A few hours into our flight it came to my attention that, much as their injuries had suggested, our new avian allies had once been pirates. They each took their turns changing out of the drab black and grey Storm King uniforms, and coming out looking much happier in more colorful attire. Each one then threw their old uniform over the side before giving me a simple salute.
The few gems that stayed unbubbled bonded with our new crew, making a game out of tossing the ship's former cargo overboard. A crate of crummy merch went over, and in its place sat a container of gems. I took a few turns at it, a quartz or two cheering me on as I hurled crates into the distance.
“This one is going to splash down in the river,” Delphi commented, peering over the railing. Her head tracked the crate as I heaved it out into the open air.
“Yeah? Will it land on any fish or just sink?” I joked, watching the object vanish into the distance. It hadn’t occurred to me how used to brown I had been getting. I almost found myself excited to see trees. Trees!
Delphi paused, tilting her head up. “It’ll hit a cragodile, knocking lose a plate that had been giving it trouble.”
“Cragodile?”
“A monstrous lizard that grows to be up to thirty feet long. Stumpy legs and with a bunch of armor plates as hard as rocks along the spine. The older they get the thicker the plates get.” Tempest chimed in from the nearby railing. “They’re found all over the place, except Flame Geyser Swamp.”
Of course, there would be weird monsters in a world of pony and parrot people. “How do you see this going, Delphi?” I asked, watching a town move beneath us. It looked like a frontier town; vast orchards surrounding it. “Do we win or end up in a million pieces?”
Celaeno barked out a laugh, taking a spot next to me. “Don’t tell me you're having second thoughts. After an introduction like that, you better put us to good use.”
“I see... difficulty. More difficulty. David, if we had done nothing I feel that things would have worked out in the end. Us being there is going to make things complicated.” She turned away for a moment and sighed. “I’m also nervous about leaving the safety of the enclave, which isn’t helping me focus. The unimportant things are so clear but the important thing has so much uncertainty...”
Placing a hand on her shoulder, I gave my best reassurance. “The future changes. Sapphires can only see the most likely outcome.” Gently turning her head, I pointed at an overserious ruby. “There was a sapphire who fused with a ruby, her future vision was expanded by the ruby’s impulsiveness. We saw a bit of that when we were Tanz.”
“I liked that, but I don’t want to fuse with a ruby.” She looked back towards me before shaking her head. “What if we fused to get a clearer picture only to find out that there’s no way to win? Gems are strong, David, but they have gems too. Tempest mentioned a permanent fusion, a living war machine...”
Squeezing her shoulder gently, I tried to meet her gaze. “You can’t think like that, Delphi. If you go in thinking you won’t win, you really won’t.”
“Optimism is fine, David, but there’s a small chance of this being an easy fight. Ponies have a number of gem hybrids, but few of them are trained fighters. It all hinges on the aim of whoever replaces me,” Tempest interjected.
“I didn’t know you had guns,” I responded, looking at her expectantly.
“Petrification gas in a glass or salt vessel. Miniaturized cannons tend to explode in the hands of the user.”
I snorted, holding in a laugh. “You guys just aren’t trying hard enough. But then, humans had thousands of years of practice killing each other.”
“Anyways, the plan is simple: Identify and incapacitate the four princesses of Equestria. Celestia, the princess of the sun; Luna, the princess of the moon; Cadance, the princess of love; and Twilight Sparkle, the new princess of friendship. All four of them are hybrids, capable of fusion, and have a high level of both power and prowess with magic even when not fused.” Tempest sighed as she turned around to lean back against the railing rather than over it looking out. “Luna and Celestia have been known to fuse in the past into an entity that calls itself Eclipse, or that’s what I believe has happened based on what I’ve read of historic battles where both Celestia and Luna were present.”
“I take it that's where the petrification gas comes in? Take out the head, the body dies.”
“Immobilization to make it easy to drain their magic. The Storm King has a staff that will give him the power to control weather if given a strong enough infusion of magic. Drain the magic from two ponies who literally move the sun and the moon and you have definitely surpassed that level... the other two are to make sure the staff stays powered forever.” Tempest shook her head and sighed loudly. “And I signed on to help him with this all for my horn. Potentially handing over control of day and night itself to a power-hungry yeti because he said he’d restore my horn. I feel like a foal.”
