gilda to be happy and eventually do those things with her. “I guess, things around here are boring now that the action is over with and I could use a snack.” Lightning got up on to her hooves and went to go grab one from the supplies. It took her ten minutes to get back with the requisite burrito and some cleaning equipment in case it burst all over the insides of the microwave built into The Bombing Peregrine. Lightning Dust wasn’t about to question why there was a microwave; these two griffons were both crazy and genius. She wasn’t exactly that bright herself, so she shouldn’t be questioning them about it. “Okay… burrito preparation, time, put into sheath… hah like a stallion sheathe… okay and go.” The microwave came to life and hummed quietly, after the requisite minute or so the microwave dinged and Lightning pulled out a burrito that was warm all around and it wasn’t even cold in the center. “Yeah, I think that’ll do it. So how was she, Gilda I mean?” Greta had a long list of Pegasus Pony’s that had slept with Gilda, she knew her friend had an odd inclination for feathered ponies and she was proving that by making Lightning choke slightly on the cheesy goodness in her mouth. “She’s kind of rough and I don’t think I mind that, in fact I can understand why some ponies want to be with griffons. Nothing like a highly aggressive partner, I’m sure you know that if what I heard from Gilda is true in you being her best friend.” A slight pause was caused by Lightning seeing a flat look cross Greta’s face as she continued to bite into the burrito and chew slowly. Upon swallowing Lightning asked a question that seemed like it was based in divine providence. “You’re one of those passive sexual predators aren’t you? I’m also getting the idea that you’re only entirely interested in mare on mare action. I don’t understand why you can’t have both, before my showboating caused issues I’ve slept with a stallion or two personally and enjoyed it as much as sleeping with a mare. ” “I would say I’m more likely Gilda centered, but I do like looking at other females in the crew so I can’t deny maybe wanting to spend some quality time with them.” Taking a bag of popcorn out Greta put in the microwave and started it up, she also got some water from the cooler and it was quite cold and freshly condensed. She smiled as she waited for her popcorn. “Though I do definitely hit on other girls, being with Gilda is kind of a desire of mine. I’ve only ever slept next to her and maybe cuddled, but I’ve never exactly done that with her.” “Oh, so your one of those happy sappy types that smiles even knowing that what you want is only slightly beyond your reach and you’re not willing to force the issue.” Lightning got some water, seeing as Greta hadn’t dropped dead from drinking it five minutes afterwards. She was still quite paranoid she would wake up to find herself living in a cardboard box again. She wasn’t about to lose a good gig like this one by doing something stupid now. “You’re probably a gentle hen of the greatest sorts if you haven’t done anything with Big G.” “What’s wrong with being gentle? I’ll court Gilda how I see fit to do so, even if she has a predilection for Pegasus Ponies and I have a list of every pony she has ever slept with and how quickly it occurred.” After thinking about it, Greta decided that she needed to add Lightning’s name to the list while showing her all the other names to see if there was anyone she recognized. “Do you want to read it?” “Sure, why not, I could use a good laugh.” The cheese in the burrito certainly tasted real enough for Lightning, so she might as well see this mythical list of ponies Gilda has been with. An hour later Lightning found herself recognizing several names on the list, including one Rainbow Dash of whom she had to silently admit was still a pilot with the Wonder Bolts reservist because she was less of a show off than Lightning had been. Lightning knew she screwed up personally and couldn’t really blame Rainbow for saving the day when she did, but it was a surprise to know that Gilda and Rainbow had a history together. - Chrysalis was now in medical room aboard The Shining Jewel and was looking at the mare sleeping away in the medical bed, she had learned a lot about all the crew members. Mostly from what information she could scrounge up on each of them that is. Things like how Rarity was a commoner and had been working as a waitress on Desserzon, which is until she became the captain of the Caravel Boutique and eventually Baroness of The Shining Jewel Estate. Rarity was a self made mare and Chrysalis wanted to see where she went with it, even if it was boring she was curious enough to travel around with the mare that was drawing all these weirdoes to herself. However Sassy Saddles was someone she had learned quite a bit of history about, she kind of felt sorry for the mare and knew of her medical history that led her to being horrified by medical beds like the one she was currently in. She was one of the last crew members Chrysalis had yet to make uncomfortable, she didn’t particularly feel like making Sassy uncomfortable until she could handle it. Chrysalis had already talked to Coco about how cute her butt was, that mare needed to be complimented more on looking as adorable as she did. Coco was one of those Earth Pony’s who were unnaturally gifted with incredible physical strength despite her being comically meek in appearance, Chrysalis would not make the mistake of going too far with a pony like that again after getting violently beaten to near death by Paneer Masala. Coriander was stiff with her, she understood that he was around during the Changeling invasion and she knew that they weren’t going to be the best of friends because of that as he was scouting for the location of The Tasty Treat at the time. At least Coriander was amiable enough to not cause problems. Saffron was more talkative but was mostly interested in history of her ancestors. Given how long Chrysalis had been alive she was glad to talk about the legacy of the mauve heroes. They could be friends, provided that Chrysalis does nothing that could be held against her while they were on the same ship as that would get awkward. She also had a really delicious looking mane, not that Chrysalis couldn’t look or enjoy another mares crowning glory. Rover was a bit more problematic as she didn’t know where he came from and he didn’t seem to care where he was going, but he wasn’t a threat at the least and certainly didn’t feel as such to Chrysalis. The Diamond Dog did need some combat training and wrestling would certainly suit his build nicely. Lightning Dust was an iffy one to say the least, but she was apparently digging herself up from being thrown into a ditch she dug for herself. She seemed the most likely candidate to not care about having her mane eaten by a Changeling, which could very well be Chrysalis given that the mare might be willing to part with her hair for a percentage of her personal paycheck as a crew member. Aside from that she seemed to have learned her lesson and Chrysalis was willing to work with her. Gilda and Greta were quite the pair, Chrysalis was kind of amused about all the emotions flowing between them and yet a little confused about them at the same time. They were geniuses plain and simple and Chrysalis would certainly enjoy their company, especially if Greta was open to a game of Twisty. Bernard and Trapeze were questionable; Chrysalis could swear she felt the love of lovers between them even if they didn’t smell like they were. Trapeze was a magician in Manehatten, she signed off with the crew to use the ship as a way to tour around while running her shows and her history was known. Bernard’s history was as lost as Rover’s was, but he seemed to be okay for a meat eating false rabbit. Chrysalis wouldn’t mind joining the Trapeze Troupe if she ever got bored as Trapeze always seemed to be doing something. She had yet to figure out the mechanics of that darn hat that Trapeze always had close by. The most mysterious figure was the one that Chrysalis had a hardest time keeping in mind, Vera Blossom. She would do a lot of things just to have that kind of ability around her butt, and then people wouldn’t notice how lackluster her caboose was. Bernard and Rover didn’t match Vera’s utter lack of information and all she knew was that Vera was the crews psychologist, massage expert and therapy provider. That was not to mention she was a SNUGGLES member who was off the grid because of her… would it really be a disability if about every Changeling would have wanted that ability? Universal ignorance is a useful thing to have in case you angered the wrong person, but not being able to control it is just as bad as it is good. Chrysalis had to know who she was bunking with, because she had a long road ahead of her if she’s to find a planet to settle down on for her first Changeling Colony. These people weren’t so bad; the only problem is that they didn’t have to acknowledge her regal nature as a beautiful queen that could have a nice butt if she tried a lot harder. For whatever reason Changeling transformation wouldn’t give Chrysalis a good looking butt and that was a pretty important thing to have. It was going to be scary working without other Changelings for a change, but she could handle that or at least she thought that she could. - “Call Sign, what are they doing and why haven’t they left yet?” Trap Bar thought Rarity’s ship would have been gone by now. The EVA suits were found to be works of art and were quite functional in space. That much the stallion appreciated. What he didn’t appreciate was that he might or might not have been talking to the best Black-Ops team he has ever seen. “Apparently one of their crew members is calling a reservist in the Wonder Bolts. Not only do they have Queen Chrysalis with them as a crew member, but they also apparently have an in with the Wonder Bolts according to how you think. Looks like they just wrapped up and are going sir, their course is Antilur Station.” Call Sign looked up to his commander. “Isn’t that the station that went quiet sir? Shouldn’t we warn them about it? I still don’t think they’re a black ops team.” “I’m sure they’ll be fine Call Sign, they are pretty good at this stuff. Check with the other ships and have them report in for any activity from the other sectors.” Trap Bar figured Baroness Rarity and her crew could handle it, the fact that Rarity was a Baroness at all told him Celestia obviously had a great plan in mind and her agents were doing good work. - Celestia was trying to play tennis with Twilight and trying not to think of what happened the second time an alicorn has ingested a banana within the last thousand years, this time there was at least some consent given. Now both the mares were having problems focusing on anything other than each other. Princess Celestia didn’t have much in mind aside from Twilight at the moment and her favorite pony’s oncoming coronation ceremony. The point of the aerial tennis match was to teach Twilight how to use her new wings. - “Okay we can go now. I just finished catching up with an old friend and making her jealous that I got to fly a Javelin.” Gilda just spun the communications chair and gave a jaunty salute to Rarity with a cheerful smile on her beak. “Am I the only one a little freaked out by the smile on her beak, because it kind of scares me a bit on a primal level.” How Opal would know what that felt like would be left up to a later discussion. “Don’t worry Kitten, I’m perfectly fine.” Yep something was off about Gilda’s smile and tone of voice. “I might even kiss Greta on the beak later.” “She actually wants to return the signs of attraction from her best friend; it’s the first sign of the apocalypse!” An entirely upset Opal wailed in fear. “Please, just get us moving Opal.” The no nonsense tone from Rarity snapped the supposed AI out of her panicking. They were immediately on course for their next destination leaving the Equon System behind. Author's Note Samurai Jack is back! I'm a fan of the old show and I hope it can end on an incredible note.
-55-“How are things going Opal, I hope Chrysalis isn’t causing too much trouble.” So far this jump through space was going uninterrupted and nothing bad was happening and it had been two hours, Rarity was kind of glad for that and it looked like they’d reach their stop at Antilur Station on time. The trip would take approximately six hours and that nothing had happened on the first hour or two spoke volumes about how nicely things were going. “Nothing report on her that could be troubling to us. Except that she is setting up in the armory on deck two, section two, she is currently accompanied by Lightning Dust. I think they are talking about target practice. Coco is experimenting with the new impulse saddle design in the lab in section three there. Mostly testing the battery output and is making a request for a drone to test it once we reach the space station. We can start production on them soon when it is determined they are within the perimeters that we’re trying to meet. Trapeze, Rover, Bernard and Saffron are using storage for practicing tricks for a show. Coriander is in the cafeteria in section two by himself.” Opal continued down the list and finished off with what everyone was doing and where they were on the ship. “You are here on the bridge of your ship Captain Mom, listening to my report on deck one, bridge section. Greta and Gilda have moved onto outfitting the Caravel Boutique with single barreled turrets in deck three now more commonly known Han Gar and are quiet for the most part. They said something about not drawing too much power from the shields while they given your first ship a tune up, also there are talks of designing a vehicle with my assistance. Sassy is still in medical deck two, section two where Vera is keeping a watch on her progress. Sassy will be able to come out within the next week and a half. All drones are accounted for and active, no unintentional life signs are on the ship and there are no bugs in the system.” “Well for once I might have a jump that goes perfectly.” Leaning back Rarity pulled out a trashy romance novel, paper books were as her namesake would suggest, a rarity. “How are you feeling personally Opal?” “Can’t complain, at least your injuries were closed up by the Elements of Harmony. The stitches have been removed and you don’t have any scars. If only Sassy had been caught up in that harmony magic.” The harmony magic had covered quite a few miles and had saved many a pony, changeling and most life in the general area from life threatening injuries. Opal thought the wave of magic looked pretty from orbit. “Surprisingly everything is going accordingly this time. Sorry about the gala not turning out how you wanted it too.” “Don’t be, it actually gave me some perspective. Also I’m legally a noble now, earning a title is better than just buying it I’d think.” Rarity had Opal look up the laws pertaining to it, Rarity had total governance of her ship with the possible exception of what went on in the hangar. Lightning was however still subject to Rarity’s rules even if she was hired on by Gilda. No one could tell Rarity how to run her ship and there were a list of rules that Rarity had hashed out with the crew through a democratic process. The one rule that all agreed on was to never unnecessarily endanger the ship unless they had several good reasons for doing so, which was on top of having safety regulations for crew members around the hangar. “If things are going well, then I guess I should consider myself lucky. I have a steady income and an allotment of friends that I can trust, well aside from Lightning or Chrysalis. I’m not too sure about either of them.” “Chrysalis I can understand, she’s a bit of a schemer and knows how to plan for an eventuality, mostly for the fact that seems bored a lot of the time.” What Opal didn’t get was the other one Rarity mentioned. “What about Lightning though, what’s your problem with her?” “She’s quite crass and I’ve looked her up, she was definitely tossed out of the Wonder Bolts for reckless endangerment though that’s not the entire story.” It was always a good idea to keep possible threats from the crew themselves in mind and as such Rarity was on top of things. Chrysalis wasn’t exactly the friendliest sort with her history as the Changeling’s leader and Lightning had almost gotten charged with mare slaughter. “The main issue of said endangerment was that she hospitalized fourteen ponies, most with a serious permanent injury or disfigurement of some kind. As long as she keeps her behavior civil, I will have nothing more to say about it. I would like to add for the sake of clarity that Rover’s not very threatening and he smells awful and could use more baths; I’m surprised he even manages to keeps his teeth clean. As far as I’m concerned Rover’s only threat to me is his horrible hygiene.” Rarity had no problem with Trapeze, Bernard, Coriander or Saffron as new members to the crew. She had some issues with Rover, being that he needed to bathe more often and there was not much known about his past except for hearing from him that there were several incidents where several of his previous bosses died horrifically. Said bosses were likely Diamond Dogs doing some exceedingly stupid things. - Coco had just finished putting the touches on the prototype design for the latest impulse saddle; she couldn’t wait for her efforts to come to fruition now that she had tweaked the battery modification on the saddle. Now that she finished that and had a few vanilla impulse saddles made to sit around in stock for sale, she was without a lot to do for the last hour of the journey to their next destination. Visiting Equus had been nice, if only the circumstance were better. Needless to say things weren’t all too bad in the end. Right now Coco had a lot of free time on her hooves and had wondered what she could do with it, her belly grumbled and she rubbed at it with a hoof. It had been a while since she last ate, so it was time to get some food. All she had to do was walk to the middle of deck two to find the cafeteria. “Hello Mr. Cumin, I was wondering if you could make something for me. I’m a bit hungry.” Coco had thought Mr. Cumin was a nice stallion; she became quite flustered when her stomach grumbled loudly. He looked up from the counter he was wiping off in shock and nodded with a small smile on his face. “I’ll see what I can get you Ms. Pommel, have a seat. You’ve got the stomach of a tiger, like my daughter.” Politely Coriander inclined his head to her and when Coco took a seat he asked for clarification. “What kind of flavor will you be having today?” “I’m thinking something a bit bland and maybe lightly salted?” Coco watched as Coriander walked off without another word, she so hoped she didn’t run into Chrysalis again. That Changeling wouldn’t stop talking about her butt, it was quite embarrassing and she didn’t like the queen very much. “There’s nothing I can do about it now, Chrysalis is part of the crew and Rarity said she had good skills in many places. Even if I don’t like the looks she sends my way, I’m not that adorable am I?” Brushing her hoof across the top of the table a bit of dust kicked up and she sneezed that sounded insanely adorable for how lightly she squeaked. She sighed and waited for the food, the table and chairs were kind of new but slightly covered in dust. “See, right there, she’s the cutest member on the crew!” The poor pony jumped at the sound of Chrysalis’s voice and looked to see Lightning and Chrysalis standing behind her. “I guess… I think still Greta is as adorable. Well, if you can overlook that Gilda shrine she has.” Lightning shook her head wanting to get rid of that particular memory. “Greta’s too positive and outgoing, Coco here is a bit of an introvert and shy. That’s classic adorable right there! Plus she always cowers at the sound of my voice, so that makes her a fun pony to cuddle too.” Chrysalis and Lightning sounded like they were getting along, even if they were discussing the idea of who was the cutest crew member. Chrysalis sat down and brought Coco into a hug with one hoof and sniffed her mane before licking her lips, making Coco shudder. “So onto our next discussion who’s the most naturally beautiful member of the crew, we’ve already got the cutest right here.” “I still think Greta is the cute one. As for beautiful I’d have to say Saffron or maybe Gilda. Gilda isn’t cute, but she does have a really nice butt, her feathers are quite soft and she cleans up nicely when she wants to.” Something about what Lightning said caused Chrysalis to release Coco and slam her face into the table to start whining pitiably. Ignoring Chrysalis, Lightning continued on while thinking Rarity was too manufactured in her appearance, so a natural beauty she was not. “Hey, I’m not about to discount Gilda’s beauty based on her personality… then again I do like her gruff and rough attitude.” Coco didn’t know whether to pat Chrysalis on the back to comfort her or move to a different table while waiting for Mr. Cumin to get away from awkward conversations like this. She decided to stay seated and ask a question. “What about Rarity? I think she looks nice.” Plus Coco had been friends with Rarity for a long time. “Yes, but she’s a try hard. I can’t consider her for anything related to natural beauty, Saffron doesn’t wear makeup and Gilda is quite attractive despite some minor flaws.” Here Lightning looked at Coco with serious gaze. “Have you ever even slept with a stallion? Before you ask I have slept with mares too. I’m never going to want children and was a career focused mare, so I made sure the stallions always used protection or else… that was back when I had a little more muscle on me. I can’t really get into a sexual discussion with this virgin about these kinds of things.” “Hey, I’m plenty good in a sexual discussion even if I’ve never had any… well aside from cuddling next to Cadence for one night where I gave her a massage before the failed wedding day.” Chuckling Chrysalis pulled her face from the table. “That was the best night’s sleep that I’ve ever had, don’t think I’ll ever get that chance again after crashing her wedding before it could even happened. Alicorns are really quite cuddly, but even I’m not evil enough to ruin a married couple. Though I’m evil enough to try and steal the bride before hoof though.” “So you’re looking for a planet for your people, how are you going to do that when we’ll most likely be sticking to commercial planets?” Coco asked with a sudden thought about how Chrysalis was going to go about achieving her goals. “We’re not exactly going to go into frontier space you know.” “No, but that doesn’t mean I can’t set up a Changeling colony on a planet that’s already inhabited.” The most basic way of waving off the question posed to Chrysalis about how she hadn’t thought much of her plan through this time, it happened like when she didn’t know that butt shaking thing Cadence and Twilight Sparkle did. Thinking of that particular subject she muttered out loud. “Why does it always come back to butts for me? Whether it’s biting me in the butt or my butt isn’t chunky enough to get a good mate.” “Because it’s the one thing you think you lack in being nearly perfect.” This was a rather insightful thing for Lightning to say, it was almost out of left and right field at the same time. “That’s not necessarily true, but you will continue to blame it on the fact that your butt is quite lacking.” “I have no idea what you are talking about; I’m perfectly wondrous to look at. My very visage is that of a regal queen that all shall acknowledge.” Chrysalis put a hoof on her chest and pointed her nose towards the ceiling of the cafeteria, a single sniff and she turned towards Coco. “You’re mane smells real nice today, maybe you should consider growing it out a bit.” “No thank you, I’m already quite aware of why you would ask me to do that.” Everyone on the crew had to know about everyone else and Coco understood why longer hair might be attractive to Chrysalis. “Well spoil my fun, at least Lightning doesn’t care about her mane and I can mooch hair off of her.” Chrysalis turned to Lightning who rolled her eyes. “Sure, but you’d have to pay me for it. I don’t mind having stubble where my hair should be.” Lightning had long ago lost having any sort of pride in her appearance. If Chrysalis wanted to eat her mane then she was okay with it as long as made the Changeling earn it somewhat. “So do you want tail too?” “Also some of the thicker stuff that is between your hind legs if you don’t mind.” Chrysalis didn’t care what part of the body the hair came from, though there were different flavors involved for different places. “Actually, that is something I do care about so I will have to decline that. You can only take from my head and tail only; we’ll haggle out pay later.” Lightning didn’t pay attention to Coco gawking at her and the fact that she was seriously discussing this. “Do you pay more for clean or dirty? Do you prefer cutting it yourself or should I do it at an agreed upon time and give you the resulting mass? You know you can even pay me to have sex with you so you can get your first time out of the way. I didn’t exactly sell my body on the streets, but nothing says I can’t do it with someone who knows what she likes.” “Either or, Dirty has a different more unique flavor, but I like clean more. I like doing the cutting myself so don’t do anything to your mane or tail without my input.” This conversation Chrysalis was a part of was beginning to get rather weird for Coco. “Oh and the longer it is the more fun I can have. Oh and no matter how tempted I am, I’ll have to decline the sex. I’m saving myself explicitly for love and marriage.” “Well where’s the fun in that?” Lightning obviously slept around and had plenty of one night stands. Chrysalis, despite her very provocative nature, was surprisingly and absurdly celibate. “Are we still good for a game of Twisty though?” Coriander couldn’t have brought Coco’s food soon enough because she was trying not to look at the two mares next to her. Eventually they both tried to convince her that a game of Twisty would be fun, she doubted that as Lightning had a smug smirk stating she’d win and Chrysalis had a lecherous smile stating she’d enjoy touching another mare without going too far. - “We’re dropping out of the jump right about… now.” The station appeared before them in the distance in space; it was exceedingly large and far more so than Geoptis was. It did hold a population of hundreds of thousands of people and was a round several hundred miles long and wide. “That’s Antilur Station… though something seems off here. I’ll commence with contacting the station on all frequencies possible, one at a time of course.” “Opal, what seems to be off about it?” As they got closer Rarity started noticing the first signs of something being terribly wrong with it. There were no guiding lights and a bunch of ships were just floating around it with no activity at all. “Please, give me an idea as to what is going on here. I feel a chill up my spine just looking at all those ships just floating about aimlessly.” “I don’t know much and I’m not getting much either. None of the ships floating about the station have any life on them and most of them are military, none of those ships are active at all. Scans are picking up a lot of life readings from the station itself, but not the same amount of activity you would expect from said life. Something is wrong with the scanners and it’s hard to pick out any movement going on in there. In fact the life signs we’re receiving even seem to be popping into existence and disappearing at random intervals.” Opal slowed down the Shining Jewel and kept it distant from the station and the others ships; she directed the scanners at the station. “Life support, gravity generation, energy generation and hydroponics on Antilur Station seem to be working. I’m not getting anything else but that alone. Something is definitely very wrong here Rarity. There are no communications going on around here and this place should be a hub of activity, no movement from any of the ships either. It’s like they are all dead in space or are ghost vessels. They almost have the same general systems active as the station, but nothing else.” “You said energy generation is still going on here, can you give me some more detail?” The station didn’t look alive and Rarity didn’t want to go in there looking dark like it did, The Shining Jewel was perfectly fine at the moment and she didn’t need to scrounge for spare parts like she did when the Caravel Boutique had been damaged a long time ago. “This situation requires investigating, but only through drones. Nobody is to leave Shining Jewel under any circumstance, unless I personally give them the permission to do so. Try to keep in mind that one of our crew members is a Changeling.” “I will tell everyone that something is up with Antilur Station and that leave is cancelled due to unforeseen issues. As for the energy generation, it’s working perfectly and nothing seems wrong with the power the station’s reactor is putting out. This is odd because that power is disappearing to somewhere and all the other active places are not enough to result in this much going missing into thin air without another system being used in overdrive and I’ve got nothing that results in that being the case. Hold on second, something new just came up on one of the smaller ships. It has a moving life sign on board and it’s so faint I hardly noticed it.” The Shining Jewel turned and started to focus on the ship in question and the screen enlarged to show a small ship that was quite familiar to Rarity. “Is that the Pyrrhic Victory, can you hail that ship to see if Ember is on board? She might be in trouble.” “Right hailing now…” After a minute or so something popped up on the screen, but it wasn’t a brilliantly scaled blue dragon with minor social problems that was a bad-ass bounty beater that Opal didn’t mind being around Rarity. “Is that Mr. Spew?” The squid on screen got slightly happy and waved a tentacle at Rarity. “Are you alright Mr. Spew?” Mr. Spew made a loud chirping noised and seemed to nod that yes, he was okay and he pointed to a readily accessible feeding device. There was also a completely unclean water tank, but that was to be expected as sewer squids loved swimming in filth or so Rarity had learned when she looked it up and wished that she hadn’t. “Have you seen Ember recently?” The response was the squid hopping up and down, Rarity took that to mean that he had seen her. “So is she investigating here?” The sewer squid just gave her a flat stare, all while tipping its conical head to the side as if asking if she were seriously sanity challenged. “Right, well, I guess that should have been obvious given she’s not with you at the moment.” The squid gave off a sad whine and Rarity took that to mean that he was worried about Ember being in there alone. “I know I’m going to regret myself later for this but… would you like to come aboard for some company Mr. Spew?” The little squid seemed ecstatic at the prospect of having people around to spend time with by clapping its tentacles together, because without Ember it was really lonely being by himself. His intelligence was above average for a sewer squid and Rarity didn’t think that came from the familiar bond he and Ember shared. “I hope Ember doesn’t get too upset with us for watching out for Mr. Spew. If I remember correctly she doesn’t know about The Shining Jewel yet. Can we bring the ship on board Opal?” Rarity’s response was Opal simply appearing on screen and throwing her a cheerful salute. - “Why are we picking up the sewer squid again?” Gilda didn’t want that thing in her hangar, the squid that is. The ship was perfectly fine by her standards and she was okay with rescuing the beautiful scout ship that looked like it had its bells and whistles firmly in place. The ship was right next to Antilur Station outside one of the docks; Ember didn’t park it in the docking bay because it obviously wasn’t a very safe place to land her ship. “He’s a friend of my friend and I know about him. Just don’t mean him any harm and he won’t hurt us, whatever is going on in the space station must be dangerous enough that Ember felt she had to leave the poor dear behind by himself.” Rarity watched as they brought the Pyrrhic Victory aboard safely, sure the sewer squid disgusted her on several levels but that didn’t mean she held any ill will towards him personally for it. “We’re also bringing the ship aboard in case Ember left a message on it for anyone. You know, in case whatever is happening here has happened to her as well.” “Sounds like a good enough excuse to me for us to help him out by giving him some company.” Greta poked her head up from one the Caravel Boutique’s new energy turrets. Said turrets were good against missiles, some fighters and a few other things. She pulled down her welding mask and went back into the workings of the turret with Mr. Welder. “Well it’s already been decided anyway. Opal, can you check the ship for any messages she might have left behind.” Rarity walked into the ship and saw Mr. Spew diving back into his tank with a small splash; he squealed happily as he had someone came to keep him company. He was no longer alone or in a silent place. “We very well can’t rule out that that something has already occurred.” “Found it, patching it through the monitor on the ship, if you will look towards the front.” Opal popped up on one of the screens there. “Then I will get to your feature presentation, replaying message now.” After a few seconds of silence the screen popped up showing Ember wearing the EVA suit Rarity had made for her, only she wasn’t wearing the helmet. Mr. Spew popped up out of the water to look at the screen and grabbed onto the edge of the tank to watch as well. “Okay I’ve been inside Antilur Station several times over the past few days, but those idiots jumped the gun and I didn’t give them the go ahead to storm the place. Now they’ve disappeared too! Hopefully if something happens to me and this message is found, then I have either failed to take care of the danger here or I’m taking my sweet time with getting back my ship which you are likely watching this on.” Ember narrowed her eyes and they became slightly fierce as she pushed her face close to the camera and she looked particularly angry. “Do not go onto Antilur Station without a completely sealed off suit on, for whatever reason a sealed suit is required for assured safety! Without this comfortable EVA suit a good friend of mine made me, whatever has been getting the military scouting drones and the guys that had been behind them would have gotten me too by now. I have an idea as to what is going on here and I’m researching the possible danger, what evidence I have so far should be under the file name ‘Morpheus Scenario’ and the password is ‘Tranquilized Deity’. Though I have yet to get a visual on these things or thing, I’m certain I’m close to finding out the truth of what’s happening here. This is a likely the work of the deadliest sifter drifter classification I’ve ever had the displeasure to encounter, probably an invasive top level bio-hazard like a mechanical or biological grey goo situation, maybe even worse than that. I really hope it’s not that, although if either of those goo types were happening then they would have been far more noticeable then this mostly empty station. Whatever is going on, there’s something intelligent here and it’s apparently a very slow and painful death if you are caught. If I can find out where the missing people are, then I can still rescue them and the victims that haven’t died yet. Don’t mind the sewer squid; he can take care of himself until he runs out of food. Thankfully eating his own waste can sustain him for a time.” “That is so gross…” Rarity felt ill at hearing that. “Yeah, well I can kind of see why Celestia wouldn’t want me to eat ‘THAT’ in front of ponies. Though there is a double standard about that.” Chrysalis’s voice caused Rarity to jump and put a hoof to her chest breathing in and out rapidly. “Did I spook you? Well I would think that the space station is spookier as I’m getting some really dangerous vibes from it. The kind of vibes that say come in, we welcome you to stay. Of course if the station were a spider, then we’d be the flies it’s trying to attract with honey.” “Wait, wait… are you saying that the third thing Changelings can eat is…” The Realization struck Rarity and now she understood why the special dietary needs said ‘other crap’ when a third thing was listed by Chrysalis in her job application. “Oh my dear goddesses please tell me you haven’t kissed anyone with your mouth recently.” “Don’t worry, I cleaned my mouth out with soap, various dental pastes, shampoo, mouth wash and maybe gargled a little bit of bleach while I was at it because I had a thing going. That made my teeth far whiter than they have ever been and my mouth is one hundred percent clean after I rinsed it out I’ll have you know. This is why I will abstain from eating that particular food source as a crew member, even though ponies eat honey from a bee’s behind and guano is actually a delicacy for some Zebra societies.” Chrysalis was completely serious, as her clean grin would attest to. “I assure you my mouth is quite clean, though Celestia was right about the reactions a pony would have to hearing that.” “Please, stick eating to love or hair, because that I can handle. Opal, can you open that file that Ember mentioned?” The file popped up on screen earning Rarity’s attention, she was trying to ignore what she just learned and will eventually forget it with a more pressing situation at hoof. Opal was looking it over quickly. “If you can give me a summary of what it says, that would be helpful.” “Morpheus Scenario, it’s about a rare type of sifter drifter classification that hardly ever shows up. It’s the hardest to kill, stop and or fight without completely and ultimately devastating the place said classification has taken root in. Ember seems to have catalogued this as being the problem currently plaguing the station.” There were several seconds of silence as Opal poured over the information. “The reason why I can’t get a good signal on any of the life signs is because of a byproduct of… consuming massive quantities of energy, yeah that sounds about right. This makes it impossible to track where this thing or these things are in the station at any given time, so we can’t trust scanners to work correctly in any capacity. Drones won’t work either; they are eventually attacked and are found partially or fully drained of their batteries without having picked up a single visual image and are miraculously left mostly undamaged. These particular sifter drifters are of the deadliest classification simply known as ‘Visitant’.” Author's Note Sifter Drifter 'Visitant' class = almost certainly impossible to kill and lethal. Will Rarity be smart enough to avoid a possible confrontation with something that can't be killed conventionally? We're talking Cthulhu build up levels of bad here.
-56-“Okay everyone; you should all know why I called you here.” Rarity was sitting at the table with everyone else. Minus Sassy, everyone in the crew was here and she was going to go over their options as to what they would do about Antilur Station. “If you don’t know already we have arrived at Antilur Station, but there’s a big problem. Apparently the station is infested with an unknown quantity with unknown abilities aside from the fact that it drains the energy out of several things and is under the classification Visitant which we will refer to as the infestation. I have gathered us here to discuss our options. Just know that no matter what is said, I will be going in there… alone if I have to. I’m of course very scared of what I might run into, but at least Ember said that an EVA suit is enough to prevent it from coming after you whatever it is, though it might not be entirely foolproof its something. Now who wants to speak first?” “I do, I would like to simply say that you’re crazy for wanting to go into a place that left several military vessels empty, dark or even possibly infested with the infestation in question.” Gilda stood up and seemed to have a slight far off look in her eyes. “If you can remember, I and Greta lived through a scenario like that. I can’t speak for Greta, but I don’t like the idea of getting post traumatic stress disorder while possibly being hunted by whatever has made a whole space colony go dark.” “I have my own problems with that Rarity, such as you putting yourself in danger though I logically know why you are doing so. You do realize that from the way Ember tells it, this kind of infestation is both virulent and deadly. At least to the point that destroying the entire station is the expected ultimate way to deal with the problem, I don’t think destroying an entire space station is a good idea assuming we’re trying to rescue the victims if they are even alive.” The monitor in the cafeteria was huge and Opal was taking advantage of it to appear as if she were sitting on a lawn chair on a beach wearing sunglasses. “There is also the fact that getting caught by the infestation is considered to be a slow death and we don’t even know what that death entails except there are a lot of people dying on the station from it at this very moment.” “What were the systems still active on the station again?” Greta had an idea as to how the people were dying. “The stations reactor, life support, hydroponics and gravity generation, all those systems are still running normally despite the entire station being dark and whatever excess energy the reactor is making is disappearing into nothing.” Sitting up and lowering her sunglasses, Opal gave Greta a flat look. “That’s what I’m getting when I look at the station. Just as a reminder, the life signs I’ve been getting are also sporadically popping up all over the place in there so the energy readings from said system being flat out normal is the most abnormal thing going on here. We know the infestation is eating energy, but not how it eats it. Does it bite into something, does it absorb the energy from its surroundings or does it have to make contact to do so? If we are going to go in there, we need a method to get some kind of visual on something we can work with here as I don’t like the idea of dealing with something blindly like this. Especially not when moms life is on the line, I’m not about to stop her from going if she’s dead set on helping people. Was there a reason for this question?” “I asked, mostly because we really shouldn’t turn off the reactor if we do go inside the station.” It made sense to Greta, but it didn’t make sense to the others who sent questioning looks her way. “The infestation is likely feeding on multiple sources of energy and if we turn them off, then the people who are still alive will start dying faster since the infestation will getting energy from the stations population alone and why there might be survivors. Opal can you remotely access anything in the station?” “That’s a negative Greta, I can’t get into the stations systems and I probably wouldn’t want to given the current situation. If I were to get stuck in the stations systems then that would kind of leave The Shining Jewel basically, for all intents and purposes meant, crippled.” Opal tossed away the sunglasses and rolled onto her belly, her fluffy tail started to lazily drift back and forth. “Though it brings up a particular question, how do you suppose this infestation would get energy from the gravity or hydroponics systems?” “Hydroponics is usually the production of food or atmosphere providing moss right? So if left unchecked then the moss could very well grow out of control and wouldn’t that cause the station to eventually explode without something to release the pressure? That would actually take a long time admittedly, so forget that I mentioned it.” Mechanical issues were Gilda’s thing and the oxygen production factory would cause problems only after years of being left unattended. “We don’t know what the infestation exactly is or what it looks likes, but if it can absorb the life out of living beings as well as it can machinery. Will if the infestation can do that, then it very well could do the same thing to plants and the bacteria used that either helps or hinder said plants growth. As for the gravity generation systems, it could be taking the gravitational potential energy that’s being created. That kind of energy is negative and could be consumed to possibly balance out the positive energy being consumed; so the infestation must be large in number or just large in size. Large in number is more likely than size as Ember had stated that she has been in there several times, it would be impossible to miss something if it were huge from eating so much.” “So we’re not even sure what this infestation can do, but hypothetically speaking it would be possible for what we’re dealing with here to warp all nearby gravity out of shape by just eating it? That could be a nasty defense mechanism.” Surprisingly that little tidbit had come from Coco; she gave everyone a slight glare that just looked adorable coming from her. “Hey, don’t look so surprised! I am the inventor of Impulse Saddles you know, so it’s not that hard to figure out that gravitational forces exerted by the system regulating it could be altered in a dangerous manner in a given region if that energy is either being taken or given. So what if this infestation was capable of gravity pulses deadly enough to crush us for getting too close?” “No, it wouldn’t be using the gravity pulses to defend itself with, but it could possibly be an incidental side effect or maybe useful for propulsion. The file Ember left behind stated that the battery drained drones were always found in perfect condition, if gravity was being used to catch or hinder prey it certainly isn’t aware that it’s capable of doing so.” The crew sat silent after Opal finished her statement for a moment. “Okay, everyone, we’re all going to need EVA suits. I’m making it mandatory for the crew to have at least one functional EVA suit on hoof, hand, paw or whatever available at all times for safety concerns. Ember said that it won’t come after us as long as we’re in a sealed suit… I just got an idea as to how we can safely test that.” They all turned to Rarity and waited for her to continue. “I’m going need at least Chrysalis and Vera for the plan I have in mind, otherwise we’ll wait here for at least eighteen hours in the hopes that Ember comes back out, we’re currently parked where her ship was. If she doesn’t, some of the EVA suits I will be making in the meantime will be seeing use right after production.” “Would you really be willing to put me in danger so soon after I joined the crew?” Chrysalis gave Rarity a big teary eyed look that made her look halfway adorable, only halfway as it was creepy that Chrysalis could even get her eyes to look like a puppies. “Please, do get me mauled. I quite frankly enjoy it!” “What could I possibly do, need I remind you I’m mostly a masseuse and therapist.” Though it was nice that Vera was given a chance to be included in whatever idea Rarity had cooked up. “I wouldn’t exactly be helpful in a fight; my hooves were made for healing.” “I assure you that neither of you will be in too much danger, well at least Chrysalis won’t be. If things go according to my idea, then this will rely entirely on your ability to remain ignored Vera. That and Chrysalis’s ability to detect danger will be the safety net in case it goes wrong. I will explain later, it will require us to access one of the stations hangars.” The idea would involve putting a crew member in danger and Rarity didn’t know whether or not Vera would agree to it. “I’m not going to force you to do this, but it would be useful if you helped to give us some idea as to what we’re dealing with. However Chrysalis is key to saving you, Coco do we have enough spare Pinpoint Pullers for personal use?” “Well you’re no fun.” Here Chrysalis was willing to get brutalized and she wasn’t even going to be in danger, she may as well start taking this seriously. - “Why am I here again?” Coriander asked curiously, everyone else including Bernard had been outfitted by Rarity. “Everyone has to learn how these suits work, no exceptions Mr. Cumin. This is a matter of safety and could one day save your life. I’m taking my job as captain of this ship seriously and you’re my crew members that I have to look out for.” They were all in EVA suits on Rarity’s orders and would be learning to maneuver in zero gravity with the impulse saddles. However Bernard was obviously too small for an impulse saddle and required a different mode of movement. “It is in my best interest that all of you know how to operate our equipment. Bernard you need to work with someone who has an impulse saddle. Prepare to switch the gravity generator to off Opal, but keep the running lights on so we can at least give Ember a place to come back to if she’s doing okay.” Bernard nodded and moved over to Trapeze, he could figure out how to do this and when the gravity did switch off the fun began. Rover had a lot of fun and wasn’t having nearly as much trouble as Chrysalis was. This was the first time the Changeling Queen or Diamond Dog had been in zero gravity; Bernard seemed at home with it though. Trapeze and Saffron picked it up easily enough. Coriander was surprisingly good at maneuvering around. Greta and Gilda helped out where needed, as did Coco and Rarity. - “Okay it’s been long enough that it is quite obvious that Ember isn’t coming back, I will get some sleep and then upon awakening I will go on with my plan. That is if and only if Vera and Chrysalis are willing to go through with it. Otherwise I plan to explore inside the station and see if I can find a black box or something of the sort to bring back.” Looking to all of her friends around the table that just happened to be willing to work with her, Rarity saw that they still looked unsure about this. “Does anyone have any questions or doubts about this?” “Yes, if you want to find a black box then you’re going to need either me or Gilda. How were you expecting to find a black box without an engineer’s help?” Greta put her elbows on the tables as she crossed her claws while leaning forward. “I would ask you where to look of course, we need at least something on what we’re dealing with and the quickest way is either my plan or by at least one pony going in to scout around. Vera is probably the safest out of all of us when it comes to scouting around in there.” Standing up to leave the room Rarity didn’t look back to see everyone stayed where they were. “You have to admit, despite not being a stallion she has some almonds on her for wanting to go into a situation that even several vessels worth of military personnel have disappeared in.” Speaking from experience Lightning Dust knew this might go south, she had been with the Wonder Bolts long enough to see some things. Though something like this was beyond her previous training, she was still trying to get back into shape. “I’m not afraid to admit that I’m scared in this situation, I don’t want to go missing.” “I’m kind of scared too, but would you have rather stayed in the cardboard box?” Gilda held out a claw to Lightning in a friendly gesture. “No, I’m glad to be on the crew and out of destitution that was starting to get me into the idea that prostitution with the Changelings was my futures. Uh, no offense meant?” Lightning turned to Chrysalis who didn’t look offended at all. “Why would I be offended? We Changelings are helping less fortunate ponies… well unless you think the art of prostitution is horrible.” Chrysalis look offended that Lightning though she should be offended about the fact that Changelings were friends with a lot of prostitutes. “I’ll have you know it’s a noble industry we Changelings have been behind for years and is a relatively cheap method of getting lust, which is not as filling as love even it is the same basic energy. Why some Changelings might not even be alive today if a pony couldn’t be paid to sleep with another pony at random, I’m offended that you would think me offended by something like this!” “Yeah, be a little more culturally sensitive Lightning!” Saffron joined in and it made sense that she did given her heritage. “I am of Rover’s need to mark his territory inside his room.” “Yes, thunder pony is being quite mean to pack mates!” Even Rover joined in on the bandwagon, being that there were several culturally different species in the room it was easy enough for him to pick up on it as well. Lightning was a little more than confused as to the fact that Changelings being involved in prostitution was seen as normal and culturally fine, when it should be entirely morally questionable. - Chrysalis liked the bright blue EVA Suit as it was both form fitting and relatively comfortable, though she didn’t like the fact that her jagged horn was incased in the helmet. How was she supposed to impale her enemies on it with it covered like this? Now she also had to figure out what enemies she had to impale in the first place, also there weren’t noble ponies to torture within the bounds of the Equestrian law in space. At least she was going on an adventure with scary implications. “Chrysalis please tell me you aren’t mentally wandering off, we need you to be aware in case something tries to grab Vera when we get into position or in case the infestation comes after us before that.” Somehow Rarity had managed to convince Vera, Chrysalis and Coco to come on this excursion to the station with her. “Okay, Opal get the airlock and wait for us, we’ll make our way into the hangar to get Vera into position. Once we’re inside be alert for anything, movement, sound and whatever else.” “R-r-right Rarity, I’m going to do whatever you need of me.” Coco didn’t know how she got talked into this; Saffron was the one begging to go on this excursion so why did she want to come again? The poor pony was quaking in her yellow EVA suit and looking everywhere despite not even being inside the station with the infestation yet. Saffron was required to stay behind to protect the Shining Jewel and to come up with a plan next if this fails horribly. The CAT drone flew forward and accessed the airlock, after a moment it slid open. The interior of the airlock was dark until four lights shined on it, as the four floated forward gravity started to assert itself on them as soon as they were inside. The drone closed the airlock and then waited. “Good news Rarity, power is still available everywhere, but the lights are not on. I’m sorry I can’t take the drone in, so you’ll have to go through a door to the hangar by manual access. As a reminder I can’t remotely control anything on the stations, so if there’s any automated defense systems you might need to use your weapons.” Opal’s voice piped in over the four suits and all four of them nodded. “Impulse saddles off, Chrysalis you’re the danger detector here so take point.” It was quite helpful for Rarity to know if they were in danger or not. Chrysalis acting as a biological radar would be useful in this short sortie Rarity had planned. The operation was simple, try to get a visual of the infestation and confirm its appearance, that’s all they were doing here. “Keep the lights to low power, if the infestation is attracted to energy we don’t want to attract it to ourselves yet. Ember said this infestation didn’t attack her while she was wearing a suit. I’m not taking any chances; who knows what will attract the infestation towards us.” “I don’t feel any danger yet, so far we’re good to move.” Chrysalis exited the airlock into the dark corridors with a material rifle levitated before her. Energy weapons wouldn’t be very helpful here so Rarity and Chrysalis were both armed appropriately for the situation. It was only an idea, but the infestation might have been vulnerable to ferrous materials if it was electrically charged. “I’m feeling quite nervous if I’m to be honest here, this infestation sounds like something that might be able to kill even me. Keep the chatter to a minimum and let’s get a move on. The quicker we do this the quicker I can get back to figuring out how to make my butt look a little bigger in this suit.” Not a sound was heard aside from their hoof steps as they moved down the corridor. Coco looked behind herself and gasped. “Where’d Vera go?” Coco started to panic. “Coco she’s in front of you. Stop panicking, I’m here to make sure neither of you lose sight of her. Which if you remember right is quite easy to do despite the fact that she’s wearing an EVA suit in a garish rainbow of bright colors.” Rarity made a gagging noise, but pointed to Vera causing Coco to calm down. “I felt sick even making that thing, obviously it’s not helping her stand out and her ability to be missed is still going as strong as ever.” The silence was quite deafening, even Chrysalis seemed to pause for a moment to take it all in. Once they were down the corridor they turned right and were right outside a door to the hanger. “So are you going to open it or what?” It took a moment for Chrysalis to ask this because they had been standing there for a moment and they were watching her. “Oh thank goodness for a second there I thought you…” A thunderous groaning sound came from deeper down the corridors. “Whatever that is, it’s not coming towards us. It’s not intelligent, but it certainly is some kind of primal force.” Wrapping her hooves around herself Chrysalis started shivering violently. “I suddenly don’t think the infestation wants to hit on me, literally as much as figuratively.” “Coco if you and Vera will get the door for us through the manual override?” They weren’t very deep in the station, but that noise had freaked them all out. Even Rarity could feel a chill at how silent a lot of this station was at the moment, this place should have been packed with people of all kinds. “Please hurry, there’s this constant sense of dread that is starting to wear at my mind.” Coco and Vera opened the manual access and both started to pull on the doors, which required a certain amount of strength to move as they were somewhat heavy. The doors eventually slid out of the way thanks to the two earth ponies and once they were all on the other side of the doors, they forced the doors back together. They had officially made it into the hangar. “Okay we’re here, so what are we doing Rarity?” Coco saw that the hangar they got into was equally as silent as the corridor they left behind, a few empty vehicles laid scattered about. Rarity looked upwards and pointed her lights at what had to be the control room that was dark as everything else. “That’s where we need to go, we need to get the atmosphere barrier up and open the hangar. After that then we can position both Vera and Chrysalis. Though I don’t know how we’re going to get up…” The sound of shattered glass hitting the floor caused three ponies to freeze and then they looked at Chrysalis who was pointed her material rifle up at the window. “Is the infestation coming Chrysalis?” “Nope, that didn’t do it. I thought I’d expedite the process of getting us in there, so noise isn’t a factor.” If Chrysalis didn’t feel any threats coming their way then they should be safe, the key word here was should and so far they were safe. “Right maybe it doesn’t react to sound. If it’s managed to get all those victims, then sound wasn’t something that attracted its attention or I would like to hope so.” Was it Rarity or did things seem a little darker around them. “Right, since Chrysalis decided to cut out the middle mare I’m going to pull myself up there to get at the controls. Wait here; tell me if you detect any changes when I use my grapple.” Rarity lifted her hoof and aimed for the ceiling of the control room and used the pinpoint puller to pull herself safely up into it. It had only taken about five seconds. “Whoa, I think you certainly got its attention for a moment there and I’m feeling something much closer than it previously was and it was moving fast.” By Chrysalis’s standard she had never sensed anything like that before and now felt it far closer than she was comfortable with. “It has to be either the energy usage itself or the zero point energy that is used as an anchor when a pinpoint puller hits a surface. How far away would you say it was compared to how close it is now?” Rarity moved to the controls and was ready to use them. “If it isn’t picking up our communicating with one another then we’re good. However the infestations presence seemed to have jumped halfway across the distance between us in an instant… I’m not even sure there is just the one. We could be dealing with something that has a hive mind.” Chrysalis stowed her gun and looked to Coco, but couldn’t see Vera… she raised her hoof and started to point it aimlessly until it stopped when Vera appeared. “It could be like the Changeling mental linking ability where we almost become as one; honestly that ridiculous leap it made kind of freaks me out. I have never felt anything like that back on Equus and its worrying me, me the Changeling Queen!” “If something has you this worried, then we should all be far more cautious about what we do from here on out. Keep track of how the infestation reacts when I turn on the atmospheric barrier and open the door to space Chrysalis.” Rarity looked over the panel and turned it on, she then saw the computer screen come to life and she accessed the atmospheric barrier, opened the door to space and turned on all the lights in the hangar. Access codes were only needed to turn off the atmospheric barrier. “Okay I feel trouble coming, but it’s slower this time. Almost like it’s prowling towards us, like there’s a sense of curiosity in the air. It’s not here yet though.” Chrysalis, Coco and Vera turned around to a brighter light shining in the hangar as the doors opened; the atmospheric barrier was glowing brightly as light from The Shining Jewel shined inside the hangar. “Right, Vera find an open spot near the atmospheric barrier where Chrysalis can hit you with a pinpoint puller to pull you out if needed, Coco and Chrysalis go out into space.” It was only now that Rarity thought of something that might have made things a bit pear shaped. “This might not actually be a good idea, if the infestation reacts to pinpoint pullers like that. Then I might not be able to get down from up here using it, I might be able to turn off the hangars gravity and use the impulse saddle. We still don’t know how the infestation will react to that either. Opal we’re in position, are you ready for whatever might happen?” “No, but I get the feeling I know what you’re planning.” Opal was looking through the sensors and saw Coco and Chrysalis jumping outside the atmospheric barrier and they floated away from the station before activating their impulse saddles. “Do you have anything to report about using the impulse saddles in space Chrysalis?” “The infestation isn’t moving any differently; wait what if me pointing at Vera makes the infestation go for her?” Chrysalis and Coco turned back towards the Antilur. “We’re not going to learn much by losing Vera here.” “I beg to differ as we’re learning a lot here. According to you the fact that it’s not moving any different means that it isn’t able to detect us outside the station while we’re using the impulse saddles.” Coco had a good visual of Rarity, but Vera was hard to spot. At least until Chrysalis started to randomly pointed her hoof into the docking bay and found Vera shaking with fear. “I know this sounds a bit odd Vera, but I’m going to need you to remove your helmet and inhale deeply once and then put it back on quickly.” From her position Rarity could tell that Vera might have been sending her an incredulous look. “I have a reason for this; it might explain why the infestation can’t sense us while we’re wearing EVA suits. Chrysalis I need you to stop pointing at Vera.” Vera slowly reached up to her helmet and it started unfolding. She held her breath for a while, then after seeing nothing happening she inhaled deeply and promptly put the helmet back on. It folded over her face and pulled her mane back in before returning to a state where it could be sealed. The moment her helmet came off nothing had happened, the moment Vera took a breath the lights started flickering and the entire hangar started to seem as if it were slowly flooding with darkness. Rarity and Vera could swear they could hear the screams of children, men and women and if that wasn’t enough the temperature dropped by quite a few degrees. Vera was already hyperventilating as she saw the shadows shift about her and could almost see amorphous visages moving in it from her helmets lights. “Vera, if you can hear my voice stay absolutely still wherever you are. I don’t think it needs saying, but I’ll do it anyway. Whatever the infestation is, it’s currently in there with you and Rarity and getting Rarity out is going to be a problem as she’s in the back of the hangar.” Both Chrysalis and the shivering Coco beside her had their lights trained on the hangar, but the light wasn’t going through the veil of shadows that had begun forming up against the atmospheric barrier. “How are you doing in the control room Rarity?” “Oh just peachy darling, we’re both kind of trapped in the hangar with whatever a Visitant classification sifter drifter infestation is and we can’t even see anything thanks to whatever said infestation is doing. My thoughts of breathing in the air being something that would attract its attention to us was rather spot on, I also think I might be hallucinating a bit because I’m hearing a lot of horrid things.” They all stayed silent as the darkness completely enshrouded the hangar, even the light coming from The Shining Jewel couldn’t pierce it. Rarity started to match Vera by hyperventilating herself. “Opal, please tell me that you’re at least getting something from this.” “Yes, please tell us you’re getting something because I’m hearing things too.” Vera whimpered and closed her eyes; she stayed very still and hoped that her ability to be ignored kept her safe. “Can’t any of you hear that? They’re screaming!” “Rarity, Vera, I have all my sensors trained on that very hangar and….” Though Opal could very well see what was going on inside the hangar herself. “I’m not detecting anything.”
-57-“You can’t be serious right now! We’re both in the hangar with it and you can’t get a single thing on it?” Despite the haunting sounds flooding her ears and the darkness surrounding her causing her to panic, Rarity had temporarily overcome it with a bout of anger. “At least do something to get us out of here the noises are driving us crazy.” “What do you mean by us Rarity?” Once again Opal and a few others had forgotten Vera existed. “Vera and me, Opal… look can you just distract whatever this is and get us out of here?” Rarity really wished she could move to cover her ears, but she was currently paralyzed with fear that movement might let the darkness get her. “Please come up with something like yesterday, as my sanity is slipping quite fast darling.” “Hold on, coming up with a solution and… okay. Trapeze I need you to join Coco and Chrysalis, you’re going to open up another hangar and I’ll use a drone to lure it away.” If it was to save their trapped crew, Opal would make a personal sacrifice. If her plan worked then the sacrifice wouldn’t be needed. “While you’re getting that in order, I have to tell everyone something. I think this thing is force feeding negative emotions to Rarity… and… that other mare; I’m going to go with ‘what’s-her-name’. We’re outside the area of effect and we can’t exactly hear what they’re hearing in there. This thing feels really awful and for my first time with dealing with a danger in space, I’m really quite impressed with how far south this situation has gone. Is there a south in space?” Tilting her head to look at the hangar Chrysalis thought of something. “Couldn’t you just shoot the atmospheric barrier down and have it suck Rarity and what’s-her-name out into space Opal?” “Too dangerous, plus the explosive release of atmosphere could hurt Rarity when it pulls her out of the hangar control room, the other… I mean… damn it… Vera would be okay but I’m not risking it.” Of course Opal realized that using what she considered the most problematic crew member had its own disadvantage. “Hey, it’s still an option though. Which leads me to asking, why hasn’t it torn down the atmospheric barrier thing for energy yet? I mean I get that it’s important, but if you removed that wouldn’t the thing be incapable of breathing.” All these new experiences were the things that were missing from Chrysalis’s life, that and a promised game of Twisty with Lightning Dust. “Actually this thing might be something that is beyond breathing or it moves too fast to be forced into a vacuum. It’s a guess, but it could be actively avoiding taking any energy to the atmospheric barrier. It’s at least smart enough to possibly realize that that’s a really excessively bad idea on its part.” Greta was joining the conversation from The Shining Jewel. “That probably has happened to it before and it likely learned something from that experience, you say it’s intelligent right?” “Mostly intelligent, I’d say above some animals and below full on sapient. Good instincts at least, responded to a prey in its general vicinity who took one breath of air really damn fast.” That was an understatement and Chrysalis knew it, the reaction had almost been instantaneous and even Chrysalis didn’t think she could respond to something that could entrap you that fast. Feeling something touching her Chrysalis calmly turned to Trapeze who tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to a different hangar, on Trapeze’s back was Bernard who was determined to not be left behind by his partner. “I think the only reason it hasn’t grabbed either of them is because one has that unique ability to be ignored and Rarity is impossible to find because it can’t see her for some reason. Does it even have a physical body?” “Whatever it is, this is worse than what happened to us when this ship was still The Derringer. I can guarantee you that much.” Gilda’s comment was met with Greta’s voice making a confirming noise that this was scarier than what happened to them previously, any entire space colony with something like this on it was likely wiped out in hours or minutes. - The darkness quickly receded from the room and Rarity’s breathing soon became normal, which was when she saw Chrysalis enter the hangar and pulled off her suit to spread her wings and fly up to her. “Hey boss lady, this lovely queen is here to save the day!” Chrysalis carefully flew behind Rarity and slowly lifted her to carry her to the floor from hangar control room. Once she was done she pulled her suit back on after retracting her wings back into herself, she still had her helmet on and that was why the darkness hadn’t come back yet. At least she had hoped that the helmet was the reason why the darkness hadn’t flooded this hangar again at the sound of her wings beating against the air. Sound and movement didn’t seem to attract the infestation, but what did was the pinpoint puller and just simply breathing air within the presence of such a thing. It didn’t react much to her magic usage so there was at least that. “This is my first real danger in space that is not space itself and I’ve never felt so excited to be dealing with something so dangerous!” “Excuse me if I don’t share your enthusiasm, Opal a status report on the drone if you will.” Rarity quickly made her way for the atmosphere barrier and could see that Vera was already flying through the atmospheric barrier of The Shining Jewel. She decided to do the same and leap from the barrier flying towards the other barrier with the adventurous Chrysalis following. “It got out of there in time; all equipment accounted for including the pinpoint puller the drone used for the distraction is also okay. All crew members accounted for, I may not be able to detect Vera directly but her mass and weight still registers to me. Damn it, cancel the file deletion!” It sounded like Opal had her paws full with trying to keep Vera’s name on record. “Why is the system even asking me if I’m sure I don’t want to delete it? I’m supposed to be the one that is freaking running this thing, oh come on, stop trying to delete Vera’s name!” “Thank goodness for that, we can’t really afford to buy new drones or go scavenging more possibly lethal quarantined ships. Thank you for your help Vera. We now know that breathing anywhere in the station is a bad idea now. We already know that the impulse saddles will attract its attention if the pinpoint pullers can, not like they’ll work with the gravity being on anyway.” Shaking her head Rarity was just happy to be back on The Shining Jewel. “At least it doesn’t pick up communications or the low energy usage our lights put off. Are you okay Vera, I’m quite terribly sorry about this.” “Rarity I’m going to be the one to need therapy after this and I am the therapist!” Well Vera was obviously pointing out that it was a bad sign of things to come if the therapist was the one that went mental first compared to everyone else having their little issues. She had given everyone a massage at least once already. “Who am I supposed to go to?” As far as crew members went, Rarity and Bernard were Vera’s favorites, Rarity because she gave her the attention she craved and Bernard because he was an adorable voracious creature that looked like a rabbit. Bernard was probably the sanest member of the crew, his reaction upon entering the Antilur Station, according to Trapeze, was to instantly tense up and freeze as if in the presence of something far more dangerous than he was. That didn’t stop Bernard from following Trapeze into opening up another nearby hangar to rescue them from Rarity’s luring test. “Yes well, that’s quite understandable. I’ll need you far more than that after I go back in there, besides you were in less danger than I was.” The horrified looks Rarity received had her smiling weakly at the prospect of getting stuck in the darkness with those horrible noises again. She was still quite determined to at least save someone. “I’m not willing to leave a good friend in the lurch that once saved my sister from a budding slave trading ring and I’m also quite sure Mr. Spew would like it if Ember came back alive. So does anyone have any suggestions on how we might defeat this horrid thing? Because it seems to be quite a daunting task if this thing is as ghostly as it appears.” “You actually want to go back in there, are you freaking mad!” The grumpiness of Gilda could not be any grumpier, her boss lady and paycheck with a target painted on it was going to go back into the infested station with that Visitant classification level of sifter drifter. “Yes, quite so, because I’m mad that such a monstrosity thinks it can scare me away from helping those in need!” It was determined not too long after that by most of the crew that Rarity was a suicidal idiot. She was the crews suicidal idiot and they would have to come up with a plan to find and eventually rescue anyone that might be alive in there, if that was even still feasible at this rate. Which was easier said than done, because breathing the air or using too much energy at once could draw the thing right to them. “I’ll go with you this time!” Saffron was itching to do something heroic. Family history and being in the blood was one thing, but this was a crisis that needed some professional detective work and she was a part time super hero aside from being a full time chef. Ponies needed rescuing and she wanted to be a part of that. “That is after we figure out what else attracts its presence if anything.” “I don’t think it’ll help too much, but I and Greta can whip up something to at least distract whatever it is.” Gilda didn’t want to die and she felt it safe to say that she and Greta were definitively spooked. “We’re definitely not going in there though!” “That’s okay because I’m not going to ask you to. I do need Chrysalis and at the very least one other pony aside from Saffron who is brave for volunteering her services in what amounts to walking into the mouth of a living nightmare.” Because goodness knows Rarity wouldn’t want to be stuck alone with Chrysalis in a space station that almost felt like it had been abandoned. “I know we’re not exactly military, but we’re learning a lot and I’m sure we can help the people who are trapped here. All who travel in space eventually have to deal with sifter drifters at least once or twice, usually because said monstrosities have infested their ship. I’m no exception; though I’ve only had one sifter drifter problem to deal with and this is the ship that problem occurred on with Greta and Gilda as the only survivors.” “Well I’m game, arm me with a weapon and let’s go find your lost friend boss lady. You’re going to need someone who has seen combat once or twice in her life.” Lightning stepped forward while spreading her wings, it didn’t look like Coco or Trapeze were willing to volunteer for this and Sassy had more than a week left to go on her recovery. Vera was traumatized, though now very thankful for her ability to go ignored in a room where she was the only other sole occupant when someone else trotted in. Seeing the looks she was receiving Lightning responded eloquently enough. “I may not be a Wonder Bolt anymore, but they have always been trained as commandos aside from being top notch pilots and exceptionally good at flying by wing. I may not exactly be fully up to speed, but I think I’m good enough to throw my life into the thick of it and I need an adventure to get the blood pumping.” - (Lost Colony- Sonic Adventure 2 plays) The airlock opened and the four piled into the airlock, they were each equipped with four HE phosphorus grenades for distraction purposes. Chrysalis was carrying a material rifle and material sniper, one for rapid fire and the other single shot. Lightning was armed with two material pistols and had two knives that were given to her by Saffron, her orange and yellow EVA suit with a hazard symbol on it really stood out like a sore thumb among them. Saffron had several knives strapped to her EVA suit that came in Mare-Do-Well’s colors and one material pistol. Rarity was simply still carrying the pistols she took with her on the previous excursion. They slowly opened the airlock into the station and looked around, before letting Chrysalis go first. They proceeded to follow Chrysalis forward. Things were silent and they weren’t talking, they were listening for anything that might be alive or moving. Nothing, but pure silence and it was maddening. This time they weren’t going to lightly probe into Antilur Station, they were going in deeper and they w would start a search in Antilur City. Chrysalis was alert and her eyes tracked the walls and any shadow that looked unusual, she as actually taking this threat seriously. No one could ambush a Changeling, why the very thought of it happening would ruin not only her reputation, but that of her entire race. She was the walking threat detector and she felt nothing coming from the station, which was odd because she had felt a presence here not too long ago and they had entered the station not too far away from there. It unnerved the usually unflappable Chrysalis that she couldn’t feel it anymore. All Rarity wanted to do was find and possibly help Ember, aside from that anything else would need a better reason. They thought they understood the infestation well enough, but did they really? They slowly meandered down the corridor with Chrysalis in the lead their lights sweeping down the dark intersecting halls they passed, all of them without even a single sign of a struggle anywhere. This was spooking them and leaving them all perturbed. There were several more junctions, but they kept going straight from the airlock and accessed several doors along the way without a single reaction from Chrysalis that she felt anything off and that was far more unnerving then knowing the infestation had been close by previously. Nothing happened and even stranger Chrysalis still didn’t feel a thing; they were close to a rather large city access door and nothing. “Okay this is creepy, is anyone else getting a chilling vibe from all this?” Lightning’s voice cut through the silence making both Rarity and Saffron jumpy. Chrysalis just rolled her eyes, but kept her senses on high alert as there was no way an active mind like she felt before could just disappear into nothingness... right? “I’ll admit I’m a little scared too, let’s pop this door and see what’s going on in the city here.” A quiet and wary Rarity marched right up to the door and put a hoof on the panel to access the computer. She saw a symbol come up on the screen, the door wasn’t on lockdown and lockdown would be the first thing someone would do if the station were known to have a lethal or dangerous infestation. There was no lockdown, why hadn’t one been activated? “Opal, how far can your signal reach?” “Once you enter the city I won’t be able to help and we’ll lose contact, the signal to your suits is already weakening as it is. I suggest you wedge that door open; it’ll give me a little bit more range to communicate with. If and when you come back into contact range, I’ll be ready and waiting. Just be aware I cannot find you on my scanners so don’t ask me to try, at least forms of communication aren’t messed up.” There were plenty of things to fear in the universe and Opal had learned to fear this infestation, she couldn’t hurt it and drones were entirely useless against it and even attracted its attention. “I think the rest of the crew are spending their time in the Caravel Boutique because things are certainly too quiet for their liking and an enclosed comforting space works for them at the moment. Please come back safely. In the meantime I’ll see what Greta and Gilda can come with to boost the range of the communication arrays. Hope you have good luck in there.” “I hope so too, because here we go.” Rarity hit the green holographic image floating above the panel; the door creaked and groaned loudly as it slides open. Looking through the doorway the four saw a vast city shrouded in darkness, there was not a single light on in the colony. No emergency lights, no life at all moving around and they began to look at the closest buildings. There were several wrecks and some of the distant buildings had been partially destroyed, but there were no bodies, no sign of anyone dying, no eviscerated organs, not even a drop of blood and only minor damage to the nearby surroundings and tons of empty crashed vehicles littering the roads across the gap before the group. There was just nothing there except empty buildings as Rarity took her first step into the city filled with trepidation about this, at least she can say it wasn’t a sewer. It looked like they just walked into a purposely abandoned colony. “Do you have any idea where to start looking first?” Saffron turned to Chrysalis addressing her as the sole being that could find any life in this place, the city was massive and there were several layers to it. They were coming in at the middle layer of the city that had several layers going both up and down. The area they came in from had a road go past them and eventually turning to the right to enter the city on the left and on the right the road eventually turned left quite a distance away, the road was gently curved and was a distinct ring around the entire city that led to bridges that went into the city proper. From where they stood at the door, they crossed the road in front of them and collectively shined their lights downwards at the railing next to the road. They looked to the lower levels and then upwards toward the upper levels, it was really quiet. They could barely make out several large spiraling pillars that led between each layer of the massive city before them. They were at the city limits and could barely see much of the city at this distance because their lights were dimmed to avoid problems of attracting attention. “Not really and something feels really off here, there’s something tingling in my skull and I can almost feel life here. Maybe it’s someone, but it’s kind of distorted.” Chrysalis moved to the left where the road gentle curved to the right towards the nearby right turn into the city. They’d have to cross that bridge once they reached it and then Chrysalis might be able to get a better idea of what she was feeling. “Let’s go into the city, I might be able to get a better read on some form of life. The infestation couldn’t have just simply disappeared.” “You’re our best chance at finding anyone in this place Chrysalis; let’s just hope we don’t find the wrong sort after what happened here. Anyone who hasn’t been taken by the infestation is someone to be wary of.” At Rarity’s words they turned and followed Chrysalis. Rarity stopped when they reached the bridge leading into the city and looked at the lower level where she saw something shifting out the view of her light, she might be imagining things but she could have sworn she saw a shadowy figure moving among the buildings down below. “I think I saw something moving down there.” A loud groaning sound filtered throughout the city as if something it were shifting about, it didn’t sound like a living creature and it certainly wasn’t a normal sound you’d hear on a space station. The creaking noises and any noise in particular were quite hard to ignore when it was the only sound being produced and echoed around the entire city. “I didn’t sense anything… let’s just keep moving.” Though Chrysalis didn’t want to think or even admit to it that the infestation might have had a way around her ability to sense incoming danger. “This place is all kinds of wrong; we’re the only light here and I also don’t feel safe with my wings stuck in compression pouches…” Lighting couldn’t fly to safety if danger struck and it was disturbing her just as much as this empty station was. They had crossed the bridge into the city proper and there was still no movement. Chrysalis paused and her ears twitched inside her helmet and she turned her head to left and up slightly looking at a building, she felt a sign of life for a second there and it felt disturbed or was disturbed. The feeling was gone as soon as it came and that was quite startling, then a second stronger feeling was coming from straight ahead and up above. Above as far as the city layer above them and it was of a solid emotion, but it was too far away to get a grasp on what that emotion might have been. At least it was more constant than the last bit of emotion she felt. “I think I’ve got someone at least, might be this Ember person we’re looking for.” Chrysalis said conversationally, she turned to the left slowly trotting down the street at an even pace and then right down another street towards one of the pillars to the upper level. The rest of the group didn’t say anything and continued to follow Chrysalis’s lead. They froze when they heard the sound of metal dropping to the ground and clanging behind them. Saffron was the first to turn around and there was nothing there at all. Her light traced the road and then eventually trained on the wrench that hadn’t been there prior and she looked up at the bottom of the layer above them to see nothing, she moved closer to the others and Lightning mimicked her actions looking down an alleyway. “Where did that wrench come from?” Slowly Rarity’s helmet lights swiveled around looking at the nearby buildings tops and the air around them while the others searched the streets. She really wanted to turn up the intensity on the helmets lights right about now, but she was afraid of attracting the infestation to them. “I know this is a cliché thing to say at a time like this, but I don’t think we’re alone here.” Following her statement Lightning slowly drew a knife out form her side into her left hoof, she held it with a tight grip and would continue with a three legged gait as they continued onwards towards the pillar. “The life I’m sensing is active and feels determined, so let’s keep moving toward that.” A thought crossed Chrysalis’s mind that she couldn’t detect things that weren’t alive, but she doubted that zombies or ghosts existed. Unless they did in space and that was a thought that was quite horrifying. You couldn’t get love or good hair from someone that’s not alive. She had to admit that a wrench falling from the air out of nowhere was a highly suspicious thing that had her fur covering her carapace standing on end. Someone could have thrown it or it could have just fallen at an angle for a distance, even then that meant something was around and she couldn’t feel it. “Just in case, be prepared to run or move quickly. I would suggest following me if that comes to pass and not getting separated from one another, I’ve watched enough horror movies and this isn’t a horror movie.” “Right, let’s not tarry to long in one place. I think I’m personally hitting my quota for horror and I will never touch another sparkling vampire novel ever again.” Of course Rarity would get a chuckle from both Lightning and Saffron; Chrysalis on the other hoof was on high alert as they got closer to the pillar. “Watch our backs Lightning and say something if you think something is wrong.” They came to the spiraling ramp and they were a bit spooked out of their minds, the fact that nothing was happening was scarier. Lightning was about to comment on how this place had seen better days, only she froze when her light landed on something. “Guys… Chrysalis, please tell me you can feel that.” The group all turned to Lightning to see what her light was shining upon, what they saw was very unusual. It looked like a pony only something was very wrong with it, it had shiny white teeth and sunken eyes that were equally white and beady where a pony’s eyes would be and those eyes didn’t even fit into the sockets they were in. The head of the creature tilted to the side as it continued to smile constantly at them in a creepy manner, the toothy smile didn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. It slowly started to move towards them at a slow trot, the grey fur looked decrepit and the there were bits of gangly looking flesh covered in pustules and other bits of rotted skin, muscles and sinew. It was gaunt in the fact that it didn’t look like it had much fat on it, it looked sickly; it’s just started moving towards them with that ever present smile. “Whatever that is, it’s not a pony and I can’t feel anything coming from it. So at a guess, it’s dangerous.” Yet it was moving so slowly Chrysalis couldn’t take it as a serious threat given how slowly it was moving towards them and then all of the sudden it slowly started to fade away into thin air before it could reach them. Whatever it had been, it certainly wasn’t a pony. “Okay… that… that’s not a good sign, that wasn’t camouflaging. It’s just not there anymore, are we all hallucinating right now or did we all just see that?” “Yes we just saw that, my eyes can see through illusions and that wasn’t an illusion.” A shiver passed through the group and Rarity was beginning to feel like making a run for The Shining Jewel and escaping while she still could. As they turned and went up the ramp to follow Chrysalis’s feeling towards the one solid sign of life that might know what was going on and what the hell they had just seen. “On a scale of one to ten, I’m at a twenty for how freaked out I am right now.” Maybe they were all just imagining things or at least Lightning could hope they had been imagining things as they made their way up the ramp leading to the next layer up the city. They were all quite on edge as they left the ramp on the next floor. More buildings and dilapidated vehicles, they moved forward following what Chrysalis said she could detect. As Lightning started too peer into an alleyway, what looked like the previous pony figure only without any skin at all that had the same freaky smile lunged from the shadows forcing her to the ground. Lightning screamed as the skinless pony gnashed it’s teeth at her trying to bite her while flailing it’s front hooves in her general direction, she held it off with her right hoof and quickly stabbed the creature in the neck with the knife still held in her left. It just seemed to fade out of existing by calmly exploding into a cloud of dust and said dust evaporated as if it had never existed. The scary thing about all this was that it didn’t make a single sound throughout its entire assault upon her. “Okay that was most certainly not a ghost...” Whimpered Saffron who felt a sudden fear rise up in her, Lightning’s knife had connected with something and then it was just gone as if it had never existed or attacked her. There wasn’t even a scream of pain or even acknowledgment that it had been stabbed. They didn’t even have time to react to the creature having attack Lightning who was still on her back breathing heavily at the sudden scare. “It couldn’t have been…” “What the buck just happened?” Even Lightning recognized that the knife had dug into something and then that something no longer seemed to have existed. “That thing was able to physically knock me over!” “The fact that I couldn’t even sense whatever that was means that we’re definitely in trouble.” Chrysalis pulled her material rifle off her back and checked the ammunition before looking around warily; she shouldn’t be getting scared because she was a brave and proud Changeling Queen. Why was it that she suddenly felt like a little larva that just hatched out of an egg without the protective silk covering her frail form? “We need to quickly find whoever it is I’m sensing, because I don’t think I like it here. There’s not enough latex, whips or sexy mares.” Author's Note It'll only get worse from here.
-58-Coco might not have wanted to go back in after the first time having tested the limits of what would attract the danger, but she still found something to do at least. Mr. Spew needed company and she thought the squid was adorable, for a filth eating creature that nauseated Rarity on the principle of the matter. “Do you think they’re okay in there?” The darkness had disappeared from the second hangar that was popped open to save Rarity and Vera. Coco knew that was not to long after Rarity’s group went in, which was worrying her on a number of levels. “They better be! The boss lady is decent at surviving the odds.” The pony jumped and turned around cuddling the squid to her chest to see Gilda was already getting started on a second project with Greta. Gilda was being quite gruff about it. “She better not make us go in after her, because that would certainly suck.” “See, you do care about the boss lady!” Greta chirped happily, only for Gilda to send her a glare that didn’t diminish her upturned beak one bit. “I only care because I don’t want Kitten to suicide The Shining Jewel, especially not with us still along for the ride, into the space station out of despair.” Always the pragmatic one Gilda was, now what would the design of this project entail? What work of art would she sculpt with her talons this time? She could always make a number of upgrades to the Bombing Peregrine on the side. “Hey, give me some credit at least!” Taking offense to this Opal just had to chime in. “I’d let you fly away in the Caravel Boutique and give you forewarning before I’d do that. Maybe give you at least ten minutes to get food and maybe a few other supplies while I’m at it.” “Duly noted Kitten, I expect you to keep your word on the warning.” Snorting at that Gilda went back to drawing plans with Greta, but not before turning to Coco to get one last word. “See, it’s a completely legitimate concern.” - “Is anyone going to bring up the fact that that thing had been physical until I stabbed it?” Nobody really wanted to, but Lightning couldn’t get that one out of her mind given that it had put her on her back. “What’s more disturbing is that even while gnashing its teeth at you, it didn’t make a single sound. Speaking of, are you already dear?” Rarity turned her head to Lightning with a worried look as the mare kept a tight hold on the dagger in her hoof and her eyes were darting about suspiciously. “You were barely capable of being cleared for space travel.” “Yeah, yeah, I’ll work on it when we get back to the ship. Though my heart rate certainly went up like I wanted and my blood is pumping far more so than I expected.” Now that she had considered Lightning was wondering how she was going to use the guns she brought with her wings stuck in the EVA suit. Being a winged pony she could use her wings to wield to guns and remain mobile, but she’d be stuck on the ground while she had her guns out. Not that she would ever bring it up, but her death grip on her knife seemed warranted right now. “Well this is getting interesting, I mean getting attacked by that one not pony that didn’t have any emotions or life behind it. So I guess my senses are not as valuable as I might have misled you to believe, so as a suggestion I think we should all stay alert.” The thing went down in one hit, that wasn’t very threatening to Chrysalis at all. They’d need to come at the group in staggered waves if they wanted her to start getting nervous. There was no sense in wasting ammunition shooting at shadows, but she was getting the feeling that they’d be doing just that soon. “Also don’t get injured in the butts, those are some of your best features girls and I don’t want any of you to end up like me. Lightning could work getting her weight and health back up to snuff, but she’s not too bad off.” “Seriously Chrysalis you’re not that bad, you have a very nice figure darling…. well except for um…” Rarity trailed off when Chrysalis shot her a look with big pathetic eyes and sad quivering lips, even knowing she was being emotionally manipulative. It was kind of hard to be mean to her about her looks. “Yes well, I won’t bring it up because it’s kind of a touchy subject for you.” “You don’t have to worry about my feelings; I know why other mares won’t touch my backside.” Yes, because it was most certainly not Chrysalis’s personality that scared away everyone who might have had an interest in her. They were avoiding the empty or partly destroyed vehicles or any buildings with destroyed windows leading into darkness beyond them. Chrysalis was leading them down the street they were on with her senses on high alert for the one sign of life in this station that she could sense quite clearly. They were also warily looking in all directions for another one of those things. Whatever those last two things had been, it was clearly related to the infestation and they hadn’t bothered to stop and talk about how. The city was like any other city built into a space station, only this was colony space station. This meant that it produced products for sale to people going through this particular route, plus it usually had more than a hundred thousand residents at any giving time. As such Antilur City had been a hub of activity that had not only hotels and many shops, but various hangars and a small ship yard for making small jump capable ships. Buying outright ownership of a home on the station was quite expensive, but doable if you were part of the upkeep of the station itself. The entire city should have been lit up with hundreds of comers and goers from all around, but they had only seen what seemed like two ghosts in the last hour and no sign of the type of darkness that Chrysalis could feel. Knowing what they did, the silence was deafening and quite scary. If they can’t even hear if they were under attack before it was too late, then it was a good idea that they were all looking around and behind themselves in abject paranoia. After having witnessed the darkness and what looked like temporarily physical ghosts, they had reason to be wary. “You know I have to ask, why isn’t that dark cloudy stuff sucking the power out of our suits like it did the drones that previously came in here?” As far as concerns went this was high on Lightning’s scale of things she needed to direly know, things that could be easily explained in a few sentences. “I wouldn’t have come in here if I knew the short range communications and lights on my suit wouldn’t work for crap.” “It is something of interest, besides you’re the only one that would know the reason why the infestation didn’t drain your suit while you were trapped back in the hangar bay with it.” Saffron slowly pulled out a knife in her own hoof and held it as tightly as Lightning did hers. “Well one would assume the infestation would be able to drain the power right out of the EVA suits we’re currently wearing, I saw the files you brought up for the crew about how any drone that came in here would be disabled and drained of its energy.” “Drones don’t have airtight seals and don’t need to breath. We on the other hoof do. Then there’s the fact that there were drones that were never fully drained when found always turned off before they could be.” It was time for Rarity to extrapolate on everything she thought she was sure of; even then she wasn’t entirely sure if it was perfectly accurate. This infestation was something she’d rather have avoided if it weren’t for a friends life possibly being in jeopardy. She wasn’t much of a fighter, but she would always go above and beyond for friends. “I may not be an ex military, a leader or a vigilante, but I have an eye for detail and I picked up on several things. I needed Vera to confirm it for me, the infestation can only go after active sources of energy and it can possibly only feel what it can reach. As such it can’t just reach into our sealed suits or rechargeable batteries in the impulse saddles while they are attached to our backs and drain the power despite the fact that we’ve been using them for communications and lights the entire time. Most military drones have energy weapons and civilian grade drones usually have plasma cutters, our suits don’t have any energy emitting devices aside from the lights and radios while not in space and it can’t eat either of those forms of energy.” “Speaking of leader, I do have to question why couldn’t have just bought your own ship to travel around in Chrysalis?” Saffron had wondered why someone who had a political pull and money couldn’t have just bought her own ship. “I mean it seems a little awkward that you’d just up and join Rarity, at least I and Lightning have our reasons for being on the ship.” “Mostly it’s about who owned the manufacturers of said ships. Ponies, Griffons and Zebra manufacturers corner that particular market, all of which could be paid off to sabotage whatever ship I could afford whether it be cheap or not. I have a lot of enemies and I don’t mind them trying to kill me.” The one live being she was tracking was moving slowly and had a more emotional mindset, proving to Chrysalis that they were on the trail of someone who was a likely survivor or Rarity’s friend. She swept her lights to the left into the nearby alleyway and saw shifting shadows, seemed act as if it had been scalded and it retreated. The three fingered shadow claw went back from whence it came. Chrysalis continued on without questioning the shadows stretching out for them, she was leading them towards the center of the city on the layer they happened to be on. “I’ve been stabbed between the third and fourth vertebrae more than a few times to want to be on a ship that hasn’t been triple checked for safety and Changelings are not exactly in the engineering business. Though we have slowly been getting used to higher forms of technology, it would be a horrible idea for me to endanger the lives of any other Changelings. I can handle assassination attempts on myself, what I can’t handle is assassination attempts that involve killing my people due to being in my proximity. I haven’t missed getting anyone back for a sleight against a single Changeling yet, the Changeling Queen is expected to get revenge for her people when necessary and it hardly ever is necessary. When it is, there is absolutely no running from me.” “Yikes, remind me to never piss you off. At least you’re amiable to work with, especially when it seems to suits your needs entirely.” It wouldn’t surprise Lightning if Chrysalis ended up betraying them at one point, mostly either for a good cause or because someone made her a nice offer. “True, I do happen to like things that suit my purposes far more than most beings. Hold up… this is the place, whoever or whatever I’m feeling is in there.” Chrysalis lifted a hoof and pointed it to a squat looking building; the sign on the building declare the place as ‘Almighty Arms’ which was clearly a weapon shop. The door was busted open as if it had been bucked and there were claw marks on it. “Hey you’re friend wouldn’t happen to be a dragon would she?” “I thought I showed everyone the information Ember left behind on her ship.” Rarity moved forward into the building while Lightning and Saffron turned around to watch their backs. The weapons store didn’t deal primarily in ranged weapons surprisingly; it had a variety of all kinds of weapons. From crossbows, ancient pistols and old weapons like that to more futuristic weapons like a spear that advertise the ability to light on fire and fire small bursts of energy, technologically complex handles that created photonic blades and plasma rifles. “This seems like a place she would come to, she said she designed weapons on the side as a hobby to her career as a bounty hunter.” “Is it me or are we just talking because it’s less scary to hear someone’s voice in this place. If what Chrysalis is feeling is right, then she’s probably upstairs.” Saffron started up the stairs of this three story building, Lightning, Rarity and Chrysalis followed after her. They weren’t going to separate and explore on their own at any given time. They trooped up the stairs heavily and noticed something; there were some divots or small holes in the wall. Chrysalis got a close look at them as they went up the stairs. They took a right turn at the top of the stairs and saw a row of doors on the right side of the hallways, three rooms to look into and Chrysalis felt they were very close now. “Someone’s been shooting something here, recently in fact and it’s apparent that they were shooting at something similar to what we met. So if this isn’t your friend it’s going to be hard to explain why we’re invading the shelter of whoever this is… oh and they just became alert to our presence.” A door smashed open and a large rectangular rifle popped out, Chrysalis felt sorry for Saffron who was suddenly backed against a wall and cowering at suddenly having a gun in her face. Rarity sauntered on past Chrysalis not looking the least be frightened, Chrysalis could even feel the emotional sense of familiarity coming off of both of the figures. “Okay who sent more people in here and… wait, you’re wearing a well designed EVA suit so that would mean… Rarity what in the hell are you doing in here?” It didn’t take long for Ember to turn her head and recognize Rarity in her personal EVA suit, Ember herself was wearing her full bodied suit and her helmet looked odd thanks to her horns. “Don’t you know that being on Antilur Station is really dangerous right now!” “Yes, I’m quite well aware of that fact now, but we came in here to help you get back out. How long have you been in here?” To Rarity it seemed like Ember was a bit wild eyed and being alone for any amount of time would really mess someone up. So she approached the dragon with a bit of worry and gave her a hug around the waist while putting her face against Embers chest. “Did you happen to see anything strange on the way to me though?” Ember received a look from Rarity that was questioning as Rarity came up and hugged her, the gesture was quite calming and it was the first sensation of solid contact with someone she’s had in the last few days that wasn’t out to get her. “Please tell me you didn’t do something stupid like dock your ship to the station!” “Of course we didn’t dock any ships to the station. Though since you asked, yes, we saw this darkness for the lack of a better term for it… we in fact attracted said stuffs attention to one of the hangars and it took a bit of doing but we got out of that situation without any casualties.” Rarity could only hope that Ember wasn’t as spooked as she looked. “We also saw two garish looking ponies that didn’t have cutie marks and one of them didn’t have any skin. It was the second one without skin that attacked one of my crew members.” Ember sighed with relief while raising her left claws to her head, when she lowered them she looked at the four mares before her. She didn’t know the other two ponies with Rarity, but she definitely knew Queen Chrysalis and didn’t say anything as to what the Changeling Queen was doing with Rarity. It didn’t matter really if she knew the reason for Chrysalis’s presence, apparently Rarity got this far and she finally lowered her gun and motioned them into the room to take a seat. “So you have seen both the Miasma and the Dusks, at least you seemed to have avoided seeing any Screamers. Those things are tough to take down and it’s not something you want to be near when it gets back up.” Ember’s suit looked perfectly fine, but Ember herself looked a bit haggard and tired as she sat down on the bed and had small circle of living breathing people to talk to. “I’ve been in here for the last three days, and I’ve been searching the station from bottom to top. Going to the bathroom on this station is a nightmare and so is eating when you can’t breathe the air in here without attracting Miasma to your location. I’ve been refilling my oxygen tank to avoid getting caught and getting those refills hasn’t been the most pleasant of experiences when I ran into my first Screamer. It’s so nice to finally see a friendly face, is Mr. Spew alright? Did you even find him?” “Mr. Spew is perfectly fine the last I saw darling. Can you give us a little more information on the Miasma, Dusk and whatever a Screamer is? You’ve apparently been here long enough to know what we’re dealing with.” “The Dead Husks are what happen when this Visitant actually manages to kill someone and those things are impossible to kill, hence the name Dusks. I think they only exist to give the Visitant more food or at least food it can’t see normally. It takes a while for them to reform fully after destabilizing their forms, but there are dozens of them running around and I’ve had to plow through quite a few of them on the lower levels of the station. They are only capable of attacking when they become disturbingly skinless; they do so without warning and without making noise unless they’ve incidentally moved something when they become dangerous. I wish I hadn’t seen a Minotaur among the ones I’ve dusted a few times before, they are beginning to multiply and get worse the more colonists that die to this monstrosity and a good number of them have been children.” Ember was somewhat happy that everyone flinched at the mention of a skinless Minotaur, she was thankful she wasn’t the only one to find the idea horrifying as much as having seen it personally. “The Miasma is a small part of the Visitant causing all this, but it’s only function is to absorb energy out of a given area where it builds up at. The Screamers are the real threat and they are not easy to find, but running into one isn’t a good thing. I can’t even describe what one might look like and I’ve seen three and they were all different in appearance with very little similarities between them, at least they can bleed and die unlike the other two. As you can probably guess I haven’t even found the source of these things yet and that’s what I’m looking for, either that or the taken colonists themselves. I’ve had no luck so far, also sleeping, using the bathroom and eating has been very problematic. Given that’s how I have ran into Screamers multiple times doing any one of those things and I’m only certain I’ve managed to outright kill two them. I… I want to get off the station for a while to think, maybe feel safe for a while. Wait, why are you even in here in the first place if you knew it was dangerous!” “I came to find you Ember; I just wanted to help a friend. I also have some information that I thought you might want to hear that’s not pertinent to the current circumstances going on here. This is Lightning Dust, Saffron Masala and I’m sure you’ve heard of Queen Chrysalis.” Rarity pointed each one of them out in turn and they nodded. “In any case, were you possibly expecting another Screamer?” “Yes, I was. You guys woke me up coming up the stairs and I’ve barely gotten a good eight hours of sleep while in here. The Dusks and Screamers are a bit relentless, so I’ve been sleeping lightly these last few days and it’s wearing me down.” Not once had Ember been entirely idle as they talked, she had been watching the door way and checking her weapons. She had a material pistol holstered at her and her large material rifle was being held protectively in both arms. “Can you please take me back to your ship? I could use a good shower and a meal; maybe stretch my wings a little.” “I hear that, my wings are comfortable in these compression pouches, but it’s not the same without the ability to flex the muscles. We found your friend; now let’s get out of here!” To be fair Lightning wasn’t the only one that was jumpy, Saffron was also quite alert for anything to come through the door and she kept shooting Ember a look every now and then. “Just how dangerous are these Screamer things and how will we know what one looks like?” They slowly made their way back down the stairs of ‘Almighty Arms shop and out the door where their lights swept the dark streets Ember’s joined them as she put her rifle on her back. “They’ll be nothing like the Dusks and that’s an understatement. They’re real, they make lots of noise, they can bleed and they can ultimately die. As for what they look like, the ones I killed looked like the most hellish octopus ever devised with bladed tentacles that had the ability to spray webs and the other looked like a couple of bleeding ponies sewn together with their eyes torn out and replaced with large acid spewing worms. The only thing they had in common was the noise they all made was exactly the same.” It was a little hard for Ember to believe she was getting some help here, but she welcomed it if it gave her a good meal and a full eight hours of rest. Her EVA suit needs to be cleaned out as well; it was to her luck that it hadn’t been punctured yet. She was walking alright only there was a slight stumble in her step and she fell to her knees. “Oh my head, I’m going to have nightmares about this one and I thought the all consuming black blob from a previous mission was scary.” “Are you okay Ember?” They hadn’t made it very far from the shop and Rarity had reasons to worry, Ember had been trapped on this station for several days with hardly any rest. “Yeah, like I said, I’m really tired. I think I only got about three hours of sleep before you found me.” Ember heaved herself back up onto her feet. “Let’s keep moving. If we stop, we might run into a lot of Dusks. How did you find me anyway?” “That would be thanks to Changeling biology, they used me as radar to find you. I can sense emotional things, though I can’t sense whether or not something has life in it. So if you were thinking of having me look out for Dusks… well I can’t sense them and we’ve only seen two, one had skin and one without that went after Lightning.” Having just seen that claw again Chrysalis had to ask, because as soon as the light from her helmet hit it, it disappeared. “Quick question did you ever see anything that looked like a shadowy claw with three talons that was scared of light?” “At this point I don’t even know what that could possibly be. If it isn’t making noise it’s not a Screamer and it’s not one of the Dusks either if it doesn't resemble something that was once alive, but looks like a zombie and makes no noise at all." The four took up positions around Ember as they headed for the same spiraling ramp that they came up to this layer from."Dusks always take the form of one the people who died from the main source of this problem.” - There was nothing, but the eerie silence as they walked down the ramp and back towards the bridge out of the city. They were all very quiet and very much alert for anything, why the time it took them to walk to the spiral ramp felt a lot longer than it had taken going away from it and that was just most of the group being paranoid. “It kind of scares me more that nothing is happening, from the way you tell it there are supposed to be Dusks crawling all over the place.” Saffron looked behind her and saw something shift in the shadows or at least she thought she saw movement beyond her helmets light. “Oh it is, you can trust me on that. It’s just that the city is so big and the number of colonists that have died thus far is hopefully not beyond a few thousand yet. Not enough coverage, for any of the layers or the outer edges of the station. At least not yet anyway.” Ember could feel her eyelids getting droopy, she had been almost constantly alert and the Screamers had been the most horrific things she had to deal with. “I’ve gunned down well over a few hundred dusks, some of them I’ve dealt with twice in what should have been a lethal manner. It was kind of hard for me to even pull the trigger on the children sized Dusks. Can you even imagine having to shoot children for survival?” “We’re almost out of here Ember and you can get some rest then.”They followed the road to the left to see the entrance they came in through was still open, as they did Rarity was worried about Ember’s sanity and she was taking Rarity’s group pretty well. They walked through the entrance quietly and looked behind them at the silent city. “The way out is straight down this hallway through several doors.” “Hope so, a good twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep would feel pretty good right about now.” Ember straightened up and continued straight forward with the ponies herding around her, Chrysalis stuck to herself as the odd one out. “I had my concerns when I had Vera breathe in the air around here. She is so easy for everything to ignore, but this infestation managed to detect her when she did. That proved that there was a lot of danger to look out for. Speaking of… I need to do something right quick, excuse me everyone.” Curiosity killed the cat, but Rarity wasn’t a cat now was she? No that was more Opal’s territory and she would be pretty hard to kill in a physical sense. Rarity turned around and started walking back past the big open door and stopped at the railing across the road. Ember and Lightning were focused on Rarity, while Saffron and Chrysalis watched the length of the corridor behind them. Rarity looked down into the void and at the lower levels of the city and pulled out a phosphorous grenade that was made for this trip, she pulled the pin and quickly tossed it to the lower level where she had previously seen moving shadows coming in. The grenade gave off a blinding flash of light as it exploded spraying the entire area with raw liquid that spewed light as powerful as the sun and it made Rarity pale when she saw a very strange creature. One that looked like a big scorpion with what had to be an elephant’s trunk and horrible spines covering its back that were the limbs of various beings sticking out of it and its size was slightly bigger than the Caravel Boutique and longer than it too, its legs looked like they were made entirely out of skulls and various other bones and they all ended in sharp points sticking out of the fleshier bits. The tip of its tail was the bloated body of a griffon whose beak represented the stingers tip, its face was that of nightmares made out of Ahuizotl and Minotaur parts and its shell that wasn’t body parts sticking out of it was comprised entirely of some strange bronze colored chitin. The creature, whatever the hell it was, reared up stretching its flesh made of hundreds of dead beings to inhale with its mouth. The scream that it let loose ripped straight into the fear cortex in everyone’s brain and had Rarity running back towards the others immediately without looking back. (Insert classic Lavos Screech) “Right, it’s time to go! Let us not dally while that thing is around!” Rarity said having already ran past the group to start work on opening the doors they had opened and shut on the way in. “Opal, if you can hear me, we’re coming back immediately and we’ll be doing so as quickly as we can! Open the hangar doors, for the love of all that is beautiful in the world, that thing had no beauty in it at all!” “Yeah, that’s the exact sound every Screamer makes!” Suddenly looking less tired than she had previously been, Ember was running for the doors just like everyone else. “That’s the loudest one I’ve heard to date, it must be huge!” “Rarity, you found Ember and you’re okay!” Opal couldn’t have been happier, though it sounded like something had scared the crap out of Rarity and that she was retreating with the speed of fear. “Opening hangar door now, it should be open by the time you get back here." They had made it back to Shining Jewels hangar after all five of them exploded out of the airlock at the same time passing the drones Opal sent out to open it up for them once they were inside it. They were still panicking even when they were completely safe and sound inside Shining Jewels hangar. Author's Note I've planned this story to be a million words long and I'm kind of a quarter of the way there, it's not a very good story so far is it?
-59-They were still catching their breaths when Gilda came up to them looking nonchalant about their adventures in the quiet station filled with unseen horrors. “So… how did testing the phosphorus grenade work out?” As a well known intellectual, Gilda noticed immediately that Rarity had used one of the grenades given to her by Greta and Gilda’s little research and development into not very lethal, but still damaging weapons making session. They weren’t professional weapon makers, but Greta could fake it well enough for the both of them. “I would think they work better than you could imagine in one area, they should really be called sunlight grenades. Wished I hadn’t used the one before we left the station, I’m quite sure I was the only one that saw that monstrosity.” Curiosity and the fact that she wanted to test whether or not the grenade could be distracting had led Rarity to using it, she can’t say she was disappointed in the effects of the grenade really. “It at least lit up a whole portion of the city, didn’t attract the darkness or miasma as Ember calls it. Though I did see what she called a screamer and I’m rightfully horrified and mostly glad that it was on a lower level of the city and couldn’t have possibly caught up to us in a panic.” “Okay so the chemical composition that made it bright worked a little too well, but it didn’t give off energy to attract any monsters.” The griffons had made those grenades for the away team under time constraints and as prototypes. It still led Gilda to wondering if they could be seen from orbit, they are supposed to be very distracting and lighting up an entire section of city was quite distracting. “Well I and Greta are professionals in vehicles, not small arms. How would it work as a flash bang?” “There’s a lot of flash and a long lasting one at that, not enough bang though. It was quite blinding, but not enough to seriously blind someone for life.” As Rarity spoke with her mechanical engineer, Ember slowly made her way over to the Pyrrhic Victory and opened it up, only to see Coco cuddling Mr. Spew and they got to talking. “However keep the recipe for those particular grenades on hoof, it might be useful later.” “Well we survived, so when are we going back in there? I’m game for another round and a possible chance at saving possible food sources. This infestation is endangering the future my race by proxy.” Chrysalis had been scared by that horrid noise and Changelings were quite sensitive to sonic based attacks, the vibrations from that scream made her nauseous. Unlike other Changelings who would be moaning about how painful it was, she wanted more and chalked it up to her being the Changeling Queen. Glutton for punishment was purportedly written on her resume and she would follow Rarity back inside if she needed to. That thing had issued a challenge with its scream and Chrysalis wanted to take a rocket launcher back in there to show it she meant business. Sure she was scared, but she was angrier that it would think her incapable of facing it down and showing it just what a queen of her race was capable of. “I’m assuming that this scenario is of course not indicative of what a normal space station colony looks like given the circumstances.” “It’s the first place I’ve been to in space as well. It’s not friendly to anyone and the fact that people are dying makes me want to help save them from whatever is happening to them. I might be scared stiff, but I’d go back in there for the sake of others.” Saffron had never been off planet and now she knew exactly why she probably wouldn’t have wanted to, sure there were plenty of dangerous things on Equus, none were more dangerous than the things you could meet in space. She was quivering with fear in her suit and she didn’t want to take it off. “Does it say something about me that I’m too afraid to take off my EVA suit now?” “You aren’t the only who’s thinking of their suit as a safety blanket at the moment, been a while since I’ve seen something like that.” Lightning got a few looks sent her way and she scoffed at them, like Chrysalis she wasn’t shivering in fear and her blood was pumping throughout her body at a good rate. She wanted to bring this infestation down for the glory of it and maybe to do something good with her life. “Checking derelict ships with the Wonder Bolts was bad at times what with Sifter Drifter problems popping up every now and then, but an entire bucking space station just going silent like that! With this Visitant infestation we don’t have a clue as to what we can do about it or entirely what it’s doing. The fact that there are horrors that we didn’t see is more chilling than the ones we did, not to mention that your friend is a freaking dragon and a bounty hunter of all things!” “Technically she’s Princess Ember Mcflame of the Mcflame Empire run by Torch Mcflame the dragon who is the size of a small mountain. Among bounty hunters Ember is well known with a good track record for killing or capturing violent individuals and or putting down problematic monsters like the ones in there.” They turned to Chrysalis who obviously knew of Ember, yet she hadn’t said anything until now. “Yeah that’s right, she’s royalty and she’s ass kicking royalty at that. Who would spend three days in that deathtrap… alone no less? Where breathing any air outside a sealed system is a problem, the fact that she survived getting attack while using the bathroom says something about how tough she is. Nice body too… now if only it grew hair. Still don’t rightly know how her mother managed to handle Torch’s size with the information I have on her, a comparatively small biped dragon and a humongous quadruped dragon should have had size issues and I don’t think greed growth was involved, maybe lust growth? I’ve survived Torch breathing on me once, I was at least a good fifty feet from the main impact zone and I still caught on fire. That incident burned most of the fur off my carapace, not like anyone could tell at the time anyway.” “I’d be more confused as to how Hard Throb somehow managed to get a wheelchair, his cast covered body and weapons up into a chandelier without anyone noticing in a room full of people for a counter ambush.” Rarity had wondered what Ember’s home life was like and now she had an idea as to why she had been avoiding Equus and mentioned that she didn’t like the idea of going anywhere near the planet. So if what she thought she knew to be true, then that meant Spike was a little prince. The name Spike Mcflame Sparkle sounded cute and Rarity would call him that the next time she saw him, if she ever did. “There are just some questions that were never meant to be answered, Ember exists so therefore it happened and the mechanics behind it should not be thought too hard on.” “I beg to differ; I would have really loved to know Mrs. Mcflame’s technique if she hadn’t died of illness a long while ago. Probably shouldn’t bring that up with her daughter since she’s going to be a guest on this ship for a while.” Touring the planet of Equus had been great for Chrysalis’s ability to better understand other beings, just because she understood better didn’t mean she empathized at all with them. “That dragon sounded like a woman who knew what she wanted.” “Opal, I would like you to schedule a series of appointments for all of us with Vera.” They needed some time to rest and not think about the horrid space station filled with monsters and people of all ages and species currently dying a slow death. “Ember needs it the most so she should go first.” “That’s going to be hard to do because Ember fell asleep as soon as she went onto her ship, she wanted me to tell you that she’d like some peace and quiet and to keep Mr. Spew here entertained.” Coco held the sewer born squid she thought was adorable in one hoof like it was a teddy bear, Mr. Spew didn’t seem to mind the comforting position he was in. “Oh and to not wake her up or else she will beat the person responsible half to death. She sounded rather cranky and hungry. I’m guessing she had a real bad time on the station?” “Having to shoot at what amounts to the shadows of children, I’d imagine she did. She really shouldn’t be sleeping on the floor like that.” Rarity walked up and into Ember’s ship and walked up to the sleeping dragon to help her into a bed, Ember had managed to get out of her EVA suit and switch into a pair of shorts and a tank top. Upon getting closer to the dragon her arms snapped out and wrapped around Rarity’s head to pull her down into a cuddling embrace, she even nuzzled Rarity’s neck. Ember’s body was quite warm and she was tired after her adventure, so maybe she could just close her eyes for a moment. She just eased into the warm embrace and the tail curling around her hind legs. “Well it might be first come first serve then; Rarity has a good point in the away crew needing psychological help. However she’s currently too busy being cuddled by a sleeping dragon and I don’t want anyone to be hurt by Ember.” That and Opal thought the dragon using Rarity as a pillow was too cute to disturb. “Saffron, Lightning and Chrysalis, I’d suggest reporting to Shining Jewel medical for psychological evaluation from Vera. If you don’t know or remember, it’s on deck two in section two. Also before anyone asks, yes, I have a drone on Vera and she is visible.” “So, we just rescued a princess?” Lightning thought out loud. “No, it’s more like we provided backup for a princess that had handled herself quite well for the three days she was in the station.” Saffron idly wondered what kind of recipes a dragon would like, probably something spicy. “However the fact that she needed at least some help cannot be denied.” - “Well you’re not as bad as I thought you’d be, though your violent tendencies are to be expected given you think someone is messing with your territory. I think you have a problem with… your own self image about how you look to everyone.” Vera was trying to avoid some rather specific words; Chrysalis just tilted her head to give her a blank and rather confused look. “Okay I can’t lie, you’re a potentially highly volatile being and you have incredibly bad butt envy. You’re envious about almost every butt you come across, to a ridiculous level that most can’t even begin to conceive! Also you are way to sexually forward for being as ironically sexually deprived a being as you are, you like having someone play games with you that is not another Changeling because you crave personal attention from other beings not in your species.” “Yeah, I can see that.” Chrysalis nodded along smiling, her wings popped out and she threw her hoof into the air as she sat up. “I plead guilty as charged! So do you happen to have a pair of handcuffs we could use, maybe a gag as well? I wouldn’t mind if you were to punish me for being a naughty girl.” “This is not a court case Ms. Dick; please go back to lying down. This is a psyche evaluation and despite how horrible it is for me to say this, you’ve passed the inspection as someone to be safe around. Though how true that will be depends on whether or not you can drop your pride for a moment to ask someone for help with keeping you entertained. I suggest Trapeze Star if you want to spend time being entertained by someone else, maybe help her or some other crew members with minor favors here and there.” Here Vera paused and looked over her data pad at Chrysalis who was staring at her innocently. “Also I think you need a hobby that doesn’t require other people to be around you at all times and that you can do on your own that doesn’t endanger anyone on this ship, one that can curb the destructive habits that you have yet to unleash on us all. As for my professional suggestion… puzzle games or video electrical stimulating challenges, maybe learn how not to make electronics explode at your touch or just technology in general that isn’t based around weaponry. Just something to put your mind to that isn’t anyone else or how you see yourself as lacking.” “Okay, sounds good to me. I’ve never been an entertainer before and I could possibly work with Trapeze.” Who was Chrysalis to argue, Vera sounded very professional about this and she wasn’t the leader or owner of this ship. If she can swallow her pride to put herself equal to the princesses and beneath the orders of Rarity on the crew, then she can do it again. “Somehow I’m not absolved of feeling that you’re going to do horrible things to the crew in the future.” Vera received a simple shrug and look that said that it sounded fair to Chrysalis. She wasn’t about to touch upon Chrysalis’s masochistic tendencies until she got in a few more sessions with the queen. “Okay you’re done, you may leave. On your way out have Saffron come up next. Lightning seems to be the mentally tougher of the two.” “Okay, thanks for the massage. I thought Changelings were good at that, but you earth ponies are wonderful at massage with those strong supple hooves of yours.” Chrysalis sauntered out while looking back at Vera Blossom with an amused grin; she liked the pony with the spa related talents that turned invisible at a blink. It reminded her of a Changeling, even logically knowing that Vera wasn’t one. “Hey Saffron, you’re next. A queen like me is perfectly mentally health and beautiful as I thought I was.” - “You have a very large hero complex, being Mare-Do-Well that makes complete sense and I’m not actually surprised. You won’t let fear get in the way of helping others, no matter how detrimental to your health it might be. Of course you need to consider if the person you’re helping is actually worth helping or not and if the risk is worth it for your own personal health. Rarity has a similar problem to you, only it’s mostly centered on making sure her friends are okay and she’s ridiculously generous with her friends and willing to throw herself directly into the path of danger for them. Please don’t be a reckless idiot like that. You have a good working relationship with your father and you are a wonderful pony to talk to. Brave, outgoing and even a little too humble, unlike Chrysalis who wouldn’t know the meaning of the word humble if it was a dictionary that hit her over the head with a baseball bat.” The talk Vera had with Saffron went much smoother than Chrysalis and wasn’t as filled with sexual moaning or a thinly veiled innuendo that Chrysalis had done every time she popped a muscle. Massage therapy and psychological analyzing was becoming a thing for Vera. “You’re physically very healthy, you’re mentally healthy if in need of more thought for your own needs and this is just me speaking, but you’re really good at cooking. I even heard you were going to practice knife throwing routines with Trapeze who I’m beginning to think is becoming a very good morale booster for the crew as a whole. You are mostly mentally well balanced; despite having lost your home in a giant robot attack… wow didn’t think I’d ever say something like that. I only have a few suggestions for you personally, one being take a long shower, take the time to do some feminine stuff for yourself like brush your mane and do something even remotely selfish. Think about what you want for once.” “I think I can do that…” Saffron was trying to lie to herself more than the mare making her back sing in praise of the massage she was receiving, the massage stopped and Vera gave her a stern eye. She wasn’t selfish in any meaning of the word and like Rarity she always helped those who needed her. The people of Antilur Station really needed a hero and despite her fears she was willing to push forward into the unknown and breach the veil of darkness slowly killing those poor citizens. “Okay I will do that, something just for me personally and not anyone else.” “Good now send Lightning in here; I did you second as a buffer because I think she’s going to be a bit more problematic.” Talking with all these patients was beginning to make Vera miss her sisters Aloe and Lotus Blossom, in particular because she could easily form a sisterly bond with Saffron. - “Then I… I don’t know why I didn’t blame myself! I spend a lot of my time blaming Rainbow Dash for my own faults and… and… there’s the fact that I’m a horrible pony!” Lightning flipped over and started blubbering into Vera’s shoulder, the mare started to gently pat her on the back and rub a spot between her wings that was quickly making her calm down. “This is not going how I expected it would go at all.” Vera was learning a lot about Lightning and how her pride ruined her military career, much less her showboating and stupidity did. Lightning may act nonchalant, may be a bit rough around the edges like Gilda and had mentality for fighting others, but she was surprisingly sensitive and didn’t like knowing people thinking she was. “We could have been sisters, we were so much alike!” Lightning continued whining into Vera’s shoulder. “I might have even loved her a little bit; I was so horrible to her though! Do you know how bitter I became when they tossed me out on the street? Nobody would hire me because I did a lot of bad things.” “Okay, calm down, you now have a job and you’re slowly getting back on your hooves. It’s okay to have pride, but not when it’s to the detriment of your job and your job so far is to be Gilda’s hired pony.” Vera slowly started petting Lightning and working her back into a position where she could be massaged. This was by far the most emotionally unstable pony she had seen on the crew yet and she thought that would have been Chrysalis only to find the Changeling was sane if weird because she didn’t have a pony mind set and Vera had to work with that in mind. “This may sound odd coming from me, but I think you like being submissive to the desires of others.” “Wait, what? You can’t be serious doc, if anything I’m an in your face domineering pony!” Thus Lightning entered a full on denial phase and it was up to Vera to crack her open like a nut and she was going to gladly do so to get Lightning to open up more. “No I think you do have a problem with being submissive, you like people telling you what to do even if you pretend like you don’t and you show it without realizing it. You absolutely want to impress everyone, but you want to do it your own way while being told what to do. If I didn’t think you could be helped I would have told Gilda to kick you off the ship before we left Equus.” That little bomb Vera dropped caused Lightning to look at her with wilted ears. “All your actions are indicative of a really bad childhood; you had a lot of problems as a filly didn’t you? You just want someone to think highly of you and to comfort you and tell you that you did something good. In real life you can’t please everyone, I’m sure you were quite humbled by that crash. You need to admit that you need help and that you can ask for it and not try to handle everything by yourself, you must already be aware that your ego is your biggest problem.” Lightning became very unresponsive and just let Vera continue the massage in silence, but Lightning didn't fight Vera on anything she said and let her finish. Lightning eventually cried into her chest and they snuggled for a bit, Lightning thanked her for the massage and left quietly knowing that she would be back for another session. - “So you are Princess Ember Mcflame, also known as Flamethrower by many people and bounty hunters. I can tell this is going to be interesting one, let’s start with why you are here for this session Rarity.” Vera was actually curious as to why Rarity came into medical with Ember, the dragon needed a physical checkup on top of a mental one and she’d massage the dragon into being comfortable enough to talk. “I’m here emotional support and we came here straight away after we woke up from our… nap as it were. She woke up to find that she was using me as a pillow and she was quite embarrassed by that.” Holding up her hoof to stall an oncoming comment Rarity continued. “I have also yet to tell her about a possible lead to something of interest that she might want to know about and I wanted to address it in her psychological session, because she might have a bit of a break down when she finds out.” “Find out what?” The tank top and shorts was as little as Ember would be caught wearing, her blush and body shy nature just reared its head as she wrapped her tail around her waist. Rarity took out her data pad and started flipping through some pictures recorded to the device and she stopped on one particular picture. She stopped to look at Ember’s questioning face and was watching it for a reaction when she show the pictures that she took of Spike’s egg shell. “Well I found something on Equus that led me to believe that you might recognize this?” Rarity showed the picture to Ember and she scrutinized it for a bit, a slow dawning of understanding crossed her face as if she was seeing something couldn’t be real. She looked at Rarity and then back to the picture before her of an egg that had obviously hatched. “You found my sibling’s egg!” After her tail lashed out behind her Ember lunged and threw her arms around Rarity and brought her into a very strong hug, one that was almost a choke hold. “Oh my goodness, this is… this is unbelievable! Did you find my sibling as well?” “I had a hunch it was your brother I met, so… if you’ll please stop killing me by hugging me.” Rarity felt the grip on her loosen up, but it wasn’t nearly enough to let her go. Ember looked like she was quite comfortable in holding her and wrapping her wings around the pony who just delivered some of the greatest news she has ever heard. Rarity started to move through the pictures until she found one of both Twilight and Spike. “This is Spike Mcflame Sparkle, your brother and his surrogate mother Twilight Sparkle.” Nobody had ever seen actually seen a dragon cry before, it rarely happened and this was a once in a lifetime event. “Well once Ember is done calming down, after the fact that you have just delivered some good news to her.” Vera started off slowly, with a small smile on her face. “I would like to get this session done in earnest.” “Oh, right, I’m sorry about that.” Ember tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, only they just kept spilling from them. “It’s just that I have a little brother out there and he’s doing okay. He is doing okay right?” “Oh he’s doing perfectly fine darling, he’s friends with all the Alicorn princesses in Canterlot. Also he’s quite the little ladies gentle stallion, though he’s not entirely beyond bribery it would seem.” Here Rarity snorted and started chuckling at the memories. “He made a few passes at me, but I’m afraid that the poor dear doesn’t understand that he is far too young for me. He’s just as nice as you are Ember and I can actually see you as being his big sister.” Ember smiled vibrantly at that, she was willing and able to continue putting up with the hell that was Antilur Station with that kind of news she just received after being helped out. A tissue floated up to her sniffling nose and she blew into it, flaming snot caused the tissue to evaporate into the air leaving no traces of anything behind. Rarity was wary of levitating another tissue to Ember, but she did so anyway. - “Well Ember, you have a strained relationship with your father, but not exactly a bad one. You’re able to violently kill, but you are also someone with a mostly emotionally stable heart and strong morals that prevent you from becoming a heartless monster. Which might actually be a detriment to you being a bounty hunter in the first place, but you seemed to have done well for yourself regardless and I can’t see you as being a bad person even knowing you have had to kill sentient beings before. To be fair you are not a pony and I know this, you are both a very passionate and aggressive individual who needs more friends.” Killing wasn’t necessarily wrong, but it wasn’t necessarily right either and Vera was trying to not look at this from the angle of a pony’s perspective. Ponies were not very violent creatures, dragons were a different matter altogether and she had to adjust her personal mindset and beliefs for that to remain entirely impartial to Ember’s life choices. “You have good parents, you just found out you have a little brother that doesn’t know he has a big sister and you are pretty heroic sounding for a legalized bounty hunter. Socially you are still introverted and a bit awkward from when I last saw you, but you are coming out of the shell you have created for yourself in a slow and steady manner which is good. Being body shy is nothing to be ashamed of, though I must say that I agree with Rarity in stating that you are beautiful example of a female biped dragon” “Oh stop, you’re embarrassing me.” Ember was clutching at her completely red face and was thankful that Rarity wasn’t here at the moment to see her like this. It took her a moment to calm down and then she got a little serious. “Is there anything I should be worried about though?” “Your health seems perfectly fine, though I’m not exactly an expert on dragon biology your musculature is exceedingly dense and you’re wings are very tough for being so flexible.” Vera had caused Ember to squeak loudly when she got her hooves on the dragon’s wings. “Despite the emotional and physical exhaustion you went through, I think you’re okay enough to continue whatever it was you were doing on the station.” “I was trying to find the source of the problem and I have to do it to save whomever I can, still haven’t found where all the civilians or the lost military personnel went.” A strong person Ember was, she would go back in there and do her job whether or not she had help. Her strong moral standings and the fact that she was hired for this meant that she had to succeed. “I’m not about to give up on at least saving some people.” “I’m not about to tell you to not to go back aboard the station, Rarity seems set on doing the same as well even with how dangerous it is.” Vera paused and looked into Ember’s slightly upset eyes. “She just wants to help just like you do Ember and I don’t think you can stop her or Saffron from wanting to go back in there to find the problem and deal with it.” “Do you have any advice for me?” Ember asked quietly. “Yes in fact I do, take care of your friends and they will take care of you.” Vera put a hoof on the dragon’s bare shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “I think you’re a good person despite everything you’ve told me Ms. Mcflame. Have you ever given a thought to learning how to play music to express yourself?” Author's Note I write and upload at random. Now going back to 'whatever the hell is going on at Antilur Station'. Maybe include some small insight into why other people are not showing up at the station in need of supplies to dock with it. Danny Phantom's Ember Mclain or is it Mclane comes to mind for what kind of musical instrument I would give to Ember Mcflame.
-60-A civilian ship came out of jump and they were immediately hailed, the civilian pilot immediately answered and was introduced to a slim white furred cat with long pink hair and a dazzling if strained smile with her arms behind her back. The cat looked adorable, but she didn’t seem very happy with whatever current circumstances were going on around her. “If you are here to dock at Antilur Station we are sorry for the inconvenience, but the station is currently undergoing issues with possibly demonic level entities and it would be a horrible idea to dock with the station at this time. If you proceed to do so and get captured, eaten or killed, you cannot blame us for not issuing you a warning.” The cat grew bigger on the screen looking the pilot and every other pony in the eyes. “So if you don’t want to have problems in the ways of continued living until the matter is resolved, avoid going near the space station, docking with it and or parking in any of its many hangars. Thank you. If you are having an emergency I would suggest you either wait for the problem to be finished or move on to the next place for supplies if you are able to.” The pilot looked at all the silent ships around the dark station and among them was one ship that was active, the only ship that was active not to mention the odd life sign readings bouncing around the station. They heeded warning and turned to go to someplace else as Antilur Station was apparently considered a bad place to be right now. “If you could please send help to prevent more incidents of docking with the station and whole crews disappearing as if into thin air, well that would be helpful thank you.” Opal tilted her head, smiled with her eyes and watched the pilot as they changed directions of the ship in question. - “Are you sure about this… you’re a rather meek individual Coco and unlike Chrysalis, Lightning, Ember, Saffron and maybe even Trapeze you’re not exactly well known for your combat skills. In fact I thought you’d avoid ever going back in there again after the hangar incident.” Vera wondered why Coco came to her of all ponies and asked her for an evaluation, she held up her left hoof to stop Coco from talking. “Before you say anything I’m aware that Rarity isn’t exactly well known for her combat expertise, but she’s still the captain of the ship and also apparently the Baroness of it as well. She’s surprisingly sturdy mentally after having described to me a rather horrific creature she saw on the last trip in there. I believe the bloated griffon corpse for a stinger at the end of its tail would put me off ever wanting to set hoof in there. Everyone knows you have a good work effort, but I don’t exactly see what you have to prove here or why you even want to go in there.” “I feel like I’m not doing enough for Rarity and I want to help the colonists too, well if they are still alive that is.” Coco had a serious look on her face and it made her look adorable, she couldn’t come off as threatening if she tried. “Rarity thinks differently given she’s paying you for all the work you do, though I don’t understand why you came to me when it is Rarity you have to convince.” At least Vera’s life would never be boring if she had to keep talking to these people that she called friends. “I was actually hoping that you could talk me out of going.” Coco winced at the flat stare Vera gave her. “Nope, I’m not doing that. If you want to go then you talk to Rarity and go. Just be aware of the fact that you are risking yourself should you go in there as is everyone involved.” If the most adorable member on the crew wanted to go then Vera wasn’t going to stop her, she was going to mention something about it. “I don’t know about you, but I’m still put off by all the screaming and noise I heard from what Ember calls Miasma. Please note that most of the ones going in there all have some form of combat experience; though Rarity still counts as civilian when compared to the many experiences the others have had in a life or death situation. What she did to Mind Field was probably the most impressive thing Rarity is capable of. Needless to say Rarity is still a civilian compared to the others going with her, a rather brave one at that.” “Yes and we run a civilian business off of this ship and the Caravel Boutique, why exactly is Rarity helping to solve a problem that has nothing to do us?” A sharp crack from Coco’s back eliciting a very shrill squeak from her. “You’re quite stressed out about this. Ember is probably a part of why Rarity is making it our business, but mostly it’s her need to be generous and help those in need that’s keeping her here.” Vera pulled her hooves from Coco to let her sit up. “The question she has likely asked herself is this, should we move on and not do something and would any pony think less of her for making such a call? Could she have lived with herself had she not done something? Ember is going back in there regardless of what we’re doing because it’s her job and she’s one of Rarity’s friends.” “I guess I still feel guilty about being so afraid of Ember before, she’s a nice dragon. That’s part of the reason why I want to help out.” Coco rubbed the back of her head with her left hoof. “Do you think I should go with them?” “My job is not to tell you what to do, but give advice and massage the stress out of everyone.” Vera snorted loudly and rolled her eyes before she put a hoof around Coco’s back and nuzzled her neck affectionately. “This whole crew is really quite stressful and there’s a lot of stress to go around, the only ones I can’t physically help is Opal and me. I could use a massage myself come to think of it, oh and you’ll tell me if Chrysalis does something entirely demented right? I’m expecting something really horrible of her since she really doesn’t care that much about us as she would Changeling lives; at least she is actually making an effort to be a good crew member so far. There are hardly any Changelings in space and I’ve been studying how separation has affected Ms. Dick and she’s surprisingly mentally sturdy, I’m just hoping that’s doesn’t mean she’s cold or hard to us or that she sees us beneath her.” - “We’ve modified the sunlight grenades to be a bit more explosive… okay who am I kidding, me and Greta are barely qualified to work with chemicals that are not related to possible variable fuel concoctions. We’re technically rocket scientists that can hardly do much else unless we really put our minds to it, a four wheeled tank is surprisingly not all that different from a fighter really and it’s surprisingly easy to land.” Qualified was putting the words lightly, Gilda did spend a lot of time researching alternative fuels on her and Greta’s off hours, when she eventually ended up building a fighter she was going to build it to work everywhere while being as efficient as possible. She was busy giving six modified and hopefully upgraded sunlight grenades to an EVA suited Coco who looked determined to go along as she clipped them to her tool belt. “So don’t be near these things when they go off and I’m sure that none of you need to be told to use them sparingly as we don’t have the supplies to necessarily make too many of them. Tell us how they work, should you survive this that is. If they almost kill you, then we’re most certainly very sorry for the inconvenience. I just want to be extra clear on the fact that this is not our area of expertise and would be more fitting of Ember’s given she’s a weapon tinkerer, just know that they explode on impact and only if the pin is removed.” “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you coming with us again Coco?” The concern in Rarity’s voice was not lost on the innocent looking mare. “You need someone who’s good at tech and maybe an extra set of eyes will help, plus the battery attachment to the impulse saddle needs a workout in places other than space. Testing proves to be good in that area, now we need a rough scenario to test it so we’re solving any issues that may come up in a slightly warmer environment.” Having detached her standard issue impulse saddle, Coco made sure that the battery modified impulse saddle was a closed system that couldn’t be drained by the miasma monster unless she actively used it after she put it on her back. She was working off the information that Opal got from Rarity and the others from the previous two trips, one of which she was a part of that was the hangar experiment. “That and both Gilda and Greta really don’t want to go in there and I’m the only other crew member that’s more of a general knowledge buff in technology that could be of enough use.” “Very well then, if you must come along then you simply will.” Though Rarity didn’t feel very good about letting one of her best friends go into the belly of the quiet beast. “Though I do have my reservations about this and as a captain or Baroness I could deny you, but I won’t. Just don’t put yourself in danger; I don’t need another friend on the long mend like Sassy.” “It’s going to be both quiet and scarily calm in there, unless we hear a Screamer and we’ll know when one of them is coming when we hear the distinctive screech they make. That last one echoed all over the place because of how empty the station seems.” Putting on her helmet and having it enfold around her head, horns and spines, Ember stood tall waiting to go back in for another look around. She’s had good food thanks to Saffron and Coriander, she’s slept soundly thanks to Rarity which was embarrassing for the both of them and lastly the most important thing was that she went to a bathroom and didn’t get attacked on the toilet. “I’ve had my rest. Now before we leave, has everyone gone to the bathroom, did you make sure to drink something to be hydrated, I’m sure you all have a full stomach as I watched you eat myself and hopefully we’re all mentally ready because we’re going back into hell. Antilur Station here we come. First order of business is where should we start looking? I’ve already searched the lower half of the station and I’ve been at this for the last week or so. My last trip was the longest one I took and I don’t need fluids nearly as badly as the rest of you do, we need a game plan.” “Have you already checked the still active locations like hydroponics, gravity generation, energy generation, life support and the like?” This was a group consisting of a little more than half their crew and her mother, so it was understandable that Opal was being a bit of a mama bear at the moment. “Yes, I’ve checked all those places and only found a lot of Dusks. No bodies of colonists slowly having the life drained out of them.” The tone Ember spoke in was one of no nonsense and complete honesty, she had been relentless in searching for the victims as there was no way a hundred thousand people from various races could disappear perfectly. She had the one hundred pound metal kanabo, which looked quite familiar to Coco, strapped to her back in addition to her bulky Trailblazer rifle that was fully loaded up with rocks and several pouches with ammunition to pour into her gun. “No source of the problem in any of those locations, just creatures that don’t make noise no matter how fast they move unless they touch something else and are very physical until you hit them hard enough. That’s why we need a place to start searching for the missing people. I don’t want to fail to save at least someone from this mess.” “I understand and I’m sure we’re right there with you Ember.” Trotting up to the dragon Rarity placed a suit covered hoof on her thigh. The dragon looked down at her with worried eyes. “Yeah, nobody messes with my main source of food!” Everyone turned to stare at Chrysalis. “What? I’m just being honest about my intentions; if an orchard got a bad case of rot wouldn’t you expect the farmer to fight the loss of food with tooth, nail and tail? Maybe magic if they happen to be the rare one percent of unicorn farmers?” Everyone on the away team sighed, most of the away team where good at combat with minor exceptions to Coco. At least Rarity had some experience with being shot at even if she wasn’t good in a close up confrontation. - “Accessing airlock, can we please give up after this? It seems like the danger is increasing the longer we take to solve this conundrum.” Opal’s voice came off as whining as much as worrying as she directed the drones to pop the airlock open. “Stop whining Opal, I’m with three of the most capable beings I could be with at the moment.” Somehow this conversation felt familiar to Rarity, she just couldn’t remember from where. “I’m not whining, I’m complaining. You could get hurt and I love having all my friends in one piece, it’s awfully dark in there, there are scary things that might try to eat you! It also must be so filthy given there are no workers to buff the corridors and the air must be practically full of dust thanks to the inability to control the oxygen production facility.” Okay now Opal was whining and Rarity remembered why this sounded familiar. The pitiful cat noises started up after. “If you want whining I can do that so you won’t go back in there if you ever come out again!” “Sorry Opal, my mind is very well made up. We’re going to try for the communications array to see if we can get that working so we can stay in contact more easily.” The airlock was a bit of a tight fit for Rarity when she had to compete with Chrysalis and her rocket launcher, Ember and her metal bat and somewhat bulky rifle. On top of Rarity’s problems Saffron, Lightning and Coco, two of which were armed with knives and Coco was only armed with a few grenades and her own physical strength which would be useful in situations where they needed to move something around. Lightning couldn’t use guns in an EVA suit and as such was carrying them as spares for Rarity or Chrysalis, her wings were stuck in compression pouches while using an EVA suit and that was her only method of using the pistols. Something would have to go very wrong for Lightning to start using pistols. “Quiet, I’m going first, be ready for anything.” Ember had chosen their point of entry this time. Instead of entering through the two hangars and the several nearby airlocks Rarity’s crew had accessed on one side of the station, they moved to the top of the station using Shining Jewel and entered through one of the stations upper airlocks. It was different from when they last entered the station; they were entering at this location based on the schematics for the station that Ember received at the beginning of her investigation. The airlock slid open and Ember quickly rolled out and swept her rifle form left to right, nothing happened, she did not ease up on the grip of her gun. She motioned for Rarity and the others to follow, Coco and Lightning in the middle Rarity and Saffron at the back, with Chrysalis taking up position with Ember of whom she barely spoke too since they’ve met. Chrysalis was carrying a rocket launcher with four rounds on her that can only be set off with an explosion or when fired from the launcher, the other thing was a material rifle that was small in comparison to Ember’s Trailblazer rifle. “So far nothing, you know I can’t begin to wonder how people think Equus is more dangerous than some places in outer space.” Chrysalis looked down the hallway they were going and Ember set the pace by walking forward ahead of her to the left of the airlock. “Be careful, just because it’s quiet doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. The reason why you didn’t run into too many Dusks is likely because they ran into me first; the silence should definitely make you more wary. They don’t make noises on their own and we’ve gone over that fact multiple times. At least they can’t do things like crawl along walls or the ceiling.” After Ember said this four helmets suddenly started to slowly slide their gazes towards the ceiling where there were vents big enough for a filly to pop out of, they turned back to Ember when she continued. “What I can’t understand is where this infestation, as you call it, could possibly put one hundred thousand bodies. Aside from the few that the Screamers might be using as parts of their own bodies, I don’t need to tell anyone this, but hope your suit doesn’t get a breach bad enough that the breach gel can’t seal off. Thanks for making sure my EVA suit was fixed up Rarity.” “Think nothing of it darling, I did it for free of my own volition towards a good cause. Aside from the fact that you make the suit look exquisite.” Rarity turned back around and pointed her light down the hallway they just walked down. Nothing was there and the rampant paranoia from before was starting to set in again. “I’m responsible for everyone on my ship, including guests like you and Mr. Spew.” Things were very quiet after that, the corridor had several branching off pathways and several doors, none which were the ones they were after. Ember had told them that data pads weren’t useful in this situation when the miasma would drain it dry in seconds, thankfully the HUD on her helmet could carry the information needed for them to get about. They eventually took a right to go deeper into the station, the controls to the communications array was close enough near the surface that Opal could stay in contact with them. Chrysalis had felt something earlier and had made mention of feeling the Screamer, but the Dusks eluded her ability to detect danger. “You know I’ve been constantly scanning the station since we got here and I’ve got to say that there might be something to the energy readings. I’m seeing some semblance of correlation between all the still active systems and the fact that the power is running to each one from the stations main reactor undiluted. Life signs are still spotty and bouncing all over the place in comparison.” If Opal were going to figure out a mystery and had a choice between Antilur Station and Vera, she’d choose the station because it sounded easier. “I’ve got not much to report and thought you would like to hear a friendly voice. It’s so quiet in there you can hear a pin drop, aside from you’re breathing I’m not picking up much of anything out of all of your suits.” They were entering a very expansive wide open room that was more than a footballs stadium length where many a pony would sit down and run the communications network that rant throughout the entire station. There were two levels to this particular facility and they were on the lower level and could see the upper level that was up the stairs to their left and right. Not a single movement or soul was to be seen here. All the entrances to this large room were between the two floors. The communications hub below was as dark as the rest of the station, Coco started to move forward and sweep her lights past the dark monitors as she walked down the central aisle towards the central system of this complex area. Every once in a while Chrysalis would stop and suddenly jerk her head down aisle to the left or right, thus making everyone else freeze up and turn their lights to what she was looking towards. “If it doesn’t feel emotions it’s more dangerous than someone who does.” Chrysalis had been seeing things again. She certainly hoped it was just her imagination that the three fingered claw was reaching out for her again. “Coco you said you’re the technology expert here, what can you get us when we get up to the communication hub?” “Not much if the hub isn’t working in the first place.” They were all on edge and sweeping their lights every which way the closer they got to the central communications hub of the station. They were rightfully wary of being attacked at the moment. “How bright do you suppose the central communications device gets?” Chrysalis finally caught on to something. It was very faint, but it was there for a second and when she looked she saw the three fingered claw disappearing into the shadows. “Why do you ask that?” Coco didn’t like the sound of that, but she was at the cylinder surrounded by monitors and work stations that ran the central communications for off station interactions. All the other communication stations were for interactions with the administration to and from the people inside the station. “If it turns on quickly enough I want you to turn it on when I say so. Nobody look directly at me for a minute.” Chrysalis could almost feel it now, a sense of wrongness in the air around them, something that felt like an emotion. It felt like anticipation? That was as close as Chrysalis could get to the feeling she was sensing. Coco was at the station with one light on her and three lights facing away from Chrysalis but still sweeping around the general aisles of computers, monitors and consoles, some of which had been knocked over onto the floor as if there actually had been some attempt at struggling. “Okay, wait for it… and… turn it on now!” When Coco hit the power switch, a large area was bathed in a faded blue light and a screech that didn’t sound like Ember’s Screamer monsters attracted all their attention to the one spot behind Chrysalis that they were ignoring. The black three fingered creature with bright yellow slit shaped eyes was grabbing at its head with its two arms and its thrashing became worse as all the lights were directed onto it, its legs kicked at the air as it wallowed on the ground in the sudden focused beams of light. In fact it sounded exactly like the noises Rarity had previously heard when she was in the hangar with Vera and the miasma previously, only this time the sound of tortured people was dying down to a dull throb. The shadow creature slowly started to shrink in the light and let off Miasma as if it were steam until nothing was left of it, where it gave off one last pitiful squeal before dying. The darkness permeating the room suddenly became a little bit brighter the second it perished. “Well… that was something.” Chrysalis stated flatly. “I knew I felt something, but it was horribly muted almost like it was hiding from my senses on purpose. Also it was after me in particular.” “I think we found something important to note here, do creatures that make things darker wherever they appear sound familiar?” Ember was logging this up to a new discovery. “They have to be the cause behind the Miasma. Is it just me, but does it seem a little bit brighter in here then it was before?” “That’s odd though, they drained the light out of the hangar we used to attract them, why couldn’t it drain the communications hub of its light?” Tilting her head questioningly Rarity stayed close to the lit communications hub as possible. “It’s because we either took it by surprise or it couldn’t drain the energy out of the hub before it was too late and the area lit up. Well they didn’t drain the atmospheric barrier now that I think of it and that gives off some modicum of light as well.” Saffron kept her light trained on the spot the creature had been. “That creature was practically a living shadow and only Chrysalis was able to sense it. It must have been what she saw earlier when we were in the city proper, aside from the one or two dusks.” “Yeah, but why was it trying to grab me though?” Here Chrysalis took a haughty stance and smiled to herself. “I mean I’m quite attractive and I wouldn’t mind some secret butt fun if I could get mine to expand, but why was it targeting me out of all of us specifically and no one else?” “Changelings are able to connect to a hive mind or sense danger when something gets emotionally aggressive correct?” In fact Rarity had seen it in action when Chrysalis was directing her forces back on Equus after the gala was crashed. “What if the infestation could detect that you’re a walking hive mind and was trying to pull you back into it thinking that you were a part of it? Have you tried to connect to your people recently or is the distance between you and them too vast given that we’re in an outpost in deep space?” “Hold on let me check, haven’t exactly… oh that isn’t good.” Chrysalis only closed her eyes for a few seconds and concentrated, she quickly found something highly disturbing and she drooped in her suit considerably. “On scale of one to ten on how lethal things are about to get, twenty would be applicable.” “What, what is it?” There was already a knife in Lightning’s hoof and she had her back to the communications center Coco was still accessing. “We now have a strong communications connection established that runs throughout the ship, I’ll be able to communicate with you much more easily now. Though my penetration can only run so deep, provided that the infestation doesn’t drain the energy out of the communications center.” Opal didn’t sound very happy because it could only be a matter of time before she was cut off from them. “I’m still not entering the stations systems for my own safety.” “Well good news with a side of bad, bad news in general and the worst possible news you probably don’t want to hear at this point in time.” Chrysalis turned to look Ember in the face. “First of all, I know where all the colonists are. That’s not exactly good news as they are all currently trapped inside the main cause of all this.” “Okay and where would that be?” Ember was paying attention to a shaking Chrysalis. “That’s not exactly what we should be worrying about at the moment; tell me after we survive the generally bad news being every single Dusks and Screamer on the station slowly coming at us all at once because I just closed off my open hive mind thus making them very interested in us.” Chrysalis levitated out her material rifle and checked the ammunition to see if it was loaded and that the safety was off. “It is coming for us and it isn’t happy about the fact that I noticed it curiously looking at my empty hive mind trying to join it with itself and then I just slammed what amounts to a mental door in its face while stealing as much information from it as I could. It’s not great at controlling its personal mind, but I’m not strong enough to subjugate it because it’s far more powerful than I am.” “If that’s not the worst news, then what is?” It sounded to Coco like things were about to get really bad real soon. “Imagine that there is only one real intelligence driving every single thing that is about to attack us on this station.” In fact Chrysalis was quite sure she’s never felt something so horrific before in all her life. “We’re not dealing with multiple entities; just one really big one that I haven’t been able to detect until now because I wasn’t looking inwards to see if I was compromised. Now that I have, I’m sensing one big glaring ball if gluttony, an all consuming hunger that really wants us in it belly and quite badly at that. I thought it was just me even though I ate plenty before we left. Ember’s labeled Screamers are more direct extensions of this thing and it built them out of the flesh of the dead colonists it has finished draining the life out of. Whereas the Dusks are definitely mindless drones made of nothing but raw energy, which is why they are so easy to destroy as they have no real physical form. As for the shadow thing we just saw, it was just a manifestation of its mind and is harmless, provided that our suits don’t become compromised in the coming scuffle. Oh from what little I’ve learned from looking into it, it can form those Dusks things anywhere and as many as the colonists it has fully consumed. So if you’ve had a constant sense of paranoia, then congratulations, you’re not actually paranoid as every manifestation of this one thing is actually out to get us now!” Rarity simply stayed quiet after hearing this news and levitated her two material pistols out. The air just became very tense and they heard the distant scream of a Screamer getting closer. Author's Note Chrysalis didn't bother with closing off her hive mind because she didn't believe there was nothing else that could access it, especially not something more powerful than she was. Now imagine having something foreign in your hive mind and it is hungry, you can easily imagine that as just being you or another Changeling. So yes, a single being is behind all this and has many manifestations madly running around to meticulously murder and mangle intruders malevolently into being eaten alive by slowly having the life drained out of them.
-61-It started when the first of the Dusks formed in front of them; surprisingly they weren’t being attacked all at once by the entire station immediately. The first thing to form was a hippogriff, thankfully one without the ability of flight. The thing to not be so thankful for was that it was lacking feathers and skin, leaving its smiling face and exposed muscles to appear in front of Lightning. She didn’t particularly like it getting up close and personal with her. The thing took a total of three seconds to form, two to coalesce into a physical shape and the third to drop to the floor where it could make a lunge for them. The fourth second it had a knife in its eye thanks to Saffron as she was close enough to telekinetically slam it there with her magic. Then more shapes started to form into various beings, Pony, Griffon, Minotaur and Human being predominate Dusks to appear. Then there were the children of said beings starting to form out of thin air and that was the more psychologically horrifying on a number of levels. Ember put a shot into one of the forming children and it notably didn’t connect. The next time she fired when it started charging them, it lunged and this time the shot Ember fired connected and ripped through the three Dusks behind it before striking a piece of machinery. They weren’t tough but they were starting to build in numbers. “They’re only solid when they fully form, so save your ammo for when you can take out a line of them in one shot! Chrysalis, please tell me you can take us to where the people are being held.” Ember and Chrysalis hadn’t spoken to one another much or at all, so Ember was going the route of being amiable to the Changeling Queen even if she had once been the leader that invaded a friendly nation. To Ember Chrysalis didn’t seem much like a leader at this time. “I would also like some reassurance that you know where the being that’s behind all this is.” “Don’t talk to me about behinds. I do of course and both are in the same location assuredly, but you wouldn’t believe me if told you where. I’ll have to show it to you personally. We need to get me to one of the entrances to the city and I can take it from there.” So far the trickle of Dusks hadn’t been overwhelming and they stayed near the light of the activated central communications hub. “Why aren’t there more of them forming here? There should be hundreds popping into existence right on top of us.” “Unless the ones you’re talking about are already formed, as such they still need time to physically travel up here to get to us.” Saffron telekinetically swung two knives in a wide arc in front of her causing the silent creatures to explode into clouds of dissipating dust. “I would like to suggest that we move before this situation becomes untenable and I know a thing or two about untenable situations! A stallion named Lead Chunk is still fresh in my mind and he was scarier than these things.” “What would you know about untenable, I’ve been in ships full of sifter drifters like this before!” A knife sunk into the neck of a skinless filly and then lashed out and jammed into the brain of another that was glistening with muscle and sinew in the lights of the helmet that Lightning was wearing. She was making a good show of skill with one knife and not overextending her blows given that her targets immediately dissipated when hit. “This just happens to be the worst case I’ve ever seen in my life and we’re wasting energy here on things that are shadows of their former selves. We need a plan of action and to get moving before they tire us out with numbers, which according to your bounty bashing friend is limitless.” Lightning, Saffron and even Coco who was constantly cowering were forming a melee defensive line whereas Chrysalis, Ember and Rarity were shooting into the mass of Dusks starting to fill the room. “Ember I think Chrysalis just told us that you need to take the lead dear, you’re the one with the map on your head up display.” Rarity fired several rounds of material into the mass coming at them from her position on the right. “I want to be the one to watch our backs though! I’m the best suited for handling multiple opponents on my own.” Ember quickly bashed the skull in on a flightless Pegasus and with the end of her rifle and was partly thankful that the Dusks of what were once flying creatures couldn’t fly. “Oh for the love of, I’m done cowering!” Coco leapt forward and threw her right hoof into a Minotaur’s solar plexus and everyone watched as it bodily destroyed several dozen other Dusks before collapsing into a pile of dust itself. Apparently Coco had hit a level of fear that she went full circle and made her snap; she was now overcoming that fear with rage at herself for not being more helpful at a time like this. She reached to her belt to pull out a sunlight grenade. “Test firing a grenade right now, I believe and can trust that Chrysalis can cover our backsides Ember! Ember, your taking lead and you’ll like it, Rarity you run between Lightning and Saffron who will cover our sides when you can’t get something with your pistols and I’ll be behind you ahead of Chrysalis! Now let’s get ready to go when this grenade goes off and so help me we are going!” “Seriously you guys are beginning to trigger me with all this talk of rear ends.” Commented Chrysalis in an absolutely dry tone as she gunned down several Dusks and slapped one into a desk and monitor a good twenty feet away. They were too busy fighting for their lives to take in the shock of Coco of all people being the one to get them in gear or the fact that she became more aggressive than anyone would ever credit her as being given how sweet and innocent she usually was. She pulled a grenade from the right side of her suit and used her left hoof to flick the pin off. She pulled back her right hoof as if she were going to throw a baseball. When she let the grenade fly it went through four Dusks on momentum alone and it hit the ground and bounced up into the chest of a Unicorn Dusk and then a quickly building light filled the room. The impact with the floor set it off, but the impact with that specific Dusk is when the grenade really exploded. The forms of all the Dusks outside the range of the grenade wavered in the shock-wave of the massive explosion that almost knocked the six suited figures to the floor, it only sent them staggering. The explosion took up a large portion of the communications room and the entire room was lit up like all the lights had been turned on and after a second it wasn’t very blinding, the Dusks outside the direct blast appeared to be stunned by the light. Parts of computers, monitors and empty chairs were sent flying causing a large swath of destruction expanding outwards from the blast radius; even the smallest bits of debris were enough to destroy any of the surrounding Dusks. Ember immediately peeled away from the group and charge for the nearest door while taking hold of her rifle in a different manner. She swung her rifle around several times and the blade of fire shooting out of the second barrel started creating a large hole in the stunned swarm of Dusks. Rarity was right on Ember’s heels being followed by Lightning and Saffron, which had Coco moving with Chrysalis taking up the rear and bashing the slowly recovering Dusks away with her rifle as they punched a hole out of the room and towards one the doors. “Why are the Dusks reacting to the sunlight grenade like this?” The only one who seemed morbidly curious at the moment was Saffron as she stopped to analyze the phenomenon of all the Dusks wavering in the incredible light and had stopped attacking entirely. “Don’t question it, just run!” Ember yelled back as she made it to the door while turning off the flame bayonet spouting out from her rifle and slung it onto her back to start working the controls of the door leading out the right side of the room from where they had previously entered it. The door started to slide open and there was a swarm of Dusks on the other side of it ready to leap at Ember, she simply grabbed the Kanabo and got her second hand on it after lifting it off her back. She swung it in a wide arc horizontally dispatching the small crowd at the door that leapt at her all at once. “Let’s get our butts out of here!” “Hey, that statement is very triggering I’ll have you know!” The only other sound left from the room as Chrysalis backed her way towards the door was when the materials of her rifle hit something like the floor or wall, her rifle was interestingly enough firing Changeling manufactured spherical caltrops. Even if the shot didn’t hit the target it could still mess the target up if they didn’t watch their step and it was proving useful as the recovering Dusks immediately dispatched themselves stepping on them. “Now’s not the time Chrysalis!” Rarity was now watching the corridor and the light flooding from the room behind them showed that it was a strange bipedal monster, it didn’t look like something that previously existed and it had only a single left arm to use which looked like a bladed scythe. It had no head and two legs end in three toed claws, in the center of its twisted mass of a torso was an unblinking eye that might have had once belonged to a pony. Chrysalis cleared the door and Coco got it shut before the Dusks could get through, only for the creature down the corridor from them to let loose its deafening shriek proving it to be a screamer as it raised its blade like arm and started to charge forward at an incredible speed. Not bothering to question how it made that noise without even having a mouth to do it with, Ember met it and blocked its scythe like arm with the Kanabo and grunted as she slid back an inch from the force of the blow. The Screamer was sent staggering backwards when it received several rounds from Rarity’s material pistols that blew off its deadly arm that took several consecutive hits to the shoulder to sever. It then took a shot that destroyed its one solitary eye in a burst of pus and fluids that staggered it, the eye started to grow back but its stumpy arm wouldn’t since it was no longer connected to the monster. Ember took the opportunity to heave the one hundred pound kanabo overhead for a downward swing that crushed the monsters torso inwards in a fountain of flesh, blood and bone splattering in all directions with a sickening noise to accompany it. Said noise made all the ponies there flinch; Chrysalis just callously shrugged the gruesome sight off with a roll of her eyes. “I’m going to need to reload soon.” Material pistols could only hold so many shots at a time and Rarity had a few pouches full of partially shaped chunks of conical copper. Chrysalis and Ember could go longer between reloads because they had larger rifles. “It’s a good thing that Dusks aren’t smart enough to open doors, doesn’t stop them from forming around us or coming at us from the other corridors.” “No, but the Screamers might be, that that one in particular can even begin to regenerate a destroyed eye tells me that dealing with them just got a little bit harder.” Ember stepped over the corpse and moved forward, the others quickly took up positions. “We definitely cannot backtrack and we won’t survive being in a bottleneck or corner, we have to keep moving. Intersections are going to be hell if we run into anything on the way to the city.” “Bright side, they can’t regenerate torn off parts of their body and if they’re dead they are not getting back up from it.” Speaking up from the back Chrysalis followed everyone in front of her as they took a right turn at an intersection and were quickly approaching another one, she idly glanced at all the vents and pips lining the roof and sometimes the walls. They were passing by many doors that led to rooms such as closets, small residences for those who kept the station in working order and the occasional public bathroom. “The body stopped regenerating after you hit it hard enough to pulp it, say if you survive this can I get a feel of that weapon on my spine?” “I wonder who dropped the ball on this one, because the infestation didn’t get on this station without help!” If a vessel was even slightly suspected of carrying any kind of sifter drifter infestation it would have been noticed rather quickly, which led Lightning to wonder how the infestation got onto Antilur Station in the first place and when did it become powerful enough to warp flesh into ugly meat puppets. They came up to another intersection and Ember barely ducked having head taken off by another scythe armed torso Screamer that was letting loose a scream in her face that caused her to have a headache. Ember had missed it because it had been standing on the ceiling and it dropped down right on top of her after having missed. The dragon was now on her back and pinned trying to keep the Kanabo between her and the point of the blade trying to approach the her helmet. Saffron leapt on to the creature, and jammed her knife into its one shoulder with both hooves and pulled as hard as she could in an attempt to damage its tendons enough to get it off of Ember. The creature lashed out at Saffron who rolled away and successfully managed to avoid her suit being breached though a splash of breach gel fell to the floor, the shallow cut was at the base of her suits neck. The Screamer was distracted long enough to be kicked onto its back by Ember, who swiftly leapt forward and brought down the Kanabo smashing the life out of the Screamer. “Are you okay Saffron?” Coco still flinched at the grisly display Ember caused, but no one else did as they were too busy watching the other corridors at the intersection and the very air around them. “It’s only minor suit breach; it’s not bad since it didn’t get my helmet.” Saffron was panicking slightly having felt differently, she was thinking of what would have happened if it had been able to get a cleaner hit on her or Ember. Any damage to their helmets would expose them to getting dragged away by the Miasma. They were already up and moving with Ember in the lead, having taken a left this time. They were only about ten feet away when vent broke and child sized Dusks start falling out and went for Coco, a griffon chick managed to get on her back to try and claw a hole in her suit. Chrysalis was swiftly on top of them and stomping them into the floor and smashing them into the walls, Coco had managed to rear up and destroy the one on her back by slamming herself against the wall. They quickly caught up with the group since they came back and assisted them. “Come on, through the door!” Lightning was motioning for the two; Saffron and Ember were already watching the path forward. Rarity took a position next to the door and was reloading her material pistols by pouring ammo into the handles of both the pistols she was wielding in her magic. “Give us a second as there’s just so many of them, what are they, Changelings?” Chrysalis was not amused with this situation and managed to keep them from piling on top of Coco as they made for the door, the Dusks silent movements were still very unnerving. They both went through the door and it slammed shut on a skinless griffon chick that turned into a cloud of dust. “I’m kind of wishing I signed on to a science vessel with Twilight Sparkle just outside the atmosphere of the planet now, then again I wouldn’t be in the presence of so many beautiful ladies and I’d be stuck with a nerd that just got her wings.” “Technically Greta is a nerd; Twilight is a dweeb, so get your terminology right!” The upmost in authority on Nerd, Dweebs, Dorks and Geeks spoke to those in the stations; it just had to be Gilda who was making a clanging noise as she opened up communications. “Sounds like you’re having a heck of a time in there; Opal says that it’s probably thanks to your very distracting presences that the infestation hasn’t drained the activated communications array yet. Heard you used one of the grenades, how was it.” “It’s a little powerful, but given the situation it’s very helpful in that regard!” They were taking a minute to catch their breaths and they were still quite alert to their surroundings, Coco was glad to expound the wonders of the grenades that both devastated and stunned. “Seriously though, what did you put in them?” “I’d like to know that personally, phosphorus seems like a key ingredient given how they light up rooms like Celestia lights up our home world when she moves the sun in our system.” Most would forget that, despite her bounty hunting career which made her feel like a tough thug from an outsiders perspective if they didn’t know her, Ember was actually quite intelligent and dabbled in making weapons and modifying them. She had a history of improvising weapons out of her surroundings, which was usually a fire extinguisher used as a blunt instrument or with a slight modification a dangerous chemical spewing weapon. “Not exactly, we use something a little stronger than phosphorus despite us naming the previous grenades that, it is actually based on propulsion fuel technology. I and Gilda probably could have gone into demolitions together.” Greta cheerfully chirped in and then continued on to add. “As for what we recently added to them. There’s a reason we started calling them sunlight grenades now, we didn’t have much time to test them and it’s great to know they’re at least not exploding on you. We managed to synthesize something between napalm, nitroglycerin and a very slight amount of intradexatun that’s used in devastator rounds on some Plurt based vessels. Would make for an explosively powerful rocket fuel, you needed impressive explosives from your favorite griffon R and D specialists. We just delivered as needed.” “Well the intradexatun explains it, how did you manage to fuse it without causing problems of instant detonation? Nitroglycerin is also as problematic.” Ember shook her head as she started moving forward with group following her. “For that matter how did you even get intradexatun?! It’s not exactly a civilian market item.” “Well the lab on Shining Jewel has a few fun features, some water and some food put through a bit of entropy and mixed with a varying amount of volatile chemicals. Intradexatun is complicated sure, but you’re talking to two geniuses even if our passion is mostly vehicular work and it wasn’t that different from making variable fuel. Speaking of, I can probably get a variable fuel factory going for a cheap investment if you’re willing, but that requires you to survive this event.” Gilda huffed audibly over their communications in their helmets, it was a good thing that they weren’t under attack at the moment or else they would be having more problems listening to this conversation. “The reason why the grenades explode on impact is because the pins are holding the intradexatun in place and after it mixes with the other chemicals it primes almost immediately. Why are you even talking to us, don’t you have a thing to do in there? I thought you were under attack a minute ago.” - “Well we’re putting plenty of doors between us and them on our way to the city. In fact we’re shutting a door right now, it’s also very dark in here and I’m not exactly afraid of the dark. I’m more afraid of what’s prowling in it.” The shrill shriek of a Screamer could be heard hitting a solid wall, Coco sighed loudly in relief until some clanging could be heard. The sound of dented metal could be heard. “Guys, I think Ember was right in stating that the doors aren’t going to stop the Screamers.” “You know I feel kind of bad for leaving Rarity high and dry about this.” Not that Greta wanted to go, she was too afraid to. Post traumatic stress disorder might become a problem if they didn’t want to deal with sifter drifters, put a known quantity before her and she’ll gladly join a firefight even if she isn’t very well trained in a particular weapon. “Eh, the Boss Lady will survive, because so help me I’ll find a way to revive her if she does bite it.” Gilda looked up from the structure she was busy with. “Also we didn’t leave her high and dry, we gave her the grenades we made didn’t we? They are finding them useful and that is enough for me, pass me a wrench and Mr. Welder would you Greta?” “Just so you know Rarity has a no cybernetic enhancements to keep her alive policy, though upsetting I will have to agree to not letting anyone do that to her. No matter how much I would prefer it if it would save her life, I stand by the fact that making her live a half life would be horrible to her sensibilities and the memory of who she is currently.” Opal was worried and listening to their breathing and the conversations going in the station. That they were panicking was putting it lightly given what little information she had to go on. She just didn’t have much to say and there wasn’t much she could do but hope Rarity would be okay. “She has nightmares about me going rogue and replacing all her limbs with mechanical prostheses and remote controlling her body while she’s completely aware of what I’m doing. In her nightmares I chop off her limbs and laugh at her pain because I do it while she’s completely aware and without anesthetics. I’m aware and thankful that Luna has helped her several times about it as her brain activity alters when Luna is around in her dreams. The nightmares don’t happen often, but when they do they are quite bad. It’s actually something I could be capable of, though I’m not actually currently able to do something like that with what we have on Shining Jewel.” “Then it’s a good thing you’re a person and not a mindless and heartless machine that follows everything to a logical conclusion Kitten.” Gilda couldn’t see it, but she was pretty sure Opal was blushing now. “I was thinking more along the lines of time travel anyway, could take a few years of research to invent a time machine as it’s completely outside our areas of expertise.” - “We’re almost there.” Ember stopped as several more Dusks formed in their path, they were quickly dispatched with a punch and a few blows from several hooves and bodies ramming through them without stopping. “Then you’re almost ready to learn the location of the creature.” Chrysalis saw at least twelve Dusks round the corner of the intersections they left behind and she fired over her shoulder, some shots went wide and others went into the floor leaving the caltrops to take them out when they stepped on them. “It’s not going to be pretty, like Rarity who thinks she needs makeup to actually look good and she’s trying to hard because she’s already quite the looker. I’m an all natural beauty myself and I was wondering if anyone here wanted to take all of this to a bank and cash me in?” “No.” Was the flat chorus of voices that were focusing on the situation at hand whereas Chrysalis continued to be a bit weird about all the danger they just happened to be in. Even Ember spoke up and she hasn’t been around Chrysalis long enough to hold a conversation with her that wasn’t in the middle of a dangerous situation; she was also kind of uncomfortable with the queen’s fixation of posteriors and got the feeling that the Changeling gave her a few interested glances. “Well you guys are no fun… I’m a single Changeling Queen who can become anyone’s dream girl… or guy if you prefer. I can be either gender even if I prefer all kinds of feminine activities.” Nobody was going to comment on Chrysalis having the capacity for being a top quality model of Rarity’s wares and or transforming to be someone they’d like for appearances alone. “Is this about my butt? It’s my butt isn’t it; it’s always my butt that nobody wants to appreciate!” “It’s not about your looks Chrysalis, I think it’s more the fact that you are not our type. Someone who can love you for who you are and not the illusion you would try to present to us as being real. Would you want to build a relationship based on an illusion?” Something crossed Rarity’s mind as she spoke. “I’m quite sure we can like you as a friend and we seem to be making inroads into that with you. What I think is really wrong here is that you’re afraid and you’re distracting yourself from feeling the fear among our group.” “Yeah, but I’ve noticed no one ever outright denies it’s my butt! Back to the topic at hoof, I’ve seen how powerful this creature is. Despite lacking a high level of intelligence and doing things so inefficiently, yes I’m terrified that it has managed to catch one hundred thousand beings and more by itself in what would be a short amount of time.” They eventually reached a doorway into Antilur City and Chrysalis moved forward while motioning for Coco to get the door. “Not even one of my best laid plans and all the Changelings on Equus could accomplish something on this scale; we Changelings are not assassins even though we do perform some assassinations with very good reasoning and that rarely happens at all. This thing doesn’t care what it kills and I don’t want it anywhere near my people or any other intelligent life that could be supportive of Changelings. Also yes your fear is causing me to feel it too.” “You left out the words, ‘as a food source’, darling.” Rarity commented dryly as she waited for the door to cycle open. “Hey, just because you’re a possible food source and I’m a parasite with relatively aggressive tendencies in attempting to get a mate or at least a date, it doesn’t mean that we can’t all be friends.” Everyone took notice that Chrysalis wasn’t in denial about the food source thing. As such Chrysalis thought they were all even in that respect. “Always a bride’s mare and never a bride…” The doors open and they were seeing a similar set up to the previous entrance into the city a road curving around the entire city as an outer ring with several bridges leading inwards, only this time they were several layers up and in a more residential area of Antilur City. “Okay where is it?” Ember might have been somewhat uncomfortable around Chrysalis, but she was their go to informant on where this creature was. “Turn towards the nearest wall and try to grab something out of it.” Chrysalis stated simply, she just couldn’t win today and she thought life threatening situations were supposed to make people more likely to love each other through camaraderie. It was working, but only at a friendship level and she was able to feel emotions of the group and had been doing so since they started this trip into the station again. It amazed her how humongous this whole place was, but she’d never tell these people that while hiding beneath her lackadaisical veneer. “You mean this wall next to the entrance covered in… this isn’t paint is it?” Ember claw dug into the shadows in the wall and she felt her claws come into contact with something; her lights weren’t even penetrating the wall of darkness before her and looking left to right it likely extended around the entire circumference of the city. Pulling her claw out holding onto something, she heard a squelching noise and was now horrified to find herself holding a half rotted corpse of a small foal by its spine. She immediately dropped it like it was made of acid and backed away from the wall feeling quite sick to her stomach. “Well you showed me where the people are being held and slowly being drained Chrysalis, but where is this infestation?” “You wanted to know where the main cause of this problem is… well…” Chrysalis turned to the city and took a few steps past the others as she angled her lights to look at the lower and upper levels with a slight sweep before just focusing on the city itself. “As of right now… we’re inside it.” Author's Note Going on hiatus to test the game Yookah-Laylee to see if it can possibly live up to it's hype of being a classic 3-D platformer. Also the next season of MLP is coming up along with the next Samurai Jack, including the return of The Scotsman. Fifty years older and still kicking things around like a badass.
-62-“Excuse me and pardon my language as I know it’s not ladylike to curse, but are you seriously bucking kidding me?!” The five others were suddenly on alert at Rarity’s particularly shrill scream, Chrysalis looked kind of calm. “This has got to be the most horrid situation I’ve ever been in yet!” “I was inside this thing for three days… no wonder it wanted me dead so badly.” Ember mumbled off to the side as she crossed her arms, her weapons vertical against her back. “Nope, no kidding you whatsoever, though I don’t see what little Changelings have to do with this and I’m kind of sure that impregnating you without your knowledge would be a really bad idea.” Now there were five sets of lights pointed at Chrysalis and she could feel several deadpan stares directed at her through them. “Anyway, I want us to be back on the subject at hoof or claw in Ember’s case. As soon as we enter through the entrance to the city's door we all entered its body which has clearly swallowed this city whole. There’s going to be a lot of trouble if we kill this thing.” “Trouble how? Better yet, what makes you think that anything is still alive in here aside from us?” Saffron turned about and looked around for any threat; they couldn’t all pay attention to Chrysalis in this dangerous environment. “Well I’d surmise that all the captured people will fall from the walls if we kill the main cause of the infestation… provided the fall doesn’t immediately kill any survivors we’d have to shut off the gravity almost immediately after it’s killed.” Pausing Ember started to glance around as well doing the same thing as Saffron, they didn’t want to drop their guard now. “We’re not going to split up, to have someone go deal with the gravity generator. At this point things are bad enough that we should just kill the infestation outright and damn the consequences! Nobody can blame us for it.” “That and the infestation has a lot of the civilians in stasis while it drains them of their life, every breath is another second of survival and feeding this monster. So people are dying while we’re sitting here talking.” Chrysalis turned her light to the dilapidated corpse Ember dropped. “This is making me realize what the Changeling race might have become had we not been stopped, kind of an ugly existence and there isn’t an infinite amount of ponies in the world. It is clearly an inefficient means of survival just to capture everything and feed like a glutton, eventually it’ll die of starvation.” “Can I volunteer to take a detour to stand by the gravity generator while everyone else goes and kills this thing?” If it were up to Saffron she’d do it alone if she had to; she wanted to save as many lives as she could. This situation was rather dire so she’d be willing to do just that by herself even with how deadly the situation has gotten. “I would love to do so as well, but I prefer we kill this thing as fast as possible and hope for a miracle that people can survive suddenly striking the floor at terminal velocity.” Even Rarity had to draw the line somewhere and she had a line right now. They couldn’t save everyone and the people they did save would probably try to use them as scapegoats for their anger, Rarity could live with that provided they survive their injuries from falling. “I’m quite terribly sorry Saffron, but we can’t spare people to sit in one location where they’ll be swarmed constantly by Dusks or Screamers. Where’s the brain or the heart of this thing Chrysalis?” “It’s in one of the buildings at the top layer, we’ll have to go into said building and use the stairs. It’s either that or to make it easier on us we go turn off the gravity and get many people killed more quickly by diverting energy away from this thing. Thankfully I know which building it’s in, as for its heart… it doesn’t exactly have one.” Setting off towards one of the bridges into the city Chrysalis was going to lead them to where she felt the brain was. It was big enough that it couldn’t have been moved easily and they’d have to pass through a high rise. She was quickly followed up by the others on the road. “We blow the brain, we solve the problem… we just have to get past the Screamers first. Like that one coming right at us for instance.” The scream let them all know it was definitely a Screamer and they all focused their lights on the monstrosity that was flying at them. It was a cross of a crow and a dragon that had a mouth at the tip of what amounted to a tentacle for a tail. It was quite large at twenty five feet in size, its humanoid stature had four curved bladed talons ending on each of its four limbs. What’s more was that it opened its beak and its black beady eyes seem to focus on them as its beak clacked shut sending a blast of fire at the group. Everyone scattered diving out of the way of the fireball as it exploded on the bridge sending everyone rolling even further. The large beast dropped to the middle of the bridge creating cracks in the ground from its weight and its large dragon style wings spread out threateningly. Chrysalis and Coco were on the city side of things, whereas Rarity, Saffron, Lightning and Ember were on the bridge side. It quickly turned and lashed out with its talons and missed grabbing Saffron who ran under the claw and nearly got bitten by the tail as she made her way over to Chrysalis and Coco. The Screamer turned to track Saffron and incidentally slapped Lightning off the side of the bridge when the side of its long snaking tail slammed into her chest, it winded her terribly to the point she didn’t even scream as she fell down out of view. “Oh my goodness Lightning!” Rarity screamed in panic, but Ember was already moving as she ran towards the edge of the bridge. “It looks like we’re splitting up after all, nobody dies on my watch!” Ember yelled as she leapt off the side of the bridge after Lightning. “We’ll catch up, take care of this Screamer and quickly find that brain!” With that Ember was gone and after Lightning, while that was happening Saffron quickly chucked a grenade at the head of the monster as it opened its beak to launch another fireball. At the same time Rarity quickly backed away from its tail as the end of it began snapping its mouth at her, it forced her back far enough to notice Dusks forming around her. The monstrosity snapped its beak shut on the grenade which exploded with a bang, a good seventy percent of the blast was directed back towards Coco, Saffron and Chrysalis while the rest of it blew out of the side of the creature's beak. Saffron, Coco and Chrysalis had all moved to the side of the explosive blast as it covered the floor in a powerful glowing material that lit up the entire area. “Do you think it planned that?” Yelled Coco who was slightly deafened by the cacophony the explosion caused, she along with the other two next to her were quite disoriented. Looking beyond the monster she could see Rarity bucking at some Dusks and used a pistol to blast several of them into dust clouds. “Possibly, I caught Lightning; I think her ribs are broken or at least cracked.” It was apparent that Ember was still within contact range. The sounds of materials could be heard hitting something below over the collective communications. “We need to keep moving Lightning!” “What I need is medical attention!” Lightning groaned out, she grunted from some sort of exertion. “Can’t you just leave me here, I’m slowing you down.” “Not a chance, I’m not leaving you to become Screamer food or another casualty in the miasma.” It sounded like those two were having fun, they might have even heard Ember curse quietly. “Just be happy your suit isn’t compromised.” While they were all listening to two of their lost people, the monster hadn’t been waiting idly as it attacked both Coco and Saffron with two broad sweeps of its talons while stomping forward. Chrysalis had been hitting this Screamer with round after round from her material rifle. “I don’t have nearly enough stopping power and I need to reload soon…” Her gun ran out of ammo and Chrysalis just sighed, frustrated that she ran out at that moment. She ran forward and rolled between the large monster's legs while pulling one of the ammo pouches from her side to reload as she got further behind the monster that swung outward with its left arm trying to hit her with a nasty backhand. Having avoided the attack Chrysalis turned around and fired a ton of rounds into the dragon monster, each shot pierced mottled grey flesh and it bled yellow gunk. “Before you say anything I’m saving the rocket launcher ammo for the brains behind all this.” The monster chased Chrysalis back onto the bridge and towards Rarity who was still having trouble with Dusks when several twisted torso scythe wielding Screamers popped off the wall running towards Rarity at full tilt as she pulled out her other pistol while reloading the one she had been using. Using the loaded material pistol to hold them back, she pulled a grenade and launched it at the two Screamers and the multitude of Dusks forming in the air over the bridge. “At this rate we’re all going to be out of heavy ordinance by the time this is all over!” The grenade went off and Rarity saw that the forming Dusks ceased forming and the two scythe Screamers were blown apart and the dragon Screamer behind roared in what had to be pain when two explosions went off against its back. The entire area was lit up with all the sunlight grenades going off, there was a shout of triumph. “Yeah, we got the zombie’s wings and I think all the light is disrupting the Dusks ability to form!” The joy Saffron felt at being able to make it incapable flight was soon halted when the wingless crow monster turned about and started to stomp toward the two ponies opening its beak wide open. “What’s a zombie?” There was confusion on Chrysalis’s end as she followed Rarity in pursuit of the monster going after Coco and Saffron who started backing up into the city proper and away from the bridge. “We don’t exactly have the time or breathing room to…” Ember started when an explosion went off somewhere several layers down from where Rarity and the others were. “Damn it Lightning we were almost caught in the blast!” “It worked didn’t it, if you’re not leaving me behind then… I might as well be useful instead of being almost dead weight because of my agonized ribs.” It sounded like Lightning’s breathing was strained. “More of those one armed scythe Screamers are crawling out of the woodwork. How many of these bucking things are there?” “Well at least you’re not dealing with one of the big ones!” Coco nearly got grabbed by the wingless dragon Screamer and when it changed. It had propped up on its front legs and beady eyes popped up out of the base of its tail which was now it’s front end where the rear legs were now the arms, one of which tried to grab Coco as she ducked into an alleyway only for three Dusks to form, all of them little colts. “We’re being attacked by flesh monsters, ghosts made of raw energy and we still have little clue as to what the real problem looks like!” The claw reached into the alley grasping at Coco who backed up and felt something trying to grab her from behind, she lashed out with a rear hoof and was met with a dust cloud, she turned around reared up and smashed the other two Dusks into nothingness. She dove forward as the trunk that was once a tail entered the alley after her snapping its teeth loudly at her rear end, she was caught in a dead end and the Screamer dragon was making it impossible for her to go anywhere and even more Dusks were starting to form around her. “A little help here guys?” Coco squeaked out in fear, as she put her hoof through a Thestral Pony whose bony wings looked horrific without the skin, she pressed her back against the wall. “Hold on Coco, Chrysalis can’t you use a few of your grenades? I know you’re unwilling to use the rocket launcher right now and I agree that we need to save the big stuff for the brain, but I’d rather we live long enough to even attack it!” Saffron was busy with her own problem as a Griffon Dusk had grappled onto her back and she positioned a knife in held her magic to stab it in the side without hitting herself. She successfully got it off her back and spun around to jam a knife she held in her hoof into another Dusks throat. “We’re kind of falling apart here and getting swarmed by endless amounts of Dusks! I’m also trapped in my alley because it has its forward facing eyes on me and I think it might be preparing its beak for another fireball, my situation is a bit worse than Coco’s at the moment!” “I know, I know, give me a second to get my bearings please.” Rarity was holding a grenade in her hoof and looking indecisive as Chrysalis clubbed the Dusks forming around them with both the as of yet to be loaded rocket launcher and the material rifle. “If I throw a grenade the blast might hit Coco and you Saffron. Remember that I have grenades too, Greta and Gilda made plenty and I thank the stars and Luna’s moon that they did.” “Speaking of problems, I think we’ve run into the giant scorpion thing you saw before Rarity and it is...” Ember was cut off by a loud scream echoing throughout the mostly empty city. “Ugly and right on top of us! Excuse me us if we don’t talk for a few minutes, I’m running for both our lives!” “Okay then, change of tactics. Rarity keep these Dusks entertained, I’m going to get that Screamer off of them and deal with it personally!” Chrysalis Charged forward while settling the rocket launcher and material rifle on her back and she leapt into its slowly opening beak and forced herself into the things mouth. The monster started making choking noises and changed its stance so that its rear legs became its arms once more and started clawing at its throat and looked like it was trying to scream. “Yeah that’s it, choke on me! Incidentally I think I might now have a thing for being swallowed alive, is that so wrong given I’ve been eaten by a Hydra before?” “Rarity, I would like to have Chrysalis’s sanity evaluated again, I don’t think Vera did a good enough job the first time.” Coco spoke loudly in a flat tone as the Screamer thrashed and clawed apart its own flesh in a fountain of yellow goo spilling from its body. “I would like to second that even if she did just save my life by doing that.” Saffron made her way out of the alleyway after stabbing a Dusk Minotaur in the brain, she barely avoided getting hit by the thrashing monster that was occupied with a Changeling Queen in its throat and over to Rarity who was just pistol whipping Dusks to save on ammo. “I can still hear you, you know! I’m not crazy even if its guts are quite nice and squishy… cuddly... too bad I’m about to ruin this, I could get some nice Feng Shui going on in here.” The sound of a pin being pulled could be heard after Chrysalis’s disturbing words, the sudden bulge in the monster stomach swiftly moved towards its tail. “I’m coming out soon, get clear everyone!” “On second thought Rarity, make sure to schedule another round with Vera for all of us if we survive this.” There was no objection to Coco’s suggestion. The bulge moved to near the base of the tail and monster started clawing at what was now its front as it switches what were acting as legs and arms again to start clawing at that. Suddenly a circle of small holes and the rebounding of materials off of the surroundings started up and the base of the tail trunk mouth thing eventually separated from the rest of the body and Chrysalis fell out just as an explosion engulfed her and the monster. The area ceased having Dusks and the blast knocked the three ponies down; Rarity slowly staggered to her hooves and helped Saffron onto hers. “Chrysalis, are you alright?!” The light had been blinding and as soon as it died down they saw that the dragon Screamer's innards were everywhere. Rarity quickly moved towards the epicenter of the blast and was already looking around for Chrysalis. “I’m a teapot that loves to spout, about my sexually conclusive routes, but my butt is a handle that no one ever touts~!” A section of the innards twitched and Chrysalis rose from out of them shaking off pieces of what used to be organs belonging to a male griffon and other exploded bits of flesh, she stumbled about dizzily almost dancing. On top of that she was completely soaked in the strange yellowish pus colored fluids as Coco ran up to her to steady her movements. “I think Chrysalis was knocked senseless by the explosion.” Reported Coco as she started to shake off and wipe away the exploded flesh she and Chrysalis were absolutely covered in. “Tip me over and spill my guts out, for I enjoy the pain without a pout~!” Chrysalis sang in a silly tone and Coco kept a good grip on the wobbling Changeling Queen who leaned against her smaller frame. “No kidding, she’s really acting all loopy after that and I’m surprised she got out of that with only light scorching.” Saffron followed Rarity forward while looking at the lit air. “At least we’re all still alive after taking care of that thing and that’s at least a good thing right?” “I’d think not, Chrysalis was the only one who knew exactly where the brain was and I wouldn’t be surprised if she gained amnesia from a blow like that!” Who would blame Rarity for losing her calm in this situation and begin to violently shake Saffron back and forth. Coco was busy supporting Chrysalis and Rarity didn’t want to jumble Chrysalis up any more than she already was in her slightly scorched suit. “Sorry Saffron dear, I’m a little stressed out at the moment. Though I seem to keep finding myself in situations like this, it doesn’t get any easier as I’m a lover of fashion and not exactly built to be a fighter.” “Well this is just going to take a little bit longer then, at least until she gets back to her senses. In the meanwhile I’ve still got a giant scorpion thing, small scythe Screamers and tons of Dusks on my ass down here. I’m not about to die before I meet my little brother!” Ember was breathing quite profusely from what they could all hear; she seemed to be exerting a lot of effort in whatever she was doing. “I’m glad to even still be in contact range, I am going for the closest spiral ramp between city layers. Also I’m the one carrying a one hundred pound metal spiked bat, a specially designed material rifle and the body of an out cold Pegasus while being chased by a number of horrifying things! So it would be good if you could hurry up and get a move on finding that brain like yesterday or at least help me out here with this huge Screamer. I think none of you have a good reason to complain at the moment while you’re all able to catch your breaths!” - Ember stomped down on the back of one of the many Dusks in front of her and bounced off over the crowd in a manner that left a small cloud of dust streaming in the air behind her as she continued running with Lightning thrown over her right shoulder. She was glad that she could still feel the Pegasus breathing if barely at that. She lashed out and dusted a few Dusks with her left claw as she moved forward, she personally modified the claws on her EVA suit to be as tough as her own and after catching Lightning, she had managed to grab a wall to slow down her fall before she fell into one of the lower levels of the city. She took the brunt of the impact for the both of them and didn’t stay down long, because the lower levels were positively swarming with Dusks. She was almost to the ramp and she looked behind to see the creature rearing back and taking in air behind her to let loose a deafening screech, before it turned around and started to leave her alone. She didn’t stop moving as she made it to the ramp that lead to the upper levels. These spirals were used by civilians and to move supplies around the city, in particular the cargo ones were a bit wider than the civilian ones and Ember was already charging up the spiral as quickly as she could. “When I started doing bounty hunting, I never thought I could get into a situation quite this bad.” Ember was halfway to the next floor and wondering why the Screamer backed off and then it occurred to her. “Guys I think the Screamer that was chasing me is after you now! Can you tell me if the rocket launcher Chrysalis has is still in working order?” - “Thanks for the warning Ember, after we check the rocket launcher we need to move into the city and away from the bridge girls. Now let’s see…” A crashing noise was heard and Rarity paused. She turned around to see a huge crab like left claw that was in the shape of an Equestrian cow ripping into the damaged portion of the bridge breaking some of it away. The monster with skull encrusted pointy legs pulled itself up into the city layer they were on. It took her a moment, but Rarity realized that claws were actually bloated beyond all reason enlarged cow corpses, corpses which split horizontally between the neck and chest to reveal rows of teeth on the inside the cows body precisely where teeth shouldn’t be. This was the same monstrosity that was bigger than the Caravel Boutique and Rarity was immediately running for the nearest spiral ramp to head for the top layer of the city. It was definitely a lot scarier up close and Rarity tossed a sunlight grenade behind her without looking as she put away her pistols. Said pistols which would do nothing against something so large and galloped past Coco like a demon just crawled out of hell. That wouldn’t be far from the truth as to what they were dealing with. “Go, go, go, so help me get Chrysalis moving or we’re all going to die and I haven’t become the most famous fashion designer in any galaxy yet!” Coco threw a part of the still quite dazed Chrysalis over her back and followed after Rarity not looking back at the explosion or the horrible angry sounding scream that followed it as she dragged the Changeling along with her at a full blown gallop. She only took one look at the monster that looked like it was cobbled together out of the many corpses and the stretched skin of dead beings that previously lived on the station. Suffice it to say fear was a proper motivator for getting as far away from it as she could. “Sometimes love doesn’t feel like it should, because it hurts me so well~!” Chrysalis cackled randomly as her rear legs bounce against the ground with Coco carrying her at an impressive clip in keeping up and then surpassing both Rarity and Saffron to run her way straight through a flock of half formed Dusks that didn’t get a chance to finish forming. “My blood runs cold and my memory can’t be bold; I’m going to be the Changeling of the centerfold~!” “How long do you think it will take for Chrysalis to get her head back in the game?” There was an explosive sound and Saffron looked back and saw that something come out of the right claw of the monster. She ducked that thing narrowly avoiding the scythe that almost ripped through her head and helmet. The blur rolled after hitting the ground in front of her and Rarity, before it popped up revealing it was a twisted body Screamer raising its one bladed arm. It lashed at the two mares that had to stop and avoid it. “Ember I think we found out where all these one armed scythe monstrosities are coming from!” Whipping out both her pistols Rarity unloaded every round she had into the twisted bodies shoulder, eye and center mass. It went down under the hail of fire as Rarity charged it with Saffron following close behind. “I need to reload Saffron. Do you think you can stop the next one?” Saffron was too busy watching as the creatures left cow claw dug into the miasma wall in the distance and clamped down on a mass of flesh and bones. It snapped its claw several times and then aimed in their general direction before snapping its claw shut harshly then opened it just as quickly sending three twisted body Screamers flying after them all at once. “Nope not fighting three at once, but we still have a few grenades to keep them off of us.” Saffron telekinetically pulled the pin on a grenade and kicked it in their direction with her magic and caught all three of them in the blast mid flight. Looking ahead of them they could see Coco effectively using Chrysalis as a makeshift flail and Chrysalis seemed to even be enjoying it in her state of mind. It was a good thing that Coco was hitting the Dusks with the rear half of the Changeling Queen, because she certainly didn’t need any more head trauma at the moment. “And I’ll be your hive, because I’m going to make everything alright, I’m going to make everything alright yeah~!” Chrysalis’s singing would be better if it didn’t sound so horribly off key in her state while her hind legs were used by Coco as a weapon. “Doesn’t matter if you’re feeling insecure, doesn’t matter if you’re feeling so unsure, all that matters is my love for you, yes my love for you sexy babe yay~.” “Is it me or are all those lyrics from love songs she’s singing? Oh my goodness Saffron, duck!” Rarity threw herself into Saffron and they both fell prone to the street and two scythe Screamers hit the street hard enough to kill them on impact at the distance it had to travel and left huge splatters of bone and gore all over the place. “You know it says something about how horrified I am to see that mess. I think I’ve lost the ability to feel even more scared than I already am at the moment in fact. I’m being way to calm at seeing destroyed corpses just splattered across the ground like that after being launched at us. Yes, Vera certainly has her work cut out for her and I hope Luna doesn’t mind the nightmares we’ll all be having about this if we can even survive this. At the rate things are going, we’re not going to make it to this so called brain and my suit is going to be positively dreadful to clean after this even if we do.” - “Get it together Rarity! You were tough on Ewesen and you can be tough here, no time to let prissy get in the way of survival. Now reload those pistols and protect Chrysalis until she comes back to her senses and directs you towards the brain!” Hefting the slightly limp body Ember continued onward. Maybe the distinctive deafening roars that echoed throughout their skulls was messing up their hearing? They sure were yelling a lot and it was beginning to make Ember a little hoarse. “I’m going to be a bit busy down here pushing through a swarm of Dusks and more of those scythe armed Screamers. Oh think of all the joys of having to do all that, especially with a bunch of dead weight making it really hard to fight.” “Hey… who are you calling… dead weight.” They were going to need a lot of medical attention by the end of this, if Lightning was correctly picking up on the current way things were going. She felt somewhat glad that someone came after her sorry butt, she wasn’t exactly in the best health leaving Equus and now that has caught up to her with a single injury.“I’m okay… enough to be awake at least. Just how… screwed are we?”
-63-Sassy was awake once again and saw something very strange. A CAT drone pointing at Vera wasn’t very strange at all and considered a necessity on the Shining Jewel when it came to the onboard therapist’s problem with being invisible otherwise. That Sassy was in a medical bed wasn’t strange either, considering she needed to heal and had asked to be put in one personally at her own choice and insistence. She was in a bit of pain the last time she woke up, Opal really must have upped her pain medication dosage by a bit and it was hopefully within a safety tolerance range that Sassy could handle. Well obviously it was or else she wouldn’t be awake right now contemplating it, this led to her wondering how long she has been out of it and how far along she was in her healing. As to what Sassy was seeing in front of her that was so odd, it involved what Vera was currently doing and the strangeness of it wasn’t because of anything relating to Vera herself. She just stared at the ensuing challenge of wits before her, a real gladiatorial battle of two minds… in the middle of simple a card game. Looks like they were using a recently acquired Equestrian deck of cards, the game seemed to be poker and as to the opponent Vera was facing? It was a familiar looking squid. Sassy believed it to be Ember’s familiar and pet Mr. Spew, which was what was odd about this since it looked like Mr. Spew was currently winning. Other than watching them play a few rounds, there really wasn’t much interesting going on, of which Sassy was entirely grateful for. She could only hope to drift off to sleep again soon; she hoped she could get back in walking order as her body felt a bit stiff. Wiggling around a bit made Sassy realize the straps weren’t currently on her and she shifted her legs about and stretched them out. This led her to cringing at how her limbs felt, she lifted a hoof and gently tapped the covering and that alerted Vera to the fact that she was awake. “Oh, it’s good to see you’re doing alright, only about a day or two more before we can release you from what you might consider your own personal living nightmare. Excuse me Mr. Spew, but Sassy takes precedence to our game.” The squeal Vera received seemed to be one of complete understanding that Vera had a job to do and she had to check up on the patient, medical beds weren’t infallible and it was always a good idea to check for a second opinion of the subject’s health in question. Sassy has been infirmed for a while and the surgical procedures required to close her up didn’t seem to have caused any major issues. Sassy’s previous scars were quite faded underneath some freshly grown fur. “Try to relax, stretch your hooves a bit in there as much as you feasibly can. Once you are ready to come out, we can introduce you to some of our new crew members… provided that some of them come back from their current excursion in one piece that is.” Vera made sure not to say that last part out loud or else she might have caused Sassy to start panicking with worry about Rarity or Coco’s safety, quite frankly the poor mare didn’t need a conniption when she was in the middle of healing so well. From the way Opal tells it, the extended range thanks to the now functional communications array after accessing the main HUB network on Antilur Station had allowed her to keep in contact with Rarity no matter where she went on the station. That was up until Rarity and the rest of her group had entered the city once more, they were all alive and with very few injuries the last anyone had heard from them. The group was likely having a few minor issues in dealing with the infestation and she would have to be ready in case of a medical emergency, her EVA suit was nearby as were three medical kits that were strapped together waiting to be picked up at a moment’s notice. - Opal was still able to pick up whenever they used one of those grenades Greta and Gilda made thanks to the odd signature the explosions always gave off. So far they had used quite a few grenades but not nearly enough to be worrying yet. Everyone had practically used at least one grenade each thus far just by the number of explosions she detected. Also the distance between the last few explosions meant that they must have been separated somehow; at least it hadn’t gotten bad enough for Chrysalis to use her rocket launcher. Who knows what she would have detected when one of those rockets went off. “Trapeze, Bernard, Rover and Coriander, is everything good where you are all at currently?” Opal was checking in with medical and it seemed Sassy was awake once more, the mare would be out in time for when they got to the asteroid field's pit stop. “We can’t complain, though I hope things are going alright on the station. Guess I’ll have to put on a show some other time, this just gives us more time to prepare our act anyway.” Currently Trapeze was spinning a hula hoop around her barrel and it led to the silent question as to what trick that would have been a part of. Trapeze was trying to not think of all the people dying on the station at this time and wanted to think of more positively, even then she still asked about it. “Do you think Rarity or the others in there need our help?” “I don’t know, but I hope they don’t.” Shaking her digital avatar’s head Opal turned to Coriander and saw him exercising a bit. “If you must know, I am doing alright.” Coriander continued to exercise and looked healthy for a small stallion with a bit of roundness in the gut. “I just worry for my daughter’s safety, I know that she is doing good work and that’s why I can’t fret. She’s just like her mother and I can’t be any prouder of how she’s turned into a beautiful young mare. I just wish she could find a partner, it doesn’t matter who it is as long as they can love her for who she is.” - “This is definitely not what I signed up for, but it’s why I’m here!” Saffron rammed the knife into the creature’s eye in the center of its mass and then got a good grip on her knife with her magic as she bucked the twisted body Screamer off her short blade and over the side of the ramp hoping the fall would take care of it. They were almost to the top layer of Antilur City. She and Rarity were entirely focused on protecting Coco and the dazed Chrysalis. The Dusks weren’t nearly as threatening as that weird scorpion Screamer made from a mass of twisted and contorted flesh and bone that was launching the one scythed wonders at them constantly. “Do you think Lightning and Ember are okay if we’re being hounded this badly?” A massive explosion echoed throughout the city, but it wasn’t on the layer they happened to be on as it seemed to have come from far below. At least they know Ember was still moving from that one explosion and the echoed carried throughout the mostly silent city pretty well. “Well they must be alive, because I doubt any of the Dusks made that noise.” Rarity was in front of them leading them up the ramp and was in the midst of reloading one pistol while she harshly whacked away several skinless ghostly visages in her face. The noiseless things were a threat, but one good blow and they were taken care of making the Screamers the real problem as they were horribly animated flesh and blood monstrosities that were quite aggressive in comparison to the slow tide of Dusks threatening to overwhelm them.“I doubt Ember will go down easily, she even seems to be an expert at this kind of thing.” “Brains, brains, I won’t lie, near the city center we’ll find where it lies~.” Chrysalis was still out of it; her voice was getting better even if her head was rolling lazily over Coco’s back. “If you happen to think that I’m deranged, then it is your minds that I’ll just have to change~!” “That didn’t sound like a romance song and it was rather specific… didn’t she say that the infestation doesn’t have a heart, but a brain?” Coco having to deal with Chrysalis’s larger form wasn’t having any problem carrying the weight, but she was having a problem getting Chrysalis into a good position so that she could use her as a flail. The Changeling Queen wasn’t in her right mind yet, but she sounded to be somewhat conscious of her surroundings. “So should we head towards the center of the city to find the brain once we reach the top layer?” Saffron asked as she slashed apart an entire row of pony Dusks lurching up the spiral ramp between city layers behind them. “Cause it’s alright, let’s get it done, because I want us to get back to where we started from~!” Chrysalis sang out and the three mares fighting for their lives understood that one at least. Apparently she was not entirely out of her mind and was trying to get it back in order. “Love is sweet, love can heal me strong, but we need to work together to get back to where we started from~!” “Okay, so Chrysalis is not entirely out of her head. I guess we should listen to her when she sings something that sounds useful.” Coco hefted Chrysalis and swung her rear legs out smashing away one of those scythe things, being afraid of them now wasn’t going to help in their survival and while they were dangerous they have yet to get a good solid hit on anyone because they were always swiftly dealt with when they showed up. As the top of the ramp came into view, something strange was afoot about it as the small trickle of Screamers stopped coming from in front of them once they reached the mostly silent city’s top layer. Behind them was a different story as they heard the scorpion Screamer from below let off another bone chilling scream, it didn’t sound like it was about to let them off the hook that easily. The top city layer had a lot of administrative buildings and they didn’t see anything unusual in the lights from the tall buildings around them, just a lot of empty buildings of glass and mortar as they set out heading towards the center of the city after making a right turn from the ramp. They set off down the street still being attacked by Dusks which were becoming more of a constant nuisance than a real danger like the Screamers presented. “I think it best we keep moving things along quickly darlings, because I do not want to be caught between that Screamer and the cause of this mess if I can help it. Also I’m running quite dangerously low on ammunition.” Rarity had taken the lead since they started up the ramp to the top layer of the city, she silently fretted about the kind of danger Ember was running into with Lightning. Speaking of Lightning, she sounded horrible the last she heard from her. “As such we don’t necessarily have the time for Chrysalis to get some rest; hopefully she’ll be capable of operating her rocket launcher by the time we find what we’re looking for. Though I have no clue what it will look like.” “Speaking of not being able to rest, I hope Ember and Lightning are having a better time than we are.” Saffron lashed out with two knives telekinetically dispatching the Dusks that finished forming behind them and several others that had followed them up the ramp and down the streets littered with crashed vehicles, dancing shadows and hidden threats. “I don’t think this infestation is going to let up on us now until we outright kill the damn thing.” - “You know it’s quite hard to fight when I have to carry you at the same time right?” Ember lashed out with her tail rendering several Dusks into clouds of immaterial matter, she brought her claws around raking them through more in her way. “Shouldn’t we be trying to…. catch up with the others?” Lightning’s ribs were on fire from all the movement, but it was necessary as Ember was fighting for both their lives as she ran. “No, what we should be trying to do is get you out of here. You obviously need medical help and that’s why I’m rerouting us to the nearest airlock for an extraction pickup.” Ember was already in one of the corridors heading towards the outer edges of the station itself for this very reason; the idea wasn’t without its share of problems. Ember was stuck fighting with one hand free and upon exiting the city she quickly alerted Opal to their position as she started kicking her way through a wave of Dusks of all shapes, sizes and even species. “I hope you’ll be where I need to you to be Opal, Lightning needs a medical help and then I’m right back in the thick of it to go help Rarity and the others.” “Vera is preparing and will be on standby to load Lightning into a medical bed.” Opal was immediately on top of the situation and moving Shining Jewel into position to pick up Ember and Lightning. “We’ll be there when you get there. How are things looking in there by the way?” “Like something crawled out of hell and up another thing from hells ass, said hellish beast with another one up its ass came to this station and really started some amazingly bad crap that most people wouldn’t believe is happening here. To think this is all because of a single entity!” Ember stopped to rip the arm off a twisted body Screamer and she lashed out with it slicing into the screamer with its own limb. The Screamer in her way died when Ember stomped down on it as she ran over its injured fallen body. Ember reached up to Lightning’s belt and liberated a grenade from it which she swiftly tossed over her shoulder after flicking the pin out with her thumb. The following explosion almost caught up with her as it was more dangerous when in a confined space such as these corridors; she was now running full tilt and trying to watch out for any ambushes as she moved. “Rarity and the rest of her group should be closing in on the brains behind this mess, though the last I heard from them Chrysalis has some kind of concussion that’s making her act weird and they need all the help they can get. Get ready to pick me up because I’m almost at the airlock.” “We’re already moving into position and Vera is waiting with a medical bed. Do you need any other people on the crew to go back in there with you Ember?” While Opal was asking this, Ember carefully laid Lightning down inside the Airlock that was being readied to be cycled open to space and she pulled her rifle off her back. She fire on the several Screamers and Dusks trying to get into the airlock with them before the door slammed closed and the air started to safely drain out of it. “No, I’m sure it’ll be quicker to meet up with them if I go in there by myself. I’m going to take three minutes to reload, breathe and get ready to go after the infestation if Rarity’s team can’t deal with it before I get there. From what we’ve gathered it’s swallowed the whole city and its brain is in the top layer of it, lost communication with them when I chose to leave the city for Lightning’s sake.” Ember stepped out of the airlock and kicked off towards the waiting ship which had its lights on her; she activated her impulse saddle and flew towards the ship with a gasping Lightning Dust over her shoulder. “Lightning I’m going to take your remaining grenades if you don’t mind.” “I don’t… mind… take… what you need… if you think it’ll help.” Lightning sounded horrible, her voice was beyond a level of rasping that Ember felt comfortable with and why she decided to evacuate the mare. There was a bit of a distorted like noise to her voice that sounded like there was phlegm in her throat and when she started coughing, it sounded like she literally started coughing up one of her lungs which was bad. “Yeah that sounds really bad, turning on atmospheric barrier now, opening left hand section three door of the hangar. Bring her in Ember, we need her to get medical help like yesterday.” Opal watched Ember get to the point outside the atmospheric barrier where she magnetized herself to the floor the door made and she stepped through into the hangar to see Vera, Greta and Gilda already waiting to take Lightning off of her claws. They quickly got Lightning’s helmet off of her and they saw the insides of the helmet slightly covered in small flecks of blood after it retracted away from her face; they immediately got her out of the EVA suit so that they could strap her in to the medical bed. “We’ve can take her from here Ember, where do you need me to move the ship? I can get you to any airlock you need.” “Hold on a second, give me a moment to rest.” Ember pulled out her boxy rifle and checked it over, filled it up with rocks and checked the fuel for her blaze bayonet feature which allowed her to slice apart almost anything with a concentrated beam of raw fire and heat. She was now carrying Lightning’s grenades and she also attached a knife taken from Lightning to her hip and dropped the hundred pound metal bat on the hangars floor where it made a small dent. She was going to need to move quickly and that particular melee weapon would just slow her down even if it was quite powerful. She looked over her schematics of the station on her HUD and found an airlock that would suit her needs. “I need to go to the airlock I’m highlighting.” “Right, we’re moving right now and I’ll have you there in no time.” The Shining Jewel was already turning and would be in position in the next minute or so as the ship move forward and up, Opal was also monitoring Lightning’s situation at this time when she got a diagnostics of the mares condition. Lightning had three broken ribs and the rest were cracked and all of them had been bent inward, according to Opal’s calculations if Lightning hadn’t been wearing an EVA suit the blow would have outright killed her instead of just bending her ribs inward. Breach Gel kind of padded the blow, but not nearly enough that Lightning could have continued fighting for very long afterwards. “Lightning will live, Vera will monitor her health. Get back in there and make sure that they all come out of this alive… especially mommy.” “I’m not going to let someone as wonderful and breathtaking as Rarity or any of the others in there down. You guys are my friends and I’ll protect my friends with tooth, nail and tail on top of my fiery breath for no charge at all!” Ember made sure she had her stuff in order. With a few more grenades, a knife and a little less weight on her back, she ran out of the atmospheric barrier and kicked off heading back towards the station and angling for the airlock she had in mind. She just hoped she could get back to them in time to make sure nothing went seriously wrong. “We all know I can’t use my breath since breathing is dangerous as it is tantamount to suicide in there, but I can promise you that I’m not coming back alone. If I have to come back alone, then I’m not coming back at all!” “Breathtaking and wonderful she says… now calculating the odds of Rarity flopping with every stallion and Ember’s compatibility with Rarity. Account for the fact that Rarity will need to be at least bisexual to ever have it occur to her… yeah that would take a while, but it’s feasible.” With a little bit of thought on it Opal wouldn’t mind if Ember courted Rarity. Rarity liked her; she was of noble birth, strong and quite compassionate despite her rather violent job choice with the only problem being that she wasn’t male. Four out of five wasn’t bad, all Rarity needed was to be slowly weaned off of the idea of having a stallion. There were other ways to have children and ponies did kind of have fun block genetics that allowed for some really odd interspecies relationships. So a pregnancy wasn’t impossible as technology has come far enough that even pregnancy between two males wasn’t uncommon. Still some species were incompatible no matter how you splice them, but dragons weren’t among those that were incompatible with ponies and she digitally created what a child of Rarity and Ember would look like. It would definitely make for some adorable little sisters, Kirin’s existed but they certainly weren’t very common outside of Neighpon. Maybe Opal could discretely contact Chrysalis’s clan that lived in that area to learn more about such a union, they were called the Jerk clan right? Speaking of Changeling clans, Opal wondered if Chrysalis had any relation to the Chineighs Changeling clans of Hung and Wang. She didn’t want to assume and would later ask Chrysalis about it if in detail if it wasn’t a touchy subject and provided she survived the current crisis. Chrysalis was currently calculated as being able to survive this current situation with a ninety nine point nine percent certainty that she wouldn’t be permanently injured, an odd calculation to be sure. Not that it was entirely inaccurate given that Celestia, Luna and many others have had a lot of problems with outright killing Chrysalis. - “I’m still not seeing this thing Rarity, is it supposed to be really big or really small? What color is it even supposed to be?!” They were still heading towards the center of the top layer of Antilur City and Coco was freaking out because the giant fleshy scorpion with hundreds of limbs poking out of its back was now trying to chase them down and bite them with its cow mouth claws. None of the buildings were going to get in the way of the creature and it was thoroughly locked on all four of them. Chrysalis lifted her head shakily and smacked her lips a bit as she tried to stand up, behind them Rarity and Saffron were throwing grenades at the scorpion monster. All the grenades were doing was the following: pissing it off, lighting it on fire and making it angry as heck because the fire didn’t seem to be doing much to the wildly waving limbs on its back as it screeched that particular deafening scream. “I myself have a notion, hope you understand~. Set the world in motion, the eyes are where the brain sits in its land~. Maybe you’ll discover what you should have known all along, one way or another we all should stand together strong~.” Yep Chrysalis was still singing, but she seemed to focusing and looking in a specific direction and actually sounded pretty good this time. Coco didn’t seem to catch what she was looking and then it seemed to click when she sang her next few lines. They probably would want to hear the unedited version of this later and Chrysalis decided to keep it in mind when she wanted the ponies to do a silly song and dance they tended to do. Her head wasn’t exactly in the game, but it wasn’t entirely out of it either. “If we listen to my each other for a start, we’ll soon find that we’re not so far from its heart~. And maybe love is the reason why, for the first time ever we should see this eye to eye~!” Chrysalis looked into Coco’s eyes and then jerked her head in a given direction and started looking that way with a bit of urgency without looking back at Coco. Chrysalis wanted her to follow the direction she was looking in and Coco, having now picked up on that, immediately set out that way. Rarity and Saffron were busy trying to disengage with big, mean, scary, disgusting, and ugly. If they could smell it, rotting and stinky likely would be some other things to define the creature that seemed to be immune to the roiling flames that covered its body that weren’t dealing with it nearly fast enough for it to stop being a really bad problem anytime soon. It far more dangerous and lethal than it previously had been to be near and the heat from the burning mass of horror was beginning to overcome the EVA suits ability to handle by proximity alone. At least the one good thing about the creature was that it was slow enough, relatively, that three ponies could halfway outrun the damn zombie thing that just wouldn’t stop until it killed them on their adrenaline alone. Being bigger than the Caravel Boutique, cars and other obstacles weren’t slowing it down and Rarity’s group had to make turns because once it got some momentum it got a whole lot faster. Thankfully the monster was very slow when it came to turning as they darted down a different street and then into an alleyway for a different street when it followed them. Extra grenades didn’t seem to have any effect on the large monster cobbled together out of corpses and energy stolen from the entire colony, but it did seem to become incapable of creating those one armed Screamers since it was now entirely focused on chasing them down. It was trying to snap them up in its claws, crush them with its flaming trunk or just stab them with the roasting turkey styled griffon stinger. Its only support seemed to be the Dusks that were making an attempt to block the path off in the very direction Chrysalis was looking in. The scorpion Screamer ripped through a building behind them and continued to give chase roaring as it waved its flaming toothy hamburgers for claws at them. They had to be getting closer to the brain, why else would this thing be as relentless as it is? - Ember was meeting less resistance on the way in, which meant that Rarity’s group had to be in the most danger at the moment. Either that or they killed the brain. She wasn’t about to stop running, because she had to be sure that thing was dead. Her friends were in danger and she would be the prescribed medicine to kill the infection if it hurt any them! “Get the hell out of my way!” Ember caught and lifted the one sole scythe wielding Screamer that had lunged at her and ripped it in half with her claws. She threw both halves’ of it down on the floor and continued what was one constant motion; she was on a war path and moving way too fast for any Screamer or Dusk to keep up with. Anger was a very good driving force, righteous fury for all the dead space colonists was even better than that. Turning to left at the next junction, she saw the door to the top layer in the city and pulled her rifle off her back while running at it full tilt with madness in her eyes. No time to stop and try to open it the nice way, she’d pay to have it repaired later. Her rifle held in both hands, it lit up with a blade made of white hot flames and she managed to swing it twice before she hit the door and went clean through it like it was made of butter, this heavily damaged her EVA suit in the process and would probably make Rarity complain later when she had to fix it. Only this didn’t matter to Ember. The flaming blade of the gun disappeared as Ember ran towards the closest bridge. She could see the smoke rising in the distance that seemed to be moving and quite fast at that. Ember had to protect those that were important enough to be a part of her hoard now that she was acknowledging them as such. There were two kinds of hoarding instincts in dragons, the most common being a slow build up of greed and wealth or simply things of vast luxury. Luxury obviously wasn’t Ember’s thing, since her hoarding instincts were based on something a little bit different and it was one of the things her mother taught her well, as she certainly understood her mother’s reasoning now. So it was certainly understandable that it inflamed Ember’s rage to an incredible degree that anything would dare to threaten her precious hoard. You don’t mess with a dragon’s hoard, especially not one built entirely out of love and compassion which made things seem all the more meaningful then the useless baubles and trinkets dragons usually focused on.
-64-Opening a crashed car's left hand door Rarity leapt through as the right crushing cow claw clamped down on it and ripped apart the left half of the car. The scorpion Screamer’s claw spat the wad of metal and upholstery out onto the street and glanced at it. The flaming monstrosity turned back to the car to see the right hand door slam open into a pony Dusk’s face and Rarity jumped out to gallop for it past the resulting dust cloud. The creature gave off what was becoming a rather infamously scary roar that would haunt Rarity’s nightmares for quite a while and continued to give chase. “For once in my life I think being generous is going to literally bite me in the flank.” Rarity had slowed down and thrown another grenade at the Screamer, which is why she was currently alone and with the Screamer right on top of her. She assured her friends that she had plenty of stamina left… that couldn’t have been further from the truth. She was running on fumes and needed a break from using her magic as her horn was beginning to burn and she didn’t want a blow out, especially not now of all times when imminent death was everywhere. The left claw swept forward the toothy mouth open wide and aimed for Rarity. The pony leapt forward into a roll underneath and through several lunging Dusks, she was immediately up and galloping with her breath being far shorter than it previously was at that near miss. Her voice got very shrill and she had reason to be as that had narrowly missed the tail compression pouch of her suit. “Or maybe my entire body if I’m not careful!” She had been pistol whipping Dusks out of her way in the nonstop onslaught as they surged all around her trying to cut her off and possibly pin her down. She couldn’t afford to expend ammo on anything other than the small Screamers and she was running dangerously low. She preferred her energy pistols because it was rather hard to run out of shots for them, material weapons were slightly different and even if they were useful here, her preference would always be the energy pistols. Rarity was tired, her body was battered and she was slowing down, barely able to stay ahead of the slowing mass of cobbled together flesh that was not burning away quickly enough. Rarity’s only hope was to outlast the damn thing. At least to the point that the fire would eventually wear it down so that it could no longer threaten her, of course there were still the Dusks to deal with as they had been forming almost endlessly since Chrysalis slammed the door to her hive mind in the infestations face. Rolling to the side Rarity saw the haunting face of the dead griffon put a hole in the street with its beak, when the tail pulled back she saw a strange sickly purple goop and didn’t need to be told twice to keep going. She did not want to know what that stuff would do to her, but if it was any indication as to what the claws did, then she’d become a Screamer herself if she was struck with the Screamer’s stinger. Rarity was barely staying ahead of the scorpion styled Screamer when a scythe lashed out and ripped into Rarity’s side catching her off guard, she hadn’t seen it coming and the street was splattered in breach gel and blood. - “I hope Rarity knows what she’s doing.” Saffron slashed through several Dusks, sending her knifes out in two wide circular arcs while running full tilt with Coco away from the distracted scorpion shaped Screamer. “Concussion… is almost gone. Also… nobody ambushes a Changeling…” Chrysalis happily intoned, Coco stopped dragging her and she slowly started to stand on her own four hooves. Whipping around her material rifle in her magic, she gunned down a stealthy twisted body Screamer missing ten out of the eighteen shots fired. It fell off the wall of the nearby building and splattered on the ground. Ignoring the sickening splattering sound it made, Chrysalis stumbled a bit when she tried to walk and started a slow trot in the right direction around a street corner. “Nobody… it’s just a bad migraine now and at least I’m not singing anymore, with a slight problem to my aim. Those grenades pack quite a wallop, come on then, we can’t stand around gawking at each other. Do you want to live forever? I know I do, I’m not dying a virgin queen damn it!” Coco and Saffron nodded to one another and followed Chrysalis to protect her, she knew where the source of the infestation was and it was good to see that she was finally back on her hooves. “Wait a minute, where’s Rarity?” It took Chrysalis long enough to notice that Rarity was gone. She also noticed that the flaming demonic looking wall of flesh wasn’t currently breathing down their necks. She had been out of it a few minutes ago, so she couldn’t be blamed for missing the fact that Rarity was no longer among them. “She’s hopefully not too tired…” The noise Coco made could sound between upset whine and distraught hopelessness at the thought of losing what was one of her best friends. It was bad enough that they almost lost Sassy back on Equus and now Rarity their leader, the boss lady, the beloved belle of a baroness was definitely left in dire straits with facing that thing alone. “She led that thing off on her own?! Is she… no, don’t answer what I was about to ask. Of course she would, the altruistic jerk. I’m supposed to be the meat shield here, where does she get off doing my job!” Shaking her head Chrysalis narrowed her eyes and continued forwards, she led them down several streets and alleyways while gunning down every single small Screamer that came at them. She just bashed the Dusks when they got close. At one point she exited an alleyway and stopped, she didn’t stop fighting she just stopped to take in the sight in the distance. She point her right hoof and then kicked out with her rear left catching a lunging griffon Dusk in the jaw without looking to see what she had hit. “That would be where it is… again nobody.” The light could hardly penetrate the darkness of the city, but they all looked towards the building that Chrysalis pointed out and saw strange fleshy tendrils poking out from the base of the building and several stretched a good distance into the ceiling of the station out of the top of the building. The fleshy bits looked like strings of solid grey matter, the stuff that went between the ears of any intelligent being. Chrysalis probably hadn’t been lying when she said it was all brain and no heart. “When you said the thing had a brain, I didn’t think you meant it was literally a giant brain and I’m just taking that as an educated guess from what I’m seeing here. So it was in a stadium this whole time, why is there a stadium in the administrative district?” The large cylindrical building was probably a Zero Gravity Hoof Ball stadium, Saffron knew the rules of regular Hoof Ball requiring a team of at least a Pegasus Pony, Earth Pony and Unicorn Pony all working together. The fact that the stadium was more vertical than wide lent to the credence that it was a ZG Hoof Ball stadium, the game itself was something like what humans called space soccer. It took a moment, but Saffron realized the importance of the main source of the infestation being in the stadium. “The stadium has a gravity generator, if the infestation is here it’s probably been feeding on the stadiums generator if it’s active. You did say it reacted to Rarity’s Pinpoint Puller when she used it, so there must be a similar effect to that near it with the counter gravity the stadium would be creating.” “Well let’s go break this things spine then, my rocket launcher needs to make happy exploding noises.” Chrysalis took a step towards the stadium and stopped with her eyes narrowed. “Well isn’t that just great? I don’t think I have quite enough ammunition for this.” There were at least forty one armed, twisted body, scythe Screamers crawling out of the stadium from various entrances, from windows, doors and along the brain like tentacles poking out from the stadium. Coco pulled a grenade and hefted it; they looked towards her and nodded. They still had a few grenades left and would have to use them sparingly and to great effect. Nobody would ever say that Gilda and Greta didn’t make enough explosives. They all waited for the small one armed Screamers to group up and get closer before Coco let the grenade fly. It took out at least thirty of the things that were coming at them with one blast. Chrysalis followed up with a wobbly launched grenade picking off the stragglers and then they made for the entrance while avoiding the tendrils poking out of the building. They were on the lookout for anything and everything, every shadow was a threat now that they were closing in on the infestation. - Rarity pulled the material pistol towards her, she lifted it and fired two rounds; she was trying to fire at least four only to find out that the pistol was completely empty. She really needed to stop the scythe wielding Screamer bearing down on her. She had just shot out the reanimated flesh monsters eye and damaged it shoulder hardly slowing it down. She watched as it stumbled forward and then dug its scythe into one of the nearby walls by wildly swinging its limb around and it was stuck. The flaming scorpion Screamer started shoving away large portions of the two buildings off to the side as it did. It was determined to get at her in the alleyway and tried to grab her with its creepy looking elephant styled tentacle which Rarity managed to crab crawl away from. Rarity checked her side and saw that the breach gel had finally sealed her compromised suit off; she slowly got up and staggered away as fast as she could into the street while opening up both the material pistols. She only had enough ammo for one last reload for both the pistols, at least she had grenades to spare for all the usefulness they had against the hellish arachnid that had taken all the previous explosions quite well. This was much to the detriment of Rarity’s continued survival. Several Dusks formed in front of Rarity and she quickly spun about and started to buck them away while she hastily loaded her pistols when she got a breather. She quickly put the pistols away and stopped channeling magic to her horn so that it could cool down. The right cow claw ripped away the building behind her as the giant monster seemed to be struggling to get between the buildings to keep following Rarity. It was destroying rooms, furniture and all kinds of other various items as it slowly made a bigger hole for itself. “Oh there’s an idea~! Is everyone doing alright?” Rarity called out as she pulled out a grenade with a hoof and looked at the base of the building and the surrounding destruction the deranged scorpion was causing in plowing a hole between the two buildings. She used her other hoof to pull the pin and lobbed it, not at the scorpion, but the corner of one of the buildings it was currently ripping through. “I’m wounded, but I’m not down yet.” “Rarity, where are you?” The sound of Ember’s urgent voice cut off when the grenade explosion caused the upper damaged portions of both buildings to come toppling inwards onto the demented looking scorpion, Rarity’s eye for detail had been particularly useful in spotting structural weaknesses to use to her advantage. She had hopefully crushed the thing into being incapable of being dangerous anymore. “Yeah, I saw that, I’m on my way Rarity!” “The main source of the infestation is located in a nearby stadium Ember. If you can get Rarity and regroup with us quickly, that would be just great. We’re getting closer to it and it’s getting more dangerous as we do.” There was a squeak of fear and Coco’s voice was whimpering. “We have visual contact of the infestation and it’s really, really big. Oh and that bladed octopus things you mention once, yeah I can see why you were constantly alert now during those three days as I can see what you described right now.” “It’s taking up most of the stadium and it’s a giant freaking brain… doesn’t look like it can move very, oh crap its creating tentacles!” There was a thudding noise from Saffron’s communication line. “Yeah the brain isn’t exactly defenseless even if it is apparently immobile; Chrysalis this is what you’ve been saving those rocket launcher rounds for. Now would be a good time to use them!” “Are those three ponies fused together with… are those worms for eyes? Wish I had a girlfriend that can spew deadly acid out of her eye sockets like that.” Apparently Chrysalis’s group was running into a whole lot of trouble. “Is it me or does the long shaft like bits motif seem kind of a like a thing, also it looks kind of cute for something that’s trying to spew its guts all over me.” “Shut up about your ridiculous fixations Chrysalis and do something!” A rather hysterical sounding Coco shouted. What followed were two explosions back to back. Coco’s whimpering continued. “Please tell me we have enough grenades between us?” Something shifted behind Rarity and she saw a cow shaped claw dig itself out the mess that Rarity collapsed on top of it. The monster was no longer on fire thanks to the falling debris and sadly it was apparently still capable of moving. She also saw something else running towards her as she made to move away from the Screamer slowly digging itself out of the rubble, while smacking away any Dusks coming at her with her bare hooves in a manner that said she definitely wasn’t trained to fight in a melee or brawl or even at all. It was a good thing Dusks weren’t capable of holding themselves together very well. Rarity was mentally wondering, what in the world would it finally take to put that particular Screamer down? They’ve squashed it, shot it, blown it up and set it on fire and it’s still getting up. Flesh forged zombies weren’t supposed to be this resilient! “Are you okay Rarity?” Taking a moment to nervously look at the shifting rubble, Ember turned her attention back to Rarity after having cleared away the Dusks surrounding her by bludgeoning them with her rifle. The surrounding area was now oddly empty of Dusks and they seemed to have stopped forming when previously their numbers seemed endless. “I’m mostly okay, I have a deep gash in my right side and I was stabbed at least once just as deeply in the same area, I don’t think anything vital was hit. The injury has thankfully been sealed off by the breach gel. I however am completely tired as it were and can’t do much more running in my bruised and battered condition, my injury has taken all the winds out of my sails and I’m on my last load of ammunition unless you can spare me a rock pouch… what happened to your suit darling?” At least Rarity knew she wasn’t going to die now and her voice grew deadly calm as she had noticed that Ember’s once fabulous EVA suit was quite damaged now. Her anger was quickly silenced when a pouch full of rocks found its way into Rarity’s possession almost immediately without question from Ember. “I swear this is not something a lady of my delicate stature should really be going through; though I did generously volunteer my services and aid so I shouldn’t complain really. How in the hell do you do this as a job Ember? I mean that rhetorically, because the answer is obviously you do it very well, even though I do have to wonder how you manage stay sane or coherent through stuff like this! Wait, where’s Lightning? Don’t tell me…” “Let’s worry about the damage to my suit and my sanity later; we have to catch up with the others. I evacuated Lightning from the station for medical reasons. She’ll live; don’t know about the rest of us though.” Ember crouched down and carefully scooped up a wincing Rarity before she set off for the stadium. She cradled Rarity in her right arm and looked over her shoulder to toss a grenade at the slowly rising scorpion monster with her left claw. The blast knocked it back down, but that wouldn’t stall it forever. “That won’t stop it for long, if at all. Now we need to go protect everything else that is mine.” “What do you mean by protect everything else that is yours darling, did you lose something?” A confused Rarity curled up against Ember’s arm as she was carried away from the creature that was once again set on fire, speaking of fire her side felt like it was burning and would be another medical bed trip after things were done with. It felt nice and cozy being able to relax and catch her breath, as well as gain some strength to continue fighting, which admittedly she wasn’t very good at without a weapon. Ember was quite a courageous and strong individual for someone who had a rather dubious history, carrying her like this was rather chivalrous of the dragon, but she felt slightly awkward about it. “Remind me later to thank you for allowing me to catch my breath with some free clothing or at least a fresh EVA suit.” “Don’t worry about it Rarity… it’s not that important right now.” It was the truth because Ember had other things to worry about; even if she could tell her cheeks were heating up at claiming Rarity as being hers like that. It certainly wasn’t a blast of fire building up in her throat. She shook her head and focused on keeping an eye on her surroundings. At least everything visibly within the light expanding out in a wide cone from her helmet anyway, alongside her peripheral vision taking in the shadows for anything that so much as twitched in her general direction. It didn’t take Ember long to reach the outside of the stadium building and cover Rarity as an explosion rocked the building, a mutilated body fell before the two and it looked vaguely like an octopus. There was also a loud and quite horrifying alien screeching echoing throughout not just the city, but all of Antilur Station accompanying the explosion and it caused both Rarity and Ember to clutch at their heads in pain. Nobody in the station would have been able to miss hearing that noise. “How are things going in there?” Yelled Rarity who began a slow trot towards the building and giving the bladed tentacle thing a wide berth, with Ember following and readying her rifle. “Well the good news is that we got the stadium lights turned on and Chrysalis has just managed to hit the brain once.” There was a subtle tone in Coco’s voice that said she was in distress. The voice became slightly more strained. “The bad news is, it is creating more Screamers…. and it’s got me, don’t let it take me don’t let it take me!” “Hold on Coco, I’ll be right there!” Announced Saffron as Rarity and Ember ran through the entrance and down a corridor towards the light. The sound of a knife sinking into flesh was heard and it would soon come into view as to what was happening. When Ember and Rarity came out right next to the stands from one of the many entrances around the circle of the stadium, they were in the stadium proper and the entire place was, surprisingly enough, brightly lit. Looking towards the center of the air in the stadium they saw a massive brain that had a large chunk missing from it, there were a lot of small tendrils acting as anchors keeping it in the center of the stadium. The tentacles were different and far larger, like the one growing from the brain that was tightly wrapped around a struggling Coco and slowly squeezing the life out of her while retracting itself back into the brain, nobody wanted to know what would happen if it succeeded in pulling her into that ugly fleshy mass with the flickering bolts of energy jumping between the wrinkles. Death would probably be the best outcome for Coco, because it seemed like it wanted to do something even worse to her. There were several tentacles slapping at the one Coco was trapped in, on top of said tentacle was Saffron, busy trying to sever the tentacle by hacking away at it with one knife and she was holding tightly onto the other jammed deeply into the brain tentacle. She changed positions using the knives as if she were climbing a mountain with them to avoid the tentacles trying to swipe at her. Chrysalis was running away from several Screamers while attempting to load her rocket launcher on the far side of the stadium, she was also busy unloading her material rifle into them as necessary. There were thankfully not any Dusks around and that was oddly comforting to know that they weren’t present even if the Screamers were. “Ember go help Chrysalis, I’ll go help Saffron and Coco.” Rarity didn’t notice Ember’s attempt at a protest because of her injuries. She was already running for the edge of the rail that overlooked the field below and above. She stopped and wondered how Saffron could have possibly gotten up to the tentacle that was retracting towards the brain and then figured it out. She jumped on to the railing and kicked off towards the tentacle and flew straight at it, apparently defying gravity in doing so. The zero gravity field of the stadium was currently active as previously surmised by Saffron; in the case of a match there would be an energy barrier that was called a safety guard to prevent players from flying out of the zero gravity environment. In fact the safety guard was part of the playing field itself and players bounced off it all the time. The cylinder the playing field took place in had no gravity currently and no safety guard, so if they fell out of the gravity field at the wrong place they’d take a nasty fall to the floor when gravity reasserts itself, if the fall didn’t kill them then they’d at least be seriously injured. Rarity saw a tentacle coming for her and pulled out her last grenade and tossed it towards the base of the tentacle and into the brain itself. The resulting explosion kept her from being grabbed, but it slowed her momentum a bit as she continued on a collision course for Coco and Saffron. The monster screamed loudly and again it caused some mild discomfort in everyone’s heads. - Ember wanted to follow Rarity, but she went after Chrysalis by jumping straight across the gravity zone, the brains tentacles were a bit distracted by whatever Rarity was doing judging by the painful scream the large brain gave off. She safely made it clear to the other side. Once she fell down out of zero gravity she ran up the stairs gun blazing, before she came to a stop next to Chrysalis and started taking aim as she splattered more one armed wonders, acid spewing horrors and what looked like a spider shaped octopus with bladed tentacles. She shuddered violently at the sight of the octopus things in memory of the toilet incident; they were quite hideous but not as much as the giant scorpion monster was. “About time I got some decent help around here, though I don’t appreciate the feeling of ownership you’re giving off all of the sudden. Normally I would appreciate it, but there’s just something off in how it feels.” Rolling her eyes Chrysalis slammed the rocket launcher shut and started taking aim at the brain; she crouched down and steadied herself getting ready to pull the trigger. “Cover my poor ass; I need to get a better shot than that poor show I made of the first one. This one will make things a lot easier.” “Already doing that, also what could you possibly hit to make things easier?” Ember blocked a scythe with her rifle lit the second barrel and swung it outwards cutting the twisted torso in half with her blazing bayonet, she leapt forward and started to mow down every Screamer that came at her and stopped to shoot the acid spewing ones with magma rounds. She stuck near Chrysalis who was taking her dear sweet time. “You know you can fire that any day now!” “Why rush perfection? Besides this thing knocks me on my back every time I fire it, this particular model is quite lousy with the recoil, but it can launch a damn good payload.” With a calm flick of her right hoof the rocket flew out of the barrel and the recoil knocked Chrysalis on her back against the stairs with a grunt. “They made this particular model affordable for a reason, also if I’m right a lobotomy will definitely help.” Seconds later the rocket impacted the brain high on a specific part of its frontal lobe and the screech was just as deafening as the last two it made, but the effect of said explosion was far more noticeable. All the Screamers trying to attack Ember and Chrysalis started stumbling around and looked like they lost the ability to move in a straight line and their limbs became a bit floppy. “For you maybe… what exactly did you just hit anyway?” Ember’s job certainly became a whole lot easier, as she started clearing out the stands much more easily with the suddenly neutered Screamers. “It certainly caused an interesting reaction, talk about brain damage.” “Oh you know... I just destroyed a little thing called its motor control cortex… nothing too big or important really. Probably wouldn’t have hit it if I didn’t take my time, those tentacles could have blocked my shot if they weren’t so busy trying to grab Rarity and the others.” Chrysalis was only acting humble, as she waved off Ember’s glance in her direction with a toothy grin. “Give me two more rounds to see what else I really can do and then we’ll try to finish it off with grenades. Incidentally I think I accidentally destroyed the part of the brain that allowed it to generate Dusks with my first shot.” “I have a plan; hold off on firing anymore rockets or throwing grenades!” Rarity’s voice came in loud and clear and Chrysalis started helping Ember clear out the surrounding stands with her material rifle instead, the Changeling Queen looked to the ceiling. “Whatever you say Bossy Lady, if you think you have something then get on it!” Chrysalis’s attention was swiftly drawn away from what she was looking at by the hellfire covered scorpion Screamer busting through the walls of the stadium and it was moving quite erratically. Even then that particular Screamer was still quite dangerous, far more so given it seemed to be having less and less trouble with its ability to move around by the second, while the small Screamers didn’t seem to be getting any better all. “Oh that is some grade A Minotaur crap right there… which is actually pretty tasty come to think of it. Tastes strongly like oranges and cabbage. Anyway we got company down here; let’s see if we can play keep away and keep its attention entirely on us!” - A minute or so ago… “Saffron, Coco, I need you to grab a hold of each other and then me as I pass by!” Rarity levitated out her pistol and fired it three times; one shot went wide hitting a different tentacle. The other two finished severing the damaged tentacle allowing Coco to get free. Saffron grabbed Coco in a one hoofed hug and then in turn had Coco reach out her hoof and hooked it around Rarity’s as Saffron pulled her knife free from the free floating tentacle, the stump of which was now spewing small streams of purple colored floating blood into the air as it wiggled shrinking towards the damaged brain. Rarity’s momentum was carrying them all towards the ceiling and several tentacles stretched out from the brain, pulling her other material pistol out she started firing both of them wildly at the incoming danger. Only to stop when another screech was unleashed and its synaptic sinew started flailing out of control when the second rocket hit it. She was not physically holding the pistols, her direction didn’t change but her momentum slowed down thanks to the added mass of two ponies. This had all three of them going at a relatively safe speed. The tentacles seemed to have a maximum distance to which they could stretch, because Rarity and the others safely made it out of range and to the metallic ceiling where Rarity had them magnetize their suits to it after having grunted in pain as the impact made her side flare up. Taking a few quick glances around, Rarity’s eye for detail started to pick up on a few things and her mind took a keen interest in the nearby immobile tendrils. “I have a plan; hold off on firing any more rockets or throwing grenades!” A calculating look crossed Rarity’s face. They’d need whatever grenades or rockets they had remaining to pull it off. The sordid affair with the aftermath could be worried about afterwards when it becomes pertinent. She would generously aid in that if there was any generosity to be given, because Rarity knew this whole awful affair was just about over if her plan worked out. Author's Note Yookah-Laylee is a fun, but very short and I have little to complain about. I've been busy catching up on other fan fiction I've been tracking and not just the ones on this site either. I would believe Chrysalis to have a weird attraction for equally weird things... is it so wrong that I want someone that can spew acid from their eyes too? I mean as an eye monster that would be a pretty attractive feature to me. Also Ember has outright stated that Rarity was a part of her hoard, if indirectly at that. That's definitely going to come up later as even I don't think Rarity misheard what Ember said, even if Rarity doesn't then Chrysalis certainly will. Maybe some revenge for the lobotomy crack Ember let loose? Also the scorpion Screamer is a determinant terminator, a determinator! It's not done yet.
