Twilight Sparkle - Day 16Twilight Sparkle - Day 16
Solice - The Center
I could tell that Solace had been lived in for generations. Not simply because everything about the fortress within a hill was rusty, worn down, or covered in flaking paint. But because of the grave yards, lovingly tended too, dotting the land around the fort. The names carved into the stone pillars, and the crude hearts scratched into the metal panels which filled the gaps between them.
You could see a million little stories everywhere you looked. The terrace’s supports had cracks and warps in them from absolute ages of heavy use. You could see where ropes had been wound around beams to repair them. Steel pillars ran up alongside aging stone support columns to give otherwise ‘finished’ looking structures the appearance of a work in progress.
Solace was always evolving, and that’s why it felt lived in. You could tell that merely by the outside, which was ninety percent mountain, three percent carved stone archways, five percent ramps and two percent bare steel panels.
Solace had many entrances. Starswirl took us through a small one meant for people of our size at the top. There were doors for creatures of every size, even something like a Rex. And the reason for those many entrances and the terraced ramps outside was simple. The mountain was completely hollow.
Inside it was like a big upturned bowl. A whole city-like singular building formed from dozens of different boxy ‘buildings’ all attached to one another filled the mountain. Each one personalized, each sized for someone greatly different from their neighbor, with its entrance connected to an elaborate series of pathways and bridges held up by pillars, the buildings themselves, or even anchored to some of the huge stalactites hanging down from the ceiling.
Despite being a great example of a batpony colony, the inside of Solace reminded me of Ponyville.
Every last building had it’s own personal touches put into it. Wall murals, light color, little architectural embellishments, it was wonderful. Almost like being back home.
Except instead of ponies running everywhere, you had mutant dinosaurs.
“Damn…” Nyota said as we looked over the truly fantastical city.
“Yep! Not bad for starting out as a little straw hut, eh?” Star bragged. “Come on, we’re going to the inner sanctum. It’s where Clover and I plan our bigger operations. She’ll be meeting us so-”
The wooden bridge we stood upon shook, swaying noticeably back and forth, the wood creaking as a massive greenish-tan mutant Rex’s head peeked up over the edge of the walkway, stopping at eye level with Starswirl.
The head was attached to a Beastfolk who definitely was better done than most. Her head still had the squarish look to it, but her features held a more even blend of dinosaur and humanoid than anything else. That extended to her body as well, which reminded me of Nyota’s in both general shape and muscular look.
Frankly, her looks made me happy she was wearing a long tunic made from thick black scaled hide. Nye might have slapped me for gawking at the reptilian giantess…
What? She had hair. Nice silky orange hair. Braided into a single ponytail. It went a long way into making her look nice.
For a heartbeat I thought she had a small tuft of white hair atop her head as well as the orange hair, then I wondered if it was a little fur cap. But then the tuft moved, revealing itself to be a freakishly long haired, exceptionally tiny snow white unicorn mare with neighponese features in terms of her face shape. She was seriously tiny, clearly fully grown, but maybe three hooves taller than Sweetie Belle had been when she was thirteen!
Unfortunately, her sheer floof made discerning anything else about her impossible. Not that anything else was necessary. Tiny, fluffy, adorable. She was set for life.
“Hi dad! I asked Roxie out and she said yes!” The unicorn called cheerfully.
“We’re going Giga wrestling, then mountain climbing. I hope that’s not a problem, sir,” Roxie said, her voice rumbly and scary, due mostly to her volume…
“Unfortunately, it is a problem. It’s time for Clover and I to leave… I was not anticipating you falling for anypony, Snow. I will adjust my plans. Stick with Roxie for now. Roxie, please, do your part swiftly and make it back here,” Star ordered with a smile, returning the wave. “Oh, yes, Roxie, Snow, this is Twilight. She’s another of my children. That’s her marefriend on her back. Nyota, if I remember correctly.”
“Nice to meet you… If you do that light trick again I’ll eat you,” Roxie grumbled angrily. “I’m sorry… I was looking forward to helping Snow avenge herself against a particular creature. I won't actually eat you… Well maybe if you respawn. Later.”
“Hi tall-sis! We’ll talk later, looks like I’m busy now!” Snow practically cheered.
“See you around, new Sister,” Roxie said, offering me a salute before turning around carefully, so as not to smash her tail into the walkway supports and walking off. “Come tiny equus mare, let’s go make the wardens fear you…”
“YAY!” Snow cheered way too happily.
