//------------------------------// // -39- // Story: Coarse Diamonds // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// “You know it kind of makes sense that Changelings can eat hair, we certainly have the fangs to chew through silk. All Larval Changelings are hatched, or live born if a pony is involved, wrapped in silk covering a large portion of our bodies for protection when we’re foals. Not that it ever helped Hard Throb.” Chuckling lightly Chrysalis continued on without interruption as everyone else was too busy eating and it wasn’t like the hair was getting cold. “In fact when we get old enough we chew off the silk, until then we’re really adorable as we crawl around from birth on two legs. Kind of makes us hard to keep track of when we start crawling up walls, but that silk is meant to prevent us from being able to move too fast or wander into danger considering how mobile a Changeling or hybrid thereof is upon birth.” “Yes, I think we can all agree that you are rather proud of your heritage and race.” Celestia daintily swallowed half a cake, how she did it daintily was left up to the mind to figure out for the watchers who could see her as doing no wrong despite her face being absolutely caked. She had seen a few Changeling foals and they were rather affectionate. They crawled everywhere when you had enough of them hatching all at once and had to watch your step around them, they nuzzled against practically everything upon contact. It was kind of hard to just watch as Chrysalis allowed herself to be covered in them, they crawled all over her playfully and despite never having had children of her own, so far and not for the lack of trying, she loved them all the same like Celestia loved her ponies. “Changing the topic away from yourself, because goodness knows you can’t get enough of your own voice at times, what do you and your friends do for jobs Lady Belle? You know, aside from the acts of heroism you seem to perform in times of duress.” “I used to work as a waitress on Desserzon, but I’m a fashion designer now. Any kind of clothing for any creature… well maybe I’ll make an exception when it comes to making socks for Parascine. I’m very good at making EVA suits and really I’ve designed my suits for form and comfort.” Rarity still ran into a ship full of killer monsters to eventually end up saving two griffons, chased after Sassy when she lost her mind during a planetary assault to end up helping a hospital seal itself off and then she held her ground against a recent terrorist attack. Now that she thought of it, a lady really shouldn’t be seen fighting the odds like that, but she had some really good friends that were worth all that fighting for. She also preferred living to dying because of some stupid code of conduct that said she should let the stallions handle all the heavy lifting. “Also I don’t quite see myself as a hero, I mean I don’t go looking for danger and I certainly don’t rush into it headlong without second or even third thoughts. Any acts of heroism were incidental.” “Even if I were to tell you that you saved Hoity Toity’s life on Ewesen? You stopped to help others even when the danger was great; thanks to you he made it to a shelter and I believe you also made a griffon friend that is noted for being a motorized beak.” Celestia hummed in amusement before she kept gorging on cake and sometimes vegetables or other food which was more occasional than it could have been. She liked the bread pudding well enough. “You also helped make a medical breakthrough with that breach gel of yours by helping make an antidote against a venomous new threat. I am quite well informed and you shouldn’t be so humble for the accomplishments you’ve managed, though they seem to appear small in scope to you. Sometimes the greatest of heroes are the ones that are unsung.” “Yeah Gabriella is a courier, so it’s no surprise that she’ll pop up when you least expect it to talk your ears off. Thankfully griffons don’t have to worry about that sort of thing and while she may be fast with her wings and body, she’s really quite slow when it’s time for her to stop talking.” Greta smirked a little and thought of her good friend, nobody could get under Gilda’s feathers quite like their talkative friend. “You can’t stop her once you’ve got her engine going full blast unless she runs out of things to say.” “Back on topic please… wait, isn’t Hoity Toity a fashion mogul? I wonder if I can get him to critique my work as a favor for saving him.” Lifting a hoof to rub her chin, Rarity wouldn’t mind a boost in good reputation. However, she really didn’t want to be known as a ‘battle axe’ pony so soon given she was still quite young. “Well there goes that idea, anyway Coco here is my partner and as you know creator of the impulse saddles. They work underwater as well as in space, they double as an extra oxygen tank for my EVA suits and we’re working on the design to improve their functionality with the help of my good technical engineer Greta here. Those two over there are Trapeze Star and Bernard, they are traveling magical act and as for Rover… I don’t honestly know much about him.” “Rover is seeking a job opportunity from the friendly boss lady pony; hopefully boss lady will have something for Rover to do.” The Diamond