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// 17: Experiments 
// Story: The Night's Shining Armour 
// by Appleody 
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Chapter 17

“This is going to suck,” I couldn’t help grumbling out while plodding to my dreaded destination. Who would want to be poked and prodded? It’s against the natural order of things.

“I hear you,” came the glum agreement from the bug hovering slightly in front of me. She was currently floating against her will, surrounded by a blue aura of magic presumably to prevent her escape. Her holed legs kind off just hung below her, while her wings periodically buzzed pointlessly. Pretty sure she has the magic to escape that if she tried.

A few hoofsteps behind, Loony was just casually smiling at the defeated bug’s plight. Really wish these two would get along.

As we progressed further down the corridor, we started to pass various staff members and I’m pleased to say, only a few had the standard negative reaction. That being servants changing directions and guards becoming, well more guarded. Maybe after all this time ponies are starting to get used to me? They might even all be used to me and are just freaked out by the floating changeling.

Speaking of the changeling, she kind of appears a little more impassive about being carried by my friend, now that the regular ponies can see her. She even nodded to a few that held her gaze. “So, Skitter, are you enjoying your current method of travel?” Maybe a conversation would dull my growing concern for these tests.

For a moment, the floating bug appeared not to hear me, while she continued looking at the passing ponies. I was thinking about asking the question again, before she turned to me with a ghost of a smile, “not particularly, but I do have to represent changelings in a positive light. That means making some attempt to appear dignified.” She then turned to her captor and gave a quick wink, “Equestria is treating me to the height of luxury, as well; having one of their Princesses carry me where ever I need to go. Equestria sure is progressive.” At least she has a sense of humour.

However, the joke was not appreciated by the moon pony, who matched the smile but also narrowed her eyes, “'Tis our pleasure to ferry thou to thy destination, as it allows us to ensure thine arrival occurs in good time.” 

Skitter just looked down slightly at that before returning to her smile and wave routine.

A short while later on our journey, a couple of ponies Skitter was very familiar walked past, not really minding their own business. “I told everyone there was giant bugs about, and did anypony believe me? Noooo.” Duster loudly proclaimed to her friend.

The other maid, Bucket, I think, replied in a quieter tone that was much more difficult to hear, “You sure did. Maybe you can convince Swift to tell you about her so-called secret mission.” These ponies are pretty nosy. Suppose it’s only natural to wonder where the weird creature came from.

“Every time I’ve asked her, she just changes the subject to something boring. It’s so annoying,” the earth pony continued complaining. 

“Some ponies actually take their duties to the Princesses seriously,” the pegasus responded with a shrug of her wings.

“Hey! I’m a really hard worker,” were the final words I could make out, before the two were too far down the corridor behind us. 

Skitter's reaction to the pair passing by was pretty interesting. She quickly covered her face with her hooves and tried to point her head away as best she could. Seeing as her disguise is modelled after her actual self, she’s probably worried her friends might recognise her. Maybe one day she’ll actually tell them who she is? Would that cause the ponies to reject her? I really hope not.

Eventually, the three of us made it to a part of the castle I had yet to visit. Really need to explore this place some more. Within this new corridor, there was just one room with a door that looked like any other from the outside.

“Here we are,” Luna proclaimed suddenly, “Eclipse will thou do the honours? We are currently laden.” As if to emphasize the point, the buggy cargo was bobbed up and down a couple of times. I’m fairly certain Loony can levitate multiple things at the same time.

The bug in question finally decided to show a little indignation and flayed her legs around a little, “I could have walked you know.”

In response Loony leaned in close to the changeling, “Thou may hast attempted to abandon our joint venture.” She then tilted her head in my direction, “We believe that would have immensely disappointed our precious advisor.”

I’m fairly certain she’s just trying to irritate Skitter as much as ponily possible. Nevertheless, I’m actually pretty happy the love bug came, even if it was against her will. The more friend back up, the better.

My only outward response was a light sigh before moving to open the mundane door. Wonder if this is just a more extensive library?

After swinging the door open with my mist, I was greeted with an unexpected sight. An unnaturally advanced lab with various machines, each individually buzzing and whirring away. Wow! Why do the ponies have such simple homes if they’re this advanced? Maybe they just like the simple life. On instinct, I let out a whistle of appreciation. Not knowing I could do that, I said, “Well this seems interesting.” I've got to show them how cool their tech is to me, somehow.

Once I’d taken a few steps inside, the unmistakable sound of four hooves simultaneously hitting the ground occurred to my left. From the way my newly freed ally looked around the room and focused upon some pointy needles, it was pretty clear what she thought, “This isn’t some form of pony torture chamber, by chance?” She said with the slightest bit of forced mirth. Suppose it’s best to pretend you aren’t scared.

Luna responded from my right with a slight laugh, “Alas, nay, We wish that our sister would allow for such a room, but apparently 'tis too barbaric.” She emphasized the final words using her hooves for air quotes. Those kinds of complaints sometimes make me worry about her.

With Luna’s apparently reassuring words, the bug took one final look at the door, which Luna happened to be slowly closing behind us, before deciding to just bear with the situation and sit at one of the tables positioned within the room’s centre. The blue pony gave me a sly wink before walking over to take a seat near the changeling. 

I just decided to avoid whatever Luna was going to do to further annoy the bug and wandered over to have a look at some of the fancy lab equipment. Among the equipment was a large assortment of various bottles with interesting labels like Sodium Hydroxide and Peroxide. Really hope Twilight isn’t going to use any of these chemicals on me.

After poking a few more bottles, something occurred to me. “Erm, wasn’t Twilight supposed to be here already?” I asked the rooms occupants, who both quickly looked at each other. Seeing their confused looks gave me an idea, “If she’s not ready, maybe we can go and do something else?” Maybe we can escape and it’ll be everybody’s fault no experiments were done.

