"Keeping secrets secret is dangerous. I'm sure you would agree."
Ocellus' ears twitch. They strain for the sound of gurgling and muddy sloshing, of liquefied chitin sliding against itself. She breathes the painfully frigid air in through her nose, trying to discern the acrid reek of rotted pumpkins on fire.
There is nothing. Ocellus expected the Nightmare to be on top of them by now. After the tumult minutes ago, the silence is even more frightening.
Can the Nightmare transform? Could It be hiding as a goblet or a potted plant? Despite the Nightmare's amorphous body, Ocellus doubts the abomination can truly hold a mimicked form like a changeling can.
She dearly hopes she is correct.
The air is thin and the cold has a stronger bite. Ocellus finds herself blinking out of worry that her ocelli might freeze. She chides herself, knowing that yaks live in a climate that is probably often this cold in the winter. She's not a yak, but changelings can survive in most climates. If a yak can take this cold, her ocelli are not in danger of freezing.
The room beyond the library is a sitting balcony. Smaller chairs and an end table of wrought iron flank a small, gothic throne from which Nightmare Moon could gaze out over the multi-story greenhouse of her Conservatory. The view now was blocked by the twisted, tortured branches of black-barked wood similar to the Crooked Trees visited on one of their field trips. Their large, dark-hued leaves shimmer like an oil slick with purple and green. Large bushels of glowing cerulean fruits hang from the branches like chandeliers.
Luna told her that the Conservatory was used to cultivate the plants that created the most concentrated, potent fruits of dark essence. Ocellus remembers the changeling pods containing cuttings of plants with cerulean fruit in the kitchen pantry. The doors with metalwork shaped like vines with cerulean gemstones.
"Concentrated dark essence glows with the color of the midday sky?" she voices aloud as she turns off her lantern's flame and tucks it safely away in her dice pouch. That must have been an unpleasant irony for the night alicorn's villainous personification.
Ocellus looks over the maze of twisted, malformed branches. There are plenty of gaps to crawl through, but no clear path for flight. Once they get in, they can climb for the top and fly above the trees. The canopy will at least provide some cover from enemies.
Which won't help against the one who can taste that I'm here.
Except maybe it will. In Ogres & Oubliettes terms, taste isn't exactly a targeting sense. The Nightmare will recognize her proximity, but may not be able to find her if they keep out of sight.
Smolder hops up onto a branch and sits there, looking down at Ocellus with a smile. "I don't have to be a changeling to taste what you're feeling."
Part of Ocellus wants to pedantically correct Smolder that she isn't an empath and can really only taste love. But a much bigger part feels her curiosity piqued. That almost sounds like a challenge to her race's senses.
Ocellus smirks. "Oh?"
What she is feeling is the cold. And anxiety. Her caution and common sense is struggling against a mindless urge to rush forward as fast as they can and try to grab Wrath. The Nightmare is somewhere close by, and she is Its prey. They have to be smart. From Smolder's smile and confident demeanor, she doubts the dragon is thinking of any of that.
Smolder nods, slipping between two large branches, finding good footing on the next. "You know I like kindness and gentleness and cute things," she says, offering a claw. "But I'm a dragon. I'm competitive. You're worried how I'm going to feel about you beating me in a fight after all this is over."
It wasn't what she had been thinking right then. But Ocellus has to admit it had crossed her mind. That hadn't just been Smolder, but a crude approximation of the strength and power Smolder could aspire to as an adult. She was afraid Smolder might lose pride in herself, or feel fundamentally lessened by it.
Ocellus takes the claw despite not really needing the help to climb. "A little, yeah."
Smolder nods, dropping her voice as they move through the dense labyrinth of branches and glowing fruit. "Well, if you've been paying attention at all to my Feast of Fire stories, you'll know one thing Dragons aren't attracted to is weakness."
"Coming to the School of Friendship, I've learned a lot about types of strength that have nothing to do with being big and powerful. I've learned that kindness isn't weakness," Smolder tells Ocellus as she helps the nymph unsnag her saddlebags from a branch. "My friends are strong in all sorts of ways. And so am I. You really think I'd be upset if you can be physically stronger or you're a better fighter than me?"
Ocellus smiles thankfully, adjusting her saddlebags. They ride heavier on her chitin, filled with rubble. Together, they slip between two thick branches, pushing through a curtain of leaves.
"Mother didn't choose Father to mate with because he was a pushover," Smolder says, smirking. "And despite what some of Spike's pony comics would have you believe, we don't go snatching up defenseless mares and keeping them in our caves as decoration."
With a wave of her claws, Smolder smugs, "Honestly, damsels in distress do nothing for me."
Flashes of red light end the conversation. Ocellus slips down to a lower branch and carefully pushes away a tangle of leaves.
Below, the branches become less thick for the first three meters above the vine-covered Conservatory floor. Ocellush sees a gaunt, bat-winged equine flying through the spaces between. An angry scarlet light strikes it, slamming the equine against the branches. The creature dissolves into blue smoke with sparkles of cerulean light.
Three not-changelings shrouded in coronas of deep crimson. Ocellus eases the leaves back to conceal herself and climbs back to Smolder. "Pharynx is killing the thestrals!" she whispers.
Her heart wants to cry out "Why??" But her head already knows the answer. She has bathed too long in the paranoia of this place to not understand. Like Gallus beating those goblets back in the buttery, Pharynx is eliminating anything that he thinks might be a changeling in disguise.
The pale, cold light of the stars stare down upon the wreckage. The Conservatory is the size of a professional buckball field. Above the first floor, glass walls rise to a ceiling of arched glass held in fan-vaulted tracery. A tenth of the ceiling has been shattered inwards, revealing the Nightmare's point of ingress.
Beneath the opening, metal scaffolding is torn and twisted. A moonsilver catwalk hangs canted over a torn jungle of vines, black-barked plants and glowing cerulean fruit. Broken glass and sheared beams of metal are caught in the vines and litter the Conservatory floor below among broken planter tables and a few smashed carts.
The Nightmare is neither visible nor audible. It passed this way, but seems to have moved on.
Ocellus and Smolder fly above the catwalk. Neither would trust it with their weight, but they are merely using its moonsilver latticework for extra visual cover.
The flamboyant moonsilver adorning the dangling, bent catwalk reminds Ocellus of the glass balconies in the Grand Hall. Like them, the catwalk's floor was glass, but that shattered in the Nightmare's violent descent, leaving only the moonsilver tracery.
An eerily gorgeous forest of black plants and glowing cerulean fruit sprawls below. Occasional flashes of red pierce the canopy. Vines grow up the sides of the walls, spreading out over the glass and tracery. More rise up along the scaffolding. Suspended beams are covered in hanging plants with dangling fruit. Originally, the catwalk ran between them. Ocellus imagines thestrals harvesting fruit, putting them into carts on the walkway.
"So this new changeling queen," Smolder says quietly, trying to banish some of the cold and gloom with conversation. "Queen Not-Chrysalis...?"
"Her name is Queen Elytra," Ocellus whispers back, eager to hear Smolder's voice in the eerie silence, but not wishing either of them to be heard.
Smolder stops, hovering. The orange-scaled dragon thinks a moment, then looks to Ocellus with her big blue eyes. "Is it bad that I think that's a pretty name?"
Ocellus loves those eyes. She has the urge to become a dragon. She would justify it with her desire to roll her eyes. Ocelli can't manage that expression like other creatures' eyes can.
"It means these." Ocellus stretches and waves her elytra.