Dog had stayed silent for quite a while, Rover wasn’t talkative and he didn’t want to talk about his past. He was of average intelligence and that was saying something for a Diamond Dog considering they were seen as the bottom of the barrel in being particularly helpful. “Rover can be useful if Rover is given a chance.” “We’ll see about it eventually.” Was Rarity’s short and stiff reply, she didn’t know much about Diamond Dogs aside from the fact that dirt was their friend and they were usually unkempt. Both of those things were not something Rarity appreciated in the slightest, she didn’t mind Gilda or Greta getting messy because that was a necessary evil in their line of work and they always cleaned up after themselves. “Sassy is also one of my crew members, she’s a good store manager with a few small exceptions and is quite a frightful samurai which makes her double as security. Frankly she’s good in either capacity, now if only she didn’t get injured so badly. Then there’s Gilda who’s my rather grumpy mechanical engineer and good friend of Greta’s. Finally there’s Vera Blossom, but she’s got this rather odd quirk about her and she says you’ve already met? It’s quite hard for others to remember she exists and or see her.” “Yes, we have met. She walked right past my guard without a single glance and asked if I could relieve her of her oddity of being heavily ignored by most things.” It saddened Celestia that she couldn’t help the poor SNUGGLES member who was so good at massaging the stress out of you. “I’m glad she’s found someone who has a good eye for detail to work with, assuming that you can see her when she walks into a room.” “Oh I can, I’m surprised that she doesn’t take advantage of her ability. It seems like a boon as much as it is a curse.” This meal was going swimmingly and Rarity couldn’t help but wonder when a horseshoe would drop on her head. “A lesser pony would probably find ways to abuse such an incredible quandary as that… speaking of quandaries, where is Twilight?” It took Celestia long enough to notice that her favorite Unicorn wasn’t present with them and the mare always made time to eat lunch with the princesses. “I don’t like it when she skips meals to continue studying.” “Which is why I had to drag her away from her books, because she… she…. she’s beautiful.” A small purple dragon dragging a half asleep Unicorn along into the room and froze as he took one look at Rarity, she seemed to look at him and bat her eyelashes at him in a flirty manner. It was his imagination of course, but he thought he was seeing an angel as he looked upon her. He was still too young for Rarity however and it would never work out. Now if only he could process that into his head as he stared at a Unicorn that got his heart thumping a mile a minute, or that was probably the thumping noise of the purple Unicorn who just ended up flopping onto her face to quickly wake up in a startled thrashing manner that made her look like she was a break dancing octopus. “Oh, now who’s this little charmer?” Rarity leaned down as Spike dropped the sleepy pony he forced into the room and ran over to the dress making Unicorn to be scratched on the chin by her hoof. “I’m Spike the dragon at your service milady!” The little dragon bowed before Rarity causing her to smile at him. “My you are quite a gentle stallion, well in as so much as introducing yourself. You really lost quite a few points in that when you decided to drop that poor mare on the floor.” Rarity saw the purple Unicorn finally calm down and slowly get up and when she realized that lunch was being eaten she blushed and looked horribly sheepish at all the stares. “Who is the pony that you left on the floor there anyway?” “That would be Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s current student who has social anxieties beyond the pale. Seriously that girl needs to get out more, she’s already missed several opportunities of possibly getting sexy with Moon Dancer and it irritates me to no end that she hasn’t picked up on the signals.” Grumbled a rather irate looking Chrysalis, the queen turned to Cadence who was busy eating a lot of food to prepare for the rest of the day she was going to spend in Chrysalis’s presence. “I never bothered with trying to find Twilight love; she was a hopeless case even when she had a mare or stallion practically throwing themselves at her at all given times. At least I set Moon Dancer up with someone who would actually pay attention to her as she deserves, but she is still very much dead set on Twilight. Getting her hair styled so that she looks like Twilight doesn’t make her sound any less desperate.” It was something Cadence could agree on as she stopped to talk and Twilight just stood there staring at her blankly. She muttered off to the side. “I swear that mare will join Celestia and Twilight in a herd in a heartbeat if she could get them to agree to it and I wouldn’t put it past Moon to do just that.” “Cadence what happened to you!” Twilight immediately knew who Cadence was upon first sight and that was the first thing that came to her mind. She was completely ignoring that Celestia and Luna were eating their own body weight in food being completely impossible, that the large table had various strange guests at it