Seeing her own get out of jail free card, Skitter decided to assist me, “It does seem like she has a lot of work on her plate. Maybe she forgot about us?” There is no way she would forget, but here’s hoping.

It was pretty clear from Luna’s expression that she didn’t believe either of our suggestions, “This does not make any sense. From our experience, the Element of Magic is always punctual to events such as this.”

At the conclusion of Luna’s words, a loud crash was heard from a storage chamber at the back of the room. “Ah, We believe We know where she has gone,” Luna spoke gleefully. Hopefully that was just a large mouse. From the wilting ears of my fellow test subject, the outcome was not looking good.

Upon opening the door, we could all clearly see a fairly interesting sight. A purple unicorn was franticly trying to pick up a large quantity of broken glass with her magic. From the way she was sticking out her tongue and staring intently, it probably took a large amount of concentration. Concentration which immediately broke when the door fully opened and banged into the wall.

“Oh, Princess! You're early,” Twilight exclaimed, while dropping the glass to floor, immediately forgotten. “I was just trying to ensure everything was perfect for your arrival.” It was then that she looked back at her large mess, quickly thought through her options and apparently decided the best thing to do was leave the store room and close the door. 

Luna just seemed happy to see the unicorn was present and casually replied, “Everything does appear to be in order.” Well, if we can’t see it, the mess doesn’t exist.

The purple pony seemed to take Loony’s words as a complement, and decided to show off a clipboard with numerous ticked off points. “I was just trying to triple check everything, just in case.” Really wish she’d gotten distracted for another ten minutes, I’d have been so out of here.

“Thy thoroughness and attention to detail are very impressive. We are certain that our friend is in perfectly safe hooves.” She said that last part while looking directly at me. I get the message, you think Twi won’t melt me with acid. There is no need to spell it out.

Not noticing Luna’s apparently subtle message, Twilight appeared to blush slightly before quickly pulling out a second clipboard from one of the shelves. How many of them does she have? She then went on to say, “Since my prep sheet has already been filled in twice, I guess it’s time to move on to the experiment checklist.” 

With that, she began to read through her new checklist. Luna and I exchanged a look, before deciding to take a seat to better view the studious unicorn's eyes as they raced back and forth across the page.

Once an apparently acceptable amount of the checklist had been read through, Twilight nodded to herself before wandering up to a chalk board positioned in front of our tables. She cleared her throat, “Before we begin testing, I shall be informing you all of the reasons for these tests.” She then turned around and grabbed a piece of chalk. Is this like a presentation to a school class or something? Suppose we are hoping to learn stuff, but this feels a little condescending.

Before Celestia’s faithful student-turned-teacher continued, Luna leaned over to me, “Eclipse, isn’t this exciting?” She must have loved school, I really thought Celestia was the academic one. It might be that she’s only interested in the subject matter, who could tell?

In response to her question, the politest thing I could think to say that wasn’t a lie, was “Maybe.” Internally, I was wishing we’d gone back for a second dinner.

Luna just cocked her head at that, but luckily before she could question my meaning, Twilight continued her presentation, “Okay, so today we will be conducting tests for the following reasons.” She began pointing her chalk at the words she’d written, “To find out what the armour’s made of, understand how it works, if it can be replicated, how to defeat it’s threatening abilities and what possible applications it could be useful.” She then turned to us and gestured to our group with the chalk, “Any questions?”

I have one burning question, “So did Celestia ask you to test for all those options?” Really couldn’t help looking at the last three. It would suck if Celestia planned to make more of me to use as tools for her guards, and does she really want to find my weaknesses?

Our teacher just blinked at me for a moment and held the chalk to her chin before slowly saying, “Not in so many words.” She then began looking at her checklist. Well, that’s a terrible answer. I suppose it’s every presenter’s nightmare to have someone ask a question at this point.

My blue furred friend decided to clarify Twilight's words with a warm smile and a wing over my back, “All our sister said was to see what she could find out about our newest friend.” Well, that’s a relief. If I could smile back at her, I would. Not having a face sucks.

A gasp suddenly left the purple unicorn, distracting me from my friend, “I almost forgot.” At that a sheet of paper shot out from her clipboard and floated within hoofs reach of Loony.

Seeing this as a prompt, Luna grabbed the sheet in her hooves before appearing puzzled, “Pray tell, what is this?”

After Luna began reading the paperwork, Twilight let out a breath, before explaining, “Celestia said I needed ensure I had your consent for my experiments. So, I’ve wrote out a contract for you to sign.” Well, this doesn’t seem fair.

Luna seemed to agree with my sentiment as her warm smile she’d been wearing since Twilight started to look strained, “We believe thou meant for Eclipse's consent.” She then purposefully hoofed me the document.

“Thanks Loony,” was all I could think to say before taking the paper in my mist and beginning to read. Really glad someone thinks I matter. 

So, let’s see ‘permission to carry out all required forms of NDT’, that seems fine non-destructive testing never hurt anyone. ‘Permission to take minor samples’ doesn’t bode too well, it wouldn’t be great if a piece of me went missing. Oh dear, this last one is just her get out of jail free card. ‘Twilight Sparkle is not liable in the case of any permanent damage or impairment of the armour’.

“Erm, Twilight, I have concerns about the 107th point,” I began while placing the contract on the table. From her immediate reaction, it was obvious she knew what I was going to say, “Could the tests really damage me in such a way?”

The pony in question stared in my direction for a moment, clearly thinking of a response, “That’s just in there as a technicality. My tests should be perfectly safe.” 

Skitter finally decided to say something about this awful contract, “Huh, emphasis on the should.” Ha! this is why you kidnap your friends!

