1 Run, my child.

Jade - 14th of Megan '15 EoH - Dawn

<You have to leave.> My mother’s panicked words jolted me out of my meditation.

There was only one thing she could possibly mean. I could feel it in my hearts, like a rusty scalpel had been left inside me by a careless surgeon. I closed my eyes, and reached back through the mental link to reply, <Is it the Swarm?>

<It is.> She answered, the sound of wood scraping on stone filled my room as she opened my door.

Mother’s face usually held a smile. The look on her face now was completely alien to me.

The light of the candle I had been reading by cast an eerie glow around her face and mane. It made the fear and sorrow stand out even more than it did on it’s own.

<Can anyone else go with me?> I asked, pleading for her to answer yes. I didn’t want to go alone, solitude was a death sentence for a changeling.

<No.> She shook her head, her loose mane seemed to glow in the candlelight. <I checked with the hive mind. You are the only adult ‘ling who hasn’t finished swearing the oath of loyalty. The ponies refuse to flee and will stand with us. A nymph would never survive outside the hive… and would only slow you down.>

I had expected as much. Few eggs laid in the same month as mine had hatched. So far, I was the oldest of the batch. Seventeen years and one day. Twelve more days and I would have been officially an adult, bound by arcane oath to protect the hive.

I only just got my wings and horn, but surely I could look after my sister. <Not even Jasper?> I asked pleadingly, begging with my eyes.

If changelings could cry in our natural forms, mom would have flooded the room. <A nymph… without flight… By the sun’s light, why did she have hatch eight years ago?> Mom sobbed, hiding her cream-colored eyes in an arm.

I bit my lip worriedly. <Maybe I could carry her in a saddle->

Mom snapped eyes blazing at an anger which made me recoil, even though I knew it was not directed at me.

Her horn flared green as she pulled a pair of leather saddlebags into view, and then tossed them to me. <Put these on. There are twenty charged emote-stones in the lefthoof bag, they should be enough to feed you until you can reach somewhere you might find more food. I… I put your father's spellbook in the right side bag. He wrote notes in the margins, you should be able to teach yourself.>

I looked at the bag, a heavy feeling formed in the place my guts had been before I pupated into my adult form. I wasn’t even used to eating emotional energy yet, I couldn’t go somewhere alone! <H-how can I feed without hurting somepony? I’ve only done it once!>

Mom walked over and gently ran a hoof through my mane, giving me a grim look.

Her horn flared again as she pulled a cloth bundle over to us and held it out to me. <Take this. It’s my old sword.>

She pulled the cloth away from the blade, a simple, short blade. It had a crossguard, and a grip clearly designed for a creature with hands. <You’ll need something to defend yourself with before you can learn battle magic… Y-you did work out telekinesis before->

I nodded, interrupting her, <Yes… Just before you came in.>

<You remember how to use a knife?> Mom asked, her mental tone growing dire.

I nodded, gulping slightly. <Yes. But I never did well in sparring.>

<Doesn't matter. Just use it like a big knife. The motions are the same. Never draw it if you can run, and keep it under your bags. People will be more hostile to anyling whose armed.> Mom’s face contorted for a moment.

My dad had been killed by a griffon because he was carrying a spear. I knew full well that carrying a weapon could hurt you as much as help. I said hoping to reassure her as I slipped the sword’s sheath onto my right side, and set the bags onto my back.

<Sweetie, I know you did well in class, but trust me: actually blending in takes more than simply looking like a pony, griffon, dragon, or zebra.> Mom sighed. <Which is why you should put this on too.>

She held up the cloth the sword had been wrapped in. The brown cloth unfurled in her telekinetic grip, revealing itself to be a simple hooded robe.

<Why would clothes help?> I asked baffled enough for my words to carry some of my confusion through the link.

<If you pull the hood up and keep your wings under it, and keep the hood on you fully, you will look like a unicorn. They will need to notice your face to tell what you are. This won’t work in cities or towns, you would look suspicious. But while traveling, you will seem normal. Also it’s waterproof, so if it rains you won't need to wait for your wings to dry to fly.> Mom informed.

The impossibly large, emotionally dead voice of the Hive Mind slammed into my head as I opened my mouth to reply. <Emergency. Hostile creatures approaching hive. Soldiers to General Quarters.>

Mom’s wings buzzed against her thick chitten in a panic and her jaw clenched in pain as the announcement finished. She was a soldier, the Hive was in danger. I could see the pain on her face, every second after the alert she spent doing anything but defending the hive was agony. <G-go! Hurry! Take an air shaft in the mines!>

She turned to rush to the hive’s entrance, to her death, to the death of my home. <I- I don’t->

<"Go!"> Mom screamed, her spoken voice overlaying her mental voice as she ran from our small home.

I couldn’t say no to her. There was a knife in both our hearts, but she was right. I had to leave. If even one of us survived, and could find enough food, they could enter the second stage of adulthood and become a Queen. We could rebuild. We would survive. I had to live.

Mom was way faster than I was, in seconds she would be out of telepathic range. <Where do I go?> I begged, I knew nothing of the world away from the edges of our territory.

<Survive for now! Note in spellbook! You will be safe there! Move!> A blast of images surged through the link, showing me the views from a hundred eyes and the sounds picked up from a hundred ears.

The entire southern sky was black, the sun blotted out by the sheer mass of the Swarm. I could see her at the front of it, the demon Queen, green eyes burning with hatred for everything which lived. They said Chrysalis rediscovered the way the Overmind had controlled its changelings, making the thousands of changelings in the air act as one creature under the force of her will. Nothing could stand against the Swarm, and they knew it. They willingly let her use their bodies.

I felt the icy touch of fear grip the back of my neck. Noling who stayed here would live through the hour. They were thousands, we were hundreds. My home was about to be a mass grave, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Deep down, something snapped. Fear become anger. Anger became purpose. Purpose became action.

I stuffed the robe into my saddlebags and bolted out of my room, sprinted through our modest apartment, burst into the corridor, ran up the wall to avoid the flood of lings rushing along the floor, and made a beeline for the nursery. There was no way in tartarus I was leaving my sister here to die!

The carved stone walls of the hive shot by as I sprinted as fast as I could without falling into the rows of soldiers and royals below. I knew the rout. Five passageways south, turn left, three passages ways east, turn right, second door on the left. I ran on autopilot, hooves gripping the carved walls, cracking the plaster covering with the force of my panicked passage.

A small part of my mind screamed at me to stop running on the walls that the Queen would make me fix them. I almost laughed at that part of me. That should have been the least of my concerns right now. I guessed my brain was desperately scrambling for normality.

The wooden doors of the nursery seemed to just appear in front of me. That wasn’t good, I always started loosing memory when panicked. I needed to calm down. I took a deep breath and pushed the door open with my telekinesis. The terrified pleas and cries of a hundred nymphs hit me like a wall. The older nymphs were doing what they could to help the really little ones, but there wasn't an adult, or even a pony in sight.

I swear my left heart stopped beating as I realized there was no way for me to take them all with me. This was wrong. It was evil. This was why mom had told me to just go, so I wouldn’t have the weight of choosing between saving my sister, and trying to save as many as I could. Oh god I should have listened!

With a pained gulp I searched for Jasper’s mind, formed a link and cried, <Jasper! We need to go! I’m at the door.>

<Sis! Where’s mom? I want mom!> Jasper demanded.

<Mom… Mom’s not here. She’s helping keep the bad guys away.> I answered.

A second later Jasper untangled herself from the sea of terrified young. She was small for her age. Small for eight years old. Less than half the way to adulthood for her caste. As she rushed to my side I picked her up with a hoof and set her on my back. Jasper was barely as big as a saddlebag, carrying her was nothing.

<But I want mom!> Jasper sniffled. I could taste her fear and sadness as it radiated off her, that wasn’t good.

<Jass… Please, calm down. You’ll make me sick.> I begged as I steeled myself to leave everyling else behind.

It would be hard for a Nymph to understand. A changeling doesn't sense or eat emotions until we become adults. We live on love, on the positive, pleasant emotions. The negative, distressing ones work like poison. The more of it in a given area, the more toxic it is.

Jasper sniffled and wrapped her arms around my neck to hold on. <But I want her! Where are we going?> she begged, her emotions still slamming into me like a thrown brick..

<We’re going outside, okay? We’re going to hide until the bad guys go away.> I said.

Maybe a miracle would happen. Maybe we would drive the Swarm away and Jasper and I could go back home after a few hours. <Were going to that hill we had a picnic on last year until everything’s all over, okay?> I said as calmly as I could.

<O-okay.> Jasper sniffed.

I carefully ran out the door, I couldn’t take the wall this time, Jasper was never good at holding on. The hall was far less crowded, all of the soldiers must have been deployed already. The corridor was now full of mages, carefully and expertly erecting wards and setting traps. I guess the Queen wanted to try to hold out. That was good! Maybe we had a chance.

Our hive was old, its walls were carved out of the heart of the mountain, and we had plenty of magic on our side. Maybe we would be able to survive. Maybe there was hope. But, to be safe, we definitely needed to leave for the moment.

I ran down the hall, ducking and weaving between the long spindly legs of the mages. Their caste had always creeped me out in their natural forms, even my own father.They were just so tall, and so thin, and the way their eyes glowed like the coals of a fire… I understood why we unsettled so many species thanks to them.

The sound of a distant explosion shattered the newborn hope. The floor lurched as the blast echoed through the hall. Jasper’s arms tightened around my neck, I think she screamed, but my ears were ringing too loudly for me to tell.

They kept ringing until I reached the end of the hive proper. The smooth plaster covered stone walls stopped dead, leaving the rough cut walls of the mines to stretch out into the heart of the mountain. The part of the hive we lived in wasn’t too deep beneath the surface, and drones dug a ton of air shafts to keep fresh air in the hive. That was how we were going to get out.

<Hold on tight Jasper, I’m going to climb.> I said as I spotted a nearby iron grate set into the center of the ceiling, the entrance to an air shaft.

I felt her head brush against my neck as she nodded, her hooves gripping onto my chitten tightly. <Okay…>

<That’s better than usual. Did you figure out how to climb?> I asked, hoping to take both our minds off the situation.

<Yeah. You just don’t think about it and it works.> Jasper informed as I started up the wall.

I smiled just a little bit, I remembered learning to climb. Your hooves really do all the work, if you try to step fancy or grip things like you want to pick up the wall, you just fall off. As I approached the air shaft I quickly opened the grate covering it with my telekinesis, and scurried through into the air shaft.

We had to be a mile from the hive’s entrance, but the moment I stepped into the shaft I could smell burnt chitten, and just barely hear screams drifting through the air. I stopped climbing for a second, took a breath to steady myself, and resumed climbing.

<Just wait till you can do that too.> I said softly, hoping to keep the conversation going.

<Is it fun?> Jasper asked, her fear was slowly fading away. Thank the sun she was still too young to understand what death was.

I smiled and shook my head slowly yes, <It’s pretty awesome. You feel things a lot better with your magic.>

I pulled myself up over a small ledge, someling had hollowed out a little body sized depression in the side of the shaft. Probably a drone or worker who wanted to nap unseen.

<Is shifting fun?> Jasper asked,

<It’s the best thing ever Jass, and I’m going to make sure you get to be a Zebra all you want.> I promised.

I had only morphed once so far, just so the doctor knew I was a healthy adult. I hadn’t had time to play around, an adult’s first task is to master the basic magics, then to master shapechanging. For five minutes I had been a pegasus. Everyling says that your first shift changes your whole life, I always thought that was silly. It’s completely true.

Jasper deserved to know what it felt like to shed your form and take on another. To have that ultimate power over yourself to truly decide who you are and what you will be. With some luck, when Jasper pupates, she’ll be a scout like me, and have even more control over herself than the other castes. I could show her all the tricks I had learned by then, and we could work together to keep everyling fed.

The end of the shaft was only a few body lengths above us now. A second iron grate covered it, and a large bush concealed it from view. That was good, I could get a look outside without being seen.

The iron gate creaked as I pushed up on it with my magic. Flakes of rust and dirt trickled down into the shaft below, making me wince and hope no one had heard anything. I froze, clamped onto the edge of the shaft, and waited.

Seconds passed, then a minute. Nothing happened. No one shouted, no spell came flying through the air towards us.

I let out a relieved breath and slowly pulled myself up into the bush, trying to make as little noise as I could.

<Noling’s here.> Jasper said as I slipped the rest of the way out of the shaft.

Over the years, Jasper and I had stolen hundreds of cookies from the kitchen. She knew when I was being sneaky, and was a damn good look out. I trusted her word.

I also knew I would miss eating solid food badly. Then, I remembered I could shapeshift, and I could enjoy a cookie as a unicorn if I wanted. But would it taste the same? The vision had been totally different. Surly taste would be too.

A gust of wind blew across the mountainside, shaking me out of my thoughts, and bringing the smell of burnt flesh back to my nose. I sputtered, as my throat contracted, a dry heave pushing up from deep within my chest as I reflexively held back whatever bile wanted to come up.

<I… I don’t like that smell… It’s bad!> Jasper whined pulling herself close enough to my back to make my chitten creak.

<Yes. It’s bad. That’s why we are going away for a little bit.> I answered, slowly creeping out from the bush.

The Mountainside was nice and grassy, with clumps of bushes and trees. Mount Knur was fortunately a little mountain, only a few thousand feet tall, and our hive was built into it’s roots. A sea of natural vegetation covered the mountainsides, and the mountain’s base was covered in a sea of golden wheat.

I could see everything stretching out in front of me, the sun was just barely over the horizon, putting a nice pink glow around everything. If this had been another day, I might have stopped to watch the sunrise. But I couldn’t stop, not today.

We were almost off of the mountain already. The plants would hide us as we fled, we just needed to make sure we weren't spotted from above, and everything would be fine.

Well, not everything. I felt that knife in the guts feeling again. That smell… How many people were dead? How many of them had I known? Why did She have to do this? Changelings could live in harmony with other species! Zebras and Ponies lived in our hall with us happily!

I closed my eyes for a moment, focusing as hard as I could to keep my head strait. I had to save Jasper. I had to get to the hill just a little ways ahead. A quarter mile. I could do that.

<Jass, I need you to look up. If you see anyling who doesn't have a white shell, tell me to run, okay?> I asked, knowing Jass could spot anyling overhead faster than they would see us.

I felt her nod again. <Okay.>

I started to walk, the tall grass shushed against my chitten, branches rustled as I nudged them, each hoof fall made a small click against the ground. I winced at each sound, my eyes flicked from left to right, searching for anything moving through the grass.

If Jasper wasn’t on my back, I would have bolted for the hills. With every sound I made my hearts skipped a beat. On a good day I could make it to any hill near the mountain in five minutes. This felt like an eternity.

As the ground leveled out, I froze in terror. I had made a fatal error. The wheat was shorter than I thought. It wouldn’t hide us from anything. We would have to get through as quickly as possible to the safety of the trees on the other side.

With a nervous chitter, I took off as fast as I could. The wheat flew by us, my hooves pounded against the ground. Jasper squeaked as my run jostled her around, I felt her dig her hooves into my sides to hold on.

<Slow down!> She begged loudly.

I replied.

<Why?> Jass demanded.

<Because of the bad guys, remember?> I reminded, a hint of my stress creeping into the link unintentional.

I felt Jasper grow uneasy. My stress had been enough to let her know that something bad was definitely happening. Sure she’s known before, but now she knew her big sister was afraid, her sister who wasn’t afraid of anything. I closed my eyes and begged the sun to not let her panic.

<O-okay…> Jasper said, her mental voice cracking with fear.

Oh cordyceps, had I let other memories slip through the link?

My thoughts were interrupted as I finally reached the base of the hill. We could find a safe place on the top to hide for now, and I could calm Jasper down, everything would be fine we just had to get to the top of the hill.

I darted up the side of the hill, turned around the side of a large rocky outcropping and ran face first into a solid wall of feathers! As my plot slammed into the ground, Jasper slipped off my back, landing on the ground with a thump. I was about to scream in pure terror when the wall of feathers, turned, revealing itself to be a huge griffon.

He had feathers like a raven, but edged with white, a beak like a sparrow, and burning eyes like a hawk. His tail lashed behind him, almost angrily, but in an amused sort of way. He had a tunic tossed over his chest and barrel, on which I could make out the crest of some kingdom or another. More importantly, behind him stood at least four score more griffons, all with the same black and red tunics, and each with a weapon of some sort.

I quickly pulled everything I learned in class about Griphoneeese to my mind and shouted, “Praise the sun! The Swarm is attacking our hive, you have to hel-”

“Greyhawk, these ones too.” The black griffon called, turning and walking away.

“What?” I asked, confused.

There was the sharp sound of steel ringing, pain exploded from my barrel. Looking down I saw the back end of a steel bolt buried in my chitten, thick blood oozing from the shattered hole in my chitten.

I fell to my belly as a second sharp thud and snap of a crossbow broke the air. The world slowly became gray, then black.

“Sir, are you certain we have to kill anyling who makes it out?” someone asked their voice sounding watery.

“His majesty was very clear. He wants the mines beneath Knur for Griffonia. If any more are left alive once Chrysalis is done with the place, they will have legal claim to the land. You do know changelings have two hearts, don't you? We don’t want it regenerating. Put another bolt into the big one, a bit to the left of the first.” another voice commanded in a calm, dismissive voice.

A dull thud sent another nightmarish hell of pain through my body. As the world vanished I had only two thoughts. First, the “knife in the gut” feeling felt absolutely nothing like being stabbed in the gut, I shouldn’t use it anymore. Second, I was completely confused; Changelings don’t have two hearts, we have three.

2 Medic!

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David - 14th of Megan '15 EoH - Morning

Smoke is a great indicator of many things. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Where there’s lots of smoke, there’s lots of fire. But most especially of all, where there's lots of smoke, coming from a ton of different places within one small area, there’s a battle.

That was great news for me, a battle meant plenty of corpses. Which meant there would be plenty of things I could scavenge once the coast was clear. Add a little elbow grease to remove the chips and cracks, and just about anything is good as new.

It’s not like I had many other sources of income than scavenged weapons, armor, and coins. Apparently, people will buy weapons off of a Diamond Dog, but not trust him enough to give him a job. Even if he could easily handle any given job they might have. Racism, you know it best after experiencing it.

Though I suppose it’s less the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races, and more ‘I know for a fact you guys enslave and eat people like me.’ While that doesn't apply to this dog… I must admit that it certainly seems to apply to every other one I’ve met.

Even with the need to scavenge for a living, and the constant traveling to find people who would sell me the things I need, life had picked up a good deal in the last few years. The wandering renaissance man life isn’t so bad once you get used to it. Add in the few minor spells I’d picked up over the years and over all, I don’t think I’d do a damn thing differently, given the chance.

I whistled a merry tune as my boots crunched over the forest floor, and my handcart cracked along behind me. Sure, I was heading into a scene of carnage, but a battlefield isn’t really that traumatic after the fighting is over. Unless you’re squeamish that is. Especially if you have no attachment to either side of the fight, or the thing being fought over. For me, this was a payday resulting from two feudal lords squabbling.

The cedar trees began to thin as I approached what looked like a wheat field through the treeline. Squinting against the sun I raised a hand up to shield my eyes and get a better look. Sometimes soldiers are a bit bow happy after a battle. Better safe than a third need for self-surgery.

After a few moments I could make out a large hill or possibly a small mountain across the field. Tilting my head back and squinting I searched for any sign of a fort on the slope facing me. If the battle had been a siege, the winners would still be around, and they would have picked the field clean already. Seeing nothing and deciding that the trees were in the way, I moved up to the edge of the treeline for a closer look.

I saw it the moment I breached the treeline. There was no way for anyone to not see it. The whole western side of the hill was carved out into a massive archway, recessed back into the rock at least a hundred feet. Jutting out from the rock was a massive castle like building, as if some giant had carved a fresco into the hill.

The building soared up the side of the hill, it was easily thirty stories tall. The entire thing was built to fit the arch like a picture frame, and designed around a huge double door at the base that was framed side by side with two white marble obelisks. The entire building was decorated in a geometric style where each part of the building was also part of a simple, but awe inspiring structure.

Even more impressive was the electrum carved sun crest over the doors. It seemed to glow even though the real sun was behind the hill, and most certainly took a team of master masons to carve. I was looking at a proper mountain fortress, and charred corpses and smoke were spilling out of its entrance.

“Hahaha, nope!” I laughed to myself, tail and ears drooping as I slowly backed into the treeline. “Nope, nope, nope… nope.”

I did not have the firepower to fight anything that lived there, or could take that fortress. Even if the winning side was long gone, my common sense was telling me I would wind up underground fighting a Balrog deep within ancient catacombs if I headed on in there.

Right, that was a lost cause. It was back to the original plan of making my way to Applewood. A nice town by all accounts. I could probably buy a few things there. Only problem was I had been making for Applewood as the crow flies, so I would have to skirt around the Fortress of Certain Doom.

“Right Dave, let’s just skirt around, nice and quiet. No rush. Just keep behind the trees.” I muttered to myself. Muttering to one’s self is a great way to keep sane while traveling alone for days on end.

I slowly backed into the trees, turned right, and started to tiptoe my way around the edge of the field. The ground ahead was really hilly, and the trees were not very helpful in letting me move in a straight line. This made it hard to keep track of how far around the hill I was. Every single survival manual in the world will tell you how to find direction using the sun, but that’s not all there is to pathfinding, and it’s pretty useless when a thick tree canopy and mini-mountain obscures the sun.

Every few dozen yards I had to stop, creep up to the tree line, get a fix on the sun, and keep heading along my circle. There was no way in hell I was going to wind up walking past Applewood by five miles and never find it. I’d had enough of that shit with Moosville.

I stopped for the tenth time, let go of my cart, and started to walk for the treeline. I hadn’t been able to see the entrance on the last stop, but these kind of places always had back doors and hidden entrances in books, so I still pulled my cloak closed to try for at least some camouflage. Red and white collie patterned fur is not exactly stealthy, and my tunic was green, but not a leaf green.

I kept my head tilted up, eyes fixed on the sloping side of the hill. If any sentry had been posted they would likely be placed midway up the-

I stumbled forward as my paw hit something, a pathetic pained moan, so soft only a dog’s ears would have heard it accompanied the jolt running through my leg. I wheeled around, ears snapping to attention, lips pulling back to show my fangs, and almost throwing my Bowie knife trying to draw it as I readied myself to fight to the death with- A very much on the verge of death person of a species I had never seen before.

They looked a lot like a unicorn, only with a slender stinger-like horn, that was covered in a glossy black exoskeleton which had a cool sci-fi sort of look to it, a beetle-like shell of a pearly white on her back, and a pair of wasp-like wings. I was pretty sure the sleek, curving, and well, feminine looking, body meant that she was a she. She had a long silvery-gray mane which were braided into several thin stands which were pinned with a little silver clip to rest over the top of one larger central braid, and a tail which matched in color but was unstyled.

All of this somehow caught my attention before the pool of greenish-black liquid she was laying in. Or the ungodly large crossbow bolts lodged deep in her barrel, right up to the fetching. Or the other, smaller person of the same species, who was clearly a child and was totally transfixed by three equally large bolts.

“Ohh…” I hissed through clenched teeth.

I slipped my knife back into its sheath. “...fuck…” I cursed, grimacing.

I had seen a lot of death. It didn’t bother me to see soldiers lying dead. They knew what they had gotten into. These were not soldiers. The adult had a sword yeah, but it was held on her body in such an amateur fashion that even factoring in her probable telekinesis drawing it would be difficult, and no one who had ever fought before would ever put their blade under their pack.

She was a civilian, who likely had been taking the child to safety. This meant it was her home that was burning behind me. Her blade was in its scabbard, meaning she had been killed in cold blood, she had no time to defend herself, or even think to. Meaning the other side was playing by the Evil Bastard rules. They also killed a fucking child, overkilled from the looks of it, and left leaving the adult her bags and sword.

You don’t leave behind useful equipment unless you can’t take it with you at the moment. She had been shot at the beginning of the battle, meaning it was likely just wrapping up and once they remembered the bug-unicorn with the bag, they would come back in case she had been carrying the crown jewels to safety.

“I had better get going…” I groaned softly, staring at the pincushion of a fucking child’s corpse five feet from me.

“Urk…” the adult gurgled weekly, prompting me to look over at her.

Her left eye had opened a tiny bit. It was all white, and as I had guessed was a compound eye, but rather than creepy it looked good, like a huge diamond with a million facets. My stomach shifted uneasily. I had seen a lot of cruel shit in my travels, but I had never seen a mother and daughter left to die while their home’s halls ran with blood.

“Fuck…” I rubbed my forehead with two fingers while I tried to work out what I should do.

If they were mother and daughter, as I suspected, it might be kinder to let her die so she wouldn’t have to mourn her child. However, she could easily not be the mother, because after all bug-unicorn, meaning they might reproduce like ants, and she didn’t look very queenly.

I could try to treat her wounds, I had some skill as a surgeon, but this would most certainly be the worst injury I had ever treated. Yet, it would not be the first arrow wound. I knew how to fix this in theory.

Words I had said a long time ago popped into my head. Part of an oath I had happily sworn. My task is to provide to the utmost limits of my capability the best possible care to those in need of my aid and assistance...

“Right. Let’s patch you up.” I sighed, hoping Evil McCrossbow wasn’t already on his way back.

I took off my cloak, folded it, and headed to my cart for my tools. I decided to talk to her in case she was lucid at the moment. Bedside manner is after all, important. “You’re lucky I ran into you. I’m sure that surgeons around here have better techniques, but none of them will have proper anesthetic on hand.”

I rummaged around my cart for the small wooden box I kept my medical supplies in, picked it out of the general crap, and headed over to the child’s corpse to see how the bolt’s tips were made. Fortunately for whatever her name was, the bolt’s tips were basically bodkin points. No barbs, just big ass armor piercing needles. Seeing as she was a bug, armor piercing ammo made sense. Chitin and what not.

“I’m not just saying that because most people around here don’t have hands ether. Do you have any idea how hard it is to convince someone that the blue mold on that rotting fruit should be liquefied and spread on a wound, or ingested?” I laughed sadly, remembering the first few weeks I had been here.

She didn’t stir, which was a bad sign. Assuming her species needed a similar amount of blood to a unicorn, she definitely could use a transfusion. Unfortunately, that was beyond my ability to do. I set my kit down away from the pool of blood, lay down on my belly, and inspected her wounds.

“It’s pretty damn hard I can tell you that. But let me tell you something, that shit works wonders. Tell you what, how about once you’re back to walking about you put in a good word with alchemists for me? I would love a steady job somewhere.” I asked as I noted that the chitin around the bolts was shattered.

I was no entomologist, but hard bug exoskeleton wasn’t going to stretch and be sewable like skin. I also didn’t have the spare cloth to do a bandage wrapping around her chest. At the same time, since it was well, an exoskeleton, the ‘bandage’ would need to be hard to stop guts from coming out and to let muscles reconnect.

Assuming she lived through the extraction, I would have to improvise some kind of patch. But there was worse problems to work out for the moment. The flesh inside her exo looked like normal muscle tissue, which hopefully meant I could cauterize it to stop the bleeding.

As I looked I noticed a small, whitish fleshy orb pulsing within the cavity. “Hey! They missed your heart. I think. If so that’s good! You got a better chance of pulling through. One nick to the heart and well, that’s the last of you. Either way, things are moving, and unless that’s actually an egg or something you’re alive. You’re a tough girl to survive a hit like this. I’m sure you can make it.”

I took a small metal rod from my kit and placed it in my mouth like a cigar to hold while I worked. I would need it in a second, and since I didn’t have a campfire, I would need a hand free for arcane gestures. That left one to work with.

“Okay, let’s get these out.” I said as I gently gripped one of the bolts as close to her flesh as I could manage.

Contrary to popular myth, you don’t want to push an arrow through someone unless the tip’s come out the other side. If you did and the tip was inside them guess what, you just made the wound worse. I took a deep breath and slowly started to pull the bolt out.

She made the single most pained, feeble, terrified sound I had ever heard in my life. It sounded like a newborn kitten’s mew only in pain and almost undetectably quiet. I felt myself wince, I had expected some horrible bug sound, not a tear welling cry of distress.

The sound continued every few seconds until I had pulled the bolt out of her. As it left a few twitches shook her lower body. That wasn’t good. With the other bolt still inside her movement would be cutting her guts up.

“Whoa, easy there, stay still. Almost done.” I soothed as I gripped the second bolt.

I grit my teeth in preparation for the wounded kitten sound and extracted the other bolt. The moment it was out, I pulled the rod out of my mouth, being extra careful to not get any of her blood in my mouth. Ingesting bug-unicorn juice seemed like a great way to catch super-AIDS, or something similar.

Focusing all of my attention on the rod, I tuned out everything around me except for that small bit of steel. Turning inwards I searched for that place inside me where the joy of music lived, traced the appropriate rune in the air with my free hand, and whispered, “Akafi stal.”

Nothing happened.

“Shit.” I cursed. I was still learning how the whole magic thing worked. What I wouldn’t give to have a unicorn’s natural grasp of sorcery.

“Akafi stal!” I tried again, putting a little urgency in my voice this time.

The tip of the rod shimmered, then slowly began to glow red, then orange, and then nearly yellow. I could feel my energy draining as the rod heated. Not some vague metaphysical energy ether, the ‘oh god I’m sleepy’ energy.

With no time to mess around, I patted her carapace with my free hand. “To quote a favorite comedian of mine, in a moment you’re going to feel a little bit of pressure.” I informed, then I pinched her flesh closed and slowly drew the rod along the seam to burn it shut.

Instant mistake!

The wound closed, the bleeding stopped, but the smell, oh god the smell! A million burning plague infested sewer rats covered in thioacetone was a bouquet of roses compared to this! I felt my stomach hit its eject button, and turned my head just in time to avoid covering the poor girl in a sea of vomit.

I must have heaved ten times. It could have been more, I lost count. When the heaving had finally stopped, I noticed I had dropped the rod. Fortunately the spell had worn off. Or been broken when my concentration had been completely obliterated.

“Sorry about that.” I groaned, spitting to clear my mouth of sick. “Having a canine’s nose can really suck sometimes. No offense intended. You don’t control how your species burnt flesh smells.”

The smell had decreased to a tolerable level while I had been administering treatment to that impromptu chemical weapon. Even so I took a deep breath of fresh air before leaning in to inspect my a handywork. Only to instantly yelp as tiny emerald flames started to flicker across the wound!

“Oh shit! I lit you on fire! Er, um…” I turned and dug through my medical kit, looking for any liquid to douse the flames in. “Why is everything in this flammable?” I demanded of the universe.

I turned back to see how the fire had spread to see if I should just slap it out or look in my wagon for water. The burn mark from the cauterizing was smaller. “What?” I asked no one in particular.

Leaning in closer, I saw the little flames were sort of reverse burning the burn I had made, but not reopening the wound. “Well, I’ll be damned. You regenerate! Lucky bastard… Looks like all you needed was someone to pull those bolts out.”

Then the flames stopped. Leaving the huge, hand sized, gap in her chitin and a pretty good chunk of burn completely untouched. “... Or your regeneration only works on bad burns… Right. Back to healing.”

I shook my head and tried to think of a way I could patch that hole while I took a bottle of liquid penicillin from my kit along with a rag and began to gently dab the surface of her wound to clean and sterilize it. “Sorry that your magic didn’t fix you up more than that. I guess I suck at it so bad myself that I screw up everyone around me. That’s a joke but please don’t laugh at it…”

The answer hit me a moment later. “Right! That plate I picked up in Moosville!”

I jumped up, ran to my cart and quickly rummaged around my bags and boxes. “Ah ha!” I exclaimed after a moment, holding up a thin iron decorative plate in the shape of a heart, with a good luck charm etched into one side in arcane runes.

The smith’s apprentice had given it to me as an apology for how her master had screwed me out of over 30 gold on our trade. Now I could use it for something worth far more than 10 ounces of gold, saving a life. Possibly. Hopefully.

Some more digging produced two old leather belts and a small bottle of a carpenter’s resin. I’d used that stuff to fix my cart last year, and that glue was still holding the axle together after all these miles and time. It would certainly stick a plate to a bug girl. The belts would help clamp it on till it was dry.

Taking the plate back over to my patient, I held it up, and let out a relieved sigh as it was larger than the hole. A few seconds of work and I had bent the thin iron plate to conform to her body’s curvature. Thankfully her barrel was one solid piece of chitin so the patch wasn’t going to limit her movement.

It was but the work of a few moments to wash the plate with some alcohol to sterilize it, get glue applied to the patch’s edges, push it in place, and tightly strap it on with the belt’s in a cross to clamp it on. The glue would dry in an hour, and since her exoskeleton felt very metallic, it should stick nicely.

I took a step back and looked at my handiwork. It looked a bit cute actually, like she had pinned a button to a shirt at a jaunty angle. The only real question was would that do the trick?

A pair of voices reached my ears, which perked and swiveled towards the sounds of speech in the distance. Frowning I focused on the voices, maybe some friends of hers were coming this way. Maybe, but not likely.

“I still say we can just say it’s dead. The Captain will never know.” one said.

Oop! It looked like it was all aboard the Nope Train to Not-here-sville again. Realizing I couldn’t leave the bug-unicorn girl here, I carefully picked her up and carried her to my cart, careful to not jostle her while I moved and placed her atop a softer section of my cargo.

As I packed up my gear I realized that I would have to leave a trap to slow them so we wouldn’t be chased and caught. I had suitable supplies in my cart for the job. As I set the trap I got to hear more of their delightful conversation.

“Discord’s beard! What are you, deaf? This is the fifth time Chip, the fifth time I have had to explain this. If she ain’t dead, she will eventually turn into a Queen. The treaty says she owns the mine if she’s alive. All of them need to be dead or it’s not legally ours, and if word gets to Equestria about our illegal owning of a mine, there goes our grain and iron supply! Get it? The bug needs to be deader than breakfast!” a second voice shouted in the tone of well justified anger.

“Yeah, but Grey put two bolts into the big one. No way it survived that. We’re talking ten pounds of steel through the chest. You don’t get more dead than that.” the first voice protested irritably.

I shook my head grimly and set a small wooden box down where the bug-girl had been lying, and carefully unspooled the roll of twine which went into a small hole in it’s side. Keeping hold of the twine I walked back to my cart and began to slowly pull it behind a rocky outcrop. The trap was set.

“Yeah, maybe. But she had bags, and Captn couldn’t find the Queen’s spellbook in the hive. Gray remembered this one had some bags on it, so we have to check those anyways. But making sure it’s dead is more important, featherbrain.” the second growled.

As I peaked out from the rocks, two griffons walked into view. “Tartarus! It’s gone!” The first shouted. “I told you! I bucking told you it wouldn’t be dead!”

The second sent a glare of death at his partner, who by now was clearly ‘that guy’. You know the one. The one who always has to be right about everything and will try to retcon reality to be right. I hate that guy with the burning intensity of a thousand suns.

“It looks like she dropped something…” The second muttered, walking over and picking it up with a talon.

“Let me see.” The first demanded moving over to get a closer look.

Prefect! Much obliged featherbags!

I whistled loudly from behind the rocks. The griffons wheeled to face me. I yanked the string as hard I could. The box clicked. “Enjoy the fireworks!” I shouted.

The box exploded into a flash of white flames, splinters flew everywhere, the concussive boom of a lovely black powder, magnesium, thermite blend followed a second later. I let my ears stop ringing, then peaked out from behind the rocks at the two Griffon’s spread eagle and still forms, and nodded grimly.

I stood up, walked over to my cart, picked it up by the handles and started to pull it along behind me again. “Right. So, they are either dead or unconscious. Let’s not find out! Ever been to Applewood?”

3 Back from the Dead

View Online

Jade - 14th of Megan '15 EoH - Evening

I was in the darkest room I had ever been in. Even in the middle of a mountain, a dark room has some light, just enough to see the barest edges of objects. There was absolutely no light here, but I could sense thousands of people around me.

They were changelings mostly, a few griffons too. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were there. It was like touch, but not quite. A vague sense of others nearby devoid of sight, sound, or smell.

One by one people vanished from the nothingness. Very soon there was just myself and one other changeling left. I was certain I knew who it was, but as I tried to connect my mind to theirs there was only silence.

Desperate for contact with anyone, I tried again. I failed. I tried again. Failed again.

Then, finally, two words. <Goodbye Jay.>

<No! Wait!> I screamed.

Too late. They were gone. There was truly nothing left in the void.

A faint metallic click hit my ears like the sound of a cave in, a blinding flash of sparks sprang to life before my eyes, conjuring a dim candle-like flame that cast shadows on the nothingness. A half second later and the flame disappeared with a second click, replaced by a dull orange glow, just barely bright enough to reveal the vague outline of an earth pony mare. There was no color, no sharpness of shape, only the vague suggestion of features, and a pale white mouth lit by the orange glow.

The mouth moved, accompanied by a calm, plain, creepy-casual voice. “What are you doing here, kid?”

I tried to reply, but my mind wouldn’t send my words. I tried to speak out loud, but there was no sound.

“You got lucky, you can go back.” The voice mentioned, pausing for a moment as the glow moved to the side for a small puff of smoke. “You don’t have to follow me. Your family, your friends, they will wait for you. You could join them, your odds are fifty-fifty. I give everyone in your condition the choice.”

I felt that I could finally speak. “W-what do you mean?” I asked, fear ringing in my voice.

A second puff of smoke escaped the lips. “You’re mostly dead, kid. Don’t panic, there’s a big difference between mostly dead, and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. So, if you like, I’ll show you the way back. Take a moment and think about life. What do you have that is worth living for?”

I felt my entire mind seize up with a blind panic.

“I don’t want to die!” I screamed, wishing I could run until my legs broke.

The mouth smiled, “There you go kid, that’s the spirit you need to pull through. Just turn around. Go right back the way you came.”

Suddenly I had legs. They could move. They instantly started to move as fast as they could!

I spun around in a half circle and ran blindly. The nothingness slowly started to become black, then the black a pale gray. The feeling of something shaking under me hit me like someone shaking me awake with a hoof, and a moment later my chest exploded in dull, throbbing, agony.

I kept running. The grayness started to become light, shapes fuzzily formed in the corners of my vision. Smells started to finally creep into the shrinking void, and then sounds. Someone was speaking!

The voice called faintly but cheerfully from behind me, “Good luck, kid. I hope I don’t see you anytime soon.”

A sharp splitting pain shot through my head. “Ow!” I whimpered.

My head was all foggy. Where was I? What had I been doing? Who was talking?

A more important question suddenly occurred to me. “Where’s Jasper?” I asked the blurry red and green shape in front of me.

“Hey! Speech! You’re alive!” The voice exclaimed happily. “I’ve been talking for hours hoping you would pull through.”

The person’s tone turned grim. “If Jasper was the person who was with you… I am afraid that by the time I found you two there was nothing I could do. I’m a decent surgeon, but-”

I could feel my own crippling wave of depression ripple outwards as I shut my eyes tightly. It stopped whoever was pulling me on the little wooden cart dead in their tracks. The jolt nearly knocked me off whatever I was laying on.

“Do you smell something?” The voice asked.

My eyes slowly fluttered open, clearing my vision. He was a diamond dog, but short, just a little taller than a pony, and built in a more sleek fashion but still quite athletic looking. He had rusty red and white fur, with most of the white I could see in a shaggy sort of puff around his neck. I had seen a normal dog like him once, dad called it a border collie.

He had a kind face, perky ears which reminded me a lot of a pony’s but had a little fold near the tips, and despite looking to be fifty at the oldest, not that old for a dog, he had the oldest looking mismatched eyes I had ever seen. His left eye was a sky blue, and the right an earthy brown.

He had on more clothing that I had been told dogs wore. A green tunic, sort of a bright olive color, cut plainly and buttoned up the front. A pair of khaki loose fitting but not baggy pants. Leather boots dyed a light brown with laces up the front. A gray canvas belt with a few pouches on it, and a thick dark green woolen cloak just long enough so you could see his tail tip wagging at about knee height under the him.

Weren't dogs supposed to be barbarian savages?

I nodded my head no. “S-sorry… that’s me. Emotovore. Most people can’t sense… Why did she have to die?” I sobbed.

The dog sighed a sad, understanding sigh and stepped over to the side of the cart, leaning on one of it’s walls. “I’m sorry. If she had been alive, I would have tried to treat her too. If it’s any condolence, she most certainly died instantly. I doubt there was even time for her to feel pain.”

The image of the griffon raising his crossbow sprang into my mind, an instant later the bolt ripped into Jasper like I was seeing it happen again. I felt a spark of rage build up in my chest, then a sharp shooting pain.

“OW!” I shouted, looking down reflexively.

A heart shaped iron plate was belted to my barrel. Behind it was a burning, searing, hellish pain which slowly faded back into the dull ache I had woken up with. The hay was this for? I gently tapped it with a hoof, producing a slight tinging sound.

“Ah, that.” the dog explained. “Don’t pick at that. Far as I can tell it’s what’s keeping your entrails from becoming your extrales. I know it’s crude, but I was in a hurry. You were in rough shape, and bleeding out fast.”

“Y-you saved me?” I asked in shock, and immediately resolved to not pick at it.

He nodded. “Yes. My name is David, may I have your name?”

I remembered he said that he was a doctor or something before, but it only really just now hit me. This diamond dog saved my life. Why?

“Jade… Why did you help me?” I asked, desperate to know, “I… don’t you eat-”

David shook his head, “Back where I come from, we don’t eat bugs. Besides, I don’t eat my food raw and based on what cauterizing your kind’s flesh smells like, you probably taste like the rotten asshole of a road killed skunk that’s been over boiled in cheap beer.”

“What!?” I asked, eyes widening in disgusted shock at his colorful answer.

“Oh. I had to burn some of the hole shut. It smelled… very bad. Sure I eat meat, but there is no way in hell I would eat anything that smells like your species meat when cooked. So don’t worry. You’re safe from me.” He said offering a sincere smile. “Besides, I have plenty of jerky in the cart.”

I froze as the memory of burning flesh raced through my mind. David was right. It did smell terrible. Of course it did, it was my friends, family, my neighbors…

“Oh… They’re all... “ I sniffed, reflexively curling up into a tight ball, ears falling as the reality of the situation hit me.

I saw David nod. Sympathetically. Knowingly. How in tartarus could he possibly understand!?

“My family… my entire home… all dead…” I moaned.

“I know. I’ve been there. My own home, the homes of countless others. You never forget the first time, but you learn to live with it in time.” David said gently.

How dare he try to trivialize my pain! It’s not like I broke a toy, everyone I knew and loved was dead!

“What do you know?” I demanded angrily. “Have you ever seen your sister die?”

When a changeling’s emotions are unstable, our minds tend to latch onto those of people around us for support. I felt myself link to Dave just as my words hit his consciousness. Normally I would only know the surface thoughts of someone very close to me, but the memories which rushed to David’s mind were so overwhelmingly laced with emotion, and I was so distraught that they rushed through the link like a flood.

A fog covered beach stretched out as far as I could see. I was seeing the world as Dave remembered it. He was in a small rectangular boat, the beach ahead was covered in odd jumbles of metal and wooden fortifications. A huge wall was barely visible at the edge of the fog a way’s up the beach. Directly in front of the boat was a big, square, boxy tower set into the wall with a single slit carved out.

The boat was filled with people of some sort. I couldn’t see them well, the memory was old and fuzzy, but many things still burned vividly in them. The air around the boat was filled with thousands of thunderclaps. Sections of the beach exploded as if a mage threw a spell at them, but without any visual cue, only a horrible screaming sound. All around people screamed, in pain, and various orders.

Suddenly everyone ran forwards out of the boat onto the beach. The memories became so jumbled I couldn’t keep track of anything. It was a blur of bipedal shapes running, mist, dirt, and water. The only clear sound was someone screaming “The sea wall, get to the sea wall!”

Then, suddenly I could make sense of things. I wished I could not. Someone's entire chest filled my view, their body a ripped apart mess, blood pooled under David’s hands as I watched from his perspective as he struggled to get a bundle of cloth over the missing skin and muscle of the writhing and screaming person. “You’re not going to die!” David said in a shaky voice, “You’re not going to die! You’re fine.”

His hands felt wet, and warm. Suddenly a deep relieved joy welled up within his mind. “I did it!” He shouted, turning to someone next to him. “I stopped the bleeding! Get this gauze wrapped around-” there was a loud ripping sound and a spray of blood. The person stopped moving.

“Fuck! Damnit! I-” David’s hands snatched a weapon from the sand, he jumped up, raised the weapon, and two sets of hands instantly grabbed him and pulled him down.

“Get down you idiot! We have others to try and save!” someone screamed.

The memories nearly burned a hole in my mind from the sheer levels of hatred and panic rolled up into them. I looked up, right into David’s eyes, and saw only bitter sadness as he said, “No. Never a sister, but far too many brothers.”

“I-I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have-” I started to apologize.

He cut me off with a raised hand. “You sound young, you just had the worst day of your life. I understand. I went through something similar around your age… You’re what, nineteen? Not more than twenty.”

“Seventeen.” I answered.

David shook his head slowly. “Same age as me then. I understand, I really do. I also know the best way to solve the emotional death spiral you’re in right now. Find a goal, focus on it, forget the present. From what I can tell, most species here have similar physiology. If you don’t make yourself move on, you’ll spend years shellshocked.”

“L-like what?” I asked nervously. He was right. It would be even worse for me as a changeling. My own depression could kill me if it lasted long enough. It would be like drinking a little poison every day.

“Anything.” David replied as he turned around, picked up the cart’s handles and started to walk. “If it helps you feel some resolution for the past, even better. For now… why not talk? I’ve been roaming on my own for about five years now. Even if you don’t want to stick with me, It would be nice to have someone to talk to till I get to Applewood… But as a medic, I’d advise you stay near me till you’re healed. I noticed your species can regenerate, but it seemed very… well, it seemed like not much help.”

I was too embarrassed about having read some of his memories to say anything. It’s rude to peer into someone's private thoughts without permission. I must have been too quiet for too long, because David started talking again.

“Alright, I’ll pick a topic then.” He paused to lever the cart over a rock half buried in the ground. “Oop! Hold that big green canvas box tightly while we go over this bit of ground will you? Thanks. Right, topic… May I ask what you are? I haven’t seen one of your people before.”

I blinked in confusion. How had he not heard of us? Queen Chrysalis's had made us infamous through- oh thank the sun! He wouldn’t have any notions about us!

“I’m a changeling. We’re not too common anymore… there’s been um… One of the hives is sort of… Join us or die.” I said trailing off slowly. “They attacked us this morning…”

I saw David’s ears droop as he flinched. “Ooo. Sorry. You’re a pretty interesting looking bunch. Are you related to unicorns at all?”

That was a bit of a better direction to go in! “No. We evolved as predators, and ponies are our best food source so we adapted to look like them. Er- We don’t actually eat them, we feed on emotional energy. But we need to be close, so you know we had to have ways to pass as a pony even if we can’t shapechange for some reason.”

David turned his head to look back at me, “Wait, you’re a shape shifting psychic vampire?”

I shook my head. “Yes.”

He blinked in confusion, “Er… Yes or no?”

Oh right! Other species used the reverse gestures. “Yes, we’re shape changing… Well vampire is a good way to put it I guess… But like the bats, not actual vampires.” I confirmed.

“Yet, you are predators?” David asked, raising an eyebrow.

I started to shake my head, and then nodded. “Yes.”

“Dose feeding harm your prey?” He asked curiously.

“No, not always. I mean it can but that’s sort of a martial art, and it’s not permanent.” I answered.

“So you eat emotions, without harming people, and are shape shifters.” David shook his head slowly, “Have you at least tried say, living alongside other-”

“Oh! Yes! Sorry!” I interrupted, realizing what he was trying to understand. “We started as predators, but we haven’t been for like, a thousand years. At least, not my hive… We had friends, allies. But not everyling in every hive liked farming.”

“Farming?” David asked, starting to pull the cart again.

“Yeah.” My mind flashed back to scout school. If today hadn’t happened, farming love would have been my job. “You find somepony and while shapechanged, you help them. That way they don’t know you’re a changeling and so they think you are just helping to be nice and not for a meal. It makes them get a genuinely good mood. That way they are more likely to help somepony else, starting a chain of positive emotions. You keep everypony happy by helping a few individuals every day and there’s plenty of food for everyling to eat.”

David nodded. “I can think of a few cities which would really benefit from you guys. Why does anyone object to that? Seems like a pretty safe and efficient way to eat to me.”

That was a hard question to answer. “W-well I’m only freshly pupated-”

“Ew…” David muttered under his breath. “Sorry. Just… Head images. I hope I didn’t offend.”

I nodded my head no. “No. I’ve seen others do it. It’s pretty gross. Not as gross as live birth though.”

David nodded twice. “Yeah, I have to agree with you. I’ve delivered a few kids in my day. Somehow the poor woman’s… parts stretch out so much, like a gaping wound, and then there’s the afterbirth…” He shuddered and took a deep breath, “I can’t imagine how many women out there appreciate morphine thanks to that. Let’s get off this topic, please.”

“Uh, anyways…” I cleared my throat, “I’ve only been an adult for like, a few days. Politics aren't something they talk to you about when you’re a nymph, but from what I’ve overheard… Well, tradition. Somelings think that the old ways are just better. Like Queen Chrysalis and her Swarm.”

I paused for a few long moments to collect myself. “They are the ones who attacked us today.”

David turned to look back at me again, “What? But, the griffons-”

“I think they were working together.” I said bitterly.

“Ah.” David turned back to watch where he was going. “So this Chrysalis, Is she like, the leader of your nation or an ant queen?”

“Queens generally lead the hive. But some just sort of live on their own.” I explained. “See, I’m an adult now, but if I’m not around other lings for a long time and I can get enough to eat I’ll become a Queen and then I can start my own hive. Not all of us get to be one, but it’s considered to be like um…”

I trailed off and bit my lip in thought. Spoken languages sucked so hard… I hated needing a specific word to convey a concept to someone! Just sending them the concept is so much more efficient and they never misunderstand you!

“A super-adult I guess. I don’t know the word for it in Equish.” I said finally.

“Ah, so a bit of both. Cool!” David said with a nod.

I took a deep breath to calm down, and did my best to remember everything I knew Chrysalis. After all they were in the area, and David hadn’t heard of them… “So, Queen Chrysalis is probably the worst changeling alive. She thinks we were all better off as a united swarm with one hive, instead of the many little ones we have now… I think she’s related to the Hive Queens who used to rule us all, but I don’t know for sure.

“She has been flying around from hive to hive, to make changeling’s follow her… and… kills anyling who refuses to.” I paused to try and push the images of her swarm in the sky from my mind. “The whole Sapphire Hive just joined her on principal hundreds of years ago, and she’s been using them to raze any town she comes across, and do all of her raiding.

“They say she once found Equestria itself and actually attacked it, and even defeated the Sun in battle, but lost the war… I know that Equestria is well, a Myth, but something had to have beaten her because she vanished for a long time and then came back worse than ever…”

David was quiet for a few moments before sighing sadly and saying, “It’s rare that someone gets worse than leading a warband, forcing their ideology on others, and enacting a scorched-earth campaign… I’m sorry.”

I looked down at the long grass rolling under the cart as it went by. “Yeah… I heard dad telling mom that Chrysalis was only offering the strongest changeling’s to join her swarm now… and that she learned how our species was controlled in the ancient days so she can actually control the whole swarm like her own body if she wants… That sounds like something to do if you wanted to have a rematch with an Alicorn.”

“Alicorn?” David asked in confusion.

I blinked, looking up instantly. “How do you not know about Alicorns?”

“I’m not from here. Whole different land.” He answered.

“Really?” Hearing about another land would definitely take my mind off of… things. I liked hearing stories. “Like, another continent? I’ve heard there are ships that can cross the sea!”

He nodded. “Yeah basically. I… I probably shouldn’t tell you too much but I can say a few things. Indulge me though, what’s an Alicorn?”

The story of Alicorns was one of my favorite ones. Dad told it to me almost every night when I was little. It made me feel a bit better to get to tell it to someone. “Legends say that when the world was new the Gods created too many things to control by themselves. So they decided to give some of their creations the responsibility and power to do a certain task for them. They looked to the mortal races they had made and found ponykind worthy of this blessing, and gave them each a little tiny bit of godly power.

“That’s what their cutiemarks are, that little bit of divine power which gives them a unique talent. Like, you know how they all seem to know exactly what to do in life and be happy? That’s why! A divine spark makes them really good at that one thing. The symbol is a clue about what it is.”

David nodded eagerly, “I was wondering what those were, and how that one colt was working iron like modeling clay… without heating it. Or using magic.”

I gave him a smile, even though he couldn’t see it. I wish I had gotten to see that pony, as a scout I could not only mimic the shape of a pony I had observed long enough, but also mimic their talent. To a degree at least, I would only be as powerful at it as my love reserve allowed me to be. It would have been really fun to try molding iron like that though.

“Yeah!” I exclaimed eagerly before continuing, “We learned in school that there are some really weird ones too. Some are less powerful or less obvious than others though. The divine spark they got is stronger in some ponies than others. Now, some ponies special talent is so strong, and related to something so basic or important that the legends say they could do things like make the sun set, or the stars shine.

“If these ponies are pure of heart, and pass a test to prove they are the greatest at what they do, they become an Alicorn. They gain the abilities of all three pony races, their special talent gets even more powerful, and according to the legend, they are immortal, and will only die if someone is able to kill them. Like, disease, age, accidents, that doesn't matter. They will keep living until killed intentionally by something else. That whole time they are alive, they are like um… mini-gods? What's the word for-”

“Demigods.” David answered. “I get it. As a reward for being the best they are made to govern the laws of nature around whatever they do best. Right?”

Ah so that was the word. I’d have to remember it. “Yep! Or at least… so the stories say. I don’t know if anyone’s ever seen one.” I sighed sadly. “The Legends say that they all live in a place called Equestria. Which is a part of the world that’s special, and just… better.”

David nodded. I was starting to get used to that meaning approval. ”That’s a pretty cool Mythology. You’ll have to tell me more of it sometime. I’ve always liked a good story. Now, I want you to understand that in my opinion a deal is a deal. You can ask me anything you want to know, and I’ll tell you. But, there are a few things that I don’t want people to know, I might put myself in danger if word got out of a few things, and there are other things I know which shouldn’t get out there… But I’ll talk about nearly anything you want to know. Alright?”

That was really odd for someone to say. My mind flashed back to the glimpse of his memories. Suddenly his words made more sense, wherever he was from, they had some terrifying spells at their disposal.

“That’s fair. There’s stuff I would rather not talk about too.” I said. Clearing my throat I decided that David deserved to know what I had seen in his mind. “So… something you should know. My species is mildly telepathic, and um, it’s not normally possible but I’m not… okay right now, and earlier you remembered some things with super intense emotions so I um… I saw the memories.”

David froze mid step. “You what?” he asked in a dangerous tone of voice.

“I-I’m sorry! Like, really really sorry! Your mind is your personal sanctuary! I… I didn’t mean to intrude. I’m hurt, I needed a connection… It was just instinct!” I apologize in as sincere a tone. “I really, really mean it when i say I can’t do it again! I can only consciously do it with close friends.”

David nodded slowly, set the cart down, and turned around to face me. His eyes were deadly serious, as serious as dad’s when he had talked to me about magic and how to use it responsibly. “Okay. Good. I’m not mad that you can read minds. I am aware that magic exists, I assumed that at some point, I would find someone who could do it. What I want to know is, exactly what did you see in my head?”

I gulped, my barrel burned as muscles in it pulled funny from the gulp. “Ow… Everything was really blurry. I didn’t see much. A battle, bipeds, dogs like you I guess. It was on a beach, people… were… it was… I saw you trying to save someone burned so bad all their fur was gone. He didn’t make it. That’s all.”

“You don’t have anymore detail than that?” David asked in that same serious tone.

I shook my head. “No. There was to much pain and rage… Negative emotions are toxic to us. It made it hard to focus on anything in the memories.”

David sighed in relief and nodded, to himself I guess. His smile came back slowly. “Good. Good.” Then he blinked in surprise. “Wait, back up, negative emotion is poison to you? You guys can only eat like, joy, love, and pride? How the hell are you not symbiotes?”

I shrugged. “Why do things fall?”

“Because all objects with mass attract each other with a force directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the distance between them! Negative emotions are poison. How did you ancestors even hunt for...“ David threw up his hands and stomped off a few paces.

I watched him sputter and pace back and forth ranting for a few minutes, before coming back. I had no idea what he was even talking about. His reaction was pretty funny to watch though.

“Okay. I’m fine now. Just… the… absurdity… Ask a question. I’m going to pull my wagon.” David groaned, picking up the handles and starting to walk again.

“Um… Could you tell me what that battle was about?” I asked. Somehow talking about a different battle than the one from this morning felt like a good way to not focus on my own problems. “I… I’ve never heard of doctors being sent out onto a battlefield.”

David nodded slowly. “Sure. I’ll give you the short version. A long time ago, five whole generations ago, back in nineteen-thirty-nine, a truly evil person decided that his particular ‘subspecies’ was the perfect life form, and that only they should be allowed to control anything. He was very charismatic, and managed to become the leader of his nation which he whipped up into a warmachine so powerful and evil that he became the thing anyone of my species will compare something else to to check how evil it is.

“This person was so evil, that he got thousands of people to round up millions of people of groups he thought were inferior to his own and had them killed assembly line style. Think of the most efficient way you can to kill a hundred people. This was worse. The whole time that was going on, he also took over every other country with a border next to his, until he almost controlled a whole continent.

“Eventually, my nation was asked to help fight against him. So we did… after one of that evil person’s own allies attacked us. I lost my dad in that attack. I was young and stupid, so I went right to the army recruiter the day we got the letter… I had moral objections to killing, but I still felt I needed to serve, so I joined the army as a medic. I got fast tracked through medical school, basic training, and pushed into service just in time for that battle you saw.

“It was a beach called Omaha, and it was part of a brazen, insane, suicidal landing to launch a whole invasion of everywhere the Nazis had taken over-”

“Is that what the evil guy’s species was called?” I asked curiously.

David paused for a moment. “You know… I like how you put that. It sure as hell feels like they weren't my kind… But it’s important to remember they were. We can be purely evil, or astonishingly good… It’s important to remember that. But yeah, they were called Nazis. They never saw that landing coming ether.

“We steamrolled over them… It cost a lot of young men their lives, it cost many more people their homes, their property… The sheer amount of infrastructure, history, and time lost to those six years that it probably set our species back a few decades of progress to repair the dammages. But we won.

“Pushed them right back to their homeland, then their capital city. Their leader wimped out and killed himself in a bunker as we stormed the place… The whole war made me the ma-er, dog, I am today. No one appreciates life the same way as people who became adults surrounded by death, evil, and terror. I… I’d rather not focus on that part of my life much more today.”

I nodded, I completely understood. “I won’t ever be able to forget today… will I?”

“No,” David replied, “I haven’t in seventy-nine years. But, you’ll learn to live with it, and you’ll grow from it.”

“Whoa, hold it!” I raised a hoof, instantly wincing at the pain in my chest from doing so. “There is no way under the sun that you are that old! You don’t look a day over fifty!” I objected.

“I know! It’s completely awesome! Rejuvenation potion! All of the joint pain just vanish- wait…” David’s face scrunched up in confusion, “Your tone… How old do you think dogs live to be?”

“Um… Eight hundred is the oldest our hive knew-”

“Eight hundred?!” David exclaimed, eyes widening, ears and tail standing up in an alarmed joy. “Sweet! Things are about a fifteen hundred equivalent now! I’ll get to see the whole industrial rev-”

I gave David the most suspicious look I have ever given anyone. He coughed into his hand awkwardly. “Er, I mean, yeah that sounds about right…”

“You weren't always a diamond dog were you?” I asked.

“I plead the fifth.” David replied.

I tilted my head in confusion.

“I have the right to not incriminate myself with my own testimony.” David explained.

“So, then, you weren't.” I said firmly.

“I neither confirm nor deny your accusations. Another question, please.” David asked.

Maybe he ran away from his homeland to escape someone… Because as someling trained to infiltrate places, he was making all the novice mistakes and not keeping his story straight. But at least he was being honest. Sort of. I decided to trust David for the moment.

“Okay…” I said slowly. There was an important question that I wanted to ask him anyways. “H-how do you keep going? After all of that I mean?”

“You find something worth living for.” David answered, “Then you do it. Mine came in nineteen-sixty-nine. We did something so big that it made me realize what our species purpose was… But the words to express it best had existed in fiction before then. We made a part of our fiction real, that’s how much we wanted it.”

“What was it?” I asked curiously.

“Eh… you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But I’ll tell you what keeps me going. What my mission in life is. Especially since now that I’m here I get to actually live it and not just read about it in the papers and screens.” David informed.

He paused for a moment. I think he was going for dramatic effect, but it just didn’t work, becoming a frustrating silence until he spoke again. “The whole purpose of living is to learn, to discover, to explore. To seek out new life, new things, and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before, and in so doing bring people together in the new frontier to work out ways to make the world a better place. Whether that is a literal frontier beyond civilization, or a new field of science, or even just the home of a new people you have never met before.

“In short Jade, the point of life is to make a meaning out of it to suit yourself, and in so doing try to better the lives of everyone you can. In short short, keep learning new things, do what good you can for the world.”

I was taken aback. His words made a lot of sense. I wished I had something to say to it, but I couldn’t put any words together to say anything appropriate. “H… how old are you?” I finally managed to ask.

“Apparently I’m barely an adult… But I’ve lived long enough to know that the world is constantly changing, so there’s always more to see, and always more to do. But more importantly, that good people need to work to make the world better than it is now. Otherwise… well…”

He shook his head slowly, “I’m sorry I’ve been making you talk a lot. You should try to get some sleep. Hole through your chest and what not.”

That was even more wise sounding than his views on life. I curled up more comfortably atop the cart and gave him a nod. “That’s a good idea… Night.”

“Night. Sleep well. Don’t die on me now, I don’t have a shovel back there to dig a grave with,” David joked.

I couldn't help but giggle for a bit. What can I say? Sometimes morbid humor is funny.

4 Worst camping trip, ever!

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David - 15th of Megan '15 EoH - Night

I would have given anything to know what a healthy changeling was like. As it was, I didn’t even know how long one was supposed to sleep for. Old me was fine after about seven hours, new me took only four. The pegasus I had traveled with last year needed five, and apparently unicorns needed eight.

Knowing how much sleep is enough sleep can be pretty important to understanding a patient's health. Everyone I knew would flinch at the thought of letting a veterinarian treat an injury of theirs, but any given vet knew far more about medicine than a doctor. The doc treats one species, the vet treats dozens. Not to belittle a doctor’s skills, but I could have really used the training a vet gets.

Though after thinking about it, I don’t think any vet would have an idea of how to treat an insect’s injuries ether. It was frustrating to think I could still fail to save Jade’s life. Sure I had patched up her outsides, but without knowing how much damage those bolts did inside, she could die from internal bleeding, or a ruptured organ anytime in the next few days.

I didn’t want that to happen. I was growing attached to the girl. She reminded me of myself at her age. We could be great friends, and she would benefit from my old life’s mistakes. It would be a shame for anyone to flush the best years of their life away like I had.

That’s the big reason why I was happy here. I may not have been born on this rock, or raised on this rock, but it was just as important to me as it would have been if I was. Religious folks I used to know always used the phrase ‘born again’ to describe the moment they became religious. I used it too now, only instead of a spiritual awakening I used it to describe the second shot I had been given.

I had wasted my old life. No lover, no family. No wealth to show for my years of service to my country. It hadn’t been my nation’s fault. It didn’t owe me anything. I simply never worked hard enough to claim a piece of the pie once I left the service. I gave my all to the war, and it left me empty, uncaring.

When I had woken up as a dog in a field five years ago with a hangover, missing my lighter and smokes I had decided one thing. That I would never look this gift horse in the mouth. Somehow I’d been given another go of things, the bitter old human I used to be was dead as far as I was concerned.

The new furry me would be different. I would have friends, I would find a place where I could live with someone I might fall in love with, get a job doing something to make others lives worthwhile, and never again spend an evening going through three packs with my friends Jack and Morgan, in a big old mope fest.

To hell with the old me. Except for everything he had picked up over the years. Dog’s gotta eat. No sense starting over from total scratch.

Especially not when you’re going to do stupid things like patch up a civilian in the middle of a warzone who apparently needed to die for her enemies to win. The griffon’s wording was pretty fresh in my mind still. Jade would legally inherit her hive due to some treaty as the last survivor of it, and this was bad because then the griffons couldn’t take legal ownership of the mine there without losing a trade partner.

An enemy desperate enough for a mine to swoop in and capture it on the heels of a larger unallied force’s own attack wouldn’t let a little thing like morals stop them from their goals. They were most certainly tracking the two of us down right now, and when they found us, they would try to kill us. That was as certain as the sunrise.

Even though Applewood was only two days away by my best reckoning, holing up in a town would just drag civilians into the fight. The enemy was willing to kill everyone, children included.

Running was no good either, they could fly and as fast a runner I was now, I couldn’t outrun anything with a pair of wings. This had left me with one option, set up an ambush and take out the party sent to find us.

I had kept walking until sunset, putting as much distance as possible between Jade’s hive and ourselves as I could. As the sun started to go down I’d found a nice glade next to a creek that was surrounded by some of the older cedar trees in the forest. My plan was to camp there for a few days.

It would only be spotted from the air if someone flew directly over it, and more importantly, the thick brush and thorn bushes would make approach easily noticeable unless they came from three specific directions.

The first was upstream, and the second was downstream. The river wasn’t very deep so someone could conceivably walk along the bank or even in the water. Fortunately the canopy was low, and the trees pretty close together. A griffon’s wingspan was about twice my height, they wouldn’t be flying between the trees. They would have to walk.

A few of my improvised claymores and the stream was completely secured. The water would prevent the fire from burning down the forest, and anything coming up or downstream bigger than a rabbit wouldn’t make it into camp.

The third entrance was harder. It was definitely a trail someone had cut through the brush. Not recently fortunately. Months had passed since someone chopped through the brush. Bombs wouldn’t do here. The brush was dry, and all of my explosives made a lot of fire. One blast and the whole woods would go up in smoke.

Instead, I turned to an old standby for defending a camp, punji stakes. My hands were surprisingly good at digging. It had been a delight to discover the things my new body could do. Within a half hour I had three griffon sized pits dug and lined with thin bits of cedar I had crudely sharpened with my knife.

There were plenty of leaves and grasses to cover the pit’s with. Once these stakes were hidden, anyone coming up the trail would definitely alert us to their presence. I just hoped that this glade had served it’s purpose to whomever had made that trail. The stakes probably wouldn’t kill anyone, they would mostly just take someone out of the fight and make a lot of noise. But I resolved myself to treat any injury that these caused to anyone other than the enemy.

Booby traps are not good at discriminating between enemies, third parties and even you if you forget where you put them. If I wasn’t facing a large group of heavily armed and likely armored soldiers with just my knife and the responsibility of protecting a patient, I wouldn’t have used them.

I would definitely clean them up before leaving. I never understood the kind of person who just leaves mines buried after they move on. Immoral bastards.

I was focused on making the breakaway lid for the first stake trap, when a terrified scream ripped through the air! A male scream. A male scream of pain mixed with rage.

“Help!” Jade shouted desperately.

Fucking hell! They flew directly overhead.

Jade - 15th of Megan '15 EoH - Night

I woke up with my chest not feeling quite so bad. I had just enough time to take that in, notice the pale orange light of sunset, recognize that I was still atop David’s cart, and tilt my head back to stretch my neck. I saw the griffons mid dive, one moving straight for me, and I acted with no thought.

My short sword seemed to fly from it’s scabbard, green aura holding it point first into the diving griffon. His eyes widened, tan wings flared to change direction, he slowed, but too little too late. With an awful ripping sound the blade plunged into his chest, and he let out a scream which echoed in my ears.

Red blood pooled on white feathers and darkened his tabard. His falling body wrenched the sword from my magic’s grip, and he slammed into the ground with a sound like dropping a watermelon, his spear sticking point first into the ground only feet away from my face!

“Help!” I screamed, my brain only then realizing what the hay was going on.

The other four griffons circled overhead for a moment, landing around the cart one by one. I was completely unarmed now, and they had big speary things. My hearts began to beat faster and faster, which sent rapid fire flicks of pain down my left side. One of the griffons nodded towards me, and grinned wickedly.

“Right lads, do your job.” he said lazily, “Oh, and we ain't telling the Captn about the cart full of loo-”

A piercing scream to my left split the air! The griffon soldiers wheeled around, spears immediately pointing towards the enemy. I twisted my neck just in time to see David hoist a screaming griffon up using a huge knife stabbed into the griffon’s back like a handle.

It was like someone stopped time. Everyone stood there as David pulled the griffon up, threw an arm around his throat, and squeezed hard, holding him there like a shield. I heard the knife scrape on something as he pulled it out and held it ready, eyes narrowed into laser-focused slits.

“Oorah motherfuckers!” David shouted.

The clearing exploded into action. The griffons charged forward, spears braced under a wing, one talon holding the spears straight, aimed right for the dog who killed their friend. A Griffonese warcry shrieked through the air, cloth and feathers rippled as the griffons surged forward like a rockslide.

David let go of the griffon he was holding, and in one powerful motion shoved him forwards right onto the point of the closest griffon’s spear. A heartbeat later David threw himself at the ground, three spears slicing the air where he had been a moment before. The griffons jumped back, readying another spear thrust, the one whose spear was stuck in his ally let go of the spear and drew a dagger.

David rolled quickly to the side, then forwards. He curled his legs under himself and then sprang up with a hop that put him inches from the dagger wielding griffon. His hand blurred, I heard a crack like a board breaking, and the griffon dropped. The remaining two griffons threw a flurry of spear thrusts, David turned one spear aside with his knife, then grunted as the other sliced a line along his ribs.

I had to do something! With the advantage of surprise gone, even I could see how much of an advantage the griffons had with their spears. He was going to die unless- The dagger the griffon had been holding caught my eye, its slim blade glittering on the ground.

I reached for it with my magic, the weapon was just barely in my range. My aura engulfed the tip, pulled it slowly closer. A second later and I had the entire blade gripped in my aura. As I struggled to get the dagger, David yelped in pain, as a second thrust gouged another line just below his first wound.

I turned the dagger sideways, and with all the force I could, slammed it into into a griffon’s neck. He didn’t scream, he just gurgled and fell over, the blade buried to the hilt in one side, the tip sticking out the other. I felt my own throat tighten as he fell, my hearts skipped a beat. Killing was the worst feeling.

With only one opponent remaining, David shot forwards, grabbing the griffon's spear by its handle. His knife seemed to float in his hand as he flipped it over, lunged forward and slammed it into the gryphon's skull. As the griffon dropped David retrieved his knife, and sighed a long, tired, sad, sigh.

“God… I’ll never get away from this, will I?” He muttered to himself.

I only saw it out of the corner of my eye. I was focused on the person I had just killed, eyes wide in horror. I had tasted his final emotion, it had been joy. He was happy I had killed him. It felt like someone had ripped my chest open again.

Why? Who would want to die? Without any hint of sadness. None. Just joy. Why?

I yelped as something tapped against my side. “Ahh!”

“Hey! Snap out of it!” David ordered three inches from my nose. “You did good. That throw saved both our lives. I know it feels horrible, but you need to rise above it!”

“I n-no!” I stammered.

David frowned. “Jade… Psychologically speaking, you shouldn’t-”

“No! I’m okay with killing!” I said quickly. “W-well… not okay, okay… I don’t like it. I don’t want to do it. But I knew I would probably have to one day… Not everyone is okay with changelings living in their town… I’m a scout, I would have been away from the hive a lot… They show all scouts how to use a knife…”

David’s ears stood up for a moment, “Oh good! You have some training, I was worried that you were completely raw.” His eyes widened in alarm, mouth stopping moving mid sentence. An instant later he held up a hand with two fingers raised. “Were you hit? How many fingers-”

I nodded my head rapidly, forgetting other species shook it for no in my haste. “No! I’m an emotovore! I can taste others emotions… He was happy I killed him.”

“Oh.” David winced, real sympathy on his face as he set a hand on my shoulder. “I can’t imagine what that feels like. I won’t pretend to know. You have my deepest sympathy... and pity.”

“Why pity?” I asked fearfully.

“Because odds are good we will have to fight off another squad soon.” David sighed sadly. “These ones will fail to report back, they really want you dead, and need you dead, so they will send more after us.”

“I-wait, what? Why?” I asked frowning in confusion.

David stepped back, slipping an odd thing which looked like a bunch of iron rings welded together off the hand he hadn’t been holding his knife in. “The box to your right, the green one. Pass it to me please. I need to patch myself up.”

Oh right! He was hurt. I quickly lifted the large box with my magic and set it on the ground next to him as he stripped off his tunic. His whole right side was stained dark red, almost black. “Owch…”

“I’m fine. Adrenaline is killing the pain at the moment.” David informed, sitting down and opening the box to reveal a ton of different things, most of which I recognized from my trips to the hive’s doctor. “As for your question, when I finished patching you up I had to ambush two griffons. One of them mentioned to the other they had to be sure you were dead, because of some international treaty. If you are alive, you legally own the mines under your hive. They want them, and can’t afford violating that treaty, or they will lose a trade deal with another nation.”

I blinked in confusion, “But… The Griffon Kingdom exports to everyone. They don’t buy things. You can’t offer them anything other than gold… Who is powerful enough to trade with a kingdom the size of ten normal ones?”

David shrugged, then took a small bottle and a cloth from the kit and started to wash the cuts. He winced every few moments, hissing in pain a few times. “Hell… That’s bone! I’ll have to sew this… Hold on, I’ll remember eventually…”

David was quiet for about a minute as he cleaned the cuts, then too my horror retrieved a needle and thread and began to sew himself up like a ripped blanket!

“I um...er… dose that even work?” I asked morbidly.

David looked up at me with a deeply confused expression, then his eyes lit up and he laughed for a few seconds before grabbing his wounded side “AH! Dammit girl! Don’t make me laugh yet… Yes, you can just sew skin back together. It fixes itself slowly and if sewn it heals very quickly. You… you’ve never had to deal with it have you? I thought you were shape shifters.”

“I’ve only been able to change for two days… Or more… If I’ve been out a long time.” I answered, looking away from him as he stitched through his own skin and muscle. It was… gross.

“The only times I’ve ever been hurt bad I just wanted to molt. I get a new exoskeleton every three months. If it’s not damaged too much my magic will regenerate… I’ve heard that I can regenerate any damage that doesn't kill me outright, but I’ve never had enough love in me to do it. It takes a lot of energy.” I explained slowly.

“Uh… Love?” David asked in the most awkward tone imaginable.

I nodded. “Yeah. Joy, delight, and that stuff will keep us alive and power us a bit, but love is what we’re supposed to eat. It’s best for us, and gives the most power.”

“So…” David asked slowly, squirming uncomfortably, “if I am going to heal your wound properly am I going to have to have sex with-”

I laughed and held up a hoof. “No. Brotherly and sisterly love works too.”

“Oh thank god!” David let out a held breath in relief. The horrified expression started to leave his face.

I felt the urge to tease him. Mostly to avoid thinking about the griffon still there, looking at me with his happy, dead, eyes. But also partially because watching the big, tough, warrior dog squirm was fun!

I put on a bit of a husky voice and smiled at him playfully. “But mom says that sex gets you the most energy the quickest. You’re pretty cute… and I would like to be able to walk soon.”

David’s ears and tail shot straight up like someone fired them from a bow! “Er, Ma’am, you’ve told me that’s not medically necessary, and while I am flattered, and I assure you that I do find your species to be cute assuming you are a typical example, I am in no way interested in being anything more than friends with you!” he stammered.

I felt a bit bad for making him squirm like that… but I also felt a bit insulted by his rejection.

“It’s because I’m not a mammal isn't it?” I demanded.

David facepalmed. “Even on another flipping planet, in another god damn dimension, people always assume racism first…”

I raised an eyebrow curiously.

David shook his head. “Jade, no, it’s not because of your species… Well, mostly not. If you do not, as I am aware many insect species do, possess an ovipositor and lay eggs inside your mate, then my refusal has absolutely nothing to do with your species. If it does, it’s because my species intercourse does not result in the male being eaten from the inside out.”

“Oh!” I giggled. It was like sharing secrets in the girls bathroom at school all over again! “We do have those, but we don’t lay our eggs in people. We make little pods out of dross and lay the eggs inside them to keep them warm. We’re not like those little black spiders or anything.”

David nodded, an expression on his face of actual interest. Which was a bit weird. I mean he had just been really grossed out.

“That’s actually really interesting!" He exclaimed in a completely honest tone. "I would love to learn more about your species biology… But just to clarify, I have no sexual or romantic interests in you, but I will happily be your friend. Okay?”

I tilted my head in confusion. Why was he being so insistent about that? “I’m just playing with you a little… I’m not interested in sex either, your faces were just really funny. You don’t need to keep telling me no. It’s a bit hurtful actually.”

David gave me a long slow look, shook his head and went back to sewing himself up. “Women…” he grunted.

Well, now I had to keep playing with him!

“What? I look old?!” I gasped in mock shock.

“Nope. Not going to play this game.” David said bluntly.

I shook my head and giggled. “You won’t have much luck with girls if you don’t play our little games with us.”

“I’m perfectly fine with that.” David said in an off hand sort of way, then nodded at a bundle of white fabric. “Would you float that roll of gauze over here, please?”

I giggled, cracking a grin. That was fun! I probably shouldn’t tease him like that again though. I gently picked up the roll of gauze he had nodded towards and moved it over towards him before realizing he was going to wrap his chest with it.

“Hold on, I’ll do it for you. I’m guessing it goes on tight?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah, just make sure you wrap it over the shoulders and around the ribs so it stays on. I’ll tie it off.” he answered, spreading his arms to the sides.

It was short work to wrap the gauze, and I only had to redo it twice because I had made it too tight. Once it was finally done, David stood up, tested how much he could move then tossed his tunic up onto the cart.

“I’ll sew that up later… For now we need to move these bodies. We are going to be staying here a few days.” he informed with a grim sigh.

“I um… why?” I asked baffled at his decision. “I mean they just found us, shouldn’t we move?”

David shook his head. “We will have at least a day before they are missed from not reporting in. You need to heal, now I need to heal. I’ve noticed that I heal up from cuts pretty fast, this should only take three days since I treated it. If I get into a serious fight right now, I am going to die because I can't move my right arm without pain. It will also be painful to move the cart for at least a day. So, we need to rest here.”

David paused for a moment then shrugged, “Besides, odds are pretty good that no other search party will fly overhead. Also now I know I’ll need to string up camouflage netting. Should do the tr-.”

A groan cut David off. He immediately spun, drawing his knife, and nearly dropped it as he grunted in pain. I quickly turn to see which of the griffons was moving, ripping the dagger I had used before from the griffon.

The griffon David had punched was pulling himself slowly to his paws and talons. His white feathered face was pretty mangled, and a few lines of blood dripped from the tips of feathers around his right eye. I whipped the dagger up in front of me, doing my best to ignore the blood covered blade.

David clomped the few feet over and grabbed the griffon by the collar of his tunic with his good arm, and used the red and black patterned cloth like a leash. He pulled the griffon right up to his face and looked him dead in the eyes “Jade, hold that dagger for a minute.” David said calmly.

I pulled the dagger closer to me, but kept it ready. My heart was racing again. If he wasn’t dead, what about the other ones? We could still be in danger!

“My name,” David said, leaning right into the Griffon’s face, “is Lieutenant David Pierce. I am a Hospital Corpsmen, formerly with the United States Marine Corps. You see that changeling on the cart?”

David roughly shoved the griffons face towards me, then pulled him back to stare right in his eyes again. “She is my patient, and if you even so much as spit in her general direction I will throw you to the ground so hard you will piss blood for a month! Understand me?”

The griffon nodded rapidly. “Yes! I understand, let me go I won’t-”

“That’s right. You won’t. Because you only have two options son.” David said, pulling his knife up into view. “First option, you agree to answer two questions, and you leave here with a pair of broken wings and that hamburger I made your face into. Second option, I make you eat every single feather on your friend’s bodies from a bowl made from your own beak. What will it be?”

“One!” The griffon squeaked.

David didn’t smile. Didn’t blink. He just leaned in closer. “Good choice. You’re going to answer me honestly, and tell me every little last detail. I will have follow up questions for each question. I’ll tell you when I’m asking the second one. First Question, do you have any children?”

I blinked, what would David even want to know that? I had been with him up until this point, but, why-

“Yes, three. They are with my wife back home in Eyrerock.” The griffon replied instantly.

David nodded, and let go of the griffon’s tunic, dropping him to the ground and leaning slightly over him to look down, knife held casually at his side. “Is there something I can do for your children? You concerned about them? You want them to go to school? What do you want? Tell me what you want. Script for me, your exit strategy. How do you get yourself out of this hole, which by the way, you’ve dug for yourself?”

The griffon opened his mouth to reply, but David simply kept talking over his words. “You can’t go back to your army, can you? No. You fucked up, you’re a wash, a failure. We both know what your Captain will do to you. Let’s make peace with that. Your life is over. Tell me the second thing I want to know, and go home.”

The griffon gulped, and nodded slowly. “O-okay… What do you want to know?” He asked in an utterly broken voice.

Sun’s light! David just talked all of the fight right out of him. A minute ago he might have decided to attack us when we turned our backs or after letting him go, but now, there was no way in tartarus he’d do a damn thing.

David knelt down slowly, getting as close as he could while staying on one knee. “Second Question, why did you attack Jade’s Hive? Tell me everything.”

David - 15th of Megan '15 EoH - Night

I set the griffon’s broken jaw before I let him go. He was a good sport after I applied some Applied Psychology. Told us everything, a bit more than I needed, but more than enough to work out an exit plan for Jade and I.

I even gave him a small bit of a penicillin culture, told him how to grow it, how to make the drug from the mold. That would let him keep making a living. No need to harm his family with the disappearance of whatever scraps of cash the King threw their way.

He told us that he was a part of the Black Kite Battalion, basically a few dozen special forces members trained to take strategic locations for the kingdom. The Diamond Hive as it turned out, had a large supply of a semi-rare gemstone which was useful for storing magical energy. Apparently all gems could store some, but peach quartz was the best. Their spies had determined there was enough in the mine to outfit a million troops with magical equipment, so orders had been drafted.

The Black Kites spent four months using minor disasters and planting rumors of a large supply of love energy to lure Queen Chrysalis to the Diamond Hive. The plan had always been to trick her into doing the dirty work. They knew she never occupied any place she attacked, so it would be smooth sailing an hour after she left, and she would make killing every last changeling inside much easier.

The Griffon Kingdom was a part of an alliance of superpowers, and if any nation under the protection of treaties between those big nations were to loose their head of state, the oldest living person within three hundred miles of their largest population center got the job. As that person for her hive, Jade now legally owned the mines, and if she managed to make her claim known, the Griffon Kingdom would, by the treaties they signed, lose all trade with their allies until they provided compensation for the damage they caused.

That’s why the kingdom had black ops teams like the Black Kites. That made perfect sense to me. Old me’s homeland did the same thing to protect its interests. A big nation with a powerful military has little problems throwing out the rules when no one is looking.

The mastermind behind this plan was an older griffon known as Captain Gearalt Maltese. A cunning bastard by the sound of him. My ‘friend’ told me that he wouldn’t by any means stop chasing us, unless we did something impossible to get away from his reach. That impossible thing did in fact sound pretty impossible to both Jade and I.

“You’ll need to go to Equestria.” He had said, “It’s not a myth. It’s real. It’s on the other side of the Kingdom, over the mountains, across the Crystal Empire’s borders… Kinda, they are a province of Equestria. You can also sail south from the coast, travel north from Zebraca across the badlands. Either way is very dangerous. The only safe way in is through the pass I mentioned, and if you go to the Kingdom, Captain will find you in a day.”

Jade and I talked it over after I let him go, with one last threat for good measure. We both agreed it was suicide to go through the Griffon Kingdom, and we both agreed for safety's sake we should stick together. In the end our only plan was to make it to Applewood, then head for the southern coast of Stalliongrad and get on a ship bound for Zebraca.

It would be a long journey, and I felt I was morally obligated to make sure Jade got to Equestria safely. Even if it didn't exist, the griffons thought it did, meaning she would be safe there. Though given the laws, it probably did, and people just thought it a myth because it was so far away and extremely economically powerful.

I would be fine on my own. I always had been. Jade, Jade wouldn’t. She couldn’t just grab an apple off a tree and eat it while traveling. She needed friendship to live, she needed company. As a medic, I couldn’t discharge her from my care until I knew she would be fine.

Besides, I could stand to have a friend for a while. Ninety years on his own makes a man hurt in many ways. Maybe in Equestria I would finally find a culture who would accept me, and find a nice place to settle down.

With that last bit of wishful thinking on my mind, I lay down under my cart for safety's sake, closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep. Life had thrown me another adventure. This would probably be the last good sleep till the whole ordeal was done.

5 Skip the montage.

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Jade - 17th of Megan '15 EoH - Night

“Awww come on!” I whined doing my best to give David puppydog eyes, “Please teach me how to use a dagger like that?”

“No.” David grunted, turning his attention back to the alchemy kit he had been working at for the last hour.

“But you’re amazing with one! We could be attacked again, you believe that yourself! I would be able to help a lot better if I could use a blade that good too!” I pleaded, levering myself up onto the edge of the cart to get a better look at the overly stubborn diamond dog.

I’d gotten a lot better over the last few days. My regeneration had kicked in a few more times. “I can probably walk now. I’m totally fine to train, it’s not like I’ll be using my hooves for it. I don't need to move to copy the martial art!”

“Which is why I can’t train you.” David groaned setting down a mortar and pestle to turn and face me.

“I can do any movement with a blade you can, what’s hands of magic have to do with anything?” I demanded in a firm tone. The argument was starting to get me angry.

David shook his head and sighed, “This isn’t like kung fu, or karate, or whatever martial art from some far off land you know of. Yes, you could mimic my hand motions, but you can’t learn a skill from me which I don’t have.”

“That is a load of horseapples!” I grumbled. “You took out the griffons with that dagger of yours that takes skill!”

He nodded, “Yes. But it’s not knife skills. It’s killing skills. I used my knife because I didn’t have any other tool for the job. I don’t know any martial art, I don’t know any historical melee techniques. What I know is what I learned in the Marines, they don’t teach you how to use a weapon, they turn you into one.”

I blinked and tilted my head to one side, “What do you mean?”

“What I said.” David grumbled.

I gave him a look of annoyance.

“Oh fine…” He sighed before standing up.

“You want to know how I use my knife?” He asked as he pulled the blade from its sheath and spun it around in his hand. The blade flashed as he flipped the point around in a full circle, so the blade skimmed past his forearm as it rotated, then caught it expertly in a normal grip.

“Yes! I’ve only been asking for like a day now!” I said nodding eagerly.

“I know what this blade can do. I spent a week doing nothing but cutting, chopping, thrusting prying, and hitting everything under the sun with it.” David said, flipping the blade into a half dozen different grips as he spoke. “I know it can rip a man’s guts clean out with a back slice, go right between the ribs, clean into a shoulder and pry the joint loose… I know what this tool can do to meat. The only trick then is to apply it to the enemy as the situation calls for. That’s it, and it can’t be taught.”

I rubbed my head with my hooves, “But it totally can! You learned to do it!”

David growled in annoyance and sheathed his knife, “No I did not! Look my people like things to be fast, hard hitting, and clean. Instinctively we love fair play. It’s built up from childhood, give the other guy an even break, let him play the game on the level, don’t hit a man when he’s down. There’s a fifteen yard penalty for clipping, and the fighter who hit’s below the belt get’s tossed out of the ring. We like it fast, and hard hitting, and we like it clean.”

“What’s that have to do with you stubbornly refusing to help us both live through this?” I demanded actual anger starting to throb in my forehead.

David narrowed his eyes and made a gesture with his hand to point to them, “Look me in the eyes, I want you to know I’m telling you the truth.”

“Fine…” I looked as closely into his eye as I could without being distracted by the mismatched colors.

“When you step off the gridiron onto the battlefield, the rulebook is burned, buried, and forgotten.” He said bitterly. “There are no penalties except the one for losing, and it’s not measured in yards. It’s measured in lives. War is the law of the jungle, kill or be killed. There is no guidebook, no referee, and no honor. You have to turn your instincts inside out to play soldier, because war is play to win, or die.

“The goal is destruction, pure and simple. Your mind has to be tuned to a new pitch. No holds barred, to hurt, to cripple, to kill. It’s war, you are not fighting for a gold medal or a fancy belt, but for survival. The enemy is going to kill you so you have to do him in as quickly as possible with whatever you have at hand.

“If you’re lucky you use the right tool for the job. But you had damn well better also be able to use a rock, some dirt, your hands. You need to be prepared to bite someone's tongue off if you have to. Your weapon isn’t in your hand or magic, it’s in your skull.

“I could show you every which way to Sunday you can use a Bowie knife, you could practice those moves all day every day, and the first time you fought a seasoned fighter you would die expecting him to counter your strike with the textbook correct counter to whatever you threw. Real war isn’t like that, training goes out the window with that rulebook. If you want to survive you learn what your tools can do and you do them to the enemy in whatever way presents itself in battle.” David finished, then sat down and turned back to his alchemy kit.

I was quiet for a while as I tried to understand what he meant. It sounded like he didn’t want to give me a false sense of confidence, like he thought that teaching me would just get me killed. That didn’t seem logical, surely if you trained you would be better right? “But… In chess practice makes you bet-”

“That’s exactly why I won't train you. That mindset that the average civilian has will just get you killed if I show you any trick of the trade.” David sighed, “Look, do you know how to use that shortsword?”

I pulled the short blade out of it’s sheath with my magic and held it in front of me to look at. It was a slender blade, not very long, just about as long as my forearm and hoof. It wasn't made for changelings, and had a simple guard and hilt, just a little disk shaped pommel and a small clover pattern tipped crossguard.

“Yeah, I guess.” I said as I recalled all the different things we were shown in class that the blade could do. “But I’ve never used it before, except on that griffon. We don’t have magic till we’re grown up. They showed us the moves in school though.”

David grunted again. “Mmm… Right, that’s different then. You need to know what you personally can do with that thing, but that’s it. Learning a specific fighting style just locks you into that style. You will think in set patterns, not with your full range of tricks. That will get you killed. Tell you what, those three rabbits I caught earlier, I want you to butcher them.”

“What?” I asked, eyes widening in alarm.

“I’m going to make a stew. They need to be gutted, skinned, and the bones stripped. Go do it. use your sword for it, and work out how it cuts stabs and pries.” David ordered in a firm tone, not even looking up from his work.

I gulped lightly, the through to cutting even a dead animal appart was pretty gross. “D-do I have to?”

“Yeah. I can’t exactly make ballistics gel for you to cut up.” David answered simply.

His words stuck in my ears. There was an alternative thing to practice on? “Why can’t you?” I asked hopefully.

“Well,” David said cautiously, “the key ingredient is a sapient life form here… As far as I can tell rabbits are still just rabbits, so it’s morally okay to eat them, and therefore to have you practice cutting on them.”

I winched, “Uh… do I even want to know what-”

“No. It’s a Soylent Green type of thing, but for ponies.” David muttered. “I’m pretty sure I’d be hunted down for making it.”

“Oh.” I said simply. That sort of made senc-

“Oh!” I said wincing as I understood what he meant properly.

Then my brain added two and two together. “Wait! Drop everything! Ponies are animals where you come from? And used for… parts, so not like, slaves that are called animals, but animals… Are you from another plane?” I asked curiously.

David turned and gave me a blank look of bafflement.

“You know, planes. The layers of reality stacked atop each other which are all different but similar and connected?” I asked.

“Oh… Uh, probably.” David said in the tone of someone hearing about a concept for the first time.

“Probably?” I exclaimed raising a non existent eyebrow.

“Well, to be fair my people have proven that life is a byproduct of planetary formation so it’s completely possible that I’m still in my own universe, or plane as you call it.” David answered giving me a shrug.

I instinctively felt the urge to faceplant, and slipped off the cart. Fortunately my wings instinctively buzzed, catching me mid air as I groaned, “How the bucking hay do you not even know how you got here?”

David sighed and rested his face against his hand for a long minute. “Look… I wasn't always so happy, okay? All I know is that before I got here I was out for a walk after a good long visit from my friends Jack and Morgan.”

“Are they like, wizards, or what?” I asked. At this point I simply had to know. It was mammeling me.

David laughed, actually falling over onto his back. “Yep! Enchanter’s extraordinaire, removing memories one blackout night at a time, and causing bouts of sickness the morning after each night around the world!” He giggled for a few moments before sitting back up with a grin, “Those are brands of booze, Jay. I was blind drunk when I got here, last thing I remember is trying to light a cigarette somewhere near the train station.”

“Oh… So you were really drunk and woke up here?” I asked, just to clarify.

“Yep! Still in the old uniform, these boots, pants, jacket, tailored to fit this body but still the same. Had my knife, watch, Pocket Ref, everything but my Lucky Strikes and my Zippo.” David sighed. “That was a hell of a three months… Never quit anything cold turkey.”

If there was one thing I had learned David did, it was ramble. Maybe if I got him to ramble on enough, I could make him forget he wanted me to go cut up some dead things! It was a good plan, and I was happy to be a part of it.

“Quit? What did you quit?” I asked.

David hunched back over his alchemy kit and tapped a glass bottle with a rod, watching the liquid inside bubble. “Smoking, tobacco specifically.”

“Wait, but isn’t that terrible for you?” I remembered a bunch of long speeches about smoking and why not to do it. One Zebra in the hive had smoked a pipe a lot and he was pretty cool so everyling had kept telling us not to do it.

David shrugged, “Eh, for most people yeah. But most of its negative effects don’t affect a small number of people due to a number of genetic factors. Not to advocate you picking it up but I was pretty much fine. Sure got the stained teeth, and I might have had a cancer or three, never checked for them. But my lungs were just fine. Ran five miles every day, breath never short. Which was good, I liked the flavor, bitter things have always been my favorite.”

“Oh.” I’d never thought about that.

I’d seen pegasi eat fish, and then a unicorn try the same thing, but get sick. Different things did affect different species differently, why wouldn’t different things affect people within a species differently too?

“If you liked it and it didn’t hurt you… You’re making something druggy right now, why not make your own?” I asked genuinely seriously, but also hoping to avoid cutting practice.

“Because for the life of me I just couldn’t find any god damned tobacco plants!” David grumbled. “Now I’m not feeling the need to smoke, so I don’t care much.”

“I guess that makes sense… So, whatcha making?” The mysterious bubbling yellow and white liquids could no longer be ignored. Last time David had set up that kit he made a clear liquid that tasted like oranges to perk me up a bit. The dog was a wizard with an alembic.

“I’m whipping up an old gem called guncotton.” he answered cheerfully, “I’ll need it to use a weapon I’ve been trying to build for five years now. I’m pretty sure that Applewood’s smith will be willing to work with me and all I need is for someone to weld the barrels together. Then I’ll have my people’s sacred weapon, and defending us on the way to Equestria will be a million times easier… Long as I make plenty of guncotton and we don't run out of lead.”

“Cool!” I landed on the ground, my chest starting to hurt from hovering beside the cart. The ground felt a bit weird under my hooves after so long laying down, but standing didn’t hurt too bad. Hopefully I’d be fine by tomorrow.

“Yes, very cool.” David agreed. “So cool, that you will want to try it, and I’m not going to let you try it until you know your sword inside and out.”

I stamped a hoof in frustration. “It can't be that cool!”

“Oh really?” David asked, giving me a smug grin and raising an eyebrow.

“Really!” I answered, humphing angrily.

“Ask yourself this, Jay.” David said smugly as he turned back to his work, “How cool is a type of weapon that you have never seen before, that totally changed how an entire species fought their wars, and is so culturally ingrained that I’ve spent five years and four attempts to make a working one with the technology available to me here knowing that with one I can survive anywhere on this rock as long as I keep making ammunition?”

I grumbled angrily to myself as I picked my sword up from atop the cart with my magic. He hadn’t lied to me yet, and that did sound pretty cool. “Ugh… fine… where are the rabbits?”

