Worth Less Than a Fly

by nightshade745

Chapter 11: No Interrogating

Prepare to read my slaves, for this chapter is long!

“So what’s wrong with being a wolf?” Nash asked innocently.

“You idiot, wolves are lowly creatures. Scrap beggars! I was a great jackal, a creature of refined respect and dignity. Now I’m a mutt.”

Nash felt like change of pace, “well at least you’re still a canine. I’m not even a primate anymore.”

“True, I guess,” Shadaico hissed.

“And you didn’t get sent to hell either.”

“Very true,” Shadaico sounded a little happier.

“You got that second chance!” Nash tried to celebrate.

“And I intend to use it,” Shadaico had determination in his voice.

“And you don’t have the punishment gauntlets on anymore!” Nash praised.

“Yeah I don’t. I guess things could be worse for me. And the screws in my back don’t pulse anymore either!”

“So they don’t vibrate and cause you pain?”

“Nope! My back still aches and I could really use a massage, but at least it isn’t the agony it was.”

“See, things are okay for you. Okay enough for you to try rescuing me now!”

“Nice try.”

“Come on Shadaico! Being in prison is one thing, being in a jar a captive of giant ponies is another!”

“It’ll take me all day to just get over there. Trust me when I say this, the builders of that castle were crazy. If there’s an earthquake, that whole place is going a long way down.”

“What does that mean?”

“You don’t want to know…” the connection was lost.

As Nash reentered reality, he noticed something concerning. The dark winged unicorn was staring at him with narrow eyes. Her meal clearly wasn’t finished either. Slowly, she returned to her breakfast and Nash sighed with relief. He should have asked Shadaico what a unicorn with wings was called.

*****

Luna had been enjoying a simple oatmeal breakfast on her bed when she sensed a thin tendril of magic enter her room. It would have been easy to block it, but she was curious what it was and where it was coming from. Luna looked at the changeling still in his jar. His horn was glowing white and the magic signal extended from him to somewhere far away outside. The creature was talking to somepony!

Luna almost felt insulted. Did they really think they could get a message past her unnoticed? Luna quickly and easily tapped into the secret conversation. Then her confusion kicked in. The changeling and his mysterious ally were both speaking a very different language then anything she’d ever heard. The signal could have been encrypted, but there wasn’t a decryption barrier around the changeling. There were only a handful of languages in Equus, and these two weren’t using any of them. Could it have been a custom language between the two of them? That would take some serious work and patience, especially if it was just the two of them. If they really had invented their own language, that would make them both super geniuses.

Luna may not have been able to understand exactly what was being said, but she could pick up on the tone of the conversation. But even that didn’t make sense. One minute there was excitement, the next, it was anger. Suddenly, the connection had ended. All Luna had learned was that the changeling had a partner out there and they had just talked about something. It sounded to her kind of like the changeling was the one freaking out, trying to convince his partner about an unknown subject. Luna had a good idea what.

It was at that moment that Celestia knocked on her door. Luna jumped at the sudden sound. Luna moved her tray of empty dishes to the vanity dresser and approached the door. She opened it rapidly and there was a rush of air. Celestia found herself on the end of a deadpan glare. Celestia smiled sheepishly, she suspected that Luna hadn’t realized what she had agreed to. Now, she was probably mad.

“Luna! You look rested.” Celestia attempted to look happy.

“Celestia, what is that thing and where did it come from?” Luna asked with a hard face.

“That’s what I’m here to find out actually. I am about to interrogate it.”

“I want to be there too,” Luna asserted.

Celestia was taken off guard, “you do?”

“I think it was just talking to somepony.”

“Who?” Celestia was worried.

“I’m not sure. They communicated through magic, but it gets even more complicated than that. The language they were speaking wasn’t Equestrian!”

“There are many languages out there Luna, it was prob-“

“No it wasn’t,” Luna protested. “I may have been gone for a thousand years, but I’ve caught up. There is no language on Equus like it. I think it may speak some unfamiliar language.”

Celestia pushed past her and approached the jar, “what is your name?”

Luna closed the door and stood by her sister, “has he spoken since you’ve had him?”

The changeling only stared up at her with fear. Celestia couldn’t imagine a worse scenario. She had yet to hear it utter a single sound, if it didn’t speak any known language, how was she supposed to get information from it? “Say something!” Celestia ordered it.

The changeling recoiled and covered its ears for a while as it quivered. Celestia’s eyes grew wide, it wasn’t looking good. Luna scolded her sister, “Our voices are much louder to it.”