Seeing the potential for no signature, the purple unicorn looked to Luna with the special pony puppy dog eyes, “Princess, you’re okay with my testing methods, aren’t you?” Hey! I’m the one signing this. Besides, Luna should be immune to your charms, she’s one of you.

At that we all turned to look at Luna. Seeing as she’s a princess, she was perfectly fine with suddenly becoming the centre of attention, quickly deciding to allay everyone’s concerns, “Now, now, young Twilight is our sister’s resident expert on both magic and friendship. She would never do anything that would lead to the harm of another being.” So, turning traitor I see. Her traitorous, disarming face kind of just bore into me. 

Well, both my friends will look after me so, “Okay, if Luna wants me, to sign the papers, I will.” With my proclamation, Twilight began taking notes on her clipboard while I had a new problem, “erm, Twilight, can I have a pen?” 

The pony in question blatantly ignored me while using a feather to write her notes and muttering, “Follows owners orders.” Dammit Twilight.

“Art thou searching for a writing implement?” Luna asked with an inquisitive look upon her face.

“Yeah,” I responded promptly. Maybe there’s some in one of the drawers?

Luckily, it seemed that Luna had my back, as after a moment of thought she lit up, “Oh, We shall provide thee with a quill. One moment.” Huh, its handy that she carries a pen. Where would she keep that? 

In answer to my question, my blue furred friend ignited her horn, while simultaneously extending one of her wings. After a moment, she made a slight grunt of pain and an individual dark blue feather appeared in front of her. Are those supposed to come out? Seems Skitter was wincing at the action. Loony probably knows what she’s doing, so I’d best not interfere. She appeared to concentrate on her removed part for a moment and a slight flash occurred, likely meaning a spell was cast, before the feather floated in front of my faceplate.

“Here thou art,” my friend stated, breaking me out of my stupor long enough to grab her severed appendage in my mist. 

I couldn’t help giving the feather a cursory examination, half expecting some blood to be leaking out of it. Do feathers have blood inside? How do birds, I mean ponies work?

Somehow, my puzzlement must have come through to my friend, as she decided to clear the air, “We have enchanted this quill for thy purposes.”

Does that mean this produces its own ink? Eager to try out the new toy, despite its horrific origin, I applied it to the page and, to my delight, ink began to flow. Well, nothing more to do now than sign the name Loony gave me. That’s a nice thought. 

Once my first ever effort in penmanship with mist had been successful, I looked back to my friend who appeared to be licking the spot she’d damaged. Using my mist, I levitated over the feather. Hopefully she can just put this back.

When my slightly inconvenienced friend noticed me looking, she immediately folded her wing away and looked slightly embarrassed. That entertaining face however didn’t remain long when she saw me trying to return her lost part. 

At her apparent newfound sadness, my mist quickly pulled the feather back to me and I looked to the room for advice. 

Twilight still appeared to be taking notes, “Doesn’t understand pony concepts of gift giving and ownership.” Hey, I know how to give gifts. Ask Celestia about that cake. They also pay me real money, I think. Never actually spent any now that I think about it. 

Seeing as she was no help, I turned to the hopefully much more reliable source of Skitter. She appeared very interested in my awkward social interaction, having both her ears fully pricked in my direction. Once she had my attention, the ‘ling tried to whisper aid, “Eclipse that’s supposed to go behind your ear.”

With that I inspected the feather again. Why would a feather go behind the ear? And come to think of it, that’s a bit of a problem. “Erm, I don’t have any ears.” 

My buggy friend just rolled her slitted eyes at that and pushed the feather to the side of my helmet with a hoof, “Then make a way to hold it.” With my mist? Okay, I get it, it’s obvious what she wants to do. Quickly a discreet slot appeared on the side of my helmet allowing me to slot the feather without a risk of it falling out. If Loony wants me to wear it, then I will. 

Well, best acknowledge the gift I have no concept that I now own, “Cheers Loony.”

Upon seeing my new adornment, my friend rewarded me with a friendly nuzzle, before, for the first time ever, giving a genuine smile and a nod to the bug in the room. Seems our whispering wasn’t very private. It was pretty blatant really; Loony is sat next to me. Skitter just happily returned the nod and both beings returned their attention to the room’s smallest occupant.

Luna then cleared her throat to get the annoyance's attention, “Twilight, it does appear that our resident armour is prepared to receive thy tests.” Oh Luna, did you have to reawaken the beast. I’d almost forgotten what the feather was used to sign.

The pony in question finally stopped taking notes on my social faux pas and eagerly levitated the contract to herself. After reviewing my signature with a critical eye, she checked a box on her checklist, “That should keep the Princess happy.” She then moved to sit directly opposite me with a bright smile, “Let’s start out with the most straight forward test. Simply questioning the subject. Okay, so, first question. Eclipse, what is it that you consume?”

Okay, this doesn't seem so bad, "Well, I like a lot of the foods I've tried around here, but my favourite is probably meat related food, like bacon. I’ve been pretty lucky that Luna has been willing to share with me.” Gotta mention your friend's contributions.

When I’d finished Twilight cast a questioning eye to Luna, which caused her to quite loudly respond, “We only consumed fake meat produced for foreign diplomats.” Well except for that one time in Griffonia.

“Okay. Back to your method of sustaining yourself. Do you depend on others to eat food?” Came the next question directed towards me. 

“Well, eating food is more kind of just for entertainment I suppose. Magic is what keeps me running and I don’t really need anyone else for that.” Thanks to my statue and poison Joke farm. After a moment’s thought I added, “In fact, I tend to give magic to my wearer when they need it.”

From my right, Skitter decided to ask a question of her own, “So are you willing to share food with any of your friends?”

She’s probably referring to herself there. Heh, why wouldn’t I be willing to share with her? Her emotion feeding actually gives me magic and, not to mention, tastes pretty good. “Yeah, of course, and yeah, you are included in that.” 

