Cimmerian sat in the crowd, watching the ponies on the stage play through the...heavily edited version of the unification of the three tribes. Celestia was playing the part of the narrator, telling a story she knew by heart as various ponies in improvised costumes played out their parts. A few pegasi and changeling's flew through the air, terrorizing the actors as the dreaded windigoes. Finally, a glass jar had been filled with love, the glowing fluid being used to symbolize the fire of friendship at the end.
It was cute, reminding him a bit of the story of the Grinch who Stole Christmas. It did leave him wondering what became of the Windigoes. Something that powerful doesn't just disappear overnight, or even over a few centuries. They were likely still out there somewhere, though whether or not they were still dangerous was up for debate.
"Oh dear, we missed it? How sad," Pandinus said, doing her best to mime a pout.
"You know, you don't have to pretend to like something," Cimmerian said, looking to the approaching queens. "Did you two figure something out?"
"We did," Zelus answered, lifting the drone that had been following her in her forelegs. "I think she looks better this way."
"So you put her in a drone...can't say I didn't think about it but I wasn't sure if it was possible," Cimmerian said as he looked the drone over. "How does it feel to be in control again?"
The drone tittered happily, it's mouth moving as it tried speaking in a rapid-fire pace while no intelligible sounds were produced.
Cimmerian raised an eyebrow, looking to the queens.
"She seems to forget things when she gets excited. It's kind of adorable, honestly," Din said, patting the still incoherently-babbling and wildly gesticulating drone's head. "We've already told her drones can't speak under normal conditions. They can shift vocal cords, but otherwise they're mute. Mindless drones don't usually have much of interest to say anyway. We'll look into creating a more suitable drone-form later but for now this will work. It's our, what was the holiday? A Christmas present from the two of us to her."
"The Christmas Celebration isn't until tomorrow. It's Hearth's Warming that's being celebrated," Cimmerian said with a smirk. He picked up the drone, placing it on his back even as it continued to soundlessly babble and wave at its surroundings. "Lets go, I think Celestia's going to want to see this."
"See what?" the white alicorn asked, approaching with the rest of the group from earlier.
"Ah, just the mares I wanted to see. So after the dream, I ran into a little issue. Spike was easy enough to return, but the Nightmare woke up. This left me with a problem."
Celestia's eyes widened.
"Is Twilight okay?"
"Better than okay at the moment," he said with a smile. Levitating the drone off of his back and setting it in front of him, he sat down and set his hooves on its shoulders.
"Ladies, until we can evict the Nightmare from Twilight, this young mare will be staying with us. I expect you to take good care of her and try to keep this relatively quiet for now."
"You don't mean that...this is..." Celestia started, moving closer to the occupied drone.
Twilight gave a false start, shying back for a moment before moving forward, taking Celestia into a hug as she once more descended into silent babbling.
"The drone we used is incapable of speaking and she doesn't know how to shift so she can't change that, but Zelus and I will be adjusting another drone later. Once it's done, we'll move her mind to the altered drone and she'll be set," Din explained, her horn glowing as the ponies surrounded their friend. "Mist, will you require help siphoning her off or will you be alright? They're a bit excited to see her and she may require a changeling to keep her at a proper level of energy for now."
"I think I can handle it, your highness," the nurse answered. "Pinkie has settled down a bit and the others are watching her. If I need a few friends to help out I'll call for it, I doubt they'd pass up a chance to help with this."
"Very well I'll. I'll leave you to it. Remember she thinks like a pony, so she won't be taking things like too much emotion into consideration," Din instructed the nurse before turning to Cimmerian.
"Come along, Slop wanted to do something special for your holiday and has been asking about Christmas recipes. As it's highly unlikely any here will know any of them, he's going to need to ask you personally."
The stallion nodded and followed the queen.
"That sounds good. Oh, I can already taste...did we get any potatoes on the last trip? Potatoes and carrots were usually there, not too hard to prepare. Any kind of meat would be fine, since the usual choices would get me in trouble here. Have you ever had mashed potatoes, Din? Zelus?"
The queens shook their heads and Cimmerian guffawed.
"You two are in for a treat. You can season them as you like, but I like mine to be a bit spicy. Used to mix this sauce in, sriracha it was called. If you weren't used to hot stuff it would set your tongue on fire. Heh, good times..."
"I'm sorry, but you found it enjoyable to have your mouth burned by foods?" Zelus asked in confusion.
"Not temperature hot. You remember that chili a week ago?" he asked, holding the door open for the queens.
"I still don't understand why it is called chili when it burns my mouth," Pandinus grumped. "There was nothing chilly about it."
