//------------------------------// // -106- // Story: Coarse Diamonds // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// “Trapeze I’m capable of getting around on my own, even with a bio-cast on one of my legs.” Though having a bio-cast on her leg did make walking a bit awkward for Rarity. “You didn’t treat Lightning like this.” “To be fair Lightning is a gruff military type and she doesn’t take help as well as you do, but seeing her have an honest smile on her face sometimes makes me happy.” As a performer Trapeze’s whole job was based in creating smiles, she and Pinkie Pie had that in common at least. Pinkie certainly liked entertainers and would likely end up married to one in her future, provided that she ever left Streusel Station to find a mare or stallion. “I feel kind of bad that Bernard still needs to rest and can’t do too much yet, at least I have Rover to work with. Except his wrist needs time to heal before I can teach him some new juggling techniques and a few other tricks I think he might be good at.” They walked a short distance from medical to the meal hall, they saw Lightning pass by them carrying several trays on her back grumbling something about super intelligent Griffons not building her a fighter to pilot because they were too busy with all the other stuff. They entered after giving Lightning some space to head towards the nearby elevators before walking in to see Chrysalis get slapped by Sassy knocking her flat on her back, it seemed that Chrysalis enjoyed it and Sassy just sighed. “Must you be so crass?” Muttered a lightly angry looking Sassy. She seemed to have a good control of her anger as she floated a sweet bean bun to her mouth and appeared to calmly rip it in half with her teeth. “Yes, because I want the latter half of the word crass, by that I mean remove the C and the R.” Chrysalis sat up and got back onto her seat looking at Sassy with affection despite the hoof shaped indent in her face. “Maybe I want yours to brush up against mine… if you would let me sit a little closer?” “How about not?” The half lidded eyes stare Sassy was giving Chrysalis made her put on a puppy dug like face as if she were a dog that had been kicked in a particularly rough manner. It would be silly if it wasn’t coming from someone as dangerous as a Changeling Queen was. Sassy turns her gaze to the two ponies entering and brightens almost immediately, this made Chrysalis shoot the two a jealous look that they could get her to look at them like that. “Rarity, how are you feeling dear? I hope the surgery wasn’t too rough on you. Wait Trapeze if you’re here who’s watching medical? I haven’t remembered seeing the masseuse in a while, though that’s to be expected at this point, I haven’t seen Coco for as long either. ” Sassy still had issues with medical beds and wasn’t about to trust a single one that her friends weren’t watching over personally and had complete control over. Which is why they always had one person in medical, to have someone watching over them when someone woke up there to be a friendly face and it became a rotational things. They’d continue that rotation for as long as Princess Mcflame was sedated for her own health, surgery on dragons was hard to perform and at best they hope that she could heal naturally as a medical beds surgical tools couldn’t close up her wounds or even pierce the scales that were still there. The medical bed had used bio-cast related coagulants on Ember’s wounds as soon as the medical fluids flooded it. That was the best a medical bed could do for someone of Ember’s sturdy physiology, which was actually actively working against her getting better in a quicker manner that her shredded state sorely needed. Chrysalis sat her chin on the table and just started to idly brush her mane with a brush she pulled out from her fur lined carapace with magic, she had nothing better to do and she had upset Sassy once again and she didn’t want to work on her hobby in front of everyone if they weren’t even interested in learning what she was doing. Sassy might find it interesting once she bothered to ask about it as Chrysalis wasn’t willing to divulge the information of her hobby to anyone without express interest in it, it was lonely being the only Changeling on the ship with no other to connect her mind to. So grooming was the best she had at the moment, still she wasn’t about to give up on earning Sassy’s personal attention anytime soon. Applejack and Babs were still talking at a separate table, things were a little awkward but the filly looked a little bit happier as she had a pile of sweet bean filled buns sitting before her to eat. Babs quickly thanked Mr. Cumin for them politely and then started to slowly consume the pile like