Celaeno trilled, her feathers ruffling. “If you’re throwing a pity party, send me an invite. We were just looking to save our hides hauling that moron’s junk.” She rubbed her neck uneasily. “Nearly keelhauled me.”
“Not a pity party to call myself out for not really caring about how self-centered my motivation was. I was an idiot. I’m still an idiot for having done it, but at least I know that now and I can do something about it.”
Tipping her hat, Celaeno chuckled. “If we win this, I’ll buy you a bottle of the strongest drink Canterlot has. The both of ya.” Her head tilted to the side. “But I ain’t paying for a cask, so, ya better be a few heads shorter for that trip.”
“Speaking of being a few heads shorter, David, I think it’d be best if you tried shapeshifting into something smaller to help hide and make the counter-ambush we have planned easier to pull off.” Tempest tilted her head in thought and then grinned. “Maybe you could try turning into a copy of me again? It wasn’t a bad look for you, really, just took me by surprise.”
“Sounds a little narcissistic, if you ask me.” I poked her horn, smirking as she jerked her head back. “I can try it but don’t get mad at me if you start seeing flaws in your look.”
“My look, right, that reminds me.” Tempest paused and turned to look at Celaeno. “Captain, I notice your crew retained their old attire somewhere. Do you have any other old trophies or attire? I’m looking for something that wouldn’t paint a target on my flank like this damaged Storm Guard armor will once he invades Canterlot.”
“We don’t really have much in the way of clothing that would fit a pony, no offense. I could offer you a blouse and maybe an old skirt, but other than that you’re out of luck.” Celaeno looked Tempest up and down for a few seconds before nodding. “Yeah, some of my old clothes could work on you, but they’d be big. We could see if Lix can spare some time to make a few quick alterations.”
“So I’m out of luck as far as armor goes then?”
“Yeah, unless you can find something enchanted in our little section of keepsakes and treasures from the old days.”
Delphi injected herself, putting a hand on Tempest’s leg. “There’s a necklace in the cabin. It’s magical. I foresee you using it to great effect.”
Tempest blinked for a moment, then smiled at the captain. “One makeshift set of attire and one magic necklace, then?”
“I suppose that’s only fair, the least compensation I can give to the pony that helped my crew and I regain a few things we’ve been missing for years.” Celaeno clicked her beak before nodding and pointing to the door her crew had been coming out of in more colorful attire. “Head in there and I’ll send in Lix to fix you up with whatever you choose. You and her will have plenty of privacy in there aside from maybe a gem wandering in out of curiosity, unless our diamond wants to issue an order preventing that?”
I gave a thumbs up. “Alright, none of you flakes are allowed into the captain’s cabin until Tempest comes out, understood?! If any of you decides to play peeping tom, I’ll have you interning under a pearl.”
“What’s an intern?” A ruby popped up from a nearby hatch holding one last crate of bobbleheads.
“Someone who gets less respect than a slave and more work,” Tempest responded while heading towards the indicated door.
“So, do things like this happen often with ponies?” I asked while trying not to think too hard about what we’d just been through as I walked back over to the tent stall we’d found for our needs. I’d assumed a shape as close to Tempest’s as I could get while still feeling okay looking in a mirror, but I could feel the strain starting to build up from holding such a different shape. Two hours was my absolute limit, we’d found out on the flight here, and rest-and-reset time was creeping up on us again.
“What, the times when one or more of us break out in song and sometimes dance? It’s not uncommon, and it’s been known to sweep entire towns up at times. It’s one of the most primal forces of magic we know of, and it’s not just ponies.” Tempest smiled while she held one of Delphi’s hands in her own.
The small blue gem had simply shapeshifted her head to look like a filly, reducing the strain slightly since her dress already covered her body. Altogether, the three of us looked like a family that had made the trip to Canterlot, and nobody gave us a second glance despite the fancy gemstone in my abdomen.
“It’s bizarre. I feel like I’m one second away from being in an episode of Glee.” I had taken a precaution on the flight in. A simple handkerchief, as to remove my sweat without it getting on the ground. We didn’t need any pebbles showing up. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up, Tempest.” I said while wiping it along my forehead and down my muzzle.
“We don’t have long to wait, David. Actually, now would be a good time for us to head over towards where that cake landed after that cannon shot it in the air. Tempest should stay here and get ready to start popping bubbles. She’ll know when.” Delphi spoke up quickly, and looked up at the sky as a distant peal of thunder sounded off.