Smolder watches her, clearly admiring the display. "Is it awkward that I love your elytra?"
She does. Ocellus can taste it. Jalapeno and strawberry. Definitely Smolder-love, but a very unusual flavor of it.
"They're like armor for your wings," her friend says. "That's pretty amazing. And they're beautiful."
Ocellus blinks at Smolder, surprised by this confession and unsure what to feel... but knowing she is a breath away from blushing.
Smolder gives an innocent huff at Ocellus' look. "What? I like red. The first creature I ever cared about is red."
Ocellus feels the blush breaking across her cheeks. Smolder rubs the back of her head, her stance betraying all of the awkward.
"So... uh..." The awkwardness continues, punctuated even more by their whispering. "I've never asked but... what does 'ocellus' mean?"
Ocellus frowns just slightly, looking away. "A changeling's eye."
Smolder blinks. She seems to process that just a moment before her face scrunches as something unpleasant occurs to her. "Wait... so when changelings stick themselves with those needles...?"
Ocellus' frown deepens. "They're stabbing themselves in their ocellus." Her mouth tastes bitter. She has vehemently avoided thinking about that. In her head, she hears Gallus' voice: Okay, I have to ask, why the eye?!
That is not the reason. It is a coincidence. Not a symbolic violation. It's not personal.
Smolder stares off into the distance. "And I thought that couldn't get any creepier."
The dragon's stare turns upwards towards the blackness of space.
The stars are gone.
"Uhh..." Smolder breathes, pointing a claw upwards.
Ocellus looks up. Then down. The lights of the cerulean fruits are winking out. The furthest plants have already been extinguished, plunging the edges of the Conservatory into absolute night. The eclipsing of the lights speeds towards them on all sides like a closing iris of darkness.
The blackness closes around them, leaving only the ethereal gleam of the catwalk's moonsilver latticework, suspended over an endless void.
On the catwalk lies the slumped corpse of a drone, three needles sticking out of its ruined left eye.
The heavy mass of a speeding drone strikes Ocellus from above, driving her hard into the catwalk, her body replacing the drone corpse. The impact crushes her elytra down on her wings, sending an excruciating shock of pain through the nymph as her wings are brutally pinched. Ocellus screams.
The drone passes through Ocellus and the catwalk, its prey suddenly not moving with it. Ocellus feels a bone-freezing, electric chill as the drone passes through her. It stops, hovering, staring at its empty hooves in bewilderment with its one good eye. Then it dissipates into smoke as Smolder's fiery breath blasts through it.
Smolder swoops back and lands on the catwalk, reaching for Ocellus. The dragon wobbles as the catwalk pivots, then dips to a precarious angle with a tormented squeal.
Ocellus scrambles as she begins to slide. She feels Smolder wrap her arms and tail around her, being cautious of her wings.
Beyond the catwalk, smoke swirls tightly, forming a cocoon. The cocoon cracks and peels, flaking away to reveal a melted blob of carapace floating in the air before them. It stretches out its limbs in a sick mockery of the heart beam stance. Glass and rubble fly into the air, spinning about it. The dead thing's one eye opens, staring into them. The wreckage stops swirling, the debris suddenly locked in place -- large shards of broken glass, sheared metal tracery and torn scaffold piping ring the poltergeist like the numbers on a clock.
"Uuugh. Really?" Smolder vents her displeasure as she dodges sideways and folds her wings, dropping with both of them towards a floor they can't see as a hurricane of deadly debris rips apart the catwalk.
Their falling bodies are caught in vines. The wreckage of the catwalk above rains down. The bulk of the moonsilver walkway tears free of its remaining moorings with a metal scream, plunging towards them.
Ocellus twists, throwing herself over Smolder, transforming into the giant insect monster she had become when showing off their first day at the lake.
"What do you say, Ocellus?" Smolder challenges. "Can you be weirder than a flying yak?"
Monstrous-Insect-Ocellus hears Smolder murphle against her chitin as the catwalk SLAMS into her back, driving her down through the vines, ripping them apart in spurts of smoke and strange liquids. They hit the rubble-strewn floor, the catwalk pinning Ocellus, Smolder buried beneath her.
Monstrous-Insect-Ocellus claws at the floor, scraping and tearing at the disfigured marble, fighting for proper purchase to push the catwalk off of her. She could turn to something smaller, but the catwalk could still pin her, or collapse on Smolder. She can feel Smolder squirming beneath her.
Ocellus gets her foreclaws under her and pushes, feeling the mangled catwalk shift against her back. She manages to lift herself enough for Smolder to scramble out. The dragon is gasping.
She looks around for the poltergeist. The cerulean light of the fruits is back. They gleam like a field of blue stars in the shadowed gloom of the Conservatory forest. (The stars, she suspects, are back too.) Their grim foe is not showing itself.
Unicorn telekinesis, illusions, invisibility, and conditional intangibility? Beyond being terrifying, the dead drone has an alarming array of abilities. Ocellus empathizes with Smolder's exasperation. But she's been thinking about this, and she has a trick of her own.
"Hold on!" Smolder calls up, wheezing a bit. "I'll get that off of you!"
From the depths of that gloom comes a slurping, shifting sound.
"Oh no." Smolder flaps her wings, flying to the catwalk and pulling on it. The catwalk lifts. Ocellus would again be amazed at her friend's strength if she wasn't frozen in place by the sound rushing at them.
The Nightmare spills through the trees. It rears up before Its prey, lifting Itself on spindly legs, a hundred drone mouths slumping together to form one single maw.
Ocellus blood freezes. She feels her chitin wanting to crack off and escape.
The Nightmare's jaw yawns wide, and Ocellus can see the faces of her parents, the heads of her little brother and sister -- for a moment as she knows them before shifting to the ebony-carapaced indistinguishability of love-starved drones -- melting into the black licorice mass that is the Nightmare's tongue.
"Ocellussssssss!"
"Ocellusssssssssss!!"
"Ocellussssssssssssss!!!"
Ocellus isn't even aware of transforming into a nymph again. It just seems the Nightmare grows phenomenally, blotting out the glass ceiling and the star-strewn sky. The Nightmare lets out a primeval roar. The ice of her blood shatters, her paralysis broken as all thought and reason are extinguished. All that remains is a primal, unevolved and all-consuming instinct:
ESCAPE! GET AWAY! GET AWAY! GET AWAY!! FLEE!!!
"O-okay, I w-was wrong," Smolder gasps, collapsing onto the cracked table. "We can't handle that Nightmare thing. How can we f-fight something with the power to make us run away?"
Ocellus huddles against the grandmare clock, trying to get her shaking under control. The Nightmare had chased them all the way back to the library. She isn't sure how they escaped it.
"I-I don't know," the nymph admits helplessly. She at least has an idea for the poltergeist -- assuming the Nightmare's shriek isn't also effective on the dead and it is somewhere on the far side of the moon. But the Nightmare? "I t-tried Fluttershy's lesson about f-f-facing our fears, but..."
This thing was made to hunt her. She is Its prey.
Smolder points a claw at the ceiling accusingly. "But that fear effect is cheating." There is a soft splintering sound beneath her, and the table's legs give out, dumping her onto the floor.
"I hate this palace," Smolder wheezes, having just gotten her breath back.
Luna's image flickers in the cracked central mirror of the gothic vanity's triptych. "Thank goodness you are both all right. I felt the Nightmare attack again." The connection is clearly unstable, her image flickering. But even through the distortions, Ocellus can hear the slight wetness in Luna's voice. She recognizes eyes that have been crying.