a growing filly should in a voracious manner. Applejack was a little surprised to find that the plate sat before her were apple filled buns, not exactly the same as apple fritters but she liked them well enough. “Bernard can watch medical for a while.” Even injured as he was, Trapeze had complete confidence that Bernard would not dare to make his injuries any worse. The little guy was looking forward to their next performance, which may be at a wedding reception and Trapeze would give him the okay if he was healthy enough to perform. It was her troupe and her rules would be followed about health and safety, some caution was warranted on just about everything they did. She sat down and stretched her hooves out while yawning a bit. “I’ve been fussing over my little funny bunny and he’s doing better, I’ve learned that Lagotorphins are certainly a lot tougher than they look. I mean taking multiple plasma bolts to the body with barely third degree burns to show for it is far more impressive than some of the things I’ve done.” There were quite a few stares directed at Trapeze, they figured she had to be kidding as she was the most magical Earth Pony they knew. Her performance on Streusel Station was legendary for the fact that nobody knew how she kept control of her bouncing form or even got another pony to do that magic trick with the rings. They weren’t even sure how Trapeze did half the things she did, but there was a small problem that she hadn’t told anyone about. That problem being that Trapeze couldn’t exactly do a lot of those things without an audience to utterly confuse. “For the most part I’m fine darling, aside from all the psychological trauma I’m currently enduring. What’s truly troubling me is that Opal is being rather reticent in talking to me and I can’t understand why that is. I know for a fact that she can hear me, yet she hasn’t talked to me at all.” Rarity had a mostly three legged gait as her bio-cast covered leg couldn’t bend or move about at all from its straightened out form, at least bio-casts didn’t leave you horribly itchy like old world thick binding versions did. She sat down and looked to Mr. Cumin. “Mr. Cumin some food please, if you don’t mind. If you do, then I will accept that and ask again later. Whatever you do or have in mind will be fine.” “Of course, no trouble at all. I’ll make some more food, it seems to be like lunch for everyone anyone and I’ll also get some more tea prepared for you and the others.” There was nothing bad that Coriander could say about Rarity aside from his daughter actively following her into danger, at least Saffron came home in mostly one piece. Heck Saffron was the most armored of them and she still came back beaten and bruised, it was almost like his daughter enjoyed being a living sandbag. Rarity quickly returned her gaze to Sassy and looked to Chrysalis who was giving her a cool look as she brushed out her mane. She shook her head and addressed Sassy “So, Sassy can you at least tell me when Opal started getting worryingly quiet like this? She really hasn’t responded to me at all and I know for a fact that she seems to avoiding me.” Well it wasn’t so much avoiding as not showing up on screens or talking to Rarity. “How bad was it when the pirates attacked?” “The second attack was probably worst, I think they tried to attack Opal with a virus Rarity.” As far as Sassy knew that was what happened, so far she hasn’t heard a peep from Opal even if she was still operating all the systems on the ship. “It led to some really weird things to start happening to the pirates, but it seems that it mostly backfired. We had some boarders, but they didn’t stay for long. Merchants need to know how to defend themselves after all and we’re nothing if not pragmatic about our own ability to defend ourselves.” “Backfired how exactly?” It wasn’t like Rarity skimped on virus protection with Opal, but Opal was not likely to have antivirus countermeasures powerful enough to actively have a noticeable effect in an offensive manner. Opal was well defended from viruses, she did a lot of accounting for Rarity after all and it wouldn’t do to have her favorite personal assistant and child incapable of protecting herself. “Well at first Opal mentioned something about them trying to get a virus into the system, which would be impossible with the shields up. Interesting thing is, some of the smaller pirate vessels had these harpoons and rammed them through the shields and started to broadcast the virus.” At least Trapeze understood some of what was happening during the second attack. “After the first attack went south thanks to our presence, the second attack was really quite bad. The third attack kind of ended early and sputtered out when the