//------------------------------// // Starboard Scattershots // Story: Chrome Hearts // by Vis-a-Viscera //------------------------------// “Really, Sunset,” Chrysalis said as she leaned in her restraints. “I think you’ll like the tale of how I got the Co-Director in my hooves. Especially considering how fervently you fight for them.” Inspector Sunset could only watch as Chrysalis rolled the projection. Six Hours Ago Now, the sickly green of Chrysalis’s true eyes illuminated the darkened corridors she was racing through. Angrily tapping at a spot at the base of her horn, she was not rewarded with a change to her outside look. “Fine, I'll just have to leave with the last patrol.” Chrysalis’s voice reflected the damage she’d suffered, flickering as dangerously as the light in her eyes. “Damn you Shining! Slamming that EMP on me with Cadance, after I did with you! Have you no shame?!”  Bursting through another bronzed double-door, she found that the entrance let into a craggy rock. She’d reached the caves at last, and the strobe lights ringing its ceiling in expanding circles let her shut off her energy-consuming night vision at last. Several further pacings later and she’d reached its center chamber, the end of the chamber left with several metal egg shells. Two of them were burst open, leaking their green fluid into the dirt-pitted floor.  However it was the three similar cyberlings at the center that got her attention. “Are the last of the hostages with us?” The tallest of the drones in front of Chrysalis - with long sweeping antler horns and a sea-green in his eyes - stepped back. Behind him, the crumpled form of a dark-blue unicorn stallion was being loaded into another egg. “Night Light is subdued.” the drone replied. “And I assume this is to keep Twilight from coming after us.” “She will do so regardless, Thorax,” Chrysalis said. “Unless she has a reason to do otherwise, which I'll provide. Operation Seven-Fathom Sweep will go as planned. I will stay on to keep them from following. Stand down from your self-destructs only when I am among you again.” “Yes, But if not to deter the Ambassador's chase, what is he needed for?” Thorax pointed out. “The others were sufficiently guilty in their actions. The one called Night Light is only an accountant.” Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed as the last flap of metal closed over Night Light, shielding him from the holes her eyes were burning in him. Figuratively, anyways. "You’ll see for yourself through analysis of this town. Nopony here is ever ‘just only’ anything. See your calibrations do not overwrite that fact. Thorax’s pose stiffened. “Yes, my queen,” he said, bowing to her. “But the talk of calibrations has not been ignored. I have done my own once-overs of you, to see if I can help repair your damaged state. And I have found an anomaly.” “Continue.” Chrysalis said after a short spell. “And hope it is one I have not noticed already.” “Hope is a pony’s fallacy, Queen. You have said as much.” Thorax’s eyes shone bright as he looked over the path behind the cyberling. “89% of the power generators and magic-batteries within this 20 meter radius of the Castle’s center are still grounded, and several of her detector systems - as well as the transformer tech - is still rebooting.” “Correct.” “Yet this room’s light is still powered.” “Was it not when I got here?” Chrysalis said. “I had assumed it was from a backup generator.” “By your calculation, those take 17 minutes to charge up with magic.” “It is only eleven minutes since the first signs of the EMP.” Thorax’s head started scanning the reset of the room. “And it started lighting when you arrived. “There is a 99.7% chance it is being done manually. By a unicorn likely in this room.” “One apparently powerful enough to evade your scans, yet hasn’t struck yet.” Chrysalis’s eyes started narrowing. “And I’ve deduced who that pony is. Sonar-proof your planting, everydrone.” The hum of several glowing blue shields for the three drones let Chrysalis know it was time to act. She craned back her head to let out a powerful screech. Then yelped as a midnight-blue hoof closed over it.  “Hold, cyberling queen. There is no need to raise your voice.” The rest of the invisible screening faded away in a flash of indigo, revealing Co-Director Luna herself. Even in the strong ceiling lights, her body swallowed up enough of it to stand out prominently. The overcoat and spiked robe she wore let her cut an even more impressive figure. “And I mean you no harm.” “That makes one of us,” Chrysalis said. Her sparking horn, however, did not intensify its glow. “Now state your business.” Luna courteously nodded. “What it has always been, Chrysalis.” she stated, her voice warm and level. “The welfare of those under my care. Especially the one in that egg of yours over there.”  “What does the Co-Director care for him? Have you found comfort in his bed, like Fleur?”  “No.” Luna flatly shot back. “But his concussion means that he may not awaken from any sleep he undergoes. I have kept it at bay, but I think there may be others in your… new hideaway that may have injuries.“ “And you’re preparing to fight me for them?” Chrysalis cackled. “How gutless.” “Because thou think this to be my suicide mission, yes?” Luna’s eyes narrowed. “Well it is not because I am not fighting you. That these caves are too unstable to support such a fight is but the second biggest reason for it.” “And what is the first?” Luna took a deep breath. “I… have done so much to so many ponies here, even before we knew of those like you. I have locked horns with my sister. With my fellow ponies. I have fashioned wards against them, used even now. I fear even now they’re about to succumb to the madness I did about those who do not think as I do.” A dry gulp accompanied the alicorn’s words. “But since I have returned from my exile, I have changed.” “In what way?” Thorax asked. Even Chrysalis turned to him in bewilderment. Luna’s eyes mournfully turned onto him, before continuing. “I have faced and repented for my abuses. At that same time, though, I have seen the potential for those abuses that thine own - including my sister’s soldiers, who would see you all scrapped like the other cyberlings just outside. And while I cannot stand it back while my fellow ponies are stolen away, I also do not wish to see your extinction from another’s excesses. Especially when I fear excess is what has caused you all to be.” Luna went eye-to-eye with Chrysalis again. “So I offer you a choice. Either you bring them to me - or you bring me to them, as another hostage.” “You’re…. offering yourself?” Thorax’s eyebrows rose. “Even after all we’ve done?” “Loss of life is no object on my end. And it will keep Night Light alive.” Luna pointed out. “I’m sure you can see how the equation works out for all of us, cyberling?” “This is a trick!” Chrysalis roared. “Why would you ever lower--why would you ever sully your hooves for our sake?” “To ensure the hostages’ safety - and my sister’s leniency.” A bang resounded from the door several meters behind them. “It will also be the only way you will leave here alive. I… can only assume your preferences are not like the propaganda Blueblood has fashioned about you.” Chrysalis’s jaw worked furiously, eyes zigzagging between the Co-Director and the increasingly bowing door. “I want this in writing. They don’t kill me, I don’t kill you.”  “I assure you. I will not resist.” Luna said, summoning three straps of leather in front her. “You can even say you bested me, to keep Shining from throwing about spells.” The second her horn’s glow faded, the three strips of fabric wound over her eyes and a pair of her limbs each. “Believe in my honesty, or Shining’s mercy. Reality will soon make the choice if you will not.”  Chrysalis stared caringly toward her kin, the egg containing Night Light balanced between their backs, waiting on her word. Matronly care and malicious spite battled in her mind, a thousand synapse and logic patterns crisscrossing. Finally, she made her decision.  “Leave us.” To the departing Luna, Chrysalis’s last words were icy as the grave. “And I hope whoever they assign to probe me is as observant as you. Ten hours, co-director. Tick. Tock.” Sunset’s teeth ground together. So much had revealed itself before her. The castle was right over those crystal caves; perfect for hiding captives. And the first place the Canterlot forces looked for the hostages, only to find Chrysalis. Well, her and a missive from Luna confirming there were seven other vanished ponies like her that could die if Chrysalis did. “So that’s what this is all about? The town wronging you? This Great Innovation? Because I never thought a machine would be so opposed to mechanical advancement.” The second those words left her lips, Sunset’s stomach rolled - she had her own deep-seated issues with this Innovation, too.  “Ye I have been defamed, exiled and hunted by this shining city in a hill nonetheless.” Chrysalis snorted. “And there were many hooves involved in the making of those mistakes.”  Was that disappointment lacing Chrysalis's voice? Over what? Sunset thought. And what is this about ‘mistake- Then Sunset’s Friendship Express of Thought suddenly returned to that to that poster at the right of this interrogation room. The new reminder of 'Savager' Sunset. Canterlot Shut Down One Mistake. Join the Guard / And Stop The Rest was splashed across the top of it.  “I’d find it hard for them to ignore you now.” Sunset got out through a gate of gritted teeth. “Giving Canterlot back their lost ponies would show you’re not what the posters say you are.”  You or Chrysalis? Her inner pony asked. Chrysalis snorted again. Flecks of coolant fizzled away on the glass. “They only learn through pain, not placation.”  “And your kind will only survive though friendly acts, not suicide pacts.” “But since you want to have an asking price I’ll oblige you.” Chrysalis leaned back in her seat “I want a facility dedicated to making more of us - on purpose, this time. Then I want it to bring me new drones for my hive- ten for every one of my children they’re desecrated by lining their filthy streets with the insides of. Like they lined their pockets off of trashing my kind.” Again, Sunset’s brain brought back that sight outside. But then she remembered that not all the damage was done to the cyberlings, and her jaw worked furiously. “And then, since ponies kinda need their failures rubbed in their face to do anything about solving them, I want my face -and title- given the full VIP treatment they deserve. Plaster my face on everything. Drink cups. Knives. Chariots - not Celestia’s, that one smells of syrup - I want to be able to traipse down these streets and see the posters for Queen of Cyberlings: The Movie. A New Breed of Hero - look, I’m even doing promos for you, Inspector!” Sunset glowered, but she stored all this in her memories. She’d had her eureka moment - actual demands. Enough to at least take to the Princess. Of course, the ad-libs wouldn’t be included. “And I want Co-Director Celestia to agree to them. In word and writing. Right after her apology to me.”  Sunset’s neck stiffened. “For. What.” Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed, a mocking mirror of Sunset’s own. “For your dear Co-Director’s ignorance and her unfitness. For her pathological habit of building up others in her image, then destroying them in her name.” Green eyes blinkered tellingly in Sunset’s direction. “For refusing to denounce the evils of truth and love - in fact, to claim them for her fellow alicorns! Right before siccing her past victims on her current ones in Sundowner security-laden rooms!” Sunset could have laughed. Victims. Indeed. Eight million bits in damages, the near-ruination of a royal wedding, and Chrysalis still thought of herself as a victim. Wait. Sundowner security? “But in closing, because Celestia’s the biggest bully I’ve ever seen walking.” Chrysalis’s eyes flared maliciously. “And I will have her agree to this before I tell her a single thing, and she will li-” Sunset’s eyes shot up in horrified realization, but not from Chrysalis's threat. It was from a previous slip of Chrysalis's literally silver tongue. “What exactly are the Sundowner security systems?”  Chrysalis’s smirk should have told Sunset the reason for her discontent before. But all she could focus on were her words. “Oh, you don’t know? In addition to charms keeping me from transforming, commanding machinery, or relieving myself without an observer, they made other wards.” Her eyes crept to the door behind Sunset. “Like the ones in this room.”  Sunset’s eyes shot over to the door, the red in her cheeks as vivid as the focus on the anti-succubus charms lining the inside of the doorframe. No wonder she hadn’t noticed it when she was entering! The royals probably placed them there so she’d think it was innocuous!  However, Sunset’s composure saved her, and so did her remembrance of a way to save face. “You… know what, Chrysalis. I will get you that serotonin right now.” Standing up from her seat, Sunset stiffly nodded. “You’ve been quite illuminating.”  Sunset’s horn glowed bright purple, then stopped. Realizing that Twilight was sending up her calling card, her grin turned rictal. It actually made Chrysalis’s smile vanish for a second.  Twilight’s here, thought Sunset. Time for some more fact-finding. Chrysalis was of a different mindset as Sunset stepped out from the room, as the whirring tumblers and sudden frosting of the magic glass soon shrouded the pony visually and audibly. My my my, her mind typed out. It seems dear Sunset’s found her own rabbit hole to go down. Mulling over her next avenue of attack, Chrysalis awaited her life-sustenance- and the possible self-destruction of Sunset’s faith in Equestria-One. Well, it only took a push to get her going. Just like gravity.  Metallic mandibles clicked licentiously at the thought of Sunset possibly joining her crusade against Canterlot City.  