//------------------------------// // -73- // Story: Coarse Diamonds // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// “So Chrysalis, why didn’t you go with Ember and Gilda?” As for the reason why Rarity didn’t go, she wasn’t a hero and she didn’t want to be dragged into another messy situation and she wanted to relax after doing some shopping. She was not a bounty hunter and she would only go gallivanting off after her friends if they were in serious danger.  Gilda and Ember could take care of themselves and the ice cream Pinkie was buying for them at this place that was quite nice. The strawberry mango rocky road cone she was having tasted odd, but not exactly in a bad way.   “What and leave Sassy and Little Snack behind? Mind you I understand Sassy can fight even if she still can’t walk very well, her attack looked quite impressive. It would have been pretty hard to come back from being bisected and she is rather lucky it only hit a tree, one that didn’t fall over. That guy’s gun wasn’t very dangerous as it would mostly knock someone out, since I sincerely doubt even getting hit by four of those electric shots unprotected would kill you. I think those shots were only meant for incapacitating. I’d rather spend more time getting to know the rising star of a noble mare I’m working with, among other things.” Chrysalis had to give it to Rarity; most nobles didn’t have the balls to enter what was a really bad situation not once, but three times and with ludicrously short odds of survivability. Rarity didn’t seem interested in her as more than a friend, Sassy on the other hoof was reading emotionally lukewarm in regards to her and she wanted more opportunities to spend time with her. Running off to chase down some small punk that wasn’t going to kill anyone would be boring, annoying, quite beneath her and a waste of time. “I may not act like it at times, but I am a quite an intelligent individual with flexibility in both my physical and mental aspects. The only thing that really interested me was the pistol and aside from that, I’m looking to relax as well and possibly get to know Ms. Saddles a bit better as I have already learned quite a bit about Little Snack. I’m feeling a bit homesick and I miss treating some of my Changeling like dirt, mostly because those are the kind of feelings I’m picking off the squirt.”   “It was nice to pretend that I had my parents back for a while, even if you can’t get their voices right without hearing them first. Thanks for what you managed to do at least.” One of the many problems that Changelings had that Babs wished they didn’t, she was still moping a bit and eating the ice cream that Pinkie was paying for. The filly looked like she could use all the comfort food she could get. “So is that how every Changeling contract really works?”   “Changelings are imitators and not the actual product aside from true shifts in genitalia, I’m not sorry to say that your love was positively delicious and you certainly understood the fine print on the contract of the imitation of dead loved ones the Changeling hasn’t heard the voices of yet. Also Sex should only occur with those of the age of consent and if the Changeling in particular comes to love said paramour back, then marriage rules will vary. Keeping the Changeling in a romance based marriage makes the pony untouchable by other Changelings as applicable by Changeling law, especially when it comes to someone in an excellent symbiotic relationship where love is essentially endless. More recently it’s been ratified to include pony hair, which grows back fast to a particular extent. Provided it was long before hoof as such that pony will naturally grow their hair back to that length, such as to the hooves in as little as a week. Ponies who want to keep short hairstyles will usually have slowed down hair growth rate whereas ponies who like long hair are the opposite by use of passive magic. We are bound to follow the rules of ponies by our alliance to Equestria, but otherwise we follow our own when they can’t and shouldn’t be enforced. The contract is not overly binding and can be cancelled at any time by either party, but definitely immediately should the relationship sour. If your Changeling is defective we can find you a new shiny one as a temporary stand in as we get the old one back on his or her hooves.” Antilur Station was a bit hectic, even for Chrysalis when she found out her hive mind had been open and speaking of which, since she recently saw Maud then that would mean that Boulder Bottom was currently with her and she hadn’t bothered to open her link up to check in with him. Turning to Rarity Chrysalis sat her chin on her crossed hooves, she was the only one not eating ice cream at the table and was just soaking up the love of ice cream from the air. It was free love and Chrysalis wasn’t about to tell them she was feeding in their presence, that would likely unnerve them. “You’d be rather surprised how often a pony didn’t care that we couldn’t get the voice exactly right, sometime ponies just loved the imposter anyway and wanted to live in a fantasy. Other times, if rarely at that, said pony wanted to know the real being beneath the false