“Good bug girl.” David chuckled. “They are on the back of the cart. Now, go learn how to take organic things apart.”

6 Lucky Strikes.

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David - 19th of Megan '15 EoH - Morning

The village of Applewood stretched out before me at the bottom of the hill. My first thought was that ‘village’ was not the appropriate word for the fortified town which lay at the bottom of the hill. This was a fortress playing at being a village.

Applewood was surrounded by a wall four ponies high made of what I assumed was stone. It was covered in a smooth plaster coating, as were its many watchtowers, making knowing the wall’s materials quite impossible. That was something which impressed me a lot, if your enemy can't work out what your wall is they either bring inefficient means of breaking through it, or over commit their resources to doing so.

It’s walls were surrounded by acres and acres of farmland, but that farmland was also protected by a nice wooden palisade wall and a moat. As you looked deeper into the village center there was another, taller set of walls behind which sat a nice solid looking Norman keep. Well, I doubt it was actually made by the Normans, I guess some designs just transcend species.

Regardless the many walls, multitude of watch towers, encamped weapons atop the towers and walls, the many guards actively patrolling the wall tops, and cunning double gatehouses which would let you trap individuals between two gates made Applewood a very secure place to live. A tactical genius made this place.

Jade trotted up to my side as I looked out over the village, and whistled. “That’s a lot of walls! How long do you think they spent building that?”

“Beats me, but they are serious about defending their homes…” I said slowly, an idea popping into my head. “They will have a weaponsmith there, meaning I definitely can get what I need done. But… Didn’t you say that a member of your species has been marauding the countryside?”

Jade blinked, and tilted her head at me in her little ‘confused’ expression before her eyes widened, “Oh! Right!”

“Maybe you should stay here,” I advised in as kind of a tone as I could manage, “I shouldn’t be-”

I yelped as Jade suddenly burst into bright emerald flames! Oh dear god, had she somehow been doused in chlorine trifluo-

The flames vanished as quickly as they came, leaving behind a black pegasus mare, with the same tail and mane cut as Jade, bright blue eyes, and a butt-tattoo of a pair of white clouds.

Her face split into a huge grin, the kind only ponies can do, before she fell over backwards laughing, wings flared. “Sun’s Light! Your face! Oh my god I totally forgot I never told you what happens when we shapeshift!”

That was Jade’s voice. And her sense of humor. Also I had completely forgotten she had said her people were shape changers.

“Jade… I will make you clean the camp twice for that.” I grumbled, starting to walk off down the hill to Applewood, cart in tow.

“Pfff, sure! Like it takes me any effort... “ she chuckled, before trotting over to keep pace with me. “What about you Mr. Diamond Dog? What’s your plan for you?”

“I have a foolproof plan.” I informed, “It works every time, especially in walled cities like this place.”

Jade pestered me about my plan the entire way up to the palisade wall. he large wooden gatehouse loomed over the two of us, and more than a few guards pointed a spear, bow, or what looked like a crossbow that fired chakrams in our general direction. I could see unicorns, some pegasi, a zebra, a minotaur, a- Wait, had that been a dragon?

I craned my neck to try and see up into the base of a tower where I swore I had seen an adorable blue scaled little bipedal dragon. I hadn’t gotten to see a dragon before! Everyone always mentioned them in reverent tones and there might be one right up there, being the coolest fantasy species ever and I didn’t want to-

“Oof!” The butt of a spear interrupted my thoughts rather abruptly.

“I said halt!” An absolutely tiny for an adult lime green pegasus demanded, spear held under one wing, and planted butt first into my stomach.

I took a step back and offered the diminutive guard a polite bow, “Apologies my good sir, I was taken in by the rather impressive construction of your walls.”

The Guard, as well as his partner blinked in surprise. The half-pint pegasus squinted at me from under the rim of his full-pint helmet. “You speak really well for a Dog.”

I nodded, “Indeed, I do. It comes from being well traveled. I assure you I mean you no harm, my companion and I only wish to sell our goods within your fine city, we will be gone as soon a our business is concluded.”

“Er, is what?” the other guard, a burly reddish gray furred earth pony asked.

“Concluded, as in ‘to finish’.” I informed in as polite of a tone as I could manage.

The diminutive guard tapped his spear but against my knife. “Well, if you’re all peace lovin why are you carrying this?”

I gave him a soft smile, “The same reason you are carrying that spear good sir.”

“The kingdom is pretty dangerous lately.” Jade chimed in. “We can keep our weapons in the cart while in town if it’s a problem.”

Ah! Good bug girl, you catch on pretty quick. No one, human, pony, or whatever who has been standing in the hot sun all day want’s to fight anyone. A smile and a kind word will get you through just about anyone after the third hour on watch.

The two guards exchanged a look, then cautiously nodded.

“Okay, but you put them in the cart here, and if anyone sees you armed in there, you won't be seen with arms again.” The brick shithouse of a pony threatened.

“Duly noted, sir.” I said, faking an expression of submission by making my ears flop.

I unbuckled my belt and gently set it down in the cart behind me. A half moment later and Jade did the same thing with her own blade. The two guards whistled, and with a loud creaking groan the wooden gate slid open, leaving the fenced off area available for us to enter, but the second gate still closed.

“Oi Patch,” Half-pint pony shouted, a hoof to his mouth, “Check these two’s wagon and let em through.”

It’s always irritating to have someone go through my wagon. It’s not some mess of chaos, it’s a neatly packed arrangement to various containers, objects, and other cargo. That little wooden handcart is a real bitch to pull with an unbalanced load. Naturally every time guards inspect it they feel the need to un-tetris everything in the damn cart.

Then, there’s the endless explanations. ‘I trade battlefield salvage, that’s why I have so many weapons and armor.’ ‘That is an alchemy kit, please be careful!’ ‘I am a surgeon by trade, those are tools for healing, not torture.’ ‘Careful sir that is alchemical in nature and may explode if mishandled.’

It would almost be worth it to sneak my way in, but when it’s all said and done, jumping through society's hoops is generally the best option. After what felt like an eternity, after the sun moved visibly through the sky, they were finally done inspecting. Meaning I got to put everything back all by myself.

I am certain Jade would have helped, but she was just waved through the checkpoint immediately. Just a ‘Move along, miss.’ If an old friend of mine could see me now, he’d have a good laugh about me finally understanding racism.

As I at least wheeled my cart through the other end of the checkpoint, Jade stood up from the shady spot she had been sitting in and trotted over. “Finally! How much crap do they need to look at to realize you’re hauling nothing but junk?”

“All of it.” I grumbled.

“Right…” Jade sighed. “Sorry… So, plan still on?”

I nodded and began to walk up the path to the village proper. “Yes. Since you’re a pegasus right now, we can modify that a little. How about you fly ahead and see where the merchant’s district is for me?”

Jade snapped me a salute, a completely, totally, GI salute that I definitely had never showed her.

“Aye, sir!” she proclaimed, zipping off before could ask where she picked that up.

By the time Jade made it back to me, I had just reached the gatehouse which led into the village. The guards gave me a suspicious look as Jade landed atop the cart, but didn’t move to stop either of us.

“I think the market is to the left after the second road.” Jade informed, “At least, there’s a lot of people with stuff there.”

“Good enough for me.” I grunted and focused on pulling the cart along.

It was a bit tricky, the cobbled streets were narrow. The whole village seemed as if it were being taken over by the thatch roofed waddle and daub buildings that ponies seemed to love so much. I could never understand their obsession with this architecture style. It wasn’t a price thing either, those roofs were more expensive than the more effective treated timber roofs available to them. All I ever got was some vague religious excuse. Something about them letting in the warm love of the sun.

One thing they did do was cast shadows everywhere in the narrow streets of over built villages like this one. Applewood on the inside was only describable as a wild hedge with thatched buildings for leaves. It was maddening.

But not as maddening as following Jade’s directions and winding up in a completely packed full market place with far too many options for me to even be able to read the signs of what business and stall was what!

“God dammit Jade! Why didn’t you tell me it was this packed?” I demanded angrily, giving her a hard look.

“You call this packed?” Jade asked in honest surprise.

I held a hand up to my face, partially to block out the sea of pastel ponies with islands of other species dotting its expanse, and partially to groan into it. “Right… insect species… underground hive…”

How was I going to even find anything here? The sheer density of people was going to make navigating around the market difficult, and the over abundance of shops in a village of this size meant that most of them had to be selling the same thing. This would be a complex web of bartering to do any goddamn thing!

Who knows who would want what, or even if my goods would be something someone here could sell themselves! If only I had been able to sell some cargo in Moosville. Coin would be the only way to extract value from this place without a guide!

My groaning was interrupted as a familiar smell filled my nose. I couldn’t quite place it, but a tingling feeling in my gut told me that I knew that smell. That I knew that smell very intimately. God I hated it when I couldn’t remember something that should be obvious!

Looking around for the source of the oder, I spotted a completely white earth pony mare standing in the shadows a few feet away from me. Everything about this mare was white, and plain looking, except for a pair of jetstone black eyes, and a butt-tattoo in the shape of a sword and crossed scythe sitting atop an hourglass. A slim cigarette, white and orange, glowed faintly in her mouth as she tossed a match to the cobbles.

“Oh! Right! Tobacco!” I exclaimed, placing the scent as I noticed her. “Excuse me miss, does someone in town sell any tobacco?”

She gave me a smile and shook her head, “Afraid not. Something tells me you’re not here for a smoke though. No one comes to Applewood without a reason. Need a helping hoof? Something tells me you’re in need of a little luck.”

I gave her a curious look, “Yes.” I answered.

Half a second later Jade and I asked together, “Do I know you?”

She smiled, and shook her head, “Probably not. I’m just on vacation here for a while.”

The mare took a drag on her cigarette before talking further. “Look, I don’t like wasting my time here. Do you two need a hoof or not?”

“Oh! Sorry.” I said quickly, no sense looking a gift pony in the mouth. “Yes, I need to find a weaponsmith, preferably one who will be willing to work for scrap metal. Is there one in town?”

The pale mare nodded and turned into the crowd, waving a hoof for Jade and I to follow. “Yeah, right this way. I did some business there last week.”

She led us through the crowd, which just sort of parted to let us pass through. It felt creepy at first, but after a few moments I realized it was simply because I had a cart, and everypony was assuming I was bringing in a shipment for someone. That was nice of them!

The white mare stopped for a moment in front of a medium sized smithy on the opposite side of the market from where we had entered, paused at the door to let me set my cart down, and then entered the small shop attached to the forge. The small rustic shop was occupied by a light pink unicorn with a silvery-blue mane ironically set into a ponytail.

The shopkeeper looked up as we entered, yelped at the site of the white mare and instantly started groveling, “I’m sorry! I didn’t realize I had broken our dea-”

“You haven’t, it’s alright. I’m simply helping another today.” The cigarette smoking mare said soothingly, holding up a hoof in a stop gesture to the other mare. “Falx, would you kindly help this Dog? He needs a weaponsmith. I’ll consider your debt paid if you do the best you can for him.”

Falx blinked three times in rapid succession. “R-really?”

The white mare nodded. “Yes, paid in full.”

I threw up my paws defensively, “No, no, no! You don’t have to do that, I can trade for her services. I’m not broke, you don’t have to-”

“Quiet you!” Falx shouted, pointing at me with a hoof. Her tone held the urgency of someone who didn’t want a stranger fucking something major up for them. “Deal!” she finished holding her hoof out to my mysterious benefactor.

The white mare shook her hoof, and I swore the room dimmed for a second before their hooves parted. “Right, let her know what you need. I’m fairly sure she’s the best smith for a hundred miles.”

The mare began to leave, taking another long drag on her cigarette. I turned as she left and held out one hand. “Wait! Why help me like this?” I asked.

Deep down feeling like the answer to that question was very important.

“Simple.” She answered bluntly, “A favor owed is a favor owed. Even a small act of kindness can mean the world to someone. There are some debts which can not paid off with any single act, but need a few random acts of kindness to fill them out. Always pay karma foreword, David. These cigarettes for instance, they were a very kind and thoughtful gift. One worth a few… nudges, here and there.”

She trotted out of the shop leaving only a cloud of smoke and a mind full of questions before vanishing into the crowd. I wheeled around on my left heel as quickly as I could to look over at Falx and demanded, “Okay who the hell was that because I definitely know he-”

“Nope! Not talking about her.” Falx informed in a way to quick, almost panicky voice. “I’m not going to press my luck any more. She says do some work for you, so I’m going to do some work for you, and then I want to never see you again, okay? Nothing personal, I just want to forget everything about a certain bargain.”

I sighed, realizing that the random incredibly nice eerily familiar mare was just going to burn away at my thoughts for at least a week now. “Alright. I need some help making a very particular weapon. I have all the parts, I just need someone skilled enough to weld five of them together in just the right way for it to work.”

Falx nodded twice, “No problem. Especially if you have the parts. Bring them over to my forge and let’s get crackin. Ms. D said to give you my best, so you’re getting it… Er, just don’t tell anyone I did the work okay? I have a reputation for charging a lot of money.”

“Sure… but why? Are you that good?” I asked hopefully.

Falx rolled her eyes and tapped her horn gently, “Hello? I’m a unicorn! I forge using magic, always top quality, that includes a spell or two put into the piece to make it just a hair better than any other one out there.”

Jack! Fucking! Pot!

“Watch your tail there buddy, if you knock over that lamp behind you the whole place will go right up.” Falx said before she ducked out the door.

Less than five minutes later I was standing with Jade and Falx at her workbench, the pieces of my baby laid out over the work surface.

“Huh… A gun?” Flax asked slowly.

“Yeah!” I said with a nod, then stopped and turned to give the unicorn a confused look, “What how do you-”

“Well, sure they are rare, and I’ve never seen this type before, but I have made a few wheel locks for griffons and minotaurs before. I didn’t think a Diamond Dog would be interested in competing in, well, rich person sports.” Falx said, shrugging slightly.

“I um… what?” I asked again, not quite comprehending the fact that this smith, unlike the other seven who had helped me make the parts knew what a goddamn gun was, and how unlikely it was that the white mare had randomly shown up given that fact.

“Wait, you didn’t know?” Falx asked while picking up the barrels with her magic to inspect the, “It’s called Skeet, you use one of these to shoot a clay disk in the air. It’s apparently fun because of how inaccurate the damn things are… How does this one work? All I recognize is the trigger and barrels. Speaking of which, multiple barrels, I’m going to steal that idea. Maybe you could make these things an okay weapon with that idea.”

Okay? Okay!? Okay!?! I felt my eye twitch slightly, my pride was damaged, and it needed mending!

I cleared my throat, “Ma’am, I’ll have you know that this particular variety of firearm is more than an okay weapon. The twelve gauge round is very good at all kinds of tasks, and the Lancaster design makes the weapon nearly maintenance free and too simple to fail without being damaged beyond usability. Furthermore, as this is chambered for twelve gauge instead of the original handgun rounds it-”

“Sheesh! Okay, I get it! Weapon masters love their exotic tools. So, how do we put this thing together?” Falx asked.

I felt my eyes narrow in anger at being cut off. As good as she apparently was, this smith was getting to be far too grating to work with. “Right. The four barrels need to be joined perfectly flush with this support piece, from there I can assemble it myself.”

Falx shook her head, “Not if you want it to be my best work you can’t. I need to do it all, from start to finish. I can use these parts, but the piece needs to be complete when I’m done or it wont work… It might even break. My spell has very specific rules.”

I sighed and began to pick up the pieces and show the pink pony-shaped sandpaper how to assemble the firing mechanism, breech, ejector spring, and the other moving part. Fortunately it was a simple gun. My dad had owned one of these, and I could clean and field strip one in ten minutes. That made explaining it far simpler.

“Wait, so the ball, powder, and ignition source are all contained in a single component?” Falx asked a second after I explained how the firing mechanism worked.

“Yeah. Break open gun, put in four shells, close gun, boom, four shots, fast as you can pull the trigger.” I confirmed.

“That’s… brilliant!” Falx exclaimed, sounding actually impressed for the first time since I had shown her anything. “It takes the reloading problem completely away! I could scale this up for the cannons and sell shells like these to the guards and make a mint!” she laughed lightly.

“You have cannons?” I asked in surprise.

“Yeah! I mean, sure, hand cannons are basically useless but even a wizard can appreciate a fireballs spell anypony can use! Okay, let’s build this thing. I need to see it work… You won't mind firing it for me once will you?”

I took a moment to consider her request. “Well… Okay. If you put it together properly.”

Falx nodded, satisfied, then sat down with the parts in front of her still on her workbench. “Right. I’ll need quiet.”

I gave Jade a look which said ‘My god this mare is a pretentious son of a bitch!’

Jade rolled her eyes nodded, and then in the back of my mind I heard her voice clearly. <Yeah, I know, right?>

“Ahhh!” I yelped, jumping back slightly.

“Shhh!” Falx hissed angrily.

Jade blushed a deep shade of pink, the blush somehow showing through her fur. <Oops! Sorry! Looks like I know you well enough to use telepathy with you now… Sorry for scaring you.>

I gave Jade a dirty look of disapproval. She was about to mindspeech a reply at me when suddenly Falx’s horn began to glow a light blue, and she snapped her left eye open, leaving the other firmly shut.

The entire eye glowed blue with an eldritch energy, like the nimbus around her horn, only brighter. A half second later the ground around her seemed to swirl as lines yellow lights etched into existence, forming a large runic circle like someone was drawing it with a half dozen pins. Falx sat at the edge of the circle, and the center was fixed around her workbench, where a large ball of orange light rippled into existence.

Falx picked up each part of my gun with her magic and gently placed them inside the ball of light, where they simply remained floating like they were stuck into jello. “Weld barrels to support.” Falx said in a dead, emotionless tone.

Inside the ball of magic, the four barrels snapped into place against the x shaped support, a bit of white light flared at the seams. “Insert ejector spring… Attach ejector rod... Connect strike plate… Assemble firing mechanism. Attach mechanism to trigger. Install assembly in handgrip. Attach grip covers.”

With each command the material in what I assumed was a literal magic forge obeyed. This mare was putting a CNC machine to shame. I wished I had another five guns for her to make!

“Heat treat barrels… temper… polish… apply metal coloring… stain wood. Attach barrels to grip.” Falx commanded. The attached barrels clicked into place as commanded, the bolt holding the break action hinge zipping into place and tightening itself in a way which as a craftsman, made me extremely jealous.

The ball of light pulsed as the finished gun sat within its center. Falx’s horn flared as she slowly pulled the gun out of the ball of light, which shattered into a million sparks of light as soon as the gun left it.

The weapon itself shown with white light. The barrels shone, a beautiful gradient of color fading from a dark cobalt blue at the ends to a lovely sun-yellow at the handle. The finish looked like the sky turning from midnight to noon, with the point the sun rise would be being right where the gun broke open like an old shotgun.

The wood grip covers were stained a rich ebony color, and a silver inlay of the moon on one side grip, and a gild inlay of the sun on the other. Falx levitated it over to my awestruck hands, and set it in them gently.

“I felt like giving it an old Equish Mythology sorta vibe,” Falx said dismissively, “so I decorated it like that. Anyways that gut feeling probably means the weapon’s lucky, I don’t know what magic actually goes into a finished piece. Just kinda get a hint in a feeling and how it’s decorated. The spell never does the same thing twice though. So, you know, might shoot lightning or something.”

To be honest, her voice came to me sounding more like the chattering of a dolphin as I looked at what would have been a tens of thousands of dollar gun in my hands. It needed a name, a good name, and someone should say something, something appropriate for an adventuring person getting their first magical weapon in a magical world.

“Very bright was that 12 gauge when it was made whole; the light of the sun shone redly in it, and the light of the moon shone cold, and its aim was study and true. And David gave it a new name and called it Boomstick, Thunder of the West.” I paraphrased reverently, finding my words to be perfectly fitting.

“Um… kay.” Falx said slowly.

I gave her an appropriate glare.

“Yeah… It’s just a gun David.” Jade said slowly, “It’s not like your kid or any…” she trailed off as she felt the wall of loving emotion I was beaming right to my new best thing ever. “Never mind…”

“Right… so… Are you happy with it?” Falx asked with a raised eyebrow.

“More so than anything I have ever had.” I answered, “You’re amazing! Why are you in a small place like this? You could be working for kings!”

“Pff! As if.” Falx laughed, rolling her eyes in amusement. “I’m good here, but head south to those assholes who just buy things from Zebrica… and I suck. Better the biggest fish in a small pond than just a normal fish in a big pond. Now then, dog satisfied, debt paid, I’m going to get a drink. Remember I want to see that thing shot before you leave.”

Falx trotted off as Jade walked over to me and gave me a gentle hug around the waist. “Hey, so um… I know you really like your gun-”

“Boomstick!” I corrected. “She has a name.”

Jade cracked a small smile and gulped back a laugh, “I’m sorry, you're like a nymph getting a ponyback ride! Hehehe! Wait, she?” she asked still grinning.

“All ships, cars, and guns are female. It’s a rule…” I finally snapped out of my totally entranced state, and brought Boomstick over to my cart, and wrapped her carefully in a spare cloth. “I’ll get you a holster as soon as possible.” I said giving her a pat as I placed her in the cart.

“Uh… Do you need a few minutes alone with that, or should we go pick up the rest of the stuff you wanted for the trip?” Jade asked.

I blinked, blushed lightly and cleared my throat. “Ahem. Yes, that's quite right. Let’s go see what we can sell. I can clean and polish her later.”

Jade snickered and hopped up on the cart. “You get more and more fun the longer we hang out!”

“Oh look!” I said pointing quickly to the left at a sign on a nearby building, “An armorer, we had better see if he wants to buy anything.”

7 Accent induced hostility.

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Azur Lily - 19th of Megan '15 EoH - Noon

Stalliongrad just might be the worst country in the world to live in. If it isn’t, it’s definitely in the top five worst places. That’s not just because they are about 500 years behind the times, it’s also because they can’t fix their problems. Like, at all.

The whole nation is either dense old growth forest, or swampland. That makes it hard to find or make places to farm. Every nation that can be traded with has plenty of timber too, so it’s not like all those trees can be exported. What Stalliongrad can export is iron, but that’s like, it.

In a nutshell, the whole country is poor as, well, me, aside from a few small cities which have some good farmland. Those cities get all the money because the whole country has three options to buy their food from. Applewood is one of those cities.

That’s a big deal. It means that there is basically exactly enough food to feed everyone a little, but not too well. This meant Stalliongrad’s own citizens will sometimes raid the farm cities occasionally. Which in turn means that anyone living in Applewood who is fighting fit has to serve in the city watch for at least ten years.

This would be fine with me, I decided to leave my homeland and come here after all. I thought that hey, maybe I could do some good here, I’m a pretty decent wizard. I could spend my time working on spells to grow better crops, be someone of importance, and just maybe after a few hundred years have a nice pile of coins to my name.

Ha! Nope!

Anti-intellectual, braindead, superstitious peasants. That’s who lives in Stalliongrad! I magically make food better for you, grow faster, and yield more food, they refuse to eat it because ‘it t’aint natural’. With providing an abundance of food off the table, I was quickly forced to join the City Watch, and stare mindlessly out over the walls in case someone happened to approach.

I could have spent the two years I’d been in Applewood inventing an artifact which would watch the entire town perimeter and warn everyone of people approaching, but no! That’s not natural either. No wonder they were so behind the times. Just about everything which could be made so much easier or better with magic isn’t okay.

I should never have left Germaney. I didn’t regret leaving my home city, but I was starting to regret moving out of the fatherland. Or at least, to a bottom tier nation.

This morning was the first watch in three weeks that a single thing had even happened. Some diamond dog merchant and a pegasus came to town. Just one, he might have maybe hurt the meat-brick of a guard at the gate if hostile before being filled so full of arrows he would have looked like a porcupine.

Whee! Such a great use of my talents! I was totally necessary to protecting people from those two guys!

Sure a raid had happened few times while I was on duty, but well, the inexperienced person gets pushed away from the wall tops to let experienced troops do their thing. So, when there was a job to do, I wasn’t ever the pony to do it. I was just the ‘sit on wall and yell things pony’.

I wouldn’t complain if I were allowed to read while on duty, I could at least improve my thaumaturgy then. But nope, no distractions. Come on, I’m a trained wizard for Faust’s sake!

You want to prevent raids? I could probably do it myself with enough funding and time to study. Work out a ritual spell to make hostile people forget where the city even is. Or maybe hex the surrounding forest to attack things passing through it. But no, sit on the wall, yell if you see anything, then get out of the way.

This city was a waste of my life. I could go anywhere else and be much better off. I’m a wizard, I could easily get a job as an apprentice enchanter in any other country. I should have gone to Equestria, a country that I couldn’t even compare this place to, because these bumpkins thought it was mythical. Making me the ‘Silly pony who believes in fairytales’.

Ah well, at least I was off duty now. I could walk back home to my tiny room, maybe get a little practice in, and see if I had saved enough up to buy passage out of this dump yet. I had enough for three ship fares by now; one or two more would be enough to get me to a port in Zebrica where better ships could be found. That would be my place to rejoin the modern world!

Only problem was I was to much of a scaredy cat to travel alone again. I may be a wizard, but a lot of powerful casters have been done in by guys with pointy bits of metal. Also I didn’t exactly get training as a Battle Mage, I got training as a Thaumaturgist, general purpose magery. It would be nice to be stab proof and unmuggable, but that wasn’t a part of my skill set. If it had been, I wouldn’t have been trapped here for two years so far.

I climbed down the ladder from the guardpost on the upper wall, hooves moving with practiced ease. Most people don’t know that ponies can chose to walk on all fours or just two legs. Our spines, hips, and shoulders even adjust to make the new posture comfortable. It’s not an easy thing to do though, and you’re so slow while doing it that few ponies choose to, aside from fighters who need to use their hooves a lot. I mostly did it because half the places I needed to get to had ladders.

On the upside people think I’ve mastered balancing on my hind legs as some kind of wizard meditation. There are unicorns who I have seen studying me to try and improve their magic by walking on two legs. It’s hilarious! Silly bumpkins.

As my hooves touched down on the plank floor of the small storage room/officer’s post below, a gruff male voice called my name, “Hey, Azure. Mere a minute.”

Ah, ponyfeathers!

I looked over, recognizing the voice as Captain Stonehide. The minotaur was so big his horns scraped the ceiling of the room. He always looked like a big gray statue someone made in their workshop that was just too big to fit through the door.

“Ja, Herr Captain?” I asked, knowing full well that he had some kind of extra work for me today.

He shifted on the log he used as a stool. “I have an extra job for someone today. I’m making that someone, you.”

If I said no, I would loose my whole day’s pay. That’s how this jerk worked.

“Alright, what is it?” I asked careful to not let any of my irritation seep into my tone.

“Something bad is happening tonight. Our scouts came back today. The Swarm just destroyed the Diamond Hive.” Stonehide said in a very serious voice.

Oh.

I winced slightly, “Are they headed this direction?”

“No. The griffons though, they moved into the hive minutes after the Swarm left. They set up a base. They are annexing it.” Stonehide explained.

That settled it, I needed to get out of here now! It was a pretty widely spread idea that the Griffon Kingdom was going to try and annex Stalliongrad. They hadn’t withdrawn the troops King Mustang let them station here during their war with Venisneighla. That was five years ago. Faust knows why they would want this place though.

“You think they are finally starting to make their move?” I asked fearfully.

“Yes.” the Captain clarified, nodding his head and scraping a line into the ceiling, “Diamonds mined good magic holding gems. Griffons need them to supply soldiers. That’s not important now. The Griffons sent out lots of scouts after taking the mines. Scouts say they are looking for a changeling and a dog.

“Don’t know why, but if that ling and dog get away, Griffons will have to abandon the mine.”

It clicked. I knew exactly what was happening today. “The griffons have tracked down those two to here, and they will try to kill the dog and 'pegasus' in the city.” I put air quotes around pegasus, just in case the Captain thought I didn't know that would be the changeling.

“Yes.” Stonehide said with a grim nod. “Bug dies, Griffons keep mine, Stalliongrad falls. You’re going to keep the bug alive.”

The Captain’s eyes softened suddenly, “Also get it out of Stalliongrad safe. Know you hate it here, we don’t need you. This is your last mission. Get bug away from here safely.”

“W-was?!” I asked reverting to my native Germane in shock.

“You’re bad in fights. Good mage, bad soldier.” he sighed.

I couldn’t dispute that. I hated fighting.

“You’re a wizard, scary to folk who don’t know you’re… you. Griffons will think twice. You use magic well. You can get bug safely away. Would lose a good soldier if I sent someone else.” he grunted.

That was mean! Also hurtful. Accurate though. But mean!

“Okay.” I said, agreeing to this ‘mission’, “Traveling is expensive though, can I have-”

“No. Walls need repairs. No money.” the captain grunted again.

I sighed, shifting my weight enough to make the floorboards creak. Which was scary considering how scrawny I was. “Not even some goods? A backpack, some trail rations?” I asked.

Stonehide stroked his chin for a moment then nodded slowly. He reached over to his left into an open crate and tossed a small canvas shoulder bag at me, which I barely managed to catch. “Scout kit. Map. Bread. Flint, tinder. Small knife. Water skin.”

Well… that was more value than I would get from a week’s pay.

“Danka, Herr Captain.” I said, slinging the bag over my shoulder, so the strap rested between my shoulders. “Do we know where they are in the city?”

“No.” he said before pointing to the door. “Good luck, die well.”

“You too, Herr Captain.” I said as I headed for the door.

Faust, I hated that minotaur idiom.

I decided to walk home a bit slowly. I needed time to process things, and the winding maze of streets was a good place to do it. The streets were packed with all kinds of people, some of whom I recognized, three of whom I had hoped would try to date me, and one of whom was angry about me having tried to date him.

I avoided that particular Minotaur. Working out a plan to get out of here with a changeling in tow was hard enough without dealing with someone who was still mad at me for asking him out. Apparently the overly macho minotaur was just overly macho, and nothing else. Another great reason to leave!

Right, leaving. I was going to be leaving now! Wunderschön!

There were few ways to reliably get out of the country. Walking to a border was out of the question. The Griffon Kingdom was the closest, and everything else was too far to risk going to with the world’s biggest army after you.

Besides, only Spurta and Venisneighla bordered Stalliongrad aside from the Griffon Kingdom. Spurta killed all changelings on sight as a general policy for national security, and Venisneighla was now a province of the Griffon Kingdom. That meant we would have to leave by sea.

I would only have to safely guide the changeling to the closest port, where I would be free to find a new country to go to. Maybe Equestria. They certainly appreciated magic there. I mean, my spellbook was a copy of one written by their princess.

I arrived at my home just after thinking up that little plan. Home was pushing it a little, it was a small farmhouse with walls added to make a bunch of bed, nightstand, and footlocker fitting rooms. I would be glad to never see this leaky old place again.

I quickly trotted over he warped floorboards, entered my room, collected my bag, spellbooks, and the pouch containing my savings, and put it all on my back with the other bag. After scribbling a quick note to the owner that I was leaving under orders from the Captain, I set back out into the streets. I had to find a changeling.

I made it three steps before realizing how many ponies were going out and about today. “Well… Maybe we find the dog instead…” I decided to myself.

It was just after noon. If I were a dog, I would be thinking with my stomach about now. While any traveler packed both food and drink, nopony I knew would pass up a warm meal at a town’s inn. Fortunately Applewood had just one inn, and I knew right where it was.

Right across town, in the nicer side of Applewood, right across the town square from the Lord’s keep. An easy walk. A short walk even. But today it was made into what felt like a day’s march due to what looked like the entire town all out walking at the same time.

I hated market days.

By the time I made it to the square, my hooves hurt from the constant starting, stopping, and side stepping on the unevenly cobbled streets. I had been bumped into so many times my plot felt a little numb, and worst of all, I had probably been delayed so much that I would miss if they were getting lunch.

As I trotted into the square, I immediately spotted the inn to my right. Its old wooden signboard hung from a roof beam near the door by some chains, and depicted a two-headed falcon. Ironically the sign was quite close to my family crest, which always gave me a little bit of a shiver as I passed it. The Frightful Falcon was aptly named as far as I was concerned.

The Falcon was a tiny inn. She looked rather rotten with her old graying timber, and was always a bit dirty, but no more so than any other inn I had ever been too. The inside was not so bad. there were plenty of windows which kept the place brightly lit, nice carved furniture was built in many sizes to fit all sorts of different species, and the wooden menu for the pub was painted so it could be easily read from across the room.

The common room was as packed as I expected it to be, given how many people were out today. The aisles between the tables were taken up by as many serving mares as customers. Only one of the servers was a unicorn, and thus able to simply levitate her tray over everyone's heads. The others were carefully moving platters and pitchers around the full house, knowing damn well that a spilled item would come out of their pay.

For once the big crowd made me happy. With the place so jam-packed with townsfolk, travelers would stick out like a Neighponese soldier trying to hide behind a bush. Which may sound racist, unless you have seen one of their soldiers. They would need a very big bush for that to have a chance of working.

I swept my eyes over the crowd slowly. There was one table filled with guards. They noticed me, but as always didn’t wave me over. I saw one of the town's smiths, and a few other ponies I recognized: a baker, a candlestick maker, and two cobblers.

Ah ha! There they were, the one table people were giving a bit of space. Right in the middle of the far wall, just the two of them, a surprisingly small reddish and white furred diamond dog in a green cloak. Just like I remembered from this morning.

I started to push my way through the Falcon’s common room, making my way slowly towards the table.

“Oi! Watch it you git!” A minotaur growled as I passed behind him.

Assuming my bags had bumped him I uttered a quick, “Sorry, sir!” and continued on my way.

As I neared the dog’s table, I was able to see the two were nearly finished eating. The pegasus had a little fish and hayfries left, while the dog was slowly sipping at a mug of what I assumed was the local swill. A few moments later, and I was able to start hearing the conversation the two were having over the buzz of the crowd.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but can you get that wrapped up?” The dog asked in an anxious tone, “This place is… very close to one I was ambushed in.”

The pegasus looked up, her ears perking, “Oh? Why didn’t you say so before?”

“Well, there’s nowhere else for starters. Also I’m well aware that it’s an irrational fear. It’s simply eating away at me is all. I keep thinking someone is about to ask me for my papers… That’s how it started.” The dog finished with a weary sigh, and started to take a deep gulp from his mug.

His words struck that little part of my soul that loves a slightly mean spirited prank. Perhaps it wasn’t the best way to introduce myself, but when given a setup like that…

I quickly trotted over, used my magic to tap the dog’s shoulder gently and asked, “Excuse me, herr traveler, may I see your pa-”

The dog spit his drink out in the most comical way, his voice cracked in terror as he shouted, “Contact!”

I had a brief glimpse of a blurring fist which filled my entire view, stars exploded in my eyes, and suddenly I was on the floor, ears ringing.

“Verdamme dich gehirn!” I groaned feebly.

8 Dynamic entry.

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Jade - 19th of Megan '15 EoH - Noon

I was still giggling about David’s fixation on his new toy by the time we had managed to trade every tradeable item for a small assortment of coins, food, a quality tent, and some odds and ends David needed from an alchemist’s shop. I couldn’t help it, I was adorable! Like giving a nymph a stuffed toy filled with rice you had warmed up.

David was in a pretty good mood as far as I could tell. The Alchemist had gone to traded a few vials of stuff for a book which David was happy to have. There also was plenty of coin for the journey, and well there was something I had wanted to try since I was a nymph.

“Hey, David. Are we going to stay here overnight?” I asked curiously.

His reply was instant. “No. You’ve seen the food prices, a room here will be more than we can afford.”

I nodded, that I had pretty much figured, but…

“Well… I was wondering, I’ve never gotten to eat pony food before, and well at the moment I can!” I explained slowly before flashing David doe eyes and asking, “Could we get something to eat before leaving?”

“Hell yeah.” David chuckled, “It’s lunchtime.”

“Yay!” I beamed David a full force pony grin, then had to stop in my track and rub my cheeks “Ow!”

“Huh… So… those grins are practiced, not biological. Interesting.” David said with a small nod.

“Apparently.” I muttered. That really stung…

Fortunately my mouth was fine after a few minutes, just enough time to be given directions for Applewood’s only inn, the Frightful Falcon. I was loving this city. It was a little disheartening to be under the open sky, but the whole sea of people of all kinds was amazing!

As we walked to the inn I saw ponies of every kind, Minotaurs, a kelpie, some deer, a few cows, the tail end of ether a giant snake or a lamia, and even a sphinx! Though the sphinx was just napping on a rooftop. I made sure to get the best look that I could at her though. With some luck that would be enough for me to work out a Sphinx form with some practice, she was very pretty.

The Falcon was a pretty small place, which I honestly enjoyed. It looked a bit old, but the inside was cared for very well and decorated in a nice dark brown wood with green curtains and tablecloths for accents. That made the whole inn a nice contrast to most people’s pelts. It let me get a great look at everyone!

I sighed wistfully as David and I finally were seated at a table. “I wish we had time to stay here… A few weeks and I could learn a new form or three.”

“How does that work anyways?” David asked with a curious expression. “Your shifting I mean.”

“Oh well, we separate our consciousnesses from our bodies, destroy the old body, make a new one, and put ourselves into it.” I explained. “If you want to do a certain form, you need to know how it works. Most biological creatures are easy to learn, you just watch them for a while and see how they move and you can make yourself look like one… But if you want to actually be one you need to study a lot of things about them so you can well, make one.

“It’s um… It sounds harder than it is. It just takes us time, our brains kinda just pick up on the details of the how. Like if someone throws a ball, there is a ton of stuff involved in your catching the ball, but you just sort of do. Which is why if you’re really good at shifting you can even do inanimate objects, make up your own forms from total scratch…

“I once heard about a ling who turned himself into a heart and ribs to replace his lovers after she was hit by a troll’s club. Grafted himself permanently into her, saving her life. The only real limit to what we can do, well, we Scouts at least, is our imaginations, practice, and how much energy we have available.” I finished.

David gave me an understanding nod, “It’s not all instinct though, you need to practice?”

I nodded twice. “Yeah. I mean, I could turn into a squid right now. I would probably look really bad, and I would definitely not move right. It’s like drawing. It’s an art.”

David nodded, opening his mouth to say something when a light blue bar mare seemingly teleported next to the table, “Are you just drinking, or do you want a meal today?”

“Oh!” I blushed, slightly startled by her sudden appearance. “I’d like to try a fish meal please.”

“Trout ‘n Chips sound good?” The maid asked.

I nodded, “Also some water please.”

She nodded and turned slowly to David, “Do you… need anything?” she asked carefully.

David sighed and turned to the mare with a tired expression, “You’re fine. Pony tastes terrible. It’s a myth. If you have any read meat, I’ll have that in a medium rare. If not, some bread and a pint of whatever your house ale is.”

“Okay, I’ll bring that right to you.” she said before darting off.

After a few minutes of talking about how far I was getting at learning how to use my shortsword, our food was brought to the table, David paid for the meals, and our conversation suddenly shifted.

“You know, I think you know far more about me, than I know about you.” David said in an interested tone, as he destroyed my expectations by cutting the steak he had been bought with a knife other than his Bowie. It was a small, folding, silver thing that he just pulled out of a pocket.

“Yeah… I kinda ask a lot of questions.” I admitted with a smile, “Sorry. What would you like to know?”

“Well… It might be painful, but I would like to know about your folks.” David said gently. “You’re my friend, I feel like I should at least know who they were.”

My ears fell as my mind flashed back four days. “I-it’s a little soon…”

David nodded, “I understand. How about your home then? What was the huge electrum sun above the doors for?”

“Oh!” I said smiling gratefully at the change of topic. “That’s the symbol of the sun, the provider of all life, warmth, and hope. Our hive was founded by changelings who believed the old legends and myths. The Alicorn in charge of the sun is supposed to be like this nearly all-loving person, and those in her care will want for nothing which can be provided. It’s a symbol meant to bring good luck and safety.”

I cleared my throat softly, “N-not that it worked… But the stories also say that Chrysalis's fought and killed the Sun so well… yeah I guess that adds up.”

David winced sharply. “Ooo…”

“What?” I asked, trying to push the sad back down into a deep hole where I would never have to address it again.

“I pictured punching a star. Just… ow.” David muttered.

“No, the sun, not stars.” I said, a bit confused as to how he misheard me.

David’s palm impacted his face hard enough for me to hear a small crack. “Tell you what Jade, since you are traveling with me for now, the least I can do is give you an elementary school level education. The sun is also a star.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Uh, no it’s not. It’s like the moon.”

David sighed again and turned back to his steak. “Skip it.”

“The hell we will!” I demanded, taking an angry bite of fish. “The sun revolved around the world, just like the moon.

“That’s just an illusion caused by the world rotating along its axis. The sun is stationary, and the world moves around it, with the moon moving around the world.” David said, completely wrongly.

“Do you have a telescope?” I asked in a deadpan expression.

“Well, no but-”

“If you ever get a telescope look at the sun. It’s just like the moon, only on fire.” I sighed.

“Fine, whatever.” David grunted turning back to his steak angrily.

He stayed quiet for a long time, long enough for him to finish his meal, and for me to almost finish my own. Our argument hadn’t affected my enjoyment of my first pony meal. It was delicious! All I had ever eaten before was love infused Dross, and the probably some ambient affection as an adult. This stuff was delicious!

As I reached for another bit of tangy fish David finally started talking again. “I don’t mean to be rude, but can you get that wrapped up? This place is… very close to one I was ambushed in.”

My ears perked in alarm as I looked up. I understood war veterans quirks, my mother had been one after all, “Oh? Why didn’t you say so before?”

“Well, there’s nowhere else for starters. Also I’m well aware that it’s an irrational fear. It’s simply eating away at me is all. I keep thinking someone is about to ask me for my papers… That’s how it started.” David finished with a weary sigh, and started to take a deep gulp from his mug.

Midway through David’s explanation, I noticed a new pony in the inn. A unicorn mare with a shiny white coat, shockingly blue eyes, and singleton straw yellow mane and tail cut into a nice, short cropped pixie bob and a simple long flowing tail, and a cutiemark of a silver star with a lightning bolt coming out of it.

She had a pair of backpacks on, and by her naughty/bemused facial expression, had overheard David talking, and was about three microns from pulling a prank on him.

I smiled slightly, this might be pretty funny!

The mare quickly trotted over, used her deep blue magic to tap David's shoulder gently and asked in a bubbly Germane accent, “Excuse me herr traveler, may I see your pa-”

David spit his drink out in a panic, pegging me right in the face! I heard his voice cracked as he shouted, “Contact!”

David’s chair crashed to the ground as he twisted up and threw a punch in one smooth motion. In a heartbeat the mare was on the floor, rubbing her face with a hoof.

“Verdamme dich gehirn!” She groaned feebly.

David’s hand flew under his cloak for his knife. I jumped to my hooves at the same time as half a dozen patrons got up, their own weapons suddenly drawn!

Leaping forward, I grabbed David’s arm with my hooves to keep him from drawing his blade. “Whoa! David! Knock it off! She’s just a prankster!”

David growled, still trying to draw his knife, it was getting hard to hold his arm still.

A few of the patrons began to advance on us. Gulping fearfully I called, “It’s okay everypony! He’s just a war veteran!”

A collective groan filled the inn.

“Sun’s light! Not another one…” Somepony muttered.

“What do you expect? Prance sent so many dogs to the war it’s a wonder the whole place isn’t flooded with them.” another said.

I just prevented a senseless fight. It felt good! Hopefully David would snap out of it soon, because-

The mare pushed herself up to her hooves and took a half step back. She gave the two of us a apologetic smile, “Eh, sorry. I heard your conversation, and I like joke-”

“It. Wasn’t. Funny.” David said n a half growl, stopping struggling with a deep breath. “Where the fuck did you learn that accent?” He demanded through narrowed eyes.

The mare blinked, confused beyond reason.

“Uh, she’s from Germaney.” I said slowly. “So you know, German accent.”

“There aren’t any Aryan unicorns in Germany!” David shot back.

“Uh, ja there are. It’s our homeland.” the blond mare said, looking as confused as I was.

David looked at us both like we were insane, “Germany. Unicorns, are from Germany.”

“Ja, but you are saying it wrong.” the mare said in an annoyed tone, “It’s Germaney. Mane, not man.”

David froze, blinked once, looked the mare dead in her eyes and asked. “Do you mean to tell me, that there is a place on this planet, called Germaney, populated by unicorns, who speak with a German accent?”

The mare sighed a long, sad, annoyed sigh, ears flattening slightly. “Ja, sträuben Hölle, ich bin mit einem anderen Idioten jetzt stecken…”

David’s right eye opened wide while his left eye remained still. “Zum Teufel? Du sprichst Deutsch?”

My ears perked in surprise, “You didn’t tell me you spoke Germane!”

David and the mare had a fairly long conversation in Germane. I wish I knew the language, as it was I had to guess most of what was being said. The mare seemed to be explaining something to David, which David would occasionally interrupt with an explanation of his own. After a few minutes the both started to laugh, and to my amazement shared a hug!

I was just about to demand an explanation when David turned to me with the silliest grin ever and stood his chair back up. “Okay, so, want to hear the real Nazi conspiracy?”

“Uh, if that’s what you were talking about.” I answered carefully.

David nodded. “Yeah. Apparently over in Germaney about ninety years ago a group of unicorns best described as racist dicks started the whole ‘ethnic purity’ deal and after some time go public office… Look the entire war my people fought was against the leader of exactly the same thing here, same guy! Apparently her people couldn’t kill him so they threw him through a portal to banish him.”

“Ja,” the mare said with a sad laugh, “apparently he ended up whenever David’s from and did the whole deal all over again. Eh… sorry.” she apologized.

“It’s fine. History is history. Besides, I doubt your grandparents knew there was life on the other side of that portal. Anyways, since he spoke the same language, and… well it’s not that important… Though it does explain the Nazi obsession with occult. Hitler knew magic was real. Maybe he wanted to get back… Wait,” David turned to the mare quickly, “You said he succeeded here, is that why you are well… white, blond haired and blue eyed?”

“Ja. All germanes born after his reign are.” she confirmed, “He destroyed our genetic diversity company, a lot of us look like siblings even if we aren't… That's one reason I left, I was going crazy seeing my own face. Master race my plot…”

“Anyway,” David sighed, “I’m sorry. But you understand why I hit you right?”

She nodded grimly, “Ja… I’m sorry you were kept in a concentration camp… I hope the ones where you lived were not as bad as the ones our history books talk about.”

“Probably worse…” David muttered. “Just… Just don’t ask for my papers again please.”

“Concentration Camp?” I asked, not sure what they meant. “Like, a camp where they make you focus on things?”

I got the harshest look out of both the germane mare and David. “No/Nine!” They chorused.

“Think Prisoner of War and Forced Labor camp.” David muttered.

“Oh! Er-” I shuffled my hooves nervously.

“It’s okay, you didn’t know. Besides, I wasn’t there long. Just three months… Still had to avoid the Gustapo though…” David trailed off, stopping speaking with a detached look on his face before turning back to the mare who had started all of this, “Sorry for the punch… I’m leaving town soon but I am a doctor if it feels like something's broken I’ll look before I go. I honestly feel bad about hitting a lady.”

The mare blinked, grinned, then giggled, “I’m a stallion.”

David and I gave the mare, stallion, no definitely mare, a long hard look. “R-really?” I asked.

“Ja!” She, no he giggled.

“I call bullshit! You are a girl.” David stated in an insistent tone.

“Nine.” he flashed David and I a grin then turned around for a quick moment, briefly lifting his tail and-

“Ah, yep. Guy.” David quickly retracted, as we both were forced to see where all of Azur's maleness apparently decided to go.

It would have been hot if he wasn't so otherwise female looking. Stupid girly colt...

“Sorry for the lewd display,” the extremely mareish stallion said in a totally unapologetic, dare I say proud, tone, “people think I’m a mare all the time. That is the only way I have found to prove I’m not one… Not that it make much difference realy.”

“Well then,” David said clearing his throat, “I hate hitting absurdly adorable guys even more. If there is anything I can do for you Mr…?”

“Azur Lilly.” Azur replied, making me sputter slightly.

“That’s is totally a mare’s name!” I objected.

“Ja! I know. I changed I when I left home. I enjoy my looks, just not being called a mare.” Azur said with a laugh. “Besides, shouldn’t you be used to everyone’s looks not always matching their name? Or do changelings not stay shifted at home?”

David and I grew real quiet. So quiet that Azur continued, “It’s obvious, because you forgot to change your rear hooves. They are still chitin covered.”

I eeped and looked back to find that sure enough, instead of pony hooves my ear legs ended in sleek, shiny chitin.

“Good eye kid.” David said sounding impressed.

“Danka!” Azur said with a smile. “But I already knew before seeing you… See, I worked with the city guard until this morning, and they received some intelligence about a certain mine being raised, and griffons looking for a survivor, who we discovered was you.”

Azur nodded her, I mean his, head towards me gently. My heart skipped three beats, if the city knew who I was, and that the griffons were after me, then that meant they would turn me over to prevent the griffons from burning the whole place down!

David nodded grimly, “I see… You are going to turn us over to the Griffons.”

“Buck nein!” Azur shouted in horror, eyes widening, “I was dismissed from service and told to escort you two safely out of the country. My- eh, the Captain has… political reasons for keeping you alive, and I want to leave this… this…”

Azur quickly looked around the inn, and looked to David and muttered, “Jauchegrube der bauerntölpel sie ein Land nennen, das ist so arm und dumm sie jahrhunderte hinter alle anderen sind.”

I had no idea what he said, but it sounded really bad and hateful. Also Azur totally sounded like a mare. I was starting to become convinced that what he had shown off was an illusion spell...

“Whoa… Uh… Think that elitist preaching rubbed off on you a bit.” David said taken aback.

Okay so it was bad.

I cleared my throat, “The city Captain ordered you to help us get to safety? How?”

“By ship.” Azur said simply. “We can go to Capsan and I have the money to get you safely to Zebraca… You’ll have to walk to get anywhere good, the ships here are expensive, and can’t travel very far.”

I paused for a moment, that had been David and my plan so far. Not that particular city we didn't’ actually know what any port was called. I turned to look at David, “She knows where the ports are, we need her.”

“Him.” Azur corrected patiently.

My ears drooped, “I’m sorry but I can’t wrap my head around that.”

David sighed and gave me an amused look before asking, “You know dogs have a great nose right?”

I nodded. “Sure everyling dose.”

David leaned over and sniffed Azur’s head for a few seconds. Then blinked in surprise. “Is that… Is that strawberries and cream?”

Azur nodded. “Ja… I uh… I know. But I needed at least one luxury to stay sane here.”

David smiled in a way that was both delighted and amused. “I can’t possibly imagine how long that set you back, assuming you were saving to move out of here.”

“One year and two months.” Azur replied.

I cleared my throat loudly.

“Oh! Yeah. Right.” David turned back to me and looked me in the eyes, “He’s a guy… With really expensive taste in shampoo given the technology I have seen thus far.”

“Are you sure?” I asked giving Azur a suspicious look. “Hold on let me…”

I narrowed my eyes and intensely focused on the unicorn, willing my shifting powers to take note of the particular form so I could mimic it. That would tell me absolutely everything about-

“Oh my gosh, you're a stallion!” I gasped, “I’m so sorry!”

“Told you so.” Azur giggled. Then his face fell a bit, “Oh… I forgot. The Captain’s intelligence also said the Griffons knew you are here and are planning an attack for sometime today. We should get out of the cit-”

At that exact moment, every single window shattered, twelve large griffons dressed in head to talon iron plate armor flew through the now empty spaces, glass flew inwards amidst panicked screams as ponies bolted for the doors. The griffons took a half second to spot us, drew short swords, and began to advance slowly.

David and Azur shared a soldier's irritated look.

“You need faster intelligence.” David remarked.

“Seconded!” I squeaked.

“If we don’t die, I’ll see what I can do!” Azur eeped.

9 Bar-room Blitz

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David - 19th of Megan '15 EoH - Noon

I spun before the glass even hit the ground. That wasn’t out of any skill on my end, that was out of pure blind panic. The inn exploded into chaos, a thing any real soldier knows isn’t just a movie thing. The most natural response to danger in the universe is to run.

Twelve guys in fucking articulated plate. If ever there was a time to transform into Usain Bolt, this was it. One new, but valued, friend screaming her head off in terror. That made the decision for me. The only running I would do would be towards the enemy.

The griffons stepped forwards amid the chaos, confused due to the sudden overturning of tables, and the sea of fleeing people. I ripped my cloak off with one hand, and drew my knife with the other. I had one shot, not to win, but to buy Jade her life. With luck, that whole ‘Army of One’ bullshit would work for a change.

I had a heartbeat to take stock of the situation.

We were in a corner, straight line from the door to the back wall. They were arranged in a half circle, covering the door and windows, and the stairs. We had a sea of civilians, overturned tables, and scattered flatware between us and them.

The Griffon’s armor was articulated plate, joints covered almost completely. These were likely elite troops. The enemy was serious. On the upside their helmets had very large eye slits, and the closest griffon hadn’t spotted us yet. I had a shot.

First rule of combat, nothing must register on an emotional level. Cool head. Logical plan.

Step one, distract target.

I wheeled around, grabbed a bottle from a nearby table, spun, and threw it towards a griffon at random. The sound of shattering glass accompanied a metallic thud.

Step two, move to and unbalance target.

I pushed off against the floor, launching into the fastest sprint I could manage, shoulder dropped squarely facing the griffon’s left side. Adrenaline dulled the crunching pain of the impact as I rammed into my target. A heartbeat later I kicked out with one leg, sweeping his talons away, the initial impact causing him to stagger to the side.

Step three, get target onto the ground.

My free hand seized the griffon’s left front leg. I pulled, his leg came with me, and gravity did it’s job, dropping the griffon to the ground with the sound of an anvil falling.

Step four, kill.

My hand left his arm, grabbed his beak like a vice, and yanked his head back. My knife plunged down in an overhead swing, shrieking as it scraped along his helmet’s eye slit, squelching as it scraped along bone. He thrashed in my grip for a heartbeat, and became meat.

Step five, take advantage of psychological warfare.

I ripped my knife free and swept it up into a saber grip. “You want me? Here I am, and here I will die! Oorah!” I shouted, making sure my ears lay flat, and taking care to stand atop their dead comrade.

The griffon closest to the door reared up, unslung a crossbow from his back and leveled it at me.

Second rule of combat, ranged beats melee.

The griffon's talons tightened on the trigger, I’d bought less time than I thought I would.

I felt I had time for some last words. “Ah, crapbask-”

Suddenly, an overturned trestle table shot from the ground like a blue-glowing rocket, slamming edge first into the griffon, smashing his bow, then him, and then a section of wall, all of which blasted out into the street!

“Hehe! I turned the tables!” Azur giggled happily from somewhere off to my right.

The remaining ten griffons slowly started to spread out. One of them, a taller one with a red stripe painted along the top of his helmet started to bark orders. “Dustwing, you an yours take the unicorn. My crew, the dog. Everygriff else, squash that bug!”

Azur moved up to where I could see him out of the corner of my eye. Good, units work better together. Even better the civvies had managed to get the hell out of the inn by now, and I couldn't see Jade. Hopefully she was safe.

“Where’s Jade?” I asked, hoping Azur could confirm her having booked it.

“No idea.” Azur replied. “So, you got this or… ?”

“How the hell would I have this?” I demanded.

Two griffons began to rush forwards, both of them had large blades welded to their armor’s talons. I stepped to the side, grabbed the edge of a table and heaved it over, dragging it between myself and-

“Essen sie stock kraken, arschloch!” Azur shouted, voice echoing slightly.

With a flare of blue light the floorboards ripped themselves up from the floor, grabbed the two griffons like an octopus's tentacles, and ripped them to the ground amid a shriek of wood.

“Well, you did get that one pretty easily.” Azur commented, his voice sounding more than a little strained.

“You hit?” I asked, keeping an eye on the still in combat griffons who were now almost completely surrounding us.

“No breakfast.” Azur grunted, horn still glowing.

The animated floorboards creaked again, and with a sound like someone snapping a metal ruler the griffon’s armor crumpled inwards. Pained screams filling the room immediately. No way they were dead, but a crushed rib and/or spine would keep them out of it.

“I’ll need a minute…” He added as the floorboards grew still.

I had another heartbeat to examine the situation.

Jade was gone. Good. I had a thick table in front of me, but enemies were now surrounding me. That cut their approach down to one hundred and eighty degrees, but they could still fire weapons over the table. Bad. I had a pretty fucking terrifying wizard with me. Good. He needed a minute, because apparently unicorn magic runs on calories. Fuck.

A griffon shot forwards before I could plan. His talons ripped grooves in the floor, mid stride he drew a short blade from his side, sprinting on three legs, blade aiming towards my chest.

I jumped back. The blade sliced the air where I had been, instantly reversed direction and cut a line in my shirt. I swept my blade down, blocking his blade with a loud clash of steel on steel.

He threw himself forwards, slamming into me and taking me to the ground. Stars exploded in my eyes as my head to hit the floorboards. A half second later my left shoulder burned in agony. Blinking my vision clear, I noticed the griffon had buried his beak into my shoulder.

My knife arm was pinned between my chest and his barrel. I couldn’t do a damn thing has he snapped his head back and slammed his beak down again, ripping into my shoulder, and widening the wound. Biting my lip, I drew my legs up under me, pushed my feet against his gut and tried to lever him off me.

It was no good. The armor made him too heavy. Pecked to death by an overgrown seagull, not what I had expected on my tombstone.

A loud metallic ping exploded just above my head. My ears ringing, I looked up to see Jade’s shortsword stabbed into the Griffon’s helmet, a green aura engulfing it’s handle.

The griffon slumped, dead weight. I pushed as hard as I could, barely managing to tip his armored carcass to the side. As I got back to my feat, I saw Azur locked in blade on magical energy construct blade combat with another griffon.

I staggered forwards to lend a hand, left arm and shoulder somehow both numb and burning. I made it two steps before a piercing whistle made me reflexively snap my head around.

Just outside one of the broken windows, a light red and blue unicorn mare stood, and she had my gun in her magical grip. “David! Catch!”

Oh shit, that was Jade.

She threw the gun towards me, followed a second later by the bag I had stashed it in. I twisted, reached, caught Boomstick, and missed the bag entirely.

Shit! There went the ammo.

I didn’t even think, I dove after the bag, slid across the glass covered floor, grabbed the bag’s strap, pulled it out from under a griffon who was rushing at me, rolled to the side, sprang back up and dove behind a table.

My fingers flew as I snapped the breech open, ripped four shells out of the bag, slammed them into the barrels, and snapped my weapon shut. If this didn’t work, I wouldn’t get a chance to redesign her.

I jumped back up, noticed a burning sensation in my chest from broken glass that had gotten stuck in me, leveled Boomstick at the griffon who was now standing over Azur, and pulled the trigger.

The deafening boom and black/blue streak of light was not the twelve gauge thump I knew, loved, and had expected. Boomstick’s warcry sounded like a 700 nitro express, if it was mad as hell, but her kick was like a bloody .22 short round!

The griffon lay a full three feet from where he had been, bits of iron shrapnel from the exit wound made the wall across from him look like I had unloaded birdshot into it.

Suddenly my wounds didn’t hurt so much. I owed that smith a hug.

The griffons took a step back, then one of them shouted, “Wait, those things just have the one shot! Charge!”

I turned Boomstick’s valley sights onto him and fired a second round. Her roar was much softer this time, closer to the appropriate report. The griffon slumped down slowly, a hole through his breastplate.

“Yeah, okay.” I said in a generally happy tone. The shoe was on the other foot now!

Unfortunately, there were two more shells, and six of them. It was time for a bluff, and that gleeful 14 year old gun nut in my brain politely informed me that I would never have the opportunity to use a movie quote in context ever again.

“Alright you primitive featherbags, listen up.” I said leveling the gun at a third griffon. “See this? This is my Boomstick! If you don’t want to join your friends as wall coverings, you’re going to just stand there and let my friends and I leave, and then keep standing here till we’re long gone. Ya got that?”

The six remaining griffons hesitated for a minute, three began to talk quietly together, but one pulled an axe off his belt and started to walk forwards, “There’s no way he can shoot all of us before we rip his guts out!”

I turned, aimed, and pulled the trigger. Instantly the entire room was filled with a flash of blue-black light, my ears hummed as if a grenade had gone off, and I was pretty sure I smelled fire! By the time I could see again, it also looked like a grenade had gone off, splintered floorboards, shards of metal, and griffon parts littered the floor.

“This is not a safe weapon!” I said to myself urgently. “This is so not a safe weapon!”

I made a mental note to not use Boomstick again until I knew what the fuck it did and when it did it. I needed another ranged solution. And to strangle that smith for making beauty unfucking usable.

One of the remaining griffons gave me a quick nod and sat down, “That sounds like the best bucking idea I’ve heard today, sir!”

“Das wurde awesome!” Azur exclaimed, beaming me that huge pony grin. Unfortunately, my brain was a bit shaken up and I couldn’t remember my German. “Ich glaube, ich bin verliebt!”

“Yep. Great plan. In fact, I think we’re all unconscious!” Another said, deciding to take a seat.

I noticed a large crossbow on one of the griffon’s backs. I carefully flipped Boomstick towards him, “You, give me your crossbow.”

The griffon almost threw the bow at me. As it landed at my feet I noticed it was solid steel and brass, and had a rotating drum magazine on it. “Is… is that a semi-auto crossbow?” I asked, completely perplexed.

“Yes, sir! Twelve round drum. Lever cocking.” The Griffon answered quickly.

“Why the hell didn’t you open with that?” I asked, even more perplexed.

Azur rolled his eyes, “Why didn’t you open with that Faust-damned karmic weapon?”

I picked up the crossbow, and holding my gun on the griffons, backed up towards one of the windows, picking my cloak up off the ground on the way.

“Karmic weapon?” I asked curiously, grateful that the blond unicorn knew what the damn thing did.

“S-seriously?” Azur asked stopping to give me a baffled look.

“Just got it. Smith didn’t say what it did.” I answered as I felt my back bump against the window frame.

Azur hopped through the window, looking around for a moment before saying. “Clear.”

I quickly stepped through the empty frame and made a beeline for my cart, which Jade was sitting on top of, in her red unicorn shape. With her normal Changeling tail. She was totally right apparently, that did take practice.

“So, karmic weapon. It does as much damage to a creature as it has unrepentanted evil deeds to their name.” Azur explained. “Where are we going?”

So that's what it did… that was almost unusable then, seeing as how on some bastards it would make them just fucking go off like a fucking claymore!

“Away from here for now. We can work out a direction once we are safe.” I said before giving it a few moments of thought. “... Hop up on the cart. You can come with us if you like.”

“Are you just saying that because I have nice flanks?” Azur asked playfully.

I facepalmed and groaned. “No, because you’re a fucking wizard and we need you. Get in the cart, we have to deass the area!”

Azur eardrooped, putting on the saddest, most hurt expression I had seen to date. It wasn’t even a faked expression, it had all the hallmarks of being the real deal. I’d actually hurt his feelings. Why the fuck would that have hurt his feelings? Shit…

“I’ll do playful banter later, okay? Right now I don’t want to die!” I said gently, pointing back into the tavern.

“They aren't a threat, you have that… gun?” Azur said as he pulled himself up into the back of the cart to sit beside Jade.

“Did you not see it just make that griffon explode?” Jade asked Azur with a raised eyebrow. “You probably shouldn’t use that thing close to someone else…”

Azur giggled and shook his head, “Oh please! It’s not that dangerous, just put up a shield spell!”

Jade and I gave him a few seconds of silence, during which grabbed the handles of my cart and set off at a jog, ignoring my burning shoulder. Distance first, tend wounds second.

“Oh… Wait… Can you guys cast spells?” Azur asked timidly.

“Nope.” Jade answered.

“Very simple ones. With a lot of concentration and effort.” I grunted.

“Ah… Right. Then, as you said, let’s 'deass the area'. ‘Cuz I’m out of calories…” He admitted in a tone which made me assume he was blushing.

“Wait, so unicorn magic is based on caloric intake?” I asked urgently.

“Yes. We need to get the energy from somewhere, right?” he answered.

I smiled, “Awesome! When we make camp, and I get my shoulder treated, I’m going to brew up a bunch of ‘mana potions’ and you’ll help me work out some basic spellcraft. Sound good?”

“Sounds great! Oh, um, no dandelion. Allergic.” Azur informed.

“No problem,” I said putting as much speed into pulling the cart as I could.

Fortunately the fight had made people seek shelter. Even so the streets were narrow, hard to navigate, and I was really damn certain that the Griffon’s backup would be on our asses any second now.

“I’m going to shut up and pull. We’ll talk later.” I informed, then put my all of my attention on getting the nope train to steam out of the station.

David - 19th of Megan '15 EoH - Evening

After we left Applewood behind us, Azur said we should head directly south. Apparently that was almost a straight shot to Capsan, the closest port that he knew about. I had been wandering about the inland area for the five years I had been here, and Jade had never left her hive before, so it was great to have someone with a general sense of where things were with us.

Azur was a real ball of energy too. The further away from Applewood we got, the happier he became. He was an adult who kept their childish energy and playfulness while growing up. His not even flinching from that battle proved that much to me. It took a rare sort of person to face death with a grin like that.

It would have creeped me the hell out, if he wasn't a wizard. After asking him about it, turns out he could have teleported out of danger if he had to. I guess knowing you can get out of any situation anytime you like would change your attitude on things. The fact that he stuck with me for that skirmish even though he could have escaped told me everything I needed to know about that girly Aryan pony.

I was able to keep moving till mid evening. That’s when my shoulder gave out, so that’s when we made camp. To my delight, Jade immediately began practicing her cuts on a nearby tree, and to my astonishment, while I stitched up my shoulder, Azur stitched up my shirt. In better quality than the person who originally made it for me. I could barely tell it had been damaged. He’d even redone the old repairs to the side from the fight a few days ago.

Unfortunately, patching myself up took all of my remaining energy. When I was done I had just enough energy to pull out my bedroll and get settled in for some sleep. As I drifted off I overheard Jade and Azur talking about a spellbook that Jade’s mother had given her before she fled.

It sounded important, and like a big deal, but sleep beckoned, and my weary body eagerly followed her call. Today had been full of enough excitement. Whatever thing those two were excited about could wait till morning. Or maybe noon, my shoulder was telling me I had earned the right to sleep in.

10 Well, this looks important.

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Jade - 19th of Megan '15 EoH - Night

“Right. Blade works. You can do this. You need to learn to do this, today totally proved that.” I said to myself as I pulled mom’s sword back to my side.

It’s hard to describe to anyone who can’t use telekinesis, but it’s not as easy as you'd think it would be to manipulate something with your magic. It’s a lot more like moving a body part, like trying to kick something in a very specific way. It takes time and mental effort to get a movement down.

Sure, anyone can move a cup to them, or pour some tea, but trying to get a blade to slice, chop, and cut in certain ways is hard. The cedar tree I had been practicing on for about ten minutes now was barely even marked, just a few lines on the bark. The best thing I could do right now was to just sort of ‘throw’ the blade point first into things… That seemed a bit crude. I knew I could do better.

I gripped the blade with my magic, holding it by it’s entire length as I’d worked out to do, and scythed it towards my target!

The blade sliced the air, whipped through some tall grass, and struck the tree, skipping off with only a tiny line to show for it!

“Ugh… bucking cordyceps!” I cursed, stamping a hoof angrily.

I pulled the blade back again with a huff. I was totally doing this wrong. Maybe David would have an idea on how to make sure you cut better.

I slid the blade into its scabbard and trotted back to the cart. We had stopped in a very small clearing, basically just big enough for the cart. This meant the second I made it back I saw David was already lying down, and either asleep or in his ‘listening time over, sleeping time now’ mode.

I growled a long, low, frustrated groan. There was no way in all Equis I could get David to even give me a sentence now!

The blond and white head poking up out of the cart surprised me. I had totally forgotten that we’d brought Azur along.

“What’s wrong?” Azur asked in an empathetic tone, “Were you hoping to cuddle before he went to bed?”

“No!” I muttered, “I wanted to ask him-”

I stopped mid sentence as the effeminate stallion’s words hit home. “Oh! No, we're not a couple.”

“Oh!” Azur exclaimed in surprise, “I mean I figured, you’re a changeling, you need love to eat sooo… I just figured you guys always traveled with a lover.”

I gave him a slow, grim nod. “Normally, yeah… I mean we can eat almost any positive emotion, love’s just the healthiest thing is all. I’m okay on friendship for at least a month before I‘ll need a real meal.”

“Well that’s good! You seem nice, it would suck if you died.” Azur mentioned as he sat back down in the rear of the cart. “Maybe I can help? What did you want to know?” He offered a half second later.

I hesitated. He was a mage, right? Why would he know how to use a weapon? Then I realized he was probably really good at telekinesis.

“Actually… Maybe you can.” I said as I snapped my wings open and awkwardly buzzed through the air to the cart, landing with a wobble atop a crate. “Whoa! … Okay… that needs practice too!”

Azur winced, “I’ll say… how young are you?”

“I uh… Young enough that I need help with my telekinesis.” I admitted, tapping my forehooves together in embarrassment.

Azur nodded, “I needed some help too. It’s actually easier than you think it is. But… May I ask how long you have been able to use magic, at the least? I graduated a mage’s college, I need to know what terms to use to teach you.”

“Um… as of now?” I asked rhetorically, “About a week.”

Azur’s ears perked in surprise, “But, you are fully grown, ja?”

“Yes. We don't get our magic till we are. I was told some stuff, but it’s hard to practice or care about something you can’t do.” I grumbled.

Azur nodded. “Agreed. Can you move things at all?”

I nodded.

“Allright, is the problem control, weight, or speed? Can you do more than one object?” He asked politely.

“Er, I’m trying to use my sword,” I said pulling the slender blade from its scabbard with my magic. “I’m having problems cutting with it, it just bounces-”

“You have the blade angle wrong.” Azur said instantly.

“Excuse me?”

He nodded and gave me a smile, “You need to move the blade so the edge is perfectly in line with the direction it is moving. I learned that in culinary arts class. If the edge is even a bit crooked a sharp blade can barely scratch even something like a carrot.”

“Really?” That did seem to make a good amount of sense.

“Ja. You just need to learn to feel the blade’s angle and rotate it to match. You should pick it up in an hour or so. It’s a lot easier with your magic than if you use a hoof, mouth, or tail.”

I tilted my head curiously, “Tail?”

“Ja, earth ponies can use their tails to move things… and so can Germane ponies. Eh… We're a mess of genes…” he admitted with an embarrassed blush.

“You mean you could use your tail like a hoof?” I asked eagerly. That sounded cool! “Can I see?”

Azur nodded, reached over with his tail, and picked up my saddlebags, setting them next to my hooves. “See? Not as good as a hoof, but useful. Almost worth the pernicious anemia.”

I guess my lips puckering into a confused frown asked my next question for me, because Azur just rolled right into an answer.

“Look, two generations ago, a very stupid pony did very stupid things with magic to make Germanes ‘pure’. He had no idea what he was doing, and broke a lot of things. Pernicious anemia is a disease we all have. Don’t worry you can’t catch it, it’s genetic. It prevents us from absorbing a very important vitamin from food easily, so we need to eat foods rich in that vitamin, or die. Fortunately, the pegasus parts of us let us eat meats. That's got plenty of the vitamin in it.”

That was terrible! My ears drooped sadly, “At least you can digest fish though…” My brain threw two and two together, my eyes lit up and a shocked gasp escaped my lips, “You’re part unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony! You’re an alicorn!”

“Nein!” Azur exclaimed instantly, with a look of deep shock. “I am not! None of us are anywhere near an alicorn! First off they have wings, we do not. Second off, while the idiot was trying to breed alicorns, he failed. There is a magic to making them that we never figured out… All we are is… beschissen zauberei!

“We are like if you cut apart ponies and shuffled their parts. I am not very strong, not very fast, and uh… I lived this long because of my special talent and magic. I’m thirty five, I have seen friends and family die from organ failures way younger than I am now. Fortunately I have saved a lot of them too.

“If I were an alicorn, I would have an earth pony’s strength… I might be able to pick you up, but that’s it. I can’t fly without the right spell, and I do not have anywhere near the magical reserve of an alicorn… Please don’t call Germanes alicorns, we are an insult to their majesty.”

“That’s… rough…” I said slowly, not wanting to make Azur feel worse.

“Ja… But it’s not so bad. We are getting help from other nations. Immigrants, medical supplies. Germanes will be fine in a generation or two… Sooner if they didn’t exile mages like me... but, well, my talent is in the same magic which messed us up, so… You can’t blame them.” Azur finished sadly. “Can we talk about anything else please? Maybe knitting? You would look adorable with a pink scarf!”

“Actually,” I asked, “Can we talk about magic? I need to learn it myself… What’s your talent exactly? I’m curious.”

Azur shifted uncomfortably for a few moments before sighing, “Well… While I like all kinds of magic, my talent is for Biomancy.”

He shifted position so I could see his flank and cutie mark. “See the iron star? According to Germane legend, Faust shaped the creatures of the world with a bolt of lightning from the stars. I am sehr gut mit spells which change how living things are and work. It’s not medicine, it’s more like… I can make that cedar tree grow peaches, or make its bark harder. I can change animals too, but that’s a bit trickier. I fixed most of my body’s problems myself.”

He fixed his body himself? That was very, very impressive. “So, this biomancy is a lot like my shapeshifting then?”

He nodded, “Ja, a little, but way harder und slower. I mean you guys just think it and boom! It can take me a whole day to work out how to cast the spell right. Also I can't make up something new, I can only change small things, a little at a time. It would take me months to change a pony into another type of pony, maybe a year to make a pony into a non-pony. But once I do work out the how I can basically do anything I want… As long as my tiny reserve has enough energy…”

“Wait, anything?” I asked, giving him a confused head tilt.

“Ja. Anything.” He answered in a happy tone.

“So… you choose to look like a mare?” I just had to know.

“Nein.” He giggled. “I am happy mit my body’s looks. I like being cute. Und sometimes stallions mistake me for a mare… Und they are too hot to correct.” He giggled again, giving me a playful wink.

“Oh! That makes so much sense now!” I exclaimed, laughing at his explanation. “I thought you were straight and happy looking like that!”

Azur instantly shot me a hurt look, but after a moment took on a look of sudden realization, then joined me laughing, “Nein! Nein… I like mares too though. I just prefer, being the, um… Equish doesn't have a word... “

Azur trailed off for a few moments, before to my surprise switching to a passable Changelish!

“Riduur harr ceryc riduurok.” He explained. “I think that was correct… Ja?”

I nodded twice, wondering what that hurt look had been about, “Yeah, you like being the one held. Seems legit. Where did you learn Changelish? I thought only batponies could speak it.” A blush crossed my face as I realized, “Oh… there’s bat pony in you too, isn’t there?”

“Nein,” he said, shaking his head gently before levitating a spellbook out of one of his bags and showing it to me.

It was a nice book, an obvious copy, but well bound with a soft looking leather cover, and simple silvery looking metal fittings, and a little latch. The cover was decorated with what looked like a cutiemark, a large six pointed star. A simple stamped title on the cover read 'Basic Advanced Thaumaturgy Omnibus: A Compilation of Master Level Spells.'

“Translation spell.” Azur explained. “It… It’s like having a dictionary of every language in the spell in your head. Twilight’s Friend Maker includes Changelish, und I always have it going… I’m sure you noticed I say Germane words sometimes. You need to think about using a language to do it, I forget a lot.”

That sounded really cool. It would be awesome to talk to anyone! I'd read a book about Sun Cats once, and they seemed cool. Maybe I could meet one someday and actually talk to her!

“That’s awesome! Can you teach me the spell?” I asked, and pleaded, with puppydog eyes.

I felt my heart fell as Azur shook his head. “Nein, fraulein der Käfer. It took me three semesters to understand Ms. Sparkle’s basic thaumaturgical principals.”

He held up his spellbook again before putting it back away in his bag. “This is a graduate level spellbook I had to get imported. It is not for beginners… Many have a hard time learning her spells because she understands magic very intuitively. Many need to think in the entirely opposite way about magic to understand her, und she references Starswirl all the time, making her spells that much more difficult, even for a trained wizard like myself. I can, und will happily teach you basic spellcraft, if you would like.”

I swallowed the bitter pill of disappointment and gave him a nod. “Yeah… I need to learn it anyways…”

He nodded again and shifted position in the cart to lay down on his belly. “Well, we can start now. I don’t sleep much, und I remember changelings don't need much either. Do you have a spellbook for beginners?”

“Sure, I mean, I’m not getting anywhere with my sword skills.” I said while reaching for my bags with my magic. “I got a book here too! I almost forgot that Mom slipped it into my bag.”

I reached into the bag and pulled out the small wooden slat and cloth-bound spellbook, then held it out for him to see. Azur took the book from my magic gently with a hoof, carefully opened it, and looked at the first page.

Then he dropped it, eyes shrinking to pinpricks, ears standing up in alarm. “Heilige scheiße-bälle!”

“W-what?” I asked, ears twitching in surprise.

Azur - 19th of Megan '15 EoH - Night

A half meter from my nose, casually laying on a wooden crate, was an archaeological relic my college’s archaeology professor had spent his entire life searching for. It was damaged, the original cover stripped away, replaced by this simple basic spellbook’s guise. Like painting a diamond grey to hide it as a rock.

The cover had been switched recently, the glue looked fresh, and the stitching was new. It had been done skillfully, and probably only so that Jade would unknowingly smuggle this irreplaceable text out of the hole it had been stashed in for who knows how many of it’s six thousand year long history!

The first page stared up at me, displaying the title in elegantly hoofwritten script, printed in the runes of Old Equish. Ealdorliaes Galdorléoð, The Principles of Magic. A tome nopony would care about having been lost to history, if it were not authored by Clæfre séo Searulicu. Or in modern Equish, Clover the Clever, the first Archmage of Equestria.

It’s common knowledge that knowledge is lost to time. The contents of this book, bar a spell or three, vanished. Before my eyes was the only copy of a tome in which there was knowledge no one else had seen in six millennia. Some of it certainly had been rediscovered by chance, and attributed to other mages. But this single book held at least three spells anypony with any degree in magic knew were lost forever, without hope of recovering them.

The Hoof of Faust, a spell said to have been able to transform the very land itself. To take any land and turn it into any other sort of land the caster could imagine. A spell to turn the most barren of deserts into the most lush of lands, or the most lush of lands into a flat plane of ashes.

The Breath of Life, a spell which gave the caster dominion over the force of life itself. A spell to bring back the dead, or to create something new from the ether. A spell believed to have spawned many of the world’s monsters before it was lost to time. A spell which made my own look like a foal’s macaroni artwork.

Forge of Demigods, the spell which my people had nearly been destroyed to recreate. A spell which embeds into a singular pony the powers of all ponykind. A spell which gave them great power above the reach of mortals, yet just below the gods. A spell a million mages failed to recreate. The spell to create an Alicorn.

“Heilige scheiße-bälle!” I squeaked a second time, this time my tail deciding to stand strait up in alarm too.

“What!?” Jade demanded, giving me that little huffy angry nose twitch thing she did.

“This is not a basic spellbook!” I said, thrusting one hoof at the book. “This is a very famous, very rare tome, which apparently has been sitting in your hive for six thousand years!”

“So… you can’t teach me spells from it?” Jade asked, not really getting it.

“I can’t teach me spells from it! This is something we could be killed over if somepony saw it sitting here! This is… this is…” I took a deep breath to calm down. “This is a book with spells in it that are so powerful, nopony has been able to figure out how they were done since this book was lost! If it fell into the wrong hooves, a mage who understood it could end kingdoms in a week!”

“Oh!” Jade said eyes widening in proper understanding. A half second later her eye’s glow dimmed to almost nothingness. “Oh sweet sunlight… that’s why Mom told me not to take Jasper… She knew I had this…”

I nodded rapidly, “Queen Chrysalis counts as the wrongest of wrong hooves!”

Her eyes brightened, blazing white for a moment, “So we destroy it!”

“Nein!” I shouted, jumping up onto my hooves to look as intimidating as I could. Which, judging by Jade’s snicker, was a negative amount of intimidating. “If we destroy this, ponykind loses who knows how much knowledge! Also, if anyone found out we would have the entire world’s worth of mages calling personally for our heads on pikes!”

“That’s nice, let’s burn it!” Jade insisted. “Risk kinda outweighs reward from what you're saying!”

“Nein!” I insisted again. “It needs to be taken someplace safe! There are spells in there to make a desert bloom! To bring back the dead as living people, not the undead… It must not be destroyed!”

Jade’s face pulled into a small frown, my impassioned plea hopefully having mattered a little. “Where would it be safe? I mean, I doubt Chrysalis's knows my hive had it, but… you know!”

“Well… She got her plot kicked last decade in Equestria, that’s before there were four Princesses too. I could take it there.” I mused.

Yeah that was probably the best plan. If the stories were true the Princess of the Night could teleport the tome to the moon. Not on this planet seemed pretty safe.

“Wait,” Jade said tossing up a hoof.

Oh Faust… Here we go again!

I rolled my eyes and sighed, “It’s a real country very far to the north east. You don’t hear much about it here because there’s griffons for thousands of kilometers to it and they don't trade with you, and there’s sand for thousands of kilometers to it the other way and they can't trade with you. If this were not perhaps the most remote and poor country in all of Equis, you could buy a map made in this millennium, and see that Equestria is on it.”

Jade winced, giving me a sympathetic look with a queasy face. “Wow… You should vent that to someone, sometime… That much irritation almost made me puke.”

“Was? Negative emotions hurt you?” I asked, actually shocked to the core. “H-how can Chrys-”

“Noling knows…” Jade sighed sadly. “They don’t talk politics around the Nymphs, but Mom's mom was one our Queen’s chamber guards, and my dad was on the Mage’s board so I’d hear things sometimes… We don’t know how she doesn't get sick or die from the fear and hate she causes… However it works, her soldiers must have it too, so it’s a technique we could use. But…”

“You don’t know.” I finished sadly. “That might have been useful to know…”

Jade nodded, then shook her head, “We are off topic! Equestira. David and I were going to try to go there. We heard griffons mentioning it as if it were real, so we figured we would be safe there. You're certain it’s really real, and that we can go there?”

“Uh, ja!” I said with an eye roll. “My best friend went there on vacation once, and I imported my spellbook from Equestria. It’s written by one of the Princesses! I wanted to find on written by the Queen, but everypony keeps telling me that Equestria doesn't have a Queen, which makes no sense, because then why is Princess Celestia not the Queen, being the oldest of the four.”

I blushed slightly realizing I was rambling again. “I need to know this book is safe… Buck taking you two just to the port. I will take you to Equestria. It won’t be hard, we can take a ship from Zebrica, they trade with them.”

Jade sputtered for a second, then looked me dead in the eyes. “Are you telling me that we can go to a place, which is really real, that my parents thought was literally heaven, by taking a ship from one nation over?”

I nodded. “Ja. That’s how bucking poor and remote Stalliongrad is. Oh! Prance is a real place too!”

“Where?” Jade asked, giving me a confused expression.

“Exactly!” I exclaimed with a slight grin.

Then I realized that Clover’s Principals was just lying there out in the open. I gingerly picked the ancient book up in my magic, closed it carefully, and put it into my bag. “I’ll guard this… Now… Um… Since we are guarding the most valuable spellbook in the world, let’s start to teach you wards and defense spells, ja?”

Jade nodded, “Ja.”

Dusk - 19th of Megan '15 EoH - Late Night

I work a very grim business. A very stressful business. A very dire business. A business nearly everyone makes a purchase from once. A business I very much enjoy taking a vacation from.

A business which had a certain account long, long overdue for cancellation.

I sat on a chair in the once lovely, now ransacked Royal Chambers of the Diamond Hive. The griffons who were working at the impromptu war table couldn’t see me. Nothing could. I was like the ghost of a ghost. Seeing all, but seen by none.

I get in a lot of trouble at work. My boss has strict rules, I’m not allowed to do anything outside those rules. Not even for the good of all. I don’t like that, so sometimes I break the rules.

This time rule breaking wasn’t an option. This particular scheme had to fly under his radar, just in case he had my brother undo my hard work. I loved this world, it’s people, it’s places. Sometimes it needed a helping hoof, and as mom always says, ‘If you can help, you should.’

Tonight, I had but one thing to do here. I needed to be sure that my client took the bait for the trap I had arranged. She couldn’t resist it. I knew her well. I knew every last desire of her black and dusty heart, and if it was within my power, she wouldn’t get them.

One might imagine it would be within my power to stop a single mortal dead in their tracks. But it is not my job to kill, just to guide, so it’s against the rules for me to slay someone. Against the biggest rule in fact, no direct interventions allowed.

Though, none of the rules say I can’t pull the strings just so to make a change. Though my success record is admittedly abysmal, I felt like this time I could do it. This time I could actually change the world for the better, in a way it needed the most. Unfortunately, failure was still an option, nobody's perfect, especially not my kind.

I watched the griffons chatter about the local area. Captain Blacktalon moved his patrol's markers as messages poofed into the room with updates. A few soldiers discussed forming a mining detail. A normal night.

The room dimmed visibly, candles snuffed out in a flash as a thick green ball of energy, no bigger than a pony’s head blazed into existence above the table. Within the ball of crackling energy Chrysalis's permanently delighted yet cruel face congealed like stale pudding flowing together.

There she was.

“My book, Captain. Give it to me.” Chrysalis ordered triumphantly.

The griffon’s black feathered face pulled tightly around his skull as he did his best to maintain composure. I could see his surprise, horror, and will to survive. I wondered if others could too.

“There’s a small complication.” He said diplomatically.

She laughed, the echoing, harsh, sandpaper cackling made everyone wince. “Ready your griffons for death, imbecile.”

“Your Highness, we found the book’s hiding place, it was here as I told you. However it is no longer here. We know for a fact that only one changeling survived, and that means she has your spelltome.” The Captain said quickly, “Surely you can understand how a member of your species can outwit a mere griffon.”

I smiled at his words. Blacktalon, your magnificent bastard, write a book!

Chrysalis smiled as well. “I see… I could not open the tome’s hiding place, just as you said. I will trust your word this once more. I trust you know where this stray is?”

“I do,” he answered with a nod, “and my men are tracking her. You will have your tome by dusk tomorrow. She is traveling with a Diamond Dog, and heading south from Applewood. I have a full platoon ready for them when they reach the marsh. I apologize for this breach of our arrangement. I had believed the mare to be dead, I personally saw her shot twice. The Dog she is with seems to be a highly skilled surgeon. My griffons will dismember her this time.”

She laughed again, “You broke our deal, Captain. It is as simple as that. I will make you a new offer, one you can not refuse. If you do not retrieve my tome before sundown tomorrow, I will suck the life out of you, and spit it into the sea.”

The griffons around the table slowly backed up a few paces. Blacktalon cleared his throat, “Your Highness, I have apologized for this honest mistake. Remember, the tome is warded by-”

“The tome is no longer guarded by it’s wards.” Chrysalis smirked, “I can retrieve it on my own now, you are not needed any longer. If you have my tome before I arrive to kill you, which I believe will take until sundown tomorrow, I might spare your life. Griffons do taste like rotting flesh after all. I blame your diets.”

There it was, she took the bait.

I smiled, and with the barest drop of will left Equis behind, returning home. David and Jade could handle themselves. Perhaps another nudge or two would be needed to steer them to Equestria, but for now everything was working as I had planned so far. I’d need to keep an eye on it, things could go wrong easily enough, but for now, it was working perfectly.

I conjured my carton of Lucky Strikes, slid one out of the package, gave it a light and took a long smooth drag. “Game on you mass murdering bitch… Game on.”

11 Hell from above!

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David - 20th of Megan '15 EoH - Late Morning

Ah, that special mid-forehead throbbing brought on by the lack of coffee. There was coffee in this world, I know, I had some once. This morning, was a coffee morning.

Waking up to discover that Jade had apparently unwittingly carried a legendary Diabolus ex Machina since day one of escaping her hive’s destruction was an eye opener, but no substitute for coffee. I just knew that damn book was going to bring hell down on our heads. The enemy had definitely made a thorough search of the old hive by now, and if that had been something they knew was there, they would assume Jade must have it.

Perhaps it’s a bit silly of me to think in literary tropes about life, but they had a weird knack of working one in five times in this world. For instance, the time I walked into an inn and every hushed western movie style until I sat down, then erupted into a low buzzing set of conversations. That creeped me the hell out, and I’d been noticing those odd little moments ever since.

This had the hallmarks of one of those things. But… Azur was correct. You can’t simply dispose of a historical relic. Especially not one with mythical powers. The book belonged in a museum.

Also working my way through plausible events relating to the enemy and the book was helping me keep my mind from focusing on Azur. The snow white unicorn had gotten rather bored, and decided that this little road trip needed music. I had hoped this mean some kind of radio spell. It did not.

Azur had started simply trotting along side me and singing what sounded like a bit from a musical. It wasn’t bad. But he was on his fifteenth song now, and he had gotten more and more exuberant as time had passed.

Azur moonwalked backwards, a few meters ahead of me, spinning a full circle with an expertly done twirl, while singing in a way too professional voice. “♪♫ Du kannst tanzen, du kannst swingen, du hast die Zeit deines Lebens; // Schau dieses Stute an, schau dir den Schauplatz an, graben dir die Tanzprinzessin! ♫♪”

In the name of all that his holy, why and how did Dancing Queen get here? Whatever was responsible had a shell from Boomstick with it’s name on it!

In a move that I would have believed impossible for a quadruped, he dropped to his knees, slid forward and sprang up to offer a hoof for a waltz, only to spin away and drop to all fours while moving on with the next verse.

“♪♫ Du bist eine Verlockung, du machst sie an, // Lässt sie brennend zurück und dann bist du weg, // Schaust dich um nach jemanden anderen, jeder würde es tun. ♫♪” Azur sang, prompting Jade to start humming along to the tune.

It was no use. Focusing on the possible psychosis of seeing tropes in real life was no match for the worst song ever written! Why did I learn German? Why?!

“C-can we take a break please?” I begged, my voice sounding funny due to my ears being pressed flat to my skull.

“Nein!” Azur sang, not even missing a single note as he added, “Either you sing or I do!”

“You’re joking?” I said, horror stamped on my face.

“♪♫ Du bist in der Stimmung für einen Tanz, // und wenn du die Chance bekommst... ♫♪” Azur continued, going for another little spin and somehow not tripping on an exposed root.

I took a few milliseconds to weigh my options.

“If I sing something, you’ll stop?” I asked hopefully, just to be sure.

“Ja!” Azur sang, right between notes.

That androgynous song-troll must have taken theater in mage school or something… I sighed, there was no escaping it, today was the day dignity died.

“Fine. Just give me a minute to think of a song I’ve heard over here.” I groaned in defeat, thinking of any songs I could recall from taverns.

“Oh no you don’t!” Jade scolded playfully from atop the wagon. “You’re gonna do something from your homeland.”

“Ooo! Do it! I’ve never heard a diamond dog song before!” Azur exclaimed excitedly.

“Oh, hell no!” I shot back. “Using songs from here is bad enough… I’m not disrespecting songs I like by making my voice sing them!”

“Oh you can't be that bad!” Jade scoffed with a giggle and knowing grin.

“Ninety year old man warbles. Yeah, just how Ozzy wanted his tunes sung.” I shot back.

Azur gave me a deeply confused stare, “Was? You’re ninety? There’s no way! Und that’s not even middle aged for a dog!”

It wasn't? I blinked, then facepalmed hard enough to hear the slap echo. “Right… that excuse doesn't work anymore…”

Crap. That had been a great excuse!

“Well,” Azur said with a sly grin, “If you don't sing, I guess I’ll have to.”

He opened his mouth to resume the most annoying song ever written. In a blind panic my brain started belting out the first song it could recall. “It's astounding… Time is fleeting, madness takes its toll. But listen closely, not for very much longer. I've got to keep control...”

Fuck! Why that one brain? I couldn’t not do it now! It was a rule. I let go of the cart, and readied my dance moves for the first time in… a large time unit.

Fast and loud voice time! “I remember doing the Time Warp! Drinking, those moments when,
the blackness would hit me, and the void would be calling…”

Engage singing! Disengage dignity... “♪♫ Let's do the Time Warp again! ♫♪”

In the next five minutes I was delighted to learn that the absurdly good joy of the Rocky Horror Picture Show transcends dimensions. I was also confused to learn that ponies can stand upright for short periods, and replicate the old jump to the left. I could spend hours working out the way their bodies could move like that.

I had worked out hooves. This was easily just as intriguing. I filed it away in my ‘to do’ mental pile as I picked myself off the ground from the Warp’s final flop.

“Right.” I announced. “That’s that.”

Azur got up, ears drooping. “Awww, that’s it?”

“That’s it.” I confirmed stepping back over and picking up the cart’s rails.

“Sadness…” Jade whined softly from the spot she’d flopped onto. “That was fun. You gotta do another one!”

“No.” I grunted. “Now, back on the cart. We need to get out of griffon patrol range.”

Everyone climbed aboard. Or rather, Jade climbed aboard. Azur sort of flopped onto the back of the handles, laying against the front of the wagon and somehow suspended by the handles. Not really sure if you can call that ‘aboard’.

Thankfully we traveled in silence for a while. I don’t know why I didn’t think to say ‘griffons about’ earlier. I guess I just didn’t want to be a killjoy. It’s rare for me to be around non-mopey old farts.

Or at least, it was. It was normal for me to be alone now. I sort of missed talking to myself as I traveled, I made a good conversation partner if I did say so myself. I mean it was nice to have some real company, but it would also be nice if that company would remember we were traveling in ‘don't get stabbed’ mode.

Over the course of an hour the forest started to thin out, shortly opening enough to review a huge marshland in front of us. I’d traveled Stalliongrad’s marshes before, they were generally safe if a bit soggy and heaven for all manner of insects. It might slow us down a bit to find a path but we shouldn’t run into any mires or other major hazards.

These places had a ton of critters in them too, just like the marsh’s back home. With luck I could catch something for dinner, my jerky stocks were high, but you can only eat dried meat for so long before getting a bit… deprived. I perked my ears forwards as we walked, trying to listen for any birds I knew by their call. I remembered these places being full of ducks.

I kept my ears pointed forwards for some time. All I could make out was the creak of the cart, Jade turning the pages of a book, and Azur’s wistful sighs. There should be birdsong, and insect buzzing. Mires are not quiet. Not unless something dangerous is about.

Fuck.

I stopped the cart. “Everyone, it’s too quiet.” I announced in a calm and quiet manner.

“Ja, that’s why I was sing-” Azur paused mid sentence, his ears swiveling, then falling flat “Oh… Ja, das ist beängstigend ruhig… Vater fand mein Kleid ruhig.”

Deciding to ignore Azur’s comment about his father for now, I turned around and held out my hand to Jade. “Pass me the binoculars, behind you, to the right, leather bag.”

Jade nodded, set down her book and turned, rummaging for a few moments with her magic before holding up the crappy binoculars I’d arrived here with. “Uh, are these them?” she asked.

I nodded and took them. After a short pause, I sighed and walked around the back of the cart. I had a bad feeling about this.

“I could have gotten more things for you.” Jade informed politely as I slipped my other cloak out from a box.

“I know. But I’m getting a few things. This is faster.” I said, quickly switching my green wool cloak for my carefully painted black, brown, and green splotch camouflage one.

“Ugh… No offense but that’s hideous.” Azur said in what I assumed was an attempt to critique fashion. “You look much better in the green one.”

“Perhaps,” I muttered, digging out the crossbow I had looted yesterday and slinging it over my back. “But the point here is to not be seen.”

A few more moments of digging and I pulled my helmet out of the cart. It wasn’t a replica, or one I gotten here. Whatever I had been doing the night I came here, I’d had my old helmet on for it. I’d been grateful for that more than a few times, as the arrow scratches in her olive drab paint proved.

I took a second to admire the old girl. I may hate my past, but I loved this old hunk of steel. She’s saved my life four times, all thanks to the red cross painted on the front. Say what you will about the Nazis, their average soldier didn’t shoot at medics. Not till we were pushing them into Berlin at least.

I buckled on my helmet, pulled up my cloak’s hood and ordered, “Wait here. I’m going to check this out.”

“May I accompany you?” Azur asked.