And much like my hive… there’s always room for one more. Sunset almost ran through Twilight as they met on the balcony overlooking Canterlot again. The sun hung low in the skyline behind them, but the dark clouds hadn’t captured it yet. “Please tell me you found Da -the hostages, tell me you found the hostages!” Twilight begged. “Forget the hostages, Ambassador. explain the hex.” Twilight paled. “...oh Faust, tell me somepony didn’t.”  Sunset, seeing the genuine alarm blaring behind Twilight’s eyes ,relaxed a fraction. She wasn’t the one who’d done that. Still, her heart longed to vent after so long being prodded by Chrysalis. “They know I’m not a succubus anymore, right?! Who’d do this, just to unnerve me?” ““I swear Sunset, that scare tactic was supposed to be over and through! Shining even backed me up - made a decree that any Guard that did that’d be canned!” “Well, we’re short one factory then, because apparently that stupid charm is still there!” Sunset yelled.  Twilight shook her head, purple and pink waves of hair flying around her. “I don’t know! They know you’d come out about this, they know we’d probably speak, the only thing this would do was throw you off the case! The only pony who wouldn’t would be-!” Then Twilight's eyes widened, apparently coming to a critical conclusion all her lonesome. “Oh, no. Hide!”  Before Sunset could ask why, Twilight’s horn lit up, Sunset turning translucent just as the door leading to the balcony swung open. And out strutted Prince Blueblood, his steely blue eyes ricocheted around every nook and cranny. Behind him were two Royal Guards, the glint from their silver armor turned golden by the sun.  “Good afternoon, Ambassador.” His tone was clipped, almost too deep from the exhaustion lacing it. “I trust everypony is where they need to be?” “Making the last rounds myself, Prince.”  “Oh no need for that, Miss Sparkle. Call me Blue!” Yet Twilight’s pose didn’t get any less rigid. Neither did Sunset’s invisible as she was. The oiliness in Blueblood’s tone now could power the city for a year. “Goodness, Canterlot cries for our help! I mean, you’ve heard about Aunt Celestia’s current mood, yes?”  “Yes.” Twilight slowly admitted. “She’s concerned about his sister. As am I.” Twilight swallowed back a breath that Sunset swore had a curse lying behind it. “And you know she wouldn’t want you doing what you ‘hate to’ in order to save her.” “My dear, at this rate, I’m afraid I’ll be avenging her soon.” Blueblood tapped at his bottom lip thoughtfully. “But I must admit - I thought you’d be in my camp over this. After all, Chrysalis, beyond Cadance, did the most damage to you. Turning your brother on you for a spell, distancing you from your friends - how is Dash by the way?”  “In Cloudsdale Citadel. Helping the ‘Bolts, in case there’s a drone there looking to play copycat.”  “And I know of Fluttershy joining Applejack in securing your adopted town. That is quite quaint of her! Quick thinking too.” Blueblood’s eyes misted over a second before he went on. “How about that wonderfully… jest-happy Pinkie?” “Cupcake basket she shipped today was baked to perfection. Strawberry for tonight. She said I’d need the energy.“ Thankfully, Twilight couldn’t see Sunset mouth out to not smack Blueblood off this sky-ledge? “I see. Well then…” Blueblood’s brow creased. “My best wishes to them all. I only regret I wasn't there to tell them the good news. But I assume you can get it to them?” “What is it?” “Well, I assume Sunset’s still in that blasted room trying to squeeze blood from a stone.” The word Sunset passed his lips with venom. “But she need not trouble us-nay, herself, with her issues. Because Celestia just told me; unless we’ve a location on those ponies within the hour, she’s letting me lockdown the critical parts of town.“  “W-what? We had six hours!” Twilight bellowed. She had to struggle to keep the soft light of her horn low - both to keep from overexerting and revealing Sunset, and to keep from accidentally frying her own mane. “No, my poor dear; Shining gave you six hours.” Blueblood corrected. “Cadance needs him in for Director patrol now - it seems his stand-in got the day off to pursue some personal issues. Surely you wouldn’t begrudge a stallion seeking some comfort in these troubling times, right?” “You gave Spearhead’s Rarity’s address, didn’t you?” Twilight’s voice was low now. “You knew he’s smitten over Rarity!” “Now now, Twilight - no need to have Canterlot City seeing their leaders argue.