“What is your name?” Celestia tried again much quieter. It was probably the easiest question you could ask as far as she was concerned. The changeling answered her finally, but not in the way she hoped. The sounds it made were like no language she had ever heard. Clicks, clacks, whistles, and muffled garble came from its small throat.

“Can’t we cast a translation spell on it?” Luna offered.

“No,” Celestia looked frustrated. “Unless we understand the language we’re trying to translate from, we can’t just change the way he talks.” Celestia began to explain. “If we could just translate any language we came across, we would have done it with the violent manticores and tried to culturally uplift them by now.”

“He could be faking it. What if he really does know Equestrian?” Luna offered, trying to help her clearly upset older sister. There was a long pause where Celestia thought hard. The changeling relaxed and went back to lying down as Celestia puzzled over what to do. Luna felt awkward just standing there waiting.

Finally, and without saying a word, Celestia levitated the jar off the desk and put it on the floor in front of her. Luna looked as confused as the changeling did. Celestia took the hole-riddled lid off the jar and placed it nearby. Then, she levitated the changeling out of the jar and placed him gently on the floor. The small creature looked up her towering legs as it tried to grasp what was happening. Celestia slowly raised a hoof into the air and moved it forward.

Luna gasped at what her sister intended to do. The changeling stared with massive eyes as a golden shoe dangled above his head! When the hoof began to come down, it tried to bolt. But Celestia’s magic stuck his hooves to the floor. It desperately tried to pull its legs up as Celestia’s hoof began to press against his back. The creature was completely surrounded by the hoof and was slowly pushed to the floor as it came down.

The creature began to scream as Celestia began to apply pressure. Luna couldn’t stand to hear its desperate cries. Her heart was being torn just listening, “Stop, this isn’t right! You can’t do that, you’ll kill it!”

“Tell us your name!” Celestia ordered in a voice saturated with hate.

It continued to cry out in its strange language as the pressure gradually increased. Luna was going hysteric trying to get Celestia to stop. “It’s fragile, it won’t survive this!!”

“You are not necessary!” Celestia continued to ignore her sister. “Even if you don’t speak, we can still learn what we need from the other changelings we have in the dungeon!”

Luna suddenly stopped. She finally realized what Celestia was doing, because they didn’t have any other changeling prisoners. Celestia was pretending that she’d kill him if he didn’t talk. Torture was generally unacceptable, but Celestia seemed determined to pry answers from him by any means necessary. Luna didn’t know what to do. If she played along, she’d be doing what she thought was wrong. But if she didn’t go along, she’d basically be saying she didn’t care about the safety of Equestria.

“You’re so puny that we could easily dispose of your body.” The creature continued to scream as his body reached its limit. Celestia suddenly lifted her hoof before he suffered serious damage. “You have three minutes to speak. If you don’t, we continue your treatment.” Luna jumped out of her self debate to watch what the changeling would do. It continued to lie belly down on the floor as it took in great breaths of air.

*****

Nash gasped for the much needed air as the great hoof mercifully lifted off of him. He didn’t listen to anything the white goddess said, it wasn’t like he’d understand it even if he did. His ribs screamed in pain with every breath, but his lungs cried out for more air anyway. The pressure had been impossibly huge and Nash couldn’t believe he had survived. The hoof had been just larger than 10 feet around and when his hooves had suddenly stuck to the floor, he was sure he was going to die and he knew that was still a possibility.

Nash looked up to see the white and dark pony creatures arguing quietly. He knew they were hurting him because they wanted him to talk, but he couldn’t. He didn’t speak the same language, but they didn’t seem to believe it. Nash was terrified. His wings were gone, his ribs ached, his legs felt like jelly, and his head was pounding. His horn had poked up into the golden shoe but couldn’t penetrate it. So the pressure on his head had been even greater.

Nash got the crazy idea to try and hide while the two were distracted. His legs did not like being put to use after the recent ordeal, but he forced them to. Nash was standing on four wobbly legs as he tried to turn and run. Just as he began to move, he saw a wall of white come at him from the side. Nash let out a high-pitched yelp as the wall slammed into him and sent him flailing across the floor. The roll ended with him lying on his side, his face stinging and chest compressed.

The white wall had been the white pony's hoof kicking him a few feet (for her) across the floor. Nash felt content to lie there as the black pony suddenly piped up against what the white one had done. “At least I’ve got one supporter,” he groaned sarcastically. Nash rolled over so his belly faced skyward, but when he tried to lay his head down, his horn smacked into the floor. Nash was left with his head at just a slightly higher angle then he would like. “Stupid horn,” he moaned in his pain.