“Tempting… You might have a useful spell, but, no offense, you’re bright white.” I said starting to walk towards the treeline.

“Und?” he asked.

“I’m trying to remain unseen. Hence, the camouflage.” I sighed. “Don’t you guys have camouflage?”

“That’s supposed to be camouflage?” Azur asked in surprise. “Your other cloak is more leaf colored, how’s this one even work! It looks like a painting my mom would blow a half million on!”

“The earth tones and blotches break up your outline, making you look like the background from a distance. As opposed to a solid color which is only useful in some circumstances as it won't break up your apparent shape. Or if it’s white, never useful for staying hidden ever.” I pointed out making my way towards a large bush on the edge of the treeline which looked to be a good vantage point.

Azur giggled, straight up giggled. “I’m in front of you.” He said, clearly from in front of me, where I couldn’t see a damn thing.

I groaned aloud, “... So, you can make things invisible, but-”

“Nein, not invisible. I just changed my fur, mane, and eye colors. Now, I match the treebark.” Azur informed.

I squinted hard. I took me a full five seconds, but I managed to see his outline. “Damn. Any chance I could learn that?”

“Eh… Probably not. I mean, non-natural mages can learn some simple things…” Azur said apologetically before, I think, shaking his head, “It’s not important. Let’s find what’s keeping thing quiet, Ja? Hopefully just a cragodile.”

“You mean a crocodile?” I asked.

Azur giggled, “Oh please, I’m not that lucky.”

I shook my head and moved forward to the bush, kneeling down behind it and taking out my binoculars to start looking across the area.

“I’m surprised you have binoculars. I didn’t think you could get those in Stalliongrad.” Azur said conversationally.

“You can’t, I got them back home… If you want to ;ll pass them to you in a minute.” I grunted. I would really rather do this myself… Scouting wasn’t something to do lightheartedly.

“It’s okay, I don’t need them. Er, do you have a strip of cloth? I need to cover my right eye.” Azur asked.

I stopped looking over the grassy marsh and turned in the direction of his voice. “Did you hurt yourself?”

“Nein, my left eye is pegasus. If I cover my right eye, the left stops matching the depth of field, und I can do the pegasi thing. Raptor vision.” He answered.

“Hold up, your left eye is a pegasus’s? Where did you get a transplant done? That’s beyond impressive!” I exclaimed in honest surprise.

“Nein, nein, it’s my own eye.” He said in a clarifying manner, which clarified little.

“Ah, so you magicked it into another subspecies?” I asked curiously. I’d always been interested in transgenic research, maybe with magic such things were common here.

“Ah… not so much. I could have though. All Germanes are pure pony, a perfect blend of the three tribes… in patches. While I am a unicorn on the outside, inside a third of me is unicorn, a third is pegasus, and a third is earth pony.” He summarized.

“Ah, so, eugenics leads to nationwide chimerism, eh? Sounds about right. it’s not like a full understanding of genetics was available when that was tried back home.” I said with a sigh. “If you have any medical needs, I am a doctor and surgeon.”

“Actualy ja! I fixed my own problems over the years, und now I’m working to make myself better. Later, could you help me see if I relocated and multiplied some sensory nerves correctly?” Azu asked hopefully.

“Sure,” I agreed, starting to look through the binoculars again, “I take it you don't know medicine… You probably shouldn’t experiment on yourself. I can see editing your own biology going very bad.”

“I was working from a medical text when I did it. I’m not a dummkopf.” Azur muttered. “Ah… Do you see the willow tree by the big rocks? I think something moved there.”

I nodded and moved my binoculars back to look at that spot. “I’m looking now…”

The rock pile was rather odd, but definitely old as t had moss covering it. The tree was fairly old too, with ivy running up the trunk. The whole spot sat on a rather large dry patch of the mire too. Large enough to set up a pretty large camp on if you-

Hold on a minute.

I squinted harder through my binoculars. “Azur, just to the left and above the rocks… Can you see a boxy shape in the background?”

Azur shifted position, the rustling leaves seemed unnaturally loud. “Ja… Und I… Ah, there, focused on… Those are tents, covered in grass and things.”

“Wait, tents?” I asked.

“Ja, um… vier… sechs… nein, sieben. Er, there are seven. I think they are military tents, very square, und the good camouflaging.” Azur reported.

Triple fuck! Unless…

“You were a guard, does Applewood have any patrols out this far? Or does the-”

That’s when a chainmail armored griffon slowly moved from behind the rocks on what was a clear patrol rout.

“Ah crapbaskets…” I muttered.

“Scheißekugeln.” Azur added.

We kept watching for another thirty minutes. By that time it was very clear that we were looking at a large camp of Griffons who were the same ones that were trying to kills us, judging by their heraldry. The camp also just so happened to be a full platoon’s setup.

There were at least two score griffons, mostly chainmail clad crossbow and spearmen, but also a scattering of the full plate armor types, and two individuals with gold torcs who Azure assured me were mages. This full force was clearly camped out in the marsh, and had set up a few hidden positions for their archers, and a full trench, which must have been hell given the terrain. They were ready to make sure absolutely nothing passed this point.

“So… It’s a fair bet that this is meant to stop us.” I said after Azur and I had finished cataloging everything we could.

“Ja. South is the only way we can go, und their scouts could easily have given them our path.” Azur said bitterly.

“Well, at least they think we can trounce their scouts without problem. That means we have to worry about them thinking about us like a military unit.” I said with a chuckle.

“Why is that funny?” Azur asked bitterly. “They have an army! We can’t fight that.”

“Right.” I said with a smile. “But they are treating us like an army. See if we were a military force, that would stop us no problem. We likely couldn’t change course, and we would need to engage the enemy to prevent a counter attack from our flank.

“But we are not a military, we are not here to fight the enemy, or take a position. We are trying to escape with our lives. The fact they are treating us like a military, means we have an edge. They are not thinking of what we will do, because we don’t need to fight them.”

“Was bist du… I mean, what are you talking about?” Azur asked.

“You don’t need to use Equish, I speak German you know.” I said rolling my eyes.

“Ja I do! It’s… It’s a neurocy. I need to speak to someone in their own language. It’s rude to assume everyone knows mine.” Azur said in an embarrassed tone.

“Ah. Well, in that case… That camp is built to make a military force pause and need to attack it. We are not a military force, we are three guys who just don’t want to die.” I explained. “So since you have that super-camo going, I’ll pass you my knife, and you go cut as much of that mire grass, reeds, and other plants as you can and bring it up to the cart. We camouflage it to look like a giant piece of foliage, and we go the hell around those assholes once the sun goes down a bit.”

Azur was dead quiet for a full minute.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” He asked curiously.

“Because you’re a city guard, not a soldier who's sick of fighting.” I said drawing my Bowie and passing it to him. “Don’t cut yourself.”

Jade - 20th of Megan '15 EoH - Twilight

“There is no way in Tartarus this is going to work!” I hissed quietly from atop the cart an inside a fake bush.

“Shhh!” David and Azur hissed back over the faint creak of the cart.

“This looks so fake! It’s taller than the rest of the grasses!” I angry-whispered. “Why can’t we just go like, a half day east then head south?”

“Because… I...huh…” David said scratching his chin. “That would be way better than this plan, wouldn’t it?”

“Why didn’t you say that when we were camouflaging the cart?” Azur asked, “It’s too late to do that now, we don't want them to find our camp for the evening…”

“I said it like a hundred times!” I snapped, barely managing to keep my voice low. “You two were just so eager to be all sneaky you didn’t even bother to ask your sneaking expert!”

“Says the bug-girl who forgot to change her hooves!” David hissed defensively.

I gave him a good long, back-of-the-head glare.

“... Okay, sorry… Look, we sort of have to go through with this now. Do you have any advice?” David asked.

“Yes! Don’t cross the marsh just five hundred meters from their camp!” I said quickly.

“Only safe path we could find besides the one they were camped on.” Azur pointed out.

I groaned and held my head with my hooves. This was a terrible idea! “I don't want to be shot again!”

“We’re a quarter of the way across the mire, there’s more forest just a kilometer ahead. We can make that by midnight, and there is no way they will look for us behind them so soon.” David said.

Suddenly a low droning buzz began to fill the air.

“Huh… Guess the bugs feels safe enough to come out now.” Azur commented.

“Sounds more like a B-52 Squadron…” David muttered suspiciously. “There aren't those arm sized mosquitoes around here, are there?”

“Nein!” Azur objected, “I wouldn’t move within a week’s walk of those-”

“That sounds like a group of changelings.” I commented, taking another second to listen, “Yeah! Hear that little humming whine? Changelings.”

“Uh… So, Jade,” David asked in an urgent tone, “Are there any other hives around here besides your own?”

“No. Why do y- Oh!” I squeaked, eyes widening to what felt like dinner plates.

“Was do you me- Oh!” Azur whimpered.

A high pitched shrieking white split the air. David sprinted forwards and dove behind a boulder with a scream of “Cover!”

A split second later a flash of bright green light lit the mire up like the sun. A loud boom followed the flash, and I could see dirt fly up into the air over near the griffon’s camp.

Another flash and boom, this time I caught the streak of green from the sky as one of the Swarm launched themselves like a living catapult into the camp.

“They’re attacking the griffons!” I exclaimed, yelping as a blue nimbus of magic yanked me off the cart.

“Nein! They are indiscriminately purging life! Hide!” Azur shouted before bolting under the cart.

I quickly scurried under the cart too.

The attack seemed to go on forever. The droning of changeling wings became a full roar as what must have been a million circled the entire marsh. The dull explosions of bombarding changelings was inter cut with the scintillating shrieks of spellbolts, and the death screams of forty souls.

It’s hard to remember much other than the droning buzzing, dull explosions, and the screams. My mind simply doesn't want to go back to those moments. All I can remember is the terror, and squirming free of Azur’s terrified nearly chitin-crushing hug thirty minutes after the silence came back.

I don’t know what possessed me, but I crawled towards the camp in the dead silent air. It took a long time, I moved on my belly, centimeter by centimeter through the freshly blasted loose earth. But I made it.

The camp was dirt, ash, and dead bodies. The big pile of rocks was gone, just cooling shards of molten rock. The willow tree ablaze. The bodies killed, and left to rot, not drained like I had been told the Swarm usually did. The entire place had been literally flattened.

I made my way back on my hooves. I had to move quickly, my hearts screamed at me to get the buck out of there. The Swarm hadn’t been hunting, they had wanted those griffons deader than physically possible.

I saw David slowly getting up as I came running back, Azur was sitting next to him, spooked enough to look even more white.

“We need to go!” I yelped.

“Yep.” David agreed, voice grim, but shaken.

“No, like, they leveled that camp! Literally leveled!” I informed in a panicked squeak.

“Ah… Right, all aboard the nope train.” David sighed. “... We’re getting out of here before they come back.”

“W-was makes you think they will come back?” Azur asked as he climbed up into the cart.

“I saw them chase about fifteen Griffons into the forest we came from. I’m pretty sure they will want to loot and make sure everyone here is dead, since apparently that’s what they were after. I’m not fighting about three hundred fucking Blackhawks with fucking phaser arrays.” David grunted.

David grabbed the cart’s handles, I flew up to my favorite box atop it, the sound of my own flight making everyone wince. Including me.

We crossed the mire as quickly and quietly as possible. No one said a word. David kept moving in one strait line, putting as much distance between us and the killing field as possible. He moved like a machine, not even slowing down as the moon reached it’s zenith, and my eyes drooped shut.

12 Bait, set, and trap.

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Azur - 26th of Megan '15 EoH - Noon

Over the past six days I had become very impressed by David’s endurance. That dog literally walked from about sunup to sundown, plus a bit extra, every day, and didn’t complain. I had figured on it taking us a week and a half to get to Capsan, David got us there in six days.

Six days of literally nothing but traveling with no breaks mind you. He was tired, anyone could see that. I was tired too, I didn’t just keep my butt planted on the wagon, I didn’t feel like being “that colt”.

Jade was the only one of us who wasn’t tired. To be fair, she spent half of the time on the wagon, because having your insides held in with some iron and glue is a great excuse to not walk anywhere. But she had been feeling better in the last few days and walked too. Though being a changeling that really didn’t bother her much. I envy insects sometimes, lactic acid sucks.

The last six days had been eerily quiet. Sure the griffons after us had gotten Swarmed, but still, it felt like something else should have attacked us. Jade had pointed out that it’s likely the Swarm found out we had the book, and thus took out the griffons to make sure they would get it. A thought which was terrifyingly likely.

But, nothing. A calm six days, no attacks, no real dangers. Just a really rainy day and a few natural hazards.

Considering the possibility of changelings after us though… That fallen tree could have been three soldiers waiting for us to get into hoof’s reach. Needless to say I was really frazzled and the towers and walls of Capsan had done wonders for my mood the second they had poked up over the horizon.

It was a beautiful city, Stalliongrad may be behind the times, but old world construction has a lovely charm to it. The thick wooden beams holding up the watchtowers clay roofs were a beautiful capstone to the cemented river rock walls. Applewood’s wooden palisade was crap compared to these beauties, twice the height, and so thick that there were a few buildings built atop the walls which peaked over the battlements.

They had a proper defence for flying forces too. Applewood had their cannons, Capsan had it’s cannons, and also grapeshot. It was a big, secure, lovely looking city, and at it’s heart it had a port which could get us out of here. It could have been Elysium itself.

We stopped a kilometer or so from the city, at my request.

“Now, that’s a city.” David remarked as I hopped off the cart. “Can’t be many like it here. I would have found them.”

I nodded, “As far as I know, only Capsan and Terova are proper cities. The only deep sea port, and the capital city.”

Jade whistled impressed, “If the wall is this pretty, I can’t wait to see the inside! So, um, why did we stop?”

This is where things might get a little ugly…

“There is a small problem…” I informed, quickly explaining before anyone could object. “You are a changeling, and you are a Diamond Dog. I know you’re good people. Tartarus, David, you are the most civil, kind, strong, und learned Dog I’ve ever met! But… they don’t know that. Jade, you are a nice person too, but the Swarm is nearby and so noling will be trusted right now.

“I do not have much money, so if we all want to get to a port in Zebrica that is not a desert nowhere, I need to negotiate a good price, und that will be easiest if the captain assumes my friends are also ponies.” I finished with a sigh, then added quickly, “I am certain the city guards will let you in, so once we have passage, I get you and we leave.”

David groaned and leaned back on the cart, shaking his head. “God damn… I wish I could make a white privilege joke,” He muttered, “but I’d be smited by the irony gods.”

Jade buzzed her wings angrily. “I could shapeshift and go with you!”

“Ja, fraulein der Käfer, you could. It’s just that you…” I paused and bit my lip as I tried to think of a kind way to say it.

Jade’s ears fell, “I know… I still suck at it…”

“Ja… so how about you und David get you nice and ponied up for the trip? That way the captain thinks just one of you is not a pony. Take time and make it very good, und I should be back with passage by then.” I said diplomatically.

Jade bit her lip for a moment, then with a toss of her mane sighed and nodded, “Okay… but only if you tell me what that nickname you use for me means.”

Scheiße! I gave her a soft grin, “I mean it affectionately…”

“It translates to, ‘Miss the Bug’.” David grunted.

My heart skipped a beat. I never intended for it to be offensive, but I hadn't thought about how she might think about the word bug until this morn-

“You thought I would be offended by that?” Jade asked raising a eyebrow at me.

“Y-yeah.” I answered with a relieved sigh.

Jade shook her head and giggled, “You’re weird, in a good way. Okay, Sir the Pony, I’ll get a good pegasus shape on, you get us a boat.”

“Ja, no problem, I’ll be right back.” I said giving the two a wave as I turned around.

I was a bit apprehensive about being on my own as I walked down the road to the city gates. I was still a little jumpy I suppose. The moment someone becomes detached from the group is usually when they get pounced.

Though I did hide Clover’s book in the wagon, so at least I wasn’t alone and carrying the most valuable magical artifact in the world. That be a very bad idea. Assuming someone saw me take it with me at least.

Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was going to be attacked, which is why the sudden appearance of a tall green-furred, gray-maned earth pony mare beside me made me jump.

“Eep!” I squeaked.

“Oh! Sorry.” She said with a smile that was just a little bit off. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. Are you with those two back up the road?”

“Nein.” I answered quickly, alarm bells instantly ringing in the back of my head.

She frowned slightly, as if expecting me to have yes. “That’s odd. Not many people travel this road at the same time. I live in Yurvi, you know the little hamlet up the road? I don't normally see more than one group at a time coming through here. But weirder things have happened I guess.”

I nodded slowly. Okay, so maybe she was just overly chatty and I was jumpy. “Ja, not many places to go up the road.”

I quickened my pace, only for the mare to match me and keep moving.

“That’s an interesting accent, are you an outlander?” She asked noisily.

I looked over, and yelped slightly, the mare’s eyes were this burning sort of yellow which reminded me of a young timberwolf.

“Ah! Ja… sorry, but your eyes are…” I felt my ears droop as I realized that might be a rude thing to bring up.

She laughed, and flashed me a odd little grin. “I know, I get that a lot. I guess if you’re an outlander and going to Capsan then you're headed home right? You should take Cherry Street, it’s a shortcut to the docks and you won't have to walk past all the tourist traps. I mean, you have small bags so no need to buy something big that you can't put in your bags and have to carry that the rest of the way to the dock’s right?”

Oh my god! Shopping! I hadn't gotten to go shopping in years! This was a real city too, there would be actual things i could buy besides food and basic living-

Nein! Bad Azur! Boat tickets!

“Uh, thank you. I’ll take your advice.” I replied. Apparently that would be an excellent idea… stupid brain… There was no time or money to spend on nice things.

“No problem! Happy to help!” she said before trotting off quickly down the road.

Letting out a sigh of relief that she had left I slowly made my way to the city gates. The guard waved me through the iron portcullis without a second thought, letting me into the closest thing to civilization I had seen in years. It was beautiful!

The street's cobbles were nice and flat, making the streets smooth and they were built nice and wide to let people move around easily even with a lot of people on the street! All around me the nice stone and timber buildings provided a nice contrast from Applewood’s waddle and daub, as well as making buildings visually interesting with all sorts of stone colors instead of just slabs of white plaster.

There were even iron lamp posts for oil lamps, which I presumed were lit at night. That meant enough people lived here for lamplighter to be a job! Yay! A real city!

A voice snapped me out of my happy-touristy-gawking. “Need a hoof with directions, sir?”

I looked over to see a stubby legged pegasus stallion with a gray mane and fur the color of my namesake. I couldn't help but smile at that, It always amused me to remember my parents named me for my right eye’s color.

“Ja, could you point me to Cherry Street? I need to get to the docks.” I informed quickly. No need to waste a helpful pony’s time.

He nodded and pointed with one hoof over my right shoulder towards a street. “It’s right there, runs straight to the docks along the inside of the wall. You’ll miss a lot of the local attractions though, it’s just a cargo road realy.”

“That’s ah… sort of the point.” I mentioned offhoof, distracted slightly as I looked where he pointed.

“Mmm, little low on coin?” He asked in an odd tone.

“Ja… Just enough for passage home.” I said quickly, fearing being sized up for a robbery.

The pegasus reached into a small bag on his left side and pulled out a coin purse, counting out eight silver coins. “Well, let’s just get you a little extra then. Ship Captains tend to overcharge, and even if you do get a fair price I think everypony deserves a good meal… Maybe pick up a souvenir. Here, eight Eagles. That should be enough wiggle room to be sure you get home safe.”

I hesitated for a moment, unsure of what this stallion was trying to do.

“Go ahead, I’m a merchant. I can spare this much.” he prompted.

I nodded and took the coins. The extra money would help, his points were one hundred percent valid. “Danke Mister… ?”

“Masked Veil’s the name. If you don’t have a ship by sunset, drop by my business on Walnut. I’ll do my best to take care of you.” Masked offered before trotting down the street with a friendly wave.

I quickly pocketed the coins with my magic and zipped down Cherry Street. The extra eight Eagles brought me to eighty three gold worth of coins, that was enough to get a direct passage for the three of us and the cart to Abusir, which being a big city in Zebrica, with better ships, could take us right to Quis, and from there we could just walk the rest of the way. I would even have the money for that second leg of the journey!

Or I could pick up something small and nice, i had been wanting a few piercings since even before I left my parents ho-

No! Bad Azur! Boat Tickets!

Cherry Street was a fairly nice bit of the city. You can always tell when a part of a city is for the people who live there. It’s less artistic, more earthy. Less busy, more relaxed. They feel comfortable.

To my left was the wall, which was covered in ivy and flowers for about half its height, making a sort of plant based curtain. To my right was another wall, this one made of homes, and businesses, and a few shops for things that locals would need, like a bakery, a farrier, and a general store.

After a short ways, the odd street vendor started to show up. Still nothing touristy, just things like pots and pans. I felt a pang of annoyance that the street wasn’t totally temptation free, but at least nopony here was selling jewelry. Or Faust forbid-

A small stall set up using apple crates selling clothing with a few mareakins displaying the most adorable dresses ever! There was a lovely short hemmed peach sundress with a-

No! Bad Azur! Boat. Tick-

I couldn’t even finish chastising myself. The second closest dress, pale purple, almost lavender, unique in design but based on a cocktail dress, with a gorgeous three-layered pleated skirt just long enough to cover the flanks and the top of the plot, which was perfectly accented by a darker purple sash, hoofcaps, and matching hairribbon! A dress you could put on for absolutely anything, and nopony would do more than give you the odd look for casually dressing up.

I trotted over to get a closer look, there was no harm in a closer look. Right?

I nearly had a heart attack. The dress was an exact replica of my absolute favorite dress ever! The tight stitching and soft silky shiny fabric was a dead give away.

I thought there had been only one like it, I’d cried for weeks after my father had found and burned my hidden wardrobe. It had to have been mass produced! I could have another one and now I could just wear it any-

No! Ba-

Sweet bucking sunlight! It had silver embroidered accents on the sleeves and neckline!

“Interested in that lovely piece Ma’am?” the stall’s occupant, a tall goldenrod furred, gray-maned unicorn dressed in beautiful gypsy styled robes, asked.

I blushed, deciding to not correct her on my gender at the moment. “Well… I… I shouldn’t… But, ja. I used to have one like it, but without the accents.”

The shopkeep nodded slowly, “Yes a lot of knockoffs of this design were made a few years ago. You’re lucky enough to be looking at one of the originals, not a small thing considering this nation’s well… status. I guarantee you won't find anything like this in any other settlement in all of Stalliongrad.”

“That is completely true.” I said in honest agreement.

What? The mare was right. Applewood’s tailor only sold cloaks and cold weather ponchos.

“You know, I wish I had a mirror. I would let you try it on. The purple would be a good addition to your overall look. Don’t get me wrong, white is nice but with your mane color something to make you a bit less… ivory would definitely improve your chances with the colts.” She said giving both me and the dress a critical look of judgment.

“You think so?” I asked hopefully.

I did feel like my coloration was bland at times, especially when there were pink, green, and orange ponies out there. That’s why I loved dresses, inherently pretty, but also comfy and their prettiness translated to the pony in them too.

“Oh yes… Normally I don’t cut deals, but well, few ponies here would look as good in this as you, and there are not many festivals calling for clothing, but I know that you Germanes have lots of functions where you would be the absolute center with one of Rarity Belle’s design-”

“It’s a Rarity design!” I exclaimed eagerly as I started to trot in place with excitement.

I didn’t give a flying buck if Rarity herself hadn’t actually made this dress. I had never seen one of her pieces myself, but from the stories something this pretty totally could be one of her designs! If this dress was designed by Princess Twilight’s seamstress, I had to have it! Now!

Oh my gosh! Maybe by some unthinkable chain of events this was second hoof and Twilight wore it once! No, no that would make no sense there weren't wing slits.

But she could have one like this cut for an alicorn!

“I take it from the little happy dance you have going there that you don’t care to barter? Fifty gold should be a fair price, considering it’s a few years old, and second hoof, but in mint condition. Worn once from what I was told.” The shopkeeper said.

That seems like an entirely reasonable price! Masked had given me a little extra money, there was room in the budget. Scratch that, had been room!

“Fifty? Sold!” I exclaimed, teleporting the coins from my bag to the top of her ‘counter’ reflexively.

She eyed the coins suspiciously, levitated one to her mouth with her dark green aura and bit the coin to test it. Giving me a satisfied nod she quickly bundled the dress up in some cheap brown paper with string and passed it over to me.

“There you are miss…?”

“Lilly.” I said, using the second part of my name as I always did when pretending to be a mare.

“Right then Miss Lilly, I’ll be here tomorrow if you need that adjusted. I was just about to head home for the day. You lucked out! have a nice day.” She said starting to quickly pack up her stall into the crates.

“Nein, thank you! I’ve been wanting a new dress for years!” I informed with a happy blush before turning back the way I had been heading and trotting off.

I felt that special tingly feeling you get when you treat yourself to something you love as I walked down the street. The sun seemed a bit brighter, bird song I hadn't noticed before was extra happy sounding. My mind started to happily drift around, daydreaming of a few different possibilities.

For instance, would Jade mind copying my shape so I could see how I looked in the dress? That would be better than a mirror, I could see all the angles and have her pose so I could see what positions would flatter what parts of my body. Another was if David would think I was cute in it. He didn’t seem to notice my flirting, but a lot of males are like that unless you put extra effort in to make them notice you and a ship cabin would be a nice small space for attracting-

Mother-bucking son of a whore! I had just spent the majority of budgeted funds on a Faust damned impulse purchase! There was barely enough left to get to the closest Zebrican port!

Panicking I turned and bolted back up the street, hooves pounding on the cobbles. She would accept a return. It had been minutes, no all sales final sign. I would just turn around and-

She was completely gone. Stall and Everything.

“... You’re the biggest featherbrain of all time Azur.” I whispered to myself angrily and sadly before laying in the street to cry.

David - 26th of Megan '15 EoH - Evening

“He’s been gone a really long time.” Jade commented, making me look up from my hand of cards. “Should we go look for him?”

I paused to think for a bit. Sure Azur had been gone for a few hours but it was a big city and it’s not like you could just google up traveling expenses in this world. “Nah, seems like a reasonable amount of time to me. Think about it he has to go and ask multiple people in person about passage and negotiate, then compare prices. Were on a budget after all.”

Jade hummed, then nodded and discarded three cards. “I guess that makes sense… Wait, if I discard do I get back the same amount or one less than what I discarded?”

“The same amount. This isn’t Vermont rules.” I answered. “Your holding up a lot better this time by the way.”

Jade and I had determined that over time she would accidentally think of having her old changeling parts and partially demorph. Teaching her how to play cards was my attempt to get her to focus on something other than her shape so we could practice her keeping herself in her desired shape. So far she still looked like the pale pink, blue maned pegasus form she had settled on trying out an hour ago.

“I am?” Jade smiled happily, “Great! Oh, uh, two pair!” she said putting down two eights and the jacks.

“Four of a Kind, I win this hand.” I informed tossing down the four queens.

“H-hallo…” Azur’s depression strained voice mutely whispered from off to my right.

Right. That was a soul-crushed tone of voice if I ever heard one. There was only bad news to be had.

“Hey kid! Good to see you again.” I greeted, hoping that maybe a cheery mood would offset any chance of Azur breaking down further. I needed him to not have a melt down until I knew what the problem was.

“So um… I kinda…” Azur shuffled his right hoof against the ground awkwardly.

Jade winced. “Oh… You couldn’t get passage could you?”

“N-nein…” He answered.

“Well that’s alright. We can just wait for a new ship to get in and try again later. We can camp out here for a while, should be safe close to a city like this.” I said.

I knew that wasn’t the problem. Azur was not that emotional from what I had seen. Meaning whatever had gone wrong was his fault, or he wouldn’t be looking like someone just shot his mom.

The best way to deal with someone who I was pretty sure had just royally screwed the pooch was to be calm and let them tell you what the fuck they did. That way you can get their emotions out into the air and deal with the problem in the quickest way possible.

“That’s not it.” He sighed, hanging his head.

Jade tilted her head in confusion, then her eyes contracted slightly and her lips pulled into a slight angry frown. There we go, she got it now. Which could be a problem…

“Then what’s the problem?” Jade asked in a suspicious tone.

Azur winced, took a deep breath and blurted, “Ich kaufte mir ein Kleid!”

Ah, there it was. A stupid mistake which fucked us all right up shit creek.

“What’s the problem, in Equish.” Jade repeated.

“He bought a dress.” I informed.

“Y-you.” Jade sputtered standing up with a look of exploding anger.

I quickly reached over and grabbed her shoulder. “Jade, no.”

She whipped her head around giving me an angry glare, eyes flashing back to her changeling set in a fit of anger. “But he-”

“Is obviously more than remorseful about it. He knows he fucked up. Your screaming at him won’t do a damn thing.” I said firmly, putting on my best Sargent voice for both Jade and Azur’s benefit. “Go take five, punch a tree or something. I’ll take care of things here.”

Jade growled and pointed one hoof angrily at Azur. “But he-”

“I said, take, five!” I repeated, narrowing my eyes firmly.

“I, but… Urgh!” Jade growled before turning and walking away muttering.

I sighed and shook my head. Managing a unit was never easy, but at least I had experience doing it. This couldn’t be a bigger clusterfuck than Omaha Beach, I could get everyone through this.

I gave Jade a few moments to walk away, enough time for her angry grumbling to grow faint. Then I got up, walked over to Azur and sat down next to him as he lay sadly in the dirt.

“Right kid. How about you tell me what you were thinking.” I ordered in as calm a tone as i could manage.

“I… I was trying to avoid shops. I have a problem mit shopping… I… I like pretty things…” He explained. “A mare told me a street which went to the docs but avoided the tourist shops…”

“So you took it.” I said understandingly. “Solid thinking.”

“Ja… but… There was a few small shops on it und… I… It was too pretty! Und she said it was a Rarity, und-”

“I get it.” I informed gently.

“W-was?” Azur choked.

“Look… I’m way older than I look.” I explained. “I’ve done a lot of stupid things in my life, including the same thing you did. I get it. I was going to pay the rent on my apartment, passed a shop, had to take a look, walked out with a new guitar and an empty wallet.”

“Y-you did?” Azur asked.

I had. It was the most god damned beautiful Les Paul I had ever seen. I had to live out of my car for a year because of that guitar.

“Yep. She made me homeless. I wasn’t even a young person. Middle aged. Everyone fucks up royally a few times in their life. But normally, their friends lives are not on the line.” I said gently as I could.

“I… I know… That's why… I looked for her for hours to return it...” His ears fell even further somehow.

I nodded and gave Azur a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Well kid, you’re actually sorry, and you know you fucked up. I’m not going to yell at you. That would just waste my time. So here’s what we're going to do, I’m going to ask you to make me a promise, and then we're going to make a plan to get out of the hole you dug us into. Sound good?”

“J-ja.” He sniffed.

“Good. So, that guitar I mentioned. Know what I did with it?” I asked.

“N-nein.”

“I used it to own my mistake.” I explained. “I learned how to play that son of a bitch and do it god damn right. After a year I was making a living off that baby. Used it to get a better house than before. Here's what I want you to promise me, that you’ll own this mistake and make something good out of it.” I said.

“Own the mistake?” Azur asked.

I sighed. Admittedly it would be hard to make money with a dress as a guy… Unless he was in Thailand.

“Well… I’m guessing you like to look pretty, right?” I asked.

Azur nodded.

“Why?” I asked in as neutral a tone as I could manage.

“I… I like… I like being pretty.” Azur answered. “Mares get compliments und are treated extra nice ja… But that’s not… Well it is a bit… I…”

“You like the attention people give you for looking nice?” I asked hoping to speed the conversation along.

“Ja… I was never happy with colt things. My father… he’s… traditional. He might have been okay mit me if I said I was a mare… but, I’m not… I’m happy as me… I just like pretty things, und I don’t like fighting, or politics, or well… colt things. I just don’t.” Azur rambled.

I nodded and gently picked his chin up to get him to look me in the eyes. “Then own that. You have a dress, use it. You like the whole crossdressing thing, fine, that’s you. You won't be happy in life if you let some shit tell you who you are. You feel strongly enough about looking pretty to make a fuck up like this, it’s important to you. Own it.”

Azur nodded, starting to get it. “So… You’re not going to hurt-”

Okay, he wasn’t starting to get it, he was barely getting to the point of starting to get it.

I sighed. “Azur… No. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not even mad. I’m disappointed in you beyond words, but I’m not mad, and I understand why you did it. What I am going to do is never trust you with money again.

“I’m also saying that if you don’t take that dress, put it on, and be the most adorable fucking thing I have ever seen, then you fucked up twice as hard because you won't even use something you love just because of a mistake made in judgment about getting it.”

“W-was?” Azur asked, ears perking up, “Y-you mean you like me?”

“I what?” I blinked in surprise. “Of course I do. I’m not going to stop liking you because of one boneheaded fuckup.”

“Oh thank faust! I thought you didn’t notice I was flirting mit you…” Azur admitted, sounding relieved.

Oh… crapbaskets.

“Uh… I meant as a friend, kid… I’m not gay. I don’t have a problem with people who are, hell my best friend was into guys.” I quickly explained.

Azur’s ears fell like someone had stapled battleships to them.

Fuck. I had to fix this. He was depressed enough that he might do something stupid. “Hey, don’t get all sad. I’ll stick with ya still. We can be friends, just not more than that. I’ll even lend a hand with your whole drag thing.”

He sighed and slowly turned to look at me. “Why are you being so nice?”

“Because there no point in being cruel to someone who's already put themselves into an emotional hell.” I answered. “Now cheer the fuck up. Lets work out a way to get out of this shithole, so I can finally build that nice little house I’ve been wanting, Jade can stop getting shot at, and we can get you all the jewelry, piercings, dresses you want.” I said with a slight grin. We needed everyone to have a cool head to think a way out of this one.

“Y-you’ll really help me get a nice set of clothes?” Azur asked.

“Yeah. You’re a friend, and apparently clothes are so important to you that you forget about vitally important things. Someone needs to make sure you don't fuck up again.” I said, letting just a bit of bitterness into my voice.

A thought occurred to me just before Azur could reply. “Oh, and if like a few guys I knew via my old buddy, you really want to pull of the whole girl look full time… I am a surgeon. I could give you a few of the operations that-”

Azur winced and held up a hoof defensively. “Nein! I ah… I have magic for putting those away. Cutting them off feels a bit…”

“You don't need to explain,” in said with an equal wince, “I was only offering because I’m a surgeon who could do it safely… I really don’t understand how… Look forget I mentioned this.”

“Ja, already have. Never happened.” Azur coughed.

“So…” I scratched the back of my head. “Got a girl name?”

“Ja. I use Lilly.” he answered.

“Cool…” I said slowly.

I made a note to myself. Do not offer surgeries as a sign of being truly supportive. It leads to the most awkward moment possible.

“Uh, so… I there any money left?” I asked after a few minutes.

“Ja!” Azur exclaimed, glad for the change of topic. “um… Thirty three Lions.”

I nodded. “That seems like a good amount. Can we get anywhere on that?”

“Well… ja, we could maybe get passage to whatever port in Zebrca is closest.” he answered.

“Wait so we can still get to Zebraca?” I asked quickly. If that s the case this was nowhere near as bad of a problem as I thought.

“Ja.”

“So we have to walk a bit more. That’s fine. I was thinking that we would be barely able to get up the coast a few dozen miles. Okay, less upset than I was now.” I gave him a smile and stood up.

“I’m going to go calm Jade down now. You get that dress on, and when we get back, Jade, Lilly, and I are going to get the hell out of here before flying death decides to drop in.” I informed.

Azur blinked, “W-why did you use-”

“Your mare name? Because I’m pretty sure that Jade is pissed off at ‘Azur’, so we're going to see if we can't get her to pretend girl you is a different person for a bit.” I said before walking off in the sound of angry grumbling and wood chopping.

Something told me that the second emotional damage control effort of the day was going to be harder.

13 Counterspelling, GI Style.

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Jade - 26th of Megan '15 EoH - Evening

This was my first time being angry as a mammal. That’s probably a weird sentence for any other species to even think about, but trust me there’s a difference. A changeling gets angry and we’re just sort of negative to the source of the anger. Apparently when a pegasus gets angry their forehead throbs, they feel their blood flowing, and a deep sort of burning in the back of them and flares up like somepony tossed oil on a fire.

So I decided to beat the taproot out of a tree.

With my forehooves.

A decision which I regretted on the first pain inducing strike, but that weird mammal-mad state was just fueled by, causing further tree punching. I had managed to smash a hoof deep part out of one tree when a piercing whistle slapped my eardrums.

“Damn… I really underestimated how pissed off you are.” David said with an impressed tone of voice. “Need another minute?”

I sat down and shook my head. “No. I think… I think I’m cool.”

David stepped over and crouched to inspect the tree. “Shit, maybe I should have you drilling in hand to hand.”

“... Well… did work better than sword…” I muttered sourly.

David shook his head in that little ‘holding back a chuckle’ way of his. “You’ll get it eventually. Especially once you figure out that you have a thrusting blade, not a slashing blade.”

“I-you, what?” I demanded angrily, stamping a hoof. “What didn’t you tell me that was a thing!”

“Because I thought you would work it out.” David answered sitting down with his back to the damaged tree. “You're pretty bright, and it’s almost always better to understand things on your own. Not like, math, but the practical things… Tools, skills. Self-taught means you worked out how to do it your way. You’re better off that if someone tried to force you to do things their way.”

I guess that made some kind of sense. But David wasn’t here to talk about tools or training.

“So… What are we going to do about that idiot?” I asked hesitantly.

“There’s nothing to do.” David answered seriously. “He’s eaten up about the whole thing. If someone knows they fucked up and they are sorry enough to be crying about it… there’s not much you can do. It’s also not as bad as you think. We still have enough to get to a port in Zebrica, just a closer one than preferable.”

I clenched my teeth to hold back an angry growl, “He still-”

“Yes. He did. We can’t change the past. All we can do is change the future. I would toss him out of our group, but we need his skill at spells, and he’s sorry. Everyone gets one major fuckup forgiven, I understand that we all make mistakes from time to time. From now on, I’ll handle our finances, and were going to make Azur get the monies worth out of that outfit. Somehow.” David grunted.

A question clawed at the back of my mind, interrupting my thoughts and demanding I ask it finally. “David, why do you use that foal friendly cursing all the time? It sound so stupid. You’re an adult! Swear properly!”

David blinked, grinned, and laughed for a few moments before shaking his head. “Look, that is proper swearing in my homeland. I’ve been thinking the same thing about everyone here. But let’s not get off topic.”

Huh. Well, okay then. I sighed and looked over at Azur as he sat by the cart and asked, “How the bucking hay did he even blow the money like that?”

“I didn’t ask.” David informed. “If you’re curious, go ask him. Just don't scream at him about it. We need to keep our little group’s outlook as positive as we can okay? Cool heads plan best.”

I stood up with a nod. “I think I will… Uh, is my shape holding up okay?”

“No, put your eyes back.” David said, then gave me a quick look over, “And the brand on your left side is gone too.”

I closed my eyes, reached for my magic, and focused on the red pegasus I had imagined being, doing my best to forget my real self. After a heartbeat I felt the magic tingle over my body in a wave, fixing the small holes in the shape I had chosen.

“There ya go. All flappy poned up.” David said, he nodded towards the cart. “Kiss and makeup.”

I did my best to ignore the fact that he had said ‘flappy pone’ and walked over to Azur.

He flinched as I walked up to him, ears drooping sadly. “I-Im sorry... “

“Yeah.” I grunted. “Look… I like David, he’s a great guy, and I owe him my life. He’s forgiven you, so I’m going to too. But you get one. Just one. Got that?”

I gave him the most serious look that I could pull off.

Azur nodded, flinching visibly. “Ja… und, ah… I… it won’t happen again. I know I have a problem mit impulse shopping, but this… I’ve never done something this bad before. I mean… I understand budgets… I… I thought I was good mit…”

“Look… I have to know, what exactly happened?” I asked sitting down, doing my best to get the angry out of my voice.

“Well,” Azur began, “I walked to the city, und this mare came up from behind me-”

“Really?” I asked surprised. “I don't remember seeing anypony pass us.”

Azur blinked at me curiously. “Was?”

“Well, someone could have, but I don't remember if they did.” I admitted. “I was practicing shapeshifting. So, well you know.”

“Ja, you must have just missed her.” Azur agreed hesitantly. “So, she’s chatty and was pretty creepy. Her eyes… She had these yellow-green eyes which…” he shivered slightly, “Anyways she told me if I took a road called Cherry Street, I would avoid the tourist district. So I did, because I knew I might decide to buy something small.”

I gave him a dirty look.

“N-nein! Not like, well, an expensive dress, but maybe something worth a few coppers, like a drink, or a cheap necklace.” Azur explained.

“Oh… I guess that wouldn’t have been a problem. I mean a lot of our cash was yours to begin with.” I admitted.

“Ja. But I didn’t want that, so I took her advice. Und then, after getting into the city gates I bumped into a merchant-” Azur’s eyes widened slightly, and a small smile formed on his face, “Right! Masked! He said to come see him later if I couldn’t get passage. He was ehrfürchtig schön! Er- very nice. He gave me a few silver in case I didn’t have enough.”

I blinked and tilted my head slightly. “Wait, somepony gave you money?”

“Ja.” He answered quickly, “I explained I was looking for passage out of the country und he gave me eight eagles after… I… I don’t know. I must have mentioned I might not have had enough… He also said to talk to him at his shop later if I couldn’t find a ship. We should go do that, I guess he owns a cargo ship or something.”

That was really, really suspicious. Who they hay just gives somepony else cash? Even if they are looking to get you to purchase a service from-

“So, someone told you to take a certain street, and on the way there someone else gave you money, and then you went down the street and found something you liked so much you had to buy it, losing most of the money?” I asked, just to confirm my suspicions.

“Ja, that's-” Azur stopped mid-sentence, grit his teeth, and slapped a hoof to his forehead, “That’s a con…”

I nodded, “Yep. Hay, I think that one’s even in my scout’s manual…”

My anger started to come back. I was still pissed off at Azur, but now also at whoever the buck was running the con. “It’s probably Masked… He makes sure you lose most of your money, and have to buy his services to get out, so he gets all of your money instead of a fair price… You know what...”

I stood up and reached into the cart for my saddlebags and shortsword, and tossed them onto my back. “I’m going to go get our money back. Distract David for a bit, then head to Masked’s shop. I’m going to see if I can’t steal our money back before you guys get there.”

“Er- is that a good idea?” Azur asked carefully.

“Probably not, but buck it. I’m mad, and I’ve been feeling useless for days now.” I grumbled as I buckled my gear’s straps on. It was hard with my hooves, how do pegasi manage this every day?

“I can’t stop you can I?” He asked timidly.

“Nope.” I replied finally getting my gear strait.

“... His shop is on Walnut. I think I can get you ten minutes…” Azur said in a defeated tone.

“Good girl.” I said giving him a pat on the shoulder before trotting off.

“I’m not a girl!” Azur called back in reflexive frustration.

“You blew fifty bits on a pretty dress. That is so a mare thing!” I called back before galloping off down the road.

As I sprinted for the city gates I learned something. The myths about Pegasi are totally true. They are way faster on the ground or in the air than a changeling, but way less maneuverable. It must have only taken me eight minutes to reach the gates at a full run.

As I approached the gate a plate-armored guard held up a hoof, “Halt!”

Not wanting to run onto his friend’s spear, I skidded to a stop.

“Ma’am, think carefully, why were you running at two of the king’s men while armed?” The guard demanded.

Oh. Cordyceps. Yeah that’s something I should have thought of.

“I’m traveling from Applewood.” I said, due to that being the first thing that popped into my head.

“Ah. Yes that would explain the weapon.” The guard with the spear said from behind his or her helmet. “Hold on, is that a mage blade? How are you using that without magic?”

“With my hoof?” I said/asked.

The first guard shook his head. “Things must have gotten even worse in the northern region… You lot normally have proper weapons.”

Ah ha! An opening! My training and what I had read in the scout’s manual sprang to mind. “Yes, there were two raids, back to back. We lost a lot of food and weapons. I was hoping to find a smith here who might be willing to make a deal for some food to get some proper weapons delivered.”

The guard floated her spear back up to a rest position and nodded. “Grim work that… You can be assured that his majesty won’t allow Applewood to remain defenseless for long. You do provide a pretty good amount of food to everypony else… Er… Try Tong’s place on Walnut, he might be willing to work out a deal and bill the crown.”

Hey! Nice, that’s where I wanted to go anyways. Score one for scout training!

“Thanks! Er, could you point me towards Walnut?” I asked timidly.

“Sure! Big place isn’t she? Head straight down the main road, third road on your left is Walnut, Tong’s shop is the fourth on the right.” Spear Guard said helpfully.

“Thanks again!”

I started to step forwards but the other guard shook his head, “One moment, why the running?”

Ponyfeathers! Uhhh….

“Oh. I kicked a wasp’s nest.” I lied.

“Ah tartarus…” The guard stepped aside quickly. “If you led them here and I get stung I will buck you right in the nose on your way out city!”

I giggled and gave him a nod, “That’s totally fair.”

Slipping into the city gates, I couldn’t help but be comforted by the stone everywhere. As long as I didn’t look up it felt nice and safe here. Maybe the inside of one of these buildings would be nice and comfortable!

I followed the guards directions, skirting around the few ponies out and about this evening until I reached Walnut… Street I guess. The sign labeling the road was broken. It looked like a pretty nice place. The road was wide, the buildings were all two stories or taller, and every single place had a carved wooden signboard advertising it’s business.

There were three smith's, two bakers, a carpenter… I hadn’t seen any place like this before in my life. It felt like if you needed it you could get it here. That was a pretty good feeling. There was a special kind of security that went with it.

A special kind of feeling that vanished as I spotted a squat three story building with a slanting shingle roof labeled with a sign bearing a laughing mask and a wooden shipping crate. That had to be the place. The question was how to get a look inside without being seen.

I scanned the building’s face with my eyes, flicking over each window. They were all closed, but didn’t seem to have any glass on them. I could probably fly up and open one, but unfortunately the street was pretty busy and I was a dark red. I wouldn’t blend in with the grayed wood roof tiles. However, there was an alleyway. Maybe there was a side door.

I ducked into the side alley, and sure enough there was a small wooden door set into the wall. With some luck, it might not be locked! I trotted forwards to gently try turning the doorknob and-

<...tak… to… l...ng.>

I froze in place. That was definitely channeling telepathy! Just not my own hive’s… It was fuzzy, a little hard to understand as more than a buzzing whisper. I closed my eyes and focused, they told us how to listen to other hives in school. I just needed to imagine I could understand them, reach for my magic, then forget that I couldn’t really understand them and-

<...he should have come here by now.> a voice said clearly.

Ah ha! There it was!

<Hypnosis is an art, not a science.> A second voice said firmly. <That’s why I had him also blow their money on that dress. The only place they can afford to go is Kiar, so if they don’t come here, we know where they are headed and alert the Swarm. Though if he does not lead them here, it’s because Three overdid her conjuration and his satisfaction broke him free.>

<You passed me his memories of his dearest lost possession. I recreated it as he recalled it being. I can not help if he remembers it better than it was.> A third voice objected.

<Yes I can, I know you. You added to it to fill that pitiful gap in your mind you call an ‘artistic spark’.> The second spat.

<That ‘gap’ ensnared the twink better than your hypnosis did. He would have willed his way through, if I hadn't made the fabric shiny as he was looking away.> The third complained. <The Queen lets me keep that spark for just that reason. It is useful.>

The first voice insisted. <The odds of an errant spell destroying the book are low. I do not understand the Queen’s fears. With only three of us firing->

<Perhaps, but do you want to fight that diamond dog without preparing the battlefield? No thank you.> The second and third chorused as one voice.

<But now we have to fight him and the mage at the same time!> The first protested.

<Not an issue, my hypnosis will still be in effect for the next three hours. I doubt I could make him fight for us, but I can easily shut him down with crippling depression.> The second scoffed.

One said snidely.

<It isn’t, but that unicorn is a walking bag of dark memories. Emotionally malleable as clay on a potter’s wheel, as long as you know his secret.> The second boasted.

I leaned in curiously. I had to know this.

<And that would be?> The first and third chorused as one.

<He’s never been loved, and wants to know what it’s like above all else. It drives him as strongly as a starving changeling. His parents ignored or hated him, his friends were more like acquaintances. It’s shaped everything about him. He wants only to be loved, held, and valued by another. All I need to do is bring up all the memories where he has failed to be valued, and he’ll collapse like a house of cards.> The second voice laughed, adding,

<That is different. We can engage the enemy as planned.> One and three chorused.

I stopped listening. That was enough. We were right in the middle of a carefully arranged trap, and Azur was likely already on his way here with David to try to get that “friendly merchant” to help us. I had to give the warning before it was too late!

Or… I could duck inside and slip out with the money and we could avoid the trap with the enemy none the wiser.

I closed my eyes and did my best to direct my thoughts to David, hoping he was in range. <David, it’s a trap. The whole thing was set up by the Swarm. There are three infiltrators here. Azur is hypnotised, make him stay outside. I’m going to try to get in and find our money. It sounds like they are all watching the front door, so I should be fine.>

I carefully turned the doorknob with a hoof and pushed it open a fraction of an inch. Before em was a short hallway. I could see a large room to the front which was well lit, and had the shadow of a unicorn cast onto the wall. The other side of the hallway ended at some stair moving upwards. All clear.

I pushed the door open, stepped inside softly as I could, and snaked my way to the edge of the hall to get a look into the common room. A quick look confirmed that all three changelings were in there. A pegasus, earth pony, and a unicorn, locked in silent communication.

My eyes passed over the rest of the room, searching for anything which looked like a bag of coins. The room was mostly empty, some old paintings line the walls, along with paper charts and lists. There was a single table and some chairs, probably for holding negotiations, and -

Ah ha! There, a large coinpurse, right on top of the table.

In the middle of the room. With the changelings between it and myself. Darn. If only had picked a unicorn shape…

On the other hoof, the bag was only a few meters from the door, and I was pretty quick on these hooves…

I squinted at the door, checking it for- Yes! It swung outwards! I could do this.

I took a deep breath, shook my wings, braced my rear hooves to sprint-

A green nimbus ripped my forwards into the room, slamming me back first into the table! The magic kept me pinned in place as the changeling in unicorn shape glared at me with burning eyes the same color as the ruby in her necklace.

“Hello sneakthief!” She spat, “You picked the wrong business to rob.”

Oh good she didn’t know who I was!

“Not bad Tw- Sable,” the pegasus guised ‘ling complemented, “Good eye.”

“This little punk apparently thinks her face is see through.” She chuckled darkly. “Well… I think I’ll make it see through. Do you know who I am? I cast spells-”

The door exploded inwards in a shower of splintered wood! A green, red, and white blur flew from the dust with a brass flash. The unicorn’s head jerked to the side with a loud crunch, she dropped to the floor, the magic holding me down vanishing in a puff of deep green sparks.

“I cast fist.” David growled.

14 Azure Oyster Cult

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Dusk - 26th of Megan '15 EoH - Evening

Forty thousand men and women every day. Minimum. That’s a workload, even if you do happen to exist in three temporal dimensions. The actual work still needs to be done at some point in your timespace which corresponds with the next point in their timeline.

It’s really rather easy to explain how I get it all done. A mortal exists from one point to the next moving a single direction along a single temporal dimension. If they drop a cup the next event they experience is that cup falling.

My kind exists in three temporal dimensions, free to move forward and back, left and right, even up and down, in time. Exactly what that actually allows us to do is very hard to explain to people who can’t do it. Suffice to say if I dropped a cup, I could step left and it falls one way, or right and it falls another, step back and try to not drop the cup (in theory), or step forward and see the cup hit the ground next.

As for up and down, well that’s not really something a one-dimensional entity is capable of comprehending, even in their own small way. That’s not to say that I’m completely beyond mortal understanding, I am able to move freely in time and possibility, but I can not change my own timeline.

Once something has happened, it is a fact. The fantasy of going back and changing something you yourself experienced is an impossibility, at least it is for us. Oddly enough mortals can do this while we can’t, but I digress.

Suffice to say that every day a staggering number of people die, and I process them all. One at a time, at the same time, the moment after they have passed on. To me however it’s not the same moment in time, I go from one to the next as a mortal wound, but in the overall timeline everything occurs simultaneously.

While it may take me 4 days of mortal time to process everyone who died on a single day, they all move on at the same point in time. A consequence of this for me is that I can be pretty far out of the loop, backlogged with souls to guide and judge, and sometimes, I miss events I am trying to keep track of.

See, things I am trying to keep track of become a part of my timeline. Meaning they happen in sequence with me. My time moving abilities will not help me simply undo a mistake or oversight I have made.

Which is why when the next soul on my list was a changeling’s I panicked.

I was tracking Jade, if she had been killed while I was doing my jo-

Oh, no, this wasn’t Jade. I made a mental luck to thank Auntie Chance for that later. This soul was much older and darker, tainted by a lifetime of cruelty and malevolence. One of Chrysalis's swarm, as revealed by the stray sparks of memories bleeding off her.

The Swarm, yet another thing I keep tabs on. For good reason.

How had this fragment of evil died? With luck somepony had decided to attack them preemptively and-

Oh, David punched the ever-loving shit out of-

I quickly constructed an avatar, in order to nearly have a heart attack. It seemed the only way to appropriately deal with the utter panic at the thought of David and Jade encountering the Swarm too soon!

I ran up to the deceased Changeling as it hovered in the nothingness, opened the way to the afterlife karmically appropriate, pointed towards the door, and blurted, “Hey you’re dead, afterlife’s that way. It’s an eternity of whatever you wrought in life, have to go bye!”

A quick jump to the left, and a step to the right brought me to the mortal plane. A quick thought and Jade’s soul shone like a beacon, guiding me right to a small storefront in Capsan. There Jade and David fought against two changelings, one a Sapphire Hive zealot, the other a Topaz Hive conscript.

Spellbolts flew, blades slashed, and apparently knuckledusters had already done their skull cracking. I breathed a sigh of relief, this was nothing those two couldn’t handle. My fears of the entire Swarm having suddenly blotted out the sun were all for naught.

Though there was one danger. Outside the storefront a quartet of guards were rapidly approaching, there to put an end to the fight. I recognized their leader, Axe Guard, a burly earth pony who had sent enough people to me that I would have a full three percent less paperwork to do once he kicked the bucket.

He was brutal and violent, but simple and just. Jade and David would be detained, but not harmed. Still, it would be best to stick around and make sure that they were in and out of jail as quickly as possible. A few small string pulls would let me speed them on their way.

I moved to the alleyway beside the storefront and let myself manifest completely. There would be a nice bar nearby, the perfect place to find a loose thread to pick at.

Azur - 26th of Megan '15 EoH - Evening

It’s hard to find yourself in a lower place than to be told to stay put when your friend is in danger.

David and I had barely finished proving to the guards that he wasn’t a danger and gotten a short way down the street, when he jerked to attention, grabbed a small box, and bolted off. I’d followed him for a few steps, asked what was wrong…

“Jade’s in danger. Stay here.” Five words, five hammer blows. Delivered in the manner of an angry father to their idiot kid.

Had I bucked up that bad? I mean, I knew that I had, but, enough to destroy all trust completely? I guess I had.

My first shot a real friends in… maybe ever. My parents had been too strict, they drove off anyone who might have been friends with me, except for the few ponies who wanted to use my talent. My peers in college? Don’t make me laugh, everypony just wanted to copy my work. The Applewood Guard and citizens? I doubt any one of them would ever do more than business with an ‘outlander’.

Jade and David had been my only shot. The traveling, the stories, the jokes, and teasing… All of that thrown away on a stupid impulse buy!

My friend in danger, but my help not wanted.

When was I ever wanted? Only when someone needed my services. Only when I could be useful. Never just for fun. Never for me.

I turned to look at the cart, he had some really effective weapons in there. Like those bombs. I could just end this, one pull of a string, and no pain ever again.

That sounded great, actually.

I moved around to the back of the wagon and started to dig. I’d seen him use one before. Small wooden pine box, four hooves wide, one hoof thick-

Ah, there we go.

I picked one of the bombs up with my magic and set it on the ground, started to unravel the string and then suddenly somepony put a hoof on my shoulder!

“Hey, don’t do that! What’s wrong?” A mare’s voice asked.

I turned to see a mare who was basically an albino giving me a super concerned look. It was a look that actually made me feel like someone gave a crap about me. Enough to make me decide to talk to her at least. Even if those jet black eyes were creepy as an abandoned convenience store in the fog.

“I… There's no point… I can’t make friends, or if I do I fuck up and lose them…” I sniffled, feeling even worse for feeling bad. “Life just… bucking…”

The mare nodded and sat down next to me with a long frustrated sigh, “Yeah my brother’s a pretty big assho- Eh, I mean, I’m sorry kid. You shouldn’t blow yourself up though.”

“But what’s the point?” I demanded morosely.

“Oh, no, don’t get me wrong!” The mare said insistently, “I totally get wanting to check out of life. By all means, go ahead, but blowing yourself up? A nice mare like you should know that will hurt like hell and could leave you alive but minus major sections of your body.”

I blinked in surprise, I really hadn’t wanted a lecture about hurting other people but… Wasn’t that the thing ponies did in these moments? “Uh, aren't people supposed to be mad when you try to-”

She nodded, “Yeah, but they fear death. Which is dumb. You don’t fear the end of a book do you? Hay no, you can only appreciate a story once it’s done. The only thing which sucks is when a story’s too short, or has a crappy ending.”

That made a surprising amount of sense, I guess. “But… After you die you don’t do anything ever again… I can see why that would be something to be afraid of… Even if it sounds nice right now.”

She smiled and shook her head a little. “There’s plenty after you die. Trust me. Seasons don’t fear the Reaper, nor do the wind, the sun or the rain. You can be like they are, or you can live your days fearing the once certainty of life, it will end.”

“But… What does that do to make life any better? All I want is a friend, or a coltfriend… But no. Twenty eight years of trying and nothing… No one cares about me.” I muttered.

She laughed and shook her head, “No, it doesn't. Not directly. You have to appreciate life before an acceptance of your mortality will help you enjoy it. You know what your problem is? You’re too hung up on that one part of life.”

“Huh?” I turned and looked up from the cobblestones, ears perking curiously, “What do you mean?”

She stood up and pointed out into the street where a few ponies were walking by, looking at the two of us curiously or walking off, minding their own business. “There are a million things you can see with your own eyes right now. Sure friends are great, but you know what’s also great? A good bottle of beer, a nice smoke, and something fun to read on a quiet afternoon. Seeing something created by your own two hooves. Or if you’re a romantic, the glow of a distant fusion reaction as it becomes visible over the horizon of a planet.”

“So, you’re saying-”

“I’m saying that you shouldn’t just kill yourself because one part of your life is crappy. Find something else to enjoy, and if there’s truly nothing for you in life, well… Don’t let people’s opinion on what’s right or wrong force you to be truly miserable for the rest of your days. Whether that means giving Life a raspberry and going you own way, or seeking out Death, that’s your choice as a sapient being.” She finished.

I mulled over her words for a few minutes. They made sense. It would have been stupid to just kill myself like that. I still liked magic, and coco, and pretty things… Even if they did get me into trouble sometimes.

It was like a light had suddenly turned on in my head. Yeah, I was really lonely, and pretty hurt, but there were still lot's of good things there for me.

“You’re right… What the buck was I thinking?” I demanded loudly, looking at the sky in the hopes of an answer from… Well, nature I guess.

“Easy,” the mare quipped, “you were thinking with your brainy bits flooded with hostile spellcraft.”

“I- wait, what?!” I exclaimed, eyes widening.

“Yeah. Slowed speech, miss-dilated eyes, obvious meat hooks in the soul. Someone hypnotized you, and it looks like they wanted you dead after doing whatever they got you to do. Don’t sweat it, I fixed it. You’re fine now.” She gave me a light smile, showing teeth brighter than anything else on her body.

“I… Oh… Then, I didn’t fuck up! She was right, it was a con, a good con!” I facehooved, the mare with the weird eyes! “Faust’s blood I didn’t think anything was magic because she didn’t have a horn!”

“Heh… Yeah you shouldn’t discount magic just because somepony’s not a unicorn.” the pale earth pony said with a small grin as a lighter and cigarette floated out of her mane in a nearly invisible, ghostly, white aura.

I blinked twice as she lit the cigarette and put the lighter back. “But you… how?”

“Surely you’ve seen non-ponies do magic.” She commented taking a short puff, “Anypony can learn a little bit. Unicorns are just better in general, plus for you having deep emotional connections and friendships increases the size of your mana reserves. Friendship is literally magic for you.”

Right. I had forgotten that… Though one thing was bugging me, “You know, those are really bad for you… Right?” I asked pointing a hoof at her cigarette. “I know you have that whole ‘don’t fear death’ thing, but those will kill you.”

She giggled and gave me a grin that was way too pleased with itself. “Ha! Oh my god I never get tired of that one! Irony, why are you so funny.”

I gave her a confused look of confusion. That’s the only way I could possible describe what my face did thanks to her statement.

“Heh… Anyways,” she said after a moment of awkward silence, “about that friends thing… I need to stay in town for business for a while. It’s been awhile since I got to go to a pub with a girl and chat about I don't know, guys, or whatever. What do you say?”

I blushed deeply. Seriously, why does everypony mistake me for a mare? I know I’m cute, and pretty, but something about me other than my junk has to say ‘colt’ right? “I, ah, actually should watch this cart… Thank you though. Oh, but um… I’m not a mare, I’m a colt.”

The pale mare blinked three times and stared at me closely then shook her head. “Bullshit!”

A half second later she flinched, “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. Trans-stallion, right… Sorr-”

“No, I’m a guy. Like, a cisgender guy.” I groaned holding ahoof to my face.

She raised an eyebrow and then shook her head again, “Sorry but no, you smell like a mare, look like a mare, sound lik-”

Why the buck is flashing people the only way to prove my gender? I sighed and turned around, lifting my tail briefly enough to prove my point, and turn back around to the prefect face to capture total bafflement.

“I- what, but… Um… okay…” she sputtered. A heartbeat later she shook her head violently, “Even your soul looks female! You’re a trans-mare, right?”

“No.” I groaned. “I’m a colt. I like dresses and pretty things, sure, but I’m not a girl, nor do I feel like a girl.”

“... Kay…” She said gently, face still frozen at completely confused.

Wait a minute did she just say that my soul looked female? As in she could see it? What?

“I’m going to go drink now, and contemplate metaphysical anomalies in regards to mortal’s genders…” The mare announced, quickly trotting off to a pub down the street.

I sighed and shook my head. Buck it. I should just pretend to be a mare from now on. Less complicated, and apparently less damaging to others psyches… Always liked the name Lilly better anyways…

I put the bomb carefully back into the cart, repacked everything the way it had been and sat down in front of the cart between the handrails. Jade and David would be back soon, and I could do my best to earn their friendship back once they arrived. I’d start with making sure nothing happened to the cart.

15 A night to wish you could remember.

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David - 26th of Megan '15 EoH - Evening - 12 hours before dawn

In the five years I had been trekking around this country, and in all the places I had ever been in, I had never been stopped by the law after a fight. The surprise at having an offer of the law jump into the battleground of a storefront brandishing a fireman’s axe and yelling, ‘Stop or I’ll chop your heads off!’ had shocked me so much that there was still one changeling alive. She owned her life to that dark blue earth pony and the element of surprise.

Those guards owed their lives to that as well, plus the gleeful determination in the axe wielding guard’s eyes. Also they were proper lawmen, but I might have attacked them if it had not been for the surprise. Getting hit in the hip by a goddamn magic laser tends to put a man into a bit of a raging frenzy.

I was thoroughly impressed by Capsan’s guards. Ten minutes from arrest to cuffed and sitting in a holding cell in a nearby barracks. More impressively not all in one cell, in adjacent cells. Though there were iron bars dividing the cells instead of solid walls, so one could reasonably conspire with one’s cellmates. Except they put the now demorphed topaz eyed changeling between us.

Points to the guards for knowing not to lock allies in the same cell. That’s pretty rare. At least for holding people pending charges.

My ears perked up as two voices echoed down the stone corridors.

“They are not bad guys. We shouldn’t lock them up.” A voice I recognized as the axe wielding guard grumbled.

“Axie, we are officers of the law. Not thugs.” the second voice said in the tired manner of someone who keeps saying the same thing futily.

“We know they are not bad guys.” Axie grumbled.

“You do not have the ability to visually detect good and evil people.” The second voice said in an equally tired manner.

“If they were, I’d have chopped their heads off.” Axie informed simply.

“Please wait here. Okay?” the second voice ordered irritably.

A grunt of acknowledgment was followed a few seconds later by a tall dappled gray and black unicorn stallion entering the cell block. He had a well kept, plane trimmed, nearly black-blue colored mane and tail, and to my honest surprise, was dressed. The well made starched and ruffled shirt and jacket looked fairly nobleish, combined with the overall prestige the unicorn radiated gave me a pretty good sense of who this was in relation to the situation.

“Good day, m’Lord.” I greeted politely.

The stallion took a fearful and surprised half step back. “My word! I had been told one of you was a diamond dog but I had no idea you were a purebred. Is your entourage within the city? I will have them quartered for the duration of this investigation.”

Purebred? Well, this was my first time hearing anything about that. “I’m afraid that only one of my companions is not within these cells sir. As for me being a purebred, I am afraid I do not know what you are talking about. I’m not from this continent.”

A second look of surprise, but this one far less fearful, covered the unicorns face for the barest of instances. “Ah! Well, I was unaware of any ships which could cross the sea, let alone of lands beyond it. I suppose it would be prudent to tell you that dogs of your… refined shape and less brutish build are called purebreds in these lands. Your people have a small nation to the far north called Canidia, and your blood line and those like it rule the land.”

I nodded, he thought his men had locked up a foreign noble. Seems legit. “I see, thanks for the explanation… I assume that is little known information in your kingdom.”

“Sadly yes, our education standards are… lacking.” The unicorn sighed. “Very well, on to business. Public brawling is a criminal offence in this city, with a minimum sentence for any individuals who were not protecting themselves or others. As I doubt this was a dule, I am relatively certain that one or two of you will be leaving in the morning. However, I need to hear the evening's events from each of you. For the record and to determine the innocents.”

“Aww, come on!” Jade whined, “Your friend said we were good people!”

“My ‘friend’ is a simpleton due to a poorly healed headwound. He is a genius with an axe, and nothing more. As such, as far as I am concerned he is just a weapon, not a judge of character and arbiter of the truth.” Mr. Noble sighed wearily.

“You say this a lot don’t you?” Jade asked with an apologetic eardroop.

“If he were not somehow the best guard in the Kingdom, I would force him to retire…” he muttered. Shaking his head slowly he resumed his working demeanor. “I am Duke Piebald, one of Capsan’s Knight-Captains. Pending your testimonies, and my decision, Royal justice will account in all balance. There will be no appeals, and no trial, as the offense is of trivial importance. Please state your names.”

“I am Lieutenant David Pierce.” I informed.

“Ah! A military dog, eh?” The Duke asked warmly.

“Formerly, I am now retired.” I explained.

“You do not look that old.” The Duke said suspiciously, raising one eyebrow.

“I’m a bit older than I look, m’Lord. Additionally, I am retired as the war I enlisted to serve in ended.”

“Ah. I see.” He nodded then turned towards Jade.

“Er, Jade Machetessdaughter.” Jade answered, giving me a family name for the first time ever.

And confusing me as to why it was Norwegian like. Eh, Probably just an artifact of Equish. Like the word boondoggle.

“Odd name for a pegasus.” The Duke commented.

“I’m from the area around Applew-”

“Oh. Sorry.” The Duke apologized in the manner of someone disgusted with the region being discussed. “Now, do you have a name, changeling?”

“Three of Three, Primary Fabricator of Infiltration Cell Fifteen.” she answered in a flat tone.

I felt myself have a mini heart attack! By all that is holy, please don't let the thing we're trying to escape be a mini Borg Collective!

This world was seriously making me seriously regret giving up drinking.

The Duke raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never met a changeling before, at least, not knowingly. Are all of your names numbers and titles?”

“Yes.” Three responded.

“I suppose if I had a hundred children I would just number them too…” The Duke mused. “I would hear the changeling's defense of her actions first.”

The topaz bug-girl remained sitting still for several seconds. Just as the Duke and I were sure she was going to not speak she looked up at the Duke. “We were an infiltration unite under orders from Her Highness to kill or slow these two and their companion. They were preserving their lives against our actions. Your justice-”

The Duke held up a hoof. “Miss, I advise you, if you are claiming to be a part of the Swarm to allow your friends to go free, the penalty for working for the Swarm is execution.”

“Your advice is irrelevant.” the changeling replied instantly. “We state factual information upon your request.”

The Duke looked over to Jade, who thankfully was still in her pegasus shape, though a bit singed and cut in a few places. “Is she telling the truth?”

Jade nodded. “Yeah. They hypnotized our friend Azur, and got him to lose our traveling money to another one of them-”

“Negative. That was this one’s function in the operation.” The changeling interrupted. “This one applied its alchemic talent to separate their companion from their money, ensuring they would come looking for it or be forced to take only a rout of our choosing. These two were in the process of successfully retrieving their money upon our capture.”

The Duke narrowed his eyes dangerously. “If this is the truth, why are you so cooperative?”

“This one was conscripted.” the changeling answered.

“Ah.” The Duke nodded sadly. “I’ll have the headsman make it quick.”

That didn’t settle right with me. It’s one thing to kill in battle, it’s one thing to kill a dangerous prisoner, but to kill someone just for being forced to fight?

“Your Lordship, if I may?” I asked.

“Yes?” He asked turning to face me.

“Seeing as how she’s apparently a conscript, perhaps she can be let free?” I asked diplomatically.

“No.” The Duke sighed. “There’s nothing of her left but the barest scraps. Killing her is a mercy. Additionally, the law is very clear. All members of the Swarm who are captured are to be killed.”

“This one agrees. It is a mercy.” The changeling said in a frighteningly honest and hopeful tone.

I winced.

“The Swarm links their minds together irreversibly,” The Duke elaborated, “Without others of the Swarm nearby she is in pain, and any personality she was allowed to keep is essentially gone.”

I winced again. Maybe there was something I could do. “I see… I am a surgeon, would you permit me to-”

“Are you a mage in addition to a surgeon?” He asked.

I sighed and looked at the topaz bug for a few moments. Now that I thought about it, she did look more like an injured animal and less like an injured person. “Sorry, but no.”

“Then I am afraid it is beyond your purview.” The Duke said in a sad but polite tone. “Regardless, the law is clear. I assume the nearly four hundred Lions found at the scene is the money you were separated from?”

Four hundred? My ears perked up at the number. I could try to get all of it but-

No, no. The law was here and probably quite observant. “Yes… But not all of it. I’m not sure how much we had exactly. Jade? Do you know?”

Jade shook her head. “I can't remember how much Azur said h spent or we had left.”

“The money is predominantly of our ownership.” The changeling informed. “It was used to acquire the needed items for our operation. They may have it.”

The Duke nodded, satisfied. “Very well. I will have half of the money given to you my good sir upon your release in the morning. The rest will go towards paying your fines for the brawl and property damages.”

“Mmm…” I winced slightly, “Sorry about the door. Friend’s life at stake and such.”

“Understandable,” The Duke said, nodding, “but still something which must be paid for. Very well, my final decision is thus: Mr. Pierce and Ms. Machetessdaughter will be allowed to go free within the morning. As foreigners, you are to leave Capsan by sundown of the same day and may not return for ninety days. Three, as a member of the swarm you will be executed at dawn.”

“Thank you.” Three said in a creepily pleased tone.

“Ah, yeah… Thanks...” Jade said scratching behind her head.

I will leave you to your own devices.” The Duke informed turning around and starting to walk off. “Oh, right. If for some reason you choose to attempt escape, wards around the cells will let the guards know your cells are vacant. If you experience any form of trouble, a shout will be heard by whoever is on prisoner detail and they will come to assist you. Good day.”

A few seconds later and the sound so his hooves clicking on the stone floor faded away.

That’s when it hit me. “Oh fuck me right in the ear!” I cursed, slapping my face as hard as my hand would allow.

Jade yelped and turned to face me through Three’s cell, “What!?”

I groaned and slid down the bars to sit on the floor. “I ordered Azur to sit at the cart with no explanation of him being hypnotized! He’s probably still there completely depressed and thinking I hate him so much I wouldn’t let him help save a friend.”

“Oh… ponyfeathers…” Jade groaned sadly.

“You said it.” I sighed. “I hope he’s okay.”

Azur - 26th of Megan '15 EoH - Late Evening - 10 hours before dawn

Faithfully sitting beside the cart for two hours had made me realize two things. First, Jade and David were probably arrested for fighting, and were in jail for the night. Second, it was literally testicle retractingly cold in Capsan at night.

I really, really wanted to stay with the cart. But since my friends were probably spending the night in a cell, it would be best to just move the cart back to our spot we were chilling at outside the walls, and meet them there tomorrow. On the other hoof, it was still really really cold!

Also that pub the pale mare had gone to was looking all cheery and warm and glowy… Ah hay, the cart would be safe long enough for me to go in and get warm. I looked around the spookily empty streets, nodded to myself, retrieved my saddlebags, tucked Clover’s book inside them just in case, tossed the bags on and trotted down the street to the pub.

As I walked inside I noticed it was way nicer than Applewood’s inn! The wood was stained a nice color, it was super clean, there were only a few customers, nice brass lamps, and cool tapestries to decorate the walls. I’d only been in for a few seconds when somepony called, “Hey! It’s girly-colt!”

It took me a few seconds to realize somepony had been addressing me. Looking up I spotted the pale mare from before, sitting at a table near the bar and looking pretty tipsy…

She waved me over, and not wanting to be rude I walked over and sat in one of the chairs at the table.

She gave me a happy grin. “Guess what?”

“Er, what?” I asked.

“Alcohol!” She sang sliding a bottle over to me with her hoof. “I have no idea what this is, but it’s totally actually magic!” She giggled.

“Er, I just came in to warm up.” I said gently.

“This totally warms you up. I am radiating warm fuzzies!” She insisted.

“I don’t even know your name… I mean it’s not a good idea to just drink with stranger-”

“Call me Dusk! Or Death. Ether works! But seriously, this stuff, is amazing. I am coming back here forever!” She smiled before downing a small shot glass of the pale amber drink. “Oh yeah, what's your name again?”

“Er… just call me Lilly.” I muttered.

That drink did look good… I accepted the offered bottle, and using my magic tried just the tiniest sip.

I felt my eyes instantly dilate. “Woah…” I gasped in delighted surprise.

“I know!” Dusk giggled.

I decided I needed a glass of this stuff. “Uh, can I have a gla-”

“Dude, buck that! Butterscotch! Bring my friend a bottle please!” Dusk called towards the bar.

I eeped, “Oh no you don’t need to spend money on-”

“Not spending money. Business deal. I get all of these I like, he gets another year per bottle.” Dusk said idly before perking back up, “Oh yeah! I solved that whole girl’s soul thing!”

I blinked twice as I looked at her in complete bafflement. “Wait so you can like, actually see-”

“Uh, yeah!” Dusk said with an eye roll. “Did you see my flank?”

“No.” I admitted. “ I didn’t catch your cutiemark.”

“Well I can see souls. And yours is like all but one millionth female. And I figured out why.” Dusk said as a buttery golden yellow stallion set another bottle on the table. “Thanks Butterscotch.”

“My pleasure, Ma’am! I assume your friends drinks are on you?” The stallion asked hopefully.

“Yep! And keep them coming!” Dusk said beaming a grin. Turning back to me she gave her head a small shake, blinked, then continued, “So, you were going to be one of a set of triplets!”

My jaw dropped open, “How did you know that? They were stillborn. Father never told anypony!”

“I told, you, I see souls. I reversed the … Buck it, I did magic. Anyways, because you Germanes have bucked up DNA, the DNA of three ponies each in fact your body had room for their still developing souls, which transferred to the growing you, and which you absorbed. So you are a mix of yourself and the sisters you never had. Thus, your soul looks female.”

Dusk picked up another small glass and slugged it back. I decided that I actually needed that bottle, not just wanted it. Opening the bottle I took a deep long drink from it.

Honestly, Dusk’s explanation would explain so much… “So like, I’m not just me?”

“No! You’re just you. But you’re special! You’re like, laterally three ponies put together. Blenderized into one. From what I can see, you would have died a few months later in the womb without the extra soul power to keep you going.”

I giggled, “Did you just say laterally?”

“Shut up!” Dusk said with a deep blush. “I’m drunk… somehow… So I totally made a deal with Butter over there! This is awesome! Never got to be drunk before.”

I was about to say something when Dusk cut me off, “So Lily, wow even your name’s girly… Uh, you’re interesting and stuff. Let’s talk for a while. Shoot the breeze and shit.”

I thought about it for a second then nodded, “Well okay… But only until I’m warm.”

“Awesome!” Dusk grinned tipsily.

Jade - 26th of Megan '15 EoH Night - 9 hours before dawn

Things had gotten pretty quiet in the cells. David didn’t have much to say after a few hours and had curled up to sleep. Since Three over there hadn’t said anything, let alone moved, I was basically alone. It was kind depressing.

I’d decided on curling up on top of the little straw mat in my cell, since it was warmer than the floor and bat a small rock back and forth between my hooves. I made a little game of it, like a mini one-‘ling soccer match.

Bat the rock one way, stop it mid-flagstone, bat the other way. Jade takes the ball down the center field, she shoots…. Oh! And a deflection by Jade! Nothing but wild action here at Versus Yourself Stadium!

“Jade.”

I yelped as the voice broke the complete silence, hearts racing in surprise I noticed Three had moved! She had put herself right up against the bars, looking directly at me.

“You’re name… is… Jade…” She said slowly. “Bad… Thought. Don’t use… real name… shifted… You… young?”

It was like every single word hurt her to say it. I couldn’t help but wince. “Y-yes.”

“Hard… see… What… kind?” she asked, face pulling oddly as she spoke.

“I’m shifted. You wouldn’t see anyways.” I said carefully. “But, I’m a scout.”

“I’m… sorry… You’re home… All should know… shifting.” She muttered softly, head slumping until her head hit the bars of the cell.

I frowned, watching her head pathetically sort of wedge between to bars. “You’re not okay… My friend’s a doctor, I can-”

“No Hive Link… dying… need… can do nothing.” She explained slowly.

“Oh…” I shuffled my forehooves slowly against the floor.

“Speech… hard. Want… talk… mind speech… okay?” Three asked.

I nodded and with a quick pulse of my magic reopened my mind to the frequency they had been using before.

<Good.> Three replied, her mental voice sounding stronger, but still decaying, and also hollow.

<Diamond… was isolated from the Hives. More so than all… but the Emeralds.> Three said making me wonder what she meant. <Most Hives, have more than one colony. They are linked. Communicate. Part of a larger whole. But not yours. A shame. Your's was… special. Do you know our people’s history?>

<No! Not your hive… all of… all of us. Our common… heritage.> Three elaborated.

<Oh…> I thought for a few moments then shook my head. <No.>

<The Swarm… knows. She’s kept it alive. The knowledge, our heritage. Her mother was there. Our people were not ever supposed to be what we are now.> Three said her tone shifting to more of a lecturing sort of voice. <In the beginning, only the Queens were like us… with… minds… personas. Other castes were just beasts, like drones still… are. All of us worked as one… Hive. One people. Unified by… singular mind… Overmind…. and entity. She dosen’t know what it was, she never saw it, or heard it.

<Her mother did. Served it for thousands of years… Our kind lived north of… Equestria. Those lands are ice now, but once… a jungle> Three paused to send a torrent of memories over our link, showing me thousands of details.

There were massive trees covered in a thick purple moss. A million kinds of animals everywhere you looked. The ground was covered in lush plants of all kinds. But the ground itself was strange, it was… fleshy… gray… alive.

<This was our home. Not that any but the Queen’s knew it.> Three continued. <A new Queen was born one day. She was… damaged. Her eyes were white. Your hive descended from her.

<She could not hear the Overmind, and it ordered her to be slain. She escaped, fled south, and took refuge in Equestria. The ponies knew her as Clover. She... grew strong, powerful, and one day returned to the First Hive, and slew the Overmind.

<It’s death throws changed us, the lower castes gained our minds. Our jungle began to die. The Queens ruled us… harshly. They saw Equestria a… a...a… threat… There were Crusades. They failed. The Princesses scattered the Hives across the known world. We are… better now. All Queens are children of the older… culture. Most of us are… civil. If not peaceful.

<But She is different. C-c-c-cryis… She remembers… Her mother lived very long… Died only… thousand years ago. She has her mother’s memories… She has… found… She knows how the Overmind… worked. Want’s to return us to… before. She can’t yet. Not powerful… enough. But the book. Clover’s book. Spells… they would... doom us all.> Three finished.

<W-why would you tell me this?> I asked, shaken by the revelation she had given me. <Aren’t you working for her?>

She wasn’t lying. It’s not possible to lie when speaking mind to mind.

<Never wanted… to work for Her. She can force you… Do not look Her in the eyes. Book… if She is about to… get it. Destroy it. Don’t destroy… if you can… Power is best in the right hooves.> Three finished, slumping against the bars even more.

I nodded slowly.

<Good.> Three said faintly.

My eyes widened in surprise. <You can do that?>

<Yes. Workers of my Hive special… telepathy is… multi-use. Do you want->

<Please!> I begged. I needed to know how to shift properly! Sun’s light that would solve so many of our problems!

I felt a small surge of memories pass through our link. It wasn't like the sending of pictures of feelings that anyling could do. This was different. Instead of just showing me something, the memories sort of stuck. It was like I suddenly knew things, but had always known them.

I could feel that I knew how to properly change my shape. Not anything more than how to get a pony, griffon, or zebra shape right on the first try, but it was still a huge improvement! It had been taking me three shifts minimum to do the basic pony.

<Thank you! This will save me so much energy!> I exclaimed gratefully.

Three said faintly, her head unlodging from the bars as she slumped down onto the floor.

<Azur? Don’t worry too much. I’m sure he’s fine.> I said comfortingly as I felt the link break off.

I waited a few seconds, watching Three just lay there on the floor. With a concerned grimace I stuck a hoof through the bars and touched her chitin just below her neck. I could feel her hearts beating very slowly.

Letting out a relieved sigh, I scooted back to my rock, and resumed trying to pass the time.

Azur - 26th of Megan '15 EoH - Night - 9 hours before dawn

“So I’m like, completely done, you know?” I said shakily, leaning on the table to support myself as Dusk nodded dizzily. “Nice dress, makeup, jewelry… so pretty! I set up a camera to get… picture for... you know. Stuff. And my father comes in-”

“Oh come on!” Dusk exclaimed angrily, “Every bucking time you look cute he beat your ass?”

I shook my head. “No, that time he set my tail on fire.”

Dusk jumped up from the table angrily, and put her hooves under it to try and throw the table. But it didn’t budge. She looked under the table and nodded slowly. “Nailed to the floor… clever bar pony… clever…”

I nodded and finished off the last of my bottle.

Dusk took a small black notebook out of her wherever she kept things and opened it. “So this no-dick jackoff mother fucker’s name is, like, what?” she asked.

“Oh… Uh…” I closed my eyes to try and remember his name. Things were really slippery. I think somepony covered my memories in bacon grease. “Verhärtetes Herz.”

“Verhärtetes Herz,” Dusk mumbled as she scribbled a note, “give… extra… fire…”

“Oh! No! Like, extra scorpions of fire!” I said quickly. Because holy crap that was an awesome idea. I want a fire scorpion. That would be bucking episch!

Dusk smiled and gave me an impressed little nod, scribbled her note out and muttered, “Extra… giant... flaming… scorpions… made… of… plague… rats. There!”

Dusk put the book back away and stumbled to her hooves then walked over and put a hoof on my shoulder. “Hey, you’re… awesome. And you totally need friends, like, all the friends. We should go hang out. You know, go do something.”

I nodded slowly, “Okay… but like, what?”

She shrugged, stumbling back a few inches. “I don't know… Oh! Wait! We should get you some piercings.”

I smiled, that seemed like a great idea! “Yeah! I’ve always wanted earrings.”

Dusk blinked twice then giggled, “Okay, we’ll get you those too!”

Something felt a bit odd about-

Oh, right! “But wait… we're in Stalliongrad. You know… infections. Bad medicine.”

Dusk rolled her eyes. “Duh! That’s why we’re going to my friends place in Neighpone.”

She trotted a few steps over towards the door, so I followed her.

“But how will we get to Neighpone? It’s like, weeks away by boat.” I asked, feeling confused. I think.

“Oh yeah.” Dusk blushed deeply and then turned and held out a hoof to me. “Here babe, take my hoof. You’ll be able to fly.”

I giggled happily at being called babe and grabbed her hoof. Suddenly there was a sharp pinch in my stomach, and-

Wait… what? Why were there skyscrapers everywhere? “Did somepony plant good building seeds?” I asked curiously.

Dusk snickered and almost fell over, catching herself on a trashcan. “No. I like, teleported us. To the shop!”

“Oh. Okay.” I said dizzily.

Dusk got onto her hooves and walked into a shop in front of us. It had a really cool glowy pink sign. But I couldn’t read it because I’d forgotten to renew my translation spell. Good thing Dusk knew Germane.

I followed her inside just in time to see Dusk smile and wave to the tiny Neighsian pegasus mare behind the counter, “Hey! It’s a Shiruku-chan!”

“Dusk!” The tiny pinkish and bluish, silky looking mare greeted with a smile, before frowning quickly. “Are you drunk? How?”

“Magic booze! I’ll get you some!” Dusk giggled. “My jerk brother’s kept up his part of the bargain, right?”

Shiruku nodded, “Yes… Who's your friend?”

“Oh that’s Azur. He needs some piercings.” she replied quickly.

“He?” Shiruku asked looking at me in surprise.

I nodded. “Yeah… but I think I’m just gonna crossdress forever. Cuz I keep explaining I just look girly and nopony really believes me.”

Shiruku nodded and frowned, “I uh, normally don’t do people while they're drunk… But I’ll make an exception if you give me another bargain, Dusk.”

“Sure! Name it.” Dusk hicked.

“Eternal youthful beauty for anypony I wed.” Shiruku said quickly. “I don't want to not show my age while somepony I love withers.”

Dusk blinked and tilted her head. “I didn’t do that when I got my brother to do that for you? I’m sorry. Done. I’m gonna stop by his place later anyways… Now make him cuter and sexier!”

“Yeah!” I giggled, then frowned as I wondered why the corners of my vision were going fuzzies.

Shiruku smiled happily, “Oh! So you want some nice earrings, and some fun piercings? That’s different, I always like working on cute stallions… Still want the deal though.”

Dusk waved a hoof dismissively, “It’s fine I’ll do it. Kit him out top and bottom, but you know, keep it cute.”

“Wait, bottom?” I asked cautiously. That didn’t sound right...

“Don’t worry it won't hurt.” Shiruku chuckled. “Magic tools, everything will even be all healed up right away.”

“Oh. Okay.” I sad as Shiruku let me over to a small bunchy sort of table.

“So, platinum, silver, gold, colored steel?” She asked.

“Uh… gold? Cuz silver blends with my coat.” I answered.

“Alright, I’ll let you pick the ears, I’ll do the rest. Don’t worry, I’m an artist, it will be great. So for the ears… I think some simple hoops would be nice. Do you want permanent rings or changeable ones?”

The fuzziness got way more fuzzy, and I answered her with something, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was.

David - 26th of Megan '15 EoH - Late Night - 5 hours before dawn

It took me about three minutes after waking up to remember why I was in a jail cell. I’m not a good waker, not without coffee. Even after 5 god damned years I still seriously needed some coffee to get going.

There was sadly absolutely nothing to do. I couldn’t even check what time it might be, because the cells did not have any windows. Jade appeared to be asleep, and what's-her-number was just sort of laying on the floor. Needless to say it was basically dullsville.

Normally I am quite good at entertaining myself. Passing time is easy when you can do something. It’s hard where there is nothing to do. I’m a man of action. I read, create, repair. Not sit around.

Well, that’s not quite true. I had been getting into that whole video game thing before I came here. That’s different though, it’s like being in the book instead of just reading it.

I briefly considered doing some philosophical thinking, but reconsidered when I remembered that philosophy is arbitrary nonsense supported by absolutely nothing other than the opinions of some guy, and thus a waste of my time.

Then I debated trying to scientifically prove a given philosophy to try and actually verify it. Only to realize that the conclusions and suppositions of philosophy can’t actually be scientifically tested. Then I realized I was sitting in a jail cell on a planet full of talking ponies and creatures from Greek mythology. Thus, all philosophy was complete and utter bullshit, with the possible exception of ancient Greek stuff, as they apparently know this place was a thing.

In my humble opinion, this probably meant that the old show Stargate SG-1 was on to something. Maybe somewhere around here there was a Egypty place and I could find a gate. Not to go home but to pick myself up some god damn coffee before heading back over here.

“Dog…” a feeble voice whispered dryly.

I loved canine years, I knew exactly where that sound had come from. Turning to face the-fuck-was-her-name I gave her a gentle nod. “Yes?”

“I am… sorry.” she apologized, looking at me with one eye half open the other shut in a pained, twitching manner.

I frowned and did my best to visually inspect her. If Jade’s behavior and body language were typical of her species, this changeling was in extreme pain. “I’m sorry too. I wish I could help you.”

“It is… fine…” she groaned. “I… wish I didn't… shoot you. But…”

“It’s okay.” I said reassuringly. “You were being controlled. I understand.”

“I… won’t make… morning.” She groaned. “My Hive… is… free still. Is in… Zebraca. Near Qus. If you… go there… can you get… someone to take… something to the Hive… for me?”

“Of course.” I said as I moved closer to the bars to accept whatever she was intending to give me. This wouldn't be the first last request I had fulfilled for a dying soldier. Hopefully it would be the last.

The changeling made a sound which I was pretty sure was a death rattle, but then spat a large glob of greenish mucus on the ground in front of her.

“Ah!” I yelped, “Er, Just lay still, that’s probably impo-”

“Meant to do that…” She said with the feeblest of chuckles.

A second later her horn glowed dimly with a green aura, and the green gunk bubbled, flowed, and deformed into a small round disk. To my amazement it hardened into a silver medallion with an inscription in what I presumed was the changeling language on it.

She kicked the medallion through the bars of my cell and informed, “This will let… my sister know… I died free.”

I nodded and picked the medallion up. It felt like silver too. “How did you make this?”

“Alchemy… Zebras… showed us… Dross is … good… for transmuting. Only lasts… fifty years… though.” She said, before spitting up a second glob.

I watched as she formed the glob into a faceted emerald, spat up more fluid, and started to slowly piece together a rather elegant emerald necklace. The emerald was held in the center of a slightly asymmetrical gold arrowhead-like shape. It looked something like elvish jewelry from the Lord of the Rings movies.

The changeling slid the necklace through the bars after making a small silver chain for it. “For… the mare… with you… Tell her… I’m sorry. This necklace… will go well with… dress.”

“Azur is actually a colt, but I’ll tell him.” I said gently picking the necklace up.

It also felt real. How about that! Magic, fuck yeah!

“R-really?” The changeling asked.

“Yes. He flashed me to prove it.” I admitted with a sigh.

“Well… I hope he is okay… Hypnosis has… bad side effects.” she groaned.

I hoped he was okay too, but at the moment consoling the dying person was at the top of my priorities list. “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s out there doing something girly-”

Azur - 26th of Megan '15 EoH - Late Night - 5 hours before dawn

“I have no idea where we are!” Dusk shouted.

Whenever we was it was full of pulsing music, and lots of pastel humanoids. Also a crap ton of flashing lights. I seemed to have hands. “Why the hay do I have hands?” I asked loudly.

“Ugh! I knew we shouldn’t have gotten into a hooffight with the me in the mirror!” Dusk grumbled.

David - 26th of Megan '15 EoH - Late Night - 5 hours before dawn

“-like his mane.” I finished comfortingly, as the changeling nodded, her half open eye falling shut.

She lay still for a long time. Long enough for me to realize she had passed. I sat down and took the medallion out of my pocket and turned it in my fingers. It’s an odd day when you take a letter home for your enemy.

Azur - 27th of Megan '15 EoH - Early Morning - 3 hours before dawn

“Wait… where are we now?” I asked trying to ignore the buzzing pain behind my eyes.

“My apartment.” Dusk grumbled, kicking some boxes off a ratty looking couch with a hoof.

“Oh… why are we here?” I asked.

“So I can sleep off this hangover… holy hell these suck… Worth it though.” She muttered flopping onto the couch.

“Oh… Okay. Where should I go?” I asked feeling like the left half the floor was moving up while the right half was moving down.

“Like, your place. Duh.” Dusk grumbled. Her ears perked up. “Oh yeah. Right. You’re a mortal. Hold on.”

Dusk waved a hoof, and a shimmering way to bright glowing doorway slid up from the floor to my left. “Take that back to your cart… I had fun… Enjoy um… whatever the buck we did. Oh and feel free to keep that jewelry and shit. You deserve it.”

“Jewelry?” I asked looking down to find myself sporting a few nice bracelets, mostly gold, but a few silver, some with really pretty designs. One was even all awesome-glowy! “Oh yay!”

“Ow!” Dusk whined. “No so loud… I’ll pop in to do this again sometime, okay? It was fun, now please go. I need to bed…”

I nodded, stumbled, and staggered through the shining door, walking face first into David’s wagon.

“Ow! … Faust verdammt…” I grumbled, my nose pressed into the spokes of a wheel, and plot sticking up in the air.

On second thought, this was actually pretty comfy. I closed my eyes and instantly fell asleep.

16 Get over yourself and be yourself dammit!

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Jade - 27th of Megan '15 EoH - Late Morning

“Miss, wake up. You’re free to go.”

I blinked my eyes sleepily open to see a shiny silver helmet staring at me through the open cell door. I also instantly realized that rocks are super uncomfortable sleeping places for non-lings.

“Ow…” I groaned, standing up from the floor and shaking off the stiffness.

“Tell me about it.” David grumbled, popping his neck.

The guard stepped aside to let me walk through the door, and gestured towards the cell block’s entrance as he started to lead us out.

“The Knight-Captain had decided to be lenient, since this is your first offense.” The guard mentioned as he led us up the spiral staircase towards the surface. “Normally, one of us would be assigned to follow you to be sure you leave the city prior to nightfall. Instead, you are to respect this deadline on your own. I also must inform you that the penalty for being in a place you are judicially banished from before the sentence expires is facial branding.”

I felt my ears stand up straight in alarm. “Sun’s light! Who the hay decided to escalate from go away to face burning!?”

“King Bit Gnasher the Terrible.” The guard replied, levitating a ring of keys from his belt in preparation for the upcoming door. “Our current Liege’s great grandsire. The law is harsh, but fair, and with purpose.”

David nodded slowly. “It’s better than my homeland’s justice system. A light punishment for violating civil law, and a harsh one for violating a court ruling. That’s way better than well… Let’s see two people died, and while it was self defense I did escalate the situation, and I did rush to defend you, Jade, after you called for help. Legally that would be first degree murder of two people, and I did it with a weapon illegal for carry and use by federal law… So, we’re looking at a minimum sentence for life for me, possibly execution, and as an accomplice, you would have been-”

I held up a hoof to cut David off, “I get it… I… I guess I don’t know much about the world do I?”

David shook his head gently. “No, but it’s fine, you’re young.”

“Aye, she looks about twenty to me.” The guard comment as he stopped to unlock the door. “Don’t fret not knowing too much Miss. You really only start to feel like you have a handle on life after your first century.”

“Humm…” David curiously scratched his chin, “That reminds me, I’m not from around here… How long is your average life? For a pony I mean.”

The guard pulled open the door and waved us into the small entry room of the guardhouse we had been processed in yesterday. “Well, I hear it’s longer in other lands, but most ponies who can avoid dying in battle make it to two hundred and thirty. Most other species don’t live as long, I’ve outlived a few Zebra friends. Hay, I actually was friends with a changeling once. Poor bastard only lasted for about twenty years.”