Reaching down, I scooped Delphi into my arms. “Semper Fi, Tempest.” I snapped her a salute, holding for a moment before relaxing. Putting fire under my ass, I pushed my way through the crowds. “I almost miss the combat high,” I remarked to Delphi, edging my way closer and closer.
“Are you referring to some hormonal thing or just the pleasure of combat that some of the quartzes partake in in their regular skirmishes?” Delphi responded, which caused a few of the ponies around us to look down at her from where they’d been looking up at a swiftly-moving giant black cloud. It had already moved over the lower districts and was rapidly approaching the ring of columns that surrounded the giant festival plaza.
“Combat isn’t fun, Delphi. At least not when you're organic.” Noting the growing storm. “Looks like our cue.”
“We should wait a little longer. Fusing with no obvious threat present would only draw attention to us; potentially distracting people who should not be distracted.”
A previously sunny day became choked with clouds. Hushed murmurs spread amongst the revelers, panic beginning to set in. Out of the stormfront emerged a black airship, proudly bearing the blue markings of the Storm King. Insanely, I actually heard one mare shout that this must be the clowns she ordered.
I worried for a moment as it came in for a landing, fearful that the overhanging city might not handle the extra weight. The pillars it broke as it lowered certainly showed that there wasn’t much thought put towards internal reinforcements of structures. My body tensed, watching the gangplank lower.
“Brian, nooooo!!”
A slender figure descended moments later; a grey-toned pearl carrying a black and silver cube that started unfolding into some kind of megaphone-like device as she set it on the ground. An odd, dissonant bit of feedback sounded as the metal parts moved past each other, but she showed no emotion as she waited for it to finish, then cleared her throat directly into the microphone, causing the more familiar form of feedback for a moment.
“Ponies and gems of Equestria, we are here on behalf of the... almighty Storm King.” A set of banners and tapestries unfurled as she spoke, one of them a massive image of the being himself. “And now, to deliver the rest of the message, I present to you the new commander of his armies, Griffonstone Diamond, and her lieutenants, Lightning Dust and Queen Chrysalis.”
Most of the ponies around us gasped at that last name, and the few gems I could see nearby seemed to be bristling at the mere mention of a diamond. I realized one reason why they might be gasping at the name as three figures emerged at the top of the metal ‘plank’ in the opening left in the ship. One was a normal-looking pegasus while another was a slightly-taller pony-like figure that looked like a fusion between a pony, a xenomorph, and a block of swiss cheese.
“Whassa xenomorph?” a cream-coated filly with a chocolate mane asked.
“Uhhh, a big alien thing twice the size of your mother with an ugly black carapace?” I replied after thinking as quickly as possible.
“You could have just said ant or bug and saved yourself the trouble of explaining it, David.” Tempest snarked.
“Hey, even after a few decades I still think in terms of what I know from where I grew up. Everyone knows what a xenomorph is back there.”
“You’re getting sidetracked, David. Please continue. One of my favorite parts of the story is about to happen.” Delphi patted my thigh reassuringly.
The third almost matched my normal height, a prime specimen of quartz fusion. Her form was pale white, a slight shade of yellow zigzagging across her body. What I could only call a tabard covered her torso, emblazoned with the Storm King's emblem. Pushing the pearl aside, she snatched the megaphone.
“I’m not wasting any more time than I have to.” Her voice sounded like she had chainsmoked from the moment she emerged. “Either turn over your glorified masters, ugly meat sacks, or I’ll put you all back in your cages!”
A collective gasp went up from the crowd of ponies at this declaration, with more than a few becoming visibly angry. One large red stallion actually started rolling up his sleeves before a slightly smaller, but still visibly muscular, orange mare put her hand on his chest. Moments later, three mares landed in the festival plaza, ones with both wings and horns, and the nearly-white one stepped forward and spoke first.
“Let me guess, Griffonstone Diamond? You share their arrogance, but why should we bow to you when we broke the shackles your betters put on us centuries ago?”
‘Griffonstone Diamond’ scoffed, tossing the microphone away. “Where’s that pink freak?” She ignored the mare, scanning the crowd. “I know you’re here, pink stain!” A purposeful step forward, a knuckle cracked. “If I don’t see your face well... the boss only needs three princesses.”