I stood still for several moments my heart beating like a jackhammer, the mix of emotions still ping ponging in my skull.
“Awww… She’s so sweet,” Nyota said sadly. “I feel bad about shooting her now.”
Starswirl shook his head quickly. “Don’t! This is her POST taking that shot. She was unbearable before. That’s what you get when you combine a creature that knows it’s king of the jungle with being your one flawless success at humanizing your helpers. Roxie is the only one of the lot without scars or deformities. It really went to her head. Guarantee half of the Beastfolk will buy you a beer for taking her down a peg.
“Anywho, on with the tour!”
We quickly crossed the remainder of the bridge and were taken into the city’s center. The inside didn’t disappoint. In fact, it paled in comparison to the inside.
Most of the buildings were closed off to form appartments, but the inside had been very lovingly decorated. The ceilings were painted to look like the sky so you felt like you were outdoors instead of inside, but you still knew of the metal structure protecting you.
Special reflective surfaces let the light from lamps bounce around the city, simulating natural sunlight. Which had to help the trees and other plants in large garden plots grow as well as they seemed to.
We passed one huge central area which was nothing more than a massive cafeteria. The smell of hundreds of different dishes wafted up from the coliseum-like dining pit, with tables upon tables filled with creatures of all kinds eating.
Leave it to a pony and a changeling to create a completely diverse community where predators who were also obligate carnivores could sit side by side with herbivores and be friend-
…
They all respawned if killed too. And could be hundreds of years old and super jaded about death. Like Nye’s friend who chose suicide over diarrhea.
The herbivores totally just let themselves get eaten in exchange for something… Didn’t they?
Deciding not to think about that possibility, I instead focused on the rest of the tour. I had expected some practical forges and workshops, but instead, we had mage’s laboratories. The Beastfolk used engram items exclusively… Save for creating materials needed for Star’s impairments.
We must have passed eight different labs, each one purpose built for a different task. I saw an alchemy lab, an enchantorum, a sorcerer’s sanctum, a battlemage’s barracks, a fairly typical wizard’s laboratory (with attached lavatory), and a few highly customized labs I simply didn’t recognise.
The long walk and ever increasingly elaborate labs got my hopes up that the inner sanctum Starswirl kept mentioning would be just the single most awesome magical workshop anywhere in the multiverse.
I was practically salivating when we reached the large metal double doors leading into the sanctum. Starswirl pushed the doors open, still talking as he stepped inside. I could scarcely listen as I anticipated the glory of two hundred years worth of wizardry culinated in-
I walked into a white room with dull grayish red carpet and beige couches with a big unfinished wooden conference table.
My tail drooped with disappointment as Starswirl’s words faded back into my deflated reality.
Seriously? A sub par living room? Why?
“... Of course, we did have some challenges in engineering this place due to the vast differences in scale of our friends,” Starswirl admitted as he took a seat at the head of the table, immediately kicking his rear hooves up onto the tabletop. “But it was well worth ensuring this central city can house everyone in an emergency. We didn’t always control a third of this habitat after all, and our holdings have fluctuated over time.
“With this secure base in place, Clover and I were able to begin doing real work. The Beastfolk are quite independent, easily able to govern themselves and tend to their own needs. The reverence shown to us is well, gratitude, and perhaps just a little bit of worship. Though to be fair, we did bestow upon them the gift of sapience. So I wouldn't say it’s not totally undeserved.
“Besides, that little bit of worship goes a long way into ensuring they allow us to continue our experiments. We spent hundreds of years on various projects before we found a way to watch over you, Twilight. Sadly most were not successes, but-”
I coughed, holding up a hoof to interrupt and pitching forwards instantly as Nyota’s weight bore down on my shoulders. “Eeep!” I yelped, putting my hoof back down.
“Um, there’s chairs, I could sit down now,” Nyota offered politely.
I turned around to look at her and shook my head. “No, no. It’s fine. I like you up there. It’s just the armor is a bit heavy,” I admitted with a happy blush before turning back to Starswirl. “As I ment to say, considering the time discrepancy between Equestria and here, how long have you been able to actually watch over me?”
Star nodded. “Ah, good question,” he said clearly buying time to word his answer properly. “I would say that we have been able to watch over you your entire life. For us this has been four years and twelve months. But-”
“Wait, so, five years?” Nyota asked with a confused tilt of her head.