or that Spike was currently enamored with Rarity and talking to her about his origins according to what he was told by Celestia about where he came from. “It looks kind of sexy.” “Oh come on!” A red headed pony with glasses shouted as she poked her head through a window before a Changeling pushed her away while giving them an apologetic grin. “What’s Moon Dancer doing outside the window with a Changeling?” Twilight missed the obvious answer, Moon Dancer was stalking her and the Changeling was watching out for signs of trouble for her queen. Changelings certainly helped with the cracks in security that the royal guards always left open. “Look never mind. May I please join you for lunch princess?” “Twilight we’re friends, you know you can call me Celestia right?” Though Celestia would have to admit that she loved the inflection Twilight gave the word ‘princess’. It always sounded so affectionate and loving. “Also, you are always welcome to lunch with me. You don’t need my permission to show up unannounced; also you’re going straight to bed after this no ifs ands or buts.” “They are eventually going to stop dancing around one another right?” Cadence was clutching at her head in aggravation. “It gets so hard to watch them do this around each other.” “I think it’s actually their form of flirting, it’s quite nonchalant as all get out and I feel your pain Cadence, but don’t worry I’m certainly working on it as much as you are.” Mused Chrysalis idly before she cleared her throat when Twilight started getting something to eat for herself and Spike also took up a seat for himself. “So are you going to get involved in the mess that might possibly happen here in Canterlot? I ask because it seems like you love to get into trouble Lady Belle.” “Perish the thought; I’d rather try to stay as far away from any trouble as I can! Though my success is not going to be quite guaranteed in this day and age is it?” Taking a look over at the newest member of the rather quaint and very frank luncheon, Rarity didn’t know what to expect. Not being able to help herself, Rarity pulled out an emergency brush from her dress and ran it through Twilights hair straightening out her appearance with a few quick swipes. “Sorry, but you didn’t look proper and you certainly need to take better care of yourself dear, you are a representative of the princesses after all or at least one of them. So Luna when are you going to take on a student yourself, there have been rumors that you were looking for one.” “Yes, but ponies are most frightened by our countenance when we try to talk to them. It is quite hard to find a Unicorn willing to be apprenticed to…” Luna started off only for mare noted as being Moon Dancer to jump through the window and tackle Luna to the floor. “I’ll do it princess!” Declared Moon Dancer in an over the top brave manner that didn’t seem to befit her appearance of being a nerd, she was quite brave to cuddle up against a surprised and shocked looking Luna. Celestia let off a loud throaty chuckle, this lunch was going to be far more entertaining than the gala ever would be in the next five years unless something extreme happened. It was always a bore that left her snoring with her eyes open, a talent she learned to use at the many a gala in the past as to not appear as if she were inattentive. At least this year she had Twilight and some other things to keep her attention. Hopefully no pony would die on her watch with those Hands of Midas guys running around doing who knows what. - Sparks flew and the heat was exhausting to be near at all times, but Gilda was working insane hours to finish her most recent project which was confusing to Opal as to why she was exactly building it. Gilda cut off Mr. Welder and looked over the work with a keen eye; she smiled after a moment when she proved to have done a good job and lifted the welding mask away from her face covered in grease and sweat. “Can you tell me again why you are exactly making something like that?” The Artificial Intelligence was stumped, she figured that Gilda would immediately jump into make fighters instead what she was making was far more unusual especially in the location it was being made. “You’re kind of pushing yourself hard to get it finished and it’s not like we’re about to be hit by another MOM from out of nowhere.” “Eh, I figure the boss lady could use one Kitten, because quite frankly I don’t trust things to stay quiet down there. Especially with people as organized and militarized as those guys were, make the drones grab that energy converter and bring over it here to me please.” Gilda pointed and the drones went to pick up the part, she ran her talons through her sweat soaked feathers. “I wish Greta was here to help me with the more technical aspects, but I’m relying on you instead Kitten and I hope you understand that I don’t do things like that easily. Rarity is going to need my help and when that time comes you won’t be able to question my logic of building this thing, call it a gut feeling if you will. So how’s Miss Pants-At-Life doing?” “Sassy’s surprisingly stable, but I’m still upset at having been responsible for her injuries.” Opal had a good long talk with Vera and those injuries were because Sassy wanted to help, most of said talk was an attempt to