Zelus nodded in agreement.
"It's that kind of hot. Spicy. Ah, I love it when I get to eat something that clears my sinuses," Cimmerian chuckled.
"Slop! I come bearing food ideas!"
"Cimmerian! I plan to cook them!" the chef answered back, causing the two males to burst into laughter.
"I heard from the ladies that you're looking for some ideas for tomorrow. A lot of it would be kind of iffy with the local ingredients, but I'll do my best to think up substitutes. Maybe you can come up with a few as well," the alicorn said with a large grin. "You have something to write it down with?"
A nearby aide walked towards them, some paper and pencil at the ready.
The Cimmerian rubbed his hooves together in anticipation.
"Okay so the first thing we need is mashed potatoes. I don't know if it would work, but you may be able to use local tubers if we can't get potatoes. I'd suggest peeling about half of them and leave the rest of the skins on for some texture, I find that to be nice. Add a bit of milk and butter to smooth them out and...no, nevermind. Pepper may be okay but no salt, I have to remember that.
"Next thing is going to be carrots. Steamed, boiled, sautéed, I don't really mind. I need carrots with a Christmas dinner. Then we're going to need the main course. Usually this is a hearty meat-dish that..."
Even as the two stallions went over the dinner for the next day, Queen Pandinus was hard at work. Checking the foods against their stores, having the drones finish making the proper decorations that were to be placed overnight, even a few drones in Zarris to pick up things that would be needed. At the mention of sugar cookies she mentally added asking the pink pony about the ingredients for them. She'd need the information soon though. She didn't need the drones in Zarris making a night flight when it was so cool outside. It would leave them sluggish, a dangerous situation in the jungle at night.
'Zelus, I'm going to go speak with the pink earth mare, she'll know what we need for the cookies. You keep me updated on anything else he adds,' she sent to Zelus.
The larger queen nodded in response, turning her focus back to the drooling alicorn as he described the different methods of preparing broccoli and cauliflower.
Making her way back outside, she sent a ping to Healing Mist and was surprised to find the mare was inside the temple. A quick explanation was sent back. The Twi-drone was reacting poorly to the cooler weather so the group had made their way inside, heading upstairs and into the currently empty war room to speak privately.
Din frowned at the choice of location. If not for the fact that the mare was cut off from the nightmare it would stink of espionage. As it stood though, Twilight was almost as dependent on the hive as the true drones were. More so in fact, because she didn't know how to shield herself from emotion or feed properly. Her friends would solve the latter issue of course, but such powerful emotions could easily overwhelm a true drone.
The queen found the mares curled up in a corner of the room, talking quietly amongst themselves or, in Pinkie's case, sleeping with her friends. A few blankets were scattered over the floor providing a bit of cushioning while others were draped over the mares to focus the warmth to the center of their group, a currently sleeping drone that was drooling a bit of gel.
Pandinus couldn't help but giggle. The drone that was prepared to hold Twilight's mind would need a bit more emotional capacity as well, it seemed. Standard capacity would be overwhelmed too quickly at this rate.
'At least she's gathering enough to cover the energy costs such changes will incur.'
"Healing Mist? I thought you said you would call for assistance if you needed help keeping her stable?" Pandinus called, looking about for the nurseling.
"She's over there," Rainbow Dash said, pointing across the way to the comatose changeling. "Applejack went to get another changeling to find out what was wrong, then Twilight started getting sleepy too. They're not hurt, are they? They started drooling that glow-y stuff..."
"No, the opposite in fact. It's too much emotion for them to process. All the love and happiness has overloaded them. It's why I told Mist to ask for help keeping your friend stable. True drones like the one she is currently riding are not made for this kind of interaction. Zelus and I plan to correct this in the next drone we use for her. That drone will also be capable of speech."
"That's kinda weird, how you keep talking about...swapping her around to different bodies. Is it really that easy?" the blue mare asked her.
Din closed her eyes while making the preparations in the hive. It wasn't necessary for her to switch but sometimes it was nice to show off a bit. When she opened her eyes again, she was beside the pegasus. She rose and quickly wrapped Rainbow in a hug, earning a squawk of fear at the sudden contact.
"Drones are born for this kind of use. Right now your friend is in the hive. Once she settles and calms down, she may be capable of using any drone she wishes to. Drones like Mist will be beyond her grasp, but any true drone in the hive will be open to her if she wishes to use them. Given the fact that Zelus and I will be making one specially for her, I doubt she'll truly be interested in such an ability though."
Rainbow Dash looked to her body and back to the drone, processing what had occurred.