appearance. If you cannot feed your particular Changeling enough love for them to continue surviving and being the kind of pony you want, then the contract will likely be broken by the Changeling based on circumstances and whether or not either party wishes to continue. I as a Queen have to hold myself to higher standards on which being I choose to mate with and therefore cannot imitate someone who is currently in or was in a sexually healthy relationship unless I intend to reveal myself before sex or swap out with a Changeling who specializes in having nymphomania. As long as I’m considered a Changeling Queen I can use my queen name of Chrysalis as a completely respectable authority figure among my race. If I stop being queen, for reasons of death or the complete inability to form a coherent sentence whether by mouth, hive mind, writing and or using a mouth through puppetry. In that instance I would go back to being Crystal Dick, but I’d retain my current upgraded form as you see it. I could return to queen status depending on whether my injuries are permanent or not.”   “Your race is always going to have strange and concerning connotations isn’t it.” Simple and to the point, Rarity didn’t exactly have much to say to that. “I’m not going to ask what you mean by puppetry and I’d rather you not use it on me.”   “Relax, it’s nothing serious. It’s just when all you have left is your horn and you can’t use a levitation spell to wield a writing implement, the puppetry spell uses almost no energy and requires simply having another Changeling present.  Usually the other requirements are more likely to work and we, specifically Changeling Queens, can only puppet another Changeling’s mouth.” Chrysalis smiled faintly at the last few times she spoke through another Changeling, that prank had been hilarious. “A Changeling Queen can only control one mind at any given time and a strong mind will throw off the spell entirely, as such mind control is hardly useful unless you can control a mind of importance in a high position that has a weak will. Most of the nobles in Canterlot were pathetic, though some like Fancy Pants could throw it off immediately without blinking. Those who are under Changeling mind control specifically are also rather noticeable, such as having glazed or drooping eyes that sometimes flash, constant headaches and sometimes a notably suppressed personality to the more attentive. A wedding is perfect cover for something like that where there are plenty of stressed out people. Changelings do not have the power to convert other beings into being one of us, why the thought is just ludicrous and won’t happen unless we specifically breed with a pony to create a hybrid. Besides if we did have the ability to convert others into Changelings, then we’d be converting our own food source and that would be really damn stupid. As eventually would either convert or eat ourselves out of existence, so cooperation and symbiosis was the best course of action.”     “Speaking of nobles, I’ve heard you were ranting about how horribly the gala went for you Rarity. I’m sorry to hear your night didn’t go over so well.” Sassy wanted to take this time to get back in the loop. “So whatever happened to meeting prince charming? I may not like the idea of men touching my friends, but I can’t stop you from living how you want to and I want you to be happy.”   “Well I thought about it and then decided that I just wanted to befriend him at first… only I met the most boorish pony in existence and wanted to shoot him after minutes of being within his presence. How such a unrefined and crude being like that can be called a noble I will never know.” Rarity was able to talk about her excursions on Equus without flinching now, Vera was really quite helpful in that regard. “I didn’t pull my gun on the terrorists at the gala for the very reason that I wanted them to shoot my dream prince and save me from him. The week leading up to the gala was quite horrible as well and I had almost been raped by a stallion, so I was feeling far less ready for a relationship or even a one night stand at that point. I sorely regret my attempts at trying to be his friend.”   “Wait… what happened to this guy that tried to rape you and where is he now?” Darkening her tone, Sassy didn’t care where the guy was, she’d find a way to get to him for trying to harm an unwilling Rarity.   “Well he’s paraplegic and neutered thanks to Rarity and Saffron. He was also poisoned by someone who has a grudge against him; he’s alive and I assure you that he can still feel pain. Quite a lot of it actually and since ponies don’t like pain, that means it’s a good thing.” Chrysalis wasn’t about to tell anyone about Opal and her having something of a rapport going between them, they were quick friends starting out of mutual displeasure for someone else. The pony hive mind was nice enough even if Chrysalis was a bit leery of higher forms of technology. “I wouldn’t worry about doing any more to him; he’s in constant agony as it is.”   “Yikes, you’re one scary lady ma’am.” They had almost forgotten they had Babs with them; Pinkie was doing her best with trying to cheer up the filly and so far it hasn’t been going so well except for buying her ice cream.   “Yeah no kidding, the worst I would have done is gotten him put in jail without a chance to taste anything yummy for years on end.” This was Pinkie’s chance to talk, the only one in this chapter and she may as well use it on food. “I can’t imagine a fate worse than not being able to eat cupcakes, cookies, pies, tarts, chocolate fudge and anything along those lines… creamy, creamy butterscotch cinnamon pie…”   “Thank you again for paying for our snacks Pinkie.”  Rarity turned to Sassy and looked her in the eyes. “I’m fine; it’s taken care of, no need to go on a crusade for my sake. He has been dealt with and is not a threat to me or you.”   “Well at least that stallion got what he deserves.” Sassy sounded particularly pleased; then again she was trying to focus more of her rage towards the men who actively did bad things aside from just existing. The masseuse Rarity hired was working with her on that and she was taking some deep breaths to keep her mental balance. “So where are we going to next?”   “We need gems, jewels and other stuff for dress making Sassy or we could head back to the Caravel Boutique and work on making some sales, that or we can wait somewhere for Gilda and Ember to get your wheelchair back.” They had plenty of options as long as none of them would lead Rarity to having to get her mane mussed up, that was bad enough with every time she took off her poor EVA suit that kept getting covered in blood, pus, flesh, grime and muck. “I’d rather not go through the trouble of sweating in excess and have to bathe when I get back to Shining Jewel.”     “If we could get me back to Caravel Boutique, I’m sure I could run the store with a little help Rarity.” Sassy had to wonder why Rarity chose the route they were going and would voice it now while she had everyone’s attention. “Speaking of, why are we heading to Applin Five anyway?”   “Well it is a planet established by ponies, there has to be a market for clothing somewhere on the surface. It’s a completely green world and there isn’t a space station in orbit yet. So we can make something of a profit on EVA suit sales when they start building that at least. I think right now all they have is a supply depot.” That and Rarity had a few other reasons for this particular trip. “When we’re done there, we’ll be close enough to take a trip to Noctus.”   “Oh, that is just simply brilliant Rarity! Hoity Toity has been doing a lot of stuff in the name of fashion on Noctus recently.” At least Sassy was satisfied that Rarity had a course of action in mind when it came to their business as being fashion designers. She was still catching up to recent news on her data pad and she has been hearing a few things about Rarity being a mysterious new Baroness. “Maybe we can get into a fashion show; Prim Hemline has also been seen taking an interest in alien fashions recently and Noctus is currently becoming a popular planet for socialites.”   “A way to get my hoof in the door would be rather nice.” Rarity contemplated this, how would one even go about accomplishing that? Oh right she had something else to tell Chrysalis didn’t she? “I forgot to tell you, I’ve actually finished your commission Chrysalis and I’ll give it to you later. You’ll have to remind me about it though.”   Being famous, if for a short while, was still a dream Rarity was willing to pursue. She was already rich with friendship and what odd friendships those were. Her business wasn’t doing poorly and she was making enough money to pursue her own goals and help the others do the same with theirs as well. As long as she didn’t spend all her money all at once, then things would be alright. She still needed to find true love as well, that was going slow as she has yet to meet a stallion that could meet up to her rather lofty expectations.  Her eye for detail had yet to spot a single stallion to try and charm, she might as well have a look around the station for a date or someone of interest.   -    “So when do you plan to get off Shining Jewel for some rest and relaxation?” It was a simple question and Coco hadn’t known what it would mean to Vera when she asked it.   “Hopefully never, I mean can you imagine? I’m one of the most forgettable ponies in all of existence!” Vera feared getting off of Shining Jewel and she was going to lay her cards out on the table, mostly because their game was still going. “All Rarity would have to do is have me slip her mind just once and I would be… I would be left behind and forgotten. I would be living my greatest fear, I’ve been afraid of that happening since I joined Rarity on the Caravel Boutique. All she would have to do is forget I existed just once and I’d be stuck at wherever you left me at.”   “Yeah, your ability to be ignored is pretty bad in that case. At least Rarity can remember you exist and would remind Opal that you do in case your name is deleted from the registry. I’m sure we would come back for you; your masseuse skills are keeping Rarity in order. Otherwise she complains a lot and is really moody about how badly damaged her EVA suit gets, it is either that or get sad that you couldn’t have saved hundreds of lives. It’s not like the entire universe is sitting on our shoulders. If it makes you feel better, we’d have to come back for you.” Greta flicked a few cards onto the table and the other ladies groaned at it. They started another round of cards. “Speaking of that, you should be happy Opal is making that kind of effort just for you. Heck, we’re all making a little effort to remember you at least once every day without the aid of the drone pointing at you constantly. The Boss Lady has issues with fighting and doing dangerous stuff, but once she’s got a strong resolve to help she doesn’t stumble in her efforts. For a mare who’s a fashion designer, she’s really quite tough and stronger than I. I wouldn’t have stepped one talon into that station if you paid me exorbitantly to do so.”   “I appreciate you greatly for that Opal, keep up the good work.”  A smile crossed Vera’s face as she placed down her cards with a bit of a gloating expression. “I win this one, I just want recognition and that’s rather hard to do when every single one of you keeps forgetting my name. I might just change my name to Masseuse at this rate.”   “Whatever you say Masseuse, I’m busy watching cartoons right now!”  Opal was clearly distracted and paying them barely any attention at the moment, she missed Vera frowning at the nearest monitor.   “You think that’s rough, try sneaking out of bed and to go fight crime in the dead of night. I was afraid of my father finding out about my nighttime activities for a long time.” Once the cards were passed out Saffron picked up a few cards and tossed a few out. “Lunch and dinner is what our restaurant used to do, so my habit of sleeping in through most of the morning might have tipped him off. He never spoke up about the injuries I claimed came from accidents or a stallion that got a little too rough with me… then again a stallion getting rough with me was probably what dad expected in a literal sense and not a sensual one.  I was the one usually giving the beating to a lot of mares and stallions, just as much as I was getting beaten up by them. I’m a bit unusual for a unicorn in being somewhat muscular from all the exercise I got running around in a costume; teleportation quickly became a requirement for patrolling rooftops and all kinds of other things. While most unicorns are happy with just learning things related to their cutie marks, I certainly wasn’t and I’m still pushing the envelope to learn more spells. I kind of miss the cape and mask, I’m mostly here for my father and to help people who sorely need it. Rarity has a great sense of generosity, I wanted to be a part of that and I don’t regret choosing to be here in the slightest.”    “In any case Vera needs someone to help her, instead of her just helping us all the time. I think you will have a problem Vera, especially if you can’t ever leave the ship. If something was to happen to Shining Jewel and you were too scared to leave… let’s just continue our next hoof.” Now there was a thought that Coco would rather she didn’t finish. “With Opal distracted by cartoons, do you think she’s missing the play by play of what Gilda and Ember are doing? I mean they are kind of tracking down a dangerous individual together and Gilda is not exactly as close to Ember as we have been getting. Ember is really nice and gentle, aside from the whole being a bounty hunter thing. To think I used to be really scared of her, she’s not really a bad dragon at all.”   “Yeah, Gilda is a little hard to get close to, but I love her grumpy attitude all the same. Ember is actually surprisingly easy to get along with, she really knows her weapons and how to modify them. She was working on an energy whip when she came up to me and asked me for some help with a few technical problems she’s been having with her idea. It’s based off the second pinpoint puller she bought and it is really fascinating what she’s attempting to do with it, could be what Sassy needs to improve on her design.” Greta chirped out loud with a grinning beak and started shuffling the cards. “Well at least I’m quite sure that Ember and Gilda are wrapping things up right now even if they aren’t getting along!”   -   Greta might have been a bit too positive, because Gilda and Ember had yet to actually touch the little snot Faxel. Faxel was being quite an elusive annoying little thing and it was really becoming hard to tell who the predator was as much the prey in this situation. They had been chasing him nonstop and had tried several times to get him into a pincer attack only to fail and the Foggre was proving to be a lot of trouble. His skills in wielding the minimum of the absurd technology at his command were incredible, as much as he was when he hopped off the hover bike and decided to toy with Gilda and Ember on foot.   Ember and Greta were having a tough time putting a claw on him and Ember was having a hard time controlling her blasts of fire when she became furious from the fact that Faxel had been damaging her clothing with each successful hit of the stupidly random shock orbs. Ember forcibly held herself back as she didn’t want to hurt Gilda, as that would in turn make her feel bad for harming her hoard and there was also Greta because she loved Gilda unconditionally.   