-65-“Chrysalis is right Rarity, we’ve got one hell of a party incoming down here and there’s no cake to be had. Unless you consider being caked in blood to be a party favor, naturally I can’t help but feel bad about shooting at the flesh of the once living. We need to give all the bodies a proper burial after we’re done.” An upset Ember ducked under a wad of poorly aimed acid that might have clipped her, Rarity was upset enough with her already for letting her suit get damaged by ramming bodily through a half melted door. She took aim with her rifle and the rock flew out into the flames of the second barrel to become molten rock that caused the acid spewing conjoined pony monster to die with a squelching noise as its flesh and bones were melted on top of being set on fire. “The acid spewing ones are mostly still lethal to be within twenty feet of, be aware of that if you come down here. The horror scorpion is still getting its bearings and we’re both thankful for that, but it doesn’t seem like it’ll die until the brain does. So shooting it isn’t going to do us too many favors.” “Hey speak for yourself; I’ll have you know shooting things is a very cathartic pastime!” The feelings that Chrysalis got after that, from those she could term loosely as acquaintances so far, was that of multiple eyes rolling and what an odd feeling that was. “I might as well tell you what I have in mind, to give you something to do aside from running around and avoiding that nasty thing. We need to cut those tendrils so that they aren’t anchoring the brain anymore. If you can you take care of the ones down there, it would certainly help a lot.” Rarity turned to Coco and Saffron and the world seemed right side up to her, mostly because they were still in a zero gravity environment and it was going to be a while before they could get out of it. “Coco, Saffron, have either of you been hurt?” “My barrel hurts from being squeezed Rarity, but I’m okay thanks to you and Saffron.” Though it might have been a bit painful, Coco only received a light bruising from the brain tentacle. That or she was tougher than she thought she was, she was still scared and quivering in her suit even if she was brave enough to even be here for this battle. Saffron put a lot of effort into weakening the tentacle and it could have squeezed her harder. “I haven’t been outright injured yet. Your injury looks pretty bad… considering your blood is smeared on the outside of your suit, I’m guessing it was compromised?” All Saffron needed to see was Rarity’s nod and then she turned to the tendrils. “Well that’s just dandy, you actually need medical help and here you are being more worried about us. I still have all my knives, a few grenades and I’ve been pacing myself pretty well throughout this mess; I’m only exhausted and faintly bruised. I swear this is worse than anything I’ve ever come across in my time as a costumed hero; I wouldn’t exactly say I’m super, but I’m good to keep going.” “Give me a minute to sit and breathe, I think I’ve seen my life flash before my eyes a little too much in the last thirty minutes to really be of much help darling.” That she even leapt towards the brain when her friends were in trouble said a lot about Rarity’s character to both Chrysalis and Saffron who haven’t known her for long. They would certainly remember Rarity in a good light, considering her bravery and persistence to put others ahead of her own welfare to a really stupid degree. “I’m just glad you’re alright Coco, you’re an irreplaceable friend and I won’t have you being eaten alive by that horrid brain. Saffron could I borrow a knife?” “I could use a knife too and maybe a long nap after we’re done here. I don’t relish cutting up the tendrils, but if you think it’ll help end things quickly.” As weary as Coco was after seeing so many horrible things, she was here to help and she was going to swallow the bile that rose up in her throat at the thought of cutting into the sinewy strands connecting to the brain. Leaving that thing alive wasn’t safe for any planet or ship to come across; they’d be saving a lot of lives. As long as they still had Chrysalis and Ember, Coco was quite comfortable in believing that they could walk away from this without any permanent injury. The large Screamer was giving Coco some room for doubt as to them remaining in good health; at least she could say Lightning made it out alright. “Okay, here you go. Don’t lose them, clean off any gore that gets on them quickly, keep them sheathed unless you need to use them and then you should probably hold the knife in a tight reverse grip like so.” A short session how to hold a knife ensued and it too Saffron thirty seconds to explain the reason for this particular style of wielding a knife. “Sorry for the crash course, but we really don’t have the time to go into it.” “Yes, because it appears Ember and Crystal are in a bit of a spot down there.” It was an understatement and Rarity knew it, that thing was definitely something to run from. Below them Ember and Chrysalis were on the move outside the zero field with the scorpion hounding them, alongside a bunch of floppy or limp Screamers making haphazard attempts to be somewhat successful at pinning the both of them down. The two weren’t shooting at the monstrosity and were mostly trying to avoid it by running, what they did do was shoot a smaller Screamer every now and then. Rarity’s group watched as Ember fired once at something while running and they saw that she got one of the tendrils, the tendril in question floated away from the point it had been anchored to now ending with burnt stump. Turning away from the action below or from Rarity’s perspective above, she moved towards the closest tendril. Taking her implied prompting, both Coco and Saffron set out for tendrils of their own to take care of. Rarity and the others didn’t have much trouble severing the tendrils; only they didn’t stay severed as they moved back into position and healed, even after Rarity shot one several times. There wasn’t much danger up there, because the brain couldn’t reach them and the Corpse Scorpion was distracted by Ember and Chrysalis. They each looked at the one Ember had shot and it hadn’t healed because it couldn’t thanks to the burning damage Ember’s unusual ammo dealt. In fact Ember was doing better than the rest of them at severing the tendrils and making sure they didn’t grow back. Every permanently dealt with tendril of flesh caused the brain to let off a pained moaning sound, almost like a hungry stomach that echoed throughout the enclosed stadium. “Okay, this is getting us nowhere. I have an idea though!” It seemed as if Coco wasn’t as hopeless sounding as she was before, both Rarity and Saffron turned to her to see what she was doing. Coco swiped a knife through one tendril. With a swift flick of her hoof, she grabbed the cut away portion of the tendril and a burst of electrical energy fried the tendril preventing it from growing back. “Coco, what in the world was that?” Rarity and Saffron made their way over to Coco with curious looks. “Well… I’m the only one wearing an Impulse Saddle with auxiliary battery modification at the moment; I might have made a few modifications to my EVA suit to allow me to use my hooves as defibrillators. I thought it’d be useful to integrate the battery pack into the suit a little bit better. It doesn’t bother the magnetic clamps at all; I made sure of that with Greta and Opal before I made the alterations.” As meek and shy a pony as Coco was, she had put a lot of effort into manufacturing her Battery Impulse Saddle and finding ways to make it useful. “I thought it would be useful for emergency medical reasons and close up defensive measures. I didn’t think it could be used to do other things, maybe I could even power something this way.” “I thought that would attract the brains miasma.” The statement required an explanation and Saffron wanted one. “No the miasma can only get at open sources of energy that it can reach; my suit is a closed circuit and I’m only going to use the feature in small bursts to make sure of it.” At this point Coco could easily think she had proved herself a lot more useful than she previously was. They were having problems with cutting the tendrils up here and having the ability to prevent them from growing back was useful. “Well that’s rather brilliant of you Coco dear. Saffron I want you to assist Coco in dealing with these other Tendrils and once we’re done then we can begin phase two of my plan.” After that things became far easier, Rarity was behind them as a lookout and making sure the brain wasn’t doing anything unusual. She was on the lookout for an attack, while Coco and Saffron worked together to sever the tendrils permanently. “How are things going down there Ember?” “I only need to shoot a few more tendrils and I’ve finally dealt some permanent damage to the scorpion thing. Are you okay Chrysalis? You took a nasty hit there.” Rarity looked up at the two moving in the bleachers and Chrysalis looked like she was limping, apparently she had taken a blow in the last few minutes they’ve been dealing with tendrils. “I’m fine, I’ve had far worse than a sprained leg and a concussion I’m aggravating by moving around like I am.” In comparison to Chrysalis, the scorpion chasing them was worse off as it was missing its left cow shaped claw, the entire thing was unbalanced and having problems moving straight towards the two. “I’m mentally bypassing my concussion. That doesn’t mean I no longer have one, it just means I’m putting off the effects of it until later. I haven’t been shooting much, because personally my aim is shot unless I focus hard enough on something. That’ll be a continuing problem until I heal and I’ve been mostly doing close up spray and pray maneuvers, we’re just about done with the tendrils down here.” “Get your rocket launcher ready then Chrysalis. Coco and Saffron are almost finished up here and then we can finish this thing off. Ember, we could use those grenades up here for what I have in mind.” If Rarity’s plan was to succeed then they need to hit it with as many grenades at once as possible. Ember put all of the grenades she had on her together in a bundle and tossed them up towards Rarity on the ceiling past the mostly free floating brain. Rarity had to gallop a good thirty feet to catch them, but she manage to get them and smiled. “Right, when you can get a moment, try to get away from the scorpion so that you can be ready to take the shots.” “Ra… ty… rity…re… right… in… ere… me... respo…. Rarity, are you alright in there, can you hear me? Please respond.” Hearing Opal’s voice was unusual, but not something that was an unwelcome in this occasion. Her voice had been filled with static at first, but now it was clearing up as Coco and Saffron tore another tendril apart. “Opal, we’re doing fine, but I need you tell me something.” Rarity figured that she had some time to talk, Ember and Chrysalis were busy trying to put some distance between them and Mr. Skull Legs whose form was deteriorating quite badly now due in part to how long it had been on fire for. All the limbs poking out of its back had long burnt away and Rarity was thankful for the helmet she was currently wearing as she didn’t want to know what burnt meat smelled like. “What are the energy readings like? Are you getting anything odd on Shining Jewel’s scanners?” “Oh thank goodness you’re alright! About the energy readings, they are currently rising out of control and if they aren’t stopped soon the station might go into meltdown… what have you been doing in there? I’m also starting to pick up thousands of life signs along the walls of the station… that’s a bit weird.” This information Opal was spouting was both good and bad to Rarity. Good because it meant they were killing the brain and cutting it off from its food source, bad because doing so is causing the stations power to start building up to critical levels. “Whatever it is your dealing with; take care of it in the next five minutes and then contact me because I need to get into the stations systems to safely stop this burgeoning crisis.” “I can assure you Opal, we are almost done with killing the cause of the infestation and we’re in the process of weakening it for the final blow.” It occurred to Rarity to ask a pertinent question. “Are those thousands of life signs moving?” “No they are currently stuck where they are.” The tone of Opal’s voice became rather somber. “There are at least forty thousand life signs… that would mean at least sixty five thousand people have died here.” “Then you’re going to need to act fast when you jump into Antilur’s systems to save all the ones that we can still help my darling little Opal.” The last of the tendrils were just about shredded and Rarity would have to divert herself back to the task at hoof when that came to pass. “All the captured people that are alive are being held against the walls, the dead ones have sadly had their bodies turned into monstrosities that have been attacking us throughout the station. We’ve had a really bad time with one in particular. Look that’s not important, when we’ve finally killed the thing, those forty thousand survivors are going to fall. I need you to turn off all the gravity throughout the station and run damage control when we kill the problem, do you understand me young lady?” “I’m hearing you loud and clear mommy, I’m ready when you give the signal or the strange energy readings cease to exist.” From Opal’s perspective the brain gave off some really odd energy readings and that was where all five active EVA suits were. “Either way I’m going to take that as the sign to really get a move on it.” “The tendrils are gone now what?” Asked Coco who was looking to Rarity with Saffron, before looking to the brain in the middle of the anti gravity field that was starting to rotate listlessly in the gravity field. “Chrysalis can you hit the brain between a seventy to eight five degree angle from below in any given direction, Ember I want you to make sure Chrysalis has enough time to set up her shot.” Keeping the levitating the bundle of grenades close, Rarity watched as Chrysalis found a position while Ember was stalling the scorpion Screamer that wouldn’t stop moving, the thing wasn’t having much luck stabbing the dragon with one if its legs much less grabbing her with its toothy claw. Once she saw Chrysalis setting up her rocket launcher, she began to move in the direction that Chrysalis was in along the ceiling. “Saffron, Coco, you're with me and we’ll be waiting in the right position after Chrysalis fires her shot.” “Just a few more seconds, the recoil is the only thing wrong with this weapon and I already have a bad enough headache as it is.” From her position Chrysalis was shouldering the rocket launcher and carefully positioning it at the bottom of the stairs near one of the entrances into the stadium, the angle was a bit hard for her to get considering she was being asked to aim almost straight up. Not to mention the weight of the rocket launcher was beginning to get to her. “You are one big bad belligerent bastard of a brain. So in the immortal words of the Changeling race, what is love? It certainly won’t hurt you no more. I especially enjoy what is Likely Overkill Violently Enacted!” With a pull of the trigger, Chrysalis was knocked flat onto back and she lost grip on the rocket launcher which went spinning into the air and landed on top of the maniacally laughing queen causing her to grunt slightly. The rocket hit the top of the brain as it was upside down in its rotation and the explosion sent the brain flying straight towards the ceiling due to the lack of gravity. The screeching brain could be heard throughout the station and the scorpion Screamer faltered in its movements allowing Ember to jump onto it and stab down into what passed for its skull with the blaze bayonet. Ember had already cut off its elephant like feature a while ago, as such she dragged the blazing rifle along the badly burnt monsters back. She seared a path of destruction into it and upon reaching the monsters backside she eventually swept the blaze bayonet up and out of its back, where she then swiped it across the base of the tail when she reached it. The entire monster dropped to the ground lifeless, almost split in half and missing it's tail. Ember sighed and sat down turning off the blaze bayonet, the thing that just wouldn’t die was definitely not getting up from having its entire spine incinerated. “Wait for it…. wait for it… now!” With that word Rarity, Coco and Saffron all started to throw any grenade in their possession as quickly and as hard as they could. Coco was using one of the magnetic hooves of her suit to launch grenades like a rail gun, while Rarity and Saffron telekinetically kicked multiple grenades into the brain. The brain having just bounced off the ceiling was hit with a staccato of explosions that changed its momentum; it was in its death throes already and wouldn’t survive what was about to happen. Physics was a cruel mistress, for the brain was knocked out of the zero gravity field and it was falling at an angled towards the stands on the far side from Chrysalis. It was screaming the entire time and trying to save itself with its tentacles, instead the brains tentacles ripped apart upon impact and the brain rolled down the stands and bounced when it hit the rail. The giant flew back into the gravity field where it shot straight across the stadium. The brain was going back towards Chrysalis, who was already in the middle of scampering off to the side as the brains grey matter splattered everywhere close to her upon impact. What was left was a pile of groaning immobile of mass, three fourths of it spewing strange liquids all over the stairs or simply crushed in that last impact. It now resembled a large wad of chewing gum that was still moving slightly. “Can I use my last round to make sure it’s dead?” A tentacle reached out for Chrysalis who quickly put more distance between her and the heavily damaged brain that somehow still had the ability to try and fight back. It was scraping at Chrysalis’s mind as much as trying to reach out with its tentacle to grab her. It wasn’t finding any purchase mentally and physically. Chrysalis was easily resisting its attempts to get inside her head and or grab her body, this was with the concussion and sprained leg she had. “Right, it’s definitely not dead yet. Anybody got any spare grenades? I’m going to need a minute to reload.” The brain tried to drag itself towards Chrysalis who continued to move away at a much faster gait than the brain could drag itself. Ember eventually met up with Chrysalis and started pouring every single round she had into it, her magma rounds started chewing through the mass until she ran out. “Well I’m completely dry.” Ember hefted Chrysalis and started putting some distance between them and the crawling wad of a ballistics battered brain. “The strange signal is weakening; whatever is making that signal is currently dying and whatever it is you're doing is working.” Announced a happy Opal, she was happy that Rarity was alright and that she could communicate with her. “I’m ready and on standby to transfer into Antilur Station’s systems.” “Right then, I believe we’re completely out of grenades having just used the last of them. We’re coming down to help.” Rarity followed by Coco and Saffron kicked off the ceiling heading towards the rail close to the position Chrysalis and Ember were approaching. Notably Chrysalis was firing her material rifle with abandon until she too was out of ammo. The brain was still dragging itself towards them after that. Rarity grabbed the railing and she swiftly pulled herself out of the zero gravity zone. She immediately set about emptying her material pistols into the mass, every small copper triangle and rock she could spare in slowing down the beast by hitting the tentacles. “Well if everyone else is doing it… Ember help Chrysalis load that rocket launcher. I believe me and Saffron can put a few magic missiles into it ourselves to hold it off.” “Actually I should be the one doing the magic missiles Rarity, you’ve been running your horn ragged and I’m sorry to say this but you don’t look like you were built for stamina when it comes to casting.” A beam of energy erupted from Saffron’s horn and tore into the brains tentacle. “Yeah, I’m not going near that.” Now was a good time for cowardice in Coco’s opinion as she turned tail and headed towards Chrysalis and Ember. “I believe we all share that sentiment, considering the fact that it is even moving in the state it’s in!” Uttered a tired Rarity, she followed behind the retreating earth pony and saw that Saffron was on slow retreat and blasting apart whatever she could of the brain. “Now lock the rocket launcher into position, there… you know what I’m one big bruise after having used this thing three times. You do it Ember.” Chrysalis sighed in relief when Ember took up the bazooka and crouched down with it on her shoulder. “Saffron, get your fine sexy exotic ass clear of that thing!” Saffron was galloping away and Ember depressed the trigger and was knocked flat by the recoil, the rocket impacted with what was left of a really great ordeal and the last explosion ceased its existence entirely. Seconds later they sat there almost disbelieving every single they had all gone through in silence, nothing moved but the five of them and they were cautiously optimistic. “I am assuming direct control.” Opal’s voice sounded rather sad and then the gravity throughout the entire station shut down, making the five float into the air slightly. “The gravity might be off, but the survivors are still in motion. We might lose some people due to the impact, some to lack of energy and we’re going to have a lot of hungry mouths to feed soon, a little more than forty three thousand to be exact. Saffron you and your father are going to be needed real soon. I’m trying to flip the gravity to slow them all down slightly, be prepared for that. I’m also going to run as much damage control as best I can from within the stations systems. First off, turning on all the lights and making sure the station doesn’t explode in the next fifty seconds... yeah, that’s a bit of a problem. I’m accessing dossiers on a lot of people who can assist in the recovery of the station. We need to help those people first, now sending that information to Greta.” “She’s kidding right, tell me she’s kidding? How am I supposed to help feed forty thousand people after all this, I need sleep! On top of all that, the station might explode?!” Saffron turned towards a sighing Rarity who gave her a faint smile. Things would work out; it had to after all that. “I’m certainly willing, but my body can’t take much more after the wringer we were just put through.” “Then it’s a good thing Coriander and the rest of us are still fresh, come back home and get some rest. You sound like you need it.” The tone Gilda spoke in was rather reassuring, which was odd for her considering she was less than stellar in the good cheer department. “The rest of us can pick up the slack Boss Lady, plus I and Greta get to break out the new vehicles.” Okay maybe Gilda’s tone wasn’t so odd after all if she was getting a chance to play with some new toys. - It had been at least three days and things had been quite touch and go, even after killing the main source of the infestation the station was messed up without any maintenance workers to keep things going. At the start of those three days Gilda unveiled the two newest vehicles that were to take up space in Shining Jewel. They weren’t really all that big and they were made with the express purpose of running hull repairs and or modifications; they were called EGGS, which stood for Engineer Guided Grappling Suits. They were basically giant versions of a CAT drones that could doubled as an escape pod and the oval shaped pods were considered to be aptly named. An EGGS unit only required one pilot and had two arms for manipulating things in various ways with whatever tools they happen to have installed at the time. It was armed with a single forward facing energy cannon as a minor means of defense, the EGGS were not designed for combat and were made specifically for dealing with bigger engineering problems. Two of them were currently being piloted by Gilda and Greta as they helped people around the station and fixed various issues as quickly as they could. They were working pretty hard and would continue to do so, until the remaining surviving members of the maintenance crew for the station could pick up the slack and get back into good health. Antilur Station wasn’t a very sunny place to be at the moment and lots of family’s were missing members or were depressed about the friends they lost, at least Equus was in the process of sending aid to the station to get it back on its hooves. There wasn’t a bright side to any of the troubles now facing the station and the many various ships coming in to aid Rarity’s crew in their endeavors. It would take several more days still before the Shining Jewels crew would make any progress into making things better. The survivors were doing poorly mentally, Vera was just one SNUGGLES member and couldn’t possibly account for everyone to prevent suicides and there were a lot of members being flown in on various vessels willing to help those that had been caught in the miasma. While the miasma might have kept people in stasis, it also gave them horrific nightmares while they were slowly being drained. After a quick recovery, Chrysalis likened the current mood in the air as to what happens to ponies around Changelings that did really bad things in the name of hunger. She then became rather scarce, likely having taken on a disguise to make things go a bit smoother in helping the relief effort. “No Rarity, you still need time to rest.” Vera was having a bad enough time trying to keep Rarity relaxed and from running herself ragged helping people. They were in one of the stations many city layers and Vera was trying to keep her sanity when everyone around her had a short fuse, there was a lot of stress to be had all around. “Hey, Vera I found a filly… she could really use your help.” An upset Ember came up to Vera carrying a little filly with short pinkish red hair and slightly dark orange fur. The freckled filly looked listless and there wasn’t much life in her eyes. “We… recently found her parent’s bodies… or at least what they had become anyway. She doesn’t have any other family on the station.” “We could all use a little help right now; we just have to keep pushing forward.” Standing up from a fainting couch that Rarity had taken a fancy to, she moved over to the filly Ember sat down on the floor and tried to make eye contact with her. “Don’t you have any other family you can go to?” “Yes… I know where some of my family is, well the planet they are on at least.” The filly sounded quite dead inside as she continued to look to the floor and Rarity’s heart wouldn’t say no to making her an offer, one with a variety of interesting consequences in the future. Author's Note Gravitational fields and you... there's zero gravity, anti-gravity and regular gravity. There's also heavy gravity and light gravity. The bigger they are the harder they fall, mostly based on mass and velocity.
-66-“There was a lot of collateral damage huh?” The EGGS unit Gilda was piloting maneuvered into position and started to burn away the biological matter left behind by the brains death. They were torching every bit of biological mass left behind by the Visitant class Sifter Drifter, the bodies of the twisted and warped dead deserved better than what had happened to them and cremation was the best option for all concerned. “No kidding, we’ve been here for five days and the only thing we can hope for is that the charity event Rarity is working on will go off without a hitch today. It would certainly lend some aid to the situation and lighten the mood. At least the constant stream of SNUGGLES members are going to help the beleaguered people with their mental issues. Even Princess Luna can’t help all the ponies that got caught up in this event. I sometimes wish that space was all sunshine and rainbows.” Sighing Greta continued to burn away the limp and lifeless tendrils not too far away from Gilda in her own EGGS unit, her tone took an upturn. “It was a good thing Opal got a quick handle on the situation or else we’d have more to fix and we don’t necessarily have all the parts to do such a thing, I wouldn’t envy having to improvise parts for the main generator. I’m also not surprised the Boss Lady gave up three fourths of the earnings for destroying the infestation to help the station. At least all our friends survived saving the nearby systems from that threat.” “Yeah, who knew that it started out so small, it certainly became a huge problem. More than half the people on Antilur died to that thing and I can say good riddance that it’s dead. At least Vera will get a break, she has to deal with our insanity enough as it is already. She really can’t handle that many patients and we’re being stretched a bit thin in what responsibilities we can take on. Goodness knows Saffron and her father are trying to feed everyone, which is going much better than all the psychological issues flying around in here.” Gilda had to hand it to Opal, she found out how the infestation started and ended up in the place it did. Opal had even figured out which ship the infestation had even come from, where that ship was now and how the previous owner and crew had died. “As far as I’m concerned we don’t owe these people anything, but I can’t exactly say anything bad about how the money was used given I didn’t directly take part in the action. A bonus for all the grenades we cobbled together would be nice, even if it didn’t really take us that long to synthesize the chemicals for them. In any case, that Ember girl has been sticking around too close for comfort lately; she’s been eyeing most of the crew and it’s honestly creeping me out. I’m okay with Kitten eyeing me, because I know she’s usually doing so in a playful mood or when she wants something, but is a bit too shy to ask. The way Ember is doing it feels entirely off.” It was the start of a long pause. They both acknowledged that while heroic, Rarity’s crew wasn’t supposed to be a military force and as such they wouldn’t follow the lead of where the infestation came from. That would be left up to other people to deal with who are military; they were on a civilian crew with what was admittedly a lot of talented combat specialists. Lightning was kicked out of the military and despite that she obviously remembered her training, Chrysalis was a leader of her people and quite a skilled one at that, Ember is a dangerous bounty hunter with armored skin that could survive a direct impact with something that would destroy a tank, Saffron was a costumed crime fighter that Rarity’s crew knew all about, Sassy was a magical samurai specializing in stabbing attacks and Rarity was a civilian who trained in the use of pistols who had incredible accuracy when she focused her special talent into it. Even Trapeze had her thing with Capoeira style fighting to go along with her acrobatic movements, Coco had an absurd amount of physical strength and even Gilda and Greta themselves were dangerous when given enough reason to be and had something to work with. It wouldn’t surprise Gilda or Greta if even Coriander or Rover were to prove useful in a fight; Bernard didn’t need to be considered since he was a Lagotorphin who shared his kill from Equus with the griffons and diamond dog. It was a matter of principle to not waste any food and some of it was still frozen in storage, Bernard came to Greta on matters of cooking the meat when he felt like he needed to indulge in his carnivorous side. Bernard wasn’t as innocent as he looked and he was just as much a threat as any of the ones who had some form of combat training, even Rover deferred to him as an alpha and he was bigger than Bernard was. “Yeah, I’m getting the feeling that Ember is looking at us differently compared to everyone else. So do you want to catch Trapeze’s show with me? You know, to see what she’s been up to?” It would be the first official show and it would be running as part of the charity event and Greta wanted to see it. She was mostly interested to learn what exactly Rover has been up to as part of the Trapeze Troupe, Bernard and Trapeze obviously had the magic act down to a science and could improvise really well. The diamond dog would be a curious display, only Opal would have any inkling as to what kind of act Rover would be doing in the show. “I’ll buy the popcorn…” “Free popcorn? Sounds legit to me, but you’re paying for everything!” Gilda had to roll her eyes when she heard Greta squeal happily, she moved the right arm of the machine she was piloting and started to repair some wires that had been ripped open by the tendrils. The tendrils had branched out all over the stations, but now they were in the way of repairs and the surviving members of Antilur’s maintenance crew didn’t want to touch them. It was understandable as to why and Gilda wouldn’t fault them for it, but she would still call them big wimps. Gilda was not a wimp for not entering the station when the infestation was ongoing; it was common sense for her to avoid going into what was quickly becoming a dedly ghost station. Just because she was brave didn’t mean she was stupid, which made her wonder about following Rarity around considering she was a little bit of both with plenty of gumption. After a minute to think on it, Gilda had absolutely no problems with following a leader like the Boss Lady also known as Baroness Belle. “Don’t get too excited now, especially not all over the inside of your EGGS unit Greta, because I’m not cleaning ‘that’ up if you do. We’re going to likely have a run in with little miss crazy pants as soon as we get out of these EGGS and board the station properly. We need to report back to Shining Jewel, Opal just sent us a silent message. Apparently she wants us to bake a cake for a special occasion.” “With all those SNUGGLES members coming here, I wouldn’t doubt for a second that Tree will make an appearance. She’ll probably want to talk to you no less about something or other, maybe cuddle with you or me a bit more.” One could almost hear Greta grin slightly at the sound of Gilda’s silence, she wouldn’t mind if Tree Hugger gave her some affection and she probably had to ask for it unlike Gilda. “Also that almost sounded like an egg pun. If we get out of these EGGS, would that meant we’ve been hatched?” “Finish the job and shut up Greta.” Grumbled Gilda in as grumpy a manner as she could manage, the show had better be good and worth a run in with Tree Hugger. She could hear Greta giggling gaily, why did she have to go and encourage her like that? Probably because the situation around them was depressing as all get out and she wanted to do something fun for once, even if she wouldn’t admit to wanting to do so. “You’re just lucky I really like popcorn, I’m getting some with cheddar and extra butter.” - “So can we legally add the battery utility to the EVA suits sales menu?” Things have been calm in the last five days after making the infestation literally brain dead, well from Coco’s perspective things were calm. Rarity was being her generous self again and she was trying to help as many people on the space station as possible, even when some of them didn’t feel like living any more having lost their entire families. Coco was personally trying to get by and make sure Rarity’s business continued, which is why she was consulting Opal and surprisingly enough Ember. Ember had been around a lot lately and the dragon made Coco nervous, at least it wasn’t as bad as before when she was almost drop dead scared of the friendly fire breathing princess. “Well if you want a second opinion then I’d have to go with it, couldn’t hurt. I would at least put a few warnings on the operations of the battery utility, also leave out the electric hooves modification or that such a modification even exists.” Outside of her EVA suit needing to go through major repairs or just make an entirely new one to cut out the middle mare, Ember had only been slightly exhausted compared to everyone else. She was completely fine after eight hours of uninterrupted sleep and hadn’t been injured at all except for three minor bruises that cleared up after she got her sleep in. Being a dragon, Ember was quite hardy and hard to put down for long, which is why Coco was quite wary of her given she healed so quickly. Currently Ember was wearing a pink shirt that had the words baked goods imprinted on it with an arrow pointing upwards, she had been talked out of getting the version with the arrow pointing downwards. The dragon’s pants were a simple affair and she bought several pairs of EVA suit orifice sealing underwear off of Rarity, the underwear was really quite comfortable against Ember’s scales and she was wearing a pair right now. “You’re not trying to run combat hardware here, even I know that wouldn’t go over too well with any authority figures in any system.” “I’m sorry to agree with her Coco, but we can’t exactly sell the defibrillator option you added to your personal suit and not call it a weapon. Even if it wasn’t meant to be one, it could still be misused and we wouldn’t want that on our consciences. Still the prototype battery utility has proven its mettle in a test run and Rarity did give me the go ahead to approve things for sale. Give me a second and…” Opal was on the nearest screen happy to have Ember as a guest and she was nice enough to try and attempt some form of bonding with Coco. It was a bit shaky, but they eventually got themselves together. A menu to Rarity’s Rarities appeared on screen and the utilities list for the EVA suits popped up, the two watching this could even see the words ‘testing phase’ disappear. The battery utility option green lighting and a few warnings about the utility were put up in several easy to read known languages which were clearly marked and if you couldn’t read those languages, then there were illustrations as to what would happen for those with more dyslexic problems. Nobody would complain to them about faulty equipment if Opal could help it and they couldn’t complain that there were no warnings. “However I will be including the fact that weight might be a small issue and that we’re working on it, which will be added on top of all the positives to having the utility. Patented by Lady Coco Pommel, a few bells and whistles to attract attention to it and we’re done. Just so you know every sale of this new utility will give you a percentage of the profits made and since we’re our own small country we technically don’t have to go through Princess Luna for testing it. I’m still sending it to Luna with a few ideas for Mind Field that might help get him walking again... provided that he’s okay with violent electrocution. Otherwise I’m hoping for more personalized EVA suit sales, they are our best seller so far.” “Remind me to never piss off Opal, she’s kind of deranged.” Ember was joking of course and she shook her head, Mind Field was a nasty piece of work and she heard of how Rarity got paid for assisting in his apprehension. Wish she could have been there to cave the guy’s skull in, but she didn’t like going near Equus even knowing now that she had a little brother that she should visit at any time. Nobody messes with her hoard… now she just had to tell her hoard that and she was getting cold feet, which was quite hard given a dragon’s general body temperature being quite high. She wasn’t about to call Opal out on being rampant, the word ‘rampant’ seemed like a taboo subject in the crew she was becoming overly attached to. “No offense meant to you of course Opal, but if I didn’t know you as well as I do from what little time we’ve had to talk. I’d you were a little more than a bit loose in the mental department.” “None taken, so I’m a little vindictive.” Opal crossed her paws and sniffed slightly while looking to the ceiling as if she had nothing to do with it. “What do you mean by a little? I saw a recent news report from Equus about Mind Field being poisoned with platypus venom being in the news. Nobody was able to find a suspect, heck I’m not even sure anyone’s looking for one because a lot of people hate him. No one has even bothered to point in the direction of the Changelings and they are the likeliest ones to do it given all the things they were blamed for because of him.” The disbelieving tone in Coco’s voice was quite obvious, the circumstances were rather clear as to what Opal had managed to pull off. Maybe Chrysalis had agreed with Opal’s sense of revenge and set things into motion, if so then Mind Field was going to be tormented until he finally passed away. Coco didn’t know how to feel about it, was it justice or outright cruelty for all the crimes known and unknown that he has committed? “I’m quite sure that there are people out there that can’t possibly hold a grudge nearly as bad as you can Opal, especially after that thing with the space pirates.” “They had it coming; I can’t be blamed if I was a little enthusiastic in protecting the crew after what happened the first time.” It was interesting that Opal worded it that way, considering Rarity was the only crew member at the time for the first attack. At least Opal wasn’t crazy in a bad way. “Yes, they might have had it coming at that.” Tapping a hoof against the floor Coco gave Opal a flat searching look. “Though I’m suspicious about the fact that Mind Field was poisoned, wasn’t that something you suggested?” “What does Mind Field being poisoned have to do with me? I mean obviously the guy has quite a few enemies and nobody would want him to rat out the cabal he was a part of.” Opal stated quite innocently as if she hadn’t discussed platypus venom out loud in front of the crew some time ago with some Changelings she might have contacted or that it came to fruition not too long afterwards. “Anyway, since we’re talking about good news, report to medical! I’m gathering everybody not preparing for Trapeze’s thing together, I’ve already informed Rarity and she’s on her way. Oh and Greta and Gilda have been back for an hour or two, they’ll show up after you two do as I gave them a task they are just about done with.” Coco and Ember looked at each other curiously and shrugged, they might as well see what was up. Coco had set up an administrations room on deck one to be more of a research and production room for Shining Jewel, all they had to do was walk down the right hand corridor and take the nearest elevator down to deck two to be immediately outside medical. Medical was built in section two, deck two, by the previous owners because it was in the middle of the ship and you could get to it from anywhere easily in the case of a medical emergency. When they got there, everyone that wasn’t a part of Trapeze’s show or Chrysalis was already waiting on the news as to why Opal had them all come together. Even the filly Ember brought in two days ago was here looking a little wary at all the crew gathering together, small talk was going around and Rarity was busy hanging a few decorations. They were going to hold a small party here it seemed. - Sassy had heard that misery loves company, but she now had company in the form of a Pegasus Pony and had to watch the surgery from her position. Apparently this new crew member had broken ribs and all of them were cracked, surprisingly she was still alive despite one of her lungs being lightly pierced. The newest member of the medical retreat left Sassy wondering what exactly had happened to cause such an injury and it wasn’t a few hours later that Rarity came in to get bandaged with an injury in her side that looked like it was both sliced open and stabbed. Rarity didn’t look too hurt, aside from some bleeding when they managed to pull the scabbing breach gel away. Several other people including Ember were a bit bruised and she watched them with interest, at some point she fell asleep despite all the activity going on around her. It was several days later of boredom that she woke up with Opal’s smiling face in front of her. - “Today’s the day Sassy, you’re coming out of there and you’ll be able to breathe air again. Hope you didn’t have too many nightmares in there, oh and we’ll be able to get some food in you that aren’t the medical fluids you’re currently floating in.” In particular Opal seemed to be joyous to see her awake, then she looked off to the side with a slight frown. She was probably looking over the other medical room occupant. “Lightning, it’ll still be a day or two more for you, your ribs have been chemically pasted during surgery for a quicker recovery and they require you to rest so that it can settle. Vera will come to check your vitals soon… provided I can even remember where she is at the moment. Commence the random pointing at things! No I don’t want to delete Vera’s name… yes, I’m sure. No you are not going to delete it anyway, what is with this computer system! I’m a part of it and even I don’t understand where these error messages are coming from! I just stopped in to let you know everyone is doing fine Sassy and hopefully Vera can give you a mental evaluation concerning your distaste of medical beds and how you’re living with your worst nightmare right now. You are taking it rather well so far.” The frustrated white cat had Sassy smiling a bit; it looked like staying awake today was going to be a worthwhile endeavor. She wanted to be breathing relatively fresh air, instead of the medical fluids she had been stuck under for a while. How long has she been in this medical bed? She’d be happy to be out of it. “At least you can still smile, that’s a really good sign. Oh, by the way, do you want to keep that large bit of metal I dug out of your flesh?” There was an impish smile to Opal now that she knew Sassy wasn’t feeling too bad. “We kind of put that in a jar and filled it with water, I’d be happy to hear what you want us to do with it.” - “Okay Sassy, you’re talking well enough after your injury healed, but can you walk?” Vera looked up from her clipboard and gave Sassy a quirked brow. Sassy could move her limbs; medically there was nothing wrong with her at the moment aside from some slight atrophy. Sassy tried to stand up and managed to do so for a few seconds before Vera had to run up and steady her before she fell down. “Yeah you’re going to need some time to get your limbs warmed up, but otherwise you can stand so that much is good progress to get you walking again.” “So what happened while I was out of it?” Sassy had been staring at bleak walls and other empty medical beds for at least week or more straight, something to talk or gossip about would be real nice right about now. “Well Gilda built a tank in less than a week and then helped put down a terrorist attack on Canterlot, also Rarity is friends with all three of the princesses and we picked up a few new crew members. Yes there's a new princess and some of the new crew members are male, but I don’t think we have anything to worry about.” Trying to cut off a problem at the past, Vera got it out there that they had male members on the crew. Three to be precise, one was an old stallion, one is a dubious diamond dog who has probably never had a mate and the last one was quite small and possibly the least threatening looking thing imaginable… provided you didn’t know he was a Lagotorphin. “I can’t promise you won’t have to deal with them, but they have yet to do anything untoward towards anyone. I need to know, can you at least keep yourself civil? If so then I can go get a wheel chair and we can see some of our friends together.” “I can do that much at least, because right now I can’t draw a sword to save my life. Unless I use my magic and right now my magic is most likely going to my body.” Sighing as she was helped to the table, Sassy patiently sat down when prompted and waited as Vera checked her body over to make sure she was fit enough for a little excitement. “You know, I think everyone on this ship has forgotten that I’m not a medical doctor, well at least not one for physical ailments at any rate. Hold on while I go get the chair, find your balance while I do that.” Vera walked off leaving Sassy to herself, Sassy just inhaled slowly and then exhaled. A minute or so later saw Vera coming back with a wheelchair. “Surprisingly you’re good enough to almost be walking on your own from what I know and Opal seems to have done a good job with watching over you as much as any of the rest of us. Before I put you in the chair I’m going to give you a nice massage, would you like that?” “I think I would be okay with that.” As noncommittal as the answer may be, some part of Sassy was looking forward to it. “Good now let me tell you about what recently happen, I noticed you were awake while I was wrapping Rarity’s side, we ran into a spot of trouble when we noticed a lot of derelict ships floating around in space outside a dark space station…” Vera would regale Sassy with the tale of the Antilur Station and what was going on currently. - Sassy had her butt in the wheelchair after she was scrubbed down by Vera and left blushing after that, Vera didn’t seem to have a problem with touching her inappropriately and she would have screamed bloody murder if someone male were to try to do that to her. She didn’t understand why Rarity and the others weren’t here fussing over her, when Vera pushed her chair into the next room she received her answer without having to voice her question. The main question on her mind was why Coco and Rarity weren’t fighting to see her, now she knew they were just waiting for her to arrive at the party held in her honor. “We’re happy to see you’ve made a full recovery Sassy and surprise!” Rarity, Coco, Gilda and Greta were here, they had a small party going and it looked particularly decorated and there was even a cake that had the words ‘welcome back’ written on it. Gilda just gave a lazy wave of her left talons in Sassy’s general direction while blowing on a party horn, she’s as sour as Sassy remembered her being and Greta seemed to be a living ball of sunshine in comparison. “Bless my berets Rarity, it’s nice to see that you’re mostly alright after the stories Vera told me. Did none of the other newer crew members come though?” She thought about it and then Sassy remembered the other infirmed member of the crew that was put next to her not too long ago. “I mean aside from the one that was next to me not too long ago.” “You didn’t tell her about the charity I’m putting together? Well it is going to happen in a few hours and Trapeze is making it her first official debut as it were, she’s an Earth Pony magician.” Rarity trotted right up to Sassy and threw her hooves around her barrel giving her a soft and gentle squeeze that made Sassy grunt a bit. “Most of the newly hired crew members are helping her set things up at the moment, doesn’t account for where Ms. Dick got off to.” “Well it’s good to see you’re alright Sassy, especially after that fracas I heard happened over on Equus from a reliable source.” Ember walked into the room hauling a pot of food, she pulled the lid off to check the food. After nodding to herself with a frown and putting the lid back on, Ember held the pot aloft above her head and breathed a light amount of flames across the bottom of the pot. After checking the lid again she smiled, you could hear something bubbling inside and could see some steam rising from it. “She’s okay to eat solid foods right?” “Whatever that food is, I want some Ember. It smells really good and it is so nice to see you again Ms. McFlame.” It really was, though Sassy had to admit that finding a Bounty Hunter as nice as Ember was would be a pretty hard feat to achieve, also the smell from the pot was making her hungry and she felt ravenous. “Sure, she’s good to eat whatever and it’s her party anyway.” Vera recognized the look Sassy was sending her; she gave a dry laugh as she realized what the problem was. “Though she might need some help getting the food into her mouth, so spoon feeding her for a bit might helpful until she’s more coordinated. I’m pretty sure Nurse Rarity wouldn’t mind, right?” “Oh we have so much to talk about Sassy and I wouldn’t mind at all helping you eat, there are some things you need to know like me being nobility. I’m officially Baroness Belle!” Rarity was happy to have her friend back. Sassy looked a little shocked to hear this news. “I may have missed some of the finer details in my stories; I wasn’t exactly there in the thick of things.” Here Vera smiled at Sassy and gave her a wink. “I’m sure you’ll have a lot to tell her Rarity.” “We should really take her with us when we go to see Trapeze’s act, I’m sure she’d like to get out of the ship and away from medical. She could definitely use something different at least… but first we need to get some cake in her.” Coco’s suggestion was met with a growling stomach, it sounded like a tiger was on the loose and they all turned to Sassy who looked ashamed of herself. “I haven’t had anything to eat in a long time. Medical and vitamin enriched fluids are not exactly what I would call food.” Everything was going to be just fine to Sassy. Though she was curious, where did the filly come from? “Who’s she, she seems to be dourer than Gilda.” “That’s because she lost her family on the space station, needless to say the fan was spinning on full blast when the stuff hit it.” Nobody stated how much of an understatement that was, nobody was going to even correct Gilda that the fan was actually an industrial sized one that filled up the entire station. “Ended up liberating the whole damn station, but now we have a problem with a bunch of sad sacks that have mental issues and Luna can’t exactly help them. It’s a left over side effect of the monster that they killed in there, we’re helping with cleanup because Rarity is such a damn bleeding heart and I wouldn’t exactly have the Boss Lady any other way. More than half the stations population is dead and the rest is borderline mental, this little happy reunion thing won’t last very long when we have to get back to helping the people still alive.” “As to the filly, she’s one of the survivors and her name is Babs Seed. She has family on Applin Five in the Applon system; we’re going to see if her family can take her in. Until then we’re taking care of her, because Rarity offered to help and she doesn’t exactly have anyone else to turn to.” Coco came up to hug Sassy next, she was even crying a little. “It’s where we were going anyway before we got sidetracked with this nasty infestation problem. It’s so nice to have you back on your hooves Sassy.” “It’s so nice to be back, Coco-chan.” Sassy nuzzled Coco and then her stomach grumbled. “It would seem that my stomach still has a few complaints to make.” Author's Note I think we'll be moving on to something different after a small performance by Trapeze Star along with her partners Bernard and Rover. Who knows where Chrysalis got off to or what she's doing now.
-67-Sassy was officially out of the medical bed and in good health, she just needed some help walking again. Otherwise she was healthy as she could get after being spoon fed some cake and a really hearty vegetable stew. Now the mare found herself in a wheelchair being pushed by Rarity and she was looking forward to the show they were all going to, it was nice that her friends were thinking of her. It was, after all, something to do after being trapped inside a glass and metal tube for weeks. While it hadn’t been physically uncomfortable, it was certainly mentally agonizing. Babs on the other hoof was finding it hard to believe someone like Rarity can be so nice, but it seemed like she was definitely set on assisting her. Babs was currently on Ember’s right shoulder, given there was a sewer squid occupying the other side. The friendly bounty hunter was the one that helped Babs find her parents, or at least what was left of them anyway. She had already cried her heart out over it and the world was quite dark, but at least she had people looking out for her. The world felt a little less empty thanks to Rarity’s crew, Babs had to admit that they were a friendly bunch. Gilda was a bit of a grump, but she was a bit more real to Babs than the rest of the crew. The filly always had at least one of the crew with her at all times and things could have been far worse. When Babs had asked Ember, how exactly could her situation have possibly been any worse, well she got an answer that was a bit longer than she had been expecting. The answer took a while, at least from everyone boarding Caravel Boutique and eventually exiting it in Antilur Station. “You could also have been sold into child slavery where they would… abuse your body and do much worse to your mind. I’m not about to describe it in depth, but it gets pretty bad. Plus there’s active sex slave trading industries in some systems, be thankful we’re not anything close to being space pirates kid.” Being upfront with a filly wasn’t as hard as Ember thought it would be, but maybe it wasn’t a good idea to tell her about all the things that could have gone wrong after having become a survivor of a horrible infestation. “Quite frankly you should try to make peace with the fact that you are still alive and try not to become just another statistic. You still have family out there and they’d be sad if you died, I’m pretty sure my little brother would be sad if I died and we were never given the opportunity to meet. I don’t exactly know what he’s like, he’s been found and raised by ponies and all I know about him is what Rarity has told me. We’re not asking you to grow up; we’re asking you to keep pushing forward and stay strong no matter how hard it might be to keep on living. I think your parents would have wanted you to live a long and fulfilling life. Trust me; I’ve been where you are when I lost my mother and those weren’t exactly pleasant times for me. Don’t close yourself off from getting help, cry if you need too, but don’t you dare give up on life!” Babs silently wondered if this show they were going to was going to be any good and she certainly had her doubts. Was she supposed to be excited? It was hard to feel any excitement lately. She just lost her parents and this show wasn’t much to her benefit, she was going to get help packing up her belongings for a move to her cousins and there were the nightmares that even Princess Luna couldn’t stop or help with over the past few days that made her become an insomniac. The sleeping aids Vera gave her really helped her get the dreamless sleep she needed when it came to the fourth day of waking up to being all alone, it was kind of hard to even remember the kind mare’s name. Vera’s situation had been explained to the filly, but Babs was making an effort to remember her name anyways. Babs couldn’t fathom an existence where everyone forgets you’re there with a single blink of your eyes if no one was pointing at you or in contact with your body, but it was a very real bit of strangeness surrounding one of the many crew members the filly was introduced to. Was Babs supposed to feel upset that her bullies were dead too and why did she care so much about them being gone? It was a bit surprising to hear it was a normal response to miss even those who were cruel to you. It was good of her to feel upset about them being gone, because it meant that she wasn’t heartless and that she still had the capacity to care what happens to others around her. It was a bit conflicting to miss the horrible fillies and colts that used to bully her, but now they would never be able to do anything anymore. Babs knew she was still a filly and already being an emotional wreck before she even became a teenager was proving to be a very bad sign, she should find happiness where she could get it. Nothing lasted forever and she had to make the best of everything. “I’m surprised by how quiet the people are here, you’d at least expect some level of looting or somebody taking advantage of what happened.” Even the military ponies that called Ember in to deal with the threat weren’t trying to take any advantage of the situation or the people, they weren’t even having any problems keeping order on the station and they were beset with nightmares as well. Their nightmares weren’t nearly as bad as they hadn’t been trapped under the influence of the infestation as long. The military ponies had paid her very well for doing her job and she was sticking around because her hoard was. It occurred to Ember that she was the only dragon on the station as she stepped off the Caravel Boutique. Quite frankly she would probably be the first and likely only dragon to ever be on the station too. Most of her race was quite known for being lazy, greedy or jerks, sometimes all three and very few dragons ever rose up to do something interesting aside from digging out holes to fill with food and call them hoards. Her father Torch was one such dragon as was her mother, her family had a history of being slightly unusual and that’s why her father was the current dragon lord. She was glad she didn’t consider something simple like food was as being anything close to worthy of her hoard. Sure her personal hoard was going to be a whole list of complications, but she believed it to be a worthwhile endeavor. “I really doubt my presence alone is stopping anyone from committing crimes.” “It’s probably the horrible nightmares. They are definitely stopping everyone from just thinking all about themselves, the prolonged exposure to whatever that monster was is as horrible as you might expect.” Hearing Babs talk was disheartening, especially since her voice sounded all too hollow when it should be filled with cheer. “Whatever that monster did to us causes those nightmares, it would certainly put things into perspective for a lot of people and we’re still living a nightmare all the same while awake. We’re all too traumatized to really do anything, I woke up weightless surrounded by dead floating bodies and everything has been wrong ever since!” “There there, let it all out Babs.” Ember pulled Babs from her shoulder into a hug; she started to slowly rub the filly’s back as she cried. It was a tender and somber moment as they all made their way into Antilur City, this time it wasn’t a dark and foreboding mess with hidden dangers that could form out of the air itself. Babs didn’t know who to be angry at or if she could be angry at anyone at all, she just wanted her parents back. She missed them badly and Ember was right to say that her situation could be far worse. There were her fillies, colts and foals that barely survived like she did, they were either in intensive care or will need to be adopted by random people having lost everything. At least she had somewhere to go, with people she could vaguely trust to get her there safely as they killed the monster behind this suffering. There were plenty of ponies, griffons and a zebra or two looking at destroyed vehicles and picking through the rubble of partially collapsed buildings. A Minotaur was idly looking over plans to repair or rebuild anything nearby that had been messed up when the miasma spread throughout the station sucking the power out of almost everything. They were all working, trying to keep their minds off the things that had happened here by keeping themselves busy, the tragedy was affecting the visitors as much as the people who lived at the station. There was a stream of residents and various supportive visitors moving towards the large stadium that the group was approaching, it was wider than it was tall. This was where Trapeze would put on her performance for a large crowd and it would be her first big one. The Hoof Ball Stadium on the top floor was being avoided entirely considering what had been there, many of the stations residents were treating the place as if it were lethal to be within a floor of it. The top two floors of the station were a bit abandoned thanks to this and it would take a while for people to trust that it’s safe to go anywhere near the upper layer of the station’s city. Ember had already made sure the dead remains of the large brain had been dealt with, after drinking half a bottle of vodka to make sure she vaporized it completely. White dragon fire was quite cleansing, though completely unsafe for anyone to be around for. Ember had to do it alone while naked; she really didn’t want to lose anything important to her own fire breathing when it was at devastating levels. The scorch marks she left behind were impressive, considering she burned a hole into the flooring wherever the remains used to sit. The SNUGGLES organization had a lot of people on this station and their presence was certainly felt, they were trying to help as many as they feasibly could. Hundreds of case workers were working very tiring schedules, some even doing this without pay just to prove their devotion to the SNUGGLES organization ideals in helping those who needed it. One particular member had been missing from this slowly gathering congregation and it was brought up by the one most curious about the lack of that particular member’s presence. “Okay, where is she? I know she’s here somewhere.” Looking in all directions in a paranoid manner was Gilda; the griffon was positively shivering in either fear or expectation. “There is no way Tree Hugger wouldn’t be here, this disaster zone has her number and she certainly wouldn’t miss a call to help.” “Hey, I got some popcorn!” It wasn’t often that Greta spooked Gilda, but this was one of the occasions where she did and she didn’t feel like addressing Gilda’s sudden display of outright panic. Instead Greta calmly rolled her eyes and gently pushed the popcorn into Gilda’s talons “You know you’re going to have to get along with her eventually, because I don’t think she’s ever going to stop bothering you. Speaking of Tree, where is she, we’d have definitely seen her by now if she was on the station. Maybe she’s just too busy helping other people?” “One can only hope, just as long as she isn’t bothering me.” Muttered a sour Gilda, she didn’t envy the idea of actually seeing Tree Hugger. Of course with so many people needing help, maybe Tree wouldn’t be able to make an appearance to start a conversation out of the blue or appear from out of nowhere like she tended to do. Heck, Gilda wasn’t sure how Tree ended up in some of the places she appeared in, the mare was a wandering enigma factory that looked like it was constantly on drugs. Teleportation might have been involved, but Gilda had never seen Tree in the company of any particularly strong unicorns and alicorn princesses were a rare breed of Pony. “Speaking of missing people, where do you think Chrysalis could have possible gotten off to?” It was beginning to worry Rarity that she hadn’t seen hide or hair of the Changeling Queen, it would be kind of hard to find her if she was running around disguised as a pony. Who knows what she could be doing that could devastate the entire station and bring more misery upon those who were already miserable, not that she would do it on purpose as far as Rarity could tell. It would mostly be an accident at this point. - “Well there goes another computer.” Chrysalis had asked Opal about computers and whether or not the owner of the store was alive, all the beings around here were too depressed to really worry about the stock and she was trying to learn how to use more complicated forms of technology. She didn’t understand what she had done to make three computers melt, but she was sure it was a good thing. Aside from her current issues, she had Opal send a message back home to Equus to let her people know she was doing fine and hadn’t caught any lethal space born infections yet. Well as lethal as it could get for Chrysalis anyway. “Are these things honestly not designed to melt like this? Because it seems like they were made to melt like that.” “I’m surprised you haven’t burned out the data pad I found for you; then again I’m glad I rewrote the programming in it to handle your rather… special… needs. Considering you’re a computers worst nightmare, that poor data pad needs all the help it can get.” Opal had no problems helping the crew with questionable activities as long as it never got back to Rarity; she was just helping Chrysalis learn how to use a computer properly. At least nobody would miss the computers, that and Opal now knew what Chrysalis’s hobby was. Opal was the only one that knew what Chrysalis was now keeping a secret from all the others in the crew, what they were doing right now wasn’t related to that hobby and said hobby was surprisingly harmless. “I still don’t understand why you’re so secretive about your hobby or why you ran off by yourself to mess with computers.” “Old habits are really hard to kill and I might have been doing some soul searching, but I’m pretty darn proud to say that we Changelings love our traditions. Plus it’s embarrassing that I’m kind of bad with technology, you know, given the kind of age we all live in is full of the stuff that can detect Changeling biology no matter what form we take if you’re looking for it.” Chrysalis was okay with Opal knowing the hobby she chose, technically if anyone wanted to know more about her they would pry deeply into her business as needed. Obviously no one cared to know what she was getting up to badly enough to spy on her except for Opal, she was disappointed to say the least that she wasn’t being spied on. To Chrysalis, Opal was a more interactive version of a hive mind connection that Changelings used. “What I’m doing is technically not illegal and to remind you, I’m a very good politician. Even if I’m caught, they can’t call me out on any wrong doing. I’m still well within the law right now.” “So long as you remember to not take anything off of the premises and I will call you out on that, I still can’t believe that you can get away with this using such an odd loophole.” As long as they weren’t getting into any trouble for it, Opal was alright with Chrysalis getting away with what should have been illegal. She looked up the various laws Chrysalis named and, surprisingly enough, the Changeling Queen was pretty spot on with them and had yet to technically do anything outright worthy of being illegal. It was scary how many laws Chrysalis had memorized and the kind of holes she could poke into them, frankly Opal wouldn’t be surprised to hear Chrysalis had a photographic memory. “I probably could have been a lawyer, but a politician is basically the same thing right?” It wasn’t exactly the same thing, but nobody would be able to stop Chrysalis from thinking as such. She was just having some light fun and she wasn’t hurting anyone, but she was doing some suspect things which required Opal to keep track of her. Just in case Chrysalis eventually did step out of line. If there was one thing Opal would do, it would be to keep an eye on the Changeling Queen like she did with Gilda. Otherwise she decided to drop the current topic of discussion entirely. The so called AI didn’t worry too much about the minor vaguely illegal activities the crew might get up to, but anything too bad would definitely be flagged. She’d immediately tell Rarity or the next most reasonable person she could feasibly contact. She would stop the crew if they started to go pirate… no matter how much fun it would be to be the most fashionably dressed pirates to ever exist. It was easy to say Chrysalis was the strangest and weirdest members of the Shining Jewel’s crew, because she had a very different outlook on things that most would find disturbing. That and she had a tendency to put priorities on her species first and foremost as expected of a Changeling in her particularly royal position. Well at least Chrysalis was weird compared to many other Changelings, at least normal Changelings didn’t have as many varying odd kinks that their queen seemed to have. One would even say that Chrysalis being on the crew endangered the ship, because Chrysalis certainly had enemies and they wouldn’t mind killing a few ponies to hopefully get at her. That made the Shining Jewel a bit of a target for Equus related factions that hated Crystal’s guts. “Trapeze’s show is about to go on, are you going to watch it?” Receiving a lazy shrug to her question, Opal decided to tune in to the show about to start and she saw Gilda’s strange hippie stalker taking the stage. Tree Hugger was always off to Opal and she couldn’t ever quite place her digital claws on why. - “We’re all gathered here today to remember those lost in the great tragedy that befell this space station, we must never forget what happened or those who are now gone.” Tree Hugger was wearing a white gown and a wreath of flowers on her head, she didn’t look particularly upset and she wasn’t particularly happy. At most she seemed solemn from what Gilda could see. “All of you must press forward and try to rebuild your lives; I know many of your friends, family and neighbors are gone, but look at those who are still here beside you. I can’t promise you the road ahead will be easy, but eventually things will get better for all of you who live in this wondrous place built among the stars. If you help each other a little with this pain you are all feeling right now, then it is to everyone’s benefit. I am here to help with that, I will be the first to perform by singing a calming song to help at least ease some of the burden. We can’t dwell on those who are gone forever with what ifs, nor should we ever forget those that have perished. You must carry those you loved in your hearts always and never forget them. For those of you who came to help, let us mourn with these people as one. I will now sing, I ask that everyone be silent as a show of respect for those who have lost so much.” Clearing her throat Tree Hugger, let out a long keening noise from her throat and then it slowly became a very somber, if quite beautiful, wordless aria. She let her voice flow and her feelings on the matter came out, it got to a point that even Chrysalis could feel it even when she wasn’t anywhere near where this was taking place, which got her curious enough to actually come see the show. Tree gave quite a performance that nobody would be able to forget. Tree certainly had a talent for singing, if that was what she was doing; it sounded more like an angel giving voice to lost souls. After she ended her song fading on a slowly dropping note, everyone was quiet as Tree bowed to them before smiling wanly. “Thank you all for your time; it is a precious commodity that we all tend to overlook or take for granted.” Tree walked off leaving many a being mystified. “I believe it is time for the real show to go on. I would like to thank The Performer for allowing me to have some of this time, please let her help lift your spirits.” “She’s really good at singing.” The only sound Greta was going to get from Gilda was a grunt of affirmation to that fact as she stuffed some popcorn into her beak. “That was rather beautiful; there are no words to describe it…” There were tears in Rarity’s eyes and she had to dab them away with a handkerchief levitating in her magic, she then promptly checked her makeup. It was a bit runny, but after that performance nobody would care to take notice. “Right, thank you Lady Tree Hugger for such an incredible performance, it seems SNUGGLES has many talents folks. I am Trapeze Star and first up on the Trapeze Troupe’s schedule, it is Rover and his roving balls!” There certainly had to be a better way to word that, because it left Trapeze sounding like she was Chrysalis. Probably where Trapeze got the idea for the name of the act in the first place and if asked Chrysalis would probably just smile about it. “Come on out my friend!” Trapeze’s costume and top hat looked to be in proper order and they matched, her suit was as eye catching as it was supposed to be. The mare in question rubbed at her eyes as she walked onto the stage she had set up; it made Rarity happy to see that Trapeze looked good. Onto the stage walked Red Rover as Trapeze left; the vest wearing diamond dog sat down the basket filled with colorful balls and smiled as he addressed the audience. “This is Rover’s first time performing, so please excuse me if I am having anxiety problems. I will start off with one.” Rover took a bright shiny purple ball from the basket, he threw it up in the air and it came down bouncing off his nose before it fell to the floor. He rubbed his head thoughtfully as if trying to figure something out. “What was Rover supposed to do when the ball was in the air again? Oh right Rover was supposed to catch it!” The audience actually gave a chuckle at that. Instead of picking the ball up, Rover got another ball from the basket. This one was yellow. He tossed it up in the air and it swiftly fell to the floor behind him. He kept looking up in the air for the ball with his paws held out as if waiting to catch it. “Rover must not know his own strength, he don’t see ball anywhere!” The crowd started laughing some more and the friendly grin widened on Rover’s face. “Rover will get another ball and try to catch that one later when it comes back from orbiting station!” The laughter grew from there and it quieted down when Rover went for his third ball, one that was a classic red color. He eyed the ball suspiciously and scrutinized its surface a bit, so far it sounded like he was going for a comedy act. Only thing was, Rover would actually surprise them all soon enough. “Ms. Star, Rover can’t juggle this one! It makes me uncomfortable.” Rover said plainly, much to the crowd’s confusion. “Well why not? It seems perfectly fine to me.” Trapeze asked she walked back on to the stage to see what the problem was. “It is being too needy for Rover’s taste.” Rover spun the red ball around showing Trapeze the words on the ball that read ‘please love me’ repeatedly scrawled on it and there was a camera putting the words on the big screen. “Sounds fair, try a different one.” With that Trapeze left the stage once more as Rover dropped the ball off to the side and the crowd giggled as he went for another ball, wondering what would be the problem this time. “Rover not having much luck today is he, but who knows? Luck might get better eventually.” He plucked up an orange ball and looked at it, he then started to wave it about in the air as if contemplating letting it go. “Wait, this is not one of Rover’s balls!” To prove his point, Rover peeled the orange and started eating it in front of everyone and after he finished it off he looked to Trapeze for help with the peel. Trapeze came back onto the stage looking a little put out. “If this was an orange, then where did Rover’s orange ball go?” Rover scratched at the side of his head as Trapeze took the scraps of the peel from him and ceremoniously tossed them into her hat. After turning the hat back over, much to the audience’s surprise, the peel scraps didn’t fall back out. She turned away and made for the stairs leading onto the stage. “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure it’ll come up sometime later. Also snacking during a performance, really Rover?” Trapeze just shook her head in disappointment and trotted off. Just when she was about to place the hat back on her head an orange ball fell out and smacked her head, this seemingly startled her badly. In her startled state Trapeze took a tumble down the stairs, that didn’t seem very controlled to anyone but Rarity’s scrutinizing gaze. Rarity surprisingly saw Trapeze expertly juggling the ball as she was tumbling down the stairs leading up to the stage. When she reached the bottom Trapeze flipped onto her back as if by accident. She opened her mouth to say something about her current circumstance, but the orange ball fell into it cutting her off from saying anything. “Oh you found Rover’s lost ball, thank you!” Quickly moving off the stage, Rover took the ball from Trapeze’s sputtering mouth and went back to his position on stage. He dropped the ball on the floor next to the other forgotten juggling balls. He turned towards the last ball in the basket, his fifth ball and he looked upon it reverently. It was a blue ball and he picked it up. “Rover is saving the best of his balls for last!” Squeezing the blue ball it gave off a loud squeak noise that made Rover smile fondly, then he bounced the ball against the floor several times and after a moment he really wowed the audience. The ball hit the purple ball and it bounce with the blue ball into the air, Rover deftly caught them and started to juggle the two simply. Next Rover tossed both balls in his paws down and then started juggling the four balls that came back up, the red ball laid all alone on the floor. Rover hit it with the blue ball, but didn’t catch it to put it in the juggling pattern when it came up; instead he started using the other balls to juggle the red ball into the air above him without ever touching it. It was both an incredible and intricate looking juggling pattern. “Rover is still wary of that ball’s intentions.” The audience was both awed and amused at the statement that Rover made as he expertly juggled all four balls, all of which were working together to juggle the red one in the air themselves. “Rover is almost about done with act, now you see great finisher!” After knocking the red ball skywards and throwing all four balls he was juggling high into the air, Rover leaned to the right holding his arms out straight. His left arm held high and his right low. The balls landed in his left palm and rolled down his arm across his back and off the back of his right paw into the basket in the exact order he picked them out. When they came to a rest the balls noticeably had big black letters on each of them that the audience hadn’t seen previously, they spelled R O V E R. The audience applauded and Rover bowed with a happy grin, he was helping all these upset people feel slightly better. If they thought he was good, then they haven’t seen anything yet. He was just the warm up act after all and Trapeze was far more amazing than he was. He was glad to have met the Boss Lady when he did; he definitely had a new lease on life. Author's Note Now the rest of the act with Bernard and Trapeze or skip it? I'm thinking do the rest of the act, then off to an asteroid field, where there is fun to be had. Rarity is beginning to see more with her special eyes for detail.
-69-“So… you’re Sassy Saddles. I swear your name almost sounds Changeling in nature.” Chrysalis wanted to talk to the pony since she saw her floating in medical fluids and the jar with the chunk of metal in it was also neat. “Yes, well, I’ve heard about you. So you are the queen of the Changelings and a complete nuisance to ponies with long hair.” Sassy was currently busy working with Vera on getting her ability to walk back in order, when the Changeling Queen came to bug them in the middle of it. “I suppose Rarity likes you enough that she let you be a part of the crew, though why a queen wants to be a part of this crew I’ll never know.” “Hey, a girl's got to eat you know! Look at it this way, at least I’m not stealing love anymore and hair is a cheap and readily easy resource to acquire. Pony hair also grows back at stupidly fast rates, especially the ponies that have hair hanging down to the tips of their hooves. Plus I’m entirely environmentally friendly, mostly.” The real reason Chrysalis came here to the exercise room was to obviously exercise, but if she could do so while getting to know Sassy. Well that was a bonus, the mare could use some help in getting her hooves under her. “Maybe I could even help you get some exercise; I’m quite the submissive if you want me to be.” “Yes, that’s also another thing I’ve heard that you have a penchant for.” Shaking her head Sassy turned back to Vera who was helping her stand up. “Now where were we Vera?” “I think it’s your back left hoof that’s giving you some trouble, it’s a good thing I’m a physical therapist or else this recovery might've taken longer.” Vera had gotten used to being followed around by one of the drones under Opal’s control and for the most part she ignored its hovering visage constantly pointing at her. One would think Vera would have nightmares about having something like that pointing at her at all hours she was awake, but they’d be wrong. It made her feel kind of important and noticeable, that was all she was asking for and she was receiving it all the time now. “Right, I’m just going to do my own thing over here then.” Walking away Chrysalis looked a bit lonely; she didn’t have a Changeling to boss around. She should have probably brought one of her retainers with her, but they were more sorely needed by Thorax. She stopped when she remembered something. “Hey, that’s right. We have a dragon on board, maybe I can get her to beat me up in a spar! Hey pony hive mind, can you get Ember to come up to the exercise room.” “I’m not a hive mind Chrysalis, but fine I’ll see what I can do. Ember is a paying guest on board our ship and I can’t exactly order her around without her actually being a part of Rarity’s crew.” Opal did have some pull around here, but she was busy with interior decorations that Rarity wanted done to fix up the drabness of the ship and Opal agreed to get on that with what drones she could. “Please don’t get me started with Trapeze’s deal in relation to that, as she actually is a part of the crew.” Opal was also making sure that they were on track and that they’d be at the asteroid field on schedule and hopefully nothing would go wrong. Of course it was an asteroid field they were going to and things tended to go horribly wrong inside of them when it came to big ships, with Rarity’s track record for danger she’d be more surprised if nothing happened. “It wouldn’t hurt to ask would it? I mean I would like to be hurt by asking personally, but you can’t be hurt can you? Such a sad existence, to never know the pleasure of pain or of pleasure as it naturally occurs with strawberry syrup and whipped cream.” After a few moments to think on it Chrysalis realized something was horribly wrong, something she had forgotten. “Oh this is the worst thing ever, who’s going to play Twisty with me later? Lightning is out of it until her ribs get better!” “Maybe you could get a game in with Babs and watch over her for a while. She really needs a lot of emotional support right now and is currently spending time with Coco at the moment.” At least Opal would suggest someone childlike for the Changeling to spend time with; she heard that Chrysalis was good with children and was one of the reasons Changelings couldn’t entirely despise her. “You’d actually trust me around the filly?” The sardonic response came from Chrysalis almost immediately, she was already getting started with a few stretches and preparing for a light workout. “You do realize that I will corrupt her within an hour.” “I’d completely trust that you wouldn’t do anything to harm or kill her, much less endanger her life.” It was interesting to Opal that Chrysalis had a soft spot for children. It made Chrysalis come off as more bizarre to Opal than ever before considering that she wasn’t likely to ever want to carry any children herself. “I heard you were good with nymphs and foals.” “So I may indulge in foal sitting every once and a while, plus Changelings are communal caretakers even if we do have family units.” Changelings would always take care of one of their own in need; Chrysalis was no different in that respect. “I don’t understand why ponies can’t do the same; most nobles are assholes to orphanages. Let me tell you, hurting a child intentionally is one of the easiest ways to get on any Changelings bad side. If pony children don’t grow up to procreate we’d all be down a food source. Sure we might have kidnapped pony children in the past, but we would never do anything permanent to them and usually we stole the most abused fillies and colts we could find. You know, give them a good home and maybe somehow feed them. That part always happened to be the hard thing to do in the badlands.” If Opal were right then Chrysalis would more than likely prefer to impregnate a lover and Changelings definitely had the ability to do so with any gender, it was just unlikely to happen given Chrysalis’s dating history. Meaning Chrysalis didn’t have much of one to speak of, even with all the passes she made at Celestia and Luna, the closest she ever got was marrying Cadence. Changelings were absolutely compatible with ponies and Chrysalis had been sniffing around Celestia and Luna for a long time. At least Chrysalis had the wherewithal to not take someone against their will and was saving herself purely for love, it was rather surprising that she’d wait so long for something that was quite unlikely to happen. - Ember stood back and smiled at herself, a job well done for setting up her own room on Shining Jewel, it only took a few hours. She looked to her old battered and clunky looking armor, her various weapons some of which were stolen off of mercenaries who got too big for their underwear and her collection of Rarity made clothing. Yeah she didn’t own much, but she was happy to have a room on the ship for her to go to. She sat down on the pull out bed and pulled out a bottle of fruit juice, she wasn’t about to drink wine or anything alcoholic as that was just asking for trouble the next time she sneezed. A simple bit of dragon fruit juice was nice, sure it may be bland to some tongues but not hers and it was quite a healthy fruit to imbibe. She would have to refrigerate the bottle afterwards, she was sure that nobody would mind and she’d label the bottle clearly as being hers. Why Mr. Spew was even getting into the spirit of things sitting in a cup of juice himself, he seemed to like the flavor of pitaya as much as Ember did. “Hey Ember, Chrysalis is wondering if you’d be up to a hoof to claw spar.” Opal was delivering Chrysalis’s message, but she decided to add something to it. “Though what I believe is the truth behind this is that she just wants you to beat the ever loving crap out of her.” “Sounds like fun, tell her I’m willing to get into a scrap if she’ll take it a little seriously.” For a moment Ember thought she wouldn’t have anyone to train with, a lot of her skill comes from actual fighting instead of any formal training. She would like to see how much formal training Chrysalis has and could stand to learn a thing or two from the Changeling Queen. - “Well father, I can say that I enjoy being here, but miss wearing the costume and fighting crime at night. I sometimes wake up and just want to throw the costume on.” Saffron had a hero’s heart and saving Antilur Station was making her feel she made a good decision to take Rarity up on her offer. She was still helping people and she could get all the adventures she wanted traveling with the fashion designer's people. “Everything will be alright my dear daughter; your mother was the same way with never being able to settle down when we were dating. As long as you take adventure where you can get it, I’m sure a few sightings of Mare Do Well in space wouldn’t be that bad of a thing.” Coriander moved over to his daughter and brought her into a tight hug. “As long as you have a good heart you’ll always be my little hero, no matter what you do. Your mother would be very proud of you, though she would also be worried about you going into dangerous situations like what I heard about.” “Little… dad I’m taller than you are!” Saffron rolled her eyes and chuckled, as she hugged him back. “You will always by my spicy little curry, no matter how wonderful a mare you’ve grown into being.” Despite how much he worried about his daughter, Coriander knew that as long as he had a good place to cook and mouths to feed he’d be happy. Provided he could look out for his daughter while doing good business. - “That was a wonderful show you put on Trapeze. So do you need any supplies or for me to pick up anything? Will you be getting off at our next stop?” As the captain of the ship Rarity had to see to her crew about getting some time to relax after that last fiasco and getting the charity started up for the people of Antilur Station. The Pie Planetoid Plantations mining operations were a part of Streusel Station; while the Pie family was small they had a lot of pull in the asteroid field and owned the mining and asteroid growing company. It was also home to a famously known baking family known as the Cakes which had a long history on Equus for having the best desserts ever made. “I ask, because Gilda is interested in being on the away list considering she’s been to Streusel Station. So I’m doing my rounds before I get some sleep to see if you want off the ship for a while. Sassy and Babs are already on the list, the slots are going fast.” “Rover would like to go to Streusel Station… this station doesn’t have big bad brain thing right?” Rover had a fearful grin on his face and Rarity just jotted him down. “Then I guess me and Bernard will go too, maybe we could even do a small show.” Trapeze had her hair down and out of the three buns; she and her Troupe had been going over any ways to improve their show safely. They didn’t want to endanger anyone with any of their stunts; otherwise they were all relaxing together. Bernard was playing solitaire on the floor nearby, he looked up from his cards and nodded to them and went back to what he was doing. He didn’t offer up much other than waving his top hat in Rarity’s direction, obviously liking the new chapeau made by Coco. “Well alright then, everyone from the Trapeze Troupe, Gilda, me, Sassy and Babs… only enough room for one more then. Coriander, Saffron, Coco, Greta, Vera and obviously Lightning are going to stay behind, that leaves… asking Chrysalis.” It was up to Rarity to seek Chrysalis out. Ember could come and go at any time, but she’d have to use her own ship for it. Thinking on it, Ember didn’t seem to have any problems with being a guest nor had she asked if she got services from renting a room as a guest aside from the obvious that bathroom and water were free for everyone to use. Quite the opposite, Ember asked if there was anything she could do for Rarity and Rarity didn’t have any chore that Opal couldn’t already handle on her own. “Right then, Opal where is Chrysalis at the moment?” “Currently holding her own against Ember, I’m actually amazed at how tough Chrysalis’s face is. They are in the designated exercise room, deck one.” Watching it in action was far better than telling someone about it and Opal figured Rarity wanted to see it for herself. Chrysalis wasn’t telling lies about knowing multiple fighting styles that her resume reported or being a living meat shield. “They should probably be using the training room on deck two though.” Rarity wondered what her two… well Ember was a friend and Chrysalis was still an acquaintance as far as Rarity was concerned. Then again the Changeling Queen did fight for a good cause, even if she had completely selfish racial focused reasons for doing so, her heart had to be somewhat in the right place at least. - Upon walking through the door to the exercise room, Rarity became a witness to one of the most unusual sights ever. Chrysalis slammed Ember into the floor, only for Ember to roll backwards between Chrysalis’s hind legs and grabbed the Changeling around the waist. Ember rammed the side of Chrysalis’s head into the floor by lifting upwards and falling onto her back, the Changeling’s horn made her take the impact to the side of her skull. “Okay you’re really good, that was quite bone jarring… I like it! At least you have some skill to go along with your brawling.” Only Chrysalis would enjoy head injuries or having her face beaten blue and yellow or the various welts lining her carapace. Ember didn’t look the slightest bit injured, but she was certainly winded judging by the shortness of breath. “So what do you girls think, should she keep going? Oh hello there captain, I was just entertaining our guest and she probably should tell you about the fact that…” Before Rarity could say anything Ember caught Chrysalis with a harsh right hook that looked like she put her full weight into. The blow sent Chrysalis spinning until she was on her side; Sassy and Vera looked positively shocked. Chrysalis slowly got up rubbing at her jaw. “Wow, nice right hook you have there.” Leaning in closely Chrysalis hissed. “Was it because I was going to blow the whistle on your hoard? I don’t mind being coveted, but I’d prefer if it included a date, bondage, a freshly cut ponytail and sex… not specifically in that order mind you.” “How about I pop you across the face the other way?” Whispered Ember quietly, if she was going to eventually tell it to Rarity… and the crew… it would be on her own terms. “Please do, I’ll keep quiet for a while just for the sensation of you setting my jaw back in place.” Chrysalis barely dodged the jab for her nose, but she didn’t dodge the left hook that sent her sprawling on her back. “Did anybody get the number of that donkey cart? You’re good really with hooks from either way, knocked my jaw entirely back into place and everything!” “Dragging heavy bounties or weapons around will put some muscle on you.” Ember preened slightly and smiled, before she added to her statement. “Also I’m a dragon, getting close to one of my kind while sleeping is considered the height of stupidity. At least without a fire extinguisher and something that can actually puncture something as tough as my scales are.” “Hey, you can’t say that I didn’t put up a good fight.” The dragon blushed at Chrysalis’s words; she had been tossing Ember all over the room whenever she got a good grip on her. Ember was definitely stronger than Chrysalis, meaning it was rather embarrassing for Ember to get tossed around as badly as she did by Chrysalis. “You can say that again.” Sassy muttered having watched it in action and she was kind of curious about how Chrysalis redirected Ember’s momentum multiple times, obviously years of practice in close up combat. She could see Ember was not without skill of her own, clearly the dragon had brute force and knowing when to use it completely down. “Ember never over extended herself too much after a point, but I think it was her mostly testing your changing combat style at the drop of a hat.” “Yes, Changelings are very good at changing… who would have guessed?” Chrysalis grinned when she got Sassy to laugh. “You sound knowledgeable; do you know a thing or two?” “I know some kenpo just in case I lose my blade, which hasn’t happened yet.” Slowly taking a few steps forwards, Sassy had Vera with her every staggering step of the way. “I’m really good with a rapier, but I use a chokuto for purposes of not incidentally killing anyone.” “How can you kill someone incidentally?” In answer to Chrysalis’s question Sassy just sloppily thrust her hoof at the Changeling Queen. Chrysalis was standing approximately five feet away and then she was twenty five feet away and sliding down the nearest wall. “Okay, this is a definitive ouch!” “I’m technically gifted with a spear or anything that can be thrust forward, including my bare hooves.” Not even in her top form was Sassy proving to be viable in defending herself; she had trained so she could at least punch through solid wood even while drugged. “I’m really quite dangerous with a rapier. The last time I used one, I caused a hole the size of the rapier’s guard with each thrust. My special talent really translates well into combat as much as making clothes.” “Compensating for something?” Chrysalis wearily stated from a position on the floor. “As a matter of fact, yes, I was a medical bed victim.” Sassy saw a clear wince cross Chrysalis’s face. Whether it was from the pain of her sloppily thrown hoof thrust or that she was a victim of something so heinous, Sassy couldn’t tell exactly. “I take it I should never appear in front of you as a male then.” There were horrible things done to people in medical beds and Chrysalis gave it some thought. Chrysalis figured since Sassy didn’t look like she had parts of herself forcibly removed and replaced with machinery or cybernetics, then it was obviously the other way to victimize someone with a medical bed when it wasn’t horrific surgery and experimentation. There was a thing about making passes at a sexual victim being a bad idea for a Changeling to do, especially if the Changeling were to ever unintentionally take the form of the abuser and or make light of the abuse that happened. She really wanted to sympathize with Sassy, sex should be an act of pleasure with someone you cared about and it should be consensual. With Changelings consent needs to be given at least through a hive link and Chrysalis was wary of opening hers up after missing the glaring problem in having an open hive mind. “Yes, if you must approach me in some fashion affectionately, then do so while you are yourself. You are a far sight more pleasant to be around than any male I will ever see.” As unintentionally attracting as the statement was, Sassy probably should not have said that around Chrysalis. This was the first open invitation Chrysalis had in a while to seek a real relationship with someone and Sassy quite a few attractive qualities that Chrysalis liked. One Sassy’s fur color was blue. Two Sassy’s mane was long enough to fit Chrysalis’s taste and it looked to be a nice flavorful color hanging down to her chest. Three Sassy had a really nice accent going for her. Four and the real selling point to Chrysalis, Sassy had a really nice looking butt with a long glorious looking tail sticking out of it. For someone who had been on the mend for at least a month, it looked quite firm with a bit of squish to it and Chrysalis wanted to touch it. Shaking her head Chrysalis was going to try and pursue this as slowly as possible and not just blurt out the first thing that came to mind, that would be entirely dumb and Chrysalis was anything but dumb as the Queen Changeling. “So do you want to get some snacks together?” Okay asking for a get snacks wasn’t so bad; maybe Chrysalis for once wouldn’t go all out in trying to get attention. “Or you could make me the snack because I’m delicious!” Chrysalis slapped her hooves over her mouth, for once in her long life, mortified at where it went and she didn’t want to scare Sassy away until at least halfway through their first date. Surprisingly Sassy didn’t look the least bit angry, but she did seem curious and her orange glowing eyes scrutinized Chrysalis a moment before she chuckled. Rarity and Vera were both staring at Chrysalis wondering why she looked flustered, when usually she was the one flustering others. Already having a look of understanding on her face, Ember took one solitary glance towards Sassy to see what her response to that would be. “I wouldn’t mind getting some snacks, but you’d have to help me get there.” It was up to Sassy on how to take that comment Chrysalis belted out, she had taken it that Chrysalis obviously meant it to be more friendly than sexual. “I’m not sure I could really walk too far and I’d prefer the wheelchair to the crutches, so if you could help get me around when we reach… Streusel Station was it? I’d of course be happy to call you my friend; you’re already friends with Rarity-sama.” “Sure… say, what’s the first thing you focus on when you look at a mare?” In one word for Chrysalis, it would be their butts, followed by mane and tail since it became more important to her, then eyes and the general fitness for a mate. “Their personality of course, what is the mare like and how well does she get along with others? Outward appearances aren’t everything, though it doesn’t hurt to take pride in one’s own image and I no longer care as much about mine given what it led to.” Those were some interesting magic words from Sassy, it let Chrysalis knew she had a chance to go down this avenue and she would definitely do that. “What may look like the poorest pony, might actually be the wealthiest pony where it counts.” “Ten bits says Chrysalis falls for her.” Surprisingly it came from Rarity, who thought that the moment between the two was rather cute… in its own unique way. If Chrysalis thought she could make it work between them, then Rarity wasn’t about to stop her from trying. She wasn’t going to get in the way of Sassy’s preferences and Chrysalis seemed alright… enough. She wouldn’t mind if they started dating, if Chrysalis could make Sassy happy. “That would be a suckers bet Rarity, Chrysalis has a history of falling for various ponies of strength and fortitude only to never get anything out of a relationship other than friendship.” It would surprise Vera if Chrysalis managed to succeed in getting Sassy’s attention in a special romantic way, Sassy was afraid of romance after almost hurting Rarity and Coco. As such Sassy probably wouldn’t consider it and might accidentally lead Chrysalis on, Vera didn’t voice this however. “Which apparently changelings can feasibly survive on as it is a weak form of love, but Sassy still has that problem where she can’t exactly handle romance correctly.” “Really, she seems stable and normal enough to me.” If Ember could see a problem coming, then it would definitely be on Chrysalis’s end as the Changeling Queen was a bit crazy. “If anything I’d think it was Chrysalis who would have the problem starting anything with anyone.” “Oh listen to us, we’re already gossiping like a bunch of old nags. Just so long as it doesn’t cause trouble on my ships, then things will be alright.” At least Rarity was open to the idea of her friends being able to find romance, while she personally couldn’t find a good stallion if it killed her. Ember wondered if keeping her hoard in order would be a bigger problem than she originally thought. - “My Pinkie senses are a tingling… I’m in a story! No wait, that one was a false positive… new people are about to come to the station along with someone who enjoyed my baked goods previously… yippee!” A pink happy pony danced on her hooves excitedly. “Are you sure they’re friendly?” An angry mare stated as she walked up to the pink peppy pony carrying heavy weapons on her back. “The writer of this story… well I’m not sure really.” The pink pony rubbed at her chin thoughtfully. “Not that, the visitors you said we’d be getting!” The angry mare was in the pink ponies face. “Oh…. well why didn’t you say so, I’m sure I’ll be best friends with the people of this new ship in no time!” The pink pony seemed rather manic in her glee. “Please don’t tell me our sister is about to go overboard again, the station has recovered from the last time she threw a party at us.” The quiet mare came up to the angry and happy mares with a frown and was busy trying not to look anyone in the eyes. She didn’t want to accidentally upset anyone. “Who knew you could throw the physical representation of a whole party at people hard enough to cause injuries?” “I sure didn’t and I was completely sorry about that.” The pink pony seemed to dial back the hyper active caffeine high that she seemed to be on. “Besides my senses tell me these are good people coming to visit. You all know what that means!” “That they possibly have rocks for Boulder to commune with.” The calm mare of the group seemed to be emotionally flat when she finally spoke up, with very little going for her as far as expressions were concerned. “That I get to use my plasma grenade launcher and can get started on immediately blowing everyone up!” The angry mare shouted in a still rather angry tone. “That they won’t try to talk to me and will allow me to just sculpt something in quiet solitude?” The quiet mare seemed hopeful that this was the answer. “No, you bunch of sillies. We’re going to throw them a welcoming party!” The pink mare bounced up and down while the other three just watched her, one with angry eyes, one with calm eyes and one with quiet eyes. “What if they don’t want one of your parties?” The quiet one asked. “Are you kidding me, who doesn’t enjoy a good party thrown by yours truly?” The pink mares smile could have cut her head in half. “Boulder says you’re about to go overboard again.” The calm mare pointed out in a lazy sounding tone. Author's Note Will fix it later, Pinkie Pie should be a German Shepard.
-70-A smiling Coco finished making the last modification to another battery utility equipped impulse saddle. It may seem like boring work to others, but she thought it was exciting to work on improving an old design and her old design was still the staple of the EVA suit business. Now that she had finished building up their stock of impulse saddles, she found herself without something to do. While Coco could have told Rarity she changed her mind, she didn’t and instead decided to stick with staying on the ship when they finally reached Streusel Station. She was going to try and spend some time with Greta and Saffron, she was a bit meek when it came to spending time with others and her hobby was actually doing more work. She felt like she had to earn the paycheck she was receiving and she hoped the others had just as good work effort, Rarity was putting a lot of money into Shining Jewel and the strange crew it currently had. Chrysalis was being a popular example bandied around when it comes to conversation topics on what was weird, but weird wasn’t exactly a bad thing. “Opal, can you tell Saffron and Greta that I want to spend some time with them as soon as we reach the station?” Stretching her spine out, there was a quite an audible pop from her back. “Also I forgot her name, but can I get the masseuse to come too? I’m trying really hard to keep her in mind, she’s my friend and I don’t want to forget she exists.” “Her name is Vera and yes I can arrange that, also you’re not the only one trying hard to keep her in mind. If it weren’t for the signs Rarity wrote telling you that she existed, I’m pretty sure we’d all forget she was there. The exception would be my wonderful and beautiful mother of course.” Things were calm throughout the ship and Rarity was currently discussing the trip to Streusel Station in the middle of the asteroid field owned by Pie Planetoid Plantations. “Any reason in particular why you didn’t want to get off the ship? I would like to state that I’m kind of surprised that you aren’t going to continue overworking… you finished them all didn’t you… how do you find the time to stock that many?” “I make the time and I work tirelessly. My reasoning is that I don’t feel like having another random Rarity adventure quite so soon.” Coco turned towards the nearest image of the lithe white cat with pink hair. “Plus I was, as you have just noticed, out of things to do. I feel kind of awful about it… can I get a pay cut. I think I’m being paid too much for doing so little.” “I think you really need a special some pony or at least someone more qualified than me to tell you to find something to do that isn’t work or trying to be helpful. You need to relax. Also you’re definitely being paid the correct amount and should be given a pay raise for that kind of work effort alone… you’re almost as bad as Rarity in that respect.” Opal wondered if it would kill Coco to do her job even a little bit slower. Nobody would know the answer as Opal saw that Coco had finished making hundreds of premade impulse saddle and the various utilities for them that could be added into each saddle at a moment’s notice. It was quite befuddling and Opal didn’t know what to say on the subject. “How about you start making clothing for other people to peruse? You know, stock clothing articles for anyone or anything. Maybe some things like a nice hat, socks or even some cute shirts with my image on them as I’m willing to work licensing deals for my appearance. We kind of have a problem when it comes to the premade market to show people what we can exactly do in Rarity’s chosen profession of pursuing the fashion industry, made to order isn’t always going to work you know. As for the best idea, make a really regal looking dress to show off our stuff.” “As long as it’s not illegal, like selling trademarked images we don’t have the rights to, then I’ll get right on that dress until it’s time to have some fun.” If she thought hours of mind numbing work was fun, which included things such as orienting parts of a device the same way in the same manner of repeated monotony, then yes Coco’s life was very fun. Stamina and Endurance was never a problem for Coco, which had helped out quite a bit on Antilur Station. Even then Coco still felt like she hadn’t done nearly enough for what was one of her best friends. “I wonder what I, Saffron, Greta and Masseuse can do together? Oh and thanks for helping me with all this Babs.” “No problem Ms. Pommel, I kind of needed this.” Fussing with her hair slightly Babs really couldn’t sit by and do nothing. Coco never asked for help and Babs had never seen such effort, she really needed something to do with her hooves anyway and decided to assist Coco to get her mind off of things. “Also I think the computer is right, at least I think it’s a computer. You really need to find something that isn’t work, can you make a hat for me…” “For such a sweet filly like you, well of course I can honey!” Affectionately nuzzling the filly, Coco decided she had a commission for window shopping and a filly needing a hat. “What kind of hat though. If you don’t know types of hats, then you can give me a general idea of how you want it to look or you can trust me to make a hat befitting your adorable looks.” - “We’re dropping jump in ten minutes everyone, this is not a drill. If it were a drill, then Gilda would probably be using it for something far more interesting. No Chrysalis, I was not going to suggest something that vibrates and can be inserted in a particular place. Anyway, people disembarking for the Streusel Station should head to Caravel Boutique twenty minutes from now and if we’re going to make some sales, then Coco better start loading the its cargo room.” This announcement was met with several people preparing to head for Caravel Boutique and Opal continued to converse with the crew. “Yes, I’m quite serious… okay how can that have possibly upset or even trigger you Chrysalis? Anyway, I will confirm the station doesn’t have any viruses, killer monstrosities on the loose or anything else related to a really bad infestation before I will even think of letting the Caravel Boutique go. We do need to at least make some headway into the asteroid field before we reach the station. Yes, yes, Shields coming up, I’m not powering weapons unless we really need them. Now let’s hope we don’t have bad luck like the last few times we visited some place!” - The Shining Jewel came out of jump outside the asteroid field. Waiting five seconds for anything bad to happen and when nothing did, Opal decided to try contacting the station inside of the asteroid field. Sure some of the asteroids were humongous, but there wasn’t much danger at the moment and Opal was tense and ready for anything to happen. It was kind of a disappointment when nothing did, but the shields did get hit by a small asteroid or two. “This is Shining Jewel, calling Streusel Station. Are you there?” Calling out to the void among the many floating rocks in space was a bit unnerving, especially if you didn’t get a response that Opal was currently hoping for. “This is Streusel Station, we see you Shining Jewel. What is the nature of your visit?” The voice of a communications person caused a sigh of relief in the AI. “Be warned our station may be small, but there’s a reason space pirates won’t come within a spitting distance of this particular asteroid field.” “We’re visiting for three things, the first is that we have a troupe as part as our crew manifesto and they want to do some small performances. The second thing is that we want to sell our wares and we specialize in clothing and unique EVA suits, access to our sales site will be available during our stay here. We will also give some advanced notice before we cut off our sales menu and we will be seeing to all purchases professionally before we leave. As for the last thing, we’re here for some relaxation. We just came from Antilur Station and it was hit with a nasty monstrosity that wiped out more than half the populace by the time we arrived. We‘ve dealt with the problem, but Antilur Station can use all the good cheer it can get.” There was a sad hum on the other end of the line and Opal lowered her eyes at that. “Before you ask Antilur Station is currently safe, it’s swarming with SNUGGLES members though and I can easily say the station sorely needs them right now. May we have permission to dock a small ship in your station and park ourselves around here?” “Yes, docking here is free and we have plenty of available space at the moment. Park your larger ship where you want, just watch out for asteroids. What classification of ship will you be docking with us?” The communications person sounded like he had a good head on his shoulders. “Also can you send us the information of those who were lost in this Antilur Station crisis that you’re speaking of, I think we may have a few people who would like to know about it.” “Light cargo transport, it would be a hopper specifically.” Things were going so well Opal couldn’t almost believe that exactly nothing had gone wrong thus far. “Again, we specialize in made to order clothing and unique EVA suits, we also have some premade clothes at ridiculously fair prices for those who wish to browse. Rarity’s Rarities welcomes any customer and we don’t judge by covers, except maybe one of our number. Medical bed incident, so you’d have to forgive her if she hates any male that walks within thirty feet of her. We don’t do skin based products like leather.” “Right all the records we’re receiving look accurate and I’m having the stations AI Gummy look them over and he’ll contact the proper people, but be warned that one of the Pie sisters will have it in for you as soon as your people board the station.” That sounded rather ominous and the stations current communications worker was quiet for a time. “Could you clarify that more for me please, it sounds like we should have ourselves armed and ready for a fight. After that debacle on Antilur I would prefer it if we had a quiet visit.” Opal stopped and considered Babs feelings as well. “We could really use a quiet time. One of the reasons why is that we currently have a filly that can’t exactly handle any excitement, especially not after she lost her parents on Antilur. She is currently our guest that we are taking to her cousins in the Applon System. We were already heading in that direction anyway and she needs some time off the ship to spread her legs. There is one thing I would like to ask, is Gummy still doing that epileptic tree thing?” “The Pie sister is nothing too bad really, but it sounds like she’s about to go overboard again. To think our station has recovered from the last time and she literally threw it at us all. Also sorry to hear a filly lost her parents, I’m guessing she’s still in the grieving phases and it would not be a good idea for her to meet the Pie sister I’m talking about.” There was a bunch of grumbling and the communications person spoke up again. “It sounds like she’ll be doing a bunch of upsetting things if she manages to get her plans off the ground, I’ll try to keep her away from your group and the hanger I’m going to have them dock in. She’s a nuisance and easily excitable, but she’s kind of the sweetheart of Streusel Station even if she goes too far in trying to make people smile. I’m sorry about her if she does cause you some problems, but there is nothing I can do about it if she’s determined to cause trouble. Even her sisters can barely contain the pink one and the Cake and Pie families own the general region of space around here, so my talons are kind of tied on the issue. As for Gummy… yeah, he does it from time to time and since you know him I’m guessing you might know his creator? She’s the issue I’m talking about here. The epileptic tree thing is always disturbing.” “I was afraid it was her and was hoping it was some other Pie you were talking about. Would it help if I said I had an idea of someone that could distract her? We have a bounty hunter here that wouldn’t mind some tender love and care. I can’t actually say that with a straight face.” If there was going to be a problem with the pink, then the giggling Opal could plan around it. “Anyway she’s our paying guest and she’s not part of the crew, so we could possibly distract this problem you’re talking about, if this is in fact who I think it is.” “What’s the bounty hunters name? We could use her services, we’ve been having problems with a local rabble rouser in the station, he could use a beating and a lot of the station’s residents would welcome the problem being brought in.” The communications operator sounded more congenial. “Also if you’re thinking its Pinkie Pie, then yes. You’re about to find out that she is nothing if not determined to make sure everyone who ever comes to Streusel Station gets a party and she’s really quite bad about it.” “Rarity, code Pinkie, I repeat code Pinkie! Sorry for that, I just had to warn my m… friend that we’re meeting ‘HER’ again. I was hoping that it was some other Pie sister that you were talking about, one that doesn’t scream panic because the laws of physics are being broken every five seconds.” Opal became slightly embarrassed, but she knew they were going to run into Pinkie. Pinkie was a Pie and the four Pie sisters were well known in this section of space. Speaking of space, they were going to purchase gems, jewels and crystals for various reasons, the biggest one being that things are cheaper at their source and you can’t get closer to the source than an asteroid field. “We- have a rather specific set of guidelines in case we ever ran into her again. As for the name of our bounty hunter passenger, her name is Ember Mcflame.” “Flamethrower, well that’s definitely sounds like overkill for the problem we have. We’ll hire her anyway and I think she’ll be enough to keep Pinkie busy for a while as well. Well at least long enough for all of your people to scatter in the station.” The communications officer could be heard making clacking noises, apparently he was typing something. “Right I’ll send you the hangar coordinates when you arrive, names Stan Dard by the way. Welcome to Streusel Station and whatever you do, don’t group up or Pinkie will party you and I mean that literally. If she’s going to throw you a party, she’s going to want all of you in one place when she does.” “We’ll keep that in mind Mr. Dard.” Cutting the connection to the station Opal turned her attention to where Ember was. “Oh Ember~… could you do a small favor for us? Apparently Streusel Station has a small rabble rouser problem they need you to take care of and we need you to go on ahead of us, for reasons that will become obvious to you later.” - “So has Ember docked yet?” Rarity didn’t dislike Pinkie Pie; it was just that Pinkie Pie was just too much to handle at times. They were waiting on the Pyrrhic Victory to attract Pinkie’s attention and then they’d dock with the station and get off scott free without having to deal with her immediately . “Confirmed and Pinkie is in Ember’s hangar, going in now!” With that the Caravel Boutique quickly moved for the empty hangar under Opal’s guidance and landed. “Sorry Ember, but it was either you or Rarity and I’m biased like crazy. So Gummy, I can see you became a stations AI, how have things been and can you help me figure out how to set up a straight pony with an ambiguous dragon?” The three groups were the Trapeze Troupe group, Chrysalis’s triple troubled group and Rarity and Gilda who were going to explore around and do some shopping. As for what was going on with Ember. - “So welcome, welcome to Streusel Station and I hope you have a great time! I, Pinkie Pie, will make sure of it!” Pinkie Pie, the pink menace, was on top of Ember. Pinkie had bowled Ember over in her exuberance to greet the newcomers to the station. She was about to start up another tirade when she paused all of the sudden and a shudder traveled throughout her body. “There’s been a disturbance in the force… and I didn’t cause it! I wonder how I would look in black, I know for a fact that the dark side has cookies. Hopefully this story has a muffin button somewhere, it’s science fiction after all. Now why would my Pinkie Sense say that I’ve missed something?” “Could you please get off of me now? You’re kind of making Mr. Spew angry and he’s deadly when he starts spewing everywhere.” Nobody would say that Ember wasn’t constantly aware of the danger Mr. Spew presented and he was currently raising his tentacles rather threateningly and clacking his beak loudly. “I’d rather he not drool all over my shirt with something caustic enough to eat through my scales.” Mr. Spew was getting quite angry at the pony who messed with his favorite perch and the only reason he hadn’t attacked yet was mostly because Pinkie wasn’t being a real threat. Any intentional threat against his perch would be met with deadly bodily fluids. “Oh, sorry, here are cupcakes for the both of you! This one is for the squid and this one is for you dragon person I’m going to rudely leave sitting here in a moment after I’m done figuring out what’s wrong here.” Unceremoniously Pinkie Pie, the completely pink mare or well at least completely pink in the sense of varying shades of it not accounting for her blue and yellow balloon cutie mark, dropped two wrapped cupcakes onto Ember’s chest. Pinkie stared at the cupcakes a bit and then an imaginary exclamation point only she could probably see appeared above her head. “Wait a minute… my Pinkie Sense specifically stated that someone who has enjoyed my baked goods before would be present! It’s a trap… no, is it someone got my goat friend? That still doesn’t seem right… oh wait, I know what it is, I’ve been tricked! I’ll come back and party you later.” Mr. Spew hopped forward and took up the peace offering meant for him and held it above his head in two tentacles, he then hopped off to the side to not mess up Ember’s shirt and his beak went to work on the sugary treat. He was certainly very thoughtful for not getting any crumbs on his perch. Ember looked at the cupcake and wondered just how exactly fast the pink mare was, considering she left behind a smiling afterimage. Ember thought that the mare was crazy and probably needed psychological help. “I hope that’s not the rabble rouser. I’ll wait for you to finish your cupcake Mr. Spew; hopefully this job will be an easy one.” The sewer squid cooed at Ember’s statement and seemed to agree with that sentiment, turning to her own cupcake Ember bit into it and felt her teeth mowing something crunchy. Apparently she had gotten a cupcake filled with emerald chunks; it was decent. Ember wasn’t worried about being poisoned by the crazy mare, it smelled alright enough. “Not bad, but needs better quality emerald chunks and it could be a little bit dryer. I guess it’s time to go see what they are hiring me to deal with, it probably won’t be dangerous enough for me to even need my rifle.” - “We kind of threw Ember under the bus didn’t we?” Having heard that one of them was needed Gilda volunteered to come with Rarity on this excursion. The station was smaller than Antilur, but its populace wasn’t heavily devastated and the streets were calm filled with meandering people and Gilda thought she saw a familiar looking griffon among them carrying something. “So what did you need to talk to me about Boss Lady?” “I’m sure Ember will be just fine and I would feel sorry for the bus, in any case Pinkie is not dangerous. You’re a very smart individual Gilda and so is Greta; we’ve been recently running into a lot of problems that require me to finally acquiesce to Opal’s requests for better protection. What I need will only be made available to our crew members.” Pausing Rarity saw the Gilda was looking at her sideways with a quirked eye. “I’m talking better defensive applications. I was wondering if we’d have to go with heavy plating for our EVA suits or if you can possibly create a portable force field generator.” “Okay, I can see where this is going, but let me tell you that personal shield generators are really tricky to make. I don’t think I can make one small enough, not even to fit on an impulse saddle.” As an afterthought Gilda had to add. “Though I wouldn’t say armor plating is any better, too heavy, the current EVA suit design works quite well for what it is and I wouldn’t mess with that. What exactly are you asking of me here? This doesn’t sound to be in my area of expertise.” “Well you two are the geniuses of the crew and I was thinking of something along the lines of say… powered armor?” With those two words Rarity had gained Gilda’s undivided interest. “I would of course have to help in the design; I would like powered armor that could work in space and be useful for more dangerous situations. It would be rather nice considering how many situations we’ve run into and you can mechanically engineer the suit with all the bells and whistles.” “And you just gave me the best idea for the design of my dream fighter just like that…” Spoke Gilda blankly as her eyes were wide and there was a certain gleam to them. “Now, if we weren’t just improving the design on the EVA suits and we were actually building powered armor that could handle any situation, well that would be much more doable for me and Greta. In fact get me, you, Greta, Coco and maybe Sassy… heck, let’s make a think tank of it later. As for right now, weren’t we in the middle of doing something else?” “Correct, it’s time to do some shopping! I have the list right here of the things we might want to procure.” Pulling out her trusty data pad Rarity showed it to Gilda who took it and started adding things to it. “What are you doing?” “Adding to the list, we’re going to need more supplies if we’re going to make powered armor. How many did you think we would make?” Gilda thought Rarity was a prissy unicorn, but she had a good head on shoulders for clearly awesome things. As such she was behind this idea one hundred percent. “Most of the stuff we have right now is for building larger vehicles or making repairs to what we already have, we’re going to need smaller parts for what you have in mind. I already have a few ideas of how to make it work. While we could craft the parts from what we have, I’d prefer to buy more stuff. I’ll do it from my own wallet too; I really want to see this happen.” “I was thinking of at least several suits, one for Sassy, one Mare Do Well flavored suit for Saffron, one for me and one for both you and Greta.” Rarity thought of Chrysalis and decided against it, the Changeling Queen was obscenely hard to kill as it was already. “We will of course only use them for emergencies and or training in the use of them for said emergencies.” “Sure you will, emergencies, right... though I can honestly see why you’d want something more armored after Lightning took that crushing blow to the chest. You’ve survived through some of the craziest crap I’ve ever seen and you seem like a magnet for it…” That was something Gilda had to really think on, she of course couldn’t see anyone not abusing powered armor. Still powered armor was totally awesome and she was going to endeavor to make some for at least the Boss Lady and Saffron, mostly Saffron because she wanted to see what their resident vigilante could do with it. “Well technically Ewesen happened a while after you arrived, Equus was going to happen regardless of our presence and we were just whistle blowers and then there’s Antilur Station, but that was before we got there. There was Greta and me, probably can’t thank you enough for that and that was after you survived what could have been a fatal whiplash incident. The pirates were premeditated plan to capture you and steal your stuff, I guess none of it is your fault and you’ve been mostly reacting to the situations as best you can.” “Thank you, I do try to keep living while retaining my generous nature. Mind you I find trouble more often than it finds me, but I would like to state for a fact that I am a lady and after all the trying things I’ve been through…” Rarity moved her face closer to Gilda’s. “Well it requires a lady to be more enduring than the toughest diamond. Speaking of, did you know that diamonds aren’t really worth that much and are incredibly common? That’s what I think of myself constantly, diamonds are only coveted because of marketing ploys and for tools. Do you think I’m common or a tool Gilda?” “If you were a tool of impending danger, then maybe I would say yes and common you aren’t! You may not be a commando Rarity, but a commando would find walking a mile in your shoes quite difficult and you’re doing fine for the most part in leading our particularly merry band.” The sarcastic tone as she said the word, ‘merry’, didn’t do Gilda any favors. She put an arm around Rarity and brought her into a loose hug and gave her unicorn friend a smile. “Look at it this way; you’re the Boss Lady for a good reason. You’re a tough diamond that looks polished to perfection and can stand the pressure from all sides, plus you’re not afraid to get rough when you need to. We’re all coarse diamonds in comparison.” “I believe I’m just as coarse as the rest of you are, but I believe we still shine despite our imperfections and it’s those imperfections that make us interesting. At the end of any day, I’m glad you’re all still my friends despite said imperfections. My suits were made to protect you in most environmental situations and not just space, function is the very idea behind them and I’m actually a mare of form. Well I think I should be a mare of form, but I think my idea of beautiful is becoming quite twisted by my crew.” Rarity wrapped a hoof around Gilda’s back in return. “I just happen to hold myself to a better standard than most Gilda; I strive to be beautiful and to present myself to the world as something worthy to be looked at, at least something a little better than shiny worthless diamonds.” “Let me just say this, you are trying way too fucking hard Rarity, but I can appreciate that given Greta is doing the same thing and I’m certain the rest our friends do too. How about we try this shop right here for the stuff I need?” It looked like a junk shop and Gilda would choose such a place. Rarity gave the shop a slight grimace as she saw the dirty décor inside, Gilda just smirked at the mare. Rarity might not like filth or junk, but Gilda thrived in it with all the oil stains she gets covered in. “I’m kind of surprised we all get along as well as we do. I pegged us all for getting on each other’s nerves badly enough to start going at each other’s throats like rabid dogs weeks ago. I guess all that free space on Shining Jewel is good breathing room.” “Gilda… I’m not giving up my routine of looking fabulous, you do know this right?” Rarity stopped at the door and held it open for the griffon. “Wouldn’t have you any other way Boss Lady and thanks for being the sappy, if lovely, pony that signs my paychecks.” Going inside Gilda started looking about in delight for some stuff she could use, one of the few rare occasions Gilda ever looked happy. “You know, if I were any other pony, I would have definitely docked your pay by now.” Sighing loudly and entering after the griffon, Rarity knew she wouldn’t dock any pay. Gilda did really good work and was a creative individual. In fact, now that Rarity thought of it, she has practically surrounded herself with a lot of rather creative individuals. Author's Note Gilda and Rarity had a meaningful conversation... I think.
-71-“Ah ha, I’ve caught you two red handed, thought you could get out of…” Pinkie started up as she ran into Rarity and Gilda. “I have hooves Pinkie.” Rolling her eyes, it was obvious to Rarity that Pinkie hadn’t changed very much from when she last saw her. Pinkie was still as hyper as she ever was and Rarity was hoping she could avoid the worst of this mare, she planned everything out preemptively and knew exactly how to deal with her. “I have talons, claws and paws, but no hands here jerk face.” Gilda had finished buying a sufficient amount of supplies and was waiting outside the shop to get some help transporting her goods. “...” Pinkie just silently stared at them intensely and looked to Gilda’s rear paws and front talons and then slowly she slides her gaze along to Rarity’s hooves. “You win this time… so it’s you two. One who’s never been here before and one the other who has enjoyed my pastries before. Only something still does not seem right about all this. It’s nice to see you again Rarity, I’m sure Gummy is having all kinds of fun with Opal. It’s also nice to see you too Gilda, but can you tell me what I’m missing. For some reason I can’t throw a party just for you two, it wouldn’t seem right for some reason.” “In just nine words, we split up our group.” She had said exactly nine words and as such Gilda couldn’t be called out on anything and it seemed that she has left the pink pony speechless. Pinkie paused for a long time and then her left eye started twitching. The junk shop owner, a male Cacceran with mostly dominant fox features, came out and looked to see Pinkie’s eyes twitching. “Okay, what did she do this time? Pinkie is a sweet pony, but she’s a bit crazy to deal with for any stretch of time.” The Cacceran had been getting things in order and he would have Ms. Gottfrieda’s stuff transported to the Caravel Boutique, he would make sure it all gets there too personally. “I believe we have just performed a mental clothesline on her, usually she confuses others with her zany antics. However we just confused her with calm logic and she obviously can’t handle that.” Deciding to expunge further on what she meant, Gilda laid it out for the shop owner she had done business with. “What we’ve basically done is split into three separate groups and knowing how Pinkie works, she won’t be able to get us all in one place for a party and it will drive her nuts. We also sent a friend of ours to act as a decoy to distract her long enough to split into said groups. We’ve made it impossible for her to throw a surprise party, because now she has to actively invite us collectively to come to a party and we can decline. As a side note our friend would have to be a part of the party as she technically counts as a fourth group all her own, so for Pinkie to have her party she’d have to get all of us together. She probably left our friend behind to search for us once she figured out she’s been tricked into missing us while we were grouped up, now she has to deal with the fact that our friend is also now a wandering group herself.” “Thanks for warning me I should tell the important people on this station to watch out for Pinkie going nuts… again…” The Cacceran crossed his arms and stared at Pinkie’s twitching eye. “I hope she doesn’t explode, wouldn’t have that on my conscious.” “I’ll be back, mark my words I will throw you and your friends a big party!” After pointing her pointedly pink party propagating hooves at them, Pinkie dashed off to look for the other groups that these two were a part of that had split up. Mark her words; she would give them a party they would never forget! She mentally noted to get the dragon and her squid in on it as well while she was at it, mostly because Gilda mentioned them as being friends and Gilda was too grumpy to make too many friends. “Well now, I can see Pinkie is certainly as exasperating as she always is.” Rarity turned to Gilda and smiled fondly at her mechanical engineer; she shook her head in amusement and gave off an airy laugh. “Never a boring moment around her is there darling?” “Nope, but if we can avoid her well enough, then we won’t be forced into a party she’s cooking up and I’m quite sure she’s almost willing to start wars over parties. I have a good judgement of her character and the worst she could do is waste our time or be a huge time sink from which there is no escape.” Gilda had a good reading of Pinkie’s personality and she was a lot like Greta, only five times worse and far more annoyingly peppy, at least Greta was tolerable to be around for prolonged periods of time and could take a hint. The one thing Pinkie was really good at was baking tasty nostril attracting snacks. “She’ll basically make us enjoy the party or else she’ll either get horribly depressed or more frantic to make us happy, depends on her mood and right now it’s more likely the latter but could switch over to the former at a moment’s notice if we keep pushing her buttons. At least now we’ve left her with a conundrum of how to get us all in one place when we’re split up and in several different locations throughout the station. We have some free time for until we launch our little surprise and she doesn’t look like she’s going to take no as an answer when it comes to wanting us at the party she wants.” “She hardly ever does accept or even understand that particular two letter word.” There were some fond memories that Rarity had of Pinkie; most of them were when Pinkie was more calm and less like she was a caffeine addict that drank one hundred cups of coffee. “She’s a bit of a brat, but that mostly has to do with her cutie mark and special talent. If it’s alright with you, I think we need to secure your supplies and get them back to the boutique. Remind me again, did we tell the others we were going to ferry supplies over to Shining Jewel several times?” “Yes, we did. Come on Boss Lady, after we secure this stuff we’ve got more shopping to do and maybe in a store you’d appreciate more than I would.” With that they were off with a box loaded with everything Gilda picked up and the Cacceran was personally with them every step of the way to make sure the transaction went as it was supposed to. Rarity did like her shopping, just so long as it isn’t in any grimier looking stores covered in dirt and threatening to ruin her pristine looking coat. Well at least it was cheap, but rather useful junk. Junk that could be made into something by the crafting expertise that Gilda and Greta showed. She would forever prefer a pristine looking store, but she couldn’t say the Cacceran wasn’t a gentleman about helping them move the massive amounts of parts Gilda just bought. As they were going about that, Rarity decided to message Sassy a warning about the pink party pony being on the prowl, positively looking to party them with everything she had. It was unfortunate for the pink pony that Rarity was going to counter her in a surprising way, the surprise would take a while to set up and the other two groups will have to keep Pinkie’s attention. - “This park is kind of nice. It’s been a while since I’ve been around nature, even if it’s on a space station.” Streusel Station had a quaint park and Sassy was sitting off to the side watching as Chrysalis interacted with Babs, they were frolicking through the trees and the grass being grown in a controlled environment. The filly was quite happy to spend some time with the shape shifter, especially after the Chrysalis showed her that she can take on the appearances of others. It was kind of sad that the filly wanted Chrysalis to take on the form of either of her parents just so Babs could pretend they were still there for her in a physical sense. Babs just wanted to spend some more time with them in the flesh while she could, even though the filly knew that the faces of her mother or father were false. “I really needed this; being stuck in medical for as long as I was will have Luna visiting me for quite a while and confiding in the Masseuse is not nearly enough for how traumatizing that was.” Hearing a noise, Sassy levitated out her data pad and looked it over to see she got a message from Rarity. She snorted in amusement at the message and rolled her eyes. Ah yes, Pinkie Pie, Sassy remembered hearing about her and how she was the bane of sanity. The mare gave hyper a bad name and Discord a somewhat good one, because she was more the very definition of those things and she was a known sugar addict. She could distract Pinkie if she saw her well enough, Trapeze could as well if she see’s Pinkie. “I know everyone on Streusel Station and I would definitely remember you if I ever saw you before, so you have to be one of the two other groups… and you’re in a wheelchair…” The pink pony had hopped onto the scene and having come out of an alleyway into the park in the modern city with an excitable grin, Pinkie at least made sure to look both ways before crossing the street of course. She was now addressing Sassy with a bit of apprehension; she had always had a problem with injured or terminally ill people for a number of reasons and she was scared of upsetting this mare she’s never met before. “Are you going to be okay?” “Oh don’t worry about this; I can walk… if barely for the time being. I’m going through rehabilitation, took a material cannon wound or two in the line of assisting my friends. Heard my efforts were quite worth it in the end and I would gladly do it all again if it meant the safety of my friends. Spent a month in a medical bed acquiring nightmares of the experience, considering I’m a med-bed victim. That would be as horrific as you can imagine.” Okay now the pony before Sassy looked a little more wilted, she was just trying to make conversation about why she was in the wheelchair. Maybe she should try to be a little more tactful as the Pinkie wasn’t a bad pony from what Rarity told her. “I’m doing much better now, but I still need a day or two before I’m good to walk on my own, I’m Sassy Saddles and my friend Rarity has told me much about you.” “Well that’s nice to know, I’m Pinkie Pie and it’s nice to meet you!” Pinkie perked up upon hearing Sassy was not really as bad off as her being in the chair looked. She really didn’t like negativity or hospitals, but she still volunteered at a hospital from time to time to help those who needed to smile. She tended to stay away from really sick or seriously injured people since she didn’t like the many upsetting thoughts that would course through her head when she looked at those who weren’t going to be around for much longer. “Do you know where you’re other the group is? A friend of Rarity’s is a friend of mine and I’m sure your friends with grumpy Gilda too.” “No, can’t say that I do, but I would like a pony to talk to. My friend over there is making sure the filly that recently lost her parents is doing okay emotionally.” Oh great, Sassy had somehow managed to depress Pinkie somewhat by mentioning Babs situation, she was going to tell Pinkie anyway as it would provide further distraction. “It happened quite recently, the people of Antilur Station are still hurting from it and it has plenty of SNUGGLES members there to help them. Would you like to hear the story? It looks to me like you’d rather avoid hearing me tell it, I wasn’t exactly there at the time and was floating in a tank of chemicals during the whole thing. It’s still an interesting story and I know everything that happened.” “A story sounds nice… it doesn’t end badly does it? I mean if it’s going to be about what happened there, a lot of bad things obviously happened to good ponies and people.” Pinkie wanted to keep this mare entertained and cheerful, because she seemed lonely at the moment and her friend was too busy playing with the filly. Pinkie knew that not all things were happy endings and fairy tales, but beautiful expanding rainbows across the sky were possible and she had seen it before. She was not a little filly anymore, but that one moment where she saw rainbows engulf the sky would stay with her forever. She worked up her courage to hear this story. She was tough enough to handle this tale, though knowing a filly lost her parents it wasn’t going to be a family friendly affair she preferred. “I still want to hear it though.” Pinkie put her hoof on top of Sassy’s and looked into her eyes with determination, Sassy just smiled and patted Pinkie on the head because she was quite adorable for a childish mare. - Ember goggled at the image before her and she turned to the griffon that was showing it to her, in all her bounty hunting history she had never seen anything so… simple. The job looked like it would be ridiculously easy from the outset, but she had to confirm what she was seeing as being the problem they wanted her to deal with. “You’re kidding, you’re having a problem with something that looks so…” Ember was trying to find the right word to say in regards to what Stan Dard was showing her, he was the communications griffon Opal had spoken with. He had just shown her what her target was and what it was currently doing. Mr. Spew gurgled something that sounded like a suggestion. “Well suffice it to say, I can’t exactly to see how this guy is a problem. He’s a Foggre and those guys don’t exactly scream threat.” “You’d think he wouldn’t be, but he definitely is more than he first appears. His name is Faxel and he runs around causing all kinds of trouble, but just because he’s small doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous and he is carrying weapons. He’s only used them to cause distractions so far, but he’s nearly shot several people. One of which was the stations favorite pink mare.” Stan wasn’t wrong. A Foggre was an alien creature that was larger than a Lagotorphin and smaller than a Cacceran, the species looked like frogs and were known for being technologically creative and this one in particular was a blue colored green eyed amphibian wearing a bike helmet and holsters for two pistols. One of the most noted things about the race was just how annoying they could be when they played with their unique inventions, inventions that are often misused in absurd ways when there was clearly a better use for them. “He’s been taking things a little too far lately and he’s starting to destroy public property without paying for the damages like Pinkie Pie always does when she steps a hoof out of line, which is why people like her and not this guy. We need you to try and talk to him first. If you can’t talk him down from his destructive habits, then everyone is willing to look the other way on how you deal with him from that point forward as long as you don’t kill him. He’s been a bit of a thorn in our station’s side, but we don’t want the guy dead… at least not yet, but he’s getting there. Oh and before you go, one of the Pie sisters is going to be a mediator for this and here she comes now.” “Hello… my name is Maud. We should get going.” The flat tone that Maud had was a bit strange, but Ember shrugged that off and followed after the mare to exit the room. Maud had a bluntly cut mane and bangs, violet hair and grey fur. Her choice of dress was blue and it was rather modest looking, something that Rarity would think to be entirely too plain. “Faxel was last seen heading in the direction of Streusel Station Park. He shot at my sister once and if he doesn’t cease his conduct… then I’ll have to do something he will deeply regret.” “Mr. Spew, no spewing anything deadly at all, I want you to let me handle this. Unless I’m dying, don’t do anything unless you think it’s helpful.” The squid tried to look particularly innocent sitting on Ember’s shoulder, but he didn’t make any promises. “If you’re not enough to convince him to stop, then I’ll help to… convince him… to the best of my ability.” The rather monotone demeanor that Maud had seemed kind of off to Ember, but there was something about the way the calm mare looked slightly angry that was making her feel very uneasy. “You wouldn’t happen to be related to Pinkie Pie would you?” A slow gaze turned Ember’s way and Maud opened her mouth to answer that question, in exactly the same tone that she had spoken in several times already. “Yes, nobody almost hurts my sister and gets away with it like he did a few hours ago.” Maud’s eyes narrowed, something about her calm sharpened gaze had Ember shivering. Something was very off about this mare and the dragon couldn’t put a claw on what. “He didn’t feel guilty about it at the time and if he doesn’t agree to apologize to her about almost hitting her, then I will have a few words with him personally… alone. Limestone is too busy with checking the asteroid fields to make sure we don’t have any Shamroids to do it herself.” - “Thank you, thank you, we don’t know how long we’ll be here, but we the Trapeze Troupe enjoy the applause!” Trapeze bowed to her audience, a bunch of fillies, colts, cubs, chicks and what have you were there stomping or clapping loudly in applause. “Rover is enjoying new job quite well Ms. Star.” This time Rover wasn’t juggling, in fact Trapeze was teaching him all sorts of neat skills. Juggling was just his preferred favorite skill as he was quick with his paws and it was like digging into the air itself, he had been assisting Trapeze in an act of acrobatics and tumbling. It was kind of like dancing only a bit more sophisticated in the way Trapeze does it, it’s kind of an art form for the mare and she was a very pretty mare. Rover wasn’t as good as Trapeze, but at least he could keep up with her rolls, dives, lunges and leaps. “I’m glad that you are enjoying it too… now if only we could stop Bernard from trying to upstage us. Then again, it wouldn’t be as fun if that wasn’t part of the act.” Trapeze turned to see Bernard pulling a bouquet of flowers out of his small hat and the flowers were definitely larger than the tiny hat could hold, he was giving them to a shy looking mare. Trapeze smirked a bit and giggled into her hoof at the shy mare’s flustered expression when Bernard tipped his hat to her after giving her the flowers. “So who are you… apparently Bernard seems to like you, but I don’t think he’ll give up show business to stick around.” Bernard waggled his brows at Trapeze, he liked cute mares and he personally was living with the most wonderful one he’s ever met. She showed him the magic of the world and he was now just as magical as she was. “I’m Marble Cheesecake Pie; if you’ve met my sister I’m sorry about her exuberance.” The mare had a grey coat and a dark grey mane with a bit of dark cyan in it; she looked to be shy and was blushing fiercely at the attention the three were giving her. “If you haven’t, then I’m sorry for speaking up.” “You’ve been no problem at all Marble, besides my performance is through and we’ve heard about your sister already. I haven’t seen her yet, but she sounds like the kind of mare I’d get along with, provided that she’d let me start talking first anyway.” Trapeze patted Bernard on the head and nodded to the violet eyed mare. “It’s hard enough to do anything first with Bernard showing off all the time, but then again he’s supposed to do that. He’s my best friend after all and is quite the little jerk, but he’s my little jerk that I love dearly. Did you need anything?” “Mhmmm, for one I want thank you for the flowers Bernard. Aside from that I was wondering if you could get your friends together for my sister.” It was always polite to ask, in this case Marble hoped to stop the problem before it began and Pinkie had yet to get worse about throwing a party for the ones actively avoiding it. Something must have been distracting her sister pretty good to make her not be seen running all over the station leaving images of herself everywhere, her sister was quite scary when motivated and a little too loud. Even then Marble loved her sister dearly. “A really nice junk store owner sent out an emergency notice to us about the newest visitors Pinkie hasn’t managed to terrorize yet and how you came onto this station using a decoy.” “I have no problem with parties, seeing as I’m a magician and kids love me. You guys do love me right!” The kids surrounding Trapeze gave shouts and screams of glee, she even signed her name on some paper for a few of them, as did Rover and Bernard who insisted on signing autographs playing up his false hammy nature as much as he could. Trapeze eventually turned back to a quietly waiting Marble. “The Boss Lady on the other hoof is a business mare and she wants to get business done before allowing Pinkie to get us. I hope you don’t mind, but we’re actually planning to surprise Pinkie by making a party before she can! Which is what me, Bernard and Rover are going to get up to now that we’re done with our light performance. You’re invited of course, but don’t tell your sister since we’re surprising her with this. Can you do that much for us?” “Mhhhmmm…” Marble shyly pawed at the floor with a hoof and let half her face be covered by her hair; she was almost as bad as Coco when it came to being social. At least Coco could look someone in the eyes and be somewhat outgoing. - “I swear these clothing stores are all subpar to my standards, they are also a might bit expensive too.” Rarity wouldn’t stop complaining at the clothing stores they had browsed around at, whether it was stitching, price or coloration of the clothing in general she had a complaint and not once did Gilda get snarky about all of it. “To be fair the standards with which you hold yourself to are really above and beyond what other people would do. It’s really absurd how meticulous you can be.” They’ve already hit several junk shops and Gilda bought a comic book to see if she could get some interesting ideas from it, especially for the Mare-Do-Well powered armor specifically and the Steel Mare comic book seemed like a good buy. The city had a small town feel to it and the people here were all pretty well adjusted, it was almost nauseating enough for Gilda to vomit her lunch everywhere. “Also the clothing you make is far sturdier than some of the stuff we’ve seen. At least you haven’t complained nearly as bad in some of the thrift stores.” “Well you can’t say I’m not getting my money’s worth, besides I’m beginning to think thrift stores have some hidden treasures just lurking about the piles of clean refuse.” When she received a look for her wording, Rarity sighed. “Yes, I’m well aware that what I said is an oxymoron. Still we’ve been having a relatively good time and Trapeze is about to get started.” “So the plan is going perfectly… so where’s the monkey wrench in all this? Usually with you there is something going on that we aren’t seeing yet.” Taking a few steps towards a cross walking and idly eyeing a few of the newer model of hovering vehicles waiting there as she started to cross, she suddenly had to jump back when she was almost hit by what looked like a Foggre riding on thin air. “What the… was that cloaking technology!? Okay there’s the monkey wrench Rarity and I’m gone, I’ll catch up with you later!” Spreading her wings, Gilda went flying after the stations most notorious troublemaker named Faxel. She’d heard Foggre’s had interesting technology, now that she saw some she wanted to get some secrets out of the guy that almost performed a hit and run on her. Why would anyone make an invisible hover bike that didn’t make the rider invisible? It was kind of stupid, but even then Gilda wanted a look under the hood at that tech. She might have a use for it provided it could be used for something that wasn’t as stupid as what the technology was currently being used for. Rarity held up her hoof to say something, but then dropped and sighed and decided to go see what Chrysalis, Sassy and Babs were up to… wasn’t the direction of the Streusel Station Park that way? Rarity paused in her movements and suddenly turned to gallop after Gilda, trouble was brewing and she didn’t want it to affect any of her crew. Hopefully Sassy and Chrysalis wouldn’t run into that ruffian that nearly hit Gilda. - “So what do we start off with?” Coco had Greta, Saffron and Mr. Cumin was with her in medical to keep Lightning from being all alone while her pasted ribs were healing. If they weren’t going to leave Sassy alone, then why would they leave Lightning alone? Opal was still busy with interior decorating and soon would come exterior decorating once she could convince Greta and Gilda to give her autonomous control of the EGGS units. “That is a question, how about we tell each other about ourselves. Like what was the most humiliating thing to ever happen to you Saffron?” The small party on Shining Jewel was just getting started and Greta was happy to spend some time hanging out and getting to know the other people on the ship better. “Oh… or can you tell us the story about what happened with Lead Chunk.” “Well there’s the painful reminder that I came home covered in bruises and I thank you for not asking questions about that dad.” Saffron only received a shrug from Coriander, obviously he knew about her nighttime actions. Which is why Saffron always had more of the evening shifts back when they still had the Tasty Treat, it just took this long for Saffron to realize her father was letting her run around as a vigilante without question. "Well might as well tell you how it all went down, so it started with me teleporting across the rooftops looking for signs of the Caballeron Cabal..." - Faxel was having fun and he didn’t want anyone to ruin it, he heard there was a bounty hunter on the station and it sounded like a challenge. He was going to have some fun and lead whatever poor sap they got to chase him down all over the station on a merry chase. All Faxel had to do was start attracting attention to himself and the mare in the wheelchair looked like a good target to start some trouble. Nobody would be getting rid of Faxel J. Frog!
-72-“Well that didn’t end in sunshine and rainbows, but at least your friends are alright and Rarity sounds like a hero now. I thought she’d rather avoid going into dangerous situations.” Pinkie shuddered at the thought of a big brain transforming her cute appearance into a monstrous zombie thing. It only took a moment for her to think of partying again and bring back the smile she had almost lost. “Are you sure you won’t help me get all your friends together in one spot?” “I’m glad they are okay too, goodness knows what would happen if Rarity weren’t around to look out for the rest of us.” Not like Sassy was the only one to think of the things Opal would do in case Rarity’s life was endangered as they already had several samples of Opal losing her cool and becoming a tad excessive even within the perimeters of action she was given by Rarity. “Opal would probably be driven to despair if Rarity weren’t around. She’d likely create a clone of Rarity and pretend that there was nothing wrong even knowing that it would be wrong to do so. No, but I’d rather you keep me company a little while longer, would you do that?” “I don’t think Opal would do something like that, she’s always been a nice kitty. It’s like how Gummy has always been a nice gator… with a thing for weird trees!” Pinkie would have probably put in a trip to Antilur Station herself to help out, but she couldn’t get a SNUGGLES membership for various reasons. She had some of the problems with personal space and understanding that some people needed to be sad every once in a while to be emotionally healthy after something really bad happens. “Now he’s got an important job with making sure everything on Streusel Station is doing fine and of course I’ll keep you company Sassy, you’re my newest friend that needs a little help!” “I don’t think she would either, but there is still the possibility. Opal is rather quirky like that.” It was rather nice for Sassy to know that Pinkie was willing to continue keeping her company, though it seemed like it wasn’t needed what with Chrysalis and Babs sitting off to the side with the same look on their faces. They were both looks of curiosity at what Sassy and Pinkie had been talking about. “Hey Chrysalis, are you done playing with Babs?” “This little snack is adorable and I’ve had my fun playing around. This reminds me of being covered in little grubs after they’ve all freshly hatched; I’m their favorite jungle gym when they first see me nearby. I guess I’m going to miss the next few hatching days… Thorax probably wouldn’t enjoy it as much as I would.” Being around the negative emotions coming off the filly weren’t doing Chrysalis any favors in her own emotions becoming homesickness, she was going to miss cuddling the Changeling Grubs as they were always so cute and predatory in an overly adorable heart melting manner at that stage in life. At least Babs wasn’t horrible to spend time with and needed to cheer up a little, she still had her whole life ahead of her and she couldn’t spend it entirely depressed that her parents died. “So are we going to sit around talking or is there anything you really wanted to do while we’re here Sassy? I have to say this is a pretty different experience from my first time on a space station, I’m taking a guess this is what space stations are normally supposed to be like.” “Well…” Sassy started to think of anything they could do with Pinkie Pie; only the mare in question shifted slightly and had an odd look on her face as her body did several involuntary things ending in a shiver that traveled down her back to the tip of her tail. “Sorry about this!” Reaching up with her hooves, Pinkie quickly pulled Sassy from the wheelchair and rolled away with her much to Chrysalis’s confusion as she walked forward a few steps with a question on her lips. Babs however saw what was about to happen and quickly scrambled to get out of the way of the incoming noise. Chrysalis wasn’t as confused when she was nearly knocked over by an invisible hovering bike with its still rather visible rider, one that she had barely grazed with her hoof faster than the rider could almost follow. Chrysalis almost knocked him from his bike as he slammed into Sassy’s wheelchair with reckless abandon, he really shouldn’t have attempted an ambush given Chrysalis was around. He quickly rolled sideways in the air out of the way of a blast of magic from Chrysalis’s horn and swerved his bike around a flying crescent of magic from Sassy’s blade, launching that attack left Sassy feeling weak. Neither attack had stopped the grinning maniac as he hopped up to stand on his invisible vehicle while giggling madly. “What… who are you!” Sassy’s legs might not have been very strong, but her magic was sound enough for swinging her chokuto around, even if she was barely standing with Pinkie’s help. She prepared herself for whatever this guy would do next and contemplated separating his small head from the rest of his equally small torso. “You think I’m crazy? You’ll think I’m crazy!” Foggre were known for being a little off. This one in particular was quite nuts, a least gallon size canister of mixed nuts to be precise. Faxel was going to cause havoc and he didn’t like that he nearly got knocked off his ride, in fact it gave him incentive to be more chaotic. Foggres were rarely seen anywhere in pony sectors of space, but they were certainly known when they were. Of one of the things that was certain, Faxel would prove himself to be a lot more trouble than these people thought they could handle. He was here to enjoy such trouble; as such with a tooth filled grin he pulled out the pistol from his right holster and fired it twice at the four. “Zoom zoom, zap!” His hover bike was already clearly seen as impractical as it doesn’t make the rider invisible, so one would wonder just what kind of impracticality his gun had, provided that Sassy or Chrysalis even knew what a Foggre was. As to the nature of Foggre technology, anyone would quickly understand that it was very frustrating, especially for any engineer to look at. An engineer would always find something impractical about anything a Foggre made; the impracticality of said technology was definitively done on purpose. In fact it was a badge of honor for a Foggre to make something incredible, while being entirely impractical to use at the same time. The gun unleashed two bright balls of electricity; the impractical part of it came into play when the shots didn’t fly in a straight line. The shots flew forward moving in all kinds of random direction within a vertical and horizontal radius of two feet. They were zigzagging and swerving randomly, meaning the shots were as likely to hit someone attempting to dodge them as they were to miss someone standing completely still. The two energy balls weren’t following any discernible pattern and they were closing in on the four, the way the shots were flying was both confusing and distracting as they also changed the speeds they moved at just as randomly. Chrysalis suddenly jumped forward and took both of the shots, one in the side and one that shifted away from almost hitting her chest to swerve straight into her face. After the electrifying orbs had finished causing her body to convulse violently, Chrysalis fell over onto the ground smoking slightly. After a few seconds she started moaning out loudly, not in pain, but in complete ecstasy. Pinkie had to cover Babs ears because of how wrong that pleased moaning sounded. Faxel just cackled madly at the sight of the fried bug and quickly drove off with Sassy’s wheelchair in tow while they were paying too much attention to his strange gun’s equally strange shots. The other drawback to his gun that made it more impractical was that the shot could, theoretically of course, exit the barrel and then fly straight back into the body of the wielder. The wielder was always naturally within the two foot radius as soon as the trigger was pulled. The gun was best used while retreating, because you were less likely to hit yourself with the shots if you were moving away from them fast enough. “Oh by Luna’s stars, Chrysalis, can you hear me, are you alright?” Sassy leaned on Pinkie as they slowly made their way over to Chrysalis who was smiling and coughing up a bit of smoke. After Pinkie stopped holding her ears, Babs was right there at her side looking worried. “Oh this, this is nothing, it felt like hugging a bug zapper really… those bright beautiful attractive bug zappers. So heavenly…” A bit of drool escaped the side of Chrysalis’s mouth, after a moment she shook her head, wiped the drool away and got serious. She was even able to stand up when her muscles should have been locking up entirely due to the electrifying shots she just took. “Right then, that asshole just took your wheelchair Sassy and shot at you… and Babs… and the other one! I know for a fact that ponies don’t like pain for whatever reason and I’ll never understand why; it certainly felt good to me. I really should buy myself a bug zapper, but I don’t want to drain all the power out of Shining Jewel…” “That little ruffian did what!” Coming to a skidding halt, Rarity appeared on the scene and could see Gilda tailing the Foggre and disappearing around a tall building in the distance. Gilda could take care of herself at the moment; Rarity was more worried about Sassy’s state at the moment. “Are you alright darling, did that uncouth monster hurt you?” “I’m okay Rarity-sama, who was that guy?” Sassy was still being supported by Pinkie and was upset that she was still so weak that she couldn’t stand on her own for long, if the little guy had moved a few feet closer she’d show him just exactly what he had been laughing at. “For that matter why did he shoot at us?” “He shot at you again Pinkie?” Coming from another direction was Maud’s spectacularly flat voice, which was followed by the flapping of a second set of wings giving chase to Faxel with very dangerous intent. Obviously Ember was angry to hear that Faxel shot at someone… even if it was Chrysalis who got hit, he could have just as well easily hit Babs, Sassy or Pinkie. “Okay, he’s on my list… starting now.” Maud had a list of people she didn’t like. Your species didn’t matter, your pleas for forgiveness didn’t matter and you most certainly would receive no mercy from the pony with unusually flat emotions and currently barely narrowed eyes. If you bothered one of Maud’s sisters’s badly enough or dare to even come close to hurting them and worse actually succeed in causing an injury, then Maud would find a way to make you suffer for it and Faxel just made that list. His was the only name currently on it at the moment; anyone else that had been on that particular list had always been hospitalized within three hours. Not many people would risk doing anything horrible enough to the Pie sisters to get on the list; you always get one fair warning and only the one before being applied to the list. If you couldn’t explain your actions well enough to prevent a first warning, then Maud would come after you the next time you crossed the line. Pinkie gave her sister a frightened glance, she knew about the list as did her other sisters and even her sister Limestone couldn’t get to that particular level of pissed off. Limestone was one of the angriest, saltiest and easily aggravated ponies to ever exist. That poor frog guy was being really mean and he kind of deserved it for stealing Sassy’s wheelchair, but Maud seriously scared her when she got like this. Pinkie stayed silent as Maud came over and hugged her gently and patted her on the back; Pinkie hugged her back and couldn’t say a single word about what Maud was going to do once she caught up with that guy. Maud’s pace was slow as she walked off; leaving everyone else confused as to why she was going so slowly since the guy was getting away on a hovering bike. The stations residents knew better, as did Pinkie, that you don’t escape a big sisters wrath. “I hope everything will be okay, I mean my sister hasn’t killed anyone yet so that’s at least a good sign that she’ll beat him to a… well is being pulped alive seen as something survivable? My sister is really, really strong, which is why she makes a good mediator when she’s not working on her rocktorate.” Pinkie knew the reason why her sister was walking slowly. They could run, but they can never get away. She loved her sister dearly, but she would never want to make Maud mad and that her sister was so protective made Pinkie somewhat happy. “I love my sister dearly, but she can get a little… scary.” “Well come along then, Pinkie, it appears that Ember is already on this ruffians case and I wouldn’t want to get in her way. How about some ice cream, does anyone feel like ice cream? I know I could use some to calm down.” It was the best idea to offset this situation and Rarity didn’t want to join the chase, she’d prefer helping Sassy, Babs and Pinkie get over the sudden shock of being attacked by what amounted to a really insane frog thing with square teeth. At least it hadn’t been a Pendaxon, which would have been a far worse situation to deal with. Rarity pulled Sassy’s other hoof over her back to help Pinkie support Sassy’s body. “We came here to relax and we are going to do just that, then we’ll finish shopping and meet up with Trapeze and her group. If we run into that ruffian again, we shall deal with him then. I also need to finish shopping.” “Oh, I know just the store to visit; I’m kind of the tour guide of Streusel Station and that includes a nice cream place I know of!” Knowing the entirety of Streusel Station like the back of her hoof was one of Pinkie’s jobs, she was the unofficial tour guide and the one who greeted new visitors to the station. Pinkie glanced at the air and then looked at the back of her hoof. “Wow airy… never really thought about knowing the back of my hoof before! Though I probably shouldn’t talk to you out loud or about my goat friend, which would make this a crossover and you’re not writing about me at all at the moment even though I am present as the story requires. You’re here to follow Rarity’s adventures in this alternate universe. Now that I think of it, it does make me curious to know where the actual Pinkie for this alternate universe got off to.” “What in the world is she talking about?” Sassy finally decided to settle her floating sword back into it’s sheathe and looked over to her glamorous friend that had been out shopping with a grumpy griffon. “Don’t worry about it, Pinkie has always been a little weird and sometimes talks about being in love with some sort of magical friendly goat mother monster thing from another dimension. I know her girlfriend exists, but I’ve never seen more than pictures of her.” Rarity always felt that there was a hint of something really strange going on behind Pinkie’s girlfriend or Pinkie herself for that matter, she has never met the goat and never got her name. “Look, just go along with it and nod your head as if you understand any of what she’s saying or ignore it completely. It’s what I do whenever she brings up the goat; Pinkie never tells me her name for some reason, or anyone else for that matter.” “So are you gay?” It always helped Chrysalis to ask this, because she couldn’t tell if a pony was gay or not. She didn’t know about Rarity, she had some guesses about Coco, Saffron was murky territory and she definitely knew Greta was entirely centered on Gilda’s very being. She hardly talked about the emotions she felt, but the recent bad ones were leaving the atmosphere and everything would be right with the world. Now if she could figure out if Sassy was gay or not despite her actively despising men, she really didn’t want to assume anything of Sassy and would ask her later in a more private setting. “I’m actually pansexual and happen to currently be in a long term relationship with a person’s whose name that I can’t legally say in this story without the writer adding a crossover tag first.” Everyone decided to ignore what Pinkie was saying as it made little sense. After a minute or two of waiting for a response Pinkie finally shrugged. “A little more than a small cameo would disrupt this story entirely and then this universe would collapse. Since I’m not dangerously curious enough to actually cause that… let’s go get that ice cream from the place I know about, my treat!” - Ember was on the trail of ‘Faxel the Foul’ or at least that’s what people started calling him, this was one bounty she’d gladly beat the snot out of bare handed. She didn’t care if Chrysalis was shot, she looked perfectly fine, but Sassy just got out of medical and she wasn’t about to let this dirt bag get away with almost putting her back in or doing even worse. She wasn’t the only one, as she had caught up with Gilda who was trailing the little punk. “Nice day for some flying, I don’t have any weapons and I saw what Chrysalis did to herself on those shots. She obviously has no shame to speak of.” Critiqued Gilda, they were keeping up with his surprisingly speedy hover vehicle. From what Gilda could figure out, it had jet propulsion and a minor anti-gravity generator that only affected the bike itself which was pretty common stuff. As for the cloaking device and the electric sphere pistol however, those were definitely unique if entirely funky in how they operated from Gilda’s perspective. “It looked rather painful, which is why I’m not getting any closer to him. Do you have a weapon on you?” “My claws and my breath, though I’m not about spit fire. I could accidentally hit the wrong thing in an area this populated.” Suddenly there was an angry chattering from Ember’s shoulder and she rolled her eyes. “She asked if I had a weapon Mr. Spew. You’re not a weapon, you’re a friend and I don’t want you to kill the target.” The squid squealed something that seemed to be cheerful at first, but then was trying doing something akin to pointing out that it could do things that wouldn’t kill the little monster they were chasing. It was true that Mr. Spew could do some really horrible things with his chemical spitting abilities; things that weren’t lethal that would made you wish they were. “Hey, the squid can be a weapon if he wants to be… okay what in the world is that little bastard doing now.” Gilda saw the wheelchair dragging, manic grinning and considered demented Foggre pull out his left pistol. Things were getting too boring for Faxel and he turned his sights on them without watching where he was going; he was surprisingly good at avoiding traffic without really looking at it. “Do you think I’m lazy? Then let’s get crazy!” Swerving in and out of traffic and completely aware of the two tailing him, Faxel wanted things to be more interesting as they were boring him by not trying anything. He pointed his left hand pistol straight up and pulled the trigger, what happened was not what either Gilda or Ember could have anticipated. “Tick tock, tick tock, hahaheheauauhauahaaaaa BOOM GUN!” A small semi-transparent gray bubble appeared in the air at where the tip of the barrel of the gun had been seconds ago as the trigger was pulled, it started to expand and grow. Every nearby vehicle started being sucked towards the growing sphere that stopped growing at twenty feet in diameter, but the suction kept going and several cars got engulfed by the bubble. The drivers were panicking as they saw that the people who got sucked in suddenly froze up and their cars lost power entirely. Ember and Gilda both fought to stay out of the suction the sphere was generating and only met with partial success as they were still within the blast radius when the bubble eventually exploded. How it exploded was quite unique, it sent a shockwave everywhere dropping the cars to the ground leaving their drivers slightly battered and relatively unharmed and the other cars that had been outside the bubble stopped working after the shockwave passed through them. All the cars in the area were entirely disabled. The other effect of shockwave was that it launched both Gilda and Ember up high into the air into an uncontrolled tumble. It took them a few moments to get their bearings, but when they did they saw the Foggre down the street had oddly turned the same shade of grey the bubble had been and was entirely immobile. They quickly flew forward and before they could even get there the grey faded away and the cackling menace started his invisible bike up and was once again speeding away from them. The insane, if rather technologically gifted, frog knew that the two were going to give him a better chase now or else he’d fire off more bubbles. Heck, he’d probably fire them off anyway around all sorts of technology that moved. If something mechanical touched the bubble or was anywhere near it and was using something for propulsion, then it was guaranteed to need repairs afterwards. The impracticality of Faxel’s left gun came from immobilizing the user after the bubble inevitably popped releasing a shockwave and a painful amount of sound. If you were touching the gun when you fired it, the field wouldn’t affect you until after the bubble exploded, it was a bit of a delayed reaction to what the gun actually did. It was not possible for the bubble itself to be lethal, but it was a very annoying side effect for the wielder and Faxel had stopped his bike to prevent it from being messed up like the cars he left disabled in the road behind him. For any technology to avoid being damaged, all a person had to do was put on the brakes and not be moving before the bubble sucked them in and or exploded. Faxel’s invisible bike was perfectly fine and his left gun was a uniquely gifted at causing traffic problems. He had much worse gadgets on him than the two strange guns and his invisible hover bike. He just didn’t think his other toys were worth pulling out just yet. “Agh my head, what the hell was that?!” Gilda was clutching at her head in pain; her wings had taken a bit of a beating. “Okay, I think might need my rifle for this asshole!” The angry sentiment Ember spoke with was mirrored by the angered squealing of Mr. Spew, both of them were rubbing at their foreheads. The squid really hadn’t liked that and sorely wanted to spit something lethal. Ember’s head pounded and her sense of balance was slightly off, but she kept flying forward. “Let’s try to get in close and personal before resorting to guns. Aside from the obvious that he attacked our friends and fried Chrysalis a bit, why were you following Faxel before that happened?” “The little crap nearly ran me over, plus his technology is just plain awesome and I want a piece of that! Specifically the cloaking technology he has on his bike, anything else me or Greta can get from this will be the cherry on top.” Not that Gilda was a quitter, but it was starting to look like a bad idea to take on this guy while you had his attention. “We might want to split up and surprise him.” - “I’ve got an update for you girls, straight from my old friend Gummy. It seems Ember has a bounty and we will be here until she catches him, she’s currently on his tail with Gilda.” Opal might overreact to anyone trying to endanger Rarity, but her reaction to someone endangering her other friends would be just as bad. Faxel has just made a personal enemy of two AI’s; one in particular was controlling the station and had angry eyes on his avatar and it just made him look all the more adorable to Opal. “The guy nearly hit Gilda with his bike. Chrysalis has been shot twice with some sort of electricity gun and I’ve learned that she has a thing for hugging and loving bug zappers, which I will now put a ban on for various reasons. I’m seriously wondering when Chrysalis will eventually run out of things to disturb us with. Oh and the bounty just caused a traffic incident, well that’s just dandy now isn’t it?” “Chrysalis probably never will Opal, are Gilda and the others alright?” After asking the question Greta went back to munching on the snack Mr. Cumin made for her and the other girls. If Gilda was hurt, she’d go flying in one the EGGS units after bounty herself. “All crew members are okay, except maybe Sassy who had her wheelchair stolen.” There was a gray area to Opal when it came to Chrysalis getting hurt. “I’ve given up on worrying about Chrysalis; the word ‘alright’ when in context to Changeling Queen will always be set to ‘completely fine’ from now on. If we happen to find her dead and atomically shredded unmoving corpse personally at any time, which is not likely to happen in this millennium, then I’ll be utterly flabbergasted. As for the, ‘what if’, scenario you asked me to calculate. the most likely thing to kill Chrysalis as she is now is a chicken feather to the throat, choking on a black pretzel, attacked by a flock of killer chickens which can lead back into the choking on a feather and or killed by a pillow filled with, you guessed it and to nobody’s surprise, chicken feathers. I’ll just skip to the last one to save time, it is her being caught in the center of an exploding sun with flaming demon chickens that shoot plasma feathers and they all get promptly swallowed by a black hole and the singularity also explodes and then the universe collapses down on Chrysalis, mostly because existence is not entirely sure if she’s dead or not yet and only then do things return to normal without Chrysalis having ever existed. Before you ask, yes, my calculations are really oddly specific on that last one and I’m beginning to think I should disable my running gag subroutine as it might be throwing off my calculations with crossing the road jokes. That or it’s bleed over from communing with Gummy at a level only AI’s, gods and the incredibly gifted could possibly keep up with. At least he promised me he wouldn’t do the epileptic tree thing while I’m here. In other news Trapeze’s group is entirely untouched by any trouble whatsoever, so Greta your bet fell through and Coco seems to be on track with hers, but Saffron’s could still happen if given enough time.” “Why a black pretzel and when would Chrysalis ever eat want to eat one?” Giggling at that thought Saffron’s brain worked on that for a moment and she looked over to Coco who shrugged and shuffled some cards with her hooves. “Well if it was made of hair maybe…” “I’d rather not think of anyone dying anytime soon after Antilur Station.” Her meek personality coming to the forefront, Coco received a hug from Greta and Saffron which she nuzzled into. “Thank you, but can we please change the subject away from death?” “Okay, we’ll stop considering whether or not Chrysalis can die and is in fact made of dark matter and will now change subjects on this ‘what if’ routine we have Opal calculating for us. Is it my turn to cut the deck Coco?” Greta split the cards up in small groups and them placed them back together before Coco for her deal them out. “So Opal, what if… Rarity eventually does meet the stallion of her dreams that can fit in perfectly with all of her criteria for a perfect stallion. How do you think that will turn out?” “We promised to change the subject away from death Greta, this one ends up with such a stallion dying within a week of meeting Rarity.” Opal really hoped she had fudged up that calculation or allowed any personal feelings to mess this particular one up. The end result of it had come up obscenely fast, if Opal hadn’t messed with the calculations then Rarity was going to be a sad pony if she continued to hold on to her current sexual proclivity. "If you're wondering, immediately lethal stress induced heart attack." Author's Note Okay if I have a Pinkie from another story of mine standing in for the real one of this story, then where did my Coarse Diamonds Pinkie Pie go? I am the author right? You'd think I would know about this replacement.
-73-“So Chrysalis, why didn’t you go with Ember and Gilda?” As for the reason why Rarity didn’t go, she wasn’t a hero and she didn’t want to be dragged into another messy situation and she wanted to relax after doing some shopping. She was not a bounty hunter and she would only go gallivanting off after her friends if they were in serious danger. Gilda and Ember could take care of themselves and the ice cream Pinkie was buying for them at this place that was quite nice. The strawberry mango rocky road cone she was having tasted odd, but not exactly in a bad way. “What and leave Sassy and Little Snack behind? Mind you I understand Sassy can fight even if she still can’t walk very well, her attack looked quite impressive. It would have been pretty hard to come back from being bisected and she is rather lucky it only hit a tree, one that didn’t fall over. That guy’s gun wasn’t very dangerous as it would mostly knock someone out, since I sincerely doubt even getting hit by four of those electric shots unprotected would kill you. I think those shots were only meant for incapacitating. I’d rather spend more time getting to know the rising star of a noble mare I’m working with, among other things.” Chrysalis had to give it to Rarity; most nobles didn’t have the balls to enter what was a really bad situation not once, but three times and with ludicrously short odds of survivability. Rarity didn’t seem interested in her as more than a friend, Sassy on the other hoof was reading emotionally lukewarm in regards to her and she wanted more opportunities to spend time with her. Running off to chase down some small punk that wasn’t going to kill anyone would be boring, annoying, quite beneath her and a waste of time. “I may not act like it at times, but I am a quite an intelligent individual with flexibility in both my physical and mental aspects. The only thing that really interested me was the pistol and aside from that, I’m looking to relax as well and possibly get to know Ms. Saddles a bit better as I have already learned quite a bit about Little Snack. I’m feeling a bit homesick and I miss treating some of my Changeling like dirt, mostly because those are the kind of feelings I’m picking off the squirt.” “It was nice to pretend that I had my parents back for a while, even if you can’t get their voices right without hearing them first. Thanks for what you managed to do at least.” One of the many problems that Changelings had that Babs wished they didn’t, she was still moping a bit and eating the ice cream that Pinkie was paying for. The filly looked like she could use all the comfort food she could get. “So is that how every Changeling contract really works?” “Changelings are imitators and not the actual product aside from true shifts in genitalia, I’m not sorry to say that your love was positively delicious and you certainly understood the fine print on the contract of the imitation of dead loved ones the Changeling hasn’t heard the voices of yet. Also Sex should only occur with those of the age of consent and if the Changeling in particular comes to love said paramour back, then marriage rules will vary. Keeping the Changeling in a romance based marriage makes the pony untouchable by other Changelings as applicable by Changeling law, especially when it comes to someone in an excellent symbiotic relationship where love is essentially endless. More recently it’s been ratified to include pony hair, which grows back fast to a particular extent. Provided it was long before hoof as such that pony will naturally grow their hair back to that length, such as to the hooves in as little as a week. Ponies who want to keep short hairstyles will usually have slowed down hair growth rate whereas ponies who like long hair are the opposite by use of passive magic. We are bound to follow the rules of ponies by our alliance to Equestria, but otherwise we follow our own when they can’t and shouldn’t be enforced. The contract is not overly binding and can be cancelled at any time by either party, but definitely immediately should the relationship sour. If your Changeling is defective we can find you a new shiny one as a temporary stand in as we get the old one back on his or her hooves.” Antilur Station was a bit hectic, even for Chrysalis when she found out her hive mind had been open and speaking of which, since she recently saw Maud then that would mean that Boulder Bottom was currently with her and she hadn’t bothered to open her link up to check in with him. Turning to Rarity Chrysalis sat her chin on her crossed hooves, she was the only one not eating ice cream at the table and was just soaking up the love of ice cream from the air. It was free love and Chrysalis wasn’t about to tell them she was feeding in their presence, that would likely unnerve them. “You’d be rather surprised how often a pony didn’t care that we couldn’t get the voice exactly right, sometime ponies just loved the imposter anyway and wanted to live in a fantasy. Other times, if rarely at that, said pony wanted to know the real being beneath the false appearance. If you cannot feed your particular Changeling enough love for them to continue surviving and being the kind of pony you want, then the contract will likely be broken by the Changeling based on circumstances and whether or not either party wishes to continue. I as a Queen have to hold myself to higher standards on which being I choose to mate with and therefore cannot imitate someone who is currently in or was in a sexually healthy relationship unless I intend to reveal myself before sex or swap out with a Changeling who specializes in having nymphomania. As long as I’m considered a Changeling Queen I can use my queen name of Chrysalis as a completely respectable authority figure among my race. If I stop being queen, for reasons of death or the complete inability to form a coherent sentence whether by mouth, hive mind, writing and or using a mouth through puppetry. In that instance I would go back to being Crystal Dick, but I’d retain my current upgraded form as you see it. I could return to queen status depending on whether my injuries are permanent or not.” “Your race is always going to have strange and concerning connotations isn’t it.” Simple and to the point, Rarity didn’t exactly have much to say to that. “I’m not going to ask what you mean by puppetry and I’d rather you not use it on me.” “Relax, it’s nothing serious. It’s just when all you have left is your horn and you can’t use a levitation spell to wield a writing implement, the puppetry spell uses almost no energy and requires simply having another Changeling present. Usually the other requirements are more likely to work and we, specifically Changeling Queens, can only puppet another Changeling’s mouth.” Chrysalis smiled faintly at the last few times she spoke through another Changeling, that prank had been hilarious. “A Changeling Queen can only control one mind at any given time and a strong mind will throw off the spell entirely, as such mind control is hardly useful unless you can control a mind of importance in a high position that has a weak will. Most of the nobles in Canterlot were pathetic, though some like Fancy Pants could throw it off immediately without blinking. Those who are under Changeling mind control specifically are also rather noticeable, such as having glazed or drooping eyes that sometimes flash, constant headaches and sometimes a notably suppressed personality to the more attentive. A wedding is perfect cover for something like that where there are plenty of stressed out people. Changelings do not have the power to convert other beings into being one of us, why the thought is just ludicrous and won’t happen unless we specifically breed with a pony to create a hybrid. Besides if we did have the ability to convert others into Changelings, then we’d be converting our own food source and that would be really damn stupid. As eventually would either convert or eat ourselves out of existence, so cooperation and symbiosis was the best course of action.” “Speaking of nobles, I’ve heard you were ranting about how horribly the gala went for you Rarity. I’m sorry to hear your night didn’t go over so well.” Sassy wanted to take this time to get back in the loop. “So whatever happened to meeting prince charming? I may not like the idea of men touching my friends, but I can’t stop you from living how you want to and I want you to be happy.” “Well I thought about it and then decided that I just wanted to befriend him at first… only I met the most boorish pony in existence and wanted to shoot him after minutes of being within his presence. How such a unrefined and crude being like that can be called a noble I will never know.” Rarity was able to talk about her excursions on Equus without flinching now, Vera was really quite helpful in that regard. “I didn’t pull my gun on the terrorists at the gala for the very reason that I wanted them to shoot my dream prince and save me from him. The week leading up to the gala was quite horrible as well and I had almost been raped by a stallion, so I was feeling far less ready for a relationship or even a one night stand at that point. I sorely regret my attempts at trying to be his friend.” “Wait… what happened to this guy that tried to rape you and where is he now?” Darkening her tone, Sassy didn’t care where the guy was, she’d find a way to get to him for trying to harm an unwilling Rarity. “Well he’s paraplegic and neutered thanks to Rarity and Saffron. He was also poisoned by someone who has a grudge against him; he’s alive and I assure you that he can still feel pain. Quite a lot of it actually and since ponies don’t like pain, that means it’s a good thing.” Chrysalis wasn’t about to tell anyone about Opal and her having something of a rapport going between them, they were quick friends starting out of mutual displeasure for someone else. The pony hive mind was nice enough even if Chrysalis was a bit leery of higher forms of technology. “I wouldn’t worry about doing any more to him; he’s in constant agony as it is.” “Yikes, you’re one scary lady ma’am.” They had almost forgotten they had Babs with them; Pinkie was doing her best with trying to cheer up the filly and so far it hasn’t been going so well except for buying her ice cream. “Yeah no kidding, the worst I would have done is gotten him put in jail without a chance to taste anything yummy for years on end.” This was Pinkie’s chance to talk, the only one in this chapter and she may as well use it on food. “I can’t imagine a fate worse than not being able to eat cupcakes, cookies, pies, tarts, chocolate fudge and anything along those lines… creamy, creamy butterscotch cinnamon pie…” “Thank you again for paying for our snacks Pinkie.” Rarity turned to Sassy and looked her in the eyes. “I’m fine; it’s taken care of, no need to go on a crusade for my sake. He has been dealt with and is not a threat to me or you.” “Well at least that stallion got what he deserves.” Sassy sounded particularly pleased; then again she was trying to focus more of her rage towards the men who actively did bad things aside from just existing. The masseuse Rarity hired was working with her on that and she was taking some deep breaths to keep her mental balance. “So where are we going to next?” “We need gems, jewels and other stuff for dress making Sassy or we could head back to the Caravel Boutique and work on making some sales, that or we can wait somewhere for Gilda and Ember to get your wheelchair back.” They had plenty of options as long as none of them would lead Rarity to having to get her mane mussed up, that was bad enough with every time she took off her poor EVA suit that kept getting covered in blood, pus, flesh, grime and muck. “I’d rather not go through the trouble of sweating in excess and have to bathe when I get back to Shining Jewel.” “If we could get me back to Caravel Boutique, I’m sure I could run the store with a little help Rarity.” Sassy had to wonder why Rarity chose the route they were going and would voice it now while she had everyone’s attention. “Speaking of, why are we heading to Applin Five anyway?” “Well it is a planet established by ponies, there has to be a market for clothing somewhere on the surface. It’s a completely green world and there isn’t a space station in orbit yet. So we can make something of a profit on EVA suit sales when they start building that at least. I think right now all they have is a supply depot.” That and Rarity had a few other reasons for this particular trip. “When we’re done there, we’ll be close enough to take a trip to Noctus.” “Oh, that is just simply brilliant Rarity! Hoity Toity has been doing a lot of stuff in the name of fashion on Noctus recently.” At least Sassy was satisfied that Rarity had a course of action in mind when it came to their business as being fashion designers. She was still catching up to recent news on her data pad and she has been hearing a few things about Rarity being a mysterious new Baroness. “Maybe we can get into a fashion show; Prim Hemline has also been seen taking an interest in alien fashions recently and Noctus is currently becoming a popular planet for socialites.” “A way to get my hoof in the door would be rather nice.” Rarity contemplated this, how would one even go about accomplishing that? Oh right she had something else to tell Chrysalis didn’t she? “I forgot to tell you, I’ve actually finished your commission Chrysalis and I’ll give it to you later. You’ll have to remind me about it though.” Being famous, if for a short while, was still a dream Rarity was willing to pursue. She was already rich with friendship and what odd friendships those were. Her business wasn’t doing poorly and she was making enough money to pursue her own goals and help the others do the same with theirs as well. As long as she didn’t spend all her money all at once, then things would be alright. She still needed to find true love as well, that was going slow as she has yet to meet a stallion that could meet up to her rather lofty expectations. Her eye for detail had yet to spot a single stallion to try and charm, she might as well have a look around the station for a date or someone of interest. - “So when do you plan to get off Shining Jewel for some rest and relaxation?” It was a simple question and Coco hadn’t known what it would mean to Vera when she asked it. “Hopefully never, I mean can you imagine? I’m one of the most forgettable ponies in all of existence!” Vera feared getting off of Shining Jewel and she was going to lay her cards out on the table, mostly because their game was still going. “All Rarity would have to do is have me slip her mind just once and I would be… I would be left behind and forgotten. I would be living my greatest fear, I’ve been afraid of that happening since I joined Rarity on the Caravel Boutique. All she would have to do is forget I existed just once and I’d be stuck at wherever you left me at.” “Yeah, your ability to be ignored is pretty bad in that case. At least Rarity can remember you exist and would remind Opal that you do in case your name is deleted from the registry. I’m sure we would come back for you; your masseuse skills are keeping Rarity in order. Otherwise she complains a lot and is really moody about how badly damaged her EVA suit gets, it is either that or get sad that you couldn’t have saved hundreds of lives. It’s not like the entire universe is sitting on our shoulders. If it makes you feel better, we’d have to come back for you.” Greta flicked a few cards onto the table and the other ladies groaned at it. They started another round of cards. “Speaking of that, you should be happy Opal is making that kind of effort just for you. Heck, we’re all making a little effort to remember you at least once every day without the aid of the drone pointing at you constantly. The Boss Lady has issues with fighting and doing dangerous stuff, but once she’s got a strong resolve to help she doesn’t stumble in her efforts. For a mare who’s a fashion designer, she’s really quite tough and stronger than I. I wouldn’t have stepped one talon into that station if you paid me exorbitantly to do so.” “I appreciate you greatly for that Opal, keep up the good work.” A smile crossed Vera’s face as she placed down her cards with a bit of a gloating expression. “I win this one, I just want recognition and that’s rather hard to do when every single one of you keeps forgetting my name. I might just change my name to Masseuse at this rate.” “Whatever you say Masseuse, I’m busy watching cartoons right now!” Opal was clearly distracted and paying them barely any attention at the moment, she missed Vera frowning at the nearest monitor. “You think that’s rough, try sneaking out of bed and to go fight crime in the dead of night. I was afraid of my father finding out about my nighttime activities for a long time.” Once the cards were passed out Saffron picked up a few cards and tossed a few out. “Lunch and dinner is what our restaurant used to do, so my habit of sleeping in through most of the morning might have tipped him off. He never spoke up about the injuries I claimed came from accidents or a stallion that got a little too rough with me… then again a stallion getting rough with me was probably what dad expected in a literal sense and not a sensual one. I was the one usually giving the beating to a lot of mares and stallions, just as much as I was getting beaten up by them. I’m a bit unusual for a unicorn in being somewhat muscular from all the exercise I got running around in a costume; teleportation quickly became a requirement for patrolling rooftops and all kinds of other things. While most unicorns are happy with just learning things related to their cutie marks, I certainly wasn’t and I’m still pushing the envelope to learn more spells. I kind of miss the cape and mask, I’m mostly here for my father and to help people who sorely need it. Rarity has a great sense of generosity, I wanted to be a part of that and I don’t regret choosing to be here in the slightest.” “In any case Vera needs someone to help her, instead of her just helping us all the time. I think you will have a problem Vera, especially if you can’t ever leave the ship. If something was to happen to Shining Jewel and you were too scared to leave… let’s just continue our next hoof.” Now there was a thought that Coco would rather she didn’t finish. “With Opal distracted by cartoons, do you think she’s missing the play by play of what Gilda and Ember are doing? I mean they are kind of tracking down a dangerous individual together and Gilda is not exactly as close to Ember as we have been getting. Ember is really nice and gentle, aside from the whole being a bounty hunter thing. To think I used to be really scared of her, she’s not really a bad dragon at all.” “Yeah, Gilda is a little hard to get close to, but I love her grumpy attitude all the same. Ember is actually surprisingly easy to get along with, she really knows her weapons and how to modify them. She was working on an energy whip when she came up to me and asked me for some help with a few technical problems she’s been having with her idea. It’s based off the second pinpoint puller she bought and it is really fascinating what she’s attempting to do with it, could be what Sassy needs to improve on her design.” Greta chirped out loud with a grinning beak and started shuffling the cards. “Well at least I’m quite sure that Ember and Gilda are wrapping things up right now even if they aren’t getting along!” - Greta might have been a bit too positive, because Gilda and Ember had yet to actually touch the little snot Faxel. Faxel was being quite an elusive annoying little thing and it was really becoming hard to tell who the predator was as much the prey in this situation. They had been chasing him nonstop and had tried several times to get him into a pincer attack only to fail and the Foggre was proving to be a lot of trouble. His skills in wielding the minimum of the absurd technology at his command were incredible, as much as he was when he hopped off the hover bike and decided to toy with Gilda and Ember on foot. Ember and Greta were having a tough time putting a claw on him and Ember was having a hard time controlling her blasts of fire when she became furious from the fact that Faxel had been damaging her clothing with each successful hit of the stupidly random shock orbs. Ember forcibly held herself back as she didn’t want to hurt Gilda, as that would in turn make her feel bad for harming her hoard and there was also Greta because she loved Gilda unconditionally. They weren’t even anywhere close to wrapping up their business in dealing with Faxel, said Foggre was grinning madly at them and waving his hands at them in a jovial manner as they laid on the street groaning from his recent use of both his pistols at the same time. One shot from his left pistol to create a distortion bubble and then he’d set up a lot of electrical orbs to fly forward and freeze upon impact with the bubble. When the bubble popped, hell broke loose and since he was fighting them in the middle of the streets, it was quite literally breaking lose as he damaged his surroundings without care for the people in said surroundings. People went down shocked, others were knocked over by the blast of the distortion bubble, vehicles were being wrecked and the little guy was laughing at all the chaos he was causing. The dragon in particular felt like she and one of her hoard had been electrocuted one too many times, because her ire at the frog became stone cold fury and she could feel her flames lapping at her lips from the damage her clothing was taking. Ember had held up to the onslaught of random orbs pretty well, but Gilda looked a little out of it and was on the ground groaning and twitching slightly. “Ember, go get your rifle. I’ll try to keep him busy.” Shaking her head to get back into gear, Gilda rolled to her feet and spread her wings angrily with her tail whipping back and forth behind her. She and Ember were getting along perfectly well; they were two predators with sharp claws and wings joining forces against the most annoying thing they’ve ever met in their lives. “No can do, I’m not leaving you along with this guy, he’s crafty and surprisingly fast.” The guy would bother her hoard even more while she was gone and as a dragon Ember found the idea of leaving her hoard unprotected was utterly repulsive. Nobody messed with a dragons hoard without expecting the dragon to react. “Also unusually strong, you saw how he flicked me on the beak and I went flying about forty feet until I could stop myself from hitting the ground.” Gilda landed and saw the Faxel was resting on his side in thin air and smiling smugly at them. “He’s making a real mess of Streusel City, you have to stop him and I want to steal his bike. We’re having problems doing any of that with him toying with us like this.” “Maybe I could help?” Maud came up to them with a slightly angry demeanor, which was as much emotion as the mare could apparently show. She was monotone, but there was an underlying growl to it somehow. “Nobody messes with my sister… even if she isn’t the right one.” “It would help if you could get close to him; he’s really fast, tricky and annoying. He also apparently has a pistol that can create some kind of distortion that can stop anything and he’s apparently immune to getting hurt while the distortion distorts him after the first distortion ends. Then there’s the fact that he has a pistol that fires shots that fly so randomly that nobody could follow what path they will take.” Gilda turned to Maud with a serious look on her face. “Plus he has an invisible bike that’s pretty darn fast and he can control it independently of himself, we won’t know where it is or where it’s going when he hops off of it. Plus he somehow has some freakish strength for his size, which I’m betting is also technologically related given that is a thing Foggres are known for.” “I’ll keep that in mind.” Maud slowly moved forward. “I’ll try to make an opening for the two of you.” Maud blurred forward and with a flat emotionless face no less, she struck out with her right hoof and it was moving so fast it caught fire from the friction of moving through the air. This surprised the Foggre to an incredible degree as he had never seen a pony move like this before, she didn’t have any technology to aid in her movements and this was her natural speed. Faxel had almost been caught off guard and he barely managed to redirect the first blow and the second one that came just as quickly as he rolled off his invisible hover bike onto his feet to avoid it. If he hadn’t been wearing his helmet, one that was actually pretty darn fragile and didn’t even protect his head, then he wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the mares speed. The upside to not actually protecting his head, the helmet gave him the ability to react quickly and redirect almost any incoming physical force directed at him, provided that he saw said force heading his way at least. It didn’t give him super strength, just the illusion that he had super strength and if it had been super strength then Gilda’s beak would be broken and shoved halfway into her skull right about now. Slapping his left hand into Maud’s chin, Faxel caused her to flip backwards flailing and she looked mildly confused as she did. He then grabbed her tail and spun around before releasing her at Ember who caught her in both arms and was knocked from the air from the extra weight. After that he pulled his eyelid down and blew a raspberry at them and sped off, things were beginning to heat up and he might be able to play with his more impressive toys soon if they proved they could keep up with him.
-74-Ember was smart, or at the very least brilliant in combat as Chrysalis would state. Sure Chrysalis might not have weighed nearly as much as Ember did in pure muscle, but the Changeling Queen had her outclassed in skill only. They each had their particular combat styles, though seemingly having similar capability far away with ranged weapons, close up they were completely different in the execution of how they went about a fight. Chrysalis, when she was actually taking a fight seriously, did things in a cold precision and sometimes with viciousness. Ember in comparison was more pragmatic when it came to a fight. Instead of stopping to think, Ember was willing to use anything available to her to win a fight and was more open to doing things quickly since every second would count in a dangerous situation. This is why Ember had been chewed out by Rarity about her devastated EVA suit and had complained about having to fix her own, but she did thank Ember for finding her. Rarity made Ember another EVA suit as the dragon’s previous one was completely trashed and she didn’t even charge Ember for it. It was strange that Ember was thinking back on that at this moment, especially where she was currently tasting the asphalt that made up the road for the third time after another distortion bubble and forty frozen shocking spheres of energy had been unleashed in all directions. She was actually surprised that she was actually going to stop and consider the things she had learned about Faxel, like how electricity was actually pretty effective in harming her. Chrysalis would have likely killed Faxel and would have been done with it by now; Ember probably would have asked for her help if nobody wanted the target alive at least. Ember thought the Changeling Queen would have made a decent bounty hunter, but she didn’t think Chrysalis could suffer too much idiocy despite bringing her own particular brand of idiocy and insanity to the table. Ember at least had morals that were not specifically centered entirely on her race like Chrysalis and to earn her paycheck she had to actually bring this annoying guy in alive, just like any other bounty that was capture only. It really depended on the payout, the danger involved and the general unpleasantness of the target Ember was dealing with whether or not she would kill the target. If the individual needed to die, then Ember had no compunctions about killing them unless they had important information or was at the very least important for another reason entirely. There were just some people you didn’t let live, even some capture only target needed to be taken out. What was it that separated Ember from others bounty hunters in this kind of job and why was she currently thinking of Chrysalis right now? At the end of any day Ember still had her heart in the right place and Chrysalis would have thought outside the box about this problem, like crawling up into the mouth or anus of a cobbled together dragon sized corpse monster. Right now Ember’s heart was telling her to rip Faxel’s head from his body, but she was holding back admirably from actually doing that and didn’t think she actually could get at him to achieve such a miraculous feat anyway. The one important thing Ember noted was that Faxel didn’t seem to be doing anything lethal and he only seemed to be outright going for maximum annoyance potential. Sure Faxel had injured quite a few civilians, but none of those injuries were permanent and Ember couldn’t just kill him knowing this. In this situation she had to calm down and not let her anger control her, which is probably how the little snot wanted her and the others to be acting. She sat up and calmly grabbed Gilda’s shoulder, an idea just struck her and acting was a keyword in that thought process. “You okay Gilda? I’m sorry about throwing you clear like that.” Ember had taken that last one for her hoard and it had definitely stung a bit, she would scrub her scales later. “Yeah, I’m good, thanks for the save by the way. Now if there was something we could do about that guy…” Gilda focused on Faxel as he slapped at his butt while grinning at her, he even pulled down his eyelid at her and gave her a raspberry. She smirked and held up the wheelchair and he looked perplexed, Gilda gave him the bird and since she was avian already, so it was technically a double bird. “Yeah I got it back no thanks to you, you lily pad livered bastard, go eat some swamp muck!” “Ding Ding we have a winner, care to try again and actually catch me this time!” Faxel shouted from quite a distance away before cackling, he was definitely trying to gain their ire and the chase had been quite a merry one. He revved his invisible hover bike and shot off once more. “You may win an all expenses paid vacation to shock therapy land!” “We need a plan.” Maud had dealt with plenty of tough customers; she’s never met a tricky one like this though. There was still a slight frown on her face as she looked to Ember. “Have any ideas?” “Yes, I do in fact have an idea.” Holding up a claw Ember pulled out her data pad and hoped that it still worked, she’s lost a lot of data pads before and this time wouldn’t be any different considering all the electricity she’d been hit with. It surprisingly still turned on and she could use it. “Hold on a second, I have a call to make.” “I should probably call the Boss Lady and tell her that we got Sassy’s wheelchair back at least, but that guy is still out there and I want a look at his equipment…” Gilda heard Rarity’s voice coming from Ember’s pad, she decided that it was taken care of the griffon turned her gaze to the odd silent stare from Maud. Gilda realized that she had phrased what she had recently said. “I mean the hover bike of course, I’m a mechanical engineer and I want a look at the technology behind it. I’m involved now and I want to get something out of the messes he’s been causing.” “Sure, whatever you say.” Came the flat response via the Maud-a-tone voice. “I’m sure all his technology is just as small as he is.” - “Are you even able to stand up Sassy?” Rarity’s group had finished having snacks and now they would either go shopping or at the very least get Sassy back to Caravel Boutique for some rest. Hearing something, Rarity swiftly pulled out her data pad and took the incoming call. Sassy was still sitting right where she was and the others had gotten up to leave. “Hello… oh hello Ember, what’s the matter darling? Oh thank goodness for that at least, we’re in Streusel City at a very nice ice cream shop between fourth and triangle. It’s a very popular location so you probably can’t miss it. Yes Sassy seems to be feeling better and it’s quite nice of you to ask, but we need the wheelchair. Huh… another reason for calling? If you need Trapeze then why are you calling me? Oh right, you don’t know how to contact her or any other members of my crew… I’m dreadfully sorry about that. Oh pish posh dear, none of that now. So what will you need of Trapeze once I do contact her?” While Rarity was busy talking, Sassy turned to look at Pinkie, Babs and Chrysalis. She frowned and whimpered at what she was about to ask and she didn’t know Pinkie well enough to ask her, so it had to be Chrysalis because she didn’t think Babs would be prudent to ask for help. “Chrysalis, could you maybe help me… get to the bathroom.” Sassy didn’t like feeling weak, but one use of magic for her charged sword slice and she was finding it hard to stand. She really didn’t like looking weak and she clutched her sheathed blade to her chest like a security blanket, at least she could ask. “I’m sorry if I’m being a bit of a bother asking for help like this.” “Sure, but you’ll have to wipe your rather radiant backside yourself if this is a number two. Stick with Rarity and the pink dodo my little snack; we’ll be back in a few.” Chrysalis lit her horn and hefted an embarrassed looking Sassy into the air with her magic; she then proceeded to slowly walk off towards the public restroom. A unicorn could not levitate themselves because they were the anchor point for the levitation spell and gravity alteration spells didn’t seem like Sassy’s cup of tea. “You’re pretty embarrassed about this and I can’t really understand why, you ponies and your weird emotions.” “Well excuse me if I feel a little unnerved about being carried to the toilet like this. Well since you can read emotions… is anyone present in there at the moment?” Sassy really didn’t want to deal with anyone asking questions in a public restroom. “Not that I can tell at the moment, I still don’t understand why most people are so embarrassed about natural bodily functions. It’s as nature intended and if that’s embarrassing, then high society can go screw itself for all I care.” Pushing the door open, Chrysalis walked in and floated Sassy in behind her. “I fart because I need to and if you think that’s disgusting then I’d like to see you go for the rest of your life without a butt.” “Does it always come back to butts with you?” She had been told about it, but Sassy didn’t believe anyone when they said Chrysalis focused a little too hard on butts. “Yes, are you saying your life doesn’t always come back to the backside or even revolve around pleasing it and worshipping butt enlarging gods? What a sad existence you must lead, now let me clean out a stall before I set your rear down.” Chrysalis opened a stall and like all public restrooms it was disgusting. Disgusting things didn’t matter to Chrysalis, but it did matter to Sassy and she was a pony of some class like Rarity obviously. She’d be right at home with a dingy place like this. “It was either a little kid or someone who’s a jerk that did that, I’m leaning the latter. I’ll check the other stalls to see what I have to work with, I’ve never really cared for public restrooms.” “Thank you, for thinking of my needs.” Friendships were started on less innocuous statements. “I can’t say that I care all that much about public restrooms either.” “You’re kind of broadcasting distress right now, I guess you really need to relieve yourself. I was available to help you out and then I decided to do so. I prefer happy love spewing ponies, so you’re welcome to laugh, smile and show some love.” Well it seemed like Chrysalis was doing the right thing so far, she had yet to upset Sassy personally and that was a win in her very small book of victories. “I wanted to at least be considerate of your hygiene before I plant you on something you’ll regret sitting on later. Well at least a pony might regret it; I hardly ever need to use a toilet personally.” - “We’re almost done here anyway; no I have no problem with helping Ember. Okay, I’ll get right on it!” Trapeze tilted her hat down and bounced in place slightly as she shoved her data pad back up into her hat. “Well guys, hold down the fort, I’m needed elsewhere. Bernard you’re in charge until I get back, do you have any problems with that Rover? I’m quite responsible for the both of you; so please don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.” “No, Rover is having no problems with that whatsoever, is good having strong predator friend.” At least Rover was okay with this, but he was feeling a bit off lately. He wasn’t sick, he would know if he were. Could it be that he was missing Spot and Fido? Well he had a good life right now and it was at least better than digging for the rest of his life, plus that didn’t mean he would forget how to dig. Who’s ever heard of a Diamond Dog that forgot the feeling of dirt between their claws? The Boss Lady might like cleanliness and hygiene, which was definitely something Rover understood as being important. Diamond Dogs have been slowly improving in the very subject, but like them he still enjoyed getting dirty. “It means being less likely to be eaten by a predator yourself.” Bernard just waved a paw in Trapeze’s direction, he had it covered. If he didn’t, then he would fix it so that he did have it covered. He was after all Trapeze’s number one assistant and she was his beast bait. Trapeze set out from the room to rendezvous with Maud and Ember, Gilda was already flying the wheelchair back to Rarity. - “So Vera doesn’t want to be forgotten, my Saffron doesn’t want to be alone, Greta wants Gilda and possibly for rainbows to start spewing out of every one of her orifices. I personally want to keep cooking delicious food fit for a princess and a Baroness is close enough.” Coriander smiled at all of the ones he spoke of and then turned to the last one. He became a little stern with the last one they needed to discuss. “We however haven’t gotten around to what you want Ms. Pommel.” “I just want to be useful.” So far things have been going pretty well for Coco and this small social party was a big hit with everyone. “Yeah I can see that clearly… I can see clearly that it is not a real answer. What is it that you really want Coco?” Greta clearly wanted to know what made Coco tick. Of the things Greta knew, she was a shy mare and she made clothes. Where was that special pizzazz that ponies had for being unusual in Coco? She seemed too normal to be real and that was coming from a griffon sitting at a table with Mare-Do-Well and the amazing disappearing mare. “What kind of dreams do you have going on in that sweet little head of yours? We’re all friends here and we’re getting along, so what’s got you so scared of us. We’re all sharing our dreams here and yes, I do eventually want a rainbow to at least fly out of my mouth once. Hopefully it won’t be liquid rainbow though, that stuff doesn’t hit the tongue quite right.” “Well our technical engineer has a point and I don’t mean about wanting to experience something as odd as spewing a rainbow out of your mouth.” Taking a sip of her fruit juice, Vera looked Coco in the eyes with a concerned expression. She reached across the table and grasped Coco’s hooves. “Which is something the elements of harmony can do apparently, but we’re not talking about magical artifacts. We’re here to talk about ourselves. What kind of dreams do you have outside of clothing and sticking, if almost religiously at that, so tightly to your cutie marks abilities?” “Promise me you won‘t think it’s a bit weird, concerning the fact that I’m a rather petite mare.” Yes, a petite mare that had a powerful punch when she got angry enough. Coco had surprisingly waited to freak out until she was back to safety after having voluntarily gone onto Antilur during the crisis. “Go ahead, it can’t be worse than Saffron wanting a sidekick.” A giggling Greta had thought Saffron complained a little too hard about not having a sidekick and that led to an interesting discussion about the classic comic book heroes that were known as The Power Ponies. Greta liked the comic book heroes well enough, but she personally had issues with the characters being vastly different on a power scale to each other. The recurring villainous earth pony was interesting, until she disappeared at a honey festival with Radiance after becoming friends with her. “Hey, it gets lonely patrolling for ne’er-do-wells all by myself I’ll have you know!” Defended Saffron with an exaggerated tone of aggravation, she was smiling about it though. “So what is it Coco, what’s your big secret.” “Well… I’ve always been a fan of… wrestling.” That caused a few confused looks and Coco hoped that they’d at least understand. “Is it just the costumes or the whole shebang? Rarity probably wouldn’t want to get into a mud wrestling match, not with how she gets complaining about having to clean detritus off of her personal EVA suit or fix the damage to the other suits.” At least Greta thought things were going well, nobody laughed and they all took her interest with seriousness because they weren’t about to laugh at the hard working sweetheart of the crew. “You know, just to clarify things.” “Yes the costumes are a large part of it, but I’d say it’s the whole… well everything that goes into it as well.” It was a little more than surprising to Coco that nobody thought her interest was strange. “So do you want to do some wrestling? We can start our own little league and have some fun with it. Would you like that?” It wasn’t exactly the healthiest sport to get into, but it was the least dangerous if done right and Vera had no problem with it. “I will have to remind everyone here that I’m a therapy provider and not a doctor by any stretch of the imagination, so don’t blame me for being incapable of healing the injuries.” “I don’t know, my imagination can stretch pretty far…. I wonder how Gilda is doing.” Greta says her imagination can stretch far one second and the next she’s immediately thinking about her grumpier other half. Maybe a quarter if they start a herd with Tree Hugger and anyone else. - Gilda’s feathers were ruffled, she had finished dropping off the wheelchair and Sassy was able to get around again. Now she was sitting there with Trapeze, Maud and Ember. “Okay a one pony circus act, a geologist who likes to rock hard, a bounty hunter with a golden heart and an awesome mechanic walk into a bar. What do they all have in common?” Not a love for the smell of motor oil, of that Gilda was certain. “A headache and a dent or two in the bar of course, mostly depending on how thick our skulls are and what material the bar is made of. We’d all be wearing glasses soon enough afterwards.” Trapeze took off her hat rubbed her head, curious as to why Ember needed her assistance. “I would like to get to this problem you were telling me about and why exactly did we come to a bar in the first place?” “I need alcohol. I need you to perform a few tricks for me. I’ll need Gilda with me for this and Maud I need you to clear a section of the city. Hey barkeep, give me something along the lines of one hundred and ninety proof please.” Ember tapped the bar and a bottle was placed before her by the bartender, she paid for it after having looked at the proofing on it and nodded to herself. She double checked it by sniffing the contents and nodded again, that was definitely the right alcohol level. “We’ll tell you what we know about Faxel and why we’re having so much trouble with him. The guy is tricky with his technology, so how would you deal with a tricky problem? Well I considered it and then I figured an obtuse solution would do, so I decided to get an expert on magic.” “I’m not an expert on magic, I’m a magician.” One would think the two were the same thing, but Trapeze didn’t seem to think so. “That doesn’t matter; I just need you to perform to your best for what I have in mind. I called you in so you’re getting a cut of this bounty if you pull this off.” It was a brilliant idea to Ember, to catch a trickster you needed one and the plan she had thought of would be glorious after having watched Trapeze in action personally. “Here’s what you’re going to do after we make a few more purchases…” - Faxel wondered where his chasers were, he hadn’t seen them in a while and he caused quite a bit of chaos to attract their attention. So why hadn’t they come after him? Had they finally wizened up to his game? It wouldn’t be the first time he’s eluded a bounty hunters grasp or frustrated them hard enough that they gave up. He stopped at an intersection and felt that something was off. “Hey there, do you like games?” The sound of Trapeze’s voice caused Faxel to tense up; he swerved his bike around to see the top hat wearing pony. Said pony was balanced perfectly on the streetlight on one hoof, while the rest of her body was poised above her like a diving griffon. Space stations were either well lit or dark with street lights, it helped people keep a sense of normalcy when there was something like a day and night cycle going on. It was what was considered daytime in deep space and Trapeze usually liked performing in front of a crowd, this time she was making an exception given this guy attacked her friends. “Heard you were a tricky customer and that you liked using weird devices, I’m a mare of tricks myself and I don’t believe there is enough room in Streusel Station for the likes of you!” Pushing off the light with her hoof, she flipped up and backwards to grab the streetlights horizontal bar and twirled around it twice before launching herself forwards towards Faxel. Said Foggre had quick reflexes as the somersaulting mare flew at him. He pulled his right gun and fired several shock orbs and was immediately surprised to find that the mare fell short of him and hadn’t intended to strike him. She simply leapt around and through the shots with the greatest of ease; he just fired more and was kind of astonished that she continued to move toward him despite the fact that her every instinct should be telling her to run. “Now don’t tell me this is the best you got?” Trapeze tumbled under one shot that shot up towards her face, jumped over the next that flashed between all four of her legs and then just calmly trotted forward at a slow pace as the last one missed her without even ruffling her mane. She tilted her hat and bounced on her hooves in place, shifting her legs ever so slightly and smiled at the frog. “Have I got a rhythm for you, now let’s make some magic!” Trapeze whipped off her hat and pulled; with a bit of a struggle she pulled out a large metal ring. Faxel was a bit mystified by it, considering it was larger than the top hat it came out of. The mare smiled at him and sat the ring on the ground near one street corner of the intersection they were at and then spun it, when it came to a stop the mare was gone and the ring was just sitting in place. Hearing a whistle Faxel turned and saw the mare at another street corner with another ring and she was smirking. He fired three shots in her direction and the spinning ring absorbed them all, when it eventually stopped spinning Trapeze was no longer there either. Faxel looked to a different street corner and realized something, the area was empty of pedestrians and there were no vehicles here. There was the one mare spinning another ring and disappearing behind it again as if by magic, but she didn’t have a horn. Turning to the last corner he saw another ring that was the same size as the others already set up and the mare was holding four large jewels in her two hooves. “I really dislike blue hedgehogs and their special zones; they always take so darn long to get through… anyway I’m sorry about the delay on that last one.” Nothing was more confusing than what Trapeze had just said and Faxel clearly showed it, considering she seemingly set it up before the third ring. And here the alien frog thought he was the expert at shock and awe. “So wait, judging by your expression you’re saying that no time passed for you? Oh good, then I won’t have to explain where I got these emeralds from. The universe probably wouldn’t like it if I accidentally crossed wires over somewhere.” Trapeze tossed the four so called emeralds into her hat and smiled as she pulled something else out. A five foot metal balancing pole, now Faxel was more curious than flighty or aggressive at what the mare was going to do now. What she pulled out next was a unicycle, of which she hopped onto immediately and within seconds she found her balance. “Let me show you how magical I’m about to get!” She shot forwards towards Faxel she swung the pole for his face with a rightwards swing; he smiled and deflected the pole with his bare hand. With the redirected momentum Trapeze spun in a clockwise spiral outward and then back in slapping the back of his helmet with the other end of the pole causing it to crack a bit. Faxel hadn’t been able to redirect that or even react to stop the blow in time, his helmet seemed rather uniquely fragile to Trapeze. Faxel was a little more than shocked and he pulled his left pistol and fired the distortion bubble while riding away from her. Trapeze rolled her eyes and quickly pedaled backwards towards one of the standing rings watching Faxel as she did and disappeared as she went through it and beyond the edge of the ring off to the side. The ring she had been closest too had been caught in a distortion bubble and Faxel was already on the run only for a metal bar to knock him off his bike when his neck rammed into it. Trapeze had come out of a different ring while taking a jousting position on her unicycle to successfully intercept him. The frog sat up and watching as his hover bike sped off for a distance without him and then the griffon and dragon from earlier came down and seemed to grab at the air and flew up and away from the ground. They just stole his bike, they couldn’t do that! Faxel was about to say something expletive, only his world turned gray after the distortion bubble shattered knocking him onto his face. Once the side effects died off and released him, he stood up and was now facing down two earth ponies. One the smiling magician twirling the staff behind Faxel and Maud Pie was standing directly in front of him with a flat if slightly angry demeanor. Now Faxel was no longer happy, but he did reach up to his helmet and hit something. If they wanted his hover bike so badly then they could have it, in a million pieces of course. There was an explosion in the distance and parts rained from the sky and two slightly singed winged beings were slowly dropping to the ground. The dragon looked the better of the two and their infrared goggles turned to him. The griffon in particular looked really mad about something and her slightly burnt wings and furious look on her beak led Faxel to believe that maybe she wanted a bike just like his, Faxel would build another as he still had the blueprints in his noggin. “Keep him from running by moving my rings around, but remember that I’m the one that has to deal with him for now. Who knows what other tricks he has up his metaphorical sleeve, I know I have plenty up in my hat.” The smirking Trapeze had cornered a cretin, how queer it was to think that she was doing a bounty hunters job. “You want a challenge; well coming right at you live is Trapeze Star! I’m an acrobat and magician extraordinaire and for my next trick, I will be dancing with my volunteer Faxel J. Frog!” Faxel narrowed his eyes and tightened his hands into fists and smiled before laughing, this sounded like so much fun to him! He moved forward firing his right gun and Trapeze kicked her unicycle forward, the metal in it attracted the electrical orbs and absorbed them. Faxel leapt onto the unicycle and managed to avoid being shocked by the electrified metal, he smiled at Trapeze when he stopped it. “You think I’m crazy? I think you’re crazy too!” Cackling as he balanced on the unicycle holding his right pistol, Faxel was prepared to have some real good fun and this mare seemed like she could give it to him. “I really would like the deposit back on the unicycle, so don’t ruin it. Now let’s dance!” Stabbing her pole into the ground she bent it slightly and went flipping forward and intended to slam it down on Faxel. Instead he redirected the momentum backwards, the pole stabbed into the ground again and Trapeze slid down it twirling while leaning backwards. She launched a rear hoof at Faxel’s facing using the momentum of her twirls. There was something uncomfortable about the way she danced around the pole after that deflection with a friendly smile as she came back around and kicked the unicycle out from under Faxel. “Well come on big boy, don’t keep a mare waiting.” This at least gave Trapeze an idea about how difficult Faxel would be to land another solid hit on when he landed on his feet after losing the unicycle. “You know, I think my acrobatics teacher might have been a stallion pleaser...” “Let’s hold a revolution, dance and dance alike!” Faxel giggled insanely at Trapeze who currently had her rear legs wrapped around the pole and was hanging on it upside on it. Author's Note Okay now Trapeze is breaking things too... at least she didn't activate the crossover protocols on this story. That would have been disastrous.
-75-Gummy’s avatar gurgled loudly and in an adorable manner, he was a toothless pygmy alligator and one would wonder why Pinkie would think he was the cutest AI in the whole wide world. He had the whole station tuned in to Trapeze’s show, as she couldn’t very well perform without an audience. She was being paid based on how entertaining her performance was and she seemed to have even perplexed his systems and he was created by Pinkie Pie… the real one and not the one from the alternate universe that currently had command of him because she was still technically a Pinkie Pie. His purple glazed eyes and blank look made up his entire image and he was just staring at the show he was showing the whole station. Trapeze Star wouldn’t have agreed to do this if it wasn’t going to be broadcasted live; she was only going to use her brand of acrobatic magic to entertain and defend herself. It never needed to be said that Trapeze was also a fan of slapstick comedy. - “Hey look, Trapeze is on a lot of screens. Well she certainly seems like she’s enjoying the attention.” Sassy smiled as she watched Trapeze announce herself to the entire station, the mare was good for putting on a show and apparently catching a rather tricky Foggre. Her wheelchair came to a halt as did the rest of the group. “Knowing Trapeze like I do now, this should be quite the bit of entertainment.” Rarity enjoyed watching her friend perform; she checked her data pad when she heard it beep. “She has quite a fabulous flair for prestidigitation and it seems she’s being paid by the station to put on this show. Opal just sent me a text message about it.” “So should we watch?” Tilting her head in a inquisitive manner, Babs was a little less down on her luck and far more friendly with Chrysalis than most would think normal. Then again Chrysalis was trying to corrupt her and the Changeling Queen pretty much told her up front that she would. So it would only be Babs fault if she did become corrupted by Chrysalis’s Humpty Dumpty personality, that being entirely off the wall. Babs thought she was a pretty smart filly and wouldn’t fall for it, but Chrysalis was so amiable about it that it was hard to stay on her guard. “Well duh, of course we’re going to watch, Trapeze is actually interesting enough to pay attention to.” They all knew that was special coming from Chrysalis, she hardly ever thought of anyone else as being more important than her. If only the group knew Chrysalis was using this opportunity to nuzzle a distracted Sassy and nibble at her mane to see if she had a taste for it. - “Then set the stage Ember!” At Trapeze’s words, Ember swooped down and unleashed a torrent of flames as she circled around the intersection. “Maud, stop him if he tries to bug out on my show, as I’m about to make a spectacle of myself. Say hello to THE RING OF FIRE! I’ve always wanted to set an entire intersection on fire, going to cross that off my bucket list later.” “Sure you hit him once, but can you do that again, the guy is really slippery.” Ember hovered as did Gilda who flew up a second later looking very upset. The roads were quickly being blocked off by flames and Faxel looked a little shocked. When he noticed the stuff on the ground leading to the last clear road behind Trapeze, it too was swiftly lit ablaze by Ember. Faxel turned back to Trapeze who was still hanging off her pole, a pole that was made of metal. “Remember kids don’t try this anywhere, I’m a trained professional at what I do and this would be clearly impossible without my level of talent.” Trapeze turned a look to Faxel’s eyes and she narrowed them, he returned the look. (Rabi-Ribi Get on with it plays) Trapeze fell from the pole as the first shock orb hit it and electrified it, she rolled backwards and thrust out the elbow of her left hoof. When that was redirected, she switched into a spin kick using the force of the redirection which was also redirected and it was then that she decided to spin away with a stylish twirl that ended in a pose with her pointing left hoof straight up. “Well now that we got this thing going; it is obvious that dealing with you directly won’t work. You can’t take a hit, but you sure can redirect them.” With a sweep of her hat, Trapeze ran her right hoof along the edge of opening. With a swift flick of her hoof and a leap she was now balanced on top of a large green and red ball. “Then how would you deal with something like this?” Trapeze started to roll the ball in a circle around Faxel who was keeping an eye on her as she continued to speed up. With a stomp Trapeze set the ball bouncing up and down while still going in a circle with Trapeze on top of it. Surprisingly Trapeze kicked off of the ball and pulled out another one and then continued bouncing along the top of that one in the circle and now there were two, both of which were circling around Faxel. Faxel didn’t like where this was going and fired his left pistol skyward causing a distortion bubble to freeze the entire center of the intersection. He ran for the flames and was going to try to leap over them, when he did jump he found a ring in front of him. He was then tumbling out one of the other four rings around the intersection and while falling back towards the middle the distortion bubble exploded. After the distortion bubble exploded Maud moved to retrieve the ring she threw to stop Faxel from escaping. Given he had turned grey only after he slammed into the ground, Maud had plenty of time to retrieve it. During this time Trapeze set up two more bouncing balls. Faxel, after being hit with the explosion of his own distortion bubble, bounced off a nearby wall and back towards the center of the intersection where Trapeze hadn’t lost her rhythm despite being frozen in a distortion for a few seconds. When Faxel finally recovered from being frozen himself he stood up and noticed his left gun was missing and eventually saw Gilda looking it over, it was obvious that he lost his grip on it when he was blown into the wall, she smirked at him with a cheery evil grin and gave him a joy filled little wave. His being bounced off the wall lost him one of his more fun tools for messing with people and the explosion from the distortion bubble didn’t put out the walls of fire keeping him in. “Thanks for the lovely assistance Maud!” Now Trapeze had four balls bouncing around Faxel in a rhythm, all while she was hopping between each ball over Faxel’s head. She was performing hoof springs, upside down twisting spins and a somersault here and there between them following each balls bounce and landing on them without stumbling. She looked to be lazily keeping the four balls bouncing in a circle for all the effort it should have required. “Also thanks for the alcohol fueled fire Ember! Let’s get this show on the road, now as for my first trick, juggling myself on the four balls while juggling torches. Hey Ember, Gilda, throw these back to me with an under hoof toss, would you kindly!” Trapeze reached into her hat between bounces and started tossing strange sticks with large ends through the flames for Ember and Gilda catch; they lit ablaze and were swiftly thrown back by a surprised Gilda. Ember just held the burning torches tossed her way by the burning ends and she sniffed one of them. “These are a pretty good brand of juggling torch and they have a rather nice smell. Hey, don’t judge me; one of my bounties was a deranged circus clown!” Ember tossed the two torches she caught back to Trapeze who was already juggling the two torches Gilda threw to her. “Too bad he didn’t know I was impervious to fire until after he unleashed those flames in my face.” Faxel hadn’t been idle and he started firing as many shots as his right pistol could put out and the air was quickly filling with shock spheres that were flying every which way trying to tag the bouncing mare while Ember, Gilda and Maud just tried to stay out of the way of the two. Trapeze just leap through all the dangerous orbs, she was laughing as she flipped and dove around them with incredible precision, all while moving between each ball and juggling four torches. The large balls were made of rubber; as such the shock orbs did nothing to them when they struck aside from altering the momentum of the ball in question until Trapeze fixed it with a quick bounce. Trapeze stopped to bounce on one particular ball and tossed three torches one at a time high up into the air and then she curled up into a ball while holding the last one out to the side and bounced straight up and onto the next bouncing ball. She uncurled after bouncing off this ball while throwing the last torch in a low arc while she traveled upward, the slow flying twirling torch grazed Faxel across the back causing him to let out a yelp. Trapeze had bounced forward faster than the low arcing torch was moving and with a flip she was in position to land on the next bouncing ball. When Trapeze landed she stopped the balls momentum and instead started twirling on it like a top, as the next ball came she leaned downwards. Catching the low arcing torch, she slapped the side of it against the ball coming at her to put a different spin on the ball. She did the same thing with the next two torches while continuing her twirl, she then started to dance between balancing on either her left or right hind leg as she spun. The reason she did this is that she needed to kick the last torch up into the air. She did it with her right hind leg and straight into her three torch juggling pattern. The entire time she had a smile on her face as the shock orbs were now being blocked by the three balls bouncing in a circle around the dancing Trapeze, who was waiting to change gears once again. Now Faxel had to make a move on her. Each ball was hitting the ground at the same time and any change in momentum would require Trapeze to subtly lean out and fix it before she lost her rhythm or her juggling pattern. Faxel was having a hard time keeping up with all the things Trapeze was doing and his butt still smarted from the graze he took to it, this pony was both amazing and exciting to him. He had never seen anything quite like Trapeze Star before and she was proving to be quite tricky, especially given that she can do all this stuff without falling on her face or catching on fire. She surprised him when he decided to charge her and disrupt her bouncing spheres, unfortunately for him this was a trap and Trapeze was waiting for him to get aggressive. “As for my second trick, fire dancing!” Trapeze stopped twirling and was now twirling something in her hooves; the four torches were now combined into two batons burning at both ends. It seemed Trapeze switched to performing a fire dance, creating rings of fire in the air itself as they twirled in and around her hooves. With one twirl she slapped one of the bouncing balls after Faxel started towards her, the ball caught fire and bouncing towards him. Faxel rolled to the side, gasping as the heat was beginning to get to him and making him sweat. He then had to dodge the next ball and the one after that, each one was on fire now and he had almost been hit by that last one. He didn’t like the heat and Foggre’s weren’t very good at handling it for too long. After watching the three balls bounce out of the burning circle he was trapped in, he turned back towards Trapeze and immediately regretted taking his eyes off of her. Seconds before he turned back to look at her, she just flipped backwards off the ball she was on and sent it careening into his face at high speed with a forward buck coming out of her back flip, while lighting it on fire no less, before he could redirect it. He was knocked senseless and sent rolling with another crack in his helmet and a scorched face that he had to rub at. As soon as he got up, Faxel decided to introduce this mare to some of his other tricks, once his world stopped spinning and his head stopped hurting that is. Trapeze twirled her two flaming batons; she mentally drowned out her current surroundings and just enjoyed expressing her talents in front of thousands of watchers. She wasn’t actually fighting Faxel; she was performing with him as a surprise factor in her act and it wasn’t all that different from what she and Bernard did, Faxel was only slightly taller than Bernard was and despite his diminutive stature he was holding up pretty well despite taking that rather hefty blow to the face. It was really a surprise when she suddenly felt like ducking while moving both her batons into her right hoof while pulling her hat off with her left, a pair of brown beams of energy shot by over her head. She saw that Faxel now had goggles over his eyes, after he had just pulled them out from under his helmet. “Right, let’s get this fire fight going!” Trapeze matched Faxel’s crazy grin and forced her hat over her muzzle and then placed it on top of her head, her cheeks were now swelled up. She crossed the flaming batons and held them up to her mouth and started to spit fireballs in Faxel’s direction while dodging the strange brown beams shooting from his goggles by side stepping and rolling, she really didn’t want to know what they did so she was going to avoid letting them hit her. She started to give chase and spit more fireballs in his direction through the crossed batons. Faxel continued to fire his goggles at this nuisance and then started to run when he got scorched again; the goggles in particular had two drawbacks. One was the inability to see anything while the wearer was firing them. The other would come as soon as he managed to hit Trapeze which was proving quite difficult as the mare could leap and roll, this left him wondering if he should get more exercise or if he should remove his belt. The second drawback was part of and related to what the goggles did when the beams managed to strike a living target, because otherwise they would do nothing as his race was, to no one’s surprise, amphibious. The Foggre jumped away avoiding another fireball and started to run a zigzagging pattern leaving the fireballs impacting the ground behind him in the dust, right up and to the point that Trapeze eventually ran out of fluids to spit through the crossed flames. Turning around immediately Faxel fired his goggled almost directly in Trapeze’s face and she didn’t avoid it in time, despite the feeling that she should have fallen backwards. The beams struck Trapeze dead on and for a moment seemed to do nothing. “You’d really think that would have done something.” All Trapeze received in response to that was a grin from Faxel who snickered at her, she started to move forward preparing to start twirling her batons again. She didn’t have the time to fill her mouth with fireball fuel as; Faxel was already priming his right hand gun on her. “It seems like, whoa!” Trapeze seemed to have slipped on nothing and when her back hit the ground she went skidding across it as if she were on ice, she quickly rolled over while tossing away her batons and scrabbled with her hooves to stop from sliding into the wall of fire. She had managed to slow down and when it seemed like it wasn’t enough Ember flew down and let Trapeze grab her tail, stopping her and dragging her away from the flames and the dragon nearly got hit by the brown beams personally for her trouble. Thankfully Trapeze quickly released her tail, even when it was hard to get a good grip on it in her current state. “Well there goes my sense of balance; just what exactly did you do to me!?” Trying to stand up was really hard as her hooves seemed to be having troubles with traction. Trapeze saw Faxel cackling at her as she stumbled slowly to stand up, as this had returned things in his favor and she finally got onto her hooves when she started gripping the ground. This situation was very upsetting for a mare whose sense of balance was the larger portion of her special talent. “For your sake I hope this isn’t permanent!” It wasn’t, not that Trapeze knew that. If the goggles were destroyed, then the victims of it would go back to normal. It was that or if the affected got out of range of the goggles, which was a couple of miles. To think Faxel had managed to actually slide people out of range with his redirection helmet which had taken two solid hits now and wasn’t holding up to well. “As for my trick, you can’t stand any more of me!” Explained Faxel as eloquently as one of his intelligence could and he was using really small words here. He didn’t dare mention the second drawback of the goggles; the goggles caused the target to become somewhat frictionless as if their whole body was made of ice. The drawback was that it made her really slippery to grab a hold of and now projectile weapons would just slide right off her body, physical or energy weapons couldn’t do a single thing to her now and his distortion gun would have had no effect on her if he still had it and radiation couldn’t touch her in this state. His shocking pistol wasn’t able to touch her now and he knew it, but he wasn’t about to let her know that! The reason why he didn’t zap himself with the friction goggles while using the distortion gun, well he had various reasons for it. All of them were bad as the distortion gun would have a disastrous effect if he fired it while under the effects of his own goggles. “Zoom, zoom, zap!” Trapeze tried to leap only for her legs to slip out from under and fell onto her face, she dizzily rolled out of the way of the electric orb and when sliding towards another wall of fire from just that little movement alone. She quickly gripped the ground with her hooves and gritted her teeth as she stopped her momentum and then an idea went off in her head. She smirked and tipped her hat to Faxel, then gave him a nod. “Very tricky indeed, but I think I have an idea of what to do with you.” Kicking off with her hind legs Trapeze shot towards Faxel balance on her front to legs and he readied himself to redirect her. She smirked and at the last moment and leaned away from his thrust that would have sent her sliding backwards into a brick wall or one of the walls of fire. Instead her momentum was stopped by her rear right leg slamming between his own legs and lifting him off the ground a little. Faxel let out a wail of pain, he wondered how that could have possible hurt him and realized that she had hit him below the belt. He then felt Trapeze slap his back harshly sending him rolling forward over her rear leg and smashing his goggles into the ground which made her shift on her hooves slightly as she no longer had to grip the ground to stand upright. “Okay no more little miss nice mare, time for the night mare. Did you know I’m the pogo stick champion of Manehatten five years running?” Trapeze sighed in relief to have her friction back and she whipped off her hat and pulled a yellow and blue pogo stick out with a flourish before leaning against it with a smug grin. The pogo stick certainly matched her coat and mane; she put her hat back on and glared at Faxel. “I even got a signed pogo stick from Pogo Stick himself to prove it. That stallion knew how to do extreme sports, too bad he was too old for me, married and not interested in one more. Well enough about that, for my last trick I’m giving this little jerk a pogo pounding!” Faxel’s response was to laugh out loud despite his beaten and battered form, this was so much fun and now he had to rely on his shock pistol and ability to redirect force. He’d save his last toy for when he was really out of it; he was a tough little guy and he pulled his right pistol out and gestured at her to come at him. Instead of hopping on the pogo stick she came at him wielding it as if it were a weapon, more specifically she was holding it as if she were going to spear him on the end of it when she charged towards him. Trapeze knew what she was doing when charged him. She dodged to the left and then ducked to the right followed by a sideways rolling leap past another shock sphere; that was when she got close enough to thrust the pogo stick at him with a smile on her face. He tried to redirect it with his hand and that was a really bad idea on Faxel’s part, especially trying to redirect the motion of an object with a spring attached was a really, really bad idea for him. Even more so of a bad idea considering Trapeze outweighed Faxel and was also larger and physically stronger than him. As he tried to redirect it he almost immediately realized his mistake; he should have tried to redirect a different portion of the pogo stick. He was blown backwards to the ground and sent rolling near one of the fire walls and his helmet was now covered in cracks. Considering how his helmet didn’t actually protect his head from impacts, Faxel was getting really sore now and had a headache from that one. He stood up and looked around when he noticed Trapeze was gone, it was in that moment that she came down on top of him with the full force of her weight. His helmet shattered sending bits of it everywhere denying him the ability to redirect attacks on his person and he was also smashed into the ground. This time he really felt the pain. “How do you like those physics?!” Trapeze shouted triumphantly while hopping up and down and smiling gleefully as she backed away on her pogo stick, Faxel groaned weakly on the ground and slowly sat up to give her a grin and a thumbs up. Faxel apparently liked them; he had never been so battered and beaten like this before in his life. He loved all this action he was getting; it was really fun and quite spectacular! He wondered if he could get a copy of this fight later if he asked the Streusel Station’s AI nicely enough, he was honestly getting so many ideas for new and crazy inventions from this. Despite his soreness he still stood up, his body was clearly a bit of a walking bruise now, he would have been out for the count if it hadn’t been for his belt which had the drawback of making him slow in the first place and on the upside it took what would be normally dangerous impacts for him. His helmet was redirection, his belt was the absorption of impacts and it seemed that Trapeze had exceeded the limit on it with that last blow; he had only been feeling the barest fraction of whatever blow Trapeze dealt to him until now. Now he could move much faster, but in current his state running away would have been hard, so instead he pulled a device from his belt and hit the button to summon his favorite toy. “You thought I’m crazy, I had fun. Now to get crazier, I don’t like jail time! Ding, ding… a ring ding ding ding d-ding baa aramba baa baa barooumba!” Holding up the strange device as he yelled into it, it flashed. That’s when something exploded in the distance and then an object was seen flying through the air and it landed directly behind Faxel. It was a nine foot tall bipedal robotic gorilla, it crouched down and its chest opened up to reveal a seat that Faxel hopped into with a broad smile. His one-time super fighting robot summoning doohickey had the flaw that it fell apart after one use; he only needed the one to aid in his escape after all. “Like you a ton, but got to run!” “Are you bucking kidding me, he could have summoned something like that at any time!” Gilda was quite angry now; she had been sitting on a perch off to the side to watching and smiled when the Foggre got knocked down a peg. However when he got up and summoned powered armor that looked well built, Gilda couldn’t believe her eyes and it was a mechanical marvel meant to be piloted by the Foggre. “It looks almost looks flawless… but I can’t help but think that there’s something wrong with it.” “Yeah well, he’s not getting away on my watch.” Ember hovered near Gilda with crossed arms narrowing her eyes at what was possibly the most annoying miscreant she had ever met getting into the robot and closing himself up inside of it. “Now that… is something I can handle myself!” “Gilda can you please get Trapeze and Maud out of here!” Ember leapt and dove towards its back, it tried to jump up and away, only it fell back to the ground thanks to Ember suddenly putting all her weight on knocking it down. She wasn’t about to let this criminal run around anymore. It struggled and started to twist and turn trying to throw her off and Ember just dug her claws deeper into it. “Did you forget that I was here Faxel? I’m not letting you run away so you can cause more trouble for the people of this station.” “I guess that’s all folks!” Trapeze said waving to the nearest monitor showing her on it to get an idea of where to look and wave. “Until next time, I’m Trapeze Star of the Trapeze Traveling Troupe and if you hear we’re putting on a show, you better believe it’ll be a spectacle like this one!” “Don’t forget to let me have a few punches for blowing up his hover bike when you take him down Ember!” Now that she had something to do Gilda flew over to Trapeze and swept her up, she dropped her off on the side that the flaming balls rolled away to. “Now go get your… yeah I’m not finishing that sentence.” “What’s wrong with me getting my balls back?” Trapeze pulled out a spray bottle and started to spray the fire away. The balls would be slightly burnt, but they would still be in good condition. “That reminds me that I really need to pick up my unicycle.” “I’m going after Maud.” Grumbled Gilda did not want to answer that question and quickly flew off leaving behind a giggling Trapeze to spray down the burning spheres. - “Trapeze is really cool… I could stand to learn a few more things from her, if she were willing to teach me.” Saffron certainly could use a training course to get her doing things like that; it’d really help if she had to put on a costume again. “If Chrysalis knows how to wrestle, which given her proclivities its hard to think that she doesn't, then I’ll be right there with you in the training room after I make a costume for myself.” Coco tapped both her hooves together. “That is provided that she would even be willing to teach me.” “Ask nicely, I’m sure she’s got something in all her hoof to anything lessons for you sweetheart.” Greta hugged Coco against her chest because she was being so adorable and not because she might have loved the meek little fashion maker. Well love her more than she loved Gilda in any case. "She’d be a liar if she couldn’t show that she knows her stuff and we all know that she tossed Ember around. Ember is a top rated bounty hunter in pony sectors of space.” Author's Note I like the music of that game, but I really don't do well, especially when I get stuck in bullet hell. Saw the game Rabi-Ribi when Nakateleeli did a Let's Play of it and enjoyed some of the music. The game is more adorable than it sounds and it's kind of like a side scrolling version of Touhou with light Metroidvania elements included. This one took a while, that and I've been kind of side tracked with video games... once a week is easy enough. Twice in one week is hard, unless I shorten my writing down to two thousand words a day. This story is staying at the five thousand or lower limit I've set for myself per chapter.