The smallest of the three new mares, the one with pink fur and purple-tipped wings stepped forward. “Are you referring to me? Nobody has ever called me a ‘stain’ before, but I-”
“Pffft, no. I’m not challenging some uppity hybrid who thinks she can stand up to a gem. I want Rose Quartz, NOW!”
Taking a breath, I pushed my way through the rest of the crowd. I’d have to drop my disguise anyway, might as well go for a bit of shock and awe. “Why settle for a quartz?” I called out, seperating from the crowd.
The fusion turned to look at me and sneered, then actually spit on the ground. “I just said I’m not interested in some pathetic hybrid, but I suppose you want to be an example of what happens when dirt tries to pretend it’s something more? Drop your grub at least. No sense in smearing two bodies full of blood around when one will do.”
Glaring back at her, I began to relax my form. “There’s only one diamond here, Gri-”
Several screaming voices overpowered my own. Startled ponies parted the crowd, short red forms charging towards us. “For Pink Diamond!!!” one of the rubies shouted, leaping and tucking into a roll. Springing into a pose, she held up several other rubies before their bodies blended together into a ruby the size of a cave troll.
“Pink Diamond?!”
“Red gems?!”
Letting out an unintelligible warcry, the mega-ruby barrelled towards Griffonstone Diamond. Drawing their leg back, they gave a world-champion attempt to punt her out of the city. Despite being caught like a deer in headlights, Griffonstone managed to cling to the super fusion’s leg.
“I didn’t see that happening,” Delphi commented, more than a little disturbed by the sudden arrival.
“Rubies, they’re hotheaded. Tempest must have started popping bubbles before the ship emerged,” I mused while looking around carefully and continuing to revert from my shapeshifted state. “Feel up to fusing to stand alongside the rubies?”
“I’d like that, David.” Delphi responded, and hugged tight as our forms dissolved into light and began to combine once more.
***
I came back into the world like a butterfly coming out of her cocoon. I fixed my hat, my smaller arms tossing my boa over my shoulder. “It seems like the dog’s off the leash,” I said, looking at the princesses. “You dames look a little bamboozled. Anything I can do for you?”
“I... uh... errr, such a vibrant purple...” The midnight-blue mare stammered and blushed for a few seconds before shaking her head and pointing towards the fiercely fighting fusions while flinging the fuschia from her face. “Intercede, please. The red ones are obviously new and inexperienced. We shall join you shortly.”
Giving a bow, I sashayed towards the battle. “When the diamond’s away, Tanzanite will play.” The world slowed, possibilities streaming across my sight. Throwing a hand out, I summoned a purple shield wall behind Mega-Ruby. The bug collided into it like a bird against a flawless window on a clear day.
“Ha! Maybe watch where you’re going next time, Crissy!” The teal pegasus snarked while speeding away from the ship and moving far faster than I’d thought possible. “Oh Rainbow Dash, where are you? We’ve got a score to settle!”
As she entered my thoughts, she was already leaving them. I didn’t have time to play traffic cop. Movement in the clouds drew my attention, and Chrysalis sat up with an expression of absolute anger on the cracked carapace of her face. Her horn glowed, and the sound of a fog horn bellowed forth from the magic she was using like a war cry from the throats of Cerberus. A horde of primate-structured beings wearing black armor and masks, with white fur showing on the exposed areas, dropped from above as half a dozen more ships moved into assault range and vision from the dark cloud that obscured the sky.
“Right on cue.” I mused, and raised my voice to carry the authority of one of my components. “Diamond-loyal gems! Counter-ambush the yetis NOW!”
By this time, the crowd had scattered, taking to whatever shelter they could find. The battle cry of the quartzes was deafening as it rang out across the nearly-empty plaza. Gems sprang out of hiding everywhere, with most coming out of random tents or stalls set up.
Across the plaza, a pillar of light formed for a moment before it resolved into a figure with alarmingly-familiar poofy hair. It moved with fluid grace to uppercut a descending white-furred aggressor like a custom fighter in a Mortal Kombat game, the baby-blue gi jacket flapping like a flag in the breeze as she turned to glare at me. What could only be Rainbow Quartz arrived on-scene with, well, the thud of a limp body collapsing.
I greeted her with a pout. “You got a hard stare, Ms. Rainbow. Makes a girl think she’s not welcome.”