Nash wished the dumb thing would just go away for a while so he could lie how he liked. Suddenly, Nash’s head burst into white flames! Nash immediately jumped to his hooves and began to panic and scream. The flames blazed for a second before they faded. Nash stood uneasy for a moment as the short adrenaline rush faded and he came to realize his head was no longer burning away. Nash gasped for air again as he tried to relax. “Can’t say I saw that coming,” he tried to joke to himself.

The two ponies were watching him with minute interest. Nash didn’t want to get kicked again for fleeing, so he plopped down again so they knew he wasn’t trying to escape. The two giants watched him for a moment longer before returning to their arguing, although they took periodic glances. Nash rolled onto his back again as he tried to figure out what happened. Had they set his head on fire as additional torture? As Nash lay back, his head went all the way to the floor this time! Nash rolled back onto his hooves and began to feel around his forehead.

His horn was gone…

“That’s different…did they burn it off?”

*****

As Celestia wrapped up her threat, Luna was eager to voice her disapproval. “You can’t do that!”

“If he wants to play this game, we have to play back.”

“So you think hurting him will teach him how to speak our language!?”

“You really think it’s the only language he knows? He’s a changeling, a master of deception. He knows Equestrian, it’s the only way he could talk to the queen or even live within the Hive.”

“But what if he’s not from the Hive?” Luna pressed a new theory.

“What are you talking about?”

“What if he is a different breed of changeling, a different hive then Chrysalis? He looks kind of like the changelings, but his size clearly betrays that. So he must be a different kind of changeling.”

Celestia noticed the changeling trying to run. She turned quickly and gave it a gentle kick. It rolled along the floor and lay in a twisted lump on the floor. “Don’t think we’ve forgotten you.”

“You could be hurting an innocent creature!” Luna asserted much louder. That was something Luna had a personal problem with. Being manipulated by Nightmare Moon and all.

“Hmm?” Celestia turned back towards Luna.

“If it has no relation to Chrysalis, then the pain and fear you’re inflicting on it is unjustified. You’re threatening to kill a creature for no reason.” Luna tried to point out.

The changeling interrupted Celestia by making a dramatic seen of removing his own horn. Celestia and Luna both watched him for a moment trying to understand why he made such a big deal of it, like Celestia was hurting him again. When the small change was done, he looked up at them and sat down quickly. “See, he’s toying with us.”

The changeling lay back down as Luna continued to defend him, “I may not know why it does these things. But I do know he’s small and scared, and being tortured by a giant white alicorn that’s hundreds of times his size isn’t helping!”

“What do you suggest then? And what if you’re wrong?” Celestia challenged her sister.

“Why are you doing this? You’ve become a monster! What did the changelings do to you during the attack?!”

Celestia went quiet. She looked down at the changeling with regret as he rubbed his now hornless forehead. Celestia thought for a moment. “You’re lucky Luna. You didn’t have to watch as Canterlot burned. The changelings not only overpowered me, but made a fool of me. Chrysalis was right under my nose and I was too blind to see it. Then, when I was needed most, I was tossed aside like garbage. I couldn’t do anything for the ponies I’ve sworn to protect.”

“Celestia,” Luna said comfortingly. “I’m sorry, but you can’t vent your anger on this little guy.”

“But I don’t know if he’s the enemy or not!” Celestia almost whined.

Luna looked down at the creature for a moment. With her keen eye, she spotted a key detail. “I have a none cruel solution!”

Celestia looked at her skeptically, “what’s that?”

Luna didn’t say anything as she went to her bathroom for a moment and returned with a small sphere of water levitating in the air. Celestia looked back at the changeling on the floor with confusion. What was she going to do, pelt him with water balls? That just seemed childish to her. But the changeling seemed to get excited as Luna came closer with the ball of water. Luna lay down a foot or so away from the small creature and levitated the water sphere just in front of her. She was giving the changeling water?

Celestia didn’t get it as she stood off to the side. When she saw the changeling’s minuscule white tongue come out and glide across his lips, she understood instantly. He was thirsty, probably hadn’t had anything to drink all day. Luna then instructed her to stand on the other side of the changeling. It watched her carefully as she maneuvered behind him. He focused more on Celestia then he did Luna.

*****

Nash wasn’t sure what was going on, but one of the ponies had a blob of water floating in front of her, and he wanted it. The white one seemed to flash faces of sorrow, but she kept taking them back and looking down at him with hate. He backed a step away from her and returned his attention to the black one. She was levitating the water just above the floor, well within his grasp.