I blinked and turned around again. “Did your Equestria only have twelve months in a year? Why?”
“Yeah. How many does yours have?” She asked, clearly very confused.
“Sixteen,” I answered. “That way there’s an even four months per season.”
Starswirl nodded in agreement. “Exactly. The calendar is a work of art. Five days per week with five weeks per month, totaling twenty five days per month, with one hundred days for each season.
“Easy as pie to have your calendar make sense when you have pegasi do the seasons on schedule. It’s a shame Celestia refused to put the day-night cycle on an equally sensible schedule… I swear that girl of mine just has to complicate things. It’s probably her fetish.”
My eyes opened in horror at that statement, I opened my mouth to re-ask my question about how long they were helping me for, but I did so too late.
“I don’t suppose Celestia dated anypony over the last thousand years?” Star asked with a stroke of his beard. “I can’t see everything. If she did then we could know for certain. The first date would have had a checklist the size of a small dictionary and-”
“And we are NOT talking about this!” I snapped, tail raised in panic, eyes open wide.
Starswirl blinked. “Oh? Sorry, I’ll make a note about you being uncomfortable about discussing others love lives. Despite mentioning you enjoy carrying your mare around, implying you enjoyed discussing relationships and fetishes. Sorry. Shall we return to your question?”
“Please!” I begged, closing my eyes tightly.
I never imagined, nor dreamed, that THIS is how meeting Starswirl the Bearded would go…
Wait… Did I like carrying others around? Was that my thing?
Yeah, yeah that was totally my thing. Not a sexual thing, but definitely a thing I liked doing with people I loved.
Starswirl cleared his throat. “Well, we’ve been able to track you for the last four years and twelve months,” he reiterated. “But we’ve only been able to do so regularly for the last two years. We missed quite a bit of your growing up. Which is when most of the damage Dawn did to you was done… I’m sorry about that.
“It’s hard to do anything with time here. I don't have enough energy. It took forever to get the simple spell established to allow objects to pass through the portal a few moments before we threw them, so they arrive at the moment we’re seeing its… It’s complicated.”
“It’s time travel,” Nyota and I said together, sharing the same ‘no duh’ expression and tone.
“Yep!” Star agreed with a strained laugh. “We have bits and pieces of your life from fifteen up until you came here. Maybe… Maybe a quarter of that time. The time dilation forced us to miss most of it. It’s hard watching your child grow up like that. But you turned out well enough, and you’re still young! You’ve got plenty of time to grow still.”
I blinked twice. “Uh, I’m an Alicorn. I have all the time in the world.”
“Exactly! Plenty of time,” Star quipped.
I rolled my eyes.
“But I am proud of you,” Star continued. “If you hadn’t ascended you would have become Equestria’s next archmage for certain. Frankly, that would have made your mother much more ha-”
Star stopped speaking as the sanctum’s door screeched as the hinges protesting being opened.
“Star?” A feminine voice laden with the telltale low buzz of a changeling called.
“Over here, lovebug,” Starswirl called. “The table.”
I blinked, turning to look towards the door. That had to be Clover. But how could sne not see us from the-
“AAA!” Nyota and I yelped together as we saw the poor mare’s empty eye sockets.
I’d expected to see her in the pony form she had always been painted in. Nope. She stood as what must have been her true changeling self. A supremely beautiful statue sculpted from oddly soft looking chitin, with a long flowing white mane and tail, glittering gossamer wings which shimmered exactly like pearls, a glossy diamond-like shell on her back…
And the two gaping black pits where her eyes should have been. Complete with obvious knifepoint marks in the chiten at the edges of her sockets…
Or in short; AAA!
Clover slowly walked towards the table, frowning apologetically. “We have guests? I’m sorry, normally I would put a bandage over my eyes. I assumed we were going to be doing war planning. Are you from one of the other tribes? Is there to be an alliance?” Clover asked hopefully.
“Why haven't you regenerated those?” Nyota asked extremely uneasily, shifting on my back in a way which ground her armor into my spine.
“Okay, Nye, armor off. Now. Then you can get back on,” I said with a wince before continuing. “Obviously it’s because the poor mare doesn't have enough love to heal herself.”
Despite not having eyes, Clover’s ‘eyes’ widened at the sound of my voice. She broke into the biggest smile, hopped into the air to fly over to my side, and slammed into me, immediately locking her arms around me in a hug.
