//------------------------------// // -67- // Story: Coarse Diamonds // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// Sassy was officially out of the medical bed and in good health, she just needed some help walking again. Otherwise she was healthy as she could get after being spoon fed some cake and a really hearty vegetable stew. Now the mare found herself in a wheelchair being pushed by Rarity and she was looking forward to the show they were all going to, it was nice that her friends were thinking of her. It was, after all, something to do after being trapped inside a glass and metal tube for weeks. While it hadn’t been physically uncomfortable, it was certainly mentally agonizing. Babs on the other hoof was finding it hard to believe someone like Rarity can be so nice, but it seemed like she was definitely set on assisting her. Babs was currently on Ember’s right shoulder, given there was a sewer squid occupying the other side. The friendly bounty hunter was the one that helped Babs find her parents, or at least what was left of them anyway. She had already cried her heart out over it and the world was quite dark, but at least she had people looking out for her. The world felt a little less empty thanks to Rarity’s crew, Babs had to admit that they were a friendly bunch. Gilda was a bit of a grump, but she was a bit more real to Babs than the rest of the crew. The filly always had at least one of the crew with her at all times and things could have been far worse. When Babs had asked Ember, how exactly could her situation have possibly been any worse, well she got an answer that was a bit longer than she had been expecting. The answer took a while, at least from everyone boarding Caravel Boutique and eventually exiting it in Antilur Station. “You could also have been sold into child slavery where they would… abuse your body and do much worse to your mind. I’m not about to describe it in depth, but it gets pretty bad. Plus there’s active sex slave trading industries in some systems, be thankful we’re not anything close to being space pirates kid.” Being upfront with a filly wasn’t as hard as Ember thought it would be, but maybe it wasn’t a good idea to tell her about all the things that could have gone wrong after having become a survivor of a horrible infestation. “Quite frankly you should try to make peace with the fact that you are still alive and try not to become just another statistic. You still have family out there and they’d be sad if you died, I’m pretty sure my little brother would be sad if I died and we were never given the opportunity to meet. I don’t exactly know what he’s like, he’s been found and raised by ponies and all I know about him is what Rarity has told me. We’re not asking you to grow up; we’re asking you to keep pushing forward and stay strong no matter how hard it might be to keep on living. I think your parents would have wanted you to live a long and fulfilling life. Trust me; I’ve been where you are when I lost my mother and those weren’t exactly pleasant times for me. Don’t close yourself off from getting help, cry if you need too, but don’t you dare give up on life!” Babs silently wondered if this show they were going to was going to be any good and she certainly had her doubts. Was she supposed to be excited? It was hard to feel any excitement lately. She just lost her parents and this show wasn’t much to her benefit, she was going to get help packing up her belongings for a move to her cousins and there were the nightmares that even Princess Luna couldn’t stop or help with over the past few days that made her become an insomniac. The sleeping aids Vera gave her really helped her get the dreamless sleep she needed when it came to the fourth day of waking up to being all alone, it was kind of hard to even remember the kind mare’s name. Vera’s situation had been explained to the filly, but Babs was making an effort to remember her name anyways. Babs couldn’t fathom an existence where everyone forgets you’re there with a single blink of your eyes if no one was pointing at you or in contact with your body, but it was a very real bit of strangeness surrounding one of the many crew members the filly was introduced to. Was Babs supposed to feel upset that her bullies were dead too and why did she care so much about them being gone? It was a bit surprising to hear it was a normal response to miss even those who were cruel to you. It was good of her to feel upset about them being gone, because it meant that she wasn’t heartless and that she still had the capacity to care what happens to others around her. It was a bit conflicting to miss the horrible fillies and colts that used to bully her, but now they would never be able to do anything anymore. Babs knew she was still a filly and already being an emotional wreck before she even became a teenager was proving to be a very bad sign, she should find happiness where she could get it. Nothing lasted forever and she had to make the best of everything. “I’m surprised by how quiet the people are here, you’d at least expect some level of looting or somebody taking advantage of what happened.” Even the military ponies that called Ember in to deal with the threat weren’t trying to take any advantage of the situation or the people, they weren’t even having any problems keeping order on the station and they were beset with nightmares as well. Their nightmares weren’t nearly as bad as they hadn’t been trapped under