The dark goddess began to speak soothingly. He couldn’t understand it, but it sounded like an explanation of the situation. She was offering him a choice. He could go to the white one and get smashed again, or he could go to her and get water. Her friendly offer was made more enticing when she began to wiggle the ball of water back a forth as she finished explaining. Nash instinctually licked his lips again just looking at the beautiful water.

Just before moving towards the black pony, he glanced back at the white one. She wasn’t moving, but she was watching his movements carefully. Nash quickly made his way towards the water. Neither of them tried to stop him as he came within reach of the water. Just before going to drink it, he looked up at the dark pony’s face for approval. Her face was pretty far above him, but it wore a great smile. A small nod from her was enough for him. Nash buried the end of his snout into the water and began to suck it down.

The sphere of water was as big as his head, but he gulped the whole thing down in one breath. He was still thirsty but it really helped. Nash sat back and looked up at the friendly face of the pony. Now that she was giving him water and looking at him reassuringly, he felt a lot safer. Looking back at the white one, he saw the most shocked face in all recorded history. Her eyes were huge and her pupils practically invisible. Her bottom lipped quivered slightly and she wasn’t blinking. Nash thought it was pretty weird. He wasn’t sure it had been that hard a choice. Get crushed or get water, he thought anyone could make that choice in their sleep!

*****

Celestia couldn’t believe it. The deal Luna had offered him was pretty clear, get water and he’d be tortured again. If he refused the water, they’d give him to Chrysalis tonight. He had only taken one glance back at Celestia before dashing for the water! He was clearly terrified of her, but he seemed pretty secure around Luna. It made sense, seeing as how Luna had yet to inflict even the slightest bit of pain on him. But it left Celestia full of regret.

She had hurt a creature not associated with their enemies. Celestia suddenly felt very tired at the moment. She really needed to retire for the night. “Luna, until we decipher his language and figure out who he was speaking with earlier, I would like you to keep watch of him.”

Luna looked at her sister with shock, “me?”

“And I’d also like to keep him a secret for now. I want only those who absolutely have to know of his existence to know. Understood?”

“Yes but...me?” Luna wasn't angry, merely confused.

“Because he won’t trust me ever again, and you seem more qualified for this.”

“How?”

“He trusts you and you understand him. Good night, Luna.” Celestia left with heavy hooves.

“Good night, Celestia.” Luna could tell Celestia felt very tired. Luckily, the changeling was okay. Luna looked down at him and began to wonder what she should do with him. She knew he wasn’t dangerous, but he wasn’t entirely trustworthy.

Night court was cancelled regularly due to too few ponies attending so Luna could get away with cancelling it completely for tonight as she got the creature more comfortable accommodations. She didn’t think he deserved to be kept in a jar if he wasn’t their enemy, but they still couldn’t let him leave. They had to be sure he wasn’t just a different enemy. Another hive of changelings wasn’t beyond reasonability. They may not have had any proof there were others, but it was always a good idea to be prepared.

Looking down at the changeling in front of her, she sighed. It was staring off into space in the general direction of her door. What was she supposed to do with it? She’d have to see about its wings and maybe she could do some research. Luna perched at that thought. She could study him and try to determine his origins! She’d have to make a stop by the library to get the materials though.

Luna was about to put him back in the jar, but his protests made her pause. Her heart wouldn’t let her do it right now. She put him down again and tried to come up with a new plan. She quickly came up with one. She levitated him onto her bed. He laid down on her bed and got comfortable. “Don’t get too comfy, you’re still under suspicion,” she warned him. He seemed to scoot away from her as she said it.

Luna left him there as she placed a barrier on her balcony door. Then she left the room and put a barrier to her room as well. She addressed the guards outside, “anypony but me tries to enter my room, kill them.” They simply nodded. Luna made her way to the library to recover her research material. She also made sure to completely cancel night court. No ponies ever used it anyway and she had something more important to do right now.

*****

Nash did not like being levitated around. It felt like at any moment he could suddenly plummet out of the sky. Yet, the ponies kept doing it to him! As soon as his wings were back, he hoped that would change. That was another thing at the back of his mind, what if his wings didn’t grow back.

Nash was happy when the dark goddess put him on her bed. He was not excited about being levitated up there, but the soft surface beneath his hooves was enough compensation. Nash figured that his days of struggle were over. The dark pony was on his side and treating him better. It was a strange turn of events from moments ago when he was being crushed. The dark goddess didn’t stay long though, and she left quickly. She did leave him an additional gift though, she sealed him in her room. Nash wasn’t an expert on magic and his knowledge in that area was actually quite limited. But he knew enough to identify a powerful barrier when he saw it.