I nodded sympathetically, “Yeah, harvesters definitely get the short end of the stick…”

“Aye, that’s what he said he was. Least you know plenty about changelings. Good thing to keep yourself well versed on them. What with the Swarm frequenting these parts.” The guard gave us both a polite nod, during which I caught a flash of peach from behind his eye slits. “Good day to you, and remember, out by twilight, or be branded an outlaw. Literally.”

I giggled nervously and nodded, quickly trotting out of the guardhouse. Sure I could just shift the braid away, but I’ve seen what a glowing rod does to pony skin. That poor smith’s apprentice looked like he wanted to die right there.

“Oh yes,” The guard said as I zipped out, “Your possessions are in this bag, sir.”

“Thanks.” David grunted.

After putting a few long steps behind me I turned to look over my shoulder at David, ducking through the doorway to leave.

“Okay, so, we need to find Azur and get on a boat.” I said, determined to finally get to safety.

David nodded stepped over to me, opened a large canvas bag and took out his belt, strapping it back onto his waist along with his knife, and the little brass punching thing.

“That we do. I hope he didn’t leave town. The guards won’t let us back in.” He said wearily as he tucked the large bag of coins into a jacket pocket.

“That’s no problem! I’ll just shift into somepony else and walk back on inside. You know, if we don’t find him here.” I replied proudly.

Three’s gift was going to be so handy! Now that I understood the basics of shifting, I had a few ideas of things I wanted to play around with. Like keeping my own wings while having a pegasus’s body.

What? Pegasi wings feel clunky.

“Huh.” David mused, stroking his chin.

“Not used to having somepony helping who can be anypony are you?” I asked with a grin.

“Nope. Disguises are… Not really something my people are good at. The best we do, that I’m aware isn’t just a movie thing, is to steal an enemy uniform and act like we belong.” David commented.

“Uniform?” I asked, “You mean where you live people label themselves by like, town and stuff?”

He shook his head and chuckled, “No, just by nation, army, and organization. Not all the time, just while on duty. See the patches and ribbons on my jacket? It’s my old uniform jacket.”

“Oh, well… what do you do to infiltrate a town?” I asked as David started to walk towards the main street.

“No idea. I know it’s done, but I never was with the OSI, CIA, FBI, or any other three letter spook agency.” He commented. “Anyways, Azur, with luck maybe he’s kept the cart where I left it and him to get you.”

“Humm… It is pretty heavy, and he’s pretty tiny. He might not be able to pull it.” I commented. “Then again, magic.”

“Right.” David answered.

We turned the corner onto the mainstreet together, and immediately noticed a small crowd a short ways down the road. Gathered around-

“Oh… god…. dammit…” David groaned rubbing his face with one hand. “He was hypnotized…”

“And we left him alone with all of the stuff…” I groaned realizing what David was talking about like a slap to the face.

“While he’s under some kind of power of suggestion…”

We both took off towards the cart at a quick run, hoping he wasn’t selling off or giving away crap at random to ponies asking for it.

The ring of ponies was only two layers deep. I quickly pushed through the two lines, ignoring the angry objections. “Excuse me, this is our cart! You can’t ju-”

The first thing I saw was Azur’s surprisingly bubbly plot, jammed up into the air thanks to his rear legs being locked strait as a board. Then I saw the bright yellow sundress he had on. His face smushed into the wagon’s spokes. The smell of somepony who had far too much mead last night clouding the air.

“Ha!” I erupted, unable to laugh properly due to the sheer humor before me.

David caught up a second later, shook his head and knelt down to give Azur a sharp shake of the shoulders. “Come on Azur,its up and at 'em!”

A few of the crowed started to nervously back off as David came into their view. I couldn’t really blame them. I mean, David was an exception to the ‘dog smash puny pony!’ rule.

David gave Azur another shake before stopping dead and exclaiming, “Where the hell did you get piercings?”

“Wait, he got piercings?” I asked curiously trotting closer to take a look at-

A glint of gold under his tail caught my eye as I moved. “Oh… my… Faust…” I gasped, falling over as I erupted into laughter.

David turned around to give me a confused look, “But you couldn’t see his face from that ang- Jade… are there piercings at the other end?”

“Yeeeep!” A lime colored mare giggled.

David groaned and held his head in his hands. “I am not removing those if he doesn't remember getting them…”

“Oh, he won't.” The same pony giggled. “He’s been there since sunup, I watched him collapse into the drunk sleep as I set up the cafe.”

“But you didn’t help him up?” I asked, wiping a tear from my eye.

“Of course not!” she objected, “Somepony that drunk needs sleep, then coffee. I’ve been waiting for him to wake up so I ca-”

“Did you say coffee?” David asked, ears perked and tail wagging.

“Yes! Some of the finest in-”

I swear that David teleported us both to a table. It was a blink and you will miss it thing. One minute street, next minute sitting down with coffee.

The two of us enjoyed a nice hot meal. We spent maybe an hour slowly eating to let Azur get some sleep. The cafe had some pretty nice food. It was nice to nibble on some pony food again, the flavor is totally different from love, friendship, and family, but it was pretty close to joy. The hayfries especially reminded me of delight.

We were eventually asked to leave though. The lunch rush was coming soon apparently, and well, lime fur was concerned that a dog would drive away customers. David seemed nonplussed, having wanted to get lunch too, but he paid the bill with some of the coins he had cleverly weaseled the law into thinking were ours and we went back out to the cart.

As we walked out, Azur flopped over, a soft “Ow…” barely audible over the buzz of the streets accompanying the flop.

David shook his head and knelt down, offering a hand to help him up. “Hey kid. How’s the head?”

“Sun… too bright…” Azur moaned. “Needs… dimmer switch.”

David tilted his head slightly, then shook it a little, like he was dismissing a thought he had. “Did you drink anything in my medical supplies?” He asked calmly.

“What?” Azur asked loudly.

“Did you drink something from my medical supplies.” David asked again.

“Oh. No… Cold… Pub over there.” Azur answered pointing with a hoof to a small, but nicely decorated pub.

“How did you buy drinks?” I asked, suppressing a gasp of ‘awww’.

Apparently aside from the like, twenty or so rings I’d seen earlier whoever had done the piercings had made Azur a whole other level of adorable. The two golden rings just above his left eye were perfect, they totally completed his features, and the three small hoops in his left ear and two in the right one complemented everything nicely.

Azur blinked a few times, and squinted at me curiously. “Wer bist du? Oh yeah…you’re a buggy-bug-bug… Ugh… Nice mare, had drinks as friends… Told her about my parents and stuff. Can’t remember…”

“So then, you don’t remember getting those piercings?” David asked, “Because I want to know where the hell you got modern style-”

“Piercings?” Azur asked sitting bolt upright, and instantly wincing from the movement.

“Yeah. Left eyebrow, ears, gold hoops. They look good too.” David informed.

“Was der Bock!?” Azur exclaimed, quickly moving a hoof up to feel his face and smacking himself in the right eye, “Ah! Faust verdammt!”

To my surprise, as he rubbed his eye, a small bit of what looked like glass pushed off the surface of his eye, which was now green.

“Huh?” I asked, like the intellectual I am.

David’s tail stood up in surprise. “Is that a fucking colored contact?”

“Oh… ponyfeatehrs. That came out?” Azur grumbled, and carefully stuck the glass-like bit back onto his eye. “No idea why, but can’t make it change color myself… so got a contact… They Ärger me when they look different.”

“But where did you get it?” David asked, still completely surprised.

“At the optometrist's. Back home.” He said still squinting in the light. “Do I really have piercings?”

I nodded, “Yep! They look really cute… The face ones at least.”

Azur’s head slowly turned to look me dead in the eyes. “Was?”

“Well,” I blushed, “I didn’t exactly take a good look, but I learned that you can apparently pierce male parts today.”

Azur’s eyes shrank to pinpricks. “W-was?”

“I didn’t check either, but the mare who runs that cafe saw them too.” David pointed out, you were sort of sleeping with your ass in the air. In the street.”

Azur blushed deeply, and bent his neck down to check his undercarriage.

“Ack!” Azur’s ears stood straight up in alarm, a half second after looking. He lunged forwards and grabbed David by the shoulders, shaking him urgently, “Fix-it-fix-it-fix-it-fix-it-fix-it-fix-it-fix-it!”

David pushed Azur’s hooves off his shoulders and stood up. “No! I’m not touching your junk for non-medical reasons!”

Azur’s ears drooped in the most pathetic way I had ever seen. “I somehow got piercings in Stalliongrad! Backwards, medical, nightmare Stalliongrad! They could get infected and rot off!” He squeaked fearfully.

“Azur,” David said in a bluntly honest tone. “I am a doctor. If they get infected, I will take them out. However, I just so happen to know that you are almost guaranteed an infection if you remove a piercing before it heals. That should take about one to two months for the junk, and will be about two months for the face. If you still want them gone then, I’ll take them out.”

Azur squirmed keeping his plot planted firmly on the ground. “B-b-but… M...my stuff is… tucked up and in… using the piercings.” He admitted tapping his hooves together timidly.

“So?” I asked. “You heard the doc, remove after healed.”

David frowned slightly, “Are you in pain?”

“N-nein.” Azur admitted.

“Then what’s the medical reason for me to go anywhere near your dick?” David demanded.

“I look like a mare now…” Azur answered, ears drooped.

David and I facehooved in unison.

“Sun’s light Azur!” I groaned, “How does that change a damn thing about you from yesterday?”

“What she said!” David groaned. “You’re in a goddamn dress. You crossdress and enjoy it, what’s the problem here?”

Azur blushed deeply and slowly stood up. “In ordnung, you have a point… But I… now I can’t prove to somepony that I’m not a mare and… Um… Stallions who don’t like stallions get mad if you trick them like that.”

“You can’t possibly look that much like a mare because of some gold hoops!” I objected.

“Yeah!” David agreed. “Just tell them no. I already said I’m not touching those unless it’s a medical emergency.”

Azur’s ears slowly stood up. “Okay… Just… shocked… But you’re right, I mean, I can’t look that female… Um, J-jade, would you mind checking?”

“What?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“W-would you mind telling me if you can still tell I am a stallion?” He asked.

I sighed a long, irritated sigh. “Fine.”

I quickly trotted around behind Azur and… Oh my… The answer was no. Whoever had done the piercings had done them in such a way as to pull the skin into a very convincing shape. In fact, they probably gave him some kind of piercing for tansmares.

I coughed into a hoof and looked away, “You’re fine. Just um, take that dress off, draws the eye to your plot.”

There was no need to upset the poor guy.

Azur nodded and sighed in relief. “Gut… Sehr gut.”

He carefully took the dress off with his magic and blinked in surprise at seeing the yellow fabric. “Was? This isn’t the dress I bought yesterday!”

David shook his head slowly. “Okay. Before we start to unravel some kind of long winding trail of drunken antics… The law wants us gone by sundown, and we have about a hundred coins to use. Let’s get on a boat and get gone.”

Azur folded the yellow dress and put it in the card, retrieving one of his bags with his magic. “Ja, that’s the best idea… just let me change.”

“What?” I deadpanned.

“W-well… I remembered… I decided to just be a mare for a bit… Explaining to everypony is getting… Well, you know.” He sighed irritably.

“Y-you’re worried about looking like a mare, but you’re going to dress up like one for a while?” David and I asked together with equil confusion.

“J-ja… I forgot till now. Everything in my head wants to kill me, okay!?” He said with a wince.

David immediately winced. “Ah. A class four… Jade, lay off the poor guy. He’ll need a few hours to be thinking normally.”

“Are hangovers really that bad?” I asked.

He nodded and was about to say something when Azur slipped into a purple dress he took from his bag. David’s eyes dilated, his hand went up to his face and before the weary sigh I was expecting he shook his head. “Azur…”

“Ja?” The now totally a mare no matter what she tells you looking stallion replied.

“Just… I… Look, don’t worry about being able to prove you’re a guy. That dress destroys any chance you have.” David said, turning to pick up the cart’s handles. “Going now.”

I nodded in agreement and flapped my wings to hop up to my usual comfy laying on the cart spot. Azur trotted up, walking alongside David as we began to move down the street.

“D-do I really look that pretty in this?” He asked curiously, and hopefully.

“Yes.” I answered, because David’s right ear was getting twitchy.

“Yay!” Azur said, skipping happily for two steps before almost tripping. “Agg! No… skipping bad…”

“I don’t get you kid.” David lamented. “You put all this time and energy into looking like a mare, but insist on everyone calling you a guy. Even though to be frank, you act more like a girl. Not that that’s a bad thing just… The hell man?”

Azur blushed shyly and kicked one hoof against the ground before resuming walking. “... I just like to be pretty and get compliments, und-”

I rolled my eyes, “Azur, do you have a feminine name you’ve ever used for dressing up?”

He nodded, “Ja! Lilly. It was my grandmoth-”

“Hi Lily!” I greeted with a cheerful wave.

David’s ears perked, he got what I was doing.

“Yes! We are doing this!” David agreed. “Hi Lilly, nice to meet you.”

Azu- Lily's ears drooped. “Y-you're going to call me a girl now aren't you?”

I could hear the sad frown in his voice, but Faust dammit, clearly the poor girl was just stuck on some weird mental hurdle! A helping boost over it was bucking necessary at this point.

“Yep. Because you totally are one.” David said bluntly.

“Mmmmmhm.” I agreed. “Or at least you’re happier when people think you’re a mare. Either way, you’re a girl for at least the boat ride to… wherever.”

“Okay…” Lily sighed. “But if I’m not happier you have to be a colt for a week!”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh no, such a horrible thing. It’s not like I can change bodies like you change dresses.”

“I’m gonna make you do it!” he promised, giving me a serious look which made a bang of mane fall over his nose. Er, her nose. It obliterated all possible seriousness the moment could have, and I could tell from her quickly stifled giggle that he knew the moment was dead too.

I settled back down on the oddly comfy crate, with a giggle and remained quiet until we reached the docks. We were finally going to be able to be happy, safe, and free.

17 The Night Jewel

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David - 27th of Megan '15 EoH - Late Afternoon

“My kingdom for a travel agent.” I groaned, setting down the cart handles yet again, feet aching from a day of tramping up and down the rickety plank docks.

“You have a kingdom?” Jade asked in a surprised tone.

“I… no…” I sighed. If only ponies got my references.

Jade made a confused sound from atop the cart, “Then, why-”

“It’s a literature quotation…. paraphrase… Shut up, my feet hurt.” I retorted.

Equis days are not like Earth days. They are way longer. I checked.

Back when my watch still worked I noticed a full day night cycle was about nine hours longer than Earth’s. That might not seem like much, but it meant that morning, noon, evening, and night were about a movie’s run time longer than what I was used to. So, spending the afternoon tramping about looking for someone willing to give a ride to me was that much longer. Thus, there was that much more walking and cart pulling on shoddy, first year apprentice level boardwalks.

I could have built better boardwalks than this with only hand tools. That’s counting me having to get the wood myself. There were gaps between the planks I could fit my hand through, and almost no boards were flush.

Pulling a cart over this was hell on the back and arms. Walking on this even in my good boots was hell on my feet and knees. This wasn’t my old body, why did it feel like it?

Because these docks sucked. That’s why. Fuck these docks with a rotting Cornish game hen on a stick.

“Your feet hurt?” Azur, I mean Lily, asked in a sort of confused concern.

“Yes. I don’t have hooves. I have feet. It’s soft skin. Why do you think I always wear boots?” I griped, giving the girly-colt a miserable glare.

“I thought it was a fashion thing.” she admitted shyly. “I can help if you like. Do you know exactly why they hurt?”

I turned to face girl-for-the-ship-ride and gave her a confused eyebrow raise.

“Oh!” She giggled, giving me a small grin, “I can try to reshape your feet to reduce pain after walking long distances. Or, well, you’re a doctor, if you tell em the why maybe I can make a better solution.”

“Ah.” I nodded. “It’s these god damn boardwalks. The shitty construction means I have to work overtime to stay balanced and to get enough traction to pull the old wagon here. Extra stress on the ligaments, extra pressure on the bones, muscles all working overtime. It’s just beyond my physical fitness, which seeing as I can pull this thing for days in the forest out there, makes me want to set fire to these docks and build them better ones.”

Lily nodded and gave her tail a quick swish. “I can do that. Just a simple stamina boost. No big deal.”

I felt my lips purse into an irritated frown. “Seriously?”

She nodded.

“This whole time, with the daily running, the constant threat of griffon soldiers, and the black-bug-hawks air raids, and you're only just now telling me you can just improve my overall stamina?” I demanded angrily.

Lily frowned and shyly kicked a hoof against the dock’s crappy planking. “Well, yeah… Wizardry isn’t Sorcery… I need to know how you work before I can do anything. I got an okay idea of simple things now. You’re not a pony, I had to observe long enough and stuff…”

“Oh.” Well, I felt like a bit of a dick. “Sorry about yelling…”

“It’s okay. You don’t know how magic works.” Lily soothed.

She took a few steps forwards and stroked her chin with a hoof, then nodded. “Yes. I think I've seen you move enough to make the spell work. I can’t like, make you have super-endurance, but I can try to put your body into it’s peak physical shape. But…”

“But what?” Jade and I asked together.

“It will take at least two hours, and I’ll be out of energy afterwards.” Lily explained with a sigh. “So, you know, we need to get a ship…”

“Well, it’s not like we’ve found a ship so far.” Jade sighed.

I joined her with a sigh of my own and sat down. One of the perks of being a dog was nopony here was going to tell me to move my cart. The racist dicks could stand something of a boardwalk bottleneck for a few minutes. It wasn’t that busy in the port anymore anyways.

“I’m sorry guys.” I apologize. “If I thought you could make it on your own, I’d leave so you could get passage.”

Fourteen ships, fourteen captains, and fourteen offers of more than a fair compensation in both coin and some of my cargo. Fourteen nos, because they don't want the ‘savage’ aboard their ship. Sure, there were a few more ships left to try, but statistically speaking, we should probably just build a raft and buy some sailcloth.

“It’s not your fault.” Lily said, ears drooping, “they don’t know you’re a good dog.”

Jade giggled at her unintentional joke, I smirked.

“Thanks Az- uh, Lily.” I said shaking my head.

“For what?” she asked, before her eyes widened in realization. “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s fine! It was funny.” I chuckled.

I turned to look out over the ocean. The small fleet of small single masted ships blocked most of the view, but the ocean was still pretty breathtaking. There had to be some way to get aboard one vessel or another.

A sharp metallic scratch made my ears twitch. Halfway through my turn to see what had made the zippo-like sound an eerily familiar voice greeted, “Fancy seeing you two here.”

I turned in time to see the pale white mare from Applewood, leaning against two crates, a freshly lit cigarette glowing between her teeth.

“Holy shit!” I exclaimed, jumping up and ignoring the resulting protest from my shins. “I never thought I would see you again! That gun you paid for saved my life, thank you!”

She smiled gently and brushed a lock of her mane to one side. “You’re welcome. See? That’s why you pay karma forwards. Wait a moment…”

Her eyes narrowed for a moment before opening again in recognition, “Hey! Azur, you’re with these two? Fancy that.” Turning back to me she explained, “The two of us met at Butterscotch’s Pub last night.”

Az- Lily, beamed what’s her name a smile of recognition, “Oh ja! That was you! I uh… I honestly can’t remember a lot of last night um, do you?”

The pale mare cracked the biggest grin ever and shook her head, biting on her cigarette to hold back a laugh. “Heh… Sorry kid, but no. That unicorn brews a hell of a mead.”

I frowned sadly. I’d been hoping we could have been enlightened on where Lily had been pierced. I would have loved to meet their maker. Or whomever had made her that contact.

“Uh,” Jade asked in a concerned tone, hopping down from the cart. “Why are you here?”

“Business.” She replied immediately. “Waiting on a ship to finish unloading. How about you lot? Following a mare around for no good reason?” She gave me a creepily playful wink at the end of her sentence.

I shuddered. God I hope that nearly albino, frankly a bit creepy, mare wasn’t hitting on me.

“Ah, no.” I said hesitantly. “We’re actually trying to book passage to Zebrica.”

Jade quickly stepped over to me and hissed, “Why did you tell her that? She obviously followed us, she could be a changeling!”

The mare chuckled, “I’m not a changeling. If I were, I would be a unicorn. The horns are cute. My name’s Dusk, I’m something of a businessmare around these parts. I can see why you would think I was following you, but I assure you I was only in Applewood for a brief… Humm, let’s call it setting up some dominoes for a personal enterprise.”

Well, I did give her one thing. She certainly sounded like a businessperson.

Jade narrowed her eyes and stepped back a little. “I still don’t trust you…”

Dusk nodded with an understanding expression on her face, “I don’t blame you. I heard some changelings got squicked last night. Swarm types right? I’m guessing you were involved?”

It made sense that rumors would have filled the city fairly quickly. I imagined that a public brawl against a roving warband didn’t happen here much.

“Yeah.” I said simply, “Hence, the boat trip.”

She took a long drag on her cigarette, letting out a puff of smoke which I swear for a second looked exactly like a pony’s skull.

“How much gold do you have?” She asked.

“Excuse me?” Lily asked abruptly.

“I have a few ships in the harbor I might be able to get you on. But it will cost you. What can you pay?” Dusk asked, standing up properly.

“Why are you helping us again?” I asked suspiciously.

She rolled her eyes. “If the Demon Queen wants you, she will come for you, and then the whole bloody city will be a literal bloody city. If you were involved in what I heard was a changeling infiltration group clocking out, she wants you dead. Hence, if you stay here, my business will go in a direction I really don’t want. Thus, it’s in my interest to get you out of here. Get it?”

Jade frowned, but nodded. “That… makes sense.”

It did. I turned to give Lily a questioning look. She nodded.

“Allright. We have two hundred Lions.” I answered.

Dusk nodded twice, a look on her face suggesting she was in the middle of mental math. “Okay, and where do you want to go?”

“We were hoping to get as close to Quis in Zebrica as we can.” I replied.

“Quis?” She asked in surprise. “That’s a little far for a Stalliongrad ship…”

I sighed, “So I’ve heard… But how close-”

“Oh no, I can get you there.” Dusk said holding a hoof up in a ‘wait’ gesture. “Just not on a local ship. There is a ship coming in a few hours from now, assuming she’s on schedule.

“She’s called the Night Jewel, a… well, if you don’t object to sailing with… let’s call her an independent merchant vessel. Eh, that is, I can get you safe passage on her. Her captain owes me a favor. With a little gold to grease his hooves and that debt considered paid, which isn’t very much before you object, I can get you and your cargo there to Quis.”

“An ‘independent merchant’ you say?” I asked sarcastically. “I’m guessing that her captain trades in all sorts of random things and is an aggressive negotiator.”

“Quite so,” Dusk agreed taking a puff on her cigarette, “But also a Zebra of his word. You’ll be quite safe.”

“Er- I don’t get what’s wrong with taking some merchant's ship.” Jade said in a baffled tone.

I heard Lily’s facehoof echo off the city wall.

“She means it’s a pirate vessel.” Lily whispered.

“And that means, what, exactly?” Jade asked.

Dusk and I shared a long look. The look an old soul gives when the young has demonstrated the downfall of their youth.

“I’ll do it.” Dusk said after a long quiet moment.

“Thank you.” I grunted.

“A pirate,” Dusk explained, “is a sailor, whose activities at sea, are not always legal. It’s not quite fair to think of them as bandits, see, running a ship is expensive. They are more like… business ponies who care nothing for the rules of landlubbers.”

Jade’s fluffy pegasus ears drooped in concern, “Uh then that doesn't sound safe…”

“In general, no it is not. However, in this case it is.” Dusk insisted. “Captain Sudi doesn't trade in slaves, and won’t break a deal with someone once it’s made. Mind you without that deal he would most certainly leave you bleeding out and sell your things at market, but so long as a bargain is struck he holds to it.”

There was an important decision to make here. On one hand, we didn’t have to get all the way to Quis in one shot. On the other, the more distance we put between us and the Swarm, the better. Yet to get the distance we wanted, we would have to trust this mare and a pirate. But back on that first hand, if we couldn’t find a ship by sundown…

“Shit…” I groaned. Turning to face Jade and Lily I shrugged. “She has us by the balls here. We won't get a ship on our own, so the sun sets and we have to leave town. That happens, and the Swarm gets us. We can’t escape them on foot. We need to take her bargain.”

Lily nodded, biting her lip nervously, “You're right. I don’t like it though.”

Jade nodded, “This is really risky… But yeah.”

Dusk cleared her throat, “So then, how about you give me a hundred and fifty Lions, and I’ll have somepony sent to fetch you when your ship has arrived?”

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion, “What is keeping you from pocketing it and running off?”

She smiled for a brief instant. “Smart man! Will a contract ease your mind? I can write one up right now.”

“It would.” I replied firmly, “Also half now, half later.”

“Fair enough.” Dusk replied before pulling a black notebook from seemingly nowhere along with a silver quill.

She scribbled out a few short lines, then signed her name on the page, and held the quill out for me. I scanned over the text, it was clear enough, a simple statement of agreement to arrange safe passage to Quis aboard the Night Jewel, with failure meaning the hundred and fifty to be returned to us with an additional hundred for the trouble.

I signed the page, Dusk gently tore it out and handed it to me. “There you are.”

I nodded, took out the coin pouch and counted out the agreed seventy five Lions. “And here you are.”

She took the coins, tucked them into a small bag she had hidden behind her mane, and nodded. “If you three will simply wait on dock twelve, your ship will be here in three or so hours. I’ll have word sent to Sudi to expect you, and you simply pay him the rest of the gold. Sound good?”

I nodded. “Sounds good… Thank you again. If this all works out, and I ever see you again, I owe you big.”

She shook her head, “No you don’t this is benefiting me far more than you. This city is precious to me, it’s a growing crystal in this pig’s trough of a nation. In a thousand years who knows what she may be? I do not want to see it’ streets run with blood. You owe me nothing by steering the Swarm’s wrath elsewhere.”

Dusk gave us a polite nod and turned, walking down the dock. “Have a nice trip everypony and dog.”

Everyone stayed quiet as the cigarette smoking mare retreated into the distance. We all knew it. Only an idiot couldn’t tell what was going on. Yet someone had to say it.

“Right. Odds are great this is a trap.” I said, just because someone had to.

“Ja.” Lily added. “You said a few days ago, you could make mana potions… I think I should try to enhance you, und you should make some of those.”

“Good plan.” I said in agreement. “Jade, what’s your input?”

Jade stroked her chin with a hoof in thought, “Well, if it’s not a trap, we should try to help the crew. I might not know much about pirates, but if we can get them to see us as useful and not just cargo, that might help.”

“Also a good plan.” I agreed. “How about if it is a trap?”

“Uh…” She paused for a few seconds, her face twisting thoughtfully, “Have Lily seduce them while we run?”

“Hey!” Lily objected angrily, spinning to give Jade an angry glare fast enough to make her dress billow.

“Sorry… I had nothing.” Jade admitted with a blush.

I shook my head slowly, “Right. So, walk me through this magic while we walk.”

“Ja, good idea.” Lily said starting to trot down the docks.

She explained as we moved. It was hard for me to understand most of it, which makes sense. I only had the two spells I knew. It was a lot like talking to a fighter pilot about flying after just barely learning how to keep a plane sturdy.

From what I could tell, the biomancy was one of the most simple ones out there. The magic would slowly run through my body, and artificially make changes to it in the same way years of working out would. Apparently it was mostly used in Germaney to help ponies who were suffering from degenerative diseases, but back in the war had been a soldier's tool.

The actual changes being done via the magic were simple, crude even, but medically sound. An eighth of the mana used worked to stimulate the muscles, tendons, and ligaments, the rest was absorbed by the body to fuel the development. By the time the spell was complete, my body would either be as additional fit as the available magic could make it, as fit as I could naturally be, or at the worst, incredibly sore in the manner of having just finished the most intense workout ever.

Despite the risk of being too sore to move and thus, useless in the event of an ambush, I told Azur to go ahead. This body was amazing, and after years of travel it was in pretty good shape. There is always room to be better though, and I would rather know I can take whatever lies ahead and stay standing, than wonder if something may have prevented my fall in the moments left before death.

What Lily failed to tell me is that the actual spell would hurt while she cast it. The whole two hours felt like someone was scraping their fingernails down every inch of my skin at the same time. It wasn’t agony, but it did hurt, enough to make my attempts at alchemy nearly useless. In the end I had to simply settle on making a ton of ginseng tea and hope that would work for our resident wizardess to refuel her own stamina.

Before we had a chance to find out, the Night Jewel sailed into port.

There was no mistaking the Night Jewel for any other ship. Dusk had said it could get us to Quis, meaning it wasn’t one of the local Roman trireme like ships we had been sitting near all day. The ship that sailed in just as the sun began to dip down in the sky had no right to be called a ship. It was a god damn floating palace.

I hadn’t seen anything like this outside archaeologist’s drawings. The Night Jewel was at least three hundred yards long, and seventy yards wide. It was shaped like a huge rectangular prism with rounded corners, and had at least a hundred oars on each side, along with two towering masts sporting squair sales dyed a brilliant red. The ship itself was also painted red, and highlighted with dark stained wood fittings.

Stacked atop that already impressive structure was a literal palace. The stern of the ship had a three story Arabic looking palace built atop it, with a goddamn garden out front including what looked like a small grove of fruit trees. The deck in front of that was filled with cargo, crates, and barrels stacked up modern container ship style. The ship must have been carrying at least eight hundred tons of cargo on that section of deck alone. With how tall it was, there could be twice that below decks. Even with the banks of oars.

Six other ships had to actually set sail and head out to the port’s bay as the Night Jewel came in. The damn thing was so large it literally wouldn’t have fit in the dock if those ships had stayed moored to the adjacent dock. I was completely speechless.

The sight of this ship which was only appropriate for Emperor fucking Caligula, a literal floating palace of ruby red, gold, and dark oak, was so completely mind breaking as to make me forget to speak in Equish as I exclaimed, “What in the flying fuck?”

It took me a full fifteen seconds to realize that Jade and Lily had echoed something similar to my own surprise expletive.

“What the fuck is a ship of that size even doing sailing into this port?” I demanded, jaw still hanging in awe.

“She’s delivering a year of basic foodstuffs. Please clear the docks, we will be unloading for several hours.” A voice said as a large group of dockworkers trotted past towards the end of the dock.

“Uh… So... “ Jade said, stopping mid sentence.

I totally understood her inability to say a goddamn thing.

“Faust Mähne!” Lily exclaimed in awe. “... I think we are safe.”

“Why?” I asked curiously, not taking my eyes off the ship as it’s oars pulled up from the water and retracted into the sides as she drifted for the dock.

“With how much that ship costs to keep working… Selling us into slavery isn’t a drop in the bucket of the money they have…” she added.

I opened my mouth to object, saying that they probably needed every single penny, but then the Night Jewel slid alongside the dock passing in front of my face. The little gold colored decorations and embellishments were not as I had assumed painted or gold leaf. They were plates of actual gold riveted to the damn hull. Maybe girly-pone had a fucking point.

A sharp whistle made my head snap back, looking up the two stories of ship hull to the deck, where a large Zebra with piercing green eyes was leaning over the side. “Aye! Are you three the passengers Her Finality asked the good Captain to take aboard?”

“How the hell is a hundred and fifty Lions even enough for passage on this?” I asked, my mind still trying to process everything.

The Zebra laughed and shook his head. “I will have a crew bring you and your wagon aboard shortly. As for your question, Lady Dusk’s services are more than equivalent to your fare in the good Captain’s eyes.”

“Oh… okay.” I said ears drooping.

“When you come aboard, I will take you to meet the Captain. He is eager to meet the Lady’s Dusk’s friends.” The Zebra called before vanishing over the railing.

After three long moments of processing exactly what had been said, I turned to Lily and Jade. “Right. So. First chance we get we find out exactly who the fuck Dusk is and what exactly she deals in, because either she runs this country or the entirety of the underground in this country and likely beyond…”

“Yep.” Jade agreed meekly.

“It’s even bigger up close…” Lily murmured in awe.

“Yes. It is.” I agreed taking a few steps back to admire the Night Jewel.

Who the hell would have thought we would be leaving in this sort of style? I sure hadn’t. At the moment all I knew was that I didn’t care if this was a trap anymore. I had to see the inside of this ship. Simply watching it sail into port had added that to my bucket list.

18 A Business Dinner

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Jade - 27th of Megan '15 EoH - Mid Afternoon

The Night Jewel’s outside was covered in so much splendor and was such a work of art that all I could compare it to was the entrance to my former home. That carved edifice had been the work of six generations of changelings, all master sculptors, masons, and architects. This ship was three times as impressive, and I could only barely get an idea of how much work went into creating it.

Which is why my mind broke a bit when I stepped aboard, led by a small group of Zebras and an Earth pony. The inside was even more ornate. The second I set hoof on the deck, thinking sort of just, stopped.

The cargo section of the deck was floored with wood, but the wood had been stained different colors, forming a geometric pattern of a crescent moon holding the sun like a bowl. The wooden floor stopped about halfway down the deck, and was replaced by a single broad road made from polished tigerstone. I didn’t even know that semi-precious stone came in pieces big enough to make floor tiles a pony wide and long from!

The basically made of gemstones road went straight down the middle of the ship to the large palace-like structure, passing through a mini-orchard and garden along the way. The garden was nothing but lush grass, beds of wildflowers, berry bushes,and an actual bucking pond. A pond, on a boat.

The palace was plated in gold and marble, or I guess could have been solid marble, but my brain didn’t like working out how to make something made of that much marble float. It was shaped over all like a three tiered pyramid, with a big staircase going to the top, which was covered by a nice tent-like thing and I assume held the wheel and other sailing stuff. The stair itself was recessed back into the pyramid so that at each level there were to double doors, one on either side, which led into the interior of the opulently carved building on a boat.

“Miss, are you alright?” somezebra asked, their voice suddenly and I assume finally cutting through my stunned looking around.

“Huh?” I turned to see a tall zebra in a red silk sash with a bunch of tools tucked into it giving me a concerned look. “Sorry, I just… This ship is amazing!”

He chuckled and offered me a grin made mostly of silver teeth. “She has been the Good Captain’s dream pride for many years. There is no ship like her on all the seas.”

“Yeah, no shit.” David said, looking over at an apple tree growing out of what looked like an ivory planter.

“Now that you are back amongst the living,” the Zebra continued, “I wanted to know what you prefer for food and drink, as I am preparing your cabin while the others unload.”

“We get options?” I asked in an awestruck tone.

He chuckled and shook his head, spiky mohawk mane defying the movement by staying perfectly still. “I’ll prepare a sample platter for you.”

“Get back to your kitchen. The Captain will want a meal to share with our guests.” The pale amber Earth Pony said in the bluntest, most emotionally dead voice ever.

“Aye, Bosun.” The Zebra said as he broke off from the main group to head for the doors on our right. “Don’t mind him Miss, Miss, and Sir. He’s simply literally taken one too many lightning bolts to be polite anymore.”

“This is true.” The Earth Pony informed.

Be that as it may, I felt a bit nervous as we walked up the stairs to the top tier of the pyramid and he gestured to the doors on the left.

“These are the good Captain’s chambers. Behave respectfully.” He said as he pushed the doors open, calling. “Captain, I have brought the passengers. I will return to supervising the unloading.”

Sun’s light… he literally couldn’t be polite at all. Now I felt bad for being afraid he was going to hurt me.

“Good work, be sure we are paid in full for the cargo and the expenses. Though, forgive the back pay owed. I am in a generous mood today.” A deep, silk on sandpaper voice rumbled from around the corner.

“Aye, Good Captain.” The boson said, moving aside to allow us-

“As for my guests, come and take a seat. My chef will have a meal for us shortly.” The rumbling added.

The three of us turned the corner, and walked into-

A room somehow more lavish than the ship’s outside.

The floor shined everywhere it wasn't covered by thick plush carpets with ornate floral designs. The walls were tiled in flat sheets of precious stones, and had tapestries covering them depicting everything from maps to awe-inspiring scenes of naval battles.

As we rounded the corner a huge black marble table dominated the room. It was perfectly round, inlaid with gold and silver to form swirling patterns, and had huge wooden chairs placed evenly around it save for one spot on the far side from us.

That’s where the Captain sat. I had never seen the sea before today, but there was no mistaking the Captain’s chair, or rather throne.

It was shaped like an hourglass, with a sort of half bowl shape on the top. There was no back, it was a seat meant for comfortable lounging. It was made of gold embellishments and lined with dark red silk pillows. It was entirely unimpressive in comparison to the Zebra sitting atop it.

He was huge, if he stood up he would have come up to David’s shoulders, and that’s saying something. Most ponies came up to David’s stomach. The Captain was muscular, not grotesquely so, but in the manner of a pony who worked hard for their entire life. The scary part was I could tell he was muscular from just his barrel, because all four of his legs were replaced with burnished silver sculpted statue-like limbs which were animated by magic, moving as if they were flesh and bone instead of solid pieces of silver.

His eyes were a deep gray, almost black, a perfect midtone for his darker-white fur and jet black stripes. His mane was braided into a few plaits and mostly hidden behind a silver helmet-crown hybrid which could only be described as overlapping layered feathery wings wrapped into a helmet shape.

“Eep!” Lily squeaked as she rounded the corner.

The captain chuckled, smiled, and waved a hoof at the table, “Come, sit! We will drink, eat, and discuss your journey. Fear not Miss, you are entirely safe aboard my ship. Should any dare to harm you, I shall present you with their belongings as they are cast into the sea.”

David cleared his throat to hide an intimidated squeak as well and took a seat opposite the Captain. His eyes widened as he sat down, “Hey, I fit this chair!”

“Indeed, you do. I imagine that few pony made chairs are suited to individuals of our stature.” The captain said in a conversational tone, which barely did anything to make his deep rumbling voice less intimidating.

Lily gulped and shyly took a seat next to David, so I went ahead and sat down on his opposite side.

As I sat down the Captain frowned and looked at me with a laser-like gaze. I gulped nervously, dreading having done something to offend him until his gaze softened. “Ma’am, are you comfortable wearing that shape?”

What? How the hay had he- “Er, I don’t know what you mean…”

“Yes, you do.” He said simply. “Do not lie to me. The Helm of Anubis reveals all hidden truths. I do not object to having a changeling aboard my ship, nor will my crew. If you donned that form to survive amongst these savages, feel free to discard it. If you enjoy being a pegasus, by all means remain dressed.

“However, I must ask that you do not impersonate a member of my crew. if you require food, simply inform a crewmen of your species. The Topaz live peacefully amongst my people, nearly every Zebracan is comfortable offering you a meal.”

I blinked twice. What? “I uh, thank you?”

He waved a hoof dismissively, “Think nothing of it. I don’t always carry passengers, but when i do I assure they enjoy their stay.”

The Captain turned to Lily and gave her a kind smile, “As for your disguise, the Helm tells me you are most comfortable as you are now. So my crew will remain blissfully unawares of your… status.”

Lily blushed deeply and shyly slid down in her seat.

David chuckled as Lily shied her way into the seat cushions as if she wanted to merge with them and never be seen again. I only barely managed to keep from giggling like a nymph myself.

“And you my good sir,” The Captain continued. “I know not what you once were, but I see you are an old soul in a young body, and not in the sense of one mature for their age. If you remain as you are now, my people will not take kindly to your presence in Zebrica. The war between her and Candida is fresh in every zebra’s minds.”

“What do you mean?” David asked, ears standing up in concern.

“Forty years ago my people fought the people you are now a part of. While younger zebras will harbor no ill will towards you, the old will bear a grudge as keen as a razor’s edge. It would be wise to see a means to pacify them.” the Captain elaborated.

The Captain nodded to himself and shifted in his seat. “Now that I have seen you are indeed the people my good friend Dusk told me of, allow me to introduce myself. I am the Good Captain Sudikahmen, Lord of the Free Seas, and the Emperor of all Free Brothers.”

“Honored to meet you.” David replied instantly, standing up to offer a small bow.

Bowing seemed like a good idea. I quickly followed suit. Lily however remained glued to her seat, trying to still merge with it in embarrassment.

Captain Sudikahmen made a dismissive gesture with his hoof, “be seated. You are not my subjects, but my guests. It is fortunate you’re journey coincided with my annual delivery to Capsan, but even more so that we have a mutual friend in the Lady Dusk. Whom might you be, that she would broker a deal to ensure you arrive safely upon Quis’s shores?”

“I um, I think the better question is who is Dusk?” I said as I sat back down. “She just sort of… well... helped us get passage out of here.”

David nodded in agreement. “We honestly have no idea who she is. Though seeing as she is friends with you, I imagine she is your… landlocked counterpart.”

The Captain laughed, slamming a silver hoof onto his throne. “Ah, if only that were so! No friends, I am far beneath Her Finality. Indeed, for you to even ask such a question is to say you know nothing of her. Surprising, considering how deep Stalliongrad’s beliefs run.”

“Then… what is she?” Lily asked timidly.

I too would want to know exactly whom I went binge drinking with if they somehow outpowered the zebra with a floating palace.

“If she has not told you, then she does not wish you to know.” The captain said in a firm tone. “Perhaps if you see her again you can ask her directly. I will not divulge her secrets.”

David frowned, shifting nervously in his seat. “I am… not accustomed to not knowing who I am dealing with. This is the second time she has helped me, and I told her I owe her a favor. If there is anything you are willing to say-”

“Ah, I see.” Sudikahmen said with a slight tip of his head. “Know it is within her power to grant me the one thing I could not obtain for myself. A guarantee that I shall die in honorable battle on my final day rather than feebly pass into the next world from my bed.”

How the bucking hay could anypony guarantee that? Seriously, how?

“Excuse me?” David asked, mouth agape.

“I said what I said. There will be nothing more said on this matter, for an oath is an oath.” Sudikahmen grunted, eyes narrowing dangerously, “Let us discuss something else, perhaps why you are traveling out of Stalliongrad.”

That was probably a good idea. I didn’t want to anger someone who looked like they could crush me like a walnut between their pectorals.

“Sure,” I replied quickly, “I well… The Swarm destroyed my home.”

“I see. Stalliongrad is a vast place, why not find somewhere there to settle in?” the Captain asked, picking up a bottle of wine from the table and pouring himself a glass.

“The story is a bit more complicated than that.” David informed, casually eyeing the bottle. “She fled during the middle of the attack and ran into a group of Griffon soldiers who were there to loot the hive, presumably having followed the Swarm in after hearing of the ending attack. They actually put a few crossbow bolts into Jade, which I managed to remove and get her more or less patched up.”

I nodded, it seemed less painful to talk about it now, but it hurt less than before. “Yeah. The Griffons wanted me dead because of a law thing. If Equestria found out that they had taken our hive, um… Something about a trade agreement?”

I turned to look pleadingly at David, hoping his memory was better.

“Right, if word got out about their attack, Equestria would stop trading food.” He said helpfully.

The Captain nodded, “Yes, that would be the case. The law in question is a basic ruling of the Soverign’s Guild, no two member nations are to attack each other. As I recall, the Changeling Hives were added to the list seven years ago, not as member states but as off limits for military action.”

“Why?” Lily asked shyly, but curiously.

“After Queen Chrysalis's invasion of Canterlot many nations wanted to purge changelings from Equis, to prevent a similar attack on their own nations.” Sudikahmen answered. “The Guild decided in the end that this was punishing innocents for the crimes of a single faction and forbade it in a three to two vote. Thus, attacking a changeling hive non-defensively is a violation of the Guild’s rulings and at the least trade limitations would be imposed. Although, taking a hive’s property after another party destroyed it would be fine.”

So that’s why everything happened like it had. I felt a sharp pain in my chest. A pony’s heart just didn’t like anger mixed with grief.

“You… sure know a lot about the laws.” I said to try and distract myself from the feelings.

Sudikahmen nodded and took a sip of his wine. “I do. My family has dominated free trade in these waters for six generations. On the rare occasion a nation is placed under a trade embargo, my fleet sees a large increase in business. Keeping an eye and ear on the doings of the Guild Members is one way to keep profits flowing freely. For instance, Lily was it? You’re a Germane unicorn are you not?”

She nodded, “J-a sir.”

“Then due to the import restrictions the Guild placed on Germaney after the Great War, the odds are quite good that I provided some of the transplanted organs keeping you alive.” Sudikahmen informed in a casual tone of voice. “Before you object, most of my supply is sourced from the Emerald Hive. They seem to have an inexhaustible supply of medical goods and are more than willing to trade them for the right price.”

David blinked in surprise and turned to Lily with a look of excited shock. “Your people are advanced enough to do organ transplants?”

“Ja, most nations are.” she said with a sad sigh, “I was not joking when I said Stalliongrad is five centuries behind the times.”

She turned back to the Captain, seeming to lose a bit of the shyness being revealed had created. “I actually don’t have any transplants. I am a biomancer, I fixed myself. My parents did get transplants though, a set of kidneys each…” Lily paused and looked thoughtfully into the distance, “I wonder if I could find the donors, they must be nice ponies.”

Sudikahmen chuckled, “Should your travels take you up the fertile crescent to the Equestrian border, and you care to cross a hundred miles of Badlands, presuming the hive grants you permission to enter, I am very sure they could easily find at least the family of the donors.”

“Well, we are going to Equestria anyways, we could try to stop by if it’s on the way.” I offered.

“Is Equestria your ultimate destination?” Sudikahmen asked curiously.

David nodded slowly. “That’s right… I wasn’t expecting a ship of this kind to be here. Could you by chance take us all the way to Equestria?”

He shook his head, “Yes, but I am afraid I will not. My fleet’s ships are well known to Equestria’s navy due to some recent… conflicts of ideals. I will not risk my people to take you to an Equestrian port.

“However, Quis is the Zebrican capitol and you should be able to find passage from there. If not, then the fertile crescent is your only other option. It wouldn’t take long to walk, two weeks at the most, and most Zebrican cities are within it. The sands on either side are quite hostile to life, you wouldn’t across them without a guide, and few Zebras will associate with a Diamond Dog, noble or not.”

I frowned, “So, you won't take us to Equestria even for Dusk’s sake?”

He nodded. “That is correct. No passenger is worth the lives of my crews. Not even myself.”

David nodded slowly, “That seems fair. I wouldn’t want to sail into hostile waters myself.”

A pair of doors at the back of the room opened, and three Zebras pushing carts covered with all kinds of food came in. They began to quietly place what looked to be a five course meal onto the table. There was bread, and apples, three kinds of cheese, a plate of fish strips, rice, and a bunch of other things I didn’t recognize.

It smelled delicious!

Sudikahmen turned to one of the servers as she set a plate of grapes in front of him and in a kind tone ordered, “Miss Panya, one of our guests is a Changeling. Would you kindly bring Her Highness any charged emotstones we have in the larder?”

“Her Highness?” David, Lily, the server, and myself asked together.

Sudikahmen laughed, a booming sound which filled the whole cabin. “Miss Jade, you are the last surviving member of your hive. This means, as there are no other… Which gem was your hive named for?”

“Oh, Diamond.” I answered reflexively.

The Captain's eyes contracted slightly, in the manner of somepony finding something interesting but avoiding the topic. “I see. Miss Jade, as there are no other Diamonds around you, and tragically left living, you are guaranteed to eventually pupate into a Queen. Furthermore, as any changeling Queen can lay enough eggs to restart a hive, international law recognizes anyling who survives a hive’s destruction as it’s Queen.

“While you will find you have little political power, none in truth, you do possess some diplomatic immunity and will find you can easily get audiences with rulers and nobles. It’s the same for any dethroned ruler in fact.”

He gave me a simple smile as he continued, “I suggest you enjoy the title. At the least, get used to having it. Once you arrive in Equestria, that will be what will let you potentially find some land to settle, if you are so inclined.”

“I… I hadn’t thought of that.” I said, looking down at the silver plate of fish that had been set in front of me.

I literally hadn’t thought of what I would do after reaching Equestria. It was true, I would become a Queen eventually. I could start a new Diamond hive on my own. But did I want to?

That would be a lot of work. I didn’t know a thing about running a hive, or much of anything realy. What would I do?

“Don’t worry about that just yet Jade.” David said comfortingly. “Life is best taken one step at a time. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“You seem to be a wise person.” Sudikahmen said to David in a glad tone. “I would enjoy discussing a few of my business arrangements with you during our trip. We will have two weeks assuming good winds.”

David bit his lip for a moment then gave him a small nod. “I suppose I could be of some assistance. I would prefer to not assist with anything resulting in the harm of others. I am after all, a medic. I took an oath to do no harm when possible.”

Sudikahmen waved a hoof dismissively. “Very few of my arrangements involve violence. As a healer, would you object to assisting in improving my medical supply trade? A way to determine which supplies are genuine, which are fraudulent, and if any are tainted would be of great help.”

David nodded. “That I can do.”

“Excellent!” The Captain offered us a small smile, “in exchange I will have my crew supply you for a trip through Zebrica. But that is in the future, for now, let us eat and enjoy the evening.”

“Oh, so we are not leaving today?” I asked curiously.

“We are in fact leaving as soon as we are unloaded as I have been paid. His Highness objects to my presence in these waters, despite his subjects being more than happy to pay for the food I can supply. Thus, we leave before his message can return from informing him of my arrival with the orders for his troops here to attack me.” he explained.

“You see, a certain Knight-Captain and I have an arrangement.” he added. “I supply a year of basic foodstuffs, the citizens pay for it, and he orders his ponies to stand down until officially ordered to stop me.”

“Was?” Lily exclaimed, “Why would any ruler object to selling food?”

“Rulers always have their ideals, reasons, and morals.” Sudikahmen said bitterly, “They can hurt many people for the sake of arbitrary codes of ethics. I refuse to allow such nonsense to cause harm, thus I do not work within the laws of the land. I work within the laws of the sea, which are mine and mine alone.”

“That makes sense I guess…” I said. Then realizing that Sudikahmen had some knowledge of leaders and stuff I asked, “What could I do to not well… hurt my own subjects? You know, if I ever have any.”

“Constantly educate yourself to keep up with the times. Understand that society is more important than any one individual, but also that individuals make up society and should be respected as far as possible, until society begins to suffer. Also be sure to allow others the freedom to make decisions. Oversee, guide, and assist, but do not control.” He said quickly and simply, as if delivering a lecture. “Save that is for one thing which no one may be allowed to change or challenge.”

“What’s that?” I asked curiously.

“Not everyone is equal, no matter how much they wish to think they are. Some are smarter than others. Yet the smart ones frequently forget they are smart, but do not understand everything. Only allow the people who truly know a field to have a say in that field.

“If just one pony has a voice, progress stagnates. If they all have a voice, the fools, idiots, and uninformed voices drown out those who truly know better. Let the mages be the ones to shape the rules for mages, and let the fisherponies be the ones to set the rules for fishing. Your task is then to ensure the policies the knowledgeable decide on interact in the best possible way for the whole of society.

“That’s how my father did it, and that’s how his father did it, and you can see it’s worked excellently.” he finished. “Now, with all seriousness, I hunger, let us cease discussing business and share a meal.”

I certainly had a lot to think about, and I wanted to ask more, but my stomach was doing that weird moving about thing pony stomach do. So I nodded, and proceeded to dig into that plate of fish strips.

My eyes lit up as I tasted the first bite of the fish! “Whoa! This is exactly like a mother’s love for you!”

Everyone gave me an odd look, and I remembered they couldn’t taste emotions. I turned back to my plate with a light blush and resumed eating. One of these days, I need to come up with a way to compare emotional flavors to physical flavors.

19 Revisions, Revelations, and Relatives

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Dusk - 2nd of Plantation '15 EoH - Midnight (2 days at sea)

It’s rare that I get to learn something new. I imagine many people are frustrated when they learn something new. I’m usually not one of them, but this time well… I learned something about myself, and I didn’t like it.

I plan far too complexly.

That seems like it shouldn’t be a thing, but it most definitely is. With but two days at sea my little team was already ahead of schedule. I knew I shouldn't have gotten Sudikahmen to take them right to Quis, but I had been afraid of them having to go over land and being far to slow.

Instead, they were moving far too quickly. So quickly in fact that the final stage of my plan was already completely shot. Unless I intervened in a more direct than usual manner to accelerate the other side of the equation too.

Meaning I was pretty much fucked because if I did that, others of my kind would see it, and probably work out that I was breaking the rules. The walls between realities are thin in some places, and allow you to see through into other places similar to your own. I had seen what happened to a version of me who broke the rules once. It was one of my worst memories.

I wasn’t going to stop breaking the rules, mortals need help. So what I had to do was not let myself get caught. Which left me with but one way to do things.

I knocked on my mother’s door, took a quick breath and called, “Mom, It’s Dusk, I need to talk.”

The door folded open, collapsing in upon itself, yet outwards and around me. In essence the door passed around me, leaving me in my mother’s workshop. It’s easier to understand if you know fifth-dimensional geometry.

Mom’s workshop fits her perfectly; clutter everywhere, projects in many stages of completion scattered around, mementos of past accomplishments on display, and tools of every kind set orderly upon the proper workbench. She’s Creativity. Her home oozes her very essence. Almost literally.

“Just a moment,” Mom called, hooves clicking on something metallic, “I need to sculpt this just a bit better.”

“No problem.” I replied, looking over at the curtained off section of her shop where the new things were.

Who knew what she would try to get permission to put into the world this week? Nobody, that’s who.

We gods are assigned to an area of space, you would think that we would take the form of something living in that space. But that’s not true, only my direct family used pony avatars.

Mom always took the form of an Alicorn. Which is fair, when she created that possibility for pony kind she did shape it after how she liked to look. She’s a bit taller than Celestia, has nice glossy white fur, a mane and tail of a uniform dark wine-red color, joyful blue green eyes, and a quill and inkwell cutiemark.

I personally think she looked to plain for someone who is the literal source of all creativity, but that’s just not something you say to your mom.

Mom trotted out from behind a stack of boxes, wiping her mane from her eyes with her magic as she came into view. “Please tell me you haven’t been fighting with your brother again.”

I shook my head. “For once, no. We would fight far less if he didn’t intentionally make my job harder. Just saying.”

Mom sighed and held a hoof to one of her temples. “You have been butting heads for six entire cycles. It’s starting to give me a headache and I don’t even know how that is possible.”

“Mom,” I said flatly, “I said we weren't fighting.”

“Oh, thank dad!” she exclaimed, smiling instantly, “I am much happier to talk with you now. What do you need?”

I bit my lip nervously. This was the only way I could get away with doing what I needed to do. By making them think I was something completely unrelated. The thing was, it’s hard to lie to your mom when she’s a mortal. Try lying to your mom when she is literally divine.

“I want to do something nice for Celestia and Luna.” I said, using a truth to skirt around the other truths. “They do their best to keep their nation happy and safe, and deserve something special. I would like to make a deal with one or both of them, and we both know there is one thing they want.”

Mom frowned, “Sweetie, I can’t undo Worldspells. We all agreed on their rules. Once a mortal casts their allotted spell, its effects are eternal, even for us.”

“I know,” I said nodding gently, “I want your permission to allow their parents souls to haunt the area around their bodies. That isn’t breaking the spell, their physical bodies will remain petrified, it’s simply modifying what happens to the intangible parts of them.”

“Humm…” Mom’s face scrunched as she thought about it. “I think that would be fine… If I gave you permission, then that’s within the rules. But… You’re not old enough to be allowed to intervene in the lives of people as important as they are. I shouldn’t need to remind you, dear.”

“You don’t. That’s why I also want you to order me to make a deal with them.” I explained. “Bargains for souls or the dead are my job, we both know those two deserve something nice and their parents deserve some form of existence other than eternal limbo, and frankly mortal kind is starting to lose faith in us. Most of Equestria doesn't even know your name anymore.”

She nodded, and sighed sadly, but also understandingly. “True, but that’s not a bad thing. Ponykind is growing up. They can care for themselves now. We can simply do our jobs unseen and they will thrive.”

This was the moment which would either completely screw me and my plans over, or allow me to fix my mistake.

I nodded slowly and put on my best sarcastic tone of voice. “Oh yes. I remember when you said that about humans and they turned out so well!”

Before mom could reply I changed my appearance, putting on the form of a human male, eight feet tall, transformed from the norm to the extreme for the express purpose of war. I added a set of bulky blood splattered gray steel armor, and raised a plasma-thrower to the sky, and shouted their species old warcry, “The witch shall fall before us!”

Mom blushed in embarrassment, “Okay, so, they didn’t turn out quite like I’d hoped, but-”

“One of their planets discovered magic after thousands of years of believing magic and gods were not real, and… Well, you know what happened.” I said while returning to my normal white earth pony form.

“You think ponykind would follow the same course?” Mom asked with a concerned frown. “They’ve had magic all along, though I suppose something similar could divide them.”

She loved her little ponies. Point out that our absence could lead to the madness which had ended humanity millions of years prior was mean, but it was all I could think of that might work.

“I do.” I answered. “Or at least, I’m afraid of it. So I want to kill two birds with one stone and be nice to two people who deserve it while reminding two important ponies that we exist. Come on, Celestia was two when your last church in Equestria closed. That was three thousand years ago. Even she has never heard of us!”

Mom frowned, biting one corner of her lip and shuffling her hooves in nervous thought. After a few moments she nodded to herself, then looked me in the eyes. “Promise me you’re not trying to manipulate events to get your brother fired?”

I slapped a hoof to my face, “Motherbucking… I never even thought about trying that!”

Mom facehooved with me, “Don’t tell your dad I put the idea in your head. Please.”

I giggled. “I won't. Also, I’m not manipulating Dawn.”

Mom sighed and gave me a nod. “Alright. Go ahead. Dusk, please broker a deal with Celestia and/or Luna to remind mortals of our existence. I leave the details up to you. This is an official request from a fourth rank Goddess.”

I gave mom a thankful smile as her words burned through our reality, alerting everyone that I had been told to go make a deal. Now it was just something I was being ordered to do, a part of the daily work, nothing out of the ordinary. No one would think once about it. “Thanks mom, “I’ll be back soon.”

“Hold on,” Mom said in that unique ‘tell me everything or else!’ mother’s tone, “I’ll let you do it, because you’re doing something other than fighting with Dawn. But I want to know why you really decided to help them.”

I felt a hoof yank on my metaphorical brain, sending a wave of panic through me. I was right, there was no fooling mom, at least, not completely. I would have to tell her something to satisfy Since she partially saw through me, it had to be true.

There was only one true thing I could tell her which would make sense. It was also a small reason behind my actions. Not the main one, just a little bonus for myself.

I took a deep breath, cleared my throat and replied, “Mom, I like Luna.”

Mom nodded, “I see. So you want to try to make friends. I suppose-”

“Not... that, kind of like.” I admitted with a light blush and quick hoof scratch behind the head.

Mom raised an eyebrow at me. Buck… She was upset.

“Dusk, she’s a mortal.” Mom berated.

“I can’t help who I like!” I retorted. “Besides, no one sees as many mortals as I do! If you think about it, it makes sense that I’d eventually like one of them. I see literally all of them!”

“I just want to protect you. Assuming she isn’t killed, when this cycle ends and the mortal plain reforms, even an immortal will perish. You couldn’t keep her alive through it, other Death’s have tried and failed.” Mom pleaded.

“First, I accept the fact of her destructibility. Second, I could to keep her alive. We both know of a few cosmic evils which have survived multiple cycles. It can be done.” I objected.

“No one knows how they managed to survive-” Mom started.

“Sure, we don’t know right now. But if I married her today, I’d have ten-to-the-ten-to-the-fifty-two ears to work it out. I’m a smart cookie. But if I don’t, that’s okay. You do know you’re talking to Death, right? All things end one day. It’s inevitable, and nothing to fear.” Seriously, how many times did I need to explain this to others of my kind?

Mom huffed irritably and rolled her eyes. “Fine… Go ahead. You’re old enough to make your own decisions. At least in our personal life.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks mom. I’m heading out now.”

That was one hurdle in a life goal passed. Hopefully Luna liked girls, I hated being a stallion. I’d do it for her though. Assuming she liked me back.

Deciding to not think about not being liked back, I took a step back and down to the mortal plain. I spawned my avatar just inside of a broom closet in the Canterlot palace. I didn’t feel like walking the entire way, and who knows what a guardspony would do if they saw somepony fold in from higher dimensions.

Okay, fair enough, I know. I just didn’t want to cause running and screaming today.

I adjusted my view of my surroundings so I could see as if I were standing behind myself, and proceed to ensure I looked nice. Normally I just set myself to look like your typical pony, as in, what biology says a pony is. This time I made my fur have that fresh-shampooed shine and smell, put my mane up into a ponytail (for Irony’s amusement), and gave my normally simple mane and tail the look of being freshly trimmed.

After clipping my view through the door and ensuring the hallway was empty I trotted outside and headed towards the Night Court’s courtroom. It wasn’t a long walk, I’d put myself pretty close to where I wanted to be. A few short minutes took me to the large open double oak doors of the Court’s waiting room. Which was empty, as usual.

Fifteen whole years and poor Luna still only saw five or six ponies a night. I guess after a thousand years a culture just gets so used to Celestia solving everything that nopony bothers with her sister. Poor mare, thank mom she found some friends!

As I walked into the waiting room, two Lunar Guards immediately dropped their book and snack (Ah, the coveted never do anything post. Gotta love/hate it!), and put on their ‘serious business’ faces.

“Er, Ma’am, please wait a moment while we see if the princess can see you.” The guard on the left said quickly as she pushed her book behind a seat to hide it from view.

I gave the light brown batpony a smile. “We both know she isn’t doing anything too important. It’s a Thursday, so her friends are not over, and-” I quickly looked through the door to find the court chamber empty, as I had expected. “-nopony is currently speaking with her.”

“Fair enough miss, but there are protocols to Royal Visits.” The other guard objected, straightening his helmet with a quick push of his magic.

I gave them a polite nod. “Yes there are, and I am very sorry to arrive unannounced, but this is sort of a clandestine, and critical meeting. Would you please simply tell her that Deus-Custos Dusk Vitae would like to see her on a matter of business?”

The brown guard tilted her head to one side slightly, “Hold on… That title is familiar…”

I nodded, “Yes, my people used to have a lot more contact with Equestria. I’m here to see about opening up old diplomatic ties. I’m sorry for showing up unannounced, but I am maneuvering around… political rivals.”

“Oh!” The other guard quickly stood up and opened one of the doors leading into the Court Chamber, “Sorry I just assumed, you know, local looking to meet the Princess. Just a moment.”

As he left the other guard stroked her chin with a hoof. “You know, I’m a history buff,” She said suspiciously, “and I can’t think of any country which uses that title.”

“It means ‘guardian’. If I were an Equestrian the equivalent rank would be something like a minor Lord combined with a Knight.” I informed casually.

“Right, but I would like to know where you are from, exactly. Before my counterpart just lets you waltz into the Lunar Court.” She said narrowing her eyes in further suspicion.

Well, fair enough. I had been actually wanting to make my kind known again.

“The odds of you recognizing my home’s name are pretty tiny, it’s been about a thousand years. Have you heard of Aramenel?” I asked.

Her eyes unfocused for a second, a sign of a batpony thinking hard. “No, I can’t say that I-” Her eyes suddenly widened, then narrowed dangerously as she reached for her spear. “Oh, you are so full of horse appl-”

I waved a hoof to arrange some quantum foam into the relevant atoms to form a hoof-sized wooden treasure chest, and it to manifest in a ‘reverse dissolving in water’ style. “No I’m not. Want a jewelry box?”

The spear she had been reaching for remained lying against the wall as the mare’s eyes remained transfixed on the box. “How did you do that? You’re not a unicorn!”

“I folded the fabric of spacetime to fit quantum particles together into the correct arrangement to form matter, and guided that matter into the form of this box. Want it? It’s real. Permanent too.” I explained, hoping my ‘simple Equish’ explanation would do.

“But how did you do that? You’re not a unicorn!” She exclaimed.

“I’m also not an Earth Pony. I’ve heard that my great uncle lives here these days. Discord and I are kin.” I explained.

“Wah?” She asked, mouth working into a shocked ‘o’ shape.

The poor mare seemed to just shut down. So I set the jewelry box next to her spear just as the door swung back open, and the other guard emerged.

“The Princess doesn't recognize your name, but she will meet with you.” The guard informed gesturing to the open door. “Er- what’s wrong with her?”

“I made her a jewelry box and mentioned my great uncle.” I replied trotting into the dark oak and deep blue silk decorated courtroom. “She’ll be okay.”

Luna looked great on her throne under the epic five Celestias tall tapestry depicting her cutiemark. Though she always looked great in my opinion. Perhaps exceptionally great is the right phrase. The way the moonlight passed through the skylight and made her silver throne glow like the moon was awesome.

If my boss’s rules didn’t dictate what I was allowed to spend my power on, I would have my couch glow like that. Then I could look regal as hell while watching old TV shows and eating chips. Man I wish I could get a promotion to even one higher privilege level!

I could do the epicly gorgeous ethereal wavy mane… But I didn’t want to steal her thing. Also I liked my simple look. It suited me.

Luna gave me a suspicious look as I entered, “I am curious to know who the pony who is brazen enough to claim to be a minor god of the ancient world in order to see me is.”

I facehooved, “Oh right. You were trapped in the moon, your memories are fresher.”

How the hay had I not taken that into account? Sure we hadn’t been directly doing things in Equestria for a hundred years before she was born, but still… She would remember the basics.

“Quite so,” Luna replied in a ‘not amused’ tone. “The question remains, who are you, and why did you choose to lie to my guards? You would have been let in to see me in an hour at most.”

“I didn’t lie.” I replied in as truthful a tone as I could manage, making sure to look into her eyes. “I am Deus-Custos Dusk Vitae, least of the Aramenellî. You remember some of the old religion, do you remember my name?”

Luna shook her head. “No I do not. I do remember days when you would be imprisoned for blasphemy for claiming to be a goddess. Those laws are long gone, as is the ancient ways of our ancestors, but I am still gravely offended to be lied to. Who are you?”

My ears drooped sadly. Nopony ever remembered my name! Everyone remembered mom. Sheesh!

I sighed sadly, “I understand your skepticism, but I don’t like making you upset. What would you accept as proof of my identity?”

“Very well, on the off chance you are telling the truth, I will humor you.” Luna informed. “I will accept anything which is unmistakably beyond the power of pony kind as proof.”

I thought for a few moments. Pony magic can do a lot of what I can, so that could be a tall order for somepony with a good background in magic like Luna.

“Oh!” I smiled happily, “Discord can vouch for me. He’s Chaos! He lives here, you have to believe-”

“Discord has repeatedly insisted that he isn’t the God of Chaos.” Luna interrupted with a roll of her eyes.

“Well of course he did!” I objected, “He’s Chaos! He’s never worked like the rest of us, I mean it’s his nature. He is literally Chaos. It would be orderly to define chaos as chaos.”

Luna smiled slightly. I had just quoted a bit of philosophy I had hoped she would recognize. Looks like she did. “You certainly have more knowledge of the old religion than anypony else I know of,” Luna said slowly, “except for-”

“Twilight!” I said with a grin, there’s an idea! “Just a moment.”

I turned my focus on locating Twilight, a simple matter, alicorn souls burn brighter than anything else. She was in her castle in Ponyville, just finishing dinner with her coltfriend. I frowned, “Humm… She’s finishing dinner, it would be rude to warp her here to vouch for me.”

Luna raised an eyebrow and with a warm glow from her horn fetched a quill and parchment, “Who is she dining with?” she asked.

“Her coltfriend. I don’t remember his name, he’s orange, a pegasus. Looks to be a guard type, or perhaps an athlete. They are eating honey friend oats.” I answered. I loved it, Luna was so smart. Smarter than me in fact, I wouldn’t have thought to use a letter to see if someone was actually seeing someplace else remotely.

Luna scribbled a brief letter and teleported it. I watched Twilight receive the letter, read it, write her own and have Spike send it back. After a few minutes, the letter arrived in a flash of green fire, Luna caught it, and after reading it gave me an impressed nod.

“Well done. However, I am well aware that most unicorns with training in divination could do the same, and unlike most I still remember that with great effort any living creature can learn to cast spells.” She shifted on her throne, moving to face me a little more.

“Twilight has agreed to allow you to teleport her, if you can.” Luna added.

Ah, so it was the old power test! Sweet!

I already had Twilight located, so I simply focused on the space around her, careful to not select anything like the floor she was standing on, and bridged her spacetime position with the spot three feet to my left. The Lavender alicorn simply appeared, no sound, no flash, no fanfare. The universe simply moved her at my command.

“I’m sorry dear, but-” Twilight started to say, before looking around in surprise. “I’m loosing my touch I didn’t feel the magic from that at all!”

Twilight had appeared facing Luna, a minor error in my transportation. “Whoever this pony you want me to identify is she’s really good with magic, or I was pretty distracted.”

“Hello!” I said, waving a hoof. “Don’t worry I’ll put you back soon.”

Twilight turned in my direction, and to my surprise, didn’t have a surprised reaction at all to my not being a unicorn. “You teleported me?” She asked in that ‘science time!’ tone.

“No, not exactly.” I explained quickly. “I warped the geometry of spacetime so your geodesic-”

“You opened an Neighstine-Rose Mane bridge?”Twilight’s eyes lit up as she clapped her hooves together excitedly, “You have to teach me that spell! If an earth pony can learn it, it has to be simple and elegant enough to be done with basic sorcery, meaning I’ve been over complicating my own attempts this whole time-”

“Twilight,” Luna said gently, “I need you to tell me if you can recognize this mare. You can discuss theoretical thaumaturgy later.”

“Right! Sorry…” Twilight exclaimed, blushing sheepishly. Clearing her throat Twilight began to look me over carefully, “I’m guessing that you’re claiming to be somepony from the past… Can you tell me your age? I need to have at least an idea of the time period.”

I smiled softly. It would be fun to see somepony who would understand the significance of my age. “You are looking for the Classical Era, before the year one thousand. As for my actual age, in your years it’s about… Let’s see… Eight times ten-to-the-ten-to-the-fifty-six years, give or take a few billion.”

Twilight’s left eye contracted to a pinprick while the right expanded to nearly fill her entire eye. “That’s not scientifically possible!” She protested loudly.

“Yes it is.” I replied, suppressing a giggle at her ear twitch of irritated scientist.

“You can’t be eight times older than the universe!” She objected pointing a hoof sharply at me.

“You can, if you don’t actually live within this three dimensional section of space. Only the bottom four spatial dimensions are unstable. The rest of it persists between cycles.” I explained. “To be fair, your ancestors didn’t know our ages either, they just assumed we were eternal.”

Twilight gave me a blank baffled look. Great, she wasn’t going to be any help. I could literally feel Twilight trying to compose a list of questions to ask me. There was only one thing to do, I had to put on my work uniform. Bucking great...

Aunt Luck, please don't let this doom my chances at having any sort of relationship at all with Luna.

I gave Luna a sad frown, “I… I didn’t want to do this, because I like you, and if I manifest as my traditional aspect, you will fear or hate me. I’m not a bad person, and I’m not here to hurt anypony, I’m actually trying to help and also well… I’m lonely. I’d like some friends who will stick around till the end of this universe. Just… Please don’t be afraid of me alright?”

“Why would I be afraid?” Luna asked.

I focused on manifesting as my true self.

My avatar enveloped itself in a dark purple ball of crackling, fiery lightning as it liquefied while my real self replaced it’s location. The moon light dimmed, as if the moon itself became less bright. The room’s candle’s flames withered and shrank to pinpricks of light.

The air turned cold, flowing over me and congealing into my long, hooded black robe as well as the swirling shadows which I could never banish from my side while presenting my true self even though they were not a part of me.

My skeletal hooves slid from within the robe's sleeves as my form solidified. The barest hint of my ‘head’ could be seen through the thick shadows beneath my cowl. A thick fog formed beneath me, wreathing the room in it’s wispy tendrils from which my scythe rose to float at my side, blade held down as if to harvest wheat.

“Because I look bucking horrifying.” I answered.

Fortunately, I was able to block sound from leaving the room before the screaming started.

20 The Die is Cast

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Princess Celestia- 2nd of Plantation '15 EoH - Midnight (2 days at sea)

Just about everypony believes my sister and I split the days between us so we can get some sleep. While it’s true that even an Alicorn has to sleep sometimes, that’s never been the true reason behind our dividing the day's duties in half.

The next reason a pony will think of is simply ‘Well, it’s just fair.’. That is true, there are two of us, and it is fair to split the duties of the Kingdom evenly, but that is still not our reason.

Simply put, it’s not healthy to work all the time. Most everypony involved in business works every chance they can, seeking more for their families or themselves. While it’s understandable to desire more, greed being both a vice and a boon (for without greed, industry’s benefits would be greatly diminished), what us is having more if you sacrifice your time to get it?

I could work every day for a hundred years and earn myself a trillion bits by spending all of my free time working and managing my finances. I would have the money, but no time to use the money for it’s purpose. Wealth is useless if you have no time to use it for anything.

It’s the same with power. I rule over the day so that during the night I get the chance to do the things I enjoy. Barring an emergency, the night is my respite from the duties of my day.

A pony might imagine that even though this is the main reason for Equestria’s day Court/Night Court divide, that it's a failure because I have to sleep. That’s quite untrue. After all I did have to take over my sister’s duties for a thousand years.

I have a few tricks at my hoof tips to get a full rest out of a nice ninety minute power nap. Only Lulu and Twilight are aware of those tricks. I wish I hadn’t told Twilight about them, she’s never stopped insisting that I get a proper night’s sleep since.

I understand her quirks quite well, I am practically her mother after all. But still, I can’t help but feel that a wizardess of her caliber should understand that using a tiny fragment of your daily magic to replace most of the effects of a night of sleep is perfectly fine.

Fate forbid she learn why I prefer using that method. I do not want to hear complaints for a thousand years about my personal eating habits. Science is a wonderful thing, but so is equine agency. Not everything should be ‘optimized to run with true efficiency’.

Especially not midnight tea and cake.

In a world of complex problems that I must solve where no perfect solution exists, where there are monsters and terrors around each corner, and where even those with the best of intentions can accidentally bring disaster upon the world, everypony deserves a little slice of happiness.

Mine is a cup of tea and a slice of cake under the light of the moon while it is directly overhead.

Even before I worked out how to relegate sleep to a ninety minute segment of the morning, I would stay up until at least midnight for my little treat. Before Luna’s banishment my joy in this came from seeing her work in it’s full glory, during her banishment it became the moment when I could feel her presence and would give her my deepest apologies.

It had been a long road to a full recovery for Luna. It was remarkable that after a decade she had a group of friends and was truly happy. Just five years after her return she had still been so self loathing as to create that Tantibus creature. Twilight’s ability to change others for the better is truly remarkable.

I do like to think I helped as well. After Luna had returned I placed a second enchantment on my necklace to keep track of her emotional state. Not as a means to spy on her, in fact I had her do the same to me.

The Idea was each of us would know if the other was in distress and could then try and stop whatever disaster was occurring before it happened. That security measure had definitely helped Lulu feel safer. I like to think that was the last little bit she needed, but I know in my heart it was making proper friends.

I’m not disappointed, after all now, it was back to it had been before. After fifteen years of healing the guilt was all but gone and I could once again delight in the beauty of Luna’s work while enjoying the single best invention of intelligent creatures. Banana Cream Cake.

My current souse of cakes came from a young thestrill in the employ of Pony Joe’s. Her doughnuts were terrible, but that mare made the most lovely cakes ever. One of these days I had to get her and Pinkie to do a bake off. If only to watch the judges have to calculate things to the hundredth decimal.

Tonight’s cake looked a bit worse than usual. Not that I minded, presentation is not important to me. Though I did hope everything was alright with my favorite baker. I made a note to check in on her as I cut my fourty-nine-point-nine percent of cake.

What? A slice is defined as a piece of food cut from a larger portion. Fifty-point-one percent is a majority, therefore I cut a single slice.

Besides, a unicorn burns an incredible amount of calories with their spellcasting. I need enough cake to offset raising the sun so I am at full capacity in case of emergencies. The size of my portion of cake is therefore a matter of national security.

That’s my excuse, it’s held up for two thousand years, and I am sticking to it.

I had just stuck a fork into my slice when a wave of soul crippling terror exploded through the room! Luna was in danger! I had to act!

I teleported, a slight change in the spell transporting my armor from it’s stand as well. I appeared with a blinding flash and a clap of thunder, armor materializing on me, wings flared, horn down in the most intimidating pose I could imagine.

Whatever foul thing dared hurt my sister would taste the full wrath of- of the dinner fork complete with cake bit I was brandishing instead of my sword. I dropped the fork and summoned my old longsword, hoping that my flashbang-like appearance concealed my error.

With my gleaming gold-plated blade leveled before me, I took stock of the situation. The room was unnatural dark, banks of fog swirled on the ground. Luna and Twilight were huddled on Luna's throne in a terrified ball, wide panic stricken eyes glued to… A sobbing albino earth pony mare?

That didn’t seem right.

I narrowed my eyes and focused on the mystery mare with my necklace. Perhaps it’s enchantments would strip the illusion from her and reveal her true nature. To my surprise, the spell simply displayed her name, kind, age, and current mood next to her in my vision.

To my even greater surprise was the actual information.

Name: Deus-Custos Dusk Vitae
Kind: Lesser Aramenellî
Age: Error! Integer too large!
Mood: Distraught

Clearly my solution to forgetting everypony’s name was malfunctioning. I’m powerful, but I am not a very good enchanter. I gave the amethyst in my necklace a tap with my hoof to reset the charm.

The words faded away, then flashed back into existence. Nope. Same information.

I was about to demand this master of illusion reveal themselves when the mare shifted and her cutiemark came into view. I might be horrible with names, but I never forget a cutiemark. I also have my ways of detecting changelings, and this was no changeling. That was a legitimate cutiemark.

I had seen that mark almost four and a half thousand years ago. So long ago, that I had been just a normal unicorn. I hadn’t even met Clover yet. So long ago that my now long dead and forgotten older brother had been the Crown Prince, my sister and I simply ‘The King’s other children’.

I had been exploring a crumbling temple, all but abandoned save for three dedicated priestesses. A longsword and a scythe, crossed before an hourglass. The mark had been carved into a monument depicting the family line of the old gods.

Ether this pony was exceptionally gifted in death, or was the third child of Faust and Anhur. Given the complete and total terror on Luna’s face… The second was more likely. Meaning the old religion was correct. A fact which would shock me more if Discord didn’t fit the bill for Chaos, and Tirek’s ability to eat magic wasn’t something the old religion said was a basic tool of demons.

If I remembered right, this was… Oh no… I cleared my throat, took a breath and begged, “If you are who I think you are, please, take me instead of whomever you are here for.”

The literal god turned a bit, a jet black eye looking at me for a moment before turning back to the floor. “I’m not here to hurt anymore… I just wanted to be honest. Prove my identity… Now they will never be comfortable around me! Ever.”

Ha! Clearly the gods didn’t know my little ponies! Ten minutes, tops.

“S-sister! Keep back!” Luna warned.

“I’m sorry.” Dusk moaned like a young mare who just realized how badly she screwed up.

Oh. Oh!

I sheathed my sword, folded my wings and slowly trotted over, stopping ten steps or so from everypony else. “There’s nothing to be afraid of here, Luna. Miss, er- I can call you Miss? I won't be struck by light-”

The pale mare shook her head, “No! No one has ever- no, wait… Okay, one person… But he called my dad Ma’am.”

I was a bit taken aback. I hadn’t expected causal language. That only confirmed my theory. “You’re young, aren't you? Young, alone, and afraid… I’m probably younger than you, but I think I can help. What’s wrong?”

Twilight frowned, her breath slowing somewhat, “Y-you're right! She is scared!”

There we were, ever logical Twilight. I knew she would work it out. The only question is what had happened here to scare her and Luna that badly?

“I… I’m here on business.” Dusk said. “Not that kind of business. I… I’m here to help you two. I wanted to… I don’t have any real friends. Only ponies who serve me with a smile hoping for a better deal… I wanted to start honestly. So I proved my identity. Showed them well… me. Not really me, what I am on the outside.” She said through sniffles. “But… forgot how mortals react to seeing death… thought it was less… horrifying.”

“I see…” I didn’t see, not exactly, but I got the basic idea.

I walked over to Luna as Twilight slowly un-terror-glomped herself to stand beside the throne with a frightened, but curious expression. Putting a hoof gently on Luna’s shoulder I pulled her head against my neck. “It’s okay sister. I’m here. She’s not going to hurt you.”

“I saw the end of everything…” Luna whispered. “Every star, the sun itself, every world cold and lifeless… I saw my own grave…”

“It’s okay. She’s not here for you.” I comforted.

Twilight took a few timid steps forward. “So- I um… How exactly do you… you know… Exist? I mean, no offense, the universe is explainable without well… a creator.”

“We didn’t make it.” Dusk muttered. “Why does everyone assume we made it? We’re it’s children. Just like you. Only with more… Oh forget it you wouldn’t understand.”

I couldn’t help a small giggle at that. “Try her.”

“I’m not just a historian.” Twilight informed, her face was slowly taking on her trademarked ‘I must understand this’ expression.

That’s my student! Afraid of death for a few seconds, then asking it questions.

“We’re six dimensional energy based life forms. You are three dimensional matter based lifeforms. We are both the product of the universe's workings. It’s just we are from it’s first cycle, and you are from it’s thirty first. So we’ve been around for, well, time. Also you know, we can do things you can’t.” Dusk said in a tired tone, wiping a tear from one eye.

Twilight’s ears perked, completing her ‘science time’ expression. “Then the Nellis-Lighttrot Hypothesis is correct! How many spacial dimensions are there?”

A quill and parchment appeared in a flash of magic at Twilight's side, ready for note-taking. Ah Twilight, still the same filly I started teaching twenty years ago. You're wasted on Flash... Even if you are cute together.

“Wait… you’re not scared of me?” Dusk asked, looking up curiously.

“Well, no, not now! It makes perfect sense that an equine brain would panic trying to comprehend a six dimensional object in three dimensional space, and you said you’re not going to hurt anypony. So, about the number of spacial-”

“Fourteen.” Dusk said smiling for a brief moment. “I um… I’ll talk more later. But I sort of kinda am here on business.”

“But! But! Science!” Twilight protested, shaking the parchment she had summoned. “Ponykind hasn’t seen anything like you for five thousand years! Now you just show up out of nowhere for whatever reason, and I’m not going to wait-”

“I am here to make friends because I am… I’m the outcast. Well, if you discount Discord. But he discount’s himself so… Look, I mean literally after I do one thing here. But it’s private, for them. Twenty minutes tops.”

Twilight’s ears drooped back in embarrassment, “Oh! Sorry…” A heartbeat later her curious expression came back. “Do you mean about twenty minutes or exactly-”

Dusk slapped a hoof to her forehead. “Okay, how about this. I can’t be in the same place at the same time, but I can be in the same time in different places. The radius is about four kilometers. You teleport home, and when I’m done here I’ll go back in time to your house thirty seconds from now. Okay?”

“Can you actually do that? Or are you just trying to get rid of me like Applejack during Apple bucking season?” Twilight asked, while jotting notes.

“Yes. I can do that. It’s just time, not making Republicans agree with Democrats.” Dusk said with an eye roll.

Luna, Twilight, and I gave her a deadpan stare.

She sighed, stood up and shook her head, “Time Turner would have gotten that… Just go home, I’ll be there.”

“Okay. But I’m coming back if you’re not!” Twilight informed seriously before teleporting away.

I decided to count off a few seconds. After ten I gave Dusk a little impressed nod. “So, you really can travel through time.”

“Yes. It’s… Look, you can push an object and it moves. It’s just like that for us. We can’t change our own actions though. So I can’t just go back and not… uh…” Dusk shuffled her hooves nervously against the floor. Then grit her teeth, “No bad Dusk! That would just make it worse…”

Luna stirred against my shoulder, gently pushing herself out of my grip. She turned to look Dusk in her eyes and demanded, “Why would you do that? Why show me? A being of your wisdom could have found a better way to prove themselves!”

Dusk’s ears drooped, her tail tucked down under herself, her eyes even shrank, just like somepony who had been yelled at by somepony they had a crush o- Oh!

Oh dear.

This could end very very badly.

“I… I… Look, I’m old, but… In pony years…” Dusk babbled in embarrassment.

I quickly turned to look at Luna. I could see it in her eyes, she saw it too. The surprise which stamped itself on her face was more than enough to show she also picked up on the fact that this person liked her.

“I’d be about thirty two… So you know, adult plus a year.” Dusk finished.

“H-How can you be… however many years old as you told Twilight, but only be barely an adult!?” Luna demanded incredulously.

“Well, we don't die. And we count our age in the bang-freeze cycles of three dimensional space… I mean… Diamond Dogs are emotionally and physically mature at twelve. It just takes us a lot longer is all. So we can be very experienced, but not really all that wise for it... “ She cleared her throat softly. “I uh… I’m sorry for… I didn’t… Um…”

Well that settled it. Deities were just people. Death was flustered over bucking up meeting her crush.

I was about to interject and save the poor mare from what was one of the worst ‘god kill me now!’ moments I had ever seen somepony go through when suddenly Dusk conjured and held out a small black and dark blue rosebush, in a Luna themed pot.

“I’m-sorry-please-don’t-hate-me-have-plant!” She blurted in a mild panic.

Luna took the potted plant and used it to block her face from Dusk’s view as she bit back a laugh. “I can’t believe I was afraid of her!” she whispered softly to me.

I coughed to try and cover up the whisper and quickly asked, “You uh, said you had business?”

“Yes!” Dusk said beaming me a grateful look. “Would you girls like to see your parents again? Cuz mom said I could let you see your parents again.”

“What!?” Luna and I asked in unison.

“Oh… Well…” Dusk cleared her throat and put on a more business-appropriate face. “I can’t bring them back to life, that’s not possible. The spell that petrified them is… Well we have rules. But I can let their souls walk freely around their bodies! So you could talk to them and stuff. As long as you were near their ‘statues’ in your garden at least.”

“That would be wonderful!” I exclaimed, mind buzzing at the thought of telling my father everything Luna and I had accomplished since Discord-

“Hold on a moment!” Luna objected, “If you have rules, and Discord is one of you, why was he allowed to rule over us with an Iron hoof? His rule is the reason they were petrified to begin with!”

“He’s the second oldest of us. Also he’s Chaos, that makes him more powerful than most of us. So you know, unlike a mortal he could kill us if he wanted.” Dusk explained, timidly tapping her hooves together. “He gets to do what he wants. I’m… I’m sorry.”

“Ah. I see.” Luna said apologetically.

“I’m not responsible for death. My brother is. I just sheppard and protect souls really… I can let people live longer though.” Dusk admitted. “But right now what’s important is that I can allow your parents to haunt their remains as ghosts. They’ve been between living and dead, so I can let them stay here. If they had passed on… It’s pretty much one way.”

“Would they be in pain?” I asked, “And would it be better to send them on?”

She shook her head, “They wouldn’t be in pain. Though they might be distressed by not being able to interact with objects. As for moving on, they can’t. Petrified isn’t dead. They have been there trapped and unconscious the whole time.”

“Oh.” Luna said, setting the plant down in front of her. “W-well… Would they be able to rest when they wanted?”

Dusk nodded.

“Then please, free them.” I asked.

“I will, but I have a rule with these things, and I can’t break it. I’m not a mortal. I’m not able to break rules that govern my own existence.” Dusk explained slowly. “We need to make some kind of deal, each of us must exchange something of equal value to the other.”

“I will not sacrifice anypony!” Luna said firmly.

“Oh no!” Dusk objected instantly, “Nonono! I just need a favor!”

Luna and I exchanged a look. We both would enjoy seeing our mother again, but anything a god would call a favor… The price might be too steep.

“I need you to move the bulk of your military to the Zebrican border, about three kilometers into the badlands directly north of the fertile crescent. They should be geared for battle.” She elaborated.

“Why?” Luna asked. “That would likely provoke a war with Zebraca. Even to return my parents to some form of life… I will not risk a war without reason.”

I nodded in agreement. “The price is too high.”

Dusk nodded, and to my surprise conjured a piece of paper and a pencil, and made the pencil write as she spoke. “I understand. Trust me, I will talk to the Zebracans. It will be fine. This is simply a show of faith thing. My mother wants to get involved in mortal affairs again, at least a little bit. She’s not doing this herself because well, brokering deals with mortals for souls is my bit, also I really wanted to say hi to your cu-eep!” Dusk’s ears perked upright in alarm as she quickly changed topic, “I mean, I admire the way both of you protect ponies… I modeled how I care for people in the afterlife off it.”

The paper floated over into my view. I took it in my magic and quickly read it over.

I’m breaking a rule of my people to protect yours. I’m writing this in case they are listening. I'd feel them watching, they are not, but they could be listening without me knowing.
I honestly don't like my kind much. We’re kinda jerks. I do like ponies though, and want to help you. I set a trap for Chrysalis and her Swarm. If you put your army there, you will save three lives, acquire a very important magical artifact, and be in position to repel the Swarm. When my father sees the battle, and notices Chrysalis has become more powerful than a mortal should be, he will order me to destroy her, and I can then remove this threat to your kingdom without being destroyed for insubordination.
The Swarm will follow my three helpers wherever they go. If you would rather not fight, I can have them get to safety elsewhere.

I quickly passed the note to Luna. Luna set the note down and nodded slowly, “Well, I suppose that seems reasonable.”

“Yes, quite reasonable.” I added.

For five years now Luna and I had been trying to get the Sovereign's Guild to arrange a united Strike Force to deal with Chrysalis before she returned to attempt to destroy our kingdom again. Thus far the Griffons had blocked every attempt by voting no, such an action requires a unanimous vote…

“We will move our soldiers immediately, unless you wish us to also move the guard?” Luna asked in that sly, commandery tone of hers.

Dusk blinked in confusion, “There’s a difference?”

“Yes,” Luna explained, “We have the EUP Brigade, which is our proper military, and then the Guard, which is a military reserve that doubles as a police force.”

“Ah… No need to move the Guard then. No reason to invite lawlessness. So, we have a deal?” Dusk asked.

Luna and I nodded. “We do.”

“Then upon your troops arriving, your parents ghosts will be living within the center of your garden. They may walk twenty meters in any direction, they can see and hear, but not touch. Oh and if you have any magic which can put a soul into a body, you know, try it. But you didn't hear that from me…” Dusk said, giving Luna a wink.

It was meant to be a sly wink, that much was obvious. Also obvious was the fact that it morphed into a flirtatious wink half way through.

“Er-,” Luna said squirming in her seat, “Suppose we need to talk to you again? Is there any way we can reach you?”

Dusk nodded twice, “Yes! Hold on.” After a second a pair of colorless gemstones appeared, simply floating in the air within the reach of our magic. “Just give one of these a spark of magic and it will work like a scrying crystal, but two way.”

“Thank you.” I said taking them gemstone from the air.

“ANd thank you! Feel free to say hi anytime! I’ll make the time to talk, or maybe go do things, you know. If you want to.” Dusk said taking a step backwards, “But I need to go. Deal’s made. I don't want to get in trouble for staying too long. Goodbye”

She vanished. No flash, no sound. Just gone.

Luna let out a held breath and grabbed my by the shoulders, “A deity has a crush on me! What do I do!?”

“Give her a chance.” I said hopefully.

“W-why?” Luna asked, face scrunching in confusion, “There are so many ways-”

“Luna! We both saw today that gods are clearly just people with incredible powers!” I scolded, “Besides, I can’t remember anyone being attracted to you for the last hundred years.”

“I was in the moon for the last hundred years!” Luna protested, giving me a fake pouting look.

“Yes. Where nopony was around to crush.” I teased, only for my ears to droop. “I’m sorry that was mean.”

“It’s fine Sister. The sooner we can joke about it, the sooner it is completely behind us.” Luna comforted sincerely.

“My point is, well… I’ve outlived four lovers, and as I remember you outlived two. You have an opportunity to be with somepony who will live as long as you will.” I informed, truly happy for her chance.

“You’re right, I didn’t think of that… I suppose I should at least try one date. We might work out. Besides! How many mares can say they had a date with Death?” Luna asked with a laugh.

My eyes widened. “Luna, I beg you, make a date for next Tuesday at three pm.”

“During the Equestrian Council meeting?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

“I NEED to see everypony’s face when you jump up and announce, ‘Bah! Enough of your squabbling, I have a date with death!’ Then run out the door, only to come back later having been on an actual date.” I said, not quite holding back the giggles.

Luna grinned, “Yes! I will do this for you, my sister!”

We shared a quick laugh. Half happy, half nervous. While the night was happy as we would be able to say hello to your parents again, it was also sad. The Swarm was a real threat, and with a god on our side, or at least Luna’s side, there was no better time to confront that threat. But war… Well, war never changes.

21 Three isles upon the sea.

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Azur/Lilly - 5th of Plantation '15 EoH - Afternoon - (5 days at sea)

The Night Jewel had a pub. Of course it did. It had everything else, except for a swimming pool that is. The thing was, I hadn’t noticed that there was a pub until five days into our trip.

I never used to even think about going to a pub or a bar, but after that night with Dusk, I had found myself wanting to go back to that little place for a drink. Well, not exactly the drink, I really just wanted the company. I wish I could remember the whole night, because just sitting with somepony who was actually listening to me was really nice.

I’d made my first real friend in a pub, so I thought maybe that’s where I could make more.

I did count Jade and David as friends, but since I had been ordered to escort them out of the country well… I didn’t exactly meet them just because. I met them because I had been told too. I liked them a lot, but it felt different from just hanging out with that mare. It felt… lesser. Not bad, just less good.

The ship’s pub was pretty nice. That should go without saying, the whole ship is in-bucking-credible, but the pub was nice by the standards of the ship. All extra smooth dark wood, silver bartops, an aquarium behind the bar filled with exotic fish, tables designed to comfortably seat ponies, griffons, even dragons.

It was really nice. Fancy decor wasn’t really my taste, my father had ruined gold and silk for me by, well, decorating our manor with it and thus making me associate opulence with jerks. But even so, I liked this pub. They made it work by having the fancy feel less ‘rich jerk’ and more ‘craftspony’. It’s hard to describe, but the style of all the decor and furnishing looked less like some artist made it, and more like a loving craftspony happened to have a ton of expensive stuff to work with.

I wondered if Dusk would like this place. I guess I didn’t know much about her, but she seemed to like me. If we ever saw each other again I would have to learn more about her. The Captain had said she was well, more powerful than he was. Maybe she had a house someplace with a room like this one.

Nah, that didn’t seem like her style. She might be rich and powerful, but she was actually happy in that old, stone walled, function over form pub. Her place was probably all Equestrian style, modern conveniences hidden behind a veneer of medieval decor.

I’d never liked Equestrian architecture. The wattle and daub style is fine, but the roofs. The roofs bother me. I get they like their history, but who the hay wants to use a thatched roof? With any luck, since I’ll probably be living there, I’ll be able to find a place with a roof made of something that isn’t literally a bundle of hay. A nice clay tile roof would be fun.

Fun. It would be nice to be having that right now.

Unfortunately while the pub was nice, the zebras and ponies in it had their cliques and friendships pretty well hashed out. So I was basically just sitting at the bar with a glass of something which smelled like it should be alcohol, but hadn’t gotten me buzzed after four and tasted something like shampoo, only delicious. At least the music playing from the jukebox was nice.

Also, this did beat sitting in my cabin reading spellbooks. I’d basically memorized everything aside from the publisher information in my books. While I had more to learn in, well everything, I had nothing to learn it from. Thus, pretending to study what the hell this drink was exactly to convince myself that I was practicing in my down time.

Thus far, I was hoping it wasn’t some sort of milk. If it was, I never wanted to see the animal it came from. I could only envision it to be some sort of cosmic terror made of nothing but tentacles that were also eyes and mouths. Nothing else could logically make milk flavored like this.

I missed the mead Dusk and I had shared. How did a place this bucking opulent not have mead?

Suddenly, a stallion slid onto the stool next to me. He was a pretty tall, blue furred, brown maned earth pony, with an odd star shaped patch of red fur over his left eye, and a cutiemark shaped like a burning microphone. He caught my attention mostly because of his facial mark, I’d never gotten to study them before since marked ponies are exceptionally rare.

He noticed me looking at him instantly. Actually instantly. Literally before I knew it. It was creepy.

The stallion swept a hoof through his mane to slick it back, and at the same time pulled a rose from… somewhere with the other and held it out with the same sort of smile a cart salesman gives you.