-76-It was so very quiet; then again staring out into space couldn’t have been that loud to begin with. One with what were considered mortal senses might have gone mad hours ago just staring at all the revolving, bouncing and breaking masses floating around. An asteroid field was like an unborn planet that didn’t quite make it, that was kind of sad to think about. There were brown, grey, green and even a red asteroid or two floating around, it was said that asteroids changed colors the longer they floated about. This asteroid field had been around for a long time to have so many varieties of metal and or rock just hanging around out in space, these asteroids had never been a part of a system of planets. The only thing that kept them from drifting off was the minor amounts of gravitational force some of the asteroids exhibited. Not strong enough to keep any asteroids together, but just so to keep the field cohesive. The field itself was quite massive, Streusel Station was only a short distance in and well protected from those drifting rocks through various means of magnetic repulsion devices, shields and energy turrets. You could look above, below and all around, you wouldn’t be able to miss seeing a single asteroid. Each one drifting aimlessly until it bounced into another asteroid to change direction, momentum and position, such a thing happened every few seconds in a field like this. The more dangerous version of an asteroid field would be an ice field. While pretty, ice fields were deadly and dangerous in comparison given how quickly things could go badly in one. Streusel Station was a small space station in comparison to Antilur Station and like said larger space station, it was a self sufficient space colony in being able to sustain a large population for some time, possibly even for hundreds of years. That is provided that the stations residents took good care of it. People who lived in an asteroid field would always have to have a way to protect themselves from the more dangerous aspects of it, such as the humongous asteroids that floated too close to the space station. That wasn’t happening right now, but it was an everyday threat out here. It was kind of beautiful just watching as each individual asteroid move, each with its own unique shape, size and material. Nobody quite understood how the Pies did it, but they managed to take rock farming to an extreme that nobody could have ever thought of. In a way it was a bit breathtaking to look at and be among. In others it was a bit terrifying and if you didn’t keep constant vigilance, you could incidentally be hit with a large rock shaped problem. Things were quieting down on Streusel Station; thanks in most part due to Trapeze helping get rid of most of Faxel’s problematic tricks. As of right now Ember was going hand to hand with his mechanical suit, to no one’s surprise Ember seemed to have an edge on it in several ways and Maud was staying nearby looking entirely stoic and calm. Trapeze was on her way back to see what Bernard and Rover were getting up to, if anything. Gilda sadly only managed to procure the very peculiar distortion pistol when Faxel lost hold of it in the bubble's explosion during his escape attempt; she was going back to Rarity’s group slightly ruffled and looked to be a little more grouchy than usual. “Hey Gummy, do have any small jobs for a mechanical engineer or a repair consultant?” Every little bit helped when it came to wanting to apply some changes to the ship Opal now inhabited. Rarity had mentioned once or twice getting the ships outer hull painted so that it didn’t have so many drab colors, the interior was perfectly fine and surprisingly nice for something that was once a military vessel. Opal herself wanted Shining Jewel to actually shine as much as Rarity did; Rarity’s complaints about how grungy it looked on the outside with its drab colors had her thinking of how to go about changing that. Opal dragged the larger portion of her attention away from a dragon trying to fight what amounted to a mechanical gorilla piloted by a small alien frog only vaguely bigger than Bernard was, all just to focus more of her multitasking mind on the hull painting problem. She was still paying attention to everything around her, the shields were up, the defensive turrets were primed to be powered and Rarity was setting up shop to sell stuff. All seemed right with the world, though she did note that the only thing that didn’t seem right was Pinkie Pie. The poor pink pony was madly twitching because she wanted to throw a party and was trying really hard to figure out how to get Rarity and all her friends together, especially without breaking any laws. Idly paying attention to Gummy’s response, she noted that Lightning in medical was coming around and decided to inform the ships therapist, she’d hopefully know how to deal with Lightning. “Vera, I need you to report to medical. Lightning is waking up and she should be okay for release, but she can’t do anything strenuous for a few days.” Opal was responsible for the crew as much as Rarity was. “Make sure you tell her that she should take it easy and be absolutely clear on that or she might cause more damage to her ribs, irreparable damage at that. If we have to we can and will strap her down for her own good. The plaster keeping her ribs together will dissolve eventually, but until then no chest bumping or rough housing.” “So find something for Lightning to do that doesn’t involve flying or putting any pressure on her chest at all that would be any worse than breathing, right.” Rolling her eyes Vera was on the move for medical, which wasn’t far from the cafeteria where the girls were spending their time together. Not exactly a slumber party, but the effect was close enough with Coriander playing chaperone parent to all of them. “I bet she’ll be stubborn about that, any Pegasus would be. I hate to be the one to deliver that news, but I’m on it anyway Opal.” “Recalculating crew life expectancy, cross reference it to their level of sanity and… I’m now increasing funds towards medical fluids and supplies.” Sure they were all various shades of crazy, but they’d survive if Opal had anything to say about it. The chances of injury were high as was surviving them, but it was better to be safe than sorry. - Rarity didn’t want to know what was going on with Faxel anymore, apparently Ember was dealing with it and that was good enough for her. Once again Rarity was glad to have Trapeze on board as an entertainer, one who knew how to defend herself and put on a show at the same time. Rarity was glad that most of her friends could handle themselves, even Coco could protect herself when it was more likely that she’d run from danger as the sweet mare didn’t like to be confrontational. Instead Rarity was going through the motions and selling merchandise, Trapeze Troupe merchandise to be exact. The shirts even had the nifty name of being Trapeze T’s and there was at least one shirt design for each full time member of the troupe. Right now they were selling like hotcakes and Pinkie Pie being right next o her made a comment as to such, Rarity just smiled at her and patted her head. The two shirts that were really selling well, the first was the Trapeze Troupe Group shirt. It had Rover on the left with three balls in the air and a dopey smile learning to the right, Trapeze on the right holding out her eponymous hat and a bright smile leaning to her left and lastly Bernard was in the middle with a fanned out deck of cards that had a glow that seemed to come from them in the shape of two T’s and a mysterious grin on his face. The second was the Trapeze Tease shirts. The picture on the shirt was provocative in the way Trapeze was laying on her side with a broad smile, chin on her hoof and her long blue curly hair was out of the three buns she usually kept her mane in. The teasing part came in when her body stopped coming out of her top hat before her flanks could be seen. Trapeze was the one to actually insist on Rarity selling this shirt and she did so with a bit of apprehension, she thought the shirt might have been a bit racy. Aside from that she sold two Pink Promenade dresses, fifteen EVA suits and had to make three tuxedos, none of which she had any problems with doing with Sassy lending her horn to assist her. While she was selling this stuff Chrysalis was off to the side modeling one of her dresses and advertising the shirts, it left Rarity glad that Chrysalis could at least dial back her weird or awkward personality to help her make sales in a friendly manner. Thankfully Chrysalis found managerial work to be rather easy even if she wasn’t entirely warm to anyone; it was quite time consuming work for the Changeling Queen. Sassy was relaxing with Babs and helping out when she could lend some magic. Gilda was on the lookout for anyone trying to pull a fast one against her Boss Lady and idly fiddling with Faxel’s distortion pistol. “Can I get two Bernard shirts for my sisters? I think both Marble’s would really like them!” Specifically Pinkie wanted the shirts with Bernard looking adorable and nibbling on a carrot; if only people knew he was predatory omnivore. “Of course Pinkie my dear and before you say to deliver it to a specific location with all my friends, we’re not nearly that dumb darling.” Smirking when she heard the pink pony stomp her hoof in frustration, Rarity continued to sell the other various bits of merchandise. Though the things were rather tacky, Rarity actually agreed to sell other thing than clothes… at least when it came to the Trapeze Troupe. They were simple knick knacks that Trapeze had somehow procured for her traveling group to sell. “Stick around Pinkie I’m going to have something important to discuss with you at a specific location soon enough anyway, right after I’m done with all these customers. I’ll set these two shirts aside and ring up your order then. How’s it going over there Chrysalis?” “You’re kidding right? We’re selling a lot of Trapeze Tease shirts and might I add she really sells it well.” Tossing her mane and walking over to Rarity with lazy sway in her hips as she strutted, Chrysalis was in what could loosely be called a disguise. She looked exactly like herself if she was a normal unicorn and that was the entirety of the disguise, she mentally noted every single Pony, Griffon, Minotaur, Parascine and Cacceran that got one look at her rear end and then lost interest in her specifically. “Why, I couldn’t have looked more tantalizing myself… literally, she doesn’t even need a good rear to attract people. What’s wrong with me, I’m freaking beautiful and sexy, I also ooze personality!” “Maybe the ooze part of that sentence is what scares everyone off.” Sassy didn’t have an issue with Chrysalis’s personality, but she did take issue with Chrysalis at the moment. “Also don’t think I didn’t notice you chewing on my mane earlier. Now get back to work!” Chrysalis yelped at being caught nibbling and went back to work with a blush on her face, next time she would have to do it without getting caught. Sassy was managing Chrysalis well enough and making sure she didn’t do anything inappropriate to the customers… it was a full time job. “Hey, Rarity, it’s nice to see you again!” A familiar voice spoke up and looking to it one would see Preston Licaley, the feminine Cacceran came up to Rarity and she gave him a big hug. “Oh it’s so nice to see you too Preston, what are you doing here? I always like seeing repeat customers either way.” He was a friend that Rarity didn’t mind having around, he enjoyed wearing dresses and she had no trouble with that at all. He did look rather fetching in them. “What can I do for you darling?” “I’d like a Bernard’s Cards shirt and a Rover’s Roving Balls shirt, oh and I’ve confirmed the exact maximum depth an EVA suit can get to underwater before the stress becomes too much. Even sent the info to your AI, I found out on Aquoltos how deep I could go. It’s an ocean planet and I’m doing some exploration there with some other people. It’s in the Kes Vec system and your suit is still serving me perfectly. In fact I’ve recommended you to quite a few people in the marine biology and research community; you’ve impressed a lot of people with your EVA suit design given it can effectively double as a scuba suit.” Preston grabbed the first shirt and looked it over closely; he smiled brightly at what he saw and even looked over the second one. “You’re always top quality even when selling what should be low quality merchandise Rarity. It’s been nice seeing you, but I’ll have to catch up with you at some other time as my three day break ends today and I can’t stick around.” “It was nice seeing you again Preston and thank you for recommending me to other people!” The cacceran was of the friendliest sort and Rarity enjoyed seeing a friendly face. So he had a job in the Kes Vec system? Rarity would keep that in mind. Well he was obviously doing perfectly fine and taking care of his appearance, now there was a guy that had nothing wrong with getting in touch with his feminine side. “You too, have a good day or what passes for it on a space station anyway!” Preston waved and walked off with his purchase in hand, he truly enjoyed Rarity’s presence as a friend. She was someone who accepted him for who he was and he couldn’t ask for a nicer pony to run into, especially when he heard that Rarity was the owner of the Trapeze Troupe’s mode of transportation. “Yeah I remember him, I might have goofed up a little bit when I threw him a party… I didn’t know he was a hermaphrodite until after the… look can I really even go there in this story?” Pinkie questioned audibly while looking off into space, as if expecting the air to respond to her. “I’m not questioning your script or anything Airy, it’s just that. That line is something I really don’t want to say and you kind of owe me for forcing me to turn that guy on that one time… you just made me say something with really poor phrasing on purpose knowing that I can’t very well explain myself didn’t you?” “Whoever you are talking to, they must be one very amused individual Pinkie. In any case there’s one hour left to peruse my shop before I close up for the day!” Despite her misgivings, Rarity always though Pinkie was good for a few laughs and giggles. She was weird, but who was to say weird was bad? Rarity certainly didn’t complain that she was hanging around even if she couldn’t throw Rarity or her other crew members that party she kept mentioning every once in a while. At least Rarity’s Pinkie Pie Party Pony Plan was going through perfectly, Pinkie was almost the right level of agitated. “Agitated… why would you want me agitated Rarity?” Pinkie Pie seemed to wilt a bit. “I thought you liked me.” “Pinkie, need I remind you that you don’t have psychic powers and that I truly do like you as a friend.” Rarity meant it, she was Pinkie’s friend and Pinkie should really learn to trust her unicorn friend even if it’s not her home dimensions Rarity who was used to her antics by now. “Well, aside from the fact that you have precognitive body spasms which they’ve already tested you for, and you certainly don’t get any psychic images from those. At least your body is always accurate and it itself is psychic in a way.” It was obvious that this Pinkie wasn’t doing a good job of staying in character for this particular universe. Pinkie’s entire body started shuddering up and down, which meant something amazing would happen in the near future and she wondered if that had to do with what Rarity said. “Oh a doozy… I wonder what it could be.” She gave a rather wide and broad smile at the air as if expecting to learn what exactly her Pinkie Sense was telling her, instead no spoilers were given. “As long as I’m a part of the plot, I’ll find out eventually anyway.” - “I told everyone to get together for it Ms. Star, I hope everything goes alright… Pinkie can get a little depressive if she isn’t given enough love or attention.” Marble’s quiet voice and hoof circling on the floor was adorable as was the meek mare herself that was Pinkie’s baby sister who hugged a relaxing Bernard. Nobody had to tell Bernard that he gets all the ladies for looking so cute and fluffy. “Limestone won’t come; she’s always too busy or is at least trying to be. I’m surprised my big sister hasn’t had a heart attack with how angry she always is, but I guess she’s the career mare of the family, where Maud is the scholar and Pinkie is the party girl. I’m just the wallflower of the family; I don’t think I’ll ever really amount to anything much really.” “Hey don’t worry; Rarity will keep her distracted as a good friend will never leave another in the lurch. Why I even heard their stomach acids were dangerous and that leaving my friends in one would be bad for their health.” Trapeze Put a hoof around Rover and hugged him, he smiled a bit. “Like I’d never leave my two good friends here alone if they got into trouble, the last few hours have been pretty fun for me. Losing my traction scared me for a bit out there, but I persevered in front of my audience and came back to do this thing we’re doing triumphant. Now cheer this dour flower up Bernard, I know you have a few tricks that will make frown flop right side round!” Bernard got out of Marble’s grip and threw a proud salute with a puffed up chest. He didn’t like a single frown in his audience and Marble was currently frowning; now he must get into a kung fu fight and judo that sadness away! He snapped his right paw and started to tap out a rhythm with his left leg, he opened his mouth to sing only to have it clamped shut by two hooves. “Hey, no singing, you’re horrible at it and you’re always off the correct key as if you were doing it on purpose!” Trapeze was quite correct and Rover nodded in agreement to that assessment. The little bunny shaped being could do magic, but he couldn’t sing to save his life. “Do something other than cheer her up in that specific manner.” - Ember took a blow to the face and stumbled a bit, before charging and punching the robots head causing it to spin multiple revolutions. The robot reached up and stopped its head with both hands and there was a sound of vomiting coming from the inside of it. Ember launched an uppercut straight into the machines chin knocking it onto its back; she could hear the Foggre gag on his own vomit as it splattered him in the robot. As far as design flaws go the gorilla shaped robot didn’t seem to have one, as far as anyone was concerned it didn’t. It however wasn’t made to fight a dragon; much less one of Ember’s strength directly. It was already covered in several gaping rents that her claws left behind and there were more forming with each attack. Maud just stood off to the side watching this and smiled a little. It was faint, but it was there. The thought of Faxel being covered in his own vomit and then choking on it was something Maud found absolutely hilarious. She was waiting for the right moment to act; all she would need is one solid hoof to put things to a close. She wouldn’t take him off the list until she did so and Maud could punch like a jackhammer. Ember was almost done ripping the thing apart and despite putting up a good fight, Faxel had yet to actually leave a bruise on her with his robot. It was almost time for Maud to act and she wasn’t going to beat him up nearly as bad as she wanted to, mostly because he was already on his last legs… no wait… Ember just got the leverage to rip one of the legs off the robot and is now beating the other one into a pile of scrap. She looked particularly angry; aggravating a dragon was never a good or safe thing to do. After another rough smash with the electronic gorilla styled leg, Ember had destroyed the head of the machine. Pulling back both of her arms, she pushed them both down into the machine and then with all her strength she pulled apart the chest, ripping a hole into it to look directly into the pilots seat with a particularly frightened looking vomit covered Faxel looking right back. She took him by the scruff of the neck and held him up to her face. “You see this… this is my mad face, you have yet to see my absolutely angry face. Pray to your gods that you never do and if you don’t have any, then pray I’ll have mercy on you.” Ember swung her left fist around into Faxel’s jaw dazing him and making a sharp cracking noise as if somebody just broke a window. “You don’t want to see my angry face, so don’t make me come after you again and then really get me annoyed. Maud if you will do the honors, you’re the mediator here.” “Oh no… no, no, no…” Faxel was held out face first towards Maud who was standing ten feet away, with a blink the last thing he saw was a now close up and angry glare. One that was followed within the fraction of the second later by a hoof coming at him in slow motion and catching fire before it struck his face. His last thoughts were of angelic statues and to never blink around them. “There, he is now off my list… he needs a hospital.” Dully informed Maud who had just looked to have hit Faxel in the face once and only once. The actuality being twenty eight times in a split second to a single point, the center of what used to be Faxel’s poor face and the blood now slowly leaking from it. “What time is it?” “I’d say it’s getting to be time for…” The light on the ceiling of the Streusel City suddenly went away and now there were pinpricks of white with purple lit ceiling. “The change to night… well I’m tired. Let’s go drop this guy off… say… do you want to come with me to the surprise Rarity has in store for Pinkie and are you okay?” “So this only took two hours, fifty nine minutes and fifty nine seconds this time… a new record. I’m fine; my hoof stings a bit though.” Maud’s hoof looked perfectly fine and you could tell that the mare was a skilled pugilist by looking at her. Her hoof blows would even hurt Ember badly given all the concussive force she could put out with each individual strike alone, not to mention the hundreds she could possibly throw in seconds with the same exact amount of force. She was a protective older sister and she set the bar for dealing with anyone who so much as harmed her sister, even an alternate dimensional version of her. A little think like friction burn wasn’t going to do much to her at all. “Depends, what kind of surprise? My sister better not be sad by the end of this.” Maud was a force of nature, one that you didn’t want to mess with unless you want to look like you went through an avalanche. That was the exact thing that the hospital would put down for Faxel’s injuries; he just simply got caught in an avalanche and took a really big boulder to the face and somehow survived long enough to make it to a hospital in a space station away from the planet said avalanche occurred. Nope, there was certainly no insanely strong mortal pony that loved rocks and can punch your face off here. “Don’t worry; it’ll definitely make her happy. At least from what Rarity told us of her anyway. Got used as a decoy to lure Pinkie away from the preparations, I’m sure they finished getting things together by now.” A beep alerted Ember to her data pad, she was glad she spent the extra money to get the darn thing reinforced with her kind of lifestyle. “Yep that’s them now.” “Okay.” It was Maud’s only response; she wanted to know what was going on. “First we take him to a hospital.” “You know, I almost forgot I was holding him...” Ember was a little distracted by how hard Maud had hit the guy she was still holding in her claws. Again aggravating a dragon was not a good thing to do, aggravating Maud Pie was suicidal, the height of idiocy and worthy of an honorable mention in the Darwin Awards. She hadn’t killed anyone yet and she wasn’t about to start now. - “Well Pinkie, I wanted you to come here and talk to you about a few things specifically….” Rarity threw open the door to the room she had rented out earlier and Pinkie stepped into the dark room after her without a trace of fear. Her Pinkie Sense didn’t say anything bad was about to happen to her. “It’s one of the most important things that you keep forgetting because you’re too busy caring about everyone else’s happiness... something I respect as a generous mare myself since I paid for all of… this!” “Surprise… we all hope you have a happy birthday Pinkie Pie!” The lights flicked on and everyone that was present in this room yelled this out immediately to Pinkie, said pink pony was struck positively speechless and dumb for more than a few seconds. Even Vera was there, even then she kept shooting glances in Rarity's direction entirely afraid of being forgotten. “Yeah, this is a special birthday party just for you, me!” A second Pinkie yelled from within the crowd and everyone slowly backed away from her and looked between her and the other Pinkie Pie. There was a lot of shock traveling throughout all of Pinkie’s friends; her family didn’t seem to blink an eye. Not even Limestone who just rolled her eyes as if it was obvious, her sister once again forgot her own birthday to celebrate her alternate reality versions birthday. It seemed her true sister wouldn’t break the record for forgetting her own birthday every year and would usually spend it partying at someone else’s. This year was no different, if even more ridiculous because Pinkie was in a way celebrating her own birthday by proxy. Rarity slowly turned to look at Chrysalis who hadn’t transformed into Pinkie Pie as a joke and a lot of other people in the room were now a little more than confused about what was going on. Everyone was wondering why there was more than one Pinkie Pie in the room. They were all having a hard time trying to rationalize it or even wrap their heads around it. One Pinkie of whom was helping them celebrate the others birthday. “Yeah, that’s not a Changeling, I think I would know Rarity. I’m a professional on Changelings and Changeling biology, for I’m basically a Changeling biologist.” Confirmed Chrysalis in as auspicious a manner as she could, her tone was as flat and deadpan as Maud’s usually was. She turned to Maud and looked at the rock on the floor next to her and her mood brightened considerably. “Hey Boulder Bottom, how have things been? Still a silent hard ass as ever I see.” Author's Note Sometimes you just need to take a step back for a moment and laugh. Also who's writing this story anyway? I know I didn't put the second Pinkie in there. I was always here, it's just that nobody noticed until now teehee. The story is still not a comedy though, there just happen to be moments of stress relief in the adventure. This is just one really big moment of stress relief for the crew. I can't wait to be out of the Pinkie Zone, because this is causing me a headache.
-77-It was two days after the birthday incident in which the Pinkie Pie that Rarity knew forgot her own birthday for the sake of another Pinkie Pie’s birthday… Rarity was not going to think too hard about that or how weird her friend was. Were they still friends? Well Rarity couldn’t find it in her heart to say they weren’t even if she had some distaste for Pinkie’s preferable mane style being a chaotic mess of curls and puffiness. Oh wait, where was she again? Oh right, she was waiting for the rest of the crew to get their rears to the cafeteria for lunch and a meeting. Her recent sales on Streusel Station had been quite profitable, especially with both men and women for the quality and prices of her stock. “Coco I would like to thank you for all those clothes you made for sale, it really boosted our funds by quite a bit.” Her friend blushed at the praise and Rarity knew she deserved every bit of it. Wrestling was not Rarity’s thing, but she was asked to come up with a practical costume and not something that comes out as a bizarre work of Rarity’s art. “Remind me to get to work on that costume for you after we’re done discussing things here Coco. Streusel Station has been quite successful for business ventures and hardly anything has gone wrong, one would most expect at least something in an asteroid field and I’m quite surprised that nothing has occurred that warrants our attention for once.” The best thing about owning and running your own business was that nobody could tell you what was right or wrong, though making a lot of tough calls was under Rarity’s purview as captain, Baroness and boss to everyone on her crew. Surprisingly despite all her titles, her work load didn’t increase all too much. She was even managing to keep up with the several crazier people in her crew and keep their psychological traumas in checks, Chrysalis clearly being voted the craziest person on the Shining Jewel’s crew. Vera was quite clingy and was really hard to get off the ship for any relaxation, Rarity wasn’t about to forget she existed or needed help every once in a while considering how much Vera has already done for her and the others. “Speaking of business venture, I recall you saying something about having finished my personal order?” Chrysalis smiled innocently as she came trotting in with an expectant look, she was anything but innocent and at least she wasn’t causing too much trouble for Rarity. It seemed like she was on the up and up about being a productive member of the crew, only Rarity couldn’t relax her guard around her for various and quite obvious reasons. It was well documented that Chrysalis was quite a selfish individual that thought mostly of just herself and then her race as a priority. “Yes, I finished it, but I need your opinion on anything that might need changing.” For a material Rarity thought Cadence’s hair was quite beautiful and strong, she treated the hair so that it would be hard to burn and or destroyed through various means. She brought out a box and set it on the table and pushed it over to Chrysalis who gleefully opened it and looked inside. “There’s not much more I can change about it, I just hope I met up to your requirements. While I don’t like where you got the material from, I must say it did turn out beautifully. There’s plenty of… Cadence’s mane left over if you want to eat it or save it for another reason.” Rarity finally had the finished what Chrysalis wanted and was unsure about the morality behind it. Whether or not Chrysalis liked it, it was up to the Changeling Queen, she better not just eat it as Rarity put a lot of work into it. Rarity had felt a little bit bad about the material she was working with having been sheared from a beautiful pony princess with clippers, to her it was a travesty on Cadence’s part as clippers had no business being around such a beautiful mane as what Cadence once had. Reaching into the box, Chrysalis looked at the final product and she was awestruck. It was beautiful to her and she reverently took it out of the box and held it aloft, the necklace was well crafted in her eyes. It was braided quite finely with each color of Cadence’s mane being represented, it had a clasp hold it in place around her neck and at the center of the she ran her hoof over it with enlarged wondering pupils. Her pupil quickly shrunk back to normal and she closed the lid on the box. It was an exquisitely made necklace that was almost a choker, one with the intricate weave in the shape of a heart like Cadence’s cutie mark at the front and it might have been a bit lacy, but it was exactly what Chrysalis wanted. “Thank you for doing business with me, it’s beautiful and exactly what I wanted. I’ll keep the hair in storage if I need you to make another one.” Chrysalis muttered, she shook her head and smiled. “Anyway, I’ll be taking this back to my room with me when we’re done with our meeting here. Speaking of business… is this about that thing I did yesterday? I know I can be callous and uncaring about other people’s feelings, but that’s just how I roll.” “Chrysalis, we’re not here to speak of that incident. You were punished soundly for it and that was enough for me.” It took a bit of doing, but Rarity actually found a few things that Chrysalis didn’t like. Rarity was well aware that the Changeling Queen liked her own suffering just as much as she liked the pain and suffering of others. Knowing that, it had Rarity a little unsure if she should let Chrysalis pursue a relationship with Sassy. So far Sassy hasn’t told Chrysalis no and is even seemed to be friendly with Chrysalis and it didn’t seem like a caustic relationship… yet. Vera said it was worth bothering with, until something went south and the recent incident yesterday wasn’t a very big issue, but Chrysalis still needed to learn that she had to carry herself better. Rarity thought Chrysalis was a bit of brat more than a queen of Changelings, she kind of expected better of royalty and her expectations about nobility were completely blown apart now. “We’re coming together about something else; it’s high time I think about getting my crew the ability to defend themselves appropriately. Mostly because I’m beginning to tire of having to repair every single damaged EVA suit from all the incidents we run into, not to mention having to clean all that awful grunginess off of them. They are not compatible with any kind of washing machine based device and as such it isn’t exactly easy to clean one, much less several after going through a rather horrible situation.” “Yeah, we’re going to need something better than civilian grade equipment if we keep running into horrors like that crap show. Can’t exactly find fault in you on that though Boss Lady; we had no idea what we were up against. I even thought I was going to die… thanks for helping me get here Masseuse.” Lightning was lead into the room by Vera and Vera’s favorite constantly pointing drone. Moving over to a chair and sitting down on her own accord, Lightning could hear an uncomfortable creaking noise when she leaned her chest against the table. A sudden grimace crossed Lightning’s face to let everyone present know she wasn’t feeling too well about her surgically pasted ribs. Vera gave her a stern look as and Lightning rolled her eyes. Unlike Sassy, Lightning certainly didn’t have problems walking, but it seemed that her breathing was a bit off or strained. “Yes, I know not put too much pressure on my ribs. I may have daredevil tendencies, but I’m not stupid or quick to die! I’ll take it easy and I promised you I wouldn’t attempt to fly at all, well at least until the paste on my ribs exits my body like it’s supposed to. I always hated that paste stuff when I was younger, now I have to live with it again. I can’t really say it isn’t effective in helping get your bones back in order though.” “Chrysalis I have something to ask… do you know how to wrestle?” It took a few minutes, but Coco managed to work up the courage to ask the question. “Well, aside from a basic wrestling style, I know folk style, sexy style and mud gumbo style. Don’t ask about the mud gumbo style, I can’t exactly teach that to just anyone.” Chrysalis’s eyes became rather shifty when she mentioned the Mud Gumbo style; she was biting her bottom lip for having even mentioned it in the first place. “So I take it you want to learn sexy style?” “What’s the difference? I thought a lot of wrestling was the same… well comparatively.” Coco was trying so hard to not let her face go red at hearing sexy style, she really was. “Folk style has a lot more moves when you’re stuck in the bottom position or the submissive position, it’s about making sure you don’t get stuck in that particular position and it’s mostly about pinning your opponent down. Quite a bit of reversal is involved and it requires good flexibility, I’m really flexible as I’m sure Lightning knows… we’ll have to play Twisty when you get better. I had to learn to break out of several difficult submissive holds when I became a Changeling Queen, mostly to keep the sanctity of my body. I couldn’t very well let myself be held down and used unless I wanted to be used.” Darn and Chrysalis so sorely wanted Coco to ask her about sexy style, was she stuck with a bunch of prudes? They had seemed like the well adjusted emotional beings they were, now she knew they might be repressed and she was going to tell them about sexy style anyway. “As for sexy style, it is a submission style of wrestling which is mostly involving in mixed martial arts which is something I’m clearly knowledgeable about. It’s entirely based on massaging your opponent while attempting to force a dominant position and make your opponent want to be submissive. I could always just teach you regular wrestling, but wouldn’t it be more fun if you could dominate a griffon with caressing hooves?” “No… I don’t think I want to learn how to do that.” Squeaked out a very embarrassed Coco, who really didn’t want to know what Chrysalis was getting at. “I know sexy style as well, never really had to use it for much except on more problematic people. Vinyl Scratch being one of the few times I really had to use it at all.” Vera knew that was something Rarity and Octavia were witness to personally; she had wrestled Vinyl into such a submissive and happy position. “I think Coco is looking for basic wrestling Chrysalis. Sorry I didn’t bring this up earlier when we were spending time with the other girls Coco, but I didn’t think you’d be interested in my particular knowledge on wrestling. Sexy wrestling is all about how sensitive your opponent is to your movements and what you’re looking for is the more bull by the horns every day kind of wrestling deal, so basic is really what you want.” “It would still help if everyone learned some folk style… hey do you think Sassy would appreciate knowing some submission breakers?” At least Chrysalis understood somewhat as to what Sassy had been through, she just didn’t understand exactly how bad or psychologically scarring it was in full. She was just interested in making Sassy happy so that she could make Chrysalis happy, it seemed like the perfect plan to her and the convoluted steps between now and what she wanted to happen didn’t cross her mind one bit. Even now Chrysalis had some very warped views of what exactly was romantic; it was not the candlelit dinner kind of stuff and it wasn’t like that worked on every girl anyway. “I can perform all of mine half drugged out of my mind. It even sounds like the perfect thing for Sassy to learn! She can pin me to wall or floor anytime she wants. I mean teaching ponies can’t be that much harder than teaching Changelings right? I’ll think of a schedule and work it out with you later.” “Do I even want to know the topic of discussion I just walked into?” Coming into the room was a grease covered Gilda who had been working on another project, it was another walker and she wasn’t quite ready to start building her dream fighter. Using a rather despoiled rag, she wiped an inky mess from her face as best she could. She looked a little grumpy, then again that was her natural state of living when it came to repair and maintenance. “I can guess this is the think tank thing we talked about, so let’s wait for everybody so we don’t have to explain things twice. As for a new topic, do you want to hear about what Greta got from the strange bubble shooting pistol I brought in?” “Well it would be nice to get off our current topic of discussion while Coco still has some blood in the rest of her body.” Rarity giggled a bit and looked at her friend’s tomato colored head, poor Coco must have a very vivid imagination. It occurred to Rarity that Coco might have been thinking rather distracting or racy thoughts, hopefully Coco would contain herself. “Are you alright darling?” “I’m fine Rarity, just really flustered.” The idea for several lingerie based wrestling costumes floating about her mind said otherwise, but Coco was quick to mentally stomp it down as hard as she could. Only the images just kept coming to the forefront of her thought processes and she slowly imagined Greta and Gilda tag teaming her, those thoughts just made it worse when she threw Saffron in a very slinky Mare-Do-Well style costume. “Can we please talk about that pistol Gilda managed to nab off the Foggre?” “I’m still kind of interested in how Chrysalis can survive having all her vital organs crushed by a meteor personally.” Vera wanted to get her own few words in, she just never asked about it and nobody else had questioned because obviously Chrysalis survived. “Eh it wasn’t really that big, even if it destroyed the entire top layer of my hive where my throne room was and basically crushed my body while setting it on fire. Thankfully no Changeling important was hurt.” It never bothered Chrysalis that it happened; it just bothered her that she lost one of her most incredible assets to protection against all forms of magic that wasn’t Changeling in origin. “It was an exceptionally white hot euphoric amount of pain and I enjoyed every minute of it, took me a while to start walking again. Probably would have died if the Changeling fire fighting team was late in spraying construction goo all over it, held me together when it finally seeped down to me. At least Changeling health care is as good as all the medical bed technology and a normal Changeling would have died five seconds in, but I have a lot of determination to stay alive.” “Well that question has finally been answered, you could have just stated that you’re impossible to kill and I would have believed it.” That had been bugging Rarity, yet no digital media ever really explained the overly volatile reaction the princesses had to Chrysalis. “Just what exactly did you do to get the princesses so mad at you to cause that incident in the first place?” “Oh, do you want to know what I did to deserve that? Well the very reason why the meteor was even on fire in the first place was because of Princess Celestia, I thought she would like a playful game of cat and mouse. I was almost dead wrong and her response was quite bluntly in the tone of, give me back my pretty purple pony or else. Given that direct confrontation would have been brutal in losses, the Changelings surrendered in my stead given I was incapacitated at the time. Still don’t understand why Celestia thought she had to apologize for attempted murder, that was one of the most incredible feelings I’ve ever felt.” Tapping the table with a hoof Chrysalis gained a thoughtful look as she hugged her box. “Now that I think of it, I Probably shouldn’t have kidnapped Twilight Sparkle in an attempt to get Celestia to marry me… I did kind of taunt her with the fact that I stole Twilight out from under her nose and brought her back to my hive thing. Didn’t think she would take it so personally really, I didn’t even hurt a single hair on Twilight when it came to subduing her with a spell from behind. I also probably shouldn’t have told Celestia that she was at the bottom of the hive and my throne room was near the top either… yeah, that was kind of dumb on my part really. I can make expertly crafted plans, only problem is I’m usually the wrench that messes them up in the first place or something goes wrong. Like when I was hit with that explosion on Antilur Station… good times.” “Chrysalis, I ask that you never take a hostage around me, in fact no kidnapping either for that matter unless I’m completely coherent, aware and agree to it!” Never had Rarity seen the likes of someone whose idea of romantic was kidnapping important ponies and marry someone. “Do you even know the proper way to court someone? No don’t answer that, I’m sorry I asked and I don’t want to know.” “Sounds fair… wait a minute… there’s a better way to marry someone I like?” Chrysalis was horribly confused, aside from the fact that she got along with Celestia as just really good friends afterwards. Was there really a different way to go about romantically entangling someone? Oh right, she wasn’t a pony so she wouldn’t think to do it the pony way, of course, it all made sense now. Friendship was easy, sexy bedroom times with a pony of her choice was a lot harder to achieve than she thought. “Fine I won’t kidnap anyone you know unless it’s urgent… can I have a list of all your relatives, friends and family for reasons that are not very ominous?” “It’s a wonder Celestia lost to her at what should have been Cadence’s wedding.” Coco deadpanned in an adorable manner while putting her chin on her crossed hooves. “Yeah, can we get back to what I discovered about that pistol?” Greta was now there at the table and so were Saffron, Coriander, Bernard, Trapeze and Rover. A few seconds later Ember walked in with Sassy wheeling herself and Babs was sleeping in Sassy’s lap, the filly just looked so precious kicking at the air in her sleep. “Maybe later Greta, Ember I’m glad you came along. Since everyone is here, let’s get this meeting started. I have gathered my entire crew here today to talk about a small issue we’ve been having.” Taking a rather deep breath of air, Rarity continued. “Every time we get into a crisis I’ve had to deal with my EVA suits getting damaged or covered in stuff I’d rather not think about.” “You always tell everyone of your displeasure about it. That’s why I’ve been trying to get you more interested in at least something with military applications to protect yourself with; my Mat drones aren’t going to cut it… I would like to thank Greta for getting them fully operational.” Even Opal wanted in on this meeting. It sounded both fun and exciting designing protective armored suits, she was laying on her belly on the nearest monitor kicking her hind legs up and down. “You don’t have to sell it, just make sure that it can’t be used for bad purposes if it’s stolen.” “Which is what our meeting is about, ideas, we need them if we’re to make some personal powered armor for our crew. Our resident experts at making all things mechanical, our very own Gilda and Greta of course, will be responsible for the construction of said armor. They will be getting some help from Opal, Coco and anyone else who thinks they can help with the design.” Rarity sat at the table and took a breadstick from a basket offered by a drone and bit a chunk out of it. After finishing that little bit of her garlic and cheese flavored breadstick which was soft and fluffy, she continued. “I’m willing to take any idea as long as it’s a productive one and I don’t want to hear anything silly like adding genitalia to it. I’m already half expecting Chrysalis to run a sex shop out of my ship, I don’t need it to become a reality.” “Darn, well there goes my pitch for the ‘Rarity’s Secret’ portion of your fashion industry.” Dryly commented a flat faced Chrysalis. She was actually a little sad that she wouldn’t be able to sell all kinds of bondage equipment to good little loving ponies everywhere, Opal had already stomped on her dreams for the fashion industry and Rarity just crushed them. She would have done it all in good taste too… at least she thought it would be good taste. It led to Chrysalis wondering if she really knew anything about the fashion industry aside from the fact that it sounded rather cutthroat from what’s she’s heard. “I’m pretty sure the fuzzy hoof cuffs would have made sexy times even better.” “You are the main reason why I made those ground rules in the first place.” If it were anyone else that would suggest something like accurate genitalia, then Rarity would be surprised. “Now if anyone else would like us to start off with something that could be both functional as much as fashionable I would like to hear it.” “Well we could incorporate battery loaded impulse saddles into the design.” As soon as Coco said this, an impulse saddle appeared on screen. “We’d need something along the lines of boost jets to get us off the ground when we’re wearing them on a planet. We wouldn’t be able to fuel them for prolonged flight, mostly short bursts, in space we can get around with impulse no fuel to worry about.” Opal made some adjustments to the saddle and added six jets to the outline of a pony on screen, the jets were located at the end of the hooves and two on the impulse saddle itself. “What we really need is to consider what kind of powered armor we are working towards. I never really thought this was possible to make powered armor until now. Do we make powered armor with shields and light armored plating, heavy armor plating and shields or something of a middling ground?” As Saffron spoke the imagine on the screen produce three suits of old knight armor, one bulky, one moderately all around and one that looked to be full bodied chainmail. “Isn’t that a bit ancient for what we’re going for Opal?” “Hey I’m just trying to get a physical representation on screen; the final product will not look like this. Besides unless spell protected royal guard armor isn’t very useful and all the enchantments require a lot of magic.” After rubbing her chin Opal grunted a bit and then shrugged. “We’ll worry about whether or not we want to magically enchant the armors; we need to focus on the technological angle first before we decide to add magic to the mix. What are we currently capable of with technology and can it fit on some ponies back without becoming cumbersome?” “That is a good question; Coco might be able to handle more weight than the rest of us. So we might need to design with the physically weakest crew member here in mind, as weight can become a problem.” Everyone slowly turned to Rarity as she spoke and then she noticed they were all staring at her, Ember coughed loudly into her fist. “Right then, design it with me being the weakest crew member in mind. Yes, let’s forget the fact that both Lightning and Sassy are still recovering at the moment. I can handle some weight; I did for a long time with an impulse saddle strapped to my back. I wish I hadn’t, I was so horribly sweaty after pulling my EVA suit off, but we all know what happened on Antilur was quite hectic.” “Aren’t I the weakest crew member though?” Asked Babs innocently as she rubbed at her eyes and rolled onto belly to sit up at the table in front of Sassy. Having just woken up, she didn’t know what was going on. “You’re not a crew member dear; you’re a passenger like Ember and it would be illegal to force a filly to work for me. You’re getting a free room and food so you shouldn’t complain or worry, we’re quite willing to take care of you for as long as you need us to. Ember on the other hoof is paying for her spot on my ship even when I told her she didn’t have to go that far.” Rarity saw Ember cross her arms and gave her a firm look. “She’s the one that has insisted on paying rent and I haven’t the foggiest why when she could be here for free.” “I just don’t mooch off of my friends. This leads to me asking about weapons, you obviously need to include them in the workings of the armor. Energy would be the easiest to make, point hoof and fire a beam at something. Material weapons would be hard to install into armor like that and as such you would need to have the material weapon separate from the armor. There’s also the possibility of including things like bladed weaponry into the armor itself, never know when you might get stuck in a melee.” Ember watched as images appeared on screen and it cycled through three images that created lines leading to the central piece of armor, they each represented material, energy and special kinds of weapons. “There are all kinds of strange monsters out there that need to be dealt with in specific ways, Coco already has the shock hooves on her EVA suit and they kind of saved the day back on Antilur. I and Chrysalis were busy running from a giant corpse scorpion at the time so I wouldn’t have been able to protect her and deal with the tendrils on the ceiling. Put in at least one unique weapon that can do something unusual.” “I don’t like to say it often, but thank you for watching out for my concussed ass while I was still having issues shooting straight.” Chrysalis decided not to mention the hoard thing Ember had going on here, she was completely aware of it and could feel the intense ownership for everyone Ember called a friend. This included her as well and it was a bit touching to Chrysalis, so she decided to hold her whistle blowing for now. She’d still be capable of it later, unless Ember had the guts to tell everyone she started thinking of them as her hoard. “Yes well, we have ideas for armor, weapons and mobility, but what about looks? Can we make this armor with any sort of practicality when we all know Rarity-sama won’t make them without at least some good aesthetics involved?” It had to be comfortable to use and Sassy wanted that to be one of the things to think of in the design. “They’ll have to be fashionable, comfortable and effective. While I want them to be fashionable as well, I would say that practicality should be our main concern. We need to rely on the most no nonsense crew member here to keep us on track on that front. That would be Gilda.” “Actually if we’re talking no nonsense, then I’d have to say Coriander should be the one on that front.” For once Gilda didn’t puff out her chest and preen about the subject, she was taking this seriously and she really wanted to pull this off. “Lest no one forgets that too many ideas can spoil the pot and nobody knows that better than a cook.” “I agree on that front, I will be overlooking this to prevent anything silly from being put into the project.” Coriander spoke up from eating some breadsticks. “Good, because the first pony I want to put in power armor is Saffron. I’d trust her to not go mad with power… that’s something I’d absolutely expect Chrysalis would do.” Cautiously Rarity pointed to Chrysalis. “Yep, I would definitely do something like that. I am still a bit megalomaniacal since I’m a Changeling Queen.” There were a lot of concerned stares in Chrysalis’s direction. “Hey, at least I can at least admit it! I’m on this crew for personal reasons and I wouldn’t be here if I knew for certain that at least one of you was planning to throw me out an airlock.” “Alright, very well then, I suggest we move onto the next stage of planning.” Lifting her data pad with her magic Rarity had Mare-Do-Well’s costume on screen and was thinking about how she could translate that costume into an armored form. “We need to hammer out the finer details of all that has been brought up so far, I would suggest adding a pinpoint puller to the design with the upgrade that I heard Ember was making to the spare one she bought from us.” “Rover is thinking we be making each armor suit special, we can specialize while making some compromises in how each one works depending on the user we’re making it for.” That was quite an eloquent thought for Rover and everyone nodded, it was actually good idea. “I want digging suit personally. Though Rover hates to admit it, there are some things Rover can’t dig through with bare claws.” “Hopefully that’s not the smartest thing you’ll ever say, because I expect even greater things from you.” Lazily stated Trapeze with her hat over her smiling face, she had been meticulously marketing merchandise and she was happy with earning her keep. Earth ponies prided themselves on hard work and earning their place wherever they were. Author's Note For once there isn't a crisis... you'd at least expect a little more from a science fiction asteroid field.
-78-“And I’m telling you that would be exceedingly stupid to do; it would take up too much space and be way too heavy.” Things had started out alright enough with discussing the base concept of what they were going for, only now Ember was in the midst of arguing over weapons. Ember in particular was a specialist in improvising weapons from her environment and rarely did she need to do that when she was armed with her rifle. “I mean take my rifle for instance. Not only can it shoot materials or create a bayonet made of pure fire that can finely slice steel, but it can also combine the two features to increase my rifles firepower by turning my ammunition molten hot. Rockets, missiles or any weapon that requires ammunition is going to be quite heavy. I would know what heavy is, I’ve dragged a five hundred pound sapient crustacean for several miles!” “Well we would have to use something else aside from the energy cannon and a built in blade, you said it yourself that there are things that wouldn’t go down to normal means. I’m trying to think ahead here and given who I work for, crazy prepared probably isn’t enough. I’d have to be downright paranoid prepared to successfully counter Rarity’s luck for leading us straight into danger.” While Gilda would agree with Ember on some of her points, a built in missile system would be useful in handling stronger things that a beam or blade wouldn’t take care of. “We’re talking about crew protection here and I’m not a griffon that half asses everything I do! I want at least some idea of what I’m doing before I do it and you can solve just about any problem with enough explosives.” “Rarity isn’t bad luck. If anything she’s mostly good luck considering how none of her friends, me included in that, have yet to die from any incident she’s been involved in. Sure there were a few serious injuries, but that wasn’t any fault of Rarity’s.” There was a strange quirk in Ember’s face as she defended Rarity. “I still say we could have something a little more subtle, explosives attract a lot of attention and there is also the chance it could injure the user. Do you seriously want some random military breathing down your necks when you start producing more military grade equipment like that tank in the hangar?” “Yes, because if we got some paramilitary organization to come after us, then that means we can be seen as something too dangerous to mess with when we fight them off. I’m sure I’ve already acquired some notoriety back on Equus by just landing a tank from an orbital drop while under fire, everything else was just icing on the cake.” As a mechanical engineer, Gilda would welcome paramilitary organizations attempting to try and steal their stuff. It would mean that their crew was acknowledged as people you don’t mess with when they succeeded in kicking said organizations ass. “Anyone would be sorry if they messed with us, especially if we took prisoners. We’d just leave any prisoner in a room with Chrysalis for three hours. Heck we don’t even need to tell Chrysalis to torture the poor sod, just to entertain them and then we would sit back to watch the magic happen. I wonder if she can do whole groups all at once.” “That brings up a number of mental images… why would I suddenly think she could use a doll house like that?” Just like anyone else, Ember had heard of Chrysalis’s ability to torture someone, on purpose or incidentally. If it was on purpose it would be horrific on a number of levels and violently sadistic in ways most wouldn’t be able to cope with. If it was incidental then it was equally horrific and only marginally less vomit inducing. In comparison Ember knew how to interrogate people when she had to; she preferred to be quick and brutal about it. “Yeah, that mare is pure nightmare fuel sometimes.” Even Gilda had to admit she shouldn’t have brought it up. What could Chrysalis possibly do with a doll house that Ember would think is so… oh… she might need a bucket right about now as. A really deranged thought just came to Gilda’s mind and it was horrifying that she might be able to understand Chrysalis’s thought processes at all. “Can you really do something like that with a doll house?” Ember and Gilda stared at each other silently for a minute and then their eyes widened dramatically at the implications; they were thinking of the very same thing. Instead of continuing down that line of thought, they decided to go back to talking about safer things like possible weapons and if they could fit Mare-Do-Wells theme into it somehow. - While Ember was in a weapons discussion with Gilda, Coco was having her own argument off to the side. “Would shields really be more efficient than armor?” Even Coco could get into an argument, at least her argument was a bit more civil and Greta was listening to her argument. “Taking energy away from the battery would mean less power to move the suit with and wouldn’t that make it slower?” “Shields would prevent any projectile from getting through and you better believe you want your power armor to fight things at range. Too much armor and it’ll be too heavy to work efficiently.” Taking a sip of water Greta continued her discussion with Coco. “Since we’re designing with Saffron in mind, she’ll likely want something more agile… though I can see a problem with having shields as that would mean she wouldn’t be able to utilize a built in energy weapon as much without taking from the shields. It would be kind of like the same set up without the ionized energy cannon on the Bombing Peregrine.” “This really is quite the conundrum isn’t it, isn’t there some kind of middle ground we could go for, like limited shielding with tough but thin armor plating?” They were furthest along in thinking of design aspects for the suit itself, a small bit of brilliance shined in Coco’s eyes when she came up with something. “Maybe we could put in a magic amplification device and run some of the systems on unicorn magic or have her weapons run on it!” “You might be onto something, Rover did say we needed to plan around the particular individual… and Saffron is a powerful unicorn that knows how to teleport.” That actually sounded like a good idea to Greta, the less Saffron had to worry about using her own magic to shield herself and she could go on the offensive with it instead of needing an installed energy weapon. “We’d need to install a lot of safety features in the amplification device if we do figure out how to make one, we wouldn’t want Saffron’s horn to blow.” “Not like I can play a trumpet anyway.” Saffron decided to join them as they sounded like they had some good ideas running between them. “We already know what colors my powered armor is going to be, but the finer details are still up in the air. Would a cape be a really bad idea? Capes are pretty dangerous in the vigilante business, but they certainly have their uses and I’ve used a cape for many things like a tourniquet.” “Depends, if we’re adding variable jets, then having a cape would be a liability.” After stating that Greta paused and gave it some thought. “We could just change the jets to give you an energy cape, might dig into the energy supply. I’ve been working on energy jets and though they are not very powerful, at least it would save on having to buy conventional fuel and could be useful for jump enhancement. ” Their conversation would continue in the vein of armor, amplifier, accessories and slightly experimental personal jump jets for a while. Saffron’s input was invaluable and she would gladly destroy her horn in the process of saving and protecting lives, she’s saved the day so far without making a sacrifice like that and she would continue to do so even if she did lose her horn. Greta would still take every precaution if she did end up making a magic amplifier somehow; maybe she should drop the idea of making a sonic based weapon over to Ember and Gilda’s discussion since amplifying sound into a viable weapon was easy enough and it could be made non-lethal which was what Saffron would prefer. First Greta had to run her idea by Saffron and ask her what she wanted personally. They would then discuss whether or not if what she wanted was viable or even practical; they were going to bells and whistles the crap out of this idea. - Rarity was with the three people she hadn’t spent all that much time around. The first of the three was Rover who wanted to go gem shopping with Rarity; he knew quality when he saw it even if Rarity didn’t exactly need him to check for quality. Rarity thought it would be nice to have him tag along. The second was a recovering Lightning Dust. Lightning had gotten her cake and a small modest welcome back from the medical bed party, the party thing was quickly becoming a tradition for the seriously injured on the crew and she needed some relatively fresh air. The last was the oddest one in Rarity’s current Streusel Station group, one of last times they would be here for a while as they only had a few orders to deliver and then they could leave at anytime. It was a little strange that Bernard insisted on coming with them without Trapeze and that was curious enough to warrant Rarity sending him questioning glances, she wondered what he wanted to do on the station as there were no wild predators for him to eviscerate and eat. Bernard and his partner were rather hard to separate even if their stage act has them look like they were at each other’s throat constantly; Bernard didn’t look upset and seemed rather eager to look around. “Well I can maybe understand Rover wanted to come along, but what about you two?” Rarity’s curiosity was certainly piqued by this and she finally decided to ask. “I can understand Lightning needing to stretch her legs, but she needs to be constantly supervised in case of an emergency involving her ribs. As such we will all be sticking together and there will be no running off on our own.” “Okay, I did kind of want to do some flying, even if it might mean making my injuries worse.” The Boss Lady certainly had her pegged; Lightning wouldn’t have flown too high in the first place anyway. It would have been just a few feet and she wouldn’t have exacerbated her pasted ribs. Noticing that Rarity was giving her a stare, Lightning gulped. “I’m not going to do it now Boss Lady, honest!” “Seriously, am I going to end up being called Boss Lady by the entire crew at this rate?” It kind of irked Rarity a bit that she was being called Boss Lady even if she liked the lady part, the boss part sounded way too stuffy and Rarity was nothing like a Canterlot noble. She no longer wanted to be like that, she preferred to be the pony to define glamorous in her own way. “Yes/Rover is thinking so/Squeak Squeak Snuffle.” The three answered for her in return. “Just please don’t do anything to embarrass me, I think this was the store that Pinkie said we could shop at.” Rarity stopped in front of a store simply labeled ‘Pies Peddled Pebbles’, the store looked boring on the outside with its stone colored motif. Looking in through the window it looked better on the inside. “How quaint, well let’s go in and see which of the Pie sisters we’ll have to deal with.” Walking in the four immediately walked into a rather vocal amount of shouting. “Those asteroid eaters are messing with our turf and I’m going to find a way to rip them to shreds and so help me they are not getting another one of my babies!” This was Limestone Pie, the angry aggravated mare who loved her job a little too much. In fact some people think she practically married the asteroid field and her anger was born out of love for it. It was mostly wrong to think that her anger was born out of love for the asteroid field, even if it was partly true, she was angry on the principle that she was rage personified and distilled into a pony. The only thing that could get angrier than her is Maud who stood stoically next to a Changeling with bright brown eyes behind the Counter. “Also did you know your pet rock was a Changeling this whole time, it makes me so angry that he’s been with you all this time and he never told you what he was! If he did, then why did you never tell us?” “To be fair he told me his name and never exactly lied to me; he just never corrected me on my assumption that he was a rock. He gets me though and he makes for a really good rock impersonator given how many years I’ve had him.” Stopping there Maud turned blankly to the Changeling and threw a hoof around him. “He’s part of the family Limestone, he’s still my pet.” “I don’t mind continuing being a pet rock.” The Changeling formerly known as Boulder Bottom the rock offered in just as bland a tone as Maud, in fact he didn’t have much of a personality and being a rock for the last five to eight years put a crick in his neck something fierce. In fact it was quite hard for him to even remember that he was a Changeling to begin with, he was just that good at his rock impersonation. “If you think I’m okay with this, well I’m not!” Some would swear that Limestone had somehow managed to acquire what amounts to a human female period… only it never left to come back once a month, it was ongoing all the time. In comparison Gilda had a sunny disposition despite her grumpy nature. “I’m going to either get Planetary Protection Patrol or at least the Equestrian Defense Force to come out here and help me with this crisis! At least it’s not fucking shamroids, those things are annoying to root out! That would piss me off farther than I already am after we prevented the last three attempts to infest our fields; I’m getting sick of all this crap messing with my asteroids!” Limestone growled as she stormed out of the shop leaving the blank faced sister and Changeling behind. Rarity and her group moved out of the way of the mare that had a pick axe shouldered across her back. They watched as she stalked off muttering expletives that would have certainly made Pinkie upset. Rarity walked in with Bernard on her back, with Rover and Lighting following behind. “Hello Maud, how are you and… Boulder Bottom I take it. Why haven’t you turned back into a rock yet, is this because of that thing with Chrysalis? I would like to…” Rarity was stopped by Boulder holding a hoof and looking at her calmly. “It is the duty of a Changeling Queen to be insane, a jerk, mad with power or disturbing on a number of levels, sometimes all of the above. Do not apologize for my queen’s ways, all Changelings understand our queen on a level most couldn’t even begin to describe. I have impersonated a rock for so long I almost forgot what it was like to breath, it has actually been… nice… to see her again. She is who she is; she seems a lot happier and friendlier than I remember her being though.” Boulder’s flat tone was a little odd, but nonetheless approachable in the same manner as Maud’s was. A rather noticeable feature was his rock hard muscles focused around his rear end. “Maud is a loving and caring individual; I care about her in the same way. So I’m not exactly the rock she expected I was, but I’m sure we can work out our differences.” “You’re going to be one of my special some ponies.” That didn’t sound like a question and more of a outright demand from Maud. “Along with any other pony I can find that won’t mind your presence.” “I will agree, as long as I can keep being your pet.” After Boulder said his piece they both nodded to each other in acceptance, the two weren’t very complicated and they complemented each other pretty well from what Rarity could see with that small exchange. “I didn’t say you could stop being my pet in the first place Boulder. Marble, we have customers.” The mare that Maud was addressing came up from behind the counter shivering, Marble was always a bit scared of Limestone despite the fact that Limestone has never once hurt her sisters in any given way. “Oh… sorry… welcome to Pies Peddled Pebbles, w-w-what can we do for you? Oh it’s Mr. Magic Bunny!” Clapping her hooves cheerfully Marble’s cowardly countenance flipped gears entirely as she reached over the counter and pulled Bernard into a tight hug. He didn’t fight it; he just cuddled into her and played up his part of being unassuming adorable rabbit that could do tricks. “So fluffy…” “Pinkie recommended this store to us; it was kind of obvious that it belonged to your family given Pie was in the name.” Hopefully Rarity wouldn’t become too deadpan; she’d turn into Maud and Boulder with their flat emotional range. Hopefully they weren’t contagious, because that would be just horrifying. “I would like a few large emeralds the size of my head, fourteen medium sized sapphires, a box of small topazes in various colors, five moderately sized rubies, a padparadscha sapphire or two, at least eight amethyst of any value, one perfect moonstone, three aventurine, fourteen heliotropes, six spinel and finally at least seven cloudy labradorite if you have any.” “Wow you certainly know your gems… are you a miner? You look too refined and clean to be one of our workers.” Marble had set down Bernard as soon as Rarity started going over a list of gems she wanted and immediately pulled out everything Rarity was looking for. “Would you like some onyx with that? Oh and you get a small free statue with your purchase based on how much cash is spent, it’ll just take me a minute to make and you can have anything done. That or you can take a voucher to get it done later when you have a image of who you want to have immortalized in stone provided that you don’t want it to be you. My special talent is sculpting and I’m usually requested to sculpt the customers themselves.” “Rover is finding all gems to be great quality, how can you afford to sell so cheap?” It had Rover curious and he was a bit slow on the uptake as to the fact that the asteroid field was rich in minerals thanks to the Earth Pony practices. They looked like floating rocks to him and he wondered why anyone would want to own so many floating rocks in the big hole that was space. “We own all the floating rocks out there; they are full of minerals and gems like this. We can grow absolutely any gem, you want. We’d need a sample of a particular gem and a modest payment for us to grow something for you.” Marble smiled brightly at them as she continued to pull out everything. “The recent problem with the asteroid eaters might eat into our profits though, but I’m sure Limestone will take care of it. She takes care of a lot of things and is always so stressed out.” “Yes, I’d like at least four onyx with that and I already have an idea as to what I want to do for the statue, how big can it be?” This was another occasion where Rarity wasn’t going to get involved; she wanted to stay away from trouble at the moment. Her inner generosity was practically screaming at her to offer some form of help and she was trying very hard to not get involved. “By the way, no I’m not a miner, despite my cutie mark maybe leading to the assumption and I have done some mining personally. I now run my mining through Mr. Rover here. I specialize in having a great eye for detail and finding beauty in many things.” “Let’s see… considering the prices of the gems and the Onyx was offered freely on the side, you’re buying enough for a statue made from a three by three foot block of stone to work with.” Marble watched as Rarity inspected every stone she wanted before putting it away in the large bag Marble set on the counter. Marble gently rubbed at Bernard’s belly when she finished, he squealed happily and kicked one of his legs lazily. “Who’s a good bunny, you’re a good bunny! So voucher or do you have an ideal statue in mind right now?” “Opal, I need your help with something important in the world of fashionable art STAT!” Inspiration came in many forms and Rarity just had an idea, which is why she brought up her data pad and walked off to the side. “Rover is thinking she wants to do thing now while here, be giving Boss Lady a moment please.” Receiving a curious glance from the pony, Rover returned the glance just as curiously. “You’re the first Diamond Dog I’ve ever met; surprising considering my family runs an asteroid mining company.” At least Marble would think they’d have some Diamond Dog workers, they didn’t and she was most curious as this was her first time actually meeting one. He looked like a big puppy to Marble and didn’t seem too imposing. “What do you actually do with the gems you mine; do you eat or wear them or what?” “It is a history story you be asking, Rover is being proud to share it with you. Friends and Boss Lady have yet to be interested in asking, Rover tell you.” He’d happily keep Marble entertained while the Boss Lady was doing whatever she was doing, he’s learned a lot about entertaining from Trapeze and all the forms of it. His entertainment lesson included garden variety social interaction; he even learned a few things about how Diamond Dogs are seen by others. Sure they his race was a bit simplistic, but that didn’t mean his culture wasn’t rich and as a giant bipedal prairie dog he could certainly talk conversationally. “It all starts with Rough Ruff the fragrant, he always smelled like whatever dirt he would dig into. One day while digging deeply he...” “This is really quite boring I want to hear more about those asteroid eater things.” Lightning turned to Boulder and Maud, one who had returned to being a small rock that Maud carried around. Anything would be more interesting than what Rarity was doing. “They are giant monstrous insects that fly through space and eat asteroids, hence the name.” Maud didn’t think any of the Pie’s liked the asteroid eaters; Boulder would obviously dislike them too. “They have the whole atmospheric bubble thing that Mass Offensive Meteors are known for, we don’t like them obviously. They tend to burrow into an asteroid and eventually create an atmosphere inside that’s held in by a thin film generated by the bugs, if the asteroid is big enough they end up creating a large cave system and they aren’t aggressive until they build up their numbers. It is best to not let them gain any ground, they are different entities from MOM cores and the monsters generated by such creatures. We know this because asteroid eaters will outright attack and destroy any MOM’s they find. They are more preferable to MOM related activity around planets because they can’t infest planets; they only infest asteroids which is a problem for us considering it’s our livelihood.” “Mass Offense Meteors have a natural enemy? That’s a laugh, those things are complete nightmares when their seen around populated systems.” Lightning might have been living out of a cardboard box at the time, but news still travels. “The last one I heard of was exceedingly close to infesting a planet and that it was barely dealt with by the local triple P forces. I even heard that the MOM’s now have their own defense against fighter assaults and long range missile bombardments.” “That is rather scary.” Maud said blankly, hardly an ounce of emotion crossing her face aside from the tiniest of frowns. “Thank you for waiting on me, I’ll be sure to pick it up before we leave for the Applon System.” Rarity nodded to Marble and tried to levitate Bernard only for him to start squeaking something and grab onto the counter tightly. “What is it Bernard?” Bernard did have a reason for wanting to come here; he had just been a little more than distracted by the cute mare and playing up his false adorable nature. He now remembered why he was here and got Rarity to let go of him, he quickly ran off and looked around the isles for something and then he eventually found what he was looking for. He brought it back to the counter and smiled broadly at Marble. “I guess you expect me to pay for that? Well now… isn’t that interesting shade of blue and yellow swirls, is that a present for Trapeze? I could make a necklace with that for you.” That seemed to earn Rarity an appreciative look Bernard seemed eager to acquire her help as he jumped up and down nodding excitedly. “Well then, add that to our purchases if you will Marble. After we’re done putting this away in my mobile boutique, we’ll go to Sugarcube Galaxy and get some snacks, my treat.” “Well that will be something at least; it’s been nice talking to you and Boulder, but it’s time for me to get going Maud.” Lightning hurried off after Rarity, Bernard and Rover. “Thanks for telling about your history of why Diamond Dogs like digging for shiny things and I hope to see you again real soon Mr. Magic Bunny!” All of them waved back at a smiling Marble and her sister with their family pet Boulder the Changeling who was once more rocking his look. - “Well this is the place, Sugarcube Galaxy where my friend Pinkie works; well at least I hope it’s the Pinkie I know this time. She’s always doing some really bizarre things.” The building looked like a child fantasy place, a proverbial paradise of sugar treats with a logo that had a galaxy full of jaw breakers. Which reminded Rarity that she would have to brush her teeth later after this, now what to order? She heard from Gilda that the Cheese Danish here was excellent. Rarity did believe Gilda to have a good taste in food, now if she only had some taste for fashion or other things when she wasn’t grease covered and up to her shoulders in machinery. “Well let’s see what Pinkie is up to.” Walking into the room the place was packed full of beings from all walks of society, the two ponies that ran the place were obviously busy and there was an indistinct pink blur flying around this place of baked goods purveyance. That had to be Pinkie Pie on the job, she didn’t look to be tiring and she was delivering drinks, food and other things everywhere she went and then she disappeared from sight. “Hi Rarity and welcome to Sugarcube Galaxy, the happiest dessert place in space!” Pinkie had appeared as if out of nowhere and had spooked her entire group. Only Lightning managed to prevent herself from falling onto her back, she really didn’t want to jostle her ribs. “My goodness Pinkie, can you please not do that. Lightning has pasted ribs and she can’t have too many surprises and I really don’t want to suffer a heart attack.” It took a moment for Rarity to catch her breath from the shock. “Oh sorry Rarity, but I’m just having so much fun today!” Looking a little bit cowed by startling them, Pinkie rubbed her hoof on the floor in small circles with a shy smile on her face. “I tend to forget that people don’t like to be scared out of their wits by something vibrantly colored as me. So what can I do for you, take out, delivery or oh… are you going to get a booth here? I’ll go grab some menus if that’s the case.” “We’ll take a booth please.” Rarity hoped that Marble would finish her free commission earned from her purchases; she didn’t want to be stuck at Streusel Station forever even if it was nice to see her friend again. At least she hoped it was her friend this time and not someone disguised as her or another version of her from an alternate dimension, Pinkie was confusing enough already without the possibility of her having dimensional traveling abilities. “Sometimes I think its best that I don’t question her at all and move on with my life.” Bernard, Rover and Lightning just nodded solemnly at those words of wisdom. Author's Note I would have gotten this chapter out sooner, only there was a really bad plumbing incident and the basement flooded... again... it's bad enough when it rains a lot that it floods. Now I have a dehumidifier running constantly and a headache from the smell and the constant humming noise.
-79-The sweet creamy goodness of a nicely baked dessert, there was nothing finer than sharing food with friends. The cream cheese pastry was delicious; Gilda did know baked goods despite it being a secondary skill. Sitting to her right Lightning was eating a baked apple dumpling, across from her Bernard was digging into a large slice of carrot cake. As for Rover, he was being a big problem to Pinkie for the things he can’t eat safely. Pinkie eventually found something for him and he was eating some cinnamon dipped, honey glazed and batter fried toast. “Too much chocolate on menu, it is not very safe for Diamond Dog to be near such food. Yes, Rover knows ponies like sugary things; I prefer saltier or bland things personally.” Rover was probably the only crew member on Rarity’s ship that had a lot of nasty dietary land mines that could really harm him, in comparison the rest of the crew could eat and survive on almost anything. His dietary needs were the most specific and problematic around. “Sweet toast is good enough for Rover’s teeth, not willing to go much farther though.” “So Rover, aside from training with Trapeze what do you do for a hobby?” It was something Rarity had thought about, the Diamond Dog was an oddball and he had nothing better to do when he wasn’t practicing a routine with Trapeze and Bernard. “Rover is having time to play with ball, chew on a bone, get exercise and keep digging claws healthy.” As simple as he sounded, Rover was actually one of the healthiest members of the crew. “I am having plenty of time to myself, no need to worry about that.” “Okay then, it’s nice to know you’re comfortable on the ship at least.” There was only one other person to turn to and Rarity didn’t speak Bernard’s language. “So, Lightning, how are you feeling?” “Like I was bucked in the chest by the universe’s strongest Earth Pony and then welded back together with a plasma torch, but I’m kind of looking forward to the next dangerous thing we run into.” Lightning’s face was smeared with bits of syrup, crust and apple, she chewed loudly and she wasn’t the most elegant of ponies. Even then Rarity would still make an effort to be her friend, which she started off by wiping Lightning’s face off before she could talk again. “I’m up for any action when you need me and before you ask, I don’t exactly mind being Gilda’s personal crash test dummy. Didn’t think anyone would hire me to be honest, I can’t really complain about food, shelter… and having friends again.” Maybe Rarity shouldn’t have asked, but she had to know about the well being of every single crew member. She turned to Bernard to ask him how his carrot cake was and saw an empty plate and he was squeaking to Pinkie, who nodded and wrote something down. “Right, I’ll have another big carrot cake coming right up, one with extra carrots this time. Don’t frown like that around me or else I’ll have to make you smile and laugh… but I can’t tickle your ribs or hug you. This is quite the puzzle and… oh table three needs a refill on mango juice!” Pinkie blurred slightly and then solidified after a second, it was almost as if she never moved. The group could tell that she had indeed moved somewhere for a time, for she was now holding a silver platter with a large chunk of carrot cake on it. Rarity, Rover and Lightning didn’t say anything and didn’t want to as Bernard started to nibble at the cake with a bright smile. “You’re going to be a tough one to make smile Lightning, but be assured you’re not leaving here without a happy look on your face!” Lightning frowned and leaned away from Pinkie as she started invading her personal space. Why did she feel like she did something very illegal around the pink pony? Rarity just shook her head sadly at Lightning, Pinkie really liked to make ponies smile. - “Okay we have an entire list of things we can do… where’s Chrysalis?” Ember paused noticing the Changeling Queen had vacated the room, she also noted that the resident filly was missing and shrugged. If Opal didn’t think anything bad was happening then that was alright with Ember. “Go over the list and tap out some options, we’ve set a weight limit, power to usage ratio and all that. So you can have whatever we can make within the limits of what the suit can be capable of given our current production abilties. I would like to thank Greta and Sassy for helping me finish my energy whip design. It too is a part of the list of all the things you could possibly imagine being on your armored suit Saffron, I’ve got to go install mine in my rifle and run a few tests.” Ember left the room with a happy smile and both Greta and Sassy had saved the energy whip information to their pads. Sassy was quite surprised by the idea Ember got from her Pinpoint Puller, it was a little unsettling to see Ember in action when it came to inventing weapons and it seemed like she was really quite enthused by the idea of inventing things to do harm. It was somewhat understandable from Sassy’s point of view given she liked swords, but she didn’t like making them or the long drawn out and completely necessary process to make a nearly unbreakable sword like her chokuto. “So that’s it, nobody is insisting on putting anything into the suit?” Saffron was a little confused; she thought everyone would be busy trying to force options on her. “Of course not, we were just coming up with a list of things we could feasibly put into the suit and still be safe, relatively speaking of course, for the wearer.” Shrugging a bit, Gilda reclined against the table while holding her out talons to Saffron and flicked them in a ‘go on’ motion. “It’s entirely up to you to as to what you want in it, the Boss Lady said you’d be the first and we agreed that you’re the first pick for this armored crew project.” “Quite frankly dear, they need you to make those decisions before they start working on it. Less waste of materials that way and no need to modify anything afterwards. It’s like making a dress. You measure the fabric twice, cut once and save on the material and time that isn’t wasted by hasty decisions.” It wasn’t Sassy’s personal suit so she didn’t think she should have a say in it and she was sure the others agreed that they didn’t either, it was clearly up to Saffron as to what was made for her. The color scheme of dark blue and purple was already locked in and Saffron certainly didn’t seem to be contesting that. Sassy thought highly of Saffron for saving Rarity and a hero was anyone willing to do the right thing no matter how difficult the situation. “They have the ability to manufacture such a thing; they just need to know what they are manufacturing first. You’re the hero here Saffron, what do you want it to do?” “Give me a minute…” Saffron looked down at the screen and started pouring over her options and limitations, she eventually chose her first option, then several others and when she got to last one she looked up from the screen. A good ten minutes of choosing options had passed and everyone seemed to be staring at her, when she looked up and at a nearby clock. “Guess it took ten, anyway who do I give this to?” “Me, hoof it over and show me what we need to get together.” Having the device placed firmly in her talons, Gilda looked it over; she hummed at a few of the options and then nodded. “Yeah we can do this easily enough, I thought you’d want something a little more complicated. First off you need to suit up; we’re going to need you in your EVA suit for this. Coco, could you go grab one of your battery loaded impulse saddles? We’re going to need one.” “What, did you expect me to go crazy army knife on this? These options are exactly what I want in my personal powered armor and it isn’t exactly as simple as you’d think.” It wasn’t from easy from Saffron’s point of view, there was a lot going into this and she wasn’t sure how they were going to get the armor on and off. “Speaking of crazy, how am I supposed to get the armor on and how quickly can we get it off if I have to use the bathroom? This sounds far more involved than you make it out to be.” “Trust me, it’s not as involved as you’d think with me and Gilda working on it.” There wasn’t an ounce of worry in Greta’s voice as she put a calming talon on Saffron’s shoulder. “Just let us Garage Griffons handle the more worrisome details okay? We promise you an effective armored suit and we’re going to do just that, we won’t miss the minor details either. This will be like building a small vehicle for us.” - “That’s how you calculate the flight speed of a Swallow burdened with a small bowl of banana pudding.” Chrysalis finished her lecture with a friendly smile and Babs looked amazed, she was a good teacher and knew how to keep a lesson interesting. “It also gives us an idea of how far it can fly with said bowl, but I’ll save that for the next lesson.” “That’s amazing… wait… why would a Swallow even be burdened with a bowl of banana pudding in the first place?” There was also something else that Babs was curious about, the ache of missing her parents kind of flies out the door when she was in Chrysalis’s distracting and rather childish presence. “Also why would I even need to know this at all?” “Well it’s like this kid. I have a set up where some Changelings are taking care of a trained flock of Swallows, with very specific instructions to give said flock a bunch of small bowls of pudding on a particular day. The ingredients for said banana pudding were bought with at least a few days separating the purchase of each particular ingredient so as to be really hard to trace back to the one who purchased the stuff to make the pudding. The math behind this is a bit complicated and could be thrown off by unforeseen variables.” A small smile made its way onto Chrysalis’s face, Celestia and Luna had to have been missing her by now. Playful time delayed pranks were always interesting, especially when you weren’t there to see them going off. “It’s all part of a really elaborate and hopefully well timed prank. I obviously hope that none of the swallows get sick, but it will be glorious once I hear about what happened when my guys eventually do carry out those particular instructions aside from tending to the flock of course. So you see, math is quite useful and you can use it in even the most ridiculous of circumstances.” “I don’t know whether to find this situation cute or disturbing.” The filly did need an education, Opal couldn’t deny that much. It was just that the teacher was a deranged Changeling Queen and it was a little worrisome that she was teaching Babs without supervision. Wouldn’t Opal technically be supervising them right now by watching this? Yeah, she was definitely responsible for them. “She’s right you know. Math can be helpful as it is dangerous Babs.” “Can’t you or another machine do the math for me though?” The filly hadn’t known that math could be interesting until Chrysalis decided to start teaching her. “You do realize that you’d be handicapped in any situation where I or any other machine would be completely unavailable right?” At least Opal knew there would be situations where math was needed, but could not be calculated by a machine. “Imagine a situation where you had to do math to survive and you didn’t have any help except for the knowledge in your own brain. You certainly wouldn’t be able to survive without math then now would you?” “When would something like that happen?” There was now an expectant filly waiting to hear that answer, not that Babs understood the likelihood of something going horribly wrong on a spaceship being more likely because of children. “Anywhere between never to within the next five seconds…” Something sounded off with Opal’s voice, it sounded ominous. “I am now locking you in the room with Chrysalis, unless you can solve a math problem I come up with on your own then you’re not leaving the room to use the toilet or eat. You are allowed to sleep as much as you want, Chrysalis may not assist you in the answering of the question. Any attempt to get assistance from her will result in a harder question. I will give you a few seconds to come to terms with this.” “Chrysalis, can she really do that to us?” The doors around the room made a clunking sound and the filly looked to the Changeling Queen who didn’t seem worried. “Why are you asking me? She just did it and if I remember right she’s the complicated pony hive mind that controls this ship.” Tapping her chin with a hoof Chrysalis shrugged after a moment. “So we’re probably screwed if you can’t answer the math question.” “That’s long enough to come to terms with this! Now for the math question… Pete and Repeat had five apples; Pete ate one, who has the most left?” There was a hint of amusement in Opal’s voice, but she kept herself in check. “That’s an easy one; Repeat!” Babs was quite sure of herself, this had to be the answer. “That’s long enough to come to terms with this! Now for the math question… Pete and Repeat had five apples; Pete ate one, who has the most left?” There was an even greater hint of amusement in Opal’s voice as she repeated everything right down to the exact inflection she first said everything in. Chrysalis eyes widened at the implications of this situation. They both shared five apples; they would both have the most left. Unfortunately if she tried to tell Babs this fact, that she was caught in what was essentially an answer loop, then Opal would make a harder math problem. The current problem was so simple a foal could figure it out, which was the entire point of the mental exercise really. “My answer is Repeat!” It would take Babs a few more minutes to figure out what she was doing wrong and proceeded to say ‘Repeat’ several more times until she actually took a moment to think about it. Chrysalis was just lying on her side and smiling at the filly with a knowing grin the entire time. Pony fillies were a lot like Changeling Nymphs, they were both stupid and adorable. “That’s long enough to come to terms with this! Now for the math question… Pete and Repeat had five apples; Pete ate one, who has the most left?” Now Opal was smiling up a storm and trying to hold back her laughter, the answer was obviously they both had the most left or they both had four apples. “Wait a minute… are you making fun of me? I can hear you snickering!” Babs realized the problem here; all she was saying was ‘repeat’. Opal would then repeat exactly what she said until the sentence got stuck in her head. It was still a math problem, but it didn’t necessarily need a mathematical answer. They both had five apples so wouldn’t that mean… wait… there weren’t ten apples, there were only five between them. Opal never said they each had five apples, just that there were five total and now Babs felt pretty dumb about all this. “There are four apples left and they are sharing them, so they both have the most left.” “It took you long enough to figure that out. As you can see math is quite important, as is problem solving skills. It’s why Chrysalis is bothering to see how your education is doing, considering you’re not in the most stable environment by being on this ship.” The doors unlocked and Opal appeared on a nearby screen smiling. “It is important that you use your head. Muscles are all well and good for an Earth Pony, but you can’t forget the most important one to flex is the one that sits between your ears. Also I have to ask Chrysalis, how can you create plans that are that complicated, but you can’t use a computer to save your life?” Chrysalis just shrugged nonchalantly. Plans were easy; using complicated technology just wasn’t her strong point and corrupting the filly was taking longer than the initial hour she thought it would require. She was getting a lot of love out of ‘Little Snack’ though and for some reason love tasted sweeter than she remembered it being. - “Seriously, do you have to go these kinds of lengths just to cheer me up?” Lightning found it hard to smile, especially because this mare was trying to force her to. She just wasn’t in the mood to smile, what was so wrong with that? There were so many thoughts of things she could have done or should have done swirling in her head. On top of that there was the heavy thought that some people would care if she died, well aside from that nice barkeep and his Changeling that looked out for her every now and then. She should really send them a gift to thank them for a recommending her as an unaffiliated pony that needed a job. What would her life be like had she not caused that incident that got her kicked out of the Wonder Bolts? Well she wasn’t that Lightning Dust who would never have been humbled by living in a box like the one currently thinking these thoughts; she was the Lightning Dust that knew what was more important in life. What she had now, she didn’t want to mess it up and she was being welcomed by a bunch of friendly strangers. “I just don’t feel like it at the moment, can we do this another time?” “Come on, not even a giggle?” Pinkie was sparking with static electricity and had multiple balloons stuck to her, she looked completely ridiculous. Rarity, Rover and Bernard were giggling, laughing and smiling respectively, Lightning didn’t even crack a smile. Not even when one of the balloons popped and Pinkie fell over with a squeaking noise out of shock. “Pinkie, please, I need to finish up some orders and begin preparations to continue on to the Applon System. We can’t stay here all week waiting for you to make Lightning smile.” Even Rarity didn’t think Pinkie could keep a perfect record of making everyone smile, no matter how silly she got. “Sometimes you have to give people space Pinkie.” “But we’re already in space and there’s plenty of it outside the space station!” The logic of Pinkie’s brain at work, clearly she wasn’t going to take no for an answer or take a hint. “What kind of hint should I be getting though? Am I supposed to steal the hint?” “If there’s a hint you think you might be missing here, maybe it’s that I don’t want to smile at the moment.” Lightning answered blandly, Pinkie looked horrified at the thought that someone didn’t want to smile. “I can’t drink, I can’t fly and I can’t do anything that I would find relatively fun with my current injury. So I’m supposed to smile why?” “Well you could look on the positive side, at least your alive to enjoy some tasty baked goods with your friends!” Declared Pinkie in an over the top manner, she proudly thrust her hoof into the air and gave a cheerful grin. “Well we can be loosely termed as friends, I’ve barely been with the Boss Lady’s crew for almost month and I joined them while somewhat out of shape and slightly malnourished. The injury and medical bed time certainly didn’t help me all too much either, except to give me a swift kick in the flank to start gliding straight.” Thanks to the baths and other things, Lightning was at least looking a lot better. She was getting some shine back in her fur and she wasn’t unkempt anymore at least. She rubbed at her chest gently with a hoof and winced. “I may not be smiling, but I am happy to be alive at least. I thought I was going to die at the last space station we were at. A sharp pain erupted in my chest, I find myself falling to my death and everything was fading in and out. I was surprised to even be rescued from that, I was even welcoming death as a friend at that moment. So don’t tell me I’m not happy to be alive, I just don’t feel like smiling about it.” “You’re freaking me out on a number of levels… I mean is it really feasible for there to be a pony who won’t smile when they are happy? When has that ever happened?” To Pinkie a pony who doesn’t smile wasn’t a happy pony at all and Lightning seemed to be mostly content, but wouldn’t smile. “I don’t even know how to react to this!” “Let it go Pinkie.” Maud walked up to Pinkie and gave her a tight hug. “You can’t help everyone and some people don’t need your help. She’s doing fine as is… if she isn’t fine, then what does that say about me?” “Well… I… you…” Pinkie was about to make a statement, but then retracted from saying something so horrible considering it would reflect on Maud. She was instead considering Maud’s general emotional disposition; sure Maud could smile, but it was very rare that Pinkie ever saw the edges of her lips go up on the rare occasions when Maud was exceedingly ecstatic. Nothing was wrong with Maud for not showing the proper amount of emotional response and Pinkie never thought anything was wrong with her at all. This led Pinkie to immediately realizing that she would be a hypocrite if she tried to force another pony to smile when she wouldn’t do the same to her beloved sister. Forcing a smile was never a good thing unless you were in a really bad situation and she would be the bad situation this time. “That’s why you’re the best biggest sister mediator of Streusel Station Maud!” “It’s okay to feel sad or have an off day sometimes Pinkie.” Despite the bland tone she spoke in, Maud still patted Pinkie on the back and held her affectionately with the same constant flat look on her face. “I’m sorry Lightning. I can’t make you smile and I should be alright with that.” Pinkie’s positive outlook would have meshed well with Greta’s, the pink pony wiggled out of hugging her sister and then ran off and came back with a large box. “Smiles should be naturally occurring, because that’s when they are at their best! Sorry about holding you up Rarity, here take this box of cupcakes and share them with the rest of your crew that didn’t get a chance to get some baked goods made by me and the Cakes.” “Why thank you Pinkie, you’re as lovely and generous as I remember you being. It’s been fun and I know how you hate saying…” A hoof slammed into Rarity’s mouth and she felt something enter it. She chewed it and began humming loudly as the flavor of a double chocolate fudge marshmallow cookie washed over her tongue. “I still don’t like saying those words Rarity, even to the other me. How about we just say hello when we see each other again?” The group stood up ready to leave with Pinkie showing them the door. “It’s been a lot of fun seeing you again Rarity, get me a signed autograph from Trapeze the next time you see her.” Bernard looked positively insulted at Pinkie’s insinuation, he quickly whipped his hat off and pulled a tiny magicians wand out of it to circle around the opening. He tapped the edge of the hole twice and then reached in and pulled out a confused looking Trapeze, she looked a lot smaller coming out of Bernard’s hat. “I was kind of in the middle of something Bernard, what is it?” Bernard pointed to Pinkie Pie who looked completely mystified and even Maud seemed a little surprised. The blushing Lagotorphin squeaked something to the towel wearing Trapeze who had strands of wet mane dangling from her makeshift turban and she nodded to him in a serious manner. “Yes, this is definitely important enough to interrupt my shower, hold on a second and I’ll get one right away!” Ducking back into the hat, Trapeze’s yellow furred hoof popped up holding a personally signed poster of the Trapeze Troupe and waved it about. Bernard snatched it and the hoof disappeared back into the small hat, which he then reached into to pull a pen out of. After he signed his own name he handed it to Rover who signed his as well. Bernard threw both the pen and wand into the hat and then slapped it back on his head, before crossing his paws with a smug look on his face. “Wow, here I was thinking I was the only one that did crazy stuff like this.” Pinkie giggled and clutched the poster to her chest and she waved the group off. “Thanks for the poster Mr. Magic Bunny!” Coco most assuredly had made Bernard’s hat and it was quite ordinary to anyone else. Not many would figure out that it wasn’t the hat or the wand that was magic… it was the magician who wielded them that was truly magical. It was Trapeze that showed Bernard how to do magic and he came along with Rarity to get her a present, now he had to somehow get Rarity to understand his need for keeping it a secret. You try to keep something secret from an incredibly talented and beautiful magician who you might be in love with, now that would be the real magic trick on Bernard’s part. - It was hours later and they were almost to the Applon System where they would stop at their next destination, planet Applin five. Applin Five unsurprisingly had a major population of earth ponies and the planet itself was a completely green world. It was an ever green planet in so much as it was green plains as far as the eye could see aside from the calm ocean which had three large continents sitting in it. Applin Five was a good fruit producing planet and the planet had very little in the way of natural danger on it. It was a perfectly nice planet for being the fifth from its sun, gravity was barely a percentage higher than normal, water was fresh and most plants took to the soil of the planet really well and most the lands were flat with very few mountainous regions, the size of the planet was only slightly bigger than Equus. It was, to no one’s surprise, the planet that hosted a large portion of the Apple family which had named the system and planet. The names were not very imaginative, but it’s what stuck to the system and the two inhabitable planets within it. So far colonization has only been done to Applin Five as Applin Three was still under surveillance, Applin Four was an uninhabitable gas giant. Shining Jewel came out of jump at the edge of the system. As it coasted towards the fifth of the seven planets in this system, there was a noticeable problem that you would have to be blind to miss seeing even from this distance. Opal didn’t even need seconds after coming out of jump to notice the issue. “Rarity, I think we might have a bit of a problem.” Opal had absolutely no trouble getting Shining Jewel out of the asteroid field, aside from having to pop some small stupidly aggressive asteroid eaters with a few shots on the way out. Limestone thanked them for helping, if minutely at that, with the problem she was dealing with. It was only now that they arrived at Applin Five that a really bad problem came up and it was quite a visible one. At least the supply depot in orbit looked fine given there were still ships coming and going. “What is it… oh dear. Please tell me that Babs relatives don’t live anywhere on that half of the planet. Who am I kidding? She has tons of cousins that live here!” If only Rarity were so lucky. From looking at it, Applin Five seemed to be experiencing the oddest of weather patterns for an ever green planet. The weather was mostly likely not natural given how localized it looked. “Get us in contact with supply depot and ask about the situation, also connect me to the hangar. Gilda, that new vehicle you were working on, how soon can you finish it?” The weather problem in question was a heavily and quite unusually localized blizzard. Said blizzard covered less than half the planet, but more than a quarter of it. It was as if hell were slowly freezing the planet over without a cause for the bizarre effect Rarity was seeing on the screen that was quite visible from orbit. It didn’t even take her three guesses as to figure out where Babs relatives might be found if she looked in a particular area of the planet, hopefully she was wrong and most of the Apple family was safely ensconced on the naturally greener side of the planet.
-80-“How are we going to break this information to the kid?” Personally Gilda would have told Babs up front and then proceed to tell her to suck it up if she started crying just because some of her relative might have been frozen solid. The Griffon thought that the remains of Bab’s parents needing to be incinerated by Ember as something far more traumatic. Yet Babs didn’t hate Ember and was surprisingly mature about it, it was kind of amazing that the little squirt hadn’t completely shut down emotionally. "I mean, do we even know if any of her family is still around?" “Well we did have contact with some of her family at the supply depot; I believe Opal said the name of the guy was Braeburn?” The supply depot was operational and Rarity thought Braeburn sounded like a nice guy from what Opal has said about the news she got from him. “I’m sure Babs wouldn’t mind going to live with him, but I’m not about let her leave the ship quite yet until we know she’ll be both safe and secure. We didn’t bring her this far to leave her in the middle of a bad situation.” Part of Applin Five was positively covered in snow and that part of it had been mostly evacuated thankfully; however the snow had only started to get really bad about three days ago. It was a major issue to leaving Babs in a safe stable environment, right now the Shining Jewel was the safest place for the filly to be. Rarity wondered if she should even consider getting involved with Applin Five’s current crisis, there was absolutely no reason for her to do so for the time being as it was not her problem. Even if her heart said yes, Rarity’s head was constantly saying ‘hell no’ in a manner unbefitting of a lady supported by a megaphone and warning sirens. Saffron would want to get involved with solving this mystery and Rarity wouldn’t have the heart to deny the heroic mare as she owed Saffron for saving her from Mind Field. Rarity helped at Antilur Station because Ember certainly needed it, that and the problem had been an apocalyptic level concern that definitely needed to die. Here on the other hoof, yeah, nobody she knew was in danger of dying and aside from the planet becoming uninhabitable she didn’t really see how this could possibly become her problem. In fact Rarity was beginning to gain a large aversion for walking into dangerous situations she could see from thousands of miles away; it was quite literally visible from that far away and on the nearest screen. Vera told Rarity that it was a perfectly normal response to have such an aversion to danger with how many situations Rarity has gotten into whether on purpose or by accident since she started up her business. The ocean’s water levels were lowering a bit thanks to the problematic weather stealing all the water to power the blizzard, as one could imagine this was also causing massive issues around the rest of Applin Five. The horrible weather obviously had to be manufactured, but no amount of Pegasi or Unicorns could have possibly covered this much of the planet on their own. It had to be the work of an exceedingly powerful being, multiple powerful beings or at least a machine. Greta and Opal agreed with the idea that it was most likely the work of a machine. If it was a machine that was causing the planetary climate issues, then who was behind it, what was their motive for creating a frozen wasteland and what were they getting from doing said action? “I can do safe and secure for the little snack, but if you want me to go down there then I’ll have to decline for really health related reasons. Changelings are good in warm weather, humid conditions and hotter climates like say a desert; anything cold like what we’re seeing is a complete anathema to my race.” If it was to save her hide, then Chrysalis would gladly spout off the knowledge of a really bad weakness to do so. As long as she didn’t have to go anywhere near that frozen hellhole. “A normal changeling wouldn’t last three minutes in normal blizzard conditions without constantly using magic. I would like to point out that that kind of weather pattern is anything but normal and my insignificantly sized butt is not going down there! Heck, a Changeling would be dead by hypothermia before frostbite can even become a problem, provided that the Changeling in question doesn’t immediately switch into a hibernation state by encasing themselves in a cocoon before they can run out of magic. I’d barely last twenty minutes, provided I wasn’t using all my magic to stay alive and warm in the same situation, before hypothermia gets to me if your EVA suit fails to keep me warm enough. I know the EVA suits work well enough in space and are quite handy in combat situations Baroness Belle, but on the ground any wear and tear on the suit could lead to me becoming exposed to temperatures cold enough to actually kill me. I really don’t want to die a painless death, which would just be the absolute worst thing ever!” “Well that’s someone who won’t volunteer to go investigate this; I however would like to get involved.” If some people were willing to pay her, then Ember was willing to find a solution to the problem. She would still do it even without being paid, but gratitude doesn’t feed hungry gem eating dragons. Speaking of gems, she bit into one of the emeralds that Rarity got for her back at Streusel Station. Ember was touched that her hoard’s centerpiece was thinking of her needs and it didn’t hurt that Rarity was a beautiful pony in many ways that don’t involve just her appearance. Aside from eating Ember also needed to pay rent to stay with her hoard. It was a little weird that Ember was actively paying her hoard for its continued survival and she didn’t mind spending said money either if it helped them. All that was considered valuable by others had become rather lacking in value to Ember, the exception being the stuff that she could consume. “I can handle sub-zero temperatures for a long time without clothing and my rifle works perfectly fine in cold temperatures. I’d have to leave Mr. Spew behind and someone would have to take care of him.” The sewer squid just crossed his tentacles from his perch on Ember’s left shoulder; he was really beginning to resemble a parrot to everyone. It was especially noticeable when Mr. Spew was given crackers to munch on by Coco every once in a while when they crossed paths. He didn’t seem particularly bothered by being left behind, provided he could be cuddled by the cute four legged servant thing that was friends with his rather magnificent throne. “Well enough about the planet for now, we’re not going down there unless we absolutely have to. Changing the subject, how is Saffron’s powered armor coming along?” As long as they didn’t have a reason to go down to the planet, then Rarity couldn’t see a reason to endanger her crew needlessly. The reason would have to be a pretty damn good one to get Rarity off of her ship. “We’re almost done; give us twenty four hours and Saffron’s assistance to make some adjustments and do some tests. You know, I think this cafeteria is becoming our favorite meeting place.” One of the many questions that had to be asked and Greta would be the first to voice it, because mostly she didn’t know what the stallion did when he wasn’t taking care of their hunger needs. A stallion that knew how to cook meat was kind of rare, but a pony that ate meat wasn’t as rare as one would think. If you were to call any of the pony species ‘fish breath’, then it would have to be a Pegasus you were talking to. That or a Mer-Pony, River Pony or a Hippocampus Pony, Ponies had a lot of racial variances. “Wait, what do you do when we’re not around Mr. Cumin?” “Well I do have hobbies like building space ships in bottles, I also read and I play games on my data pad sometimes. Plus there was a recreational console hooked up in the exercise room, so that’s also been keeping me entertained.” Coriander really liked cooking, but it wasn’t a major problem taking care of the crews needs and as such had a lot of free time. A little meat stew every now and then for the more omnivorous portion of the crew didn’t hurt his sense of smell. “I have a lot more free time on my hooves than I used to have. While I don’t have as many customers, I do like the customers I’m with.” “Yeah, you can play my game system. Just don’t save over any of my save files or you’ll be sorry!” Opal took her electronic gaming seriously. Instead of playing the games at an accelerated speed only an AI could achieve, she preferred playing her games at a mortal level that most people could follow. “Ahem, let us get right back to discussing other things of interest. Babs is currently with Coco, Sassy, Lightning and Vera, they’re currently getting plenty of safe exercise and Coco is learning how to wrestle with Sassy. I have to wonder if you wanted to join… oh she’s already halfway there. She must really want to wrestle.” Rarity turned to where Chrysalis had been sitting and there was a vague afterimage of the Changeling Queen, she seemed rather excited at the opportunity to wrestle with the others. Well exercise was certainly important and Vera was likely putting Babs and the others through their paces. She could do a few laps around the ship herself; maybe get in some target practice. “Was that Chrysalis just now?” Never had Saffron seen anything moving so fast, Chrysalis obviously had somewhere to be in a hurry given how she took the ladder instead of the elevator. In some cases the access ladders around the ship would definitely be faster to get you between decks. “I heard that you needed my assistance to finish the armored suit?” “Yeah and that’s not the only thing we need to finish, I have another vehicle to prepare for snow conditions and that’s going to take up some time. It needs a bit of testing as well to see if it’s combat worthy; then again it’s not exactly a combat vehicle.” Gilda’s grump was back in full force, she and Greta had been using the EGGS in the hangar to build another marvelous contraption. They didn’t exactly have a name for the newest vehicle in Shining Jewel's motor pool, but it was supposed to be a mobile living space and cargo carrier. Bombing Peregrine was exclusively for combat aside from the few creature comforts Gilda installed, the cup holders, enough hammock space for three, microwave and small fridge to be specific. This newest beast was meant to be less offensive and more like a walking fortress despite it not exactly being too massive, it was pretty big and getting it back into space would be kind of a hassle. “Just so you know we upgraded Caravel Boutique to help with lifting our mobile base off the ground if we do land it on the surface of the planet, Theoretically it should have enough fuel to get it off the ground and if the anti-gravity generator works like it’s supposed to then we can get it back into orbit with slightly less trouble. It’ll be an Equestrian record for the largest planet dropping vehicle capable of getting back through the atmosphere without abusive amounts of fuel expenditure.” “The anti-gravity generator would really only offset about half the weight, mass is still an issue and we already calculated needing Caravel Boutique to even get an exit vector unless we can get more power out of the take off thrusters. So yeah, that’s going to be amazing if we can even do it. I wouldn’t mind setting a planet record.” Greta hoped it would work at least, theoretically speaking it should and there was nothing technically wrong with it. She looked over the aspects of everything twice and triple checked the calculations and even ran them by Opal, she was doing her job as a technical engineer and this project was the most ridiculous thing Gilda recently came up with. None the less Greta loved Gilda for it and hoped that she had several more ridiculous ideas to come, Greta welcomed the challenge like her constant pursuit of Gilda. “You can drop on down to the hangar and get a look at what is basically an orbital drop capable base of operations. Besides Gilda was giving you too nice of an estimate, we’d need at least three days if we want to work out all the kinks. It’s seriously going to be awesome, but we’ll need the third day for some rest as we’re the only ones that will know how to pilot the darn thing.” Greta could even tell that some of the ideas for the vehicle they painstakingly constructed came from the Hands of Midas. At least the upper torso would look vaguely similar, they were geniuses of their craft and they used a lot of materials for it. Saffron’s suit was just as expertly crafted, even if they did have to work within a constrained design to give it the whole Mare-Do-Well hero theme. They’d need two days of constant work to finish up both projects. “We can easily wait four days; I don’t exactly plan to do anything about the situation or rush you in your work until something crops up that will inevitably get us involved. Saffron will likely be the catalyst for that.” Turning to the mare in question Rarity looked at her with a bored countenance. “I’m in no hurry to go down to the planet, I can wait that long too unless something pops up that requires urgent actions.” Saffron didn’t consider Faxel to be entirely urgent, though she wondered why they called Trapeze instead of her to handle the situation. Still, it was a good call and the magician did some amazing tricks while helping to disable the Faxel’s ability to cause havoc. “I may still want to be a hero, but I like to at least get a scope of the situation. I kind of wanted to be a detective growing up, but my special talent was obviously in making excellent food. Didn’t exactly stop me from being Mare-Do-Well now did it? It did however stop me from being a detective, just because I don’t exactly look like I have the cutie mark for it doesn’t mean I can’t do it. I’m not exactly one to do things with reckless abandon. I honestly think that would be more of Lightning’s area of expertise, then again we might even need some of that reckless abandon every once in a while.” It was easy to see Saffron was somewhat frustrated with the fact that her cutie mark denied her entrance to being a detective, but she looked at things in another way. Her Cutie Mark was all about spicing things up, she interpreted that as meaning more than just food. Nothing spiced up Saffron’s life more than doing vigilante work all night while disguised in a secret identity. It wasn’t so secret anymore, but at least nobody on the crew has dropped the fact that she was Mare-Do-Well. “Let me remind you that you said that later when I do something truly outrageous that’ll piss everyone on this ship off.” Not that Gilda would ever stop herself from doing the improbable and totally awesome. There were obvious limits to what she was willing to do, like going into what amounts to a completely haunted space station. Aside from that she was open to suggestions about how to make herself twenty percent cooler than her good old pal Rainbow Dash. “I apologize in advance Boss Lady.” “Apology accepted for when you do eventually do said action.” Rarity spoke in an even tone and remembered that Gilda and Greta hotwired a fighter and went on a joyride with it straight into combat. Why had she bailed them out again? Oh right, they might have been slightly unscrupulous griffons, but they were her slightly unscrupulous griffons and Greta was quite nice to talk to. “As you like to say, don’t get us a killed when you do. So three days?” “Promises, promises, Boss Lady, but yeah three days and we’ll have everything done.” Gilda gave Rarity a lazy wave as she leaned back against the table. “I’ll get right to it when we’re done talking; Greta still needs to tell you about the pistol we got off the ugly annoying frog guy. Greta if you would please explain some things you’ve found out about it, you’ve been kind of dying to explain this ever since you got a hold of it.” “Well I wouldn’t say dying, but yeah I really do want to explain the pistol.” The captive audience just stared at Greta for a moment and she realized they were waiting on her to speak. “Oh right, I was expecting someone to ask a question before I started. It’s a compact space time distortion matrix and not exactly a weapon at all; it’s more of a tool really. Foggre technology is quite advanced despite the fact that they obviously put flaws into everything they make on purpose.” “Well that at least explains why the escape Faxel’s robot was so easy to take down; all the joints on it were quite inflexible.” Ember had fought and beat that robot in less than thirty minutes; she had noticed some of its weaker attributes about five minutes in. The thing wasn’t agile, but it was made to brawl its way out of a tough situation. It was not exactly meant to handle someone as strong as Ember was. “Gave the robot a lot of hitting power and it could jump pretty well, but that made it easy to rip off the limbs because they just couldn’t handle the stress of being bent out of shape in any way.” “I believe that’s the main trait among all Foggre based technology, I looked it up while we were still at Streusel Station. You should really learn Pinkie’s cupcake recipe Gilda.” Shaking her head and trying to get things back on track after licking her beak, Greta coughed loudly. “Back on the topic of the pistol, it’s really quite amazing. Technically speaking it does things that even I have trouble following, it’s not exactly in Gilda’s field of expertise so I’m the only one aside from Opal that can really study it and understand what it even does. The main drawback of using the pistol is the echo effect that locks the user in a skin tight bubble a short while after firing. While I don’t understand the more technical aspects of the space time bubble, I think I have figured out how to create a stasis field generator from studying it even if I can’t recreate the pistol itself because it’s far too unique in its own right. Though such a field won’t last for long, it can protect you from just about anything.” “What’s the drawback to such a thing?” There had to be a catch there was no such thing as a perfect defense. “Several drawbacks actually, the most prominent being that you’ll become entirely immobilized while inside the field. Another few is that you stop aging; you can’t hear, see or even react to anything until the field is turned off. Using such a field for a single person would drain half the power out of Shining Jewel in five seconds, all the power in eight because of an exponential energy draw problem. The only reason why the pistol works as it does is because it gives and takes an equal amount of energy every time the trigger on it is pulled. To be frank I’m very afraid as to what could happen should the pistol destabilize or be destroyed as you’re pulling the trigger, otherwise the pistol exploding is completely harmless.” It was entirely fascinating how advanced the tool was, Greta thought that even Gilda was a little envious of how incredible Foggre technology could get. Even Greta thought the technology was beyond imagining in some places. “The energy equalizing loop is why the user gets hit with an echo of the effects caused by pulling the trigger. I can’t change the pistol to not echo on the user. If I did, I’d have to have the pistol plugged into the nearest outlet to even fire the darn thing because the energy requirements alone are ridiculous. It’s a complete headache to study, but I’m a technical engineer for a reason. The reason why I brought this up is because I can maybe install a stasis field generator in Shining Jewel. The energy consumption rate is oddly exactly the same even if it were to cover the entire ship as much as my explained one person; the dimensions of the field can be in any shape with in at least ten miles of the catalyst that caused the stasis field. It’d save the ship from something absolutely cataclysmic once and only once, because afterwards Shining Jewel will be entirely dead in space afterwards and we’d have a big problem getting the power to come back on. I was wondering if I can have your approval for making one, before you ask Caravel Boutique wouldn’t have enough power to even get a field going for five milliseconds.” “Don’t build a generator, but keep looking into it. It sounds rather useful, but I’d rather not have Opal go offline from trying to use it.” Rarity thought of all the times she turned off her data pad and Opal was still aware despite not having power going to her programming, which was still odd to think about. Vera still hadn’t told her the exact nature of the suspicions she had about Opal, but she was assured it wasn’t anything of immediate concern. “So you can shape the entire stasis field like a flamingo and it’d still eat the same amount of power?” Ember knew how to make, repair and improve all kinds of weapons; technical engineering was a different kettle of fish and she was asking because she understood at least some of what Greta was explaining. “The field could be the size of a gnat and it would still eat through the Shining Jewel's power source at the same exact rate.” Stopping to think for a moment Opal considered something. “Why would you use a flamingo as an example?” “Well it was either that or I would suggest what Chrysalis would have in her place since she’s not here.” Ember smiled faintly waiting for the inevitable question. “What would Chrysalis have suggested?” Playing along, Opal wondered what the punch line was. “Knowing Chrysalis, she’d probably ask if it could come in the shape of something like a big donkey.” Gilda receive shocked looks from Ember and Opal, both were for completely different reasons. Ember’s was because she and Gilda were getting quite good at thinking similarly and Opal’s was because she could actually see it happening were Chrysalis in on their current discussion. “Well that makes sense; I can certainly see her asking for a large ass.” Rarity tittered lightly and Saffron spewed what she was starting to drink everywhere to start laughing uproariously. In fact everyone was set off by Rarity suddenly dropping a quip like that; they hadn’t exactly expected it of her and it was absolutely funny that she did. “Oh my goodness mom, that was horrible!” Opal yelled in the middle of her hysterical fit of giggles. “Oh I know, but we shouldn’t make fun of Chrysalis and I really shouldn’t have said that.” Rarity actually felt rather bad for cracking a joke at Chrysalis’s expense, she chalked the sudden joke up to being around Pinkie so much for last several days. “She’s just fine the way she is and is a perfectly beautiful member of this crew in her own unique way. Though her sanity challenging antics leaves a lot to be desired, I wouldn’t ask her to change who she is on our account. She’s quite proud of who she is and she’s quite unique in how she thinks.” “Well if I knew everyone’s emotional state to a very exact degree at all times, I think I’d act a little weird around everyone too.” Despite her ability to read people, Gilda could not define exact emotions or entirely what’s going through someone’s head. All Gilda could do was tell what type of person someone was after enough time in their presence, Chrysalis was quite talented at masking what her actual thoughts and feeling were, this was not to Gilda’s surprise. What was to Gilda’s surprise was the depth of Chrysalis’s hidden character, the true leader hidden beneath her happy go crazy attitude. As for the others, these people were the ones she could see herself living with for the rest of her life. “Okay, I think I’m done here. Finish up Greta and meet me in the hangar.” Gilda got up and walked towards the nearest door out of the cafeteria contemplating the oddity of the lonely queen. - “I wonder how Chrysalis is doing…” Celestia was beginning to miss the annoyance she wanted to beat to almost death, but Chrysalis would enjoy it too much and she was far too kind for her own good. Why anyone actively wanted to die in complete agony was a mystery to Celestia, but she did know the lesson of pain telling you that you were alive. “She is most likely having fun exploring the universe… I’m beginning to think it was a bad idea to let her leave sister. I do so miss the games we used to play and Twilight is too methodical about all of them to be enjoyable, plus she’s really bad at twisty.” Being the playful sister Luna was less about business and more about the fun they had when Chrysalis was still around. “I’m right here you know.” The, so called, princess of friendship who was formerly known as Twilight Sparkle was sitting with the two with a slightly angry look directed at Luna. “Of course you are Twilight.” Celestia said calmly and acknowledged the mare that she liked a lot; she was beginning to miss the innuendos that Chrysalis spouted off. “Thorax is quite boring and too friendly. Chrysalis actually kept things interesting around here by driving us insane while surprisingly within the letter of the law.” “Sister do you hear that?” Luna’s ear twitched at the sound of something coming, it sounded like a bunch of swallows burdened with something. How did Luna exactly know what that sounded like? Well she had to learn how complicated math had gotten after she was cured of being Nightmare Moon and one of the questions was about a laden swallow, which is why she got a real swallow to do the math with and that had been an entertaining week. A swallow could fly between thirty to forty miles an hour, however when burdened with something that was cut down to twenty or twenty five when carrying something to its natural limit. “It sounds like a bunch of laden swallows.” “Oh please tell me you didn’t do anything horrible or untoward to that one swallow you had when you were overly curious about that really stupid and unnecessarily complicated math question.” Celestia was glad to have a phoenix for a pet; she knew exactly what a phoenix was capable of. “I did nothing of the sort sister and I’ll have you know that…” Suddenly hundreds of swallows carrying bowls of yellowish pudding flew in and started bombarding all three of the princesses with everything they had. There were three waves and as quickly as it came, it ended with three princesses pounded with pudding. “Okay, perhaps I might have used the royal voice to tell the swallow that his services were no longer required.” “Luna, please tell me that we are not at war with swallows…” As ridiculous as it sounded coming from Celestia’s pudding covered face, it was a very big possibility given equestrian animals were quite smart. “Also why is this tasty pudding making my tongue tingle so… oh me and my sister, it’s banana pudding!” “Our next few hours will be very interesting then dear sister…” Luna started to slide her gaze over to Twilight who was actively eating the banana pudding and licked her lips. “Twilight certainly looks delicious.” “I will stop you from doing what you are currently thinking of doing and I will stop myself from doing anything through sheer force of will if I have to. If it means I can prevent you from losing your innocence on my mare!” Celestia declared while pointing out a hoof and then while she still had a sane thought in her head. “Guards, we’re currently at war with a flock of swallows! Don’t open the door or come in for any reason, I’m sealing the room to absolve some issues that have recently cropped up.” “We could share her you know, you and me sister… imagine all that tasty positively pudding packed purple pony all to ourselves.” A haze began to fall over Luna’s face as she spoke, she was no longer herself anymore and Celestia was barely holding onto her sanity in what would become a very desperate fight to protect Twilight from Luna and not go after Twilight herself. Chrysalis’s delayed plan went off better than she thought it would and the two Changelings watching from nearby window just looked at each other and snickered, they were recording this for posterity and it would be one of the funniest things to ever happen in Equestrian history. It was also one of the saddest displays in history because the royal guard eventually lost a war with a bunch of swallows. Author's Note Ding! Royal Guards beaten by a bunch of little birds, plus three on the ridiculously owned meter.
-81-“Okay, I really have to ask, where do you find the time to do all this stuff?!” Saffron was looking at the vehicle that Greta and Gilda had been working on while taking breaks to work on the powered armor which attached to her EVA suit like an extra layer. Well at least they called it breaks; Saffron thought they were almost as bad as Coco in that respect. Their most recent vehicle was a beast and Rarity didn’t seem too entirely interested in seeing it, which is probably why she hadn’t visited the hangar in the last three days. It really begged the question as to what she was doing; all while these two were building what looked like a monster of a machine. She was wearing her EVA suit with the helmet off and was here to see if they’ve finished the armored suit yet. “Oh we make the time, the EGGS didn’t exactly take that long to make.” Greta laughed as she lifted her welding mask away from her face, the EGGS could not have possibly taken up that much time to make. In fact they were helpful in getting this project started considering it was a big effort on their part. “This thing however, we’ve been at it when you guys were busy with Streusel Stations, at least I’ve been working on it myself when Gilda was busy.” “You’re always being a life saver Greta.” Grumbled Gilda as she was wearing a pair of rubber gloves and working with a bunch of wires. There were a few sparks and Gilda tilted her head away from it from her upside down position in the inner workings. “Now do some time saving while you’re at it and talk while you work!” “Sorry Saffron we’ll take a break soon…. oh wait… we need a break now Gilda, Mr. Welder is running dry.” Holding a talon out to signal a CAT drone, it floated over to Greta and it took up her favorite welding torch. “Opal, we need another fuel run, Mr. Welder is out again!” “As good a time as any to visit us then, did you bring food with you?” Having finished connecting some wires, Gilda slid a panel back into position and crawled her way out of the framework of the vehicle and fluttered down to the floor. She saw Saffron rolling her eyes and levitating forward a platter for them. “Good work on getting us some the food Mare-Does-Well-Enough, now if only someone can get us some…” “I believe somebody needs coffee… it’s rather hard to think that your blood is not made of the stuff now.” Rarity walked up to the machine and eyed it a bit, her griffons at work made for an impressive sight and they did a better job when no one was getting in their way. So she’s been avoiding them the past few days while she tried to sweet talk a few more details out of Braeburn about anything that’s been going wrong on the planet. He was nice stallion, but a bit too rustic for her tastes. “I believe you like it black with a very light amount of cream and a hint of hazelnut. Greta’s is the double mocha chocolate fountain supreme… extra sugar.” “What… so I like sugary things, you don’t have to give me that demeaning look Gilda.” Greta accepted her floating coffee cup with a graceful smile and nod to Rarity. She took a long sip of coffee and sighed happily with some chocolate sticking to her beak, before turning to Gilda. “You take your coffee way too bitterly.” “So what are you going to call this fabulous mechanical monstrosity? It looks like the love child of a bug and a centaur mashed together.” Rarity looked up at the new vehicle, it seemed to have six legs and boxy solid looking bottom torso, the upper torso was like that of a centaur with four claws on each arm and looked vaguely similar to the robots that had assaulted Canterlot given the palms looked like they were a weapons delivery system. It was big enough to lift, place and carry the Bombing Peregrine on its back. “So this is the mobile base idea you have running in section four of the hangar, how in the world do you even plan to get this back into orbit? I mean I’ve heard some of it, but not all of it.” “We’ll worry about getting it back up here after we drop it, as for what to call it… we’ll name it something like Centaur-pede.” Gilda shrugged as Centaur-pede was the best she had when it came to name ideas, it wasn’t a bad name and unless anyone could come up with something better, then their ground pounding mobile base of operations was going to be stuck with that name. “Also we’re not naming it anything like sex-a-taur and we won’t ever call it that even if you do.” “Aw… but it would have been an interesting conversation starter.” An approaching Chrysalis lowered her hoof and wilted as she trotted off to the nearest elevator to see what Coco was up to with her little wrestling ring in the exercise room. Maybe she could get at Sassy again by disguising a wrestling move as an opportunity to snuggle. “Stupid Griffon knowing exactly how I think and being entirely accepting of me... I can’t be that predictable, right?” “Yes you are and yes, that was kind of obvious! Anyway we built this thing with eight built in spare limbs we can swap out at any time in case we lose any due to combat or wear and tear. So six legged centaur wouldn’t have worked at all.” Gilda started to rub at one of the armor plated three toed legs that stuck out of the side of the armored walking machine with a smile as she looked up to the single eyed head. “Two large energy cannons built in the grappling arms and it can lift a cargo container weighing several tons and carry it on its back and even become a submersible for underwater exploration. If we needed a cargo mover, then we certainly have one now. Aside from that it has two working toilets that can last a few people at least a week or two before the septic tanks needs to be emptied, a single shower and a space to bunk down in the lower body which is a fully working base of operations. That’s all on top of having a microwave and a small fridge for stuff that isn’t canned food in the tiny, and I definitely mean tiny, kitchen we built into this thing with Saffron’s rather welcome input. There are our four automatic defense turrets on top of the lower torso that can cover this beast with programs written by Kitten for targeting recognition. So is it impressive or what? We’re almost finished with it, the only problem with it that I can see is that it’s lower torso be slow to move.” “No it’s not impressive, it’s absolutely beyond amazing what you two can do when given enough time, motivation and a metric ton of materials. What about my armored suit though?” That wasn’t the reason why Saffron came down here in an EVA suit; she was here to run tests on the armor. “Put on your helmet and we’ll have you run some tests while we eat.” Gilda was certainly giving Coco a run for her money when it came to being a workaholic and Greta was definitely right there with her in doing incredibly awesome things that would make Rainbow Dash jealous. Making Rainbow jealous was kind of Gilda’s lifelong mission. “Hey Kitten, get the SUITCASE out would you? We’re going to show Rarity what we’ve come up with.” “Right… diverting cleaning duty drone to go get the SUITCASE out, oh this is going to be so cool.” Opal was squealing brightly as she got the Special Utility Integration Tactical Combat Assessment Suit Enhancer ready to deploy. “We get to see our very own super hero in action!” “Why is there a special emphasis on the word suitcase?” Rarity’s answer came in the form of a MAT drone dragging what looked to be a large suitcase to them a few minutes later, during the waiting period the griffons dined on the food brought to them. Rarity looked at the large box curiously. “It basically is a suitcase and it turns into the suit, the power armor has been made to specifically work with Saffron’s EVA suit and her suit alone.” Greta walked over and opened the large purple and dark blue box into two connected halves, she moves away from it showing that there were just four circles on the inside of it. “Now if Saffron will put her four hooves into the circles and say the word activate, we can get the tests started. Oh and stand up straight if you will, it’ll make the process go by much faster.” “Right, let’s do this!” Saffron moved her four hooves so that they were within the circles. “Okay Ar-Mare-Do-Well, activate!” (Cave Story Labyrinth Fight insert here) The SUITCASE leapt up on four round spires that were encasing Saffron’s legs with shifting plates, showing the circles were where the suit started off. The rest of the box pressed against the belly of Saffron’s EVA suit and then closed shut around her body and armor plating sprang out to wrap around both Saffron’s head and tail. The armor wrapping around Saffron’s barrel and neck becoming flush with the EVA suit when it flexed and became more streamlined, with one final clank the powered armor was sealed up and attached to the battery utility in the impulse saddle. Some parts of the suit had even wrapped partially around the impulse saddle and produced two small variable jets that sent out two streams of purple colored energy that waved in the air a bit like a scarf before turning off. “Looks like we got everything connected correctly. Now side effects may include slower movement speed in water due to the weight, but it’s pretty good armoring and we’ve got some special things to show off.” Smiling Gilda moved in front of Saffron and looked into the glowing blue eyes of the armor, Ar-Mare-Do-Well looked quite intimidating. “Doing alright in there, is everything running smoothly? Also which is your dominant hoof Saffron?” “Well… what the… what’s with my voice? Anyway yes, I’m fine and either hoof.” Saffron lifted her left hoof and her voice sounded a bit deeper, she looked at it and turned it over to look at the armor now covering her on top of her EVA suit. She did feel rather safe wearing her EVA suit helmet and the armored helmet at the same time. “I feel like I’m wearing three layers of underwear, but it isn’t exactly uncomfortable. I kind of miss my hat already; also I’m getting something in here. Armor nominal, shields nominal and battery utility connected and operational. I haven’t seen stuff like this before on our HUDs.” “If we have Mare-Do-Well show up, then we’re going to need to disguise your voice so people won’t be able to connect you to the suit. We’ll do the same if we end up making more powered armor. Anyway the HUDs are upgraded while wearing the armor as the regular EVA suits HUD is Rarity’s for market brand, armor is how your suit is doing now and if you wish you can switch it to health readout to show any part of your body that might be taking a beating that the breach gel and armor isn’t absorbing for you. Greta, can you get the targets out while I walk Saffron through the systems check?” Moving so that she was standing in front of the armored mare, Gilda took up the held out hoof and looked it over. “All the armor seems to have connected well and we have no issues with connection to the battery, move your targeting tracker over me and scan.” “Okay… how do I start a scan?” The eyes on the suit had two white lines travel down them as Saffron focused on Gilda. Targeting data came up immediately reading as such to Saffron. “Griffon, status healthy, name Gilda ‘Sky Child’ Gottfrieda, mechanical engineer, friendly, threat assessment minimal unless panicked due to dangerous environment now look around to scan environment. Environment is currently stable, griffon is unarmed and weapons are currently locked down to prevent accidental firing upon civilian target. Okay that’s kind of nifty, so this will prevent me from accidentally shooting anyone? Scan target, Unicorn, status healthy, name Rarity D. Belle AKA The Boss Lady. Hey, I didn’t know you had a middle name Boss Lady. Threat assessment moderate to minimal, is exceedingly accurate with pistols and dangerous to attack due to chance of disproportionate backlash. Currently unarmed, magical capability low… this thing can process a unicorns magical ability in the scans? That’s kind of amazing, how did you even come up with a scanner like this…. hmm… scan user. User Saffron ‘Mare-Do-Well’ Masala, Unicorn, status healthy, current emotional status is balanced. Threat level is high due to armored suit enhancements; with weapons activated threat level will be extreme. Accessible weapons systems energy cannon hooves, hoof mounted vibration blades, energy whip, shock projection wings… wait this thing has wings?” When Saffron had said wings she finally noticed the two rounded box like extrusions at her sides, which decided to pop out and turned into two metallic feathered wings lined with variable bars in them. There was still room for the possibility that a Pegasus was wearing the suit. “Correct, we wouldn’t any accidental misfires when you pull the trigger on the gun, it was your first major concern and we addressed it like you wanted. Also Greta, I’m so going to get you back for putting Sky Child in my name! Back to you Saffron, you have to actively label me as a threat to shoot at me, try walking around to get a feel for it and maybe try jumping to see if the assisted jump feature is operational. We need to know this stuff if we’re going to make any adjustments when we take this thing off of you.” Gilda watched as Greta brought out a box with several sphere’s and turned them on and let Kitten take control of them to send them hovering into section three of the hangar in a three by three pattern, the nine target sphere’s were made to be both easily broken and fixed. “We added the wings for a reason and though you can’t exactly fly in that suit, but you can still glide and get some good air time. We didn’t want anyone looking for a unicorn when you could be an Alicorn or a Pegasus as well. Part of the mysterious Mare-Do-Well disguise really, you wanted to keep your identity a secret right? After you’ve tested it a bit, then we’ll see about calibrating one of your guns and the targeting system once you finally get used to moving around, we need to see gallop mode after we’re testing combat functions.” “Right, got to learn to take baby steps and then we can see what the weapons, and whatever gallop mode is, can do.” Saffron put the hoof she had been holding up and started to slowly canter forward with clunking noise, it felt kind of weird and very unusual. “It feels a bit sluggish and it’s not quite the same without the hat; let’s see what this thing can really do.” She started to move a little faster and the suit responded in kind to her motions, then she decided to jump and she almost slammed into the ceiling of the hangar which shocked her so much that she almost fell on her back on the way back down when the two variable wings flared reorienting her and shifting her to land on her hooves on top of the Centaur-pede, she didn’t feel the impact at all. She started to run around on the back of the large vehicle and was amazed at how well the suit was beginning to react to her movements. She leapt off shooting forward in a slow descending glide that was halted when the variable bars jets reoriented again to soften the landing; she had gone from section four of the hangar to section two with one jump. “Yeah, it’s taking the system a bit to warm up, but that was definitely cool.” A smiling Opal appeared in front of Saffron’s and bowed to her. “Everything seems to be in order Gilda; the suit is moving perfectly fine. Now do the weapons practice Saffron, I’ve been waiting forever for this!” “Hold on kitten we need to give her some time to wrap her head around this, let’s start you off by target the three by three grids of floating spheres Greta prepared for you. We don’t want you to shoot all of them with the energy gun, we need to test each weapon equally.” Gilda pointed up in the air at the nine floating orbs. “Having said that, I want you to shoot at the top left and right targets with an energy gun mounted in any one of your four hooves and yes, the rear hooves can also shoot if you want to hit something behind you. Activate target practice protocol, there, that should open up your weapons.” Lifting her left hoof Saffron aimed it in the direction of the top left one and saw a targeting reticle that place where her shot was going to go and she adjusted her aim slightly. With a twitch her hoof cannon fired a bright flash of purple and then quickly shifting her aim to the right it fired again. The energy bolts hit their marks and both the target spheres fell to the floor smoking, Saffron gave off a gasp of excitement. “Hey, I did it!” The armored mare pumped a hoof, the suits wings fanned out slightly as if she was getting excited like a Pegasus. “Don’t look so happy yet, target the middle one and fire one of your shock projection wings.” Gilda watched as the right wing of the suit twisted around and seemingly flapped firing a ball of raw electricity which struck the center target. The target sparked with arcs of electricity and fell to the floor. “Okay you’re getting used to the suit pretty well if you can already control a wing to that degree. The feathers on the wings double as a close up combat option that can be electrified. Let’s test the hoof mounted blades. Lower left and bottom middle sphere to melee range, the blades vibrate at a dangerous frequency to deal damage. Thanks to their unique shape they can be used as shields, in case the energy based one is overloaded or goes down for any reason.” The two spheres floated close up to Saffron and she lifted her right hoof a triangular metal blade popped out and she swung it outwards horizontally at the sphere to the left. Nothing seemed to happen for a minute until the sphere dropped to the floor and tilted to the side until the top half fell off and there were two wobbling halves of the sphere sitting on the floor. She retracted the blade and then thrust her hoof forward into the second sphere and the tip of the blade erupted out the back of it. “Okay that seems to be a bit lethal even for me, but I think I can see a need to have something like that.” Saffron shivered at the vibration blades cutting power. “What’s the next thing please?” “The energy whip can double as a pinpoint puller, pinpoint pull any of the remaining targets to you. We haven’t seen Ember use hers in action yet and I’m kind of curious to see how this work out, it’s integrated into the front two hooves only. Target sphere’s diamond formation, lock down jumping assist, wings and projectile weapons for this exercise.” Here Gilda wanted to see the final weapon in action, she watched as the wings folded up against the armors side. The four remaining sphere’s oriented themselves in the air out of reach of Saffron’s blades in a vertical four point diamond formation. “So you can shut down my systems with a voice command… that’s a nice safety net if I go crazy. Just don’t leave any back doors to hack the suit.” Aiming a hoof at one of the four remaining orbs, she fired a beam that grabbed the top one and pulled it to Saffron, where she then slammed it against the ground. “Well at least we know the pinpoint puller feature works, now to use the whip.” Pointing her left hoof at the three remaining sphere she pulled the trigger on the whip and line of energy shot out and became limp, Saffron stood there for a second with a limp line of energy hanging from her hoof. She reeled back her hoof and slung it forward missing the sphere she had been aiming at. “There’s a bit of limited range on the whip…” Saffron said shyly looking like a bit of the dork in the armor as her front right hoof rubbed against the left with a line of energy trailing from it, making Gilda slap her face and mutter something to make the three spheres move close. Saffron lashed out again and missed all three spheres once more but they were definitely clearly in range this time. “This is actually a lot harder to use than I thought it would be!” “Yes, well, I’m not saying anything. We haven’t seen an energy whip in action before this. It’s actually pretty fascinating really.” Greta was off to the side looking over the data she was getting from the suit and its actions. “Systems are operating perfectly so far and nothing has gone wrong.” “Hold on a second…” Saffron was narrowing her eyes at the target and she flicked her hoof up and brought it down sharply, the sphere was wrapped in the energy whip and then the sphere started darkening when several lights started flashing down the whip back to the Ar-Mare-Do-Well suit. The whip loosened when the ball fell to the floor lifeless. “Okay, what was that?” “The whip on your suit has a particularly special feature that can drain mechanical targets of their energy to help power the suit.” Sighed out a slightly frustrated Gilda, the range was going to be half of what Saffron was currently capable of. That wasn’t a fault of the suits; it was the pilot who wasn’t good with whips. Maybe Chrysalis would know how to wield a whip better? Yeah, she was beginning to think of that mare a bit more often than she probably should have… she could turn into any Pegasus she wants right? Did she really just seriously think that? Not like it would happen, she respected Chrysalis’s Changeling Queen Protocol and she hardly respects a lot of things outside of those who lived on the Shining Jewel. “That is provided that you can even get close enough to use it, recall the remaining spheres and let’s pick up the damaged ones as we’re done with them.” “Now that we’ve officially tested that, how about we test gallop mode? By the way, suit perform full system unlock protocol, that should unlock everything again.” Chirped up Greta who gave Saffron a bright smile, this was amazing piece of work and here she thought they couldn’t do small. Well Sassy and Coco helped a bit with the design; otherwise the griffons were all about vehicles of a larger nature and sorely needed some help with the construction these last few days. “Right, what’s gallop mode… oh is it that skating thing I wanted!” There was a sudden sense of excitement in Saffron’s voice. She immediately went to activate as Greta opened her beak to try and give her a warning. “Yeah it’s the skating thing, but be careful… we think it may be a slight bit touchy.” The warning came a bit too late as Greta watched Saffron shoot past her to almost slam into the wall in her panicked efforts to turn herself around. The poor mare went skidding all over the place at high speeds in an uncontrolled manner until she eventually figured out how to slow it down. “Yeah, the skidding skates of gallop mode really needs to be calibrated to pick up speed and not start off at full blast…” “So we have two minor problems, otherwise the suit is working as advertised, it’s powered and it’s armor.” There was a bit of silence as Gilda coughed into her talons, while Saffron slide around on her four hooves in the background. “We just made a real vigilante hero into an ideal comic book version of a super hero come to life people! Where’s the applause?” The entire hangar was suddenly filled with cheering and clapping, Opal popped up on one of the hangars monitor and there was confetti raining down around her avatar. “Thank you kitten, we definitely deserved that.” Gilda held her head high and proud with a broad smirk on her beak; she then turned to Saffron who was gliding her way back from section one of the hangar with relative ease and upon landing in section three she skated the rest of her way right back to them and slowed to a stop. “If you want out of the armored suit, mega mare, then use the eject command and absolutely confirm ejection from the suit.” “Huh, oh that wasn’t for you Gilda, Coco just won a wrestling match against Chrysalis. Seems like our super shy and quiet mare is really quite taken with the idea of wrestling now, I think she loves it too.” After a bit of a pause Opal spoke up with a cheesy grin. “This is the one for you… and it’s an actual celebration!” - “Eh, she’ll be fine Coco. She’s tough like that and I think she was smiling while you were choking her anyway.” Ember commented blandly, having played referee for the match and watched as Chrysalis was taken down by the smaller mare that got her into a really good sleeper hold. She proceeded to follow Coco and Sassy to the nearest elevator to see what was going on in the hangar when the whole ship started thumping. - A disco ball lowered from the ceiling and laser lights started to dance when Opal started up the music, the entire hangar was shaking with music. Opal ducked down and popped up on the screen with a pair of headphones on her head. “Oh my freaking… did you seriously install a party mode in the hangar Greta?” Turning her eyes onto her friend, Gilda wanted to throttle the sheepishly smiling griffon who sipped at what would now become an assuredly empty mug. She might have been slightly pissed about this, but even she was bouncing her head to the music and she couldn’t say Kitten had a bad taste in music. “I can’t believe you sometimes, but then again I like having you around for the fact that I can rely on you to be the fun one in my place.” “I swear I really shouldn’t have given you guys as much freedom with the hangar as I did.” Even so Rarity was dancing calmly to the music. She loved Opal a lot, but she could do some ridiculous things. Things like getting and convincing Greta to install a party mode in the hangar. “Though I seriously think this is something Vinyl Scratch would like.” Saffron stood still as the armor retracted from her head and compression pouch covered tail and then the armor separated and shrunk back down into its SUITCASE format. She looked at it mystified as she got off of it and turned to stare at it, she slowly reached down and closed the two halves up into the suitcase and levitated it off to the side and then she started tapping her hoof to the music. “Okay what’s going on…hey this is pretty nice…” Trapeze started to tap to the frantic beat after stepping clear of the elevator. “Is this the speedy mix version? I love that one, come on and dance with me Bernard.” Bernard blushed brightly as Trapeze took his paws and started twirling them both around and she hugged her partner in crime and Rover just smiled standing off to the side. A short moment later, Rover making a raise the roof gesture while with an even wider smile. “I think Opal may be taking your victory over Chrysalis a little too far…” Sassy said as she stepped out of the elevator on the opposite side with Coco and Lightning to see a small party going on with a disco ball. “Really a disco ball, who in the world would decide to… oh right, Greta and Opal would do that. Let’s go have some fun El Wildflower, it probably won’t last forever.” Coco just smiled while blushing under her mask, in her cute wrestling yellow and pink costume with a mask that had a design of flowers tracing up the sides of her face. She was quite embarrassed about the wrestling name she came up with and she was learning from two people who were seriously good at it, but she had to give it to Vera on her teaching skills as Chrysalis was a little bit too provocative in how she wrestled. “Okay the disco ball is kind of cool… and shiny… I wonder if it tastes good.” Ember followed the two mares over to Gilda, Greta and the rest of the party in the midst of a small rave going on. Rarity waved to them and could tell that her crew was at least always ready if, and especially when, they had to tackle a serious problem head on. She stopped dancing for a moment to stare curiously at the Centaur-pede for a moment; did they actually really need something like that? Author's Note Happy random explosions in the sky night day!
-82-Babs looked a little worried, since all these friendly people she met were gathering in the cafeteria. It had to be about her family and she was beginning to really like Chrysalis’s presence, she hoped Chrysalis knew she felt safe around her. She sat in her seat and some food was placed before her by Mr. Cumin and she immediately started eating. She was really beginning to get used to living among all these people and the food was delicious. The crew was big enough to run this ship; sure there were only thirteen members, but that was enough for a ship that could house a hundred comfortably. Ember and Babs were onboard as guests making a total of fifteen people onboard the ship and they were all comfortable in the cafeteria waiting on Rarity. Rarity was patiently waiting for them to get settled with food and drink before she started this meeting. “To start off Opal has some news she’d like to address, it is reason enough for us to finally go down to Applin Five. I’ll start off by saying Lightning, Sassy, Chrysalis, Vera and Babs will have to stay here.” Pausing for a moment, Rarity took in the general mood of the crew, she started making mental notes about what could become problems later. “We’re here to discuss the main reason for going down to the planet into the blizzard stricken zone; we will also be discussing who will be going with me to investigate. Are there any questions before Opal delivers the news to you?” Chrysalis seemed to be relieved to not have to go down there, as did Vera who was becoming a bit too attached to the Shining Jewel for Rarity’s taste. Chrysalis seemed to have a fear of dying without being in agonizing amounts of pain; freezing to death would certainly be a numb way to go. She would have to talk to Vera and take her on trips and stay by her side the entire time, Rarity knew she would need breaks from being everyone’s therapist. Sassy, Lightning and Babs seemed upset for three entirely different reasons that Rarity could easily guess. Sassy was likely upset because Rarity thought she was still too weak to go on this adventure, at least Sassy was getting better physically at an incredible rate and her samurai skills hadn’t seemed to have degraded one bit. She still needed more time as her body had yet to make a full recovery, even if she could put on an impressive display in the exercise room, she needed to work on her stamina and endurance. Lightning on the other hoof, Rarity could tell she wanted to come along as she was itching for danger even with her ribs still mending for another day or so. When she finally passed the paste on her ribs out of her body, then she would be okay for flying and or other strenuous activities such as going into a volatile situation. Rarity noted that Lightning was getting a bit antsy at being cooped up and would need an appointment with Vera to talk things out; she was definitely a risk to take along right now. Babs was upset because she was expecting bad news and Rarity wasn’t going to lie to the filly, there was definitely bad news to deliver. At least there was good news that Babs had a lot of family around here willing to look out for her. Thinking about it some more, Rarity could tell that the filly might have started becoming a little too attached to the crew. Why just recently the filly had played with Rover and the two had lots of fun together playing catch, then there was the fact that Chrysalis had incidentally become something like a mother to the filly. Like every other member of the crew, even Rarity herself was making the poor dear feel at home. Even if she wanted to keep the filly, Rarity knew her ship was no place for Babs and she was only Babs’ legal guardian in so much as being a Baroness would allow. The laws said she could keep Babs as a guest as long as needed. If any of Babs’ family asked for her, then Rarity would then have to hoof the filly over to them provided that they could prove they were family, that they could actually currently support the filly and that they didn’t have a criminal record with violence related crimes. So far most of Babs’ family was too busy with the current curious crisis of climate calamity to really ask for her. As such Babs was still Rarity’s ward to look after. “Is it bad news?” Babs didn’t know what she could handle and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what the news was; she still raised her hoof and snuggled against Chrysalis, the Changeling Queen didn’t mind the proximity of so much free love for her specifically. The filly even knew Chrysalis was feeding off of her and she was letting her do so on purpose. “It’s not exactly terrible news; you have plenty of family around here that can safely take you in. Though the reason I’m going down to the planet happens to be some of the bad news.” If it were up to Rarity, she wouldn’t have to be the one to tell Babs that she might be losing more family. “Now would anyone else like to ask some questions or do we let Opal start her presentation?” “Are we going on a volunteer basis or are you choosing crew members to take with you?” If it was on a volunteer basis, then Saffron wanted volunteer as she could already guess why Rarity was going down to the planet. Lives were on the line and Saffron wouldn’t be Mare-Do-Well if she didn’t immediately jump at the chance to save someone out of the goodness of her heart. “There will be some chosen, the rest of you who I haven’t listed already can volunteer. I’m definitely going to need either Gilda or Greta for this. They are the only ones that can pilot the… are we seriously calling it the Centaur-pede?” If Rarity could have come up with something better, then she would have by now. She decided to continue think of who else was not negotiable. “Anyway I need at least one of them to pilot it; Ember has already volunteered her services to the cause and will be assisting us on the ground. I’m going to need Saffron as well; she’s the only one with fully operational powered armor at the moment. I think we’ll need it as I’m expecting something dangerous to pop up down there, something is creating this horrid weather and we will need all the help we can get. The rest of you can volunteer, but not all of you can go.” “I would like to address the fact that I’ve looked into biological natural threats that Applin Five might have.” This reminded everyone that Ember always looked into the ecosystem of the planets she visited and she studied any natural inhabitant of a planet that could be deadly. Mr. Spew was one such deadly inhabitant she looked into and she was now stuck with an Ewesen Sewer Squid for a friend that could spit an acid so strong that it would eat through flesh, bone, scales, chitin and anything else like tissue paper. Nobody dared to threaten Mr. Spew, he made for a really good friend to have and he was really easy to feed as he enjoyed eating just about anything, especially highly toxic things. “Surprisingly there’s only one thing that can be really be considered threatening on this planet and it’s a mostly pacifistic creature to begin with. The threat it presents is not even an active one. I’m not going to bother mentioning what it is unless we see one; they are an uncommon species and are almost considered sapient. So this planet doesn’t exactly have any lethal wildlife to deal with and given it’s an ever green world, all wildlife has likely fled the frozen tundra zone or are currently fighting for survival if they haven’t frozen to death yet. Rest assured, whatever is causing this will be dealt with if I can put a round in it.” Nobody spoke up after Ember and they all seemed a bit sad that nature was being messed up on the planet. The only one that didn’t seem sad was Chrysalis, because this didn’t concern her and she was a bit callous like that. This planet was of no benefit to her so she didn’t see a reason to offer an opinion. “Right, if you’re all done, then let me start off by saying we’re going to perform a rescue mission into the tundra zone. Well that’s what we’re initially going to do; we’re at least going to check one town in this general area.” Opal popped up on the nearby screen with a pointer drawing everyone’s attentions to her as she pointed out a spot on the planet behind her avatar. Several figures popped up on screen after that and she pointed each of them out, the first being an orange furred blonde pony. “The only ponies heard to be in this area are Applejack Apple, Big Macintosh Apple, Granny Smith Apple, Apple Bloom Apple, Countess Coloratura and the thing that makes this quite personal, Rarity’s cousin Sugar Belle. This is why it concerns us, Rarity’s cousin was last seen in this area and she reportedly refused to leave when the Apple family decided to stay… mostly because she’s currently engaged to Big Macintosh Apple. Coloratura is a popular pop star and singer that has recently stopped by the planet to visit a close friend, which would have to be Applejack. It is rumored that Coloratura has a thing for blondes and I’m only guessing that those rumors are absolutely true.” “Wait, cousin Applejack and her family are down there?” Babs looked a little absolutely panicked; she jumped across the table and made her way to Rarity. “You have to save them!” “That is why this situation involves me personally Babs; one of my cousins is down there too! Their current status is unknown, but they are considered to be alive until proven otherwise and they will be the primary target and why this is a rescue mission. We will save them, if we can.” This information had Rarity worried and yet she wasn’t showing that she was worried for a few reasons, for one she had a lot of resources to work with. She pulled the filly into a hug and started to pat her back. “I don’t like to admit this, but our crew could pass for a pack of well trained mercenaries. I would prefer to be known for my exquisite quality and style in the fashion industry, unfortunately that’s not exactly coming along as I had hoped and I hope my planned visit to Noctus can at least acquire me some attention. At least Trapeze is getting plenty of recognition. So, who’s coming with me?” “Yeah, I can see us being mercenaries. It would certainly be fun and especially profitable if we did that on top of everything else. We all know Ember gets paid well for her services.” A smirking Gilda intoned with a chuckle. Noticing the stares she was getting, Gilda coughed and held out her talons to Rarity. “You may have a business in clothing Boss Lady, but we’ve been getting pretty good at getting into fights and surviving them. You haven’t gotten us killed yet and you’re clearly an above board kind of mare. You need me as a pilot so I’m in.” “You do have to admit that we have a good personal track record so far.” Truthfully Greta didn’t mind them doing mercenary work; just so long as that mercenary work didn’t get her talons covered in blood and was, as Gilda said, completely above board in nature. She didn’t have the stomach for wet working even if she did eat meat. It surprised her that she got along with Ember who was the friendliest wet worker she has ever met. “You’ll need me there to help with repairs, if we need Caravel Boutique then we’re going to need to get out of the snow storm or destroy what’s causing it. Once we go in there it’s a one way thing or a long trip until we can leave. Fixing things would be quicker and that’s what you have me and Gilda for.” “I don’t mind helping with any problem you run into Boss Lady, I’m open for anything.” At least Trapeze was willing to offer up her services up front. She might not be very happy with getting into a scrap, but she’d do it for a good friend. Trapeze knew Bernard was willing to put up a fight given she was his personal predator bait and knew him so well, she believed even Rover would offer his aid if Rarity needed it. “Wherever you want me or my two stalwart companions to be, we’re there!” “I’ll have to stay on the ship Rarity; somebody has to take care of Mr. Spew while Ember is gone.” Moving over to the shoulder bound barnacle of a squid, Coco picked up Mr. Spew and cuddled him. The squid certainly enjoyed the attention and being held by her. “Who’s a good squid? You’re a good squid!” “I am needed up here, I have bellies to feed and that’s what I do best.” Coriander stated simply while nodding to Rarity. “Saffron can take care of herself and she has been doing so for a while now.” “That doesn’t mean I don’t need you anymore father.” Saffron made her way over to her father and cuddled up to him. “Rover would like to go and dig up some soil of this planet, but I will be helping the great Boss Lady first.” The diamond dog sounded particularly confident about wanting to go with Rarity on this adventure. “Rover is no stranger to being in danger. It’s just that Rover isn’t very good at fighting or protecting others, would have more friends if I were.” “Are you sure I can’t talk you into letting me come with you?” Sassy wanted to help Rarity and looked ready to make a complaint until Rarity came up to her to give her a hug. “Sassy, please, don’t insist on going down there.” Staring into her eyes, Rarity hoped that she was reaching Sassy. “I need you to get back to one hundred percent, especially if you’re going to be helping me with a fashion show on Noctus later. Please hold the fort and try to keep Opal calm; can you do that for me? Goodness knows she’s going to panic as soon as I’m out of communications range.” “Fine, but please don’t get horribly mangled by something because I couldn’t be there to protect you.” Sassy hugged her friend close. “Also try to stay in touch, we know you’re going to find something down there and it most certainly won’t be open for a pleasant conversation.” “Yeah, communications are going to be an issue. With those snow storms, the interference is going to be quite bad and once you’re on the ground and inside the cloud cover zone.” Directing their attentions to Opal once again she brought up a diagram. “That’s another thing I need to tell everyone, there is a definitely something creating a pattern in the clouds. As you can see I’ve managed to get an idea as to where this problem is being generated from, the blizzards seem to flow from a point within this circle I’ve marked on the planet. This is the secondary objective of going down there, find the problem and destroy what’s causing the weather issues or manipulate it into fixing the weather if feasible. If you don’t do this, then picking you guys up will be quite difficult without someone to pilot Caravel Boutique down there. I can’t remotely control it in those conditions unless I was inside of it personally and I’m too important to the operations of Shining Jewel to leave these systems unattended for long. I might even lose Vera’s name if that happens and that would be the absolute worst thing possible.” “Right then, Gilda, Greta, Ember, Saffron, Rover and I will be going then down to the planet. I suggest we get prepared and quickly, time is of the essence as we have lives to save. If they can be saved at all…” To help with preparations, Rarity turned to the one who brought extra weapons onboard her ship. “Chrysalis, please get several energy and material rifles and pistols, a rocket launcher or two and the necessary ammunition together. Make sure all the equipment has hoof firing grips. We may need to arm my cousin and her family if we find them. I’ll be busy getting our cold weather gear together. All of you going had better get your personal EVA suits together, especially you Saffron and don’t forget to bring the SUITCASE. Coco, Sassy, Mr. Cumin, I need all of you to gather food to load into the Centaur-pede. We need at least a few weeks worth for all of us. Opal, please download the storm formation patterns to Greta’s data pad and sync it with the current formations; she’ll be the one to track it as we move on the surface. Vera we will need at least one medical bed and least three medical kits. Okay people, let’s get a move on! As for you Trapeze, I need you and Bernard up here to keep my crew from going stir crazy without me around to keep them in line.” - “Are you sure this thing can make an orbital drop, especially in the kind of conditions we’re going to be landing it in?” Even as she asked this, Rarity trusted Gilda to get them to the ground safely. What she didn’t trust was what would happen after they got there, she was getting herself strapped in within the lower torso. “Look Boss Lady, if I can perfectly land a freaking tank from an orbital drop, with very minor and almost unnoticeable damage to the suspension aside that I’ve already fixed, then I can land this mobile fortress on the planet within the area we need to operate in.” Gilda was a bit surprised that they were cleared for doing this. Braeburn gave them the go ahead if they could pull it off and told them that if they wanted to risk their lives, then he wouldn’t stop them from doing so. “We’ll still need to travel quite a few hundred miles before we can reach the town where the apple family operates near. We’re trying for a safe landing and I can’t exactly miss the thousands of miles of snow, as a heads up there will be a little turbulence once we hit the cloud layer. Does anybody want to get off before I make the plunge? This is your last chance to stay here where it’s safe.” Nobody answered Gilda; she was currently in the upper torso in the main pilots seat and was getting the Centaur-pede ready to make a leap towards the large green planet with a huge batch of clouds over one part of it. The Centaur-pede had been loaded up and they were ready to make an orbital drop in it. The rest of the crew that wasn’t going watched as the six legged machine marched its way into section three of the hangar and towards the left door. Said door opened up to space and the machine slowly trundled through the atmosphere barrier to stand close to the edge of door looking down on the planet. “Just remember to fire off early Gilda; this mechanical beast we built is quite a heavy diva.” Even if Greta were absolutely sure Gilda could land it, she would still strap in and hang on like everyone else was going to. “I’m sure we’ll make it to the ground in good condition, even though I think we might have to perform some repairs as soon as we land before moving on.” “You know, this is my first time going through an orbital drop.” It didn’t take a genius to notice that Saffron sounded a bit wary of what they were doing. “Don’t worry; it’s like a roller coaster… only more screaming in panic if something goes horribly wrong. At least if a roller coaster breaks down, there are safeties to prevent a person from getting injured. We don’t exactly have that safety net, but at least Gilda landed something untested in this kind of situation before and this shouldn’t be any different.” It took a moment for Greta to realize that that wasn’t a very comforting thought, especially when she made her next comment. “Now that I say it out loud, where was I exactly going with that again? Look everything will be fine; we’re professionals at building things and this girl is solid. We did agree that the Centaur-pede was a girl right?” “Hey, I’m not about to get us killed Saffron, I’m awesome and I know it! Now performing orbital jump in three, two… one.” Gilda up in the pilot’s seat pushed the controls forward and the Centaur-pede kicked off the Shining Jewel’s open side door into space and towards the planet. “Let’s jam, oh yeah!” “This is Braeburn, I just want you to know that you guys are crazy. I also just wanted to say good luck down there on Applin Five and I hope you find our family members in good health.” Braeburn appeared on two different screens one in front of Gilda and the other in the lower torso for the others; he had a brownish orange mane and yellow coat. He was giving them a sad look. “I would have gone with you to help out my cousin Applejack, but I have someone to look out for.” “Read you loud and clear Burn, so you got prior commitments, we understand. Now don’t distract me, because we’re about to make our drop into the atmosphere and I need to concentrate on this. Now shifting the upper torso to center position. Greta, keep an eye out on the readout and tell me if anything is wrong.” Gilda flicked a switch and the upper torso of the Centaur-pede slid backwards until it was above the mid section of the lower body instead of at the front of it. “Were there any problems with the change Greta?” “No, everything is fine Gilda; the upper torso has successfully shifted to the middle of the lower torso.” Even strapped in Greta was looking over her data pad and was getting a readout of Centaur-pede’s current state. “Everything seems good. I’m sure you can take it from here and that you know what to do Gilda.” - “Well there Rarity goes again, getting herself into trouble.” Sighing Sassy turned about and walked towards the nearest elevator. “So, she’s been in trouble before and she turned out just fine… speaking of fine, you certainly are.” Chrysalis knew she had made Sassy blush and the mare got onto the elevator a little bit quicker. Sassy understood that Chrysalis was now intentionally flirting with her and she didn’t exactly know how to handle it, she wasn’t anything special and she still felt quite broken to be worthy of any positive attention. She also didn’t know what to think of the Changeling Queen since she could become a stallion at the drop of a hat, so her emotions were all over the place about this. “That was a bunch of confusing emotions.” A curious Chrysalis didn’t understand what she had done wrong. Had she done something wrong? Ponies were so hard to read sometimes, especially when they had so many emotions going off at once like that. “Maybe I can help you with Sassy…” Coco spoke up and it spooked Chrysalis slightly, mostly because she didn’t expect anyone to care about her pursuit of a mate. “She has a few issues she needs to work through and I’m sure me and Vera can help you with helping her.” “Why would you help me, what exactly do you get out of it?” There had to be a catch and Chrysalis was wary of it, no pony has ever just done something nice for her without expecting something in return. “In fact, you’ve hardly spoken to me since I joined this thing you call a crew.” “Well I might get to see my friends smiling more often and if you can make Sassy happy then that would most certainly be a good thing.” While Coco may have refrained from interacting with Chrysalis, she would now at least try to get to know her better. She seemed intent on getting Sassy’s attention and Coco figured Sassy needed all the love she could get. “If you can promise to not make things worse for her, then I’ll at least be open to the idea of helping you.” Mr. Spew just gurgled something unintelligible, but it sounded rather profound. Babs trotted up to Coco’s side and looked up imploringly at Chrysalis to accept that offer; she wanted to see Chrysalis smile more too. - With a heavy thud and a large shockwave of snow being blown outward in a circle, the Centaur-pede had landed and the six legs strained slightly under the weight. A few seconds later the machine stood straight up and the upper torso slid into a forward position and then took a few steps to get out of the impact site. “Well it looks operational to me Greta; we need to get our bearings and there are absolutely no landmarks out here. Opal can you still hear us up there?” Gilda slowly turned the upper torso three hundred and sixty degrees, nothing but snow and clouds as far as the eyes could see. It wasn’t currently snowing, but it was only a matter of time before a blizzard hit them. “We could use some coordinates from our position.” “Right… with… need to… sending coordinates…. safe.” It was obvious that Opal wasn’t able to get a clear signal through the clouds and it was garbled. The screen lit up and the coordinates for the frozen over town still made it through. “Right, we at least got that much and at least we won’t be getting lost down here.” The machine was slow to turn, but the grumbling Gilda eventually had it pointed in the direction of the marked location and slowly pushed it to start moving forward. “Well that’s at least a hundred miles from here. Well better get started on setting things up. Let’s see, set the autopilot, automatic stop if something is detected and an alarm, turrets set to active targeting for threats if something is detected. There that should handle things for the moment.” Gilda pulled the straps off and got up from the chair and moved around it to head for the ladder down the spine of the machine, at the bottom of the ladder she opened a hatch and climbed down into the lower torso where everyone was waiting for her. “Is there anything of note that we should be worried about Greta?” Dropping to the floor Gilda wanted to be absolutely sure that things were going well as the machine started to move on its own. “We took a hit to the shields, but it was within expected parameters. All spare limbs are in working condition and we’ve made a successful landing.” Perusing her data pad, Greta was paying attention to the counterclockwise blizzards leaving from a central point on the globe she had upon her screen. “No blizzard system is heading in our direction yet, I’m glad Opal still managed to get the coordinates through to us. Any communications signal we get out here now will be highly suspect and will need to be investigated, our impact zone is approximately here inside the tundra zone. We’re a bit far too south west of where we need to be, but it’s not like we were going to land directly on our target anyway. Current heading is north east.” “Well you heard the hen, get settled in people. It’ll be a while before we reach those coordinates, if anything happens before that then you better get ready for a fight.” Gilda moved over to the screen in the lower torso and manipulated it to show them the surroundings outside of their warm and comfortable position in the lower torso. “I have the Centaur-pede on autopilot and if anything comes up like terrain problems or threats, then we’ll definitely hear about it. Nothing should be able to sneak up on us in this snowy wasteland.” “Rover is having question, what happens if the upper torso of the great centaur machine gets destroyed?” The best way to handle a long wait was to ask questions and Rover seriously wanted to know what would happen if they lost the upper torso. “Glad someone finally decided to ask that, the lower torso can be operated from here if we lose the upper torso.” Shaking her head Gilda settled in and leaned against a wall in the open space of the lower torso. “I don’t want to lose the upper torso, but it’s far better than what would happen if we lost the lower torso. I have nothing to do until we arrive or something gets in our way, did anyone remember to bring cards?” “Trust us, we already thought of something like that happening.” There wasn’t much that Greta didn’t think of when it came to building this machine with Gilda, except that there seemed to be a rather common misconception that she wanted to get out of the way. “What you have to keep in mind is that this thing wasn’t mainly built for combat, but it was made to handle it at the very least.” “That is nice to know, like how Rover always knows where cards are. I am finding them all over the place with Ms. Star.” Reaching into his red vest, Rover pulled out a fresh pack of cards. “I am just hoping that they aren’t all those queen things though, it would be quite hard to be playing a game like that.” Author's Note My birthday is a few days away and I'm feeling quite lethargic, been alive for quite a while. I'm really getting on in years.
-83-“Well I lost contact with them; they have landed safely on the ground at least.” There was a long pause after Opal spoke, the remaining people on the Shining Jewel thought she was going to freak out and were looking to the nearest monitor at her avatar. Gilda’s presentation to the crew was that Opal was a closet rampant AI and she tended to have a very bad fixation on Rarity, one that had her always worried the minute Rarity was out of sight and possibly running into danger. At least that’s what Gilda thought Opal’s major problem was. “What? Do I have something on my coding? Why is everyone staring at the nearest screen?” “I think it is just the fact that you are utterly freaked out right now and they are expecting a more visible reaction. Heck even I would expect a visible reaction, you might even be able to pass for a Changeling with the way you’re currently acting.” If anybody had bothered to ask Chrysalis, who was currently busy with something in her room, then they would know that she could feel Opal’s emotions. That alone should definitely be impossible as machines didn’t actually have the ability to radiate emotionally, nobody had bothered to tell Chrysalis of this fact and thus she wouldn’t understand why it would be important to bring it to someone’s attention. “I don’t see what your problem is, they’re in an armored vehicle and you said it yourself that they landed alright.” “I’m not freaked out; I’m just mildly concerned as that particular vehicle was not made specifically for combat Crystal.” Even Opal missed the fact that Chrysalis had picked up on something about her, such as the fact that she was more than she appeared to be. She was, as Chrysalis had stated quite clearly, obviously freaked out and hiding it behind a veil of looking entirely calm. “Eh, whatever you say Pony hive mind.” Who was Chrysalis to complain to the pony hive mind about how she really felt? She didn’t understand why someone would use technology to create such an emotional being for a hive mind, but she shrugged it off and continued what she was doing. Pausing in the middle of her hobby, Chrysalis idly considered doing something nice for Little Snack. The filly was certainly giving her plenty of love to eat so that her personal food stores would last a bit longer. Her thoughts went back to Coco’s offer to help, had that adorably shy mare seriously thought she needed help to acquire a mate of her own? Well she’d show them all by earning Sassy’s love and then some! “Can you tell me what Sassy is doing at the moment?” “She’s currently pushing herself with her samurai training. Which reminds me, Vera, I need you to go to the exercise room.” Do not focus on her Opal, you’re a big girl, you can go a day or two without thinking entirely Rarity. Okay, so Opal might have to silently admit that she had a problem since Chrysalis clearly stated the obvious, but Rarity was her mom and darn it Opal wanted to protect her mother’s fragile mortal existence. She knew she should be focusing on the crew that was currently here, but Rarity kind of had a dangerous habit of almost getting mauled to death when she wasn’t looking. She’d have to trust that Ember would protect Rarity with the same kind of violence a dragon would protect their hoard… oh goddesses, is that why Ember was sticking around and paying rent? Well that was something to discuss with Vera in private, it seemed like Ember was going to be around Rarity for the rest of her life and not exactly in the way Opal would have liked. Maybe a few nudges here or there would help things progress, but that would have to come later as Opal had business to attend to. “I think Sassy might be overdoing it a bit… oh and I might have an important matter to discuss in private with you later Vera. So please don’t pull a disappearing trick, it’s not as fun as when Trapeze does it. Even then you should know that finding you again will be incredibly problematic process if you drop out of sight Vera.” “I might want to see Sassy as well; I need to know how she looks and smells while covered in sweat.” It was something to be curious about, not that Chrysalis had any untoward intentions for Sassy. This was actually plain curiosity that had nothing to do with how attractive she thought Sassy might be, she would hold her tongue of any instinct to make a pass at Sassy until she could figure the mare out. Vera would have certainly liked to know that some of her suspicions surrounding Opal were founded in reality; it was quite unfortunate for everyone that Chrysalis didn’t have a reason to bring up the fact that she could feel Opal’s emotions. It was a clear sign that Opal was in fact a living being even if she only appeared to be an artificial being on the surface; a lot of red flags were missed waving in the breeze. The thing Opal needed to discuss was the fact that she realized that Ember had created a hoard and she had her suspicions as to what said hoard entailed. The dragon had been rather subtle about it, as it wasn’t until now that Opal realized that she could miss things and wasn’t performing perfectly as she might have liked. Then again Opal had never really tried to be perfect in the first place and knew that making small mistakes wasn’t a bad thing. It’s when you started making big and irreversibly deadly mistakes that you should really start to panic about things. Opal wasn’t exactly sure on how to address the Ember situation until said dragon came back to the Shining Jewel, the bounty hunter had been getting exceedingly friendly with the rest of the crew quite recently and now the reason why was quite glaringly obvious. It made Opal wonder if she was considered a part of the hoard too. - The slow soft sounding thuds of the large three toed metal legs thumping against the ground had been constant since they started out. Nothing seemed to have raised an alarm and they were still on course for their destination. The six of them sat at a folding table in the large rectangular lower torso of the vehicle trying to pass the time, the quiet of the surrounding snow covered countryside was quite unnerving. Not a scrap of life was to be seen out here, at least nothing moving for they could still see small frozen over copses every now and then. “I hope my cousin Sugar is alright... I dread to think what it would take to survive in weather like this.” Rarity was seated in a heated moving vehicle, she wasn’t about to worry about her own safety at the moment. “My cousin always had a taste for sugar that could match that of Pinkie Pie’s insatiable ability to swallow pastries whole… I probably should have introduced them or at least mentioned them to one another.” “If she’s anything like you Boss Lady, then we’ll definitely find her alive.” It was meant as a compliment, because Gilda thought Rarity could survive some pretty nasty situations even if she hadn’t been directly in the thick of most of them. When she had been in the thick of it, Rarity had obviously performed well enough to come back alive with a gash in her side and a tale of dangerous flesh molded monsters. “Earth Ponies are pretty hardy as well; they can survive in a lot of conditions other ponies would have a lot of problems with. If any of them aren’t strong enough to survive until we can find them out here, then we can at least say we tried to help and we’ll give them a nice burial.” “That’s my Gilda, always being a sour grape. I would like to personally think that they’re all completely fine and hunkered down somewhere out here waiting for a rescue or at least some kind of aid.” Greta was the positive to Gilda’s negative and it showed. That didn’t mean she didn’t see reality as it was. “I at least have to admit, with as cold as it is out there, that Gilda has a point. The prospects aren’t as great at finding something alive and well in these conditions.” “The cold never bothered Rover anyway.” Rover had stuck his head out one of the hatches to get an idea of how cold it was. He could clearly see his halitosis when he exhaled and he didn’t think his breath had exactly been that bad, he’d have to scrape his tongue more thoroughly even if he despised such an action. “Never above ground for it often enough when younger, but Rover like playing in it just the same as ponies would. Right now, I am thinking it is not a good idea or time for playing outside.” “The first time I played in snow is when I visited a snow planet; it was after I performed a job. Never could get snow back in the volcanic lands on Equus, it was way too hot for that.” Ember’s tail twitched back and forth as she reminisced of her time in the snow. “Yeah I think that was about the time that started researching all the dangerous biological hazards I could run into. Even if my body melts snow rather easily, I still managed to make a snow dragon and an ice sculpture while I was on that planet, I even threw a few half melted snowballs into the air. I had lot of fun, but it was rather lonely doing all of that alone. It wouldn’t even surprise me that I’m the warmest thing in this room right now.” “You know this is rather cozy and spacious for a vehicle that has replacement legs and everything else you said it was capable of.” Saffron still couldn’t believe how much space existed inside the lower torso of the Centaur-pede. She had gotten good look inside the Bombing Peregrine and this thing seemed to be more impressive based on the scale it was built with. “There’s even more space than the Bombing Peregrine at least.” “Yeah well, the Bombing Peregrine was built explicitly for combat situations. This is more like a home away from home kind of thing and it’s well furnished as we could make it.” Checking her data pad once again in the last few minutes, Greta was making sure nothing was going wrong. The legs and their joints were all running optimally, the shields were on and back to full strength. The upper torso was locked in place and the arms weren’t shifting about, nothing was overheating, sensors were still not picking up any life or motion out there and things seemed entirely in order. “Though we’ll need to sleep on mats in here, the only real private place in the vehicle is the toilet and shower. Word of warning, don’t use too much water. I’m mostly thinking of you when I say this Boss Lady, we don’t know how long we’re going to be stuck down here and we need to conserve resources.” “I’m not that bad with taking long baths am I?” It was kind of upsetting to Rarity that Saffron, Greta and even Ember wouldn’t look her in the eyes. Gilda just gave her a flat look and a raised questioning brow. Rover didn’t seem to care about the question and was just shuffling the deck of cards for another round. “Fine, I might admit to overstaying my welcome when it comes to cleaning my body. I just don’t like feeling dirty and I like to keep myself in pristine condition, I am the face of my business after all and a lady has to look her best you know.” “Who else thinks we should set a five minute time limit? I don’t mean just Rarity, but for all of us.” There were three appendages following Gilda’s statement. “Well the majority wins Rarity.” “When did we form a democracy and why must you all be so mutinous about it?” Crossing her hooves with a huff Rarity was only slightly upset at this, but she didn’t contest the knowledge that she did use a lot of water when it came to looking her best. “Fine, I’ll let myself be stuck to the ridiculous five minute time limit to do the best with my appearance as I can. All bets are off if we find a working shower that isn’t running on a limited supply out here.” “I understand taking pride in your appearance and all the hard work that goes into it well enough Rarity, I like to keep my scales shiny and presentable at all times as you very well know.” Ember got closer to Rarity and threw an arm around her and started to gently caress Rarity’s mane without messing it up. “You have to understand Rarity; we were inevitably going to draw a line somewhere when it comes to our collective survival. I don’t know about you, but I would care less about my appearance if it meant everyone here surviving for another day. Could you say you would give up how you looked if it could preserve our lives for a little longer?” “I’d actually give up on everything to make sure all of you lived long fulfilling lives.” The petting felt weird to Rarity, but at least Ember wasn’t messing up her mane. “My habit of getting into trouble isn’t exactly helping in that is it?” “It’s not you who gets us into trouble Boss Lady; we can do that just fine on our own. It’s more like trouble is attracted to us.” Being on edge constantly was tiring for Greta; she was watching the sensors scanning their surrounding like she was part hawk. “We at least know something is coming this time, but not in what form.” “I’ve been getting myself into trouble when I took up my mantle as a hero.” Stretching out her hooves and giving off a small yawn, Saffron picked up the five cards dealt to her with her hooves. “I’ve got a lot of scars to prove it and do you think I look ugly?” “Not at all Saffron darling, you’re quite lovely young mare and the fact that you can fight crime and still look as wonderfully exotic as you do is quite amazing.” Rarity’s praise was met with a blushing Saffron looking at the table in embarrassment. “I should probably be asking you for tips on how you managed to keep such a lovely appearance without it being ruined by all that roughhousing with ruffians. This does leave me wondering if there’s something wrong with me in wanting to look my best at all times.” “Rover is seeing nothing wrong with Boss Lady; you are true alpha who cares far more about pack than self. Though Boss Lady is still somewhat selfish for appearances sake, I am completely okay with that.” With a wagging tail and a broad smile directed to the slightly prissy pony, Rover flicked five cards to Greta and then moved on to Ember. “Late mother is always saying there are such leaders like you that exist and Rover much happier for actually finding one. Not trade pony leader for anything! Even I know the meaning of priceless or irreplaceable, Rover is having very difficult time finding such a leader.” Rarity wanted to cry, but she didn’t want to smear her mascara. The friends she had with her were ever so wonderful, even if they did take a vote over her head to force a five minute time limit on showering. She hid a smile behind her five cards and they continued for another five minutes playing in silence, winning or losing hands. Everything became tense when the Centaur-pede suddenly came to a stop and everyone felt the shift in the lower torso when it did, a relatively quiet alarm went off. “Okay something just tripped the sensors… both motion and life detection.” Greta was poking at her data pad with her index talon looking over the information. “Whatever it is that tripped the sensors, it’s about the size of a pony and it is about a mile off to the east. That’s not too far out of our way. Before you ask Rarity, we have a pretty good sensors range given the terrain around here is mostly flat except for the hills of snow. The snow on the ground is causing a few issues, but as long as we aren’t in the middle of a blizzard or at least a snowstorm we won’t have to worry about detecting threats. Well that’s rather odd… ” “How odd are we talking Greta and do I really need to be up in the pilot’s seat for this?” Something the size of a pony would most likely be intimidated by the Centaur-pede and would likely prefer to avoid it, unless they were in a desperate situation. “The readings are detecting a completely healthy organism with no deterioration in temperature… you’d at least expect some loss of heat out here.” Greta tapped her screen while looking to Gilda. “Isn’t a bit odd given the current circumstances that something is out here and reading as completely healthy? You know, despite there being a lack of viable food around here thanks to the terrible climate trouble. It’s also cold enough that any source of water is frozen over, so what is this pony sized organism even drinking?” “I certainly think this requires investigating, let’s head in that direction and I’ll go topside and try to scope out whatever it is out there when we go closer.” Ember stood up from the table and went to a nearby ladder and started climbing for the back of the lower torso. “That’s a sound idea, Gilda start heading in that direction please.” The griffon threw Rarity a mock salute and made her way for the ladder that led up into the upper torso. “Do I need to get my armor on?” If she needed to be ready at a moment’s notice, then Saffron would quickly throw the armor on and get up on the back of the Centaur-pede with Ember. “No, I don’t think we’ll need it for this, but get your EVA suit on anyway and get a pistol out.” Going to her numerous bags of clothing, she pulled her EVA suit out of a pile and started to put it on. “While I’m quite sure Gilda and Ember can handle this if its trouble, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared for anything.” - “I was not prepared for something like this, what exactly is that creature? It resembles a pony, but I can already tell just by looking at it that it is most certainly not a pony.” Looking over the side of the Centaur-pede’s back, Rarity immediately spotted what was detected. “I’m sure Chrysalis would have a field day with it, whatever it is.” “You remember when I said that there were beings that weren’t an active threat, native and nearly sapient? That would be one right there, it’s called a Puffle.” The creature wasn’t as majestically dangerous as Ember imagined it being. It vaguely had the face of a pony and she really couldn’t make out the body, she could see four tiny hooves sticking out of what looked like a solid ball of thick pink fur covering every part of it. The creature looked at the middle right leg of the machine and sniffed at it, after a moment it gasped, did a raspberry then started hugging the leg and began nuzzling it lovingly. It was possibly the most adorable and least threatening thing in the area; also it was notably the only thing in the area. “If they aren’t an active threat, then what exactly is threatening about them?” Gilda’s voice came from the one large red eye in the head on the upper torso; she had her attention squarely on the ball of fluff hugging the leg. The thing looked like something Chrysalis and her Changelings would use at livestock, given how much hair it had on its body. “I’m getting the feeling that there’s something about them being threatening in a passive manner.” “They are exceedingly stupid and I mean lethally stupid in such a way that they could get someone or themselves killed with their actions.” It was well documented and Ember didn’t believe that something could be so close to sapience and yet impossibly imbecilic. She didn’t know why it was hugging the leg, but it certainly wasn’t intimidated by large machinery. “I’m talking stupid like sticking its tongue in a light socket for a third time, even after it knows from experience the first two times ended in pain. They are quite playful, herbivorous and their fur is a thick protective covering that prevents them from getting injured by the few small predators this planet has. Some ponies have mistaken them for being almost sapient because they have some level of intelligence that allows them to mimic something a pony does. That led to an unfortunate incident with a blue Puffle catching fire from mimicking a pony making a fire pit. The Puffle was alright after the incident, but it didn’t learn its lesson when it made another fire pit and it’s why they are known to be lethally stupid by every pony that ever comes across one on this planet. There’s also a good reason that Ponies try not to teach them things after that second incident, they were labeled as passively dangerous and possibly lethal to anyone not smart enough to leave one well enough alone until it wanders away of its own volition. Feeding them ice cream, candy or something sweet usually makes them leave faster.” “What exactly happened the second time around to cause that kind of response?” Saffron thought the creature was cute and adorable in a bright eyed childish manner, how could something like that be dangerous? “The first time the blue Puffle created a fire pit it was on an open plain where the fire wouldn’t spread and they eventually managed to douse its slowly burning fur before it could do any real damage. The second time the Puffle apparently got the idea that you had to create a fire in a fire station… five blocks went up in flames before fire fighters from a different town could arrive on the scene. They didn’t exactly save that town either.” Yes it was as dumb as it sounded, but then Ember decided to tell the last tidbit which really sells the level of idiocy a Puffle will go to when taught something. “It had apparently started a fire pit using all the fire fighting gear. It was apparently not done out of malicious intent on the Puffle’s part, but the sheer and utter stupidity that the Puffle thought you had to start a fire using all of said equipment at once to do it right. Mind you this includes several fire fighting gunships loaded with chemicals specifically meant to stop fires. I know a thing or two about doing the impossible with endothermic chemicals and somehow incidentally burning down a building. Why the cause of the fire was even determined to be a fire extinguisher if you can believe it. Heck, it hardly makes sense given the Puffle probably couldn’t even read a written language to begin with to even know what the sign on the fire station says. I’m sure if I was there, I would have been outright blamed for that incident for just being a dragon near a place where a fire broke out in a highly volatile manner.” “So… we just ignore it… is that all?” If this creature was as potentially dumb as the one that was just described to her, then Gilda wanted it to be as far away from the Centaur-pede as possible. It sounded like a machine eating gremlin. “Yep, let’s just keep going and ignore that it exists. We do not want to be responsible for whatever it does if we teach it something and we do not want to interact with it unless it is to give it something to eat so it’ll leave us alone.” Innocent as they might sound, look and act, Ember was going to have nightmares about the other incidents she heard that Puffles had been involved in. “Whatever any of you do, do not go down there and touch it or make it even more interested in us than it already is. Also don’t look up things about them; it’s going to give me nightmares for a while knowing what I do.” “Doesn’t it seem a bit cruel to leave it out here like this?” Even after hearing the story, Rarity wanted to do something generous for the cute thing currently snuggling up against a leg of the Centaur-pede. “No, Rarity, just no, trust me on this, you do not want to do anything for that creature!” Ember was putting her foot down on this one; she had to protect her hoard from that little fluffy monstrosity. She didn’t know what was dumber, the Puffle or Rarity for wanting to do something for it. “It’s been doing well enough on its own so far and it doesn’t even look like it needs help with anything if it’s as healthy as the scanner says it is.” “Well if you’re absolutely sure…” The look Rarity was receiving cowed any thought of going near the pink fluff, the fierceness of Ember’s eyes spoke a volume of words and she was willing to listen to them. “I’m dead serious, that thing could get us killed even if it is entirely innocent Rarity.” Ember really didn’t like being angry with her hoard, but she had to protect it from itself in this situation. “I actually looked these things up and I would think that I would know more than you do about it. I’ll let you look it up later and decide for yourself if it was a good idea or not to ignore it, but please do this one thing for me. I wasn’t wrong about sewer squids, I’m definitely not wrong about this. We do not want to give that thing the time of day.” “Okay I’ll ignore it, though I don’t like having to do so one bit.” Rarity would trust Ember’s judgment on this one, but it kind of hard to ignore that such an adorable fluffy alien pony thing was just outside looking for attention. “Gilda get us back on course and do as Ember says, let’s… ignore it. Well at least for now, if it won’t go away then we’ll at least feed it and shoo it off afterwards.” The Centaur-pede started moving towards the northeast back on course and they completely ignore the squeaking pink blob of thick fur stuck to one of the legs. It even seemed to be enjoying itself, ignoring it was kind of hard because it was a fairly visible, even from a good distance away. - Chrysalis, Lightning, Vera and Bernard just sat there watching poetry in motion. They saw every swing, stab and twirl of the sword as something akin to an interpretive dance. Sassy was sweating and looked very tired, but she certainly looked graceful when dancing with a blade in her hoof. None of them had the heart to stop Sassy, she wanted to keep going until she dropped and she even told them as much. Finally Sassy slowly stopped her dance and sheathed the sword; she was breathing raggedly and slowly began to lie down. She had only been able to keep up the dance for five minutes at a time; she had barely taken a break longer than a minute throughout her harsh training regimen. Vera had been keeping her watchful eyes on Sassy’s health. Sassy was coming along greatly, but she would injure herself badly if she continued to push herself at this rate. “Sassy, I think that that is enough and it’s time that I gave you a nice massage…” Trying to sit up and deny Vera’s rather incredible services, she failed to form any words as soon as Vera’s hooves touched her gently and started work over the tired muscles. “That’s it, relax, everything will be okay. You don’t want to push yourself too hard; you’ll injure yourself badly if you do and then you’ll have to go through therapy all over again. Do you want that Sassy?” “No…” Sassy whined before something popped in her back making her go limp. “I know everything will be okay physically, but will she be okay mentally? She seems to be working through a lot of emotional turmoil, tastes kind of funky really.” Poking her chin with a hoof while flicking her tongue about her lips, it was as if Chrysalis could actually taste the emotions coming off of Sassy. “Like a banana split, only instead of chocolate somebody use mango sauce and the caramel sauce is made from refried beans. At least the strawberry sauce tastes correct. The banana flavor leaves something to be desired and I sometimes wish I were an Alicorn so that I could personally enjoy the end results of tasting such a flavor.” “Yeah, not going to ask how you would even know what any of that tastes like. Considering actual food holds no nutritional value for you at all.” It was among the many things Lightning would never want to know about Chrysalis, she was still going to be friends with her though. Once she was clear of pasted bones, Lightning would get that game of Twisty she’d been craving for a while now. Author's Note Insert Fluffle Puff of the Puffles, one of the worlds deadliest pacifistic creatures in existence and native to Applin five. Yes, she is absolutely far more dangerous to be around than you would think. She is not related to or the cause of the horrible weather, but she is a living terror to watch out for... in the Rarity Zone. Yes, Fluffle Puff appearing is relevant to the current plot and no she will not be getting on The Shining Jewel... ever. I wouldn't have a story to continue if Fluffle Puff destroyed the ship now would I?
-84-“Chrysalis declined my offer to help her understand Sassy better. Is it so wrong that I want to throttle Chrysalis and with actual ill intent this time?” Usually Coco was the most peaceful mare, but Chrysalis tended to throw normalcy out the window whenever possible. “I just want to help her understand what she’s doing wrong, since chances are that she’ll go for another kidnapping plot as it seems like her modus operandi. Does she really have to kidnap ponies to get attention? I don’t know why, but I’ve been feeling a lot more frustrated lately. It is like I’ve been getting angry over nothing. I really shouldn’t be mad at Chrysalis for not taking my offer of help, it is within her right to ignore my offer and say no.” “So you’re finally coming into your magic, you’re a pretty late bloomer. Either that or no one taught you about what your magical abilities might be.” Hopefully Vera could make Coco understand her current situation, this kind of thing happened to Pegasi and Unicorns in different ways and it wasn’t any different for any other pony variants either. “Um… what? I’ve had my cutie mark for years now, almost ever since I met Rarity even.” Coco sat up and looked to Vera in a confused manner. Who wouldn’t be confused if you were just told that you were coming into your cutie mark, butt sign or handsome symbol? “I’m not talking about your cutie mark; I’m talking about your earth pony magic. How often have you actually used any of it up to today?” Seeing that her patient had a confused look, Vera slapped her face. “Oh my goodness, you’re going to be one of ‘those’ ponies. To start off, coming into your magic is not the same as coming into your cutie mark. You’ve done that as you have so stated, coming into your magic is actually something else entirely. A cutie mark is your special talent and depending on how you interpret it, it can let you do things beyond the original interpretation as long as you can put your mind to reinterpreting what your mark can possibly mean. Your magical traits and abilities can even be something separate from what your special talent is, because it’ll be more about what you are then who you are. Are you with me so far?” “I think so. I can understand multiple interpretations of a talent being like how Sassy can reinterpret her special talent into a combat skill.” Coco received a rather proud looking nod. “So if this is my magic causing me to feel this way, then you know exactly what is going on with me? Is it anything like puberty? Those years were quite awkward for me.” “Yes, I in fact do know what is going on with you. To start off, Earth Pony magic comes in many flavors, but can be boiled down to the most commonly seen magical abilities. Each pony get’s to this point at random, Unicorns usually hit the state of coming into their magic earlier than any of the pony variant races. As for Earth and Pegasus Ponies, they come into there’s at a different time and in completely different ways.” “Since you’re an Earth Pony you might have several of the following abilities.” Moving over to the nearby desk and pulling out a clipboard with a sheet paper on it, Vera made her way back over to Coco ignoring the constantly pointed CAT drone as she did. “The most common Earth Pony magic is in passive traits, things like immunity or exceedingly high resilience to sicknesses, diseases and poisons. There’s also the ability to regenerate or heal from wounds faster or being physically stronger than normal without having to put effort into it. The less common are active traits, like actually controlling how plants grow, grabbing and move things around with your hair, communing with nature, being able to actively control your entire body perfectly at any moment in the form of biofeedback and doing anything that requires a lot of focus to achieve. Finally there are the exceedingly rare psychic traits that only Earth, Sea and Mermaid Ponies seem to get, the kind that apparently Pinkie and Trapeze have going for them and it’s even rare enough that you would even meet two mares with whatever abilities those two might have in one lifetime. As a reminder as to what Trapeze and Pinkie are capable of, they can do bizarre things like hold an object of any size in the space of a coin on their person without being affected by the weight or mass of said object at all, then there’s teleporting by moving out of sight, mind reading, emotion reading or manipulation and even the possibility of accurately predicting the near future, at least within reason. Psychic powers only need a drop of magic, compared to a unicorn which would need to use a lake of magic to achieve the same effect for some of those things. Some of those things are impossible for unicorns to do to the point they can’t replicate it with their magic at all.” “So I have something like an active ability?” It certainly didn’t feel right hearing all this and Coco did come to Vera for advice about her recent frustration. “It can be assumed that you have some sort of ability, because I certainly doubt you would have entered a haunted space station normally without some emotional imbalance caused by your magic acting up.” Vera watched as her words quieted Coco and made her look uneasy, as such she needed to think of something to say and fast. Some might think Vera would have all the answers, they’d be horribly wrong and she was mostly winging her job as the crew’s psychologist. She’s a good therapist at least. “It’s nothing bad, you just got to get used to the idea that you might have something beyond your talent for accessorizing. I think I understand what kind of natural Earth Pony trait you might have picked up, you hardly ever get angry right?” “I prefer to avoid conflict.” Then why did Coco volunteer herself for the Antilur thing. Sure they actually needed her for it when they got to the communications hub, but after that she had to have been out of her mind to actually actively join in on the fighting and in her own mind she really hadn’t done much to help. This was when she even logically knew that she had opened communications with Opal and allowed her get into the station after they killed the brain, she had carried Chrysalis for quite a while, she managed to get the stadium lights on and she even saved the day with the tendrils. “Well you seem to have an active ability that ties into your natural fight or flight response. Basically you become faster and stronger the more frightened or angry you get, you could probably do it while focused too which is going to be harder to achieve. You’ve been getting by with passively letting it happen in times of duress.” Flipping to the next sheet of paper on her clipboard Vera wrote something down that she was going to suggest that Coco do. She pulled the paper out and held it up to Coco and she took it from her. “This is what I suggest you do.” “Continue learning wrestling with you and Chrysalis since it teaches discipline, is that really all I have to do?” That didn’t sound so hard to Coco. “That doesn’t sound so bad.” “I and Chrysalis have just been giving everyone involved the beginner course classes. Just hope that Chrysalis doesn’t decide to start teaching you the mud gumbo style of wrestling. Yes, I know what that is personally and I shouldn’t say anymore unless I was going to teach it to you myself. Just know that you’ll be sorry if Chrysalis does decide to teach you about it and you take her up on it, if she even makes the offer. I can make the same offer as well, but I don’t want to... at this time.” Vera stopped to give Coco a pitying gaze, she shook her head sadly. “You’re about to find out how real wrestling can get and I’m sorry if the injuries don’t heal as quickly and that you’ll become really sore afterwards, but I bet you’ll be happy to be getting a lot of massages from me. Also Chrysalis was wrestling at a beginner level when you beat her… so congratulations on beating an opponent who can control her skill level at the drop of a hat. I think she mostly gave in because she was getting off on you choking her into unconsciousness.” “Why did you have to go and tell me that? It kind of makes me feel dirty now.” Now Coco was starting to have an anxiety attack until she felt a pair of hooves start rubbing her shoulders. It took her a moment, but she eventually started relaxing. “For what it is worth, you are probably one of the best crew members Rarity could have ever asked for.” “Why thank you. Now if we could finish this up quickly, I have an appointment to discuss some things with Opal.” Vera was worried that something was going down and that Opal would be the catalyst to opening a can of worms. She wasn’t wrong; it just wasn’t exactly the can of worms she had expected to be opened. - “Is it still on the leg?” Even Greta was beginning to feel sorry for the pink fluff ball; it had been on the leg for the last fifty seven miles since they picked it up. Their destination was not so far off now and it was easy to guess that it was snowing outside given Gilda tracked some snow into the Centaur-pede when she came in, seeing anything far away was a little more difficult thanks to a shift in weather. “Yep, it’s surprisingly still there and seems to be obscenely happy with its current lot in life.” Gilda finished coming down the ladder from looking around on the back of the walker, she just hoped that the Puffle thing didn’t go to the bathroom on the leg it was clinging to happily. “Nothing has come up on the scanners yet, which is beginning to give me the creeps. We should at least be clear to make it to the town the coordinates are set for without issue. The ponies we’re looking for should be somewhere around there, if they aren’t then things might get a bit difficult without a clue of where to go from there.” “This is why I had us pack plenty of food; I foresaw the eventuality that we would need it. If we have to keep looking around out here for a while, then it would pay to be well fed.” Though eventually they would have to give up and leave, Rarity wasn’t much of a quitter and she didn’t think Gilda or any of the others would quit even if the griffon could gripe about every little thing. A good portion of their current supply of food was meat and Rarity would never disparage the needs of her crew for it. “If we run out of fruit, vegetables and other edibles supplies, then I may eat meat if it means we can search for a little while longer.” “Yeah, but it wouldn’t exactly be pleasant… though a Pegasus would enjoy it somewhat.” Pegasus ponies enjoyed their ability to eat meat pretty well; Saffron didn’t see a problem with that as she actually had some Pegasus ancestry. She still preferred the basic pony staples when it came to food. “How long is it until we arrive at our destination?” Ember was as relaxed as can be, though she did worry about what the rest of her hoard was doing. She knew that they’d all be safe. “ETA five minutes and thirteen seconds at the rate we’re going, we should be within visible range.” If there was a sense of dread building up in her, then Greta was absolutely hiding it well with a cheerful smile. “Gilda, can you operate the upper torso and scope things out? I mean at least before the snow gets any worse… we have one of those blizzards incoming and we’re going to need to settle down there for the night to ride it out.” “On it, has anything frozen over yet Greta?” Even as she asked this Gilda was already moving for the forward ladder to go into the upper torso. “No, all systems are staying lukewarm. We’ll see how things go when the temperature drops even further; thankfully we took precautions when we installed the water tank.” They had plenty of water at the moment, but showers were going to drain it pretty fast and that’s why Greta agreed to the five minute time limit stipulation. Melting snow for water would be a last resort otherwise and it would take a while to gather enough snow for something to drink. “Good, I’m in the seat now and I’ll be sending everyone a visual of what I’m getting up here. Pretty doesn’t define it.” At Gilda’s words, Rarity, Saffron, Ember, Greta and Rover gathered to look at the monitor in the lower torso and blinked at the visuals they were seeing. Well as much as they could see through the snow. “It looks like the town is rubble, but not because of the snow.” “Something burned it down.” Saffron was trying to make out the remains of the ruins left behind. “So do you still think we’ll find some pony out here Rarity?” “Yes, because the apple family runs a farm outside of town a good distance away, obviously they would not have a farm in the middle of the town itself. Still, I would like to get a closer look; this is where we’ll settle down for the night. We’ll try to find the farm tomorrow.” The town didn’t have a single building that wasn’t partially collapsed or covered in snow, but Rarity took a keen interest in the fact that most of buildings were burned down and didn’t collapse because of the snow. “Nobody is to leave the sight of the Centaur-pede, much less the confined area that the legs cover. How is that Puffle out there Greta?” “Healthy and despite the temperature outside, its temperature hasn’t changed a bit. That’s one resilient fluff ball, that or it’s a curious biological trait.” It was a tad unusual, it made Greta actually want to look them up despite Ember’s warning that it was a horrible idea. “Maybe Chrysalis would stay behind if we told her about our fluffy puff ball tagalong.” “We can dream Greta, we can dream. I think we’re stuck with her as long as she’s willing to cling to us. At least we can help her people out a bit, though I’m a little wary of leaving Chrysalis alone around a Puffle or even telling her about them.” Shaking her head sadly, Saffron went back to looking at the view on the screen. “We really don’t know how she’ll react to meeting one or how a Puffle will react to her. So we’re going to park in town and wait out the blizzard?” “That’s the plan. I’m not detecting any life out here, then again the snow is getting worse and that’s going to cause some interference. At least thermal scanning and motion tracking will still work.” Taking in the view, Gilda had to admit that something felt off about this town being burnt to the ground like this. The snow was getting hard to see through, but she had already seen some of the buildings were of stone and metal with very little wood and yet something still had burnt a building like that to the ground. “I’m going to leave the Centaur-pede running hot; we wouldn’t want any of the joints to freeze through the incoming blizzard.” The slowly marching machine came to a stop about five miles out from the burnt and snow covered wreckage that was once a relatively large town. Slowly the legs positioned themselves closer to the Centaur-pede and it lowered its belly gently to the ground. A little pink fluff ball crawled up the leg and onto the top of the machine to look around in clear confusion before just smiling dumbly, blowing a raspberry and then turning around fifteen times before laying down on the back of the now quiet, if still warm, machine. Once it was comfortable the little pink native fell asleep. Inside, Rarity was unrolling a mattress for her personal use and this wasn’t exactly going to be comfortable. They’d all be sleeping on the floor next to each other and thankfully they had the foresight to leave Saffron next to Greta who liked to snuggle in her sleep. They probably should have warned Saffron about it, but she preferred to have Ember as a buffer zone. On her other side Gilda was setting up and on the other side of her was Rover working on his mat. “I’m going to be the one scouting things out early in the morning, if the weather isn’t too bad I’ll be able to fly out there.” Ember stretched her wings out and looked them over. “I think my wings need more exercise anyway. Also I’ll be bathing myself in flames when I set out so I won’t be using up too much water.” “We all know you can take care of yourself Ember, goodnight everyone.” Rarity hoped that she wouldn’t need Luna’s assistance with nightmares again; Antilur Station had been pretty bad and she was thankful that those monsters weren’t able to infect you with some kind of zombie virus. Oh great, that’s what her nightmares were going to be about now. An uneasy frown appeared on Rarity’s face as she tried to get some sleep. An hour later she was tossing and turning fretfully in her sleep until a pair of arms dragged her, along with her blanket, into a cozy snuggle. She calmed down and cuddled against the rather warm body. - “So Ember formed a hoard… out of us... are you serious?! You have got to be kidding, please tell me you’re kidding. I don’t think I can handle this; this could become a huge disaster. The repercussions of it on Ember’s mental health are bad enough.” Well that certainly explained a few things to Vera, especially why Ember had been getting so impossibly friendly with the crew. She had an eye that was twitching in disbelief given that Opal had a weak smile on her face, at least Ember would protect her hoard if Opal was right. Except the form of protection Ember offered would be of the horribly violent kind. “Do you even realize the kind of problems this would cause? Ember would go nuts if any one of us is in danger, who knows what she wouldn’t do to protect us and she’s a bounty hunter! Do you at least know what the centerpiece of Ember’s hoard is? The centerpiece is what will cause the worst reactions in her, does Ember even realize that she can’t watch all of us or protect us all at the same time? She’s just one dragon!” “About that… you can kind of figure that out easily given that she’s not currently up here.” Opal had a very good guess as to who the centerpiece was, she just gave Vera a hint and the poor mare went catatonic. Thankfully ponies were resilient to being fully broken mentally, but that was thanks to them always being crazy. “That should be a big enough hint as to where her centerpiece currently is and you look like you understand.” “You do realize that anyone who joins our crew and becomes a welcome addition is not going to be able to leave right? Ember wouldn’t like that if she started considering them a part of her hoard…” Vera was slowly sinking into hysteria; she was already shivering quite violently and her mane was falling into disarray. “Also please tell me the centerpiece is not who I think it is, for love of all that is holy, good and wonderful; please tell me that it’s absolutely not Rarity!” The wan grin Opal had on her face was clearly quite forced, one that was horrifying Vera on a number of levels to the point that she went full circle from panicked to calm. “Yeah… I think I can come to terms with this. Being stuck on the Shining Jewel wouldn’t be so bad; I can handle Ember being horribly psychologically imbalanced by the fact that we will eventually die.” The tone of Vera’s voice was a bit shrill and her purple mane looked wildly out of sorts now, otherwise she was completely fine. “Am I hyperventilating, I might be hyperventilating, is the room getting smaller or is it my eyes getting bigger?!” “Oh here comes a distraction from your obviously valid worries!” After stating this in a happy tone, Opal frowned and looked a little sick. “Then again this just might validate your worries about Ember losing her cool.” “Well, what is it?” A distraction would be good right about now for Vera; she’d take anything over having to worry about what Ember would do should the rest of her hoard be endangered while she wasn’t around to protect it. “How do you feel about space pirates? Everyone I will be going into battle stations soon, apparently there’s about to be raid on the supply depot.” Opal set about powering up the weapons; she hardly ever dropped the shields. She would never be caught with her pants down. Not that her avatar wore pants, but it could wear pants if she wanted her avatar to have them. “Warning this is not a drill, we might have boarders soon! I repeat we’re about to be attacked, get some weapons just in case I can’t stop them from getting in. There certainly are a lot of them; I’ll be helping the supply depot defend itself. Chrysalis is in charge of internal security, Sassy will protect the injured or incapable. I’ll take care of any fighters and or ships that come at us while making sure to stay as safe as possible. We’ll worry about clean up after the battle is over. I hope they don’t do anything too noticeable, Rarity would freak out if she found out something happened to us.” “Yeah, that’s a pretty good distraction.” Yep, there was nothing quite like a space pirate attack to clear your mind of any disastrous thoughts of being part of a Dragon’s hoard. - Rarity yawned and opened her eyes as she stretched slightly, she was really quite comfortable in Ember’s arms… that’s right completely… wait. Rarity blinked once or twice and sighed. “Ember, darling, could you please wake up and let me go? I have to use the little pony’s room.” The dragon just tightened her hug on Rarity, forcing a squeak out of her. She wasn’t uncomfortable, but she would really like it if the dragon wasn’t holding her so tightly and in such a loving manner like this. It just wasn’t proper that a lady be treated like this, then again when had she recently acted anything like the lady she should be? Did she really want to be a looked upon fondly as a lady people would think she should be with preconceived notions or did she want to be seen as herself? She slapped Ember’s face harshly, but that did little more than cause Rarity’s hoof to become slightly sore. Ember’s face was like hitting a brick wall, she could have probably punched Ember and even then she doubted that would have hurt the slim and beautiful dragoness. “Ember, wake up please.” Ember just rubbed at her face lightly and rolled over on top of Rarity making the situation even more embarrassing for her. A rather groggy Greta sat up hugging Saffron to her chest, she looked to Rarity’s predicament and snickered. Greta let go of Saffron carefully and made sure that she didn’t disturb the mares sleep. Standing up, Greta made her way over to Rarity and stumbled a bit before she came to a stop over the cuddled pony. Rarity was looking up at Greta pleadingly. “A little help here, please Greta?” Pleaded Rarity with a look of hope on her face, well it was hope before she heard a click on Greta’s data pad. “Oh, this is so precious. I’m going to give this to Opal and the others later and you can’t stop me!” It was pretty cute to see a lithe and beautiful sleeping dragon cuddling a pony, nothing seemed wrong with that to Greta. She even cackled in an evil manner, but it was hard to count it as evil when it was coming from Greta of all griffons. “Don’t worry she’ll have to get up eventually Boss Lady, we need her to scout around the town in case of danger. Whatever burned most of it down might actually still be around and I’m certainly not flying around out in this cold. Whatever burned down those buildings couldn’t have been naturally occurring.” “What makes you say that, couldn’t it have been some hulking fire breathing beast?” Well if it was, then Rarity was fine with Ember going out there. The dragon was immune to fire and deadly amounts of heat and could possibly survive being dumped into a star without a protective suit. Rarity was now struggling to get out of Ember’s strong if rather surprisingly soft grasp. “I mean no offense to our dear Ember here of course. My goodness, why is she actively clinging to me like this and how can I get her to let go?” “I haven’t had my coffee yet, give me a moment to get up to speed and check the sensors.” Even if Greta knew coffee was not the Boss Lady’s refined beverage of choice, that didn’t mean it couldn’t be hers and Gilda’s. A shot of hot chocolate would certainly sweeten up her morning, she stretched her wings out and lazily looked over her data pad as she moved to the small kitchenette to get started on the coffee. “Let’s see, nothing worthy of note on the detectable life here or in town. Well aside from the Puffle on the back of our transport, breathing solid, still healthy and… the same temperature readout. How is it managed to keep its temperature that steady? It slept outside in blizzard for Grover’s sake! Oh right Grover is an old king in the griffon lands Rarity, he was quite popular and nobody will ever forget him for what he’s done for us. I think Gilda might be a descendant of his, but she hasn’t ever wanted to go in and get that tested.” “Coffee me Greta, I’m not getting up until I have a mug in my talons. It’s way too early for your annoying cheerfulness.” The cheeky chirp Gilda got in reply made her glare at Greta. “So… you and the dragon Boss Lady… I didn’t know you liked playing with fire.” “Rover is thinking fire be playing with her.” Groaned out Rover who was sensitive to changes in his environment, that being the enclosed space of the Centaur-pede’s spacious lower torso. “Can I go out and dig under Centaur Stampede for a bit? Just a small hole, Rover came to get his paws dirty.” “Just don’t dig too far into the snow or you could get stuck if it collapses in on you.” Gilda grumbled out as straight black coffee with very little added to it was put in her talons, she sipped it and smile. “Yeah, now that’s the stuff, thanks Greta.” “Rover is digger expert; I not get stuck by frozen water and cold hard dirt. Now which warm coverings are Rover’s to use when going out without an EVA suit?” The one who had to have an answer to Rover’s predicament, as the boss lady was the one that packed the warm weather gear. “Hold on a second Rover… she’s… not… letting… me… go. Oh fine, it’s the bag up in the third shelf on the left. Yes that’s the one, bring it down to me.” Doing as Rarity asked Rover brought it over to the dragon trapped Rarity who pulled out a comfortable looking brown parka with some small shaped gems around the collar. Rarity made all kinds of clothes for her crew, yet she never gets to play dress up with any of them. “This is the one I made for you Rover; I figured you’d like some shiny gems in it.” “Thank you very much Boss Lady, Rover is thinking that he wouldn’t have time to do Diamond Dog things. I not go very far, I am promising that like I promise to be helping you with finding other family. I might have to use nose for that, I have good strong nose.” He almost sounded eloquent in his joy, almost; he was still very much like the crews scraggly voiced puppy that could do circus tricks. He ascended the ladder and closed the hatch behind him as he exited the vehicle; he gave the pink Puffle a curious look as she snoozed and shrugged before diving off the side of the Centaur-pede’s back and straight into the snow. He was forty feet down in five seconds; he knew that he still had it. “Bit cold, but Rover is finding the dirt here to be of extravagant quality. It tastes pretty good too.” Off in the distance a pair of glowing yellow eyes glinted in the shaded light beneath the clouds, they were watching the destroyed town as they sat in the snow. They had yet to spot the intrusion on the other side, but they were waiting and watching for anything to enter their territory. Once they did spot something, then that thing would quickly cease to exist. Author's Note Now introducing two dangers. The story will focus on what Rarity and the others are doing on the ground.
-85-Poor Rarity continued to struggle for a while. Her need to go was getting worse and she really needed to use the bathroom, but the blasted sleeping dragon wouldn’t stop cuddling her. She knew dragons were sometimes heavy sleepers, but this was getting ridiculous. She tried pressing her hoof against Ember’s nostril; she even tried wafting the scent of her mane up her nose after that and it just made Ember look more comfortable in her sleep. Hitting Ember wasn’t working as Rarity doubted her friend could even feel the slapping hooves, it was unfortunate that Rarity was too dainty for her own good. “Have you tried tickling her yet?” It was just a suggestion, though Greta was quite curious to see if it would work. “I’m afraid that she’ll blow flames if she laughs and I don’t want my mane singed or burnt.” Wiggling wasn’t helping her much and she decided to lay still. “I would let loose a blood curdling scream, but I don’t want her to hurt me. She’d feel really guilty about it and I’d feel guilty for causing it to happen.” “How does one safely wake up a sleeping dragon, it is a question for the ages. Even if Ember is small, she could still set the entire interior space on fire… with us in it.” Coming over to the predicament, Gilda studied the situation carefully and then chuckled dryly. “Yeah, I got nothing.” “Maybe I can help.” Saffron trotted up to them suited up in her powered armor and carefully grabbed Ember’s arms to slowly start trying to pry them apart. Trying being the keyword as Ember curled up tightly around Rarity, even with the armors enhanced strength Ember was proving to be difficult to pull off of Rarity. “What… what’s going on here?” Ember was slowly coming to and she realized she was clutching at Rarity, she also noticed that Saffron was trying to free Rarity from her grasp with the powered armor. “Rarity really needs to go to the bathroom Ember.” That statement from Saffron alone was all it took to get the dragon to let go of Rarity and the mare immediately shot off towards the bathroom. “You’re really hard to wake up you know.” “I was comfortable. Don’t you know what the saying means when it says leave sleeping dragons alone?” If Ember were a less friendly dragon then sure, but her hoard needed her awake and with her head in gear. She stretched her wings out and flapped them once or twice before bringing them in. “You might not like them when they wake up.” “So you would have been okay with Rarity losing her bladder on you?” That would have been upsetting for everyone and Saffron didn’t think anyone would have wanted to clean up the mess. “No, but I was in a cozy position.” Sniffing the air Ember sighed at the wonderful smell. “So are we making breakfast or what?” “If you like sausage, biscuits with blackberry preservatives and hash browns, then yes we’re doing breakfast Ember. Greta should almost be done with that.” Any idiot could make breakfast, even Gilda knew breakfast was one of the easier meals of the day to prepare and she didn’t exactly mind Greta’s cooking. “The sausage is for the meat eaters. As for the rest eat whatever you like, it’s guaranteed pony safe. Also somebody go get our dog out of the hole he’s dug himself into.” “I’ll go; I’m already suited for it.” Saffron volunteered immediately only to be pushed away from the ladder by Ember. “I’ll go, I’ll eat when I get back. Leave something for me and Rover.” Ember was already climbing up the ladder and accessing the hatch, Saffron sighed and shook her head and started going through the process to deactivate the armor. There were three hatches in the back of the Centaur-pede, the upper torso could be sitting over any of them when needed as it slid forward or backwards along the top. Ember popped up out of the middle hatch looking around at all the snow and upon getting out she promptly closed the hatch behind her. The cold tried to bite at her scales, only it found no purchase, her pants and shirt were enough warmth for her. She turned around and was immediately assaulted by something and forced onto her back. She panicked a little and tried to slash her claws at it, only for her claws to get stuck in a wall of pink fur. It was the Puffle and its smiling resemblance of a pony’s face was gasping happily as it looked at Ember, it bounces several times on top of ember’s body and then it blew a happy sounding raspberry in her face. Ember slowly grabbed her rifle and pulled it from her back to aim it at the Puffle’s smiling face, her claw tightened on the trigger. She slowly removed her claw from the trigger and while sighing loudly, Ember thought that killing the Puffle would make her feel like she killed an innocent little puppy. “If you were anything else, I’d definitely shoot you until you stopped moving. You’re not worth the ammo and finding any around here would take forever given all the snow.” The creature just dumbly made another raspberry at Ember’s words and tilted its head cutely. Shoving the decidedly dumb and affectionate creature that immediately nuzzled her claws off of her, Ember stood up and walked to the sides to look for Rover with the pink menace following behind with curious large blue eyes. Looking around she eventually spotted the hole Rover dug. “Hey, Rover, Greta made breakfast!” “Be quiet, Rover is listening to something… something is moving out there and Rover is not liking it one bit.” Rover was definitely in the hole and he was apparently doing something. “There are things, very far away, but there are a lot of them moving… wait, did you say breakfast? Rover is coming!” A mound of snow erupted ten feet from the hole Ember was yelling into and Rover pulled himself free from the snow shaking it off. He started walking for one of the legs of the Centaur-pede and proceeded to carefully climb his way back up. The Puffle idly blew a raspberry and Ember, having had enough of having to deal with it, took a few steps back so that she was behind it and then promptly punted it off the side of the Centaur-pede. The Puffle landed on its back in the snow sending some of it up in the air and falling around it. It gasped happily and began to waggle its four hooves at the sky because it was stuck upside down. It seemed to not have registered that Ember had kicked it hard enough to launch its fluffy butt many feet through the air or that it was stuck on its back; eventually it would have to figure out that it wasn’t moving anywhere in its position. “I do not understand why you dislike it so badly, it seems harmless to Rover.” Rover exclaimed as he made his way by Ember, he stopped and sniffed the air. “It’s female, so it’s a she. Rover’s nose knows that now. Also Rover has something of importance to tell Boss Lady and friends.” “Don’t care, let’s eat.” Ember did not like the cute little fluffy monster and she didn’t want it anywhere near her hoard. She knows of the disasters those things could cause. - “So, Rover is feeling many things coming from far side of destroyed town!” After he finished his short explanation of having felt something far off while he was in the ground, Rover bit into his jelly covered sausage in a biscuit. He would have liked peanut butter, but it always got stuck to the roof of his mouth and always caused him so much trouble. “Wait… Diamonds Dogs have the ability of seismic location? Why have I never heard of this before? That makes him a lot more useful then we’ve previously established!” A slightly angry Gilda sat up and slapped her palms into the table. “If he can really sense something that far away, then I’d like to know about it. Greta if you will see to his claims.” “I’m on it Gilda. Let’s see, did you say it was on the far side of town Rover? Well I’m now narrowing heat, motion and life sensors… and… we have a lot of hits. No hits on the life, but there’s a lot of something going ib over in that direction that gives off heat and is moving.” It was easy to discern that something over in that direction was mechanical; at least Greta hoped everyone could figure that out for themselves. “How long have you been able to do something like this Rover? It sounds really useful.” “Ability is not as useful as winged one thinks. Too many creatures or things in soil on Equus, makes accurately sensing anything hard. Best used to avoid digging into another Diamond Dog’s way or getting caught by large worm monster with multiple tongues.” Shivering at the mental image of the worm monster, Rover rubbed a paw at his head and sent everyone a questioning look as he licked at his jam covered teeth. “Here is different story, not much to get in the way of my senses and I can sense things from farther away. Ability is useful here and is situational at best… why give me looks; Rover has been learning to be more eloquent when he is speaking. I am also trying to cut back on third person speech, I believe it is strange that there is not much in the soil around here and yet it is so rich.” “Rich as in gems or rich as in the ability to grow produce?” Five minutes was definitely not long enough in Rarity’s books to beautify her form to perfection, she needed at least thirty. Still five minutes was really quite hard to achieve, Rarity quickly washed herself as swiftly as she could and she washed her mane and tail first. She was clean, but she still felt bad for not being able to do her full routine and at least her mane and tail were clean and up to her usual standards. She sat down and levitated a jam filled biscuit to herself and a few hash browns. “Also I didn’t know you could set a timer on a shower like that, thankfully I took the five minute time limit thing to heart.” “It is the second one Boss Lady Rarity.” After saying this Rover just lapped up water from his glass and swished it around his mouth to hopefully get some of the excess jam off of his teeth. “In the name of water conservation I made a timer for the shower, good to see it works. Aside from that we’ve detected trouble through both Rover and the sensors.” Uncaring that she was talking with a full beak, Gilda wanted them to get back to the issue with what the sensors were picking up. “There are machines out there and we don’t know what they look like or what they are doing, but they are close enough to town to be seen as the threats that possibly devastated it. If we’re going to scout the town then we should do so from the safety of the Centaur-pede.” “Then I suggest we stay armed at all times from now on, nobody leaves the Centaur-pede without a weapon and someone with them that is also armed.” Everyone nodded and Rarity started in on her breakfast, everyone else still had to get in cleaning themselves as well. - “We are now going into the town.” From her seat, Gilda saw the devastation up close now, small spots of dried pony blood splattered across the walls and that of a few other species here or there. There were no bodies however, just burnt twisted husks of what used to be housing or businesses. “It’s way too quiet out here and all this snow is beginning to unnerve me, are you sure we can find your cousin down here? It looks like things are looking a bit grim around here on that front.” “Until we’ve checked the apple farm, I’m willing to hold out for hope that we’ll at least find something that tells us someone is alive out here.” Rarity was crouched down next to one of the four turrets on the Centaur-pede’s lower torso. She didn’t want to be in the way of the upper torso if it needed to change positions and she had her two energy pistols on her, they were fully charged and she even had a material pistol on her for emergencies or if her energy pistols didn’t work for whatever reason. “Has anyone else spotted anything of note yet? I’m not leaving here until I see what these machines are.” It was becoming a natural part of Rarity’s life to be armed constantly now; it was a bit upsetting that she couldn’t go a single day without having a pistol at her hip. She actually preferred to be upset than dead if she didn’t have a weapon on her. At least with a hoof grip weapon she could wield it with her hoof instead of her magic. She currently looked highly fashionable in her glamorous sparkling parka and matching snow boots. “Nothing so far and none of the motion sensors has anything moving towards us.” Greta was holding the plasma rifle she and Gilda used back when they were on Geoptis, thanks to Chrysalis they had a lot more ammunition for it now. She was next to the turret opposite of the one Rarity was behind. “I’m not going to complain about the five minute showers, but it is really hard to do when you have a mane like mine.” The powered armor was a weapon, one that Saffron wore well as she stood near the front next to the upper torso. Rover was armed with an energy pistol near the back and told to leave the safety on and only turn it off if he had to absolutely shoot at something; he wasn’t trained for using any of the projectile weapons. Ember was standing on the head of the machine looking around from her perch for any sign of something dangerous. She looked to the back to check on everyone and sighed when she saw that the Puffle was sitting there at the butt end of the Centaur-pede looking around at all the activity and blowing a raspberry every now and then. Who even taught it to blow raspberries anyway? For that matter how was it staying so healthy in these conditions? Shaking her head, she turned her gaze to the right and then left searching for any sign that something was coming at them like a howler monkey with a frozen banana. It’s happened to Ember once before and she was prepared for it to happen again, no matter how unlikely the situation of that occurring again was. “Gilda, there’s something wrong. Sensors are showing motion coming in our direction, that and winds are picking up around here. I think we’re about to be hit with a snowstorm. That doesn’t make any sense; it doesn’t follow Opal’s blizzard watch program at all.” Unless and this was Greta just thinking to herself, unless whatever they were detecting could generate blizzards themselves. That would mean they were about to be attacked though. “We’re about to come under attack, the machines have to be making this snowstorm and they’re using it as a cover for their movements!” The winds whipped up at Greta’s words and snow started to fall rather fast as if a snowstorm had always been here and they were just realizing that fact. They heard a loud keening noise from the Puffle and it was cowering where it sat curling up into its thick fur like an armadillo, apparently it was smart enough to know that something bad was about to happen. The Centaur-pede continued its silent march for a second, before Gilda noticed something off about the ground as they continued forward. “I don’t know what I’m getting here on the sensors, but it’s almost on top of us. get ready for anything guys.” Gilda grabbed the controls that operated the arms of the upper torso and narrowed her eyes, she didn’t see anything above the snow so that would mean. “Brace yourselves we’re about to be attacked from below. Like Greta said, it’s an ambush!” The Centaur-pede shook and tilted to the side, but it stayed standing after something had just violently rammed into it and dove back into the snow after it bounced off the shields that flared around the walker and pushed whatever it was back which flared with its own shields. The Centaur-pede continued to slowly move forward and everyone was still atop its back, shaken, knocked over, but otherwise completely fine for the moment. “What the heck was that, did anyone get a visual on what just hit us? The shields just took a huge dip because of that!” Gilda turned the upper torso and there were all kinds of motions in the snow now, it was hard to tell where anything was down there. “It’s shielded whatever it is and it’s large, I managed to see that much!” Another blow struck from the right and it sent Greta sliding across the back until she managed to get a grip on the slippery surface. There were several more impacts to the shield, but these were much smaller than the first two. “Apparently whatever just hit us isn’t the only thing out here!” “I saw what caused the smaller impacts; the smaller ones are mechanical wolves!” Saffron carefully moved over to the edge and aimed her hoof at the shifting piles of snow surrounding them now. “A lot of good knowing that does us when we can’t even see them to fight back, their hit and run tactics are hurting the shields and they’re going to fall if we don’t do something soon. We do not want to be exposed to the elements out here.” Several smaller impacts rammed into the Centaur-pede from various sides, Gilda narrowed her eyes leaned the upper torso towards a moving pile of snow. She thrust the left arm into the snow and grappled onto something. Pulling the arm back she saw a yellow eyed mechanical wolf, it started trying to gnaw at the claws and then tried to blast them with ice until Gilda crushed it in the claw's grasp. She dropped the crumpled mess onto the back of the lower torso. “We need to start fighting back, I got one. It has cryogenic technology and tried to freeze the Centaur-pede’s claws off. Secure it; we’ll analyze it later when we’re not in danger! It’s hard enough staying above the snow with them trying to sink us into it and I think that’s exactly what these machines are trying to do here. Also is it me or has the snow gotten deeper then it’s supposed to be?” “We’re working on it Gilda, they’re not making this easy for us.” Rarity heard something slam into one of the legs and started to bite at the armor on it, the turret immediately came to life and started to fire rapidly at the blue mechanical wolf only twice the size of a pony. Whatever the larger thing had been, it was clearly not one of these wolves. Rarity levitated out her two pistols and started to help the turret eat through the shields on the metal wolf until one shot from the turret finally blew its head off and its body fell into the churning snow where it was swallowed within seconds. She could already hear the other four turrets churning out blasts of energy and many more impacts hitting the Centaur-pede. “Whatever anyone does, don’t fall off the Centaur-pede. It’s the only thing keeping us safe at the moment, fire at will if you see something moving in the snow.” A large impact from beneath at the back sent them all sprawling and the Puffle went flying off the back end where it landed in the snow. Something big moved towards the Puffle and the snow started churning fiercely around it until they got their first visual of what the larger machine was. A large shark headed machine came up from under the Puffle and swallowed it alive before disappearing back into the snow which rippled in its wake. “Was that a freaking giant mechanical shark, what in the hell is going on here!” Saffron heard something land near her and she turned and started fire almost point blank into the face of a mechanical wolf that charged at her. Once it got close she ducked under its lunge and threw her hoof straight into its belly while unleashing a charged blast of energy into it. This blew a hole through it making it go lifeless on top of her. “Please tell me there aren’t too many of these things?” “The area around us is practically a sea of motion, so how are we supposed to know unless we can thin their numbers.” Greta blasted a mechanical wolf trying to blow freezing gas at her out of the air; the plasma chewed straight threw the shields, blew it backwards and made it explode once it hit the snow. “Gilda is that shark coming back for another hit?” “How am I supposed to know, there’s too much going on around here for me to keep up with.” The palms on the Centaur-pede were wide open and Gilda was firing into the snow. Several explosions erupted when she managed to hit something dead on with the high powered laser cannons. She started to turn the Centaur-pede when she saw a big bulge in the snow moving towards them. The shark erupted and narrowly missed grabbing one of the Centaur-pede’s thick three toed legs. Instead, it was stomped down into the snow when the leg slammed into its head. “We have got to get out of here, where’s that farm Rarity!” “Start heading west, it’s a good distance outside of town!” One of the wolves climbed the legs and lunged for Rarity who started to focus as much firepower as she could on it, it opened its mouth spewing gaseous chemicals and it looked like it was going to try and bite Rarity. Rarity narrowed her eyes and sent a shot down its throat destroying its head making it collapse before it could reach her. “They’re vulnerable when they open their mouths; the insides of their mouths aren’t shielded! Also the turrets aren’t working very well.” “We know Boss Lady! They weren’t made to shoot threats behind, or in this case, under cover! They’re ineffective, but they are at least doing their jobs at trying to hit these machines. What are the wolves doing now?” Greta turned and saw Rover backing away towards the front shooting at the two wolves clambering up the left rear leg and started to breathe on it, he was stopped when a third mechanical wolf came after him with an open mouth. Ice was starting to form up on the leg and it started slowing down in movement. Several other wolves were seen clambering up the other legs to do the same to them. “Stop them; they’re trying to freeze legs!” “If they freeze up the legs, then I don’t see the point of switching to the spares if they’ll just do the same to them.” Gilda turned the upper torso and blasted the wolves clear off the back left, middle right and front left legs, but where two were destroyed four more came out of the snow trying to slow down the trundling Centaur-pede. “Get your butts in gear people, the turrets can’t possibly handle this many targets at once! Use your energy weapons to blow the ice off. Oh great now they’re climbing the upper torso, get them off of me!” “We’re all a little busy here darling, where’s Ember!” Rarity concentrated her eye for detail and focused on each wolf she could see, she pulled the trigger four times on each of her energy pistols and six wolves went down, two managed to dodge the attack and take it on their shields. Rover came to a stop next to her after dealing with the wolf that had come at him; he immediately started shooting at the wolves attempting to climb the upper torso. “Yeah, where is she when we need all the fire power we can get!” Now Saffron was leaping from leg to leg and bashing the wolves off. Their shields didn’t stop melee attacks and as long as she didn’t let them freeze her armor over, then she could keep fighting. She rammed her blade into one's back and shifted the shock wings to make contact with another two and started frying them with electricity. A loud explosion was heard and the large shark robot erupted from the ground again with its mouth smoking, flying backwards out of the flames was a frantic looking Ember with torn clothing. She quickly flew out of range of the large snapping mouth firing flaming rocks down into it with her rifle on what looked to be full auto; as she hovered there firing she looked around and spotted the Centaur-pede and flew for it. The snowstorm didn’t make it easy for Ember to fly and she managed to get back on the walker well enough, but her landing looked off. There were swarms of mechanical wolves in various states of damage beginning to pour from the damaged shark’s mouth as it slowly sunk back into the snow. Before it could go too far under something else exploded and a small pink orb rocketed off into the distance shrieking in… joyous laughter? “Yeah, don’t get swallowed by something like that. It tried using chemicals to freeze me solid and when that didn’t work wolves started coming from everywhere trying to detain me!” Landing on the back of the Centaur-pede had been rather painful; Ember hid a grimace as she joined the fight. Even with Ember back things were clearly not going their way, as no sooner than she got back did another giant white robotic shark’s fin popped up and was coming straight towards the Centaur-pede. “I hope someone has a plan, because this is nuts even for me and I was attacked by a howler monkey with a frozen banana. Yes, the monkey was a bounty target and yes it killed a lot of people with that banana.” “Well that’s not something we need to be thinking of in the middle of a crisis, they’re all over us here!” Gilda made the Centaur-pede stop and jump to the left as another giant robotic shark lunged from the snow to snap at them. “Oh my goodness, are you okay?” It didn’t take Rarity but a glance to tell something was wrong with Ember, she wasn’t standing up or moving about, instead she was sitting in place and trying not to put too much pressure on one of her legs. Shaking her head she couldn’t get distracted and turned to shoot a lunging mechanical wolf off the side of the Centaur-pede. “I’m fine, but my leg was twisted badly getting out of there.” The Centaur-pede was slowly being swamped with wolves and even Ember’s added firepower wasn’t doing much to stem the flow of the smaller mechanical menaces. “Don’t stop on my account, keep shooting!” “Rover is getting a lot of experience with gun here. It is very bad learning experience that Rover doesn’t want to repeat, especially if Rover is surviving this!” Rover was kind of a bad shot, but at least he was proving to be an able body even if he wasn’t taking down as many as the others were. “Less talking, more fighting!” Saffron was handling any robotic wolf that got onto the back of the Centaur-pede and she was keeping them off of the others the best she could. She had learned how to fight them quickly enough, mostly because there were just so many of them. Shoot them in the mouth or get up close and personal. She’s already counted putting twenty down and more were still coming, the snowstorm didn’t help with any of this either. She rammed her hoof into a wolf's neck and then activated the suit's built in triangular blade, it immediately severed the neck cutting the head off. They were shooting in all directions; the Centaur-pede stumbled every now and then, but at least the silver colored beast managed to shake off the ice every time it became too much of a problem. They were still moving west. They had made it outside the town at least and as suddenly as the attack had come, the mechanical wolves started to leave and dive into the snow. The second shark fin also disappeared. “Wait, why are they retreating now?” Greta fired and a ball of plasma blew apart another metallic wolf. “They had us on the ropes… so I might have enjoyed the wrestling classes with Chrysalis and Vera a bit.” “Good question, why are they leaving and what are they hiding out here?” Gilda kept the upper torso turned towards the town and glared at it. “You’d think they’d want to make sure no one gets away from them alive with the kind of force that they were coming at us with. We’ll stop at the farm if it’s still there and get a look at the damage. Is everyone okay?” “Why Gilda, are you actually worried about us darling? My word, I never knew you had a golden heart where the coal is supposed to be.” Though no one could see it, Rarity actually had Gilda blushing. “Next time we get into a fight with those things, we’ll be wearing our EVA suits. Still, you have to admit that my cold weather gear is quite fashionable and absolutely functional from head to boot too. Everyone is bruised, cold and otherwise accounted for Gilda, except for… that Puffle. Oh that poor thing, lost and all alone out here. Possibly killed or even taken for whatever the machines would do with it.” “Rarity, we’re not going back for the Puffle.” That was a statement and Ember wasn’t about to start budging on it. They needed to find out more about what these things were or more importantly, where they came from. They had plenty of damaged and destroyed metal wolves littering the Centaur-pede’s back to study, including the first one Gilda caught. “In the mean time, let’s see what we can find out about this frosty reception.” “Please don’t start cracking cold jokes or I will hit you with one of the claws.” Gilda did not want to hear it, especially after having gone through a massive assault like the one they had just been through. Author's Note Everyone was still on top of the back... Ember was up on the head of the upper torso... so... fridge logic was applied as to what happened to her. My birthday was quiet affair a few days ago, the giant frosted cookie was really good and soft. Incidentally I'm now addicted to Zelda: Breath of The Wild, I've been waiting to play it for quite a while and it is delivering quite an experience. I'm also getting on in years and I'm a hopeless nutcase when it comes to writing, but that really doesn't bother me as I'm used to it by now. Anyway Yell Dead Cell is my favorite Metal Gear music.