"L-Luna?" Ocellus pushes herself away from the grandmare clock. Having Luna's distress to focus on helps her ignore her own. "Are you..." Ocellus stops as she reaches the vanity.
No, don't ask if she's okay. She's not. Ocellus isn't going to leave the words hanging. That would be just like asking. She needs another approach. "...able to help us? We escaped the Nightmare, but now it is between us and Pharynx. And its power to make us panic is too strong."
Ocellus watches the way Luna keeps herself from cringing, the corners of her eyes creasing a little at the word help.
Smolder pips up, "You wouldn't happen to know a way to counter that, would you?"
Luna shakes her head. "Sadly, not for you, no."
Ocellus doesn't even have to look to know Smolder's eyebrow is raised.
Luna sighs. "I did once distill a magical potion from the light of the moon which can protect against such unnatural fear. But I am sorry, it only works on adults."
Behind her, Smolder grumps. "Well that figures."
Ocellus keeps her eyes focused on Luna. Enough that the flickering image slips back a little under her gaze. Finally, she tells the night alicorn, "This isn't your fault. You didn't cast the spell that corrupted the mirror; Queen Elytra did. You have been helpful..."
Luna nickers. "Clearly."
"Without you, I'd be lost. Or captured. Or dead," Ocellus protests. "I certainly wouldn't have any idea of what's going on. Or have a plan..."
Smolder stands up, huffing. "I'd still be a gigantic, greed-consumed brute who attacks her friends and tries to kill and eat everything that moves."
Smolder's eyes widen. "And I'm now really hoping the changeling queen didn't have drones waiting for me like she did for Ocellus," the dragon moans. "Because if she did, I ate them!"
Smolder looks to Ocellus, her eyes filled with dawning horror.
Ocellus cringes. "I... I don't think so. I-I'm sure we would h-have f-found something."
"You mean something left."
Ocellus hears Luna's stifled sniff. She feels torn between hugging Smolder and trying to ease Luna's pain. As much as this ordeal has made manifest one personal nightmare after another, she is not the only one tormented.
Luna was so tortured by what she did as Nightmare Moon -- so wracked by guilt -- that she created the Tantabus to punish herself. And now, Luna is seeing everything she abandoned here once again threaten Equestria. She's being forced to watch creatures she cares about try to fight an apocalypse of her making, being hurt and traumatized by this catastrophe while trapped and unable to directly help herself. This is as much Luna's living hell as her own. Maybe more.
With a flash of turquoise, Ocellus shifts into dragon form, knowing the favorable emotional response that will trigger in Smolder. She reaches out, taking Smolder's claws in her own, pulling the orange-scaled dragon close enough to press tan scales against her.
"You say you trust me," Ocellus says, keeping her voice gentle but firm. "Now listen to me. None of the bad things that have happened tonight are your fault." Ocellus rests her head on Smolder's, whispering into her dear friend's ear. As she speaks, she looks to Luna, saying those words as much to the former princess. "There is nothing to forgive," she maintains. "We. Will. Be. Okay."
The shockingly potent taste of Luna's love touches her receptors again, causing everything else to drop away. Ocellus has to close her receptors to focus.
She feels Smolder shudder against her. But only once. Brave, tough dragon.
Ocellus tries to redirect every creature's thoughts to what is ahead. There is too much pain and ugliness behind. She could get lost in this night if she allowed herself to. But she won't, and she won't allow her friends to either. "We need to get past that Nightmare."
Smolder nods, not backing away. "Agreed," she says, her muzzle moving against Dragon-Ocellus' breast scales. "How?"
Ocellus feels Smolder straighten up. Hears her snap her claws. The orange dragon presses her muzzle against Ocellus' breast, letting Ocellus feel her smirk, then backs up enough to speak. "Maybe we can get Pharynx' pseudolings to attack it. Get by while it's distracted!"
Ocellus considers that. That's a good plan. "We would have to know where It is before It attacks us and uses Its terror power. Get the..." Ocellus' thoughts lock up. She releases Smolder, stepping back to look at her friend. "...pseudolings? Really?"
Smolder grins, blushing a little.
As Ocellus stares at Smolder, one thought breaks through: Smolder used "pseudo"? Wait... she must have learned that from me! Her heart surges: love mixed with pride and... whatever the emotion is that says: gosh, that's cute!
Ocellus smirks. "Okay, that is kind of good."
She recalls the Nightmare's attacks, both in the Conservatory and in the Throne Room. The queen's taunt. And the earlier revelation that she considered Ocellus the true threat to her plans. "That might not work. The queen made It with a single purpose. It's hunting me. It might not care about them."
Smolder nods. Then stops. She blinks once, then crosses her arms, leaning forward and giving Dragon-Ocellus a skeptical eye. Ocellus brushes her left arm with her right claw, feeling an awkward sense of deja vu.
"Hold on!" Smolder stares. "If this is going into the cave of Ocellus Goes It Alone, no. Absolutely no."
With a flash, Ocellus transforms into a Generic Pony Victim (or, at least, a good approximation, helped by having plenty of pony forms in her repertoire) and cheerfully suggests, "Creepy, isolated place full of monsters? Let's split up. We can cover more ground that way."
Smolder snerks.
Ocellus transforms back into her natural body. "I've read too many books to do that."
The lovebug smiles softly, the edge of her smile curling with a tiny bit of smugness. She has an idea. It's actually one she's had before: something she's daydreamed about in private, back before she started to question who she really was. Perhaps ideas like this lead to that. But she has other worries right now.
Ocellus steps closer to Smolder. "No, I had another idea."
She feels her heart flutter and a knot tie in her stomach. She could just tell Smolder what she wants to try. But that wouldn't be as fun. Or as risky, although she knows enough to know there is very little risk from Smolder.
In the back of Ocellus' mind, she contemplates that the real risk is that this won't work at all. There's no reason it shouldn't... in theory. But she's never done it before. And she's never heard about any other changeling doing it before.
Ocellus faces Smolder, stepping so close their faces are nearly touching. She can feel the heat of Smolder's breath on her nose.
"You trust me, don't you, Smolder?"
Smolder leans back a bit, flushing under her scales. Her eyes dart side to side just once before locking on the changeling in front of her.
The air around Ocellus is a fiery cinnamon -- not like candy, but like hot spiced tea. There are subtle notes of ruby and licorice. Mixed are other flavors that she cannot taste -- emotions with little or nor love.
Smolder stammers slightly, "O-of course."
Ocellus can see Smolder is flustered, and probably becoming a bit worried. In a palace full of monsters, many of which are love-starved changelings, that sort of fear is hardly unfounded.
Before those worries can grow, Ocellus leans closer and kisses Smolder.
Ocellus breaks the kiss, feeling a tiny strand of saliva stretch between her lips and Smolder's before breaking. Her tongue is tingling; her face is flush. Her whole body feels pleasantly hot. The air about her is so rich with cinnamon and rubies that it almost hurts to breathe.
Ocellus can feel her body reacting, wanting to shift, wanting to take on a form that will elicit an even greater response from her friend. She has to force herself not to. Just as she has to force herself not to feed. Even for a changeling whose life is filled with love, it is tempting -- and she is young. It takes more will than she expected.
Sometime in the kiss, Smolder's wide eyes had lidded and closed. Now they open again, staring at her.
Breathlessly, Smolder whispers, "Celly...?"