the influence of the infestation as long. The military ponies had paid her very well for doing her job and she was sticking around because her hoard was. It occurred to Ember that she was the only dragon on the station as she stepped off the Caravel Boutique. Quite frankly she would probably be the first and likely only dragon to ever be on the station too. Most of her race was quite known for being lazy, greedy or jerks, sometimes all three and very few dragons ever rose up to do something interesting aside from digging out holes to fill with food and call them hoards. Her father Torch was one such dragon as was her mother, her family had a history of being slightly unusual and that’s why her father was the current dragon lord. She was glad she didn’t consider something simple like food was as being anything close to worthy of her hoard. Sure her personal hoard was going to be a whole list of complications, but she believed it to be a worthwhile endeavor. “I really doubt my presence alone is stopping anyone from committing crimes.” “It’s probably the horrible nightmares. They are definitely stopping everyone from just thinking all about themselves, the prolonged exposure to whatever that monster was is as horrible as you might expect.” Hearing Babs talk was disheartening, especially since her voice sounded all too hollow when it should be filled with cheer. “Whatever that monster did to us causes those nightmares, it would certainly put things into perspective for a lot of people and we’re still living a nightmare all the same while awake. We’re all too traumatized to really do anything, I woke up weightless surrounded by dead floating bodies and everything has been wrong ever since!” “There there, let it all out Babs.” Ember pulled Babs from her shoulder into a hug; she started to slowly rub the filly’s back as she cried. It was a tender and somber moment as they all made their way into Antilur City, this time it wasn’t a dark and foreboding mess with hidden dangers that could form out of the air itself. Babs didn’t know who to be angry at or if she could be angry at anyone at all, she just wanted her parents back. She missed them badly and Ember was right to say that her situation could be far worse. There were her fillies, colts and foals that barely survived like she did, they were either in intensive care or will need to be adopted by random people having lost everything. At least she had somewhere to go, with people she could vaguely trust to get her there safely as they killed the monster behind this suffering. There were plenty of ponies, griffons and a zebra or two looking at destroyed vehicles and picking through the rubble of partially collapsed buildings. A Minotaur was idly looking over plans to repair or rebuild anything nearby that had been messed up when the miasma spread throughout the station sucking the power out of almost everything. They were all working, trying to keep their minds off the things that had happened here by keeping themselves busy, the tragedy was affecting the visitors as much as the people who lived at the station. There was a stream of residents and various supportive visitors moving towards the large stadium that the group was approaching, it was wider than it was tall. This was where Trapeze would put on her performance for a large crowd and it would be her first big one. The Hoof Ball Stadium on the top floor was being avoided entirely considering what had been there, many of the stations residents were treating the place as if it were lethal to be within a floor of it. The top two floors of the station were a bit abandoned thanks to this and it would take a while for people to trust that it’s safe to go anywhere near the upper layer of the station’s city. Ember had already made sure the dead remains of the large brain had been dealt with, after drinking half a bottle of vodka to make sure she vaporized it completely. White dragon fire was quite cleansing, though completely unsafe for anyone to be around for. Ember had to do it alone while naked; she really didn’t want to lose anything important to her own fire breathing when it was at devastating levels. The scorch marks she left behind were impressive, considering she burned a hole into the flooring wherever the remains used to sit. The SNUGGLES organization had a lot of people on this station and their presence was certainly felt, they were trying to help as many as they feasibly could. Hundreds of case workers were working very tiring schedules, some even doing this without pay just to prove their devotion to the SNUGGLES organization ideals in helping those who needed it. One particular member had been missing from this slowly gathering congregation and it was brought up by the one most curious about the lack of that particular member’s presence. “Okay, where is she? I know she’s here somewhere.” Looking in all directions in a paranoid manner was Gilda; the griffon was positively shivering in either fear or expectation. “There is no way Tree Hugger wouldn’t be here, this disaster zone has her number and she certainly wouldn’t miss a call to help.” “Hey, I got some popcorn!” It wasn’t often that Greta spooked Gilda, but this was one of the occasions where she did and she didn’t feel like addressing Gilda’s sudden display of outright panic. Instead Greta calmly rolled her eyes and gently pushed the popcorn into Gilda’s talons “You know you’re going to have to get along with her eventually, because