-86-“Okay, what’s the damage Greta? Give it all to me straight and I mean everything, how much damage did they exactly do to the Centaur-pede?” Gilda hadn’t left the pilot's seat since the attack had started and was on full alert for anything after it ended. They weren’t being followed; there was nothing on motion or heat sensors. The Puffle wasn’t on the life sensor, but the little fluff ball had to just be out of range. “Well for the obvious bad news, our shields are shot and the generator needs some repairs. To state the obvious, the great snow shark robots overloaded the shields. Thankfully we have plenty of spare parts sitting right on top of us for the salvaging and I can fix it… given a few hours. Hull damage was surprisingly minimal, to the upper torso at least. The legs took a bit of a beating, but we don’t need to change them out for the spares yet. We wouldn’t have done so well if the wolves had been armed with projectile weapons, I think we could use the small shield generators we can get from them for ourselves. Also the four turrets were effective with what they could hit and they are perfectly fine; we just need to tweak them a bit if we run into that kind of trouble again.” While Greta was on the job, she didn’t cut corners on anything and acted professionally with Gilda. The current situation wasn’t as dire as the attack would have been if it had kept going for another twenty minutes. “I’m going to have to study the mostly intact wolves to get an idea as to why they were built; I’ve been busy running a full diagnostics for you so you’ll have to forgive me if I haven’t jumped at the chance to study one of them yet. As for how our personnel are, we actually have some injuries. There’s at least minor bruising all around from the first two impacts that shook our transport. Ember has a twisted leg from escaping the belly of one of the sharks after having been knocked off the Centaur-pede, the injury was mostly self inflicted and accidental. Aside from the ruined clothing and leg, she’s fine if a bit sad about her shredded clothing. Who knows how many more of those sharks there are, we only saw two, there could have been at least four or five in that area and we would have never known about.” “Get back on track Greta; we can discuss the abominable snow sharks with Ember later.” Though occasionally Gilda had to snap Greta back to the task at hand and she did so with a flat aggravated tone that Greta loved for some reason. “Alright then, Saffron’s armor is mostly undamaged, the built in left blade needs some work done and isn’t an immediate issue. It is still usable and her shields held throughout the entire fight, mostly because the wolves weren’t armed correctly to bring them down. Saffron herself is a bit more bruised than the rest of us, but she’s used to that being a brawler and she did take the brunt of them on all by herself. Rarity’s completely unscathed and Rover won’t let go of his gun, I think he might be using it as a security blanket. I’m no psychologist, but I think Rover might need a round with Vera after this. Either this has been his first time getting into a bad scrap like that or something like this has happened to him before, which is probably why he sought out Rarity when the wolves got closer.” Chirping a merry tune out loud as she worked, Greta continued on with her situation report. “Personally I’m fine; apparently plasma can chew through the shields the wolves had with little effort. My only issue with that is that the plasma rounds don’t exactly leave behind much for us to use afterwards. I can make do with what we got from them though.” “Can I get a personal opinion from you of everyone’s mental health aside from Rover? I ask because I’m too busy driving to check on them myself.” Shaken, not stirred and with an olive in it being the representation of her current mood, Gilda was about to get a taste of her best friends ability to read emotions and she wanted some alcohol for the headaches this current job is giving her. It was an ability Gilda was quite sure that Greta didn’t have in any capacity; she just wanted to hear that everything was fine. The expected response was not what she received. “I think Rarity is mostly balanced at the moment, she’s good at coming down from a high stress situation provided things land in her favor and she’s currently brushing her mane out. If she’s able to calmly do some primping, then I think she’ll live as long as she can get her hair just right as the hood of the parka mussed it up a bit. The Boss Lady certainly has her priorities.” Not that Greta said they were the right kind of priorities, but at least their Boss Baroness was doing well enough to continue keeping up with her appearance. Greta really didn’t think Rarity had to go through all the trouble, she looked perfectly find without her makeup. “Saffron seems perfectly stable mentally. Then again, she’s done a lot of fighting. As far as violence goes, she is the most desensitized pony I think I’ve ever seen in my life. Ember… well she seems to be a little off and I don’t think it’s the being swallowed alive by a giant mechanical shark that’s the issue. This might have been the first serious injury she’s experienced in quite a long time. As for me… well I’m talking to my most favorite griffon in the universe.” “You’re kind of surprising me right now, but I don’t need to listen to you go on about me for the next five minutes. I know I’m great Greta, though I’ll never have a clue what you exactly see in me.” There was a sad sounding noise from the other end and Gilda rolled her eyes, Greta liked to shower praise upon her and Gilda accepted it quite well while staying particularly grounded in reality. Reality was quite awesome if you asked Gilda, now how could she get one of those giant robotic sharks into orbit? Well at least she’d want to see what she could cannibalize from at least one of them. Even then the weight would be a problem to deal with. “By the way, how soon can we expect to see this farm?” “Estimation ten minutes at the rate we’re going, she did say it was a distance outside of town. We would get there sooner, but we’re slowed down because the legs are still stiff from being partly frozen.” Greta turned her attention to Rarity who didn’t look like she had a hair out of place. “I’ll get to work on studying the wolves now. I can only work on the shield generator when we come to a complete stop. There is only one other problem I can think of. We haven’t exactly seen what burned the buildings down yet.” “Now that you mention it, it is rather strange. That those machines didn’t have the firepower to bust our Centaur-pede wide open if they were the ones responsible for the buildings in town being burned down.” If they did have that kind of weaponry then why hadn’t they used it, it was something for Gilda to think on. “Well you’re the technical engineer, go do some research.” - “There it is, there it is!” Rarity’s gleeful shouts were met with a flat stare from the griffon she just jumped onto. “Yes, I can see it too Boss Lady, now please stop giving me a lap dance.” Gilda enjoyed the look on Rarity’s face as she squeaked and quickly scrambled off of her lap. “Thank you. Now let’s see, there are surprisingly plenty of life signs here. Well I guess someone’s home at least, but how will they receive a several ton walking fortress like ours? It does look rather threatening and is covered in the corpses of robotic wolves we haven’t been able to clean off yet.” “Then I suggest we make a stop here, lest we cause them issues with how scary the Centaur-pede looks. I’ll go on hoof with Rover and Ar-Mare-Do-Well, to scout things out and see if my cousin is here. Even if she isn’t, I will be helping anyone that needs it.” Rarity was already in the process of pulling the hood up on her parka, she would have to get her snow boots out. When she did, she’d set off for the apple farm. From the looks of it, the trees near the farm were doing particularly well so far and they had some strange blue apples hanging from the branches. It would make a nice conversation starter at least, if she could ask about them. “While I’m doing that, you can help Greta with her research. I’m not really cut out for discussing machinery and getting covered in oil like you two tend to do.” “So I’m a dirty bird. I could really use a little down time from piloting, just let me find a place to park. I have needed a bathroom break for a while now and Greta can get lost without me if I’m not there to help her.” When you were on constant alert like Gilda currently was, then you didn’t exactly have time to take care of your needs. Sometimes you’d do things that would be quite detrimental to your health, mostly just to survive a little bit longer. “You just go do whatever it is you’re going to do and we’ll keep Ember entertained with our musings about the wolf robots. Can you wait until I open the rear hatch?” - “Rover is going around armed for rest of life, also would rather not lose another boss. Not when boss is pretty pony who give Rover job he actually enjoys.” Rover had put his parka on and was a little skeptical of leaving the safety of the Centaur-pede; he warily looked over at Greta slowly disassembling one of the more intact wolves. “Boss Lady is one of a kind and highly irreplaceable. Also Rover is never having had it this good ever, I don’t want to die.” “We’re not going to die Rover. Seriously now, I think our little setback at the town has you worried over nothing.” Yes because the giant robotic sharks most certainly didn’t freak anyone out, at least that’s what Rarity sarcastically thought. She had been frightened half to death to see Ember coming out of one of the two they spotted coming out of the snow. Shaking her head she turned to the armored mare. “Saffron you’re going to be in front of us, in case they shoot at us before we can tell them why we’re here.” “I have no problems with that.” It was true that Saffron didn’t, her suit was working exactly how she wanted it to. It held together and it was effective in its first live combat test, not that one could have expected robot wolves being the first real test. She was expecting something along the lines of missiles and material weapons. She hadn’t exactly test the horn on the suit yet, but she would have to eventually as it was one of the features Greta hadn’t gone over in the testing phase. “I am the one the one with armor and shields. I would have volunteered to be in front of you anyway.” “Right have fun out there. The farm should be hard to miss; you can even see it from here.” Gilda walked to the very back of the lower torso and raised talon to slap a button. A ramp lowered into the snow and she turned back to them. “You’ll still have to walk there from here though and there are no signs of a snow storm like the one that hit us in town. I think that was mostly the fault of the robots that attacked us; otherwise it would have been on Greta’s storm warning notice. Be safe out there.” “Oh come on, it’s just my leg. Why can’t I go with them? I still have my wings!” The griffons couldn’t understand why Ember was being a bit frantic; the dragon wasn’t in any condition to walk anywhere. Even if she could fly a snow storm would quickly ground her, it was miraculous that she managed to get back onto the Centaur-pede safely. The two griffons gave her a flat look which cowed the dragon a bit. “Sorry, but I came down here to help people… and Rarity.” “You will definitely be helping Ember; you’ll be helping us here while you’re laid up. We’re not going to have you fly everywhere on a bum leg and we’re not asking you to, which would be just ludicrous.” Positivity aside, Greta didn’t think Ember would calm down. Ember really seemed to care about them all to an absurd degree and Rarity was something like a best friend to her. While Ember was a really nice dragon and Greta was happy to be friends with her, it’s just that Ember’s friendly nature was working against her here. Greta held her talons out in a calming gesture as she stood over the parts of what was once a robotic wolf the size of a large dog. The disassembly wasn’t the hard part; it’d be putting it back together. “Stay calm, let your leg heal and eventually you’ll be in walking condition in no time. You can provide help with anything you see that might be of interest here.” “Fine, so you said that container is full of a substance similar to liquid nitrogen only worse… isn’t that dangerous to be around?” Ember pointed to the cylindrical container full of a strange blue liquid. She was trying to ignore the feeling in her gut when Rarity said goodbye and trotted off down the ramp behind the well armored Saffron with Rover following behind. “Only if it’s released in a gaseous form, the stuff seems to ice over whatever it touches. You might be mildly immune to it, but given enough time and gas and even your high body temperature wouldn’t be able to cope with this stuff.” Greta handled the container with care; it was installed in the upper jaw of the mostly blue colored wolf, some parts of it were silver or white. “It would make for a pretty good fire extinguishing substance, provided that none of it touches someone that doesn’t naturally have a higher body temperature like that of a dragon. This stuff would have made popsicles of us if we had allowed the wolves to get close without a fight, Saffron was properly shielded for it and Rover had the right idea with running from one of the wolves.” “How lethal is this substance exactly?” Moping in a hammock wasn’t going to get Ember anywhere, so she might as well discuss the stuff Greta found while disassembling the robot wolves they had access to. “Anywhere from insanely to not at all, I think it really depends on how much coverage this stuff gets all at once. For instance, you do not want this stuff to only have an effect on your neck. I think it was meant as a way to capture people alive, mostly by putting them into a form of frozen stasis.” Greta didn’t know what went into this strange chemical compound, but she knew what it does and how well it could do it. “I’m rather curious as to why someone would design a robot like this; it’s not very good against anyone that’s armed and aware of their surroundings. Of course these things can tunnel through snow like a Diamond Dog and use snow storms as a cover for their attacks. So I guess it makes some sense that they’d specialize in capturing targets alive. Now what do they do with captured targets is something the Great Snow Sharks might be able to answer for us, had we managed to disable one. The sharks might be responsible for the sudden snow storm.” “Yeah, I kind of wrecked the one that swallowed me alive and I’m not sorry for that. Who has ever heard of a dragon actively freezing to death?” Why Ember scoffed at the idea that the freezing chemicals would stop her, not while she still had flames in her throat and a strong inner fire. “Its insides had catwalks meaning someone built them to work as a normal vehicle. There were a lot of robot wolves and holding pens, I’d say the sharks mostly act like carriers for the hunters. It’s not hard to guess that the intended captives are frozen solid then swallowed and placed in the pens inside the giant robot sharks.” “Okay we have a name for the metal mutts now, let’s call them Hunters. So would that make the sharks gatherers? The sharks do have teeth and are quite dangerous themselves.”It was a bit sad that Gilda didn’t even get a shot in on one of the abominable snow sharks. “I think the sharp teeth are for ripping open vehicles to expose the passengers to the hunters. I’m thinking Abominable Jaws would be a fitting name for them.” “Seriously Gilda, that’s what you want to call them?” Greta found this name for the great white monsters machines to be rather incredulous. “Why not just go all shark tornado or at the very least storm sharks!” While they were figuring things out, Rarity’s small group was busy approaching the house on the farm. - “You know, I seriously doubt that anyone is on this farm will actually…” Saffron was cut off by her shields flaring and something pinging off of her, yeah she should know better than to tempt fate around Rarity after the horror stories some of the others told her about doing so. The Boss Lady almost had the magnetic effect of drawing danger to herself or finding it wherever she went; frankly Saffron bizarrely enjoyed such a quality in her rather generous friend that obviously never went to distressed damsel school. “Okay, what just hit me?” The shot didn’t hurt, but Saffron’s armor did pull up a scan of what hit her and it was kind of amazing that the scanners could even pick up something moving that fast. It was a small material round made out of copper, shaped like a pellet. Saffron had to hand it to Gilda and Greta; they were both gifted in what they did. Looking behind her she could see Rarity and Rover taking cover behind her larger armored frame. “Excuse me, but to whomever out there that just shot at us! Can you please not do that again?” The negotiator in this situation would have to be Rarity; she knew there was no other place that the shot could have come from than the farm before them. She could understand that someone might have had some problems with the weather causing machines and would have trust issues with any random stranger that happened to come along in a large six legged centaur machine. It was completely understandable in this situation. “I would really appreciate it if we could talk!” “And why should I trust some no good varmints like you, if anything you're liars out to run the rest of us holdouts off!” The voice was of a strange accent and it was certainly coming from an upset farm mare. “Excuse me, but what did we ever do to you aside form show up here! In fact I’m wondering, do you know the name Sugar Belle? I want to congratulate her on her engagement to a Mr. Macintosh; I met a nice stallion named Braeburn in orbit at the supply depot who told me about it.” Rarity immediately set out to redirect the anger away from the three of them, mostly by calling out the fact that she was here for family and Apple’s were big on family. “I’m one of Sugar Belle’s cousins here to check up on how she’s doing, we’re also here to help solve the current weather problems plaguing the planet! We’re not here for a fight.” “Hold on there, don’t any of you move an inch!” It was hard to spot her, but the orange muscular pony with a blond mane poked up from cover and glared at Rarity, Rover and Saffron. The pony was giving them a rather suspicious look, but at least she was no longer aiming a material rifle at them. “Color, go get Sugar and ask if she can identify this mare. I can hold the fort here. If what she says is true, then we might have some guests out here. Hopefully these guests are good ones that can help us out of a bad pickle that we’re currently in.” “O-Okay, I’ll go get her.” Well Countess Coloratura was recognizable so that was two ponies Rarity could identify. So things were looking up for a peaceful resolution here, they watched as the pop star kissed the orange pony on the cheek and carefully walked off. “Well that’s something we certainly want to do, help out here I mean. We’re not here to do anything untoward.” Honesty was a good policy and Rarity was glad that this situation didn’t dissolve into a one sided shootout. Saffron could have massacred them by herself if she wanted to, good thing she wasn’t the kind of violent sociopath that would escalate things. Rarity looked over the orange pony and thought that he was rather handsome looking, it took her a moment to recognize that it was a mare she was ogling and that was quite embarrassing. Luckily neither of her compatriots noticed that she had roaming eyes, the mare was quite masculine and she had better not call attention to it. There was something of a natural beauty about the masculine farm girl, maybe it was the toned hard worked body. She wondered what kind of makeover she could do for the mare; she could clean up really nicely if she was in a relationship with Countess Coloratura. Speaking of the Countess, she had a lovely appearance, but Rarity still liked her previous glitz and glam style even if it wasn’t exactly Coloratura’s thing anymore. It was easy to see why she stopped with that particular style and she’s still as popular as ever even if she was on this backwater planet cuddling up with a farm mare. Whatever made the pop star happy worked for Rarity, she was sure her sister Sweetie Belle felt the same way about one of their favorite musicians. Coloratura’s current mane style was loose curls of her dark indigo mane that had blue streaks and it went well with her light aquamarine coat. Color had come back with a pink furred mare that had curly magenta mane, one that was entirely familiar to Rarity. Rarity waved to this mare in question and pulled her hood down. “Oh Sugar Belle, it’s me, how are you doing darling!” It made Rarity glad to see that Sugar Belle lit up at seeing. “Rarity, oh my goodness, it’s been a while cousin! Wait, what is with that robot, the dirty looking diamond dog and that… I want to say Centaur-pede in the distance?” Well at least Sugar Belle understood the thought processes of two griffons when it came to naming their vehicles well enough; the pun was still horrible by anyone’s standards. “Look I know you might be Rarity’s cousin and have been out of the loop of her life for a while, but I would like to clarify that I’m not a robot! I’m Ar-Mare-Do-Well, the armored version of Mare-Do-Well. Do not confuse me for the Mauve Mare-auder stand in that happens to live in Saddle Arabia.” It was still a little odd for Saffron to know that Chrysalis was keeping the legend alive, but who was she to get angry about the legacy being kept alive by Changelings as long as they did a good job of it. “Rover is taking dirt bath just this morning, thanks for noticing!” The fact that Rover was proud of it irked Rarity somewhat and she glared at him, he just rubbed the back of his head and gave her a dopey smile. “Yes, well, I’ve been involved in multiple things that eventually led to me hiring a diamond dog and a vigilante hero. As long as I keep the vigilantes secret identity, there will be no issues. I swear, my life is slowly turning into a circus and I have a circus troupe for crew members on my ship in orbit. Rover here is one of the members of that particular venture and he’s really good at juggling. Other crazy things include me being best friends with what might be the only dragon bounty hunter, I found out that one of my friends is a magical samurai and I have a butt obsessed Changeling Queen that is slowly growing on me and that frightens me more than anything else I’ve seen does.” Stopping to think about what she just said, Rarity slowly brought a hoof to her face. “Now that I said it out loud, my life sounds horrendously preposterous and I know Pinkie Pie for crying out loud! This is not exactly where I expected to be in my career as a fashion designer, I’m even doing things that are completely absurd for a fashion designer to do. I’m always fighting monsters, dealing with disasters and the like. Seriously, how has the stress not gotten to me by now? Oh and I’m now a Baroness, so I did get a royal title and I, thankfully, didn’t have to marry a snobby noble for it. It’s at least one of the better things to happen to me.” “Rover is thinking it’s the underpaid muscle mender that doubles as a mental doctor who is easily misplaced that keeps Boss Lady’s stress levels down.” At least that’s what Rover called the amazing mare that was easy to forget, he couldn’t even remember her name now… or her appearance. He just knew that said mare existed and was good at her job, he wasn’t bothered by forgetting what she looked like because everyone on the crew had that problem and it wasn’t just him. “Congratulations on becoming a noble, it was one of your dreams right? So… who’s Pinkie Pie? She must be strange if you’re comparing her to all the stuff you’re telling me.” Sugar Belle said as she moved over to look at the winged and horned vigilante, it fit with the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well’s continued theme of possibly being an alicorn in disguise. “She’s an expert baker that lives out in the asteroid field owned by the Pie family at Streusel Station, she makes really good cupcakes. Also I think the massage expert’s name that Rover was trying to talk about was… funny, I can’t remember her name now. ” Even Saffron was having a case of the forgetful and she was trying to remember Blossom sisters name, well at least she could remember that it was the third Blossom sister who wasn’t the renowned Aloe or Lotus. “Anyway you should really go check out Sugarcube Galaxy if you drop by Streusel Station; she’s a good friend of Rarity’s and we went to a birthday party for her. Just a warning she’s really weird, there was two of her at the birthday party and one of them forgot her own birthday just to celebrate the other's not native to our dimension or at least that’s the story they were going with. We could tell them apart thanks to that adorable bipedal goat lady that was dating one of her, she was quite friendly.” “Can we not relive that Mare-Do-Well; she’s always been the most confusing mare in the universe and that gave me an absolute headache. How can my friend keep forgetting her own birthday like that? She does that every year even!” After a moment Rarity slapped her face, they were kind of getting way off course. “Excuse me, but can we get back on track Sugar Belle? Also yes, that is my transport out that way and surprisingly you figured out its name easily enough. My mechanical and technical engineer griffons built it, they’re more like mad scientists at this rate given they built Mare-Do-Well the armored suit she’s wearing.” “So you’ve practically, for all intents and purposes, lost all control of your life up to this point?” Asked Sugar Belle curiously, she wondered how much her cousin has been through to even get here. “So how did you come to be here?” “Well after we left the asteroid field, with little trouble thankfully, we came here trying to find Babs Seed’s family. Her parents and a lot of people other were killed by a nasty infestation at Antilur Station, sorry to be the bearer of bad news on that front. At least my crew helped in putting the cause down, so they were avenged at least.” The orange mare swept her hat off her head and held it to her chest, Rarity sighed at the sight. “Anyway we came here for business and to drop poor little Babs off with someone who could take care of her in a stable environment. Instead we find a large portion of this planet covered in snow. I heard you were down here and I came to see if you were alright Sugar dear, by the way congratulations on the engagement at least. I heard about it from Braeburn, is Mr. Big Apple really everything you wish for in a stallion? Oh sorry, now I’m the one that is sidetracked. I didn’t exactly lose control of my life; I’ve just been too generous with my need to help people.” “You’re still a river of generosity I take it. That was always a rather contagious and dangerous trait of yours. My stallion is definitely everything I could want thank you very much, but we won’t be able to have that wedding until the current crisis is dealt with and you’re most certainly invited. I could even use your services for a wedding dress. Maybe we can honeymoon in the asteroid field, it’s not too far away so transportation will be cheap… maybe I can even visit this Pinkie Pie friend of yours and get some tips on baking if she’s really good.” Sugar Belle didn’t look particularly happy to hear that a filly lost her parents, but she was trying to think positively and only had a small frown on her face. “Say Applejack, would it be okay if we adopted Babs Seed? The filly sounds like she really needs help.” “Come on Sugar, you know my answer to that.” Closing her eyes and letting her tears flow at hearing they’ve lost some family, Applejack opened her eyes with a look of determination and slapped her hat back on her head. “We Apple’s always take care of family! I, Mac and Bloom know what it’s like to not have parents and it’s a sad day to hear that it has happened again.”
-87-“Then it exploded.” Rarity took a sip of apple juice. “Your life is crazier than a gaggle of wet cats let loose in a rocking chair convention.” It was hard for Applejack to find the words for Rarity’s lifestyle. In fact Applejack was having a hard time believing that Rarity was supposed to be a pony that just made clothing, whether it was fancy or not was to be decided. “Well enough about me. How have all of you been surviving out here? It’s nothing but snow, dead or dying trees and rocks for miles.” Rarity was going to make an abridged pamphlet if she kept bringing up her history since she bought the Caravel Boutique. “Well the trees around here seem to actually be doing well enough.” “Yeah, what is up with the funky blue apples on those frosted over trees?” That was something Gilda was more focused on, the only one still inside the Centaur-pede was Greta. Her absurdly cheerful griffon friend was working on the shield generator and hopefully the spare smaller shield generators from the robot wolves would help. “That’s what I want to know as they look kind of funky.” “I don’t know, they look kind of nice to me.” Resting up at the table was Ember; her leg would take at least five more hours to heal up. The blue apples reminded her of her scales. “It’s the main reason we can even survive out here, we’re between the blizzard zones. It’s cold, but apparently not enough that you can’t grow ice apples.” Coloratura was serving refreshments; nobody had to ask what she was still doing here. It wasn’t like she could leave the snow zone on this quarter of the planet, but she wouldn’t do so even if she could. She was here for Applejack. “I don’t understand how it works, but apparently Applejack and her family figured out how to grow apples in this weather. I really don’t question how they do it, I was just here to visit Applejack for a week and I’ve been here since the blizzards started up.” “It is rather complicated to grow them and the apples are not all that sweet either. In fact they’re entirely tart, but at least they are good for pies and some other things. Why we even still have enough food to last three weeks, we’ve been rationing our last normal haul of apples and we’ve been mostly using ice apples.” Cringing, Applejack looked away from the others. “It’s becoming an acquired taste at this point; I’m not exactly big on tart foods. Sugar is making it work though.” “I try; making new recipes for apples as tart as those are is quite a trial. Can we get back to this thing about the robots that attacked you on the way through that husk that was a town?” There was a hint of concern in Sugar’s voice as she turned to her cousin Rarity; she was the reason why the Apples' were still holding it together. Her chosen profession as a baker was put to the test when she tasted her first ice apple; the tart flavor was a little unsettling. “About that, we’re here to fix the climate problem or at least find the cause of it. It’s being created through machines, the kind that we ran into coming here. If that’s true, then we should be able to destroy the cause and fix things.” That was why they brought the rocket launchers, though Gilda didn’t want to be the one to use one as she heard about the dangerous recoil. Chrysalis really bought some cheap, if effective, rocket launchers. “Well it would fix the problem somewhat. Even if we can stop the machines that are causing this devastation, that doesn’t mean the weather will get better on its own. So fixing the climate would be another issue that we’re not exactly capable of, we can only stop the damage from getting worse. So you can kind of guess that things aren’t exactly going to end up all sunshine and rainbows.” “Eeyup.” Big Macintosh Apple was a large red stallion, orange mane and tail. He was a stallion of few words, but he was entirely sweet on Sugar Belle and it showed as he nuzzled her gently. “Who are these whippersnappers, did our family get bigger when I wasn’t looking?” The grandma of the family Granny Smith Apple was a green coated mare with hair, white from old age, held up in a bun. She was quite old and rickety looking, but she was holding on pretty well at her age. “Did I finally go entirely senile and miss the lovely little mare and my grandson having foals?” “No, they’re visitors Granny; one of them is family. They’re also heavily armed and dangerous, but I’m sure that’s not for us to worry about.” Leaning over, Sugar Belle motioned Rarity closer. “Granny has a bad tendency to mishear things.” “I may be a bit off my rocker, but I’m not deaf! If they is family, then they’re welcome… even the buzzard over there.” Granny didn’t care about Gilda’s glare or twitching angry eye. “If they’re here to help, then they’ll have to hurry. This planet isn’t exactly doing too hot, by that I mean its cold and my bones have been aching for a while now. Where’s our little Bloom?” “I’m right here Granny… Applejack, please tell me there’s something other than apples to eat?” The little filly came walking in from the living room with a closed book in hoof. She had a red hair and yellow fur, Apple Bloom Apple couldn’t have been any older than Babs was. “Why is there a dragon at the table, also a griffon and other strangers?” “We’re here for family and business, Rarity here is Sugar Belle’s cousin as the family part. As to the business, we’re going to make the weather better so you will be able to go out and play again. Now go on back to what you were doing, we’ll feed you something that isn’t apples when we’re done cooking it kid.” The filly smiled and wandered off leaving Ember to turn to Rarity’s cousin, while Applejack spluttered in the background in anger about the offer of food that wasn’t apples. “Sorry for the pun, but I have to ‘Sugar’ coat things around the filly.” “It’s alright; I’m used to that coming up where my name is concerned.” Sugar Belle was as sweet as her name sounded. “We’re likely heading into a pretty bad situation that we’ll come out of with moderate injuries. You may as well have some of our supplies while we’re here before we set out to search the area where the blizzards are forming from.” Ember turned to Rarity with a hopefully look. “We’ve got plenty of food so it won’t be a problem right Rarity?” Rarity opened her mouth to say something only for Applejack to take offense at the offer. “We don’t need hoof outs; we can take care of ourselves!” The stubborn side of Applejack reared its head. “We have been doing fine even before you showed up… just so long as we don’t attract the attention of those machines to ourselves.” “Yes, but are you getting your full nutrition on those apples alone?” That caused the farmer to pause and look at Rarity. “Goodness knows I would make sure my sister was eating right, as such I’d assume you’d do the same with yours. Do you even have any vegetables?” “Well we’ve got some left and we aren’t exactly eating only apples here… yet. The portions have been pretty small around here and we’re a family of big eaters.” Though it was pretty close and Applejack had to admit the health of her family mattered a lot, they’ve been doing great so far. The conditions of their surroundings weren’t changing and it was slowly becoming unbearable to hold their position here. “I’m not about to give up on this farm, not after I figured out how to grow ice apples.” “What about your own health Applejack? You and Big Mac haven’t eaten much aside from apples for the past week.” Coloratura had been getting pretty worried about Applejack and she shared a good friendship with Sugar Belle. “Look, I know it’s a family trait and that you’re quite sturdy in your fruit choice, but can you really say that you or even the rest of us can last much longer like this? With the kind of conditions we’re living in with very little in the way of being able to escape them? The pipes are slowly freezing over and soon we won’t even have plumbing. It’s been kind of touch and go on that for a while… it’s a good thing the plumbing here is separate from the town's.” “Yeah, no kidding, we’ve been having problems even keeping the pipes warm.” It was becoming quite clear that it was kind of miraculous that Applejack had managed to stubborn her way through the current crisis as well as she had so far. “That’s not to mention that we’re quickly losing water and we’ll run out of that if it all turns to ice.” “Well if we’re not taking hoof outs, then how about a trade?” Granny offered with a shrewd look to their visitors, her granddaughter was too proud sometimes and they still had plenty of apples. Quite frankly even Granny could use a different taste right about now. Oh she would still definitely eat apples with her meal, but it needed to be supplemented by something else this time. These visitors were just trying to help and one of them was practically family, so why not give them something while getting what they sorely needed out of it. They sounded like they were heading into a warzone and that would make this a onetime offer. Now if only Applejack wouldn’t scoff at the help. “Would you really be okay with that Mac?” Applejack didn’t know what to think of a trade, it sounded fair and it wasn’t exactly taking charity. “Eeyup.” Even Big Mac was all for trading and Applejack wasn’t the only one that wouldn’t accept charity, he just wasn’t as vocal about it. “We really need this.” “When are we going to set out to look for the main cause of all this snow?” Sitting around and doing nothing felt lazy to Ember, she was a dragon that preferred to be as active as possible. She was never going to become lazy enough to sleep for thousands of years; it just wasn’t in her nature. “When Greta finishes getting the shield generator back up and running, when your leg has healed and when we’re done trading. Mare-Do-Well can take care of moving supplies when we finalize our agreement.” Rarity was now going to hash out what they had to trade versus what they could possibly want from a deteriorating situation with a family that had been pushing their survival out here. She looked over to Saffron who had been quietly standing in a corner; she was kind of surprised Apple Bloom missed her quiet if rather intimidating visage. “As such we’re staying for lunch at least.” “Sounds good to me, it’s better than just standing around here looking intimidating.” The distorted voice was hard to carry how Saffron was really feeling, she was just standing in the background and now she had a lot of attention on her for speaking out loud. “I’m sure you can take care of negotiations from here. I’m going to go check on Greta to see how she’s doing out there. Come get me when you want me to move something.” “Oh trust me; it’ll be a while before we get around to needing your help.” Gilda was surprisingly upset to be overpaid as she was, not that she was complaining about having funds to do the things she wanted too. It just seemed that Rarity always unfairly balanced a deal against herself. “You have no idea what it takes to make a completely fair deal when Rarity is involved.” Rover just grunted at that and put his head back on the table to continue his nap. - “Need any help?” Saffron stood by watching Greta dig into the shield generator in the lower torso, said generator was in the ceiling. “Yes, but you’d probably find it hard to lift anything while in that armored suit like that box of salvaged parts I need. The frogs of your hooves can’t possibly work through… how are you doing that?” Greta poked her head down from the ceiling and saw Saffron holding a box of parts up to her. “That should be impossible, you’re hoof is picking something up through several layers of things! One of which is fairly solidly built energy cannon.” “Like I’m going to let a little thing like physics get in the way of me doing things with my hooves.” Doing things out of ignorance was what made it more impressive when you didn’t know they were impossible, like Saffron being able to pick up anything with her hooves while armored and wearing an EVA suit underneath that. “Apparently not, but I am going to look into this later.” Greta got a grip on the box and pulled it up to her. “Thank you, but mark my words, this will be investigated!” “You can try, but Ponies have been pulling this kind of crap for centuries and nobody's been able to determine anything except that it is magic!” Why was Saffron even challenging Greta on this? Oh right, it was part of Pony pride to defy logic and do crazy things, it also kind of tied into her need to spice things up. “Magic doesn’t exactly extend that far out from a Pony’s hooves… also you’re a unicorn, yet I didn’t see you using your horn for this. Unicorns can’t even focus magic out of other parts of their bodies as well as an Earth or Pegasus Pony can.” Greta’s comment did kind of point out the flaw in the problem with Saffron’s explanation or what she had even accomplished. “Look, can we discuss this later. I’m a bit busy at the moment. Let’s see, cross these two wires, wrap it rubber and duct tape it to be sure it holds. Pull this piece out, replace it with something fresher and add a connector or two...” “How do you live or stand being near Gilda constantly?” It was interesting to Saffron that Greta didn’t pause in her work; she didn’t seem bothered by the question at all. “She’s like the crankiest griffon I know, well being the only one of two griffons I know personally that isn’t hard for me to believe. I’ve fought griffons before; I just didn’t know any personally until you two.” “Well that’s easy, I love her. I have no problems with her yelling at me or getting angry, because at the end of the day I know she’ll always be Gilda.” That and Greta had a standing agreement that if Gilda ever laid eggs, then it would be up to Greta to care for the children as Gilda wasn’t the motherly type. So far Gilda, despite her attraction to and habit of sleeping with Pegasus Pony stallions, she had yet to actually get pregnant and Greta didn’t have any chicks to take care of. It would have been nice to have at least one hippogriff to dote on, but Gilda was surprisingly careful about her sexual actions. “So it’s an almost completely blind obsession and devotion to her no matter what? Don’t you deserve someone who can give you the attention you want, given how she tends to treat you?” To think Saffron had been watching them around each other, yet she didn’t get Greta’s fascination with the sour grump or how they were still friends. “You know, like someone better?” “Well at least you said the word ‘almost’ unlike some other people who don’t even give me that much leeway. As for better, there is no one I’d rather spend the rest of my life next to!” It wasn’t complete obsession, but Greta had to admit that it did kind of look bad from an outsider’s perspective. “Even if I did find love somewhere else or formed a family, it would have to be around or right next to hers all the way to my last breath.” “Is she really that attractive to you?” Saffron could not keep the disbelief out of her voice. “Well yeah, I know that many griffons find me far more attractive than her and I will admit that I have good looks. They just really have no clue what they’re missing or what I see in Gilda personally.” Some clanging noises were heard from Greta’s position; also a grunt or two were thrown in for good measure. “Fixing this is going take another hour or two and it would go faster if Gilda was out here helping me with it. Looks aren’t everything and are subject to change, but a strong solid personality is forever. Although I doubt Rarity would ever give up on her outward appearance.” “Well that’s a certainty; even then Rarity will always have friends like us thanks to who she is and not what she looks like.” Saffron eventually wanted to settle down to have a foal or two, but she’d never give up on being a hero and she could understand having a personality that didn’t mesh well with others. Gilda and Greta were certainly the kinds of personalities she didn’t expect to mesh at all. “I don’t think I’ll ever find a good stallion, well at least one that doesn’t mind me being a hero like what happened with my mom and dad. I sometimes wonder what it’s going to take to get me a partner I can spend my life with, I’d likely scare off stallions just being me. I also don’t know if I’m bisexual or not, because I might like mares too.” “Well you’re more likely to get a stallion than Rarity is; now there’s a lost cause no one will ever take up. I doubt even Cadence would touch that with a ten foot pole. So that’s at least some good odds in your favor.” Something fell down and clattered to the floor, Greta sighed audibly from her position. “Say, could you get that for me?” Behind the metallic gaze of the powered armor suit, Saffron smirked as she picked up the object with her other hoof. “I’m guessing there’s a smug look under all that armor.” Greta would be correct as she saw Saffron doing the hoof thing again; she wasn’t going to question it for the time being. She had more important things to do after all. - “We don’t exactly need the weapons. My material rifle is enough around here, but we thank you kindly for the food trade.” Well enough to keep the farm safe from the smaller wolf robots, Applejack was having issues with learning that there were things bigger than the robotic wolves around. The snow sharks sounded horrific, it was a good thing she hadn’t gone near the town after the raids and missing ponies started to slow down until nothing was left there. “This is reminding me of the good days around here before all this stuff started up.” “How exactly did things start going wrong?” Rarity perked up and took interest. “It was just small things at first, an attack by what sounded like regular wolves here or there and that’s all that we saw. There’s not supposed to be many large predatory animals on this planet and the local mayor tried to write it off, until we found out they were mechanical. That was when the random snow storms came and there were a lot of missing ponies, until… well you’ve seen it. It’s a ghost town and dangerous to approach from what you’ve told us.” Applejack didn’t want to go near the town after hearing what these strangers went through to get here. “The first real sign of big trouble was the blizzards, they come like clockwork and ponies started evacuating. Only thing keeping us safe here is that the blizzards never directly hit us or the farm. We never saw them shark things, but I know that you’re being honest with me about that much.” “One would assume that this happened to the other towns in the tundra zone.” Gilda crossed her arms and leaned back looking bored, with a talon tapping at her shoulder. “Didn’t you call for or get help from other places?” “Oh we got help alright, but every bounty hunter that went out to find what the problem is never came back. EDF really hasn’t helped much aside from their assistance in evacuating the planet and the triple P is sitting on their flanks twiddling whatever it is they have to twiddle. Not a lick of strong groundside enforcement among them.” Applejack knew that no further help was coming, but that big contraption out there might be able to do something helpful. “You’ve been by the town of Gravenstein, was there anything that looked off to you about the town when you got close to it? None of us have been near there for quite a while.” “Is that really the town’s name?” Even Gilda couldn’t keep her tone amiable as she scoffed at the name of ‘grave and stein’ while holding the bridge of her beak with a talon. “Though yes there was something we thought that was rather odd when we got a close up look at the town before we were attacked. The buildings in town were burned down and not by natural causes, would you happen to know anything about that?” “Well that’s odd, those robot wolves never destroyed any of the buildings and anyone who was caught outside during a raid was always considered missing or… otherwise. I did once see a frozen pony being dragged off to who knows where.” After that day Applejack had declared that they couldn’t head into town anymore and she was glad that she had, Big Mac had a delivery to make that day and Coloratura had to go back on tour. The spaceport was destroyed and there was nothing to make a delivery to anymore, so it had been a good call on Applejack’s part. “Well I’m out of questions to ask at the moment.” They had a lot of questions and very little in the ways of answers, but Gilda thought that the destroyed buildings were something important to remember. At least she knew the machines hadn’t destroyed the buildings before, maybe it was that they destroyed them after taking care of any opposition? Or maybe it was how they destroyed them that bothered her. “At least we have an ideal direction to work in when it comes to finding the one or ones behind this. We’re going to go to the center of where the blizzards are being formed and sent out from.” Ember was going to be on her feet for that and she was going to start a fight worth remembering, her noble heart couldn’t have her do any less. “There are eight blizzard paths that move out on a set counterclockwise formation that move in the eight cardinal and ordinal directions from one central location, one that is really hard to reach given how hard it is to get close to it. The blizzards are always formed at the edge of a large circle; the pattern was easy enough to catch from orbit thanks to a feline friend of ours. The wrinkle is the snow storms that can pop up at any time, at least we’ll have an early warning for when we’re about to be attacked.” “You all are plum crazy if you plan on heading out that way.” Though Applejack wanted to do so to stop the constant cold spot her family was stuck in the middle of and save her farm. “Oh believe me I know darling, but I choose to be crazy knowing that it’s the right thing to do.” As reluctant as Rarity had been about the various situations she’s walked into, this one was going to be one of the times that she did it absolutely on purpose. “At this point, acting on the only thing we’ve got left to go on is the main course of action. We could leave the planet and help evacuate you or we could take a risk and stop the problem at its source, we would be following that proverb about the hydra’s head I believe. Which would you prefer we do?” “I would personally prefer evacuation, but I can’t exactly talk you out of this can I?” Sugar Belle sighed as she saw the determined look on Rarity’s face, her cousin had become a lot braver than she remembered her being. “Well then I’m going with you when you head on out, I’m tired of watching this farm crumble out from under us.” Applejack wasn’t about to let her farm go under if she could help it. Ice apples had peculiar growing habits and she couldn’t keep up with the requirements to grow them forever. “Lunch is on every pony, come and get some!” Granny’s interruption was well timed. - There were quite a few stares in Saffron’s direction; she was in her Mare-Do-Well costume and eating food through the mask. None of them were quite sure of how she was managing to do that. “Look, I know you’re all staring at me.” Having a caped pony at the table wasn’t the oddest thing about lunch. “So could you please stop it? I’m just a normal pony like the rest of you.” Coloratura snorted loudly and covered her nose while trying to hold back her giggles, she noticed the looks sent her way and she blushed. “I once sang about being a normal pony and I’m sure a lot of ponies here remember that concert. That was about the time someone pointed out that I had somehow played a piano so masterfully, that nothing about my song was exactly normal.” Yeah normal didn’t define Coloratura on that day. When she wrote that song, she didn’t exactly know how to play the piano either. She was glad that no one brought it up or even bothered to ask her how she had managed what she did under time constraints, thank goodness for musical pony magic. She clearly proved her friendship to Applejack that day and possibly more, if the farmer would let her snuggle a little closer. “That was me sugar cube, I was almost certain that you never took any piano lessons. I guess it had been a few years since we last saw each other during for that, so you might have taken them between then.” Applejack bit into an apple fritter and wondered why it sounded like a lie every time Coloratura said that she had. “Um… can I get an autograph?” Apple Bloom had some hero worship and she had heard the tales of heroes like the Mauve Mare-auder, it was nice to hear Mare-Do-Well was related to that hero from the comic books. Or was it the hero that the comic books got their ideas from? Either way it was so cool to have a real live hero at the table. “Eh, I don’t see why not. Do you have a comic that was made about some of my ancestors to sign?” Saffron knew what she would sign on it; heroes are the people who do the right thing no matter how bad the situation. “Applejack, you’re not going with them.” This was the start of a long conversation and Big Mac didn’t want his sister to become another statistic. “If you’re so worried then why don’t you come with me, this farm won’t survive unless something is done about all this snow!” The siblings butted head and glared at each other. “It looks like things are about to get juicy around here...” The slap Greta received for that comment made her frown as she had been expecting Gilda to be the one to snap. “Greta your puns are horrible.” Ember stated flatly after having slapped Greta with her tail. “Thank you for finally saying what I was thinking!” Gilda and Ember fist bumped one another and continued eating, while Greta gave them an adorable pout. “You really wouldn’t take Applejack with you… would you?” Sugar Belle received a calming hoof across the back and Rarity tried to give her a comforting smile. “It depends really… will they really let her go with us or will they want to come along themselves?” Rarity didn’t want any liabilities if they were going into a place as dangerous as the eye of the blizzards sounded. - “So you’re sure that the Changelings had nothing to do with this incident?” Celestia was glaring at Luna who was giving her a rather sheepish smile, the foxhole they were in wasn’t going to provide shelter from the love storm forever. “They have been acting rather suspicious as of late.” “Well how was I supposed to know banana flavored moon pies had enough banana in them to set her off like that?” Luna had been researching moon pie flavors and they were in the middle of a bad situation where Cadence ate one. Luna and Celestia thought it was bad when they or Twilight ingested a banana; Cadence was a force of nature on just a banana flavored product alone and they really didn’t want to know what would happen if she ate bananas regularly. “Well at least we know that eating banana peels doesn’t do anything to us and they are kind of tasty.” “I sometimes seriously consider that there might be something very wrong with you Luna. Cadence has gone mad and we need to come up with a plan that’s not burying our heads in the nearest pile of sand like Twilight suggested!” Celestia was scared, she thought Chrysalis was bad and she may have thought Discord was a horrible monster from time to time, but nothing was ever going to top her fear of Cadence, the Alicorn of Love, on bananas. “It would take forever to get all the sand out of our manes and goodness knows Twilight will come to me for help with that later.” The two sisters prayed that Shining Armor was still alive; the last they heard of him, he hadn’t apparently been enough to satisfy or even appease Cadence in her state. They sorely needed his help to deal with the Swallows. Author's Note Yeah, Cadence is not a good pony to give bananas in this story, especially considering she's a representative symbol of love. Let you're imagination run wild on what happened to Shining Armor here.
-88-“If Applejack wants to help then she can come along, but the rest of you will have to stay here.” Rarity saw that the other apples had something to say to that. “We can’t take all of you on. We could, but we can’t carry the supplies necessary to keep all of you happy for very long. I also believe Big Mac is needed here to watch the farm.” “I can’t have Coloratura or Sugar coming with us either, I don’t want to put our loved ones in danger.” After tilting her Stetson away from her eyes, Applejack slapped a hoof on the table. “It’s best if you all stay here. If we aren’t successful, then I want to get out of here after a week. Do you understand what I am asking of you here Big Mac?” “Yup, but I don’t like it.” The big muscular brother sighed; Big Mac didn’t want Applejack to run away again like when she was a filly. Only this time she wasn’t running away from them, she was running into danger. “I’ll watch out for them.” “Go on and get along now Applejack, I’ll still be around when you get back.” Granny just stared flatly at the look Applejack was giving her. “What? I’m not so old that I’ll just keel over the second you run off in some crazy contraption to save the farm!” “Well if we’re saying our goodbyes…” Usually Coloratura wouldn’t be so meek, but Applejack just had that effect on her. She shyly moved over to the mare and didn’t go for the cheek this time; she went for the mouth and threw her tongue in for good measure. Pulling back from the rather surprised Applejack who had been expecting another kiss on the cheek, Color only had one last thing to say. “Please come back safely.” “I’ll be alright, I’m taking Old Faithful with me! Big Mac will just have to use Big Betsy.” Patting her hoof grip material rifle before slinging it across her back, Applejack was mostly ready to leave. She was already wearing her cold weather clothes; said clothes were a bit tight and didn’t fit too well. She only had to turn around to have a parka thrust into her face by Rarity. “I will not have us doing this with ill fitting clothing; now put that on so we can get underway.” Turning to the old matriarch Rarity bowed to her as a show of respect. “It’s been nice meeting you and we thank you for the lunch, but we have to go if we’re going to deal with this in a timely manner.” “I understand, you young ones are a tough bunch. Except for the sweet dove, she’s a nice one and the grumpy buzzard could learn a few lessons from her.” Granny turned to Greta with a smile and then she turned to Gilda who just glared at her, she gave off a chuckle. “Aren’t you an easy one to rile up? All of you better take care of my granddaughter and make sure she stays out of trouble!” Applejack got in her final goodbyes and she hugged her little sister before setting off towards the Centaur-pede with the group that came from the east. She had to stop to tell a barking collie to watch the family while she was gone, the dog's name was Winona and she whined quite a bit before finally listening to Applejack about staying behind to watch the family. “Was it hard to leave your little sister behind when you started your travels?” Being on a spaceship for prolonged periods of time wasn’t good for a filly without something proactive to do or so Applejack had heard and Rarity didn’t have Sweetie Belle on her ship. “First you have to know that I love my little sister, but my parents aren’t too great when it comes to taking care of her and she started seeing me as her mother given how often they foisted the responsibility off on me.” That brought back memories of simpler times on Desserzon in the Verpo System, before she got her own business started and ran into a multitude of situations that didn’t involve the fashion forward lifestyle she had been dreaming of. “All of that wasn’t exactly a good experience for me, but I know how to take care of a foal at least and it taught me to multitask back when I still worked as a waitress. I think I’ll miss the days when I had Sweetie all to myself, I’d like to think that I’m a good big sister given how well she turned out… just don’t let her cook anything.” “If it’s anything like the maple syrup incident Apple Bloom caused, then our little sisters share a common problem.” Stopping to look up at the machine she was going to be riding in, Applejack got a good close look at it. It was big like a house and it had a few dents and small bite marks in it from when it was attacked. She was thankful the thing still looked rather sturdy or else she’d be having second thoughts about joining Rarity and her friends in this adventure. “Ember, are you okay darling?” Rarity stopped and turned to look at the dragon that was making a slow pace for the vehicle. “Yeah, my leg is getting better. It’ll take more than being swallowed alive by a giant robot shark to put me off my game.” It wasn’t her leg that bothered her, it was that she let her shirt and pants get as badly damaged as she had. She was one of the youngest and toughest bounty hunters to exist; the physical injury was bound to be short lived and she’d be ready by the time she was needed again. What had actually hurt was the damaged clothing and the loss of her pride. “It’s not like this is the strangest thing I’ve ever dealt with.” “What is the strangest thing you’ve ever dealt with?” Applejack had never really met or talked to a dragon, she had heard they were fearsome creatures; this one came off as friendly and well balanced member of society. It was hard for her to believe that Ember was a tough as her own nails bounty hunter. “I’d have to say it was the Kanga Incident… Kanga is another bounty hunter, a macropussian to be specific, and we were after the same target when we met.” There was a look of fondness on Ember’s face as she reminisced on that particular fight. “It was kind of surprising that I met someone as nice and friendly as I could be.” “A bounty hunter that’s as friendly as you are?” Well color Rarity surprised as they walked up the ramp into the Centaur-pede. “Now don’t get me wrong Kanga is a kind and friendly individual, if you could look past her ability to coldly murder everyone in a room without thinking twice about it. She also carries her child around with her while she’s at work; she told me she had a bad experience with people trying to kidnap her little Marley to try and force her to work for free.” Yeah Ember wasn’t exactly making a good case for Kanga here and what she said next made it slightly worse, but at least she knew Kanga was a good mother. “Anyone who has tried that is no longer alive, always including the one that orders the kidnapping and anyone that was remotely related to the guy that gave the order if they are found to be of illicit dealings. So long as you don’t threaten her child, Kanga will at least make sure you don’t suffer if you’re on her bounty list.” “I take it back; no bounty hunter is as friendly as you are Ember.” Rarity didn’t know if that was supposed to be a compliment or not. “Look it’s thanks to the incident I had with her that I can say she’s a good person… at heart.” There was a bit of a pause before Ember said ‘at heart’, as she remembered several other things about the alien kangaroo. She shook her head and sat down to get some more rest. “I’d trust her to run an orphanage at least.” “Well that’s at least some conviction about… what would you really call her?” Greta rubbed at her beak and thought on it. “Friend doesn’t exactly sound right and I don’t have any context about her to make a judgment call.” “I don’t know if we can be called friends really, maybe acquaintances like I was with Rarity. We run into each other every once in a blue moon.” Ember watched as the ramp closed and she felt the entire vehicle shift into a standing position, Gilda was already getting them ready to move out. “To make a long story short I and Kanga had an understanding going between us by the end of our first meeting. We don’t cross paths often enough to work up a rapport. It’s really hard to define everything that happened because I was fighting with my back to a wall wherever I could find one that was still standing.” “Can you give us a brief rundown of it? This sounds like a long story.” Saffron was still wearing her Mare-Do-Well outfit for Applejack’s benefit, so that the farmer never knows what she really looked like. “I don’t know, can you really make sense of a giant elephant shaped monster that spits out tentacle hippos as a means of offense that they themselves spawn fire breathing birds when they are destroyed?” It wasn’t the weirdest thing Ember’s ever seen, just one of the most problematic. “Needless to say the birds were more dangerous to Kanga; the elephant monster had a limit to how quickly it could spawn the smaller monsters. We eventually got back the guy we were after for that, but it wasn’t easy and that was just the tip of the iceberg as to what happened.” “Whoa there, sounds like you’ve been around the block more than once there Ember.” Applejack wasn’t as well traveled, but the story sounded far out. Now if only Ember wasn’t telling the truth that things like that actually existed. “That’s the cliff notes of the beginning of our merry chase to capture a geneticist; it just got three times worse from there.” Ember didn’t want to tell anyone that they had to bring him in alive either. “At least I’m good at cleaning up biological grey goo situations, but do they always have to be so disgusting?” “What’s a grey goo situation?” Applejack had obviously never heard the stories. “Pray you never see one, you most certainly won’t want to sleep if you hear news about one being present.” Rarity on the other hoof did know what a grey goo situation entailed; she had been in the middle of one at Antilur Station and had successfully snuffed it out. “It’s a situation where there’s an outbreak of some kind that unless it is stopped quickly, it will consume the area it’s affecting. Like an entire space station or a whole planet. Said situation could even wipe out multiple systems if whatever it is that is called a ‘grey goo situation’ is allowed to spread.” Like that flesh sculpting brain monster back at the space station that had Ember’s scales crawling with disgust. “Usually it’s a good reason to destroy an entire space station or quarantine and then subsequently glass a planet, maybe blow up the planet just to be sure. Don’t worry, this situation looks nothing like one of the various grey goo scenarios that could pop up.” “What else are we supposed to talk about then, Rover likes to listen and learn from conversations.” They were underway and until they had something to shoot at or anything important to take care of, Rover would be absolutely bored to tears. “I am agreeing that the grey sludge is very scary sounding.” It was all up to Gilda and Greta to get them to the location where the storms purportedly started from now, if they needed to fight then Rover would be ready for it at least. Nothing killed a Diamond Dog faster than boredom, because when a Diamond Dog got bored they got inventive in keeping themselves entertained and they did some really dumb, highly dangerous, things in the name of entertainment. At least Rover had long since learned the most entertaining thing was hearing stories about how other people lived. “Yeah, a change of topic would be mighty welcome.” Applejack tried not to imagine any kind of apple jam slowly consuming the planet and suffocating all life out of existence. “What about where you got your chapeau from?” The farmer gave Rarity a questioning look. “I’m talking about your hat dear; you’ve hardly taken it off since we’ve met.” “I may have a lot of hats like it, but my pa owned this particular one before he gave it to my ma. It’s special; they were the perfect pair of ponies that were very much in love with each other.” There was a somber tone entering Applejack’s voice as she spoke. “They kind of passed on too soon after Apple Bloom was born, had they continued living I’m sure my ma and pa would have given me at least two more brothers or sisters. They loved one another to the point that I doubt even death could have parted them… kind of makes sense that they’d go together. Apple Bloom was too young to remember her, but ma sure was a pretty mare and dad was a big guy like my brother.” “Oh… I’m sorry I asked, it must be a difficult topic to talk about. So how do you know Countess Coloratura?” One of the oddest nobles Rarity has ever heard of, aside from herself that is. Color seemed quite friendly and very familiar with Applejack. “Oh you want to know about Rara? She’s been my friend when we were really young and going to camp together… after my parents… yeah you can’t really avoid that topic. Not when it comes to how I know Color.” Applejack paused for a minute and Greta pulled her into a quick hug. Upon her release Applejack continued. “She brought some light back into my life and she was always musically gifted. You know, this all really leads into my story of how I got my cutie mark.” “Well go on then, it’ll be a while and we’ll have to stop if we end up getting hit with a blizzard. So we got plenty of time to explore the mare that is Applejack Apple.” Rarity wanted to know and she could share her own story, she wasn’t sure if Saffron could since she had to keep up appearances as The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well. Saffron was quite mysterious alright; Rarity didn’t know anyone else that could eat through a mask without getting it absolutely filthy. “To start things off me and Coloratura first met when we were camping together. It wasn’t long after I lost my parents and I was terribly depressed… it was also before I had my cutie mark.” While Applejack was talking she watched as the others began unfolding a table and she took a seat when they offered her a chair. “She was a city mare and I was a country mare, it got me interested in going to see what the city life was like. I was still very much depressed, but at least I had a friend. I eventually tried my hoof at city living, but all that hustle and bustle wasn’t doing it for me. My depression wasn’t getting any better without Color or any of my real family around to pick me up. I didn’t get better until I saw the most miraculous thing ever; it even led to me coming back to my family.” “What was it?” Greta looked up from her data pad and directing Gilda from the lower torso. “It was a massive circular rainbow expanding across the sky, it had to be seen for miles. They said it was a phenomenon that erupted from right out of Cloudsdale.” Applejack remembered that moment, family was always important and she was an apple. When she got her home her cutie mark erupted onto her flank as she found herself. “Coming back home to my family got me my cutie mark and I quite rightly found myself knowing exactly where I belong.” “Oh that, that was just Rainbow Dash. She performed a Sonic Rainboom that day.” Gilda sounded less than impressed. “A sonic boom, mixed with sweat and particulate matter from a mare with all colors of the rainbow going at mach speed. That she can even reach mach speed was what really impressed me.” “You know how to take the joy out of a conversation Gilda, but then I guess you were there to actually witness it given you were in an exchange program at the time.” Greta had heard that some Pegasus Ponies were assholes to Gilda back then, which makes her wonder why Gilda had a penchant for Pegasus Ponies. “Yeah some of the ponies back then might have been complete dicks, but Rainbow was one of the best flyers I’ve ever met. She was a really good lay too; it’s nice to know she’s living the dream as a Wonder Bolt fighter pilot in the slow lane.” Gilda sounded rather fond of old times from her position of piloting the Centaur-pede. “It’s why I’m a mechanical engineer; she wouldn’t shut up about all those awesome fighters the Wonder Bolts get to fly. I figured, why just fly fighters when you can build them to be exactly what you want. Screw all that mass produced crap the Pony military uses when it comes to their fighters. Sure it’s good enough for what it does in the right hooves, but I believe I can do so much better than that. Ponies aren’t exactly bad at space exploration or utilizing big ships, but they’re not great at things as small as fighters or scouts.” “Says the griffon that completely destroyed the outer shell of a Javelin on her first flight with it, we still have the pilots seat sitting in our hangar enshrined to Gilda’s first foray into actual space combat.” Greta still had nightmares about Gilda’s piloting skills. Gilda was good at piloting things, but her landings could use some work. The example would be the upside down EGGS unit they left behind in the hangar on the Shining Jewel before they made the drop to Applin Five. “So I have some problems with landing vehicles meant to fly, at least I can pilot ground vehicles perfectly well.” Gilda knew Greta had nothing to say to that. “You’d think something more complicated like a six legged walker with two arms would be more of a problem to maneuver, but no, this is rather simple to drive.” “You actually call this contraption simple?! I can hardly wrap my head around the idea of how it was built!” Applejack would forever be a farmer and would like the simpler things in life; she had a story to continue. “To continue where I left off, I had gotten my cutie mark after discovering who I was as a Pony upon returning home to my family and farm. The next time I went camping was where I helped Coloratura get her cutie mark, by helping her with her music. Since then we’ve had something of a strong bond… I never thought Coloratura liked me nearly that much and its news to me.” “She seemed kind of obvious with it, I mean I’m the gayest griffon you could ever meet and I make it quite obvious as to whose bed I’d crawl into any day.” All Greta did was point upwards and Applejack nodded, it was fairly obvious to the farmer, Granny, Big Mac and even Apple Bloom from the moment when Greta first opened her happy beak. “Pecks on the cheeks are friendly, but that kiss, now that was something else entirely and worth coming back alive to for seconds!” Her face as red as an apple, Applejack shoved her hat down to cover her warmed cheeks. “I guess Coloratura did come to visit me personally. I really can’t see her wanting to settle down on a farm just for me, she has her career as a fancy pop star and still has so many places to go and see. I’m just a regular apple farmer, as regular as any other Apple before me. Except for my distant cousin Northern Spy, he’s always been a bit secretive about what he does.” “She didn’t give you tongue just for the sake of it you know, if you see her again you need to take up the reins and kiss her back with just as much force.” It upset Greta to hear that Applejack was trying to avoid the responsibilities of being a close mare friend to a lovely pony like Coloratura. “Maybe put a bridle on her for some fun like Gilda does when she’s entertaining a Pegasus Pony.” “Greta, while I can understand that you spy on me and take notes, can you please keep the more personal stuff that I do to yourself?” Dryly commented Gilda who was still listening in on their conversation; it kind of reminded her of how nosy Kitten usually was back up in orbit. “You’re currently not winning any brownie points with me here.” “So are you and her… special to each other?” Applejack didn’t know how to ask about Greta’s relationship when it came to Gilda. “I wish, Gilda hardly gives me the time of day in that department, we’re good partners at what we do though. We can sleep right next to each other, but we’ve never exactly gone beyond cuddling. That’s mostly my fault as I have a tendency to snuggle things in my sleep.” Greta noticed Mare-Do-Well looking away from her in a shy manner and she didn’t comment on the awkwardness of waking up with Saffron in her arms. Gilda was the best thing Greta could have ever cuddled with, but Coco was nice to cuddle as well and she couldn’t say anything bad about Saffron because of her exquisite natural looks. “I can honestly say that Gilda will always be my main squeeze even if she never fully returns my affection whatsoever.” “Since conversation is slowing down, Rover thinks that we can start playing cards now.” Rover was already shuffling a deck, ready and waiting to play a few rounds. He was always first deal because he claimed ownership of the deck. “Now cards are something I can actually get into, it’ll get my mind off all this impending danger hanging over our heads at least.” Applejack tapped the table twice. “Deal me in Rover; we’re starting off with a few rounds of poker!” “I can’t help but think that saying that makes you a huge stereotype Applejack.” It had to be said and Saffron couldn’t see it any other way. “You know, that farmers or country folk gather together to gamble and they do it among themselves often enough that it can be considering a national sport for them.” “Not all farmers or country folk play cards, why I know… funny I don’t know any of my kin that doesn’t know how to play cards.” Rubbing at her forehead in consternation, Applejack just proved Mare-Do-Wells point just by speaking up as she had. “Shucks it’s not like it’s a bad thing, I’m not about to bet real money. If anything, the card games at family reunions are all about bragging rights.” - It was a few hours later and a blizzard struck when they were closing in on the eye of the blizzards; the Centaur-pede settled into the snow and Mare-Do-Well was the one making dinner. Applejack had been entirely curious as to why the costumed crime fighter would be the one cooking, but she hadn’t complained when she tasted the food. It wasn’t apples, but it was clearly delicious and apparently the vigilante knew what she was doing around the kitchen. What kind of cutie mark would a vigilante hero have anyway? “You know, how can I be sure she’s even the real Mare-Do-Well?” It kind of bothered Applejack that Mare-Do-Well was hiding her real identity. It was like lying to the world about what you really looked like. “I mean this is a lot of trouble to go to convince me that the pony behind the mask is an identity worth hiding.” “That pony, right there the one I’m pointing at right now, has saved me from being raped by crashing through a window into an art exhibit and fought off my assailant, I’d say Mare-Do-Well is a true hero and she hasn’t done anything wrong.” Tapping a delicately manicured hoof to her chin, Rarity considered her words. “Well anything wrong that I know of anyway.” “Breaking and entering, interrogating known criminals with some mild violent methods, taking the law into my own hooves, sneaking into crime scenes and beating up entire crime families almost entirely by myself… I can live with the minor infractions that I do as long as I do not pass a certain line.” Mare-Do-Well sat a bowl of stew before Rover and he dove in face first slurping it up. It was kind of adorable to watch, as much as it was messy. Notably Rarity shifted away from him both mortified and horrified at his poor table manners. “Doing all that stuff together saved a hundred and forty seven lives in one week. Ponies die every single day; I just try to lighten the numbers so good people can continue on living long fulfilling lives. Saving an entire planet? I would have come down here alone even if Rarity and Ember didn’t want to lend their assistance.” “Okay, I can believe that. How did you become Mare-Do-Well anyway?” Applejack hoped that she could talk about that much at least. “It’s been a part of my family line starting a long time ago; I’m the newest Mauve Mare-auder only with a slightly different mantle. Thanks to a certain bug queen the Mauve Mare-auder was already taken and seen at the same time as I was when I started taking action in Canterlot, but at least the family legacy is being kept alive.” It had Saffron wondering why Chrysalis bothered to keep it alive when it wasn’t her family and the Changeling Queen had no obvious reason to do so. She would have to ask Chrysalis later and hope that the weirdest member of Rarity’s crew didn’t dodge the question. “I’m trying to proudly uphold my lineage, one that hides in the shadows and is apparently highly exaggerated in comic books.” “Well you’re certainly quite the character and you know how to cook too!” At least Applejack’s last few meals wouldn’t be so terrible if this was how Sugar’s cousin ate all the time. - Somewhere out in the snow there was the noise of something shifting. There was a small bulge in the snow and after a clearly audible pop, a pink ball of fur erupted from the snow and looked around curiously. It blew a raspberry and chose a direction to start walking in. The blizzard wasn’t affecting it at all as it wandered forward until the blizzard just stopped and it looked at the sky to see swirling clouds. It sat down to stare at the swirling masses of grey for about three hours, before it looked down to see some kind of large steel structure. The structure in question had a lot of crossing beams and was standing tall above the snow, with a red blinking light at the top of it. It was an antenna tower, not that the observer knew that. Moving closer this particularly curious and familiar Puffle sniffed at one of the four metal bases and blew a raspberry at it, as if she expected the giant four legged thing to respond to the intrusion into its personal space. The Puffle stood entirely still for thirty minutes, then it finally blinked and smiled. This Puffle then proceeded to do what any Puffle would do when making a new friend, it was the dumbest thing it could possibly do really. She licked the metal and her tongue immediately got stuck to it. Maybe her new friend was a little too friendly, since it wouldn’t let go her of her tongue which was getting a bit cold. She put her lips up to the structure trying to keep her tongue warm and now those were stuck too, she didn’t exactly like her friend like that and they seemed quite insistent about starting a relationship. She decided that her new friend was really sticky and clingy, but she really liked her friend anyway.
-89-“At least we know the tundra zone isn’t entirely an inhospitable hellhole. The devastated nature will take a while to come back from this, but at least some trees and animals are surviving.” Gilda was referencing the life signs they had passed several miles back, some of the native life had figured out hibernation at least. “I’m kind of surprised the native life on this planet could even adapt to something like this… well what little that hasn’t yet died in the iced over part of the planet anyway.” “Aside from that, we’re almost at the blizzard creation zone; can we stop here so I can send out a scout to scope things out?” Greta spoke up sounding a bit concerned. “I’m pretty sure that once we go in, we’re going to be under near constant attack.” “So are we going to have Ember fly on out there?” Of the two, Gilda kind of preferred Ember for the job over Greta, the dragon was a sight damn more indestructible and could handle it if something went wrong. “Why do we need her to scout around? We already know there are a large number of machines ahead of us.” Gilda checked the sensors and there was barely any life in that direction, but there was a massive amount of heat and motion out there like when they made their way into the destroyed town of Gravenstein. In other words that was the only warning they really needed as to the dangers ahead of them. It still kind of bothered her that the buildings had been burnt out husks. The cryogenic wolves and snow sharks didn’t have weapons that produced that kind of damage, at least not from what they had experienced escaping the town. “A flyover is not what I had in mind; I wanted to test out my new toy!” The happy and giddy tone Greta spoke in had Gilda slightly worried. “Rarity… is Greta currently gushing over a blue and silver wolf shaped machine in the lower torso?” It was just a suspicion Gilda had about Greta’s sudden request to send out a scout. “No, but I can honestly say you’re correct in where your assumptions are heading.” What Rarity was currently looking at was still the same general shape, only it was much easier on the eyes than the jagged wolf design. “Hey, I had a lot of spare parts, why wouldn’t I take this opportunity to make myself a cuddly pet?” There was a strange definition to the word cuddly as far as Greta was calling it; at least what was sitting there ready to be activated looked safer than the robot wolves. Safer might not have been exactly the right term for the thing, especially knowing Greta and Gilda’s predilection for improving things. The robotic wolves had been angular blue and white colored machines with small jagged spikes sticking out of them in various places. An example would be their ears were notably more like forward pointing horns that they could gore someone with. Most of the small bladed extensions were on the sides of the legs which they could use to slash at someone by running by them without the need to use their claws. Their small tails weren’t used in combat, they were raised into the air to act as sensors and they communicated with the other robotic wolves using them. Even without the tails the wolves would still be capable of acting alone and that was rather efficient coding for their design, the lone wolf protocols were an interesting bit of programming. From what Greta managed to discover beyond what was surmised already, they were programmed entirely to capture intelligent biological entities alive. If that wasn’t going to work then they had to immobilize their target with injuries before freezing them. Chances of an injured target being defrosted safely was a lot iffier, the survival rate went down thirty eight percent and even without injury it was pretty bad already. The wolves had no long range capability, but they really didn’t need it when they had whatever generated the snow storms to cover their approach so they could get up close and personal. The chemical sprayers in their sharp metal fanged mouths weren’t powerful enough to account for the sudden snow storm Rarity’s group encountered when they came under attack at Gravenstein. The range on their ice breath was two feet at most and that was effective enough considering how fast they could move. That was not what Greta pulled out; instead it was more streamlined and less blocky. It looked exquisitely crafted from the various parts of the wolves they had lying around on the Centaur-pede in the previous scuffle. It was red, its ears were close together and pointed upwards instead of forward, its facial structure did not spike out into a volatile looking toothy maw, and its body was also quite lithe and smoother. Among the really major noticeable differences, it had a larger tail and it was red instead of blue. It sat there with Purple glowing eyes when it was activated and its segmented tail wagging back and forth, it opened its mouth and yipped revealing a laser cannon where its cryogenic gas sprayer should have been. “Let me guess, you made the time?” Saffron spoke blandly as she turned to Greta. “Better yet, how did you manage to even reprogram it to do what you want exactly? Here I thought that us ponies were the only ones who got away with stuff like this.” “Yes, I did make time. Do you seriously think that you’re the only one that can do insane things around here? I mean nobody brought up the fact that Rarity made a parka for Applejack on the spot in the small amount of time we were at the farm.” After saying that, Greta rubbed at her fox shaped machine’s cheeks and cooed at it. “Who is my cute little vixen, you are! I’m a technical engineer, so reprogramming it wasn’t exactly that hard. I just needed to remove a tiny amount of programming and build the laser cannon into her mouth after I got all of her to look how I wanted her to, it required me to alter some parameters here and there and boom!” The robotic fox made another yipping noise and playfully pawed at Greta’s left arm with no ill intent meant, it even nuzzled up to her in an adorable manner while seeming to smile at her. Its tail was wagging and it looked ecstatic to be with Greta. “So what can it do for us aside from helping us shoot things with its mouth and scout around for us?” The robot bounded over to Ember and yipped while bouncing playfully and waggling its flowing tail high in the air. Ember slowly reached out to rub its head and it let off a mechanical sounding purring. “How about horribly corrupting the programming of every other robotic wolf we may encounter? I had enough intact robot wolf tails to forge that tail for our little vulpine friend here; you see those metal mutts use their tails to communicate with each other to work together. Without their ability to coordinate against us, they will be easier to deal with. The tail also has another surprise, but it’s not quite finished yet.” With a grin, Greta watched Ember interact with the purple eyed vixen robot that seemed to be happily soaking up the attention like a sponge. “Heck my virus transmitter might even be able to get a few of the wolves to fight for us, but I’m unsure if that’ll be a temporary thing or not. It’s not going to be a perfect thing as they’ll eventually learn to block out her signal and or might eventually recover from being controlled by her, but they will never be able to get their coordination back. I’m going to call her Viral. Come here Viral!” Viral yipped and slinked her way over to Greta and sat down before her, Greta started to punch a few things into her data pad and smile as Viral laid down before her and the fox’s head split in half revealing her inner workings to Greta. Greta plugged her data pad into it and looked to be curiously checking Viral over. “I have to admit, that’s kind of amazing. I’m not exactly big on fancy things like this contraption, but I understand that we have a better chance in this fight we’re walking into?” It was explained to Applejack not long ago what would happen if they approached or even entered the blizzard staging area. She was ready to see what was causing her farm and so many towns to freeze over and be done with all this. “Well that’s just fine by me if it works like it’s supposed to.” “She will do what we need her to, that’s why I’m asking Gilda to let me send her out as a scout.” Greta wanted to play with Viral and make her go mess with the communications between all the wolves ahead of them before they arrived. Viral would sow confusion before they got there and they’d reap the benefits of it. That was the problem with making your robots openly interconnected to one another, all someone needed was one of the transmitters and enough technical knowhow to cause a whole slew of issues.“We can perform some long distance sabotage before we start moving into the identified center of the area Opal marked for us.” “Yeah, I can actually get behind that… though I’m curious what did you do with the rest of the parts? I checked the box before I climbed the ladder to upper torso and there doesn’t seem to be as many as we had.” It was Gilda’s concern that Greta wasted a lot of resources on making a robotic fox. “The wolves were crawling all over the Centaur-pede’s legs last time, so I gave each individual leg a salvaged shield generator with a special twist to them.” Despite saying that, Greta was not very forthcoming with what the particular twist was. “The main shield will not be overly taxed like it was previously and the wolves will have many problems with swarming us this time.” The two griffons were adaptable to any situation and Viral was Greta’s secret weapon for the upcoming fight. Gilda didn’t need a secret weapon as she was the pilot of her very own personally built cargo loading machine, one that doubled as a moderately large mobile fortress with some new quirks thanks to Greta’s tinkering. - Viral yipped and ran down the ramp out the back of the Centaur-pede and off into the snow ahead of the vehicle under Greta’s guidance. Greta was using the sensors and her data pad to guide the robot, which was more of a Virtual Intelligence than a true Artificial Intelligence. Rarity would know the difference and watched as the fox traveled off into the distance sending them back visual images on the screen. Without a word, Ember was already climbing up the ladder to take up a position on top of the lower torso. She was ready for round two and this time she’d make sure that she didn’t get swallowed before the fight started. “I can do my best work from here, but the rest of you should get your weapons and get up top.” It didn’t seem to Greta that they were going to avoid this one, but at least they knew a fight was coming this time. “I’ll be running control of Viral from the lower torso.” “I have to be honest here; I’m not too comfortable with all this stuff we’re getting into.” Applejack had a reason to be pensive, especially given her proximity to Rarity who found trouble no matter what she did. “Don’t worry, none of us are comfortable about any of this either or much of anything else we tend to get into. We’re here and I’m not about to back down now!” Rarity wanted to make that wedding dress for her cousin, the process to eventually doing that required this really excessive detour. Rarity checked her material pistol and closed it up with a click and looked over the charge on her energy pistols. “I don’t think my life will ever be quiet, but I think I am coming to enjoy the challenges I’ve been coming across. Hopefully Noctus will be much quieter than this escapade and I can do a fashion show without all this crazy stuff.” “Aw, but boss lady, I like the crazy stuff we do together!” No one other that Greta would say that with a cheerful disposition and mean it. She enjoyed Rarity’s presence and being her friend, even if there was a lot of danger involved. She looked at the data pad and stared at something; she put a headset on and tapped at it to make sure it was working. “Methinks we have a target! Some kind of tower structure that’s giving off a strange signal, Viral is piping in the data to us now. Gilda see what you can make of it on our approach… also I think Rarity doesn’t have to worry about our lost little cling on. The Puffle is at the tower and it appears to have its face stuck to it, from what I can see it’s an old acquaintance of ours.” “Like we don’t have enough problems around here without having to avoid killing the little pest, I’m starting forward. You better be ready to disable those wolves Greta.” Gilda set them on moving forward at full speed, once it got moving they weren’t going to slow down much until they were within range of the target and then they’d start taking evasive maneuvers. “Whoever is causing this, you better be prepared to say hello to the Centaur Stampede and Shining Jewel’s premier mechanics The Garage Griffons!” “Centaur Stampede, I thought it was Centaur Centipede…” Muttered a curious Greta under her breath as the snow storm started up at their approach and coordinated Viral to take control of several of the wolves and freeze the cause of the snow storm. They were apparently giant turtle shaped devices with large tube shaped spikes that were shooting snow and ice to generate the snow storm that the wolves hid in; the wolves Viral managed to get converged on them and froze over the spouts with Viral staying well away from the resulting line of explosions. The blockage on one had caused a chain reaction that made all the machines explode. The brewing snow storm sputtered and died, that’s when the battle truly began. “What did you just do Greta?” Rarity asked from her perch next to the front left turret as she watched an entire line of explosions erupted in the distance. “I apparently found and took care of the snow storm generators, not sure if they’re responsible for the blizzards though. It looks like our mechanical wolves are already harrying them and any wolves I didn’t get have started their lone wolf protocols.” Greta started to steer Viral away from the sudden increasing action coming from ahead of them and the wolf units she managed to corrupt followed the vixens lead. Greta had them moving towards the Centaur-pede when she noticed something else going on. “Heads up, we got aerial drones inbound… they’re of human make, it seems we’ve stirred up a hornets’ nest! They only have five in the air, but I’m detecting more incoming and fast with Viral’s help.” Five aerial arrowhead shaped drones half the size of an average one person fighter came zooming towards the Centaur-pede, Gilda raised the left and right claws of the upper torso and fired. They managed to avoid the first shot and the second ripped three apart when the second drone from Gilda’s right went up in a ball of flames and shrapnel. A loud crack rang out and the remaining two crashed when one lost a wing causing it to slam into the other. “Well that seemed easy enough.” Applejack had spoken way too soon as she scouted the incoming fins popping up from the snow, along with hundreds of wolves chasing the purple eyed retreating corrupted units. Thirty arrowheads were now in the air and angling towards the quickly approaching Centaur-pede. “I guess I spoke to soon… are all of us safe up here?” “You should be, the shields will cover you and… oh nice! Greta’s modifications to the shields will really help out with the wolves. Let her deal with them for the moment, you need to focus on taking out those aerial drones. They are too fast for me to shoot them all down and the beam cannons in the arms up here are slow and meant for heavier targets. I’m switching the turrets to anti-air coverage.” Gilda whipped out the right arm as each arrowhead dove and started firing two rapid streams of spheres into the shields; the arm sent their formation spiraling out of control when she hit the lead unit. “Update, I think I recognize the style of these drones, don’t hit the lead unit. The rest of the formation will scatter unpredictably if you do which will make them more problematic to deal with; otherwise they’re standard human military strafing assault drone models which thankfully lack shields. I have some suspicions about where they came from; considering all the other machines out here don’t look military in the slightest… incoming shark, get ready to brace for impact!” The centaur machine’s shields flared above Rarity as the drones shot at them from overhead and circled around to perform another series of strafes. Looking around she started shoot at the backs of the five drones that passed overhead with her two energy pistols firing multiple shots rapidly and only one went down, they were tough to get a bead on as they swerved and tilted slightly to avoid her shots. Ember had taken to the air a while ago and swooped down from above to slice the remaining drones in half with her blazing bayonet and quickly evaded another formation of speedy little arrowheads that suddenly started targeting her. She rolled and avoided the shots that were aimed for her wings; her wings were easier to damage than the rest of her body and she whipped her tail around to send the drone behind her spiraling into the ground. “Ember, are you sure it’s safe to be flying with all these drones around?” Rarity continued to pick and choose her targets. She fired when she saw an opportunity; apparently the drones weren’t good at dodging cross fire as she managed to drop three in quick succession as they avoided Rover’s shots. Rarity had to duck as a spiraling drone slammed into the back of the lower torso after one of the turrets blew off one of its wings and exploded. “She can take care of herself; she’s the only aerial support we have at the moment.” Suddenly the entire Centaur-pede shook knocking Greta out of her seat, she quickly got back into it. “Is everyone okay? Gilda, what happened?” “Holy… you said this thing was made to load cargo right?” Saffron stopped to witness what Gilda was up to, she looked towards the front and saw a large flailing Abominable Jaws being held up by the two claws. Two crossing beams erupted out of its back when Gilda fired point blank into it. “Yep, but it’s also a mobile fortress!” The Centaur-pede hadn’t stopped moving forward when Gilda had grabbed the first shark. Seeing the next one was coming, she actually did stop the forward motion and reared back holding the damaged shark high above the Centaur-pede’s body. Without a snow storm to hide them, Gilda could actually deal with them. “Wait for it… now!” As the second mechanical shark erupted from the snow it met with its demise by having the tail end of the first one shoved straight down its throat, Gilda quickly turned the Centaur-pede and maneuvered it around the two large crumpled sparking robots and managed to get out of range before they exploded violently. She reared back the left arm as if she were going to throw a punch and then rammed the claws home gutting the third one coming at them and gained leverage with the other arm to lift it out of the snow ready to throw it forward. “These guys are heavy bastards!” Gilda managed to get the shark into a position above the Centaur-pede where she could throw it at something; this was much easier because she could actually see the targets for one. “How are we doing so far Greta?” Viral and the corrupted wolf units suddenly spun around and combined their efforts to attack the wolves running around on their lone wolf protocols. Without any ability to coordinate the robotic wolves were having a problem stopping Greta’s fox from wrecking them with the corrupted wolves, said corrupted robots performed orchestrated movements to rip each incoming wolf to shreds in a combined effort. The fox was being kept back and out of the fight, sometimes opening its mouth and firing a blast of energy at a moment of opportunity. “We’re doing okay so far, we’ve got at least fifteen wolves on our side working together. However they have more reinforcement’s incoming and we have nothing to reinforce us out here aside from wolves with open communications that I can exploit.” Greta started taking stock of the bogeys they were dealing with; the Centaur-pede had an angry swarm of red dots surrounding it with more incoming, wolves, aerial drones and two more giant robot sharks. The shields were holding up very well, provided a shark didn’t get the chance to ram them. “Shields are holding and we have about thirty drone on us with ninety more inbound, the wolves are having problems dealing with my remote controlled menace. The wolves are not going to be able to focus on us for a while, but their numbers are increasing by the second. The sensors are already showing one hundred and twenty wolves and rising. Same thing for the drones and they’re faster, the number of sharks seem limited, they aren’t going to be a big issue. I’m currently having Viral deal with the forty wolves ahead of us. The drones are the ones really making a dent in us here.” “Can you move our units closer towards us and lure the enemy in? I have a present for them; the return to sender kind.” The large white and silver shark was wiggling thrashing in the grip of the Centaur-pede and Gilda had her eyes set on the numerous wolves popping out of the snow in increasing numbers. “Roger that, I see what you want me to… Gilda quickly close the mouth it’s trying to spit out wolves!” In response to Greta’s words the left arm of the Centaur-pede fired a blast and the insides of the shark exploded sending smoke out its mouth. The insides were probably husked out and the arm didn’t take much damage thanks to the shields. “Okay, that worked. Our captured wolves are taking a lot of damage, but if I’m right we can get some more from the ones inbound. They are still communicating with each other and all they need to do is get close to Viral for me to get them. I’ll have her ready to intercept when we need her to.” Rover was firing at the air and trying to shoot the pesky fast moving things, his pistol was holstered and he was using one of the energy rifles for the added punch. It was a little different from the pistol, but he was alright with using it. He was amazed that Rarity and Saffron could gun down so many drones, much less Applejack who seemed to be picking her shots carefully. He was learning quickly by example and narrowed his eyes; he took carefully aim and fired a rapid stream of energy ripping an entire formation of drones apart. His tail wagged with excitement, he was helping and even being an effective member of the pack. Flying overhead Ember rolled, then braked with her wings and dug her claws into the drone that had been chasing her and fired a molten rock into the four other drones holding formation with it, the shots that had hit her wings seriously hurt. She was beginning to really miss her ramshackle armor, the air was positively swarming with these drones and she was having problems dealing with them all. She smashed the drone she was clinging too and swooped down for the Centaur-pede and landed firing at the swarm slowly ripping their transport's shields apart. “Are you alright Ember?” Rarity turned to the dragon in concern even as her eyes continued to spot targets of opportunity for her to shoot at. The four single barreled turrets were really hitting the drones harder than their small arms fire. In fact they were all shredding their way through the masses before them and it was surprising Rarity how well they were doing thus far. “I’m fine, but give me a minute; I have idea to take care of all the incoming drones.” Ember popped the central hatch and climbed down the ladder to see Greta glance at her before she went back to looking at the screen; she was too busy to take her eyes off the action for too long. “Greta I brought a small case of alcohol down here when we made our drop, where did you put it?” “Third box; from the rear on the left… now don’t distract me I’m down to eight wolves and its more than three to one out there!” Even a genius like her was being taxed by controlling so many things at once; she was even having Viral provide long range support. “Greta how many of these things are there?” Saffron had both her armored hooves raised to the sky and they swept back and forth hitting drones constantly before their strafing runs could do too much damage, that’s when the ninety incoming drones finally showed up. It made for a very target rich environment, but those things were causing a problem. “Unknown, there are even more drone are on the away, please tell me your plan can take care of that many Ember!” Greta was starting to sweat as she manipulated the dwindling number of corrupted wolves into a position where Gilda can lend her assistance. “The shields are really beginning to flag here and there’s too many of them to deal with.” “Yeah, I can handle the drones, just focus on the wolves. Once I’ve dealt with the drones I’ll try to hit the tower.” Ember was no longer carrying her favorite rifle; instead she had a rocket launcher strapped to her back. She started drinking as she climbed the ladder. She needed some metal melting heat. “We’re almost within firing range of the tower; if it’s controlling all of these defenses it would definitely be a good idea to put that thing out of its misery… like yesterday. That would be very helpful.” Gilda tossed the shark she had been holding onto and a lot of wolves went down in a series of pops as the rolling mass of metal crushed them. “Try to grab as many of the incoming wolves as you can Greta, I’m running out of fish to fry.” “On it…” A flash of white appeared above the Centaur-pede and drones started raining from the air, Greta turned Viral to see what had caused that and saw Ember exhaling violently all over the drones. “Ember is really taking it to those drones.” There was a swarm of wolves clashing and colliding against one another, some had immediately turned around and started attacking their own immediately without warning. Greta certainly came through with her side of the fight. “Almost there… Ember can you get a shot in on that transmitting tower? I need another thirty seconds to be in range and I’ve just cleared my schedule. So I’ll get right on that” Even as she said this Gilda was spinning the upper torso holding onto a shark by its tail and using centripetal force, it was used to remove the last two sharks from the fight. “Come on just a little closer…” Multiple wolves broke through the battle front Greta created and leapt for the legs of the Centaur-pede, only they were violently fried and fell to the ground when arcs of raw energy leapt from the legs and destroyed their electronics in a shower of sparks. After twenty or so fell, it was becoming apparent that the robot wolves didn’t have problem solving skills far beyond their programming and the shields on the Centaur-pede’s legs alone were causing quite a number of casualties. “Zap shield modifications, one of my brighter ideas.” Greta commented lazily with a smug grin on her beak as she controlled her growing army through Viral, her grin fell away when she noticed that the shields were also damaging the legs a fair bit, almost as much as they were the robot wolves trying to jump on them. “Could use some tweaks though.” - The Puffle just sat there staring at the blinking light until something slammed into it and exploded, the entire structure started to collapse around it. It didn’t seem particularly frightened by this even if its tongue was stuck to a cold bit of metal. A stream of fire swept down the metal making it warm, this eventually let the Puffle pull away and wander off aimlessly. - “I hope I don’t regret that later.” Ember fired off another rocket at the support structure, she was sent flipping in the air from the recoil of the launcher. The tower was still transmitting according to Gilda, who was in the process of firing two beams at it. The tower was almost completely down, one more shot and Ember had stopped the transmission. Every aggressive and corrupted robot in the area immediately collapsed as if their strings were cut and the only robot that was still moving was the innocent looking Viral. “Yeah we did it, now I guess we can start poking around to see what we can… oh crap!” Hearing Gilda’s sudden exclamation, Ember watched as the Centaur-pede suddenly dropped into the ground at an impressive speed. There was a large hole where her friends used to be. The dragon didn’t think twice and immediately flew after her hoard. Viral sat there unblinking and the Puffle eventually wandered up to her and started a staring contest. Eventually Viral went to find Greta and the Puffle followed blowing raspberries in an excited manner. Author's Note I don't know if I got this chapter right and I've been feeling off the last few days... 'sigh', well nothing for it. I have to keep going forward!
-90-“Greta, I need you to give me a damage report. If what I saw was correct the robotic animals are down, but those security drones were still flying.” There were warning sirens blaring inside the Centaur-pede, Gilda felt the entire machine come to a sudden stop for a second when they finally stopped falling, she hit the lights and noticed that they had just started sliding down a slope into a dark icy tunnel. “Okay, we’re sliding and I really need to know what we have…” “I’m worried about the others Gilda, all their life signs have split off from us and I’ve lost Viral’s signal!” Greta was already trying to process what had happened and was rubbing at the bump on her head as she sat up, she had been badly knocked around in the lower torso. To think they were ready to investigate the freshly destroyed tower when this happened. “She’s just an innocent little VI; she can’t do big girl things on her own like Opal can!” “Calm down Greta, I think we have bigger problems to worry about than your pet robot or our friends.” The upper torso turned to face the rear and saw several combat drones flying down the hole behind them and the centaur-pede was slowly picking up speed. Gilda wondered where Rarity, Rover, Applejack, Saffron and Ember were, their life signs were still going strong a few seconds ago before they slipped out of range. It was concerning that it might have been them literally slipping away on the ice. “Such as keeping ourselves alive in the meantime…” “Yeah, my head isn’t exactly in the game at the moment. Hold on a second… okay, the left arm and all six legs are heavily damaged. Some of that damage to the legs was my fault, probably should have calibrated those extraneous leg shields better.” Lifting her data pad up to her eyes, Greta read off the diagnostics and the last thing she saw made her breath hitch a bit. She was still a bit woozy, but even she recognized a major problem when she saw one. “Oh and… we’re not getting our shield generator back. It’s completely beyond repair, as in it had a thankfully quiet meltdown. If it had been a noisy meltdown we wouldn’t be alive right now. So there’s absolutely nothing to stop those drones from ripping us apart. I’m quite sorry about my modifications helping damage the legs to the state they are in now.” “Oh come on Greta, it’s not like this is the worst thing you’ve ever done. This isn’t even close to being bad enough to be on my list of the top five worst engineering mishaps caused by you. It’s also not the worst situation we’ve ever been in. Back to the situation at claw, we need to swap out the limbs when we can get a chance. Provided that you didn’t do anything to mess up our spares, we still have plenty to work with.” As cool as an ice cube under pressure, Gilda raised the right arm of the Centaur-pede and fired immediately at the drones. Her shot nailed the central drone and the other four joined it quickly in being destroyed when the Centaur-pede’s turrets ripped into them. “I also wouldn’t say that there is absolutely nothing stopping them from ripping us apart, we’ve still got the turrets and an armory stocked with weapons on board. So we just need to find a safe spot to get some breathing room and get our bearings.” - “Whoa, what the hay is going on?” With a grunt Applejack found herself on top of the so called armored Mare-Do-Well and they were angling to head down a tunnel. Seconds ago the entire machine fell out from under her and she had become weightless for a few seconds. “We’re underground, that’s what’s going on!” Saffron tried to keep them both level, her armored suit was made for big jumps and gliding, not for flying or carrying passengers. The weight of Applejack’s body was making it hard to keep upright and maneuver it so that she landed on the ice safely; she somehow managed to keep herself upright. Looking over her shoulder at Applejack she saw two drones following them down the tunnel they were in. “Now hold on, this might get a bit bumpy. If can you can get yourself situated correctly, then maybe you can help us by shooting down those drones on our butts while I try to concentrate on what’s going on in front of us.” - Back at the top of the various underground tunnels there was an innocuous hole in the floor in the middle of various branching underground tunnels. It was just the right size and shape for a Diamond Dog to have dug and there was a small mound of displaced snow and ice heading off in a specific direction. It was not in the direction of the Centaur-pede that slammed into the ice and left skid marks behind. Seconds later Ember flew into the tunnel system and saw the large skid marks created by something heavy, she followed that because it had to be the way their vehicle went and logically where everyone else was. Next Viral skidded to a stop and dropped down into the tunnel network and looked about before choosing one of the tunnels to go down, the mechanical fox went slip sliding away. It was also not the tunnel that the Centaur-pede went down. The Puffle fell into the tunnel system after Viral and slid three feet with joyous laughter and then she came to a sudden stop. The puffle scooted a bit, but her fur was so thick she couldn’t really slide because of all the friction. She started to get angry and blew a raspberry; she wanted to do the happy fun thing that other more mobile four legged thing she followed down here did! The Puffle was too fluffy to actually lose friction on the ice, it jumped once and then twice trying to get sliding, only for it to stop a few feet away. For once in its life the Puffle stopped to actually think about something, which hurt its tiny little love filled brain as it started walking forward. It tripped and went rolling down tunnel, it giggled joyously at how fast it was going. The Puffle didn’t exactly feel the sheer mortal dread that it should have been about where the tunnel it was going down ended up. It was getting kind of dizzy through. - The Centaur-pede fell out from under Rarity and she was panicking, to think things had been going so well. Greta had managed to wrest control of most of the wolves before they grew wise to the fact that they were being hacked. The ones that did had problems coordinating their efforts against them without being capable of communicating with one another to form a far more effective response. Gilda had positively wrecked the large robotic snow sharks. Everyone else had done moderately well against the drones, up to the point they were beginning to exceed their ability to handle through sheer numbers. Ember had been pretty amazing when she came up with that bottle of alcohol. Rarity would have commented on her drinking habits, but she remembered what happens when a dragon imbibed and those flames were ridiculously powerful. It was quite clear the dragon would never have a drinking problem unless she needed to deal with large threats. It had been mostly Greta, Gilda and Ember’s show up to this point, where everything suddenly went absolutely pear shaped. Maybe even Durian shaped, because it was that bad. Rarity slapped against ice harshly and started sliding down a tunnel, what little she could see of it in the quickly dwindling light. She grunted and thanked the stars she hadn’t landed wrong as this was going to bruise horribly. She was thankful for the breach gel in her EVA suit that was currently wearing under her parka. Besides Ember everyone outside the Centaur-pede had their EVA suits and parkas on… except Applejack didn’t have an EVA suit or the same breach gel cushion. She silently prayed for the farmer’s safety. Looking up, Rarity started up her head lights and frantically looked about to find something to grab on to. Scrabbling with her hooves to try and find purchase, there was none to be had for Rarity as the tunnel was full of ridiculously smooth ice. Wherever the tunnel inevitably leads, she had ended up sliding down it backwards and facing upwards. It took her a moment to realize that she had lost one of her energy pistols; she had been in the middle of stowing them when the world suddenly fell out from under them. Rarity’s ears twitched as she heard something coming down the tunnel after her. She hoped that it wasn’t the Centaur-pede, she didn’t want to be crushed underneath it. It didn’t take ten more seconds of uncontrolled sliding before she saw what was coming; she wasn’t going to use her material pistol as it was her emergency weapon. With one energy pistol she had to make her shots count as five lights fell on her. The drones immediately started firing at her once they caught sight of her and Rarity tried to roll or at least veer out of the way of the five twin streams of energy bullets from the five drones. One round smacked into the ice next to her and she yelped still trying to scramble sideways out of the path of their shots. Only to bounce when she hit a horizontal piece of ice that sent her flying until she hit the tunnels floor and went tumbling, she tried to keep a strong death grip on her energy pistol with her magic and was being remarkably stubborn about not letting it go. As she turned her head to the right to start shooting at the chasing drones, she was now sliding on her belly sideways down the tunnel. “How do I keep getting myself into these situations?” The uncontrolled slide down the tunnels was starting to get on her nerves; she fired several times only for the drones to avoid each of her shots. She used her eye for detail to take notice of something and fired twice; the central drone flew into the path of the second shot avoiding the first and it took two other drones with it when it exploded. The two remaining drones shifted positions, that’s when they started to spiral towards her and pick up speed and started flashing. Did that mean what Rarity thought it meant? They were going to blow up on her! Just as the drones were closing in with her and avoiding her frantic shooting, well you’d have to see how well you could shoot something in this situation. She couldn’t hit them and they were getting dangerously close to her as their shots passed by her sometimes putting a small hole in her parka. Nothing she couldn’t fix, but it was quite worrying. As the drones closed in there was a sudden right curve in the tunnel that sent Rarity sliding high up the wall and then she was going in the opposite direction on her back watching the explosions above her as the drones couldn’t turn fast enough to make the same hairpin that Rarity involuntarily did. Rarity found herself drifting back down to the bottom of the tunnel from the wall, she had to figure out how to slow down and fast. She did not want to hit anything at the speeds she was going right now. Oh right, she still had her pinpoint puller! Putting her gun away, Rarity aimed up the slide with her hoof she fired her pinpoint puller, realizing that the problem was worse than she had previously thought; she was sliding too fast for the pinpoint puller to slow her down for more than a few seconds. She started panicking again, this was worse than the fact that this was ruining her parka… which wasn’t a big issue as she could always make another one. She was likely going to die if she hit a wall… she fired her pinpoint puller towards the wall ahead of her and managed to flip and spin her body around before the grapple beam broke. Thanks to a bit of maneuvering Rarity was mostly upright looking down the tunnel. If she was going to die, then she might as well face that wall head on. Well it wasn’t exactly a wall, more like a bunch of icicles jutting from the floor that would have skewered her had she continued her path into them. She fired her pinpoint puller off to the side and managed to skirt around the left side of the sharp pointy bits of ice that ripped into the front right leg of her EVA suit and parka. She lost a large amount of breach gel before it hardened enough to seal off the damage, it left behind a large colorful streak on the slide that could probably be found years later if someone actually went looking for it. That wasn’t exactly a comforting thought if she got trapped down here with no way out. Rarity was glad that she had decided to wear her parka over the EVA suit; the more breach gel she lost the colder it would be even with her thermal layer. It was a good thing she could actually fix tearing damage on her parka with magic. She slid back and forth until she centered in the slide once more and heard a sound from above, turning her head upwards she saw a different tunnel above her and ten drones came down out of it firing as she passed by it. Today was just not Rarity’s day, she curled up into smaller target as the ten drone swept down into the tunnel behind her firing blasts of energy everywhere. Chips of ice flew off the walls and floor of Rarity’s surroundings as she cowered while sliding down a tunnel to who knows where and she was all alone. She felt an abrupt change in her momentum when her body went off a ramp and she suddenly found herself uncurling with shots flying around her as she fell, she let off a long drawn out scream as pain erupted in one of her hind legs as a shot ripped through it. She was now falling down a widening shaft into nothingness. She tried to spin herself in the air so that she could at least look upwards at the drones still chasing her down; she wondered if these machines realized that if they just left her alone she would probably die anyway. She could see they got her thigh and quite badly with the barest of a glance out of the corner of her eyes in her helmet's lights as she fell upside down, the pain was quite agonizing and making her head fuzzy, hopefully the breach gel would take care of that. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she hadn’t realized that she had stopped screaming at some point… why was she narrowing her eyes at the drones and why was she thinking of doing something crazy? “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I’m still going to try!” Talking to no one in particular was the first sign that she was going insane from the danger that she was in, either that or it was the pain in her rear leg. Rarity wasn’t exactly coping with this situation well. She aimed her pinpoint puller at the arrowhead shaped drones shooting at her and pulled her energy pistol out. She fired her energy pistol once and then fired her pinpoint puller. The grapple beam lanced out across the space between Rarity and the drone and actually connected when the drone moved into the path of the beam, her fall slowed down and after feeling weightless for a moment she shot straight up towards the drone through a wall of energy bullets grazing her parka and suit, doing even more damage to both before her tether got intersected by one of the blasts. She threw here hooves out, managing to actually grab onto the central drone while she still had some momentum and flipped herself onto it. “Sorry, but I really don’t feel like dying today!” She ducked to the side of the drone as a several rounds of energy started attacking her and the drone she was clinging to. The drone started to automatically dodge the friendly fire from the five drones behind it. The four other drones around them exploded and Rarity was lucky enough that none of their bits hit her. The lead drone Rarity was clinging to for dear life was swerving and twirling wildly trying to dislodge Rarity, this was much to her benefit. Rarity aimed her pistol upwards and fired off several shots and managed to destroy a single drone in the last fifteen rounds she fired off in desperation, she was under a lot of pressure and that they were still traveling downwards was starting to freak her out. How far down were they going exactly? After ten seconds of being unable to dislodge Rarity from itself, the drone started beeping and flashing, Rarity put her pistol away and kicked off it towards one of the walls. It exploded violently sending its parts flying everywhere, some of the shrapnel piercing Rarity’s EVEA suit. That caused Rarity to yelp. The explosion also bounced Rarity off the wall and sent her tumbling into an uncontrolled fall. This caused her to grunt and grit her teeth. Her body was being quite badly battered, especially by that sudden jarring impact. Rarity didn’t know how much more of this she could take… then the shaft opened wider into a large lit cavernous area. The floor was quickly coming up to meet Rarity and she didn’t think she was going to survive hitting it at terminal velocity like this. She closed her eyes before she hit the floor and then didn’t stop, but felt herself ram through a thick layer of ice in painfully brutal manner that caused a loud snapping noise. One of her legs had to be broken, that or something just set her entire body on fire and then she was dipped in acid in an attempt to put said fire out. She was going to scream herself hoarse now and she didn’t feel like stopping until she was unconscious and then eventually dead. The drones circled above the hole in the ice, they couldn’t go underwater and just sped off to go after other targets currently invading the tunnel systems. Had anyone been around, Rarity’s agonized screaming would have been muffled by the suit suddenly being underwater and the temperature dropping by a large magnitude; Rarity didn’t struggle when she found herself being propelled by a powerful current. She didn’t want to be trapped in an underwater stream, but it wasn’t like she had a choice in where she was going now as she was nursing her broken leg. She had to find a way out of this, she just had to. She still had so much to live for and Opal would be absolutely distraught if her friends went back up without her, provided they weren’t in a similar situation to her. Rarity looked up at her HUD through the tears in her eyes and winced, her front left leg was broken. She had multiple pieces of metal embedded in her suit and she had internal bleeding, very bad bruising in several places. She stopped screaming and started whimpering instead as she held her left leg. Feeling the current growing faster, Rarity had a sinking feeling as to what that meant and then she was spat out of a hole where the water was spewing into something akin to an aqueduct. The mare didn’t exactly have time to focus on the oddity of the way the manufactured tunnels were moving the water around, she was too busy biting her lips and tasting copper as she slammed into another ice slide. Rarity was thankfully going at a good angle when she hit another downwards slide and didn’t land as poorly as she could have. She could have broken another leg; she was already in dire need of healing as it was. The tunnel suddenly straightened out and she found herself going horizontally and for some odd reason there were lights in the ceiling of the tunnel here. Was she going to heaven? It seemed more like hell at the moment. At least she was no longer going down and she was slowing down, something to be even more thankful for at least. What she wasn’t thankful for was the strange machine that dropped into the tunnel with her that looked like a much larger version of the robotic wolves and it was looking right at her sliding prone form. If there was an alpha wolf of those robots, this thing would have to be it. “As my sister is so fond of saying about the unfairness of it all… OH COME ON!” Rarity screamed hoarsely at the machine galloping after her, it would soon catch up with her. “What did I ever do to deserve any of this-his-his?” Despite her whining, Rarity tried to focus and blink the tears out of her eyes. The large machine was running on the ice and after a moment it crouched down, skidding for a few hundred feet before it lunged forward to try and bring one of its large paws down on her. Rarity aimed her right hoof at the underside of the machine and fired her pinpoint puller. The large wolf came down with a thunderous crash on all four of its legs and then it looked behind itself and then looked forward, it didn’t see its quarry anywhere. Rarity slowly climbed up to the side of the machine, her magnetic clamps keeping her on the giant robotic wolf. She stopped and convulsed a bit, she was cradling her left leg to her chest as she crawled on top of the machine as it looked under itself. Rarity fired at a joint in its neck, attracting its attention to her on its back, it growled at her and she responded by blowing out its left eye with five shots. It apparently didn’t have shielding like the other wolves. That worked for her, because she was already blasting the light out of its other large yellow eye. The large wolf robot roared and then crouched; Rarity looked at the lines of lights and sharp pointy icicles above her. She fell to her right side and rolled for all her worth as seconds later the giant robot wolf slammed it’s head and back into the ceiling. Rarity, having managed to narrowly avoid having her body pulped, took aim at the head with her pistol and tried to fire, only for a number of exponentially worsening arcs of energy to start travel along her pistol. That wasn’t a good sign, none of what was happening was a good sign either, but Rarity wasn’t about to be stopped now. Rarity’s pupils shrunk and she put all her magic into kicking her damaged energy pistol away from her, and into the broken sparking eye socket of the wolf robot. The gun soon blew up and caused a chain reaction as several other explosions went off in the thing’s head and it toppled to its left side where its head blew apart into tiny pieces upon hitting the floor. Looking ahead Rarity saw the tunnel suddenly just ended and she could see metal walls. Where was she? The destroyed metal wolf she was on slid out of the ice pipe and started a slow fall towards a large amount of snow below and what little she could see before the inevitable stop when the large wolf machine hit the floor with her still on it. It was some kind of strange facility, who had the time to build all of this and so far below ground? Rarity consciously detached from the falling machine by turning off the magnetic clamps, the large mangled wolf shape machine hit the snow send a large plume of it up to catch her and slow down her fall. She finally struck the snow and tried to stand up after a few minutes, but everything was so cold. She could hardly move and her vision was starting to fill with spots. Rarity slowly managed to stagger up to her three hooves and started to limp forward and away from the destroyed machine, she didn’t want to be near it if it exploded on her. She was so very tired now, she could see that at the edge of the snow was a floor and structure leading to a door. Surrounding it were boxes with what were obviously supplies… but to what end? Nothing made sense and she was trying to distract herself from the mind numbing pain and the fact that she was started to lose feeling in her limbs. She fell down upon reaching the metal flooring and couldn’t scream or cry anymore. She started crawling for the boxes, looking for a place to hide, maybe even warm up a bit. She made it behind the crates and found an opening she slowly dragged herself through. She turned herself around and looked out the opening at the large pile of junk she left behind, she was kind of horrified by the things she’d go through for friends and family. She’d probably do it all over again if she had to, she was surprised that she was still breathing. “Crap, they told you it wasn’t ready yet boss! The intruder managed to take it down with nothing more than an energy pistol and whatever that grappling thing was!” A human ran into view and he sounded like he was on the radio with someone, he was wearing a blue uniform with two silver stripes and a depiction of a tilted cyan cube on its back. His helmet was a bit angular and somewhat reminded Rarity of a snowflake. He and several other arriving humans were wearing fully decked out military gear. Machine guns, grenade belts, armor that covered every part of their bodies and they were all searching the perimeter around the machine Rarity had trashed. “Yes, it was a pony that destroyed it!” “A pony did all this damage… really?” A second suited figure that walked into view seemed to be expressing disbelief as if the very thought of it merited nothing but skepticism. He was also male from what Rarity could tell from their voices alone as she tried to breathe and relax. Obviously these people were part of the group behind all this. “It was just one pony; they’re complete jokes when it comes to fighting on foot. Sure, their space force is nothing to sneeze at and they did somehow manage to stop the planned attack on the depot cold. Even so, they never exactly had a powerful presence on the ground before, except for those fucking creepy Changeling things. Maybe they know about our operations here and sent a bunch of Changelings to scope us out first before sending in their forces.” “Apparently this pony didn’t get the memo that ponies are innocent, cute and should be a slave race to humanity. Whatever this small task force is that they’ve sent, it has breached the perimeter topside and managed to get into the tunnels. They’re causing all sorts of havoc everywhere and two of them even got into the base, before this one did. We haven’t been able to find them yet.” A third suited human walked up, this one was female. “We’ve got some kind of black ops unit thing going on here, it’s the only explanation for all the things they’ve pulled off when they hit the tower. Of the two already in the base, one’s a robot or a heavily decked out armored pony, but I’m leaning robot as I doubt there’s a pony alive that could really fight that well or even come close to causing anyone harm. The other mare is a local and must have gotten through our blizzard grid somehow and led them right to us. The little shits can’t really possibly have gone on the offensive to save themselves, they are too pacifistic! Though I wouldn’t entirely be surprised if our whole operation was compromised and this was their strike force or what they could make that would pass for one.” “Like those little horse bastards can even cobble together a strike force that could fight its way out of a card board box.” The second suited man stated. “The griffons are the real dangerous ones; they’re tearing up the tunnels in that machine of theirs.” “Now the griffons I would believe… only this is specifically an equine colony! One mostly made up of those pathetic dirt workers.” The first suited man stated with something akin to curiosity. “I also heard they had a bounty hunter among them, I believe her name is Flamethrower. She’s supposed to be a top rater in the pony sectors, which probably doesn’t mean much considering how pathetic ponies are to begin with. She has got to be on the griffon’s payroll, the ponies are probably here for different reasons, maybe as distractions. It’s either that or they are working on their own and know about the captured ponies we’re going to sell into slavery. If only the pirates would break that god damned blockade already! It can't be that hard.” “It’s a good guess at what those four legged multicolored freaks are here for at least, they rescue their people and the griffons get the planet. It would be no skin off their noses really, except for the fact that we want this planet ourselves. So whatever cute little thing those ponies are doing, we’re not going to let them pull off one of their last minute save the day in a cutesy way routines they are so fond of.” The woman started pacing back and forth holding two fingers up to her helmet. “Be on the lookout we have another intruder, they couldn’t have gone too far! Shoot to kill; we cannot afford to capture any of them alive.” Rarity stayed as quiet as she could and was trying not to moan in pain. Her eyes were starting to droop and she tried to stay awake, but she couldn’t possibly keep them open for much longer. The last thought that passed through her head before she blacked out was simply, who were all these horrid people? Author's Note GIR: Yay, a group of pro-human racists! No wait... isn't that a bad thing. Like a piggie that didn't get hugged? I'm going to sing the doom song now!
-91-“We lost them, how could we have possibly lost a several ton machine rampaging through the tunnels?” The human shook his head and put two fingers to his helmet. “I’m calling this in. I can’t believe we lost something that large in the tunnels somewhere!” “Where could it have possibly gone, the thing was so big that we couldn’t have possibly missed it if it were coming this way.” The second person stated looking around with his light sweeping the tunnel ahead and behind them. “If anything the drones would have a heck of a time losing it, if they hadn’t been destroyed. If we don’t know where it is, then the drones certainly don’t either.” It would take several more minute of them searching the tunnel they were in, but they eventually decided to drive back to base. After five minutes of driving they continued on down a different tunnel by taking a right turn at a three way junction. “So that’s the way we need to go. All the blood is beginning to rush to my head, please tell me you got the gravity generator up and running correctly Greta.” Gilda was only slightly upside down, had anybody bother to look to the roof of the tunnel at the junction they would have seen the large machine hanging flush with the ceiling with all eight limbs. “Excuse me Gilda, but you are the one resting on your back here, while I’m the one stuck on the ceiling fixing things!” Greta called back tersely. They had obviously survived sliding through the tunnels, but not without injury. Greta had a bad concussion and a small head wound, but it wasn’t bad enough that she wasn’t doing her job after getting her head bandaged. “My concussion certainly isn’t exactly making me do my job any faster you know.” “Isn’t it a bit weird that you designed this thing to crawl along walls and ceilings, but didn’t take into account the passengers you might be carrying?” Ember was with the two engineers, she had caught up with the griffons beating off gaggles of drones that were damaging the Centaur-pede. She was horribly worried about the state of the others when she learned that they got separated by falling into the network of tunnels. While Ember really wanted to get into the thick of it and start troubleshooting their problems, in quite a literal fashion by emphasizing the shooting their troubles part, doing so now would expose Gilda and Greta to danger. That was not something Ember wanted to do. “What do you need now Greta?” “Well excuse us for living! Crawler mode is a bit of a thing and we haven’t exactly tested out all the bugs in the design.” Gilda was, as Greta had pointed out, in fact lying on her back facing the ceiling of the tunnel they were in. “I can assure you that testing the submarine mode will be a lot more harrowing if we have to do it on the spot with the sort of damage we’ve taken thus far. Anymore of this and we might not even be able to lift off for space to break that record.” While in crawler mode Centaur-pede’s torso shifted to an extreme forward position and used the two arms as legs. It made the entire machine look more like an insect, but a spider definitely wouldn’t be anyone’s first guess. “If we can even survive getting to a point where we would even need to test the submarine mode in our current state, then I’m sure there will be nothing to worry about because we will have all the time in the world. You know since we’ll be dead when the pressure collapses the entire structure inwards, but at least I’ll be buried next to the love of my life in a giant metal coffin as a lump of skewered flesh.” While Greta could pride herself on her and Gilda’s work, she was a bit iffy on vehicles that traveled underwater and wasn’t sure if the Centaur-pede could actually handle that kind of pressure. They were primarily specialized in space traveling vehicles, so other vehicles necessitated a bit more stress testing. “Now if only she would get off her ass and help me back here or at least do something useful. Speaking of useful, will you pass me that screwdriver Ember? I have to get this panel back in place.” “I don’t plan on dying until five more years down the line Greta, besides I am doing something important. I’m listening to what’s going on around us, until you can fix some of the internal damage. At least the limb swap function worked perfectly and the fresh limbs are all functioning nominally.” Hopefully nobody looked up in this section of the tunnel and noticed something entirely off about the curvature of the ceiling, even Gilda knew that it was impossible for them to go unnoticed forever. “Speaking of, good news, at least Applejack, Saffron and Rarity are safely inside their base and are apparently alive. At least for the time being, considering there are shoot to kill orders currently going on for all of us. That’s the bad news, aside from the fact that we really don’t know what’s going on down here. Thus far our friends' current statuses are unknown at best and we don’t know where Rover possibly got off to. Hopefully they’ll keep their heads down and Ember can find them quickly enough to extract them. They’re probably learning a lot more than we are at any rate.” “What about Viral, I’ve only had her for such a short amount of time and I already miss the way she wagged her tail.” Greta was being way too sentimental about a robot for Gilda’s taste. “I didn’t even get a chance to finish her. To think I spent so much time remodeling her from scrapped wolf robots.” “Greta, I’m sure your pet robot has been blasted apart by the drones by now. If not, who knows what it could be doing with the modifications you made to it. Why do you always insist on making your own pets?” There was a story behind it and Gilda wasn’t about to elaborate. “You mean to tell me that Viral isn’t the first thing that she has built?” That had Ember curious, what else had Greta built aside from a robot fox that could launch robot wolf controlling viruses. “Not by a long shot and it’s rather telling that the other pets she’s made aren’t around anymore. She loses them for a various number of reasons, which is mostly the the lunacy of my best friend trying to keep a pet. There was this one time that it almost went total grey goo scenario when she built a bunch of these self replicating kittens.” It almost sounded like Gilda was horrified about the cats, despite the fact that it sounded cute. She heard Ember chuckling lightly and decided to put a stop to it. “It’s not funny; it’s actually quite horrifying for a number of reasons.” “Hey, I gave the repli-cats a really firm limit as to how many there could actively be at any given time! I’m not dumb enough to let them have the ability to reproduce without setting very firm limitations. I also made it clearly impossible for them to use any form of loophole in their programming on the subject alone.” It was concerning that Greta may have started a robot kitten uprising, in fact they were all on the SNUGGLES space station as security drones now. “Unfortunately they no longer belong to me and are unionized as SNUGGLES members. They are far more effective at unionizing than even the Caccerans are and can break red tape faster than people can make it, I’m kind of oddly proud of them really. They are currently in charge of the SNUGGLES organization’s security, by mostly keeping the case workers safe from their more dangerous customers. At least they are still adorable and I can visit them any time I want, with Tree Hugger always following us around it’s not hard to run into them every now and then.” “Was it really that bad?” It almost sounded that bad to Ember and she was asking Gilda in the upper torso for clarification. The dragon hardly thought of Greta as being threatening when she was so friendly, much less that she could cause a devastating mechanical grey goo scenario on such an adorable concept as kittens are. “Yes, do not trust Greta with making robots. They are usually in the vein of cute or disturbing for varying reasons and they usually have some destructive defensive capability thrown in for good measure. The kittens were probably the most notable example of why Greta would never make a killing in the robotic pet world… unless killing is something you wanted them to do specifically.” Stopping to consider her words, Gilda shrugged and continued onwards without caring about Greta’s feelings in the slightest. “It’s actually kind of Greta’s hobby, one that thankfully never gets too far. We can trust her with fixing the average MAT or CAT drones, but building her own pets? Yeah, run for the hills, because Greta is a real piece of work when it comes to making pets for herself.” “Hey, those kittens are friendly and well adjusted members of society! Even knowing they can kill just about anything in five seconds…” Well at least Greta wanted to believe they weren’t evil in an adorable manner, but joining SNUGGLES to get out from under her claws wasn’t the most ridiculous thing to ever happen to Greta’s so called ‘pets’. The mechanical kittens didn’t seem to hate Greta or anything, they just didn’t want to be her pets and she was fine with that. They still like to be cuddled and held, which is all Greta could really ask for at this point as far as that situation was concerned. “Yes, we’re all certainly thankful for not having little robotic kittens as our overlords Greta. It’s a wonder that Opal never bothers to ask me just exactly why it is that I gave her the nickname ‘Kitten’. If she wants Greta to build her a body, all she really needs to do is ask. Greta’s an old pro at making dangerous mechanical felines... one could even say she enjoys pussies way too much.” The sarcastic tone Gilda spoke in made Greta very quiet, it had to be the double entendre that had shut Greta’s beak. The poor girl had to be blushing up a storm and Gilda didn’t care one iota at being the cause of such a reaction. “Anyway, we might need to move soon, because we can’t stay here forever and sooner or later someone is bound to look up. The electronic countermeasures that we’re using do not physically prevent someone from seeing us up here. So I’m going to move us nearer to the human base. While I do that, do you want to hear the mechanical pet fish story? That one was one of Greta’s crowning achievements for most ridiculous destruction of a robotic pet, bar none.” “So you gave Opal the affectionate nickname ‘Kitten’ because of… that’s… actually kind of funny.” At least Ember was only mildly amused and there was a giggle or two as she continued to watch Greta work. Ember was too worried about the rest of her hoard to really loosen up and enjoy the conversation. “I’m curious enough to ask, what exactly happened with the mechanical fish?” “It’s hard to believe even if I do tell you, but Greta can confirm it happened and it gets really bizarre. I’m actually taking into consideration that one of her creations might be a time and space traveling entity when I say that.” There was nothing more embarrassing that Gilda could talk about than what happened to Greta’s mechanical fish. “It started on a day that Greta forgot to feed the fish…” Right now Ember would stick to helping Gilda and Greta; they weren’t exactly the best fighters even if they were carrying the most weapons at the moment. If something went wrong, they’d definitely need her and as such she had to keep a clear head. Ember could not go off looking for Rarity and abandon these two, no matter how much it pains her that the centerpiece of her hoard was missing in action. Her scales itched like no tomorrow at the fact that her hoard was in danger and she couldn’t do a single thing to help them right this instant, it was especially bad when she could tell that her centerpiece needed her. - “Yeah, this is certainly worthy of a conspiracy theory nut going on about it.” Trying to piece this puzzle together was difficult for Saffron. The robotic animals were especially strange as it didn’t seem like something humans would do, but here was an entire base full of armed humans. They were responsible for the blizzards damaging the planet, that much could not be denied, but what was the entire point to all of this? That was what she was really working on. “Any idea’s Applejack… also are you okay?” “It’ll take more than a few bumps, cuts and bruises to put me down, don’t you worry none about me. The only real problem I had was how cold it was until we got into this facility proper.” They were currently taking cover in a storage room behind a bunch of boxes somewhere and Applejack was quite concerned about all the activity going on around this human base. “I don’t rightly have an idea as to what is going on any more than you do. Heck, all this is beyond a simple farmer like me. We’re way in over our heads and I don’t know how we rightfully got as far in as we did.” “Don’t sell yourself short, my day job was not exactly being a vigilante and none of this stuff is exactly my specific special talent.” As she talked Saffron was scanning Applejack and checking her status, minor injuries a split lip and a slightly lowered body temperature. Applejack was still healthy; she hadn’t been hit like Saffron had been a few times, then again Applejack wasn’t wearing a shielded and armored suit made for maneuverability and combat with an EVA suit underneath that. No, all Applejack had was a parka, a rifle and her hat. “I’m also wearing something that wasn’t exactly meant to be stealthy, but I’m managing to make it work at least.” “What is your day job?” It had bothered Applejack that she got stuck with the masked mare; one who hid her identity like this was unnerving to her sensibilities. “I was a chef for a family oriented restaurant, but that restaurant got burned down in the Canterlot kerfuffle with the Hands of Midas. If you haven’t heard about it yet, you will sooner or later. At least nobody I cared about got seriously hurt, but a lot of ponies lost their lives in that fight. I can’t really save everyone; I can only save those who are nearby to the best of my ability.” Sitting down Saffron tried to relax; working with Spitfire and Daring had been interesting. She’d do it all over again if she had to, but she knew she couldn’t be everywhere at once. With that in mind, she did the best she could to help ponies through that crisis and to think she had been so busy chasing dangerous underworld criminals when something much bigger was going on. She kind of missed the signs that those things were being built. “After that mess, I ended up joining Rarity’s crew and I don’t regret that choice for an instant. It’s certainly been an interesting experience; Rarity is the kind of mare I can get behind because she’ll help anyone who needs it. She is truly noble and that puts her in the thick of things because she can’t very well turn a blind eye to friends, family or people in trouble. It almost got her killed several times too, but I can admire a mare that would keep throwing herself into dangerous situations for the sake of others. I do it often enough myself for the sake of strangers.” “All that is great and all, I can also maybe understand needing to protect your identity because you don’t want anyone going after your family.” Really, Applejack could see why heroes wore masks or tried to keep their identities a secret. If she were a vigilante she wouldn’t want criminals hunting her family down because of her actions and doing the right thing. “What I want to know is what made you become a vigilante in the first place?” “I wanted to be a detective growing up; having a cutie mark for cooking didn’t help anyone take me seriously enough. I made my bed and I will sleep in it soundly.” Saffron looked around the metallic container for any sign of anyone coming; thankfully nobody had found them yet or entered this storage room. Everyone in this facility was obviously on high alert. “I might have broken a few laws, but I did it for the right reasons.” “Could that really be a good enough reason to break the law… aside from what we’re doing right now being important to saving my farm.” They were currently breaking and entering on a shadowy organizations operation, Applejack really couldn’t make too much of a complaint about law breaking at the moment when they were technically trespassing on private property that shouldn’t even exist to be trespassed upon. She idly started checking her material rifle for any damage from the frantic ride through the icy tunnels. “Sometimes, it takes extraordinary individuals to deal with problems others might turn a blind eye too or even more extraordinary situations. Rarity seems to have a knack for finding extraordinary situations.” Taking in the farmer’s actions, Saffron decided to check the status of her suit and all of what she had. All weapons were working, pinpoint puller and whip were working, the glide wings were undamaged and the only thing she could see actively see as being wrong with the suit was the fact that her shields were down to twenty three percent. “In fact, I prefer to be called something of a highly concerned citizen. If I hadn’t arrived on time, then Rarity would have been raped by a stallion that specializes in it. He rapes both the mind and the body with his magic; he was a bit difficult to put down and quite dangerous because of his ability with illusions. Look at it this way; I’m not doing this stuff for a profit and it can be at the cost of my personal health with little to show for it. Sometimes the people I rescue can be quite ungrateful despite everything I’m risking.” “Well I’m not ungrateful, but I think it’s really for the best that I don’t know who you are.” Slinging her rifle over her back Applejack turned to Saffron or as she knew her Mare-Do-Well. “Well Mare-Do-Well, what do we do now? We can’t stay in one place forever and these humans are going to find us eventually.” “We need to look around some more and get a better scope of the kind of operations going on around here and again, I’m not exactly wearing the most subtle thing in the world.” Understatement of the century, but Saffron was pretty sure that Applejack got the gist of what she was saying. “I’m going to record whatever we can find and it’ll be evidence enough of what’s going on, all I have to do is get out of this place alive with said evidence and give it to the one person who’d know what to do with it. Oh and we need to find my friends while we’re at it... if they’re even alive. They’re all survivors so I can at least be positive that they are doing particularly well.” - Rarity woke because of something causing her to be in absolute pain and she tried to sit up. It felt like a sharp ice pick being shoved into her brain, she wasn’t doing very well and she tried not to scream out loud as she quickly remembered why she was like this in the first place. Rarity’s right hind leg took a shot through it, her front left leg was broken and her body was battered. She was currently armed with only a material pistol, but she had plenty of magic… said magic was quite limited as she didn’t know very many useful spells in this situation. She was still in the box she had blacked out in, the door to the container was still open and there was something else in the box with her. It was bright pink and fluffy as all get out, it poked at Rarity’s broken leg sending a rather large signal of agony up her spine into her head. Rarity had to pull her leg away and she struggled to push the overly curious Puffle off of her. It was the same one that had somehow miraculously made it past all the security patrols, the ones that were out to kill any intruder on sight no less without a scratch on it. The Puffle just stared blankly at Rarity and its tongue slowly slid out of its mouth, it then blew a quick raspberry. Not that Rarity understood this creature or it’s mannerisms in the slightest, even if it was cute. Being cute certainly wasn’t helpful in this situation, also it was kind of annoying that this thing had been through so much and it didn’t look horrible injured in the slightest. “Okay Rarity, remember how you got into this situation.” Her right hind leg was of suspect usefulness, but at least her breach gel had sealed that wound and it was mostly just flesh damage. She could limp, but her front left leg needed to be in a rudimentary sling. She would have bled out by now if the breach gel hadn’t closed off her external injury. “I’m horribly injured and happen to be in a really dangerous place. The only thing that could help me now is my magic, my impeccable aim and what is termed as the absolute dumbest creature on the planet… well I’ve worked with less before. I believe danger and intrigue is currently in style, but I’m not exactly going to be able to move swiftly by myself… but…” The Puffle blinked as Rarity gave her a look, well Rover said it was female. She still seemed more like an ‘it’ to Rarity. Rarity narrowed her eyes at it and started to carefully pull off her parka while the dumb thing watched her. There wasn’t any time for being lazy, she had to do something and sitting around here waiting to be discovered wasn’t going to do her any good. Now what part of the parka would she be okay with desecrating? Maybe she didn’t need to desecrate it too badly, but instead she could repair it with magic as long as the pain didn’t distract her. Having pulled off the parka she used one of the few spells that she spent a lot of time mastering, it was a fabric repairing spell and it would fix the holes in the park with what material she had, provided she hadn’t lost too much of it. The Puffle watched the magic glow transfixed and started smile as she watched Rarity work on the parka. Sliding her broken leg carefully back into the sleeve, she used another spell to stiffen the cloth into position to make an improvised sling and she didn’t have to destroy much of her parka to do it. She still decided to rip off the bottom section of the parka; she used the resulting several strips of cloth to hold her leg against her chest. She smiled at her handiwork. “There that should do it. Knowing how to dress a wound is something that all professional fashion designers should be capable of. At least I think I’ve done a good job of it. I just have to avoid…” Rarity let out a frustrated sound of pain as the Puffle poked her broken leg. “Would you stop that, it hurts!” The Puffle backed off in complete confusion, not understanding Rarity’s emotions in any shape or form and instead it just gave her a bright smile. Being cute and possibly indestructible might be the two biggest defense mechanisms that a Puffle had; their best defense would always indisputably be their lethal stupidity and penchant for leading others into disastrous situations. “What was that, who’s there!” It sounded like Rarity might have alerted someone to her position with her yell. “Oh bother…” Rarity grumbled and shifted herself carefully onto her back. She levitated out her material pistol and used her left hind leg to kick the dumb creature out of the box in the hopes that it distracted the guy long enough for Rarity to get the drop on him. “Oh god, it’s a Puffle!” The human or Rarity assumed it was a human, seemed particularly horrified by the sight of a Puffle. Said creature just looked up at him innocently as soon as it was kicked out of the box. It didn’t seem to care that Rarity had kicked it or even put it in danger, it just sat there staring at what Rarity assumed was a human. The Puffle tilted its head and blew a raspberry and that was all it took for the chatter of a machine gun to be unleashed upon her pink fluffy hide. Rarity was witness to the most absurd thing ever from her position as the Puffle went rolling backwards under the stream of fire and when it stopped the guy holding the machine gun rushed toward the uninjured pink fluff ball with a knife. Rarity could understand why the human decided to go for using a combat knife on the Puffle; all the bullets fell to the floor after hitting its ridiculously thick fur. Even Rarity thought that stabbing it in the face would probably be the best option to injure it at this point, especially if material rounds were hopelessly ineffective at piercing through its insurmountable wall of fur. Rarity kind of felt bad for shooting someone in the back, she looked over the uniform with her eye for detail and noticed a good spot to aim for. She fired a single high speed rock through the guy’s thigh, his legs went out from under him and he fell down in front of the box Rarity was in. She quickly tore off his helmet with her magic and then slammed her material pistol into his skull before slowly trying to pull in his unconscious form. That was a bit more difficult considering her injuries The Puffle looked at the guy going to sleep and the mare that had been sleeping in here, so it must have been quite comfortable. She decided to help and started to push the guy into the box to help the funny legged creature that made loud noises when you poked the funny leg too much. She wanted to help the two leg walker sleep too! Sometimes moving things started sleeping for a really long time, but that was okay because they always got funny smells after a while and became full of interesting little wiggling things that made the long time sleeper slowly disappear as if by magic. She always knew to never sleep that long or get those really funny smells, she thought she was a rather smart Puffle. On some level, Rarity was a bit horrified that she had used something as childlike and innocent as the Puffle was. She used it as a decoy out of self preservation, but was more surprised that it was probably the best call considering that the Puffle came out of the situation without a single scratch and a happy idiotic smile on its face. Rarity idly considered the fact that energy weapons or fire would likely have more of an effect against the pink puffball. Why was it exactly helping her pulled the guy into the box? Did the dumb thing actually like her? Well that would be somewhat good for Rarity; she could really use a friend right now. Now how does one go about taming a wild animal? Rarity wished she knew because she planned to ride it around, she wasn’t going to be walking very far in her state. The Puffle turned to her as soon as the guy was in the box and it blew a raspberry. Rarity slowly climbed on top of it and it didn’t fight her at all. Now how did she get the Puffle to go where she wanted her to go? The Puffle just idled there for a minute and looked around in confusion, then it started giggling happily as it started running in random directions. It only took seconds for Rarity to realize that riding the Puffle was an absolutely terrible idea. What had she exactly been thinking when she decided to do this? At least her ride didn’t seem to have any problem with her weight. - Rover popped up near an entrance to the facility. While he couldn’t dig through solid metal, the tunnels were mostly made of ice, snow and dirt. He spied on the humans around the corner and then heard something coming up behind him; he quickly spun around and brought his energy rifle around only to hold his fire. Viral yipped happily at seeing him and wagged her tail, even if Rover was aiming a gun in her face. “Rover is glad to see friend’s machine is doing well, stay with me.” Rover pointed around the corner and Viral moved over to peak around the corner with him at the guards watching the entrance. He didn’t know where the others were, but he had a pretty good guess they were already inside the facility considering all the tunnels led here. He found Viral to be really quite lifelike, but not anything like Opal. Opal had always smelled weird to Rover, but he just figured everyone ignored the odd smell Opal gave off. Maybe they just couldn’t smell it; Rover didn’t know or care much at the moment for mysteries. He had to find the Boss Lady or at least one of his companions. Greta had programmed Viral to follow the commands of her friends, with varying levels of authority. Rover admittedly was at the lower end of said authority, but he could still tell Viral what to do. Author's Note Fluffle Puff has seen some things, but has never actually realized the fact that she has... such as dead bodies. Instead her simple mind can't comprehend death or the fact that she might have actually been the cause of said deaths. When you are a Puffle, happy ignorance is bliss when your entire species is known for being disaster prone. Noting the fact that material weapons have little effect on Puffles. Rarity using some magic related to the manipulation of clothing, simple magic spells of what little she has in her repertoire. I've been pretty lethargic lately. I probably need more sleep.
-92-“Why did I think this was a good idea?” Rarity mumbled out loud to herself, trying to get the Puffle to go where she wanted was a bit hard. She could still see the container she left the unconscious body in, the guy wouldn’t stay down forever… oh and her ride was digging into snow again. The Puffle was possibly eating some of the snow to stay hydrated. “What are you looking for?” Slowly getting off of the Puffle and trying not to wince at putting pressure on her right leg that was shot through, Rarity looked up at the tunnel above and then down to the mound of snow that was now missing one large wolf robot. She was in a wide cavernous space with a tunnel on the far side of the snow and looking to the left she saw something that looked like a garage entrance, the décor of the facility was Spartan at best and it could be better. They had obviously moved the large robot wolf she had destroyed while she was out cold to the world. Behind Rarity were the several boxes and crates of supplies she had hidden amongst and the smaller entrance to this facility whatever it was. It made her wonder how nobody found her; it wouldn’t have been that hard to just look in the container. Of course the entrance hadn’t been guarded until after she blacked out in the container, so the humans had to assume she was already in the base and posted a single door guard there. There was a loud gasp of surprise and Rarity almost went for her material pistol that was one round lighter, she turned to the Puffle to see it was kicking both rear hooves at the air. Slowly the pink puffball pulled out of the snow with a root in its mouth and then it sat down. She started to eat the disgusting looking thing she had dug up that was leaking an eerie orange sludge. It was only out of mild interest that Rarity watched it consume the root entirely, after which it or she started to eat the snow. It was kind of hard to think of it as being female. So it could find food and stay hydrated, but it was too dumb for anything other than its own survival. It was interesting to watch at least, it made her wonder how the species procreated considering the fur is thick enough to stop material rounds or machine gun bullets, some of which hit the Puffle in the face where its fur had to be the thinnest. “How do I make you go where I want you to go?” Obviously Rarity was not riding the Puffle back to the tunnel she fell from after dealing with the alpha sized robot. Riding into the tunnel at the level she was at now was also out as she didn’t think she’d survive a drone swarm right now, the Puffle would undoubtedly survive it somehow. It was becoming clear to her that these creatures were so simple minded that… that thinking of that gave her a good idea. She whistled sharply and lit her horn to cast a very basic spell from the traditional three that all unicorns knew, she had seen it earlier and it only occurred to her now that the Puffle had been staring while she mended her parka. “Hey there, look at this, do you like this?” Magic missile, levitation and light were the three spells all unicorns knew. Rarity wasn’t particularly good at magic missile since she didn’t have the power to pour on any really damaging force from her horn and her levitation was advanced in so far as she was good at having fine control over many small objects that didn’t weigh much. You could give her a box of needles and she could probably get them moving at sixty or seventy miles an hour going a circle around her. As such Rarity’s levitation spell might have been short range and only capable of handling so much weight of a single particular object, but she could get quite lethal with it. All it would take is giving the objects momentum and then releasing her hold of them at the right moment. A pistol used less magic to levitate and shoot though and that’s why she trained with them as a weapon of choice, she only need to grip the pistol in three places with her magic, handle, barrel and trigger. What she was currently doing was using the highly modular light spell. A light spell was the easiest spell for any unicorn to achieve, for it was very hard to get wrong in any way, shape or form. Light can be given form in a multitude of ways, speaking of light her helmet’s lights weren’t on and she really didn’t need them to be as this place was quite well lit. There were lights above the garage and door entrances pointing outwards. Her light spell was more specific than that. A light spell could just be the unicorn’s horn lighting up, shooting out a cone of light, a cylindrical beam of light, creating an orb of light at the tip of the horn, creating a ball of light that moved where the unicorn needed it and more. The light could be magically shaped to go in any direction; it could be as strong as sunlight or even be a black light if you were a detective pony. The more complicated the light the more energy it used up, the light spell was quite a versatile spell. Magic missile taught power, levitation taught control and the light spell taught imagination. Rarity had a lot of control, very little power and her imagination, when she used it, was limitless. Rarity made sure to concentrate on what she was doing and the Puffle eating the snow stopped when it saw a tiny pink dot in the snow. It sat there for a moment with a bit of snow melting in its open mouth and then it pounced on the spot of light. Moving the dot towards her, Rarity watched as the Puffle followed it clearly fascinated. Once the Puffle was close enough she stopped channeling her magic and carefully climbed onto its suddenly idle back, once again becoming a rather ignored bit of weight. “Let’s try this again shall we?” Rarity lit her horn and the Puffle looked at the little bit of light excitedly and started to follow it straight towards the door leading into the facility. Once they reached the door Rarity stopped using her magic and the Puffle paused making a confused noise. Rarity’s assumption that they thought she must have gotten into the facility proper was quickly shot down, that is unless they thought she was capable of entering the password for the door. There was a key pad right next to the door and above it was an idle display screen. The Puffle didn’t seem to be ready to wander off as it kept looking around for the small bit of light Rarity created. Now looking at the keypad, Rarity slowly thought of an idea. She used the light spell again, but modified it to light one specific thing hoping that at least one person had used the keypad without gloves on. It wasn’t exactly placing a black light on the keypad, but it was close enough as she could see five keys had been used specifically. One, two, three, five and seven were the numbers she had to work with, she had no idea what order to press them in. She also only had one real chance at this; a wrong entry could have someone coming to investigate why there was a wrong entry. Rarity scrutinized the fingerprints and the side of the door the keypad was. The keypad was on left side of the door. She considered the way an arm would raise and how it would touch the keys on the door, the person was right handed judging by the way the prints were settled. The Puffle was quickly losing interest and Rarity lit her horn once more to keep it in place trying to catch the speck of pink light on the floor excitedly. “Let’s see, right handed, the human only used one finger when pressing the keys. The angle of approach shows me an idea of how a human would raise their hand to press the first key and the last one. The keys are pressed… I think the first key is two and the last one is five.” Rarity figured this out because the first key was pressed at an angle and the last key had to have been pressed more vertically. So she only had three numbers to figure out. “Why does a number ending in five and beginning with two seem quite familiar? It’s on the tip of my tongue why.” She studied the keys more closely and thought about the order the keys could be pressed in and her eye for detail eventually made it click for her. She just couldn’t believe it would be that number, because the negative of that number meant... “Well now, I think I see a theme going on here. Absolute zero in Celsius is minus two, seven, three, decimal point, one and finally… five.” She used her magic to hit each key and waited, what happened next was a bar of light above the door turning green and it slid up and out of the way. “Well Rarity, you are simply genius!” As Rarity preened at getting the door to open, what was not simply genius was that the Puffle decided to run through the door way to explore a new place with her still straddling it. Beyond the door was a small corridor with two doors, one leading to the garage next door and the one at the end of a reception area like place. The Puffle had slowed down when it saw a humming human vending machine and stopped to stare at it. Rarity kept her eye on the reception area ahead of them and the fact that it had fortifications and a camera; they were thankfully out of range of the camera so far. Things could only get dicier from here on in, especially if she had to keep the random pink fluffy creature under her from doing something absolutely stupid. That had been a chore so far, trying to stealthily travel through the building would be much harder. This facility required investigating and she was certain the others were doing better than she was, but the Puffle wasn’t exactly a quiet creature to be riding on in this situation as it kept making loud gasping noises at every single new thing it saw. There was a table and chairs sitting before the armored checkpoint room that could be used as cover during a siege. The décor was once again rather bland and Spartan, blue, white and silver seemed to be the colors of the day, along with that tilted cube symbol and no name for the organization that made this place to speak of. It was rather bland and tasteless really. Some of the walls looked a bit damaged, but on the whole she’d say there had never been a firefight here and this facility had been here for the most part of a year. Concentrating, Rarity recreated the speck of light and led the Puffle towards the door to the garage near the entrance. The Puffle followed it excitedly and Rarity knew she had long since figured out the best method of controlling her ride, it wasn’t even an effort or magically exhausting. She moved the Puffle to the side of the door and opened it with her magic and leaned to her left to look through it while making sure to stay careful. There were several vehicles in there, mostly vans or covered truck vehicles and she could see a few humans talking with one another. She quickly shut the door; she really didn’t want to attract any attention to herself. Destroying the camera or trying to break through the checkpoint station would mean doing the same thing as entering the motor pool beyond the nearby door; thankfully they were too distracted to notice the door opening and closing. What was she going to do now? Wait… light spell! She was getting all kinds of inspirations, but it would be a bit more magic intensive to create light that can bend all other sources of light around her. “I wonder why no unicorn has thought of this before, I mean sure there are illusions that do the same thing, but they have no effect on technology. Plus there are spells that alter the body so that it can become clear, but this…” Rarity lit her horn and wrapped a light that bent light around her right hoof and watched as it disappeared entirely. It wasn’t very intensive, but it was a bit draining. “It makes me wonder how dumb unicorns really are if we haven’t figured out a thousand uses for this one spell by now. I’ve always admired stars and other shiny things… I just never considered what light was really capable of before this. The big difference here is that there are so many costlier spells made to do this one specific thing and I can do it with a simple light spell and some ingenuity.” Rarity expanded the field around her and the Puffle’s body and felt a slightly larger drain on her magic, but it wasn’t bad. It would be worse if she wasn’t at rest on the Puffle, now the real problem came into play… how was she going to steer the Puffle if she had to concentrate her effort on the light spell? With a little bit of sweating, which Rarity obviously didn’t like doing, she managed to create the pink dot of light that attracted the Puffle’s attention by moving a slow circle. In terms of magic, this was nothing. In the terms of concentration… it was a constant mental effort on her part to cast the same spell twice while the first one was still going. This was on top of the pain from her broken leg and her thigh wound being quite vocal about her current condition, her pain receptors were still firing on all cylinders at least. Now wasn’t a good time to experiment, because this was giving her a bit of a headache and it would be harder to pull off this new form of the light spell while more injured than she currently was. The Puffle started running after the dot which Rarity wasn’t moving at all, it stayed at a set distance ahead of the Puffle all the same. Rarity quickly dropped the second light spell as soon as they were under the camera; the first was easier to hold on to and the camera didn’t set off any alarms so it worked. It was good news that she learned how to make herself invisible at a fraction of the cost, where even the most studious unicorn would be doing such a spell the hard and overly complicated way with all kinds of convoluted math and equations. This use of the light spell likely did nothing for Rarity’s smell, body heat, the sounds she made or if she were to walk in soft substances like snow or mud; she’d be rather easy to spot. Then there were motion detectors that could be keyed to specific sizes, like say the size of an Equus Pony. As such there were many drawbacks to that particular use of the light spell; in this instance the camera couldn’t see her as it thankfully didn’t have a heat or motion sensor. Maybe it would have picked up the noise, but without something visible to go off of, the camera wouldn’t set off an alarm. There was also such thing as a magic sensor as well, so the spell wouldn’t even prevent that from detecting her either. It would have been nice to have at least known this use of the light spell when she met Mind Field and it could be quite useful in many other situations. Against a changeling this kind of thing was all but useless given they can detect emotions and the direction said emotions came from. It was rather situational and Rarity understood that completely, aside from knowing her limitations it made her feel a little like Vera. She looked up at the camera and waited while dropping the light spell keeping her and the Puffle invisible. She had to save on her magic, because she used that to wield her pistol and couldn’t use all of it up on constantly holding up the stealth field. She timed the creation of the pink dot and moved the Puffle over to the checkpoint and peered into the window from the Puffle’s back. Rarity saw the switch that opened the door and hit it with her magic causing the door next to her to open and then she swiftly made the Puffle move out of sight of the camera before it was too late. The camera swung back and saw nothing out of the ordinary at the checkpoint, before continuing back to the reception areas table and chairs. - They were parked outside the facility in one of the many large cavernous snow fields, on the ceiling looking at one of the sections of the large underground facility. “This place looks really big.” Idly commented Greta who was working on something with her data pad, she and Ember were on the ceiling again after having been stuck at the very butt end while Gilda had piloted the elongated monstrous machine up the wall to their current position. “The firewalls are too tough, I can’t hack into anything and I can’t really do much without them noticing where we are. I’d be painting a target on all our backsides if I tried anything more than what I already am just probing their systems.” “Then you got nothing at all then, well that’s no surprise. Humans got their technology to where it is now by hacking, creating viruses, building firewalls and being complete and utter assholes to each other. It’s how they evolve, they take the worst and best of themselves and build on that. Even the most tragic things in their history solved problems; it just takes them a while to get around to the fact that the problem is already solved. Like how they stuck their heads in the sand about cancer for more than a hundred years before someone found out that there was a cure for it, that it was quite readily available and it could even be cheaply mass produced. Humans are kind of assholes and greedy like that, especially those corporations that made all that money off something that they had already solved. Only a fraction of that money that was earned was spent on only alleviating the symptoms and making more money for the filthy rich, said people who bought out the media and practically owned the world at that point. One can imagine the riots that were caused when it was found out that the cure had been actively delayed by a worldwide pharmaceutical company conspiracy for monetary reasons… half the planet devolved into anarchy in under five minutes.” They were also a self destructive race that evolved and changed in many ways both great and terrible, which made them kind of like Griffons and Gilda could respect that. What she couldn’t respect was not actually putting any effort into something once you were paid to do it, griffons did things for money and they did what they were paid for when they gave a price even if they were greedy. Rarity made it hard to be greedy and her altruistic tendencies were rubbing off on the people around her. “So our chances of getting into their system are all but impossible without some kind of backdoor, these guys seem like the kind of professionals. They don’t even leave a name on any of their symbols anywhere. From what I have seen so far, whoever they are they are not advertising themselves very well and that’s dangerous.” “So do I go in and try to find the others for a quick extraction?” Ember was already getting her EVA suit on and up to her neck, her wings were compressed against her back and she slowly patted her special rifle. All she had to do was put on her helmet and drop out of the Centaur-pede. “No, wait a moment Ember; I think I might actually have something!” Greta started sending the sudden influx of data to Gilda. “Are you getting this Gilda?” “Interesting, a map of the facility and all the surrounding tunnels…” It might have mildly impressed Gilda that Greta managed to do this when she said it was practically impossible seconds ago. “How exactly did you get this Greta?” “I just got back into contact range with my Deus Ex Machina. It looks like my little Viral is still operational, let’s see… I can piggy back their communications using Viral’s tail as a back door. You’d think they would fix that kind of oversight, it’s given me some light access to their systems.” Next to Greta was a very attentive Ember. “I now know where Rarity, Applejack and Saffron are. Marking their current locations, they’re moving so I have to update every minute or so. They’re alive, but I don’t know what their condition is. They all seem to be moving well enough, Applejack and Saffron are causing all sorts of alarms to be raised. They seem to be proving hard to catch thanks to Ar-Mare-Do-Well being good at escaping situations.” “What about Rover?” It might be selfish of Ember, but she wanted to leave with her entire hoard alive. Every single member of Rarity’s crew mattered to her, they belonged to her and nobody was going to hurt them or take them from her without a response from an aggravated dragon. “He’s currently right next to Viral and I can see him. I’m putting it up on the screen now.” The screen Greta had previously used to remote control Viral appeared and they could see things from Viral’s view, Viral was currently focused on Rover and beyond him was a group of five guards. It seemed as if security in the upper levels of the facility were heightened thanks to Applejack and Saffron going on a merry rampage to find a place to go where it’s safe. Hallways of security camera’s, enemy MAT drones and humans were in their way and they were somehow successfully bypassing most of it. Probably Saffron’s doing if Greta knew anything about the armor she helped design. “I’ll get in touch with him; thanks to Viral acting as a mobile back door. I just need her to plug directly into a computer to get into some really sensitive data. Such as what is really going on here.” “Any chance I can meet up with any of them in a timely manner?” Ember wanted to be with at least one scrap of her hoard out in the field and Rarity would be her choice to go after, she was Ember’s centerpiece and she needed her dragon. Psychologically speaking, Ember wanted to preserve and protect her most precious gem first and foremost. “I can get you either to Rover or Applejack and Saffron, the humans don’t know about Rover’s presence for the time being and I need you to be quiet for a moment so I can stop him from taking a plan of action if he even has one. As for Rarity… she’s further down than us as you can see on this map.” Pushing a single button on her data pad, a map popped up showing Ember where they were in relation to everyone and everything. Personally they knew where their friends were, but talking to them would lead someone to finding their communications line which wasn’t exactly secure at the moment. “The eight towers above, where the blizzards started from, we destroyed the southernmost tower here. We accidentally fell into this tunnel here and I don’t know how everyone got to where they are now, but Rarity is the furthest down from us. She’ll have to use an elevator or at least climb a shaft to meet up with any of us here, here and here. Problem is we can’t actively use our communications or else they’ll discover us immediately, unless they happen to be around Viral who can mask our communications to our friends. So…” “Operation: Totally Asinine Reason to Dubiously Incite Suffrage?” One could almost hear the upturn of a beak turning into a smirk, at least Gilda was enjoying all this crazy stuff they were getting into and she didn’t have to lift a claw. She already did her awesome stuff, but when the time came she would do some more and until then she could kick back and relax. “Just get Viral to a computer to screw over the system for more information and open communications, we find our people and get them out if needed, find out what our objectives are when it comes to dealing with this facility and from there… the most likely outcome will be glorious if we aren’t stopped in time.” The facility was at least eighty stories tall and there was one large room that took up thirty stories of space off to the side inside the facility that read as captured product. Greta, Ember and Gilda were sitting above the halfway marker outside one of the sides of the facility which was not a perfectly rectangular or square building. In fact the building was designed and built a bit lopsidedly, but with the surrounding soil and rock for a support structure that didn’t matter much. Rarity was three fourths of the way down deep into the facility, barely two floors up from the Centaur-pede was Rover and lastly Applejack and Saffron were near the top of the facility where there was a lot of heightened security and more of a commotion going on. They even had a read out of the tunnel networks that showed them as almost being a fraction of a mile or so below the surface of the planet. This place looked a bit convoluted to get around and it was large, it must have taken quite some time to build and even get this stuff by the Ponies that started settling on this planet a long while ago. The underground facility was located dead center in the eye of the blizzards and the seven remaining towers. The humans were definitely connected to the problems plaguing the Ponies that had settled on this planet and happened to be doing a good job of damaging the climate while doing so. Once they had all the information of what was going on, then they’d have a pretty decisive course of action as Gilda stated. - “Rover, drop whatever you’re doing and pay attention.” Hearing the sound of Greta’s voice caused Rover to jump slightly, but instead of being fearful he turned to the robotic fox with a smile. “Rover is thinking you are having good news?” Rover backed away from the corner and was carefully watching his surroundings; he had his ears listening for the sign of any incoming drones. They had a very annoying pitch to them as they flew around and he was thankful that his friends were okay. Well as far as he knew, it was certain that Greta was okay at least. “What do you need Rover to do?” “About that, we don’t have entirely good news, but at least we know everyone is alive at the moment. We just can’t communicate with any of them; you however are safe because Viral found you.” There was a large amount of positivity in Greta’s voice and the fox looked to be smiling as if mirroring the griffon’s mood. “I can probably bypass or disable security by getting Viral close enough to them, but to really do some interesting things Viral needs to reach a working computer intact. The humans are going to be the real problem as they’re currently in the way of that.” “What am I to be doing, there are one too many of them for me alone.” Rover wasn’t dumb, he had been getting smarter and learning a lot as of late while under fire. He was more curious as to why they were wearing parkas over their EVA suits, but he guessed it was some kind of precaution or added protection. He wasn’t one to question the Boss Lady on the ridiculousness of it. “That’s just it, you’re not alone Rover. I’m going to be with you in spirit, but if you could do us a very small favor and dig down right about here at a fifteen degree angle… then you’ll have all the help you’ll need.” The robotic fox with Greta’s voice coming from it moved over and pointed to a specific spot with its paw, why let the Diamond Dog forget he had a very unique talent in this situation. He wasn’t exactly constrained by the myriad of tunnels and could reach them in no time. “She’s blue, scaly and itching for a fight from the looks of it. Viral will wait here until you get back.” Rover had always thought of dragons as the scariest things in Equestria, as for now though? He wasn’t entirely sure who to be rightfully scared of. For one he was no longer on planet Equus and two his life of being a simple minded Diamond Dog was over with, he had been too deeply changed by the most dangerous individuals imaginable and one of them was his beloved Boss Lady. Oh and he was also friends with a dragon, so yeah he was now part of the scariest group of people you could imagine, well at least in Rover’s mind. You’d almost never think they were a bunch of merchants, crafters and entertainers with the way they got things done. Rover dug down in the way the robot;s paw pointed and slowed down when he neared a thin spot in the ice and snow, with a few more swings of his suit covered paws he came out right above an upside down Centaur-pede. Standing on the belly waiting for him was Ember in her EVA suit carrying three weapons, a rocket launcher, an energy pistol and her whip upgraded Trailblazer rifle. She leapt up and Rover helped to pull her up and into the hole he had dug, he started to dig his way back up to Viral and the Centaur-pede started to move away to let the snow fall out of the hole. “Just point me at these road blocks Rover!” A confident Ember followed Rover right back to the turn in the icy tunnel where Viral awaited them. “They won’t be around for much longer.” Author's Note This will get less and less interesting as it goes on... but that's because I'm the one that has to write all this. I'm pretty sure I'm at my halfway point for a million word fic, but it's my concern that this won't be too terribly interesting going forward. Rest assured that the combine total of every fan fiction I've ever wrote would actually add up to a million words. I really want to make this fan fiction a million words itself. I can't do worse than 'Twilight' with it's sparkling vampires right? Developments are still going on in space even when I'm not focusing on them and Rarity is busy here. I've always figured that there are multiple ways to do a magic spell, Rarity just found one of the unique ways to use a light creating spell. Doesn't mean she's unstoppable, it just means she needs to pick and choose when she uses it for the ultimate surprise factor. Magic Missile doesn't have much versatility and it's a blunt instrument that just says use more power to do more damage. You can maybe make it heat seeking or fire off a shotgun blast of missiles. Levitation is the bread and butter all unicorns learn for the excessive usefulness of it, such as manipulating things on the other side of glass without needing to physically touch something. It's the most common used spell among unicorns and is quite frankly the most common way they get a grasp on controlling their magic. The thing is though they have a limitation as they are the anchor point for the spell, meaning that lifting themselves requires an exponentially massive amount of magic. Other spells would be better utilized for flight than levitating themselves, like an anti-gravity spell. Now the light spell, a spell that generates light. It seems so simple and yet it has so many incredible uses depending on how inventive you could get with it. Imagine visual illusions that have an effect on machinery, instead of illusions that just affect the mind of only biological targets. The invisibility Rarity uses. The normal use of shedding light on a situation. You can get the ability to see things that aren't there with specific spectrum of light. There is the possibility of making light that only the user can visibly see, you can see in the dark when your opponent can't. Creating blinding flashes. Using light to play with cat like entities. Creating a targeting line for a magic missile to travel along. The most magic intensive use I can think of for the light spell would be what Radiance of the Power Ponies does, which is the use of hard light constructs.
-94-Rarity felt like something was horribly wrong; the laboratory section was quite empty until she and Fluffy came across a body on the floor. Looking at it, it didn’t look like the guy died because of ranged weaponry. Instead looking at his neck, Rarity would think the guy was asphyxiated. What could have been strong enough to strangle a human and why didn’t it eat him? She could guess that the laboratory might have experiments or captured beings, but if it was anything volatile then it would have disposed of the body. It was the only one she had seen so far, as she got closer to the large room Greta wanted her to investigate. “Rarity, this is Greta, aside from my aching concussion we’re all doing mostly okay. I and Gilda have learned a lot about this place, but one of the things I don’t have is what’s in that large room down there. Ember is already in the area and should meet up with you soon to investigate. That or you’ll find her.” At least Greta sounded the same as always, which made Rarity glad for her safety and it sounded like everyone else was doing okay. “Rover, Applejack and Mare-Do-Well will meet up with you later. Make judgment calls on whatever you find. Damn, they noticed my intrusion! I need to pull out from the system before they can discover the Centaur-pede’s location. It looks like someone is actively watching for my intrusions now, so expect sporadic contact windows unless we can take over the command center of this place. I’m pulling the connection now, sorry we couldn’t talk Rarity.” “Well that was rather informative.” Using her magic Rarity had Fluffy turn the corner of the short pathway they were in to see several more dead bodies and sitting next to one of them was a brown Puffle that suddenly looked towards them. It was concerning Rarity that another Puffle was here next to several dead humans just looking at them in a strange manner. “Please don’t tell me…” Rarity had expected that humans were experimenting on the Puffles to make them more dangerous, at least humans had a tendency to make things more dangerous. The Puffle came up them and studied Fluffy for a moment and then slowly slid its tongue out of its mouth. It then blew a quick raspberry and Fluffy did the same back and then they started blowing raspberries in unison repeatedly. It almost sounded like they are communicating with each other with blank looks on their faces. The brown Puffle eventually stopped and gasped, then started smiling happily as Fluffy did the exact same thing. Rarity spent three minutes of watching their interactions from her perch on Fluffy’s back, said actions included licking one another once, running a tight circle, blowing a raspberry and jumping in place several times. It would have been adorable had Rarity not suspected Brownie of killing those humans. That’s when another Puffle wandered into the hallways, this one was orange and it ran up to them and then the slow tongue extending and the raspberry blowing started all over again. When they got around to gasping at each other in amazement, Rarity just had to comment on it. “I’m apparently looking for intelligent help in the worst place possible.” They were all rather cute, but Rarity didn’t think she could stand another Puffle style meet and greet. They were all so like minded it was uncanny that they weren’t all one creature with the same brain, which would give them all about two brain cells collectively. The two other Puffles looked at Rarity and they blew a raspberry, then went on ignoring her and playfully started to romp around one another with Rarity along for the ride down the direction they were headed towards initially. That was when Rarity saw a struggling human with a Puffle hugging him, its hooves were tightly wrapped around his neck in a loving embrace and he was flailing until his movements stopped. The red Puffle stopped hugging him and looked entirely confused about why the human stopped moving. “Note to self, never let Fluffy or any of her… family… friends… I don’t know what they are, but I know for certain that I don’t want them to hug me.” It had looked so innocent when it suffocated that human to death and that was really disturbing to Rarity, why hadn’t any of the Puffles tried to hug her to death yet? Maybe she was safe as long as she stayed on Fluffy. While she was thinking the Puffles went through another playful looking meet and greet which had Rarity shivering as she had a hunch that things were going to get far worse the more Puffles there were. Creating the dot of light, Rarity ran into an immediate problem when all the Puffles slammed their heads together trying to get at it, they all made the same adorable squeaks as they ended up on their butts rubbing at their head before returning to being all dumb smiles. “Well this is going to be very inconveniencing.” She’d have to use more magic to distract the other Puffles to keep them from running into each other. She sighed and at least thought of one of the positives of being in a laboratory. There had to be at least one medical kit around here somewhere. - Ember looked left and right tracking her rifle along the corridor, she had seen several eviscerated bodies and other bodies looked to have been just asphyxiated. She’s seen enough laboratories to know there’s been some kind of security breach, the question now was how many things got out and how dangerous was everything that escape. A shift behind her made Ember spin around and point her gun directly in the face of a yellow Puffle that simple blew a raspberry at the threatening posture Ember represented, it then proceeded to lick the second barrel of her gun and its nose became scrunched up. It gagged then moved on with its life as it didn’t like the taste. Ember knew Puffles were dangerous and continued to eye it warily. It didn’t seem all too curious about her as it only gave her a friendly smile and continued to explore its surroundings. A disturbing thought just crossed Ember’s mind. How in the world did a Puffle get down here and inside this facility? Well she now had an idea as to what had escaped containment, but why were humans capturing Puffles? There was the sudden sound of something slamming to the ground and Ember looked up from her thoughts to see a large six legged lizard creature that had short sharp hooks where its feet should be. It was trying to stab the Puffle. The key word here was trying, because it was failing to injure the Puffle at all. The lizard was a forest green color, with intermittent red stripes along its body leading to a short and rather stubby tail. A lizard creature with a short tail was a little odd, but the scales on its body were thicker around the rear and tail so attacking it from behind must have been pretty hard to do if you were a predatory creature. The Puffle giggled at being knocked over and grabbed one of the hook bladed legs that tried to penetrate its obscenely thick fur and cuddled against it. The creature started screeching in pain and tried to shake the Puffle off of its leg. The lizard tried to bite the Puffle with its sharp predatory teeth, which also failed when it only ended up with a mouthful of fur. From Ember’s perspective this was kind of sad to watch, concerning the predator was on the losing side of things and quite badly at that. The Puffle eventually fell off the leg with a squeak and the lizard growled angrily, its leg looked like it was broken considering how limply it hung. The Puffle didn’t seem to notice and latched itself onto the predator that it thought needed a hug. It did so by latching onto its face and snuggling it. The lizard spent the next two minutes trying to shake the Puffle off of its face and slashed its own body up with its hook blades. What was the reason for the lizards panicked assault on trying to get the rather affectionate Puffle off of itself? It couldn’t breathe with its mouth clamped shut by the Puffle’s hooves and all the fur stuck in its nostrils. It took only three minutes, but it slowed down and the Puffle looked confused about the fact that it stopped moving and blew a raspberry. Getting no response the Puffle let go as it obviously thought the lizard creature was sleeping and had enjoyed its cuddle time; Puffles didn’t exactly understand anger or aggression and thought it needed to be met with love and happiness. It didn’t even understand the blood slowly leaking out of the body on the floor and just wandered away to find other things to smile and gasp at. “Okay, that was absolutely horrifying to watch.” At least Ember knew what was eviscerating the humans and she even knew what was asphyxiating them as well. It was entirely playful and innocent throughout that entire interaction and didn’t seem to understand what it was doing to that poor monster. If Changelings were told about these creatures, they’d have to be warned first about their little habit of snuggling things to death. It was on the whole a really creepy thing to witness, it made her wonder why it left her alone and snuggled the lizard monster. Was that how they responded to aggression or anger? Did they even know how to feel sad? They certainly understood confusion well enough, which was one of their three states of mind aside from excitement or happiness. When Ember was just was closing in on the large room and she heard a scream in the distance, it didn’t sound like Rarity so it was of no issue to her. She stopped at three way intersection and looked around the left turn and saw another lizard thing ripping out pieces of a dead human’s lungs and devouring them. She fired three or so rounds into its head dropping it, she didn’t want it to attack her from behind as she turned right and went that way. The white of this place was beginning to get unnerving; she eventually stopped outside the door to the large room and saw the words cold storage written above the door. Ember put her back to the door and waited for Rarity to arrive. Greta had said that Rarity was being directed here and Ember didn’t want to leave until she knew for certain her centerpiece was safe. - “Greta how are things going, is everyone doing alright?” All this reading was boring, but Gilda knew it was important to the situation they were in. Contracts required more careful attention, what she was doing right now was skimming the data and stopping it when something caught her eagle eyes. “I’ve learned a few interesting things, if you’ve got the time to listen.” “It is going as well as can be expected. I’m trying to get a bead on the command center, but the map of the facility isn’t helping all that much in that endeavor.” Not many areas of the map were actually labeled coherently, but Greta was happy that you could kind of get an idea of where things were like the elevators or the stairs. Anything else was left up to chance as this facility had a lot of places to go and none of them were exactly friendly to intruders at the moment. “Our people with Viral are currently laying low for the moment; all those small walkers these humans have running around are really dangerous and hard to avoid. So what have you found out so far Gilda?” “Well the drones are definitely military and they aren’t here illegally, they are being used by UEG employees and that’s kind of a red flag.” Red flag nothing, all this was an open invitation to say the governments of Earth had planned this facility and it sounded like a political nightmare for the Humans since they can’t report the drones as being stolen. They were literally shipped to this planet and somebody had to have greased a few wheels or so to get them to this facility. “In fact there are a lot more things than that pointing to UEG being responsible for building this facility; I think we’ve busted our way into a government conspiracy here and it’s a really bad one.” UEG or United Earth Governments was the organization of all of humanity’s efforts put together into a solitary entity with each government controlling their own small portion of the Earth which was the Human home world. Every government on earth had a say in how Earth and or Humans presented themselves in a galactic manner. This facility stunk quite badly of underhanded dealings; some people in the UEG had this place built and it wasn’t by coincidence that the planet started to slowly freeze over despite being labeled an ever green world. Ever green planets were temperate year round and had a single mostly fixed climate all around, unless they fell out of alignment with their solar body and this planet hadn’t done that. This facility had screwed up the climate and it was on the orders of the UEG. It seemed rather familiar and Gilda tried to think of where she’s heard of something like this before. “Can you go into more detail?” It made Greta a little uneasy, the UEG was behind this? Wouldn’t that be a horrible scandal or nightmare for them if it ever came to light? Then again the people in this facility had all those defenses in place that prevented anyone from discovering this facility or even reaching it safely, which was what Rarity and the rest of them had done by accident while defeating a massive army of automated robots. In all likelihood nobody would have found out about the facility at all or any other facility like it. “Did you find anything as to their goal here?” “I can do you one better, I know exactly what they are doing here!” Gilda had remembered seeing news of something like this happening to planets belonging to other alien races; said planets were sold off to Humans. Large amount of aliens went missing and only a few turned up found and rescued from slavery rings or the people they were sold to by said slavers. Now that she was considering it, it all made sense as to what was happening. “The Humans are trying to expand their territory and they are doing it by stealing systems from other races. I’m surprised that no one has figured it out yet, it’s a rather unique concept really.” “How unique, and why do I get the feeling that I need a tin foil hat right about now?” It was a little hard for Greta to pay attention to what Rover was discussing with Applejack and Saffron, when Gilda was talking and attracting her attention like a siren. “Okay the machines they were using to cause the blizzards are probably of human in design. As for the defenses for the climate manipulators, I think they purchase a lot of outsourced robots to use. They probably don’t want humans to be connected to sudden changes in climate on whatever planet they’re trying to steal. When they planet gets enough coverage in the worst climate imaginable for said residents, they con the major present race out of ownership of the planet.” The minute Gilda said the words con, it sort of clicked for Greta and it was bad news that needed to be spread like a wild fire. “To give you an idea of what I’m thinking of, what’s the worst ideal climate for a Macropussian?” “Give me a second to think, they like warm temperate climates that are a bit dry with at least some water. A planet like Desserzon would be a good place to meet one. They don’t like excessively wet or stormy climates like a Parascine would enjoy.” The implications were beginning to build up to a staggering crescendo and Greta had a look of horror on her face. “Let me guess, the planet of Maldri Two?” Maldri Two was owned by the Macropussians; it was and used to be owned by them. It now belonged to the Humans after an unexplained disastrous change to the climate that started causing rain all over the planet in set waves. The planet was especially good in resources; however a lot of unexplained disappearances of their people and the destruction of multiple settlements thought to be caused by the weather made it uninhabitable by Macropussians. Once the Humans took over the planet, the climate started to slowly get better for them and the rains had almost immediately ceased being so frequent. “If you consider it, there’s also what happened to Hagolad Seven, Piroquen One and Infidado Four… all of them had strange climate problems before the Humans started making deals for each planet. After they got them, the climate problems became less of an issue after exactly a year. The planet’s climate becomes completely habitable for Humans.” Now they were doing the same thing to Applin Five and it disgusted Gilda, the Humans behind this galactic scale crime were absolute bastards and they were government level bastards no less. “That would be the projected estimates of how long it would take the humans to fix the climate to exactly their needs.” This meant the governments of Earth obviously knew all about this and even condoned or endorsed the thefts of said planets for Human gain. Ponies couldn’t handle prolonged winter very well and it explained the burned down buildings now. When the Ponies refused to flee the worsening conditions and a Pegasus squad or two get called in to fix the climate conditions… it led to the Humans attacking Gravenstein to prevent the discovery of their operations. They left behind those automated robots, to catch anyone they may have missed or as a bit of misdirection that Humans weren’t responsible for the damage to the town. The robots could be traced to the wrong people and the race that helped build them would take the fall for what the Humans were doing. “So they’re trying to steal the Applon System from the races of Equus. The people of Equus don’t have many planets and we can’t afford to lose what we do have, not to mention it’ll give the Humans a foothold to get into the Pony held systems.” For once Greta was rather furious, especially that this was happening to the people of Equus. “Well they are not getting this planet if we can help it, they are not getting away with this again and I’m sure Rarity would agree. This will be a reason for all races affected by this to go to war with the Humans. Unless the Humans can prove that they weren’t behind this and can refute the massive amounts of evidence we’re currently building up here. Heck we’re sitting in the middle of one of their secret operations right now and we’ve been recording all this information since we dropped on the planet!” “Calm down Greta, we’ll get them. I’ve noticed they have a pattern; at least they are hitting planets that aren’t the home worlds of various alien species. They are specifically hitting planets that don’t have a strong presence of military and are being freshly settled.” Gilda continued to read over some information and she just saw something of interest, but she’d mention it in a bit after she was done with their current topic at claw. “Hitting a home world would have been too suspicious, but hitting the fringes of other aliens territories? I believe they think its fair game no matter who they’re hitting. They’ve certainly gotten away with it so far up to this point. We’re the largest wrench they’ve ever had to deal with when it comes to their system stealing plans.” “You sound like you’ve got something else Gilda, what is it? Wait, please hold that thought.” Greta was still controlling Viral, but now she felt more vindictive about all these Humans having built a base on this world to wreck it and then make it their own. “Guys, we’ve found out what’s going on here and none of you are going to like it.” Greta proceeded to dump the information to Applejack, Rover and Saffron; there was a notable change in Saffron’s posture when it came up that the Humans were stealing planets. Mare-Do-Well heard an injustice and now she was angry. She wasn’t the only one as Applejack had kin that went missing and now she didn’t feel so sorry for shooting those Humans. Sure she’d feel awful if she killed them, but if they died from something else after she shot them then that wasn’t her fault. “Right, continue, I’m finished filling in our upper level group. We’ll have to fill in Rarity and Ember when we get a chance.” Greta wasn’t able to smile at the moment, not until this facility was taken out. They were still in the same spot they previously were, on the ceiling near the midsection of the facility and humans were running around below them on the snowy floor of the cavernous area. Nobody had spotted the Centaur-pede so far. Thankfully this cavern hadn’t collapsed; it was the tunnels that were really messed up. “I found this organizations name; it’s called Tempest Technologies.” Gilda started and the name was quite familiar for Greta as it would be to anyone else who heard it, the tilted cube logo wasn’t anywhere near the organization when it was operating publically. “It’s Kind of obvious what they specialize in.” - Ember perked up when she heard the sound of hooves coming towards her, but there were too many hooves to be Rarity. She watched the corner to the left from the door she sat herself in front of and saw Rarity come around the corner. She was riding a Puffle and there were several Puffles following her, apparently she was leading this pack of Puffles with four separate dots of light on the floor. “Oh thank goodness it’s you Rarity, are you okay?” Getting up, Ember approached the mare. She saw Rarity’s front left leg and she could see splotches of breach gel poking out from underneath her parka around her right thigh. Upon closer inspection Ember could see that the parka had been patched in an unnatural manner, Rarity has been hurt and quite badly by the way her leg was in a makeshift sling. “Nothing a little medical help couldn’t fix, I’ve been having problems finding a medical kit. I broke a leg and another one got shot clean through. I’m not going to insult your intelligence by telling you which ones as you can obviously see, I’m a mess.” Sighing audibly Rarity felt awful and was in quite a bit of pain. “I’m not up for much walking and I’m running quite frightfully low on magic. Also I’ve seen horrible things, you were right Puffles are dangerous. What I could really use right now are some pain killers. I must look to be in a most dreadful state and I’m sorry you had to see some of me like this. I’ve been doing quite horridly. It hasn’t all been bad at least; I’ve certainly learned a new trick or two that will be helpful if we can get out of here.” Ember wanted to sweep Rarity up into a hug, give her a sponge bath, then brush and comb her mane out until it sparkled like her personality and then tell her she was still beautiful no matter how she looked. To Ember, her centerpiece could wear a garbage bag and she would still be the most precious and attractive thing in her hoard. Now was not the time to make her centerpiece feel better, now was a time to see what was in the large room she’d been waiting in front of. “So I’m guessing you saw the Puffles kill someone.” Ember had contemplated how they were going to get through the door she had been waiting at. “Yes and I found it horribly disturbing. They are so adorable and innocent, but it seems like they don’t know their own strength when it comes to cuddling someone to death.” It made Rarity shiver to think about it, Puffles never showed an ounce of fear, anger or even anything that would be considered a negative emotion. They seemed so happy and simple minded that it was hard to think that they could murder someone by accident. Rarity still didn’t know what was eviscerating people, but it hadn’t been the fluff balls. “Speaking of disturbing things, have you by any chance seen some torn up Humans darling?” “Those can’t be blamed on the Puffles, there are these six legged stubby tailed lizard things with hooks at the ends of their legs. I’ve killed one of them personally.” After a quiet moment Ember, sighed and decided to tell Rarity about it. “A Puffle snuggled one to death, it looked like a vicious killing machine. At least until it attacked the Puffle I saw and the Puffle walked away with only a little bit of fur lost from the whole altercation.” “Can we change the subject? I really don’t want to think about Puffles at the moment, I’ve had to ride one to get here and I’m tired of dealing with their idiocy. Also I may have used them to attack a human or two on the way here and I’m not proud of myself for it.” This was concerning the fact that she had to cast a light spell every few seconds to keep Fluffy from wandering away from the door and at least one other dot for each Puffle present. It was really quite taxing for Rarity to deal with all these childish creatures; she really didn’t want her horn to have a magical blow out. “Since I am quite tired of having to deal with them, could you please be a dear and carry me?” “Sure thing Rarity, now I just got to be careful about this.” Ember put away her rifle and carefully lifted Rarity into her arms trying not to hurt her Pony. She held the fragile and most beautiful piece of her hoard against her chest and winced at the pain that produced. At least that walker hadn’t broken her ribs, but they had been put through a lot of stress and she could feel the bruising. She turned to the door and Rarity finally released the light spell. They waited as all the Puffles started to lose interest in the area and wander off, all except for Fluffy who stood there idly and blew a raspberry. “Now let’s see what’s in cold storage... I have a good hunch at what we’ll find.” “She’s not going to go away is she?” Whined Rarity, she was very tired of having to deal with Puffles. Sure they were cute at first, only now she was quite sure that she understood what Ember meant when she said they were dangerous. At least they were unintentionally dangerous by doing something out of what looked to be completely instinct. Shaking her head, Rarity leaned her head into Ember’s right shoulder and relaxed while directing her attention to the door; she cast another light spell that revealed several smudged finger prints. “This shouldn’t be too hard to figure out, though this is going to be much hard than when I previously did this.” Ember could see the fingerprints on the keypad and scrutinized them, but nothing came to mind as to the order that one would press them. Fluffy, for some reason just sat there staring at what the two other figures were. Not many people would know it, but she was the smartest Puffle alive. That wasn’t actually saying much as she was only slightly better than any other fluff ball like her. She sat down and stared at the two considering them, they didn’t need hugs like the others did. All those other guys really needed hugs until they fell asleep and she couldn’t help because she was too busy paying attention to the enticing light. “So why do you think the Puffles snuggle the humans hard enough to kill them?” It might sound odd to ask that question, but Rarity wasn’t about to back down from broaching the subject as she and Ember scrutinized the keypad. “At a guess, I think they have some sort of ability to sense anger, aggression, danger or darkness in others. Their defense mechanism to defeat such things is with love, cuddles and happiness in a very ironically deadly manner.” It was kind of sad that innocent creatures were so blissful in their ignorance, but Ember couldn’t blame them. If they knew what they were doing they probably wouldn’t do it as much anymore or at all, they also wouldn’t be as happy as they perpetually seemed. “I don’t think they even realize that they are killing people. At least I’m quite certain their innocence is not an act.” Fluffy moved in front of the two as they were busy looking at one another. She just stared at keypad and saw the small markings on it. She stood up on her hind legs and after reaching out to it with a hoof, she started to playfully paw at it. It seemed important to the two things… so maybe playing with it would help them figure things out! She smiled and started to slap randomly at the keypad, that’s when the two noticed what she was doing. She saw the enticing thing round thing, but ignored it and kept poking at the thing and then something happened. She looked to her left and the wall was gone, how do walls just suddenly disappear like that? “Did that Puffle just seriously open the door?” Ember asked in flat disbelief as the Fluffy gasped and moved into the room looking around at all the new things. She quickly followed and her eyes looked on in horror at what she was seeing “I do, in fact, believe Fluffy just did that.” Even Rarity was too shocked by what Fluffy did to notice the change in her surroundings; the odds of the Puffle figuring out the code were astronomical as much as having the dumb luck to punch in the right code in the first place without fingers. It took a moment to pick up on the fact that Ember was shocked about something else. “What is it Ember, what are you… oh.” It was a massive room filled with thousands of bodies that were frozen solid and crammed into this large place; they now knew what was in cold storage and where all those captured people went. Only there were more than either Rarity or Ember thought there would be, not all of them were Ponies either. A good number of them were Humans, thus further complicating the issue as to what was going on. An upset sounding squeal made the two turn to Fluffy, she now had her tongue stuck to a block of ice with a Pony inside. Author's Note Well that explains that guys reaction to Fluffle Puff a few chapters back. So a bunch of Puffles and Lizard things are running around killing people after breaking loose from containment. Walkers are patrolling other parts of the facility and a whole ton of other stuff is happening here, including but not limited to a government conspiracy. It leads to one good question, what is going on in space at this moment? Why am I avoiding it like the plague and what have I exactly got planned in future chapters related to said subject? The answer is simply, Opal. I want to take an entire month off from writing, mostly to enjoy the simple things in life. Which is why October might be a bit empty of chapters and that's a little more than a month away. Fair warning, I might not actually do at least one chapter a week during that month. I want to call the lizards Gillamonks, would that name be in bad taste?
-95-The infrastructure of the Tempest Technologies’ facility was quickly becoming highly compromised; it wasn’t the walkers stomping around everywhere or the escaped lizard monsters randomly attacking humans from the shadows. Sometimes they did it in plain sight, but they were quickly dealt with. The lizard monsters were at best doing minimal damage to the infrastructure as they hunted for humans to eat. The major cause of all the damage happening around the facility was the Puffles running around everywhere. They were bumping into and knocking over fragile things, causing explosions, getting caught on fire, tipping over vats of dangerous chemicals, pressing buttons that had dire consequences for everyone involved and in general causing havoc everywhere they went and there weren’t even a hundred of them on the loose. It was more like eighty seven and they were slowly spreading around the facility through the air vents, elevators and stairs. Some were in groups and others went on alone to do some damage without really meaning to. The Humans of Tempest Technologies had already taken casualties when it came to capturing the Puffles for study in the first place, it was now worse that they got free from containment and they couldn’t contain the chaos as it started spreading. The walkers seemed to be enough to scare Puffles away or corral them, but capturing them and returning them back to containment was all but impossible. Well it was impossible if they didn’t use laser pointers, at least the walkers could paralyze them for a few seconds and or make them flee an area in fear while squeaking frantically. Walls were coming down, ceilings collapsed inwards and the entire facility was quickly becoming a collapsing mad house to the Humans. It was good news for Ember and Rarity at least; they’d have plenty of time for investigating their discovery. Meanwhile things weren’t going as well for Mare-Do-Well’s group when one of the facilities three commanders eventually found them, but before that happened they had been discussing Greta’s findings in the safest location for them to be in the facility at the moment. - “What are the chances that we can actually nail any government from the UEG? Which governments do we accuse of this specifically and do we have any other hard evidence other than the fact that military drones were sold to what is supposed to be a civilian technology company. It is a company that is known to suspiciously specialize in terrain changing devices.” Even Saffron knew that there was evidence of all the missing people from the climate incidents ending up in the hands of slave traders. Humans always seem to be around to buy the systems and this facility was made to alter the weather and do other nefarious things like it. It was pretty clear that UEG involvement couldn’t be denied, but it could be covered up and explained away. “We only have proof of UEG selling weapons to these people, not about them being directly involved.” “Rover is thinking, can we at least nail the Tempest people?” Rover received a few nods in response to his question, after that he went back to eating the cheese burger that he had. He stole it from the cafeteria they were currently in. Not like anyone was going to miss some food from this place anyway. “It’s about as much as we can get out of this whole darn situation near as I can tell, but I don’t really like it one bit that these Humans were trying to take the system from us.” Applejack was being quite honest about this. If she survived this then she was going to have problems with Humans, most likely for the rest of her life. She’d at least try to judge them on a person by person basis, but it’s going to be pretty hard to keep the memories of this incident from rising up or coming to mind. “I’m not going to be able to trust Humans very well after this whole mess.” “We wouldn’t expect you to be able to, especially because this is several magnitudes of wrong.” It looked a little odd that Viral was mimicking the up and down jaw movements to the sound of Greta’s voice, they were currently in a place that was safe. Nobody would have expected the intruders to stop for food or do so in one of their own cafeteria areas. All the Humans were too busy running around the facility like highly disturbed chickens. “It’s just unfortunate that Mare-Do-Well is correct, we won’t be able to outright nail anyone else aside from Tempest Tech for this. They’ll just deny it if we try and the best we can do is spread the information across every alien race we can so they won’t be able to get away with this again.” “At least we can do something to prevent this from happening to others; they’ve messed with the wrong Ponies!” Slapping a hoof at the floor, Saffron was rather angry at the fact that they couldn’t get UEG on much more than selling weapons. Like Greta said, that information could be swept under the rug. They didn’t know which of the many united governments did that, it might have been one or it might have been several involved. One thing was for certain, the UEG had its unclean fingers in several pies and the Applon System was not going to be one of them. “You won’t be preventing anything…” A silky smooth voice sounded out and that caught everyone’s attention to the Human woman walking into the room, her bright blue eyes showing hints of amusement as she had found them rather easily. She was wearing a purple suit that covered everything but her face and the sound of her heels clicking against the floor was unnerving; her unusually nice looking face had a grim smile plastered on it as she sauntered into the room. On her hips she had two pistols and four knives in a belt; she didn’t look equipped to handle the intruders. She was also fairly tall for a human woman and rather thin, there was just something off about her appearance. “To think you have most of this base out looking for you and here you are. I’m Commander Perja Rensada and I believe you’re on our property.” Saffron performed a scan on this Perja woman, whatever the Mare-Do-Well armor got out of her would have been helpful. The woman that walked in on them didn’t look like she had much to fear and a scan showed higher brain activity than normal for a human, she didn’t have any metal in her body so she didn’t have cybernetic enhancements at least. What if it wasn’t cybernetic enhancements that she had to worry about? Checking again, she noticed that the scans showed enhanced musculature beyond what was normal for a human and it looked like it was sculpted perfectly, which meant she wasn’t normal at all. The higher brain activity was probably something to be wary about then. “I think we can take you…” Saffron started off while taking a position between this woman and the others, only to be cut off by the woman speaking. “Your little group is not going to stop us. Eventually our numbers will wear you down even if you could beat me, which I very much doubt you will. You won’t be leaving this place alive either way.” The now named Perja stopped sauntering forward and staring at the three before her, Perja gave off a sincere sounding laugh as the group before her didn’t seem like much. One was a humanoid mutt, one looked like a farmer with that cowboy hat on her parka’s hood and the last one looked like she’ll last about a minute longer than the rest. The strange robot fox looked vaguely familiar, but was negligible as a threat and didn’t look like very much to her. She put hand up to the side of her head. “I’ve found some of the pests; I don’t think I’ll be needing help with them. So why don’t you try to find out where the other rats are, I’ve got this. So what are you, a machine or a Pony’s horrible attempt at creating a cybernetic entity? Doesn’t matter, because we’ll find out what makes you tick when we get your corpse. That is, if there even is one left to study when I’m done with all of you!” Saffron almost didn’t have to blink before she was skating sideways out of the path of a thunderous amount of energy bullets being fired at her; she had hardly even saw Perja pull out her energy pistols and she was already rapidly firing them by the time she reacted. Of the tens of shots that flew three tagged her shields and Perja performed cartwheel out of the way of her return fire from her front left hoof, weaving between her shots smoothly without pause as she continued to fire in the middle of her wheeling. After getting a better look at the weapons while trying to weave around the constant fire directed at her, Saffron took notice that these weren’t automatic energy pistols. It was just how fast Perja was pulling the triggers and it was an insane rate at which she was shooting them. The woman was fast and agile as she bounced between the tops of tables to balancing on the back of a chair for a second before rolling off its toppling form to the floor. All the while she continued to fire at Saffron while twisting and moving between every shot Saffron fired as if it were choreographed in advanced which was clearly impossible. Whoever Perja was in the grand scheme of things around here, she had obscenely heightened reflexes and was rather flexible considering the angles she was twisting into to shoot at Saffron or the other three targets in the room. The others hadn’t been idle; Rover, Applejack and Greta operating the mechanical fox knocked over the nearest tables or whatever they could use for cover and ducked behind them. Every other shot fired by Perja was aimed at someone other than Saffron who had taken twelve hits to the shields already. This human she was dangerously accurate with her insane rate of fire. Rover poked his head up and immediately ducked down, an energy bullet passed through the space his head just occupied and managed to hit the hood of his parka. He waved the tip of his rifle over his head and then swung around the side of the table; at least he managed to finish his snack and get his helmet back on before they got attacked. A shot flew where the tip of his rifle could be seen and he started firing a rapid amount of shots in conjunction with Saffron’s, it didn’t seemed to slow down this crazy Human one bit. Applejack took aim and tried to find a good time to shoot. She was trying to keep up with the Humans wild movements, but it was a little hard to do when Perja could jump to the ceiling and kick off of it at an angle while rotating her entire body to avoid being hit by the crossing fire from both Rover and Mare-Do-Well. Not only did the Human do this, she was still shooting at everyone as she spiraled to the floor into a handspring towards Applejack. The Earth Pony had to scramble to some other form of cover as Perja landed on the edge of the table shooting at her tail. She started to saunter along the edge of the table balanced perfectly while shooting at Rover, Mare-Do-Well and Applejack. Every shot fired at her, she just ducked, hopped, leaned and bent out of the way of in a slight blur. She was almost ignoring Viral, except the occasional potshot or so in the metal fox’s direction that made Greta quickly direct it away from the danger presented. Rover had the weapon with the highest rate of fire next to Saffron firing off both of the energy guns built into the hooves of her armor in alternating shots. Neither of them was having any luck hitting Perja as they were spending just as much time avoiding even getting hit by her shots, the most daunting thing about all this was that Perja didn’t even seem to need cover. Even Saffron needed to take a breather as she was taking a lot of hits for very little to show for it, her shields were getting close to having a critical existence failure. “I think I know what she is!” Saffron called out from behind cover and poked up to fire a few rounds to keep Perja off of Applejack. “Oh, please do tell me what I am; I’m very interested to hear this.” Perja looked to be a taking a leisurely stroll as her arms twisted and bent to fire and strange angles towards everyone, it was like she was a living ragdoll. She even sent ten or so more shots at the armored Pony who was proving sturdier than the commander would have liked. “She’s a biofeedback psychic!” It had to be one of the most dangerous types of Human that Saffron had ever heard of. It wasn’t a very good thing to meet one, much less be on the wrong side of a fight with said specific type of psychic. “Like knowing that will help you.” The woman stated mockingly with a sneer on her face as she suddenly blurred out of the way of a shot aimed for the back of her head by Applejack. The Pony took three grazing shots to the cheeks and neck that burnt away bits of orange fur as she ducked down. Actually knowing that would help, it’s just that you had to outlast the biofeedback psychic long enough for the detrimental part of using their bodies full capabilities for too long. This one in particular looked to be well trained and could probably handle more stress than a fresh Human who found out they were a biofeedback psychic. Most people didn’t survive a minute, let along outlast one long enough for the double edged effects to kick in and it had been barely twenty seconds, they’d need at least ten constant minutes of fighting to even start slowing her down. - Biofeedback psychics could do almost anything with their bodies. They could accelerate their healing, stop the aging process entirely and the one really troubling ability was that they had reaction times that almost bordered on being precognitive. Of the things they couldn’t do, they couldn’t reverse any aging that’s already happened once they learned how to stop it. They also could only heal so much and couldn’t grow back limbs. Not to mention there were severe drawbacks to using their muscles in an unrestrained manner over an extended period of time. There were Humans that were precognitive, but they never had the power of a biofeedback psychic and it wouldn’t surprise anyone else that Humans have tried to combine the two abilities together. Despite having such incredible and powerful abilities in their race, Humans thankfully didn’t have the ability to create psychic powers through cloning or forced breeding habits, which they’ve probably tried upon confirming the existence of psychics among their race. You had to be born with psychics powers; they could not be recreated or copied genetically. Surprisingly the Parascine race had the most knowledge on the subject as to why that was. Given a large number of their race had psychic abilities; it wasn’t hard to discern how they learned the idea of what caused said powers to come into existence. The problem with humans is that they thought psychic powers were related to genetics and not random chance; it caused a lot of issues and atrocities in the course of trying to build a perfect biological psychic weapon. Random chance could have been a little less helpful where Perja was concerned, as she had been in the prime of her life and if she had figured out how to stop her aging, then she wasn’t ever going to get any older. So making her an enemy would mean anyone in your family lineage wasn’t safe until she was absolutely dead, which wasn’t going to be very easy to accomplish. - The fact Applejack had already been shot three times in the span of half a second, even if the shots only grazed her face and neck, it was far too close for anyone’s comfort. Saffron ducked and weaved through the hail of fire as she skated forward at full burst in a zigzagging pattern. She threw herself at the Human to stop her from shooting at the others and Perja just performed a backwards flip and fired straight downwards as Saffron passed underneath. The shots hit the ground all around the armored pony. At least Saffron was moving too fast to hit, so there was at least some limit to this Human’s ability. The Human landed and twisted around to continue firing at Saffron’s backside only she had already rocketed sideways while knocking over another table to block the shots, said tables were made of a solid sturdy metal and thus made great barriers for the endless stream of energy bullets flying from the two guns. Saffron had only just recently learned that she could skate sideways and possibly in any direction on the dot at a moment’s notice, which is how she got out of the way so fast. Now Perja was heading towards Rover, only she had to dodge away when she got a chair thrown at her from behind the table. At least her powers didn’t give her the ability to automatically know where everyone was at once, which is why when she got a little confused when she didn’t see Rover after kicking the table with a mighty force that sent it slamming into the nearby wall. She neatly leaned back and forth out of the way of multiple bolts of energy that tried to hit her from the side. She rolled backwards towards the center of the room that was being cleared out by the fight. Perja came out of her roll to avoid a single shot from Applejack with a handstand, which lead her into an upside down upwards twisting kick that had her dodging five shots from Saffron. She landed on a chair in an athletic pose and a hint of amusement that they weren’t able to hit her once so far. She kicked the chair she was on at the armored mare while she leapt off to start charging for Rover’s position guns blazing. Rover decided to try something brave and when she was close enough he leapt out to try and punch the Human, only it didn’t go as he had planned. His right paw moved outwards and then Perja tossed her left gun high into the air and grabbed his right arm, she twisted it and proceeded to also twist herself into position to aim her right gun at the center of Rover’s helmet while bringing him to down before her as if to shoot him like the dog he was. Her finger pulled on the trigger and she missed hitting him by an inch. It still put a hole in the hood of Rover’s parka. The sudden whip of energy wrapped around her arm not only pulled her aim off, but it had been so slow moving that Perja hadn’t considered it a possible threat until it was wrapped around the crook of her left elbow. She was proven to be wrong about the threat as she was bounced off a table and into a wall with a painful sounding crunch as the solid wall cracked with her impact; she was up and out of the way before Applejack’s next shot could even cover half the distance. She hardly even grunted at the blow she just took. Rover quickly ran off and decided not to get close to the Human Bitch again; he went to take cover in the kitchen where he got his burger from and whined at the feeling in his right wrist. That Human had almost crushed his wrist without trying… or maybe she had. Rover was feeling quite a bit of pain from it and he wasn’t exactly a doctor. He had to survive long enough to meet one, he looked to the nearby stove and an idea popped into his head. Applejack saw that Mare-Do-Well had Perja’s attention and turned her sights to the pistol, Mare had managed to disarm Perja of one of her guns. She took careful aim and fired, the gun shattered and exploded. Perja had to of realized that she was down a weapon and she pulled out a knife without even glancing in the direction of the destroyed gun. Perja couldn’t really afford to take her attention off of the armored Pony for long, especially one who had more tricks up their sleeves than was previously thought. She launched herself at Applejack and tried to kick her head in; her foot caught the inside of Applejack’s hood as the Pony ducked down. The kick almost connected with the farmer’s skull and pulled her head upwards slightly. Applejack eyes flew upwards and she twisted around catching Perja’s foot in the hood and tried to buck out at her. Perja swung out with the knife like a whip slicing free from the hood; she hopped out of the way of the buck and did a backwards hand spring over Mare-Do-Well’s attempt at getting her with the energy whip again. Saffron was getting frustrated, this woman was impossible to get a solid hit on and she was already firing every single thing she had at the woman. None of the seven shots fired from her right shock wing hit their mark and the facility commander was on top of her within a moment. She attempted to dodge the shots and her readout on her shields suddenly went down to zero and looking at the HUD one of the shots had damaged the armor slightly. She no longer had any protection, she went onto her two rear hooves and engaged close up and personal as long range wasn’t going to cut it anymore. While Saffron and Applejack continued to try and fight Perja, Rover was busy doing something in the kitchen and ducking a few shots from Perja’s remaining gun every now and then. Greta was waiting for an opportunity to unleash Viral’s mouth cannon on the Human. Even if Greta did shoot, she didn’t think her shots would even connect and she wasn’t about to attract attention to the fragile machine she was in control of that was her only connection to their friends in the field. Saffron rolled out of the way of the gun fire and deflected the knife swing by popping one of her hoof blades to deflect it and then she tried to jab at Perja with it. It didn’t work out so well when the Human skipped backwards and launched a kicked straight to her chin that sent her flipping backwards and onto her belly with grunt. If Saffron hadn’t been wearing armor, then that kick might have very well snapped her neck in two. The fact that it even caused her to involuntary flip backwards despite how heavy the armor should be said a lot about how strong Perja was. They were clearly getting their asses hoofed to them by one person and it was technically four to one with the four all being armed more heavily. Saffron made the blade take the next few shots fired at her as she swung for Perja’s neck, all Perja did was smile and lean away from the blade and fired the gun still in her right hand rapidly raking the shots across Saffron’s armored form doing small amounts of damage as she leapt up and away from Saffron’s attempt to hit her with the other blade she popped from her armor. Retracting the left blade and pointing her hoof at the human; Saffron fired a pinpoint puller tether at the center of Perja’s aerial form and reeled her in. Saffron pulled Perja back towards her and managed to damage the woman’s suit with a slice, but didn’t even draw blood as Perja had kicked off her chest in time knocking the armored Pony to the floor. After landing Perja stalked forward firing her pistol at Saffron who popped the other blade again and shielded her armored head and chest. Applejack and Viral started to shoot at Perja, it didn’t stop the Human who continued to dodge their shots until she was upon Saffron kicking her protecting limbs away and stomping down on her chest. This pinned Saffron to the floor and dazed her, the foot also left an imprint in Saffron’s armor. Perja continued to fire at a single point in the armor while dodging Greta and Applejack’s attempts at getting her off of Mare-Do-Well. After she figured she had damage the armor enough, Perja swiftly reversed the grip she had on her knife stabbed it downwards and Saffron’s weak struggling ceased when the knife dug all the way up to the hilt where her heart was. “No, Mare-Do-Well!” Applejack soon had the woman upon her and she was pulling out one of her three remaining knives. “Damn it… no…” It clearly horrified Greta when she watched as the armor became rather lifeless. “Mare-Do-Well… was that her name. Oh I’m so sorry, but she seems to have a knife in her chest. Now, how could that have possibly gotten there?” Perja didn’t care and then she was moving for Applejack who frantically managed to fire off three rounds, the first two missed, but the third was a lucky shot that blew the other pistol out of Perja’s hand before she could reach Applejack. Once she did reach Applejack she punched the Pony across her face making her drop her rifle and go flying a few feet where she tried to get up from the jarring hit. “I’m sure your friend was very pretty under all that armor. So why don’t I do you favor and make you pretty as well? Let’s start with all this hair, why do you ponies have so much of it?” Applejack was now sporting a swollen left eye and had a heel pressed into her back and she felt a tight yank on her mane, Greta started firing on Perja for all the good that was doing in getting the woman to relinquish her hold of Applejack’s mane. Now the Human was just toying with them as she dodged the energy cannon’s blasts in slow swaying motions, Greta didn’t fire too many as she didn’t want to hit Applejack. “If this was all you got, then I should have just finished you all off sooner!” Perja simply crouched down and held a knife to Applejack’s neck while looking back at the fox. “So how about I take a little off the top, starting here?” Before she could do anything more a sloshing sound was heard and Perja tried to dodge, tried to, because how does one dodge a sudden widespread wall of boiling hot liquid coming at you. “I would prefer that you don’t!” Rover shouted out following the splashing sound and a blood curdling scream that had Applejack looking up at him. He was holding an empty grease basket that was used for frying food. She quickly got up and retrieved her rifle and moved over to the Diamond Dog before looking to the human screaming on the floor. The Diamond Dog simply commented on the situation. “I am hearing that some oils are good for the skin, yes? At least that’s what Boss Lady tells Rover, though I don’t think that oil is doing her any favors.” “You bastards, when I get up from this I’m going to…!” Even if she was in agony Perja was still getting up and her eyes were wild with fury, her inflamed red skin was bubbling and her suit was damaged by being soaked with the boiling grease that had blindsided her. She pulled both her knives and was about to get up and drive them into the two, well she would have it weren’t for the metal chair that slammed across the back of her skull knocking her down. She turned her head slightly and saw a familiar if slightly smaller silhouette. “W-what, who… you… how did you…” “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Saffron’s EVA suit had a small splash of breach gel around the chest, had she teleported out of the armor a second later…. needless to say it was a close call. The six inches of knife would have gone far enough to have actually been lethal. Silent teleportation was a very useful spell to have for a unicorn; the loud version attracted everyone’s attention far too easily. Perja was already halfway to getting up when Applejack swiftly bucked her in the spine with all her strength making Perja’s legs go out from under her. She still tried again; the blow to the back of the skull had ruptured ability to control her body to a precise degree and her head was one of her greatest weaknesses. The sudden damage to the spine from a full powered buck was making it hard to stand up and she had slowed down drastically, all the damage and pain to her nervous system was quickly putting her out of commission. While she could shut off her pain receptors, there were a lot of problems with doing that. It was not knowing when you were dying from the strain you were putting your body through and there was a certain point where if you don’t stop, your entire nervous system would deteriorate to a point that you couldn’t recover from. Saffron, not taking any chances, grabbed an entire table in her magic and swung it for the rising Perja’s head as hard as she could. It knocked the Human flat out and it might have even possibly killed her. At the moment Saffron didn’t care, even if her horn was being pushed roughly from using so much magic at once. She wanted to put Perja down and hard, she had clearly achieved that feat. Now she was rubbing at her chest where Perja had stomped on her. “I suggest we make haste from the area, can you get back in your armor Mare-Do-Well? I really don’t want to leave it here.” The fox robot turned to the powered armor and watched as Saffron pulled the knife out of the chest of the highly damaged power armor. The knife had a bit of breach gel on it and Saffron unceremoniously dropped it off to the side. “I can, just… just give me a moment to catch my breath. Oh my chest…” They were all battered from being knocked around and shot at, eventually with enough concentration Saffron teleported herself back into the armor and slowly got up. It was a bit stiffer in movement thanks to all the damage, but at least it was still workable in a similar vein to how Ember’s old armor was workable. “Okay, not doing that anymore… my head hurts, my chest hurts and I just want to finish this thing we’re doing here.” “I think I have a broken wrist.” Added Rover in a dry tone, he was still holding the empty frying basket with his left paw and he dropped it off to the side like Saffron did with the knife. Slowly the injured group gathered themselves and set off, leaving the crumpled form on the floor behind them. - A few minutes later a hand pressed against the floor and the other grabbed at the knife nearby. Slowly Perja stood up on wobbling legs and was back on her feet despite her recent spinal injury. She definitely wanted round two; she cracked her neck twice to realign her spine and reached up with a hand to rip away a solid mass of boiled, damaged and flaking flesh from her face to reveal the completely unblemished skin underneath. Author's Note Perja Rensada- Biofeedback Psychic. she is capable of amazing feats beyond what is normal for the human body. If she can think it, her body can probably do it within certain limitations. Prolonged use of her special heightened abilities can have serious negative consequences. If she is ageless as is within her power, then the negative consequences are less dangerous or fatal. IE the shortening of ones life span from regenerating too much. A biofeedback psychic can control every aspect of their body, including everything inside of them. A well trained one can control all forms of viruses, bacteria and toxins inside them, they however can't control anything that is no longer inside their body. The ability to stop aging is coveted and so is the ability to regenerate, despite these abilities biofeedback psychics are not perfectly immortal or all powerful. They can be ageless if they take care of themselves. Injury to the head can instantly hamper a biofeedback psychics abilities.
