//------------------------------// // CH 84  Killing With Kindness // Story: Twilight's Nightmare // by Nightsclaw //------------------------------// How could things have come to this? That one recurring question refused to give him even a moment of peace. It racked his mind worse than the tremors that plagued his Tartarus-cursed flesh. A laugh started in his chest, but the hitch of pain and the hacking cough banished any chance of humour. To think I would play my role so well that Celestia's need to protect me would be my undoing? Celestia had given him ten more of her puppets, with two of them having explicit instructions to keep him safe. Even with the curtains closed, that telltale golden glow crept passed them. It would have warmed the hearts of anypony else's barrels, but to him, it was the highest of ironies.     The red liquid in his tea cup was so thick it looked like a foal's dessert more than a drink. With a shrug, he tested it with a spoon, and yes, it was effectively a tea-flavoured potion in a jelly state. He scooped out some of the wobbly mass and watched it glisten. He felt like a foal, but he did not let that stop him. That taste hit his tongue like a chemical weapon. His body wanted to gag, to get rid of the vile intruder, but he just took a long calming breath.   The green tea and elderflower blend had been better. This rose and berry tea made scouring his taste buds away an infinitely preferable event than trying this most recent one again. It took him half an hour to force-feed himself his medicine and the rest of the hour for his constant torment to fade back down to manageable levels. "It will all be worth it," he breathed out in an only-slightly-ragged breath. After a few more slow breaths, he turned his attention to the regrettably large stack of paperwork. With so many ponies displaced and so much supply moving, it all added up. Thanks to his efforts in reorganisation, it was manageable. After a time, completing the paperwork and logistics became automatic, and his mind drifted to the more pressing issue. How am I going to depart? He dared not risk using his specialities on his minders. There was no way Celestia lasted as long as she did by leaving things to chance. He would bet his horn her new tools had some way to immediately report to her. There has to be something. He could activate the last of his sleeper agents, but given the current situation, even getting the coded message them would take a week. There was using mental reconditioning to convince some displaced ponies to attack them. It was risky, but it could buy some time, and with the right spells, they could even provide a burnt corpse to leave in his place. The problem with that was he had no idea of how perceptive or combat-capable Celestia's creations were. His mind settled on the tool he had intended for times like this. The Blight. If only it worked how it was meant to, it would have been perfect. The numbers on the page taunted him and proclaimed his miscalculation. As if summoned by his thoughts, the next report dragged his full attention to it. It was just a simple list of numbers. An accounting of those still alive, those injured, and those confirmed lost. "So wasteful." Each pony lost lessened Equestria. Deliberately spending lives with purpose was one thing. What had happened was something else. Did he have any other options, though? If only he could get another disguise, but no, even if his body could take the strain, there was nothing of value to offer the changelings. A tired long-suffering sigh fled his body. He lifted his hoof, and it looked just as he expected it to. He rotated it and studied every minute detail. It had been so long since he had last seen his true form that it looked natural and right. Outside, armour rattled, and the brainwashed Paladin barked. "Halt." "Epp." Noble Guide massaged his forehead. "Let her in." Armour shifted again, and hooves impacting the ground announced the Paladin stepping aside. The door opened to reveal a timid, bespectacled mare. Her crystal pony heritage and silver coat made her name impossible to forget. "Do come in, Miss Mirror, and please don't let the increased security bother you." "Are they all like that?" "I'm afraid it's a Canterlot thing, it's expected of them there, and it can take years for them to start acting like normal ponies again once they are reassigned." "Oh." "Yes, it is as tiring there as you might expect. Now, as pleasant as it is to be visited by a beautiful mare such as yourself, would I be correct in assuming this is not merely a social call?" "We finished the inventory of the private warehouses." Miss Mirror said hesitantly. "You found something erroneous?" "There are some…" Mirror shifted and fiddled with her mane like a student that realised they read the wrong textbook and was ill-prepared for the day's lesson. His irritation built, but it had no outlet. The old CSGU professor would have had a hash comment. The dark mage could have had the mare screaming by now, but Noble Guide, the kind and generous soul, could only smile reassuringly at the mare. "Please, continue." Mirror grimaced but continued on. "One warehouse was full of counterfeit goods, a few crates of fake medical supplies that are more likely to make you ill than help and…." She stopped again, unable to get the words out. "You have the report?" He asked, taking mercy on her. The mare nodded and slowly pushed a folder over the desk. Noble Guide claimed it in his magic and flipped through the loose pages, skimming the text. Then he found it, the entry that stopped Miss Mirror dead. He did not even need to read the words. The paperclip-secured photo said it all. Seven shrivelled Changeling pods, each with a gaunt withered husk that used to be pony inside.      He lifted the photo by hoof. "Tartarus, how long were they in there?" "The forensic experts think since just before Princess Cadance was attacked." He took a slow breath and put on his best somber voice. "Do we know who they were?" Mirror shook her head. "They want to do other tests before they extract them." Noble Guide rubbed just under his horn. It did nothing for the oncoming headache. This is just going to draw even more attention. He thought as his mind tried to find any way to turn this into an opportunity. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention so promptly," he said, voice full of sympathy. "If you need to take a few days off…" "No, I can't do that. There is not enough of us as is." She smiled warmly, but her eyes still looked haunted. "Thanks, though. Once everything is all settled back down, I think I'm going to take an early retirement." "The Princesses are working hard. Everything will be sorted by year's end." By my hooves if necessary. He did not say. Mirror sighed and, at that moment, looked decades older. "I hope so, I really do… I thought things could not get any worse, and then we found… this." He looked to the golden glow that crept under the closed door. Things can always get worse. he thought, but his words were laced with hopefulness. "Now that Princess Celestia has sent out her Paladins, we have nothing to worry about." "I hope you're right."      Too many hours later, he lay in bed. It might have well been a stone floor, or a bed of spikes, for all it did for his comfort. His mind churned despite the leaden fatigue that tried fruitlessly to drag him into slumber. "How do I use this?" He muttered. He held the photo in his hoof. Something about it held his attention. It was almost as if a plan was on the precipice of being revealed. Changelings, it's not like I know where any are. His mind played with the idea. It's not like there really needs to be changelings. They just need to think there were… A bit of mind magic and the ones reporting the changeling dying of acidic venom or an overdose of a paralytic so nopony could look into their minds. "Hmm." Something has to attack me… something has to draw off the Paladins… He dared not use his normal tools. Dark magic, Mind magic or even blood magic was out of the question. That only left him with his Earth-aspected magic. "Earth…" It was one of the reasons his peers used to laugh at him. What sort of true Unicorn did not have access to Astral-aspected magic? The vaunted teleportation magic and many other useful spells required it, and although he knew all the runes and had mastered all the theories, he would never be able to cast them. Even the simplest of spatial magic was forever beyond him. "Earth." He mused again, fusing stone, digging, carving. It could be used for so many useful but terribly mundane things. His mind sorted through his vast catalogue of spells. The vast majority were simply discarded. Earth spikes, useful if slow offensive magic that can ignore some magic-focused defences. The same for stone blade. Petrification? Petrification… He ignored the pain and the coppery taste as he smiled. That's perfect. Once a target is stone, a simple shaping spell and I can have them looking just like me. A few more, and I can have my Changelings… now how did that animate stone spell go again?   A maniacal laugh threatened to escape him. Fortunately, it turned into a pained hacking cough, or Celestia might have heard it from Canterlot. Instead, the flecks of blood that came with it only reinforced how little time he had left.