“My components are going to have words with yours later, Diamond-spawned fusion. Right now I only need to know if you are my enemy or if you are here for peaceful reasons. Talk fast, for we have little time to spare.” As she spoke she turned, revealing what looked like yellow-and-pink-striped shorts and a tank top that left the octagonal navel-gem of Rose Quartz exposed. The four-eyed visage was slightly odd, what with both sets of eyes being narrowed in suspicion as Rainbow Quartz drew Rose’s sword from that lower gem.
A brief flash of insight allowed me to duck while forming a deflecting plane of purple force as Griffonstone Diamond tried to blind-side me with a hook. “You’re fast, purple. Pity I’m gonna have to leave you to the elites so I can take out the real threats here. Storm Guard! Rumble in on tall, dark, and fashionable!”
And then she stormed off, charging in Rainbow Quartz’s direction while laughing. Drawing an arm back, my focus became razor sharp. A sly smile grew, as did the sharp-edged shield plane hovering below my hand. “You really shouldn’t judge by the cover. Some books can kill.” Hurling the improvised weapon, a smaller arm reached back to sucker punch a yeti.
I muttered a short curse as my attack veered off-course, and I started to move to follow the ‘diamond’ only to be halted by a strong grip on my shoulder. I looked back and down, ready to snap at a gem that was disobeying the established combat strategy, only to have words utterly fail me as my mouth hung open like a loose nutcracker.
The being that had so easily stopped me was a winged, horned pony almost a foot shorter than me, who had a mostly-black coat and pale pink stripes. One eye was cyan, and the other magenta, and her mane was a billowing orange and red corona with a sharp line of yellow dividing the two colors and forming a sort of border around the edges of her dark head. “We are Queen Eclipse. If you hold no enmity towards ponies, please assist our adopted niece and leave fighting the aggressive fusion to ourself and Rainbow Quartz. Cadance has no partner to fuse with, as her husband is half a continent away watching their daughter.”
“I, uh, okay. Which one is Cadance?” I fully turned to look back towards the small crowd of ponies that remained, noting that there were three ponies and a small, pudgy, bipedal lizard.
“The pink one with the blue, heart-shaped gem on her left hip,” ‘Eclipse’ stated simply before running off so fast her legs seemed to blur, as if someone had pointed a spotlight directly into my eyes. “Old friend, we are coming to your aid!”
Adjusting my hat, I waded through battle. My hands weaved through the air, sending shields where they were needed. Possibilities streamed across my vision, all but the best pruned by my expert touch. A shield sprung over the group, shattering a cannonball. “Hello there, darlings. Looks like we have a bit of hot hail.”
The three mares looked up at me, and the yellow-coated one with pink hair immediately moved to hide behind the other two. One was obviously Cadance, who was simply staring up at me in shock while the other, a white-coated mare with a mane so curly it looked like it had been folded over on itself a dozen times to get that perfect wave, was actually looking me up and down while her face slowly collapsed into an expression like a month-old jack-o-lantern. “Why must gem clothes put my designs to shame so easily?!”
I simply smiled, giving a slight bow. “A pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Princess Cadance. You can call me Tanzanite. Queen Eclipse asked me to come to your aid, and I’m not the type of lady to deny an honest favor.”
“Ah, yes, thank you. Your shield is... impressively fast.” Cadance cleared her throat and smiled nervously while offering a handshake. “You’re the first purple gem fusion I’ve ever seen...and the second pink gem ever if what I caught out of the corner of my eye is correct.” Her wings twitched a few times while her ears swivelled around to track some sounds.
“There there, Rarity. You really shouldn’t compare what a gem’s imagination forms out of light to what you have to use fabric to make.” The yellow mare hugged the white one while staying behind her, and gave me another name to work with.
A smaller arm took Cadance’s hand, a longer one lifting my veil. “You certainly know how to make a woman feel welcome. I certainly look forward to being a trendsetter.”
I didn’t think I had such an inflated view of myself David muttered from somewhere in my mind.
Stifling a giggle, I winked my third eye. “I suggest you all stay close. Makes it easier to peruse the possibilities.”
“Peruse the possibilities?” the timid mare asked.
