//------------------------------//
// Chapter 26 — Tastes of Mirrors 
// Story: In Sheep's Clothing 
// by Kydois 
//------------------------------//




—




For the office of the Captain of the Royal Guard, I had been expecting something a little more extravagant. There was certainly an “Important Pony” wall with a few framed certificates and awards, though I had little interest in what they were for. File cabinets featured prominently, though there were a few plastic plants here and there to add in some color. The only really lavish item present was the giant desk right in the middle of the room, made of some dark reddish wood that looked really expensive. It was a shame that the chair behind it looked so worn out, as if it had been rescued out of some rundown budget store.

The chair I was in wasn’t much better, though it was certainly comfortable. I was alone. It was kinda fuzzy how I got here. Maybe I had an escort.

My pondering was cut short at the sound of the door behind me opening, and I turned around to find Captain Brave Blade standing at the entrance. He seemed younger than I expected, though his years were soon catching up to him. He wore an immaculate dress uniform with multiple bars across his breast. Though I knew nothing of what the colors meant, I assumed he had made quite a mark on whatever he did.

“Ahh, they told me you’d be in here,” he said, walking in and closing the door behind him. He let off a calm and collected aura, each of his movements deliberate and with purpose. He strode over and took a chair next to me, looking down at me with a careful, searching gaze.

A moment of quiet, and then, “I understand that you wish to join the Royal Guard. Is that correct, young miss?” His words betrayed nothing of how he felt. It was a simple statement, asking for but a simple answer, which I readily gave.

“It is, sir,” I said, returning his gaze evenly.

Another few seconds of silence passed as he continued to stare at me. “What’s your name, miss?”

I straightened up a little. “Overwatch.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Really now? I was told I was going to be meeting a little filly named ‘Sweet Spot.’”

I frowned, crossing my forelegs. “I’m not. It’s a stupid name.”

He seemed surprised, his eyes widening just a touch. “Oh really? And why would you think something like that?”

I rolled my eyes. “Because what kinda bad guy is gonna quake in his horseshoes when they hear somepony named ‘Sweet Spot’ is coming for them? Seriously now. They’re gonna think I’m a baker or something.”

He snorted, and the edge of his mouth came up in a small grin. “Well, you never know. Bakers are quite well known for pummeling dough,” the Captain replied with a shrug. “If I may ask though, why ‘Overwatch’? It’s not a common name, to be frank. Why choose something like that?”

I puffed out my chest. “It’s what I’m going to do. It’s a declaration of intent! I’ll be on the watch for any criminals and always be ready to jump in. I won’t miss anything,” I said, trying to convey as much confidence as I could. I had to show strength. I had to show that I was worthy of entering the guard at my age.

Captain Brave Blade simply nodded. “Fair enough,” he said, readjusting his position in the chair before moving on to the next question. “What do you think the purpose of the guard is?”

I swallowed. “It’s to protect ponies, right?”

He seemed to get more serious. His countenance seemed to lose some of that levity from earlier. “It is, so what makes you believe you’d be a good guard?”

“Because… Because of…” I choked up a little, and it seemed more difficult to get words out.

“Because of what happened that night, correct?”

I took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded.

He sighed. “I see. I’ve read up on the details of what had happened, and I applaud your efforts in trying to make a difference. You certainly displayed a ton of magical power. That could be useful one day,” Brave Blade said, though his words sounded like mere platitudes until he finally got to the real questions he wanted to ask. “If… if you could redo the events of that night, what would you do?”

My gaze turned downwards, my hooves fidgeting. I felt an anger broiling in my chest, burning and seething. I huffed. “I would have gotten there sooner. I would have been faster. Better. I failed that night because I wasn’t.” I took a deep breath, lowering my voice. “I don’t want to be the sort of pony who couldn’t help in time.”

He let out a long breath, humming in contemplation. I looked up at him. He had narrowed his eyes. Even more, I felt that I was being judged. Now that I had said my part, I was afraid that he might have realized the truth that I myself had discovered only a few days ago.

The real reason I didn’t want to be Sweet Spot anymore.

She was soft. Slow. Insular. Oblivious.

Sweet Spot couldn’t help her mother in time.

“And what of his life?” the Captain continued. “There are very few who have taken another’s life away, and even fewer are as young as you. Would you kill him again in defense of your mother?”

The answer should have come more easily, yet I had to overcome a sudden paralysis in my throat before I could speak. “I would,” I said, still feeling the fury coursing through me. Tears came unbidden to my eyes, much to my horror. I tried not to disturb the moisture in my eyes, but they fell regardless. I wiped them away quickly. I had to show strength. I had to show stability.