“Twilight! I’m so sorry you’re here but so happy to be able to hold you!” She exclaimed joyously. “Oh my precious little nymph-filly! I’m so sorry I lost you. Were your parents good enough? We looked so hard for the right couple, and things looked fine but every mare has her own thoughts about things and-”
Clover cut off mid speech, her face twisting in sudden delighted realization. “And this is a very very selfish request but would you please give the mare on your back a kiss? I can feel your love bond and I would very much like to see you without the aid of an arcane scrying tool.”
I felt my ears fall flat. That was the saddest thing I had ever heard in my life. Clover couldn’t-
“Um, don’t ye have a husband?” Nyota asked apprehensively. “I mean yer a changeling. Shouldn’t you be able to just go give him a han- Um, I mean a hoofjob and be topped off yerself?”
“NYE!” I snapped, completely mortified. “She didn’t raise me but that’s my mother! And my father!”
“Aye, an I’m sorry, but that doesn't really add up!” Nyota protested.
Clover tipped her head back expertly, pointing herself directly at Nyota. “Are you on Twilight’s back? Hehe! That’s cute,” Clover giggled. “It’s not a rude question. I’m certain that you know we can’t feed on just any species love. In slightly the same vein, not every individual produces the same amount.
“But the problem is simply that Starswirl and I are very old. Ponies and Changelings have had twenty generations of coexistence since he and I wed. Over those generations modern ponies have become more than enough to sustain one, perhaps two, changelings.
“Starswirl is not capable of this. It’s not his fault for being born when he was. He can keep me alive and charge my magic, but he has never been able to feed me enough for me to be capable of shape changing, even minor regeneration, or having a fuel reserve. Which is fine, I didn’t marry him for his cooking.”
“She married me for my-” Starswirl began with a sly grin.
“His sense of humor, which is NOT appropriate to use around his little filly!” Clover interrupted, wheeling to glare uselessly at Starswirl for a long moment.
I felt my mane stand on end. That was a surprisingly effective glare.
Starswirl seemed to agree with me. He reached up to his hat with a hoof and pulled the brim down over his eyes.
I sighed in relief. Thanks, mom! That was getting far too obscene.
“But um… Yes. I did marry you for that too,” Clover admitted with a cute bio-luminescent blush.
I blinked twice. “Hey! I didn’t know changelings blushed like that.”
Clover nodded twice. “Oh yes! We do. Though most changelings subconsciously never fully return to their true forms. We like to maintain certain features of our favorite prey species. Most lings I’ve known will subconsciously keep features which allow them to better emote to ponies. A shame really, the glow is cute,” she said with a smile as she turned back to me.
“That’s true,” Nyota remarked. “I met some Emerald’s once. They have a distinctly pony look to their exoskeletons. But the Topaz and Amethyst native to Zebrica look more like zebras.”
“Huh… I never noticed that when I was in Zebrica,” I mused, tapping a hoof to my chin in thought. “Then again, Freeli was always shape changed while I was there. She made a very cute stallion.”
“Now, I could use his love to regenerate my eyes. If I wanted to not cast any spells for say, a week. As I can function well enough blind, I elected to remain blind since I was ambushed two months ago, and until there was a lull in enemy activity and we could safely have me forgo casting spells.
“But with you two here, there’s another source of love for me to consume, and while I do agree it is a little awkward, a kiss should be enough for me to restore at least one eye. I won't ask you for more than-”
I definitely had to be part changeling, because I could feel just a tiny little connection between Clover, Starswirl, and I. The same kind of connection I felt between my mom, dad, Shining, and I. That very faint hint of love, almost hidden by its foggy nature, which I likely could only sense because they were family.
I took a step forward and wrapped Clover in a tight hug, and gave her a quick kiss on her left cheek. “It’s okay mom, we’ll help,” I promised.
The immediately yelped and jumped back as Clover’s eyes burst into flames as I held her!
Clover blinked several times as her eggshell white slit pupiled eyes reformed, the frosty-looking orbs moving only after her final blink.
“Well, that works too… Though I thought it would be too much to ask for a kiss personally,” Clover mumbled bashfully, tapping her forehooves together before pulling me back into a tight hug. “You look so nice, Twilight! You filled out well. No wonder your gynoid marefriend loves you.”
I blinked. “Um, what?”
“This is power armor,” Nyota corrected, holding up a finger in protest.