EDF arrive.” “What these two seem to be missing are the details about your Pony hive mind being invaded. She got really quiet after screaming when we were hit by those harpoons and cables. I still don’t understand technology too well, I just know that it was a bad thing to have those attached to the hull. It would be like hitting a physical hive with a constant anti-hive-mind link by stabbing a magically enchanted thing into it. I shudder to think of anyone developing a weapon like that against Changelings.” Now Chrysalis was throwing in her own voice into the mix as she worked out her tail with the brush. Her hair was one of her better features and she took pride in her appearance as well as she could, though by this point everyone knew what she complained about the most when it came to her regal appearance. “We were boarded quite soon afterwards and we showed them hell. Bernard got burned and wasn’t around for the third attack. I got shot a couple of times during that and it was rather glorious. I was good enough for the third attack, though I really didn’t expect the chainsaw and the shouting of ‘please die you unholy creature’. Not the worst thing I’ve been called, which is ‘flat ass’ by the way and I’m kind of surprised that a pirate would even say the word ‘please’. What kind of pirate says ‘please’!? Is that really a thing you can expect of space pirates? I’m asking because novels just don’t quite sell it like that, I was expecting them to be talking about jars of dirt or something and more chauvinistic than barbaric. At least a chauvinist would have been charming.” “Please shut up Chrysalis, look during the second attack Opal went quiet and that gave them an opening to board and attack us. I was waiting for them on the second and third occasion, the first fight was an entirely ship to ship battle that Opal handled quite splendidly Rarity-sama.” More tea was placed before Sassy by Coriander and she didn’t say ‘thank you’, but at least she didn’t snap at him. Rarity received a cup of her own and took a sip while noting that Sassy at least trusted Cumin not to poison her. “I’m glad I picked up some good blends from the supply depot between attacks. Anyway, the pirate ships started behaving oddly while we were fighting them off. Their fighters started firing on each other, several of their ships started attacking one another and it just devolved into chaos from there. It was like Discord showed up out of nowhere and slapped someone with a… with a turn left sign.” “Well now that you expect me to do it… it wouldn’t be very fun or chaotic.” It was Discord who showed up holding a turn left sign and about to slam it against the back of Chrysalis’s head. Chrysalis just gave him a calm and slightly smarmy smirk. Nobody ambushes a Changeling, not even a self-proclaimed Lord of Chaos. “Just so you know Chrysalis, you’re not the true lord of chaos here… would you like it if I stole your title and became a phallic shaped mass of minerals? So I will respectfully beg of you, please stop stealing my shtick… or you’ll be the left turn at Albuquerque and I really don’t want to do that to you. Mostly because you’re the embodiment of the trope ‘too kinky to torture’ and you’d enjoy being Albuquerque-d too much. You’re actually someone I consider a good friend... I still do even after what you managed to pull on me and I must admit that it was a good one. Well played, though I’m a bit depressed that you managed to get one over on me twice in the span of three minutes and you weren’t even there to enjoy it.” He was drooping sadly as he popped away, he had so wanted to surprise the Changeling Queen who has been stealing his job in causing chaos for the alicorns, ponies and the occasional paltry invading alien fleets. What made him angry was that it was organized and premeditated chaos no less, but he had to begrudgingly admit that the Changeling Queen was clever enough to pull it off in a way that it couldn’t logically possibly be blamed on her. Which is why, due in part to insane troll logic, that he knew Chrysalis was responsible for what happened to him. Well there was one thing that could be traced back to Chrysalis. There was the Always Swallows Sanctuary, a bird sanctuary run by a changeling named Always Swallows that specifically catered to the care and nurturing of swallows. Said sanctuary was amusingly enough sitting next to the Happily Overcoming Limited Expectations clinic, a clinic mostly run by hippogriffs. “What… was that about exactly?” Rarity did not need more chaos in her life and she was narrowing her eyes at Chrysalis. She wasn’t even about to question how Discord managed to pop across the vast distance of space without getting lost. “Don’t worry about it, he won’t