“Oh, your blue gem must be a sapphire. There aren’t many of those that haven’t given up their forms to a child,” Cadance chimed in before quickly frowning. “I hadn’t actually thought about that much. An entire gem type slowly vanishing because of a show of love. You...no, nevermind. Now’s not the time for that. Tanzanite, four of our friends are fighting, and one of them is my sister-in-law...wait, you might not know what that means...”
Straightening up, I smoothed my dress out. “You’d be surprised what I know, Princess. More than you’d think.” An arm shot out; a wall flickering into existence behind the timid mare. Another mare, a light purple unicorn smacked into it. “For example, that one’s a bug.”
“Curse you gems and your unknowable abilities!” Green flames flickered around the mare as she peeled herself off of the barrier, leaving a few smears of a thick yellowish fluid on it. “You will not catch me so easily again!”
“Did you know orange sapphires are called Padparadscha?” I asked, gently moving the pegasus three inches to the left. “They see things that have happened in the recent past, granting perfect hindsight.” The mare jumped, a piece of a building falling onto where she had been standing.
“T-thanks...” the frightened mare sputtered out, her wings having flared out in terror.
“Must not hold grudges. Not ladylike...” Rarity took a deep breath and leaned in to briefly hug me. “Thank you for saving Fluttershy. What do you need us to do other than stick close to you?”
I opened my mouth to answer, only to be blinded by a flash of light as another mare suddenly appeared between all of us. “Ack, too close together, no time to bother. I have Lightning Dust distracted and need someone to watch for falling airship parts. I’m going to use her and my axe and speed against these bozos.” Another flash of light went off as she vanished, leaving my vision blurred with an afterimage of a mane made of only the darker Crayola colors.
“I’ll need help with debris.” The hornet's nest had been kicked, frantic battle waging all around us. Even with future sight, I wasn’t fully confident in doing it by myself. “I’ll direct you as best I can. I’ll call an initial and an action, you’ll have to do the rest.”
“I won’t be able to handle anything big, dear.” Rarity spoke up immediately while turning her attention towards the sky. “I do have an eye for details, and I can lift lots of little things at the same time though.”
“I can make some shields and know how to cast a fair number of other useful spells, but I’m not as strong as Shining Armor defensively.” Cadance reached down to her hip and pulled a bright pink warhammer out of her gem. “I can use this against anything that gets close, though.”
An explosion ripped the sky, an airship becoming a brief sun. “F, get the filly behind that stall.” I pointed towards an overturned market stall while forming several shields under the ship. Some caught debris, others endured gouts of flame or smaller explosions. A second set of shields, these rounded and blue-tinted, caught smaller bits that spilled off of their initial landing areas.
“R-right.” Fluttershy moved faster than I thought she could, extracting a small filly from under the fallen stall. Bolting into the sky like a startled bird, she very narrowly missed being crushed under a falling Mega-Ruby. “Eeep!”
“C, slug the next yeti in the shin. R, keep the shower of glass off the pegasus guard.” My shields shifted, taking the brunt of another airship's detonation.
“Slug?” Cadance lit her horn and fired off a bolt of pure magic at the yeti instead. “While I do have some earth pony strength, I’d rather keep the enemy at range when it is possible. The hammer is for things you don’t see that get close.”
I clicked my tongue but kept silent. If the outcome smelled like roses, it didn’t really matter. Time lost meaning to me, just a flash of experiences. Emeralds barked orders. Quartzes carried them out with reckless glee. Rubies rushed in with nothing but enthusiasm and determination. It wasn’t until my sight stopped showing me explosions that I acknowledged the slowing pace.
“‘Scuse us, comin’ through!” A tall, peach-coated mare with muscles that would make a bodybuilder back on earth shake their head in disbelief ran past us with half a dozen yetis dragged behind her, each one hogtied. “Throw ya a birthday party later, David!”
My head jerked to the side, looking anywhere that wasn’t that mare. Even the barest glimpse I had gotten made my head throb. It felt like a thousand years worth of possible branches washed over my mind in half a second. My form flickered, Delphi recoiling in fear from that ocean of potential futures. “Gah! Who... what... why?”
“Oh dear...are you alright, miss Tanzanite? I didn’t know a gem could go that pale.” Fluttershy nudged against my legs for a moment while still holding the filly she’d rescued.