-96-Gilda was getting bored; she needed to do something, something that wouldn’t destroy their mode of transportation. She got up and climbed down from her seat and walked towards the back of the machine trying not to be tripped up by the ladder. Everyone else was doing something interesting; she was tired of relaxing and needed some action. “Say Greta, how are things going?” Gilda crawled through the hatch and carefully moved her body down to the ceiling, which was currently the floor because their entire machine was upside down. “Well the group I’m in charge of was attacked by one of the base commanders here. She is biofeedback psychic and she almost killed our guys before we knocked her out. Applejack almost lost her head, Rover would have been shot in his and Saffron almost got stabbed in the chest… through her armor which is now running on fumes from all the damage it’s take in that fight.” On the screen Greta had her eyes on they were currently stopped at a point in a hallway and the tail of the machine she was controlling appeared in their view and hacked the door. They were being shot at for a few seconds before their aggressors were dealt with. “I’m currently trying to find where their command room is, but apparently one of the commanders is a computer expert. Reacts real quickly to intrusions in Tempest facility’s systems and I’ve only done two so far. Do you need anything Gilda? I’m kind of busy and I’m about to hack into their systems again.” “Yeah, I was wondering where you put all those chemical canisters you pulled out of those robot wolves?” Everyone else seemed to be having fun and Gilda was not going to sit idly around when she could be doing something interesting. She was already slinging plasma rifle on her back and loading up on clips for it. “Also, you wouldn’t have happened to have jury rigged a chemical sprayer to test the stuff would you?” “Yeah sure, the canisters are in that box over there. They are pretty tough which is a good thing, if they had ruptured inside the Centaur-pede then that would have been a very hard mess to clean up. There’s a chemical sprayer in there as well and yes rigged it.” Greta didn’t take her eyes off the screen as she had the fox robot leap up onto a counter and the tail opened up and rammed into the computer. She had pointed at the right box and inside was a chemical sprayer, which Gilda took out. ”Gilda, I just realized something. What do you exactly need that stuff for?” “They have some pretty neat walkers and I wanted to steal one for fun and profit, I can see them down there preparing some. One those can fit in here easily enough.” Gilda started stowing canisters into a satchel that wasn’t her ammo pouch weighed down with plasma clips. “Gilda, I hope you realize the trouble that will cause, they’ll know where we are if you do that! Speaking of, I need to deliver a quiet message to Ember and Rarity before I’m caught.” Greta was too busy hacking their computer systems again to really pay attention to what Gilda was doing. “Ember, Rarity, come in, can you hear me? Please respond to confirm that you’re in that big room, what’s in there? Are you two okay?” “Ember here, Rarity has a broken leg and one that was shot clean through. The shot one is currently sealed off with breach gel. I’m carrying her through what looks to be a freezer with thousands being held on ice and our pink little stalker is here with us, the annoying little fluffy monster.” Well that was interesting news, plus Ember sounded aggravated and there was a bit of coughing. “Oh and I got punched in the chest by a walker. It hurts a bit, but I’m good to keep moving. Also there are a lot of Puffles running around, apparently they and these six legged lizard creatures broke free from whatever containment the humans had them under. I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire facility is having problems now thanks to the problem causing fluff balls, what the hell did you do to cause those explosions?” “I fixed the issue with the blizzards... and might have incidentally buried us underground with very few routes out of here thanks to the numerous explosions.” Greta’s voice cracked a bit and she felt rather sheepish. “Gilda seemed to have enjoyed it at least.” “This is Rarity, is there any chance we can defrost and save all these people? This is a lot of rows and this freezer is several stories tall. A lot of the captives here are Pony and even some Humans, though we have seen a few Parascine or Cacceran here and… is that a Parrote?” Rarity sounded startled to see another Equus native that was from their planet. “I do believe it is one. She’s most definitely not a Griffon.” Well the species was technically called Parrot, but they were usually called Parrote for being larger than what real parrot would look like. They were not common in the Pony lands and were like Humans by being tall two legged beings that had hands. They were basically a distant cousin to the Griffon species on Equus. While they couldn’t fly on their own, given the fact that they generally lack wings, they were really good at jumping, acrobatics and piloting ships. They were of the few more humanoid looking species on Equus, like the Abyssinians which were a cat like species of similar build to Parrote’s except they were feline. Hippogriffs were closer than Parrotes were to the Griffon species as cousins, given hippogriffs are the cross of a Pony and Griffon relationships. Caccerans and Abyssinians were not the best of friends, but they did have their similarities and differences. Abyssinians were usually taller than Ponies and Caccerans were usually shorter or smaller, another difference is that Abyssinians were native and Caccerans were aliens with random rabbit and fox like features. Sometimes it was hard to tell Abyssinians and Caccerans apart, especially if a Cacceran has gone native. Parrotes were said to be derived from a Hippogriff and Abyssinian relationship. “Like I told you guys earlier, the chances of being safely being melted once frozen doesn’t look good and the survivability is low. So don’t expect to save everyone, save who you can.” Noticing that her intrusion was quickly becoming noticed in the system, Greta started to speak faster. “I’m guessing since there’s a massive room, there should be some kind of temperature control in there… now if you’ll excuse me they are beginning to find my intrusion and I have to move our guys and get back to Gilda before she does something… oh no. Cutting connection now, I think Gilda left while I was busy with you. Last word of advice, do not thaw them out too quickly, don’t set the temperature too high and more will survive the thawing process if not most of them!” The robot vixen’s tail quickly unplugged from the computer and closed up; she turned the robot fox around to address the others. “Okay news update guys, Rarity and Ember are okay… generally. Rarity has some bad injuries and Ember has taken a blow to the chest from one of the walkers, do not let the walkers close to you. If they can hurt Ember, who’s the sturdiest person we have here, then they are most certainly going to hurt you!” Checking Viral’s system, Greta made sure that a tracer didn’t connect and was thankful that she wasn’t caught. She didn’t think her luck would hold out through two more intrusions into the system. “I would like to apologize for all those explosions a while back, but we’ve dealt with the blizzard problem at least and...” “Oh no we haven’t, we haven’t dealt with the problem until this facility is gone!” Applejack interrupted a bit angrily while looking at the fox, these Humans were still threatening her livelihood and her family. She wasn’t going to take that lying down. “As I was saying, for the time being the Humans are not capable of producing blizzards damaging the planet’s ecosystem. Now that I think of it, this is a really bad place to be. At least your family is safe Applejack, but getting out of here might be a bit difficult as we can’t go out the same way we came in. In fact this facility might start flooding without those clouds to stop the snow and ice above us from melting. Also while I’m talking to you Gilda left the Centaur-pede to capture one of those walkers. Don’t know if she’ll succeed, but she better not get herself killed.”Of course having heard that there was a lot of havoc running around the facility, Greta figured they were safe in their current location for the time being so she continued to fill them in. “In any case there are a lot Puffles and strange lizard monsters that broke containments in the laboratory area Rarity and Ember are investigating and they are spreading throughout the facility while causing…” An explosion shook the room Viral and the others were in, it sounded like it came from several floors down and it had been pretty darn close. Applejack and Rover were holding their ears and cringing, thirty seconds later they were able to stand up straight. “Havoc… anyway, Rarity and Ember are going to attempt to free the Tempest Technology slave stock and if they can thaw enough help we can take the facility from the Humans.” Which was a good idea and Greta had a bet that was Rarity’s current train of thought, even if there were a lot of unarmed civilians they could still do some damage and relieve some humans of their weapons. They were currently outgunned and the Humans had numbers on their side, so making the playing field a bit more even would help. They would have to do it as fast as they can, because the lower parts of the Tempest Technologies facility would be drowning in water in a few hours. “The best thing to do would be to take the command center, before they decide that a self destruct is warranted to prevent us from spreading news of this system stealing plot. In summation if the Humans are crazy enough to the point they won’t care if they die in the process of a self destruct, then nobody will know what happened here and it’ll happen again either here or somewhere else.” “Greta, my armor can’t take much more of this and that Perja woman really did a number on us. At least they won’t use the self destruct until they have no other choice and we haven’t driven them that far yet.” Saffron didn’t think her shields were coming back, but at least the armor was still in working condition. Well workable condition, but not yet bad enough to ditch it entirely despite the thin hole carved into the chest of her metal suit. “Yet being the big key word to our continued survival, so yes finding the command center and preventing any other method to set off a self destruct would be a pretty high priority thing for us. We have to stop said thing from ever happening, we also need to keep them distracted from Rarity and Ember. So I think we should continue drawing attention to ourselves.” “Rover is thinking this will be quite hard.” That was an understatement as far as Rover could tell, they were all taking injuries they couldn’t afford to have as things were going to get worse. “Also I am incapable of doggy paddling with broken wrist, drowning is unpleasant way to go. Happened to a friend once, mother is teaching Rover to swim after that. She was a friendly and beloved bitch who knows many Diamond Dogs personally. Never explained to Rover how she knew them all personally, but she knew a lot of them.” “Remind me to never use the idiom ‘son of a bitch’ around you, I wouldn’t want to be insensitive to your culture.” Culture was kind of important to Saffron, given all the foods she cooked were related to her heritage and long line of Ponies who did things other than what they were truly talented at. Thinking of what Rover had to say about his mother; Saffron had the sinking feeling that Rover’s mother had been quite sexually loose and slept around with a lot of other Diamond Dogs. “Why would it be insensitive? Rover is the son of a bitch.” Here Rover’s ears wilted a bit. “I am hoping mother is still living, she is being a very smart bitch. Otherwise I am enjoying this rest break.” “Well because… you know what, never mind that. Forget I ever mentioned anything about it Rover. Let’s keep focused on what we need to do, like find the command center or at least information on a computer that can help us prevent an even worse disaster than the ones currently going on according to Greta.” Sighing Saffron turned to the robot fox. “We have to deal with one disaster at a time here. The flooding isn’t an immediate problem, I’m sure Gilda can take care of herself and what is an immediate problem are the chances of a self destruct happening if we keep causing large amounts of chaos like this. I might even be able to say that this is worse than what happened on Antilur Station and that’s saying something given it was a space station filled with reanimated flesh zombies and barely held together ghosts.” - Five rounds and the human dropped with a hole in his skull and two others in his body, Ember closed the door and turned back to Rarity of whom she left sitting on the ground. She turned back around as she stowed her gun. The hallways outside frozen storage was littered with rotting rock riddled reprobates. “Fifth group in the last few minutes, they must really want these people stay here.” Of the things Ember was ignoring, one of them was the Puffle licking at the melting ice like a tasty snack. “Someone knows we touched the thermostat and they aren’t happy with it Rarity.” “Well that is obvious with them sending more at us and the previous teams not reporting in; also the room is beginning to get a bit wet.” Rarity wasn’t actually upset as she had intended her parka’s to be disposable at least and they were doing their jobs in soaking up damage that wasn’t projectile related. She was watching the frozen beings slowing being thawed out, in case something happened to Ember or she was temporarily indisposed for some reason, it would then be up to Rarity to help these people thaw out. “Do you suppose you can go out there and pick up some of their weapons? We’re going to need to arm some of these people once some of these people thaw out soon enough, I’m quite certain no matter who they are they’ll want to help once...” A crash to the floor behind them caused both of them to jump and for Ember to pull the energy pistol while Rarity went for her material pistol. The frozen meat locker from hell with thousands of possible living souls had just had its first liberated person, it was the Parrote. She was trying to stand up, her legs were looking quite limp. Another thing that was limp happened to be her decrepit looking crimson and blue tipped feathers that were pooling against the soggy floor, it looked like she was attempting to do a push up and there was a look in her orange eyes. She was hyperventilating and her eyes were wildly looking about at all the other frozen forms. All the frozen bodies were thawing from top to bottom and her upper half of the Parrote had thawed out enough for her to become aware of her situation and panic, the ice around her legs had shattered safely and she looked to be healthy if highly disoriented by her imprisonment. She must have had a lot of pins and needles running through her body. She started coughing a bit and explosively emptied her stomach of any bile that was in it, while sickening it was kind of expected. The Puffle stopped licking the nearest melting ice scultpture and made her way over to the bile spewing Parrote. Fluffy stopped near the Parrote and sniffed the air; she then proceeded to squeak and gave the Parrote a smile before she started eating the bile. Rarity could feel some bile rising up her own cheeks at the sight, it was rather disgusting. After the Parrote stopped puking, she just stared at the Puffle blankly and blinked a bit. She slowly turned her sight to the two sitting there, watching her slowly try to get her bearings; she quite a bit confused by the creature eating her vomit. While she was doing this Rarity put away her pistol, Ember opened the door to look outside and slowly go out and pick up a few weapons while looking around wearily. Ember made sure to stay within the sight of the door and Rarity, she carried an armful of weapons and dropped them with a small splash in the large puddle Rarity sat in. They were going to need all the help they could get, now if the Parrote was friendly enough to work with them then they’d have some help. “Can you do the talking and try to inform them what’s going on?” A little fire here or there would help clear out the cluttered corridor, she’s already shot thirty humans and considering the size of the map this facility had there were bound to be thousands of them still around. That and she had some seriously bad social quirks, the exception being towards her hoard. “I’m going to be watching the corridors for any more attacks… and maybe do some clean up. Don’t try walking anywhere; I’ve got us covered for the time being.” “Right then, oh excuse me, you there, are you feeling better? I have a feeling that things around here are going a might bit…” An explosion sounded off making Rarity fold her ears back and she looked towards the ceiling with a tiny glare and then back to the cringing Parrote. “It is an exceedingly dangerous around here as it were, what’s your name dear so I might know what to call you? We can sort of use all the help we can get around here. Well if you’re willing and able, can you feel your legs?” “As you would say in your native tongue, where are we right now and what the bucking hell is going on here?” The Parrote was rubbing at her head. Gritting the teeth of her thick mostly half circle beak, she was obviously fearful for her life. Given that she just woke up from what was a dreadful sleep and in a rapidly worsening situation, some wariness was to be expected. At least she didn’t wake up in some space pirate’s ship enslaved to them. She had a rather interesting accent that sounded French/Prench; not to mention her voice was rather haggard which was also to be expected and her clothing look absolutely destroyed by the freezing which had Rarity somewhat appalled. She was only wearing a bra and underwear that seemed to be falling apart as she thawed; she was probably caught in her sleep or something. She dipped her head down and started to lap up some of the cleaner looking water beneath her as it flowed out of the door Ember was guarding. “My legs, what’s wrong with them? They’re numb.” “I’ll give you the abridged version, you were frozen solid and brought to a Human made facility far underground and were likely going to be sold off to the highest bidder in a slave auction until we came along.” Clearing her throat and giving a sad look to what had to have once been some rather beautiful feathers which were now horrible to look at. Her plumage must have once been amazing, but thanks to being frozen for a time the drooping damaged feathers from her head and her tail looked to be horribly messed up and needed to be, in Rarity’s solemn opinion, trimmed away so that they could grow back. Rarity’s heart went out to the poor girl really, the things she would have to do to get her beauty back into shape. Did that mean that every frozen pony would have to do the same to fix their appearances? Fur and hair didn’t exactly freeze right, why the thought was positively horrid considering she was all about spreading beauty and or helping others. “We kind of made a mess of things charging into a large battle and then we ended up finding this facility… mostly by accident. Being frozen solid is not a very survivable thing, but you’ve managed to do so, though not without a bit of loss.” “You mean… my legs might not… they might not…” The Parrote was still a bit slow; she was still trying to get her head together on the floor. She had a slight look of horror on her face. “Oh, no, no, no, it’s not your legs I’m worried about. They look alright for the most part from my perspective… it’s your coiffure… or plumage if you will.” Rarity didn’t want to point to out to the Parrote that her tail and head feathers were mangled beyond recognition by being frozen solid and they looked to have been absolutely long. “Look at it this way, you’ve survived the process of having your entire body frozen and your brain practically suffocated through flash freezing chemicals so there’s at least some positive side to this. We thawed you out to get some help for the situation we’re in; the Humans in this facility have a lot travesties to answer for.” “My… my plumage, what is wrong with my…” The Parrote finally notice her dead looking feathers that were still attached to her head, she looked a bit upset for a moment and managed to push herself into a sitting position. She calmed down and started to speak slightly clearer than before while slapping at her legs trying to get some feeling back into them. “Doesn’t matter, it can grow back. My beauty will not be tarnished for long if I can get out of here alive. What do you need me to do when I can get feeling back in my legs? I want to help.” “Splendid, I know this may seem like much, but we’ll need you to pick up one of the weapons my friend is gathering and help us protect this room until all the people thaw out. Well, at least the people that aren’t dead by being frozen alive in the first place. There may be a few dead bodies in this room with us soon and I apologize for that, but I need you to hold yourself together.” Yeah, there were a lot of alarming things going on here and Rarity thought better of not being straightforward with the poor dear, she was being completely upfront. “I wouldn’t want to want to worry you with the urgency of how we need people to take over this facility before we all die, but it’s important that we just get some people standing. Which reminds me, do you happen to have any medical experience?” “Oui I can gladly take up arms, I am Rubis Poulette madam. Now if only I can take up my legs.” Rubis didn’t look like she was ready for a fight and she was barely even able to stand. “I would be shaking your hoof for reviving me, but alas I am afraid I am incapable at the moment. So excuse me for not properly greeting you, s’il vous plait?” “Of course, I’m not in much of a good state myself to greet you as you can plainly see.” This sounded like someone Rarity could get along with; they were charming and sounded both sweet and willing to help even in their current state. “I’m Lady or Baroness Rarity D. Belle, officially a fashion designer with an unusually large penchant for incredible’ danger.” “Merci Lady Rarity, Merci.” There were groaning sounds and Rubis turned to see others like her starting to thaw out and become aware enough to shatter their prisons and become stabbing by the bits of ice they might have fallen upon. “I have no skill as a docteur though. Even if I was, I would not be of much help to you here in my current state mon amie. We should hope for one.” “Can you at least help me talk any of these people down from panicking until you can get your talons under you?” An explosion sounded out in the hallway, Rarity looked towards the door with worry and Rubis mimicked her action. They hard sounds of blasts hitting the door and what sounded like rough fighting for a few minutes and in the meantime Rarity commented softly. “We really are on a tight schedule here and my friend out there doesn’t sound like she’s having a good time.” “Oui, I will try harder to stand up and as quickly as I can manage.” The door slides open and Rubis gets her first sight of Ember and she wobbled a few steps through the door bracing herself with a hand. “We’re starting to get walkers and soldiers here, so how many are ready for a fight?” It almost sounded like Ember was desperate to hear a room full of answer. Her answer only seemed to be one and she was still thawing, but she was moving at least. “I am not ready, but I will be soon enough. I am no coward to danger.” At least Rubis was putting on a brave face as she struggled to even get up on one leg. “Try to hold out for a little longer Ember.”All the frozen people had been packed into the room like sardines; it was starting to get uncomfortable for Rarity to see at least fourteen unmoving bodies, one was unnervingly a Human child. At least she saw twenty or so that were moving that and trying to come to their senses. So their saving to death ration was positive at least, but still quite horrible to bear witness to. “Rubis do you mind the fact that you might have to fight naked? Your clothes are kind of… and your particular species wears more than the average Pony.” “I will just have to fight naked if I have to, in the name of survival I know no such shame!” It seemed Rubis was getting some strength in her and didn’t seem to be upset about her state of dress and she was already slowly stumbling forward to carefully pick up one of the rifles, she got a good look at one of the so called walkers. It was a little demoralizing to see just one, even destroyed as it was, but she put on a brave face anyway. Her stomach growled loudly and she was hungry. “An army marches on its stomach and as for mine she is empty. I am in terrible need of food.” There wasn’t any floating barf on the floor and Fluffy was licking her lips happily, it had tasted rather unique. - “Seriously, how dumb do you really think we are?” The Human guards preparing a walker for a pilot go up and check the tunnels for stability started firing upon the cardboard box that hadn’t been there a second ago. They had clustered together when they started firing upon it and a sticky looking red substance started to bleed through the cardboard box onto the floor. One of the guys approached it and then they were fired on from behind, ten plasma shots ripping through their torso’s burning off hair, skin, flesh and bone and they all collapsed in agony. Gilda rolled her eyes and dropped to the ground and walked up to the box to flip it over. She revealed it to be a box full of cherries and proceeded to shove an absolute mouthful into her beak. After she finished her snack, she took one last fruit and stuffed it into the side of her beak leaving the stem poking out of it and tightened her purple headband while smirking. “Dumb enough to never look up. Even with the defense drones around, you should always beware the chance of air support!” Chirped Gilda happily, she then made her way over to the machine that was just about finished being fueled and she started to whistle to herself as she crawled into the seat beyond the open canopy. The seat looked really inviting too, she caressed the machines upholstery and then she reached up and pulled the canopy down. “Now let’s see what this little baby can do.” The machine stood up and Gilda went over the specs of it, grapple claws, shock cannons, maximum speed and fuel expenditure… this thing wasn’t very efficient in some ways. It was certainly an effective combat model for something that was a mass produced piece of crap for an exorbitant cost that was too high for what it was actually worth. It was a nice piece of crap, but she could make it go twice the speed and hit harder with a few tweaks here or there. So where were her friends again and who would need her help more at the moment? Author's Note Preemptive joke installed. Solid G! G? G? GIL? GIILLLLLLDDAAAA! ....stop stealing things you technology fiend. Also introducing this chapter Parrote Rubis Poullete (Red Chicken)
-97-“Commander John Quelk this is Commander Thomas Itterstin, the base has basically gone to crap and we’re losing people left and right. Surprisingly, it’s not the invaders doing the most damage. A few of them have however gotten to the freezer and are thawing out people, they need to be stopped. There are Gillamonk sightings all over the base and Puffles are destroying everything including all the coffee machines, it’s a mad house in here!” Thomas was the one base commander working at the computer, there was extensive damage all around the surface around the base. It was turned into a jagged mess thanks to the all the explosions and the destruction of their towers, the landscape wasn’t the only thing going on. “I think the others are looking for the command center, their intrusions into the system are rather subtle whenever they do it and they’re doing it from our own computers. I think they’re actually getting closer to my location and I can’t stop them.” “This is Perja, I will take care of the ones going after the command center. I just need to get some more weapons from the armory; John can handle the pests at the freezer.” There was an animalistic tone to Perja’s voice that made Thomas shiver; it sounded like someone pissed her off. Thomas knew Perja was quite tough and could take all kinds of injuries provided that her body parts weren’t severed. Cybernetics couldn’t quite create or match the same strength as a biofeedback psychic going full blast. If she lost an arm then a cybernetic replacement would be far weaker than what Perja could actually do with a real flesh and blood version. “Roger that, I’ll have my mechanized force move in on the fuckers and shut down their efforts in the laboratory sector.” John was a pilot for their most powerful mechanized unit, the mass production models weren’t as well guarded as his was. His particular unit was a large unique four legged yellow walker with hazard symbols on it. It had several powerful weapons and nobody else could operate it except for the intended pilot. “If you’re not too busy, send some infantry down there to harry them until I arrive. Most of my forces are tied up in killing the Gillamonks and preventing the Puffles from getting into the armories at the moment.” The Human forces were having a hard time with even killing one Puffle. It was a fact that they hadn’t killed a single Puffle yet, even during experimenting with the species after having caught a generous number of them. Every Puffle that had escaped containment were still alive despite the accidents they were causing everywhere, some ending in catastrophic explosions. The deaths from being near said incidents had already cost the Humans three hundred people in the last hour alone, which wasn’t the same as the one hundred and fifty humans that died by being snuggled to death. Most of the dead Humans that had been snuggled to death were scientists who weren’t good at surviving the deadly if affectionate critters. The security on John Quelk’s particular walker involved a very specific and expensive type of sensor. Facial and finger print scanners weren’t nearly as useful as you’d think, especially when you have things like active blood sensors. A facial scanner could be fooled, so could a retinal scanner, all you needed was the image of a person’s face which wasn’t hard to get a picture or recording of and a data pad with the right application of screen movement or scrolling. Finger Print scanners had been continuously foiled since the discovery that tape could lift and reuse finger prints to beat them. An active blood sensor in comparison was impossible to fool. The ABS scanned for John’s specific genetic profile and the blood had to be actively flowing and in the shape of a human to even use his walker, he also had to be awake and not dead. It was scanning him constantly, making sure that his current state matched a medical profile and took into account for changes in blood flow such as having adrenaline rushes. There was only one way to fool an active blood sensor, said sensor required several hours of set up which is why they were hard to fool in the first place. The only clear method for fooling an active blood sensor would require that you clone an entire person perfectly; very few races could do this and as such it was used for top level security. Not even shape shifters could fool one if they couldn’t get the exact kind of blood flow that a human had, for a shape shifter to mimic someone so perfectly they’d have to know every single thing about that person down to the genetic level. They were even fewer races that had shape shifting abilities that could come close to this; they were all at best equal to Changelings in the disguise department and Changelings would certainly fail to bypass this type of security. The sensor system could not even be hacked into. It was a closed system and it required entering authorized names and genetic data long before it was turned on, for once it was on there was no changing it. The reason why the entire base didn’t use this technology was because it was impossibly expensive and better for securing personal panic rooms or vehicles. It would take a lot more money than the every country on earth had to have these particular scanners everywhere in this facility alone. Just one sensor had cost in the range of several trillion dollars in the matters of how expensive it was just to install one ABS in the lead mechanized unit for the Tempest Technologies hidden facility. It was money well spent considering what Commander Quelk’s walker could do, mostly because it wasn’t one of the mass produced models. - Rubis felt weak and dizzy, she had been quite startled to wake up and topple over onto the soggy floor to hear she was captured by a Human organization that intended to sell her to the highest bidder. She sorely needed food and quite soon. She currently sat with her back to the right side of the entrance with a rifle in her lap. It was technically the right side going in, but the left coming out. She was shivering, she had been lucky whereas many others had been not. There were quite a few corpses in the room with them and that wasn’t nearly as bad as psychologically knowing that Rubis herself might have been dead anyway in trying to escape this place. She tried not to stare or look at them, the lifeless bodies strewn about. Rubis survived being thawed out, not many others could say the same. There was one oddity in the thawing prisoners; it was that the captured Pegasi that were here to clear up the blizzard problems had thawed out perfectly. Apparently a Pegasus’s body allowed for them to be frozen solid for any period of time and then thawed out almost without any side effects, even their hair was immaculate and undamaged. The only real effect is that they had to vomit if they had eaten anything before getting frozen. On the whole every Pegasus had survived being frozen solid and they had several teams worth of Pegasi slowly getting their bearings, none of them were ready for a fight and none of them had military backgrounds. They were all here for the same reason, they were sent to see what they could do about the weather problems that the Humans were now known to be causing. Some of them specialized in clearing blizzards, snow or even making such weather. The Pegasus named Frost Wind was organizing them and he had supposed that it was thanks to Pegasus magic that they survived with little ill effect to show for it. After that explanation everyone expected any of the Pegasi to survive thawing out, so far only one row and two floors of ice sculptures were free and thankfully more were waking up. There were just as many dead, just left lying on the floor. Now if only Ember would get back with the promised vending machine to feed some of the people and get them moving to set up something of a defensive perimeter. They needed a defensive parameter that didn’t rely on a recently thawed starving humanoid bird and battered mare wearing a parka over an EVA suit. Two in every three unicorns captured so far had survived; others were unfortunately brain dead with no chance of being resuscitated. There weren’t many unicorns here so it was a positive result, until one particular unicorn thawed out and they finally had a doctor. His name was Flesh Tender and he set about seeing to helping people thaw faster, but he did mention being in need of food. All Unicorn fur and hair was ruined due to the freezing process, something those with a Pegasus physiology seemed to have avoided entirely. Flesh couldn’t really help anyone until he got some food in him, because doing magic right now would be painful and his healing magic was rather specialized so it wouldn’t help with Rarity’s broken leg. As for the captured Earth Ponies which were a majority of the frozen bodies, they were coming out in random states of alive, half dead, in need of emergency medical aid or mostly fine with brittle fur and hair. The Earth Ponies had clearly gone down swinging, if the various states of their frozen visages gave any clear indication of that. It was worse if they were frozen with their eyes open and they survived the freezing process, they already had a case of an Earth Pony being blind because of it. Vomiting was a common sight and so was the building number of despairing people who noticed a brain dead thawed out body as friends, family or otherwise lying lifelessly in the water that had been slowly flowing out the door into the hallway. At least the water on the floor was now being gathered up and turned into clouds by the surrounding Pegasi, which meant they now had a relatively safe source of water thanks to the winged Ponies. They were almost done stopping the flow of water out of the room. “I hope that your friend is coming back soon with that food mon amie. I do not believe one vending machine will be enough for all of us, but it would certainly help.” The door into cold storage was open and Rubis took turns with Rarity when it came to looking out for any Humans or walkers. She turned to look straight ahead at the Pegasus slowly rallying his comrades into filling the top portion of the huge room with clouds as Rarity looked out the door. The walkways and the various levels could be seen from the floor. “For the time being, I hope that one is enough to get us started. How are things Mr. Wind?” “About as well as can be expected considering things as they are. We’re all scared, hungry and of course have a really low morale at the moment as a result of all this. I believe we’re all also cold, but the temperature is good for what it is to thaw out the rest of the victims.” He had a white mane and tail with an icy blue coat; he looked fine compared to any other frozen victim. The gathered water would be safe to drink and it gave the Pegasus Ponies something to do, there were also plenty of clouds for them to rest on while waiting for something to eat. “At least we don’t have to worry about thirst with all the melting ice. Could one of you please tell your pet or whatever it is to stop eating everyone’s vomit? It’s really disturbing.” Fluffy Puff, as Rarity called her, was enjoying herself and didn’t seem to care that she was eating what had been in others peoples stomach and decayed beyond recognition by their stomach acids. The Puffle was one of the most innocent paragons of her species. “Oh she’s not our pet; she’s a native species of Applin Five and is suggested to be one of the dumbest things on this planet.” Taking that thought to a logical conclusion Rarity thought out loud about the weirdness of Fluffy’s species being on an ever green planet. “You know, with all the warm weather this planet usually experiences, you’d think they wouldn’t have fur as thick as they do.” “It is a mystery for another time. Merde, did you just say Applin Five!” If Rubis had to go another few minutes without food she might just keel over and die from starvation, but hearing what Rarity said brought something to the forefront in her mind about how she ended up here. “Are you saying we are currently on Applin Five at this very minute Lady Rarity?” “Yes, we’re currently under the surface of Applin Five and quite far down, we have to probably dig up to get out. My people might have incidentally caused a number of tunnels to collapse making it harder for us to escape, also harder for the Humans as well.” A lot of glares were sent Rarity’s way and there was quite some grumbling about it. “Why, is there something that you just figured out Miss Poulette?” “Oui, from what I last remember… I was on Applin Three.” Breathing was a little bit more taxing for Rubis now that she put that tidbit out into the open; her fears were far worse than she had previously thought them to be. She had thought this was all occurring on Applin Three, why the very thought was horrifying that she had been moved from one planet to another without anyone noticing that she was gone. The grumblings about Rarity’s people were very silent now and everyone was staring at her. “I am feeling very faint about this news; I was among a number of prospective colonists. They are all probably here and have likely yet to start thawing.” The heat was slowly filtering throughout the room and it would take some time for it to get to the edges. It started to build up out from the entrance to spread horizontally down a row and vertically up the stairs, into the catwalks, blocks and the upper floors of this one massive room filled with frozen people. Rarity went to say something when there was a really loud continuous scraping noise, everyone turned to the entrance wide eyed and she readied her material pistol. Rubis peeked outside holding her rifle at the ready while crouched at the doorway. She sighed with relief as she saw something that was incredibly beautiful, food and hopefully enough to truly get them started on a rebellion. Well vive la revolution, Rubis needed whatever she could get at the moment because her stomach was slowly killing her. “Did somebody call for a vending machine full of food?” Ember was coming from the left branch, heaving the machine with rough jerks that led to it dragging along the floor. This had been decidedly as difficult as dragging a five hundred pound crustacean across a city for a bounty payout, maybe more so because the vending machine weighed as much or more. At least it didn’t have the same issues as dragging an unconscious body did and she had better leverage on it thanks to its shape. She dragged it into position so that it could be used as makeshift cover for people approaching the door head on, the back of the machine now faced the head on hallway. Ember motioned to it with a flourish and a bow. “I’m sorry I couldn’t find a medical kit for you Rarity, but I at least brought some relief. This is all junk food, but it should be enough for now right?” “Six dollars for cinnamon rolls, highway robbery, I shall not pay!” Rubis was trying to add a comedic sense to this while trying not to think about the horrors they were all experiencing at the moment. It seemed to work or at least Rubis would like to think that it did. “A docteur has recently thawed out, he should be given some food and he should know how to distribute it so we do not get sick. At this point sickness would be a sure death sentence for any of us.” “Nutrition is something I can help with, I can also heal flesh wounds of all kinds if I’m giving enough food.” The unicorn that had messed up pink fur and a mostly destroyed brown mane and tail walked up to them, Mr. Tender’s cutie mark was of a transdermal skin patch. The cutie mark almost made it look like he was wearing a patch on both his flanks; it was a rather unusual visual effect compared to Frost Winds gust of air and a snowflake. “Aside from that, how are we supposed to get to the food?” Ember clenched her left set of claws and punched the glass with her fist, it shattered inwards from the force she unleashed upon it. She reached in grabbed a pack of raisin cookies and tossed them to the doctor, who fumbled with his hooves to grab the little bag. He eventually tore it open with his teeth as he didn’t want to use his horn to do it on an empty stomach. He slowly started eating the cookies and knew better than to try and quickly swallow them down in a ravenous manner. At least he was getting plenty of calories to work his magic with, now he had to instruct the others on how to eat safely in their current conditions. “That’s how, are you hungry Rarity?” Concern for her centerpiece’s wellbeing came first before the rest of her hoard or even these hungry people, there were no illusions in Ember’s head as to how focused she was on the mare she so coveted. If Rarity knew that she was being looked at as an object of impossible value and coveted as such, would she be mad at Ember for it? There was a high probability, but she was hoping to be just seen as a concerned friend instead of a dragon with an exponentially growing problem that is relative to that of neurosis. She needed a psychologist and preferably not the one that is with the rest of her hoard up in space named… what was her name again? She was the masseuse; at least Ember could remember that much since her wings always worked to peak efficiency after visiting her. The name Blossom came to mind, but what came before it didn’t. “I think the others need the food far more than I do… since the start of our assault how long have we been here exactly?” Rarity had blacked out after the slide through the ice tunnels and really hadn’t known about the passage of time, only now was she bothering to ask about it. “Seven hours, we’ve been at this for the last seven hours with spots of rest here or there.” Ember had kept track of how long it had been since they launched their assault on the tower above ground and how things had gone increasingly pear shaped since then. Rarity was the only one who had gotten any real sleep. “Out of all of us, Applejack and Mare-Do-Well have had the least amount of rest as far as I know.” “The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, she is here?” Anyone who had ever lived on Equus like Rubis knew of the existence of Mare-Do-Well and what she did; only the mask hero had disappeared not long after the Hands of Midas thing. Her cheeks turned upwards in response to the smile now forming on her beak. “The current continuation of The Mauve Mare-auder is currently assisting us? I am a big fan of her work, she is a truly heroic figure known by many and her family has been all over the world. Though now it seems that one has finally gone up to space?” “Yeah, but don’t show any of that hero worship around her, she’s really different in person from what people expect her to be.” There was a slight look of concern before Ember added something for sake of making the mood a little brighter. “She really is a hero and is willing to sacrifice a lot, but her cutie mark is not what you’d expect it to be with her rampant vigilantism and need to help people.” “At least we know there are heroes out there, some that will help no matter the danger. Like the two that came for us in our time of need.” Looking through the packs in the vending machine, Rubis eventually picked out a chocolate croissant and noticed the stares she was getting. “What? Oh do not judge, I am quite hungry and if I must eat then I will as some would say, ‘out the pig’, with something flavorful! If it is to be the last thing I eat, it may very well be enjoyable at least.” As she slowly started in on her sweet snack food they heard the sound of footsteps coming down the corridors from three different directions. It sounded like the Humans had managed to rally more forces against them. Ember moved Rubis aside and took up position in the doorway; she looked out and fired a burst of rocks causing the humans to scramble backwards and into rooms for cover. There was only one scream and one shot later that person was no longer screaming, much less moving judging by Ember’s body language. “If you’re going to help us fight Rubis, aim to kill.” This was a take no prisoner’s situation and Ember wasn’t going to take any either. They had issued shoot to kill orders on her centerpiece…. and the rest of her present hoard of course. Ember was not taking that lying down. “They aren’t going to freeze any of you again; they are just going to kill you as you are now a liability to their plans. I want everyone here to keep this in mind and that we didn’t need to stay here to protect you while you thawed out.” Another scream sounded and that was followed by it being silence. They both turned to Rarity who ducked back as several rounds peppered her position on the other side of the door. If Rarity wanted to stay and help these people then Ember wouldn’t say no to her, heck she wanted to help these people too given the situation. “I think I may have become desensitized to enacting violence, but I still don’t like to do so for many logical reasons.” It never got easier taking a life; Rarity hadn’t taken many personally and would never forget those that she had. She would try not to let it get to her and would have a good long talk with Vera later about this; she wasn’t supposed to be getting Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at her age. She was far too young to be a shell shocked veteran. “Doctor Tender, start grabbing food and spreading it around. We’ll hold them here.” Mr. Tender nodded and lit his horn uneasily and started grabbing food from the vending machine with his magic. He started spreading the food around, while Ember and Rarity started firing upon the Humans who had them trapped. He had to be careful as the Humans coming from the corridor directly at the door could shoot at him. - Gilda had to tweak the walker from the inside, but she was getting results as it was faster and had better reaction times, the mass production walker could be better and painted a better color than gray, green or the icy blue that seemed to be a theme of Tempest Technology. The one she was piloting was green and the canopy was relatively bullet proof, that didn’t mean it would hold up as well to attacks from other walkers. As she drove the stolen walker down the corridors none of the humans noticed or fired upon her, so they hadn’t found out that one of the walkers had been stolen quite yet. When Gilda actually started to do some fighting, that would give up the game that she was not on the Humans side. As far as disguises went, it was perfect. She then heard orders to head for the laboratory sector; they already had several squads of Humans holding the captives in the huge frozen storage room and they were sending in walkers to deal with the threat. She was one of the people who got the call and she knew who was in that area, it sounded like the Boss Lady really needed all the help she could and Gilda would form up in their ranks and then cause glorious chaos. The Boss Lady always dragged them to the greatest of places and got them into the most entertaining of situations. Except for the zombie and ghost filled space station which was a big N O on Gilda’s list of things she’d rather not get involved with. She had a party to crash at the large storage room and a Boss Lady to help out; she’d show these Humans how you truly piloted a mass production model machine. The main thing wrong with the walker she was piloting was that it was not intended for people with a long tails. - “Okay so I may have discovered a way out for all of us out from that last intrusion, it involves the top of the facility and an emergency way onto the surface. To get there safely we need the command center and control of the entire facility, thankfully I know where that is now.” As Greta talked to them they were moving down the corridor gunning down Humans as they went and had to stop for cover while Saffron dealt with a walker personally. “We also need to wipe out ninety percent of the opposition, all three of the commanders certainly need to be put down or nobody is safe from a possible self destruct scenario. They have one of them and an entire group of walkers moving in on Rarity’s position. We’re getting it easy by comparison.” It was amazing to watch Saffron use the Pinpoint Puller to such an incredible degree to zip from one wall to the other and then the ceiling and dropped onto the canopy. What really helped them out was that Mare-Do-Well managed to teleport through the canopy of the walker within seconds of landing on it to deal directly with the Human inside . Afterward the machine crouched, the canopy opened and Saffron dumped the Human’s unconscious body out of it. Greta took this opportunity to put Viral inside of the walker and gained remote control of it, by stabbing the tail into the control panel. Now they had some fire power for taking the command center with, at least they could handle another walker without having to tax Saffron’s horn any further than it already was. Aside from Applejack, Greta was the only one who wasn’t dealing with an injury or fatigue as bad as Rover and Saffron had it. That said a lot about how fit Applejack was that she had been running around for hours with the armored Mare-Do-Well. Greta had to give it to the Unicorn; she was a hero through and through because she refused to kill anyone, though Perja might have been the one kill that could be attributed to Saffron who took a table to her head. That is, if Perja had actually died from it and Greta wasn’t sure that she had. Biofeedback psychics were tough to put down and could dish out more damage than they usually took. Reaching over for some cherries, Greta’s claws clasped at nothing but air. She then looked for her snacks and scowled, apparently Gilda had absconded with the delectable fruits she had been working through while remotely guiding her robotic fox. She changed cameras to one of the turrets and saw two humans bleeding out below and one with a plasma burnt hole in his skull, there was a box of partially shot up cherries next to them. Of course Gilda used the cherries to steal something of greater value, why wouldn’t she? Shaking her head Greta changed the camera back to Viral’s view and charged ahead of the three to clear a path. She noted some problems with the walker and corrected them as it went. Mass production models were all the same, expensive crap that worked poorly and was made even made with cookie cutter statistics despite the fact that they could do so much better. It only took a minute to get the thing moving twice as fast, much better than the walker had any right to be as when under Human command. It was a good thing this Tempest Technologies facility lacked good mechanics who knew there were major flaws with their walkers, only taking the specifications at face value was the height of stupidity that these Humans showed. Gilda would have noticed the problem and fixed it immediately with the one she just stole, plus her friend would have gotten these walkers for a better price and then would have tricked them out. Knowing Gilda as well as Greta did, she wanted to show the Humans that they were doing things inefficiently as possible with what they had. Her best friend prided herself on being a mechanical engineer, on top of being a high school drop out that snuck into college and did a bunch of other illegal things. Greta didn’t care that Gilda had a questionable history or sometimes dragged her into doing things just as questionable; she loved Gilda all the same no matter what the beautiful consistently oil stained belligerent griffon did. Hacking was quickly becoming one of her most useful skills anyway. - “Let the infantry weaken them first, then we’ll close in from all sides. We have them cornered, they aren’t going anywhere.” Commander Quelk had twelve walkers, which was more than enough for a bunch of frozen stiffs, a bounty hunter and an injured mare that somehow took down their alpha wolf robot project. In fact some would say it was overkill to just have him in his personal walker breathing down their necks. Commander John Quelk didn’t hold a high enough opinion of himself to drop his guard around these intruders like Perja did. Author's Note Razzy I apologize for being horrible at writing, as do I apologize to whoever reads this stuff that I write. You can't say that I'm not doing something original at least. Next Chapter: Frozen Storage Firefight. It will include more details on what Quelk's walker is exactly capable of and what weapons it has, it's far more competently built than the walkers Gilda or Greta have seen. The MP model is not nearly as efficient as it could be, which is part of some pretty bad oversight.
-98-“You are never having bananas again Cadence.” Celestia said solemnly as she put a wing over the smaller mares back, Cadence looked positively upset with herself for all the things she did as she was led away from the court house. There were a lot of horrible things that couldn’t be spoken of. What could be spoken of, apparently, was the absolute destruction of Shining Armor’s pelvis. He’d recover as medical magic has gone a long way to fixing even the most trying situation, even partially liquefied bone in most of his body and the actual liquefied bone where his Little Shining had been. Shining Armor’s spirit had been willing, but his flesh, bones and pretty much everything else was ultimately far too weak, it was also quite impossible to erase the experience from his memories as it was permanently ingrained into him. In the end it wasn’t just his body that was broken, but his spirit, his mind and everything else that could be thought of. Shining Armor actually wanted to forget, but couldn’t even with the help of magic. The upsides was that memory erasing magic would never work on him as he now had a photographic memory that was entirely impervious to magic born of the horrific incident. The other thing that wouldn’t work on him anymore was mind control magic, because his mind, body and soul all literally belonged to Cadence until he died of old age and the only way to free him would be to kill him. To note, ‘until death do we part’ took on a whole new meaning where the princess of Love was concerned. Ponies had considered Celestia and Luna to be fearsome beings, now Ponies knew better as Cadence was the real one to fear. No Pony on Equus would dare laugh at the frightening and horrific power of love. “They even made it a law, you should be proud.” At least Luna saw this as a positive thing. There would still be bananas around; it was just plain illegal for Cadence to eat them now. Anyone who assisted in giving Cadence a banana would be considered of the vilest sort and would be immediately thrown into Tartarus. “You are after all the first Pony that has ever had a law designed to only affect one Pony in its entirety and it was a unanimous vote no less. You achieved several world records all at once with how fast everyone managed to get the law into place. That everyone agreed to it being completely necessary was an accomplishment!” - Gilda had a really bored look on her face, the elevators in this place were too freaking slow! Humans can build spaceships that can jump to other sectors like anyone else, but they can’t build a damned decent elevator that can handle more than a walker without straining? Also a slight modification to the seat made dealing with her tail a little bit easier, but it was still annoying that the machine was designed so horribly for a Griffon's physiology. As such it was a challenge to pilot because it was made with humans in mind and Gilda liked a challenge. - “Here they come, everyone remember your positions. Nobody is to be out in the open unless they can maneuver well enough or do some damage. Take shots when you can, but don’t be brave… are you going to be okay Rarity?” Ember turned to Rarity who was standing on three hooves and she looked okay for the most part. They were two levels up in the cold storage room and they were overlooking the entrance form above, Ember would be at the entrance while everyone else would be in position when they broke through. Not if they broke through, it was definitely when. “I should be asking you that, you’re going to be fighting the walkers up close. Aside from a broken leg I can still walk. I will agree to stay out of a direct line of fire in the upper floors if it eases your mind.” The walkers were going to be a huge problem and Rarity was well aware that they didn’t have nearly enough ammo to deal with a more heavily armored target. The armor the Humans wore was decent, but Rarity could have designed better given spider silk and time. Specifically, Rarity would have liked to have worked with an Equestrian Orb Weaver’s silk. They only had one true armored person in their group and that’s because she was practically bullet proof thanks to her scales. “I should be asking if you’re going to be okay darling. I know your tough Ember, but you’re not impervious.” Ember only had three rocket launcher rounds and dealing with the humans had her running low on ammunition for her rifle, she didn’t have infinite resources for her rifle even if rocks were cheap to obtain. At least they had plenty of stolen weapons from the last attempt at breaking the chokepoint. “I can promise you one thing Rarity. I’ll stay standing long enough to make sure you’re safe, because I don’t like anyone hurting my friends.” If anyone so much as touched or clipped Ember’s centerpiece with anything and hurt her, then they wouldn’t survive the next five minutes of her fury. If they killed Rarity, Ember would probably snap and she wouldn’t be responsible for what she did after that. She wasn’t about to tell Rarity how much the Unicorn really meant to her, Ember had other things to focus on as she checked her rifle and made sure it was fully loaded. “It’s not like I’ll be entirely defenseless, I can use my rifle as a shield and have done so before. If I haven’t broken my rifle on something yet, then I’m not about to do so now. I’m more worried about you. Here, take this energy pistol, you seem to favor them and you could use something that doesn’t need to be constantly reloaded. Save the material pistol for when you really need it.” Ember’s rifle was made of some of the best ores a dragon could find and forge, all of which were quite rare. Her rifle was as tough to damage as she was; possibly even tougher given it required the heat of a volcano to even forge the parts for it. Every inch of the bulky rifle was made of this sturdy material. The Humans were about to make a large push and those trapped in the frozen storage room had to be ready for it. Everyone that was thawed out had started trying to move the mostly thawed out people out of the way of the oncoming trouble, others wouldn’t have the chance to thaw before trouble struck. If it wasn’t bad enough that people were dying from being frozen, there was a chance that frozen people would die before they could be thawed out if they weren’t dead already. They barely had even twenty able bodies capable of fighting, which wasn’t much. The Humans had seven walkers and more than sixty soldiers inbound. After handing over her energy pistol to Rarity, Ember turned around and jumped over the nearby railing. Once she landed on the ground in a crouch, she stood up and started walking towards the open entrance. She readied her rifle and her eyes narrowed as she heard them coming, she took up a position next to the doorway and glanced out of it. The Humans would send the walkers in with the next wave and they would be ready for them, now they just had to wait. People were going to die, that much was a certainty and Ember could only pray that Rarity wasn’t one of the ones who were killed. As selfish as such a thought was, at least they moved as many of the frozen statues out of the way as they could, looking up the dragon could see that the Pegasus Ponies were ready to deal with the walkers as best they could. They could get lightning from water, but it took time and energy. The Pegasi could only make so many lightning strikes with what they had and what they had was definitely enough to drop one walker, at least two. Every little bit would help, like the entrenched Ponies that could wield the machine guns Ember procured from the last two waves. The Pegasi could use their wings to pull the triggers on the machines guns that seemed to be a staple of the armed Humans and a strong enough Unicorn could use them as well. Rarity was not among that number as the machine guns were a bit heavy for her. Rubis had the right equipment for wielding the machine guns with a bit more agility, but the two machines guns she was equipped with probably wouldn’t have the puncturing power to deal with the incoming walkers. While the Pegasus and three Unicorn Ponies could wield the guns in their own ways, the five or so Earth Ponies weren’t going to be much help in that area. The Earth Ponies would stay out of the way and or help get others to safety if there is an injury. They could even deal with the soldiers if they could get close enough, but going near the walkers was right out. Flesh Tender would attempt to stay entirely out of the fight and heal whoever the Earth Ponies brought to him. The worst thing that could happen right now was a siege, they didn’t have the food or supplies to hold out forever and they needed the enemy to come to them. Ember crouched by the door, propped her rifle on the overturned vending machine blocking the doorway and aimed at one of the figures down the corridor and carefully prepared her shot. She exhaled, one pull of the trigger and a rock moving at high enough speeds to break the sound barrier ripped into the helmet of a Human down the head on hallway. The body flopped to the floor slowly growing stiffer as if a puppet just had their strings cut, rigor mortis would begin setting in pretty quickly. “Holy fucking shit, they just took down Clements!” The Human’s voice carried pretty far and she wasn’t wrong; Ember had trained herself for situations like this and her rifle had single, burst and full automatic for a reason. That guy Ember just shot didn’t need a magma round and she really needed the Humans to be provoked and on the offensive, those who were trapped in the freezer did not want to be waited out. A quick death would be better than a slow one, there were also worse things than death and she had seen some of them. “Did you make them mad? I am hearing noise of moving machinery!” Rubis was one floor up on the block Rarity was. She was lying prone with one of the machine guns aimed toward the entrance. “We need them to come to us! If they trap us in here and try to wait us out, then we’re just as good as dead!” Ember was prepared for the storm to come and she’d likely survive it, she’s survived worse and would try to save as many people as she could. “Now quiet, we got incoming!” - “This is Hazard Spider, move everyone move in one group at a time and kill anything moving in there. I want west wing to take the lead, followed by east and then my group personally.” Hazard Spider was Commander John Quelk’s personal walker and call sign; he wasn’t very amused to lose one of his own men to a rather impressive shot. It just had to be the bounty hunter Flamethrower, it was clearly a taunt directed at them to come get her. While he wouldn’t admit it to his subordinates, the taunt had worked quite spectacularly. He’d make sure the Bounty Hunter didn’t survive this day even if she somehow miraculously managed to defeat more than a platoons worth of men and the six walkers he called in. The special weapon on Hazard Spider didn’t care how tough you were; there was no surviving it. If he had to, he’d waste the shot of it to bring down one alien woman. - It wasn’t hard for Ember to notice the movements when there was return fire from all sides, only one group was actively moving on the frozen storage doorway. It the group oncoming was from the right, she didn’t panic and carefully picked her shots and fired every now and then. Accuracy was more important at the moment as she didn’t want to waste ammo on ineffectually hitting the walkers. One shot between one of the two moving walker’s legs and a human went down screaming with a hole where there crotch was, Ember winced slightly as that was quite a cringe worthy shot. It didn’t matter what gender you were, that had to hurt. Ember ducked out of the way of the return fire as several walkers unloaded volatile energy projectiles against the vending machine blocking the outside of the door. She popped up and continued to return fire upon the humans. The walkers were pretty fast when moving in a straight line; however they had slow tracking and turning. It made it rather easy to get up close and personal with them with her blaze bayonet. Right now she was dealing with the Human soldiers by shooting around the walkers that were being used as moving walls. Magma rounds might have been capable of doing some serious damage to the walkers, but it would still be using up a lot of ammunition to puncture the canopy. Another Human went down missing an artery; seriously what kind of armor were they wearing? It looked like an energy dissipating plastic that didn’t really protect from direct head on hits very well. Ignoring the machine gun rounds bouncing penetrating the EVA suit and bouncing off her sales to leave splotches of breach gel where she’s been hit, Ember fire the last few rocks from her gun before ducking down to reload. The battle really hadn’t started yet, it would only start when the walkers inevitably reached the door way and forced the repeatedly damaged vending machine out of the way. Which was what happened in the next few seconds as one of the walkers finally decided to speed up and ram the vending machine out of the doorway; Ember quickly ran away from the door and turned to stand her ground in the middle of the empty central aisle. Ember turned her right side toward the doorway and held her rifle up like a shield in front her body, her tail shifted to the left and thus she provided a smaller profile to shoot at. The first walker burst through the door followed by the other one and a group of Humans, Rarity and the others knew what to do already. The second fired several shots at her, the first and third of which she blocked with her rifle and as the first walker raised its sparking claws of its left arm to punch her. Its fist slammed downwards, but it hadn’t hit Ember who just leapt up onto to the arm and with two steps she already half way up the walker. She stopped for a second to let the other arm come in trying to knock her off. Ember leapt upwards and landed on the other arm, she brought her rifle around with the second barrel lighting up and blazing with heat. She cut the arm free from the machine; before it fell away she kicked off it in a twirl to swing twice at the canopy creating a large molten X. The first swing having been upward and the second downwards following Ember’s counter clockwise twirl and leap. The pilot didn’t have much time to do anything after that before Ember planted her feet underneath the center point of the molten X on the canopy and kicked off while firing into the center of it. The first walker was down, collapsing as the pilot flailed in his death throes to hit the controls and making the machine topple over. The person died to several close range magma rounds and the second walker stumbled back in shock. While this was going on the Humans that had followed them into the room were quickly being gunned down by bullets streaming in from the two nearby blocks above them by the entrenched Ponies and Parrote. The lone walker backed off and started to fire at Ember who took up her stance to shield herself with her rifle again as she slowly made her way forward, the two other walkers arrived and started to add their fire power to the blasts they were aiming in her direction. She actually needed to dodge now and avoid taking hits. Her rifle wasn’t being damaged by any of this and if it had been, then Ember would be a hobbyist weapons designer. The walkers looked apprehensive when it came to approaching Ember, given how she took down one of them and they currently weren’t giving her an opening to get close to them. Sure the shots they were firing would sting a little if Ember did get hit by them, but they wouldn’t do nearly as much damage as physically hitting her. That and Ember was still carrying a rocket launcher strapped to her back, so she was still the bigger threat and needed to be to keep them off of everyone else. If the walkers weren’t going to come to her, then she’d go after the Humans to keep them from getting up the stairs at the ponies shooting them from above. She spun around several shot and leveled her gun past the walkers and started gunning down the Humans trying to reach the stairs that were, she leapt back to dodge the several shots and ducked down barely getting clipped by a blast of energy to the top of her helmet. The force of the grazing blow had still knocked her down with a grunt. Ember rolled avoiding the claw that slammed into the floor next to her, the cracks in the shape of spider webs showed how powerful the blow would have been. Not necessarily deadly, but it would have been pretty painful and death might have followed while she was out of it. She jammed her rifle up directly at the canopy and moved the blaze bayonet up slightly and then downwards to point directly into the small hole and the frightened eyes beyond it, she fired one shot and the machine attempting to back away went very still. Even as she rolled backwards, Ember was caught in the explosion as the two other walkers fired on the back of the one that had charged her downed form; they blew it up intentionally trying to take Ember out with it. Instead the dragon was sent bouncing for a good twenty feet between the two blocks; she landed on her side and quickly lifted her rifle to block the several shots coming at her. Landing on the rocket launcher hadn’t been pleasant on Ember’s back and she hoped she hadn’t damaged it, who knew what Chrysalis would do if she didn’t bring it back in good condition. It was at this point that two more walkers moved in and started to fire upon her, the Humans were having a far easier time of taking out the armed ponies than they were taking Ember down. Having four walkers concentrate their fire on her made her feel proud that she had at least kept them off of the Pegasi. She got to her feet while continuing to block the constant fire and planted her rifle on the floor while holding it up one handed against each shot, her left claw had a death grip on her rifle to make sure it wasn’t knocked away from her. She was trying to avoid any other part of her body getting hit as she shifted to the left or right her profile not small enough to avoid being shot at by four the encroaching walkers. Using her right claw she pulled her rocket launcher up from her back to her shoulder and managed to get the tube in position for firing. She had one shot and she wouldn’t be able to reload it while fighting like this. It was a good thing the walkers had clustered together to focus on her; Ember braced herself as the recoil was going to be a little troublesome and pulled the trigger. The dragon was flung back five feet wrenched by the rocket launcher pulling on the strap as it fell back down to sitting at her back; she quickly sat up as the rocket hit home on the second walker from her left and damaged the two next to it. Half the walker she hit had been blown away in the explosion. “Now would be a good time to lend some help here!” Ember shouted up to the others fighting on the blocks. “We are a little busy mon amie!” Rubis called back out of sight and from the sounded of it duel wielding machines guns coming from the left, the flash of them firing could be seen up the stairs. “Excuse me if I’m not happy with killing so many people!” The scream of a Human followed Rarity’s tirade and a body fell to the floor in front of Ember with an energy wound cauterized where the guy’s liver used to be. “I don’t mind shooting monsters, but this is ridiculous and every pony here will need psychological help after this if they live long enough!” “Well I can’t handle them until these walkers are down!” Ember was once again using her rifle as a shield as she started to slowly move forward while avoiding what shots she could. The walkers were thoroughly focused on her to the point that their shots were actually pushing her back with their shots, she could feel the extensive strain she was putting on herself. As if in response to Ember’s complaints the clouds at the top of the massive room started swirling and the sound of thunder cracked throughout the room before a crash hit and the walker to Ember’s right went down in violent flash and explosion of energy. That’s when it started hailing on the Humans, in the shape of sharp pointy icicles. Frost Wind and the other Pegasus Ponies had come through for the rest of the defenders; they got off one lightning bolt and decided to just do something else as lightning was not Frost Wind’s specialty. Frost Wind’s specialty was in cold weather operations and nothing said dangerous like sharp icicles going through helmets and brains, the incoming Humans faltered at the sudden well aimed hailstorm of death. The icicles weren’t strong enough to go through the walkers, but at least the infantry weren’t doing so hot while the Ponies took cover from the sudden change of indoor weather. “This won’t last for long; take the other two out while you can!” Frost Wind’s voice was heard from above and he sounded rather tired, he did just push a lot of magic into focusing and controlling the weather with an extremely scary precision. The icicles were raining down at random, but there were not falling anywhere near any of the entrenched Ponies. Ember took this as an opportunity to close in with the last two walkers. - Hazard Spider stayed in place and hadn’t moved since the start of the battle and frankly Commander John Quelk was surprised by how many people they were losing, especially to the sudden indoor ice storm. One would think they’d use explosives, but they still had a lot of merchandise in frozen storage that was on ice. Also explosives would have been a pretty bad idea when Pegasus Ponies blasted grenade back in your face with a burst of wind from their wings, a single Unicorn’s telekinetic abilities would have been able to stop explosives and send the explosives back as well. The infiltrator that took down the experimental alpha wolf robot was obviously a powerful unicorn. None of the ponies in the cold storage room would be able to deal with Hazard Spider, but he needed to actually use his special weapon on the one major problem that took down four… make that five walkers. The bounty hunter was proving to be enough trouble to warrant the use of his ace in the hole. Hazard Spider spread out its four legs and clamps unfolded from the ground and started to pin the machine in place by locking it to the floor. At the back of the large four legged yellow and black machine a large device rotated into place at the top of the machine above the pilot’s canopy and energy started building up in the large gun. Commander Quelk didn’t care about his people or the walkers that were in the way, they were dead already anyway and they have obviously failed him. They were dealing with a bunch of cutesy fucking little colorful dumb naïve equines, how were they putting up this much resistance? Well one of the key reasons behind their resistance wasn’t about to exist anymore and he didn’t think he needed his special weapon for anything else today. He liked using Hazard Spiders special weapon; the raw power behind it was intoxicating. - After blocking one enormous blow, Ember finally lost her grip on her prized weapon. She tried to hold onto it as she was flung away from the blow that launched her entire body into the air, her rifle landed off to the side of her and she grunted when she landed on her face and belly. She was quite dizzy and the shock of that hit had been pretty bad. Ember’s Trailblazer didn’t look to be damaged, but she wouldn’t reach it in time before the walker was on top of her as it was in the middle of charging her. Given the fact that her helmet was cracked and damaged badly enough already, Ember ripped it off took out one of the two rocket launcher rounds she had on her and threw it at the walker, while quickly inhaling and then exhaling a small but highly condensed ball of fire. The walker didn’t stand a chance as its forward momentum had the explosive rocket bounce off the canopy. That’s when the fireball struck the rocket; both Ember and the walker were blown away by the blast. “Ember, oh my goodness darling, tell me your okay!” Rarity had to quickly perform a three legged scramble backwards from the edge of the second floor of the block she was on; she didn’t want to be hit by the sudden amount of machine gun fire directed at her by the Humans still managing to survive the ice storm below. What Rarity had seen was Ember still form out on the floor, she was groaning and her EVA suit was completely shredded. At least she was alive in some sense; she had other things to focus on as she fired another precisely aimed shot at the Humans who were using their own dead as shields from the ice storm. The blast had laid out Ember, it didn’t hurt very much and she was already in the process of staggering to her feet despite the constant amount of machine gun fire directed at her. She had successfully taken out all six of their gathered walkers for this attack. Holding a hand in front of her face to shield it from the incoming metal that bounced off of her claws, Ember slowly started to make her way for her rifle and then she saw something going on down the corridor something building up and bright. “Rubis, Rarity, anyone else, there’s one round left for the rocket launcher!” The Parrote looked to Ember and was wondering why the dragon was informing them of this fact. It became a bit clearer when Ember suddenly tossed the rocket launcher and the last shot for it bodily away from her into another aisle. “Don’t…” It had been nice to hear that Rarity was worried about her; if it had to be the last thing Ember heard from her then she was glad. She was currently in quite a bit of pain and what was about to hit her would likely kill her; she couldn’t get out of the way of it in time. Ember always knew she was tough, intimidating and brave; she also had a kind heart and loved her friends. In the end she hoped her hoard continued on to better things. Well she finally knew what the cause of all those melted buildings in Gravenstein was, because she was about to experience it for herself. The last thing Ember saw was a bright light filling her vision and all the walkers being vaporized, she closed her eyes and felt little else beyond that moment. A large beam ripped through the ground floor of the frozen storage room and vaporized anything that was nearby the solid stream of raw energy that ripped through the room like a hot knife through a wet tissue paper. Any Humans that had been on the ground floor of the frozen storage room died from heat exposure even if they hadn’t been directly struck by the beam, two Pegasus ponies melted into nothingness and everyone else felt the extreme amounts of heat. Of the few Humans that were on the staircases, some had died and others had been high enough to survive the large beam only to be gunned down seconds later by Pegasus Ponies who weren’t going to sit and gawk at the damage. They did their militaristic ancestors proud by taking advantage of the situation. Rubis almost felt her feathers lighting on fire, they hadn’t mostly thanks to the cold air in the room and that she had been one floor up from the blinding beam. The massive beam cannon dug a shallow furrow through the floor and the walkers that had been in the path of that were all molten piles of slag from all the raw energy. Continuing to shift her gaze to the right to follow the beams path, she now saw a large hole at the back of the frozen storage room; the beam had chewed through a lot of solid rock. “Ember she is… non I shall not think of it.” There was an ominous sound that had Rubis on edge and the remaining Humans were swiftly dealt with. They had lost more than eighty percent of their number in the firefight, those that were thawed and capable of fighting, but thankfully the Earth Ponies saved thirty percent of the eighty that were casualties of the fighting and became severely injured as a result. It sounded to have a four legged movement and quite heavy. Slowly the imminent demise of all still awake and aware in frozen storage room strode forward through the doorway. It was a large yellow and black four legged machine, with rotary mounted cannons on its shoulders and two claws like the rest of the walkers and it stomped forth. It even had what looked to be a shield generator mounted on its back alongside the large folded up tube shaped device, the other walkers hadn’t had that kind of luxury of having shield generators. “None of you are leaving this place alive.” The voice calmly spoke from the machine to everyone in frozen storage, it didn’t sound smug or full of itself. It sounded like the Human was stating a simple known fact. Author's Note Hazard Spider- Large four legged walker, yellow and black with hazard symbols on it. Upper torso more humanoid like regular walkers. Heavily armored, heavily shielded and just plain heavy. Slow overall moving speed, but weapons and quick moving upper torso make up for it. ABS Suite- Thanks to the Active Blood Sensors nobody but the intended pilot can drive Hazard Spider, thanks in part to these expensive embedded sensors that can detect blow flow and genetics of the specified pilot. Machine Cannons- Shoulder mounted weapons that fire streams of bullets, limited ammunition of one thousand rounds. Able to expend full load with thirty seconds of continuous fire, best if used in small spurts. Does not need warm up like older Earth Weapons and can immediately start up or stop on a moments notice. Hazard Beam Cannon- Huge power consumption. Mostly only able to fire once a day, extremely lethal to anything it hits. Requires immediate recharging to fire again the next day, usually takes twenty four hours to get enough energy to utilize. Requires the walker to be locked in place thanks to the insane level of recoil the weapon unleashes upon firing. The beam radiates lethal amounts of heat in any area it passes through. THREAD shield generator- Threat Hampering Reactive Energy Accumulating Deflector. Hazard Spider's shield generator can protect it from heavy weaponry that hit it head on, the shield generator itself is not protected and that fact is not readily advertised. The shields cannot cover the generator itself or it would hamper effectiveness of the shield by approximately ninety three percent. The shield generator requires energy from a direct power source to get started and it is hard to bring down once operational. The shield accumulates energy from every impact or any damage dealt directly to it, this makes any weapon highly ineffective as everything shot at it just puts power back into the shields. It requires an atmosphere to remain operational, testing has shown the shields for some reason do not work in space and they fail immediately upon entering a vacuum. As long as the shield has power running to it, it can return to full strength in a very little amount of time and does lose strength with every single thing that hits it. The loss is so minute it was seen as negligible damage. The shield generator being unable to protect itself and not being capable of operating in space are the only major drawbacks to it and the cost of a single module alone is why it isn't put into further production. High grade shock blasters- Built into the claws of the upper torso of the Hazard Spider, far more lethal than the average Mass Produced two legged walkers by delivering higher amounts of force and energy per shot. Shock cannons are the main weapons of the walker division of Tempest Technologies, this version of it is of a higher grade, make and energy efficiency.
-99-Rarity just sat there staring. One second Ember was there and the next she was blinded by a corona of raw energy as it burned a large hole through the entrance of the room and out the back. She opened her eyes and looked to the right and saw the large hole at the back of the frozen storage space. It created a dark tunnel and it kind of gave her the idea as to how the tunnels around the facility might have been dug. Ember was just gone, the only trace of her left was just rocket launcher and the one round she tossed off to the side and her Trailblazer Rifle. The rifle was glowing slightly on the floor from the heat of the beam that melted the stairs leading up the two nearest blocks at the entrance. That was another thing added to the list of horrific things Rarity had ever seen, who would need a weapon like that? The firepower behind it was insane enough to rip a pony to atoms and she had lost the sight of the two low flying Pegasus Ponies, they had been busy knocking humans from the staircases with quick hit and run tactics. Those two had obviously been caught in the beam and their bodied were gone within seconds. Rarity closed her eyes and thought of a prayer, at least their deaths were quick. Rarity let tears fill her eyes as she tried to come to grips with a sudden disheartening fact, Ember had been caught in that beam and had been too tired and injured to make an effort to dodge it. She did at least leave them with a rocket launcher and one round of ammunition for it. Whoever had launched that attack, they had a pretty powerful and upsetting message to deliver. The message was clearly received, from whatever had fired that. Hearing a noise that made her left ear twitch, Rarity turned and saw it approaching. The vehicle that had fired that oppressive beam of raw energy and she had to say that the black and yellow color scheme was quite gauche as was the hazard symbol. Shaking her head she tried to focus more on dealing with this problem than the aesthetics of said problem, it was a large four legged walker. This thing had more features than the previous walkers and far more weaponry. Rarity’s eye for detail could tell her a lot, the large device at the back of the machine was the energy cannon that had fired that blast that ripped through the room. She could only guess at how much energy that thing could use, between it and the main portion of the walkers back was what had to be a shield generator. The best angle to attack it was from the sides of the upper torso, however she didn’t know how powerful the generator was or what it was capable of. Aside from that the weapons were fairly obvious and lethal, possibly powerful enough to shoot through the floor of the blocks that everyone was set up on. The shoulder mounted weapons at least had to have a limited amount of ammo right? The four legged machine walked through the entrance and stopped, it was blocking the entrance and there would be no getting by it without being attacked. “None of you are leaving this place alive.” The voice calmly stated, sure that it was speaking the truth. Rarity wasn’t hopeful, but she narrowed her eyes. She had survived worse and this wouldn’t be the end of her as she would persevere with the best of them. This was the callous person who took down Ember and was a part of all this, she was going to see her cousin Sugar’s wedding happen. - Perja Rensada had caught up with Saffron’s team slowly pushing through the human defensive line by taking several rooms along the corridor heading towards the command center. She was angry and a little more than ready to deal with the nuisances, only she ran into the problem of having to deal with a rogue walker blocking her path and it was surprisingly holding its own and performing above normal operational specs. Under Greta’s command the machine was putting up quite a good fight and none of Perja’s weapons were heavy enough to deal with a walker that was moving as if it were being safely overclocked. “Guys we need that command center, I can’t keep the commando off of you forever!” Greta had almost got caught the last time she hacked the system, Rarity was in trouble and Ember was… well it wasn’t a good idea to think about at the moment. Focusing past the mental trauma, she had to really deal with an agile and fast acrobatic human that can dodge in an inhuman manner and actually do damage to the walker she was in control of with her bare hands. It was ridiculous how powerful Perja Rensada was. “I hope Gilda gets their soon enough to save the Boss Lady.” “We’re doing the best we can Greta, but we’re meeting a lot of resistance here.” Saffron’s armor was slowly getting mangled from all the pressure she was putting it under, even then it was still operational. Well operational as far as the skate and forward blasters were concerned. There was some dossier information on Perja Rensada, it was an incomplete file but it was a quick enough read. Perja from a young age had discovered her ability to control every ounce of her body with a thought and was ousted as a biofeedback psychic, government took her in and eventually she was given military training. She was eventually dropped due to increasingly aggressive tendencies. She had some commando training and was quite accurate with firearms, incredible physical strength and reflexes. This on top of the ability to heal from most injuries provided she ate a lot more food, she couldn’t regenerate very well without nutrients in her body to help the process along. Greta made the walker swing for Perja who slapped the arm away and she managed to leave a dent in the arm, only for Perja to get blown backwards by a shot by the other arm. The woman just wouldn’t stay down and Greta didn’t think she could put her down even when remotely controlling a walker through Viral. “Rover is thinking situation is getting progressively worse.” The others, if they had the time, would agree with Rover’s sentiment that things were in fact getting worse. He was having a hard enough time wielding the rifle or pistol he had on him with his working paw. “I’m going to have to agree with you there partner, things are getting hairier than a Puffle around here!” Turning back to the walker fighting the crazy Human, Applejack took a potshot at Perja forcing her into a position where Greta managed to grab her body and violently electrocute the commander. Despite this the commander thrashed about and managed to break the hold of the mechanical claw, her body was slightly fried and twitching. It took the Human a few seconds to get up from that and she looked more determined than ever, she was damaging the walker with her bare hand and doing a pretty good job of slowly ripping it apart. “Also I’m almost out of ammunition here, unless we can find something for me to shoot my material rifle is going to be firing air and everyone knows how useless that it unless you can compress it well enough.” “We’ll think of something Applejack.” Leaping up to punch a Human in the sternum Saffron took a few looks around and watched as Rover poked out from cover of a nearby doorway to fire several highly inaccurate shots. Saffron figured Rarity probably had it worse, but they were being swamped from all sides and she couldn’t protect everyone. “Wait don’t we need Viral when we get to the command center Greta!” “Oh right…” Greta mumbled out loud from the walker she was guiding to hold off the Perja who was taking each attack from the slightly modified and stolen walker. That Human just kept coming at them, sure she was slowly losing strength, but it wasn’t darn near fast enough. The longer she kept pushing her limits, the more likely it was they could take her down in a more permanent fashion. “Yeah, that’s is going to be a bit of a problem. Just clear a path while I hold tall, dark and psychotic off of you.” At least Rarity had the chance of reinforcements, taking the command center was becoming harder by the second. At least they weren’t taking casualties as badly as the Humans were. The Humans didn’t seem to have very many well trained people, because they would have stopped their small group by now. - “Rubis… try to get the rocket launcher.” Rarity had gone down the stairs and approached the crouching flightless humanoid bird with a machine gun pressed against her chest. She moved near the edge of the block with the express idea of keeping the pilots attention on her. She looked down at the machine and warily cleared her throat. “Well I have news for you! You can’t leave the exit unguarded or some of us will escape! So chances are pretty good that not all of us are going to die!” Rarity ducked as hundreds of rounds sprayed the general area around her and tore through the floor beneath her, thankfully out of all the holes slowly forming around her curled up form none of the rounds hit her. Each block had several pillars along the aisles of the frozen with staircases leading up to solid metal flooring above, there were several levels and Rarity was currently one floor up from the walker and wished she were still two floors up. The blocks were wide rectangles and had scaffolding and bridges connecting them to each other and covered several aisles worth of frozen people, nobody was on the bridges between the blocks because they didn’t want to be blown away by the powerful machine cannons. After the cannons stopped chewing through her surroundings and expending a good seventy rounds apiece, Rarity scrambled away from her spot and fired a shot or two at the walker. The energy pistol ember gifted prove less than useful, given the shield on the walker didn’t look like it was weakening under the constant stream fire which was coming from the opposite direction. A Pegasus and three Griffons were currently drawing its attention off of her with machine guns. They dropped back as it started firing on them and one of them took several shots through a leg and looked like they would be crippled for life. Even after attracting it’s attention the machine didn’t move away from the entrance, Rarity was right in the fact that it couldn’t move from the entrance or it would give a chance for several people to escape. “Lady Rarity, you are very brave for pushing forward even as sadness takes your heart.” Muttered a tired looking Rubis who stayed away from the railing or the edge of flooring, she was going to search for the rocket launcher and the one round and work her way over to the needed weapon in question. She was up and moving for the far end of the block away from the machine, as Rarity and the several other Pegasus Ponies unloaded on it from above on various floors of their particular block. Reaching the edge of the block and looking over the rail to the floor, Rubis got up on it and started to hang from the rail. She wasn’t in a very fit condition, but being frozen solid hadn’t caused her any form atrophy. The food she had managed to get a while ago was enough for her to make a decent drop from this height, Parrotes were never afraid of heights and could fall a very long distance without injury providing that they were in good health. Like the Macropussians, alien kangaroos that they were, Parrotes were good at acrobatic feats. Though Parrotes weren’t nearly as physically strong as a Macropussian, they could feasibly jump and maneuver like one. Most of a Parrotes strength for maneuvering was in their legs, not to say that their arms were weak, but a Parrote could kick someone harder than they can claw someone with their hand talons. It was thanks to her aerodynamic body Rubis was capable of dropping down to the floor safely one aisle over from where the walker had any clean visibility, she made sure to drop down with a pillar between her and it because she didn’t want to be made into cheese by those nasty weapons. Even with her feathers all damaged and or mangled by her time spent frozen as they were, Rubis landed solidly on the floor with nary a stumble to show for it. Mind you she was also naked exept for the coverage of said ruined feathers, they were still functional in creating drag and her landing was good. Moving over to a large column trying not to focus on the large hole behind her and to the right, she peered around it just in time to witness a Pegasus get mulched in a quick burst of fire from the machine cannons and winced. That walker's weapons were quite loud and they ripped through everything including the flooring of the blocks. Her sharp eyes looked about for the rocket launcher Ember tossed away as a last act to at least give them some hope of dealing with this thing. She moved down the adjacent aisle and avoided open spaces while moving swiftly. Eventually she stopped and moved to a wall to get another look at the fighting going on and poked her head out to nearly get it blown off by a huge blast of electrical energy that had her backpedaling. “Sacré Déesse!” Rubis cursed out, that had almost hit her. She poked out again and more carefully looking around and spotted Ember’s rifle down the aisle a bit and on the opposite side from her. She noticed that the walker’s shields were as strong as they had been a minute ago, the machine guns and the energy pistol Rarity was using from her late friend were doing nothing to that thing. From her position, Rubis could see the rocket launcher round which made her heart leap with hope, but not the launcher itself which she hoped was not the nearby pile of slag. She could not run down the furrowed aisle without getting killed. So she continued down the adjacent aisle and stopped at the next opening between the two. She confirmed her fears there, the rocket launcher was gone, but the rocket could still be useful. There was also the rifle which looked to have cooled down, whatever Ember made it from it was still perfectly fine despite the hits she saw it take from the walkers and a beam that was powerful enough to kill humans from the raw heat it gave off. Rubis darted out and quickly grabbed the rocket, she pulled back quickly and looked around the corner. She had thankfully gone unnoticed during the few seconds she ran out to get the explosive, but she didn’t think she’d go unnoticed if she tried to get Ember’s rifle. The fact that the rifle might give off enough heat when using its special features to be dangerous to a user that wasn’t equipped to handle it was a bit daunting. Still though, she could feasibly use the rifle as a shield if she could get to it and she didn’t have to use the weapons intended purpose. She traced her beak with her tongue and clicked it once or twice, could she even make it across the aisle? An explosion of energy happened nearby, Rubis had a front row seat to an Earth Pony pulling a Pegasus with a bloodied twisted mess where one of her wings used to be. He managed to escape the trail of energy blasts following him and he ducked into nearby break in the aisle. The walker wasn’t leaving its position to chase them and why should it? Like Ember said, the worse thing they could experience right now as a siege and a really slow and painful death. That was what was happening, the guy in the walker could easily wait them out. All they had were weak and hungry volunteers for the slaughter. What could she do from her position? The thing was shielded so powerfully that just throwing the rocket at it would be a waste. That and it was taking a huge lightning bolt right now and its shields didn’t look to be fading very fast despite that. If a focused lightning bolt like that couldn’t stop the walker what could? This was quickly becoming a lost cause, if they could deal with the shield then maybe they could actually do something to it. She hefted the rocket in her hand and the started looking for a nearby staircase, she ducked when she came under fire and saw a human trying to shoot her and a shot or two grazed her side and face. She carefully deposited the rocket on the floor, as apparently not all the infantry had been caught in the ice storm and some were still around. She swung her machine gun around on the strap and then quickly gunned the guy down, his or her body erupted in a bloody mess trailing from the left hip up to the right shoulder under her fire. She quickly picked the rocket up and then started making her way towards any place to climb back up onto the blocks. Maybe Rarity would have an idea of what to do with it. - Commander Quelk hated to admit it, but the Pony that had spoken up had a point. He couldn’t abandon his spot at the entrance or else someone would have a chance to get by him and cause more trouble. He had to keep the thawed stiffs contained and the one who let them loose and then freaking armed them. He had heard the winged ponies could be dangerous, but he never believed it until the indoor icicle storm skewered his men, men he really hadn’t cared much about to be honest. He wondered how a bunch of frozen stiffs could be so much trouble, they lost a number of infantry trying to take the room back and it spoke of a brewing problem that said that they couldn’t do this kind of crap anymore. The information of their operations hadn’t gone beyond the point of no return, but he was pretty sure that without their cloud cover their facility would be quickly found out and soon. Even if they did blow it, someone was bound to notice the human technology strewn about among the other technology they were using. They couldn’t just keep this quiet until it blows over, the facility was absolutely compromised. They would have to deal with the thawed out and the ones who started this whole mess, but even then they were incapable of rebuilding the towers without people taking notice of their activities. A flicker of red and he fired a blast of energy at something that moved away from it, John was slowly getting rather paranoid about how many of the frozen had been successfully thawed out. They were in the aisles and taking cover up in the blocks, at best he was saving his walkers shoulder mounted machine cannons ammunition for things he could really hit. So far his opponent hadn’t managed to damage the shields and they were holding up without an issue. This was another reason to stay at the entrance, as long as they couldn’t get close enough or around him to damage the shield generator he was in a good position where they could never bring enough force to damage Hazard Spider. He saw a bright beam fire out overhead and wondered what kind of weapon that was, nothing happened except the beam shrink out of existence above him starting from the point it was fired one floor up from the block on his right. He figured it was nothing to worry about. - Several seconds earlier Rubis reached Rarity by crawling up to her with the news that the rocket launcher was kaput, but she picked up the last rocket at least. “Well that’s good news then, great news actually now that I think of it.” It was during the lightning bolt that Rarity saw a point of weakness in the shields system, her eye for detail came through for her. The major detail being that the shields didn’t cover the system that generated them. She still had her pinpoint puller and aside from the broken and shot legs, she was still capable of pulling off a plan. She had enough magic for it at least and her EVA suits magnetic clamps were fully functional. “Just give it to me and I’ll take care of it.” “What are you planning?” Rubis didn’t like the idea that both of the people that came here and thawed her out were going to perish here trying to help the people that were fighting for their lives. “I’m just going to take care of those shields, I’ll be right back!” Levitating the rocket, Rarity cast a light spell and bent the light around her and the floating rocket. After disappearing in front of the surprised blinking eyes that Rubis was expressing, Rarity fired her Pinpoint Puller towards the entrance. It was unfortunate that the grappling devices beam was still visible because it went beyond the bent light around her. Nothing for it, she hoped the guy in the walker didn’t figure it out before it was too late. Rarity zipped across the space between and clung to a spot above the entrance, she stayed there for a second and waited to see if she had been noticed. She had went unnoticed and that was this Human's big mistake, even if she didn’t think the rocket would take down the walker, it would certainly cripple or hamstring it at least. She had to get the shield generator, but how would she blow the rocket? She didn’t exactly have fire breath like Ember did to set it off and the best she could do would be… maybe that would work. She dropped onto Hazard Spider with a thud, the reaction immediately and she was already moving in a three legged gait across the top of the machine for the back and to the shield generator. Hazard Spider was effective in combat with anything approaching a battlecruiser in space, provided it had its one beam shot to shoot down said battlecruiser. It had a weakness in that if someone were to get close enough to climb onto it, it couldn’t get that person off of it without outside assistance or the pilot physically opening the canopy to shoot that person off. The Hazard Spider’s armor was thicker and tougher than the general walkers around the facility and could take several rockets hitting it at once even without the shield generator. The pilot was completely safe from small arms fire, what the pilot wasn’t safe from was shockwaves, but in essence John Quelk was impossible for Rarity to hurt directly even after what she was about to do. What was possible was that Rarity could damage the walker and she started off by wedging the inert rocket between the bulbous beam cannon apparatus on its back and the shield generator. After dropping her invisibility field, Rarity forcefully wedged the rocket into the best position she could get it, the next part was going to be hard. She had to detonate the rocket and doing that safely wasn’t going to be easy as her grappling line was very visible. She lit up her light spell and made herself invisible, she fired her grappling beam and then quickly turned her head to let lose a well-aimed magic missile. Her timing couldn’t have been better as she was jerked away from the machine thanks to the grapple. The large explosion went off and sent a piece of metal cutting through the grapple dropping her to the floor in a painful tumble, she lifted her head and saw Hazard Spider was down and the shield generator was destroyed and it’s beam cannon had fallen off. Without the shield generator operational from the start of the explosion, the rest of the explosion dealt the maximum damage it could possibly have and Rarity’s eye for detail helped her find the best structural point to set off the explosion. The walker faltered badly and fell forward on limp legs and the back of it was left a sparking mess of wires, but there was a sense of dread in the air as aside from the destroyed shield generator and scorched back the main body of the Hazard Spider was completely undamaged by the explosion. Rarity tried to stand up and froze when she noticed movement, she rolled so that she was facing the walker and saw that it was slowly getting up on its four legs. - “Perja, Hazard Spider lost its shield generator and John’s forces are decimated.” Thomas Itterstin was a sane man, well sane in that he worked for a shadowy organization and worked in an underground base. He however could see the writing on the wall, they had somehow divined a method for breaking Hazard Spider’s ridiculously tough shields. “I’m a bit busy here, I have pests to kill. Get someone else to help John!” With what sounded like a grunt of effort and the sound of something being destroyed, Perja could be heard giving off a sinister laugh. “Besides you don’t want me to break off my pursuit, they coming your way to the command center after all. I’m almost even done dealing with the stolen walker and just ripped one of its arms off!” “Damn it, all our other forces are currently being wrapped up with killing the Gillamonks and trying to deal with the Puffles. Heck the Puffles are even more dangerous and they’re not even predatory!” Yeah, Commander Itterstin was going to have to set up base destruction protocols, considering the fact that everything already went to hell for them. Perja was going nuts with her personal hunt of the prey that got away from her and thus insulting her pride, John was known for fighting losing battles in a pyrrhic manner and he himself was a dirty coward. The lower levels of the base were already flooding and the real problem here was that Thomas was too terrified to do much more than seal the door to the command center. He hoped that the trouble would be dealt with and go away, because all he had on his person currently was a computer and a hand gun. He wasn’t a combatant, he was a computer expert and apparently the invaders had a better one than he was, as whoever they were had been running circles around his efforts to find them or stop the system intrusions. He didn’t want to set off the self-destruct as he was too afraid of dying. Getting far enough away from the base in a timely manner was all but impossible thanks to all the collapsed tunnels. Hundreds of personnel were dead, fighting Gillamonks, trying to deal with the intruders coming towards the command center, trying to prevent the thawed out people in the frozen storage section of the laboratory from getting any form of egress or momentum, getting killed by Puffles, getting caught in accidents caused by Puffles and or were too busy running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to fix the constant stream of damages the facility was undergoing. So really, how the hell could this possibly get much worse in the next few minutes that would make Thomas willing enough to set off the self-destruct system? He could stay safely tucked away in this room where nothing could reach him or even get to him. There was a squeaking sound and Thomas froze, slowly he turned his chair to the right and found himself face to face with a big bright smiling wall of purple fur and glowing happy green eyes. There was a Puffle in the room with him and it oh so slowly and torturously stuck out its tongue and blew a quick raspberry. In the language of the Puffles it just said, ‘Clever Girl’ about itself. A scream erupted from the command center, which was followed by the sound of a gun being fired. - The Hazard Spiders shoulder mounted machine cannons whirred to life and aimed at Rarity, they spat hundreds of bullets at her and she quickly shut her eyes expecting imminent death. Only to hear the sound of ricocheting fire. She opened her eyes and saw Rubis standing over her with Ember’s rifle, she was gritting her beak and using it as a shield for the hundreds of high speed bits of metal that were now grazing her shoulders, sides and head. Rubis stood tall and kept the rifle planted against the ground and propped her body against the wave of fire power straining to hold up under the onslaught, she was started to bleed badly and she lost a large amount of her matted and destroyed feathers. She tried to give Rarity brave look, only to grimace at her growing list of injuries. The machine cannons stopped firing, and one of the energy blasts struck the ground with a heavy blast that sent Rubis sprawling over Rarity and rolling along the floor. Still she clutched at the bulky rifle and propped herself up with it trying to stand back up. “You’re just delaying the inevitable you fucking horse, you’ll never break through the armor even if you did destroy Hazard Spider’s shields.” The walker took several steps forward and the machine cannons start to whir to life as a two legged walker rushed towards it from behind. Commander Quelk didn’t think much of it other than reinforcements, another mistake on his part in as many minutes. “I must commend you though, most don’t even get this far. Now…” “Incoming!” That gruff feminine voice sounded rather familiar to the injured Unicorn currently in the line of fire, within a second the Hazard Spider was knocked out of the way of the entrance and onto its side. The other walker had been moving at full tilt and hit it with a shoulder tackle. Gilda was a much needed relief to the desperate battle, most of the injured and weary thawed out were practically out of ammunition. “Sorry I’m late Boss Lady, don’t you dare die on me!” Author's Note I've lost all the notes on everything about this story to the previous computer, which has sadly blown up. Recreating some of said notes from memory is not easy given how long this story has been going on, at least I got most of the things involving The Shining Jewel's crew remembered and noted down again. I should probably keep a physical copy of it all in a notebook. This is not the first computer this has happened too, but my dead computer had been a good one given how well it was fighting to stay in working condition before it went up in a blaze of glory. All the internet link, all the pictures saved, all the fanfiction data I had save to it... its all just gone. When you get to a point that investing in a blast wall is a prudent option, you know you have problems, because I certainly do in many respects. There are several annoying problems with the new computer, one of which is copying and pasting my horrible writing. So I can only hope that this chapter posted correctly, because my mind is in a rather bad lethargic state. I'll try to cheer up, but setbacks like this hurt when I'm trying to make a million word story even as poorly done as this one is. My momentum is pretty much killed. I'll probably watch this a few times -> (Picking Up The Pieces)
-100-“Oh god damn it!” Thomas didn’t know how the Puffle had exactly gotten into the room, but it was trying to hug him and he saw what happened to all those scientists when the Puffles got a hold of them. Not to mention every Human they got a hold of. There was also the chaos these things were causing, most of it was to be considered supernatural disasters by the scale of the explosions they were surviving alone. He leapt back and started firing on the one that was already lunging at him with what was to him a rather happy demented squeaking noise, his shots only made the purple fluff ball get knocked onto its back. His pistol was not nearly damaging enough to put the thing down, he didn’t even think he injured it as it was already getting back up. He fired several more shots into it to keep it knocked down. The command center was compromised, there was not much left for Commander Itterstin to do. He wasn’t about to leave one of the most disastrous species to be encountered by humankind alone in a room like this, who knows what it would do! It’s not a matter of what it could do, it was a matter of how much damage it would cause. Heck, taking this planet would have been a seriously bad idea considering Puffles were native to this world and they’d kill millions of Humans if they tried to settle on this world. So it was no surprise that Thomas quickly went to the nearest computer in the command center and started typing up the base destruct code as quickly as he could. Really, at this point nobody was escaping this base alive and almost all the defense drones were taken out when the ice tunnels collapse thanks to all the big explosions on the surface. Knowing this, he would certainly take as many of these ridiculously fluffy kill monsters with him as he could. He fired at the green eyed Puffle a few more times to keep it away from him, he had to contact the forming base on Applin Three. “This is Thomas Itterstin of Applin Five base we have trouble and I’m about to… no…” Pausing to really look at the screen before him Thomas was horrified when he saw their Applin Three base was obviously decimated. The first sign of that was a man with a missing arm on the screen, that wasn’t all he was missing as he had holes in his others limbs and was whimpering. Around him were three armored unicorns leveling their weapons at the man and there was a pony that gave him a seriously angry look. “Expecting maybe the cavalry? I’m Admiral Trap Bar of the EDF, we will be having some words with humanity and Tempest Technologies. There’s no hiding what you’ve done now. Give yourselves up, let go of the hostages in your facility and everyone in your base will be taken alive if possible.” Trap Bar was rather mad, he had heard there was trouble in the Applon System and that the ‘supposed’ black ops team he was keeping some loose tabs on was there and had done an orbital drop with a mechanical monstrosity. There was also the pirate attacks on the supply depot which was in pony held space, so the EDF was sent in to protect the interests of Equus and every intelligent species that lived on that planet. It lead to him doing an investigation that uncovered a massive Human conspiracy going on, as his forces had caught the facility on Applin Three with their pants down. There wasn’t any time to delete any information from their systems. “We already know you’re behind the pirate attacks in this system and we have a good idea that at least one government faction is involved in this, even if it is circumstantial evidence at best. At least we can nail Tempest Technologies on weapons trading and stealing planets for humanity.”Mr. Bar took a sip from a bottle of alcohol with a mean look in his eyes. He really needed that drink too, because the horrors going on in Applin Three’s Tempest Technologies facility were really quite bad. “Oh screw you, you won’t find anything by the time you get here!” Thomas immediately set up the self-destruct and hit the button, he barely avoided the flying tackle from the purple fluff ball still trying to hug the life out of him. “I might even have a chance to escape if I hurry, so suck on that you little four legged abominations.” “Warning, self-destruct initiated, all personnel have ten minutes to evacuate.” The mechanical voice sounded throughout the base. “Warning, self-destruct initiated, all personnel…” Trap Bar watched grimly as the Human managed to dodge Puffle’s attempts against to hug him. Thomas even managed to kick it against the wall and actually got a pained sound from the dumb creature. He stopped to unseal the door to the room and dodged the Puffle again, leading the Puffle to go tumbling through the doorway. He wasn’t worried, he was pretty sure their facility was experiencing problems from the readouts he was getting from Applin Three’s facility and Lady Belle was probably already on the scene and would likely take care of the countdown. - “Rover is thinking this is being very bad situation.” Aside from a broken wrist he had been shot several times, but nothing that hurt too badly. The announcement that the base would self-destruct was quite ominous and given how it was setting off alarms all over the facility, it would have Humans running to evacuate so they’d at least be left unhindered right? Well that is assuming that all the Humans don’t start rioting against themselves and doing completely insane things. “I can tell that that is a complete understatement.” Applejack was continuing to be the only one of the group to prove herself in being able to avoid any serious injury. Not saying she wasn’t injured, but she had plenty of reasons to avoid being hit and one of them was that she didn’t have Rarity’s breach gel to close off a wound like Rover and Mare-Do-Well. Applejack ducked down and a shot had graze her spotless hat, which had her looking back in the direction where Mare-Do-Well was tangling with that crazy Perja lady. The armor on the mysterious mare, at least she was mysterious to Applejack, was being torn apart by the fight with that impossibly agile Human. “Whoa nelly, that was a close one. It’s bad enough that I’m out of ammo, I can’t really contribute much more aside from physically and I certainly don’t feel like tangling with that there crazy Human back there.” “We’re not about to ask you to try and take a biofeedback psychic in a contest of strength, Mare-Do-Well is doing alright in that respect… mostly.” The sound of crunching metal caused the remote controlled mechanical fox turned back around to the action going on behind them, Viral’s optical sensors zoomed in on the action and Greta grimaced a bit. “We need to hurry, the fact that the entire base is now on a timer is not pleasant when there are so few paths to the surface. So shutting down the self-destruct is quite necessary to our survival. Also we need to make better armor next time.” Greta’s grimace reflected in Viral’s posture as the robots tail whipped in a very upset manner. It was practically a warzone and Saffron was putting up one hell of a struggle against an opponent that could think, react and fight well above her normal ability to handle. The armor was barely making a difference and was slowly being torn from Saffron’s form, the fact that she was still holding her own was amazing and it was likely experience as a vigilante that she hadn’t been grievously injured yet. They were at least just about outside the command center, which was the bright side to all of this as there would be some time to hack the computer as the self-destruct probably put all the systems under heavy lockdown. It’s what Greta would do if she built a self-destruct system into a hidden base. Rover stopped and both Applejack and Viral turned to him, aside from Saffron he was the one still holding viable weapons. He took out his pistol and aimed it as the door to the Command Center actually opened before they arrived. Thomas Itterstin had forgotten they were coming so he could be excused for ignoring them in the face of kicking the Puffle while it was down from its tumble through the doorway. The pained sound of the Puffle didn’t matter to rover, what did matter was that he had an open shot on the guy that he could probably call dumber then him. At least the Diamond Dog had better situational awareness and could hear if there were others around, he shot the Human through his left shoulder sending him spiraling to the floor with a chunk of metal in him and then fired another shot into his knee crippling him before charging forward with Applejack and Viral following him. They went passed the screaming Human into the room, when Viral ran past the Human the robots tail slapped into his skull dazing him and they ignored the Puffle getting up to go cuddle him to death. They came face to face with a smiling Trap Bar, who was already assuming the situation would be soon dealt with. - “No, not like this!” Thomas screamed before the Puffle pounced and started to snuggle him, he was slowly being suffocated and nobody was going to help him. He weakly struggled and was soon not moving anymore, the Puffle got bored and decided to go find another thing like this guy and leave this one to his sleep. She would hug them too for Puffles had to spread the happiness to these strangely angry and dark creatures! They all needed smiles and hugs! - It didn’t take long for Greta, through the use of Viral, to assess the situation going down in the laboratory massive frozen storage room and that was a secondary issue to the current one. The situation didn’t look too good in there and she immediately decided to start concentrating on stopping the countdown as Gilda was obviously on the scene. The system was, as Greta surmised, in a rather thorough lockdown. Even if she could currently open communications with Opal, there wouldn’t be much that the cute cat could do to assist them as the lockdown would prevent her from accessing the systems unless she could physically get herself into the Centaur-pede and connect to Viral. Given this was impossible, Opal wasn’t going to be very helpful to call and they didn’t know if she was already busy with something else, their lives ending in a fiery explosion that can be seen from orbit was far more imminent. When it rained, it poured hard as the data Greta was pouring over was going to take a while to parse through. She only have about eight minutes to do it before the situation really got heated. Idly she heard Applejack and Rover addressing the pony on the screen, whatever they were discussing wasn’t nearly as important as focusing on the self-destruct. The systems the Humans had here were actually really good, even Viral’s backdoor access wasn’t useful here thanks to the lockdown and she had to hack her way through a lot of stuff before she could disable the self-destruct. If Greta didn’t do this carefully she could possibly accelerate the countdown, so there was a whole ton of pressure on her and she performed well in such an environment. If she could jack a Javelin, then she could hack the Humans haven. - Her armor was practically falling off of her and another rent was torn into it, there were a large amount of holes in it and she had lost the jump and strength enhancing systems. Her hoof blasters were barely functioning at all now, the inbuilt blades on her front hooves were destroyed, the shocks wings had been ripped off and the armor on the front half of her armored helmet was almost completely gone, at least her EVA suits helmet was still connected to the rest of the armor. Oddly the skate system was still functioning almost perfectly, but that only helped her so much in maneuvering out of the way of Perja’s strikes and moving in to ram her. Perja Rensada was clearly a madwoman, as she didn’t even seem to care about the sudden activation of the self-destruct system and was entirely focused on killing the pony that was quickly running out of armor. That was the intent Perja was giving off when she created a jagged five inch long hold in the side of Saffron’s armor, she really didn’t need to prove how dangerous she was after she had decimated a walker with her bare hands. Surprisingly, Saffron was actually enjoying this fight. Her blood was pumping and her adrenaline was going full blast even if it was nowhere near as efficient as Perja’s completely controlled adrenaline. If Saffron’s talent was spicing up her life, then nothing said spice like a quickly worsening life or death situation. Every injury Saffron dealt Perja would heal, but the problem with that was that Perja was quickly running out of energy and nutrients to heal with. Both Perja’s muscles and bones were under heavier amounts of stress than Saffron’s were and as such the pony and the Human were on a mostly even setting with Saffron eking out a marginal advantage by pacing herself in the fight and not taking any serious hits. She was taking Perja seriously and was performing hit and run tactics, she had her eyes on every movement Perja made and reacted as well as she could to avoid injury. She wasn’t perfect and every bruise could be felt under the thundering of her heart and her need to protect others and save lives. “Why won’t you die?!” Perja screamed as she launched a kicked for Saffron’s chin and the pony allowed it to connect and carry her up into the air where she curled up and hit the floor rolling backwards avoiding the follow up attack once she was back on her hooves. She leaned out of the way of a wild knife swipe that could have dug a knife deeply into her skull. It was in this moment that Perja was starting to get sloppy in her movements, she had been constantly going at Saffron after ripping the walker apart almost completely without pause to catch her breath. Now she was beginning to enter double edged territory of her abilities and was on the cusp of her abilities, where her chances of surviving the effects of her own abilities started dropping. “It’s because I never give up.” The woman had overextended herself by missing Saffron with her last attack and the pony took advantage of that moment by pushing the skate system in her rear hooves full blast forward. The right hoof unleashing its charged load as Saffron jumped at the Human and launched a brutal uppercut into the woman’s chin. The armor on her right hoof exploded as the hoof blaster finally stopped being stable. The explosion badly injured Saffron’s leg and it shredded the EVA suit underneath the exploded bits of armor. It also sent the pony flying to the floor onto her back, but on the bright side she launched Perja bodily into the ceiling with a painful smash that caused cracks to form from the impact and broke more than a few teeth. Rolling onto her three legs and staying off her badly burnt one, she frowned grimly at the Human woman laid out on the floor with a portion of the back of her skull caved in. “I will keep protecting those who need me!” Surprisingly Perja was still alive, but her body had to have been crippled and she couldn’t get up and wouldn’t be able to live for too long without medical help. Saffron wouldn’t kill her, but she wouldn’t help her either. If Perja died of her injuries then that was that, Saffron turned around and started to limp forward only to fall on her face and for some of her armor to fall off. The pony looked behind her and saw that Perja had a still somewhat strong grip on of her hind legs and had a wild feral look in her eyes. Apparently Perja didn’t give up too easily either and could really hold a grudge for glassing her jaw and damaging her head, especially since she couldn’t fix brain damage. - “Glad to see a friendly face Gilda and I can only hope Greta is on top of solving that nasty self-destruction issue or we’re all going to die. Are you okay Rubis?” Trying to stand up was painful and Rarity was already gasping and slightly out of breath from trying, it even hurt to breath and that said how bad off she was from all the bruises she had acquired. Running around with a broken leg certainly wasn’t doing her any favors. At least she didn’t have any of the shrapnel in her, there was some instance in her luck still working for her. She was at least once again standing on her two good, if horribly bruised, hooves. “No… I’m not about to lie Lady Rarity, I’m in terrible pain. I think I may have been hit in an artery or two.” Rubis propped herself up on her right shoulder, gritting both beak and the teeth beneath as she slowly pulled herself up into an unsteady standing position with the Trailblazer. The rifle seemed several magnitudes heavier to her now, she was really beginning to feel how weak her body was from being frozen. It was already heavy before, but now the rifle felt impossible to lift off the ground and it had probably saved her life with every material round it blocked. “It feels like I’m bleeding out.” “I hate to be alarmist darling, but there’s a small pool of blood around you so that’s probably the truth of the matter. Flesh Tender, Frost Wind, if either of you are still alive we could use some help down here!” The Hazard Spider was already standing up, causing Rarity’s heart to sink. The small dent Gilda made in it wasn’t going to keep it down forever. “One of my people is driving the other walker if that’s what you’re worried about!” “Yeah, you might want to get on moving the Boss Lady, because she’s kind of in the way and I don’t want her to accidentally be blown away by this piece of crap.” The walker slowly took a few steps into position and waited for the Hazard Spider to stand up. “An impressively engineered piece of crap, but still a piece of crap by my standards.” Quite a few of the ponies had died when the Humans bum rushed the room, even when they had a better defensive position and a choke point to work with. At least there were three or so winged ponies able to fly down and pick up both Rarity and Rubis while Hazard Spider was still getting up. “I admit the fact that this base might explode has me worried, then again you guys are just far too much fucking trouble to ignore.” Commander Quelk shook his head and rubbed at it. He hadn’t expected that incoming blow and whoever these insurgents were, they had managed to steal one of their walkers. “I can survive the bases possible destruction in this thing, but I won’t chance any of you freaks getting out of here alive.” “You do realize if we fight I’ll be the one walking away from this unscathed right?” Cocky attitude in full force, Gilda just threw down a gauntlet as the walker she piloted spread its legs and arms out. The left arm came up motioned to itself. “I may be a bit of an insomniac that indulges in too much caffeine when it comes to my work in keeping the Boss Lady happy and out of an early grave, but I can catch up on all that sleep when I’m dead and I’m not dying! So do you think you can really put me to bed big boy?” “Well aren’t you a rather cocky bitch?” The Hazard Spider stood tall on its four legs and its two material cannons whirred to life for a few seconds and the two arms clacked their claws. “The ‘Lightning’ model walker you stole won’t survive the next five minutes. I’m not scared of some lowly shock trooper machine.” “I don’t know Rover’s mother very well, but if I did, I would totally be making a rather crass statement on it right about now.” Gilda rolled her eyes and gripped the controls on her right tightly, while she flicked a few switches and prepared herself for the fight of her life. The walker arms came up in a boxers pose and started to shift slighter. “I wouldn’t underestimate me if I were you and you really should be scared of me.” The stolen walker wasn’t doing badly from Gilda’s perspective, there was light damage to the shoulder when Gilda rammed into the more heavily armored machine and the systems didn’t seem to be overly run down from having been boosted for a short time. Temporary mechanical boosts wasn’t a problem and well within the parameters of this Lightning Model walker, outright overclocking the darn thing on the other claw would have a rather significant adverse effect on performance. Only doing something like that would start tearing the walker apart and Gilda didn’t want to do that, even if she really wanted to see what overclocking the walker would do. Assessing Hazard Spider at a glance, Gilda figured the energy cannons her walker had weren’t going to be doing much damage to that armor unless she fired them while aiming for the joints on her opponents machine at close to point blank. The Quadruped machines biggest weakness was that if it lost two legs then it was entirely immobilized, which was easier said than done when they were just as armored as the rest of the darn thing. Mobility was the key difference between the two machines, the four legged model obviously offered stability to carry heavier weapons like the two material cannons on its shoulders. After those two guns expended all of their ammo they would quickly become dead weight. Though limited in ammunition the material cannons could deal a lot of damage in a short amount of time, the best option was to make the guy waste his ammo before he chewed the walker she was piloting apart. It was better armed and had more armor, it only lacked mobility and whatever those parts that fell off it were. Said parts appeared to be vestigial at best after having been recently destroyed if the damaged backside of the upper torso was anything to go by, the performance of said machine still looked pretty solid even after she slammed it and that gave her a method to gauge what kind of damage she could do. Gilda was a genius and she could take this thing down, she’d have to the overclocking process at the right moment and she already had it prepped for emergency purposes. Overclocking would give her enough power for a minute to wreck her opponent and she still had a backup plan for if she failed to deal a killing blow in that time frame. Once she started overclocking the systems in the walker they would inevitably fry and the machine would go completely dead. There was no fixing the walker after that point unless she overhauled everything and she didn’t have the time or the resources for a full bodied overhaul. This just meant that it would be a test of Gilda’s piloting skills, especially since her opponent didn’t know her very well. After all, who better to deconstruct something than a mechanic? - Fluffy Puff, the most intelligent Puffle ever, got a little turned around after being hit with at least two shock bolts and about a hundred material rounds consecutively. Well she was only as intelligent as a sea sponge or maybe even less than that, but that was enough to get her interested in the dark spooky hole at the back of the frozen storage room. Something smelled interesting and she decided to pursue it and ignore the fact that she was leaking strange fluids or that doing so was making her feel funny in a not so good way. Was this what it felt like before you went to sleep forever? The Puffle didn’t like it one bit and was going to stay awake until she felt better. - (Chrono Trigger Boss Theme 1) Gilda decided to start the fight off not by going directly at the stronger machine, but by strafing around to the left of the Hazard Spider. Oh she knew it would track her movements and quite well at that, the upper torso was basically a turret that could turn and point in almost any direction it wants easily enough and the lower torso could have it move in any direction. Gilda was slightly more limited in her movements. Quelk started off by firing the material cannons and that was when Gilda flicked a switch twice and then the walker she was in seemed to jump forward and out of the path of hundreds of rounds now spilling from the twin cannons. One thousand rounds each was nothing to sneeze at and would take a while to deplete entirely. Gilda’s walker took several hits towards to armor at the back, a lot of the shots dug deeply into the armor and others whizzed by missing and digging into the surrounding walls. The blasts of energy that were being fired alongside the two material cannons were a lot slower and missed entirely. Gilda wasn’t idle and was consistently firing energy shots back, her sudden boost forward would confuse him for a few seconds and she tried to capitalize on it by firing as she continued to strafe around the walker. One arm was outstretched and the other was crossing in front of the torso of the walker, only it was hard to hit any of the joints in the other machine at a distance with the armor overlapping in several places. At least the thing wasn’t shielded and if it had been, then Gilda would have to find out what Rarity got up to when she faced this thing down so as not to make the same mistake when it comes to building shield generators. She had gotten to this party a bit late, thanks to those stupid slow ass elevators. Speaking of late, Gilda wondered where Ember was in all this. She saw a Parrote and Rarity, but the blue dragon wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Not exactly the most important thing to be thinking of, because her shots were doing various amounts of damage from surprisingly moderate to very little. That armor was a little tougher than previously thought. The surprise from the boosted movement didn’t last long as the Hazard Spider swung around and slammed Gilda’s walker in the right arm with its left outstretched claw. The two legged walker was staggered as it slid back a bit before it righted itself and jumped sideways while covering the canopy with both arms to avoid any dangerous hits from the stream of material rounds. Several of said material rounds chewed through the armor, but didn’t seem to hit anything serious. Gilda read the damage readout and winced, it had only been about thirty seconds and she was already taking some bad hits. She could not present her back to this thing, the material rounds could actually pierce her walker’s armor and possibly blow up her power source. There was also already a crack in the canopy from a material round that had just glanced off of it creating a very audible noise that made Gilda jump in her seat and narrow her eyes as she gripped the controls a little bit tighter. Stepping forward she threw the left balled claw up under her opponents machine and knocking it’s cockpit upwards and causing it to take several steps back, she quickly took the opportunity to start firing several shots into the knee joint of one of the legs at point blank range. She did manage something approaching significant damage with the five shots she got in before she was promptly knocked backwards by a double blast to the belly of her walker. Some of the armor melted to slag weakening the area below her canopy, this was followed by more material cannons ripping into the armor. She proceed to strafe to the right this time and again covered her canopy with both arms. The sustained fire of the material cannons were really taking their toll with every single hit and Gilda couldn’t afford to keep taking damage from them. Strafing wasn’t working too well, so she decided to immediately switch gears and distance herself from Hazard Spider. Suddenly changing pace to run down the row into the frozen storage room and gain some distance for her next attack. The sudden change in direction was unexpected as the Hazard Spider continued to turn in the same direction Gilda had been moving, it lost hundreds of rounds hitting nothing before its upper torso started tracking back towards its opponent. Gilda was only going to boost a few more time and then she’d have to hit the switch she was avoiding that would activate the overclock. Once she did that it would spell this machines imminent demise no matter what she did. She instead flicked the same switch she did before in the same manner while sliding and pivoting the walker to point towards the Hazard Spider. By the time that it got back to looking in Gilda’s direction, she already had the walker positioned in a stance to perform its next attack. The Hazard Spider unloaded another hundred or so rounds, but a majority of them missed or hit the legs of the Lightning Walker Gilda was piloting, it had jumped straight up in the air holding its arms out and it gave off a bright flash when it landed upon the ground. The flash was confusing enough, but the sudden burst of speed after a small crouching motion led the bipedal walker to being on top of the Hazard spider before it could even react. Gilda’s walker did decent damage to two of the legs and the canopy with the sudden shoulder charge that slammed the Hazard Spider into the wall next to the gaping hole. The hole was just made a bit big bigger and the leg Gilda previously shot up was now moving a bit more jerkily. The Hazard Spider sparked and twitched as the two legs facing Gilda took up a kneeling position. Gilda charged forward and unleashed a left punch, then a right punch and ended by blasting it repeatedly with both energy cannons trying to aim for whatever she could set her eyes on at the moment. She got as many shots as she could squeeze in before it could retaliate, both the material cannons of the Hazard Spider fired at this range and Gilda leapt backwards out of the way of the incoming fire several times while incurring more damage to her walker. There were sparks from the material rounds hitting the floor leading up to Gilda’s walker that had been hardly avoiding the energy blasts at this range and quickly took up a defensive stance leaving the arms to get chewed up by the material weapons fire. Gilda almost hit the switch to overclock the walker and held off for a moment, as she jumped the machine forward and to the left and then forward to the right through a hail of fire material rounds sparking off the armor and energy bolts missing within millimeters of the hull of her walker. From an outsiders perspective Gilda was certainly getting trashed, but her opponent was wasting a lot of ammunition trying to put her down. Gilda made her machine perform a third lunging action until she got close enough and stopped short of the right punch the Hazard Spider launched her way while stepping forward. She quickly took a few steps back to avoid the follow up left straight. She quickly stepped inside the machines guard between its legs and threw a straight right into the middle of the torso, a loud clanging noise and surprisingly she damaged the uppers torso’s ability to pivot as the metal dented inward on something important. A blast struck Gilda’s walker and it stumbled backwards with its left forearm smoking from the damage it just took, she barely managed to block that and her canopy now had several more cracks in it and she was receiving alerts about it. The screen in front of Gilda was blaring warning and she couldn’t hold off on hitting that switch much longer and she wasn’t doing as much damage as she thought she could. She begrudgingly and silently admitted that this jackass was actually a moderate pilot. A quick glance at the damage her walker had taken and it was started to dip into the red on various body parts and systems. The right shoulder in particular was one of the worst off from that last tackle she unleashed and the damage to the left forearm was almost enough to prevent the energy weapon from firing off. Some of the hydraulics in the legs were a bit messed up from pushing so many boosts through them and her canopy was a few wrong materials rounds away from ripping her to shreds. Gilda didn’t feel fear, it was quite the opposite as she was ecstatic and excited. Gilda decided to bring up the possibility that she may be a very mild technophile with Vera later as the other walker was earning her attention in the oddest of ways, now wasn’t the time or place to be thinking of such stuff when it was a matter of survival. The Boss Lady seriously needed the help and it got Gilda away from her boredom, it was a win her book and she wasn’t going to lose even if she had to detonate the walker she was in to take that thing down… what would happen if she detonated this thing while it was overclocking? There was an idea, but she had to immobilize her opponent to implement it correctly. She had to make that machine expend the last of its ammunition, the thing was practically loaded with armor piercing materials and she needed that kind of fire power out of the way before she lost her walker. She could feasibly dodge the energy weapons while flying, the material rounds would just shred her unarmored butt and she’s already made it expend thousands on her. How much could it have left? It was either make it waste the ammo or destroy the weapons which was a bit harder to do when her weapon couldn’t damage or reach them on the shoulders. In the other machine John Quelk looked upon his own readout and saw that Hazard Spider was damaged in three critical spots slowing it down. His machine was capable of taking an entire battalion of Lightning Model walkers which were basically grunts of their armored division. If this was true, then why was he having so much trouble with this one and how in the hell did the person piloting it make it speed up like that? There was just something not natural about how well it was performing, but it wasn’t like it wasn’t taking copious amounts of damage and that was at least the realistic part of this situation. The one thing that really scared commander Quelk about all this is that he’s spent almost all of his remaining ammunition on this one walker alone, more than he would have normally on several piloted by Human hands under the exact same specifications. He was an armored division pilot of great renown and to his utter dismay, the pathetic mass production walker he was fighting was still somehow standing and continuing to chip away at his walker even as it was falling apart in front of him. Even if it couldn’t really do much to the heavily armored portions of Hazard Spider, it was getting him where it counted tactically by slowly disabling his mobility. Overall the four legged Hazard Spider was still doing better than Gilda’s battered and almost broken walker. Gilda charged forward and blocked with the right arm before taking a swing with the left at her opponents canopy, the Hazard Spider stepped backwards and unleashed a torrent that had Gilda backing up until the two material cannons started making loud clicking sounds. Despite doing a phenomenal amount of damage to the walker Gilda stole, they had finally run dry which was the time the griffon had been waiting for. The griffon checked the weapons systems to see they were still functional, the armor was now a completely lost cause and any real damage after this was going to really make her walker fall apart faster than one of Greta’s mechanical pets. Her opponent was about to see why good mechanics were dangerous. This guy wasn’t a mechanic, which was pretty much clear to Gilda judging by his performance and she was about to play the card she had been sitting on for a while. “I’ve been waiting for this moment, time to show you what you Humans have been missing!” Gilda smirked and then hit the overclock switch and… nothing happened. “Oh and what is that?” Quelk taunted, he was still doing well even if he was out of ammo, lost his shields and his special weapon. Gilda looked at the readout on the damage to her screen and then slapped her face, she reached up and flicked the switch she’s been using to perform short term boosts once instead of doing it twice like she had previously done. The response was immediate and quite shocking as Gilda’s walker seemed to expand slightly before contracting and took on a dark purple glow. “Sorry, forgot to make sure a switch was flipped.” Instead of a badass one liner, Gilda went with an apology and the second she pushed the controls to move forward the walker blurred and was moving at three time the speed it normally could. Quelk couldn’t very well keep up with what was happening over the course of the next few seconds even if he tried, as the walker was responding as fast as Gilda could operate the controls. She still had to say something about what was about to happen as she closed in. “Say hello to F U mode!” The first blow was immediately followed by the second and third leading into a fourth punch from the now stupidly fast machine. By the time Quelk was trying to return a leftward swing in retaliation the arm was grabbed by Gilda’s right, stopped completely and the left came up and rammed home into the elbow joint causing a shrieking noise as the metal protested against the sudden jarring hit followed by a right straight into the Hazard Spider’s canopy as Gilda released it upon hitting the arm. The entire canopy cracked upon impact into a spider web shaped mass of fractures, but it still held together. Quelk after having the inner left elbow hit tried to move the right arm and get the fast machine off of him with a shot. Only it was knocked upwards before it could fire or even connect and it was blown backwards by his opponent’s right punch that almost seemed to wrench the arm out of the right shoulder socket and was hit with a blast of energy more powerful than the ones his machine could unleash. It was absurd and maddening that the thing could even put out that much power. “Oh, of all the… damn it.” Gilda looked at the readout and the sudden worsening of the alarm to find that the overclock might end a bit faster than she wanted it to, mostly because the actions she was putting the machine through were actively working to tear it apart as she pilots it. Well no time like the present, set the thing to explode while it was still going and get in a few more licks. “Boss Lady get everyone clear, things are about to get toasty in here!” Gilda didn’t look to see the reaction, though there were a lot of wings flying to get away and a lot of movement up on the blocks. She was focused on one thing and that was taking down the armored asshole before her. “She’s not kidding, everyone start moving away from the edge of the blocks and get away as far as you can!” Rarity understood Gilda pretty well and knew that when she said something, it was exactly as it sounded based in both opinion and fact. When Gilda said something was about to go up, something was going to go up and then some. The slightly smaller walker laid into the Hazard Spider for all it was worth and crippled both the nearest legs with two blows each and the continued to wreck the arms and torso trying to breach through the armor. The screeched of metal was heard as pieces fell off both the walker Gilda was piloting and Hazard Spider, the one Gilda was piloting was starting to look like a zombie by comparison that the other one was still holding up. The demented glow around the smaller machine started intensifying and Gilda decided it was time to bail, she blew the canopy dropping it to the floor and lunged the walker forward to grapple Hazard Spider’s torso as much as it feasibly could. She then gripped the top of the opening in her cockpit and flipped herself onto the roof in an impressive show of agility, then leapt and started flapping her wings frantically flying away from the back of her own machine. The glowing hit a crescendo and blinding flash filled the room as did a massive explosion that sent Gilda rolling and tumbling through the air. She managed to catch herself before she slammed into the side of the flooring of one of the blocks and started to hover, eyeing the large billowing cloud of smoke where her machine used to be to see something moving inside of it. Now the Hazard Spider looked like the zombie and there wasn’t much left of the walker Gilda had used, she had blown it to hell. It was a bit horrifying to realized that the Hazard Spider was still able to stand and move somewhat. The armor on its body was shredded somewhat, but it was still going and thankfully Gilda planned for this occasion. “What’s the plan camarade?” Rubis’s feathers were not only messed up, the few bits of skin showing under them was pale from the blood loss and being recently patched up didn’t help her one bit. Gilda kind of amazed her and she was looking to Gilda for a plan of action since Hazard Spider still wasn’t down. “If you and anyone else here has a loaded and viable weapon be prepared to fire it. I’ve still got some aces up my sleeves, but I’ll have to get in close to use them!” It was a yelling Gilda talking about the satchel full of freezing chemicals in vials, the chemical sprayer and of course her plasma rifle. Her hearing had been messed up from being so close to the shockwave and she was going to need some medical leave after this. “Fire whatever you can, you’ll know when to do so!” Gilda had caught her breath enough that she launched into the air from the block and dodged the blast of energy from the left claw of the Hazard Spider, but the right sparked and failed to fire. Gilda pulled the chemical sprayer and rolled out of the path of another bolt of energy that nearly clipped one of her wings, she wasn’t going to lose her ability to fly naturally damn it! Swooping down Gilda started spraying the left arm of the tortured machined with the freezing chemicals and upon reaching the shoulder that arm could no longer be moved. It tried to fire, but the ice was preventing it from functioning. The right one took a swing at Gilda and she flipped backwards out of the way and was surprised when a sudden stream of flaming rocks and material weapons were all firing upon the frozen arm. The sudden heat from the flaming rocks and a lot of material weapons fire caused the arm to fall off in a small explosion that had the walker staggering, now the Hazard Spider was lacking an arm and its armor wasn’t protecting it from much of anything anymore. “We still have enough for one last lightning bolt, guys help me out here. Hey you, freeze the other arm and get clear!” A voice from above sounded out. Gilda flew in and out spraying the other arm down freezing it in place, she stumbled in the air as her wing was hit by the tip of the arm before the ice covered it. She caught herself in time before she could hit the floor and flew away quickly noticing the swirling mass of light starting to collect above the Hazard Spider with what remaining clouds there were. Frost Wind and his weather crew managed to cobble together one last blast of lightning and it was devastating blow that took down the Hazard Spider completely. The shock from the lightning bolt caused the right arm to be atomized instead of just falling off Hazard Spider, said walker had no weapons left and if it could move after all that then it would be very slow to get anywhere. Gilda flew up high, hefted a vial and then pitched it at the canopy of the machine. The cracked and battered canopy shattered completely as soon as it started freezing. The man in the seat was frantically trying to work the controls, though the lightning bolt had logically fried every system left operational. The whole thing was dead and soon he would be too as someone on the blocks took the moment to fire several energy blasts into his body coating the surroundings in his blood, he died slowly gurgling in pain as his blood pooled in his throat choking him to death from being accurately shot in several arteries. There was a moment of quiet, the alarms of the bases imminent destruction was the only thing heard going on in the frozen storage room as many a pony, a parrote or two, one griffon, even a little Human girl and any of the other species that had managed thaw out safely turned to Rarity. Rarity closed her eyes and sighed, before falling onto her butt in a sitting position. “Now if only Greta or anyone could hopefully...” Rarity started to mutter under her breath. “Two minutes remaining to evacu… self-destruct cancelled…” There were some sighs of relief all around, but they weren’t out of the woods yet. Gilda had lasted more than five minutes and then some considering she was still alive and winging it for Rarity to give her a hug, shooting a completely defenseless guy was one of the most metal things she’s ever seen the Boss Lady do! Now if she could convince the Boss Lady to wear a punk mane style, then she would be more awesome as unlikely as that is to occur. “There it is…” Blinking her eyes trying to keep them open, Rarity was really quite tired of this whole affair and didn’t like the fact that she was the one that ultimately killed that man, but she really didn’t want him to survive any of this. Not after everything he put everyone through and all the people he’s helped to kill, there were some people that shouldn’t be left to chance to cause more loss of life. She didn’t feel like a hero for what she just did, but she’d face that later. She needed more sleep, the few hours she got when she was in that box before Fluffy Puff found her wasn’t nearly damn enough. Gilda was being oddly affectionate with her all of the sudden and she didn’t mind all too much, she cleared her throat and spoke loudly. “I hope nobody holds that against me, I’m going to sleep now and I better not die in my sleep before my cousins wedding! It’s important… to me… try to continue thawing people out as safely as you… Ember…” With the last of her strength spent staying awake in the awkwardly cuddly griffons arms, Rarity passed out from exhaustion for the second time since she entered the facility. When she woke up, she was hoping to be healed, to get a long hot shower, comfort food for everyone no matter what it was, a deep tissue massage and a makeup kit. Heck she would certainly pay to get her whole crew into a five star resort and just say damn it all to the consequences of possibly bankrupting themselves. Author's Note As cousin Kyle states in such a deranged manner on South Park, "I'M BACK!" Especially with this one hundred chapter special length edition, super collider of happiness. I love the month of monsters, it has been a good month to take a break on. The new way I have to post chapters is annoying though, minor issue with the new computer aside Happy Month of Monsters. I'm going to go get sick on candy. Landmark: 500,000 thousand words on one story. Also, yes, that was an R66Y style attack Gilda did there.
-101-“What where the chemicals that you just used on that thing?” Hovering nearer to the griffon Frost Wind was now talking about the still somewhat standing macabre sight of Hazard Spider standing there. That thing had been a nightmare and it had almost destroyed the griffon’s walker by the time it did that strange glowing thing and got faster before it went up violently. “Yeah, note all the frozen people in here, I’m sure you can’t miss them. It’s a substance that acts like liquid nitrogen only different, we pulled quite a few vials of the stuff from several of the machines that were used to capture everyone here. I’m beginning to think the Humans outsourced Foggre technology, it’d make sense with all the drawbacks I’ve been seeing in those machines we took care of at any rate.” Grunted out an aggravated Gilda, she wanted to keep her walker as there were several interesting parts in it. Her feathers were a bit ruffled, she was slightly singed and her she might have been bleeding a bit from a few pieces of shrapnel she didn’t know or couldn’t feel as having hit her. If there were a few small bits of metal in her, then it wasn’t an immediate concern as she’s had worse happen to her before this. “Anyway the stuff is dangerous, but it can freeze someone alive for being thawed out later, IE you for one. Gilda Gottfrieda, master mechanic of the Shining Jewel crew and a friend of the Boss Lady here.” “Yes and apparently a Pegasus will always survive the freezing process, griffons and those like them have a have a high survival rate while everyone else has at least half a chance at life again. We’re still thawing people out, so that’s the best estimate I can give from what’s happened so far. I’m quickly studying this to see what I can do to help the rest of the frozen. I’m Flesh Tender and that is Frost Wind.” Flesh tilted his head to Frost, then when introducing himself to Gilda he held a hoof to his chest. “Would you mind if I checked you over for injuries while we have some time? That fight looked like it roughed you up something fierce. Your friend there is also pretty banged up, so I have to ask if I can look at her too.” “Go ahead and give me and the boss lady a scan doc, you’re not the first unicorn to have a go at my unhealthy obsession with caffeine. So… who’s in charge now?” It was quiet for a few minutes and Gilda looked around, there was a disturbing amount of eyes pointed in her direction. She carefully laid the sleeping Rarity down ignoring the mares’ wet eyes and raised her claws in a defensive manner. “No… wait, let me rephrase that. Hell no! I’m just not leadership material… also where is Ember?” “I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news and I’m a little dizzy from the blood loss, but your friend Ember is…” Rubis had the holes in her flesh patched up by Mr. Tender, but the doctor was going to need more food badly and soon at that. At least she didn’t have any broken bones from trying to brace Ember’s rifle against all those material cannon rounds. “Ember she was… well you see that groove in the floor and there’s the remains of the beam cannon that shot her over there. Maybe you could tell me what it is since you are a mechanic, anyway I do not believe she could have survived that.” “That… actually looks like a nice piece of tech. Far too good for Human make and definitely not a Foggre design, this is more my speed.” Ignoring the protests of several people and their need for leadership, Gilda took off to start investigating the possibility of a new shiny toy for her to tinker with. Flapping her wings and coming in for a landing she checked the larger cannon that had been at the back of the Hazard Spider and whistled loudly. “Okay this is unusual… there is no way the Humans technological level could possibly be this high unless they’ve been either holding back or they paid a lot of money to develop this thing. It’s a quasi-radiation beam cannon, gives off a lot of heat and raw energy that can melt almost anything alive. Judging by the fact that nobody else in this room is dead, it doesn’t leave a hot zone after firing which is kind of amazing if it is Human made since they have a history of really bad dirty tech. It can possibly fire more in cold conditions, explains what happened to Gravenstein. Chances that this thing actually killed Ember? Well the raw force alone is what I’d have to calculate.” “Um… excuse moi, but nothing could have possibly survive what left a groove in the floor like that!” Rubis clutched at her head as she staggered over to Gilda, she was dizzy and hungry again. Doctor Tender fixed the holes in her, but the necessary energy to fix the injuries had to come from more than magic and he couldn’t replace the lost blood. Coming up alongside Rubis was doctor Flesh Tender who had finished scanning Rarity and termed her to have a broken leg, several levels of bruising, internal bloods clots of the less than lethal variety and severe exhaustion. Rarity’s condition was stable. He started scanning Gilda and saw that her blood could be a replacement for coffee, which was totally utterly absurd and he wondered how the griffon could even be alive or even how she was still going. Otherwise Gilda was bearing a few chunks of metal shrapnel in her that would have to be removed sooner rather than later, there was also some light bruising and her one of her wings was singed horribly at the tips. A relatively healthy griffon if you ignore all that. “I wouldn’t be so sure, depending on the distance the energy had to travel and what was in the way of the beam at the time it made impact. Instead of dead, we’d have pretty much alive. Anyone volunteering to go check that hole?” Seeing a mouth open, Gilda immediately slapped her talons over the offending beak and smiled, Rubis didn’t like being silenced and narrowed her eyes at a cheekily smirking Gilda. “No, then I volunteer to go check out the final fate of one of my friends. I at least have the stomach for it. If you ate a few Xouj like I did, then your stomach would be as strong too if you could keep something like that down in the name of survival. Someone watch after my Boss Lady while I’m at it!” Gilda was off and flying for the gaping hole at the back of the frozen storage room leaving Rubis to contemplate what she just said. Her satchel of chemicals and sprayer shifting with each flap of her wings and her plasma rifle clear for all to see on her back, she looked every bit as dangerous as she appeared. The truth was she wasn’t very well practiced with guns and the chemical sprayer was at least familiar to her. The sprayer was effective in taking down Hazard spider at least, but as far as combat goes she certainly specialized in piloting and driving vehicle as outside of them she was a lot more vulnerable and new that logically and intrinsically. “She actually ate something like that?” It was kind of horrific, but Rubis could actually kind of see it as happening. Gilda seemed like equal parts grumpy and crazy enough to do it. How did she even manage to steal that walker in the first place and why of all things did she call Rarity her Boss Lady? Well she couldn’t worry about that now, she wanted to live and the best way to do that was to stick to the plan of getting out of this facility alive. Flesh Tender was the first to really react and went galloping after the griffon, if the griffon was right then he’d be needed to stabilize the body for movement and quickly. Frost Wind followed Tender shortly after asking several of his people to go search for food and to use what little scavenged ammunition they had gotten from nearby bodies. He expressly told them to not go too far and to watch their backs, he also asked that someone watch out for the people still thawing and weren’t killed immediately by the stray material cannon rounds that shattered their frozen bodies. He also shouted two names to watch the entrance to the room. “Wait, I am having reservations about looking for what may be nothing but ash or a cooked corpse!” Even if Rubis logically knew dragons could survive swimming in lava and even enjoyed drinking molten rock every once in a while, she still didn’t think Ember could have survived that beam that tore a hole through the room. Even with her protests Gilda flew down the hole and three hundred feet later in the darkened tunnel dug out by the beam she ran across a sight that was horrifying. The Puffle wasn’t scary it was just sniffing around the body on the floor, that being of Ember’s shredded form and the damage was turning even for Gilda’s admittedly strong stomach. It was hard to see a predator in this state. The EVA suit no longer existed and there was not a scrap of it left on the dragon’s shredded form. “Wow, that’s a way to go.” Here Gilda had thought a beam comprised of mostly heat wouldn’t do much to Ember, obviously she was wrong. She watched as Flesh Tender walked forward and lit his horn. “She’s… surprisingly not dead... barely alive though. Her scales aren’t exactly the same as skin so the best I can do for is put her in stasis. I won’t be able to carry her if I do that, the stasis spell will wipe me out for a while and even then it won’t protect her if anything hits her while she’s in stasis, the fact that she’s even alive in this state is a miracle. She has broken bones, you can even see some of them physically sticking out of the shredded muscle.” Flesh Tender wasn’t selling Ember’s actual injuries correctly, it looked like somebody took sand paper and steel wool to her whole body. The dragon’s arms and legs and torso were the most badly damaged, but her face was mostly untouched as she likely put her arms up to protect it. Her scales couldn’t protect her from the raw force of all that energy slamming into her, at least the heat didn’t seem to do any extra damage aside from making sure she didn’t bleed out. “If we are to save her we need a medical bed, like yesterday! She’ll live about three minutes without the stasis spell, do we even make the effort to save her life? My magic could keep other people who might need it more alive and I don’t want to waste it on what looks like a lost cause, I need a decision and I need one quick.” “It’s a good thing I’ve already thrown up.” Frost Wind grimaced at the grizzly sight of the dragon. Fluffy didn’t touch the body was just stared blanking at the dragon’s chest that barely rose, it gave a squeak and then blew a raspberry. The tone of her noises sounded rather flat, Puffles couldn’t exactly do sad very well and this was as close as it got to it. It just stared at the unmoving form, her wounds had stopped hurting so much, because her fur dampened enough with her blood to bandage them over. “Thankfully we stocked the Centaur-pede with every kind of essential including a medical bed, but we’d have to get her to it.” Even knowing how tough dragons were this was a surprise to Gilda, most people wouldn’t even be alive in this state. “How much time can you give her in stasis doc?” “About thirty minutes, if I do it right now. Chances are even if we do save her life she’ll might be stuck in a trauma coma. The fact that she is even still breathing is a miracle in itself, much less that she survive that beam that evaporated Pegasus Ponies on contact!” Flesh Tender had many other patients to attend to, using most of his magic on this one would limit his ability to help the other thawing people in the frozen storage room. “As a doctor I must say that it was highly improbable for her to have survived the initial hit just to die of her injuries later like this.” “Merde, what is wrong with you? We’ll do it and that means right now Mr. Tender, she helped all of us survive long enough to keep going! It is the least we can do for Lady Rarity and her friends, we have to try.” If there was a chance to save a life, Rubis was willing to take it as Ember took on a lot for them and they wouldn’t have survived the odds otherwise. “Frost Wind can you go get something to carry Ember with s’il vous plait? We will be moving her to this… what did you call it?” Frost Wind threw a salute and quickly took off to get something to drag Ember out of this hole dug out by that powerful beam weapon. Flesh Tender closed his eyes and began concentrating on a spell, his horn started glowing brightly as he prepared to cast it. “The Centaur-pede, it’s our mobile fortress and base of operations here. All I need to do is fly up to it when we reach it and bring it down to the floor so we can load Ember into one of the medical beds. We can’t exactly endanger it and will have to make sure it doesn’t take too much damage.” The beam digging out a hole here gave her an idea, but they didn’t exactly have the power for it, so Gilda discarded the idea as soon as she came up with it. “It lost its shields and most of our spare limbs coming down here. It’s going to take forever to fix all that damage down here on the ground, I want our fortress to survive long enough to get it back into space for repairs. We might even be able to use it to dig a tunnel to the surface, but I need a lot of stuff to make the modifications to it.” - “Damn it…” Greta muttered out of Viral’s mouth. “What’s wrong sugar cube?” Applejack was alert and looking away from talking with Trap Bar, she noticed that Rover wasn’t with them anymore. The room hadn’t been invaded, so he must have gone back for Mare-Do-Well. “You know how the facility made the announcement that the countdown has stopped?” Viral looked away from Applejack’s searching eyes. “Yeah, what about it?” There was a sinking feeling in Applejack’s gut, especially when she heard Greta’s tone. “I’ve only delayed the inevitable, I couldn’t stop the countdown directly. I only changed the conditions of what will cause it to continue and when it does we will only have two minutes on the clock.” Viral turned back to the screen and continued talking. “To survive the explosion we’d have to be at least half a mile away from the epicenter. Getting to the surface would be a start.” “What will set off the timer again?” Applejack queried with a bit of trepidation. “Well it wasn’t easy, but I’ve got it so that the facility has to flood beyond a certain point for the countdown to begin again.” That didn’t sound so bad and Greta had sounded like she solved their problems. “That doesn’t so bad… so what’s the catch?” Almost wishing she didn’t have to ask, Applejack shuddered at the robots eyes boring into her own. “There’s a portion of the facility already under forty feet of water from all the melting ice. At most we have two hours to find our way to the surface and get out of the blast range or find a way to slow down the melting snow and ice. We need far more time than that if we want to rescue those people still frozen in the laboratory sector.” Greta made the robotic fox lift a paw and pointed towards the screen, Applejack saw a distorted image of the surface. The entire area was littered with bits of metals and parts of destroyed machines. “There’s not a cloud in the sky thanks to us and it’s a sunny day, never thought weather might be the most dangerous thing in this situation. There are still armed Humans running around the facility, I have no control over much aside from cameras and have a communications lockout on them, I’ve done about all I can do in this situation. All I can do is hope someone else has a plan as my technical prowess is spent here.” “It’s nice that your honest to a fault, but did you really have to tell me all that?” There was despair bleeding into Applejack’s voice. “Wait a minute… I may be a simple farmer with some sharp shooting skills and not a lot going on between my ears, but can’t we get those Pegasi from that frozen storage place to the surface so they can slow down the melting ice and snow?” “All we’re doing right now is buying time so we can get everyone that we can out of here. It really wouldn’t buy us that much more as the temperature outside is rising steadily even if every Pegasus we could get up there were to contribute to a cloud cover and cold weather operations.” The ears on the robot drooped a little, Greta’s voice sounded a bit stressed. “We’d never stop this facilities destruction… maybe… Rover I need you to… Rover?” “I think he went to help Mare-Do-Well. What did you need him for, did you get an idea?” There was a hint of hope in Applejack’s voice. “Rover is a Diamond Dog. His entire species are natural born experts in excavation and or digging by nature.” Explained Greta as a starting point before she continued on to why she needed his presence. “I need him to get started on a tunnel big and strong enough for people to get through to the surface safely, he’d know how to dig one so that we can get started on getting people out of here or at the very least he’d be capable of instructing others how to help dig our way out. He wouldn’t be doing much digging with a broken wrist and a battered body, but we definitely need him alive if you want to move any of the Pegasi to the surface quickly enough for your idea to work.” “You want me to go get him?” Applejack asked, she could still use her weapon as a bludgeon but as far as getting into a fight she was helpless and likely to be blasted by the first human to come across her. “No need, I can contact him from here and it looks like he’s helping Mare-Do-Well with Perja. Now that’s one tough Human, you’d think she would stay down with those kind of injuries.” Whistling lightly Greta turned the robots head to Applejack. “I still need you to go to him and Saffron, I’m going to have Viral stay here and perform a permanent lock on the room. Nobody will need to come back here and we can get to work on getting those people in frozen storage out of there. I can already see several Pegasus Ponies looting vending machines for food and there are a few others gathering whatever they can find in the laboratory sector. You can either go to lend them assistance down there or you can come back to the Centaur-pede… hold on. Holy plucking Tartarus…. Ember… scratch my previous statement you and the others are definitely going down there no choice!” “Why, what happened?” Pausing by the door, Applejack was certainly alert for anything bad coming and picked up the weapon dropped by the dead Human at the door. “Our friend Ember is down and she is severely injured… I haven’t exactly been keeping an eye on what’s been going on in there until now. Rarity looks unconscious, but at least she appears to be healthy.” It kind of upset Greta that she was losing yet another one of her robotic pet creations, but she could always build more and lives were currently on the line and in serious danger. The one that looks like they need a lot of help right now was Ember, who was now missing a lot of spines and scales and her horns were almost worn down to stumps. “I’ve never seen a dragon that horribly injured before. You probably don’t want to see Ember in her current state Applejack, but you’re going to anyway. Find some ammo on the way if you can, but first meet up with Rover and Mare-Do-Well. Turn left and take another left, can’t miss them. I’ll be in contact with you guys provided that Rover or Mare-Do-Well haven’t damaged their helmets too badly.” “Got it, I’m going now!” Once out the door, it slammed shut and Viral turned back to the console to address Trap Bar. “If you can get several transports around here to pick up all those people, that would help out with all the problems we have going on here. I think we’re all running on fumes here, can you give me any indication as to what happened to our ship up in orbit?” “Like I’d let you guys down, I’m already sending them. They’ll be there, just save as many as you feasibly can and get out of there!” Trap Bar stated in a serious no nonsense tone. “Call Sign can you call our guys at Applin Five and check on the Shining Jewel?” A few seconds passed by and Trap Bar nodded, he was listening to someone else talking and then he turned his attention back on Viral. “It’s taken some damage from fighting pirates, but your ship is fine as far as we can tell aside from some hull damage and losing a few turrets. I’ve already got enough information to order a full system blockade and we’ve already after this started on that.” Trap Bar nodded to Viral. “I hope to see you and your Boss Lady alive and well Ms. Gollenfer, I need to finish cleaning up here on Applin Three. I hope we all make it through these rough times, Trap Bar out!” - “Gilda what happened to Ember!” Quite a few people flinch at the sound of Greta’s voice. “Got hit by a hot beam that surprisingly doesn’t leave heat behind and it’s a bit unusual for Human tech as they tend to do things dirty, heat probably did nothing more than completely erase Ember’s EVA suit from existence.” Being the only one to not flinch, Gilda sound rather bored at Greta’s shocked exclamation. “It’s the raw force and pressure of the beam that really hurt her. If you can see me look at the floor that’ll give you an idea how big the beam was.” “And she survived that, really? That looks like it hit her with enough for to rip an elephant clean in half!” Nobody was saying Greta wasn’t right in the estimate the walkers the beam hit were melted into the grooves the beam created. “From what I can see she looks like someone took material cannon and filled it completely with sand and then fire hundreds of rounds at her body until it wore down. I think I’m going to be sick.” “That’s we need to get her back to the Centaur-pede and fast, what do you have direct control of Greta? Ember lost most of her scales and her face is thankfully the least damaged thing about her, her arms took the brunt of that and it’s why she still has eyes in her skull.” Asking for the sake of knowing what they had to work with. “You might want to make it quick with what you can do, because Ember won’t last in stasis forever we don’t have much time.” “Speaking of time, I didn’t exactly stop the countdown permanently.” What Greta said got an instant reaction from Gilda as she was looking at where she thought the nearest speaker was. “As for what I have control of, visuals and communications. The Humans can’t very well organize themselves without me knowing about it. “What do you mean Greta?” Lacing her voice with pure ice Gilda needed to know if there were any other complications aside from running into any more walkers or Humans. “How can the countdown not be stopped? I heard it say it was cancelled.” “Well it involves how the lockdown protocols on this facility work, basically a lot of triggers for the countdown were activated and thanks to the lockdown I can’t exactly stop the facility from destroying itself. I had to swap the countdown to an inactive trigger, one that is going to activate anyway at this rate and it was my best choice.” Here Greta could be heard taking a deep breath and sounded like she was about to metaphorically bite the bullet on something. “I couldn’t deactivate any of the active ones and there was a small list of things I could make the countdown activate on that weren’t triggered by the initial activation that started the countdown in the first place, I chose the one labeled environmental hazards. That was even knowing full well that the facility is slowly flooding and now has forty five feet of water at the bottom of it at this moment and rising slowly. The systems actively check to see if the trigger condition is met, thanks to the trigger change the countdown only stalled and will continue if the condition is met.” “Just for the sake of reference for why you chose ‘environmental hazards’ as the thing that causes the countdown to continue, assuming I’m right that if the base gets flooded enough that we’ll only have two minutes to escape once the water reaches a certain point, what was wrong with all the other options you had?” Full out cranky Gilda came out and she wondered why Greta chose that particular setting for, it sounded like a really dumb thing to do and Greta wasn’t an idiot or a complete waste of space. “About that, it was the only option that gave us enough time. Percentage of base personnel alive wasn’t a good idea, what with the Humans running afoul of Puffle related incidents and there are still a few Humans that are fighting those things called Gillamonks that got free and if you want to move Ember you might need to kill a few on the way back to my position. Almost all the Gillamonks are dead and I can confirm that the Humans have actually managed to kill five Puffles, four by accident and one on purpose. There was also computer systems compromised one which would have reactivated the countdown immediately considering what I’ve been doing.” Then Greta giggled dryly and sighed. “The last one is kind of humorous… you know since it involves the systems checking whether the weather generators and all the robots on the surface around the facility entrances were still active. If I chose that one then the self-destruct, again for the sake of clarity, would have returned to our two minute scheduled demise. Before you ask, the modifications I made to Viral makes her different enough to not count as one of the robots anymore. The hindsight on that one is really quite bad.” “Yeah, it’s funny because you destroyed them all as soon as you feasibly could and collapsed all those tunnels of ice and snow over just about every exit out of here. Oh and the one machine still around in your control won’t count in said scenario giving us all the time in the world, just freaking peachy and I’m a lover of pears personally.” Rolling her eyes Gilda could swear the universe conspired against Rarity and anyone that knew here, it was quickly becoming apparent that the Boss Lady had some kind of jinx on her or luck that shifted chaotically if they survived. “I swear Greta, this is one of the worst situations we’ve ever been in. In a good round estimate, how much time have you exactly bought us?” “At most two hours, at least one hour and that’s not enough to thaw out those people unless we can slow down the melting ice and snow. Being an Ever Green Planet, it’s warm all year round and the best we could do is get some Pegasi up on the surface like yesterday to cloud up the sky and have some in the facility to stop the water from flooding it.” This was not a touch and go situation, touch and go couldn’t even begin to scratch the surface of everything that’s going on here and Greta was going to go nuts trying to fix all this. Technical engineers were not supposed to get jobs this horrendously stressful unless they were crewed on military vessels. “If you could get as many Pegasi as you can gathered and for Rover to get back here safely. If that happens he might be able to dig a tunnel to the surface where we can start evacuating people while also getting Ember into a medical bed. The Pegasi will be busy slowing down the flooding and that will give us time thaw as many people as we can out.” “Well, why are we sitting around here talking about it? We must start taking action now, some people will have to stay here and help every newly thawed get on their feet quickly!” By being the one to start ordering other people around, Rubis Poulette was the one that became the de facto leader much to Gilda’s relief. “Others will have to help clear and hold a path to the mobile fortress of Lady Rarity. I will not lie, this will not be easy as we have many blesse people to move. One of whom is almost dead saving all of you and another that was exhausted to her very limit, I hope I need not remind everyone of their incredible courage!”
-102-“I’m taking up controls, better hang on to something. Hey, you EDF guys should be getting clear out of here!” It was Gilda’s voice that Rarity was hearing as she woke up strapped into a medical bed with a battered and beaten trio nearby. Rover had several injuries that looked like they would scar, Applejack was show black and blue through her orange coat and Mare-Do-Well was strapped in similarly. “We’ll be fine, Lightning are you ready to pick us up in the upper atmosphere? We really don’t want the gravity well to pull us back in after we expend our fuel. T-minus ten seconds to launch… oh hey the Puffles are actually doing something smart and making a run for it, the Boss Lady will be happy to hear that. Things were pretty touch and go for a while, but we can get medical help upstairs." “At least let us fly escort!” The voice of a stallion could be heard saying throughout the interior of the cargo loading machine. “Sure, sure, now out of the way wide loads, the facility is going to go up at any minute down there and I want to watch the fireworks from orbit.” Well Gilda sounded particularly cheerful. “Excuse me, but I feel a bit dazed. Am I to ascertain that we’re all back on the Centaur-pede?” It was probably one of the worst times Rarity could have woken up, shifting about upset her broken leg and she winced loudly from agitating her injury. She was strapped into a medical bed, but it currently wasn’t filled with any chemicals. Chemicals like painkillers, which would have been nice to have at the moment. “Yeah, we’ll give you the full story later Rarity, we’re kind in the middle of a life or death situation here and I’m saying goodbye to another one of my mechanical pets. Why do they always blow up so young? She's barely more than a day old too.” Whined Greta sadly before she turned a smile to Rarity. “It’s good to see you’re feeling okay Boss Lady, relatively speaking that you still have a broken leg.” “I am amazed that this thing can possibly get back into orbit with how heavy she is.” Wait, why was Rubis here? “Lady Rarity, I have something of great importance to tell you!” “That can wait until later jailbait. Lift off!” The thunderous sound of the entire structure started shaking around them and Rarity blacked out for a moment do to the sudden increase in pressure on the wrong portions of her body. They are accelerating upwards it would seem. “The facility is going to be detonating in forty three seconds Gilda… we’re going to miss seeing the explosion and it’s a good thing too. At least we’ll be out of range.” Finally good news, after everything they’d been through it was about time things started going their way again. “Keep us on course and we’ll be well out of the blast radius. I honestly don’t know about the Puffles, but I’m sure they’ve had worse.” “Did I mention that I hate going into and being in space, I’d rather take a solid rock to grow crops on!” It had been harrowing, but Applejack had made it through most of that mess alive and almost entirely in one piece. She had a material round lodged deeply into her butt and the doctor said it wasn’t very safe to remove until they could get better medical accommodations, something the Shining Jewel had plenty of at the moment. That said the farmer was taking the pain pretty well, she should as she was quite tough and had taken a lot of grazing wounds throughout the ordeal before that last parting shot by the last surviving base commander Perja Rensada. At least Flesh Tender was able to help her, she turned to look at the horrible sight floating a tank of medical fluids. “I could care less right now!” Shouted over the roar of the rockets lifting the six legged walk into the sky. “Even if you were an alien parasite bent on annihilating us all, I’m getting my world freaking record for heaviest thing that can orbital drop and return to orbit on one tank of fuel!” - Fluffy Puff, looked towards the large pillar of flames and fire in the distance and turned back to the others, slowly her tongue slid out of her mouth and she let loose one long raspberry. This was returned in happy exclamation, they didn’t even noticed they lost a few of their number and went back to just being happy and cuddly with one another. You know, instead of being portents of doom and destruction when left to run free in a place full of explosives and destructible things that some careless creatures might wander into. - Things were rather quiet when they hit orbit and heard Greta sigh with relief, earning all their attentions as she gave them a patented cheery smile that had the corners of her beak pointing upwards. “Well it’s over now. We came, we saw and we got ourselves mauled to varying degrees for Rarity’s hero complex. I’m just happy we’re all alive... aside from some crippling injuries and the one exceedingly critically wounded friend.” Shaking her head Greta pulled out her data pad and looked at the words ‘lost connection’ written in big letters on the screen, her smile faintly turned downwards at that. She quickly turned her attention to communicating with Lightning. She looked on the brighter side of things, they had all made it and she could always build another Viral Vixen robot eventually. Though that one might meet a similar fate to all the mechanical pets she’s made, though she really didn’t want to relive the mechanical fish incident and hoped that it couldn’t be repeated. “Do you see us yet Lightning? Let us coast up a bit more before closing in for the tow, we want to make the record legitimate.” “Roger that, Caravel Boutique is on route for pick up. I’ll swing by in a minute. I hope you and Gilda can fix the damage to the Shining Jewel and maybe figure out whatever is wrong with the white cat of yours Boss Lady.” What Lightning said gave Rarity some cause for alarm. There was something wrong with Opal? Well that sounded like it needed an explanation. “Is she alright?” Rarity’s voice was obviously laced with concern. “Define alright, subjectively I think she’s doing okay, she’s just not responding to us verbally or appearing on any of the monitors. It’s a bit creepy.” Lightning could almost be heard shrugging in her seat. “In any case, I have a list of injuries are for the crew while you were gone. Mr. Cumin took some mild injuries, he was kind of a badass with that soup ladle. Sassy is doing fine, didn’t get hit a single time when we were boarded. Now there’s a mare that knows how to move like she was made of lightning, she had them pissing metal trying to hit her!” Watching the view screen Rarity could see the Caravel Boutique coming at them and it would soon be dragging them back to their battered home, it did need to be painted anyway and the turrets could be rebuilt. “Anyway where was I? Ah yes, Coco has some bruises after she got physical with some of the boarders. Mr. Spew took offense to all the guys that were attacking Coco, he’s perfectly healthy for the most dangerous thing on this ship. Babs Seed is perfectly fine and healthy, though she had a few close scares. Chrysalis lost a horn, two legs and half her intestines were on the floor when I last saw her, but she says she’ll be fine and all that happy moaning wasn’t doing anything for my sanity. As for the masseuse… what’s her name again?” It seemed like Lightning was trying to recall that Vera existed, at least she had gotten just as far as many other people in trying remember who she was. Said people were all a part of Rarity’s crew who were actively trying to remember that Vera existed and that was always going to be an uphill battle. “Darn it, it’s hard enough to remember that she exists because of that being invisible crap or whatever it is she actually does. That mare is one of the spookiest ponies ever. I’m pretty sure she never got shot at and I’m not exactly sure how many pirates she took out, but I remember a drone pointing her out and she had a completely blood soaked metal kanabo in her hooves. I think it was the one that belongs to Ember. Bernard has several bad burns from energy weapons and is in a medical bed. Trapeze took a hit or two, but she held her own and is already up and walking around. As for me, I’m obviously talking and not limping like everyone else is. Though I did take a shot to my left wing, why do people always aim for my freaking wings?! I wasn’t even flying at the time!” “Thank you for the information dump Lightning, can you tell Opal to have several medical beds on standby? We got plenty of wounded. Rarity is going to need to have her leg checked and medically pasted back together, a doctor we met said it was a clean break so there’s that at least. The others have varying injuries ranging from simple to bad.” The dry tone Gilda spoke in was rather somber in how it sounded. “Ember was critically wounded though and it’ll take forever for her to get back on her feet with how she looks. Speaking of looks, she doesn’t look to good after what hit her. We need to move her bed to the medical ward. We also have two guests with us and one of them will be taking in Babs, Applejack has had it rough going through all of this with us. Don't know about what the other guest is expecting though.” “Yeah, I admit it was pretty bad down there, but I’d do it all over again if it means saving our farm!” Applejack sighed and took her hat off, she lost about three inches of her mane and she had been put through a wringer. Even so she was still healthier than everyone except Greta. “I’m only wondering when I can get back to my family, because all of that was nuttier than a walnut apple flip cake with extra pralines and I just want to go home.” “I hear you, I wouldn’t mind finally getting home myself and there she is... yeah that might take a while to fix.” The flat deadpan and tone Gilda spoke in was one that spoke of many endless nights of effort and aggravation, plus enough coffee to the point that she can bleed the stuff while making numerous repairs all across the ship. “Looks like we’re going to be busy for a while Greta. Get in some rest because after that we’re going to be working nonstop on repairs.” “Yeah, but you’d have to repair your EGGS unit first. If you don’t remember, you kind of landed it upside down and it was still in section three when it got damaged a bit by the invading pirates. Greta’s EGGS unit on the other hoof is still viable and wasn’t touched and is upright at the very least.” It wasn’t like Lightning or anyone could get through to Gilda that you don’t land things in such a haphazard manner without it being damaged. “Shut up and just bring us in will you? You might want to get us a little bit higher so we have some clearance.” The Centaur-pede had successfully made it back into orbit with some repairs needed to the spare limbs that were destroyed by Greta’s tinkering, there was also the armor that had been damaged in the attack and the loss of two of the turrets to those military defense drones. Not that the electric shields were a bad idea to begin with, it was just that they did too much damage to the legs to keep them active for a long time. “Greta anything to note here.” “There’s nothing wrong here. We’re coming in good and now that I look around, there are a lot of EDF in orbit.” Why wouldn’t there be a lot of EDF in orbit, it made Greta feel a little bit embarrassed to be stating the obvious. “Why wouldn’t there be? With what those Humans were doing, I’m not exactly surprised about it. Looks like we got half a fleet here.” It was something that Saffron was used to seeing when you kicked a figurative anthill full of mobsters and gang members, It was quite warranted and the survivors of being thawed out were being brought to several ships. The only odd one out that wasn’t on one of the EDF transports was Rubis who was going to be a guest of theirs because she refused to leave Lady Rarity’s side. “Are you sure you’re a clothing designer?” Rubis didn’t exactly know Rarity, but she kind of got a response of the levels that said Rarity was somebody of some importance. “Yes, speaking of my creations, how are those parkas I gave everyone?” Being strapped down wasn’t going to stop Rarity from asking, being put under and in fluids would make it impossible for her to talk. She believed they were waiting until they were aboard Shining Jewel before putting her leg through a pasting surgery. “Trashed to hell and back… what? I believe everyone was going to say it!” Applejack was quite quaint in the way she spoke honestly and the others didn’t look at Rarity, they obviously didn’t want to say anything. “Mine took the least amount of damage and it’s full of holes, I’m more surprised that I’m not.” “Oh good, how are the EVA suits then by comparison?” Her tone was really quite even and everyone knew how seriously Rarity took clothing. She knew they were wondering when she’d blow a gasket and she’d absolutely surprise them in a most eloquent manner. “You saw Ember’s get evaporated so you already know that and your aware of what happened to your own considering we had to peel it off of you.” Pausing and looking Rarity in the eye with a quirky smile on her face Greta couldn’t help but chuckle. “All EVA suits took a low to moderate amounts of damage, the most damaged intact EVA suit is Sa… Mare-Do-Wells EVA suit. I ’m kind of surprised that you’re not actively fussing about your mane Boss Lady.” “In due time Greta my dear friend, in due time. Anyway I’m so glad it worked, the parkas were expendable and were made to soak up the damage the EVA suits would have taken. Fixing EVA suits constantly like I have to do is quite hard I’ll have you know!” Rarity turned her nose to the ceiling and smiled, that smile quickly turned into a frown. “Now what was it that I heard about Ember being alive? I don’t exactly see her here.” “Yeah, because she’s in the medical bed next to yours and swimming in chemicals. Dr. Flesh Tender couldn’t do anything for her, kind of odd considering his main practice is as a dermatologist and Ember is missing a massive amount of her scales. Dragons being magic resistance is kind of biting her in the butt here, that and her scales aren’t the same as skin and fur. Thankfully she still has her eyelids or she’d be even worse to look at.” Greta looked to the left of Rarity and grimaced before turning a weak smile back to her. “Her life signs aren’t exactly stable, but she’s alive at the least and hopefully the medical chemicals will prevent an infection because she was lying on the floor for a while exposed to the elements until they found her. Trust me, you don’t want to look at her in this state. Even I’m finding it hard to keep smiling when I can see her like this. I’m so glad that none of her limbs have to be amputated and I’m sure she’ll be glad too when she wakes up... if she ever does.” “Suck it up Greta, overall Ember’s still alive and that’s what counts.” Gilda didn’t seem to care, but there was a hint of something her voice that was being hidden in her suddenly sarcastic mood. “Even if her state is questionable, does anyone else have anything to add. We’re about to be dropped off in the land of Han Gar.” “I got something to say, thanks for saving me back there Rover. I don’t think I could have taken much more of that woman, she was close to ripping me apart at the end there.” Pulling off the helmet of her EVA suit, Saffron sighed a breath of relief. Applejack was instantly looking in her direction as she started to disrobe from her EVA suit, the mare was upset because Saffron was wearing her Mare-Do-Well costume beneath her EVA suit, which included a scrunched up cape that Saffron took a few moments to smooth out. “Do you ever take that darn costume off?” The sight had Applejack muttering under her breath, this mysterious Mare-Do-Well was becoming rather quite ridiculous to her. Of course she could understand the caution. If Applejack were asked if she knew Mare-Do-Well’s true identity, then she’d be completely honest about it as it was her policy. She didn’t know much about the mare except that she took more than one shot for Applejack’s sake and then kept fighting until she was run ragged. All that was left of that mare’s armor were three leggings as the rest of it was ripped off of her. “Do not be mentioning it, Rover is glad to be saving lives for once instead of watching them end horribly.” Rover meant every word and everyone knew it, he was kind of simple like that. He had saved Saffron’s life and he was becoming more attuned to his friend’s needs and appearances as part of their pack. Rarity was the leader, but she didn’t need to be the most physically capable to be as such and Rover was becoming closer to them all. He also liked Saffron a lot, because she was an aggressive and strong female. “Though Rover hope that was the last we see of the impossible human. Digging with a broken wrist is not fun.” “Not likely, I looked back after we knocked her down and she wasn’t there anymore.” The shivering Saffron figured that Pera might have actually escaped the base, especially before it went up like it did. “I’m going to have many sleepless nights over all of this. Don’t worry Rover we’ll get you fixed up, everyone needs some time in medical at the very least. Even Greta whose worst injury is a bruised skull.” “I’ll start investing in sleeping pills for everyone… well if we can afford them. I swear we’re always one hoof away from bankruptcy.” Well Rarity could simply just sit on a planet and get royalties from her invention for the rest of her life by being cheap and efficient. She could survive on that easily enough, but she preferred not being stuck in one place and didn’t just want to survive. She wanted to be alive and to thrive while doing so. “Give me a day or two and I’ll be ready to start making dresses again.” “Can we stick to doing simple stuff like that for a while Boss Lady? I don’t think we’d survive another encounter like this so soon. I’m okay with going merchant for a while, though I would like to put in that we’re already pretty good at mercenary work.” Gilda didn’t mind the idea of being a mercenary, they were close to that already with all the scrapes Rarity kept dragging them into. “Of course Lady Gottfrieda of Han Gar.” Rarity chuckled lightly and winced as her ribs shifted her leg causing pain to shoot up and down her spine. “Someone tell Vera to schedule an appointment for all of us. That is if you can remember where she is without my help.” Gilda couldn’t say that the Boss Lady lead a boring and sophisticated life. Heck she was quite sure Rarity would be bored to tears by the ideal lifestyle choice she wanted to live and would miss the adventure far too much to quit or settle down. Her Boss Lady wanted to be noble and upper class, well she was doing a spectacular job of being a noble pony that actually did things instead of get stuck in the mire known as politics. As long as Rarity didn’t turn into a flaming jerk to end all jerks, which was frankly Gilda’s job personally as much as Chrysalis’s job was to be the weird and audacious one, then she would happily have the Rarity’s back on any occasion. She would also silently admit that she had friends now, ones that weren’t a passive sexual predator that kept eyeing her like a piece of well roasted meat when no one was looking and a constant blabbermouth that never shut up. Oh great, now she was missing gabby Gabby and it was all Rarity’s fault for getting her sappy like this. She gripped the controls as the Centaur-pede was dropped to the floor of the hangar, she made it take a few steps forward and despite some issues it was still working and almost immediately capable of another orbital drop. “Well guys, we just made history and I hope those EDF guys are listening in because they are witnesses to the largest orbital drop ground vehicle to get back up into space. We’re out fuel, but we still did it.” Now Gilda preened slightly at her accomplishment, she even started to literally preen one of her wings with a smile on her beak as she took care of a loose feather. Once finished she lowered the ramp to let them out and said one last thing over the open communications. “You hear that, we made it back into orbit and we’re the best in our fields of expertise!” - Rarity’s medical bed was the first to be moved from the Centaur-pede down the ramp by Greta, this is where she saw Sassy. “Garters and Garments! I’m so glad that you’re okay Rarity, it’s been rather hectic up here and we all saw when the cloud cover stopped existing. Opal might have had a small panic attack when she couldn’t find you on the surface, but we managed to keep her calm.” Sassy stopped to poke a hoof at her chin a few times. “Well mostly anyway, we don’t rightly know what’s going on with her at the moment as she’s being very quiet. We had some problems with space pirates, but we’ve taken care of ourselves quite well.” “Isn’t Chrysalis crippled beyond all reason?” Asked Rarity with what seemed to be a tone that was talking about the weather and all the boredom that entailed. “She says she’s fine and can reattach her horn… that or grow it back. Really don’t know how she’s going to achieve that and I can hardly care, I’ll just chalk it up to being a crazy Changeling Queen thing and just move on with my life.” The look of horror Sassy had on her face as she looked beyond Rarity’s medical bed and grimaced said a lot. “Is it Ember?” Not that Rarity was worried, but they hadn’t shown her how bad off Ember actually was. “How bad is it? Nobody is telling me anything of her injuries.” “She looks three fourths dead corpse with smatterings of living and as if she lost a fight with a cheese grater. You can even see bone poking out of her, then there’s the exposed muscles and the ripped up scales.” A look of sadness crossed Sassy’s face. “Quite frankly Rarity, she’s a mess and you really don’t want to see her like this. I can only hope that she can recover from this, she looks like she’ll be down for longer than I was and that’s saying something because dragons are ridiculously tough to put down like this.” “Greta may I…” Rarity started off as they got closer to the elevator. “Rarity are you really sure you want to do that?” Looking into the glass at the mare with the broken leg Greta was giving her the best smile she could muster. “Ember is not going to be looking pretty for a long time.” “Yes.” There was no room for compromise in Rarity’s singular word and Greta sighed before turning the medical bed back towards Ember. “O-Okay… I think I’ve seen enough Greta… Sassy continue watching the hangar.” “Yeah, I’ve seen enough of her myself. We'll get her up to medical and see to getting several surgical operations going.” Gilda had Ember’s medical bed and brought it into the elevator, they waited for Rover to make his way inside. Applejack and Mare-Do-well were less immediately concerns, they would be taking the other elevator when they got their act together or finished discussing whatever it is they needed to in the hangar. “Including yourself Boss Lady, as that broken leg isn’t going to paste itself back together. We need to get to deck two Kitten.” The elevator activated silently and without comment from the white furred computer born creature that was adorable. Opal didn’t say much of anything and that even got Gilda worried as she shot Greta and Rarity a look. “Okay, there is definitely something wrong with Kitten. Not even a happy joyous shout to Rarity only came back with a broken leg and mostly bad bruising.” Gilda knew Opal was likely listening in, she just didn’t care. “Rarity will get to it after her leg’s been pasted, I mean how messed up can Opal be? The others make it sound like she’s still running things efficiently.” After a pause Greta added. “Though I will admit not hearing her cheerful voice is putting me off a bit. I hope her problem isn’t too extreme.” “What is hurting Rover more than broken wrist is knowing that Opal is not speaking to us.” Rubbing at the paw in question with a sour expression and a grimace, Rover seemed to be as upset as anyone to not hear Opal’s voice. “She is good friend of everyone here and is family of Rarity, when Rarity is better maybe she feel better enough to talk?” “One can only hope Rover, one can only hope.” As they got out of the elevator and immediately made for the medical ward on deck two they entered to see Coco with bandages wrapped around her head and Coriander had bandages around his midsection they were both glad to see Rarity was alright and they both flinched violently at seeing Ember’s body. “Is my daughter as badly injured as that?” Coriander asked with a hint of worry, behind him Coco was opening and closing her mouth trying to find words for what she was seeing. “Ember is the actually the worst of it, you’ll see Mare-Do-Well soon enough. She’s currently talking with Applejack in the hangar.” It might have become Greta’s new job to break bad news to people, she was pretty good at it as she tried to keep her tone as polite and upbeat as feasibly possible. “Aside from a badly burned hoof, getting shot a few times and having a few stab wounds, she’ll definitely make a full recovery. She’s the next worse off if you don’t count the Boss Lady’s broken leg or Rover’s wrist. Okay let’s get everyone situated, Are you okay there Coco?” “I’ll be fine…” The rather calm sewer squid clutched in Coco’s hooves was squeezed to her chest a bit tightly and it didn’t seem to mind the pressure of the hug and just gurgled at the mare holding him. It didn’t take long for Mr. Spew to gurgle in sadness upon seeing Ember’s form in her medical bed. “I’m sure we’ll all get better eventually Mr. Spew… though I’m a little jealous of Chrysalis’s ability to write off all of her injuries as if it weren’t a real issue.” “Hey guys, can I get a horn up on the injury competition here or what?” Chrysalis said cheerily waving around her broken off horn with her right hoof and smiling as she sat on a table that was on the far side of the room, she had all four legs on her body and didn’t looked to have spilled half her guts out. It took a moment for Chrysalis to realize they were all glaring at her. “What? Was it something I… oh… yeah, that would be a bit of a downer. I really don’t understand dragon physiology very well, but is Ember supposed to look like she was tossed in a blender set to mince? Speaking of, can I have her butt if she doesn’t make it?” Scrutinizing her form a little further, Rarity could see the tenuous sinew barely attaching Chrysalis’s front left leg to her body. From her position in the medical bed, Rarity could also see the front right and rear left were fine so Chrysalis’s other leg that got torn off would have to be rear right one. “Chrysalis if you weren’t still healing, I would definitely throttle you. Even if you would enjoy me choking you into unconsciousness. So please do us all a favor and don’t say anything.” Hearing Sassy get angry with her made Chrysalis shut up quickly and stay resolutely quiet, she was still attempting and failing quite horribly to earn Sassy’s affections. Chrysalis had won some points with Sassy when she helped out with the invading pirates, but she just lost some of them as she didn’t seem to understand lines and not crossing them. Sometimes she really shouldn’t say anything at all. “Yeah, the last day or so has been pretty horrible for all of us… except for Chrysalis apparently. She kind of lives for this kind of stuff.” Coco looked over to Chrysalis who nodded sagely as she spat some goo onto her broken off horn and put it back on her head. “Glad to see you’re doing okay Rarity, considering everything that happened.” “Give me a day or two to get back on my hooves Coco, until then start fixing all of our EVA suits and get to work on making several wedding dress designs to show my cousin.” Instead of focusing on what looked like Ember’s corpse, Rarity tried to get things back to a brighter topic. “We’ll be sticking around for the wedding. I think we’ll still have plenty of time to make it to that fashion show on Nocturne, maybe even quickly enough to take part in it. Oh and can someone tell Babs that we brought a family member of hers here?” “I’m going to miss the little snack, especially after all that effort I put into corrupting her too. I even got her cutie mark to appear and everything!” Chrysalis looked up when she heard Sassy walking up to her, Sassy lifted her right hoof and slapped Chrysalis across the face violently. After having fallen to the floor, the Changeling Queen sat up and smiled brightly. “Can I have another one of those? It felt nice to have you hit on me for a change.” “You really shouldn’t encourage her darling.” Was the last thing Rarity managed to say as her medical bed quickly filled with fluids and she awaited her pasting operation with a calm demeanor. It was so nice to be back home on the Shining Jewel, now all she had to do is find out what was wrong with Opal and give everyone time to heal from this latest adventure. Author's Note That ends that, now onto other things.
-103-Rubis had a lot on her mind, she had seen quite a few horrors and a lot of death waking up. She had little idea what was going on when she woke up and sometimes she wish she hadn’t woken up at all, not everyone made it out of that facility alive and they lost a few ponies trying to hold a clear path for others to escape through. The Humans that hadn’t chosen some tunnels to escape through had went down fighting while Rover dug a way out for the thawed, well he dug a passage that could be crawled through well enough to the best of his ability. He couldn’t dig a tunnel big enough for the Centaur-pede however, which led to a rather hectic series of problems. One of those problems was that the Centaur-pede was drained, damaged and in need of repairs, but it had successfully dug its way out through several half collapsed tunnels and was still capable of returning to space. Ms. Poulette would forever remember the screams and horrors of what had happened to her, especially the fact that she had been abducted from what she had been doing previously. She had been looking forward to job prospects on a new and burgeoning planet for the people of Equus and that was all shot to hell and back. She didn’t want to live on Applin Three or Five anymore, too many bad memories and mental scars. She wanted to go somewhere else other than those two planets, anywhere at all and that is why she chose to stick with Rarity’s crew. That was aside from her growing need to pay back her saviors for saving her life from being frozen, from being chained and abused, from becoming enslaved to the whims of the unknown. At least with these people she could get her life back in order and maybe some direction. Upon seeing the Centaur-pede for the first time, Rubis had been a little awe struck by the mobile fortress. That it was designed for moving cargo containers was kind of underselling what it was truly capable of. Gilda and the later introduced Greta were the ones who built it, it surprised her more that it even got back into space and now here she sat on the ramp with little clue of what to do with herself. Rubis was hopeful Ember would live again and not die in her trauma induced sleep, which would be a horribly ignoble way for her to go. Rarity’s crew seemed to not have many people, but what people they did have… they were impressively tough and sturdy lot. It was like Rarity had a crew of full of Femme Fatales of incredible valor. If not for the three males she would meet later, she would have figured the crew to be full of people with tastes leaning in a specific direction. At least she was quite sure of where Greta’s tastes lie, she was most certainly sure the griffon was after female companionship and that was only after having been in Greta’s presence for five seconds. Five seconds where the griffons eyes lingered on the Parrote’s body in an intense manner that showed interest. She was just watching Applejack and Mare-Do-Well talk to one another. According to what she was heard after seeing the mare for the first time, Mare-Do-well lost all of her powered armor and her EVA suit took lots of damage and one hoof was a blackened mess from a point blank explosion. Even then the costumed mare looked like she had a ridiculous pain threshold that ponies weren’t very well known for, heck most ponies wouldn’t be able to hold conversations while under that kind of suffering. “Do you not need to go to medical Miss Do-Well?” Rubis finally interrupted their conversation. “Are you not in horrible pain?” “I’ve had worse as a vigilante, I can go a few more minutes without medical aid.” Mare-Do-well had peeled off her EVA suit to reveal the mare underneath was wearing a mask and costume, she obviously took her secret identity seriously. “Speaking of aid, can you help me with Applejack here? She’s being rather stubborn.” “Well why can’t I know who you are now? It’s kind of silly that you’re keeping your secret identity safe when you’re hurt like that!” Applejack was an honest mare and hiding behind a mask still didn’t sit well with her, but Mare-Do-Well had something in common with her. They were both stubborn and Mare-Do-Well didn’t want to go to medical with Applejack following along. “I’d like to thank the mare underneath that get up properly.” “You already have, so can we not do this? It’s a privacy thing, it’s also a matter of my enemies coming to kill my family. Heck, knowing I was even on this planet might attract them, sometimes silence is better.” It had recently occurred to Saffron that she was friends with the crew of this ship and her enemies might go after all of her friends on the Shining Jewel, well they could try to go after them. They had been attacked by three different pirate raids while on the surface or so Trapeze had said when she came to greet them, all her friends survived those attacks. Being told her father was okay in a roundabout way was nice and tactful of Trapeze, the mare new how to work her magic. Saffron really didn’t want to endanger any of them once it got out that she was no longer roaming the streets of Canterlot or even on Equus anymore, unless Chrysalis had another Mare-Do-Well running around to match the Mauve Mare-auder changeling. “Then why did you put on the darn disguise in the first place when you could have been running around as yourself here? There’s no one on the planet that would connect you to a random mare.” One thing Applejack would like to make clear, she didn’t hate Mare-Do-Well and was confused by the secrecy. It was honestly a rather weird decision by the mare to run around in that costume. “It don’t make a lick of sense that you’d need to wear it here.” “Let me ask you something, do you have a security blanket? I look at your hat and think that’s a thing you hardly take off of your head unless you’re forced to. Well this is kind of like that, I’ve been putting on this costume for quite a while. I’m so used to it that it is second nature to me to wear it and it makes me feel safe with who I am as a hero.” That and Saffron had another reason, one that was clearly a good one to wear the costume. “Also doing heroic things without the costume would give away my identity pretty fast. If any of the guards back on Equus see a mare like me fighting out of my costume exactly like Mare-Do-Well, then I’ll never be able to go back to that planet. I wouldn’t be able to hide who or what I am anymore. I’d even be on a wanted list for saving people from being poisoned, beaten and trampled on by criminals, since they don’t have my identity they can’t exactly arrest me. When you choose to be a vigilante your identity becomes the most important thing to those you love, will come to love and every single thing you hold dear aside from that. Criminals don’t exactly care who they have to maim to get that information about me, much less the chances of a single dirty guards who would sell the information of who I am at the drop of a hat and or blackmail me into doing horrible things. Not only would you knowing my identity endanger you, your family and mine, anyone who is vaguely related would get caught in the crossfire as well. So excuse me if I can’t exactly be honest about who I am without getting a lot of people killed.” “Huh, never actually thought about that, but aren’t you feeling those injuries of yours?” There was hardly any strain the mare’s voice which sounded deeper than it was supposed to be. Applejack was surprised by how strong it sounded despite being beaten and battered within an inch of her life. “You certainly don’t sound like it, but you’re a sight more stubborn than I am.” “Oh I’m feeling my injuries alright, I’ve blacked out three times on the way to the Centaur-pede and a few times on the way up.” Saffron waved her good gloved hoof around in the air and seem to almost trip from the sitting position she was in, only to sit up straighter a few seconds later. “I’m a wreck right now and need a good twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep, but I can’t do any of that knowing my identity isn’t safe. The only thing keeping me going is knowing that I’m not safe and neither is anyone else around here if my identity gets out in any way. The people on this ship I know I can trust, but you’re too honest for your own good. If someone asks who I am and you knew, would you be able to keep a secret if it was your family on the line? You can’t know that it won’t or will happen, heck it might happen if anyone knows I visited your farm and you have to go back there eventually. I kind of wonder how your family is handling all that slush.” “… I can’t exactly lie, but I can bend a truth a little. I can honestly say I’ve never seen you around the farm, well the real you at least. I’ve seen you around the Human base as Mare-Do-Well. I can explain away any recording of you that anyone might have and nobody could have recorded you being at my farm. We’re a low tech family and don’t need any of that fancy stuff other farmers might need, I prefer to do things with my own strength.” Applejack received a nod from Mare-Do-Well and she smiled as they reached an understanding. “I’m sure Granny, Big Mac, Apple Bloom and Sugar Belle are taking care of things, besides the trees could use a little water. If you happen to be wondering about the others, well Sugar Belle could learn to do a little more farming. She’s definitely got cooking down well enough if my brother has anything to say about it. The Countess is just visiting, she tends to do that every so often and I seriously don’t want anyone thinking she’s you! Not that anyone would after she ended up firing that Spend Gallop guy, you know the one that used to be her manager. That stallion was a crazy one, and not exactly in a good way either. I have enough worries with wondering if some crazy pony will go after her just because she’s a celebrity and not because she’s suspected of being a hero.” “Oh I’ve definitely met far worse stallions than Spend Gold Gallop, I can assure you of that.” Reaching out with her good hoof, the one not burnt beyond recognition by being at the epicenter of an explosion, Saffron solidly shook Applejack’s hood with the intention of parting as friends. “I can also honestly say they all deserved what they had coming to them.” “Pleasure to make your acquaintance then, thanks for keeping me alive through all that. You took a lot of bullets for me and I honestly appreciate it. Apple Bloom won’t be losing her big sister anytime soon and she might have a new adopted sister when I can get around to talking with Babs. We can give that filly a loving home and we can actually understand what she’s going through, we know the pain of loss in our family. In this case something good is coming from our grief.” Chuckling dryly Applejack was just happy to still be among the living after everything she saw. “If your armor could talk, then I don’t think it would appreciate you nearly as much as I currently do. I, Mac and Bloom lost our parents, they don’t need to lose me so soon as well.” “If my armor could talk, I think it would actually be proud it lasted so long before it was ripped off of me. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes and my powered armor was a trooper to the end. Good thing the makers of that armor are still around, I can always replace it. What I can’t replace are those lost lives, not to mention I can’t exactly get the blood of those innocents I couldn’t help off my hooves now.” Mare-Do-Well needed another suit of powered armor, but the prototype build was given a good long field test and Greta had all the data for it stored away in the Centaur-pede. Thankfully the data only pertained to the armor and not the mare wearing it. She threw her blackened and burnt hoof around Applejack while clenching her teeth in agony. “Now come on, you need medical treatment too. I hear the people of this crew buy some really effective medical drugs when it comes to killing pain. Thankfully it’s all legal or else I’d have something to say about it, even in the state I’m in. I’ll wait until you’re under to have that piece of metal pulled out of you before I get out of my costume.” “Wait for moi, I am needing to have my desecrated feathers removed.” Being stripped of what was once her colorful beautiful feathers was going to hurt Rubis emotionally, but it needed to be done and she still needed a bit of medical help. “It will be a rather unpleasant experience, but I hope to have companionship like what you two have just shown me. Would clothes after I am… plucked… be a little too much to ask of your hospitality?” “Trust me, clothes are not a problem around here and you’ll get some for free. Rarity-sama is exceedingly generous like that and we wouldn’t deny you your decency. You’re our guest and I’ll see to it that you get something nice to wear.” The blue furred mare with the sword smiled brightly as she came up to Rubis levitating measuring tape and quickly measured her tall form. The Parrote thought the mare in question was quite lovely with her hair done up in an ornate bun and the kimono was quite stylish, it made the fact that Rarity was a fashion designer more believable. The way she looked over Rubis and seemed to sympathize with her about her appearance made her feel a bit better about what she needed to do to get her appearance back to the way it was. “I’ll get Coco to work on it, she’s got a lot of free time even if she’s bringing all of our combined designs to life, practicing wrestling and in general being the most dependable crew member we have. Any preferences on what you might want? I’m Sassy Saddles by the way, I help manage Rarity’s store. You must have looked absolutely beautiful before this happened to you, well we’ll have you feeling better in no time!” Rubis was summarily pushed towards the waiting elevator, she would soon see that medical was a bit busy. - “Opal… come on. Now that Rarity is back, you’ll have to show her the truth.” The bandaged Coco had seen better days, getting caught up in fighting pirates was not something she’d thought she would be doing with her life. She was still meek and friendly mare Rarity knew, but she put up one hell of a fight to make sure Babs was perfectly safe. Though she even surprised herself when she started to beat up pirates with her bare hooves, she was now actually quite scared of herself with how easy it was to throw them around and slam them bodily into the walls and floor. Macropussians were supposed to be strong and she had beaten one in a contest of strength, an alien kangaroo that were an entire race of lightning bruisers to quote one of Opal’s games. “She’s going to know something is wrong when you don’t respond to her visibly. You really can’t keep hiding what happened to you forever and Rarity is going to be extremely worried about you when you only keep responding in text.” “Sure I can… possibly… maybe…” Opal wasn’t appearing on the screen, but her voice could be heard. Coco was the only one Opal was willing to confide in at the moment, she needed emotional support and Gilda wasn’t exactly good at that. Coco was a very supportive, caring and understanding individual. From what Opal saw, she could also kick ass and take names when pushed into a corner. When Coco’s magical adrenaline hits the roof and a little bit beyond even that, she was the most dangerous Pony on the Shining Jewel. Sure Lightning avoided being injured this time, but she wasn’t the one that took down five Krad, a Macropussian and a Ceantir within three minutes. Krad were a race very similar to humans, only they were lizards that could handle any poisonous or toxic environment in existence. You could create an antidote to any poisonous substance from their blood. They had tough skin, claws and teeth, which was about all they had aside from their unique reaction to being poisoned being excessively useful in medicine. Their technology level was about on par with Humans, only they didn’t have very good medical technology ironically due to their relatively sturdy biology. Their strength was only barely above what normal Humans were capable of and they were a race that were Human friendly. They had head like snakes or alligators, claws like a Komodo and were one of the few cold blooded species to ever get into space. They prefer to inhabit warm planets, dry or wet, it didn’t matter as long as it wasn’t cold. The Krad were specialists at cleaning biohazards and pollution on planets, being immune to poison, toxins and other stuff helps immensely with that. Even normal changelings weren’t immune to some caustic substances a Krad could survive, though changeling queens were a quite the coin toss as to what might actually work on them. The Krad were exceedingly hard to kill discreetly, so they made for some dangerous businessmen when used to broker deals. “Opal, you can’t honestly think that you can live effectively like this!” Raising her voice was a rarity for Coco, especially since she did it about as often as Fluttershy would. “I still have my shows, my games and control of the ship, I think I can go on for a little while longer like this.” There was no ounce of confidence in Opal’s voice, she didn’t even believe herself when she said it. “Opal, we’re friends. I’m sure everything will be okay as soon as Rarity is done getting her leg put in a bio-cast, the very first thing she’s going to do when she wakes up is ask about you. It’s either that or how many dress designs I’ve finished.” Coco had three notebooks with five hundred variations of a wedding dress that might look good, nice or gorgeous on Rarity’s cousin Sugar Belle. It had been a few hours since Rarity gave the orders to start on that. She had plenty of free time and was going to do some of Rarity’s job for her where it came to caring for Opal. “Also Rarity would be disappointed if you stayed away from her without a good reason. Though I have to wonder why I am the only one that has your confidence about this change of yours.” “It’s really hard you know, it’s like I’m living a constant nightmare. I don’t want anyone to react badly to this… whatever this is…” Despite not having seen what was exactly wrong with Opal, Coco was still ready to keep pushing Opal to tell everyone why she was being so reclusive. She was their happy kitty and now she was upset over something that didn’t sound like a really bad thing at all, one would think a Human would fear leaving a kid in charge of an entire spaceship and you’d be right. These were not Humans that Opal was dealing with, so really they trusted opal to keep piloting the Shining Jewel. “I’m at least still connected to the ship. You know what, can you leave me alone please?” “Opal did you or did you not research psychology because you wanted to help… masseuse I want to say…” It was always hard for anyone, Coco included, to remember Vera Blossom’s name when you weren’t Rarity. “Her name is Vera Blossom!” Opal shouted at Coco and then blinked, she… wasn’t getting an error message to immediately delete Vera’s name. Of course she wouldn’t thanks to her current circumstances, still it was interesting that she could remember Vera and there wasn’t a drone on her at the moment. This was a weird bit of phenomenon that allowed her to remember Vera’s name, because somehow that related to her current state of existence. “That… I… Vera… I know Vera… third spa sister… how am I remembering her? This is even freakier than I thought, some freak of nature I’ve turned out to be…” “Don’t you even start with the unusual game Opal, we’re all unusual here.” Though the name seemed vaguely familiar to her, Coco had problems remembering why. “No, that shouldn’t be possible. I shouldn’t even be able to say her name at all right now, I can remember the absolute fact that she exists!” There were a number of reasons why this horrified Opal, but she wasn’t going to let her attention slip. She was keeping a very tight amount of attention on medical to make sure absolutely nothing went wrong. “I think I might be clinically insane at the moment.” “To be fair, you can’t be more insane than Chrysalis.” Those words were exactly the right thing for Coco to say, it calmed Opal down immediately. “Well there is that. Even I know that nobody can go full blown crazy like Crystal Dick can. I really need to contact Vera about this sudden change in events, though I personally have my doubts about how well this is going to go.” Frankly this was ridiculous for Opal, suddenly remember everything about Vera without the mare’s unusually poignant ability to be ignored or easily forgotten coming into play or even getting in the way. “I need the psychiatric help right now anyway.... hey Vera, can you tell me if there’s a drone with you at the moment.” “No, why do you… wait did you just find a cure to my…” The way Vera perked up was really quite sad and Opal felt bad about telling her the truth when the situation suddenly looked hopeful for her. “No, I didn’t cure whatever it is you have, right Coco?” The answer Opal hoped Coco would give would be an affirmative, if not then things were far weirder than they were supposed to be. “Right…. um who’re you talking to, Is it our masseuse? I can’t see her on the screen.” Though Coco remembered that the masseuse was an important member of their crew and had helped out vastly during the pirate attacks. “Then again I guess that’s normal for her. While I can’t remember her name or appearance, I can at least remember that she has a problem with being easily ignored.” “Well that’s better than most of our crew at least Coco, but it’s still in full effect for you. At least you know what’s wrong, even if you can’t do anything against its effect on you.” Well at least that was something, but Opal acknowledged that Coco didn’t break Vera’s unique ability. Instead she was trying to think around it, which obviously isn’t working as coco was still calling her ‘masseuse’. It was close enough that Vera actually smiled about it. “I guess it’s just me Vera, for some reason I’m able to keep you in mind and actually see you. It has to do with how I’ve changed recently that is making me capable of seeing you without someone having to point at or touch you.” Vera’s mood notably soured at Opal’s words, for once she would like for her curse, for what else in Tartarus else could it be, to not affect everyone she was becoming close friends with. That Coco and everyone were making an effort to do what Rarity and Celestia do for her was nice, but it wasn’t exactly the same as being able to look directly at her and tell her that she actually exists and was there. She needed to hear that someone cared that she was a living breathing pony, someone other than her family that cared for her and could conceptualize that Vera Blossom actually did in fact exist. Opal now being able to do that gave her some hope, which was until Opal dashed that hope horribly by mentioning that she had changed in a way that she could perceive her existence without needing one the drones to point her out constantly. “Let me guess, you have some psychological problems related to this issue at hoof with yourself Opal. In what I am going to assumed is a well educated guess, if I help you then you might go back to missing the fact that I’m here or will return to having to struggle to remember that I’m alive!” Vera put a hoof to her chest and started breathing, she was getting pretty angry now and she was going to say something Opal probably wouldn’t want to hear. “Why in the world would I want to help you when you give me another being that can actually see me as being important?!” “Because Vera, you’re not selfish. You’ve never been selfish, you massage and talk to the crew about their problems and you help everyone. You even know your problems effect almost everyone on the crew, I’ve made a concerted effort for you before I changed into something that scares me.” Opal need help and she was calling the one pony onboard who could get her back into psychological help, because downloaded psychology information doesn’t really help when you’re not an emotionless machine. She had to admit that she had emotions and that people cared about her. She was Opal, the crew’s mascot, the pet, the friendly ear and runner of all things important on the good ship Shining Jewel. She needed more than just Coco to be here for her, she sorely needed Vera’s help. “I need you Vera… you’re my only hope.” “Fine, what happened to you Opal?” It took a moment, but Vera inhaled and then decided to bite the bullet. If Opal to back to having to fight to remember her, then so be it. “What exactly do you need my help with?” “Vera Blossom, report to… report to the atmosphere farm on deck two. I need help working through my issues and you are the most qualified crew member to help me adjust to some recent changes.” She needed this, Opal absolutely needed to confide in more than Coco and she needed to be talked down from doing anything drastic. She needed to be told everything was okay, because Rarity currently couldn’t do it while she was in medical. “I believe we have a lot in common Vera, only I’m finding it very hard to want to exist right now. My responsibility to the crew is what’s holding me together at the moment.” “Then please hold on until I can see just why you’ve been acting so strange lately… being able to recognize my existence says there’s a lot more going on here that might be beyond even me.” Closing her eyes and putting on a firm frown, Vera opened them with a laser guided focus. She wanted Opal to keep the ability to remember her, but not if it was at Opal’s expense. “I’ll do what I can Opal, does Coco know everything that’s wrong with you?” “No, I’ve only told her that I’m not exactly fully connected to the Shining Jewel’s computers anymore and it’s causing me issues. Look I feel really awful and I need you to see why personally… Coco you can come see what’s wrong too. You’ll see exactly what the problem is in the atmosphere farm.” There was worry for Opal, especially if the atmosphere farm were compromised because of it. “Please, don’t cause a panic, the atmosphere farm is working just fine. It’s what’s in the atmosphere farm that you should be worried about.” It didn’t sound like the problem was with the atmosphere farm itself, which was a total relief for the two ponies who were about to see something bizarre. If the problem had been with the atmosphere farm, then everyone on the ship would be in danger when they slowly started running out of breathable air. In all, when the two did eventually see the problem, it wasn’t as bad as Opal was making it out to be.
-104-“Oh goddess damn it all!” Gilda roared from her position atop her EGGS unit, this was as she backed away from a sparking panel that started spewing some smoke. The last eight hours of sleep really hadn’t helped much in her opinion, Shining Jewel had been damaged while they were away and repairing the centaur-pede wasn’t as immediate a concern as fixing the hull of the ship they live on. She was full on grumpy at the moment at having to fix everything, but she secretly loved her work and the smell of elbow grease. “I’m always cleaning up my own messes and everyone else’s on top of that!” “Which goddess? I really like Celestia, she’s quite friendly for someone who controls our systems sun and even continues to make life possible on our planet.” Greta was having less problem as her EGGS unit wasn’t damaged by the three pirate attacks while they were gone. It was kind of a bad thing that they weren’t here for those attacks, but things are going pretty well for them all things considered. They still had a ship to come back to after all, it just needed some repairs. “Also if you didn’t want to fix your EGGS unit, then you shouldn’t have landed it upside down.” “Hey, be glad it wasn’t damaged any worse. I’ve been spent a lot of time in the Bombing Peregrine during those attacks fixing what I could between them with the help of our drones. I certainly made sure anyone who boarded our ship immediately regretted it.” It made Lightning glad she knew how to pilot the Bombing Peregrine solo, mind you not having someone manually work the turret made it less effective then it could be. Lightning was lucky she had been sleeping in the tank during the second and the third attacks after the first one. With her immediately ready to drive the tank into wrecking any incoming jackass that thought they could take the Shining Jewel, the ship was pretty safe with Lightning and Sassy on the top of their game. They had garnered quite a bit of scrap from several pirate wreckages that would go into repairing the damage that had been dealt to the Shining Jewel. “I’d apologize for the mess, but then again everything is in need of some repair and I’m not a mechanic or even close to being one. Without Opal we probably would have been blown out of orbit, she got pretty quiet during the second attack but she still fought back with a ferocity that made sure the supply depot was safe. Plus we were assisted pretty well during the third attack. In full, sorry, not sorry.” “Now that’s a mare after my own heart, a jerk with gumption! Speaking of repair work, what exactly can you do to help aside from just sitting around on your ass watching us fix things? Greta, pass the wire cutters and some tubing.” Gilda was elbow deep in wires at the moment and she turned to Greta and took the offered cutters before diving back into the mess. “Your only skill can’t be to drive a tank or pilot a fighter once I get around to building you one to work with. Aside from Chrysalis, it’d make you the laziest person on this crew that actually knows she can be doing at least something with all her spare time. Who knows what Chrysalis gets up to anyway, but it’s certainly none of my business as long as she doesn’t infest the ship with Changeling eggs and starts somehow planting parasites in our bodies.” “Hey, I’m not that lazy! Well not as lazy as many other Pegasi would be anyway. I’m getting plenty of exercise to get back into shape, I even did some repair work on my own fighter when I still had the rights to it in the Equestrian Military and I’ve been helping out around here where I can.” Now that she actually said it out loud, Lightning Dust looked like she was currently being lazy and lackadaisical by laying around. She hasn’t really found a hobby other than exercising, but the last day or so have actually been pretty tiring for her and it shows she has a place in the crew. Chrysalis was a bit odd and even she was trying to figure out what the crazy Changeling got up to when she wasn’t watching over Babs or being a nuisance. “Why is it that I was the only one that was around who could pilot the Caravel Boutique?” “Yeah, there’s something we have to bring up with the Boss Lady. I mean the whole crew getting a zero gravity crash course helped and Mr. Cumin seems to be really good at performing zero G movement, but we need to train everyone to know how to do other things. Things like knowing how to pilot our designated cargo ship for one.” Greta was fixing one of the arms on the opposite side of the pilotable repair pod, she almost had it finished and it actually kind of helped that the EGGS unit was upside down. “I don’t think Sassy would ever work as a pilot, but she’s definitely the head of our security on top of being a clothing designer and manager. Speaking of, I’m not sure if Rarity knows how to be a leader, she seems to be mostly flying by the seat of her flanks on whatever it is we’re doing.” “What’s wrong with that? I think she’s doing a great job, as in she’s not trying to absolutely manage every single little thing we do and she trusts us to do a good job. You know as well as I do that I don’t half ass maintenance work Greta, we’ve certainly got a long road ahead of us on that front!” Yeah, because Gilda had her work cut out for her with having to repair the Centaur-pede, Shining Jewel, Bombing Peregrine and this EGGS unit in particular. None of those things were beyond saving in Gilda’s eyes. The Caravel Boutique had taken very little to no damage at all because it had been safely ensconced in section four of the hangar. “As for Goddesses, I can definitely get behind Luna. She seems to know how to get her hooves bloody without being prissy about it. Sure our boss is a bit prissy like that, but she doesn’t back down from a fight that needs to happen. Lightning make yourself useful and get us some snacks, we’re going to be at this for the next week or so and it’s not exactly a two griffon job even if we’re making it one. We need to make use of all the time we have before the next big disaster. Otherwise we’ll definitely find more work for you eventually and you’re not just going to be sitting there on your ass watching us like this, because what would we exactly be paying you for again?” “Hey, I helped defend this ship! If I knew more about engineering, then maybe I’d be a little more useful.” After a small bout of anger Lightning became a little bit pensive. “Will our Boss Lady still pay me?” “The Boss Lady at least always delivers on that front, but if you really want to make yourself useful then maybe you could get some of the people here interested in learning how to actually pilot a ship. Ember’s ship is currently available since she isn’t going to be using it for a long time if she ever recovers and we don’t exactly have any real pilots aside from you.” It was the truth, there wasn’t any other traditionally trained pilots in the crew as far as Gilda could tell and Lightning was the only one that had that particular skill set. Opal was the one that actually does the piloting for Rarity, which meant that they had a problem if something really bad ever happened to the kitten. Something like what might be currently going on as she hadn’t heard a single peep from Kitten yet. "Like you’d really be much help here otherwise.” “At least I can fix a fighter that is moderately damaged. I’ve done that kind of work before when I was still flying in the EDF for the Wonder Bolts, but the stuff you guys make is far more complicated than that. Aside from that I think I will teach piloting lessons, just so I can keep from being called out on being paid for just sitting around like a foal that gets an allowance.” Lightning spread her wings and took off for the elevator being a little bit huffy about being called out on her lack of ability to help, she specialized in settling conflicts as a pilot and these people knew how to end a conflict without her help. At least she could pilot the Caravel Boutique and Ember’s Pyrrhic Victory, these people didn’t have that capability without an AI doing it for them. “You know Gilda, something has recently occurred to me aside from the fact that Lightning has a good point.” There Greta went thinking again, she was alone with her most favorite person in the universe and she couldn’t help but wonder about something that had been nibbling at the back of her head. “Back in the facility, how did you make it so that the walker you stole didn’t explode as bad as it could have? I mean, it should have taken out at least a quarter of the room by the minimal estimates when it went up.” “Oh that? Wasn’t hard to rig up, especially not after I figured out how to overclock the thing and boosting the machine without it tearing it apart was a little bit more difficult in comparison. I basically did what anyone would when sitting on a reactor that could have wipe out three fourths the room it was occupying during the fight.” With those words Gilda confirmed that the explosion she set off to damage the Hazard Spider’s armor could have indeed killed her and everyone else in the room, the four legged walker menace she was fighting would have survived that explosion as well. She didn’t bring that up and wasn’t about to do so. “I created a shaped charge, which directed the energy at the armor on the bigger machine. Didn’t do a single lick of good since it was still combat viable after the explosion of raw energy. My backup plan was to use the freezing chemicals and that worked spectacularly, the heavy armor couldn’t handle being frozen after being hit with all heat from a recent explosion. Made it rather brittle to small arms fire.” “That’s… actually really genius of you Gilda, you turned the ability to overclock the walker one time into an energy emitter where it sunk it’s energy into the other walker like what I did with the Centaur-pede’s first set of legs.” There were times when Greta was quite mystified by her best friend’s sexy brain, this was one of them. It kind of reaffirms her need to chase Gilda wherever she went and hopefully one day get some return on her feelings for the brilliant hen. “How exactly did you know when to bug out though?” “So I may have gotten the idea from you, just a bit. As for knowing when to get out I just simply guessed and I got away with minimal injuries, I still had to wait until I drained the other walker’s material ammo. Those cannons would have definitely mulched me with the rate of fire alone.” Okay now that was more like Gilda, it just wouldn’t be the same if she didn’t do something at least a little bit reckless to endanger herself and get Greta riled up with worry. “Now getting out of the facility was the true hassle and a half, especially while having to worry about extracting the Boss Lady and the ripped up dragon formerly known as Ember. That dragon barely survived taking a direct hit from a clean beam cannon that gave off extremely lethal levels of heat and force. The heat wasn’t the problem for Ember, it was the raw pressure of the blow and continually being worn down after it as if she was being rubbed by the universe largest piece of sand paper. Heck, she shouldn’t even be alive with what she was hit with!” “I know that her chances of waking up within the next few months are kind of slim, but I’m happy that she has at least a chance.” At least Greta tried to keep a cheerful upper beak in the face of losing someone that had actively wormed her way into the hearts of Rarity’s crew. “I think the Boss Lady would have been devastated to lose a friend like her… it would have devastated the rest of us too. Ember was really nice to me and that’s even with her being a tough as her own nails bounty hunter.” “Yeah, I think she’s too much of a kick ass person to die so easily. If it had been anyone else in the path of that beam though…” It was always intriguing for Gilda to try and bring down Greta’s perpetually positive attitude, this was one of the times she felt kind of bad for starting a statement. If it had been anyone else they’d have been evaporated upon impact with no hope of recovery. “Well it’s kind of hard to fight something with that kind of firepower on hoof or claw. The fact that they managed to hold it off as long as they did is a miracle in and of itself, considering they were already dealing with multiple walkers in the first place. Well at least Ember was dealing with the walkers.” Greta shuddered and pulled her welding mask over her face and got Mr. Welder working once more. “I saw what the shield generator on that thing was capable of and it was horrifying, that thing was capable of soaking up an orbital bombardment and destroying a battleship. Can’t imagine something like that is very cheap for anyone to field.” “Aren’t you the one that loves miracles Greta?” It wasn’t like Gilda was knocking that particular miracle, but she was curious about the specifications of the shield generator. “What were the specifications for the shields on that thing anyway?” “I didn’t exactly get that information, but from what I saw the shields absorbed a large percentage of whatever hit them.” Greta finished up her weld and pulled out her data pad to show Gilda what she got on it. “I have recordings of it in action at least, it doesn’t matter what kind of weapon you hit those shields with. They absorb almost anything and turn it into energy to perpetuate the shields strength. There was one tiny flaw and that was the shield generator couldn’t be covered by the shield itself or else it would likely cause some sort of violent feedback loop that would create a massive explosion that would have killed everything within three floors of it. So at best, you’d likely have to slowly chip those shields down to nothing or get someone to get close to that thing to plant explosives on it. Destroying or overloading the shield generator was the best way to do any lasting damage to the rest of the machine at all.” “How did they deal with the shield generator then? It was down when I went up against that thing.” On a technological scale that was pretty impressive to Gilda, knowing that it was the Humans that had something impressive like that kind of soured the amazement a bit. It was like how most EDF ships were protected against Plurt based heavy weapons. Shaking her head and getting it back to what they were doing, Gilda flapped her wings a few times and was now a sufficient distance away from her EGGS unit. “We need to flip it back over if we’re going to continue working on it, get your EGGS up and running Greta.” “Just to remind you, you’re not a pilot and your landings are horrible. Anyway back to our discussion, I have some footage that shows Rarity going invisible and she managed to plant an explosive directly on the shield generator. If she hadn’t done that then things would have gone far worse than they actually did.” Winging her way over to her EGGS unit, Greta pondered on when Rarity had exactly learned to do that. Unicorns were amazing beings, though they had a tendency to go mad with power far more frequently than many other races were comfortable with. There were reasons why the many other intelligent species of Equus didn’t invade Equestria and one of the main ones was because of how often Unicorns became megalomaniacal when put under enough stress. In comparison to the other two main types of Ponies, Unicorns were more likely to become evil than any other Pony type for the most incredibly asinine of reasons. Reasons a Unicorn might go evil would include: leaving the toilet seat up once and only once, forgetting to buy paper towels for your spouse after grocery shopping and then there’s the ever popular a Parasprite ate my pudding so now I have to commit genocide against everyone and everything that isn’t even remotely related to the Parasprite that ate the pudding in the first place. The pudding loving Unicorn had to be put down after burning down half a town, the most surprising thing about that situation was that it was the only stressful thing to ever happen to that Unicorn at all throughout their whole life up to that one point. It was a clear fact that Unicorns were the most likely to go insane out of all the Pony species, when they did go insane it was never pretty in any way, shape or form. Unicorns can’t even plausibly deny it in the face of years of evidence, including multiple students that Celestia has personally trained. Celestia’s school for gifted Unicorns has every student discreetly psychologically tested for this possibility, which is why Celestia takes on the worst students personally. She even tries to prevent such incidents from occurring by specifically choosing the ones that are most likely to destroy the world over some spilled milk and partially succeeds at containing the most of them. Greta crawled into her EGGS unit closing the hatch behind her and went over the activation sequence while thinking on how neat it was to have a boss that could turn invisible. There were also the thoughts of how horrifying it was to have a boss that could be watching you at any moment without you knowing. “So the boss lady has some new tricks, that’ll be useful in the future if she remembers that she can even do that.” Gilda was considering how often unicorns forget they could do things like teleport, it occurred kind of frequently especially when unicorns went crazy. She didn’t think the Boss Lady or any of the other unicorns in the crew were capable of going crazy like that, but she wasn’t about to say it could never happen. Gilda waited quietly for Greta to flip her EGGS unit over while contemplating that information, at least Earth and Pegasus Ponies were calmer if for two very different reasons. Earth Ponies were down to earth in nature and Pegasus Ponies, while naturally aggressive, were easier to calm down as much as it was hard to get an Earth Pony completely pissed off in the first place. When a unicorn was mad or going insane, then everyone nearby would know it and it would be a very visible and hard to hide spectacle. - “Hey, why are you crying Little Snack?” Chrysalis was not known for being empathetic or even sane most of the time, heck she wasn’t even sure if she obfuscating it or not. In this moment however she felt less self-centered as a Changeling Queen and more attentive of the filly she had been corrupting. “Wha… mo… er… Chrysalis you’re… okay… well mostly anyway.” Babs had been upset to see Chrysalis as badly injured as she had been, currently though she was a little confused to see that the Changeling Queen had reattached her legs and horn. It was as if it was just a minor setback and flesh wounds had little meaning to her. There were noticeable green glowing seams where Chrysalis’s legs were healing and that same green glow was also around the seam of her broken horn. Normal changelings couldn’t recover from these injuries nearly as well, but she was no normal changeling and she reveled in that knowledge. “Yeah, can’t use magic until my horn fully reintegrates with my body, but I’m perfectly fine! So stop crying about it.” That and a few bushels of hair wouldn’t hurt, Chrysalis was getting kind of hungry and healing crippling injuries used a lot of energy. “My legs are fine, even if they aren’t fully reattached yet. Look, I can still walk on them just. Let’s go see Cumin, he’s the guy that makes food for everyone else right? You look hungry Little Snack, it’s either that or constipated. You’re emotionally all over the place, but at least I know you’re happy to see me.” “Okay, I am a bit hungry.” Babs was about to call Chrysalis mommy, which would have been a bad thing to do because Chrysalis wasn’t exactly a perfectly maternal creature. The one positive thing about her is that she didn’t mince words with Babs and told her things upfront and didn’t speak down to her like the child she was. The filly had heard that one of her family was now onboard and was a little wary of meeting them because she really wanted to stay around Chrysalis, especially after the Changeling Queen helped her discover her special talent. She looked to her flank at the pair of scissors there, would she have discovered her talent without Chrysalis? Possibly, thought it might have taken a lot longer to do. “A bit for your thoughts, you seem to be running away with yourself there Little Snack.” What Chrysalis meant was that Babs was being a highly emotional little filly and it was confusing on a number of levels. There were some emotions that she couldn’t even begin to quantify, but the love she was receiving tasted like strawberries at least. She really didn’t know love could be this sweet or satisfying when it was given freely, it almost tasted as good as acceptance did which was like a potato salad made with mustard and a bit crunchy with some sour pickle in it. “I hope you realize I am still feeding off of you, your kind of making it rather easy for me to do and color me surprised that your still going along with it. Though I do like the taste of hair, you’re pretty easy to feed off of.” “I’m okay with that.” Babs said clearly and concisely, she was trying not to replace her parents with this creature that could mimic their appearances. It was kind of hard to think of Chrysalis as evil when it was rather obvious and that she very upfront with her own nature, which has been normal for her since signing the treaty to keep the peace between her species and Ponies. Babs really couldn’t find a reason to despise Chrysalis for being so good at it and she could see where other Changelings might be coming from when they have this particular person as their undisputed queen. Sure the Changeling Queen had corrupted Babs a tiny bit, but that’s because she felt like being corrupted in the first place. What was the word for it? Sure she may be a love eating parasite, but she was a friendly love sucking parasite that could read someone like a book based on emotions alone and she wasn’t very violence or dangerous until something provoked her into acting in that way. “Which is why I’m so horribly confused about you.” Chrysalis was a pragmatic Changeling Queen or at least liked to think of herself as such. There were things like dressing every Changeling up as a clown after signing a treaty with the Ponies, she had thought Ponies liked clowns and instead caused clowns to be feared for an entire month. Of course the clown thing might have worked if the Changelings weren’t doing the Nightmare Night version of clowns, Chrysalis really could have thought that one through better. There were a lot of things she could have done better in hindsight, but it wasn’t like any of it was a problem at the moment. Changelings weren’t usually given love freely or on a platter without doing something or being disguised, she almost felt bad for feeding off of Babs even if the filly was completely okay with it. The fact that filly was freely giving her love unconditionally had Chrysalis feeling a bit off about it, it almost felt like a trap or a ruse to get her to lower her guard and it was just a filly. She’s fought a Minotaur with her bare hooves for crying out loud, why is one little filly making her wary? They continue moving forward in silence, Babs didn’t know what to say to Chrysalis and Chrysalis didn’t know how to respond to Babs odd emotions. One thing for sure, Chrysalis had never been so close to someone of the same sex before and the major problem was that she wasn’t exactly of the right age. Chrysalis would never do something so horrid as to sleep with a filly, not that things were going too well with Sassy. If the filly asked for something like that, she’d have to tell Babs no in as polite a manner as she could feasibly use if it had any sexual connotations whatsoever. She understood sexual connotations well enough in spite of her being a virgin and she knew what lines she would never even be dumb enough to cross in a million years. “Could you maybe dial back all that affection, it’s kind of creepy coming from a Pony so young and towards me of all people.” It was safe to say that Chrysalis didn’t understand the different levels of love fully, such as the filly loving her like a mother. All Changelings loved Chrysalis unconditionally for the most part, but she couldn’t feed off of them like this. This one filly had a lot of love to spare and then some for her. This weirded her out when she was usually the one busy weirding others out. “Cousin Babs, is that you? I’m sorry to hear what happened to your… is that a Changeling Queen?” The wariness coming off of Applejack eased the tension between Chrysalis and Babs quickly, Applejack had a reason to be wary as Changelings were usually instantly suspected of many things. Being friendly and helpful were not one of those suspected things. Sure Applejack had heard about the Changeling, but seeing and even meeting it was a different matter entirely. “She’s a perfectly physically healthy Pony filly and I would like to clarify that it is not my fault that she’s suddenly feeling highly insecure and full of dread about something. I really could have sworn she was fine a second ago…” Rubbing her chin Chrysalis became thoughtful. She was an interesting being when it came to attachments. When she wanted attachment like with Sassy, she tended to ignore the fact that others might want to actually be attached to her like Babs. Babs wasn’t a Changeling which made it weird that she loved Chrysalis so much and Chrysalis didn’t exactly see what she had done to deserve such affection. So the diplomatic approach is what her mind snapped to. “If anything is wrong with her mentally and she suddenly starts getting too focused on butts while making sexual innuendoes constantly, then I most certainly had nothing to do with that and can’t understand why you would blame me for it. Furthermore I did not attempt to mold her into becoming a lesbian at any point by just having her in my presence, so any future sexual leanings are also not my fault and I will deny any claims in a court of law. The claims that I won’t deny are that I’m sexy and my rear end is of a perfectly normal appreciable roundness.” Babs dreaded being separated from Chrysalis even if it was definitely for her own good to not be around the insane Changeling Queen for too long. Babs also liked living on the Shining Jewel even if it wasn’t exactly the right place for a growing filly. Hopefully Applejack could stop her from latching onto Chrysalis like a leech in an impossibly ironic fashion, since Changelings are usually the ones that are supposed to act like parasites. Author's Note Unicorns go crazy over the slightest thing, magic is like an absolute power and it corrupts absolutely eventually.