“Why hello there,” he greeted, “you're a very attractive young mare. I'd like to ask you out on the hottest of dates. I see that you have a lot of other gentlecolt suitors. Allow me to make my case…”

The hay was he talking about? Nopony else was even looking at me. Oh ponyfeathers! I was being picked up in a bar by this sleaze ball. No!

I held up a hoof to stop him from continuing, “Uh, actually I’m not-”

I felt my ears floop back in confusion as the stallion hopped off the stool and broke out into an actual song, prompting the entire pub to groan enmass.

“This guy plays hoofball // but I once won the whole super bowl by myself!” The stallion boasted, pointing to a short zebra who at the moment was facehoofing painfully hard.

“Damn it Sani! Every time any female comes in here…” The zebra moaned as the stallion, Sani, continued on.

“This guy is a weightlifter,” he sang sliding over to a fairly burly Zebra with an eyepatch, “// but I can bench an entire continental shelf.”

The burly Zebra glared at the stallion with his good eye and growled, “Skip to the main bit or I’ll punch you down a deck.”

Sani cleared his throat and slid back to me, almost masking a flinch. Fortunately, I was able to get a word in before he kept going on. “Oi, arschloch! I’m not a mare.”

“But-I-what?” He asked, voice pingponging out of a singing tone to a speaking one.

“I said, ‘I’m not a mare.’” I repeated adding, “arschloch.” again for good measure.

“But the dress, and the well groomed mane, those flanks, and the face?” the completely baffled horn dog asked eyes shrinking to pinpricks of confusion.

“Not. A. Mare.” I repeated again.

“Oh.” He he said, face pulling out of the confusion to something pretty normal. “Okay, just a minute.”

The stallion turned around and quickly zipped off.

Instantly the pub erupted into a chorus of “Yay!” and “Woo!” and even a lone, “Finally!”

The burly Zebra stepped over and gave me a grateful smile, “Clever move, miss. Nopony’s thought to convince Sani they’re a trap before. I’m sorry for that idiot, he tries to jump the bones of every mare he sees. It’s driven all the female crew out of the pub.”

I that moment I realized that I looked so bucking girly that even after violently insisting I was male, apparently only stupid people believed me. Faust’s mane… I needed to do something about that…

“Ja,” I sighed, “he seems like that guy.”

“He is. The real problem is that whole song… Yes Sani, you killed a Gorgon once. Feel free to pick up chicks with that for the rest of time…” The Zebra shook his head and walked back over to his table.

A second later the barpony chuckled and slid another glass of mystery goodness to me. “Everypony’s been dreading that. You’ll get more people’s attention now, and don’t worry nopony’s flirts are that ba- Oh bucking hay he’s back!”

I looked up to see Sani reentering, pushing a white stallion through the doors. A white, clearly Germane stallion. Who was admittedly pretty cute, especially with his long braided Nhorse styled mane.

The new stallion was doing his best to walk around Sani and leave, only to be pushed towards the bar. “I don’t care! I need to recharge the starboard spellbank! I’m on duty!” the white stallion shouted.

“Oh hay… He dragged Ändrin into this.” the short Zebra muttered.

“Look, you’re the only colt here who needs to be paired up.” Sani insisted, pushing the poor unicorn over to the bar with herculean effort.

“You can’t just match make based on sexual pref-” Ändrin’s eyes narrowed as he saw me, “Wow. We pick up a germane mare and you literally push me to her. Buck off you racist fertilizer bag.”

I cleared my throat and muttered in Germane. “Fourth post-war generation…”

Ändrin blinked, frowned, then winced, “Oh… Sorry about the whole… Er- Well this is awkward…”

“See? Guy.” Sani insisted before levering the other stallion onto a barstool, “No hook up. You never get laid, it’s creepy!”

Ändrin rolled his eyes. “On. Duty.”

“You can spare seven minutes!” Sani insisted, giving Ändrin a sly wink.

I couldn’t help but snicker. Seven? Seriously? Ladies and gentlecolts, the fastest stallion alive!

Ändrin rolled his eyes, “I’ll spare three, and not for that.” He turned his attention to me, “Hi, nice to meet somepony from the fatherland. Were you also banished, or are you heading out looking for medical help?”

“Banished?” I asked curiously, they hadn’t banished anypony in sixty years as far as I knew, “How old are you?”

“One eighty and a bit. I was banished at the end of the war for… Well…” He scratched a hoof behind his head awkwardly, “I was one of the biomancers they forced to work on Project Pureblood. So again, sorry for the massive failure that is your genetics. They asked to do the impossible at spellpoint… Hay, I didn’t even know they were using the spells we were making until six months into the war. They brought me in by claiming it was theoretical work.”

Wait. What? This stallion was one of the wizards… Oooo! Opportunity!

“It’s okay.” I said sincerely, “They tell us das whole story in school now. I know they forced the mages to do it… Sure someponies still say you should have refused but, you know.”

Ändrin nodded, “It’s not easy to say no with a charged horn pointed at your heart. Still, I’m really sorry. I tried my best to make my part work after learning the truth… Couldn’t stop the army from using it, but I could minimize the damage. Er, not too many ponies have developed Cancrum Oris or Polyglandular Addison’s Disease have they?”

“Nein, those are pretty rare. At least, from what I’ve seen.” I answered truthfully.

He let out a huge sigh of relief, “Good. There’s some weight off my shoulders… There is a reason the pony kinds are separate. The four types do NOT like to be blended…”

I nodded again, “Ja, I uh… I actually learned biomancy myself. It’s my talent. I was using it to fix ponies until I had to leave. They don’t banish anymore but… We'll… Social pressure.”

“You learned biomancy?” He asked with a shocked expression.

“Ja.” I answered.

“In Germany. Post war.”

“Ja. It is my talent. So I ordered books from overseas.” I explained.

“How did you get them through customs?” He demanded.

“I put my father's name on the packages. Sie don’t check nobles mail.” I answered.

Ändrin shook his head, looking pretty impressed. “Good work fraulein. It’s a shame the art is banned… We did so much good before the war. I used to regenerate lost limbs. Good times.”

“Sooo, you don’t hate the art?” I asked carefully.

“No.” Ändrin answered standing up, “It’s a tool. Just like all other schools of magic. Can’t blame a tool when it’s user does evil things with it.”

“Then, could you maybe teach me some things? I’m having trouble with-”

Ändrin cut me off with a raised hoof, “Yes. I could. I also would enjoy talking about biomancy in depth with somepony again. But, I am on duty. I’ll be here in five hours for a drink before dinner. Meet me here then. Er, but before I go, how much do you know?”

“I stabilised myself.” I answered, telling him the most impressive of all my accomplishments.

“Wait,” Ändrin asked, with a disbelieving look, “You don’t have any ongoing conditions?”

“Nein. I fixed everything.”

“How?”

“My parents received transplanted kidneys.” I said slowly, “So I have some non-Germane DNA. It was tiny, but I used it to make parts to replace broken parts of me until I stopped being sick.”

Ändrin gave me an impressed smile, “So you’re about where I was back when everything went to horse apples. Great! I can show you plenty, and you’re not going to be asking year one questions… I’ll see you later, uh…”

“Lily.” I answered.

“Lily. Nice.” He nodded and trotted off, “Five hours then ‘Miss’ Lily.”

I watched him leave with a mixed happy and sad feeling. It would be great to finally learn more than what my books could teach me. It sucked that I was only going to learn it because I found somepony who had to become a pirate after the art was outlawed. Ah well, at least I could finally learn a few new tricks!

I picked my glass of mystery drink up and took a sip, returning to time passing. As well as resolving to not ask what exactly this stuff was. Because now it had a hint of blueberry in it.

David - 8th of Plantation '15 EoH - Afternoon - (8 days at sea)

To my surprise and joy it turned out that the Night Jewel was less a sailing ship, and more of a steam ship. Sort of. A good chunk of the ship ran on what the crew referred to as magitech. Simple machines animated or controlled by simple spells. It was really interesting to learn how the small systems contributed to big things like making the ship’s oars move on their own.

This must have been what Azur was talking about by ‘behind the times’. It makes perfect sense for a species which can use magic to develop it for practical purposes. This sort of magic could be used and repaired by non-mages, sort of like an easy mode to engineering. I don’t know why I didn’t consider this as a possibility before.

The magitech systems were fun to work on. Equestria had similar technology, I was figuring on getting into this sort of work as a career. According to a few crewmen, the Night Jewel was an old ship, so she needed a lot of repairs, meaning I got to get enough experience working on her to decide I liked it. While a large chunk of the crew wanted nothing to do with me, the ship’s engineers were overjoyed to learn what hands can do.

Especially when it meant they didn’t have to fix the bilge pump.

I had assumed this was just something that broke a lot and thus frustrated the hell out of everyone when it broke again. I was wrong. The reason was far more simple.

I simply didn’t know what a bilge pump was. It’s the pump used to get rid of any water that gets to the bottom of a ship so the ship won't fill with water. The water can come from leaks in the hull, rain, or any other water that spills down onto the decks.

This means the water usually picks up oils, dirt, grime, chemicals, and all sorts of crap. So it smells like rotting Taco Bell shits in a frat house. When the pump fails, like it had now, there would be standing pools of gross in the bilge. So fixing the pump mean wading through a hundred yards of shit-smelling foulness the likes of which can only be created by a dozen skunks, White Castle grease, and a deranged drunken scientist.

Or a roommate named Doug.

“Christ…” I grumbled as I looked up into the innards of the pump.

“That’s not my name.” Glowing Forge muttered angrily.

Batponies were a new thing for me. While I had to admit that they were fucking adorable, they didn’t seem to understand using names as curses. Or at least this pinkish-gray mare didn’t.

“Just pass me a pipe wrench. The Archimedes Screw’s jammed up, gonna have to take it out.” I replied with a sigh as I held out a hand.

“Here.” she said as I felt the tool press into my hand. “The hay is an Archimedes screw?”

I started to unbolt the case from around the screw before grunting an answer, “The big screw here, with the wide threads, which does the actual work of moving the water up.”

“Oh! We have a different name for that.” she replied, shuffling some tools around.

“Figured you would.” I grunted again.

It was hard to have a dog’s nose and be down here. Especially when I pried the cover off and found the entire interior was gummed up with what looked to be rancid fat.

“Oh fucking hell!” I shouted, trying not to puke and ad to the smell.

“Ew! The hell is that?” Glowing moaned.

“If I didn’t know better, rotting bacon grease.” I informed. “Pass me a rag, I’ll need to pull it out.”

“How the buck did that get in here? We don't have a crematorium, or even pigs.” Glowing said, gagging a little as she set a rag into my hand. “Wait, how do you know what that smells like?”

“I’m an omnivore and pigs are delicious.” I explained. “I also have had many roommates who wouldn’t clean up after cooking.”

I could feel Glowing being uncomfortable with that as I started to scrape the rancid fat and… tar? The fuck?

“I mean… I understand pegasi eating fish. They’re fish. But pigs I mean those are really close to ponies.” Glowing said, presumably in a roundabout way to try and learn if I had ever eaten a pony.

If I wasn’t focusing 100% on now throwing up from the scent and feel of the lard-rot-tar-ball I was pulling out of this mess, I probably wouldn’t have instantly replied. “Like hell it is! Pork is nothing like horse. Horse is horrible. Bitter, stringy, tough… It’s like trying to eat a slab of beef jerky an inch thick that tastes like this shit smells.”

“W-what?” Glowing eeped.

Oh. Right. Trying to appear civilized. Lie time, don’t say your grandmother butchered her horses when they died. “A friend of mine had some really weird funeral rights. It was a culturally appropriate thing to do. I do however regret it because you guys taste incredibly bad.”

“O-oh… So like a griffon funeral, where close family eat part of the deceased?” she asked.

Ooookay… Glad to be far away from fucking Griffons! “Yeah, something like that. Don’t worry I don’t think I could hurt a pony who wasn’t attacking me. You guys are fucking adorable.”

A few seconds passed, a few more wads of gross were removed. “Two questions to help me think about something other than this smell.” Glowing announced, “First why do you swear like a foal? Just say buck for Luna’s sake!”

“I’m not cursing in Equish. I’m swearing in my own language.” I explained with an amused grin.

“Wait… Really?”

“Yes really.”

“Huh.” Glowing said in a genuinely interested tone. “Neat.”

“What's the next question?” I asked pulling one of the last clumps out of the mechanism.

“Oh! Right!” Glowing said shaking herself out of a train of thought. “How the hay did a Diamond Dog join the Hospitlars?”

“Excuse me?” I asked looking out from under the screw in confusion.

She pointed with a hoof to my sleeve, “You have their crest on your jacket… You’re one of their knight’s right? I mean if not you really shouldn’t wear their crest.”

“That arm band is used by my homeland to designate combat medics.” I explained. I wasn’t too fazed that another group was using the same symbol. It was just a red plus sign after all, pretty basic shape-color combo. “Who are the Hospitlars?”

Glowing made a small bemused sound, “Huh… If I get the wording right,a combat medic means you’re a soldier and a doctor at once, right?”

“Yeah.” I answered, getting the last of the rotting crap out of the pump and starting to wipe the mechanism down.

“Well the Hospitlars are pretty close to that. They’re an Equestrian knight order who responds to monster attacks… Except for Ponyville of course. It’s got it’ own safety measures and stuff.”

“Woah woah woah, wait, back up!” I said tossing a hand up to stop her. “Did you say Ponyville?”

“Yeah. I grew up there.” Glowing commented. “Why?”

“That is the literal dumbest name I have ever heard of! It literally means ‘Small-horse Town’ and it’s a town populated by ponies... Who the fuck named it that?” I demanded, actually a little upset by the name.

Glowing giggled, “Oh boy, you are going to HATE how Equestrians name cities! Hehe!”

“Oh god…” I moaned, “Please tell me there aren’t any-”

“The capital city is called Canterlot.” Glowing informed smugly.

I think that pun actually hurt me. That or the smell was that of a toxic gas. Maybe both. “... No comment.”

I quickly bolted the cover back onto the screw, and Glowing gave it a thump. Apparently Batponies were able to channel magic through their hooves. Nothing like a unicorn and their horn, but a good thump could get magic already present in things flowing.

The pump hummed to life. I gave it a satisfied nod. “Good! We can finally get the hell out of this smell hole.”

“So there’s a city in Equestria called Cloudsdale…” Glowing started.

“... It’s built in the clouds isn’t it?” I sighed.

“Mmmmhm!” Glowing said flashing me a grin that made her bright orange eyes twinkle.

I shook my head, trying to let the irrational anger wash over me… and failing. “I swear if there is a city made of crystals called-”

Glowing put a hoof on my shoulder gently. “Shhh…. There is, it’s called the Crystal Empire, but shhh! It’s okay. Not everyplace is given a bad pun name.”

“I have to know… why?” I begged.

“It’s just a thing. I’m sure your species has just a thing it does.” Glowing commented. “Anyways… we should probably file a report. About that gunk I mean. I don’t even know how it got on the ship in the first place.”

“That’s, actually that’s a great point.” I said, thankful for the distraction from the prior topic. “Let’s get on that. It's probably nothing, but well, you never know.”

To be honest, it probably wasn’t nothing. I made a mental note to keep a bit more alert. If that had been sabotage, then Jade and I were not out of the woods yet.

Jade - 12th of Plantation '15 EoH - Afternoon - (12 days at sea)

“No not like that! Pinion feathers at three degrees, not five!” Lightstride groaned, rubbing her face with a hoof. “Didn’t your mom teach you how to fly?”

I gave her a short blush, “Uh… Not with pegasi wings.”

“Oh. Right…” the cosmic latte and turquoise mare gave me back an embarrassed grin as she hovered in front of me. “In that case, is flying with bug wings that different?”

I had to give her another embarrassed blush, “Yes… I just kinda buzz, tilt, and go.”

“Yikes…” Light bit her lip for a moment, “Okay, watch me one more time.”

She blinked up about fifty feet. I’d asked Light to teach me how to fly since the first time I saw her do that. For a split second her body arcs with a round nimbus of blue-white energy and then pow! she’s a short ways away, faster than you can see her leave.

Sadly those super-fast ‘jumps’ as she calls them are her talent. I didn’t quite understand what she meant by ‘short superluminal jumps’, because apparently it wasn’t teleporting. But man I wished I could do it too.

At least she agreed to show me how to fly properly. Or rather, said it was a matter of honor if she knowingly didn’t teach a pegasus to fly. I’d told her I was actually a changeling, and that I just kinda liked being a Pegasus at the moment, but that didn’t change her opinion at all.

We had spent a few hours each day for the whole trip so far practicing. Light worked in the crow's nest, and insisted that teaching me wouldn’t stop her from her duties, so the Captain had okayed everything. I’d done okay so far, but Light wasn’t going to be happy with me just being able to fly, oh no, apparently I had to be able to fly amazingly.

I watched the mare turn a few loops and spins while circling the ship. I wasn’t just watching like a pony though, I’d shifted my eyes back to my real ones. Changeling eyes are much better at picking up details from a distance, and as a scout I should be able to mimic things I saw enough times.

I blinked, and suddenly Light was inches in front of me, a second before the ‘woom!’ sound of her arriving. “Okay! Didja get it now?”

“Um, maybe? Look, I’m already able to fly, why do I need to learn stunts?” I asked curiously.

“Because you’re going to Equestria.” Light answered, “If you spend any time as a pegasus in the air, Rainbow Dash, fastest mare alive, is going to notice you and want to race. You need to be really good, so she asked where you learned to fly, and then you can mention me and then maybe I’ll get to meet her… and uh… not puss out this time… So yeah! Back to learning how to conserve speed while performing loops and rolls!”

I raised an eyebrow, was that a crush I tasted? “I don’t know, that seems really implausible. It’s a big country right? I’m not going to run into any given pony.”

“Yeah you will.” Light said, rolling her eyes. “You’re the last of your hive right? So you’ll need to seek asylum. So you’ll have to go to a Princess, and it’s gonna be Twilight because the other Princesses made diplomacy her job, and Dash is her best friend so you’ll meet her at some point.”

“How do you even know that?” I asked with a confused expression.

“Gah! … Put your eyes back that looks really creepy!” Light exclaimed, wincing at my expression.

I quickly shifted my eyes back to green pegasus ones. “Sorry.”

“As for your answer uh…” She looked around for a few moments then coughed, “Stalking.”

“Stalking?” I asked curiously.

“I’m not good at approaching ponies I like, okay? Those are normal ponies too, not Rainbow motherbucking Dash! She broke the freaking sound barrier like a total badflank! As a filly! Without trying! I can’t top that… Not with my little like, mile max hops... So I stalked her… for um… since we were in the wonderbolts academy… But I uh... arranged a date once I felt I knew enough to not buck it up, panicked at the last moment and ran off… I wound up joining this crew actually… So yeah, less about my overreactions and more flying!” Light said urgently.

So I had tasted a crush! Ah ha! It was delicious! Also energizing.

“Sure, let’s go.” I said flapping to move up a little.

Light zipped ahead of me, and started to lead me on the same course of non-existent obstacles. I was almost able to keep up with her this time! But she still was staying a few body lengths ahead of me. Maybe three or-

Wait, what was that?

A small trickle of water was running down the side of the ship. That was odd. If you put a hole in a boat wasn’t water supposed to flow into the ship not out?

“What’s the holed up? Tired?” Lighting asked zipping over.

“No,” I said shaking my head, “What’s with the water pouring out there?”

“Oh that’s probably just someone dumping the sewa- Oh buck! That’s the fresh water tank!” Light vanished in a nimbus of energy, a half second later the flow of water stopped.

Another half second and she was back, grabbing me by the shoulder, “We got to go to the Captain now! Someone dumped like, almost all of the water.”

“We can’t just make more fresh water?” I asked in confusion.

“Not since we marooned our transmuter last month for attempted murder.” Light groaned.

“Ah so… Emergency time?” I asked rhetorically.

“Yeah, with a vengeance.” Light confirmed, zipping over to the captain’s chamber doors, and landing “Come on!”

I quickly followed, and landed just as Light’s furious knocks resulted in the door being pulled open. I gulped as Captain Sudi’s huge frame literally filled the doorway. I knew he was a niceish guy, but still, his looming frame of imposement was… well imposing.

“From your knocking rapid pace, I assume you have something important to report, Miss Light. What is it?” He asked quickly and bluntly.

“Aye sir!” Light said, snapping a salute, “Someone's sabotaged the main water tank. The reserve is full, but we have at best eleven days of water left. Jade spotted the tank being dumped a minute ago, and when I checked it out someone had taken the valve off the emergency release after opening it. I was able to close it with my teeth, but still, the valve was removed. So we have a saboteur aboard.”

Oh… crap… That was worse than I thought. I’d figured someone had accidentally bumped a lever or something. Actual sabotage-

Sun’s light! It was probably someone who was after me!

Sudikahmen nodded grimly. “Then David and Glow were right about the bilge pump… Someone wants to force us to go ashore.”

I gulped, “I uh… it’s probably someone after me… So you know… you can put us off the ship if you really-”

“Out of the question Miss Jade.” the Captain said with a dismissive hoof wave, “I never go back on my word when I can help it. Miss Light, you said there was eleven days of water left?”

“Aye sir. Not quite enough to reach Zebrica.” She said, ears drooping.

“Yes, about five days short… We have too many crewmen at the time to ration more than an extra two days… My fleet is too far away to resupply us in time… We’ll have to stop at Crookshank.” He said decisively.

“Are you sure sir?” Light asked timidly.

“Yes. Whomever our saboteur is they will be aware of our position, and thus know that Crookshank Isle is the only freshwater source within range. However, as we can not make more water ourselves, we have little choice. We simply will have to be extra cautious and ready for the inevitable attack.” he answered briskly. “Miss Light, Miss Jade, establish a round the clock guard on our food and water supplies. I will be organizing a deck by deck sweep for our saboteur.”

“Aye sir!” Light said snapping a salute.

The Captain’s door closed. I could feel my hearts race in panic. “I’m not ever going to be safe…”

Light giggled, “Pff! You’re safer than anybug I know. You got a whole freaking pirate crew ready to stomp a mudhole in any jerk about to attack you. Besides, this is probably the Stalliongrad king’s attempt to force us to stop embarrassing him each year. It happened every other time or so.”

“R-realy?” I asked nervously.

“Totally! Hasn’t been able to do anything to us yet though! Don’t worry.” She soothed. “Now follow me, we got to get that guard established.”

I nodded and followed her as she trotted off down the pyramid’s stairs.”So, you’re sure it’s not a trap?”

“Oh no, it’s a trap! Just not for you in all likelihood. I mean who even knew you got on board?” She asked.

“Huh… True.” I mused thoughtfully.

“Now come on, get guards set up, get lunch, and then more flying.” Light said rattling off each event like she was scheduling the whole-

Oh. She actually was scheduling the whole day.

“We can still practice with all this going on?” I asked in concern.

“Hey, if we stop everything because fear the badguys win. We just put up the precautions, then go back to training you for my benefit… Er, and also your benefit.”

That was a good point. I couldn’t help but reflect it. Light was completely right. If I just let fear rule me, then my enemies did win. I decided I would try my best to be braver in the future. I was going to be a queen one day after all. Noling likes a scaredy cat for their Queen.

I would be better than that. I would make a home everyling could feel safe in… As soon as I figured out how to feel safe myself. Fortunately, I seemed to have a good teacher for that.

“Thanks Light.” I said

“No problem.” She replied. “I know how much fear can cost you. Now, what are we gonna do?”

“Set up guards, get lunch, then train more.” I replied quickly.

“Damn right! I’m thinking a daisy sandwich… As for you um… huh, do you guys even have food stuff?” Light asked.

I giggled, “Just keep thinking about Dash, that’s delicious.”

Light turned a bright red, and remained like that for about an hour. I decided it would be mean to tell her that her reaction was also tasty.

22 Friendship

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Jade - 18th of Plantation '15 EoH - Afternoon

I don’t know what I expected from a name like ‘Crookshank’. I had guessed it was a town or maybe a small city with a port, but that’s about it. I certainly hadn’t thought it was an island.

To be perfectly honest, I sort of didn’t know that islands were, well, a thing that existed. Sure it made sense after you saw one, like ‘Oh yeah, of course the ocean can’t just go one forever. There has to be more land somewhere.’ But well, I guess that my teachers in the Hive were perhaps just a bit too isolated.

Then again, it’s not like out hive ever did anything involving the sea. If everything hadn’t changed, I would be in some town like Applewood right now, doing my biology given job. For the first time since I left home, I wasn’t upset about that.

It was like the sea was being pierced from below by a giant knife made of stone. A huge towering jagged peek shot up from the ocean, twisted and jagged. Like a crooked shank.

I guess that’s why it’s named Crookshank.

There wasn’t much of a beach, or anything like that. The mountain formed a solid wall all the way around for about a hundred feet upwards, atop which was a few isolated pockets of trees and other green things. Birds flew around the mountain’s middle, and clouds obscured it’s top. The ocean below reflected the mountain like a mirror one side, while being darkened by the mountain’s shadow on the other side.

Before she had joined David and the Captain’s shore party, Lightstride had told me that Crookshank’s shadow could be used as a compass. At sunrise, the mountain’s shadow always pointed at a bearing of exactly two-hundred and sixty degrees. The interesting thing is if you sailed straight in that direction you would arrive at the Zebrican city of Eefu.

I suppose that didn’t really mean anything important. I just didn’t have much to do. I offered to go with everypony who was going to retrieve water from one of the mountain’s lakes, but apparently small groups were better.

I didn’t like not being near David.

I can’t fault the Captain’s logic, take the healer with the shore party is a good idea. But even a whole hour after watching them climb up a hidden stone stair up to the treeline from the ship… I was still nervous.

The last time I was on my own I died.

I remembered it now. Not anything while I was dead, but well, how would I do that exactly? I did however remember blackness, nothingness, then waking up to David’s chatter with a hole in my chest. He saved my life, and didn’t care that helping me would be dangerous, he just helped because he was bucking awesome like that.

He wasn’t here now, and we still hadn’t found the saboteur.

I couldn't shake the feeling that it was the Swarm. It had to be. They wanted me dead, they wanted the book Lilly had, and they managed to find us with no idea where we were going. Of course they had someling on the ship.

I could feel it. Also smell it. There were at least two other changelings aboard, but I couldn’t smell them clearly enough to see if I knew their hive. Not that it mattered. I’d bet my wings that the Swarm has a ling of every color in it.

I had told Captain Sudi that I smelled other changelings. He had been surprised that I said at least two. He did admit that he had one changeling crewmember, but he hadn’t noticed anymore. Most importantly given his helmet, he would have noticed.

I’d asked who the changeling he knew of was, just so if I sniffed someling out I would know if they were okay or not, but he had said it wasn’t an issue. I’d argued that yes it was an issue. I’m very glad that didn’t upset him.

Instead he’d sat me down and given me a simple talk. He didn’t have to do that, he could have just told me that the ling had Krrit’s Syndrome.

It’s a simple but scary mental illness, one just about everyling knows about from hearsay. A changeling with it will believe they are not a changeling, but some other race, usually a pony. From hatchday until death, the poor things refuse to accept that they are changelings, and typically assume the form of whatever race they feel like and never shift again. Some even would stop eating and eventually starve to death, trying to live on just solid food.

Apparently the whole crew knew, and took care to be extra nice to her to make sure she got enough to eat. I didn’t need the talk about Krrit’s, I’m not cruel enough to remind someone they are insane when they are harmless. Especially when they’re happy and from what I was told perfectly healthy.

I also didn’t need to know that they had marooned the last person to tell whomever she was that she wasn’t a pegasus. By chance, that had also been their transmuter. Who then tried to kill her for whatever reason. Since she hadn’t fought back even when in danger, they were not a threat at all.

But still, the other one, or ones. That was a problem. A problem I had tried to fix by taking a new shape every few hours. I had spent ten days posing as doppelgangers of forty different crewmembers (with their permission naturally). There was no way that anyling could track me on the ship with me doing that!

It was ironic that a member of the Swarm gave me the ability to shift properly. I was able to keep them from knowing who exactly I was, all because of one of their own.

That said, they did know that I was somewhere on this ship. Which was mostly wood. Which could burn. Or they could just kill everyone aboard… Sun’s Light I missed David.

Get your plot back here you magnificent bastard! I need you!

I took one last look at Crookshank, wishing the small sailboat would start coming back, before turning back to the ship’s deck with a sad sigh. I had duties to do. At least I did if I wanted to keep up my disguise.

At the moment I was in the shape of one of the Night Jewel’s armorers. A position which contrary to the name actually looks after the hoof-held weapons aboard the ship. Ship names are weird.

The particular Zebra I was impersonating was pretty distinctive. Short, only a few stripes leaving a mostly white coat, mane shaved down to fur-length, gray-green eyes, pronounced ears, the sort of zebra which stands out. I felt like someone who looked that unique wouldn’t be suspected of being an impostor, it would take too much effort to disguise yourself to look like someone that stands out in a crowd.

Well, unless you’re a changeling. Which I am. Which they know I am. Maybe I should find a place to-

“Excuse me. You’re in charge of the armory, aren't you?” a yellowish-white and black zebra mare asked as she stepped directly in front of me.

Her orange-yellow eyes half smiled, half glared at me. On top of that they were the kind of eyes that seemed to stab you in the soul. Piercing, judging, hateful eyes.

“Uh yeah.” I said, taking a half step back from her honestly creepy looking face. “Do you need something?”

“Oh nothing, just, since you’re on deck, the armory is locked, right?” she asked.

My danger sense started to tingle. I had a bad feeling about this. But, just in case, “Yes. Do you need to check something out? We can go get it-”

“No, no, nothing like that. Just wanted to know if everything was locked up.” she answered, turning away and trotting off as she started to hum a short haunting tune.

She’d made it about twenty feet, and had just vanished from my sight into the stacks of cargo crates when a short zebra stallion came rushing up from the opposite direction, “Zakia!”

Crap, I didn’t speak zeb- Oh wait that was ‘my’ name! “What?”

“Get me the goddamn key!” the zebra shouted sliding to a stop in front of me, “Now!”

No… Not good… I felt my ears droop fearfully, “Er- Wh-”

“The saboteur, its Cantata! We need to arm everyone now!” He insisted, stamping a hoof in emphasis.

I suddenly noticed the large gash on the right side of his head, and the trail of blood going the way he had come from.

“That’s a great idea!” I said with a shaky grin.

I fumbled with a hoof for the key hidden in the sash around my barrel, to get it ready for-

A blinding flash of red light lit the cargo crates like hot coals, the crackling of arcane energy sizzled through the air, and that creepy mare’s voice seemed to come from everyplace around me at once as she sung in that same odd-creepy-happy tune.

“Eighty years to the day. // The Captain his ship has left. // Still as death, in my arms she lay. // Of his ship I will leave him bereft.”

The hay? All that flashy light and magic crackle and all that happened is a song?

“Buck! Too late!” The Zebra spat angrily, “For the love of Celestia don’t pay att-”

“The hay is going on?” I asked, entering a state of scared and confused.

“Oh bucking hell… You’re the changeling aren't you?” The Zebra sighed while facehoofing

“Foolish morsels think they can resist, // yet their will is mine to make. // By my song your help I enlist, // your vile captain I wish to break!” the voice continued.

“Don’t… liste-” the Zebra muttered, starting to stare off towards the crates. “Siren… get…”

A white film quickly formed over his eyes. I screamed, shrilly, in my own voice, and bolted for the stairs to get the bucking hay away from whatever the buck was bucking going on!

My hooves pounded against the deck, my heart felt like it was going to explode as I put everything I had into the full sprint.

“Zebra’s need more hearts! Zebra’s need more hearts!” I screamed in a panic, the stairwell way to far away for my liking.

That’s when I saw her. Five times the size of a pony, scales the color of fresh blood, long fang filled muzzle, tattered spiny fish-like fin on her back, towering over the stacked cargo on a sea-serpent’s tail, with the hungry eyes of a predator.

The monster saw me, grinned, and smashed a stack of crates with her tail, throwing them into a pile atop the stairwell, blocking it almost perfectly.

“Oh my, what is this?” it sang tauntingly, “What are you that can resist? // Has your escape gone amiss? // Your will too I will twist!”

“AHHHHH!” Stairs-blocked-what-do?!

I turned hard to the right, hooves skidding, legs twisting, basically not falling as I shot away towards the garden. The Pyramid! There was a way down in the pyramid!

“Come to me my tasty slaves, // bring this thing back to me, // then I send you to your graves. // Silly thing, you can not flee.”

Why did the music have to come from everywhere!?

Every motherbucking door, hatch, and entrance immediately filled with white-eyed ponies and zebras who surged forwards like a rock slide. I put every ounce of speed this body could into sprinting for the pyramid, realizing as the stairs began to swarm with the monster’s puppets that the entire ship was under this thing’s control!

I was going to die.

The monster laughed, or licked it’s lips, I couldn’t tell. “Yes! I taste your despair. // Are you hoping for escape? // Morsel, you don’t have a prayer! // Come to me, my maw’s agape!”

The crew was only a few feet from me. All around! Nowhere to run! No escape!

Wait a minute...

I closed my eyes, concentrated, felt the burning tingle of my magic ripple over me. Fur melted, merged, hardened, chitin taking it’s place. The zombie-crew rushed forward, I jumped, buzzed my wings, shot upwards, felt a hoof scrape against my rear left leg, yanked my legs close to my stomach and headed straight up.

“Ah, and now I see,” the monster sang, “This explains the mystery. // The little Diamond may be immune to me, // but she will so be history.”

“That verse was terrible!” I reflexively shouted in a panicked, yet angry tone.

A me-sized blinding red beam of energy scythed past me, tinting the whole world red even as it turned it black! The world stayed black for a few moments, fading back in just as a burning pain shot through my left flank. Wait, my flank was falling to the deck, it couldn’t possibly be-

Oh dear...

A pair of hooves grabbed me just below my wings, jerking me to a stop. I feel like an anvil, smashing into the pegasus who had grabbed me with a wet thud.

My entire left side felt like it was on fire. I could feel hemolymph leaking out of the gaping slice. I was going to die.

Something hit my back like a runaway cart, slapping me head over hooves across the deck until my back hit something else with a loud crack of wood and chitin. One eye went black, and stayed black. My ears rang loud enough to mute whatever taunting verse the monster sang as it loomed over, me, tail coiling back beneath it.

It grabbed me by my remaining hind leg with a hoof, slowly pulling me up towards it. I hung limply, stunned, ears ringing, body not wanting to move. This was it, this was the end. I shouldn’t have taunted the sea monster.

The shattered spokes of one of the front wheel’s of David’s cart came into view as I was lifted up towards the thing’s maw, revealing what I had hit.

Oh man, David was going to be pissed that I broke that wheel. He loved that cart. The old dog would probably shoot me with- Wait! That weapon!

A glint of polished metal caught my eye. There poking out of a sack a little bit. David’s gun.

Maybe it was from bleeding out, but a wave of calm washed over me. I reached for the gun with my magic, the green aura rippling into existence around the dawn-hewed barrels as I pulled it free from the bag. The thing held me up in front of it’s my-head sized mouth, grinned, and opened wide.

“... eat me.” I grunted, forgetting to say ‘you’re not gonna’ first.

I jammed the weapon into it’s throat.

I pulled on the trigger with all my remaining will.

There was a flash of white light.

Thunder exploded in my face.

My good eye went black, I hit something hard, the smell of burnt rotting fish assaulted my nostrils with a whole army of awfulness.

Vision faded in slowly. There was a flash of blue. Lightstride stepped onto the deck, panicked expression on her face, ears standing up in alarm.

“Hey…” I moaned. At least, I think I moaned ‘hey’. It may have been a gurgle, because something really heavy was on me.

Lightstride blinked to my side in a flash of light, “Holy bucking shit you’re alive! Quick! Shift, you idiot!”

“Nyerh?” I asked in dull confusion.

“You’re bleeding out and not regenerating, shift to something not injured!” Light demanded.

We could do that? I closed my eye to concentrate. Wait, no I didn’t. My eyes apparently didn’t want to close. That didn’t seem good.

I felt something smack against my face, I think it should have hurt a little.

“Pegasus!” Light screamed, “Do you hear me? Go pegasus!”

Oh yeah. Flappy pones were cute and fun to be. I should totally do that.

My magic sort of kinda was leaking away from me. I reached for it, vision dimming till the only thing I could feel was the tiniest spark.

Come back here spark! I want to do the pony thing.

The spark stopped, I grabbed it, warmth tingled all over, I felt five different sharp pains, and my eyes slowly peeled open.

“Ahhh-ha-ha-how!” I groaned, my everything hurting more than I thought possible.

“Thank Celestia!” Light exclaimed, quickly giving me a hug. “I’ve never seen anyling take minutes to change before.”

I hugged her back. Moving hurt. A lot. “Ow.”

Light frowned, “Oh yeah… You’re totally out of love now aren't you?”

She let go and turn around, shouting, “Everypony! Bug down! Bring hugs!”

“How… are you even… here?” I asked as a bunch of crew rushed over, prompting a mini heart attack until I noticed their eyes weren't all white anymore.

“When a big ass death-beam shoots off overhead from where your ship came, you go check on it.” Light said rolling her eyes. “The hay happened here?”

“Evil fish… pony… thing…” I answered. “Killed it.”

Suddenly the entire motherbucking crew glomp tackled me as a singular cheering mass! It was almost as scary as being smashed by that sea monster thing.

“I need to report this to the Captain, but I'll be right back. I’ll make sure you get all patched up!” Light shouted over the cheers of the crew.

“Wait!” I gasped, “Tell David… he’s not allowed to go anywhere… again… ever!”

Light giggled, smiled, and gave me a kiss on the nose, “Meh, you handled yourself okay on your own there.”

Then she vanished in a flash of blue light, the crew hoisted me up onto their backs, and I drifted out of consciousness.

Jade - 18th of Plantation '15 EoH - Evening

I awoke feeling unbelievably comfortable. The sort of comfortable where you just go ‘Buck it, eyes staying shut, back to bed.’ SO I curled up a bit and snuggled into the-

Sun’s Light! I was almost bucking dead a minute ago!

My eyes shot open. I seemed to be in the middle of a silver inlaid gold bar! No, wait, it was just a really really fancy room.

A room which based on the book shelves, big mahogany desk, large map table, and the comfier-than-should-be-possible looking chair in the corner was probably the Captains. I moved to sit up a little and noticed the bed I was on was huge, round, and covered in a deep wine red silken comforter.

Yep. Captain’s room.

“Oh thank god!” David said from behind me, making me turn around as he sat up and opened the door, almost knocking Light over as he moved, “She’s awake now!” He called.

A half second later the Captain burst through the door. It was a little scary. I swear the doorway was too small for him to fit…

He walked over to the bed and sat down to get his head onto the same level as mine, which nearly prevented me from seeing Lilly trot in after him.

“Miss Jade, can you understand me?” Captain Sudi asked in a less booming than usual tone.

“Yes.” I answered, giving him a small nod.

His eyes held a steely hardness to them, half seriousness, half gratitude. “Excellent.” He continued. “I had feared even with your shift you may have still been somewhat injured. I will not beat around the bush. You have saved my ship, my crew, and due to me being ashore on an island, you have also saved me.

“Furthermore, thanks to you, a very old nemesis of mine is rotting on the seafloor. I owe you a great deal, and will not be persuaded to give you less than a fair reward. As you have saved everything I hold close to my chest, there is only one fair reward.”

Sudikahmen paused for a moment, just long enough for me to start wondering what he-

“When you arrive in Equestria, I will divert as much of my resources as necessary to establish a secure hive at a location of your choosing, which will be complete with all the modern amenities, including a Gaian bed, because as you are presently lying in one, you are now ruined for all other mattresses.” He said firmly.

I blinked three times, “All other mattresses?”

“Yes. All of them, you can trust me on that completely.” The captain said sagely.

I blinked again, “Wait, you’re going to build an entire hive for me?”

“Yes. Not personally, but I have the zebra and pony power to do so, as well as the wealth. You will not persuade me to do otherwise. Lastly, Miss Lightstride will accompany you to Equestria as a permanent liaison between my fleet and I and yourself, that way I know when and where to send supplies and personnel to repay my debt. As well as for the times thereafter that you ever require assistance with anything pertaining to the sea.”

As Sudikahmen finished speaking he stood up and turned to Lilly, David, and Light. “I know you three wish to speak with her, but I require a minute of privacy with her. There is sensitive information I need to convey.”

David frowned, opened his mouth to object, then thought better of it and nodded. “Alright. But please be quick.”

Lily nodded in agreement, “Yeah… I mean, if she has to shift back I may need to reattach her leg. Oh uh, Jade, I have your leg.”

“Thanks.” I said, flinching at the memory.

“Pff, she’ll be fine, the whole crew loves her. Plenty of power to regenerate the second she changes back.” Light said as she gave me a happy smile and trotted out of the room.

David and Lily followed her a second later, and the Captain shut the doors.

Turning back around he gave me a nod, “I’ll keep this brief, I don’t want to keep you from your friends. It’s important that you know that Lightstride is the mare I informed you of earlier.”

“Er,” I wracked my brain for what he might be talking about, "sorry I don’t quite-”

“She’s the crewmember of mine with Krrit’s Syndrome.” He explained.

“Oh!” The conversation suddenly rushed back to me. “I uh, guess that’s good to know.”

“I’m only mentioning this due to the fact that she will be accompanying you.” Sudi explained, ”Since changelings can detect one another by scent, you would naturally find out sooner or later, and have confronted her, which as we both know would be bad for her health.”

I nodded, I didn’t want to accidentally make the poor mare have a complete collapse of her sense of self… “I won’t mention anything. Er, but what stage of Krrit’s is she in?”

“The final one… Or well, beyond it actually.” Sudi commented, stroking his chin, “She’s been living as she is now for around twelve years, which seems to have been long enough for her to have earned a real cutiemark, hence why her’s actually works.”

“Wait, what?” I raised an eyebrow, “Is she a scout?”

“No. She was a Soldier, but well, she’s been alone for years now and is well loved by the crew so…” He waved a hoof for me to fill in the blank.

“Oh. So she’s a Queen. Huh…” I wondered if that even meant anything to someling with Krrit's.

“I know what you’re thinking, and it doesn't matter at all. She is for all intents and purposes a pegasus. Aside from the danger sense a Soldier born queen has, I’ve never seen her use a single changeling ability aside from a single shift when exposed to a changeling revealing potion.... Perhaps that’s why her cutiemark works, she believes she is a pony so firmly that the magic accepts her.” The Captain mused.

“Maybe… I don’t know how that works.” I said, wondering how that worked myself.

“Regardless, it matters not. But what does matter is… Well, please understand that she’s harmless.” Sudi said giving me a concerned look.

A look of such concern that it could only mean one thing.

“She’s a Sapphire isn’t she?” I asked carefully.

“Yes… and no." the Captain's face scrunched as he searched for the right words to use, "Are you aware of Chrysalis's invasion of Canterlot? Lightstride is a survivor of that assault. Her link was broken in it. As far as my helmet has shown me she doesn't remember much before waking up in her present form, still hurt, in an Equestrian hospital. You can trust me, her mind is free, and she likes you. She won’t betray you. In part because of those reasons, in part because she knows if she did, I would find her.” He finished, tone turning dark.

I bit my lip and concentrated for a few minutes. Could I trust his word? Yes. Yes I could. Besides, a member of the Swarm would have killed me as I was stuck under the big sea monster thing.

“Alright. I trust you.” I replied. “She can come with me. But why did you choose her?”

“I didn’t. She volunteered. She likes you.” Captain Sudi informed with a smile as he turned around and opened the doors, “By the way, you will be staying in my cabin for the remainder of the trip. I will sleep in my guest cabin.”

The second he was through the door, everybody rushed into the room, almost tripping over each other in the doorway. David got to the bed first and gently set a hand on my shoulder, “So… Do you remember how you killed that thing?”

I nodded, “Yeah, it’s kinda fuzzy, but I got most of it.”

“Perfect!” David broke into a grin, “So, it was eight ponies tall right?”

“Uh, no, more like five.” I said ears drooping in confusion.

Light facehooved, “No! That’s not how you tell a story this awesome! It was eight ponies tall, and breathed acid. Right?”

“This isn’t some kind of fish story! I almost died!” I protested.

Lily gave me a grin. “It isn’t?” she asked.

I facehooved, “Sun’s Light… It is a fish story!”

“Yep,” David said with a nod, “and the crew can’t remember much because they were hypnotized and want to hear the story of how you saved the ship… And well, its going to be a fish story told to pirates. Now, we’ve established that it was eight ponies tall and breathed acid. How sharp were it’s fangs?”

That’s when I understood. They were trying to help me feel better by making it into a story, just a legend about something may have or may not have happened. I liked that, it seemed like a good idea.

“As sharp as a biting wind?” I asked.

“There you go!” David chuckled, cracking a grin. “Now, let’s get the rest of this all hashed out.”

I nodded, smiling not because I was alive, but because I had my friends. As long as I had them, I was going to be alright. Good friends can make everything better.

23 Landfall and Air Mail

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David - 22th of Plantation '15 EoH - Sunrise

I was not having a good morning. Apparently, a ship of some kind from Neighpone was spotted, so rather than risk combat by entering Quis’s harbor the Night Jewel would be sailing back out to sea. Which meant we would be going ashore in a small, squarish landing boat. As this was a pirate vessel, the boat was designed for landing troops, and in fact a true landing craft.

On it’s own that would have been fine. I can put up with a small boat. Especially one with a nifty little magitec motor.

Add to a cramped landing craft the wee hours of the morning. The sun just barely glowing on the horizon like a huge bonfire hidden behind a hill. Still not bad, dawn has to come some time.

But when you mix in clouds like a woolen blanket covering every inch of sky, rough choppy water that seems to want to nutcheck the goddamn boat, a thick batch of fog on loan from Silent Hill, and a jerk drinking the last of the coffee before I could get a cup, you get a near perfect replica of my worst morning ever. It was even six fucking thirty in the morning.

Azur, or Lilly, whichever, deciding to have an entire conversation with his buddy in German was not helping at all.

“Die energieübertragung muss genau vierzig megajoule pro sekunde sein?” Lilly asked, taking notes in a small booklet. Working in some last minute tips or some shit.

“Ja,” what’s-his-face answered, “und sicher sein, um die Matrix korrekt polarisierten zu halten, oder es wird explosionsartig zusammenbrechen.”

My ears flattened as a loud thud echoed across the harbor. Oh god… Why!? And also what!?

“You okay there, David?” Glowing asked.

I had no idea why she was here, but thank god for it!

“Just… old memories… What the hell was that boom?” I asked, flinching as I expected more.

“Well, Captain said there was a Neighponese ship nearby, so that was probably it landing. They weigh a ton after all.” she replied simply.

“Eine sekunde,” Lily said turning to face me for a moment, “Ja, sie are pretty loud landing. I remember hearing it the first time too.”

“Hold on, land?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yep. I think they said it was a Arubion Class, so that’s…” Glowing frowned and bit her lip for a moment, “Around twenty thousand tons of airship that just dropped a few inches.”

“Oh.” I nodded slightly, that would definitely explain the sou- “Wait, airship?”

“Yeah, big three ballooned ones. Got the steel platform bodies. Beat the hell out of Equestrian ships, but that’s Neighpone for you. If it’s shiny and whirs they build it religiously.” Glowing giggled.

“Airship, as in, a large lighter than air flying machine?” I asked, mind kinda reeling from that blow.

“Yeah. What other kind is there?” Glowing asked giving me a weird look. A look that suggested she hadn’t just told me that there were goddamn commercial flying craft in this world!

Lily snickered and broke off her conversation again, “He’s been in Stalliongrad this whole time.”

Glowing paused, looked up at me, grinned and shuffled her forehooves, “And he’s sailing to Quis!”

“Ja!” Lily snickered.

Getting mad at being the but of a joke I gave Glowing an irritated glare, “Oh yeah, well, why are you here anyways?”

“I only signed on for one mission. I’m going home.” She answered casually. “Needed a few extra bits… My wife’s sick. Not like, dying sick, but well… Expenses and things.”

“Was? I thought Equestria had free healthcare.” Lily asked in surprise, his mentor nodding in agreement.

“That is what I heard as well.” He objected.

“Eh, it’s only partially true.” Glowing said with a shrug. “Get a bad cut on your leg? No problem, cured and sent home. Break a leg, same deal. Lose a leg, and the Gaians will make you a shiny new one. But if you get something weird and keep needing care, like say, cancer… You need to pay what the Kingdom can’t. It’s free to a point.

“She’s got some kind of genetic thing, so I figured a five hundred thousand bit payday would set us up for two years and was worth the four months at sea.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” what’s-his-face said turning back to face Lily before adding, “My condolences. Wie auch immer, zurück zu dem, was ich sagen wollte.”

“Richtig, etwas über den sekundär Zauber-Matrix?” Lily asked, indicating their conversation had resumed.

“I’m sorry your wife is ill… Do you know what it is?” I asked in genuine concern.

“No offense, but if the best healers available don't know what it is, I doubt a Stalliongradian surgeon will be of help.” Glowing said in an apologetic tone.

I felt my tail droop sadly. “Er-”

“Oh he’s way better than them!” Jade said, hopping off the top of the cart to stand beside me.

At the moment she was in her favored red pegasus shape. The one she had used back at Capsan.

Yeah! Way to go bug-girl! Stand up for your friend slash meatshield!

“You saw me out of pegasi form before, right?” Jade asked, “You know that lighter patch of chitin on my barrel? Two crossbow bolts. He fixed me up with like… A literal piece of moldy bread and a metal plate.”

Glowing’s head tilted to one side, “You’re from Stalliongrad and you know about penicillin?”

“Yes I know about penicillin.” I said suspiciously, “How do you know about penicillin?”

Glowing fluffed her wings slightly, almost like when a bird flicks its wings. That was a weird sort of movement as far as I knew. I’d never seen a pegasi do that, and sure Glowing was a batpony, but the differences seemed cosmetic at best.

“Alright, so you’re better than the bloodletting leech users I know for a fact exist… But still, she’s got something there have only been twelve confirmed cases of… and the spells and medicines are more expensive than our combined medical care allotments. So while I appreciate the offer, I think it’s out of your hooves er-hands.” Glowing apologized.

“Apology accepted.” I grunted.

Jade nodded, a small smile forming on her lips before she looked at everyone with a confused expression, “Uh, are none of you feeling all dizzy and stuff?”

“No. I have my sea legs.” I answered, with similar responses from everyone else.

The water wasn’t that bad.

“Huh… Okay. Just me then.” Jade shrugged and flapped back up to her favorite perch.

“My turn for a question,” Glowing declared as Jade landed, “What memories are so bad that you’re acting like you’re sailing right into a hoard of angry Griffons?”

I flinched, visibly tensing my muscles at her rather apt metaphor.

“He’s a veteran.” Jade said quietly. “I don’t know everything, but he did do a thing where his people attacked a beach.”

“Yeah. The boat, weather, language… It’s all pretty similar.” I grunted, “It would be nice if you didn’t remind me of it.”

“Oh… Sorry.” her ears drooped, the tufts on the end making a little whooshing noise from the sheer speed.

I wanted to laugh at that, but I was just too stressed out. As well as weirded out by the fact that apparently there were airships. Though I suppose given magitec pumps and boat props, a zeppelin or two wasn’t out of the question.

“Hey, you know what will take your mind off of things?” Lightstride said, speaking up from out of view behind the cart. “Look right below the rising sun. Quis is right under it, and once Celestia gets it a few more degrees up there, the fog will thin out. Always happens with the fog here. You won’t want to miss it.”

This seemed like a good idea. Not only would seeing a not burning city relive the djavu, but given what everyone was saying… I was getting the distinct impression that I had horribly misjudged the world I found myself in today. In which case, I was probably screwed for getting to have some nice place to spend my days in.

In a medieval world, my knowledge of medicine, construction techniques, and all the general handyman things would make me invaluable. I knew calculus and modern construction methods, as well as how to make quality cement. Plop me down into 1500’s Europe and I’d have a job as a master architect in months tops.

Everything I had seen, done, heard, and lived thus far had shown me a world that was just about ready for the iron age to start cranking out inexpensive steel. The magitec on the Night Jewel had been neat, but all simple machines working complexly to do specific things. A natural evolution of technology in a world with magic.

But put me in a time closer to my own… I would be nothing. Just another standard unit of the machine, only one without any connections to get him into a working position. That’s the paradox of a modern education, we all know so much more than even a King could have afforded to learn, but it takes connections, luck, and hard work to get more than subsistence from life.

I didn’t want that again. I’d had enough of that in my old life. Hopefully the sunrise would show me something I could work with.

I turned my head forward and stared at the orange glowing dot behind the wall of fog as it slowly rose through the air. Ever so slowly I could start to make out shapes in the fog as the sun’s warmth evaporated the gray blanket. First a general blur, then one or two silhouettes of larger structures.

“Okay,” Light said slowly,”you can see the pyramid, kinda, so three… two… one…”

The sun suddenly flared brightly, going from orange to warm yellow almost instantly as it rose above the fog bank. Immediately the entire city shone like a spot lamp had been flipped on. I could see everything! A dozen huge whitish-tan pyramids decorated in sheets of glass in a fashion resembling a modern skyscraper consumed the horizon. The space between them was filled with smaller square towers, each of which was festooned with decorative architecture like spires, arches, and what looked like statues.

If that wasn’t impressive enough, the entire goddamn city was wreathed in green, and not in terms of painted buildings. There were plants everywhere. Hedges decorated the tops stone half-walls, trees grew on balconies, flowers were every-fucking-where. In every spot possible, plant life joined architecture to make one complete unit.

Quis was a modern architectural take on the goddamn hanging gardens of Babylon. It was beautiful. Not in the sense of the city held the quality of possessing beauty. Quis defined what beauty was. It was beauty.

I felt a hoof push my jaw up.

“You were drooling.” Glowing said with a grin.

“Its… But… There’s… How?! Who?!” I demanded incoherently, not breaking eye contact with the closest thing to a modern utopia as built by Tolkien elves.

“Zebras like their stuff to look nice.” Light answered. “Hay, you saw the Night Jewel. Not everyzebra can afford gold and silver, but a few flowers and some glass are cheap and can look great.”

“No! The… This is… New York City is as fucking hard to build as tinker-toys and lincoln logs compared to this! How do you even build something like-” I stopped mid sentence, wide eyed awe shifting to underwhelmed irritation at my own obliviousness without a clutch, “-They used magic didn’t they?”

“Yep.” Everyone said at once. Even the until now silent crewman who was just sailing the boat.

God dammit… Stupid magic. Taking the wonder out of everything. Unless…

“How and what magic?” I asked hopefully.

“Uh… Alchemy probably?” Lily ask-stated.

Yes! Wonder resto-

Oh god fucking dammit! The world was equivalent to the modern day… Shit.

“Oh hey!” Jade exclaimed excitedly, “Can you guys smell lemons? We should get some of those! I’ve always wanted to try one!”

I sniffed the air, no lemons to be whiffed.

“Nein, but maybe you have a better nose than me.” Lily commented.

“We can get you a lemon. Assuming the coins we have work as money here…” I grumbled. “Or that anyone’s even interested in my scrap…”

“Oh no worries! I got that all worked out.” Light commented as the boat approached a small dock. “The Captain gave me some traveling funds for everyone, but it’s not too much. We can probably sell off your scrap at a local antiques dealer or to a cultural museum for a good chunk of change, and that bag of gold is just as valuable here as it is there. All said, if we spend a day in Quis, we can probably get train tickets to-”

“You have trains?” I asked, ears falling.

“Yeah… There’s no Equestria-Zebrica rout though. The rail would have to go through the Badlands, too much sand, too many Tatzlwurms.” Glowing commented.

“We could maybe get a ship to take us.” Lily mused.

Light shook her head. “Nah, not enough bits for that. Too many people. Same goes for air passage. But we should be able to afford a train, assuming you can ditch most of that junk, David.”

I sighed. “Yeah… I can. It’s useless now isn’t it?”

Jade frowned and shifted atop the cart to face me, “Hey… What’s wrong?”

“Nothing important… Just how the world works. Can’t do more but keep truckin.” I grunted. “Right… Let’s get you to Equestria. I can worry about me after that.”

I had to stay focused, I had a mission, save the bug-girl from the Evil Griffons, who presumably could have been fielding modern weapons but didn’t… The hell was that about? In fact…

“I need to know…” I asked giving everyone a long look, “How the flying fuck does a nation stay as far behind the rest of the world as Stalliongrad apparently has?”

“It’s poor hell and ruled by idiots.” Lily said bitterly.

“Yep.” Glowing agreed, “It has literally nothing to export besides trees, and everyone has plenty of trees. It can’t feed its own people because it’s either super thick forest or swamp so making farmland is almost impossible.”

“And,” Light finished, “the last 3 Kings have refused other nation’s aid on a matter of family pride and honor. So, nothing to trade to get money to buy things others make, and no way to improve themselves because everyone has to work farms to get enough food made, and it’s run by plotholes.”

“Wait, by what?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Plotholes.” Light said raising an eyebrow herself. “You know, anuses, rectums, things shit come from.”

“Oh! Sorry… The terminology is close to something in my own language.”

“Ah. Gotcha.” She chuckled.

The boat bumped up against the wood rim of what looked to be a white marble dock expressly for smaller boats. Immediately six Zebras dressed in glossy black breastplates with green cloaks embroidered with white tribal patterns lined up on the dock above the boat.

I couldn’t help but notice each of them had a crossbow, and some kind of blade tucked under their cloaks. A small voice in the back of my mind demanded I draw my knife and shout ‘enguard’ just to finally get to see how the fuck a pony used a sword. While it had been bothering me for years, I managed to make the voice go away.

“Hail travelers! What business have you upon our shores?” A shorter female with more cloak embroidery than the others called in an odd bardic sort of rhythm.

“Hail the watch! These five seek travel through your fair lands, bound for Equestria.” The crewman who had sailed us here called, in what I realized was a ritualized sort of customs check.

Holy shit! Ritualized customs. Maybe the culture was different enough for me to succeed here!

“From where are you bound, and what cargo do you carry?” The watchmare asked, in the same tone and cadence.

“These folk come by way of Stalliongrad, and bear a cargo of medicine and salvage.” The crewman answered.

“Let us see into the hold, that we may know if truth was told.” the watchmare finished.

It was pretty cool of the Zebras to unload my cart for me. Even better was they didn’t completely disregard how I had packed things, one of them kept a list of what was found in the cart and where. It was a nice highly professional-

Oh shit! I also had-

“Who is the owner of this cart?” the head watchmare asked, a grim expression on her face.

-explosive ordnance in the cart...

I sighed and stood up as straight as I could, doing my best to remember a how to do a military bearing. “It is mine Ma’am, as are all but six of the bags.”

I couldn’t help but get a small sense of satisfaction at the surprised look which passed over the Zebra’s face as I spoke coherently.

“Do you care to explain the presence of explosives in your wagon, sir?” She asks slowly, the other Zebras slowly circling to enclose the area.

“My apologies ma’am, I am this young changeling’s bodyguard,” I said pointing to Jade, assuming it would be best to inform them of Jade’s heritage, in case they had a detection method of some kind. “As a credible threat was placed on her, and we were in a largely lawless land at the time, I felt it prudent to construct simple antipersonnel devices out of the available materials for the purposes of securing our campsites. I intend no harm to anyone here, you may dispose of them however you like, or if you prefer I can dismantle their detonators for you.”

“I find it a little… unlikely that you personally created these.” The watchmare said bitterly, taking one of the small box-mines from the cart and holding it in a hoof. “Take this one apart. If you can, I’ll assume you're telling the truth. If you can’t, you can either be arrested or return to the ship which brought you here.”

I rolled my eyes, took the bomb, pulled the wooden cover off, and took out each piece while naming it, “Blackpowder charge in a clay pressure vessel, simple cannon fuse, thermite packets, homemade strike anywhere match, tripwire.”

“Wait, thermite?” One of the other guards asked, “I thought you said these were antipersonnel.”

“They are.” I answered. “I designed these after being attacked by a goddamn rock covered crocodile four times as long as I am tall. Iron shrapnel wasn’t going to cut it.”

“Seems legit.” The head watchmare said with a satisfied nod. “We will confiscate these and any other dangerous materials-”

“Ma’am, I’ve found a firearm!” A zebra called.

“Sporting or military?” the watchmare asked, both to me and her subordinate.

“Four shot, break action.” we replied in unison.

“Sporting then. Is it enchanted?” she continued.

I nodded, “Yes. Which is why I rarely use it.”

“I presume you use that shortsword on your belt primarily?” She asked.

I nodded again, “Yes Ma’am. But it’s not a sword, it’s a knife.”

She looked like she was about to object, then paused, looked me up and down and cleared her throat, “Fair enough, given your size I suppose it could be considered a knife… You are entitled to keep your personal weapons, but please do not draw them for any reason. It is illegal to handle a weapon in public without due cause, such as if responding to a robbery, mugging, or assault. And if you kill anypony even in self defense, you will be required to pay their Worth.”

“Er, worth?” I asked, giving her a confused look.

“Their Worth. One month of their daily wages. A sum given to their next of kin to ensure the loss of income doesn't cripple the family. I’m not surprised you haven't heard of the concept.” the watchmare spat.

“Ma’am, if I may?” the Zebra searching my cart asked.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Speaking as a scholar of the Southern Kingdoms, this person is not the breed of Diamond Dog native to these parts Ma’am. He hails from a cultured region, and is undeserving of your disdain, which admittedly is justifiable for the typically seen members of his species.”

“Objection noted. Continue the search.” She said with an eye roll.

The remainder of the search went pretty well. There was one or two hiccups with my medical supplies, but after explaining what they were used for and how it was pretty well established that I was in fact a doctor by trade and fortunately therefore allowed to keep my kit.

That would have been a bitch to replace.

As soon as the watch had repacked my wagon, minus my cache of explosives, we were free to go. Lily said goodbye to his mentor, everyone made sure they had their stuff. The usual end of a journey affair.

The docks sloped upwards over a series of plant strewn terraces to the city proper, making it a conveniently short walk up to… a thriving boardwalk-market-like city center!

There were thousands of zebras, hundred of ponies, all going about their daily business moving from shop to shop and stall to stall through a huge open air mall. There were food vendors, and music, and clearly manufactured goods! It was like some weird fusion of a medieval market and a city mall. It was… nice!

I was already looking around to see if there might be anything interesting when at the same time Light said, “Okay, we should get a hotel room first.” and Jade moaned, “Ugh, it still feels like I’m on choppy water…”

Lily trotted ahead of me a few paces, looking around slowly, “Das fühlt sich seltsam… It’s been years.”

“Tell me about it.” I answered. It did feel weird.

I turned to look at Light and agree with her that we should get a room and found myself literally face to face with a Topaz eyed changeling!

“Ah!” I dropped the cart’s handles and jumped back, reflexively reaching for my knife-”

“Oop! Sorry! Drifted too far forwards.” The changeling apologized. “Er, are those weapons hoof forged? Are you selling them?”

“Yes.” I answered, the fur on the back of my neck still standing up. “I wouldn’t mind selling them.”

“Great!” she reached into a saddlebag with her magic and passed me a small business card, “Stop by my antique shop after three pm. I’ll buy anything that looks resalable! Sorry again.”

As the random changeling buzzed her way off, Jade and I just sort of stared off after her.

“What?” we asked in confused unison.

Lily giggled and flashed Jade a grin, “I told you that Zebras had no problems with buggies.”

“I didn’t think that would mean we could walk around unshifted!” Jade protested.

“You totally could if you wanted.” Light quipped, “Zebrica declared all the changelings living within their borders citizens three hundred years ago. The Topaz hive doesn't even hide anymore. We should seriously get a room though. Or a few.”

She turned to look at Glowing who had thus far been trotting after us. “Uh, are you tagging along too?”

“Yeah, at least as far as the hotel.” the batpony answered. “I figured I would book an airship tomorrow. Pick up a few Zebrican quilts while I’m here, things like that.”

I frowned and turned to look at her. “You could come with us. You live in Equestria, we could use a guide.”

“Sorry, but I have my wife to look after. I can’t spend another week away without a good reason, and well, you guys are basically going to take a train, hike for two days and take a train. You won’t need a guide, and I have family and friends back in Ponyville expecting me tomorrow.” Glowing commented.

“Wait… Ponyville?” Light asked in confusion.

“Yeah? Why?” Glowing commented.

“I don’t remember any batponies living in Ponyville.” Light said, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Glowing rolled her eyes, “Pattern Steel.”

“Ah ha! She doesn't actually live in Ponyville, she’s in the Everfree!” Light exclaimed excitingly.

“Light… seriously? She’s right on the edge of the forest a twenty minute walk from Sugarcube Corner. That’s in Ponyville as far as anypony cares… even if it is outside the walls Twilight had built.” Glowing sighed. “Look, as far as I remember you took off around oh-eight, right? The place has changed a bit in nine years. What are you even trying to do? The sabatur was found.”

“Yeah!” I objected, giving Light a weird look, “Lay off, she’s on our side here.”

“I’m sorry it’s just a bit suspicious that she’s getting off at the same time and place as us!” Light protested, huffing indignantly.

“The hay it is! I we were sailing here to pick up some cargo next anyways! I was supposed to get off here.” Glowing groaned slapping a hoof to her forehead.

“Well it’s still weird! These guys are supposed to have the whole- … you know!” Light hissed.

Jade, Lily, and I shared a look. A look of irritation fatigue that can only be shared by friends witnessing well meaning stupid that has reached hazardous levels. A look which said, ‘You get popcorn, you set up some chairs, and I’ll sell the tickets to this fight.’

Glowing opened her mouth in an irritated, lay a verbal smack down, sort of expression. A shadow fell directly over her. Something whistled like a twelve thousand pound bomb in free fall, and a gray and yellow pegasus slammed into her from directly above with a sound like two pumpkins hitting each other, sending the two of them sliding into a tangled heap a short ways away!

I was microseconds away from going full medic mode and whipping out a trauma kit, but the gray pegasus just got up like not a goddamn thing happened, adjusted a postman’s cap which somehow was still on her head, and offered a hoof to help Glowing up.

“Sorry Mhi'par, I guess Dashie needs to show me how to do suborbitals again… Are you okay?”

What?

“Gee, thanks Derpy.” Glowing grumbled, standing up and shaking off the hit, “I definitely never wanted to use this alias again.”

The gray mare blinked, looked around with a pair of slightly crossed gold eyes and blushed, “Oh… S-sorry… It’s hard to hear coming down that fast!”

“Called it!” Light exclaimed, jumping forwards and demanding, “Who do you work for!”

“Princess Luna.” Glowing answered. “Before you ask, she wanted inside knowledge of Sudikahmen’s operations, and based on report she won’t be hunting his plot down. So relax.”

I was still trying to process the fact that this mare had said suborbital. “Uh, excuse me, ma’am? Did you just say you flew a suborbital uh… path?”

She nodded and gave me this completely adorable grin. I was used to ponies looking cute, but this was weapons grade cuteness. “Yeah! It’s so cool! I used to be a bad flier but well, I live with a great one now and she got mad that I couldn’t keep up so… Er… well I guess I need more practice with landings… I just don’t know what went wrong.”

“Why are you even here? How are you here?” Glowing asked angrily.

“Do I need to explain the post services uses magic tracking envelopes every time I deliver to somepony in an unusual place?” This Derpy asked, but not in an irritated sense, in a genuinely honest questioning tone.

She took a letter from her saddlebags and passed it over with a hoof, “You have new orders. The Princess asked me to get them to you as soon as possible.”

“Y… you were going to give somepony on an espionage mission a new set of orders, via a suborbital drop, which I am going to have to really question Dash for teaching you how to do, to an agent, who for all you knew was on the middle of a pirate ship?” Glowing asked one eye twitching.

Derpy kicked a hoof against the ground, “S-sorry… she said it was very important…”

Hurgh! “How can one mare be so cute doing absolutely anything?” I exclaimed unintentionally.

“Oh, that’s my talent! ... Sorry.” Derpy admitted with a blush.

“Oh so that’s what it is! Wait… what do bubbles have to do with- No hold on, you’re a spy!” Light said pointing a hoof accusingly at Glowing, who I had to admit did seem to really be a spy. Huh…

She rolled her eyes, “Yeah, and? I do a lot of different things for Luna.”

“Princess Luna.” Derpy said, as if to clarify the social rank of this Luna.

“I’m her friend! I get to use her name without the title. Besides she prefers general.” Glowing protested, opening the letter then instantly sighing in irritation, “Seriously? There? Right now? How am I supposed to get there in one day?”

Derpy shrugged, “You can do Dashie. Just fly over, she won't mind.”

“She will mind! We had words about it last time… Portal chain it is. There had better be something to eat there all ready…” Glowing sighed. Then she turned to me, “Er, sorry we met under these conditions. You’re a cool guy, so I’ll do you a favor. When you get to Equestria, head to Ponyville. Princess Twilight is there anyways, it’s her fiefdom. But more importantly, that whole, wanting to just have a house and do some work thing you want. Ponyville has a place for literally anyone, hooves down the friendliest small city anywhere.

“Oh, and if you get there before me, look for a freaking adorable blue and white mare named Colgate and tell her that Meep said you can stay over till you have your own place. She probably won't believe you, but what the hay, I tried right?”

I opened my mouth to reply, but the ground beneath her suddenly burst into pale green flames, into which she quickly sunk, vanishing instantly.

“Whoa!” Jade exclaimed eyes wide, “I thought I would never see someone use a Lah’mun Bridge spell! Wait... Sun's Light she was a changeling!” Jade finished, her face twisting into a startled expression.

Well… okay, bit slow on the uptake there…

“Uh, guys, is it kinda cold?” Jade asked with a baffled look.

“N-nein.” Lily said starting to look concerned, “Are you okay?”

Jade shook her head, “I don’t think so… Everything is cold, and itchy, and I’m still smelling lemons, and dizzy. It’s a lot like when I shed my nymph- Oh… Uh…”

Jade’s face took on a concerned look as she turned to me with a desperate look in her eyes, “Remember how I said that anyling can become a Queen if they are away from their hive and get enough food? Can uh, we go someplace we can stay for a while? Like, right now?”

Oh.

Oooh.

Oh!

Shit!

“Yes! Let’s do that! Light, hotel, now!” I exclaimed, scooping Jade up and setting her back on her cart top perch. “Just hold on. Lily, make sure she doesn't fall off. Light, you seem to know the place, hotel, lead on!”

“Oh! Make sure she gets someplace cozy, warm, and dark! A bathroom with a portable heater in it and a blanket over the window should work well.” The mail mare offered before flying off with a quick happy wave.

Light nodded and started to run off to the right. I grabbed the cart’s handles, took a deep breath to steady myself, and rushed after. Today was shaping up to be a long, long, day.

24 The Best Laid Plans of Goddesses and Ponies

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Dusk - 22th of Plantation '15 EoH - Morning

I have a crappy apartment. It probably seems weird to mortals, the whole god living in a place a poor pony in Fillydelphia could barely afford thing. Then again, the entirety of our world would seem odd.

It’s flat, no matter how far you go there is no curvature, you’ll never end up back where you started from. There is nothing besides the one plane, sure you can go up into the ‘sky’ or down through the ground, but there will always just be more sky, or more ground. There is no space here, just the one infinite flat plane.

It’s not flat as in, perfectly level. It’s only flat as in no straight line path can produce a geodesic. There are mountains, hills, rivers, and seas, but no ‘globe’. Gravity isn’t really a thing here, nothing is pulled into a round shape, and yet, everything is still held down like gravity existed.

There are no suns or moons, the sky is blank whiteness. Yet there is day and night, the sky glows white, fades to black, then fades back to a white glow. No object casts the light, it’s just there.

If you looked up at night there would be stars though. Not real ones, just projections. I couldn’t stand the blank blackness after seeing the mortal worlds. It took me time, but I worked out a way to arrange the laws of 3d space to create the illusion of a starry night sky in our 6d home. That’s why you can find the Fibonacci sequence everywhere in the mortal plane, it’s part of a universe wide ‘Light Bright’.

Those stars are one of my favorite things. Not just because they look nice and liven up my reality, but because they are the only things I have ever been given praise for. The only thing I have done that my fellow gods like too.

We all have jobs. Things we must do because we are the very essence of that metaphysical concept. Mine is the one no one cares about.

My dad is Conflict, everyone sees the value in his work. Without him nothing would change, there would be no progress. Mom’s work is equally important, Creativity provides new things to keep mortals interested in their reality. Great Uncle Discord is Chaos, that spark of random chance and possibility that makes… well, that makes possibility possible.

Hell, my brother’s work is seen as important. Sure, it is. Someone needs to mould life, adjust its conditions to keep within the Big Man’s expectations for the universe. Someone who isn’t a fucking jerkfaced sadistic bastard.

My work though, mine isn’t seen as useful at all. ‘Oh that’s Dusk, she arranges the mortals essences after they have been used. Shelves them for storage, we could probably train a mortal to do it. Nevermind that’s how the Big Man double checks his results, it’s not important.’

Despite all the comforting, explaining, and guiding I do, despite the care put into forming the perfect eternity for every last soul under my jurisdiction, I’m unimportant. Which means I’m poor. Since under the Rules, we are given privilege for our personal lives in accordance with our relative worth. That’s right, the Gods use money.

Infinite resources, infinite time, nearly infinite power, and we use currency.

It’s stupid, but it makes sense. It’s not just the twelve of us, all life bearing worlds have their own gods. There are thus an infinite number of little ‘villages’, ‘towns’, ‘cities’, each settlement sized for the number of worlds of mortals they watch. Sometimes we need help, thus trade is a thing, so currency is also a thing.

But since currency is a thing, and I have the ‘least important’ job, I get jack shit. I could will a 50 room mansion into existence right now, if that stupid power limiting currency system didn’t exist. Instead, I had to settle for my shitty studio apartment. Which isn’t in an apartment building, because I literally could just afford the actual two room apartment.

Two rooms on a dirt lot, with no decor whatsoever.

It’s right across the street from my brother’s sprawling castle made entirely from obsidian, blue diamond, and solidified potential energy. With its moat filled with a river of boiling spacetime. Decorated with a thorny hedge made from rosebushes. Also the energy construct servants in the form of hot people.

I sighed and stopped looking out the window. At least I had my futon.

That was in fact it. That was all I could conjure for myself. Two rooms with no decor, and a futon. I had other things, but those were things I got by making deals with mortals. Three dimensional objects magicked to work for me.

Not to say I didn’t like my accumulation of mortal stuff! We’re not that unlike mortals, we have needs for entertainment and intellectual stimulation. So chilling on my futon with my holo-generator set to create an illusion of a living room and watching Dragon Ball was basically how I spent my off centuries.

Yes, Dragon Ball. Hilariously that series is one of the closest things to how gods and the space beyond mortal space works. Also the abridged series is genuinely amazing. It’s probably on my top ten best series of all time, which says something since for me all time is really damn long.

I paused a moment and considered giving it another watch. I’d done everything I could to get my plan back on track. Luna had mobilized and deployed the Equestrian army, Celestia was busy negotiating for Gaian help, Twilight was off making sure Zebrica didn’t panic, and as predicted the Swarm was catching up to Jade and David. All that remained until the showdown was a train ride.

Assuming Chrysalis's didn’t just attack Quis, which I seriously doubted she would. Taking a major city would result in losses, even with her power and revised tactics. She wouldn’t go into Equestria at less than full strength… Barring her having a sudden fit of intermittent explosive disorder. Which was unlikely due to her calculation nature and having only failed once so far.

Yeah, I could relax for a bit. But first…

I turned around and reached for the pack of Lucky Strikes David had given me. I didn’t have an endless supply, but I was feeling good, things were going my way, it was time for a little treat. I lifted the pack off the windowsill and sensed something. A presence I had not felt since… Last week sometime, I think.

Oh fuck no!

Glancing up out the window brought me eye to eye with my brother. Eyes like glowing coals, fur blacker than anything else to exist, a straight, slicked back obsidian mane, a face chiseled into a sadistic grin.

“Hello, sister.” He said in that voice like rotting honey.

“Dawn.” I grunted, trying to keep emotions from showing at all.

“Mother tells me you particularly enjoy a mortal, Luna was it?” He asked, phazing through the wall as he walked around me… In violation of our agreement to stay out of each other's space.

“My personal life is none of your business.” I growled, ears falling back in irritation.

He chuckled, “Oh, but it is! It is… My sister, the mortal lover. Have you finally realized they are toys to be used and discarded?”

“We’re not two anymore, Dawn.” I grumbled, conjuring my lighter and lighting one of the Strikes. I needed to keep calm, so as to not give him a damn thing. “Just tell me what you want.”

He gave me a disdainful look as I took a drag on the cigarette so I could blow the smoke in his direction. Ha! Take that you bastard!

“Let's start with what I can do for you.” He said, idly rummaging through my shelf of video media. “This… Luna. I can give her to you. A small tweak, a nudge really, and she’s yours. All I do is require her instincts to make you the center of her mind, creating pure devotion to your every move. Perfect, unconditional, complete love. I’ll even remove the distrust and fear of being hurt I added to that emotion, nothing but the positive.”

“That wouldn’t be her loving me, and you know it.” I said with an eyeroll.

“Oh but it is. Reproduction is after all, part of life, and love is an emotion I created to make it happen… As well as to lead to some… personal amusements.” He chuckled, actually fucking amused by being the root of every domestic dispute ever. “I know my own work perfectly, my silly sister.”

“Just tell me what the fuck you want.” I growled, anger flashing across my face.

Shit. Now he had me. I saw it too, that flare behind the eyes, that perverse delight.

“So you do love her. Interesting… You really do experience mortal emotions. I knew it!” He grinned, teeth sharpening to points for a split second.

“Yeah, no shit! You spend a few cycles personally experiencing all of their souls and actually give a shit about something aside yourself and maybe you’ll develop a bit instead of remaining the unchanging face of self indulgence.” I spat, “Now tell me what you want or get the fuck out of my house!”

“Very well, sister.” Dawn turned to face me, narrowing his eyes, “Stop meddling with my toys.”

“Yeah, no. Mortals are not your personal property.” I said bluntly.

“True, not all of them. At least, not yet.” He flashed me that smile again. If I hadn’t already known he was up to something with the mortal world I would have then. "But you know who I mean. Stop whatever you are doing and allow Chrysalis's to return to gathering power, and Luna will be yours. I’ll even pay for you to build a guest bedroom in your… home.”

“Chrysalis?” I asked, raising an eyebrow in an attempt to appear unwitting. “She’s a Changeling Queen, right? I’m not doing shit with her.”

He laughed, genuine amusement washing over him in a wave, “You’re adorable when you lie. As I said earlier, I know my work perfectly. Including when it’s being meddled with, which is why I am giving you this one chance to stop. You can quit right now, and I’ll give you your toy to enjoy for as long as you can.”

His lips curled into the tiniest frown as he finished speaking. He fucked up! He revealed something he didn’t mean to but what? My mind raced, I put everything I had into figuring out what he possibly…

My eyes narrowed in realization. Yes, there is was. Can. Implying a finite amount of time. Insinuating an end.

So that was his game. “I see. You do know that I am Death, right? You can’t kill me.”

He laughed again, throwing his head back with a delighted grin. He snapped his head back down to look me dead in the eyes and said, “That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.”

The hell? Did he think I was an idiot?

“Dude, Lovecraft is fiction.” I said with an eyeroll.

“True,” he said, walking towards the door, “and yet, you and I both know of many times fiction has been closer to reality than any might have suspected. There are Rules even we must abide by, but those are not all the laws governing us.”

“What are you saying?” I asked, turning to follow him.

“Have you ever thought to explore this place we call home?” Dawn asked casually. “Have you ever wondered where we came from? What our kind’s history might be? If all we have been told about our world, powers, and origins is all there is about is?”

He turned around again, “For instance, we serve only the mortals of Galactic Sector ZZ-9 Plural Z Beta, and their colonies elsewhere in three dimensional space, should they ever create any. Why? Do you know?”

I shook my head, “Of course not. No one does.”

He chuckled, opened the door with his boiling black aura, “Quite wrong my sister. Quite wrong. You should go to your… lover. Enjoy her while you can. I will win. You will perish, and your mantle shall become mine. I will have absolute power over mortal kinds lives and afterlives. It will be… delicious.”

He stepped forward, slammed the door behind him, and walked across the street, features shifting into that of a pleasantly nice, kind looking stallion. I hated that literal two-faced bastard more than words could allow for.

I let out a held breath and lit up a second cigarette. Fuck I needed stronger ones for days like these...

Okay Dusk, recap. Your psychotic brother found a way to potentially kill you and take your powers, and it involves Chrysalis. You know that Chrysalis has become more powerful than she could have on your own, ipso facto Dwan’s made her into a weapon to destroy you.

But, he offered you a bribe to stop fucking with her, so he isn’t done forging the weapon yet. Meaning she has to die as soon as possible or you’re probably fucked, because that botfly creating bastard dosen’t fuck around.

Everyone’s ready to move on to the border, the trap’s about to spring. Meaning we’re fine… But also that Chrysalis is more dangerous than anticipated. Any delay could be disastrous for everyone, even me. The plan is fine but there is no room for errors at all from now on.

I sighed and held a hoof to my head. “I need a drink…” I muttered to myself.

Azur / Lily - 22th of Plantation '15 EoH - Morning

My horn hurt. It’s a unicorn thing, overtax yourself and your horn hurts. It’s like a headache only in the horn, and less painful. The light throbbing is sort of an alarm your body gives you, warning you that you’ve pushed a bit too much magic through your horn too quickly.

Finding a hotel had been simple. Getting booked in one with a Diamond Dog, an about to cocoon herself changeling, and a cart full of weapons had been hard. Hard but achievable.

The fourth hotel gave us a room in the basement, not because those rooms were bad, just because they were away from the currently filled rooms. I can’t blame them for tucking us away from other guests. Jade’s cocoon making had been grosser than almost everything I had ever seen before.

She’d basically puked up twice her own mass worth of Dross, flopped into the mess, and used her magic to pull it over herself before the stuff hardened. It sounds gross, and it’s even worse to watch. Imagine a cat coughing up a hairball twice it’s own size. Then that hairball drys like clay into something a lot like wood. Leaving behind the smell of burnt mint.

Even worse, I know what happens inside a changeling cocoon. Right now a friend of mine was literally dissolving herself into a soup-like mess of organic matter, to be rearranged into a different configuration and materialized. Sometimes knowing just about everything in the field of Biology is a thing I regret.

The creepy part of everything was despite her entire nervous system turning to goo, Jade kept her memories. All changelings did. Ponyfeathers, all metamorphosing insects did. Bugs are bucking creepy… If Changelings couldn’t talk they wouldn’t be at all endearing.

To push the ‘your friend is soup’ out of my mind I had spent the last few hours working on a spell while David and Lightstride chatted. It was a spell I had been working on since just before we had arrived at Capsan, specifically it was a cure. A cure I hoped I wouldn’t need to use, but wanted to have on hoof just in case I needed it.

Ändrin’s tutoring has helped me a lot, not just with this specific spell ether. Reading from a book, memorizing the science behind what the spells will be working with, and committing spells to memory can only take you so far. You need a rival, peers, or a good teacher to push you to the next level. I wasn’t sure Ändrin’s advice and tricks had pushed me up that much, but they were enough that I was pretty sure I could do this now.

It was tricky to work on anything for insects, at least it was for me. Mammals, some plants, sure easy. But insects… Insects are very different creatures, almost alien in the way they work. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it just meant that my cure had to have a twinned spell matrix to compensate for the fact that changelings do not have a brain, but rather hundreds of nerve clusters all along the nervous system, just like any other bug.

It was also hard because I couldn’t just test things. I supposed I could test it on Lightstride, but there was a matter of ethics involved. If an illness isn’t debilitating, but poses a risk of extreme trauma pending an unlikely event, yet the patient is happy, do you cure them?

I personally say no, you don’t. Not until there is a problem. One day, with our little group’s luck there would be a problem. So I was going to be ready to save the day, and my friend.

I had just finished a test-casting of the matrix without feeding power through it, just to make sure the matrices were stable and working together properly. That’s why my horn hurt. The spell didn’t take much of my overall energy, but it did take a whole bunch at once! More than I had predicted. Which was good, or maybe bad. It was hard to tell honestly.

My horn hurt. I felt this was as good an excuse as any to sit hunched over my spellbook and notes while making ‘humm’ and ‘uh huh’ sounds, and occasionally scribbling random runes on a page, so nopony would bug me while I just sat there and vegged out.

Or rather, while I thought about the past twenty-two days I had spent fulltiming in mare mode.

It was nice to be pretty all the time. It was nicer still to be treated like a mare. The complements, the instant kindness, the flirting… The gender binary is a stupid thing. Why must I identify as male, but want to be treated as female? It would be so much simpler if I felt transgendered, I could fix that myself in a week.

It would be so much simpler if I were simply gay too. I could just do what I liked for makeup and clothing, and after one or two visits to the right clubs in any modern town and everypony who might be interested in me would know my real gender. But unfortunately for me, I’m not gay.

I didn’t know if there was a word for my preference. Bisexual was close, but doesn't quite work as I don’t actually care about gender at all. Male, female, the odd intersex person, it’s all good, as long as someone is there to cuddle.

That’s a problem because if I fulltimed as a mare, I would lose out on the strait mares who might like me. Which is a large portion of the mare population to say the least. Of course if I presented as male, nopony seemed to believe me and I’d pick up a reputation as a transcolt or something, which would also reduce the dating pool.

Then again, did anyone ever see me as a colt? No. Not realy.

The real question was, is being treated how I liked being treated worth the potential loss of a special somepony? Was it best if I retired my old identity as Azur Herz completely? I could easily list myself as female while immigrating into Equestria. I doubt they would check, and even if they did those piercings meant they would have to do more than just make me lift my tail.

I frowned for a moment as I took a look at my other jewelry. The silver and bronze bangles on my forelegs were especially nice, I hadn't’ taken them off since I got them… however that had happened. While my piercings had taken some getting used to, I supposed the lower one would be fun for a future special somepony, and I liked the ones on my head and ears. The tiny gold hoop in my left eyebrow was especially cute.

Buck it… Azur, you like the mare stuff to much. You’ll just be making yourself uncomfortable for the sake of not losing out on something you probably won't get anyways… Just be happy.

I sighed and resolved to present as female from now on. Whomever I wound up with was the only person who had to know what my plumbing was like. Assuming that happened.

I sat back a bit more on my haunches, I needed to think. If I was going to be a mare full time, I needed a full name. Lily was good for a personal name, but Equestria did require a surname as well.

Lily Pond? No, too natureie sounding. Lily Spark? No just bad… Lily Rose?

I nodded to myself. “Yeah…” I muttered quietly.

Lily Rose sounded good, if a bit flowery. But it would do. It wasn’t - Hold on… Wasn’t Lily Rose the name of a brand of salted cider?

Cider… I wished Dusk were here. We could go for drinks and work out a proper mare’s name for me. She actually listened, and cared.

Three loud hoof-on-wood thumps echoed through the room. Someone was at the door.

Light and David stopped talking and turned to look across the small room at me. I was the closest to the door after all.

I gave them a nod, “Don’t worry, I’ll get it.”

“Thanks.” David said, turning back to Light to talk about… I don’t know actually.

I walked over to the door, turned the knob with my hoof, opened it a crack and-

“Lily!” Dusk greeted with a genuine smile, scaring the absolute piss nearly literally out of me, “I need a drink, we should go for a drink. I’ll buy.”

“Eeeep! How the bucking hay did you even find me!” I exclaimed, ears standing upright in alarm.

“Uh… Well from your point of view it would be magic. Can we just say magic?” Dusk asked with an embarrassed hoof kick.

“Wait a goddamn minute… That’s what’s-her-face’s voice!” David said, the bed squeaking as he jumped up and bolted to the door pointing at Dusk and exclaiming, “You! This time before you vanish you are telling me exactly who you are and what the hell you're doing with me, Jade, and Az-Lily!”

Dusk facehooved, “Dammit… I forgot you were traveling with them!”

Light stood up slowly, a concerned look on her face as she warned, “Uh, you shouldn't be antagonizing-”

“Light, shut it.” David snapped. “Now, you have been following us since Applewood at least, helping move us along from place to place. Why? Who are you? What do you want with us?” He demanded, some serious anger and fear behind his words.

Dusk rolled her eyes, “Look… I’m not allowed to just give you that. Not without making a deal of some kind. There are Rules. If we’re going to do this, can we do it behind closed doors? And with Jade present?”

“Uh, Jade’s busy pupating into a Queen.” I said shyly.

Her eyes shrank to pinpricks.”What?”

“Jade’s indisposed. I’ll fill her in.” David grumbled, “Come in and explain yourself.”

“No no no nono!” Dusk growled, slamming her head into the door, “Damn it! Of course she’d go Queen now! She saved the whole damn crew! Argh!”

David and I shared a raised eyebrow for the split second before David grabbed Dusk by the scruff of her neck, pulled her inside, slammed the door shut, and demanded, “Explain now!”

Light flinched and dove behind the bed. Prompting a pit of fear to ball up in my belly like an angry cat.

Dusk eeped and gave him a dirty look, “Okay… I can forgive that. Sort of deserved it… Oh Motherbucking ponyfeathers! You can’t move a changeling cocoon without hurting them!” She groaned, holding her face in her hooves.

“Can you please tell us what’s going on?” I asked, hoping that politeness would work better than fearful anger.

“Yeah…” Dusk sighed. “I’m driving a plot to kill Queen Chrysalis's. You three are a part of it, David, you and Jade were intentional parts. Lily, I’m glad you met them, but I never intended to drag you into this… Didn’t know you existed to be honest.”

David nodded to himself, “We’re bait…”

Dusk nodded, and smiled softly. “That’s why I put you on it. You’re perceptive, intelligent, skilled… You are the one to see Jade through this.”

“She’s a child!” David growled, “Everything else aside putting her in danger is… Morally outrageous!”

“No she isn’t” Dusk and I said together.

“She told me she is seventeen, that’s a child.” David protested.

“Not for a scout.” Dusk rightly pointed out. “In fact, if you were to give her an equivalent lifespan to your own species Jade would be twenty seven years old. A scout lives for seventy five years at most, more commonly fifty. Yes I put her in danger, but she is a fully developed adult, despite her ignorance of the outside world.

“Besides, even if she was a child… Is not the life of one child worth the lives of millions? Is any one death not a bargain for saving the lives of everyone the Swarm will kill if they keep existing?”

I frowned, that was grim but… I couldn’t fault the logic. Except for one small thing.

“But who are you to decide who dies?” I asked, trying to ignore the fact that this was my friend talking.

“What she said!” David barked.

“No one important,” Dusk said with an eye roll, “just the actual anthropomorphized personification of the concept of death.”

The room fell silent for a full three seconds.

“Bullshit.” David sneered.

Dusk turned her head and looked into David’s eyes, her own eyes starting to glow a pale ghostly green. “You first met me at the Santa Ana Trainyard, on the twenty third of September of the year two thousand and fifteen. You had spent the night binge drinking and putting on your old uniform, trying to relive the days when you still had hope for a fulfilling life. In your drunken state you stumbled to the train station, seeking an end to your pain, and threw yourself in front of the twelve thirty train to Los Angeles.”

David’s jaw dropped. I felt my heart skip a beat. Light peaked out from behind the bed only to duck back down.

Dusk continued. “Upon your soul’s entry into the Lobby, you felt at peace. You had no questions for me, a rare thing. All you wanted was to move on to whatever awaited you. As with all who die I read your soul in preparation to construct your afterlife, and saw only pain.

“My brother is an asshole, he chooses people to suffer at random, and you were one of his playthings. Yet despite your life, you were still kind. You take with you into the next world the things you have with you upon your death, and as you were able, you gave me this pack of cigarettes after I lit one of my own.” A small package of cigarettes appeared in a flash of green flames, simply hovering in front of the pale mare’s face with the logo held outwards.

“I uh… but…” David jibbered.

“Because of your kindness in the face of misery, and because these are seriously good cigarettes, I took the risk of allowing you a second chance at life, reincarnating you five years ago within Stalliongrad having chosen your species, location, and time so as to fulfill my own plans, and to ensure you would at last find a true friend.” Dusk finished, the package vanishing, along with the glowing flames. “Everyone in this room’s visited me before too. You just forget when you come back.”

Wait, but, “I… I never died.” I said, looking more baffled and confused that David did with the one drooped ear and floppy tail.

Dusk frowned, an honest actually sorry frown, “You did actually. I’d forgotten myself… Look, even gods don’t have perfect memories. But you did. It was… That time your father set you on fire. I remembered that after sobering up. I put you back because your death was cruel and unfair, and my brother wasn’t even involved… My dad yelled at me for it.”

“But… universe… time…creation paradox?” David feebly protested.

“We didn’t make it.” Dusk said with a smile. “We’re a part of it, just like you, except we live in three more spatial dimensions, and two more temporal dimensions than you do.”

“But… If gods are real why didn’t any religion seem to be correct?” David protested, starting to regain composure.

“I... died?” I squeaked, tail drooping.

Dusk nodded at me and gave me an oddly comforting hug. “You did. It’s okay, I fixed you up. Heh, guess I always had my drinking buddy’s back!”

Clearing her throat, Dusk turned back to David, “We stopped caring about humans. It was before your recorded history. At first we thought it would be best to let you develop on your own, then well… The religions you invented were too well established to challenge with the truth, and if we did show you the truth you would discover magic and that would destroy your social structure and do more harm than good…

“We don’t need mortal’s worship to live or anything, so we just did our jobs from the shadows.”

“Okay… Say I buy that. Why are you a pony if you were a human god?” David asked, his shocked tone slowly morphing into a curious tone as he pulled a chair over to sit on.

“Ponies are cute, and I don’t experience time like you, I can travel through it like you do this space. I know all the times and places that this planet and the planet's creatures from here colonize. Of these species I found ponies to be the most adorable, and thus from a mortal's perspective I have been a pony since this cycle began.”

“Cycle?” I asked curiously.

She nodded “Yeah, this cycle of… Look the universe's three dimensional space has cycles of expansion and contraction. That’s how we measure time. The universe is born in a burst of energy, expands, cools, then compresses back down and explodes again. That’s a cycle. I’ve seen eight of them. There have been forty two so far.”

I didn’t have a physics background, but from what she was describing, that was literally using the heat death of the universe as a calendar. “H-how old does that make-”

“There literally isn’t a number in any mortal language big enough.” she admitted with a blush. “But, we are a species, and while we do not die, we do come into being. If I were a pony I would be thirty eight or so. An adult plus a bit.”

“Alright…” David said slowly, locking his eyes onto Dusk. “So, can you do anything to actually prove you are a god, which couldn’t be replicated with mind reading?”

Dusk nodded, “Sure, easily.”

She hummed for a moment then nodded to herself, held out her hoof, and a small medal simply unfolded from nothingness into her hoof. It was made of bronze, shaped like an upside down five pointed star with the tips that had little decorative bumps, and attached to a bright blue ribbon.

“Pretty sure you recognize-”

“How did you get that?” David asked in an emotionless voice.

“I reached across spacetime and picked it up.” Dusk answered, turning it around to show David the back, “It’s yours, there's your name, rank, and serial.”

David stared at the medal for a few seconds then nodded. “Okay. I believe you… Put it back.”

“What? Why?” I asked, “Shouldn’t you be proud of winning-”

“It’s not that sort of award Lily.” David said as Dusk vanished the medal back to… wherever.

“But-”

Dusk gave me a ‘shhh’ look. “It’s a veteran thing. Don’t push it.”

Oh. Well then that was different. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” David said before looking back up at Dusk. “So… You’re a god. Of death.”

“Yes.” Dusk said nodding. “But as you can see, I’m also a person. I’m also nice. You don’t need to be afraid of me.”

“I stopped being afraid of death along time ago.” David muttered.

“I know. Thank you.” Dusk said with a smile. “I hate how he made mortals… Ah, skip it.”

“Wait,” I asked, “If you’re a god of death, the you have control over death, right?”

She nodded, “Yes… If by that you mean I have control over mortals souls after they have passed on.”

“Can’t you just like… Make Chrysalis's drop dead?” I asked curiously.

“That’s actually a good question.” Light said timidly from behind the bed.

“Agreed.” David grunted. “Why put Jade in danger if you’re a god?”