Twilight definitely isn’t though, as she began taking more notes. “Armour may have multiple users, answers questions when prompted to the best of its ability.” This is getting old real fast.

With just a slight bit of hesitation, the bug smiled and slightly opened her mouth, causing a thin pink mist to separate from my form. Huh, was not expecting that. After just a second, the flow stopped and Skitter smiled, “I’m glad to see you care.” Thought she said she wasn’t hungry at dinner?

Off to my left, Loony just looked between the two of us with minor concern, “We are not sure Eclipse meant for thou to eat a part of them.” 

Before the royal bug could start looking too guilty, I opened my metaphorical mouth, “It's fine, really, I didn’t actually feel anything.” Wonder if that’s what it’s like for everyone she takes love from? More importantly, does that mean I actually produce love? If so, I’m happy for any points towards being a real person.

My positive reaction seemed to lift the bug's spirits and she even casually put a hoof on my pauldron, “It would probably mean a lot to my people if you came back to our hive. Your presence might actually solve a lot of our food related problems.” Is she trying to convince me to move in? Her fellow changelings might actually eat me whole.

The Night did not seem to appreciate that idea and casually pushed Skitter’s hoof away with a wing before pulling my chair slightly closer, “We believe they are happy with their current living arrangement.” 

Luna seemed to bore her pretty light blue eyes into the changeling after that, causing the bug to turn away from me, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to overstep my bounds.”

To alleviate my furred friend’s possible worries, I said, “Doubt it would be possible for me to feed thousands of bugs I barely know anyway.” They might actually eat me in totality. Not to mention how their Queen wanted to use me as a weapon. No, going there isn’t the greatest idea.

Once a few more notes had been taken, a hmmm sound escaped the purple irritant, “That makes me curious of the armour's magical capacity.” She began tapping her quill on her face, “Maybe determining it’s composition will enlighten us.” The unicorn then looked to Skitter, “We could determine if it could feed your entire race or just one bug.” With new found excitement she jumped from her chair and rushed to a machine immediately starting to fiddle with its various dials, “Eclipse, could you come over here?”

Things are moving a little fast for me, weren’t we at the asking questions parts? I’ve only been asked one. With that thought, I left the safety of my friend sandwich and approached Twilights very nasty looking machine. Does it really need all those sharp needles and drill like parts?

“Just before we move away from the questions, I have one based on my earlier observations,” the purple pony said while fiddling with some sort of clamp.

“Well shoot,” I’m up for more questions if it means delaying that mechanical monstrosity.

“You seem very loyal to Princess Luna. Is that because she’s your designated master?” She asked without looking in my direction.

My only reaction was to shrug my misty wings, “Well she is the Princess of this nation and she gave me a job, so, technically?” This is playing off of the, ‘follows orders’ thing she wrote earlier, isn’t it? I’m not a robot Twilight.

After a moment, the nuisance finished fiddling with the machine and made one final note, “I thought that was true. Wonder how she was assigned?” Because she hired me. “Anyway, let’s move on to the material test. Eclipse, could you place your right fore shoe onto the circular platform?” She said that with a bright smile, clearly hiding her evil intent.

There was a small pedestal in the centre of the pony torture machine, surrounded by the pointy components. Oh joy, I can’t wait to see what’s about to happen. With the lack of complaints from my friends, I decided to follow Twilight’s instructions, carefully placing my shoe where she directed. “Like this?” The nervous tone my voice had taken couldn’t really be helped. Especially with that point just centimetres above my shoe.

My potential torturer inspected my shoe's position and nodded, before turning a crank that clamped it in place. She then began flicking some switches causing the machine to make a whirring sound.

“Erm, this isn’t going to hurt, is it?” I really want nothing more than to rip my shoe out of this thing. If it wasn’t clamped down my reflexes probably would have already removed it.

Seeing my apprehension, Luna again decided to try and placate my worries, “Thou must understand that our sister’s faithful student would never bring undue harm to anypony. Right Twilight?” She said that last part while gesturing to the fastidiously working pony.

The pony in question actually stopped her ministrations and thought for a moment, “To be honest, I don’t know. The armour could react in a number of ways from our sampling.” Oh, that last word doesn’t sound good. Is she going to cut bits of me off? A slight creaking sound started to come from the clamp as I began failing to move my shoe.

Before I could voice my not so new found concern, Loony changed her tune and calmly said, “Maybe a less intrusive form of testing would be pertinent?  Eclipse doesn’t appear comfortable with thy plans.”

I’m grateful she’s on my team, honest, but it would help if she spoke up thirty seconds earlier. She only really voiced her concerns right at the moment Twilights implement of torture descended. Said spike pressed firmly against my shoe before I felt a crack. 

Immediately, there was an incredible spike of pain not too dissimilar in quality to the time Celestia cut off a piece of my mist. It was just about five times as severe, so in other words it smarted quite a bit. The moment it occurred, I wanted nothing more than to throw this terrible machine at my tormentor and scream at the top of my not lungs. Luckily for her, the sensation only lasted for a split second, resulting in the much more controlled outward reaction of me merely saying, “Ow.”

When I looked back to my blue furred friend, she appeared to be trying to force a smile and spoke through gritted teeth, “See, that wasn’t so bad was it?”

“Well, I won’t be volunteering for that again,” was all I could think to say. When Luna’s ears began to wilt, I decided to try and cheer her up, “Suppose it was just like a bee sting for you.” From a very angry bee the size of your head. That at least improved her reaction to failing to stop my defacement. 

Off to the side of the machine, Twilight blissfully unaware of our conversation was reviewing whatever data was gathered from stabbing me. “Hmm, the material has quite a significant hardness. The only comparable metal appears to be adamantium, but it’s much lighter.” She spoke to no one in particular. 