The lovebug takes a step back, closing her eyes. The taste of Smolder's love is so potent. She takes it in, but she does not feed. Instead, she wraps it around herself like a warm blanket, encasing herself in a cocoon woven from Smolder's heart. The flash of turquoise fire that surrounds her is tinged with highlights of topaz as she transforms...
...into Smolder.
Smolder looks like she just hit a brick wall. "What!?"
Ocellus smiles. "When changelings collect love from someone, we don't have to eat it. We can store it," she tells her friend. "We used to do it to take the love back to our queen. Trust me, when Headmare Starlight convinced us to share our love... if all we had to share was the love inside the hearts of love-starved changelings, it wouldn't have been much of a light show."
Smolder is staring at her. Her friend's expression is disbelieving.
Smolder holds out her claws. "Again, what!?"
Ocellus explains, "I took the love you gave me and cocooned myself in it. Now, I don't just look like you, but to another changeling, I taste like you. It's a perfect disguise!"
Seeing Smolder's bewildered look, Ocellus forges on, "I am certain the queen designed the Nightmare to hunt with a changeling's senses. Now, it won't be able to track us."
"Oh." Smolder's voice is subdued.
Ocellus frowns. This is not the reaction she expected. Neither to her new trick -- which she rather hoped would impress her friend -- nor to her kiss. Smolder is staring at her, scrutinizing her. Almost like the first time they met.
Ocellus tries to taste Smolder, hoping for some insight into what the other girl is feeling. But all she can taste is the love she has encased herself in -- so potent it drowns out everything. Her eyes widen, a chord of deep unease striking inside her. She feels like she has gone blind.
The lovebug watches as Smolder's expression changes. The Dragon stands back, straightening. Her wings sag just a little. Her tail droops. The expression on her face is one of resignation. Or possibly, worse, disappointment. Suddenly, Ocellus feels she has made a terrible mistake somehow. She wants to go back in time and undo this. To take it all back somehow.
Ocellus opens her mouth, thinking that at least she can say the kiss was just because she needed the love.
Smolder holds up a claw. "Don't." The dragon turns towards the hole in the wall, looking back at the hallway. The fires have gone out. "...Just... let's go."
Ocellus shuts her mouth and nods numbly. She walks to the wall, following Smolder.
From the triptych of mirrors, Luna's voice rings out. "STOP!"
Smolder and Ocellus turn back to face Luna in the cracked central mirror. The triptych is black. Luna's image is as solid as she was in the Grand Mirror.
"Talk to each other," Luna says, her voice carrying the regal authority she once held. "Failure to talk about problems -- even small ones -- can allow them to fester. That can cause much greater damage to a relationship than the thing you remain silent about."
Smolder and Ocellus look at each other. Then at the floor. Then at the mirror.
Ocellus chuckes awkwardly. "That... sounds like a friendship lesson our Headmare would teach."
"It is," Luna tells her. "One that Starlight taught my sister and I years ago."
Smolder sighs, rubbing her left arm with her right paw.
Ocellus looks at Smolder, then at the floor. Then back to Smolder. "You're disappointed." Every second feels like another heavy blanket being piled onto her. Each one bearable alone, but together becoming crushing and smothering. "Was... I not good at kissing?"
Smolder's eyes widen with shock. "No!" The dragon flinches and waves her claws in panic at her own words. "I mean, not no. I don't mean no! I... it's not that!"
Ocellus looks at her blankly. She feels like the carpet has been pulled out from under her, and reality is still deciding where she is supposed to fall.
With a heavy sigh, Smolder tells her, "This wasn't what I expected my first kiss to be like."
Ocellus feels the metaphorical landing. And it hurts, breaking her emotions and casting them into a swirling hurricane. The winds buffet her between dismay and confusion.
Smolder watches Ocellus, seeing the hurt and confusion. For a moment, Smolder seems to consider leaving Ocellus to her storm. But instead, the dragon snaps her attention, breaking through it.
"Look. I know you know how I feel about you. And I know you. You aren't cruel. You wouldn't play with my heart. So I know you didn't kiss me just to get my love."
Ocellus feels herself growing small. She actually has to look down to make sure she hasn't changed form.
Smolder smiles just a slight bit. "In fact, I'm pretty sure you didn't need to kiss me to get the love you needed for this..." The dragon holds her paws out towards her Ocellus twin. "...at all. You could have gotten that just from the way I felt having you stand that close to me!"
Smolder narrows her eyes challengingly. "Couldn't you!?"
Ocellus nods silently.
Smolder crosses her arms, glaring but still smiling that slight smile. "So you kissed me because you wanted to kiss me," she decides. "And I want to be really happy about that. I hope it means you feel about me like I feel about you."
The smile leaves Smolder's face. "But you waited to kiss me until you had an excuse other than how you feel about me. I-I guess in case it got weird. Or I got weird."
Ocellus feels the rush to interrupt and proclaim her feelings. But the last words cut cold. Worse because she has no defense against that. She was just thinking virtually that very thing.
"I wanted my first kiss to be because we both wanted each other with no reservations," Smolder tells her flatly. "Not because one of us had a chance to do so with an escape hatch."
"Oh.... oh I'm so sorry!" Ocellus feels like she is breaking apart.
She wants to fix this. She needs to fix this. But how can she? You don't get a second chance at a first kiss. Ocellus feels her stomach drop out of her. She wants to bury herself.
"Smolder... how can I fix this?"
Smolder is quiet for a moment.
Ocellus begins to cry.
Smolder moves to her, taking her by the arms. "Hey, hey. You're sorry. I get it. Don't. I hate to see you cry." She looks into her own eyes, but can only hold the look for a moment before wincing. "I hate to see me cry. Brimstone, this is weird."
Ocellus sniffs.
Smolder looks away a moment, then stares into the Smolder-eyes of Ocellus.
"Look. For starters, I'm going to kiss you. A kiss without any backdoors or excuses," she vows. "But not right now. Not when you look like me. Because that is just no."
Ocellus smiles a little, still sniffling and hitching softly.
"Besides, this isn't where I want to kiss."
Ocellus looks around the wrecked and vine-infested room with the creepy grandmare clock. "Y-yeah... not romantic."
Smolder harrumphs. "Honestly, the whole moon has lost a lot of its romance."
They look at each other in silence a moment before either remembers their audience.
"Sorry, Luna!"
From the mirror, Luna's voice laments. "Considering the circumstances, no offense taken."
Smolder and Ocellus gaze up at the vent.
Crossing the Conservatory directly didn't work before. But the first story of the Conservatory had walls that were not glass. According to Luna, there were rooms that ran along one side of the Conservatory, used for maintenance and storage. The duct hidden behind that vent cover should take them across the Conservatory and to the essence pools. Hopefully, with her new "perfect disguise", undetected.
The two identical orange dragons fly up and begin working together to unscrew the screws holding the cover in place. Ocellus catches Smolder sneaking looks at her.
"What?"
Smolder turns back to the screw she is working. "You know what it's like to see yourself in a mirror? This is nothing like that."
Oh.
Ocellus can understand that. She wonders what it would be like to see some other creature disguised as herself. The answer is easy: it would depend on who. For one of her siblings to become her might be fun. Or rude. But the only one who has ever tried, to her knowledge, was that guard drone near Queen Elytra's hive. She knows that would not be pleasant.
"Also, I don't care what anyone else at school says: I'm not chubby."
Smolder lifts her identical twin Ocellus up into the vent, then crawls in after her.