She had given him pretty much free reign of her room while she was gone, but he couldn’t even get off her bed to enjoy it. Nash walked across the carefully made sheets and picked a spot near the massive pillows. He curled up against them and again felt his forehead. Where did his horn go? Had he somehow detached it from his head just by thinking about it? The white flames suddenly engulfed his head again!

Nash felt his forehead and was surprised to find that his horn had returned. “How is that possible?” he asked himself. He quickly lost interest when he took notice of how comfortable the giant dark bed was. Nash thought he had gotten sleep in the jar, but that was nothing. He needed more. Nash quickly drifted away on the dark goddess’s bed while she was away doing who knew what.

*****

Luna reentered her bedroom with a large number of books floating behind her. She eyed the changeling sleeping peacefully cuddled up against her pillow. His horn was back too. She thought he might be getting a little cocky. He was still in presence of giants, from his perspective, and yet he could just go to sleep. Luna shook her head. She had a lot of work to do and didn’t have a way to get any more information out of him.

Luna dropped the massive column of books next to her desk. The bang disturbed the changeling from his slumber. Luna whispered an apology as she dove into her work. She at least didn’t want to seem rude. The first book, and probably the biggest, was a general history book. Luna had a thousand years of history that she knew only bits and pieces of. Luna knew all the big stuff, things that everypony should really know. But she was looking for a far more precise piece of information. She needed to know everything the changelings had ever done.

Anywhere the changelings had been, anypony who had ever studied them, and how many hives could be out there. Nopony even knew if there were other hives out there, but Luna would have to look for the signs. If she could find even the slightest bit of evidence that there were others out there, she could develop a more solid theory as to where the small changeling, that was literally right behind her, had come from. It was going to be a lot easier said than done of course.

She began flipping pages and blazing into her work when she heard the changeling address her. Luna paused and turned around. It was good and awake now and it was trying to see what she was doing. Luna figured he was bored and needed some way to be entertained. Again, her heart wouldn’t let her leave him be. The book she was reading had lots of sketches and pictures. She guessed he could look at those while she actually read the words.

She levitated the creature over and let him sit between her and the book on the desk. He sat down right in front of her necklace and looked at the available pictures. Luna didn’t find the current page very useful or interesting. Most of the book’s entries were of natural disasters and crime. Pictures of a volcanic eruption and a pony that committed a murder were on the paper. The changeling eyed them with curiosity.

That’s how it went for hours. Luna would flip pages and read entries and the changeling would stare at the photographs and drawings. After a while, Luna began to forget he was even there.

---

Author’s note:

I always saw Celestia as one to use her head rather than her heart. Let’s face it, when you rule a country you have to make tough choices sometimes. And emotions can sometimes make those choices harder, add in the ironic situation that Celestia herself has a grudge against the changelings, and her actions make a lot of sense.

As for Luna, I see a much more emotion driven character. Becoming Nightmare Moon and her attempts to change everypony’s minds on Nightmare Night make it clear that she lets her heart steer her actions. Plus, Luna’s my favorite pony…

*I admit it, I didn’t know how to end the chapter. So if the ending seems a little sloppy, that’s my fault for not knowing what I’m doing. I also kind of feel like Luna and Nash get use to each other a little too fast. And Shadaico comes back next chapter…and causes problems…

*You know the drill, I make mistakes and I need help finding them! Or you can just give me ideas...whatever works.

Comments

[Armadaes]

keep up the good work!

[nightshade745]

1832307
Yeah, I was kind of worried about this chapter. The first draft made it seem like I was going for a romance or a clopfic of the weird kind. (Which I'm not!) But a little editting later and it seems more nuetral now...I hope...

[Captain_Savage]

Holy shit Celestia.

[Zephyrus Scary]

1832364
To ease your mind, I didn't get a single hint of a feeling that this was turning towards romance or clop.

Interesting view on Celestia and Luna, but I'm actually of the opposite opinion! To put it as short as possible, I think they were probably as you describe a thousand years ago, but have sense changed because of what their actions led to. Celestia regrets banishing her sister, so now takes into account "what she feels is right" before acting. Luna, in contrast, now suppresses her emotions since they were what led her to becoming Nightmare Moon in the first place... All headcanon, of course; I still love this fic (it helps that I think my view can still support their actions so far in this story, too)!