Clover looked up at her and frowned, ears drooping. “Awww, lame! Nothing personal, I was simply hoping you were an automaton. I’ve always wanted to meet one programed with enough complexity to be a person. Personal fantasy. Again, I’m sorry.”
“Oh, well if that’s the case, once we get back to Equestria I’ll take you to meet Lyra’s sister. She’s dating a synthetic pony,” I promised.
“I’m afraid that will be some time coming,” Clover sighed, finally letting go of my barrel, but refusing to move too far away from me. “Oh! Would you like to hear the story of how you were born? It’s an interesting one.”
I winced as all the details of changeling reproduction went through my mind. Then the wince went away as I realized I knew nothing about how changeling hybrids were created. I’m certain we had a few minutes to spare…
“Sure! I’d love to hear that,” I answered with an eager smile. “Oh! Um, just how changeling am I? Half? Because I can’t shapechange, though Nye and I found out I do need to eat love in addition to normal food.”
Clover blushed again, reaching up behind her head to scratch at her loose flowing white mane. “Um, well, that’s not true, you do shapeshift. But you’re only capable of microshifts. That’s when you tweak existing features slightly, there’s no visual effects…”
I shook my head. “No way, I’d remember that.”
Starswirl cleared his throat. “No, you do. Your flanks gain about a half centimeter of padding when you’re looking at a pony you fancy. That’s all you seem to be able to do though.”
I rolled my eyes. “Mom, tell dad he’s not being funny,” I grumbled.
“He isn’t. That’s factual. It’s basic changeling instinct, you’re trying to look good to get the love you want. Don't worry, we all do it,” Clover said comfortingly.
I frowned, trying to think back on any time anypony might have said anything about that, or if I ever noticed it myself.
Hmmm… Well, Rainbow always called me ‘cute flanks’ when she was a little drunk or feeling playful-
“ACK! Uh, okay, I um… Maybe I do,” I admitted, flicking my mane to one side to try and cover up my blush.
“Right,” Clover nodded again. “As for your percentage… Well, you should be about eight percent changeling. Down from one hundred originally.”
“Originally?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes,” clover confirmed. “This is how you came to be."
"Hey kiddo, buckle your pants. Shit's about to get weird,” Star warned ominously.
Curiosity pushed aside the embarrassing realization that Dash had wasted eight years flirting with me to no avail...
“Oh yes,” Clover confirmed with a slow nod. “I was dying from Void Poisoning when you were born. You began life as a clone of me, not in the normal ‘a Queen laid an egg and incubated it’ way. I did lay the egg which became you, but I modified it to reproduce an exact clone of myself, only braindead.”
“WHAT!?” I exclaimed tail standing bolt upright in shock.
Clover held up her hooves defensively. “Hold on! Let me finish. That’s only how you began life. I detected signs of an intelligence inside you within a few days, and couldn't continue the project as intended. You were going to be a replacement for my failing body. But I could not destroy you. I’d made a child, not merely living tissue as planned. While that was an accident, I was very delighted. Starswirl is sterile, you see?”
“He is?” I asked suspiciously. “But, he said that my other parents were descended of his.”
“They are,” Starswirl said causally. “I wasn’t steril then. I am now. It’s a choice on my part.”
Oh. Well, that was entirely plausible.
Clover nodded. “I could never convince him to have a foal with me either. And that’s fine, it was his choice. I was happy I had created a daughter even though I wasn’t intending too. I’d always wanted a biological nymph to raise and teach. Naturally, from that point on, you were my baby and I was going to make sure you developed completely normally.
“So I started a second clone body to transfer myself into… And I made the same mistake, and it gained sentience too. That’s where your sister comes in.
“During development, there was a slight problem with you specifically. The poison killing me had somehow contaminated the egg I’d used as the base for you. Starswirl agreed to save you by patching the broken segments of DNA with his own. Which is why you are ninety two percent pony, and your sister is a pure blooded changeling. Or was… I have no idea if she’s still alive.”
I blinked several times. “Um… Okay. So, did I just gestate in a beaker for my whole… Time? If so how can you call us twins? We’re not genetically identical, nor were we developed in the same, um, container.”
That would be very very disheartening. If it's just been some cells bubbling away in a jar on a shelf…
Clover shook her head immediately. “No! Oh no, absolutely no! I incubated both your eggs together inside my formicary just like any normal fertilized egg would have been. After ensuring you had stabilized of course. The closest comparison I could make is you were produced through invitro fertilization.