I don’t think she’s ever going to stop bothering you. Speaking of Tree, where is she, we’d have definitely seen her by now if she was on the station. Maybe she’s just too busy helping other people?” “One can only hope, just as long as she isn’t bothering me.” Muttered a sour Gilda, she didn’t envy the idea of actually seeing Tree Hugger. Of course with so many people needing help, maybe Tree wouldn’t be able to make an appearance to start a conversation out of the blue or appear from out of nowhere like she tended to do. Heck, Gilda wasn’t sure how Tree ended up in some of the places she appeared in, the mare was a wandering enigma factory that looked like it was constantly on drugs. Teleportation might have been involved, but Gilda had never seen Tree in the company of any particularly strong unicorns and alicorn princesses were a rare breed of Pony. “Speaking of missing people, where do you think Chrysalis could have possible gotten off to?” It was beginning to worry Rarity that she hadn’t seen hide or hair of the Changeling Queen, it would be kind of hard to find her if she was running around disguised as a pony. Who knows what she could be doing that could devastate the entire station and bring more misery upon those who were already miserable, not that she would do it on purpose as far as Rarity could tell. It would mostly be an accident at this point. - “Well there goes another computer.” Chrysalis had asked Opal about computers and whether or not the owner of the store was alive, all the beings around here were too depressed to really worry about the stock and she was trying to learn how to use more complicated forms of technology. She didn’t understand what she had done to make three computers melt, but she was sure it was a good thing. Aside from her current issues, she had Opal send a message back home to Equus to let her people know she was doing fine and hadn’t caught any lethal space born infections yet. Well as lethal as it could get for Chrysalis anyway. “Are these things honestly not designed to melt like this? Because it seems like they were made to melt like that.” “I’m surprised you haven’t burned out the data pad I found for you; then again I’m glad I rewrote the programming in it to handle your rather… special… needs. Considering you’re a computers worst nightmare, that poor data pad needs all the help it can get.” Opal had no problems helping the crew with questionable activities as long as it never got back to Rarity; she was just helping Chrysalis learn how to use a computer properly. At least nobody would miss the computers, that and Opal now knew what Chrysalis’s hobby was. Opal was the only one that knew what Chrysalis was now keeping a secret from all the others in the crew, what they were doing right now wasn’t related to that hobby and said hobby was surprisingly harmless. “I still don’t understand why you’re so secretive about your hobby or why you ran off by yourself to mess with computers.” “Old habits are really hard to kill and I might have been doing some soul searching, but I’m pretty darn proud to say that we Changelings love our traditions. Plus it’s embarrassing that I’m kind of bad with technology, you know, given the kind of age we all live in is full of the stuff that can detect Changeling biology no matter what form we take if you’re looking for it.” Chrysalis was okay with Opal knowing the hobby she chose, technically if anyone wanted to know more about her they would pry deeply into her business as needed. Obviously no one cared to know what she was getting up to badly enough to spy on her except for Opal, she was disappointed to say the least that she wasn’t being spied on. To Chrysalis, Opal was a more interactive version of a hive mind connection that Changelings used. “What I’m doing is technically not illegal and to remind you, I’m a very good politician. Even if I’m caught, they can’t call me out on any wrong doing. I’m still well within the law right now.” “So long as you remember to not take anything off of the premises and I will call you out on that, I still can’t believe that you can get away with this using such an odd loophole.” As long as they weren’t getting into any trouble for it, Opal was alright with Chrysalis getting away with what should have been illegal. She looked up the various laws Chrysalis named and, surprisingly enough, the Changeling Queen was pretty spot on with them and had yet to technically do anything outright worthy of being illegal. It was scary how many laws Chrysalis had memorized and the kind of holes she could poke into them, frankly Opal wouldn’t be surprised to hear Chrysalis had a photographic memory. “I probably could have been a lawyer, but a politician is basically the same thing right?” It wasn’t exactly the same thing, but nobody would be able to stop Chrysalis from thinking as such. She was just having some light fun and she wasn’t hurting anyone, but she was doing some suspect things which required Opal to keep track of her. Just in case Chrysalis eventually did step out of line. If there was one thing Opal would do, it would be to keep an eye on the Changeling Queen like she did with Gilda. Otherwise she decided to drop the current topic of discussion entirely. The so called AI didn’t worry too much about the minor vaguely illegal activities the crew might get up to, but anything too bad would definitely be flagged. She’d immediately tell Rarity or the next most reasonable person she could feasibly