“Either Apple Pie or Pink Lady Apple, depending on their mood, a fusion of our two friends Pinkie Pie and Applejack, and because Pinkie Pie is a creature of absolute randomness,” Rarity responded while patting my other leg and answering each question in turn. “I still can’t believe you and Pinkie have the same type of gem, Princess. You two are just so different.”
“She’s much more in-tune with her gem, and I have responsibilities that require me to keep my more playful nature in check. You’ve seen the silly dance I do with Twilight, though. I’m not that different, just more disciplined in how I show it.”
My senses calmed, the overgrowth falling away. A hand summoned a shield, a flick of the wrist sending it slamming onto a peridot. “It’ll take a lot to get past this dame, Ms. Locust.”
“Oh, my squeedlyspooch! How could you tell it was me, I wasn’t even looking your way?!” The ‘peridot’ whined while her form and colors shifted. The black-carapaced swiss-cheese-mare groaned as she tried to squeeze out from under the hexagonal barrier. “Can purple gems just smell changelings?”
“No. Small one eyed gems just happen to have a certain intuition, and I didn’t bring any kindergarten supervisors along into a battle.” Shaking off whatever affliction that fusion had bestowed on me, I cocked a hip. “I’d be worried if I were you, this battle won’t last more than ten minutes or so.”
“All I need is one minute and the right disguise to get that...buffet away from you!” She snarled and then laughed as if she weren’t being pressed against the ground hard enough to crack wood. “Oh, right, I almost forgot I could do this!” A circle of green flame suddenly spread out along the ground, and she quickly sank into it as my shield pressed up flat against the stonework.
Turning my head, I caught Cadance giving me a nervous grin. “Uh, yeah, looks like she’s desperate and insane now. She’s a changeling, old type. She...consumes love. I’m the Princess of Love and basically a walking grocery store to her.”
“Eh, more like a taco truck.” That abominable fusion passed by again, I could tell from the voice, but I didn’t catch a single glimpse of her this time. I was thankful for that, but didn’t know if I should be worried about her being both invisible and overwhelming to my prescience at the same time.
“My diamond!” An emerald approached, my sight too distracted to have seen her arrival. “The quartzes have contained most of the hostile forces. Two dozen form disruptions have been reported but we haven’t received any shattering reports.”
“How many of the form disruptions were just fusions being split apart?” I asked quickly, still getting used to the terms of my new reality.
“At least eight,” the emerald responded, her arms crossed in salute. “We’ve detained the hostiles for the other organics, as per your orders.”
“Good, good. I want any spare troops to fuse up so they can start clearing away debris on the ground or catch some as it falls. We need to disable those airships as quickly as possible without damaging them too much. I’m sure the ponies would like to study them as well.”
Another airship detonated above us immediately after I said that, and this one had a dark, foreboding rainbow ring spreading outward from it. The lower, boatlike section started falling almost intact while the airbag above it started to rise. “Ah hell! R, C, help me out here!”
Cadance threw up a shield, her body tensing as it caught the falling airship. “I-I don’t know how long I can hold this!”
Rarity’s ears pinned back, eyes as pinpricks. “I-I can’t. I’m not that skilled with magic!”
“You just need to help!” I nudged her as I started throwing up my own shields with a series of hand gestures, trying my best to bleed out as much momentum as possible as the ship fell by changing the angle as often as possible. “Slow it down a bit, keep it from falling towards houses!”
“R-right!” Rarity added her magic to the effort, digging her hooves into the ground. It was a fine effort, but I doubted she’d last all that long. A whine built in her throat, her horn glowing furiously.
“Mybad! Mybad!” That voice from the blinding flashes earlier cried out as a light purple blur flew by, raising a wall of ice between us and the falling airship. “Igotthis! Stay frosty!” The ice was clear enough to act as a window, so I was at least able to watch what happened while still forming new shields to catch stuff that started falling off the deck of the ship.
A glow soon surrounded the ship, and I could feel the weight on my shields, and thus the strain they were putting on me, rapidly reduced. As this was happening, I saw Cadance relax almost completely, and Rarity smiled as her eyes darted back and forth, as if following something even I couldn’t track. Huge pillars of ice erupted from the ground to brace against opposite sides of the ship, holding it securely in place.
Lowering my arms, the tension bled out of my limbs. “I think that takes care of that, ladies.” It was certainly a bombastic introduction. Something I don’t think David would have excelled at nearly as well. Giving a deep bow, I began to loosen my form. “I think that’s curtains for now. Dasvidaniya.”