get her to accept that it was Sassy’s decision to be shot at by four gunships. “Responsible nothing, you’re not the one that shot or pulled the trigger on any of those weapons Kitten. You’re not the one that forced her into a mentally scarring position of being in a medical bed either.” Pulling the welding mask back over her face as the energy converter was dropped off; Gilda had one last thing to say to the Artificial Intelligence. “So, stop being an idiot! You are by far the dumbest smart person I’ve ever met.” “Yeah, I certainly feel like that at times.” The perkiness returning to Opal’s voice made Gilda relax slightly and the griffin smiled under her mask. The fact that she was seen as a ‘person’ and not just a ‘thing’ made Opal’s day a bit brighter, in fact any time someone thought of her as a person made her happy. Gilda’s affectionate nickname for her also helped somewhat. “Thanks for the compliment.” “I have no idea what you’re talking about Kitten.” After Mr. Welder flared to life in Gilda’s claws, she continued her work in silence and would need a coffee break in another hour. - “Why do I get the feeling Mr. Welder is being used a lot?” Greta muttered to herself, she had a sixth sense for her favorite welding torch and just shrugged it off as she continued to happily feast away on the succulent cooked fish. “I’ve been meaning to ask, you wouldn’t happen to know where I can find a Pegasus or two that are not attached to any prior commitments. I need to expand my crew a bit and my larger ship could use a bit more skeleton to her at it were. I only have three active crew members up there at the moment and it’s a pretty sizable ship that needs some space filled.” Rarity really could use the advice on where to find a good crew member or two and the princesses, plus Chrysalis, seem to know Canterlot pretty well. “You could try the lower districts, but at a time like this I don’t think it’s particularly safe. There’s a Caballeron Cabal gang running around there, but you’re likelier to find a pony that has nothing better to do in that area that would work for cheap salaries. Whether those ponies are friendly or not depends on what part of town you’re looking in.” Adjusting her glasses as she joined them in the meal without bothering to ask if she could, Moon Dancer bit into a carrot sharply and it crunched loudly as she began to chew. Moon Dancer didn’t even receive confirmation that she was Luna’s apprentice at all and just decided to assume she was so that she could be close to Twilight. “These are some pretty firm carrots, quite good.” “I believe the Golden Harvest clan is responsible for the carrots this day. I think Carrot Top is performing at her personal best this year.” Celestia hummed out as she continued eating like there was no tomorrow coming. “There’s also the Hands of Midas to be concerned with, given they are in the city, so you might want to watch out for any shifty figures lurking around and stay indoors after hours.” “What makes you think they are in the city?” Despite slowly and dizzily eating her food, Twilight suddenly became alert at the idea of more attacks. “They aren’t going to ruin the gala are they?” “I should hope not!” Rarity let out loudly and Spike glanced up from eating some gems that were brought in for him. “Do not worry Twilight; the gala will go on as it always has. I can see Luna has had you working on this information.” Celestia received a nod from her sister, she turned to Chrysalis before looking back to Twilight to fill her in. “Someone was offering the Caballeron Cabal gang something to help get our samurai forces out of the city and they successfully received it a night or so ago. From what Chrysalis tells us, one of hers was on the scene that saw a box that had the mark of a golden five fingered hand on it. It wasn’t until the terrorist attack on the train that we found out that they are definitely something to watch out for. We still have no idea what they are going to do, but we have a clue that it involves titans and that sounds quite bad.” “Was it a prophecy?” Twilight asked looking pensive as she remembered what happened during the last prophecy when she helped Celestia purify her sister. “I think it might have been, it went like this… they are building titans and will spread chaos to weaken Canterlot. They will strike when the iron is hot and it burns the one you love.” Celestia reiterated some of it and left the other less important parts out. “To think they didn’t ask me for help, why that upsets me to the highest degree. I’m all about chaos!” Everyone continued to ignore Discords presence even as he turned into a penguin with a jet pack and zipped around above them volleying a football around as if it were a volley ball. “Well this sounds serious, so do you think the one you love means Luna?” Twilight gave Celestia a confused look when she looked away from her and winced, before returning to her food. “There’s also the line about building titans, how does one build something like that without it going noticed?” “I’d ask that question myself, my Changelings aren’t exactly picking up anything and that should theoretically be impossible with how many of my people I have on this.” Here Chrysalis looked a little upset. “I know none of my guys have been