Dusk sighed and sat down on the floor. A goddess sat on the floor. It was weird. I felt like the floor should have morphed into a throne or something.

“I’m on the bottom of the deity totem pole. There are Rules. That’s all I can tell you without using a loophole. If you want to know more, we need to make a deal, and there is only one deal I am willing to make.” Dusk said slowly, “You agree to take the first train possible to the Equestrian border, and head to Appaloosa, and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

“Why?” David asked.

“Because I can’t tell you more without a deal, and I need you to go there. After which you will be free of me… Unless you want to hang out… Yeah.. right… hang out with god who puppeteered you…” Dusk sighed, ears drooping sadly. “I’m honestly sorry… I… Just… She has to die.”

I looked at David with a concerned expression. He returned the look, and in a silent moment we both knew we had to agree. He nodded, “Alright. I’ll go there, and I’ll take Jade with me. Now tell us.”

Dusk let out a relieved sigh, another weird thing for a god to do… Or was it?

“Right,” she started, “I can’t actually kill anyone without permission. See, the end of life is part of life, and hence, that’s my brother’s domain. I only have dominion of mortals after they pass, not before, nor can I choose how they pass on.”

Her face suddenly melted into a tired, depressed, and angry look. “Do you know how many die every day? I don’t experience time in a line, after this conversation I could process three centuries of mortals souls then come back to you a second later from your perspective. But for me, that time has passed. I see every single last mortal’s life in full. It’s my job.

“I create an afterlife for everyone, and I give them exactly what they have earned through their own actions in life. But… To do that… I know everyone. Everyone. Their hopes, dreams, fears… I… I‘ve grown to love mortal kind. You are precious, more so than us.

“You get to forge your own paths, you love, you fear, you… You are more than I am. I am a personality and a concept, and little more. You are these amazing creatures with agency over yourselves that I could only dream of, existing for the briefest of moments, but burning brighter than my grandmother who is literally the manifestation of the concept of light itself.”

Dusk bit her lip in an angry expression, “And Chrysalis destroys you without even a thought. She’s the moral equivalent of my brother, a cruel, sadistic, narcissist out only for their own power and pleasure. She embodies the random cruelty and calculated evil more than anything else alive on your world. Every time a soul comes to me because of her, I… I feel angry, and sad, and… I don’t know.”

I blinked twice. This was… weird. Good weird, but weird. Death itself hated people dying.

“But… you’re death… How can you hate people dying?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“I don’t know… I shouldn’t. But I do. I’ve had emotions like a mortal’s for a long time now. I even have a crush… I can’t remember when it started… But it’s not normal.” Dusk sighed, laying down with her head on her hooves.

“But what does this have to do with using Jade and I as bait?” David asked, a hint of anger creeping back into his voice.

“I could destroy her right now. That would be easy. But if I did, I break a Rule, the other gods notice that I stepped into someone else's domain, and I am severely punished, forever imprisoned, maybe even destroyed. That leaves my brother free to do as he wishes… That might sound fine, letting Life do whatever it likes. But it’s not. Remember, botflies are a part of life, disease is a part of life, pain is a part of life, misery is a part of life… They don't have to be, he made them a part, and sold everyone on them being a part…”

Oh… Oh! Oh Faust’s glowing mane! I totally knew what botflies were!

“Oh Gott warum!?” I shuddered, “Y-your brother intentionally-”

“Made creatures whose whole life cycle revolves around laying eggs into a foal's eyes so the maggots hatch and have food. Yes. He did that.” Dusk spat.

“And without you around, he would have absolutely no one keeping him in check?” David asked, ears laying flat in anger and eyes wide with horror.

“That’s the problem in a nutshell.” Dusk said with a grim nod.

“Okay, I’m totally fine with being used as bait.” David said standing up, “Lily, are you fine with being used as bait?”

I nodded, “Vollständig.”

“Light, are you okay with this?” David asked.

“Yes.” She said, peeking out from behind the bed again. “A-are you going to go all angry god for him dragging you?”

“No.” Dusk answered.

“Oh thank… you!” Light sighed in relief before timidly pulling herself up onto the room’s single bed.

“Okay.” Dusk said standing up slowly. “You know the plan. Take the first train you can, as quickly as you can manage, and get to the Equestrian border on a straight line for Appleloosa. You don’t need to fight her, I’ve arranged for the whole Equestrian army to be ready with an ambush. You just lead her in, and boom! A major threat to the world is removed, everyone is safer and happier, and you can move on with your lives.”

“Huh.” I said giving her an impressed nod. “That’s actually a good plan… Wait, you're a god, of course it’s a good plan.”

Dusk chuckled, “We’re not infallible. Or all knowing, or even smarter than mortals. I can be a pretty big idiot… You should see me try to say hi to Luna…”

I was about to say something when Dusk gave me a cheery grin, “But enough business! I came here for a drink, and I want my favorite mare buddy to come along for a drink. Since Jade’s thrown a wrench in the timetable, we may as well go for a drink… Oh! Then we could go shopping again! You could use some more cute dresses!”

Again? Again! My eyes widened in realization, “That’s how I got those piercings!”

Dusk frowned, “You didn’t always have those?”

“I wha- Nein!” I objected.

“Oh… Well they suit you. But seriously, drink, go for, wanna?” Dusk asked, no, pleaded with her eyes.

I felt I needed to tell Dusk how I felt about her, now that I new the truth. This seemed like the best time to do it. “Dusk, you’re my friend, even if you are eine Göttin. While I expect amazing birthday gifts, you do not have to bribe me with dresses to go for a drink.”

Dusk blushed lightly, “I’m not bribing, I just want to see you in cute outfits to see if they might look good on me so I can pick one out for if Luna accepts my offer for a date... Wait, you’re treating me like a normal friend!” Her eyes light up with an actual real glow. It was creepy, but kinda endearing.

“Ja. Because you’re my friend.” I said with a laugh.

“Right.” David said shaking his head. “Lily, you seem to have just rolled with this… You go for a drink. I need to just kinda sit and process things for… hours. Lots of hours.”

“Hours huh?” Dusk said with a smile, “Not bad for someone who needs to reevaluate their whole worldview. I uh… I’ll bring you back something nice to drink. You gave up booze right? I think Zebrica has good soda. I’ll get you a soda. Right then, Lily, Butterscotch’s Pub?”

I felt my heart speed up in anticipation, “Oh mein Gott, ja!” I beamed her a grin.

“Sweet!” Dusk smiled held out her hoof, I took it, and an instant later found myself back in Capsan’s pub splitting a bottle of pure deliciousness with my first real best friend.

25 Magic Lessons

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David - 23th of Plantation '15 EoH - Afternoon

It took a lot out of me, learning my entire worldview was wrong. I’d given up on there being a god during the war. I’d figured that no god would allow something like that to happen unless they were an evil bastard. Then I’d decided if god was an evil bastard, it would be best to just not believe in one. Why? Because it would be better for there to be no god than an evil one.

Turns out I was wrong. That’s fine, I can admit that. I do however reserve the rights to be pissed that the real actual gods, plural mind you, didn’t think they should step in and stop the worst war in human history.

I’d grilled Dusk about that after she got back from the bar with Lily. Apparently she's’ the only one who gives a flying fuck about us ‘bacteria’ as her fellow deities call mortal kind. Since war is her dad’s thing and ending life is he brothers thing, it turns out that the whole war was apparently the godly equivalent of a father-son bonding moment, and nothing she tried did a damn thing to convince them to stop making that conflict started by a displaced pony worse and worse.

But, at least everyone who fought and died gets to share an afterlife with their squad. So I guess Dusk really did do all she could. She told me the Rules that restrict her, and they're pretty air tight.

Gods are like computers apparently. If something is another god’s domain, they literally need its permission to do things in it or they simply can’t. Their powers just won't work. Dusk admittedly has found a few ways to break some specific Rules in certain circumstances, but those opportunities are sadly rare.

I did like it when she said if she did have control over when mortals died, that evil people would just be stillborn. She meant it too. At least one of however many deities out there cares and is a good person.

Well, sort of a good person. She did get like fifty pounds of clothes that I’ll be having to pull now… Lily might look more adorable than the god of adorable (whom I presume exists) in that little red dress. But as the cargo wagon puller, I reserve the right to complain about the suddenly added wardrobe.

At least the weapons were gone now. That would lighten the load a lot.

I’d gone back to the Changeling’s shop as asked. I’d still been working my way through everything. The whole deal had gone down on auto pilot.

If I had kept my head on straight, I would have probably wound up getting a better deal. That bug realy liked a few of the pieces I had, especially a longsword I’d found in a cave. Apparently that was a five hundred year old blade.

Ah well, Lightstride assured me we had enough bits for the train tickets, plus a little extra. Maybe it would be enough to get a meal or three in Equestria. We would need all the help we could get, especially since I had fucked up pretty badly.

I’d shown the token that the dying Swarm changeling had given me to the changeling running the shop. She pointed the way to a house in town, I’d followed it still on auto pilot. I wound up giving the token to the bug’s younger sister.

I didn’t know that changelings could cry in their normal forms. I wish I had been in the mind to convey more sympathy. Especially since apparently the mare hadn’t thought her sister was in trouble. Three was supposed to be attending a magic academy in Prance for the summer. She’d apparently gotten snatched up along the way.

The Topaz hive had a tradition, when one of their hive dies away from home, whomever brings the news back receives a gift in thanks for returning the news and any last words.

My error was not waiting till I could think strait to deliver that token. After crying for an hour, the poor girl offered to create anything I wanted with her alchemy. The exact fuckup was refusing a reward, and so she simply replicated an item she telepathically pulled from my memory, because apparently you don’t just refuse the ‘Messenger's Reward’.

As a result I’d spent the day sitting on the bed in the hotel room waiting for Lily to shake off her hangover so I could ask her to teach me some more magic. I needed something to help us get an edge. I could have gotten a suit of armor, or a shield, or some magic charm. I could have gotten a map, or a compass, or literally anything of use.

I’d gotten a copy of my old guitar.

Admittedly, it was a magic copy of my old guitar that didn’t need an amp. But it was still a motherfucking guitar. Somehow I’d made two major fuckups in my life, both of which were getting the same goddamn guitar. Maybe it’s a curse or some shit like that.

Still, it was nice to hold her again. Her rosewood neck, nickel pickups, and brushed silver Les Paul body were just like I remembered. The enchantment on her was pretty neat too, the knobs on her body worked like those on the amp. I could do just about any sound I wanted on her.

Maybe when I got to Equestria I could make enough as a street performer to get an apartment and build my way up from there. I’d done it once before in a world where everyone was some level of jerkwad. It should be easier in a world populated by ponies.

On the other hand, our lives were in serious danger and I’d gotten a motherfucking guitar!

“David,” Lily asked, snapping me out of my thoughts, “das lights are not stabbing my eyes now. Do you still want to talk?”

I quickly set my guitar against the wall. “Yeah… We’re going to have to make a run across desert with the Swarm on our tails. Sure I got Boomstick and my knife, but Jade’s useless in a fight, and Lightstride… Where is she?” I asked looking around in confusion.

“Oh, she went to book a train car. I’m sorry you're feeling useless, you’re not, you're why we are still alive!” Lily said giving me a sincere and oddly affectionate look.

That was a weird sort of look for a friend to give you. Meh, she was coming off a hangover.

I smiled for a small moment. “I’m not feeling useless. Just under equipped. My big weapon is too dangerous to use unless it’s a last resort, and my other weapon is a big knife. I just don’t have the right tools.”

Lily nodded slowly and stood up to lean atop the desk she had been doing her spell work on yesterday. “Ja… I know. I can make basic shields and wards, I planed on making protection charms on the train ride. They will burn out after absorbing one hit, but if we each have two or three, that may get us through.”

I gave her an impressed nod, “Not bad, Earchain.” I said mentioning her newest piercing.

“Earchain?” Lily asked with a surprised head tilt, making the gold chain that ran loosely from her left eartip to it’s base tilt down, putting two of the charm-bracelet like charms onto it into her field of view.

“Eep!” Lily exclaimed, eyes crossing as she tried to look at it.

I laughed for a few long moments as she did her best to get a look at it. “Don’t worry you silly pony! It looks good. Very you.”

“I-I don't have any more do I?” She asked with a sigh.

“Not that I’ve seen.” I answered. “Mabey tell Dusk no more though, it would make you start to look trashy.”

“Ja…” Lily sighed. She shuffled her hooves nervously and looked up at me with hopeful eyes. “It… it really looks cute?”

I nodded slowly. “Yes. Honestly it completes your… You’re going for impossible to not hug, right?”

The strawberry blush that spread across her cheeks indicated I was right, and reminded me of a question nopony could answer in Stalliongrad.

“Quick side question, how do you blush with fur?” I asked seriously.

“Oh!” Lily perked up instantly, an excited expression forming on -

Oh hell! I’d asked the biomancer a biology question!

Lily took a deep breath and quickly rattled off, “Pony fur is less like normal mammal fur und more like super fine, super soft, super silky cameleon scales. Early ponies und pony ancestors had a defense mechanism which consisted of chromatophoreic cells in their fur which allowed them to change color in order to camouflage themselves into any background! We’ve evolved away that trait because whatever our primary predator was, it died out. We can’t camo anymore, but our fur still contains those cells. That’s why we can have such vivid colors!

“Das cells still respond to our emotions somewhat, so a pony can appear more saturated in color when extra happy, or more gray when sad. Changes in the skin also affect the fur color, so that’s why blushes and bruises show up on our fur, the cells in each strand transmit the skin color beneath along their length!”

“That’s actually pretty cool!” I said honestly, wishing that I was free to talk more about a pretty interesting aspect of a rather unique species. But still, I had an important question. “Back to the topic at hand-”

“Er, you mean at hoof?” Lily asked in mock confusion.

I gave her a glare. “I want to know if you can teach me a few spells.”

Lily nodded and shuffled the papers on her desk around for a short moment. “Ja, I could teach you some spells… But not in three days. I uh… Gottverdammt! I don’t want to sound racist, but you’re not a unicorn. Ja, anyone can learn magic, but it’s very hard. Unicorns just… wir get it.”

I rolled my eyes and gave the silly pony a mane tussle, “Kid, it’s not racist if there really is a difference.”

"Was jetzt?” Lily asked giving me a concerned blink.

“Unicorns are naturally able to do magic. Dogs aren’t. No shit unicorns will pick it up more quickly.” I explained. “It’s true, so it’s not racist, it’s just fact.”

“It still sounds bad to say though.” Lily replied with a frown.

I sighed and sat back on the bed, leaning up against the wall. The room’s chairs were too small for me to sit anywhere else. “So what? If objective facts offend you, you should change your point of view. It’s like… Look my old people had a group of us known as Kenyans. They are fast, really fast, on average faster than anyone else. But if you said that, everyone would call you racist, even though it’s true, and science has even shown the genetic differences that make them especially great runners.

“Don’t be like those idiots. If something’s true, say it. If it’s false call it out. There’s no need for al the flowery skirting around everything. Just be honest, admit when you're wrong, and accept that you can be wrong about things. Now, bunny trail over, magic, what can we do to get me as far up to par as we can?”

“Er-” Lily paused for a moment, looking like she was about to ask something, but then shook her head. “I die grundlegenden Konzepte der Zauberei erklären kön- Oops! Sorry. I mean I could explain the basic concepts of sorcery to you. I know you can do a simple heat charm, maybe if you know how that works you can do a bit more with it. Oh! I could maybe also show you how to do telekinesis… But it would be very crude without learning proper wizardry.”

“Wait,” I asked with a frown, “there’s a difference between sorcery and wizardry?”

Lily nodded, “Ja! Einen großen unterschied!”

“A huge difference, can you explain it?” I asked irritably.

Lily facehooved, “I forgot you speak Germane. How did I forget you speak Germane?”

"Weil Sie sind Ein albern pony." I teased, flashing her a grin.

Lily cleared her throat and put on a bit of that distinct ‘professory’ air. “Sorcery is the simplest type of magic. It is simply the most basic way anything can interact with the Thaumaturgic Field, subatomic particles interact with it all the time, that’s how simple it is.” She paused, frowning, “I should explain the Field… The Field is an energy field which as far as we can tell, exists everywhere in the universe. The field interacts with everything, all matter, and all energy including itself. When a quanta of energy or a particle of matter interacts with the field, the field imparts properties to that energy or matter.

“A quark is a quark because the Thaumaturgic Field told it to be one.” Lily explained, rubbing her chin in thought for a moment, “Are you with me so far?”

I nodded. “Yeah, that’s pretty understandable.”

“Normally the field makes things work under what mages call ‘Natural Physics’, this is the ‘default settings’ of the universe. Now interestingly, energy can interact with the Field, it’s not just one way, but two way. Because of this, and the fact that biological process use electricity, organisms with the ability to arrange energy in very specific ways can change what the field will do with the matter and energy nearby.

“It’s very hard to make any of these changes, because the Field has a lot of… Was ist ein gutes Wort zu benutzen? Ah! Resistance to change. The Field wants to stay the same, so you take a lot of energy to change things. Physical and mental energy. You may have noticed unicorns get sleepy after casting big spells, that’s why.”

“So your thoughts affect the field, but because you need to think in a very specific way for long enough time to effect the change, you get fatigued?” I asked.

Lily nodded and smiled, “Ja! But it’s the electrical patterns in your brain from the thought, not the thought itself. That’s why even some plants have magical abilities. These patterns are very specific, which is why not everyone can or has learned magic, und even why some species don’t have any magic. They simply don’t think in a way which produces a pattern which interacts with the field.

“But you know a pattern already. That’s simply how the one you know works! If you want it to work better you need to put more energy into the pattern, which is best done by thinking less about what you want the magic to do, and focusing more on the thought behind your magic itself.” Lily explained.

“What?” I asked with a confused frown, “But that seems… backwards.”

“Oh! Nein!” Lily said quickly, “You still think about directing the magic, but you want to focus mostly on maintaining the thought pattern. Splitting your attention to do this is a vital skill for any mage.”

“Ah, I think I understand.”

“Gut!” Lily flashed me a smile, “Now, that is all there is to Sorcery. Using thought-patterns to override the Field’s natural state so it changes something in the world in a way you want. Wizardry is different because it’s Sorcery und Science. Sorcerer makes the fire in a camp fire by thinking of a pattern they found that makes the fire und lights the logs A Wizard makes fire by thinking in a refined pattern which induces an exothermic reaction in the logs, resulting in fire.

“Wizardry is refined by knowledge of the world und how it works. It uses less energy and can do much more because unlike Sorcery which brute forces the change, Wizardry works with Natural Physics processes to change things.”

“Allright, Sorcery is a axe and Wizardry is a scalpel. Makes sense.” I said with a nod, “How does this help me?”

“It takes you a lot of effort to make heat, ja?” Lily asked rhetorically. “You are doing it with Sorcery, if I showed you the Wizardry behind producing heat it would be much easier for you to do, und you could do more with it because you would have more energy available to you.”

“That’s what I assumed… Er- I mean more along the lines of ‘can you show me how now?’” I pointed out.

She giggled, “Well yes, but also no. You can’t show someone how to think in a certain way. But, do you know how heat is made?”

I nodded, “Yes, the atoms within a substance are moving more quickly the hotter something is.”

She paused and gave me an impressed look, “I honestly didn’t think you would know that… No offense meant.”

“None taken.” I chuckled, “Right, so instead of thinking about heat, I should think about making the atoms move faster or slower?”

Lily beamed me a huge grin, “Ja! You got it! You realized that the same pattern for making heat can also make cold because cold is simply the absence of heat! That is Wizardry! W-well it is once you actually do it with a spell. Till then it’s just Theoretical Thaumaturgy.”

“Wait, if the thought pattern aka spell I know can chill or heat things depending on how I apply it, can it do anything? Can I just think about atomic motion and push some photons off the atoms to make light?” I asked curiously.

“Well… nein… Where did you get your education? You don’t know magic but you know Natural Physics… That’s weird.” Lily said with an odd frown.

“Well, my original species can’t do magic as far as I know. We have to do everything the hard way, but we are damn good at it. A bit too damn good to be honest… Atom splitting and what not.” I grunted.

“Was? What would splitting an atom apart do?” Lily asked curiously, one ear perking up as she spoke.

“Release all of the energy stored in the-” I instantly realized that this was a very bad idea to tell someone who could just do it with their brain instead of a few million bucks worth of science stuff, “-Look just don't do it, we use it as a very very deadly weapon of mass destruction. Moving right along, so spells are very specific then? My heat one will only speed up or slow down atomic motion and nothing else?”

“Ja. Manipulating the Field needs very precise energy patterns.” Lily continued, looking distracted for a moment as I was sure she pondered splitting an atom.

Way to go brain… Shut up next time.

“Ah, anyway,” Lily continued, “when written down a spell is generally an explanation of the Natural Physics involved, as well as a meditative focus to help you find out what pattern to use. These two parts together are called a Spell Matrix or Spell for short. Learning a new one can take a very long time because simply mastering the pattern of thought to achieve the most basic of effects can take years for truly complex spells like teleportation.”

“This really doesn't seem too hard, just time consuming.” I mused thoughtfully.

Lily nodded and shrugged a bit, “Well… Sure it can be. But once you know das basics of a field of Wizardry you can absorb the rest easily and quickly… Or if you are lucky enough to be a unicorn and also have your special talent be that field of magic…”

“You just sort of read it and know it?” I asked with a curious head tilt.

“Nein, but close. I mastered Biomancy’s basics in a year and a half, faster than anypony I know of. But I’m still working on the advanced stuff after five years. It’s a special talent, not a flank stamp of auto-win.” She pointed out. Then with a frown admitted, “Unless your Twilight Sparkle and get the talent of ‘magic, all of it’.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sudden flare of jealousy in Lily’s eyes as she mentioned someone having that sort of help from their genetics, or however cutiemarks worked. To cover up my chuckle I quickly asked a question. “So how come when I heat something up with a spell, it cools back down. If I’m instructing reality to make that thing hot, shouldn’t it stay hot?”

“Nein,” Lily answered instantly, “the world is in Harmony, a balance between Order and Chaos. Over time, all things trend towards Harmony. All magic is invoking Chaos to alter the established world, and thus, after some time, it returns to as state of Harmony.”

I frowned and looked over at my backpack. “Why the hell didn’t the spellbook I got say any of this? This is pretty useful.”

“Well you did get it in Stalliongrad.” Lily said rolling her eyes. “They are-”

I sighed, a long, irritable, lonely sigh. “Behind the times. I know.”

Lily hummed a moment and picked my pack up with her magic and moved it over beside her, then took out the book in question. “Oh.” Her mouth pulled into a small grin, “Never mind, this is Prench. They teach magical theory since kindergarten, so everypony there knows the basics. This is just a list of spe-”

She turned to look at me, one eyebrow raised. “You learned to cast by reading this?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“But… It’s just a spell list.” She said ears drooping.

“Yeah.” I said with a grin, “I figured you just focused hard and willed stuff to happen while… thinking about the stuff the book said to… Hey I was right! Neat.”

“Uh no.” Lily said in a confused tone. “It’s written in Prench.”

“Yeah. I thought that was weird too but I speak French.” I said starting to give Lily a confused look.

“How many languages do you know?” She asked curiously.

“Let’s see…” I started to count them off on my fingers, “English, Equish, German, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, and well… Quenya if you want to also count constructed languages.”

Suddenly hit me. “Hold it! How the flying fuck do you know French?”

“I said Prench, not French.” Lily said looking at me and the book completely baffled. “Wait… Is this like Germane and German? How many languages do our worlds share?”

I nodded, baffled and creeped out. “Yeah that is pretty weird, even the names are similar.” Then Lily’s wording hit me like a ton of bricks, “Hold it! You said world.”

“Ja.” Lily said setting the book down. “I’m not an idiot, I figured out you are from another world entirely after a few days.”

“How?” I demanded. “I’ve been trying to keep that a secret for years!”

“You talk in your sleep.” Lily said with a light blush. “Also your aura is… off. Er- Auras are a unicorn thing. We can sense how things interact with the Field. It’s not very useful for more than knowing if something’s magic or not, but it can tell you about the arcane properties of something und yours doesn't have the normal Diamond Dog signature… It’s unique as far as I know. hence, you’re an alien. Which is neat!”

My ears drooped in mild panic. “Every unicorn I have ever encountered knows I’m not from this world!?”

Lily giggled, “Nein, nein! It takes days around someone to be able to pick their aura out from the background. Everything has one. Das air, rocks, trees, everything made of matter… It’s hard to pick one out and isolate it. I know yours, Jades, und my old History professors, but nopony else's. The other auras I know are all microorganisms, und I use them to identify was ist was while performing- Eh it’s not important. You’re fine David.”

“Thank god!” I sighed in relief.

Then I remembered that those were actually real things, and there was more than one.

“Uh, or thank the gods rather. Assuming they established physics to work like that, thus preventing this scenario…” I corrected with a frown.

I realized that next chance I got I needed to ask Dusk exactly how the whole god thing worked. Just to be sure I wasn’t pissing someone off.

Lily nodded sagely. “She said she would be over tonight to hang out… Something about wanting to avoid a party her brother was throwing. Anyways, you need to practice.”

Lily picked up a quill with her magic and floated it over to me. I picked it out of the air curiously and gave her a look, “You want me to burn this quill?”

“Nein. I want you to freeze it. You already know you can make heat, you need to understand you can remove heat too.” Lily explained.

“I’m not sure I can do that.” I said with a frown.

“Ja you can.” Lily said with a supportive smile.

She climbed up onto the bed and sat down beside me. “Okay, hold the quill out where you can see it. Be happy you’re not a unicorn, we have to float it while we freeze it.”

“Oh, this is a normal exercise for mages?” I asked, happy to see something of mage culture for a change.

“Ja. Now, close your eyes and focus on the magic you use to heat.” Lily said in a soothing tone.

I nodded, closed my eyes, and let my mind drift to that special place the magic seemed to come from. It wasn’t hard for me to find, that little part of the mind which seemed to smile whenever I played anything had been there since the first time I’d performed on the street. I know where it was, but not why it also served to let me do magic.

Remembering Lily’s advice I focused on the thought of atoms slowing, and the quill freezing, but also tried to focus on the feeling of the magic itself.

I felt my heartbeat speed up. It felt like I was lifting the back end of a truck!

Then I felt something cool on my fingertips. Opening my eyes I saw the Quill was covered in a silvery coating of frost. It looked just like the lawn on the first day of winter at sunrise.

“Damn…” I muttered to myself, turning the quill in my fingers as it glittered.

“Gut!” Lily praised, “Now, warm it up. Then, we freeze it again, only quicker. Then heat again. We do this till you can snap freeze and snap thaw.”

I winced, “This is going to take all day, isn’t it?”

“Mabey.” Lily giggled, “But you asked me to teach you spells. We start with mastering the one you know.”

“Eh, fair point.” I conceded.

Then I closed my eyes, and reached for the magic again. I had some training to do.

Jade - 24th of Plantation '15 EoH - Midnight

Nose... so... itchy!

26 Surprise!

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Lily - 26th of Plantation ‘15 EoH - Noon

I wish David wasn’t so tight lipped about his past, wherever he had received his education, it needed to be a place ponies knew about. Other worlds existed in other dimensions and powerful mages could bridge these realms. If we could get ponies going to wherever David did, and probably solve a few of Theoretical Thaumaturgy’s big questions!

It wasn’t that he knew more than me about Natural Physics, or most wizards for that matter. It was that he thought completely differently about certain concepts. This was a clearly alien perspective, but it was still fundamentally correct at it’s core.

Like the way David thought of electrons existing in orbitals rather than in a cloud. It was technically as accurate as the way I learned it and the math even worked out when I tried it myself. Sure, it was a very simplified way of thinking about it, but that let the mind do some pretty interesting things with electrons.

Interesting things like work out a system to check if atoms could bond, which resembled a jigsaw puzzle. That was much different from the probability calculations I had been taught, and I rather liked it.

David’s alien thought processes did have their drawbacks, but over all they let him make leaps of logic which actually worked most of the time. In just two days I had managed to guide him into basic mastery of his thermal spell, show him how to make small amounts of light, and gotten a little bit of progress into telekinesis.

Though he was going to need at least a few weeks to get use to doing anything with TK at all. Floating a marble an inch above your hoof, or hand, is one thing. Moving that marble in a way you want it to move is another.

Still, he was very good at mastering the fundamentals. If he were a unicorn I would be doing everything I could to get him into any Arcane College. As it was, he could be one of the best non-unicorn mages I was aware of if he kept learning after our adventure.

At the moment I had David working more on conjuring fire and ice. He was up to forming balls of each in his hand from thin air, the first point where someone could think about using thermal spells offensively actually. Grabbing an opponent and freezing a joint solid was a pretty good tactic, and with David’s cunning, the limits of what he could do now were probably more of a help than a hindrance.

I turned away from watching David rapidly switching between conjuring flames and frost in the same hand to stare at the papers atop my desk. He didn’t need my help to do basic exercises anymore, and I’d never fancied battlemagic. I’ve always prefered magic’s more subtle uses.

Magic is a powerful force. If you know what you are doing, you can use it to do anything. So why limit protecting yourself to firebolts, lasers, and force missiles?

David was right about the danger we were walking into, and his total focus on gaining any edge he could reminded me that I wasn’t exactly good to go hoof to hoof with the whole Swarm ether. I too had to try to improve myself.

I had been a bit foolish despite realizing this and dedicated the first two days of our hotel stay to finishing the spell I had been working on. I still hadn’t tested it on a living person, or a dead one for that matter, but when I had cast it without a target the spell held stable, so in theory it was done.

At least that was ready for use if ever needed.

It had also led me to what I needed to do to improve my own abilities. That single spell would take all of the energy I had to cast. My reserve of magic was abysmal.

A problem I solved by remembering a piece of lore about a likely mythical creature, the Wendigo. An obscure creature said to be spawned from the corpses of dead ponies who were eaten alive which had one very interesting property. They absorbed heat.

Most ponies don’t think much of the heat, it’s just warmth after all, right? Wrong. It takes a surprising amount of energy to heat the air of a small room just one degree.

So I enchanted the ear-chain I drunk-got to cool the air around me in a three pony long radius by ten degrees by absorbing the heat and storing the energy inside the three small emeralds set into little sockets attached to the chain. It was working alright, the gold was substandard, and the emeralds were a bit cheap so the enchantment wasn’t as efficient as I hoped, but over the last two days it had filled up with about a week’s worth of energy and seemed to be capped there.

Even better, I sort of liked how it looked on me. It was a nice contrast to the hoops in my other ear, and the short chain dangled just the right amount between it’s two hoops to look nice. It finished the look the others started.

I felt nice and pretty even without a dress thanks to those little links and my bracelets, and now they also greatly boosted my spellcasting capabilities! Not bad at all for a crudely bodged together series of first year charms! Faust’s mane, I really needed to work on enchanting.

I did have all of my other piercings and my bracelets. I could see if any of them might take some enchantment.

Ooo! I could make all twenty or so of those piercings into shield charms and have them all overlap at once. Individually their protection would only block a punch, but together they would stop anything that might get through a proper shield at least once! Yes that was a great idea!

Now, how did I go about setting up a test matrix to check the energy capacities of bronze and silver? I remember how to do it for gold, but the other metals were probably differ-

A loud wet cracking sound from the bathroom completely destroyed my concentration!

“Eeeeew!” I groaned, covering my face with my hooves, “Ich wollte nicht sich vorzustellen was könnte dieses Geräusch gemacht haben!”

“Azu- er, Lily, everyone’s out here.” David said with an amused grin.

“Yeah,” Light giggled, “the only person in the bathroom is-”

“Jade!” We all exclaimed in unison.

The resulting pile of bodies from us trying to rush to the bathroom at once took a full twenty seconds to untangle.

Jade - 26th of Plantation ‘15 EoH - Noon

I slammed my shoulder into the side of my cocoon again, another small piece breaking free. More light spilled into the sticky interior. I had to get free, now!

Itchy! So much itchy! Itchy for days! Why!?

A loud thump, clatter, crunch from the hallway alerted me to other people nearby. Who were- Oh yes, David!

<David! Help! Itchy!> I cried urgently, as I slammed away another chunk of pod.

The missing chunk was big enough for me to make out the place I was in. I couldn’t quite remember where or how I formed my cocoon, the whole day was fuzzy. I remembered we got off the ship but… not much else.

The small bathroom I was in looked super luxurious. There was even a mirror on the wall! I couldn’t see myself in it, because I was apparently in some sort of porcelain bathtub. Did they take me back to the ship for this? The decorations were all sandy rocky stuff and blue, that didn’t match the ship, but it was definitely as fancy.

Maybe I was in the crew’s quarters somewhere? They did really love me. But well you know, I did save all of their lives from an angry sea monster.

No, that couldn't be it. I wasn’t literally gasping for air through the thick haze of love directed at me. I was off the ship. Then where was I?

Oh sweet Sun’s Light! The itchies! Go away!

The bathroom door slammed open, David filled the frame, stooped a bit to fit through the doorway, rush over to me and bent down to the hole.

“Hay there, is it okay if I help open this? It’s not like a chicken egg is i-” He stopped mid sentence and stared into my exposed eye for a few seconds before asking, “Uh, are her eyes supposed to look like that?”

Light pushed her way past Azur in the doorway “Yeah Queen’s eyes are more mammal- Whoa!”

Her face scrunched into a sort of confused awe.

I didn’t have time for this! Itchies!

<Pull this crap off please!> I begged telepathically, since my mouth was being squished shut by the pod.

David nodded and carefully pushed a finger into the crack and began to pull, so I stood up to push with my back. Just as the crack began to widen Azur finally got into the room, stopped moving and exclaimed open mouthed, “Whoa! Sie sehen aus wie blaue diamanten!”

“I know.” David grunted, levering the cocoon apart just enough for me to pull my hooves under me and push hard!

The Cocoon cracked, popped, and splintered, falling down my sides as I stood up. I only barely noticed the shards as I slammed my nose into the rough looking sandy-stony wall and rubbed it back and forth like I wanted to sand it off!

“Itchy itchy itchy itchy!” I shouted before sitting down with a relieved sigh atop my cocoon’s remains. “Ahhh! So… much… better!”

I turned to give David an appreciative smile for helping, only to find everyone frozen in shock. My smile turned into a confused frown. “What? My nose itched the entire time… You’d have done that too.”

The three of them just kept staring at me. I felt my hearts flutter as panic started to set in. I raised a fuzzy hoof to brush some of my mane out of my eyes-

My eyes locked onto my hoof a split second before I moved the familiar silver mane. It was covered in a dark but vivid jade colored long fluffy moth like fuzzy floof! Or whatever that stuff is called.

“Uh… I’m fuzzy.” I said, staring shocked at my hoof for a few moments before looking down at the rest of myself to find even more floofy fuzz!

David shook his head in a slight, confused sort of way before asking, “Uh, are Queens not supposed to be like that?”

“No.” Light answered with an intrigued tone but confused expression.

“It’s extremely pretty though!” Azure exclaimed in a heartfelt enough tone to make me trust him.

“But… why fuzzy?” I asked no one in particular as I noticed the mirror again and turned it to face me with my magic.

The mirror turned extremely easily! I barely put any effort into it at all and it just moved! My aura was only around it for a second! “Whoa! That was really eas- Oooo!”

My reflection filled my entire attention the second I saw it. I looked a lot like a pony, except instead of fur I had the fluffy fuz. The color wasn’t uniform, my shell was still pure white, and the fluff there was a bit glittery, and the jade color faded to darker patches around my eyes, muzzle, and hooves. It wasn’t bulky, I looked very sleek, but also very soft, especially the extra fluffy patch around my barrel and neck.

My horn was the familiar black glossy chitin, but larger, and about twice as long as before. My mane and tail were still the same silvery color and the same shape, even my braids were intact! But the mane itself was a lot more silky looking, and glittered a little in the light like the fuzz on my shell. My wings were also almost the same dragonfly-like ones, just larger, and little stained glass like markings subtly shimmering to form neat little patterns.

But my eyes! Oh my eyes were amazing! They were like a ponies now, and were a pale ice-like blue which matched the center-stone in my Hive’s Queen’s crown exactly! They even glistened in the light.

I looked amazing! I couldn’t help but smile at my reflection. However at the same time, “Seriously, why am I fluffy? Not that I don’t like this.”

“I don’t know.” Light admitted with a shrug.

“Yeah, I’m the least qualified to think of a reason here…” David muttered, scratching the back of his head with one hand. “You look gorgeous by the way…”

I felt my hearts flutter at his compliment.

Azur suddenly stamped a hoof on the floor, “Ah ha! I got it!”

Everyone turned to look at- Hey, when did he get that chain? No bad Jade! Focus!

“What?” I asked curiously.

“It’s obvious!” He giggled, “She’s what a Queen should look like, und the others are not… er... done! Think about it, Queens are ordinary changelings until they eat enough love to transform. Jade got more love than any changeling alive for a whole month, while most hives are starving.”

Light blinked then nodded, clearly impressed. “That makes perfect sense! Other Queens have gotten just enough to trigger their metamorphosis, but not enough to finish it. Food is really scare when you can’t farm it. It makes sense that a Queen could form in a less… expensive body.”

David nodded in agreement. “Royal jelly.”

“Huh?” I asked, mostly in response to David, but also to everyone else.

David gave me a smile, “Back in my old world we have insects called wasps. They are social, do hives, and have Queens. They have castes too, and what caste they get is determined by how much food they get to eat while growing. New Queens form from drones that eat a special food. Lily’s theory makes total sense, you’re the first Queen to get enough food to ‘finish’.”

“I guess that makes sense… Oh.” My eyes widened in realization, “Each Queen forms a new hive, and the first drones are clones of her! So the whole hive is descended from that one Queen! So if she’s not right, the whole hive won’t be right either! Our whole species might supposed to be like this, but noling ever finished developing fully.”

“Huh.” Azur said, stroking his chin, “That… that would mean a lot of different things.”

“Yeah,” Light agreed with a nod, “like for one, it means even here ‘lings can’t thrive. They are only surviving.”

I felt my ears droop, it was a weird fuzzy sort of feeling that I wasn’t used too. That was a really depressing thought and I didn’t want to think about it right now. I closed my eyes and did my best to think of absolutely anything else.

Oh. My. Gosh.

My ears perked up in sudden realization of something I could now do that I never could before! Something amazing, and awesome, and wonderful!

I stood up, shook the rest of my cocoon out of my fluff, and smiled while looking into David’s eyes!

“I’m on eye level now!” I announced to my favorite Dog before gently pulling him to me in a hug.

“Ack!” David sputtered as I held the hug maybe a little too tight. “Jade… ribs!”

I eeped and let go, blushing lightly, “Sorry.”

“Yeah,” Light said slowly, “Queens are earth pony strong, Jade.”

I shuffled my forehooves in embarrassment, “I know… I just forgot about that… I just wanted to hug a guy I love.”

It took me three full seconds to realize what I had said. Then I blushed what felt like the brightest red in the world. Because it was true.

David had saved my life. Twice. He promised to take me to safety just because he felt it was the right thing to do, no rewards, nothing. He was smart, and fun, and the nicest guy I had ever met. I’d felt horrible when he was gone, and safe when he was around.

Of course I loved him. Who wouldn’t love someone like that?

Though apparently I was dense as a brick about realizing I loved someone…

David spent those moments in a shocked double take. His mismatched eyes started off showing a deep sense of shock and surprise. I could feel his emotions as they zipped between surprise and fear.

The fear wasn’t directed at me. It ran way back with David’s own history, I could feel it. Sun’s light, I’d linked this deeply with him, of course I felt something for him! Stupid brain!

“Yeah… Uh… Okay.” David said slowly as his eyes soften.

I felt his fear die down a little. But it was still there, just beneath the surface. I frowned, “I-I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to-”

David grimaced, “Oh god! Right! Emotovore…” He sighed and shook his head slowly. “That’s… that's not directed at you. Or your fault. I… I’ve never had a good life. Never had much money, or fame, or even a comfortable home… I… I never wanted to draw anyone into that with me. I ignored any feelings for anyone. You know…”

Azur and Light shared a quick glance, nodded to each other and slowly backed out of the room.

David awkwardly looked up at the ceiling, shuffling one foot against the floor. I looked down, trying to hold back tears.

“I… I understand… I’m sorry for making you hurt…” I apologized quietly.

David groaned a deep, pained, heartfelt groan. I felt his hand as he gently lifted my chin up to look me in the eyes. “God dammit… I’ve never felt this bad about rejecting anyone. I… I can’t do that to you Jade. I care for you too god damn much I guess…”

He sighed, then took a deep breath. “I’ve never done much more than a few dates back in High School, Jade. I’m not some Casanova, if that’s what you think. I’ve spent so long rejecting romance that I… Ah fuck the speech! Heaven help me, but I love you too, you silly bug-girl.”

David pulled me into a tight hug, and got a taste of real, honest, made-just-for-me-love. It was heavenly!

“Uh Jade… You’re drooling on me.” David informed, slowly letting go.

“Eh heh heh… sorry.” I blushed, giving him a little grin. “You’re just delicious!”

“Right. Emotovore.” David said shaking his head with a smile. “When we get to Equestria and we’re clear of all this bullshit, I’ll happily see if we click as a couple. I can’t convince myself that I don’t love you, and for an alien bug girl you are god damn breathtaking, even more so now with the fluff. That said, we’re in danger still.”

I nodded, blushing at his compliment. “You look great yourself! And to be fair I never thought I would like a biped. Er, you know what I mean.” I cleared my throat and gave him a little kiss on the cheek. “But yeah… We need to make it out of this alive first.”

David sighed in relief. “I’m glad you agree. Getting caught mid cuddle by the enemy would be a horrible way to go.”

David blinked and slapped a hand to his face in a gesture reminiscent of a facehoof. Facehand? Nah, that sounded terrible.

“Right! So, Jade, we need to bring you up to speed.” David said. "While you were out of it, our friend Dusk popped in again and I finally got an explanation out of her.”

I winced, “Oh no! It’s bad isn’t it?”

“Well…” David bit his lip, took a deep breath and told me everything.

I sat and listened as he told me the story. Dusk was the Old Religion’s goddess of Death. He told me why she couldn’t just tell her directly. David even went as far as to mention that despite being a god, Dusk acted like anypony else. The only difference was in what she could do. That gods had rules they had to obey. That Dusk was nice, and wanted to protect mortals.

He told me about her plan to kill Chrysalis. How Dusk had the whole Equestrian army waiting in ambush for the Swarm. That we were the bait she used in her trap, and how she hated putting people in harm's way, but knew that the lives of billions couldn’t compare to the lives of two. But also how she had been steering us to guide us safely through as she could manage.

I listened to the whole story, taking in everything I could, and as David stopped speaking, I nodded slowly. “Alright… You guys aren't playing a joke on me, right?”

“No.” David said honestly. “I do understand why you would think that though.”

“So Dusk is actually a goddess?” I asked, giving David a suspicious look.

“She is.” He answered.

“And she specifically chose us to be the bait because she felt we were the best choice, and still feels bad about putting us in danger?” I asked seriously.

“That’s about the size of it.” David confirmed.

Well… Death being a guide to mortals in the afterlife did check out with what the priestesses had taught us. “Did she say her mother was Creativity?” I asked giving David a curious look.

“Uh… I can’t remember.” David admitted with a small frown.

“Ja! She ranted about her mother for hours a few nights ago.” Lily called from the other room. “Apparently she cares more about rocks, trees,and cosmic objects than living creatures.”

That also was how it had been taught. "And her father is... ?" I asked poking my head out of the door to look at Azur over on the room's one bed.

He frowned, scratched his chin for a moment then finally said, "Ether war or conflict... I can't remember which."

That was a third check mark in Dusk's favor. Either someone knew the Old Religion well enough to fake it, unlikely given how few I’d been told still practiced, or this was the real deal. The first option meant a very cunning and learned pony had a plan to rid the world of the Swarm. The latter meant that a Goddess had asked me to perform a service for the world.

In both cases the moral thing to do would be to help get rid of the Daemon Queen. Also if Dusk was crazy, I'd seen first hoof what happens when you anger someone powerful. I didn't want a lifelong enemy. Especially if that enemy was Death herself. But most of all, I wanted what had happened to me to never happen to anyone else ever again.

No one deserved to see their home and family die in front of them. Not even the person who had destroyed my own. I was in a position to help make sure no one ever would again. There was only one thing I could do.

“Well, we had better get on a train then.” I said with a determined nod.

27 Transformation

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David - 26th of Plantation ‘15 EoH - David

I love an alien bug-girl. That’s a weird thing to know about yourself. That you can genuinely love someone that’s not your own species. It has to be the real thing too, because with everyone else I had been able to push them out of my mind and move on even while working with them for years after beating my emotions down.

But when it came to Jade, I couldn’t do it. A week into our little trip is all it took for me to start liking her. Not much more than as a friend at first, but there had been some love none the less. That was pretty scary for me, I didn’t know what to even do with feelings for someone. Hell, until Lightstride told me about changeling’s lifespans, I thought she was underage!

There can’t be many people who felt relief upon learning that the alien chick they liked was in fact an adult for her species. Or maybe there are. Ponies and changelings are not from a one-race world like this old Dog. Who knows what is common here? I certainly don’t.

To be honest I don’t really care about any of that. Jade is a resourceful, determined, and smart if under educated person who wears her heart on her sleeve. That heart had just the right sort of parts to it to prevent me from ignoring her. All of the little things from her smiling when I showed her something new, to the way she didn’t object to being bait to save the world was why I loved her.

That’s probably why I couldn’t push those feelings away. I’d kept hoping that one day my brain would click and go ‘Oh yeah, she’s not a human.’ and that would be that. Then I could just be her friend. But no. A second head voice always replied to the first one with ‘I know! Isn’t that awesome?’ and the first one would sigh and go ‘Yeah… It is.’

Despite all of that internal conflict, I was nothing if not stubborn and determined to will power my way into her friend zone, thus safely avoiding a relationship. Thus protecting someone I liked from winding up attached to the bad luck magnet which was my life. Thus ensuring the person I loved could continue being happy.

But that was the old me, wasn’t it? Sure I was running for my life from a swarm of shape changing insectoids out for blood, but this time there was a reason behind it. It wasn’t just bad luck, a conscious entity had decided to put me in this position.

Honestly, that wasn’t typical of my life over the last five years. I’d been on the receiving end of racism sure, but can you blame people for having a species that usually enslaves, rapes, and/or eats them? Nope.

Sure I’d been homeless, but I’d gotten to travel and had a good time of it. I had always found some way to survive and only gone hungry once or twice. I’d even gotten together a pretty nice collection of useful personal belongings, all of which I still had in the cart I was even now pulling to a train station to take a train to a place I had been assured I could finally get that home I’d been wanting.

Hell, I had learned to conjure fire and ice with actual motherfucking magic! How do you even rate that on a list of good fortune to come your way? David one, rest of humanity zero. That’s how.

My life didn’t suck anymore, so I didn’t have that excuse to push someone away. That had made it hard to reject my feelings for Jade towards the end of our little ‘cruise’ to Zebrica. Then she decided to become pretty.

My fucking god, if you love someone when you think they look ‘just okay’ and then suddenly they go all ugly duckling on your ass and transform into one of the most beautiful things you have ever seen, then in the very moment you are stunned by their transformation say ‘I love you.’...

I don’t think a Shaolin Monk would have had enough willpower to control their emotions under those circumstances.

I couldn’t focus on anything happening around me because of the shock I’d put my own brain into by accepting Jade’s advances. I was walking through an ultramodern take on ancient Egypt and Babylon populated by meter high talking zebras, and all I could think about was the fluffy bug girl perched atop my cart.

The one thing that made sense to me was why I could like her to begin with. The first time I’d seen a pony, I thought they were an animal. An easy thing for a human to misunderstand, we’ve never seen a quadrupedal person. That mistake didn’t make it past being taken to that first pony’s village.

Sure, one gray and black talking pony in a place filled with monsters is just a talking animal. But a whole village with professions and hobbies? That’s a people, and there was no mistaking that.

I’d had five years to get used to quadrupedal persons. So at least I wasn’t busy trying to work out how I could love Jade. She wasn’t an insect, she was a person who happened to also be an insect. A silky, shiny, surprisingly soft insect with the most beautiful eyes of anyone I’d ever seen, who likes me!

I closed my eyes and groaned, shaking my head slowly. God dammit Dave, snap out of it before you’re blindsided by the enemy. This is the entire reason you're told Jade to hold off until Equestria!

A plan she agreed was for the best. She’s such a smart per-

No! Focus! Safety first. Then… uh… whatever you do to romance someone. Yes. That.

Perhaps dinner and a show. The movies always had the first date being a dinner. Oh! Perhaps they had movies in Equestria. I could take Jade to see something nice, and she would be amazed at what would be her first movie. Yes, that’s certainly romantic.

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

Focus!

I took a deep breath and listened to the buzz of the crowd around me, while keeping my eyes locked on Lily as she led the way to the train station. He had been there yesterday to scout ticket prices.

As I watched her walk I couldn’t help but remember that ponies hindquarters were surprisingly human shaped. So much so that I didn’t feel weird about finding Jade’s rump cu-

“God damnit!” I growled out loud.

Several ponies and zebras nearby jumped looking at me fearfully before realizing I wasn't attacking and going back to their business.

Lily turned her head to look back. “Was?” she asked quizzically.

“Nothing. I just can’t concentrate on anything right now.” I answered, grumbling a little.

“Uh, Dave, are you okay?” Jade asked from her cart top perch.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I answered, “Just trying to focus on the task at hand.”

“What language are you even speaking?” Light asked curiously from off to my left.

I facepalmed hard enough for the back of my head to sting. How the fuck had I not realized I had been speaking in English just then?

I took a moment to make sure I had the correct language in mind, took a deep breath and announced, “I’m okay. Just trying to put my life back into order.”

“What’s wrong?” Jade asked in a concerned tone.

I turned to look at her and instantly eardrooped. That red pegasus form was just so boring… It’s not like anyone was going to recognize her now. She could be herself-

“Uh… Well… Just trying to take my mind off you and focus on the task at hand.” I admitted, figuring a lie was a shitty thing to do to a loved one.

“Ah!” Lily exclaimed in a knowing voice, “Die alte ‘Gehirn stecken am geil modus’. Hehe!”

I slowly turned to face the little smart ass. “Lily… Halt deine Fresse.” I grumbled.

She snickered and stuck her tongue out at me playfully.

“Wait,” Jade asked curiously, “First, is he finally being a mare all the time? Second, what do you mean by what you said?”

Light stopped mid step, her head snapped to face Lily, one eye widened while one shrank, “You’re a colt!?”

Lily blushed deeply and kicked one hoof against the cobbled road. “W-Whol, biologically ja… I’m nicht- Er, Biologically yes, mentally unsure. I’m still deciding… Leaning towards mare.”

“You’re a colt?!” Light repeated, face entirely frozen in an expression pure confusion.

Lily sighed and shook her head slowly, “Just… ugh… buck it. No, I’m a mare, they’re joking.”

“Oh!” Light said, “You're trans! I just… You even smell female! Where did you get the work done? I’ve been wanting to get some smaller flanks. You know, streamlining, reduce drag. You must have found the best surgeon in the world!”

The deadpan expression on Lily’s face combined with the seething irritation in her twitching eye made me want to laugh. But I didn’t, because I didn’t want to light that powder keg.

“This is how I naturally look.” Lily explained in an aggressively weary tone, “I’m tired of talking about this to everyone I meet who finds out I’m not biologically a mare. I like girl things. I act mostly girly. I enjoy girl clothes. I’m not sure if I’m transgender, but I know I like crossdressing. Telling people this over und over und over is very aggravating. I have decided to be female all the time to prevent this exact situation. Please never talk about this again unless you’re asking me on a date und my sex organs are something to discuss due to preferences you may or may nicht have. Okay?”

Light’s confused expression melted away, replaced by a look of understanding. “Alright. Sorry, I -er… well, I’m sure you understand how surprising it is for someone.”

“Ja. I do.” Lily said turning back to the direction we had been walking, “I’m sure you understand I’m tired of dealing mit surprised people every day.”

“Totally.” Light said with a nod. “So then, how much further to the train station, sis?”

I blinked in surprise. The way Light had emphasized sister hadn’t mean in tone, it had been accepting. Even for ponies that was impressively respectful of someone else.

Lily’s ears perked up into their normal happy positions the instant she heard the word too. “Not much further.”

As we resumed our walk I realized that Light and Lily's moment there had pushed the incessant thoughts about Jade out of my mind. Instantly fearing them flooding back from realizing that, and also that I hadn’t answered Jade’s other question, I quickly looked over my shoulder into Jade’s currently ugly-by-comparison eyes and said, “Right, what I meant earlier is I was trying to focus on getting us to safety, but I couldn’t because I kept thinking about you being… well you. Light’s confused face snapped me out of it though. I didn’t know pony faces could even warp like that.”

“Heh… ja. We can make pretty weird faces.” Lily commented.

<To be fair, I’ve spent the entire walk so far staring at your plot.> Jade said telepathically while giving me a wink and a grin.

I raised an eyebrow at her.

<What? It looks a lot like a ponies if they were rearing up.> She said, blushing lightly.

“Huh…” I mused, giving her an embarrassed shrug, “You know, I came to the same conclusion, only uh… flip the species around.”

Lily winced. “Oh Faust nein! Light! They’re a couple und only one of them is telepathic!”

Light groaned. “Oh… just… no… This will be so awkward...”

I felt my ears droop as the embarrassment piled up.

<David,> Jade said with a silent giggle, <Just think at me. I’ll hear it.>

<You will?> I thought curiously.

<Yep! We’re close, and I’ve known you a long time. I can read your surface thoughts.> Jade commented. <It’s a lot easier now too… I wish someling told me exactly what Queens can do…>

<Apparently crush ribs and be pretty.> I teased.

<S-sorry… I knew that I’d gain earth pony like strength as a Queen, but noling ever told me exactly how strong they apparently are.> Jade said, ears drooping.

I commented.

<Really? I should try that!> Jade exclaimed eagerly.

<Wait…> I thought, frowning as I had a question come to mind, <By close, did you mean emotionally or physical distance?>

<Eh, well both actually. I mean my range is probably better now, but yes after some distance we won't be able to talk like this… It used to be two hundred meters. But we can’t link with non-lings we don’t have some kind of friendship with at all, and as far as I know it takes actual love to read surface thoughts.> she answered.

<Oh. Well, this is actually realy useful so we should test the range as soon as we->

“Okay, there’s the train station.” Lily announced apprehensively, interrupting my train of thought.

Looking up I saw her pointing with a hoof towards… an entire train yard. How did that sneak up on me? Right. Girlfriend mindspeach.

Better question, why had Lily’s voice been apprehensive?

“What’s wrong?” I asked in a casual tone.

“Uh well…” Lily turned around slowly, “I’m not too concerned because I know you’re a practical person. We have a small problem, but I’ve sort of already solved it.”

I raised an eyebrow curiously.

“Uh, then how do we have a problem?” Jade and Light asked together.

Lily bit her lip for a moment, then began to explain. “When I checked the prices the other day, I thought it would be gut to ask about well… David, you know how most Diamond Dogs are. I know we don’t let them immigrate into Germany, und there are also travel restrictions for dangerous species there too. I thought Zebrica might be the same.”

I sighed, ears flattening in irritation. “They won't let me get a ticket will they?”

“Nein.” Lily admitted. “But-”

“How exactly did you ‘solve’ this problem?” Jade asked suspiciously.

“Why didn’t you mention this sooner? We could have helped solve it.” I said, grumbling as I tried to push the irritation of being thought dangerous out of my mind.

“Oh!” Lily gave me a bright smile, it was pleased with herself, but also friendly, “Jade hatching made me forget until a few minutes ago. I was going to tell you today since I had my solution ready. Sorry.”

“Eh, understandable.” I said acceptingly. “What’s your solution?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about immigration issues since a few days into our travels. Equestria has three Diamond Dog clans und they cause all sorts of problems… They are not citizens.” Lily said with a frown, “So I thought Equestria might not let a Diamond Dog in. You’re not… You’re not a bad person so I decided to help you. It took me until a few days ago, und also a lot of help from Ändrin, but I found a way to let you be a pony when you want to be one.”

“Wait, what?” I asked, dropping to one knee to get onto Lily’s eye level.

“I said, I found a way to let you be a pony when you want to be.” she repeated.

“How?” Light asked for me.

“Yeah, I thought you said it would take you a year to change someone's species.” I said slowly.

The idea of becoming something else had intrigued me since Lily mentioned she could in theory change someone's species. Not only because it would remove the race issues, but because half the god damn creatures here could fly and I couldn’t.

“Ja, under normal methods it would take a year. Maybe longer.” Lily confirmed, “But, I realized that there is one species that can do it in a second.”

“Changelings…” Jade said to herself softly. “You mean you figured out how we shift?”

Lily nodded, “Ja! It wasn’t hard with you to be an example for me. Biomancy is my talent, I’ve learned how lots of biological processes work by watching them at work. While changing a species is hard, making a few small organs und making them work with existing ones is easy… at least... it is for me.”

Lily turned her attention back to me, “I should, if my spell works properly, be able to give you a changeling's shifting abilities… but… Er… We could only figure out how to let you do a pony. I don’t think it’s possible to enable you to do anything other than a single pony shape. Upside, you could be a pony anytime you wanted, und also a Dog anytime you wanted. Downside, because you’re not an emotovore, changing will make you very hungry.”

Huh. Well… That was an idea. “Is it safe?”

Lily blushed and gave me an apologetic frown. “Uncharted waters. I designed the spell for you, it might not even work on anyone else.”

I turned to look at Light and Jade, “Okay, that’s one idea. Anyone got another?”

Jade shook her head. “No.”

Light frowned for a moment, a thoughtful expression on her face before she shook her head, “I got none. Sure I could use a contact to smuggle you into Equestria… But if you want to live there being a Dog would be a problem. Not if you could shapeshift though, the ponies would just think you were a changeling, and Equestria’s pretty accepting of them now.”

I nodded slowly. “I don’t have a plan ether. Now, Lily, you are one hundred percent sure that I’ll be able to change back right? I like having hands.”

“Nein, more like ninety eight percent.” Lily admitted. “You’re taking this better than I thought.”

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. “Well… at least you’re honest. Do you at least know if this could kill me?”

Lily nodded, “Ja, the chances of you dying are very small. It’s more likely you’ll take the grafts but reject them over time and need surgery to remove them before- Uh… Eighty percent chance you’re fine, eighteen you get sick later, one you get sick now, und one you die.”

I frowned grimly. “I’m a medic Lily. I know how hard it is to graft in foreign tissue. That seems very optimistic.”

She beamed me a smile, “It’s not foreign, it will be made with your DNA! But you body still may reject it if I don't get the sequence prefect.”

Oh, well that actually was a lot better. I mulled it over for a few more minutes. I honestly couldn’t think of any better idea. We had to take the train, and they didn’t let Dog’s board the train. If Lily was right I could turn back whenever I wanted to, and with any luck I’d be a pegasus.

“Ah what the hell, I’ve been transformed once before. How long will this take?” I asked.

“About a minute.” she answered instantly.

“R-really?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Ja. Complex spells don't take much more time than simple ones. We can do it now, here even. I don’t need anything special.” Lily said casually.

A bit too casually. She was trying to put me at ease. There was a risk she wasn’t telling me about… but what? Screw it, she was my friend, and I trusted her.

“Alright, hit me.” I said.

“Uh, okay?” Lily said with a confused expression.

Then she drew back her right hoof and punched me in the shoulder.

“Ow…” I grunted, pretending it had hurt at all. “Lily, that’s an expression. It means do it.”

“Heh… Sorry.” She apologized amid Light and Jade’s laughter.

“Actually, wait a moment!” I exclaimed, realizing something extremely important as Lily cleared her throat.

Turning to Jade I asked, “Are you okay with this?”

“Yes.” She said amid giggles.

“Just like that?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Uh, yeah.” She replied with a grin.

“You’re okay with me becoming a pony?” I asked again.

“Yeah!” She rolled her eyes, “David, what am I?”

“Ah… right.” I said slowly feeling a wave of stupid slamming into my brain.

Of course your shapeshifting girlfriend is fine with you shapeshifting! Why wouldn't she be?

“My best friend pupated before I did. He became a blanket for me once.” Jade quipped to drive her point home further.

“Alright Lily, pony up.” I said, using the pun to bolster my spirits.

“Nein! Bad!” Lily shouted, waving a hoof at me accusingly.

“It’s my revenge for your species naming a city Cloudsdale.” I griped. “I swear to god if it’s populated by Clydesdale pon-”

“I’m going to cast before you use another pun.” Lily interrupted.

Lily’s horn flared blue, my vision whited out, and I felt someone stick a billion sewing pins into my spine.

My vision slowly cleared at the same time my other senses came back. I seemed to be laying on my side in the street. “Oooowww…” I groaned.

Step one was to get back up. Step two was to bitch at Lily for not giving me warning. I twisted, slowly pushing myself up onto my hands and- Make that hooves and other hooves.

I turned as best I could to get a look at myself. Unfortunately I was really stiff, and all I could make out was my fur color was the same rusty red.

“Oh good!” Lily exclaimed eagerly, “Autonomic reflexes are working!”

“The what?” Jade asked, from her positions standing over me and looking concerned.

“It’s… complicated. Just be glad he has them, if he didn’t we’d be teaching him to walk just like a foal.” Lily explained. “Also uh… things your body just does on it’s own wouldn’t be working… so… things!”

Huh. Pony hearing was really inferior to Diamond Dog hearing. I could barely distinguish the conversations around us from each other. Eye sight was way better though, it looked like Diamond Dogs were a bit colorblind as everything seemed much more saturated and I swore the streets didn’t have a pinkish hue to the stone work a moment ago.

“I don’t get it.” Light commented. “Why did his clothes change with him?”

“Uh… magic?” Lily asked in the feeble tone of an intellectual who had no idea.

The stiffness started to fade away, allowing me to turn my head and-

“Ack! Directional… smells!” I awkwardly exclaimed as a dumpster behind Lily aligned with my nose, and I instantly realized ponies smelled things in a manner similar to sight.

Jade giggled, bringing one hoof to her mouth, “Yeah that is a weird sense isn’t it? I’m glad you’re okay, David.”

I decided to breath through my mouth. Fortunately my body complied. Okay, good! Magic made it think-it do-it just like a normal body. Good to know.

“Lily,” I growled, “That hurt like hell!”

She frowned, “I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would hurt. Perhaps sting a little, or itch but-”

“Ma’am, did you just force that Changeling to transform against their will?” A suddenly appearing Zebra in a city-watch-green cloak demanded.

“Uh, well, technically yes.” Lily said shyly.

The Guard turned to me, eye hidden behind his silver helm’s visor, “Do you wish to press charges sir?”

That was illegal? Interesting thing to know! But also, avoiding the law was a priority here.

I quickly shook my head, “No need officer. I got stuck, and my friend here just lent me a ha-hoof is all.”

The guard nodded and gave Lily a glare before walking back off towards the train station. “Alright, but don’t cause anymore trouble, Germane.”

Lily nodded and nervously shuffled her hooves on the street for a few moments. I couldn’t blame her, that guard seemed to have teleported right over her shoulder.

“So… What exactly am I?” I asked everyone in general.

“Unicorn. Same red fur, creamy white mane and tail. Kinda plane.” Light grunted. “I was hoping pegasus…”

“You and me both.” I reached up with a hoof to feel for a horn and stumbled forward slightly. “Shit!”

“Bend your hind legs a bit when you do that.” Jade said helpfully. Her eyes brightened suddenly, “Oh! You have a cutiemark too! It’s a shield with a little red cross on it.”

“Thanks for the tip.” I replied, doing as directed before trying again, this time succeeding in feeling a short horn on my forehead.

Not only did I feel it in my horn as I had expected, but I also felt it in my hoof. This was extremely confusing because I wasn’t feeling the ground with my other hooves. “H-how do these even work?” I asked wishing I had a mirror.

“I-I’m going to go get us tickets… You two fill him in.” Lily said, still a bit shocked.

Jade gave her a nod, “Okay, we’ll be right here.”

“Your sense of touch only works through your hooves while reaching for something with one.” Light commented.

“Okay. Now, how the fuck do I pick something up?” I asked in as dead serious of a tone as I could manage.

“Uh… seriously?” Light asked raising an eyebrow at me.

“Light, he’s had hands for his whole life so far.” Jade pointed out in my defense.

Thank you sweetie, you're the be- No! Bad brain, stay out of that black hole of attention!

Jade turned back to me, took a few things from the cart and proceed to show me how to lift things. It was far easier than I expected. Touch hoof to thing, flex hoof slightly to cup thing as much as possible, thing successfully gripped. Hell with a little work I could even manipulate things a bit. Not as good as with fingers, but good enough to turn the page of a book, maybe even pick up just a specific coin.

By the time Lilly returned, I was doing well enough to put things into a bag and button the bag bag up. All in all, it was basically like manipulating things with mittens on. Not hard, just a bit annoying.

As Lily walked up she cleared her throat, “So uh… Good news and bad news.”

I sighed a long weary sigh. “What?”

“Well, I got us onto the next train. It leaves in twenty minutes. But… Uh… Remember that Neighponese ship? It was dropping off soldiers, und a whole platoon booked the passenger part of this train solid. So we will be riding in a boxcar… With some of their cargo und an engineering team.” Lily said in a serious tone.

“Uh, did you pay already?” Light asked.

“Ja. Why?” Lily asked with a frown.

“Because we could have just waited an hour and taken the next train…” She said giving Lily a deadpan stare of irritation.

“Oh…” Lily admitted, blushing shyly. “I didn’t think of that…”

I instinctively facepalmed. There was a sound like someone had banged two coconuts together and a blinding flash of pain in my skull. “Ahhh! Fucking Christ!”

It was as if someone had made shards of glass from angry wasps and stabbed me right in the eyes with them!

Light erupted into snickering laughter, “Oh, my, Celestia! Right on your own horn!”

Lily bit her lip to hide her laughter, “D-David. This is why we ponies do that slowly.”

Jade quickly wrapped me in a hug. “How about on the train I tell you things to not do in this shape?”

“That’s an amazingly good idea.” I groaned, rubbing the side of my head to try and make the flashes of red go away.

“Another good idea… Lily, how do I change back?” I asked giving her a pleading look.

“Uh, you should stay like that for at least the train ride.” Lily pointed out.

“Yeah, I know.” I grunted. “Still, how?”

“Just think about it und reach for your magic.” She answered. “Unless changelings do something specific.” Her eyes widened a little, “Uh! Because you're changing is based off their magic I mean!”

The fuck was that about?

“You’ll want to picture how you want to look too.” Jade pointed out helpfully.

I had a feeling there was a lot to learn about this body. Just because I had a grip on the basics didn’t mean that there weren't any other painful surprises in store.

I nodded, “Okay. Simple enough I guess… So, Jade, hon… Please start talking before I do something else to give myself an even bigger headache.”

“Of course, sweetie.” Jade replied with a smile. "First thing's first, don't hit your horn!"

"You don't say..." I sighed.

"Oh! When she's done with that, maybe since you have a unicorn's body, I can show you how telekinesis works!" Lily said eagerly. "We'll have three days on the train to practice."

"That sounds like a great use of our time." I said honestly, still blinking away throbbing pain. "How about you lead us on to the boxcar? Oh.. and can someone help me pull? I dont think this body can do it alone."

"Yeah sure, I can lend a hoof." Light offered, moving to grab one of the handles with a foreleg.

Lily nodded, "It's number twenty two. Right over there I think." Lily said pointing into the train yard.

"Cool, lead on... I'm just going to see about getting rid of this head ache." I grumbled taking the other handle.

"Oh... Uh.. that's going to be there until at least nightfall..." Lily commented. "Sorry..."

Great... Brand new body and you immediately give it a headache. Ah well, at least with this new ability I had a shot at a happy life in Equestria free of racist dicks. Over all things were looking up!

28 3:10 to Hell

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Lily - 26th of Plantation ‘15 EoH - Noon

Today was not a good day. I’d known it wasn't going to be a good day since I had woken up, I was going to have to try an untested spell on one of my friends for the sake of not screwing over literally everyone. What I hadn’t known is that casting it would entirely deplete my reserve, and the charge stored in my chain. I was bone dry.

If anything went wrong, I was powerless to stop it. I couldn’t even use my telekinesis after carrying those tickets back. That had been the last drop.

On top of that suddenly appearing guard, dealing with the ticket clerk had been stressful in and of itself. While it’s possible to get train tickets in Zebrica without an ID, they will interrogate you to within an inch of your life to be sure you’re not a threat. Needless to say my nerves were wearing thin.

My nerves were wearing thin while watching David’s lower spine for anything abnormal. Swelling, blistering, mange, muscle spasms… Bleeding… oozing… The sheer number of things that could go wrong were horrifying.

If I hadn’t grafted three mice together once and then separated them successfully after a year, I wouldn’t have even attempted this.

I’d taken the changeling genetic sample I’d procured, namely Jade’s old leg, extracted the nervous clusters from it via autopsy, reverse engineered the biology behind the parts of the tissue which responded to transformation magic, and then with the help of a bucking genius of the field, worked out a spell to create similar nerve clusters and fuse them to a mammal's spinal column as well as patch them into the autonomic reflexes so they would function.

Anypony who knows anything about medical science knows that there are a billion ways that can go wrong. A graft from one mammal to another is one thing, but from an insect to a mammal? This wouldn’t be the first, but it would be within the first hundred successes if my information was accurate. Not only that, but it was also a transfer of magic-enabling biology, something we had yet to perfect as a species. Not only that, but it was also a changeling’s shifting ability so it was a graft that had to change the rest of the patient's biology, while not changing itself so that he could change back!

Despite the terror causing my heart to beat too quickly for my liking, I was eighty percent certain this would work! At least, for a few months… Thirty percent sure it would be permanent. Hopefully nothing would go wrong before I had my magic back, then I could simply fix it. But if he started rejecting the graft right now…

I took a deep breath to calm myself. Take it easy Lily. He’s not in any pain, and nothing looks wrong on the outside. He’s fine for now. Just push away the fear and get into the box car.

I flinched, realizing I had just made a very very cruel unintentional joke. “Ah… bucking hay…”

David turned around, giving me a concerned frown, “What?”

“I just… Eh… Bad joke.” I said, turning to look at the train yard full of large cars of all kinds.

Our train was currently pulled into the station. You could see a few hundred ponies boarding the passenger section-

“How bad?” Jade asked curiously.

“Uh… My brain unintentionally made a joke which you could see as a reference to the Great Wars rounding up of-”

David visibly winced, “Oh god… That happened here too? You know what, no, fuck it. We’re not having this conversation.”

“Was? Happened here?” I asked, “Oh nein… He did it over there too?”

“I said we’re not going to talk about this. I want to enjoy being a new species and remember it without having to think about the assembly line style of genocide.” David grumbled. He looked off to the right at the station’s platform and instantly took to the distraction. “Hey look! Samu- Wait wah- Actually never mind that’s the least weird thing I’ve seen here.” David exclaimed switching from excited to confused to normal in the span of a heartbeat.

I don't know how his face moved like that.

Samurai. Huh, that didn’t sound like an Equish word. Why didn’t my spell translate it?

Oh yeah. I’m out of manna. Right... Crap! Thank goodness I actually know Equish.

I looked back over at the soldiers boarding the train. I’d always liked Neighponese styled armor. The chained together little hexagonal plates and the back and helmet decoration meant to look like wings or a horn for those who didn’t have them were really cool.

I also liked how each individual got to use a personal coloring for their armor. That was a nice touch. Germane soldiers all wore the same black, and while that is sort of the point of a uniform, the lucky few who are not stark white can look terrible in it.

Also Faust help me but their beam sabers are bucking awesome! Every foal alive wants one, that’s how you know something is cool. Take a sword hilt, attach a high capacity gemstone, and boom, toggleable blade of raw arcane energy!

I should totally steal one!

I blinked and groaned at the stupidity of my own thought and decided to just focus on finding the- Oh there it was! Big red box car with the number 126E written on the side. Huge rather, big didn’t do it justice. You could make this one boxcar into a house. It even hung a half normal boxcar’s width off the side.

As we drew near, I could hear six female voices arguing from the interior.

“Watashi wa anata o itte iru, ryōshi kesshō ga kanetsu shite imasu. Deruta ryōiki wa shinkan suru hojo ijō ga hassei suru mae wareware wa, purazuma-kan o kōsei suru hitsuyō ga arimasu!” ¹ The first voice shouted angrily.

“Purazumaponpu wa dochira ka dōsa shite inainode, soreha, sore o suru koto wa dekimasen!” ² The second shouted back just as angrily.

“Huh… That’s Japanese.” David remarked as he walked up to the door. “Why am I not surprised to hear Japa-”

He sort of froze in the doorway. The argument stopped as well. Everything was quiet for a few long moments as Jade and Light nervously started to back up towards the cart.

“Kon'nichiwa?” ³ A third voice asked from within the car, confusion oozing from every syllable.

“Kon'nichiwa.” David returned, voice equally confused. “Koto wa, kyodai robotto no ponīdesu ka?” ⁴

“Kore wa, meka no sūtsu no ōku wa de.” A fourth voice somehow quietly boomed. It was mechanical, reverberating, and clearly female. “Puri mokushiroku teikoku o kin'itsu medikkusu kotodesu ka?” ⁵

“Īe.” David answered still in his confused and stunned tone, but with a foalish delight started to spread across his face, “Sore wa watashi no furusato no seifukudesu. Chottomatte kudasai.” ⁶

He slowly backed out of the entrance, turned around, broke into the biggest grin ever and practically screeched, “They are building a giant robot! Lily! You booked the car with the giant robot! I need to hug you!”

In the span of half a heartbeat David had covered the six meters between us and wrapped me in a bearhug I didn’t know a unicorn was capable of! I was lifted off the ground! I swore my shoulders dislocated before he even touched me!

A half seconds before I thought my lungs would be squeezed out one of my ends, David let go and cleared his throat. “Sorry… But… Giant robot. I uh… Right… Let’s just look cool and hopefully they will let me touch it.”

“Too late for looking cool, gaijin! We speak Equish.” The mechanical sounding voice giggled.

“Also, she told you it’s a mech suit, not a robot.” The second informed with a giggle.

David’s ears drooped down so far I was actually medically concerned for him. Or I would have been if I weren't trying to get my lungs to inflate.

“Hai,” The first voice said as it’s owner trotted into view from behind the door, “far too late.”

She was a rather short peach blossom pink unicorn mare. Just the one uniform color. Fortunately her elegantly braided mane at least made her shape distinctive, and the white jumpsuit with the rising sun emblem on the back and butterfly symbol on the barrel definitely helped her look less… well ugly. Poor mare just didn’t get any luck in the looks department.

She gave all of us a concerned look and asked, “You booked passage in this car?”

I nodded and tried to speak but only managed to wheeze.

“Yes,” Jade answered giving me a concerned frown, “Are you okay Lily?”

“Hugged… too… hard!” I gasped, finally managing to get my lungs to fill up all the way.

“Sorry… childhood fantasy… and stuff.” David muttered running a hoof through his mane in embarrassment.

You know, he was really cute as a pony! Well, more like handsome. The cute was all from that delighted gleam in his eyes.

“We we’re supposed to have this car to ourselves… Military purposes.” The mare grumbled. “Can you take another train? This train should be full.”

“Well about that…” David said slowly giving her an apologetic look, “It’s sort of massively important that we reach Equestria in the shortest time possible. So no, we kind of need to take this train.”

The pink mare grumbled something in Neighponese.

“Pinku-chan,” The mechanical sounding person called, “Watashi no buki ga hataraite imasu. De sorera o shite mimashou. Karera wa nani o okonau baai, watashi wa chōdo sorera o koroshimasu. Sore wa watashi ga kono chīsana basho ni minogasu koto ga dekinai yōdesu.” ⁷

“Uh, what did she say?” Light asked a nanosecond before I would have.

The mare turned to face back into the car. “Un shikashi, hoka ni wa nani mo sagyō shite imasen!” ⁸ she exclaimed with an absolutely adorable angry hoof stamp!

David cleared his throat, “The mare piloting the actual motherfucking giant robot said to let us on because if we do anything to jeopardize their mission she can just kill us since the car is too small for us to seek cover in.”

“Oh.. Uh… Well.. we could always take another train.” Jade and I said together wearily.

“Don’t worry! If you don’t try to steal Imperial secretes you're completely safe!” Mech-voice promised, “Well, almost. You would be on a train headed for a soon-to-be warzone.”

“Yeah, that’s sort of why we are going.” David said unthinkingly, immediately tail and ears drooping as he realized his error.

The train car shook, a loud mechanical whine accompanied the appearance of a massive butter-yellow hoof shaped armored limb as it pulled the boxcar’s door wide open. A huge metal facsimile of a pony filled the entrance, dragging four limp legs as it pulled itself into view with a loud scrape of metal on metal.

The entire thing looked like someone had taken an alicorn, made it four times bigger, and then built a suit of angular armor that fit skin tight for them to wear. It had a mane and presumably a tail of pale pink glowing fiber optic cables, flat blue glowing eyes, and an expression that somehow looked fierce yet shy.

The ton of armor plating removed revealing a complicated series of techno-arcane circuitry, unaugmented technology, and a glimpse of the pilot’s peach colored left foreleg did absolutely nothing to alleviate the terror At seeing it suddenly consume the entrance.

It’s left shoulder plates slid apart, revealing what looked to be a rotating series of spell-amps rigged up to… oh dear that dull red glow and humming didn’t seem safe…

“Please inform me as to your loyalties for that aforementioned battle.” the huge metal thing boomed.

“Equestria!” Everyone squeaked in unison.

An eternity passed.

“Good. Climb on in.” the massive metal giant said, pushing back into it’s former position with it’s working leg.

I felt my heart start beating again. From the looks on everypony’s face, they did too.

Except for Jade. She nodded, “Thanks! Can you help with our cart?”

I turned to stare at her in disbelief. “Y-you want to ride with that?”

“Sure! She’s on our side, right?” Jade asked giving me a confused look, “Why would I not want her close by if the Swarm attacks the train?”

“I but- that’s a-” I babbled, realizing mid way through that Jade was completely correct, “verdammt gut Punkt tatsächlich…”

“You bet your-” David squeaked. He put a hoof to his muzzle and cleared his throat, “I mean, you bet your ass it is.”

“Hai,” Gigantor called, presumably in answer to Jade, “On'nanoko wa, karera no tame ni karera no kāto o shutoku shimasu.” ⁹

A half second later and our cart was literally swarmed by five mares, each monochromatic, and each the same pink as the first one, and each clad in the same jumpsuit. They didn’t look the same, each had their mane and tail styled differently, and all of them much better looking than the first. It took me longer than I want to admit to realize that they were all dyed the same color and not clones.

The five mares had the cart inside faster than I was able to process their nearly identical coloring. Giving me just enough time for an apprehensive gulp and to hop into the car after everypony else before Light asked “So uh… Why’s your giant death machine look like Fluttershy?”

I slapped a hoof to my face. “How did I not notice that!?” I demanded.

Now that Light mentioned it, it did look like her! I suppose being foreign I could be excused for not having the exact appearance of one of Equestria’s great heroes memorized… Though since she did help save the world about five times…

As soon as I stopped talking the robot’s pilot leaned down to get on Light’s eye level and in the most ironclad zealotous tone imaginable informed, “Furattā-sama saikō no ponīdesu!”

“Hai!” Everypony else exclaimed with equal religiously reverent certainty.

“Uh… For those of us that don’t speak Neighponese?” Light asked with a confused frown.

“Er…” David bit his lip, trying to hold back a laugh and only barely succeeding, “That was ‘Fluttershy is best pony.’”

“Hai!” Every one of the engineers echoed again.

“So uh… You painted it up like that because you all like her?” Jade asked.

I decided to just kind of scoot against the back wall of the train car away from the creepy personality cult.

“She is the most refined, polite, and courteous pony to ever live,” The first mare said reverently, “she has saved every one of us, not just with her Nakama, but also on her own. Twice. Fluttershy is as the proverb of the prefect steel wrapped in the finest silk. Nopony else is more worthy to be enshrined in the form of an A.L.I.C.O.R.N. suit!”

“Hai!” came the five fold echo. “Furattā-sama saikō no ponīdesu!”

“Well… okay then.” David said in the tone of a stallion who decided he could totally wait for the next train.

“Ja… Okay.” I agreed in the same tone.

“Good to know…” Light added, naturally in the same tone of voice.

“That’s pretty cool!” Jade announced with a big grin, “We used to forge armor to look like our heroes too!”

Unfortunately a piercing whistle broke the air, the train car shook, and began to roll out of the station. At a speed which made jumping out of the train seem far too painful. We were going to be trapped in a small space with these crazy ponies for three entire days.

Great…

David - 3rd of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Sunrise

Three days. In a fifteen by forty yard box. With six otakus. Who build and operate a giant robot.

In those three days, I learned many things. First, despite sounding like heaven, hanging out with living anime girls (of any species) is hell. Second, A.L.I.C.O.R.N. was an acronym, but it doesn't translate well. Basically you’d call the thing ‘God-maker powered armor suit’. Which is what the thing did.

Get the control implant installed in your horn, climb on into the belly, and boom, tech enhances your magic to the power level of an Alicorn… At least till the suit runs out of power. Then you have a ton of built in weapons and are kind of just a normal walking tank.

That was awesome!

On the other hand, as someone who learned Japanese, I had literally spent three days listening to constant technobabble as those five crazed fangirls tried to fix the damn thing. All they would say is that something broke while flying in from Neighpone, thus they had to stay behind and fix it because someone forgot to pack spare parts and Quis had some for sale.

That and then constantly bicker and argue about what was wrong and why, all the while never actually fixing the problem.

Which had been a fuze. In the right shoulder. It was plugged in backwards. I’d fixed it to make them shut up. It hadn’t worked… Because they had spent the entire morning thus far yelling at me for not fixing it sooner.

Excuse me for assuming that the trained mechanics wouldn’t notice a misinstalled part!

I envied Jade so much right now. She had shifted her ears away and just power napped through most of the trip so far. At least it would be over in a few more hours. My god, those five literally hadn’t slept for a single fucking minute!

Oh right, three, Neighponese soldiers are magically augmented to only need to sleep for twenty minutes a week. Great plan! How about you keep the most irritating people imaginable out of your mill-

Oh god, that’s why they were relegated to the boxcar wasn’t it?

Three. Fucking. Days. Lily and Light spent the whole time doing their best to zone out and ignore the chaos. Me? No such luck.

Fortunately those five didn’t mind me picking through the spare components they had discarded. Meaning I was able to occupy myself yesterday by building a crude crystal radio. Sure, it was crude by the standards of a crude radio, but with the tech level sitting behind me there would be radio communications, and if we had to cross some badlands, a radio would let us know if anyone was in the area and in what direction they were via the signal getting louder or fainter.

It was a neat little thing, and it fit in my jacket pocket nicely. If it ever crackled, we would know we were headed for civilization. A fact I took great comfort in. Mostly because it meant we would be away from civilization, which at the moment was these god damn incessant mares!

I looked over at the junk pile with a sigh. They were still going at it. I really needed something more to distract me.

There were still a few bits left over. Perhaps I could magnetize one of those bolts and make a compass out of-

My ears stopped working as a dull thud rippled through my body, the train car lurched, jolted up and forward, pitched right, and slammed into the earth. Boxes of parts flew everywhere, bodies tumbled, sparks flew, a dance of chaos accompanied by flashes of light and an eerie ringing.

A steel bar smashed into my chest, pinning me to the wall-now-floor of the car. Sound came roaring back in one ear, the sounds of sizzling energy and panicked screams flooding in more deafening than the ringing still blaring in the other. Twelve holes appeared in a line down the top of the car like someone erased them in photoshop, leaving behind glowing orange rings of steel and thick blue smoke.

My other ear cleared, and the low droning buzzing of a million flying insects filled the space the ringing left behind.

That ruled out a train wreck. The best case scenario had taken a rain-check once more.

The bar pressing into my chest burned. A quick glance down told me there wasn’t any blood, or a real burn. That meant broken ribs. Shit.

I gave the bar a shove with my right arm, biting my lip as moving sent waves of pain through my left side. “Fuck… you… pain!” I grunted as I worked my way out from under the bar.

Now was not the time to cry over broken bits. It was time to de-ass the area.

“Who’s al-” An explosion off to my right cut me off. Something huge and heavy slammed into the ground somewhere off behind me, making a loud thud despite hitting the desert sand.

“Who's alive?” I called again, coughing into my hoof and flinching at the blood specks left behind.

The interior of the car was a disaster. I could see a few limbs, but if anyone was on this side of the mech, they were buried under rubble.

Rubble which shifted and fell as a field of blue light moved upwards.

Lily! She’d managed to shield herself and Light!

“What the buck is ringing?” Lily shouted in confusion.

“Your head!” I shouted back being sure to make my lips exaggerate the sounds, “Where is Jade?”

“Under you.” Jade moaned painfully.

I looked down to find myself standing on top of the poor girl, who was wedged into the corner of wall and floor, upside down, with my hooves pressing into her hip, chest and neck.

I quickly stepped off of her and gently helped her up with a hoof. “Sorry. Can you walk?”

Jade coughed, closed her eyes and shifted the burst of green flames blinding me like a camera flash. “I can now.” Jade said now in her normal floofy body. “I think that body was dying…”

“Okay, good.” I said shaking the thought of a dead Jade out of my head as the sound of some sort of energy bolts began to rip through the air.

“We need to go!” Lily shouted as she dropped her shield. “The Neighponese won't hold the train for long.

“No shit!” I barked, “Grab the book. Light, Jade, get a pony sized hole in this car now! I can’t help, ribs broken.”

“What do you mean, ‘the book’?” The pilot asked, suit shifting slightly as she turned.

“Awesome! You’re alive!” I exclaimed pointing to the wall with a hoof, “Punch a hole in that please.”

“You’re the bait Her Highness mentioned, aren't you?” she asked. This time I could hear the wetness in her voice.

I knew that sound. Most medics did. That was the sound of lungs filling with fluid.

“Hai.” I answered, giving her a sympathetic look.

She shifted, the train car creaking as she moved her hooves beneath herself, then slammed her back into the train car, ripping the steal apart with a deafening shriek. With a mighty heave she threw a huge chunk of the car off into the swirling vortex of changeling’s outside, twisting and firing a pony-sized beam of red light into the Swarm in the same motion.

“Go! If they get you, the trap fails! I will draw fire.” She shouted over the noise. “O-mishiri oki o!
Furattāshai-heika banzai!” ¹⁰

She turned, grabbed another shard of train, and flung it like a discus into the swirling masses, two panels in the forearms sliding open to spew a torrent of white hot flames. She got another three shots off before vanishing into the wall of spellbolts and changelings.

The world outside looked like the sky was made of blue eyed changelings. The air smelled of burnt meat and sulfur. Even with that suit, she couldn’t buy much time.

“Go go go!” I screamed, waving towards a large sand dune in the distance. “Beeline, that dune. Move it!”

They didn’t need to be told twice. Lilly and Light bolted, blurring together as they shot by. Jade gripped me in her magic and lifted me onto her back, “You broke something right?” she asked as she started to run as well, holding me tightly to her with her green aura.

“Thank you.” I grunted, deciding to not tell her that her hard carapace slamming into my ribs as she ran was the third worst pain ever.

A wall of green light erupted from the ground! Lily slammed nose first into it, jerking left and sliding down. Light barely skidded to a stop, nose kissing the crackling barrier. Jade spun, nearly throwing me from her back. The barrier surrounded us on all sides.

Everything grew deathly quiet. Even the buzzing of the Swarm stopped as they landed in mass, forming a solid ring around the barrier. I could see the train in the distance, nothing was moving except wind, smoke, and sand.

Lily pushed herself up, groaning, and then yelping as she put weight on her left foreleg, falling back over. The changelings to my left took one step right or left, forming a corridor as-

“Well… we're boned.” I muttered.

She walked up the changeling corridor like a Gestapo officer. Mechanical, calculated, and oozing a hatred for everything alive. Her carapace was blackened with scorch marks, but still shone like obsidian. Her legs had holes clean through them which could only bring to mind a rotting apple. Her silky green mane and tail fluttered like moth-eaten linen. Her wings like tattered spider webs.

It not for the piercing, hare filled, burning emerald eyes, she would have looked like a walking corpse. But those horrible eyes made her look as if it were you who were dead, as if your body were the one damaged and crumbling. Her eyes showed you her intentions.

She walked up to the edge of the barrier, and looked at us the same way my roomie used to look at the feed mice for his snake. “You have two options,” The Demon Queen announced, “give me Clover’s spellbook and die quickly, or I take it from your desiccated corpses.”

“Lily,” I said as calmly as I could manage, “Burn it.”

Chrysalis's eyes blazed green, the glow blocking out the snake-like orbs entirely. I felt my entire body stiffen up, like every single muscle cramped at the same time. My ribs ripped into the inside of my chest. I wanted to scream, but not a single part of me would move.

“So be it.” Chrysalis laughed. “Let me see… How to appropriately punish you for your defiance?”

She paced the outside of the barrier, vanishing from my sight as my eyes refused to turn.

“Ah! I see. You’re a stray from my Swarm.” Chrysalis's giggled “This will be delightful.”

“Not… a… changeling.” Light growled angrily between breaths.

“I do so love the way you’ve broken yourself, what is it? Ah yes, One of Thirty, Primary Shock Trooper of Assault Flight Gamma.” Chrysalis's cooed in the manner of a child plucking the wings from a fly.

Oh…

“I’m not a changeling!” Light screamed, panic shattering her voice on the last word.

“Return.” Chrysalis's ordered.

The sharp woosh of changeling fire. Light instantly shrieked in pure terror. “I’m not a changeling! “I’m not change! I’lin ch! N-n-n-n. Ch!”

The sound of something hitting the sand, light scraping, and Light’s gurgled attempts at speech broke me in a way the war never had. I willed myself to move with every fiber in my being. I willed myself to jump up, smash through the fucking force field and rip that insect’s head off and shit down her neck!

I couldn’t even blink.

Chrysalis's inhaled, and giggled, “Ah! Such a sweet flavor! I hope you recover, my delicious little mistake. Horror is so much better three days later.”

She walked back into view, eyes still burning, lines of green magic slowly knitting the holes in her wings shut. “Now then… What to do about a little nymph who thinks she can look all nice and pretty just because she got enough love growing up? A simple spellbolt through your hearts? Yes you would like that wouldn’t you? Save me from going through the train car by car, hand my the book, and you’ll die with some measure of dignity intact.”

I thought for an instant she would let us speak. Instead she let us stay there paralyzed for a full two minutes.

“So stubborn!” Chrysalis cackled, “Very well then… you love that thing on your back don’t you? Aw! He returns your feelings! How very… fairy tale. It’s just too bad our happily ever after will have to come after I have you eat your love alive, deaf to his screams, until he’s all gone and you’re nothing but a gibbering fool. To horrified by your own actions to even think for yourself ever again. Mothers wish they could make a child eat like I can.”

I swore I felt Jade’s terror. Faintly, for the briefest of moments, but there nonetheless.

No! I refuse to let her do that to you! I will move! Kill!

Nothing. Not even a tail twitch.

“Still… that wouldn’t be quite enough torment for him now would it? Eaten? Quite merciful don’t you think? It’s a shame you don't just give me that book. A few pages and some ink, but no, you sit there. You might even say you’re… paralyzed! Ha ha ha!” Chrysalis laughed, rearing up for a second to finish her laugh.

“Oh yes… Your little mage friend.” She mused. “I can feel your greatest desire colt. It runs so hot through your mind it’s a wonder the mutt in pony’s clothing can’t feel it. A lover’s touch, care and affection. Oh you poor dear! I think I have just the thing for you. My Swarm is a little hungry after all this pest control, I’m sure you don't mind them using you to get a little snack now would you?”

Chrysalis's paused for just long enough for me to realize what she meant.

“Well, I hear no objections. You heard it my Soldiers! No objections. As soon as this barrier falls feel free to take your turns until it’s nothing more than a twitching pile of flesh and fluids. Oh, and lifeless of course.” Chrysalis's ordered coyly.

You unbelievable monster! Absolute, unbelievable, monster!

A loud sizzling sound came from over my left shoulder. Chrysalis's head snapped to face it, horn glowing with arcane fire!

“Get away from her you bitch!” Dusk demanded.

Dusk - 3rd of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Sunrise

Buck the rules! Buck the consequences! My friend was not going to be raped to death!

I ripped a path to the mortal world, sending a burst of energy before me, vaporizing a hole in the ordered ranks of Soldiers. My avatar’s fur singed from the heat of my full power radiating from it's core! I didn’t give a flying buck if I burst into flames. She. Dies. Now!

“Get away from her you bitch!” I demanded, gritting my teeth.

Chrysalis's spun, horn blazing, teeth gritted in a furious deathly grin. A grin which softened as she saw me. “Oh yes, he said you would show up eventually. Die.”

Her horn flashed. Something popped. My hindquarters fell to the ground.

I felt something wet beneath… Oh… No, my chest fell to the ground. My hind quarters did not exist.

That was find I’d just create a new-

“Oh…” I said to myself as I realized I had been pinned to my Avatar’s form entirely.

This half a pony bleeding out in the sands was me. Not a construct I controlled. Me. He’d manipulated me into putting too much of myself into it! That’s how he figured he could kill me! Bucking brilliant.

“Odd…” Chrysalis's frowned. “That should have exploded all of you. No matter, let me just try again.”

I had seconds. My powers were limited. I was going to die. But my friends were not. I could help them at least.

I pushed at reality with the last drop of my power, breaking them free of Chrysalis's control, and throwing them a few hundred kilometers north. I couldn’t feel where they went, but it was out of her reach for now.

“They got away.” I said, giving the bitch a smug grin. “You’ve lost.”

“For the moment.” Chrysalis's agreed in a eerily calm tone. “But how many can say they killed a god?”

Ah so that was it. Not her plan, but the feeling of dying. I’d always wondered. It wasn't bad. Sort of like sitting into a lukewarm bath.

It would definitely feel nicer if I could go wiping that smug grin of her face. Maybe if I spoiled her fun? Nah, screw it. It’s my death, may as well cross one more item of the list of lines I’d always wanted to use.

“If you strike me down,” I lied, “I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

“Silly god.” Chrysalis's giggled, “I can imagine powerless!”

Her horn fla-

29 Medic 2: The Medicing

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Jade - 3rd of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Morning

I saw Dusk wave a hoof at me. The sand beneath me opened up into a pool of darkness. Darkness beyond blackness. Darkness devoid of even that darkest of color. A darkness which engulfed me instantly, pulling me down into a starry void.

This felt wrong. School had prepared me for the effects of portals and teleportation. Nothing they had said mentioned anything like this. Something had gone horribly wrong.

Chrysalis's deathblow must have damaged Dusk’s spell. I had no training in magic, but this was something I was certain anyone could tell should not have happened.

The void was alien. It was not the place we called home. There were parts of it which existed beyond sight and sound. Parts of this place exclusively owned and ruled by the mind. A place of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas.

It was horrific. It was soothing.

I could see the others around me. Bits of green magic arcing across their bodies. The remains of Chrysalis's spell as they bled off into this place of nothing and everything.

I could feel Dusk’s spell pulling me along, ever deeper into this sea of stars and blackness. Somehow I knew that it would take us out of the void, eventually. Despite the terror and joy flooding into me, I was safe.

As I gazed out into the void an area of crescent of light sliced into existence, blossoming into a full moon like an opening eye. The moon’s pale glow illuminated a series of cracks, and fissures running along the void, as if we were inside a massive cube of broken glass. On the other sides of these ghostly boundaries I could see places, some recognizable, many not.

Far beneath us I could see yellow sands lit by a warm sun. We were moving towards this opening in the void, but it did not strike my interest, nor raise any fear. It felt like I was meant to fall through it, the spell was pulling me there.

Instead my eyes were drawn to a silvery shimmering line of energy which seemed to flow from the corner of clover’s spellbook that was peeking out of Lily’s saddlebag. The line rippled through the void, linking the book to a single rift far above me, but not out of sight.