The duct is dark and layered with vines. But unlike those in Envy's wing, these are running in efficient paths along the surfaces of the duct, not filling the space with a knotted mess.
The two begin crawling through the duct that runs between the Conservatory and the adjacent utility rooms, the vines digging into their knees. What would be uncomfortable and soon painful to a softer form surprises Ocellus by being almost pleasant through the toughness of dragon scales. Almost like a massage.
Smolder's voice speaks up from behind her. "Okay, this is weird."
Lowering her voice to remind Smolder to do the same, Ocellus asks, "What?"
"I'm seeing myself from angles I don't ever see myself."
A circle of light on the side of the passage wall ahead is broken by the tangled mass of vines that crawl up through it before spreading out in every direction within the vent. Ocellus pauses as she reaches the opening, peeking cautiously out into the Conservatory. Checking to make sure the Nightmare is still where they last saw it.
The huge, black form of the monstrous hunter saunters through the trees. Searching for her.
Ocellus stops breathing when its head turns to look her way. Scores of changeling ocelli swarm together to form a massive eye, staring in her direction. Then it turns the other way, surveying its surroundings, oblivious to her presence. Her perfect disguise is working.
The dragon-disguised lovebug breathes again and pushes herself through the tangle of vines, turning to make sure Smolder doesn't get entangled. She sees her friend reach out with her claws to slash away the mess in front of her and she quickly waves her tail to get the dragon's attention. Smolder stops, eyeing her with a weird look.
Ocellus points to the vines and shakes her head, waving her claws near her throat. Smolder's eyes widen a little, the dragon looking from her to the vines then back again. She gives a nod of understanding.
When (thanks to Gallus) Ocellus had first discovered the small passages that snaked throughout the palace hidden above ceilings and behind walls, she had wondered about the vines that spread throughout them like invading ivy. She had immediately associated the passages with the air vents she had seen in many pony buildings. But now they seem more like the animal passages in Professor Fluttershy's home. (The professor had been so wonderful as to invite her and Smolder to a tea party once.) Only these passages were for the vines.
Ocellus can see that all of the vines originate from the potent plants in the Conservatory, and from here they spread throughout Nightmare Moon's entire palace, delivering the dark essence that becomes the fire for the torches, the water for the fountains and bathrooms, and the substance for every other amenity. All hidden to keep from marring the elegance of the palace.
If there had been a fifth anti-Element, maybe it would have been Vanity. Or would that just be Pride in another form?
Still, Ocellus finds the design fascinating -- quite unlike anything at the hive, either now or during the reign of Chrysalis -- permitting function without sacrificing form. Professor Rarity would approve.
However, cutting through them has proven a bad idea.
The line of thought meanders off until Ocellus barely suppresses a giggle.
Behind her, Smolder whispers, "My turn to ask."
Ocellus whispers back, "I was just remembering when we had tea with Professor Fluttershy, and Discord made your dress drink your tea before you could."
The light behind her from Smolder's snort of flame only makes her giggle harder, having to cover her (cute!) snout with her (fearsome!) claws.
Smolder and Smolder-Ocellus crouch in the open mouth of the duct, looking down at the rows of supplies in the Conservatory's storage room. And at the swarm of red-tinged pseudolings in the room.
Ocellus cringes back from the opening, then looks across the room to the opposite vent cover. A frown etches across her draconic face. So much for a continuous duct. They'll have to cross the room to continue this way. But they can't fight all those pseudolings. And there was no way they can sneak across. Ocellus feels certain they will be spotted any moment -- they are bright orange!
Keeping her voice as soft as possible -- a feat natural for her, but requiring focus with the rambunctious voice of Smolder -- she whispers to the real dragon. "I think we need to go with your plan. Get their attention and lead them back towards the Nightmare..."
Smolder cups her paws to her muzzle, opening her mouth to call out to them, but Ocellus holds up an identical paw to her snout.
"Don't shout," she whispers. "They shoot rage lasers, remember? We need to get the attention of just one of them -- from a distance. We'll get a head start while he rallies the others."
Smolder nods in agreement.
Ocellus turns back, looking over the pseudolings with their coronas of dark red. They are gathered like patrols. But with a hive-mind, would there actually be a leader? Does Pharynx just treat them like appendages? Or would Pharynx make one in each grouping act out the patrol leader role because it fits his idea of a proper hive?
The thoughts pull Ocellus deep enough into contemplation that she barely hears the cheap-sounding clack beside her.
Something hits one of the pseudolings on the head, bouncing off with a cute squeak. The pseudoling's eyes go wide, and they all fly upwards and back, as if expecting an explosion of resin. The red-aura drones begin looking around the floor for the object that struck one of them.
Ocellus turns and sees a smug Smolder holding Gallus' toy crossbow. A moment later, they are scurrying back down the vent as fast as they can.
The two reach the vine-choked opening only seconds before the pseudoling patrols burst out of the storage room, searching for their attacker. The Nightmare looms in the Conservatory forest, Its eyes splitting apart to form new ones, peering at the ebony-carapaced, red-tinted drones that are clearly not part of Queen Elytra's hive.
The four forward-most pseudolings rise up, their chests burning with scarlet rage. Beams of fury lash out, staggering the Nightmare as they rip through Its amorphous being.
The Nightmare's mouth splits open in a scream devoid of teeth. All the teeth and fangs embedded throughout its body slither and slide across the black surface of its carapace like scurrying ants, coming together at the tips of tentacles of greasy smoke. Clattering and molding together to create giant fangs the size of Smolder's brother.
Ocellus and Smolder watch through the vent opening as the Nightmare begins to decimate the pseudolings.
Like a dark shadow, the changeling queen rises up from the shifting black mass of the Nightmare's back. Ocellus hadn't even seen her there. For a moment, she has the insane impression that the Nightmare birthed Queen Elytra from its back, despite knowing that she instead created It.
The Nightmare skewers a pseudoling with one of its massive fangs. A black tentacle lashes out, snatching another from the air, wrapping it tight enough that Ocellus can hear its chitin crack.
Ocellus shudders, feeling sick.
The tentacle lifts the pseudoling up to Queen Elytra. Her horn erupts in lime-green light as she stares into the pseudoling's eyes.
Ocellus turns to leave while the Nightmare and queen are distracted, but Smolder snags her. Ocellus looks back at her friend questioningly.
Smolder gives a nod towards the Nightmare and Queen Elytra, mouthing silently: What's she doing? The dragon turns back to watch, seeming to think it worth the risk to spy on the three of them.
After a long moment of concentration, the changeling queen's eyes go wide. Her voice belts out, ringing with shock and amazement. "Pharynx? Is that you?"
Smolder and Ocellus exchange looks.
Ocellus' mind races, recalling what Luna had said. The red aura suggests they are being controlled through Wrath. Pharynx was actively controlling his pseudo-hive of essence creations... Oh wow. "She's tracing the magical control back to its source."
Queen Elytra stares, shouting at the pseudoling like it is one of a set of cans attached by a string.
"Even with Wrath, I'd know you in any form, Pharynx! Always the stalwart Defender of the Hive, protecting it from whatever you consider a threat!"
Red light flashes about Queen Elytra. The Nightmare continues to kill the attacking pseudolings. Whenever several fire their rage at once, It is staggered. But it never falls. And the pseudolings don't even seem to try to attack Queen Elytra directly.
"I offered you power, Pharynx!" Queen Elytra shouts. "A place at my side! But instead of love, I got BETRAYAL!"
Smolder looks at Ocellus in bewilderment. "They know each other?!"