do anything to us. Well he could have done something to me, I’m kind of disappointed he didn’t Albuquerque me. The cowardly bastard…” Muttering that last part Chrysalis sighed vehemently, but the smile refused to leave her face. No one would ever say Chrysalis couldn’t play the long game like a fiddle during a rain storm while balance on the tip of a bowling pin and singing about being ‘hungry for your love’ and ‘kissing stars’. “Anyway, are you saying there’s something clearly wrong with Opal? It sounds like she took care of things and is still operational even if she won’t see me on screen, I know she’s still around because she’s still opening doors for me. I don’t think for an instant that any manner of virus could take out my sweet little Opal.” Nobody would say Rarity didn’t believe in her precious companion that she started her journey with when she bought the Caravel Boutique, it was inconceivable that something horrible happened to Opal. Though given the situation, it wasn’t beyond merit that something awful had happened and it was so bad that Opal was not being very forthcoming. “I can answer that, but Opal thinks you need to eat first and relax a little before she’s willing to come clean with what’s wrong Rarity. It’s a bit surprising and… tip of my tongue… the masseuse is currently with her. Have you even had a show or bathed yet, you look like you could do some work on your mane.” The quiet voice of the ever adorable Coco Pommel kind of cut through the room, getting all that attention made her ears wilt and nibble at her lower lip and become rather shy. “You’ve kind of got stress mane going there at the moment Rarity, Opal wants you to be relaxed for the news she has to tell you and she’s afraid of how you’ll take it. Even if me and… uh… the other pony tell her everything’s going to be fine, she’s kind of inconsolable about what’s going on at the moment. She has full control of the ship so that’s nothing to worry about, but she really needs your presence once you’ve cleaned up a bit.” “I… I think I can get myself back in short order for Opal’s sake, though I have a question. What is the rule about bathing with a bio-cast? Aside from that I need to eat something first, my mane isn’t that disastrous… is it?” Rarity’s good hoof immediately went up to her hair and she saw everyone shrug, she just got out of the medical bed so it’s just straight at the moment. She liked a little style and panache, so she’d fix it after she’d got a good meal in, her hunger was topping her need to look fabulous. When did she stop caring so much about her outward appearance? Her stomach grumbled loudly, which made it clear to Rarity why she was forgoing her usual preening. “If I said you’re mane looked fine, but not nearly as good as Sassy’s, would you let me eat some of it?” The flat stares sent her way made Chrysalis pout again and with a flash of green her eyes grew several sizes bigger and more fluid looking. “Chrysalis you have plenty in storage, you even have a surplus from all the hair you shaved off of those pirates before we hoofed them over to the EDF.” Sassy’s stern voice and slightly angry lilt made Chrysalis back down with a flash of green energy and her eyes were back to normal. “Her answer was obviously going to be no and so is mine, as is Trapeze and anyone else that lives on this ship. Go eat from storage if you’re hungry.” “Fine…” Whined Chrysalis who got up to go dig into storage, she calmly started leaving the dining space with her tail dragging behind her and her ears drooping in sadness. She wasn’t winning at all today, first Discord wouldn’t beat the tar out of her and now no one would let her nibble on their manes with sticking her in the freezer. The freezer kind of became a realistic punishment for her, she preferred not wasting energy on keeping warm. The Changeling stopped at the door and turned back to look at Sassy, her bright fur and mane, her slender form and those elegant eyes slowly sliding her way with that lovely cold look that Chrysalis found quite attractive. Whenever she looked at the mare, Chrysalis’s heart started to speed up in an unsure manner ever since Sassy gave her an opening to try. “Just so you know, I will not stop in my attempts at forging a close personal relationship with you!” With that Chrysalis turned around and walked face first into the wall next to the clearly open doorway a foot to her left, the crunching sound was her nose breaking at her misaimed hasty retreat. This made Chrysalis blush in embarrassment even if she enjoyed the feeling of pain, that hadn’t looked like a very regal exit at all. She had an image to maintain as a Changeling Queen and she was flopping all over herself over a pony, she couldn’t figure out why