“Though the truly interesting part of all this is it means you are quite literally the fusion of myself and Starswirl. Heh, it’s a good thing part of that eight percent remaining is my nervous system. Two brains are better than one after all, and I imagine mine balances out the kooky ideas his makes.”
“Twi’s got a changeling’s nervous system?” Nyota asked before I could, her voice sounding oddly mischievous.
“What other parts of me are changeling in nature?” I asked curiously. “My nose? Because I’ve always had a better sense of smell than anypony else.”
Clover nodded. “Yes, she has a changeling’s nerves. And I’m afraid not, Twilight. All you have from me is your nervous system, love digestion system, and the general shape of your hooves. They have the rounded bottom edge. That’s a changeling thing.”
I looked back at Nyota. “Could you get off my back, dear? I want to look at my hoof.”
She quickly slid off my back, immediately grabbing her left gauntlet to start detaching it. “Sure thing, lass!”
I nodded gratefully, and pulled one hoof up to my face, turning it over to look. Sure enough the bottom edge was curved making a very subtle round edge instead of the more sharp chisel point of a normal pony. I’d just thought my hooves grew weird. I had no idea that was a changeling th-
“Boop!” Nyota giggled playfully as she poked a spot just behind my left wing with her finger.
I went limp with a happy sigh, a wave of complete contentment and bliss rippling out for my side as I flopped to the ground. Only to ball up, completely horrified, from realizing what that must have looked like.
“Oh-my-gosh-Nye-why-did-you-do-that-and-what-was-it!?” I squeaked rapidly, hiding my face in my wings.
“Heh heh! I told ye Twi, I used to feed a LOT of changelings. That’s where the nerve cluster that works as a ling’s pleasure center is. Give it a little poke and well, that happens,” Nyoto giggled naughtily.
“By the gods!” Starswirl exclaimed with a grin. “They have a happy button!”
“I- I didn’t think you could press hard enough… Given our exoskeletons,” Clover mumbled in embarrassment.
“Aye, ye can’t. I’d give the spot a wee rap with a little hammer. But with Twi, I can just poke her. Don't worry hon, I won't do it again… In public. I just had to know if yer mom was telling the truth. This sort of confirms her whole story,” Nye remarked casually.
“That may be true, but, but- My parents are in the bucking room!” I snapped angrily, shooting daggers at Nye.
Nye’s eyes widened, realizing she’d messed up. “Uhh… N-normally they just feel like they’ve been hugged… Or were massaged… Um, sooo you didn’t feel-”
“NO!” I yelled.
Nye shuffled her feet. “Ah… And yer mom’s a change bug… Sooo yeah.”
“I didn’t taste anything more than relaxation, it’s cool,” Clover said dismissively. While also totally lying.
We spent an awkward moment in silence. Everypony else just avoided looking at each other while I glared daggers at Nye.
“I’m sorry, Twi,” Nyota sighed after a few moments. “I didn’t know ye’d react to it like that. Most changebugs just sort of well, you know, feel it like a hug.”
“Did you factor in that Twilight loves you? Greatly amplifying what she feels from your personal affections?” Starswirl asked dryly.
“Oh…” Nye said, looking down at the floor for a few moments.
“It’s okay,” I sighed. “I forgive you. Just… Don’t do that outside of the bedroom.”
“Annny-ways,” Clover said with a strained smile. “Has Star told you about the escape plan? I was checking up on your brother one day because he’s really good at crochet and I wanted to figure out how he did that little kitten plush-”
I felt one eye widen while the other shrank. “He does crochet?” I asked in completely floored.
Oh. Oh right. I’d been blocking out almost everything about him because of Dawn’s influence…
Clover nodded. “Yeah! He’s a great stallion. Since most of his hobbies are things mares like, well, ever wonder how he gets along so well with Princess Cadence? After all, not just any stallion could wed a demigod of love itself.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Cadence was the OPPOSITE of a girly mare in every way save for her sense of fashion.
“Um, you are aware that Cadence used to be Celestia’s bodyguard, right?” I asked curiously.