After another button press from the pony, a light lit up on the machine and I felt the gentle presence of ambient magic flowing into me. Well, this tastes pretty bland. 

Whatever she was doing seemed to satisfy her as she turned off the machine before taking more notes mentioning, “The armour appears to absorb magic at an incredible rate. Even higher than any known equivalent magic storing materials. That probably makes sense due to the enchantability.” 

She then turned to the audience, putting her back to me. “Well, this material's discovery could be revolutionary. At first, I thought it was going to be an alloy of Runite and maybe titanium, but that material’s traits would likely never match up to this. It’s entirely likely that we are dealing with a completely undiscovered material.” 

Twilight then turned to her machine a little dejected and continued, “Way more extensive tests will be needed to try and replicate it, sadly we probably don’t have the equipment ready for that.” 

Thank goodness for that. I decided to ask, “Erm, Twilight, can my shoe be removed yet?” Hopefully the test is over now.

The moment I spoke, she spun around and just stared at me for a moment. It kinda felt like she’d forgotten my presence behind her. After she looked at my shoe on the machine she nonchalantly said, “Of course, I finished the last test a few minutes ago.” So, I’ve just been stood awkwardly like a lemon for no reason? Great. At least she had the decency to untighten the crank, thus allowing me to easily remove my shoe.

As soon as freedom was gained, I decided to review the damage, holding up my shoe. Through the centre, a very clear hole about the size of a bit had been punched. Wow that’s quite big, at least the metal looks like it’s healing. Black mist was coming from the edges around the hole and gradually replacing what was lost.

While being a relief for me at lacking permanent damage, it was another exciting discovery for the purple menace. “Luna, look at that! Its self-repairing. That’s impossible, unless…” With that she moved over and stared straight through the hole, probably watching the process. It was pretty disconcerting for me, watching her eye disappear through my shoe.

Once the hole had completely disappeared, she decided to announce her newest theory, “It might be composed entirely of magic. Imagine being able to construct incredibly durable tools, without having to mine for materials.” Well, this is concerning. I don’t really want to be made of something so sought after, people might try to kidnap me. Hopefully, no one finds out who shouldn’t.

Speaking of people who probably shouldn’t find out about this, Skitter had a question about the test, “So does that mean her hoof's going to be ok?” 

With that I held my shoe for her to more easily see. Before saying, “Good as new.” I think.

“Still looked like that hurt.”

After the changeling, who would never tell the other changelings about me spoke, Luna appeared to frown for some reason. Probably due to the fact they aren’t yet getting on. She then looked to me awkwardly before asking her own question, “Eclipse, We are curious about something if thou dost not mind us asking.” 

“Sure, now seems like the time to ask me questions,” I quickly responded. My friends can ask me anything. It hurts way less than stabbing me.

When I answered in the affirmative, Luna appeared to become a little embarrassed and her face started to redden. “We were just curious about what thou art in terms of, ahem, appropriate pronouns?” she finished with an awkward smile.

In response I just tilted my head. Appropriate pronouns? What’s that supposed to mean? Whatever it means, it appears to be an awkward subject for the pegacorn.

After a moment of becoming even redder at my confusion, she coughed into a hoof lightly and then found her words again, “Well thou must see that a being such as thou hast certain qualities that make ascertaining thy, erm, gender difficult.” Suppose my voice is pretty weird.

Before I could answer the given question, Twilight nonchalantly interrupted, “Well Princess, you can clearly see the armour lacks any sense of flesh and blood. Not only that but the armour was likely produced by some ancient expert artisan meaning it can’t reproduce on it’s own. This means that its clearly neither.” Does she have to butt in on this?

Seeing how the question was apparently directed to the floor, Skitter gave her two bits, “Surely she’s a she. Just look at that form, she’s clearly built for a mare.” At least she didn’t say it, like somebody.

At her words I began looking over myself. Hmmm, maybe modifying myself to fit Luna wasn’t the best idea. It might be best to take a closer look at a few stallions. Maybe Shining Armor would be up for it? But then I wouldn’t fit Loony properly and she does kinda like using me. 

With that I simply looked down before sighing, “Look, I don’t have any equipment down there, so just call me whatever you thinks best. As long as it isn’t 'it'. 'It' just feels degrading.” Sadly, if I tell people to call me, he, they’ll still probably get confused.

Luna just smiled at that before politely saying, “We believe that he would suit thou.” Heh, at least Loony gets me.

As soon as Luna finished, Skitter quickly blurted, “Seriously, they look nothing like a he. Besides would you really want your armour to be considered male?”

Before an argument could sprout between the two mares, our class room teacher/torturer intervened, “This seems like an irrelevant line of questioning. We already know the facts, so we should move on to something productive. I’m willing to take your contributions, hmm.”

After our teacher laid down the law, silence reigned long enough to allow a palpable tension that no one wanted to break to form. Seems no one really had anything else productive to add, or maybe the irritable Twilight even made one of Equestria’s rulers nervous. who could say? 

The tension was finally broken by the bug in the room, who’d came up with what she probably thought was a productive question to ask me, “So, Eclipse, can you take other forms than armour?”

Well, this has a pretty obvious answer seeing as she saw me change, but it's better than being stuck in silence any longer. So, instead of responding sarcastically, I responded politely, "Well, I've done a suit and two dresses, if that's what you're after."

Sensing the waning tension, Luna suddenly brightened up and asked, “We believe she is asking thou, if thy form can be moulded into other objects of a completely different nature.” She then started to look around the room, as if looking for inspiration for what to say before continuing, “Like maybe a sword or something?”

Huh, and I thought the ‘ling was just clutching at straws. “That seems pretty simple, give me a second,” I said while again lifting my once damaged shoe Infront of me. A sword is just a flat piece of sharp metal, right? This should be easy if it’s possible. 