she didn’t think that was a bad thing and even didn’t mind looking foolish in front of Sassy. As for anyone else, she would just glared at them as she left. One more look at Sassy and she subsequently tripped over her hooves like she trips over her own mouth around Ms. Saddles, Chrysalis tumbled her way out of the room. “Wow… I didn’t think she liked hurting herself that much, she actively chose to tumble in the poorest manner possible.” There was nothing like Trapeze missing the point of Chrysalis’s obvious desire to cuddle Sassy until death sets in. Still it was a rather interesting observation and Trapeze would know if a tumble was genuine or on purpose. The tumble might not have started on purpose, but Chrysalis actively worked it to injure herself which took clear talent that had Trapeze intrigued. Maybe she could get Chrysalis in on an act or two. - One slightly assisted bath and mane maintaining later, Rarity was looking more like how she should. That didn’t mean her body wasn’t sore from the events that were barely even a day old. “I’m not an invalid Coco, though being repeatedly psychologically and physically traumatized every other week isn’t doing me any favors.” Having primped and preened her mane to have the curl and bounce that she so enjoyed, Rarity was once again on the move to see what was up with Opal. Her tail was just fine and she was relatively healthy if on the mend and needing one long session with Vera. “You ended up with broken leg, heavily bruised body, a hole in your flank and you had internal bleeding that made you blackout twice.” Those were the facts and Coco didn’t think Rarity should get mad at her over it, she was wilting a bit because she was afraid for Rarity and a bit of her for handling things so well. Earth Ponies were supposed to be sturdy, but Rarity was kind of ridiculous in how well she’s taken so many situations that could have gotten her killed. In fact it was kind of inspirational what the clothing designer had managed to achieve through all that. “I’m kind of surprised you’re still mentally functional, well in a seemingly normal capacity anyway. I mean after pirates, the MOM invasion, that terrorist attack on the train, being pinned to the floor by a known serial rapist who was good enough at illusion magic to get away with it for years, a station haunted with a deadly shifter drifter and now this… well I’d be a complete nervous wreck at what would be coming next. I’m kind of scared that you might be suicidal even if I logically know that you aren’t, I wouldn’t want to make the same assumption like I did with Sassy becoming a trained assassin.” Rarity looked to Coco to see the mare shivering and almost whimpering, it made her consider just what exactly she was made of to have a will of iron to face all that and not be as Coco suggested. Sure it was exceedingly painful, terrifying on a number of levels and almost killed her numerous times, but Rarity had dreams she was looking forward to and finding a stallion might have to be bumped up a few levels on her list of importance. She was not going to die a virgin like Chrysalis might, but she wouldn’t just jump into a bed with anyone. Her next adventure was going to be centered on romance as much as she could force it. “I’m not suicidal Coco, I just can’t help but stick my nose into things a clothing designer obviously shouldn’t be anywhere near. Quite frankly I should be an average civilian and here I am gallivanting about like some kind of galactic hero, though I don’t consider myself one.” Though putting herself into a position to be a hero seemed to happen more often than not when Rarity had the urge to do generous things in the general direction of trouble. “If you don’t think I’m concerned myself darling, then I think I have hidden how well I’m horrified by how often I keep putting my friends in mortal peril and even ask them to do so knowing that they could die. What’s more concerning is that all of you seem to be willing to jump into that peril at my behest, if you think I’m suicidal then what does that say about the people under my command as captain? I’m not exactly a real captain really, though owning this ship does put me in a position of power as a Baroness. All of you were putting your lives and dreams on the line for my safety, I don’t think I can ask for friends as loyal, honest, magical, silly and kind as any of you who follow someone like me.” “Well why not follow you? I personally think you’re worthy of my friendship.” It was the one reason Coco chose working for Rarity over Suri Polomare, Rarity worked for their friendship and often times hugged, cuddled and encouraged her to do her best. Suri on the other hoof didn’t have a single affectionate bone in her