The surprise in Smolder's voice mirrors her own. Ocellus had never heard of another queen! Although... Ocellus has to admit she finds some sense in the revelation. In the very least, it gives her greater perspective on Pharynx volunteering to come here.
What she is hearing severely redefines the primary mystery in her mental Unanswered Questions notebook: Why are there changelings on the moon?
Ocellus cannot help but hear a change in the queen's voice. A dark resonance that was not there before. As if she is tapping into the Nightmare's power somehow. Feeding from it, her voice becoming more like its own.
"Now it is I who shall crush you! I will destroy your pathetic essence soldiers... and when that grub Ocellus opens the portal, I will start by conquering mother's precious hive that you love so much. I will drain and devour every last one of them. And when I have taken everything from her, and Chrysalis is alone, mother will bow to ME!"
Ocellus' mind is reeling.
The last pseudoling twitches as the tentacle holding it tightens, the air is filled with the sound of its chitin shattering.
The changeling queen looks up through the Conservatory's glass at the world hanging in space. "DO YOU HEAR ME, MOTHER!?"
The changeling queen's voice hardly sounds anything like it did back when she fought Ocellus and Yona. Like she has taken the Nightmare's voice for herself.
Ocellus has to bite back a scream as the tentacle grip squeezes so hard the pseudoling is completely crushed, the broken and pulped body going limp, the red aura fading away. Then the changeling-like body dissolves into blue smoke.
"I WILL TEACH YOU THAT YOU CANNOT GIVE BIRTH TO SOMEONE AND THEN JUST THROW THEM AWAY!"
Okay, I'm getting the feeling that there are some unresolved issues here...
How did Chrysalis even manage to put her on the moon?
I now have Klingon mating rituals stuck in my head.
Worf: “The female screams and throws furniture. The male recites poetry. And ducks.”
Hmm, interesting thing to note, “elytra” is plural, “elytron” is the singular. But “ocellus” is singular while “ocelli” is the plural. Ocellus’ name is in the singular form but Elytra’s is in the plural.
Not sure if that really means anything, just something to note.
[laughs in Pennywise]
Luna: “Uh...should...should I leave, or…? No? Maybe? Mmph, curse my being a voyeur…”
You turned your first kiss with her into a purely utilitarian move, you dummy! Of course she’s going to be disappointed!
Oh, but here comes Luna, being the hero we need but don’t deserve. Good one, Luna.
New plan, Luna. Once this whole thing is done, open a theme park on the moon to win back the people’s affections. With blackjack! And hookers!
In fact, forget the park!
Reconsidering the not kissing yourself thing? Obviously not now or for your do-over, but later?
Honestly not surprising at this point, though I do have to wonder how Chrysalis managed to send Elytra to the moon - Chrysalis is strong but she never came across as that strong, naturally. Although at the same time it’s also interesting that Chrysalis apparently decided to banish Elytra instead of kill her.
Complicated stuff going on here.
Wow. Can't wait for the next chapter.
YAY THEY KISSED, love it.
Also I Can completely buy that Chrysalis Trapped her on the moon, because Chrysalis has always been an idiot who is incapable of thinking her plans through past the initials Concept. She’s always had good ideas for plan but has always failed to rethink then or adapt incase things change.
Her throwing one of her underlings on the moon and thinking, “o yeah that’s done it will never be a problem again” is totally believable to me.
So now I’m thinking this Queen was like thorax, being different from the rest of the hive and believing there was another way but unlike Thorax probably wanted to take a more coolant approach, to which Pharynx Was like fuck that your gunna make things a whole lot worse. Reminding me that Pharynx, while angry and stuck in his ways, Is the smartest changeling in the hive, except for Ocellus.
10173835 Thank you for your amazing, detailed comments! I love them so much!
10173835
I think Smolder's going to end up with some body-related self-esteem issues after this chapter.
https://www.deviantart.com/sintakhra/art/Student-Six-158-782684489
10173685
A big catapult?
Ooooooh she-et. Yeah, this does explain a lot...
10173835
Smolder: Did you add a little extra to my rear because you'd like it that way?
Ocellus: ...There's really no safe way to answer that, is there?
She's really not--Spike's definitely chubbier than she is, making her thin and lean by comparison.
Yeah, especially if you suddenly realize you're also very attractive from those angles.
In all fairness, Nightmare Moon actually did design this place really, really, well. Pity it was for evil purposes, and has since been further disgraced by moonling squatters slowly destroying it.
No, the REAL question I think we need to be asking at this point is: How did Chrysalis banish Elytra to the moon? Did she get outside help? Access to some powerful artifact akin enough to the Elements of Harmony to achieve the banishing? Some other way?
As for why...two theories. A: Chrysalis feared a second queenling would cause a split in her followers and thereby power and wanted to keep it all to herself so she removed the threat, or (more likely given what we do know) B: Elytra was accepted just fine...up until she tried to stage her own overthrow of Chrysalis and was banished as punishment for that act.
"More raise up along the scaffolding"
"More rise up along the scaffolding"?
"I did once distill a magical potion from the light of the moon which can protect against such unnatural fear. But I am sorry, it only works on adults."
Well, that raises a number of questions.
"Talk to each other"
Thank you, Luna! :D
"the Nightmare and Quee Elytra"
"the Nightmare and Queen Elytra"?
Well, this keeps getting worse, doesn't it? :D
For the characters, to clarify.
I'm still enjoying it. :)
(And some things did move in positive directions for some of them too. :))
Interesting, so she IS a spawn of Chrysalis!
To me, a good story will always have jokes to lighten the mood, and this is no exception. This particular joke from Smolder is her way of telling Ocellus that there is no hard feelings from their earlier conversation, and that is good writing. It's different than shoe-horning in a joke for the sake of it, or simply making a funny analogy for kicks and giggles. It's character building!
Well, things are going from bad to worse, and everything is getting weirder and more and more creepy. Now to grab a Totem from a pissed off Pharynx and get to the Dread Gazebo, get the portal open, deal with who is staying behind, find the twist that allows no one to be left behind, and find out what the hell is actually going on around here.
Well, that's also not ominous at all. We going to find Pharynx has made copies of his hive or something? Or, is this one of those hidden things we know is coming?
Yes, isn't that right Ocellus... Luna?
Yeah it seems way more the smashy, direct type. Also, paranoid much?
See, this is where using the term incessantly really feels odd.
How huge is your dice pouch that you can fit a lantern into it?
Seriously, if its that big, and you are THAT obsessive a dice collector, just tie the sack off and use it as a weapon to knock things out.
True, it might give you at best, a general idea of proximity, but it's really not that good at tracking. Even Scent doesn't let you pinpoint thing that well, at best you can figure out what 5ft square they are in, and that's only if you are more or less right next to them.
Yeah, she's more the "Smash and grab" type too.
I don't think that has ever crossed her mind.
Besides, just means you'll have a rematch 'wrestling' session when you get back..... in private.And if tentacles end up involved again, well, just enjoy.
Also Ocellus didn't really beat Smolder in a straight up fight, this was a "The Enemy's Gate is Down" situation, all she had to do to win was get Greed away from you.
So it's like Klingon's then? The only way to have a REALLY good time is if you end up in the infirmary in the morning with half a dozen cuts, bruises, and cracked bones?
"It's called ransom. What good is some wimpy mare when you can just trade her back to her family for a nice pile of gold and gems?"