With that thought, a line of black mist shot out of my raised shoe and steadily formed into said piece of metal. Steadily I made it thinner and pointier, until what I would consider a standard one meter sword, having no knowledge of the weapon whatsoever, was sticking out of the end of my shoe. 

Before I could turn to Luna and ask about the sword's quality, the sound of rapid hoof beats put me muzzle to faceplate with a fiercely grinning Loony. “Erm, how’s this?” Was all I could think to say.

She longingly looked at my new weapon for a moment before asking, “Can I give it a try?”

Why wouldn’t I let her swing around a sharp implement that she could hurt herself or others with? After failing to come up with a reason to deny my friend, I held up my bladed shoe before saying, “Sure, don’t poke yourself though.”

This answer rewarded me with a happy squeaking sound that likely no living pony has ever witnessed the Moon produce, as she quickly threw her own right fore shoe away in favour of my improved one. Once the blade was equipped, she marvelled for a moment before settling to swinging the blade in what I assume are practiced poses. Due to her excitement, she even cut a few chairs in half.

After a few swings, the gap between the two of us began to increase, leading to the familiar sensation of being dragged across the room. Rather than complain, I decided to just follow along behind her in order to allow her fun to continue, much to the chagrin of the other occupants, who’d settled on hiding behind their tables. Ah well, my blue fluffball will tire herself out eventually.

With another few swings, Loony nodded to herself before removing my shoe and hoofing it back. She then decided to review my performance, “We believe thy sword smithing skills require some minor work to balance the blade as it feels almost weightless, but 'tis clearly unmatched in terms of cutting and durability.”

“Hey, it was my first try,” was my response. It’s pretty unfair to review someone’s ability at something they’ve never done before. After reshaping the blade back into mist, I continued, “Next time I’ll copy an actual sword.”

“Huzzah! Thou can copy our royal armament,”

From the furious scribbling going on behind our path of destruction, Twilight found my sword manufacturing acceptable. “Amazing! The armour can actually be used to make any number of tools it understands the form of. This could be amazing! It’s, I mean they’re, practically an all-purpose tool when the proper instructions are given.” That is a pretty interesting observation. Wonder what else I can make?

In answer to that thought, my buggy friend poked her head up from behind a somehow overturned table. After steadily straightening her helmet, she decided to clarify her earlier question, “Well, that was a pretty, erm explosive display, but not what I had in mind. I meant; can you turn into a pony?”

“To be honest, I’ve only really tried to make a new form for myself once,” I considered. Back in that ruined castle, when I’d never seen a pony before. That was kind of where the full plate armour came from. “Maybe it’s worth a try?” I asked myself more than those present.

“We would love to see what thou comes up with,” Luna responded, “Thine designs have been most agreeable so far.” 

Seeing nods of affirmation from everyone inspired me to give it a try. With that, I subconsciously stared at Loony in attempt to more accurately gauge what a pony should look like. She appeared to understand what I was doing, giving me a quick wink before turning her head and saying, “Be sure to get our good side.” Well, this isn’t going to be as good as a camera Loony. I’m only after the vague shape.

Ok, so let’s just get started. Ponies have a lot of fur, so let’s try and copy that first. This resulted in many thin strands appearing across my plates. Wow, that’s a lot of tiny details, now skin maybe? How did I make the cloth again? It’s just the same right? As the thin sheet surrounded me, I began to lose structural integrity, like when I became the dress. Okay, soft material needs support, like bones, duh. It’s a real shame I can’t see underneath Luna’s skin. Maybe she’d let me check with my mist in future? Having no clue as to a pony's Skeletal structure, I hazarded the best guess I could. Hopefully it wouldn’t matter. Oh, this is a nightmare, I haven’t even gotten to the horrible squishy organs and eyeballs yet.

Seeing as this was taking me a while, I decided to take a look at what my audience was doing, which sadly was a mistake. Luna’s beautiful blue fur appeared to be turning very pale, while Twilight had gone very green and appeared pretty sick. 

The only one seemingly unaffected was the bug, who was staring at me with rapt attention. When I caught her eye, she decided to make a comment on behalf of the other two, “You know, in all my years in Equestria, I’m proud to say I’ve never seen a pony turned inside out before.”

Seeing the broken silence, Twilight looked away with her hooves covering her eyes and wailed, “I’m going to be seeing this in my sleep for weeks.”

“We shall ensure thy dreams are not upsetting Twilight,” The now light blue pony reassured.

Skitter then decided to make her own request, “Would you be able to visit mine as well?” Resulting in the changeling gaining an unexpected nod from the pegacorn. 

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back, causing me to break from my concentration and review my creation. What I beheld was nothing less than some sort of demon with skin missing in many places leaving clear sight lines to the bones. Seems there’s just too many moving small complicated details. I still decided to pointlessly ask, “Is it really that bad?” What am I saying? Of course it is. 

“We believe it would be best for thou to return to thine original form. It is much more palatable,” Luna finished diplomatically. Basically, meaning that I’m normally not as ugly. Well, I don’t need to be told twice. With that, my normal metallic self reformed as fast as I could, to the likely welcome delight of all.

“It’ll probably make you all happy to know I’m never going to do that again, ever,” I said dejectedly. Ruining my friend’s, and Twilight’s, evening isn’t really a part of my ideal activity.

Skitter decided to try reassuring me, “Look, you don’t need to give up. You just need to practice copying a pony’s magic signature.” Magic signature? Is that the glowing aura everyone emits? Before I could give voice to my question the bug said, “Just watch.” 

Flames gathered around her form, quickly washing it away to leave behind a glowing green copy of Luna. The green glow really ruins the disguise, but I get it. She then began moving her fore hooves around flamboyantly, gesturing to the sky as she spoke, “We decree that all ponies bed times shall be extended by two hours so they can enjoy the big rock We created.” The disguised bug then turned to Loony with a smile. It’s a shame she didn’t find the impression as amusing as me.

