//------------------------------// // 8 The Canterlot Dropoff // Story: Rise of Opaline // by WhisperFace //------------------------------// Pinfire kept the box close to her chest. The cobbles of Canterlot clicked under her hoofsteps. She turned out of the main thoroughfare. A narrow alley led to a purple door. Pinfire took a deep breath. She carefully knocked on the door without putting down the box holding the necklace.   The door creaked open. Pinfire took a steadying breath. For a moment her coat dulled. Pinfire Opal shook herself. This was for her family, not the ones that had abandoned her. Her darling husband and little Opaline. Opaline would have a better childhood than she had. She would grow up confident and calm with no evil kings and no pony to hurt her.  This was the last time. The door swung open. Pinfire steadied her nerves. Her coat brightened as her confidence returned. It wouldn’t be too bad.  She stepped into the dark hallway. Pinfire kept the box close to her chest. She listened to her hoofsteps in the cramped space.  “You’re late.”  Pinfire’s color dulled as a spike of fear shot through her. A black dollop of viscous liquid dripped past her face. She slowly looked up. Her hooves rooted in place. The ceiling slithered and shifted. Black opened holes to the bricks above and closed again at the rhythm of her heartbeat. She took a shaking step, then another, and another until she saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Her breaths were shallow.  She finally stepped out into a cozy sitting room lit by a hearth.  A shudder ran up her spine. Her fur stood on end. The red crystal pony pinned her ears. She glanced around the room.  “Hello?” A beetle crawled across the floor. Pinfire stomped. It bounced back. Not a beetle, a cockroach.  “You wouldn’t squish your client, would you?” A deep sonorous voice said.  She stepped back. Her eyes widened. The cockroach flared its wings. Its exoskeleton boiled. The creature grew until its was a quadraped a bit taller than her. It had oily black legs of the same material that dripped from the ceiling. It looked like it could collapse under its own weight from the holes punched through its legs. Cold blue-green eyes stared at her with little white pricks of light in place of pupils. "What’s wrong little pony? Don’t tell me you need another extension.” “No, it’s finished.” “Excellent.” The creature stepped closer. “Let’s see it.” Pinfire pulled the necklace closer to her chest.  “Your payment first,” she said. Her voice hardly even shook.  The creature chuckled. “You don’t trust me after all this time?” “You are built from deception. What is there to trust.” “You flatter me.” Its deep voice came out soft. It moved toward the dark hall. It put the end of its leg on the black ooze covering the hall. Pinfire didn’t know if it had a proper hoof. But if it did it was sunk into the strange black substance. When the creature withdrew its leg, it had a canvas bag, that clinked with bits of gold.  “Show me the bits,” she said. It smiled. Its mouth kept stretching, its two large fangs bared. It flicked a forked tongue between them.  “Interesting.” It moved over to Pinfire. It placed the bag in her free hoof. It lingered its muzzle moving to the box. It sniffed . Pinfire flinched.  “Oh, you left me a bonus.”  “I did not.” “No?” The fangs sunk into the box.  Pinfire jumped back. Her coat dulled. Her breath sped. The creature shook the necklace box. The cardboard tore until the silver chain sat on its fangs. It made a slurping sound. “Mmhmmhm, Someone you love dearly wore this.” “Stay away from her Changeling!” Pinfire growled. Her back arched. The bag in her hoof clinked as she held it to her chest as she had the necklace. “I think this deserves an extra payment,” the changeling said. It kept the necklace looped from its shorter bottom fangs. It turned and put its hoof back to the black ooze. Pinfire shuddered. It licked the silver like it had been dipped in honey, its unnaturally wide smile growing with each flicker of that forked tongue.  It pulled the end of its leg back out of the dark ooze. The ooze turned green as it stretched  Pinfire screamed.  “Don’t move darling thing. This won’t hurt a bit.”