"You! You took the drone from her, what happened to Twilight?"
"She's been pulled back to the hive. She's currently in the dream-state of the hive, still only half-lucid because of the emotion overdose. Even if this body is destroyed, she will not be harmed. Zelus and I have anchored her to ourselves."
Closing the drones eyes and switching both herself and Twilight back to their respective forms, Din finished siphoning the rest of the surplus emotion just as several more changelings walked in through the door.
"Watch the drone, keep it from overdosing. You may take your fill of the emotion you siphon, I'm certain there will be plenty to go around. Just be nice. The pony currently using the drone for mobility has been tortured for years and thus may be in worse condition mentally then the pink alicorn was when she first arrived. If she begins to act up, do not hesitate to contact me."
Stepping over to her original goal, she nudged the pink earth pony, earning a sleepy yawn and some random mumbling about a lazy author. Ignoring the mare's comments, Pandinus leaned in and whispered into her ear.
"I need to know the amount of ingredients we'll need to make sugar cookies for the a good portion of the population to enjoy, especially the foals, nymphs, chicks, and pups."
Pinkie's eyes jolted open instantly. The pink pony pressed her nose against the queen's and grabbed the larger mare's muzzle in her hooves.
"I need a list of aaaall the ponies who live here, not-ponies as well. Give me numbers and I'll give you the amount of ingredients we need to make everyp-one happy. And I want access to the kitchen again. Slop kicked me out."
"It will only be temporary," Pandinus countered. "This is a special occasion, otherwise we can't afford your baking. Do this for me and I'll allow you at least a day in the kitchen each month. Once things improve we'll see about increasing the number of days."
"If I can teach ponies how to grow gems, would that help?" Pinkie asked, earning a confused stare from the queen. "I grew up on a rock farm, we grew gems there and I know how to do it. I haven't looked, but there may be a good place nearby for it. I'll show you how to farm gems if you give me my baking supplies."
Din scowled at the pony.
"You drive a hard bargain. Prove to me that gems can be grown and I will have drones build you your own building for baking."
"Deal," Pinkie said, reaching out a hoof.
The queen tapped her own hoof against the party ponies hoof before lifting Pinkie in a magical aura and setting the earth pony on her back.
"We have a lot to prepare for, dear. I want everything to be perfect for Cimmerian. Any aid you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
"Weeeeell, he has done some good things. I guess I can spare the time," Pinkie said, sounding almost put out.
"Meh, I haven't baked in a long time. I'd probably make cookies to celebrate Armageddon at this point. Lets go do some baking!"
Ooohhhh...
What do you do with a spa~re soul?
What do you do with a spa~re soul?
What do you do with a spa~re soul?
Early in the morning?
Stick it in the shell of an extra changeling,
Stick it in the shell of an extra changeling,
Stick it in the shell of an extra changeling,
Just in time for Christmas!
I'm surprised that worked out syllabically as well as it did. I'm certainly glad this story has picked up again.
Oh Pinkie, it's good to have your humour in this story.
I assume this is a typo. Maybe I'm reading it too late at night myself.
Again, welcome back, Reykan. You've been missed. Not to mention the treat of having 3 [albeit shorter] chapters in such a short period. Feels like BurnHearthsMas all over again.
7549792
I did that once with my 'made up' language for the dragons... except I noticed that I had used a wrong line for a dragons name... I don't remember what the line had said but I knew it was not the dragon's name...
Brilliant as usual.
hmm....what other christmas goodies could be made?
So much updates. So good.
Is Trixie around?
I am just happy that you're taking the time to update your stories, keeping them fresh and maintaining the reader's interests. Not many writers do this, and sadly allow their stories to stagnate from the minds of their readers, even to themselves.
So thanks for the updates, I look forward for more
7549841 Zu'u sahvot fin rot Losei Tovit Fah Los 'Goraan'.
7549745
d.justpo.st/media/images/2014/02/baac143e8d5e011d9651627134bc1b49.jpg
Only Pinkie
Pinkie best pink party pony
Pretty sure Cim is gonna get chewed out by that minotaur crone once she learns of what happened to Twi.
I'm wondering what faculties the Nightmare still has at its disposal tho. Magic comes from training and involves an equal part of knowledge from the mind. I did see a comment that the mind is linked to the soul, so knowledge would move with the soul, so would that hamper any magical abilities of the Mad Queen?
Also, since the body still requires sleep... Doesn't this also open up the possibility to just hijack the nightmare from its dream, stuff Twilight back, and drop the Nightmare in the dream realm, thus dissolving it? Then again, it might get it's extremities on a new host.