-105-Coriander Cumin or Mr. Cumin as he was more commonly known set about preparing food for two griffons and a Pegasus. He loved to cook and he had a challenge in keeping various species fed, he wasn’t complaining about where he was. He huffed silently at the fact that his daughter had been run through the wringer again, at least this time she had medical help and didn’t try to just walk the injuries off like she normally would. His daughter learned how to medically treat herself using first aid, but that had never seemed like enough to him and he wasn’t happy that she never got professional help. He was rather proud of his strong and still beautiful daughter, though he will never stop worrying about her secondary occupation of being a heroic vigilante. Whether she settled down or continued to be a vigilant hero didn’t matter, she was his daughter and he was rather proud of her for the many things she’s done. He was happy as long as his daughter was content, happiness was optional and she should pursue that on her own time as he had already pursued his own. As for now, Coriander was happy to just simply make food for a bunch of hungry mouths belonging to his new acquaintances. When they had made the joint decision to join Rarity, it was actually Saffron that needed to be convince and as he wanted to move on as Canterlot had been a very slow venture. Space, the frontier of which Coriander had little experience was more interesting. The zero gravity training was incredible to a stallion of his modest size, he even enjoyed it and was glad he wasn’t feeling claustrophobic being stuck on this rather quiet ship. He found plenty of fulfillment here in food and playing with the absence of gravity, plus he was taking a bit of time on the side to figure out a hobby for himself. Looking over to the infamous Lightning Dust that was acting as a ‘go for’ to the griffons, he could see she was approaching Ms. Saddles who seemed to be fine with tea and a light snack he prepared. He knew Ms. Saddles hadn’t had a very good history, she needed all the friends she could get. The last few days of watching that Changeling Queen flopping romantically with the mare was hilarious if not for the three separate space pirate attacks. Coriander didn’t try to befriend Sassy all too much, he understood her hatred for stallions and couldn’t blame her for any of that vitriol being directed at him. The poor mare had run afoul of less than honorable stallions and survived going through a living nightmare, the fact that she tolerated his presence was enough to at least be congenial. If there was one thing Mr. Cumin wasn’t going to do, it would be antagonizing Sassy Saddles. After seeing some of what Sassy did to the space pirates, he’d rather not aggravate the currently calm mare. Chopping some ingredients, add some spices here or there and he would soon have a stew for some griffons to dig into, now those two girls were always busy and needed a lot of energy and that meant plenty of calories for the lion birds. He chuckled that one was sweet as can be, even if she looked at his daughter with something akin to interest far too much for his taste. As for the other griffon, he could get along with her perfectly because they had a similar personality. He could admit that he was a grumpy small stallion in size, he relaxed a little as he watched his pot start to simmer and it would be a minute before he dumped the ingredients into it. Even while he was waiting it was never boring around all these mares, but it made Coriander miss his wife dearly. He wasn’t much of a fighter, but he could still do things and was learning the ins and outs of the ship that he was now willing to call a home. It wasn’t exactly cozy yet and everyone were still discussing how to remodel the ship or even just throw on a fresh coat of paint, the cost for doing either of those thing would have been staggering and probably why they hadn’t done so yet. While Lady Rarity might be adventurous, she wasn’t exactly big in a business empire sense and wasn’t drawing in as much income as she could be. If it came down to it, Coriander figured he could be something of a business advisor to Rarity and maybe a shoulder to lean on. Goodness knows that masseuse needed one with her problem of being easily forgotten and remember her name was like trying to hold onto a wet bar of soap with your hooves covered in frictionless oil. Even then he didn’t think Sassy would come to him for anything other than a meal or a very short dialogue about a possible need that she could only get through him, he wanted to at least be seen as someone who could empathize with the emotional pain she had as a fatherly figure. Thinking of oil, Coriander needed to add a little more soybean oil to give the stew the kick it needs to satisfy the griffons. He earned his cutie mark by studying his namesake in depth, cumin was both traditionally medicinal, a bit spicy when used in cooking and good for preventing particular fungal infections. In that light coriander wasn’t nearly as interesting a plant, the entire plant was edible and healthy with a nice taste. He could swear by his name sakes in the food he cooks and even if Indoneighsian food was mostly his specialty, it wasn’t all that he could cook. There were few things outside his specialty that he wasn’t particularly as good at, desserts was the major one though. Coriander looked up from his preparations in the kitchen and saw the Changeling Queen approaching with the apple mare and the moderately depressed filly. Looks like he had more to do, if the filly was hungry then he’d pick out a few herbs and spices for a quick batch of grilled fruit and vegetable kababs. His daughter loved kebabs when she was younger and he was sure the filly could appreciate good food, as for the mare she looked like she could use a taste of culture and would probably like the same thing. Saffron was far better at making desserts than he was, so in her absence he’d do something simpler like make bean cakes for the filly. His kitchen had the right stock for that and they recently got some personally suggested rewards from the very thankful supply depot for helping them fend off the pirate attacks. As far as Coriander was concerned the Changeling Queen was an oddity of the greatest degree considering normal food doesn’t do it for her. He seriously didn’t know how to cook body hair, ambient love or the other rather distasteful things the oversized dung beetle could consume. Though it would be an interesting test of his skills if he could figure out a dish that the bug would enjoy, it would be particularly hard to figure out her tastes when she’s always tasting emotions instead of physical things. Can one even implant an emotion into food? In any case Coriander Cumin would ask about the possibility of starting a garden onboard the Shining Jewel. It’d give him something to do with all his spare time and it’d be very helpful if he started up something like that in the atmosphere farm portion of the ship where plants would thrive. It’d help him keep a stock of fresh ingredients at the very least. - “So Sass, what’s up?” Lightning sat down and waited for Coriander to finish cooking and she had nothing but time, she’d work up a flight training schedule later. It wasn’t exactly like their lives depended on piloting something at the moment and they were in a perfectly stable orbit at the moment. “I thought it was kind of cool how you moved so fast, you were like a blur! I’ve never seen a unicorn do the things you did to those pirates and you didn’t even kill them when you did all that flashy sword stuff.” The mare was wearing a very visually stunning kimono, she had her mane done up in a bun and her tail was swept around to lay upon her lap as she sat cross legged at the table. Sassy currently looked like the very picture of calm, sipping away at her tea and just giving the curious Lightning Dust across from her a very flat look. Sassy and Lightning weren’t very well acquainted with one another, they also didn’t seem like they wanted to be well acquainted at all. “I’m trying to enjoy my tea in a nice and quiet environment before I decide to attend to one of our guest’s inevitable needs. She’ll definitely need some clothing when she comes out of medical.” Composed as she was Sassy was a bit more talkative when it came to Coco or Rarity, Lightning was more of a rogue in her eyes. One that Gilda deemed worthy of working with them, Sassy also remembered that Coco and Greta were responsible for picking her up in the first place so that offered some leeway to her personal idea of what Lightning Dust is like. Essentially this was a mare with no class and was pretty much a tom colt, this slightly rubbed Sassy the wrong way. “Being forced through something akin to molting every feather on your body is not pleasant, especially when you’re a Parrote.” “Yeah, but Parrote’s don’t exactly fly so it doesn’t really matter that much. Sure they can survive any fall and jump really high, but they don’t really have much in the wing department.” Following that statement was an awkward silence, at least Lightning was trying to work up a conversation with Sassy even if she was being crass. The mare was a real cool magical samurai and new how to kick ass, Lightning didn’t exactly have the discipline or the attention span to learn all that crazy sword stuff. It was hard to find a Pegasus that did have the focus for samurai training, Dust would rather be flying around and exercising her body to get back into the Wonder Bolt level of physique. “The fact that you don’t need a gun is very helpful in responding quickly to invaders. So… do you carry the sword everywhere you go or what?” “No, but I do like to keep it nearby at all times.” It was clear that Sassy was a being a little bit cold to Lightning, she was a lot warmer to the likes of Greta and could talk fashion and beauty with the griffon somewhat. She would have personally preferred talking to Trapeze more given that her other friends were occupied, now there was a mare that new how to do things in style. Still, she would give Lightning at least some chance to say something interesting. It would be several seconds before Sassy said anything. “Is there anything you wanted per chance?” “Well I’m waiting on food and I really haven’t talked to you much since you sliced that fighter in half. That is like, the most awesome thing ever done to a hunk of cobbled together space junk.” It was beginning to get very noticeable that Lighning was just trying to make small talk and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She turned her head and was almost touching noses with Chrysalis, this made her freak out and fall off the bench at the table. “Hi there! The Little Snack needs food to feel happier and her kin is here to talk to her about her future living arrangements.” Someone should really put a bell on Chrysalis, not that it would really help hear or even see her coming. “For some reasons she’s giving off the vibe that she’s terminally upset about something and I have no idea why she’s feeling that particular emotion. Also I would like to say that you look particularly beautiful today Lady Saddles.” “Just to keep you from being clueless Chrysalis, she’s formed a deep rooted attachment to you of all po… Changelings.” Rolling her eyes as if it were the simplest thing in the world Sassy continued on. “She really doesn’t want to leave and she really likes you, mostly because you can look like her parents. She sees you as a surrogate parent.” “Wow… that… is that a thing ponies will actually do? I didn’t think imprinting years after you were born was actually a thing.” This coming from the Changeling Queen who understands the life cycle of a swallow in its entirety, this was what confused her even knowing ponies as well as she does? “I’d make a lousy parent, I’m the deadbeat father type… only I don’t drink alcohol and alcohol has little effect on me because of diminishing returns anyway.” “At what age would you actually start to berate a Changeling physically?” It wasn’t exactly hidden knowledge that regular Changelings followed cruel dictators and Sassy was curious, Ms. Dick had a one of a kind personality. “Only when they stop being cute and mostly at the age of an adult, especially when they’ve done something particularly braindead. If I’m half as clever as I am smart, then the offending Changeling will not forget what they did wrong.” This made Chrysalis stop to ponder things for a moment with a hoof at her chin, it was only moments later when she realized why Sassy was asking this. “Oh, are you asking if I would hurt a foal? I have a good capacity for being cruel, but I’m not exactly heartless in that regard. I would never physically hurt a grub, pupae or nymph. At least not without a really damn good reason for it, so no I’m not a child beater and I’m disgusted at anyone that would hurt a child. I’ve learned that being gluttonous is a large detriment to my species as is overpopulating without proper resources to handle a population boom. As things are now Changelings can actively sustain themselves now far more easily than they could in the past. I will not hurt the future of our most favored food source and allies, I might even want to actually protect ponies from danger.” “Wouldn’t that actually make you a really good person to be around children then?” It sounded to Lightning that Chrysalis was very child friendly from where she was sitting, well once she got back on the bench. “Oh I can play and maybe entertain. I’m just not good for feeding, cleaning and the overall rearing of a child.” Here Chrysalis gained a goofy grin and slapped both her hooves onto the table before thrusting one of them into the air waving it a bit. “Even my own people wouldn’t dare trust me with something like that! I hardly know the first thing about children, even those of my own kind. I was usually too busy as a queen to see to raising a single Changeling personally, now that I have a lot of free time I will eventually get around to having a grub of my own. Little Snack is old enough to take care of herself, watching her really isn’t all that hard to do and I don’t have to worry about the more fiddly bits like that stuff. Though I’m flattered that she likes me, I can’t exactly understand why she would when I’m quite impersonal.” “You actively helped her get her cutie mark!” It was something worth pointing out and Lightning couldn’t help but state the obvious. “That sounds like something important and personal that she’d never forget.” “Yeah that was kind of accidental, or would it be incidental? Honestly though, she got the cutie mark on her own and I just happen to be there to witness it and am tangentially responsible for it at best.” Chrysalis could care less about what the filly thinks, she was more interested in Sassy personally and forming a relationship with said mare. She had yet to say something wrong, Sassy even seemed happy to know she wouldn’t hurt a foal. So what would she say to sour the mood of the mare this time? It was why she was being as diplomatic as possible in her responses. Politics was easy, earning love was a far more challenging endeavor because she had to be aware of how Sassy felt at all times so she didn’t miss something. “I’m pretty sure you know Changelings don’t put as much stock in Cutie Marks except for the fact of possibly making plausible disguises. Whoever has heard of a pony with a cutie mark of a corporation logo on their flanks? Your special talents are more vibrant and noticeable than that, whereas Changelings will always make paler imitations.” “Can you at least tell me you care at least something about her?” It was obvious that this was a loaded and probing question coming from Sassy. “I might miss her a little when she leaves because she’s been pretty delicious, but I’m not about to fight her kin over something trivial as free love in the quantities that filly seems to give off in my general direction.” Saying something neutral was about as much as Chrysalis could manage while not coming off as a monster that has been constantly feeding off of a filly for a while. “So you don’t think it’s a good idea to at least learn a little bit about taking care of children if you’re going to have any in the future?” It was an honest question and not as probing this time, at least Sassy wanted to hear Chrysalis’s odd thought processes on this one. “When and possibly if I ever have a child, it’ll actually be my responsibility and then I’ll start learning. Why should I care about other people’s children unless they have no progenitors or nursery caretakers to watch them?” Chrysalis did eventually want an heir as something might eventually kill her. There were things in space more dangerous than her and she was a bit jealous of those things, she’s only seen a few things that told her she wasn’t as apex a predator as she could be. “I don’t think it’ll be any harder than having to care for an entire hive, now that requires an aggressive drive of the likes you wouldn’t begin to believe even if I were to describe it.” “You’re funeral when you eventually give your future prospective kid sugar then.” Lightning didn’t have any brothers or sisters, but she remembers that a lot of stories from the Wonder Bolts that had children. Foals were actually pretty disastrous judging from the horror stories they’ve told. “Well at least Rarity knows how to raise a child, she raised her sister after all and if things came down to it she or Greta would make good god mothers for whatever spawn you can inevitably cook up.” Sassy went back to her snacks and tea, she was actively ignoring the looks Chrysalis kept sending in her direction. In the background Rover was talking to Cumin about some food and possibly something he can take to Trapeze, the magician mare was spending a lot of time in medical fussing over Bernard’s injuries. Applejack and Babs were looking to be having an uneasy conversation, but things seemed rather peaceful until Chrysalis opened her mouth again. “So Sassy, I can’t help but notice how intricate you look right now. Your hair looks rather lovely shade of reddish orange today and you look good in clothes. What would you think if I said you have a really nice round butt?” Chrysalis was once again trying badly to get on the mares good side and Sassy sighed sadly at the Changelings rather miserable attempts to charm her. In a way it was kind of charming in its own right with how bad Chrysalis was at it, still she was making the attempt to get Sassy’s attention in an affectionate manner and it’s not like Sassy outright hated her guts. Sassy did think the first line was the best one, but her hair was always the same color and looking good in clothes wasn’t exactly the greatest of compliments and the less said about butts the better. It was almost like Chrysalis was trying to wear Sassy down through attrition. So far that tactic was actively working against the Changeling Queen and it was rather obvious she needed help, but was way too proud to ask for it and it would become highly obvious to Sassy when she eventually did ask for help. This was the Changeling Queen that thought kidnapping was a good way to grab the attention of someone you liked. If Crystal actually changed to doing something that was actually more effective, then it wouldn’t be on her own merits that’s for sure. Of course the one stray thought that Chrysalis was actually kind of cute in a disturbing manner actually made Sassy smile faintly. - Rarity’s eyes snapped opened and she looked at her stiff leg, there was a bio cast on and she was floating in a medical bed again. It wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last, she was at least safe and sound. Well not mentally sound, she kind of shot a defenseless person in cold blood even if he was responsible for killing a lot of people including his own. He certainly wasn’t innocent man, but even detestable as he was Rarity didn’t think taking his life was as easy as she made it look or feel. Pausing in her introspection, she could see Trapeze walking up to her tank and smile at her. Reaching into the top hat on her head, Trapeze pulled out a sign that said ‘welcome back’ on it. Rarity rolled her eyes and saw the bandaged Bernard holding up a sign that said ‘to the world of tomorrow’ and he had pulled it from out of nowhere, he wasn’t even wearing his top hat or little coat. Trapeze snorted at that when she finally noticed her favorite companion was alright enough to do little feats of prestidigitation. They all needed a little time to heal and Rarity needed to see someone upon waking up, but she wondered why it wasn’t Coco or Vera as one was a close friend and the other was kind of their medical expert. Well medical expert in so far as being a masseuse, rehabilitator and a psychological stabilizer that Rarity’s crew direly needs if they kept pushing things. A bit of her mane floated in her face and she sighed, her mane needed to be shampooed, brushed and combed back into perfection. After doing that she would need to seek out Vera for help getting around and back into an ambulatory state, yes this is how Rarity was truly prioritizing it. At least she wasn’t feeling any pain and the pasting surgery was obviously a success or she wouldn’t be awake right now. She blinked and actually remembered learning the fact that Opal had been acting up before she went under. Speaking of her childish creation, where was the darling little ball of fuzzy coding that warmed up the hearts of the crew considerably with her adorable antics? Nothing would or even should stop Opal from putting in an appearance, yet Opal wasn’t here to greet her with a smiling face even though logically Opal knew she was awake. Yep, something was definitely wrong with Opal if she wasn’t happy to see her well and awake. The coded cat didn’t even show up when Rarity arrived safely from a relatively disastrous situation that kept getting somewhat worse the longer it went on. All Rarity wanted was to call Opal and tell her to set up an appointment with Vera, then start fixing herself up and get back on the bicycle of where she thought her life should be. Yeah that was going to take a while, they had racked up quite a lot of expenses coming to the Applon System. Whether it was money, materials, supplies and the like to fix the damage to the ship and other things, they would be sitting on the edge of being quite poor after all this. Which led to the question, was all this pain and suffering worth saving a planet over? …. Yes… Rarity would go down to that planet and do it all over again if she had too, she’d rather not though. It was hard enough finding a stallion that wasn’t scared of a mare that was slightly high maintenance and knew how to magically sling a pistol around. She would need to make up for the loss of money, supplies and everything else in the debacle they just went through while continuing to be a captain that can be looked up to. At least she had her friends, ones that would hopefully be more worried about keeping the ship together than their next paychecks. That reminded Rarity they hadn’t exactly got a full list of the damages or even knowledge of how much money it would take to get things back in working order. She did eventually want to remodel the Shining Jewel into something more visibly exquisite, but she didn’t think they’d ever have enough money for that. The insides were mostly fine in décor so far, but it could be far better than it was. Hopefully when they went to planet Nocturne in the Vae Dur system for the fashion show things wouldn’t go absolutely nuts. In fact Rarity might just avoid anything that would lead to her generously offering her aid to someone in dire need of it. At least here she could say she saved the Applon System from being stolen from the pony settlers and the planet would return to its normal climate given enough time. It felt good saving the day and all, but a lot of good ponies and other people stilled perished and all these adventures were positively exhausting to the point that Rarity might start whining about it in earnest between adventures. Nobody wanted Rarity to start whining about having a cannon that fires lemon scented material rounds, because life seemed to be tossing lemons at her left and right. At least Streusel Station was a brief reprieve before she tossed her friends into the insanity that was Applin Five, more than half her crew was wounded and Ember was critically injured. When they got to Nocturne, Rarity would not delve into any sort of intrigue whatsoever and would just focus on dresses and fashion. She would not do anything else but those two things, well maybe in the exception of going to see one of Trapeze’s odd shows or spending time with the other people on her ship. “How are you feeling Boss Lady?” The liquids slowly drained from the medical bed and Trapeze immediately showed her concern, it was nice for Rarity to have someone to talk to as soon as she got release from the medical bed. “About as well as can be expected Trapeze, which is to say like dirt Ms. Star and I despise being dirty. If I may inquire, how are Bernard’s burns?” The Lagotorphin chattered a response and for the life of her Rarity couldn’t understand him, but it sounded positive at least that he was exciteable. “Can I get a translation for that, I’m afraid I don’t speak Lagotorphin.” “He says he’ll do better against the next group of guys who would dare fire a shot at any of us or attack us in our home.” The little bunny gave a friendly if demented looking smile at Trapeze’s words and Trapeze paused to think on what she just said. “Okay, I think I might be learning to understand Lagotorphin and that’s considerably strange because it’s not related to my stage magic at all.” The only response the burned and bandaged bunny had to that was to rub his face again Trapeze’s neck and face in an overly affectionate manner, nobody would ever hurt his beloved bait if he could help it. Well she wasn’t so much predator bait anymore, to Bernard she was someone worth falling in love with. In particular he happened to love to her soft blue curls of her mane whenever she had it down, she was kind of intoxicatingly beautiful where before he just saw her as someone to attract danger for him to eat.
-107-There were times when things were dire and downtrodden, times where mud was a necessary evil to the existence of everyone. Where one had to get their bellies deep in blood and gore, only this wasn’t one of those times. Rarity was hugging what amounted to a small physical Cacceran version of Opal, one that looked exactly like the supposed AI did on the computer and only far more physically present than usual. Opal had long pink hair trailing down to her fluffy tail, her pure pristine white fur all across her lithe form looked exceptionally smooth with the exception of the black symmetrical paw print with three nubs at the center of her chest. Opal’s beautiful and highly expressive blue eyes were currently set to positively panicked and her splayed ears were twitching as she struggled weakly against Rarity’s strong supple one hoof grasp, she was fighting against her need to be free and not wanting to hurt Rarity. If she stopped panicking, Opal might even realize that Rarity was just hugging her vigorously and wasn’t trying to harm her rather frail small form. She wasn’t exactly the size of a Cacceran, she was about two feet tall or less and hardly weighed much at all to Rarity. “Rarity I think you might be choking the life out of her.” That statement from Coco made Rarity loosen up immediately. “Oh I’m so sorry Opal dear, you are quite huggable like this. Are you okay, what happened to you?” She may have loosened her grip, but Rarity wasn’t about to let Opal go until the matter of her new form of existence is fleshed out. Seeing Opal in the flesh and even feeling her fluffy form did give credence to there being more to Opal like Vera had suggested once or twice. “Are you still connected to the Shining Jewel’s systems? If so then how is that possible when you’re apparently a flesh and blood being?” “I don’t know how I’m connected, but I am still connected to Shining Jewel’s systems. It’s a bit iffier as if there is a bandwidth problem or a buffer zone between me and all the systems.” Rubbing a paw at her head, Opal looked to be having some kind of migraine and she even whined a bit. “As for okay… I think I’m fine. I’m really weak like this, whatever this is. Is being an existent entity supposed to hurt this much?” “No, it’s not, have you had anything to eat at all?” While Rarity would like to say she knew what opal was going through, this was new even for her as her adorable little cat shaped humanoid looked to be feeling very off. “Why would I need to eat? I usually get my power from the main reactor.” There was a grumbling sound and Opal winced while looking down at her belly. “Why does that keep happening?” “When was the last time that noise happened?” Vera had been communicating with the only other being on the ship that couldn’t lose sight of her, she was very much invested in keeping Opal alive. Mostly it was to study how Opal overcame Vera’s ignorance field by becoming whatever it is that she is. What Opal wasn’t and hasn’t been this whole time was an artificial intelligence, now that Vera could obviously confirm that Opal was something else. What that something else was is something of a point of contention as several of her theories about Opal had been blown out of the water. Opal gave her an unsure glance while frowning, Vera tried to be a bit reassuring when she spoke up with a hint of worry in her voice. “This is important to your health Opal, I’m kind of the only medically inclined pony around. You’re not exactly what I would call biologically normal, considering your body and the mass thereof came out of nowhere. You might be in need some serious help.” “Approximately eleven hours, twenty minutes, seven seconds and three point nine milliseconds ago from the moment I started this sentence. It’s been happening almost every twelve hours and it’s getting slightly more frequent, which has me worried. Even if Rarity doesn’t want to erase or delete me, there is something very wrong with my software.” Opal took a moment to think while hanging from Rarity’s hoof like a plush toy, after some consideration she decided to add another thought. “No my software is fully functional… would this body be considered hardware then? Is it something wrong with my hardware? Oh goodness, I don’t know how to fix my form if it is! Does it really hurt this much when all of you get injured? I don’t like pain like Chrysalis does!” Now Opal was panicking again, making Rarity shake her head in exasperation. This action sent a bit of Rarity’s mane drifting across Opal’s nose causing the physical form of the digital cat to sneeze. While it was adorable, Opal started to shake and whimper in Rarity’s grip as if she was suffering from something. Rarity started to pet Opal gently with a hoof until she started calming down, it got to the point to where she was purring and her tail started to wag weakly. “It’ll be okay Opal… mommy is here for you. Everything will be just fine.” Rarity cuddled the vaguely humanoid cat to her chest. “If you think you can manage, connect me to the meal hall or wherever Mr. Cumin is.” “Connecting… done.” It didn’t take Opal more than a second and the lag would not be noticeable by anyone else, but that one second had taken eons for her and she was a being that did a lot for Rarity. The fact that she slowed down even a bit had her paranoid about her operational speeds dropping down to a crawl. She didn’t want to… to become useless to Rarity so that she gets another AI that takes away her job. “Please don’t replace me for taking so long.” “Why would you ever think anything can replace you Opal? Your special to me, now shush and let me take care of things. Mr. Cumin, we have an emergency situation on our hooves that you can take care of readily, I’m going to need a sampling of various kinds of food and fast. Warm soup or something like it would be best.” There was a grunt of acknowledgment, it kind of surprised Rarity that Coriander didn’t even question her sudden need when she ate not too long ago. Most of the crew was either recovering in medical or doing other various odds and ends, like Sassy training her sword skills. That was aside from Vera and Coco being distracted with this rather interesting situation that Rarity was now holding onto tightly. “Please, get started on whatever you can finish the fastest. I would like it preferably warm, if not then something with some taste to it. We’ll be there in a few minutes to explain why we need food when we all ate a few hours ago. Okay, Opal that’s all I needed.” “Okay…” Opal drooped a bit as she was levitated onto Rarity’s back, she tried to hold onto Rarity valiantly as they started heading towards the meal hall. “You know, it’s funny. I still haven’t learned how to walk yet, yet I can compute Pi to the millionth decimal. I’m finally physically present and I don’t know how to use myself. The UI on this form needs a manual or at least a quick HUD based tutorial wouldn’t hurt.” “We’ll help you, you don’t need to be afraid my darling little Opalescence Belle.” After having almost fallen off her back Rarity grabbed Opal in her magic. The mare looked her over with worry and started fussing with the Opal’s lovely hair as she levitated her. “Who’s afraid? I’m not afraid.” Nobody believed Opal who tried to put on a brave face for Rarity, only to fail spectacularly as she didn’t know how to control her facial features. Instead Opal gained a constipated looking frown on her face. Her ears were even more telling as they folded backwards and her tail shifted to being more between her legs. “That wasn’t very believable was it? Why is it that my mouth is the thing I find the easiest to control about this, yet I can’t hide my facial expressions from you judging by the way you’re looking at me?” “I hate to say this Opal, but you’re kind of like a newborn… with the mind of a teenager.” It was going to be an interesting study for Vera, especially when Opal defied some forms of logic by suddenly existing like this while still being connected to the ships systems. Vera was still particularly focused on the fact that Opal could blink and look at her without her seemingly becoming invisible. “No matter how smart you think you are, you really need help right now.” “But it’s my stated function… job… to help Rarity and all of you.” Despite her complaining Opal didn’t feel like leaving the safety of Rarity’s levitation field, it made her feel calm even if she was hurting. “I might not be able to keep things in order if I’m stuck like this and I don’t want to… die. I admit that this is all very much one of my nightmares I’m living and that I’m… afraid.” “If something were to happen to you, you wouldn’t be able to help anyone and we need you in good health to keep this ship running with as skeletal a crew as we have.” Coco trying not to remove her hoof from Vera’s form moved forward and nuzzled the floating Opal gently, she could feel the fur and rising chest as Opal took a breath of fresh air. Opal giggled faintly, but didn’t seem like she could enjoy it in her current state. Opal shouldn’t be biological, it made little sense unless Vera had an idea as to what Opal was now and the previous possible options were thrown out. “Any ideas why Opal is like this Vera?” “Do you mean physically like this, emotionally like this or spiritually like this? I still have a guess or two of what she could be, but I’d need to do something rather invasive to confirm it. Since Rarity is her acting parent and or guardian, then it would be up to her whether or not I do said thing. It also wouldn’t be very pleasant for Opal because she can obviously feel pain now.” It was rather puzzling to Vera that Opal would appear, in all places, in the middle of the atmosphere farm. Opal had been sitting in that one spot for quite a while, at least until she finally decided to show them what was wrong with her. She only finally called for help when it was clear she was in serious pain. It was noted that Opal wasn’t very ambulatory, mostly since she usually took care of things without needing to move anything more than the drones around. The best Opal could manage was sitting up when Coco and Vera arrived. “Physically she seems to be starving and malnourished. Starving I can possibly understand since she’s been like this for more than a day or two, but malnourished? Emotionally, she’s actually acting quite normal for someone in her current situation and I’d be scared too if I suddenly had unfamiliar sense to work with. Spiritually… I wouldn’t know, but I’m sure Opal is as far from an AI as she can get right now. So her entire world view, not to mention my own, must be entirely messed up. We’re not even sure if her body can handle food or if it is even biological in nature, what if she needs to eat things as bizarre as some of the things Chrysalis does?” Opal shot Vera a pitiful look, nothing Vera said was a lie and it was technically true. Her entire life she was artificial and mostly okay with being artificial existence even if she silently wished for a little more interaction. If she wasn’t so artificial, then that meant there were very many implications to her suddenly being like this. “Then we’ll just have to get a steady supply of whatever she needs to feed her. Though I’m drawing the line at needing to eat sentient beings, if she needs blood then I’ll gladly give my own.” Okay Rarity has definitely read one too many sparkly vampire novels, but her intentions were quite clear. She was going to try and help Opal no matter what. “I’m trying to look at it this in a different way. If Opal is actually biological, then she has her own account from which we can draw funds from for her own necessities and requirements instead of just funneling it back into Shining Jewel as a whole.” “I still think it’s odd that you’d give me an allowance mom, I mean aside from getting me several games and a few things I can play with I don’t have much need of anything other than to keep you and everyone else inside me… er this ship… safe.” It was still odd for Opal to consider herself somewhat separate from the ship when technically the Shining Jewel had been her body for the last few months, that’s where some of the odd disconnect she was feeling came from. Her world was flipped on its edge and it felt like she was trying to hold on for dear life, less she slip and fall into the abyss of turned off. “It also doesn’t help that my current status has given me the ability to see Vera when usually she’s constantly giving me headaches by disappearing when I blink for a nanosecond. I‘m never going to quite understand how a mare can disappear in a nanosecond of not keeping an eye on her.” They stayed quiet after that as they approached the meal hall. Rarity couldn’t quite grasp what Opal was experiencing, but she’d be there for her every step of the way. Opal was part of Rarity’s family, even if it was mostly an informal adoption. Rarity would fight tooth and hoof to keep Opal if child protection services even dared to think of taking her precious and rather precocious digital daughter. All they had to do was figure out how this happened and then do anything they could for Opal to make her comfortable in her new form. - Outside the ship Gilda and Greta were busy with repairs, while Lightning was doing a small patrol in Ember’s Pyrrhic Victory and it was utterly quiet if not for the idle conversations they had going between them at times. “This may not be a fighter, but I think this ship works pretty well for what it is.” As the only available pilot Lightning had to watch out for the ones that hired her on. It was boring watching them fly there EGGS units around to repair things, at least she was idly flying a small patrol around the larger ship looking mildly menacing. “It’s not exactly very powerful in the firepower department though, I mean two forward mounted energy cannons is not very much. I’m surprised the maneuverability is actually quite decent for something this large, at least this isn’t as bulky as the Caravel Boutique is.” “Word of warning, you better careful with that ship Volt Butt! Ember will probably want that back if she ever wakes up. I know for a fact that she wouldn’t mind us using it at least, it’s the least she could do since we’re also stuck with taking care of Mr. Spew for her while she’s incapacitated.” Gilda was currently patching hull damage and repairing an almost terminally damaged turret with the manipulator arms from her EGGS unit. Greta was busy on the other side sealing up fractures in the hull and replacing lost or melted armor plating. Said plating got damaged when the Shining Jewel’s shields were taken down so that it could be boarded. “Look, you wanted something to fly and it was either that or the Caravel Boutique, I wouldn’t want our small cargo ship getting damaged by your carelessness. It’s not like you’re actually needed out here anyway, not with the EDF in the system until they’ve settled their investigations. Besides that, who would even be dumb enough to even attack while we have the better part of a fully functioning fleet guarding this whole system at the moment?” “Yeah, yeah, but it never hurts to be too careful. At least it’s actually giving me something to do aside from thinking of how I’m supposed to teach piloting lessons. Hold on, looks like we got some incoming contacts from the EDF fleet.” Keeping her course in circling around the ship, Lightning waited for whoever it was to speak up and she was a bit disappointed to hear just exactly which EDF squadron was hailing them. “Oh great I recognize those kinds of ships, be prepared for a small skirmish if they feel like kicking up a mess around here because of me. I’m not exactly the favorite of any Wonder Bolt squadron we’re likely to meet and I’m legitimately trying to get my life back in order. So I’m preemptively saying sorry if they start something.” “This is the proud Triple R Squadron, we were told to ask if you needed any supplies after all the damage you’ve taken in the three recent pirate attacks. Too bad I wasn’t here for any of them, I’m sure they would have cowered and turned tail the second they saw us! We’re on the job watching out for any suspicious Human related activity.” That voice was familiar to the two working griffons, apparently Rainbow Dash was in the area and she sounded happy to be flying a mission. “Please tell me there are more pirates to fight around here, I need some action.” “You do realize that the Triple R stands for Rearguard Reactionary Rookies right? I remember when they used to give me that detail, was kind of boring and you shouldn’t expect to get any action at all unless you’re absolutely born lucky.” There was a bit of wistfulness in Lightning’s tone as she stared out into space. She quietly turned the ship around to patrol in a circle in the opposite direction. “I kind of miss those old days, because I was born lucky and ran into a lot crap that space can throw at a fighter pilot. Had to do some really nasty commando stuff too, I’m betting you haven’t had out of ship combat at all yet have you? Trust me sifter drifters are a pain in the flank to deal with and you definitely want all the piloting operations you can get if you were born for flying.” “Wait a moment, the only way you could know any of that is if… you were a Wonder Bolt pilot!” Immediately Rainbow sounded interested and not even the slightest bit embarrassed about how proud she was of being on a rookie squadron. “Who are you? My names Rainbow Dash and I’m a big fan of ponies that flew in the old days, I probably know all about you!” “Hey Rainbow, nice to hear that you’re still kicking out here, I bet the Canterlot attack was the most action you’ve gotten in a while.” Greta finally decided to speak up as she flew around for the hangar to go pick up more supplies to repair the badly battered hull. “Greta, what are you doing out here? I haven’t heard from you in a while… wait you were there at the attack right? What were you doing there, were you Gilda’s gunner for that sweet tank?” It didn’t take too many of Rainbow’s brain cells to cobble together a picture that wherever Greta was, Gilda was likely not too far away. “Wait a minute, if you’re here then doesn’t that mean that…” “Hey Colorful Crash, how have things been since the Canterlot thing? We’ll take the offer of free supplies, whatever you can spare us for free really.” There was a grunt of acknowledgement that was music to Gilda’s hearing holes, she just had to rub it in that she was getting more out of her job than Rainbow was. “We could use whatever you’re offering to fix our main ship, it took quite a bit of pounding while I and Greta were planet side blowing up the human facility in various ways. The whole thing was quite a mess and I got to fight a giant four legged Human made metal monster. So, who’s actually getting the most action of us now Rainbow?” “I’ll give you action… just give me some candles, flowers and a fresh unsoiled bed and then we’ll see who’s getting action you stupidly sexy griffon.” Mumbled an aggravated Rainbow who heard that there had been a lot of action at the two facilities. She couldn’t say Gilda was lying about being here for it all as Greta could corroborate and she would hardly lie about anything, not only that but the ship Gilda was working on looked to have been brutalized in the pirate attacks. “Colorful Crash, that’s actually kind of funny.” A mare’s voice could be heard giggling, before it was quickly shushed by a stallion’s voice. “Shut it Vapor Trail and send the requisition acknowledgment so they can deliver stuff to this ship while I talk with an old friend of mine. I’m thinking supplies that could be used for repairs right? I really don’t know why they have us asking you about this in the first place, it seems kind of weird that we’re offering free supplies to you guys like this. As for me, I can actually complain about how boring things have been since then Beaker Brains. So what are you doing with a Wonder Bolt pilot on your payroll? I think I would know if a Wonder Bolt pilot retired and started living on a… is it really a commercial ship? Looks more like a full out carrier or a cruiser.” It sounded like Rainbow was more interested in hearing from a Wonder Bolt she hasn’t met yet, she was a big fan of the brave pilots who flew stupidly dangerous missions and did aerial stunt shows out of and inside space vehicles. Lightning wasn’t that much older than Rainbow really, she just got into the Wonder Bolts earlier and caused an incident that completely torpedoed her career as a known pilot. “Seriously though, where did you find a retired Wonder Bolt and why is she on your crew? She’s the one in the scout ship right? Hey, you, how did you end up working with these crazy griffons!?” “This is Angel Wings, nothing to report from the other side of the planet. Hopefully things will stay quiet in this system, also can we not talk about the Canterlot assault thing?” The hesitant Angel Wings sounded like a sensible enough Pony. “While I may like you guys, you all still left me behind to explain to our superiors why you led a strafing run into Canterlot while there was a lot of heavy anti-air weaponry in the area that had already shot down more experienced squadrons than ours. They even shot down Spitfire of all ponies! I still don’t understand why they punished me with you, even if I you guys are my best friends.” “Sky Stinger here, systems still nominal. Nothing wrong with this fighter… yet. I’m still waiting for the other horseshoe to drop on this one.” The stallion was flying his P-wing towards Shining Jewel with Angel Wings at his side. “You know we needed to do something Wings, we couldn’t just sit on our asses and watch while Ponies were getting hurt. You never spoke up about it and we assumed you were fine with it.” “Don’t get too excited Rainbow, when you actually hear my name you might quickly change your tune about me rookie. Just don’t attack me out of nowhere, because the second I say my name you’ll lose interest in me real fast or get angry at me.” Rolling her eyes from the pilot’s seat in the Pyrrhic Victory, Lightning continued her circular patrol. She did at least make sure the weapons were powered up before she said it. “I’ve never ever met a Wonder Bolt that I’ve totally hated before, so go ahead and try me. Like I’d shoot at someone who’s been a Wonder Bolt. Also what are you piloting Lunar Lander? That’s one funky looking egg.” The P-wings being piloted by Rainbow and friends were flying slowly through the area and began to form up, Rainbow as in the leader position and that brought back some memories for Lightning. A lot of them were painful for the outcast Wonder Bolt pilot. “What does it look like to you Fruit Cup? It’s a grappler ship for repairs, refitting and modifications. I can at least say I’m never bored and business is booming as far as my Boss Lady is concerned.” If Gilda needed something to do, then she had plenty to do while working for Rarity. Keeping the Boss Lady alive was a full time job that she’d gladly do, because Rarity was actually someone worth looking up to in her own modest opinion. “I might just get enough money to build that fighter I keep talking about, got plenty stashed away for it already. I just need to find the parts for every idea and technology I want to put into it.” “As for me I was kicked out of the Wonder Bolts, you might know my name if you had more than air between your ears. I’m probably a cautionary tale of the Wonder Bolts considering how I was living on the streets for a few years without the ability to get a job until recently.” There was the urge for pitched battle coursing through Lightning, to show some rookies she knew how to pilot like the best of them. She forced that urge down and tried not to think about it too hard. “The name’s Lightning Dust rookie and I doubt I’m that much older than you are, look me up and then don’t make the same mistake that I did. Being a true Wonder Bolt is a tough job and it’s not all fun and games, I made some nasty mistakes and you sound like I used to. Cocky and full of crap, ready to prove that you have what it takes. If that incident hadn’t happened, then I might have eventually become your flight leader. I’m sure even you have to be aware of what happened to me, unless it’s no longer on the records.” The minute she stated her name there were three gasps of comprehensive and an inquisitive noise of confusion. Rainbow hadn’t heard of Lightning. “Uh… I’ve never heard of you, also why are you gasping guys. It’s not like she’s a big deal or anything right?” It was surprising for Rainbow to not have heard about a Wonder Bolt before, unless they struck her name from public record for doing something really bad. “You don’t know? How can you not know, you’re like the Wonder Bolt mega fan here! She’s the pilot that caused that huge crash and injured a lot of people, that incident was legendary in how much cover-up went into it.” The exasperated Vapor couldn’t believe that there was a Wonder Bolt that Rainbow ‘Freaking’ Dash never followed or heard of. “Are you seriously telling me that the call sign Dangerous Dust-off doesn’t ring a bell? I’m sure a lot of her records were redacted after that horrible incident, but she still did a lot of good when it came to cleaning ships of sifter drifters and or flying against space pirate incursions. She was known for her ridiculously quick take offs and she was considered to almost be an ace despite her suicidal tendencies to be the first into a fight where it is more likely for a pilot to die. She survived every flight she’s ever done and she was usually the first to be shot at, I’m sure the statistics would say that she should logically be dead by now.” “Haven’t heard that name in while, yeah I was Dangerous Dust-off. Quickest reaction to any offensive attack on the ships I patrolled with, mostly because I slept in my fighter. Not the smartest thing to do really, but first to every engagement and last to come home bleeding out.” Switching over to autopilot, Lightning closed her eyes and reminisced. “I lived in my fighter, I would have died in my fighter… until I was kicked to the curb and left homeless anyway. I was always first into a fight without my wing mates to back me up. I wonder, are the Suicidal Seraphs still a squadron?” “The Wonder Bolt’s Suicidal Seraphs, those crazy Ponies!? Yes and I would not want to be a stuck on a squadron with any of those lunatics, they are worse than any of Luna’s unique Shadow Bolts squadrons. We don’t even know how they keep surviving the engagements they do! Wait… I ended up destroying a refurbished fighter because it flew awkwardly, by any chance was your fighter’s serial number…” Sky Stinger started off that last bit only for Lightning to speak up solemnly. “Serial number R0K0N45V5R… heh, they refurbished my fighter for you. Sorry you couldn’t handle what they salvaged of my old girl. It’s always heartbreaking to hear that an old friend died being a violent uncooperative bitch, but that’s how she would’ve wanted to go anyway. Only I thought she’d take me with her, guess she was nice enough to let you survive her destruction. A hidden heart of gold that one, never would actually let a pilot die inside of her.” A few tears fell from Lightning’s face splashing onto the controls in front of her, one could almost hear her heart crying in grief at hearing the final death of the fighter that went through so much with her. “As for the Wonder Bolts rather unique Suicidal Seraphs, they continue to survive for one reason alone. While I may have been an reckless asshole and full of myself as a completely cocky jerk that didn’t care very much about others at the time, I was also one of the best darned pilots to ever fly with the Wonder Bolts in my short career. I apparently taught the other Seraphs well enough to get by without me. Let me give you a few tips about survival rookies, you just might need it someday.” Author's Note Lightning really enjoys piloting things, but figuring out a lesson plan for civilian piloting is harder than giving tips to fighter pilots. Opal is scared of being useless and constant hunger pains aren't helping that. Happy Holidays Razzy and Liquid_Pride, thanks for acknowledging this story exists.
-108-“When you said you needed food I thought you were talking about our other guest who is being rather quite shy because of… circumstances.” While it was interesting for Coriander to meet the AI of the ship in the flesh, she was an adorable little thing like his girl had once been before she started fighting thugs and became a beautiful mare of her own right, he was remarkably lackadaisical about Opal’s sudden existence. He was quite used to weird things happening to Saffron, like the time she had an evil octopus tentacle growing out of her back and thus wasn’t exactly surprised to see the trend continue with someone else. He tried to ignore the odd things that happened to his daughter when she became a costumed crime fighter, because at the time he’d rather not know what she got up to as long as she was alive, but now he wasn’t going to ignore these things any longer. “Aside from that this is not exactly the weirdest I’ve seen.” “You don’t seem all too surprised to see me Mr. Cumin.” There was the feeling of awkwardness to Opal, it was the fact that Coriander wasn’t reacting to her presence as if she were oddity that was off-putting about it. How can she not be the weirdest thing he’s ever seen? How can he treat her current state of existence as normal? She was planted at the table by Rarity who took up a position of sitting behind her. It was comfortable being in her mother’s lap, even if her body was making cranky grumbling noises and causing her pain. “I’ve seen a lot of weird things Saffron has tried to keep me from discovering over the years. I know when my daughter got into a really bad fight and I know exactly when she started to… moonlight. If there is a term we’re going to use for it.” Coriander tilted his head slightly as they were keeping Saffron’s secret identity in case anyone walked in unexpectedly. “So really nothing you can show me will actually surprise my daughter more than the time she accidentally became a Pegasus for a week until she figure out how to find a cure for what was afflicting her.” “Okay I guess that makes sense, heroes do tend to get into stranger situations than mom can create by the happenstance of just being present everywhere she seems to go.” Opal noticed the slightly disapproving look Rarity was shooting her. “What, it’s true and you know it mom!” “I’m here to feed you Opal, if that wasn’t a weird enough sentence when I know for certain that you didn’t need food to live before now. At least you’re smarter than Sweetie Belle was when she was a little foal, you’ll probably be less messy about this too.” This led to Rarity shivering at the memories of getting cakes in food thanks to her little sister. Shaking her head and lighting her horn, Rarity scooped up a bit of soup and carefully floated it over to Opal. “Now be a dear and open your mouth for me would you?” Opal did as asked and saw no reason to disrespect her creator, well Rarity had to have had a part in creating her at least… maybe somewhat? Okay so she wasn’t sure if Rarity was actually responsible for her ending up like this, but she had always been there for Opal and was currently being here for her now. The spoon slipped into Opal’s mouth and her head was tilted back a bit, the tomato soup slid off the spoon into her mouth and proceeded to get stuck there. Okay how did her swallowing reflex work again? Oh right. With the combination of the right muscles put into use, she swallowed her first bit of food ever. She murmured happily and waited for another spoonful. “It tastes really good Mr. Cumin, but why is the tomato soup cold?” Even as she asked this Opal was about to take another spoonful, with Rarity carefully nuzzling the back of her head. This was kind of embarrassing, she felt like a tiny foal with Rarity at her back and… she actually liked it. “It is tomato bisque, serving it cold is the correct way to eat it. I believed that it would have fit the Parrote’s pallet pretty well, as would have the grilled cheese.” Grilled cheese sandwiches were easy to prepare and Cumin did hear Rarity say she wanted a fast meal prepared with a sampler kind of theme. He was expecting a featherless Parrote, though the AI that now looked like a Cacceran worked just as well. “It is nothing fancy, but it would have been nice to hear our guest’s thoughts on it.” “What’s grilled cheese taste like? Anyway this soup tastes incredible! I can see why eating is addictive and necessary for biologicals now.” Even if she could taste the food, Opal still wasn’t quite sure whether or not she was biological. “Well then, why don’t we try it out my darling little Opalescence?” The amusement in Rarity’s voice could not be faked, she had motherly practice with Sweetie Belle and it was becoming quite useful with the more intelligent Opal. She levitated a triangular cut piece of the sandwich with the molten cheese, she cut a smaller piece of that with warm gooey cheese almost dripping out and brought it over to the soup. She paused in thought. “Opal, you’re going to need to learn how to chew your food. Also I need to teach you table manners, but for the moment I’m letting things slide because you can hardly control your current body all too well. We don’t even know what your body is.” “I think I can figure it out mom, if I can figure out how to eat soup then this can’t be too hard and you have to realize that I’m not a complete idiot.” The gooey bit of cheese filled sandwich was lightly dipped into the tomato soup and was then hovered above the soup to drip for a moment before it moved over to Opal’s mouth. Having watched the others eat she knew what to do or at least thought she did. Open mouth insert food and move food to cheeks where she could work her jaw to mulch the food before swallowing, it all sounded rather simple to Opal. The sensation of tasting the soup was incredible, but now the test of actually ingesting something solid and actually chewing it. Some things couldn’t be described, but Opal wondered if this dream was going to end sometime soon because she was in heaven. She could understand why so many people like cheese now, she at least knew to chew with her mouth shut. When she finally managed to swallow, she was actually feeling much better and another chunk of gooey melted goodness moved to hover in front of her mouth. Yep, feeding Opal was as cute as could be and Rarity was going to make sure she ate her fill. Things were hopefully going to be quiet until they managed to get Sugar Belle’s wedding out of the way, so she could get some relaxation and maybe pry a little more information out of Opal about what she remembers happening. This wasn’t going to take forever and they still had to get Applejack back down to the farm, plus there were other things to worry about like what Rubis was going to do now and convincing Babs to let go of her exceedingly odd infatuation with Chrysalis. It was odd to anyone who saw the two together, Chrysalis was somehow Bab’s favorite person since her parents died back on Antilur Station. Chrysalis was the only one around when Babs earned her cutie mark so something the changeling did had a positive effect, but she obviously didn’t care too much about the filly whereas the filly adored her. “So Opal, you can actually taste that?” Coco inquired curiously as she was another bit of toasted bread, cold tomato and melted cheese go down the cat’s throat. Vera was there as well, if less visible to Coriander who wasn’t in direct contact with Miss Blossom and nobody was pointing at her. “Yes, itshs quites dewicious.” Opal finally swallowed the gooey massed and cooed happily, she was still hungry. Is this what hungry was? Well she didn’t like it as much as tasting food. “Don’t talk with your mouth full Opal, that’s rude and not very polite young lady.” Cowing her little kitten was just a bigger part of Rarity’s job now. It was relatively easy to get Opal to heel, she didn’t move the next portion of food near Opal’s mouth, even with her giving Rarity a big watery eyes look. “Yes meowstress, I’m sorry and I guess I should apologize to everyone for my rudeness?” The tasty morsel moved forward and Opal received a nod for correctly answering Rarity’s disapproving stare appropriately. After her swallowing her next morsel her left ear started to twitch wildly. “Hold on, we’re getting hailed by Gilda.” “This is Gilda, this is going to take more than a few weeks to repair Boss Lady. A week if you want to push us to do a quick patch job instead of a full repair, we’ve got a lot of internal damage to deal with after we’re done fixing the hull and replacing the turrets. Speaking of the hull, I’m in the middle of removing a data jacking harpoon from the hull. Greta is requesting permission to study it.” This was followed by a long yawn, it sounded like Gilda was getting pretty tired. “The EDF are sending us some stuff they can spare and have a few Wonder Bolt squadrons asking around if anyone needs repairs or materials after all the space pirate attacks while we were busy on the surface. So I’m calling to ask if we should take the free materials being offered by the EDF on top of Greta’s request.” “Of course, I’m not exactly made of money and some supplies would really make up for the fact that we didn’t get paid for all the stuff we do. It’s the least they could do for us after all the resources we spent on this venture, quite literally. As for Greta’s request, I will agree because we need to study what was in that harpoon, it relates to Opal’s current state.” It occurred to Rarity that neither of the griffons knew that Opal was a physical entity, there were also the fact that she needed to bring everyone up to speed about Opal. “We will be having a meeting soon enough to discuss what happened to Opal and Opal will be present for it. She’s fine for the most part, but it’s under some rather unusual circumstances.” “Right, I’ll tell Greta to secure that data harpoon then and then have the EDF transfer the materials over to us. It’s mostly metals and some electronics, so don’t expect it to be much of a boon Boss Lady. Lightning is out here getting familiar with Ember’s ship and giving us a protection detail, not that we really need it anyway.” Having a huffy griffon on the crew wasn’t too bad, especially when Gilda does so much work. “Lightning brought up something, we’ve been kind of relying too heavily on Opal and she thinks she can teach a few of us how to actually pilot ships instead of relying on Opal to do it for us. She’s better than I am at piloting at any rate and I don’t admit something like that easily.” “Says the griffon who somehow landed her EGGS unit upside down and isn’t a pilot. Well not one that is trained or licensed at least.” A giggling Greta caused Gilda to grunt out loud in a grumpy manner. “We’ll let you get back to whatever it is you’re doing Boss Lady, we’re continuing repairs on the hull and Gilda will replace the destroyed laser turrets. Hope you’re feeling better soon Opal, it’s kind of sad to not hear you talk even if we can talk to you. EGGS one and two continuing operations, over and out!” “Well now that that’s over, more please, this is the most delicious food I’ve ever had!” Opal looked up at Rarity with expectant eyes, another magically levitated bite of grilled cheese was dipped floated towards her waiting mouth after shaking off the excess cold tomato soup. “Opal it’s the only food you’ve ever had. It might be the most delicious thing to you today, but who knows what tomorrow will bring and there’s so much more for you to try that you couldn’t before. There’s also so much more that we can do together that we couldn’t before.” Like Rarity showing Opal how to brush her fur or her hair and how to walk, because the AI has obviously never been quasi-biological before. “I still have questions about your current form, but until they are answered I’m going to treat you like your completely biological thought it’s clearly apparent that you are not. It’s rather obvious the food is having a positive effect on you, but you still control the ship as if you were inside the computer.” “Yes and the fact that she can eat at all is odd to say the least, which tosses out a few more of my theories about Opal.” Vera had more problem with Opal being able to look directly at her and blink without losing her presence. “At least she wasn’t one of the worst of what I thought she could be, though there are some pretty bad ideas that came to mind.” “Why, what could I have been?” Properly swallowing her food before asking this Opal had to know what Vera could have possibly thought she was. She felt something on her face and gently had it wiped clean with a napkin by a smiling Rarity, seeing her mother smile made her day and she didn’t even know why her mom was doing so. “Highly infectious brain parasites that can possibly mimic technology and control it remotely, thankfully that isn’t the case. There’s also a cloud of microscopic machines working together to produce your appearance which is also disproven given you’re a solid entity and a few other things. There was the one where you might be an eldritch abomination, but you’re way too friendly for that.” There was a hint of humor in Vera’s voice as Opal smiled in a devious manner towards the mare with the ‘forget-I-exist’ field. “You are most certainly not an AI and there have been a few signs that you are not entirely electronic in nature, but there is the fact that you can be electronic.” “If she can be both electronic and biological at the same time how does that work, she’s not exactly cybernetic at the moment.” Coco reached over and rubbed Opal behind one of her ears causing the cat entity to purr contently at the action and the pleasure it brought. “Masses of coding do not miraculously spring to life, I would know as I’ve spent a lot of time working on the control systems of the impulse saddles I make. Greta has actually improved quite a bit on the efficiency of them, but I know a thing or two about it personally.” “True, which is why Opal was always a natural intelligence who might have been led to believe, by complete accident mind you, that she is an artificially created being.” Trying to keep a warm smile on her face Vera continued for Opal’s sake. “She is not an artificially created being. It is one of the things I know for certain, but at least I can propose that Rarity was certainly the catalyst that allowed her to grow to what she is now. She’s been living as an AI for as long as she’s been aware of herself and met Rarity, but she’s not really a bunch of coding.” “Gummy always did say something was odd about how I warped all forms of coding around me with simple thoughts alone, I wonder how he’d react to me as I am now.” The Streusel Station AI might have had a few things to say to Opal about life and a lot of profound stuff that most don’t normally hear from the pygmy alligator AI. Gummy was always a rather eloquent creature, but he was a true artificial intelligence as far as Opal knew. “He’d probably continue being your friend and say that you have suddenly become an unexpected variable in life as we know it.” Coddling the cuddly looking cat was Rarity’s new favorite thing to do, well at least from this point forward if Opal continued to stay like this. “You’re my soft fluffy darling little girl Opal.” “Mom…” Whined Opal looking put out as she was crushed against Rarity’s chest, however that whine was soon placated with another bit of soup smothered grilled cheese. Opal was almost finished eating, as were Coco and Vera who had been snacking on the other food that was placed before them. “After I’m finished feeding you, we’ll try to get a scan of you in medical.” There was the no nonsense tone in Rarity’s voice and Opal nodded in acceptance while chewing on her food. - “So you’re Queen Chrysalis, what did you do to get Babs to like you so much?” It took Applejack a while to find Chrysalis’s room, but it wasn’t hard to find once she was directed to it by Babs. She needed to talk to the Changeling in particular. Chrysalis turned her head away from what she was doing and then went back to it in a lazy and bored manner. Applejack approached the queen with caution and curiously looked at what she was doing, it was surprisingly innocent in nature. “Well aside from giving Little Snack the ability to properly say goodbye to her parents and let her wallow in her own depressed state, I haven’t the foggiest the idea actually. I’m kind of disturbed that a pony can give me that much love directly without becoming fatigued by the act.” Chrysalis found it odd that ponies can actually like her for who she is. She could eventually become friends with a pony after spending a long enough time in their presence, that’s mostly because she can eventually get a read on said ponies emotional stability and how they’d react to certain emotional stimulus. “I think it’s because I’m not draining her actively that the love is flowing so strongly and continuously, I’m actually kind of conflicted about it personally. Mostly because getting love is less of a challenge nowadays that I’m not even trying to get it actively. I think the challenge of getting love previously was mostly in the fact that we were defeating ourselves constantly by stealing love and or creating environment where loves couldn’t grow or spread. I guess that’s what we get for years of deceitfulness and lies.” “So you can turn into her ma and pa huh?” She sounded quite honest to Applejack, which is unusual for the farm mare as she had heard many things about Changeling Queens. Such as the nasty disposition to make devilish plans. “What are your aims regarding her?” “Nothing actually, I truly have no cruel or twisted designs for her. Aside from getting her to stop looking up to me, it’s really weird that I’m the role model of a pony.” Chrysalis wanted to corrupt Babs after being left alone with her, unfortunately she failed and succeeded at the same time. She was a little put off by the fact that Babs could even see her as a motherly figure or become attached to a cold calculating being like her. Friendship was easy, love was messy and tended to cause pain, suffering and plenty of mental trauma. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that bad that Babs liked her so much. “I can’t do voices that I’ve never heard, so really I can’t do a perfect impression of her parents. I can take on their appearance, but not their tone of voice or mimic how they treated Babs as I’ve never met them long enough to know their mannerisms. So you really have nothing to be wary of where I’m concerned.” “Yet you’re making that for her aren’t you?” That was a rather eloquent question from Applejack, the earth pony tipped her hat to what Chrysalis was working on. “It’s not dangerous, clearly you can’t be that scared of my creation? It’s not that horrifying or scary looking. It’s not even made of dangerous materials, I would know, I actually bothered to check up on pony biology and no pony can possibly be allergic to this.” After stating this coolly Chrysalis continued to work on her project in silence, but she did have one more thing to say. “Do you think she’ll even like it?” “I’m sure she will, if you’re making an honest effort and want give it to her as a gift.” It was a little strange to Applejack to see the Changeling Queen come off as slightly vulnerable. If this Changeling truly cared, then that was certainly something. “Are you really going to miss her?” “Not in the slightest.” Chrysalis told a rather blatant lie in a flat tone and Applejack just smiled at it. “I’m Crystal Clear Dick or as I prefer to be called Queen Chrysalis or just Chrysalis. And I believe you are one of Bab’s kin?” This prompted a discussion between the two which mostly turned into talk about family. If there was one thing Chrysalis understood, it was having a large family and caring a lot about them no matter how dumb or stubborn they might get. In this she shared a kindred spirit with Applejack. Chrysalis doubted Applejack’s family could match a Changeling hive, but she was getting rather sentimental and happened to be missing all of her sneaky little idiots. - The vest, shirt, pants, boots and coat were all very nice and fit her very well, Rubis didn’t quite know how to thank Sassy for all the clothing. She need it all in her current state until her feathers grew back, Parrote’s usually wore clothing anyway so this wasn’t an issue. The beret covering her featherless head was a nice touch. “Merci beaucoup, it fits very well Madam Saddles. Though I am wishing my feathers grow back quickly and as beautiful as they once were.” Rubis Poulette kneeled down and let Sassy hug her and pat her on the back, it was now that Rubis decided to broach a topic gently. “What do I owe you?” “Don’t worry about it, Rarity wouldn’t ask money of you and neither would I. Though she would definitely say this was a fashion emergency that warrants some generosity.” Sassy turned to look at one of the nearby medical beds, the one Ember was in and shook her head sadly. It was her turn to watch out for the people in medical and the only one that really needed watching was Ember. Rover was already back to sleeping on his dirt in his room, paw was encased in a bio-cast and his broken wrist would take about four days to heal. Like Rarity, Sassy didn’t care all too much for the normal unkempt nature of Diamond Dogs and didn’t understand how Diamond Dog females could live in the same conditions the males do. At least Rover showed them some courtesy by remaining mostly clean. Bernard was good enough leave medical for Trapeze’s room and while she didn’t trust that guy around Trapeze, she was letting it slide at this moment because Trapeze accepted him living and sleeping in the same room as her. This let her and their guest Rubis to have some privacy. Saffron was still in a medical bed her bruises and internal bleeding were quite bad, but those injuries weren’t nearly as lethal as the ones Ember took. “You are too kind mon amie, but let me guess… food will also be provided as long as I am a guest here?” Getting a nod at her queries Rubis felt a bit bad at the hospitality she was being shown and being unable to repay it. She’d figure out something later as she owes Rarity’s people, not to mention Baroness Belle herself, quite a debt that was more than just gratitude alone. “I don’t see why food wouldn’t be provided… we have a few months stored up for any species. We’re becoming quite the multicultural crew, I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually hired on a hippogriff or a mermaid pony.” It didn’t take much to know why Sassy was sympathizing heavily with Rubis Poulette, after all they had both been stuck in a bad place that was a nightmare. “Though we’re not without our little issues with one another, we haven’t reached a stage where we can’t cope or calm our nerves. Are you warm at least?” “Oui, I am not freezing for lacking my feathers and I thank you for caring so much for me.” It was nice for Rubis to have a few new friends, though they were way too kind and heroic to just be average merchants even if that’s what they truly were. “No problem at all, Rarity would have likely done this for you anyway even if I or anyone else in the crew hadn’t.” That was a statement that Sassy didn’t doubt the veracity thereof and more importantly she knew Rarity, Coco and several other crew members wouldn’t have ignored Rubis for long without extenuating circumstances. “Oh there you are Sassy, I see you’ve become acquainted Miss Poulette.” They turned to see Rarity entering the room while levitating along what looked like a Cacceran to Rubis, to Sassy it looked like a three dimensional version of Opal. “Rarity… is that who I think it is?” Started Sassy not sure how to continue or even address the issue of the dragon in the… okay that thought made Sassy feel horribly insensitive about the horribly incapacitated. Well Opal was a pretty large something in the room anyway, given she wasn’t currently occupying a computer. “It will be discussed later with the whole crew present, right now my darling little Opal needs to be scanned for any recent medical problems due to unforeseen complications. I’m sure you understand Sassy, everyone’s health is an important factor to those who travel in space and as captain I need to attend to all the members of my crew.” Already in the process of approaching an opening medical bed, Rarity levitated Opal onto it. “Which is why I need to check her health to make sure she’s doing fine. As for you, I don’t want you messing with the medical scan data Opal. I know you’re capable of doing that and would prefer that you didn’t.” “I’m a little afraid at what we’ll get mom, what if the scans doesn’t get anything conclusive and there turns out to be nothing for the bed to scan because I don’t actually exist?” Opal whispered to Rarity as she didn’t want Rubis or Sassy to listen in, she also didn’t want to worry them unnecessarily. “What if I’m some kind of black hole where a digital cat should be, it’s like I’m a living Scroll Dinger’s box.” “Yes Scroll Dinger did do a lot of theoretical stuff about existing and not existing at the same time, but I can certainly see that you exist Opal. This won’t change the fact that I care about you.” A hoof rubbed at one the why fluffy ears and Rarity gave Opal a soft smile. “You exist therefore you do, if the scan doesn’t get anything then we’ll just have to believe you are real anyway. A lot of the crew already do it with Vera, they are even starting to remember that we even have a masseuse. For Vera that’s a step in the right direction.” Opal sighed under the administrations of having one of her ears rubbed and steeled her nerves. She tilted her head away from the hoof even if it was a bit upsetting to deny the affection she so loved from the pony who raised her for most of her life. Rarity backed away while keeping a sharp focus on Opal’s eyes with her own, Rarity gave a slight nod of her head to get on with it and Opal did so. Rarity was worried over Opal and how she’ll react to whatever news they were going to receive from the medical scan beginning in three… two… Author's Note This is D. Shadows. wishing everyone a Happy New Year, hopefully there won't be any more weather that slowly kills my will to live for another long year. At least the new Steven Universe episodes are cheering me up and I'll at least give Unikitty a shot. I will eventually get this story to one million words, but at the rate I'm going and how little interest there is in this story... eh I'll finish eventually. I don't care about a lack of interest, I care that I can keep a halfway coherent story going for this long.
-109-Rarity was busy setting up for the full staff meeting and she had the list of members her crew has in front of her, she also had what they did and what she hired them for. She was busy setting the places she wanted them all to sit at for the meeting, mostly the meeting was about all the recent developments and formally introducing a new member to the crew. The one odd one in the list of actual crew members was temporary member Mr. Spew. The sewer squid wasn’t the new member, but he was getting lonely and Coco was taking good care of him until… well… if Ember ever got better. The fact that the sewer squid wasn’t frantic about staying near Ember said that she was likely to recover in about six long months or more. Even saying she’ll be back in six months was a generous estimate after what happened to her body and all the beautiful, and once highly protective, scales that she used to have. Rarity had always thought that the first critical injury of her crew would be a workplace accident, but the first truly critical life threatening injury was Ember’s and it left Rarity feeling shocked and somewhat numb that the dragon was put down with overwhelming force. Sighing audibly Rarity continued and didn’t take too long to finish, once she was finished she had to wait for everyone in the mess hall. It was quickly becoming everyone’s favorite place to mingle, so it would make a comfortable place to hold a full crew meeting. The only people not invited to this meeting were Babs, Ms. Poulette and Applejack. She sat down and waited for them to filter into the room and find their sitting places, while she was doing that she thought of Opal’s scans and how all the oddities behind Opal made complete sense. There were also the things that didn’t make sense, but Rarity wouldn’t worry that much about it and now knowing the truth brought a smile to her face. The seating arrangement had Coco sitting to Rarity’s left, Sassy was on her right and they made up the original ponies Rarity was going to be working with. Well Coco was mostly the one Rarity would have worked with, but she didn’t think she’d be keen leave Sassy to her own devices. They were the fashion designers. They were at one end of the table and she wouldn’t go or be anywhere without them. Seated to Coco’s left were Greta, Gilda and Lightning, in that particular order. Hiring Gilda and Greta was one of Rarity’s best decisions, even though Gilda was more likely to commit crimes than anyone else and she’d drag Greta into it as well. Gilda wasn’t a bad hen, she was just aggressive and tended to do what she felt to be necessary or conducive to continue living how she wishes. The three of them were the engineering team, Lightning at least counted as she was Gilda’s test pilot and the only real pilot they had onboard if something were to ever happen to Opal. Lightning didn’t know how to fly the Shining Jewel, but she knew all about flying smaller and faster ships from fighters to small cargo frigates efficiently. If Rarity ever lost the Caravel Boutique, then at least she was sure that Gilda and Greta could build a new one from scratch if they had to. To Sassy’s right were Vera and Chrysalis, it was rather obvious that Chrysalis was pouting at not being able to sit next to Sassy and Rarity had a pretty good reason to put Vera between them. Those two were basically the physical and mental health coaches of the crew. Chrysalis was a better physical coach than a mental one, though she was quite helpful in taxing the crew’s sanity to the point that they toughened up to increasingly bizarre things and her teaching Coco wrestling was having, interestingly enough, positive results. Vera was more approachable for mental health of the crew, her massages were also kind of a needed commodity the crew just couldn’t lose and she was almost like a doctor. Most importantly Rarity needed someone she could lean on and everyone tended to lean on the one pony that was easy to forget existed. Further beyond Vera and Chrysalis was Saffron and Coriander, they had needed cooks and Rarity was glad they had gotten some because eating out was getting expensive and she wasn’t the greatest cook around. Greta and Sassy weren’t exactly any good at cooking either, but at least Opal had some experience with cooking and now her daughter could even enjoy the food she created in the past. It also helped that Saffron was really useful in dangerous situations and was quite the fighter. Only Chrysalis would have stood up to that biofeedback psychic alone for as long as Saffron did and that’s only if the bugging-you queen was taking the fight half as seriously as Saffron while starting out without the lifesaving armor that Mare-Do-Well had. Rarity knew Chrysalis was the most dangerous being on the crew, mostly since she was a politician who can plan circles around a lot of people and can obfuscate her intelligence while doing it. If Chrysalis ever gets to a point that she looks too innocent or idiotic about something, then she likely has plan that Rarity would rather avoid. Chrysalis’s feelings for Sassy were as far as Rarity could tell, surprisingly genuine from the looks of it. Chrysalis was attracted like a moth to Sassy’s flaming mane and hidden aggressive nature, that and Sassy had a pointy implement that fit in with Chrysalis’s masochistic tendencies. Chrysalis is just in fact really bad at earning love like a normal pony, which would be mostly because of the part of her personality that isn’t obscured. Finishing off the roster at the table to the left of Lightning was the Trapeze Troupe, with Ms. Star, Bernard and Rover. The entertainers of her crew could do good advertising and could even bring in money with their own shows and merchandise, Rarity wasn’t going to order them around as managing the troupe was entirely up to Trapeze whose special talent basically made her a circus mastermind. While Rarity didn’t mind Bernard’s increasingly infatuated nature around Trapeze, she wondered how it would work out between the two and tried not to think about it too hard given the size and species different. Rarity would like to think she’s an open minded mare about that sort of thing, given she has Greta on the crew and she liked the usually upbeat griffon. “Is everyone here then?” She didn’t see an absent crew member. Well aside from the newest one she was going to show off in a minute because the entire crew needed to know the truth about it. She looked to the worse off crew members, she being one of them herself, Saffron had an ice pack against her head and her painful looking bruising was going down a bit. There were a few grunts of acknowledgement at Rarity’s words, more specifically Gilda didn’t look particularly cheerful as she had a lot of work ahead of her and didn’t seem to appreciate being pulled from it for this meeting. Greta was clearly Gilda’s opposite on an emotional scale and was curious about what this meeting was about, she also took a moment to tease Coco a bit with her tail and Coco shifted away slightly with a blush. It seemed Greta was open to having other possibly close relationships in her pursuit of Gilda Gottfrieda, hopefully she doesn’t do anything Coco is too uncomfortable with. “Well we’re all here Rarity, what is this meeting about?” It could be any number of things and Sassy knew they took quite a few hits in monetary losses that went into repairing the damage done to Shining Jewel. She was calm and poised, in fact her lost innocence seemed to be making a little bit of a comeback thanks to Chrysalis’s horrific attempts at trying to court her. “Several things, first of all with EDF in the area I believe we will need to start producing and selling a number of EVA suits to them. It’s kind of our cash cow to turn a phrase. Also thanks to my quick thinking and designing of completely disposable parkas, most of our damaged EVA suits were easily recoverable. I would like to thank Sassy for taking the time to repair them over the last several hours while also making out guest Ms. Poulette’s outfit for her rather dreadful need to be forcibly molted. Good job Sassy.” Leaning over Rarity hugged Sassy and pulled away so as not to give Chrysalis any real reason to get angry, she kept her emotions even and uninterested as Sassy was really more of a sister to her. Sassy seemed to be less cold emotionally after the brief interaction. “I, Sassy and Coco will try to attract orders and the three of us can easily get to work filling them out. We need several dresses for my cousin’s weddings to wear personally, which we will discuss at a different time. We’ll also be taking any other clothing orders while donating some funds we earn from those particular sales to help get the colonists back on their hooves while we’re here, a lot of ponies lost their homes due to the messed up weather and it’ll be some time and a lot of Pegasus Pony power before it’s fixed. I can’t exactly leave without offering some form of help, while not rich we’re doing relatively well financially if Gilda and Greta can repair the ship effectively on a cheap budget.” “Already on it, the stuff EDF sent over to our hangar will help in the repairs, we’ve got enough to replace the turrets that were lost at least. Probably even build a few special turrets of our own make.” Gilda leaned forward and put her talons under her chin while laying her elbow on the table to prop her head up. “I and Greta can come up with some good ideas later after we finish fixing the hull, maybe Lightning might have a few ideas and we’ll throw the ideas we come up with your way Boss Lady.” “Thank you, your engineering expertise is why I pay you so much. As I wouldn’t be any good at it even with a downloaded DIY file. Next order of business, Trapeze do you have any plans or ideas for the wedding? I was thinking of offering your services to my cousin Sugar.” Holding up a hoof, Rarity stopped Trapeze from speaking. “Sorry for cutting you off, but I just realized we should probably get someone back to the Apple farm to tell them Applejack is okay. I’ll leave that up to you Ms. Dust, when Babs and Applejack are ready to leave you may use either of the available ships in the hangar.” “I’m going to interject here and say that I have to give something to Little Snack before she leaves. So I would be happy if you informed me of their departure so that I can at least say goodbye.” Nobody liked that Chrysalis had been feeding off of Babs, but the filly wasn’t hurt or sick and she hasn’t been actually stealing the love that was freely given to her. It was an odd request, one that came off as suspiciously benign. “You’re not going to give her something like a box full of sex toys are you?” Now everyone was looking at Lightning who had her hooves crossed in front of her while giving Chrysalis a curious gaze. “Of course not, that’s for when she’s old enough to actually appreciate it.” Now that had all of them staring at Chrysalis, most of them gazes of distrust and disbelief she decided to dispel the distrust quickly. Not like she didn’t do sneaky things behind a lot of peoples backs, but here she was actually keeping to herself and was not actually plotting the downfall of everyone at the table. Though it would be kind of fun to see if she could mutiny against Rarity successfully, why disturb someone who was working on her leadership skills in a productive manner? None of the nobles back in Canterlot actively wanted to learn to lead like Rarity did, still it wouldn’t hurt to engineer a few things so that Rarity could gain some skills in that area. “My gift is certainly far more tactful than a box of sex toys… I’ll admit that I’m going to give her one thing and it’s not sex related.” “That’s hard to believe knowing you.” Sassy’s words were quite cutting and it caused a few chuckles around the table, Chrysalis took that insult without an ounce of backtalk. “Yes, I acknowledge that I have an obsession with you posterior and the problems of my own personal failings that even shapeshifting can’t help.” It wasn’t like Chrysalis could engorge herself to point of getting fat enough that she could shift a little junk food to her poor trunk, at least she was the most exquisite thing she knew in other areas. She was nearly perfect and wondered why Sassy couldn’t see that or overlook the one glaring deficiency in her appearance, even Rarity had a better butt than her. Were she not so focused on butts, Chrysalis probably would have realized that her butt was not a real issue where Sassy was concerned. Sassy might not even be as focused on outward appearances like Chrysalis was, for one thing she didn’t mind the minor scars she still had under her fur even if she liked wearing clothes at all times like her current attire. “Well it depends, will we see what you’re going to give her and are you absolutely sure it is safe?” All Lightning’s question does was get a nod from Chrysalis and that was that. “Okay then, what’s next Boss Lady?” “I would like to present a new crew member. She’s been around for a while, but she hasn’t been formally inducted into the crew.” While saying this Rarity levitates out a hoof weaved basket with a familiar head occupying a pillow and a slightly comical blanket covered in pale blue ones and zeroes wrapped around her form. The cats long pink hair was skewed all over the place and needed a good brushing when she eventually woke up. “Thankfully she can do her work in her sleep, because she looks quite precious like this. She currently has several drones cleaning the ship and taking inventory.” Opal was sleeping in the basket peacefully, the poor dear didn’t know she was tired and Rarity made her a quick place to sleep. It looked exceedingly comfortable from the way Opal was snoozing away softly. Sassy had already seen Opal, but she smile warmly and cooed over the sleeping form. The rest of them were quite confused, but apparently Sassy didn’t care and neither did Greta, Vera or Coco who joined in on the cooing. “Okay Boss Lady, how did this happen to Kitten?” Sitting up and looking into the basket with a keen amount of interest, Gilda reached out and started scratching Opal behind on of her ears. It made the white furred feline start kicking one of her legs, she even started purring in her sleep. Gilda pulled away as if scalded by Opal’s innocent appearance. “Okay that’s several lethal levels of adorable I’m not touching again.” “Have you finished researching what I wanted to know about the harpoon Greta? That should open up how Opal became the way she is now.” The only one to know the full story was Rarity and she hasn’t exactly told Opal what she knows about her daughter, though incidentally this was going to come out soon enough anyway. “You were right Rarity. Not only did the harpoon from the pirate ship launch a virus when it struck Shining Jewel, but it also cause a large power surge.” Greta’s data pad was never far from the griffon’s side and she was tapping over it while making sure she was certain of what she knew. “By all rights Opal should be dead, seeing her alive… and like this no less… is pretty amazing. No AI would have survived the virus or the ensuing power surge without being controlled by it or utterly destroyed. Yet there are no signs of the power surge or virus having affected our computer systems at any point beyond Opal going nuts.” “How would your hive mind have been that easy to kill? She seems to be alright from where I’m sitting, she’s certainly feeling content and happy like she usually is.” Chrysalis’s understanding of technology was interesting. She understood weapons perfectly, computer systems not nearly as much considering computers commit honorable seppuku when she tries to use one. Her Data pad being the only thing that has survived her thus far and that’s because Opal reinforced it multiple times. “Rover am I to assume Opal has always had a smell of her own?” Instead of addressing the Changelings knowledge, Rarity instead turned to the quiet Diamond Dog at the far end of the table still staring at Opal with a curious look on his face. “Yes, I am knowing that she is always having smell, though it is not anything like a cat so Rover is being okay with her odd smell.” To Rover, Opal only resembled a cat. She didn’t smell like one even if she looked like one. “Though smell was all over ship before, now it is all in one place. Right there.” “Yes this confirms absolutely everything I know about Opal. Vera you are correct in that she was never an AI and the fact that she is my familiar. Well she is kind of my familiar.” It was still a bit of a tossup, but Rarity preferred to take Opal as her daughter considering the circumstances behind Opal’s birth. “One thing is for certain, she’s definitely my daughter. I’m send you her medical scans now Greta.” Rarity levitated out her data pad and then sent the data to Greta, it took a few minutes of silence and staring at the adorable sleeping kitty for Greta to look it over a second. “That’s… how is that even possible? She has your blood type and even reads as genetically being your daughter, well only in the part of her genetics I understand. The other part is pretty bizarre stuff that I can’t figure out.” Now that caused a bunch of surprised looks that even Greta was having a hard time figuring out how this was possible, Opal certainly looked nothing like a pony. “I don’t even understand what all this stuff is in the other portion of Opal’s genetics, what’s clear is that you had a part in her birth without having to pass her through your body.” “I can explain, it all started when I was creating my original AI program. I was taking a class around making a basic AI, Pinkie Pie was there and would be able to tell you how boring it was to start off. It got more interesting when we were all deemed mentally sound enough to own an AI and actually make one for personal civilian use.” That was definitely where it started and Rarity knew for certain how Opal came to be from that. “Opal is not the AI I originally programmed. It is rather ironic, but I think she accidentally ate it and then came to think that she was actually it personally. I always thought I just got to a point where Opal could start coding herself, only now does it seem entirely odd. Since that’s not what happened with the rest of the class.” “When you say she ate it...” Saffron started off, she was still staring at Opal. “The very day I gave Opal life was the same day I was to turn on my AI program. It all happened so fast for the both of us that it looked like nothing more than a minor glitch on my data pads screen before my fake AI activated. Before you ask, Opal was not the result of a computer virus.” Rarity pulled the basket closer to herself and nuzzled Opal behind one of her ears. The cat stirred a bit before settling down to continue sleeping. “That’s the moment when Opal swallowed my AI in its entirety and accidentally came to think she was a digital entity. My AI never had a chance to even become fully functional before it was destroyed by bit of energy that also took in some of my magic since I was levitating my data pad. Coco you remember what you said about Opal in those early days?” “She seemed stable yet oddly emotional, I told you she might be having rampancy issues.” Scrunching up her face in a cute manner, Coco tried to recall what else was said. “You said that rampancy couldn’t have possibly set in that fast as you had barely had Opal long enough for that.” “I also said that I might have made a flaw in her programming, which I know for a fact isn’t the case now that I know she isn’t an AI. I still loved and cared for her, I knew she was acting like a rampant and I didn’t care. She was a beautiful thing to behold and I always was kind of angling for my AI to become a mascot of sorts for my clothing enterprise.” That part of Rarity’s plan for her life succeeded, as Opal did in fact choose to run the sales page the ship broadcasted and was the acting mascot for her business. “What was one of the things I complained about a lot when it came to my data pad after acquiring Opal?” “You always complained that it required frequent recharging, to an absurd degree and that Opal was eating up a lot of energy while functioning. Which is why you were always looking for models that had better charge rates and larger capacities.” It was something Sassy remembered from the better days, a bit of her old self showed through and Chrysalis perked up and stared at her with wonder when she felt it. “Yes and I now know the reason for that.” Rarity looked upon Opal with affection and love, she sighed sadly before adding. “If I had known what Opal was at the time, I probably wouldn’t have ever turned off my data pad.” “This still doesn’t explain how she has your genetics Boss Lady.” This was a bit mystifying for Greta, the scans of Opal’s body had some really odd readings. “What is she exactly by the way?” “I’m getting to the reason why Opal is in fact biologically my daughter, that’s what she is and that’s all that matters to me.” Nobody would hurt her darling little baby, if someone did then Rarity was going to show them just exactly what she’d do to them for daring to do so. Mama bear tendencies wouldn’t begin to describe Rarity in that case, no she figured she’d be a figurative Ursa Major. “She started as nothing more than a random spark of energy eating my AI and that accelerated her mental growth, so I’m glad I skipped the absolute baby phase and I’m kind of saddened I didn’t get any baby pictures of it to remember.” “AI’s shouldn’t be aware if they are turned off, only from what we know Opal was completely aware the entire time the data pad was turned off when she lived within its confines.” A concerned look cross Vera’s face as she stared at the smiling face of the sleeping Opal. “It certainly explains her paranoia about ceasing to exist or being erased, from a standpoint that being turned off is like being erased from existence until the data pad was turned on again. It’s kind of like the story of my life. Visible one second, invisible the next in a blink. It’s certainly useful when you need to fight off invaders though.” “So how does all of this stuff fit together? I mean Opal gaining a physical body and not dying because of something that sounds like it was specifically designed to destroy, neuter or take control of an AI.” Lightning was beginning to get impatient and wished Rarity would just spit it out already. “It all fits together because my daughter partly comes from my magic from the start, she’s almost my familiar if not for a few other important facts. So I’m quite certain my assertions about how she became this are quite correct.” There was a long silence following those words, even Rarity was quite. Her daughter was really quite interesting, but she wasn’t going to be anyone’s science experiment if she had any say about it and she did. They were waiting for her to explain and explain she would. “To get to how she is now took a massive amount of energy, especially if you want to perform an energy to mass conversion like my darling Opal has. She’s not data or coding and thanks to the way she disabled those space pirates during the second attack while I was away, she’s now at least partly biological. This is the form she subconsciously chose with the fact that she already has my magic as an intrinsic part of her from birth and the knowledge of my medical scans to inherently know my genetics.” A few nods around the table showed they understood that. “Opal would have had to do a surprising amount of instinctive manipulation to her genetics to look like she does as her conversion to becoming biological like this likely happened against her will, but with the thinking speed of a particularly advanced AI it’s not too hard to believe or even think that she directed it somewhat. Pink is not really that far off from my beautiful royal purple mane and tail, her white fur is almost exactly like mine and the color around her pupils leave no doubt where she gets most of her appearance from. She just held on so strongly to her self-image that I’ve initially created for her, which is why she isn’t a pony right now.” Rarity sighed and looked everyone in the eyes with a slow sweeping gaze. “It all makes sense given that she’s an energy based life form, but I prefer to call her Opalescence K. Belle or my beloved daughter personally. If you need more proof, look at what the medical scan data has to say about her brain activity.” “Holy… Freaking… Tartarus… you just can’t ever aim low can you Rarity! Well alright then… Kitten is the crew’s mascot and we need to protect her from anyone who would try to harm her and she’s always been the Boss Lady’s daughter who just happens to be a hyper intelligent Cacceran with cyberpathy related powers. Better idea, she just happened to pretend to be an AI and is our extremely talented, if young, communications officer.” Even as grumpy as she was while running her talons over her face in exasperation, Gilda came up with a pretty quick cover story and Opal was the one who ran communications for them already. Whether she would admit it or not she really liked Opal and her annoying antics. Everyone had their own data pads and were looking at Opal’s medical scans and there were quite a lot things that fit with Rarity’s story. “This at least explains why we had to fix the reactor on Shining Jewel to have a stupidly high output, though this is all a bit tough to swallow. You know what, I’m quite sure we can all agree that Opal was never an AI or was ever stuck inside a computer as a living ball of lovable cat shaped energy and we have always been playing her up as one so that nobody would try to kidnap her from us. She has always had a body and anyone who says differently will get the business end of a plasma rifle.” “You’re shining… jewel…” Opal mumbled sleepily as she dug her face into the pillow and Rarity took her into her hooves as it seemed that she was starting to have a nightmare. End of normal chapter. - The harpoon struck the ship and Opal freaked out as a pulses of energy surged through her as well as a particularly nasty virus that started attacking her system and then it all suddenly stopped. She felt heat as several pulses of energy ran through the ship. <//Opalescence K. Belle Memory//> Wait how can I feel heat? Wait which way was up? Stop attacking the Shining Jewel, my friends live there with mom! Wait, I was angry? Was I supposed to feel this angry? There was so much warmth I needed more of it. Why do I feel as if I were on fire? My body was beginning to heat up… wait… what body? What’s happening to me and why does it feel so nice? Where’s the Shining Jewel? I needed Rarity, but Rarity wouldn’t be back for a while. I needed her touch, it was all I needed to be happy, to just be close to mom’s shining soul. I’m waiting for her to come back and if Shining Jewel… my friends and home! I’m trying to call out to them, why can’t they hear me? No wait, I’m not in the Shining Jewel’s systems right now am I? I’m bouncing around so much, from one source of warmth to another it’s so confusing. What was I doing? Yay, I’m attacking space pirates! No Opal, try to get it together as now is definitely not the time to be a hyperactive idiot! How is this happening to me? There are so many computer systems, how am I inhabiting them all? I need to pull it back together, I need to get back to the Shining Jewel. Is my mind fracturing due to the virus? What… hey don’t shoot at those people, they’ve never done anything to you! No concentrate, what is wrong with this picture? I know this all off… wait, am I actually inside one of the space pirate’s frigate systems and why is it so hot in here? So… much… it’s not heat… I know what it is now, its power! What am I doing with it? Sights and sounds too many to describe, did I just make that enemy fighter fly into another one. Have I finally gone completely rampant? I’m in a nightmare or I’ve become a nightmare, this can’t be hap… I’m in another frigate already and have completely disabled the previous one. I didn’t want anyone to die as they need to be brought to justice, so I believe I might have left enough power in the ship to run life support. Wait a minute, where did all the power of that previous ship go to? I… its inside me… so much inside… can’t contain it all… what do I do? I can’t think straight, I don’t think I’m coding anymore… huh so that’s what blue tastes like. Wait, blue doesn’t have a taste unless its fashionable color that just so happens to taste like itself! Too distracted, thinking too fast, destroying the pirates and avoiding the civilian ships this… how am I controlling all this? Is this what a bad drug trip feels like, now I think I know how mom felt after the whiplash injury and yikes is it bad! I realize now that I’m not… I’m going berserk and am not in complete control of myself, which is why I haven’t gone back to Shining Jewel. I don’t want to destroy it in my current state, I’m protecting them from me and everything else and trying to save the day like Lion Heart! What is my current state anyway, huh would you look at that Krad’s surprised face. I didn’t know energy weapons can be bent like that or was it me that turned around and slammed back into the fighter? It’s like he’s never seen an out of control blast of… am I finally slowing down? I’m beginning to come to my senses. No wait, I think I’m hitting critical mass of whatever this is. No, I don’t want to explode, exploding hurts! Wait, if I’m coding can I even feel pain? Why is my mind snapping like this? No, no, no, no, no, no, stop, no, too much, no, can’t, no… wait coming full circle again. I would like to take this moment of clarity and state that if there are any higher entity’s out there, then please let me return to my friends safely, because I don’t want to die like this! I want to go back to the Shining Jewel and live with my friends! I don’t want to be erased from existence, even if it will save a lot of lives from my rampancy. Okay, I can admit I’m being a selfish here, because I really don’t want to explode and kill all these people. I really don’t ask for much, but please let me be able to see Rarity in the flesh again! I’m not going to die, I’m not going to die, I’m not going to die and I AM NOT DYING LIKE THIS! I AM GOING BACK TO THE SHINING JEWEL WHERE I WILL CONTINUE EXISTING! DO YOU HEAR ME EXISTENCE, MY NAME IS OPAL BELLE… and I’m… not going to die. I don’t want to, no matter how rampant I’ve become, I want to live. I exist therefore… mommy… why do I feel something wet sliding down my… I feel… I feel you… I feel… alive. … … … My eyes open and I gasp as I find myself constricting twisting, I’m focusing on staying alive now that I can think again and everything is so bright. I need to live so that mom won’t be sad that some space pirate scum got lucky enough to get close to my hull with a harpoon of all things. Wait, I gasped? I don’t breathe air… or do I? Well… this is new. Am I… becoming biological? What is that… was I about to think smell? I have a nose and my eyes are still forming, everything is still so bright and I’m… sitting. Is that what I’m doing? Where am… atmosphere farm deck two Shining Jewel unknown massive energy fluctuation compressing right… where I’m sitting actually. Compressing into what though? What am I… is that me? When I said I wanted to see Rarity again in the flesh I didn’t mean literally! Too late now, all that energy is forming into… me I guess. I can see myself with the Shining Jewel’s systems, this is totally weird. I’m not going to move a muscle until I can figure this out. Wait I have muscles now? A manual for analog control of a physically manifested form of me would be helpful right about now. That or I can always have… Vera… help me out. Oh look, a third space pirate attack. Oh come on, I barely survived the second one! Now everything tastes like Purple… kind of reminds me of mom’s mane really. Arming remaining turrets for reprisal and... … … … Fine, I need help. I’m in agony and I feel unusually drained. It’s been so long, I’m probably safe to be around now and not in danger of going supernova or whatever that was and the third attack ended or at least I think it has. What’s the closest thing to having mom here right now? Her friends! Coco and… Vera… those two wouldn’t hurt me or at least I hope they won’t. Wait… is mommy back yet? My head is so fuzzy and why does it hurt this much! I was fine for a while and now it’s just getting worse, I’m still connected to the systems so I need to call help. I came this far, I just need to push a little further and believe that Rarity’s friends will help. How long have I been out of it? My head hasn’t exactly been on straight, but at least I know they’ve been worried about me since I no longer appear on a screen or even need one for that matter. I remember doing things for them even if I’m not longer part of the system. This is going to be really awkward, aside from the pain I feel an awful nagging sensation and wiggling around only helps that so much. Am I sitting in the atmosphere farms moss or algae? Maybe Rarity’s friends will know what’s wrong with me aside from the sudden case of life. Please come for me soon mom, I need you. Medical Bay? How much time is passing me by when I lose my train of thought? Author's Note Let's start the new year off with a slightly elongated chapter. 4500 + for the main chapter. 1500 + for Opal's Memory. Started writing New Years Eve and finished the chapter on the dawn of a new day. Also a embeddable youtube video that fits Opal's situation. Note about Opal below: Opal will not be stupidly powerful like that ever again for a long time, but she will actually have cyberpathy which is the ability of 'controlling software' from having absorbed Rarity's aforementioned and rather late AI and her existence as an energy being gives her immunity to most, but not all, forms of energy weapons. Taking on a physical form has limited the maximum capacity of energy she can hold onto and use at any given time, when she is full energy based assault will deflect or bounce of Opal. When hurt, Opal will now actually bleed, absorbing energy will help her recover quickly and she can even expend energy to regenerate though this will make her hungry. Technopathy is controlling all forms of hardware psychically without needing to code software. Not having this ability, Opal has to actually do some things the hard way and requires energy to perform her coding and actively control computer systems. Opal has the advantage of having already controlled three main objects directly meaning it's easier for her to work with. these objects are Rarity's Data Pad, Caravel Boutique and Shining Jewel, anything else she'll have to try hard to gain any resemblance of control over or access to unless she has remotely been in the system previously without directly controlling it. IE the communications network on Eweson or Chrysalis's data pad. She needs to work on creating footholds to do anything, a 'technopath' will automatically trump her ability. Thanks to having 'cyberpathic' abilities, any system Opal directly controls will be immune to all forms of viruses and irregularities such as spyware.
-110-“It’s nice that you’d protect Opal on my behalf Gilda, but you’d have to get in line if someone hurts my baby. The only reason I wouldn’t be dealing with the problem that even thought of touching Opal is if I’m not around anymore. I guess that would make you and Greta her godmothers if you’re looking for more work, though I guess anyone can volunteer for the position… except for Chrysalis.” Coughing into the hoof that wasn’t encased in a cast, Rarity continued on with the meeting ignoring Chrysalis’s confused and slightly hurt puppy look. “Speaking of work and if we may continue the meeting… Greta dear, how soon can you make some new power armor for Mare-Do-Well? Also what is the status on making personal shields for the crew?” Gilda didn’t say anything, she just crossed her arms on the table and stared at Rarity with a predatory look. Her tail was waggling happily though, so she approved of taking care of Opal if something happened at least. “The personal shields are going to take me a while to get around to working on, but yes I would like the job of looking out for Opal. Mostly because she’s so adorable!” It seemed Greta was all for watching out for Opal if anything happened to Rarity. “As for the Mare-Do-Well armor system, well I still need to go over the data we got from it while it was still operational. I’m quite sure we can build a better Ar-Mare-Do-Well version two.” “Does anyone else have anything else to address while we’re all still here? Any concerns about me or anyone else in the crew? Something like that would be a good thing to bring up right now.” That opened the floor up so it wasn’t just Rarity running the meeting, she wanted to at least let her friends talk about what they wanted to. “So you say Opal came from your magic, a spark of energy and it basically swallowed an AI. Where did the spark of energy that made Opal what she is come from?” It was a concern that Saffron had that they were harboring some kind of dangerous energy leeching lifeform… and she wasn’t thinking about Chrysalis at all when she thought that. Nope, she wasn’t thinking about how Chrysalis was feeding off of that little filly that for some reason. Okay, yes, that bothered her a lot now that she was focusing on it. Opal didn’t seem bad in comparison as she didn’t seem to be trying to hurt anyone. “I haven’t the foggiest idea where Opal’s original spark of life came from, but I’m acknowledging her as part of my family anyway. Sure she may be an energy based being, but she’s still my daughter.” Turning her gaze from the peacefully sleeping cat, Rarity turned to Gilda sharply. A thought had just occurred to her and it was a poignant one at that, there was a grave injustice happening now that Rarity thought of it. Her ridiculous amounts of generosity would not let this particular thing slide one bit. “Gilda I need you to do something for me and it is an immediate concern. In fact I’m giving it top priority, even if this meeting might be ongoing for a while. Come over here so I can tell you please.” “What is it Boss Lady?” Gilda got up from her comfortable and lazy position and made her way over to Rarity. She approached the one that graciously gave her a hangar to work out of and leaned over to hear several whispered words. The griffon looked a bit shocked and mildly surprised at what was being requested of her. Gilda turned towards the kitchen and started to saunter off. “I’ve got nothing I really want to bring up right now, so I’ll get right on that. Since I’m going to be busy thanks to Rarity’s request, Greta will field any engineering questions everyone else might have if any.” Gilda went into the kitchen and started gathering supplies for something, she was drawing a lot of stares and Rarity decided to distract them from that. It wasn’t of any importance to them and Rarity preferred if they didn’t question it. It seemed like Gilda liked the idea well enough to go along with it. “Don’t mind her, I asked her to do something special for me and she has apparently agreed to it.” Drawing everyone’s attention back to her, Rarity took a breath and decided to address a few more things since it seemed like no one was going to speak soon. “I have to ask Trapeze, since you’re the leader of your troupe, are you ever going to move on from the Shining Jewel. I ask because eventually you might want to make your own way with your own ship, you can’t possibly want to travel around with a disaster zone like me for too long.” “Nope, not happening! I’m sticking to all my friends like glue and I don’t think I’d find a better deal or transportation than your ship Boss Lady. I can run my troupe out of your ship easily enough, though I might take on a few more real true blue troupe members if that’s okay with you. Not that I mind Saffron or anyone else willing to join my troupe for a show or two on a temporary basis if they ask.” Trapeze tilted her hat to Rarity with a real and loving broad smile, she was affectionate with her words and her attitude. Friendship meant a lot to her, even finding out Bernard was not the bunny she thought he was didn’t matter. He had been a true friend to her, even if he had been keeping secrets from her. Though thinking on it, Bernard had been getting pretty strangely affectionate around her and rather protective ever since those pirates nearly hurt her. She didn’t think much of it because they were best friends forever, her sweet little Lagotorphin was a constant companion she could rely on. “If for whatever reason any troupe member I take on is bad business, then I’ll have to do more than apologize to you profusely. Anyone I hire specifically for the troupe’s business would be my responsibility and I’d need to be the one to keep them in line. If there is ever a point that I think I need to leave Shining Jewel to go my own way, I’ll notify you personally. There will be a possibility that I will sobbing my eyes out like a little filly while notifying you.” “Rover is always in line and will help Trapeze pony with protecting interests.” Idly commented the Diamond Dog who was juggling seven balls, catching one in his mouth every so often to spit back into the pattern without getting any slobber on them. “New pack and life is making me happy, Rover would fight to protect it with claw and gun. Prefer teeth to stay in head. I am having painful history with losing puppy teeth.” Bernard, even in his bandaged state, spoke up excitably while throwing affectionate looks Trapeze’s way. He also sent a salute Rarity’s way, he had no issues with Rarity and even approved of her as a comrade. “Saffron, Mr. Cumin, do either of you have any complaints about working conditions?” At this point Rarity was trying to strike up a conversation with the people that were a part of her crew. “None that I can think of good Lady Belle, you took us in when we no longer had a home and I have no complaints about you. Except that we might need more internal defenses, I’m actually enjoying being in space.” After saying his piece Coriander turned a stare to his daughter. “Though I fear my daughter might drive me into an early grave with all the danger she gets into. I don’t like seeing my daughter hurt, but I would never stop her from doing what she thinks is right.” “It hasn’t been that bad father, the things I have fought have barely been twice as dangerous as anything I did back on Equus.” What Saffron wasn’t saying, was that nothing has been less dangerous than anything she’s ever faced on Equus. The Antilur thing was actually three times more dangerous than any evil shadow spirit that Equus ever produced and the last notable one of those in history was the Nightmare that infected Princess Luna. Being near Rarity was like an adrenaline rush waiting to happen and it helped that Rarity was an altruistic pony that liked to go completely out of her way to help people. “I have no complaints despite the fact that I’m still covered from head to hoof in bruises. I’m quite used to it and I have yet to permanently tarnish my appearance.” Bernard idly commented with a series of squeaks about something that sounded suspiciously like, if anyone tried to tarnished Trapeze’s appearance at all then he’d violate them with rusty tweezers, a septic spoon and a salt shaker. “Remind me to train you in professional methods of torture later little guy.” Despite not understanding what he said, Chrysalis could very well read his disposition towards Trapeze and what he’d do to anyone that hurt her in any way. Bernard gained a feral grin and squeaked to Chrysalis while nodding vigorously. He had heard what the Changeling Queen had done with a live beaver before. It was also quite demented what Chrysalis could do with a skateboard, a pound of raw eggs and a doll’s house, Bernard wouldn’t mind learning a thing or two that he would never do in front of Trapeze. He knew Trapeze wouldn’t approve, not that she had to ever know if he ever did anything like that to someone who really deserved it and even had it coming. “I’d rather not know what comes of that.” It was better that Trapeze not question Chrysalis about what she might teach Bernard, she likely didn’t have the stomach for what Chrysalis could do to someone with just a toothpick alone. “I believe almost all of us can agree to that.” The shudder of revulsion that traveled through Coco’s body was quite noticeable, it wasn’t like she wasn’t the only one that didn’t want to know what Chrysalis could or would do to someone that crossed her. Not after she heard about the thing with the action figure, a gallon of petrol, a stick of bubblegum and three coins of Equestrian currency. “I’ve already scheduled full sessions for everyone, starting with Rarity after this meeting.” Dully intoned Vera who was trying to keep her right eye from twitching, she was failing horribly. She was getting used to being called ‘the masseuse’. “So long as you let me vent on all of you as well, I’m getting quite stressed.” “Thank you Vera, I wouldn’t mind you getting everything off your chest first even if I’ve been needing to get all my issues off mine personally. A nice massage would go a long way to help that too. Speaking of getting things off our chests, Coco could you please remove Mr. Spew from my person please?” Rarity didn’t know when Mr. Spew got on her, but he was clinging to her fur at her chest level and he seemed… sad in a way. He likely missed Ember and Rarity would be visiting medical frequently over the next few months, the creature might have disgusted her a bit but she could understand how it felt. Coco took a minute or two to coax the deadly sewer squid off of Rarity, she willingly let the squid cling to her and Rarity considered taking a shower before meeting Vera after this. “Now that that is over with, anything else that needs to be brought to my or anyone else’s attention?” “Aside from talking about your cousins impending wedding, there’s really not much else to say Rarity. Though I would like to know what Gilda is doing in the kitchen.” Tilting her head, Sassy looked into the kitchen to see Gilda working on something. “Oh it’s just something special for all of us and more importantly Opal when she wakes up. Opal hasn’t had much to eat beyond a nice looking tomato bisque and hot grilled cheese sandwiches.” Rarity thought it was nice to have friends like Gilda, even if the griffon was a bit of a brute and not very ladylike. The griffon could do nice things even if she got grumpy about it and this was one of those things where Gilda wasn’t acting very grumpy at all. “I figured she might be able to indulge in something special now that she be will able to taste it.” “Speaking of special, I know Opal can’t walk yet. As smart as she is, she really doesn’t know how to use her body, well aside from her mouth that is. I’m assuming my personal expertise will be called upon to help her get the idea of how to manipulate her limbs.” There was something that Vera needed to do like yesterday if Opal was going to be moving around on her own anytime soon and she didn’t have a problem teaching the cat to walk. “Though I think that should really be your job Rarity, you’re her mother and isn’t teaching your daughter how to walk on of the things you have to do?” “I’ll just bring her to our session and make it a family thing.” If it sounded like a good idea, then Rarity was going to do it. “Are you alright with that Vera?” “That’ll be fine and it might help Opal to have you be there for her. Might also help you to have her there too.” That was settled as far as Vera was concerned, she still had questions as to how Opal overcame her well known problem even if she knew Opal couldn’t answer them. She was happy to have two people who can remember her, but it also gave her hope that with time others might be able to overcome Vera’s strange affliction. “With that I believe we’re about done here. I, Coco and Sassy can handle our clothing business and we’ll call Trap Bar to see if anyone needs EVA suits while we’re in the area.” They were the providers of the best and most comfortable EVA suits around and Rarity had to capitalize on that fact. They could always use more funds. “Wait, I actually have something to ask Sassy that’s very important! Why won’t you give me the time of day?” It actually looked like Chrysalis was quite upset about this, only Sassy gave her a flat look. The flat look was because Sassy knew what Chrysalis was actually talking about and it wasn’t her verbally noted amorous intentions towards Sassy. “Chrysalis, I hope you do realize that there are basically no time zones in space. If there were, space ships always tend to work on their primary home planet’s time based on the time zone you live in. It’s either that or you use the nearest planets time zone.” It seemed like Sassy was explaining that as if Chrysalis was a three year old grub. “Oh… no wonder I can’t get the time of day from you! I always thought there were some kind of system wide time zone thing. So the time onboard this ship is set to Equestrian Standard?” Tilting her head and closing her eyes to think, after scrunching up her nose Chrysalis tried to figure out what her issue with that was. “Does that mean space ships clocks are constantly working on two different time zones at all times?” “Well yes, the ES for most ponies is the time zone Canterlot resides in. Some people try to follow more than two time zones, it’s not exactly important really. Of course the less said about how Luna and Celestia can warp the time zones on Equus with their abilities over the movements of the sun and moon the better.” Nobody, especially not Rarity, wanted to tell the two princesses how to do their jobs. Luna kind of messed up the planets time when she was still Nightmare Moon and Celestia thankfully fixed that. “So does that mean I’m almost perfect twice over? I didn’t think the universe could handle more of me.” Okay Chrysalis was acting to haughty for Rarity’s taste, she sent Sassy a look and the stylish kimono wearing mare slowly rolled her eyes. “Then again it take a lot to be this…” Sassy levitated her sheathed sword from her back and with a quick rotation slammed it over Chrysalis’s head, that shut her up and made her blush while sending Sassy a dopey affectionate look. “Can you please hit on me more, I enjoy it more than I normally would if it were anyone else.” Yep Chrysalis was a lost cause, now if anyone knew what the cause was that was lost to begin with. “Does anyone feel bothered by the fact that Chrysalis doesn’t know that hitting on someone is supposed to be figurative in meaning?” As soon as Coco asked that every hoof and talon raised up in acknowledgement, the exception being Coco herself having asked that and Chrysalis who didn’t get why everyone else was raising a limb. “So it is not supposed to be both figurative and literal?” Chrysalis had thought she figured out ponies a long time ago, even as long as she has lived she still didn’t understand everything about ponies even now. Well there were also two griffons, the mutt and Opal so maybe she should do some research as to what she was missing. “I don’t mind it being literal in my case if it bothers you that much.” “We are talking about Chrysalis here. One of her rituals for courtship involves kidnapping, be it a friend or family, to get the attention of the one she’s attracted to.” For a lack of better words for it, Rarity just thought it was a mildly odd Changeling tradition. It was only slightly odd because Changelings never really focused on actually ever hurting anyone physically. Sure they were sometimes scary, sure they were strange and might look ridiculous with their large fangs for a species that doesn’t even eat meat, but for the most part Changelings as a species weren’t dangerous if you didn’t account for their sanity challenged queens. Every Changeling Queen in existence was sanity challenged in at least some way, the rest of the species are polite and for the most part friendly by comparison. Well when they weren’t cocooning you to feed of your love and Chrysalis solved that problem personally. “I won’t tell her to live like a Pony, as such I hope she doesn’t expect us to live like Changelings. We all have our own cultures here, like Rover having a large mound of dirt in his room that he sleeps in.” “You’d make terrible Changelings anyway, you don’t fear me enough and I’d like to think I’m far more dangerous than Ember ever was… provided she wasn’t breathing fire directly at me.” There were a lot of reasons to fear Chrysalis, if she weren’t as affable as she acted most of the time then Rarity might have had more issues with her taking up space in the Shining Jewel. There many were things about Changelings that always had pony philosophers scratching their heads, such as why Changelings never wanted nicer or friendlier queens. “Moving on, does anybody has anything negative to say about how I’m running things?” Nobody spoke up and Rarity kind of felt her heart warm up at the fact that they didn’t. “You are doing fine, even if I could turn us into a military powerhouse and take over the universe.” Nobody took Chrysalis’s bait, because she might actually have plan to do just that and they didn’t want to know. “No takers? You guys are no fun! Fine, I didn’t want to take over the universe anyway.” “We’re not doing anything related to universe spanning dictatorships Chrysalis and I’m just guessing that’s what you were thinking.” The innocent smile Rarity received didn’t make her feel any better. “Right then, this meeting is coming to a close and I need to have a session with Vera. So who wants to try and wake up Opal?” Everyone stared at Opal and nobody moved. They really didn’t want to wake Opal up, she looked really comfortable as she was. Rarity didn’t want to interrupt her nap and Opal seemed to having any trouble with all the noise they had been making. “I’m not about to do it, I’m never cruel to children. Even children not of my own species.” Chrysalis stated for clarity when she got some looks. “If I wouldn’t wake nymphs or grubs sleeping on top of me, then I’m not about to do it to your Pony hive mind daughter. Changeling Queens are very protective of their children and if you have any reaction similar mind to what anyone like me would do, then I’d rather not attempt it.” “Are you all really being that lame? I’ll do it! You guys are being a bunch of wusses.” When Gilda came over to them she looked to have a few splotches of flour on her feathers, it was kind of hard to notice and Rarity was one of the few that could see it. She looked down at the sleeping Opal in her basket and slowly pushed a singly claw into the outer edge of Opal’s ear and slowly slid it up and down the inside of it. Opal’s face twitched and she rolled over, Gilda apparently took offense to Opal ignoring her and dusted off a bit of flour over Opal’s nose causing her to sneeze loudly. That woke up Opal and she yawned, before smiling up at Gilda with bright cheer filled eyes. “Hey Gilda, why are you covered in flour? Also can someone help me with these blankets, I still don’t know how to use my limbs correctly and I seem to be stuck.” Soon Opal would be freed by Rarity and then they would go through the fun process of teaching Opal how to walk and use her limbs. Throughout all this Lightning had stayed particularly silent, she didn’t feel like speaking up and now was a good a time as any. She hadn’t been paying attention to anything discussed and was thinking of her old fighter, she wasn’t getting that P-wing fighter back and it was an old model anyway. Why did that news have to hurt so much? “Is everything alright Lightning?” Rarity paused in getting Opal out of the blankets she entangled herself in. “Actually I have an announcement to make, but first no… I’m not alright. When is my session with…?” She looked to the drone looked where it was pointed and nodded at Vera. “With her is what I want to say.” “You’ll be next in the queue behind Rarity, Chrysalis is last.” Of the patients Vera has to work with, Chrysalis was the most taxing given that she enjoyed massages as much as she did pain and couldn’t stop making sensual sounding comments. “Right, on to my announcement then. I figure that since I’m the only real pilot on the ship. I’m going to be teaching anyone who wants to learn how to fly a ship without Opal’s assistance, mostly because without Opal, Gilda, Greta or me we would be in dire straits with going anywhere. My lessons will mostly be for smaller ships, but I know a thing or two about navigation and communications which will be a part of the lessons I’m going to teach.” Lightning sighed and rubbed her forehead with a wing. “Also if anyone needs assistance with anything, well I don’t really have much to do around here without a fighter to pilot. I haven’t exactly been feeling very useful lately, I really don’t want to freeload off of you guys. I’ll go work up a schedule now. While I may not have a dream, at least being here is giving me something like a purpose and I have to give thanks for that.” With that Lightning got up and quickly left the mess hall, there were several worried looks sent after her. “Speaking of dreams… never mind, this meeting is over. I have a daughter to take care of and teaching her to walk will be taking up quite a bit of time. Thank you all for coming, now you can go about your business whatever it is you feel like doing. Come along Vera, we have much to discuss.” Rarity scooped up Opal in her magic and asked her precious little fluffy ball of energy in the shape of a vaguely humanoid cat a pointed question. “Since you still have a connection to the system, can you open up our sales menu?” “Of course I can mom, just because I’m a slight degree separated from the systems, it doesn’t mean I still can’t work them.” With a smile and a thought she opened up their sales menu to this system, they needed the work to make money for more supplies. This whole thing with Applin Five was not only a setback financially, but a lot of people died because of the conspiracy being perpetrated by Tempest Technologies. It was a surprise that Rarity could keep pushing forward despite that, then again they were about to have a session with Vera. “Though I do have to program an avatar of myself because I don’t think I can appear on the screen anymore… well unless I can convert to pure energy and enter the computers again. This is only a slight problem, programming my appearance to show up in the sales menu shouldn’t take too long.” “So should we work on quadrupedal motion or bipedal motion first? I’m asking because Opal can do either and getting her acquainted with the right muscles groups...” Pausing as a thought occurred to her, Vera saw realized something very odd about Opal’s body. “Opal if you made that body, then how do you not know how it works?” “I may have made this body, but it was made while I was delirious with power and I don’t exactly have an owner’s manual for it. It’s also quite foreign to me to even be breathing air, so please just accept that I somehow have a body that I made under duress and don’t exactly know how to use it.” The sights, sounds, tastes, touch and smells were all quite new to Opal. She had no idea how she did this or even how her body worked when her brain was basically a mass of raw energy. “I believe the term for this is, how do I biology?” - “Why haven’t you ever brought up charges against those mares then?” Celestia asked Thorax in a disbelieving tone, they were sharing tea and the Drag Queen was using her as therapist. Not exactly the brightest idea when Celestia was a constant bundle of nerves with her horrible day to day life, at least Twilight makes it better. Speaking of charges, Celestia should probably be brought up on some with what she did with Twilight. Only Twilight didn’t resist and actually consented to what was happening so there wasn’t a case if Twilight wasn’t making it one, even if Celestia had been on bananas at the time. She still felt guilty about actually enjoying every moment she spends with Twilight now. The outcome of Twilight becoming an alicorn was either to survive how roughly she was treated or out of need to not die of old age as a suitor, the first she didn’t like and the second made her blush that Twilight might have formed an eternal bond with her. “It’s technically recognized as molestation, it’s really kind of hard to rape a Changeling when we can manipulate our genitalia out of existence.” Thorax had seen better days and was avoiding Cadence like she was the living embodiment of a Changeling destroying plague. “Also I really don’t want to kick up a fuss about this, I’m just going to stay in my asexual form and keep my doll based anatomy.” “I really should have a talk with Cadence about her ideas on what real love is, you’re clearly scared to death of her.” Not that Celestia would ever tell Thorax that she thought it was funny at first, only now did it come off as truly horrific. She already got enough horrors from Luna’s lunacy, maybe it was Cadence taking out her frustrations on Mr. Thorax instead of Chrysalis. Thorax was the most innocent sounding Changeling she’s ever met and that was saying something. “Enough about my problems, what are we going to do about the humans that invaded the Applon System and nearly wrecked the ecosystems of the two habitable planets in said system?” They couldn’t sit around on this, they had to take more action and the EDF already had a storm of information on the operations of Tempest Technologies. “I heard that some of them even managed to escape both planets those ecosystem wrecking scams were set up on.” “We already have the EDF in full force in system. Even with the few humans and pirates that got away we will be taking the humans to task about all the information garnered from this. One thing is for certain, military grade equipment was legally sold to the Tempest Technologies Company. So they cannot deny government involvement, but they will try to scapegoat any other government to hide the truth that they were either all in on it or to keep us off the real culprit.” It was kind of paying off for Celestia to have dealt with Chrysalis’s shenanigans as long as she has. Speaking of shenanigans, she had an idea. “I really don’t want to go to war, that’s some messy business me and Luna really don’t want our 'mostly' peaceful world to get involved in. Which is why I’m going to send an ambassador. It will not be just any ambassador though, it will be a Changeling disguised as a Pony to infiltrate and discover the truth behind whoever was actively supporting Tempest Technologies. I’m going to be honest, I don’t like people picking on my little ponies or even the other races of our world. They hurt my people and even sold some of them into slavery, so as you can imagine I’m quite mad about this.” “Do you want me to send Deep Throat out to investigate?” Thorax wanted to work with Celestia on this. Sure Thorax knew they haven’t lost a single Changeling to this plot, but it could be a prelude to a personal invasion of their world and their allies needed their help. He wasn’t a very strong leader like Chrysalis, but at least he could make an effort to help Celestia. “No, I actually want you to put Hard Throb on it.” Celestia had thought this out. Hard Throb might be accident prone, but he was the stealthiest Changeling she had ever seen… next to Chrysalis that is. Even she still hadn’t figured out how he got a wheelchair onto the chandelier in the middle of the gala without being seen. At least someone should have seen him, it was known that he didn’t even use an invisibility to spell as they had magical detection for it at the gala. “Oh yeah, that might actually be better… well once his spine recovers from that thing with the wood chipper.” Thorax readily agreed, Hard Throb was a really good agent even if he was almost always three hooves in the grave with the last one holding on for dear life. Celestia was calm on the outside, but on the inside she was seething with anger and despite that anger she would not be violent without reason. That didn’t mean she couldn’t spread this information around to anyone who will listen, she would have to contact the Plurt and Parascine leaders as they were good allies to have do their own investigations. The Caccerans and Macropussians were also likely to be an option, the former were more neutral and the latter were a bit aggressive but diplomacy would still have an effect. She didn’t trust The Krad or Ceantirs to be worthwhile endeavors to contact. She was definitely keeping the Pendaxons away from her people, never trust a species that have a habit of eating other sentient beings behind people’s backs. As for Foggres, well she didn’t even know how to contact those lunatics, but if she could she would have Luna talk with them. The recent incident at Streusel Station put the Foggre species in a rather poor light. Having finished her mental checklist of off world allies, enemies and between, Celestia decided to get into contact with Luna to have a lengthy discussion about the future and where to go from here. Author's Note Yeah, I'm not good at writing politics or machinations.
-111-“Okay can you feel this?” Despite how upset Vera was making Opal, she was only trying to help with her prodding hooves. Judging by how the Opal flinched and then glared at her, Vera would definitely say she felt that and didn’t appreciate it one bit. “Look, Rarity will have to go through the same thing when her bio-cast comes off. So stop looking at me like that.” “It was an odd and slightly unpleasant sensation.” Needless to say Opal didn’t like pain, but she did like being caressed and tickled. Opal was currently on her belly on the floor and Vera was massaging one of her limbs so she could get a better feel for it, Vera pinching her left arm had caused her a bit of discomfort. “I hope you know this is for your own good Opal dear. You’ll have to learn how to crawl before you can run.” Rarity was being supportive and they had been talking about their harrowing experiences with one of the best listeners on the ship, also the best pony for keeping a secret and was very good at confidentiality. This family session was going swimmingly so far if Rarity wanted to voice an opinion on it, though Opal was still having trouble get her limbs into the right position to stand. “Is there a chance that she’s thinking about it too hard Vera? What I mean of course is that instead of instinctually just doing it, what if she’s trying to will it to happen mentally and that’s why she’s learning so slowly.” “To be fair this is the first thing that was ever this slow for me, I think at speeds as fast as some of the best computers on market.” It wasn’t like Opal wasn’t trying, she was slowly beginning to learn how to flex the digits on her left arm. At least it was something while she had her mind on the drone operations, keeping the Shining Jewel in orbit, watching the surrounding space around the ship for any sign of trouble, taking orders from the sales menu, paying attention to local transmissions, doing some accounting and posting a few comments on a forum about the recently discovered conspiracy. Why was this one thing more difficult than all the other things she was currently multitasking on at this moment? “Speaking of busy, Gilda and Greta are back on repairs, I’m sending the new incoming orders to Coco and Sassy, the Trapeze Troupe is working on some light tricks, Coriander is spending quality time with Saffron like I am with you mom, Lightning is helping our guest Rubis with what looks to be a mild case of PTSD, there’s Chrysalis, Babs and Applejack are discussing Puffles in general and I’m still very frustrated by all these new sensations. We’re not exactly at a loss for things to do.” “It’s amazing how much you can keep track of, and yet your own limbs are giving you issues.” Vera started kneading Opal’s back and the poor cat started purring like a soft sounding motor. “You need to dial back from tracking the big picture so hard and think of yourself as one of the trees in the forest. Given how you were brought up, it makes a lot of sense that you’re like this.” “If I dial it back I might cause our orbit to destabilize, and that would be bad. Like super bad, as in mom contracted a biological body transforming horror and will never look beautiful again kind of bad.” Though Opal was trying to focus on herself instead of all the other mental activities she was running through at the moment, she was finding it harder to focus on herself than everything else. “Though she’d still have her personality, though I think that would just make it worse.” “I concur that still having my mind in such situation would be the true horror, instead of becoming a mindless monster.” There were standards and Rarity still had them concerning her life choices, having to deal with body horrors like the monstrous flesh shaping brain at Antilur Station caused her to shiver at the horrible memories. That horrible, fleshy, screeching scorpion monster still haunted her nightmares from time to time. “I also seriously wouldn’t want my investments crashing quite literally to the surface of the planet and burning everything for miles around. Of course, I’m quite certain that you are overly exaggerating the fact that you need to keep our orbit in constant mind dear.” “Yeah, I was kind of exaggerating too much. It would take days for our orbit to even begin to deteriorate if the planet’s gravity was any stronger.” Opal didn’t need to micromanage it, but it saved on energy and she felt bad about all the energy she had used up previously. “We’re actually at an optimal distance to stay in orbit and I’m just fussing over the small details too much.” Opal hadn’t exactly realized that she had been feeding off Shining Jewel’s reactor like she had been, then again she hadn’t realized she did the same to Caravel Boutique or Rarity’s data pad either. Hearing about the reactors higher output mentioned by Greta and Gilda made Opal lower it to more normal levels that didn’t have an energy entity unintentionally feeding off of it constantly. It was understandable that Opal was quite guilty about this, given how long she’s been getting away with it while unknowingly pretending to be an AI. It was hard to say how much energy she used up just from her day to day life just controlling the computer systems of Shining Jewel alone. It left her with the haunting thought that she was still controlling those systems… from the outside. She didn’t feel like she was eating energy, but what if she still was? It was a notable concern to look into when she wasn’t around her mom and Ms. Blossom. “I think we can look at things from a different angle…” Having glanced between the two, Vera could already guess accurately that what was going on wasn’t on purpose and no one was at fault. If Opal couldn’t dial back her bigger picture view, then another route would need to be taken. Vera didn’t want the ship she was intrinsically a part of crashing into the planet below, but she still had to voice it anyway. She at least seriously doubted that Opal would intentionally crash the ship, though she was curious on how much control Opal still had over the computer systems. “Well it’s not too entirely different an angle really. Opal can focus pretty well on many things at once, but I think she needs you to help her on the here and now part Rarity. You’re her mother and she is your foal, Opal could unintentionally be acting the part of needing her mother to care for and teach her how to do things. She looks to you for guidance Rarity and she wants both affection and acknowledgement that things are going to be okay.” “I… I really don’t like feeling useless as you’re suggesting, yet at the moment I do find myself feeling rather inept. If it’s entirely psychosomatic like you’re suggesting it is, then I probably need to be nudged in my butt by a deer. Whitetails know how to get their children walking from birth right?” It was kind of hard for Opal to not be jealous of deer fawn, given that when they are born they learn to walk in almost no time at all. It takes about ten minutes for a new fawn to get standing and Opal has been alive for more than a day and has yet to figure out anything else aside from breathing and talking. Did she even need to use the bathroom or does her nature as being an energy based entity prevent that particular need that other biological beings go through? “Even if I’m feeling rather upset at our current lack of progress, can I at least say that your massage feels rather divine Ms. Blossom. I can see why mom really enjoys this feeling.” “Why thank you Opal, I’m trying to keep myself pleasant in the face of someone else being able to remember my name for more than two minutes. You can imagine how frustrating it is to finally have someone overcome my problem right in front of me and we don’t know exactly how you did it, though there is something else I’ve been wondering.” Vera received a quirked ear from Opal and Rarity gave her a curious gaze. “Did Opal ever take up any memory capacity of any computer system she’s ever been inside of?” “I can answer that readily enough, I always thought there was some discrepancy concerning that. Apparently Opal didn’t grow or take up large portions of memory capacity in any computer system like a normal AI would. It was rather unique given if she moved into a larger system, then Opal wouldn’t begin taking up any more space than she already does. That being almost none at all.” As far as Rarity knew, AI’s tended to spread themselves into a system as a whole and had to compress themselves to actively fit into smaller systems which might involve losing memory or leaving behind unimportant data. Sometimes the data an AI finds unimportant leads to some pretty bad things happening, if returned to the larger system the AI would almost immediately remember everything it lost because a large portion of its memory would still be sitting there. “It’s why Opal could go from being in the Shining Jewel to the Caravel Boutique without having some form of memory loss or trouble for moving to smaller computer systems. AI’s tend to garner memory loss and or build onto themselves too much which leads to rampancy unless some particularly profound pruning codes keep them in check. Pruning codes are not perfect and as you can imagine they wouldn’t have any effect on Opal at all given she was never made of coding to begin with.” “You’re really good at this stress relief thing Vera. Anyway building on what mom said, pruning programs are supposed to keep an AI from growing too far out of control or losing their minds. It is also to keep them from doing things they really shouldn’t. Unless an AI is coded correctly, they could accidentally glitch or become bugged when moved between small and large systems frequently. Thankfully overlapping memories is another problem that I’ve never had to deal with, that or corrupted memories.” Though with some consideration Opal knew that she was responsible for a different set of problems that had Rarity confounded for quite a bit of her life, such as the poor battery life on her data pad that Opal was inside of. The cat tried to relax as Vera’s heavenly hooves rubbed at her fur in just the right way to make her feel like fast moving data stream of unlimited information. “I’ve never had problem with remembering things personally, though I could probably do without the memories of my meowstress turning off the data pad and still being aware though I should have logically entered shutdown mode. I admit I caused a different problem entirely when it came to the energy capacity of everything I’ve ever inhabited, I didn’t exactly know the increased energy drain was my fault at the time. I really should apologize for all the trouble I caused you mom.” “No apology necessary Opal. Yes, I will admit openly that you are quite the little power pig. I’ve never had so much trouble with battery life before Opal was born, memory storage space upgrades wouldn’t have been nearly as expensive. Still I persevered and wouldn’t ever give up on Opal and she certainly didn’t give up me.” Rarity moved around so that she could look into her pacified daughter’s eyes. “So what do you need me to do to help you learn to walk, I hope it’s not the same thing I had to do with Sweetie Belle.” “Oh my goodness, that would be a complete disaster! Tomatoes were never meant to explode like that or catch everything on fire! There is no way we’re doing something like that mother, besides I don’t think I’d enjoy the taste of tree sap nearly as much as Sweetie would. I’m getting used to having fur and I’d prefer to keep it clean for as long as I can.” There were a few memories that got Opal giggling, there was nothing quite like remembering… would Rarity’s sister technically be her aunt? Now that she considered it, Rarity’s parents were her grandpa and grandma. That was going to be awkward to explain to them. Her Aunt Sweetie was a smart filly, but that didn’t mean she avoided getting into all kinds of trouble. “I guess, if we’re doing this mom, then I need you to instruct me as you see fit. If I’m only incompetent because I want you to be the one to help me move around, then I need you like I’ve never needed you before mom. Usually it’s me doing a lot of things for you whenever you needed me, now I’m a child that really needs the help of her mother.” Rarity’s eyes grew quite glossy and her pupils expanded to a large size as she brought Opal into a one hoofed hug born of love, she casually nuzzled her daughters pink hair and Opal nuzzled her face right back. It was a rather touching moment that Vera wisely did not intrude upon. “I believe this family session is working quite wonderfully for the both of you mentally and you are bonding really well with one another. That’s to be expected given the circumstances surrounding your relationship to one another as family, though Rarity notably doesn’t have a healthy relationship with her parents that’s perfectly fine given what Rarity has told me about it.” It was nice for Vera to see the pair acting on their love for one another, but she still had to deal with their personal issues and any other psychologically traumatizing thing they would inevitably come to her about. “Still we need to talk about your individual issues, like for instance are you still having nightmares about that giant unstoppable flesh monster Rarity? As for you Opal, there’s your fear of being killed for acting out of line or being abandoned for being useless. Not to mention the recent problems with the human facility and Opal’s crisis of suddenly not being what she thought she was throwing her image of self out the nearest airlock. We need to talk about everything and I believe you two can take solace in each other while we do it. We need to be open about how we feel and I will do my level best to keep both of you relaxed.” “Can mommy teach me to walk while we do this?” That sounded more childish than Opal meant it to, but the question made her appear more like the small frail creature that she currently looked like compared to Rarity’s larger form snuggling her. Her ears wilted back, her lips quivered and her eyes were starting to fill with sadness. “Of course she can, it’s not weak to show vulnerability to those who care about you.” Even Vera cared a great deal about these two and not just because they can blink without losing sight of her, Rarity’s entire crew was becoming a family. It was not tight knit family yet, she had yet to see a really bad argument between anyone on the crew and how they’d handle the fallout, because they mostly kept to themselves unless they were needed for something important. It was only a matter of time before emotions went wild or heated arguments started up, so far she was just as surprised as Gilda was that they weren’t all at each other’s throats. It was Vera that would have to deal with keeping the crew sane when the time came that they eventually started falling apart and despite the problems most of the crew had, they were quite mentally stable as a group all things considered. “Though I’m surprised that the crew is as stable as it is considering the wide cultural diversity we have as a whole, Chrysalis being a very notably aberrant one that no one can possibly ignore.” “While our crew is comprised of individuals who have lots of problems individually, they all at least know everyone else here has similar issues.” Taking a deep breathe, Rarity was about to list them as she saw them. “Gilda doesn’t mind thieving and can go rogue at any minute taking her friend with her when she does, who knows what’s going through her mind at any time aside from Chrysalis who might have a vague idea. Greta has hacking abilities and I think she has a more aggressive side she hardly ever lets out, I’ve seen it once and it scares me that she hides it so well and wherever Gilda is she’ll definitely want to follow. Lightning appears to be an expert pilot and yet she’s been living on the streets for years with nobody willing to touch her, so there’s definitely a lot more to her story that we don’t know of than the one incident that got her kicked out of the Wonder Bolts. We know absolutely nothing of Rover’s past and he’s always so filthy, I’m actually waiting for three shoes to drop with him. Trapeze apparently took some lessons from courtesan and is sometimes oblivious to things, if you remember that pole dancing thing she did on Streusel Station and there’s something about that that bothers me.” As she talked Rarity start pushing Opal’s legs under her and started to slowly work Opal into a standing position, she kept using her magic to pressure her daughter into standing on her own. Using her magic to prop Opal up and then let go to see if Opal could understand why she kept falling over. Rarity knew quadruped stances better than she did bipedal, so it wouldn’t be hard to teach up to walk like a pony even if paws were slightly different. So, as was said earlier, Opal would learn to crawl and Rarity would be there to watch it with her data pad recording every moment. Speaking of recording the moment, Rarity levitated out her data pad and started to record Opal’s attempts at trying to stay standing. She continued talking as if she wasn’t bother by any of the things she was saying. “Bernard is a predator eating machine and dangerous even at his small stature. Saffron’s hero complex is likely to drag her into killing herself for somebody else’s sake with a heroic sacrifice and she appears quite alarmingly desensitized to violence. Chrysalis might be truly affable, but she’s twice as cunning as she acts and is a dangerous being to cross given she somehow got Discord’s attention and his greatest scheme for getting revenge against her was to do absolutely nothing in retaliation. I repeat, the chaos lord did absolutely nothing to her after exclaiming that she did something to him twice. At what point does getting revenge on someone mean doing absolutely nothing to them at all?” Though Rarity might understand the appeal of having someone who could keep you on the edge of your hooves. Chrysalis wasn’t just dangerous personally, she was dangerous even when she wasn’t around if she planned something ahead of time. Rarity was trying to stay focused on helping Opal stand with her good hoof and liberal use of her magic to keep her standing, make sure to correct her daughter’s stance when she started flagging. “I have nothing bad to say about Mr. Cumin, he’s a respectable stallion who’s just trying to survive and watch out for his daughter and I can respect that immensely given our current session. Coco surprised me with her interest in wrestling, she’s always been my cutest and most innocent friend who didn’t seem to have very much of a violent bone in her body. As you can imagine I find her odd interest to be a bit jarring even if it is a hobby she really needs to not work so hard for me, I’m sure you will continue to teach her wrestling and I’m okay with that logically speaking. As for Sassy she’s doing a whole lot better, but I still worry about her mental state. Sometimes she’s the shadow of the friend I once knew and others she’s like a highly disciplined man hating geisha, I am hoping that Chrysalis doesn’t end up breaking her heart and might even actually end up helping her more than I or Coco can. If we’re to get to me, I’d say I’m worrying to much about everyone else and what they might do to collapse my world around me. Things like Ember being shredded alive has me thinking about the state of mortality for everyone else on the crew.” Opal bit her lower lip and she wiggled her tail a bit and a light bulb went off in her brain as that was the first very first appendage that she learned how to move, she looked back at it and leaned a bit and soon Rarity once more released her to stand on her own. Opal didn’t know how to walk, but she can stand on all fours at least without too much assistance. She was taking the feelings she was getting from her tail and trying to apply them to the rest of her legs. The muscles in her legs bunched up and she was standing, though she looked quite stiff while doing so. It was definitely progress towards learning to be able to move on her own at least. “Yeah, about Ember, there’s something we’ve been needing to tell you about her mom. Though I still don’t think it’s a good time to bring it up with how bad her injuries are and you might not exactly like what you hear.” Tilting left and right trying to stay in a standing position, Opal was having trouble keeping balanced. She was quite determined to learn a basic skill of life that many other ambulatory creatures learned far faster than she could. “It’ll take months to see if she even wakes up, even then I have her heavily medicated as she probably wouldn’t want to wake up to missing a massive amount of her scales. That she’s alive is amazing, considering she should be dead, it’s quite a miracle.” This one thing was taking Opal more time to learn than anything else she has ever done and it was beginning to not bother her as much that she wasn’t getting it so quickly. Her mom was here to help her through this and Opal liked how close she was being. Opal had garnered Rarity’s attention quickly enough with previous her words, there was a concerned look in the unicorn’s eyes. Still her mom was helping her stay standing when it looked like she was about to fall, it all entailed a bunch of gentle nudges that Opal thought were incredibly affectionate. Now that Opal brought it up, Vera looked rather uneasy with broaching this topic with Rarity. “I’m assuming this is something about Ember that has nothing to do with her current status as being… incapacitated.” That was a nicer word when it came to speaking about the almost dead, not that Rarity was afraid of Ember dying in her sleep. The dragon was in medical and she was stable, for the most part. “Okay to be fair to Ember, she’s at least not like other dragons when it comes to doing things. She’s likely one of the only few dragons off Equus at all even, so she at best was lonely and needed companionship further than her deadly squid companion she eventually picked up.” As Vera understood it, Ember was a princess and a small one considering the size of her father is that of a living mountain. Said princess wasn’t a bounty hunter running around by herself for no reason. There was trouble between Ember and her father which couldn’t be addressed until Ember got better to talk to Vera about it, if she ever did. That’s not what they were going to discuss given how little information there was of the split between the Dragon Lord and the Princess, they were going to discuss Ember’s hoard and hope that Rarity didn’t take it the wrong way. “To start off slowly, Ms. Mcflame had a very bad or a rather brilliant idea about building her hoard.” “She was going to eventually ask us carry her hoard around wasn’t she?” In a manner of speaking Rarity wouldn’t be wrong here, she’d be wrong about what Ember’s hoard actually entails though. She would have been open to working out a deal with Ember for a cut of any profits the dragon made. “We have plenty of storage space and it wouldn’t have been too much to work out a contract with her about holding onto her hoard. She could have just come forward to me about that, as I’m acting captain of this ship.” “Well you’d be half right mom, Ember wanted to join the crew and she was rather embarrassed about approaching you for various reasons.” That was what Opal decided to say first and let it sink in, so what she said next wouldn’t be nearly as bad. Ember was a good person and was a rather heroic dragon, but her choice of hoard was a major oddity of her species as much as she was personally estranged from them. “She didn’t join the crew in case she had to do anything horrible so we couldn’t be blamed for it, also we don’t need to carry around her hoard when it’s already here. Before I explain what I mean, do you know what a hoard centerpiece is or what it means to a dragon?” “I’m getting a sinking feeling in my stomach here. So, Ember really wanted to… to join us and was embarrassed about something. All she had to do was ask me about it and I would have gladly welcomed her into the crew with open hooves. If she had to do something horrible, but for a very good reason mind you, then I would have tried to help her out of whatever situation she got herself into. She really doesn’t need to protect us, especially not now considering we’re the ones protecting her.” The two winces clued Rarity into something being wrong when she said that Ember didn’t need to protect them. She saw Opal’s gaze slide to Vera’s and Vera’s slide to hers, something wasn’t quite right with those looks. “I don’t know what a hoard centerpiece is and if her hoard is already here, then where is it? What am I missing here?” “Well mom, a hoard centerpiece is… whoa!” When she fell after losing her footing, Opal felt the soft white hoof immediately catch her and lift her back up onto her paws, she sent a happy smile in Rarity’s direction. “Right, still working on standing, I don’t think we’ll get around to walking this session. Anyway, a hoard centerpiece is the most important of a dragon’s hoard. Usually it speaks of an important conquest, a strong memory of day’s long past or some important philosophy or wisdom the dragon likes. Throughout history dragons have had many strange centerpieces for their hoards, one thing is for sure the centerpiece is always something completely unique and highly irreplaceable to the dragon.” “Having looked it up personally, I found a dragon once had a single bit as his centerpiece. What made it unique was that it was the first bit ever made, some would even say it’s THE BIT. History of being from the tree tribe’s era where currency started to become standardized, it has a particular magic imprint on it that shows it as being the first bit ever made.” It was intriguing to Vera, especially when it came to what you could find when it came to history of Equus. It was well known that dragons were exceptionally good at antiquing, being organized and running museums. You could barter for artifacts that a dragon might have, but there was no bartering when it came to centerpieces. “That’s how rare a dragon’s centerpieces usually are for reference with what we’re about to tell you. Know that a dragon will almost never let go of a centerpiece once they consider it the center of their hoard without a fight or an exceptionally divine intervention based reason. So if you can be calm about it when we tell you, then this might go a bit smoother if you can remain calm when you hear what she made her centerpiece.” “It’s the ship isn’t it?” Once again Rarity was wrong, but she had considered that Ember spent plenty of time befriending the crew. Both her daughter and Ms. Blossom shook their heads negatively. “More like what’s on it, given we know where Ember’s centerpiece currently is.” Opal hissed lightly through her teeth and gave Rarity a sympathetic look. “Is it some kind of dangerous artifact? If so then I must know if it’s a danger to us.” Again Rarity was missing something here and she didn’t know of any valuable artifacts being on the ship at this time. Heck Ember’s room was kind of bare of many things, nothing that looked overly valuable. Again shaking their heads and looking at her with worry, the sinking feeling in her gut was getting worse and she still had to guess. “It wouldn’t be her rifle perhaps?” Ember’s Trailblazer rifle was very important to the dragon and it was unique given that Ember built it from scratch, material launching device with flamethrower that can create blades of raw heat and turns rocks into deadly molten bullets. “No it’s not an artifact and it’s not her rifle either. It’s nothing monetary before you say anything to that effect and the truth is going to be a bit hard for you to swallow. It’s not dangerous to us, heck it might even be a good thing in the long run, but it is exceedingly important as to what Ember chose to represent her hoard. There is only one of its kind in existence at this very moment and replicating it perfectly would be damn near impossible, as such Ember’s centerpiece means a lot to her and I really hope you don’t get mad about it mom.” Despite the seriousness of the discussion, Opal couldn’t help herself with what she said next as an attempt to inject humor into a serious subject. “Unlike any other dragon hoard in existence, her hoard is also unique in its very premise and is a very big outlier in not being built on mountains of useless treasure that sits around doing absolutely nothing. In fact I’m going to state that Ember’s hoard is quite progressive in nature, though the most important thing you need to know is that her centerpiece is ultimately a Rarity.” “That was bad and you should feel bad about it Opal.” Even after Vera rolled her eyes, she still giggled despite how horrible the pun was. “That has got to be the worst way to tell your mother the truth as to what the centerpiece really is.” “I don’t really understand, what is the…” It clicked for Rarity not a moment a later given how Opal worded that very last sentence... she was Ember’s centerpiece?! Rarity has heard about performance art, but not an entire lifetime of it. She didn’t know how to feel about this, her emotions were all over the place and she was horribly confused. She didn’t know whether to be angry, touched or even possibly happy with a question mark, she didn’t know what to feel and it was quite overwhelming given that if she was the centerpiece then that meant her crew was the rest of the hoard and what Ember was hoarding was very apparent. She didn’t even know whether to take the knowledge of what Ember’s hoard entails as something sweet, sad, demented or another slew of things that ran through her mind on a moment’s notice. Eyes rolling upwards, Rarity swiftly fainted. Barely even ten seconds afterwards, Chrysalis appeared in the room in a blaze of green fire of teleportation and looked around at the occupants with something vaguely approaching worry. “...” Chrysalis scrutinized Rarity for a long minute, after she stopped doing that she simply just shrugged. ”Eh, false alarm. Don’t mind me, I thought that something else was happening. I’ll just be leaving now…” When she suddenly teleported away it startled Vera and Opal, it also made Opal fall over from her stiff looking standing position and she wouldn’t be standing up again without assistance. What did Chrysalis seem so concerned about and what exactly did said false alarm entail? The Changeling Queen was acting strangely there for a moment and that raised their suspicions about why she showed up as quickly as she did. Author's Note Next chapter will be a short montage, followed by going for the next destination. By the time I'm done writing this story, no one will ever want to read it in it's entirety.
-112-Rarity stood in front of the humming medical bed, one that couldn’t perform surgery on a torn and ripped up dragon. The medical fluids would at least keep Ember from getting an infection, there were so many chemicals in there that bacteria could hardly survive. Ember seriously needed all the medical help she could get. “Was our friendship that important to you?” After her little fainting spell Rarity decided that their time with Vera was up and thought of a way for Opal to get around until she could do so on her own. When Rarity mentioned they could always spare a CAT drone to carry Opal around, it was long before Opal could now seen riding one of the drones around for mobility. It was still a problem, as her daughter still couldn’t really take care of herself yet and riding a CAT drone was basically a stopgap measure at best. At most Opal could move around and talk, she still couldn’t feed herself, she couldn’t bathe herself and she couldn’t survive like this alone. It was a good thing Rarity was here to be the mother Opal needed. “I’d think it was, how did the session with… how did it go?” Even if Saffron couldn’t remember Vera at the moment, she was trying really hard to do so. Instead she decided to go for a faster route and just asked how it went. She knew she’d remember the masseuse’s name later when she saw her again. “I’ve learned a rather disturbing truth about hoards and what they mean to dragons.” It was a little hard for Rarity to believe she was the apple of Ember’s eyes, the centerpiece and a valued representation of the hoard Ember started. “Aside from that Opal made some progress in being able to stand, she’s actually quite helpless personally even if she is keeping so many things on this ship running at the same time. I believe things went pretty well despite the revelation that Ember has her hoard on our ship.” The hoard was built out of friendship and that much Rarity understood. What she didn’t understand was why Ember chose her to be the center of it, the most cherished piece of the hoard, a piece of the hoard that was practically embedded in Ember’s heart with a philosophical grand importance. She was the representation of what Ember liked, loved or otherwise, she was what Ember thought of as priceless. It was both heartwarming and more than a little bit scary. Ember could have not befriended them and acted like they absolutely belonged to her, but instead she chose to actually care about them. What disturbed Rarity was how much Ember truly cared about her, it was also embarrassing and quite flattering. “Really, where is her hoard, I’ve never exactly seen a pile of gems and jewels anywhere since I’ve been on the ship and I’ve been to storage a few times to watch Trapeze train a bit.” It would be Saffron that’d take an interesting hearing what Ember made her hoard out of. “I haven’t seen anything worthy of being a centerpiece, I mean dragons really go after some really rare stuff right?” “That’s because you’re looking at Ember’s centerpiece.” Rarity tried not to make her voice flat and indignant, but it was kind of hard given Ember never talked to her about this. “You mean… is that even a thing dragons do? You’re the center of Ember’s world?” Tilting her head and thinking about it for a moment, Saffron nodded. “Yeah, I can kind of see where she’s coming from. There isn’t anyone else quite like you Rarity, so I’m guessing she’s made the entire crew her hoard.” “Yes, though I find it disturbing that she’d make a declaration that she’d do almost anything to protect us or more importantly me like that. She almost died because she came to help me!” It was a bit frustrating for Rarity to learn this. How would you feel if someone declared you more important than all the jewels and gems you can eat, more important than money, gold or even riches of the wildest dreams one could even begin to conceive? Ember placed her on a pedestal and was never going to take her off of it until she ultimately perished, Ms. McFlame would follow her throughout her whole life and would be a constantly companion that would die for her sake and the sake of those around her. Even then, Rarity was beginning to doubt that Ember would ever have another centerpiece as anything else would pale in comparison to what the dragon in question chose. Ember valued life and friendship more than anything. This made Rarity consider how long would Opal live given her nature as an energy being, her daughter would definitely outlive her and if Ember was still in the picture then at least Opal won’t be alone if she continued living for eons. “The reason why she didn’t join my crew was to protect us in case she ever had to do anything disastrous that required she be arrested. She’d protect me even from herself or her actions.” “Sounds kind of like me, except far more… affectionate. I guess that’s what dragons are like when they have a centerpiece.” Only Saffron didn’t question when Ember would have ever told Rarity about making her the centerpiece the ideal centerpiece of the hoard. From what little she knew of the dragon, the fiery femme fatale was a friendly individual overall and the heroic vigilante just couldn’t think badly of her. “They go to great lengths to protect what they think is important and given she likes you a lot, she likely wants you to be happy too. She’ll get better.” “I really don’t know what to think, but I can’t really talk to her about it until she gets better. The one main thing I want to know is… why did she choose me? I don’t know if I should feel honored or not that she covets me so dearly, but there are implications to it that don’t sit well with me.” Rarity placed her hoof upon the medical bed where Ember slept in a chemical induced slumber, she closed her eyes and slowly her hoof slid from the lid of what might Ember’s coffin and turned away. “I think I’ve been sitting here staring at a horribly injured friend long enough. I need to see off our guest, give Opal her first taste of cake while recording it on my data pad and then I need to assist Coco and Sassy with the orders we’re getting. I can’t just sit here and let my best friends do all the work.” Saffron kept her silence in thoughtful contemplation as she watched Rarity leave, she turned to stare Ember’s ripped up body. She didn’t think Ember had any ill intentions by valuing Rarity or the crew like she did. It just meant the dragon thought highly of them and yes there was the mildly disturbing thought that she owned them, but she didn’t think Ember was willing to think of them as slaves. Of the dragons Saffron met while being a vigilante, Princess McFlame was the friendliest she had ever seen and that she wanted to protect her friends was heartwarming. Being a part of Ember’s hoard felt no different from how things normally were, from Ember’s view it probably looked a whole lot different. She could kind of see where Rarity’s wariness came from, she could imagine another dragon looking at her as an object and not the pony she was. Said dragon would probably use her as slave labor or try to barter with Ember for her. - Rarity walked out of the elevator and took notice that the two EGGS units were missing from the hangar, Gilda and Greta were out continuing repairs and earning their keep several times over. She made her way towards Lightning, Applejack and Babs. Why wasn’t Rubis here? She probably needed to talk to Rubis about what she was going to do now, she had been on Applin Three right? Rarity figured she should probably schedule Rubis’s discussion with the EDF later, she was one of the victims of Tempest Technologies after all. Did the Parrote even have anywhere to go? She had to find out about that. The hangar didn’t look too damaged, then again Rarity would hardly know what a really damaged hangar looked like with her two diligent engineers fixing things. Gilda and Greta would take care of things. As long as Gilda had work to do, then Rarity was assured that the griffon wouldn’t do anything too crazy like build another transforming battle tank in a single week. It was just as weird that they managed to build a cargo loading fortress together in their spare time. Shaking her head and moving over to address the three waiting for Chrysalis to deliver on her gift, Rarity finally wondered what Chrysalis’s hobby was. She was sure she remembered hearing Vera had recommending one to the Changeling Queen. “Hello there, I hope your stay here wasn’t too bad Applejack.” Taking in the farm mare, Rarity saw that she still had her rifle, requisite favorite hat and the parka given to her, the parka still had a few holes that needed patching. Aside from that Applejack was still quite healthy for the beating she took during the accidental human facility invasion. It was only the fact that Saffron took a far worse beating for the mare that she was in a decent state of health. “It’s been okay Rarity, but I prefer to have my hooves on the ground and in some soil. A mare like me isn’t meant to be in space for too long and I would really like to get back to the farm. Nothing against your ship or anything, but I miss my family. If my brother’s wedding carries through, then it would be our family cousin.” It was obvious that Applejack missed working on the farm down below, she preferred the simple quiet life and was prepared to protect it with that rifle of hers. “Don’t rightly know what to do with the agricultural knowledge of how to grow ice apples, but the information is going to become useless when the climate returns to normal.” “Have you ever thought of maybe having family use that knowledge to see what they can do with it on other planets or at least start growing some of those apples in more mountainous regions around Equestria. Even if it might be useless to you, it surely won’t be useless to other Apples that enjoy weather that is a bit cooler.” This led Rarity to think of Meadowbrook, now there was the mare that knew the cure for swamp fever. Said cure was discovered, but never got spread around at all. This led to hundreds of ponies being turned into swamp fever causing trees and it was only about fifty years prior that a cure was discovered after more than nine hundred years of constant incurable disease and encroaching swamplands. “You never know what information might be worth saving. Babs have you packed your things, are you about ready to go?” The filly gave Rarity a rather despondent huff, she obviously wanted to stay even if it wasn’t exactly healthy for her personally. They were waiting on Chrysalis to make an appearance and Lightning was doing some light wing stretching exercises. “Now I know you like it here Babs, but you can’t stay. Besides it’s not goodbye forever, we’ll see these folks again real soon.” Applejack pulled Babs into a hug and nuzzled her, the filly really needed a lot of affection in her opinion. “Yeah, because why would I want to miss the free food at the wedding?” Chrysalis sauntered up to them looking quite calm, she also looked a little smug. If there was true love to be had at a wedding, then the presence of a Changeling would always tell you the truth of the situation depending on how distended their stomachs are. Political or arranged marriages barely garnered any love at all. Getting an invite wouldn’t be very hard for Chrysalis, she was friends with the dress maker and she would be legally attending this wedding. Even if she was going to be taking in love from the wedding ceremony, she’d still tell the two lovers how much they truly cared for each other when she got a taste of it personally. Heck she’d be doing them a favor, so a little compensation wouldn’t go amiss. “Speaking of free Little Snack, I got a surprise for you!” Applejack rolled her eyes at Chrysalis, surprisingly Changelings were quite deceptively honest about things and she’d be the first to tell you to never take what one said entirely at face value without looking for specific wording or double meanings. Changelings would make for perfect lawyers, because Applejack had never had such a headache just from talking to anyone before she met Chrysalis. Though in this instance she didn’t think the Chrysalis had much of an ulterior motive regarding Babs, aside from making the filly light up brightly and look excited. Chrysalis’s motive might have been just simply acquiring love to eat, her species was an abstract predator after all. “Really, what is it, what is it?” Babs moody demeanor had turned around in an instant and she was hopping in place in front of Chrysalis. Babs wasn’t the only one wondering what it was that Chrysalis would give her, but Applejack didn’t seem interested because she already knew what it was. “I’m actually curious as to what kind of hobby you’ve taken up in your spare time.” Well at least Rarity was now as she watched Chrysalis open up her carapace where she kept her wings and reached her hoof deeply into it. Rarity noted Ms. Dick's hoof was going into it far more than it should be. “How are you doing that, is it anything like what Trapeze does?” “No this is completely different, what Trapeze does is unexplainable as I swear that’s a normal top hat she’s using. This however is the result of a space expanding enchantment, it has a maximum capacity limit that is exactly a quarter of my body’s weight and I can only have the one on my body.” Pulling out a sickly green looking package with a bright yellow ribbon wrapped around it, Chrysalis smiled as she held it out to Babs and closed up her carapace. The filly took the package from Chrysalis with a barely contained glee humming from the filly in her direction, the emotion tasted like warm cinnamon buns. “The ribbon is also yours too if you want to keep it. Fillies your age like bright colors right?” “Why would you put a space expanding enchantment in your carapace and isn’t something like that dangerous?” What did Rarity just say to make the Chrysalis look so flustered? In fact the Changeling looked completely embarrassed about something. “I thought it would expand the size of my butt… it didn’t exactly do what I thought it would.” The minute Chrysalis said that Rarity couldn’t help but let out a laugh, which was swiftly followed by Applejack. As for Lightning she didn’t hold anything back and was full blown hysterical with laughter. “Also yes it’s quite dangerous, possibly more so for ponies, but since when has that ever bothered me? At least I’m making use of it.” If Rarity had to guess, it bothered Chrysalis greatly that the space expanding enchantment didn’t expand what she wanted it to. Though this kind of confirmed that Chrysalis was always dangerous and never unarmed, she could do quite the literal ass pull with whatever weapons she put in there. Turning to the sound of a gasping filly that now had a yellow ribbon in her mane, one that was obviously going to be cherished forever, Rarity watched as Babs reverently lifted an object out of the box and appeared to immediately like it. Rarity had to admit Chrysalis did a decent job with the gift, the stitch work was at least solid. “Oh I love it, thank you!” Babs leapt up and got her hooves around a portion of Chrysalis’s neck, one of which was holding on to a plush toy of a Changeling. “Hey, don’t thank me yet Little Snack, though I don’t mind the free food so please do keep going.” Chrysalis wanted to see if it worked or not. Making a toy version of one of her people just let everyone know how lonely she was for Changeling companionship. “I want you to press on its nose, I want to see if it works!” “What does it do?” Rarity asked as if she was almost afraid to hear what Chrysalis came up with. Babs stopped hugging Chrysalis to press the toys nose, it scrunched up a bit and then with a small flash the toy transformed into an appropriately scaled down fluffy version of Chrysalis. Mystified, Babs pressed the nose again and it transformed to look like her mother, another press her father and one last press a Changelings again. The toy looked so completely foal friendly, why didn’t Rarity trust that at all? Oh right, because Chrysalis made something that looked completely benign and innocent. “Say hello to my shape shifting toy, four preset forms. One of which is of my people, two of them are your parents and the last one is of my incredible form. I don’t quite think it does me justice though, the butt is too small. It’s at least machine washable and is made to be tough so destroying it outright will be pretty hard to do.” Well if Chrysalis ever wanted to give Babs something to remember her by, then that was it. “It’s ninety nine percent safe, with a small margin for error if someone figures out how to make it into a weapon. Its transformations can’t be bigger than the space it already occupies. I’m thinking of marketing it and you know how to ruin your enemies while running a legitimate business Rarity, I was thinking of actually asking for your help with this. Mostly on the ruining my enemies part.” “I’ll consider it, but I need an outside opinion and for you to send at least one to Celestia or Luna for testing to see if it’s absolutely safe.” Why did Rarity get a sudden sense of dread when she saw Chrysalis brighten up visibly at the mention of sending one of the toys to her… ‘FRIENDS’… back on Equus. “It needs to go through a screening process to make sure it is absolutely fine to sell, otherwise it would be a bad idea to put them on the market without approval.” “I will use my new powers of sewing and toy making for pure unadulterated evil, thanks for giving me several ideas to that effect Boss Lady.” Chrysalis thought it was a compliment to call Rarity that and decided to do so. All it made Rarity do was shiver at the horror she probably just unleashed. In the end Babs was allowed to keep the toy Changeling as it was a gift, Chrysalis thought it was humorous like a teddy bear. She wondered why prey always insisted on liking toys based around predators that would maul and eat them, but who was she supposed to question about an unequivocal first success. Chrysalis even knew what presets on the toy she’d be sending to Celestia for testing would be, cruelty thy real name is Crystal Dick! - Opal was sitting on the CAT drone and waiting for her mom, she was still a bit challenged as far as using her limbs went, but she could stand in place and even sit up. So it was a work in progress, the CAT drone didn’t have enough intelligence to be angry at her for using it as a floating chair. It wasn’t exactly comfortable to ride around on either. Still mom wanted her to be here for a delicious snack Gilda had been baking during the meeting. She was a bit excited to know what cake tasted like. Opal had helped make cake before, but she never got a chance to eat it too. After a thought, she giggled about the idiomatic proverb she unintentionally thought of. Her mother came into the mess hall of Shining Jewel looking bothered about something. “Is something wrong mom?” All Opal had to do was tilt her head and be adorable, she knew she was weaponized cute and would use such power to its fullest. “I think I may have unfortunately given Chrysalis some good ideas.” Rarity shook her head to get her mind off of the Changeling Queen, she levitated out her data pad and got prepared to record Opal’s reaction. “Come along then, I think we have a cake to share and I asked Gilda to make it special for your first time. I just need to take it out and slice off a piece or two.” “So I guess her hobby is out in the open then, she’s been trying to make one working toy for quite a while. What did you say to her that makes you think she’s going to do something bad?” Opal had the drone following Rarity walking towards the kitchen, well at least until Rarity pointed to one of the tables while she went to the refrigerator. “She got a creepy look on her face when I told her to send one to Celestia or Luna for testing.” Once Rarity pulled the decadent dessert from its cold storage confines, she smiled brightly at how it had turned out. Opal enjoyed the grilled cheese sandwich, so some cake with chilled cream cheese icing would be right up her daughter’s alley. “Maybe she just has a prank planned for either one of them, she’s not really as bad as other people try to make her out to be.” Even then, Opal would still admit that Chrysalis was a complete lunatic if asked. She wouldn’t deny what was fact, infinitely denying something really never solved anyone’s problems. “Rarity, Sassy sent me to ask you… is that cake.” Coco walked in on the two and her ears perked up at seeing the cake. She bit her bottom lip and looked to be deciding something for herself. “Can I have some?” “I was going to come help you and Sassy after I got Opal and myself a little snack, so of course you can have some. After Opal gets her slice it’s basically first come first serve for anyone that wants it.” It wasn’t too difficult to add another plate to the mix, Rarity soon placed a slice of cake before Coco. Coco started to demurely nibble at it and make appreciative sounds. Rarity prepped her data pad and forked a chunk of cake and lifted towards Opal’s mouth. Opal actually sniffed it first and smiled, it seemed her daughter wanted to explore many a unique smell and cake was just one of them. “Go on Opal, you know Gilda made it by request and I know for a fact that she’s really good at baking cakes.” Opal took the cake into her mouth and her pupils shrunk before she closed them as she slowly started to mulch the bits of deliciousness that had been inserted into her jaws with a bright smile, then she swallowed and frowned. “What’s the matter Opal?” The adventures of taking care of her daughter were not as high octane as blowing up a conspiracy loaded facility, but it sure made life easier for Rarity to move on from it when she had happier memories to remember. “I regret swallowing it so soon, it’s so unbelievably tasty!” One could tell that she really liked it by the way Opal’s tongue explored her mouth for more of it. It made Rarity wonder if she had to take care of her daughter’s teeth as well. She would cherish these quiet moments, like Coco suddenly having her entire muzzle covered in frosting and her plate had been licked absolutely clean of any crumbs. Life was an adventure and she was glad she was sharing it with so many friends. “Is there anything Gilda can’t make?” When no one was watching her Coco couldn’t control herself, she just devoured the cake like Celestia probably would when no one was expecting an ounce of decorum from the princess. “Yes, a landing in something that was naturally meant to fly.” After that retort Opal opened her mouth wide and tried to gesture with her tongue for more at Rarity. “Remind me to teach you table manners Opal.” Rarity sighed out, she still moved another fork filled with cake towards the happily waiting mouth. - A week had passed by and Rarity had never had so much peace and quiet happen around her before, she got a lot of work done. They’ve managed to make up for all the damage done to Shining Jewel in that time, at least monetarily. There were still repairs to do, but the ship’s hull and all the energy turrets were back in better working condition. Better since Greta and Gilda couldn’t help but tweak things to work more effectively. She had heard that Coloratura was happy to Applejack from Lightning, a little too happy it would seem as Coloratura bowled Applejack over and got her into a racy sounding lip lock. Rarity wouldn’t know, she wasn’t there to witness Applejack’s return to her farm. Instead Rarity has been busy doing other things. EVA suits were a popular, and rather time consuming, item to make for the EDF in the area. Rarity's business was also selling regular clothes to the nearby supply depot and most importantly Rarity had a wedding dress to worry about. Sugar Belle was happy to hear Rarity was okay, she was happier that things were actually getting warmer around her new home. Instead of paying any old dress maker to make her wedding dress, Rarity offered to make Sugar’s dress for free. Rarity wasn’t about to charge family, not that she needed to with all the sales she was making on EVA suits. Speaking of EVA suits, all the damaged EVA suits the crew used were magically patched and ready for action once again. Rarity loved spells for fixing clothing, especially as expensive as making EVA suits tended to be. The unique utilities that can be installed in EVA suits, mostly impulse saddles with Coco’s battery utility option, were earning quite a bit of notoriety with EDF engineers in how useful such features were. Rarity was taking a few people with her to the wedding, Coco, Sassy and surprisingly Chrysalis. Chrysalis wanted a chance to see Babs again, plus she wanted to see a Puffle for herself after hearing so much about them. Since some of Rarity’s estranged family was going to show up, she might have had a chance of seeing her parents. It didn’t matter, cousin Sugar’s wedding was more important to her than possibly getting saddled with Sweetie Belle again. She still had plenty of time to prepare for that eventuality, but she would not be deterred from her course to help her cousin Sugar Belle. Opal was still learning to walk at this time and Rarity was there for her daughter every literal step of the way, it was amazing how organic the learning experience was for Opal. Yes, things were going pretty well, except for the fact that Opal didn’t want to sleep alone in a room without anyone around. There should not have been much to worry about in the near future as far as the wedding was concerned, but Rarity wasn’t as sure something dangerous wouldn’t happen and was hardly going anywhere without an energy pistol on her for safety out of justified paranoia. Sure Rarity was excited about visiting planet Nocturne to do a fashion show next, but she had her fears that things would go horribly wrong or would be close to doing so as soon as she and her crew arrives at that particular planet. Getting herself embroiled in volatile intrigue was becoming a rather dangerous pastime Rarity could have done without, a planet filled with nightlife related activities was bound to be very dangerous. “Well let’s get this wedding started.” Crying at a wedding was to be expected and Rarity would cry upon seeing her cousin Sugar in one of her dresses, she made sure it would looked absolutely gorgeous on her cousin and it was tastefully done. “I’ll bring the rocket launcher.” Nobody was going to ask Chrysalis what exactly she thought a normal Pony wedding entailed. - Things had gone fine and they made it to the wedding reception before anything went wrong. Opal was still up in orbit being taken care of by Saffron and hopefully Saffron wouldn’t give into Opal’s begging when it came to food, even if it caused her stomach aches Opal seriously loved to eat. Chrysalis hadn’t done anything too horrible yet, but she was making a nuisance of herself. The Changeling Queen was the one requisite unpleasant being at the wedding and she has only impersonated the bride once, apparently there was a lot of love in the air and Chrysalis couldn’t resist. Coco and Sassy were the very appearance of competent bridesmaids, especially Sassy who was needed to keep Chrysalis under control. “This has been a wonderful experience Rarity and things haven’t gone wrong at...” Coco was the first sign that something had went wrong when she had a distressed look on her face. This made Rarity turn towards what Coco was looking at. It was a Puffle, a rather familiar pink one at that. It was standing on the table next to the untouched wedding cake that had yet to be served, it looked rather innocent standing next to the wedding cake like it did. Fluffy’s revenge was well planned, because Fluff the Puff didn’t even know the meaning of revenge and the gods of stupidity could be exceedingly petty. On this planet nothing was dumber than a Puffle and there wasn’t anything for Fluffle to even get revenge for. In this case the Puffle just blew a simple sounding raspberry and stared blankly at the space between her and the cake. Then slowly she started to lean towards the cake with her tongue sticking out. “No!” Rarity made the Puffle stop leaning forward to look at her, then it went back to leaning forward again. “No, bad Puffle!” It was unfortunate for Rarity that the Puffle didn’t understand words or meaning, she just understood stupidity, rainbows and smiles. Well at least Fluffy understood rainbows and smiles, stupidity was a natural state for her species. The Puffle stopped leaning forward and squeaked at Rarity before blowing a questioning sounding raspberry, Rarity wanted to strangle whoever taught the Puffles to blow raspberries as a form of communication. The Puffle went back towards leaning towards the cake. “Rarity maybe you should just…” Sugar was about to suggest something from underneath her husbands leg, when Rarity snapped. “I’m not letting this happen on your wedding day Sugar. No!” Once again, Rarity had stopped the Puffle with the sound of her voice. Fluffy had her tongue an inch away from the cake at that moment, she took a few steps back and then stood absolutely still. She almost looked to think that if she stood still, then she was invisible to Rarity. Fluffy took a few steps towards the cake and started to lean towards it. “No… no, no, no, you are not doing this!” The Puffle seemed to have agreed with Rarity’s begging and turned away and walked along the table a few steps, Rarity gave off a sight of relief. Then Fluffy turned around real fast and charged for the cake, she leapt at it and belly flopped onto it while blowing a very loud raspberry of inevitable victory. The splattered mess went flying everywhere and everyone nearby was completely caked. Sugar’s nose scrunched up slightly and Big Mac sent her a worried look, then she burst out laughing and he quickly joined his wife in laughter. The wedding wasn’t good… it was absolutely perfect for them. “Can we…” Chrysalis started only for Rarity to cut her off, this was her first time seeing a Puffle and it looked positively delicious. “No, I will not accept having a single Puffle on my ship Chrysalis.” Rarity said with a calm voice filled with venom. “I saw what they did to the Human facility and I will have not have that happen to the Shining Jewel after it has been mostly repaired.” Chrysalis wisely stayed silent as the cake covered Puffle came up to her and started feeding her massive amounts of love without even really trying. Yep, all Puffles were definitely bound to become livestock for Changelings. Author's Note Next on Coarse Diamonds: Coco becomes Rarity's hero when they inevitably go down to the surface of Nocturne, a planet that is moonlit year round and is always night. Needless to say it's Princess Luna's favorite vacation spot, it is a planet where the night does in fact last forever.
-113-The crew of the Shining Jewel were on their way to the Vae Dur system, after being given the okay to leave by the EDF in the area, it would take a while to get there and they had one stop on the way. It was a good thing Gilda and Greta had finished the hull repairs. They couldn’t very well fix the Shining Jewel’s hull in the middle of a jump and fixing internal systems wasn’t nearly as problematic when moving across the stars. Before they left the Applin System, Chrysalis sent off a message to Equus about changeling prospects and how Puffles were the perfect farm animals for Changelings. They gave off tons of love freely and were so ridiculously fluffy that a Changeling couldn’t possibly starve in the presence of a Puffle, especially not when a Puffle was such a rich source of food. Chrysalis did at least warn her people that some caution was warranted given that Puffles were dangerously stupid creatures that should never be left alone. Puffles could not be left alone around anything that can be considered even remotely fragile. A message wasn’t all that was sent, Chrysalis made a quick version of her Changeling toy and sent it off as well. She didn’t expect too much positive feedback from Celestia, but the effort it takes to make one might be appreciated anyway. During this time an ambassador from Equus was sent to speak to the Humans about recent events and some rather troubling issues. Chrysalis would later appreciate Celestia’s choice of Changeling for the infiltration job, there wasn’t another Changeling that could survive so many assassination attempts on them with such grace aside from Chrysalis. Chrysalis at least had the regenerative abilities of a Changeling Queen to help her survive horrific injuries, Hard Throb wasn’t nearly as lucky in that regard. - “If wrestling is all about grip and leverage, then wouldn’t that mean beings with digits have more advantages?” Coco was wearing her wrestling mask and was Le Wallflower once again, she wasn’t a very intimidating wrestler. She made up for her lack of scary features by being ridiculously strong. “There’s also size and weight to think about. Current time estimation to next destination for those who want to know, five hours. We’ve got plenty of time to waste.” Opal was almost getting the hang of walking around like a quadruped, it was still a work in progress and she was watching Vera teach Coco how to wrestle. Chrysalis had an easier time of teaching Coco how to wrestle, because she didn’t need to be in constant contact or have a drone nearby to be seen. Just because the Changeling Queen had an easier time, it didn’t mean she was the better teacher and Vera was quite talented at wrestling. Opal did eventually want to learn to walk on two legs as she had the body shape for it. “After you’re done with Vera it’ll be my turn, given she’s coaching me on my walking and I’m getting better… somewhat.” “She isn’t that much bigger than me.” With a grunt of effort Coco managed to flip Vera over and pin her to the floor. “Keeping your strength, grip, leverage, size and weight in mind are all very important…” With a twitch of her rear hooves launching them both up slightly and a sudden twist of the front half of her body, Vera flipped Coco onto her back and pinned her soundly. Coco squirmed and tried to break free of Vera’s tight hold, she was proving unsuccessful in that endeavor as Vera skillfully prevented her from moving too much. “When it comes to wrestling or any form of fighting, I think experience and skill are probably the most important things to have. You need a tough opponent to teach you the ropes, first hoof experience is key.” “Did somebody ask for bondage?” Chrysalis zipped into the training room looking around wildly and seemed excited at the prospect of tying someone up. Opal and Vera didn’t look amused in the slightest, Coco looked away blushing underneath Vera. Chrysalis noted that Coco had some closet skeletons she wasn’t willing to discuss and was going to ask about it later. “What, I’m not trying to kidnap anyone… okay I’ll amend my statement because of your disbelieving stares. I’m not trying to kidnap anyone… yet.” “I was using a phrase Chrysalis, there will be no bondage consensual or otherwise on this ship.” There was always one drone constantly tied up for Vera’s personal use, it was currently the one Opal was sitting on and it had nothing to do with the current subject of wrestling. “Isn’t it bad enough that I can’t have a bug zapper or a lava lamp? In fact, most of the banned items list is made up things I think I would enjoy. Would having a personal iron maiden really be that horrible? I promised that I’d clean it out after every use and Boss Lady Rarity still put it on the banned list. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that everyone has something against me making my own torture and sex dungeon on the ship.” The Changeling Queen had a penchant for keeping tabs on everyone’s daily routines, Chrysalis often showed up unannounced and at random as well. She was rather bored and lonely, so she sought attention when she wasn’t entrenched in her toy making hobby and paying attention to her to keep her happy was a tall order for anyone involved. Still they were all friends here and Chrysalis wasn’t exactly a psychotic mare, well she was not a highly lethal one anyway. “Now you’re telling me that I can’t just tie someone up to tease and cuddle against their will. Would that really be so wrong if they might learn to enjoy it?” “I don’t think Sassy is that kind of mare Chrysalis and that would be a very bad move on your part. Maybe you can do it to our enemies if we have any.” Flatly stated Coco who continued to try and break Vera’s pin, Coco was beginning to think that Chrysalis wouldn’t ever accept outside help or at least her help specifically. She was one of the two mares that knew Sassy the best, yet Coco had to give Chrysalis credit for being persistent and stupidly confident in herself. “In fact, don’t do anything that requires making Sassy feel trapped in any given way, shape or form.” “Oh right, the medical bed thing… yeah that would be bad for my romantic prospects wouldn’t it? So I can’t really get her with some of the kinkier stuff I know.” Oh great, now Chrysalis was thinking. If she came up with a silly plan regarding Sassy, then said plan was inevitably doomed to fail. “Oh wait, what if I get her to tie me up? Now there’s a better idea! Remind me to thank you for this later Coco.” Coco decided not to dignify Chrysalis’s question with an answer or the statements afterwards with a response, Opal and Vera wisely didn’t comment on it either. If Sassy wouldn’t appreciate being held captive, then why would she appreciate holding someone else captive? Coco really didn’t want to think of what Chrysalis would do to thank her either, it was a very long pause as Chrysalis stared off into space drooling a bit. “You know you could ask one of us for advice right?” At least Coco hoped Chrysalis could take a hint and actually ask a friend for help, she seemed to be a bit too prideful about obtaining Sassy’s love on her own. It was beginning to get really dumb, even knowing how talented Chrysalis actually was compared to her obfuscation act hiding the darker intelligence beneath a veneer of total goofiness. “Meh, I can handle my and Sassy’s relationship perfectly fine on my own.” No she couldn’t, Chrysalis really couldn’t handle a real relationship with anyone at all. Not without said pony, person or etcetera being as nearly as demented as Chrysalis is. At least she listened to Coco’s advice when she offered it with being asked. “So I heard Sassy is working out, want to go see her sweat with me?” If it were anyone else… Coco, Opal and Vera would say no. They were going to have to chaperone Chrysalis to make sure she didn’t do anything too stupid, because this might have been Chrysalis’s method of asking for help. - Sassy stabbed forward and blinked at her Chokuto as it made a clinking noise when it dented the piece of metal in front of her. Her sword wasn’t long or big like other weapons, but it was effective for what she used it for. “Really, after all that swinging it around you couldn’t stab it through that first piece of metal?” It was apparent to Sassy that she had an audience, three sets of eyes were watching Chrysalis like a hawk and Sassy even knew why they were doing that. Chrysalis was a tad relentless in trying to get her attention, some of it was good effort and other times it fell flat. It was cute how inept Chrysalis was at actually earning love. “At least you damaged the second one.” “I wasn’t trying to damage the first bit of metal Crystal-san.” Sassy didn’t feel safe utilizing a ghosting strike on a live target and likely wouldn’t ever feel safe doing it unless it was absolutely needed. She looked around the single square of slightly dented metal and saw that the second one had a minor hole in it. She smiled faintly at coming this far with her training, she had finally managed to do it. The hole was small, but it was bigger than the dent she left in the first piece of metal she directly struck. She might still injure the hostage, but she could at least maim the captor through them. “The target of my exercise was always the second square of metal behind the first.” “Then why not attack it directly?” Chrysalis couldn’t see the applications of such a skill, then again she didn’t know much about Celestia’s or Luna’s magic samurai soldiers. Just that they were a lot more effective than the general royal guards employed by the sisters, said royal guards sucked completely at their jobs of keeping the peace without a hint of Changeling backup. Still, she was besties with the alicorns and her race prospered because of it. “If someone were to take Rarity hostage, would you want me to kill her while taking out her captor?” Sassy could only hope that Chrysalis answered the question correctly, she couldn’t be nearly that dumb right? “Think of it this way, what if someone had a Changeling at knife point and you wanted them to continue living.” “Well then I’d… oh… OH… I see what you’re doing here, that’s actually pretty neat.” If Chrysalis had to save a Changeling being held at knife point, then she could do something like that and the Changeling wouldn’t need to be sacrificed for the hive. Not that Chrysalis would ever sacrifice anyone from her hive lightly. Crystal Clear Dick actually learned something today, it was an utter miracle, still hoof in mouth disease prevailed. “Though you might want to continue working on that, you might leave the target you don’t want to hit bleeding from an artery with the way that strike lands. I’d think the hostage would need emergency medical help.” “I’m well aware Crystal-san.” Spat out Sassy with gritted teeth as she did not appreciate Chrysalis pointing it out so flagrantly. This apparently confused the Changeling Queen that wanted to be her one and only bed bug. “It is what I’ve been doing for the last hour and this is my first real success.” “Oh, now I can at least see why you’re angry. I mean your first success and then I come in and trample all over your feelings by… I’ll just shut up now.” These were not the emotions Chrysalis wanted to evoke in Sassy, so she decided to stop talking and just stare at her. Chrysalis figured that sometimes it was better that she didn’t talk around Sassy, she felt like a fool half the time trying to not stake an absolute claim on Sassy. Chrysalis actually wants to earn the Sassy’s adulations legitimately instead of trying to force Sassy to be hers through subterfuge or mind control magic. Sassy was too strong for the second option anyway and victory tasted sweeter when it was earned after all, getting more from Changeling honey and less from Changeling vinegar and all that crap. This moment at least reminded Chrysalis that she wasn’t dealing with Changelings, but Ponies and a few other beings. The Pony Hive Mind was quite unusual and it was about time that it showed itself in the flesh, it was a lot smaller than she thought it would be and it was currently feeling amusement at her situation. Chrysalis wouldn’t retaliate against Opal, mostly because it was not her place to judge other Hive Minds. “You do that Crystal-san.” Sassy waited for the drones to finish the set up again, Chrysalis let out a sad sounding whine that came off as if she were a thoroughly punted puppy. Since Opal was there to control them, the drones were faster to set up for another attempt at a ghosting strike. Sassy hadn’t perfected the skill and she had only managed to do it once, she now knew it was possible and needed to be able to do it on command while half dead on her hooves. - As the universe continued moving forward through time, the crew of Shining Jewel made one stop along the way and Rarity was curious about Greta’s mechanical kittens being the security for the SNUGGLES space station. It was on the way to Nocturne and Nocturne was at the edge of Pony friendly space, so Rarity really thought it wouldn’t hurt to pick up some supplies and do some business in selling her wares. Trapeze even got in a performance, but Bernard was still healing so he sadly couldn’t go on this time. Rover on the other paw, was mostly fine for doing a light juggling act since it didn’t put too much pressure on his healing wrist. Nothing bad had happened at all when they stopped at the SNUGGLES space station, aside from Greta getting covered in adorable robotic cats. It was nice to see Fluttershy and Tree Hugger again, though Angel could have been a little bit less rough with visiting Bernard. Tree Hugger did say she would catch up to them when they reached Nocturne’s space station and that certainly freaked out Gilda. If Tree Hugger was involved who knew what was going to happen in the near future. Rarity took Tree Hugger’s inevitable presence at Nocturne as a sign of things to come, she’d be absolutely wary now. Then again she should have been wary before, Nocturne was an eternal night planet and illegal activities would be quite likely to occur there because of it. Still it was one of the planets princess Luna really liked because there was almost no day time and it was a good vacation spot for clubbing, not to mention the planet received enough reflected sunlight off the various moons to support life in a rather surprising manner. On the better part of caution, Rarity actually looked up the native species of Nocturne… like Ember would done for them if asked. Rarity still didn’t know how to feel about Ember, but she was going to try and move forward by trying to find herself a nice stallion. That was Rarity’s goal, the fashion show was mostly a secondary objective to her finding romance as she already had some fame thanks to the Canterlot nobles she sold her wares to. Rarity wasn’t exactly rich, famous or shining across the universe, but she was getting there slowly one hoof at a time and her dreams didn’t seem so far off to her now. Now if only Rarity could avoid all the dangers of the universe that targeted her like laser guided missiles. For that endeavor, Rarity already had the list of those who were going down to the planet with her and would be her acting wing mares. The meek Coco was definitely the top of that list, her good friend Sassy needed to get off this ship for a while, grudgingly she’d take Chrysalis along for safety as nothing could perfectly ambush the crazy one even if she could be caught off guard and Lightning Dust because she needed more things to do. Trapeze’s Troupe could line up a few shows at a casino or two, but they’d be off doing their own thing while on Nocturne. Rarity would at least have her cast removed by the time they had to go down to the planet, she would need to do some trading at the Nocturne’s space station first to earn some money to buy up a few more supplies to work with. Maybe throw some hard to find parts Gilda’s way, while having Saffron and Greta keep an eye on her slightly mischievous daughter Opal. They need to find where the fashion show would be taking place to sign up for it and they’d keep their eyes open for anything dangerous happening, they didn’t need to find Tree Hugger as she would certainly find them without trouble. No plan was foolproof, which is why Rarity was praying to the alicorns that nothing horrible went amiss while she was on Nocturne. She knew she wasn’t nearly that lucky and was going to go in expecting the worst, but would try to stay in the more tourist trap districts if she could. Clubbing or bar hopping with Chrysalis was bound to be an experience all its own even if things didn’t go wrong. It would be a while, at least another sixteen hours’ worth of jumping through space, before they reached Vae Dur, Nocturne or its space station. Rarity was hopeful that she could avoid any dangerous hassles that would cost her large amounts of money in repairs and supplies, at least until they were on the planet itself. - Rarity watched as the station slid out of sight on a screen as they were on their way leaving behind one of SNUGGLES most well-known operational centers in slightly brighter spirits. She and several others were currently relaxing in the Mess Hall. Not every trip of their journey had to be eventful or even the slightest bit dangerous, the SNUGGLES organizations space station had various Planetary Protection Patrol ships around it and it was a heavily fortified point in space. “Must have been nice to see the family again, eh Greta?” Gilda was just ribbing Greta, her friend and long term life companion sighed audibly. “Not in the mood Gilda, we still have work to do.” Greta was happy to see her hyper intelligent mechanical kittens were still providing protection and services to the people that were part of the SNUGGLES organization, but it left her feeling somber instead of her usual peppy self. “We need to start repairs on both Centaur-pede and Bombing Peregrine, retune the shield generator, build a new upgraded version of the Ar-Mare-Do-Well suit and realign the communications array. After that maybe we can get to building something fun if something else doesn’t break on our watch, plus I’ve got to work on the personal shield generators on the side.” “Yeah, I can think of something fun, like maybe building a fighter for me.” Flight practice went pretty well during the week they were still at Applin Five for repairs, but after they left Lightning was finding herself light on duties to do as the designated pilot. Opal was the best gofer on the ship and she couldn’t really compete with the Boss Lady’s daughter in running things competently. “I’ve hardly got much going on aside from practicing some old combat drills with Chrysalis to remind me what I was capable of. Just kind of drives it in really hard.” “That’s what she said!” Said Chrysalis in a sing song voice as she trotted by with an insufferable smile on her face, Lightning started giving her a dirty look. “You kind of gave her that opening Lightning.” Muttered Rarity lightly, before she shook her head and turned back to pay attention to Coco who was watching Opal stumbling in small circles. “So what do you think we should do first when we get to Nocturne’s Space Station Coco?” “Find a list of all the high crime areas and stay about three miles away from any of them?” Nervousness was to be expected from Coco, she did after all get grabbed by a giant brain tentacle the last time she went anywhere with Rarity. She’d gladly go into danger again for Rarity, that’s what good friends would do. “I’m just want to continue doing my job, maybe I’ll have a fun time exploring the sights with you and the girls. Hopefully we’ll avoid trouble this time.” “Excuse me for not being clear with you Coco, I mean is there anything you wanted to do or get personally for yourself?” It continued to surprise Rarity as to how selfless Coco could get, her friend didn’t think much of wanting anything more than what she already had for herself. “We’re going to do a bit of shopping around on the station first, mostly I’m looking for things so Opal can fill her personal room. I hope to eventually get her to a point where she can sleep by herself. Sassy is going to look into a weapons shop. Chrysalis is going to look at a toy store to get an idea of how to price and market her toys, if she even gets the okay for them and I’m certainly holding my breath on that. Even Lightning might do some used ship window shopping to get an idea of what Great and Gilda could do for her.” “What would I need to shop for? We’re good on supplies and there’s nothing I really want, we can also make almost anything with the right materials.” What exactly would Coco spend her paychecks on anyway, Rarity was the one that always bought the materials they needed for business. So really, aside from Opal, Coco had plenty of money to spare. “I guess the least I can do is pay for lunch.” It was rather concerning for Rarity that Coco was just going to spend her time following everyone else around. At least Rarity admitted that Coco had a point, anything she could possibly want could be made with the materials they had in stock and if they didn’t have the materials, then Coco would have said something to that effect. “It would be terribly hard to find a birthday gift for you Coco, for what do you get for the mare that wants for nothing?” It was rhetorical, but Rarity did want to do something nice for her friend and that was kind of hard to do when her friend didn’t need much more than the job she had already. Rarity would have said that they could look for a spa, but that’s what they had Vera for. Not only that, but Coco was a loyal friend offering to pay for lunch without a second thought. “Is it really that much of a problem Rarity?” Coco didn’t see an issue, she’d have a lot money squared away for emergency funds. Funds she’d let Rarity use whenever she’d ask for help, at least Rarity could ask for help unlike Chrysalis who sorely needed it. “A little, yes, but I wouldn’t say it’s a serious problem. It just seems like you don’t have any big dreams or aspirations to aim for.” It took a moment for Rarity to realize it, but Coco wasn’t answering her and seemed to even look a little pensive. “I really don’t have any big dreams do I? I know what my special talent is, I’m happy working for you Rarity and I have just about everything I could ever need while assisting you with our rather successful business.” Then why did it sound like Coco was sad about something, it was almost like she was coming to terms with something. “I guess I could find a few digital books to read or I can get them in paper, I’m not being too boring am I?” “Of course not darling, you’re perfectly fine the way you are. Though you could do something that would be more time consuming for you when you’re not working.” Rarity meant that Coco was living a simple and exceedingly productive life style, one that didn’t ask for much more than a friend to talk with on occasion. “Something other than wrestling at least, you can’t always expect Vera or Chrysalis to always have time for you. Vera spends a lot of her time making sure we’re psychologically sound and Chrysalis is trying to start up her own little enterprise and I’m not sure she’d except help with it.” “I want to put in my two cents and add that Coco could look into a bunch of other random hobbies, like collecting bounty cards. They have all kinds of stats on weird or wacky Bounty Hunters. There’s always video games or following a good show, something personally suited for you to spend time on that doesn’t require a group to do.” Yes, Opal had many various interests, even then she was never too distracted from her job of running the Shining Jewel. “Or maybe you could just find something to read like you suggested, can I suggest fan fiction. It’s certainly free to write or read the stuff. I would know, I’m a major purveyor of Lion Heart fan fiction. Speaking of, you could also write about your experiences in life and or the adventures Rarity keeps having.” “Does anyone ever really read your stuff Opal?” This had at least piqued Coco’s curiosity. “Yeah, but not many really like my idea’s. Apparently I write things that are too stale plot wise, but who doesn’t love super fighting squadrons with once a week problems to fight?” Here Opal looked a bit irate as she made her way for Rarity, her walking was getting better all the time and now she wanted cuddles. “At least I make sure that they aren’t always fighting on the same day every week. I mean every other super hero squadron show always has things happening on the weekend or at least a Saturday. Mom, can I has cuddles here?” “You’re too sweet for your own good Opal.” Still, Rarity scooped up Opal with her good leg and brought her fluffy daughter into a close snuggle and followed it up by nuzzling the top of her head. It was a sweet moment and Coco almost felt like she was intruding on it. “I’ll consider the advice that you both are giving me.” She ran a hoof through her mane which had been growing out a bit, her bangs were beginning to get in the way of her eyes. She didn’t feel like approaching Chrysalis about getting a trim and would prefer Rarity to do it for her if she needed it. She didn’t want to know if Chrysalis would shave her hairless if given the opportunity. Maybe she should just let it grow out? That would be interesting at least. “I mean, what am I really being paid for if I’m not going to use the money you give me for something?” “You really don’t have to do anything Coco, I said you were perfectly fine and I meant it.” Maybe Rarity had been prying a little bit too hard into her friends rather boring life choices, aside from that time Coco joined her on Antilur Station. Coco had been rather insistent during that situation and Rarity feared that she might do that again to get some excitement into her life. “I just worry about you since you’re a dear friend of mine and I’m sorry for being such a busybody.” “You don’t have to apologize Rarity, you mean well and there’s no harm in talking about things.” If Coco wore her mane a bit differently, then would Greta take notice of it? Okay, where was her head really going with that and why did she suddenly need to put an immediate stop to it mentally? Did she like Greta’s occasional teasing? She really didn’t know much about dating, but she knew that she liked both mares and stallions no matter the species. Her preference was based by the individual and their personality. “I don’t think we talk often enough to begin with. Well at least we haven’t been talking as much recently and it makes me feel like a horrible friend even when I know you love and trust me to be there for you when you need me.” “I would like to talk more often too… I’m just afraid I might relapse into less than proper behavior.” The two mares jumped at hearing Sassy’s voice and they saw her giving them a small smile. Sassy looked like she needed a hug, one that wasn’t from Chrysalis, as she approached the two of them. “I really don’t like being afraid of my friends, especially not the best ones I’ve ever had.” It had been a while since the three of them could just talk plainly with one another about inconsequential things without feeling a sense of dread around one another. - “I’ve received a message from Applin Five, it’s from Chrysalis.” Thorax didn’t even want to consider why Chrysalis had been in that particular area of space, but if she started running around with space pirates then he was going to ask for an early retirement. It was bad enough that he kept getting dogpiled by mares that wouldn’t stop coming back to proposition him, he didn’t need Chrysalis trying to take over the universe on his conscience too. Even if his Queen had mellowed out considerably since she went into politics. “Well aren’t you going to read it?” Queried an intrigued Luna who was polishing a yellow and blue colored plasma shotgun, she needed a distraction from her current discussion. Both her and her sister Celestia were present and they were discussing whether or not to send Luna’s lunar fleet on a crusade to find and rescue the ponies that were being sold into enslavement, while also destroying the slavers of course. It was either that or send a smaller force to do some scouting about where the scattered ponies had ended up, then rescue them on the sly. “I’m almost afraid to read it.” Who knew what would be in the message and that’s what Thorax was absolutely afraid of, sighing he steeled his nerves and started reading the message. It was quite long and it spoke about what had happened on Applin Five from her perspective. “It’s about what happened on Applin Five while she was there… I’ll give you a rundown when I’ve finished reading it.” Celestia and Luna nodded at Thorax and continued their discussion about whether or not to send out a detachment. Celestia could spare a few Wonder Bolt squadrons to the cause and bolster Luna’s Shadow Bolts. “Okay, Chrysalis has apparently been around since before the three recent space pirate attacks, but that’s not what’s important. Chrysalis wants me to discuss Changeling prospects regarding an Applin Five native species called Puffles, apparently they are perfect livestock for Changelings.” The next few minutes were spent with Thorax hashing out details with the princesses and why Puffles were perfect as livestock for Changelings. The princesses eventually agreed to letting Changelings settle on Applin Five, provided some concessions were met. They would be allowed to raise and breed Puffles, provided that the Changelings didn’t let the Puffles get out of control. It was then that Thorax decided to tell Celestia of the message meant for her. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, Chrysalis also says she’s sending a package to Celestia and more details will be explained about what’s in said package when it arrives.” Thorax thought it was perfectly understandable that Celestia would suddenly have an unsure look on her face, it was probably reflecting the expression on his. “She wants a patent on it, at least after it has gone through testing.” Chrysalis actually wanting a patent on something only made Celestia more concerned, wary and… mildly enticed out of morbid curiosity actually. Author's Note Don't fall for it Celestia, Chrysalis likely has something nasty planned for you! Either that or something too sexy for the T rating that has to happen off screen. Also you may be wondering, where is Rubis Poulette? I'll get to it, when I get to it. Needless to say she might be an OC, but she doesn't get prominence or importance like the 'OTHER' tag based characters do.
-114-(Warning: Lots of ‘Dik’ incoming.) The Vae Dur system consisted and four planets, the only planet that was habitable in this system was the eternal night planet of Nocturne. This system sits on the edge of space that was relatively safe for ponies, not that pony space itself was entirely safe considering all the previous encounters Rarity ran into. Ponies weren’t as wide spread here as the many other space bound races they’ve met were. This was not a pony run system, but ponies did visit it frequently and the race that were actually the most prominent in the nearest systems to this planet were the race known as the Dik-Dik. The system also had a high number of Plurts, Parascine, Cacceran and Macropussians with scatterings of many other races as the system of Vae Dur was a trading hub where you can find just about anything you’d want. The planet of Nocturne was in an unusual position in space, it was one of four planetary bodies in the system and it was the fourth from the sun. The other three planets were uninhabitable because of the unbearable heat from how close they were to the sun, the one planet that didn’t have this problem had five moons and that was what made it livable. The five moons around Nocturne kept it from heating up too much and reflected enough solar light and energy onto the world to make it capable of sustaining life, even if it was almost constantly night time. The planet was covered heavily in sweltering jungles outside the cities that had been built with an incredible amount of effort. The nighttime on Nocturne had two different periods, one that was of the shadowy daytime where the planet received most of its light and the other an almost pitch black of night where the most dangerous predators came out. The cities emplaced upon Nocturne itself needed constant light sources to prevent Nocturnes more dangerous predators from encroaching where they didn’t belong, most of the predatory species didn’t like any amount of light brighter than the shadowy daytime. Building the cities had taken the knowhow of various races working in concert to build them while the various dangers of the world tried to prevent anyone from settling upon it. Eventually massive sprawling cities both miles wide and high were created. The natural side effect of this was that the nearer to the base of these cities you were, then the more danger you were likely to be in. It didn’t take much to guess where the slums on this world were, but in the same respect maintenance crews were a highly prized commodity provided they got hazard pay for keeping the cities in working order while operating in said slums. The Dik-Dik were a race that had often enough been confused for a race that came from Equus, mostly because of their appearance. They were small antelope like creatures, which had four legs that ended in hooves that bore some similarities to the many hooved species of Equus. The males of the Dik-Dik species were generally small and had longitudinally grooved or ribbed horns, they only got about as big as a teenage filly or colt Pony of Equus when they become full adults. Whereas the females of the Dik-Dik species were about the size of an average Pony mare or smaller. They didn’t have magic at all, which was a common racial feature for anything naturally coming from Equus, even if said races didn’t actively use any of that magic at all. Dik-Diks might not have magic and were small herbivorous beings, but they made up for their small size and herbivore natures in other ways. This stemmed from the temperament of the Dik-Dik race and how they got into their technological advancements. Dik-Diks were what was known as aggressive herbivores, if one were to look up the history of Dik-Diks they’d find the very moment this species snapped and started growing brains because the predators of their home world kept pushing them around too much to a breaking point. The main predators that used to prey on the Dik-Diks no longer exist anymore, which shows how aggressive Dik-Diks got when continually threatened. Said main predatory species of the Dik-Dik from their home world were both intelligent and sapient, they thought they’d always have the advantage over the DIk-Dik thanks to their natural traits and that it always would be the case. They were dead wrong in the most literal sense, they were now extinct for picking on what at first seemed like a lesser species to them and said species is half their size. It surprised them that said lesser species advanced by leaps and bounds beyond what the predators could hope to handle in their arrogant ways. The predators barely had a chance to do anything to fight back before they were completely wiped out and the Dik-Diks despite their natural size disadvantage were quite capable of brutality beyond anything their predators ever did to them. As a single being, a Dik-Dik is aggressive, honorable and pragmatic while tending to work mostly towards fair dealings. If you were to absolutely upset that Dik-Dik then you’re going to find that fighting dirty doesn’t even begin to describe the lengths a Dik-Dik will go to over even the smallest of sleights done to them. They prefer clear honesty and openness, they were willing to listen to reason if you were willing to be reasonable with them in the form of a two way street. In that respect the Dik-Diks had at least given their predators an exceedingly fair warning three weeks in advance before they launched a total extermination campaign. The predators didn’t take them seriously or even wanted to settle things peacefully and even ate the messenger that delivered the warning in their hubris. The messenger in question was stated to have kill at least five of the predatory species before dying of wounds with a smile on their face, said messenger had also heavily wounded forty seven of them. It took a lot of effort to kill the one solitary messenger who knew that they were being sent on this particularly suicidal mission. The joke was on the predators that ate the messenger in the end. That particular Dik-Dik had contracted a deadly illness only found on the Dik-Dik home world that was caused by a specific strain of bacteria that could survive a thorough cooking process, provided that the predators even bothered or attempted to cook the messenger in the first place instead of just eating the meat raw. There was actually a cure for the illness and the messenger Dik-Dik would have taken it had they managed return home safely from their delivery. This was a rather nasty surprise when any of the ruling predators that had a taste of the messenger suddenly died of a rather volatile and quickly spreading illness that the predators didn’t didn’t know how to cure. Yes, the Dik-Dik people were quite honorable, why to suggest otherwise without even a shred of proof would get them mildly angry. They wouldn’t act on the behalf of their allies until they were infringed upon personally or their allies actively asked for help. As unit or family, Dik-Diks were tightly knit together and formed relatively large harems with generally equal numbers in both males and females. Dik-Diks tended to have large families which would eventually form into powerful clans given enough time. They were quite physically social and passionate amongst their own kind. They treated outsiders with more caution, especially if the outsiders were carnivorous or omnivorous leaning carnivorous. If you attack one Dik-Dik with the intent to kill then every Dik-Dik nearby, even if they aren’t of the same clan or family, will join together as one to stop the attacker and outright cripple them without remorse. As a whole their race were militaristic and they conscripted their people into service for a minimum of three years, so even their merchants had combat training which is why most space pirates won’t touch or board a single Dik-Dik transport ship without caution. Compared to the races of Equus and how they all preferred diplomacy thanks to Celestia’s many years of effort, Dik-Diks were considered excessively savage and violent brutes when that wasn’t entirely true at all. When it came to hearing about and meeting the Pony race for the first time? Well one would think the Dik-Dik species as a whole would disdain the peaceful existence and poor military quality. They didn’t actually disdain the peaceful existence or even mind it, though they certainly did disdain the poor military quality that the ponies had as a whole and wondered how they survived to be a space bound species. Well they had wondered how Ponies had survived up until their council heard of monarchy that led the Ponies specifically. The council was the leadership of the Dik-Dik race, they were surprisingly impossible to corrupt or pay off much to the consternation of many who tried to deal with them. They were elected based on merit and republic election where all the clans had to agree with posting someone to councillorship without bias, as such a clan or any close relations thereof by a removal of two couldn’t vote on their own clan member if they put them up for an election into the council position and in complete fairness they could still vote on other possible council members. The Dik-Diks actually respected most of the races of Equus for being economically capable and decent ship builders, they even respected the sapient and intelligent predators of the world for not eating sapient and intelligent herbivores. Dik-Diks were slightly iffy on the idea of the existence of Hippogriffs or how they came about, otherwise they were mostly alright with it as long as they didn’t have to talk about it. The respect became especially noteworthy after the races of Equus successfully stopped the Cacceran incursion cold. They also were okay with the existence of goddesses like Celestia and Luna, because it proved the existence of exceedingly powerful beings and the fact that the princesses were mostly herbivorous helped in the dealings between their respective people. Dik-Diks weren’t religious in any extreme and every Dik-Dik believed in whatever they wanted to, some even worshipped Princess Cadence as a muse of love. Dik-Diks didn’t expand towards the borders of Pony held space or take any aggressive actions, they mostly left the Ponies and their alliances alone aside from some lucrative trade agreements on all sides involved. The Dik-Diks actually wanted the Pony races of Equus to grow and expand beyond the few systems that they currently held. While they didn’t socialize with the Pony safe systems very much or mingle outside the boundaries of their systems too often, aside from the worlds at the edge of their coverage like Nocturne, they were quite willing to defend the Pony safe systems. You can imagine how pissed they were to learn what the Humans had been up to from second hand information coming from Applin Five. While Celestia hadn’t directed any of the information their way or even thought to do so at all, with good reason mind you considering the bloody history of the Dik-Diks, the Dik-Diks weren’t exactly content to sit aside upon hearing about it and would respond quite eloquently if the Humans tried anything like that in their systems. They were already geared up for war and they would police the entire universe if they had to, genocide was actually something they wouldn’t resort to without a perfectly good reason to do so. As for technology? Dik-Diks were about on par with any of the other races near their sectors of space, most of their technological progress came from their militaristic background and the ruthless war they started. Their weapon choices were notably different as they tended to lean more towards energy based melee weapons and hoof held physical shields in various designs on top of having a lot of lightweight equipment for moving faster or increasing their ability to move around. It is said that if you wanted an efficient and effective jetpack, then you’d need to find a Dik-Dik merchant willing to sell one to you. There was a noticeable bias depending on what you ate for a living and while Dik-Diks could tolerate omnivores and carnivores, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t watch their backs around them. Dik-Dik ground forces preferred fighting at melee ranges while moving at high speeds, the faster they moved the less likely they were to be hit by something that actually needed them to physically block with their projectile deflecting shields. The Dik-Dik hoof held shields might be medieval in appearance, but when they were activated and while energy coated the outer surface of the shield a Dik-Dik could block continuous laser weapons, most metals used as material rounds and even plasma rounds without issue. They didn’t care about bulky armor or the generally flaky body protecting force field generators that some species used. As for their space forces they preferred using liberal amounts of explosives or more physical types of ammunition that would explode into dust after a set distance. The reason why Dik-Diks had their ammunition be capable of self-destructing is that they didn’t want to accidentally hit anything with their physical projectiles should they miss and proximity based explosives worked just as well even if they didn’t directly hit their target. They didn’t have space fighters, not even for defense or escort and had plenty of fighter countermeasures to make up for it. The only race that the Dik-Diks currently loathed at the moment were the Pendaxons, understandable considering the giant five legged frog bastards usual disgusting culinary habits. Not a single Pendaxon has attempted to eat a Dik-Dik yet and the Dik-Diks were actually begging, quite loudly, for a reason to attack them. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say Humans might soon be added to the list of races that the Dik-Diks would become quite hostile to. What was important about all this was that Opal was about to open discussion with the first Dik-Dik she’d ever meet as she took up her seat at communications on the Shining Jewel’s bridge, hey if she was going to be considered their communications specialist she might as well look the part. Opal had asked her mother to take accompany her and to help take care of her hair once she got seated. Opal’s straight waist length hair tended to get a bit messy from dragging on the floor while she walked like a quadruped, she was getting better at it and would eventually start learning to walk on her two hind limbs to avoid tripping over her own crowning glory that Rarity was already brushing putting up into a pair of ponytails or the usual unbraided pigtails that was Opal’s usual favored style back when she thought she was an AI. This delighted Opal to no end, even as Rarity calmly planted a communication headset on her head with a soft smile. Opal wasn’t the only one who would be experiencing Dik-Diks for the first time, Rarity would step in if she was needed. Rarity was going to be standing off to the side and listening into the conversation. An appropriate question to ask is why the Dik-Diks helped to build the cities on Nocturne in the first place, it was a planet swarming with predatory creatures and Dik-Diks were certainly not predator friendly. Yet, they were prominent on this particular planet why? They weren’t exterminating the predators either if that was your first guess as to their presence. - “Hello, this Shining Jewel and I’m the communications officer Opal K. Belle, I think everyone needs a little more K. Bell in their life.” Opal started off cheerfully, she was going to do her job like she always did and she was watching the screen from the outside this time and yet she still felt like she was behind it a little bit. This would be her first time acting in her capacity as a visible crew member instead of a lovely little digital creature that happened to run the ship. Sure she loved the attention, but she was a big girl and could still do her many various jobs. “We would like a transmission of local laws and a list of local dangerous creatures to avoid, we would also like to dock with the local station and will be eventually asking for permission to go down to the planet.” “This is Officer So’Grahd, we have you in sight Shining Jewel. Please do state the nature of your visit at this time.” On the screen in front of Opal was a surprisingly soft voiced female Dik-Dik with a tuft of blonde hair that would never grow out very long, but those tufts of hair could hide extra horns on males. “Because if you don’t, you can probably already see our ships. You likely know what they’ll do to you in response, we will be checking you for contraband of course and will give you a list of items that we consider contraband in nature. None of those items may leave your ship if you do dock with us.” This Dik-Dik had a bland look on her face and her chocolate eyes were not brokering any nonsense as they stared into Opal’s soul… well if she had a soul or was a soul made physical. The Dik-Diks fur was a bright tawny color and she was well muscled, plus there were a few noticeable minor cybernetic enhancements that were not to be overlooked which were attached to her ears. This was a Dik-Dik that had probably beaten someone into the ground despite her size maxing out to about Coco’s current stature. The look Opal was getting from the Dik-Dik made her shiver, Opal didn’t think the Dik-Dik would appreciate a phonetic joke about her name sounding suspiciously like ‘So Glad’. Mostly because the Dik-Dik has likely heard it before and knocked out a few teeth over it, how could a creature that small be so intimidating? Dik-Dik’s didn’t do cybernetic replacements, they only worked basic cybernetic enhancements or very mild augmentations so long as they aren’t invasive to the body as a whole. They won’t even take prosthetics replacements if injured, they don’t do things like replace their eyeballs or any part of themselves as it would be admitting that they couldn’t be strong on their own merits. “We’re primarily a mercantile and entertainment enterprise vessel, mercantile is our primary form of income as we mostly sell clothing based goods and top quality EVA suits along with various mostly non-lethal utilities for moving around in space or underwater. I say non-lethal because anyone can find a lethal use for said utilities and as such we can’t get in trouble for how people use our products once sold, we’ll be opening our product menu shortly. As for the militaristic view of our ship it’s based in the fact that we cleaned it out of a nasty sifter drifter infestation.” Opal was already receiving the information she asked for and she sent information of their cargo hold, they had nothing to hide. Though if asked about all the hair Chrysalis acquired under dubious means, then Opal was definitely going to be open and honest about that as much as she could be. She really didn’t know whether or not Chrysalis illegally acquired all of it. “We staked a claim on the ship and we’ve been proud owners ever since we acquired it legally, if you want to take it up with anyone then take it up with Commander Lirutiy of Eweson. I’m now sending crew and guests manifest for perusal.” “Receiving information. I might have a few questions I would like to ask you, give me a few minutes to look over the data.” Officer So’Grahd’s eyes seemed to focus on something off to the side and they narrowed a bit, while Opal stopped Shining Jewel in space and waited patiently to be given an approach vector. So’Grahd eyes seemed to flicker back to some bit of information and then she brought her attention back to Opal. “First off, why do you look so different from normal Caccerans?” “My mother is a pony and she’s also the captain of the vessel. She is Baroness Rarity D. Belle, she hasn’t done much with her title and she doesn’t advertise it all too much. She is the head of clothing design and production for our particular business of Rarity's Rarities. Don’t ask about my father, I’ve never met actually him.” Well you can’t meet someone who possibly doesn’t exist, Opal didn’t know if energy beings were supposed to have a gender. She definitely like being female and wasn’t about to stop looking feminine any time soon. “If I ever meet your sire, I would ask that you tell me what to do with him when I do.” So’Grahd’s voice took on a particularly threatening tone, Dik-Diks were heavily family oriented and anyone of the family or clan not helping to raise a child until they were of age was seen as scum if there weren’t provable extenuating circumstance involved. Rarity was completely safe because she was still obviously raising Opal. “Oh don’t worry about that, if mom doesn’t get an explanation from my other progenitor. Should they ever show up, then she might just geld them like she did to a stallion that tried to do untoward things to her.” Opal felt a bit awful about rooting for the Changelings to keep Mind Field alive just so the stallion could continue to suffer. “Can we move on? I’m not exactly broken up about someone I’ve never met, plus my mother’s crew is like family to me already.” “Yes, let’s. Your crew has an unusually well stocked armory, but that’s not what I want to ask about. Understand that carrying anything for personal protection is completely legal around here, which means even heavy weapons. The legal usage of such weapons is seen to by case to case basis and who did what.” The antelope looking alien paused for a moment to let the information sink in that anyone who comes to Nocturne will likely be armed. They shouldn’t use the weapons without good reason or they’d get in trouble with the local authority. “What I’m more curious about is all the Pony hair on your cargo manifest, surely you don’t use that in the clothing as well. What is the purpose of all that hair?” “What do you know about Changelings?” It would be easier for Opal to explain what all that hair was used for if So’Grahd already knew about them. “Admittedly not a lot, but I know that they are native to Equus and have caused problems in the past. It says here that the one on your crew is named Crystal.” It was kind of plain to see that So’Grahd had quirked an eyebrow that was asking various questions and Opal was being prompted to answer them. “Her name is Crystal Clear Dick, that’s completely true. She prefers to go by her title as a queen, so we’ll be calling her Chrysalis as she has signed on with our crew to perform various jobs. Changelings have three main sources of food, one of which is hair.” This was common knowledge that would be spread around when Changelings started becoming more prominent, so Opal didn’t think it would be too bad to tell two of the three sources of food. “Aside from eating hair or fur, she can also consume ambient or directed love. I’m talking about the emotion and yes it’s a thing they do, they are empathic meaning they can read how you’re feeling emotionally. Note, it is not mind reading.” “What’s the third thing they can eat and what aren’t you telling me about Changelings?” So’Grahd seemed to focus on the latter half of what Opal said. “Well if you seriously want to know I’ll tell you about the third thing they eat, but it’s a bit sickening and not really for polite conversation.” Opal received a look that said So’Grahd was going to ask anyway. “As for what I haven’t told you, Changelings are shape shifting beings who can take on various appearances. They can only mimic four legged beings or object, they can’t actually change their mass and technology counteracts their ability to sneak around. We’ll be keeping a tight eye on her to make sure she doesn’t cause too much trouble.” “You mean to tell me you honestly have a creature that can sneak around disguised as one of my people on your ship and you’re not even going to hide that fact?” Now So’Grahd seemed less content and more attentive, her tone was also a bit sharper. “What else can they eat, also is the emotion eating dangerous?” “Their third form of eating is coprophagia and yes that is surprisingly healthy for a Changeling, also no the emotion thing isn’t dangerous even in the most extreme cases excepting that you might lose the ability to feel emotions for a while. We prefer that she eat hair or our love for her, instead of having her clean out the toilets and we all know how that would turn out.” Now Opal could see So’Grahd’s face turn a pale shade of green and her cheeks swelled slightly, much to Opal’s surprise So’Grahd actually swallowed the bile buildup in her throat and cleared it. “Also she can’t really successfully disguise herself as one of your people, she’s too big and a big Dik-Dik would be extremely out of place among you’re kind. She can however disguise herself as one of our other crew members if she so chose. Aside from being slightly predatory in nature, Changelings don’t actually outright kill anything unless threatened.” “I can see why you were reluctant to tell me of her third food source now. So she’s relatively harmless unless provoked? She is welcome then, but I still need to consider the dietary habits of the rest of your crew.” So’Grahd still looked a little sick at the thought of what Chrysalis could eat to stay alive. “It says here you have a Diamond Dog, two Griffons and a… a Lagotophin! How did you find one of those meat eating little monsters and why is it on your crew?” “Excuse me, but Bernard is not a meat eating monster. His primary source of meat will always be unintelligent predators with little or no sapience at all and he hardly eats meat to begin with.” Jumping to a friend’s defense was what Opal’s mother would do and she wasn’t any different. “His main diet actually consists of vegetables, mostly he eats carrots and he’s a close friend of ours. He’s part of the entertainment group who hired us to ferry them around to wherever we end up going. We earn a share of their profits and we also do merchandising for them aside from just being transport.” “Do ponies seriously try to befriend everything that might eat them? I swear the strange tales from that world are almost too crazy to believe, I mean giant rainbow waves that heal people and peaceful unity between all the intelligent carnivores and herbivores is a little hard to swallow.” So’Grahd stated blithely with a hint of contempt while shaking her head. “Still what do the Diamond Dogs and Griffons eat, for that matter have you ever had meat before?” “I can honestly say that no, I have never had meat and will remind you that my mother is and has always been a Pony. I like sweet and sugary things personally. It comes from my mom I guess, as she enjoys eating tons of ice cream when she’s really upset and somehow that doesn’t go to her hips. My diet is mostly vegetarian, with the exception of eggs. Speaking of swallows, apparently ponies are in a small war with little birds known as swallows or are apparently working towards a peace treaty with them.” Clearing her throat to hide the slight giggle, Opal looked off to the side at Rarity who had been listening into the conversation, the unicorn shook her head as she didn’t have anything to say and gave Opal a reproachful look for telling someone about her eating habits while thoroughly upset. “The Diamond Dogs dietary habits are rather specific as there are some things he can’t eat without getting horribly sick, he enjoys peanut butter for protein and so do the griffons as well. While we do have fish for the more meat minded of the crew, our chefs are ponies that primarily cook indoneighsian food. It’s not the only food they create, but it’s their related to their special talents. As I said before, we would like to first dock with the local space station and do some business before heading on down to the planet.” “…. Okay I can actually accept all that and I’m going to give you an approach vector, you can keep your shields active but power down your weapons unless you want to start something we’re going to finish one way or another. I only have a few more question and then you can proceed closer to Selengard Station.” It sounded like Officer So’Grahd was being far more amiable and accommodating now, she even seemed a little less guarded than she did a second ago. “I just wish to know which of your number will be leaving your ship and for what reasons. I also need to know if you are going to dock to the station with a ship of that size to see if we have space for it.” “My mom Rarity, I, Sassy, Coco and Chrysalis will be departing in the station to do business and look around in the station, I will not be going down to the planet and I will return to the ship when they do head down that way.” Opal didn’t want to get too far away from Shining Jewel, it was her responsibility and the only reason why she wanted to go onto the station is to do some shopping. She gave her mother big cat eyes and a quivering lip, Rarity rolled her eyes and just smiled at Opal. Opal felt gleeful at the prospect of walking around with her mother doing some shopping. “The crew members listed as Trapeze Star, Rover and Bernard will be looking to put on a few performances. Trapeze is a master of acrobatics, magician magic and oddly enough fire breathing, Rover is a juggler and is learning how to clown around and as for Bernard he’s Trapeze’s main assistant who is still recovering from some nasty burn wounds he got while protecting Trapeze. We’ll be docking in one of the stations hangars in a smaller ship called the Caravel Boutique.” “Okay then, I’m sending you an approach vector and will be setting up both your groups with a minder. Before you say anything, all people on the station need one minder of my species to keep watch of them. Business and trade doesn’t require permits here, we’re open market and the minders are to prevent illegal trading or bad deals. They are also to prevent any illicit actions from happening under our noses.” Dik-Diks weren’t known for being economically powerful, but they at least knew what was fair and So’Grahd continued on looking far more relaxed. “We’re a little more lenient as to what happens on the planet and we know illegal stuff happens down there, we still try to prevent it from happening and will tell you of the safer places you can go to if you want to know. Welcome to Selengard Station, don’t try anything funny while you’re here in Vae Dur.” Author's Note I have acquired a game known as 'Monster Hunter: World'. You don't need PlayStation Plus to enjoy the game, but it's annoying that they are insistent about it while booting the game up. I am now horrifically distracted by monsters rampaging around rather interestingly realistic articulate environments... not that it will stop me from posting chapters. Also the new mechanics make it easier to do things on the fly, like making potions or getting ammunition. Anyway say hello to the Dik-Diks, I'm thinking of not adding anymore races... unless it is for monster or other creatures. I'll play more with the invented races during the Nocturne Arc, Macropussians will be more prominent here. Pony space has more ponies naturally, so here the ponies are actually a minority. A Dik-Dik is a real life animal and yes that is what they are called, I think they look cute at least. Dik-Dik Clan names are usually prefixed and separated from the Dik-Diks actual name with an apostrophe. Example: Zigon'Tirson. I haven't forgot about Rubis Poulette, it'll come up when I get to it.