taken out and nobody is missing, so they aren’t being attacked. They just aren’t finding any information.” “Can’t we discuss something more pleasant; does anyone here need a dress for gala? I’ve personally got mine and Greta’s ready and I can’t wait to show off my fashion.” Surely not everyone who went to the gala would be complete jerks and it would earn Rarity some positive notoriety, especially if she could make a dress fit for the princesses. “I could use a tuxedo for someone, pencil them in for Wednesday. Trust me, they’ll find you easily enough so have an open schedule that day. Name Plentiful Thorax, payment upfront I assume?” Chrysalis received knowing looks from Celestia, Luna and Cadence, but didn’t say much else. Chrysalis still had more to say. “Oh and you can count me in for putting up a resume for becoming crew member on your ship. I’ll get Plentiful Thorax to deliver it to you when he finds you for a tuxedo, if you need materials to make it I’ll handle the costs of the materials used. Just don’t go crazy with the budget Thorax will have on his person when he comes to you, please be somewhere public so he can introduce himself to you properly.” Rarity blinked owlishly at Chrysalis, a queen just offered to become a crew member on her ship and would give her a resume? Why did Rarity feel like she couldn’t say no to that even if she tried to? She didn’t know Chrysalis very well, but she seemed to be quite a unique individual. “Rover needs a resume to work with boss lady? That will be big problem.” The Diamond Dog’s ears wilted. “All of Rover’s previous bosses died violently while screaming in agony.” “So did mine, but I’m not crying about it.” Greta said with a chirp and a smile on her beak trying to reassure the Diamond Dog. “I’m beginning to question the people I’ve started surrounding myself with.” It was not hard for Rarity to do so. “Welcome to my world, except my people are at least somewhat more competent at making sure I don’t die.” Rolling her eyes Chrysalis just drank some water having finished off the last of the hair she was so graciously given, it was quite filling. However the ratio was True Love two months for one serving, stolen or false love at least a month in comparison if barely at that and as for hair a bit longer than a week provided you weren’t using a lot of magic. Hair at least had a physical presence in comparison to love and it wasn’t a hard resource to come by. “Oh and I would like to commission you for something special later, but only when I’m able to actually talk to you about what I want done in detail. So remind me that I wanted to do that later when we both have some free time and you’ll be paid well for your services.” - “So what am I doing exactly?” It was about time Ember got back in the saddle and back to working for a living, sitting before her was a pony looking over several documents and ignoring Mr. Spew on her shoulder. “We were recommended to contact you based on your… indestructibility to be quite fair. We need someone who can go in and look around to find out what’s happening at this colony station. The space station went silent all of the sudden, it’s still has power generation and there are quite a lot of active life signs. Every drone we send in however shows a whole lot of nothing and slowly start failing horribly, static fills the feedback and everything starts going wrong with them yet they stay in perfect operational condition when we find them for recovery.” The orange pegasus pony stallion with blue hair stopped here and looked Ember in the eyes as he slid a file to the dragon. “We’re not exactly sure what’s causing it, but it’s possible that it’s sifter drifter activity in the range of ‘deadly’ to ‘absolutely toxic’. We recovered the drones we sent in and nothing was wrong with them except their batteries were heavily drained and what little we could find of life were some strange shadows caught shifting along the walls in the city proper. At best we know it’s not a mechanical grey goo takeover and at worst we don’t know what we’re dealing with. The station still oddly shows a lot of life signs despite the visuals we did get back showing no life to be seen in the colony stations massive sprawling city. The life signs we’re receiving from the station are slowly beginning to drop off and the number of life signs matched that of the population of the entire colony station and those who went to it recently. Nobody is coming back from there so we’re trying to set up quarantine to prevent this problem from spreading, but some people are still getting through. I need you to help the current investigation team and possibly go in there personally to find out what it is we’re dealing with here and then get out as fast as you can.” “Yeah, this sounds like the kind of suicide mission you’d have to be absolutely crazy to go on.” The pony looked upset for a moment before Ember included. “I’m certainly ready for a challenge, just give me all the information you’ve got on what’s going on in there and let me scope it from the outside for a while. Maybe you can have the investigation team send in another team of drones first for me to get a measure on just how exactly long it takes for them to start failing.” “I’ll see what I can do.” The pony stated firmly.