“Well, no… I um, I was not. I don’t watch her too much. She detected my scrying and asked I only watch her during um, playtime. And only then if I came over one day to say hi in person…” Clover admitted with an embarrassed blush. “I mean, at least I have permission to snack, and I could watch the rest of the palace as much as I wanted, but it makes looking at her spellbook very hard and-”
“And Twilight actually has a rescue party coming for her, right now,” Starswirl said, thankfully terminating that very awkward line of conversation.
Clover closed her eyes, inhaling a single long breath, holding it for several seconds. “And I wasn't told this immediately because… Why?” She asked.
“Because apparently the Dimorphodon I sent to tell you to get ready for the escape has a memory like a sieve,” Starswirl countered. “At any rate, we can’t move quite yet. We need to wait for Roxie to check in, and for our Megalodon friends to arrive. There’s plenty of time, Clover. Let’s continue properly meeting our long lost daughter.”
“Um, actually, I have a question, and a favor to ask,” Nye said, her armor scraping slightly as she pulled off her helmet.
Starswirl looked into Nyota’s cream furred face, nodded once, looked at me and nodded again. “Nice,” he said with a grin before turning back to Nyota. “What do you need? I’m certain we can help if it’s oh… Less than two hours.”
Oh! Right, Razor! I’d completely forgotten about her.
Nye nodded. “I am not sure actually,” she admitted worriedly. “A friend of mine got very badly hurt. She’s an Alpha Raptor. I’ve got her stored in the ARK system for now, but she’s going to need healing or she’s toast. Is there anything ye can do?”
Clover tapped a hoof to her chin in thought. “Humm, well, that depends. How close to death is she?”
“We found her right after a fight,” I explained. “She immediately collapsed.”
“We likely don’t have enough time to do anything then,” Starswirl said sadly. “Healing brews don’t work too well when you're bleeding out rapidly, and I can't make equestrian style healing potions here due to a lack of key plants. While we could make her a Beastfolk, that procedure takes about ten minutes.
“Though she is an alpha creature… How did you tame one? I thought it was impossible.”
“I kicked her ass till she respected me,” Nyota answered, ears drooping as she looked down towards the floor. “I’m half pony, I have an animal empathy talent. We can communicate.”
She shuffled her feet against the floor for a moment before asking, “Are you absolutely sure there’s nothing ye can do?”
Clover shook her head. “No. She’s an Alpha. They hang on a long time. We might be able to do it, but it will be close,” she mused. “The real problem is Star or I need to stay here since if you’re here and we have a way out, that means Star is modifying today’s little plan, and I assume-”
Star nodded and stood up from the table. “We can take her here and do the operation on the table. Clover, you standby and when Roxie calls to let you know she’s at the G-pin unit, pass that message on and as soon as our friends arrive, tell Roxie to flip that switch and get her and Snow back here.”
Clover’s tail stood up in alarm and her eyes bugged out of her head. “SNOW WENT WITH HER!?”
Star raised one eyebrow. “Clover… They’re a couple finally. Besides worse case senario, Snow wakes up in her bedroom. It’s not a real problem. Only we will stay dead here. Ponyfeathers, look at Twi’s leg, even she’s tagged.
“Alright, we can’t waste time and as Twilight’s parents it’s our Faust given duty to be likeable so far as her chosen mates are concerned. Let’s patch up this raptor!”
I opened my mouth to ask what the plan would be, but Starswirl simply bolted out of the room.
“Come on! We could have five minutes to do twenty minutes of work in!” He urged.
The next twenty minutes disappeared into a blur of activity. Starswirl led the two of us outside the fortress along a well established path to the top of a hill. Fortunately, we had at least one thing on our side. It was time for the midday supply drops.
I honestly had never really thought too much about the pillars of light which occasionally shone down from the sky. I’d assumed they were used to put new prisoners into the ARK, or to take them out. I should have noticed they happened at regular times and places long before now.
But I hadn’t. I blamed the steep learning curve Razor put me through.
We reached the supply drop just before the capsule touched down, and while Nye retrieved Razor, I couldn’t help but notice the only physical objects the capsule was carrying were two blueprints for making a compass.
The heck was the point of that? Could people outside the system pay money to put joke items into drops? That would be a little funny.
What wasn’t funny was I had to carry razor back to Solace…
Nye’s ankle was still hurting, a weird thing to be sure since her implant should have fixed it already, though she was the one to point that out herself. So I believed her when she said she wasn’t lying. It was technology after all. Sometimes it malfunctions.