Rather than voice outrage like expected, Loony instead began complementing Skitter’s skills, “Thy disguise is quite impressive.” Seems Luna is actually trying to get on the bug’s good side. “However, We believe thine acting requires work. We would never refer to our moon as some benign rock. 'Tis also untrue that We created the moon. It existed long before We became its warden,” Luna continued, professionally reviewing the disguise before making a final suggestion with a wide grin, “Mayhaps thou would consider practicing thine acting with Eclipse? He has proven quite adept at fooling those closest to his disguises.” 

“I’ll be sure to take notes,” Luna’s duplicate responded more half-heartedly than expected.

Really don’t think my two times wearing a disguise count for much. Wait a second, is she suggesting I hang out with Skitter more often? Well, I’m glad they are warming up to each other.

Before I could confirm my desire to practice with the shapeshifter, Twilight decided to worsen someone else’s mood for a change, “Those changeling abilities sure are impressive. Once I’ve finished with the armour, you can demonstrate them under lab conditions.”

At Twilights comment, Luna’s clone visibly gulped before the room was again lit up by green flame, resulting in a resigned bug once again joining us.  

After ruining my friend’s mood, the pest turned back to me with a glowing horn, “So, Eclipse, I’m going to try and find your enchantment. It may be possible for me to draw a copy.” With that the unicorn’s purple aura descended upon me. Wish she’d at least ask before doing whatever she likes.

“We believe thou art very enchanting, my armoured friend,” Luna said in a low voice, while giving me a wink. She then started to laugh to herself.

I couldn’t help but respond sharply to that, “I may have enchanted both you and Skitter in the past, but I’m more than just a mere enchantment.” Really hoped she thought more of me than that.

Luna appeared to blanch at my response before stuttering, “It-it was supposed to be a compliment.” I’d prefer it if she saw me as a person. Well, maybe after Twilight’s test, everyone will.

Instead of continuing my conversation with the apologetic pegacorn, I turned my attention to the unicorn’s test. Whatever she was doing appeared to be causing her quite a bit of strain, considering her scrunched up eyes and brightly glowing horn. At least it’s giving me a tasty snack.

After a minute of providing me a snack, Twilight’s horn winked out and she let out a few gasps for breath, “Phew, this is going to be more difficult than I thought. That inbuilt magic absorption sure is effective.”

“At least your magic taste’s pretty good,” I said with undisguised mirth. 

“Oh, that was my pleasure, but could you not eat my spell please?” she began in a strained tone, “While you’re at it, can you stand still? That should make this muuuch easier.”

I just nodded in response. Getting a little revenge on the unicorn was fun, but the sooner she finishes, the sooner everyone can be on their way.

With my affirmation, the unicorn's horn relit once again. This time I focused on not eating the delicious magic and instead allowed it to wash over me. Immediately, the nice taste was replaced with a strange itching sensation that permeated not just my armour, but the entirety of my mist. Huh, never had an itch without flesh and blood before. 
After a few more moments, the itching started to give way to a sort of ominous pressure pushing in from all sides. “Erm, Twilight, I’m not sure if I like this.” I said calmly.

“It’s just a scan, just think about something else,” said Twilight using her best bed side manner.

“It feels wrong letting magic affect me.” 

As the scan continued, so did the pressure increase until it became almost impossible to move. Not only my armoured limbs but my mist had become almost frozen in the air. When I attempted to again voice my concerns, instead of hearing my ethereal voice, I was met with a strange metallic scraping sound. Hopefully that fixes itself when she gives up.

Sadly, Twilight didn’t give up and discovered something I hoped she wouldn’t, “hmmm, I think I might have found the enchantment. Huh, never seen anything like this before. Just stay still while I examine it.” Like I have any other choice and I really hope that she’s mistaken about me being an enchantment.

Okay, this is actually starting to ache a bit now. Are you nearly finished or what? In the corner of my eye holes, I could see the unicorn taking more notes, same as before. Great, she can take notes and keep the spell going. That’s just wonderful.

After watching the studious unicorn take notes for what felt like hours, a holed hoof suddenly appeared in front of me and began waving up and down, before a familiar voice started, “Are they ok? She hasn’t moved or said anything in ages.” Huh, I never heard Skitter wander over.

Twilight barely looked up from her notes before saying, “What? Of course they are, it’s just a scan. Remember I asked them to stand still.” 

Skitter’s head suddenly came into view from the side peering directly into my faceplate, “Well they’re taking this whole statue thing to a whole other level.”

“Ok, that’s everything a scan alone can teach me,” Twilight finally said. Oh, finally it’s over. “The next step would be to attempt to extract the matrix.” Awww, not more samples.

“We must protest thy plans. If proper measures aren’t taken, permanent damage could occur to our friend’s mind,” came Luna’s words from off to my side somewhere. Wait really? Is the matrix an important part of enchantments?

“Princess, I know what I’m doing. We could potentially put the armour’s matrix back better than before.” Twilight insisted.

Loony appeared to become agitate, “That’s it, Twilight, We are putting our hoof down. As thy Princess, We forbid the action of extracting Eclipse's matrix. He has sat through enough of thy tests for one day and is deserving of a break.” 

Pretty sure the words of the Princess would be enough to convince anyone to stop what they were doing. Sadly, the pressure was starting to get to me a little bit and I reacted before the unicorn could stop. I never lashed out or anything, just consumed all the magic around me as fast as possible, while instinctively hiding the entirety of my mist within my metal shell. The relief was amazing. Sadly, it also resulted in quite a large clanking sound, as I suddenly collapsed to the floor shocking everyone present.