contact. She would stop the crew if they started to go pirate… no matter how much fun it would be to be the most fashionably dressed pirates to ever exist. It was easy to say Chrysalis was the strangest and weirdest members of the Shining Jewel’s crew, because she had a very different outlook on things that most would find disturbing. That and she had a tendency to put priorities on her species first and foremost as expected of a Changeling in her particularly royal position. Well at least Chrysalis was weird compared to many other Changelings, at least normal Changelings didn’t have as many varying odd kinks that their queen seemed to have. One would even say that Chrysalis being on the crew endangered the ship, because Chrysalis certainly had enemies and they wouldn’t mind killing a few ponies to hopefully get at her. That made the Shining Jewel a bit of a target for Equus related factions that hated Crystal’s guts. “Trapeze’s show is about to go on, are you going to watch it?” Receiving a lazy shrug to her question, Opal decided to tune in to the show about to start and she saw Gilda’s strange hippie stalker taking the stage. Tree Hugger was always off to Opal and she couldn’t ever quite place her digital claws on why. - “We’re all gathered here today to remember those lost in the great tragedy that befell this space station, we must never forget what happened or those who are now gone.” Tree Hugger was wearing a white gown and a wreath of flowers on her head, she didn’t look particularly upset and she wasn’t particularly happy. At most she seemed solemn from what Gilda could see. “All of you must press forward and try to rebuild your lives; I know many of your friends, family and neighbors are gone, but look at those who are still here beside you. I can’t promise you the road ahead will be easy, but eventually things will get better for all of you who live in this wondrous place built among the stars. If you help each other a little with this pain you are all feeling right now, then it is to everyone’s benefit. I am here to help with that, I will be the first to perform by singing a calming song to help at least ease some of the burden. We can’t dwell on those who are gone forever with what ifs, nor should we ever forget those that have perished. You must carry those you loved in your hearts always and never forget them. For those of you who came to help, let us mourn with these people as one. I will now sing, I ask that everyone be silent as a show of respect for those who have lost so much.” Clearing her throat Tree Hugger, let out a long keening noise from her throat and then it slowly became a very somber, if quite beautiful, wordless aria. She let her voice flow and her feelings on the matter came out, it got to a point that even Chrysalis could feel it even when she wasn’t anywhere near where this was taking place, which got her curious enough to actually come see the show. Tree gave quite a performance that nobody would be able to forget. Tree certainly had a talent for singing, if that was what she was doing; it sounded more like an angel giving voice to lost souls. After she ended her song fading on a slowly dropping note, everyone was quiet as Tree bowed to them before smiling wanly. “Thank you all for your time; it is a precious commodity that we all tend to overlook or take for granted.” Tree walked off leaving many a being mystified. “I believe it is time for the real show to go on. I would like to thank The Performer for allowing me to have some of this time, please let her help lift your spirits.” “She’s really good at singing.” The only sound Greta was going to get from Gilda was a grunt of affirmation to that fact as she stuffed some popcorn into her beak. “That was rather beautiful; there are no words to describe it…” There were tears in Rarity’s eyes and she had to dab them away with a handkerchief levitating in her magic, she then promptly checked her makeup. It was a bit runny, but after that performance nobody would care to take notice. “Right, thank you Lady Tree Hugger for such an incredible performance, it seems SNUGGLES has many talents folks. I am Trapeze Star and first up on the Trapeze Troupe’s schedule, it is Rover and his roving balls!” There certainly had to be a better way to word that, because it left Trapeze sounding like she was Chrysalis. Probably where Trapeze got the idea for the name of the act in the first place and if asked Chrysalis would probably just smile about it. “Come on out my friend!” Trapeze’s costume and top hat looked to be in proper order and they matched, her suit was as eye catching as it was supposed to be. The mare in question rubbed at her eyes as she walked onto the stage she had set up; it made Rarity happy to see that Trapeze looked good. Onto the stage walked Red Rover as Trapeze left; the vest wearing diamond dog sat down the basket filled with colorful balls and smiled as he addressed the audience. “This is Rover’s first time performing, so please excuse me if I am having anxiety problems. I will start off with one.” Rover took a bright shiny purple ball from the basket, he threw it up in the air and it came down bouncing off his nose before it fell to the floor. He rubbed his head thoughtfully as if trying to figure something out. “What was Rover supposed to do when the ball was in the air again? Oh right Rover was supposed to catch it!” The audience actually gave a chuckle at that. Instead of picking the ball up, Rover