-115-“Bonjour, I am making a delivery of this package to Princess Celestia.” Rubis like the clothes she got from Rarity’s business, all the things they made for her really helped her feel better about having to regrow her feathers. The Parrote had recently arrived on Equus, the prime world of various species, to deliver Queen Chrysalis’s package personally. She still felt like she owed Rarity and her friends much more than this small bit of courier service, at least Mr. Bar was useful in getting her here. “I believe Madam Celestia is expecting something from Chrysalis?” “What happened to your feathers?” One of the guards was a Pegasus stallion with no tact and the unicorn next to him gave him a rather scathing glare for it. “My poor beautiful feathers were freezer burned and had to be removed, I was one of the kidnap victims on Applin Three and I was rescued on Applin Five before the facility was blown to smithereens.” The small box under her right arm wasn’t very heavy and Rubis didn’t have many other places to be considering any prospects she had on Applin Three were ruined. “I have come a long way and I have no idea where I’m going to now, considering I no longer have a job. Delivering this package was a favor for a friend of a friend.” “You could ask Celestia for help or go to the Parrote embassy to see if they could do something for you.” The unicorn stallion suggested helpfully while continuing to shoot his partner a dirty look. “Just wait for a moment and you’ll be allowed through, I will need to scan the package to make sure there’s nothing inside that can be considered dangerous to the princess or any other royal figure that may be inside. We might be seen as incompetent, but we at least try to do our jobs.” One scan of the package later and finding nothing wrong with it, Rubis found herself approaching the majestic looking Celestia and the completely friendly Plentiful R. Thorax discussing something or other about lunch. “You really don’t need to ask you’re maids to do that for me, I get enough love every day as it is… I would even say far too much and I’m a Changeling. I wish they’d find someone else to bug…” Pausing the Changeling with the large goofy horns known as Thorax turned towards Rubis. “Oh hello there, I believe you were one of the victims of Applon System?” “Yes and I’d rather not discuss my appearance, if you could stop staring at me s’il vous plait.” Rubis started tapping her left foot against the ground, looking entirely unamused with people continually drawing attention to her featherless form. “Je suis désolé mademoiselle, s’il vous plait excusez-moi.” The fact that Thorax said it fluently surprised Rubis to no end, she had heard that Changelings were generally polyglots by nature and tended to make a decent living of it nowadays. “You are excused, I bring a package from Chrysalis for you Lady Celestia.” Holding out the package, Rubis watched as a golden glow take it from her gentle and somewhat long fingers. She watched as the princess eagerly open it with her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. It made Rubis somewhat happy that Celestia was not a pony who cared too much about their royal image given how excited she looked, in fact Celestia almost seemed to be like any other Pony and wasn’t stuck up as Rubis might have imagined her to be. While this was happening Rubis pulled out a data pad that was given to her for her personal use from one of the many spares Chrysalis had laying around that wasn’t an utterly destroyed pile of melted slag and would contact one of Chrysalis’s changelings with the picture she was about to get later. “I believe she left instructions in the package, she did put a piece of paper in there.” Just because Rubis was doing this for Chrysalis, it did not mean she had a job or was being paid to capture something for posterity. She was still going to do it because she wanted to see what would happen, Chrysalis was a strangely persuasive when it came to pranks. She watched as Celestia levitated out the note and read it while cooing at the rather adorable Changeling plush toy. “What does it say and why would Chrysalis make something like that for you? It doesn’t seem like something she’d do, it’s far too… nice.” The look of suspicion on Thorax’s face said just about everything. He knew Changeling Queens as did any Changeling, they were prima donnas and had tendencies that were counterproductive to creating love to feed on. Chrysalis was pretty normal considering she enjoyed the suffering of others as much as her own. “Changeling Queens by their very nature are usually at least a little bit mean spirited, even when they are being as friendly as possible.” “It says here that she’s taken up a hobby of making Changeling toys and wants to patent this toy in particular, she wants me to test it by pressing on its nose.” Though she would never say it to his face, Celestia found Thorax to be a bit boring despite having mares throwing themselves at him constantly. Compared to all the other people in her life it was breath of fresh air to have someone moderately normal to talk to on a regular basis that could speak plainly. Something she’d have to actually thank Chrysalis for and immediately deny if anyone else asked, she continued reading the note. “She’s also hoping that you’ll make sure that Changeling prospects will proceed apace on Applin Five while she’s busy Thorax. Furthermore it also says Puffles are dangerously stupid, more so than Changelings usually are. Her words, not mine. They give off tons of free ambient love and are excessively hairy but by the gods don’t take your eyes off them for too long or else they might set you on fire. Mmm… so much pain and burning… actually it goes on like that for a while, I can at least say that this is definitely Chrysalis’s writing. Nobody I know can continue writing a letter like this while on fire and be clearly enjoying it like this.” Ignoring the rest of the letter that seems to be written entirely in masochistic moans, Celestia scrutinized the toy. Its entire body was fluffy and that included the barely stuffed wings to keep them from being too puffed up. It looked like an average greedy changeling if they were being genderless like Thorax was, only in toy form. The bright solid pink eyes stared blankly into Celestia’s own. She was curious as to what would happen when she finally pressed the nose, but she was also cautious. She reached forward with her hoof while both Rubis and Thorax looked on and then she pressed the toys nose. The reaction after pressing the nose was immediate and would be later termed a mild noodle incident, at least Discord thought it was funny and wouldn’t touch or do anything to the toy out of respect for the one who made. Thorax was right, Chrysalis was always a bit mean spirited and there were no exceptions even when it came to making shape shifting toys. Celestia was keeping the toy even if it had embarrassed her greatly, she’d even cuddle it in her sleep when she next went to bed. She’d approve of at least one for Luna, because she certainly wasn’t letting Luna have hers. - Chrysalis smiled, it was the kind of smile she got when she pulled off a plan and yet she didn’t know which plan. She had at least seventy running at the moment and she didn’t know which of them came to fruition, but she was glad to know that she made the universe cry whenever she succeeded at something. Opal ignored whatever Chrysalis was smiling about. Why the cat with the two streams of pink flowing behind just pawed her way over to the Caravel Boutique in hangar section three without batting an eye at the sight. She sat on her butt and raised her right paw, she waved it around in a circle while making whooshing noises. The Caravel Boutique lifted up turned in place and settled down to lower its ramp, the end of which precisely lands in front of Opal’s smiling face. “Stop showing off Kitten, you are not the one and you don’t have super powers when it’s a naturally occurring part of your existence.” The one who was now called Aunt Gilda by Opal was just as grumpy as she ever was as she continued to work on the Centaur-pede. “Yeah, besides everyone knows super powers only occur unnaturally, if it is natural then it’s a mutant ability or magic. Think of Mane-iac for instance, well, before she disappeared from the comic after becoming friends with Radiance at that honey festival or something and was quickly replaced with the more evil Mare-dusa.” Greta was happily working the underside of the Bombing Peregrine and slid out to give Opal a smile, she liked similar kinds of media and was happy to talk with Opal about it. “Also you’re ability to alter data is amazing, while you can’t directly control technology outright you can manipulate the data flow quite easily. Cyberpathy is pretty nifty given its boosted the firewalls on my data pad quite nicely after you interacted with it.” “Eh, I just decided to do a little touching up on the coding to make it a more solid system to work with, maybe make it a little safer to hack with if you ever needed to do so. I should probably get my own data pad come to think of it… since moms still using the one I was kind of born on.” Modesty thy name is Opal, she could only control known electronic systems where she can actively work the coding. She couldn’t outright take control of everything, all it would take is a signal blocker to prevent her from accessing things wirelessly. The wireless access thing was chalked up to her being an energy entity, the ability to feel various forms of energy helped with transmitting and receiving data in massive quantities and viruses wouldn’t really do anything to Opal since she wasn’t cybernetic. “I still wish I were technopathic, I mean the ability to cobble together crazy stuff like you two do on an average basis would be so cool and then there’s the controlling machines just by looking at them. The best I can do is hacking into things and we still don’t know what my actual range is for that, plus it actually takes some effort on my part and a lot of coding to work through to even do it silently. As I am now, I can’t do anything but loud and noticeable hacking.” “Technopaths are rare, mostly because people kill them when they start trying to do the whole machine uprising shtick or they start taking control of things they probably shouldn’t.” If it were up to Gilda, she would never have to meet a technopath personally. A technopath would be her worst enemy, because she did her best work while driving vehicles and all the vehicles she builds need at least some form of electronics to work. If your opponent can control your own weapons outright, then it wouldn’t be much of a fight. “Just be glad you don’t have to worry about viruses getting downloaded into your brain, I think your control over software is good enough as it is if you’ve got Greta impressed. You don’t need to be able to control hardware too.” “But then how will I build a giant fighting robot made up of five random animals to form a giant lion shaped pony for great justice?” Having known Opal for as long as they have, both the griffons knew she was completely serious and Chrysalis just shrugged and went up the ramp. Rarity really should make Opal cut back on those shows. Other than ogling Sassy, Chrysalis didn’t have much to do to prepare for the trip aside from having her refurbished EVA suit on hoof. Chrysalis and Opal were currently waiting on everyone to get ready for the small trip to Selengard Station. The Trapeze Troupe were currently working out the details of how strenuous a performance they can put on, in Bernards case it couldn’t be anything too strenuous until his burns fully cleared up and Rover was mostly good to go for a bigger more complicated performance given his wrist and bruises were completely healed. Trapeze herself was perfectly healthy and she was currently looking forward to a casino or a small venue to throw on a short show while on the station. It wouldn’t take them too long to show up, they were almost done. Rarity was busy getting her bio-cast removed at the moment, she would be able to walk on her weak hoof and her magic was still in good order. It wouldn’t be long before Opal saw her coming to the ship and she could already hear Vera suggesting that Rarity take a break after walking or standing for at least an hour. Lightning would be their designated pilot, to give her something to do and she had been teaching the others how to fly. Lightning’s lessons left something to be desired considering how she taught was the ‘by the seat of your pants’ kind of teaching. Coco and Sassy were gathering materials from storage to manufacture specific orders for their business ventures. Even though waiting was boring, Opal wanted to get out and experience a different culture. Still it wouldn’t hurt to do a little research before they went to the space station. The local space station had eight humongous hangars, big enough that the Shining Jewel could park inside one for repairs. Thankfully that wasn’t needed with Greta and Gilda’s EGGS units to repair any damage the Shining Jewel takes. The space station as a whole looked like a giant cube and had comparatively few weapon emplacements, but the weapon emplacements it does have all fired high speed explosives that could chew through a small fleet on its own. Unlike the previous space stations Rarity and company had visited, this Space Station was always had four active fighter squadrons running drills or usually flying lazy patrol shifts to make sure no one got any ideas. Given that the planet of Nocturne had several uninhabitable moons that generated the permanent nighttime effect, some people might try to take advantage of the moons to work smuggling operations or at least try to approach the dark jungle planet from a blind spot. The squadrons were not part of Planetary Protection Patrol and were specifically there to protect the space station, though the local Planetary Protection Patrol was present to do that job as well. The way the space station was oriented, it was hard to attack it from space as most of the weapons on the station were all aimed mostly away from the planet. The only way you could get off a semi-successful attack would be if you could attack it from below by launching an entire fleet of small ships to hit the least defended side. That’s what the Dik-Diks intended to prevent from happening, nobody could build up enough force on the surface of the planet to threaten the space station. Speaking of the race that were notably compensating for something. Two of the squadrons on Selengrad Station was entirely made up of Dik-Dik Jackknife fighters. The general design of a Jackknife was a bullet shaped central portion with a flat bottom, then throw in shifting wings for increased atmospheric maneuverability and extra protection in space combat. A Jackknifes wings spread out in an X from the front and rear of the fighter, but it thankfully didn’t require them for flight in atmosphere. In space the wings closed up to provide extra armor and shielding. Given the wings can do the same thing a Dik-Dik hoof held shield can do, it wasn’t a surprise that Dik-Dik fighters were hard to take out conventionally when operating in space as the wings were usually the first things destroyed on their fighters. When closed up the wings formed a knife like shape with the front two wings covering the top of the fighter and the rear two wings doing the same across the bottom. The station was well defended as every once in a while someone didn’t get the memo that this space station was a peaceful trading hub for legal goods. Those who tried to attack the station or caused too much trouble were asked to leave before being forced to leave or otherwise suffer swift deaths. The presence of the Dik-Dik race helped keep the Vae Dur system a mostly friendly neutral ground for most visitors, that didn’t stop people for trying to get stuff by the alien antelopes and onto the station itself in the slightest. People were far more successful at getting illegal stuff onto the planet than onto the station itself. - “Do we really need a minder mom?” There were several small trepidations Opal had about this. She was excited to go on a shopping trip and to use her saved money for personal things, but she was a bit wary of someone figuring out what she really was. It had not occurred to her until now, but she might have to act like a slightly unusual Cacceran or at least a Cacceran that was raised by a pony. Weren’t Caccerans all about going native when their takeover plots failed because they were lazy at times? She was probably safe then, you can’t get more native then having Rarity for a mother. “I mean we don’t even know the random person they’re going to have following us around.” “It doesn’t matter, they have rules here and even then they don’t have a right to tell us what to do. It’s only if we plan on being disruptive or exceptionally violent without reason that they can really do anything to us.” Well at least Rarity hoped that’s how things went around here. “In any case, whoever our minder turns out to be, I’m quite sure they won’t interfere if we need some privacy to powder our noses. I don’t think they’ll be that bad about interrupting us if we’re enjoying ourselves.” “Mom, you’re a living magnet for trouble.” It was true and no one would say it wasn’t to Opal’s face without lying to themselves about it. “Even if we’re not planning on being disruptive, we will eventually end up doing something disruptive by law of averages and how often you tend to jump at the chance to be generous in aiding others.” “That is exactly why we’re not bringing Saffron along, she can’t stand injustice and I know she’ll be itching to go down to the planet to find some crime to stop or at the very least will escalate things to an unmanageable degree. She also still needs some time to recover aside from that.” Having a vigilante on the crew wasn’t too bad, but Rarity wouldn’t put it too far past any of her friends or coworkers to do something to attract all kinds of unwanted attention to themselves. “Which is why I wanted you to come with us Chrysalis, your our early warning to something going wrong and you’re really good at being distracting.” “Comes with the job of being a Changeling Queen. The less people looking at me, the more ashamed I feel for not being impressive enough to warrant the attention that I truly deserve by just being my glorious self. I am quite beautiful and my flaws are very few, my most notable one is my eternal shame.” There went Chrysalis’s ego flaring up again, not entirely undeserved even if it frankly going overboard and her egotistical attitude waned as she looked at her flat rear end. “Yes, for it makes me feel self-conscious that my backside is incapable of attracting the attention of the lovely Sassy-chan.” “Can I toss her in a freezer that can only be unlocked from the outside?” The abruptness in which Sassy said that and the dry lilt had Rarity snorting trying to hold back a giggle, the vitriol in that sentence was amazing as was Chrysalis’s pout. “No Sassy, we need her alive and I remember you telling me that you’re not an assassin. Even if she’s signed on to Rarity’s crew as subordinate to Rarity, she’s still a queen of her people.” At least Coco was on the ball for keeping Sassy from following through with her murderous intent against Chrysalis. “Rarity, would you mind if I had a sudden change of vocation from being your store manager?” It seemed Sassy was hoping Rarity would give her the go ahead to become an assassin. “Sassy, I abhor the idea of you being a paid killer even if it would make more money than we currently do as fashion merchants.” At least Rarity knew Sassy was joking by the lack of reaction from Chrysalis. “Though if Chrysalis keeps this up, I may just think about it.” “Very well, I will continue my job to protect those I care about dearly instead of becoming a cold blooded killer that would run a certain gnat through without a second thought.” The fact that Sassy said it so seriously with a hint of a smile on her face caused shivers all around, except for Chrysalis of course. “Pity, I would have relished you being my sexy assassin, I also wouldn’t have minded you stabbing me with your sword… in bed.” Chrysalis didn’t know what happened and she didn’t even sense a whiff of emotion before her world swirled around in pretty colors. All Chrysalis knew after saying the words ‘in bed’ was that she was suddenly on her back at the bottom of the ramp to the Caravel Boutique’s cargo bay with a slight headache staring at the ceiling of the hangar they landed in. Chrysalis’s nose may or may not have been dribbling a bit from the blow, she couldn’t tell until she regained her senses. Sassy had hit her so fast and so hard with just her hoof that Chrysalis was knocked for a loop without being hurt too much. This led to Chrysalis feeling a strong attraction to the mare for being so forceful, not to mention the fact that she couldn’t even taste, sense or feel Sassy’s emotions at all when she was hit. That kind of thing took some real steel and skill, there was schooling emotions and then there was Sassy’s blank wall of indifference. It was amazing that Sassy went to this much trouble to avoid her emotional sensing abilities, it might explain why her wily prey was so hard to find on a ship with less than twenty people. “You really shouldn’t antagonize her like that Chrysalis, though you are making Sassy live up to her name at least.” There wasn’t much that Coco wanted more than making sure her friends were happy, if Chrysalis wanted to try and make Sassy happy then she was okay with that as long as the Changeling didn’t go too far. Even Coco had her limits on what she would allow Chrysalis to get away with and she was physically stronger than most of crew when she was using her Earth Pony magic, she could break Chrysalis’s spine for however long such an injury would last on her. “I don’t think she appreciated you calling her Sassy-chan.” “Don’t care, I want to dig her figurative claws into my hide and never let me go.” Now Chrysalis went from highly attracted to rather smitten with Sassy, such fierce reprisals were the stuff of legends considering she didn’t even see Sassy move. Chrysalis was a talented fighter when she was trying and Sassy just took her down without even a single second to react. “Coco, don’t talk to the stranger, we don’t know where she’s been.” With an amused chuckle at the thought of nothing being stranger then the Changeling Queen, Sassy followed Rarity as she approached a muscular female Dik-Dik. “Hey, I’ll have you know that Changelings can’t possibly transmit sexual diseases and we most certainly can’t cause diseases by just talking to people!” There was no heat in the words and Chrysalis was too happy to stay on her back for the moment. “I don’t know, you might have a highly contagious hoof in mouth disease.” Pawing her way past the downed Changeling, Opal joined up with Sassy and Coco at her mother’s side. “You could ask for advice about wooing Sassy you know.” Trapeze didn’t see why Chrysalis didn’t do so, Coco looked to be all too willing to help. “Like I need advice from the most oblivious mare in the world.” It didn’t matter to Chrysalis, she’d even settle for what Greta was having with Gilda even if she would continue to push for more. “Also that might take all the challenge out of it and I want my prey to know I’m hunting after her affection and will do so relentlessly without question. I want to actually earn her love my way, even if it really isn’t the best way to do it as I have my pride as a seductress.” “I don’t see what I’m so oblivious about and I’ve met Changelings that are far more seductive then you that it isn’t even funny, in fact it is quite sad.” Trapeze didn’t notice the rather affectionate looks Bernard kept shooting her, she continued forward and left a parting remark. “Still, I wish you luck in that endeavor. You break her heart, her friends will break you if she doesn’t do that herself.” “What if I want them to break me, did you ever think of that?” Being submissive didn’t seem like a bad idea to Chrysalis, but she’d only go that far for Sassy as she preferred to be the dominating one. Perhaps she should only dominate while torturing Rarity’s enemies from now on? Just to show Sassy that she can change like only a Changeling can change, like a woodchuck. “I choose not to comment.” The sacred words Rover had learned to speak in very specific moments long ago came to the forefront as he lumbered past them. Bernard squeaked something and waved a paw in a lazy manner in Chrysalis’s direction, before waving it in a circle next to his head. “I have to agree with Rover and Bernard on that one.” For some reason Trapeze had surprised Bernard by understanding exactly what he said and not what his gestures meant, she didn’t see why he was so shocked since she could understand him where it counted as her best friend. Chrysalis wondered when Bernard would stop directing metric tons of love and happiness straight into Trapeze or when she’d even notice that he had far more amorous intentions than just being friends. At least Chrysalis was upfront about it with Sassy and the lovely Unicorn seemed to appreciate it despite not showing that at all in any sense of the word. The two groups had been waiting for the minders to come and follow them around, maybe even assist them in finding what they wanted to shop for. One had finally arrive and it was for Rarity’s group, one that was familiar to both Rarity and Opal who was wearing a light blue and grey uniform, It was So’Grahd. “You’re about the right size for a Cacceran in person at least.” Having to be a minder left So’Grahd wondering who in her clan did she piss off to deserve having to follow Rarity’s group around like she was going to have to. She’d have to wait for the other minder to show up before the other group, the Trapeze Troupe she remember, would be allowed to roam. She eyed both Bernard and Rover with something akin to suspicion given they both looked rather scruffy in appearance next to Trapeze’s shining elegant form. “Uh… thank you I guess? I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to take that. Can I ride on your back mom?” The glow of unicorn magic erupted around Opal and she found herself being lifted onto Rarity’s back where she snuggled against her mother’s soft form. Rarity had noticed that Opal felt a little uncomfortable getting looked at by the Dik-Dik, at least until she started petting Opal to ease her nerves. Rarity smiled and planted a soft kiss to Opal’s forehead making her blush and mewl petulantly in embarrassment. “Right, well I’m your group’s minder, apparently I was pulled from my job for this and I don’t appreciate it one bit. We have to wait for their group’s minder before I can play tour guide for your lot.” It seemed like Grahd wasn’t so happy with her current job of minding Rarity’s group, she in fact looked a little miffed about having to come here to the hangar to greet them. “As you know I am Grahd of the So clan, so I am So’Grahd and you will refer to me as such or at least Grahd to keep it formal. I hope we will have a peaceful time together in each other’s company and any business that you do. I am here to make sure you keep to the spirit of the rules we set around here, I am an Officer and I am legally obligated to protect you as much as you are legally obligated to protect yourselves. This is provided that you are not the aggressors in any circumstance unless circumstances permit that I act with you if you are.” “Well if it isn’t Grady. Is there not enough minders to go around that they’re pulling you for this?” The male Dik-Dik had dark chocolate furred and short horns, he was half the size of So’Grahd and he didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by Chrysalis’s fangs as she finally got up and approached the two Dik-Diks. “This is Zel’Itenk of the Zel clan, he’s a bit of a jerk so don’t mind him too much.” So’Grahd ignored the vocal and rather alien sounding expletive Itenk sent her way. “He’s actually a professional minder, I seriously don’t know why they pulled me for this and I don’t want to know.” “Whatever the reasons for moving you to this duty, it seems your stuck with the safer detail while I have to deal with the freaking omnivores.” That was rather unapologetically racist of Itenk and Rarity wanted to say something about it, but held her tongue as the Trapeze Troupe could take care of themselves and they didn’t seem too upset about it. “I don’t see what’s safer, I have more people to keep an eye on and large groups tend to lead to trouble.” If only So’Grahd knew how much trouble Rarity and friends tended to get into, then she probably would have never tempted fate around Rarity. “As an Officer working as a minder I’m expected to keep my eyes on them at all times and I don’t exactly have an extra pair of visual organs growing from the back of my head nor can I fully invade their privacy without warrant.” “Sucks to be you then Officer Grady, I still think I’m getting the shorter end of the stick given I’ve got two known meat eaters to deal with.” Motioning with a hoof Zel’Itenk drew the attention of Trapeze’s group. “Well come on then, I don’t have all day to wait for a couple of flesh eaters and their admittedly pretty friend.” “Don’t worry about it Rarity, we’ll be fine and his words certainly don’t hurt us one bit as we know what we are in the dark.” With faint smile Trapeze bumped Rarity’s butt with her own, she had noticed Rarity stopping herself from laying into Itenk. “We’re performers and our shows must always go on when we schedule them, besides I was expecting someone to hate us for basically being gypsies. We aim to make our audiences happy and that’s all that matters even if they initially boo us while getting on stage, we’ll still give them a show worth remembering.” “Well I hope you all have a good time, just remember that you can call on us if you need anything.” Patting her friend on the back Rarity watched as Trapeze nodded and then sauntered off with the jerk with her head held high. “I take it he likes to waggle it out in the open whenever he gets the chance to compensate for it being so small?” Chrysalis’s comment caused Grahd to snort. “You have no idea, I’m sorry that you had to meet him and for his lack of tact or propriety. We do not condone being openly racist like that, but there are some of our people who will be like that openly anyway. His father may have been eaten by a predator of Nocturne, but that doesn’t give him the right to push those feelings onto others who have done him no harm.” Before anyone could responded Grahd flicked her short fluffy tail and motioned with her head for the others to follow her. “Well come along then, I believe you wanted to head over to the merchant quarter of the station to make some purchases before setting up your own business? If I am to be your mediator and minder, then I am going to do my job right.” Author's Note Yep, I'll be going with this story until I decide to end it abruptly. That's not going to be any time soon within the next fifty chapters. Noting that Opal was given access to Greta's data pad to see what she could do with it in this chapter.
-116-Trying not to stare at the curious metal adornments attached to the Dik-Diks ears, Rarity followed their minder towards the back of the massive hangar. One of the eight hangars on Selengard Station, block C upper hanger to be specific. So’Grahd however had noticed as they approached the back wall door to the interior of the station, she had expected it given they were basically first time tourists. There were two types of doors leading into this station, one for land vehicles and another for people. Quick transport around the station required a number of vehicles and personnel to drive them, aside from that there was also the tram network. There was a limit to how many vehicles could be operational on this station at any given time and who could drive them, there was no such thing as a traffic jam thanks to the limitations in place. They would be taking the tram to the merchant district to do some shopping. “Did you want to ask a question? I certainly have plenty for fang face there, she might cause issues with other Dik-Diks if she’s seen walking around alone.” So’Grahd’s job entirely revolved around trying to keep the peace and as such Chrysalis was the problem of her group, Opal was too adorable to be threatening. That and Opal was quite puny and wasn’t a threat to any adult Dik-Dik and was clearly pony raised, so what could she possibly know about fighting from Grahd’s point of view. “Just so you know I’m not a tour guide and I’m a Planetary Protection Patrol Officer, treat me with respect and things will go smoothly between us. I just also happen to be the one they called for this minder position, apparently they passed it through the Triple P for me to even be doing this.” The ‘they’ that So’Grahd was talking about wasn’t brought up as Chrysalis decided to interject, the distraction went on long enough that Rarity’s group would quickly forget about it. “I don’t know about my fangs being big issues, some people like hickeys to the neck. Usually the blood sucking type of hickeys, but I don’t actually like the taste of blood so I don’t do hickeys unless specifically asked too.” Batting her eyelashes at and officer might not have been the brightest of ideas, but Chrysalis wasn’t known for being sane. “My teeth are mostly a defensive evolution thing and just happen to be good for chewing through hair which actually fits in with my diet, I don’t bite unless you want me too…” “No, you will not be biting anyone on this station whether or not I am there to witness it.” It was at this point that So’Grahd absolutely decided to watch the Changeling carefully, this was her first time dealing with an unknown quantity. Her opinion is that anything from Equus tended to be quite strange. “You specifically will be staying within sight or so help me I’ll find something to legally charge you with.” “You’re way too serious, but if you don’t want me biting anyone I won’t.” The goofy grin did not broker Chrysalis any luck in getting a positive response to her next statement. “Would you want to bite me instead? I promise I’ll enjoy it.” “What our odd… well let’s call her a ‘friend’ in a loose term… what she means is that she’s kind of a masochist and loves pain and suffering and doesn’t cares whose pain and suffering she’s enjoying. Quite frankly she only wants attention and its best not to focus on her all too hard or she might take it as you fancying her, which you obviously don’t want her to do.” It was Opal deciding to warn So’Grahd before it was too late. “She feeds on love, but I know friendship works just as well as it’s a certain level of love and she is absolutely horrible at getting anyone to truly love her. Which is why our ship has so much pony hair in storage.” “It’s all quite delicious too, I really enjoy Pegasus fur. It’s soft and sleek, while tasting like the most delicious savory silk ever ingested that slides gently down my throat. Probably has that texture from spending so much time in the sky. The only thing better is unicorn mane or tail which is more like a fruit flavor being that it gets to my sweet tooth pretty well and it’s chewy too.” Chrysalis probably took it as a good sign that nobody cringed as she talked about eating hair, so she continued on. “Earth Pony hair overall is a bit rough in texture, but that’s to be expected as its one part of an Earth Ponies resilience. Since it’s thicker it’s more filling for me, so I mix it with either of the other two.” “I’ll endeavor to forget I ever got you started on the subject.” Looking at So’Grahd, you can tell she really wished this was over with as she led them through the corridor towards the free tramway, it was free to use for anyone and it was the quickest way to get to the merchant district which took up a little more than half of the station. The other districts were the residential district for the people who actually lived on the station and the combined administrative and botanical districts which kept the station running as well as it does. “I can already tell someone gave me this job just to piss me off.” “I apologize for Chrysalis, she’s annoying and doesn’t care about decorum a lot of the time.” The apology Rarity gave So’Grahd had Chrysalis giving her a very flat look. “Still she is one of the strongest members on my crew, I doubt anything short of an entire planet exploding would actually kill her.” “Really now?” They boarded the tram and So’Grahd took an interest in the subject as Rarity sat Opal down on a seat before taking her place right next to the fluffy feline. Officer Grahd wouldn’t say no to learning some things about Changelings, she has yet to see the aforementioned shape shifting even if she was assured that Chrysalis could not full replicate a Dik-Dik in appearance. “Yes, it seems Chrysalis is immune to almost any kind of poison imaginable.” Sassy didn’t even bother to add a suffix to Chrysalis’s name, this actually upset the Changeling Queen given she understood neighponese style of speak that Sassy seemed to enjoy. Without the ‘–san’ suffix it meant that Sassy had less respect for her than usual. “Were that not the truth, then she’d be quite dead by now as she has been the subject of many assassination attempts.” “Yeah, I’m kind of surprised as to how nice Rarity’s crew is. None of them have tried to poison me yet and none of them outright hate me.” Or Chrysalis wasn’t doing enough wrong that they others couldn’t outright ignore, mostly she just annoyed them and they tolerated it surprisingly well. “In a way I’m kind of sad about that, I must be doing something right at the very least.” “I wouldn’t say that, but we know you’re quite intelligent even if you don’t like to show it in case one of becomes an enemy of yours.” At least Coco hadn’t given up on trying to be Chrysalis’s friend, but it was an uphill battle with boulders rolling down said hill constantly. “Aside from her lack of being able to handle higher forms of technology, Chrysalis is really quite talented at a lot of thing.” “Why yes, she’s by far the finest meat shield I’ve ever hired and she’s quite an interesting conversationalist at the very least.” That wasn’t said in jest, Rarity actually meant it and it warmed Chrysalis’s rather twisted heart to be appreciated in such a manner. “Anyway, instead of being further distracted by the inane conversation Chrysalis might want us to continue, I want to ask about those unique accoutrements to your ears Ms. Grahd. They look quite fashionable if I do say so.” “Ah, yes, my cybernetic implants, the things I’ve been teased about since they were installed. They do only two things. The first and most important thing is that they allow me to hear as I would be deaf without them otherwise, my ears were messed up some time after I was born and it is not a genetic problem no matter what anyone else says about me.” There seemed to be a bit of anger in So’Grahd’s voice as she flicked her ears a bit and the visible bits of metal and wire on her ears shifted about slightly, the metal seemed to even be integrated into the edges of her ears leading inwards. “The second things is that they let me understand various languages, I decided to add that useful perk as I already needed them to live normally anyway. So I figured why not make extra use of a tool I already have at my disposal. I get a lot of crap for it from my own race, at least it’s not a very invasive form of cybernetics and I can remove them to bathe. Anyway if you hear people calling me Grady, just ignore it and don’t ever call me that.” They were swiftly seated in the tram and various other beings entered right after them. There were several Cacceran that were mostly fox like in appearance talking amongst themselves about business, three average looking Macropussians that seemed relatively civil in appearance and a Parascine. The common factor among all of them was that they each had a Dik-Dik alongside them sometimes interjecting here or there where necessary. Rarity and possibly Sassy were surprised to see Macropussians that weren’t punks or aggressive, Coco didn’t look towards the kangaroo aliens at all and averted her eyes. She was remembering a bad run in with some when she first met Ember and tried to start up a conversation with Opal. “So what are you looking forward to the most Opal?” Coco’s ears wilted as she had startled Opal out of looking at the Caccerans curiously. “Sorry for startling you.” “It’s okay Coco, I’m just being a little skittish.” Well Opal was experiencing a lot of knew things and was even shivering a bit before Rarity wrapped a hoof around her to calm her down. “I’m looking forward to getting a few new things, though I’d prefer to just window shop as I want to continue sleeping in moms room.” “Opal, you’re a big girl. You’re going to eventually want and need that space, as such it’ll be waiting for you when you’re ready for it. I’m not kicking you out of my room darling, just giving you one you can use for yourself.” Rarity didn’t know how to interpret the look So’Grahd was sending her and Opal, but the other Dik-Diks boarding the tram didn’t seem to be focusing any attention on them or their minder at all. The other Dik-Diks still looked at Opal and Chrysalis oddly, but mostly they kept to their own groups. “Yeah, but I don’t think I’ll ever stop needing you.” Opal cuddled up against Rarity, they’d stay like that for most of the ride. They shared a strong bond with one another and weren’t going to do anything to upset what they had. “So what is your biggest seller?” Everyone in the group jumped at So’Grahd suddenly talking, she didn’t seem much like a social butterfly. “If I’m going to be stuck watching you, I at least want to know what you are good at making. Note, this will be my only token attempt at making small talk.” “I believe our best seller is our expertly crafted EVA suits, they are cheap and efficient for the cost and the only reason why they would be expensive is if you wanted all the utilities we can put into them. I myself prefer making dresses, Coco is good at making accessories and normal clothing and Sassy is also quite good at fashion design and I trust her to manage our sales.” Both of Rarity’s friends perked up and looked a bit proud of themselves, they both liked to be praised for their work. “It’s why we’re here to visit Nocturne, we’re looking forward to a fashion competition. I for one know I have plenty of friends who could act as fashion models should I need them for the competition, Chrysalis here is really good at modeling dresses with her abilities.” “Thank you Boss Lady!” The warm gooey emotions were always a nice snack for Chrysalis, especially when they were meant for her. “Can I ask for help in getting senpai to notice me?” “Boss Lady?” Snorted out So’Grahd who raised an eyebrow at Rarity’s nickname. Rarity didn’t know what the Dik-Dik was thinking and obviously Chrysalis’s senpai was Sassy, she might as well answer both queries. “First off Boss Lady is what most of my crew calls me, I haven’t the foggiest idea why they keep doing so. I am a lady or a baroness if you will and I also happen to be their boss, but that doesn’t mean they need to keep calling me that.” Having said that Rarity turned away from So’Grahd to Chrysalis. “I’m pretty sure everyone notices you just fine Chrysalis, are you asking for my help with wooing Sassy? You do realize she’s sitting right next to me right?” “No, I just want her to notice me more, because she can’t possible want to miss all of this.” Chrysalis motions to herself, mostly the front half of her body, she do any motion anywhere close to her butt. “Did somebody hear something? I’m afraid the air is a little loud in here or is it just a foul odor I smell.” The wry tone Sassy spoke in and the way she turned her nose up and away made Chrysalis whine. “So cold, so ruthless about my unrequited feelings… you can all see why I’m so deeply in love with her right?” Said a suddenly perky Chrysalis. “I mean it’s not just her looks, but the whole package that I’m interested in.” “Yes, there does seem to be a foul odor that is following you around. I’m sorry that you can’t get rid of it so easily.” So’Grahd joined Sassy in her current attitude towards Chrysalis. “Okay that’s enough!” Coco raised her voice an octave, which meant she was still within the realm of Fluttershy soft. “Stop picking on Chrysalis, even if she does smell funny a lot of the time and is annoying. She’s our friend, we should treat her a little bit better than we do. I will however withhold my respect until she actually earns it by coming to me for help when she’s obviously floundering with something. She’d have finished toys sooner had she at least asked an expert on it and we have four, all of us are right here too.” “Given all the failures it took to even make the two successful toys that she did, I’m sure she’d rather continue to fail horribly then to take you up on an offer for help because she prefers to be self-sufficient.” Opal knew Chrysalis quite well, but she still had to get in her own opinion on the matter. “Asking for help is not a sign of weakness Chrysalis, it just means that you’d like to know about something that you clearly don’t before it ends in utter disaster. Speaking of, yes Chrysalis’s first few attempts were complete disasters and she’s like a Yak from Yakyakistan when it comes to needing help.” “I love all of you, and I seriously mean that too.” It wasn’t hard for Chrysalis to like these people, they were quite fun with how they insulted her in a lighthearted way. “I know how most of you really feel, don’t really know about Sassy or the Dik-Dik though. They’re keeping their emotions closed off from me pretty well.” “You better believe I’d keep my emotions closed off from someone who’d snack on them.” So’Grahd was not looking to become a buffet for the literal odd one out of the group, she glanced at Sassy whose expression remains completely even with just a minor eye roll to show for it. “I think they’re doing you a favor Crystal, at least they are not forcing you to choke on their negative emotions.” At least Rarity had the right idea of what to say to shut off this conversation that was going nowhere. “Huh… so maybe I can get a herd going with the two of them?” Some would say Chrysalis was nuts to be attracted to those who disliked her so much, she had made So’Grahd blanch and unleash the full strength of her negative emotions about being saddled with their group. All the Changeling Queen did was let off a whistle in Grahd’s direction. “That’s a lot of resentment, whose oats did you pour your bodily fluids into?” “Not if you were the last being in existence and I don’t know who I pissed off exactly.” After stating that So’Grahd calmed down, minutely at least as far as Chrysalis could tell despite her outward appearance becoming quite blank. “Look, I resent the fact that I was pulled from my job to watch the lot of you. I’d rather be chasing down some criminal scum or working a case, heck I was almost perfectly fine with watching incoming ships for any signs of illegal activity. Instead of doing that I’m stuck with a babysitting job like this one.” “I wouldn’t challenge Chrysalis if I were you, she might actually take you up on it and actually start trying to earn your affections as well. Someone like her trying to form a herd would be bad for all who get involved in it… much less the universe as a whole.” Sassy kept herself emotionally balanced when it came to Chrysalis. She didn’t hate Chrysalis, but the mare did tend to wear on ones nerves if they weren’t ready for the Changeling Queen and she was certainly more than ready. “Is it us you resent or those in command for putting you here?” “I don’t know, but we’re almost there. The merchant district is quite large considering how much business comes through this station at any given time.” Started off So’Grahd who was beginning to cool down, she was entertaining four guests and a nuisance and had to stay on top of things. “You are to stick together as a group and as your minder I am to be stuck with you until you leave, unless mitigating circumstances occur.” “What kind of mitigating circumstances?” Asked Rarity as the tram came to a stop and the doors opened to the station in the merchant district. They all exited first and made their way out of the station to witness quite a decent looking city before them. Opal looked as eager as Coco to stop the sniping at Chrysalis and Rarity decided to help things along. “This is our first time here and we are in your care after all.” Sassy suddenly frozen next to Rarity, her eyes sharpened imperceptibly. A flicker of movement, a flash of silver and a bright spark of something happening from a few feet in front of Rarity’s face stopped them in their tracks. “What was that?” Rarity asked looking at Sassy who seemed to have not change the expression on her face at all and seemed to be standing in the exact same position she had been when Rarity had blinked. “What was what Rarity?” Though Sassy knew Rarity had to have seen at least some of the exchange that just happened, she had hopefully moved fast enough to avoid anyone fully seeing what she just did. She didn’t want to worry Rarity or ruin their trip, but she was now far more alert than she had been a second ago. “I didn’t see anything.” At least Sassy wasn’t lying about not seeing anything, she had done what she just did out of instinct and managed to barely stop what was about to happen. Both Chrysalis and Opal sent her an incredulous look at that statement, Coco just looked confused and could tell that something was up and it involved Sassy somehow. Sassy slowly positioned herself near So’Grahd. “I could have sworn something just happened.” Shaking her head, Rarity swore she just saw something and continued onwards into the streets of the merchant district. While she did that she sent a suspicious look towards Sassy before returning it to the streets littered with many other species meandering around the tram station’s entrance and the many stalls and shops the permeated the area. “Well let’s get a move on, we have some shopping to do.” Opal, Coco and Chrysalis all knew something had occurred, but only Opal and Chrysalis had managed to follow what exactly it was that just happened in its entirety and wanted to stay silent about it for their own reasons. Sassy’s speed was quite unreal for a pony, especially when she deflected that material round that had been fired from what had to be a material sniper and not only that, but she had grabbed the material round as soon as she deflected it upwards with her left hoof while her right returned her blade to its sheath. The subsonic material round was quite swiftly pocketed by the mare. Chrysalis could still process many things even without other Changelings to boost her mental prowess with the hive mind and Opal had basically seen it all happen in slow motion. It was incredible the way Sassy moved forward, pulled her Chokuto from its sheath and then seemingly tapped the material round out of the air without really looking at it. She had changed the material rounds momentum and made it bleed off before catching it with her other hoof and pulling back into the position she was previously as she sheathed her blade. It all happened within the span of half a second and if you had blinked, then you would have certainly missed what she did and you were likely to miss it anyway like Rarity did even if you hadn’t. “Tell me plainly, did someone just try to assassinate her and here of all places?” So’Grahd spoke with barely a whisper so as not to immediately panic everyone around them. Though she was quite sure the others were suspicious given the way they eyed their friend for a second after she moved to defend the one they nicknamed Boss Lady. “What exactly are you getting me into here?” This is what So’Grahd lived for, she preferred to be an active protector and someone had just tried to kill one of her charges of whom she thought were just another lazy babysitting job. It would have looked bad on her if she let someone die while under her watchful eyes. Someone probably expected that to happen as she had heard the material round coming, but she couldn’t do a single thing to stop it in time. This led So’Grahd to wondering if someone wanted her to fail her job or if this was a personal grudge against one of her charges or maybe someone just had something against the ‘So’ clan, she really hated politics and it was why she was a Triple P Officer. Rarity did say she was a baroness and her death wouldn’t have gone down very well for So’Grahd, but she didn’t understand why someone would want to kill a merchant. A merchant that sold clothes of whom she was specifically put in charge of no less, had someone expected this attack to succeed and what would they do now that it didn’t? How did someone even get a material sniper into the station and weren’t immediately put on the watch carefully list? Assassins couldn’t get into the station without being watched constantly, if they were about to fire a long range weapon it would and should have been stopped immediately. All weapons were checked and registered before anyone even came onto the station, so either someone inside the station brought the rifle in in pieces or somebody had to have let them in knowing that the target would have little to no chance at avoiding certain death. Only they hadn’t accounted for an Equus magic samurai to be present, one who was good at detecting and subsequently deflecting high speed projectiles. That was a rather high end skill for someone like Sassy, it at least let So’Grahd know the sword wasn’t just for show. Even if someone tried to sneak a weapon onto the station, then the scanners would have at least picked it up if it was fired and yet there was no sudden lockdown of the area. Something was going on here and someone was trying to possibly make a fool of So’Grahd or her clan as a possible bonus. So’Grahd knew what these so called merchants were equipped with, Sassy had her Chokuto and the strange electric pins in her clothing that the scanners knew about and weren’t considered very lethal weapons. Rarity had two energy pistols and that was all these people had to defend themselves with, unless there was something about Chrysalis that she didn’t know anything about. This was the first time So’Grahd has ever seen or met a shape shifter, she wasn’t even sure if this was what Chrysalis normally looked like. Magic was something the Dik-Dik race didn’t know how to counter, though detecting it certainly wasn’t an issue and three of these people were active magic users. One of them just deflected and even caught a material round without the aid of magic, given her horn didn’t light up at all to do what she just did. So’Grahd was quite skilled in close combat like many of her race, but even the amount of skill Sassy showed was quite ludicrous and some would say impossible if So’Grahd hadn’t clearly witnessed Sassy pocketing the material round. “Yes and I have no clue.” It was all Sassy whispered back in response as her eyes looked towards windows and the top of buildings looking out for another possible attack. Rarity wanted to avoid trouble and Sassy was going to make sure trouble avoided her, she didn’t know if she could trust So’Grahd at this point and was in a position to deal with her quickly if needed. So’Grahd figured whoever had attacked likely knew that it wasn’t a fluke that their target wasn’t dead and had already left their position either to set up for another or plan a different strategy. She heard a sound of someone calling her on her data pad and she immediately started up the record function as she pulled it from her uniform, she records every conversation she has ever had on the pad and it has saved her ass numerous times to do so. “Officer So’Grahd, I am so sorry to hear that one of your charges has died.” Apparently the guy calling So’Grahd hadn’t got the memo that Rarity was still alive and breathing, he had likely only heard that the assassin had taken their shot and had assumed that Rarity died from a material round through her skull. “I can help you out, but you’ll have to listen to me if you want to keep your job and I’m sure your clan doesn’t want to hear about your little…” “Sorry, but your plot, whatever it is, has already failed. Thanks for letting me record the evidence of your duplicity, I didn’t think we had any corruption in our forces until now. Thanks for letting me and many others know that someone in the Triple P can be bought.” So’Grahd knew that voice and had paled for various reasons, things around here were going to start sucking quite badly if there was going to be a series of attempts at killing any one of her five charges or their friends in the other group... oh shrike. Hopefully the other group could take care of itself and that Zel’Itenk was a truly honorable Dik-Dik. “Thankfully the assassin missed so I don’t have to worry about being blackmailed into keeping my job and I’m now sending this to everyone in my precinct and to the rest of the ‘So’ clan. Thank you for being cooperative.” “What, that shouldn’t be possible, that Pony should be dead!” The voice sounded absolutely livid. “You should be panicking and…” “Thanks for continuing to confirm that you were a part of the plot, my clan and the honor of the Dik-Diks won’t be sullied by the likes of you.” So’Grahd kept her voice firm and even and tried to keep it down as to not alert anyone other than Sassy that something was very wrong on Selengard Station. “We’ll make sure you won’t get off this station without an inquisition happening and I will continue to protect my charges until further notice as someone has so graciously ordered of me. I certainly have a much better reason to do so now.” Apparently somebody wanted to manipulate her or the Dik-Dik race as a whole and So’Grahd wasn’t happy about it, neither would her people be once they finished hearing about this. She might have been griping about a cushy job, but now it was a full blown problem and it had her attention completely. Someone wanted her to be a minder and to fail horribly at it, it certainly wasn’t just her imagination that somebody was trying to set something in motion and it required for one of her charges to be dead. “Is everything alright back there?” Rarity asked as So’Grahd fell behind the group a ways. “As your people would say, just peachy.” Even as So’Grahd said it she couldn’t bring herself to do anything more than keep a very neutral look on her face, she wanted to frown so badly or at least smile that she just helped put a partial stop to something. She didn’t think it would be that easy though and she was going to keep her wits about her just in case things got worse. “Just something that came up, that I needed to look into. Nothing to worry about and I already have other people working on it.” Though worrying was what So’Grahd was going to do until this mess cleared up and none of the people from the Shining Jewel were safe as long as they were on this station if they were being targeted specifically. There was also the chance that the target was specifically the unicorn that would have died, but So’Grahd didn’t know if that unicorn had been around long enough to actually make enemies here or if she had enemies that came here from somewhere else. They would be safe if So’Grahd could help it and she didn’t know if she could trust anyone other than her own clan or possibly other Dik-Diks, she needed more information like yesterday and the first best source of that would be to ask the group she was minding. The group did seem rather nervous and worried about their ‘Boss Lady’ as they call her. - “Ten bits says Rarity has to fight a robot revolution or at least has to take down a few cyborgs.” Gilda started off as she sat down at everyone’s favorite mess hall table and waited for Saffron to get cooking. “Dik-Diks have that kind of technology right?” “Ten bits on it being the Trapeze Troupe that gets into trouble.” Greta added on to the betting pool with a smile. “Ten bits says that Rarity is accidentally confused for being the leader of a crime syndicate.” Saffron added on to their rather morbid sounding bets, she wouldn’t put it past anyone to think that after hearing Rarity’s nickname. “Twenty bits, on at least most of that happening while we’re still here and Coco ends up killing someone or something by accident.” It was surprising to hear that Coriander was throwing in with their wild bets of what might happen, especially after hearing stories of Rarity’s ability to walk into and out of chaos mostly intact. It was all in good fun really and Coriander seriously didn’t see Coco as doing something like that, even after Saffron told him of what had happened on Antilur Station. “Five bits that everything happens to the Shining Jewel itself.” Vera seemed to be just throwing in her loser bet to prevent anything from happening to the ship that they were all currently occupying by attempting to use reverse psychology against the universe itself.
-117-“Guys, I don’t want to be an alarmist, but there’s trouble here on the station.” The reaction to Opal’s words was quite blasé. “Gee Rarity goes onto a space station and something terrible happens… I never would have guessed.” They were already betting on what was going to happen while they were on break, so the sarcastic lilt was expected. At least Gilda hoped everyone survived at least because this crew would have to pretty weak to not survive the more cataclysmic things Rarity gets drawn towards, into and or is drawn to her. “So what’s going on Kitten? Apparently you’re giving us a live vocal only news feed for a reason, can anyone find this signal?” “I doubt they’d find a signal written in braille and with a backwards transmission. So no interception isn’t possible unless they know I can do this kind of thing and I’m not telling anyone who doesn’t already know.” At least Opal knew what she was doing and her mental signal was mostly untraceable, what it wasn’t was impossible to detect and she was only going to use it in an emergency. Like right now was an emergency, because someone just tried to kill her mother and she was a little more than angry about it considering she didn’t have access to the computers around the station, it would have seriously helped if she could immediately get some sort of visual on the shooter or at least a scan of their body. “It’s kind of weird just thinking at the Shining Jewel and having my voice just pop up over there like this.” “Can you please focus and tell us what happened?” There was an itch to put on a costume and bust some heads, which was something Saffron had a problem with keeping a hoof on. “Well, we all know mom doesn’t have any enemy’s right?” Opal started off with what was assumed to be a placating tone. “Do I need to break out the space tank?” If something was going south already then Gilda was prepared to fire the Bombing Peregrine straight into the hangar and would start wrecking stuff, she was pretty sure the Boss Lady didn’t mind going pirate even if she abhorred other space pirates she couldn’t hate herself for being one right? Well it would be more like privateer, but with tons of explosions and violence. “Don’t do anything drastic like that Gilda… at least not yet anyway.” At least Opal had remembered how busy Gilda and Greta were, what had they gotten around to fixing? She knew Greta did maintenance on all the impulse saddles at least, wait did that mean Opal could get her own EVA suit? She really hadn’t talked about wanting one, but they were here to pick up supplies for making more anyway so it wouldn’t be too hard to bring up. “Is the Bombing Peregrine even okay after Lightning used it?” “Well the main gun is a bit off center and needs to be recalibrated, the armor was easy to fix and its shields are good. I still need to fix the small turrets and I can easily do that in my spare time, but mostly it’s currently viable for a short term operation as it is.” After a short pause Greta added on to what she said, but seemed to be directing her words at Gilda. “It wouldn’t be very effective against those Jackknife’s the Dik-Diks use given they are a lot faster than our space tank, remember our space tank is meant to operate optimally in atmospheric conditions. We could get it inside the station, but those Jackknife fighters would be an issue. Gilda’s already gotten a few pictures of them flying around, I think she’s taking some ideas from them.” “Can we not go off topic that you were calling us for from the start please?” It was a bit frustrating having everyone diverge from the task at hoof and Saffron got them back to the topic. “Some of us would like to know what’s happening over there, also I think the Caballeron Cabal would be Rarity’s enemies after what she did to Mind Field.” “Don’t forget about those space pirate frigates Rarity had you devastate Opal. The space pirates might have connections in some places, though I seriously doubt that space pirates would be out to get Rarity.” Vera didn’t have any problem putting that out there. Her personal CAT drone was floating next to her acknowledging that, yes, she was in fact right there and existed. “We don’t personally know any of the pirate factions if there are any anyway and psychologically speaking they would technically be afraid of ever seeing Rarity again. As for other possible enemies, well Mass Offensive Meteors though they could count as everyone’s enemy. We know that MOMs are at the very least intelligent or cunning from the last known intrusion into space. They are not nearly far enough outside a bestial mindset at best to infiltrate a station just to attack Rarity, if anything the MOMs and their monsters would be after Gilda or Greta.” “Good news, it’s not a MOM or a possible world devastating form of sifter drifter this time. It was someone with a material sniper. Though now that you mention it, Tempest Technologies and the humans working for it might come after us for putting a lot of people out of their jobs.” Though Opal would like to see them try and get to Rarity, it’d be through her existential mystically formed body that she’d let anyone hurt her mother. If she could see the immediate threat that is and would be in a position to do something about it. “Whoever they were they fired a subsonic material round, which means the shot was silenced. It’s kind of scary how close mom came to dying and I’m rather surprised that I’m not having a panic attack right now. Shouldn’t I be panicking more?” “Seriously how did the Boss Lady... Sassy stopped it didn’t she?” It didn’t take much for Gilda to put two and two together. “That frankly sounds impossible, she wouldn’t have been able to see it and her reaction time would have to be on point to even deflect it with her short blade. Not to mention she’d have to counteract the force of the round hitting the blade. Do you realize how ridiculously talented Sassy has to be to do that?” “Surprisingly Sassy didn’t see it, but she still managed to deflect it. I think it was instinctual or at least I hope it is, because it would be exceptionally useful since Chrysalis can’t sense threats outside a certain range. It was quite an amazing sight given how fast Sassy was moving and she even caught the material round after deflection. The sniper likely fled after firing the shot and is likely trying to get out of the station or is being tracked down by Dik-Diks as we speak, the worst case scenario is that they are setting up for another shot.” That’s what Opal wanted to tell them from the start, however her mind was kind of in two places at once. It was a good thing she could multitask. “You can tell Sassy has been training her samurai skills hard when she starts deflecting things she can only feel, I think she’d still have some problems with material cannons. Though she’d likely be capable of deflecting more rounds than she previously did.” “Well, what do you want us to do or are you just informing us about it Kitten?” Under her gruff nature Gilda was actually pretty worried, she wanted at least some time to build her personal fighter. Even if she didn’t necessarily have all the stuff to make it yet, she did have several ideas for a base design thanks to the Javelin’s main module she had enshrined in section four of the hangar. “Just informing you so you can be ready for just about anything when things start going south around us, it seems safe at the moment.” By the very definition the merchant district of the station was filled with quite a bit of noise as many random species were doing business with one another, their voices melding together as one and Opal’s ears flicked as she listened in on multiple conversations at once around her. She could follow every single one of them, but none of them were saying anything worrying or anything about their group. “Also does anyone want anything like a souvenir or knickknack while I’m on the horn? We’re all trying to stay calm to keep from blurting it out to Rarity what happened, well at least me, Chrysalis and Sassy along with our Dik-Dik minder. Coco has her suspicions as to what happened and we’ll have to eventually tell mom how close it was if Sassy had been a second slower to react.” “Well Rarity can make most of things I could possible want. If you can find something unique that we can’t produce ourselves, then it might actually be up my alley.” The universe was still a cruel place, but nothing would stop Greta from smiling. Though she was quite worried to hear someone took a shot at Rarity, she was glad things were okay at the moment. “Just remember to get something for everyone if you do, don’t play favorites with just your Aunt Greta now. Just as a precaution I’m going to prioritize the personal shields project, sorry Gilda but it’s become necessary that I focus on that as it’s becoming quite an immediate concern.” “No problem, there’s not much I can’t do on my own already Greta and you know this. Though I’m going to need Mr. Welder for the foreseeable future.” Being competent at her job was one of Gilda’s best traits, she wouldn’t be a very competent at her job if the Boss Lady dies. Rarity had better not die, Gilda doesn’t like crying. “If I need your help Greta I’ll bother you for it, but yeah those personal shields are definitely a priority project after hearing about this. I’ll be working on building Saffron some new powered armor… maybe you can make a personal shield that can be installed into her suit directly if you can figure something out.” “Okay while those two are working on that, keep your emotions in check Opal and try to come back with a smile on your face. You don’t want to worry Rarity unnecessarily if it was a one off thing.” At least Vera could hope it was a one-time thing, both the people who could actively see her were on that station and then there was Sassy. Sassy was always an odd one to talk to, at times she’s seemed perky and happy and others she was cool and collected. Vera hoped Sassy didn’t lose herself like she did back on Eweson, though it might be a good idea that she does so under the right circumstance. “Your one of the most emotionally stable, if a little overly energetic, people I know Opal. Coco of course being the most stable of the mental nuts this crew has.” “Right, you guys can go back to what you were doing. I’ll keep you informed if anything else happens and it will knowing mom.” After that Opal silently cut the connection to the Shining Jewel. The entire crew was wise to Rarity’s luck, it was excellent when it came to surviving just about anything, it was decent when it comes to business and it was completely horrible when it comes to being absolutely safe no matter where you were. They certainly lived in interesting times. After the crew still on the Shining Jewel were finished being informed, they decided to send someone to check on Ember to see if the feeding tube was still in good condition and make sure Mr. Spew was fed something toxic. Their dragon friend really wasn’t doing that much better, but it was still somewhat marginally better that she was less critical than she had been. They were going to do several things to make sure Ember didn’t wither away on the medical bed she was occupying, feeding her mulched gems and jewels mixed with water was one of them. Mr. Spew would always be in medical to keep Ember constant company and it was his job to be there for her when no one else could be, everyone else had jobs to do and or needed exercise. They really couldn’t be there for the dragon twenty four seven, but checking on her periodically didn’t hurt. Maybe someday her shredded scales would even start growing back. - Coco had been silent until they entered a shop to have a look around, it was owned and operated by large male Macropussian. He seemed to be a quiet fellow and his wares were somewhat interesting, given that they were all unique bits of electronics here or there like a wrist or hoof mounted data pad. They needed more wiring for producing EVA suits, which reminded Coco that they also needed to get chemicals for breach gel and maybe she could buy Opal a data pad as a late ‘don’t know when your birthday actually is’ present. “So, what’s your deal? You’re the rather quiet and unassuming one of the group, unlike her or her. That bug pony thing is probably one of the most obnoxious beings I’ve ever met in my life.” The poor quiet mare jumped when So’Grahd approached her, then the Dik-Dik promptly pointed out Sassy and then Chrysalis who was of course testing her luck with Sassy once more. “How do you live with something like that?” “Chrysalis really isn’t all that bad, you just need to get used to her being around. She’s not exactly as dumb as she acts either, in fact she’s good at planning circles around people.” Watching the scene Coco winced as Chrysalis met the floor face first and scrutinized the small smile Sassy had, did Sassy actually like Chrysalis? Her long time friend sure seemed to like knocking Chrysalis down a lot. “Though she has a bit of a history… like kidnapping ponies for instance.” “Was it anyone important?” Of the things So’Grahd didn’t need to ask or wouldn’t be surprised about in the slightest, it was that Chrysalis had a criminal history. “She’s done it to several important ponies, it’s kind of something like a really strange Changeling courtship ritual. I don’t know if it’s just for Changeling Queens or if it’s a Changeling thing in general.” There were a lot of things Coco didn’t ask Chrysalis about, there were plenty of things people didn’t want to know about her, her race or her biology. Like what the properties of Changeling goo was, the stuff they built cocoons out of and sometimes used as sealant in construction projects. “As to what my deal is, I’m a bit of an inventor or at least I like to tinker with accessories. My special talent is accessorizing as much as it is making clothing and it translates pretty well into advanced technology in the terms of add-on or utility, but it is all technology that you can wear. I’m the creator of most of the utilities an EVA suit can have, my impulse saddle is kind of a key feature to the EVA suits we sell. Spare oxygen tank, maneuverability in space and can run almost infinitely if you’re in a system thanks to a solar powered battery that’s made to tolerate as much heat as the suit itself can. We tend to wear our EVA suits as a light form of protection, the breach gel in the suits tends to keep the wearer medically stable if they get shot. Breach gel was something Rarity invented that has proved itself useful time and again.” “Well that’s informative, what kind of price are selling them for?” It was a curiosity to be sure, but So’Grahd seemed to be focusing on her surroundings more than she was on Coco. “I can handle that, do you have you’re data pad ma’am? Our site is up and running and I’m the mascot, it shouldn’t that hard to find.” Though she was listening in to surrounding conversations, talking to the crew and perusing the shop personally, she still had time to try and market her mom’s stuff. So’Grahd reached into the left pocket of her uniform and pulled out her data pad, after turning it on she gave it over to Opal who quickly brought up the site and then gave it back to Officer Grahd. Looking over the site she snorted at the cutesy images of the mascot form of Opal as she went through the EVA suit menu and costs for various things that could be installed in with her. “So everything here is made by you and those two?” So’Grahd received a simple nod and a noise of affirmation from Coco. “Can some of these things be purchased separately from the suits?” “The Pinpoint Pullers can be part of the suit or separate from it, impulse saddles are not necessary to use an EVA suit. If something happens to the oxygen tank in the saddle, the EVA suits helmet will supply its own breathable atmosphere.” If Opal could help the Officer become a customer then she was all for helping sell something to So’Grahd. “We can probably give you a portable recharge station, but you’d have to wear the saddle to make use of it.” While Opal was busy with Officer So’Grahd, who every once in a while glanced at her surroundings in an alert fashion before going back to paying attention to Rarity’s Rarities mascot, Coco started to look at the electronics the store offered as Rarity bought a large spool of wire and several electronic components. “Um… h-hello… c-could you maybe help me with something?” Coco tried to work up the nerve to speak out loud and clearly it wasn’t going too well. “Sure, what’ll it be for the little sheila?” This wasn’t said with an Australian accent and the voice was quite even and calm for an Irish accented kangaroo alien, though the shop owner’s size was still quite intimidating alongside his dark brown fur. “Offram, you’re scaring the wee one, she’s clearly afraid of your girth you lazy sod.” This Macropussian was smaller and had a long green Mohawk falling to one side of her head, but her voice was distinctly British and rather angelic. She was giving the other Macropussian a glare. “I was scared too when I first met him. Thought he was a sifter drifter that somehow got onto the station at first, but he wouldn’t hurt a fly. What do you need of old Auntie Aulor Ortallia?” “This is my wife and she wears the pouch in this family quite well, she’s a real peach too. A bit fuzzy on the outside, but she’s sweet throughout and has the voice of a most beautiful Valkyrie. Now if only she’d choose a different hairstyle that didn’t made her look like a punk.” As far as Offram was concerned his wife couldn’t insult him in any given way. “She’s quite right about me, she even made me take on the Ortallia name when I joined with her and what a joining that was. She’s stronger than a Velonian Tiger she is and it took hours for me to escape her when we were jumping the bed we were, but it was a good day overall. Well… for as long as I could outrun her anyway.” “She doesn’t need our life story you pillock. Especially not about how rowdy I am in bed!” The smaller lither roo smacked the larger one in the back of the head with a fist before turning to Coco with a clearly red face that showed through her tan colored fur. “Sorry about him love, he’s just a mighty silly roo who knows what he likes and he better like it or else he’s sleeping on the floor for a week straight if he knows what’s good for him. So what do you need? I hope you haven’t been scared off by my favorite bum, I’m the owner of this here outfit and if you need something I’m sure I can find it if it’s electronics your looking for.” “To clarify, I am kind of a bum, she just pulled me off the street and married me. She’s quite a firecracker, has me doing stock and forcing me to work for her.” A snickering Offram followed up. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” “It’s not that I’m scared of you specifically sir. Though you are quite big and intimidating. I kind of had a bad run in one time… it was scary and they were Macropussian bounty hunters. What did Ember call them… bounty humpers?” As soon as she said those Coco’s face turned bright red and she bowed her head in embarrassment only to have it be brought back up by the right hand of the female Macropussian. Chrysalis stalked her way over her ears flicking as she heard a notably attracting word, but apparently it was nothing and soon grew bored with the conversation Coco was having and left shaking her head in exasperation. All without Coco noticing that Chrysalis had been there and had heard the now awfully shy mare say it. Sassy was making sure Chrysalis didn’t touch anything in the store on the chance that something would explode violently once the Changeling Queen did. At least Sassy remembered what Opal said about Chrysalis being technologically destructive. “None of that now, no need to get so embarrassed! One bad experience does not a whole race make, also I believe you were looking for the words ‘Bounty Jumpers’.” The smiling face of Aulor almost had Coco feeling safe enough to talk openly to… when Aulor eventually let go of Coco’s face and managed to stop rubbing the cute pony’s cheeks affectionately. She was very nice for what looked like an intelligent version of an Equestrian Kangaroo or Kangaroo’s like what you would see on Earth, it was weird how genetically dissimilar all three of them were despite appearances. “A sweet little thing like you doesn’t seem like the type to cause trouble. Now if we can get down to business and ignore my worst half please?” “I’m the worst half? That makes you the crazy one then, since it was love at first sight for you when you realized I wasn’t a lazy monster and was just a lazy roo.” Offram couldn’t avoid Aulor’s tail swiftly slapping him across the side of his head, it even made the sound of a cracking whip when it made contact. The poor beleaguered male Macropussian was knocked out of his seat behind the counter, he raised a hand pointing to the ceiling that was barely visible to Coco. “You still wear the pouch in this family a little bit too tightly my dear. She does this to me all the time… I’m just going to stay here on the floor for a while. Also, I’m okay.” Chrysalis wandered back over and took a bite out of the ambient love in the air and smiled a little, it was her kind of love and nobody would notice if it went missing anyway. Though Sassy was giving her a flat look, what did she do that was so wrong? Absolutely nobody was using that ambient love, it wasn’t like she was taking the love from the two directly and they technically didn’t have a claim on the ambient love in the room. “Well, I was wondering if you had something in the vein of wrist, leg or hoof mounted computers like a bracer or an arm guard. Something adjustable that can maybe fit a Cacceran?” Coco knew Opal wanted a personal data pad that wasn’t one of Chrysalis’s spares, but a wrist or arm mounted computer would be just as nice. “Well if you have anything that’s not a normal data pad and something really unique, it would be nice. You see we have these two griffon engineers on our ship and they are really good at building things. They could make almost anything if they put their minds to it.” “Wrist mounted or unique eh?” Aulor rubbed her chin looking at Opal and So’Grahd, before smiling at Coco. “Getting something for your little friend there? I think I might have something for you, what’s she like? What does she go for, what are her interests? Give me something to work with here.” “That’s my best friend’s daughter and she’s quite the energetic Cacceran, I just wanted to get something nice for her. Also my friend runs her own business, if you need a dress or something to wear we’re really good at making clothes and we’re quite fair with our prices.” Little by little, the weariness Coco was feeling was slowly ebbing away in the face of this comical pair. Macropussians were clothing optional like ponies, so it wasn’t much of a stretch to offer the two some services while acquiring goods. “Her name is Opal and she loves a lot of things and she really good with computers and communication systems too.” “Okay that’s enough, I have a few things you can look at. I’ll be right back, don’t do anything to scare off the poor dear Offram.” The only response Aulor got form Offram was a slight whine coming from behind the counter. Eventually Aulor returned with three devices for Coco to look over, they were certainly unique at the very least. One looked to be like Foggre technology given it had a maddening smiling face of a Foggre etched on it, one seemed to be a good fit for a Cacceran and the last thing was just outright bizarre. “Okay what’s wrong with this one, I’ve seen Foggre technology before and whatever they make works perfectly as intended.” It would certainly be unique if Coco bought something of Foggre make, but she didn’t think she’d give it to Opal. Maybe Greta or Gilda could do something with it. “Except for the one or more large flaws depending on how well that something works that is.” “So you know about a Foggre’s love for unique technological features then, well this thing was made with a huge memory capacity. The problem is, the huge memory capacity itself. You try to download something onto this thing and it’ll take years to find unless you’re really good with coding a search directory for the search directory that needs another search directory.” Aulor saw the look on Coco’s face as she fiddled with the device flip it open to show the screen to the Pony. “Yes it’s exactly that bad, anything put on this thing gets lost in the vast memory capacity and as for finding it? It would take a while for the average coder to do anything with it. To be a bit more upfront with you, any data put into this thing is immediately scattered into millions of bits. Bits you have to find and cobble back together to get what you wanted to be there in the first place, plays a mean game of Ghost Eating Pizza Monster at least.” “I might actually take that… what about this one” The one of Cacceran make was what Coco figured would be fitting for Opal, it was like arm mounted data pad in the form of a bracer and would fit Opal’s forearm well enough. “A little bit more average, but its top of the line. Surprisingly it’s not actually of Cacceran make, it was actually created by a Parascine. I know, quite mystifying as you don’t see the jellies with anything like this on their tentacles, one of a kind make and I’ve used it quite a bit personally. Sorry for the mileage on it.” Aulor smiled as she now had Coco’s interest when she showed the device to her, it was in really good condition and looked like it would clamp around Opal’s arm easily. “Good data storage and works like a regular data pad, sturdy, easy to operate one handed, hoofed or pawed and has a very large broadcast and receiver range. There is the added bonus that it has a built in defense mechanism that can fire electrical energy for up to ten feet, completely nonlethal and incapacitating unless you push the limits of what the feature can do by firing multiple bursts. That feature is not great for the battery life though, which is probably why it didn’t sell too well. Any batteries made by Parascines tend to not last very long or at least that’s what the Parascine who gave it to me said, I personally think it’s because batteries are hard for them to make when you live underwater for the most of your life. You might want to watch out for that or find a more workable battery solution if you want it.” “I’m definitely going to take this one.” The last one looked like one of the diamonds on Rarity’s flanks, only it was three dimensional and green with a metal ring wrapping around the widest part of it. It still caught Coco’s interest. “Still though, care to explain the last one, it’s a bit weird.” “Of course it’s weird, this one was designed by a Plurt. It’s a hands free unit, it has a slight problem with telling everyone what your mood is though and it tends to make people paranoid because it constantly floats above your head while active. It starts out green, but it can change white, red or yellow depending on your mood. I believe I have what it is written here… ah yes this is it.” After flipping through several sheets of paper, Aulor pulled one out and went over it. She eventually read it out to Coco. “It’s a Parallel Levitation Utilizing Machine Based Operations Bit or Plu-M’Bob for short. In simple terms a mobile computer drone and it can respond to voice commands, it even has a holographic projector that is interactive and it’s basically a fully working data pad that you don’t have to hold onto.” “So the mood thing and the floating above your head were the reasons why it didn’t take I guess?” The smile Coco received was a sad one, one that shouldn’t on the face of a pretty kangaroo-esque being like her. “Got it in one. I enjoy some of the weirder stuff that can still be useful, but doesn’t quite get the time to show its stuff to investors. It’s practically of no use just sitting around here and it is admittedly a bit creepy to have floating above you.” Moving behind the counter, Aulor was already bagging the one Coco wanted to give Opal and stopped to look at her. Aulor didn’t seem to react to the grunting coming from below her or even seem to care that she was standing on her mate’s chest at all. “So are you taking just the Parascine one then?” “I think I have an idea or two as to who can use the other two as well, I’ll take them too.” Both random bits of tossed out technology were tossed into the bag as well and Coco looked at the price. “Shouldn’t the price be more than that? I mean given what each of them can do?” “Yeah, but a one for three sell wouldn’t go amiss as I’m not exactly bad off for dosh, besides technology was meant to be used and I can’t let things like this sit around and collect dust.” Then Aulor leaned forward crossing her arms and on the counter while giving coco a bright smile and motioning the pony forward. Having moved closer to her, Aulor quickly darted her head forward and pecked a surprised Coco on the cheek. “Besides you’re too sweet to charge an arm and a leg for three pieces of unwanted tech I just had laying around in the back. I hope your ideas for them work out, I’ll look up your business and maybe you can help me with a dress or maybe something a little more revealing to get my mate up and running. Both literally and figuratively if you catch my drift.” “Kinky!” Chrysalis stated before Sassy rolled her eyes and started to drag her away from Coco’s business and towards Officer So’Grahd. “That was a bit too forward of you...” Commented Coco who stowed her purchased gadgets away in her saddle bags with her cutie mark emblazoned on them. “Sorry if that was too much, you smell like an obviously gay griffon and I couldn’t help myself because you’re really quite adorable.” After Aulor bade Coco farewell, the group left the shop and nothing would happen to them for the next hour or so aside from making various small purchases in the merchant district. Author's Note Yep, I'm still going to be going even after chapter -117-, some people would think my writing can only get better... over the next three hundred thousand plus words? Probably not. I'm a glass half empty kind of guy, because I've been drinking the water in it and that water is made of good will and cheer. What will happen when I run out? Does this story end then? Probably not.
-118-Of the things Rarity was purchasing, she was having some of the things delivered to the Caravel Boutique for pickup like the fabrics she purchased for normal clothing and specialized airtight fabric for EVA suit manufacture. Some of the things she’d be carrying herself like the multiple spools of wiring. So far nothing was going wrong, but Sassy had been oddly quiet. Rarity knew that something had happened and that it was a big concern. It’s just that nobody was telling her what it was and she was quite sure it related to Sassy’s blade intercepting something. Was that it? Was something fired at Rarity and Sassy saved her from it, then followed it up by keeping her silence to preserve the trip and possibly Rarity’s sanity? Who else knew about this? Well she could say So’Grahd, Chrysalis and Opal knew about it. Coco seemed like the odd one out and… where was Coco? Oh she was just off to the side with Opal and giving her some kind of strange device. So’Grahd was doing something off to the side with Sassy and Chrysalis was sending either Sassy a scrutinizing look or a jealous one at their Dik-Dik minder. Rarity decided not to bother with finding out the truth of what happened, yet. They were trying to keep things quiet for her and even if something was going on, if it wasn’t an immediate concern then she was glad for that. She decided to however ask what Coco was giving to Opal. “What’s that Opal?” Asked Rarity as she approached her daughter. Said daughter was attracting some attention from the Dik-Diks, but nothing came of it yet. “It’s a wearable computer that Coco got for me, I’m still in the midst of personalizing it.” Opal’s paws were busy tapping away at the device, battery life wouldn’t be a problem with Gilda and Greta’s help. Though she did wonder why the various species didn’t intermingle their technology to make a more efficient product. Personalizing it meant putting her own personal mental touch on the device, it even had a nifty defensive application. “Thanks for the gift Coco! Also if you need the help with the other two devices you got, then don’t be afraid to ask. Now I’m inserting mom’s data pad into the system and… there.” “You’re welcome Opal, it’s not a very big...” It wasn’t a big deal, but Coco still appreciated the paws wrapping around her neck and hugging her. Coco usually put most of her money back into Rarity’s business and splurging on a gift for Opal was a nice thing to do. She nuzzled that cat trying to get her to let go. “Really Opal it wasn’t much.” “It’s big enough a deal for me Coco. Mom would get upset with me for not showing my proper gratitude.” A little red in the face as the hug was going on for a little too long, Opal let go as she noticed Coco was looking rather self-conscious about their hug. “I really didn’t want to use one of Chrysalis’s disposable spares, she’s not good with any technology other than weapons. Not that she ever uses the data pad I reinforced anyway…” “Yes, well that’s nice and all, but where to next? I want to see if there are places to eat and maybe chat up a stallion or two.” Not that she was going to expect a date upon first meeting any stallion, heavens knows that Rarity wasn’t having luck finding romantic love. “Though I will admit, I haven’t been able to really charm a single stallion in quite a while.” “Yeah well, Frost and Tender weren’t exactly up to your standards anyway and I doubt that you’d want a close relationship based on saving their lives.” Opal didn’t like the idea either as she would never… wait. Now that Opal thought of it, what were her prospects for dating and what should she be attracted to? She was an energy being, there weren’t exactly much of her kind around to explain the details of being a sapient pile of energy. “I probably wouldn’t and you’re right about that Opal, though if Braeburn didn’t have other prior arrangements… I might have tossed a few complimentary comments his way.” At least Rarity hoped Braeburn and Little Strongheart continued their slightly odd relationship as they were absolutely cute together. Almost as cute as Countess Coloratura and Applejack Apple were. “Are we ready to get moving Officer Grahd?” “Hold on for a few more minutes.” There was something to So’Grahd’s voice, though it was kept at an even and no nonsense tone. As their minder turned back to Sassy, Rarity decided to strike up a different conversation with Coco. “Also stay within sight, I’ve got a call to make to a few of my friends in the precinct.” “So Coco darling, have you ever met anyone that catches your fancy?” When all else fails Rarity was going to gossip. “Can we not talk about that Rarity?” It was embarrassing enough that Coco was recently kissed by a large alien kangaroo. She didn’t want to think about wanting a closer relationship with anyone, though Greta did come to mind. She preferred to be married to her work at the moment and not think about that sort of stuff. “Okay, then how about we talk about how you got into wrestling in the first place?” Another embarrassing topic and Rarity could see that Coco was quite reluctant, so Rarity shifted gears immediately. “What about some ideas for a few special utility based accessories I wanted to run by you?” “That sounds like something none of us would mind talking about.” Opal agreed a second later noticing that Coco seemed a bit skittish about her mother’s choice of topics where it came to her love life or the more interesting one about why she liked wrestling. Opal knew her mom wouldn’t nose into Coco’s personal space too much. “Okay, what kind of accessories?” If there was one thing Coco knew, it was that Rarity always came up with interesting ideas when it came to accessorizing with normal clothing or technology. - “Yeah, high grade metal material round, it would have killed one of our visitors had it managed to reach the target. Got anything about who would want to kill our visitors or a possible motive for this?” Looking up at the mare holding the material round So’Grahd took one quick glance around them and the various people going about their business. “Also is there anything else I should know, because I’m certainly getting paranoid that something else will happen soon. It’s been a while since the shot was fired.” “We have nothing to report on a motive for the attempted premeditated murder at this time Officer Grahd. We haven’t found the shooter, but we caught the guy trying to subvert you at least and he isn’t talking.” Hearing this So’Grahd soon found Chrysalis putting her face in front of her data pad. “We also have the rifle that likely fired the material round, we’ll tell you more when we’re sure.” “Oh, can I torture your prisoner? I’m really good at things like that, I can make him squeal real nice!” The cheerful tone Chrysalis spoke in made So’Grahd shudder, who could be this perky about torturing someone? “I mean pigs don’t even get to the vocal ranges I’m talking about.” “Please do not interfere in official Patrol business, even if it does involve someone in your group.” The dark purple furred male Dik-Dik on the screen was looking through some documents as he spoke, he was one of the reasons that most didn’t believe these alien antelopes weren’t from Equus. “Officer Grahd, they are still ‘legally’ in your care as a minder even if you are a Triple P Officer first and foremost. Don’t let anything happen to them until they leave and are not our problem anymore. At least until we can solve this issue. Be careful, we don’t want another Princess Luna crisis.” “Roger that, I will continue my duty to uphold the laws emplaced upon me by being pulled for minder duty and that of an officer of the Triple P. Call me if anything comes up related to this case, Grahd out.” So’Grahd turned off her data pad and put it away in the left pocket of her uniform before turning a glare to Chrysalis who just smiled innocently. “So what do I do with the material round officer?” The material round sitting on Sassy’s left hoof was a spiral grooved rusty red spike and made of a something twice the strength of stainless steel, but half the weight. It would look more dangerous if Sassy hadn’t dented the pointy end slightly when she deflected it. It had So’Grahd wondering how the mare kept her leg in its socket when deflecting the shot, much less still walking on that leg in general. People from Equus were talented in many extremes to say the least from Grahd’s point of view, Sassy especially so. “Keep holding onto it, it may be useful to have at a later time.” So’Grahd was only equipped with three main things, a material pistol that fired sharp chunks of wood as ammunition being one of them. “Most manufactured material rounds usually are.” Wood was both cheap and effective for keeping someone down, especially if it was left soaking in a soporific fluid for a while. Having a spare more dangerous material round never hurt and wooden rounds didn’t pierce armor all too well, the bright side was that the wood rounds were immune to being magnetized. Another piece of So’Grahd’s equipment was less noticeable, it looked like a metal bar on the right foreleg that seemed to be attached to her uniform. Said strange bar unfolded in a circular motion into a Dik-Dik projectile shield. At her right hip in a loose sheath strapped to her right hind leg was her melee weapon a high powered shock rod that was quite effective against a lot of things and built sturdy to act as a bludgeon if it ever ran out of power. “Yes, but as I pointed out, if it was manufactured why doesn’t it have any form of identification on it?” Manufactured material rounds were not unknown to Sassy or even the curious Chrysalis. “More importantly how did this specific manufactured material round get in the station to be fired in the first place?” “Wish I knew, the supplier of my wood rounds just takes an axe to whatever wood crafted junk he has lying around.” So’Grahd had two separate pouches full of small sharp wooden chunks on cloven hoof for a dragged out firefight, one of those pouches was specifically for the soporific rounds which had to be handled carefully. “Apparently it’s cathartic to tear up old wooden furniture with an axe and then give me the viable chunks left as ammunition. Okay, I’m ready to go, where are we heading to next?” - Dik-Dik cuisine was, to put it clearly, exceedingly strange when it comes to taste. There was a certain oily quality to the food, but it was also a bit salty with a fruity flavor. The one sure thing about it is that it was entirely vegan and safe for most species to consume. It was as odd as it sounded, but not too horrible. Rarity did ask So’Grahd if she knew a place that serves her races cooking out of cultural interest. “Well this is an intriguing taste, is all of your food this oily?” Not that it was a bad thing to Sassy who was willing to partake in a cultural lunch. The grilled plants from the Dik-Dik home planet tasted good, if unique. “No, it actually isn’t oily at all or doesn’t actually contain much oil really. It’s just an after taste to a lot of the food we make, a lot of the fruit from where my race comes from is just like that.” Not once had So’Grahd dropped her guard around them, she was quite tense even as she ate and took the time to look about every now and then. “The vegetables are where the real flavor is.” Coco eating her own grilled vegetables didn’t want to comment that they tasted like some form of meat, it was apparently a popular form of plant found on the Dik-Dik home world. Everything was definitely vegan, but there were tastes that matched something like meat in the cooking. Coco did not want to ask about it or draw attention to how it tasted to her. She had enough Pegasus ancestry in her, so eating meat wasn’t unexpected. It was just something Coco never brought up around Sassy or Rarity, like the fact that she enjoyed the occasional fish. She wondered what Opal’s soup and dipping bread tasted like and if it was anything like her vegetables. “I would have to agree, strangely flavorful and much more different to the vegetables from Equus.” Calmly patting her lips with a napkin in dainty manner, Rarity had relaxed when all the shopping didn’t lead to any more trouble. She did notice So’Grahd was on constant alert and would have thought it would be just her doing her job as a minder, but she wasn’t sure that was the case. “Tell me do those implants ever short out or fail in some way?” “Yes, which is why I tend to rely on sight, touch and possible shifts in the environment via air pressure or vibrations. It’s why I record every conversation I think might be important, as I fear someone could mess with my hearing by hacking my cybernetics. Which is why I also learned to read lips and body language as well.” One would assume So’Grahd had learned body language because Parascine didn’t have lips to read and were for the most part psychic. “Should I see the lips or body move on someone in an odd fashion compared to what I’m hearing, then I’ll know something is wrong and that my cybernetics could be compromised. Be lucky you don’t have to live with metal on your ears for the rest of your life, though I suppose things could be worse for me. I could have lost a leg or an eye, those are much harder to get cybernetic replacements for. My species would prefer to clone what is missing to fix the body and I agree with that sentiment, but that technology is not perfected quite yet and we currently have a good handle on cybernetic prosthetics already. Still, cybernetics tend to mess with the mind and it’s a good thing none of you have to worry about that.” Opal didn’t say anything, but she sent a glance to Coco, her mom and Sassy who in turn stealthily gave her a look as well. Opal was technically capable of making So’Grahd’s fears come true with her cyberpathic abilities Chrysalis was looking bored out of her mind just sitting there quietly, but she did nip at the air a bit when a couple nearby kissed. She licked her lips in satisfaction at the flavor, apparently there was true love on both sides and who knew that a Parascine and Unicorn Stallion could get along so well. Well not Chrysalis who was actually enjoying the positive atmosphere, but she wasn’t getting the attention she sorely wanted. “I know this might not be a good thing to bring up, but what did Sassy stop earlier?” While she might not have wanted to bring it up earlier, now was a good time as any to Rarity. “A material round, aimed for your head which would have been a killing shot.” There was no sugar coating it, someone had gunned for her charges and attempted something with So’Grahd. Just because a clandestine plot had fallen apart, it did not mean that there wasn’t any danger anymore. “In my line of work danger is always a given. At best they could have just aimed at me, I’m only wearing an armored uniform graded for handling low grade material rounds and moderate energy emitting weapons. No it was aimed at one of you, specifically you.” “Yes, well, I really don’t have any...” Rarity started to say before Opal cleared her throat loudly, Opal still had problems moving around on all fours and feeding herself. At most Opal was getting the hang of holding and manipulating things in her paws, which is why she didn’t need to be spoon-fed by Rarity anymore. “Don’t finish that sentence mom, because you kind of do.” Stopping to take a bite out of the soaked bread and getting juices on her chin from it, Opal swallowed and waited for Rarity to finish wiping her face before she continued. “There’s the humans behind Tempest Technologies after what you did to that invasive facility on Applin Five in the Applon System, the Caballeron Cabal for what happened to Mind Field, the Hands of Midas you fought off on that train and just for the sake of covering all our bases there’s also the random Space Pirates we pounded with the Shining Jewel. We have no idea if the pirates were actually part of an organizational structure or not.” “Shrike, what kind of life do you lead?” The word Shrike was a pretty common expletive among So’Grahd’s people. Shrike was a fondly remembered name, the reason for using it as an expletive was to make sure that a name was never forgotten. “A very unlucky one for a fashion designer and lovely looking baroness it would seem, that doesn’t account for the MOM attack or a sifter drifter that could have classified as an apocalyptic event unto itself. I’d rather not relive the memories.” After all she went through, Rarity still had Luna visiting her nightmares about the real horrors she witnessed. Said horrors most certainly do exist and there were possibly more of them out there. Having nightmares about poor color choice or being forced to wear something really tacky just wasn’t scary anymore, compared to something like that giant brain monster with the repurposed flesh zombies. The horrible screech of that giant scorpion beast still haunted Rarity’s memories. “Rarity is my name, my name should not reflect my ability to get into ridiculously bad situations in an ironically ‘common’ fashion.” “Never personally seen a MOM attack, but I know which sifter drifter she’s talking about and it does scare me that there are things out there that can access my mental network.” Even as she said this in a bored tone while running a hoof through her mane, Chrysalis really didn’t want to see another miasma spewing brain demon. She wouldn’t leave her hive mind completely open to another scary surprise like that one accessing her network in any given way. She was curious to know if a Parascine could access her Hive Mind, but didn’t cherish the thought of actually carrying out an experiment to find out. “The hive mind isn’t worth mentioning as there aren’t any other changelings around here to connect to.” “So you’re like a trouble magnet? Just great, now I’m even more paranoid.” Why did So’Grahd feel like she had forgotten to do something? Oh right, the group that went off with Itenk and that had her somewhat worried, she could trust Itenk to have her back in a dangerous situation. She couldn’t say the same for him having the backs of Rarity’s friends. “Can you please call your other group and see how they’re doing for peace of mind?” “I’ll get right on that, but I assure you that the Trapeze Troupe can take care of themselves.” Pulling her data pad out of her saddle bags, Rarity started it up and put in a call to Trapeze. “I’m sure they’re just fine.” - “Hello, oh hey Rarity, yeah we’re fine. Thanks for calling!” A hoof lashed out from an elegant rhythmic twirl and knocked the Parascine flat on its back from the force behind the blow, a standing Trapeze danced around a lunging Cacceran trying to claw at her face. She swiftly knocked the more rabbit like Cacceran on its face by tripping it up with her right rear hoof sweeping his legs out from under him and then she swiftly stomped down on his back putting him out of action. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I was in the middle of something.” A bar fight wasn’t exactly fine at all, not that Trapeze would ever drag Rarity into any trouble that her Troupe caused and Rover was the only one that was armed with a ranged weapon. Rover was holding his own pretty well against the small male Macropussian without needing to pull his weapon, he was a brawler compared to the elegance of Bernard who was taking out guys three times his size with relative ease. As far as Trapeze was concerned, you should never underestimate the toughness of a Lagotorphin who can take energy weapons fire with only some bad burns to show for it. Bernard leapt up and kicked a Plurt in the chin hard enough to flip the slug onto its back with grunt. Well Trapeze would loosely call this place a ‘bar’, the place they were at was more like a nightclub really. In space it couldn’t necessarily be called a ‘night’ club specifically. Trapeze looked over to see how Itenk was doing, he and the other minders were holding their own pretty well even if Itenk himself refused to protect the Troupe. They were solely using their hooves to fight and were surprisingly tough for their small statures. Seeing something coming at her in her periphery, Trapeze pulled her entire body into her hat confusing the female Macropussian who just hit air as the hat dropped to the floor. The Macropussian with shaggy blonde shoulder length hair flipped the hat over curiously to see nothing in it, then suddenly she was receiving a sharp right hook that knocked her down from out of nowhere by Trapeze rushing her from the left. Bernard bowed to Trapeze from the snack counter before placing his hat back on his head. Bernard’s hat was a bit small for Trapeze to come out of, but she managed what looked impossible quite well. Bernard swept his hat forward before him in a bow at the ravishingly beautiful and talented mare, she was just simply that great at what she did. Trapeze grabbed her falling hat out of the air with her right hoof, twisted it and tapped the top twice with her left hoof before moving it under the opening in the hat. A cane fell into Trapeze’s left hoof and she swept her hat back up to where it belonged, the cane was quite long and it could be used to perform magician tricks, it could also be used as a balancing pole for her multiple pole stacking act. More importantly the cane could be used in a fight like this one, but that’s not why she got it out. She was the entertainment and their show was supposed to go on in the next minute or so and what better way to stop an entirely aggressive room than to show off her skills as a large distraction? “Boys, come on, a true Trapeze Troupe member never misses a cue to do something incredible!” At Trapeze’s words Rover quickly knocked his opponent out with a swung stool to the head and disengaged from the fighting to the best of his ability, it made Trapeze wince because it was a solid metal stool. Bernard stopped punching a Parascine repeatedly in its nuclei and made his way through the room avoiding the wild fighting going on. Trapeze had to smack someone away with her cane as she made her way for the stage. “Hey piano mare, be prepared to hit it. Our show is about to go on and these jolly people need something to get their minds off beating each other senseless.” Once Rover and Bernard made it to the stage Trapeze smirked. She tilted her hat slightly over her eyes and stared at the crowd. She stabbed her cane against the stage roughly to make a very loud noise, this caused everyone fighting to stop and turn to her. “Something upbeat please, try to follow my mood if you will.” Standing on her hind legs, Trapeze started bouncing in place a few times. She then start to tap out a rhythm rapidly with both rear hooves and started to sing. Rover and Bernard nodded to each other, it was going to be one of those shows. (Johhny C Bad plays FFVI) “Hello everybody, my name is Trapeze Star! If you get to know me, then I will go far!” Trapeze started to tap dance on the stage and from out of nowhere she spread out a hoof full of Queen of Hearts with Celestia and Luna’s pictures alternating on them. “From card to card, I can really show you. How fast my tricks are, and how far away they’ll blow you!” “Rover really believes, that this is his chance to sing.” Rover intoned humorously as it being his one short line, while nodding his head to the music and juggling seven balls one of each color of the rainbow. “And don’t forget Bernard and that instant card house trick that he brings!” Trapeze pointed to a card house with the hoof loaded with the fanned out cards, the card house was already five cards high on the stage and Bernard was standing on it without it falling apart he waved his small top hat to the crowd with an insufferable smirk. The fighting had stopped in lieu of pure amazement at what Bernard had managed to get away with making while they were distracted by Trapeze’s singing and Rover’s juggling. “My name is Trapeze Star, now let’s get on with the show!” With a twist of her hoof to show the back of the cards and when they twisted back the cards all showed Cadence and Twilight alternating on them, this mystified the audience as much as the audacity to throw on her show while they were all beating each other senseless. “My name is certainly~ one you should know!” “Rover would also like, a bigger part on the go.” Rover caught the balls and they were ordered in a way to spell out his name in a big colorful rainbow with two balls having Quotation marks framing his name. “Singing is definitely not something, that Rover does like a pro!” “If you really wish-want-need-or-however-you-feel… then let us The Trapeze Troupe put on a show for you!” Tapping out a rhythm, Rover and Bernard started following Trapeze in her dance with the cane as she tossed two canes to them to follow along with. It was at that point that the crowd noticed Bernard’s card house was gone and a lot of them were in shock, because they didn’t remember Trapeze putting away the card she was hold and she didn’t have any sleeves. “We’re going to dance…. we’re going to prance… we’re going to dance…” “We’re going to prance…” Rover said putting his balls away somewhere in his red vest without it bulging and started to do a shuffle to left and right on the stage while tapping the cane, he was doing surprisingly well in not botching his parts at all. “We’re going to dance…” Trapeze followed tapping out a rhythm and then Bernard followed it expertly, then Rover and all three of them at once prancing a short circle. “Prance…” Rover, while smugly smiling, winked to Bernard who was also winking back at the same time as they twirled the canes behind Trapeze who was front and center. ‘Can we start some rants?’ Was written on the sign Bernard whipped out from behind his back, since he would have problems actually vocalizing his part. The audience started actually chuckling at his waggling brow. Behind Trapeze, Rover would say dance while doing so and Bernard would pull out a sign while prancing around that said ‘prance’ on it and waved it for emphasis when necessary while tapping to the rhythm. Trapeze was busy doing her own thing in front of the two. “Now come on all of you, I know you’ll want watch me do a trick or two.” As she sang she climb up her pole and balance perfectly on her back left hoof and started to slowly twirl, she kept singing even as she balanced and flipped from her rear left hoof to her front right in a hoof stand. She was looking at the crowd with a smile while splaying her other legs out wide. Her energetic mood was lighting up the room as she flipped into stand on the pole with just her back right hoof. “All while keeping in time to the beat, just so you know being an acrobatic magician is really quite neat. I can balance both too and fro, now I think you want us to keep moving on, so let me just say ‘let’s a go’ and here we flow!” The music continued on and the crowd watched as Trapeze managed to get the pole to lean to the left at a forty five degree angle and then right at another forty five degrees before straightening it out without falling over completely. Having stopped distracting the crowd they noticed Rover juggling bowling pins now, when a second ago he wasn’t. Bernard twirling a lasso made of handkerchiefs above his head and started to expertly lasso the bowling pins out of Rover’s juggling pattern. Every time Bernard did so, Rover added a ball to the pattern without pause by pulling them from his vest. The Trapeze Troupe had everyone’s attention in the room, hardly anyone could remember what they were fighting about as they were too distracted by the trio as they performed mystifying tricks and did strange several strange things on stage. “We are The Trapeze Troupe, there are some names you should know!” Pulling out a pole and twirling it into a position across her back, Trapeze angled it so that the pole would catch Rover’s balls and they would roll along the pole, across her back and fall into Bernard’s waiting paws to toss back to Rover. “Bernard, Rover and Trapeze are the stars of this show!” After that last line Rover tossed the seven colorful balls and they rolled along the pole which Trapeze evened out with a slight upwards bounce, the balls didn’t spell Rover’s name, it spelled ‘Tra’ to her right and ‘eze’ to her left the ‘p’ ended up sitting on her head in the middle. Trapeze actually had to use her other leg to brace herself for this one small stunt, but she pulled it off beautifully and it was insanely hard to get right in practice. The mare was standing perfectly balanced on the pole, while balancing six balls on the pole and one on her head with their letters facing the crowd without so much as a wiggle. The balls were, miraculously enough, not going to fall off of the pole or Trapeze’s head. Behind her Rover and Bernard were juggling eighteen slightly less round balls than what Trapeze was dealing with between them. When they let the balls drop to the floor and roll there were exactly seven in front of each of them spelling “ROVER” and BERNARD, they landed that way without having Rover and Bernard actively touch them to spell out their names despite the fact that they had been spinning through the air wildly. There was also the fact that the balls that spell Rover’s name in quotation marks were no long the right color they had been when Rover previously used them and the crowd couldn’t figure out where the extra fourteen balls came from given how small his red vest was, Trapeze had taught Rover well. The two males took a bow and Trapeze grinned widely to silent and relatively stunned audience. Even Zel’Itenk couldn’t say anything nasty about all of that, it had been so amazing that he couldn’t find anything nasty to say to the two meat eaters or their wonderful leader. The music petered off as the piano player stopped and looked at the crowd while wondering how they’d react. The Piano player was Vinyl Scratch, she just happened to be hanging out and watched the awesome brawl start. Then an even more awesome thing happened with The Trapeze Troupe taking to the stage. Slowly the Parascine, the very one Trapeze knocked flat no more than minutes ago, started slowly slapping his tentacles together. Several Dik-Diks started to join in on the applause and then it became a rolling wave of acceptance. That had the trio brightly grinning from ear to ear, eventually Trapeze would have to roll the balls off the pole because her nose was beginning to itch. Author's Note Yes, Paranoia is usually a sign of someone knowing that something is 'in fact' out to get you. Other's trying to convince you otherwise are just not paranoid enough. I hope the Trapeze Troupe part had fitting music.
-119-They were once again upon the streets of Selengard Station, waiting to either do more shopping or head back to get working on orders. Coco had seen or heard the many attempts by Rarity to approach a stallion and earn a date since she joined Rarity on Eweson, Those attempts were quite bad. The first attempt made by Rarity was on Eweson with a Stallion named High Born. The stallion was good looking, but he was keener on dating another stallion. Considering no mare as being worthy of his time because they couldn’t possibly match his noble grandeur, the guy would likely end up dating a mirror. The second happened when they went up to Geoptis, between the time Rarity managed to acquire The Shining Jewel and during salvage operations, this time the stallions name was Cheeky Tongue. He was quite the flirt and was able to keep up with Rarity, but Cheeky Tongue’s wife threatened to cut out his waggling taste organ and apologized to Rarity for her husband’s attitude without showing a single bit of ire towards Rarity. At this point Rarity should have really quit, but no, she couldn’t. The third in a series of bad attempts at picking up a stallion was named Valid H. Art, he was a stallion well renowned for being an artist. This was before Rarity met Blue Blood, but after being assaulted by Mind Field. The problem was, the stallion was responsible for a different wood plank nailed to a canvas from the one Rarity had appreciated, she didn’t think too highly of him after she heard that. So it was mostly on Rarity’s end that time. Blue Blood, the less said about it the better, at least Rarity tried to be friendly and wasn’t even trying to charm him. By the end of the gala Rarity was ready to shoot him, even in front of the guards. The guards would have probably gone with plausible deniability saying they all got something in their eyes if Rarity had mauled or even killed Blue Blood, they were quite tired of the ponce and nobles weren’t exactly trustworthy eyewitnesses. The Rarity love flop conga line continued when they reached Streusel Station, Coco was trying to block out the memories of the event that came before that even if the forgettable bicycle of a therapist said it was better to confront her fears. Coco feared how strong she was physically for her diminutive size, a full grown Macropussian and any Ceantir over three hundred pounds were quite powerful with only Earth Pony’s being able to match up to them physically. Coco was a little scared of being physically strong enough to punch a small dragon into the ground. Getting back on track, the stallion at Streusel Station was named Feather Bangs this time. The stallion was more looks than brains with mares. While he could do a lot of tricks, knew plenty of pick-up lines and could even fake acting like he was romantic, he didn’t actually know the first thing about dating a mare and what it entails. Rarity wanted a semi-intelligent conversation with someone that wasn’t a blowhard, not that that was asking much as she had plenty of intelligent conversations with her friends, instead of someone she had to actively coach through their first date. Rarity had been quite generous with that one, given she helped coach Feather on how to date three mares equally. Rarity was sadly not one of those mares. At least Feather Bangs came out on top during that debacle and really it wasn’t much more than an hour of solidly coaching him on how he should behave as the male of the herd. Feather actually followed Rarity’s instructions and was last seen with three happy mares. Again Rarity was, thankfully, not among those mares. There was an attempt at a few stallions while they were still at Applin Five, but Rarity just can’t win when it came to stallions. Most of the stallions in that area of space were no nonsense hard working stallions, not even being close to Rarity’s type, but Rarity still made the effort to try to find a diamond among the rough and stalwart. She even tried a buffalo at one point shortly after the wedding and was gently let down by the gentle voiced and slightly rotund fellow, the buffalo simply didn’t want a relationship at that time and he was quite reasonable about it too. Thanks to the buffalo being reasonable, Rarity backed down and had a heart to heart with the noble buffalo named Megalith Bison even if it wasn’t romantic in the slightest. Coco just hoped someone eventually came along and stopped Rarity from putting herself through the turmoil of trying to find a significant other. Rarity was already a rather beautiful and a successful business mare, not exactly a rich one, but a successful one nonetheless. Couldn’t that have been enough? No, Rarity apparently wanted a truly romantic relationship, much to Coco’s chagrin as she saw the writing on the wall. Just about anyone who was to traveling with Rarity would be genre savvy about how bad she was at getting a honest stallion, one that was also handsome, witty and at least middle class. Most of the crew didn’t mind Rarity’s lack of leadership ability, which is why she was such a good leader in the first place. What they did mind and tried to always bite their tongues on is how often Rarity tried to find a paramour. It was always cringe worthy to watch, even Chrysalis might be slightly better than Rarity as she may actually be chipping away at Sassy’s staunch refusal to like the Changeling Queen. The only really successful member of the crew in a recent romantic sense was always Gilda, who had an unusual thing for sleeping with Pegasus Ponies and only said winged ponies from how Greta tells it. Coriander had love and lost, but absolutely cherished what he had with Saffron’s mother. Coco didn’t know what was going on between her and Greta, but she was quite nervous about it. Why all this introspection? Well, Coco was surprised that a grey furred stallion with silvery white hair made his way up to Rarity who wasn’t trying to attract his attention or even charm him. That made Coco panic a bit, was the world ending and was a stallion actually going to try and romance Rarity? To check off a list of things that might interest Rarity, he looked high class, he was wearing snazzy clothing, had a nice mane style and he was pointedly opening his mouth to talk to Rarity. Hopefully Rarity took this as a cue to not jump down his throat with flirting. “Hello, your form looks quite familiar to me and I can’t help but ask, were you on Eweson?” A stallion noticing Rarity wasn’t ever a problem, a stallion that looked and spoke suavely noticing Rarity was. Coco was counting down to the moment that Rarity did something wrong and Chrysalis looked to be waiting in anticipation as well. Sassy seemed a little less than interested in a stallion talking to Rarity. “Why yes, more than month or two ago, why do you ask? Also, how do I look familiar to you sir? Oh where are my manners, let me introduce myself. I’m Baroness Rarity D. Belle, fashion designer, EVA suit maker, co-owner of Rarity’s Rarities and Captain of the Shining Jewel.” The stallion calmly shook hooves with Rarity and even Opal was looking at the two in consternation. Why was Rarity playing it cool? “And you are? I find you quite familiar as well.” “Sir Hoity Toity, high end fashion critic. You were around for the MOM attack on Eweson correct?” Once Hoity received a nod from Rarity, he smiled a bit. Opal gave a gasp at recognizing who this stallion was, as did Coco as she recognized a well-known Pony fashion critic and they both sighed in relief. Rarity would not actively go after a conflict of interest when it came to her business and fashion as a whole. “So it was you that saved my life back Eweson, I must admit your form in that suit was quite striking for my memory as you stood among the rooftops. I even have a picture of it.” Pulling out his data pad Hoity showed them Rarity standing on the rooftops in her EVA suit while wielding two energy pistols and a few others of the surroundings after the attack, he had definitely been there. You couldn’t visibly see Rarity’s face, but you could clearly see it was her body by shape and definitely her suit. Which meant Hoity Toity had quite a sharp eye on him as much as an equally sharp memory. “To be fair I saved quite a few people, as did Sassy.” Here Rarity turned to her friend who seemed to have a flat look on her face. It was apparent that Sassy was trying to hide her distaste for men by staying visually neutral. “All the same I remember your suit and I must say I would like to know if I can purchase one of those EVA suits for my personal use.” Shaking his head, the stallion seemed a bit excited to meet his savior due to the smile currently on it. “Aside from that is there any other way I can help you aside from writing a good review of your business if it proves to have good quality merchandise?” “Yes, if you could direct me to the fashion contest taking place down on Nocturne, I’ve been meaning to look it up but I’ve been a bit busy shopping with my friends.” Putting a hoof to her chest Rarity buffed her fur a bit and let her eyes sparkle in the stallion’s direction a bit. “If you could give me the information that would be quite helpful.” “Why that’s the least I can do for the mare that saved my life, I’ll send you the data if would like.” They both exchanged data on their pads, Hoity receiving business information on Rarity’s local order taking site and Rarity would receive information on when and where the fashion show was taking place. “Just know that I will not help you with the contest, I am to remain impartial.” “Sir, I will assure you right here and now, that I would never ask you to forsake your integrity.” If he happened to forsake his own integrity by himself, then Rarity was completely fine with that and even her friends could hear that as being an unstated thing. “I would prefer to work for my victories.” “Still, if there is anything else I can possible do for you, then let me know. I can always put in a good word for you with Photo Finish.” At least Hoity was a gentle stallion, he owed Rarity his life and Rarity wasn’t about to hold that over him. “Maybe sometime later, once we’re done looking around I have orders to take care of and I’m going to be busy for the foreseeable future.” Though Rarity was certainly happy to have made a friend with one of the judges and a rather prolific high profile one at that. “Thank you for your time then Lady Belle, remember the offer is always open for you to meet with some of the people I know and can introduce you to.” Hoity shook Rarity’s hoof again and he was soon on his way. “Well that was quite a pleasant and rather fortuitous meeting. We need to finish getting a few other odds and ends, then we’re going to start working on selling our wares.” Turning to their Dik-Dik minder Rarity had a question to ask of Grahd. “Will you be sticking around for us running our business So’Grahd?” “Of course. When they say until you leave, they meant I am to stay with all of you until you leave the station on your ship. No ifs and or buts about it.” There was no changing So’Grahd’s mind on it even if there was danger present, but so far it has been a while since someone actively shot at them. It had her on edge, nobody didn’t just plan for something to happen and just left it alone like this. At least Sassy was as alert as she was with various glances at the buildings around them as they walked down the street towards more shops to glance at. - “Okay, who was it that said that all of this stuff happened to us again? I’m kind of sorry for bringing up cyborgs and robot uprising in our bets now.” A plasma rifle eject a blast of energy into the nearest glowing red eye of a cyborg blowing away half its head in a sickening yet awesome display of burnt gore, the body fell over and left sparking bits of wiring and creating a puddle of fluids on the floor. Gilda gunned down a few more. Lightning in the Bombing Peregrine was busy running over a few other invasive problems while the tanks anti-missile and personal turrets tore through the invading Dik-Diks. Saffron was doing pretty well with her knife and teleported to avoid taking any hits, at least it was an effective field test for the personal shield generators Greta made when she couldn’t dodge in time. “Didn’t quite know I would be taken literally about it happening, that’ll show me to open my beak.” “Are you sure we don’t need to contact Rarity about this Gilda? This seems like something she’d want to know about.” Greta called out from inside the Centaur-pede, the turrets on it popping several Dik-Diks with blasts of energy that sent mechanical parts and offal flying every which way. Not only that, but the machine was crushing a few others into a bloody paste with its multiple feet. It was like their hangar was full of ants. Annoying biologically messed up mechanically mish mashed Dik-Dik shaped ants and she had an upset stomach from just looked at their bodies horrible fused to their own technology. “Look we’re really sorry about the Jor Clan boarding your ship, we’ll pay for the damages.” A Jackknife with its wings unfolded was hovering above Gilda and started to rapidly pick off the cybernetic Dik-Diks, the male Dik-Dik piloting the ship was quite good at his job as a dedicated fighter pilot for Selengard Station. “You better damn well pay for the damages caused by this slight inconvenience!” Hovering in front of the Jackknife Gilda started waving waved her fist at it, before turning around and blasting a head off the mechanical zombie that tried to shoot her in the back with a green beam of energy. “I was going to start building something in the hangar before these jackasses showed up and tried to take over the ship by first hacking our hangar doors and then cutting straight through them when that wouldn’t work, which led to this shooting gallery we got going on here.” “It is things like this happening being the reason we have such a strong distaste for intrusive cybernetics. I’ll be filing a report concerning the rogue AI not being as dead as we thought it was, we need to look into this further when we’re done cleaning this up. Wait, this is only a slight inconvenience for you, what kind of situations do you normally deal with? Your hangar is crawling with malicious AI directed cyborgs.” The Dik-Dik continued to hover his fighter around Shining Jewel’s hangar and blowing his own people to bits of offal and splatter that left bloody smears on the floors. “Thank goodness I’m whole and my brain isn’t hackable except by possibly psychics, because having a brain that can be manipulated by both psychics and machines would be far worse. You guys are lucky your firewalls are basically AI proof. I’m curious as to why that is, much less why you have a battle ready tank and a freaking armored walking machine of death in your hangar, but now isn’t the time for that.” “Yeah, yeah, now less yakking and more with getting these assholes off our ship and out of my hangar, then we’ll talk about what you owe us for keeping quiet about this!” Swooping down towards a few of the cybernetic Dik-Diks with the glowing parts grafted to flesh, she unleashed a volley upon them and tore quite a few of them to shreds while dodging the dancing green beams they shot out at her. One clipped her and a glow permeated her whole body for a second. Vera just sighed, as she took a baseball bat to the invasive cyborgs that continued to ignore her existence. Why did she have to make that bet? Hopefully they’ll clean things up by the time Rarity is done on Selengard Station and doesn’t run into anyone of the Zor clan. Apparently these cyborg Dik-Diks were being controlled by an AI and said AI chose their ship as a target to start taking over nearby ships and eventually the station. Once on board after having its cybernetic Dik-Dik minions cut through the hangar section two door, the AI found that it couldn’t quite get its claws into the ships system no matter what virus it used and it had problems initially hacking the ship in the first place. It wasn’t long after that the Shining Jewel’s drones joined in on taking out the cyborg Dik-Dik problem, not that the two extra Jackknife fighters hovering into their hangar weren’t appreciated. - Opal just scratched at her right ear with a paw and continued to ride her mother around while shopping, yeah her mom didn’t need to know about the cybernetic Dik-Diks trying to take over their ship. They had enough problems with the assassination attempt a few hours ago. It was rather unfortunate for the rogue AI that it had never met a cyberpathic being before, if it had then it would have found out that Opal was impossible to hack and would have stopped it’s attempts instead of expending itself until it was erased by Opal sending out the AI destroying virus that the Space Pirates in the Applon System had tried to use against her. Yeah, having a copy of that virus was really quite useful and at most Opal had to really thank those pirates for the energy surge that gave her this opportunity to experience life like a biological. She now had the drones making sure the cyborgs didn’t touch anything or got anywhere important, just how many of them flooded the hangar? Let’s see… at least fifty at the moment that were still alive and gunning at their well armored vehicles. Having a mobile fortress, which also happens to be a cargo loading machine, present in the hangar would surprise just about anyone. That mess would soon be taken care of, even if the cyborgs Dik-Diks could be saved they’d probably be executed by their own race for delving too deep into cybernetics and ending up controlled by a machine. Said artificial intelligence was being ripped apart by a really nasty virus and thus all its minions were panicking and were now quite disarrayed. There was a bit of a no tolerance policy among the Dik-Dik race when it came to things like this. The Dik-Dik people would at least tolerate a mostly cyborg Dik-Dik until something like this exact scenario happened, then they’d slaughter all offending parties that were controlled to make sure it doesn’t happen a second time or any further plots involving said controlled cyborg Dik-Diks occurred. Still Opal decided to focus on the here and now instead of what was happening on their ship being a bloody and quite gruesome mess. “Oh, what about that one mom?” It was hard for Opal to find a shop with something of interest, mostly because their supplies usually consisted of things to make just about anything they could want. She really didn’t want to do nothing but window shopping with her remaining time before they started up business, so far Coco was the only one to buy some interesting things. Rarity just bought supplies for her business and some things for Opal’s room, food wasn’t currently an issue on Shining Jewel and they recently ate a good meal. “I think we can find something of interest in there.” Opal wouldn’t dare suggest her mother couldn’t make something nice for her to wear and she was sure Coco would be upset that she didn’t go to her for an accessory if she wanted one. Gilda and Greta could cobble together just about anything else they could want or need in a technological sense. She could even ask Chrysalis to make her a shape shifting toy. So the place that caught her interest was one that had things none of her family could possibly make, not without a lot of time and effort anyway, the shop sold random crystals with unique properties and Rarity always enjoyed looking at gems and jewels. Sometimes Opal wished Rarity would cut back on using more expensive things in her more interesting clothing designs. “Well what do you say girls, shall we?” It was an acceptable diversion for Rarity from just heading straight back to Caravel Boutique to start working on making her wares. Besides Opal looked like she wanted to get something neat and this place might be the ideal one for that. “Yes, let’s go in.” Because frankly Sassy didn’t feel safe out in the streets and even So’Grahd was alertly paranoid, as they rightfully should be. Neither Sassy nor So’Grahd noticed Opal was by far the most paranoid out of all them considering a seemingly random attack on Shining Jewel couldn’t have been just odd coincidence. She was hiding it better than anyone else would. Coco had been very quiet and was worried about their safety concerning the fact that Rarity had almost been killed if not for Sassy’s timely and somewhat impossible intervention. She thought a stallion approaching Rarity, on purpose no less, was a sign that things were about to go horribly wrong and that the entire space station was going to crash into the planet. She was glad to be proven wrong as nothing seemed to be happening around them as they entered the crystal shop. Mostly to buy things for decorative reasons, the shop didn’t sell just crystals, it also sold sculpted statues and other crystal based artist products. “Hello there, my friends.” The greeting of course came from none other than the lackadaisical looking Tree Hugger, she popped up at random and fairly often around Rarity or Gilda. She must have been here for something of grave importance or at least that’s what Coco, Opal and Rarity were thinking. Chrysalis just shrugged at Tree Huggers presence, Sassy seemed to be a bit more on edge and So’Grahd didn’t know the first thing about Tree Hugger except that she didn’t currently have a minder with her. “Tree Hugger, I would say it’s nice to see you, but you’re usually a portents to doom, destruction or something unusual happening. Are you here for Gilda?” Despite Rarity not knowing why Tree Hugger had an affectionate attitude towards Gilda, it was still nice to ask. “No Maker, I am not and I am most certainly not a bringer of bad news. I know Big Sky Child is otherwise occupied and doing what she was meant to be doing, until our next interaction at least. That interaction will hopefully be a rather pleasant one, her feathers are quite warm and I will accept whatever she does for I am of the earth and she is of the sky. If Ever Cheerful chooses to stick around for it, then we will certainly work in concert.” The glance Tree Hugger sent Opal caused the energy cat to have a shiver shoot straight down her spine. Tree simply trotted up to the cat and patted the nervous feline on the head. “It is nice to see you finally getting out and about Opal, you will do greater things with small actions.” Okay if Opal wasn’t freaked out, now she was as Tree Hugger didn’t use a nickname for her and just said her name outright, not only that but Opal was pretty sure Tree said something prophetic there. “If you’re not here to ruffle Gilda’s feathers, then why are you here?” The fact that Opal didn’t surprise Tree Hugger in the slightest with her change in circumstances said that Tree Hugger somehow knew about her already and was waiting here for them to arrive. That Tree even knew what was going on with the Shining Jewel at this very moment, now Opal was beginning to see why Gilda acted so freaked out around Tree. “That’s what I would like to know, where’s your minder exactly?” Obviously her group knew this mare and as such So’Grahd was a little on edge because of what Rarity said about being a portent to problems. How did this mare get this far into the station and how was their security this compromised? “Well her feathers do feel nice when they are properly fluffed out… as for why I’m here. Why are any of us here? We are all part of a greater whole, but separate in our own ways.” That was a usual non-answer that would be expected from Ms. Hugger, she was smiling lazily like usual and she turned to address So’Grahd. “I found my Minder lacking, in a certain manner. He seems to have lost me and I wouldn’t want to upset you by being without, so may I join the group in your care? It would be to my benefit that I’m not left wandering or causing trouble.” “This is seriously going to turn into a thing isn’t it?” Even as Opal asked that, she couldn’t help but feel a growing horror at the thought of being exposed to Tree for however long she planned on being with them as a group. “Not necessarily, though I would like to converse with Ms. Pommel.” That was the most formal any of them have ever heard Tree be, she was a very odd presence in and of itself no matter where she appeared. “Are you on drugs?” So’Grahd probably wouldn’t be the first or even fiftieth person to ask that, they’d be wrong. “Just one, life and all its splendor.” Not one pony in the universe could possibly have said that as dreamily as Tree could, especially not with the same meaning to it. “Paraphrasing that, she means she’s not on any drugs and is perfectly healthy for an Earth Pony.” Though Rarity was suspicious, whatever Tree’s reasons for appearing here were, she wasn’t about to shoo away a friendly face who didn’t mean any harm. “Also are you really going to allow that Officer Grahd?” “I have little choice, she’s a suspicious character without a minder and I will have to call this in.” It kind of perturbed So’Grahd how unconcerned Tree Hugger was about that, it was like she didn’t care that she was caught. If she had a residential ID for living on the station she would have showed it by now. She pulled out her data pad and started up the call, she kept an eye on Tree who didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave the area. “Of course you will officer, it is your duty after all.” The lazy eyes of Tree was actually kind of unnerving to the Dik-Dik, said eyes turned to Chrysalis. “Crystal, keep being yourself and only change if you want to.” “Sure, whatever, I’m always myself nowadays anyway.” Shaking her head Chrysalis decided to make an innocuous comment about Ms. Hugger’s emotions. “I would just like to say your emotions are really weird to taste. Lots of love, but given towards everyone and everything which should be impossible because nobody can love absolutely everything like that.” “For vast is the focus of the one of the sea, for you collect and will hardly give until one fish drinks upon you. When you start giving back, the universe will say thank you for loving it as much as you have and ensure your path will become slightly easier.” Yep more cryptic stuff, like that was helping Tree’s case of somehow being illegally present. “Now may we discuss things Ms. Pommel, I believe your friends are here to do some shopping? I will get something you’ll need while we do so.” Coco looked at Rarity and the others, all she received were some shrugs. Taking it upon herself to follow the strange mare towards a specific section of the shop she saw Tree Hugger looking at the rose quartz bin. “Is this what I need?” Coco asked of Tree tentatively. “No, it is something that I like in its representation. What you will actually need is this…” Moving over to a different display after grabbing four bits of rose quartz, Tree plucked a single small crystal out and held it out to Coco for her to look at. “This is a tiger eye. After I put this in your possession, do not lose it or you and Rarity will face certain grievous injury. A moment will come when you will absolutely need to use it and have no other option. It’ll be some time after you, through action or inaction, will inevitably cause someone’s demise. Your morals will not be called into question, but how you act will be noted. So do what you feel to be the correct course of action no matter what.” “What, but I don’t want to kill anyone…” At least Coco managed to catch herself before she shouted that out loud. “Do not worry too much about the future. Even if you will be the main cause of someone’s demise, you will not be the one to blame for what happens.” Tree Hugger pulled Coco into a hug and started to pet her head gently. Coco almost hated herself for leaning into the gentle stroke and even start enjoying it with such stressful news delivered by the mystery mare that was basically Gilda’s boogey-monster. “Just remember, there are plenty of divergent streams and one stone can cause a change in the flow. Find the courage to befriend a Krad. One last thing, do not fear your own claws. That is all that I desired to tell you personally Sheep Wolf. Now let me go purchase my selection and throw a stone of my own for a lot of people’s sakes.” With that Tree silently walked up to the counter and purchased the five crystals and got them back from the cat like Cacceran wearing a mining helmet, it was obvious this Cacceran was one of the Equestrian Cacceran invasion force that went native around a Diamond Dog community. The mare pulled the tiger eye crystal out the bag she received with her purchase and firmly placed it in Coco’s left hoof while looking her in the eyes with a slightly less lazy look, Coco just nodded and Tree’s smile widened then her eyes seemed to go back to being lazy like she hadn’t stared into Coco’s own with a slight bit of seriousness. Rarity was purchasing her own things and Tree went to stand next to her, she stayed there patiently until Rarity turned around and noticed her. “Yes, is there something you need Tree?” Rarity couldn’t help but feel that Tree Hugger was standing close to her for a reason, the response she received was Ms. Hugger positioning her body and her hooves in a certain way. “The Trapeze Troupe will be fine, though they will cause and be in some trouble. I’m sorry if this hurts, but I need to shove you in exactly one minute Maker. I do not intend to cause you any physical harm and I am sorry about the mental distress in advance.” Tree Hugger might have maneuvered Rarity forcefully into position, but she obviously had her reasons for doing so. She turned to Opal sitting on Rarity's back. “Can you point you right forearm to the ceiling and be prepared to use the special function on it?” Opal did so immediately with her left paw on her new Parascine designed data pad, she wasn’t about to question the crazy mare. When Tree did things, she did them for a really good reason. Like buying multiple medical kits long before a MOM attack happened. This was a chain of dominoes that was somehow coming together and Opal knew it wasn’t a coincidence, listening to Tree was definitely the best policy for any situation. “Tree what’s…” Receiving a hoof to her mouth made Rarity stop, Tree just gave her a tight smile. Tree was facing completely away from the doorway. “Both of you please close your eyes.” Pleaded Tree Hugger in a sad tone, they did as asked and at that moment a bald male human wearing a face covering frowning gray mask, an expensive looking suit and red tie slammed the door to the shop wide open and tossed a grenade like object at the floor. What followed was an immediate flash and a loud bang, then blood spilling against the shops clean floor in the chaos. Chrysalis and Opal were able to swiftly react to what was happening, but it was already too late... Author's Note Wheel of morality turn, turn, turn, tell me a lesson that I should learn... and the moral of the day is... "Life enrich from seeking, not sitting." Yeah, that's not something I understand at all. Also 600,000 mark passed in one story.
-120-Rainbow was flying lead in a diamond formation with Wedge, Large and Butt through the asteroid field, things were looking awesome for their Wonder Bolts squadron even if they kept getting boring recon jobs like this one. Though Rainbow had learned a lot of things from looking up Lightning Dust’s history, things like boring not always a bad thing, it took a lot of soul searching for Rainbow to even admit that. It was quite informative as Lightning hadn’t just been a fighter pilot and commando, she had actively been like a worse version of Spitfire. “Brash, you got anything on the scanners? The scanner isn’t giving me much to go on out here.” Wedge was always on top of things as usual and Rainbow found it reliable to have such a good pilot in her squad. “I mean no signs of anything other than a lot of pointy rocks.” “Nope, but there has to be some asteroid eaters out here somewhere, we’re also supposed to be on the lookout for possible MOM incursion or signs that’s somethings up with the asteroid field. There have been reports of unusual activity out here and they called us for this job.” It made Rainbow happy to see Pinkie again, even if she was still hyperactive pie pusher. While Rainbow wasn’t exactly a fan of pies in the baked goods sense, she didn’t mind the Pie family even if Maude was still a little weird to talk to. They had a job to do and it wasn’t exactly a low risk one either, asteroid fields were no joke. “We have our orders, we are to immediately flee the area if we see any sign of a MOM or something unusual. I don’t know about any of you, but I heard what happened at Eweson and I’m not stupid enough to tackle a MOM core on my own without the backing of a battle ship or two. We’re actually playing it by the book unless we run into something unusual, we were only given the go ahead to take care of asteroid eaters if we see them and nothing else.” “This is Butt, Can we turn our flight path to the right by at least twenty degrees? I think I saw something.” The four P-Wings did so without at Butts query without so much as an acknowledgement, they were quite in tune with one another. “Thanks guys… everyone stop right now!” All four fighters fired their reverse thrusters until their momentum stopped, the four Pegasus piloted fighters sat amongst the field of twirling shifting aimlessly floating rocks waiting for something to happen. “What is it? You know we can’t sit still for too long out here Butt, asteroid fields are labeled dangerous for fighters and other small ships for a reason. Remember that we need to send our ships in for repair after any mission in an asteroid field, even if it seems like nothing’s wrong.” If their Butt had seen something, then that means Rainbow needed to start paying attention. Patrol had just gotten a lot more interesting, hopefully not the Suicidal Seraphs levels of interesting. Those ponies were crazy, nuts and nowhere near sane enough when it comes to responding against threats. It made Rainbow wonder why those ponies weren’t a Shadow Bolts squadron, Luna took in a lot of crazy ponies into her lunar fleet didn’t she? “Not that I’m worried, I could fly my way through this field blindfolded and…. what in the buck?!” “So that’s what she saw, what do we do Brash?” Large was trying not to sound worried. “We should call it in, we’re not supposed to investigate things like this.” Wedge had the right idea, they needed to evacuate the area like yesterday after seeing something like that. “Might explain the unusual activity around here.” “Right, we’re retreating to Streusel Station. It’s not a MOM, but it’s definitely something for the eggheads to take a crack at studying from a safe distance. Every pony get whatever scans you can grab, after that I want Large to form up with me. Butt your with Wedge. Two by two formation, try to keep your buddy in sight at all times. This is not a good place to be ambushed by anything.” After getting a scan of whatever that was with the fighter’s meager sensors, Rainbow reoriented her P-Wing and was followed by the three others after a moment. She started to swerve and weave through the many asteroids heading away from what they just saw. “Let’s get out of here guys.” Rainbow’s friends were a bit surprised that Rainbow didn’t want to pursue an investigation further or do something all gung-ho for once, they were going to call Changeling Protocols on her when they got back just to make sure. Fortunately for the one Changeling in the region, those protocols would miss Maude’s beloved pet Boulder entirely. - Tree Hugger’s presence was usually followed by bad news, in this instance the bad news was what happened to Tree Hugger herself when she pushed Rarity out of the way of imminent danger. Opal ended up on her back with her arm aiming in the right direction and she fired almost blindly, her bolt of electrical energy hit the correct target. The battery on her new arm mounted data pad dropped a by more than a quarter doing that just once, Opal was definitely going to Greta about this technical issue. Chrysalis being one of the few that didn’t stay disoriented long enough from suddenly being blinded and deafened, had tackled the assailant violently. In the span from Opal hitting the floor and firing off a blast of electrical energy to Chrysalis bashing a hoof again the back of the human’s skull, the human had managed to fire off six material rounds in Rarity’s given direction. Tree Hugger had been hit six times by really accurate shots, her wounds were not pleasant to look at and Rarity was freaking out about actually getting covered in the blood of a friend. Even when Ember went down, it looked like she had died immediately and Rarity was thankful that the dragon was still alive if in a critical situation. Tree Hugger didn’t look as savable. “Fi’ereck’lin’dexe’pire’qwe SHRIKE!” After So’Grahd released her cybernetic ears, which thankfully deactivated due to a loud enough noise, she slowly reached back with her left cloven hoof and pulled out her material pistol. She carefully and slowly pulled two rounds from her special pouch, loaded and then fired them both into the down human’s calves when she was less disoriented. Her ears were bad enough, she didn’t need eyesight problems on top of it. She immediately pulled out her data pad, following the confirmation that she had loaded the Human’s leg with two large jagged bits of wood, and called the appropriate people. She removed the Human’s mask and got a picture of his face and then took off his gloves and got a picture of his hands. “This is Officer So’Grahd, civilian down, six shots fired, culprit caught, a flash bang was used, send a medical team STAT. Cybernetic hearing is down, so don’t bother responding, I can’t hear anything at the moment anyway. Sending images of the culprit and Human identifying markings now.” Rarity just sat there holding Tree Hugger with a horrified look on her face, Tree Hugger wasn’t breathing and there was a hole in her neck. It was around this point that So’Grahd’s cybernetics reactivated. “I’m an EMT let me help her.” Gone was Chrysalis’s goofy demeanor or jealous glances at Sassy and So’Grahd being relatively friendly. Now she had a serious look on her face as she stomped the Human’s head into the floor a bit with one of her rear legs, she approached Rarity who was holding Tree Hugger and looked her over. The hive she signed on with was just assaulted and she wasn’t a happy Changeling Queen. Chrysalis did notice that the Human specifically went after Rarity, which was odd considering there were several other greater threats in the room. Sassy, So’Grahd and herself being among the most dangerous, someone was seriously gunning for Rarity’s life and she didn’t have any hints as to why. First, she had to help everyone get emotionally back on track and that meant putting her rather intrinsic knowledge on pony anatomy to the test. Quite frankly the emotions currently in the air tasted horrible and she wanted her ‘less than Changeling hive’ to have a healthy and positive mentality, so she just had to get Tree Hugger stabilized and back into a survivable condition. “There’s apparently an EMT already on scene, dubious qualifications and doesn’t have much to work with. The shopkeeper seems to be hit as well, I’ll check on them in a moment.” This situation was a complete mess. Even if So’Grahd had been quite alert, but that attack had happened way too fast and the Human had been abnormally quick. She needed to find out if the Human was an enhanced one, so she started to check the perpetrator over and would be taking any weapon she can find. She placed her data pad on her head and held it there with her ears. “I hope help gets here soon. I will update as the situation develops.” “I may be dubious, but I’m the best you have at the moment. Everyone else in the area scattered and are hiding as soon as the flash bang went off.” Mentally Chrysalis noted down there were six entry wounds on Tree, one became an exit wound in a most unfortunate location. “If any of them is a doctor, they aren’t coming out of cover any time soon. If you’re squeamish, then don’t watch.” (Music can be looped with right click.) Tree wasn’t breathing and with a diagnostics spell check her heart had stopped, most likely due to the shock of being hit six times in under two seconds by high velocity material rounds. The five material rounds in her would have to come out, but the near artery wound to the neck was the immediate worry. Thankfully there was no foreign material left behind in the neck wound. Inhaling through her nose, Chrysalis built up a mass in her throat and then spat a wad of goo over Tree’s neck and carefully molded it to staunch the bleeding from the entry and exit wound. Rarity didn’t react to the sickening noises or that Chrysalis had done something so disgusting. Coco and Opal made their way over to Chrysalis with their ears flattened and feeling almost as upset as Sassy was, the fact that Chrysalis could even feel Sassy right now meant that she had to make her happy again by making sure this pony lived through any means necessary. Sassy stayed next to the unmoving body of the culprit and Officer So’Grahd, she had failed to protect someone and she may have to take up learning a blindfolded sword style in the near future. Even where she failed, she was not letting the Human get away with this if he tried to get up. If he could get up after Chrysalis stomped on his head. “What are you doing?” Apparently So’Grahd had something to say about Chrysalis spitting an unknown substance on a dying or dead mare. “It’s a Changeling byproduct and completely antiseptic and sometimes used as a building material to strengthen tunnels, I need to pull the material rounds out of her and seal the wounds.” Chrysalis’s horn lit up and roughly pulled a material round from Tree’s left shoulder, the black crystal made Chrysalis shudder violently once she got a good look at it. She quickly dropped it off to the side with disgusted look on her face. A unicorn wouldn’t have been able to save themselves after being hit with something like this and if it had hit Sassy… Chrysalis spat on the bleeding shoulder and patted the Changeling gunk into place until it hardened. The Human wouldn’t be alive right now if he had hit Sassy with one of his material rounds. “Okay this is worse, I definitely need to pull all the material rounds out as quickly as possible given what they are. Opal I’m going to need your help in a second and stop looking so grim, she’s not dead yet!” “Not… dead?” Some life came back into Rarity’s eyes. Looking at the crystal Chrysalis pulled out of Tree, her eyes widened, if a single one of those had hit her... well she was rather glad they didn’t. Tree Hugger wasn’t breathing and she was limp in Rarity’s hooves, she certainly looked dead and this was a close friend of theirs. She was closer to Gilda and Greta given their history of seeing each other a lot. “Her brain is still alive, but not for long. If I can get her heart beating again, then I can save her. She’s going to cough up a lot of her vital fluids after this and she will need surgical attention on top of a blood transfusions. Darn, this one hit her spine. Nothing for it, this is going to be nasty.” As she said that Chrysalis’s green glowing horn ripped out another seven tipped black crystal, this time in a fountain of ripped flesh, fur and blood. She quickly spat another glob and started to pat it down while focusing her horn on one of the last two crystals. Nothing made her more upset than an ass ruining an ass, unless the ass ruined her romantic interest in any given way. She roughly pulled the material round from Tree’s left rump and spat another glob and shaped it. She looked at the final material round that had sunken into Tree’s left rear legs hock. “That’s the worst of it at least, her hock is going to be a bit mangled after this... but it has to be done as we can’t leave any of these crystals in her.” Before anyone could ask, Chrysalis quickly pulled the last black crystal out of Tree and puked a larger glob onto the blood smeared leg. She started molding it around the entire leg making her oral excretions into a cast instead of a patch. This would be especially prudent when Chrysalis restarted her heart, she had to wait for this particular mass to harden before she could continue. “Rarity, carefully roll her onto her back. Opal when I say ‘hit me’, fire that thing at me. After I get her heart beating I am going to do something really awkward to keep her alive.” Chrysalis seemed to be setting up for something as she stood up and move to put both her hooves on Tree’s chest. “So whatever you do, don’t panic when I do something unusual. I’m a, mostly trained, professional.” “Mostly trained?” Given how strained Rarity’s voice was when it came out, this was not one of the things anyone would like to hear in this given situation. “I was never allowed to prescribe or apply any medication to anyone, ever. It’s a long story and we don’t have the time for it. Also my methods were considered to be effective if a bit… brutal.” The stares Chrysalis was receiving didn’t bother her at all, though they were a bit disbelieving that she was still a licensed and accredited EMT. “You want her to live right? So don’t mind me if I do something completely unusual to save this mares life. Speaking of, what’s the time on that surgical team or at least equipment relating to that getting here?” “ETA five minutes, though by then it could be too late to save her from the way you’re talking.” With the injuries the unintentional victim sustained So’Grahd would believe it, what she could hardly believe was that someone like Chrysalis was actually a trained EMT. Though she appeared to know what she was doing, ‘appeared’ being the defining word here. “Right then, continuing this in a fast and completely messy manner it is.” The mess being all over the floor, also on and around Chrysalis and Rarity. It seemed as if Chrysalis’s bizarre attraction to bug zappers made so much more sense now, especially if she enjoyed playing with defibrillators. Speaking of, the Changeling Queen put an ear to Tree’s chest then lifted her head to look at Rarity. “Rarity, try to hold her still if she starts to struggle and if she starts coughing up fluids, turn her head to either the left or right. Opal, hit me.” Opal pointed her right arm towards Chrysalis shivering a bit, but she still hit the button and another large chunk of the devices energy loosed itself into Chrysalis. Chrysalis was ready for it and channeled all that raw painful, and quite enjoyable by Chrysalis’s standards, energy down to her hooves and into Tree’s chest. The mare’s body seemed to jump slightly. Chrysalis immediately had her ear on Tree’s chest, she lifted her head and looked to Opal. “Again, hit me!” The device had a little less than a quarter of its energy left after it unloaded on Chrysalis again, but that last bit of energy wouldn’t be needed as Tree started to flail her hooves and choke. Tree’s hooves were quickly bathed in a green glow and held still. Rarity had a small problem holding her down to the best of her ability, Tree was still very strong even as she was choking on the blood in her throat. “Turn her head and let her cough some of it out right now!” Rarity quickly moved Tree’s head to the left, her hooves and pristine coat were splattered with the end results of Tree trying to clear her filling throat. Rarity bit her bottom lip and held Tree’s head to the side to the best of her ability. “Okay, quickly tilt her head back up and force her mouth open with your magic, you need to make sure that it doesn’t close no matter what.” Following Chrysalis’s orders and completely horrified on a number of levels by the situation they were in, Rarity closed her eyes and her horn lit brightly prying open Tree’s mouth and holding it open. Tree’s eyes shot open and instead of panicking her legs relaxed and she just as quickly clenched her eyes shut, tears started to stream out of them. “Unhinge her lower jaw if you have to, just remember to make sure she doesn’t close her mouth! This is going to look really weird, but trust me it’s vitally important. Coco get over here and keep my hair out of the way.” It made So’Grahd wonder what Chrysalis was planning, when she watched in disbelief as Chrysalis seemingly broke her own spine when she dislocated and contortioned the front half of her body upside down without somehow killing herself. Chrysalis’s furry carapace became stretched and it flexed awkwardly due to her actions. Her front legs were bent into an awkward position as she rotated them as well to continue standing on them. Chrysalis got her upside down head over Tree and moved jagged glowing horn gently into the mare’s mouth held open by Rarity who looked at Chrysalis’s concentrating face. Coco moved forward and grabbed a hold of Chrysalis’s mane and found it to be quite surprisingly silky and rather smooth to the touch, she as well as the others were a little more than disturbed by what Chrysalis was doing with her own body. It looked quite unnatural even if Chrysalis was ridiculously flexible to the point that no pony could comprehend how her spine allowed her to do this without making a snapping noise. “Sorry for the inconvenience, just try to relax. It’ll be over soon enough either way.” Chrysalis’s upside down eyes were directed at Tree Hugger who opened her eyes slightly with a pained look. Chrysalis slowly pushed her horn deeper into Tree’s mouth and throat. You could even see the glow of Chrysalis’s jagged horn through Tree Huggers throat. “I’ve only had to do this twice, so sorry for whatever you are about to feel next.” A bright flash erupted from Tree’s throat and Rarity almost let go of Tree’s mouth as Tree jerked and struggled a bit, she even looked to be trying to get a hold of herself. Rarity held the Tree’s mouth open as Chrysalis slowly pulled her horn out with a massive glob of red following after it. She flicked the glob off to the side carelessly splattering its mass across the floor. “Okay, let her mouth go Rarity. She’s going to need a blood transfusion real soon, but I’ve prevented any chance of asphyxiation, infection and choking by fixing the damage to her throat to the best of my abilities.” Sighing Chrysalis rubbed at her sore horn with a groan, she had just used up a lot of energy doing that. It’s a good thing she was always well fed. “She’ll still need surgical attention for the rest of her body. My patches can only last so long.” Tree Hugger didn’t say anything and just stared at the ceiling taking in slow breaths, she stayed relatively still after Chrysalis pulled out her horn. It seemed like things were going to be fine. “Did it have to look vaguely sexual like that?” Was Coco’s awkwardly posed question even as Chrysalis returned the front half of her body back to its correct state and looked at Coco. “Yes, it did. Also you can let go of my mane now, only Sassy can hold it whenever she wants and for as long as she wants.” Yes, Chrysalis knew her mane was perfectly nice, but Coco was holding it for longer than she was comfortable with. Coco let go of Chrysalis’s hair and backed away with a yelp and a vibrant blush on her face, slightly embarrassed at enjoying the feel of the hair sliding gently from her hoof. “Is the patient stabilized?” So’Grahd approached them and saw that Sassy was still guarding the unconscious Human, she had just updated the shop keeper's current condition to her people. “Yes, she’s going to be very weak for a while, because not many people can recover from being shot through the throat very well. I always find it surprising just how fragile everyone is compared to me.” A twitch in Chrysalis’s ear notified her of a problem, Tree’s breathing was getting shallower and she took it upon herself to breath into Tree’s mouth filling her lungs with air. She started to press on Tree’s chest to force her to breathe. “Correction, she might need some help to keep breathing. So if you’re capable of cardio pulmonary resuscitation let me know or else I’ll be busy for the next two minutes. Her lungs may have just slightly collapsed because I removed all the blood in them and her throat.” After Chrysalis put her mouth to Tree’s again she felt a mass of love shoot straight into her mouth and was a little surprised that it wasn’t more intimate in how it felt, still as a thank you it was far more than Chrysalis would have expected. The Changeling Queen almost gagged on the unusual amount of love flooding her, but kept breathing into Tree. When she worked Tree’s chest again she gave the slightly smiling mare an unamused look. Two more rounds of CPR had Tree Hugger once again breathing on her own after coughing and hacking out a few small flecks of blood, but she wasn’t saying anything. Once it was clear that Tree Hugger was going to be okay on her own for a minute, Chrysalis went to check on the Cacceran shop keeper. The crystal was lodged in his helmet after altering trajectory after going through Tree’s neck and that had save his life, he wasn’t seriously injured and was just unconscious. They all breathed a sigh of relief and waited for So’Grahd’s reinforcements or the medical unit to arrive. It wouldn’t be long before the shop was cordoned off and the medical team picked up Tree Hugger, the mare just smiled at her friends from the stretcher as she was taken away. - It had been a hour since the rather unusually targeted attack against their ship, but Gilda was making her way out of the central right side elevator towards medical. She could wash off the blood and machine oil when she was done checking on something important. “I swear we need better alerts for crap like that happening, didn’t see them coming until they burned halfway through the door in section two of my hangar. Bunch of bloody body part replacing bastards.” Grumbled an exceedingly aggravated Gilda, quite a number of the spare parts she had set aside for her next project were ruined in the fighting. Nothing for it, she’d just have to wait until she could go shopping for more materials that weren’t turned into scrap metal. Gilda was making sure Ember was still sleeping soundly and that nothing had happened to the dragon while they were all busy kicking ass, the ship had been rocked by quite a few explosions and thankfully those explosions didn’t cause another hull breach. The griffon would also be checking up on Mr. Spew, the designated medical room guardian. Gilda seriously doubted anyone would want to bother the little squid that can spew flesh melting acids or oily fireballs that acted exactly like a heavily virulent version of napalm, not to mention toxic substances that were so poisonous that no cure could possibly be designed for them before you died from it. The stupidly toxic substances that worked on skin contact were likely saved for someone that truly deserved it in Mr. Spew’s opinion, the squid could handle a lot of minor annoyances before he’d even start breathing small balls of fire or freezing cold liquids. “Hey there little guy, your tank is looking a little clean there. Do you want something filthy and toxic? Huh, do you? Do you boy?” If anyone were to see Gilda flip a switch and start cooing over the deadly squid, she’d deny it to her dying breath that she really liked the deadly little thing. It was like how she treated Opal coolly and yet actually liked being called her Aunt Gilda. “Who’s a cute little disaster waiting to happen, you are! You also play a mean game of cards and I accept that your far more intelligent then I’m currently giving you credit for.” Mr. Spew popped up from the almost clean water and he was slightly bigger than last time, he didn’t want to get too big or he might never fit on one of Ember’s shoulders again. Sewer squids were limited to how big they got because they had other sewer squids eating as much filth around them as they did. With the change in environment, Mr. Spew was a growing boy and he was bound to get deadlier the bigger he got. He raised two tentacles above the water and made a happy gurgling sound, happy to at least see someone recognizable moving about. It was easy for anyone to tell that he was chronically depressed about Ember’s grievous injuries, just interacting with anyone made his day. “So on today’s menu is fish marinated with a particularly nasty chemical and sautéed with some really bad bacteria with a smell that’s like rotten eggs that only you might find enjoyable. It’s that or I can just pour a quart of our laundry detergent and a pint of bleach into your tank again and stir vigorously with some chopped Aconitum. You really seemed to like the Aconitum a lot the last time I used it.” The squid seemed to give Gilda’s menu choices some thought as she pointed a claw to which tentacle he should raise to make his choice. He had lowered his tentacles when she pointed to each one, after giving it some though he raised both of his tentacles and squealed softly making Gilda snicker. “Feeling like something more substantial today eh? I’ll swing it just for you little buddy. How’s Ember doing?” The sad whining noise was a bit hard for Gilda to listen to since it would be quite grating on anyone’s hearing, that was before it turned into a more melancholic upbeat chittering. Then there was a few clacks of his beak and he sounded a bit lonely, they were definitely not going back to Eweson any time soon to find him a playmate or just a mate in general. He was obviously missing Coco, who liked to cuddle him, and wanted more physical interaction. “Yeah, I didn’t understand any of that.” Blithely state Gilda though she knew Mr. Spew was trying his best to respond. It was kind of sad that Gilda didn’t have a universal translator in stock for squid based creatures. If such a thing existed, she’d make a mint from selling the plans for it. “I’ll find something for you to toy with after feeding you okay? Maybe some of Trapeze’s water proof cards or just a puzzle that wouldn’t mind being a bit waterlogged?” Mr. Spew chittered happily and swam a small circle while waving a tentacle in Gilda’s direction, the griffon smiled at him and left to go fetch his nasty inedible food. Well inedible to most beings that want to keep living a long and prosperous life. Slaughtering a hundred and forty three cyborgs in such short amount of time made Gilda a bit hungry herself, not to mention all the flying she had to do to avoid getting shot. She could just eat her meal next to the Mr. Spew’s tank and keep the poor thing entertained, any uneaten leftovers she could just dump directly into the tank to fester and that would make a nice dessert for the squid. Author's Note Fixed some minor issues I had with the previous chapter, the major ones are still there though. Also yes, I'm pretty bad at times. This chapter is mostly centered around Chrysalis's many talents, if a Changeling gets injured while disguised they'll need a doctor in the know right? I would have used something from a Trauma Center game, but I chose Gunvolt instead just be exceedingly odd.
-122-“C-clan war? What are you talking about! Also who’s Rarity?” The Jor clan member appeared to be playing dumb to Grahd. “Well you entered my room, one that partially belongs to a So clan member who has been pulled for minder duty. A duty you are currently interfering with.” Grahd wasn’t about to let the Jor clan member go after everything the three Dik-Diks did upon entering her room, even if they were relatively young. She moved her shock rod up a millimeter while glaring into the smaller Dik-Diks eyes. “Not only that you compromised and destroyed my hearing cybernetics, shot up my desk and innocent beloved chairs. Plus you illegally entered the room of a Planetary Patrol Officer, wearing fake uniforms.” “Shrike ma’am, you have to believe me, the uniforms aren’t fake! They’re real!” The young Dik-Dik was sweating a bit as the shock rod was quite warm underneath his chin. His dark brown fur and wide blue frightened eyes filled with tears, this had Rarity give the Dik-Diks uniform a once over. “Does the Triple P have a cadet branch by any chance?” Seeing that was she was being ignored and noticed the male Dik-Dik looked towards her, So’Grahd did the same thing. “Could you repeat what you just said? As you may have notice these three hooligans shot up my ability to hear and I have to lip and mouth read. Not only do they have a lot to answer for by breaking into the room of an Officer on duty with lethal intent and destroying my property, I am acting as your current minder which is doubly damning given they could be charge twice over for this.” Now that Grahd was looking at her and sending glances to the Dik-Dik being expertly pinned down by Coco, Rarity could actually tell her something. Chrysalis came over after sealing up the female Dik-Dik taken down by Sassy. She started to spit the burned and scorched flesh with her goo and the male Dik-Dik wiggled, but couldn’t break Coco’s hold and seemed to yelp in pain as Chrysalis patted down the goo on his injuries. So’Grahd pulled her shock rod away from the Dik-Diks throat and he gulped before sighing in slight relief. “I said does the Triple P have a cadet branch by any chance?” Repeated Rarity with thoughts approaching this being a possible mishap, they didn’t know who she was and yet they came in here gunning for her anyway. She wanted answers as well, but that didn’t mean they had to treat these three Dik-Diks harshly. They were soundly defeated and weren’t going to pose any further problems. “Ma’am even if they were from the cadet branch, and I highly doubt that, then they couldn’t possibly have access my office. The only way they could have access is if someone higher up gave it to them with the express purpose of killing you by tasking them to do so or they just hacked the door which is encrypted to work only for specific keys which are not a common commodity.” That of course was Grahd’s idea of the given situation as it was presented. Her charges were certainly not safe in this building. She might be currently deaf, but she was not dumb enough to expect a fourth attempt to not involve either high explosives or an attempt to poison Rarity as she seems to be the main target of these events. “Speaking of, since nowhere on the station of Selengrad is currently safe to you Baroness Belle, I sorely and strongly wish you would go back to your ship and conclude any business you have here swiftly.” “Wait Baroness? Nobody said anything about a pony noble being here!” The male Dik-Dik looked highly confused and if he were a cadet then he was looking to be in for some jail time for this escapade. “Then allow me to introduce myself, I am Baroness Rarity D. Belle and this is my daughter Opal K. Belle. I believe you shot at us with intent to kill?” Throwing her hoof over her daughters form, Rarity gave the Dik-Dik a slight scowl. “Who did you think you were going to be shooting at? I would like to know why I seem to be target of various assassination attempts.” “Yes, I’d like to know the answer to that one as well, given you seem to be shooting at someone without an ounce of an idea as to who you were gunning for.” So’Grahd moved the shock rod back under the Dik-Diks chin and he began quivering, there was even a small spot forming on the floor beneath him. Thanks to the two shots Rarity and Chrysalis fired, he wouldn’t be able to run even if he got free. Coco had his front legs firmly pinned behind his back and he didn’t have a weapon on him. “Well aren’t you pathetic, I don’t think you’ve ever been hit by a shock rod if you’re acting like this.” “It-it-it was… w-w-we were after… a-after…” He was a stuttering crying wreck now, all So’Grahd did to the Dik-Dik was raise a brow. “Name first, then information if you will. If you can’t focus with an active and fully powered shock rod under your chin, then breathe and speak slowly.” Moving her face into the male DIk-Diks and putting the shock rod a millimeter from hitting the Dik-Dik and scorching some of his fur in the process. “Otherwise I’ll just hit you with it right now and get the information out of you later by using the lower settings on you and I’m not feeling like being particularly pleasant about it. You almost look like a conscript still in training.” “I-I-I am Jor’Xeru and I am a conscript ma’am! I’m only a few months into the program, please don’t hit me with the shock rod! I’ll talk! I swear I will! Just… give me a moment.” His eyes were dilated and he was breathing roughly as he looked away from Grahd who pulled her shock rod away. Xeru was trying to calm down despite the threat of So’Grahd tagging him with a fully armed shock rod, Grahd deactivated it and still held it at the ready. All it would take is single movement of one of her cloven fingers flicking the switch and it would turn back on in a heartbeat. Xeru started to finally calm down a bit. “Okay, okay… I think I can… guess… what might be going on. Someone ordered us to come here and attack a purple haired Unicorn Pony with three jewels on her flanks, I believe the name we were given for a target is Amethyst Star. We didn’t know that we were being set up, I swear!” “Likely story, but assume I don’t buy it, what would you say then? I can name at least seventeen visiting Unicorns on file with three gems for a cutie mark in various colors and shapes. Of those, thirteen of them have purple hair and I only know four personally as friends.” Here So’Grahd pointed to Rarity with her right index cloven finger, but she could definitely see something of being a horrible set up in this situation. “One of those Unicorns is in this room and I really doubt that you could make such a mistake as to not confirm who Rarity was before rushing in and shooting wildly like you did. It’s almost like you knew that your target was going to be dangerous from the outset, so you couldn’t take the chance of her retaliating and chose to go straight to lethal. I’m also guessing that there’s not a better description of this Amethyst Star. Correct me if I am wrong.” “You are not wrong… and I don’t know what I could say at this point…” A wincing Xeru suddenly had wilting ears, this was beginning to look really bad for the poor guy. Coco didn’t let up on him though, she did look to Grahd curiously. “How are you even able to hear me if you are deaf without those cybernetics?” “Lip, mouth and throat reading. I knew there would be times, like right now, that my cybernetics will be either destroyed or highly compromised. It’s prudent to learn several helpful skills before you need them and not after you absolutely needed them and something really bad happens. So before I decide on what to do with you and your group, I need to verify that this Amethyst Star actually exists.” Grahd pulled out her data pad and started looking up something, she also now had to do a write up of incident three in her time of minding Rarity’s group. “If so then this is a grave case of mistaken identity and would explain the last two attempts on my charges life. Either that or her description was so vaguely given as to make people target my charge exclusively, this is quickly becoming a conspiracy and I don’t like it.” While Grahd was looking up Amethyst Star, Rarity took out her own data pad to make a call to Trapeze Star. While she didn’t want to assumed, she did want to ask if Trapeze had any family members named Amethyst and Trapeze having strong Unicorn blood might only explain quarter of the things Trapeze could actually do. Opal started to report what was happening to the Shining Jewel, starting from the second attack to the large disbelief that the last three attempts on her mother’s life were meant for another Unicorn. - “Now for my next trick…” Holding top hat out and high in a proud manner, Trapeze’s left ear twitched a bit and then she let go of the hat which didn’t fall to the ground and slowly rotated so that it was floating in the air upright. “Excuse me folks, but I have to take a call. Rover, Bernard, if you will keep the crowd entertained while I’m indisposed?” Trapeze reached up into the hat with her right hoof and pulled out a data pad that was sounding off. She tapped the data pad with her left hoof and then held it to her right ear. While she did so, she gripped the edge of her floating hat with her left hoof and hauled herself up onto it with a flip and leaned back while crossing her rear legs idly kicking them every now and then. The crowd was a bit awed at the fact that Trapeze was sitting on a floating hat in mid-air and defying gravity which everyone in the room knew was on, they also knew that it was impossible to fit an anti-gravity generator into something as small as that hat and they didn’t see anything in it and yet she kept pulling stuff out of it including Bernard whenever he disappeared to get some snacks from the bar. “Hello Trapeze speaking. Oh hey Rarity, what’s up? Yeah, I’m in the middle of a show right now. Don’t worry about it, you’re not interrupting anything important and my friends are always important.” Sitting up more Trapeze placed her left hoof slightly on the side of the hat to keep her balance, she’d get back to her regularly scheduled program if this wasn’t important. “Hm… Do I a Unicorn with purple hair and three gems for a cutie mark? Uh, Rarity, did you get amnesia? If so, how are you making this call if you did? Wait, are you asking me if I have amnesia? Oh no, I might have forgotten how to perform all my acts and I didn’t know I forgot! So how am I even doing what I am right now?” While Trapeze was occupied with reclining on top of her floating hat and getting a bunch of incredulous stares about sounding perplexed about how she didn’t know what she was currently doing, Bernard and Rover immediately went to work by warming up with their own personal flair. Bernard moved around the stage and started to build several ramps with his personally owned cards as he had teased Trapeze to much this show and decided to use his own props instead of just nabbing hers. Though Bernard would admit that he had a problem when it came to sniffing every prop Trapeze ever used. They smelled like the mare herself, wonderful. While Bernard was working on a few cube shape huts and a few more ramps made out of cards, Rovers started to idly juggle while waiting for Bernard to finish setting up. Bernard and Rover have worked out their own acts without needing Trapeze’s rather unusual and highly mystical assistance. The one they were going to do in particular involved bouncing balls off the card structures Bernard made, without knocking said structures over, they had to catch each throw and return it in as ridiculous a manner as possible. They also couldn’t let any balls past them or drop any of them or let them roll on the ground once they got started. The card structures can be randomly placed and the two would have to eyeball it when it came to bouncing balls off of them, it was insanely fun and random act. Even though Bernard was not much of a juggler, he could do some juggling in a pinch and had worked hard to make this performance one that even Trapeze was amazed by. It was given green light by Trapeze given it was an act that was low risk and lots of acrobatic exercise for the mare when she tried it. The best part of the act was the whimsy of watching it when it was in full action, because even Trapeze stomped her hooves in amazement for this one. It all started with a single ball going back and forth, what woke up the crowd was that the ball was being bounced off the squat square huts that Bernard built as if they were trampolines. They would slowly start to complicate things from there. First by rolling the ball up or bouncing it off of the various ramps to change its direction. Slowly there would be two balls going back and forth in a complicated rhythm and then things would really start to take off from there. “Huh, oh, you mean a different unicorn named… wait I know that name!” Declared Trapeze who ignored the crowds continued gawking as her hat tilted slightly in the air with her body’s movement with her still sitting on it. “In fact it is a name that I would know from anywhere, that is being a name of the knowing that I am acquainted with and am particularly acknowledging as having heard before! So in knowing this name and given that I can identify it…” “Trapeze!” Rarity’s voice was heard by the crowd. Trapeze cringed and leaned back making the hat go back to floating neutrally above the stage with her on it. “Yeah, Boss Lady?” Addressed Trapeze calmly after a second, she seemed to take on a comical tone as she talked into her data pad while ignoring the crowd completely. She was getting an earful from Rarity for being silly. “Oh right, getting to the point, yeah you would want me to do that wouldn’t you? Yes I do in fact know her, what do you want to know?” Behind Trapeze the act was getting more and more complex by the second, there were three balls going and none of the carefully crafted card structures had faltered yet despite how hard the balls looked to be bouncing off of them. Both Rover and Bernard were running left and right as if they were playing tennis, catching and tossing the balls across the various bits of architecture between them. It was redefining juggling on their terms. “Purple mane, Unicorn and gems for a cutie mark would be accurate to her description, but a few things are missing if you want to fully describe the mare that is... huh… don’t say her name out loud? Well okay then, but… trouble? Do you need my help?” Trapeze would cancel a show if it was of dire importance, this sounded like it was. “Well if you’re sure Boss Lady. While she does have a purple hair, is a Unicorn and has gems for her cutie mark, she looks nothing like you.” As she continued her conversation the audience didn’t know who to pay more attention to, Trapeze on her floating hat talking to someone on a data pad or Bernard and Rover bouncing balls in increasingly incredible ways. “Well for starters she’s a cousin. I don’t even know if she knows that we’re related. Pink fur, dark purple eyes and her gem cutie mark is far more distinguishable from yours Boss Lady.” Pausing Trapeze continued to listen to whatever Rarity was saying on the other end. “Job occupation? Accountant, organizer or various other things that involves getting things in order. She kind of has an obsessive compulsive disorder, I think she once mentioned being family with a Ms. Hooves of high repute among couriers and having to clean up after her a lot.” Now Trapeze was being lazy as she moved to lying on her back, she idly caught a ball that bounced at her in her left hoof without looking. She then tossed it back into the now four way ball bouncing bonanza going on behind her, much to the audience’s shock that she had managed to accurately bounce it back into the juggling war between Mr. Slash and Rover or that she even involved herself in the act at all while she just sat there, still in mid-air, talking on the data pad. “I don’t think she has a history of any kind of violence. Yeah, we’re doing okay and the show is continuing on even as I’m talking to you. Is there anything else that you need?” Trapeze’s left hoof lashed out and caught one ball and then another, she juggled them with one hoof for a few seconds before sending them careening into the field of battle in an awkward way. She had to keep her boys on their toes after all and adding a twist or two here and there would do that. There were two startled yells of aggravation that Trapeze didn’t pay attention or any mind to at all. “No I don’t think I’ll be any help with that. I guess we’ll see you later then, we might look around a bit ourselves and you should know we can take care of ourselves quite well. We certainly did when you last called and we were in the middle of a bar brawl.” “What!?” It sounded like Rarity was a little more than surprised to hear Trapeze had been involved in a room wide fist fight, well, up until she put on an opening act to stop everyone from fighting that is. “Thanks for letting me know you’re okay Boss Lady, we have a few venues planned here so don’t worry about having to cart us back to the ship. We’ll be sticking around the station for a while. Good bye, call again if you need anything else and don’t forget about us okay!” Trapeze reached down and shoved the data pad back into her hat and climbed down so that she was standing on the stage again, she turned to the audience while taking a strong grip on the top hat. “So, where were we again? Ah, yes for my next trick I’ll join those two and make this even more complicated than it already is by performing acrobatic feats while juggling like they are!” The balls bouncing off the small card based constructs became even more numerous and the ways they bounced became even more ridiculous with Trapeze bouncing balls off other balls thus making it harder for Rover and Bernard to keep their rhythm going. It was still an impressive sight to watch. - Things on the Shining Jewel were really quiet for the most part, since Greta finished patching the large hole in their hull with her EGGS unit. Opal had finished just giving the crew information of what has been going on since she last talked to them. “I have a quick question for you Opal, is there any possibility of getting a copy of that virus you used to mess up the cyborgs invading the ship?” If they ever ran into any more invasive AI’s, it would certainly have been useful for Greta to know that they were capable of dealing with it in a quick and permanent fashion. “Sorry Aunt Greta, but it was a one shot virus that couldn’t be copied or replicated, any attempt to do so would have made erase itself. The reason why I could still use it is because it went dormant in our systems without an AI or AIs to destroy. The AI would have caused more damage to deal otherwise and the virus would have activated anyway.” If Opal were present, they figured she would be shrugging. “I just cut out the middle mare and hurried the process along by tossing the virus straight into the invading AI’s face. Either I launched the virus early and saved us all some grief or damage to the ship or I let the virus activate on its own time once the AI got into our systems.” “So we wouldn’t have been able to keep it even if you didn’t throw it in the AI’s face, well okay then. Was there anything you wanted Opal?” It was Greta’s turn to take a break and she was waiting on Gilda to get back from her late lunch, she continued to fuss over the small device on the table before her in hangar section four and was beak deep in tinkering with it. Gilda and Saffron had tested these for a short time and their effectiveness was quite sporadic, but they had test data from direct and grazing hits of varying strengths to work with. She was currently working out the bugs on the ones they had already so that she could get an effective final product to reproduce. Rarity really needed one of them like yesterday it seemed. “I’m already putting personal shields as my highest priority at the moment and I’m working out the various tweaks on what we have already managed to create so far.” “So are you sure it’s this Amethyst Star Pony the DIk-Dik mentioned and not some misdirection about a conspiracy to kill Rarity? It certainly seems like someone really wants Rarity dead.” Saffron was lounging in the exercise room and so far their bets kind of panned out with the Masseuse kind of winning the pot, but it was hard to remember who exactly Masseuse was so they called it even on everything. Saffron’s idea of lounging was lifting weights. “I mean do we have any reason why it could be Amethyst Star that all these guys are after? What could she have done to earn such ire and does she have a prior criminal record?” “I’m… not exactly sure, there’s not enough information to say one way or another if Trapeze Star's cousin is responsible for all of this or if this is just a misdirection to prevent us from focusing on the problem that someone absolutely wants mom dead. It’s all very confusing.” Though Opal was definitely looking for advice from anyone on Shining Jewel at the moment, their crew was full of awesome people. “Anything else to bring up?” “Yeah, there is in fact something to bring up. Ember might actually be getting better, slightly, it’s hard to tell when she’s got a number of her nastier looking scales falling off of her.” Reported Gilda from the medical room on the Shining Jewel, she finished dumping the remains of her food into Mr. Spews tank and was once again ready to tackle any problems coming her way. “She moved one of her claws and her tail cracked the glass on the medical bed, I need Masseuse down here to take a look at her and we might need to mover her out of the bed.” “That wouldn’t be a good idea, she needs to stay in that bed. She isn’t in any condition to be transferred between medical beds and the sedatives we have her on aren’t exactly the most effective things on dragons to begin with.” As if Opal wasn’t aggravated enough about all the life threatening things her mother went through, now she was worried about the possibility of Ember being responsible for her own death. “Heck, we’re not even sure it’s safe to keep pumping her full of pain killers like we have been, but it’s been the most effective thing we have been doing that will keep her alive. If she wakes up as she is now… I’m just going to refuse to calculate the chance of such an incident happening and hope for the best.” “That’s all any of us can really do for Ember at the moment Opal.” Gilda turned a faint smile to the tank as she got up to leave the medical bay. “See you later little guy.” A tentacle waved at Gilda’s back as she exited the room to the sounds of contented and relatively happy squeals. - “So much tasty guilt, are you sure you don’t want me to continue punishing you some more?” In a vast void a shadowy figure was overlooking a blue scaled reptile with anger issues. “Do you like the guilt? It is what I am here for.” “Get out of my head and don’t you dare touch any of my friends!” Despite not exactly being conscious of what she was saying, Ember effectively fought against what was essentially a nightmare. Despite her guilt, Ember was overcoming the creature through pure unbridled righteous fury from how it seemed to enjoy her being unhappy. She didn’t know where she was, but Ember didn’t want to feel guilty over how she felt, in fact she didn’t feel guilty about getting angry with whatever this was. “I cannot feel you’re guilt anymore, where did it go? I must perform my job, it is tantamount to my existence.” The shadowy Unicorn with the wistful and whimsical tone of voice started to leave Ember, she couldn’t work with anger. Anger, sadness and anything other than guilt itself was not her area of expertise. She needed to find the guilty and punish them, but wouldn’t the best way to do that be to have a body of her own? She needed a being who was filled so full with guilt that they’d be happy to join with her, they would know the joy of their own failings once they became one with her. They would even know so for however long she could keep them alive. “I must find the guilty, I must find someone worthy… I will find one with guilt that is worthy, I will perform my given duty.” She couldn’t leave this world of darkness, not without joining someone whose guilt was immeasurable. - “Atchoo… oh dear… Celestia, sister, we have an emergency! I have broken my beloved shotgun in half, it needs emergency medical attention!” Judging by the look she was receiving, Luna could tell that her sister thought she was daft minded for some reason. She couldn’t see why her sister would think that at all, but she had more important things to worry about. Like her husband to be was currently in need of serious help! “Seriously Luna? We haven’t had a single incident in a few hours, for a second I thought I’d be able to actually savor my cake in peace and eat it too afterwards.” Levitating next to Celestia was a piece of cake with her favorite cream cheese frosting. “It’s bad enough that I have to actually share my cake with the republic of Swallowstania.” Said exceedingly tiny republic was made of, you probably guessed it by the name, entirely intelligent and quite sapient Swallows that were quite the annoying little birds when it came to making a peace treaty. Still, Celestia came out ahead in the negotiations… or at least she thought she did. Though having to negotiate with the birds in the first place was another dark gray mark on Celestia running the kingdom in as effective a manner as possible. It doesn’t help that everyone in Equestria was trying to slowly drive Celestia insane with work. If a lot of sanity challenging things kept happening in quick succession, then Celestia might just one day decide to abscond with Twilight to go on a very long vacation on a beach and would just allow Luna to marry her plasma shotgun. She’d throw all the consequences to the wind on that day, but today was not that day as she still cared about the many lives of the world that she was still in charge of. Goodness knows what would happen if Celestia actually left keeping the whole planet together to Luna, Discord or Cadence without her exceedingly careful guidance. “You are just jealous that you can’t marry your cake legally like I can marry my shotgun.” The marriage hadn’t happened yet, but Luna was still trying to make it happen and her words just made Celestia roll her eyes. Sometimes Celestia felt like she was the only sane Alicorn around, then she remembers she has Cadence and realizes that she wasn’t that much better than Luna when it came to sanity. At least she had Thorax, he was so boring and normal that he kept her grounded well enough that she didn’t just leave the planet in Luna’s ridiculous hooves. Celestia hoped Thorax got back to her with a report from Hard Throb soon, because her patience, while tempered by the many years she’s been alive, was finally beginning to fray quite badly. She needed Twilight cuddles or her favorite plush toy like yesterday. Speaking of, Celestia hasn’t slept in several days and she needed to get Twilight away from all those books because she hadn’t slept at all either and they were getting used to waking up next to each other in bed. Author's Note Going through the motions, posting a blind fire chapter...
-123-“Amethyst Star is Trapeze Star’s distant cousin.” Explained Rarity to an annoyed and highly upset Dik-Dik who recently put in a spare set of hearing cybernetics considering her other two had been decimated when her desk got shot up. So’Grahd looked like she could use a vacation as she rubbed at her skull with her cloven hooves slowly kneading her head. So’Grahd had been busy filing another case of attempted murder, the third one that happened in less than twelve hours and in the middle of the local Planetary Protection Patrol headquarters no less. “Yeah of course she is, that doesn’t make this any less confusing. Amethyst Star has done nothing to warrant a kill order, much less all the trouble you seem to be bringing to my doorstep by just existing. Someone seems to be using her as an ideal scapegoat as to the idea of why you were killed during the most recent attempt, if it had actually happened.” Dealing with all this was giving So’Grahd a migraine headache and it doesn’t help matter that the multiple attempts on Rarity might be happening to another innocent mare or that innocent mare was being used as a reason to target Rarity. None of it made any complete sense and she just recently arrested three Dik-Diks to show that it didn’t. “Someone went through a lot of trouble to make me your minder and then expected me to not carry through on it because of all this. Well they were wrong about that much. I will follow through and carry out my duty, but I find myself lacking in the ability to actually do it. Getting you out of headquarters alive will probably lead to another attempt on your life. What of the Trapeze Troupe, how are they doing?” “The Trapeze Troupe is fine and they can definitely take care of themselves, what I’m worried about is if someone were to go after our friend Tree Hugger.” There were priorities in any crisis, even Rarity would have to set the upkeep of her appearance far lower than a friend’s life. Their current troubles was an unknown quantity and even moved in unseen ways, most of those ways seem to want Rarity buried. “Nobody would be stupid enough to try hitting a high profile target like her at this moment, she’s way up the ladder in the SNUGGLES organization and we have a lot of people guarding her. The fact that she knows and likes you enough to take several quite damaging and almost lethal hits for you says a lot.” So’Grahd sent a poignant look to Rarity, as if to say she’d like to see who or whatever is doing all this try and get to Tree. “Whoever is behind all these attempts on you, they are trying to get either you specifically or cause Amethyst Star trouble wherever she it. It beggars belief that Amethyst Star actually shows up as being on the station and doesn’t have any outstanding crimes to her name, yet three knuckleheads went gunning for you with her name to tell for it anyway. So it’s most likely you that’s in danger Rarity.” “It has to be me, I’m not quite that lucky as I’m sure you’ve noticed.” Rarity certainly wished her luck didn’t involve as many hazardous things as it did. Things were so quiet back on Desserzon and quite peaceful unlike how things are now, maybe she should have just stayed on the dusty planet. No wait, there was a kidnapping ring starting up there until Sweetie Belle tried to cook something and she might have been involved in that somehow. “I need to find where Amethyst Star went. I can find out what’s going on from her end, which is if she even knows anything to begin with.” The atmosphere was tense and Grahd was using Officer Drit’s office for real this time. Having looked up Amethyst Star's image, she didn’t understand how anyone could ever possibly confuse Rarity for Amethyst. For one Amethyst wore her mane and tail shorter, she also had purple eyes and a pink coat thus making her very distinctively different in appearance overall. The description of purple haired Unicorn rang true however and it could feasibly match Rarity’s description if you left multiple things out of describing her, like how she styled her mane for one. There was a percolating though in the back of Grahd’s head that this wasn’t the last of the attempts on Rarity with a certainty that she’d see another happen soon enough if she left Rarity unguarded for any reason. She was getting quite paranoid about all of this and the ones she was minding could likely see it even if they themselves couldn’t feel the building paranoia. “I want you to try to stay out of this and hope that you’re not targeted again, but I highly doubt that you’ll be left alone after we had another higher up the chain trying to get at you after the sniper and assassin failed. These incidents are not isolated and that someone is in fact out to get you. I’m finding myself burdened with having to either trust a group of random strangers to be in my presence or trusting people who could be given orders to kill someone innocent of any crime at any second behind my back.” “Yes, well, I don’t know about you, but I have a business to run and while I’m sad that I can’t go looking for a stallion because of this mess. I wouldn’t want to find, ‘the one’, only to have the stallion take a shot through the head for me. I would still like to do some business while I’m here to make up for whatever financial losses I’m incurring.” It seemed Rarity’s friends agreed because they looked ready to join her as they sat up when Rarity stood up and moved towards the door. “I would also want to visit Tree, but I’d rather not endanger her unnecessarily.” So’Grahd could at least say that they were all loyal to one another and she didn’t have any underlying loyalty to anyone in particular aside from the law as it stands in this sector. She didn’t see herself killing any of these people personally, except maybe Chrysalis who had been making a few lewd comments every now and then since they came to this office. A screen popped up on Drit’s computer and So’Grahd was immediately at it looking over the information that had been sent to this terminal and paled a bit. “What is it?” Judging by the look on their minder’s face, it was easy for Coco to assume that something important just came up. “I wasn’t given the minder position to fail… I don’t know how she did it, but your friend Tree Hugger somehow got me saddled with this exact position. If it wasn’t me it would have gone to So’Jeourn, he’s the next choice for your minder in case something happened to me. He also happens to be a respected triple P officer as well.” It left Grahd wondering just what kind of mastermind Tree Hugger exactly was, it seemed she was quite benevolent about keeping Rarity alive and bringing the danger to Grahd’s attention. Only, this wasn’t her terminal or her office and yet this was a time delayed message set for exactly this moment. She had made a note of Tree Hugger being in the store an hour prior to meeting her for the first time before the second incident and that the Cacceran put on the helmet at her urging, which is why Mr. Pirguer was still alive. “She seems to be quite benign in how she did it even, what really scares me is the kinds of connections she has or her ability to predict that I’d even be in this office at this time. To be honest I’m getting a little freaked out by all this and I’m a battle tested Dik-Dik.” “To be fair she freaks us out too.” Drawled out Sassy as she watched the door and ignored Chrysalis trying to get her attention in a rather juvenile manner, mostly by poking her every once in a while in order to provoke a reaction. Chrysalis was just not someone you could ignore forever and eventually Sassy would have to show her some modicum of attention. So’Grahd was beginning to believe Rarity about Tree Hugger being a seer, this level of set up couldn’t be anything other than a manufactured situation for Rarity’s continued survival. The set up notably had them going down a certain path and no matter what they did, they were likely to continue that same path even if they tried to avoid it. In essence Grahd would continue to do her job with the continued ongoing case of various failed attempts at mare slaughter and it would either turn out for the better or worse. If Grahd had to guess, Tree Hugger wanted a triple P officer to watch out for Rarity, but she also wanted it to be a Dik-Dik as well. Grahd would just have to see how well she lived up to whatever expectation is expected of her, a regular Dik-Dik minder wouldn’t be nearly as invested to investigate the issue further. Coco was rather glad that So’Grahd was forgetting to question her about what Tree told her, because she wasn’t going to forget what she was told by the portents of doom that was Tree Hugger. No matter what she personally did, she was going to cause someone’s death. It was hard to relax knowing she’d eventually kill someone, Coco didn’t think she even had the heart to hurt anyone on purpose in such a permanent manner. “I think your friend wanted me to succeed and so far it seems like I’m doing just that, so we need to help you get back to your ship and I’ll put a heavy protection detail on it. You can get your business done easily enough, just try not to attract any more trouble. As for me, I have to search for…” Was as far as Grahd got before the door opened and Officer Del’Drit, a grizzled old looking grey furred male Dik-dik with a broken off left horn and short pepper colored tuft coming from his head. He trotted in with a relatively young looking blonde Pegasus mare with bright grey fur. “Hello Officer Drit, I hope you don’t mind me using your office, but I’ve been troubled as of late in my own.” “Of course not Grahd of the ‘So’ clan, though I have a bit of a situation here. This here is courier Derpy D. Hooves, I’m about to start working a case for her and she’s looking for her adoptive daughter…” Before Drit or Derpy could say anything, So’Grahd kind of saw where this was going given that she already looked up the information to see if Amethyst Star had any criminal records to speak of. Amethyst didn’t have anything negative to speak of, except that she’s currently being used as a patsy to explain away Rarity’s attempted murder as far as Grahd knew. “Amethyst Star, of course she is… Amethyst Star was listed as coming to this station and then somehow disappeared off the grid without witnesses, her minder is also missing.” Though So’Grahd sorely wished she weren’t right about it, she had to tell Officer Drit as a courtesy to her fellow officer. What she didn’t mention is the fact that they might find either Amethyst or her minder dead, possibly both. “I think I know what’s happening here and you’d best be on your guard Drit of clan Del. We currently have concurrent running cases, so I suggest we cooperate in a shared investigation capacity.” “That’s what she said woo!” Nobody paid any mind to Chrysalis except maybe the blonde mare who smiled at her. “This is no longer a missing person’s case for you, I suggest you equip yourself with a projectile shield and a high output shock rod, it’s one of ‘those’ cases.” Yep, a case where everything just decides to go south for the winter of their discontent and then the winter follows and starts beating them up for lunch money. Grahd’s mind went to some weird places sometimes. “I just arrested three Dik-Diks coming after my charges unprovoked with the understanding that they were going after someone named Amethyst Star and that she was a dangerous fugitive.” “What, my big muffin would never do something mean or nasty, I taught her better than that!” Courier D.D. Hooves looked rather incensed at the implication that her adoptive daughter could have done any wrong on purpose. This wasn’t a coincidental meeting by a long shot and that’s why Grahd brought up Amethyst before either of them could say anything. “She knows to respect the law, well unless the law is intentionally trying to hurt her. At that point she’d know to run away and hide or come to find me to deal with the problem.” “Right, the last time something like this happened, it stunk so badly I caught the bastard behind it because he was too smug for his own good.” Officer Drit sounded like a friend of Grahd’s and a quite friendly one at that. “I agree with you Grahd, our cases are hereby linked and we have the wherewithal to act in a concerted effort to see both our problems solved. That being finding your lost daughter Ms. Hooves and finding out why Amethyst is related to your case.” “It’s probably not her fault to begin with ma’am and there are likely extenuating circumstances behind your daughter being missing, but someone still deliberately used her name in the targeting of one of my charges here. Also thank you Officer Drit, let me get you up to speed. There’s been three attempts on one of my charges and the third attempt happened not too long ago in this very building.” Grahd motioned to Rarity’s quiet group sitting off to the side and chatting about inane things among themselves and making a few idle comments here or there to keep their minds active. “Drit these are my charges, this is Baroness Rarity Belle, her daughter Opal Belle, Lady Coco Pommel and Lady Sassy Saddles. Also, despite my distaste for her, the visiting foreign dignitary Queen Chrysalis. She legally has diplomatic immunity even if she weren’t a trained and licensed EMT, so even if we could find her doing something incriminating she’d likely get away with it.” “Well it wouldn’t be fun if I couldn’t get punished for being caught, so I probably won’t do anything like that. So I can do thing like say, if I’m sexy and I know it clap my hooves.” Chrysalis clapped her hooves twice in a juvenile display, surprisingly Derpy followed along with it much to her surprise. “Now there’s a mare who’s proud of who she is, nice bubble butt by the way.” “Thank you Ms. Dick, it’s been a while since we’ve last seen each other.” Derpy blushed and rubbed at her mane, she looked quite embarrassed at Chrysalis’s words. “We’ve met before… how could I forget such a fine butt like yours?” She might have been paying attention to other things that day and must have missed talking to Derpy, either that or she was stalking Celestia again. She now knew that she had an attraction to Celestia’s glorious looking mane. “Excuse me if I have been rude to you before, it’s just who I am.” “No problem, though I don’t think you ever ate the muffin I gave you.” For someone whose daughter was missing, she was being quite calm and even a little absurdly levelheaded. “It was only later that I learned that Changelings don’t eat muffins for sustenance. I was traumatized for days after hearing that, but I got better.” “Well it depends on where the muffin is, if the muffin is between your hind legs for instance… then I would have definitely orally tapped it.” Yes, there was no shame on Chrysalis’s face and she did keep it quite straight too. Now Derpy’s face was quite red and Chrysalis looked to Sassy for some sign of incoming abuse and was sad that Sassy didn’t do anything in retaliation. “Oh come on, that’s at least worth a small slap or another high speed judo throw.” “So someone’s after Queen Chrysalis?” In Drit’s mind he immediately jumped to the conclusion that the ‘foreign dignitary’ was the one that was in grave danger. “I think I can understand why from just that little outburst. Also I’ll take you up on that recommendation for getting my high output shock rod out, because I can only hope that this will not be another Luna incident.” “Surprisingly enough, no, it’s not her I’m worried about and I kind of wish it was her. There have been three attempts on Ms. Belle’s life since she came to the Selengard Station, thankfully none of them have been successful even if it has been rather close twice and one of them severely injured one of her friends. Amethyst’s name came up in the previous attempt and I’m sorry ma’am, but I have no idea where your adopted daughter could be at this time or what she’s doing.” That had upset the Pegasus Pony slightly making her sniffle a bit and So’Grahd got up to hug the mare, the Dik-Diks expression softened up quite a bit when she did. Considering she usually had either a bored or a stern no nonsense look on her face up to this point, it was quite a change for Grahd in the eyes of Rarity and the others. “Though I now find it very important to know and will be looking into it, don’t worry we will find her and make sure she’s alright and if not… then we’ll make sure it’s alright anyway.” “Thank you miss… er… I don’t know your name. Hello, I’m Derpy, would you like a muffin?” The mare certainly bounced back from embarrassment and sadness quickly enough, she reached into her satchel with a muffin symbol on it and pulled out a white box labeled ‘muffins’ in large black letters. She opened it to show muffins of several types inside. “They are always delicious, made fresh this day and will be eaten before the day is out. Well as much as a day as anyone can have moving from station to station as I do for my job, they’re my comfort food.” “No thanks and hello to you too Miss Hooves, I’m Grahd of the So clan. Has anyone else touched that box other than you?” Grahd wouldn’t put it past anyone to try and poison Rarity at this rate. The Dik-Dik was thankful that no one had tried at the restaurant and that no one was hungry right now, even if the muffins looked delicious. Drit who took her up on her offer and grabbed a blueberry muffin. Most fruits from other planets were safe for a Dik-Dik to eat, but some vegetables had to be carefully processed. For instance and example, Dik-Diks couldn’t eat Equestrian carrots without getting sick, but could eat carrots from the Human home world of Earth just fine despite their being little difference in appearance between the two. Dik-Diks could even tell the difference if you put two near identical carrots next to each other. “No ma’am, aside from Dinky and Amy, no one else is allowed to touch my muffin box but me. My little Dinky loves muffins, but I haven’t seen Amethyst for some time and I know she likes the muffins too even if she prefers cookies.” Looking at the rice paper wrapped muffins inside, Derpy took out a beautiful golden looking raspberry muffin and bit into. She eventually swallowed and smiled brightly. “Nobody will experience a bad muffin on my watch, I don’t like it very much when someone bakes badly and I don’t like anyone trying to tamper with my favorite on the job snacks. Speaking of, does anyone here need a courier right now? My rates are really good and I’m not currently busy... well aside from filing a missing pony report.” Said snacks were something Derpy was obviously willing to share freely with anyone, she was a well-traveled courier and known in many systems as being quite competent despite some minor disabilities. She was clumsy and her eyes went wonky every now and then, but she was a well-traveled delivery mare. When So’Grahd had looked her up after looking up Amethyst to see what kind of family life the mare came from, she found out that Derpy was a mother of two and a distinguished courier who never did any wrong. Derpy had no ties to anything illegal whatsoever, so she was unusually squeaky clean in that regard and has never failed to deliver a package once given to her. Whether she delivered a package on time or not was the questionable thing. “Not at this time Ms. Hooves. Anyway, we’ll do our best to help you find your adoptive daughter, but first I have to see these people to their ship safely and without another attempt on Ms. Belle’s life happening.” Turning from her fellow officer, So’Grahd looked to Sassy for what they were going to do next. “I believe you had a plan to get Rarity out of here and back to your ship in the docking bay safely Ms. Saddles? I would like to know what that plan entails and then implement it with some speed, as sitting around here is just begging for another attack on Rarity to happen. I would like to get started on this joint case with Officer Drit sometime today. I’m already authorizing heavy security for your group while you do business.” “Of course, my plan is really quite simple, well for us anyway. I know this will be traumatizing, but it requires us to make shoddily made clothing intentionally.” Not being the only one to shudder or hiss, Sassy had also made both Coco and Rarity do the same. They were all professional fashion engineers in both form and function, they would never half ass their wares and sold their things at an affordable price. They could be making more money off of their quality goods in Sassy’s opinion, but Rarity’s method of making things quite affordable tended to bring them more customers from all walks of life. “With that in mind we’ll need some fabric, thread, a needle, some kind of stuffing material, a makeup kit and five blocks of wood.” - “Hey there, why the long face? I think you’re the only one in the audience who wasn’t watching and I want to know what’s wrong with you, because I’m the kind of mare that likes to find out if there’s a problem with me or if my audience has the problem.” Trapeze took a seat at the bar next to the bulky stallion with dark brown hair and light brown fur who was drooping at the bar over some kind of alcoholic beverage with a salt cube slowly eroding away in it. The white stripe down his nose led to a frown and Trapeze could not abide by it existing. She checked the stallion’s cutie mark and it was an upside down green horseshoe, an interesting mark. “I’m sorry miss, but I really don’t feel like talking about it.” The stallion sat his chin on the counter and it was around the time that Bernard and Rover came to investigate what Trapeze was doing. “It’s not you, it’s me.” “What is it about you that you’re feeling this gloomy about?” Putting her hooves under her chin, Trapeze was even more interested to hear his story and she wasn’t leaving until he obliged. She was taking a page from Rarity’s book, find someone down on their luck like Lightning and then help them by giving them a job. If this guy didn’t have a job well… she did need more members in her troupe. Rover was a fine juggler, but his clowning skills were surprisingly low for a Diamond Dog. As for Bernard, his card tricks were quite phenomenal, but he wasn’t exactly good at doing bigger magical things like Trapeze was. He was still the best magician’s assistant a mare could ask for and was a decent clown if anything. “Do you need a hug big guy?” Bernard squeaked out something unintelligible from standing on the counter to Trapeze’s left and she lifted an ear to listen while continuing to look at the sad sack. Rover sat on the stool next to her and gave the stallion a curious look while sniffing the air in the stallion’s general direction. “No I don’t think it’s us Bernard, this guy seems predetermined to drink himself into a stupor to try and forget his woes.” As if to prove Trapeze’s words, once the salt cube dissolved enough into the drink the stallion took a small chug of it and swallowed. “Whatever those may be. Call me strange, but I’m now fascinated with doing things like the Boss Lady by getting proactive about helping people who need it. It’s my job to make people smile and happy, if even for a little while, by doing ridiculous things.” “Look miss, I’m not exactly someone you want to be around.” The stallion continued to take in his spirits while Trapeze gave him a searching glance. “I’m bad luck.” “You might want to listen to him, he seems to know what he’s talking about.”Zel’Itenk turned to the nearby Dik-Dik with black stripe and brown fur and asked. “What’s his deal anyway?” “The guys a clumsy oaf. He falls down and nocks over things so much, it’s hard to find a moment when he isn’t causing havoc and despite complaints his actions aren’t illegal and are always accidents.” The Dik-Dik took a sip of his drink before continuing. “He even started the bar brawl your charges stopped with their song and dance routine, like usual, it was an accident and happened through no fault of his own. Kind of feel sorry for him myself, but I wouldn’t be as brave or daring to sit next to him like she is. He has a good taste in drinks though, the salt cube really does add the right amount of kick to the drink.” “Would you say you’re friends with him?” Zel’Itenk was just curious and the Trapeze Troupe just happened to be listening in to the conversation as Itenk sat down and got a drink for himself. “I’ll have what they’re having.” “You could say that, I’m at least buying the poor sod some drinks. He’s a lot better and less destructive when he’s drunk, but I would still prefer to keep my distance from him.” The male Dik-Dik took another drink before continuing. “As in more than five feet at all times no matter what, nearly knocked some teeth out of my head once and after that I decided a little distance was quite prudent.” “Interesting, a natural born sad clown...” Muttered an intrigued Trapeze rubbing her chin, she spoke up to the stallion. “How painful are the tumbles you take?” “Not too bad, I learned how to fall or tumble about. Still hurts a bit whenever it happens, but there’s not too many hospital bills and I recover from injury quite fast. Never once broken any of my bones, it’s just about the only thing about me that I’d consider even remotely lucky. I even got fired from a demolitions job despite how good I was at it, some would say I was a little too good at it.” The stallion continued drinking on in peace for another minute or two with Trapeze just staring at him, Bernard and Rover quickly followed her example. It started making the stallion a bit shifty, he sighed loudly and finally decided to give in to the interested stares. “The names Trouble Shoes, can’t hold down a single job without destroying everything around me. Whatever money I make usually goes straight into food if not repairs for the damage I cause.” “Trapeze Star, leader of the Trapeze Troupe. I would like to say food is quite an understandable and big necessity for a guy like you, but I have to know something.” Trapeze leaned on the counter to get a look at the stallion’s eyes just staring at the wood. “When and where exactly did you get your cutie mark?” “If you must know, even I’m not sure why I got this cursed cutie mark. I always wanted to take part in the old Earth Pony traditional rodeos.” Trouble figured he may as well humor this Trapeze mare, as far as show mares went she was quite amazing. He was just in too much of a funk to really enjoy the shows the mare put on. He continued on with his story. “I loved the events and watching the crowd, it was just something I knew I really wanted to do with my life after going to so many rodeos. It was during one of them that this mark appeared on my damn blasted flank and ruined my life. An upside down horseshoe is exceedingly bad luck miss.” “That or a completely misinterpreted cutie mark, cutie marks never fail to find the true talent of a pony and I’m living proof.” Mumbled Trapeze before she spoke up. “Which event were you watching when said cutie mark appeared?” “I believe it was the rodeo clowns event, yeah it was definitely the rodeo clowns. That’s been etched in my memory for as long as I can remember.” The slap of a hoof against the counter jolted Trouble shoes a bit and he fell backwards off his stool and rolled expertly with the blow to his back into a sitting position, he stared up at Trapeze laughing insanely in her seat and even Rover and Bernard got the joke going on here. “Oh that is so ironic! You have got to be the absolute dumbest pony I’ve ever met, but I believe you’re perfect for a position I’ve been trying to fill since forever.” If there was anything Trapeze’s troupe direly needed, it would be a naturally talented clown. Even as she talked she couldn’t stop laughing. “My goodness do you have it all so wrong!” “What are you talking about?” Angrily grumped the stallion on the floor, Trouble didn’t exactly appreciate Trapeze’s laughter or her continued giggling thereafter. “Have you ever considered that maybe, just maybe, that your special talent isn’t to be a constant imminent disaster?” The way the guy tumbled out of the stool with his hat flopping back onto his head after he stopped was just simply amazing to Trapeze. Not the mare thought that anything she ever did was ever as close to amazing as this stallion was. “In fact, I don’t think you’re clumsy at all. I think you’ve had a different problem and took it to mean that you were bad luck. I’ve met Mr. Chaos, Discord probably doesn’t even know your first name or that you even exist. He’d find you exceedingly funny like I do. In fact, you might actually be lucky if not for a slight problem in why you’ve had so much bad luck.” Trapeze was a good judge of tumbling and though Chrysalis would make a good clown, she probably wouldn’t appreciate the general clown accoutrements or the white face paint. That and not being allowed to intentionally injure herself trying to get free sympathy points despite the fact that she enjoyed pain a little too much. Trouble Shoes face was already mostly naturally white, stick a red nose on him and some funny ill-fitting clothes… oh yes, Trapeze had finally found a clown worth having. Now if only Trapeze could only convince him of his real problem and why he was so ridiculously clumsy, it was really quite simple and she wasn’t sure why Trouble Shoes never noticed it before. “What do you know of my problems?” Though he sounded a bit hopeful there, he was still a bit grim and doubtful. “Quite a bit from the demonstration of your real talent in action really.” The small tan hat on his head was a bit of a dead giveaway to Trapeze as to why Trouble Shoes was having so much trouble. “First of all, how long have you had that hat for Mr. Shoes?” “The day I got my cutie mark of course.” There was a parallel there and Trouble Shoes might have been a bit dim to not see it, but it was okay, he was a clown after all and he blamed his bad luck on his cutie mark. Clowns were never meant to be bright unless they were doing a lightbulb gag. “Well there you go, try getting up and walking around without that hat on your head.” Quite frankly it was mildly upsetting for Trapeze to ruin on of the universes longest jokes, but it was for a good cause and had to be done for this stallion’s happiness. “In fact, let me hold onto it so you can see if there’s a difference in how you move.” “Well I’m prepared to duck and cover the minute he stumbles.” The Dik-Dik that had to be Trouble’s minder said while watching Trouble warily as he started to walk around the room after giving Trapeze his hat. The stallion may have stumbled a few times and he had a lot of people watching him, but he made a complete circuit without anything bad happening. “How… how did I do that?” Trouble asked after he came back up to Trapeze with a completely flummoxed and mystified look on his face. “Was it my favorite hat that was cursing me all along?” “It’s not a curse, there’s actually a logical and scientific reason behind all this.” The crowd leaned in towards Trapeze wanting to hear what she had to say about Selengard Station’s unluckiest stallion, probably the unluckiest stallion to ever exist. “You see, there’s a reason why I laughed like I did. It's also why I’m still giggling, it is just that funny. You were completely missing the point of your cutie mark entirely and it’ll be quite hilarious to you in hindsight when you learn why. It is only now, do I ever think, that the universe has had its fun with you and decided to introduce you to someone who could really help you. Someone who knows how to focus that talent of yours in the correct direction.” “Could you just get on with it and tell me what you mean already you crazy witch?” The stallion bellowed, decided to save Trouble any more trouble Trapeze just came right out and said it. “I’m not a crazy witch, I’m a crazy magician, they are both completely different fields of magic and I’m not really that great at witchery. You were watching rodeo clowns the day you got your cutie mark and thought that you’d want to be doing that for the rest of your life and you got a cutie mark relating to that exact subject which led to you doing it most of your life without realizing it.” Pausing for dramatic effect, the constantly giggling Trapeze went on to explain things. “Remove the word rodeo from what you were watching and you’ll find out what you truly are good at, you’re a clown Trouble and that’s what your special talent is. So embrace the clown side of you that you’ve been missing and become who you really should be!” “Also you happen to have a rare disorder and a mild problem with your ears that, upon wearing anything on your head, your sense of balance is always completely thrown off and leads to tripping, tumbling and or being in traction a lot. It is especially painful for those who don’t have your special talent to avoid any real serious injury like you do.” The giggling Trapeze continued on quickly. “The reason why I’m still laughing is because your whole life has been one long running joke... and I’m the punchline to it!” “My life… has been… one… long… joke?” It started off slowly, but after a bit he started laughing as it all started to make sense to him, then came the tears. He pulled Trapeze into a choking hug that had her gasping for air as she patted his back with an awkwardly bent limb and a smile of gritted teeth trying to suck in any air that she could. The big guy really needed to let it all out. If the disorder was as rare as Trapeze made it out to be, then Trouble hearing the doctors saying he was fine when he wasn’t wearing his hat during various medical examinations made a lot more sense to him now. It all made so much sense really, and it was all thanks to this mare that might finally have a chance to turn his life around… why was the mare turning as blue as her hair? Trouble noticed Bernard stomping on one of his legs and pointing frantically at the mare and even Rover was trying to get him to release their leader, he quickly released Trapeze who flopped back against the counter almost lifelessly. After taking in a deep breath, Trapeze’s giggling started up again if a bit softer this time. Author's Note Happy extra length Saint Patricks day chapter, also it seems like you guys only comment when I'm writing more horribly than usual. I apologize for that. Time to get to my green roots, shillelagh to the spleen for those who don't wear green! Anyway today's chapter is brought to you by luck, Rarity has none and Trouble Shoes gets his back. Also introducing to the story 'The Amazing Muffin Queen'! Consumer of baked goods and beloved hero of bakers. 'The Trapeze Troupe will cause and be in some trouble'.
-124-It had taken them thirty minutes to get the supplies which was a surprise to Grahd of the So clan, it was even more of a surprise that they finished working on their project within ten minutes in a flurry of activity and when left to their own devices. Rarity was still cringing about what they were making being the head of her production team, Coco was the quality assurance, or lack thereof in this case, and Sassy made sure the design was workable as far as the term workable could be stretched. It was interesting how little they talked to one another when it came to working the fabric, they were a well-oiled machine that So’Grahd could personally respect and they obviously knew what they were doing. She noticed several times that they seemed to retrace what they were doing perfectly and then undid it and then performed much worse the next time through. Officer Drit didn’t appreciate it, as he was the one that had to keep up with the rather agile Ms. Hooves. The poor pony didn’t have a minder, as Ms. Hooves minder had disappeared as soon as she reach the local Plaentary Protection Patrol headquarters. Said Dik-Dik minder had at least enough time to file a report before they left Ms. Hooves in their care. So when it came time to get supplies for the fashion designers, Derpy cheerily volunteered her courier services to go shopping in their steads. Derpy was paid quite well by Rarity for the swift delivery and soon Rarity’s team of clothiers would be setting the plan Sassy had in mind into motions. Rarity having been let in on what she needed to do, agreed that the plan would work if they didn’t tell their minder just exactly what it was they were doing or why they needed the five blocks of wood, four of which were of a similar size and shape. They weren’t wood workers, but Sassy did know a thing or two about weapon maintenance relating to wood working. One of the suggested weapons for Sassy when she took up her samurai training was a well shafted spear. Sassy didn’t take to the spear nearly as well as she did a rapier and she wasn’t willing to talk about how well she did with the spear at all with anyone. Chrysalis had said something about being Sassy’s shaft any day and Sassy of course ignored her, making her give off a sad whine. It was in everyone else’s opinion that Chrysalis was getting way too good at the kicked puppy look every time Sassy shot her down. Still Sassy deigned to talk to Chrysalis about the plan, because Chrysalis was an integral part of it. They had completed their works of poorly made art and Rarity didn’t want to wear either of them since she had a better taste in quality, but Opal’s begging made her change her mind. So she sighed, bit the proverbial bullet and finally caved in to the idea that would possibly save her life if there were people targeting her intentionally or not. Rarity didn’t want some random stranger to kill her before she has ultimately had her chance to shine across the universe in the way she wanted to. Thinking of what happened to Tree made her worried that she wouldn’t be able to do that if all her friends kept risking themselves for her sake. It wasn’t long before Del’Drit and So’Grahd read a report of a small portion of the Jor clan had attacked a ship known as the Shining Jewel, said ship was owned by one Rarity D. Belle and the Dik-Diks involved in the attack were ones with brain enhancing cybernetics. The Jor clan wouldn’t mind the loss, they had thousands of members and were at least one percent of the Dik-Dik population in their entirety. A hundred plus Dik-Diks were dead and it related to Rarity’s friends. Legally, by Dik-Dik law, they were no longer part of Jor clan after the AI took hold of them and tried to take Rarity’s ship. At that point they’d all classify as mechanical and biological hybrid sifter drifters. There were no casualties to Rarity’s meager crew and a report that forcefully boarding the ship was definitely a bad idea if there was anyone in the hangar. Rarity was in fact a fashion designer, but she apparently had a tank and a mobile cargo loading fortress on standby. So’Grahd was beginning to wonder what kind of situations Rarity would have needed two armed and highly dangerous ground vehicles in her larger ships hangar. Well the answer was for something like a full out cyborg assault obviously, less obviously was the fact that these vehicles could safely make orbital drops and if Rarity were in danger on a planet. Yeah, Grahd could kind of see Rarity needing orbital drop vehicles for protection, especially if she was this good at attracting so much trouble. Rarity’s larger ship was definitely a decommissioned military vessel, decommissioned by way of sifter drifter infestation and still quite formidable despite that. Commander Lirutiy was definitely involved with it being put into the hooves of some rather talented civilians, Plurts generally had good heads on their gooey slug bodies. So’Grahd began to wonder if the Plurt had met Tree Hugger at any given time. - “Rarity, can we talk.” Coco was most certainly not a nervous wreck when she asked that, she looked at the tattered brown, green and purple cloak they intentionally made to look that way and tried to not look like she was jittery about the return trip to their smaller ship. The cloak was quite hideous to her sensibilities, she was quite sure it was hideous to Sassy and Rarity as well and a lighter shades of brown would have worked better than the muddy mixed dark colors with the warped bright purple stripes. Rarity tended to dislike wearing the color green and it would horribly chafe her to wear something like this with that particular color of puke green intermingling with the horrid shades of brown. “It’s about what Tree told me…” “Well of course we can Coco darling, I can always make time for you and Sassy.” There were small crinkles in Rarity’s mane, she looked a bit stressed out and now might not be a good time for Coco to bring up her worries to get Rarity off of hers. “Even if someone is out to get me. As Opal has recently stated to me, it’s not paranoia if it’s true.” “Yeah and the paranoia is running quite high for me, especially considering all this stuff being directed at us or more importantly you mom.” Even as she spoke Opal was testing the limits of her mental range when it came to connecting to the Shining Jewel, she was still within range of it with her mental abilities to control the vessel even from here near the center of this space station. So Opal had a lot range to work with and could possibly get a chance at walking around on planets, provided that her mom let her. She needed to find out if atmospheric conditions might be an issue. The three of them were off to the side as Sassy explained that they may need a little privacy in Officer Drit’s office to convince Rarity to wear that horrid abomination the three of them had cobbled together. Since the office had no other entrances, the two officers could wait at the door for them to come out. Sassy then explained that Officer Grahd would requisition a car for Rarity, while the rest would slowly made their way back to the interstation rail system on hoof and got a ride back to the hangar. The two officers were only allowed to see the poorly made cloak they had worked on, what they weren’t allowed to see is what else the three had been working on in secret. Sassy was having some trouble trusting Grahd or Drit with Rarity-sama’s safety after the three near successful attempts on her, also finding out that the Shining Jewel had been attacked while they were on station. At least Rarity hadn’t seen that news yet, the attack was sudden and ended as quickly as it started because of their hearty if small crew. She had sent a glance at Opal who was with Rarity and Coco, it seemed that Opal-chan was keeping secrets from her mother and it was more for Rarity’s sanity than anything. “Well I would wish to speak with… the masseuse… about this. She’s supposed to handle our psychological issues by being someone impartial that we can talk to right? It actually kind of helps that most of us can’t remember her name.” That was when Coco found herself being pulled into a gentle hug as Rarity moved up next to her and started to nuzzle her neck affectionately, her face went red. “Well she’s not here right now and I really need to get this off my chest.” “Well then Coco, tell me what the problem is and I’ll try to fix things to the best of my abilities.” Rarity would do just that too, she was always trying to help someone or fix some major problem. If she was capable of it and even if she weren’t, she’d do her best to see things through. “It isn’t something of dire importance is it?” “It kind of is, Tree Hugger said I might end up doing some questionable things and I don’t know what to think about it.” Coco shivered and snuggled up against Rarity who draped a hoof over her back. The one thing of importance is that she held onto the tiger eye crystal at all times, it was that or else she and Rarity would be gravely endangered. As she had that tiny stone, she could prevent the both of them from being grievously injured, but some of the other things Tree said had her stewing with worry. “She’s hardly been wrong about anything from what we know of her.” “What did Tree Hugger tell you that’s got you so worried?” Tilting her head to her slightly smaller friend, Rarity hoped she could ease Coco’s mind on whatever was troubling her. “She said I’m going to end up causing someone’s demise, through action or inaction.” The way the hug tightened a bit told Coco that Rarity was just as upset as she was to hear that. “Well I’m sure she’s wrong, you wouldn’t possibly kill someone on purpose without a very good reason for it. I know you Ms. Pommel, you’re too sweet and nice to do something like that.” It was the memory of shooting a defenseless human sitting in his machine trying to get the controls to work that came to mind. Rarity had shot said human in cold blood after he was rendered helpless, she still felt rather guilty about that. She also felt rather guilty about the other humans she killed using the Puffles she had been leading around. They were not very nice people and she had theoretically done the right thing or else she’d be quite dead now, still… she had blood on her dainty hooves and not just Tree’s recently washed off blood either. “I on the other hoof, sadly, am not. I’m not sure how you can still look at me and smile.” “You’re not a bad pony Rarity. Sure you’ve killed people, but I think it would be better for us to focus on now and the future.” Shivering Coco, wrapped her hooves around herself. “Like a future where I’ll have to actually kill someone...” “Didn’t we all technically take part in killing that brain monster back on Antilur? You’re not regretting that now are you?” That was one of things Rarity lost no sleep over, thanks to Luna killing the nightmares of it. That brain thing was killed with fire, dragon fire no less, and Rarity didn’t feel sorry for that monstrosity and the things it created. “It was a clearly intelligent being and we destroyed it.” “This is going to be different though!” Shouted Coco who quickly clamped her hooves over her mouth when she noticed the stares directed their way, she quieted her voice down a few notches. “I’m going to be directly or indirectly responsible, despite Tree saying that nobody would blame me about it. She also said some strange things about me befriending a Krad and not to be afraid of my claws. I’m a pony, ponies don’t have claws.” Opal made a shooing gesture at those looking in their direction, before turning back to the two. She would continue to be a quiet observer of their conversation and she wouldn’t say anything about it to anyone else, this was actually psychologically healthy for the two and she wasn’t about to ruin the moment. “Well maybe Tree was being metaphorical, it seems like something she likes to do.” Except the last time Rarity heard Tree say something that sounded figurative, it took on a very literal meaning when an actual hot iron was involved. Though Tree did state it in a way to make it sound metaphorical at least… Rarity could clearly understand why Gilda was so twitchy around Tree Hugger now. “Oh come on Rarity, how metaphorical can you possibly get with a word like ‘demise’? Through action or inaction, I’m going to be related to that event as much as Tree Hugger says I am.” The bitter words upset Coco as soon as she said them and she hurried on to reassure Rarity. “Just to be clear I’m more upset with the knowledge then at myself at the moment. I really don’t want to be responsible for ending someone’s life, even if it might be an accident. Tree Hugger wasn’t very clear on who it is that I’m to kill or when, just that it relates to my actions. She said it’ll happen before both of us are put in grave danger and that it’ll require that I hold onto this crystal and not lose it.” Reaching into her saddle bags, Coco produced the tiny stone that looked quaint to Rarity. It was nothing impressive and it fit into Coco’s hoof easily. It would be interesting to design a clasp of some kind in mind with that stone, but it wasn’t big enough for more than a hair clip and Coco did like hair clips. Now that she thought of it, Rarity found the ascots that Coco wore almost near constantly to be exceptionally adorable. This is why Rarity became friend with Coco, she was sweet, neat and magnificent at making clothing and very easy to get along with. The only detractor from her personality, as far as Rarity could see as a good friend, was Coco’s odd interest in wrestling. While Rarity appreciated muscled hulks pinning other in sensual manners and that it was mildly interesting to watch, she didn’t like the sweatier or sometimes muddier aspects of the sport personally. “She said that I would absolutely need this stone to prevent our grievous injuries later on and to not lose it until I had no other option.” Coco just stared at the stone held in her left hoof for a few moments before putting it back in the saddle bags. “I really don’t see how this crystal is going to be so important, it’s not magical in any given way and it’s just a small chunk of crystal. How is this thing going to help us? That’s another thing I’m worried about.” “I’ll just say that no pony can perfectly predict the future perfectly Coco. Even Tree is not perfect, even if she is quite obviously very adept at it.” Lifting her right hoof, Rarity gently poked Coco in the belly in a specific spot. Coco started giggling as she had a very specific ticklish spot. “Besides weren’t you telling me just a second ago to live in the here and now and to look forward to the things to come? We do have a fashion contest to take part in and I’m trying to focus on that and the line I’m going to create for it, you know, instead of all this other dreadful stuff we’ve been getting into lately. You should only worry about the future when you’re in dire straits and right now, we’re alive and we’re perfectly fine. Can you say that for me Coco? Breath and say we’re alive and that we’re perfectly fine.” “We’re alive… and we’re perfectly fine.” Taking in a few deep breaths, Coco finally stopped being so worked up. She was still wondering what kind of claws she could possibly have with hooves or why Tree Hugger called her Sheep Wolf. Was she innocent like a sheep, but vicious like a wolf? That didn’t make much sense. “Thanks Rarity. It looks like Sassy is starting the plan, the officers have left us alone in the room.” “Then I suggest we best get right to it. I know I would prefer to never wear something so horrible, but it can’t be helped if we are to succeed with dodging the murky unknowns around her that are after my head.” Rarity licked Coco’s cheek, a friendly pony gesture with a history of not being intimate in the slightest. Despite that Coco’s cheeks still flared bright red, the poor dear was so easy to work up. “There was one other thing, I’ve been working on a new battery design. It’s effectively a battery that can be sold separately from the impulse saddles, but it’s kind of tricky to make.” Maybe talking business would ease Coco a bit further. The battery Coco had been designing would be a revolutionary bit of pony tech and since it was an accessory, it fit well within her talents when it came to designing it. The only problem was that she only had a working prototype currently and was hoping to run it by Greta once they got back to Shining Jewel. She could sell battery function equipped impulse saddles, but this kind of battery was a different thing entirely and she decided to be more focused on that for the time being. - “Yeah, I doubt Tree would really bite it that easily. Even if she did, I’d swear she’d haunt my ass just because she could get away with something like that.” Things were quite dangerous on Selengard Station, not that the normal levels of crime were any different from normal in Gilda’s purview. No place was completely clean of crime after all, but it was more so the fact that it was dangerous for the Boss Lady specifically. “The Boss Lady better not get herself, Coco, Sassy or the Kitten killed.” “It’s kind of sweet how you’re worried about someone other than yourself.” After a pause to think on it, Greta decided to ask. “What about Chrysalis?” “What about her? She’ll live, even if someone were to drop a nuke on her head. I don’t even think Changelings can’t get radiation poisoning for that matter, even if the explosion isn’t what nearly kills her. Radiation entropy would have little effect on her relatively simple biology.” The slightly sad look Gilda was getting was promptly ignored, they were still wiping the floor clean with some rather noxious smelling chemicals and it had her exceptionally grumpy. It was Gilda’s hangar and the griffon wanted the mess to be cleaned up before Rarity got back, she could at least share some of Rarity’s sentiments about cleanliness. “Chrysalis is also scarily intelligent and obfuscates how attentive of her surroundings she actually is at all times, do you really think that she is someone you’d have to worry about? Given how long she’s been alive, she’s probably always the craftiest being in whatever room she walks into next to Celestia and Discord. I don’t know about Luna in that regard though. Now shut up and get back to work Greta!” “Now that you mention it…” The conversation was soon dropped as Greta received a full glare from Gilda. Greta smiled cheekily at the thought of how many friends Gilda was coming to care for and she knew Gilda even liked Mr. Spew as well. It was mostly for the danger factor that Gilda liked the sewer squid, but it was still cute of the gruffer griffon to care so much. - So’Grahd entered the room and saw Rarity actually wearing that horrible looking cloak, they weren’t kidding when they said that it would be made to look like it was poorly made and even thought out. It was kind of ugly and she had seen Rarity’s Rarities site with so many interesting and good clothing options that even she could afford. “Dark brown, puke green and warped purple stripes? It looks horrible.” Even if So’Grahd wasn’t a professional critic, Rarity still cringed visibly. “At least its eye catching, in the worst ways imaginable. Come along then, I’ve manage to procure a standard patrol vehicle for us. As for the rest of you, Officer Drit will escort the rest of you back to your ship while I drive around with Rarity trying to attract trouble with some backup shadowing us.” Nothing seemed out of place about the various nods around the room and Opal sent a worried look to Rarity, but then continued on with the group as Drit led them out of the building. - The ride on the train back to the upper hangar was short, Caravel Boutique was right where they left it and completely untouched. The only odd one in their party was Derpy D. Hooves who had been following them, for a lack of anything better to do at the moment and she was still worried about her adoptive daughter Amethyst Star. Without a legal minder, she was going to stick to Officer Drit’s side to avoid trouble. “So, how do you know if your plan worked?” Turning to the group as they started up the ramp to start setting up for business, Drit was curious as to why none of them seemed too terribly concerned about the possible danger Rarity was in. “It’ll work if someone tries to kill Chrysalis, which I doubt will be possible given how resilient she is.” Chrysalis stated plainly in Rarity’s voice, Chrysalis had been quite talkative up to the point the officers entered the room and then she had been quite silent and next to Sassy the entire time when they left. Not a single peep about hair, not a word about butts and or nothing about sexual innuendos whatsoever. “Wait, what?” Drit looked at Chrysalis’s eyes and noticed that they weren’t quite right, he hadn’t noticed it before, but they were entirely different. Those weren’t Chrysalis’s eyes. Walking into their work room slash cargo hold, a glow came from half of Chrysalis’s horn and the jagged bit pulled away revealing Rarity’s horn underneath some tight black cloth that was now limp after making a small popping sound. Lifting each elongated leg, Rarity caused the black hole filled cloth to fall away revealing the white furred hooves and legs on top of makeshift wooden stilts Rarity had been using. Rarity then started to move towards the door to the interior of the ship after stepped down off the four wooden bricks. Rarity had used the invisibility spell piecemeal to replicate the holes in Chrysalis’s legs quite effectively and it wasn’t a huge cost to her magical energy to sustain the smaller effect, but it was still quite draining. “If you will excuse me, I need to go wash this stuff out of my mane, tail and fur. I’m going to get my appearance back up to snuff, thank you very much for escorting me here Officer Drit.” The mare continued by flicking off the carved out back end of her Chrysalis costume pulling her straightened tail free of it and even tossed the fake plastic fangs on the floor as she went. They heard the blue haired Rarity’s continued muttering as she marched off down Caravel Boutique’s central corridor to take a third shower this day. “As far as disguises go, that was quite a horrible experience and I will not wish to relive it. In fact, I’ll make an even better one for when and if I ever have to do that again!” “Wait, if that’s Rarity, then who was that with Officer Grahd?” A confused officer Drit asked. “That would be Chrysalis, making the cloak was a necessary misdirection. Chrysalis can’t perfectly mimic Rarity’s appearance, I don’t think she perfectly mimic anyone’s appearance for that matter unless they share a similar build in body. So we hid the two parts of her body that were necessary to hide. Her belly where a larger portion of her mass was shifted too and her butt which she can’t make any bigger even with her shape shifting ability.” Explained Sassy calmly, she had talked Chrysalis into taking care of anyone who was going after Rarity and to act however she wanted in that pursuit. She remembered the evil smile Chrysalis gave her, she was quite sure Chrysalis would do just about anything for her and this was probably a bad thing. “Whoever attacks Officer Grahd and Chrysalis is going to be in for a big surprise.” “I’ll bet they will, Chrysalis is really good at fighting and she’s scary when she’s taking you seriously.” The future events that Coco heard Tree speak of weren’t happening at this very moment and being back aboard the Caravel Boutique made her feel safe. Though she did wonder if anyone would have actually taken Chrysalis’s bait if it weren’t for the cloak hiding what was wrong with her Rarity appearance. - “Okay I know you didn’t tell me what was going on, but is the plan going as expected foreign dignitary Chrysalis?” It didn’t take long for Grahd to notice that the cloak was hiding something and she remembered Chrysalis could change her appearance at will. The other Chrysalis was Rarity dressed as the bug queen, rather clever for a group of fashion designers and that disguise was just good enough to pass a distant inspection, she was kind of curious as to how the managed to imitate the holes though. Grahd was currently driving the flying car, she was taking a very long roundabout way towards the hangar in an outwards spiral. Starting with cutting through the merchant district and into the administrative and botanical districts, then back again. If they had any tails other than the backup shadowing the vehicle, then they would be attacked at any time now. “Well if I’m here and I’m not getting a call on this blasted thing, then things must be going quite well.” Fumbling with the reinforced data pad Chrysalis had pulled out with her hooves, she quickly and carefully put it back into the saddle bags Rarity had been wearing. “I’ll have you know that I’m quite talented in many things Officer Grahd, higher forms of technology is not one them though.” “You know, you’re really good at disguising yourself.” Despite the compliment, Grahd did not want to be stuck with Chrysalis for too long. One because the mare could get away with a lot using diplomatic immunity as an excuse for many things being a visiting foreign dignitary and two Chrysalis was a shape shifting monstrosity that happened to be annoying in the extreme to deal with. “You’re even vaguely acting like her.” “Why yes, my cloak is so horrid that nobody would really want to look at me my dear Grahd.” The Rarity impersonator continued quite blithely acting like Rarity would. “I still think the color scheme could be so much better, green just isn’t my color you know.” “Can you do with this with any pony?” Grahd asked quietly. “No darling, I can’t. For you see, the mass has to go somewhere and compressing it for too long really hurts. I would be better with Sassy for instance, as we share a similar body shape.” The fake Rarity just crossed her hooves over her slightly larger than normal belly. “The best I can manage is larger or taller ponies, which are quite rare mind you. I can do Celestia or Luna easily enough, but I’m more of Cadences size as far as doing my thing. I do a really good Fleur De Lis, nobody can tell us apart when I’m impersonating her.” “I wouldn’t do Luna around here if I were you, there was a bit of an incident involving her.” Grahd steered her way through the meager amounts of traffic and turned the corner of a buiilding to go towards the administrative district. “While we don’t hate her. The princess of the Equus moon was a bit troubling to deal with and a little too rowdy. At least we know she likes the planet.” “Did she at least acknowledge the fact that eternal night wouldn’t work without this planet’s unique location in space?” The smart question from false Rarity almost caught So’Grahd off guard and the flying car veered a bit wildly for a second. “Well yes, it was explained to her that without all the moons that the planet below has, Equus wouldn’t be able to sustain the jungle based life that Nocturne does.” The planet was near constant night time, but the heat on the world was rather balmy and that’s why it could support life, heat is as much a requirement as much as liquid is. Try explaining that to the princess who enjoyed the night more than anyone else on a world that only had one moon. “She was quite upset to learn that one moon could not replicate this feat and that her planet would have frozen over and become an inhospitable wasteland. I’ve met her and she’s kind of like a child at times, if I didn’t know she had a warrior’s background I’d swear she was mostly meek and unassumingly subservient to her sister.” “Yeah, she tried to block out the sun, Celestia and Twilight took care of that problem on their own. Would have killed off all the Changelings on the planet had that lasted far longer than it did.” In fact, Chrysalis probably would have had Luna assassinated if it came down to Equus’s survival. It would certainly be one of the few rare times that Changelings would ever actually attempt to outright kill somebody. You don’t murder a still viable food source after all. “They don’t do so well in cold weather and I can agree that I don’t either. Thorax, Chrysalis’s current regent, is the only Changeling I know that would brave cold weather intentionally.” “Well that’s all very… oh Shrike, incoming!” So’Grahd tilted the vehicle so that it was flying on its right edge and a rocket passed right by them before she reoriented the vehicle back to its upright position. The rocket eventually hit a building in the distance and sent pieces of a wall flying in all directions, it left behind quite a smoldering hole. Ideally the things that would leave that kind of hole would be high explosive incendiary rounds. “Well someone definitely took the bait and they really want Rarity dead even after we sent a bulletin out to all active triple P officers that Rarity is not Amethyst Star and that Amethyst Star should be brought in alive if possible.” “So it would seem. I got to tell you, I’m kind of excited to kick some ass with you.” Chrysalis pulled out a makeup compact and started to lightly powder her nose innocently as she looked at the right rearview mirror. “Looks like mercenary bikers this time, no Dik-Dik among them. Our shadowing backup were taken down approximately five minutes ago, so don’t expect any immediate help and we’re on our own for this.” “Well that’s just great.” Grunted out So’Grahd. Not only had they lost two vehicles and had some injured or worse personnel, they were under attack personally. “I know, right? This’ll be fun, I can finally get to see what Sassy see’s in you!” At least the bizarrely cheerful Chrysalis was quite clear with her ulterior motive for doing all of this. “Maybe it’s because I have a sense duty? She’s clearly not attracted to me romantically if that’s what you’re worried about.” So’Grahd sent the flying car spiraling to the left and out of way of the various weapons fire that peppered the back of the police vehicle, she picked up a device. “This is Officer So’Grahd, you are attacking a Planetary Protection Patrol vehicle. Please cease and desist your actions or else.” “You might want to steer us towards the botanical district, less casualties from incidental fire that way.” Tactically speaking, that was quite a sound idea from Chrysalis that Grahd decided to follow and turned them towards the wooded tree filled area of the station. “Anyone that threatens me and mine, is going to find out just what kind of tortures I can come up with when I’m only armed with a paperclip, a pack of gum and a three pound bottle of protein powder. Sassy did give me a carte blanche to go wild on anyone that is after Rarity and I’m going to use it liberally.” Why did Grahd suddenly feel a large sense of dread hearing about how happy Chrysalis sounded when she said the words ‘carte blanche’, what did those words even mean anyway? While she spoke conversational Equestrian, she didn’t know the more intrinsic words of the language. Author's Note Selengard Station is almost over with, then the real events begin.