He put a hoof around my shoulders and hugged me close, breathing out a sigh as the quiet stretched on.

“Why do you really want to join the guard?” he asked evenly.

I took a deep breath. “Because I…”

I’d put a lot of thought into this. I was supposed to be angry. I had been angry for so long. I had wanted vengeance upon all of those who would commit such a terrible wrong.

But I couldn’t summon up that broiling rage. I felt disconnected with my own body, as if watching upon this scene from the outside. There was a sinking feeling in my heart. Draining. As if it were falling into a vast empty void. I felt sick.

“Because I… don’t want anyone else to suffer as I have,” I eventually said, lowering my head and closing my eyes. Though it didn’t feel like what was on the script, it felt right.

“I see.” He released his close embrace, and I felt a little chill as the cool air blew over the warmth he had left behind. There were another few seconds of silence. All I could hear was my own breathing.

I shivered.

“So what about you, Nymph?”

My eyes opened, and I looked up. In the chair just across from me sat someone completely different. Her chitin was polished, yet imperfect. Scratches and blemishes hinted at a much more active lifestyle, relics of an earlier time. She was larger than me by no small margin, maybe only a head shorter than the Queen. Her face and posture were that of the quintessential broodmother, powerful and in control, a foundation for the hive, yet her melancholic eyes betrayed her sadness every time she looked at me.

Chorion. Mother.

“What is your purpose here, daughter?” she said, barely louder than a whisper. “Why do you follow in Overwatch’s hoofsteps? Why do you suffer for the ponies?”

A tear traced a line down my mother’s cheek as her eyes grew confused and bewildered. “Who… who are you?” she said.

I didn’t have an answer for her.






Nymph




After I had made it out of the sewers again yesterday in a safe location, the Princess had come to get me herself, teleporting us both back to the castle and saving me a great deal of walking. Since she had been looking over my shoulder for most of the night, the debrief had been blessedly short, though she made it clear she was still going to come for a visit before she had to leave for morning court.

A beam of sunlight shone straight into my eyes, rousing me from my sleep.

I scowled. Even here, the blasted sun wouldn’t let me sleep in. Perhaps it was the Princess’s way of letting me know she was coming. Ill omens indeed.

Breathing out a forlorn sigh, I sat up, looking across Amore’s chambers to the windows. The curtains hadn’t been completely drawn closed, leaving a sliver through which I could see the morning sky, tinted to a shimmering green by the golden barrier the Princess had erected around the entire room. I had fallen asleep on a small couch, though the blanket covering me was new.

I glanced over at the sleeping form of Lady Amore, outlined under a thin blanket. Though the decision to have me stay in her lavish room was surprising, I can’t say I was at all against the idea. Even the couch was stars above the hospital bed I was on before, and there was a perpetual light sweet taste in the air, like constantly suckling a piece of rose-flavored candy on my tongue. It felt invigorating just being here, and despite all that had happened in the last days, there was a bit of levity in the air.

So why did I still feel weighed down?

I flipped aside the covers and lumbered out of bed, making my way ponderously to the bathroom. It felt a bit too much like a dream, as if I hadn’t quite woken up yet. With all the things I’ve seen in my waking hours, perhaps I haven’t.

With a groan, I brought a hoof up to my forehead as I entered the bathroom. I remembered the manticore down in the sewers. I still felt the points of its teeth digging into my neck. I remembered the night before in the alleyways, the feeling of rain running through my coat and the shouts. The shivering. The cold.

I… had no idea what was going on anymore. The loss of control from Overwatch’s whims was disorienting enough, but the hallucinations were slow and insidious, seeping in when I least expected them and ignoring all sense of logic and reality. The rain and the thunder, I hadn’t even realized were false until somepony else had jolted me out of it. It felt like real life when it obviously shouldn’t be, almost as if I were in a dream state automatically accepting that which was put in front of me.

I stopped in front of the mirror, gazing up into the weary visage of the pony staring back. Overwatch. Sweet Spot. Nymph. I couldn’t tell who I was looking at, nor who was staring back at me from across the invisible boundary. She was alien. An amalgam of bits and pieces of memories and impulses. I parted my mane, looking at the silver ring at the base of my horn.

What is your purpose here? Why do you suffer for the ponies?

The words from my dream persisted in my mind even now. Why had I spent so much time trying to rescue the podded ponies? Why have I thrown myself into two dangerous situations back to back for them? I had resolved myself to follow in Overwatch’s stead, hoping to make the most of the life she had given me, and yet, I purposefully railroaded myself onto a specific set of tracks, driven by somepony else’s motivations. I had chosen this path, but for what reason? Overwatch was the one who wanted to help, but would Nymph have done the same?