“Huh, this is strange. I can’t seem to find the enchantment anymore,” Twilight said sounding slightly puzzled. At least her continued scanning is providing a snack again.

From somewhere in the room, I heard a chair fall over quickly followed up by some very rapid hoofsteps, “What dost thou mean, thou cannot find them?” The apparently worried pegacorn then began to nudge my helmet with the end of her muzzle.

“It’s just strange, the enchantment seemed to be spread throughout the entire armour and now there isn’t any trace,” Twilight reviewed with a confused look on her face. She then looked to Luna whose expression appeared to panic the smaller unicorn, “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to break it.” Is she going to finish this scan soon or what?

“Break it!” Luna sounds pretty upset. Sadly, this caused her to ignite her own horn and begin scanning me. Oh no please don’t join in. Ah well, I prefer Luna’s magic to Twilight's anyway. The familiar taste is just that little more pleasant.

“When you say you’ve broken them, are you saying they’re…dead?” came Skitters worried words. I’m not dead, just hiding from way too much magic. Seems that if I don’t consume it all, it can be quite hazardous.

“Don’t worry, we still have the armour. I’m sure, given enough time, I can remake the enchantment,” Twilight said while backing away from the Moon Princess. Really can’t believe I’m just an enchantment.

At this point, Luna had picked up my helmet and was looking at my faceplate, “Well, that probably would not be the same individual, would it?” She said calmy without looking away. With that her horn finally winked out and the constant stream of magic stopped. 

Does that mean it’s safe again? Well, no time like the present. “Hello, ah finally.” I said more to myself as my mist reformed.

The hooves holding my helmet suddenly unleashed quite a substantial crushing force, that probably wouldn’t be too healthy for a pony. “Thou art ok!?” Came my assaulter's delighted words.

“Well yeah, I was just hiding my mist from that magical assault. In the future, I'm just going to eat all of the magic that tries to affect me. That was awful.” Was my muffled response. “Erm, Loony, could you let go of my helmet.”

The crushing pressure suddenly relented, allowing my helmet to shoot back to my reassembling form. “Sorry friend, We were most concerned about thy wellbeing,” Luna said with some mild embarrassment.

“Well, this is another interesting discovery. When the mist is within its shell the enchantment is completely undetectable. Maybe that means the mist itself contains the entire enchantment? I’ve never seen a non-physical enchantment before,” Twilight appeared quite relieved at the prospect of taking notes once more and possibly avoiding Luna’s ire. Luna only gave the unicorn a mild look of irritation before returning to looking me over.

“So, is that the last test?” I asked hopefully.

“We believe it was. Thou need not go through anymore torments today,” Luna said, while looking at the half paying attention unicorn.

Once she’d realized what had been said, Twilight immediately complained, “What! But I never got to test the armour's functions.” This seemed to gather further irritation in my friends. Seems I’m going to be free. She has no power here.

“Out of curiosity, what functions did you want to test?” I couldn’t help making air quotes with my shoes at the word functions.

With that prompt, Twilight began reviewing her checklist, “There are so many things. For starters, how do we turn your enchantment on or off? You can clearly do that on your own.” Ooo, I wouldn’t want someone to put me to sleep. “How could somepony use your abilities without having to ask?” I prefer people to ask permission. “How to ensure your loyalty?” Provide a bed and periodic bacon. “What pony abilities can you manifest on your own? There’s just so many things I’ve yet to learn.” That last one has me curious.

“That list is pretty extensive. What makes you think I have any pony abilities at all?” I decided to ask, against my better judgment.

“Well, you do have wings and being an enchantment means unicorn magic might be built-in,” Twilight quickly said likely hoping for me to agree to more tests.

“From experience, We are aware our armour cannot fly,” Loony simply stated.

Well, this is embarrassing, “I’ve never had chance to learn. Maybe I can?” Or maybe my wings are just for show? 

Needing no further prompting, Twilight quickly jumped at the opportunity, “I could do another test to see if it’s possible.” That grin is terrifying.

In response, I took the sensible measure of quickly moving behind Luna and gently requesting, “Don’t zap me again!!” Probably a little too loudly, but as long as my point was made.

Luckily for me, my pony shield was on my side, “Twilight, We have decreed no further testing is to be performed on Eclipse.”

“But we haven’t even figured out how to make them safe for you to use,” came Twilights desperate response. “What if it tries to possess you again? If we don’t figure out how to suppress it's unwanted abilities, who knows what could happen?”

“We believe thou hast no reason to mistrust our armour,” Luna calmly said before turning to me, “Eclipse, would thou be interested in attempting to learn with us, how to use thy wings?”

“Erm, sure.” I responded in an unsure tone. Hopefully she doesn’t mean right now, I’d prefer it if we went back to the library.

Likely feeling forgotten, Twilight continued clutching at straws, “I’ve prepared so many tests, what am I supposed to do now?” Sad pony eyes don’t work on other ponies.

Luna just grinned at that and tilted her head to the watching bug, “Thou hast another test subject that appears ready for thy probes.” Maybe we should just ban Twilight from her tests. I wouldn’t wish them on anyone, especially one of my friends.

At Luna’s suggestion, the unicorn’s eyes lit up with renewed hope as she turned her full attention to the bug in the room. In comparison, I’ve never seen someone’s face fall as quickly as Skitter's just did.

Seeing our adversary was now distracted with Luna’s sacrifice, my friend grabbed my chest plate in her forehooves and extended her wings. 

“What are you doing?” I asked, dreading the answer.

“Why going flying of course,” Luna half laughed, while taking to the air within the lab and quickly darting out of the nearest window.  

As I looked back through the window, I saw the panicked bug attempt to run for the window before it was shut with purple magic. 

“Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made,” was all Loony said as we began flying higher into the air.