got another ball from the basket. This one was yellow. He tossed it up in the air and it swiftly fell to the floor behind him. He kept looking up in the air for the ball with his paws held out as if waiting to catch it. “Rover must not know his own strength, he don’t see ball anywhere!” The crowd started laughing some more and the friendly grin widened on Rover’s face. “Rover will get another ball and try to catch that one later when it comes back from orbiting station!” The laughter grew from there and it quieted down when Rover went for his third ball, one that was a classic red color. He eyed the ball suspiciously and scrutinized its surface a bit, so far it sounded like he was going for a comedy act. Only thing was, Rover would actually surprise them all soon enough. “Ms. Star, Rover can’t juggle this one! It makes me uncomfortable.” Rover said plainly, much to the crowd’s confusion. “Well why not? It seems perfectly fine to me.” Trapeze asked she walked back on to the stage to see what the problem was. “It is being too needy for Rover’s taste.” Rover spun the red ball around showing Trapeze the words on the ball that read ‘please love me’ repeatedly scrawled on it and there was a camera putting the words on the big screen. “Sounds fair, try a different one.” With that Trapeze left the stage once more as Rover dropped the ball off to the side and the crowd giggled as he went for another ball, wondering what would be the problem this time. “Rover not having much luck today is he, but who knows? Luck might get better eventually.” He plucked up an orange ball and looked at it, he then started to wave it about in the air as if contemplating letting it go. “Wait, this is not one of Rover’s balls!” To prove his point, Rover peeled the orange and started eating it in front of everyone and after he finished it off he looked to Trapeze for help with the peel. Trapeze came back onto the stage looking a little put out. “If this was an orange, then where did Rover’s orange ball go?” Rover scratched at the side of his head as Trapeze took the scraps of the peel from him and ceremoniously tossed them into her hat. After turning the hat back over, much to the audience’s surprise, the peel scraps didn’t fall back out. She turned away and made for the stairs leading onto the stage. “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure it’ll come up sometime later. Also snacking during a performance, really Rover?” Trapeze just shook her head in disappointment and trotted off. Just when she was about to place the hat back on her head an orange ball fell out and smacked her head, this seemingly startled her badly. In her startled state Trapeze took a tumble down the stairs, that didn’t seem very controlled to anyone but Rarity’s scrutinizing gaze. Rarity surprisingly saw Trapeze expertly juggling the ball as she was tumbling down the stairs leading up to the stage. When she reached the bottom Trapeze flipped onto her back as if by accident. She opened her mouth to say something about her current circumstance, but the orange ball fell into it cutting her off from saying anything. “Oh you found Rover’s lost ball, thank you!” Quickly moving off the stage, Rover took the ball from Trapeze’s sputtering mouth and went back to his position on stage. He dropped the ball on the floor next to the other forgotten juggling balls. He turned towards the last ball in the basket, his fifth ball and he looked upon it reverently. It was a blue ball and he picked it up. “Rover is saving the best of his balls for last!” Squeezing the blue ball it gave off a loud squeak noise that made Rover smile fondly, then he bounced the ball against the floor several times and after a moment he really wowed the audience. The ball hit the purple ball and it bounce with the blue ball into the air, Rover deftly caught them and started to juggle the two simply. Next Rover tossed both balls in his paws down and then started juggling the four balls that came back up, the red ball laid all alone on the floor. Rover hit it with the blue ball, but didn’t catch it to put it in the juggling pattern when it came up; instead he started using the other balls to juggle the red ball into the air above him without ever touching it. It was both an incredible and intricate looking juggling pattern. “Rover is still wary of that ball’s intentions.” The audience was both awed and amused at the statement that Rover made as he expertly juggled all four balls, all of which were working together to juggle the red one in the air themselves. “Rover is almost about done with act, now you see great finisher!” After knocking the red ball skywards and throwing all four balls he was juggling high into the air, Rover leaned to the right holding his arms out straight. His left arm held high and his right low. The balls landed in his left palm and rolled down his arm across his back and off the back of his right paw into the basket in the exact order he picked them out. When they came to a rest the balls noticeably had big black letters on each of them that the audience hadn’t seen previously, they spelled R O V E R. The audience applauded and Rover bowed with a happy grin, he was helping all these upset people feel slightly better. If they thought he was good, then they haven’t seen anything yet. He was just the warm up act after all and Trapeze was far more amazing than he was. He was glad to have met the Boss Lady when he did; he definitely had a new lease on life.