I shuddered. It was difficult, perhaps impossible to remember what kind of changeling Nymph had been. I had changed so much. Been influenced by so many different things that I couldn’t even remember where I had started.

Who are you?

There was an outline of somepony standing at the bathroom entrance. I spun around, and yet I found nothing. In the bed beyond, there was still Amore, sleeping soundly. My breaths had become short and halted while I wasn’t paying attention, and I took purposeful control of my breathing. Another hallucination then. I had to stand firm, despite the clear signs of my deteriorating psyche.

I turned back to the mirror, turning on the sink and splashing some of the water on my face. My thoughts and ruminations haven’t always led me to good places, and now more than ever, I feared what I could find at the end of the line. Perhaps that’s why I threw myself at things. Less time to ponder and think. Doing other things provided focus and direction, a welcome distraction.

I grabbed a nearby towel and wiped down my face before looking at myself anew in the mirror. There was still at least one more excursion planned. The Crystal Caves. The heart of their hive. If the ponies were there, it would be nigh impossible to get them out of there by myself if I went at the problem head-on. I needed another approach. It seemed like Crystal had something else going on last night, so that’d be a good place to start.

There was an enormous eruption of water from the bathtub to my right, and I hurriedly moved my towel away from the splash radius.

“Heya there! What’cha doin’?”

“Hello, Lily.” I sighed, bringing the towel back to wipe off the new layer of water soaking into my coat. I looked up at one of the hooks on the wall where I had hung my holsters from yesterday. “Morning to you too, Crystal.”

“I worry for your mental state, you know.”

I took a deep breath. “I do too,” I replied, wringing out my wet mane.

With another splash of water, thankfully much smaller this time, Lily flopped out of her watery bed. She wrapped a hoof around me, bringing me in close for a squishy embrace. “Don’t worry about it too much, luv. If anyone can get past somethin’, it’s you.”

I snorted, but I still managed to get a smile on my face. “Thanks.”

“All things considered, you have adjusted remarkably well. We have run through this point multiple times before, but you are still very young.”

I moved to my tail, wrapping it in the towel before squeezing out the moisture. “I know, I know, but I should still strive to be better, right?”

“So should we all, luv!” Lily said, poking me in the chest. “Strive as hard as you want, but’cha gotta keep your limits in mind. Don’t end up with a busted throat just cause you wanted to get a high note right, y’know? You’ll get there s’long as you don’t give up.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her sincerity, and I leaned a little into her hug. “Alright, I get the message. Thanks again.”

We stayed like that for a moment longer, quiet and serene. It was surprisingly comforting despite the lingering water dripping into my fur, but I had to get to business sooner or later, preferably before the Princess decided to pay a visit.

“Crystal, so about going to the Crystal Caves…”

“Yes, about that. You know as well as I that attempting to rescue the ponies from their pods is foolhardy at best.”

“Yeah, you said you had something in the works?”

“Indeed I do, though I am uncertain whether or not you are going to like it,” she said, and I felt a little flutter of uneasiness in my stomach.

I let out a defeated sigh. “So we’re confronting the queen? You said as much.”

“I did say as much, though this will be far from a suicide mission,” she said. “I do have an idea to even the odds a bit.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “How? Because you’re going to have to do quite a bit to get me anywhere near the same level as a queen.”

“Well, Lilywater likely knows where I am going with this, but while you were sleeping, Lily and I were going over something she had procured last night.”

I looked up questioningly at the merpony. “Jus’ a book she wanted,” she said, shrugging.

“Uh huh.” I turned back to Crystal. “Just a book.”

“Phylacteries and binding rituals.”

I blinked. “Aren’t phylacteries soul crystals or something?”

“Indeed they are. If you have ever heard of liches, you might have heard the term tossed around a few times.”

My brow furrowed. “This sounds an awful lot like dark magic to me.”

“Only in the wrong light,” she said with a snort. “Liches use phylacteries to tether their soul to a vessel other than their actual bodies. As you may imagine, such an unnatural thing inevitably leads to deterioration and insanity, sometimes as short as only a few hours after casting. There is a reason the methodology is thoroughly prohibited.”

I nodded. “Alright, so—” My mouth hung open for a while as I thought about what she had just implied. “Wait a second, so if this is so prohibited, how did Lily get a book on that for you? Am I missing something?”

Crystal chuckled. “No, you are not. Lily had to sing her way in. In the right situations, her abilities become very potent.”