We ran back to Solace as quickly as we could with Star and Nye holding Razor steady on my back. Much to my distress, Starswirl actually began working on the biomancy portion of the operation WHILE WE WERE RUNNING!
“What the hay is the matter with you?!” I snapped as I noticed the pale blue aura envelope Razor’s body.
“I’m saving time?” Star replied. “This takes focus, please don’t inter-”
“I’m friends with a biomancer! The patient needs to remain as still as possible!” I objected. “You said we had two hours!”
“I said we had up to two hours, it could be two minutes,” Starswirl countered. “We have to be ready to go by the time-”
The earth shook violently, the sky vanished, leaving only the black void of space visible, along with the long steel arms holding the dome or forcefield up over the world plainly visible for all to see.
Just in time for a hundred bright white streaks to burn in towards us like shooting stars. Shooting stars which transformed into a fleet crescent moon shaped ships, each one painted with the same goofy shark’s face the Megalodon's boats had been.
“... Because, see, we sort of sold this space station to the Megalodon Fleet in exchange for a proper planetside colony on a world they control and uh, well, we need to get off it before they cut the link to the ARK system and we leave your rescue party behind and we have to wait to escape,” Starswirl said with a strained grin. “So you know, if it’s not exactly a problem, KEEP RUNNING SO I CAN FINISH BY THE TIME WE GET BACK!”
I nodded and began to run as fast and as smoothly as I could.
“WHY FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA DIDN’T YE TELL US THIS WHEN WE GOT HERE!?” Nyota demanded for me.
“Because the wardens listen to EVERYTHING and we weren't in a magically warded area. STOP INTERRUPTING AND KEEP HER STILL, DAMMIT!” Starswirl snapped.
Oh boy… If they were here to take this place now... How the hay would we get to an obelisk in time?
Central Operations Facility - The Observatory
Epoch 19005184019
Six different alarms screeched dire warnings as the base’s radar practically glowed red as more and more hostile ships registered on the screen.
“Megs?!” Green exclaimed in panic. “What the hell are they doing!? They ALWAYS announce their attacks in advance.”
“Maybe they’re exchanging crew again?” Red suggested worriedly, his voice crackling faintly over the intercom. “Green, you have our whole fleet protecting the Island Habitat… I’m sort of on board The Center’s station section right now. C-can we get a few ships over here? Please?”
“It will take six minutes to program a micro-jump,” Green informed sadly. “Sub-light drives won't get there before they can establish proper battle lines… ARK Prison Five to Central Headquarters: We’re under attack by a pirate fleet. Requesting immediate assistance.”
Nothing happened for several long moments. But then a female voice replied.
“Yeah, we’re jamming your extra-solar coms bro,” it said mockingly. “Tell you what though. You teleport every Troodon in the whole system into the Center Habatat right now and we won't destroy any of your ships we encounter while picking up our friends and property.”
“Voice print analysis suggests the speaker is a prior prisoner… Analyzing…” Blue said quietly.
“I’m afraid helping you is against company policy, pirate!” Green spat angrily.
“Meh, whatever. We’ll do it ourselves then. Sorry for the inevitable frying of half your systems hardware in the process. You guys should really make your tech more hacker friendly,” the pirate mocked. “But seriously, move those guys around or we’ll blow half your hardware after doing it ourselves.”
“Voice print confirmed. Subject is Prisoner Four-seven-eight-nine-seven-six-three, Anne Kathryn Trikson,” Blue remarked almost happily, glad to have worked out the puzzle. “Previously held within The Island on charges of sixteen trillion counts of digital entertainment piracy.”
“Wait… What?” Red and Green asked together.
The pirate laughed. “The hilarious thing is, nobody remembers anything I did besides pirate cable for forty different star systems. Heh. Anywho, we’re taking this space station, picking our shipmates up from this little vacation, and possibly blowing half your system to hell. That’s still up to you. Oh, and we're picking up the Troodons. Cuz I promised the little cuties I’d be back to pick them up. Enjoy the jamming signal. Toodels!”
The radio went dead for a half second, only to erupt into a loud techno song.
“♪♫Business Cat just called to make sure // That we're singing from the same hymn sheet // That we're optimising, synergising our portfolio // Diversifying our assets // By investing in other kind of business pets.♪♫”
Green stared hatefully at the intercom for what seemed like an eternity as the song played on.
“... Blue,” he said at last. “Transport all Troodons to the Center habitat. Then lower its force field and let the air out a bit.”