“Princess Cadance!” A royal guard member ran towards us. “I’ve been looking all over for you. Come with me, I’ll get you to a safe room.” I smirked to myself, deciding to throw David a bone.
***
Coming back to myself, my legs were already moving. Clutching Delphi close, an open palm struck the guard in the breastplate. “You really need a new strategy.” I pulled my hand back, watching the disguise fall away.
“Pain...everything hurts...” A crack spread across her carapace as Chrysalis staggered from the blow. Two actual guards approached, but recoiled as she shot rays that left scorch marks on the flagstones of the plaza. A noise like the chirping of a million crickets sounded out as she took off into the air and flew away, leaving a trail of yellow-green drops.
“Didn’t think I hit her that hard,” I muttered, flexing my hand. “You doing okay, Delphi? I think I still have a headache.”
“Make the mare with a million equally-likely futures stay away from me, David. She scares me.”
I pat a hand on her head, rubbing it gently. “It’s alright, I’ll keep her away.” Letting her relax, I turned back to the group. “I’m David, by the way. Lt. Colonel David Kolya.” Gesturing slightly, I continued. “And this is Delphi.”
Rarity simply stared at me with her mouth hanging open as her head kept moving up and down. A high, strangled-sounding whine was the only sound that she seemed to be able to make, and her horn sparked ominously for a few seconds. Fluttershy moved to hug the white unicorn quickly, hiding me from her sight behind a wing. “You’ll have to excuse her. Your fusion had such an elegant dress that, um, well...”
“HOW DOES THAT CRIME AGAINST FASHION TURN INTO SOMETHING SO LOVELY?!”
Raising an eyebrow, I looked down at Cadance. “I take it you don’t have the punk look here, do you?”
“Ironically, Rarity herself started a look a bit like yours briefly. I found out later that it was-”
“Princess, don’t you dare...”
“Because she took the wrong remedy from a zebra, and went bald. It hasn’t really taken off since most ponies can’t pull off a mane with more than five colors.”
Nodding, my attention went back to Rarity. “I’m sorry I don’t match your expectations. This is what I’m comfortable with, so I’d appreciate it if you kept your comments to yourself.”
“Ahem, yes, well, I’ll do my best, darling, but you are simply not what your other form led me to believe. Err, your fused form?” She paused and looked at Cadance. “Is..is it rude that I still don’t know the right term despite knowing Twilight for so long now? Most gems won’t even talk to me because of my cutie mark.”
“Fusion,” I responded. “Tanzanite is my fusion with Delphi. She’s more or less a separate person from us.”
“Hello down there.” Delphi waved down at Rarity from my arms. “Before you ask, David is newly-emerged and has existed for less than a week, that is one reason you haven’t heard of him before. The other reason is that David is the long-missing fourth diamond, but he wants us to work with the other people of the world rather than subjugate them.”
Rarity and Fluttershy both seemed to freeze up at this news while Cadance simply nodded and looked down. “That would be why I have this nagging urge to listen to you the same way I do to Celestia, Luna, and Rose. It’s a good thing I know how to ignore that urge when I need to.”
“I’m glad you did,” I said, setting Delphi down. “It’ll make it easier to smooth things out.” Sliding my hands into my jacket, I watched the quartzes mop up the few remaining stragglers. “I might need a nap before we do any talking.”
Delphi looked up at Rarity and took a few steps closer. “Just for the record, I would love to have you design some clothes for me. I have displayed the same configuration for centuries now, and I don’t have much artistic talent myself. You wouldn’t even have to make it as long as I can memorize the template.”
“...I must say, Lady Delphi, your insight into the future is both enticing and disconcerting,” Rarity said, her face unable to decide upon an emotion. “I have a few ideas I can sketch out for you after we’re done with all this unpleasantness.”
“Yes, this has been quite unpleasant, even if it has been nice to fuse and go for a good, long flight.” A tall, light-purple mare descended and dropped the black-armor-clad form of an unconscious pegasus on the ground. She ran one hand through her tousled, dark-shaded rainbow-colored mane and looked up at me. “Hello, I’m Rainlight. The battle’s waning, and the invading forces of the Storm King are on the run. Am I going to have to freeze you in a block of ice to stop your gems from turning on us afterwards, or are you on our side already?”