I frowned. “So wait, if she’s so good, why not use her against the other hive?”

Lily cleared her throat and whispered in my ear. “Sang a lullaby for them. While it worked well enough to get me in and out, it has a much ‘arder time of succeeding if the listener ain’t already ‘alf asleep.”

“Somewhat of a gamble to send her to the library, but I had bet that after centuries of peace, anyone in the Royal Library, whether they be guard or librarian, would not have their guard up and therefore succumbed to her song, especially any time past midnight.”

I rolled my eyes. “So the biggest counter is to not be sleepy.”

“For now, at least,” she purred. “In any case, back to phylacteries, if souls tethered to crystals were so prone to deterioration, well…”

She trailed off, and it took a moment before I got her message. “So what about… you?”

“Precisely,” she said, her giddiness bubbling up under her usual calm and collected demeanor. “A being even half of complex as me should not be capable of being adequately supported by a standard crystal. Eventually, I got to thinking about the red Heart Gems that the Sirens used, the ones that had given them so much power, far beyond what even a talented songstress like Lily could do. This binding ritual, specifically to a red beryl, was what had given them so much power.”

My mouth hung open for a moment. “You’re suggesting that…”

“Indeed. Would you be willing to attempt a binding ritual akin to the Siren’s?”

“Is… is that even safe?”

“I have reason to assume it is, if done right. Do you remember when you connected your magic with mine? While my idea is derived from the phylacteric binding ritual, the binding ritual I am suggesting would do the same thing you have already done on a larger scale. You know how much power I can add to your spells. This is how we take down their queen.”

I swallowed. “It’s…” I took a deep breath as I ran the idea through my mind. “I trust your judgment, especially regarding magical matters, but it’s just… so it would be just me and you?”

“No, I plan on also including Lily in the mix.”

“And you’d better!” Lily stuck out her tongue with a playful grin. “I’d been callin’ you my Heart Gem for ages now.”

“The power of the Sirens is a very enticing force to have on one’s side, even if we only have one Siren. She will have a significant part to play in weakening the enemy queen.”

I blinked. “D-does your spell work with three?”

“More likely than not. Even I cannot say for certain what will be the result—with magic, things are rarely absolute—but you know my hunches have proven correct in practice more often than not. We may have to get used to any unforeseen glitches, but I believe the basic theory is sound. The red beryl that I am occupying is far beyond what another crystal is capable of, and I, better than most, have a much better understanding of just how powerful it is. Confronting a queen directly and winning would not be just possible, but even probable so long as we are careful about it.”

“That’s…” I breathed out an airy sigh. By the sands, what a terrifying idea Crystal had just put out. If there was ever a moment to believe she was actually evil, it was now. I’d even have to wager my soul on the outcome of a binding ritual, and yet, at this point, I completely trusted Crystal. I had little doubt that this next idea would work just as all the others did, but I was concerned for a different reason.

All this thought on my purpose, the paths I chose to follow, and now it felt like I was staring down a cliff. Was it possible to even consider turning back after a decision like this? Could I possibly be normal after this?

Or maybe I was thinking of this the wrong way. Ever since I had cast the memory spell for the first time, I was already abnormal. Perhaps it went even further. Perhaps this road started when my broodmother taught me the spell in the first place, a spell that none of my hivemates knew.

Maybe my choice now was already set in stone.

“Crystal, I—”

There was a suppressed squeal behind me, and I straightened up in surprise, taking my head off of where I had been resting it on Lily. I turned around and saw Amore standing at the doorway, her hooves pushing her cheeks up with the most elated expression on her face.

“Oh my gosh, you two are so cute together!” she said, clapping her hooves.

I looked between her and Lily, who still had a foreleg around me in an embrace. “W-wait, no!” I stammered, trying to extricate myself from the merpony’s suddenly tighter hug. “It’s not what it looks like!”

“Oh, hiya there, Amore!” Lily said, chipper and unconcerned as she wrapped her other foreleg around me and hugged me like a teddy bear. “Wanna join in?”

Amore just chuckled. “Maybe later. I’d hate to ruin the moment.”

“You already have,” I groused, resigning myself to being stuck in Lily’s hold.

She snorted. “In any case, you have another visitor.”

Princess Celestia poked her head around the corner. “Ahh, I see everypony is awake already.”

I nearly shrieked, though I managed to rein it in to an abnormally loud squeak. “O-oh. Princess!” I said with an uncomfortable smile, redoubling my efforts to remove myself from Lily’s wet grip.