Yeah, I fully see Pharynx as being one to go for the "Nuke it from orbit" level strategy when dealing with this kind of threat. Or if not able to go that far, at least to the "Mac wants the flamethrower!" level of just burn anything that might be off.
Wow you are just getting sappier and sappier Smolder.
Well, she's not wrong.
Heh, even if he is a dick.
SYMBOLISM!
What in this place has NOT been seemingly personally crafted just for maximum 'fuck with Ocellus already pretty damn heavy emotional issues'? If what I think is going on IS what's going on.... damn that's some good, very subtle symbolism, and I'm having a hard time seeing why else the story would call it out.
Well, that can't be good.
See, this is funny for me, because my Pathfinder group right now, is dealing with the entire world being periodically permeated by utter, total darkness for a few seconds every few hours, that may just kind of, sort of be due to us giving what we thought was a holy object of one of the gods lost to time long ago to a group trying to help said goddess, but turned out to actually be a cursed object from the settings evil god that he had used to try and drain said Goddesses power before it was found out and the artifact was hidden away instead of just lost.
It wasn't our fault! Blame the illiterate morons from back then who never wrote down the actual story, relying on word of mouth stories about it that over centuries got corrupted and altered to completely change the meaning to people now!
Ummmm, fuck. So the shadow thing is common if you triple does yourself? Or, is this thing just following you somehow?
So, to quote a very, very well spoken person who deals with these sorts of things for a living.
"Fuck." (And yes I did just recently watch the Witcher, why do you ask?)
Now would be a very good time for running, and dodging, do not forget the dodging. Also finding cover.
Ow, but, well, good use of your forms.
Yeah, that's a pretty heavy package. Best hope is they are glass cannons that go down to a single sucker punch.
Okay, Ocellus... forget dredging Gallus' vocabulary for appropriate words, you're are fully authorized to seek out the aid of 'she of the colorful vulgarities' to express yourself at this point.
See the above 'Everything on the moon seems to be wanting to fuck with you as hard as possible.' Just.. damn.
You should listen to that one. Make like Sir Robin GTFO!
Desperately hope a portal to Hell opens up and Doomguy steps out with a ready to go BFG?
And when 'hope for a portal to Hell' is on a list of things that can improve your odds, yeah things are bad.
There is a limit to that! Some fears should not be faced, because they are a very, very rational response to something that will end you if you do not start running now.
Roll credits!
So, what does Ocellus need to turn into? Or, how is this once more going to revolve around Ocellus?
And the one thing I haven't fully figured out, if I'm right about my guess on what is going on, is where exactly Luna plays into things.
That seems at once horribly convenient, and at the same time, so useless, I actually need to stop and try to try to get my brain unstuck from the loop of trying to work out why the hell such a useless thing would even be put in the story, and how this could be slotted into the string nest of evidence for said theory, as well as what way this is going to become relevant in a way that is either A) Totally reliant on Ocellus or B) Just convenient and well timed enough to feel plausible, but still stretch the bounds of what feels like should be happening.
The jury is still out on that one.
There didn't seem to be ones waiting for Gallus.
Umm, just, you know, don't look to closely when you go to the bathroom for the next day or two. Speaking of........ that really should have been an issue to come up by now with all the running around and activity and how long it's been.....
Ummm, Luna, what do you need to tell us about the Moonlings? Cause the only threat is them so.........
That we know of.......... See again, where did the Moonling's come from!
That fast, and yet you can't come up with 'Moonlings'?
D'awwww so proud.......... Yes, that's totally where it came from.
How and why, cause she can't actually detect the Moonlings.................
Heh, good dragon!
"You just wait here, I'll be right back!"
Ooookay.....
WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
And yeah that's likely part f he plan, but how and why?
going all out with this, aren't you story?
She's so knocked off her game by that rush, she forgets how to conjugate.
Ah 'Replica' so how does being twins help out? Also, didn't she already turn into Smolder at one point before? Or is this a more powerful version, where she even 'tastes' like Smolder due to absorbing all the love?
Smolder.exe has stopped working.
Okay, good thinking but how does that help?
Oh, right, everything here is specifically tied to making Ocellus miserable and forcing her worst fears on her.
Gotta make sure you look as good as the original? Or a "Hey, I am not that big!" issue?
Okay.... what's up with her?
Thank you Luna! Deal with this now, not let it fester till it comes up while you are struggling with some eldritch abomination.
Though would be funny if it tries to scare you into running, only for the two of you to tell it to shut up and bugger off while you fight each other.
Especially when you are that clear about 'nothing' being wrong.
"And clearly I am the better teacher, as I did not subject you to the horrors of public speaking to make you learn it!"
Oh the poorly worded questions where either yes or no could come off wrong.
Yup, they are adolescent females......
Yes yes,I saw the romance tag, and this is far from the worst, it fits, makes sense, was built up in the story, but it's still a pair of mid-puberty-ish kids trying to stumble through complex situations they are making more complex by having no context how to deal with this or experience at doing so. This is well written, I just don't care for these type of situations generally.
TL:DR Just fuck already
So tentacles are still a maybe, but selfcest is a no.
That connection has been oddly stable given how hard it was for Luna to talk before now with the excuse being it was hard for her to use any but the main mirror.
Heh, all the unsettling 'fun'.
pffffffffffffffft Called it!
"Is my butt really that big?"
That really is a very, very neat system, I do love this idea.
Yeah, that best fits Pride.
Well, Rarity and Luna do share quite a lot.......
D'awwwww, okay, that is adorable.
Stupid ranged weapon using cheaters!
Likely that.
Wow, you lot are getting SO much mileage out of those Nerf Bows. It's awesome!
Seriously, story, great job on making this so so so damn creepy in the most epic way possible!
Really? And yet you went out of your way to provide this image and thought. This is going to loop back around to something that means way more then we think it does when we learn the whole story, isn't it?
Okay, she recognizes him, so yes related to Chryssi, but again....how did you get on the moon! If that is the case.
If it was recent enough for Pharynx to have been in a high enough position for this to matter, there should be plenty who know about this so yeah, her never having heard of it is very odd.
Once again it makes sense, and yet, something feels very, very off still.
No, no that is still the largest issue by far.
Hmmmmmm.......
Yeah, she's got some issues. And yet, at the same time..... it can't be as simple as it seems.
As noted many times, how the hell did you get on the Moon? It has to be at some point after NMM returned, which gives a very, very narrow window of time between that and Chryssi attacking Canterlot. Enough that if Ocellus is old enough to be in the attack force (again something I have a very hard time buying but is established for this story.) then there is no way Elytra could have been exiled during that period. The only thing I could possibly conceive is that she somehow came through the portal when NMM opened it and swapped places, but again, how would NMM not have noticed and Luna remember?
So, nothing makes sense about this. And even if Pharynx seems to know her, at this point every character except Ocellus is suspect, too much just does not seem like it's quite right. Doubly so given how massively OOC Twilight felt when talking about sending him in.
Add on bringing up the Tantabus in the context of something Luna made, calling this thing 'The Nightmare', the line about it seeming like it having birthed Elytra.... just some poetic imagery about how she emerged, or Ocellus' subconscious trying to tell her something? The way the Queen reacted to the mention of Luna. Being on the moon! The way everything revolves around Ocellus... why couldn't the Queen have opened the portal herself? Because the barrier was blocking Greed? She clearly knew about the buttons, and even if she couldn't find that one, she has those gravity bomb weapons, just use one to rip a hole in the side of the building to get outside, use another..... wait, wait, the Dread Gazeebo is outside... okay okay... the portal itself was outside, the building was sealed, lets assume for a moment that the deconstructor can't just rip a hole in the outer wall, even though everything is made of what it pulls apart. She couldn't get out without the key, and the plan for the key was in a place she couldn't get to.