Or you can leave the nightmare in Twi's body, kill it (the workd is happy the Mad Queen is dead, and Twilight herself doesn't fall into the spotlight of an execution. This however brings up the problems of the mana pool that resides in the body that would be destroyed (resetting Twilights magic probably) not to mention giving up the longivity the body was built for.
So many scenarios, so many choices. A good story like this keeps you wondering what'll happen next :)
7549843 Yes... in another city. She stayed with Heart to facilitate the integration of the array-ed refugees.
7549944 I think it now has full access to Twilight's mind myself.
An interesting thing here that I don't think anyone has mentioned is that it's possible that this will be the first time that the Nightmare will feel Pain.
On the other occasions a nightmare has been here they have been possessing someone else, shunting all negative sensory experiences over to Luna or Twilight. But this time she is alone in her body and forced to deal with it on her own.
We should also point out that Twilight's body is in Bad shape.
7549944
Well, she is a part of the hivemind now so she's still basically immortal (even if she has to swap drones every couple of decades. As for the mana pool, a changeling could probably be modified to solve that problem as well.
7549979
Depends how much of TwiOS is left in the body and how much is needed to actually understand the memory, I'm thinking memories are like a foriegn library, you could read it all if you could undstand the language. If I remember right NMT had a lot of probelms once Twi started resisting because she couldn't read the memories herself and needed Twi to translate it for her. Another possibility is that without Twi around to resist she could learn how to read the memories herself but this would take time she may not have.
Pinkie is taking a long time to get going, because there is an awful lot of Pinkie to go.
Once she is up and running full again though, the Nightmare will never sleep again.
Pinkie in the Dream Realm,
Pinkie in the bath,
Pinkie in the sasddle bags,
Pinkie in the glass.
How much is that Pinkie in the Mirror,
How much is that Pinkie in the food.
How much is that Pinkie in the water,
You know she is coming for you.
Hey Nightmare.
Heeereeees PINKY.
Given the usual pork, turducken etc are out, I suspect Cimmer will go for the Whole Salmon centre piece, although did we get a notification on Stategic Arms Limitations Talks on the use of Fruitcake? Specifically delivered by Maud?
Why do I get the picture of Twlight going all exited about cloud minds and partial polymorphs and ending up with her ridng the changeling equivalent of a Timberwolf King?
Pinkie:Yaay Twilight, you brought me Constructorbots for Christmas. May the Schwartz be with you.
7549841 Thought about it but that langauge is overrated/overused so I cheated and found a real life languge to model after
These updates...feels like a part of me is complete again.
than
7549979
7550017
Nah. The memories went with Twilight.
I think someone else already explained that mind and soul is connected and mind is where the knowledge reside.
The Nightmare had to break Twilight mind to gain the knowledge. When Twilight started to resist, it began to lose the knowledge and understanding because that is not it own knowledge and understanding. It never bothered to learn.
This has to be my favorite recent chapter. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.
I found the author, not in the deepest pits or on the tallest mountain, but behind the couch.
7549843 I think she is with Spike and heart over in Equestria collecting the half drones that the Mad Queen made.
I just had an odd thought.
If Cimmerian can pull Twilight out of her dreams and stick her in a Drone, couldn't he theoretically do the same for somepony on their deathbed?
Or did we have this discussion already and I missed it?
Once the Pinkness is back up to Standard Operating Levels, the Nightmare is royally S.O.L.!
7550307 I think I see a way to make nightmare easier to kill...
Well, your creativity is on fire right now, isn't it? Three new updates in such a short period of time!
You're going to spoil us at this rate, man.
7550359
Not unless they can forcibly drag it out of that body, at which point it would probably be easier to deal with without a host.
I was thinking more along the lines of what happened to Cadence, only on a more permanent basis due to not having anything to go back to.
They seek Pinkie here.
They seek her there.
They seek Pinkie everywhere.
Is she in your mirror or
in your well?
The Elusive Pinkie
will never tell.
7549841 Why would he use that? It doesn't have words for 'mashed potato man'!
7549979 If you read the chapter carefully, you'd realize that Twi was the source of the knowledge behind Nightmare's spells and tactics, without Twilight's soul, the Nightmare has to learn everything on her own. When Twi left the body, she took her knowledge with her.
All in all... Looking forward to hearing Twilights story (if she feels like sharing), and looking forward to Luna's re-appearance in the story... Missed her during the dream get-together.