They weren’t even anywhere close to wrapping up their business in dealing with Faxel, said Foggre was grinning madly at them and waving his hands at them in a jovial manner as they laid on the street groaning from his recent use of both his pistols at the same time. One shot from his left pistol to create a distortion bubble and then he’d set up a lot of electrical orbs to fly forward and freeze upon impact with the bubble. When the bubble popped, hell broke loose and since he was fighting them in the middle of the streets, it was quite literally breaking lose as he damaged his surroundings without care for the people in said surroundings. People went down shocked, others were knocked over by the blast of the distortion bubble, vehicles were being wrecked and the little guy was laughing at all the chaos he was causing.   The dragon in particular felt like she and one of her hoard had been electrocuted one too many times, because her ire at the frog became stone cold fury and she could feel her flames lapping at her lips from the damage her clothing was taking. Ember had held up to the onslaught of random orbs pretty well, but Gilda looked a little out of it and was on the ground groaning and twitching slightly.   “Ember, go get your rifle. I’ll try to keep him busy.” Shaking her head to get back into gear, Gilda rolled to her feet and spread her wings angrily with her tail whipping back and forth behind her. She and Ember were getting along perfectly well; they were two predators with sharp claws and wings joining forces against the most annoying thing they’ve ever met in their lives.   “No can do, I’m not leaving you along with this guy, he’s crafty and surprisingly fast.” The guy would bother her hoard even more while she was gone and as a dragon Ember found the idea of leaving her hoard unprotected was utterly repulsive. Nobody messed with a dragons hoard without expecting the dragon to react.   “Also unusually strong, you saw how he flicked me on the beak and I went flying about forty feet until I could stop myself from hitting the ground.” Gilda landed and saw the Faxel was resting on his side in thin air and smiling smugly at them. “He’s making a real mess of Streusel City, you have to stop him and I want to steal his bike. We’re having problems doing any of that with him toying with us like this.”   “Maybe I could help?” Maud came up to them with a slightly angry demeanor, which was as much emotion as the mare could apparently show. She was monotone, but there was an underlying growl to it somehow. “Nobody messes with my sister… even if she isn’t the right one.” “It would help if you could get close to him; he’s really fast, tricky and annoying. He also apparently has a pistol that can create some kind of distortion that can stop anything and he’s apparently immune to getting hurt while the distortion distorts him after the first distortion ends. Then there’s the fact that he has a pistol that fires shots that fly so randomly that nobody could follow what path they will take.” Gilda turned to Maud with a serious look on her face. “Plus he has an invisible bike that’s pretty darn fast and he can control it independently of himself, we won’t know where it is or where it’s going when he hops off of it. Plus he somehow has some freakish strength for his size, which I’m betting is also technologically related given that is a thing Foggres are known for.” “I’ll keep that in mind.” Maud slowly moved forward. “I’ll try to make an opening for the two of you.” Maud blurred forward and with a flat emotionless face no less, she struck out with her right hoof and it was moving so fast it caught fire from the friction of moving through the air. This surprised the Foggre to an incredible degree as he had never seen a pony move like this before, she didn’t have any technology to aid in her movements and this was her natural speed. Faxel had almost been caught off guard and he barely managed to redirect the first blow and the second one that came just as quickly as he rolled off his invisible hover bike onto his feet to avoid it. If he hadn’t been wearing his helmet, one that was actually pretty darn fragile and didn’t even protect his head, then he wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the mares speed. The upside to not actually protecting his head, the helmet gave him the ability to react quickly and redirect almost any incoming physical force directed at him, provided that he saw said force heading his way at least. It didn’t give him super strength, just the illusion that he had super strength and if it had been super strength then Gilda’s beak would be broken and shoved halfway into her skull right about now. Slapping his left hand into Maud’s chin, Faxel caused her to flip backwards flailing and she looked mildly confused as she did. He then grabbed her tail and spun around before releasing her at Ember who caught her in both arms and was knocked from the air from the extra weight. After that he pulled his eyelid down and blew a raspberry at them and sped off, things were beginning to heat up and he might be able to play with his more impressive toys soon if they proved they could keep up with him.