“ Blueblood held up a forehoof. “Especially since insubordination during a city alert comes with loss of titles.” “Really, Blueblood? You’re quoting books to me?” Twilight retorted. Sunset actually smiled at the way Blueblood’s cheeks lit up. “Besides, there’s no way my brother would leave you in charge. He wants Chrysalis more than you do-and to save lives, too.” “Again with this thought of such a brute as Chrysalis keeping to her word! Goodness, it’s like I’m talking to a wall! Or a buffalo, really.” Ignoring the drop of Twilight’s jaw, Blueblood continued. “She’s a scrapheap being coddled by a Savager. And in an hour, that charge will come to a merciful end.“ “Along with everypony from the steam cannons you’ve been ‘gifting’ to the Royal Guards.”  “‘Tis how a war is won, Ambassador Sparkle.” And with sweep of his cape, Blueblood turned to trot out, the two Royal Guards following him. “Do finish your rounds, I’d hate for you to be in the way when the real sunset wraps up.” Twilight waited until she heard the door snap shut before finally releasing Sunset from her invisibility cloak.  Sunset’s lip curled as she imitated the general’s inflections. “‘Oh, I’m afraid I’ll be avenging her soon’. A real pony could’ve said that without salivating.”  Twilight didn’t refute Sunset’s snipe at the stallion. “No wonder Whoa Nelly didn’t want to work with him. Actually didn’t know what she meant before about that ‘difference between having a large butt and being one.’” Her teeth bared. “Now I do.” “I’ll be sure to tell Nelly when I find her.” Sunset began. “Besides, you’ve got your own stuff to worry about. What about Spearhead and Rarity?” “Oh don’t worry: Rarity’s fine.” Twilight giggled. “She actually likes Spearhead, too. But no way is Blueblood letting him have this chance to connect from the goodness in his heart.” “Starting to seem few ponies here are retaining that, actually.” Sunset shivered, despite the scorching rays of the sun. “Then get to Celestia and at least let her know of these.” Sunset shuffled the notepad pages full of Chrysalis’s demands into her hand. “At least we can get a negotiator in, push the clock on that state of emergency.” “I’ll bet my tiara Blueblood has her in protective custody. ‘Important not to disturb a Co-Director in times of grief’ or something as equally foalish.” Her head shook. “I nearly lost a brother and sister-in-law to Chrysalis, I’m not losing Dad because of…” Then Twilight choked up. “By Faust, that zealous idiot’s gonna raze a town because Rarity dressed him down at a gala?!”  “Not if I can help it.” Sunset said. “You have a cup of serotonin?”  “Huh?”  “Chrysalis.”  “Ah.” Twilight’s horn flickered as she concentrated. Soon, a pulsing stream of blue seeped from her horn and into a summoned glass. “There you go. Tell Chrysalis it’s her last gift until we have a location. And to make sure we get an answer before it….” Twilight chewed her lips. “One of the few things I can do as an ambassador, but consider Order Hostel active.” Sunset nearly fainted. “Order Hostel?” There was a reference to it in Twilight’s letter - bordered with red blocky words like extreme emergency and potentially irreversible damage. “You mean you’re letting me use f-” “Within. Reason.” Twilight said. “But yes, you can take one of Chrysalis's memory chips. I hope you know which one you’ll need, Sunset. Consider it your last option. But I need. Your. Word.” Sunset swallowed back a way of saliva. “I… might. But I’ll need more time.” “Thank you.” Twilight’s grateful nod, despite how much it calmed Sunset’s mind, didn’t do the same for her heart. They were losing ground, time and allies, fast. “I’ll be back home after I drop off the cyberling queen’s demands. Gotta see if the jars got anything.”  Sunset sighed heavily. “Again with the jars? What’s this really about, Twilight?”  Twilight looked away as they made their way back down the hall. The second they were before the door again, Twilight whispered out her reasoning. “Long story short, Shining and I have a theory for where the hostages are.” “How so…?” asked the curious inspector. Twilight moved forward and whispered into Sunset’s ear. Slowly, Sunset’s lips curled in a rictus grin. “Wasn’t kidding about the ‘balance’ spiel earlier. And if where the ponies are being hidden are where I think, those jars will show it soon.”   Sunset whistled at Twilight's ingenuity. “Hope it works out for you then, Twi.”  “Same.” Twilight gulped before finally setting a small black device into Sunset’s belt. It looked almost like a tuning fork, but with its prongs split again at their tips. Those tips pulsed with a blood-red light. “Remember, Inspector. Don’t count on my success. Count on yours, Sunset.” Wistfully sighing, Twilight turned and left. Sunset looked blankly at the device, then the blue-glowing cup in her grasp, then the gold of the door. Slowly, she wondered what the state of her heart would be after today.