7550001 You and every one else are forgetting something. Cimmerian had access to his own instinct on breathing, but had to half learn from the memories the Nightmare left him with, never mind flight. Who is to say the Nightmares have to breathe? After all, they subsist on misery, they lack a physical form, and they desire total misery, or complete death, they are magical in nature, and the fae don't care for mortal limits. Even if Nightmares are classed as Unseelie Court members.
Well toss all three of those into a pot with some spices and you get one of the tastiest damn stews to ever grace this earth.
Just sayin'.
7550479 as everyone has apparently made abundantly clear.
Sorry. In all seriousness, I like the idea itself. Would make a nice "oh shit" turn around for how well everything has been going for the group. Reintroduce that tension of "will they really win?"
7550586 THe Oh, Shit is when they realise that Twilight's the one that's been slowing the Nightmare Down. Now that Twilight's not in the way, the Nightmare will be able to push forward the majority of her rush plans to invade everyone else. A large number of ponies are going to die now.
I would have to say that I am very excited that you are continuing the story. I had become worried that you were going to stop the story altogether. Keep up the great work you are doing.
First off, I am wondering about Twilight Sparkle, with her out of her body, does Nightmare Moon have all her memories or is she just completely separated from Twilight Sparkle's brilliant mind. If this is the case then this is good. The nightmare will no longer have a soul to torment to feed on. This also brings to mind that he could put other people's minds from their bodies and send them into drones for making spies as well as soldiers. I know this is being done only out of necessity but this could be used in so many different ways. Of course certain things will have to be figured out such as what happens to a body if the soul is put into a drone and the body sits without any one there to control it. Does it just stop breathing? Does it just sit there lifeless? If for some reason Twilight body physically dies what Twilight Spirit to be ripped out of the changelings body for her spirit to go to the ponies version of Heaven? I could imagine that this would be something that ponies, Diamond Dogs, even Griffin's would volunteer for if their physical bodies are dammit where they cannot walk or they have a long time for their body to heal before they can properly walk and function. This would also give the changeling Queens a way to acquire intelligent drones by having their drones replaced with living mines and spirits. Of course they would have to be voluntary to be transferred into changeling drones. Seeing how this is an ability that Sumerian has in his dream forum.
It would be funny if Sumerian grab the Minotaur King spirit in mind and shove it into a changling drones body.
Now that Twilight Sparkle has a body and as soon as they teach her how to transform. Of course we must understand that Twilight is part of the hive mind. Can they not just put this information into Twilight's mind? Another thing Twilight is a large reservoir of knowledge. Can Twilight not teach to changelings things to do unicorn magic or even Alicorn Magic to the Queens? I know there's a lot of ifs in that but this story has so much potential.
I do hope to see a new chapter soon.
Dragonfox
7550664 still the better of the two.
THOSE are cookies i aint sure i wanna see; but by god do i wanna eat one.
7550268
Such a Hat is not found it is forged, deep in the land of Costco you will find an incredable amazing oven you need the shitty one next to it, next you must borrow sugar from the ghost of Andrew Jackson or just get regular sugar and have it blessed by Morgan Freeman(This was the ingrediant that I can't afford to replace), then you must mix the red velvet frosting with alcholic baby tears(remember they must be alcholic babies regular baby tears are to bitter), after that you must have a dual to the death with the Canadian baker monk's Grand Elder for the ribbon of chocolate and the right to enter food Nirvana,finally throw the mint cookie batter(the cheap stuff from your local suprmarket) into the oven(set to the highest setting) while chanting in Sumerian. When your kichen catches fire then you know that you have forged the Hatter's Edible Hat.
And here we are, immortality recipe. Come to someone's sleep (when death is nearby or whenever that person wants), take mind and soul, implant them in hive mind. Use true drones as bodies. Success! Death is defeated!
And in reference to the comment on the front: Yes, half of us are uncultured heathens.
The rest of us have no idea what a substitute doll is. :D
Someone found the adderall rx and started writing
Potatoes are the fruit of the gods~
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7550744
Iunno.
7549944 It is a good theory but I have to wonder about the dangers to the queens. Ponies are not evolved to be puppetted or mind controled so that the nightmare has to insinuate itself to get control. Changelings are evolved to swap minds. The nightmare might find it terribly easy to hack other changeling so that it would be hard to kill.
The one thing though that might refute my theory though is that changelings feed on the opposite emotions of nightmares.
7550918 well since its a story it can work any way you want but something like this would have a catch, like that a soul cant really live outside its proper body for years. cadance and amir are a bit of an exception since the bond between them is very intense but twilight just got jacked from halfway across the world, thats OP of OP
7550824 Agreed.