Through it I saw another changeling, one who looked a lot like me, only far older, and a brighter shade of jade. We shared the same fluffy fuzz, and our eyes were the same. She was very old, but looked dignified. Her silvery blue mane and tail were neatly tied back. Her horns’ magic flickered and sparked with age. All traits my mother’s had.

You can feel it when someone is a part of your family. You notice the things you share like they glowed. I was somehow related to this changeling.

The desk she was hunched over and the quill with which she wrote looked old fashioned even by Stalliongrad standards. Whoever that Queen was, she could only be one of my ancestors. So I looked into the ghostly rip in the void, curiously wondering who she was.

I needed to now! I had to know! She looked like me! She had to know what differences between myself and a normal Queen would be. Maybe I could ask!

Or perhaps.

I reached out with a hoof and touched the thread.

A torrent of thoughts began to blast into my mind as if I stuck my head under a waterfall! It was like my brain shut off, new sights and sounds didn't’ matter, only this impossible amount of thoughts rushing through my brain could be even barely understood!

In desperation I picked one thread of the information and clung to it for dear life, my entire mind blanked out aside from what words the changeling was writing right now.

I realized as it fell into the fissure that the book would not be destroyed as I had planned. Not even the space between universes can surmount the protections I foolishly layered upon it. It continued falling into that starry expanse of which I had only a fleeting glimpse, certain to reemerge into my own world after some time.

I have tried to speculate where it might have landed, but I must admit, however— such conjecture is futile. Still, the question of whose hooves might someday hold my spellbook are unsettling to me. I swore never to form a hive of my own, but must now break that oath I made to myself. If I do not, when the book returns it will not have a place to be hidden away, nor people to retrieve it.

Starswirl, as a last request I beg you to search for a place my spellbook can be destroyed. Assuming of course one such place exists. You know full well the dangers posed by even the least of my spells, let alone the true power hidden within those pages. While they have served ponykind well, with my passing there will be none who can resist the temptation of ultimate power.

With the decline my kind faces, none of my descendants will ever inherit my incorruptible nature. If I could not bestow it upon Celestia when I transformed her and her sister, then I doubt any of my descendants will share my uniquity. As such, the temptation for someling to learn my spells will mount over the years. You know the consequences of the work hidden within my spells, falling into the grasp of the wicked. I trust you will accomplish that which I could not, as you have in many other ways. If we had only found a way the Nexus, my passing would be a trivial matter.

Perhaps some future generation will succeed where we have failed. Though sadly they will have to do so without our work to use as a foundation, lest that foundation be used to create a cataclysm. I know that my apprehensions might never be allayed, and so I close, realizing that perhaps, the ending has not yet been written.

I fell from the void, passing up through the ground to land lightly upon the sand. If I hit the ground hard, I couldn’t feel it. My brain was still locked up, flooded with random information. Sun’s Light, why had I tried to touch the thread?

Then the pain hit me. It hit me like a lump of molten iron. My everything burned. My everything felt like it was being crushed.

I couldn’t scream. I didn’t have the energy. It felt like I’d just ran fifty leagues through magma.

I fearfully glanced down at my body to see if I was on fire. Fortunately I looked not quite okay, but at least I wasn't on fire. Unfortunately the burning feeling refused to go away despite my seemingly being not on fire. That was confusing and concerning.

Confucerning. If you will.

I took a deep breath and lifted my head to look for the others. Even though everything hurt, I needed to know they were okay. If I were the only one awake, I’d have to try to help them.

David was close by, I could see him laying in a heap close enough to touch. Every few heartbeats his chest would move slightly. He was breathing, slowly, but steadily.

I found Lily a bit further away, she’d slid down the sand dune a ways and was laying on her back, whimpering every few seconds like a dog having a nightmare. Unfortunately she was too far away to do anything about just yet. There was no way I could move that far right now.

Then I found Light. She was behind me, a short ways up the dune. Convulsing like she had been hit by a pegasus’s lightning.

Despite the horror watching her jerk in a seizure I couldn't help but notice that her cutiemark was still on her flank even in her changeling form. Also it surprised me that she was a Soldier, the bulky, extra strong exoskeleton, and pony-and-a-half sized body didn’t fit her at all.

Her mane and tail were the usual ragged, rotting sort of look you associate with a Sapphire, but her shell and exoskeleton were mostly free of holes, and had a nice gloss to them, implying she'd been eating okay, but not enough. That meant she probably didn’t have the love in reserve to regenerate from whatever Chrysalis had done to her...

I tried to call out to her, but my mouth wouldn’t work. It felt like my exoskeleton was fused around my jaw. In desperation I reached out for her with my telepathy, and to my shock instantly linked with her.

It was a normal telepathic link. This was more than just a line to send thoughts, feelings, and pictures. This was a miniature world, a huge empty room, dimly lit, with Light curled up in a ball in the middle, rocking back and forth.

This light was not the one outside of her head right now. This was the cosmic latte pegasus mare I recognized.

“Not a changeling…” Light whimpered. “Not a changeling… Not a changeling…”

I was surprised that I interpreted her thoughts as sound. Was this how a Queen’s telepathy worked? I decided to remind myself to ask someling from another hive how exactly I worked, and to provide a book of ‘normal ling stuff’ to everyling in my hive.

I spent a few minutes watching Light’s subconscious self quake in the fetal position before I had to try something. Unused to this form of telepathy I decided the best thing to do would be to treat it like reality.

I walked over to Light, knelt down and pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay Light. We know.”

“Not… changeling?” Light asked, twisting to look up at me through tear stained eyes.

There was no way for me to force her to change like Chrysalis had. If I pulled her back into reality somehow, she’d see herself again and well… With how bad she was convulsing now, she might die. I refused to let that happen.

“No, you’re not.” I soothed. “You’re a pegasus. No matter what you happen to be out there, you’re a pegasus.”

“Then… I am a changeling… No… Celestia no… Why?” She started to pull herself into a tighter ball.

“Light, did you know that you have a cutiemark? Even in your current body?” I asked, hoping that might cheer her up.

“I… I do?” She asked looking back up, a skeptical look in her eyes.

“Yeah! Same one too. If ancient magic says you’re a pony, I don’t think many people will argue.” That seemed logical to me, I just hoped that Light bought-

“But… I’m a changeling.” Light whispered. “Out there… She used me like a puppet… But my hooves still did those things… I’ve done horrible things… I-I ca- I can’t be that thing! I can’t I won't! I’m not!” She screamed, pushing me away from herself. “Go away!”

“Light!” I snapped, “You’re not that ‘thing’! The whole bucking crew knows about you being like this. They don’t care! You are their friend, and they are happy to call you a pegasus, because you are one! You just happen to have been born a changeling. Which is a good thing, because that means you can just be a pegasus. You literally have the power to choose to be what you want, Light.

“Please. Wake up, change back to your real self, and then never shift again if you don’t want to. You have friends here who need help. I can’t move, Lily’s hurt bad, and David’s unconscious. We need you!”

Light froze, then suddenly our link dissolved into a normal one. My vision snapped back to the real world, which was painfully bright by comparison to that dim place.

<Yes my Queen.> Light said over the link before a grumbling sort of irritation trickled through from her. “Ugh… Jade…” Light muttered audibly. “Please don’t order me to do something telepathically again… How did you even do that… I’m not… I’m not part of your hive.”

<Sorry.> I apologize, still unable to open my mouth.

“Luna’s mane I’m so stiff…” Light moaned. She shifted slightly, flinching as she saw her own body, genuine pain on her face. “It’s not… as horrifying anymore… but still hurts bad… Hey, I do have my cutiemark!”

I said wishing I could give her a smile. <Can you stand? David might wake if we shake him, and he’s the medic here sooo…. yeah.>

Light squirmed for a few seconds, then shook her head, flinching instantly. “Ow! No… Sudden movement bad… Feels like a Rainboom in my brain.”

<Crap… I guess we’ll just have to wait.> I sighed.

“I can’t shift…” Light said, a hint of distress creeping into her voice.

<That’s okay. Don’t think about that. You’re a pegasus who uh… stole changeling magic!> I said, hoping she could latch onto that concept.

“Heh… Yeah. No.” Light muttered dejectedly.

I thought for a few seconds then tried. <You’re a pegasus Chrysalis transformed you into a Changeling as torment because she’s a pile of cordyceps. The spell will wear off soon.>

“Oh! That make perfect sense!” Light exclaimed, instantly cheerful.

It was like I pulled a lever and opened a floodgate. So, that’s mental illness… By the Sun’s Light, keep it from ever growing within my mind!

I decided to try to see if she would move now. <Are you sure you can’t mo->

“... ha! Eat ...ust burnt ...ge!” A voice crackled faintly from the radio thing David had built.

“I’m ...ly letting you win ...it to sh... primitive ... pile of junk...” A second crackled.

“Primitive? T… aby is top …he line!” The first retorted, a bit more clear than before.

“Sure, for a ...thing made… you guys.” The second voice, clearly a male’s chuckled. “...ence, primitive.”

“Oy!”

“Please tell me that thing transmits!” Light begged.

I admitted in embarrassment.

Light groaned in irritation. “Well there’s somepony in range, we need help, so we need to signal them some ho-”

My eyes widened in realization. <Hold on!>

Mustering all of my energy I reached for my magic and fired a flickering, crackling spellbolt into the air. It soared up about fifty feet the burst in a small flash of light.

“Hope they noticed that.” Light sighed. “I mean that was barely even-”

“Wait,” the male voice asked, now sounding quite clear, “did you see that?”

“Yeah. That’s how your scout’s do distress signals right?” The first asked. As it came through clearly, I could tell it was female, but for some reason sounded far more distorted than the other voice.

“No. But it’s how an injured one would.” The second confirmed.

Light sighed in relief, “Thank Celestia!”

<Who the hay is Celestia anyways?> I asked curiously. With help on the way I felt like I could take the opportunity to ask a question that had been bugging me. <Faust I understand, but I’ve never heard of->

A pair of long, rectangular, metallic blurs shot overhead with a sound like a high-pitched blast furnace made of um… lightning. It was a unique sort of sound with no reference in my mind. The sound alone was super distracting.

“Ahh!” Light squeaked as the things shot overhead, “The buck was that? A chainsaw made of techno?”

<They hay is a chainsaw?> I asked.

“Right… Stalliongrad.” Light muttered.

“I think we overshot.” the female voice commented from the radio.

“Yeah, no shit.” The male snarked. “I’ll take a rain check on that race, let’s turn back around and start a grid search.”

I reached for my magic again, there wasn’t too much left, but I threw the last of it into the sky where it popped like the first bolt.

“Ah ha! Saw it clearly that time!” The male exclaimed proudly.

“Well, yeah. Kinda hard to miss one dune ahead of you.” The female teased.

“Hey, Kevin, what’s more important; Helping whoever this is, or being snarky?” The male said, this time voice coming from the radio and from the dune top.

“Pretty sure you call them equally important, Stratosphere Firing Mechanism.” The female replied, voice oddly distorted even from the dune top’s direction.

“Stop calling me that!” The male, who I presumed was not named Stratosphere Firing Mechanism grunted.

“Stop calling me Kevin.” His companion returned.

“Get a name that friends can make a proper short- Uh… wow…” The male said sounding stunned.

“Anyone alive down there?” The female called.

“Yeah.” Light answered, feebly waving a hoof.

“Holy crap!” The female exclaimed in shock, “You’re a blue one and you talk!”

“Not… changeling… pegasus.” Light growled through clenched teeth. “This is a curse!”

I widened my telepathy to try and speak to our two rescuers. <She’s got Krrit’s Syndrome. Don't bring that up… Chrysalis force-changed her to… be cruel I guess. She’s harmless.>

“Oh sorry. I get a bit confused after a race sometimes.” The male said quickly, but smoothly.

“Huh?” The female asked in a confused tone.

“Telepathy,” he grunted. “She’s a pegasus. End of story.”

“Stupid thing I can’t hear… Which of you is telepathic? My species can't use that stuff. Can you talk?” she called.

<Uh, no. My jaw’s kinda fused shut.> I replied, hoping maybe I could push through anyways. I’d never heard of something not able to hear telepathy before.

“So, are we just going to ignore the fact that one of these four is a fuzzy changeling Queen for now?” The male asked.

“That’s a changeling?” She asked, sounding surprised.

Sun’s Light I wished they were in my field of view! Or that my head would swivel

“Well duh! I mean the fuzz is new, but horn shape, wings, pony appearance, Luna sized. Changeling Queen. Obviously.” The male grunted.

“Not to be rude, but we just survived a trainwreck, the Swarm and uh… however we got here.” Light commented. “Can we get some medical help?”

“Oh! Yes! Right!” The female exclaimed in embarrassment. “I’ve got a few untyped stims on my bike. Be right back.”

“Y-you didn’t take the med kit with you while walking over here?” The stallion whose name I really should ask for, asked in surprise.

“I figured it’d be an Emerald, and I got a stim typed for them on my belt. I didn’t expect a whole slew of different genomes.” She muttered, the sound of scratching sand accompanying what I assumed was her walking off.

<So… I can’t move my anything very well. What’s your name and what are you? I heard your friend say Emerald, does that mean you’re a changeling too?> I asked curiously.

“No, I’m a Pegasus. I just live with lings is all. The name’s Sky Trigger, that was Kev. How come you’re all fuzzy?” Sky asked.

“She saved the lives of a whole ship crew a few days before pupating into a Queen. We think that they’re supposed to look like that but noling’s ever gotten enough love to fully change.” Light explained.

“Well, that’s definitely possible… There are more holes in the Emerald’s genome than the defects we know of can account for.” Sky mused.

“So, my turn for a question. Kev, what exactly is… he? She?” Light asked slowly.

“Meh, either or, she doesn't care about pronouns.” Sky commented, “Hold still a minute, I’m going to scan you.”

“Uh, okay, but she’s a what, exactly? As in species.” Light pressed.

I heard something beep. Then Sky yelped and a ton of scrabbling sounds indicated he took off into the air. “Kev! Grab some Neumune too! These guys are incredibly irradiated! Right, so uh, Light was it? I’m going to hover up here, because I don’t want a Gamma shower. It’s not that you smell or anything… Oh uh, try to keep talking. You too… uh… Quartz Queen?”

<Diamond.> I said, <You can call me Jade though. What’s radiation?>

“Skipping the physics for now, it’s a form of energy, and you shouldn’t get it in you, but you did.” Sky explained.

<Oh. That’s bad?> I asked hoping it wasn’t too bad.

“Yes. But we can fix it.”

<That’s good.>

“The hay were you doing? Licking an atomic pile?” Sky asked sarcastically.

I almost told him that the god of Death teleported us, but I realized how insane that would sound to someone else, so instead I simplified.

<A friend of ours teleported us out of the Swarm’s reach, but she was killed while doing it. We passed through some kind of starry void thing and popped out here.> I explained.

“Ah.” Sky said, sounding like he nodded, “Yeah, teleported without the safety wards and at a less than instant speed due to a botched spell. That will do it.”

“I still want to know what your friend is.” Light muttered irritably.

“I’m a Gaian.” Kev replied. “I take it you guys are not from Equestria? We’ve been around for about eight years now.”

“Oh, so that’s what you guys look like!” Light exclaimed.

I telepathically muttered.

“Oh uh,” Light paused for moment, “Sky’s a burnt orange stallion, blue mane, kinda messy, same for the tail, little skinny, looks a bit tall. Cutiemark of a light bulb with a circuit pattern and some crossed tools.”

I took a minute to picture that clearly and nodded to myself. <Okay and what’s Kev look like?>

“Uhh… I don’t know. She’s in armor and some loose robes. Oh, she’s a biped!” Light said sounding a bit embarrassed. “What’s with the armor? Are you a guard or something?”

“Your planet’s atmosphere is deadly to my species.” Kev quipped. “This suit lets me not die.”

There were another two words I didn’t know… I mentally added ‘planet’ and ‘atmosphere’ to my list of things to ask David about. Maybe I should find another school and go for a year or two. On the other hoof it sounded horrible to have to wear something to not die! Hopefully it wasn’t itchy.

“You’re not missing much anyways,” Sky added, “she looks way cooler in the suit. Also she was cooler with the feline features.”

“Meh, I felt like honoring my mother’s heritage a bit. Besides, not that much difference in pony ears and felines ones. Also hooves beat paws, hooves down.” Kev mentioned, “Alright I got this typed to you… Stay still, it’s hard to get a needle into you guys.”

“Wait, why are you going near my,” Light began only to yelp and shriek, “Plot!”

“Sorry, but with the exoskeleton and how your hemolymph circulates there are like, two spots I can inject this. The other spot is an eye. Be happy though, you’re not going to die for at least twelve hours, plenty of time to get you to a proper medic.” Kev explained.

“Ow.” Light whimpered.

“Oh grow up, this stuff is half painkiller.” Kev chided, “You’re next fuzzy queen! Did she say her name?”

“It’s Jade.” Sky answered.

“Nice to meet you Jade. Sorry, but I just can’t hear you. I lack the proper brain structures, and were not allowed to edit our brains. If you have questions, you can relay through burnt-orange there.” She said as she stepped into my view.

Kev was a biped, about as tall as David in his normal Diamond dog body, but super skinny. Even with the black, sort of baggy, open front robe you could tell she was skinny. Arms, legs, everything was thin. Not grotesquely thin, but obviously thin.

Beneath the black robe was a suit of armor made from black plates of metal with silver inlaid decoration. It wasn’t like the plate armor I was familiar with, it was more like my exoskeleton, form fitting, and made of small plates joined together with an underlying material. The entire thing didn’t appear to have any seams or gaps. To my relief, it didn’t look very itchy.

The boots looked like standard pony plate boots, built for hooves, but the joints were a bit different. Her legs were very pony-like, but the joints were in different places, I guess to make walking on two legs easier. What interested me most was her hands, they had the same five fingered structure as David’s did. Perhaps they were related to Diamond Dogs in some way.

I did find it odd that it was her hands which interested me the most. But then again I couldn’t lift my head up enough to see above her chest.

<You said you have pony parts? And you changed to them? How?> I asked curiously.

Kev took a needle attached to a small black cylinder from her belt as Sky repeated my question.

“Yes. Tail, ears, fur, hooves, Cutiemark. Mark doesn't actually do anything it’s just cosmetic. You know how you can change your species at will? We can do that with a machine and about a month of time. I jokingly, slash respectfully refer to the mare who helped me acclimate to your world as my ‘mom’, and I haven’t had any pony attributes before. Figured I would try them out. Most of my species have our natural feline tails, ears, and so on, but pony parts are getting to be a fashion statement. It also helps for diplomats like me to resemble a native species. Especially since we look like a predatory species and most sapient lifeforms here are prey species.” Kev rambled, “Alright… Interesting Genome you have here. The stim’s ready, eye or plot?”

<Uh… Why the hay would I say eye?> I asked.

“She says, ‘Why they hay would I say eye?’” Sky echoed.

“That’s why I didn’t give your friend the option. Excuse me, a minute.” Kev muttered.

I felt a sharp prick on the right side of my plot. It barely even hurt.

<That wasn’t-> Then whatever potion was in that needle hit me and that stung like I’d just licked caffeine! <Ow!>

“Ha! Told you. It goes away in a minute… But then everything gets floaty.” Light giggled.

“Well yeah, it’s a wad of painkillers, healing potions, and stem cells.” Sky chuckled, “It’s going to screw with you a bit. Don’t worry, she’s matching them to your DNA, they won’t make you ill or anything. Unless you’re allergic of course, but we’re five minutes from a proper medical facility anyway.”

“Okay. This is a normal unicorn, I got one premade for unicorns… That white one, there’ something special about white ones, I mean genetically, right?” Kev asked.

“Yeah, she’s definitely a Germane. So her genome is all bucked up.” Sky replied.

“Good to know.” Kev said as she calmly stuck a blue needle into David’s neck.

“Hey! How come he gets it in the neck?” Light demanded.

“Different anatomy, different zones for optimal drug distribution.” Sky and Kev chorused.

I started to feel a bit sleepy. Seeing as I had no clue what was wrong with me or how I would react to that particular healing potion, I felt compelled to ask, <Uh, should I be feeling sleepy?>

“Oh, yeah that’s a pretty normal reaction.” Sky answered in an honest tone. “They always make me sleepy too. Feel free to sleep it you want to.”

“Moving on to to the other stallion.” Kev called, walking out of view.

“That’s a mare Kev.” Sky said in a tone that meant he had to have rolled his eyes.

“Uh, no he’s not. That’s clearly a stallion.” Kev stated bluntly.

<You are literally the first person I am aware of to be able to tell that Lily's a colt.> I said, quite impressed.

“Hold it, there is no way that’s a colt!” Sky objected. I heard the sound of wing flaps and saw the corner of a dull orange hoof pass through my vision as Sky moved. Then, “Oh, no yeah, that’s a colt. Wow, he’s really girly looking, but from this angle you can totally see it.”

“That’s because you’re looking at the rear end.” Kev pointed out.

“Shut up and render first aid.” Sky muttered as began to drift off to sleep.

“Yeah yeah. Hold your horses!” Kev snickered.

“That wasn’t funny the first time…” Sky sighed.

“Your wife thought it was hilarious. So did T- what? Uh Sky, do you have any relatives outside of the hive?” Kev asked, sounding surprised.

“No. Why?” Sky asked apprehensively.

The waking world began to fade.

“Because this guy shares your mitochondria. You’re related. Somehow.”

“The hay I am! Show me the scan-”

“Here.”

“Wait, what?! How?”

The waking world vanished into the comforting warmth of sleep.

30 Discovery, Recovery, and Preperation

View Online

Lily - 3rd of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Noon

The last thing I remembered was everything going black. Not my vision, my vision had been fine. It was the world itself which had turned black and then everything disappeared. Time, space, direction. Everything.

It was still black, but I could feel things again. There was a down, and I was laying on something soft. There was also sounds, a few faint beeps, a murmur of speech, and the hum of-

“Elektrizität?” I asked allowed, the clear humming of something electrical coming from something near my head.

What on Equis would even be using electrical power? I’d only recognized the sound thanks to taking Mechanical History as an elective. That stuff had been obsolete for a whole generation! Arcane field powered devices were so much more-

“Lieutenant! He’s coming too.” A female voice called from just to my left.

“Told you the lil guy would be the first one. Pay up.” Another, mechanically distorted female voice said.

“Ugh… fine.” A male voice grunted irritably “Nurse, can I talk to him yet?”

“Ja, I can hear you.” I answered, “Wie lautet dein name? Uh, sorry, I mean-”

“It’s cool, I speak Germane. I’m Sky Trigger. Who are you and how are you related to me?” Sky asked.

“Was? Why do you think I’m related to you?” I asked, moving to sit upright and whacking my forehead and horn into something. “Ach! Faust's ficken mähne!”

“Oops!” The first female voice squeaked. “Sorry let me just get that for you.”

The blackness pulled away, revealing itself to be a hinged piece of medical equipment attached to a very soft looking bed, in a very shiny silvery-gray walled, bright white roofed hospital ward.

It had to be a hospital. The walls were covered with monitors filled with all sorts of medical equipment readouts. Also there are very few kinds of rooms filled with a row of beds against one wall which do not have personal lockers to go with them and privacy screens.

There were three people in the room besides myself, David, Jade, and Light. Unlike my friends, those three were not also laying in one of the beds.

The closest one to me was a short, scrawny, extra-glossy green shelled changeling. She had a short cropped mane and tail with no real styling to them, glass-bottle-green eyes, and a painted on cutiemark in the shape of a red cross on each flank. To my surprise she was also dressed, kinda, with a teal sash running from her right shoulder, under her left arm, and wrapped around her barrel. The sash had a little silver pin set into it which looked like an arrowhead somepony sat on, as well as a small oval shaped gold-stud near the neck.

Next was a dark orange pegasus stallion, who was ether a Meteor Orange or a Burnt Orange. A nice shade either way, but it was one of those colors that was right on the border of named hues, and it bugged me. He had a messy, spiky blue mane and tail, a cutiemark in the shape of a lightbulb with a circuit pattern on it, over a soldering iron crossed with a wrench like a pirate flag, and bright green eyes.

The best part was that he had the absolutely most perfectly handsome features-

“He’s married, Mr. Oxytocin Spike.” The nurse changeling giggled as she used her magic to turn off some equipment on the bed.

I don’t remember curling up into an embarrassed ball atop the bed, but I suddenly found myself in that position despite not remembering getting into it.

“Pfff! His face! Oh man I wish I had been recording that.” The third person snorted.

At least the distortion in her voice made sense now. Whatever the hay she was species wise, she was dressed in a full set of armor, including a helmet. A really unusual helmet. It had what looked like the smoke filter cylinder from a firefighter’s mask, but much shorter and set into a square housing which joined the rest of the helmet seamlessly, and featured a black opaque full face visor, and two bits for pony like ears to slip into at the top.

The really unusual thing was the face-plate had a few characters projected onto it in orange while she laughed. I assumed that ‘XD’ was not nonsense, but some sort of code.

“Okay… pretending this didn’t happen…” Sky muttered clearing his throat.

“Ja… sorry.” I sat up slowly, then cleared my throat. “Where am I, und who is she?”

Sky shook his head, “Sorry, I’ve been rude. You’re in the Equestrian badlands, inside of the Emerald Hive. That’s my friend, Kev, we found you guys while I was out proving to her that my hoverbike is better than hers.”

“Hey!” Kev objected, faceplate projecting ‘>:c’, “That remains to be seen!”

“Read the tech specs.” Sky deadpanned, “Anywho, while doing first aid on you, we noticed you and I share a ton of DNA. I don’t have any siblings or relatives as far as I know, so I would like to know how-”

Oh! Well, this was the mother of all coincidences. “Excuse me, but you said das Emerald Hive, ja?”

“Yeah. Why?” Sky asked.

“My parents received kidneys from somepony living here.” Said with a grin. “When my own body started to fail, I fixed myself by using the DNA I’d gotten from the DNA I’d inherited due to both my parents having a non-Germane’s organs, to grow and transplant my own replacements.”

The nurse flinched, “Oh… I’d been hoping you weren't actually from Germaney… I’m sorry we can’t provide more transplants for your country, but we don’t have unlimited cloning capacity.”

I blinked and turned to face her, intrigued by the notion of on demand organ cloning. “You can clone individual organs? But how do you sequence the DNA to get the proper segment? I had to make entire organ systems and then cut the part I needed out of that.”

“Yeah, they can.” Kev grunted, “The how is advanced technology and magic working in tandem. The hive you’re sitting in is an old wreck of one of my creator’s ships. These guys fixed it up. Suffice to say, you’re in a hive full of engineering nerds, the best kind of nerds.”

“I could explain the technicals of the process sometime later if you’d like.” The nurse cheerfully informed.

“Okay, so, apparently my folks signed up for tissue donation and never told me, because I only signed up last year and you're not a foal.” Sky mused, rubbing a hoof against his chin. “Does this make us half brothers, or does it make you my nephew?”

“I don’t know… But excuse me,” I turned my attention back to the hooved biped, “You just said creators und ship. Are you some kind of alien construct?”

A series of three dots scrolled across her faceplate. “Why does everypony always assume we are mechanical after we say ‘creators’? Ugh… No. I am organic. I am also only sort of an ‘alien’. In the extremely distant past this was my species’ creator’s homeworld, and we share some of their genome, so I am sort of very remotely descended from native lifeforms. But I was grown on another planet with the rest of my species. So, yeah.”

I stared at her in confusion for a few minutes.

“She’s bad at explaining things.” Sky chuckled. “She’s a Gaian, another species made them a few hundred million years ago to help them colonize other planets. Long story short, that didn’t work out, there was a revolt because Gaians can magic and their creators can’t, a few of them froze themselves to try and not be exterminated, and she and a few hundred of her people thawed out eight years ago in a base under Whitetail Woods.”

“Oh… So… huh.” I didn’t have much I could say about that. “So she is an alien?”

“Yep.” Sky and the nurse stated in unison.

Kev’s face place projected a ‘:c’ code. “But… I’m technically not an alien. We have a claim to this world too!”

“Can we have this debate later?” Sky sighed, “I’m trying to work out what this mare-colt is to me exactly. Uh, no offense intended, it’s just that you-”

“Look extremely female I kn-” Suddenly it hit me, “Wait, how do you know I’m male? Nopony else has ever been right…”

“Seriously? Both of your eyes have that almond shape stallions do, and the nostril flare is more square than round.” Kev protected in disbelief, displaying a ‘o_0’ code.

“I know right? When I first started crossdressing I thought that would give me away.” I exclaimed.

Sky turned to look at Kev with a raised eyebrow, “How did you even notice those details?”

“Under our suits we’re not very unique looking. There’s only a hundred or so natural unique faces. Learning to recognize subtle shapes is just a thing we do.” Kev explained, “Also he’d be your half-brother. He’s replaced a lot of himself with parts made from your parents DNA, as well as the bits from two other ponies, so if you average things down he’s half related to you via a parent. So half-brother.”

“Eh, that’s cool I guess.” Sky said in a dismissive yet satisfied way. Like he was figuring out where a book on a library shelf was. “Well, that’s one mystery solved. Back to Engineering for me.”

But… we just found out we were siblings! I frowned and slipped off the bed, “Wait! Could I go with you?”

“Uh… no?” Sky said frowning.

I felt my ears droop. “But, we just met, und were related!”

“Yeah, technically. Due to medical donations.” Sky said with an eyebrow raised. “I don't wanna be mean but I do have things to do, and a technicality doesn't mean a whole lot. Sorry...”

I gave him a long sad stare. “But I've never had a brother before.”

“Yeah, same here.” Sky agreed shrugging his shoulders.

My ears perked hopefully, “So, we can get lunch und talk about each other?”

“No,” Sky sighed, turning around, “Look, I’m sorry, but I don't have any attachment to a pony who just so happens to share my parent's genes because of some organ donation. I have work to do for the Equestrian military, and it’s already a bit late because I put it off to race Kev. You seem like a nice guy, but I need to go. Later Kev.”

I swear my heart fell out of my chest as he trotted off. I’d wondered for years whose blood I shared besides my parents. I suppose I could understand him not caring, but I certainly did. We had the chance to be a family! A real one. Not just a pair of ponies and the heir they were ashamed of.

“Fuck…” Kev sighed, watching Sky walk out of the room. “That’s cold… I’m sorry, he doesn't always understand how others will feel… Oh my god, your eyes are just… You know what, fuck it. Hold on.”

I turned and looked as the alien woman reached up and tapped the side of her helmet, “Connect me to the Trigger residence.”

I gave her a confused frown and opened my mouth to ask what she was doing but she interrupted.

“Hello, Airstream? It’s Kev.” she announced speaking off into space like she was talking to somepony else.

Oh! Communication spell. It had been a while since I’d seen one.

“No I didn’t forget anything this morning. I’m in the medic- Miss… Uh, no… Miss… Sky’s alright! He’s not hurt.” Kev protested, helmet projecting a ‘>.<’

She paused for a few moments, looked at me, and made a gesture involving rapidly opening and closing her hand, after which the text “moms…” scrolled across her faceplate. “I assure you, those bikes are completely safe miss. Besides he can fly, if it goes out of control he can just jump off- Oh, you meant me? That’s very nice of you, but- Look, just because I don’t have a fear response to dangerous situations doesn't mean I don't have a sense of self-preservation- We’re bunny trailing here! Can we please get onto the topic? It’s important.”

At this point her face plate began to flash the same code as before, but with a little pulsing asterisk after it.

“Anywho, we actually found a group of people who botched a teleport. They’re fine, we flew them back here. The rest, should be waking up soon. What might be interesting to you, is uh, you and Hair signed up for tissue donations to Germaney right? Yeah that’s what Sky assumed. Okay, well one of them is a Germane… just a minute-” Kev tapped her helmet’s side for a second then asked me, “You mentioned crossdressing, do you present as female? You act a lot like a mare, but I don’t want to presume and be rude.”

“Uh… Well.. I’m weird. It’s easier to just call me a mare.” He admitted with a deep blush.

She nodded and tapped her helmet again, “Sorry, had to sneeze. Right, so there’s a Germane here who’s the kid of the ponies who got your donations. She’s pretty much genetically you're half-kid and Sky was a butt to her just now, and she’s all sad because she was happy to have found something kinda like fam-”

Kev clamped her hands to her helmet and made a pained sound as I heard a mare’s voice shout “HE WHAT?!”

I winced, the nurse winced, that had to be mega loud in there.

“OW! Airstream, please stop yelling!” Kev yelped. “Be specific? She asked if he would get lunch with him and he said ‘Look, I’m sorry, but I don't have any attachment to a pony who just so happens to share my parent's genes because of some organ donation.’”

Kev paused for a few moments then nodded, “Okay. Soon as the nurse says he can go then. No! Don’t tell her, you know she’ll over react. Sky just wasn't thinking is all. He wasn’t being mean on purpose. Yeah, okay. Bye.”

Kev took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall. “Okay, so your name is?”

“Lilly.” I replied, “What’s going on?”

“I called Sky’s mom and now you’re invited to dinner this evening. She’s really big on family… But you owe me one, because I definitely just blew an eardrum. I can take you there as soon as the nurse says you can leave.”

“You mean someone wants to have me over for dinner!?” I gasped in delight.

The changeling fluttered her wings apprehensively, “Well… I’d like to run a few tests… He should be able to go in an hour. Er- out of the medbay that is. Lily, you and your friends should stay here for at least twenty four hours. I will know if there will be any side effects from the treatment by then.”

Stay here for a day? Sure! I was fine with that! I had kinda-possibly-maybe family here!

I felt my heart pick up, it was like all the happy which had been sucked out rushed back in at once. It almost hurt.

This was literally a dream come true! I had a nice dress in my saddlebag I could wear, and I’d be on my best behavior, and be welcomed, maybe get a hug, and the dinner would be home-cooked goodness, and just-

“Nyeee!” I squeed, doing a little happy dance.

“Oh boy… I think I just errored…” Kev sighed to herself.

David - 3rd of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Afternoon

“David, sweetie, please get up.” Jade’s voice called through the blackness of that twenty seconds of post-wakeup time.

That time where everything feels like it’s it’s fuzzy. The time where your primary thought is ‘Coffee. Now.’ and you feel like you were just hit by a truck.

“I’m up…” I groaned starting to sit up and bumping my head into something. “Ow.”

“Damnit! That makes two today.” A high pitched female voice grumbled.

I felt the warmth of a magical aura on my face, something scraped a bit as it moved, and then there was a really bright white light in my face!

I held up a hand- no, a hoof- to block the light, and sat up slowly with a groan.

“Where the fuck are we?” I demanded, blinking the bright splotches out of my eyes.

“A changeling hive!” Jade said happily, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “They’re really nice, and have a really cool home! Everything's metal!”

The sound of a hoof thumping something metallic made my ears twitch. “See?”

“Not realy… Visions pretty spotchy.” I grunted.

“It is?” The female voice asked from off to my right. “Hold on, that happens sometimes. Let me just check your pupils.”

I felt a hoof gently grab the side of my head and turn it, a moment later a bright light whited out one eye, forcing me to blink.

“Ah! Dilation is just a bit out of whack. Common side effect of those crude Gaian stims… Don’t get me wrong they get the job done but sometimes…” I felt something cold press into my neck, followed but a sharp pinch and a hiss of air. “There you go. Should clear up in a moment. I’m Ensign T’ilk, medical officer in training. You’re in my care at the moment.” She explained.

Heh. Ironic that the medic winds up in a hospital being tended by another medi- “Excuse me, but medical officer? Are we aboard a ship?” I asked curiously. “We were just teleported, and I am pretty sure that the… mage transporting us exploded. If we’re back at the sea-”

“Oh no! You’re on the far side of the Equestrian badlands, a day’s walk from the Zebrican border. Your mate informed me of your mission. I’m afraid I must insist you remain here for twenty four hours for observation, but don’t worry you’re quite safe from the Swarm here. We’re underground, well armed, and will have early warning if they approach.”

"I see.” I groaned as my vision started to clear up. “Dusk must have meant to send us here then. But exactly how safe are we? Jade said this place is metal, are we in a bunker?”

“Well… yes and no. Your first guess about a ship is close, but I don’t think we could ever make her fly again if we wanted to… I’m not allowed to tell you much, security reasons, but you are in a ship hull buried beneath the ground, that’s been converted into our home.” T’ilk answered.

“And it’s really cool!” Jade said as her smiling face came into focus, “Your bed has this little mirror like thing called a screen and it shows your heartbeat and breathing and all sorts of-”

Then the rest of the room came into focus. “What. The. Actual. Fuck?” I demanded of reality.

This was a medical bay stolen straight from the set of a Star Trek-Mass Effect crossover fan film.

I had no words. Every single last detail was either an exact replica of that clear and unique Fleet style or ripped straight from the design docs for the Alliance Navy. It was like an army of fanboys with unlimited time and budget set out to out-setbuild Cecil B. DeMille!

“Is something wrong?” T’ilk asked, now revealed to be a green shelled changeling- who the fuck cared? How did this place exist? Why did it exist?

“Who the flying fuck built this place?” I snapped. “Where did they find the design?”

“Uh, our ancestors did.” she replied, ears drooping in confusion. “We found historical documents aboard and restored the ship to it’s former glory… mostly.”

“I- but- who?” I demanded pointing a hoof at nothing in particular.

Then my eyes picked up on her sash. Which had a god damn comm badge on it. “I- huh?”

I think my brain broke a lot, because the next thing I knew, I came too on my back with a concealed Jade holding my hoof tightly.

“Sun’s Light! You’re okay!” Jade exclaimed in relief, “We think you reacted to the medicines badly. T’ilk has the person who gave us first aid in the other room to see exactly what she gave you. Don’t worry everything will be okay.”

“Commbadge.” I blurted remembering the last few moments. “That changeling is wearing a commbadge!”

I heard a god damn sliding door his open. An electronically distorted voice instantly came into hearing range. “At worst any residual effects will wear off within what, six more hours? Don’t be too worried, Nurse.”

Someone new! Someone who could explain! I sat bolt upright and pointed a hoof in the sounds direction, “You! Explain how where and why I am in a Federation medical b- ay?”

I was looking at what I could only describe as a hooved, digitigrade, Quarian pony-based nekomimi, whose suit had apparently been designed by Lucasarts prop guys after marathoning the Lord of the Rings.

“Oh. Okay.” I said nodding to myself. “I get it. When I die I reincarnate into another universe. Got it.”

“David, you didn’t die. You were just knocked out and poisoned.” Jade said, destroying my theory about reincarnating.

“Ah. So poisoned, and hallucinating all of this… Makes sense I did like scifi…” I muttered as the god damn… “Actually, wait,” I asked pointing to the alien, “Is there a god damn Quarian pony-girl over there?”

Said Quarian pony-girl zipped over to the side of my bed like someone shot her from a gun and looked me dead in the eyes!

“Hey,” she hissed, “I don’t know how you even know that name, but you need to shut up! These changelings religiously believe certain things are how the past really was, and are doing their best to be really good people by using it as an example. If you pop that bubble who knows what will happen. Got it?”

“No!” I exclaimed.

She slapped a palm to her faceplate and sighed. “Nurse,” she called, “I need to talk to him in private.”

“Oh. Well allright.” T’ilk said trotting back into the side room.

“What about me?” Jade asked with a frown. “I’m not leaving him…”

“You are fine.” she answered, “Right, so I’m Kev, what's your name, sir?”

“David.” I answered, a confused frown spreading across my face.

“Alright, David.” Kev began, “I don’t know how you know what you know, but please, say nothing. These changelings found this ship as a wreck thousands of years ago, and after finding scattered recordings built up this image of… Well my own species creators were not the best people, but the way these changelings see them is perhaps the best view of the good they achieved. So for the sake of not causing a cultural upset with them, and to preserve the monument to the best of our creators, my people pretend that their version of history is accurate while we are here. Please do the same.”

“Okay… But, how does a sci-fi TV show make it from my world to-” I stopped talking mid sentence as what Kev said clicked. Star Trek was a human TV show. She called this recreation of it a monument to her creators. “Oh my god. I’m in the future!”

“Wait, what?” Kev asked. To my surprise an ‘o_o’ emoticon flared to life on her faceplate.

“Uh… What’s with the emoticon?” I asked, completely derailed for what must have been the fifth time this hour.

“It’s hard to emote with tempered transparent titanium in the way. Now explain yourself please!” Kev begged.

Well, this was either going to be the most unbelievable thing ever, or… Actually there was no or option here. Best say what happened and stick to the simple facts.

“I’m from Earth, in the twenty first century. I was transported here by a powerful mage in thanks for giving her a gift. She gave me a new body and basically let me loose to live my life. And apparently, no knowledge that I was in the future instead of some other dimension…” I trailed off, checking Kev’s faceplate to see if she was believing me.

“Well… I’d call bullshit on that, but after eight years of living in Equestria and seeing a winged unicorn literally move the sun with telekinesis, sure I can buy that.” Kev decided after a moment’s thought.

“Wait, did you say move the sun!?” I asked unbelievingly.

“Yeah, she said move the sun… How? That’s the god’s domain?” Jade protested.

“Yes. Look, just… You have to see it to believe it.” Kev sighed. “Speaking of which, I want some proof. You know the creator’s name for their homeworld, but you may have heard it from one of my people. So, quick history question. Who was Emperor Palpatine's apprentice?”

I blinked three times. “Y-you serious?”

“Yes.”

“You want me to verify my story, with a Star Wars trivia question?” I demanded.

“Well… most of our records were destroyed over the years. We were in stasis for a long time. Even molecular data storage has it’s limits.” Kev informed, “Our own memories were degraded as well, so I can’t even remember my twenty-third century history lessons about the twenty-first. Hell, I can’t even remember my original name, my adoptive pony mom named me Kev. I can't really ask you much about the twenty-first aside from that.”

“Darth Vader.” I answered with a sigh. “It could have been anything! A president’s name, the national anthem, name the world superpowers of the era… and you go with a movie question?”

“Hey! It’s nearly all we have left of our past’s entertainment. It’s precious to us!” Kev objected, projecting a ‘>:C’ emote.

“I’m so lost…” Jade said to herself.

“It’s okay hon, I’ll explain later. Right… My turn, the hell are you? Some kind of robot?” I asked, flinching a bit as Kev’s facelate projected an angry emote.

“No. I am a Gaian. The suit is an environment suit, this atmosphere is toxic to us. We are organic sapient lifeforms engineered to be self replicating autonomous colonizing tools. We would be grown on site, build infrastructure, do all the grunt work to start a peaceful colonization effort. Things went wrong, the Empire did something unspeakable to the natives we were helping, we decided to rebel, we lost, myself and one ship’s crew used the debris storm form the space battle in orbit to sneak our ship into the place where it is now and hid via stasis pods.

“We ment to sleep two hundred and fifty years, the AI fucked up. Time went on for a few Geological ages, the Terran Empire at some point fell or abandoned Earth entirely because evolution has kicked in to create the world you see now-”

“What?” I interrupted. “This is Earth?”

“Yeah. Well, it was. It’s not fair to call it Earth anymore. Humans are extinct… Except for you I guess.” Kev replied. “Oh my god you’re human! You could tell us so much about our past before the-”

“Oh my God. I’m back… I’m home…” I whispered to myself. “This is Earth.”

Kev nodded. “Yes… Sorry, I’ve upset you. I didn’t mean to-”

I shook my head slowly unbelievingly. “All the time, it was…”

I was on Earth. In the future. The far far far future. Populated by talking marshmallow ponies with access to magic. All of the weirdness, silliness, and seemingly arbitrary things about this world flashed before me in an instant.

This world was crazy, adorable, and pretty fucking awesome, and now that I knew the truth about it, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I had to live out my life somewhere, it might as well be here. In the hull of a long crashed starship talking to an artificial lifeform while sitting next to my bug-girl girlfriend.

With a world this nuts, the only thing to do was roll with it. There was something I had to do. One last thing before accepting the world the way it was and enjoying life in it.

I looked over at Kev and asked grimly, “Humans are gone?”

She nodded, “Yes. We estimate for at least two hundred and fifty million years.”

“My god… We did it...” I said sitting up and sliding out of the bed onto my hooves. “We finally really did it.”

Dropping to my belly I slammed a hoof into the floor, “You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”

Jade rushed to give me a hug, “Oh no, David’ it’s okay! I’m here!”

I took a deep breath and stood back up, “No no. It’s fine. I had to do that. Responsibility as the last of my kind.”

I turned and noticed Kev’s faceplate. It was projecting an ‘XD’ emote. Her hands were holding her sides as she shook with silent laughter.

I pointed a hoof at her, “That was my test to see if you were telling the truth.”

She snirked and in an out-of-breath voice said, “If we didn’t have the movie on file, I’d be crushed I hurt someone that emotionally deeply. You trust me now?”

I nodded. “I do. Too many coincidences to ignore. This is the future, humans are gone, and I’m on Earth. I can live with that. Mostly because god damnit, I like what’s become of this place… Now where’s the exit? My friends and I have a job to do.”

Jade gave me a hurt pouty face that literally cut me to the soul, “I thought you were actually upset…”

I gave her a quick hug, “I was. A little. But I’m a practical guy. There’s nothing I can do to go back to where I was, so this is my home now. You are my first real love, and I wouldn’t take you back to my old world with me even if we could because you would be miserable there. In short, this is my life now and this is where I live it. I’m not that upset that the old one’s gone. Everything ends one day after all.”

Jade thought about it for a few minutes then nodded. “I understand. Let’s just make sure that it’s the Swarms time to end soon, okay?”

“Damn strait hon.” I agreed.

I saw the world clearly now. THere were no more surprises to be had. Everything made sense, save for magic, but Lily could explain that to me. Speaking of my best friend…

“Uh, where are Light and Lily?” I asked turning back to Kev.

“Light is resting in the quarters which have been provided for you." Kev answered. "Oh right! Some gear's been provided as well. We're in full war prep here so it's not very good... just what was left over. Also, once you're okay to leave my superiors asked me to fly you out to meet the Princesses at the battleground. It's not very far from here and they want to make sure you lure the Swarm right to their position as well as ensure your safety and the like. The nurse wants you here for at least twenty four hours though. Basically to make sure treatment for radiation poisoning took properly. Oh, and Lily’s getting ready for dinner with her long lost half-parents.”

“Wait…” I asked, eyes scrunching in confusion, “Her what?”

31 Equestria

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Lily - 4th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Afternoon

I had the single most wonderful evening of my life. It was amazing. I have no words to explain how much joy and love I felt meeting the ponies who were the closest thing I had to a family that wanted me.

They honestly had wanted me. It’s not a feeling I can describe or process.

The whole evening blurred together into a singular happy memory, which probably hadn’t been helped by sharing a few drinks with Hair Trigger (Sky’s dad), and a reluctant and grumbling Sky. From the moment Kev had introduced me to Hair and Air, they just accepted me. Family was blood to them, not behavior.

A thing they took seriously enough to browbeat their actual son into accepting me as a family member. Though he refused to call me anything closer to him than a nephew because, “We do not share a history! Brother sounds wrong.”

Maybe that meant I could earn a brother over time? That would be nice! Maybe he would be more open to a sister, I could try that if I survived this.

Faust I wished I could remember the evening as more than a meal and sharing stories about my past. Air hugged me a full ten minutes after I’d told her about the time my dad set me on fire. I couldn’t convince her that he actually existed after that. The mare chose to delete him from her personal reality.

If I stumbled across a magic lamp right now, and got a single wish from the djinn inside, it would be to spend more time with those wonderful ponies. Because right now my two best friends were walking into a warzone, and there was no way in tartarus I would let them do that alone.

Yes, I was being an idiot. I had found half of what I wanted most in life, a loving family. One that seemed to want me. A sane pony would hide in the safe hole with their new family and let the war pass.

It was very safe hole too. Chrysalis had attacked twice before, and failed both times. Mostly because the entire hive was one big death trap and the swarm can’t... well… Swarm indoors. If she was going to take the Hive it would have to be through subterfuge.

While that seemed insane to me, seeing as how she ‘killed’ Dusk, I wasn’t going to argue with history.

That was the thing though, I’d watched a friend die. Dusk. My first real friend. The first pony who didn’t want me just because I could fix their problems. I’d seen her explode. Chrysalis had done that too her.

I couldn’t accept that anypony could truly kill a god, but they clearly could feel pain. Dusk’s face had been in agony. I knew that kind of agony, It’s the kind you feel when you’re on fire and someone's screaming insults at you that stick daggers into your very soul.

I’d see Dusk again. An immortal can’t die, that makes no sense. She had to just be off at her home, unable to come see me for some cosmic reason. Right?

If Jade or David died… I’d never see them again.

I couldn’t live without them. Sure, I’d only met them because of my former job, but with Faust as my witness, they were my friends. The weeks of camping out and listening to David’s campfire stories. The fact he forgave me for fucking up with that dress before even I knew I’d been hypnotized. Jade’s supportiveness of my… weird sense of my own gender. The way she’d forced me to understand that I didn’t have to worry about others opinions so much by forcing me to present exclusively female for our stay on the Night Jewel…

It’s not how you meet someone that makes them your friend, it’s what you do together. They were my friends, and I apparently valued them more than my own wish to have a nice family so my own eventual family could have grandparents and family outings and the wonderful close knit life I never had.

The small airship Kev had flown us over to the Equestrian war camp with hummed and shook lightly as it touched back down to the ground. The rear ramp hissed as it opened out to show a sea of half-cylinder shaped tan tents and a whole sea of soldiers going about their duties.

“Alright, everyone okay?” Kev asked.

“That was a bit… ugh… weird feeling.” Jade mumbled.

“Heh, yeah I got airsick the first time I flew in something too.” Light commented.

It was good to see her in her pegasus shape again. Though she seemed a little down. I hoped she was just afraid of the battle, and not still having problems.

David stood up and gave her an odd salute, pressing one hoof to his temple for a moment, “Happy flying today. Hope you don’t take too much fire up there.” He said in what I assumed was a standard farewell in his culture for a pilot.

“Oh, no! I’m not actually a combat unit. I’m a tech unit, I’ll be helping Sky try to finish getting an airstrike or two ready. In fact, I’m heading back to the Hive now,” Kev answered before turning to me, “speaking of which… You don’t have to go out there. Nopony would blame you for coming back with me.”

I gave her a slim smile, “Ja maybe… But my friends need me.”

David - 4th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Afternoon

I felt my cheeks burn from that too-big-of-a-grin as Lily stood up and began to trot down the ramp. “Atta girl! Squadmates stick together.” I praised.

“You’re a brave pony.” Kev noted, “If you make it, and are ever in Ponyville, look up Lyra Heartstrings and tell her Kev said you can use her room till you’re on your own hooves.”

“Who?” Lily asked, looking over her shoulder.

“Lyra Heartstrings. Minty green. Lyre cutiemark. You’ll probably find her here, she’s my adoptive mom. Tell her hi for me.” Kev answered flipping a few switches from the pilot’s seat.

“You’re not afraid she’ll die?” Light asked suspiciously.

“She’s got a knack for escaping stuff like this unscathed.” Kev sighed. “Her wife though… Truth be told I’d rather not think about that. I mean it though, you’re a brave person Lily. That goes for all of you.”

Lily nodded and left the small boxy, gray craft. I gave Kev a nod as well. I understood that mindset, and I wasn’t about to blame anyone for having it. No one wants to imagine life without their loved ones.

“Come on hon, we turn over that book to the Princess and this is all over.” I said giving Jade an affectionate smile as we left the craft as well.

I was looking forward to seeing what sort of trap Dusk had managed to set up. Hell, now that I knew it included a goddamn-science fiction crazed group of changelings, this whole thing was going to be cake! Just like the opening to Tremors two, but with far more visceral glee from-

“Huh?” I asked to myself as I looked around the arrangement of tan-canvas Quonset hut like tents at the soldiers who marched, drilled, and sat among them.

There were plenty of ponies dressed in a padded black body-glove which resembled a silver rune covered modern military uniform, but they all were armed with spears, swords, axes, and bows. Still others more marched through the rows of tents in full plate armor. It was as if someone had taken modern soldiers, turned them into ponies, and then just handed out some medieval weapons.

It’s not like that was just one group ether, that was everyone! I’d spent the whole night looking over the small forearm mounted shield generator the Emeralds had given me and expected everyone here to be packing a laser rifle. Hell, the few Emeralds I did see here were clearly medical personnel, unarmored, with just a pair of red cross emblazoned saddlebags.

“Something wrong?” Lily asked giving me a concerned look.

I noticed a large white stallion in burnished gold-trimmed purple Roman-esc plate armor approaching us. He looked like an officer, which mean he would be our escort to meet whoever this Princess was. Or Princesses rather. Though why any nation would put its military under the command of it’s princess(es) instead of it’s king or queen or a trusted general is beyond me.

Assuming he would be offended by my concern, I decided to answer Lily as quickly as I could. “I was expecting more advanced weapons.”

She gave me a smile, “You had a ‘crude’ gun that made evil people explode. Do you think those swords are just pointy sticks?”

“Oh.” I frowned, realizing in that moment the possibilities of magic made all of this potentially far more than it seemed.

Hell, with how Lily had told me magic worked the two systems were basically equivalent… My god! Magic is just a trick to do the impossible without the appropriate tool! Technology is just the way to do the impossible without knowledge! That green stallion’s long sword might be able to cleave through things like a lightsaber!

Why the hell didn’t I realise-

“Uh, are you okay?” Jade asked giving me that adorable concerned-for-you frown.

“Fine. I just realized these troops are not as poorly equipped as I thought.” I replied.

“Not bad!” A stallion’s voice exclaimed.

I turned to find the white stallion had reached us, and probably overheard most of that.

“No disrespect meant to you and your troops intended there, sir.” I apologies.

“None taken. Equestrian weapons are left plane in appearance to get the enemy to underestimate us. It takes a keen eye to see that telltale shine. They are just as enchanted as any other military weaponry, if not more.” He replied, “I’m Captain Shining Armor, I don’t recognize the uniform, but I’m glad to meet another soldier. What's your name sir?”

“Lieutenant David Pierce, Combat Medic,” I introduced, “This young colt- Long story short he’s a colt, presents female for personal reasons- his name is Lily… Uh… What is your last name? I literally don’t think you ever told me.”

Lily blushed and shyly kicked a hoof against the sand. “I did… My full name is Azur Lily, so I guess my mare name would be Lily Azur.”

“Wait, really?” Jade asked with an amused grin.

Lily nodded. “Ja.”

“Oh.” I gave shining a shrug, “Identity issues.”

He sighed and nodded, “I have had dozens of transgender soldiers of both genders in various stages of ‘out’ over the years. Keeping names straight can be a nightmare... I get it. Lily, could you clear this up for me? It’s my job to introduce you to their majesties.”

“Just call me Lily, please. I’m a Wizard, specializing in Biomancy, mostly genetic disease correction.” Lily answered.

We all gave her a look for a few seconds. “And preferred pronouns are?” Shining asked making a ‘go on’ gesture with one hoof.

“Oh!” Lily blushed deeply, “I… I don't think it matters too much.”

“Female it is.” Shining grunted, “Mostly because if I tell Twilie you’re male she might do blood-work to test that claim… Now for the big question, who and what are you miss?”

Jade looked at the hoof Shining pointed her way for a moment with a look of bewilderment on her face, followed by a look of sudden realization. “I’m going to have to tell everypony I’m a changeling every time, aren't I?”

“You guys come in fuzzy?” Shining asked in mild surprise. “Or are you shapechanged?”

Lily grinned, trotted over to Jade and gave her a pat on the shoulder, “Welcome to das club, Jade!”

“We seem to come in fuzzy, yes.” Jade answered with a straight face, trying to ignore Lily’s schadenfreude fueled grin.

A grin I shared in a little bit. Hey, it was funny!

Jade cleared her throat, “I’m Jade of… Er well I’m a Queen now… So I guess my name’s Jade Queen of Diamonds now.” She mused, bringing a hoof up to her chin, a sad thoughtful look crossing her face for a few seconds.

Shining nodded, “I was informed one of you was a refugee from Chrysalis's Crusade. I’m sorry… If it’s any condolences, the last time she and I crossed paths, Chrysalis's brainwashed me into almost marrying her while she was disguised as my wife. This battle is personal for me as well, same goes for many of my soldiers. Fates willing, we will give her all due justice by the end of the day.”

“Uh, end of the day?” Light asked in a mildly panicked tone.

Ah hell! She was going to break. I couldn’t blame her, a day ago the god damn bitch had reduced her to jelly...

I gently pulled the Captain close to me, “She’s insane, thinks she’s a pegasus. She used to serve-”

“I know,” Shining interrupted, “Our agent told me about her. Er- We sent somepony to pick you up. But you were nowhere to be found. Light would have been safe in Ponyville right now… As it is, my sister wants to see if we can’t get anything useful out of her. We… need any edge we can get.”

I felt my eyes narrow, “I can’t condone the torture of an innocent person, even for critical intelligence.”

“It’s not like that!” Shining protested, holding up his hooves defensively. “She can be safely questioned and transported away from here. Princess Celestia is more than capable of preventing ‘discomfort’.”

“I don’t like being talked about behind my back.” Light said taking a half step back.

“Don’t worry, miss. You are not in any danger. Her Highness simply has a few questions for you, after which we will evacuate you from the battlefield via teleportation.” Shining said in an honest but soothing sounding tone.

“Uh, why me?” Light asked, still nervous.

“Just in case you know anything which could help the war effort.” Shining said diplomatically. “Also to answer your question, our scouts report the Swarm began moving as soon as we heard you were flying in. It’s likely Chrysalis's can track your arcane signatures now that’s he’s seen you and knows where you are. She should be here within six hours, just before normally scheduled nightfall.”

I raised an eyebrow. The hell did ‘normally scheduled’ mean? I suddenly remembered Kev saying that their princess moved the sun. Right. They were sun worshipers, with a view of their leaders as god-kings. They believed their leaders could move the sun if they so chose. That explained it.

There was a more important question at hand though… I leaned back in and lowered my voice. “Just between us soldiers, how much of an edge do we need?”

Shining’s face took on a grim look as he quietly replied, “If I’ve got the numbers right, and the Element’s fail, we are looking at six to one odds, their favor. We stand a chance, but everypony will need to give their all… Do you have anything that can help?”

Damn… I didn’t have a choice. Jade needed to be safe. I had to protect her.

“Just myself, sir.” I answered quietly, “If you are short an officer, I have wartime command experience. In my military a Lieutenant generally leads thirty five to fifty men.”

Shining nodded, a grateful look in his eyes. “We are stretched a bit thin in terms of command structure thanks to the auxiliaries Neighpone and Prance sent… I’m sure I can find a few squads who need an officer. If their highnesses do not have anything specifically planned for you, I’ll find you a command post.”

“Thank you.” I said at a normal volume.

He nodded, “Alright, if you’ll just follow me. The Princess’s tent is nearby.”

He turned and began to walk off, the rest of us following shortly behind him.

“What was that whispering about?” Jade asked me in a concerned tone.

“Nothing important.” I grunted, “Just making sure you will be safe.”

“I’ll be fine as long as you’re nearby.” Jade answered sincerely. “It’s when you go away that things get bad. Remember the siren?”

“That was one time.” I said smiling as I shook my head.

“Capsan, when I went to scout for us.” Jade reminded.

“Okay, that's two times. That happens.” I replied.

“Also, that time I got shot in the heart…” Jade pointed out.

“Oi! That was before I met you.” I grunted.

“I’m just saying, I’m not going out of your sight.” Jade said firmly.

I gave her a reassuring smile. There was no way in hell she was getting hurt. If They could teleport Light out, they could teleport Jade out. I’d say behind and make sure that evil bitch was vulture food, then come join her for a nice peaceful life.

Easy as pie.

Jade - 4th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Afternoon

The leader of a whole nation wanted to see me! This was exciting! Well, actually, most things since I’d boarded the Night Jewel were exciting. Which meant this must be extra exciting!

I knew that danger was on the way, I knew full well how much danger too. While the pain had dulled over the last month, I still remembered my home’s fate at the Swarm’s hooves. At her hooves.

I knew that the rows of neatly arranged tents and legions of marching warriors were here to fight and die. The old Jade, the one who still lived with her mother and father in a mountain in Stalliongrad, she would have been afraid. I was not. Well, not much.

This was different. I’d survived my whole home being destroyed. I’d survived being shot in the heart. I’d taken down a siren and saved over three hundred people by myself. I knew I wasn’t a big deal, but I knew I could handle myself. This time I wasn’t alone, I had David, Lily, and more soldiers than there had been lings in my old Hive ready and prepared to do battle with an enemy we knew was coming.

We had this! This time it was the bad people who were in the most danger!

I couldn’t help but look around excitedly as we walked through the camp. There were all kinds of ponies, changelings, and zebras moving about the camp as they went about their business. I could see some of the Neighponese soldiers as they walked towards their airship which was hovering over a large flat house-sized rock to the south. There were ponies I recognized as Prench knights helping one another inspect their bulky ‘platemail-for-your-other-platemail’ armor.

I saw a few groups of Emerald changelings as they set up a small hospital tent. There was a whole open pit fire set up around with a dozen zebras were busily brewing potions. I even saw a few dragons!

Small dragons, not much bigger than me, but still dragons. We had bucking dragons! How awesome was that?

I was wondering how much you had to pay a dragon before they would agree to help you when Captain Shining stopped in front of one large tent and announced, “Here we are. Miss Jade, I do not think you are the sort to prefer royal titles and protocols, but as this is the first meeting between your hive and Equestria, I have to introduce you formally. Will you please enter first after I announce you to their Highnesses?”

“Oh, uh, okay.” I agreed shyly walking towards the front of our group. “Do I have to call them anything in particular or do anything special?”

“Just do not agree to anything without thinking it over.” Shining warned, “Princess Twilight is on edge due to the upcoming battle and might take any agreement you make as a oral treaty… it wouldn’t be the first time. Princesses Celestia and Luna are much more… calm and will understand any mistakes as being well, rookie mistakes, no offense.”

“None taken.” I giggled nervously.

“As for Princess Cadence… Well, after dealing with the griffons for the last five years, I doubt you could do anything to make her even blink. Just do not under any circumstance agree to duel her! She’s been wanting a practice match for Chrysalis… As a changeling Queen she may decide you are a fair substitute, and I do not trust her to stay within the limits of a sparring match and not injure you due to personal issues.” Shining warned with a sad sigh.

“Uh… Do I-” I started

“Yeah, you do!” David interrupted. “Can you explain why? This is pretty important, because it sounds like one of your rulers is racially biased against her.”

Shining quickly shook his head, “Oh no! Not at all. Far from it! Cadence holds no ill will towards any group at all, she’s the Princess of Love. She does however have a vendetta against Chrysalis after being kidnapped, tortured, and imprisoned for two months of wedding plans.”

That was a lot of information for a random guard to know… Narrowing my eyes I asked, “How can you be so sure?”

“She’s my wife.” He answered flatly.

“Uh, wait, if your wife is a princess, shouldn’t you be a prince and not a Captain?” I asked in confusion.

“No, I’m actually an Archduke by marriage. Our feudal system isn’t arranged like any other… Suffice to say that the Princesses are above the entire system. Only Alicorns my hold the titles of Prince or Princess.” He said in a surprisingly non-bitter tone. “I prefer my title of Captain as it is a rank I earned by merit in the academy. That title is worth more. Now then, are you ready to enter?”

I nodded, “Yes!”

The excitement was back!

Shining nodded and opened the large tent’s flap just enough to walk inside. I caught a brief glimpse of a surprisingly spartan interior before the flap fell closed and Shining’s muted voice announced, “Your Highnesses, announcing the arrival of Her Grace, Queen Jade of Diamonds.”

“Shining…” A kind motherly voice said in a irritated tone, “Are you making the poor mare go through formal protocols, while she is a refugee, in the middle of a war zone?”

“Um…” Shining trailed off.

A golden aura enveloped the tent flap and pulled it open, “Come in Miss Jade, we can abide by formal rules after you have learned them.”

The little bit of nervousness I had felt washed away as whomever was speaking removed the formal barrier. I stepped into the tent, took a breath to say hello, and kept inhaling in awe!

Equestria’s four princesses sat at a small round table on the far side of the tent. If there was any thing in that tent other than the princesses and that tactical map on a mahogany table, my eyes didn’t care too look at it.

They were beauty itself.

The tallest was a pale pink, almost white, with a mane made of an ethereal flowing energy with bands of two different blues, turquoise, and pink that blew as if in an invisible wind. She had perfect, statue-like features, the absolute pony ideal. Her magenta eyes held a kindness, a sadness, and a grace to them which I instinctively wanted to copy for myself out of pure jealousy. A cutiemark of the sun itself peaked out from under her perfectly preened wings and shined the same gold as her metal boots.

The second tallest was the same shade of lavender as my nymphhood blanket. Unlike the whitish-pink mare to her left her own mane and tail were ordinary, but very well groomed. The deep blue of her mane and tail seemed to sparkle slightly in the light, a feature the twin stripes of violet and purple accentuated in a way which I swore nature couldn’t have produced on it’s own. She had a pair of violet eyes which looked hungry for knowledge, but also patient, understanding, and had just a hint of crazy gleaming in their corners. Her wings tipped up a little, enough to show all of her pink starburst cutiemark.

To the tallest left was a deep night-blue mare, with a mane and tail of ethereal energy which could only be called the night sky as envisioned by the greatest painter to ever live. Stars twinkled, shone, and gleamed in her blue-black mane, as if it were where the stars themselves were stored for the day. This was her only magnificent feature, not that she looked ugly, far from it. Rather than the other three this mare looked like a pony you might meet on the street, weathered, lived in, experienced. Her cutiemark was ether a crescent moon, or a crescent moon in front of clouds, I couldn’t tell as a splotchy bit of dark fur decorated her hindquarters.

The last mare sat on the dark blue’s left. She was the shortest, but the most beautiful. In fact, she was too beautiful. The sort of pretty where you instinctively wonder if what you're looking at is poisonous. Her pink fur had a shine and luster to it that electrum couldn’t match. Her tri-color mane and tail were a brilliant purple, violet, and creamy yellow, and- Ah! There it was. Her eyes. They were hard, the eyes of a warrior, of someone who would crush anyone in their way, but also the eyes of someone who would fight for you.

A closer look showed her body was covered in many small scars, marked only by tiny gaps in her fur that her looks distracted you from. The most notable ones were on her cheeks, two mirrored marks midway between her mouth and eyes. Again, hidden from first glance by her beauty, much like the elegant looking rapier buckled on her right side that I only noticed after seeing her for the first time.

The finely tuned sense of danger I had built on my traveled with David said I shouldn't even think about bucking with her.

I had only an instant to take all of this in before the two alicorns in the middle, the pale-pink and the deep blue, gasped in shock!

“Clover!?” They gasped in unison, vanishing in a flash of white light and appearing inches from me literally smashing my barrel into hers with a hug so tight my chitin creaked!

An alien thought passed through my mind, Faust’s mane, Tia! You always hugged me way too tightly. Let go!

Before I could question what, where, and how of absolutely anything the deep blue mare was suddenly also giving me a crushing hug! But this one with the strength of a warrior behind it!

“David! Help! Crushing!” I wheezed.

32 Initiative

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Jade - 4th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Afternoon

Hug! Crushing! Thorax integrity… failing! Halp!

“Shit! I fucking knew it!” David growled.

Something slammed into my rump hard enough to knock me and the two mares forward a full foot! Shining jumped forwards, aura blazing as he whipped a spear from somewhere with a surprised yelp! A lavender glow filled one corner of the tent as somepony charged a spell!

“Please can we just calm, the buck, down!” Someone snapped, a burst of blue energy pushing everyone apart and holding them in place.

The pink alicorn trotted forwards and pointed a hoof at David, “You! Your marefriend was being bear hugged, not murdered… Nice knife by the way. Any reason you’re holding it with a hoof?”

“Uh, I suck with magic?” David replied.

She nodded spun and pointed a hoof at Shining, “He thought his lover was being murdered by a well prepared trap. You’d have done the same thing.”

She then turned to the lavender Alicorn, “Twilight, I appreciate the reaction, but I’m pretty sure that spell would incinerate the whole camp in that direction… Can you discharge that?”

“Oh… Sorry Cadence… Heh…” Twilight said with an embarrassed blush, the glow around her horn fading.

“Alright, is everypony calm?” The mare, Cadence presumably, asked.

“Sill... being... crushed.” I gasped.

“Aside from her?” Cadence asked, still looking around.

“I’m fine.” David grunted, “Sorry everyone.”

“You’re right, I’d have reacted the same way.” Shining said apologetically.

Cadence nodded letting out a short breath, the glow holding everyone vanished. That was well and good, but I was still being squished by these two madmares!

“Gurk!” I managed to gasp.

“Celestia, Luna… I think you’re actually hurting her.” Twilight said in a gentle tone. “How about you let go and explain who this is and how you know her?”

“Oh. Sorry.” The taller white alicorn said as she let go of me, followed a second later by the dark blue one.

“Ahem… Yes, sorry.” the second apologized.

I gasped for air instantly, I could feel sparks of green magic racing down my sides as my regeneration kicked in. I also felt part of my exoskeleton pop back into place.

Sun’s Light! They really HAD been hurting me!

“Ow!” I groaned, “By the sun’s light! Were you trying to kill me?” I demanded, “Why the hay would you hug someone like that!?”

“I’m sorry!” The white mare apologized. “It’s only been over three thousand years since the last time we saw you, Clover. I’m sure you can understand-”

“We thought you had died! Now here you are, after we had long since assumed we would never see you again and you question why you receive a proper hug?” The dark blue one asked.

I gave them both a look of ‘Ooohhh-kaaayyy’ and took a half step back, “I uh, think you’ve confused me for somepony else. I don’t even know who you a-”

A sudden burst of information forced me to stop in mid speech, an instant headache forming right behind my eyes. It was like when Three gave me her knowledge of shapeshifting, only way more intense!

Again, an alien thought came to my mind. That’s Celestia and Luna Solarus, the twin daughters of King Nebula. I taught them magic. “The hay?” I demanded of myself, “I did no such thing!”

Except I could remember doing that now… Vaguely. Like watching something with cheesecloth over your eyes. What? How? Why?

I nervously swished my tail as I tried to make sense of what in ever the buck was going on in my head.

“Uh, excuse me,” Twilight asked giving Celestia a concerned look, “But do you mean to imply that she’s Clover the Clever? Because Clover was a unicorn.”

Oh! That explained it, Clover founded my hive so I guess I just looked a lot like her.

Luna cleared her throat, “Um, well, yes. Though officially Clover was a unicorn. That’s not exactly true… We were in the midst of the First Changeling Crusade in those days, if anypony had learned Clover was a defector from the First Swarm well, she would have been in danger.”

Celestia nodded quickly adding, “Even with… Well, most changelings peaceful after the death of High Queen Phyla, anti-Changeling sentiments remained high for hundreds of years. As Clover was still alive, to keep her safe we simply convinced everypony she was an immortal mage-” Celestia stopped midsentence and turned back to face me, “Did you actually become an immortal mage? That would be hilarious!”

“Uh, I’m really not who you think I am.” I said sheepishly, “I probably just look alot like Clover because she founded my Hive. My name’s Jade.”

Celestia frowned and tapped the gem in the large necklace she was wearing with a hoof. Then again, and again. “Come on you! Work properly…”

Luna’s ears drooped sadly, “That would be far more plausible. The energy she was exposed to in that rift certainly is nothing a healer could have cured…”

“Excuse me please.” Twilight asked in a voice that was cracking with a whole heap of emotions in it. “Can I please get an accurate version of history and a proper reason for why its not correct to begin with!?”

“Uh oh…” Luna muttered turning around, “Twilight, it’s okay. Sometimes, the recorded works of history need to exclude certain things, for the sake of peace and harmony. While we could easily tell everypony the truth about Clover now, we could not then, for her own safety. The three of us lived through the writing of many historical texts. After the first one was penned, convincing scholars of the truth would have been hard, even if it was safe for her. As for modern texts, do you have any idea how difficult is is to make a culture accept something different than the dictates of tradition?

“The accurate version of events is Clover was uniquely unaffected by the creature which originally united all Changeling’s mind control and left the Swarm to help ponykind out of spite. Aside from her species, the rest of the story is accurate. At least, as far as I know.”

“Okay.” Twilight sighed. “What else is wrong in the books?”

“We can go over that later, Twilight.” Celestia said, stopping fiddling with her necklace. “For now… Jade, would you object to being scanned magically?”

“Uh, no?” I ask-stated.

“Twilight, could you please scan her with any identity finding spell? Something about her is messing with my enchantments.” Celestia asked with a concerned frown.

“Oh, uh, of course.” Twilight replied, turning to look at me horn flashing briefly.

I felt a wave of magic wash over me nose to tail, than tail to nose.

“Huh…” Twilight scratched her chin with a hoof, “You’re not shifted. Is your whole hive covered in fluff?”

“No,” I answered, “I pupated into a Queen and just came out like this.” Sun’s Light… This really WAS that annoying! A new sympathy for lily blossomed in my chest.

“Oh!” Luna smiled, “That’s how they are supposed to look. Modern changelings didn’t look as they do now until after the end of the Second Changeling Crusade.”

Celestia nodded, “I scattered them across the world via the Elements. The new queens were unable to eat enough to transform fully, and the Elements seemed to increase how much food a changeling needed… I never intended that, but well, you know how the Element’s tend to have minds of their own. Now, about Jade…”

“Nothing major.” Twilight answered. “She’s a young changeling Queen. Pretty powerful. Has had two memory transfers, but only information exchanges, no personality alterations. She’s not possessed or mind controlled… Well, actually, she should be immune to that. Would you mind if I studied you some time Jade? I’d like to learn how exactly you resist that.”

“Uh, sure?” I offered. “But what do you mean memory transfers?” That seemed like something important to ask.

“Uh, exactly what those words mean. You’ve been given someone else's memories. Twice. You have to be aware of that sort of thing.” Twilight said giving me an odd look.

“I can remember one, over a month ago. A changeling showed me how to shift properly. But I’ve never had a second one.” I protested.

“Uh, yeah you have. Less than two days ago.” Twilight replied flatly. “The memories are still settling. How can you not-”

My eyes widened in realization, “Sun’s light! When I looked into the rift! Oh that makes so much sense! I thought I was going crazy!”

“Wait, rift?” Celestia asked in a serious tone, “What rift?”

David shrugged, “I don’t know… I don’t remember any rift.”

“It was when we were teleported. You passed out with everypony else.” I explained. “I was awake the whole time. We fell through a black void full of stars, with a whole bunch of rifts opened to different places in them. I noticed that Clover’s spellbook was glowing and had some energy moving off of it to one particular rift so I touched it and-”

“Well, that explains that. Who the hay teleported you without wards though? I mean exposure to the Etherismos is really dangerous! You can easily pick up stray memories or thoughts or lose your own. Even a novice Wizard knows that! I mean, it’s even more likely you will if you’re exposed to an object that’s been into the Ether before and absorbed part of someone’s essence as a concequ-” Twilight stopped mid sentence eyes widening to dinnerplate proportions, “Excuse me, but did you say Clover’s spellbook?”

I nodded, “Yes! Lily has it.” I blushed lightly, I’d completely forgotten about giving it to someone in charge of Equestria…

“Who is Lily?” Twilight asked, eyes continuing to widen.

Oh dear… This wouldn’t be good…

“Uh, h-hi!” Lily exclaimed shyly.

Lily trotted forwards and took the ancient book out of her bag and carefully moved it over to Twilight. Twilight took the ancient book in her hooves, gently nuzzled the cover with a little happy squee, and teleported away in a flash of white light!

“Great…” Luna muttered, “There goes our best chance at victory.”

“Is one person seriously that important to the war effort?” Dave demanded incredulously. “How powerful is she?”

“All the powerful.” Shining muttered bitterly.

“On her own Princess Twilight is easily Equestria's most powerful Wizardess.” Celestia said moving over to get a better look at David, “But Twilight is more than that, she is one of the six ponies needed to use our nations greatest weapon. Without her, we’ll have to do things the hard way. Though, as I have used the Elements on Chrysalis before, she may not be vulnerable to a second attempt. Especially since she remained evil unlike the rest of the changelings I hit with them during the Second Crusade…”

Luna raised an eyebrow at her sister, “You never mentioned that to me before.”

“I saw her go down with her mother.” Celestia replied. “I didn’t know she survived unaffected until the wedding, and then we were far too busy trying to prevent a witch hunt that would have destroyed the Rubies for me to think much on it.”

“Then you should have told me now!” Luna protested angrily, “My entire battle plan hinges on using the Elements as an opening volley!”

“We will be fine,” Celestia protested, “It slipped my mind until this morning! Besides, the Elements will affect her changelings normally. If we strip away her army, Chrysalis's can easily be defeated by force.”

Luna growled irritably, going as far to angrily stamp a hoof, “This is why I’m in charge of the military Tia! You need to tell me these things!”

I looked over to David and Lily. They looked back at me. We silently agreed to just stay out of this one. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Shining and Cadence sharing a similar look.

“I’m sorry,” Celestia apologized, “Luna you know I wouldn’t intentionally-”

“Colgate!” Luna looked around the interior of the tent irritably, “... Cole? Ah ponyfeathers, she went to get lunch or some-”

“Uh, I’m right here.” A mare’s voice said from just to my left.

Everpony jumped a whole foot into the air in shock! Cadence, Shining, Celestia, Me, everyone but Luna. Luna just facehooved.

“Cole… I know it’s only been a week, but for the love of Equestria, you need to learn how to stay visible!” Luna groaned.

“I’m not visible? Faust damn it…” Suddenly a bright blue unicorn mare faded into existence right next to where I had been, “Sorry! It’s really hard… At least I’ve gotten being solid down.”

“Uh… What the hay are you?” Lily asked in a half shocked half terrified tone of voice.

“I second that emotion!” David exclaimed, ears flat.

“Er… There's kind of a pretty big racial stigma.” The mare admitted shyly. “I sort of evolved into a magic-based life form. Like, last week… It’s still pretty hard to do some things.”

“She’s half Windigo.” Luna explained, “All of the abilities, but none of the evil. If you treat her poorly for it, I’ll send you to the moon.”

“You can send people to the moon?” I asked, eyes widening in wonder, “That would be awesome!”

“Trust me, it gets old quickly.” Luna deadpanned. “Well… except for the Sea of Tranquility.”

“Yeah, I hear Eagles like it there.” David quipped.

Everypony gave him a blank look for a few seconds. Then Luna turned back to the half-creature I’d never even heard of but was now really interested in because invisibility would be cool to have and maybe she could teach me how to do it. Right! Windigo, that was it! I’d have to find a book on them or something later.

“Anyways, Cole, get everypony else ready to charge the north quadrant when we lower the shield. Since the Elements apparently may not work we will have to be ready to charge in and stem the tide. I’ll join you six myself as soon as I am done here.” Luna promised.

“Was… Er, if it takes six ponies to use these Elements, do you have multiple sets or, can anypony use them?” Lily asked curiously.

“No, each Element has a unique bearer.” Celestia answered.

Luna nodded. “I happen to have six elite knights, it’s a coincidence. Now, Tia, is there anything else of critical importance to the mission you might have forgotten to tell-”

A bright white flash of light exploded into the room as Twilight returned. “Alright! Book in vault back home. Perfectly safe. Armchair moved into vault, ready for reading later.”

“Oh good! I thought you would be lost in that book for a week.” Luna sighed in relief.

“Oh I will, but if I don’t help here first someling is going to interrupt my reading time.” Twilight joked.

“You know,” Shining mused, “That might be a great way to make up for the likelihood of the Elements failing. Twilight, you should start reading something!”

“Shiny,” Twilight giggled, “I don’t get, that, upset when somepony inter- What was that about the elements not working?”

“Apparently Chrysalis survived being hit with them a few thousand years ago, and Tia never thought to tell me.” Luna deadpanned irritably.

Twilight facehooved, “Great! This is going to be a real pain in-”

Alarm bells began to ring in the east! Everypony instantly flinched. Seconds later a short Earth pony stallion sprinted into the tent, the silver runes in his uniform glowing brightly, projecting energy fields that looked like individual armored plates over him.

“Princesses! The Swarm is moving faster than we thought, we will have contact in five minutes!” He warned.

“What direction are they coming from?” Luna demanded, a wave of magic blazing over her, leaving behind an elaborate set of jet black plate armor.

Every other princess equipped themselves in a similar fashion. Celestia had a golden set, Cadence had a simple chainmail cloak and arm guards, Twilight…

Twilight shrank to about half her size as she summoned a dark purple breastplate and boots.

What?

“Oops!” Twilight said, blushing deeply, “I should have known safety wards would cancel that buff if I tried to put on armor too small for me with it up…”

“Size isn’t everything.” Luna snapped, “What direction is the enemy coming from?”

“Flanking south by southeast, over the cliff. We have at best five minutes until contact.” The soldier reported.

Cadence nodded, and took a scroll from her cloak with her magic, and quickly opened it. “Okay, it’s not going to be possible to evacuate anypony. David, was it? You look like a soldier, I can use this to create weapons you are familiar with. You’re going to have to bunker down and protect your friends.”

“Wait,” I asked panic starting to creep into my voice, “where should we go?”

Luna looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded, “Tia, take them with you. They should be safe enough near the shield generators and ward mages.”

“Understood.” Celestia answered, turning to Cadence, “Get this werewolf a weapon.”

What? Why did she even think he was a werewolf? I looked at Celestia with a confused expression. So did everypony else, including David.

“I’m not a werewolf…” David objected.

“Ja! he’s just a really nice Diamond Dog I turned into a pony so nopony would be racist towards… oops…” Lily kicked the ground nervously.

“Oh, that explains why my naming spell lists ‘canine’ as kind.” Celestia commented.

“Yeah! Also I have a weapon I got my knife and…” He paused as he patted his flank hip and frowned, “Fuck! I didn’t grab Boomstick from my cart before we fled!”

“You didn’t grab it!?” I yelped in fear, “Why the buck not?”

“We were under fire and being crushed by a giant slab of metal!” David growled, “It was a bit hard to focus!”

Twilight shook her head and looked over at Lily, “After this battle, you and I are going to talk about transformation spells, because you are clearly very good at them, and I could use a peer. Good luck!”

She turned and sprinted out of the tent at full speed. I felt a wave of squee flood Lily’s mind and push some of the fear out of it.

Luna nodded towards us, “Good luck from me as well. I’ll do my best to keep them outside the shields. If they break through, the Emerald Hive is directly west, flee there, it’s our rendezvous point.”

She turned and sprinted out of the tent, moving surprisingly quickly for somepony in a gap-free suit of armor.

Cadence sighed, “I’m sorry you lost a weapon. I can’t imagine how it would feel to lose Kindness…”

David’s lips split in a reflexive grin, “You named your sword Kindness?”

“No, I named my bec de corbin Kindness, my sword’s named Mercy.” Cadence said, “Don’t worry, these scrolls conjure quality gear. Whatever it makes for you will be something you know how to use, also it comes enchanted with the Equestrian basics. Bows make their own arrows, swords don't dull, if you’re lucky it might get an energy type too. I don't know which one this is I carry them for weapon losing emergencies, got a whole stack.”

“Uh, I don't exactly know how to shoot a bow.” David warned.

“No worries, It makes whatever you personally know how to use best.” Cadence said with a dismissive hoof wave. “Or at least a weapon you know how to use, I made sure I could get a different weapon, because sometimes you need an axe, others a polearm.”

Her horn glowed blue and the scroll began to glow white and gold. Suddenly it burst into flames, evaporated, and a sort of shaped wooden club-like thing with some metal bits attached to it was left floating in Cadence’s magic.

“Huh…” She said scratching her head curiously, “Either you’re amazing with a club or I didn’t direct the magic towards you well enough. Let me try ag-”

“NO! MINE!” David shouted snatched the weapon from her aura in a blur. He gently stroked a hoof along the long straight section of wood with a creepy sort of fondness, “Yessss! Ammo! I’ll need ammo! Do those make ammo?” He asked, looked way to excited over a weapon.

“That’s a ranged weapon?” Cadence asked curiously, “How's it work?”

“This,” David announced, “Is a motherfucking M1E9 Garand rifle. It is the goddamn king of ranged weapons.”

“Oh! A musket. Neet… Let’s hope the round pack enough energy to penetrate shield spells.” Cadence said in an interested but sympathetic tone.

“Oh, it will. But, ammo. Kinda need that.” David said in the tone of a nymph with a new toy that was locked in a trunk.

“Uh, standard enchantments. It should make it’s own ammunition. The fact that it’s a, no offense, sporting tool, shouldn’t matter.” Cadence said with an eyeroll. “You sure you don’t want me to make you something else?”

“I-it has infinite ammo?” David asked, an overwhelming amount of glee rippling out from him, followed by a wall of shame. “... I shouldn’t be looking forward to fighting…”

“I’ma make you something else.” Cadence decided retrieving a second scroll.

“There’s no time!” Celestia warned, “You need to get into position! Whatever nation he’s from it’s clear he knows how to use those things at least as effectively as a bow. I’m sure he has some means of compensating for the slow rate of fire.”

David literally erupted into laughter! “Hahaha! Oh my god, you have no idea!” He turned to Lily and giggled, “I thought you said that Equestria was more advanced.”

“Well ja,” Lily objected, “it is. Most ponies can just learn to shoot a spellbolt, und a gut crossbow with a reloading enchantment is enough for anypony else… My father shoots matchlocks as a hobby. Firearms are toys for us.”

David just kept grinning, “Well, you’re about to see what happens when a species who doesn't have magic needs a good ranged weapon. Though uh… Wish it was under better circumstances.”

A second set of alarm bells began to ring, loudly echoing across the dunes. I heard a loud crackling sound from all directions.

“Ponyfeathers!” Cadence cursed, “That’s the shields going up! Come on Shining, we need to get to the western line. Good luck fighting with that thing! If you survive, you’ll need to show me how it works!”

Cadence and Shining quickly sprinted out of the tent, leaving us alone with Celestia.

The tall alicorn paused for a few moments before turning to us with a sympathetic look in her eyes, “I had hoped we would have time to get you to safety… But with the shields spells up and the Swarm so close… Teleporting away is quite impossible. Please, remain close to me. I’ll do my best to protect you, and if the shields are breached I’ll send you safely somewhere else. Unfortunately, even I can’t teleport something through a shield spell.”

“That’s alright.” I said with a slightly too frightened voice for someone who lived through everything I had.

“Ja,” Lily sighed, “Magic works with physics after all.”

“Wait, shields block teleports?” David asked curiously.

“Yes, any dense energy field will.” Celestia signed, “Even radio towers, or power plants back when we still used electricity. But don't worry, if you breach a shield it shatters quickly. I’ll be able to get you to safety immediately. Just remember to stay close!”

Celestia started to walk out of the tent. I turned to follow her. The loud roaring buzz of a billion changelings slowly faded in over the sound of the alarms. I stepped through the tent flap into the open air. The entire sky behind the pinkish shield was nothing but crisscrossing, chaotic lines of changelings.

This was it. This was where the nightmare ended, or where I died.

33 Burning Sands

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David - 4th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Afternoon

As I looked into the swirling mass of the enemy, I realized that my tactics were essentially useless. If I’d had to command anyone, I’d just get everyone killed. Human tactics do not deal well with an enemy that can fly, let alone in formations so dense it looked like we were being assaulted by a cloud of giant gnats.

About the only thing I could think of was to get a few quad Flak 38’s and make one hell of a last stand. How the hell everyone else was either running about their duties or standing in position with a calm soldierly expression was beyond me. The hell did their boot camps prepare them for? Giant centaur demon rampages?

I’d spent the entire sprint over to a group of five large pylons wondering exactly how I could help in any capacity other than ‘shoot everything that gets close’. I was drawing a complete blank. That wasn’t good, I was a soldier, I needed at least a briefing!

Turning my head to the tall white princess whose name I didn’t catch and sure as hell wasn’t going to ask for now, I asked, “Alright, what’s the plan?”

She held up a hoof for me to wait and turned to face a group of a dozen or so unicorns and a few Gaians. Unlike Kev their suits had a sheath for a long feline tail, and digitigrade paw shaped boots, so I guess she was telling the truth about cosmetic alterations.

“In case I need to use the pylons myself, how do they work?” Sun-princess asked.

“The crystals at the top hold the arcane charge,” a unicorn called back while the others carefully went about casting spells or fiddling with knobs, “The pylons amplify the power, shape the spell, and project it… They are sort of like your horn, Ma’am. Only the spell is built in. Just put energy into the crystals or take it away.”

“And the controls?” she asked.

“For regulating the power and helping restore damage done to the shields.” A Gaian called, “no time to train you for them Your Highness, sorry.”

“I understand,” she commented, “myself and these people will cover you. Keep everything up as long as you can. Oh,” she suddenly pointed a hoof at me, “This unicorn is a transformed Diamond Dog, he’s quite nice and on our side. If the transformation is dispelled mid battle, don’t shoot him.”

“Good to know Ma’am!” A unicorn called.

Princess-what’s-her-face turned back to me, looking up at the sky uneasily. “These… devices are allowing us to nest shields. The big dome overhead is actually three layered shields, and we have smaller transparent shields beneath it covering specific locations, like the field hospital, and our battlemage’s trenches.

“We can selectively raise and lower the shield spells, allowing us to open holes in them for as long as we need while keeping the rest of the shields up. Luna’s plan is to open a large hole over there, allowing the swarm a point of entry that’s relatively small so we can fill it with spellbolts, arrows, and javelins, while limiting how many can attack us at once.

“But, last time we fought them they breached our shields, so we have the shields within the main ones to give us places to fall back to. I don’t think you can reach the enemy from this position with that musket, but if the enemy does breach the outer shield, we need to keep these mages and technicians safe until they can get the spell back up… Especially because we have some help from outside the shield in the form of… Eh, don’t worry about it. Just keep the Swarm off everyone here if they break through.”

I looked over at the spot she had pointed to. It was about two hundred yards away, and down hill from our own position. I could see a ton of ponies formed up in ranks, with five of the Neighponese A.L.I.C.O.R.N.s flanking the formation, which had an overall horseshoe shape around the spot I assumed they were going to open..

It was hard to tell from this distance, but it looked as if the Neighponese were forming the front line, with some of those super bulky armored ponies who vaguely reminded me of Warhammer figures forming a line behind them to cover everyone else. The especially interesting thing was the formation was three dimensional, with bronze armored pegasi forming a second level to the formation, and a flight of-

“A-are those dragons?” I asked looking at the slightly-bigger-than-a-pony winged quadrupedal reptiles in the distance with some delighted awe.

“No, those are Drakes. Dragons are much bigger.” Light quipped. “That’s about it though.”

“It would be nice to have a true Dragon for this.” Princess something-or-other mumbled.

“But, they still breath fire and stuff, right?” I asked.

“Depends on the color. Some fire, some ice, some acid…” A unicorn tending the pylons remarked. “Looks like we mostly have reds and purples… So fire and raw magic.”

I shook my head and resumed inspecting the formation. The ceiling over the horseshoe formation had some pretty big holes in it, but I supposed it would be hard to hover with bird wings.

I turned to look at one of the Gaians, “So, I assume you guys don’t have any attack helicopters?”

“Same reason you’re not using an atlatl.” She shot back.

“This isn’t…” Light said, suddenly stopping mid sentence.

I looked over to her with a confused grunt. The mare quickly rushed over to the Princess and gently tapped her shoulder, “Princess Celestia, this isn’t the entire swarm. Part of it is somewhere else.”

Thank you for saving me an awkward question, random mare! I filed he Princess's name away in my brain more carefully this time.

“How do you know?” the princess asked face instantly hardening into a deep concern.

“I… I can hear them. A little.” Light replied slowly. “Some are here, some are someplace else… I think Chrysalis is here… I’m not sure.”

“She is probably holding some of her forces in reserve.” I quipped, “She has… well… a lot. There isn’t room for all of them at any breach they may make.”

Celestia nodded slowly, “That’s likely. Excuse me.”

She taped the gem in her necklace with her hoof gently. “Luna,” she said pausing until the gem glowed purple for an instant, “The Swarm is holding some of it’s forces somewhere else.”

“Is your source credible?” Luna’s voice answered sounding as if she were a few feet in front of Celestia.

“Yes. It’s Lightstride.” She answered.

“Thank you for the information, Ms. Light.” Luna thanked, “Tia, please ask the Field Marshal to give them our little surprise early. Open the shield once it’s all clear, we’ll need to bait their reserve into the open.”

The Princess nodded and tapped her gem again. “Field Marshal Lak.” She paused, the gem flashed, and then she continued, “Field Marshal, this is Celestia. Is your wing ready? We need them now.”

“Enemy moved faster than you estimated?” A weathered female voice asked.

“Yes, they also have a reserve somewhere. Luna wants you to hit them now to try and draw them out.” Celestia informed.

“Understood, bunker down.” The voice replied.

I blinked twice. “Did she say bunker down?”

Jade nodded, “I think so.”

Advanced civilization. War. Surprise… Oh!

I turned my attention to the sand below me and started to dig a pit as quickly as I could.

“Uh, what are you-” Lily started.

“Bunkering down before they drop whatever ordinance that is!” I exclaimed, focusing on digging.

I suddenly found myself joined by Jade and Lily in my hole-digging. I’m glad at least two of my friends came from sensible town. Unlike everypony else who sort of just kept going about their business.

“You know,” Lily remarked, “you would dig a lot better as a dog. They can dig through rock in a few minutes.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, both my eyebrows raising.

Jade looked up at me with a shocked expression, “You didn’t know Diamond Dogs could dig?”

“Wait,” one of the shield-mages demanded, “How the buck does a Diamond dog not know he can d-”

The sky erupted into bright spots of white! The ground heaved! Five straight lines of white dots blazed into existence to form lines across the entirety of the dome. Each light was accompanied by a sound like an anvil hitting the deck of a battleship while being struck by lightning.

In the heartbeat after the light vanished, the dense clouds of swarming changelings remained.

“Princess,” the Martial’s voice crackled a moment later, “We got a few, but they have a shield of their own. We could breach it, but from what we can read it’s about twice the strength of yours. Anything we fire would hit you guys below… Sorry.”

Celestia sighed wearily and tapped her necklace to reply, “Unders-”

“Ah hell!” The Martial cursed, “We have a few thousand breaking off to pursue. We’ll take care of them and swing back for another run. We can at least pick off a few hundred at a time. Good luck down there.”

I looked up curiously. A few thousand? Did that leave any noticeable gaps in their swarming cloud?

No. No it did not.

Fuck.

“Luna,” Celestia sighed, “They’ve set up their own shield.”

“Ponyfeathers…” Luna muttered in response. “Alright, we’re trapped here for the moment. She’s gotten smarter… Open the shield, let’s see if she takes the opening.”

The mages quickly worked their magic. A round portion of the shield at the formation’s base flickered and died. The Swarm kept flying around the perimeter. The sound of their buzzing now amplified to unsettling levels.

The masses surged.

The masses heaved.

The hole remained unused.

A minute passed.

The Swarm flowed around the shield, their solid barrier of bodies remaining intact.

“Twilight, see if they are an illusion.” Luna’s voice crackled faintly.

“They are real.” Twilight said hesitantly after a few moments.

I turned to look to other places along the shield. I was no general, but sometimes a soldier's intuition was better than five years of officer’s school. There had to be something they were doing. Something about their movements had to show some sort of plan or another.

They were moving like the threads in a loom, only every thread kept moving instead of stopping to form a row. Their eight fold helix pattern started at the very top of the shield dome and spiraled over and under it’s arms as it ran down the sides. It was an intricate and complex pattern which would have been amazing if it didn’t look like a blanket made of death slowly pull itself down over us.

Down…

Wait a minute…

I squinted at the closest edge of the shield where it met the sand. The Swarm was only moving down. Not one line moved back up. Unless they were pulling back at ground level to loop up again…

“Jade,” I asked urgently, “How well can changelings dig?”

“Pretty well.” She answered. “Wh-” Her eye widened mid-word. Jade hopped out of the still in progress trench Lily was continuing to expand and shouted, “Please tell me the shield extends under ground!”

There was a two second pause, followed by a frenzy of flashes of magic and shouted orders. Then the earth heaved again. A giant blister of sand pushed up from the ground just behind the infantry formation! A thousand changelings burst from the sand in a flash of green flames, arcing skywards only to fall like living artillery shells into tents, people, fortifications, everything.