body even if she was good at pretending she did and would have likely taken credit for any of her hard work, dodging that bullet had been the best things Coco has ever done. “Opal needs you now more than anything, so please try not to be so down on yourself.” “Coco I’m beginning to think Greta was on to something about me causing disproportionate retribution, but more in the vein of being a disaster zone magnet that just happens to get retribution for making poor life choices.” Stopping in the middle of the hallway Rarity closed her eyes to speak these words. “I’m not going to fake how I feel as Opal probably already knows I’m being down on myself this very moment. I’m at least hoping that she can cheer me up if nothing is too terribly wrong with her.” “Well you’re about to find out what’s going on, I can see atmosphere farm access already.” A quiet pause and Coco pulled Rarity into a hug and sniffling. “Please don’t think you’re not worth all the effort we go through to keep you alive, your something of a rock for everyone on this ship. Nothing between you and hard places tends to last long. If I had to choose between a rock like you and a hard place, I’d go for the rock every time and I’m not saying that just because I’m an Earth Pony. Sassy is being quite strong for us, but she’s hasn’t lost her metaphorical heart even after it was damaged badly and your helping just as much as I am to keep the old Sassy we knew alive and well.” “You would follow me into Tartarus wouldn’t you?” It was meant to be rhetorical, but to Rarity’s surprise Coco smiled and answered anyway. “No thinking, no hesitation, not even needing a beat of my heart to jump forward. A heartbeat seems a bit too long for me and I’d be having a complete panic attack the entire time doing so, but I’d follow you into Tartarus to buy a T-shirt at the gift shop and then compare it to our brand to find it lacking.” Of that there was such sureness that Coco wouldn’t run out of cowardice when Rarity needed her that it brought a few tears to Rarity’s eyes. Coco was devoted to fashion, but that wasn’t her whole life even if she enjoyed it far too much. “After we’re done meeting with Opal we need to go over the wedding dress designs I’ve come up with and then we need to talk to the client personally about which ones will work best with her after we narrow down our options. I may specialize in accessories, but I also make clothing that can be accessorized. In fact simplicity is one of the things I do better than you or Sassy.” “On that I can agree, I do tend towards the more extravagant and Sassy tends to go with what works a little too much when it comes to sales. Also I know it’s a faux pas to outshine the mare of the hour at her wedding, so I’m charging you with making the dresses for me and the other girls who are going. Maybe a suit for Rover, Bernard or Mr. Cumin if they feel like it. We’ll need to discuss this later however.” The topics Rarity would go over with Coco later were numerous, but she agreed that Coco was good at doing simple. Rarity’s problem is that she fussed over something if it didn’t seem to shine or have something that can catch the eye of everyone around her, she liked being the center of attention and she liked making other people the center of attention as well with her works of fashionable art. “Right now I have more important things to worry about, such as my wayward Opalescence Belle.” Coco led Rarity into the room to immediately see Vera’s backside. Rarity appreciated the fact that atmosphere farms always had fresh air. The second a section like this was exposed to vacuum, all the air providing moss died and emergency smaller atmosphere generation farm at the rear ship would become active. Too much production of atmosphere would cause a ship to explode or in a less extreme circumstance bulge while becoming highly combustible when damaged, too little and people tended to have breathing problems. In this case gasping filled Rarity with a healthy dose of fresh atmosphere once they were besides Vera. Rarity idly pointed out Ms. Blossom to Coco so that she could put a hoof on the mare to keep her in mind, especially after Rarity saw who Vera was having a rather interesting discussion with. “My word…” Rarity stared and how could she not at what she was seeing, she didn’t even think it was real. She took a few steps forward with absolute disbelief etched into her face. “Opal… is that you?” “Ah yeah… hey mom… I know this might be a bit of a…AGH!” Thankfully the weak sounding and scratchy voiced Opal managed to inhale before Rarity started choking the life out of her. “Help me… she’s trying to cease my functions like I predicted… I don’t want to be erased!” “Oh you’re just absolutely adorable!”