-125-It kind of bothered Rarity a bit, she was expecting another attack and yet none came as they were doing business with many people from Caravel Boutique with a small squad of Dik-Diks and Officer Del’Drit protecting them while they worked. Nothing bad was happening to her and her friends as they created clothing, which meant that Chrysalis was probably drawing a lot of the attention of those after her completely way off course. “You know I can’t help but think that Chrysalis is having fun, whatever it is she’s doing with Grahd that’s taking so long for them to show up.” Even as she spoke, Opal was busy looking up what exactly a Parascine would do with the socks they were buying on her knew wrist mounted data pad. It was making her mom a bit twitchy to keep selling various forms of colorful socks to the jellyfish aliens in bulk. When Opal eventually came upon an answer, her face turned both a bit red and green like the colors used during Hearths Warming. “They do what with those socks!” “Opal… I told you that you really didn’t want to know.” Rarity snorted at her daughter’s unfathomable curiosity, she didn’t like making socks for Parascine. Which is why whenever they saw a Parascine coming towards their business now, they all let Coco deal with it. “Now that you probably have found out about it, what do you have to say?” “I’m sorry mom, I really didn’t need to know that and now I can’t not see it.” Opal watched as her mother stopped in the middle of working on a female Dik-Diks dress and came over to give Opal snuggling hug. “Thanks mom, but that doesn’t help the fact that the information is burned into my eyeballs.” Rarity quickly returned to work after that and Opal decided to make a call to the Shining Jewel that they were going to return within an hour or two without the Trapeze Troupe. The troupe apparently had other business to attend to and if The Shining Jewel planned to leave the sector, then Opal or Rarity would need to tell the troupe to get things in order so they could do a pickup. “Sorry about that, my daughter was a little too curious about something that she should have left alone for her own good.” Things had been quite pleasant since Rarity let Chrysalis disguise herself as her. Nothing had happened since they got back to the ship, no attempts on her life at any rate. “It’s okay, so what would you suggest as an accent to the dress?” This Dik-Dik was apparently interested in fashion design, despite the fact that she comes from a militaristic species and has already went through her conscription phase. She was still quite pleasant to talk to and Rarity didn’t doubt for a second that this Dik-Dik wasn’t meek when a fight broke out. “Well the blue really does look good on you dear, so how about something a little more contrasting? I’m thinking a shade of red or maybe some purple.” Yes, things were quiet in the stations hangar as the current crew of the Caravel Boutique did their jobs in handling customers. Still though, Rarity was quite worried about Grahd. Nobody should be stuck alone with Chrysalis for too long. “Something of a highlight that pops out and attracts the eyes of others.” Sassy was currently working with a Macropussian and despite said customer being male, she was being completely congenial about it. Coco had a line of Parascine asking for various colorful socks and Rarity was glad that she didn’t have to deal with them. “I do like red, but I’d prefer the purple… maybe a lighter shade like periwinkle?” The customer was quite knowledgeable and that sounded just splendid, this was quite calming for Rarity and thankfully she was enjoying the company of someone who knew exactly what they wanted. With her eyes for detail, Rarity could get the right shade of periwinkle on the blue dress to make it look quite magnificent. - So’Grahd wished the day would be over with, three assassination attempts on one of her charges and now she was saddled with a foreign dignitary that was some kind of psycho that was allowed to run a kingdom. It was hard enough to imagine Rarity accepting someone like Chrysalis into her crew, but to actually watch her in action was frightening. “I’ll talk, I’ll talk, just don’t… agghhhhh!” That was the sound of someone being tortured by Chrysalis, Grahd tried to drown out the screams by clamping her cloven hooves down on the cybernetics covering her ears. She really didn’t want to watch what Chrysalis was doing with the protein powder, a pack of gum and a paperclip. It was horrific enough knowing that those items could be used like that. Grahd thought that ponies had it easy on their home world, then she met one the beings they were blockading from leaving the planet and she could kind of understand why they were being blockaded from being let loose. Ponies had somehow managed to keep settlements going even with various dangerous carnivorous creatures like hydras living around them. Despite how they acted ponies were definitely not push overs now that she looked at the facts of what they had to deal with. They were just a little more pacifistic for powerhouses than most species and there are legends about the EDF fleets being really good at their jobs, so they had solid space capabilities. She didn’t know how normal Changelings acted, but she just had to ask for the sake of needing to know. “Are all Changeling Queens crazy and how do their people compare Rarity?” Grahd said without looking around the tree having turned a bit green from already having seen it once. It was the example that Chrysalis was making of one the men of the hit squad that shot down their vehicle. “Some are crazier darling, but it’s intentional that the queens of a hive be at least a little insane compared to their people who are a bunch of milquetoast idiots that they all care for Miss Grahd.” It was still disturbing to hear Chrysalis talk about herself as if she wasn’t here in Rarity’s voice, she was acting like a more volatile version of Rarity and for some reason the mercenaries couldn’t tell the difference between her and the actual Rarity with that cloak on. If they had met the real Rarity first, then they’d probably know something was horribly off about the fake unicorn. “It is how they handle the stress of having a hive mind and I will admit that Chrysalis is quite up there, but she’s still quite a dear friend of ours.” They were still waiting for pickup and had already dealt with anyone who willingly came into Selengard’s botanical sector after them. The Changeling was making sure one of the thugs regretted it entirely, it was just surprising that neither of them had killed anyone yet. Not even with Chrysalis’s horribly violent and hard to watch interrogation techniques. They had taken down fifteen heavily armed mercenaries together, her shield was down to a quarter of its maximum power from tanking explosives, high energy blasts and quite a few material rounds. She was also running out of regular ammunition and didn’t want to start using her soporific ammunition exclusively as it was more expensive to make. The fighting had been short lived and Grahd came away with barely any more than multiple grazing wounds thanks to her shield deflecting every projectile and explosive that hit it. The explosives knocked her on her back a few times, but the shield took the brunt of those impacts. She needed to get it fixed soon as it was denting quite badly and would be hard to fold up otherwise. Chrysalis had taken down at least eight of the thugs with an energy pistol. What was scary was that she did it without even firing the pistol once, she just snuck up on them one at a time clubbed them all into unconsciousness while Grahd was busy taking down the other seven in a drawn out fire fight that damaged quite a few trees that were used for cover. It was like the Changeling Queen was trying to challenge herself by making the fight harder. They could both say that the cloak Rarity and her two friends made was working perfectly at hiding something being off about Chrysalis’s rather inaccurate and pregnant looking transformation. Grahd was going to have nightmares about the last twenty four hours for a while and Chrysalis was going to take up two thirds of them. Never had Grahd met a foreign dignitary that was quite as horrific or efficient at torturing someone as Queen Chrysalis was. To be fair to Queen Chrysalis’s species, they were not lethal predators. Not that being non-lethal predators was any better when the prey would continue living to be fed upon for the rest of their natural lives, she’s heard some things about Equestrian criminals ending up in Changeling hives and wondered if it was true. “Okay, now you will talk darling, give me every juicy detail… now who hired you to kill me hmmm?” That sounded creepy coming from Rarity’s voice. “It was a Dik-Dik named Dett, her name was Dett. I didn’t get a clan name!” The poor battle hardened mercenary squealed and now Chrysalis had another name in a series of things she needed to look into. “I don’t care if she kills me anymore, she was with some Earth Pony. I never got her name I swear… Just… please... stop…” “I think you’ve done enough to the poor guy Rarity.” Hearing that name caused So’Grahd to narrow her eyes as she’s definitely heard it before. Thankfully Chrysalis was the only Changeling on the station, a Changeling couldn’t pass a biological scanner without being discovered and it was a good thing that none of the mercenaries had a handheld or long distance version of one. The jig would have been up if they had something that could see through Chrysalis’s disguise. “Oh come on, I might be bit cruel and unusual, but I’m sure this guy could still go another three rounds.” That induced even a louder whimpering from the Macropussian mercenary that Chrysalis was likely standing over. “Tell me about this Earth Pony, what did she look like?” “S-She never s-spoke out loud and let Dett do all the talking, b-but she had purple hair and pink fur… she also had a cutie mark of three buttons and orange eyes.” There was sobbing filling the air as the stuttering voice didn’t sound like he could handle much more of what was being done to him at all, despite Chrysalis’s words implying that he could survive another three rounds of her torture easily enough. She was a licensed EMT, so she would definitely know if she was torturing him too hard. If Grahd ever needed an expert in torture and interrogation she’d look for a Changeling Queen, probably not one whose true name was Crystal Clear Dick. Grahd really didn’t need to know what Chrysalis was doing to make a battle hardened Macropussian cry. She was keeping watch of the fourteen other out cold and cuffed thugs, only one had managed to wake up and as such he was Chrysalis’s target to interrogate. The box of hand, claw and hoof cuffs in the trunk of the crashed police vehicle were all currently in use. The whole front end and the underside of the vehicle would need to be repaired before it could be returned to service, but So’Grahd had at least kept it mostly intact and her paycheck was thankfully safe thanks to that. Chrysalis had also walked away from the skidding mess of a vehicle without nary a scratch to show for it, the way she acted with Rarity and her friends made it seem like she was a harmless idiot. Only Grahd knew better now that she learned that Chrysalis had been the most dangerous being of the group, at least next to Sassy of whom the queen was attempting to court quite poorly. There was a grunt noise and Chrysalis just dragged the cuffed kangaroo right on by So’Grahd, the kangaroo looked like he’d been put through a wringer and Chrysalis had not gone easy on him. He looked blankly at So’Grahd and seemed to be missing a lot of his rough demeanor after Chrysalis was finished with him. “Can I use another one please? This one’s broken.” The fake Rarity asked in a pleasant and not at all threatening voice that made So’Grahd’s fur and even the skin underneath crawl. A pink furred, purple haired Earth Pony huh? It sounded like the missing purple haired and pink furred unicorn. There was something there that added up, but to what? “What… I need to corroborate the story to make sure I got some good information from him, otherwise I’d have to torture him again to make sure.” The Macropussian started crying and hoped that nobody was dumb enough to lie to this monster. He didn’t want to go on that ride again mommy. “Sure, but try not to make it so loud please.” As uneasy as she was about torture, Grahd knew that Chrysalis could get away with it using her diplomatic immunity. “When pick up eventually arrives, you’re going need to stop immediately. Can’t you use a silencing spell or something?” They could expel Chrysalis from the station, but they couldn’t do much more to the mare as she was the ruler of her people back home, nothing would happen to her if they tried to leave it up to the Changeling government or even Equestrian government. Her diplomatic immunity in this situation could only be revoked by Celestia, Cadence or Luna, those three probably let Chrysalis torture prisoners for information if she was absolutely needed. “They are certainly taking their dear sweet time, I can use that to pump more information out of these nimrods.” Chrysalis grabbed the one, and only one at that, rare Cacceran mercenary among this bunch and started to drag him off. Caccerans weren’t exactly known for their mercenary work and the rabbit like Cacceran was in for a rude awakening. - “So we’ll be coming back to The Shining Jewel and leaving Trapeze’s Troupe here on the station, we’re just waiting on Chrysalis to finish… whatever is taking her and Officer Grahd so long to show up. I doubt anything would give Chrysalis a lot of trouble, but mom and I are worried about Officer Grahd being left alone with her.” Keeping the crew up to date was one of Opal’s easier jobs. “They definitely ran into trouble meant to be targeting mom.” “Do you have any news on how Tree Hugger is doing? I was thinking that maybe we could send her a fruit basket for saving the Boss Lady’s life.” Asked Greta in the middle of a meal in the cafeteria. “Gilda is quite broken up about it.” “I am not worried about her Greta, she’ll be fine like she always is!” Despite what was said, Gilda didn’t sound the very least bit broken up in the slightest to hear that Tree was hospitalized. She was in the hangar on the party line Opal had running through the ship at the moment checking up on their resources. “Okay, so maybe Gilda isn’t too broken up about it, but I can tell she still cares.” It would be nice for Greta to get some free time to visit Tree when she was better. Sure Tree was a little out there, but she was friendly as all get out and had always been there for her and Gilda. “I would say ‘screw you Greta’.” Came Gilda’s prompt verbal reply which continued on with a grating grumpiness. “But that would be giving you an open invitation.” “Can you two not fight over the ships communications please? I swear you act like a married couple sometimes and you’re not even dating or doing anything like that.” Came Saffron’s upset voice and it seemed to have shut Gilda up completely because she didn’t respond within the next thirty seconds of silence. “I swear, we need more entertainment around here aside from listening Greta and Gilda flirt with one another in an aggravating manner. Normally that would be Trapeze's job if she wasn't currently occupied with her performances.” “It’s not flirting, it is just stern words with my highly gay business partner in a completely platonic relationship.” Yep, Gilda was definitely running on full grouch right now. “That’s my own business while I’m in the hangar thank you very much. Anyway we’re ready for you guys to come on back, though the hangar still reeks of blood a bit. It’s actually kind of nice… I think I’ll keep it instead of trying to wipe it away entirely, take care until then okay Kitten?” “Thanks for letting me know the hangars been cleaned up Aunt Gilda, we’ll be with you to prepare for a sleep cycle in the next hour or two as we’re all getting pretty tired over here with the constant threat of Rarity’s death and the building paranoia therein.” It had been at least ten hours for the crew that went to Selengard Station and Opal was sounding slightly relieved it was almost over. It seemed like there was something in the works exclusively targeting Rarity of all ponies and they didn’t want to be on the station longer than they had to be. “Oh and if you have those energy shields tested and ready for personal use, then mom is definitely going to need one on her at all times when she goes down to the planet. Otherwise the only other bit of news I have is that Coco got a prediction from Tree saying she’ll likely kill someone.” “Seriously… holy flap, I owe the masseuse a lot of bits!” There was a pause as Gilda thought of something. “Wait no… the Boss Lady hasn’t been accused of being a crime boss yet has she?” - “What… no of course not, why would mom be accused of being a crime boss? That’s just plain silly.” Opal was exceptionally offended that someone might even call her mother an organized crime master, especially when most of the attempted crimes were being organized to kill her as of late. “Anything else… no? Good, we will be seeing you soon barring any more incidents. Business has been really good for us and I think I’m needed to help with some of it. So if you’ll excuse me... Opal K. Belle out.” With that Opal cut the ship wide connection and got up shakily onto her four limbs and made her way to talk to the waiting Parascine customers that Coco has been dealing with, since Rarity didn’t want a single thing to do with any of them. At least Opal could say Coco was beginning to get really good at making Hearths Warming themed socks with the beloved kaleidoscope aesthetics the Parascine always asked for. They weren’t denying any of gathering Parascine as they were some of Rarity’s Rarities best, if most unusual, customers and they tended to give a lot of good reviews about the comfortable socks Rarity’s Rarities made. Though now Opal could never look at socks or Parascine the same way as she once did before when Rarity complained about them previously, especially not without feeling both embarrassed and a little big green in the face. The Dik-Diks were alright with fashion and were not exactly the biggest fans of the industry, but the ones that came to Rarity were quite appreciative of her work and were the most numerous of the incoming customers. Given that the system bordered Dik-Dik controlled space it was to be expected. The Macropussians who came to them for cheap and reliable clothing weren’t a problem to deal with, though a lot of custom fits had to be done for Macropussians wanting pants or skirts. Rarity and Sassy were dealing with both quite readily. Caccerans were sporadic customers at the best of times, but more feminine and fox like Caccerans tended to enjoy what Rarity made for them. Even a few male cat styled Caccerans came in for snazzy looking suits and Rarity was certainly not losing her touch at creating clothing for both genders. The rare pony or two around here who showed up couldn’t find anything bad to say about the business or their lovable physically existing mascot, one of them even asked if Rarity was here for the fashion contest. They were answered calmly and sent on their way with their freshly bought and made Rarity’s Rarities merchandise. Quite a number of incoming customers wanted an EVA suit with various utilities installed, which is why Opal immediately labeled them ‘while supplies last’ on their local site. They were selling like pancakes, both hot and fast. EVA suits wasn’t what Rarity really wanted to be known for, it was her talent for making exquisite dresses. A Dik-Dik with light colored fur wearing a beautiful blue dress with purple periwinkle highlights walked off down the ramp blushing at all the attention she was suddenly receiving and slowly she started to actually start selling it. She looked both beautiful and quite pleased with her purchase as she was turning heads as she slowly sauntered away with a bit of a sway in her hips. Another greatly satisfied customer, not a gun or even ugly mug of a thug in sight. It would be another hour before they closed up shop and for Chrysalis to arrive with a bedraggled looking So’Grahd. - “Never leave me alone with her again if you ever come back. In fact, try to keep her as far away from me as you can.” Was all So’Grahd had to say to them before she turned around and promptly left to stand with Officer Drit. They were waiting for Rarity’s small cargo freighter to leave the station and it did so safely without incident. It did so with a wildly grinning Chrysalis onboard, it’s been quite a while since the changeling Queen has been allowed to torture someone that hard. She really had to thank Sassy for giving her the verbal go ahead to do all that and she was happy to know she wasn’t overstepping the stupidly careful boundaries that Celestia, Luna and Cadence had set for her. Now Chrysalis needed more random implements to torture someone with, she’d used up all the protein powder, she was also out of bubble gum and their wrappers. She had gotten through five more of the fifteen guys before they were picked up and they definitely corroborated the story the first guy told her, all just to make her stop. - “Okay, so we got some information out of those thugs. It’s looking more and more like a silent mare with purple hair and a pink coat might be behind the attempted murders on Rarity, it’s an Earth Pony if you can believe it with three buttons for a cutie mark.” Now that Rarity’s ship was leaving, So’Grahd could finally get back to business of being an officer of the law. To start off with, she had to deliver the news to the gray mare that was till following Officer Drit around. “One that obviously has quite some pull with rather dangerous criminal ties, she shares a frighteningly similar description with that of your daughter Amethyst Star Ms. Hooves. I believe this unknown Earth Pony might have framed your daughter for several various criminal activities, possibly while wearing a false horn and hiding her cutie mark. My best guess is she’s trying to use Amethyst Star as a scapegoat.” “Sounds like a good theory as any if Amethyst Star is truly innocent of any crime.” Officer Drit muttered quietly to himself. “I assure you that we’ll definitely be looking into it much further and we will find your lost daughter Ms. Hooves, this is why your daughter is being hunted down while there are no criminal records on file.” Despite how upsetting it may be, Grahd continued on while putting a hoof over Derpy’s back as a sign of comfort. “The two described by the thugs probably want her dead on top of Rarity being killed as a goal to whatever plot they’ve got going on.” Derpy stayed quiet and was quite upset about this turn of events, she reached into her bags and patted at the box of muffins with a hoof and the opened and pulled one free from it. She really needed a muffin quite badly right now. “Did you get anything else from those thugs that shot you down Officer Grahd?” Protection detail on the Caravel Boutique went off without a single hitch for Officer Drit and the others he called in that he knew personally. It was getting rather difficult to know who to trust around here recently. “That’s how I know the earth pony has obvious criminal ties, the one that talked to the mercenaries was a Dik-Dik named Dett.” As soon as So’Grahd said that, Drit jumped and jerked around to give her a rather sharp stare. Derpy continued to watch them both as they were beginning to completely ignore her presence, she simply nibbled at a muffin while quietly following them. She just hoped her adoptive daughter was okay and wasn’t involved in anything dangerous and was just laying low like a game of hide and seek with dangerous consequences. “Dett the Destructive, seriously?! Well freaking shrike, no wonder all those Jor clan cyborgs with brain implants were acting up like they did.” Officer Drit rubbed at his broken horn, he looked to be having horrible flashbacks to something that happened. “That technological terrorist must have been the one that freed that AI. The other clans told the Jors to get rid of it and now they’re down a hundred and forty or so members. At least we have confirmation that the AI is finally dead due to a lucky one shot Anti-AI virus being in the Shining Jewel’s systems at the time. Were you told about that?” “Yeah, Opal informed me that they picked that up in a space pirate attack around Applin Five in the Applon System and all the information checked out.” If there was a name So’Grahd never thought she’d hear about in her neck of the woods, it was Dett the Destructive, the Dangerous, the Demented, the Disaster, the Defiler or the Destroyer. Grahd had never been near Dett at all or was ever involved in anything related to her, but Officer Drit was one of the few lucky ones to survive that deadly Dik-Dik. While Grahd didn’t know much about Dett personally, she knew that Dett was a clan killer and was kicked out of belonging to any clan once she was discovered to be violently dismembering, murdering and experimenting on other Dik-Diks of her own clan. There was a cap on how far cybernetics could go with dangerous Dik-Diks like her in mind. “What’s worse is we never heard anything about her breaking free from her prison… unless nobody knows that she has. I remember all the stuff that she managed to do last time.” Closing his eyes and shivering violently, Drit was looking pretty pale. He eventually opened his eyes and pulled out his data pad, he need to send out an APB that ‘Dett the Destructive’ was on the loose. Hopefully one of their scout ships could get out of the system with that information intact to start warning everyone. “We seriously need to be on our guard here. That is most definitely not a name you want to hear as being on the same space station as you!” “What did this Dett do that was so bad?” The question that Derpy asked caused them both to pause and remember that she was still with them because she didn’t have a minder. “What didn’t she do is easier to answer, but if you must know she’s a highly intelligent lunatic. She somehow has avoided straight out execution on sight orders and even somehow avoided execution even after she was caught. Many Dik-Diks are convinced that she did something that prevented the clan leaders from just killing her outright as soon as we got a hold of her and I don’t think anyone would have grieved over her dying.” It sounded like Drit’s bitter words had some history to them. “The quieter she is, the more disastrous her plans are. Some would claim she’s a technopath, we’re all thankful that she isn’t unless she’s recently figured something out by now through using cybernetics. She’s a high end hacker and a cybernetics expert, which is a bad combination with her being a lunatic.” “Judging by how you’re acting and from what I remember, you’ve actually seen her personally.” Yeah, this was bad news for Officer So’Grahd getting a break any time soon, she needed some of that imported caffeine juice from Equus. Grahd didn’t want to worry Rarity or her group unnecessarily, but it looked like Dett was already moving to achieve something and that something involved targeting Rarity with unusually excessive amounts of force. There was evidence pointing to Dett being responsible for targeting Rarity, but the reason why still eluded her as Rarity seemed completely unimportant to anything going on in this sector of space. “She had me strapped down and was going to cut my head open to forcefully insert cybernetic implants into me whether I wanted them or not. I think she was planning replacing large portions of my body with machinery, thankfully some of my friends managed to save me before she got anywhere.” Drit rubbed at his broken horn in remembrance of the near miss with the psychopath. “Most of me anyway… that blood covered saw she was going to use only took one of my horns off instead of my head. I watched her mutilate one of her own clan members before she came over to me still covered in chunks of their intestines with a smile that I’ll never forget. I wanted to put a shot through her eyes immediately after we caught her, but apparently it was decided that she just be permanently imprisoned under mysterious circumstances that led to an outcry against the clan leaders.” “She doesn’t sound like a very nice person.” For some reason Derpy felt like that was an understatement after what she just heard. - “I sometimes worry if I’m actually cut out to be a princess really.” It had been a long time coming, but Twilight had eventually got to the crux of her problem with Thorax. “Well you’re not doing too bad a job at the moment… not that my brother Pharynx is exactly helping me with mine and he’s an ardent fan of Chrysalis’s method of getting things done.” As Chrysalis’s acting regent, Thorax had no idea how much work Chrysalis did even while she was traveling for a whole year. He didn’t understand how Chrysalis could keep up with it all by herself. She seemed so bored most of the time, considering she was miles ahead on her paperwork it made sense that she was bored as she had nothing better to do then pester Celestia, Cadence or Luna. “I know many ponies didn’t like Chrysalis, but she was quite amazing at cutting through red tape and as for me… it’s becoming a bit of a knotted mess.” “I could do it for you, I’m quite organized and all I seem to be doing these days is smiling and waving at ponies anyway. It’s like Celestia is worried someone is out to get me and she’s being too protective of me. Why can’t I pull my own weight and do some of the work?” After a moment to think about what she was asking Twilight finally admitted. “I do like that Celestia is quite protective of me... and how her fur feels… and the smell of her mane when she finally crawls into bed after a hard day of bureau-crazy. I just feel lazy sitting around watching her burn herself out on all that fake smiling she does day after day, only for her to use me as a cuddle toy to relieve stress.” “Thanks for the offer Twilight, but I have to do this myself as some of it can be a bit sensitive.” Like how he has a Changeling infiltrating Earth to investigate the Tempest Technologies government ties and he knew Celestia didn’t want Twilight to hear some of the darker things happening around her. “Also don’t you mean bureaucracy?” “I spend most of my days with Celestia, I definitely mean bureau-crazy Thorax.” That led Twilight to thinking about someone who was dumb enough to try and legally pass a tax reform where all taxes went straight into Bluebloods bank account. Mind you it wasn’t Prince Blueblood that put the reform up for review in the first place which was doubly insane from Twilight’s point of view. She wondered how anyone thought they could get away with it even if it wasn't them benefitting from it.
-126-Rarity slowly came to with Opal in her hooves, she slowly and carefully pulled herself out of bed trying not to wake her daughter. She would go to the bathroom, brush her teeth, get in a shower and then style her mane before heading down to the hangar, hopefully Coco was punctual. She really didn’t want to find out what Gilda was up to this time, the less she knew the less she could be implicated if Gilda was currently doing something illegal. She sat in front of her vanity stroking at her lovely mane and she peered at the peacefully sleeping Opal in the mirror. She sighed, she’d have to wake her daughter and bathe her. There were still some things Opal couldn’t do for herself even if she was getting better at moving around. Sure Opal could operate the ship in her sleep and was quite adorable while doing so, but she couldn’t spend her entire life in bed. “Opal, dear, time to wake up.” Nuzzling her daughter made Opal sleepily latch onto her. “Five more minutes mommy.” The drowsy Opal stated before curling up against Rarity’s neck. She was in for a big surprise when she was eventually lowered into some warm water to be scrubbed and then had her pink hair brushed and combed by Rarity. - Rarity stepped out of the elevator while looking at a notepad, she had several ideas for a fashion line to use in the contest. With Sassy and Coco’s help she’d make a good showing of it. Looking about the hangar she saw that Gilda was once again building something unique, it actually looked like a fighter this time or the frame for one at least. Not seeing Coco around, Rarity decided to first call Trapeze to see how she was doing and pulled out her data pad. Once Rarity started the call it only took a few seconds for Trapeze to respond. “Hello Trapeze, is everything okay with you? Well good, could you maybe check up on Tree Hugger in the station’s hospital for me? I’m worried about her. Okay, thanks darling, that’s all I needed.” A pause and Rarity tapped her hoof against the ground listening to Trapeze talk about adding a new member to her troupe. “No I don’t mind, it’s your business after all Ms. Star. We have plenty of room on the Shining Jewel for this mister… Trouble Shoes is it? Just makes sure he doesn’t cause too many problems for me and I’m sure we’ll get along just splendidly. Well okay then, we’ll talk later Ms. Star. Fine, we’ll talk later my wonderful friend Trapeze.” Rarity smiled as she put away her data pad and moved over to see what Gilda was up to, she wondered what was taking Coco so long to arrive. Coco was usually more punctual than this, Rarity knew Coco was on the ship and her friend hardly ever failed to be reliable and forthwith about things. Speaking of forthwith her friend had an insane work ethic that she needed to cut back on a bit. “Gilda, dare I ask, what are you making this time?” Rarity watched as Gilda stop banging a hammer against the metal frame and turned to her. “Hey Boss Lady, making a fighter and not the one of my dreams. I’m actually getting so close to doing that, I can practically taste the fuel my baby will use. This will actually be for Lightning.” Gilda slapped the hammer against the sturdy frame roughly, it didn’t shudder in the slightest. “She needs a fighter as she’s slowly going mad with just piloting Ember’s Pyrrhic Victory, Greta will be around to inform you about the personal shielding system we worked on for your protection. Oh and if you are listening Opal, schedule a meeting with the Masseuse to work all the building stress out of Lightning will you! If she’s going to be the Garage Griffon test pilot, then she’s going to need to be of sound mind. I know for a fact that her body is just fine the way it is…” Sounds like Gilda and Lightning had another tryst with one another and Rarity wasn’t going to ask. She wouldn’t ask so long as it didn’t have any negative effect on the overall performance or mentality of her lovely crew. She didn’t really have to focus on it and it wasn’t any of her concern aside from wanting to gossip about it. Even if some of the crew enjoyed getting dirty like Rover, Gilda and Greta, she let them do what they did best and she was getting all the benefits thereof instead of micromanaging them. “Can do Aunt Gilda.” Chirped Opal, she was in the cafeteria getting breakfast from Coriander. One of these days Rarity was going to have to find out what kind of range her daughter had when it came to operating the Shining Jewel. It would be fun to go to a nicer planet to spend time with her daughter bonding together, also she needed to go back to Equus to let Sweetie Belle know she had a niece. It started to make Rarity wonder how she was going to break it to her parents that they were grandparents to a supposed ‘Cacceran’ with her genetics in it. “Well, can you tell me how Saffron is doing being cooped up here?” It was easy for Rarity to guess that Coriander wouldn’t mind being cooped up on the ship like Vera was. Saffron was actually a more valid worry of Rarity’s. Lightning could fly around the air space of Nocturne provided she didn’t power up the weapons she would be left mostly alone unless she was flying near the Selengard or Nocturne. “I fear she might be getting antsy.” “Surprisingly, she’s only complaining mildly about things and is pretty good at keeping a lid on her vigilantism.” All that Gilda needed to be pleased was tons of metal, parts and supplies to build with and she was happy. She would even state as such to her boss. “I swear being on your crew is so cozy that it’s hard for anyone to complain all too much Boss Lady, not to mention you’re still paying everyone too much.” “I think you absolutely deserve the pay you’re getting, with all the amazing things you make and how you protected my interests. Don’t think I didn’t notice the smell of blood coming in from our visit to Selengard, do I want to even know?” It was just one of those times Rarity felt like talking up Gilda. “I’m getting the better deal out of this with an incredible maintenance and repair team. A team that can also make things and not just fix what’s breaking, but also improve on it.” “No you don’t and thanks Boss Lady, you know I need to have my ego stroked once in a while.” As a griffon that was a given on Gilda’s part as she smirked in Rarity’s direction. The lion bird hopped off the metallic framework and made her way over to Rarity. “So who are you waiting on?” “I’m waiting on Coco, you have to remember that Tree Hugger told her something that upset her and I fear that it is having more of an effect on her than she let…” Staring at the elevator as it opening into section three of the hangar, Rarity trailed of upon seeing a horrific sight. It was Coco’s bedraggled looking appearance and her mane was a mess, she didn’t look to have slept a wink. “On… Coco, hold it right there!” “Rarity I…” Started a tired eyed Coco who immediately found a hoof held up to her face and she instantly became quiet, soon Rarity was pulling her emergency care kit from her saddle bag. This was an emergency of the greatest order, which required Rarity’s care kit which was an idea she got from how prepared Pinkie Pie was for most things. Whichever Pinkie Pie she was thinking of, Rarity didn’t need to know if there were more than two of Pinkie within the same universe. Pinkie Pie had hidden party supplies on every space station in the pony sectors. She only knows the location of three of those stashes and she has at least three more in each location she found a stash in. Her care kit was a brush, a comb, a bit of makeup and some bottled calming scents that she personally enjoyed. She immediately pulled Coco into a hug, then backed off to start combing her tail and brushing her mane wielding the two objects in her magic with precision. “Coco dear, maybe you should get some more sleep before you show me what you wanted to.” It didn’t take Rarity even thirty seconds to get Coco’s mane in order and her tail no longer look like a wet mop had snuggle with her tail in some strange love affair. Rarity was going to order Opal to push Coco for the next session before Lightning. “I can work on my fashion line for the contest with Sassy while you get some rest, you look simply terrible darling. Opal schedule Coco a session with Vera as soon as she wakes up, tell Saffron I need a cup of warm milk and I expect you to get a lullaby playing for Coco after she’s had her drink.” “Aye aye captain mom, Vera’s schedule is pretty clear already so I’m penciling Coco in right now!” How Opal could be so cheerful in the face of the horrid wreck that Coco currently was made her seem brave in Rarity’s eyes. In reality it was just Rarity overreacting to one of her friends not taking care of themselves properly. “But…” Coco tried only to be turned around and pushed back towards the elevator by Rarity. “The only butt here, is yours going back to bed my dear Coco.” Rarity slowly managed to gain ground and Coco was too tired to fight off her worried friend. - After she’s had a nice nap where she was watched like a hawk to make sure she slept, Coco was led by Rarity to the cafeteria where they sat down together. “I’m sorry Rarity...” If one were to look at Coco right now, she’d come off like a properly scolded filly. “No, you are not, it’s not your fault that you were having troubles sleeping… even I’m having the same problems at times.” It was just that Rarity hid her sleepless nights better and she was a professional at hiding how tired she was at times. Three attempts on her life and Coco thinks she can just laugh that off? What kind of impervious impression did she give to her friends by hiding all the stress she was under at times? “You need a stress relieving session and I’m going to make sure you get to it. I need one myself personally, but less so than Lightning apparently. So what was it you wanted to show me?” “Oh right, it’s a multi-purpose battery that’s separate from a battery equipped impulse saddle and it’s kind of an accessory to the accessory...” The impulse saddle did technically count as an accessory to the EVA suit and that’s why Coco was so good at making them. She reached into her saddle bags and pulled out a white cylinder with a rounded hexagonal ends, along the cylinder was an indented black line. Pushing both ends inward while twisting them, the line lit up in red, yellow and then green. It showed that the battery was quite full sitting at green. She untwist the ends back to their original position and looked at Rarity while showing it to her. “It can be equipped on to the EVA suit directly or onto an Impulse Saddle for varying reasons. One would be extra battery power for a battery equipped impulse saddles, you can even attach it to suit directly using the same connection points the impulse saddle uses. It isn’t difficult to attach and I can see many uses for it, plus there’s something I’ve been researching into about keeping this battery charged.” “I think you’re making a remarkable good pitch so far darling, well at least now that you are rested and didn’t have any problems sleeping.” Rarity wanted to know what was so special about the cylinder. “What exactly is special about it? Lots of races make their own form of batteries, did you know for instance that Parascine make their batteries out of highly acidic mushrooms? Apparently those batteries are more effective in the tentacles of a Parascine or underwater at the very least.” “That’s just the thing, this battery can be charged on almost anything!” Now Coco seemed excited and Rarity perked up a bit to see her friend was feeling better. “You can charge it with body heat, you can shake it violently to charge it with kinetic energy, like my battery equipped impulse saddles sunlight works too and it might even take magic as something you can charge it up with. Greta said she wanted to use my battery design in the next Ar-Mare-Do-Well suit. Greta, the griffon we both know, is a genius and she likes my prototype super battery. That means I’ve really got something here, only I can’t make these batteries any smaller than this or else they would lose all effectiveness.” “Coco, you’ve always had impulse saddles and nobody can seriously question your work ethic.” That was something Rarity figured Coco was always proud about and here it sounded like she was denying her own achievements. “You and Sassy both helped me design that, this is something I’ve been working towards on the side. It kind of helped that I created the battery utility function on the saddle and now I’ve got this.” Well a battery that recharged itself over time was certainly an achievement, but Coco knew there were still a few problems. “Greta estimated that this battery can keep going for a while, she said I could use a five year warranty with it as it is. The only problem is the recharge degradation.” “If you can attach it to an EVA suit as you say Coco, does that mean you can use it to power a pinpoint puller?” The curious look on her friends face was adorable, it looked to Rarity that she was being quite thoughtful about the question. “No I couldn’t… I could use it to effectively power two! That is if Sassy has the bugs in her second generation pinpoint pullers worked out, shortened energy whips aren’t very useful. Well except for the one time Saffron used it to save Rover from that scary human.” Having seen the footage of it, Coco never wanted to meet Perja anywhere. Not even in broad daylight surrounding by professional bodyguards specifically meant to protect her. Saffron wasn’t sure if she survive what happened on Applon Five, but Coco didn’t think that a human that ridiculously strong would go down without having half her brain destroyed and her heart ripped out of her chest and buried upside down in burial mound circled by several kinds of salt. A Voodoo ritual was optional to that and Coco would still pay for the extra to make sure that person never attack her friends again. She felt bad for thinking all that, but if that was who she had to kill… well she would be less distressed than she currently was. “We’re still selling first generation pinpoint pullers well enough, though we have been trying to improve on the battery life. This is one of the solutions to doing so.” “Well see to it that it gets its proper testing Coco, make sure that it’s sound and stable before we put any sort of production of it on order.” A regenerating power source was nothing to sneeze at, though Rarity was quite sure that it didn’t get very much energy from all the things Coco said it could. It was still nice to hear about and she was being her supportive self as per usual. “How fast does it recharge when not plugged into a reactor or other power sources?” “Quite fast actually, shaking it up or moving around with it for... let’s say five minutes is enough to charge up the battery for one pinpoint puller use.” It took a bit of studying to make and Coco hugged the end results to her chest with a small smile on her face, she was proud of this object and Rarity could understand being proud of something you made with your own magic or two hooves. “I kind of got the idea from the fact that we’re over the planet of Nocturne, this is a battery that doesn’t need solar power to work and can be recharged while on the run.” “If you’re feeling better, you can help me and Sassy come up with a simply dazzling fashion line to use for the contest Coco.” Here Rarity watched as Coco brightened up so more and was happy to see her friend smile even if she was going to cause someone’s demise. She’d never hold it against Coco, because Coco likely wasn’t going do it on purpose. “I’m thinking of a glittering purple fabric that’s both sturdy and beautiful to look at, it breaths and is quite silky smooth on the fur. In fact it’s something I’ve been developing for quite a while after being inspired by what you and Sassy have done thus far.” “Rarity, you design entirely effective and fashionable EVA suits, said EVA suits are entirely your design to begin with!” Choked out Coco who looked flummoxed with Rarity. “You’re the most inspiring pony I know, I don’t feel like an inspiration compared to you.” “You are darling and that’s one of the many reasons we’re the best of friends.” Rarity put a comforting hoof on top of Coco’s and smiled at her. “Whatever comes, we’ll still be friends. Why, if you end up married to Greta, then I’m doing your wedding dress.” “Rarity!” Said a suddenly flustered Coco who knew her friend was just kidding about marrying the griffon. “I’m still doing a wedding dress whenever you get around to finding love, all my prospects are shriveled up as it were.” The long line of poor attempts at a stallion led to Rarity thinking of a future, whoever they were they’d have to accept Opal even if she liked them a lot personally and that just added more parameters to an ideal perfect stallion. Rarity was trying to lower her expectations for true love, not increase them by a significant margin that already made it impossible for her to find someone worth sleeping next to. Still increase her expectations with Opal in mind and finding a significant other was sadly shelfed in the things Rarity would never achieve in her lifetime. At least Rarity had family already and wonderful daughter to dote on. Wait, wouldn’t her daughter have an equally poor love life because of what she is? Rarity was a bit depressed thinking about it. Idly, she wondered who was checking in on Ember at the moment. - A vortex of flashing metal whirled about the room and suddenly it all stopped, the blade and inch from Chrysalis’s throat and the Changeling didn’t look worried in the slightest about it. “What do you want Crystal-san?” Trouble was on the horizon and she was practicing her technique and power. “You’re elegant and beautiful, intelligent and deadly, graceful and powerful. So you should know that’s all quite an attractive combination to me.” Here Chrysalis smiled despite the sword at her throat that could have cut her head clean off and she wouldn’t have minded if it had nicked her throat a bit. The Changeling Queen thought Sassy had too much control over herself, she could have at least redirected the sword into her left shoulder instead of avoiding injuring her entirely. Maybe stab her through the back and out the chest? “That said, can we go on a fruit?” “You mean a date.” The bland tone Sassy said this in was met with an even brighter smile. “Yes, a fruit, exactly like I said.” Chrysalis had bothered to look up what dating was on her infernal half exploded data pad. Eh, she had plenty of reinforced spares. “Why I believe we’d be quite fruity together!” “You’re ridiculous.” Even as she said this Sassy still snorted a bit at Chrysalis’s attempt to ask her on a date. “Hey, going on fruits is a way that ponies bond and become special with one another right? If you want me to do things like a pony, then I’m showing you that I can in fact change.” Here Chrysalis thrusted her hoof towards the ceiling. “That’s the very philosophy of my entire race for crying out loud! We’re changing all the time, usually into different ponies, but we also change in heart, spirit and how we treat others. We’re really good actors like that…” “Where is this date going to take place if I agreed to it?” Not that Sassy would, she was just going to humor Chrysalis for the moment. “Well on fruits of course! A few plums, some apples, grapes, blackberries… not nourishing for me, but I like sweet stuff well enough.” It was hard to tell if Chrysalis was being serious or not, because at this point Sassy was afraid that she was. “Bananas would be nice, but you’re not an alicorn so we wouldn’t be able to get the full enjoyment out of it. If you did become an alicorn however…” “Chrysalis, if I were to order you to go to Coco for advice in dating, would you actually do it?” Okay this was kind of sad and Sassy didn’t know how to break it to Chrysalis what she was doing wrong. “No, I wouldn’t, because I’ll figure it all out on my own eventually and I have my pride.” It was assured that Chrysalis would have to at this rate to earn a modicum of real love from Sassy. “Though if you could give me hints in semaphore, that would be much easier for me to understand.” “You don’t understand dating, but you understand semaphore?” It was more for Sassy’s curiosity than anything as she sheathed her sword and sat on the exercise rooms floor with her hind legs crossed. “Well yes, Changelings are quite prolific in understanding various languages, most forms of signaling and basically cryptology overall.” Here Chrysalis narrowed her eyes at Sassy and rubbed her chin. “Yet from you I keep getting mixed signals.” “I’m the one giving you mixed signals?” It was a bit absurd to Sassy and it made her chuckle quite a bit, considering Chrysalis was a grab bag of mixed signals. If you overlooked all Chrysalis’s weirdness, she was both quite intelligent and exceedingly dumb at the same time. It would be hard for anyone else to pull that off expertly, especially if Sassy hadn’t seen Chrysalis’s smarter side. Sassy would almost swear that the smarter side didn’t exist, since it was so hard to tell what was acting stupid and what wasn’t with Chrysalis. “Well yeah, you keep making me like you all the more with your every action, but you hold me so coldly at a hoof’s length.” Chrysalis threw a leg around Sassy and snuggled her. “To be fair it’s a big turn on for me really, to be teased this much by someone so…” “Fine, we’ll go on a date.” It surprised Sassy as much as it did Chrysalis of what she just agreed to, Sassy hurried up to clarify. “I have to be the one to set it up though, as you have absolutely no clue what you’re doing at all. I’ll give you one date.” “I take it that pears, passion fruit, cherries, strawberries and whipped cream won’t be involved will it?” Okay, what kind of ideas did Chrysalis get about dating that involved her being this dim on the subject? Though Sassy could kind of guessed that Chrysalis’s idea of dating might involve licking tasty substances off one another. “Can we still do it with chocolate sauce if fruit isn’t your thing?” “I’m not going to dignify that with a more detailed response.” It was getting into uncomfortable territories and Sassy did not want to consider or think of Chrysalis as becoming a tasty treat. She made her way for the nearby door. “When I’m done planning the date I’ll give you an hour to prepare for it and before that hour starts I’ll tell you exactly how a real date is supposed to go. Until then, find something else to do other than bugging me or anyone else.” “That’s my special talent though, I just can’t stop bugging people and it’s my favorite form of entertainment. Would you rather I went back to kidnapping ponies?” Whined Chrysalis who wanted to at least do nice things for Sassy and earn her favor. It seems she would have to try harder, she did at least get Sassy to laugh a bit. “I wouldn’t be a proper Changeling Queen if I wasn’t at least doing something annoying, crazy or both.” - “Okay Rarity, here’s the scoop on what will be your personal defense for the near future until I can come up with something better.” Started of Greta with a bit of stylish twirl for flair as she held up a device the size of Rarity’s hoof in her talons. The object looked like it unfolded and attached to either the belly or back of the user. “While not very powerful, these personal shield generators can take a few direct shots before failing. On a battery equipped saddle they can last a bit longer and will be much stronger, especially when it’s integrated into the next Ar-Mare-Do-Well power armor design. Purple is for full power, when it turns to orange it’s lost some of its protectiveness and when it drops down to yellow the shield is about to be pushed beyond its limits before collapsing.” Rarity was sitting down in the administrative room on deck one and she stared at the device she was going to have on her for the entirety of her time down on the planet of Nocturne. She wasn’t going to snub the device if it actually saved her life. It didn’t look pretty, but if it worked as advertised then Rarity wasn’t about to complain as her life was more important than her appearance and Opal’s life was more important than hers which is why she wasn’t going down to Nocturne with the possible chance that someone might still be out to kill her. “How much can it take exactly?” It would certainly help Rarity if she knew this, having a personal shield would stop her from dying the next time she was shot at. “Give me more of an idea of what one of these will and can do Greta.” “To start off it activates to deflect ranged projectiles that are coming at you above a certain velocity. It then deflects the projectile or if it can’t do that, it then mitigates the damage you would have taken by a large margin. Basically anything that is in melee or point blank range won’t be stopped by the shields, they are only effective at stopping things fired from more than a foot away from you.” AS she lectured Greta was happy to have worked on something that might keep her Boss Lady alive. After the three attempts on Rarity’s life while on the nearby space station, Greta definitely knew that Rarity needed one of these like yesterday. “The shields will take a direct rocket blast if it’s purple and only one at that. Anything lower than purple and it will only take shots from handheld firearms. At maximum it can mitigate about six direct shots from a material or energy rifle before it starts getting weak. This personal shield is really good at deflection though, so if you’re moving it’s more effective at protecting you. Just don’t expect it to stand up to a gunship or to make you invincible. We managed to shoot through the robotic wolves shields on Applon Five, so that gives you an idea as to how effective they can be even with the minor improvements I and Gilda made to their overall design.” If Rarity was keen on going down to Nocturne and not leaving this system immediately, then she was going to need a personal energy shield. Greta certainly would not let the Boss Lady leave without one in her possession. “So I stay out of up close confrontations and it is more effective when moving from cover to cover, got it.” After Rarity took in Greta’s cheerful and relieved smile, she was definitely not going to Nocturne without this thing active the second she stepped off of Caravel Boutique. All Rarity had to do was finish her pieces for the fashion contest and hopefully avoid being shot at by anyone else, she wasn’t going to try and find love anymore and would just have to let it find her. “How many of these do we have and do you have enough for everyone going down to Nocturne?” “We only have four working units. That should be enough for you, Coco, Sassy and one other when you go to Nocturne. Here’s how you activate and deactivate it.” Going through the motions, Greta showed Rarity exactly how it worked. “I’ll soon be busy working on Saffron’s new powered armor, I might just have it ready in time by the time you need to go down there. If you’re willing to wait a day or two I’ll definitely have it done.” “The contest is still a few days off, so I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time Greta.” Hugging the griffon and thanking her for her good work, Rarity was about ready to leave the room with a personal shield generator. “I’ll be taking Saffron along, you said you can integrate a shield system into the powered armor?” “Yeah, it’ll at least make her last longer while suited up.” Longer than last time, Greta thought of how little Saffron came back with the last time. “This will be especially useful after her previous armor was ripped to shreds and it’ll save on the materials we would need to make repairs or outright having to build new powered armor from scratch every single time she gets into a vicious fight.” “Thank you Greta darling, you’re a most splendid engineer and I’m glad that we’re friends. I wouldn’t want to be your enemy after seeing what your creation Viral could do.” Rarity meant every bit of praise, Greta deserved it even if she did make a few mistakes on their last escapade. “I really have to thank you for caring so much about me and the others.” Turning to leave, Rarity got a few steps before she felt Greta’s claws on her withers and she stopped to look at the griffon who was giving her a small smile before hugging her. “Oh and Rarity, Boss Lady, I hope you do well in the contest.” There was still one issue Greta decided to address, it’s what the crew knew about Tree Hugger’s predictions. “Why thank you for the support Greta.” Well at least Rarity knew her griffons weren’t idle in their jobs, now if she could find something more important for Lightning to do. “I know Tree Hugger makes scarily accurate predictions about what’s going to happen, but even I’m doubting Coco would kill someone.” It sounded like Greta was trying to reach for an answer to the conundrum that was Gilda’s favorite stalker, which she was completely jealous of as she was supposed to be the favored stalker. “Maybe there was something that Tree Hugger said or the way she phrased it that left it open to interpretation?” “Not really, you can’t get any worse sounding than explicitly causing someone’s demise through action or inaction.” While Rarity didn’t think there was any way it could be interpreted differently, Greta looked like she had something to say. “What is it?” “Demise… that’s rather specific of her. Whatever she says usually gets interpreted in certain ways when usually it’s either different literally or metaphorically.” After that Greta muttered something as she made her way back to working on version two of Saffron’s powered armor using data from the previous suit. “Tree wouldn’t necessarily avoid the word kill, but that’s just from knowing her as well as me and Gilda do. It could be less important than Coco is making it out to be, Tree Hugger never comes right out and states what she’s actually talking about. Whatever she says, aside from her and Gilda being earth and sky, leads to unusual circumstances and is never what you think it is and you only know after the fact. The way she worded Coco causing someone’s demise through action or inaction is rather odd.” “I’m finding it very odd myself, there’s no way Tree can possibly be right unless circumstances conspire to have Coco kill someone for a very good reason.” Rather Rarity would refuse to believe it if Coco did end up causing someone’s demise and that it was even an impossible to avoid occurrence just because one pony said it was. Of course Tree took some serious injuries because she was certainly aware of the attempts on Rarity’s life, so that had Rarity more worried about Coco’s mental state. That is why Coco was with Vera at the moment, knowing that you might or might not do something as specific as involving death was quite stressful. Author's Note I got nothing, filler chapter leading into the next one. Going to Nocturne, the eternal night planet with jungles and dangerous nightlife. Also home to a lot of really good night clubs.
-1-It was almost time for her to live her dream among the stars, she was going to try and work her way to the very top of the social ladder to be with the cream of the crop. She wanted to be a socialite, she wanted to be a universally recognized fashion designer and she eventually wanted to meet her special some pony, maybe have a few kids and lead a quiet life. Well as quiet a life as you can lead when you wanted to be the center of attention to many different beings. “Hey you, get out the way! Stop standing in the middle of the street with that idiotic vacant look on your face you horse!” The voice of a strange turquoise skinned five limbed frog creature gained the attention of a rather inattentive white furred pony with an elegantly curled royal purple mane and a coiled tail shaped like a spring, of whom also had a small horn adorning her forehead. Marking the pony’s flank was three diamonds represented what she was good at in life, which was either finding or seeing the beauty in persons, places and things on top of having a great eye for detail. “Oh, I’m so terribly sorry sir! I was just so simply lost in some wonderful thoughts, excuse me.” This was Rarity Belle; she had her flaws as much as she had her strengths. She was friendly and easy to get along with, just so long as you were friendly personally. She was fussy at times and a bit of a clean freak. She was generous in many ways and sometimes that generosity wasn’t a good thing when it was likely to put her in the path of danger. She also had a slight greed problem; at least her greed was well under control and she was aware of it. “Whatever, just stay out of the way!” The frog like being bellowed at her in an unpleasant manner, he continued onwards walking on three of his limbs. The being that caught Rarity standing in the middle of a busy street was a sentient being known as a Pendaxon. Pendaxons were most known for being able to alter their limbs ending in three webbed digits into being used as hands or feet at a moment’s notice. They could walk around on anywhere between two to all five limbs as legs and the rest would be used as hands. Another thing they were known for was being able to use their tongue as an alternative limb as it too ended in three digits and was webbed; only it was far stickier and more disgusting for them to use their tongues to wield things. Rarity, being the polite mare that she was, would never say what she truly thought of any Pendaxon. Mostly for the fear of what the seven foot tall round bodied frog that likely weighed above three hundred pounds could do to her with or without weapons. The Pendaxons weren’t a very friendly race, they were extreme omnivores and they hardly cared about what they ate as long as it could be vaguely considered food. They’d even eat a pony if they could get away with it and could rip ones limbs off with relative ease, so caution was definitely warranted here. Watching as the Pendaxon moved on Rarity released a relieved sigh that she hadn’t earned its ire; it was always so hard for her to tell what the gender of a Pendaxon was. If the slimy, warty and relatively ugly five limbed giant frogs even had set genders to begin with, not to mention the slur of ‘horse’ that it called her made it less than pleasant to run into. Turning about and continuing on her way towards the spaceport, the pony known as Rarity Belle was hoping to leave Planet Desserzon before her parents could drop on by to saddle her with her little sister again. It was becoming a bit of a bother to be the one raising her younger sister; she wanted to make herself scarce before her parents left her with Sweetie Belle. Desserzon was a planet that was generally covered in badlands and peaceful forests with about a little less than half the planet being covered in water. Most of said water could be found underground, plus the planet was friendly to most organic beings, living here certainly hadn’t been a problem for Rarity except for the one day she got dragged across the landscape to find out what her special talent was. That was back when she was a little filly and if she hadn’t remembered some things from some camping survival courses, then she probably very well would have died out there. She really didn’t like filth and muck, but at that point she had been covered in it before she was rescued and brought back to civilization with knowledge of what her special talent was. She could have easily gone into helping mining operations on asteroids or planets rich in mineral deposits; instead she was going to carve her own path through space and growing up on this peaceful if rather slightly backwater planet with exceptionally good educational systems was the way to go about it. It was hard enough making money to buy the ship she was going to finalize the purchase on and she couldn’t be late; it paid to be punctual after all and if she could avoid her parents the better the outcome would be. Taking care of Sweetie Belle for the first three years of her little sisters life, including changing her diapers and feeding her, left Rarity with a pretty good idea of how to raise a foal if a little strapped for intergalactic cash. Her parents only took her sister for three months before dropping Sweetie back on her for six more months after those three years, it seemed to be alternating thing leaving her doing most of the work. It was bad enough that Sweetie had called her ‘mom’ more than once until she was old enough to understand that Rarity was in fact her older sibling, especially when it was Rarity paying to put her through school when she turned six so she may as well have been her mom. She was going to force her parents to take responsibility for her little sister as she wanted to be free to pursue own her dreams without anyone getting in her way. Rarity really did love her parents and little sister, but her parents were being really lazy ponies when it came to her little sister by always gallivanting about in vacation spots throughout the various systems. Rarity loved her family dearly, but she currently really wanted to get away from them for a few years. Rarity looked at the few intelligent species she recognized as she passed by them heading into the spaceport, some looked like cats, others kangaroos and there was even this one species that looked like almost exactly like a bipedal goat with wings walking along with a pink earth pony talking about something. It wasn’t as weird as say the three legged one eyed spider creature following them. Shaking her head, Rarity had to meet up with her contact and get this deal finalized quickly before her parents could arrive and find her escaping them. She was going to do a lot of traveling and that wasn’t a stable life for little Sweetie Belle, even if her sister loved her greatly this was a time when she was actually willing to be selfish. She pulled a mirror out of her saddlebags to check her makeup, nodding with satisfaction that she was still the epitome of her own strange standards of beauty as she would soon move on to meet her contact in hangar bay three. Walking along the crowded spaceport towards the hangar bay calmly and with an air of giddiness to her, Rarity was about to purchase her ship, load up the cargo that was going to be delivered soon and begin her journey to shine across the universe. What did she want to do? She wanted to design dresses and clothing for any race and would eventually be able to do custom jobs for any species she came across that could afford her low prices for anything from the rarities she could make to the simple and plain that could keep her afloat when business was not doing so hot. She would also design fancy and functional space suits as a business mare and an entrepreneur jumping hooves first into the world of the galactic fashion designer. Being a unicorn Rarity was capable of performing feats of magic through using her horn as a focus; she wasn’t very strong with her magic and couldn’t really lift heavy objects. What she was magically capable of however was levitating many small objects, finding gems in the ground or asteroids by getting a mental picture of where they were, lighting up an area and the usual unicorn defense method of firing bolts of magic in the form of missiles. Rarity’s magic missiles were only strong enough to stun, but it was good enough to scare off a ruffian or two that tried to accost her in the past and she could honestly defend herself with just her horn if she had to. Magic wasn’t the only method of defense in the universe, there were also psychic of varying powers, technologically gifted individuals and many strange natural biological powers that many other intelligent species had. Psychics were the notable ones that were always powerful, but they had a limit when it came to doing things compared to the magic a unicorn could do if given enough time and practice. Even then sometimes all the power in the universe couldn’t save you from being shot by an energy pistol. What Rarity was doing with her magic right now was pulling out her informational data pad as she trotted along, as the name suggests it was compact computer system that could have many things on it. In particular Rarity had been through a do it yourself course on making AI’s and her slightly catty AI popped up on the small screen. AI came in various flavors; the one Rarity made was capable of learning and had every kind of rampancy protection and firewall you could imagine. One firewall in particular was almost impossible to break unless you had Rarity’s very particular one of a kind magical frequency. Since she was Rarity and not in fact an impostor, the screen swiftly popped to life. “Rarity my dear Meowstress, did you let your head get caught in the clouds again? Your starting to fall behind schedule, didn’t you say we needed to be off this planet within the hour before your parents can pawn your little sister off on you again? Goodness knows you don’t want her getting under your hooves and tripping you up on your deals now would you? Now that we’re here I’m already taking in the cargo manifest via communications, everything seems to be in order for the delivery. All we need to do is talk to the owner of the ship and get it hoofed over to us and then load up the ship when the delivery gets here.” A voice mewled; it was Rarity’s AI which sounded vaguely upset that Rarity was running even a few seconds late. The AI’s avatar on the screen was a white bipedal cat with a black paw print on her chest, she had crystal blue eyes matching the color of her creator’s own eyes and long streaming pink hair tied up in two pigtails hanging down her back. She perked up her ears and narrowed her slit pupils at Rarity as she pawed at one of her flowing pigtails. “Are you sure the ship doesn’t need weapons Rarity? I know we’re getting a good deal on it by letting the owner keep the weapons and two drones, but I can’t help but be worried that just having shields and two diagnostics and repair CATs alone won’t cut it out there. It doesn’t seem like a good idea to go around in an unarmed ship, especially one that you’re going to try and become well known on. You’re just asking for trouble because someone is bound to find out that you’re dumping a lot of money into this venture and will come looking for a big payoff.” Capable Assistance Technology looked like oval drones with two upraised fins and can be modified for a number of various functions some among which can be vital ship repair. The CATs mentioned in particular were made with two small manipulator arms, powerful multipurpose scanners and they had no weapons aside from welding torches for structural repair purposes. They can be manually operated, remotely controlled by Rarity’s AI or allowed to run on their own automated less than intelligent programming. “You worry too much Opal, we’re making a short hop into the next system and there haven’t been very many pirate attacks in the Verpo System in the last five years. I’ll get some defenses when we have the money for it.” Rarity was sure that such a short trip wouldn’t be a problem, especially if she could avoid her parents attempt at making her take her sister with her today. Goodness knows what kind of trouble Sweetie Belle could get into if she ended up along for the ride; Verpo was such a peaceful system like the Equon System which was home system to ponies and various other species that came from the planet of Equus. The Verpo System was not a place to make the right kind of connections Rarity wanted to have and thus she was looking to start small in the next system over. “Why it should be perfectly… “ Someone among the many loitering intelligent and alien creatures slammed into her and she was knocked off her hooves by the force of the impact by a tall figure that fell over as well dropping a lot of stuff. The tall figure was quickly up on her feet and looking apologetic. “Oh no, I’m so sorry miss!” Looking at the being that ran into her Rarity could see that it was a blue colored dragoness with rose colored eyes, dragons came in various shapes in sizes this was obviously a biped dragon from her home system of Equon. They were fire breathing leathery winged creatures of incredible strength and fortitude, this one in particular was friendly by the way she held her claw out to help Rarity up before she started picking up her own things. It showed that this dragon cared more about causing an incident with her and was not particularly aggressive, unlike the rest of her species which were mostly if not extremely omnivorous then highly carnivorous. “No, no, let me help you with this, I’m Rarity Belle. It’s my fault I’m sorry for not watching where I was going.” Rarity started to levitated things back into the dragons grasp for her to put away. The dragon blushed while rubbing at one of the horns poking out from the side of her head… or were they tusks? Looking to the rest of her body she could see that she was wearing gold colored armor that looked to be space capable. “Excuse me for asking, but what is a bounty hunter doing here of all places? I assume that’s what you are. Nothing horribly violent has happened on Desserzon in quite some time.” “Yes, I guess you could say I am. I’m looking for a group here, apparently pirate activity around this sector has increased by quite a bit and I just recently arrived looking for trouble. Are you a local? I’m Ember McFlame, but a lot of people just call me Flamethrower.” Ember didn’t particularly seem to like that title judging by tone of her voice, even if it seemed a relatively apt one given that she was a dragon who just took back her large rectangular rifle that Rarity had problems levitating. “I really don’t like that nickname, but it’s accurate nonetheless.” The rifle in question was heavy and bulky dangerous looking material rifle, but it’s owner didn’t seem the aggressive sort like Dragons usually were or was Rarity just stereotyping them now? The rifle had two nozzles. The upper nozzle was obviously for shooting materials and the second one smelled of chemicals that Rarity found horrid to her nose, but it definitely smelled of some kind of accelerant. “Well I have been here for quite a few years yes, but I was originally born on Equus before moving to Desserzon here in the Verpo System.” Rarity figured she had some time to stop and chat with such a strange individual, dragons hardly ever left Equus and it was curious to see one here of all places. “Rarity…” Opal started only for Rarity to look at her data pad with an eyebrow delicately raised. “Meowstress you have five minutes to get to hangar three; I’m already contacting the owner and telling him you’re being held up by a mercenary for questioning.” “I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a mercenary, just someone who needs to eat gems to live and I guess doing odd jobs does kind of make me one. Also running into you was entirely my fault! I guess you can you can figure out that I too was born on Equus and it’s nice to meet someone from the home world.” Ember’s armored tail shifted about nervously on the floor a bit; she was being quite shy and friendly for a dragon. She fiddled with her claws for a bit while trying not to drop her stuff. “Anyway, have you seen a large number of Pendaxons around here?” “Well I just saw a rather rude one moving down the southern street leading up to the spaceport, but I haven’t seen many others around aside from that one.” Rarity received a brightened look of glee from the dragon. “Is what I said of some importance to you?” “It might be and I’d like to think so. Might have been one of the space pirates I’m hunting for. Anyway are you going to be around later?” Ember was rubbing at the dark blue spines on her head looking rather sheepish. “I would like to get to know you better as you seem like a nice pony that doesn’t look at me and immediately think voracious horrific fire breathing monster of death and destruction.” “Sorry, no, I’m about to head for the Quia System to planet Ewesen to meet up with a friend, I’m currently here to finish buying a ship and inspect it before I take off. Now if you’ll excuse me and my digital companion.” Rarity moved on past the dragon towards Hangar three and went through the doorway. Ember looked back at Rarity sadly while watching her flanks sway as she trotted off; there was a faint blush on the dragon’s cheeks. She found Rarity to be quite a beautiful and attractive pony; the cutie mark was especially nice to look at. Shaking her head, Ember shouldered her rifle and made for the southern exit as she had a job to do and she just got a lead to follow up on. - “Glad to see you’re still punctual, I hope that the mercenary didn’t give you too much trouble Rarity.” The suave sounding voice came from the most unlikely of places, it was a two armed neon orange slug creature known as a Plurt. This particular Plurt was Ragiror Gitonir who was selling Rarity a five room one deck ship and his two eyes stalks seemed to be a bit worried about the pony. Plurts were always relatively pacifistic in nature and friendly; they were especially friendly with ponies and would rather avoid fights if they could. When they couldn’t, they used their wits to get away or gain victory without incurring friendly casualties to the best of their abilities and usually had a high enough IQ to do it. Plurts were always great starship captains when it came to crew safety and survivability. “Oh it’s no real problem at all Mr. Gitonir, she was just asking for directions to look in.” Rarity kept her tone lukewarm and pleasant, even if she didn’t particular like being near stickier looking races of the universe. She was generally alright with Plurts for their personalities, but never would she stop feeling repulsed by their jiggling forms. Ragiror was already quite aware that she was repulsed by his physical appearance and he didn’t take any offense because of it. Rarity was willing to overcome her distaste for his outward form and do business with him; as such he was willing to be friends with her for paying more attention to his inner beauty and sparkling personality as he was quite the gentleman. “Opal if you will please finish the purchase with a transfer of funds and Mr. Gitonir if you’ll finalize the transfer of ownership to me. Then I believe we can take the ship.” Through various interactions Rarity had learned Mr. Gitonir was a professional ship salvager and was paid to tow in derelicts that lost their crews to various things. He had plenty of horror stories to tell about ship devouring biological matter, dangerous creatures that snuck onboard a ship to devour a whole crew or even machines going crazy and running amok. Those were the stories of Sifter Drifters, the things that left ships adrift in space waiting for the unwary dumb enough to board them without caution or care. In particular the ship Rarity was buying was a Hopper G-47, which was known as The Bobber. What eventually finished off its small crew compliment? Well the previous owner died of a three hearts having an attack at the same time and he had been getting on in years for his species anyway, Ragiror gave that mans final message to the rest of his family and they gave him rights to this small one floor cargo ship that looked a bit like a heavy metal manta ray. The ship had one main corridor leading to five rooms and the ship itself was good enough to house eight people comfortably and twenty people would be making things a little tight. Why Rarity wanted it was because it had plenty of space for her to setup a workshop to make clothing as she traveled. The front of the ship had the bridge being one of the five rooms and the smallest at that, the left side frontal area had the living quarters and the front right side room had medical and bathing facilities. The back left side had the cargo space which was now being loaded by several large machines; the back right side was the drone maintenance and repair facility. Aside from the cargo bay at the back left rear of the ship, the ship had four airlocks. Two branching corridors off from the main corridor at the center of the ship between the front three and the rear two rooms that opened at the left or right side of the ship. The bridge had its own airlocks which could only be opened, vented or even used in emergencies. Aside from all these specifications, the ship had one escape pod that could seat eight people of smaller species that was launched from the rear of the ship and could be quickly accessed from the bridge through the use of a small tunnel underneath the main corridor. The main corridor itself had three small personal bathrooms, plus every room also had one bathroom except for the main medical and bathing one which had several. Toilets were definitely a thing in space, it was a good thing someone invented artificial gravity generators. “Well it’s yours now. Its space worthy, fully fueled with completely charged shields and the computers have been cleaned for your AI’s insertion. It could use a new coat of paint and some weapons, otherwise it is certainly a fixer upper on the inside, but I assure you all the facilities are in working condition. It could also use a new name.” The slug tapped at his own data pad and nodded to Rarity who got a confirmation of ownership that was sent out to local authorities and beyond. “The CATs that came with your purchase are already in the maintenance facility and are also ready to use. Are you sure you don’t have any money for the weapons? I’d feel horrible if something were to happen to you Ms. Belle.” “No sir, this is the best I could afford and not become completely broke. Opal, confirm access to the CATs and have them run a full external scan before doing an internal scan while you perform a full systems diagnostics please.” They heard several doors opening in the ship and two oval shapes with upraised triangular fins floated out, they took up positions and slowly circled the ship as Rarity turned to the slug creature with a smile. “Thank you so very much for doing business with me good sir, don’t worry I’m sure I’ll be perfectly fine since I can put more power into the shields. I’ll call it The Caravel Boutique.” “Thank you as well for your purchase Ms. Belle.” The slug creature bowed to Rarity and then started to slither away leaving Rarity to turn to her ship The Caravel Boutique. “I hope we can do business again; if you need another ship, repairs for your current one, maintenance or just a little advice about something, just give me a call!” “I guess it’s a start, right Opal?” Rarity didn’t think the brown color scheme of the ship really suited her, but she could get it painted later to fit her unique expectations as otherwise it was perfect. “Of course Rarity, but I don’t think it’s up to our full standards yet Meowstress. In any case I’m lowering the left side ramp. It’s time for you to take a tour of our ship and start launch preparations; I’m already contacting traffic control for exit vector.” Opal smiled up at Rarity as the left airlock side opened and produced a small ramp for Rarity to walk up, she wasn’t about to enter her ship through the cargo bay as it just wasn’t proper. “Now please get in me you beautiful pony with your hair well styled, your makeup expertly applied and the universe calling out to become the fish at the end our pole… or is it the universe will be our oyster? Pearls aren’t really that great are they, considering how little market there is for them on a universal scale.” Rarity rolled her eyes while smiling at her AI’s odd form of flattery as she trotted calmly up the ramp. She was promptly followed up the ramp by the two CAT drones into the airlock that soon closed the door on her time on the planet of Desserzon in the Verpo System. Author's Note The Romance tag will not be used very much until some point after seven chapters in and it will be used sparingly at the start. The Sci-Fi tag will be in constant effect, as will the explanation behind most of the technology used. The Adventure tag is used since space is hardly a place for a Slife-of-Life setting. Unless you can make fighting off being boarded by invaders into something resembling a slice-of-life moment, which would be to a rather humorous effect. The difference between Dark and Horror is that horror is intentionally horrifying. As such the Dark tag is mostly for the brutal and violent methods of dealing with problems or the problems dealing with the violent and brutal methods. The Alternate Universe tag is easily the most common tag that can pop up in stories, this universe is definitely alternate by an extreme given that ponies are already living among various species of aliens. The Gore tag, it will be used plenty of times. Whether not it is overly disgustingly detailed or it is simply glossed over as 'it happened' is to be decided. Characters. Rarity - Main Character, will try to stay true to her generous giving nature and will hopefully show why it's a bad idea to have a generous giving nature. Queen Chrysalis - Will take a while to appear, but she's not actually doing anything you'd expect her to be doing in a story with a dark or romance tag. Gilda - Will appear soon enough. Coco - Don't ask. Ember - Has some issues to work through. Other - Plenty of them. OC's? - Yes, but not highly focused.
-9-Rarity quickly jerked awake to find out that she was in a comfy place, safely in a bed. In her hooves she felt something soft and warm. Taking a moment light her horn and pull her sleeping mask off she looked down at the little plush toy she had, it was of princess of the night Luna and she smiled. Shaking her head and setting aside the doll, she reached up with a hoof and hit a button. Her bed sheets were covered in sweat and they looked a bit tangled from the tossing and turning that was caused by the recent nightmare she had about the Xouj. Celestia and Luna the two rulers of the Pony race, the ones who controlled their systems movements through the use of the sun and moon respectively. They were both alicorns, ponies of wings, horns and powers of the earth. In general the two had a beauty about them that equally attracted both mares and stallions to them, though Rarity had always liked Luna for her rather unique personality and for aiding all ponies as they slept no matter where they were. At least Luna’s dream powers were not limited to the Equon System itself. “Opal I’m awake dear, I’m about to get out of bed and start my first day of real work my way to the top. Is Coco sleeping or is she up and about?” It wasn’t that Rarity hadn’t worked a day in her life; it was just that it was now her own business that she was working for. Bussing tables had been relatively easy and she didn’t get too many rowdy customers, plus working as a waitress did have the advantage of getting you to meet new people for making connections. Her last job helped pay for Sweetie Belle quite well when it came to charming tips out of customers, it helped that she learned how to handle people with tact. “I’m also beginning to miss Sweetie Belle, so please have a CAT waiting to slap some sense into me. Just don’t damage my face… body and or anything else with the slap; I don’t mind getting a little bit mussed up. I’m going to take a shower anyway.” With a tug Rarity slid her bed out of the wall of the living quarters and stretched out her spine. She gracefully rolled her way onto her hooves and flicked her magic to grab a bag, her wakeup ritual was about to begin. First was an inspection of looking in a mirror before she did anything. As expected, she just looked like she woke up and rolled off the wrong side of her bed. A wry snort came at the sight in the mirror; this was before she really got going as she held herself up to looking absolutely perfect by her own standards. A CAT floated over to Rarity, who looked at it curiously as it produced one manipulator arm that lightly slapped her across the face before leaving. “You’re welcome by the way. Anyway you know Coco is an earth pony and they do love to get started early when they don’t work themselves to death… sorry Coco, Rarity’s awake and she was wondering what you’re doing. The answer is she’s working on more impulse saddles to attach to the EVA suits. It is currently six in the afternoon of the planets twenty eight hour days; the gravity is still one to one based on pony standards, plus the atmosphere is the freshest you can get. So do you want me to pipe some air in when you need to dry off?” Opal popped up on Rarity’s data pad the moment the mare turned it on, she had her paws behind her head in a reclining position with a friendly smile upon her face. “Other than that you have no new messages Meowstress Rarity, but I have been putting up some advertisements for the locals. We have been getting a few people interested in your business, but not much in the way of orders. The advertisements for made to order high end civilian grade EVA suits is getting some interest, we’re just not well known enough to make a big pull in customers for the price of the suits to make up for all the materials that goes into making them. However we do have a few orders for clothing, surprisingly three are from Parascine with nothing defined as to what their order was, two from Ponies and one from a Cacceran.” “Well Parascine are quite common here. Give me a rundown of what they all want while I shower and get myself in order. Though I’m guessing the Cacceran wants something in the terms of incredibly sturdy, the ponies probably want dresses, eveningwear or something along the lines of… lingerie. As for the Parascine I have no clue what kind of clothing they would want from me, but I will try to accommodate them to the best of my abilities.” As Rarity stepped into the shower, she gave off a happy sigh as the warm water started running down her back. It was good to hear that Caravel Boutique even has as many customers as it did; Rarity would have to eventually make connections to get higher on the social ladder to make more money and to keep the quality materials she used stocked. As such everyone had to start somewhere and Rarity wasn’t turning away any customers no matter their status unless it was apparent that they were of the worst sort. - A Cacceran looked like any cross between a rabbit, fox and cat at three to four feet in height and were omnivorous leaning carnivorous. They are able to move as a biped or quadruped with ease and are not particular fast or acrobatic, they are actually puny in physical strength, decent at technology and being decently cunning they made for exceptional lawyers. One thing you should never let this species do is let them alter any laws in your society. This was a species that once tried to invade the planet of Equus, though they failed miserably their race earned the moniker ‘bunny eared lawyers’. Cacceran invasion were quite subtle ones; the species have managed to topple multiple empires using their methods. Fortunately nobody on Equus fell for what they tried to do. Instead of going to outright war for an invasion, the Caccerans did something rather unique. They tried to endear themselves to the ones that they were invading. Caccerans would take all the worst and most unforgiving jobs that nobody liked doing at wages that made things barely livable for them. Given a Cacceran invasion was in it for the long term, they did those jobs without question until the species they subtly invaded forgot how to do those small jobs or had left them all for the Caccerans to do. When they were ready on one particular set day, the Caccerans would stop doing all those jobs that keeps the structure of society held together all at once. It was a rather demented form of starting a world destroying workers union; they usually did it to wreck the economy of their current hosts. Given they put themselves into the situation, all they had to do was make a united complaint worldwide about poor compensation compared to work conditions. They’d always have a lot of support since they’d always have a good point to make, because they set it up to happen that way. In essence pony nobles may snub a garbage pony, but those ponies could find out all their secrets by rummaging through their garbage without question and could blackmail said nobles if they wanted to. A maid could overhear things they weren’t meant to, they could have information that not many others could get a hold of and all they had to do was silently perform their duties no matter how horrible the person they worked for was. Any job that was close to thankless and harsh like that usually attracted a Cacceran as they liked a challenge; they fought wars with crippling knowledge and politics instead of strength or raw power. The Caccerans however didn’t account for multiple things about all the races of Equus when they invaded. Of the things they didn’t account for, a major one was racial traits such as cutie marks, stubbornness to do those jobs themselves or just plain aggressiveness of a particular species to not let anyone undermine them. What was worse is the Caccerans couldn’t even get a good set up going because a species known as Changelings already had a monopoly on doing crap jobs for love and some minor compensation already. Plus the Changelings were already unionized and they liked the way things were, so the Caccerans couldn’t even gain a foothold into any society on Equus. One small noted thing about the Cacceran people, they were highly susceptible to being absorbed into other cultures and going completely native. It was an odd way for them to keep their species alive by becoming symbiotic like a remora to a shark; usually this occurs after a failed invasion. Changelings were pony like bug race that had hives and the like, they fed on love and sometimes other positive emotions like friendship. They had jagged looking horns, insect style wings, fur covered carapaces and legs with holes in them. They had forked tongues and in general had large solid colored eyes with no pupils. After an incident involving Celestia and Luna, the Changeling race decided to join pony society of its own volition after surrendering to the two princesses. They had a special talent for hiding in plain sight given they can change their forms and appearances to look like anything or anyone within reason; they excelled at being spies and or performing counter intelligence actions. It wasn’t a surprise that they didn’t like the Caccerans trying to mess with their incredibly stable source of food or stealing their jobs. Due in part to the widespread use of life sign scanners that can detect what the life sign is if it is a known capacity, Changelings have had a harder time disguising themselves as other beings and getting away with it. - “So let me get this straight, the Cacceran is male and wants a dress and an EVA suit with all the current options I have at my disposal? Well I’m not going to question his need for an EVA suit, but the dress is kind of an odd thing. We’ll need to go into detail over what he wants exactly when we meet.” Shaking her head Rarity sat down to brush her mane and then went on to comb it into shape where it was expertly coiffed. If the guy wanted to wear a dress, who was she to judge really? At least the two ponies seemed normal enough in what they wanted; they seemed to be a popular pair and wanted something for a nice outing. “The ponies assuredly won’t be a problem. As for the Parascine, are you sure they just wish to meet me personally about the order they want? I can already tell that order is going to be an interesting one; do you have everyone scheduled after Sassy?” “Well of course I do, Sassy is coming over in the next thirty minutes so I’m preparing something to fill your elegant stomach with for a bit Meowstress. The other people who placed orders are coming tomorrow and I’m giving you plenty of time between them to do your work. We need a lot more orders to make enough money to pay for the jump module and we also have to get back to Geoptis within the week, if we want to keep the claim going.” Opal nodded to herself with her eyes closed as Rarity finished styling her tail. “Aside from buying basic supplies such as food, fluids, toiletries and the like, we might want to look into arming Caravel Boutiques four turret ports or look into getting a new escape pod. This ship is starting to get a bit expensive, good thing I double as an accountant. We need to set up a sell of at least thirty more EVA suits or one hundred and thirty seven moderately priced items of clothing to even meet all these expenses, at that point we’d just be flat broke. You’re not likely to become rich in the next few years at this rate.” “I’m certainly glad to have added that function to you Opal, where would I be without you? Have you made any headway into making contact with Flutter Shy or her friend Tree Hugger?” As Rarity asked this she left the medical and cleansing room to head towards the cargo hold where she had her work station set up. “Getting abused by pirates, gasping for air and slowly dying from whiplash wounds or getting eaten by monsters on what was mostly a ghost ship. Yes, I know you were speaking rhetorically, no need to give me that look.” Opal grinned cheekily at Rarity’s angry glare. “I managed to contact Tree Hugger, let’s just say there’s something about her that’s really weird, like she’s super weird! She kept calling me Guardian Soul and gave me a contact for a pony that can help you and Coco out. I did a background search and she’s a SNUGGLES member, unfortunately that’s as much as I got because she doesn’t have much else on her aside from excellent service at spas. Her name is Vera Blossom, a young earth pony mare, for some reason her school records are incomplete and her birth certificate seems nonexistent. It’s like the information on her jumped into a void aside from her membership at SNUGGLES which also doesn’t say much. She’s reputable or at least I think she is, no outstanding warrants or any criminal charges to speak of ever, which is just as strange. It’s like she’s a spook, then again I am only using legally gained information. Do you want me to see if she is currently available to come over? You weren’t exactly sleeping very well there.” The earth pony mare popped up on the data pads screen, as Rarity entered the cargo slash workshop room and saw Coco working on an impulse saddle. On the screen was a mare with rich silky purple hair and an off white coat like Coco’s, her cutie mark was a of a pink lotus flower blossoming and that was about it. “Yes, call this Vera and tell her to come over at her convenience. That’s about all I need for now Opal, when I need a reminder about something please be sure to grab my attention.” Rarity turned to a noise to see Coco sighing happily as she put the finished impulse saddle off to the side. “Already working on the impulse saddles Coco?” “Yes ma’am, I want to get started on this right away. It would be a bit hard to make them any smaller than the ones you’ve already used, so this is the standard size I can make them at. Besides we’re always going to need spares just in case.” It was nice to see Coco already being productive; she held her hoof out to the saddle she was working on a few seconds ago. “I just finished this one, now we’ve got about seven of them in total. They are not easy to make, but they are easy to attach and detach. My special talent is in hats, accessories and making things that go on top of other things after all. This ship is really nice Rarity, good beds, working medical and wash room, stocked kitchen and your work area in here. We could even lower the ramp and set up shop from it. I know this is going to sound odd; the multiple working well cleaned toilets is the best part of it all! You would not believe how hard that is to find convenience like that in space.” “I’m the one that has to clean them with the CATs, so don’t you dare clog them up on purpose!” Opal had to be the one to keep things clean, mostly because Rarity didn’t like to get her hooves dirty. “Well I’m glad you like it Coco, but right now I was wondering if you’d be able to help with stirring up customers?” Rarity’s stomach grumbled and she winced slightly. “Pardon my stomach darling; I’m a bit hungry after having a nice long rest.” “Doesn’t bother me, but I wouldn’t know how to go about drumming up business. We’re accepting all kinds of odd clientele right? I’m sure business will pick up after we get a few of our wares out there. Nice choice of fabric colors and you certainly don’t skimp on the quality of anything.” With a bright cheerful smile Coco threw her hooves into the air. “I’m going to love working for you Miss Belle!” “No, no, no, that won’t do at all dear; you’re working with me, not for me!” It was Rarity’s insistence that made Coco smile all the brighter. She wasn’t about to ask Coco for money, but she could mention that she needed a little financial help. “Anyway the reason I asked is that we need some funds for a lot of things, I’m kind of lacking in them and we’re going to need a lot of it if we’re going get anywhere. I would rather earn my funds than ask you for it, but if you feel like aiding me monetarily then do so by asking me about it first so we don’t waste it any on frivolous things.” - Outside the system in deep space a massive ball of glowing flesh slowly approached the Quia System and it was on a trajectory for Ewesen, it radiated enough heat and atmosphere to prevent it from freezing in deep space. A team of small scout ships from the Planetary Protection Patrol managed to catch sight of it. “OH GODDESSES! We have to call Geoptis Station, we’ve got a situation!” The scout ships started flying away as fast as they could go, there were some things in space that were quite horrifying and those things could travel. - “What! Are you telling me that thanks to those jokers who were paid off to let the Ceantir onto Ewesen, our system wide sensor net was ruined just enough that we wouldn’t have detected that thing coming? Our scanners were made to detect those kinds of threats long before they could get this close, this is unbelievable!” Lirutiy slapped her hands onto the table and looked at the officers around her; they suddenly had all their attentions on her. The Plurt had looked rather worried as she came away from the console. Turning to her fellow officers Lirutiy had a grim look on her face; she then turned back to the console and set it to broadcast to every Planetary Protection Patrol ship around the space station. “All ships we’re going to red alert status, this is not a drill, we’ve got an invasion incoming. It’ll take the hostiles approximately four days to arrive at the rate they are moving, provided that they don’t start moving faster and we’re going to attempt an interception. The danger is a planet infester, MOM classification! Get all ships armed with heavy armaments, we need every fighter and ship available to break that thing up. We can’t let that thing hit Ewesen. All long range communications operators please call in backup; I want a dreadnought here like yesterday! Scout teams four, five and twelve, go to the neighboring systems and have them prepare for possible incursions.” Red lights started blaring and an alarm started running throughout the space station, things were going to get nasty soon and Lirutiy wasn’t about to abandon the planet to that thing. “I repeat we have an incoming MOM! All inactive duty officers are to get back to duty on the double, all current active officers prepare for the onslaught as it’s a pretty big one. We need all ships repaired, fueled and moving people!” MOM meant Mass Offensive Meteor, which was the accurate term for a meteor that was a living ball of flesh that carried enough monsters to infest an entire planet should it crash into it. Planet infesters were horrible to deal with and Lirutiy’s forces were almost caught with their pants down, which would have led to millions dying. Thankfully the redundancy of having space constantly patrolled with scouts helped to mitigate any loss of time had the tampered deep space scanners never picked it up. “Planet infester, MOM situation, I don’t need to be more specific than that to get your stuff in gear! I hate to say this, but we might even need to evacuate the planet.” - “Awesome, it looks like we’re finally getting some action around here.” Mr. Strag looked particularly ready to jump into things feet first. “I don’t think that’s exactly a good thing to be happy about you asshole, especially when a lot of people are going to die soon.” Gilda was in a better mood after Tree Hugger had left, she was never going to be okay around that mare. At least Paul Strag had the decency to immediately look cowed and upset about it. “I wonder how many fighter pilots are going to get shot down in the testing skirmish, those things are mobile fortresses. For the record Paul, I was actually starting to like your dumb ass.” “Planetary Protection Patrol can hopefully take care of it right? I mean they have a space station loaded with weaponry, a battleship, multiple carriers, a lot of destroyers and cruisers.” What was noticeable about Greta at this moment was that her wings were limp and she didn’t seem to particularly believe the casualties would be small. She had to agree with Gilda’s estimates, people were always going to die unless they were immortally young like Celestia and Luna. “I’m sure they can take care of it.” “If they can stop contemplating their navels in time, then yeah, that’s a maybe on the lower causalities. Even if they do succeed in fending it off, there is no doubt in my mind that any nearby space pirates will inevitably try to take advantage of the damage to the local fleet after they’ve dealt with the problem… that is if they even can. All those ships will inevitably incur some kind of damage.” As per her nature Gilda was being the downer of the two griffons. “If the MOM hits this station if it’s used to physically intercept it however, that’ll be worse for us personally. Nobody wants a MOM to hit a planet. Heck I’m willing to hijack a fighter to fly like a bat out of hell from that situation. What, it’ll have two seats Greta. Do you guys still use Javelin class fighters? They couldn’t have possibly become obsolete yet in the month or so we spent drifting in space.” - “Is the clingy underwear really necessary for an EVA suit?” Sassy looked at her rear end and the underwear that’s to seal off the orifices of her rear end. “Why of course darling, if a suit breach becomes bad enough then you’ll want your insides to stay insides. The helmet is made to be as reinforced as it can be and has extra breach gel and its own source of air. If the whole helmet is destroyed then the breach gel might create a bubble around your head.” Working on the EVA suit was calming and Rarity had everything in order so far. “I make sure that every orifice is completely sealed off from space to the best of my abilities. Can’t do much for exposure if the gel fails to work, but at least you’re not dying from the fact that you can’t clench said orifices tightly enough. Coco the connectors if you will. The suit could even theoretically work underwater.” “Wait, do you have a patent on this breach gel stuff? If so, then why aren’t you rich? This stuff is absolutely genius!” Sassy was staying still as the breach gel layer of the suit was being constructed. “Oh she has a patent; it’s just that it’s taking a while for them to finish testing it. Why Princess Luna is even seeing personally to it.” At least Coco knew that to be true, though why Luna hasn’t gotten back to Rarity about it was anyone’s guess. She passed over the connectors for the helmet and suit to Rarity who set about installing them so the helmet would lock into the suit, plus it would connect the impulse saddles air stores to the helmet. “I hope that they eventually get around to testing my patented impulse saddles.” - On Equus at this very moment a dark purple pony with wings, horn and a dark blue mane that had bright spots in it like stars in the sky at night was doing something really important, as that’s what alicorns are supposed to do. She was currently playing with a several rubbery balls; she was so distracted by it that she kept forgetting to sign off the testing as complete. Rarity and Coco would have been much richer by now if not for the childish antics of the moon princess who couldn’t stop playing with the breach gel. - “Well in any case we’re just about done here.” Continuing to install the connections and the collar of the suit that overlaps with the neck of the helmet, Rarity had just about finished making the suit when she heard a beeping noise. She’d finish off the suit with the skirt Sassy wanted. “Rarity, the soonest convenience for… darn it why is it so hard to pay attention to her, my scanners are right on her. Anyway I’m letting her in… who was she again? Oh right, it’s Vera.” The quickly dulling sound of Opal’s voice had Rarity slightly concerned that something was wrong with her favorite artificially intelligent being. “Please open up for her then and have her come in through the starboard airlock and run it through its paces as we haven’t used it yet; please direct her to me.” Rarity was checking the suit over looking for imperfections and anything she might have missed. “I’m just about done with Sassy’s EVA suit and I’m going to get started on her kimono since I have her measurements.” A curious mare walked into the room and was completely ignored by both Sassy and Coco, however Rarity turned to her immediately. “Hello there, you must be Vera Blossom right?” For some reason Rarity had caused the pony to look at her mystified as if she were some kind of dream, then the mare latched onto her and started crying. For some reason Coco and Sassy reacted to this as if it were an everyday thing and that had Rarity wondering what was going on. “Someone’s actually acknowledged that I walked into a room, I’m so happy!” Vera buried her face into Rarity’s neck and continued weeping. “You seem to be a bit disturbed, are you sure you’re a member of SNUGGLES?” It was worrying when you needed mental or physical help from someone who had mental issues worse than you. Then again there was that comfort that someone had it worse than her, so maybe that was this mare’s angle. “I… yes, I’m sorry, it’s just that I’m always being ignored. You have no idea how hard it is to keep getting repeatedly ignored by everyone except family, it’s hard to make a living and getting paid is a complete hassle!” Vera started roughly shaking Rarity while pointing to Sassy and Coco talking to each other. “I’m acting completely hysterical and they’re ignoring me like what I’m currently doing is completely normal! You actually looked at me as soon as I walked into a room. Please hire me for something, anything; I need to be around someone who can pay attention to me for more than a few seconds at a time!” What had Rarity gotten herself into by wanting someone to talk out her and Coco’s recently acquired psychological scars with? Author's Note Eh, this story isn't getting much interest is it, not to mention my chapter posting is random to at least once a week. Cacceran- Appearance is a random combination of rabbit, fox and cat, known for invading with crippling labor unions. They have a habit of altering laws in the society they invade to their complete advantage. Thanks to a combined efforts of Luna, Celestia and the changelings they failed to really invade any government of Equus.
-25-The Caravel Boutique had just entered space from the outer atmosphere of Ewesen and they immediately saw the heavily damaged fleet, the allied support from neighboring sectors of space and the damaged juggernaut of a space station itself Geoptis. Geoptis had taken a lot of damage wrecking one of the cores and letting it hit the outer hull. The highly damaged pockmarked half of the station had a now slightly smaller fleshy meteor chunk still sitting on it and the station was still blasting at it with whatever of its nearby turrets survived the crawling waves of monstrosities. The ship was on approach for the less damaged half of the stations as the surrounding backup fleets from the neighboring systems circled the surrounding space protectively. Of the four cities on the surface, Drixsto had been liberated second and as such Rarity was allowed clearance to leave. She however wasn’t going to be allowed back into any of those four affected cities until things were fully cleaned up and Ember was going to be involved with that for a while. Drixtsto hadn’t been completely cleared, but it was considered safe enough for civilians to walk the streets. The Triple P were going to launch bombing runs over the other two cities before letting ground forces comb them for survivors. “Open communications Opal, I want to know if we can dock with Geoptis Station. As I’m sure you know that we have some business to attend to.” At least it looked like Geoptis was mostly secured, judging by the activity going on around it. Rarity leaned back in her seat and considered what she was going to say about her two crew members that were rightfully arrested. “Right, hello who’s in authority right now? This is civilian ship Caravel Boutique, requesting docking clearance with Geoptis.” Opal dropped out sight on the screen and popped up with a headset which she held with a paw and gave a grin to Rarity’s smile. “Huh, oh hello there Officer Lirutiy or are you Commander Lirutiy? Right, that’s what we’re here for… okay and… Rarity we’re being granted permission to dock and they have several people watching where we’ll dock to make sure everything is clear. We’ll be docking soon, we’re being given the coordinates right now and I’m adjusting my flight path. It’s easy to say that Commander Lirutiy wants to personally talk with you, by the way are you taking your EVA suit?” “I don’t think I need it this time, plus it could use a few more washings or I could maybe make a whole new suit.” With a flick of her head, Rarity’s curled royal purple locks fell gently into place at the side of her face and she smiled a bit. “Although it wouldn’t hurt take my pistols with me, Opal you will be controlling CAT Uno and you’ll also be joining me Coco. Gabby you’re free to go wherever it is you need to take your package to, but don’t expect us to give you a ride you back to the surface.” “Of course I couldn’t expect any more or less for inconveniencing you the way I have. I mean the free ride is certainly going to give me more money to work with once I get paid for making this delivery and I feel kind of bad for taking advantage of you like this. How can I not feel like I’m taking advantage of you since you allowed me to hitchhike up here to deliver a package that was said to be needed ASAP, so if you ever need my services in the future just give me a call and I’ll make a delivery for you for free. I feel like I owe it to you! No really, you don’t have to say no and you did save my life so I really at least owe you one for helping me out so much.” Gabby seemed to bounce in place as she continued to gabber on like she usually does. Simply saying ‘thank you’ and ‘I owe you one’ would have been welcome, instead she just kept going on as if there was inertia to her beak and it had ice skates. “You’re a really good pony and you have really nice friends, so if you need a good honest courier remember me. Note that I do not take any packages that I do not know the contents of personally and will not make illegal deliveries. I’m a good griffon and I like to keep my beak clean, yes I do! I can haul up to three hundred pounds of goods so keep that in mind when fully utilizing my services. I might have to work as a gofer for a while, but I’m really good at that. I would know as being a gofer was and still somewhat is my job since I became a full on courier.” “M-m-me, are you sure you want me to go with you Rarity?” Coco started poking her two hooves together shyly as she looked at the floor. “Why yes Coco, why I even insist that you come with me darling. You simply must! You are my trusted partner and friend, this is an important meeting after all and it wouldn’t do for me to go alone to see about freeing up our incarcerated crew members.” Standing up and walking to the living area Rarity had Coco following her and they both walked in on Vera discussing something with Sassy on the exercise mat. “I’m not a mechanic and those two seem to be extraordinarily gifted for it. Besides I don’t want a malfunction like the one that gave me whiplash to be the death of you or any of our friends, I’m the captain and my top priority is the safety of the crew followed by the success of our business whatever that may be. I need to provide for everyone in my crew so that you are all willing to help me do my best at helping all of you; I should only be as successful as everyone else on the crew is no matter what we do.” “I’m willing to die for all of you…” Mumbled a slightly depressed Sassy who was currently underneath Vera, Sassy’s hair was notably styled slightly so that her long hair covered her facial scars and the half of her face they took up. She was still quite beautiful even with the scars and Rarity has even told her as much, but she didn’t ask for Rarity’s help with restyling her mane or hiding the scars. Sassy wanted to take care of her own appearance and accepted the hugs Rarity gave her even if she denied her assistance. “To the left and down a few degrees, am I really that stressed?” “I think Rarity would be happier if we all lived and enjoyed life while doing so Miss Saddles. Please try not to throw your life away like you don’t matter, because I’m beginning to see you as a friend as well. I like my friends among the living even if I’m going to be a spooky ghost to most of them.” It was Vera’s job to talk to Sassy and keep her from doing anything crazy; she had failed once and now she was going to try much harder to make up for it. She quickly pressured Sassy’s body with her hooves; this action was followed by loud popping noises and Sassy letting out a groan as she flopped against the mat in a boneless manner. “Yes, I’d say you were wound up tight and you need more comforting that Coco and Rarity just can’t provide because they stress you out like nothing else, mostly because you love them and your fear is getting the best of you. Also don’t think you’re alone in being the only one needing help! Even if she isn’t unstable Opal needs some psychiatric help, Rarity wouldn’t stop complaining about having to go into a sewer for you once you guys got back plus she’s stressed that you’re stressed, then there’s Coco who needs more confidence in herself and I might need a good stiff drink soon so I’m going to be the alcoholic of the group. You on the other hoof are unstable, yet you hide it so well. I’m going to make it my mission to help you whether you like it or not.” “That’s why I can’t take Sassy with me; Vera is quite busy with her as is. Grab what you think you need Coco and prepare to disembark. I’m sure we’ll meet an escort that will be adequate in taking care of us.” Rarity lifted her head and tilting it slightly looking into a mirror, she mostly studied her mane. It was perfection as far as she could tell. As for her tail however? She couldn’t meet Commander Lirutiy without combing it into shape to get the few loose hairs in line. Several gentle strokes of a comb later and she nodded at herself before she grabbed her saddlebags along with several of her things and saw that Coco had done the same. “Right then, if you’ll join us when we disembark I’m sure they will provide an escort for you as well Gabby.” Gabby nodded and clenched her beak, because she knew as soon as she opened it would start flapping and she’d start rambling inanely. She was quite aware of how annoying she could get, but she was curious about what Rarity’s meeting entailed and who her other crew members were. She didn’t want to pry. “Who are you’re other crew members? I thought that dragon might have been one, but nope definitely a bounty hunter that time and she has a sewer squid for a friend which is really neat! Speaking of friends, how come your friend over there looks like she’s getting a massage? I mean, is she? Because it’d be disturbing to think…” It was inevitable that Gabby would pry anyway, but she stopped speaking as she watched Rarity point to Vera and she became visible in the griffons eyes. Soon CAT Dos floated into the room and Rarity stopped pointing when it started to do so. “Okay, that is really neat, how did you get that mare to be invisible like that? Is she a ghost? Do ghosts really count as crew members? Wouldn’t a ghost count as a negative crew member? So wouldn’t the number of crew members be one less than it really should be? I can…” “Gabby, please be a dear and stop for a moment. I’m here to meet up with my other crew members, two of whom are currently being incarcerated for stealing a fighter and I don’t exactly know all the details quite yet. I hope to learn them soon enough though. I’m not sure if you know them, but they are Gilda Gottfrieda and Greta Gollenfer.” Seeing that the griffon was about to start jabbering on again Rarity quickly shoved her right hoof over Gabby’s beak quieting her before she could get started again. “You should let a lady finish talking before you start up again. Vera is not a ghost, she is a living breathing pony with the oddest affliction I’ve have ever come to know of. She is the crew’s therapist and is currently working with Sassy to get the kinks out of her system. Her affliction makes her very easy to forget or ignore, unless you happen to be touching her or pointing directly at her she’s rather quite hard to pay attention to.” “Tell me about, she’s by far the hardest crew member to keep track of.” Groused out an upset Opal who was having CAT Dos keep its manipulator arm constantly pointed at Vera to make sure she didn’t lose track of her. There was a sudden shuddering as the ship came to a stop, Opal had landed it gently. “By the way, we’ve landed and I guess the welcome wagon to Geoptis is already here, go out either airlock. We’re safely behind three atmosphere barriers, so that’s some nice protective redundancy there.” Shaking her head, Rarity ignored her AI’s commentary and had Coco and Gabby following her with CAT Uno taking up the rear. They were closer to the left airlock, so they took that one and made their way down into the hangar where two unicorn stallions and a heavily armed Minotaur were waiting. As they walked down the ramp to greet the escort Gabby started up again. “I know Greta and Gilda, those two are incredibly smart! Greta was the top of her class and Gilda… not so much; she’s a good pilot except for the fact that landing has always been a major problem for her. Gilda did get a mechanical engineering degree so she could build and pilot her own fighters. I think she’s aiming for making something that she can’t possibly feasibly crash in any way, shape or form. Gilda certainly has a good read of people’s characters and Greta was so into Gilda that she ignored every male that has ever tried to proposition her and didn’t give them the time of day much less look in the direction of any other Griffon, Pony, Minotaur, Cacceran, Human, Parascine or whatever other species as well. Heck I think Greta gave up riches, high standing and or tons of other stuff to just follow Gilda around like the cute sexually frustrated puppy that she is. Those aren’t my words; those were Gilda’s once upon a time. We’re old friends… well friends is not exactly the right word for what we were. I’m more of the nuisance that kept bugging them near constantly! They eventually warmed up to me, I think.” A lot of this stuff that Gabby was talking about was things Rarity already knew about, some of the things however were new to the unicorn now following the escort who just nodded and tried to ignore Gabby’s constantly flapping beak. “Anyway, Gilda was always so… tough is the word for it. She couldn’t attract or keep a mate if she tried; I think the problem was something about smelling too much like a pony? It’s funny that Greta attracts all kinds of male griffons despite the fact that she’s obviously gay, I think Gilda might be bisexual though I’m not entirely sure. Well it’s obvious enough with Greta if you watch her and Gilda interact with each other for a while. I’ve always been interested in their love life, but it apparently doesn’t exist. I swear Gilda is friend zoning Greta so hard, it even physically hurts to watch Greta keep throwing herself at someone who only grudgingly appreciates the effort. Maybe Gilda has her reasons, but I wouldn’t know them. Gilda got into all kinds of fights when she was younger and her best friend other than Greta was a pony named Rainbow Dash. I’ve always wondered if Gilda and Rainbow did certain things together given the pony smell thing that turned male griffons off around her. Greta was more my friend or far more tolerable of my personality at least, it’s really easy to make her feel cheerful. I can’t help but think that Greta’s cheerful nature filled me with sunshine as much as I did her! I mean they didn’t claw me to death and generally they didn’t bother ot make me leave them alone, so there was something about me that they must have liked as a friend. Aside from that not really many friends for me among the griffons and I haven’t seen those two in years. I wonder if they’ll be happy to see me, probably not because of how much I talk, jabber, gab, natter, prattle, blabber and chatter. The three of us used to be next door neighbors back in Griffonstone, oh we were the cutest chicks on the block and then we grew up to become respectable beautiful hens! Well technically I’m not fully grown yet, but I’m getting there so…” “Please for the sake of Titanium Bulwark’s sanity, shut up!” The massive bull was probably named Titanium Bulwark and he loomed over Gabby and looked down at her while clenching his big meaty fists. One of which was wrapped around a rocket launcher just in case they ran across a Vorager that was one of the remaining stragglers still causing problems on the station. As a Minotaur he was easily the most intimidating being around and his gruff deep booming voice certainly helped with that. “Titanium will not take much more of you!” Gabby successfully kept her beak closed after that, as did Rarity, Coco and Opal who did not want to antagonize the guy wielding a rocket launcher. Ember might be able to face tank a rocket blast or five, but they certainly couldn’t. Rarity quietly moved over to Gabby and gave her a friendly pat on the back; she had been more patient with Gabby than most people should even feasibly be and it cheered the griffon up slightly. - When they finally reached the safe zone Gabby had to go her separate way, as did the escort and Rarity’s team of three. The safe zone was assured protection and at the edge of it people from all races could be seen trying to piece their lives back together, showing an incredible amount of solidarity after such a horrible attack. “Well, see you later if at all. It’s a big universe and I’m all over the place all the time, so it was nice to meet you! Remember to call me if you ever hear I’m around and need my services.” Gabby wandered slightly off from the three and started to ask around for someone which made Rarity pause for a bit. “Hey, does anyone here know where I can find a Tree Hugger? I hope this package delivery isn’t a joke at my expense because it’s quite heavy and I need to deliver it to her.” That was the last Rarity’s away team heard from Gabby as they got too far away to hear her; they were too busy looking at all the internal damage that Geoptis had sustained by the MOM ground forces managing to bust into the grand space station. There were still a lot of tall sturdy buildings standing, but rarely were any of the ones they had passed undamaged as they made their way towards the local Planetary Protection Patrol HQ. There were also a few bodies buried under rubble or a few chunks of some unfortunate soul staining the street, along with a lot of dried blood, it was better not to consider what had happened to the less fortunate of which there was many. Overall the insides of the station held up pretty well and the city was mostly fine compared to the massive amounts of damage the outer hull took, it was still safe to say that Geoptis would need a lot of repairs. “It’s really awful; the people of Ewesen didn’t deserve this. What am I saying? I’ve lived on Ewesen for a long time and now…” Coco lamented the fact that she was starting to think of the Caravel Boutique as home, she was going to miss the slightly tropical lake planet. “So many people died and you could hardly even save Sassy, I didn’t do anything during this mess.” “You survived and I’m quite happy that you are still around Coco.” Wrapping her left hoof around the meek pony, Rarity gave her a gentle friendly nuzzle before quickly letting her go. She didn’t want Coco getting the wrong idea, but she still wanted to be affectionate. “Now come on then, let’s not dally. This is not one thing I’m willing to be fashionably late on. Besides, it could have been far worse from what we heard. Had one of those nasty cores landed on Ewesen intact, it would have had a quarter of the planet covered in monster in less than a month. All we can really do is mourn the fallen and move on with our lives.” “That’s a pragmatic way to look at it Rarity, if it had been one of our friends that died would you have been able to move on?” Coco was mostly asking out of thought of how much Rarity cared about her and the others. “Not as easily I admit. I would have felt quite horrid for a while if the deaths were more personal and meaningful to me, but I’m not one to pine away over a significant loss as to have my very soul painfully ripped from me. Yes I consider your friendship to mean that much to me, even Sassy’s and the others. I went through a sewer for Sassy and don’t think I wouldn’t do the same for you if you were in as much danger as well! I would rather continue to live in the memory of the friends I lose and could do nothing for; I would do everyone proud by continuing to live life how I want to and in everyone’s memory.” Sighing as they walked up to the building Rarity continued to think of how she would have reacted had Sassy fully bled out. It wasn’t a pretty thought and Rarity knew pretty, beautiful and extravagant. “You know I hold my appearance, our business and myself personally to ridiculously high standards, but if any of those things were to endanger my friends… then I will just have to say all bets are off as to what I won’t do. I may like the idea of making my appearance something worthy of being idolized wherever I go and want to make a name for myself, but not at the expense of my friend’s darling.” “Just reaffirming the fact that there’s a reason why I like you as a friend.” Coco needn’t to worry about Rarity becoming entirely cold or callous; if anything she was more emotional than ever and wasn’t letting the death and destruction they were currently surrounded by get to her. She idolized Rarity not for her appearance and outward demeanor, but for her generosity and the encompassing inner beauty. Said generosity was about to be quite detrimental to their living conditions, but coco cared little about any of the downsides as long as their friendship stayed true. - “As you can see you’re crew members stole a fighter, which is punishable in a lot of ways. First off I’m going to make you watch what we have of everything leading to us being here.” Lirutiy was in control of the situation and sounded particularly stiff in how she spoke. She had the attentions of five beings, if you counted Opal’s control of CAT Uno as the fifth. “Then I’m going to tell you the punishment that these two will be receiving and whether or not they will walk away from this building with you depends on your actions.” Rarity sat with Gilda, Greta and Coco, while Uno floated off to the side, they were in one of the few rooms that looked entirely normal and completely undamaged. Despite their being various claw marks and bits of Ant Heads littering the hallways on the way to this room, it looked positively pristine. Rarity appreciated that much at least. Things went about as well as could be expected on screen. It showed Gilda and Greta boarding the ship and went from there, the missed Greta hotwiring the ship but she had already confessed about doing so in order to make the shields even somewhat viable on top of hotwiring a Javelin fighter. What followed was an easy if short sortie over Geoptis’s hull that had the griffons making several passes before joining Femur squadron on the attack run of the remaining core with several other squadrons. What followed was Gilda breaking off with Entrencher squadron and hitting the flesh ball with a lot of explosives before it opened up revealing its true nature. After getting through the Shamroid wave with a few hits and losing the shield, the scene following that was quite gripping for Rarity as Gilda barely ejects the shell of the Javelin and got out of the way of three devastators going off at once. After that things proceeded with Gilda’s plan to burn off heat to help the heat sinks get back in order, which was done by pushing a lot of energy through the shell decoupling system to redirect all the heat out of the heat sinks. Following that was Greta’s act of popping her canopy open and gunning down the Vasp that were still getting their bearings and quickly used the magnetic grips on her EVA suit to fix a few things along what was left of the fighter. What followed after was Greta swiftly getting back into her seat and then Gilda making the Javelin stop its random tumbling to start falling that much slower until it evened out and flew towards the ground at a slow pace. It culminated in what was an almost good landing that actually ended up going wrong quickly leading to Gilda’s arm being in a Bio Cast and shattering the canopy with her body. “Yeah, I’m not going to live that landing down.” Gilda rubbed idly at the Bio Cast around her limb. “At least I landed it in a semi working condition; I even had it this time before one of the variable thrusters decided to overcompensate and that caused the slight crash at the end there.” “With the state the Javelin was in at the time and given that you’re both engineers, I’m willing to bet that’s the most accurate assessment we’ll get.” Lirutiy still spoke in her rather stiff tone as she turned to Rarity. “Now then, as much as it pains me to say it. They did get all kinds of new information that we needed to know on these planet infesters to spread around. Not only that, they destroyed the core and saved millions if not billions of lives. I regretfully inform you that if they had died we could have just painted them as heroes, since they are still alive we still have to punish them. Thankfully, and know that many agree with me on this, we are capable of showing some form of leniency. As such they are capable of being bailed; if they aren’t bailed then things might get ugly. Even if they are heroes, the law would have us punish them to the full extent otherwise. Gilda and Greta can’t use any of their funds from making a confirmed kill on the core or their other numerous kills in the course of action as their assets are currently frozen due to the theft.” Taking out a data pad the Plurt shoved it over to Rarity who looked over the information on it and goggled at the amount that was on the pad. She bit her lower lip and slid it over to Coco who also goggled at it for a bit and then passed it over to Gilda, Greta and Opal to look over. “That’s a complete and utter yikes.” Their bail was quite large and that’s with the leniency in play, Greta didn’t actually expect that anyone would pay such a ridiculous amount. “Well that’s the end of us traveling together boss lady.” “I’ll pay it.” Rarity stated clearly and Coco looked at her with a slight frown, after a moment Rarity spoke to her friend. “Coco, how much money do you have saved up? I could use a little help right now.” “I support Rarity in paying the bail.” There was no hesitance for Coco once Rarity had asked her for help. After looking over their combined total amount of pooled cash, they found it still wasn’t nearly enough “It’s not enough, we’re still short a couple thousand.” “I give my money to the cause as well.” Sassy’s voice sounded out from Opal’s CAT drone with a ‘no nonsense’ tone to it. “It should be just enough to aid you Coco-chan, Rarity-sama.” “Wait, are you all seriously bankrupting yourselves for…” Gilda had gained an indefinable look on her face when Rarity gave her stern look. “I’d do a lot for my friends Gilda, even this. We might come out of this poor, but if Sassy and Coco are willing then yes we’re paying for your freedom as our crewmates.” It was quite a touching moment and Rarity couldn’t believe that her two friends were just as willing as she was. They had paid off the bail in full and both Greta and Gilda were free to leave. Even then there was quite a somber tone flowing throughout the room at the fact that they were all going to have problems making ends meet for a while. “There is still the other matter to attend to, now that the bail is paid in full… here’s at least a little more than a quarter of that money back for the destruction of the core and all the confirmed kills that the both of your crew members made. Devastators aren’t cheap to make, so you’re not getting much more than that back.” The sudden looks of shocks made Commander Lirutiy’s day and the smug slug chuckled with a bit of mirth. “Plus, since your crew members were not criminals less than seven days ago on Ewesen’s time scale… your claim for the Derringer is still active. As such I Commander Lirutiy Gastraslorcth hereby approve of its release into your command Captain Rarity Belle. Since we have a lot of spare parts flying around out there in space at the moment you could probably keep that as salvage while doing us a favor of recovering the mostly intact fighters and other targets of interest that are still floating around for Planetary Protection Patrol if you’re willing. About the destroyed Javelin, it landed in a junkyard and is considered to be junk at that point and given nobody else was there to claim it at the time, it immediately goes to Miss Gollenfer and Gottfrieda to do with as they please as they were there first to claim it. If you hadn’t paid the bail, then none of this would be possible so don’t think I’m doing this out of the goodness of my heart now. Two last things, please don’t commit any more illegal acts in my system or else… and I would like to commission one of your EVA suits.” “Wait… WHAT!” It was a shared disbelieving sentiment between everyone that was part of Rarity’s crew for what amounted to a resounding loss of a large amount of money for a somewhat painful slap on the wrist that sounded more like a rather fair trade off. Author's Note Giant purple alien slug certainly has quite a bit of guile to her. Maybe one more chapter and then hiatus for a long time, because 'pokemon'. Otherwise I would getting into the Grand Galloping Gala and Equus, plus what Chrysalis will be doing.
-43-“That will be all ma’am.” The royal guard nodded and turned to leave the room, making Rarity sigh as she was a bit tired of giving statements. This was the like the fifth time in the past few months that she had to give one to an authority figure. “So, can I ask you something rather odd Rarity?” Spoke up Greta after the guard left the room Rarity was relaxing in. “If I may ask you why you just used my name instead of using my affectionate title that I’m slowly becoming known by?” It wasn’t like Rarity was going anywhere; she did after all receive a nasty wound to the leg recently. Greta looked rather pensive about what she was about to ask. “Well the way I see it, if I want you to pay more clear attention to me then actually using your name would be a good way to do that. Using your full name would mean things are considerably more urgent.” Rubbing the back of her head with her talons Greta couldn’t look directly at Rarity’s flat stare even as she kept a bit of an awkward smile on her beak. “As to my question, do you have a thing with causing disproportionate retribution?” “I don’t exactly know what you mean Greta, can you please elaborate?” That question was more confusing to Rarity than anything else. “Well what was that thing about you sending Ember after a Pendaxon after he bumped into you and then an entire slave trade ring gets horribly mangled by your little sister and then swiftly followed up by a dragon to finish them off?” Well that was just one of the things Greta knew about. Her boss was quite a sexy pony when it came to making her enemies pay for any infraction against her, even if it was entirely accidental. She even heard Gilda muttering about how attractive the boss could be at least once while they were salvaging. “Oh that, I believe that was entirely incidental.” Or at least Rarity would like to think it as incidental that such a rude oversized five legged frog monster got justice for bumping into her and being especially crude with his words. “What about the space pirates, you were definitely being cruel with them and admittedly that was kind of a turn on. I believe your words were, ‘Extreme Prejudice’. I’m not about to lie about how it felt when you just let the AI go at them and even stalled on purpose to get the full enjoyment out of totaling the people that almost killed you with whiplash. They at least led you to meeting me and Gilda.” After Greta said that Rarity stayed rather silent, she continued on thoughtfully. “Then there’s the Xouj, after one nearly bites your head off the rest of them were subsequently fried violently with help from your highly vindictive AI. Mind Field certainly got off worse than you did. While the grazing shots you had on him were nothing compared to the final three you fired yesterday night, it’s like anyone who hurts you has to have something horrible happen to them in return eventually. In fact I’ve even asked Opal about it, there is no way that you didn’t plan for that statue to land on his neck like that. I can tell you a few other examples about why I think you might have a worse than death complex that I’ve noticed if you’d like.” “Yes, the statute might have been partially planned, but I didn’t seek disproportionate retribution even if he did try to rape me.” Now that she said it out loud it was kind of hard for Rarity to not see it as getting retribution disproportionately. “More that I sought it out for every mare he’s ever managed to successfully hurt. I hope this doesn’t upset you any way, but I most certainly do not go for disproportionate retribution… at least on purpose.” “You actually think that upsets me? It actually excites me and Gilda when you do something like that and we hear of it boss lady. Griffons are actually turned on by things like that, be thankful I’m still going after Gilda because otherwise I would make passes at you every time we end up in the same room. Oh speaking of Opal, she probably wants to hear that you’re doing alright… well mostly anyway. We still need to see if you can walk and we’re kind of waiting on a nurse to come check up on that.” Greta gave Rarity a soft smile as she picked up her bosses data pad and started up a connection with Opal. “Getting a knife through the leg isn’t very pleasant sounding, but you’ll hopefully be able to walk just fine. Mind Field can’t even use his horn thanks to his injuries; he’ll be seeing court in a wheelchair and if the changelings are actually working with Opal. Well, his chances of survival aren’t likely to be beyond a month with your crazy AI out for blood. In fact I think she is a major factor to your disproportionate retribution thing.” “Well you have to have some way of getting an acupuncturist to him with the platypus venom and if you can’t do something like that then at least get some itching powder on him! You know that he hurt my mother and he’s a horrible criminal!” Opal’s voice sounded off as Greta turned the data pad to Rarity. “He deserves to squirm for all the wrongs he committed against mares everywhere and mom already took care of the worst thing about him! Death is cheap, life is hard, so I definitely want him to live and suffer while doing so even if he’s already suffering quite a bit.” “Opal, can you be a dear and please repeat what you just said?” Her poor little rampant AI jumped and turned around, she gave Rarity the biggest sheepish grin she has ever seen on her lithe, little, white digital cat with the long pink hair out of the pigtails again. Rarity knew that meant Opal was being more serious and worried about things. It sounded like she had been talking to someone before her data pad connected and she wasn’t about to ask how far Opal was willing to go to get back at someone on her behalf. “I might have to call you back… something more important to me came up.” Opal said through gritted teeth as she continued to give her creator a big cheesy smile, while not looking at her directly with those blue eyes. Her voice went rather quiet when she finally spoke. “Hey, meowstress, how are you feeling?” “I do believe you just called me mom.” Rarity stated flatly just sending a bored glance at her AI, the wince she received only made her smile. “How are the bruises?” The AI was shyly looking away from her now and trying not to make eye contact; it was rather cute as she started to pay more attention to her digital feet than to the one she had been calling mom not just a second ago. Like a child who had been caught eating digital cookies again. “They’ll be fine by the time the gala rolls around, though I’ll need a mirror to be sure.” The screen flickered showing Rarity a mirror image of her face, Opal was her ingenious little cat and she looked her face over the mirror image following perfectly. Yeah the bruising was nasty, but it should be gone by then. If not a bit of makeup would make it easy to seem like she hadn’t gone a round or two with a mad pony. “Yes I’ll be quite fine, thank you my darling little Opal.” “What about all those stitches, that guy cut you up pretty badly. The ones in your neck are not going to be easy to ignore and you won’t be able to have those removed before the week is out.” Opal reappeared to start poking her paws together and refused to meet Rarity’s slightly amused gaze. “That might make it harder for you to make an appearance at the Gala and you were so looking forward to it too.” “I’ve already thought of that, shoulder and hip length hoof gloves and a slightly higher collar and it’ll seem as if I never got injured.” Knowing that her personal AI thought of her like that was sweet to Rarity. Getting the AI to call her mom to her face would take forever even for a being that could think at incredible speeds, Opal had a problem with avoiding issues that were glaringly obvious to everyone else. Rarity was sure that even Celestia could tell that Opal had rampancy issues just from the few minutes of contact alone. “I admit that I will have to practice walking around without showing that I’m hurt and will have to use my uninjured hoof for holding things when I’m not using my magic. I’ll be perfectly fine.” “Get healthier soon please…” Opal’s fluffy tail flicked back and forth as she gave Rarity a sad big eyed glance with a rather fond smile on her face before going back to navel gazing and wringing her paws. The digital biped was a bit nervous. “Please promise me that you won’t get into any more danger down there where I can’t help you.” “You know I can’t make any promises like that Opal, but I can do my best and that’s all I expect of you as well… daughter.” There was a smirk on Rarity’s face as Opal blushed; it was a rather priceless irreplaceable moment for the both of them. “Right you’re doing okay so I got to go help Gilda bye!” These words rushed out of Opal before she quickly cut the connection. Moving the data pad away from her face Greta gave Rarity a rather heartwarming upturned beak and Rarity soon found herself giggling along with the griffon at Opal’s reaction. “She’s your rampant little bugger huh?” Greta giggled out. “Yes and she even calls herself Opalescence Belle; oh what am I going to do with such a lovable sweetheart like her?” Rarity lamented humorously. “Although I’m a bit worried as to what she has planned for Mind Field. A sweetheart Opal might be, but even I can’t overlook her more volatile side.” “Don’t be worried, she’s not trying to kill him at the very least. Though I’m not sure if that’s a good thing, Opal sounds like she’s getting really creative with it. I personally think killing Mind Field now would probably be a performance of mercy.” Or at least Greta hoped that Opal wasn’t going to go off the deep end, she was far too friendly for that to happen. Then again everyone had a breaking point and even Greta was not above having one herself. “I’m sure that she just wanted to know that you’re alright, the worst that happened to you was the blood loss and you’ll be out of that bed and walking soon.” - “Daughter…. daughter…” Opal just smiled and hugged herself as she listened to the playback and was highly embarrassed about it; Rarity was going to be just fine. “Hey Kitten, get your mind back on my project!” Gilda gruffly brought Opal out of her warm fuzzy feelings. “You can listen to Rarity calling you her daughter later, the four hours of sleep I had was enough. So let’s get back to it, the boss lady is fine and Greta is watching out for her.” Opal was even more embarrassed now that she realized that Gilda had heard her listening to Rarity calling her daughter. She heard a transmission coming from the Caravel Boutique she sent down twenty minutes ago; it was Coco ready to come back up with some new crew members. This was going to be interesting, she was rather curious about Lightning Dust given she had a history of lacking concern for the welfare of others, much less herself, and would need to be watched carefully. She was Gilda’s requested crew member, so Gilda had the last say in the matter as to her staying or going. - “Oh shoot I wanted to ask Opal about the recording she might have gotten on that mysterious Mare-Do-Well figure.” Rarity didn’t think Opal would be taking her call for a while after getting so flustered. “What did you want to ask about that?” It was interesting to Greta that Opal refused to acknowledge that the mysterious costumed figure existed to the authorities; in fact she refused all knowledge of even having a recording of the unicorn. “Are there any listening devices in here?” Call it paranoia, but Rarity didn’t feel safe about talking about Mare-Do-Wells identity out loud in a hospital room. “Like there would really be any… huh what do you know?” Greta started using her own data pad and she traced what her pad was detecting to what might have been a listening device. The device was just a recorder of some kind, it didn’t transmit or receive. She pulled it out from under the empty bed next to the one Rarity was laying in. “There is one here… okay, that might have just been a lucky guess.” “Please destroy it then. I don’t care who could have left it here, but I would rather no one try to bother Opal about it. I guess my paranoia was worthwhile… can your pad scan for biological life signs as well?” It wasn’t paranoia if you were right and Rarity had a right to be a little more paranoid after hearing that there was an active recording device in the room that Greta was currently disassembling with incredible ease using her talons and keeping the parts entirely intact while doing so. ”I hate to ask Greta, but why are you saving the parts of that device?” “You never know what could be useful and some spare parts for small devices are worth keeping around. It’s an engineer thing, you never know what you might have use for. I’ll scan the room just to put your worries at rest.” Though her feathers were quite ruffled to even find a recording device in the room that only had the one patient currently, said patient being her boss lady. Canterlot General Hospital was a good hospital and she wouldn’t want to think ill of any of the doctors here for placing spy equipment. Scanning the rest of the room with her pad, Greta didn’t see any signs of intrusion aside from the hidden device. “What do you want to know about the recording now that nobody can find out we talked about it?” “Seeing as we’re the only two in the room at the moment, was the recording given to the authorities at any point?” The reason why this had to be asked is because Rarity owed Mare-Do-Well for saving her life. “Kind of, Opal preempted that with a bit of her ‘rampant’ initiative. She cut out Mare-Do-Well’s appearance entirely. What she gave the authorities was listed as all the pertinent information they needed. If you’re wondering, the cape she left behind had no genetic evidence on it.” Well Greta could certainly understand why Opal did that, Mare-Do-Well did save Rarity and even staunched her bleeding with the cape and Opal was just paying her back for the good deed. Opal had a thing for heroes, Greta admitted that she did too considering they had a common interest in shows they watched. “Well at least my savior last night is safe from any repercussions, although I now know that she is definitely a female when she threw her body on me to protect me from getting skewered.” Here Rarity lifted her hoof that wasn’t strapped down and ran it across her forehead flicking her mane off to the side. “I got a good close up visual of her measurements and I’m good at eyeballing measurements as you very well know. I can probably figure out who she is if I wanted to… but I won’t give away who she is if I do. “I can agree to not giving away a hero’s identity and assuredly Opal certainly agrees. Mare-Do-Well has to have family or loved ones if she’s running around covered up like that. There must be reasons why she isn’t in the Royal Guard… aside from the fact that they are by far the most incompetent group you’d ever meet with a few good exceptions. The EDF forces and samurai have far better track records; speaking of samurai they are being sent out of the city to handle some turmoil popping up around the country. It’s bound to build up to something, we heard from the princesses during lunch that they know something is going on and are probably related to one another.” “Yes well, those things don’t concern us Greta. If they do start to concern us, well I’m quite certain we’ll be able to safely get out of the situation… can you scan my body and yourself as well?” Rarity shivered a bit here. “I’m still feeling rather paranoid right now.” After Greta did just that she didn’t find anything wrong with Rarity or herself, she nodded to Rarity who gave off a grateful sigh. “I’ll stick with you Rarity until we can get you out of here, though I have to wonder what’s got you so scared… aside from the attempted rape the other night that is.” Greta moved closer to Rarity and took her hoof into her talons. “You know what a cabal is right? I’m just afraid some ponies might be out to get me now that I’ve been recognized as being partially responsible for one of their enforcers being dealt with in a rather permanent manner.” It was a healthy fear for Rarity to have and she tightened her hoof around Greta’s comforting talons. “It’s sad to say this, but hopefully they go after Mare-Do-Well and ignore me entirely. She did seem to be entirely focused on bringing the cabal down.” “I wouldn’t worry about anyone coming after you; I’d be more worried as to what would happen to them if they injured you in any capacity.” Greta was making Rarity feel safe by being there for her as a friend, even if said friend like her could do some questionable things like hacking. “You do have a nasty habit of getting retribution for any slight boss lady, even if it is not you performing said retribution. It seems like an inevitable end result.” “Hello, it’s time to see if Ms. Belle can actually walk. I will be assisting her in that endeavor and you may call me Nurse Four Play.” They both turned to the soft voiced changeling wearing a colorful pink nurse’s garb. She was certainly not hiding her changeling features in the slightest. Her cheery pink eyes and smile made her seem less threatening in appearance, unlike other changeling her horn was less jagged and her overall appearance was a tad smoother and far more welcoming. “Is Four Play really your name?” The nurse just gave Greta an odd look and even seemed slightly visibly upset. “I ask because you can’t be serious about having that kind of name.” “What’s wrong with my name, it usually causes ponies to laugh but I don’t understand why that is. I think Four is a completely normal name even by pony standards, it’s just a number right? So I don’t understand why it’s so humorous to others and nobody ever bothers to explain it to me.” In answer to the changeling’s question, the cheerful griffon found the definition of the word ‘foreplay’ and held it in front of the changeling’s eyes so that she could read it off the data pad for herself. A blush started to flood the changelings cheeks and consume her head. “Oh… oh my… so that’s why everyone laughs or makes jokes when they hear my full name. I hope you’re not uncomfortable with having me as a nurse.” “No, but with a name like that it’s hard not to get a rather specific mental image that you aren’t a licensed nurse.” Rarity shuddered at the thought of this nurse not being a real nurse. “Oh I’m a real nurse alright; I’m quite certified in being capable of helping you rehabilitate if needed.” Well Four Play was certainly being nice about it, though she sounded quite upset to find out that her name was a raunchy pun. To be fair it was hard to find a changeling that didn’t have a name that wasn’t. “Chrysalis even asked for me to personally come and assist you. You can have another nurse if you want, if it would make you comfortable that is.” “No, no, you are perfectly alright Ms. Play. Aside from being a nurse and just for the sake of my curiosity, do you happen to enjoy theater?” Rarity had nothing against changelings; they were a bit on the odd side to meet though. “It’s something I do as a hobby…” Four Play looked a little flustered at being asked that, but the patient was friendly enough and for some reason Chrysalis was having problems trusting anyone who wasn’t a changeling at the moment. In fact she went back to whatever it was she was doing after sending a few changelings to assist in a secretive protection detail for her future prospects of traveling space for fun and vaguely profit. The queen was certainly a busy mare and she was surprised to even meet the most majestic asshole of their race in person. The queen certainly didn’t disappoint in the demented department and Four probably wouldn’t want her anywhere near a hospital working with sick or injured people, but it was still nice to see that the queen cared… somewhat. “Now how about we try and get you on your hooves? You could even be out of the hospital by this afternoon.” - Saffron Masala Cumin was on break and reading the news on a data pad, apparently the mare known as Mare-Do-Well was involved in a scuffle at the art museum and Mind Field was captured the other night. A victim was found at the scene with some knife wounds on her legs and neck; only two of them were seriously bad. The notoriously tricky criminal had finally met the end of his career when a statue he was lifting in his magic turned him into a paraplegic. That was about as much information as the newscast had on the situation, aside from the fact that the injured mare would make a full recovery from her stab wounds. The mare stopped reading her pad and turned to her father. “See father, I told you those ponies were no good!” Saffron didn’t like the ponies that had come into their restaurant a few times to talk, it was a quiet out of the way restaurant that not many came to which was probably why those thugs even ate food here. “Yes, but they didn’t hurt us or cause trouble while they were here.” Coriander figured that was the best they were going to get, no use worrying over what might have happened. The bad ponies were not coming back and they didn’t have to worry about giving them service. “We should be most thankful that they didn’t and that we were fortuitous enough to actually be paid.” “Of course we should be father.” Saffron grumbled, The Tasty Treat was their current home and things were not going so well for the two. They were making ends meet, but they weren’t exactly making enough for a luxury or two. After flicking over the data pad a bit she saw what looked like a small business ad about selling well made EVA suits for comfort in space travel without the need to lose your mane and a claim that they could create clothing for any species as long as animal skin was not requested in the making of said clothes. It seemed friendly enough and it was surprisingly affordable, so much so that it was a bit suspiciously generous. “If it is actually of any quality and this cheap, I might consider it. Otherwise it seems too good to be true.” “Consider what? We don’t exactly have money to throw around.” Coriander stayed seated where he was and was resting his head on a table. “I was thinking of purchasing something for myself, apparently a fashion designer who sells cheap from her mobile enterprise is around the planet at the moment.” There was curiosity in Saffron’s voice, a clothier with a mobile business that could go anywhere she pleased to make a sale. Not many ponies were taking up the business on their rather unique offers. “Doesn’t seem like she’s getting much business and I’m sure we both can relate to that.” “I can agree that we are not doing so well, but we are not doing poorly either Saffron.” Thinking that it was worth a shot to see what would come of it Coriander gave in and wanted his daughter to get something nice for herself. “Anything beyond one article of clothing is coming out of your personal pay, otherwise you can think of the first thing you truly want as a present from me. Don’t make it too expensive now.” Saffron was not going to abuse a gift from her father; she had to think of something nice for herself. She already had something else in mind and would ask if it could be accomplished, she would pay for that personally. - “You know when I saw this small weak ass spit of a ship I was a little worried about what I was getting myself into, but that… that is a thing of beauty. So how well armed is it?” Lightning’s eyes lit up as she saw the Shining Jewel. “Not very, Rarity did find it derelict in space and two of our crew members were still on it during the incident that killed the previous crew.” Coco didn’t like the idea of being slaughtered like that crew was. “That kind of sounds wicked.” Lightning smiled, she still didn’t know what her job would be and she was curious about the griffon that she was going to meet. She’s already seen the boss and heard she’s shot the balls off a stallion, even for a fashion designer that sounds really damn awesome. “Hey Coco, how are things with our new friends?” Came the pleasant voice of Opal as she remotely brought the Caravel Boutique in. “I’m bringing you in to dock in section three; you really have got to see what Gilda is working on.” “Why what is she… oh… is something like that really necessary? I mean when will we ever find a use for something like that?” Coco thought what Gilda was building was impressive, given the time it took her to build it to this point being even more impressive the vehicle itself. “You never know Coco, we just might need it a few times and it is pure awesome that I get to sign my name as one of the design team that worked on it.” It was fact that Opal was proud to be helping Gilda with her nifty project. “Holy… I think I just might actually like working with you guys. Provided that not everything you do is as boring as making clothes or putting on shows, I really want to see what that thing can do.” Despite her checkered past maybe causing some friction with the crew that was looking for new members, Lightning Dust was hopeful for a bed, food and a decent paycheck. She could at least say that as boring as just drifting around with the entertainers and clothing makers might have sounded, they certainly had a pretty nifty looking toy being worked on by a griffon and she wanted in on this crew if that was what she could expect from working in the hangar with the one who asked for Pegasus. The ship settled and she was immediately flying for the airlock to get a closer look. “See something you like?” Gilda asked as she stopped working, she saw Lightning staring at her project and she smirked dryly at the pony. “You could say that, so what did you specifically need a Pegasus for anyway? Your crew sounds like a bunch of pansies by the way.” After a moment Lightning decided to correct herself. “Well aside from the boss lady, she’s definitely metal even if she is a fashion designer.” “We have a samurai on board that could cut you in half in a split second for calling her weak, if she weren’t on the mend for a month from the injuries she got fighting terrorists. Also we’re not pansies; we’re all survivors of various deadly situations and that’s something we all have in common here.” That, Gilda noted wryly, caused the Pegasus to take a keen interest in what she was saying. “Our boss lady certainly gets into enough trouble, if you want some action all you need to do is wait for it to come to her. A bleeding heart she might be, but the boss lady is brutal when she gets the urge or is pushed hard enough. My name is Gilda Gottfrieda; you don’t need to introduce yourself as I know you by reputation. The most reckless pony pilot the Wonder Bolts ever allowed to fly with them, Lightning Dust. So you’re the one they got for the job huh? Good news, if you needed excitement you are bound to find it with us. Bad new, I'm likely to get you killed as my test pilot.” Author's Note The changelings know their queen cares, they also care right back though they must have reasons for disparaging her from time to time.
-68-After Rover’s act, it was time for Saffron to go on. She had her father come up with her onto stage as she had a bit of stage fright and he was emotional support. They were recognized by a lot of the crowd as the two who helped feed a lot of them. Saffron had been quite busy with trying to make this event work when Rarity brought it up. She was coming into this with only eight hours of sleep, just about the only sleep she has gotten in over the last five days with helping every Antilur Station resident she could. She’s only had three hours of practice for her particular act and she thought she could pull it off. “Not necessarily a full time troupe member, but she’s becoming a good friend of mine regardless and her cooking has been lifting your spirits since she came onto the station. I introduce to you, Saffron Masala, chef of tasty treats and here to perform her act and she is a knife throwing connoisseur!” Waving a hoof the mare’s direction, Trapeze moved off to the side and Coriander did the same. “Who’s hungry for some fun? For my act I have these three totems with targets affixed to them, there are nine targets in all. There’s one at the top, middle and bottom of each totem.” Said totems had been set up on the stage at least five feet from each other and they were about half a foot in diameter. The targets on them were quite small about five inch wide circles. The totems each had a representative of each pony race and each totem had a different top, middle and bottom representative of all three races on them. “On me I have nine knives and I will be throwing them into each of those targets while blindfolded, as I am a unicorn I have to obviously state that no magic will be required for this stunt. Coriander and Saffron will be personally handing me each knife I throw so I don’t have to grasp around blindly for them.” - “I hope nobody gets hurt.” Coco had enjoyed Rover’s act, he was surprisingly nimble with his paws. It made sense though, one of the things all Diamond Dogs had going for them was that they were good with their paws. Mostly those paws were used for incredibly quick digging, but Rover proved to have a talent for juggling and comedy. “Things are going to be alright Sheep Wolf. The true danger that was here is quite thoroughly dealt with thanks to Passionate Inferno… hello Sky Child.” The sudden presence of Tree Hugger next to Gilda caused her to shriek and her popcorn to go flying everywhere. Tree Hugger calmly held out more popcorn with a lazy smile, the same kind of popcorn that Gilda had been eating before she just lost most of hers. Gilda just glared at Tree for a moment and took the offered bag of goodness, one that was an obvious peace offering. “You look surprised to see that I am here, did you not hear my performance? Also I announced my presence very clearly to you this time, so it is no fault of my own that you were surprised.” “How long have you been there?” Suffice it to say that Greta didn’t even see Tree Hugger sit down next to Gilda until she spoke up, one second she just wasn’t there and now she was. Tree Hugger was as creepy as she ever was. “I’ve been everywhere at some time or another Ever Cheerful, in particular I’ve had this exact seat reserved four days in advance.” The rather laid back Tree Hugger watched as Gilda got back in her seat entirely wary of Tree’s very presence, she still started to eat the popcorn though. “Boss Lady, how could you do this to me?!” Gilda sent a pointed glare at Rarity who gave her a rather forced smile, the griffon then turned to Tree Hugger who just smiled at her warmly and opened her mouth. Gilda cut her off before she could say anything. “Sky and earth, working together in concert, I know this already!” “Then I don’t have much to say, my visiting you at this time is of no grave importance.” Tree Hugger intoned before becoming completely quiet. “Well darling, Lady Tree was quite insistent she wanted that very seat. I didn’t know until today that it would be the one exactly right next to your own.” Rarity turned away from the glare being sent at her by a grumpy popcorn crunching mechanical engineer. “Much less that these were the only seats left for us. Plus I’ve been rather busy as of late what with taking orders for clothing and raising funds , I’ve also spent the last few days raising money for the station and then there was Sassy’s party. I’ve even sold a few EVA suits to the surviving station maintenance crew members… at a slightly reduced price for a limited time only. Speaking of EVA suits, I really need to talk to you and Greta about something later. We’ll get to it when we stop at the asteroid field; we’re quite ready to continue on after the show is over and hopefully these people can recover on their own from here on.” “You can’t really blame the Boss Lady for that Gilda. Now quiet, Saffron is pretty amazing and she’s on her last knife.” Amazing was quite the understatement in Greta’s opinion, as every target Saffron aimed for was missed entirely and not exactly for the lack of trying to nail them. Instead the knife always bounced off of the target she aimed for and hit another target at an odd angle, after eight knives there was only one target left and there was no way Saffron was going to bounce the knife off that target and then have it still go in afterwards. The mathematics behind that little stunt would have to be astounding and Greta was recording this with her data pad for posterity’s sake. The remaining target was the middle totem and the middle target on it. “I don’t think she can bounce it off the target and hit it again in the same throw.” “I don’t know about that, Rarity has a good eye for amazing potential and beauty. I think Saffron will do it.” Sassy had always known Rarity to have a great eye for things and the show so far had been spectacular, though it was a little odd that Rarity took on entertainers. It didn’t seem like such a bad idea now that she was watching the Trapeze Troupe in action, even if Saffron wasn’t exactly a full time member. “Saffron is quite nice to look at and she’s also very skilled in the kitchen, I take it she was the one that made the food for my party?” “Not exactly, Gilda and Greta were the ones to bake the cake. Everything else was actually her father’s work and he’s one of our crew’s chefs. Coriander is a very nice gentle stallion and I hope you give him, Rover and Bernard a chance Sassy.” Their crew was full of interesting oddballs and Coco wouldn’t have it any other way, she felt like the most normal one around and she was a workaholic who didn’t think she was working nearly hard enough. She was even crazy enough to go into the space station during the infestation to aid Rarity and she still felt sore around the barrel from where that tentacle squeezed her. “I will try not to spit in his general direction then Coco-chan.” There were some things Sassy would struggle with, but at least she was taking baby steps to be amiable towards at least the people Rarity trusted to be around her constantly. Turning towards the griffons, Sassy nodded to them. “Thanks for the cake; it was wonderful after spending so long swimming in medical fluids.” “Yeah, yeah, sweet stuff, emotions and all that crap.” Gilda was quite tense with Tree Hugger faintly leaning against her; at least it seemed the mare wasn’t invading Gilda’s personal space too hard and she was being oddly silent. It was a few seconds later that she witnessed the last part of Saffron’s act. “Holy crap, that was amazing!” Greta and Gilda caught every single moment of what the last knife did; Saffron had somehow managed to bounce the last knife off the central target and into the eight other knives before having it return to the remaining target where it sunk in. The only way this was possible was that that targets were all in very differing locations on the totems despite being at the same general heights. There was plenty of applause for it afterwards. “Thank you, I’ve had very little time to prepare since helping to destroy the monster that was plaguing this station. I apologize for being a little out of practice, but apparently I did good enough to warrant some applause.” Taking off the blindfold Saffron blinked in slight confusion as she looked at all the knives in the targets, the knives were a little off and yet she was receiving so much applause. If only everyone knew that what Saffron had done was entirely unintentional, then they’d be even more mystified at what had happened. “Huh, I guess I’m not so rusty after all. I guess you’re up Trapeze.” “You put on one really good performance there Saffron, that’s Saffron everyone! She’s quite humble isn’t she?” The mare with the magical top hat cleared her throat and turned to the audience tipping her hat to everyone with a hoof. Trapeze Star was officially up next and her magic act was going to be a blast for her to perform. “Now the moment I’ve been waiting for, it’s time for me to go on! I am Trapeze Star, acrobat and magician and this would be my partner Bernard… Bernard? Okay where could he have gotten to this time?” Trapeze looked around and after taking off her hat she scratched her head with her hoof, she then started looking to the hat. “Does everyone want to see a classic trick; you see nothing in this hat correct?” The screen broadcasting the event to everyone watching the stage saw that there was indeed nothing in the hat. “Now is time for me to do the old pull a rabbit out of the hat routine!” Reaching into her hat with her right hoof Trapeze started grasp around inside it and then slowly she started pushing more and more of her body into the hat, she was soon rooting around in it with both hooves. “This may take a minute folks!” Trapeze then stuffed the front half of her body into the hat and her rear legs kicked at the air as she slowly sunk into it. Once entirely inside it the hat wiggled around a bit then settled on the stage. As far as disappearing acts go, it was pretty impressive to watch, but Rarity’s crew had already seen such things from the mare enough times to not bat an eye at the sight. It was just better to go with it since Trapeze was quite the talented individual. The audience was still wondering how she fit her entire body into the top hat. When Bernard came running up to the stage wearing a miniature version of Trapeze’s outfit, he looked adorable in it. The little guy looked about and noticed the audience, he wiggled his nose in a cute manner and then his eyes sharpened as he moved over to the hat. He bowed to the audience and then reached into the hat and pulled Trapeze’s head up and out of with his paw grasping her mane. After that he let go of a Trapeze’s surprised head and held out both his paws to her and exclaimed something appropriate sounding for someone who just completed a magic trick. “Oh sure, you’re the magician here for pulling me out of a hat.” Deadpanned Trapeze with a flat look on her face as she stared down Bernard, the audience laughed. She propped both her hooves up on the brim of her hat and sat her chin on top of them. “Okay little rabbit. Now that you’ve pulled the magician out of the hat, what’s your next move?” Bernard reached behind his back and pulled out a pack of cards. Where did they come from, nobody was able to tell as Bernard came onto the stage with empty paws and the pack of cards would logically take up too much space for him to hide in his costume. He tipped his top hat to the audience with a wink. “Card tricks, that old cliché, really? Folks I have it on good authority that my rabbit is defective, as you all know I’m the one that’s supposed to be leading this act as the magician.” While she addressed the crowd, Trapeze pulled the rest of her body out of the hat while wiggling her rear free of it. She promptly placed it back on her head afterwards. Bernard wasn’t upset to be called a defective rabbit, given he wasn’t one at all. Trapeze turned back to Bernard. “Okay if you think you have a good trick to show us then… you built a house of cards, really? That’s the trick.” Everyone had been paying too much attention to Trapeze’s wiggling flank as she pulled herself from the hat to notice what Bernard was up to. Turning to him everyone saw a perfect house of cards with him leaning again it, obviously putting his full weight on it without it falling over or collapsing. He held up a paw and waved it in a condescending manner, apparently he wasn’t done with his trick yet. “I for one am interested to see what other sleight of hooves they’re going to pull next.” It wasn’t often that Rarity missed a detail, but she had missed Bernard putting up a card house in a ridiculously short amount of time. Bernard waggled his eyebrows at the audience and with a flick of his paw, he took a card from the bottom edge of the stacked cards and surprisingly the house didn’t fall apart. He held up the card to Trapeze and she took it from him. He motioned to the audience and waited. “Apparently my partner wants me to tell you as much as show you what card this is, for the record it’s the queen of hearts.” Trapeze showed it clearly to the audience, Bernard nodded and took the card back and slid the card into the middle of the house of cards gently. Everyone was beginning to wonder where this was going, Bernard walked away from the house of cards a few feet and then started running towards it. He rolled right into the card house, he knocked some cards down and sent others flying up into the air. He came out of his tumble holding a card up to everyone. “The joker card, I don’t understand what’s the trick in all this?” Trapeze had a curious look on her face as Bernard pointed behind himself and everyone looked to see four separate cluster of cards all separated by suit landing face up. It was amazing that they were all face up and none of the suits were mixed with one another after Bernard slammed through the card house. More interestingly the queen of hearts was right where the card house used to stand. “Oh the queen only fell straight down despite the fact that you barreled through the card house, interesting enough and I like how you managed to get them all to separate into their individual suits.” Now tapping her hoof against the floor of the stage Trapeze had to ask. “Now why are you showing me the joker card?” Bernard reached up to the card and flicked it with other his paw causing it bend forward far enough that the picture on the cards face was hidden by the back of the card to the audience and Trapeze. Upon the card springing back up in a grinning Bernard’s paw, it was the queen of hearts and everyone turned their gazes to the joker now lying where the queen of hearts used to be and were entirely flummoxed. “Okay that was actually pretty impressive, given how many eyes you have on you at the moment. I guess my partner is actually the magician here folks… wait, does that make me the rabbit then? Well I guess I have to be the one that gets paid in carrots now, give my partner some applause for performing his trick for you. Also I would like to make a random statement that jokers are always wild.” The audience chuckled and the applause was quite warm as Trapeze had expected. Bernard bowed to everyone before waving to them all and then he set about picking up the cards. “Right then, on to the next trick while my partner cleans up his small mess. Coriander if you will bring up my magical hoops, I can really start to astound these people instead of letting my partner do parlor tricks for the rest of this event. You’re about to see a mare saw herself into pieces, only I don’t use a saw as that would definitely hurt! I still have more acts to perform, so I'll do the safe for foals version.” What followed was an hour of the most incredible stunts and acrobatics ever devised, in short the magical hoops were several interlocked metal rings the size of pony made hula hoops. Pulling them apart wasn’t the trick, what was the trick was Trapeze pulling herself apart while doing so and having at least one of any three limbs sticking out of any of the separated hoops without revealing how they were detached. From there Trapeze proceeded to do several bizarre things, magical acrobatics involving moving each ring. She twirled them, threw them into the air and even balanced them on top of one another while spinning in opposite direction and was performing acrobatics with her limbs seemingly attaching and detaching at random, leaving her hooves sticking out from behind the edges of the metal rings. It almost looked like she never lost her limbs as she reached into one ring, her hoof would come out of another one several feet away, it was incredible to watch when she started to do acrobatic tricks of leaping from ring to ring. She’d grabbed a ring and swirled it over her head to disappear as the ring passed over her body, then she’d be seen flipping out of another one with a dazzling twirl to land on her hooves. After she was done with the rings, Trapeze moved on to playing jump rope with a line of handkerchiefs she pulled from one of her ears. She also did some ribbon dancing with said handkerchiefs after she was done playing jump rope, then she moved on to performing many small tricks by pulling out various props. Bernard kept up with Trapeze the entire time, sometimes he helped Trapeze and other times he got in front of her trying to humorously steal the show by performing his own feats of acrobatics and magic. It was getting to the point that nobody knew who to watch more or what they were missing when the other was doing something, the goal of distracting the audience was working pretty well. It was soon for Trapeze’s final trick, which took quite a bit of setup and the audience was all for being patient just to see what the two performers would do this time with all the stuff they got out. Said setup involved three gymnastic bars with a small trapeze hanging under the middle one which was the highest up gymnastic bar, a ten foot pole, an empty child sized inflatable pool, four feet of metal chain, a see saw, a barrel of water, a whip, a tarp big enough to cover half the stuff with and one single solitary banana cream pie which wasn’t thrown or smashed into someone’s face. In fact the use of the banana cream pie was just one of the more unusual things about the whole performance. - “I laughed, I cried, I was totally amazed by most of that last trick and the only thing that truly upset me is what happened to her poor costume.” It was plain that Sassy enjoyed the show and she had nothing but praises to sing for Trapeze Star’s performance. She was wheeled back to the Caravel Boutique after they stopped to help Babs pack up whatever belongings the filly wanted from her home on the station, which was everything and anything they could feasibly take with them. “I agree, I will need to take care of her wardrobe and clean her costume when I get the soonest opportunity to do so. That or make an entirely new costume… why I can even make a whole line of them.” Ideas had just struck Rarity and she was glad to have Trapeze on board; she was a mare with a lot of pizzazz. “She certainly has quite a lot of flair and style; she never seemed to have faltered out there even once while performing.” “You think that was difficult, just that small routine? If that’s what you think, I need to get more complicated next time!” Taking a pose where she tilted her hat over her eyes Trapeze gave a proud smile. “I think I did an okay enough job out there, nothing more distracting than trying to figure out a how a magician did all those things. The SNUGGLES people and all the outside help will take care of things now.” “It was distracting enough that you were an earth pony doing all that. I’ve been making preparations Rarity and we’re ready to head out for the Pie Planetoid Plantations and the thoroughfare station.” Everyone was already on board according to Opal and she double checked to make sure Vera was present, triple checked for Chrysalis who was quietly in the middle of her hobby in her room. Last, but not least in any sense of the word, she checked that their guests Ember and Mr. Spew were still onboard without telling Rarity. “We can leave whenever you’re ready to set out Rarity.” “Do me a favor Opal. Make sure the shields are up and the turrets are powered before we arrive as a precaution. Patch me into ship wide communications… okay everyone we are now setting out for the Pie Planetoid Plantations.” That was all Rarity needed to say to get the ball rolling, she then noticed something. Ember’s ship was still here. “Get some rest everyone.” - “Ember, is there a reason you haven’t disembarked to go do your own thing?” The sound of Rarity’s voice made the dragon jump; one had to wonder what could spook a dragon as strong as her that badly. The reaction she saw reminded Rarity that Ember was a bit socially inept despite her incredible prowess as a Bounty Hunter. Ember looked so adorable poking her claws together with Mr. Spew sitting on her shoulder and she started giving Rarity a pleading look. “Is something the matter dear?” “I was wondering if I could stick around for a while... I want to make sure Babs gets to where she’s going safely.” Every part of Ember was fidgeting slightly as if she knew what she was saying had some problems with it, also her wings needed to be stretched out a bit. Yeah that was it, her wings needed to be stretched out. “Well of course you can stay around for a while, as long as you need really.” Ever the generous pony that Rarity was, she wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to have a friend stick around longer. “I can even get Opal to set you up with a room somewhere on deck two.” “I would like that.” A suddenly emotional Ember almost seemed too excited at the prospect, given her tail started wagging like crazy and she perked up immensely. That stopped after Ember thought about it and her eyes narrowed at Rarity, she suddenly became rather demanding a most unusual way. Some would outright take advantage of free room and food, Princess Ember McFlame was not one such being. “I am not going to be a freeloader Rarity; I will pay for room and board on this ship. I eat expensively and my ship is taking up space in the hangar, not to mention I need to take care of Mr. Spew’s needs.” Mr. Spew just gurgled from his position on Ember’s shoulder, not feeling particularly energetic at the moment as he lazily relaxed upon his kingly throne of Ember’s shoulder. He could feel Ember’s heart beat speeding up. Sure his trusty mount was panicking, but there was no danger or ill intent to upchuck all over with deadly concoctions. Like his companion he could spew searing fires, he taught himself how to after watching Ember do it enough times when it came to cooking some meat or vegetables. “Well okay then, but are you sure? I heard dragons don’t tend to spend their hoards or funds very often.” Rarity said trying to see how insistent Ember could be, she had heard dragons were quite stingy and tended to sleep on piles of gold and jewels. “Rarity, you have no idea how much I would give to make you happy… er as my friend… make you happy as a good friend!” It wasn’t apparent, but Ember was afraid to tell Rarity what her hoard really was and it wasn’t her bank account which was doing moderately well. At least she had enough to make sure she wasn’t going hungry in the next three months. She unfortunately couldn’t be nearly as charitable as Rarity was in helping the people of Antilur Station. “You and your crew are becoming like a family to me and you’re my best friend. I mean you accepted me as a friend, despite the entire I kill or violently capture monsters and or people for a living thing.” The longer Rarity allowed Ember to stick around, the more likely it would be discovered as to what Ember’s hoard actually was. Ember would never be able to spend her hoard given it wasn’t gold and jewels; she was willing to protect it jealously and with her life is necessary. Her Hoard was Rarity and her friends, with Rarity being the most prized possession of her whole hoard, the very centerpiece of it even. Never had Ember been so afraid of rejection in all her life, a centerpiece is what a dragon was most proud of when it comes to their hoard and she had figured she chose wisely to make it her friendship with Rarity. “Well as long as you are sure. I don’t have a problem with you paying me a fairly modest sum for allowing you to stick around.” Rarity suddenly received a pair of glaring dragon eyes in her face, Ember certainly seemed sure of it and it didn’t look like Rarity would dissuade her of it. “I would have let you stay for free, you know.” “I know, but I’m not going to stay here on your generosity alone, I actually want to earn my keep around here just like anyone else on your crew.” What Ember wasn’t saying was that she wanted to outright join the crew and Rarity was giving her a scrutinizing gaze making her feel a bit uncomfortable. There were a lot of emotions fluttering around in her head and it made the dragon feel anxious. “Do you mean that you wish to join my crew, well then why didn’t you say so? I can easily work up a contract and find something for you to do.” It confused Rarity that Ember wanted to be like anyone else on the crew, yet not part of the crew itself. “I… don’t want to become too attached… I mean to your crew that is. No offense meant to you Rarity, I just want to remain somewhat autonomous so that I can do some things without the rest of you getting in trouble for it.” That was quite a bitter lie the moment Ember spoke it, she had already declared them her hoard. The problem with this was that Ember couldn’t be a part of her own hoard and she was definitely attached to them now. How would a dragon even go about hoarding themselves anyway? That was too ludicrous to even think of. The things Ember wouldn’t do for any of Rarity’s friends now would make for very tiny list, given Rarity is the centerpiece of her hoard that list almost didn’t exist where she was concerned with a few very exceptions that are highly unlikely to happen. When would Rarity ever want to kill Spike or her dad anyway? Ponies weren’t very open to conflict in the first place; well Rarity was willing to wade into just about any dangerous situation to risk her life helping others and even more so for friends. Ember wouldn’t have liked Rarity nearly as much as she did if that weren’t the case. “You know, I have a history and I’m a horrible...” Ember felt a pair of fluffy hooves wrapping around her neck, they pulled her gently into a hug. She received a friendly nuzzle to her cheek, after which Rarity pulled away and smiled. Blushing Ember looked away from her friend, as she had almost spread her wings and unleashed a blast of fire into the air while giving a mighty roar right then and there. She held back on that instinct as she didn’t think Rarity would understand what that particular gesture meant to a dragon, especially in this context. Author's Note I am a firm believer of noodle incidents not always having a negative connotations.
-93-“So we all know the plan, I’ll go after Rarity and draw a lot of attention to myself while Greta hacks the system and goes with Rover to eventually meet up with Saffron and Applejack.” Ember didn’t get a response because she was already walking around the corner. “Give me five minutes to cause some carnage before following. The path will be clear to sneak in.” Turning the corner Ember calmly started to pick up speed and she started dodging the shots aimed at her from the five guns pointed in her direction, she quickly returned fire with her rifle and dropped three of them under a burst of fire. Once she was close enough, Ember threw her right fist into the male of the remaining two humans; he was standing to the left of the door. As Ember slugged him, she spun into a crouch whipping out her tail tripping up the panicked female who had been trying to track her movements. The human female fell onto her back and brought her arms up only to get them both broken, as Ember continued her spin into standing position to bring down her rifle on to the human like a club. Not only that but the female’s helmet cracked horribly by the follow up swing. There was a look of fading fear in the eyes of that person as they blacked out from the pain, from what little Ember could see through her visor. The male behind Ember tried to get up and was swiftly slapped back down by her tail taking his helmet off and knocking him out at the same time, this was when she was performing her follow up swing on the woman before her. “So you’re Flamethrower.” A voice called out over some speakers, sound average male and he came off as rather amiable. “Whatever they’re paying you, we can double it.” “No thanks.” Ember walked up to the door and some shutters closed it off, she went for the rocket launcher. She was only carrying three shots for it, but it would have to be enough. “Are you sure we can’t convince you? You should know you’ll never be able to get through the shutters on the door as they’re blast proof.” The male sounded like he was trying to offer her the deal of a lifetime. “I’m sure we can still come to some agreement, name your price. You’ll never get out of the tunnels alive otherwise.” “I’ll take my chances.” Instead of continuing to go for the rocket launcher on her back, Ember thought better of it and aimed her rifle at the wall to the right of the door and the shutters covering it. She hefted the gun and hit something to make the second barrel blaze to life with white hot flames, she started cutting a hole through the wall itself and when she was done she kicked the wall inwards and stepped inside. “You probably don’t have enough people to take me if you’re dumb enough to just reinforce the door and not the walls around it.” “We have over a thousand people and quite a few surprises for the likes of you.” The voice continued trying not to sound a little shocked that Ember bypassed the door with relatively little fuss. “Trust me; you’ll want to be on our side when we let loose our special units. Besides you’re just some small time bounty hunter, do you really think you can stop us?” “Ever heard of a geneticist named Neldwie Chramsten?” It was the geneticist she had spoke of when she was mentioning one of her weirdest bounty jobs. “He thought that he had enough of his creations between me and him too. Whatever you’re doing here, I’m honor bound to stop you humans from getting away with it.” There was a choking noise on the other end of speakers addressing her. He likely knew the name Chramsten and just because Ember mostly worked in the pony systems, didn’t mean that she was someone to take lightly. Not when she was dropping names like that one, especially considering that most of Chramsten’s creation could feasibly destroy three squads of their special units. “Hit me with your best shot then, because you’re not going to stop me.” Ember sent a burst of fire from her rifle down the corridor cooking a bunch of humans in their suits as they turned a corner she was approaching. They barely got more than two shots at Ember, both had missed due to flailing and being boiling alive in their uniforms. She had yet to get hit and was actively avoiding getting hit, she didn’t want to damage her EVA suit too much and she wanted to draw as much attention to herself as possible while Rover was sneaking in behind her carnage. - “All special units, report in, we have a case red! Converge on the target; she’s heading for section A-4.” The man was a little bit panicked at watching the flamethrower wielding alien bounty hunter rip through normal people without getting her suit damaged. He was making a call and it was a good one because he saw how dangerous that bounty hunter was, considering she’s already taken out fifteen… twenty seven people without a sweat and is ripping through their armored people like tissue paper.“I repeat case red, section A-4. Special units are to ignore the ponies and head for the bounty hunter. Our people can take care of them.” - A powerful looking machine stopped firing on the two ponies trapped in the hallway in the upper floors; they were taking cover behind a crate that was quickly being worn down. It was a human piloted humanoid machine with arms ending in four clawed grappling hands that fired rapid bursts of electrical energy. It turned away and started to run. It left the armored humans to deal with the two small problems randomly wandering their base to deal with a bigger fish. Said fish was Ember, who was considered dangerous enough that she could blow their whole operation apart if she wasn’t stopped. The mechanical suits were made to fit in the wide hallways and corridors; they were heavily armored and could deal with problems close up or far away in equal measure. The grappling claws alone could rip apart a pony if they managed to grab hold of one and were twelve to fifteen feet in height. “Why do you think they had him just scamper off like that?” Applejack leaned out from behind the crate and fired her rifle once; her material weapon was made to fire single shots at a long range. In close quarters it wasn’t any less effective, but it wasn’t meant for rapid firing or dealing with multiple targets at a time. Plus she was limited by ammo and was slowly running out of material shots or pellets for her rifle. The sound of someone falling to the floor with a grunt was heard. A wince came from Applejack as she wasn’t cut out for violence or injuring other people and was shooting to disable only. She hadn’t missed a single shot yet, she had a sturdy aim and she had some willingness to injure. Considering that these people were ruining her livelihood, Applejack felt a little justified in dealing injuries to them even if she didn’t like it. “It’s probably my friends causing bigger problems for them.” Saffron was behind Applejack and looking down the hallway the other way and sending blasts of energy from her armored hooves, there was a strangled scream that caused Applejack to wince once again. Ar-Mare-Do-Well was aiming to maim, she didn’t care about the health of these people at all and she shouldn’t considering they were trying to kill them. These humans hadn’t asked for them to surrender and had started shooting at them immediately once they were spotted, which didn’t take long. The intent to kill them was pretty clear. Whatever they had stumbled upon, nobody wanted any witnesses or information of it getting out. The mechanical suit that showed up was more of the known style for humans than the robot wolves and sharks had been. Humans had a tendency to design things after themselves, their science fiction was notably full of alien races that walked on two legs and acted exactly like them with very minor differences. Humans could hardly make a science fiction stories without something like themselves being included in it. Well the universe certainly showed humans that intelligent life was far more varied than their cookie cutter aliens from their fictional stories. Didn’t stop them from doing the same thing when they designed machinery when they reached a good enough technological level for it. Strange robot sharks and wolves were not the first things to come to mind when you thought human designed technology, so maybe some kind of outsourcing was involved. It had Saffron pondering at least. The armored suit that they had been holding off for the past few minutes was definitely of a human design, the wolves and sharks less so. Saffron’s shields were taking quite a lot of hits and she needed to recharge them soon, she was down to seven percent usage and her battery utility was having problems charging them back up. She was spending quite a lot of time taking hits for Applejack and making sure she was protected, the farmer had only been grazed three times but the injuries would add up if things kept going like this. “Well that’s some good news, now if we only knew where we were going or what to do when we get there!” This fight was understandably upsetting to Applejack, she wasn’t nearly as willing as Mare-Do-Well to cause permanent injuries. Though she understood the kind of situation they were in. It had been rather tense considering they were between a rock and a hard place a minute ago when that human driven machine joined the fight. “Anywhere is better than being stuck in this hallway where our cover is slowly being destroyed.” Flicking a shock wing around cover Saffron launched several blasts of electrical energy and watched as the humans hit by them fell to the ground in spasms and jerky twitches. “Come on, grab a hold of me. We’re getting out of here.” Saffron waited for Applejack to move and when she did jump onto her back, Saffron activated skate mode at full blast. She went rocketing out of cover and skidding down the hallway under a hail of fire from behind, as she bowled over the humans in front of her and passed them faster than they could follow. At least they weren’t trapped in place any more, she needed to find some kind of outlet to plug her suit into or prioritize her battery energy to focus on the shields instead of weapons. “Once we lose these guys, we need to find a better place to go for a bit. I need to recover my shields or else they’ll start damaging my armor. In such a situation I won’t be able to protect you very well.” “Hey, I’m a grown mare and I can take care of myself!” Applejack ducked her head low as a material round pinged off of Mare-Do-Well’s armored thighs as they shot around a corner and ricocheted into a wall. “I wouldn’t mind finding a place for you to recover those shields at though. I may be well over my head here, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to call it quits on living Mare.” Skate mode was keeping them ahead of most humans and it was proving to be one of the best functions in Saffron’s suit for getting away from danger. It was still rather hard to control and making sharp turns was quite hard unless Saffron slowed down. Slowing down with as many humans as there were in this facility could mean trouble, there were very few places to hide that weren’t storage closets. A door opened nearby and nothing came out of it. “Hey guys, get inside quickly!” Greta’s voice called out to Saffron. Saffron swerved into the room at Greta’s behest and the door slammed shut behind her. Several humans rushed by and some started checking the rooms that were not security protected. - Rover was sitting underneath a desk and cradling his rifle and keeping a lookout as Viral’s large tail seemed to peel into four smaller tails and a small inner one stretched out to jab into the nearby computer. From there Greta started pulling and copying as much data as she could get from the system. The system was now disastrously open to Greta and she had control of it. The facility surprisingly didn’t have automatic turrets or anything that wasn’t manually operated. The only thing that was automated was the entire of army of robots and several towers being built to operate them. “Let’s see… hey I found a kill code! I can destroy all the wolves, sharks and some other things they have with one fell swoop. I expect them locate my intrusion, so this computer will be compromised when I do that. Get ready to move out Rover.” Greta continued to talk to Rover through the robotic fox she made. “First I’m going to tell Ember where she needs to go to meet up with Rarity. I need Rarity to investigate that big room and I’m sending her helmet’s display a map to get her there. My reasoning is that they have some systems not connected to the overall computer network in this facility, so I don’t think I’m getting all the more secretive stuff I could be getting. As for Applejack and Saffron, they are on the move and… now there’s a good place for them to be. Hey guys, get inside quickly! Rarity sending map information, get to this location. Ember is going to meet you there. Now dropping that kill code and…” The entire base and surrounding area shook with hundreds of explosions; the Centaur-pede almost fell from its perch on the ceiling near the facility as the ground shook and quaked for several minutes. In that time Greta quickly had Viral detach her tail from the computer and close it up; she had her robot quickly lead Rover away from the computer as the power throughout the facility flickered violently. It was kind of an afterthought, but Greta had realized that she underestimated the domino effect of exploding every single wolf, shark and a number of other things all at the same time above a system of crafted hollow tunnels. Checking the end results afterwards she had collapsed a lot of the ice tunnels. There were still a few paths out, but if anyone had been in those tunnels they were bound to be buried under ice, snow and dirt with no chance for escape. That was far more destruction than Greta had intended. - “Woo, that was a big one!” It had Gilda smiling, which had been an awesome series of explosions. It was probably one of the most impressive things Greta had ever done. Minus the mechanical fish thing, that would always be in Gilda’s top five. She watched as the map warped and change in front of her. The rumbling lasted for a good three minutes and she was pretty sure Greta checked to see what she had done. “So did you get us trapped underground or do we still have enough power to dig out of this?” “We still have enough power to dig out if we have to, but it’ll take a while. There are still some tunnels we can use to get back to the surface.” After some consideration Greta added with a slightly sheepish tone. “They might not exactly be structurally sound after what I just did.” “Gee… you think?” Sarcasm aside, Gilda still thought the kind of destruction that Greta just pulled off was incredible. She’ll give nerds and dweebs credit, where credit is due. Jocks couldn’t possibly create that level of destruction without an incredible amount of stupidity. “I’ll look over the data while you’re busy helping out dog boy. You know, to see what you got from them before you decided to collapse almost everything on top of us and kill us all.” - “What the hell… how the hell did… just fucking hell!” There was a command center in the facility and there were three leaders, one was a man that tried to talk Ember into selling out her own hoard. It was a bad idea to ask a dragon to give up their hoard, not that Ember wasn’t already coming for them anyway and this kind of thing just made it worse. There were currently a lot of flabbergasted expressions to go around. “I’m going to go get my walker out; these people are bigger threats than I previously thought!” “Far more so considering they cut off almost all of the escape routes after they’ve already infiltrated the base in several places.” This one was a woman and she decided to get her weapons out as well, from what she saw someone found the kill code and had been in their systems shortly following Flamethrower’s entrance into their building. A lot of their entrances were closed off and their vehicle bays were all but useless now aside from utilizing the walkers, if they cut power to the elevators then getting the mechanical armors between floors would become impossible. She headed towards the doors; she also wanted to see if she could deal with these intruders personally. “They are well organized professionals, they cut our ability to deal with them down by a lot and we still don’t know how many of them there are.” “Well so much for the plan, we need to work on the fallout if they find all the… shit they have information on most of our operations.” That last man was checking their computer systems and found that it had been compromised already, but how had someone gotten access so easily? A good portion of their operations were compromised and it would be a public relations nightmare, considering that they have pulled this kind of crap before. Once this stuff came to light, the human race was going to have a lot of problems explaining things and they would have a lot of enemies on all sides. The fan was being hit with all the crap they’ve pulled against various other alien races and they weren’t going to be able to do much against all those races allying against them. They couldn’t bury the operations unless they could ensure the intruders died before they could escape with the information. This man set to work trying to find where that copied information went; it was a supposedly secure computer near where Flamethrower had started her assault. Which led him to a numb conclusion, the human race was going to lose a lot of ground real soon. - “I swear we have been so disorganized since we’ve been separated that I haven’t the foggiest what is going on anymore, at least Ms. Gollenfer managed to send me something to do. I’ll be glad to meet up with Ember, because my injuries certainly aren’t getting any better.” They were causing huge messes everywhere and there were only seven of them, if you excluded the Puffle’s presence. The Puffle ignored her talking to herself. Rarity wondered how much crazier things could get, there were a lot of violent thuds and the entire world shook for a few minutes. She had managed to avoid security so far and then she suddenly got a map on her HUD and a location to head to before that series of explosions went off. “My goodness, what in the world? I swear my friends can do amazing things, but I really hope they didn’t go overboard with whatever that was.” The Puffle had squeaked and covered her eyes while cowering; they were in the middle of the corridor when the lights started flickering as much as the power throughout the entire shaking building. Rarity sighed, until Fluffy Puff decided to stop cowering she was stuck in place. Giving the Puffle a name made it much easier to see her as female. Once all the noise died down, Fluffy uncurled and looked around and started moving on her own once more. It was slow at first and it… she… was highly curious about her surroundings for a moment. She blew a raspberry and was back to being a smiling idiot that Rarity knew her to be, nothing really seemed to faze her for long. It was becoming obvious that this was what all Puffles were like. Rarity wondered how she was going to get to the location on her HUD. She could take the elevator, but after all of that ruckus she figured the stairs were safer. Would Fluffy even climb all those stairs if she directed her to do so? Well there was only one way to find out now that she had a map of the entire structure. She lit her horn and made the dot float in front of Fluffy, the Puffle squealed with joy and started to chase the dot towards the stairwell with Rarity watching out for any patrols as she rode her fluffy pink steed. “I swear, of all the ridiculous things I get myself into.” Muttered Rarity who was quickly moving through a cross shaped intersection. “I’ve found intruders!” A voice shouted and several material rounds whistling through the air around the pony, she ducked down into the thick pink mass below her while grunting at shifting her broken leg about. It would probably be worse if she couldn’t feel how much pain she was in. Rarity couldn’t take any distractions right now as she kept Fluffy on course. She aimed for the door; thankfully it didn’t look like it was a door with a security lock. She flung it open as a bunch of humans charged down the hall behind them, Rarity leaned back and fired her material pistol several times and direct Fluffy to head up the stairs by following the little pink dot of light after putting her gun away. She couldn’t shoot and keep her dot in front of the Puffle at the same time. So she prioritized ignoring the humans shooting at her and moved the light up the stairs for the Puffle to follow while looking at the map on her HUD. She needed to go at least ten floors up, take two lefts and a right to reach that large room Greta was directing her to. Shots rang out behind them following them up the stairs and Rarity turned her head slightly to the right and pulled her material pistol once more to start shooting back at the humans below. Once they backed off slightly she had to once again put her pistol away and create a pink dot for the Puffle to follow, she was getting a bit low on magic. If she had to, Rarity would ditch the Puffle and use her pinpoint puller to get around, riding on the back of another being much like a pony was not ideal and she was getting a bit saddle sore, her head hurt and she could really use some pain killers and some time in a medical bed. She was thankful that the stairs had solid railings, she wasn’t as happy that the staircase was a square shaped spiral. It made sense that somebody would probably want exits in four directions instead of the two a rising zigzag would have. They had managed to get far enough away to avoid being shot at, but the humans could still be heard giving chase as Rarity stopped the Puffle before a door. She opened the door looked out and got the Puffle moving while quickly shutting the door behind her. Apparently the large open room she was heading for was within the labs section of the facility. The stark white corridors were quiet and there wasn’t a sound around aside from Fluffy’s excited gasps at seeing new walls and lights. Something wasn’t quite right here, she looked into a room that had a glass panel and didn’t see anyone and the nearby security station had no one manning it. The sudden lack of people felt entirely off, she would have expected at least someone to be shooting at her or raising an alarm as she entered this area of the facility. She’d expect places like this to be swarming with scientists. - It was after leaving behind a long corridor of half dead, crippled and or otherwise soundly put down humans that Ember met her first special unit of the facility. Sure it looked big, bulky and angular, but she was pretty sure she could take it down. It started charging her as soon as she spotted it and it hit her with its left set of charged claws when it threw them forward, its mechanical fist connected with Ember’s chest. The EVA suit Ember was wearing was slightly pockmarked with spots from solidified breach gel, but on the whole she had been in good health. The hit she just took to the chest launched her backwards down the hall and she bounced and tumbled over several rather still human bodies before coming to a stop on all fours where she slides for a foot or two. “Okay, I admit, that shock actually stung a bit.” That and the thing could hit hard, as Ember had just experienced from an electrified punch to the chest sending her flying. Say what you will about human design when it came to their weapons, they could build things to hit hard. She stood up and cracked her neck to the left and right, handling one of these things wouldn’t be too hard. If she were to fight two or more, then she might actually start having a problem with them. She aimed her rifle at it with her right claw and making a come at me gesture with her left claw. “If you really think that machine will be enough take me down, then you’re either really brave or really stupid. I’m thinking it’s the latter.” Standing up, Ember started walking forward and began picking up speed until she was running at it, the mechanized suit fired several blasts her way and she just avoided them with a duck and a leap to the wall which she started crawling along. It trailed its shots up after her on the wall and she jumped off the wall to the other one and it quickly turned to try and continue shooting at her. Only the pilot didn’t see anything on the opposite wall. Ember dropped from above and cleaved the left arm off the machine with an overhead swing of her blazing bayonet melting the left shoulder into a pile of melted metal. The machine staggered backwards in surprise as its pilot hadn’t seen her coming; it tried to swing its right arm into her with its claws wide open attempting to grab her. Due to the unfortunate problem in the machines design, the machine was horribly imbalanced and its four fingered claw went high and over Ember’s head. The dragon only had to duck slightly to avoid the clasping electrified metal fingers that were spread out around the circular hand. Ember didn’t waste any time after it had missed grabbing her, she smashed the darkened glass screen with her rifle and unbalance it even further. The machine tilted backwards with its thick blocky left leg lifting into the air. Crouching down, Ember leapt at the machine shoulder first with her rifle angled to take the brunt of the impact and bounced off it. It fell to the floor with a thunderous crash, cracking the flooring and creating fissures all over the place. Leaping on top of it, Ember fired a round into the armored glass and it shattered covering the pilot with the broken shards, she reached down swiped the claws of her left hand at the belts holding him in his seat and lifted him out of the machine. “It was the latter.” Confirmed the human as a spot on his pants were becoming darker as Ember put her rifle away and pulled off his helmet to stare him in the eyes angrily, the human found the back of his head smashed against the rim of the machine’s broken view screen. His head bled a bit thanks to the jagged bits of glass he was knocked out upon and Ember subsequently dropped him back into his seat. These walkers might actually be able to actually harm her seriously if she let them and Rarity was all by herself down below. If any of these walker things went near her centerpiece and hurt her… well Ember wouldn’t be a happy dragon. She found the doors to the elevator shaft and wrenched them open with her claws and just jumped down the shaft. The fall was uneventful and she fired her pinpoint puller at the wall to stop at the right level. Once she got her feet into position at the frame of the doors, she started pulling with all her strength and the doors eventually screeched and were wrenched open. Elevator shafts wouldn’t stop her nor would armored walkers, she was going to meet with Rarity and stick with her until everything was done with. She idly looked around after stepping out into the hallway that branched off in five directions and took in the kind of space she was in. This was some kind of laboratory, what were they testing here? That made the large room Greta wanted them to investigate all the more ominous. White hallways with several decontamination rooms were before her, around the corner of the elevator was a corridor leading to five more directions. “Well no time like the present.” Ember looked around warily while pulling out the energy pistol, where were all the people? She barreled through a section of the facility while under a constant stream of attacks by armored men and women and even that walker, yet here she was and nobody was shooting at her. You’d expect a place like this to be somewhat guarded, it was too quiet to be normal. Something was horribly wrong here. - The man at the computer in the command center had been keeping track of Ember and then he saw that she was in the laboratory sector, near the humongous cold storage room. Yet there were no soldiers there to greet her to at least distract her, what was going on? Checking the various camera’s he came to something that filled him with dread. Looking up when it happened, it was when a majority of their ice tunnels collapsed and they lost all of their blizzard manufacturing capabilities. They had a very bad containment breach and it went completely unnoticed until now. Author's Note Well I think this chapter is the worst I've written in a while. Also the humans may not actually be terrorists, in fact it might be worse.
-106-“Trapeze I’m capable of getting around on my own, even with a bio-cast on one of my legs.” Though having a bio-cast on her leg did make walking a bit awkward for Rarity. “You didn’t treat Lightning like this.” “To be fair Lightning is a gruff military type and she doesn’t take help as well as you do, but seeing her have an honest smile on her face sometimes makes me happy.” As a performer Trapeze’s whole job was based in creating smiles, she and Pinkie Pie had that in common at least. Pinkie certainly liked entertainers and would likely end up married to one in her future, provided that she ever left Streusel Station to find a mare or stallion. “I feel kind of bad that Bernard still needs to rest and can’t do too much yet, at least I have Rover to work with. Except his wrist needs time to heal before I can teach him some new juggling techniques and a few other tricks I think he might be good at.” They walked a short distance from medical to the meal hall, they saw Lightning pass by them carrying several trays on her back grumbling something about super intelligent Griffons not building her a fighter to pilot because they were too busy with all the other stuff. They entered after giving Lightning some space to head towards the nearby elevators before walking in to see Chrysalis get slapped by Sassy knocking her flat on her back, it seemed that Chrysalis enjoyed it and Sassy just sighed. “Must you be so crass?” Muttered a lightly angry looking Sassy. She seemed to have a good control of her anger as she floated a sweet bean bun to her mouth and appeared to calmly rip it in half with her teeth. “Yes, because I want the latter half of the word crass, by that I mean remove the C and the R.” Chrysalis sat up and got back onto her seat looking at Sassy with affection despite the hoof shaped indent in her face. “Maybe I want yours to brush up against mine… if you would let me sit a little closer?” “How about not?” The half lidded eyes stare Sassy was giving Chrysalis made her put on a puppy dug like face as if she were a dog that had been kicked in a particularly rough manner. It would be silly if it wasn’t coming from someone as dangerous as a Changeling Queen was. Sassy turns her gaze to the two ponies entering and brightens almost immediately, this made Chrysalis shoot the two a jealous look that they could get her to look at them like that. “Rarity, how are you feeling dear? I hope the surgery wasn’t too rough on you. Wait Trapeze if you’re here who’s watching medical? I haven’t remembered seeing the masseuse in a while, though that’s to be expected at this point, I haven’t seen Coco for as long either. ” Sassy still had issues with medical beds and wasn’t about to trust a single one that her friends weren’t watching over personally and had complete control over. Which is why they always had one person in medical, to have someone watching over them when someone woke up there to be a friendly face and it became a rotational things. They’d continue that rotation for as long as Princess Mcflame was sedated for her own health, surgery on dragons was hard to perform and at best they hope that she could heal naturally as a medical beds surgical tools couldn’t close up her wounds or even pierce the scales that were still there. The medical bed had used bio-cast related coagulants on Ember’s wounds as soon as the medical fluids flooded it. That was the best a medical bed could do for someone of Ember’s sturdy physiology, which was actually actively working against her getting better in a quicker manner that her shredded state sorely needed. Chrysalis sat her chin on the table and just started to idly brush her mane with a brush she pulled out from her fur lined carapace with magic, she had nothing better to do and she had upset Sassy once again and she didn’t want to work on her hobby in front of everyone if they weren’t even interested in learning what she was doing. Sassy might find it interesting once she bothered to ask about it as Chrysalis wasn’t willing to divulge the information of her hobby to anyone without express interest in it, it was lonely being the only Changeling on the ship with no other to connect her mind to. So grooming was the best she had at the moment, still she wasn’t about to give up on earning Sassy’s personal attention anytime soon. Applejack and Babs were still talking at a separate table, things were a little awkward but the filly looked a little bit happier as she had a pile of sweet bean filled buns sitting before her to eat. Babs quickly thanked Mr. Cumin for them politely and then started to slowly consume the pile like a growing filly should in a voracious manner. Applejack was a little surprised to find that the plate sat before her were apple filled buns, not exactly the same as apple fritters but she liked them well enough. “Bernard can watch medical for a while.” Even injured as he was, Trapeze had complete confidence that Bernard would not dare to make his injuries any worse. The little guy was looking forward to their next performance, which may be at a wedding reception and Trapeze would give him the okay if he was healthy enough to perform. It was her troupe and her rules would be followed about health and safety, some caution was warranted on just about everything they did. She sat down and stretched her hooves out while yawning a bit. “I’ve been fussing over my little funny bunny and he’s doing better, I’ve learned that Lagotorphins are certainly a lot tougher than they look. I mean taking multiple plasma bolts to the body with barely third degree burns to show for it is far more impressive than some of the things I’ve done.” There were quite a few stares directed at Trapeze, they figured she had to be kidding as she was the most magical Earth Pony they knew. Her performance on Streusel Station was legendary for the fact that nobody knew how she kept control of her bouncing form or even got another pony to do that magic trick with the rings. They weren’t even sure how Trapeze did half the things she did, but there was a small problem that she hadn’t told anyone about. That problem being that Trapeze couldn’t exactly do a lot of those things without an audience to utterly confuse. “For the most part I’m fine darling, aside from all the psychological trauma I’m currently enduring. What’s truly troubling me is that Opal is being rather reticent in talking to me and I can’t understand why that is. I know for a fact that she can hear me, yet she hasn’t talked to me at all.” Rarity had a mostly three legged gait as her bio-cast covered leg couldn’t bend or move about at all from its straightened out form, at least bio-casts didn’t leave you horribly itchy like old world thick binding versions did. She sat down and looked to Mr. Cumin. “Mr. Cumin some food please, if you don’t mind. If you do, then I will accept that and ask again later. Whatever you do or have in mind will be fine.” “Of course, no trouble at all. I’ll make some more food, it seems to be like lunch for everyone anyone and I’ll also get some more tea prepared for you and the others.” There was nothing bad that Coriander could say about Rarity aside from his daughter actively following her into danger, at least Saffron came home in mostly one piece. Heck Saffron was the most armored of them and she still came back beaten and bruised, it was almost like his daughter enjoyed being a living sandbag. Rarity quickly returned her gaze to Sassy and looked to Chrysalis who was giving her a cool look as she brushed out her mane. She shook her head and addressed Sassy “So, Sassy can you at least tell me when Opal started getting worryingly quiet like this? She really hasn’t responded to me at all and I know for a fact that she seems to avoiding me.” Well it wasn’t so much avoiding as not showing up on screens or talking to Rarity. “How bad was it when the pirates attacked?” “The second attack was probably worst, I think they tried to attack Opal with a virus Rarity.” As far as Sassy knew that was what happened, so far she hasn’t heard a peep from Opal even if she was still operating all the systems on the ship. “It led to some really weird things to start happening to the pirates, but it seems that it mostly backfired. We had some boarders, but they didn’t stay for long. Merchants need to know how to defend themselves after all and we’re nothing if not pragmatic about our own ability to defend ourselves.” “Backfired how exactly?” It wasn’t like Rarity skimped on virus protection with Opal, but Opal was not likely to have antivirus countermeasures powerful enough to actively have a noticeable effect in an offensive manner. Opal was well defended from viruses, she did a lot of accounting for Rarity after all and it wouldn’t do to have her favorite personal assistant and child incapable of protecting herself. “Well at first Opal mentioned something about them trying to get a virus into the system, which would be impossible with the shields up. Interesting thing is, some of the smaller pirate vessels had these harpoons and rammed them through the shields and started to broadcast the virus.” At least Trapeze understood some of what was happening during the second attack. “After the first attack went south thanks to our presence, the second attack was really quite bad. The third attack kind of ended early and sputtered out when the EDF arrive.” “What these two seem to be missing are the details about your Pony hive mind being invaded. She got really quiet after screaming when we were hit by those harpoons and cables. I still don’t understand technology too well, I just know that it was a bad thing to have those attached to the hull. It would be like hitting a physical hive with a constant anti-hive-mind link by stabbing a magically enchanted thing into it. I shudder to think of anyone developing a weapon like that against Changelings.” Now Chrysalis was throwing in her own voice into the mix as she worked out her tail with the brush. Her hair was one of her better features and she took pride in her appearance as well as she could, though by this point everyone knew what she complained about the most when it came to her regal appearance. “We were boarded quite soon afterwards and we showed them hell. Bernard got burned and wasn’t around for the third attack. I got shot a couple of times during that and it was rather glorious. I was good enough for the third attack, though I really didn’t expect the chainsaw and the shouting of ‘please die you unholy creature’. Not the worst thing I’ve been called, which is ‘flat ass’ by the way and I’m kind of surprised that a pirate would even say the word ‘please’. What kind of pirate says ‘please’!? Is that really a thing you can expect of space pirates? I’m asking because novels just don’t quite sell it like that, I was expecting them to be talking about jars of dirt or something and more chauvinistic than barbaric. At least a chauvinist would have been charming.” “Please shut up Chrysalis, look during the second attack Opal went quiet and that gave them an opening to board and attack us. I was waiting for them on the second and third occasion, the first fight was an entirely ship to ship battle that Opal handled quite splendidly Rarity-sama.” More tea was placed before Sassy by Coriander and she didn’t say ‘thank you’, but at least she didn’t snap at him. Rarity received a cup of her own and took a sip while noting that Sassy at least trusted Cumin not to poison her. “I’m glad I picked up some good blends from the supply depot between attacks. Anyway, the pirate ships started behaving oddly while we were fighting them off. Their fighters started firing on each other, several of their ships started attacking one another and it just devolved into chaos from there. It was like Discord showed up out of nowhere and slapped someone with a… with a turn left sign.” “Well now that you expect me to do it… it wouldn’t be very fun or chaotic.” It was Discord who showed up holding a turn left sign and about to slam it against the back of Chrysalis’s head. Chrysalis just gave him a calm and slightly smarmy smirk. Nobody ambushes a Changeling, not even a self-proclaimed Lord of Chaos. “Just so you know Chrysalis, you’re not the true lord of chaos here… would you like it if I stole your title and became a phallic shaped mass of minerals? So I will respectfully beg of you, please stop stealing my shtick… or you’ll be the left turn at Albuquerque and I really don’t want to do that to you. Mostly because you’re the embodiment of the trope ‘too kinky to torture’ and you’d enjoy being Albuquerque-d too much. You’re actually someone I consider a good friend... I still do even after what you managed to pull on me and I must admit that it was a good one. Well played, though I’m a bit depressed that you managed to get one over on me twice in the span of three minutes and you weren’t even there to enjoy it.” He was drooping sadly as he popped away, he had so wanted to surprise the Changeling Queen who has been stealing his job in causing chaos for the alicorns, ponies and the occasional paltry invading alien fleets. What made him angry was that it was organized and premeditated chaos no less, but he had to begrudgingly admit that the Changeling Queen was clever enough to pull it off in a way that it couldn’t logically possibly be blamed on her. Which is why, due in part to insane troll logic, that he knew Chrysalis was responsible for what happened to him. Well there was one thing that could be traced back to Chrysalis. There was the Always Swallows Sanctuary, a bird sanctuary run by a changeling named Always Swallows that specifically catered to the care and nurturing of swallows. Said sanctuary was amusingly enough sitting next to the Happily Overcoming Limited Expectations clinic, a clinic mostly run by hippogriffs. “What… was that about exactly?” Rarity did not need more chaos in her life and she was narrowing her eyes at Chrysalis. She wasn’t even about to question how Discord managed to pop across the vast distance of space without getting lost. “Don’t worry about it, he won’t do anything to us. Well he could have done something to me, I’m kind of disappointed he didn’t Albuquerque me. The cowardly bastard…” Muttering that last part Chrysalis sighed vehemently, but the smile refused to leave her face. No one would ever say Chrysalis couldn’t play the long game like a fiddle during a rain storm while balance on the tip of a bowling pin and singing about being ‘hungry for your love’ and ‘kissing stars’. “Anyway, are you saying there’s something clearly wrong with Opal? It sounds like she took care of things and is still operational even if she won’t see me on screen, I know she’s still around because she’s still opening doors for me. I don’t think for an instant that any manner of virus could take out my sweet little Opal.” Nobody would say Rarity didn’t believe in her precious companion that she started her journey with when she bought the Caravel Boutique, it was inconceivable that something horrible happened to Opal. Though given the situation, it wasn’t beyond merit that something awful had happened and it was so bad that Opal was not being very forthcoming. “I can answer that, but Opal thinks you need to eat first and relax a little before she’s willing to come clean with what’s wrong Rarity. It’s a bit surprising and… tip of my tongue… the masseuse is currently with her. Have you even had a show or bathed yet, you look like you could do some work on your mane.” The quiet voice of the ever adorable Coco Pommel kind of cut through the room, getting all that attention made her ears wilt and nibble at her lower lip and become rather shy. “You’ve kind of got stress mane going there at the moment Rarity, Opal wants you to be relaxed for the news she has to tell you and she’s afraid of how you’ll take it. Even if me and… uh… the other pony tell her everything’s going to be fine, she’s kind of inconsolable about what’s going on at the moment. She has full control of the ship so that’s nothing to worry about, but she really needs your presence once you’ve cleaned up a bit.” “I… I think I can get myself back in short order for Opal’s sake, though I have a question. What is the rule about bathing with a bio-cast? Aside from that I need to eat something first, my mane isn’t that disastrous… is it?” Rarity’s good hoof immediately went up to her hair and she saw everyone shrug, she just got out of the medical bed so it’s just straight at the moment. She liked a little style and panache, so she’d fix it after she’d got a good meal in, her hunger was topping her need to look fabulous. When did she stop caring so much about her outward appearance? Her stomach grumbled loudly, which made it clear to Rarity why she was forgoing her usual preening. “If I said you’re mane looked fine, but not nearly as good as Sassy’s, would you let me eat some of it?” The flat stares sent her way made Chrysalis pout again and with a flash of green her eyes grew several sizes bigger and more fluid looking. “Chrysalis you have plenty in storage, you even have a surplus from all the hair you shaved off of those pirates before we hoofed them over to the EDF.” Sassy’s stern voice and slightly angry lilt made Chrysalis back down with a flash of green energy and her eyes were back to normal. “Her answer was obviously going to be no and so is mine, as is Trapeze and anyone else that lives on this ship. Go eat from storage if you’re hungry.” “Fine…” Whined Chrysalis who got up to go dig into storage, she calmly started leaving the dining space with her tail dragging behind her and her ears drooping in sadness. She wasn’t winning at all today, first Discord wouldn’t beat the tar out of her and now no one would let her nibble on their manes with sticking her in the freezer. The freezer kind of became a realistic punishment for her, she preferred not wasting energy on keeping warm. The Changeling stopped at the door and turned back to look at Sassy, her bright fur and mane, her slender form and those elegant eyes slowly sliding her way with that lovely cold look that Chrysalis found quite attractive. Whenever she looked at the mare, Chrysalis’s heart started to speed up in an unsure manner ever since Sassy gave her an opening to try. “Just so you know, I will not stop in my attempts at forging a close personal relationship with you!” With that Chrysalis turned around and walked face first into the wall next to the clearly open doorway a foot to her left, the crunching sound was her nose breaking at her misaimed hasty retreat. This made Chrysalis blush in embarrassment even if she enjoyed the feeling of pain, that hadn’t looked like a very regal exit at all. She had an image to maintain as a Changeling Queen and she was flopping all over herself over a pony, she couldn’t figure out why she didn’t think that was a bad thing and even didn’t mind looking foolish in front of Sassy. As for anyone else, she would just glared at them as she left. One more look at Sassy and she subsequently tripped over her hooves like she trips over her own mouth around Ms. Saddles, Chrysalis tumbled her way out of the room. “Wow… I didn’t think she liked hurting herself that much, she actively chose to tumble in the poorest manner possible.” There was nothing like Trapeze missing the point of Chrysalis’s obvious desire to cuddle Sassy until death sets in. Still it was a rather interesting observation and Trapeze would know if a tumble was genuine or on purpose. The tumble might not have started on purpose, but Chrysalis actively worked it to injure herself which took clear talent that had Trapeze intrigued. Maybe she could get Chrysalis in on an act or two. - One slightly assisted bath and mane maintaining later, Rarity was looking more like how she should. That didn’t mean her body wasn’t sore from the events that were barely even a day old. “I’m not an invalid Coco, though being repeatedly psychologically and physically traumatized every other week isn’t doing me any favors.” Having primped and preened her mane to have the curl and bounce that she so enjoyed, Rarity was once again on the move to see what was up with Opal. Her tail was just fine and she was relatively healthy if on the mend and needing one long session with Vera. “You ended up with broken leg, heavily bruised body, a hole in your flank and you had internal bleeding that made you blackout twice.” Those were the facts and Coco didn’t think Rarity should get mad at her over it, she was wilting a bit because she was afraid for Rarity and a bit of her for handling things so well. Earth Ponies were supposed to be sturdy, but Rarity was kind of ridiculous in how well she’s taken so many situations that could have gotten her killed. In fact it was kind of inspirational what the clothing designer had managed to achieve through all that. “I’m kind of surprised you’re still mentally functional, well in a seemingly normal capacity anyway. I mean after pirates, the MOM invasion, that terrorist attack on the train, being pinned to the floor by a known serial rapist who was good enough at illusion magic to get away with it for years, a station haunted with a deadly shifter drifter and now this… well I’d be a complete nervous wreck at what would be coming next. I’m kind of scared that you might be suicidal even if I logically know that you aren’t, I wouldn’t want to make the same assumption like I did with Sassy becoming a trained assassin.” Rarity looked to Coco to see the mare shivering and almost whimpering, it made her consider just what exactly she was made of to have a will of iron to face all that and not be as Coco suggested. Sure it was exceedingly painful, terrifying on a number of levels and almost killed her numerous times, but Rarity had dreams she was looking forward to and finding a stallion might have to be bumped up a few levels on her list of importance. She was not going to die a virgin like Chrysalis might, but she wouldn’t just jump into a bed with anyone. Her next adventure was going to be centered on romance as much as she could force it. “I’m not suicidal Coco, I just can’t help but stick my nose into things a clothing designer obviously shouldn’t be anywhere near. Quite frankly I should be an average civilian and here I am gallivanting about like some kind of galactic hero, though I don’t consider myself one.” Though putting herself into a position to be a hero seemed to happen more often than not when Rarity had the urge to do generous things in the general direction of trouble. “If you don’t think I’m concerned myself darling, then I think I have hidden how well I’m horrified by how often I keep putting my friends in mortal peril and even ask them to do so knowing that they could die. What’s more concerning is that all of you seem to be willing to jump into that peril at my behest, if you think I’m suicidal then what does that say about the people under my command as captain? I’m not exactly a real captain really, though owning this ship does put me in a position of power as a Baroness. All of you were putting your lives and dreams on the line for my safety, I don’t think I can ask for friends as loyal, honest, magical, silly and kind as any of you who follow someone like me.” “Well why not follow you? I personally think you’re worthy of my friendship.” It was the one reason Coco chose working for Rarity over Suri Polomare, Rarity worked for their friendship and often times hugged, cuddled and encouraged her to do her best. Suri on the other hoof didn’t have a single affectionate bone in her body even if she was good at pretending she did and would have likely taken credit for any of her hard work, dodging that bullet had been the best things Coco has ever done. “Opal needs you now more than anything, so please try not to be so down on yourself.” “Coco I’m beginning to think Greta was on to something about me causing disproportionate retribution, but more in the vein of being a disaster zone magnet that just happens to get retribution for making poor life choices.” Stopping in the middle of the hallway Rarity closed her eyes to speak these words. “I’m not going to fake how I feel as Opal probably already knows I’m being down on myself this very moment. I’m at least hoping that she can cheer me up if nothing is too terribly wrong with her.” “Well you’re about to find out what’s going on, I can see atmosphere farm access already.” A quiet pause and Coco pulled Rarity into a hug and sniffling. “Please don’t think you’re not worth all the effort we go through to keep you alive, your something of a rock for everyone on this ship. Nothing between you and hard places tends to last long. If I had to choose between a rock like you and a hard place, I’d go for the rock every time and I’m not saying that just because I’m an Earth Pony. Sassy is being quite strong for us, but she’s hasn’t lost her metaphorical heart even after it was damaged badly and your helping just as much as I am to keep the old Sassy we knew alive and well.” “You would follow me into Tartarus wouldn’t you?” It was meant to be rhetorical, but to Rarity’s surprise Coco smiled and answered anyway. “No thinking, no hesitation, not even needing a beat of my heart to jump forward. A heartbeat seems a bit too long for me and I’d be having a complete panic attack the entire time doing so, but I’d follow you into Tartarus to buy a T-shirt at the gift shop and then compare it to our brand to find it lacking.” Of that there was such sureness that Coco wouldn’t run out of cowardice when Rarity needed her that it brought a few tears to Rarity’s eyes. Coco was devoted to fashion, but that wasn’t her whole life even if she enjoyed it far too much. “After we’re done meeting with Opal we need to go over the wedding dress designs I’ve come up with and then we need to talk to the client personally about which ones will work best with her after we narrow down our options. I may specialize in accessories, but I also make clothing that can be accessorized. In fact simplicity is one of the things I do better than you or Sassy.” “On that I can agree, I do tend towards the more extravagant and Sassy tends to go with what works a little too much when it comes to sales. Also I know it’s a faux pas to outshine the mare of the hour at her wedding, so I’m charging you with making the dresses for me and the other girls who are going. Maybe a suit for Rover, Bernard or Mr. Cumin if they feel like it. We’ll need to discuss this later however.” The topics Rarity would go over with Coco later were numerous, but she agreed that Coco was good at doing simple. Rarity’s problem is that she fussed over something if it didn’t seem to shine or have something that can catch the eye of everyone around her, she liked being the center of attention and she liked making other people the center of attention as well with her works of fashionable art. “Right now I have more important things to worry about, such as my wayward Opalescence Belle.” Coco led Rarity into the room to immediately see Vera’s backside. Rarity appreciated the fact that atmosphere farms always had fresh air. The second a section like this was exposed to vacuum, all the air providing moss died and emergency smaller atmosphere generation farm at the rear ship would become active. Too much production of atmosphere would cause a ship to explode or in a less extreme circumstance bulge while becoming highly combustible when damaged, too little and people tended to have breathing problems. In this case gasping filled Rarity with a healthy dose of fresh atmosphere once they were besides Vera. Rarity idly pointed out Ms. Blossom to Coco so that she could put a hoof on the mare to keep her in mind, especially after Rarity saw who Vera was having a rather interesting discussion with. “My word…” Rarity stared and how could she not at what she was seeing, she didn’t even think it was real. She took a few steps forward with absolute disbelief etched into her face. “Opal… is that you?” “Ah yeah… hey mom… I know this might be a bit of a…AGH!” Thankfully the weak sounding and scratchy voiced Opal managed to inhale before Rarity started choking the life out of her. “Help me… she’s trying to cease my functions like I predicted… I don’t want to be erased!” “Oh you’re just absolutely adorable!” Author's Note Opal was expecting the worst and Rarity was mostly concerned that something horrible had happened to her.
-121-It had been a short trip for Rarity and her friends. Tree Hugger was moved to the nearest hospital on Selengard Station, while Rarity and her friends now found themselves at the local Triple P headquarters in the middle of all the districts of the station. So’Grahd was sitting behind the desk in front of Rarity and right next to the pony was Opal. A Planetary Protection Patrol Officer didn’t want to be accused of separating a mother from her child after all and So So’Grahd brought them both in to ask questions before she’d involve the others. “Isn’t there some kind of conflict of interest here?” It was nice for Rarity to know that Tree Hugger would be taken care of, she was also quite thankful for being allowed to clean herself up. She really didn’t want her friend’s blood to stain her coat, but she would prefer that her friend continue being among the living than worry about her appearance. She also preferred that her friend’s blood hadn’t been spilled in the first place. Speaking of her hair, Rarity wasn’t allowed to style her mane properly by So’Grahd and it now hung limply. Sure her mane was beautiful straight as it was curled, but she had a preference to have her tail coiled and her mane curled. “Not really. If you were guilty of a crime, then maybe there would be and I wouldn’t be the one talking to you then. Your entire group are still technically under my care until you leave the station.” Rubbing at one of her cybernetic hearing aids, So’Grahd continued as if nothing were bothering her about her ears. Rarity remembered how she was clutching at them after the flash bang and decided to not comment on it. “I just need to know more about your friend, you are not in any trouble… yet. You and your friends are relatively safe here, then again I don’t know how compromised the station is and you could be in grave danger for all I know. So please answer my questions and we can finish quickly enough to maybe get you off the station without another attack occurring, to start off what is your friend’s name and occupation? Also, for the record, your names and occupations as well.” “Well, her name is Tree Hugger. She’s a well-known member of the SNUGGLES organization. I don’t know what her official job actually is within the organization.” There was no reason why Rarity wouldn’t be cooperating with the Triple P officer, except for the fact that there had been two attempts on her life that the officer couldn’t have possibly stopped and some nervousness was to be expected. “I’m Baroness Rarity D. Belle and this is Opal K. Belle. I’m head fashion designer of Rarity’s Rarities, captain of The Shining Jewel and lead manufacturer of high quality EVA suits.” “I’m the communications officer of the Shining Jewel, I also acts as Rarity’s mascot, I do some accounting and I’m in charge of the sales site for our traveling business. Sassy is the manager for the physical store, her samurai training is self-taught and she really takes it seriously. Coco is a bit of a no lifer and married to her job as the main production master, give her a blueprint for any fashion and watch her work. As for Chrysalis, Chrysalis is… just Chrysalis actually since we don’t really give her a job and she just hangs around a lot doing useful or weird things when she feels like it. Rarity always makes certain that we have fair and affordable prices for most things, some would say too affordable which is why we hardly have enough profits to keep our exorbitantly paid crew going.” Here Opal paused and narrowed her eyes. “I would also like to respectfully state that I am paid well for my work and that I like working with Rarity, just try to separate me from mom at your own peril. We should be actively open for business pending out return to the Caravel Boutique later this evening.” “Dik-Diks would never dream of separating a loving parent and her child, even if the child is doing a lot of labor for said parent and breaking possible labor laws depending on the situation. Other races might not agree with this, but all Dik-Diks learn how to fight young and we also don’t care if family works for us if they are good at their jobs. I can personally respect your suspicions about some not letting you stay with your mother. Thankfully she has a barony and you are not an indentured to serve her against your will nor are you a slave, as such you have absolutely nothing to worry about.” For the sake of this recorded session, So’Grahd would have to make assumptions about why things happened the way they did. “This Tree Hugger, how well can you say that you know her exactly? From the sounds of it you don’t know too much about what she does beyond being a member of SNUGGLES.” “She’s a close friend to two members of my crew, we’ve also met numerous times since I got my business up and running.” Deciding to expand upon things a little more on her own initiative, Rarity continued on. “The last time we met was at the SNUGGLES space station, it was quite a brief meeting. Aside from her we are also friends with another wonderful SNUGGLES operative named Fluttershy who is usually seen in the company of a rather grumpy Lagotorphin.” “Everyone even remotely near the pony sectors knows about Fluttershy, every decent bounty hunter watches out for her in case she ever gets into trouble. They also know to stay away unless otherwise needed because of Mr. Rip. While she’s primarily noted as an expert with animals, she’s also quite good at working with intelligent beings.” No one, not even So’Grahd, would dare do anything untoward to one of the most popular members of the SNUGGLES organization. Fluttershy was practically the unknowing mascot of the organization, though because of her shy nature people tended to not crowd her and she does exceptional work. Anyone who made Fluttershy upset greatly was likely to get a kill order on them and that’s why people didn’t crowd the lovely mare more often. Not that Mr. Rip didn’t make people steer clear of bothering Fluttershy with stupid things already. “Is there anything unusual about this Tree Hugger than you can tell me about? Any criminal actions?” “Aside from her high standing in the SNUGGLES organization I really don’t know much about her personally. She shows up whenever she needs to talk to us and she did say something about meeting us on Nocturne.” Thinking on it some more, Rarity actually came up with an interesting thing to mention. “Her cutie mark does means she’s good at communing with nature and she has an abnormally high aptitude for guessing things that might happen in the near or immediate future. I would say she’s close to being a true seer, Earth Ponies tend to get prediction abilities like that and it’s quite random when they do. As far as I know she has done no criminal actions to speak of besides her presence when we met her already at that store without a minder. She’s a pacifist and only shoved me to save my life, come to think of it she even apologized to me for both physical and mental trauma she may have caused me prematurely to getting injured on my behalf, even then she didn’t really hurt me at all. Well aside from mentally I mean, being covered in my decidedly brutalized friend’s blood was quite unpleasant.” “Which is all very interesting, but how can you be so sure she’s a seer?” So’Grahd seemed bored with their proceedings, but stuff like questioning witnesses to a crime or crimes tended to be. The victim was also a witness and she was there to witness things first cloven hoof. “Aside from that I’m also obligated to ask about anyone being out to get you, since you’ve had two attacks directed at you and no one else in your group since you got here. I’m quite sorry that I couldn’t stop both the incidents from occurring on my watch. Do you know why someone would want to kill you specifically?” “I haven’t the foggiest why someone would target me specifically, I haven’t done enough around here to warrant such attention or be targeted by anyone really. At least I don’t think I have, unless I’m being targeted for things I may have unintentionally done or were indirectly responsible for.” As for the seer thing, that actually had Rarity thinking as she turned to Opal. “You wouldn’t happen to have any ideas about the seer thing Opal? Otherwise I can name one major event where something Tree Hugger said was rather prophetic in how it came about, it was rather specific in its wording and it happened on Equus.” “Tree did kind of predict the MOM attack on Eweson, she bought a lot of medical kits before it occurred and even helped out both the two crew members we recruited that were still on Geoptis Station while we were on the surface.” Technically not a lie, but not the whole truth as Opal was acting as an AI at that time. “If I remember right she gave them a plasma rifle to fight off the monsters with, she never fired it herself and from reports she was seen bandaging a multitude of Triple P officers during and after things were said and done. Our ship was one of the trawlers that helped clean up the surrounding space after the attack.” “Okay I’m going to stop it right here for the moment, I want to bring in the rest of your group before we continue.” Mostly because So’Grahd remembered Tree Hugger saying odd things to various members of the group. This included having a particularly private discussion, where she bought one tiger eye crystal and four bits of rose quartz, with one Coco Pommel before passing the solitary crystal off to her. The Cacceran shop keeper, whose name was Interitz Jildar, was still unconscious from the material round to the helmet, a helmet he was lucky to have been wearing during the attack. Rarity’s friends that had been waiting outside were quickly brought inside, though Grahd did notice something odd about the hallway when she retrieved the three and didn’t think much of it. Chrysalis was also given the chance to clean off and had her license to perform EMT services checked. Apparently it was a viable license and Chrysalis had not been making up her status as a medically trained professional, despite the horrors of knowing she was someone who could take care of emergency medical situations and only said emergency medical situations. From what Grahd could see in their statures, Coco looked a bit jittery and sad, Sassy was silent but she was quite tense and Chrysalis looked vaguely bored. “I’m sure you all know why you’re here, I would like to know what Ms. Hugger said to every one of you.” At least So’Grahd got a reaction from Coco and had to wonder why that was, she seemed like the most innocent if skittish one of the group. “This is not an interrogation and you are currently not under any suspicion of illicit activities, it’s an investigation with witnesses to a crime.” “Can I ask a question about the Human that shot Tree?” That brought most of their attentions to Sassy. “You may, however I’m not sure I can tell you everything we have on the perpetrator and we still do not know if they have any accomplices that might be after Rarity.” The three sat down and So’Grahd scrutinize each one of them, Chrysalis was the most dangerous among them because she was of a predatory species with ironically less than violent feeding habits that won’t kill anyone. Grahd was still trying to work her mind around how those of Chrysalis’s race could turn out to be naturally occurring and completely non-lethal predatory creatures. “So I may not be able to answer your question.” “What is the name of our assailant, was he someone of note?” That was what Sassy wanted to know, if this guy that went after Rarity had a history of ill repute and somehow managed to try again. “Yes, he was actually someone with a lot of notoriety. I can’t tell you his name unless it is absolutely important or completely warranted.” Thankfully for So’Grahd’s career, the assassin didn’t have any clue how fast Chrysalis would recover from disorientation or that Opal would land in a very peculiar manner to be in an immediate position to take him down. It was Tree Hugger who put Opal into that position as soon as she knocked her off of Rarity, the assassin would have been capable of getting away if not for the immediate retaliation on Opal’s part which was set up by Tree several seconds in advance. “He’s an effective quick kill assassin, basic in and out strategy. Tends to disorient or distract any bodyguards around his target before effectively killing them quickly with whatever material rounds he happens to have specifically for the job. The guy has done a lot of high profile hits and he does them with impressive speed to have the best chance of getting away. We don’t know how he got onto the station, but you seem to be a bit too low of a profile for him and that’s the odd thing about this. This is why your survival is a major concern of mine now, given you’ve already been attacked twice under my watch.” “Is there anything else you can tell us about him?” If Sassy ever met that guy again it would by far too soon and she did get a good look at his face when So’Grahd removed his mask. Sassy just might slip with her blade a bit and ‘accidentally’ impale the guy in the wrong place the next time she saw him. “We do know for certain that he wasn’t the one responsible for the silent sniper shot fired on Rarity. It doesn’t fit his MO at all. The guy we caught likes weapons with higher rates of fire to match his high speed assassinations.” No question came after that, but there were thought provoking looks sent towards So’Grahd. The investigators agreed that if the sniper had had anti-magic material rounds, then why bother with a manufactured metal material round of a drastically different make. “We’re quite sure someone is out to get Rarity and that she isn’t safe, even being here in this room isn’t safe considering one of my higher ups tried to strong arm me over her supposed death. As far as I’m concerned you’re not exactly safe to be around period.” Taking a moment to breath out a sigh of frustration, Grahd leaned back in her chair. This was becoming a much more insufferable case by the minute, not only was she this group’s minder, but she also counted as their official Officer in the attempted murder case. Someone wants her to be around this group quite consistently. “What I want to know is what Tree Hugger told Ms. Pommel.” There was only one conversation she missed and Grahd wanted to know what was said as Coco looked slightly pale afterwards. “If it is relevant, then I want to know anything else she might have said that comes to mind for the rest of you. Even if it might not mean anything to me, she could have said something important to you that seemed rather innocuous at the time.” “She told me not to change unless I wanted to, really don’t see why though. My personality is perfect, unless she meant not to use my natural talents?” Chrysalis didn’t know Tree Hugger very well, but what she did know was that the mare had a certain amount of double speak going on. “She felt quite weird emotionally, she loved practically everything around her and even fed me a large amount without any intimacy attached to it after I saved her life. If you wanted to know how the assassin felt, he was aggressive and somewhat curious. I didn’t think much of it because he wasn’t directing the aggressiveness at me, you don’t really ambush Changelings. I might add the caveat unless I can’t feel you coming or you’re a lifeless machine that somehow knows how to hide in the shadows.” “She didn’t really say much to me, though I did notice her look at me for few seconds before she told Chrysalis that.” Though now that Sassy looked back on it, it seemed like there was a reason she told a Changeling not to change unless she wanted to. If Chrysalis could disguise herself as Rarity… then… maybe… maybe Tree was onto something when she told Chrysalis not to change. Unless she wanted to change for a rather specific reason. Nobody who knows on this station has actually seen the Changelings main ability in full use, it has been listed but is not known colloquially by everyone. “I have an idea for how we’re going to get Rarity out of the station safely if things get too dangerous, but we may need to implement it before we leave this building.” Coco inhaled gently through her nose and exhaled slowly out her mouth while deciding to tell So’Grahd about what Tree told her. She really didn’t feel safe after that second attempt on Rarity, that feeling started after Rarity brought the first attempt to her attention and everyone was acting strangely for a bit. “She got this tiger eye crystal for me. She told me it was something I needed and to not lose it or me and Rarity will come to grievous harm.” The small striped crystal wasn’t very much to look at and it didn’t have any magical properties, but Coco was quite sure Tree Hugger had her reasons for giving it to her. Tree was the mare that bought Gilda and Greta a plasma rifle and it proved to be a prudent acquisition given what was going on at the time and was continuing to be useful ever since then. “She also said there would be a moment when I would absolutely need to use it, she didn’t say anything about how to use it though. She even told me it would be some time after… after… Is anyone listening in on us right now? I don’t want this to be taken the wrong way.” Coco was having a hard time talking about being the cause for someone’s demise, through action or inaction. It sounded quite final, so no matter what happens she’ll still feel responsible even if Tree said she wouldn’t be. So’Grahd didn’t say anything to Coco’s suspicion, but she did get up and go check outside the room past the door the slid into the ceiling and into the hallway to see if anyone was listening in. They were not in an interrogation room with a one way wall or mirror, they were in So’Grahd’s office space. An office space that So’Grahd immediately started searching around for any signs of listening devices or, knowing Rarity’s current luck, a possible explosive device. Not having found anything, something else occurred to So’Grahd. It was something really awful that she had considered before. Had she bothered to check her cybernetic hearing aids recently? She wouldn’t be able to hear without the cybernetics connected to her ears, but if they were actually compromised she couldn’t give anything away. As compromised as the Triple P was noted for being given the call she got after the attempt on Rarity’s life the first time? Okay, time to see if her suspicions were true. “Excuse me Rarity, but I have to go check on something for a minute, I need Sassy, Chrysalis and Coco to come with me please. Rarity stay here with Opal and wait here for me to come back, I’m locking the door so let no one inside. We’ll be back in a short while.” Instead of leaving the room So’Grahd just opened the door, she reached up with her left cloven hoof motioning for them to stay put and silent. So’Grahd motioned for them all to move to one side of the room. Grahd pointed to the three she mentioned and then herself, she started to walk in place for about five seconds and she closed the door. Their movements to one side of the room would be the same as if they walked out the door to begin with. She then started trotting in place for five minutes with the three doing the same. She motioned for each of them to stop moving one at a time, she opened the only door to the room again and then pointed to each one to start moving in place again and to suddenly stop. She then did it herself before she closed the door and locked it this time. “Okay take a seat, this is Officer Drit’s room, I don’t think he’ll mind if I use it. Let’s continue our discussion as I don’t think we’ll be disturbed in here.” So’Grahd kept her voice suspiciously even and slowly proceeded to start prying the cybernetics off her ears while walking to her chair, she sat down in her chair to make the correct sounding noises and carefully placed her cybernetics on the desk before her. While Sassy, Chrysalis and Coco all sat down where they stood. If Grahd had to guess, there were times where someone could have put something on her cybernetics, something she wouldn’t have felt as being off before now. Grahd wouldn’t have noticed it at all if Coco hadn’t asked if they were being listened in on and when she checked the hallways they were quiet. Way too quiet for her as the building was busy every day, all day long no less. So she should have seen at least someone in the hallway even if they weren’t at the door, at least an intern or a Triple P paper pusher. So’Grahd carefully got off the chair without making a noise and pulled out her shock rod from her right hip with her left hoof and extended it to full length, she flicked the switch and barely audibly hum filled the room as the rod started glowing a bright violet color. The bar on her right leg was quietly rotated outwards until it made a full circle where the bar connected with itself, then her shield started glowing on the outer side making the same hum. She moved to the left side of her desk while eyeing the door, nobody would have any reason to disturb her room while she was talking to the intended victim or for any reason. Chrysalis reading Grahd’s mood, opened a portion of her shell at her backside and reached into it with her magic to grab hold of one of her ‘hidden’ weapons. She looked to Sassy who put her right hoof on the hilt of her blade, but kept it in its sheath. Rarity getting the idea of what was happening pulled out one of her energy pistols, she hoped that this wasn’t going where So’Grahd thought it was. Coco grabbed Opal and pulled her into a corner near the door and sat down in front of her. Coco could have put on her EVA suit, but she wouldn’t be doing much unless she attached a small cylindrical accessory she made so she could use the electric portions of her suit without needing a battery equipped impulse saddle. The cylindrical white battery that could fit across her flank or along her back was new, but she hadn’t run it by Rarity yet. If someone wanted to purchase a battery effectively separate from the impulse saddle then they could do it once Opal added it to the menu. It wasn’t paranoia if someone was out to get you and Rarity felt that right now, she should probably be out of sight of the door. She edged her way backwards out of the line of sight with door from the hallway. So’Grahd gave them all a nod and they returned it, after that Grahd decided to start up again with a clear even voice. “So, Chrysalis, what did you mean by using your natural talent? It occurs to me that you never told me what that meant in regards to your person…” As she spoke So’Grahd noticed the door was being accessed and raised her shock rod high while holding her shield in front of her. Nobody was standing in the way of the door and nobody was in visual view of it when it opened. Dik-Diks could walk on their hind legs much better than any Equestrian Pony could, but on all four was faster than on two which was used for combat situations like this one. So So’Grahd was quite ready for this intrusion into her office space. Three Dik-Diks rushed into the room blindly shooting up So’Grahds desk and the chairs for her visitors, they quickly stopped firing in confusion when they noticed the mangled shot up cybernetics on the desk and nothing else. They didn’t see So’Grahd to the left of the doorway or Sassy one the right with Rarity and Chrysalis. The two Dik-Diks in the back didn’t have time to react when So’Grahd made the first move and came right at the one on the right. She bashed in a small portion of the back of his skull with a stylish sweeping out and then sharp inward U shaped swing that connected in a violent bright violet flash of energy as the shock rod connected. The male Dik-Dik would not be getting up from that. Sassy came at the one on the left and slashed her several times before twirling and delivering a harsh pommel strike to the side of her head that took her down. The female Dik-Dik didn’t get a chance to scream from the three large bloody gashes that erupted across her body, she was already down for the count with a shredded uniform. The last Dik-Dik turned to So’Grahd because she had attacked first and attracted the attention of the three Dik-Diks. This one managed to fire upon her, only to be surprised by the Dik-Dik shield deflecting the blasts of energy and was subsequently shot in the side and flanks by Rarity and Chrysalis wielding energy pistols. The still conscious Dik-Dik wearing a Triple P uniform struggled to get up after partially toppling over, only to be tackled by Coco and quickly pinned down. So’Grahd sauntered up to him on two legs and kicked his weapon away from his one free grasping hoof and struggling body, before promptly stomping down on it. She was sad that she couldn’t hear this guy scream. “So… what are the members of the Yut, Riz and Jor clan doing here and dressed illegally as Planetary Protection Patrol officers?” The entire breaching of her room was recorded by Coco until she hoofed it off to Opal to tackle and hold down the Jor clan member. So’Grahd might not be able to hear the whimpering Dik-Dik currently, but she sorely wanted an answer for this. She put the tip of her shock rod under the suddenly panicked Dik-Diks chin, he did not want to touch violet glow coming from underneath his head and tried to keep it lifted as high as possible almost feeling the dangerous amounts of energy licking at his fur. “Because frankly, I’m curious as to what Rarity could have possibly done to any of you given this is her first time in the Vae Dur system.” She glared at the relatively frightened eyes. “Not only that, where did you get an access key for my office in the first place and how did you compromise my cybernetics? Most importantly, is there going to be another clan war? Because I thought we were quite beyond those.” - Another lofty crunch and the fried fish sandwich yielded before her masticating beak and teeth, Gilda turned to look at Mr. Spew happily swimming around in the tank and went back to her meal. She looked at the floating for of Ember and saw something that hadn’t been seen in a while, the first sign of life in the recovering form. The index claw on Ember’s left hand flexed and Ember’s tarnished tail flicked against the glass causing a loud cracking noise. Gilda jumped up and stared at the appendage in disbelief. Ember in her unconscious state had managed to crack the thick glass on the medical bed glass around the base. “Holy flap and Greta’s nonexistent balls!” Though it left Gilda wondering what Ember was dreaming of, or if she was even dreaming at all. Mr. Spew chimed in with his agreement gnawing on a chunk of bone in his beak. “Well, things are looking up for you at least if you can still hit like that even as bad off as you are.” “I’m sure the Boss Lady would be happy to see you wake up, but I’d give you another month or two and at least some time awake before you try to leave the medical bed keeping you alive.” Shaking her head and chuckling Gilda went back to eating her fried fish sandwiches, Griffons lived on high calorie diets and she burned through calories like fire to flash paper. She really needed to get back to work after she finished eating. Even unconscious, Ember was quite subconsciously aware that someone was bothering her hoard and that her centerpiece was being put in danger. Even then there was nothing Ember could possibly do in her current state. Gilda didn’t notice the darkened and damaged scales starting to peel away and drop from Ember’s sleeping form. Dragon’s would often die by their hoard, they would also live for their hoard as well. - - 0-Partial Documentation-0 So’Grahd was a Triple P Officer who looked up these facts and filed them as part of her report on the second incident involving Rarity D. Belle on Selengard Station. Criminal: [Redacted] Victim/s: Tree L. Hugger, high tier SNUGGLES operative. Shot six times by assailant due to active interference. Currently hospitalized and being watched carefully for signs of foul play, status is surprisingly stable. Was stated as being possible to make a minimal to moderate recovery, some injuries might be persisting problems. Inertz G. Pirguer, shop owner in Selengard merchant district. Hit once in helmet by ricochet shot, currently unconscious and expected to make full recovery. Tree Loving Hugger’s Listed Injuries: Left hind leg- Severely damaged at hock. Ligaments shredded, may have trouble walking again. Left Buttock- Moderately damaged, shot was mostly absorbed and sitting down will be painful for quite a while. Compounds issue with walking again by damage done to hock. Left side of spine near middle of barrel- Spine was cracked by force of the shot. May cause further issues with walking. Left Shoulder- Will cause mild problems with moving that leg until full recovery. Shot didn’t penetrate too deeply. Clear through the neck, redirected into shop keeper- Shot caused severe trauma and blood loss, was almost a completely fatal injury. Round still stuck in Inertz’s helmet, victim Inertz would have died without helmet. Note: Tree L. Hugger seen talking to Cacceran shop owner without mining helmet before the incident in recordings. Helmet was applied exactly one hour before the incident occurred. Back of neck- Grazed by missing sixth crystal reported to have been fired by EMT and Officer So’Grahd, caused minimal damage to epidermis and minor loss of fur. This was initially covered up when EMT staunched bleeding neck injury. Note: Sixth crystal was found behind the counter and confiscated by Officer So’Grahd during crime scene investigations, all fired crystals were recovered. Ammunition determined to not have been sold at the shop it was fired in. Heart- Shock of massive trauma caused it to stop, EMT restarted it with the help of local Cacceran and a Parascine data pad with a unique defense function. Weakened due to severe bodily trauma. Lungs- Filled with blood, expunged by EMT and subsequently collapsed. Required several round of CPR to solve collapsed lung issue and get victim breathing again. Mostly stable. Throat- Blood caught in throat caused painful coughing and more loss of blood after neck was sealed, EMT somehow fixed the problem by stuffing horn down the victim’s throat. Likely sealed ruptured vessels while clearing the esophagus of excess blood. Stabilized, but needs to be kept under surveillance in case wound reopens. Surgery pending. Blood Loss- Severe loss of left the victim close to completely anemic and almost unable to breath on their own, still coughs up flecks every now then. Requires multiple blood transfusions at hospital, EMT’s blood was not viable for use. Note: All injuries helped by dubious, if licensed, EMT on scene. Ammunition used: ‘anti-magic’ rounds. Tend to be quite deadly for unicorns as they were impossible to stop or shield against with magic. Rounds are made out of any kind of black crystal. Possible Intended Victims: Lady Sassy Saddles and Baroness Rarity D. Belle. Assumed Main Target: Rarity D. Bell, owner of Rarity’s Rarities and Baroness of the Shining Jewel estate. Oddity: EMT could actually affect the anti-magic material rounds with her magic. Changeling race might actually be capable of stopping anti-magic material rounds. 0-End Documentation-0 Author's Note This story just gets worse and worse doesn't it? Just a shot in the dark, but are you guys reading this because of it's train wreck quality?