“I am only here for a little moment before I must be off to morning court. Monday calls, after all,” the Princess said, and I noticed that she was levitating an assortment of items with her, including a little plate of eggs and toast, a mug of coffee, and the sapphire she used as a communication device. The eggs were sunny-side up, of course.

Her sapphire lit up as Crystal began to speak. “Ahh, here to visit?”

“Well, I was hoping to at least see the spell that you used during your excursion yesterday,” she said and took a sip of the coffee. “I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it before.”

“Of course, Princess,” I said, and Lily let me stand up and trot back into the bedroom proper. “So you only need me to hold it on my horn?”

“That should suffice,” she said as she followed me to the center of the room.

Just like how I showed Crystal my spell, I brought up the spell matrix and held it on my horn without releasing it, and it was only a short moment before I heard talking.

“Interesting,” the Princess murmured. “Form matches function after all. This is supposed to change her own magical signature into whatever she hits with it, correct?”

“Indeed, Celestia,” Crystal replied. “This method allows us to bypass the increasingly prevalent selective barriers.”

Princess Celestia nodded. “I see, though there are a couple other things. It looks like it’s incomplete. It almost seems like there should be an additional point there, near the edge.”

“...So it does. I think I see what you are talking about.” Crystal sounded almost surprised. “It’s not a very prominent place for a rune.”

“Perhaps not,” the Princess said, stuffing a piece of toast in her mouth and swallowing as she continued to ponder the matrix. “So if this is supposed to copy magical signatures…”

“Yes, Celestia?”

“And Overwatch herself isn’t permanently affected by these changes due to her magical resistance…”

“Go on.”

“What if you use this spell on any other magical object? Other spells?” The Princess turned to look at the sapphire in her levitation. “Wouldn’t she just change her magical signature into a giant spell?”

Crystal stayed silent for a moment. “She would, and it wouldn’t even have any lasting effects because of Overwatch’s magic. Highly unorthodox to hold a spell on your entire body instead of the horn, but you could theoretically use that matrix to cast something before it dissipates.”

Princess Celestia hummed. “A race of shapeshifters makes a lot more sense now. It would make personal transformations a cinch if the underlying magical field could change so easily,” she said.

“So it does, though changing them to spell matrices and casting from them is quite something else.”

The Princess nodded. “Still a fascinating concept. I would be happy to discuss this with you further at some point, but I have to get going now. The nobility never does run out of its share of problems. Thank you for showing us your spell, Overwatch.”

I released my spell and simply bowed to her. “It was my pleasure, Princess.”

“Ahh, before you go, I have a small request to make,” Crystal said.

Princess Celestia nodded. “Go on.”

“The crystal you said would verify Overwatch’s identity. Would it be possible to summon it here? I want to be sure such a method is not compromised by the preparations we make before we enter the Crystal Caves. I will be altering Overwatch’s magic slightly,” Crystal said, pausing just a moment before she continued. “That is, if she agrees to such an idea.”

I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I do.”

A strange thought occurred to me. Had I just accepted marriage with a rock?

The Princess nodded. “Of course,” she said, promptly summoning the crystal over and placing it into my magical hold. “Good luck. I will be back when the day is complete.”

Amore and I sank into our bows as she departed through the barrier. There was only a bit of trepidation within me as I mulled over what I had agreed to.

“You are sure of your decision? It is not one to take lightly.”

I rose up out of my bow. “I am sure. Will you need to prepare anything before we can begin?”

“No. All I need is for all of us to be present. Just link with me and I can cast the binding ritual.”

I took another deep breath, staring down at the swirls of green and gold in the crystal Princess Celestia had given me. This was me right now. How much would it change once I had taken this next step? Would it even change?

I levitated it over to Lady Amore and departed for the bathroom again to get Lily, though I hadn’t needed to walk very far before she emerged from the bathroom herself in her earth pony form, holding one of the holsters in her mouth.

We gathered together. “Crystal, is it… alright to have Amore there watching?”

“Let her. This should only take a moment.”

I turned to look at Amore, who was giving us a questioning look. “Hey, so… we’re just going to be doing that thing now.” I gave her a sheepish smile.

“Oh, the uhh…” she said, waving a hoof around. “Whatever Crystal was talking about. Is it really alright though, changing your magic?”

I nodded. “I trust her completely,” I said, turning back to Lilywater. We sat down, and she hoofed over my holster.

I took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.”

Reaching out with my magic, I formed a link with Crystal, just as I had done before. It felt as if I had tapped into an ocean again, and the waves pulled at my magic, honing it. Giving it purpose. The spell matrix filled with an overflowing amount of energy, and then—