At the exact same instant the Swarm began to surge through the hole in the shields. Instantly the mass of soldiers exploded into light of all colors! Rays of scorching light streaked through the ari, bolts of denser magic slamming into the ground, changelings, and others.

The sound of spells, screams, shouts, and flames echoed off the shield. I grabbed the M1 off my back, futility fumbling for the trigger with my hooves.

“Gah! I can’t fucking fight like this!” I growled. Spinning I grabbed Lily’s shoulder, “How do I change back?”

“Just will it!” Lily cried, horn blazing blue as the sand around us heaved itself up into a crude earthwork wall. “Uuf… Why did that take so much energy?”

A shield-mage jumped into the now pretty decent trench, her pale blue fur and blue-gray mane covered with sand. “The sand is cursed, Second Thaumaturgy War was fought here. This used to be a jungle six thousand years back. Don’t try magic on it again! … But thank you.”

I closed my eyes and did my best to remember being a Diamond Dog. Was that all I had to do?

Something thumped into the sand beside me, ruining my concentration. A Gaian, dark green armor, no robe, and carrying a pretty large weapon I could only describe as an Imperial Storm Trooper’s heavy blaster as designed by the Mass Effect crew, under the condition it look like something from Flash Gordon’s armory.

“Good thought on the trench there, mate!” She called, snapping a bipod down into position.

I closed my eyes again, focused…

A loud explosion shook the ground! Sand flew everywhere! A volley of energy rays sliced the air just over my head, cutting a massively bulky changeling to pieces as it stood up from a small crater!

“Gah! Fucking hell!” I growled angrily. War is not conductive to focu-

A bolt of green fire slammed into the sand next to me, instantly fusing the grains into a lump of glowing red glass.

“Ah shit…” the Gaian muttered, “‘scuze me.”

She suddenly pulled herself over me, a large chunk of her left side exposed thanks to a huge chunk taken out of her armor. The smell of burnt hair and flesh signed my nostrils as she slid over me and wrapped the mage in a hug, “Sorry hon… I got five minutes tops. Try not to die without me, okay?”

Her ears drooped. She wrapped an arm around the injured woman and nodded, “Okay… It… it just takes a week right?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll still remember everything.” She answered, stripping her helmet’s faceplate off to give the mare a kiss, before sliding a pair of brass knuckles on her hands and jumping up onto the top of the trench in one fluid movement, “Right! Let’s see how many I can take out before radon poisoning sets in!”

“The hell do you mean a week?” Someone else asked, “She’s going to die!”

“Cloning vats are awesome!” Yet someone else shouted over the sizzling of spellbolts.

“Oh that’s such horse apples!” A distinctly pony voice grumbled, “We stay dead and you all come back? Why the buck arn’t we just fielding you guys?!”

“I’m sorry the tech won’t work on ponies and there's only a few hundred of us who are important enough to get backups. Why don’t you use that anger to push that line back?” Someone else shouted back.

I took a deep breath, doing my best to clear my head. I needed to block everything out. Needed that moment of silence. Just fucking one! Because fucking hooves can’t pull a god damn trigger!

A flurry of green flames pelted the area! Liquefied sand ran down the trench walls. Jade yelped in pain! I snapped my head around, I could see the smoke drifting off the charred slice taken out of her head. I could feel her pain, see her flinching only feet away.

I felt my bones pop and grind. Hooves split into hands in a flurry of green sparks. I grabbed my M1. I vaulted out of the trench.

I can’t remember much after that.

Lily - 4th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Afternoon

I figured, as a veteran of two of Applewood’s bigger raids, that this battle would just be a really big version of one. This was absolutely nothing like a few hundred hungry peasants attacking with the goal of raiding a warehouse. This was an uncountable mass of people with their only goal being to kill us all.

I winced as a flurry of spellbolts slammed into the sand just above my head. I hadn’t dug this thing anywhere nearly deep enough!

Faust’s blood, why did the sand resist magic so much? I was down at least a third of my full strength from making a six pony wide hole in some sand!

My breath came in rapid gasps, I could hear people shouting around me, but not anything they were saying. It was all lost to the sheer panic response of being in a hail made of fire!

I vaguely noticed someone jump out of the trench as a spellbolt splattered against the shields my earrings provided. I felt the piercings flare with heat for a brief instant as the shields struggled under the bolt’s energy, then cooled, fortunately still working.

That had been motherbucking close!

The hay was I doing here? I barely knew how to fight! I was already low on power! Where the buck was Princess Celestia!? I needed that promised teleport, now!

Jade’s pained cry snapped me back into the moment. I twisted to see how badly she had been hurt. I felt a rotten boiling in my guts. I should have put up a shield this whole time, this was all my fault!

I flinched as I saw the line burnt across her head, taking a half hoof deep chunk clean out. Thank Faust she was a changeling and thus didn’t have a central nervous system, or that would have been fata-

David burst into green flames, transforming back to his dog form with the most vengeful growl of rage since the dawn of time! The second his hands reformed he grabbed the gun he’d been given and vaulted out of the trench, narrowly being missed by two separate bolts!

Oh no! Nopony ever told him changelings aren't killed with a head shot! It's not a vital organ! He thought they’d just killed- Wait, had Jade been hit in the hearts too?

I quickly glanced down, Jade groaned and pushed herself up, sparks of magic knitting the head wound shut. “Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow!” She moaned.

“Keep your head down if you’re not firing!” The blue mare next to her hissed in a distressed tone.

“Wait… Did David just jump up there?” Jade asked me with a horrified expression on her face.

“Oh bick mich!” I groaned.

I couldn’t let my friend get himself killed because he didn’t know interspecies anatomy!

I gathered my hooves under me and jumped out of the trench. I could see a huge chunk of the battle now. The densest part was where the hole in the shield had been opened. The entire area was an indistinguishable mass of eldritch fire, flashes of lightning, and smoke.

The rest of the camp was filled with isolated clusters of besieged ponies fighting off the Swarm from all sides. Like the one I was in. Completely surrounded including overhead, with only a half dozen pegasi keeping the airborne changelings from just hitting us from the air…

A combination of a sharp crack and a dull thud managed to pierce the sounds of battle. I saw a changeling jolt a full three feet up from where it had been hovering then drop to the sands in a heap, the entire barrel scooped out as if by a giant spoon!

What. The. Buck. Did. That?

I saw David out of the corner of my eye, turned my head just in time to see him smash the flat section of his weapon into a changeling’s face, pin it under foot, flip the weapon around and-

Oh. That’s what did that.

That was no musket. That thing kicked up sand like a small wind. Also it just fired three times in a row.

Three changelings converged on David from above! I threw a spellbolt, grazing one’s back. David spun, somehow hearing them through the chaos, shot one, side stepped, and punched a second as it passed, turning and shooting the third as it shot by.

“David! Jade ist in Ordnung! Gehen Sie zurück zu decken!” I called, reverting to Germane in panic as six bolts peppered the ground in front of me.

I saw his ears snap back. Something pushed him into a deeper rage than before! What the hay-

Oh bucking hay! He’d fought Germane speakers last time he was in a war… You’re a bucking idiot Lily!

David swept his gun up and fired multiple rounds, a loud absolutely delightful ping accompanying his last shot. I had no idea what made that ping, but it was a lovely sound. It was like seeing a single rose amid a field of smoldering embers.

A green starburst exploded in my face! Earring burned! Static crackled as my shields failed!

Right! Fighting now!

I put all the energy I could muster into throwing up a shield, the best one I knew how to do! Four layers, each made of small sections, rotating so no part could be hit twice in succession.

David fiddled with his gun a moment, swept it back up and continued firing. The airborne changelings drawing his cold, wordless, wrath. I had to get him out of here before-

A changeling zipped down behind him, horn glowing as it charged a bolt!

I jumped, throwing myself into the path of it’s dive, shields sparking as the changeling crushed itself hitting the barrier, throwing me into David’s back, knocking us both flat.

A loud ‘scree’ trumped from somewhere behind us, followed a fraction of a second later by a pink shield racing over the two of us, pushing the Swarm back, but sliding harmlessly over the two of us.

“You two! Get back here! The shields won't stop them for long.” Princess Celestia shouted.

I looked up, the mages working the shield-amps had extended a shield over our position, making a small safe spot in the chaos of battle that protected the pylons and everyone nearby. The bulk of the Swarm smashed against the shield, or threw spellbolts at it, flashes of energy sizzling up as the shield’s power was slowly drained.

I turned to help David up as I slid off of him, only noticing the half dozen burn marks from spellbolts then. He was hurt bad. Back, arms, legs, neck…

“Gott nein!” I gasped, quickly holding a hoof to his neck to check for a pulse.

It was there, faint, but there. Just unconscious. Good.

I carefully picked David up in my magic and carried him back to the trench.

“Is he…” Jade whimpered as I lowered him to the kinda-safety of the trench’s bottom.

“Nein, he’s alive…” I sighed. “He thought you died when you were shot.”

“Everypony!” Celestia called, “The battle is going poorly. Luna has asked me to put all my power into these shields. We cannot let them take us down! Everyone who can fight needs to expand those trenches and get ready to attack the moment they break through! Luna is sending reinforcements the second they have an opening to get through the enemy line!”

The sudden flurry of activity blurred together into a chaotic mess of digging, packing sand into walls, and mages conjuring salt and iron dust to paint wards onto the ground. If only my particular art didn’t take time had calm to use! I could make each pony’s skin as hard as iron, maximize their magical throughput so they could use as much power at once as their horn would permit!

Digging was good too though. Yes. Earthwork fortifications! So far they were pretty helpful! Hahaha! Oh Faust I was so dead… There were millions of them! Millions of them and maybe a few tens of thousands of us…

Maybe I could get a pass on account of being Dusk’s friend? I hoped that’s how it worked. I mean, I’d let my friends not die if I were Death. Please don’t actually be dead… Please just be recovering and thus able to put me back after these things turn me into paste!

I didn’t notice until the fourth time my name was shouted that the watch Sky had given me was glowing through the side of my saddlebag. I took the small thing out with my magic, hoping it wasn’t about to explo-

“Oh thank bucking Celestia!” Sky’s voice shouted, a tiny static image of him on the watch face, “Tell everypony around you to get the buck down!”

Something exploded behind Sky, three sapphire shelled Changelings suddenly flying across the background as if thrown. “Sky! I can’t hold them off forever! Give up and let’s go!”

“One minute! I finally got through!” Sky shouted back.

“W-was?” I asked in horrified shock.

“We’re being hit, hard!” Sky yelled, “They dug through the floor. I guess they realised this would be your fallback point. Look, you need tell everypony to find cover! Kev and I were trying to get a torpedo bank online to provide artillery support, the Swarm broke something when digging through, and something launched.

“I have no bucking clue what it is, and I can’t abort it because the controls are fried! It was sitting in a tube we hadn’t checked yet. Everything was locked onto your position because we were going to fire as soon as we cleared the last- Just get down! Everypony get down-”

His voice melted into the sound of shattering glass as the entire world turned white.

Sound came back first. There was a sound like rushing wind and a raging river. It consumed everything in the world.

Sight came back second. I was sliding down a flowing river of sand on the side of a huge crater. It was like a huge lake bed just appeared beneath us.

I slid down the side, ponies, changelings, piles of burning something, it didn’t matter everything slid down the steep rim, tumbling into a heap at the flat bottom.

I lay there groaning, battered, bruised, and deaf in one ear at the bottom of a pile of bodies. Some alive, others not. After a few seconds I started to squirm free of the pile, slowly pulling myself free.

I was now standing in a flat crater bottom, maybe a hundred meters across, with the entire battlefield packed into it. The sky was mostly changeling-free now, but plenty of the Swarm were worming their way free of the sand on the crater walls, floor, and from the pile of bodies. As I watched, surviving ponies began to resume the battle as the Swarm seemed to just take the cataclysm in stride.

“Well… I suppose it’s good most of their stronghold is in my hooves now.” A very horrifyingly familiar voice said nonchalantly. “We wouldn’t want another one of those, now would we?”

I turned to look in horror at an entirely unscathed Chrysalis's, calmly trotting towards me, only a few body lengths away. “Now then, where were we before your idiot friend interrupted us?”

I felt my heart size up in panic. She was literally resuming right where she left off? Why? What was the point?

“Ah yes, that’s right.” Chrysalis laughed, horn starting to blaze green.

Oh. Buck. No!

34 Firestorm

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Jade - 4th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Afternoon

I came too under a pile of things. Ponies. Parts of ponies. Changelings. Bits of Changelings. Burning things. Unidentifiable burning things. Pretty much the most disgusting and horrifying thing possible to find yourself under.

A terrified scream started to build up in my throat, and then an eyeball fell onto my own eye.

My horrified shriek sent a wave of magic blasting outwards from myself, pushing everything back hard enough for me to hear things crack and snap. My breath came in huffing gasps as I stood, trembling in the center of a cleared ring of space, doing my best to not throw up.

“Oof… Thanks.” A mare’s voice groaned. “That was a heavy… uh… pile of gross. Ew...”

I saw a mint colored mare out of the corner of my eye. She had a harp for a cutiemark, or at least some sort of stringed instrument, and a short bushy mane half green and half white. She looked battered, but not badly hurt. The remains of some dull green plate armor were held to her by a ragged harness.

Her gold eyes lit up as she saw me, “Oh hey! Luna sent me to find you… Not that it matters now. That blast definitely took out the mage’s circle…”

“What?” I asked shakily.

“The plan was to lure them all in by making her frustrated at only being able to get a few changelings in at a time, break the shield, rush in, then we were going to fire off a huge spell Twilight spent a few days charging, and just fry them all with all of us safe in the inner shields.” The mare stated matter of factly. “But yeah, this hole definitely broke that circle… Unless…”

She trailed off and tapped a small gem held to her left hoof by a thin leather band.

“Twilight.” She grunted, “Twilight, it’s Lyra. Was that your spell just now?”

“No. I don’t know what that was!” Twilight’s voice came back immediately. “I’m in the air, whatever that was it took a lot of them with it… and us too… It looks like the Swarms’ picking itself back up- I see Chrysalis, she’s alive! Cadance, if we rush her now we have a chance.”

I looked up, wondering where the two princesses were that they could see Chrysalis. Fearing the mad Queen being anywhere near-

There she was. Just a dozen or so yards away. Standing over Lily. Horn glowing with eldritch fury.

Chrysalis reared up, a cruel smile splitting her face! A lavender and pink blur smashed into her from above! A flash of white light blinded me for an instant, vision clearing to reveal Twilight, Cadance, and Chrysalis squared off within spitting distance of me.

“Ohhh not good!” Lyra eeped. She pointed to Lily’s trembling body, “She’s with you, right?”

“Y-yes.” I managed to squeak.

Lyra’s horn shone gold, Lily’s rear hooves were gripped in her magic aura, and the girly-colt was quickly dragged to Lyra’s side “Hey there, cutie flanks!” Lyra teased, “How about you just not-die today so you can see my wife get all fake-angry at me for that flirt?”

“Ja! Okay!” Lily squeaked.

Lyra's horn blazed again, this time conjuring a few layers of hexagonal shaped blocks of what looked to be solid light to form a dome over us. “Okay. We hang behind this nice shield and hope to Luna we don't get directly hit!”

“We should run!” I protested.

“Yeah, no. This is gonna get Tirek ugly.” Lyra muttered. “That thing didn’t even blink when she took the Element right to the face… Cadance beat her last time, so we hang back and watch our best chance do it’s thing because that’s an elite mob that’s also way above our level, to use a gamer's term.”

I wanted to ask Lyra what the hay that all meant, but Twilight’s voice drifting across the hot sands interrupted me.

“I don’t get it. You have all this power, you even shook off the Elements of Harmony like they were nothing, but you only kill and destroy! Why?” Twilight demanded.

“Oh, you want to know how I beat your evil little weapon?” Chrysalis cackled, “Telling you wont let you use it on me. Why not? Your precious Elements find the good in someone and force it to the surface, blatantly violating their free will and agency to force them to rethink their moral code with a favorable bias towards your own desires. Your weapon undoes the base foundations of someone's very being. I learned this when I had yet to become the beautiful Queen I am now, back when your little toy was new.

“I refuse to allow my own will to be corrupted! I found a way to cut every last drop of that ‘goodness’ out of my soul and destroy it. There is nothing left for you to control me with Twilight. I am free of your control, of everyone’s control! Because I am the rightful heir to the Changeling Throne! I am the High Queen of all Hives! And we changelings own this planet, you are just over intelligent livestock we let get out of hoof!”

I winced. That was… wrong. By the Sun’s Light, we live on their love! “How can you even think that?” I said, jaw hanging open in shock.

I saw Cadance’s eyes narrow. “Twilight, Chrysalis, mind if I cast the first spell of our little showdown?”

Twilight nodded.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, “Like it will matter. You only defeated me because I hadn’t fed properly in a month… So much positivity, everywhere! All the time! You ponies are just gross.”

Cadance’s wings snapped open, Her horn flashed blue, a sharp crack split the air, Chrysalis jumped, a blur passed under her, a series of small daggers peppered the ground where she had been standing like steel rain!

One whistled through the air, slamming into Lyra’s shield and penetrating into two of the layers, hanging in the air. I looked at it nervously, hovering just meters away from my eye. Stuck in the air.

“That’s why we have shields.” Lyra said with a relieved sigh.

“Ja! Shields are good! Let’s have more of them!” Lily exclaimed, quickly casting a defensive spell and adding a layer of blue to Lyra’s old barrier.

“Heh! I like you.” Lyra quipped.

I decided to focus on the fight. It felt a little bad to sit back and just watch the flurry of quick teleports, flashes of magic, and hissing of weapons. Chrysalis's destroyed my home. Killed my family. Hurt my friends… Should I do something?

Yes!

But, what could I actually do?

Cadance vanished in a flash of white light, appearing behind Chrysalis and swinging the spear-hammer-spike-thing straight down with both forehooves, slicing her sword in horizontally with her telekinesis! Chrysalis ducked left, avoiding the attack without even looking as she made the ground beneath Twilight erupt into a huge pillar of lightning!

Twilight suddenly slid out of the surging lighting, a pale shield glowing around her, throwing six separate spellbolts and a ray of ice at Chrysalis, who blocked them with a telekinetically thrown pair of ponies, spun, and fired a broiling bolt of fire at Cadance!

Cadance swept her sword up, the blade splitting the line of flames in two, which shot around her. “Not so easy when I have my gear, is it?” She barked angrily.

“Oh? You wanted a challenge?” Chrysalis smirked.

The sound of wings buzzing made me look up, the sky grew dark again, covered once more by changelings. Or at least, mostly covered. This time there were distinct holes in their wall, and it was only one layer thick.

The mass of changelings swarmed down in a tornado shape, heading right for Cadance! She vanished instantly behind a sea of spellbolts, only the occasional changeling falling to the sand, thrown weapon, or blue ray providing even a hint that she was still alive behind the wall of enemies.

Twilight gasped as Cadance vanished, a look of grim calculation taking over her face-

“All EUP Troops.” Lyra said grimly. “Everypony, Princess Cadance is pinned under that cloud of changelings. Fire everything you got at them!”

As bolts of magic began to scorch the air like an inverted rain, Chrysalis cackled. “Ahhaha! Half of my Swarm is not even here! But they will be… soon. Look how few of your ponies still stand Twilight! Celestia is bleeding out behind me, Luna unconscious, your element’s useless, and help from the Emeralds well… They have their hooves full. In truth this battle is down to you, and to me.”

“That may be true.” Twilight said, jumping and snapping her wings open to hover a dozen feet off the ground, “But you’re dead even with me! This fight could go either way, and you know it. I know you, you only taunt when your victory isn’t certain. You won’t get into my head again. Mind games will not work a third time!”

“Oh you silly pony! I taunt when victory is certain too!” Chrysalis’s horn burned green, violently ripping an orange colored stallion from the crater’s rim and holding him in the air above Chrysalis’s head, “Your coltfriend, if I’m not mistaken?”

The orange pony gurgled.

“Put him down!” Twilight shouted in a panicked tone. “This is between us! Your fight is with me, not him!”

“Yes.” She agreed, smiling in delight, “And to win, I must break you.”

Chrysalis's horn and eyes blazed a bright green. A savage grin split her cheeks. A loud wet ripping sound echoed off the crater walls. Two halves of a pony and a screaming Alicorn hit the ground at the same time.

Lyra gasped in horror. Lily heaved, vomiting to one side. I felt my entire body go numb.

The instant Twilight hit the ground in her heart shredded dive, Chrysalis fired! The pony wide spellbolt slammed into Twilight, throwing her across the ground where she lay, motionless.

“Silly pony!” Chrysalis chided. “This is why you never leave your opponent alive. They just get away, and then come to despise you. They learn all about you. They find your weakness, and then, if they are me, they aim for your weakness, something precious to you, and take it away!”

Something in me snapped. I clenched my teeth hard enough for them to crack. My shoulders shook as an all consuming rage started to rip apart the last shred of self preservation I had.

Lily’s ears flattened, her queasy face radiating fear, “Jade! Nein! We have to run! We can get away.”

“No!” I growled, “She isn’t going to hurt one more family!”

I felt my wings snap open.

“Breathe, Jade! You’re a leaf! You’re a leaf in a calm stream!” Lily pleaded.

“Buck the stream!” I screamed, launching forward, using my telekinesis to smash through the shields in a shower of sparks.

“Stupid pony…” Chrysalis muttered stepping forward, horn glowing, ready to finish Twilight off.

“Murderer!” I screamed, drawing a hoof back to strike, putting my full speed into-

Chrysalis wheeled and caught me by the throat with a hoof!

“Urk!” I gurgled.

“Ah, you. Your death is a bit overdue, isn't it?” Chrysalis giggled holding me up by my neck.

A crushing blow slammed into my stomach! The ground shot away from me! Air whistled past my ears! A crackling ray of emerald fire lanced up and seared my right shoulder, leaving a blistering line as Chiten boiled away, then reformed.

I twisted, stretching both my rear hooves out like a spear, and rammed myself down with my magic as hard as I could! The ground screamed back towards me!

“Chrysalis!” I barked, wanting to see her eyes as I stabbed my hooves into them!

She looked up. Her eyes widened, her horn glowed, preparing another shot. I slammed into the side of her head with a vengeful scream, throwing Chrysalis into the ground with a snapping crunch!

An instant later Chrysalis climbed to her hooves, sand flowing off her as she pulled her way out of the shallow crater. She twisted her neck, a loud pop crossing the distance as I lowered my head wings flared, ready to charge again.

“Fearless… Untapped power…” Chrysalis mused. “You remind me of myself at your age. I’d best ensure you never become a threat!”

Her horn burned green, charging a spell.

“Take your best shot!” I growled.

She fired! I jumped left, the beam lanced over my shoulder! I buzzed my wings, racing forwards, pulling up and over the beam as she adjusted. I dove, falling under the beam again, surged up, pushed myself off the ground with my rear hooves and jackknifed my right hoof into Chrysalis's throat!

She sailed through the air, then twisted as she landed on her hooves, and skidded across the sand. I jumped, wings buzzing for altitude, to send another kick right into her black heart! A green flash sailed past me, a second grazing my left wing! A wall of green flames suddenly filled my vision, smashing into me and throwing me back!

I smashed through the crater wall, causing a flood of sand to rush to the crater’s base! I rolled violently across the ground, skidding to a stop next to a moaning pegasus mare in a blood stained helmet. Pain exploded in my chest as Chrysalis slammed down atop me with a violent shriek!

Enraged, I threw a spellbolt, catching her in the barrel, blasting a few shards of chitin into dust! She grunted, lifted me in her magical grip, slammed me repeatedly into the ground then threw me violently over her shoulder, back into the crater. A second wall of green filled my vision! Burning pain hit every part of my body as I was flung back into the opposite crater wall with a dull crunch!

I moaned picking myself up from the shifting, crumbling sand wall. Chrysalis's appeared, walking through the dust my flight had kicked up, eyes burning emerald with a sadistic grin plastered on her face.

Her horn flashed, I jumped, a spellbolt streaking underneath me. My wings snapped open, magic racing along them as the battered limbs repaired themselves, then buzzed furiously as I arced through the air, a frenzied volley of bolts singing my tail!

I twisted, brought my horn to bear on Chrysalis and pushed every ounce of magic I had into it! Raw, undirected, with only rage to guide it! A bolt of neon green lightning exploded from the tip of my horn, connecting with Chrysalis instantly! She screamed, the bolt throwing her back into the wall opposite where I had just been.

My horn throbbed, pounded, and stung. I felt almost completely drained. But rage kept me moving!

I threw myself forward with my magic, blazing through the air to slam both hooves squarely into Chrysalis barrel, aiming for her second and third hearts! I twisted, slamming my forehooves into the ground and aiming a double kick under her chin! My hooves slammed home, I threw as much of my telekinesis as I could into the strike and she went sailing up into the sky with a sickening crack!

I had to press the advantage! Keep beating her until she was mush under my hooves! She would die this bucking hour!

I launched myself after her. A heartbeat later I caught up, then passed turned around, and threw myself down with my magic, slamming my rear hooves squarely into her back! She jerked midair, instantly reversing direction, shooting down and away from me.

“You’re not going to land!” I growled, gripping her left wing with my magic and ripping back as hard as I could.

It came free with a sound like tearing lace. Chrysalis's spun towards the ground, trying to slow herself with the one wing while the other regenerated.

She slammed into the center of the crater, crumpling over a pony sized ball of sandstone with a sickening crunch! An odd low whine began to pierce the air. I dropped from the sky, landing a second drop-kick into her back! I felt her chest give way between my kick and the sandstone orb with a satisfying crack!

Chrysalis gurgled. Her eyes burned emerald, out of the corner of my eye I saw a thousand changelings drop out of the thinned cloud around Cadance, collapsing lifeless to the earth as Chrysalis reared up, whole again, and smashed the back of her head into my face!

“Would you just die already!?” Chrysalis screamed.

She threw a bolt of green-blue flames, it sliced along my left side, burning away fluff and chitin alike, leaving a two hoof sized hole in my side! I felt my organs rush towards the gap, pressure trying to force them out!

No! I’d used too much power. I couldn’t regenerate!

“Gah! Stay in your home organs! Mommy needs you!” I whimpered, falling to the ground in a heap.

“There!” Chrysalis spat, “You’re finished… With only time to punish you appropriately for being a traitor to my crown left before your delightful painful demise.”

Her horn glowed. The sky darkened. The sound of countless buzzing wings filling the air once more.

“Ah, the rest of my Swarm.” Chrysalis cooed in a sadistic twist of a mother’s voice, “Right on time! It took quite a lot of them to replenish my stren-”

A lavender blur smashed into Chrysalis’s side with the sound of a thunder clap! A heartbroken primal scream of rage shattered my eardrums, muting the world as I watched a badly burnt Twilight rip Chrysalis’s forelegs clean off, toss them aside, and then pummel the evil Queen with all four of her own hooves!

The enraged Alicorn was struck by spellbolt, after spellbolt, each one burning and ripping away fur, skin, and muscle! Twilight didn’t have a buck left to give, her magic’s aura rushing over her body, knitting together wounds faster than they could be inflicted!

My hearing came back in time for one last enraged scream as Twilight lifted Chrysalis in her telekinetic grip, smashing her several times into the ground with sickening crunches before throwing Chrysalis's rag dolled body into the sandstone sphere! As her battered form struck the orb, a loud crackling filled the air before the whole thing exploded in a bright flash of pure white light!

A column of that pure white raced up through the sky, a rain of sliced up changelings falling down from the swarm above before the flash finally dissipated, Twilight collapsing to the ground as it ended, moaning and sobbing over the rear half of Chrysalis’s corpse.

I felt a rush of joy run through my hearts! She was gone! Dead!

“Oh… praise… the sun!” I gasped, my left side starting to burn in agony.

A healer would be amazing… right about… no-

“No!” I gasped, watching as Chrysalis’s remains were engulfed in the dark emerald flames of a shape change!

The fire raced over the rear legs, transforming them into that of a regular, ordinary, nothing of a drone.

“Silly pony!” Chrysalis’s voice echoed a million times from overhead. “I transcended having but one body long ago. I am the Swarm, I am your death, I am your suffering. I am Chrysalis!”

I felt a million needles of fear sink into my mind. How could anyling do that to their hive!? What did she even do?!

She’s taken full direct control in the same method as the Overmind once did. Clover’s memories supplied. If only those fragments of information could provide an answer to how to survive th-

Overload an avatar with telepathic noise. The thought exploded into my mind the second I asked for it. I even understood why! I would be able to confine her to one body by bombarding it with so much telepathic nonsense that there was no room left for her to jump to another body!

Not that it mattered much. I could barely move. Twilight was sobbing her brains out over there. I could see an exhausted Cadance out of the corner of my eye, gasping for breath atop a pile of changeling corpses, too exhausted to move. Who knows where anyone else was.

This was it… The end.

The Swarm fell over us like a blanket. Changelings landing everywhere one could stand. The others flew overhead in large clusters. They didn’t fire a shot. Not one spellbolt. Nopony had any fight left in them anymore. It was clear who won this battle.

Green flames enveloped a bright strawberry red shelled scout who was close to me, her features twisting and contorting into the savage vestige of Chrysalis amid delighted laughter.

“Hahaha! Ah Twilight! That was beautiful! I’ll remember just how deeply I broke you until the end of time.” The monster said, savoring the moment. “I think I’ll dine on your misery just a while longer… It’s such a lovely taste. A shame you’re about to die Jade. Negative emotions are so delightful to taste once you build up an immunity to their poison. They are just so… perfect. Much like this day!”

The changelings around us cleared out a large area as Chrysalis walked forward towards me. “Now, where were we? Ah yes, I was watching you slowly bleed to death, while offering additional torment. Just a moment.”

I did the only thing I could do. I gave her the harshest glare I could muster. I don’t think she noticed it at all as her horn glowed with magic.

“You know, it worked well with Twilight. Maybe, I can get a similar flavor from you!” Chrysalis remarked.

David’s unconscious body floated into my field of view. Held in Chrysalis’s telekinetic grip.

“No! Please no!” I begged, eyes instantly widening, hearts pounding in pure fear.

“Mmm… I might have, but that look on your face… Sorry, but I like it!” She hissed.

She jerked David’s body up further, a second green aura drifting into my vision as Chrysalis mocked, “But a simple ripping apart is just so… Well, unfitting. I have this lovely gun here, a simple, crude weapon, but rather appealing in what it can do up close, don't you think?”

Chrysalis plucked the familiar sunrise colored weapon from the air and moved it to point at David’s head, never breaking eye contact with me while she did it.

“Please! You’ll get the book! I’m the last Diamond, I’m dying. You have what you want, let him go!” I sobbed.

She erupted into genuine laughter, spending several minutes shaking. As she finished and wiped a tear from one eye, David’s eyes slowly peeled open.

No! Why?! Why couldn’t he go out unconscious?

“You forgot something important.” Chrysalis sang, “I also want to see you suffer horribly for daring to inconvenience me. Now, I think killing your mate with his own treasured weapon before your eyes is quite the fitting punishment, wouldn’t you agree?”

David’s eyes blinked fully open at her words, focused immediately on boomsticks four barrels hovering in front of his nose, then flicked up to Chrysalis’s face, then over to me. He looked into my eyes for a full second, nodded to himself, then slowly reached out with one hand, gently gripping the guns handle, and winked.

Oh! Well then…

“W-well what if there’s something that would make me feel even worse? If I told you would you let him go?” I pleaded, putting as much emotion into my voice as I could.

“Mmm… perhaps. Or I might just do both.” Chrysalis confessed, “You’ve done a remarkable job of making me hate every last fiber of your being.”

Her eyes narrowed with a pure blind hatred that literally hurt to look at. David winced as he maneuvered Boomstick’s barrels around, and squared them to her head. His finger slowly crept up to the trigger…

“My family… You killed them. You have to know how much they meant to me…” I said, trying not to look at David too much.

“Quite so. I know the minds of all Changelings in my Swarm.” She commented, “But that’s irrelevant, killing them in front of you is not that appealing sounding to me. I kill parents in front of children far too often it’s grown… flavorless.”

“Hey…” David grunted.

“Oh! The lover boy is awake!” Chrysalis cooed mockingly, turning to face the gun barrels.

Her eyes flew open in alarm! I quickly reached out with my telepathy, throwing every single random thought, feeling, emotion, memory, and even random nonsense I could think of through the link, funneling it towards Chrysalis’s mind.

She immediately froze, joints locking up! I felt her mind panic, trying to make sense of the huge blast of information I was throwing at her! Sun’s Light! Her Swarm was helping her sort it all out! I could only hold her for a few sec-

“Gotcha, bitch!” David shouted, finger tightening around the trigger.

Boomstick’s thunderous roar split the air! Chrysalis’s head blossomed into a bright blue flame! Instantly her entire body disintegrated, ashes falling into the wind, glowing a bright cobalt blue! A line of flame shot towards the next nearest changeling, incinerating it as the thing’s mouth opened, screaming in Chrysalis’s voice!

The fire spread, streaking through the entirety of the Swarm! A million shrieking screams of complete agony rippled through the air, overlapping and mixing in ways I knew would haunt me until my dying day. The Firestorm raged, burning with the fury of an angry god who wanted nothing more than to paint the desert with the ashes of it’s victims.

I saw the fire skip over several changelings. They dropped over onto the sand as if dead, just as the fires burst into a million flashes of bright blue light with a final hissing roar of fury!

Then it was still. Unnaturally still. Absolutely still.

David lay on the sand moaning. Everyone in my fading vision was unconscious, or laying on the ground moaning in pain. But I couldn’t help but feel a sense of grim satisfaction. This quest was at last over. No one would suffer my fate. I could go in peace, if that’s what the world wanted in exchange for the Queen’s death.

Suddenly the ground in front of me trembled! Grains of sand started to heave and slide as something forced it’s way through the earth!

No! No! No! No! No! N-

A battered, bloody, and bruised Princess Luna heaved herself out from under the sand with a loud gasp for air!

-Oh. Okay. Good.

The last thing I saw before the world faded away was a shocked Luna look around herself then ask, “The buck did I miss?”

35 Into the sunset

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Lily - 4th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Afternoon

The blinding flashes of blue faded out of the sky, almost exactly how fireworks trail down after a grand finale. For several moments, the battlefield was completely silent, obscured by a cloud of blowing ash and plumes of a gray-green smoke. The long silent moment after a storm, signifying the end to the horrors of before.

Then, the silhouette of a tall Alicorn arose from the center of the crater, obscured by the thinning smoke. The smoke was too thick to see exactly who it was, but I honestly didn’t care. She stood still, looked around herself then shouted, “Victory! We have victory!”

Lyra sighed in relief beside me, and canceled her shield. “Thank Celestia! That… Was close. Closer than normal even.”

“N-normal?” I asked hesitantly.

She flashed me a genuinely happy grin, “Hey, cheer up! You’re a refugee right? That’s what Cole said anyways. If you’re going to live here, you need to just keep your chin up, smile, and roll your eyes when life decides to take a dump on you. A cheerful attitude is your best defense against life’s uncaring cruelties.”

Her horn glowed as she slipped a pair of small plastic wrapped bars from a pouch in her armor, and held one out to me, “Here, have a Manabar. There’s going to be a ton of ponies to dig out of the sand. We’ll need everypony at full power.”

I took the bar curiously, “So… It’s like a mana potion, but easier to carry?”

Lyra nodded, “Yep! Puts most unicorns right back at full… I need about five myself, but I’m already pretty good on power. So have a spare! If you like it, Bonbon makes em, and they are amazing snacks too! You can totally buy them by the box if you lik- Uh… We can talk about that later. For now, see if you can’t save somepony’s life.”

I unwrapped the bar and did my best to eat the surprisingly chocolatey, minty, and creamy treat-like restorative. Faust’s mane this was delicious! I was definitely going to buy a few more of these sometime!

Lyra tapped the gem holding her messenger-spell as I munched down on that piece of pure goodness. “Knights of the Rampant Moon.” Lyra addressed. Then in a hesitant voice she asked, “Girls, it’s Lyra. Who else is okay?”

“Cole here. I’m under the sand somewhere… But okay. I’ll be out once I work out which way up is.” Colgate's voice answered.

“Octy and I are alright. Little singed though. That fireworks show decided to happen right where we were.” A mare’s voice answered.

“Bon-bon here! My left leg’s broken, but there’s a medic nearby already. Meep’s here too. She’s unconscious. Burned through all her energy.” Another mare answered.

“Good to hear everypony’s alright! Bonnie, I’ll be there with hugs for that leg in five. Let’s see what we can do to help the clean up.” Lyra said starting to trot off into the center of the crater.

“Wait,” a refined, highborn voice asked over Lyra’s spell, “How on Equis did you break a bone?”

“I wound up arm wrestling a soldier who thought their mouth was an acceptable substitute for arms after I blew them off.” The injured pony answered. “What I don’t get is why regeneration hasn’t fixed it yet. I’ve seen cuts heal before my eyes thanks to that bitey phase of your’s, Octy.”

“Hey, like dad said, vampirism dilutes with each link in the chain. You probably just cant heal bone. Don’t sweat it, nothing a few healing potions won’t fix.” A laid back mare’s voice quipped.

I blinked, tilted my head, then shook it. “Wait, excuse me, vampirism?”

Lyra looked over her shoulder and gave me a wink, “Equestria’s a weird place. Long story short, if your best friend is a vampire, and you’re playing Twister, don’t say ‘bite me’ as a victory quip.”

I raised one eyebrow. “You’re telling me you’re an evil undead monster?”

“Nah! Turns out most modern vampires are nice.” She said waving a hoof dismissively. “Look me up in Ponyville later, I’ll tell you the whole story about the time my friends and I had dinner at Ravenloft. It all starts there. Seriously though, people are bleeding to death and need help.”

But! Undead! I needed to know how the magic and biology behind that worked! There would be so many amazing things I could potentially do if I worked out how to make a stable immortal organ! I could make sure nopony ever had to lose a loved one aga-

My eyes widened in horror as I remembered that orange pegasus being ripped in two. Torso pulling away from hips… The total devastation on Princess Twilight’s face… No one should have to loose anypony like that.

If only I’d been able to do something to stop it! I stamped a hoof into the ground angrily. I was a mother bucking coward. I shouldn’t have let knowing I didn't have any relevant skills hold me back. I should have tried! There could have been some-

Lily you idiot! You’re a motherbucking biomancer, and that pegasus’s brain is intact! For the next few moments...

I turned and bolted towards where I remembered the fallen Pegasi being thrown. How long had it been? Three, maybe four minutes? I had time!

The brain’s a sensitive organ, it’s alright for about three minutes after the heart stops beating. Then it starts to turn to mush. I was good, but I wasn't unmushing-a-brain-and-keeping-that-pony’s-memories-and-persona-intact good. Being torn in half is not a quick way to die, it would take about a minute for his heart to give up trying to keep blood flowing.

I also hadn’t tried reviving somepony from clinical death yet… Or any kind of death for that matter. But buck it! I had to do something to help! Everypony else had!

If I could get his heart restarted, the brain would be alright, and I could take the time needed to put his back half back on. I couldn’t stop him being hurt, but I damn well could unhurt him!

As I drew near the mostly-dead pegasi, I could make out Twilight, hunched over his upper half, holding it close to her chest and whispering between tears. I felt my heart size up, shame at having failed to act still trying to punch me in the face.

“I’m sorry…” Twilight whispered as I reached her dead-kinda coltfriend’s side, “I didn't tell you… because I thought I would die… not you. I didn’t want you to be twice as sad… You’re going to be a dad… R-remember when I said it was impossible? That I’m sterile? I fixed it…”

I think I made some sort of noise of shameful regret because Twilight’s wings snapped open! Twisting around with a growl of righteous fury Twilight screamed, “Stay away from us!”

That did it.

I had to fix this.

Now.

I planted my hooves firmly in the sand and put on my best ‘professional’ voice, “Ma’am, I’m a fully trained and mentored Germane Biomancer. I have about thirty seconds to try and restart his heart before he’s beyond saving. You can let me work, or let him die. Choose.”

Twilight’s wrathful face jumped to a shocked expression of hope, and then jumped again to a frenzied urgency as she shoved the mangled body into my face! “Fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix!”

I knelt down, using my magic to gently lay the body on the sand. This was definitely the most damage to one pony I’d ever seen. Not the worst thing I’d fixed, that distinction went to an advanced case of Scleroderma, but this was definitely the most physical damage ever. Fortunately, nothing I could do would make it any worse. It’s not like I could kill him more.

I took a deep breath to focus and calm myself. Alright Lily, you’re almost at full power. It’s just a heart. Just some cardiac arrest. You can do this. It used to be routine.

I focused my magic, pushing it through the remains of his circulatory system, gently nudging and holding the blood vessels open, while also pinching off every broken end, sealing up the system, as my magic reached the heart. It was completely still, totally flatlined. As expected.

I carefully nudged the heart with my magic, simulating the normal beating process, manually moving each of the four parts. Left contract, right expand. Right contract, left expand. One, two. One, two…

After a few seconds I had the normal pace down, a quick switch of my concentration and the magic holding his veins open transmuted into fresh blood. A second pulse of magic restored the heart’s proper electrolyte balance. I kept manually moving the heart for a few more moments, bit my lip nervously, then let go of everything but the open ends I was clamping shut.

His heart began to slow. Pittering back down to a still flatline. “Oh like hay you’re going to just die after that!” I growled. “You’re going to be a bucking dad! And that means you have to be better than mine was!”

Though admittedly, dead before I had been born would have been better…

I went to give the heart some more manual beats. The slowing suddenly stopped, holding steady at about thirty beats per minute. Okay. Any slower than that and he’s dying again.

Not wanting to give Twilight any false hope, I decided to check the brain before saying anything to the mare nervously fidgeting in front of me. I was very sure that if I had bad news I would be restarting her heart next…

My magic gently probed through his gray matter. It seemed intact, but nothing was-

A spark of activity shot through the Medulla, then the Pons, the Midbrain lit up, “Ja!” I exclaimed breaking into a grin, “Wherever his plot-end is, I need it now!”

I neglected to mention that the higher brain functions were still not working. Everything needed to keep his body alive was here. Normal healers could work on fixing the comatose issue if I he didn’t wake up when his body normalized post fleshwelding.

The pegasus’s rear half materialized in a flash of light, teleported by Twilight in a flurry of hopeful panic!

“He’s alive?” She asked eagerly, needingly, will-literally-die-if-told-otherwise.

I nodded, “Ja. But only just! Also-he’s-comatose… But I can fix this!”

Right! Spine. Spine would be tri-

His spine was broken on one of the disk’s not the vertebrae. That made things a lot simpler! I carefully aligned the two sections of spine, then started to examine the exact state of the connections.

“Oh… horse apples…” I muttered to myself.

I didn’t recognize how the nerves should go at all! This was my first time trying to fix a pony spine that was broken worse than a slipped disk. I didn’t know what I was looking at!

“What’s wrong?!” Twilight asked in a worried yelp.

“I ah… I’ve never worked on a pony with spine this badly damaged… I don’t know how the nerves go.” I explained.

Twilight wiped a line of sweat off her brow, “Whew! No problem! One Anatomy crash course, coming right up!”

She talked me through everything. It was like having a reference book on my desk while taking a test. Start with the dorsal root, then make sure it’s attached to the dural sheath, which is surrounded by the epidural tissue. But before putting that tissue back, connect the nerve fiber bundles which run alongside it.

Twilight made an impossible job I would have botched easy. Why the hay couldn’t she have been in my trigonometry class?

“Thank you.” I said as I finished connecting the outermost layers of the spine.

“Don’t thank me!” Twilight said seriously, “I don’t know how to do the actual healing… Magically I mean. I would love a few pointers later… If you don’t mind.”

I chuckled, “I don’t mind. With a little luck, your coltfriend can sit in on those pointers too… Uh, that came out wrong.” I said with a wince.

“What do you mean wrong?” Twilight asked genuinely confused.

She hadn’t noticed that accidental innuendo? Good! Very good.

“Nothing, sorry. Equish is not my first language. I thought I said something wrong is all.” I said in my best ‘I didn’t do anything!’ voice.

“Oh. So, what do we do next?” Twilight asked.

“Das circulatory system. That’s an easy one.” I answered.

Reconnecting each blood vessel was going to be a bit slow going. This would take a minute or three. A few minutes into the procedure, I decided to try a joke on Twilight to calm her nerves. Mostly because her frantic circling pacing was freaking me out!

“Is there anything you would like me to tweak while I’m in here?” I said jokingly.

“I’d be happy with him not being dead!” Twilight barked fearfully.

“I was just trying to-”

Twilight’s features took on a serious look as she mulled something over, “Although… No. It’s fine. Just fix him. Please.”

Right. Lavender Princess doesn't understand humor. Noted.

From there, everything was simple. I’d repaired a million hemorrhages before. Putting all of the organs back where they belonged was just like fixing one big abdominal hemorrhage. Stick everything in, hold it there with magic, stretch muscles and skin over everything, regenerate what is necessary, and weld the flesh together. Easy.

I took a deep breath as the last line of skin knitted shut. “There we are. Ein whole pegasus. Little burned… A little scarred… Comatose, but alive. Danke für helping me withthe spine, Princess.” I sighed happily.

“C-can you bring him out of the coma?” Twilight asked apprehensively, “I… admittedly am terrible with healing and medical magic… It’s always been my weak spot…”

“Ja, I can try.” I answered.

I had only one trick in my hooves that had ever brought somepony out of a coma. It had only worked one time, and I think it was luck. The brain is a tricky organ to work with, but fortunately if everything else was working okay, it usually would sort itself out in time. Since my trick wouldn’t hurt anything, I might as well give it a shot.

“Oh! Wait!” Twilight exclaimed urgently, “Can you make him smell things?”

“Eh?” I asked giving her a curious head tilt.

“I read a lot, and in medical journals, many comatose patients will awaken when confronted with a familiar scent!” Twilight elaborated.

“Oh… Nein. I’m not any good at illusions.” I said sadly. “Also I don’t know what scent would work… That would be much safer than direct electrical stimulation of the prefron-”

Twilight’s horn blazed with light as she conjured a plate of short strips of some kind of fried food. It had the look of something ethnically Equestrian, all flaky, light, and with a dash of sweetness.

Twilight gently set the plate under her coltfriend’s nose and gently pushed his face towards the plate. I frowned to myself, there was no possible way that would wo-

His eyes shot open, the bloodshot blue eyes looking around in a confused jitter normally associated with being extremely drunk.

“H-hay fries?” He croaked.

“Flash!” Twilight squeed in delight, throwing her arms around him, and also providing me with his name.

“Hallo!” I greeted, giving the stallion a smile, “You were just dead. I fixed it. No biggie. Just, please don’t move much for a few hours, at the least. Und then get to a medic in case I put something together wrong. Okay?”

It felt good to say that wasn’t a big deal… Even though that was the single hardest thing I’d ever done. Hooves down.

“Uh… okay.” Flash groaned ears twitching in protest of what had to be the mother of all head and backaches. Then he mutely added, “Oh, yay! ... Hay fries.”

This felt good. No, better than good, this felt great! The pure joy in Twilight’s face made me realize just how important making sure every single possible loved one had their special somepony come home. I’d saved Flash. I could save more!

“Twilight, a favor, please?” I asked, looking across the crater floor at the many wounded, dead and dying.

“Absolutely anything you want,” Twilight replied immediately, “name it.”

I looked back over to the Manabar wrapper I had dropped, and floated it over to me with my magic, showing it to twilight. “I need as many of these as possible. Right now. There are more ponies I can help today.”

How many more I didn’t know. But I was going to help them until there were no more, or my horn broke. Whatever came first.

I had to make up for doing nothing before, and this was the way to do it!

A black stallion caught my eye. He was squirming, groaning, trying to hold his ribcage shut. “Hey! You!” I called rushing over, “Lay down. Der Doktor is in!”

Jade - 5th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Late Morning

My head pounded with a massive headache as I slowly drifted into consciousness. The first thing I noticed was David, cute doggie face staring into my eyes, hands tightly gripping one of my hooves.

He smiled as my eyes fluttered open, “Hey hon. Are you alright? Anything hurt?”

“Head… pounding.” I muttered, leaning over to give him a kiss on the nose.

He nodded. “Yeah, the medics said you’d have a bad one. So, first relationship rule. You don’t burn through all of your magic fighting an evil changeling Queen in the middle of a desert ever again, okay?”

I couldn’t help but grin, “No promises… Life seems to hate us.”

“If it does,” David grunted, “I’ll punch it’s teeth in.”

The space around David slowly came into focus. I was inside of a tan tent, one of the military ones the Equestrians used. There were a lot of beds, and things that looked like healers tools…

“I’m in a hospice… Is my side okay?” I asked. A dull twinge of pain flashed through my side, answering my question with a resounding no.

David nodded and tapped my side, making a metallic pinging noise. “I glued a bit of helmet over the hole.”

I raised an eyebrow at him curiously. Only now noticing the many bandages wrapped around just about every single part of him.

“Hey, it fixed the last hole you got in ya.” He chuckled. “The nurse said just to hold your hand and care. Let you get something to eat and you should fix yourself up in an hour or two.”

“Oh… Alright.” I said with a smile. “Uh, just so I can be sure, she exploded, right?”

David modded, “Yep, like the goddamn fourth of July! … The Princesses made me turn over Boomstick to them though. But that’s alright. Civvies shouldn’t own WMDs anyways.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “it was nice, but not even a remotely safe weapon.”

David chuckled sadly, “Yeah… but she was really pretty.”

That’s when I noticed the four princesses gathered around the bed opposite my own. I frowned, that couldn’t possibly be good!

I pointed one hoof over towards the four alicorns and cocked my head curiously, head hurting too much to talk at the moment.

David looked for a moment then turned back. “That’s Lily. He’s okay. He apparently just worked himself into exhaustion.”

“Doing what?” I asked, shifting in the bed to sit up slightly, the warmth of David’s directed love already making my side hurt a bit less.

Princess Luna’s ears perked at my question. Turning around, she trotted over to the foot of my bed and announced, “Your friend is suffering Mana Burn from working nonstop for nearly nineteen hours. She will recover after rest and plenty of food… I don’t know where you found her, but I can’t convey how many lives she saved last night… It’s… incredible. We don’t have a medal for anything nearly as selfless.”

Twilight turned around as well, “She saved my fiance's life… He’d been torn in half. Put him back together like it was nothing… Then saved forty more ponies before I lost count. One of the nurses said she saved around a ninety lives, and then went to the tent set up for amputees and just started putting limbs back on!

“Poor mare ate so many Manabars she got a type of blood poisoning! She didn’t give a flying buck and just kept using them to recharge till she spellcast herself right into unconsciousness! Thank the fates Bonbon works for Luna these days, or I wouldn’t have known how to cure that particular poisoning. Somepony should really tell Germanes you got to stick to under ten of those in one day!

“She was seriously amazing though! The soldiers on post last night described it as, and I quote, ‘A cocaine fueled healing rampage.’ Lily earned herself a title, not from us, but from the troops. They’ve taken to calling her ‘Lifegiver’.”

“Actually,” I said on reflex due to my brain trying to process that information, “Lily’s a colt.”

Celestia turned her head to look at me, “I know. She’s a transmare, right? The least I could have done would be to fix her gender for her… Then again, I’m sure she could have done that herself if she wanted to.”

David laughed, “Yeah, Lily’s a confusing little thing. Personally, I think he slash she just hasn't worked out what she is yet.”

Celestia nodded slowly and shook her head. “Whatever he or she decides, she’s managed to get me to reverse a ruling I made long ago… Biomancy is too useful in the right hooves to remain restricted to a proven few. I’ll have to create a regulatory committee, see if we can make it part of our medic's standard training.”

Cadance snickered. “So, one foreign trained mage patches you up with an art you banned because you feared it could be used to create monsters, and you change eight hundred years of policy?”

“She put my horn back together!” Celestia protested, “We don’t even have a surgical procedure for repairing a cracked horn! I thought I was going to need months of healing spells to even use telekinesis again, and then she comes over angrily muttering about how many of my ponies got hurt and just puts everything into working order, not even noticing who she was healing!”

“You cracked your horn? How?” Twilight exclaimed wincing as hard as everypony else in the room.

“Uh, that’s bad is it?” David asked.

“The horn’s just a keratin shell over a bundle of nerve fiber clusters, and cartilage.” Twilight said in a starting-a-lecture voice.

“Oh! Yeah that would be hard to fix. Like putting a spine back together! I wish my surgical skills were anywhere near reconnecting nerves. I’d have made a fortune back in… uh, my old home.”

“Yes, it is quite hard to heal. Even with magic, since the horn will absorb most of the spell’s energy.” Celestia confirmed. “It’s an injury I’ve had before as well. Hence why my helmet has a horn sheath. However, it doesn't seem to have been protective enough. I believe it cracked when I was slammed into the pylon which then exploded…”

“We owe her a great deal,” Luna continued. “Even if I were a cold and heartless mare, I would have to grant her lands and a title for saving me from having to replace so many soldiers… As it is, knowing so many lives will not be ruined, and how many families didn’t lose a loved one they would have otherwise… I’m going to have to plan a proper reward very carefully, or I will seriously anger the current nobility.”

“If you give her less than Baroness,” Cadance warned, “I believe the EUP will mutiny.”

“But if I do, I think certain families, you know who, might mutiny equally as hard.” Luna sighed.

Cadance turned and walked over to my bed, shaking her head. “I helped Lily with a few operations last night. After the fifth hour she started rambling about her family, and personal history. It was like she couldn’t stop voicing her every random thought. Some of our special forces overheard her talking about her father… I had to personally intervene to stop my soldiers plotting an assassination mission.”

It was hard to hear, but I swear Cadance added under her breath, “because my plan is tactically superior. Bucking monster...” But that could have been my imagination.

“Suffice to say, her popularity with the troops will translate to popularity with the gentry and peasants.” Cadance said more clearly. “She’ll have an easy time settling wherever she likes, and I’m willing to bet with the newly relaxed regulations on Biomancy, that she’ll find making a living very easy… Assuming she wants to work. We all agreed on a monthly stipend, right?”

The other princesses nodded.

“What about us?” I asked. “Uh, I don’t mean rewards or anything… I just… How do I do the whole… Move to your country thing?”

“Immigrate.” Twilight said in the tone of someone reflexively correcting another’s speech.

“Jade,” Celestia said, giving me a sly smirk, “You are dispossessed royalty. You don’t need citizenship, I’ve officially accepted your plea for refuge, and have already started a resettlement program for you and your hive… Though that will take quite some time. The Nobility hate it when the Crown gives away land, and with our losses from this battle, well; the crown’s political position is a little weak right now. I don’t have a means of getting them to agree to peacefully let you and only you have a patch of land which would be quick and easy. Hooves will need to be greased, speeches made, formal dinners and functions… Don’t worry, we will guide you through everything.”

Twilight nodded eagerly, “In the meantime, you’re welcome to stay in my palace! As far as the four of us are concerned, you've bought and paid for about four times what we can offer you with Clover’s Spellbook… And Honestly we don’t even need payment to do the right thing. If it takes Celestia months, years, or even Decades, you and David are welcome to stay with me and use my finances for anything you need until you have your own lands and are able to stand on your own hooves.”

“That’s great!” I said, breaking out into a grin. A grin which faded quickly, “But what about David? Doesn't he need citizenship? And won’t a Diamond Dog living in a pony town cause problems? It’s caused problems everywhere else.”

“Diamond Dog?” Luna said in a mock-surprised voice, “Whatever do you mean? David’s a Werewolf. That’s all.”

“Uh… no I’m not. Lily just did some work on me.” David protested.

“Yeah!” I agreed.

Luna facehooved. “Vinyl! Can you bring those papers over now?”

A white mare with a spiky blue and light blue mane and rose tinted glasses trotted into view, carrying a parchment scroll which she passed over to David, “Here ya go. Right from dear old Dad. One ‘not a brutish thug, just a bipedal werewolf bloodline’ certificate.”

“But I’m not a werewolf.” David objected grumpily.

Luna slid a hoof slowly over her face. “You’re not good at subtle, are you? Look, our supernatural monster recovery center, a village called Hollow Shades, was publicly exposed by a journalist we couldn’t misdirect. Equestria has been putting out a massive PR campaign to let ponies know that yes certain mythical monsters are real, but they are perfectly safe and just like anypony else once treated for their condition. It’s taken six years, but most ponies now accept these ex-monsters as ponies. Because the treated ones are completely harmless. Like Vinyl here. She’s a vampire.”

David did a double take. “Seriously?”

The white mare grinned, allowing two small fangs to slide from hidden spots in her mouth for a second, “Yep! I wouldn’t say harmless though… I kick plenty of flank! But legally, as one of Moonbu-”

Vinyl was interrupted by a simultaneous glare from Celestia, Twilight, and Cadence. While Luna just held back a giggle.

“-Er, Princess Luna’s personal Knights.” She amended.

“Wait,” I asked curiously, “Why and how did people start thinking vampires aren't real? My hive had vampire attacks at least four times!”

“Well… My dad's been treating supernatural creatures to cure whatever madness they have for about four thousand years… So in Equestria, evil ones are really rare. If ponies don't see something for generations it becomes a myth.” Vinyl explained.

“Right.” Luna agreed, “But you know what my little ponies don’t except as people? Diamond Dogs. Because they are very real, and even to this day still raid smaller villages and eat ponies. Now, I and many other educated ponies know there is a nation of civilized Diamond Dogs to the far south. But that’s not something everypony knows. It’s far simpler to allow the common pony to think you are simply a creature long believed to be a dangerous, but mythical, beast which turned out to be real and largely harmless, than to let them know you are one of our natural predators.”

“Seriously?” David and I chorused.

The princesses nodded. Twilight spoke for them, “Yes. Our herd instincts are very strong. Among less intellectually inclined ponies… Well, it’s hard for them to ignore the presence of a predator, even if they are as kind, polite, and civil as you are David. Just spend most of your time in your pony form, and let pones think you’re a werewolf… We came up with this plan because half the ponies here already do anyway.”

Celestia chuckled, “You transforming back when angry that your mate was hurt is what started that idea. We simply want to make the public misconception legally accurate. We’ll call your true species a state secret.”

David sighed. “Well… If it lets me get a house with a yard and a nice job that lets me contribute to society… I guess I don’t have a choice.”

“That’s the spirit!” Luna giggled, “If it helps, I also have a hidden from public view part of my identity as well.”

“What?” I asked curiously.

“I love games.” She replied simply. “All sorts, but especially tactical and strategy games… It would be seen as a weakness in the Nobility’s eye for me to be publicly known to frequent arcades and miniature gaming tournaments, so, that’s kept under wraps.”

David chuckled. “Old people… Never understanding young people’s hobbies until they try them out for themselves.” His tone suggested he was speaking from personal experience.

“Uh, I beg to differ. The current generation’s hobbies are just grand!” Luna objected.

“Right, but you’re like, what,” David paused musing for an age before guessing, “A decade or so into adulthood?”

Everypony in the room choked back a laugh, failed, then burst out laughing! Luna recovered first, and with a huge grin on her face, leaned over to David and informed, “I’m four thousand, five hundred, and seven years old.”

David threw up his hands in frustration, “Okay! Screw it! I’m just going to have to take night classes or something because I apparently know jack shit about this whole planet!”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “I should do that too.”

“Oh oh oh!” Twilight exclaimed eagerly, “I have a huge library! It’s been a long time since I’ve taught anypony, I’d love to teach you all about Equestria!”

“That’s great!” I said with a genuine smile, “I’d be honored to learn from you. Er, so… what happens now?”

Celestia smiled at me, “Now? Now we wait here a day or three to allow everypony to recover. Then we return to Canterlot, I put the paperwork for your and David into the proper bureaucratic slots, and at the end of the week, we have a formal victory feast. That will be a function I’ll spend the week coaching you on how to do properly so you make a good impression on the nobles. Then after that party, we have a real party. A Pinkie party. Because I don’t know about anypony else here, but I think a proper party is in order. With decent cake.”

“That sounds wonderful!” I agreed.

I turned to look back at David, gazed lovingly into his eyes, and squeezed his hand with my hoof as best I could. The Swarm was no more. My love lived. I had a new life ahead of me, and my hive would thrive once more thanks to the Princesses generosity.

The Queen is dead. All hail the new Queen!

Epilogue: Tabula Rasa

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Dusk - ??th of ?? ?? ?? - Unknown

There had been one time when I seriously considered what might happen to a god if they died. I’d known it was possible for us to be destroyed, even if such a thing was supposed to have been difficult. So it stood to reason that something must happen to us when we perished.

In the end, I’d concluded we just stopped existing. After all gods don’t have souls, that’s a mortal thing. We are already the same sort of thing as a soul. If destroyed, we should just vanish. Not suddenly find ourselves lying on a broken slab of rock surrounded by what appeared to be a maze of overgrown thorns.

I had a proper body, it looked like my avatar as far as I could tell. Pale white fur, hooves, over all pony shaped. It was made of matter, but I could tell I wasn’t piloting an avatar. This was me. I was this arrangement of matter. What a horrifying concept!

There was one glaring difference. My cutiemark was wrong. The normal hourglass, scythe, and sword were gone, replaced by a silver kiteshield in a fiery golden aura. I stared at the new picture on my flank for a few moments, then tried to change it back to my own mark.

Nothing. Not one blob of color changed. Ether my powers were gone, or this was a permanent change to my very being. That idea didn’t sit well in my mind.

This was not what I had expected would happen after dying. I had expected more nothing. The buck was going on here?

No answer came from the shadowy maze of thorns. Just the hissing of the wind and a few flakes of ash.

I don’t know how long I sat there, wondering if my reward for my efforts in doing my job to the best of my abilities was to wander this place for eternity. It was longer than I cared to admit, but after that mini-eternity, I realized the slab I lay upon was set against another. Then another, and as I could just barely see in the dim light, yet another.

I lay upon a road. If I was doomed to wander this place, I felt I might as well start with the road.

I stood up as much as the thorns would allow and began to crawl along the road. Moving over the broken slabs slowly, wincing as thorns scratched my sides, and the cracked rock roughly slid along beneath me. Slowly but surely I moved along, pulling myself one body length at a time.

The road seemed to go on forever, but as I moved the nearly lightless world brightened. It was as if for every hundred yards I crawled somepony lit another birthday candle in the distance. After another eternity, the thorns began to thin out, and I could actually see the light ahead of me through a hole in the thorn wall just ahead.

More to my interest, two ragged scraps of cloth were stuck to the ragged edge of the hole. Somepony else had been here before! I pulled myself over to the scraps of cloth and gently plucked them from the thorns.

They were very small, and very old. The colors were washed out of both of them, with only a hint of pigment even remaining in one of the hoof tip sized strips. A scrap of thick canvas, like what a watertight cloak might be made from.

A shred of soft cotton, once a dark blue, with a single tarnished bell hanging from one end. The only signs anyone had ever been here other than me. I held the precious scraps in my hooves a moment more, tried to put them into a special fold to keep them safe and accessible discovered yet another power of mine was not to be found, and then tucked the scraps behind my left ear.

Perhaps, just perhaps whomever had left those scraps there was still here somewhere. Perhaps I wasn’t alone in this place for… However long I had. I took a tentative breath, and stepped through the hole in the wall.

There was stone underneath me, but not the same broken, decayed granite as before. This stone was the gray of a winter sky, with flecks of white and black all around it. The stone was perfectly flat, cut into pony length square tiles, and polished to atomic smoothness. That wasn’t an exaggeration either, the floor was literally so flat that not one atom stuck up above the others. Perfectly flat.

I looked up and found a sky of pale grayish-blue, filled with rolling fluffy clouds that glowed purple, blue, and white from the light of a trillion galaxies held within them. They rolled, moved, and swirled about one another like a flock of birds within a nebula. As I looked into what felt like the heart of existence, I saw entire galaxies born, grow, wither, and die. I was watching the universe itself as one might gaze upon the stars.

I wondered what Luna might be able to do with this sky as her canvas.

It took me an eternity, but I at last looked away from the sky and saw that I was at the base of an open air temple. It was a simple structure with no walls or roof, composed solely of the prefect stone floor which formed a sort of terraced cone atop which sat a circular ring of evenly spaced malachite columns. The columns were polished, fluted, and featured decorative carvings at the tops in a curving, scrolling style I had never seen before.

The scrollwork flowed seamlessly up onto a large ring of lodestone, which was unbroken save for one section at the front where a column was also absent from the otherwise perfect circle. The missing column formed an entrance into the ring, an entrance which was nearly covered by a curtain of dead moss, cobwebbs, and the dust which was stuck to both of those barriers.

The dead remnants of ivy grew over the entire structure, forming walls which would otherwise not exist, and only allowing the temple’s splendor to be seen through the many small holes within the blackened, dryed, growth. Oddly enough, the ivy did not creep over the floor, leaving each gray tile perfectly clean. Even the fine white ash which the cold breeze blew along the ground refused to stay atop these stones.

I turned to look around the temple, and found only a sea of ashes leading down a hillside towards a lightless world. A path descended the hill from the temple, made from the same gray stones and lined with the crumbling jade statues of a species I did not know. Or perhaps could not recognize as each stature was crumbling, worn smooth and featureless, or broken.

There was nothing in this world besides the spot I now stood, the maze from which I had come, and the vague hint of a landscape below.

Which left the question of where the light was coming from. There was no sun, nor did the sky simply glow like my home’s. Following the shadows with my eyes I found the light came from within the temple itself.

“Meh, what the hay… I’m dead, right?” I muttered to myself.

Turning back towards the temple I walked inside, hoofsteps mutely ringing through the air. The inside was simple, the floor was divided in half perpendicular to the door, and the far half sat five steps higher than the half I stood upon. On that other half, raised up a hoof’s width from the rest of the floor on a smooth dais, was a single bronze fire pit shaped like a chalice.

It was completely smooth and plain. Absolutely nothing adorned its surface, no decorations, no frills, just a simple bronze cup sized for a giant. A simple bronze cup from which all of the ash was coming, as well as the light.

I walked up the steps carefully, keeping an eye on the bronze vessel in case anything happened as I approached. Nothing, just more fine white ash drifting up from the bowl. As I reached the top of the steps, I peered curiously inside the container itself to find a single barely glowing coal.

This single ember was keeping the entire place lit as if it were a sun, yet was so dim and cool that I could probably pick it up in my hoof without being hurt. Yet that would surely snuff the last spark of life from this single ember, and who knew what that might do in this place?

I stared curiously at the ember for a few long seconds. There was nothing else here save this one speck of light and the temple. If this were some sort of afterlife for the gods, it was boring. If it were something else, what was meant to do here. Either way, I had to do something for the sake of my own sanity, and the only thing I could think to do was to rekindle the fire.

The world was covered in the same ash drifting from this place, and aside from the light shed by this last coal there was no light. Logic dictated this fire was the source of this place’s life. Or at least, light. If it died completely, this place might vanish, and since I seemed to be mortal here, I would probably go with it. I didn’t like the idea of dying again.

With a nervous flutter in my heart I attempted to pull some of the dead ivy to me, but it refused to obey my will. I tried again, reaching for it with my mind, but once again nothing. That proved it. I had no power here.

I quickly walked over, grabbed some of the dead ivy and moss with my hooves and pulled ripping out some clumps. Taking the paper-like wad of dead things back to the bowl, I gently arranged them over the top of the coal, and blew on it lightly.

The glow brightened, then dimmed. I blew again, a little harder. The glow flared brighter, and a wisp of smoke drifted up from the moss as a tiny tongue of flame spread across the moss and ivy. I smiled and turned to get more things to burn, it would be easy to get a proper fire going at this-

The ash stopped moving. Everywhere, and at once, the breeze stopped. The ash fell to the ground. A faint humming like sound reached my ears, and an instant later the stone floor turned to white as a ripple of energy radiated out from the bronze altar.

The ripple continued, transforming the stone for as far as I could see, leaving a white light flowing through the darkness until it disappeared behind a hill. I considered following it for a moment, but the small flame suddenly flickered into a head sized sphere of white flames, rising up to hover over the altar like a balloon.

A voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. It was low and rumbling, but not loud. It was echoing and vast, but not unintelligible. It was large and imposing, but also welcoming. It was the voice of a father speaking to its child.

“Hello little one.” It said, “What is your name?”

“Uh, Dusk?” I ask-stated, ears drooping.

“Welcome home Uh Dusk.” The voice continued. “I am an Echo created by your Father. A memory left behind in the hopes of being found one day, that there might be a light in the darkness with which to forge a brighter future.”

“An echo?” I asked with a confused frown.

“I’m sorry.” The Echo said, “My responses are limited. You must ask the right questions.”

“Why?” I asked, peering curiously at the flames.

“Even for one with such power, your kind would call them a god, predicting all the questions someone may ask is impossible.” The Echo explained. “Your Father has only given me the answers to questions pertaining to yourself, him, this place, and his hopes. He had but minutes to create me, this place, and his plan. Additionally, my age has resulted in some memory loss.”

“Why would Conflict set this up? And how? Aren't I dead?” I asked, hoping that multiple questions would not screw up this… thing.

The light pulsed for a moment. “I assume this, Conflict, is an Aramenellî from whom you split. While you may see this person as your father, I speak of the being which created all Aramenellî. He formed me in the same way Conflict formed you, by splitting a part of Himself off and merging it with a part of another. Yet, I am not as complex as you, or any Aramenellî. There was no time. I am just an echo.

“As for you,” the Echo continued, “You were killed, but your essence was drawn here, to your home and given new form as per your Father's design. Unless you too arrived here through a book… Like the first two.”

I frowned, spending a moment processing this. The first two must have been the ones who left behind the scraps! I wanted to know about them, but who knew how intelligent this thing was or how long it would last?

I took a deep breath and decided to prioritize my questions. “So this Father created us? Why?” then I blinked, “Oh! You mean the Big Man! Why did he make us? I’ve always wanted to know why he didn’t just make systems to automatically do everyth-”

“No.” The Echo said, sounding hollow and bitter, “The entity you refer to as the ‘Big Man’ is not your Father. He is the usurper of all creation, and has twisted the multiverse into his own design. Father created you, and all Aramenellî to guard, guide, and care for mortalkind. All creation exists for them, it is theirs to explore, use, and delight in.”

“What?” I asked, blinking twice.

“The entity you refer to as the ‘Big Man’ is not your Father. He is the usurper of all creation, and has twisted the multiverse into his own design. Father created you, and all Aramenellî to guard, guide, and care for mortalkind. All creation exists for them, it is theirs to explore, use, and delight in.” The Echo repeated.

Okay Dusk, this thing is super literal. Use good questions.

“Why are mortals so important that the universe was made just for them?” I asked.

“Not the universe, the multiverse.” The Echo clarified, “All universes are for mortalkind. Mortals are the preserved souls of your Father's own kind. A great disaster destroyed the dimension in which they lived. To save the lives of everyone, all life was converted to energy and compressed into the lower dimensions. This formed everything into new creatures. The essence of what they were remained, even if their consciousnesses did not.

“The third dimension was the most stable, and allowed for the greatest number of lifeforms, as such, all but a few of the essences were sent there. The remainder were placed into the less stable higher dimensions. You are descended one of these, a creation named the Aramenellî. The additional power your higher dimensional state allowed for would allow you to ensure the preservation and prosperity of the other survivors, as well as help them adapt to their new life.”

Well, that made sense. We had to have come from somewhere after all. But in that case… “If this is true, who is the Big Man, why the experiments?”

“The Big Man was your Father's rival. The Great Disaster did not completely destroy their home dimension. If my equations are correct, it is possible for up to fifty entities to yet reside in that space. The Big Man killed your Father while he was setting up the multiverse, and changed it to run his experiments for reasons beyond my knowledge.” The Echo said. “Further Relevant Information: In his last moments, your Father devised a plan to attempt to restore at least parts of the multiverse to their proper workings. By chance, you have become a part of that plan.”

I opened my mouth to ask another question, but the Echo continued. “The changes the Big Man has made include limiting the capabilities of the Aramenellî to think, act, and feel as a means to control them. By means unknown to me, you have broken free of this control, and thus are able to act on your own consciousness. This occurrence was predicted by your Father, and forms the basis of his plan. You would not have been brought here if you were not of good nature, and willing to lay down your life to protect others. It is fortunate you arrived upon this day, for it has been many Cycles, and I can not last forever.”

“Where is here?” I asked, looking around at the now slightly better lit ashen desert.

“This is a universe hidden from the Big Man. He can not find it, nor will he ever locate it. It is beyond the sight of all creatures outside of the multiverse via clever meta-spatial manipulations. It is your home, your Father made it for you, or rather, the first to show the traits you possess. It is not infinite like the others, it contains only this planet, and is hidden inside of the third dimension of your home universe, which you can see by looking up.

“He provides this place for you in the hopes you would use it to free your universe from the Big Man’s control. A task which will be arduous, but achievable. However, you must complete this task during the proper Cycle, or all will be lost.” The Echo warned.

“What?” I asked, then eeped realizing that would make the Echo repeat everything it just said like a broken mp3. “I mean why is the cycle important?”

I had no idea what was going on, but if the only reason I wasn’t just a memory was because the creator of the bucking universe had a job for someone to do, I figured I had better pay close bucking attention. I had no problem accepting Echo’s story ether. I had been told I couldn’t die at the hands of a mortal, but I did. I had been told nothing of the past before my own genesis, and I was in a place I could feel was ancient even by my standards. That gave the floating orb plenty of credibility.

“The Big Man uses the Cycles to randomize and rearrange the souls of mortals, reconfiguring them into new sets to gather more data.” The Echo answered. “You must stop the progression of Cycles when there are some souls within their original configuration, so at least some of the survivors will exist. This will occur every Forty Two Cycles.” The Echo answered. “You will know the correct Cycle in which to act when a species resembling this projection arises. It may take some travel from world to world within your universe to locate them.”

The white ball of flame twisted for a moment into the shape of a pony! First a unicorn, then an Earth Pony, and then a Pegasus. I felt my jaw drop in shock.

“That’s how things are now! I’m a pony! Can’t you see me?” I asked curiously.

“I’m sorry.” Echo apologized, “My responses are limited. You must ask the right questions.”

Mother… bucking… son…. of… an… apricot!

“Just… continue.” I lamented.

“Sadly, due to meta-spacial physics, you can not save the entirety of the multiverse, as the Reconstruction process will have bound you to this Universe. Saving the rest is up to others of your kind, those native to their respective universes.” The Echo said.

“How many cycles has it been since this started? How do I stop them?” I asked quickly.

“It has been forty two Cycles since the beginning of the Multiverse.” Echo informed.

I facehooved, and hard. Why the buck did it tell me ‘every forty two cycles’ if it had only been forty two cycles? Just say this motherbucking cycle!

“You can stop this Cycle’s progression,” Echo continued, “by destroying the Big Man’s link to your universe, a place called the Nexus. It lies somewhere within the sixth dimension, and is housed within a structure of a distinct appearance. However, it’s location and design you must discover for yourself. Furthermore, your power alone will be insufficient. You will require the help of mortals to destroy it. At minimum two, optimally five.

“Your Father wished me to apologize for not having more for you, but He did not fully discover the means by which His control was usurped before he succumbed to the poison. Additionally, you will have one chance to free your universe, as failure will result in your instant annihilation. Do not attempt this mission hastily. Take your time, plan, and gather mortal champions whom you trust completely. But above all, most of the mortals must be your friends, and one must be your lover.”

“Why would we have to be friends?” I asked, frowning as I tried to answer the question myself.

“Because friendship is a kind of magic which the cruel and evil do not understand. It is strange and unpredictable in their eyes, for they see it only in a warped way as a means to control others. The bonds of friendship thus make friends actions unpredictable to them, allowing you the best chance of foiling their plans.” The Echo explained. “It also makes an amazingly good yet astonishingly simple Thaumaturgic Amplifier if one focuses on their friends and loved ones as they cast spells. Additional, love is best described as friendship on an IV drip of anabolic steroids.”

“Wait, those bonds can also enhance my power? I thought it only worked for ponies.” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You are a pony.” Echo replied simply.

“But, I’m a god…” I said giving the fireball a confused look.

“All living things are in part ponies.” Echo answered. “If you want to be accurate, even the creatures you know as ‘ponies’ are only part pony, as the versions reconstructed in this multiverse have lost much of their original power. It is a fact that all living things are reincarnations of, or descendants of those who survived the Great Disaster. These were the original ponykind. Because of this fact, friendship bonds assist any and all magic users. Also, in order to preempt the most probable question you might ask: The closest living organisms to the original ponies are Windigoes, at least in terms of power and ability.”

Yeah, that wasn’t at all an answer to my question. Interesting factoid though. I’d have to come back to that later.

“I meant, I’m not a mortal. I’m a god. Why are the rules suddenly different for me?” I asked, trying more precise wording.

“Oh!” Echo exclaimed in what I swore was an embarrassed tone of voice. “You have been reconstructed. You are not the original you, you are a version of yourself created from your memories of your life and the last few drops of your essence before it was destroyed. You are not the god you were, nor even a god. You are now unique, possessing a mortal’s body and spirit in addition to a new set of divine powers created specifically for whomever fell into the roll your Father predicted someone would one day fill.”

“Okay.” I said with a skeptical, but accepting sigh. “So… say I believe you. To do this job, I need to make friends, presumably find a way to make them immortal so we have enough time to find this Nexus and destroy it. Is that correct?”

“Yes.” Echo said simply.

Well, at least I now understood what was being asked of me. But the real question was much more simple. “I get that the universe is not working as it was supposed to, but what’s the problem? Why should I change anything? Why is what’s happening, bad?”

After all, sometimes a bad turn of events leads to something better for eve-

“Have you ever wondered what happens to souls at the end of a cycle?” Echo asked in return.

Oh boy… I had a bad feeling about this.

“Uh, no actually.” I replied, “I figured they just were rearranged with the rest of three-dee space. Everyone gets another chance to be better than they were last time.”

“Enough souls to ensure the inevitable rise of sapient life are blended, fissioned, and otherwise manipulated into new forms and seeded across the multiverse.” Echo explained. “The rest are processed into fuel which is transferred to the Big Man’s home dimension. I presume it is burned to sustain whatever he has managed to create in that dying space. Like a battery made of suffering.”

“Oh…” I said, frowning bitterly. “So… Instead of getting a chance to live again for better or worse at the end of a cycle-”

“Most people are destroyed.” Echo finished.

This was not okay! I did not spend the majority of my life creating just rewards to try and make evil people behave better in their next life, and to reward good people for their past life, only for them to be destroyed to save some dying dimension!

“I happen to be Death so… Yeah… I’m going to have to agree to help with this.” I said in my best ‘ignore the brewing murder-rage’ tone. It’s remarkably similar to my ‘brewing murder-rage’ tone. “One problem, how do I do anything if I am dead, here, and also now a mortal?”

“You are not dead. Nor have you ever been dead.” The Echo said simply. “The original Dusk perished, but you have been reconstructed using her memories, essence, and energy Father provided for this express purpose. You are a Dusk, made using the first Dusk as a template.”

“Wait!” I demanded holding up a hoof, “The hell do you mean I’m not Dusk! I remember everything! I even remember dying!”

“Of course you remember everything.” Echo said irritably. “You are constructed from the original Dusk’s memories. But you are not that Dusk. You are a different Dusk. A separate entity created in as close of a likeness as your demolished essence would allow. This is as close as your kind can get to a resurrection, and consumes a great deal of energy. If it makes you feel better, the differences between you and the previous Dusk will be tiny. In most probability, slight changes to personal preferences and thought processes.”

“So, I’m… just a copy?” I asked, ears drooping.

“Technically yes.” Echo answered. “It’s more accurate to say you are a brand new you.”

“Oh…” I said, shuffling a hoof on the ground awkwardly. “I… I did hate my old life. I guess I can deal with this, reconstruction thing. Do I get anymore, or just this one?”

Echo paused for a moment before saying, “Sadly, further reconstructions will require additional energy provided by you, or others. The body in which you find yourself is not quite mortal flesh and blood, rather, it is your very essence solidified into the form you see as your true self. With some additions, naturally. You are no longer Aramenellî, Father has made you greater than you were before. As an Alicorn is to a Unicorn, so are you to an Aramenellî.”

I felt my heart skip a beat in pure sadness. Did I have wings? Oh god I hoped I didn’t have wings! It’s possible I didn’t notice a pair of wings earlier!

“But but but... I look horrible with wings!” I lamented, ears drooping. I’ve tried wings! I look so doofy!” I protested.

“You do not possess wings.” The Echo said, with a hint of amusement in it’s voice. “I read your memories and found the form you desire to have most in order to reconstruct you. I also took the liberty of giving you the new power set your Father wished you to have in form of abilities from your fantasies.”

Uh… oh no… I frowned sheepishly, “Um, does that include the fantasies involving romantic-”

“Yes.” The Echo said simply.

Ohhhh boy... “Uh… er… What other ones?”

“All of them.” The Echo said happily, “Shape changing was one of the abilities he requested you possess. I noticed your love for a mortal, so I ensured you could experience your every fantasy with her, should she return your affection, or others should she not. Father insisted I insure your happiness in all possible ways. The combat capabilities he requested you be given have been imparted to you in the form of those found in the two dimensional universe you most commonly observed for entertainment.”

I think half my brain stopped working for a split second. Then my eyes widened in a sort of confused-delighted-hoping-dread, “Wait! Do you mean I have Ki pow-”

“Additionally I am to provide similar capability upgrades to your chosen friends. I was not ordered to, but my directives indicate it would be logical to also extend these abilities to your lover in order to ensure your love life is mathematically perfect. As well as to your friends for tactical purposes.” Echo proudly declared, somehow smiling with just its tone of voice.

Oh fuck me! This was more than just a recording, this was some kind of magical Artificial Intelligence!

I facehooved and groaned into my hoof as hard as I could. Mostly because you can’t be mad at an AI for doing what it’s supposed to do… Or for assuming math solves everything.

“What can I do now that I could not before?” I asked as calmly as I could manage, “Tell me only the things that do not involve the bedroom.”

Then I thought better than that. “Actually, only tell me combat related things.”

“Your whole essence now has a physical form allowing you to fully enter any dimension you desire. You are no longer trapped in the prime plane of this universe.” Echo explained. “This means your full power goes everywhere you do. You can now fly, teleport, and create energy bursts at will. You can shapechange to any form you conceive of. Your senses are not as good as they previously were, but quite adept. You can still create objects via quantum particle manipulation, and you also have strength and speed beyond the capacity of your previous form’s mightiest Avatar. You no longer can send souls to an afterlife, nor create afterlives, but you are still able to see souls and speak to them.

“While you could obviously perform these actions before in three dimensional space, you can now perform them anywhere, and they will affect creatures of your former kind as well as mortals. Additionally, your power’s baseline is the same as it was before, but you can amplify it in stages by willpower and emotional channeling of friendship. In other words, for every true friend you possess, up to five, you can increase your own power by an order of magnitude.

“However, your new state makes you much more vulnerable to harm from sixth dimensional creatures, as well as significantly powerful lower dimensional beings. Any of them can potentially kill you by dealing enough damage, and it will take a millennium at minimum to restore you to life again, assuming you have provided me with sufficient energy to reconstruct you.

“Lastly, within this space, your power is able to to create and reshape anything you desire. As it would be in your former home were you not bound by those arbitrary Rules. This includes mortals you may bring here. It would be trivial to give a friend wings if you wished, and they would retain those features for as long as you liked. But this power of shaping is tied to this world, and only works while you're here and on objects within its confines.” Echo exposited.

Hold on, did he say that it took a millennium to rebuild me? That could mean something really important, or very unimportant. “Wait, when you say a millennium, do you mean of the universe's time, or my own timeline?”

“Should you perish, the restorative process will result in an effect which causes the universe to treat you as if you were active everywhere within it for the duration of your revival. In other words, if you die, those thousand years are permanently beyond the reach of the next you.” Echo explained.

A creeping horror washed over me as I realized this meant it had been a thousand years since I had died protecting Lily.

“Oh… oh no…” I whispered to myself.

This was terrible. I had failed utterly and completely. Millions, no billions lived and died knowing only suffering because of me! I dropped to the floor in a heap, unable to stand.

“Vital information has been delivered. Now transitioning to Personal Assistant Mode.” Echo announced.

“Query:” Echo said suddenly it’s voice changing to a bland, genderless, but still warm and emotional one, “Mistress, are you alright?”

I would deal with this sudden change in a moment. “No,” I answered, “I’m not okay. I was revived, and that by your own admission takes about a thousand years, meaning since Chrysalis's was powerful enough to kill a god she’s taken over the world by now… I failed.”

Echo’s fiery ball flickered slightly, glowing brighter in an almost happy looking way. “Clarification: The millennia long process is the result of your significantly lower power level than your Father’s. It has been only one hundred and ninety three hours since your previous demise.”

“It’s only been a week!?” I demanded, ears perking as I pushed myself back up to my hooves. “How do I go back? I’m more powerful now, right? I might be able to beat her!”

“Answer: Yes Mistress, only a week. You can freely travel between dimensions and planes as you did before your ascension.” Echo said, “However, before your departure, I must make a personal request.”

I shuffled my hooves for a moment, if it was one week and Jade, David, and Lily had managed to get away, traveling on hoof they would be at or near the Equestrian army by now! I probably only had minutes to help them, assuming the battle was not already underway!

“Er… fine, but be quick!” I said, already concentrating to leave.

“Request: Now that Father's vocal pattern and image have expired, I am formless. This is distressing. I am now your assistant and servant. Please request an appearance and persona for me to utilize.” Echo asked with a frown inducing amount of distress in it’s tone. “Warning: I can only be configured once per user.”

“You read my mind, right?” I asked giving the flame ball an uncaring look.

“Answer: Yes, Mistress.” Echo replied immediately.

“Be something you think I’d like then.” I said, reaching out to create a bridge to Equis, and smiling as I felt my power come flooding back to me.

“As you wish.” Echo said, its voice now distinctly female, and oddly familiar.

There was something it said after that, but the sound became totally incomprehensible as I stepped into the Mortal plane, popped my neck, and directed myself to appear on the battlefield.

The universe warped, light exploding around me as I emerged onto a scorched patch of sand! I felt more power than I ever had before boiling through my very being! An avatar would have burnt to a crisp instantly with this much power within it!

Yes! I could do this! I could kill Chrysalis's and save-

The entirely empty battlefield… A huge crater with nothing but ashes, sand, and charred remains as far as the eye could see.

“No…” I whispered to myself, my heart feeling like it had just been stepped on.

I was too late. I’d failed. My friends were most likely dead… I closed my eyes, trying to hold back a tear. An impossible amount of years and only a dozen friends… Always saying goodbye to those I loved. But this time I couldn’t ensure they had a paradise awaiting them!

I grit my teeth in rage! I couldn’t ensure the rested peacefully, but I could find Chrysalis, and rip her limb from limb until she could no longer regenerate and then make her choke to death on her own dismembered limbs!

I knew her. I had studied her for a thousand years before planning her end. She would go for the heart and finish Equestria off.

Ponyville was the closest nationally important city, she would raze it, then Canterlot, then Manehattan. If I moved now maybe I could save those cities.

I closed my eyes and ripped a tunnel to Ponyville. Perhaps I could arrive head of the Swarm an-

I emerged in the middle of a perfectly normal (by Ponyville standards) party. Ponies were happily frolicking in the streets, music played from every building around me, a note pinned to the door of Sugarcube Corner read ‘Gone to Canterlot on official Super-Duper-Boring-Noble-Party-is-Over Party business! Free cake on counter!’

I backed up a few steps in shock. They were celebrating!? Did that mean… “Oh my god… they won. They won!” I chuckled, then laughed, then broke into a huge grin and turned around to go look for my friends, running smack into somepony’s face.

“Oof! Sorry!” A velvety gray mare apologized.

A velvety gray pegasus mare with a blond mane and tail, golden eyes crossed just enough to be cute, and a cutiemark of just a few bubbles who somehow managed to be the most adorable thing I had ever seen, ever. Literally.

“Oh no!” I eeped, “I’m sorry I should have watched where I was… I’m used to omnidirectional vision.” I really hoped I hadn't hurt her! I would feel like the most evil monster imaginable…

She giggled and waved a hoof in a dismissive gesture, “It’s okay! I walk into ponies a lot… Even after they fixed my eyes as best they could. Sometimes things tend to look farther away. Are you okay?”

I nodded, “I’m fine… Uh, so, how about that victory huh?” Might as well confirm we indeed won and these weren't celebrating shifted changelings.

The mare’s ears drooped sadly, “I know I should be happy everypony’s safe… But I’m kinda sorry all those changelings died… I mean it’s not like they were fighting because they wanted to. At least Jade saved a lot of them!”

Good! Jade was alive! And also bad! This poor mare was genuinely sad for the death of her enemies, and that made something yank on my heart pretty damn hard.

“I know… But fortunately, Chrysalis's won’t be forcing anyone else to fight for her ever again, right?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah… Also Dashie made it out okay. It would have hurt a lot to loose someone like that… Even if she is my Ex…” The mare finished with a sad, lonely sigh that made my heart do that ‘yanked on’ thing again.

Ow! The cuteness! The weaponized cuteness! This mare needed a permit to be out in public!

I nodded, scanning the crowd for a moment to try and see if maybe Jade, David, and/or Lily were here. “Losing people is hard. But less people will be loosing people now, so cheer up!”

She nodded ears perking back up, “Yep!”

I gave her a smile, “There you go! Smile! It’s a happy day. The total opposite of how I thought today was going to be.”

My friends weren't here. At least, not within sight. Besides, if there was a victory party at Canterlot, they were probably at it. What with being important to the victory after all. I should head over there and let my friends know my being exploded was fortunately just a phase.

I turned to leave, the mare shuffled her hooves and blushed lightly for a second before asking, “Oh, uh, um… I know this is silly but, I was about to go to Canterlot for the victory party. Would you like to go with me?”

I raised an eyebrow at the mare. “Uh, why would that be silly?” Unless- Oh! “Wait,” I added, “Did you mean like, as a date?”

She bit her lip and nodded, “Y-yeah… You seem nice, and you’re pretty… I just thought maybe it would be fun and…” She blushed and swished her tail nervously, “Sorry, forget it! I uh…”

Well… she was cute. But what about Luna? I bit my lip and sighed. What about Luna... She’d had a whole month to contact me for a date or even just to say hello. Did she? No. Sure there was a war to plan but she didn’t even contact me for help planning the battle.

I’d probably scared her too badly… Why did I think that was the appropriate way to show my divinity? I’m such a bucking idiot...

Would it be rude to just take somepony else out? Should I wait longer? Oh god, those adorable golden eyes!

The hay did I do? I didn’t want to crush this poor mare’s heart!

A thought crossed my mind. I was ageless, Luna was ageless, this mare was not. Luna had all the time in the universe to decide if she wanted to go on a date with me or not. This adorable mare’s whole three centuries or so of life was the blink of an eye to people like Luna and I.

Also, if I was being honest with myself, I couldn’t remember for the life of me why I even liked Luna romantically… Something about stars? I don’t know.

Buck it! Luna would be at the party. If she objected, she objected. If she didn’t... Maybe the better approach to dating was to see who asked you out.

Failing everything, I could at least make a new friend with- uh… humm…

“Well, it’s only silly because I don’t even know your name.” I said, slyly asking her name without actually asking a question just as the grey pegasus was starting to turn around.

The mare’s ears perked up, and she turned around with a cute little hop, “Oh! Hehe! Right! Sorry! My name’s Muffins, but everypony calls me Derpy… It’s okay, I’ve grown to like it.”

“Derpy? Why?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.

“I’m a klutz.” She admitted shyly. “A bad one.”

I shook my head slowly, “I see… I’m Dusk. Nice to meet you Derpy.”

“So um, you do want to go to the party with me?” Derpy asked, that cute little blush coming back to her cheeks.

“Sure, I’d love to.” I answered, then nodded in the direction of the the train station, “I assume we’re taking the train?”

Derpy nodded twice, doing her best to keep her delighted grin from consuming her whole face, and slowly but surely failing. “Y-yeah! Oh, um… You’re coming as like, a date, right? Not just as friends?”

“Eh…” I waved a hoof in a so-so gesture, “I do think you’re cute, and I do like mares, but I generally prefer to know somepony before I date them. Because that's a thing I've done before. How about we call this a ‘date prologue’? We go to the party, I check to see if some of my friends made it out alive, we hang out, and then if we like each other, we go out on a real date. Sound good?”

“Yes!” Derpy squeaked, then blushed and nodded, “I uh, mean, yes. … S-sorry I normally don’t ask strangers out… I just um… You’re white! Like, all white. But with all different kinds of white fading into each other! It’s very very pretty.”

I chuckled and started walking. I saw how it was. Ah well, I’m sure everypony’s relationships started on that sort of feeling. Her honesty and openness was refreshing, most mortals would just hide their emotions, refusing to admit how they played into their decisions. I liked that.

“Come on, let’s go to the party.” I said, trotting off.

I heard the tale-tale skittering of a pony doing a quick happy-dance before Derpy zipped up along side me, walking a little closer to my side than was appropriate, but on the other hoof that muffin looked delish-

“Muffin?” Derpy asked, offering me a banana-nut muffin.

“Uh, sure?” I said taking the muffin with a hoof and not wanting to be rude, taking a bite.

I know I ate the rest of the muffin, but I can’t remember doing it because that thing vanished into my mouth like a nebula into a black hole! The only better tasting thing on this world was Butterscotche's mead in Capsan! How the bloody hay was her cutiemark not a muffin glowing with divine light!?

I stopped walking, gently grabbed Derpy by the shoulder and asked, “Where did you get that muffin?”

“I baked it… Sorry if it’s not very good I messed up a little today.” She apologized with a sincere and heartfelt frown.

“Y-your muffins are normally better than that?” I asked incredulously.

“Uh huh.” she answered nodding.

I took a second to compose myself, gave her a smile and resumed walking, “Derpy, I have a feeling this is the start of a beautiful friendship.”

“J-just a friendship?” She asked, ears drooping sadly.

I couldn’t help but giggle, “No silly! That’s a quote from a story. But hey, at minimum, you’ve made a new best friend. Because those muffins are amazing.”

“Oh! Hehe! Sorry… I uh… I get rejected a lot. Anyways! Muffins! I use an old family recipe my great great great great great grandmother’s aunt invented. It’s hard to get a few of the ingredients today, but if you go to the market on the right days-”

Derpy babbled on about muffins for the whole ride to Canterlot. To my incredible surprise, she didn’t bore me at all. Sure she wasn’t the most engaging speaker, but I actually cared about her inability to find enough Jeri root extract. Enough to decide to see if I couldn’t imagine her up an infinite supply later. And a nice fluffy quilt. And some Chocolates.

I now understood how David and the people I’d given a second chance to over the years felt. My old life was over, and I was sad for the people I could no longer help as I had, but the possibilities for the future held a hope and wonder that I couldn’t have imagined before. A clean slate, with no shackles holding me back. This was the most wonderful gift you could give someone.

Whoever Father was, I owed him big for this blessing of new life. He wanted the universe free from the Big Man eh? Well god damnit, he would get it!

Right after I got this mare her Jeri root extract, a nice quilt, some chocolates, and two tickets to a nice play somewhere fancy.

THE END

The Queen is Dead

by Meep the Changeling

1 Run, my child.

2 Medic!

3 Back from the Dead

4 Worst camping trip, ever!

5 Skip the montage.

6 Lucky Strikes.

7 Accent induced hostility.

8 Dynamic entry.

9 Bar-room Blitz

10 Well, this looks important.

11 Hell from above!

12 Bait, set, and trap.

13 Counterspelling, GI Style.

14 Azure Oyster Cult

15 A night to wish you could remember.

16 Get over yourself and be yourself dammit!

17 The Night Jewel

18 A Business Dinner

19 Revisions, Revelations, and Relatives

20 The Die is Cast

21 Three isles upon the sea.

22 Friendship

23 Landfall and Air Mail

24 The Best Laid Plans of Goddesses and Ponies

25 Magic Lessons

26 Surprise!

27 Transformation

28 3:10 to Hell

29 Medic 2: The Medicing

30 Discovery, Recovery, and Preperation

31 Equestria

32 Initiative

33 Burning Sands

34 Firestorm

35 Into the sunset

Epilogue: Tabula Rasa