But why not gather up all the Totems anyway and try to open things up? If all they needed was for someone to get the Key, why does it need to be Ocellus? Once Ocellus opened up the seal, why not swarm her, grab the Totems she had and go form the portal? If your whole plan is for her to form said portal, why are you getting in the way of her grabbing what is needed to do so? How did you get on the moon!? Why are you so focused on Ocellus and not any of the others who could be doing this? Why does nothing happen up here without it being Ocellus centered?
Even Smolder, it does seem perfectly plausible and reasonable for her to be acting the way she is, and yet, if you look at it with a certain assumption about what is going on, things do look just the slightest bit different, and yet still perfectly work. Is this really how Smolder would act, or just how Ocellus thinks Smolder would act? The whole 'first kiss' thing was melodramatic and a cliche I just kind of roll my eyes at, and yet..... I do have a hard time seeing Smolder get that upset about it. Not to the extent of it feeling OOC, but it does feel just a slight bit odd. Not impossible but, an odd choice. But I can totally see Ocellus feeling that way, or feeling like someone might feel that way. None of the others have ever really stood up to Ocellus, they might disagree with an idea, but they do all eventually, and rather quickly go along with whatever her plan is, usually for rational reasons, and yet... when you factor in the larger way things seem to revolve around her.......
Yeah, at this point.... I'm about 99.5% sure what is going on. At least in a broad scope. And looking back....... no way.. no way... that would be clever, ohhhh that would be so damn clever and I saw it right from the start but missed what it meant... oh oh if this is true... ohhhh ohhh that would be BRILLIANT and I can fully buy this story going that route and... ohhhh I hope this ends up right but..... back in my first chapter commentary,
So...... Is the final chapter/epilogue written in past tense?
Everything revolves around Ocellus, everything is almost costumed designed to prey on her inner fears and deepest anxieties, nothing seems to happen without it being focused on her on some way, there's even been a few points I noted where she just, kind of knew something, looked and understood something which was played off at the time as some instinct but... The heavy focus as well on Luna, Luna not talking to any of the others until She is directly called out on the fact that she didn't and it was clear it was making Ocellus suspicious, and her reason why has massive holes in it.
All the other students felt in character nearly perfectly, but Ocellus would know them well enough, while still having some cases like the above, cause she's never seen Smolder in this situation so could be substituting in her own feelings or how she thinks someone might feel, and they do never really do more then voice the same objections one might feel about their own ideas. Then you have Twilight, who yeah felt massively not right... but Ocellus really hasn't had a chance to spend time around Twilight other then in a Student/Teacher setting, to really know much about Twilight as a pony beyond the stories or the more stand out moments.
The wildcard here is Luna, what does Luna have to do with this? Is this the real Luna? If it is, why doesn't she just tell Ocellus directly it's a dream? What is holding her back? Given the screaming about mother, and the Queen's reaction to mention of Luna.... of all the issues Ocellus has here, mommy issues do not seem to be one of them, unless they are very, very buried. So, yeah some parts do feel not focused on Ocellus, but rather Luna. Is this a "Portion of Nightmare Moon" survived type deal and it's trying to take over Ocellus? Casting it not as some force that overtook Luna, but something she created and then discarded? Trying to 'Prey' on Ocellus' insecurities?
Though, Elytra did say she was targeting Ocellus because Ocellus could sense her drones, but Ocellus can't...... could the plans be bigger then that? Is The Nightmare making a power play now that Luna is no longer in charge, and it realizes Ocellus could sense the change in those it takes over and so is going for her first? But again, why wouldn't Luna tell Ocellus about it if this is the real Luna trying to help her? Why this elaborate puzzle, beyond symbolism and subconscious being odd etc...
Huh, symbolism...... could this whole thing be symbolic? As in, the Moon Prison thing being something Luna constructed to contain the Nightmare that somehow Ocellus got pulled into? Wait, The chapter between the Nightmare and the mirror going to shit was in present tense too. Unless, was Luna trying to help them out somehow, noticed Ocellus' nightmares and that was part of her trying to help, only for the Nightmare to use that chance, via the symbolism of the mirror, to make it's move? And, Discord...... buuuut it's Discord, I'm not even going to try figuring out what is going on with him.
So yeah there is something else going on here, some parts we don't know, but, everything simply fits so much better into place if one looks at the events with the assumption that this is all some dream/nightmare Ocellus is having, and something powerful and linked to Luna in some way is affecting it.
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cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/605287222207315981/719529753186533426/moonshine.jpg
...bit of an understatement really.
Oh my god This is pretty disturbing as all heck 😳
Luna sighs. "I did once distill a magical potion from the light of the moon which can protect against such unnatural fear. But I am sorry, it only works on adults."
Behind her, Smolder grumps. "Well that figures."
Yeah that's kind of convenient to be honest 😥
Oh shoot 😳
That's sort of kind of reminds me of Freddy from scooby doo When he says that a couple of times
But that's all I can think of but Hey finally they did
They look at each other in silence a moment before either remembers their audience.
"Sorry, Luna!"
From the mirror, Luna's voice laments. "Considering the circumstances, no offense taken."
Well then After that awkwud Situation At least they're OK and thanks luna for helping out there problem
Haha... liquid courage joke...
Re: Directional taste. One of the big reasons for having a forked tongue (as I am lead to believe changelings have) is to get a direction sense of taste. Snakes certainly do, at least. Though maybe having thin air would help disrupt that ability, and leaves of plants should help catch and trap things.
On competitiveness and dragons. I am wondering if competitiveness and being a dragon is supposed to be stereotype? I feel like Spike at least was generally more lazy than competitive anyway. Or maybe it's her pridefulness at play here?
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(Oh no, catwalks! Good thing Lil'pip isn't there.)
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Poltergeist? More like COLTergeist. Eh? Eh? ...okay, I'll see myself out.
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Why does the nightmare force them to run away when it's trying to catch them... unless it's not trying to catch them, but herd them somewhere? Dun dun dunnnn!
Well, that's my guess anyway. Maybe I'll find out soon.
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I gotta wonder how much of Luna is left at this point. She's gotta realize she's riddled with holes already. Not physically, but mentally.
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Speaking of the moon having lost its romance: Imagine how confused younger ponies will be, hearing love songs or reading references to the mare on the moon, and having no idea what they're talking about anymore.
Also, I'm now imagining a reversal of the classic shape changing bit. With Smolder and Ocellus both trying to convince someone that they're not the real Smolder.
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"We'll get a head start while he rallies the others." Umm... you remember how the other pair moved in perfect synchronization? I haven't read ahead to see what's going to happen, but I feel like this is relevant.
Ooh, ranged distraction. Very good idea!
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Re: Elytra's final words. This is a case of the pot calling the kettle black, isn't it. Pretty sure Elytra has been callously throwing away the changelings of her own hive.
It's a bit odd that Ocellus keeps wondering how there are changelings on the moon as if Elytra hadn't straight up told her she was banished there. Granted, there's still the question of how anyone managed to put her on the moon of all places, but there really shouldn't be that much of a surprise that Elytra and Pharynx know each other if they're from the same hive.
The last few paragraphs work quite well at making Elytra seem sympathetic while also terrifying at the same time. I keep wondering if this story is going to end up with her and her hive being reformed.